So Close! :(

I haven't player too much the last few days for various reasons but decided to play the free roll satellite into the World Cup of Poker. Basically there were 2 free rolls and top 9 from each go through to the final on the Sunday. fields of around 400 in each of them. I donked out of the first free roll in about 50th place but managed to qualify in the second which meant I'd made the final, top 18 shootout where the top 2 go though. The final started today at 2pm local time and I'd been out night rallying in Brecon all last night and didn't get home till gone 5am! Add to that the fact that it was probably -5 up there all night, ice everywhere (meant for plenty of action on the event and some interesting driving conditions through the lanes but that's another story!) and I'm still unwell! its been about 4 weeks now and still drags on :( i actually have no voice at all for the past 2 days! i can only whisper. lol Anyway, all that meant that i wasn't feeling my best when i clambered out of my warm bed at just gone 2pm to force myself to play this tourney. The entire way through, as ever with my tourneys, i was nursing a short stack... Managed to keep clawing my way up the places though until i eventually found myself 3 handed and on the bubble of being part of Team GB albeit as the short stack. Anyway, i turned my hand to some power poker and managed to clamber into 2nd place with about 7.5k in chips to the shorter stacks 6k. In the BB and the big stack, once again raises so i reshove with AK suited, don't think theres much more i could do, then the board bricked out... and his pocket 4's stood up leaving me cruelly out on the bubble! Always the way. grrr nothing to show for it either which makes it even more annoying! Neither of the other 2 players were that good. I think my results were about the most solid of them both but there were go. it's all irrelevant. The one odd thing is that the guy who knocked me out is 'Purr of Aces' who has a won a seat into the WCOP GB team a couple years back! but he's not even a great player. After being at his table 2 days running, he just seems to run incredibly hot and get lucky all the time. Perhaps I'm just sour but it does seem a bit fixed. lol (even though i don't believe in poker sites fixing things. especially stars!) Oh well. there we go. I'm sure ill get lucky one day! :( Perhaps i should've flatted with the AK and seen a flop but it just feels so weak against a serial raising big stack who had already folded to a few of my reshoves...

bubble boy...



Apart from this tourney, as i say, i haven't played too much. Thursday saw me lose all 6 tourneys i entered. Wednesday was a bit better - played a mix of 12 sngs ranging from stt to 180 seaters. scraped into the cash in 22 and won one of 45 seaters outright but all the other loses meant i only had a slightly positive figure at the end of the day so another waste of time. I really need to get a half decent bankroll again and go back to the mtt's i think. They suit my style so much better as i think Ive demonstrated in these WCOP free roll donkfests (although that said, compared to other free rolls, the standard was a lot higher in these as a general rule).



I'll leave it there for now as i feel awful, cold and am being moaned at to take recycling out by the missus so I'll be back with another, hopefully more positive post soon :)

Life Tilt...

I genuinely am suffering from it!

I've been feeling quite positive and happy in myself the last few days which is odd considering how tough a time I'm having of it at the tables. I had a good time on the weekend, let my hair down a bit after the rugby at a [spunge] gig - went and did a spot of skanking in the pit while a bit drunk. Was good fun, made better by the fact there were plenty of decent girls around. lol
Ice Hockey on Sunday was decent with Devils winning 4-1 and we went out to celebrate after with a nice meal. It was Emma's birthday Monday so had another relaxing day ending in a pleasant meal out... Dad went into hospital for his operation which went OK but he's not able to do much other than hobble around! I think a lot of my positive feeling has been down to me sorting out my sleeping pattern! I'm sleeping at almost normal times now; for the first time in a long time! The only bad thing at the moment is that I'm STILL feeling ill! its been about 3 weeks now! i went to the doctor who was no help and said it seemed viral so they couldn't do a lot but i just cant shake it off! Hopefully it goes away soon as i don't feel great with it! Just constantly under the weather :(

At the tables its been a pretty dismal time as late, my bad beat stories continue and just seem endless. i don't think I'm playing badly, just not getting any breaks but then again, i am starting to question my play which probably isn't good for my confidence! I've moved down stakes to an extent, playing $6.50 tables now! and $11 non turbo sngs to try to reduce the variance. I have to admit, the non turbo's seem a lot softer than the turbos although that said... i still cant win at them!!!! i keep getting unlucky on the bubble and busting out either just short of the cash or in 3rd!

I may have previously mentioned that I'm chasing a bonus on stars which is actually going to take some achieving to get! I'm also trying to get to Silver star on Stars, i only decided to pursue this about couple of days ago though so i basically have to get over 1000 fpp's by the end of the month! It may not sound too hard if you play higher stakes or are higher up the stars reward ladder but at bronze star and with a FAR FROM HEALTHY bankroll after my recent bad run its looking almost impossible!!!! After cashing out $500 from stars a few weeks back, Ive done nothing but lose money and have dropped about $400 in just over a week! that's basically like a 35 buy in downswing for me with the stakes i play and it shows little sign of slowing down! I refuse to play any lower than I'm currently playing because its just not worth my time! I may, for the first time in a long time (probably over a year!), have to redeposit to help boost my bankroll there! and just when the £ has lost all value against the $! i should be withdrawing now, not thinking about reloading! :( I'm going to struggle on with $135 bankroll and hopefully start picking up a few scores again before the bankroll evaporates but if if continues as it has been, ill be depositing long before the week is out! lol

Ive watched a sngs PXF video today with /beanmo who's a sng legend and also invested £66 (damn exchange rate! grr) in SitnGo Wizard software so i could go over my recent sngs push/fold seeing as my problem seems to be around the bubble! Typical that i cant even get it working properly! i can get all my old hand histories to open but not my most recent ones! This hasn't helped with my life tilt. I thik i may just call it a night and get some sleep and hope i feel better in the morning!

Things cant get too much worse in poker terms anyway (or at least i hope they cant!)

zzzzzzzz

Not played a whole lot but thought I'd post an update as its been a few days.

Had a good day on Tuesday, ended up $48 in profit as i won a 18 seat sng. lost a couple too mind. lol
Wednesday ended up $12.10 down so basically break even. just didn't catch any breaks really, losing flips left right and centre so the fact i was only just down is a good result.

Played just one double or nothing PLO sng which i cashed in so was +$9.60 for the day. woo

Today's been a nightmare. still playing now but thought I'd post here at the same time as i cant believe what I'm seeing. lol Never had a day like it!
AK v KJ all in pre - J comes...
Q's v J's, all in pre, J on flop
K's v 9's, all in pre, 9 on flop
AT v AQ, all in on a ATx flop, Q on river
and the best to last... AK v 5's on a AKxx board, all chips went in on turn (5's re shoved!), i called for all my chips with top 2 pair AND nut flush draw... river 5 : unbelievable....

And that's just naming a few hands - there were definitely more. lol

I've kept my cool so far as Ive been playing OK and getting the chips in good but it's slowly starting to get to me as the bad beats are getting a bit relentless! -$76.20 so far today and counting :)

It's a bit rough at sea...

It's been a few days since my last post so thought it was time for a quick update.
Things have actually picked up somewhat recently to an extent... won another 45 seater sng on November 13th for $154 and did some workings on my results, basically trying to get an idea of what are my strongest games. Ive come to the conclusion that its the smaller field mtt turbo sngs as they re basically like single tables only with an inflated prize pool. The fields aren't so big that its a total crap shoot by the end, just solid push/fold strategy. For this reason I've started playing the 18seater sngs as well (although things haven't been too smooth so far!) and we'll review how things progress...

Went to the Wales v Canada rugby game on Friday 14th which was rather dull. Wales playing a young team and saving their best players for the bigger games coming up which meant the game was quite scrappy and although Wales won, wasn't the best watch! played a bit of poker both before and after but didn't have too much luck, ending the day -$47.25 giving a monthly total of +$247.90

The weekend i haven't played a huge amount but equally the games i have played haven't been too kind! Saturday i played two 45 seat sng's and a 180 seater which resulted no $0 return so i ended -$36 and Sunday's been even worse... Two 45 seat sng's and 4 18 seaters with absolutely no return...

Saturday (and the later games on Friday actually) i didn't play too well so im not so annoyed about those as i stopped early and cut my losses. Sundays games have been very frustrating though! early exits out of the 45 seat sngs which perhaps i could've avoided. things like TPTK v aces, etc. The 18 seaters have been annoying though bubbling 2 of them once with Q's v A9 and then AT v KJ (i was the one shoving, not calling in both situations) and got 7th in another which again wasn't too full of luck! It's only a small sample size though so I'll stick at them. Perhaps pokers just not profitable anymore... lol I find it bizarre how even a day of poker can change your opinions on it so massively. The cards aren't noticeably much different, just the outcomes after the community cards are dealt and i think it hurts more as Ive been used to making a lot more than i am at the moment and i cant fathom out why I'm struggling so much these days! Not sure if it's variance, game selection, my play or whether i was just getting it good before... I could really do with a nice score again soon though.

Perhaps getting backing could be an option allowing me to play higher stakes... I'm really not sure! I think even small swings effect me a bit though, maybe not my game but i don't like losing money too much! lol

Better days...

06:06am Wednesday November 12th

I've been totally away from things over the weekend and totally lost track of time! Saturday evening was my first ever rally. The Peak Revs Road Rally, starting in Leominster, about an hour and half drive away. Got up around 3pm and watched the Welsh game of rugby while rushing to get things ready as I'd arranged to meet my driver at 4 in Brynmawr! I obviously wasn't going to be there on time (no surprises there for those of you who know me!) so had to text him and apologies. Eventually made it to his by about 4.45 and we quickly left to head up to the start. It was both our first events so we weren't too sure what to expect and to make it more stressful, other than plotting and reading OS Maps, i barely understood the format and time cards etc on road events! It's a bit like poker i guess where to the outside it seems easy but theres so much more to it. The idea is to plot a route given to you about an hour and half before the official start then drive it, visiting different controls (to prove you've taken the correct route) averaging 30mph. Sounds simple but its far from it and totally impossible to average 30 the whole way! You've got to stop at the controls so obv lose a lot of time there, if you wrong slot or similar you lose A LOT of time, you get 'fails' if you don't visit certain controls or if you approach them from the wrong direction which all does against your final result. Put simply, they're pretty difficult and hard work! Its basically 120 of flat out driving through the lanes, forests and white goers (some of which you wouldn't even think a car could get down)!
We started at 00.39am (we were car 59 so started 59 mins after car 1 hence the odd time) and got to the finish at about 6.15am which was out main aim! Despite a nightmare start things slowly picked up as we got the hang of it and we actually ended up doing OK! 7th in class (out of 15) and about 35th o/a (out of 60). and only 1 off sideways into a hedge on a tightening 90 left although we had a few other moments...

Anyway, enough of rallying for now! As a result i wasn't home till about midday on Sunday having had no sleep so slept most the afternoon, then most the following night and day as well. Managed to miss most of the WSOP Final Table coverage which was annoying, only saw a bit of the HU and then read up on the rest. Also missed the Calzaghe v Jones Jr fight but got it recorded so that was fine, watched it back Sunday night!

Eventually got around to playing some poker on Monday night (i couldn't sleep after sleeping most the previous day! - 13 hours) No idea how Henry managed to sleep 23 hours though - that's just madness! Care to explain if you read this Swiss? lol
played 2 tables of .10/.25 PLO on Full Tilt and finished +$44.35 up on the one table and +$1.25 up on the other so it was nice to claw some ash back for a change. Later that evening played 3 HU sngs in PLO against the same opponent whom kept offering a rematch and i won all 3 of those too! I did run quite nicely in the HU mind! ended the day +$77.10 which was a pleasant change considering my recent results!

This evening i was having another fairly lazy time.. Played the $5 WPL tourney and got 2nd/13, got it in good HU only to get 3 outted and come 2nd, its only a bit of fun though so i don't even track the results from the WPL tourneys - they're definitely profitable though and a good laugh too!

Later this evening, after reading the PxF forums about bankroll building and how some guy claims to be able to get from $450 to $12,000 multi tabling 20 or so $10 and $20 sngs on Stars by Xmas! I decided to have a crack and opened up Stars and started 2 $16 turbos and 2 45 seat $12 turbos.
The 2 $16 ones weren't too successful with me busting in 7th and 6th place. A combination of bad play and bad luck... i wont bother with the HH's now. The 45 seaters on the other hand went well. I played much better and got the breaks at the right times, well most the time! Got 3 outed a few times in the but made a nice comeback! won the 1 outright and took 3rd in the other giving me $142 profit from the one and $65 in profit from the other - I can't complain at that! It was nice to take down a tourney again, even if it was only a 45 seater!
Anyway, the day ended +$175 so I'm fairly happy with that. I'm finally in profit for the month and have something to build on again!

Ship it!

To finish, a couple pics from the Road Rally:

Donkaments...

Afternoon,

Unusual for me to be writing in my blog at 12.45 in the afternoon! Just had a super frustrating session though so thought I'd write it down to make make it go away. lol

After a far from active day yesterday, in poker terms anyway, i didn't think I'd get much time to play today either but have managed to squeeze in an hours session now over lunch before my busy afternoon begins... I kinda wish i couldn't have fitted it in now though as it went far from smoothly.

After watching the Card Runners PLO videos the other night, i thought I'd sit down at a .10/.25 plo table and give it a whirl. I genuinely think i played the session fairly well, obviously i have more than a few leaks seeing as Ive only just started playing them seriously but ended the session in the red, -$43.25

Before i begin, I'll ask as ever, if you fancy giving me some advice on how i played the hands in your opinion, its usually appreciated!
Biggest pot i lost was $59.20... I was in the BB with A864 (the A being suited). early pos raises to .55 and gets 2 callers. i complete from the BB with my marginal hand because of the suited A plus it was costing me .30 to get into a pot of $1.90 so a no brainer really i thought.
Flop come A52 (2 spades - not helping me as i had none!) giving me a gut shot and top pair. i actually misread my hand to begin with and led out with a $2 bet thinking i had 2 pair (into the $2.20 pot) and got 1 caller, the SB so i had position for the rest of the hand. turn brought the 3 hearts giving me the nuts at that time but make 2 possible flush draws, neither of which i had...
The SB now led out into me with a half pot bet making the pot $9.30, this looked weak to me and drawy so i re potted it to $15.50, looking to get it all in. The river then brought the 9 spades meaning if he had a spade flush draw, he'd just made it else i was good. He then shoved the river... Great, i called feeling i was behind but it was costing me $11 to win a $59.20 so i think i had to call as he could've shoved the river with a straight or similar i think.
If he'd had a huge hand then i wouldn't mind so much but he had KQJ8 single suited so basically had nothing but a flush draw the entire hand!

This was by far the biggest pot but i also lost hands with top set of K's v another flush draw but folded them on the river then other chap made his flush...

lost a pot with J's on a 335 flop V's someone with AJ39, not too sure why they were even in the hand, raising it from utg.

another pot went astray when i re popped a short stack with a flush draw on the flop and he called with an over pair (8's) which stood up v my draw and over cards)

And made another BIG lay down with top 2 pair and the nut flush draw on the flop! I accidentally timed out while deciding whether to re raise the 2 other players or flat call, decided on flat calling and trying to call it down as i thought at least one of them had a set but accidentally timed out but my read was right, and i wouldn't have got there with the draw (no surprise there then).

Oh well, on another day i could've been +$100 after today's session but instead ended it in the red :( I definitely think i make this game profitable for me... the question is how profitable though and whether i can stand the obvious sick variance it deals out....

We'll have to see as the month goes on.

A new month...

05:22am so i really need to get to bed. We'll keep this short.

Not been up to much really so far this month. Moved back to some of the small mtt's and sngs but not played anything properly. I was in profit for the month until this evening but am now down $53.10 mainly thanks to me blowing $25 in a 5 re buy (i swear i run really crap in re buy periods!) and then took a shot at a $33 tourney which i was playing well and chipped up but then hit my usual boredom syndrome and ended up bluffing it all off trying to play my big stack aggressively and ended up busting outside the $$$ - not too bothered as i know exactly where the errors were. I basically played crap. My heart just isn't in it at the moment. Really not sure how to get it back! I think its because Ive been running a bit naff and not had a nice win for a good few months so its got me down a bit.

Spent tonight watching a card runners video on PLO cash games which was actually really interesting. It was one of the really basic ones so i wasn't expecting much (as i know the basics!) but there were a few good observations about connecting cards with gaps and how gaps at the tom are much worse than bottom gaps etc. I wont go into details :) I then spent some time figuring out how to use my Poker Tracker Omaha and setting it up. Haven't really got my head around how to use it with some of the less mainstream sites yet but have managed to set it up for the main sites and log a few test hands on Full Tilt which is probably where I'll begin playing...

I'll leave it there for now. need to get some sleep as i haven't been feeling too well recently

Excellent evening on Monday at the Devils Halloween party but we'll leave that for another time! lol