Talking To Myself.......

I started this blog to randomly jot down how my awful poker play would pan out and to maybe laugh in years to come as I eventually became better and better and got to stage where i would destroy Phil Ivey at the WSOP ME. I didn't actually think that anyone would bother to read it. I have often talked to myself during tough times and this was just another angle to converse with me.

Anyway, just out of interest i installed sitemeter on this blog(bottom of the page on the left) to see if i would get more than 1 view a day (yes, that's me checking up on myself) . So far in 15days there have been 280 hits.... whoooaaaa.... not bad for a boring old fart...!!


Anyway, back to the poker.... All the bad beats have made my play equally bad and i have now established a new focus for the up coming weeks.... I do not want to put any more cash into my account in the next month or so. This means that i will now drop down to NL50 for possibly the whole of August. This will have a big effect on my bonus generating abilities but i think the most important thing is to improve my game. I will also drop from 20tables to 10 for added thinking time. This means i now sit down with $500 each time instead of $2,000. My swings and variance should also come down. Time to big up my +EV.....


I am going back to basics, back to the drawing board.... It will be like the last 5yrs never happened and someone just handed me my 1st deck of cards and shouted shuffle up n deal punk.




I need to develop my poker mindset. I will invest in HEM and also spend some time on sites like cardrunners and deucescracked. I am now on 2p2 and have been reading a book on odds and probabilities. I am learning off by heart the 1card and 2card drawing odds tables for outs between 1-20. I have Harrington's 2 books on cash games and hopeful i will absorb every little gem he has to offer.

I am also going to begin development on my Tournament game as the starting ranges and concepts differ so much from cash games. Wow, that's a lot of stuff to do.

On another note i will be going Zorbing on Sunday (weather permitting), so i hope to add to YouTube vid of me and my bro spiralling down some hill at 35mph in a huge bouncy ball. Hopefully this will jolt my poker game into the premier league of NL50, lol.

Peace...

What Would You Do...........???

Here's a poker conundrum for you....

So, in this situation what would you do???

Hmmmmm......

Click Link:

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ADS-HELL........

My god dam ADSL Internet Connection has been busted for a almost week now. I have spent many minutes talking to India which has been fun as much of the English conversation has been spelt out to me in phonetic alphabet by the call centres..... Hotel Echo Lima Lima (HELL)

Basically its still busted and TalkTalk are so lame that it takes 2 weeks to get an engineer out to my house.... They reckon that there might be a problem with the line even though the phone works perfectly. So it could not possibly be their modem or filter or cables that is the issue... hmmmm.. Strange that i have to pay only if the line is faulty as the other items are their responsibility. The phone works so they ain't getting a penny outta me..!!

Its 1am and I have just sorted a dodgy temp fix... so poker should be back tomorrow. When IT systems fail it is just so crippling to an online poker player..!!

However, it might be a blessing in disguise as my poker over the last 7 weeks has been woeful. Maybe a break from the tables is just what i needed...!!

Anyway as a newly qualified Supernova i am looking forward to my 1st $1m quarterly freeroll on 7th August. Not sure what to expect though in terms of runners... I am hoping that as this is restricted to SN VIPs and SNEs the field should be relatively small compared to a Sunday Million for example... As 999 places are paid hopefully i should get into the cash...!! The $150,000 1st prize would be sweet though. So what are my chances???........ Well, slim to none would be my guess as i suck at Tourneys.

My best tourney result came quite recently when i final tabled a UK freeroll. It was a satellite to the UK regional grand final with 9 places being awarded a spot in the main event. There were 4747 runners and i tried and interesting style of play which seemed to work well. With 50 players left i was chip leader and i hung on to that lead till about the last 20. When the final table was set, i was 3rd in chips and had made the cash (which was tiny) and received my ticket to the ME. I then went crazy and started to gamble wildly... big mistake... I was duly busted 1st at the final table.... lol..

I have been watching the Tour de France highlights show daily on ITV4 but tomorrow looks set to be the big showdown up the Col du Tourmalet. I will watch this stage Live and it should be fascinating as Andy Schleck has to attack if he has any chance of winning Yellow in Paris. With Contador favoured to beat Schleck in the time trial, Schleck must gain a lead tomorrow of over a minute to have any chance putting on the maillot jaune... You can do it Andy...!!

Poor Lance Armstrong had a shocker on one of the early stages when he crashed 3 times and effectively ended any chance of a podium finish... It would have been great to see him in his prime against Alberto Contador... would have been an awesome battle..

Peace...

July Mid Month Review...

July so far has been pretty relaxed. I have put in less volume than June in the first 13 days of the month. I enjoyed the World Cup and Wimbledon and am now keeping an eye on Le Tour.

The poker story is that the bad run continues and does not seem to be ending. I continue to get battered at the tables but am still pretty confident as i am getting it in with the best hands. Here are a few recent hands:

1. I raise in early position with AA, i get re-raised, we get it AIPF. Villain turns over AA also and i laugh.... well, until he hits the Flush and Stacks me.... now I'm Crying......

2. I raise in mid-position with AA, SB re-raises me, i re-raise and we are AIPF. He turns over KK and I am looking good for a double up. Then BANG, he hits his Flush.... Stacked Again.... Raaaaaaarrrrrr......

3. I get AA and raise in the cut-off, SB moves AI for around $40, i snap call.... He shows QQ and duly hits his straight on the river.... Great...!!

4a. I had been watching a crazy loose donk on one table. He was sitting to my right which was perfect as i would always have position on him. A situation arrived where we were blind vs blind. I had AA in the BB. He calls and i raise to 5x (i was making my raises larger to him as he was calling many larger raises pre-flop). The Flop comes 8QQ (2 Spades) and he shoves $18 into a $10 pot. Now he may have a Q, but there is now way that i am folding AA in that situation. I call, he shows 84o. Great situation for me... he can't hit a 4 as i have 2 pair AA & QQ, so only 2 outs with the 8s. You know what comes next.... 8 on the turn.... The donk hits a full-house. Now he has around $50... that should be mine... lol

4b. I am out to get this guy now and its not long before i pick up JJ in mid position. He has already limped, so i raise 7x now and of course he calls. The flop is 849 rainbow and surprisingly he leads into me with a bet around 80% of the Pot. Now, normally i would think a little here before my decision but as i am pretty sure i have the best hand i snap call (i think i should have shoved actually).... anyways, the turn is a 2 and he checks. I bet pretty big and he check-raises AI. I call and the fool turns over K8o. As usual i am way ahead with one card to come. And obviously the card last is.................. a big FAT K to give him 2 pair and double up through me again..... What can i do???

The Poker Gods seem to be mad at me for some reason....... Its so frustrating, but i am still enjoying it..

Every now and then though there is always a player that makes me smile at the tables...
I love this hand:

I pick up AQ in mid position and raise 3x. The button calls and so does the BB. $9 in the pot.... The flop is AQA.... nice... BB checks, I check to slow play the NUTS, and the guy on the button bets $47 into the $9 Pot..... wtf...??? Anyway, I call and he shows J7dd with no diamonds on the board.... For a change i cant lose as he is drawing dead and i pick up a nice pot..... lmao..... Its fun sometimes...

July numbers so far:

-$442 (Table Losses)
+$1,500 (Cash Bonus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

+$1,058 (Total MTD)

If my bad beat hands had held up i reckon i would be up almost +$1,000 at the tables.... but it is what it is... no 'ifs', no 'buts'.... At least i am up with the bonus.... The fight goes on...

I want to target the $4,000 cash bonuses but as my bankroll has been very low i need cash ASAP and have been going for the $1,500 cash bonuses to build my roll up quicker. These are cheaper and quicker to release but obviously not as good value so i am losing out there. I plan to get one more $1,500 bonus before i start to go for the bigger one.

Its a little bit scary to think that from next month i will have no income and i will have to make it as a pro poker player or i will be in trouble. My bills amount to around $1,600 each month, so i will need to get that as a minimum. My goal is to earn around $3,000 p/m from poker. I will receive my final pay cheque from my previous employer next week and that's it then... from 1st Aug I'm a poker pro. I will step up my volume significantly to make sure that i rack up as many VPPs as possible each month

Come on heater... where are you???

Poker Heaven.... Poker Hell...

I was watching this live when i switched over to check something else and totally missed HISTORY..!! lol

Phil looks totally sick and i don't blame him....



This puts my June(Worst month ever) into perspective...

Wimbledon Final...

After negotiating the usually engineering works on the London underground we finally made it to the Wimbledon Grounds to take our seats at the Men's Final to see Rafael Nadal vs Tomas Berdych. It was an awesome day even though the match was pretty one sided as Nadal smashed Berdych in straight sets 6-3 7-5 6-4.

Having been unable to defend his title last year due to injury, Nadal has now won 14 straight matches at Wimbledon. Nadal has proved beyond doubt that he is currently the world's best player and, at 24, he has plenty of time to close on Roger Federer's record 16 Grand Slam titles

It would have been great to see Federer in action but it wasn't to be. All in all it was an experience....!!

July Poker so far.....

I am currently around $40 down mtd which is actually an achievement considering that the pattern of last months results have just continued into July.... i.e the bad beats just go on and on. I have hardly played any poker in the 4 days so far but here are 3 hands that i have had:

1. I get all-in pre flop with KK against my opponent who turns over QQ. All is going well until the river, then BANG the Q hits and I'm stacked...!!! Great....

2. I raise with AA in MP and get one caller on the button. The flop is A36 (2 spades). I check and he bets around half the pot. I re-raise 3 times his bet and he calls. The Turn is a Qd and we get all-in with the Villain turning over QT spades. You know what comes next... yes his 25% chance to the hit the flush comes in with the 9s on the river. Stacked again.... awesome...

3. An absolute fish raises A6 UTG and there are 5 callers including me on the button with 55, maybe i should have raised but i flat called. The flop comes down A65 rainbow and I get all-in on the flop with the original raiser.... Yes you know the way i run these days.... Its time for the river card and what else could it possibly but the 6, giving him a bigger full house and leaving me stacked..... I have never had a bad run like this ever. Its been 6 weeks of non-stop bad beats with me down around $5k on the tables in that time. I am having to fight so hard just to break-even. The bonuses are just about keeping me afloat. I will receive a $1,500 cash bonus in a couple of days to put me up this month. Lets see if i can hang-on to that lead....

It's been a good day at the tennis so lets leave it there... i am enjoying a few vodka's as i review the photos of the day. I know that as soon as i log-on to pokerstars every fish will be busting me with any hand they choose to play... so lets play cards tomorrow...

laters...