Wednesday 25 April 2007

some form

good day all
well another good day at the office for me this morning
Full Tilt $2 turbo, starts off with a bang!!
there this manic that raised all in first 2 hands, he gets one caller and takes them out first hand, 2nd hand no one wants any of it.
so 3rd hand he pushes all in again, in late position i see AK and decide to gamble i call all my chips
he has....... Q5!! monster!
sure enough i hit a king on turn and now i doubled up

he folds 4th hand
5th hand he's all in again, still acting after him in mid position now i have A10, i decide its time to stop this maniac and reraise, everyone folds
he has.... 79 another monster
think i took it with Ace high, not sure either way down to 7people and me leader on 4k

things got back to normal after that and soon it was down to 5 then 4, i had been pretty conservative and when i did raise or push i generally got the respect and they all folded

by now there were 2 of us in lead and one hanging on with another kind of in the middle, well middle guy takes out short stack and we in the money, its pretty cagey now and then as i fold the other 2 decide its time, soon onough all the chips in the midle and we down to 2 though i am now bout 2:1 down in chips

it get even then i go ahead in chips, then i bet when i dont think he has hit the board only for him to reraise i call and he has hit it and now i in trouble i push all in a few times and luck out but i still well down, i push again with 45, he calls with A2,
flop 2,4,7 looking good
turn 5!! looking even better no ace or 3 and i am.....
river 3 and he makes a str8!!

oh well, 2nd and some much needed cash in FT!!

at the same time i started pokerstars, and soon found a $6 turbo 2 table sng and also a $3 45 man sng that were nearly starting, so unable to resist i registered for both

playing 3 tables at one was bit tricky but i managed it ok, obviously i couldn't really watch the other players and was just playing the cards and using my instincts but all in all it went pretty well

on the $6 2 table, i waiting for the right time made some moves, soon down to final table and i was 4th in chips!!
when we got down to 7 with 4 paid there were 2 big stacks and i was average, well my time came when i raised with A7 in late position, got a call from one of the bigger stacks, flop came 8j2, he checks now he could be trapping but i figure he mite have nothing so i check thinking a bet on the turn mite take it
turn was 8 pairing the board at this point he either checked or bet small, now on the flop i was worried, but for some reason on the turn i managed to convince myself he didn't have it so i reraised bout 2/3rds my stack...... well he pushed then ans with so little left back i figured i had to call
well yes he had a J and my miracle ace didn't arrive on river so 7th and not in the money

bit disappointed with that as what with playing 3 tables at once i had played pretty solid and was progressing well in all tourny's, also i had felt something was wrong on the flop but then i ignored that feeling on turn and thats what cost me!!

so with that over i was down to 2 tables, you know what happend on FT, so on the $3 45 man turbo made my way quietly along getting few chips here and there, when down to 18 people started pulling away and when down to 12 i got a run of cards that made sure i would get in cash!!
first i got AA and managed to get a middle stack all in!! nice
then i got 99 and took a pot away from someone who was constantly stealing
then with K9 i flopped a gutshot str8 draw and a 10 on turn ment i took out another middle stack when my str8 bit his 2 pair

so down to final table again!!, there were 2 big stacks on 18k and a few others dotted around with a few small stacks on 2-4k

2 small stacks went quickly, then i pushed with 66 and picked up blinds and anti's for a nice 2k addition to my stack, then with AQ i pushed again to get another 2k

soon down to 6 with 7 paid so we all in money!!
i pushed when i had something and picked my spots wellsoon down to 3 and i needed some help as the other 2 had 40k and 18k to my 9k,

the blindsa were 600/1200 so not long to go, before i got hit for another blind i pushed, got called and didn't hit anything so finished in 3rd for $21

all in all very happy!!

then i buggered up again, put $25 on cash table, waiting for a smash and grab but it never came and then when i did bet on my draw it never came and left table with £12, so minor mis hap

gotta use some more control when playing for cash, but tourny's seem going well

PK69

Tuesday 24 April 2007

another cash/another bubble

well played usual $2 turbo on FT, crawled into 4th pushed and that was that, was pretty tight at end so everyone was pushing all in every other hand or so, just the way it goes!!

on stars i logged in just as a 45 man $6 turbo was nearly full, so i got in there.

played tight ish got to last 20 easy enough, but was slowly dropping down, when down to 12 i got some cards and suddenly just as we made final table of 9 i took out a guy and there 8 left with me 2/3rd in chips!! 7 get paid!!

down to 6 and there are 2 big stacks on bout 17k 3rd on 13k and me on 9k, well at this point there we not many flops

now i cant remember exacly how it went down, did i raise and get re raised or did i call an all in??
anyway the guy on 13k and me on 9k got it all in pre flop some how
he turns over A10off and i am feeling good bout my AJoff!!
flop xxx all low and i getting excited now, no 10 ,3 outs to avoid
turn.... 10!!!
river despite my prayers no J

so i got in all in infront but it didn't hold, out in 6th for $18 was hoping for a top 4 finish really which was bout $30ish and up

all in all happy
did i make right call??
well my thoughts at that stage were that the guy on 13k had pushed a few times and could be pushing with Ax or even just a steal, so i decided my AJ was prob bout even or a light underdog and this would gove me equal big stack and great position to press on for a win.

any thoughts??

PK69

Monday 23 April 2007

Good Day

hope everyone had a good weekend
started usual $2turbo on FT, played tight til mid way through when was getting low on chips cant remember if i pushed pre flop or on the flop, i had a pair got called and someone made trips or 2 pair, pretty uneventful really

though i have now had my first rakeback deposit into my ft account, and after i lost the $2 turbo it said that i had cleared $5 of my bonus!! so an extra $9 for my to toy with!!

on stars played a $6 2 table turbo, pretty solid made 3rd for $21 nice
then i hoped on a 2c/5c table and lost bout $8

then on moment of madness started a 10c/25c tables with $25, was hoping for one good hand to get paid, well i didn't have to waot long!!

there a raise to $1 and in mid position i find 88, i call and flop x,8,k !! now i hoping he has AK or some of it, he bets $2 and i just call, turn no scare card so he bets $5 i raise to $18 he thinks and calls, river not much he bets $3 i reraise my last $3.70 and all in, he calls and mucks!!!

and a very welcome near $50 dollar pot comes my way, i leave table there and then

PK69

Friday 20 April 2007

Bubble Boy

Oh so close today, this morning i decided i was gonna be solid

i started Full Tilt $2 turbo and pokerstars $6 2 table turbo, not much happening on full tilt but on pokerstars i got off to a good start flopping a str8

not much to say played tight on full tilt but just didnt get any cards, on stars i managed to get a few more chips and gradually build a bit but no great progress

on full tilt i then start getting some cards make some good hands, make a few good bluffs and we down to last 4 and pretty even

om stars all was going well til we got down to 12 i was in top 5 and i got A7 orsomething late position so i raised as no one had entered yet, get one caller behind me, flop comes 77Q rainbow!! i bet bout half pot get called, turn not much but 2 of a suit now so i bet bout 700 which was nearly pots size i think? he calls again, river is the 3rd suit and now i got feeling he got the flush, i bet 600 he raises i call and yup he got flush on river, i should have been more aggressive earlier

anyway with that i was pretty low on chips, final table time i am mid position with 56off, as soon as there are 2 callers i figure there enough in pot for me to gamble on it and try tripple up, so i push all in folded back to blinds who both call as do the 2 callers, flop cant remember but when the 2nd guys bets big they all fold apart from one guy who now goes all in himself

the better has QQ, other guy A10 ish, turn and river..... i draw a str8 on river!!!!!

saved and i am back in game, amazingly at this point the table starts talking bout me being a superdonk!!! one hand when i desperate and they all write me off, well if they under estimate me it fine by me

it fairly tight with 8 left, i hit a few flops and get up a bit, then my dream hand
i get AA in late they an aggressive chip leader in BB who been raising a lot, so i limp he raises as i expect and i call
flop nothing to worrying he bets i reraise min and he comes back all in... just like i thought he would, i call and and now chip leader

back to work lunch over, will continue this later

ok so i back

so i was chip leader though not by much, things went round and round lots of stealing not many flops, cant remember much more though we got down to 5 with 4 paid, now i av stack pushes here and there see chips moving from one to other of us then with 1010 i push and get called by bigger stack he has K10hearts
flop: 10!!! xx one heart
turn heart
river heart
and my trips are no good!!

so close

on full tilt i made it to bubble time again and got it in with AK or AJ, called by 9K or 9J all the way to turn i ahead, river... 9!! he hits his bottom card on river and i out on bubble again!!

oh well so near yet so far!!

PK69

Thursday 19 April 2007

Just too much

good day all and hope ur all well and the cards are being good to u!
well i tried full tilt today and all is back to normal, however i didn't play my $2 turbo as was going for 3 days on the run on pokerstars $6turbo 2 table tourny

Carried away, i saw the 2 table tourny had 5 seats left so i quickly registered, but at the same time i saw a $6 turbo 5 table tourny which was nearly full and in a rash moment i registered for that too!

well not too much to tell early on, play solid tight not seeing many hands

on the 2 table tourny caught a few cards but never really got going, when we down to 7 and 4 get paid i was getting low in chips, i decided AJ suited was good enough so in early position i pushed, got one caller from late position, they had AQoff..... well an Ace on flop didn't help and with no more luck was out in 7th

was fairly happy with my play considering fairly poor hands i got most of the time

in the 5 table tourny, i got 1010 and raised, one caller a flop of 10A5 was enough for us both to get it in but no help for his A9 and i was in top 5 of 30 remaining, doing ok then i get KK in BB now about 4 other call, so with so many in the hand and no position i decide i gota raise, so 4xBB and only 2 callers now

flop.. no ace pls..... A107, i know at least one of these guys has to have an ace so i check then fold when the action starts, they get it all in and its AK v KJsuited, AK holds up and it was a good fold by me just shame couldn't get anything for my kings!!

i drop down but stay around the top 10 as it gets down to 20

i make and lose a few hands here and there as i slowly move down the order

then, in late position i get KK again!!
a few callers and i decide i need the chips so again i raise bout 3/4 x BB
get 1 or 2 callers again
pls no ace on flop and i am pushing!!
flop...... A45!! damn those Kings, so again i check fold it and again Ax v A+lower kicker see's someone else knocked out

top 7 get paid and down to 12 and i bout 10th
i hanging in now by thread, blinds and anti's getting higher so before i got nothing left to worry people with i push all in, cant remember what with, maybe 10Jsuited? wasn't quite desperate any 2 cards time but with blinds coming round it wasn't far away either, anyway i get called by the big stack he hits one of his cards and i am out!! in 12th

so no cash place today!!

overall fairly happy, pleased with my 2 lay downs of the kings cause there been times before that i fallen in love with the big pair and not let it go or try over play it, i will write bout that soon.

PK69

Wednesday 18 April 2007

Poker basics-hand rankings

so i describe the basic of poker, now what are the hand we are hoping to get:

1/Royal Flush/Str8 flush= 5 cards of same suit in running ordere.g 10-A, 5-9
2/4 of a kind
3/Full House=3 cards same and a pair e.g AAKKK, the higher set of 3 determines best hand
4/Flush=5 cards same suit, the person with highest card of suit wins, or working down the hand the next highest card and so on, so if the A is on the flop then both have A high flush but next highest card counts to winning hand so if one has K and other a J the AK flush will win
5/Str8=5 cards in running order of any suit,
6/3 of a kind
7/2 pair
8/1 pair
9/high card

PK69

Poker today

well Full Tilt was again out of action, new software to download it said, so after downloading it i logged in and feeling uneasy i tried to view a cash table first... sure enough not much came up!!
seen this prob before so decided to leave FT for today and try again 2moro when hopefully it just starts working for some reason

so, on to pokerstars i go and i get in the $6 turbo 2 table tourny again, i think these are great value!!

playing pretty conservatively i make it to the final 12 or so, then take a few pots and we are the final 9.

early on i get 1010, make a raise get a call, flop a 10 i check the guy has been aggressive before, he duely come back over the top i call all in and we down to 8 and i 3rd in chips

i then get a run of cards, i get KK, something, QQ, something QQ, something, AKsuited, 1010 again, and the best part is that i make the most out of all of them, after this run we are down to 5 or 6 and i either chip leader or close 2nd

goes down to 4 which is payout time, and the small stack has been pushing all in almost every other hand

first hand i get against him.. AA i am SB so i just call, he is BB and as normal pushes all in, i insta call and its game over for him when his 37 does hit anything!!

down to 3 i wait my time but keep the pressure on with raises here and there, i am healthy chip leader, i take out 3rd place when my 66 beats his k4 so we heads up

i have about 20k
he has 4k

i raise a few times and get him to fold, he takes a few pots but i then get it back

with blinds about 500/1000 he cant last long
so when i get AQsuited i push him in, he calls with J4

flop x QJ,
turn x,
river... any guesses?? 4!! giving him 2 pair

with a few more chips he a bit more aggressive and at just the wrong time my cards seem to dry up!!

i call a few raises he and there to try see some flops but no joy

then a key hand, i have A9 he has A10, it all goes in and he hits a 10 on the flop
now i short stack, i fight and get some back
i get lucky with all in 310 v his A9 when my 3 on the flop holds

but i still treading water and the blinds go up to 600/1200!!

i get A7 suited and push he calls with J6, ace on flop and i look safe...... do feel that......
it coming.....
turn 6, river....... J!! so his 2 pair does me again!!

oh well happy with 2nd and another $32, that twice in 2 days!!

maybe i need to work on my heads up??
but with the blinds getting so high once u lose a few chips ur struggling

PK69

Tuesday 17 April 2007

Busy Busy Busy!!

wow work is busy at the moment, plus with doing my training courses i getting next to no time to play poker or work on my blog!!

i logged on to Full Tilt this morning ready to play my usual $2 turbo but it wasn't there!!
it was odd the sng menu looked weird, the smallest no limit game was $100 !!!! whats that about?
did anyone else notice this or have any probs??

so i started up pokerstars, and got on a $6 turbo 2 table sng, i came 2nd for a very nice $30ish, more of that please!!

Rackback- i know lots of people out there all use it but i have a question, i joined rakebrain and that is where i downloaded full tilt from, now looking on my rakebrain account is shows the rake i have earned back for the last few months, now how do i know if this has gone into my full tilt account?? anyone?
i tried looking at my account history but it only showed my initial deposit??

any ideas on that one?

when i get the chance i will continue with my poker basic theory and move on to other areas that i clearly need to work on

goodluck on the tables all

PK69

Friday 13 April 2007

Basic Holdem

Another $2 turbo and another good finish, 2nd! thats two 1st's and a 2nd in my last 3!! i just need to keep this going now

OK, lets start on some basics (i know we all know these but for the sake of being complete)

I play NoLimit Holdem(NLHE), tourny or cash games, though i really should stick to tourny's for now!!

as we all know this is how the game goes

everyone is dealt 2 cards face down, that only they can see, the person to the left of the dealer Small Blind (SB) makes a half bet of the minimum, the player to his left Big Blind (BB) makes the minimum bet from here everyone has 3 choices, fold and keep there chips, call the bet or raise, of which the raise has to be a minimum of the value of the BB or previous bet if reraising

once every has called we see 3 cards (Flop), another round of betting, a 4th Card (Turn) another round of betting and a final 5th card and a final round of betting

the player with the best hand (5 cards using any of his 2 and the 5 on the board) or who's bet is not called wins the hand

basic i know, but lets cover it and move on

PK69

Thursday 12 April 2007

Another day, same old......

Poker, its a funny old game, the gods are just playing with me
i play a $2 turbo on full tilt, play steady and when we get down to 3 the other 2 guys are so passive that i just bet everything until the bet back, it didnt take too long and i won!! at last 2 wins in 2 days, need a few more now

but then my other temptation reared its ugly head, i put $6 in a cash table!!! why do i do it???????

a few good hands where i didn't put the guy on anything so reraised and took some pots, can't remember any details!!

now the bad.
i get AQ i raise 3xbb, think 1 caller
flop comes pretty raggy, he checks so i bet bout half-3/4 pot..... he thins then calls
turn a 6 and pairs the board, he checks again.... well he not showing any strength so i fire again at it, this time a pot size bet....
again he dwells before calling
river cant remember he checks and now i think i must be being trapped so i check back
i show and i either had 1 or 2 pairs, cant remember exactly now
so what he have........ K4hearts, and u know what the river was... yup the 3rd heart to give him the FLUSH!! he had nothing but kept calling to the river where he duely got the winning hand

so what i do wrong?? should i have bet more??

a few hands later and still pretty pissed off i get A10 diamonds 2 limpers so i raise 4xBB, SB folds, BB calls and one other calls
flop is J89, with one diamond
1st guy checks, 2nd bets 20c, i reraise to 80c now the original checker re-reraises to $1.80......
other guy folds... so i got open ended str8 and a runner runner nut flush draw....
i decide to jam in my remaining $3.50 or similar amount
the guy thinks for a while and calls
showdown
ME A10 str8 and flush draw
HIM 53clubs ??????? there are 2 clubs on the board!!!!

so turn... a Q!!!! i got the str8 for once the gods are smiling on me!!!!!
River... CLUB!! he takes the flush and my $6 is gone


so did i play it wrong? was it just the gods? or is it just that flush draws always hit against me?

so after getting my account up it now at either $10 or $16 not sure

brilliant!! i couldnt get pokerstars to work so will look into that 2moro

PK69

Wednesday 11 April 2007

NON Poker

well work is over so time for a quick post, i must say that Man Utd were awesome last night!! we destroyed Roma 7-1!! it is probably the best performance this season and we are in the semi of champ league now!!

ok so thats the non poker stuff out the way

i may have mentioned before that my full tilt not going so well, was down to like $5 at one point
i am now up to $15!! i played a $2 turbo this morning and won!! a cash finish at last!! just need a dozen more and i mite be back to where i started!!

i have also decided to put $60 in my pokerstars account, there chance for 2 or 3 table turbos in the morning mean i mite be able to build my roll a bit more should i make the cash instead of the current single tables at full tilt

now about my posts, i have noticed previously that my posts are mainly my losing hands, now i know we all have bad beats and we heard them all before so from now i want to do it differently

i will continue to discuss my losing hands, because, u need to learn from ur mistakes and cut them out to improve so where i am losing i must be doing something wrong.. though i will try not to dwell on only these

i will also try to post a few winning hands with my thoughts to see if i won because of good decisions or luck

also while talking about my sessions played i need to do some work on my theory as this is what i am thinking about when i actually play so by working on that i should improve me play before i make the mistakes which i tell u about

so from now:
more theory discussions
some winning hands
and some losing hands

well thats the goal anyway, but we all love a moan!!

PK69

Happy Easter...... not quite!

Hello all, been a while since my last post, hope u all been running well and killing the tables
i... well.... i have been absolutely raped senseless!! u know those times when everything goes against u, when u just think why do i bother, well that has been my easter!!

been playing bad, rushing, playing crappy cards, tilt is my best friend lately!!

however i am determined that this must only be a blip and i can pull it back!!

i wont bore u with all the details of my sessions but here is a example of my lack of luck

i not doing well short stacked, i get A9 diamonds its good enough for me so i push my tiny stack in, i get 2 callers, flop comes Q94 with 2 hearts
so i got some of it...... 1 caller bets and the other folds
the caller has A9 also, with the A of hearts
so i looking good for a split here........ but whats that.....
yes he has the ace of hearts and there 2 hearts on the flop........ i get that sinking feeling... u know what i mean.... like fate u can feel it coming
turn........ 3 of..... hearts!
so no heart and i am still in the game
river........ HEART of course!!

another tourny i was actually doing ok
i have AQ clubs so i raise 3xBB
a kinda middle stack but getting low goes all in... back to me and i call (i think was like this or maybe he went all in on flop..)
flop is something like A105 so i well ahead
turn 2
river 3
what u think has has???
yup A4 and a str8!!

anyway i have more to say but as i am at work it will have to wait for another post

also wombol thanks for ur concern at my absence, i will get back to u re full tilt soon

PK69