Positive Frame of Mind

The multis last night didnt produce anything. The deepstack I did not play as well as I would have liked. I was card dead for long stretches and as a result I was the short stack on my table most of the time. I ended up pushing in with AJ when the tourney chipleader raised. He called with 77 and I hit two jacks but he four flushed and that was it. I am disappointed as I let the stack size of others dictate my play rather then the blinds. Next time.

The APAT I did ok. I never had a big hand to break out with, I was around 13K-17K most of the night and as the blinds rose, my cards didnt rise to meet the occasion. I pushed with AJs and was called by AK.

The $3 rebuy I was bored with. I lost a coinflip and left the tourney. I was more interested in the deepstack.

Anyways, after last night, my balance was an extremely unhealthy $285. Yes, I know, pitiful. Especially for a player who wants $1000 by Christmas. Well after playing today I am back to $506. Quite a nice profit for a days work if I do say so myself (which I do). I bit the bullet and started playing the $15+1 turbos. They are fantastic as they suit my game extremely well. When it gets to four handed I make a movkery of the game and pretty much take control. I am much more dangerous in these games the in the $6 SnG turbos as people in the $6 get fed up and call me, whereas in the $15 turbos they fold.

I played 17 today and I finished in the money 11 times. Happy days!

1st - 5
2nd - 1 (I have a lot of confidence when it gets heads up as I have been playing very well)
3rd - 5
Out of money - 6

I realise that these games are out of my bankroll, but to be honest, I lost interest with the grind of the $6 turbos. I was not reaching my goal quick enough for my liking and I dont like playing when I am not focused. These new tourneys have me very interested and that is a good sign. I am hoping for more of the same tomorrow.

Day of the Multis

Planning on playing three multis today.

The first up is the $10 deepstack starting at 5pm GMT. 5000 chips, 30 minute blinds. I cannot wait. I played one before but was silly and got all the money in with K7 on KK9 board. He had K9 and that was me.

The second is the $3.30 rebuys at 7pm GMT. I played this 2 weeks ago and had KK beat by AK. I know I can peform well and a massive prize pool is a nice enticement to do so.

The third is the APAT Chinese Amateur Poker Open. The Amateur Poker Association Tour is a UK based business that provides poker for amateurs. They have a tourney on pokerstars every second Saturday for $22, and a starting chip count of 5000 but the levels are a regular 15 minutes.

I hope to have a nice cash in atleast one so I can get ready for next weeks Cincinnati Club Fetival.

Heres to hoping

Bond Is A Re-Buy Merchant

Saw Casino Royale last night. Not a bad movie, but the poker scenes. Oh, the poker scenes. Now I know these hands are not real, yes I know that, it's a movie. But as a poker enthusiast I like seeing the game I enjoy shown in the light it deserves. ie, winning hands with A high happens, you can get lucky, the better player usually wins. For those of you who have not seen the movie and do not want to know what the poker scenes are like, stop reading. Stopped yet? Stop, seriously. Just stop.

Ok, the first poker scene is the bad guy playing a women and some rich business man on a yacht. The turn card is the only part of the board shown and it is a K of diamonds. The bad guy goes all in and says, "I have two pair, you have a 17.4% chance of making your straight on the river." And guess what, the other guy folds! I thought for sure he had a set. Just kidding, wouldnt make much sense to see the bad guy lose to anyone but Bond. This scene I didnt like as he had no idea what the women folded, therefore he does not know how many outs the man has to make a straight.

The second scene is Bond playing a minor bad guy at a club in the Bahamas. Blinds are 100-200 and we pick up the big defining hand on the turn. It is a blank and the minor bad guy bets 5000 on an ace high board. Bond flat calls. The river is a K. The minor bad guy bets everything and then tries reaching into his pocket to write a cheque for 20,000. I would have left the cinema if the dealer allowed it, but thankfully she says only whats on the table can be bet. The minor bad guy then says, "well, my keys are on the table". And throws his expensive car into the pot. Bond then tells the dealer it's ok to bet it and calls. Minor bad guy flips KK hitting his set on the river, while Bond 'luckily' had AA for a higher set. So cheesey and cliched.

The rest of the poker is at Casino Royale in Montenegro and Bond has been bought in by the Mi6 as, "he is the best player in the service" (I am sure they keep records of such things). The buy in is 10 million with a rebuy if needed of 5 million.

Anyway, the first big hand shows the board as 589 hearts and the turn is the 9 clubs. Head bad guy (same from yacht) bets each round and is called by Bond. The river is a 2 and bad guy bets again. Bond calls to see a boat. 22299. I would say in a real game, Bond had either a low flush or a pair. Obviously they dont show it, but it would make sense for the hand. Bond then tells his cohorts at the bar that bad guy had a tell and gives the odds of hitting his set on the river as 23-1. Again, impressing those non poker people, but evident to anyone who has an odds calculator or goes to cardplayer.com. Anyways, the next big hand is where I have a big problem.

The board reads J K A J K and the bad guy goes all in. Bond lifts his cards to reveal AK, the third nuts, behind AA and JJ. Bond then calls for all his chips to be shown JJ. Bond leaves the table and is shown talking to his service friends. He is blamed for losing focus and "how could he lose with such a hand". Ok, that is upsurd. Yes he had the third nuts, but the fact he couln't lay it down is not an obvious mistake. Silly really. He buys back in and wins enough to be a contender again.

The final hand shows a board of Ah 4s 6s 8s As. Everyone goes all in (the four remaining) and they prepare to flip over their cards. Cue the cheese please. At this point I say to my finacee next to me "KQ spades". The lowest stack shows KQ spades. Thank you. I then say "pocket 8's". Next lowest stack shows 88. Thank you. I then say pocket Aces, but bad guy shows A6, hey, I was close. And then I say obviously, "57 spade". And yes incredibly, Bond has it. I know, I was worried he was bluffing as well.

All in all, I was pleased to see poker in a major film which will be seen by poker players and non poker players alike. I think the movie did ok in portraying poker and because it is trying to appeal to many people, it had to be a bit cheesey.

RIP Six Seaters

Well that sucked.

Last night I began playing the six seater $12 SnG's. They are by far the most frustrating tables I have ever played on. My first table I played I looked up each of the players on sharkscope to see their monetary records on pokerstars. Two players were in the megative hundreds, two players were in the negative thousands (including one guy who was down eight grand) and the fifth player was a positive nine dollars in three hundred games. Yes, apparently games like this exist. Then why did I not finish in the money?

These players called everything. Let me repeat that, everything. I folded anything and everything early on waiting for a big hand to get paid off with. Said hand arrives in the form of AA on the button. I raise to 350 with the blinds at 25-50. I get four callers. Let me say that again I had not played a hand in over twenty minutes and I get four callers. The flop comes K98 with two spades. Damn. Dangerous flop. First player bets 3/4 of the pot, second player calls, third player calls, fourth player folds. What do I do? I thought I was ahead so I went all in. Two callers. One player flips up T2 spades. Yes that is the T2 of spades calling a raise of 300. The other player flips over K5o. Yes that hand again is a K5o. The turn is a blank and the river is the five of spades, making my hand the third best. Frustrating to say the least.

Yes I know many people will say I can make money in games like these and that when hands like that call my AA I will win in the long run. But to be honest, I didnt have fun. I played a few more and basically broke even by getting two second places but it wasn't poker, not even at the end. The game was just me sitting there waiting for the nuts, and because it is six handed, there are not enough chips three handed to get creative. All in all, the six seat mania was short lived.

Which brings me to my next point. I think I am going back to the good ole days of min raises and folding everything early. Yes, a normal, run of the mill, ten minute levels, nothing fancy early, fold 77 in early position, stay away from confrontation, nine player SnG's. But not the $5.50, nope, not for this hombre. I am venturing forth to the $10 SnG. The first place money is the same as the $6.50 18 man turbos and the six seater $12 SnG's, so it makes sense. I can't go back to the $5.50 SnG either as I may kill myself playing for over an hour and earning $17. I think I can play well and hopefully go back to the format which was most successful for me. I may also allow myself the occasional foray into the $20 SnG world if I win a few in a row, almost as a reward to liven up the game.

Here's to hoping

Six Seat Mania

I have decided to play the six seaters for a little while to see how I get on. The first prize is the same as the 18 man turbos, albeit double the entry fee. I think with the game not developing into a crap shoot I can do well. If I get any lower then $300 (approx nine buyins at this level) then I will drop back down.

Here's to hoping

Definition of Discipline and Focus - NOT ME!

I am very upset with myself.

Last Friday I had my roll as high as $560. I was playing so well. I went on a run where I played four 18 man turbos and I got three firsts. Crazy eh? My confidence was super high, I saw the game on a different level and I was really playing well. Then late Friday night I decided to log back on and play some more. I was destroying the 6.50 turbos...why not play the $16 turbos and ride my hot streak? For those of you with weak stomachs, stop reading. I played some $16 turbos, maybe four or five, and I believe I got a 4th place somewhere in there. I went to Ireland and played a $16 turbo. No dice. I played some more $6.50 turbos trying to get some confidence back. No dice yet again. I was getting cold decked supremely and getting bad beats galore. Nothing like getting kicked when your down. I then remembered talking to my college roommate Mike and that he started playing the $35 six seaters. I took a stab on them (I know I know totally not what my original goal was) and came up empty. I played some more today and again I could pick up nothing in the turbos. I was down to around $320, yes, about $240 away from where I was Friday night. (If I had only went to bed and stopped playing) So I collected myself and signed up for a $35 six seater. With my registration paid I had $285 left. I was down early but fought back. This is the final hand.



I felt it was nice of the poker gods to give me a straight flush as some form of redemption.

Well I am beaten but I feel that it was yet another good experience that did not leave me penniless. I am upset I let myself get so low, but I am glad I put it up on this blog as I thought about not posting it.

I am going to think it over about what game I should playing and what stakes suit me. I am getting a little tired of the turbos, but cannot go back to playing the five dollar SnG's. I am looking at the $12 six seaters, but we'll see.

Pokerstars Balance - $422.45

Thank You

Thank You Youtube, this made my day.

A player named Tuff_Fish is playing 2/4 No Limit on Party Poker. While playing, this player records his thoughts using a microphone as well as a camera pointing at the screen. Just watch this hand, his reaction is priceless.

Tuff_Fish goes on tilt.

PS Turn up the volume to make sure you hear everything, although there is some bad language so headphones may be in order depending on who is in the room

Rome Wasn't Built in A Day (Hopefully It Was A Week)

First of all, I must admit that yesterday's pokerstars balance was not correct at $450, rather it was $442. Not a massive difference but I want to keep such information accurate.

So last night I was late at work with parents night, so I came home tired but wanting to play for a little while. I logged on and signed up for the usual 18 man turbo. It filled quickly and we were away. I had little early, folding and watching a rather aggressive table. Then I got AQ suited on the button. With 3 mid position limpers at 15/30 I raised to 250. (yes I know it is a lot but I have found at this level, it is the way to go as I only want the pot heads up or I am content to take it down) One caller. The flop comes QJ4. He checks, I raise 400 he calls. The turn is a 3. He checks I go all in, he calls with A3. Yes, A3. River is not a 3, I am up to 2700 early. (yes I put in his notes he is a fish). A few hands later I get AA folded around to me in the cut off. I raise to 150 wanting one caller. The BB obliges. The flop is Q92. He checks I bet 300, he calls. The turn is a J. He checks, I go all. He calls 900 with T 7. River is a blank and I am up to 4000. (Yes I also put fish in his notes as well). A few hand later in the BB I get QTs. The shortstacked SB makes up the 100 BB, just the two of us. Instead of raising I decide to see a flop. The flop comes AT6. He checks, I bet 100, he goes all in. He wouldn't flat call the BB with an ace right? I call. Yes he would, he has A4. Turn is a T, river is a Q giving me a boat and 1200 more chips. Who says I have no luck right?

Final Table. With eight people left I get TT in mid position. Wth a stack of 6500 and being in second place I raise the 100-200 blinds to 800. A stack of 2300 goes all in. I call and he shows QQ. Board comes K T 8 7 4. Oops. I suck out again. As the game winds down, a fast game becomes a slow one, and for the first time, a turbo gets to 1000-2000 blinds. Heads up I am in the SB with 64. With a stack of 16000, I go all in as by this time it is a crap shoot. He calls with Q3. I flop a 6, no queen hits and I take it down. He berated me in the chat box how I could move with 64. Well, the fact he called with Q3 can hardly be called a good play, and he also sucked out on me with 97 v AQ earlier, so it evens out.

All in all, a great way to get back to winning ways. One game, one first place. Very satisfying. I realise that one good day is not enough to say I am back on track, but I hope it is a start.

Pokerstars Balance - $479.35

PS Going to Ireland this weekend so probably no poker. I may fit a game in hopefully but no guaruntees. I hope to play a few tonight but I am going to see Casino Royale and hopefully some proper poker scenes. (If it is royal flush v quads or full house v straight flush type stuff I will not be happy.)

Here's to Hoping

Purple Monkey Dishwasher

I played last night.

I went as low as $416.

Twice I had pairs beat by lower pairs.

Twice I had AK beat by Ax.

I wanted to play poker forever and never again at the same time.

I finished strong though and got back up to $450.

Luck is around the corner...I hope.

Why oh Why?

Well yesterday I was riding high. I had $520 in my account, and with the fiancee going to parents night at her school, I had a two hour window and aspirations of reaching $600. I started off with a different game plan. I opened a $6.50 turbo and a regular $5.50 18 man SnG. I thought that as the turbo fiished, the regular SnG would be heading into high gear with 75/150 blinds and where the min raise is king. It didnt pan out. I got 4th place in the turbo and no place in the regular. I tried again losing both. I tried yet again, losing both. By this time I am getting frustrated and in my frustration I do what I promised myself I wouldn't. I opened a $16 turbo. I know. I am ashamed and feel guilty. I just wanted to see the level of play and if there were any differences in the flow. Although, I must come clean...I played two of them. I know. I shouldn't have but I got unlucky in the first and thought the second would be better. It wasn't. I got 7th place for the big nada.

So here I am, feeling guilty after losing $58 in one sitting. I am a new man though, and I plan on attacking the turbos with a renewed sense of vigour. I have seen the dark side and lived to tell the tale. I am humbled yet again, but feel freed from any further temptation. I will return to the world of $500 bank rolls and hopefully the $600 club will follow soon after.

Knightsridge will be back. (yes I just spoke in the first person, thats how serious I am)

Pokerstars Balance - $462.85

Vegas Baby Vegas

No I am not in Vegas. I am still in rain soaked Glasgow Scotland, but I thought I would share a story from when I was in Vegas this past summer.

I work at a children's sports camp each summer in the Catskill Mountains of New York. I have done this the past six years and I love it. I teach tennis and roller hockey as well as act as the assistant head counselor. Where does Vegas come in you ask? Well, the oldest kids on camp are fifteen and each summer this age group takes a ten day trip to the west coast. (yes, the kids are loaded) I was asked by the camp director if I would fly with the kids and tour around as a chaperone. As in I pay nothing and see the west coast? As in I pay nothing and have fun with kids I have known for six years and my girlfriend who is also a counselor comes with us? As in I pay nothing and stay in beautiful hotels in San Fran, Beverly Hills, Arizona and (gulp) Las Vegas? As in...hell yes.

We went to the coast and had a great time, but for me for obvious reasons Las Vegas was by far my favorite part. It truly is an amazing place. Even though I was only there for a short period of time, a day and a half, it was enough to make me want to go back very soon. I went to the WSOP at the Rio, and saw Lederer and Lindgren, saw the tables spread out from wall to wall and saw the hoopla that surrounds poker's biggest spectacle. Absolutely thrilling. I saw The Bellagio and Caesar's Palace and I could have stayed forever. The buzz is incredible.

Anyways. I was staying at The Excalibur. It is across the street from the MGM and is on The Strip. It is a massive hotel (I was in room 17235 meaning 17th floor, 2nd tower, room 35, insane eh?) and has a shopping mall, about twenty restaurants, and an indoor walkway to MGM which is also massive. Because I was with kids as a chaperone, I didnt feel comfortable leaving them and walking around Vegas at night when they are in their rooms, so I opted to stay at the Excalibur and play there. The kids had a curfew of midnight so at 12:05 I was at the table.

The game was 1-3 no limit with a max buy in of $200. I bought in for $200 and because cash is not my usual game, played tight early. I built up a reputation as a tight player and slowly loosened up winning a few pots. I was up to about $260, when the following hand happened. To this day I think about this hand and how different it could have ended up; both positively and negatively.

I was in the BB for three dollars and the UTG straddled for six dollars. (A straddle is doubling the BB UTG and if the straddle is only called and not raised the straddler has the option to raise.) The six dollars was called by three players (a new guy to the table but seemed solid, a drunk guy, and a guy who seemed on tilt and was running low on chips) The SB folded and I looked down to see AA. This was my first real starting hand and I definitely did not want five to the flop. I raised to $31 to play (25 raise plus the straddle of 6). The straddler folded. The solid new guy flat called (I immediately was worried and I put him on a mid pair hoping to hit a set.) The drunk guy called. By this time I was really worried. Then the tilter low on chips goes all in for $54. It is back to me facing a raise of $29. By this time the pot has grown quite large and I am content to play it heads up; I go all in for around $225. The solid player seemed disgusted and made a comment to the tilter about being forced out of the hand. The drunk guy then started staring at me. He was swaying and his eyes were blood red. He had less then me but more then the tilter. He took forever, and then called. What the hell is going on I thought? The drunk flips over AT offsuit (like I said...drunk) The tilter flips over 85 offsuit (like I said tilt) and I flip over bullets. The pot is quite big, the biggest since I had arrived at the table, and all I want is a flop of QQQ or KKK so I can breath again. As the dealer positions our cards on the felt preparing to deal the flop, the solid player says 'nice hand, I had sevens'. The flop comes T 4 7, giving drunk guy top pair needing another ten, and tilter a gutshot needing a six. As I am trying to figure this out, the dealer turns a blank; Q. One more blank please dealer. The river is the 6 giving tilter a straight. Tilter lets out a yell and some comment about gambling in poker and the courage he showed. He wins the main pot while I settle for the side pot of me and drunk guy (which strangely enough put me five dollars up for the hand after I finish counting)

This hand could have changed dramatically if the solid player had seen the flop with sevens. I would have gone broke when he hit his set. No doubt about it. I would have led out big and he would have reraised all in. Even more amazing however, is the amount I raised preflop. Had I reraised any more then $25, tilter guy's all in would have been an under raise not allowing me to go all in over the top shutting out solid guy and his sevens. A strange hand, both lucky in some ways and unlucky in others. To cap this though, as I was counting the chips from the side pot, some regulars start hitting the table in unison saying 'spin the wheel, spin the wheel' I give a 'what the hell is going on look' and the dealer explains. 'If you have aces cracked all in preflop you spin the bad beat wheel, just tell the poker cage and they will bring you over'. I walk to the cage in the middle of the poker area and say 'I had aces cracked preflop' The cage looks at the dealer from my table and she gives the nod. I walk up to the wheel and it looks heavy. I think I will have to give it a solid spin to make it go around. Well I spin as hard as I can and when I do this I realise it is not heavy, but in fact, light. The wheel takes off and shows no signs of stopping. I stand there like an idiot waiting for this wheel to stop and the whole poker room is looking at me. I also see that my table is dealing again and that I had posted the SB before I left. I run over and play the hand. The wheel is still going. I play my button hand and the wheel is still going strong. After the third hand, the wheel is slowing down. I walk over and the wheel finally stops at $30. I walk up and inform the cage that I won $30.

That hand was, and remains, by far the weirdest way I have ever won $35 in my life. But it definitely made the trip to Vegas memorable.

Late Night With A Monkey

Last night I couldn't sleep so I thought I would play a late night SnG to finish out the day. I logged on and thought I would check out the Sunday Million tourney to see if any big names were on. There was. 'matt674' an Irish player and friend from Blonde Poker was sitting on 40,000 or so at around 11:30. Great I thought, fire up an SnG and watch Matt play while the tedious opening levels of the SnG unfold.

Let's just say that Matt was faring better than my attempts as my AK was no match for AJ. I couldn't go to bed now though, not being 6.50 down and Matt going strong. This was my thought process at 11:30. This continued until close to 3:00am. 'matt674' (who's p-stars pic is something like this) was playing solid poker but was not getting the cards to fall as they should missing out on a double up with AJ v AT ending in a split pot.

After a run in with AJ v AQ, Matt found himself down to less then a BB and in the BB. Fortunately he quadrupled up with a K6, stole some blinds and had it folded around to him once while in the BB. Then this hand happened. Matt went all in for a little less then 200,000 with AK UTG to be called immediately by AQ in mid position. The flop came Q high and the turn gave trip Q's. Unlucky Matt, but 340th or something close as well as $1200 is nothing to be disappointed with. WP.

PS I fared ok in the SnG realm last night. Finishing with $502.54 which is exactly where I was Saturday morning, albeit after some multis including a rebuy. Quite satisfied for the time being, although I am anxious to hit $600.

Reflection of Recent Play

My play in the last three to four days has been solid. I have integrated some MTT's in and the results monetarily speaking have been desolate, but for my poker game have been immense.

I began to look at playing SnG's as a grind. The end of a turbo SnG is fast and all in is the only move. To start one up again is very tedious. Folding things like AJ and 77 so as not to lose chips early. It begins to wear down poker theory and it becomes just a game of couting how many rounds you can sustain and predicting a short stack's breaking point before the inevitable all in will occur.

MTT's however, have a semblance of normalcy and balance. A player leaves but a new one comes along. My luck in these MTT's recently has not been good. AK v AJ, KK v AK, KK v AJ have all been my exit hands in recent attempts. This is encouraging. I feel that I will have a serious cash in the near future. However, to go along with these non cashes, my roll has depleted somewhat. Enter 'renewed sense of urgency' in SnG form. My SnG performance now allows me to play these MTT's as I feel I can replace lost money quickly. Each of the past two nights I have lost MTT's and immediately played SnG's to replace lost money. And each time I won everything back and then some, as I felt the need to perform. A somewhat disciplined approach in allowing myself (and my roll) to play MTT's.

I hope to hit a major MTT cash soon, and that my SnG performance allows me to continue for this elusive result.

My Cowboys Are Broken

Played two tourneys tonight. The same ones as last night. The three dollar rebuy and the five dollar freezeout. I played well throughout each and if I had won either of these hands I would have been in great shape to make a good run. Really disappointed with both.

PokerStars Game #6983780005: Tournament #35144482, $3.00+$0.30 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2006/11/11 - 16:33:43 (ET)
Table '35144482 214' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: dont77 (17700 in chips)
Seat 2: edd3800 (11230 in chips)
Seat 3: twotone1 (26361 in chips)
Seat 4: Knightsridge (11310 in chips)
Seat 5: superking168 (3826 in chips)
Seat 6: cheryl3011 (12420 in chips)
Seat 7: mikes1157 (38175 in chips)
Seat 8: Psikodelic (19535 in chips)
Seat 9: TheEinherjer (15350 in chips)
dont77: posts the ante 50
edd3800: posts the ante 50
twotone1: posts the ante 50
Knightsridge: posts the ante 50
superking168: posts the ante 50
cheryl3011: posts the ante 50
mikes1157: posts the ante 50
Psikodelic: posts the ante 50
TheEinherjer: posts the ante 50
Psikodelic: posts small blind 300
TheEinherjer: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Knightsridge [Kd Kh]
superking168 is connected
dont77: folds
edd3800: folds
twotone1: folds
Knightsridge: raises 600 to 1200
superking168: folds
cheryl3011: folds
mikes1157: folds
Psikodelic: folds
TheEinherjer: raises 1800 to 3000
Knightsridge: raises 3000 to 6000
TheEinherjer: raises 3600 to 9600
Knightsridge: raises 1660 to 11260 and is all-in
TheEinherjer: calls 1660
*** FLOP *** [4d 2s Ac]
TheEinherjer said, "doh"
TheEinherjer said, "wow"
*** TURN *** [4d 2s Ac] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [4d 2s Ac 5h] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TheEinherjer: shows [Ks As] (two pair, Aces and Fives)
Knightsridge: shows [Kd Kh] (two pair, Kings and Fives)
TheEinherjer collected 23270 from pot



PokerStars Game #6984147694: Tournament #35144487, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2006/11/11 - 17:01:37 (ET)
Table '35144487 162' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: jbm911 (10435 in chips)
Seat 2: Knightsridge (5170 in chips)
Seat 3: Eonwe (5892 in chips)
Seat 4: Gator615 (11150 in chips)
Seat 5: rea s k (12804 in chips)
Seat 6: mingo14 (4597 in chips)
Seat 7: MAVS2250 (8796 in chips)
Seat 8: rockyone123 (16418 in chips)
Seat 9: colorao6060 (5480 in chips)
jbm911: posts the ante 25
Knightsridge: posts the ante 25
Eonwe: posts the ante 25
Gator615: posts the ante 25
rea s k: posts the ante 25
mingo14: posts the ante 25
MAVS2250: posts the ante 25
rockyone123: posts the ante 25
colorao6060: posts the ante 25
mingo14: posts small blind 100
MAVS2250: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Knightsridge [Ks Kh]
rockyone123: folds
colorao6060: folds
jbm911: folds
Knightsridge: calls 200
Eonwe: folds
Gator615: raises 600 to 800
rea s k: folds
mingo14: folds
MAVS2250: folds
Knightsridge: raises 2700 to 3500
Gator615: calls 2700
*** FLOP *** [9s 7d 3h]
Knightsridge: bets 1645 and is all-in
Gator615: calls 1645
*** TURN *** [9s 7d 3h] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [9s 7d 3h Ah] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Knightsridge: shows [Ks Kh] (a pair of Kings)
Gator615: shows [Jc Ac] (a pair of Aces)
Knightsridge said, "unreal"
Gator615 collected 10815 from pot

PS I checked back when the tourneys finished. Gator615 got 7th place while TheEinherjer got 52nd.

Multis and Some of the Usual

Last night was Friday, and because I could sleep in, I thought I would take a shot at some multi table tourneys. First up was the three dollar rebuy 10,000 guarunteed. I had not played a rebuy online for quite awhile and I was not prepared for what I saw. People reloading to 3000 chips and going all in with nothing. I spent $18 before I left the tourney. The highlights were my KK all in against AJ and 67s. An A on the turn sealed that. AT v A8 all in preflop and an A8Q flop was the end of me. The final hand was me on tilt trying to gather a stack. I went all in over the top of a mid position raise with A9s v TT. No help, gg me. I must say though, I think I will play this one again as I now know what to expect. A few hands a little differently and I could have done well.

The second and third tourneys I played at the same time. One was a 180 4 dollar SnG while the other was a $5 multi with about 1300 runners. The 180 man I was low pretty much the whole time. I had QQ beat by KTs all in preflop and that crippled me. I ducked and dived my way back and had some good hands hold up JJ v TT and TT v 99. I was up to 15th of 21 remaining when I got AKs in mid position. A larger stack min raised the BB to 800 and I went all in over the top for 7600. He called immediately and I thought I was in trouble. He had AJo. Not sure what he thought I had but he called. A jack on the turn and another on the river was enough for 21st place. In hindsight I shouldnt have gone all in, I should have min raised him to 1600 and went all in on the flop regardless. Woulda coulda schoulda. Cant be too hard on myself as I was a big favorite and he hit, it happens. The five dollar tourney was a steady rise with no major bumps or bruises. I had KK v 77 all in pre and held to jumpstart me and I stole blinds and bobbed along. I was actually quite pleased with how I played. That is until the end. With 275 or so players left I raised from mid position with KJs after a limp just before me. It was folded around to the limper who went all in. I was thiking mid pair and along with this I was on tilt from the AK v AJ hand which had happened moments earlier. I called. I know stupid right? Why call with 4000 chips when the blinds are 100-200 w25 ante. Stupid mistake and as soon as I called I knew it was a mistake. He showed AK (why did he limp in mp?) and that was it for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing multis instead of an SnG but I had forgotten what it was like to be eliminated after playing for a couple of hours. It sucks. Next time I will be ready.

After the multi table fiascos, I played some more 18 man turbos and did really well. I recouped my MTT losses and a litte more. Even better though, was that I cracked the $500 mark. Finally.

Pokerstars balance - $502.57

A Stagnant Yo-yo

That's what I feel like. I played last night and after four games I was up fifteen dollars. Nothing to scoff at, I know, profit is profit, but I go up and down and finish somewhere around where I began. Frustrating really.

Yesterday's games were nothing out of the ordinary. I went all in with QQ when it was min raised with five callers. The original min raiser called with AA, no help. These things happen. I played a strange hand where I made up the SB with T4 and the BB checked. The flop came 3T3. I checked, with the hope of either check raising or slow playing my ten into the turn. The BB overbet the pot. Hmmm. I min raised and he min raised me back. Now I know what you're thinking, he has a three but I couldnt believe he overbet the pot with a three and I thought he was then trying to represent a three with the min raise of my min raise. The turn brought a four and I bet 3/5 of his stack. He went all in. By this time I was priced in and called with top two. Of course I knew he had a three but I had four outs (two other fours and two other tens). No help on the river and I was crippled. This hand was very strange though as I couldnt understand why he bet so much on the flop, almost like he wanted me out of the hand. Odd. Lesson learned, dont get in blind wars with bad hands out of position.

I am hoping to play some more tonight, possibly a multi but I am also thinking of playing live at the Cincinnati Club. However, the club started 'every Friday is £75' instead of the last Friday of the month. That is quite a bit of money and paying for the ring this week has put a severe dent in my finances. I will see how I feel later on.

Pokerstars Balance - $485.35

I so badly want to crack $500.....so close!

Hmmmmm

Well I haven't had much time for poker lately. This past Monday night, I got engaged to my girlfriend of over two years. A special day for sure, but the amount of texts, emails, and phone messages has been incredible. Anyways, enough about that, on to poker.

I played four games on Tuesday night and did not play well at all. Because of my lay off I was more excited about playing then actually playing well. Not a good mindset to say the least. I was calling raises hoping to hit and bluffing at parts of the game where bluffing was not needed. The worst hand I played which made me stop playing was when I was in third place of ten left and raised to 3 x BB with JJ. The SB then went all in. He was the chipleader and had a few more chips then me. I know I should have folded, but I called to prove to myself I should have folded. Unreal thought process right? I know terrible. Of Course he had KK and good night me. I got up and walked away. Definitely a good decision.

I played last night determined to do better then the night before. I started strong getting to two final tables in the top three. I ended up losing a coinflip in one and after having the lead heads up, missed 15 outs on the river and got second. Not bad I thought, a few more games are in order. I then proceeded to lose with QQ to A9 and AK to AT. Two hands I dominated in and both times I lose for a large pot. Diifcult to take especially when I wanted some good results.

I am feeling confident though that today will be a solid day perormance wise. My fiancee (wow, no longer my girlfriend) is going on a school trip with some students and will not be home till seven. I am hoping that I can push above the five hundred mark tonight. After all, the first five hundred is the hardest right?

Here's to hoping.

Pokerstars balance - $470.96

216 Man Turbo Shootout

Like to say congrats to my roommate from college Mike on his performance today in a 216 man turbo sat to the Sunday Millions. The tournament is played six handed and only the winners of tables advance. He won his first table when I was railing and I watched the beginning of the second table before I had to go out for awhile. When I came back there were three people left at the final table and Mike was a massive chipleader. His AQ held against AT and he had a ticket to the Sunday Millions. He unregistered and plans on selling his ticket, but $215 for a $2.20 investment...not bad at all. Well done Mike.

Sharkscope

For anyone that plays a lot of SnG's you should check out a site called . Sharkscope. It is a site that allows players to see the monetary records of others. This way you can avoid players that consistently make money, and attack those that consistently lose money. The only downside to the site is the fact you can only search five times per day unless you subscribe which allows limitless searches. It is a valuable tool, especially when the play gets down to five and six handed.



This is a scren shot of a search I did with the remaining players recently in a SnG. I removed their names, but kept their records. (I know the screen shows a blue picture, but click on it and it shows the real picture, no idea why it appears blue) This little pictures next to their blanked out names are fish swimming in a bowl (thats not a good thing) It is amazing how many people play and lose money yet do not move down in levels.

Half Way!!!

Just took another 18 man down. Played smart final table. Very pleased.

Pokerstars Balance - $498.32

Just Look At This Hand

I limped with tens because the limp UTG scared me. But when it came back around and the UTG didnt reraise, I was confident I was ahead, so I pushed. Watch what happens and the comments that follow. (I kept the player in question's name out of the hand as I dont feel it's appropriate)

PokerStars Game #6891079006: Tournament #35141868, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2006/11/04 - 13:16:19 (ET)
Table '35141868 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Bigby's (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: champ6666 (1490 in chips)
Seat 3: Shamana (1480 in chips)
Seat 4: tavvv (1440 in chips)
Seat 5: --------- (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: Bravehart69 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Knightsridge (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: muttmaker (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: bmrosser (1590 in chips)
Shamana: posts small blind 10
tavvv: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Knightsridge [Td Th]
---------: calls 20
Bravehart69: calls 20
Knightsridge: calls 20
muttmaker: calls 20
bmrosser: calls 20
Bigby's: calls 20
champ6666: folds
Shamana: calls 10
tavvv: raises 40 to 60
---------: calls 40
Bravehart69: calls 40
Knightsridge: raises 1440 to 1500 and is all-in
muttmaker: folds
bmrosser: folds
Bigby's: folds
Shamana: folds
tavvv: folds
---------: calls 1440 and is all-in
Bravehart69: folds
*** FLOP *** [7d 9c Ac]
*** TURN *** [7d 9c Ac] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [7d 9c Ac Ts] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
---------: shows [8h 9h] (a straight, Six to Ten)
Knightsridge: shows [Td Th] (three of a kind, Tens)
--------- collected 3200 from pot
--------- said, "knew u couldn't have a lot"
--------- said, "all in with 10's is terrible"

It's people like that and comments like that, that I know I will always make money playing poker. I also checked out the player on sharkscope and he is down 65 dollars. I wonder why? lol

Back on Track

Well.

The past few days I have not played much. My computer is shot and I have yet to get a new one. For the past while I have been using my girlfriend's. The past few days she has been doing reports for her school meaning no poker.

I started a new 18 man turbo this afternoon and I played well. I min raised the average stacks to death and I didnt commit chips in spots I didnt have to. To top off the game, heads up, my opponent folded his 1200 BB to my min raise leaving himself with 370 chips to my 26,630. Couldnt believe it.

All in all, this is what I like to see:

PokerStars Tournament #35131114, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $6.00/$0.50
18 players
Total Prize Pool: $108.00
Tournament started - 2006/11/04 - 09:41:19 (ET)

Dear Knightsridge,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $43.20 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

I hope to go from here and have over $500 by Monday morning.

Here's to hoping

Pokerstars Balance - $468.12

Why Take Notes if I Don't Use Them?

Last night I played two 18 man turbo SnG's. The first I finished 14th or 15th when I called a raise from the BB with 99. The flop came QJ9. I check raised him all to be shown QQ. No problem, set over set is not a bad beat in my books, just unlucky. The second however, I did have a problem with.

It was down to five handed and I was third in chips. With blinds at 400-800 I was in the SB with A8 spades. The cutoff then flat called the BB. Now, two minutes earlier I had just written in this player's notes that he flat calls the BB with large pairs, as he had already done so with JJ and QQ. I notice this, realise he has a big pair, and yet I still pushed. The BB folded, the flat caller called, showed JJ, no help, I'm gone on the bubble. It was so frustrating to think I knew what he had and yet I still pushed into him. What amazes me however, is I dont know why I went all in. I really don't. Almost as if I knew what he had but took a risk in case he didn't. I walked away from the computer at that point I was so frustrated with myself.

I dont know how many games I will play tonight as I have to stay late at school due to parents evening. I hope to be home by 9:30 but I will be exhausted.

Pokerstars balance - 423.97

Quality not Quantity

I learned an important lesson this past weekend in regards to online poker. As soon as I stop respecting other players at the table, a losing session will follow. Up to this weekend, I had enjoyed success with my bankroll slowly climbing to my goal of 1000 dollars by Christmas. I was confident and felt that my goal was attainable. On Saturday I played quite a bit, and came out two dollars ahead. On Sunday I felt that another long day would surely lead me towards the $500 mark and possibly beyond. Instead I was humbled and went down to $390. I was disgusted with myself and when I look back at hand histories and game selection I am hugely disappointed. I need to do more then just 'show up' to the table to win. If I am the best player at the table great, but I need to prove it each time if I want the money.

Instead of trying to play as many games as possible, I should be trying to win each game I play. If that is one game in a day or thirty games in a day, it doesn't matter. Last night I was focused and identified some mistakes I had been making. I re-read some posts from early on and recognised that game selection is a big aspect of my success. Instead of playing single table, 18 and 45 man SnG's, I should be concentrating on one. I have chosen to solely play the 18 man turbos. They allow for tight play early and more time to pick your spots. Plus, they only take about ten to fifteen minutes longer then a single table yet award almost first place money from a single table to the third place finisher. I can do well at this level and if I continue to play them, my game will only get stronger, much as it did at the 5.50 SnG's and the 6.50 turbo SnG's.

I played five of the 18 man last night and got a first and a second. Nothing monumental but encouraging. Here's to hoping.

Pokerstars balance - $435.97

Hourly Rate - Ouch

Well I played a ton of SnG's today. An absolute ton. I played turbos mainly, a lot of the 18 seat ones. I started well and got up to 470 or so but then variance kicked into high gear and I was getting kicked left and right. (see hand history below for a quick flavor) I took a break and read some Sklansky, showered and hoped to redeem myself. I ended up winning an turbo 18 man SnG to take my balance to $449.42. I played all that time and won 2 dollars. Profit is profit, I suppose.

One extremely positive aspect from playing the sheer volume of games I did today, I picked up numerous negative tendencies in my game that I believe if I can curb, will help in the future. I also picked up on a valuable move that I used to great success today. I will not put it on this blog as I play against many of the players who read it, but I picked up a lot of chips today from one simple move and I can't believe I never saw it before.

Night all. I am wrecked.

My Day in One Hand

Was up to 467 earlier in the day. Lets just say I am not close to that now.


PokerStars Game #6801830065: Tournament #34643132, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2006/10/28 - 12:36:18 (ET)
Table '34643132 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Leifcake (2340 in chips)
Seat 2: offalyrover (2025 in chips)
Seat 3: ser13769 (2065 in chips)
Seat 4: Knightsridge (1470 in chips)
Seat 6: Shortstack75 (1470 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 7: Andrehehe (1225 in chips)
Seat 8: anipoh (1455 in chips)
Seat 9: crackdoghead (1450 in chips)
crackdoghead: posts small blind 15
Leifcake: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Knightsridge [As Ac]
offalyrover: folds
Andrehehe said, "fck"
ser13769: calls 30
Andrehehe said, "idiot"
Knightsridge: raises 120 to 150
Shortstack75: folds
offalyrover said, "ty"
Andrehehe: raises 1075 to 1225 and is all-in
anipoh: folds
crackdoghead: folds
Leifcake: folds
ser13769: folds
Knightsridge: calls 1075
*** FLOP *** [Td Kh 9d]
Andrehehe said, "lol"
*** TURN *** [Td Kh 9d] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [Td Kh 9d Jd] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Knightsridge: shows [As Ac] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
Andrehehe: shows [Qh Qc] (a straight, Nine to King)
Andrehehe said, "thatcool"
Knightsridge said, "right"
Andrehehe collected 2525 from pot
offalyrover said, "hehe"

These things happen I know, just frustrating when they happen all at once.

Mixing It Up

Yesterday I had a few hours to play as the girlfriend stayed late at work. I started out playing some 6.50 turbos and I didnt fair very well, quickly losing two of them. Rather then sign up for more, I was in the mood for an MTT of sorts, so I started playing some 5.50 two and three table SnG's. One aspect I had not thought of for these tables, which is both good practice yet terribly annoying, is the fact that each time I got to the final table, there would be an absolute monster stack of around 10,000 chips while the rest of the table was near 2500-3500. Plus the blinds were relatively small so it made it difficult to bully as the players at this level call raises with KQ and AT. Plus both times the chipleader was on my immediate left making it difficult for me to steal blinds. But as I said, good practice to work on short stack play.

After giving the multi table SnG's at the 5.50 level, I tried the 2 table 6.50 turbos. Wow, I played two and won both. $13 to play, $86.40 back. They are great as in the beginning you can play tight, as in, super tight. Then wait for the blinds to raise. As soon as it gets difficult ie five handed on each, the final table starts and the blinds rise so fast that stealing can result in a 40% increase to your stack but you won't be called without a hand as it would mean 75% of their stack. These tourneys are a bit of a crapshoot late, yes, and if you go card dead it would be difficult. But being aggressive and attacking medium stacks along with not calling without a hand will result in making some profit.



Here is a hand from a 5.50 18 player SnG. I know straight flushes happen quite frequently online, but I believe this is my third. I know the preflop call is loose, but in an 18 man SnG, I like to try and get the big stack by hitting hands like this. If the eight of spade had not hit on the river I would have doubled up as I am pretty sure he had two pair.

Pokerstars Balance - $447.98

Upcoming Poker - Bankroll Decision

Well last night's SnG's did not go as well as I had hoped. I was unlucky a few times and after I played five I knew it was not my night as far as luck goes. However, I was playing good poker. Therefore I delved into a 5.25 heads up match so as to play a slow game seeing a lot of flops. I ended up winning for a little less then five dollar profit. I finished the night with two more turbo SnG's. To make a long story short, I lost three dollars, not a big amount, but not where I wanted to go. Tonight is another night, and with my girlfriend staying late at work for a parents evening I should be able to fit quite a few in.

Tomorrow night I was toying with the idea of playing the end of month tourney at the Cincinnati Club. At £75 though, it is quite steep. And with my poker bankroll not yet five times that, I have decided to give it a miss. It is too much to place on one night of poker. I will play next weeks game when it returns to its regular £25 night.

That being said, I definitely plan on playing online tomorrow night. My girlfriend is going out with friends, and since I think dancing and drinking in clubs rates somewhere between being stabbed with a dull knife and having my kneecaps broken with a baseball bat, pokerstars looks good. I also think that my first MTT on pokerstars would be a good idea and something to look forward to to replace the tourney at the club. Some 180 man SnG's may also tempt me from the depths that are turbo SnG's. Here's to hoping.

Pokerstars Balance - $398.94

The Rivercard Balance - $97.50

Calling Range

Last night I played in a SnG and was dealt KK the very first hand. I was UTG (under the gun) meaning I was the first to act as the BB was to my direct right. I thought about my options. I could flat call and hope for a raise from somewhere else where I could re-pop them and put them all in. I could min raise and hope for a reraise so I could re-pop them. I could raise big to maybe 200 or so hoping for 1 or 2 callers and going all in on any non ace flop, or I could simply go all in right away and look like an idiot gambler hoping from a call from a weak ace or a pocket pair who thinks he is ahead. I chose to go all in for the 1500. The only hand that is ahead of me is AA and if I am called by AA then unlucky me. When I have KK I am not folding it and no matter if I raise or flat call, with AA also at the table the money is going in preflop. Any other caller I am ahead of.

So this brings about the question. What would you people call with if another player went all in on the first hand of a SnG?

PS It was folded around to the BB who called with 99. The flop gave came 9 high and I was out. Just unlucky for me, I am pleased with the way I played the hand. If I had raised or flat called and then went all in on the flop, I would have been behind, as it stands I will take an 80%-20% hand all in preflop anyday.

New Plateau

Played only two SnG's last night, but managed to win one and get second in the other. Unfortunate in the second one as I had AA v Q7 all in on a T 7 3 board. Turn 7. River Q. Not complaining as I got lucky a few times along the way, just would have been nice to take down both of them.

But anyways, last night I hit the four hundred dollar level and my pokerstars balance is now at $401.54. With 61 days to go before Christmas I am approximately six hundred dollars away from my goal.

I am a little ahead of where I need to be so hopefully 1000 dollars by Christmas is still in the cards (so to speak).

Poker Books

I thought it would be a cool idea to show a picture of my poker books in the hope it forces me to keep up reading them and to remind myself to always keep learning and thinking about the game rather then just playing. When I had money online I ran through it pretty quick and basically went back to only reading and playing freerolls. Now with my bankroll steadily growing with proper management and game choice, I am neglecting my reading.

To anyone that enjoys reading about poker, here are my favorite books that I felt helped my game the most. In no particular order:

1. Harrington on Hold'em - Dan Harrington - I am counting these as one even though there are three of them. These books are absolutely fantastic. They are well written and easy to follow. I especially liked part three with options for the reader to choose throughout hands.

2. The Making of a Poker Player - Matt Matros - This book was great to read as it was written as a story as well an instructional book. It was neat to read about his introduction into poker all the way to the final table of the WPT Championship event. Very well written. (strangely enough this is not in the picture as a friend is borrowing it)

3. The Theory of Poker - David Sklansky - This is the most important book ever written on poker. I have heard arguments for and against Sklansky, but as far as I am concerned I learned more about the game of poker (not just hold'em) from this book more then any other. (Even though it reads like the most boring book in the world, if you stay focused it is well worth it)

4. Making the Final Table - Eric Lindgren - This book was well written and had a lot of valuable facts within it. A great aspect of this book was an appendix written by Matros called Poker Math which discussed odds, percentages, and equity.

5. The Man Behind the Shades - Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson - The biography of Stu 'the Kid' Ungar. It is amazing and depressing at the same time. A poker player and a non-poker player would both enjoy this.

6. Super System - Doyle Brunson - Any book written over thirty years ago and still mentioned as a poker guide today has to be in any list about good poker books.

I also own a book on game theory. It is incredibly basic yet I lose my place frequently when reading it. However, with players like Chris Ferguson and Bill Chen I think it is an interesting avenue to read on. Anyone who enjoys reading and would like to read about something a little off topic should read a book on game theory. If you don't feel it helps, it is still really cool to read about the problems and games wihtin the game theory realm.

Housekeeping and the Future

Well, my parents left for Canada this morning after a ten day visit. It was great to have them over although I think I gained about ten pounds in that time. Whatever. On to poker.

I started playing a few SnG's on Saturday morning, but instead of playing the 6.50 turbos, I wanted to ease back in so I took a step down and played two 3.40 turbos. Just as I suspected my mind was not as sharp as it should have been and I called an all in reraise with QK. Silly. The other one though, I won. On Sunday I played my normal 6.50 turbos and fired up two rather then four as it seems I always end up throwing one of the four away. I got lucky in one of them and ended up winning both. Thanks very much I'll take $41 profit in forty minutes. That night I played another two and made a silly mistake in one on the bubble when I was chip leader and got unlucky in the other. In the mistake I made, the table was quite fast getting down to four handed quickly, so the blinds were still at 100-200 but I was playing my bubble poker. Suited for a 200-400 table. I ran A6 into the second chip leader's AK. I managed to scrape back to a medium stack but fell in love with KJ after the chipleader flat called. Again, silly. I will need a little more time to work out some kinks, but I think I am back on the road to '$1000 by Christmas'.

Here's to hoping

Pokerstars Balance - $371.54

PS I think I will be playing on Friday at the Cincinnati Club for their end of the month tourney. £75 buy in, starting stacks are 15,000 with blinds starting at 25-50 and the levels lasting half an hour. Tremendous amount of play and it suits my game well.

Lack of Poker

I must apologise to any faithful readers I may have picked up during the first little while of my blogging days. I have played almost no poker since last Thursday.

My parents have travelled over from Canada and are visiting me in Scotland as well as visiting my girlfriend's parents in Ireland where I am currently. If you hadn't guessed I am Canadian and I had not seen my parents since April last year. It has been great seeing them and I am very glad to have them over her, but poker has suffered immensely.

I played one set of four last Friday night and I managed to win one of the four giving me a profit of one dollar for the session. Hooray! But then I played a turbo and ran into a monster when I tried stealing.

Pokerstars Balance - $321.54

Gulp

Well the day after a pleasing performance in a 180 man SnG that helped my confidence, how do I respond? Why finishing out of the money in my first 12 SnG's of course. I know, terrible. I had bad beat after bad beat that I know is just variance rearing it's ugly head, but still, it is terrible for a player to endure. Everytime I had KK I would raise and an ace would fall. If I went all in with TT or better, I was being eaten alive by three outers. And AA, why A3, 77, 8T, and 22 were too much. I know, I checked my hand histories. So I took a break and composed myself. I read some Sklansky and calmed myself. I took a shower and then put on my favorite hoodie with my ipod blaring. I told myself I would play one more set of four and to make it count as they were the last games for the day. I managed two firsts, a third, and an outdraw (which is fine as I outdrew a few people as well). I was quite pleased and it made me determined for tomorrow.

Here's to hoping

Pokerstars Balance - $326.54 (Yes I went down, but I finished strong which is what I am choosing to take from the day)

Pokerstars 180 Player SnG

I played a few SnG's and did fairly well, winning 2 of my first four. I kind of got tired of playing though and I was in the mood for an MTT. At the same time, I did not want to break the bank nor did I want to be playing for over six hours. The $4.40 180 player SnG was perfect.

I got off to a good start with a BB special courtesy of Q3 diamonds. The flop came Q high with 2 baby diamonds. I bet and was flat called. The turn was a 3 giving me 2 pair. I bet he raises I go all in and he calls with KK. River was a blank and there was no looking back. After the first hour, I was tourney chip leader.


The second hour this continued and I was still chip leader at the second break. The third hour I just picked up some blinds and avoided the mine field that is short stacks pushing. I played smart and avoided playing large pots with other big stacks, this kept up until the final table where I hit a set against an all in player and then another player bet into the side pot. I put him all in and he called with a pair of fours. He had been playing for over three hours and went out on a hand he had no business in. Oh well, I'll take it. When four handed rolled around I was chipleader.



This is where things went south. I put a shortstack all in with top pair K kicker and he called for his life on a gutshot. I said 'no 8' and I immediately covered my mouth as it seems whenever I do that, the poker gods don't like it. Sure enough the turn was an 8, and just to make sure I saw it, the river was another 8. Damn. I then lost a big pot with AK where I raised big preflop and was called by the BB. The flop was 8 high and I did a continuation bet and he went all in. I had to fold and he showed a set of 8's. After these two hands I was pretty low and I pushed with A4s and was called by A8. No help, gg me.



I enjoyed the tourney and it was fun to play an MTT rather then a SnG. The payday was alright, $85 for 4 dollar investment, can't complain. I will hopefully be playing another one in the near future.

Pokerstars Balance - $384.54

Trout Blogs

I was searching for some poker blogs to read the other day and stumbled across a site called Trout Blogs. It is a database of poker blogs; some good some not so good. However, if you are looking for some poker related material to read (after having read all mine of course) check it out.

Cincinnati Club Festival

Just read on the Blonde Poker Forum (similar to 2+2 but better) that my club here in Glasgow, The Cincinnati Club, is putting on a Festival at the beginning of December. It will last 4 days starting on a Thursday and run through to Sunday.

The Thursday night is a team event. Five players per team £200 per team registration. Friday night is a £75 NL 10,000 chip tourney with half hour blinds. (Should be a great tourney). The Saturday night is a £50 pound with 2 rebuys or a rebuy and top up. I am a little undecided about this one as the Stanley Casino is running their monthly officepoker.net tourney the same night (I played in it this past Saturday scroll down for tournament report), so we'll see. The Sunday is the main event and starts around two in the afternoon. A £200 freezeout with hour blinds, which should go through the night. That is a lot of money for one tourney so depending on how I do in the others, I may enter.

That is a lot of poker for one weekend so I told my girlfriend last night I would pay for a flight for her to go home and see her family. I know that sounds silly, but I wouldn't be able to play all the events if she was home without feeling guilty. (Let it be known she is fantastic about me playing and would never stop me from playing, at the same time she is human and spending the weekend 'alone' and seeing me for a few hours at a time would not be her idea of fun.)

To see the complete Blonde Fourm click here, to view the post about the festival click here

SnG Progress

I have played a lot of SnG's these last few days, all in sets of four, totaling somewhere around 32-36 SnG's. Incredibly in that time, I am up about ten dollars. It seems that every time I start up a set, I am eliminated in one on a bad beat, then I may get 2nd or 3rd, then bubble, then concentrate solely on the last one and get either 1st or 2nd. I may start only playing two for a little while to see if it ups my profits.

The people are still playing with bad stack management as the bubble nears (calling an allin with a draw when they are not pot committed, and folding blinds or cold calling raises and folding to a bet on the flop when the blinds represent a large percentage of their stack) I think I am just around the corner from a solid day when everything falls in line.

Pokerstars Balance - $251.54

The Rivercard - $97.24 (going to start playing only 5 dollar extended SnG's. The speed ones are attractive but dont reward the best player.)

Live Tourney at Stanley Casino

Last night I played in the officepoker.net tourney at the Stanley Casino on Sauchiehall Street here in Glasgow. £50 buy in, 10,000 chips, 20 minute blind levels until 500-1000 and then it is half hour levels, 27 players.

I started out card dead and that pretty much continued for the rest of the night. I had QQ once and AK twice. After that 88 twice, 66, 44 and AT. Nothing really. Anyways, I was quickly whittled down to 5500 chips. Blinds were taking me down and I paid off a value bet with a pair of aces on a 3 club board. I knew he had it and I still paid it. Silly play. As the blinds rose, I took some blinds and stayed afloat. Before I knew it, it was the final table. By this time the blinds were 700-1500 and the average was 27,000 but because there were 2 big stacks, the majority of players were nearer to 20,000. Needless to say not much postflop play occurred. I had AK hold against QK all in preflop, and on the cash bubble (5th place was dinner for 2) I moved in with 88 UTG and was called by TT. Window card was an 8, and I sucked out to basically double up (I had her outchipped by about 10,000) to 63,000. Four handed saw another player from the Blonde Poker Forum, Teacake, (a strong player) get it all in with AT v AQ from 'Div' another Blonde poster. The AQ held up and shortly after I hit another set of 8's to take out a shortstacked Teacake. Three handed we talked about a deal. I had 80,000, Div had about 70,000 and the big stack from the beginning had 120,000. We discussed but in the end I wanted to keep playing. I went up and became chipleader at around 140,000. I then tried a bluff from the button when I knew the other guy had little. He ended up calling me down with second pair no kicker. It was the right call, but one I would not have made. Upon reflection and after talking to Div and Teacake, I should have reraised him more on the flop setting up a large bet on the turn. I will know for next time. In the end we did a deal and I got £340, Div got £340, and the other guy took £535 and the trophy. Not a bad night and though I was disappointed with my final hand, I thought I played position excellent and was greatly pleased at my ability to come back from a shortstack.

£340 (minus: £50 entry, £2 registration fee, £10 dealers tip, £1 tip to front desk for calling taxi, £5 taxi) = £272

Live Poker = £386 profit

Turbo Land (My Living Room)

Got home from work early (I teach history and politics at a high school) and my girlfriend wasn't going to be home till late. This means a lot of poker.

I started 4 tabling the $6.50 turbos and I think I did alright. Nothing outstanding but definitely manageable. I played a grand total of 27 SnG's placing in the money 15 times. I was quite pleased with these results. I know I can handle 4 tabling and the flow of the game is starting to come to me. My last 2 sets of four that I played I had two 1sts and two 3rds and then one 1st two 3rds and a bubble. Very encouraging.

1st - 5
2nd - 3
3rd - 7

I would like my thirds to be not as numerous but 3 handed I try to accumulate chips aggressively and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. That's poker

Pokerstars balance - $241.54 (80 dollar profit in one night...damn straight)

Change of Plan Folks

I have given this decision a lot of thought, but I have decided to change my plan a little bit. I am no longer going to play the $5.50 SnG's on pokerstars to reach my target of 1000 dollars by Christmas. Instead I will be playing the $6.50 turbos. Let me explain my decision.

The $5.50 SnG's make for a great game of poker. Plenty of play, good structure, plenty of fish etc. However, most of the games I was playing were taking an hour to finish, I even had a few approach an hour and a half. That is a long time to play when the top prize is only $22.50, with $17 being profit. Plus, I find that my ability to multi-table is made more difficult by the fact that the blinds are still relatively low (ie not all in every hand) when the play is four and five handed (75-150 and 100-200). This is where the game is won and lost and most times I can come out of this period as chip leader and go on to finish well, but only on one table. I find myself time and time again, gambling with a short stack during an SnG at inopportune times to either double up or get eliminated so I can fully concentrate on the SnG where I have lots of chips.

The $6.50 turbos have the same structure, the only difference being they have 5 minule levels. I won two last night and had a few bad beats in others, but something I found incredible was the terrible, I repeat TERRIBLE, stack management of some players. (Folding in the BB when the BB represented 40-50% of their stack.) I also realised that heads up was played at the 200-400 level and maybe a hand or two at the 300-600 level. This is not as bad as I expected. Yes there is an element of luck involved, it's poker, of course there is. But I can fold a BB of 600 when I have a stack around 6000-8000, and still win the thing. I expected blinds of 1000-2000 when I first started and it being a crap shoot four handed. But this was not the case. I was usually by far the most aggressive and this was key as people were hanging on for third and second place money. This is another benefit to these tourneys. Instead of a $22.50 first prize as in the $5.50 SnG's, it is $27.00. Not a big difference I know, but an extra $4.50 profit represents more than 25% of the profit in the $5.50 SnG's. Another benefit is that when it gets to 4 handed, all in is the most popular move as the blinds are usually 100-200 w 25 ante or 150-300 w 25 ante. This means that I can fire up more then one table and be confident in my abilities to win as aggressiveness usually means all in around at this time in a SnG. Every time I take the blinds uncontested I grow substantially and they lose substantially. They should be calling with a wider range of hands but they don't. In the $5.50 SnG's they could fold and wait for a monster and punish me, but because the blinds are one step ahead in the turbos, one or two folds and they are extremely short stacked, leaving them with little fold equity (to push others off a hand as the raise is too much to call therefore not getting the proper odds to call with any two).

Mike (getupkid), you were right, the turbos are good value as they increase my hourly rate without taking too much skill out of the game. Here's to hoping.

Pokerstars balance - 162.54 (For all this talk about 6.50 SnG's I had bad beats galore last night)

The Rivercard - 108.62 (I lost 60 dollars in 2 days. I tried playing the $10 SnG's stupidly, and lost a few, then registered for what I thought was a $5.50 SnG and turned out to be a $22 SnG. I am only going to play $5 there from now on as well. I am getting action points there and I hope to play some freeroll tournies tonight)

Live poker - £132 - (Going to play a big tourney on Saturday I think at the Stanley casino on Sauchiehall Street. Officepoker.net tourney. A 10,000 chip with slow levels. I love these 10,000 chip tournies. I will update when I am sure if I am going.)

Hell Yeah

Sunday night I played the freeroll on The Rivercard and made $25 for second place.

Now I have $162.45 in my account.

God love The Rivercard

The Rivercard...who needs Pokerstars?

Well after playing on pokerstars for the past little while, my game is shaped around it's structure and type of players; which are usually, quite solid. After playing a few times on The Rivercard however, wow, I think I could get used to it. Though I have only played twice, I am 2 for 2 in the $5.50 6 player SnG. I know I know, this is nothing to get excited about, but the fact is, the games take about half the time as pokerstars, and a win is only 3 dollars less. Not bad eh? I will update later if I play anymore, but needless to say I am excited.

Heres to hoping for more screen shots like these!!!!

PS I am CincinsKid on The Rivercard...not Knightsridge

Money for nothing...is there a better statement in poker?

Well as I promised to do in my first post, I would play only 5.50 SnG's on stars but I would play freerolls on other sites hoping to make a roll to kind of 'unwind', if you will, from the stars' structure.

Last night I played in a freeroll tourney on The Rivercard, a site on the same network as Doyles Room and Paddy. It is a great little tourney and I was fortunate enough to get 2nd place and the $25 to go with it. I cannot wait to start playing some little SnG's on there to build up the roll. I like the graphics and the dark background on The Rivercard, and for whatever reason I am confident playing there; last night was no exception. I never had AA,KK,QQ or AK the entire tourney yet I was taking down major pots with well timed bluffs. It was so much fun, and although I was not a popular person in the chatbox, I will get over it.

I will still be concentrating on Pokerstars primarily, but a change of venue I think will help in the long run. Here's to hoping.

Fact of the day

I was just looking at how many days I have until Christmas and trying to figure out how much I need to average each day until then. Then I realised that Mike sent me the 25 dollars I started with on Saturday September 14th. Exactly 100 days before Christmas. Weird. So for you math whizz's out there, 100 days to make 1000 dollars...10 dollars per day. After 14 days I am a little ahead of schedule. Not bad I guess. While I am typing this I just won another one so I am back ahead of 5 days ago by 5 dollars. Wow. Approx 12 hours of work for $5. Sounds awesome.

Where are all the puppy dogs and butterflies?

Well after progressing nicely these past few weeks with my roll slowing building, the past few days saw an end to that. I have played 14 SnG's since Thursday and in those, I have managed 2 firsts and a second. I know it isn't catastrophic or anything, but still, it hurts. My decline is a combination of 2 things, bad luck and bad play. My bad play however is a direct result of loss of confidence. My loss of confidence is a direct result of bad luck. I am waiting patiently for it to leave. Hurry up bad luck.....LEAVE!!!! NOW!!!

I am not going to sit here and go on about my bad beats because they are part of poker and I know that. That doesn't make them hurt any less but still they are a part of the game all players must deal with.

Anyways, I have started reading some old books again just to refresh my knowledge and to build up my confidence again. Here's hoping it works.

Pokerstars balance - $156.54 (not emergency or anything, but still, my first recorded loss, not cool)

Day 9

Only played 2 SnG's today. I bombed out of one playing a hand very foolishly that I knew was a mistake from the start, and the other one I won. There was a hand that came up in the SnG I won that made the other guy stay at the table for 10 minutes and berate my call. I am curious to see if anyone would advocate folding because I couldn't get my chips in fast enough.


PokerStars Game #6438788686: Tournament #32681393, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/09/27 - 14:12:50 (ET)
Table '32681393 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: iaff1264 (3570 in chips)
Seat 6: Knightsridge (6420 in chips)
Seat 7: XXXXXXXXXXXX (3510 in chips)
Knightsridge: posts small blind 100
XXXXXXXXXXXX: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Knightsridge [4d,6d]
iaff1264: folds
Knightsridge: raises 200 to 400
XXXXXXXXXXXX: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [ 7s,3d,7d ]
Knightsridge: bets 600
XXXXXXXXXXXX: raises 2510 to 3110 and is all-in
Knightsridge: calls 2510
*** TURN *** [7s,3d,7d] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [7s,3d,7d] [Qc] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Knightsridge: shows [ 7s,7d,6d,6h,Qc] (two pair, Sevens and Sixes)
XXXXXXXXXXXX: shows [Ah7s,7d,Qc,9h] (a pair of Sevens)
Knightsridge collected 7020 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7020 | Rake 0
Seat 3: iaff1264 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Knightsridge (small blind) showed [4d,6d ] and won (7020) with two pair, Sevens and Sixes
Seat 7: XXXXXXXXXXXX (big blind) showed [Ah 9h] and lost with a pair of Sevens

He went nuts, never mind I was a 61% favorite as I knew he had 2 overcards, but I had 18 outs (the other three 4's, all the 5's, the other three 6's, and all the remaining diamonds (8) = 18 outs) After 15 outs you are more likely to hit then not hit. But he wouldn't listen. I am amazed at how bad some players are but refuse to believe anything else. Doesn't matter anyway, I took the first place money.

Pokerstars Balance - $175.04

Day 8...slow day

Only played 3 SnG's today. Ho hum. Not feeling great and still tired from a late night last night as my flight was delayed coming back from Ireland.


3 SnG's

1st - 1
2nd - 0
3rd - 0

Profit is profit.

Had KK busted by QQ all in preflop, and had TT all in against QQ on a 978 flop. That's poker, not complaining at all as my win had a few suck outs on my behalf, so all in all, 6 dollar profit and got to play poker for a few hours. I'll take it.

Pokerstars Balance - $163.54

Friday Tourney and weekend SnG's

Well.

Friday's tourney started with 54 players with 10,000 chip stacks. I started slow with no real action. I got aces once and reraised a player and a limper, took it down. Hit a set and it turned into a full house against a nut flush so I doubled up there, got JJ all in versus A9, Ace on flop but jack on turn, nice pot. I was cruising along and then I moved table to a pretty passive table. Oh the possibilities. I must have raised 60% of the pots and my stack just grew with no real danger. I took down more uncontested pots then I have ever have in live poker. My stack grew and grew and before I knew it we were hand for hand to get to a seven handed final. When the bubble burst I had about 135,000 chips with 540,000 chips in play, and I was chip leader. Nice. Here is where my problems began, and they had nothing to do with poker. The final table began at about 2:30am. I was flying to Ireland at 7:00am with my girlfriend to spend the weekend with her parents. No problem right? Wrong. Fast forward to 3:30am and there are still 7 left. I had announced numerous times throughout the night that I was on an early flight and about this time realised that if I didn't take chances I would be a short stack with no time to play it.

I raised with KT suited UTG (something I would never do), and then called an all in (again something I would never do) and lost to AT. Then went all in with 86s in the SB and was called by the BB with A9. I hit a 6 on the turn (sorry Steve, well played mate) and he was down to near nothing. As time went on and I pushed every once in a while, my stack was growing but the number of players stayed the same.

At 4:15 the fireworks started when no deal was wanted but I had no time to play as my girlfriend had called to say she was packing for me and that the taxi would be at the club soon to go to the airport. I then announced "I gotta go, I am going all in blind every hand to knock people out or get knocked out myself." All in blind with 47 and called by AA. The board came 45789 and he was not happy. Next hand all in with QK against AT, K on river and we are down to 4. I went all in with 85 called by AJ. 5 on the river, down to 3. I continued to go all in blind and they were folding, amazing the power of luck isn't it? I would say I moved in blind 10 times and never lost a hand. I was then called however by the other two stacks and the better hands held up. I was glad my stack was divided among the other two to allow for poker rather then a major chip leader due to 2 lucky hands. They ended up doing a deal for first/second (350 and 325) which was a bit disappointing as I wanted a 4 way deal but c'est la vie.

All in all, a good night, a bit too bad it finished like it did, but those watching had a good time. I know I could have won the game when it got to 4 handed, but then again the other players are very good. I am looking forward to the next game very much.


Live roll - £172 prize money (minus £25 entry, £2 registration fee, £15 taxi, £1 water, £5 dealer tip)
= £124

Played one SnG over the weekend in Ireland (not much time and I wasn't feeling great either). When it got to three handed I had over 12,000 chips and they had 200 and 900 each. Bit ridiculous as they were folding to get second and they each never played a hand after I raised. I got first to state the obvious.

P-Stars account - $157.54

Short tourney update...more to follow

I am in Ireland right now visiting my girlfriend's family and we are driving to her summer home soon which has no internet access. I will be posting the results and comments of last nights Cincinnati Club tourney probably either tomorrow night (Sunday) or back in Glasgow Monday night.

Just to let you know, I think last night (before the final table began, and you'll understand why when I post) I played the best poker of my life. I am still on a high. And just so I don't keep you guessing, 54 runners, and I got 3rd for 175£. More details to follow.

Day 6

Kind of a slow day today. Only played 3 SnG's even though I have the day off work (some weird UK holiday thing, I don't care, I'm not complaining). I am going to play a live tourney tonight though. This is my favorite live tourney which is at the Cincinnati Club here in Glasgow. For anyone reading this, the tourney is great value with plenty of play. It is a 25£ buy in, 10,000 chip freezeout, with the blinds starting at 25/25. Plus, the tables are 6 or 7 handed. It is a great game.



I will update following the tourney tonight.

STT's played - 3

1st - 0
2nd - 1
3rd - 1

A bit disappointed with the second place finish. It was against an extremely aggressive player who had gotten lucky a few times to have a big stack. We were heads up after only 30 minutes and blinds at 50/100. He raised my BB and I went all in with K9, only to be called by A9. Should have picked my spot better, he would have fallen in a trap if I had just been patient...next time.

P-stars account - $140.54

Day 5 with special guest Mike

Day 5 started off ok, but finished well. To top it all off Mike my former roommate from college, who is currently doing a bicycle repair course (college wasn't for him) played at a table with me. (Let it be known we did not talk about our hands or give each other information at the table) Mike actually took the SnG down while I settled for 3rd place (I pushed all in with J5 and he called with A2, *cough* donk play *cough*). Congrats buddy, you can fix my bike anyday.

SnG's played - 6

1st - 2
2nd - 0
3rd - 2

P-Stars Balance - 135.54

Day 4 Results

It was a banner day here at Knightsridge Online Poker Central (my living room table). I played a whopping 11 Sit n Gos (a lot considering I do not multitable, although I did play 2 at a time a few times as I had built up a few chip leads and stealing the blinds was useless as they were 15/30 or 25/50). That being said I am hoping to play a few more tonight.

Some very strange goings on today. Bad beats galore as well as inflicting bad beats, all even in the end I suppose. I had one guy heads up say that I deserved to win as a result of my stellar play during the sit n go, and after I raised on the river he went all in with nothing...nothing. I called and he said he didnt deserve to win after I played so well. Have you ever heard of that? Weird. I'll take it though. I had my first KK run into AA preflop which was a messy encounter for my Kings to say the least. I also had a fantastic comeback from 95 chips when the blinds were 75/150 with 6 left to take it down. (see hand history below) That was a massive rush.

As far as my play is concerned I am getting much stronger using position and my stack as weapons. When it gets to 4 or 5 handed I am absolutely crushing most of the tables. I did bubble twice today, but it was from two clear mistakes I made which I knew were mistakes as soon as I made them. I am also laying down big hands (AK, 99, TT, JJ) in a few key spots where I know I will be called with a reraise. I am controlling the table in its late stages a fair share of the time. To go with this my heads up play is also improving greatly. Four times I was in the final two and three times I won. The fourth was a back and forth match against a very good player. We were heads up quickly, and with the blinds pretty low (75/150), it made more postflop play possible. He was a good player and I learned a few things not to do.

I am nowhere near as good a player as some of the others on the Blonde Poker Fourm but my game is coming along nicely. I didnt think I would would feel as comfotable at the table so early on, but only playing these SnG's has made me see a lot of moves and advantages I never saw before when I was hopping from game to game.

All in all, a great day online.

STT's played - 11

1st - 3
2nd - 1
3rd - 3 (A bit disappointing to have so many thirds but I took chances to get first so I can't complain)

P-Stars account $104.54 triple digits....I love it!!!!

Table Talk....

1stSgtRDB said, "wanna hear something sick?"
1stSgtRDB said, "all in pocket queens"
1stSgtRDB said, "guy calls with 45 club"
1stSgtRDB said, "hits a straight flush on the flop"
1stSgtRDB said, "now that is sick"
Knightsridge said, "i was at a game where a guy bet his child and he lost and now that child isnt his"
1stSgtRDB said, "ok i don't believe that"
Knightsridge said, "and i don't believe you are telling a bad beat story in an online poker room"
1stSgtRDB said, "true"

What a Comeback to Start off Day 4

I went all in with pocket jacks only to be called by AT. An ace on the flop and I was down to 95 chips...


PokerStars Game #6352566132: Tournament #32230032, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2006/09/20 - 06:18:15 (ET)
Table '32230032 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Teditu (2705 in chips)
Seat 2: Dabbinn (3250 in chips)
Seat 3: CoumtryBelle (1150 in chips)
Seat 5: Knightsridge (95 in chips)
Seat 6: TakerT (2835 in chips)
Seat 8: bevey (3465 in chips)
Teditu: posts small blind 75
Dabbinn: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Knightsridge [7h 2c]
CoumtryBelle: folds
Knightsridge: folds
TakerT: folds
bevey: calls 150
Teditu: folds
Dabbinn: checks
*** FLOP *** [5s Qh 7c]
Dabbinn: checks
bevey: bets 150
Dabbinn: folds
bevey collected 375 from pot
bevey: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 375 | Rake 0
Board [5s Qh 7c]
Seat 1: Teditu (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Dabbinn (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: CoumtryBelle folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Knightsridge folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: TakerT folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: bevey (button) collected (375)


same tournament

PokerStars Game #6352645920: Tournament #32230032, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2006/09/20 - 06:45:36 (ET)
Table '32230032 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: Dabbinn (5055 in chips)
Seat 5: Knightsridge (8445 in chips)
Dabbinn: posts the ante 25
Knightsridge: posts the ante 25
Dabbinn: posts small blind 200
Knightsridge: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Knightsridge [8d 8h]
Dabbinn: raises 800 to 1200
Knightsridge: raises 7220 to 8420 and is all-in
Dabbinn: calls 3830 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Ah 2s 9c]
*** TURN *** [Ah 2s 9c] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 2s 9c 7s] [2c]
Knightsridge said, "gg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Knightsridge: shows [8d 8h] (two pair, Eights and Deuces)
Dabbinn: shows [Kh Js] (a pair of Deuces)
Knightsridge collected 10110 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 10110 | Rake 0
Board [Ah 2s 9c 7s 2c]
Seat 2: Dabbinn (button) (small blind) showed [Kh Js] and lost with a pair of Deuces
Seat 5: Knightsridge (big blind) showed [8d 8h] and won (10110) with two pair, Eights and Deuces

That felt so good

Day 3

One of the best things about this '1000 dollars by Christmas thing', which I think will hold true throughout, is the simple truth that I am only playing 5.50 Sit n Gos. Before this, when I was playing online poker, I was all over the place. Playing STT's MTT's, heads up, cash. I would win one and just want to keep playing but with a tougher challenge and more money involved. This was silly and destined for failure, but I think integral for future success to take place. Anyways,

2 Sit n Gos played today

1st - 1
2nd - 0
3rd - 0

Really disappointed with myself on the other one. I was going well but I got fancy and started getting away from what was winning for me. I ran into a big hand when shortstacked and that was that. If I played a patient game and made sure I was paying attention from the start, I would have done better. No more being stupid when playing. Plenty of time to talk about poker on this blog and on Blonde fourms after I am done.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

P-Stars account - $57.04

Day 2

Well I just finished putting up the results for yesterday (I forgot) and now I am proud to say that today I won every STT I entered. That's right, 100%. Hell Yeah.


STT's played - 1

1st - 1
2nd - 0
3rd - 0

Rather then saying profit I'm just gonna say what my account balance is, it's easier then rummaging around my account and taking away 25.04. (I had 4 cents in the account before a generous deposit from Mike) (and thanks Bengals)

Current P-Stars status - $46.54

Oh, and tomorrow I am hoping for atleast 4 or 5 STT's as the girlfriend is staying late at work and wont be home till later then usual. (I know playing only 1 at a time is tedious, but I have such a good feel for the table by the time 5 handed poker rolls around I feel very confident I can win, short stacked or not)

My Second Day 1

I am calling yesterday Day 1 even though it is like Day 4. I am forgetting Will Hill exists.

9 STT's played

1st - 2
2nd - 0
3rd - 1

Profit - + 4.50

It aint huge, but profit is profit

I tried multi tabling today to see if it would be profitable. To make a long story short...it isn't. I am sure that at some point I will be able to, but for now, one table is enough. Both tables I won were when they were the only tables open. I will stick with just the one for now.

On The Road Again

After initial hiccups involving Will Hill and there lack of generosity with chips and my inability to get off my ass and get neteller (I swear I will get it soon) I would like to restate my goal involving internet poker.

I want to look at my balance on Christmas Day (I will be in Ireland) and see 1000 dollars looking back at me. I know that I stated 3000 dollars was my original goal, but I think a goal over a few months would be a good idea. I hope it's possible! Here's hoping...

Back to the Game baby....

Well as I am my only loyal fan I cant see many people complaining about the lack of updates recently. Therefore, I make no apologies as there is no one to listen to them.

My friend just sent me 25 dollars in pokerstars money (thanks Mike) as he owed my some money from a football pool we are in (Bengals you better win today). So therefore, pokerstars, here I come!!!

Let the 5 dollar Sit n Go's Begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will Hill...where have the chips gone?

Well after putting up a small profit over 3 days, I lost 15 pound playing STT's and I have decided to stop playing WillHill. I had a few pounds left in the account so I logged into a 15/25 cent cash game and went all in on a draw. I really didnt care though as I think the structure there is terrible, not to mention the fact that there are no bonus' available to players unless they play 1/2 dollar cash games. Very silly me thinks.

Therefore I will be applying for a neteller account this week and hopefully I will have an account set up soon. After playing STT's with 1000 chips I am dying for stars' 1500 or Paddy's 2000 stacks.

Until then...