Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Sheeeeeeeeeeeet

Haven't posted in a while again. Falling back into old habits, losing and not thinking being the 2 main ones. As I mentioned in my last post I took a bit of a break from plo and started back into the sngs. They're going relatively well. After a few smallish tourney scores I had my roll back up to $1500 this morning, fine and dandy.

I ended up playing a shitload of 1c-2c nl for the 2 billionth hand thing on i-poker. Came within 34 hands, which I think means I get into a freeroll of some sort, we'll see anyway. I actually had a bit if fun 12 tabling 2nl, just didn't fold a draw or a pair and finished up $40. I started playing the $2.5k $7 r/around then and ended up finishing 22nd when 20 get paid. Thats as well as 2 min cashes in tourneys last night which is always annoying.

Decided to play a bit of 50plo later anyway and the poker gods were not on my side. I'm only 4 tabling 50plo, thinking a bit more and playing a lot better (even getting my red line relatively flat woot), but still not running good. It's funny how a few flips or 80/20s can have such a bearing on moving up. I basically lost 3 stacks where sets were <>

I'm gonna try get back on track with the auld posting anyway. Hopefully have one describing my massive winning day tomorrow.

Gl.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Spew

As the title suggests I've been in spew mode for the last week or so, playing bad and losing consistently. Consequentially I've returned to my spiritual home (for a few days anyway, until I remember how crushing they can be), the 6 max turbo SNG. These are pretty much the only games I've beaten consistently over a big enough sample, so I'm gonna try get back into them and see how it goes. Plus you rake a shitload (my real source of income).

I'm playing the $10 and $20s at the moment but plan on just playing the $20s when I get my RB. To get back into the swing of things I'm just playing them in blocks of 6, seems to be the best way for me to keep concentration. They really are very funny though, I've played about 50 since starting back. I remember exactly why I quit playing them but also how much fun they can be at times, not a lot of people will agree with the second part.

Anyway off to grind. Might be playing a .10c-.20c home game tonight which will be a bit of craic.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Overdue Post

The last week's been a major disaster really, so didn't feel like posting much. I dropped about 17 buyins in 3k hands. That's a pretty spectacular feat if I do say so myself. The downswong came at the same time as the disappointment of the world cup qualifiers, needless to say I was pretty depressed.

The match itself was actually a lot of fun, until we got knocked out obviously. The worst part was the realisation the next day that we're going to be spending the Summer half heartedly watching the rest of the world competing for the World Cup. If we had qualified we'd be guaranteed at least 3 decent nights out, nights of expectation, of hope, of excitement, accompanied by lots of alcohol and ultimately that all to familiar feeling of disappointment. No doubt this would manifest itself amongst certain quarters some in vitriolic racist attacks on whoever knocked us out. Or a retarded Facebook campaign. Probably both actually.

Played a few tournies today and scooped 2 which wasn't a bad strike rate. They were both PPP exclusives and decent little games. The $25 6 max had a nice little overlay actually which was sweet. Only played a few hundred hands of cash and won 2 buyins which was nice for a change. The roll's sitting around $1100, not quite where I want it but barring any more major disasters I'll start taking a few shots at 50plo when I get my rakeback at the end of the month. 16k hands more to play this month to hit my target of 40k!! Dunno if i'll make it but i'll give it a lash

/off to watch Mad Men

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Lazy



Lazy day again today, I only played 1293 hands, bringing my total amount of hands for the month up to 17059, still off the target of 40k. With a good bit of grinding in the next 2 weeks though I reckon I can make it. I'll be really happy with myself if I do to be honest, it's solid volume while only 6 tabling. I may add a table or 2 more soon, Feel like i'm starting to play a lot better. My big leak at the moment is giving people too much credit in their ability to fold---ie bluffing stations. Need to work on that an d just give up sometimes v the really cally players. I upped my 3b % a bit more, hope to get it around 7%, atm it's languishing at a nitty 4.5%. Must try harder.

Hope to get a good bit of a grind in tommorow daytime, as the night will be dedicated to crying over a pint. I'm really trying not to get too optimistic for Ireland's hopes of qualification. Being overly pessimistic is definitely the way to go imo it'll make the Sean St. Ledger's hat-trick that little bit sweeter. Although our chances are slim, it's still possible to hit that one outer, so come on lads. One time and all that Jazz.

Ran pretty good today again, but I really don't think you EV line is that good an indicator of how your running, although it is nice to use it as an excuse when your playing bad.





Monday, November 16, 2009

Getting Back Into It

Ugh I've been lazy. My target of 40k hands this month is looking very very optimistic right now. Before today i'd only played a few hundred hands and some tournaments, none of which I cashed in since last Thursday. There was obvious distractions, a very drunken night out in the Sugar Club for the IADT graduation on Wednesday, and the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol again on Saturday to ease the inevitable pain of the France game.

So it wasn't really until today that I recovered properly and had a bit of time. I did get in pretty much 2k hands which is good, and got out of a hole to break even pretty much which sometimes feels better than winning. Not today though. Felt I didn't play well, lost all concentration etc etc. Anyway, there's always tomorrow. I plan on getting up relatively early for the grind, but we'll see how that goes. Kinda fucked my roll a bit playing a lot of tournaments very badly which is annoying, accompanied by a few losing cash sessions and i'm back down to 1.2k or so, pretty annoying as I was hoping on moving up to 50plo earlier last week. Anyway, nothing I can do about it now really except grind it out again. I bought 400k hands from hand hq so i'm going to load them up tonight and hopefully start making the most of my HUD etc. I played the feeder to the Fitz mega sat tonight and came 4th, getting back my buyins basically, felt like I was getting owned in a lot of spots but never went to showdown so not sure if they were just running good or not. Didn't enjoy it anyway. I'll probably play one more of these if I get a chance, and if not, just the EOM sat.


Here's a ridiculously swongy graph from today..The big upswing after about 1800 hands was form getting it in with top set 4 ways on a 968 flush draw flop, v 710xx twice and kk24 (lol) for the K hi fd, managed to pair up on the river which was sweet.

Until tomorrow...







Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Grindin'



Bit of a meh day, but did get in a lot of hands 1988 to be precise. I also got my 3b% up to 7.3% for today which i'm happy with. Not much else to say really. Heading out tonight on the piss for what would be my graduation if I hadn't of dropped out, should be a good night anyway. Ship the +1 buyin day imo...





Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Blurgh




Big losing day today reversing yesterday, sound. Headed into the Fitz for the tourney tonight cause I didn't feel like grinding. Never really got going again, ended up shoving 66 into 99 gg wp. I'd definitely play more live tournies if i lived in town. They're just such a pain in the ass to get into and home from. Anyway, graph from today. It doesn't make pretty reading, needless to say I won't be moving up to plo50 yet.




Monday, November 9, 2009

Running Good Still

Just a quick post tonight as i'm pretty wrecked. Winning flips really takes it out of you. Today actually started pretty bad, running a good bit below ev but that turned around in my last session of the day in particular, where it seemed everyone just wanted to pay me off. always nice when you have the boots. My roll is just over $1500 now so i'm going to take a few shots at 50plo tomorrow and see how that goes.

Here's a couple of funny hands from today.....


Nice hold...And then v a guy who can't fold. I should prob fold the river even with the price i'm getting as he always has a flush imo. Graph for the day below as usual.


IPoker Network $20.00 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 5 players - View hand 361517
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $24.32
UTG: $27.22
CO: $21.66
BTN: $15.97
SB: $35.20

Pre Flop: ($0.30) Hero is BB with 9 of spades T of spades T of diamonds J of spades
UTG raises to $0.70, CO calls $0.70, 1 fold, SB calls $0.60, Hero calls $0.50

Flop: ($2.80) 9 of diamonds T of clubs 2 of diamonds (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG checks, CO bets $2.80, SB raises to $11.20, Hero raises to $23.62, UTG folds, CO calls $18.16 all in, SB calls $12.42

Turn: ($71.00) A of spades (3 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($71.00) 2 of clubs (3 players - 1 is all in)


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IPoker Network $20.00 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 5 players - View hand 361521
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $44.05
Hero (BTN): $26.58
SB: $25.79
BB: $19.70
UTG: $6.60

Pre Flop: ($0.30) Hero is BTN with 5 of clubs 8 of hearts 7 of clubs A of hearts
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.70, SB calls $0.60, 1 fold

Flop: ($1.60) 6 of hearts 4 of spades 7 of spades (2 players)
SB bets $1.60, Hero raises to $6.40, SB calls $4.80

Turn: ($14.40) A of clubs (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $14.40, SB calls $14.40

River: ($43.20) T of spades (2 players)
SB bets $4.29, Hero calls $4.29


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Sunday, November 8, 2009

JP's Mini WSOP etc



So I made the long trek out to Tallaght on the dreaded 75 yesterday to play the side event at JP's mini WSOP. I hate that fucking bus, took about an hour and a half from Dun Laoghaire, which was a good time due to the lack of traffic. It's taken me 2 hours to get to Knocklyon before. Guess i'll stop ranting about the 75 anyway, can't really blame it for the tourney however much i'd like to.

I got out there in plenty of time and got a bit of food before sitting down at me table. It seemed ok but there was definitely softer. Mick Stephens was the only player I knew at the table, there was one other German/Belgian guy who had position on me who seemed decent. Couple of other guys seemed to know what they were doing somewhat and then there was the obligatory droolers. First hand I played of note, I 3b the German/Belgian guys open from the CO in the BB with AT0. Flop was 9d4d4x, i cbet a little more than half pot and he flats, at this stage i'm done with the hand..... unless....Yup bink an Ace on the turn. I check call. He seemed aggro enough and it's a good bluffing spot to get me to fold hands like TT-QQ. He won't be calling a 2nd barrel with worse anyway. The river is a Ten giving me top 2, flushdraw whiffed. I go into check call mode as inducing is the only way to get any value imo, unfortunately for me he checked it back claiming to have 'A pair'. I took down a few pots pre and with C bets after that. Most people were opening to 3x and 4x even a few 7x bb raises, whereas I was bringing it in for 2.5x Anyway, standard old guy makes an unusually small raise from mp, CO I'm fairly sure notices this and 3bets him, I go ahead and 4b the CO with K7cc and get the fold bringing me up to 40k.

It all went downhill from there, raised it up in MP with AKo and get a couple of callers. One of whom is the definition of the value in these kind of games. Random old guy who earlier defended his BB v me and check folded the flop but in the process turned over his hand by mistake. The mighty 85o. Anyway I 2.5x AKo. Flop is K47 with a fd. I bet 2/3 or so, old guy calls. Turn is an offsuit 2, i bet 2/3 again old guy calls again. I'm nearly 100% he has K8-Kq so trying to milk the value. River comes an offsuit 9. I check to induce, figuring i'm not getting 3 streets of value from worse (in hindsight I probably would) anyway he insto fires a bit more than half pot and i call, obv he has the K9. I'm fairly sure he plays KT, KJ and Kq the same way so I don't mind it. So after that instead of being up to circa 60k im down to around 23k. Last hand before the dinner break I 3b the German/Belgian guy from the Sb with 47o he tank 4bets and says he had KK. I claimed to have folded JJ. Down to 20k or so by dinner.

Pretty card dead for a while and had an awkward stack size after dinner, not really deep enough to get involved with marginal hands and open a bit lighter which is always annoying, yet not shallow enough to be shoving. Our table breaks soon enough and I get moved to set to the right of Dave Masters which wasn't exactly ideal. From dealing to him before I was fairly sure he was going to be calling my shoves (correctly) a lot lighter than the randomers. This table really was a grind but I managed to build me stack up to around 32k from below 20k without going to showdown, blinds would have been 800-1600 at this stage. One particularly enjoyabe hand was shoving about 14 bbs with 2 limpers who i knew 100% were folding with the old Q7 sooty. So i have about 30k in the BB at 1.2k-2.4k-300, Dave Masters is UTG and open ships for 38k, folded to me and I wake up with the pointy fellas, get a sweat V his AQo when he picks up a fd on the turn but I hold for a 60k pot.

Bit of a disaster from there on in, tried to get a few steals through but failed miserably, ie i get 3b and shown 2 black Aces. I then open KTo utg playing 7 handed last hand before a break. Guy on the button calls as does the BB. Flops Q24 with a fd, pretty good flop for me. I Cb about 8k and get raised to 20k, I have 40k behind and I'm sure he's bluffing but with little or no fold equity imo I pussied out. He showed A4 fwiw and preceded to tell me how I couldn't have AQ or a pair there and that he was actually "a very good reader of the game". Sour grapes maybe but well done sir. That hand was pretty much the end for me, let my stack dwindle and as I text a friend "I found less spots than a clearisil model". Eventually I shoved my 8bbs or so from the CO into Mick Stephens's JJ. He's still in now I think so hopefully he scoops. Marc was playing sick good too, down to the last 4 at the moment so hopefully he does too.

There was actually a very funny hand early doors, must have been the 4th hand or so. Everyone has 30k, blinds 50-100. Folded to MP who limps, CO raises and a couple of other callers along the way. Flop comes 9d8d5d. MP checks it to the CO who bets about 700 into 1.2k, MP smooth calls. Turn is the 8 of clubs. MP checks again CO bets 2k or so, which MP crai to 6k, CO flats. the River comes the 9 of spades, so the boars reads 9d8d5d8c9s, now Mp open shoves, snapped by the CO. What are their hands? Obv 6d7d for mp and 9c9h for MP. Flopped Straight flush v the rivered quads, standard.

As far as online goes, I didn't get much in over the weekend due to being out in Tallaght, I did play a ridiculously swingy 1k or so hands today, took a hiding early on but got out of it thanks to a few big donations and a bit of luck. I really want to try get 10k hands in next week, only managed 8k this week which was below the target. Time to get grinding. I also just finished 12th in the $25 double stack on i-poker there. I literally can't play enough of these, they're so incredibly soft. Just need to start running good at the business end, payouts are so top heavy. Graph for today below.





Friday, November 6, 2009

Productive Day Off





So I took my first day off this week today. It was nice. I've played 7k hands so far this week, hope to have 10k by the end of the week so I should do it. I still managed to get up before 11 which I was delighted with as We'd (Me my girlfriend Fiona and mate Cian) planned to go picking mushies in the morning. Our last trip picking was a bit of a disaster, basically ending up in a 3 hour walk through Crone Wood. Although this was actually quite a nice way to spend a day, the lack of hallucinogenic drugs was somewhat disturbing. Today our research was better, ie we did some research and got a tip from a friend who'd had success on several trips. The spot we ended up in is obviously no secret to the funghi fanatics of the area as there was at least 3 other people scouring the field looking for their keys too.

We originally parked in the first car park of Djouce wood, just past Enniskerry, and went into the field beside the woods on the same side of the road. We found a few little guys randomly scattered around, and a lot of "maybe's" which will have to be sorted out later as I don't feel like poisoning myself too much. While there though the wind started to pick up to the point where I very nearly got blown into a massive pile of sheep shit, which wouldn't have been the greatest start to our trip. Anyway after about half an hour out in the cutting wind and rain we headed back to the car to warm up for a bit, and for a quick J to help our mushroom radars. We left the car and walked up the road past the first car park, climbing a fence into the field on the opposite side of the road to Djouce. From here we kept walking up, not finding much till we came to a little patch of bark mulch stuff that a farmer had made a square out of, for some farming reason i'm sure. The mushrooms obviously enjoyed the bark, there must have been at least 10 different kinds there. We took our time scouring through there and picked a few nice ones.

Walking up further again over a few more gates, we eventually found the field that we'd been directed to originally. There's actually 2 there, both very damp and marshy with reeds and moss, a few sheep knocking about as well. Here we started to find a few nice clusters and began to actually stock up nicely. All this time the weather had been pretty bitter but the wind and rain had calmed a bit, but it came back with a vengeance and made picking the shrooms pretty much impossible. It was pretty hard to keep your eyes open, never mind pick them. I definitely plan on heading back up there again soon. I have our haul drying in newspaper now, i'll have to sift through them at some stage and take out at least 1/4 i'd say so we'll see what we're left with. Oh we also found a sheep/goats skeleton along the way which was a bit of craic, photos below.

On the poker front I'm going to try get in a few hands in the morning but i'm not too optimistic about it. Heading out to Tallaght to play JP's Mini WSOP side event for 5 so hopefully I can run good in that and ship. Mushie party on Sunday when I scoop the loots imo.

Ha also forgot to mention that as we were walking along, eyes firmly fixed on the ground looking for the elusive mushies a pickup truck full of traveller's pulled up beside us.

"Do you want to buy any Hugo Boss Aftershave lads?". A bit surreal.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Rush


Jesus I missed that feeling, running good is fun.

Just finishing up for the day now. I ran good but played pretty bad. I was having a bit of trouble with a couple of the regs, particularly in 3bet pots. Something I definitely need to improve on. Anyway to my credit I think I table selected well, there's enough fish (just about) at 20plo to go around, no need to go on an ego trip and sit in with 4 or 5 other regs grinding.

When I say I ran good, I did. At the same time I wasn't getting it in behind, just holding. Always a nice change. There's nothing better in poker than when your running good and you have an air of invincibility about you. Confidence in yourself and your game is definitely an undervalued quality. Running good breeds confidence ergo lets have this heater continue.

I played the $20 3.5k f/o on i-poker this morning, finishing up 8th for $146. The payouts are soooo steep but anyway. Went out making a bad call v the ultra aggro chipleader. Still, better than a jab in the eye with a sharp stick as an old teacher of mine used to say. The I-poker tournaments really are a goldmine. My main problem with them at the moment is i'm trying to be more disciplined with regard to playing time eg try to make my sessions 2hrs max. If i'm going deep in a tourney I find it hard to not keep playing cash which leads to mistakes in both. I might try dedicate a night or 2 a week to just grinding tournies, maybe depositing a bit on stars. I'll see how it goes.

Here's my biggest hand from today, and my fun graph. I should probably be getting my red line up but meh.







Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble





Today was a bit of a meh day, could have been better but could have been worse I suppose. The two main downer buzz's on the day happened pretty much simultaneously. So i'm sitting downstairs watching Liverpool outplay Lyon, and watching me outplay everyone in JP's mini wsop sat on Boyles. Got to heads up and doubled up, with a 2/1 chip lead for the ticket. Ryan Babel just knocks in a cracker, everything's looking great. Nah not really, I forgot to account for the fact that it was Liverpool and me playing, both of whom are liable to blowups. And blowup we both did.I played a really bad 3bet pot to switch the stack sizes and then played a poor, impatient smaller stack game. Pissed off with myself but anyway. Liverpool seemed guilty of the same things to be honest, complacency, lack of concentration and being a Greek retard. Well not the last bit I suppose.

It's always entertaining/tilting to watch the lads in the RTE studio after a Liverpool game and tonight was no exception. My favourite part was their point about Rafa signing 76 players or whatever they kept harping on about. I don't deny he's made some bad signings in the past but surely that number must be largely made up of youth players etc. Anyway the best part was John Giles talking in a reverential tone about Harry Redknapp's astute acquisitions, namely Glen Johnson and Peter Crouch. Now where have I see those two before, hmmmm. Looking at the moment like we won't get into the next phase, Europa Cup ftw I guess.

I didn't play as many hands today as I would have liked, mainly due to getting up late and procrastination on boards etc. This is something I definitely have to sort out, the amount of time I spend aimlessly looking around the site or refreshing BBV like a junkie is ridiculous, I can definitely be doing something more productive. Anyway, only got in 1500 hands or so today, which is kind of annoying. If I want to make my 40k target by the end of the month I'm going to have to step it up a bit. I did make 4 buyins though which was nice, and ran ok. I had one sick hand where I sucked out in horrendous fashion by pinging ye olde 1 outer. Got it in with kkxx on a AsKsx flop v AAxx and QTxsxs. Flush completes on the turn and the King from wherever he's from on the river ships the loot. Here's my Graph.





I suppose all in all today was a good day.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Quick Post


Don't have much time so just a quick post about todays play. I got in 1809 hands, not bad considering I won't be playing at all tonight. Made a grand profit of $25. 92. Ran ok earlier on in the day but not so well in my last session. At least i'm in profit for the day anyway. Here's my graph. I'd be happy enough if I manage to keep up this level of grinding, anyway till tommorow gl.




Monday, November 2, 2009

Off To A Flyer






Well not really.

Today's been a bit of a disaster so far, just finishing up a few more hands now so i'll post up my end of day results towards the end of this. One thing I am however happy with today, was the fact I got up of my ass and went for a swim. When I say a swim it wasn't exactly Ian Thorpesque, only swam 8 lengths and spent the rest of the time in the sauna. I plan on heading back a good few times a week anyway, even if i'm not doing much exercising it's good to get away from the computer and relax for a bit.

Played two tournaments tonight, no good in either. I bubbled the PPP deepstack tourney. Got unlucky in a pretty big pot with 6 left v two shortish stacks which would have put me in good stead but it's obviously more fun to get dogged and bubble. Shipped my 10bbs 4 handed with AT only to run into KK eventually. I also played the Monday night Omaha on i-poker. Satted into it yesterday, to be honest I was never really comfortable, got some tough table draws and didn't pick up much. Finished in the mid 40's, not entirely happy with my exit hand, bit of a mess really. It's definitely a tourney that i'll hopefully start to play on a regular basis though.

So onto cash, got my RB for last month today and had my roll on about $1250 earlier but then lost 4 buyins or so, that was a bit of a shit buzz. Here's my graph from today, you'll notice i'm very much variance's bitch right now. I can't seem to hold when i'm flipping which isn't so bad but then when you lose every time you get it in ahead it starts to get a bit repetitive.







Sunday, November 1, 2009

Back To The Blog

I've decided to try blogging again for a bit. Like most other blogs, it's definitely going to be more for my own good, as like most other blogs, this probably won't interest anyone.

Anyway Novembers going to be a pretty big month for me poker wise I reckon. Giving up the booze for the month which should be hugely beneficial for a few reasons, not just health*. The plan for the next while anyway is to post here once a day with bits of poker and whatever else is going on. I'll get a few graphs and whatnot up once I start grinding a bit. Hopefully I'll be able to string a few posts together before I become completely disillusioned with the game.

Goals for November seems like a good place to start anyway, seeing as i've been very lazy recently I need to get back in grinding mode (and back in getting up before 4pm mode). So i'm setting a target of 40k hands for the month this will be at 20plo and 50plo. It's a pretty doable amount so shouldn't be too hard but we'll see. After the last few months my goal over these hands is just to be in profit, 1cent please. My roll's in and around $1k at the moment, i'll be getting my RB for the month tomorrow though so that should pad it a bit. When i'm up to $1500 I plan on adding in a couple of 50plo tables and hopefully make a seamless transition moving up. It doesn't usually work like that though unfortunately.

I've had a couple of niceish tourney scores recently so I plan on keeping grinding them, especially the double stack tournies on i-poker which have a huge amount of value imo. I just satted into the Monday Night Omaha there so i'll give that a spin tomorrow and hopefully ship.
On the live front JP's mini WSOP is on this weekend so I hope to make an appearance out there. JP runs a great tourney and there's lots and lots of value again.

Hopefully all this combined will end up the result any poker player wants and thats $$$'s. And bitchez of course.

*I will be drinking for the playoff games however to numb the pain. And maybe some other special occasions.