Upbeat and Optomistic

Following on from the below post. Myself and Chris have played in the sickest cash game we've been in to date. After outlasting Chris (again) at the £10 Harbour Rebuy, aided by some rubbish (think it was 98s) v AK saved by a full house on the board, and then A3 hitting running 3s v AJ. 11th and 12th for us, a little money for the final table bubble for me, plus Chris' £10 for our ongoing last longer!

We decided to start a 50p/50p NLHE cash game with a few other runners and a certain rich gambler named Mo. My first buy in was cracked by a 3 outer, and then another £60 died by way of a 5 outer, both on the river. So I brought the £100 chip I had in my wallet to the table. About an hour later I'd chipped up to a respectable £215, as Mo was generally playing rather loose and aggressive to put it mildly, with massive over raises, and calling down with anything. We were distinctly moist at the thought of this cash game continuing.

It got to the point where myself and Chris (I'm usually psycho-aggressive, and Chris is rather LAGgy too) are playing weak, tight, passive poker pre-flop. On one occasion I limp for £2 pre-flop (there's been alot of straddling) with KQ. Mo raises to something like £10-20, it's pretty irrelevant, but I call, to see a beautiful QQJ board. I make a small bet, only to be reraised all-in by Mo. The immense relief when I see his AJ is drawing to running Aces or Jacks is overwhelming, and I rake in a £430 odd pot.

The game is sick, we're eventually 4 handed with over £2k on the table, for a 50p/50p game! I've never lost a £250 pot with K8, on an A high board - and not even blinked. I lose a few pots, before getting my chips all-in on the last hand with AK. I reraise Mo half his stack (about £60), he calls, and I push the flop dark, he calls for another £70 or so. He doesn't turn his cards over, so seeing a beautiful Ace of clubs on the turn is a massive relief, a J on the river is irrelevant as he shows QJ. My AK takes the last pot of the night, worth around £250.

Running good continues, a final table Harbour the following weekend for £250 and win the Grosvenor Sunday tournament the following night for £410. UNfortunately, since then, the wheels have come off a bit. Playing a Wednesday cash game in the wrong frame of mind has really killed me, a couple of bad Monday rebuy tournaments has cost me around £400, punctuated by a £160 cash game profit, where again I played pretty badly but got lucky in one key hand, then redeemed myself in monster pots against Seb and Tony.

Having said that, playing terribly, I've still gone deep in 3 recent tournaments I've played, it's taken bad luck to knock me out. AT v KQ, QJ v 96 on a Q65 board are two that come to mind.

I've generally had an awful week of running bad, I've been one outered 3 times this week, 225 board, A2 v K2 v T5, case 5 hits the river. J8 v QQ on JJ3 board, case Q hits the river. 77 v AJ on T74 board, turn and river K J.

One sick cash game, 0.25c/0.50c heads up. This guy hit everything. He was awful. In 90 odd hands out of 650 he showed down, he hit 4 trips, 9 straights, 1 flush and 4 full houses. To be fair, only the straights got me into trouble, but he hit everything.

And I mean everything. KK on a 952 rainbow baord, a pot bet sees his 78 hit the jackpot with a 6 on the turn. In his 9 straights, he flopped one of those v my top pair, and hit FIVE gutshots. What made it worse, is that EACH time he hit - so had I! It wouldn't be so bad if he'd limped his SB, hit the gutshot, and got a dollar or two out of me on the river. No, he'd win $20 each time against my top pair/two pair/monster draw/overpair. And the one time I hit a straight...he hits a runner runner flush. I run JJ into QQ and 99 into TT. I'm finding alot of that at the moment, the deck is pretty ice cold.

But I've read a poker mag, and am feeling optomistic, so am playing the £25 semi-freeze tonight - not had a result there for a while. But Chris' recent run is keeping my losses from being too bad - I'm getting a little bit back after my run! ;)

Reading is happening from Thursday to Sunday, then Vegas in mid March, and Dublin in April. Will be alot of serious poker going on!

Whining is good

Should whinge more often. Shortly after posting the below blog, myself, Chris, Tony, Vicky and Andy all headed to Cardiff for the weekend to play the £75 APAT Welsh Amateur Championship. It was a generally successful week, with me first out in around 68th of the 200 odd runners. Kudos for Andy for going so deep, and to Tony for making day 2 and the money spots.

Anyway, like true poker addicts, we packed up around 3:30, and headed back to Southampton...to head straight to the casino's £30 treble chance freeze. Well, not Tony and Andy, because they're lame. Myself and Chris are duly rewarded for turning up 15 minutes late, Hellmuth style, by taking a 1-2, worth £440 to myself for the win. Chris will insist my A7 v his A6 on a KJ9 flop runner runner badbeated him, when it comes 5 4, good luck with that mincing dinosaur man. This is followed by a 2-3 the following evening - the luckiest person in the world dodges multiple bullets to take the win, but my coffers are swelled by another £450. Wednesday is a damp squib, as I run into an awful player who happens to be the card rack for the night.

Sunday stays good though, another 2nd for £200, though I needlessly gave away the chiplead and a £500+ payday 4 handed. Chris makes another final table and takes 6th. I got too aggressive, and ran into the eventual winners AQ after an ill-advised shove from the button. Monday's £10 rebuy made up for that, Chris taking 3rd and another win for myself, for £450.

He's rather narked, that after 5 tournaments, he's taken 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 3rd, and lost our £10 last longer bet each time, including the Wednesday tournament, where neither of us make an impact.

Online cash has been a different matter, no-one seems to be donating to me, not getting into any good spots, combined with a couple of suckouts and a little bit of tilt, I'm running a good $300 down at 25c/50c over the last couple of days. I've played pretty well, but some horrendous suckouts have not helped the cause.

PLHE, 25c/50c

I've chipped up slightly to $65. Pick up QQ UTG and pot raise to $1.75
CO calls.
BUT reraises pot to $7.75
SB folds, BB (monster stack of $160+) flat calls.
I use up my entire time bank, and repot to $33, leaving $18 behind.
Passed to the BB, who uses his timebank, and flatcalls.
Flop T 8 3 rainbow. He puts me all-in, I obviously call, he has 88.

Gimp.

Anyway, all is well following a live cash game - hence the late post. Blinds 10p/20p, a tiddy £110 profit, including "My new favourite Ten-Six play", as said by Mike Perry. Chris blind raises to £1.20, Willis reraises to £5.20, I flat call with T6o on the button. Chris reraises another £18, Willis passes and I shove my £60 stack in. After a good 3 minutes, where I'm absolutely bricking it, and Chris tells me he has an Ace, and he knows I don't have one. After long deliberation (I'm know I'm not in terrible shape) he passes A3, and I breathe a huge sigh of relief!

Anyway, a couple of hands, a few good plays, and it's been a good session. Chris was rather despondent about his cash performance, but you have no need to be mate. We all have bad sessions. You know you're easily good enough, discipline can be improved on. Your words of encouragement helped me over my dry spell, so I'm sure your self-belief will shortly return, as will the results.

If it's any consolation I haven't got a tell on you!

You only sing when you're winning

It's true.

I hate poker, I can't take much more. The last 4 months has been terrible. I'm probably running at nearing £1,500 down. I just seem to be the best player in the world at finding the fish at my table. They just get lucky. I haven't hit a big hand in god knows how long. I've not won more than £160 since September 1st.

I've tried a return to cash games, sticking $550 on Full Tilt. I've employed sensible table selection, using Poker Tracker, and making sure I've got position on any stacks bigger than me if possible. It's done bugger all.

Some hands over just the last 3 weeks - mine in bold:

5h6h(UTG+1) v 55 (BB) on 24K3 board. 56s min raises pre-flop and minimum bets 5 player flop - calls a too small reraise on the flop and hits the gutshot.

KQo (UTG) v 98s (Button) on A56T9 board. My UTG raise and bets are called pre-flop, flop and river.

77 (BB) v 6d2d (HJ) v Kd9c (CO) on Td8d4d board. HJ and CO limp. I overraise from BB, am called by both - it is 1/3 of K9's stack.

Qc3s (BB) v As8s (SB) on Kc Qs Js Ad 8c board. Two aggressive late limpers, SB completes. I overraise from BB, limpers pass, SB calls. He then check calls a 3/4 pot bet on the flop and turn - by this time it's 2/3 of his stack to call. This was a £150 comp!

AsJc (BB) v 3c5c (CO) on Ac Kc 2s board. Blinds 25c/50c HJ raises to $1.75. CO and button call. I reraise to $10, leaving $41 behind. Get called by the CO. I check raise his pot flop bet all-in, his 3c 5c hits the Qc on the turn and I miss the redraw.

In 2 nights of cash game play. I've hit one straight with KJ on a 69TQ board...to split it with KJ. In 200+ hands on Full Tilt, I have just seen this one straight, no flushes, only two trips (neither with pocket pairs, have had 15 of those and not hit one set - add to that 150+ hands on PKR without hitting a single set). I have lost with AK v A4 all-in pre. Hit top two pair, only to run into bottom set. Had JT on 3J4T board only to run into 33, A3 and KK, with a K rivering. Have had AA, QQ and 88 uncalled in a session where around 80-90% of my raises were being called.

I have had KK twice and seen an A high flop both times. The only walk in a 170 hand session saw me holding QQ on the BB. I've bet out with an 8 on 9c 9s 8s 7c board, to be called by 7h 2h which rivers a 7. I've run JJ into AA in heads up play, and a misclick caused me to run A8 into QQ on a blind v blind confrontation, not withstanding he insta-called an all-in on a 3 spade board, holding no spades. I have had a check raise on a 34K flop met with a reshove from A4.

T6 hitting an 865 board, T on the turn, to run into T8 - held by a muppet who'd been the final caller in a 3 way all-in holding Qh6h.

I've raised a single limper from the BB holding JdTd, the flop comes 248 with one diamond. I c-bet flop and turn 8. I am called all streets by the limper. The river is a 7, I check, he checks behind...with Qd5d.

I've overbet the flop with AdJc on 2d6dJs flop, received one check-caller, who pot bets the turn 3d, forcing me to pass. I've held a pair + flush draw, a gutshot + flush draw (twice) and a pair, gutshot + flush draw, and have missed the lot.

Most of the above in just 24 hours. I hate poker so much. APAT next weekend though, am due enough cards to win the tournament!

How do you win a SNG whilst hitting FA?

As Full Tilt are exceedingly homosexual in that they don't take Maestro - I've been pottering around, concentrating on work and other things. The month started badly, dropping £200 at poker from 30th August to 4th October, and I've decided to ease off the live poker, as I feel I'm not giving it my all, despite very positive recent results. With about $8 lying around in Stars I decide to play an SNG for fun. But I win, so play a $10 SNG, play well and make 2nd. Feeling like I'm playing very solid poker, I've decided to give SNGs a go over cash in the future. Far less variance!

6 $10 SNGs, 2 wins, 1 2nd, 1 3rd and 2 4ths - and one of the 4ths I made a terrible mistake which otherwise would've resulted in a cash. So into the 7th.

Hands 1-12: Bugger all, I see my first two BBs for free with 54o and Q2o. Limp with Kh9h and reminded it's a poor play when SB raises big and I pass. Only 20 chips though. If I play every hand here, I hit 2nd pair once (a 9 with 96o) and 3rd pair thrice on the flop.

Hand 13: SB, AQo, MP and button limp. I hate the hand and position, too early to raise, so complete. Flop comes K high and I pass to the bet.

Hand 16: AQo, 4th pos. 3rd limps, I raise to 5xBB, all fold and I take my first pot.

Hand 22: AJo, Button. Cutoff raises 4xBB, I flat call, board comes 2h 5d 9c Qc Tc. Checked down and he has the only hand I could've pushed off the pot (AK). Thought about betting the turn, but I don't like risking too many chips early on. If I'd played the last 11 hands, I'd have hit 3rd pair once.

Hand 24: QJs, 4th pos. I limp, one EP limper and button. T high flop and fold to the button's bet.

Hand 26: AKo, 2nd pos. I raise 4xBB. All fold.

Hand 28: 9s3c, BB. No raise on my BB for 4th consecutive time. Button limps. Board Js 8s 2d 3s and a 2/3 pot bet takes it down. Haven't hit another flop yet. Still on 1235 chips with blinds 25/50.

Hand 36: 99, SB. MP and button limp. I hate the position, all-in or pass realistically, and the blinds are small enough, so I flat call, miss and fold. Playing the last 8 hands would've seen me hit 2nd pair for the 2nd time (the 4 with 84o this time!).

Hand 47: 88, UTG. Down to 910 chips with blinds 50/100. I have no option but to push. All fold. Not hit another flop.

Hand 49: 97s, SB. Button limps, I complete. Flop 874 rainbow. A huge 2nd pair sees me bet 2/3 pot and take it down. That's now 3 2nd pairs and 4 3rd pairs on the flop.

Hand 52, QJo, 2nd pos. 6 players left, I raise 3xBB and take the pot.

Hand 64, KQo, 2nd pos. 860 chips, blinds 75/150. I move all-in, BB calls with JTs. Board 62574 doubles me up. No more hits in the last 15 hands.

Hand 66, T6s, BB. Blind on Blind, board AK5T sees me take it with a min bet on the turn.

Hand 74, K7o, Button. Still 6 left, blinds 100/200. Folded to me and I min raise on the button. BB calls. Board 9h Td Qh 4c 8s. It's checked down and his A3o wins. Still can't hit a flop.

Hand 75, AcKh, Cutoff. 1170 left, MP raises to 800, no option but to push. He shows 99. Board comes Qc Kc 2c Jh 6s. I HIT TOP PAIR! Oh, and I doubled up.

Hand 76, 92o, UTG. Would've hit 2 pair, when you're hot you're hot!

Hand 77, ATo, BB. Blind on blind. SB limps, I raise 3xBB, SB calls. Flop 456, he checks, I push, he folds. 2nd of 5 left now.

Hand 88, AA, SB. Not hit since last time. Blind on Blind. BB short stacked. I min raise and he flat calls. Flop down J65, I put him all-in and he insta-calls with JT. Turn 9, river 7 knock him out. Though I didn't actually hit that flop!

Hands 91-97. I win 4 of these 7 hands, hitting bottom pair once, 22 on a K44 board and two pre-flop raises. 4 left.

Hands 104-106. I win these 3 in a row with pre-flop raises. A couple of flop hits, but no top pair if I play every hand. Chipleader with 4600 and blinds 100/200/25.

Hand 111: A raise stops me from playing QTo, flop comes Q high and QJ hits two pair on turn.

Hand 117, QQ, SB. Now 3 handed and in the money, somehow. I over raise from SB to 6xBB, BB pushes and I call, he shows JJ and board 6726T puts me as monster chipleader 8800 with both opponents on 2300.

Hand 122, 22, BB. Blinds now 200/400/25. SB raises 60% of his stack, I reraise all-in, he shows ATs and 465KK board knocks him out and leaves me 4 to 1 chipleader heads up. The odd 2nd and 3rd pair, but nothing much.

Hands 125-130: I win 4 of 6 without hitting a thing.

Hand 131, 9c4c, SB. I've been raising every button to 3xBB, this time he calls, flop down Ac 3c 4s. Lovely flop, I put him all-in, and he folds, leaving him 1500 chips and me with an 8 to 1 leader.

Hand 132, KdJd, BB. He doubles up wtih A8o, both miss. He starts folding his SB.

Hand 134, 95o, SB. I raise 3xBB again, he flat calls, board 4AA2K and I put him all-in on the river, he passes and I show, hahaha! He again folds his SB next hand (135), and I show him 93o.

Hand 136, 74s, SB. I stupidly put him all-in, and he doubles up with Q6 when we both miss.

Hand 138, KhJh, SB. I'm 12 to 1 leader - I put him all-in again, and he calls with J9o. I fittingly hit top pair and the board of 23J7T gives me the win.

If I play each of the 138 hands (played hands in bold):

I hit two-pair once (92o).

I hit top pair 3 times - played hands in bold (AKo, QTo, KJs).

I hit 2nd pair 7 times (with 84o, 96o, 97s, 72o, 96s, 64o, 94s).

3rd pair was hit 11 times, as good as a fold really, though I took a couple of pots down with these.

A pre-flop move with 88 was uncalled, as were many smaller raises with rags. QQ and AA both held as 4-1 favourites.

I won both my races (only one crucial one) 22 v ATs and AKo v 99. That is all, 4 key hands all won.

How do you win a SNG whilst hitting FA?

Patience.

And a little bit of luck ;)

Mmmmm...satisfying

Sometimes, everything just comes together. The cards, experience, physical tells and poker strategy all combine.

It's just the freeroll at the casino, have been very stacked at some points but have fallen to just above the average (~13k) with around 18 left. I've not really put a foot out of line - absolutely unheard of for me, and have generally played good, solid poker. This time however, with blinds 300/600 I feel it's ripe for a raise and bump it up to 1800 UTG with 67o. Only 5 active players in the hand, the two after me fold, but the small blind calls. He's been looking to play some poker, and has been trusting his reads. Has made several aggressive raises and reraises and has been sensible in who he's been targeting. The flop comes T64 rainbow.

My instant feeling is that he'll believe I've not hit, so I am expecting him to bet. But he checks fairly quickly and 'naturally', not at forced check. I fire out a value bet of 3000, wish to charge him if he gets tricky. He goes into the tank and his demeanour instantly changes, muttering 'you HAVE to bet there', and then moves all-in for 7500 more. I'd be left with 400 if I call and lose. My initial assessment of the flop is that I would be ready for a stop and go re-raise a bet all in, but his talking out loud about his hand analysis made me stop and think. Is his chit-chat, suggesting I'm on the c-bet bluff, a cover for a monster?

I look into his eyes, he holds my gaze for the tiniest of split seconds and shifts his eyes around. He doesn't look comfortable, the smile is forced. He hasn't seen me get tricky with rags before, and I'm playing to get into this kind of position. But good players usually don't put their chips at risk without something. Surely he'd bet a T straight away on the flop? Anyway, if I were holding a T there I'd be pretty comfortable about it, so it just doesn't seem likely. I also don't think he's called me with rags, or he'd again bet out at that kind of flop. The only hands I'm worried about are now 77, 88 and 99. He's not pushing all-in with a set here on a drawless board, but these pairs would fit with the nervousness - 77 is slightly more unlikely given I hold a 7.

I come to the conclusion that he'd be fairly likely to reraise pre-flop if holding 99 out of position. 88 is entering risky mode, but I believe a fair chance of a reraise there too. 77 feels like a stop and go hand, but his failure to bet on the flop, combined with his instant body language change when I bet goes against everything he 'should' do in this spot. I call, and am rather pleased when he shows 55. When I call he asks if I have AK, and isn't best pleased when he sees the hand, it holds up, and I make another final table, I make it my 4th this month and soon follow it with a 5th with another FT at Harbour House. It's been a good month.