Thursday 29 November 2007

coolered, sucked out on - i hate cowoys and rathollers!

How to beat ssnl: raise from the button, steal the blinds, sit out and never play again. – lol
This blog is just turning into a continued moan, I get coolered, I get drawn out on, either way I loose. There’s no interesting hands – coz I’m play ssnl, there’s no out playing people – coz they can’t fold, all there is are hands where some guy donks off his stack with a clearly beat hand, or hands where they try to donk off their chips but the party dealer gives them their perfect card.
My last three days have just been amusing:

1) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1751130 – one time
2) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1753970 – two time
3) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1754011 – three time – this was great coz he timed down to 1 sec before making this “tough call”
4) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1751139 – four time
5) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1753983 – so then I start getting outdrawn, which was a breath of fresh air after the constant coolering
6) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1751136 – not sure what the odds are, he’s probably correct to get it in – against me he’s probably a 9:1 fav.
7) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1753989 – this was kinda a cooler – but tbh I knew he had that hand – I just felt: if he can three outer me, I’ll try a four outer. What I loved more was that he said “cold deck, but I had odds to call the flop bet” I explained that 5% made him a 19:1 dog to catch on the turn, he responded by leaving the table, which made him like the 1000th guy to ratholl me!

Basically – I think I’ve completely lost patience with poker. I remember a few others complaining about how bad they run for long stretches. But I think the problem is different for me, I think I’ve run good for like 2 short stretches this year, and run bad all the other time. I remember negreanu complaining how he ran bad for the whole of WSOP 2005 – all I’d say is 6 weeks of live poker on a downswing is like me running bad for two days online – lol.

What I can’t seem to get to grips with is why it pisses me off so much when I lose at poker. When I gamble on the races It doesn’t affect me even if I have £50-£100 on a race and lose – last year’s Grand National cost me way over £150 if I can remember correctly and I was pissed off for about five minutes and then went down to the pub and enjoyed the rest of the day. – but over the last two days I’ve lost about $400 on the tables ($200 of which was profit from Monday) and I feel really shit about it. I’m just not sure it’s worth it. When I look at my losses for the year they amount to like £400 – I’ve had nights in out when I’ve spent more than that (not that I can afford to) and it’s cost me a lot less heart ache.

So why does poker piss me off so much? – I think it’s coz I have to lose to someone (whose usually an idiot); I don’t mind losing to a bookie, in a casino I feel like a mug just being there, but I don’t want to rip the head of the croupier when they drop their 15th blackjack on my 20, and I don’t even want bad things to happen to the painful shooter on the craps table who can only shoot a seven, so it’s just poker that fuck’s me off.

The other reason is that I think I’m quite a good poker player, I can put players on a range well – and lots of the time on a specific hand, I play aggressively enough to stay even without any big pot wins, and then when I get into a big pot I normally have the better hand – so statistically, I should win.

Basically, I really want to take a break from this game. When I think about, it’s got no value for me– I’m never going to be able to sustain myself by playing poker, and to be honest, I couldn’t think of anything worse – when I lose I feel shit, but I don’t have to start trying to work out how to pay the bills. I think the only reason why I want to play is to prove to myself that I can beat the game, and as painful as it is to admit it – it seems I can’t. I would love to work out if over the last 10 months I’m up or down in sklansky $s – coz I think that I’m up big! – lol

Anyways – have been told not to make my blog too much of a depressing read – and I really hope it hasn’t been. I hope that over the months there’s been some decent stuff on here. Over Christmas I’m going to be getting a job, not playing poker. But I’ve got a few more contacts on the race scene so I will be blogging up on my pony backing. I’m hoping that I don’t choose to play any poker though – I want to enjoy Christmas – lol
Ty for reading, best of luck to you all

Sunday 25 November 2007

$1 profit for the week - $300+ swing

At my low point I was stuck another 6 buy-ins however, at this point I’m up $1 for the week. So a good turnaround me thinks. I had to do a fair bit of work to get even and had to really adjust my negative attitude towards the game. In the previous week I had been sucked out and coolered pretty badly, but I had also forgotten some significant points of the game. I’m pretty good at playing long sessions across 6-7 tables, but the mistake I kept making was trying to get into big pots too early – when I should sit at the table and build up a few notes on the players before risking too much money. Later in the week when I went back to doing this everything began working much more smoothly. Here’s a few hands for the week:

1) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1738326 – this vil is playing 85/14, has shown in previous hands that he is a real beginner, has no concept of position, bet amounts or the value of his hand in comparison to the board so I raised pre for value and was more than happy to get my money in on this board.
2) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1738344 – this vil was playing like an absolute maniac – he was playing 100/30 over 13 hands – but had doubled up once and since managed to lose two stacks – I should confess that this call did take some encouragement from Jack – I believed it to be a high variance call (and considering the hit my bankroll had taken I wasn’t sure if I was ready for more variance) – but Jack was certainly correct to dispute my point esp. when the vil showed his holdings.
3) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1738374 – this hand is open to discussion. My thoughts were, as this vil is playing 32/9 his UTG raising range must be small-ish (obv I was wrong) – I was hoping that I could induce a shove from his range which I was setting as TT-AA inc A-J and above. Obv. The check re-raise all-in on the river made me think I had let him walk into top set or a J-high str8 – but I had to make the call. Would like to have some feedback here tho.
4) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1738409 – not sure what to say about this hand. Whether I should bet flop and turn is certainly questionable – vil is playing 50/13 and I put him on the flush draw. Kinda feel I was priced into the river call tho...
5) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1738426 – this hand made me look like the table fish – the vil is playing 58/0 and was spewing everywhere – I assumed that he could be bluffing here I suppose – not sure what others would recommend...

So end of this week was much better than last – my black-jack high rolling friend gave my account a massive bashing on Friday and Saturday so will try to get some free $s off PTY – when I called on Saturday morning they’d only give me a $100 bonus which I have to play 4000 raked hands to clear – However, his average bet was higher on Sat so might be able to work on getting more off them – lol

Not too much work to do next week so will work on the $50 nl – gotta make $675 before I can move up – which is a bit of a pain coz I got very close at one point in the previous week.

Ty for reading – gl at the tables

Wednesday 21 November 2007

Running bad or playing bad

Still can’t work it out – I’m lost nearly $1000 on PTY in less than a week playing no higher than $50nl. It’s rather sick.

Okies – so I felt a little owned after this hand. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1726009 – my thoughts were he’s got KJ when he calls or two pair – when he checks to me I’m thinking – he’s not gonna check the nuts to me, should I check behind – or is he planning to check call with something weak – when he shoves I’m not sure whether I should be folding.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1726042 - also feel i got pwned by another river check-raise.

Just not sure what the hell to think really. I played 2500 hands today and lost $155.
I’ve had AA cracked by AK, I’ve had set over set, I’ve flopped a set against a flopped flush – it’s been that sort of day again.

But the main thing I’m not sure about is my style – I keep trying to play a slightly looser form of TAG but it seems everyone has to see the flop – I’m not even sure that I like to 3-bet AK out of pos in a multi way pot anymore because they normally all come along and it seems I just don’t hit anymore.

Really not sure what the hell to think. Mainly coz I don’t know if I’m running bad have just developed a load of leaks since i started playing PTY

Monday 19 November 2007

i have a dream!....that one day i'll connect with a flop again... i have a dream!

Just cannot believe how badly I’m running. It’s a joke – I’m surrounded by people making completely moronic decisions – but they’re beating me consistently now. I just think I’ve lost so many buy-ins that I have just stopped caring and that’s really not a profitable attitude.
Perhaps it’s time to concentrate on my degree – lol.
I think my problem is that I find it impossible to put people on hands when they play so weirdly:
1) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1718855 – wtf – how can you play top pair like this?
2) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1718858 – at higher stakes this is a pwning, I don’t think this is profitable at 50nl – first time I’ve ever had the move pulled on me and not be a bluff.
3) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1718863 – lol – when I flop good at least I can get the moneys in the pot
4) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1718882 – I assumed this vil was making the bet with a missed flush draw – what a suprise – I was wrong...
5) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1718883 – Perhaps should have folded – not sure – I give little resperct to those who cannot afford a full buy-in
6) Lol – also got in a big hand with KJo – I had raised pre from the CO and had a call from the small stacker in the SB and the big stack on the button – Flop j-high with two clubs – checked to me so I bet $6 into $7ish – both call – turn was a blank but this time I decide to check for pot control – the button bets $8 and we both call – river is Kc – short stack and I check and button insta-pushes for and effective $35 into $50 – SB insta mucks – I can’t work out what fooking hand he has and end up timing out trying to make the decision. Still not sure what I should have done here. If his bet was a bluff – why so big?

ps - please read the post below - it's much more interesting - and less of a moan...

Off to the races...

Cheltenham races...

After a week of running bad the Paddy Power Gold Cup was my chance to get even. It’s a great little festival; first handicap hurdles of the season so obv. the hardest for the bookies to totally bust you. Only problem was; I didn’t really know shit!

Had to get up at about 8:30 (after going to bed at 6am) to start driving to Cheltenham. Got there in good time, but spent a couple of hours drinking with some friends, one of which was to be my tipster for the day, John, – he came equipped with three form guides, two mobiles and a season pass to the course – obv. a pro... Whilst drinking we missed the first race – alarm bells should have rung when his ‘top-tip’ pulled up half way...

So second race of the day and my first punt. It was the Club 16-24 Novices Chase I just mirrored John’s action with two each way bets costing me a total of £40. We needed a place to break even, but a win would put us up £40-£50 – our ponies came in 5th and 6th. However, Ruby Walsh dislocated his shoulder in a heavy fall on favourite Willyanwoody, Walsh's injury meant he wouldn't be able to ride the heavily backed Granit Jack in the Paddy Power Gold Cup (4th race). So now off to the betting room to watch the odds which were racing around because nobody knew if the replacement jockey Liam Heard, who was racing at Uttoxeter race course, was going to make the 80 mile drive in time for weigh in. For those who don’t know, the betting room is like a trading floor for punters; there’s about 30 free-lanced bookmakers all offering slightly different odds, and most importantly, usually better odds than the more convenient major bookmakers who are all over the course. Due to the speculation caused by Ruby's fall I decided to get on my mobile to my Irish tipster from back in the day who confirmed my hunch – L’Antartique 7-1. Although the odds were bouncing around on all the runners I managed to get £20 each way on at 13-2. John had been doing his own research (he used his two phones, which did look quite professional) and told me that after speaking to a couple of stable boys to back an outsider, Copsale Lad, to win! I took his advice and got £30 down on the outsider at 9-1.

Alrighty – so after spending 40 mins in the betting room I had almost forgotten about the 3rd race when I got a call from my internet blackjack loving mate, Steve. He was up in the Champagne bar with the girls and asked if I wanted to back the 3rd race – I told him to just “get me the favourite, £20 on the nose.” I ended up watching the race course-side and was happy to see the favourite “Franchoek” sale in two lengths ahead – so £27 win! – however, when I got back to Steve I found that my money had actually gone on “Won in the Dark” a 25:1 donkey! – his excuse what that he thought “on the nose” has something to do with ‘whatever you think is best’.
So now slightly angry and down £60 I necked half his bottle of champagne and headed to the course to watch the ponies being led-up for the P-P Gold Cup. Just before the lead up the announcement came in that Liam Heard had weighed in and would be racing “Granite Jack” – fukin marvellous! I had a 13-2 and a 9-1 when there was a 3-1 favourite out there. I watched as the inevitable started to unfold – Granite Jack tore through the field and by the second lap was ahead by over a length – however, on the second to last fence my prayers were answered, Granite Jack spectacularly managed to land on his head, breaking his neck and dying instantly, thus allowing L’antartique to take the lead and win by a nose over the 33-1 outsider Il Duce. I collected £196 for that race, so misusing my £50 I had riding on it, and the £60 losses from the other races I was up around £90.
The next race I didn’t have any real views, and no one seemed to know who to back – so I had a £15 each way bet on an 18-1 in the 3:10. I thought the race was a hurdle, however, when I saw that that it was a chase I kissed goodbye to the £30 and watched the heavily backed favourite come home three lengths ahead of the field.
So my plan was to put the last £60 of profit on the final race. I got on the phone to my Irish tipster (as John hadn’t given me a single winner) and decided to put £30 each way on D’Argent. I had him at 13-2 so a win would give me a total pay and total profit of £150. When I got back the bar I discovered that half the people there had money in D’Argent, and then I discovered why: they were Irish and so was the horse. Luck wasn’t on my side and I watched as the 15:2 outsider came in first.
So, no profit on the day, and a few costs: £25 club pass entry to the ground, £40 on food and booze and that evening I lost two games of spoof for a bottle of champagne each and spent money on a meal and more booze meaning that the weekend was approaching £150 in costs. However, at 4:30am, Steve decided to Martingale deck cutting to the tune of £40 profit for me which softened the blow.
Anyways – hope this wasn’t too boring a read... gl at the tables.

Friday 16 November 2007

lol - lol - lol

Okies – so after last nights 7-8 buy-in down swing I decided what was needed to rectify the bankroll crisis was a nice bit of Friday fishy action. And that was certainly what I got....
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1707276 – first few hands and I get it all in 80% to win – does it hold, does it fuck!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1707292 – so that leads me to perhaps make an incorrect call here...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1707296- that’s then followed up by the compulsory QQ vs KK and now I’m stuck two buy-ins.

Take a break, eat some curry, and get back to the game...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1707304 – things start looking up

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1707307 – and up some more

so almost out of the hole for the night when...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1707313 – what the hell is this guy doing with the push – he may have a good draw but the board has paired – so might be drawing completely dead – lol – another one gets lucky

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1707317 – he’d have probably called off his whole stack pre with TT here – gotta try to hit sets at any price...

Basically- stuck 4 more buy-ins in this session. Not sure what to make of it – I think I’m just getting the nasty side of variance. Haven’t been playing the Thursday and Friday night maniacs that much but it seems that it’s close to impossible to make people fold anything vaguely playable pre, it’s impossible to make them fold a draw to overcards / backdoor straight or flush / gutshot on the flop. So basically – how do you play against this – fairly tight I’d assume – however – if you can’t hit, you can’t win.

Over the night I made a few well timed moves that took down pots. However, my C-bet success was probably around 10%. I know I got unlucky in a few big pots – and should have broken even for the night – well I think so anyways.

Lol – just looked at my account info – was rolled at $2855 at midnight last night, now rolled at $2313.managed to get PTY to give me a free $100 again so $2413 – 12 buy-ins away from moving up – fooooking great!

Think I’m gonna give poker a week off – anyways – it’s off to the races tomorrow – so maybe I’ll make back my weeks losses.

Thursday 15 November 2007

worst ever session.....ever!

How to lose 7 buy-ins by Ollie Power

Okies – so I started off the night getting really deep in the 888 20k gtd – finished 13th – which was good for like $140 profit – so not exactly retirement money.

Then I got back on to PTY where the games were fairly juicy.

1) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1704237 – never normally call in these spots – but the vil was an absolute fish, I expected him to raise me with an 8 on the flop, so I put him on a big range and decided to make the call... bit of a mistake.

2) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1704244 – this vil was playing like 50/3 – and I presumed he was stacking off with shit here – pitty he caught his Q on the river...

3) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1704247 – Okies – vil is tight, but this hand didn’t play like KK or AA coz of the shove– it played a hell of a lot like AK – and what a surprise my QQ no good on the flop...

4) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1704255 – this is why LAG on micro PTY is never going to work... – not sure about this hand – perhaps should have shoved or folded the flop – my plan was to shove any non diamond turn that didn’t look too menacing. – still have no idea of what the vil had – he was playing 52/17 – so I think it’s a fairly wide range – he had made previous calls from the sb with off-suite one gaps!

5) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1704273 – absolutely no idea what this guy is thinking... he’s playing 68/19 – I presumed that any king would bet out or check raise the flop so presumed he was on a draw and for this reason chose to bet the river... would appreciate feedback on this one.

6) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1704281 – first I get sucked in, then I get sucked out on... lmao

7) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1704284 – not sure if I made a good fold here or not – he claimed that he had a missed draw and that he shoved coz he read me for AK – I’m not quite sure which draw didn’t hit myself – but – again, would like feedback on this one...

8) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1704288 – vil is playing 44/24 – so I decide I can make the call pre – on the flop I’m not sure what I should have done... I’ve got 12 outs – so perhaps the push is a better option...

okies – and basically, it was one of those nights – there’s a fair few unlucky hands – but I lost almost as much coz all my pre-flop play was being called- I could make it $11 pre and get 3 callers (I did with JJ –obv. two overs on the flop), and I then repeatedly missed flops and had C-bets called with absolute air (that somehow got there on the rivber) etc. Basically, I knew if I could pick anything up it was an outright value-fest – however, whatever I picked up just missed everything. What I’m not sure of is; the games were juicy, but I was stuck a fairly big number – should I have kept playing or not..?
Anyways – think that was my worst ever continuous session - $361 total – pretty fooking sick...

Gl at the tables, ty for reading.

Saturday 10 November 2007

Good week - could have been better.

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Saturday 3 November 2007

end of month update

Ok – end of month blog update. Well, it’s not been going all that great, very close to break even. Okies – I’ve played 17k hands and up $100. However, I’m much happier with my style: playing 16/11.

I know that I should be up more over this many hands – however – I’ve seen some horrible variance – esp on FT and Sun, however – PTY has been going pretty good. The main thing I’m happy with is the fact I can drop 4 buy-ins and still play good; in fact on one night I was stuck 5 buy-ins and ground 3 back before I quit for the night. In my opinion, in order to beat FT you have to play a very LAG style and really concentrate on the tables and the table selection – PTY on the other hand is certainly beatable playing fairly TAG with a bit of extra aggression pre. However, playing very aggressive on the flops and running big bluffs is certainly –ev; the value is because they cannot fold.

So yer – I’ve got a few hands below:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1650117 – should I have folded, vil is playing 39/28 from 38...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1650095 – do you think the way I played this hand was +ev? – vil is playing 100/27 from 7 – so I presumed AA was in his re-raising pre-flop range. My plan was obv. to get HU with the short stack – who I correctly believed had nothing. Also – this table was playing wild; I’d recently seen AK vs 66 AIP – so thought my JJ was massive. Lol.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1647101 – not so sure what to do here...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1658829 – or what he has here...

These are more “LOL donkament” brags – funny, none from FTP...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1658838 – lol donkaments...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1658882 – everyone wants 4-way action with KK...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1658889 – vil played bad – but I did love my river shove – think it looked like a bluff – he called with 2 seconds left – ship! Ship!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1658896 – Sun poker aint so bad.

Okies – well that’s been my month. Plans from here – well I’ve just started reading week – I would like to do a bit of work – but I also want to play 40 hours of poker before Sunday next week. The plan is to reach 30 buy-ins for 50/1 – coz this $50nl bull shit is killing me. Honestly, I believe with a bit of luck I could even start playing 50/1 by the Sunday. Will keep people posted with a Wednesday update.

Anyways – ty for reading – gl at the tables