I have continued my blog here.

The reason being that I don't get time to write blogs at home and so I try to do it in my lunch hour at work. Our computers are so old (Windows NT 4 which Microsoft do not even support anymore!) that I have problems with the software.

Once we have newer computers in about 6 months I will probably put it back here.

I wanted to speak about the benefits of taking a break from poker and also not letting it consume your life.

I am a family man, I am married with 2 step daughters and a son of my own and another due any week now. My wife and I both work full time and so we struggle to spend time together at the best of times as well as doing activities for us and the kids.

There have been times over the past 12months, especially during the last 2 months (September - October) where I was kind of consumed by Poker and couldn't stop thinking about it. I would be thinking about winrates, hands, bankroll requirements, cash out policies, books and generally my entire time has been spent thinking or playing poker. I think this has had a negative affect on my personal life and thus on my poker mentality as well. In turn the affect it has on poker tends to have another negative affect on my personal life and we go round and round in a circle. You could call it the circle of life and poker or the circle of poker life!

Whatever you call it I think it is paramount that poker players ensure they have other areas of their lives that they can focus on and enjoy. Fortunately for me I have a family and many other obligations that kind of force me to focus on other areas of my life and keep poker in the background. During September and October I forgot about those other aspects of my life and withdrew myself from things and just wanted to play poker to try and learn...to win...to recover losses. I began to resent the things that are dearest to me because they stopped me playing the game.

After taking a break for my wedding and Honeymoon I am pleased to say that I have put things in perspective in my life and realised what is more important to me. I know have poker as a part time job and a hobby that I enjoy playing and look forward to during the week. Aside from that I have my family and friends that mean everything to me and who I no longer resent or neglect and again look forward to seeing and spending time with.

I also believe poker had a negative impact on my work as I would spend hours analysing things in my head, as I stated above, and this caused me to lose focus on my day job and where my bread is buttered. Fortunately I am now back on track and things are looking strong again.

I am not 100% sure what I am trying to say really, I guess I want people who are feeling they are not achieving what they want or are on a downswing to step back from poker and focus on what poker is for them. Is it a way of life? Is it a hobby? Will playing this amazing game affect your personal life and jeopardize the other important things you hold dear?

Once you have answered these questions it is then for you to decide where poker slots into your life and whether you can have that and everything else you desire. Don't sacrifice other areas of your life when there is no need to. Just re-focus and prioritize.

Wow that was pretty deep. I don't know whether it made much sense to anyone or whether you can relate to it, it all just kind of flowed. I haven't re-read it as I think it is best left as my feelings and if anyone can take something from it then great, if not then it will just be there for me to look back on when time has past.

I had a pretty busy time this weekend.

On Saturday we took the kids to this new play zone that has opened up near us in Purley, Surrey. Its a £3million complex and is advertised as the largets indoor play area in the UK. It cost us £25 to go in with 2 adults (who have to pay £5.50 each!!!!), an 8 year old and a 15 month old, which I thought was quite expensive but bleh! Anyway, after going up 3 flights of stairs we get the floor and it is pure craziness. there are kids running around like wild beasts just screaming. My 8 year old step daughter was scared to go anywhere as she thought she was going to get lost. Bless. I tried to tell her to man up but that doesn't work with an 8 year old girl, which I am slowly learning. She pretty much stayed with us the whole time saying she was scared and could I take her round the place. Now you can imagine a 6"2' 18 stone (thats 250lbs for the americans) crawling around little netted areas like a complete idiot. Oh well the price of fatherhood, pride goes out the window!

My son had a great time, he spent it running around the toddlers area with 2 foam balls in his hand and fighting other children that tried to take them off him. He was also tryign to steal peoples drinks and their bags so my wife and I prettymuch spent the whole time chasing him round trying to stop him playign with the big kids, beating on the little ones and stealing items of clothing from people! FUN FUN FUN!!!

Overall I wasn't that impressed with the place, 3 of the main attractions (climbing wall, mini golf and the alcohol for adults!!!) weren't working and it just seemed rather badly organised. there were children crying because they had lost there shoes as tehre was not any kind of system to put things away safely.

Saturday night we had a couple of friends over for dinner and that was pretty cool. I managed to polish off 9 bottles of Stella so went to bed quite contented. Something suprised me though, just as I was going to go to bed my wife said "do you want to play some poker? Can you play with 2 people?". So we sat down and played some heads up both no limit and Omaha until I took all her chips and she got the hump because I beat her. I wasn't even playing well but when she bets 3 streets with air and call down with TPGK what am I to do??? Let her win!

On Sunday it was my Grandad's 74th birthday so we all went out for a meal in this little country pub that served some pretty nice food. It was a nice day really but after Saturday I was pretty knackered!

On to Poker. On Friday I got a nice session in that I blogged about last time then I played 2 sessions on Saturday, one in the morning at about 8:00am GMT (3:00am PST) when I had to get up with my son who doesn't respect the art of sleeping in late!. The other was an afternoon and was only for about 30 minutes. I put in about 850 hands andoverall and came out + $22 which is not very good but its a win so I will take it. I played well enough but I just didn't get manygood spots and hit some coolers in the morning.

I played last night as well and managed to book a solid win of $122 over 1400 hands. I went down a buyin pretty early on after running my QQ into KK and my cbets not getting any respect. I have stated before that its tmes like those that i would begin to tilt and spew money as I don't think my head was right to play. Now though these things are not that much of an issue, I won't say they don't bother me because they do, but I am just letting them go over my head and realising that in order to be a successful player at whatever level you have to have a good solid mental attitude towards the game. otherwise you will end up spewing - tilting and then your confidence goes down and eventually your play suffers.

Here are my stats over Saturday and Sunday (Friday I already blogged about)

I think my position stats seem pretty normal, low VPIP in early position, then increasing in cutoff and button. Not sure why my UTG+1 VPIP is lower than my UTG VPIP but whatever! Any comments about my stats then please post them

Standard again I think. I think my W$WSF is quite high and would expect to be between 35% & 40%. What do you think? I would like my PFR % to be slightly higher at around 16% but I think that limping in late position behind lots of limpers with SC's & low PP is a good strategy at this level.

Here are my big winners and losers, lets start on a positve note and post the winners:

Not sur ehow I feel about this hand. I think it is pretty standard. Let me know what you think if you feel it was played badly.

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Seat 1: Villain 1 ($53.80) -
Player Notes: Dont remember too much about this guy. DOnt have PT at work.
Seat 2: Villain 2 ($9.40) -
Seat 3: Villain 3 ($16.40) -
Seat 4: Hero ($50.50)
Seat 5: Villain 4 ($36.90)


PRE-FLOP:

Villain 2 posts small blind $0.25
Villain 3 posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Hero


RAISE Hero ($2)
FOLD Villain 4
CALL Villain 1 ($2)
FOLD Villain 2
FOLD Villain 3

Standard Preflop

FLOP:

Pot: $4.75


BET Hero ($3.50)
CALL Villain 1 ($3.50)

I cbet hoping to take it down and with second pair. Villain could definately have the K here so I intended to check the turn to see what he does.

TURN:

Pot: $11.75


CHECK Hero
BET Villain 1 ($7)
RAISE Hero ($18.50)
RAISE Villain 1 ($48.30)
CALL Hero ($26.50)

The Q is a very good card for me and so I checked hoping to trap a bet and was obviously calling a shove. I think he is peeling the flop with a lot of cards and the only cards that concern me are KQ or a slowplayed KK/77 as I cannot see Q7 being in his range. When he shoves he could have KK/KQ/Qx/77/TJ/AK/Kx and I think I am ahead of his range most of the time here.

RIVER:

Pot: $112.05




SHOWDOWN:
Hero:
[Qd Ad]
MUCK Villain 1

Hero collected $99.75 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $101 Rake: $2

Final Board:
[7h Kd Qs Qc 2s ]

Seat 1: Villain 1 button mucked [Jd Th] - Net Gain/Loss: ($-53.8)
[Jd Th]
Seat 2: Villain 2 small blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.25)
Seat 3: Villain 3 big blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)
Seat 4: Hero showed [Qd Ad] and won 99.75 with three of a kind, Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($49.25)
Seat 5: Villain 4 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)


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I don't really like villains shove as his equity is not that great on the turn against a K or a Q and he really doesn't have to much fold equity . Unbeknowns to him his A out is counterfitted anyway and so he only had 4 outs.

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Seat 4: Hero ($67.75) -
Player Notes: I had run this guy over in the past 10 minutes.
Seat 5: Villain 1 ($41.50) -
Player Notes: Villain was very aggro with me and I had been running him over the past 10 minutes and making him fold pre-flop. We had also been in a bit of blind war that I was winning.
Seat 6: Villain 2 ($102.90) -


PRE-FLOP:

Hero posts small blind $0.25
Villain 1 posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Hero


FOLD Villain 2
CALL Hero ($0.25)
RAISE Villain 1 ($2)
CALL Hero ($1.50)

I check the small blind as I had been raising him every blind and felt he was getting sick of me and would 3bet me with ATC.

FLOP:

Pot: $4.5


CHECK Hero
BET Villain 1 ($2.50)
RAISE Hero ($7.50)
RAISE Villain 1 ($39.50)
CALL Hero ($32)

Flop is obviously gin for me!!! I decide to check raise as I am 100% certain he is betting and there is also a very high chance that he will shove with a very wide range due to the past few hands. If I lead and he raises I would have to shove and then it makes it easier for him to fold if he doesn't have a hand, which he won't do a lot of the time here.

TURN:

Pot: $86




RIVER:

Pot: $86




SHOWDOWN:
Hero:
[2s 2d]
MUCK Villain 1

Hero collected $82 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $83 Rake: $1

Final Board:
[8c 4s 2c 7s Qs ]

Seat 4: Hero small blind showed [2s 2d] and won 82 with three of a kind, Deuces - Net Gain/Loss: ($40.5)
Seat 5: Villain 1 big blind mucked [Ts Td] - Net Gain/Loss: ($-41.5)
[Ts Td]
Seat 6: Villain 2 button folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)


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In the end he had a very strong hand and I took his stack. Yay!!!

Now for the biggest losers!

Cooler hand.

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Game Notes: Was quite early on in the session

Seat 1: Villain 1 ($10.85) -
Seat 2: Hero ($56.70) -
Player Notes: Had been playing standard TAG
Seat 3: Villain 2 ($23.35) -
Seat 4: Villain 3 ($74)
Seat 5: Villain 4 ($22.90)
Seat 6: Villain 5 ($38.75)
Player Notes: Villain was pretty loose and reasonably aggressive preflop. no history or reads


PRE-FLOP:

Hero posts small blind $0.25
Villain 2 posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Hero


FOLD Villain 3
CALL Villain 4 ($0.50)
RAISE Villain 5 ($2.50)
FOLD Villain 1
RAISE Hero ($8.50)
FOLD Villain 2
FOLD Villain 4
RAISE Villain 5 ($38.75)
CALL Hero ($30.25)


FLOP:

Pot: $81.25




TURN:

Pot: $81.25




RIVER:

Pot: $81.25




SHOWDOWN:
Hero:
[Qh Qc]
Villain 5:
[Ks Kh]

Villain 5 collected $75.5 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $78 Rake: $3

Final Board:
[Kc 8c 3c 8d 2s ]

Seat 1: Villain 1 button folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 2: Hero small blind showed [Qh Qc] and lost with two pair, Queens and Eights - Net Gain/Loss: ($-38.75)
Seat 3: Villain 2 big blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)
Seat 4: Villain 3 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 5: Villain 4 folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)
Seat 6: Villain 5 showed [Ks Kh] and won 75.50 with a full house, Kings full of Eights - Net Gain/Loss: ($36.75)
[Ks Kh]


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Not sure how I feel about this hand. I decide to put the shortstack allin as I think he is calling with any old crap. When the other villain calls I am not too hapy about it and so I check for pot control as any hand I beat is not calling the turn. On the river I am not sure whether blocker betting is best or check calling. Anyway, I decide to blocker bet and I think it was an ok play. What do you think?

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Seat 1: Villain 1 ($44.45)
Seat 2: Villain 2 ($10) -
Seat 3: Villain 3 ($49.60) -
Seat 4: Hero ($59.20) -
Seat 5: Villain 4 ($57.60)
Seat 6: Villain 5 ($30)


PRE-FLOP:

Hero posts small blind $0.25
Villain 2 posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Hero


CHECK Villain 5
FOLD Villain 1
CHECK Villain 2
FOLD Villain 3
RAISE Hero ($3)
FOLD Villain 4
CALL Villain 5 ($2.50)
CALL Villain 2 ($2.50)


FLOP:

Pot: $8.75


BET Hero ($7.50)
CALL Villain 5 ($7.50)
CALL Villain 2 ($7)


TURN:

Pot: $30.75


CHECK Hero
CHECK Villain 5


RIVER:

Pot: $30.75


BET Hero ($10.50)
CALL Villain 5 ($10.50)


SHOWDOWN:
Hero:
[Ts Td]
Villain 5:
[Jh Ah]
MUCK Villain 2

Villain 5 collected $29 from main potVillain 5 collected $21 from side pot 1

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $52Main pot: $29
Side pot: $21
Rake: $2.50

Final Board:
[7s Jd 6c 2c 2d ]

Seat 1: Villain 1 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 2: Villain 2 mucked [As 7h] - Net Gain/Loss: ($-10)
[As 7h]
Seat 3: Villain 3 button folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 4: Hero small blind showed [Ts Td] and lost with two pair, Tens and Deuces - Net Gain/Loss: ($-21)
Seat 5: Villain 4 big blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)
Seat 6: Villain 5 showed [Jh Ah] and won 50 with two pair, Jacks and Deuces - Net Gain/Loss: ($29)
[Jh Ah]


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I had a pretty nice session last night. I had decided to watch Verneer's 6 tabling vid that he posted in the members contributions forum. It was very very good and as god as some of the pro's vids. I would actually like to suggest that verneer becomes one of the low limit guest pros, 25NL - 200NL, as he really has some good insight, makes very good posts, good videos, and contributes probably more than anyone else in the forums. Anyway, Taylor, CTS & BT, I know your reading this wonderful blog so please take notice!!!

Sidetracked a bit there. Sorry. So yeah, I watched the video and it reinforced what I need to do and made me realise that multitabling 6-8 tables playing 18/16 is probably more profitable at the lower stakes than playing a 22/20 playing only 4 tables. I think that playing a 22/20 style is profitable but it is more difficult below 200NL (Disclaimer: I have never played 200NL, other than when I am chasing losses like a fish!) as players just do not generally have a basic understanding of poker fundamentals. Obviously there are a few who do and they are generally the winners, but below 200NL I feel that by playing a 22/20 game we may be pushing slight edges but costing ourselves money when we wrongly make a hero call or our read is off on the opponent, and in addition we are giving up some profit off our hourly rate as we are playing less tables.

I think that the 18/16 style with more tables may lead to sacrificing some of those small edges that we, as cash game players, need to maximise but in the end its our hourly rate that we should be focusing on and if that means playing a tighter style in the low stakes but over more tables then so be it.

Anyway, I tried it out last night and put in a good 3 hour session playing 7 tables with a multi-tabling factor (or whatever its called in PT) of 5.5. Here are my stats:

I think they look pretty solid and what I should really be aiming for. Ideally my PFR should be a little higher but I had situations where I was the button with a low pair or suited connecter type hand and everyone limped and they were all loose passives with at least 3 who would call my raise. I decided to just limp in those situations as I felt I would get paid off if I hit anyway but would not be able to profitably cbet into 3 calling stations with no hand. I would also like my W$SD to be a little higher, preferably around 55% but in this session I had a couple of coolers and suckouts that have probably effected these numbers. No big deal. My steal blinds percentage is solid and W$WSF is very good also. Obviously my winrate is pretty good and with an hourly rate of $78 I am not complaining.

Anyway here are some hands, I won't put any reads or anything as this post is pretty long already. If you have any comments or feel hands were not played well or in fact they were played well then don't be afraid to leave a comment. If you would like my thought processes on any hands let me know and I will happily do that.

This hand very nearly tilted me. I don't mind his turn call but I don't think I can play this much different given what I know about this player. Cooler hand in my opinion.

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Seat 1: Hero ($50.75) - ( 100.00% / 0.00% / 1.00/ 1)
Player Notes: I was playing standard TAG at 1815 but doubt villain knew that
Seat 2: Villain 1 ($49.50) - ( 0.00% / 0.00% / 0.00/ 1)
Seat 3: Villain 2 ($53.45) - ( 0.00% / 0.00% / 0.00/ 1)
Seat 4: Villain 3 ($70.80) ( 42% / 19% / 9/ 58)
Player Notes: Guy was runnning very LAG from what I could see and was pretty much a DONK.
Seat 5: Villain 4 ($105.15) ( 0.00% / 0.00% / 0.00/ 1)


PRE-FLOP:

Villain 1 posts small blind $0.25
Villain 2 posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Hero


RAISE Villain 3 ($1.50)
FOLD Villain 4
CALL Hero ($1.50)
FOLD Villain 1
FOLD Villain 2


FLOP:

Pot: $3.75


BET Villain 3 ($2)
CALL Hero ($2)


TURN:

Pot: $7.75


BET Villain 3 ($5)
RAISE Hero ($13)
CALL Villain 3 ($8)


RIVER:

Pot: $33.75


BET Villain 3 ($25)
RAISE Hero ($34.25)
CALL Villain 3 ($9.25)


SHOWDOWN:
Hero:
[9h 9d]
Villain 3:
[5s 7s]

Villain 3 collected $100.25 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $102 Rake: $2

Final Board:
[6c 9s Ad Ts 8d ]

Seat 1: Hero button showed [9h 9d] and lost with three of a kind, Nines - Net Gain/Loss: ($-50.75)
Seat 2: Villain 1 small blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.25)
Seat 3: Villain 2 big blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)
Seat 4: Villain 3 showed [5s 7s] and won 100.25 with a straight, Six to Ten - Net Gain/Loss: ($49.5)
[5s 7s]
Seat 5: Villain 4 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)


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This hand happened about an orbit after the last hand and I felt that my hand was best on the turn but when villain leads the river I don't see what hand is calling a shove that I beat other than 63. I think he checks an 8 or an overpair on the river given the action and so I decide to just see a cheap showdown.

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Seat 1: Hero ($49.25) -
Player Notes: I had just lost the hand above about 3 hands before and so he may think I am tilting
Seat 2: Villain 1 ($51.30) -
Player Notes: Seemed pretty standard, more tight passive than TAG from what I remember
Seat 3: Villain 2 ($55.30) -
Seat 4: Villain 3 ($121.75)
Seat 5: Villain 4 ($21.85)
Seat 6: Villain 5 ($52.05)


PRE-FLOP:

Villain 1 posts small blind $0.25
Villain 2 posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Hero


FOLD Villain 3
CALL Villain 4 ($0.50)
CALL Villain 5 ($0.50)
CALL Hero ($0.50)
CALL Villain 1 ($0.25)
CHECK Villain 2


FLOP:

Pot: $2.5


BET Villain 1 ($2)
FOLD Villain 2
FOLD Villain 4
FOLD Villain 5
CALL Hero ($2)


TURN:

Pot: $6.5


CHECK Villain 1
BET Hero ($4)
CALL Villain 1 ($4)


RIVER:

Pot: $14.5


BET Villain 1 ($9)
CALL Hero ($9)


SHOWDOWN:
Villain 1:
[4d 4c]
MUCK Hero

Villain 1 collected $30.95 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $32 Rake: $1.55

Final Board:
[4h 6s 6d 8d 2s ]

Seat 1: Hero button mucked [6h 5s] - Net Gain/Loss: ($-15.5)
Seat 2: Villain 1 small blind showed [4d 4c] and won 30.95 with a full house, Fours full of Sixes - Net Gain/Loss: ($15.45)
[4d 4c]
Seat 3: Villain 2 big blind folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)
Seat 4: Villain 3 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 5: Villain 4 folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)
Seat 6: Villain 5 folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)


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And now for a winner!

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Game Notes: Table had been 6 handed but died down to just us 2

Seat 2: Villain 1 ($80.80) -
Player Notes: Had been pretty standard TAG whilst 6 handed but over the last 20 hands or so of heads up he has upped his aggression alot, pretty much raising every hand pre-flop and playing back at me post flop
Seat 5: Hero ($79.60) - -
Player Notes: I had been caught bluffing on the river after I 3bet pre, cbet, checked cled turn and led river which he shoved over. I folded. Had not been getting out of line heads up but i think he knows I am aggressive


PRE-FLOP:

Hero posts small blind $0.25
Villain 1 posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Hero


RAISE Hero ($2)
CALL Villain 1 ($1.50)


FLOP:

Pot: $4.25


CHECK Villain 1
BET Hero ($3)
CALL Villain 1 ($3)


TURN:

Pot: $10.25


CHECK Villain 1
BET Hero ($7)
CALL Villain 1 ($7)


RIVER:

Pot: $24.25


CHECK Villain 1
BET Hero ($19)
RAISE Villain 1 ($68.80)
CALL Hero ($48.60)


SHOWDOWN:
Villain 1:
[Qc Kc]
Hero:
[7c 7s]

Hero collected $158.2 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $159 Rake: $1

Final Board:
[7h Qh 8d Qs 5d ]

Seat 2: Villain 1 big blind showed [Qc Kc] and lost with three of a kind, Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($-80.8)
[Qc Kc]
Seat 5: Hero button small blind showed [7c 7s] and won 158.20 with a full house, Sevens full of Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($78.6)


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Anyway thats all for now. Hope its not too liong for everyone and if you managed to get to the bottom well done!!

Well I had a pretty horrible 4 hour session last night at Pokerstars 50NL.

I ended down 4 buyins which was pretty nasty. It seemed to me that every hand I played I either had to fold to aggression from passive players, had my cbets fired back at when I didn't hit or got allin way behind. It was pretty horrible. The 3 hands in my last post did most of the damage but I don't think I played them badly, although the 99 hand I could have played less aggressive pre-flop.

I also had this hand come up which was wuite interesting:

Effective stacks $50 6-max 50NL full table

UTG+1 Raises

I call in MP w/ 8h8s

Flop 7h Jh 9h pot = $4.75

UTG+1 bets $3.5

I Raise to $11

UTG+1 shoves to $47.50 (or something like that)

Now I put his range pretty wide when he cbets this flop and I am hoping to take the pot down with a raise. I felt that if I just called I would be in a sticky spot should a A, K, Q hit the turn.

When he shoves I figure his range is still quite wide including, TPTK, Sets, Flush Draws, straight draws and obvioulsy the flush. At the time I felt that he would slowplay something like AKhh as he has the effective nuts, but would definately shove TPTK with AhJx, sets, Overcards with a heart, Overpairs and smaller flushes like QThh as he wants to take it down now.

My equity against his shoving range is pretty good, especially against sets. I am about even money there and I have to call $36 into $70 (the pot was bigger than I have said above as I remember specifically getting v closeto 2 to 1) and so am getting 2 to 1 on my money. Against his whole range I thought I was getting about the right price to call as I have a flush draw + gutshot that are likely good and if he has an overpair or TPTK then I have the remaining 8's as well. I could even be ahead right now so I decided to call.

Turn & river were blanks and he flips JJ for top set and takes the pot. I ran the above range through Pokerstove and found that I had 37% equity against the range and so I made a profitable call getting 2 to 1.

I was quite happy with this play but I would be interested to hear others comments about this hand. With that loss I was about 5-6 buyins down and so I took a 15 minute break to "collect my thoughts". I then got back to the tables and won a couple of buyins but I played like a proper nit because I had no cards at all.

Overall I was obviously dissappointed with losing 4 buyins btu I was happy with the hands I amde and the way I dealt with my losses. Previously I would have tilted very hard and probably dropped a few more buyins without taking a break, but I kept my head, albeit with a few shouts and thumps of the desk, and stayed within playing my A-B game instead of my tilt game.

Probably gonna not play for a couple of days but will update when I do.

WTF!!!

POKERSTARS GAME #13342014477: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/11/19 - 16:22:29 (ET)
Table 'Beljawskya' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: ikoyou ($34.70 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero ($97.60 in chips)
Seat 3: dazebooy1515 ($43.55 in chips)
Seat 4: Danaiide ($48.85 in chips)
Seat 5: Mo1085 ($38.25 in chips)
Seat 6: popperian ($150.10 in chips)
dazebooy1515: posts small blind $0.25
Danaiide: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ac As]
Mo1085: folds
popperian: raises $1.50 to $2
ikoyou: calls $2
Hero: raises $5 to $7
dazebooy1515: folds
Danaiide: folds
popperian: calls $5
ikoyou: calls $5
*** FLOP *** [Th 2h 6c]
popperian: checks
ikoyou: checks
Hero: bets $15
popperian: raises $128.10 to $143.10 and is all-in
ikoyou: folds
Hero: calls $75.60 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Th 2h 6c] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [Th 2h 6c 6s] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
popperian: shows [6d 6h] (four of a kind, Sixes)
Hero: mucks hand
popperian collected $199.95 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $202.95 | Rake $3
Board [Th 2h 6c 6s 7s]
Seat 1: ikoyou folded on the Flop
Seat 2: Hero (button) mucked [Ac As]
Seat 3: dazebooy1515 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Danaiide (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Mo1085 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: popperian showed [6d 6h] and won ($199.95) with four of a kind, Sixes

then 5 hands later

POKERSTARS GAME #13342179404: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/11/19 - 16:30:37 (ET)
Table 'Beljawskya' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: ikoyou ($3.35 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero ($49 in chips)
Seat 3: w4rp ($52.85 in chips)
Seat 4: Danaiide ($50.75 in chips)
Seat 5: Mo1085 ($41.15 in chips)
Seat 6: popperian ($269.55 in chips)
w4rp: posts small blind $0.25
Danaiide: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Js Jc]
Mo1085: raises $1.50 to $2
popperian: folds
ikoyou: folds
Hero: raises $4 to $6
w4rp: calls $5.75
Danaiide: folds
Mo1085: raises $35.15 to $41.15 and is all-in
Hero: calls $35.15
w4rp: folds
*** FLOP *** [5s 4s 7h]
*** TURN *** [5s 4s 7h] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [5s 4s 7h Qc] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Mo1085: shows [Ks Kh] (a pair of Kings)
Hero: mucks hand
Mo1085 collected $85.80 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $88.80 | Rake $3
Board [5s 4s 7h Qc 2d]
Seat 1: ikoyou folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Hero (button) mucked [Js Jc]
Seat 3: w4rp (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Danaiide (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Mo1085 showed [Ks Kh] and won ($85.80) with a pair of Kings
Seat 6: popperian folded before Flop (didn't bet)

then this (this guy hjad 3bet my button 3 times in a row.)

POKERSTARS GAME #13342359086: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/11/19 - 16:39:50 (ET)
Table 'Malabar III' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: DEEGJE ($24.40 in chips)
Seat 2: Alfparis ($56.05 in chips)
Seat 3: BiggieFricke ($23.55 in chips)
Seat 4: fortuynlyk ($97.25 in chips)
Seat 5: Rdavido ($30.20 in chips)
Seat 6: Hero ($49.25 in chips)
Alfparis: posts small blind $0.25
BiggieFricke: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [9h 9d]
fortuynlyk: folds
Rdavido: folds
Hero: raises $1.50 to $2
DEEGJE: raises $5.50 to $7.50
Alfparis: folds
BiggieFricke: folds
Hero: raises $41.75 to $49.25 and is all-in
DEEGJE: calls $16.90 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Kd 6h 8s]
*** TURN *** [Kd 6h 8s] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 6h 8s 6d] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [9h 9d] (two pair, Nines and Sixes)
DEEGJE: shows [Ac Ad] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
DEEGJE collected $47.10 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $49.55 | Rake $2.45
Board [Kd 6h 8s 6d 4h]
Seat 1: DEEGJE (button) showed [Ac Ad] and won ($47.10) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Seat 2: Alfparis (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: BiggieFricke (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: fortuynlyk folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Rdavido folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Hero showed [9h 9d] and lost with two pair, Nines and Sixes

Hi all,

Hope you had good weekends.

I played some poker this weekend at 50NL on Stars and I have to say the play is as bad here as at 25NL. I think there are just many more calling stations and bad players compared to FTP and so I will definately be playing here more often instead of FTP. I am also going to play a bit at Noble poker again and see if I can keep on winning.

I won about 5 buyins over 1000 hands over the weekend so that was nice. I am running particularly hot and the deck has been hitting square in the face. On one table I got KK, AA, AA one after the other and then on the next hand on a different table I got AA again. It was pretty mental. I have started using PT again, I know I know, I said I wouldn't but I think I am giving up too much by not using it. I have to try and not make post flop decisions based on pre-flop numbers, although they do give indicatiosn of their ranges, they don't give reads and thats what you need to make accurate moves in this game.

I still haven't cashed out my roll yet so its up to $3350 as I have had some issues cashing out. I have also been thinking about the strength of the dollar against the pound. The dollar is getting weaker and weaker and this is not good news for me as I have to win more money playing poker to earn the same as I would have 6 months ago. I have debated moving my roll off of american sites and play on british pound sites. At the current conversion rate I would probably have about £1500, which at the £50 tables would be a big enough roll but I don't know whether the skill level is any better or worse on the british sites.

I was also going to use about £1200 of my roll to pay the debt I incurred whilst I was on honeymoon so I don't know what to do. I think I might continue to play at Stars for 20k hands and just build what I can and then decide after christmas what I want to do. My overall goal is to withdraw about £500 a month to go towards household expneses and keep whatever is left in my roll. Obviously to do that I have to earn about $1200, which equates to 24 buyins at $50NL but is only 10 buyins at £50NL. If the skill level is the same at these levels then it is obviously better for me to go to the £50 NL tables.

Anyway, this post seems a little all over the place and I have to go back to work. I might post again tonight but I am not sure.

Take it easy

Martyn

Carrying on from my last entry I want to talk about my recent poker results. Before you read on there are no graphs, stats or PT screenshots as I am at work and as its a government department they are very strict on uploading/downloading on our work PC's.

The last 2 months have been horrible for me pokerwise. Since March 2007 I have been moving up and playing well, cashing out $1000 a month and building my bankroll to 30 buyins at 100NL and continuing to cashout. I felt like everything was slotting into place and had decided to stop cashing out in Sept/Oct onwards and concentrate on building my roll until I can play 200NL consistently and hopefull be cashing out $2k a month for the forseeable future. Poker is not my main form of income you see so am not so concerned about moving up to Townsend and CTS levels.

September and October ended up being a disaster and I went on life tilt for about 4 weeks, donking off loads and trying to recoup playing blackjack, where I think I only lost a total of about $300. I ended up getting hustled by a $5/$10NL player at $200NL HU for 8 buyins and had to redopsit $1500. I have basically been on a pretty long losing streak and it is not down to bad luck, obviously I have had suckouts and coolers, but the majority of my losses have come down to bad play. I have just started playing like a fish, bluffing too much and calling too much thinking I am being bluffed.

I have also found one of my big leaks is that when I realise I am down 2-3 buyins my attitude changes and so does my game, I end up on tilt and donk off another 2-3 buyins. So I have made the radical decision not to use Poker tracker or PAHUD at all whilst playing and work solely off of reads I make while at the table. The aim of this is that hopefully I will be able to improve my hand reading and my ABC poke without making stupid calls/plays based on PT numbers, which is what I was doing before. I will run PT at the end of the session to collect all the data I have and so I can assess the major hands.

I have made the hard decision that I need to work at my game A LOT and if I continue to play at 100NL then I am going to go busto as I can't really afford to keep depositing $1k every month. I have therefore decided to drop down to $25NL, withdraw my roll so that I am left with $750 and try and work out some of the kinks in my game. I think that there are quite a few technical problems with my play but a major part is also a mental factor.

I have realised, and this may be "standard" to everyone else, that successful people whether it be in sports, poker, or business are all highly driven, focused and mentally prepared for what they are doing. It struck me when I had read an article and watched an interview with Lewis Hamilton, the Rookie F1 driver who has basically taken the sport by storm. He is only 22 and has just slotted into the crazy and very pressured world of F1 and managed to come 2nd in his very first year after leading for the entire season. I wondered how he has managed to deal with the day to day pressures he must be under and realise that he has prepared himslef mentally first and then been able to progress.

I need to prepare myself mentally for the losses and the suckouts, coolers and donk plays. If I don't then I have no hope of being a poker player, recreational or otherwise, I will just get swallowed up by the sharks like all the other fishes.

Another thing I have not been doing when I should are session reviews. I need to go through each session and identify my leaks in order to improve so I will be spending 15 minutes at the end of each session going through hands and identifying where I went wrong and where I think I played the hand well, also working on understanding equities of common situations so I can use them during realtime hands.

I have played twice this week at 25NL and have found the play to be a hell of a lot more passive that 100NL. People are not 3 betting pre-flop so much or being as aggressive post flop. There are definately a lot of callers post flop and so I need to exploit that. I have picked up 4 buyins over the last 800-900 hands and so that has been good, however I have also played like an idiot in some spots. I don't have the hand history but I will try and recall it as best I can.

3 players 2 with 100BB and one with 40BB

I have ATo in BB, 1 limper (40BB) in LP and SB completes

3 to the flop of 7AKr pot=$0.75

SB cks, I bet $0.5, limper calls, SB ck Raises to $2.75, I call, limper folds

turn is 4 pot=$6.75

SB bets $6.75, I call

river is blank pot =$20.25

sb bets $12.65 and I call

Now I think this hand is played terribly by me. Firstly I think I should have raised pre flop but I think checking is fine as well but ATo is so far ahead of the LP limper and the SB that I should have raised. On the flop I bet as I think a K is calling and definately a smaller A. After I get check raised I am starting to think of hands the SB could be on and he was not on AA/KK/AK/AQ/AJ as he would definately have raised that pre. SB was standard and would have raised. 77 I would have expected to raise and so that only leaves air/K7/A7/maybe a smaller A as I cannot believe he would c/r with a gutshot. I called as I felt I could still be ahead and had position.

When he comes out and bets pot I am pretty much worried about K7/A7 and poss 77 now as he could have limped that. This is so unlikely a bluff as it was a limped pot and he would be risking a lot of chips considering I have called his c/r. I should have folded right there, but somehow convinced myself to call as he may be doing this with a smaller Ace but his line didn't much make sense. (I actually was thinking all of this throughout the hand and still called!!! Donk much?)

The river is just so bad. He is obviously value betting and that can be seen from the size of the bet and considering the action on earlier streets this is an easy peasy fold but I call anyway and get shown A7s! I was so sick at this as it was just obvious he had me beat and I even said out loud he must have A7 or 77 yet I still called. This is the stuff I need to stop as it is costing me alot. That one hand cost me 90BB and should have only cost me about 10BB.

This post has got seriously long and so I think I better knock it on the head for today. I will try and keep you guys updated as much as possible and post PT screenshots as well as the occasional graph. I will no doubt be talking about these things again in future posts as well. I also wanted to talk about donkaments but I will save that for another day.

Adios!

Hi all,

Sorry its been such a long time without updating but I have so much stuff going on so I will try and get a quick synopsis down here.

I got married on 27th October 2007 and it was AMAZING!!! My wife (its weird saying that now) was stunning and I was completely speechless, which is not common for me. We got married at www.butleypriory.co.uk which is a 700 year old monestry building. The main Priory Building was knocked down by King Henry VIII back in 1400 and something. Everyone had an awesome time and got legless. The children were great and all had a great time and as I think I have said about 5 times already it was great!

The organisation of a wedding is just unreal, its like a military operation and I am not suprised that some people make a career out of organising weddings or get sectioned in the process. I am quite an organised/controlling person so I took on most of the work, which was fine from my wifes point of view as she is now 7 months pregnant. Anyway, it has been distracting me alot from work and poker over the last 6 months but I am pleased all the effort worked out and the day was very special for both of us.

We went to Toronto, Canada for a week on honeymoon and that was really nice. We just chilled out most of the time, spending lots of time in the Hotel Room :wink :wink We did some sight seeing, saw the CN Tower, went to a Hip Hop night that was just funny (more on that later), hit some bars, went shopping, visited these cool little islands called Ward/Centre Islands just off the Harbour and we also stayed at Niagara Falls for a night as well.

I somehow managed to convince my wife to stay at a casino whilst we were in Niagara and so I had booked the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel, which is on the American side of the border. I didn't realise it was on the American side otherwise I wouldn't have booked it. Nothing against Americans but it was a real pain crossing the border everytime and I lost money exchanging GBP for USD and then to CAD. I'm an idiot. To top it off I also found out that there was WPT event at a different casino at Niagara on the canadian side and we would have been there for the last day of the event. Oh well.

Niagara is simply amazing and I would definately recommend it to anyone. The sheer scale of it is impressive and in the Summer there would be lots to do whilst there. We went down underneath the Americas Falls and the power of the falls is breathtaking along with the many rainbows that appear because of the spray from the falls.

We also got some poker in whilst we were there, this was after I blew $200 on Roulette! We sat down at a $1/$2 game with a max buyin of $100 (because my wife doesn't really play and I thought it would be nice to be on he same table). Anyway the play was just downright funny. There was this old guy who must have been the worst side of 80 years old, he was in a mobility scooter and didn't really speak, all credit to him though as he was there when we sat and when we left and that was 4 hours! and I think must spend must of his life there as everyone knew his name. There was a Richard Gere (sp!) lookalike, a latino dude who stunk the room out with the funkiest weed I have ever smelt. This stuff was wrapped in his pocket but still managed to get complaints from the otherside of the room and made my wife feel sick. Needless to say he was worse for wear and was saying some stupid stuff, along with my wife who asked him "Are you and the him (pointing to another player 2 seats down) together?" I just laughed as the stoned guy tried to somprehend whether my wife had asked if he was gay, whether she was taking the piss or was asking they were mates. In the end I just said that she meant did they know each other and not whether they hold hands of an evening! LoL

Anyway, the play was so weak compared to online and when peole did raise they didn't really seem to know what they were doing. Most hands were standard but I did pay off a flopped straight with my turned trips for about $70 and I had to fold QQ on an xxAx tun after RR an UTG R and then him check/calling my flop bet and insta shoving the turn. I showed and so did he with hs ATo!!!! Ended up walking out with a $275 profit which was nice. Unfortunately my wife lost $180, even after flopping a set on her very first hand of live poker. It was quite funny as she just check called the whole way and even on the river!!! I just started laughing as this heavily pregnant english women who was visibly nervous won her very first pot by playing like a weak tight fish!!! LoL I klaughed again when 4-5 hands later she did the same thing (check calling all streets including the river) with no pair no draw! . We were down about $100 total after the Roulette debacle but we had some great fun and I will definately be playing live again.

I will leave it here for now but will probably update again tomorrow about dropping down to $25NL, how work is shit and why I aspire to play donkaments!

Well hi guys,

It's been a few days since I have updated and that has been mainly due to my stag party happening this past Saturday. I am not really sure whether this happens around the world or just in the UK so I will explain a little.

When a couple are getting married it is a tradition for the Bride to be to have a Hen Party and the Groom to be to have a Stag Party. Obviously the Stag Party is men only and the only females involved are the ones you see along the way! Usually the tradition is to have the Stag party the night before the wedding but we are getting married about 200 miles from where we live and over the course of a weekend. My girlfriend didn't like the idea of me having it the night before as I may have been shipped to Scotland or somewhere equally far away. So we decided on having it 2 weeks before to give me time to recover.

Anyway, I have "appointed" 2 Best Men for my wedding and so it was up to them to organise the whole day and they did a bloody great job. However, all I knew was that I had to be in a Cafe at 7:30 am on Saturday morning. My Uncle had come over from France (he is English but emigrated about 4 years ago to build his dream home and live the high life) but could not make the Stag Night as he had to drive for somebody and so was working on the Saturday. Instead I went out with him, his friend, my dad, my brother, my granddad and my other uncle and we had a kind of "pre" Stag Night.

We only went to the local pub but I didn't eat beforehand and so after the 5 pints of Carling I was feeling a little worse for wear. I wandered home (about 45 minutes) and picked up some food on the way home. I didn't get to sleep until about 1:30am courtesy of my girlfriend.

Anyway, onto the big day. I was up a 6:00am, although I felt half asleep, and had to drive to Dulwich Village to pick up a friend of mine who was coming with us. I picked him up and then we picked up my Dad, Uncle & Brother and headed off to get some breakfast. The rest of my friends turned up and all got some grub down us, At this point I am getting rather paranoid as they are all very smug looking and I am just waiting for the stupidness to begin.

They now tell me that we are going paintballing. I love paintballing as I think it harks back to the days when you're playing cowboys and Indians when you're little and shooting your brother or smacking round the head. Good Times! Anyway, paintballing is basically war games but with balls of paint instead of bullets and you end up running round fields attempting to shoot your opponents. Even though the bullets are actually paint balls they bloody hurt when they hit you as they travel at 240MPH out of the gun.

When we arrive I am still very edgy as the 9 other blokes I am with are all smirking and laughing. It turned out that they had arranged for me to wear a dress while I was playing, so that everyone knew I was the stag and could target me. However, by some stroke of luck the organisers of the paintball had forgotten and so instead they marked me with green and yellow tape so that I was easily recognised. I also had a little yellow "X" on my back and everyone was told that if they hit me on the "X" then they would get a free shot at my nuts!!!!!!! I was not best pleased about that.

The games started and I was targeted straight away. I managed to last about 5 minutes before someone shot me and I was out. I turned out it was one of my friends who had shot me in the head as they had seen the green tape all over my visor. Anyway, this went on for a couple of hours and I had people approach me who I didn't know saying they were gonna get me in the next game. It was bloody good fun though.

Now every time I was "killed" and had to go to the dead zone one of my friends would shoot me from about 2 feet away. Let me tell you, this bloody hurt! I got one on my butt cheek, 2 in my chest, 2 in my back and 2 in my right leg. The one on my leg got me so good that it bled and now the bruise is the size of a saucer! NICE!

We left at 12:30 pm and headed off home to get changed before we headed into Central London. I will continue this later as it has now got quite long. Part 2 coming soon....