Sunday 22 June 2008

No Full tilt bonus for me......and thus the return of an old friend.

Well, thats not great is it. When I say not great, I mean it's fucking shit. I think fucking shit, but really it's as tragic as a peadophile breaking into an orphanage.

Anyways, I started playing full tilt a year n a bit ago for play money, and to cut a ling story short I tried to wangle another account so I could get rakeback. Didn't go well. So....my good old friend...... POKER UTD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's such a horrible site, graphics are horriffic, it's like pixellated genicide- the cards are wonky and the buttons are squashed and sprawled on top of each other....imagine 17 (old) Andy Fordhams trying to get into a mini, and there you have it.

Saving grace? THE PLAYERS!!!!!!!! I had about a tenner left in, played a few sit n gos to get it up to 20 (£), and now I'm playing 25/50. It is that bad. People know I'm a tragic cash player, but genuinely these people just seem drunk. When I start work in a few weeks ima deposit on Titan and then Carbon (No expiry date on the latter) and hopefully grind it up there. Meh.

Friday 20 June 2008

Life is good.

Well, where do I start. Passed my exams (amazingly). That's the first thing. In certain modules I didn't turn up to a single seminar in the last two terms because I thought they were shit, boring, and unnecessary, and thus far I've never set foot in Durham University Lbrary which is an achievement only a fresher (or a super brainy/lazy non-fresher) could achieve! I averaged just short of a 2:1 which is what I expected to be honest, though I know next year will be a lot better.

Next thing, football! Italy beat France and that smelly french cuntrag Raymond Domenech got what he deserved after mouthing off about how we've apparently cheated since the final of the WC. Spain in the next round will be interesting though, seeing as Gattuso + Pirlo are out, though De rossi and Aquilani should start if Donadoni has any sense! Woo happy days.

Next is poker. 25NL is going good, up about $100 in total, taking my roll finally past the 500s after a month or 2 of utter crap. It's interesting how I've taken to it seeing as it's 9 max and I'm normally a 6 max player. I am really happy with it though, as I was getting a bit pissed off seeing as I got from $40 to $400 in just over a month playing 5NL and $3 Sit n goes, and then having a break even few months having moved up. If I get past $600 before I start work then I'll keep withdrawing so I'll have just enough for the FT bonus...and then the proper poker will start.

The festival was great, so much fun. On the first table I had a min raiser to my right, so I just kept reraising :) swiftly developping a crazy image. There was one particalar hand where I smooth called to the river on a flop of all spades, turn X river X, when I put in a big raise to Magic's bet, and thankfully he folded top pair after saying "you must have flopped the flush." I showed AQ, no spade.

Next me and Hannes had a series of hilarious bluffing pots and we were just having a fucking ace time, cracking jokes etc, gotta love the big german. This soon led to an all in after I reraised 3x his button bet from the SB (blinds 150/300) with JJ and him coming over the top. This put me in a difficult position but I decided I couldn't fold and thankfully I was well ahead when he showed AJ. This put me somewhere around 2nd in chips overall to a bloke who doubled up from Tom lassey, who arsed himself epicly early on. (legendary)

Eventually I got to the final table but went out on the bubble after being pretty card dead. With blinds of 800/1600 I pushed A2o from the SB into Matt Gambles QQ which held up. The fish then went on to win the whole thing :)

There was a cash game afterwards which was again hilarious, I was a bout a fiver up after playing pretty well, and then an all in with Pauls KK sent me packing even though I actually put him on the Hand when he started talking. Hell, I was still too happy about Italy! So yeah, a great day with a great set of blokes, ending in the usual fashion of me giving my money to Paul.

Hope everyone has a great holiday, and hope the poker goes well.

Man love xxxxx

Friday 13 June 2008

Finally out of the rut.

Some frequent posts here, and frankly bored as have nothing to do until after the Rowing. As I mentioned before I've started playing 25NL, and I'm up just short of 3 Buy ins, taking my roll up the 480s after about a month and a bit hovering between 430 and 370, a month of not particularly fantastic poker nor running well. The last two days have been different.

I've been running well (my definition: not being outdrawn when you're ahead), had minimal suckouts, and really just tried to get an image of supertight agressive, as I'm assuming a few players at 25NL may have software, using that to my advantage. I've hit some nice hands and got paid, but mostly they've been from people trying to shortstack, and not doing it very well, and bastards min raising (yes I do hate min raisers) and me calling on A rag to try and outdraw their KK/QQ firstly because it's cheap, and secondly out of spite :). By the way, if you wan't to extract value from me, min raise ;)

The Sit n go's havent been going to plan recently, can't put my finger on it... but I figure it's time to get the practice in on cash if I've any chance of clearing bonuses and breaking even/winning.

Christ I can chatter, but it's good to talk...even to myself :D.

WHY?????

Why is it that Italy get fucked over in every fucking tournament due to the epic uncompromising and downright thorough mental retardation of referees? Why!?

If you watched the match you will realise that Romania played good football, but Italy on the whole played better. After one fuck up my Zambrotta which gifted them they're goal, Pannucci scored at the other end a minute later. Fantastic. 1-1.

Rewind a bit. To a goal that Luca Toni scored through a header. Nice worked move, bang in the net. BUT NO!!!! yet ANOTHER shit decision. It wasn't difficult. it wasn't 6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other. He was clearly 2 yards onside. That therefore would have made it 2-1. Next comes a penalty for what I can only assume is heavy breathing on the back of the Romanian attackers back. Thankfully the genius og Gigi Buffon ensured Justice was done.

To confound the general spastication of the officials, comes a series of excellent tackles, that were deemed too hard and were subsequently blown up by the ref. Arrrrrrgh!!!! Fuckers! As long as France don't go through I don't care.

Min raising?

I don't understand it. Genuinely. I see people min raising with top pair J, which to me is thick, because it's a hand which is easily outdrawn on later streets. You want to be getting maximum value out of it and so wouldn't you just raise 3x or more, and if you take it down you'd be happy anyway?

If you have the nuts and you min raise, to me it sets off alarm bells and I'll be more likely to fold a reasonable hand Heads Up. Raising 3x to me doesnt really make a difference, people who think they have a good hand will call anyway, so why lose value? I think the only time I might min raise would be flopping the stone cold nuts in a pot with 4 or more people, so if one bloke calls, the rest are getting odds to do so aswell, building the pot to then betting the turn hard. Meh, thats just me. Any comments on how I'm wrong would be appreciated

Just on 10/25 at the mo, up a buyin after fishing hard for a flush after I flopped mid pair and a draw...fuck it i'll just post it up.

PokerStars Game #18105894394: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2008/06/13 - 08:20:31 (ET)Table 'Pemba II' 9-max Seat #2 is the button

Seat 2: TonyP22 ($23.95 in chips)
Seat 3: Hayate1337 ($15.90 in chips)
Seat 4: Tuwei168 ($25 in chips)
Seat 6: tiburoni ($5.10 in chips)
Seat 7: francisbbg ($11.90 in chips)
Seat 8: k030101 ($24.25 in chips)
Seat 9: Chris994 ($24.30 in chips)
Hayate1337: posts small blind $0.10
Tuwei168: posts big blind $0.25
KillingAce: sits out
rockandrock: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TonyP22 [9h 6h]
tiburoni: folds
francisbbg: calls $0.25
k030101: folds
Chris994: calls $0.25
TonyP22: calls $0.25
Hayate1337: raises $0.50 to $0.75
Tuwei168: folds
francisbbg: calls $0.50
Chris994: calls $0.50
TonyP22: calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [9d 7h Kh]
Hayate1337: bets $1.25
francisbbg: calls $1.25
Chris994: folds
TonyP22: calls $1.25
*** TURN *** [9d 7h Kh] [3d]
Hayate1337: bets $3
francisbbg: raises $3 to $6
TonyP22: calls $6
Hayate1337: raises $7.90 to $13.90 and is all-in
francisbbg: calls $3.90 and is all-in
TonyP22: calls $7.90
*** RIVER *** [9d 7h Kh 3d] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hayate1337: shows [Jc Kc] (a pair of Kings)
TonyP22: shows [9h 6h] (a flush, King high)
TonyP22 collected $7.60 from side pot
francisbbg: mucks hand
TonyP22 collected $34.90 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot $44.70 Main pot $34.90. Side pot $7.60. Rake $2.20
Board [9d 7h Kh 3d 2h]
Seat 2: TonyP22 (button) showed [9h 6h] and won ($42.50) with a flush, King high
Seat 3: Hayate1337 (small blind) showed [Jc Kc] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 4: Tuwei168 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: tiburoni folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: francisbbg mucked [9s Ks]
Seat 8: k030101 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Chris994 folded on the Flo

In hindsight I think I probably should have pushed the turn (even folded???) but hell, I'm still learning.

Thursday 12 June 2008

more chatter

Carrying on the 10/25, up about two buyins till a minute ag0 where some fucker raised, I called with JJ, flop comes 668, he cbets, I raise, he pushes, turn 7, river 8. shows 10 9. Wouldn't have minded top pair, but CHRIST!!!

This bodes well for the future, if there are more people like this retard :)

Bored/hyper/hungry

Carrying on my fickle attitude toward poker, I am playing at this moment 25NL with 16BI so not really enough ideally, but it's fucking amazing how many more FPPs you get when playing it. Usually in the (tragic) event I do play online cash, It's 10NL 6-max, but 3 tabling 25NL 9 max will surely do the trick to clear the full tilt bonus this holiday. Just actually can't wait now to earn some rakeback and proper bonus money instead of pissing around on the 400 mark.

It's something new and interesting, and if that's the case, I play so much better. There are still morons here too, which is always useful when I start to play shit. I've been watching monsieur blake play 50/1 over the last few weeks, very tight-agressive and he rakes in the profit, so I've decided to play pretty much everything fast, and fold speculative (beautiful) hands like low/mid suited connectors, and so far it's going ok (i.e not down) Making some ok reads aswell- Put some bloke who pretty much min raised my raise from the SB on 66-99 and it went thus.
PokerStars Game #18086925784: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2008/06/12 - 11:12:35 (ET)Table 'Norma III' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Lupus555 ($12.70 in chips)
Seat 2: Musi8to8 ($5.45 in chips)
Seat 4: GladJak ($22.60 in chips)
Seat 5: TonyP22 ($25.30 in chips)
Seat 6: Jeanteub ($25.05 in chips)
Seat 7: Shlappy ($8.25 in chips)
Seat 8: Pavlique ($9.35 in chips)
Seat 9: garrymdp ($6.75 in chips)
TonyP22: posts small blind $0.10
Jeanteub: posts big blind $0.25
joepeger: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TonyP22 [As 5c]
Shlappy: folds
Pavlique: folds
garrymdp: folds
Lupus555: folds
Musi8to8: folds
GladJak: folds
TonyP22: raises $0.75 to $1
Jeanteub: raises $1.25 to $2.25
TonyP22: calls $1.25
*** FLOP *** [Kd Qc 5h]
TonyP22: checks
Jeanteub: bets $2
TonyP22: calls $2
***TURN *** [Kd Qc 5h] [6c]
TonyP22: checks
Jeanteub: checks
*** RIVER *** [Kd Qc 5h 6c] [9c]
TonyP22: bets $4.25
Jeanteub: folds
Uncalled bet ($4.25) returned to TonyP22
TonyP22 collected $8.10 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot $8.50 Rake $0.40 Board [Kd Qc 5h 6c 9c]
Seat 1: Lupus555 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Musi8to8 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: GladJak (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: TonyP22 (small blind) collected ($8.10)
Seat 6: Jeanteub (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 7: Shlappy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Pavlique folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: garrymdp folded before Flop (didn't bet)


Just been round postering it up today with Tom around the colleges, should be a good Mary's contingent down there for the festival on tuesday after seeing a few mates from back home in town. Also durham regatta this weekend, which will be the last rowing i'll ever do :) 8 years of rowing gets a bit tedious. Bring on the martial arts!!!

Wednesday 11 June 2008

More confidence, but minimal results.

Enjoying the 6.50 turbos, playing much better around the bubble too, and for the first time I feel confortable with the stakes I'm playing.

Managed to get to the final table of another 180 man tournament, but finished ninth after firstly flopping TP and a bloke calling to the river with the nut flush draw (fair enough I suppose), arsing me over for the majority of my stack. And then I muled off my chips after the Cut- off MIN RAISED and then I reraised all in with QJs (what was I thinking) for not very much more. Needless to say he shows the Nut pair :D

On a better note thought I felt my reads were improving a hell of a lot, and thus I was able to take advantage of people who were continuation betting on low flops and me raising hard with fuck all. There was one bloke in particular whose blinds I kept stealing and towards whom I was generally being a cunt. So we developped a bit of a rivalry... he caught me out a few times but although this next bluff may seem standard to better players, It was a difficult one seeing as from the word go he suspected. I put him on AJ-AK/KQ, there or there abouts, so the river was a bit stupid, but hey, it worked.

PokerStars Game #18043457700: Tournament #91555353, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (150/300) - 2008/06/10 - 11:37:27 (ET)Table '91555353 2' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Daddy74 (11307 in chips)
Seat 2: juzmuckem (15416 in chips)
Seat 3: alpha8886 (11560 in chips)
Seat 4: MightyMoaten (18693 in chips)
Seat 5: Praseodyme (9867 in chips)
Seat 7: gltooouuuu (6655 in chips)
Seat 8: TonyP22 (12016 in chips)
Seat 9: khemis (6925 in chips)

HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TonyP22 [Qc 9c]
khemis: folds
Daddy74: folds
juzmuckem: raises 300 to 600
alpha8886: folds
MightyMoaten: folds
Praseodyme: folds
gltooouuuu: folds
TonyP22: calls 300

*** FLOP *** [3c 8h 2d]
TonyP22: bets 900
juzmuckem: calls 900

*** TURN *** [3c 8h 2d] [7h]
TonyP22: bets 1800
juzmuckem: calls 1800

*** RIVER *** [3c 8h 2d 7h] [Jc]

TonyP22: bets 3300
juzmuckem: folds

Uncalled bet (3300) returned to TonyP22
TonyP22 collected 6950 from pot
TonyP22: doesn't show hand

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6950 Rake 0 Board [3c 8h 2d 7h Jc]
Seat 1: Daddy74 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: juzmuckem folded on the River
Seat 3: alpha8886 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: MightyMoaten folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Praseodyme (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: gltooouuuu (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: TonyP22 (big blind) collected (6950)
Seat 9: khemis folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Monday 9 June 2008

Oh well. Time for a break.

Over the last few weeks I've been learning not to moan, to swear at (still working on that one), or generally be disgusted with an outdraw because after all, few hands completely and utterly dominate another particular hand, and as we all know any two cards can win; and in the wise words of Matt Gamble, thats why we have fish :)

Today is a different matter however. Absolutely everyone goes on downswings, some ridiculous, some reasonable, and in my opinion the sooner we learn that the less angry we are and therefore we can play to the best of our ability. Isaac for example, has just the best temperament I've ever seen, and I want to emulate that. Anyways..to the point. Having genuinely deserved to be down 10BI in the Aidans cash game through alcohol/56 suited looking nice, I've won back around 4 BI in a couple of days....until now!

I'm back to where I started. This post isn't particularly an angry one, more a confused one. Tonight, as always, there have been outdraws...(the standard ones...blah blah blah,) I happened to be the unfortunate man to be on the end of such thorough bummings. I don't know why today in particular, but it has clearly affected my attitude to how I play, and how I should play. So in the same way as Ptevey (but less financially epic and important) I think I'm going to take a break from live poker at least until I can sort myself out and try and nail my shit points, of which there are many. What is so confusing though is that I've improved tenfold since 3 months ago, and I seem to be losing in cash (fair enough) and only breaking even online (Boooo).

Ahh, feels good to get that off my chest. (Note that I'm probably still pissed off from the Italy game today......wtf)

In other news, I'm definitely moving up to the $6.50 turbos, and so far it's been going ok, mainly because it's a new challenge and people tend to be a similiar standard to the $3 ones, but just a bit richer (not through poker I might add). My bankroll currently stands at around $410, but I'm not really hammering it at the mo, instead waiting for the hols where I'll have earnt about 3k by the end of it and can put in the hours to clear the bonuses. I feel that this will make me more confortable knowing I've got an income, and also judging by the low stakes mules (yeah donk sounds too american for my liking :D) on places like FT and the legendary Will Hill.

Lets hope I can play well for the Poker Festival coming up.....gotta sort out a shedload of posters now I've got Publicity bloke (can't remember the proper term) to raise awareness. All in all, it should be a great couple of days.

Ah and one more thing, some of you might be aware of a player called 'tuff_fish'. He's basically an asthmatic sounding american high stakes cash player who makes video blogs and puts them online. All I'll say is that the clue is in his name. Log on to youtube and search him and you'll see he's one of the most foul mouthed players ever (and some of the plays he makes are just awful) but nevertheless he's become a bit of a hero because he's just so funny. Anyways the other day I was playing a $3 tournament on Stars and he's sitting to my right. We talked a bit and he sounded like he was the genuine person and not an imposter. After a few doubts from Isaac I sharkscoped him and his stats are as follows


Games Played: 181
Av.Profit: -$5
Av.Stake: $16
Av ROI: -32%
Total Profit: -$882 (it was even worse than that about a week ago)


And while we're at it I might aswell give you mine...

Games Played: 353
Av.Profit: $1
Av.Stake: $3
Av ROI: 27%
Total Profit: $416

In further news...Matt Gamble is sunburnt to fuck, and it's really funny! What a ledge.