Monday, 24 December 2007

Merry Christmas

Two short but successful sessions since my last post.

Folded QQ in blinds pre flop to a 17/14 regular who 4bet me in position. Thought his range was AA-QQ and AK so nice fold I think....

Happy Christmas to all.

Thursday, 20 December 2007

Play resumes

Finally my PC is back up and running - how long it will last is another matter......

Not much to report on the poker front really. Probably won't play too much between now and new year either so December will be 'break even' on cash tables as predicted.

Will be doing a lot of thinking about my poker plans for 2008 during the break so watch this space!

Monday, 17 December 2007

MTT win brings back memories

Been away for work xmas bash but no graphics card to greet my arrival home. Is being delivered today alledgedly - yeah right.

Anyway, I started playing 2 tables of 200NL yesterday morning but made some shitty plays and stopped session short. Basically I wanted to play poker but also wanted to catch up with the football on TV, MTT's are perfect for this as I don't have to pay much attention in the first couple of hours so I registered for $33 buy in on Party which had over 100 entrants.

After the first hour or so I noticed that some guy had been complaining about my 'slow play' constantly in the chat box. Like I said I wasn't paying too much attention before and my clock run down a few times but nothing too bad I don't think. This player had very loose stats and was clearly losing his patience so I entered into a little banter with him and started running my clock down to annoy him. It worked a treat because he started slagging my tight/nitty style just a couple of levels before I needed to change up the gears. He highlighted the fact that I was folding so much to the entire table gave me far too much respect when I did start playing frequently and this helped me make the money with an average chip stack.

I used to play MTT's a lot and my tight style means I don't need a huge chip stack to win. With an average stack and 16 people left I felt I had a big edge on the field and was confident of going all the way. I did not once consider making a deal at the final table and it was all over pretty quickly. By the time I got to the last 3 I had over half the chips in play and they were playing for 2nd :-)

The win paid $942 which is not bad for 3 1/2 hours of watching TV!

Thursday, 13 December 2007

2 tables +EV

Computer still out of action and running pretty crap so decided to play a two table 100NL session on my laptop.

I wanted to really concentrate on playing well more than anyhting else and found that playing less tables gave me so much more time to think about table dynamics, my image and way to beat these crazy people!

Unfortunately the cards were not too kind again but managed to book a $40 win and was really pleased.

This shows just how crap the last week has been!

Tuesday, 11 December 2007

Play suspended

I haven't played since the weekend as I am waiting for a replacement graphics card for my PC.
I really don't like playing on my laptop so bought this power PC for the sole purpose of playing poker and datamining.

The phrase 'you get what you pay for' doesn't ring true when it comes to me and computers as it has to be fixed after less than 3 months :-(

I have decided my targets from next month will be based hours of play rather than number of hands. I have been thinking about playing 1 hour sessions and mixing up levels, site, no. of tables etc. I want winning at the tables to be my number one priority and need to be less concerned with rakeback or FPPS's which just encourage me to play too much.

Monday, 10 December 2007

Mork work less play FFS

This weekend has been a roller coaster!

I started by playing my first ever 200NL session on friday night. I have noticed some of my fish list were playing 200NL and thought I would see if I could feed off them! Didn't quite work out but I felt comfortable and feel I can beat 200NL in the future.

Saturday I played very well but regulary got my money in in front on turn only to be sucked out on and then Sunday that form continued.

By the end of Sunday the outdraws got to me and I played badly for a few costly orbits before stopping.

Lessons to be learned:

1. Don't let short term variance effect your play; or
2. If that is not possible just don't play until you are over it
3. Always review previous days play before starting again

Friday, 7 December 2007

BRAG - I CAN FOLD TPTK

Just read Verneers latest blog entry and thought back to this hand I had last night.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1780908
I had less than 30 hands on both so no reads but they had both been pretty loose so far.

Would people honestly fold this?
Or do they just say they would fold because they think that it is the correct play?

I agree with Verneer that most low limit players know the right play, but for most it is a case of easier said than done.

I am pleased that my focus on playing each hand on it's own merits has started to pay off.
Even if only for 1 hand ;-)

Thursday, 6 December 2007

Making Changes

I am back to 100NL after my brief drop down and have devised my starting hand requirements to play a 21/19 style.

Tested these on 2 tables last night and it went well. I actually felt like I was table captain for most of the session and was surprised how little people played back at me.

When I am thinking about making changes to my game I look at a certain aspect of my play and see if I can come up with a way of improving. If I am struggling I will ask for advice.

What makes me mad is that losing players seem to ask for advice and then totally ignore, or in some cases not even entertain, the advice they are lucky enough to get from winning players.

They bleat that they get outdrawn constantly and are victims of play so bad it becomes unbeatable. If that was the case surely everyone would strive to be really bad! In most cases they are just too stubborn or set in their ways to accept that the problem lies in their their own game.

They ask for advice but really they just want to be told to carry on because they are good (deluded) players and will win in the long run. If they don't like the advice they are given, they just decide that the advice is wrong and carry on as before.

My advice to these players is to keep at it and come and sit at my tables!

Sunday, 2 December 2007

Aaarrrrggghhhh - still paying off them damn fish

December has started OK and pre-flop game is getting back to where I want.

Am Running at 19.7/17.1 so far as opposed to 17.5/14.6 last month. The numbers look similar but is actually big change in my game.

This hand is disgusting. I continue to fail my target to "stop paying off fish":

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1759792

Villain is 40/6/1.29 fish. He weak leads and min re-raises flop. Shoves turn. I call with overpair.

I am ashamed to say I knew I was way behind on both flop and turn but still doubled him up.

We had a sweat session with Dice (top fella) last night and he was saying that these donk palys really add up over time and he is so right.

If I could rid myself of this weakness I am convinced my BB/100 would more than double.