Well here is today

Played ‘live’ last night and came home losing £300 at 5am in the morning, one of those nights. Top set on the flop manage to get my chips in, beaten by a runner runner flush, KQ all in against J 7 flops brings a 7, AQ all in against A 6 blah blah blah… Played for 8 hrs and lost £300 PAH... wheres my PC!

Got out of bed at 11am and Jumped on a £5/10 6 seated around dinner time after 4 x strong coffees without watching or analysing any of the players in the game. About three of them were names I didn’t recognize and two others RayVon and Psychatog whom regularly play the £5/10 tables. Had a few minor skirmishes and not the best of starts but I did give myself a pretty loose image which paid off later in the game.

Things seem clearer when you’re in the mood and you don’t have any distractions to hand and that is one area of my poker that needs sorting if I’m going to take it more serious. I have a 12month old boy and an 8 week old staffie to contend with, plus a girlfriend that thinks I’m having an online affair because I spend so much time with my PC.

Anyway back to the table, RayVon is a very aggressive player he was seated directly to my left and he got the table going with some very good timed raises, 5 x limpers RayVon £70 raise you think he’s at it but not strong enough to say hello so not strong enough=fold. Anyway long story short, my starting requirements take a drop and I have a few stabs at some pots.

SB I get 67 clubs every one limps and I limp to Mr. Von who makes a cool £70 raise on the BB. 1 player who is showing signs of tilt and I make a loose call to see a flop. Flop comes 885 2 x diamonds so I’m open ended (with a flush blagg draw escape route) and 1st to act which I check and Mr. Von bets £125 other player folds and I call. Turn is a 6s and now I like the shape I’m in and I also don’t think I’m up against anything other than a bluff/continuation bet. I check again and he bets out £400 . . . I have 13 outs plus my Diamond bluff draw and I’m about 5/2 to catch on the river (legitimately) if i'm incorrect in my hand reading analysis.

I call and the river is a Jack of diamonds so I could bet here and represent the made flush but I believe I’m in front and if I bet I’ll only get called if I’m beat (cant rule out the misread for the 1000th time) so I check and RayVon checks to which I win the hand with a pair of 6’s, I was correct and the hand held up. Hope this all made sense!

Ended up winning £1097 in just over an hour and I’m finished for the day... GL

Oh hang on a minute well just one more then... Went out last night and had a few beers came in and couldn't resist it :-( anyway was just looking on the tables see who was playing and chatting to Shaboom and another player Hangman. I decided to enter a £90 + 8 six-pac, came first playing very aggressive loose poker but managed to maintain some discipline won £405. Look around and find 10 seated £50 + 5 STT and enter that. Ultra aggressive head spinning play wins me that as well so add another £250 to the kitty.

I'm invincible (ha ha) sees a six-pac with squidy and Mavis registered have to have a go at this one, a gutshot re-union i type in and even Filth is here with us to see my chips dissappear. Oh forgot to mention kthomas00 the new online abuser was playing and was quiet for a change. Well i lasted about 5 minutes in level 1 it was now mega ultra ultra aggressive, squiddy typed in 'u pissed toshi?' dont know why he thought that but anyway no wonder he so good on the STT's he even can smell alchohol on me :-) . Anyway went to bed after that one, not a bad day in the office and I avoided cash when slightly pissed... GL again.

£1430 for the day .

Confidence is back

My confidence levels are back on the up and I have been hitting the £5/10 tables and getting some good results...

Jumped on a table that looked a bit lucrative and fishy and within a couple of minutes was winning £100 which I like because it allows you to settle into the game early and get a feel for the players. UTG I get AA and raise it to £30 every one folds and I can’t get my breath because this table at the minute everyone is calling any raise apart from mine.

Few minutes later KK in small blind and table full of limpers I raise this time to £50 I’m sure I’ll get some action and I get 2 callers one (on tilt) the other an aggressive/solid player. Flop is 884 with 2 x spades on board to which I make a pot sized bet of £200, fishy folds and Solid calls, turn is a rag and I bet again £400. Again solid calls, another rag on river and I’m sure I’m in front and this player is drawing so I could check to induce a bluff; maybe put myself in the position of thinking oh fuck I’m behind, so I go all in he quickly folds.. I collect £1400 pot...

Baffled here cos this player isn’t as solid as I thought or he was hoping to take the pot away at some stage, I think maybe in the past he’s hit is draw and I’ve paid him off??

Not sure but he had something on his mind, or maybe I just overrated him!!

Sometimes you can give players too much respect and as a result it can affect your game and enhance theirs, that’s my theory anyway. Not that players shouldn’t be respected or ‘AVOIDED’ unless nice and strong yourself, but a lot will pick up on your passivity and take advantage of it. The credentials of a good all round player, (when the fox hears the rabbit screaming he comes a running, but not to help) springs to mind.

Playing STT’s as well £60 six-packs seem to be my area at the minute but I do sometimes lose patience and my stack in the process. Noticed I am quite good at working back from a small stack and think some of the plays can be used while healthy but psychologically when you are healthy you tend to be more careful, well I do. When my stack is dwindling I seem to be able to detect openings where I can exploit weak play and take the pots.

About £875 profit today... Which means yesterday...

Here he is!!!!

Yesterday I was looking around the cash tables see if I could find any action and all the tables were full barring vineland £5/10 NL. One player had just had a bad beat and was on tilt big style it’s a 10 seated table but there were only 5 players so I takes a seat and bangs a £1000 down to try my luck.

On Betfair you jump on anytime but you have to post a blind to play or wait while the BB comes round to you I clicked on wait for Big Blind and by the time the BB come to me the player had given all his money away. Serves you right you daft twat I say to myself, however, in the meantime this other player who jumped on just after me is twice as mental. In 13 minutes I was £700ish up and after 63 minutes I leave for my tea with a steady £1087 profit. They say a big part of it is table selection!

Then last night Mandylou a betfair player and MTT specialist/promoter/bloke BTW Organised a £100 freezout tournament at his local in Pontefract. There was about 18 runners all good lads of different skill levels, good drinkers also.

Never really got going the 1st couple of hours 10k starting chips were heavily depleted by the time I had been moved tables, decided that IA (immediate action) was required, especially when Mandy Lou said “you, want a hand carrying them chips across Tosh?”. Stole a few pots here and there (like you do) and gradually built my stack up, then I couldn’t put a foot wrong, the rest of the players were soon to be history. I did have to move back to what was the final table and had to ask Mandy Lou “can you gimmee a hand carrying this stack Carl”… LOL, GG, UL ,WP.

A well organised event by a man that dedicates a lot of his time to the cause. Moreover, a good earner for me cos I won it and came away another £720 wealthier (did hit some hands late on).

Great night, great people… The new champ now has to defend his crown,

Donny V Ponty the re-match…

Yesterdays profit £1807.75 – played with confidence and without booze!!

Where's The New Improved Player??

POKER STATISTICS (last 18 months) ish

Lost originally -12250
Credited back 12250
Credited back 15000
Credited back 7237.52
put in account -2000
put in account -5000
Profit 15237.52

And a 5k float at the minute!!! so current profit = £20237.52

I get to play for free basically but my game has gone backwards not forwards. This is my top priority at the minute to gain control of my game and bring it up to a consistent standard. I do only play for leisure but I am serious about Poker and want to progress.

The – 12250 is when I first started playing as in poker introduction and my transition from Virtual chips to real cash. I didn’t start winning till I moved up the limits and found a more true game. Just lately I’ve been playing anyhow, mostly whilst on the pop which is not the way forwards, so I now intend on adjusting my entire strategy and this means more focus less booze.

My aim is to start traveling and entering tournaments, I do seem to play better ‘live’ maybe it’s because you can’t hide behind a screen when you make a bad call I dunno but I don’t think it’s too far from the truth. My stats are probably comical to most because I don’t do any real analysis I just play and I do pretty well until I start celebrating with a Bottle of white wine and then get caught by the short and curly’s and taken away by the sharks on the tables.

I played the other night worked my way up to 6.3k and blew the lot in the space of 10 minutes, one was a beat the other I could have minimized the damage but used the fearless method and got legged up. Problem here was not the booze but I was playing really well and fancied making it up to 10k then beddy byes. Big mistake, yes some of the stacks feared my raises and yes someone had the balls to call me and take a 7.5k pot in the process UL GG BP (Once again I cant sleep for the knowledge of my painfully bad play).

I’m used to taking risks, and for the most part the risks have served me well in business, but if the risks aren’t calculated in this game, it’s take your pants down and wait for your arse to be slapped time. I relate it to a game of golf which im shit at by the way, when you hit a golf ball properly you KNOW you have hit it correctly and as a result you can measure how good you are or how crap. I know instantly when I make a bad play, but keep making them FFS and this is what I’m going to start focusing on more because in golf there’s more than just your mind to control in poker your mind is everything.

From here on I’m trying to be the new improved player that I know exists inside and hopefully this blog will be a more cheerful account of anticipated future success GL . . .

BFWSOP The Blogg

What a fantastic weekend BFWCOP turned out to be, the only negative is I didn’t get to meet all the people that I wanted to but hey, there’s always a next time and who would doubt there wont be after that one (1st class).

Speaking from a general viewpoint on everyone who attended and who I met along the way all I can say is what a great bunch of people and a surprisingly small amount of ego. There was mutual respect flying around from every corner, you never feared going to join a table because the warmth of the people (and not just from the gutshot boiler room) was present constantly. It was an event not to be missed in my opinion and I definitely will make the effort for BFWSOP II. Also just to add the folk who had to give up the gutshot were just as friendly and deserve credit where due for doing so.

The night before I jumped on a cash table with Mavis, Noseyboy, Schmo, Fartpants and a few regulars playing 1/2 NL cash which was a good laugh as well as a lesson in how beats occur ‘Live’ more regular than they do on crypto.

1st beat only me and SB left in he calls my BB and I raise it up with KK to which he calls. Flop JJ8 Turn J, Long story short I cant have him for a Jack in a ‘live game’ and he’s definitely not got ‘AA’ surely so I put him all in for his £100 that he jumped on the table with and he showed AJ arghhhhhh.

Next norwichfan has taken a few beats of his own and throws his last £16 all in pre flop to I think approx 5 callers mavis being one of them, I flat call with AJ and the flop is dealt Q 10 K with 2 x hearts. I decide that although I have the nut straight the flush draw is credible with so many in the pot so I over bet the pot of about £85 with £100 and to my glee Mavis re-raises the rest of my stack about another £70 to which I gladly call. Turn is a queen, I remember thinking Oh shit then river a 2.

I show my AJ and the table Ooooh’s and Ahhhh’s, Norwichfan jumps up does a little dance and shows Q 2 a full house Queens over 2’s, MavisFish says “ hang on a minute” turns his cards to show KQ a full house Queens over Kings, My nut straight on the flop was in last place by the turn LMAO. Turned it round a little later and made an exit about £300 down instead of £700.

The main event I couldn’t get going at all and busted out early (80ish) when Sha’s QQ SB held up against my K8 suited BB that was me out and sha holding my bounty chip, good luck Shaa top geezer hope he does well in the event. Reactive was hammered on the morning, and at one time I spotted him slouched on a couch barely able to hold is head up, well done fella you won it if you don’t remember!!!!

More beer, Jack Daniels then a £200 entry STT with 11 runners payout was 1st £1200 2nd £600 and 3rd £400 a good solid table with Duffs, B4matt, Fartpants, BigDogg, Mavis, Filth, squidy plus others. A real enjoyable game that lasted nearly 2.5 hrs ending up with me, squidy, filth and mavis battling it out. At one time squidy mavis and Filth who had their stacks covered were all in and I was the short stack, go filth go... Squidy actually laid his hand down (good laydown) and mavis and filth split the pot.. Grrr ok back to the game. Mavis was out in fourth and I took squidy out when he moved at my BB all in with JQ I found A 4 called and got heads up with filth. We were evenly stacked and the blinds had reached crapshoot levels so we split the winnings £900 each not a bad night work, and to be honest filth would probably have outplayed me HU cos I’m sh1t.

Back on the booze meeting more people and generally buzzing, a free weekend thrown in now, couldn’t get any better.

One thing to note, I have met some top people and seen some very good players. I think it’s fair to say I have seen some players that I personally think will be future faces of poker in the UK, they are young aggressive, fearless and I think if they keep their heads about them they will make it big time…

BFWSOP

Betfair World Championship Of Poker is on Saturday, a good chance to meet the lads who play regular on the site and I think I’m just peaking at the right time :-). Moreover, the good beats are coming my way and I’m looking forward to having the crack with everyone whilst indulging in one of my favorite pastimes BOOZING…

Today I played 3 x 10 seated STT’s today one £50 and two £100 + fees. Unplaced in the £50 but managed a 2nd and a 1st in the £100’s. I don’t know whether it’s just a coincidence but I do feel better playing in the £100’s. Maybe its just cos they earned me £600 profit, we’ll have to see…

GL ATVB

Hell and back! ok not that bad but....

How long can a bad run of cards last?
Do you play through it and create your table image of weak/tight cos your missing that much and even a bluff sparks 3 all in re-raises?Or do you start calling with the 62 93 10 3's and see if you can flop a monster?
Should I play 1c 2c Limit for a while?

Answers on a postcard to . . . . . . .

Yes the cards carried on last night in the same fashion and I stuck it out I even posted a reply to someone on the forum (bad beat poster) my sympathies cos this deck has been running cold a long time now. Another £500 placed on Tupelo the £2/5 NL 10 seated cash table and another 2 hours of painfully experiencing bad cards after bad cards, again it wasn’t my night.

I recognized I was on tilt a little; started playing the odd hand out of position like 97, 10 8 etc. It actually added to the frustration cos every one of those hands missed completely which made me emotionally more frustrated. I was down to about £128 and I had a stab at a pot with top pair and lost £40 in total when he hit two pair on the river and left me reeling with £88 left.

My decision was to come off with the £88 it wasn’t worth staying on just to feed people, I might as well donate to charity If I’m giving it away, however, I waited for my free cards to come round and before its my BB I will leave table. Well the hand before a player sits out so my BB is automatically Posted, fuck I thought! Oi Oi QQ, I raise when it gets round to me get 2 x callers flop QKK take the pot down with a nice short stack all in desperation move and hey presto….

One of the players who used to play under the name BITOLA and always makes me laugh with his table tilting techniques type’s in ‘NOOOOW GOOO ANDDDD FOOOKKKK THEEEE TABLEEEE TOSSSHHIIIIIBAAAAAA’.

Well my luck changed and in a very short space of time;

Dealer: Game #841418784, Toshiwonk wins pot (£280) with A Full House, Tens full of Queens
Dealer: Game #841495744, Toshiwonk wins pot (£265) with Two Pairs, Jacks and Eights, Ten high
Dealer: Game #841495754, Toshiwonk wins pot (£234.75) with Three of a kind, Twos, Ace high
Dealer: Game #841495784, Toshiwonk wins pot (£209) with A Full House, Jacks full of Kings

Just a section of about 30 mins play!

Left the table with £1102 not bad from £88 quid and a bit of the confidence entered my brain. Does outline the importance of patience, and being able to have the ability to minimize losses when cold decked; it is as important as selling your good hands for the maximum when you hit. I’m fascinated again; this game gets ever more complex…

GL ATVB.

Cash is KING

Well yesterday took a trip back to cash, I had played a couple of Stt’s in the daytime and went out very early, not in the mood so I sit about playing like a maniac on level 1 didn’t do myself any favours.

Entered 15k GTD Started pretty well then went low on chips so a little gambling or Heavenly Aggression (taken from Korpen. The Fisken) (korpen. With a full stop BTW) as I like to call it took place. After building my stack to above average got the Old American Airlines arrive on my desktop, raise 4 x BB player goes all in and has my stack covered turns over Pocket 5’s and hits a set on the turn Night Night. Bit ironic really cos I’d just outdrawn someone when I was short stacked with A7 against AK (ce la vie)...

So Fuck this tourney lark I’m missing the cash let’s get it on... Most of my early success and bankroll build up from behind to in front has come on the £5/10 6 seated NL tables but I don’t know if I’m playing correctly on them If that makes sense, It doesn’t to me and I’m writing it but that’s how it is (think I’m reading too many books). I do like playing on the 10 seaters and always feel comfy playing them, the £10/20 is well within my reach but I feel apart from the odd Fishes that jump on and quickly off skint that I’m definitely not superior to any of the players and sometimes the mug on the table is probably me.

To me the thinking there is incorrect as far as being a confident poker player is concerned, I must be positive, I cannot play on a table where I’m feeling inferior, but I shouldn’t be feeling inferior, I’m overall 3.5k up on that table?? so incorrect thinking yes! Correct thinking to avoid the table yes! A double edged sword but one side causes a superficial wound that can soon heal, the other a fatal downward spiral that I want to avoid.

Anyway found a 10 seated £2/5 NL cash table containing 3 players who I know to be very fishy, cant throw top pair away in the face of adversity, reminds me of someone I know sometimes!, in general a good soft table to get my teeth into. First hour I’m up and down can’t seem to get paid off on my good hands, so I try and loosen the table up a bit with a few OTT raises. It worked, it definitely worked, the table seemed to tilt a little but all the action was everywhere but at my front door. I was real cold decked I mean real bad and if I got QQ the flop would be guaranteed to have over cards, twas one of those days I told myself.

The niggling thought at the back of my mind was, “you’re playing shit, you can only play when you get the cards, sort the job out”, but it just wasn’t happening and the negative thoughts are with me again. Just loading Poker Tracker . . . . . . . . Lost £563 on that table and was clever enough not to lose more in 2.5hrs and I was tired, thought better days are ahead and went to bed. Oh plus 2 x stt’s and a multi down £700+ today.

Now here’s some hypocrisy, I read a players blog and told him if poker was boring him and the fun was missing have a break it works wonders. He responded by saying tried it came back and had a real bad run. Well I’m eating my advice cos I’m shite and I blame the break (LOL).

I feel it’s just a phase I’m going through at the min, day, week, and month oooer; anyway I do wonder how other players think when the going is tough and nothing seems to be running smoothly, what changes do they make. My thoughts on the job are being ahead of the game bankroll wise doesn’t mean you should keep chucking money into the pot for people to swallow up.

Now to me that’s when to me you need a real long break from the game, and I don’t think I’ve reached that stage YET… GG WP UL ATVB!

WSOP II

Entered the CPC_TIME touney last night $25 entry 791 runners 5 x GTD Carribean Poker Classic seats up for grabs as an added bonus to the prize money on betfair. They kept it quiet, just managed to see a thread on the forum about it and entered.

Had a real good session made some better plays and kept my cool towards the later stages where I normally blow up, received a bad beat not that I didn't dish out a couple and made a super aggressive comeback to eventually finish 23rd and $158 richer.

Anyway here's my exit hand; I was in early position with pockets 7's and about 26k in chips, the blinds were 200o/4000 and the antes about 500 so I decided there were 7 possible starting hands that would be ahead the others I'm favorite so raise half my stack, one re-raise of all in from the chipleader with 249k I call and im pleased to see im up against AK, well his AK held up and I said my goodbye's, GG WP.

Don't think I did anything wrong there, my (M) according to the Harrington book was (4) so im in the red zone and first opportunity I get I need to push all in no messing about and I raised half my stack instead, but that's about it. All in all I think I was correct in my play at this stage of the tournament, but im only half way through his book I might get to a chapter that says (however when holding Pockest 7's never)...

Comments Welcome!

Bring on the WSOP

My tournament play has improved since I have got halfway through Harrington on Holdem Volume II. However, I need to read more because my endgame i.e. final table play is built up around pure gambling (the strategy goes out of the window).

Over the last week I placed 26th in the 35k GTD blew my stack in bad fashion, 16th in the 15k GTD (same again) but a little improvement…

The other night I was in the Caribbean Poker Classic Main Final $10k for one winner package and it was down to four players, me being one of them with a tidy chip lead. A player from Betfair typed in to me good luck Tosh concentrate on the small stacks via MSN. Sounded good advice eliminate the small stacks and go head to head with the bigger stack when strong... Didn’t happen I got into a confrontation with the 2nd chip leader on 2 occasions and in them 2 occasions lost my stack.

I can understand how some can play brilliant at cash and some players excel in tourneys; they are a completely different game (COMPLETELY). I would like to find my feet in tournaments because they are exciting and very lucrative but I believe they at the minute should be supplemented by cash games because I just cant win/place every tourney so keeping in front on the cash games makes it easier to throw $200 at a satellite qualifier for a big event like the Caribbean Poker Classic (just to play against the big guns).

There’s a bigger element of luck involved in tournaments in my opinion due to the sheer size of runners in them sometimes and the chances of fish like myself outdrawing better starting hands (LOL). But keeping in front of the blinds etc is essential in tourneys you can’t wait like a gnat waits to be swatted you have to get in there and sometimes your starting requirements are completely different to cash where there is a solid continual blind structure.

Learning tourney play might have a detrimental effect on my cash play I don’t know yet, can’t really have much effect on me however I’m shite at cash at the minute.

Not getting anywhere fast

Well I returned the favor and logged into my pals account and blew 2k for him over a period of four days. Strange playing on someone else’s account and from my viewpoint not advisable, not just because I blew his 2k and he did mine BTW.

When he asked me to let him use my account I felt obliged to do so, I mean he's my best pal I trust him 100% and also my business partner. Moreover when he has a good week its a 20k + sometimes, he's had more bad ones but that’s for his blog if he ever starts one; my thinking is here, fair enough lose 1k my 50% share or come back to a very nice profit and take my account back over...

When he told me it was gone and a few bad beats along the way it didn't bother me in the slightest (Grrr) but I was concerned about another aspect of this loss. When he asked me to use my account his idea was withdraw a cheque from Betfair and leave 2k balance, fair play can’t blow the 9.5k I have in there at the minute so I do so. However, it did affect me mentally because I was conscious of the fact that I have always left 5k in my account to play, then when I reach a certain amount I make a withdrawal and leave 5k to build up my profits again (hopefully).

From a psychological perspective knowing that I have altered my ‘successful’ system of bankroll management has assisted in my bad play since I come back off my holidays. There are obviously other reasons for my bad play of late but this is one I more or less told myself would happen when I gave the Idea the OK. It’s like I programmed myself to go on tilt if he blew my account and left me having to get the Old Visa out and top my account up. Probably sounds silly to anyone reading but the days of keep putting money into my account were put behind me and now I found myself putting it in again (even though I’ve drawn it out) and it’s had an effect on my confidence. I believe if I had come back to a healthy balance I’d be playing like a good un!!

Just lately I have moved down the NL stakes to the £2/5 sometimes £1/2 where I do get on the table and feel confident in my abilities, but when I decide to look at the higher stake NL games I just think sod it you’re not good enough at the minute stick to the lower stakes (some people might deem it as playing scared).
Maybe I am playing scared in some ways, but not from a point of financial status but confidence in my game at the minute is low and I’m trying to find the way out by just getting my game in order. It’s only recreational for me, wonder if the pro’s sometimes have these dilemmas or I’m just another daft Poker wannabe…

Anyway, back to using my pals account I lost his 2k or his 50% over a period of four days. Now I didn’t play the same as I normally would and do recognize one particular thing that contributed to my loss. I tried too hard to win too quickly for the sake of saying “there you go we’re back in profit mate”. Situations where I had the opportunity to say to myself “there will be better opportunities FOLD”, my worse judgment took over and I was in the thick of it gambling rather than playing, hence the 2k disappeared and I was left saying “I knew how to win with your money but couldn’t discipline myself to do it”….

I could blog forever on this subject and hope I’ve not bored anyone to tears but on a final note I can see how hard it is for a player to get backing for tournaments etc. To me there’s a lot more to being able to manage your own bankroll when someone else is involved, if you blow your own money you’ve no-one but yourself to answer to. There are some shit hot poker successful players on Betfair that spring to mind who play the lower limits and I sometimes think to myself they would be great to sponsor. However, I have proved to myself they could play a completely different game in that position over the last few weeks, there are definitely more ingredients required.

A true poker player that can play when someone else is on a % of that player must possess real discipline and have all the ingredients mixed into one or else you will be left scratching your head with the cheque book out…