Back to poker

My account is topped up and i'm just messing about at the minute trying to get a feel for the game, but im still in holiday mode so nothing to serious at the minute, just topping the alchohol levels up..

4 + hours in the 35 k gtd, I haveplayed my paps off. Ive been reading Harringtons latest book Endgame (absolutely brilliant)... 26 left in 12th chipstack (thanks Dan you've paid for yourself)... hoding KJ flop q 10 7 rainbow I raise 6k other player raises all in 43k... I called without hesitation...Turn K river 10, busted out make him chipleader, managed 3rd place.. well done actionjack :-(Even if i would have hit my hand that was terrible, terrible, terrible -->

Blamed everyone but myself, then read my previous post - this game is all about making the correct decisions I tell myself AGAIN.

Holiday blues

Well I definately have a case for saying I still have the holiday blues, I just want to go back and chill a while longer. Can't do that though the betfair Live game is coming up on the 9th and 10th i'll get a chance to put some names to faces. Really looking forwards to that one.

My prediction was nearly right, I let my pal play 2k of my account, drew the rest out by cheque in case he got too giddy, and the 2nd day in it was gone. We were 50/50 so that's 1k down, no ice cream for the kids for 2 weeks, how much do people pay for ciggies in the UK (as i ponder how to earn it back) :-)

Just one more off the subject of poker, whilst away on the 3rd night I nipped to get my Family a pizza, the shop was directly opposite to our hotel and when I got there it was closed. Next best thing to pizza? 4 packs of bacon fries for the family from the boozer next door. Ate my bacon fries, this divpott started gobbing at me in the bar, I told him to get F****D off and he went for me all guns blazing. Next thing I remember is waking up in my Hotel bed with two black eyes and no memory of the incident other than the police turning up and these spanish youths were all stood around me asking me if i was ok.

Walking through the hotel with my shades on this manchester lad pulls me up and says you had no chance son, they was on you like a pack of wolves. On asking him what happened apparently once this lad kicked off inside I retaliated and the group he was with decided to give him a hand. He said I went outside they followed and was proper trying to do some damage, on my knees at one time but never knocked out which I thought must have happened because of the memory loss. A group of spanish locals came and broke it up and the police arrived with 2 ambulances, one for me and one for the other twat I hope.

Seriously though, this is not a blogg for any other purpose than to highlight to myself where my personality is flawed on and off the tables. Here is my perspective, at the time the adrenalin would be pumping and I'm in the boozer full of anger at some balmpot who wants to have a pop at me, not considering the odds or the negative EV of the situation i proceed to move in instead of asking myself "is this the correct decision?", as a result get my head kicked in by a bunch of footy fans and dedide the next day in hindsight it was a BAD MOVE.

Yes poker and life very much integrated and easy to associate with real life situations, i have a son who was 1 yr old on Friday, an older lad of 11 and 2 x daughters 12 & 13. They could have had a dad that was incapable of dignity through brain damage etc. through lack of making the right decision at the appropriate time. I need to correct it fast..

Wondering if it's correct to put this in my journal cos i dont want to come over as anything other than someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, well hey it's my blogg.. I have the scars to prove it....

Asta pronto amigo's

Off to Benidorm for a fortnight with my family. No poker at all just quiet reflection :-) . I have a book to read that a player on Betfair recommended to me a while ago (pennick), called Positively fifth street, by James Macmanus, so i'm looking forwards to reading that and chilling.

Beware however, I have withdrawn all funds from my BF account barring 2k, and my pal is playing my account whilst I'm away. I think he'll be tough on the tables he's a very solid, fearless player who's used to the higher limit tables. All things being equal it might be a cheap holiday.. So if you see me on the 10/20's change your notes from muppet/fish to dunno yet (at least for the next fortnight)!

So i'm not completely away from the tables (his idea btw) I did um and rrr for a while but what are friends for... Since writing this blogg im actually buzzing thinking about it, i'll probably land in alicante and there will be a text, dun the lot 1st hand my AA against his 22 all in pre-flop...

They say a faint heart never shagged a pig!

Good luck to everyone...

And beware the new Toshiwonk..

Done my coco's late last night

Well just a short one this one because i cant really remember much about it, but here goes. After playing yesterday and having my bottle of vino (previous post about how well i'd done), had a look round the site and found two friend of mine who I play live every week on the £1/2 cash tables. Eventually i get on load £200 on the table and start hitting everything, bloody hell this really is my day, or was it just a preflop disaster waiting to happen.. Anyway two hours later and two bottles of wine in my system i leave the table with about £675 not a bad nights work again and whilst half pissed. Anyway my girlfriend say's come on lets go to bed and i said the dreaded i'll be 5 minutes and go and look on the £10/20 see who's about. There was a spare seat.

5:00am I went to bed and had a good night sleep, i know i'd done some damage but not worried at minute im steaming. Woke up today and went to check my account knew i'd lost a few quid but was clueless to how much. I loaded my Betfair software and i'd lost a grand total of 4.5k (what an idiot). Went back to bed for a few hours as i find a good sleep works wonders when you lose like that, forget the hangover it didn't even exist. What pisses me off most is i try my best to play correct and pride myself on recognising tilt, taking a break when things are going wrong, all the things to do with keeping it together etc. Earlier like i said i jumped on a 1/2 knew i couldnt do much damage and have a nobble with the lads but this is just a disaster, pure stupidity... I am gutted...

I remember one hand all in preflop my JJ against AQ well that's just one of those things lost about 1k, it's the other hands I cant remember that worry me. Later on im getting my pokertracker software to see exactly what a muppet i've been last night, and that's the end of that. Oh and theres this observer who watches the tables all night every night and if someone loses big he has a little pop at them. I can handle him no problem, in the past i've let him get to me and had a go back, since though i have ignored the sad git. He was proper LOL, LMAO at me last night and the sad git did wind me up I must admit. This is one complex game and there's one thing for certain, the only way is down doing what i did last night, end of rant..

Hope i dont sound to deppressive :) but i could have easily left this part out and let people think what a together all round person this is, and a great wages added bonus for him to. That is what i'm striving to be but at the minute there are glitches in the software, i'll share them because I cant see the point of telling porkies on these bloggs your'e just lying to yourself, and it's possibly where some people can relate to how they lose at poker I dont know.

One of the books i've read The Phsycology of Poker talks about being honest with yourself as one of the most important parts of your development as a player, cos if you keep lying to yourself you never improve yourself you only justify things as right for your ego's sake. So when you do something wrong look for ways to put it right dont give yourself a reason for it. That's my advice to myself in thought format! Two completely different perspectives of a days poker, they say "A smooth sea never made a skilled Mariner"

Im off now i need to phone samaritans.. LOL.. GL

Here it is! the main 1!

Game #786029353: Texas Hold'em No Limit (£10/£20) - 2005/08/05 - 04:24:21 (GMT)Table "Richard" Seat 1 is the button.
Seat 1: Capucho.. (£3564.50 in chips)
Seat 4: Toshiwonk (£3516.50 in chips)
Seat 6: Mafews (£3261.50 in chips)
Seat 10: The_twin (£1738.50 in chips)
Toshiwonk: posts small blind £10
Mafews: posts big blind £20
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Toshiwonk [Qc Qh]
The_twin: folds
Capucho..: folds
Toshiwonk: raises to £60
Mafews: calls £40----- FLOP ----- [9s Ah 8h]
Toshiwonk: bets £60
Mafews: raises to £180
Toshiwonk: calls £120
----- TURN ----- [9s Ah 8h][2c]
Toshiwonk: checks
Mafews: checks
----- RIVER ----- [9s Ah 8h 2c][6c]
Toshiwonk: checks
Mafews: bets £500
Toshiwonk: raises to £3276.50 and is all-in
Mafews: is all-in £2521.50Returned uncalled bets £255 to Toshiwonk
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Toshiwonk: shows [Qc Qh] (A Pair of Queens, Ace high)
Mafews: shows [7d Ts] (A Straight, Ten high)Mafews collected £6520 from Main pot----- SUMMARY -----Total pot £6523 Main pot £6520 Rake £3Board [9s Ah 8h 2c 6c]Seat 1: Capucho.. (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 6: Mafews (big blind) showed [7d Ts] and won (£6520) with A Straight, Ten highSeat 10: The_twin folded before Flop (didn't bet)****HAND ENDS****

My Night ends!!

My day in short!

Made a decision that today I was sorting all those jobs that just never get sorted but hang on to you and don't let go till you have to do them. Ring the council, sort the visa, make a claim for my mobile which hit a wall at 100mph last week (on the claim form it fell out of my pocket) them kind of tasks.

Chatting away to some pals of mine online and downing 5 cups of coffee per hour and generally thinking this is not so bad. I decided to load a table up on Betfair looked at the £10/20 no limit and it was a tough line up, if you want wages out of this table you need more than patience cos these players know how to make it and limit losing it. However, I decided I would have an hour because I could sort my work out plus play some poker not getting too bored in the process cos i'm busy enough anyway.

Turned out a great day for me and I feel I had one of those days where you really knew you had taken something away from the game (not just money by the way). I played what I considered as good as poker as anyone on the table was playing, managed to get legged up once but generally gave a good performance that I think has finally put me back on track. To me it's great winning money and topping up the bank account, but I’m big into the mental side of the game (yes I’m crackers) and the feeling like you've conquered certain emotions whilst playing (hope I’m making sense here).

Anyway when I say got legged up, I was the SB (Small blind) everyone folded to me and the BB (Big Blind) and I was holding KJ off. Now me and the BB have had few hours on the tables before now he is definitely one of the above average (solid/aggressive) players on the site. I made a decision to flat call to the BB deducing he would raise because it was about time for him to do so (it's a play he makes regular with anything), if he didn't no problem its then "hope i hit the flop time", otherwise I would re-raise (I’ve been very conservative btw). True to my calculation he raised to £60 to which I re-raise to £120. He calls and the flop comes with no real texture (3,8,10) rainbow, he then bets £200 and I re-raise to £400 representing my monster hand; he then re-raises to £900. OOOooeeeer I thought i’m f****d here! I’ve got £1400 left in the kitty if I call the £900 i’m pot committed, I have overcards but?? and at that I fold. The player collects the pot and shows me A7 off suit, brilliant I can honestly say I laughed and couldn't do any other than realise I was outplayed by a better player.

He was winning about 8.5k at the time which possibly made him braver here but I congratulated him on a job well done and cracked on with the game in hand. I would be very interested in opinions here please.

The only other skirmish I believe is worth a mention is being dealt pocket 10's there was two of us in from a £120 raise. Flop came 10 J J lovely hope I get some action here I like this flop a lot. Anyway player bets about half the pot and I flat call, I decided i’m checking and calling to see what I can get out of this pot and try keep my holding hidden away, turn comes 6 he bets £160 and I think relative to the pot he's unsure about his hand, keep him in and try to extract a little more, but i’m sure i’m in front.

Now the river is where i’m going to re-raise him and try get some value for my hand, it comes a queen... Timer goes down a little and £340 bet thrown in.. Before I chuck em all in a little alarm bell rang in my head £340 now i'm a little concerned and instead of my re-raise I flat called it, the bugga had pocket queens and had hit is Q's over Jacks full house on the river.. In the past I would have been all in without thinking then scratching my head at the lucky twat who rivered me. This time I actually thought about it and although going all in against his 2.5k stack seemed a nice prospect I felt there would be better times to get my chips in and settled for the £340 on the end, sorry just lost the £340 on the end. Obviously again there are more to these hands than just betting etc. certain players i wouldnt have even considered anything but all in, but here my instincts worked for me. An emotional victory lol.

Still £900 up on the day so had my tea and now a nice bottle of chardonnay... GL

A week off (or more)

I have had a week at Glorious Goodwood for the racing, in fact for the beer but I have just about recovered and I came back on the 29th July (that's an indicator to how much beer I drank).. It's a great meeting but next year a poker tour is for me!

I thought the break from poker would make me feel like a dog on a leash waiting to be set free and jump on the tables like a man possesed, but the exact opposite has happened, I just cant be arsed at the minute. I have played a couple of Single table tournaments (STT's) a £50 & £100 plus £90 six-pack, was doing ok then just decided to play hands that I normally wouldn't and as a result go my arse kicked (think it's defined as tilt). Played the 30k GTD tournament Sunday night and came 40th won £147 don’t suppose it was too bad I was playing 3hrs + but the hunger wasn't there. Soon as I knew I had got my money back I went all in with Q 5 off because I just could not motivate my mind into concentration mode...

Last night I played on the $10/20 no limit cash tables and started enjoying the game again but it was one of those night when you are just going to bed behind no matter how many times you get dealt premium hands. In fact I would say on them nights I’d prefer less premium hands because I’d lose less. Lost 2k when after several limpers I raised $140 and got one caller, nice one I say to myself. Texture of the flop looks good for my AA (6 2 j) he bets I re-raise he calls, mmm. Turn comes a nine, now he goes all in... I go through the normal what could he have procedure big pair, AJ, set etc, but this guy has been playing some real loose/poor poker I call. He had 9 6 off, he's called a $140 pre-flop raise with 9 6 off. Good luck to him. Fair to say his money didn’t last that long.

This is not a bog off bad beats but to anyone that plays (it was one of those nights) and you can probably relate. One player on the table was a raving lunatic he got up to about 6k he was hitting everything. The feeling I always get is (hope I catch him before anyone else) well this guy raises to £280 and another player goes all in $1950 It was a standard raise for the maniac so I thought he'll crumble on this one but he called --- he had 10 4 off and the other player had AK suited.. Mr AK suited re-loaded shortly after that hand; he was having a night like me by the looks of things... Must admit though i do not so much welcome these type of night but you have to expect them and not let them get you down.

One thing is true about internet poker, there is money to be earned and I am going to have some fun trying to do so. To me it's all about correct mindset, yes you need a good knowledge of the game but a strong controlled mind is the key... What is it Patience, Discipline and selective aggression... A lot of the top players tilt to easy so it's not that hard for medium players to take advantage of their strong will and become that top player everyone aspires to be. My tournament play is poor, I always seem to be the one that if I put my mind to it I can get a "well that wasn't bad 35th out of 565 runners" but it's not good enough and I want to learn what it is the other tourney players have got that I haven’t. If you are out there and you are reading this and you are any good, I will be watching you on the tables trying to get the edge. I have read that some people just cant play both because they are two completely different games and I definitely agree, but some can and I like to think I’m one of them lol.

Cash is more lucrative, and I believe requires more skill, you have to take the slight edges in cash, tourneys you have to sometimes give them up. Some people argue that tournament poker isn't true poker at all maybe that's a topic for a later discussion; I’m on the fence on that one. Today i jumped on $2/5 10 seated table and was dealt pocket 7's first hand. I had put $500 on and was just messing in my office sorting paperwork etc. The flop was great for me 872 i bet $20 and get called, great turn is queen, i try a bigger bet $45 he calls, river a 3 so i bet a little over the pot see if i can take him with me. He calls, shows pocket 8's with the 8 on the flop his over set wins the pot. I think my luck is back why just flat call me??, and i put in my notes (PASSIVE) glad to meet you . See you at the tables.....