In Training for the BIG DANCE

I won’t allow myself to play poker on the cryptologic network any more it is not worth the hassle. For months now I have been fighting ‘Variance’ of untold proportions. I mean was I so lucky last year that it’s all coming back to haunt me now?

Well I’ve tried answering that one and many other questions whilst constantly getting my chips in only to get sucked out by the river. Now I’m fully aware of the fact that it’s not over till the fat lady sings but how long does the fat fucker have to keep singing???

Here is a hand that stuck in my mind from a £300 six-Pac last week and an example of the ‘Negative Variance’ happening to me on Betfair. I get dealt AJ in mid position in the 1st level of the tourney. Deejay raises 3 x BB from UTG (45 chips), and I call as does another player. Flop comes A 8 x and Deejay checks, I think that this early in the Pac Deejay wont trap with two players on the go and the check from him could indicate he didn’t like the A so I think I need to bet here and let him now his KK is beat ). I bet out 105 chips and PlayerX re-raises to 210 Deejay folds. Soon as the raise comes I think oi oi and start considering his range and A 8 is one of the possibilities here. I decide to call and see how he responds on the turn. Turn brings a J and now I have the top 2 pair and believe I’m in front. Now I'm sure if I bet he’ll at least call so I lead out again and he re-raises all-in and I can’t click fast enough. His cards show A 8 and the river comes an 8 for him to fill his boots, Deejay types in chat “I folded KK”, for an all round perfect read on my behalf ending as usual getting turned over.

The above example is happening to me game after game on BF and it has reached a point where I expect to get turned over. Yesterday I realised I should quit playing when I moved on the bubble with A 7 and was called by K 5 the flop came K 7 X and my stomach dropped only for the turn to salvage me from the brinks of despair with a friendly Ace, now it’s obvious here that the King can ruin my hopes of the RIG letting up on me for at least one game. The river is a King and I’m defeated yet again.

Cards don’t have memories so why stick around feeling like this expecting every hand to be beaten there’s no point. Expecting hands to be beaten is a sign of tilt in my opinion but I have fought hard to prove to myself that this is not tilt and that this unbelievably bad run of cards is such. Regardless of my opinions no matter how farfetched they may seem, I do not feel like this on other sites and feel like the ‘Variance’ on them is not as ridiculous. In fact while playing Betfair I have won over $15k on other sites so why am I so loyal to the site - stupidity?

I am in training for the WSOP in Vegas and I am taking the tournament and the experience very seriously. Coming from mainly a cash poker background my focus is on tournament strategy and obviously the mental adjustments accorded to these games. I am playing 3 sites regular Ladbrokes, Poker stars and Full Tilt with plenty of heads up action mainly on full tilt And Stars god they are so weak it is unreal. The structure on the HU tourneys are very good and you can really set weak players up for moves which get all there chips pretty quickly. Value betting Q high on the river sounds a strange concept to most but it frequently gets you the pot. Although lucrative I find them mentally draining to play and can only really manage a couple or three but my record in them is excellent.

Midastuck recommended some tourneys for me to practice for MTT experience and I played one Tuesday night on Ladbrokes called the Gatcha Daddy MTT $320 entry 3000 starting stack with 20 minute levels & a top twenty payout structure 1st was about $27,000 10th $933. I managed to get to the FT and lost a pretty big pot when I got away from KK after re-raising pre-flop then folding after leading out on a flop of a nasty A Q x I was re-raised so I mucked he shows AQ. Very next hand I have about 50k in chips and got JJ one raiser who was the table 'suckout merchant' blinds at 3000/6000 raises to 12k I decide to move all in with my hand so it looked as if I was steaming from the previous pot and after a long dwell he calls with wait for it…………………………….. 33 and on the river a nice little 3 popped up to send me to bed. Great tourney, great structure THE BEST I have played online plus $933 winnings. I have decided to stop playing plenty of the daft ones as i don't take them seriously but when I sit down to play one of these I want to be trying my best.

Last night on full tilt I thought I’d give the $200,000 GTD NL tournament a shot 1031 runners and again a good prize structure. They have so many top pro’s playing in this it’s worth entering just to steal their blinds. Any of the big names have bounties on them but they play with their proper names not nicknames so you know who you’re up against which is pretty good. I played a good solid tournament and stole Erick Lindgrens blinds on a few occasions, he made a move all-in with A7 just after and was called by AQ but he rivered a 7 to the dismay of his opponent but a very friendly chatty endorser of the full tilt fraternity. I eventually fizzled out when my AK was turned over and then I made a move with 67 off called by Ak no improvement. However, another good game and plenty of players in to get used to the big field syndrome that awaits for the big dance (placed a respectable but not profutable 138th)... I can’t wait...

All the Very Best and Good Luck…

I feel free as a bird no I’m away from that shitty craptologic software :)