Free Money!

At last I have made the cash in a poker academy/pokerplasm freeroll. I came in in third position for a mighty $10 (about £5.72) and I would like to thank the pokerplasm guys for organising this event. My earlier results in these events have been rocky, but after busting out first on my first attempt (my pocket Kings (first hand) did not hold up), I have been slowly improving.

I know that $10 is not a lot of money, although as I did not have to risk a stake it is a great return! I am happier and more satisfied with it than at almost any other time I have made the bubble (I think the only rival to this was the very first time I made the money in a tourney). The reason for this is simple. Normally in a 20 or so seater tourney there are 12-15 fish* and you just have to be patient, pick your spot and fleece them. In the poker academy/pokerplasm games there tends to be 15-18 really good players and maybe 1 or 2 fish if you are lucky. It is the difference between finishing third in your Sunday league tournament and finishing third in league two (I accept that there is still a world of difference between this and the premiership of the WSOP).

Any way you look at it I am going to have a smile on my face all day thanks to last nights result.

*poor players (called fish because they throw their chips at you. Groan)

Omaha, he's making eyes at me!

I have recently decided that as a solid player, playing (largely) by a set play book that I could play more than one tournament at one time, so I decided to give it a go and registered for three consecutive tournaments. All was looking good until on the second one to start I was dealt four hole cards. Now if you are a Hold'em player like me this comes as a bit of a shock! I looked at the title bar and found that I was in an Omaha game. Not only that, it was a variety called Omaha Hi-Lo. Now, whilst I am confident of my Hold'em play I didn't have a clue what the rules were to this game, let alone know what a good hand looked like. So I took the only option that I could see and went onto the poker academy site and cried for help!

My night in shining armour turned out to be Cadmium Lemon who, within about 3 minutes of my asking for help, posted a synopsis of the rules and a recommendation of how to play. I knew that this would be worth following, Cadmium Lemon is a regular in the Bubble* and often a winner in a variety of poker tournaments and his advice is well worth taking. Following his advice (and using a little of my inherent card sense) I was able to see off 4331 players to finish 345^th. This was unfortunately still outside the bubble but was a far better showing than I would have achieved without his advice.

I have learned two things from this tournament that make the whole experience well worth while. Firstly that I should pay attention to the details of a tournament before I register for it, and secondly that Omaha Hi-Lo is a lot of fun to play. I have decided to play a few O8 (as it seems to be called by those in the know) tournaments and see if I can improve on my first showing and make the bubble.

Oh and a final note for the Jester – I think I have found a verity of poker where J 7 suited is (almost) worth playing!

*the Bubble is the paid places in a tournament.

Raising The Blinds

There is a new phenomenon on the internet and that is poker! It is growing so fast that soon it will overtake porn as the dominant force on the web. Okay, maybe it will not take over from porn, but it will soon take over from Star Trek as porn's biggest challenger in cyberspace. After all, if someone asks you how long you spend on the web every day and you say "Oh I don't know, four maybe five hours" you'd better have a better follow up answer to what you are doing than "Arguing over who was the best Captain of the Enterprise and wanking." (Hopefully not at the same time.) Poker could be that answer (I know it is for me). It somehow has legitimacy as a pastime without making you seem like a total loser (Trekkies take note).

As well as playing poker, you can adopt a number of other poker related pastimes to fill the space in your life that would otherwise be spent watching soap opera's you don't give a damn about because your partner wants to watch them (if you are a girl substitute football or car programs). You could start a poker related blog (just don't make it better than mine, okay?) or join a poker forum or community. If this is the way that you want to go, then you could do a lot worse than following the raising the blinds link (Right hand side of the screen, just below the archives) and checking out the sites that form this excellent community. Started by the poker academy in the UK and pokerplasm in the US, it is quickly growing into one of the best and certainly most interesting online communities available (without having to pay anything) today.

You can get advice on how to play (there are several professional players who use this community as well as lots of very good non-professional players (note I do not say amateur. Many of these guys are good enough to go pro but want the more stable life of conventional work and play poker for fun/beer money. If you want to know how good some non professionals are, ask Greg Raymer or Chris Moneymaker who both won the world series of poker main event whilst holding down "daytime" jobs.) Get sympathy for your bad beats and have a laugh at some of the tales and antics of other players. There is a diverse society out there full of interesting people who come together when you say "shuffle up and deal" and they are ready to welcome you into the fold. So what are you waiting for, an invitation from Captain Kirk?

As for me, well as we say in poker "I'm all in" already!

We’re not worthy

At last the recognition that I so richly deserve! I have joined the few, the elite, the blogs with a link on the Jesters tale. I would like to thank the (Poker) Academy for making this honour possible. I would like to thank the Jester for this great vote of confidence and I would like to thank Darkplay for messing about until I laughed milk out of my nose!

On a more poker related note, I have been having mixed luck on the tables this week. Early losses at the Gutshot and on sit and go tournaments turned into losses on the ring games. This did not bode well. Despite my great play I was hit with inside straight after inside straight to knock over the stacks I had worked so hard to accrue. Despite these hits I know I have been playing good poker. I never lost heart and have on this evening returned to winning ways. Halleluiah!

When things are not going well for you it is important for you not to push to try to win back your losses. This is called chasing your losses and the name for people who do this is Bankrupts. You have to play each hand as if it is the first you have ever played (not going all in with 7 3 off suit, just not dwelling on earlier losses). If you do this (and remember you are only playing good cards (see my earlier post “The last post”), then you will have success. People will like you, your acne will clear up, girls will be throwing themselves at your feet and will have me to thank for your success.

Isn’t life grand?

Gutted and cleaned out at the Gutshot

I played the £5 unlimited re-buy (for the first hour) tournement at the Gutshop Club last night and it was not, I have to say an unmitigated sucess for me! I made it to the first break in good condition having not had to re-buy into the event. I was on a tough table with Ash and Ghandi as well as two fairly new players who both made the money. This table turned into a mincing machine with nine players brought to the table and then taken out of the tourney within ten minutes of the restart! I was taken out when my KJ was called by a maniac with nothing who hit his card (a 4 I think) on the turn. I moved onto a cash game and was doing okay until I got pocket Aces. The flop came K 7 4 rainbow and when the pot was raised big by my opponent (who had been continuation betting all night) I went all in. He turned over a King and I felt in pretty good shape, that was, until the King came down on the turn. The final outcome? Despite being fairly happy with my play I was murdered.

Poker is a harsh mistress and last night I was well and truly spanked

On a more positive note, Darkplay who I went with finished in the money in 10th position. This is a great result and I take my hat off to him!

(some of this post has appeared on the Poker Academy boards)