But it was suited!

First post for a while

2006-07-18T15:28:00.000+01:00

As the title suggests, this is the first post I have put up for a while (a little over two months) so what has been happening to me in that time? Well I made the tournament of champions in the PokerPlasm Olympics and finished a creditable second behind IBGPN.

In ring games my luck ran very cold for a little while. For about three weeks every time I picked up good cards and hit the flop, someone had picked up a better hand. I lost with straights to flushes (picked up on the river so often I felt convinced the servers hated me!) trips to straights and full boats to bigger full boats. It all seemed to reach a climax when playing on Party Poker and I went all in with the best possible full house and felt sure I was winning only for my opponent to turn over quad nines! I had still not had to deposit any money (since about November last year) but I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to reach into my own pocket to play. Fortunately after this nadir things started to pick up and my good hands started to stand up again. Not in every case of course but enough of the time for me to start picking up again and the prospect of having to deposit money has become a distant fear once more.

I have also found a new forum for my madness! If you want something a little bit different you could do a lot worse than looking at www.sherbertdip.co.uk.

Anyway enough for now. I am planning to keep on posting so keep watching. Good luck and see you soon.

The Poker Olympics II - RAZZ

2006-05-07T23:49:00.000+01:00

I have to admit that before this morning all I knew about RAZZ was that you were supposed to play it when you had got some Red Wine and Cheese! I registered for the PokerPlasm – Poker Olympics – RAZZ more for the one point you get for entering and the fun you have playing than out of any expectation of placing. Once again I have to thank PokerPlasm for the helpful guide on how to play RAZZ (for those of you who don’t know it is basically like seven card stud but instead of a high hand you are trying to get a low one. Straights and Flushes don’t count and Aces are low).

I have been getting a run of rotten cards for the last week or so and I was expecting that to continue. It did. Fortunately in RAZZ 2 3 5 off suit is a pretty good starting hand and I was able to capitalise on my cards. Modesty forbids me to tell you where I finished but the Gold medal and accompanying seven points really helps my bid to get to the Tournament of Champions in June and the prize money helps to make up for bad run in ring games of late!

I am a little worried about the next event in the series as it is Omaha Hi/Lo. This will be the first time I have entered an Olympic event in a game that I have played before (see Omaha he’s making eyes at me) and I think the extra pressure that this brings may adversely affect my game!

Finally I would like to thank Zonetrap for arranging the events (great job man) and to AJDragonfly and Mrs Jester for their support during the match. The esprit de corps in the UK camp was great to see – and it put our American cousins to shame as they splintered and turned on each other early in the game! What fun!

Stay lucky!

The Poker Olympics

2006-04-25T22:03:00.000+01:00

I had the honour of representing the UK in the first ever Poker Olympics (organised by Pokerplasm) on Sunday in the seven card stud hi/lo event. This is not one of my strongest events and so I was very happy to get a bronze medal (I am still waiting for the medal to turn up but the cash for third is in my account already so, happy days!).

This has been the highlight of my poker month (it has been a month since I last posted here, partly because I have been so busy but mostly because I lost my username and password for the blog!) and as well as this, my ring game poker is coming on nicely. I have learned the secret of success on ring games and it is….. you have an even bigger chance of getting a call on an all in if the other player can play on afterwards so you really must have the nuts before you try (this is not always the case as it depends on your opponent but it is a good starting proposition). This also means that there is a lot more play (the blinds never go up) so patience is even more important than ever.

I must go now, as Frodo said “I can hear the ring calling me”

Be Lucky!

All in, All in, All in, it must be a freeroll!

2006-03-29T21:00:00.000+01:00

I decided to play in a freeroll this evening. Pokerstars had one (with about 8000 players) and I decided to give that a go. On the first table I was at, one player went all in six times in a row. When someone finally called them (I could not call a cab with the cheese I was getting) they had 8s 6h and they went out soon after. My stack went up and down, and I was comfortable when a player on my new table decided to do the all in routine. On his/her fourth consecutive all in I had Ad Jd and decided to give it a go. They turned over pocket queens and my tourney was over. I know I should have waited (the very fact that I am writing this and not playing in the tourney is proof of that) and if I had had to pay to enter then maybe I would have been more disciplined but as it was I suffered from the most unforgiving error you can make in poker, bad timing. It is vital. What would have been a superb steal worthy of a world champion becomes a rather embarrassing exit from a tourney because your opponent had the one hand that they could call you with and there is no worse felling than, when asked how you went out of a tourney, you have to reply “Going all in with Q 6 off suit”.

So here is my challenge to you all, tell me your most embarrassing moment (It does not have to have been at a poker table (come on people, try to be a bit creative here!)) and I will award a virtual prize to the best of them!

Multi Table Mayhem!

2006-03-21T12:53:00.000Z

Having had a hectic few weeks when I have not had time to play poker, I decided to use my day off in a productive manner and have been playing as much poker as I could. I have played a couple of SNG’s and had made the money in them both. Having come third in an eighteen seat tourney I was feeling confident and when a freeroll appeared I thought “What the hell I may as well give it a crack!” and registered. I had noticed that it was Limit Stud Hi/Lo but I was thinking that as it was a freeroll I literally had nothing to lose. This I now admit was a mistake. I would advise any normal person to avoid playing multiple tables of different disciplines as it is very difficult to get your head around what to do when a window appears and you only have a few seconds not only to decide whether to call a raise in early position but also to remember if As 2d Kc is worth playing in this format of poker (it usually is unless the raise is massive).

After half an hour of this I was down to about half two thirds of my stack (not good in a thousand plus player tourney) in the Stud game but I was also down to about half my stack in a SNG at NL Hold’em and this one I had paid to enter! I made a simple decision and dumped all my chips in the freeroll off to the player who had been most friendly when I joined the table (I know this is not really fair on the other players but as I was leaving the tourney my chips had to go somewhere). Back to playing one discipline I picked up my game and finished third in the NL Hold’em tourney (this is beginning to become my standard position in eighteen seat tourneys) I may not be quite back to winning ways yet but at least I am making money!

Free Money!

2006-02-26T10:54:00.000Z

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!

2006-02-19T23:57:00.000Z

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

2006-02-12T12:22:00.000Z

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

2006-02-06T23:36:00.000Z

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

2006-02-01T19:11:00.000Z

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)

More bad beats than Tina Turner!

2006-01-30T20:49:00.000Z

I played in the Poker Academy $10 Tournament on Sunday evening and I would like to thank Satan (His nickname not the Lord of Darkness) for arranging it. It was a very good game and the level of poker was as high as the level of banter! Darkplay managed a new record of having his machine crash every 6-7 minutes. I don't know how he has managed to get a machine that is about as stable as Groundskimmer* but somehow he has achieved it.

Another thing the game delivered was (as the title of this post suggests) some pretty brutal bad beats. Some I delivered, some I received. My game was all but finished when I played an all in from ajdragonfly. She turned over pocket Queens and I thought I was on the way to a chip lead with my pocket Kings. Of course the Queen came down and my comfortable stack became about the size of two big blinds.

I would like to say that I took my beats with grace and decorum and, as far as the other players were concerned I did. It is just as well they could not hear what I was saying to the computer or I would have been hit with a series of "f-bombs" that I would still be serving when I have retired! (I would also like to apologise to aj for all the things I called her when that Queen came down (out loud, not typed into the chat window). I didn't mean any of it and am sorry.)

*For more information on Groundskimmer see The Jesters Tale (follow the link on the right).

Midnight, One more night without sleeping!

2006-01-26T20:22:00.000Z

Last night, or to be accurate this morning, I played in the PokerPlasm $50 freeroll. It was a very enjoyable tournament and I think that was shown by the fact that even after they had gone out and even though it was very late (for those of us on this side of the Atlantic) most if not all of the players watched the game to the end and joined in the chat. It was one of the most fiercely contested tournaments I have ever played in. You know they say "If you can't spot the sucker at the table after half an hour it's you"? Well after an hour of play and only one player down I was beginning to suspect it WAS me! Truth of the matter is I don't think that there was a sucker at that table and whoever won it was going to have to climb over a lot of very good players.

I went out in fourth. I was a bit upset about this as it meant I was on the bubble and not in it (last place not paid). I'd like to thank Zonetrap for organising the tourney and say well done on his placing (At least I think it was him; there are at least three different identities for him that I know about or suspect).

This brings me on nicely to the subject of tournament success. Although I only finished fourth last night at the PP tourney, I played two this morning winning one and placing second in the other. My advice to you would be hand selection, it's all a question of hand selection. More people go out of tournaments playing weak aces early on than get blinded out as the blinds get big. A lot of people start playing scared on the second hand! "Oooh, I had better build my stack up now before the blinds get too big" This is, needless to say, completely insane. For every tournament you hit your cards in, there will be five or six where you go out in the first ten minutes. Pick your spot. Play good cards and (in the long run) good things will happen for you.

The first post (Hopefully not the last!)

2006-01-25T12:05:00.000Z

This is the first post I have ever put on a blog. I have been using the net for years and decided it was time to put something back in!
My life, at the moment, revolves around poker. I am a reasonable player ~(I have not had to deposit into my poker accounts for some months now) and am hoping to become an even better player in the future. I am a keen reader and occasional poster on the poker academy and would recommend it to any would be poker players out there along with the following advice:-

Do not start a tournament if you do not have time to finish it. Patience and hand selection are the most important virtues if you want to win at poker.

Aggression, whilst very useful to the experienced player will cost you a lot when you first begin.

Aggressive players tend to win a lot of small pots. Let them. Aim to win only a few, large, pots. You may be surprised to find that you have more chips than the aggressive player (especially if they do not know when to dog a hand*)

Remember that although it is important not to be bullied off your premium hands, there is also a time to dog them. Remember the calculation is all about profit/loss. What do you think you will gain against what you think you could lose. If you are in a comfortable chip position and the big chip leader throws in a big raise do you really want to risk all you chips hoping your As Kd** will hold up?

* folding a hand
**Ace of Spades and King of Diamonds

If people would like I will do a handy English - Poker translator on a future post.