Wanna do a deal ? (lol live games)

Poker is such a game of mixed fortunes, it can feel slightly surresl sometimes. Thurdsay night was the usual €25 freezout that I play and low and behold I last 2 hands. TBH I was a little stunned with the hand, with an 11K starting stack, 3 players call my shove when I flopped bottom set, only to see top set, middle set, and an osed, obv the oesd wins. Anyway I can live with that, at least it wasnt hours of poker to bubble.

Last night in the TF, Bruce Poker ran a 10KGTD event, hoping for 200 runners, the €120 (with one additional top up or add on) got off with 83 entrants, and whilst initially I was a little pissed with the turn out, I rekon that I'd still be playing 2 days later if the full amount of people showed up. 11K starting stack, 30 min blinds, a nice slow structure and a 15K rebuy amount, let to a nice structure with lots of chips in play. First hand of note I get is AKs, raise over a limper who I have a history with, and he limp-raises. Now realising that I can rebuy for 15K this one is a no-brainer and the guy should have known that, I shove, he tanks and calls with a mid pair, I hit and double. The next 6 hours go down as the most card dead, boring, hair pull out of your head boredom getting repeated 64o,72o, occasional A9 type hands with lots of action ahead. At least online when you go card dead in an MTT there is lots to do.

Anyway eventually I get moved tables, get AA,AK,and KK all back to back, and won all 3 medium pots to get back to the average, on taken with a c-bet, one uncontested and one 3/bet pot taken with a c-bet. At this stage my image is rock solid, and the table generally leaves my LP steals of the blinds and antes alone. I start to chip up. I have shown down nothing apart from a top 3 hand, and we hit the last 2 tables. Then it almost go's belly up, AKs loses to A4s, for 30% of my stack, then KQs vs 7 9o (wtf) and I am back to 8 big blinds. Table image solidifies again. I get a shortie in with AA vs rags, and once there was 13 players left, I go on the rampage with my 15bb stack moving in twice/three times per orbit, bringing me back to a 20bb stack. Bubble time.

This is when the game started to get weird, the bubble last's 2 hours, with just the final table getting paid and an extremly top heavy prize pool. Eventually someone suggests taking €200 from 1st and paying 11th, just to burst it, a welcome relief at 5AM, when no-one really looks in mortal danger. Bubble bursts immediately :) We get a 5 minute smoke break. Now its unusual in itself for all 10 of us to be smokers, and when its suggested that we take the remaining 12K, give 1K to everyone, and play for the remaining 2 it was a glited chance for me, with my 15bb stack, and prob sitting 7th in chips. Everyone agrees. Unusual to see the usual stress accioated with a final table gone, everyone was delighted with the deal. Table goes maniac almost immediately, K4s vs AJ for massive stacks, then the two chip leaders collide, on a 10 high flop with AJ running a massive bluff and getting snapped by K10, for well over a million chips of the 1.8M in play. I double with 88 vs two overs after I flop a set. We get 3 handed.

3 handed was fun, but it was a matter of raising the button every hand, and noone perpared to take a chance, I have 350K vs 350K vs 1.1M (or something similar) with blinds at 12K/24K. We get the clock stopped for a smoke. More dealage. To be honest I was joking when I asked the chippie if he was interested in re-dealage. He offers a 1500/1500/2K split. WTF, I wouldnt mind if he was a donk, but I have played this guy before and he is a very solid player, even if the AJ bluff was a little insane. TBH I rekon he wanted the tacky piece of shit trophy, anyway we finish at 7AM, after 3 deals. I don't thing I put a foot wrong the entire time.

Lovely tourney, great structure, great tables, dealers on them all, and a decent payday.

I think this month I have played 3000 hands online, so I'm not even going to bother with a graph.

April Results.

April went ok tbh. Most of my money came from bonus's and my volume wasnt great. Mainly due to the fact that most of my poker time this month consisted of live games.

My main cash this month was from a €50 double chance (I thought it was a rebuy tbh when I reg'd) and lost my first stack within the first 20 mins or so, overplaying top 2 in a multiway pot when the turn fills lots of obvious draws. I rebuy, then discover that there is a top up option available for €30, and decide to play the rest of the game like a freezout. Next hand is AJs, and I raise from MP, get one caller in the BB, flop is A J 2, and we go to war, thankfully he has only ~half my stack size, and I get in vs AQ. Turn and river both bring kings and my 2 pair is countered. Break, top up. I have 15K with the blinds at 250/500.

Next hour or so is totally card dead, and then I get moved to a table full of massive stacks. The button is constantly stealing my blind, and I am looking for an oppertunity to 3bet shove when I see A8s and decide its enough and shove. He calls with QQ, and I discover to my delight that I actually cover by 1bb, with most of his big stack consisting of small chips. I lose. Next hand is KJ, I quadruple up, next one is K8, I shove without looking and triple. Back in the game.

Over the next 3 hours of so I built a stack of 400K or so, just pounding on blinds, raise, c-bet, and dont see a single showdown. We reach the final table bubble at 4AM or so, with top 9 progressing and getting paid. I am sitting evenly with the other 2 table big stacks when I pick up KK in the bb. UTG pissed drunk raises an amount only known to him splashing the pot with a 140K raise pre (5K/10K blinds), the button other big stack flats, and I tank and shove. Both call, im against A9s and JJ, my kings hold and I take out both, heading to the final table as a massive chip leader.

Final table was pretty sick, first hand I lose 20% of my stack calling an allin shove with QQ, he has A4 and hits the flop. My 77 vs 55 a few hands later against another shortie sees me fall back to average after he flops a set. I almost tilt but, meh, I just tighten up, probably too much. We get 3 handed with even stacks at 6.30AM when I 3bet shove JJ and run into AKs in the bb. He improves and Im on the rail in 3rd and €1,000 richer. Great result considering at one stage I had 1bb left.

Anyway graph of my limited online play. Notice all the bonus money :)

A week of live games.

Well being fed up with staring onto a computer screen for hours on end kinda got me off my ass and into the local poker scene again, well for a week at least.

The Tuesday night cash game is back up again, this time the buyin is €100 playing 100bb deep (better than the €100 buyin playing 50bb deep imo), with a max loss allowed of €300, which is kinda what killed off the last effort. This time we go 8 handed with 2 full time tourney pro's (playing a cash game lolz), 4 decent players and 2 droolers. I get a stack early with my AKs spikes tptk+the flush draw in a 3 bet pot. I get in vs the queen high flush draw and hold. Lots of small pots and im sitting on €600 when I flop top 2 with AK and one of the droolers shoves. I tank and eventually call, he flips a worse two pair and spikes the river (ffs), and I come out of the game break even.

Thursday was a €22 freezout. With Good Friday hitting at 12, we had to be out of the bar earlier than usual, so its was played very like an online turbo. So I make it my primary goal just to stay ahead of the blinds and to pick on limpers. So when I see 2 limps into my 10bb stack I shove from the bb blind, and get snap called by K10o. I flip 62o and proceed to flop a straight, he he. 2 tables left and I get berated by both tables for the play, so with a semi-decent stack I decide to hold a bit for some cards. I did'nt have to wait too long, picking up Aces in the bb the very next orbit, and again I shove over 3 limpers, picking up 2 calls with 66/77 and I take out both players. A cruise home from there, and with no-one adjusting to the turbo structure most of them end up allin on the big blind. Cash for €200.

Friday was the €22 one rebuy/one addon. Lovely stucture playing very deep, get to the addon after winning a few small pots, the hit paydirt with a flopped set vs an overpair, so I'm sitting on a 30K stack when the hand of the night hits. With the blinds at 150/300 I raise over a limper with 109s otb. Limpers flats and we have a 10 5 6 flop with 2 of my suit, and we have a bet/raise/call. Turn is a great card for me (well I thought it at the time) with the 7 falling completing my flush and filling most of the straight draws. He check/shoves and I call, he has A10 with the ace of hearts, and hits the river. Still though very nice guy, first ever live MTT and he shows up with his sunglasses/hat and i-pod, must have felt like the WSOP to him considering his bread and butter games are 25c MTT's on Stars.

Easter Weekend now looming, and looks like there will be a few games over the weekend.

~Enjoy.

March review, and YSY ! An Irish Grand Slam.

March kinda flew by in a haze for me. I really did'nt get in the volume that I would have liked, but then again most people in Ireland had other things on their minds. As far a skint nation goes a little good news and a life of spirits was well needed for everyone. We went into the last game of the 6 nations against Wales needing a win againt the favourites for a first grand slam win in over 60 years. Hollywood could'nt have written the story of this game much better, there was to be no run away victory, and the game goes right down to the last 2 kicks of the game. Fortunately it was us that came away with a victory and for me at least a taste of what has been just out of reach for all these years. A national side actually winning something. Great, probably one of the best nights out I have ever had.




Poker was kinda meh, still grinding away on i-poker and its been slow progress, but none the less progress. I have been starting to add in some nl$100 tables again. +$800 including bonus's for March and the first few days of April. May will likely see me move sites again, once this bonus is cleared, and its almost done. I have been playing lots of live poker again as well, which is a great thing against some very very poor players. Unfortunately I still havn't cashed in any tourneys this year but I have been beating up on the cash games.



My favourite hand for the month below, this is against a reg that I have massive history with.



Value town vs a 78/2/0 Fish.



Against a usually tight reg, I really don't know what he thinks he is ahead of here.



x20, seriously AK has been one of the biggest losers for me this month.

I-Donker, and some sun.

Well after Januarys total disaster of a month, the first month I have ever lost money playing ring games (wtf, but true), I was in a bit of a spot. I was almost convinced that stars had it out for me, but the thing was after an awesome December MTT cash I was in almost in exactly the same postition that I was in on Dec 28th. It did'nt feel like it. So with some gusto and bravado I decided to deposit on I-Poker(paddy power) for a change of pace, and for once play on a site that actually rewards a relatively small volume player. So max deposit was $400 and I got a $600 deposit bonus for my efforts.

So far its been going well, I have stuck exclusively to playing nl$50, and apart from the insane problem with the massive infestation of shortstackers that they in mid-feb tbh its been a nice change. (The SS problem seems to be solved with full buyin tables and 50bb min tables all over the place now though). The reg's are terrible, and I mean terrible, and coming from a few months playing nl$100 reg's on Stars, I've been handing out a little pwnage to them, and I'm looking forward to moving up there. I still have 4K or so sitting on Stars for some reason thats beyond me, maybe I am in love or something, dunno. Graphz.



The auld junket trips that our business got in droves is drying up rapidly, and a trip that used to get over 100 had thanks to recession under 40 this year. Only Lanzorite (spelling lol) but 5* all the way, and beautiful weather is a nice break from the pure hell that is the first week in Feb in retail. No pics, cause really we did'nt take any. Highlights were losing a couple of ton in the casino, lots of swimming, and beating England by 1 (ONE lol) point in the 6 nations.

Google still has me banned from searches unless its very very very specific. Assholes.

Downswong.

So far January has been a depressing month for me. Super-coolers and a few nasty beats so far this month. KK < AA 3 times, top set into quads twice, flopped sets this month are costing me a bloody fortune. No fun hands this time because it will depress me too much.

I did however deposit on Paddy Power poker and got a $600 sign up bonus, so im gonna spend the next few weeks away from stars and just gonna work on clearing that. Gonna head off to the sun for a week in Feb I rekon.

Graph. !!!

Sorry about the lack of content.

2008 in review, some goals for next year.

Really a year of two small sections of poker. Jan-April and cashed out back to 2K, then Oct-Dec rebuilding. Got married and shit inbetween, moved house, went on a kickass honeymoon. If I'm totally honest with myself I was all to happy to have a total break from the tables.

Since October things have really gone well, ~$1,500 added to the roll in MTT hits, best one being 13th out of 8K or so player in the DD on Full Tilt for a $1,200 score, and the rest coming from the odd small cash and some of the forum games.

Graph of my year on the ring tables. (Massive drunken nl$200 heater on Titan before I cashed out excluded so add on a grand for that).



For 2009 I don't really know what I'll do. My roll online is sitting at around $6K, and I'm actually really enjoying the game at the low stakes at the moment, I will have to put some serious thought into withir I want to move up to nl$200. Gah, dunno what Ill do, but as long as I'm enjoying it ill stay where I'm comfortable.

~Happy new year folks.