Pokeking69

I HAVE MOVED!!

2008-02-28T13:36:00.002Z

Hey everyone, well i have enjoyed my time here but i have been tempted away and now have a new blog hopefully a new start to the poker also

i will add all the links to my new blog and wood like it if u could change ur links to my new blog

thanks alot for everything

and u can catch me here, Pokeking69

feb update

2008-02-18T13:35:00.002Z

ok so i not posted in a while, i'm just lazy!!

well that and work has been crazy since coming back in Jan

well my stars roll is now gone, my party roll is at bout $20 ish, i gonna try grind that up playing micro cash tables

now i know a lot of people set goals for 2008, i never did but i think i going to.... not now gonna have a think bout it 1st

but one thing i have decided... i just cant afford to play without rakeback so with that in mind i have put $100 on full tilt i am thinking bout putting some cash in either littlewoods or sunpoker as i can get good deals on both of them

i think for my pre work morning sessions full tilt will be my site of choice as i think its the only site with rakeback with a decent level of traffic at 7:30-9am uk time
but at weekends i think i will use l'woods or sun as they are both on uk time n i think have good traffic at weekends during the day time when i might be playing e.g. 11am -4pm ish

work is still crazy for me, and i have courses starting soon for my exams in jun so poker may be a little quiet for me, also got GF's mum with us n she stays in poker room/2nd bedroom so no play while she here.

hope ur all well n i will think bout those targets/goals n post some time soon ish

PK69

January Update

2008-01-25T13:51:00.000Z

Well after my success on the $4 180 man i feel more confident, alas my results have not really changed much.

Been playing ok, getting to around the bubble n making moves, had a couple of sick 2 outers on the river to knock me out!!

this morning was same as any other, play good, make a good read get it in ahead n get sucked out on!!

however the following hand did make my day:

PokerStars Game #14805745407: Tournament #75050135,
$1.00+$0.10 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/01/25 - 02:51:45 (ET)
Table '75050135 5' 9-max
Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: 12S440 (1480 in chips)
Seat 2: Laurasia (1320 in chips)
Seat 3: calikidd916 (1700 in chips)
Seat 4: pokeking69 (1480 in chips)
Seat 5: noname444 (1300 in chips)
Seat 6: anamacaster (1460 in chips)
Seat 7: CoreyBrent (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: mntos (1180 in chips)
Seat 9: bibimus1973 (2080 in chips)
pokeking69: posts small blind 10
noname444: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to pokeking69 [Kc Jc]
anamacaster: folds
CoreyBrent: calls 20
mntos: folds
bibimus1973: folds
12S440: folds
Laurasia: calls 20
calikidd916: calls 20
pokeking69: calls 10
noname444: checks
*** FLOP *** [6h Qc Ac]
pokeking69: bets 60
noname444: folds
CoreyBrent: calls 60
Laurasia: raises 60 to 120
calikidd916: calls 120
pokeking69: calls 60
CoreyBrent: calls 60
*** TURN *** [6h Qc Ac] [9s]
pokeking69: checks
CoreyBrent: checks
Laurasia: bets 180
calikidd916: calls 180
pokeking69: calls 180
CoreyBrent: calls 180
*** RIVER *** [6h Qc Ac 9s] [Tc]
pokeking69: bets 60
CoreyBrent: folds
Laurasia: raises 140 to 200
calikidd916: calls 200
pokeking69: raises 560 to 760
Laurasia: calls 560
calikidd916: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pokeking69: shows [Kc Jc] (a Royal Flush)
Laurasia: mucks hand
pokeking69 collected 3020 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 3020 Rake 0 Board [6h Qc Ac 9s Tc]
Seat 1: 12S440 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Laurasia mucked [4c 7c]
Seat 3: calikidd916 (button) folded on the River
Seat 4: pokeking69 (small blind) showed [Kc Jc] and won (3020) with a Royal Flush
Seat 5: noname444 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: anamacaster folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: CoreyBrent folded on the River
Seat 8: mntos folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: bibimus1973 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

THATS RIGHT!!! MY 1st EVER ROYAL FLUSH!!!!
SHIP IT!!!

i managed to cash in this but no real joy

PK69

2008 - the king is alive!!

2008-01-09T09:30:00.000Z

2008 will be my year!!!!!!!

ok so maybe a bit over the top, its good to see u all and i hope u all had a good xmas n new yrs and that 2008 will be good to u

so i have been a little quiet lately, been busy with work n life etc had to cut down on the poker

but now i am back!!

started 2008 well i came 4th on stars in a $4 180 man sng!!

now i just gotta keep it up n not blow up like last yr!!!!

PK69

What a month!!

2007-09-28T16:24:00.000Z

hey all, well as u may or may not be aware i peaked around the end of Aug getting the roll up to a fine figure of $600!!

then a few lost coin flips and was down to $500. This then sparked a few days of what can only be described as pure madness!!

Chasing and tilt saw me gamble and spunk my hard earned roll down to bout $160!!!!

i saw an article in a poker mag advising on building a $5k roll in like 9 months or something, they had 2 approaches SnG & Cash

For SnG they suggested playing single table $11 as any lower was a waste
for cash they suggested Buying in for half at a NL$25 i.e $12.50 25c blinds and sitting there tight as a nats ass and only playing AA,KK QQ and AK strongly i.e raising hard/reraising and firing again on flop

Being the fool that i am i sort of tried both approaches!!

up to yesterday my SnG results were pretty good:

$11 Speed:
Entered: 17
1st:3
2nd:2
3rd:3
Cost:$187
Return:$270
Profit:$83

basically i make the money 50%with an average $4.88 per game, (mag suggests anything above $2 is good)with is ROI of 44%

however another 3 games this morning which i have to admit i played bad!!
now looks likes this:

$11 Speed:
Entered: 20
1st:3
2nd:2
3rd:3
Cost:$220
Return:$270
Profit:$50

now i make the money 40%with an average $2.50 per game, (mag suggests anything above $2 is good)with is ROI of 22%

I play speed as they are easier to fit in before work!

I have also play a few non speed:

$11 regular:
Entered: 11
1st:4
2nd:1
3rd:0
Cost:$121
Return:$230
Profit:$109

i make the money 45%with an average $9.90 per game, (mag suggests anything above $2 is good)with is ROI of 90%

obviously much smaller sample of regular SnG's but seems like i should concentrate on more of these if i can

Now i said i tried the cash approach too, i started buying in for half on the NL$25 and playing tight (not as tight as mag suggests but fairly)

To Table From Table Profit/Loss % change
12.50 10.44 -2.06 -16.48
12.50 12.45 -0.05 -0.40
12.50 16.64 4.14 33.12
12.50 15.74 3.24 25.92
13.00 24.35 11.35 87.31
26.00 12.65 -13.35 -51.35
13.00 0.00 -13.00 -100.00
50.00 66.12 16.12 32.24
13.00 17.17 4.17 32.08
13.00 12.75 -0.25 -1.92
65.00 73.92 8.92 13.72
50.00 42.27 -7.73 -15.46
25.00 30.99 5.99 23.96
50.00 71.00 21.00 42.00
50.00 0.00 -50.00 -100.00

So up to yesterday my roll was looking good and up to $380but then this morning i spunked 3 speed sng's and 1 norm sng with no cash

so down $44 for day i decide to stick $50 on the NL$50, well one mis timed bluff and a horrid rivered str8 to villain saw that disappear!

So back to $280 ish now, but on a positive note i am going to sovereign poker club this sat night to play the £20 semi freeze out, wish me luck!!

any feedback on my roll and performance so far in sng's and cash very welcome!!

TILT ALERT!!

2007-09-04T15:35:00.000Z

ok, firstly please check out my previous post as al thoughts bout what games i should play live at sovereign poker club are appreciated!!

ok 2ndly i don't feel any different but i am pretty sure i am on or a whisker away from a serious bout of tilt that wood seriously dent my quickly shrinking bank roll!!

all was going well til bout a week ago, i had slowly been grinding up taking the odd risk here and there but it was paying off

then i had those 3 days on holiday where i made $200 and got up to $600 roll

since then i have either played bad or got sucked out on!!

i made $10 this morning before work, only to go and lose $20 at lunch, and then the crazy set in!!

i had about $450 so what do i do...... i only went and put $100 on the table!!! jesus!!

in about 10 - 30 mins it was gone, to be fair i got done by AA, KK and was out kicked with top pair and str8 draw

jesus, i need to get my head str8 quick!!

so now down to $350 still a workable roll but how long will it take me to get back to over $500.....

damn it!!

ok so whats my best course of action guys? i know i should def drop a few limits so whats ur thoughts??

should i drop to:
pennypoker 2c/4c tables
5c/10c i.e $10 buy in
or 12c/25c i.e $25 buy in

??

i know i been seeing too many flops, trying to be too creative with suited connectors and mid pairs etc, thing is those are the hands that if i can hit i will build my roll a lot quicker then just waiting for premium hands that generally win small pots or get sucked out on for big pots

PK69

been a while

2007-09-04T12:13:00.000Z

hey everyone i know its been a while since my last post

been busy with work, had a holiday, got my exam results......... I PASSED!!! bit of a shock but i will take it anyway i can

also played some poker, started well making bout $200 in 3 days, but since i've been erratic to say the least and am down down bout $150 from my high of $600

some bad play but also some bad luck, oh well thats poker

i mite of said b4 that i have the greenlight from the gf to go play at the sovereign poker club, i was gonna go during my hols but was bit busy so next wekend i will be going!!!

i have 2 choices, be a pussy and play the £5 re-buy so i can have a cheap look and find my feet
or man up and play the £20 semi freeze out....... more expensive and more likely to get out played or just make a fool of myself!!

what should i do??

PK69

Revenge is SWEET!!

2007-08-13T12:27:00.000Z

Morning all, hope everyone had a good weekend!!

well after an eternity its back, football , god i love it!!

This mornings poker was a rollercoster ride, and this one guy in particular seemed to be my foe, though i got revenge in the end

check out this first suck out by foe

calling all way to river with nothing but a draw and of course he hits on river!!!!

then someone else decides they wanna suck out on me!!

not my morning so far!! well i got some cash back, but then original foe decides he wants some more of me, but little does he know i got pockets ACES!!!!

if only i had know he had the monster J5off!!! what the hell is he calling my bet with that for??? and of course flops 2 pair!! so maybe i could have folded to his all in push but having seen this guy he could easily have had AK or 99 so had to hope my aces were good!

well thankful i was bout $30 up on another table, it was nearly time to go to work, but i decided to buy in again and hoped to make some back b4 i had to leave

well i didn't have to wait long b4 i won my cash back off Mr SuckOut

check out this great hand

i knew from my previous hands that this guy wood call down huge bets with nothing but draws, so when i hit on turn i decided to bet about pot, which he calls, so on river knowing i had the nuts i figured lets bet big again as this guy is likely to call or raise!

which is just what he did!! so got it all in and left bout 2 hands later on $100 ish , basically even on that table, but with the $30ish i was up on other table made a nice little profit for the day and see me pass the $400 mark for the first time!

PK69

morning madness!

2007-08-10T12:34:00.000Z

well i been going crazy these last few mornings

check out this bluff

bit crazy by me, but with the checks on turn and river i thought it seemed weak and given the flop if they had something they would reraise so i jammed on the river to take the lot with NOTHING, SUCKERS!!!!!!

however, things didn't quite go as well in this hand, the table was fairly passive so i was raising a fair bit

with connectors i decide to raise and get a few callers, with the flop flushing, i decide to check raise it hoping this would take it down, i do have a draw to a flush possible str8 and an unlikely str8flush

well starts ok with my check, and this guy takes a stab betting something like 2/3's of pot so then i come back with my reraise!!

only for him to jam back over the top of me!!! what could i do here?? i made my play and it didn't work, now he could be doing same as me or he could have flush or over pair??

decided wasn't worth the risk and folded, any thoughts??

but i finished the morning in style with the cowboys!!

had hoped for some pre flop action with me in sb with KK, so i raised it up a bit and got a few callers, i bet small on flop to see if someone wood re-pop, when flush hit turn i overbet to make it look like a bluff/steal, hoping someone didn't have the flush or read it as a bluff, thankfully one guy did, but as he didn't reraise i figured he was weak so jammed on river and thankfully he called!!!

think i has 3 winning days in row now, and roll going right way towards $400!!!
good job as before this run was down to bout $230 at one point!!

now if i can just keep the losses down and the wins up i could get somewhere!!

PK69

lunch time quickie!!

2007-08-06T13:04:00.000Z

check out the mighty ducks!!

had a quick 20 mins at work, was just bout to leave and thought wood limp with the ducks, when it was min raised and then reraised i nearly folded, but then i though it was worth a call cos if i hit a 2 i wood likely get paid!!

best flop i could hope for!!

yes!!!

PK69

good morning

2007-08-06T12:07:00.000Z

well i hope everyone made the most of the british summer, cos this weekend was probably the start and end of it!!

glorious day as it was i still managed to squeeze some poker in with the gf's approval

played to $6 tournies and was doing ok in each til just before bubble i was over aggressive against chip leader both times!!

both times i had AK and raised pre flop so when the chip leader the bets on raggy flop or reraises my c bet i figure he just bullying so i pump it !!

well both times little did i know that chip leader had pocket 77 and made his set on flop!!

oh well

had a good session this morning, and the following hand was so nearly amazing, when the flop comes i like it, but when the action starts heating up i am so close beating one out!!!! all i see is the monster pot building for me, and then when i see half of it go the other way i am gobsmacked!!!!

PK69

Swings.... and i dont mean at the park

2007-08-01T12:36:00.000Z

well its been an eventful few weeks since my last post

my routine at moment seems to be play in mornings, and lose
play during lunch at work and win it back

just cant get a few winning sessions together

i ended up $30 down this morning but if i had left after 10 mins wood have been up by $15

if only i knew!!

PK69

SWEET!!!

2007-07-19T10:50:00.000Z

well its been a while my friends, but i am back and i have good news!!

the gf went out on a works do the other evening, so u know whats that means.......

POKER TIME!!

oh yes!! i hit the tables and i hit them hard!

started on a $50 table and drifted up & down before being up i then lost bout $20 so i decided to leave

I then went on a $10 table and again made a few dollars then lost a few and then i lost it all when i push with top pair and flush draw only to be rivered!!

i nearly decided to call it a night there but i thought 1 more... so i went back to a $50 table as i am liking these

started slowly but then after bout 45 mins i went on a card rush i got QQ followed by KK and AK, AKs, JJ etc suddenly i was up to $70 then $100 then $130!!!

nearly doubled my buy in!! it was getting late then so as i was up decided to call it a day!!

take that u slags!!!

now i also played yesterday morning and if i had left when i was up $20 i wood be laughing, however i stayed and ended up $30 down after villain slow played AA and i couldn't put down top pair with str8 draw

damn!!

but then today... thank u party poker!!

i get on a $50 table and then a message pops up saying the server will be restarted after the next hand please wait in lobby to rejoin table

1 hand goes by, then it starts another, i get AKspades!! so i raise it up on to be reraised and called so i just pushed it all in!!!

they both called, one guy was short and the other was under $50,
flop comes 10,J,J one spade

so i got str8 draw

Turn 3 spades

come on baby Q or spade

RIVER................. x SPADE!!!!!!

the nut flush

thats right SHIP the $97 pot to DADDY!!

3 hands and i nearly double up, well i was not going to fuck it up today so i left there and then!!

Thank you party poker!!!

2 beautiful sessions and one that i should have left earlier see's me with a much improved roll!!!

now i just gotta get some consistency, if i can get a few more days like this then the roll will beheading right way towards $500 and then i just need to keep it up

now b4 anyone jumps in and says bankroll management!! i know my roll is not enough for the $50 tables but i just cant play on those smaller tables, at these tables i can actually start to read people and the hands they could have, so for now i gonna try stick to them

PK69

2007-07-10T12:25:00.001Z

A new begining

I was offered a reload bonus on party poker and decided to use it to the full depositing $100

so now i plan to make a fresh assault on the tables and build my roll up to dizzy heights!!

wish me luck

P69

24hrs makes a big difference!!

2007-07-03T08:23:00.000Z

Jesus!!!!!!!!!

yesterday morning i was up today i am down!!!

after yesterdays awesome mornings the roll was beginning to look healthy, in the space of 24 hours it now looks puny again!!

yesterday lunch time i went on party at work, i was up about $10 but after chasing a missed draw and trying to push someone off a hand when i hand junk i ended up down $10

still not to worry i had made $100 that morning so was still flying high!!

so work finishes 5:30 and what do i do???? yup i go back on party to try for a hit n run again, despite the disaster the previous day!

no surprise that with only really 10mins to play i was loose and aggressive and no surprise that i ended up down $35!!

ok so i made $100 in morning but managed to lose almost $50 with my crazy lunch and evening sessions

cue this mornings unbelievable session!!

for some unknown reason i start up 4 tables with $25 on each!!

well i started off tight, and played ok

as it was nearly time to log off i was up about $25 in total, i was up to $30 on 1, $33 and $43 and i was down to $18 on the other.

not a bad session i think......... if only i had gone then it wood have been

on the table with $30 i get KK in early and i say to myself don't donkey it up, but i decide to slow play just limping in, with a raise and call behind me i decide to just call and aslong as no ace on flop i will be pushing the cards hard!!

flop comes J high so i check so the raiser can fire at it which he does, i reraise him big, i thinkhe on maybe AJ????

anyway he pushes all in and i call only to have him show me JJ for the set, no king and i down to bout $4!!!!!!!

damn it!! ok so bout breakeven for the morning so i leave that table rather than rebuy

now i didnt feel on tilt but from that point on my play got worse and worse!!

my cards started to dry up, i was pushing my draws too hard and trying to push people off hands which i didnt and ended up being down on all tables!!!!!!!

why didnt i just leave when i was going to??? was just tempted by one last big hand!! and from then was just chasing to recover and never did!!

so from being a high yesterday morning and having a roll of bout $200 i am now low with roll of bout $110!!

i started on $145 this morning if i had left when up wood have been back to $170!!

4 tables is it too much?? i dont know, i was ok for most of my session, but with my roll i think it just too much risk of bad beats and loose play

think 2 tables i should stick to for now til i can get my roll up to say $400, which with the way i am playing will be some time!!

PK69

Who's ur daddy!!!

2007-07-02T12:05:00.000Z

Hey all, hope u all had good weekends

i had an interesting few days poker, none this weekend though as was busy trying to do some shopping
bought some games for my playstation 2 only to go home and try them and find that 2 of them didnt work, so went back and changed them, this time one of them works but the other still doesn't!! by then couldnt be arsed so will go next weekend to try 3rd time lucky!!

so on to poker

on friday morning i had a nice little session where i stacked some guy, ended up about $40 profit!!

not bad, if i can keep that up my roll will soon be very healthy

anyway then i just couldnt say no to a quick session at end of work
work finished at 5:30 and i thought i wood do a quick 10 mins hope for a hit n run with some ok cards

well, i ended up pushing my draws too hard and ended losing about $40, so was back to where i started that morning!!!

Damn it!!

so today i was determined to make some profit and not spunk it away!!

and i did just that!!!!!

most tables were busy so i joined a few waiting lists, anyway i eventually got on this table with xxxDaddyCoolxxx who was sitting on nearly $100 at this $25 table

now i wasnt looking to go for him but thats just the way it panned out
check out this hand, in the SB and no raisers so i decide to see a flop with my somewhat questionable hand, & the flop is just great for me!!

cant believe my luck on that one!!

not too long later i then get this great hand!!!

limped in with middle and hit my set with top cards on flop!!, the turn was scary as it brought 2 flush draws so i decided to push to try and stop anyone drawing out on me, well the flush came on river but thankfully daddycool didnt have it

so with 2 hands i had taken most of his stack and was now up by bout $75!!!!

get in!! now i didnt want to donk this off so i played a few more hands tightly and then decided to leave

at the same time i had this other table open and managed to stack this other guy!!

i raise it up early with suited connectors, i lead out on flop with flush draw, when he reraises i decide to call hoping that if i hit flush i can get him, which i do!!!

what was he doing with A10??? who cares, a great morning for me see's me almost double my roll!!!!

lets see if i can keep this up!!!

PK69

Back with a whimper!!

2007-06-28T12:38:00.000Z

Well as u know i have been forced away from the tables as mother in law staying with us recently, and in response to comments:
- no i am not scared of mother in law
- i am scared of GF and if i tried to play poker while her mum here, my life would be hell!!!!

so i made a comeback yesterday morning which i would rather forget, played 2 sng's a $6 10man which i got 3rd, and a $3 6man which i got 2nd, so crept into money on both!!

then i played cash and managed to drop $20 chasing draws twice!!

so today i thought wood start with sng's again as trying to preserve my little roll

was going well until this hand

i was shortly after!!

So i played another, got down to the bubble and was going well just needed someone to get the short stack out,
check out how it didnt quite go to plan

that really made things tight between the 4 of us!!

anyway it all went south a few hands later
with the suited ace i decide to raise

flop couldnt really get any worse could it!!

so bubble boy there, i bravely decided to try cash
i went on a $25 table and left a while later with bout $27-28 for a few dollars profit
then i decided to try my luck at the $50 table

was going ok, and then i made this brave/foolish play???

i thought he had 2 high cards so decided i would call his raise, i planned to check raise on river, but i didnt have to!!

anyway big shout out to all at RAISETHERIVER!!!!

PK69

GREAT NEW SITE

2007-06-26T12:11:00.000Z

hope everyone is good, i haven't been able to play for the last few days as the mother in law was staying with us, in the 2nd bedroom which is where the pc is

BUT, she left today so from 2moro morning back to my usual early morning sessions!!!

I would like to highlight a great new site, see the spanky link top left for......
RAISE THE RIVER!!!

hope to see u on there soon

PK69

on a rush!!

2007-06-21T13:00:00.000Z

well i just went on party during my lunch break at work using their no download stuff

found a 6 tables and put on $25

won a few small pots and then the cards just kept coming, i had 77, 88,55,55,JJ,AQ,A10
i raised with my AJ and got reraised so i called to see a low flop with an ace, i bet the pot and this guy reraised again, i pushed all in and he called!!!
he had A10 so that was $25 off him!!

he loads up another $25 and bout 2 hands later i get 88
i raise only to get reraised by him and called by 1 other
now i figure i behind but if i hit an 8 i think will get paid so i call
flop comes a great J,8,x i bet half pot the guy i stacked reraises the other guy calls i now come over the top putting them all in, 1st guy calls other folds
well a scary 9 or 7 on turn had me praying he didnt hit str8
but its all good and another $25 from same guy comes my way!!

no real action after that apart from when my JJ was busted by 44, we both made sets on flop only running clubs with his 4 gave him a flush!!

thankfully he was small stack and only cost me bout $5

made it back and left on bout $76

i mite just recover this yet!!

PK69

running cold

2007-06-20T12:26:00.000Z

hey everyone hope the world is treating u well, better than me anyway!!

been busy with work this last week so not much time to post my blog or catch up on everyones, hope to put that right soon.

poker wise after a great start on partypoker its going the other way now, big time!!

i cant hit any of my draws and am constantly being rivered!!

i have a pair and nut flush draw but he hits some crappy 2 pair!
i have nut flush and open ended str8 draw but still his 1 pair holds up
i have over pair with str8 draw but guy with nothing but runne runner flush hits it on turn and river

Aces and kings are being crack at will

when i have a good/strong hand i bet it hard and some guy lucks out,
so next time trying to preserve some cash i play it bit slower,
looks good on flop so i bet strong but not too much anyway of course the guy calls and hits some filth on river

one min i play too slow the next too fast and each time i just get busted!!

having one of those real crisis of confidence moments

u know where u just dont know what ur doing and it all just goes tits up!!

tried to build my small roll on stars and fulltilt, but same stories on those, playing tight and selectively when i do get some cards like AK or KK just not getting paid or getting lucked out on!!

PK69

$300K update

2007-06-11T12:19:00.000Z

Well i am sure your all desperate to hear bout how i cracked the $300k!!

well it didn't quite go to plan, infact i did well to last past the first 10mins!!

I eventually left the game in 829th of 1373 after bout 1hr 30mins, so here's what happened

Sunday went by as usual, though as time went by i was getting more and more excited, the big tourny was coming up and i was ready, ready to make my big score or at least $215!!

The gf was very understanding, she had dinner all prepared so if need be she could dish up and give me a tray to eat while playing, all the house chours had been done early so if needed i could spend the 4-8 hrs at the pc!!

The tourny started at 5:45 so at 5:30 i turned on the pc and logged on to party, with 8 mins to start they started opening tables i clicked take my seat....... nothing 5 mins to start frantically i start looking to check my name is on list, yes there i am!
clicking take seat again...... still nothing tourny starts in under 1 min!!!!

no this cant be happening, the biggest day of my poker life so far and its going tits up b4 i even played a hand!!

i start looking through the list of 187 tables hoping by luck i might see the table i am sat at, the tourny is under way now and i have no idea where i am!!

finally my table opens up there i am with 4940chips, the blinds must have started with me and i have already lost the bb & sb!! still plenty of time i tell myself

i fold a few hands before i get AQ i raise only to see a reraise and a big re-reraise, not my hand i tell my self and fold

few hands later i get KJsuited i have position so i raise a few callers and we see a raggy flop with one or 2 of my suit, checked to me so i bet half the pot
get one or 2 callers
turn brings a 2nd suited card not my suit 1 fold, guy b4 me checks so i fire again and he calls
river brings the King but the 3rd suit not mine!!
guy bets bout 75% pot
not sure why but i just didnt think he had anything plus i just hit my king
so i call and win, he has AQ

YES!!! up to 5900

that was a high as i went

due to the following donkey play that i just couldnt fold

in early position i limp with89 suited
3 other limpers
flop comes J,10,9, none of my suit

so bottom pair but with open ended str8 draw, in hindsight now not a great hand!!

anyway at the time i was thinking that no one raise so pair mite be good but prob not, however if i can hit my str8 i thought i could win it

so i lead out at pot with a bet of 80 into 160

1 guy folds, 1 guy calls, last guy raises to 200

ok so maybe he doesn't believe me, maybe he got a J or 10..... but if hit str8 i tell myself so i call, other guy folds so its just us 2

Turn is a beautiful 7 giving me a str8!!
now i had thount the guy could have QJ or KQ but surely he would have raised pre flop???

so i check, guy bets bout 1200, this pot is getting big!!
i min reraise to 2400!!
guy calls

river is rag but a 3rd heart
guy pushes all in, i have him cover by just under 1k

i think.... could he have flush..... don't think so why push all in?? 2 pair or trips could be
KQ for nut str8????? could be???
as the clock ticks down i decide what if he doesnt have KQ i take a huge pot!!...... so i called!!

OF COURSE he had KQ!!!!

i am down to 900 and its only 10 mins in!!

looking back i could or should have folded on turn, he raised my flop bet indicating some strength, he then raises big on turn again showing strength, so at that point my bottom end str8 looking bit weak!!

and even if i called there, when he pushes all in on river, if i fold i still have 2500 ish to play with!!

anyway so my schoolboy error basically ended my tourny in 10mins!!

i may never get a chance like this and i blew it!! froze in headlights!!

i played 4 hours of flawless poker to win this seat, 4 hours i not likely to have spare or allowed to have spare any time soon and in 10 mins i throw it away

annoyed with myself is an understatement!!!

so i thought lets see if i can get a lucky double up...
but i was getting crap cards, 49,Q2,K3 nothing i wanna push with

then with bout 600 left i get AA utg!! i limp another caller and then a reraise folded back to me i push and am called by the raiser

my aces are good and i up to 1200,.... maybe.......

i win a small pot and up to 1400.... i can do it i tell myself as i make it to the 1st break

soon after break we down to under 1000 runners now

i finally win a reasonable pot and get up to 2200.... maybe i can do it!!

but the cards just arent coming for me and soon i back to 1600 then 1200 and then 990

i looking for anything half reasonable to push with

i get A5 and decide this is it i push
one caller who has KQ, my bogey hand again it wood seem!!

flop 9,5,10!!

i have a pair i begin to hope again!!

Turn: J

no!! he has a str8 and i am drawing dead

river 10 so i finish with 2 pair and out in 829th!!

oh well not to be, i wonder what i could have done if i didnt i didnt give away all my chips in first 10 mins!!!

so that was the $300k for me

i guess i have to live to fight another day, was a good experience, interesting playing against the level of play

one time i raise 3xbb get a caller, flop 994, i check and he bets pot...... too big a bet to call so i fold my AQ

too often i found myself limping in pots and not hitting flop only to fold to pot size bets, course having so few chips didn't give me much room to play with

PK69

$300K guaranteed!!

2007-06-08T09:03:00.000Z

well i had an email back from party explaining that i can not have a refund

so this sunday i am playing in the $300k!!

i never played a big tourny like this before so any tips would be appreciated!

any ideas how deep u need to go to reach money?
does the min payout cover entry fee?? if so so just making money and $215 would be good enough for me!

PK69

missed me??

2007-06-07T13:06:00.000Z

well its been over 2 weeks since my last post, and seeing how i have been inundated with comments regarding my whereabouts... NOT!! it seems i am due an update

well i took my 2 exams, fingers crossed, one went ok the other was so so, but poker news

i set up a party poker account and its going great!!!!

i played a $3 rebuy and won a seat to the $300k on sunday yesterday, only thing is i would rather have the $215 in my account than prob play and get nothing!! after looking at the web site this doesn't seem possible, any suggestions??

i have emailed and asked if there is anything i can do, will let you know when i here something

PK69

Busy

2007-05-21T12:23:00.000Z

hello everyone hope you all had good wkends, well i been busy with not much time for poker
i got exams coming up first week of june so i been doing some revision and i went on a course last week on thur-sat so not much poker time.

if ur interested the course went quite well so hopeful for that exam, i got another course this thurs-sat which i not looking forward to, it not my best subject so should be hard!! fingers crossed!

the week after that i gonna have some study leave and then 1st wk of june i got my exams on 5th & 6th

so all work and no play makes me a dull boy, o when i off on study leave 30/5/07 - 4/06/07 i gonna try get one game of poker in each day sometime between my revising, so if anyone know's they going to be around on those dates let me know, maybe you could watch my game and offer some advice.. i now got a hotmail with messenger set up it think its pokeking69@hotmail.co.uk so either email me or add me to ur messenger

i did get a game in this morning b4 work, a $1 turbo on full tilt which i won!! solid play throughout and recovered after a big loss to take the heads up, so very pleased and $4.50 better off!!

stars though was just typical, i one a small pot early on and then this hand virtually killed me off
me in SB with bout 1800, i get AK
mid/late guy with less chips raises to 80 or 100
now my 1st thought was reraise but then i thought no, i am out of position, this guy could have a monster and there 2 others to call after me .... so i just called the raise as did the other 2 players
ok so flop
K36 or something like that, there was a K and the other 2 cards were both spades
great yes? top pair top kicker, so as i 1st i check with the intention of reraising anyone
next guy checks, as does the next, so back to original raiser now i was pretty sure he had to bet
and sure enough he bet 100..... great so how much to reraise? well think on flop pot was 4x80 + BB so bout 340-360 ish then the bet of 100 makes it 440-460 ish
so what now?? i reraise to 440 the next 2 fold and back to raiser
he reraises to 900 ish...... ok what u think he got??
surely if he has KK he just calls? so AA, prob same, so he got a king and surely not a 6 or 3 so a worse kicker than mine, maybe some of the flush draw?? well i gota be ahead so i reraise him all in which he didnt have much left behind anyway!!

so he calls
i have AK . pair kings ace kicker
he has K10, pair kings worse kicker and no flush draw!!

so looking good right?
any guesses what turn and river were??
turn 10
river K
he has full house , me trips!!
i had bout 500 left after that and never really got any cards, well when i had bout 450 left and blinds were bout to go up to 50/100 i pushed with Q10 hearts when flop was K109
the same guy calls, he has K7 so i need a Q or 10 or J to win
turn... 7
river crap
i was behind there but just painful that same guy did me!!

but its not all doom and gloom, i did get lucky on the full tilt game
i saw a cheap flop with 78 spades
flop comes 10,9x
one guy bets i reraise all in
he calls with 10,9 for 2 pair
turn Q
river J for my str8 and from there i went on to win!!

thanks to everyone for responses to my rake back, will check it out
in answer to some questions
no i dont get rakeback for stars, as far as i am aware they dont do it

so if party dont do rake back, any ideas on good bonus for sign up and download? bear in mind the low level i play at

oh yes i know i was tagged by kenn, i will get round to that soon.

PK69

wkend update

2007-05-14T12:49:00.000Z

well i managed to get some more official poker time past the gf on sat,

so with things getting desperate on stars i needed a good one!!

well i started with a $1 45 man tourny, was planning to wait my time which went ok but eventually i went out in 31st!!

so what to do?? decided it was time for shit or bust!!

i played a $5 single table, and was awesome got heads up but couldn't seal the deal, but 2nd and $13.50 was just what i needed!!

i also played a $1.50 18 man tourny and came 3rd when it seemed i was destined for another heads up battle, here is the last hand
2nd in chips and i flop a gutshot str8 flush draw figured if i pushed had as much chance of hiting str8 or flush or str8 flush as not and given my chips he could fold, seems i was wrong!!

any thoughts??

also i been looking at some other sites as i dont think stars got many good daily tournys like 5k/10k guaranteed

any thoughts on these sites- partypoker,pacific/888, william hill & ladbrokes??

know where i can get a good rakeback on these sites??

PK69

quick test

2007-05-11T16:32:00.000Z

ok this just a quick test to see if i got this hand history thing sorted now

this was one of those dream flops

now i wood have folded but i figured once there was another caller i must have been getting the odds to to call and see a flop
i figure i either hit it or i dont, and did i hit it this time!!

Quick thanks to Yorkshire Pud and 20k mission for there responses that helped me with this

more updates after wkend

PK69

Stats

2007-05-10T12:38:00.000Z

well not a good day today, i played a $6.50 2 table turbo, a $6.50 45 man turbo and a $3.5 2 table turbo, and did nothing in any of them!!
so having just flushed $17 down the pan, what did i do???? my roll now down to say $45 ish...

thats right like a prize donkey i decide to have a big gamble to see if i can get some back!!
i put $25 on a cash table, and after chasing my str8 draw was soon down to $16!!

then the hand that cleaned me out

i limp as do about 4 others
i have 8J
flop is 8,9,10 no flush draws
i check
first guy bets $1
next guy raises to $2.50
i decide that my pair and open str8 draw is good for a push so i reraise all in for my last $12 ish

1st guy folds the reraiser thinks...... before calling with AA!!!
so any 7,8,J or Q, 13 outs
turn and river no help and i just did $25!!!

roll now down to $18 ish!!!

what was i thinking!!!!!!!!!

i have joined pokerhandorg and lets see if i can post a hand to test
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1080964
think gonna need some help with this pokerhand thing?? i can see that this one works, but how do u get some text to come up that u click to go to the pokerhandorg?? like on 20K's blog??

ok now i said stats at beginning, seeing as not a good day thought check out my stats on stars :

Hold'em (Real Money):688 hands played and saw flop:
- 55 times out of 109 while in small blind (50%)
- 70 times out of 107 while in big blind (65%)
- 140 times out of 472 in other positions (29%)
- a total of 265 times out of 688 (38%)
Pots won at showdown - 28 out of 76 (36%)
Pots won without showdown - 121

so overall seeing 38% of flops maybe a little high, think see to many from the blinds as it cheap or maybe call a small raise to try get lucky
29% from other positions not too bad
only 36% won at showdown, this looks like my downfall, seeing too many hands to showdown where it seems i am beat and should have folded earlier!! ??
so overall i won 149 hands out of 265 flops seen, thats 56%... not too bad??
so if i had folded more of those losing hands instead of going to showdown maybe thats where i can improve my game and not lose so much money??

any other thoughts people??

i can also get my stats for last 5 tournys:

PokerStars Tournament #49918732, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $3.00/$0.25
45 players
Tournament started - 2007/05/10 - 02:51:02 (ET)
You finished in 42nd place (eliminated at hand #9837473828).
9 hands played and saw flop:
- 1 times out of 1 while in small blind (100%)
- 0 times out of 1 while in big blind (0%)
- 2 times out of 7 in other positions (28%)
- a total of 3 times out of 9 (33%)
Pots won at showdown - 0 out of 2 (0%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

PokerStars Tournament #49918270, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $6.00/$0.50
45 players
Tournament started - 2007/05/10 - 02:47:42 (ET)
You finished in 31st place (eliminated at hand #9837509860).
19 hands played and saw flop:
- 1 times out of 2 while in small blind (50%)
- 2 times out of 2 while in big blind (100%)
- 4 times out of 15 in other positions (26%)
- a total of 7 times out of 19 (36%)
Pots won at showdown - 0 out of 1 (0%)
Pots won without showdown - 2

PokerStars Tournament #49918585, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $6.00/$0.50
18 players
Tournament started - 2007/05/10 - 02:46:41 (ET)
You finished in 10th place (eliminated at hand #9837503998).
21 hands played and saw flop:
- 3 times out of 4 while in small blind (75%)
- 0 times out of 4 while in big blind (0%)
- 3 times out of 13 in other positions (23%)
- a total of 6 times out of 21 (28%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 out of 3 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 0

PokerStars Tournament #49839480, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $6.00/$0.50
18 playersTotal
Prize Pool: $108.00
Tournament started - 2007/05/09 - 02:56:03 (ET)
You finished in 5th place (eliminated at hand #9821906149).
58 hands played and saw flop:
- 3 times out of 9 while in small blind (33%)
- 4 times out of 9 while in big blind (44%)
- 11 times out of 40 in other positions (27%)
- a total of 18 times out of 58 (31%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 out of 8 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 11

PokerStars Tournament #49839066, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $1.50/$0.2518 players
Total Prize Pool: $27.00
Tournament started - 2007/05/09 - 02:42:30 (ET)
You finished in 7th place (eliminated at hand #9821749906).
43 hands played and saw flop:
- 1 times out of 7 while in small blind (14%)
- 2 times out of 7 while in big blind (28%)
- 6 times out of 29 in other positions (20%)
- a total of 9 times out of 43 (20%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 out of 4 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

not good reading!!! i tend to see about 30% of flops which not too bad many a little high
hands won over last 5 is terrible apart from the tourny b4 last where i finished 5th!! BUBBLE BOY again!! i saw 18 hands and won 15 of them!! 83%!! but of the 3 i lost 1 was the one that put me out, so nearly a good day!!

comments welcome!!
PK69

Trip 5's

2007-05-09T12:16:00.000Z

If you read my SHATTERED DREAMS post u will no i send i would post some more of my fuck ups, well as it happens the main 2 were both when i hit trip 5's on the flop... here goes

first of all this mite have been on a 6 max table before i went on the 10 table and lost $10 with my aces
the table was fairly passive and i had been doing ok and was up from $5 to bout $8 when i get 57 off, everyone see's a cheap flop of 558,
so i got trip 5's there a bet before me so i decide to raise it up to bout $1, guy after me reraises to $2
so what now??? well i felt invincible for some reason and i was thinking that i must be the only person with a 5 so i push all in for $8 against this guy who had bout $4 before the hand everyone folded apart from this guy
he called and showed 5,10!! oops!! no 7 or high cards to split so back down to $3 as he take that pot

thats what i get for being too aggressive i told myself

so bit later on 10 seater after i lost with the aces i call a min raise with A5clubs hoping for clubs or low cards
think 2 other saw flop of 559
so after last time i wasn't going to play this hand so aggressively so i bet under half pot, get 2 callers
turn 10
no flushes and my trips still look like best hand so bet bout 2/3 rds pot this time get called by 1
river J..... didn't like this card made a str8 draw.....
so i bet half pot the other guy min raises it back... so at this point my thinking was he could have a 5 but i have Ace kicker this time, he could have had 2 over cards and been drawing and hit one for 2 pair?? he hadn't shown much aggression til the river so could it be a bluff??
figured by now i had to call just in case i did have it

he shows KQoff and had drawn the str8 on river!!

so twice trips 5's did me, thankfully i didn't lose it all on that hand!

once i slow played and once i pushed, both times bad result

any thoughts??

i know i have read and also thought myself never slow play trips as basically u prob got ur best hand right there and slow play only lets other draw to a hand that could beat u, now while this is true .. we all trying to make money here, and if u always push ur good hands then people will not call and u wont make the money so what ur looking to do is play the best hand in the most deceptive way possible.....easier said than done!!

more poker theory shortly, pls leave a comment on this or any previous or future post or email me pokeking69@yahoo.co.uk with any comments on anything

PK69

Saturday!!

2007-05-08T12:34:00.000Z

well hope everyone had a good bank holiday weekend, i had a great wkend!! saturday did some shopping bought some clothes with GF, then got a new toy!! our video been playing up last few months and after failing to record the poker on channel 5 on wednesday for last 2 weeks decided it had to go!! saw a freeview digital recorder on sale in argos. got that home and set it up, its just like sky plus without the sky!! anyway it will do for me!!
Sunday spent another day in the garden with GF and my mum, man its hard work but its slowly getting there
Monday just did a few bits round house and relaxed!!!

So good wkend all in all, oh yes MAN UTD are CHAMPIONS!!!!!

so no doubt ur all gagging to hear bout my first official poker session, with the GF's consent

well on saturday after shopping and setting up new toy it was bout 4 or 5pm, i lgged onto stars, after checking my blog, alas no tips for where to play, anyway as GF was hanging up the washing i saw that there were quite a few games that looked interesting
couple of $10 double & triple shoot outs to sunday million and warm up etc, interesting but wood lead to play on sunday could be an issue...
then i saw the 2 tournys i had to play..
a $10k guaranteed and a deep stack tounry for $22 & $11, i knew it was a 3rd of my roll but i had to try, if u dont shoot u dont score right??

well, surprise!! i didnt make any money in either of them, however i was very happy with my play and but for 2 unlucky hands and 1 bad decision i could have done so much better!!

so what happened??

well in the 10k u start with 3k chips, got off to a slow start in this, taking it easy. i slowly got up to bout 4k was prob under average, there were 700 in it. got up to 5k and was nearly average.

then with Q10diamonds i flop open end str8 flush draw!! chased it to river and didn't hit str8 , flush or anything that saw me drop to bout 2.5k

i then lost another hand or 2 and down to bout 1.7k

so i knew i had to make some moves, i stole a few blinds got just over 2k, then with a good pocket pair i pushed all in, i got a call and i held out, next hand i get aces!!
so i raise a small stack goes all in and i call and win and back to 6k!!

still under average and am bout 135th of 300-400 , this is where i went sour!!
with AQ i raise 3xbb, small stack goes all in for bout 3k, i call
he has 22 flop turn and river all miss me and he is good and now i am down to 3k ish

few hands later i get AK so i raise 3xbb again, another small stack goes all in so again i call
he has 10J
flop K97, looking good!!
turn 2, nearly there
river Q and he makes a str8!!!

so now i got bout 1.2 k and blinds are coming round at 200/400
i get K8 so i push
the big stack on 11k calls with A2, no luck and i finsh in the 300's

all in all fairly happy, but for some luck and chasing the str8 flush mite have been a good day, top 100 or so got paid

ok so what bout the deep stack, well i did better in this!! there were bout 500 in it and 65 paid, starting stack of 5k

hit some hands early on to get to 6 and then 7k, was playing patient as the clock was 30 mins blinds so no rush
kept moving along nicely and after 1hr 30 mins or so was on 10k and 90th of 300 ish, bit under average but leader on my table and going well

then this is where it went wrong

a min raise from early few callers i call with 35off, not good i know but i had the chips for a speculative call here and there
flop 249, 2 spades
early bets less half pot, figure i getting odds for my str8 so i call as does 1 other
turn 6!!! of spades,
tricky here as flush is on board but i made my str8.....
early bets bout half pot i feel he not got flush so to be sure i reraise to bout1.8k, folded back to early
he reraises to 3k........ i dont buy it, i dont know why but i didnt so i reraise all in for 10k!!
he thinks and then calls his last 3k
he shows ... KK with a spade
i have my str8
river....... a spade!!! he takes it on river with king high flush and i down to 5k!!

damn it!!

no need to worry though still time and chips, funnily enough i just got busted out the other tourny as this happened

i won some back off some other players

but ultimately the same guy wood take me out a few hands later
i cant remember now
but i remember i raised and got it in either pre or on the flop, was ahead again until he hit on river to take me out again in 300's

so but for some luck could have done ok there too!!

well at least thats what i can remember now on tuesday, i do recall this:
i was pretty happy afterwards and apart from the guy making king high flush and then hitting something on river i would have been ok in deep stack

and in the 10k twice i called short stack all ins and was unlucky, once against 22 which held out and another against 10j which made a str8 on river

so i happy

also if any of u are wondering what the monster hand was from shattered dreams when my aces lost.....
it was 26!!! for a str8!!
$10 all in with 26!! what can u say bout that??

PK69

A Winning Session and where to find some value??

2007-05-04T11:13:00.000Z

This morning was the first in a while, A WINNING SESSION!!

I played a $1.75 2 table turbo on stars and….. I won for a nice $10!!
At same time played a $6.50 2 table turbo and….. crept into 4th for a small cash
Then trying to keep my discipline, I put $5 on a 1c/2c 6 max table
And about 10mins later with a wapping 50c profit I left as time for work

Hey gota start somewhere

NOW…. Where to find some value???

As it’s a bank holiday wkend that means I have pencilled in some VPT (valuable poker time) with the GF’s acceptance. Now I have about $80-$90 in my stars account and Saturday will be my day, now I not going to all day maybe 2-4 hours tops, it wont be in the evening probably around mid day to early evening i.e say 12/1 til 5/6 ish

So what I need from you are suggestions of what games I should play during this time?
Cash or tourney? Which tournys? Now I happy to have a punt at anything up to say $20 buy in or say $10 if re buys, so what I would hope for is one tourney where I can hopefully make a nice cash finish and get the roll jump up to a better level

So who’s knows the best place for me?? It has to be on stars, and you have til 6pm today to let me know

PK69

Shattered Dreams!! : -(

2007-05-03T16:38:00.000Z

well what more can i say, not only was the footy last night a complete disaster right from the first whistle but also i had a crack at some cash tables this morning and dispite some good early work i managed to drop bout $25, some bad play but also the suck outs were just amazing...

this just typifies it

bout mid position i get ACES!!! nearly wet myself!! now as we all do, i thinking how can i make the most out of this dead cert winner, right??

well the table had been pretty active recently so, bit dangerous but i just called think i was 99% sure there would be a raise

so i limp... fold fold, then late guy raises to 40c, yes!! now SB calls so now i think i will press home
so i reraise to $1... the late guy reraises to $1.75!! the SB calls, there a bit more action than i would like here so i figure i gota really push it....

i reraise all in for $10!!!!! there bout $3in pot which i happy to take
anyway long dwell but late guy calls as does SB

flop K3K, right now i thinking shit someone gonna have a K
turn 4
river 5

so what u think happens when we all turn cards over???

i proudly show my AA only to lose!
SB also shows AA only to lose!!
so late guy, any guess what monster he called $10 all in with and won??

i'll see if any of u get it and will tell u in my next post, along with some of my other great fuck ups!!

PK69

same old same old

2007-05-02T12:24:00.000Z

well another morning and more stupidity!!
today feeling rather brave/stupid i start up for games!! 2 on FT one $1 turbo and a $2 turbo, on stars one $1.75 2 table turbo and one $6 2 table turbo

typically in the 2 cheaper tournys i started well, but in the other 2 was just coasting along waiting for some cards

i destroyed the $1.75 on stars and soon was chip leader out of 12 then 10 then 9 etc....
in fact it was only when we down to 6 that some people got stacks close to mine!!

early on it was just beautiful, no matter what i had it seemed to hit!! 2 early double ups and then a few more good pots

anyway when down to 6 things tightened up and i lost a few chips here and there, eventually down to 3 then i take out 3rd and we HU with about even stacks, i get the first advantage when i take bout 4k off other guy

i on 20k he on 8k!!

then he starts pushing all in a few times, i dont wanna risk it just yet so i fold, then he pushes again and i have A2, i figure my ace is ahead so i call
he has 6J hearts
flop xxx
turn x, looking good, no flush, just one more bullet to dodge
river...... 6!!
damn it!!

suddenly i lagging chips!!

i get a few more back, but he starts pushing again
so when i get 67 diamonds i push
he has A2, maybe its a sign and it wont hold up again??

flop xx2
turn A
river 2!!!

typical!!
oh well 2nd is ok

in the 2 FT games i take a 3rd and 6th, and in the other stars game 6th also

so all in all, not a great start

so then as usual i figure lets see if i can make some back in cash games
so more unusually for me i decided to keep it small
i put $5 on then 1c/2c table
its pretty passive and i take a few early pots, not bad
then when i have AQ and flop an ace a small stack goes all in for 53c i call and he has nothing!! no pair barely even draw!!
so i then up to $6.13 wow!!
a few more pots and i nearly at $7

then the hand that had to happen
i get 10J diamonds and raise 2xbb a few callers as seems to be the norm at this level
flop comes xJJ !!!there is a bet and raise before it comes to me, i reraise about $2, fold fold, then this guy goes all in... for like 50c more so of course i call
whats he got???? 710 hearts, so a weak draw to a str8... but whats that i see 2 hearts on the board!!

turn x and no heart
river.... do i even need to tell u... HEART!!!!!!!!! jesus christ, why is it everyone hits there flush draw against me!!! yet i never seem to get mine.. oh well such is life, u get kicked when ur down!!

anyway with time pressing on and being down to $4 i decide to leave before i do something stupid!!

anyway, i have left message with a few of my fellow bloggers but no harm is asking everyone

i play most mornings before work 7:30-8:45ish am uk time
if anyone wants to watch or would be kind enough to watch/advise me a bit then would be most appreciated, just leave a comment or email me pokeking69@yahoo.co.uk and we will see what we can sort out.... my game hopefully!!

anyway i promise more theory soon, also have to say well done to liverpool last night in footy, sorry to chelsea fans out there, i all for supporting the british clubs in europe but with mr big heads attitude i was glad that chelsea lost and cant go for a quad!!

PK69

the last week

2007-05-01T12:28:00.000Z

well i hope everyone is good and well and the cards are working for you!!

well i have some up and then downs since my last post
the day after my last post i played a $2 turbo on FT and WON for a nice $9, the account up to $20 now, however since then i played 3 and out early in one, bubble in another and 3rd this morning so prob more like $15 right now

On stars i been playing the $6 2 table turbos, i got 2nd for $30 or 40 i also bubbled once and another lower finish

so it mixed bag,

this morning though i crumbled and played a cash table!! i got stop myself cos i only seem to lose, there is a different style required for cash tables and i just haven't got it yet!! any tips on cash game greatly appreciated!!

so i put $25 on a table, too much of my bank roll i know, but i just cant seem to manage the lower limits, i know i still losing on this limit but i feel apart from the one bad call i always make where i lose, overall at the 10c/25c table i got more of a feel for things

so starts ok small pot here, then i make Ace high str8 and get a few more dollars off a guy, and i up to $31.55 so nearly $7 up, then in BB i have Q6diamonds and late guy min raises as a few see call i figure i getting odds for a speculative call
flop comes QA6 rainbow!!
ok so 2 pair, and given the size of raise pre flop i guessing no one got AQ, A6 maybe? but i figure my 2 pair best or even right now so i check
there a bet and then the original raiser (late guy) raises to 75c, not that strong given pot size, so i reraise to $2.50 everyone else folds he thinks and calls,
turn = 2, not scary right? so now the pot getting big, he started with bout $8-10 so he only got bout 3-4 left now, and i want it so i figure this guy has an Ace and will bet it so i check again, bit dodgy but he bets $2 i rerasie him all in and he calls

i have 2 pair Q&6
he has A2 for 2 pair!!
damn!!

so i lose and down to like $19
small pots here and there, and then another time i manage to lose a $5 pot and down to $13, at this point i figure best i leave before i do the lot!!

so stars account now down to bout $90 after being up close to $130, damn!! just a few tournys with no cash and 2 bad days on cash

must avoid the cash til i get control and more roll!!

will do some strategy posts soon

non poker related, get in Man utd, awesome game to come back against AC Milan for a 3-2 lead, though still on knife edge, but even better, the come back against everton for a 4-2 win, esp when Bolton did us huge favour and drew with Chelsea!!

also what a lovely wkend, shame i was on a course all day sat, but spent sunday in garden, unfortunately all day working as currently its a jungle that indiana jones could happily trek though, still some progress and garden looking bit more friendly now!!

PK69

some form

2007-04-25T12:36:00.000Z

good day all
well another good day at the office for me this morning
Full Tilt $2 turbo, starts off with a bang!!
there this manic that raised all in first 2 hands, he gets one caller and takes them out first hand, 2nd hand no one wants any of it.
so 3rd hand he pushes all in again, in late position i see AK and decide to gamble i call all my chips
he has....... Q5!! monster!
sure enough i hit a king on turn and now i doubled up

he folds 4th hand
5th hand he's all in again, still acting after him in mid position now i have A10, i decide its time to stop this maniac and reraise, everyone folds
he has.... 79 another monster
think i took it with Ace high, not sure either way down to 7people and me leader on 4k

things got back to normal after that and soon it was down to 5 then 4, i had been pretty conservative and when i did raise or push i generally got the respect and they all folded

by now there were 2 of us in lead and one hanging on with another kind of in the middle, well middle guy takes out short stack and we in the money, its pretty cagey now and then as i fold the other 2 decide its time, soon onough all the chips in the midle and we down to 2 though i am now bout 2:1 down in chips

it get even then i go ahead in chips, then i bet when i dont think he has hit the board only for him to reraise i call and he has hit it and now i in trouble i push all in a few times and luck out but i still well down, i push again with 45, he calls with A2,
flop 2,4,7 looking good
turn 5!! looking even better no ace or 3 and i am.....
river 3 and he makes a str8!!

oh well, 2nd and some much needed cash in FT!!

at the same time i started pokerstars, and soon found a $6 turbo 2 table sng and also a $3 45 man sng that were nearly starting, so unable to resist i registered for both

playing 3 tables at one was bit tricky but i managed it ok, obviously i couldn't really watch the other players and was just playing the cards and using my instincts but all in all it went pretty well

on the $6 2 table, i waiting for the right time made some moves, soon down to final table and i was 4th in chips!!
when we got down to 7 with 4 paid there were 2 big stacks and i was average, well my time came when i raised with A7 in late position, got a call from one of the bigger stacks, flop came 8j2, he checks now he could be trapping but i figure he mite have nothing so i check thinking a bet on the turn mite take it
turn was 8 pairing the board at this point he either checked or bet small, now on the flop i was worried, but for some reason on the turn i managed to convince myself he didn't have it so i reraised bout 2/3rds my stack...... well he pushed then ans with so little left back i figured i had to call
well yes he had a J and my miracle ace didn't arrive on river so 7th and not in the money

bit disappointed with that as what with playing 3 tables at once i had played pretty solid and was progressing well in all tourny's, also i had felt something was wrong on the flop but then i ignored that feeling on turn and thats what cost me!!

so with that over i was down to 2 tables, you know what happend on FT, so on the $3 45 man turbo made my way quietly along getting few chips here and there, when down to 18 people started pulling away and when down to 12 i got a run of cards that made sure i would get in cash!!
first i got AA and managed to get a middle stack all in!! nice
then i got 99 and took a pot away from someone who was constantly stealing
then with K9 i flopped a gutshot str8 draw and a 10 on turn ment i took out another middle stack when my str8 bit his 2 pair

so down to final table again!!, there were 2 big stacks on 18k and a few others dotted around with a few small stacks on 2-4k

2 small stacks went quickly, then i pushed with 66 and picked up blinds and anti's for a nice 2k addition to my stack, then with AQ i pushed again to get another 2k

soon down to 6 with 7 paid so we all in money!!
i pushed when i had something and picked my spots wellsoon down to 3 and i needed some help as the other 2 had 40k and 18k to my 9k,

the blindsa were 600/1200 so not long to go, before i got hit for another blind i pushed, got called and didn't hit anything so finished in 3rd for $21

all in all very happy!!

then i buggered up again, put $25 on cash table, waiting for a smash and grab but it never came and then when i did bet on my draw it never came and left table with £12, so minor mis hap

gotta use some more control when playing for cash, but tourny's seem going well

PK69

another cash/another bubble

2007-04-24T12:55:00.000Z

well played usual $2 turbo on FT, crawled into 4th pushed and that was that, was pretty tight at end so everyone was pushing all in every other hand or so, just the way it goes!!

on stars i logged in just as a 45 man $6 turbo was nearly full, so i got in there.

played tight ish got to last 20 easy enough, but was slowly dropping down, when down to 12 i got some cards and suddenly just as we made final table of 9 i took out a guy and there 8 left with me 2/3rd in chips!! 7 get paid!!

down to 6 and there are 2 big stacks on bout 17k 3rd on 13k and me on 9k, well at this point there we not many flops

now i cant remember exacly how it went down, did i raise and get re raised or did i call an all in??
anyway the guy on 13k and me on 9k got it all in pre flop some how
he turns over A10off and i am feeling good bout my AJoff!!
flop xxx all low and i getting excited now, no 10 ,3 outs to avoid
turn.... 10!!!
river despite my prayers no J

so i got in all in infront but it didn't hold, out in 6th for $18 was hoping for a top 4 finish really which was bout $30ish and up

all in all happy
did i make right call??
well my thoughts at that stage were that the guy on 13k had pushed a few times and could be pushing with Ax or even just a steal, so i decided my AJ was prob bout even or a light underdog and this would gove me equal big stack and great position to press on for a win.

any thoughts??

PK69

Good Day

2007-04-23T12:56:00.000Z

hope everyone had a good weekend
started usual $2turbo on FT, played tight til mid way through when was getting low on chips cant remember if i pushed pre flop or on the flop, i had a pair got called and someone made trips or 2 pair, pretty uneventful really

though i have now had my first rakeback deposit into my ft account, and after i lost the $2 turbo it said that i had cleared $5 of my bonus!! so an extra $9 for my to toy with!!

on stars played a $6 2 table turbo, pretty solid made 3rd for $21 nice
then i hoped on a 2c/5c table and lost bout $8

then on moment of madness started a 10c/25c tables with $25, was hoping for one good hand to get paid, well i didn't have to waot long!!

there a raise to $1 and in mid position i find 88, i call and flop x,8,k !! now i hoping he has AK or some of it, he bets $2 and i just call, turn no scare card so he bets $5 i raise to $18 he thinks and calls, river not much he bets $3 i reraise my last $3.70 and all in, he calls and mucks!!!

and a very welcome near $50 dollar pot comes my way, i leave table there and then

PK69

Bubble Boy

2007-04-20T12:45:00.000Z

Oh so close today, this morning i decided i was gonna be solid

i started Full Tilt $2 turbo and pokerstars $6 2 table turbo, not much happening on full tilt but on pokerstars i got off to a good start flopping a str8

not much to say played tight on full tilt but just didnt get any cards, on stars i managed to get a few more chips and gradually build a bit but no great progress

on full tilt i then start getting some cards make some good hands, make a few good bluffs and we down to last 4 and pretty even

om stars all was going well til we got down to 12 i was in top 5 and i got A7 orsomething late position so i raised as no one had entered yet, get one caller behind me, flop comes 77Q rainbow!! i bet bout half pot get called, turn not much but 2 of a suit now so i bet bout 700 which was nearly pots size i think? he calls again, river is the 3rd suit and now i got feeling he got the flush, i bet 600 he raises i call and yup he got flush on river, i should have been more aggressive earlier

anyway with that i was pretty low on chips, final table time i am mid position with 56off, as soon as there are 2 callers i figure there enough in pot for me to gamble on it and try tripple up, so i push all in folded back to blinds who both call as do the 2 callers, flop cant remember but when the 2nd guys bets big they all fold apart from one guy who now goes all in himself

the better has QQ, other guy A10 ish, turn and river..... i draw a str8 on river!!!!!

saved and i am back in game, amazingly at this point the table starts talking bout me being a superdonk!!! one hand when i desperate and they all write me off, well if they under estimate me it fine by me

it fairly tight with 8 left, i hit a few flops and get up a bit, then my dream hand
i get AA in late they an aggressive chip leader in BB who been raising a lot, so i limp he raises as i expect and i call
flop nothing to worrying he bets i reraise min and he comes back all in... just like i thought he would, i call and and now chip leader

back to work lunch over, will continue this later

ok so i back

so i was chip leader though not by much, things went round and round lots of stealing not many flops, cant remember much more though we got down to 5 with 4 paid, now i av stack pushes here and there see chips moving from one to other of us then with 1010 i push and get called by bigger stack he has K10hearts
flop: 10!!! xx one heart
turn heart
river heart
and my trips are no good!!

so close

on full tilt i made it to bubble time again and got it in with AK or AJ, called by 9K or 9J all the way to turn i ahead, river... 9!! he hits his bottom card on river and i out on bubble again!!

oh well so near yet so far!!

PK69

Just too much

2007-04-19T12:45:00.000Z

good day all and hope ur all well and the cards are being good to u!
well i tried full tilt today and all is back to normal, however i didn't play my $2 turbo as was going for 3 days on the run on pokerstars $6turbo 2 table tourny

Carried away, i saw the 2 table tourny had 5 seats left so i quickly registered, but at the same time i saw a $6 turbo 5 table tourny which was nearly full and in a rash moment i registered for that too!

well not too much to tell early on, play solid tight not seeing many hands

on the 2 table tourny caught a few cards but never really got going, when we down to 7 and 4 get paid i was getting low in chips, i decided AJ suited was good enough so in early position i pushed, got one caller from late position, they had AQoff..... well an Ace on flop didn't help and with no more luck was out in 7th

was fairly happy with my play considering fairly poor hands i got most of the time

in the 5 table tourny, i got 1010 and raised, one caller a flop of 10A5 was enough for us both to get it in but no help for his A9 and i was in top 5 of 30 remaining, doing ok then i get KK in BB now about 4 other call, so with so many in the hand and no position i decide i gota raise, so 4xBB and only 2 callers now

flop.. no ace pls..... A107, i know at least one of these guys has to have an ace so i check then fold when the action starts, they get it all in and its AK v KJsuited, AK holds up and it was a good fold by me just shame couldn't get anything for my kings!!

i drop down but stay around the top 10 as it gets down to 20

i make and lose a few hands here and there as i slowly move down the order

then, in late position i get KK again!!
a few callers and i decide i need the chips so again i raise bout 3/4 x BB
get 1 or 2 callers again
pls no ace on flop and i am pushing!!
flop...... A45!! damn those Kings, so again i check fold it and again Ax v A+lower kicker see's someone else knocked out

top 7 get paid and down to 12 and i bout 10th
i hanging in now by thread, blinds and anti's getting higher so before i got nothing left to worry people with i push all in, cant remember what with, maybe 10Jsuited? wasn't quite desperate any 2 cards time but with blinds coming round it wasn't far away either, anyway i get called by the big stack he hits one of his cards and i am out!! in 12th

so no cash place today!!

overall fairly happy, pleased with my 2 lay downs of the kings cause there been times before that i fallen in love with the big pair and not let it go or try over play it, i will write bout that soon.

PK69

Poker basics-hand rankings

2007-04-18T12:58:00.000Z

so i describe the basic of poker, now what are the hand we are hoping to get:

1/Royal Flush/Str8 flush= 5 cards of same suit in running ordere.g 10-A, 5-9
2/4 of a kind
3/Full House=3 cards same and a pair e.g AAKKK, the higher set of 3 determines best hand
4/Flush=5 cards same suit, the person with highest card of suit wins, or working down the hand the next highest card and so on, so if the A is on the flop then both have A high flush but next highest card counts to winning hand so if one has K and other a J the AK flush will win
5/Str8=5 cards in running order of any suit,
6/3 of a kind
7/2 pair
8/1 pair
9/high card

PK69

Poker today

2007-04-18T12:38:00.000Z

well Full Tilt was again out of action, new software to download it said, so after downloading it i logged in and feeling uneasy i tried to view a cash table first... sure enough not much came up!!
seen this prob before so decided to leave FT for today and try again 2moro when hopefully it just starts working for some reason

so, on to pokerstars i go and i get in the $6 turbo 2 table tourny again, i think these are great value!!

playing pretty conservatively i make it to the final 12 or so, then take a few pots and we are the final 9.

early on i get 1010, make a raise get a call, flop a 10 i check the guy has been aggressive before, he duely come back over the top i call all in and we down to 8 and i 3rd in chips

i then get a run of cards, i get KK, something, QQ, something QQ, something, AKsuited, 1010 again, and the best part is that i make the most out of all of them, after this run we are down to 5 or 6 and i either chip leader or close 2nd

goes down to 4 which is payout time, and the small stack has been pushing all in almost every other hand

first hand i get against him.. AA i am SB so i just call, he is BB and as normal pushes all in, i insta call and its game over for him when his 37 does hit anything!!

down to 3 i wait my time but keep the pressure on with raises here and there, i am healthy chip leader, i take out 3rd place when my 66 beats his k4 so we heads up

i have about 20k
he has 4k

i raise a few times and get him to fold, he takes a few pots but i then get it back

with blinds about 500/1000 he cant last long
so when i get AQsuited i push him in, he calls with J4

flop x QJ,
turn x,
river... any guesses?? 4!! giving him 2 pair

with a few more chips he a bit more aggressive and at just the wrong time my cards seem to dry up!!

i call a few raises he and there to try see some flops but no joy

then a key hand, i have A9 he has A10, it all goes in and he hits a 10 on the flop
now i short stack, i fight and get some back
i get lucky with all in 310 v his A9 when my 3 on the flop holds

but i still treading water and the blinds go up to 600/1200!!

i get A7 suited and push he calls with J6, ace on flop and i look safe...... do feel that......
it coming.....
turn 6, river....... J!! so his 2 pair does me again!!

oh well happy with 2nd and another $32, that twice in 2 days!!

maybe i need to work on my heads up??
but with the blinds getting so high once u lose a few chips ur struggling

PK69

Busy Busy Busy!!

2007-04-17T16:37:00.000Z

wow work is busy at the moment, plus with doing my training courses i getting next to no time to play poker or work on my blog!!

i logged on to Full Tilt this morning ready to play my usual $2 turbo but it wasn't there!!
it was odd the sng menu looked weird, the smallest no limit game was $100 !!!! whats that about?
did anyone else notice this or have any probs??

so i started up pokerstars, and got on a $6 turbo 2 table sng, i came 2nd for a very nice $30ish, more of that please!!

Rackback- i know lots of people out there all use it but i have a question, i joined rakebrain and that is where i downloaded full tilt from, now looking on my rakebrain account is shows the rake i have earned back for the last few months, now how do i know if this has gone into my full tilt account?? anyone?
i tried looking at my account history but it only showed my initial deposit??

any ideas on that one?

when i get the chance i will continue with my poker basic theory and move on to other areas that i clearly need to work on

goodluck on the tables all

PK69

Basic Holdem

2007-04-13T12:54:00.000Z

Another $2 turbo and another good finish, 2nd! thats two 1st's and a 2nd in my last 3!! i just need to keep this going now

OK, lets start on some basics (i know we all know these but for the sake of being complete)

I play NoLimit Holdem(NLHE), tourny or cash games, though i really should stick to tourny's for now!!

as we all know this is how the game goes

everyone is dealt 2 cards face down, that only they can see, the person to the left of the dealer Small Blind (SB) makes a half bet of the minimum, the player to his left Big Blind (BB) makes the minimum bet from here everyone has 3 choices, fold and keep there chips, call the bet or raise, of which the raise has to be a minimum of the value of the BB or previous bet if reraising

once every has called we see 3 cards (Flop), another round of betting, a 4th Card (Turn) another round of betting and a final 5th card and a final round of betting

the player with the best hand (5 cards using any of his 2 and the 5 on the board) or who's bet is not called wins the hand

basic i know, but lets cover it and move on

PK69

Another day, same old......

2007-04-12T12:48:00.000Z

Poker, its a funny old game, the gods are just playing with me
i play a $2 turbo on full tilt, play steady and when we get down to 3 the other 2 guys are so passive that i just bet everything until the bet back, it didnt take too long and i won!! at last 2 wins in 2 days, need a few more now

but then my other temptation reared its ugly head, i put $6 in a cash table!!! why do i do it???????

a few good hands where i didn't put the guy on anything so reraised and took some pots, can't remember any details!!

now the bad.
i get AQ i raise 3xbb, think 1 caller
flop comes pretty raggy, he checks so i bet bout half-3/4 pot..... he thins then calls
turn a 6 and pairs the board, he checks again.... well he not showing any strength so i fire again at it, this time a pot size bet....
again he dwells before calling
river cant remember he checks and now i think i must be being trapped so i check back
i show and i either had 1 or 2 pairs, cant remember exactly now
so what he have........ K4hearts, and u know what the river was... yup the 3rd heart to give him the FLUSH!! he had nothing but kept calling to the river where he duely got the winning hand

so what i do wrong?? should i have bet more??

a few hands later and still pretty pissed off i get A10 diamonds 2 limpers so i raise 4xBB, SB folds, BB calls and one other calls
flop is J89, with one diamond
1st guy checks, 2nd bets 20c, i reraise to 80c now the original checker re-reraises to $1.80......
other guy folds... so i got open ended str8 and a runner runner nut flush draw....
i decide to jam in my remaining $3.50 or similar amount
the guy thinks for a while and calls
showdown
ME A10 str8 and flush draw
HIM 53clubs ??????? there are 2 clubs on the board!!!!

so turn... a Q!!!! i got the str8 for once the gods are smiling on me!!!!!
River... CLUB!! he takes the flush and my $6 is gone

so did i play it wrong? was it just the gods? or is it just that flush draws always hit against me?

so after getting my account up it now at either $10 or $16 not sure

brilliant!! i couldnt get pokerstars to work so will look into that 2moro

PK69

NON Poker

2007-04-11T16:39:00.000Z

well work is over so time for a quick post, i must say that Man Utd were awesome last night!! we destroyed Roma 7-1!! it is probably the best performance this season and we are in the semi of champ league now!!

ok so thats the non poker stuff out the way

i may have mentioned before that my full tilt not going so well, was down to like $5 at one point
i am now up to $15!! i played a $2 turbo this morning and won!! a cash finish at last!! just need a dozen more and i mite be back to where i started!!

i have also decided to put $60 in my pokerstars account, there chance for 2 or 3 table turbos in the morning mean i mite be able to build my roll a bit more should i make the cash instead of the current single tables at full tilt

now about my posts, i have noticed previously that my posts are mainly my losing hands, now i know we all have bad beats and we heard them all before so from now i want to do it differently

i will continue to discuss my losing hands, because, u need to learn from ur mistakes and cut them out to improve so where i am losing i must be doing something wrong.. though i will try not to dwell on only these

i will also try to post a few winning hands with my thoughts to see if i won because of good decisions or luck

also while talking about my sessions played i need to do some work on my theory as this is what i am thinking about when i actually play so by working on that i should improve me play before i make the mistakes which i tell u about

so from now:
more theory discussions
some winning hands
and some losing hands

well thats the goal anyway, but we all love a moan!!

PK69

Happy Easter...... not quite!

2007-04-11T12:58:00.000Z

Hello all, been a while since my last post, hope u all been running well and killing the tables
i... well.... i have been absolutely raped senseless!! u know those times when everything goes against u, when u just think why do i bother, well that has been my easter!!

been playing bad, rushing, playing crappy cards, tilt is my best friend lately!!

however i am determined that this must only be a blip and i can pull it back!!

i wont bore u with all the details of my sessions but here is a example of my lack of luck

i not doing well short stacked, i get A9 diamonds its good enough for me so i push my tiny stack in, i get 2 callers, flop comes Q94 with 2 hearts
so i got some of it...... 1 caller bets and the other folds
the caller has A9 also, with the A of hearts
so i looking good for a split here........ but whats that.....
yes he has the ace of hearts and there 2 hearts on the flop........ i get that sinking feeling... u know what i mean.... like fate u can feel it coming
turn........ 3 of..... hearts!
so no heart and i am still in the game
river........ HEART of course!!

another tourny i was actually doing ok
i have AQ clubs so i raise 3xBB
a kinda middle stack but getting low goes all in... back to me and i call (i think was like this or maybe he went all in on flop..)
flop is something like A105 so i well ahead
turn 2
river 3
what u think has has???
yup A4 and a str8!!

anyway i have more to say but as i am at work it will have to wait for another post

also wombol thanks for ur concern at my absence, i will get back to u re full tilt soon

PK69

Support

2007-03-23T13:13:00.000Z

would just like to say thanks to all of you who have left comments on my blog, thanks also for the support and encouragement!!

another sorry morning

$2 turbo, going ok bout 6 left i call a raise or limp not sure with 10J, flop comes 77J, chip leader goes all in, fold fold, so what now??? well at the time my thoughts were this:
i have 2 pair, he could be bluffing as he had push all in a few times on the flop and we all folded, so i figure this is a chance and call
he has........ A7 so i got 2 jacks to hit, which i dont and i out!

pretty poor i think

I also put $4 on a 6 max table 5c/10c
anyone got thoughts bout table choice? full or 6 max??
anyway few hands in i win a small pot doing ok, lots of calling going on even with raises of 3-5 xbb
so i limp in with Q9, flop comes J108!!!! i bet small like 20c i think, one call and then the big stack raises to $1.20 ish back to me.... i think for a while.... only for effect, i have only one thing in my mind.... PUSH!!

so i reraise all in, the guy calls in a flash....
he has: J10-2 pairs
i have the str8, so what am i worried about??.....yup as soon as i saw his cards i could feel it
TURN-...... 10 of course for his full house!!

i think i gota stick to tournys cos with under $20 now i just cant afford to play cash games!!

i also think i should only play 1 at a time, i admit i am an action junkie!! trying to squeeze in as much as possible b4 work, so must cut back to 1 at a time til i hopefully build my roll back up!!

also i think its time i actually started writing about some poker theory, all i do is comment on my plays each day, think i need to work on my basics so writing about them and getting your feed back should hopefully help me improve

so goals for time being are to plays less
work on my theory more, so that i can put into practice what i learn!!
and get roll going up!!

PK69

It doesn't rain, it pours!!!

2007-03-22T13:48:00.000Z

well on to todays games

i played the $2 turbo, was doing ok, it up and down but was above average
not much to tell apart from the hand that ended it

i am in early maybe even BB, i have 22, few callers and no raises so i see the cheap flop.....
25j, with so many callers i check as i no one of them will bet, sure enough there is a bet by the chip leader which is called by 1 or 2 others not sure, so now i pop in the reraise bout 900-1k ish from his bet of 250ish.....
well the chip leader goes all in the others fold, i have to call here as this is what i was hoping for
he turns over 2 clubs for a flush draw!!
well you know what happens... turn a 6, so all i need is for the board to pair for my full house, or no clubs for his flush
river- ace of clubs!!

that was me out in 6th

right or wrong?? i had the set i was ahead when it all went in and about 2/1 fav i think??

oh well thats poker, anyway the account has been battered silly and is now at like $20!!
i need to turn this around quick or my roll will be gone!!

PK69

Table Bully!

2007-03-22T13:36:00.000Z

Well on another day i started my usual $2 turbo and out in 4th. BUT, ..... there was a bully around who was so lucky!!

Very first hand this guy goes all in with AK, fair enough he gets called and wins, 2nd hand he's all in again no callers, 3rd hand all in again!! no callers 4th hand all in, gets a caller this time he has 10J, caller has A10.. flop nothing, turn a J river and its goodbye down to 7, he goes all in the next few hands and we all just fold!!

he then just calls, fishy!!, gets a caller and he slow plays aces on them to get them out, down to 6!!

he then folds a few times before the all in game continues, he has bout 4-5k now and we all just slipping further away

he goes all in as usual, gets a caller, caller has AQ he has 510suited, flop has a 5 turn a 10!!

5 left now, he now folds a few more and there is a little play between the rest of us.... cant remember much more but i know we got down to 4, he was up to 6k, one other player on 2k and me and other guy on bout 1100, i don't think i have played a hand at this point

well i get A10suited and figure this bout as good as i going to get, so i call sure enough he goes all in and i call
he has K10, yes!! flopxxx, turn K!! river crap and i am out

What the hell do you do when someone plays like that?? i know that he can't have good cards all the time, but if you gonna race you wanna have some half decent cards?

the thing was that every time he had worse cards he still managed to hit the flop or turn!!

Any advice??

PK69

Table Talk??

2007-03-22T13:23:00.000Z

WEll i have played a few times since my last post, alas not much success to chat about a few interesting points though....

I played a $6turbo, was playing fairly tight, but i was getting cards and i was using them well i was chip leader with about 4k... then this

early position i get AQ suited so i raise 3xbb think i got 2 callers, the 2nd chip leader and a small stack
flop: Q!! 10 i think and a rag,think there were 2 clubs, i didn't have a club
so i think i doing ok here so i check hoping for a bet so i can reraise
well the 2nd chip leader bets big! like 3k or something, i can't remember exactly the amounts or if it happened spot on like this .. the small stack goes all in so i sit there thinking what to do
when the 2nd chip leader starts chatting in the box,
he says: i don't wanna mess with you poke, leave this one
now what am i to think from this??
could he be trying to bluff me out pot with chat??
i say: u got a flush draw?
he says: i got a monster
so the time starts ticking down and i decide to call
he has QQ small stack has crap, no help and i am as good as out the game!
i go all in shortly after but no luck and out in 5th when i was cruising to at least a 3rd!!

so what can i learn from this? does anyone else have any thoughts about people chatting??

my thoughts were why would he be trying get me out hand?? why such a big bet? surely over betting like that could be a bluff? now he trying talk me out hand which again could work with his bluff?
when he says he got a monster i think surely he want me in hand then to get my chips??
so with that in mind i called

so what do you think?
was he just being nice and trying to save me? was he using reverse psychology acting like he didn't want me in there? which i duely did!!

interestingly, had he not said anything or if i had ignored his chat, i have to say i prob would have figured his large bet as possible a bluff but too big to call and folded, he could have had 2 pair, a str8 draw a flush draw or some combination, all very scary

PK69

Blah blah

2007-03-19T13:34:00.000Z

Ok, so if you been reading my blog you know that the cash tables have not been good to me recently, however my tourny form has been pretty good with mostly finishes in the top 3, i have now set up a spreadsheet records my tourny results showing no. entered, cost, place finished and winnings

i did bomb out this morning though! card dead, blinds going up so i raised with A8 missed the flop and pushed my last 500 in hoping was enough to put anyone off however was called by A10 and his 10 played and i was out.

If you remember a while ago i had some probs with Full Tilt, well i got an email saying that a few people had same prob and they gave us all $5, result!

So i put the $5 on a 5c/10c table few hands in i get QQ in mid/late position, i raise to 40c the button who has less then me reraises to $1.10....
i call, flop comes 9 high no flush, so i bet $1, button reraises all in for $2.50 ish i call..... so what we got???
i have QQ
he has........... A4 clubs???? no pair,no str8, and think maybe a runner runner flush possible!!

turn a 6 and pairs the board,
river......... can you guess??? ACE!!!!!
yup he shoves it in with junk and hits the river with one of the 3 aces he needed to win!!!

that left me with bout $1.30, i just didnt have the heart to carry on so i left after that!!

any thoughts??

the account now at bout $40 :( not going well

PK69

Feedback 2

2007-03-19T13:32:00.000Z

many thanks to snoopy and united for their comments, certainly gives me more to think about, which is always good!!

PK69

Feedback

2007-03-16T13:51:00.000Z

well there has been some debate about my Q9clubs hand, firstly thanks for the comments

ok so i did say that i didn't like my play, and yes i know when the money went in i was behind and i finished behind so not really a bad beat, i wasn't really saying it was more like just saying that the luck had turned in my favour and was looking good only for it to turn away the next card.

was this a bad play?? maybe, certainly not a good play!! now sometimes u have to gamble to win, was this that time? NO

however... pre flop he has AA, i have Q9 suited so clearly well behind, a flop of K9x with 2 clubs...
so he has overpair to the board with a runner runner flush possible, now i dont know the odds for that.... anyone no of a good free odds calculator you can use online without downloading??
now i have middle pair (not so good) and 4 to the flush draw and a runner runner str8 so if we count my flush cards i had 8 clubs (not counting the ace as looking back retrospectively) so 8/47 so about 17% to make my flush
on the turn i hit my flush, so now i am ahead.. but how much?? well i can now only lose to the higher flush, or better, of which the higher flush is the only possible hand, so now the other guy has 7 outs and everything else helps me so if i have this right on the turn i have 39/46= 84% of winning and he has 7/46= 15%

so yes a bad play but on the turn i am way ahead, of course we know what happened next

would like to hear any further feedback regarding my thoughts

PK69

Brilliant.... NOT!!

2007-03-13T13:30:00.000Z

well hope everyone had a good wkend, mine was ok, didn't play poker at wkend or monday morning as had to get up early to go on a course!!

so this morning i get up and am raring to go!!
i join the $2.25 turbo as usual.. no much then a few hands in i get Q9clubs, i in mid/late position no raises so i call to see what happens, well think SB or button makes a 1 or 2 x BB raise which we all call, so bout 4 see the flop..... K94 with 2 clubs!! a bet of half pot from early position is then raised to bout 360 from mid position....... there one player after me all average stack sizes bout 1400...... i have pair and 2nd best flush draw so i figure i can call to see the turn... well the button reraises to bout 780!! the first bettor folds but the 2nd goes all in for his remaining 1000, this pot getting very big!! now as the button reraised he could have AK,AA,KK maybe with a club..... and the 2nd bettor with the all in could have similar so my pair is well behind but my flush could be enough if i hit it......... i decide that i have to take a shot at this monster pot!! so i go all in, the button calls.. so to the race..
button has AA with a club, overpair with a runner runner flush possible,
2nd caller has K rag for just top pair crap kicker and no flush draw!!!
and i have my pair 99's with KQ94 of clubs for the flush so i behind but got outs

the turn........ 6 of clubs!!! thats it i am ahead
the river....... 2... of clubs :( , bugger, gave the button the nuts ace high flush and thats me out in 7th!!

fate can be cruel, not the baddest of beats i know, oh well

so what to do now with plenty,well 20 mins before i need go to work???

feeling ambitious i open 2 tables up at 5c/10c and put $10 on each... a bit foolish maybe... well as time turned out definately!!

on the first table a few hands in i get 99 on the button, i raise to 50c, get 1 caller ... the flop was so sweet.... 9,9,7!!! flopped quads now how do i get all his money..... easily it turned out, he bets the pot i have a long dwell and then just call, turn ? now the only bad point was his lack of cash.. he now goes all in for bout $2 ish of course i call and win, shame he didn't have more anyway up to $15

the other table doesn't go so well getting no cards and the one time i do get A10 someone goes all in for like $6 pre flop!!!!!! i fold and then it gets worse, i make top pair on a flop i bet out & get called, turn no danger so i bet out again and get called, river mite of been an ace not sure anyway i check and the caller bets like 50c, so by now i figure just call and see where i am, well the river gave him 2 pair or something that beat me!! i was ahead all way til then!!

well i didn't notice it but the old tilt monster had arrived, i started playing more hands, raising when i was clearly beat to try and force them off the pot which i didn't and before i knew it i had spunked the lot on 1 table!!!!!!

well i wasn't safe on the other table either!! couple of flush draws, open ended str8 draws later i was down to $7, then i get AQ or something thats looks like pure gold right then so i jam it in and of course get called by either someone who had me beat or hit a card on turn to do it.... can't quite remeber

so there i was out of both tables... out of the tourny........ christ what was i thinking, i wish i could remember more of the hands so i could tell you where i blew it all but its just a blur!!

so account now at about $40!! it was nice while it lasted!! gotta get my A game back and start grinding out the profit soon!!!

PK69

A Good mornings work!!

2007-03-09T13:30:00.000Z

well after my recent success was hoping for more of the same, i didn't have to wait long!!

today i didn't have time for a turbo tourny so i found a cash table and put in $10
1st hand i get K9hearts, few callers, flop xxx 2 hearts!! some small betting, not enough to push me out, turn a heart!! a small bet from early position i call as does 1 other, river nothing to worry about now i bet bout 2/3 pot to make it look like a steal i get 1 caller and he mucks

up $2.50 already!! should i leave?? 1 hand just won't quench my desire so i hang around.... and you know what....... glad i did!!

i got a run of cards and kept hitting the flops!

1 good bluff, i in late with QQ so i raise bout 5xBB, get 1 caller, flop comes rags but all diamonds.... i have Q diamonds......... the caller bets less half pot, i call, turn an ace he checks, now i figure he prob got the ace so i check, river a blank no he bets $1 at the $5.40ish pot, i figure that seems bit weak so i push my $7 in he thinks and folds i show the QQ's and he says nice bet, so i think he did have the A.

Still i up to $13.50ish now.. few hands later i get 56suited i call, flop comes 10,x,4 with 2 of my suit, there's a mini bet, to easy so i call, turn 6, giving me a pair and a pretty weak flush draw, again mini bet i prob losing but for 10c i will see.... river...... 6!! i've made trips, this time the bettor goes for 50-60c ish, i reraise to bout $2 he calls and mucks!! so now up to $14.50 ish few hands later i decide to leave it there as i already late for work as i have been for the last 3 days

so now account up to $63 ish and going well!!

busy wkend so no poker planned, plus got a course monday so it will be tues b4 i play again

PK69

Luck & Profit!!

2007-03-08T17:12:00.000Z

just a brief post as work is manic!!!!!!

went on FT this morning and...... it worked!! i can play again, so of course i went for my usual $2.25 turbo, and didn't do much in 1st 10 hands, but we were down to 8 already, and then i raised bout 4xBB with AQ, flop a beautiful QQ7, i checked raised got called and took it on the turn to give me a healthy chip lead!! then 2 hands later i get 66, i call, flop 65A, i bet a less than half pot, then there a raise and a short stack goes all in... easy call not much action pre flop so no AA so must be almost ahead, 2 players all in, they show 55 ouch unlucky! and A2!!!!! well with no help we down to 6 already and i have bout 6K!! from then on i just raised it hard and before long we down to 3 i have double what 2nd has and my aggression continues

3rd is almost out so when he goes all in it only cost me 800 to call, so i do, oopps he has AA and doubles up. so i tighten up a smidge and soon i get him all in again this time i well ahead he has something like 58 and i have A9 or like that, think i hit my pair and we heads up!!

at last, so with a clear lead when i get AJ i just hoping he raises, he does i put him all in... he calls now for the showdown..........
he has..... 33!!!!! ok so a pair but i got some outs.. flop 23x not so good, turn 4 ok so 5 for a str8!! river a blank damn that see's us bout level or him slightly ahead, a few hands later after some raising and folding i put him all in with A6, he calls and shows 63, YES!!!! he got almost nothing
flop xxx, nearly home.... turn.... 3!! that damn 3 again, river nothing and i out in 2nd!!!!

pleased with 2nd but should have been 1st, 2 horrid all ins and the 3's did me... still i got $5.40 so a good $3.15 profit

now for the luck... i also put $10 on the 5c/10c tables, not much happened went down to bout $7 when i raise to 50c with AQ, 1 caller flops comes AQx i bet small he reraises all in for $3ish i call and take it!! up to $11, now i could have quit with my small profit but i was still playing the tourny at the time so stayed in waiting for some cards

a few hands later i raise or call a raise with A7clubs, flops comes down 95x with 2 clubs, so i bet half the pot, the other guy raises me and i must admit in a rush of blood i think i got the nut flush draw and a long shot str8 so i push my remaining $8 in!!!!!

now i know this was way over the top, and he didn't hesitate to call, he turned over QQ and i was praying for clubs!!!

well no clubs came on turn or river, i didn't even really look at what cards were so i was just sitting there waiting for it to say i need more chips when suddenly the chips all came to me!!!
i looked in the chat and i had made a runner runner str8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

suddenly i had $18 in front of me, i said sorry in the chat but the guy was having none of it telling me to F*** off, charming

anyway with $8 profit there was no way i was hanging around to screw this up so i left and the account now sits in profit for the 1st time on about $59!!!!

i haven't heard from FT bout the tourny yesterday that i couldn't play in but i don't think i had the fee refunded, so i recovered from that $2.25 loss there and then some!!!!

maybe this can be the start of some form, though i hope i not need this much luck each time!!

PK69

it will get worse before it gets better

2007-03-07T13:33:00.000Z

well thats what they say, and from my experience it's spot on!!
so yesterday morning i play my usual $2.25 turbo, as normal i play it tight ish early on get some good hands make a break then wait.... so we get down to last 4 fairly uneventfully but i now av stack size or little below there one guy who as normal way out ahead of everyone, cant remember much of this but we get down to 3 so in the money again!! nice getting some consistency just need to improve on my 3rd places to some 2nd's or 1st's!!

anyway so its mostly raise/fold take a pot uncontested i am 2nd in chips and 3rd is just hanging in above the blinds!!
in the BB i get AJhearts, ok surely this has to be my hand i think, chip leader on button folds so it's on the short stack in SB, he makes up the blind..... now by this stage as usual its pretty much crap the blinds are so big that there no play in it, your either more or less all in or fold, so as i against the small stack with a decent hand i figure lets press him if he folds then at least i got the blinds if not i must be at least a slight favourite!!
so i raise him all in he calls and turns over K10off, flop comes 9,7,3.. so far so good, turn ...9 superb the board pairs means i am def well ahead there's no flush or str8 so just gotta avoid his 6 outs (3kings,310's) so i gota lotta outs on my side.... long pause and the river??? do i even need to say..

a god damn KING!!!!!!! well that just crippled me, i was all in next hand with absolute toss and no surprise there i out in 3rd!!

so from 4 tourny's i have three 3rd's & a 4th, not bad but could be better, every time i get to last 3 the blinds just don't allow any play... so do i need to make some moves before that to build up my stack/take a few chances to knock some guys out sooner and get more of a lead?? or is it just my decision making in the last 3???
maybe i don't need to just push it in with a good hand?? but if i raise i got so little left what the point of leaving it behind in first place, also by lumping it all in surely that more of a reason for the other player not to call ??

then i did my specialty, i hopped on a cash table near the end of the tourny, however, this time i played tight and when i made a str8 i got the money and nearly doubled up to $7.30 so all i had to do was leave the table then and would have been over my $50 deposit for the first time...
what id i do u may ask???
well i though i will just wait for one more orbit then go, despite being late for work already!!
so virtually the last hand i get J9suited, not great but with no real action i decide a nice little community pot is offering just the right odds so i call
flop comes a beautiful 10,Q,3 so i have open str8 draw and the checks to me make think i could get this one, so i mini bet, a few callers and a fold, so now i thinking that could be behind but if i can hit my 8 or king i can take it, turn is no help this time someone leads out with bout 60c, now i think i not got the odds however i know implied odds mean that i cam call if i think i gonna get there cash when i hit my card, so...
i call praying for my cards to come good, .....alas no king or 8 on the river so i fold when the betting starts again a small profit becomes a small loss and i now stand at about $48.70

bugger!! these silly hands i stopping me from building my roll, i gotta do something bout it!!

now it gets even worse, today i load up full tilt, join my usual $2.25 turbo, waiting for it to fill up... it does,.... the table opens.... then nothing!! it like the 1st prob i had no cards, no avatars and worst of all no play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so i emailed full tilt support, got the usual auto reply, when i logged off i was 4th from the 5 remaining but just under 1000 so i pretty sure i couldn't have made any money even though i wasn't actually playing.

will let you know what happens later

PK69

Stupidity!!

2007-03-06T13:39:00.000Z

well as i was saying yesterday, i came 3rd then this happens...

i got bout 5-10 mins max before i gotta go to work, so i decide i will hit the cash tables maybe try a quick hit and run.. so i look at the 5c/10c and all the 9seaters are full, but there are some 6max with fee seats... now i prefer 9 seats so i can wait and play good cards, rather than 6 where you need to loosen up a bit and be more aggressive also where you need a bit more skill of reading your opponents/knowing where you are in the hand which as i said previously i not so hot at!!

so i put $4 in this 6max, think 1st had in BB i get 99, this could be just what i was after.... think 2 callers so back to me and i raise to 30c both call... flop is not good K,10,7 2 over cards no flush draw......
so i could def be behind hear so i figure i gotta lead out and see where i am, so i bet something like 40c (bout half pot i think) 1st caller folds, 2nd just flat calls getting worried here, turn is below my 9 but it is another spade making 2 for the flush.... well as the guy didnt reraise me before he either slow playing a hand thats beats me, which could be a few!! he could easily have paired the K or 10 or both or have a draw with them..... i figure that the 2nd spade mite worry him if he does has something so i lead out again, bout 70c (just under half pot)... at this point i prob got bout$2.50 ish left and i figure he may come over the top but he doesnt... he just flat calls again.......
where the hell am i in this hand i have no idea!!!!!!!!!! what does he have? i have even less of a clue!!

so the river comes ..... yup the 3rd spade!! what else can i do but check, surely the only thing i can beat is a bluff? over to the caller and he bets bout $3ish so i would be all in......... after a long begrudging pause i have to fold!!

a hand or 2 later i leave having managed to cancel my small profit on the SNG and have a small loss for the day, just brilliant!!

PK69

Control!!

2007-03-05T13:51:00.000Z

Well hope everyone had a good weekend, mine was ok, started off well saturday with Man Utd somehow getting a great, if undeserved, win against Liverpool on Sat!!! but the rest of the weekend was taken up trying to sort out my insurance for the accident my GF had in the car last week.... anyway on to poker

so this morning the GF leaves for work at around the usual leaving me with at least 45mins of poker time!! so i load up Full Tilt, and register for a $2+25c turbo player SNG... starts off beautifully!! couple of shitty hands then in the BB i find QQ, think 2/3 callers and back to me so i raise bout 3xBB and get 1 caller:
flop AQ10, no flush!! now that was so sweet!! as i early and raised i figure at least one person gotta have am ace if not 2 pair or maybe a draw, little risky but i gotta let them lean out so i check, first player makes a small bet, button min raises, so now i decide to see where i am i reraise to a couple hundred or so, 1st guy folds button calls, turn is a blank so i bet bout 900 which is just less than the pot, the button only has bout 1100 so i figured this was enough to get it all in, sure enough he went in, i called and he showed AK, my set was good and an early double up and down to 8!!

well a few hands later i get AQ, i raise few callers see a AQ rag flop, oh yes!! i check there is some betting and i raise, the medium stack goes all in as i wanted the other folds, i call and he's got A8 and he's gone!!

from then on i was never in trouble played solid poker, til we got down to 4

then things slowed up and we were all fairly even, and i had to fold a few raises to all in pushes, i rode my luck a few times when all in but made the final 3 just 2nd in chips, then in the BB i get 99, the chip leader calls i decide to push even if just to steal the 1500 in blinds, he calls with AJ and flop comes QJ4, no luck and i out in 3rd for a small profit

disappointed with my play at the end but didn't lose money. need to work on my last 4 play and when down to 3 as think i too passive and get blinded away, slash raise then fold to an all in as don't wanna risk on something like A10, maybe if i raise unles i stealing i should just be prepared to pump it all in if reraised and take my chances???

after that i did something very silly but thats a story for tomorrow

PK69

just another day!!

2007-03-02T13:56:00.000Z

SO, after my not so triumphant return to the tables i couldn't wait to have another session, well next morning was my plan...... however the missus was very poorly all through the night and come morning when she asked me should she go to work or not (as much as i wanted to say go and see how you are!!) i just had to say don't go,........ don't say i don't have a heart!!!!

oh well, so next day shes all better that means poker time for me!! however she does leave for work til bout 7:55am today, which seriously cuts my poker time down to bout 30-40 mins!!

so i get on a $2 turbo 1 table sng tourny, this time i wait my time, i actually start getting some cards too which see me take out a few people and build a nice stack too

down to 6, then 5, then 4, it all goes tight before a missed timed all in from someone finds a pair of kings waiting for them!! so down to 3, i'm in the money at least!! and i have a slight chip lead, well from this point on i just bullied the table, i was raising almost every hand and they just wouldn't play back at me, however i just couldn't get it down to heads up!!

small stack goes all in with A2, i have A10, of course they hit a 2 on the turn!!

same story with the other guy, anytime he goes all in i have him beat only for him to hit his card on turn or river!!

after my stack dwindles a bit i am 2nd in chips i raise with KJ, called by leader, raggy flop he bets minimum, i push it all in........ he think and calls , turning over KQ!!!! great! so thats me out in 3rd!!! bout $3ish, small profit!!

at the same time i put $4 on a 5c/10c cash table, well didnt get much luck or cards and spunked that, so i put another $4 in.... few hands later i pick up 10jsuited i call as do a few others, flops comes a beautiful Q98, no flush draws!! i check in early position, a bet and a raise to 50c, i can't wait!! back to me and i call, turn a 8, so how do i get the most out of this..............
well with the board pairing could be up against trips, 2 pair, didn't want to let them make a full house so i bet the pot, got 1 call from the button, now as he did't reraise me i figured i was ahead and at best he had top pair with ace kicker or a draw, so on the river a blank i went all in for my remaining dollar something, he called and showed AK!! on the river with nothing but ace high and me all in he called.......... what did he think i had???? now i know i won but did i give off some odd sign that i would have gone all in with nothing???

i dont have the hand history so my recollection may be a bit off.... anyway back up to $8 i recovered my earlier loss.......few small hands won and lost later i leave to go to work with bout $7.85 for a small loss overall on the table, but overall a small profit for the day,

leaves my account at about $48

PK69

like riding a bike

2007-03-01T13:23:00.000Z

well finally after my long break from the tables i am back!! as i said in a previous post i downloaded full tilt, at tfirst i just had a look at it and it wasn't good!! The table would open up but no cards or anything would show up,.......... tell me its not happening i thought!

BUT, i tried again the next morning an it said there was a new version so i downloaded that and........ ta da!! its all singing all dancing, working poker!!!! so i put $50 in my account now where to begin........ how bout a $2 turbo 9 seater, so i slowly find my way into the game, not much happening for the first level or two......

then under the gun i find AQoff, so i raise to 3xbb, get 1 caller just after me, another in late position, then the SB reraises to by bout 2xBB...... not what i was hoping for.. ok so i call as do the other 2, i figure to reraise in SB he must have at least AK maybe a pair KK-1010, flop comes 953, not helping me much i think that i must be behind, some of these others could have middle pairs or A? so possible set or overpair...

the SB leads out for just under half the pot, i know i'm beat so i fold, think he got 1 caller, then when he bet the turn he took it. damn still 9 people left and i down to bout 900chips, so i sit tight , no rush just yet i figure

down to 8 and i am just card dead!! 45suited, Q4 suited was about as good as i saw for another few levels, so i just sat there as the blinds started creeping up!!

by now a few other people had started losing chips and there were 3 players in the lead with bout 3K,2K,2K each

the guy on 3K then took out 2 of the shorter stacks in almost consecutive hands. i find KJ and raise, i take the blinds... its not much but its keeping me in the game

then 2 of the smaller stacks go all in, 1 guy wins and is up to bout 2K, then it got crazy

the player who was just all in and won limps under the gun, i smell a rat, one of the other big stacks calls and then then chip leader raises, folded to utg, he goes all in back to the chip leader he thinks for a while then calls, utg shows KK, caller show KQ, no help on the board & we have a new chip leader, then next hand the previous chip leader who now only on 2K goes all in and is called by someone with just less than him, the smaller stack has 99 and takes it. in 2 hands this guy went from chip leader to 300 left.. bout 2 hands later he was out, now bout 6 left and i still pretty short stack, i manage to steal some more blinds a few times just ticking along,

blinds are up to bout 200/400 and the chip leader takes out 2nd chips to give him big lead, then the next hand a medium stack goes all in, chip leader calls with KJ, flops a K and we down to four!! nearly in the money!!

blinds up to 250/500 i have 1100 so am all in virtually this hand or next, there one other player on 1400 but the blinds gonna hit me first so can't really wait!

think this is the hand after chip leader won to take us to 4 players, he is SB utg i find 10,9 suited figure having just taken someone out i hope the chip leader wont call and the other small stack wont unless he got something and the BB only got bout 2K so wont call half their stack....
so as predicted 1400 chip guy folds SB(chip leader) thinks then calls!!!! oh dear, BB folds so i got everything crossed........ BB turns over K10, damn not even 2 live cards!! flop comes J75, not much but could hit a runner runner str8, turn blank, so need a 9........ river a King!! oh well,

maybe i should have waited, but next hand i was BB and if that was no good would have been down to bout 600 with the SB next so it was going to happen sooner or later, i figured suited connectors gives me a bit of a chance

i quickly went on a 5c/10c cash table and lost bout 50c before i had to go to work

god it feels good to be playing again!!!

now i just need to up my game!!

PK69

Updates

2007-02-22T13:48:00.000Z

Ok, so its been a little while since my last post,....

well was hoping for a few more comments but hopefully that will come with time! i do sometimes check my previous posts so pls do read my older posts and leave a comment or leave a comment on my latest post referring to an older post. Pls as i need your feedback to improve!!

Well, some non-poker news if anyone is interested, I got some exam results recently and alas i failed, so either i need to start trying harder for these exams (must admit the revision time off work was abused to play some poker!) or start improving very quickly so i can stop with all these exams......... i can dream!

So back to poker, well as you can see from the blog links on the left, i have been whoring myself around trying to get as many people as possible to my blog, hopefully its working!! its shameless i know but once i start getting some more feedback i can cut down the spamming, maybe?....
also i cant help it, all these poker blogs are just so damn addictive!!

CHECK OUT donkeytest, it is a quality poker test, and in case your wondering my score was average!! i think i will even go through the questions on here reasoning with you my answers and hopefully hearing from you.

Back to my poker basics, well after reading through the numerous comments regarding which poker site to play on, well all one of them ;) this is what i have decided to do:

I have downloaded Full Tilt through rakebrain to get my 27% back, after checking out the site and the tour i decided that the software looked good, seems to offer a good range of games and player numbers, although it is american i believe after chatting with mark from pokerpains that due to my early morning sessions this could be a good thing with the usa players being tired/drunk.... we shall see.. i haven't deposited any money yet, but i plan to put in $50 soon, i must say sorry to mark, i couldnt see anywhere to mention he referred me and i had to put in rakebrain as the bonus code to get my rake back, unless anyone else knows what to do??

I will keep my stars and 888 accounts and prob put $50 in each, stars has just the biggest range of tournys and players to ignore, and 888 has decent software and player numbers and we shall see if there are more fish there, lets hope so!! also both are usa time so again hoping the tired/drunk factor may help me!

as for an english site..... still unsure though i did look at william hill's tour and it looked pretty good so may put $50 there.

so thats all for now

pk69

Poker Sites

2007-02-16T13:54:00.000Z

Ok, first lets begin with where to play online:
i myself have played on 3 sites, Pokerstars, Betfair and Pacific poker/888.com
so here are my views on these sites

Pokerstars: i believe this is known as the daddy of all sites, and honestly i can't really disagree, anytime day or night you wont have any trouble finding a tourny or game, tourny selection is vast, cash games start from micro limits right up to the high rolers. Now i may be one of the few people not on broadband yet, but even on dial up, the speed of the game is fine, no pauses or anything like that. Plus the all in protection is quite handy if you do get cutt off the clock gets stoppped, the software looks fine and is easy to use, all in all a very good site.

Betafir: oh dear! well i first used betfair a while ago before there new software, at that time it looked ok, speed was alright, easy to use, and games were ok. HOWEVER, since their new software came out, unless it is because i don't have broadband, i found it impossible to use!! Constant pausing, and my hands being folded before i even had a chanc e to press a button!! definately one to avoid in my experience

Pacific/888: this is a well known site they advertise a fair bit so i think the level of traffic is good most of the time, the is a decent range of games, the software looks ok and is easy enough to use, speed also is good. Now i have heard a lot of people saying that this site is full of fish, probably being one of them i don' t know, however i have seen some horrendous players on there, so that said... anyone for fishing?

Now the main draw backs of the american sites as in stars and 888 is the time, they run on usa time which can be like 4-5 hrs behind uk, so the big tounry's usual start late and finish even later!!!

not that i play in them yet, but one day... so does anyone know of any decent uk sites? with big tournys at decent times and not finishing after breakfast the next morning??

i would welcome any views on any other poker site

i.e
Full Tilt- i had a look and seems ok, might check it out, however usa time again

Partypoker- another big advertiser with a big fish%
Virgin? anyone got any comment
William Hill?
Ladbrokes?
Bodog?
Absolute Poker?
Ultimate Bet?
any others?

pk69

Back to basics!!

2007-02-16T13:41:00.000Z

Ok, i am going to start writing some posts regarding what i believe are the basic of online poker, this is mostly going to comprise me covering things i have read and offering my views on them and hopefully you can add you comments and thus we all learn and improve

pk69

Links

2007-02-16T13:31:00.000Z

Wow, its like a snowball effect, i start with 1 comment and now they keep coming!! this is great people and i must say a big thank you to all of you who read my blog or have posted comments, pls check out the links to some other blogs on the right, Edog is a similar low stakes player like myself who wants to improve, i would have commented on his blog but you need an msn sign in which i don't have.

pk69

Comments

2007-02-13T13:58:00.001Z

Wow, i had my first comments, hopefully many more to come!!

i must mention Mark for his comment, very good, just what i am after!! i have put a link to his blog pokerpains on the right, pls check it out as it a good read!!

also i hope to chat to mark and anyone else bout fulltilt and other sites, i have read a few places that the players on FT are all rocks, and that the only real way to play is to grind it out, does anyone else have any experience of FT and the standard of players?

cry for help

2007-02-08T14:00:00.000Z

well that about sums up my fall from grace so far, just remebered how i lost the very last hand i played, i had 88 utg, so i thought i wood raise a little folds to the button who calls, now i hadn't raised much,... flop comes ace 8 something, i check he checks, turn another blank i check again he bets bout half pot i reraise all in for my last $3.50 or something like that he thinks then calls, he shows....... aces!!!! virtually the only hand i could lose to! damn didn't see that one coming!!

anyway, so now i have decisions to make, i have stumbled across many interesting blogs of late that i am currently trying to catch up on and enjoy your journeys to date, and having left messages with many of you i hope to start getting some feedback shortly

Oh my god part 2!!

2007-02-08T13:24:00.000Z

Ok so.... with my account under $100 i was getting pretty nervous to say the least, i had been nursing this account along for like a yr and a half, so what to do next???

well i tried a few turbo tourny's as not enough time to fit a proper one in before work, so i start doing 2 at once, one $3 and one $6, but no joy with the cards, i am just running plain bad!! maybe a third place here or there but mostly just throwing away more money, and i can feel it coming...... TILT!!! i try to stop myself but sometimes i cant so i just play bad cards, raise with nothing and you know what??? i get what i deserve, bend over and take it like a man, hell i virtually dropped my pants for them!!

account now at like $15....... this is bad!!!

so now i go on to the 5c-10c tables with $5 on each, woohoo i make like $2 one day, then the red mist decends.... i am all in with 2 pairs turn blank my opponent has a pair just need to avoid trips.... river of course gives him trips!!! shit! what now... i load up my last $10 on 2 tables make some bad calls, play shockingly and before i know it i've lost it all!!!!!!!!

$300 down to $0!!!!! and for the most part i can't see what i did wrong, i know once i had the few bad beats i may have tilted a little, but even then it was mostly the coin flips or when i was ahead and just needed to dodge a miracle card, and everytime it hit me!!

so what now?? well i have £30 on betfair, but since they have there new software it just sucks!!! i have tried it twice and both times it just jerks along, before i can even see my cards i am asked to click, and when i do nothing happens then my hand is folded!! this happened 3 times, 2 tourny's where i couldnt play one hand, i came 3rd in both! but luckily i got my fees refunded!! so i gave it one more try, same again, so i decided betfair is not for me so i withdrew my £24

so now my decision is where to go from here??

what sites should i play on? where is good for games at 7:30-8:30 am??

i have my account with pokerstars which i will keep, but i gonna have to deposit say $50 in there which i hope to build up again, but should i play elsewhere? fulltilt? partypoker? i have an account with 888.com which i could deposit say $50 into,

What games should i play? cash or tourny? what level?

plus of course i clearly still need to improve my game!! any advice on calculating pot odds etc quickly for online play? plus reading players what things should i pay particular attention to?

student looking for a teacher right here

oh well, maybe some responses will help me decide

oh my god!!

2007-02-07T13:51:00.000Z

Well its been a while since my last post, mostly due to the time i have taken off to recover!!

Just a few weeks ago i was sitting on a nice $300 account on pokerstars, now........ NIL, ZIP !!!!
christ!!!!

so how did it all go wrong you may ask, well i sure did!!! for one thing i was playing with my entire bankroll (puney as it was) i know a mistake, but just how r u supposed to build it up when u dont have much in the first place? anyway here goes

every time i was playing well it only one bad hand that did me, some luck and some i know just crap play from myself!!

i think it started going wrong with this.. i was on the 50c$1 tables on stars, started with bout $60 been playing a while doing ok, up to about 70-80$ ish, i get aces in the sb, couple of limpers and then the button raises to something like $2.50 or so, now i know in hindsight i should have reraised but at the time i was thinking aces great i can call and trap him, boy was i wrong!! so one other mid position guy calls, flop comes 10&9 spades and a 4, not bad i check setting the trap, mid guy bets $2 button calls, ok so i wanna get rid of one of them and not let them draw to flush so i raise to something like $8, mid guy folds, one down! the button raises to like $30ish, now i thought for a while.... could have a draw.... maybe ace 10?? now i know the warning signs were there but i was blinded by the aces, i felt invincible, so i thought i would jam it back to him, so my $70 goes in and the secong i do it i am praying pls dont have 10's, of course he called with.... the 10's no ace or flush on turn or river and i had just spunked nearly a third of my roll!!!

so on to another session...

decided to play the 25c-50c tables given my last error.. start 2 tables with about $40 on each, again going good up to $60 on one and $55 on other, cant remember exactly positions or anything here but here goes.... on table with $60... i call with something like q9, just a speculative call maybe there was a small raise but not much... flop comes 8,10,j i've got the nuts!!! no flush draw, so how can i milk this pot i check, one guy raises another reraises for about $15ish so back to me after my previous beat i wood be happy just to take the pot so i re-reraise all in one fold the reraises call with 8,10 2 pair, looking good, turn a blank river a 10!!!! full house! jesus!! again, then a few hands later on other table same thing i call, hit the nut str8 all in get call by a set so as long as the board doesnt pair i'm good!! the river??? pairs of course!!!

what could i have done??? could i have played them any differently? i dont know?? so now i was down to bout $70 ish

will tell u how i did the rest shortly.....

hand history

2007-01-23T17:34:00.000Z

i have started another blog where i will post the full hand history from my sessions, if i remember to request them, if anyone has the time and inclination to view these i would very much appreciate your comment on my play and of the other players on my tables, not sure how to do a link but the blog is pokeking69 hand history

advice

2007-01-23T16:37:00.000Z

well as i have said i have some basic poker knowledge but i am looking to improve.. what would i like your advice on?.... well anything and everything basically

bankroll- how to build it from a start, how to manage it, i know i shouldn't risk too much of it but when you are just starting out how do you build it with out risking most of it?

Notes- i know i should make notes bout players, but what exactly should i be noting? what bets players make, from what position, what kinda cards they like to play? suggestions?

Kinda similar to notes, reading players, what to observe and what should i think bout it? how to put together my read on an opponent? not a skill i have right now!! advice and tips most appreciated

game selection- cash/tourny? i only really play nl holdem at moment, level buy in or blinds for cash? advice for playing at these different levels? is a little knowledge a dangerous thing, can i out think myself at this level? should i keep it simple?

online/live: given the convenience online is my preference, played live once at the stanely casino in reading, was a £20 re-buy, lasted to just after the first break, then it all went in pre flop my kq no good against ak when flop n turn brought 3 jacks & a 10 (no ace or 9 for my str8 on river)! also shuffling and dealing yourself, crumbs!

Records- i know i should keep records of my sessions but what exactly do i need to record? any suggestions or guide/templates?

Books- what are good books to read? i have read a poker for beginners book and harrington on holdem volume 1, any suggestions

Odds- any tips on how to work them out/remember them easily and quickly given the short decision times online? i currently dont really use them as i just cant do it in the time

hope to get your comments soon

a good start!

2007-01-23T16:06:00.000Z

well this is the start i had hoped for!!

on pokerstars i had bout $100, played on a 50c/$1 table, i get aces, i raise get called by one late player .. pretty raggy flop, i bet, he calls, turn a blank so i check hoping he will bet, he does i raise him back and he calls, river cant remember what it was but think it mite have been a flush or str8 card........ i lead out, he calls then mucks. yes!! bout $130 now

few hands later i get aces again this time i rasie from early position, one caller then late player raises, so i reraise bout twice his bet, first caller with not much left goes all in, the late player raise to bout $60ish, no messing around i figure and go all in bout $120 by then he calls.... not what i was expecting..... flop not much but 2 spades, turn blank, river a spade..... oh god please not the flush, first guy mucks, late player shows kings!!! the aces are good!!

wow!! nearly $270 now, play some more hands then decide to leave when i down to $230.

looking good so far, think total bankroll up to $270, i was using most of it on that one table, not ideal i know but what else can i do?? open to suggetions on that one

And so it begins......

2007-01-19T13:36:00.000Z

Hi there everyone, today i start a mission/journey which i wish to share with you and with your help progress!!

I am a fairly new poker player, i play online at pokerstars, 888.com and betfair, though mostly stars at the moment.

I have been playing for fun, but the bug has got me and i want to improve get better, maybe start making so small money and after that well we will see, to go on and play pro is my and probably everyone else's dream, it wont be easy especially with a) having a life and b) a girlfriend who i live with, severly restricts the poker time i can get in.

Anyway so thats me for a start, i am going to post my thought and ramblings and some of my results from poker on here to discuss with anyone that wishes to and hopefully can help me improve.

I have read a basic book on poker and also Harrington on holdem volume 1, i understand hand selection, patience, position, probabilty and pot odds etc, though i find it hard right now to 1) remember all the things when i am playing, or 2)work out all the maths in the time i have online before i have to act.

So the journey begins, wish me luck..