Steve-O : You know it's when like your parents said "I'm not mad at you, just disappointed" You know that hurt so much more."Jackass - The Movie"
It looks like blogger is playing up a bit. I couldn't post yesterdays writing until earlier today, but at least it didn't get deleted this time. Remember guys, always save as a draft first even if it is finished!
had a good night playing poker online. I tried out the new (to me) site Bet365 Poker for the $200 free rolls. Already I love this site. The display is very good without being too busy or anything, which is cool by me. The speed of the rooms is fantastic though, and you can really motor through the hands which is great, because after playing at Aloha I really get pissed at when it takes ages to go from flop to turn or from one hand to the next. This software and servers are by far the best I have used. Also, for a 2000 person tournament, you expect it to take some time so the faster the rooms move the better. Secondly, the free roll has no re-buys are add ons (woo hoo!) so once you are out, it is all over baby. And how is the competition there? Well, as you know I was only on the free rolls, but it was pretty easy with the odd decent player. No better or worse than Poker Pages or Aloha.
In the first hand at Bet365 I was dealt big slick and wanted to make a small raise. Since this was my first time playing at this site though, I made a bit of a mistake and instead of raising $40 I raised $400 (starting stacks are $1,000). Another player called and eventually I won at the showdown with two pair, Aces and kings. not a bad way to start and already I am well above the pack. I continued to get fairly decent cards and I moved up to $5,000 before too long. I was busting out a few people, playing very well and still being prepared to lay it down when need be. I still feel I only played one bad hand (isn't that always the way?). It was down to about 1100 people left, and I was ranked 58 or so, second at my table to somebody who must have been ranked in the 40's. I am dealt A5c in the big blind and get to see the flop for nothing. The flop shows 439, two clubs. Small bet, I call. The turn is the queen of hearts, and the other player moves all in. Now I have a straight draw and a flush draw, I think I look ok. This is usually one of my strong points - I don't get lost in a pot when I have a drawing hand. This guy was all in for about $6K to my $5.5K and I had about a dozen outs. But I do not have a hand, all I have is Ace high and a few draws. I don't really know why, but I called the all in and he flipped over a pair of queens and nines. The river didn't help me and I was out before the 1000 mark. I did enjoy it though, and I had a good run with hands like AK and KQ and the like. I'm not forking out for poker tracker to see just how well I did go and which hands work and how often I get them so on and so forth. I like the idea, it's very appealing to me and I would find it very interesting (and educational I guess), but I can not afford to fork out the $50 for it since that is more than my bank roll already. Anyway, moral of the story is Bet365.com is great, I'll be there more often from now on.
My Poker Pages account was getting pretty low, down to 20 odd points due to some shocking losses and crappy play. I went in there last night though with a mission. I was going to put half my bank roll into a SNG and play it like I wanted it. I made some good moves early on and busted out the first player to move myself into a very modest chip lead. From there I folded a lot, and even stole a few pots with absolutely nothing. I am learning more and more and people in these games are uber-tight (by the way, I love the word "uber" ever since SSX Tricky. Ok, so I'm a video game addict too). I was in there when I had the best of it, took it when nobody else did and kept my mouth shut when I didn't. This one little SNG was the most solid play I have ever exhibited, and I was quietly proud of the 50 cents I collected upon winning.
I also had time for two of the free rolls over on Aloha. The first one was kinda fun as I played as stupid as possible - a total jackass to be sure, and boy was it great. I was all in on every second hand it seemed like. As I always say, with these tournaments you need to make a move very early and double up when you can because the starting stacks are only 10 BB. I moved all in with AJo, and stole the blinds. Not what I wanted, but I guess you take what you are given. A few hands later, I go all in again with big slick. Again, they all fold around to me. This happens a few more times, and by now I have the full "distractions" in place. I get K9, "The Puppy" and decided that was good enough to go all in too. I get one other caller and we split the pot with a pair of kings. The chat box is no livid with me - I have become that asshole who goes all in every hand. They even said "He gets something above a ten, he goes all in" - all I can say is "welcome to the free rolls!" I never did double up (if I did, I would have stopped the all ins as my goal is achieved), but eventually I went all in with a's, and had two callers with T8 and A9. Both and 8 and a 9 on the flop, and I was out the door and down to the supermarket before the other players knew what was happening. It was a different experience being the one that every one wants gone from the table. I really wish I did catch one or two of them and double up then play properly. It was good though that I did not have to make any tough decisions, it was all on them. If they want to bitch and moan about how crappy the play or players are, maybe they should invest some real money! On the second tournament I was traveling well, up to about $2000 when I lost a decent chunk to one player at the table. I wanted revenge, and the very next hand I am dealt J'S. He calls, as do a few others and I decide to push. The others fold, and he thinks about it and then follows me in. Naturally, he had the bullets and I am gone when they turn into a set. Wow, he wiped me out from about 5th over all in two hands. I should have checked it out to see how he went and if my chips helped him to some cash.
Back on Poker Pages, in another MT I busted out early way out of the money (but the penultimate episode of season 1 Joe Schmo Show was on, so I really wanted to get off to watch that instead. Well, any excuse for my bad play). Again, there was some body complaining about one particular bad beat they had in a previous game. Big deal, but hey I guess they felt like getting off their chest. About 10 minutes later I again have J'S and after a flop of Jd Tc 2h, I push and get called by the whiner, who has a stack about two-thirds the size of mine. He flips over Ah 5h and gets their flush through the turn and the river. I had to laugh at that one, as who ever was on duty to rig the online card rooms that day certainly had a sense of humor. Lets have a look at the odds though. At the start I was a 66% chance, after the flop this becomes a 63% and after the turn I'm still at 63%. Hm, not really I bad beat I guess but it was funny in the moment to loose to a runner-runner flush just after he was complaining about loosing to a 6 outer or something. I hung around for a little while until I was knocked out on a hand I can't remember.
Naturally I was most pleased with the way I played in the first SNG, and that really put me in the mood to add a few more hours to my play for the night. While my net profit was a masterful 50 cents, I was just really happy to be playing. That's why I love poker I guess. I made a start on "The Tao of Poker" book as mentioned in previous posts, and it is good for a beginner like myself. It is just a set of rules you should follow for poker - stuff along the lines of not getting yourself into a hole early. Plenty of quotes from pros and other such noble men, I will post more about it when I get past the first 20 pages.
Wow, that's nearly an entire post without going off an a tangent. Oh well, I guess I better do that now. Kevin Smith is supposivly making a sequel to "clerks"...I am a huge Kevin Smith fan. I thought "Dogma" and "Mallrats" were hilarious, "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy" were great for their audience and "Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back" was the greatest gift to a directors fans there ever has been. "The Passion of the Clerks", which may be just a working title or hoax, might be just the wrong timing. I never saw "Jersey Girl", but understand it wasn't really a hit (but then again, none of the others were really box office smashes), and I don't know if this is the right move for him. Sure, some fans will worship it no matter what happens (which even if the answer is "nothing", doesn't differ that much from the first) and critics will no doubt hate it. I really hope if he does do it is it fantastic, but I am a little worried.
Plugging time, and I must say I enjoy reading Go Be Rude by DuggleBogey. His most recent post is about the metamorphosis that (hopefully) most poker players go through from Rock to Fox. My thoughts are that this is one of the major steps in any poker players growth, and profit don't forget. Worth a read, and I have added it to the roll on the side.
That will be all for today, hopefully I get a few more tournaments in tonight and keep the bank roll on the rise.
Cheers
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