A week of poker

I'm about to pick up the missus from Gatwick and have just logged off after another short session.

I ended up using my week of freedom mostly on the piss with mates so didn't play as much as I intended.

Just two session, three tabling multi table SNG and tourneys.

In the first I cashed in one, coming in 300-odd out of 2000 for a very small score.

My bustout hand was AQo versus J9s, I called from the big blind to an obvious bully boy but the hand didn't stand up despite flopping a Q.

Here are a couple of hands - the first when I was caught bluffing half way through. The second was a semi-bluff that worked.

PokerStars Game #30721869028: Tournament #180540393, $8.00+$0.80 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (75/150) - 2009/07/21 17:31:15 ET
Table '180540393 252' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: QuanticFive (11865 in chips)
Seat 2: omskurDZI (7820 in chips)
Seat 3: aldehuela (10135 in chips)
Seat 4: WjWeng (4341 in chips)
Seat 5: Talerz (19047 in chips)
Seat 6: madamxl (4258 in chips)
Seat 7: superweed (4531 in chips)
Seat 8: VERSEAU91 (9130 in chips)
Seat 9: Swuolzz (6178 in chips)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to QuanticFive [Kh Td] 
Talerz: raises 200 to 350
superweed: calls 350
QuanticFive: calls 350
omskurDZI: calls 275

*** FLOP *** [9d 8c 6d]
omskurDZI: checks
Talerz: bets 450
superweed: folds
QuanticFive: calls 450
omskurDZI: folds
*** TURN *** [9d 8c 6d] [Qs]
Talerz: checks
QuanticFive: bets 1200
Talerz: calls 1200
*** RIVER *** [9d 8c 6d Qs] [As]
Talerz: checks
QuanticFive: bets 2400
Talerz: calls 2400
*** SHOW DOWN ***
QuanticFive: shows [Kh Td] (high card Ace)
Talerz: shows [Qd Jc] (a pair of Queens)
Talerz collected 9830 from pot

 

PokerStars Game #30723092059: Tournament #180540393, $8.00+$0.80 Hold'em No Limit - Level XII (150/300) - 2009/07/21 18:02:38 ET
Table '180540393 252' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: QuanticFive (8975 in chips)
Seat 2: omskurDZI (8248 in chips)
Seat 3: aldehuela (1113 in chips)
Seat 4: WjWeng (7382 in chips)
Seat 5: Talerz (12033 in chips)
Seat 6: madamxl (14397 in chips)
Seat 7: superweed (19704 in chips)
Seat 8: miken22 (6066 in chips)
Seat 9: Swuolzz (7413 in chips)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to QuanticFive [Jh Td]
QuanticFive: raises 600 to 900
omskurDZI: raises 800 to 1700
aldehuela: calls 923 and is all-in 
QuanticFive: calls 800
*** FLOP *** [2h Qc 9c]
QuanticFive: bets 7235 and is all-in
omskurDZI: folds
Uncalled bet (7235) returned to QuanticFive
*** TURN *** [2h Qc 9c] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [2h Qc 9c 3s] [6s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
QuanticFive: shows [Jh Td] (high card Queen)
QuanticFive collected 1254 from side pot
aldehuela: shows [7s 8c] (high card Queen - lower kicker)
QuanticFive collected 3879 from main pot

Tonight I played three more SNGs, going deep in all three but only cashing in one - a $7 180-man turbo on Stars.

I ended up third for around $140. I was chip leader with around 40 to go but went card dead and tightened up near the bubble. I was either side of two bullies and couldn't cope really.

I scraped across the bubble near the back and limped onto the final table 8th.

I then trebled up with 10s and was suddenly chipleader again but couldn't see it through.

Bankroll update

I finally got round to updating my Bankroll info which had been stuck on December 2008 for...well seven months!
Not moved much really, reflecting my lack of play this year. The roll is now only just over $1k after cashing out but is still decent enough for the levels I play.

Played two killer tourneys on Full Tilt this morning, didn't cash in either :(

poker and sterling

Had another bash at poker last weekend - played four $10 double-or-nothing SNGs on PokerStars, cashing in two for solid break-even poker!

Back with my missus again since the last post for the shortest break-up in history. She is off to Athens all next week so I should be able to put in a couple of sessions while she's gone.

Just thought I would comment on sterling versus the dollar for all you high stakes players out there :)

Sterling has rallied since hitting a low of $1.37 to $1.63 as I write. For followers of this blog I was pretty vocal in my calls for sterling to fall from $2.
I lack the conviction I had last year but I can see another bout of weakness for sterling some time this year.

At $1.63, I would sit tight for a while and wait. My view is $1.45 is fairer value which is around a 15% gain from here.

Can't be arsed to go into the reasons why...but its my view for what its worth.

Back on the poker, I've made the decision to try to play some bigger tourneys while the missus is away. Only can do it on weekend so will try two not this weekend but the weekend after prob.

Ok, see ya

Weekend play

I had another tilt at some SNGs and tourneys this weekend on Full Tilt.
Four tables, all NL, all less than $10 buy-ins.
I was watching the tennis with one eye at the same time which is my excuse for busting out of all four, out of the money ;)
The closest I came to cashing was bubbling a $10 18-man SNG in fifth when I found Ks but my foe had As. Earlier I had doubled up a short stack with 2s v his QJo, pushed on turn and he made the call with two overcards, duly spiking a Q on the river…this would have put me in a comfortable chip-lead but it wasn’t to be.
Got deep-ish in the others but actually found four tables too many to properly concentrate on, couldn’t get reads on the other players when I switched tables.

My girlfriend dumped me this weekend which sucks very, very badly. I went to Glastonbury last weekend for five days and left her some very smelly skunk that I had left over.
I came back and in her dope induced state she decided to end it.
I was totally into her and it is hurting. Trying to think of the positives – I’ll be richer as she was stony broke and I paid for everything; and more poker, I spose…

Anyway back to the grind of City life 

A win!

Well sort of...
I played my first weekend morning session for a long time. Its the only time I really have to play tourneys. Woke up hungover, tired but unable to sleep so fired up some tables.
I kept four going most of the time, three tourneys and some cash games. The tourneys were a $10 killer and $24 + $2 on FTP and a $5 45 man on Poker stars.
I went deep in the one that counted, the $24 FTP tourney which attracted 400 odd peeps for a $9k prize pool.
I played solid poker throughout, sometimes aggressive and then sometimes like a total pussy, but I felt comfrotable...was chip leader with about 20 left, and made it to the final able with ease.
I write this slightly worse for the wear after a nite out and its funny but i only remember the suckouts. Once with qk v aq, when i rivered a j for a straight, and once with aj v aq when i rivered a jack.

I stopped playing aggressively twice, once near the bubble, and again on the final table...I ended up 7th for a $320 odd score but the winner, who was very beatable, got $2500. Busted with AKs v 10s for a standard flip, the only all-in flip I had all game.

wasnt to be tho, but def has got me thinking about poker again...

On the personal front I have started seeing someone finally after three years of singledom which is another reason for less play. She is away now which is why I can spend a morning playing.

Not my finest post but v v tired....see ya

Exam blues

It has been a week since my exam so I thought I would post something on it.

I was studying for the CFA ((chartered financial analyst). It is most prestigious exam in the investment world but is an absolute nightmare.
Three levels, taking a minimum of 2.5 years, and a frightening 35% pass rate for Lvl 1 – the exam I took.
It is not actually uber-hard material wise, anyone with a decent brain can master the concepts, it is the volume of work that sucks.
Six big fat text books to plough through covering accounts, equity and bond analysis, economics, portfolio management, alternatives, corporate finance…the list goes on.

I basically attacked the thing all wrong – I decided back in Jan that I needed to take notes from the books, which I duly tried to do for the next four months.

I then discovered you could buy notes online for £50 which are very usable and they come with access to hundreds of past questions.

Taking notes is fine if you have time to learn them. I didn’t.
In the last week I ended up looking at two of the sections for the first time and ignored economics ‘cos I thought my A-level in it would get me by. (a mistake!)

It was a very strange exam day. Last Saturday at the Excel centre. And 8,000 people sitting the exam. Yep, 8,000!

I reckon about 75% were non-native English speakers. You have never seen a bigger conglomeration of geeks in your life. Maths geeks from China, India, Saudi, France, Russia – you name it – all trying to tap into the financial dream.
I hardly heard a single English accent and when I did they were posh as hell.

The majority were massive cocks in my opinion, but then again, I s’pose I’m doing the same – sucking corporate cock for fat dollar. I like to think I had a life first tho’ – three years bumming round Europe and five years as a hack – and didn’t decide aged 8 that I would tailor my entire life in getting a City job.

Anyway, I learned a lot during the studies, and despite the tone of the entry, I really made an effort for. I understand the markets better and if I failed, I reckon I will get it in Christmas.

Played one session of poker since the exam when I was steaming drunk.
I have cashed out $5k – so still only playing the $50 tables, fired up four on Mansion, and tried to get the tables on tilt by typing “Drunk Jimmmmmyyyyyyy!!!!” (which is my name there) after winning any hand. Kept raising.

It kinda worked but being the target on all four tables was tough to manage. I was getting pissy too, and started abusing some Finnish bloke for being depressed. I promised to send him a lightbulb in the post to cheer him up when I beat him to one hand. Usual crap.

I had about $20 left on that table and announced I would raise all-in every hand and either double up or bust.
I did, again and again and again, and no-one had the balls to call. $20! Come on!
Anyone, the Finn finally called with 10s v my 74o and I donated my money.
His parting shot was “Don’t play bingo here” – I wanted to tell him how little $20 compared to what I have won…but left with my head held high :)

OK, thats's all folks!

More play and the stock market

I played another short one-hour session over the Bank Holiday weekend, making another $40 to leave me $90 to the good.

I've realised that my bankroll data is nearly six months out of date, which shows how the love affair with the game has dwindled somewhat.
If I get the chance in the next week or two I will try to update it but I doubt it is much more than the stated total of $5.5k.

I thought I would tell you a bit about why now is a very good to invest to pump some money into the stock market.
In the time I have been following the markets (first as a journalist and now as an analyst), it is clear that the entry level is the most important ingredient to making money.
You can pick the best company in the world, which will survive a downturn and profit during boom times, but what matters more is what price you got in.

I bought JJB a month ago - partly after doing a little work for my friend in his share tipping contest I wrote about a few posts ago.

It is up 125% since then. I have bought Lloyds at 60p, Taylor Wimpey (Britain's biggest housebuilder) at 45p, Enterprise Inns at £1.30. The list goes on.

All are shit companies, that were priced to go bust. They didn't and I profited. I used to own Lloyds at £6. JJB was a fiver not so long ago.

With the FTSE 100 at 4,300 it is a fantastic to put some money away for a couple of years, take the dividends and cash out for a healthy profit.

I now have almost all my personal wealth in equities, and will keep it there until I can afford a house - the market still fears armageddon and is cheap, cheap, cheap. Armageddon has been and gone, Lehman's went bust, Lloyds, RSB and Barclays nearly went bust. But they were saved, the Government is printing money like no-one's business but we will survive.

Buying stocks and shares, you are basically backing capitalism to my mind. There has been a bounce and a lot of the dross that I bought has topped out for now but on a two to three year view it is a win-win situation. Back capitalism and profit!

Rant over :)