Monday, February 20, 2006

Up n Down

Played very little poker in the past week.
I've continued to run well on the Absolute Poker Omaha H/L tables and run my roll up to $55 from $8 last week.
On Ultimate however its been pretty terrible to be honest. Won about $25 set over set (Ks vQs) on my very first hand at one table on Friday.
But then squandered it slowly over the rest of the weekend.
Its looking like I might lose all my $200 buy-in from two months ago - the first time this has happened at any site.
I've decided to stick to Omaha H/L and go for bust or glory.
Looking back at my neteller a/c I'm still around $1,200 up since June 2005 and Absolute, Full Tilt and Bugsys Club have definitely been the most profitable so I'm gonna stick to those in future.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Omaha H/L

After my two wins in Omaha H/L SNGs yesterday I decided to have another crack at Absolute Poker's games.
Played 50c/$1 fixed for about an hour. Got stuck $15, tightened up and managed to win it all back plus a couple of bucks.
Played a SNG at the same time and came 2nd. So my results over the past two days are 1st, 1st, 5th (I snuck in a game late last night), and 2nd today.
The SNG's are simple to beat. Only play the nuts early and slowly loosen up.
My heads-up play is simple - bluff a lot and push with hands with Hi and Lo possibilities.
Its basically a nuts game and people have trouble adapting their play to short-handed. At the same time, pre-flop people seem to call with mediocre starting hands.
A2 is decent, but needs cover. Another A, K or Q, low cover or flushes.

At work, my business story about the sale of well-known local firm (it's not going bust) will prob make page two. I'm writing it now and am sending it by email when I'm done.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Switch 2

Won the 2nd $2 sit n' go to bring the stack to $25.
Really enjoyed the freeroll - was knocked out 39th when my Js were all in with 7s and Q9s.
It was kinda a crap shoot throughout but had fun while it lasted.
Thought about playing another but too tired.
Work tomorrow. Picked up a decent story from a contact about a local co. going bust with 100 job losses.
Erm...happy valentine's day!

Switch

After this morning's rant about the size of my...errr...bankroll, I decided to switch over to Absolute where I had about $8 left after my last withdrawl.
The juice on the sit n' gos are ridiculous, 40c for a $2. But they have lots of omaha h/l games which I like.
Won my first and doing ok in the 2nd. Also running 'deep' in one of their freerolls.
Only the 2nd one I've tried but my stack is around 2500 (10x BB) with the hi stack a massive 75k. Wish me luck!

My Bankroll

I've realised if I ever want to play poker at a higher level I need to work on my bankroll.
Unfortunately through financial hardship and greed, I've banked any money I've made out of poker and my roll is puny.
My play is pretty ropey at the moment too.
I made a bunch of cash of Bugsys Club, Full Tilt and Absolute over the past couple of years, but cashed out to my $ a/c on neteller each time.
Then I withdraw most of my winnings, leaving me enough to get a decent bonus on the next site.
But since moving to Ultimate I've hit the proverbial wall.
Everyone is such rocks and I regularly sit down to find I have notes on half the players saying 'tight as ...' or words to that effect.
I've now cleared my bonus and have less than half what I started with.
Made about $20 last night but I had Ks about four times and hit trips 2x.

Now I wish I'd kept all the money in neteller, giving me the roll to move up the levels.
My brother did just this and only plays $1/2 NL tables.

Anyway I'm at work and gotta get back to it.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Griffin

Hilarious story from today.
An aged, a very right-wing features writer wrote an opinion piece on Nick Griffin, of BNP-fame.
She wanted to call Mr Griffin odious followings his victory in a recent high profile court case.
Unfortunately she got his name confused with a fellow reporter in the newsroom who's name is similar to the British National Party leader's
A reader spotted her blunder and wrote this letter.

After browsing through the menopausle rantings of, 'top journalist', Jane xxxxxx article, 'Its time to get tough on loathsome rabbles', I was amazed to learn that one of your very own reporters is the leader of the BNP. "The odious Nick Griffxxx and his BNP" she fumes!(I can only presume she means Nick Griffin) Is this the same Nick Griffxxx who has the centre page spread 'Supercop on the beat' in the same edition? Before the queen of the coffee mornings is allowed to submit future articles in your paper, I strongly suggest that she is given a rundown of who is who before she starts spluttering on about events & people of which she obviously has little or no knowledge. Keep up the good work Jane, & mine's two sugars please!

Caused much hilarity.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Two day rollercoaster

Two days off from work and two days of solid poker.
I've been alternating between the 10c/25c NL and 25c/50c NL and I've been up-and-down more times than a yo-yo.
Its driving me nuts to be honest and I'm coming to think that UB is not the place for me.
When I last posted I was up to $120, then back down to $80. Up to $130 and then this hand happened.

Maxi1848 is at seat 0 with $8.10.
mavie1 is at seat 1 with $56.05.
coach 2 is at seat 2 with $11.95.
tacobell12 is at seat 3 with $20.45.
Joe Tex is at seat 4 with $117.70 (sitting out).
RiceAndSoya is at seat 5 with $22.25.
RedEye420 is at seat 6 with $22.70.
Blackwatch is at seat 7 with $26.30.
dentistface is at seat 8 with $18.65.
playznutz is at seat 9 with $72.60.
The button is at seat 9.

Maxi1848 posts the small blind of $.25. mavie1 posts the big blind of $.50.

Maxi1848: -- --
mavie1: -- --
coach 2: -- --
tacobell12: -- --
RiceAndSoya: Ad Ks
RedEye420: -- --
Blackwatch: -- --
dentistface: -- --
playznutz: -- --

Pre-flop: coach 2 folds.
tacobell12 raises to $3.
RiceAndSoya calls.
RedEye420 calls.

Flop (board As Td 7d)
tacobell12 checks. RiceAndSoya bets $9.75. RedEye420 calls. tacobell12 folds.
Turn (board: As Td 7d 4s): RiceAndSoya goes all-in for $9.50. RedEye420 calls.
River (board: As Td 7d 4s 6d): (no action in this round)

Showdown: RiceAndSoya shows Ad Ks.
RiceAndSoya has Ad Ks As Td 7d: a pair of aces.
RedEye420 shows Tc Ts. RedEye420 has Tc Ts As Td 7d: three tens.

It was a big pre-flop raise but tacobell have shown himself to be v v aggressive. But then I massively overbet top pair, doh!
I bet so big to try and get them both out, but could have bet $4 for the same effect.
Then on another table I donked away another $25 with qs against 7s that hit trips on flop and quads on the river.

Lost some more today to be around $78.
I'm running cold and as a result playing way too tight. But hands like the two I lost the $50 on don't help me loosen up.

I've been only playing Ultimate Bet but I might try the site where I made my first $500 - Bugsys Club. The only problem is that they don't do rakeback. We'll see.

At work I only wrote two stories today after my two days off.
Couldn't get motivated. One more day until the weekend and then two days of binge drinking, me thinks.
A colleague is leaving to start work as a features writer at a local magazine and a council press officer is also quitting to join a local college.
They're at two different pubs so I'm gonna flit like the media star that I am between the two :)

Monday, February 06, 2006

Back to the tables

Finished the day pretty tired after eight days working on the trot.
Two days off and time for a few games.
Played for a couple of hours.

I s'pose I better explain that I'm no high stakes player. I play predominantly Hold'em NL and Omaha H/L limit or PL.
Been playing for a couple of years now, the only live games have been home games with mates.
I've made around $1,500 all told through bonus whoring and the odd win.

Played 10c/25c NL and Omaha H/L on Ultimate Bet and ran pretty good.
Made $19 in a hour on NL and about $7 on Omaha H/L.
Tried a couple of SNG, coming 3rd and out of the money to break even.

After depositing $200 on the site, I'm now standing at around $120 having been as low as $50.
I have $25 left on my bonus and about $25 due on rakeback.

Rakeback is my new friend and although I don't played enough to make it really count, it's great to watch the cash rack up.

Try www.raketherake.com and say I referred you. My ID code is RTR05253.
It's pretty simple to follow, they have decent customer service and offer all the first deposit bonuses as well as rakeback. And u'll get $10 free if u play enough raked hands. 250 I think.

Anyway, I just wanted to post a bit about the poker life.
I'll try and detail some more individual hands another time.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Weekend reporting

I'm back in the newsroom as a weekend reporter and am desperately trying to find stories to fill Monday's paper.
Have a sexual assault on a mum story to write up and another on a news £2 million new bar and club complex opening.
I'm just about to "borrow" some stories from a rival weekly to fill in some space.
No poker last night but sat watching Friday night TV with my flatmate - a local TV journalist.
I've asked him to try and get me on some dating series they're about to start filming.
It'll kill two birds with one stone: a) get my mug on TV for first time b) get me a date.

Friday, February 03, 2006

First Post

No idea what I'm doing but a brief hello.
I'm a reporter for evening newspaper in the north of England, and part-time poker player.
I've a vague idea of posting the odd tale from the newsroom and from my experiences from the online poker world.
OK, lets see what this looks like...