Gaf's Poker Gaffs

6 Months

2007-10-06T08:50:00.000Z

Is it really over 6 months since I updated this? Utter madness!! My main challenge at the moment is to see what I can turn nothing into. I got off to a great start, winning $60 in my first freeroll. that's now up to about €400, but I've hit a bit of a wall!! You can follow my progress here - GaF's Nothing to Something thread

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 4054416

5000 Hand Review

2007-03-17T15:54:00.000Z

In the grand scheme of things, 5000 hands isn't many at all!! But my crypto Poker Tracker database now has just over 5000 cash hands stored in it, so time for a quick review...... I have been playing cash at Parbet to get the raked hands required to enter their fortnightly $10,000 raked hands freeroll.

First the good news ..... I aspire to be an Eagle, but usually end up a mouse - the difference being the percentage of pre flop raises - an eagle is greater than 7%, a mouse is less than 7%. Well, over these 5,386 hands I have made it as an eagle, showing pre flop raises of 7.15%, JUST over the 7% threshold. Most of my additional raises have been positional raises when first into the pot on the button or cut off. Overall these seem to have been quite successful (but we will see!!!)

Overall, I have made a profit of $43.27 (2.11 BB/100), not far ahead of break even - but add in my Raked Hands Freeroll winnings and I show a healthy profit!! My $20 investment (deposit) in Parbet 2 months ago in January has allowed me to build my balance to where it is today .... just over $2700!!!!

I have played at 3 levels, and surprisingly my most profitable level was 50c/$1 - but I put this down to small numbers as much as anything.....

50c/$1 - 1130 Hands - $74.33 Profit - 6.58 BB/100
25c/50c - 423 Hands - $81.90 Loss - (38.72) BB/100
15c/25c - 3833 Hands - $50.84 Profit - $50.84 BB/100

Lets start by looking at some specific hands.
AA. Who says they NEVER win? Actually they NEVER lose!!!! I've been dealt AA 18 times and I have won with AA 18 times - a 100% strike rate!! I make a profit of 11.43 BB/Hand with them. Very nice thank-you!! I won 10 times when my opponents folded, 5 times they won at showdown without improving, twice they won as 2 pair and once as trips.
JTs This is my second most profitable hand!!! A bit of a revelation for me - I really feel I'm playing my connectors better these days and am reaping the rewards!! I have been dealt JTs 17 times, winning 41% of the time for an average 5.53 BB/Hand. Having said that, the vast majority of the profit came on one hand where I won 87 BB!!!!
33 My worst hand. Dealt it 24 times for a loss of an average 3.23 BB/Hand. However that is accounted for by just one hand where I flopped a 3 and 44 flopped a 4 ..... no getting away from that so it doesnt worry me at all.

Position
This is where I feel my game has developed most recently, and I've really started playing position!!!
Button: I have won $249.01 / 0.55BB/Hand. I raise pre flop13.5% of the time from here and Vol.Put$inPot 23 % of the time.
Blinds: Overall I have lost $283 in the blinds, BUT have had to pay $395 in Blinds. My play has therefore shown a profit of $112 (over doing nothing), which I presume is ok :)

I'm not alone!!!

2006-12-06T17:19:00.000Z

I've just discovered I had post moderation on and 22 comments requiring action - how did I miss this before?

Anyway, the great news is I'M NOT ALONE!!!! Thanks everyone who has read the pages here and left comments (yes - even you, the spammers ;) ) - I really did believe I was just typing into a void!!!!

Cheers McGin for the comment on autoimporting hand histories from email for PokerTracker - I'll give it a try (unfortunately I managed to delete your comment with a spammer :-( )- sounds good, though it won't enable "live information"......

I haven't played on Paradise Cash Tables since my last comment - partly due to the Poker Tracker problem and partly due to trying the PokerNightLive Beat The Presenter cash tables (with a degree of success I might add ;) ), but the MTT's have seen my cash balance diminish a bit to $63.14. I'm in need of a win - I don't want to have to deposit at SO again, withdrawals are much more fun ;)!!!!

Session 9 - $85.10 to $77.31

2006-11-18T00:33:00.000Z

Had my first session on Paradise Sporting Odds tonight - 4 x 5c/10c no limit cash tables. Not good, but recovered a bit at the end to only be $7 down. Will need to reconsider my strategy here I think - the usual wait until I have the nuts or a premium pair pre flop, then massively overbet and get calls from muppets who are well behind doesn't seem to work - the standard of opponent seems higher. Worrying that I no longer seem able to beat 5c/10c games!!!!

A few negatives from the site at first impression:

The bets are only shown as chips - not numerically - so it is difficult to see the size of bets - when you rollover the chips it does show an amount, however ONLY if it is the active window (which when 4 tabling it usually isn't because your last click would have been elsewhere)

I was looking forward to importing the hand history into Poker Tracker for analysis - however this is limited at any time to the last 100 hands (and by email only) - I will have to get into the habit of requesting the hand history every 10 minutes or so - which will be a pain!!! Because it is email, there will be no "live stats" either :-( Having said that, it is more than was available on Boss!!!!

Session 8 - $93.42 to $85.10

2006-11-10T21:46:00.000Z

90 min session tonight 4 tabling (NLH).

Not going the right way at the moment :-(

Because I'm 4 tabling I'm not really learning too much post game - so I'm not improving - this is where Poker Tracker was invaluable to me when I played cash games on laddies. But because SO doesn't work with PT, I dont work through my hand histories afterwards ......

I don't have the patience to play fewer tables......

Session 7 - $134.92 to $93.42

2006-11-08T00:04:00.000Z

Disaster Strikes!!!!!!!!

Opened up my session with 2 Omaha Hi/Lo tables - 20 minutes later I left them both with heavy losses ........ basically I am experimenting with a new game at higher stakes than I play the game I know!! I shouldn't be doing it and that was the lesson I learnt tonight - I just dont have the bankroll on SO at the moment to dabble at those stakes...... so I'll be steering clear of those tables until my bankroll is bigger. So I went back to 5c/10c NLH and recovered a little of my losses (4 tabling) .....

Session 6 - $138.76 to $134.92

2006-11-05T16:14:00.000Z

A 2 hour session - only played 1 table PL Omhah Hi/Lo - only one table available.

Didn't play many hands - I'm probably too tight - have been reading a bit on starting hand requirements and can definitely play more starting hands than I have been.......

Session 5 $139.54 to $138.76

2006-11-05T01:18:00.000Z

2 hours again - this time multitabling 2 Omaha Hi/Lo tables and playing a freeroll (Holdem). The Omaha - not easy, especially with a couple of PL sharks circling :P (Jaded and Uber)

In the end I broke even, not bad (especially as I started off poorly). But I did finish 5th in the freeroll for $160 (not counted in this bankroll) - so not a bad evenings work!!!

Where are all the Friday and Saturday night drunks/fish though? I dont seem to be coming across any (and if I am I'm not taking their money!!!)

Session 4 $94.79 to $139.54

2006-11-04T19:52:00.000Z

Have experimented with Omaha Hi/Lo cash tables. a 2 hour session again, this time on the 25c/50c Pot Limit tables. Only one table, not 4 as usual !!!! I sat down with $50, over half odf my bankroll - not recommended!!!!!

However it was a good, successful session and boosted my bankroll nicely. Next time I'll probably try 2 tables.

Session 3 $109.93 to $94.79

2006-11-04T17:36:00.000Z

These numbers aren't strictly true - since the last session I've paid (and lost) $1.10 in the $ Challenge and $3.30 in the Champions League. So my cash game loss was about $11.

This was a 90 minute sesh on a Friday night/Saturday Morning - I thought I'd take advantage of all the Friday night drunks - seems I managed to avoid them though.

Pleased to say that following my problems in session 2, this time I had relatively little trouble getting onto tables (despite the long queues - why doesn't the Boss software open new empty tables when all existing tables are full???)

Still up since I started this, but 2 consecutive losing sessions have me a little disappointed - the euphoria of that first session has gone ...... I know it's short run, but I should be beating 5c/10c games easier than this!!!!

Session 2 $123.29 to $109.93

2006-10-31T23:27:00.000Z

Not a good night tonight - frustrated by an inability to join tables - not sure what went wrong but think the Boss Media "waiting lists" cannot be working properly....... In 2 hours, I only managed to join 2 tables having been constantly on the waiting list for any 5c/10c table with more than 7 players - not impressed and a waste of a couple of hours.....

Session 1 - $65.12 to $123.29

2006-10-31T00:36:00.000Z

Well, it's just 2 hours since my post - I was 4 tabling 5c/10c tables and had really forgotten just how BAD the standard was here........ I have all but doubled my balance in SO!!!! It now stands at $123.29. Plenty more sessions like this please!!!!

Focus

2006-10-30T22:26:00.000Z

I've finally decided what I'm going to do with this blog. I'm going to use it to focus my mind!! I will track (and publish) my play and performance at Sporting Odds.

Why Sporting Odds? Well, in a way, it's a strange choice because I do like my tools - Poker Office, Poker Tracker and Poker Spy...... however they are also clearly the softest games out there (maybe because of the lack of support for the tools).

Where's my motivation come from? Well I've learnt recently of a PuntersLounge player who has, I believe, been playing poker for about a year and is now up to high stakes cash games - he's recently published some hand histories involving pots in excess of $10,000 and it sounds like he has made a huge amount from Poker - isn't that the dream we're all in it for? I realise I'm not giving the cash games my best shot - rather drifting from tourney to tourney, and whilst I have been reasonably successful, I lack focus and an "upside potential" (apart from a freak large MTT win).

So I'm going to start playing cash games more seriously with the intention and desire to build my bankroll and skills enough that I can play at a higher level. As always with my strategy, I start at the bottom and build up - I want to risk other peoples money - not mine!!!!

My current, starting, banrkroll is $65.12. Not a lot, but some grind on the 5c/10 tables and I'm confident I can grow that. I will be using a fergusson style - never buying in to a table for more than 5% of my bankroll. I will not set rules for leaving the table when I hit a set amount - if I'm beating the table, why would I want to leave? My first target then is 20 buyins at the 10c table - $200, so that I am playing there legitimately. Once I have reached this then I will be withdrawing 10% of my balance every week, the theory being that if I consistently play for a percentage of my bankroll, then I will eventually find the level where I break even. I want to be playing below this, at a level where I make a profit!!! Regular withdrawals should get me playing at roughly the right level. My second target is $500 so that I can buy in to the 12.5c/25c games.

This focus on Cash games will NOT stop me playing the regular MTTs that I play on SO. I will not be keeping a bankroll seperate from the cash games for this. Any profits or losses will be counted.

Let the games begin :ok

Where have I been?

2006-10-03T13:23:00.000Z

Has it REALLY been 4 months since I posted anything here? I think I'm too busy posting on PuntersLounge to keep a blog up to date!!!

So what's pushed me to update? Well the offer of a $1000 Freeroll for bloggers HERE!! Well noone really ever doubted what a whore I am did they?

In general, I find freerolls difficult to motivate myself for now, and I find myself playing fewer and fewer of them, however this one is going to be HUGE value ...... watch this space.......

Leaks.....

2006-06-03T17:16:00.000Z

Time to work my Pokertracker Database!!!

This includes all my cash game stats for $0.05/$0.10 and $0.10/$0.20, where 10 players were sat at the table - a toal of 14,276 hands.

If I look at my top 5 most profitable hands - no major surprises!!! But I really wish I knew what was "normal" - what I should be making from these hands. Just because they are my most profitable hands, doesn't mean I'm extracting maximum value from them!!!!

Hand	BB/Hand
AA	8.94
KK	6.23
AKs	4.5
99	4.16
QQ	3.8

However, when we look at my 7 least profitable hands, then there are some surprises!!!! A lot of A and K in there!!! Do I get "married" to A and K with rags?

Hand	BB/Hand
KQo	-1.17
A2s	-1
A6s	-0.85
ATs	-0.72
J8o	-0.65

First thing, I want to filter this to just the last 3 months. I feel that my standard of play is improving (quite dramatically) all the time - as it should - I'm still relatively new to the game having started in around June 2005!! So - overall it has been a problem, but is it still a problem?

Looking at the last 3 months cuts my database down to 4,850 hands (not "significant", but good for an indication).

Hand	Last 3 months
A2s	-5.88
TT	-2.08
J8o	-1.74
KQo	-1.51
KJs	-1.4

Suggest the problem is still there!!!!

A2s looks my biggest leak, but I'm more interested in KQo for the moment - because that hand simply shouldn't be there!!!! (but is in both lists) - so I am going to disect KQo!!!!

52 times I have been dealt KQo, of which I folded Pre Flop 32 times. Of the 20 occasions I played it, 14 times I let it go with minimal loss. 3 times I made a minimal win and 3 times I made losses. So lets look at the 3 losses!!!

Loss 1 - $10.00
I am Big Blind. 5 Limpers to me allowing me in "free". I check and see the flop.
Flop comes 8sQc6s. I have top pair.
Second to act I bet 40c into the 60c pot.
3 players call, next 2 fold.
Turn comes 3h
I am first to act.
Potential flush and straight draws that I want to pay for their draws. I bet $2 into the $2.20 pot.
Player 1 calls. Player 2 folds. Player 3 raises to $13.09 and is all in!!
Now I have a decision to make!! I cannot remember any specific reads I had on my opponent, but "only" have top pair with high (but not top) kicker - decision should generally be to let it go!! I am being asked to put $7.50 (all in for me) in to the pot for the chance to win $13.70 (or $21.20 if player to act after me also calls)
For whatever reason I call!!!!
Player to follow me folds and we are HU.
Opponent turns over 7d5h. He is semi bluffing and has an open ended straight draw. He has 8 outs with 1 card to come, so is an 18% shot to win the hand and I am 82%.
The river is the 4s and I am beat.
I have to be happy with the way I played that - I made the right choice to call his all in and was just unlucky on the river!!!! I should not be looking to change this.
Looking at my opponents stats now (which were not necessarily available at the time, though a partial picture should have started to be formed!!) goes some way to explaining why I called his all in!! I have seen him play 90 hands. He has voluntarily put money into the pot on 75% of those hands!!!!! Interestingly he made a profit over these 90 hands, despite being so loose - making 167.11 BB/100 hands!!!! His aggression factor on the turn is 2.9 (aggressive!!) - this is more aggressive than me with an aggressive factor on the turn of 2.3.
In general, I should fold to the all in - against this opponent though I can accept it was the right decision to call.

Loss 2 - $3.79

I am in middle position. 2 Limpers and a minimum raise to me. I flat call!! Horrible!!!!!!
Player following me calls, everyone folds to the blinds. BB and two early limpers call. 6 Players in the pot and I am 5th to act. As it happens, not a bad result, though through luck rather than design!!!
Flop comes 6c2d6h
Everyone checks.
Turn comes 4s to complete rainbow.
First player checks.
2nd player bets 10c into $1.25 pot.
3rd player calls
4th player folds
I call
6th player calls
1st player folds
River comes Ks
I have top 2 pair with Q kicker. No flushes and unlikely straights. A 6 is the only worry, but in general I feel I should have the strongest hand!!!
Players 1 and 2 check.
I bet $1 into the $1.65 pot.
Player 4 raises to $3.49 and is all in.
Players 1 and 2 fold.
I now have to decide if I pay $2.49 for the chance to win $6.14
I do and my opponent turns over 7s6s and his Trip 6 has me beat.
With 5 opponents seeing the flop, holding 10 cards between them, I should have taken the "threat" of one of them holding a 6 far more seriously!!!! However I wasn't aggressive till I hit and there was agreat chance I was winning. Was the final call correct? That depends on the read on my opponent!!! Even now, I only have 31 hands history on this opponent, so a hard choice, but hard to lay the hand down!!!!

Loss 3 - $1.10

I am in late position. 2 callers before me. 3 callers after me (all blinds - one player just arrived at table), so 6 players seeing the flop.
Flop is KhJcJd
4 players before me check.
I bet 40c into the 60c pot. I need to see where I am against a possible J.
I have one flat caller.
Turn is 3d - not a card to change much.
Opponent checks.
I check!!!! Should have asked a question, but opponent holding a J is rightly worrying me!!!
River is 9h.
Opponent bets 60c into the pot of $1.40.
It will cost me 60c for the chance to win $2 - I need to see my opponents J and pay!!!
Opponent turns over QdTh. I gave him a free card on the turn and he hit!!!! Should I have bet again on the turn or was I right to be worried about the J? Could/Should I have taken down the pot sooner, or was I right to be worried about a J? Should I have paid off the bet at the end? Not sure what I could/should have done differently!!!

Summary

I think that there are too few hands here for serious conclusions - did I play any of the hands too badly? A couple of rivers against me and the stats for the way I play KQo are completely distorted and looking worse than they are!!! Think I need to come back to this when I have a few more hands to look at!!!

Bloggers in Vegas

2006-06-03T13:36:00.000Z

Another freeroll for Bloggers - this time at Pokerstars!!!

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 2562086

GaF? The second coming

2006-05-20T11:16:00.000Z

No updates for a week or so - was a little demotivated by an apparent lack of readers - which begs the question - why am I doing this - for others or for me? Both (I think) - I get no specific pleasure from doing this per se, however I have a huge desire to improve my game - and I think I view this as a means to achieving that. Would be great to get some debates/discussions going on some contentious strategic poker issues - though probably more suited to a Forum (like Punters Lounge ;) ), so I spose what I look for here is to scribe things and start a "debate" in my own mind - to force myself to think things through a little, in some kind of formatted way!!!

A good place to start today I think is by looking at a comparision of my performance so far on the 5c/10c tables v 10c/20c tables - which is more profitable? This will look at a relatively small number of hands, but will start to give an indication. This is just over the last week.

	10c/20c	5c/10c
Hands	698	2828
Profit	$46.64	$113.19
Real Hours	8.02	18.7
Table Hours	14.3558	60.588
Average Tables	1.79	3.24
Profit/Real Hour	$5.82	$6.05
Profit/hour per table	$3.25	$1.87
BigBets/Hour per table	8.14	9.34
BigBets/100 per table	16.7	20.01

I view the key figure as "Profit/hour per table" which shows the 10c20c tables to be significantly higher!! Next week on laddies I think I will concentrate on the 10c/20c tables (but there are fewer available - so will probably have to play some 5c/10c tables to be able to play 5 tables at once.

Have my raked hands this week for the laddies freeroll - so fingers crossed.

I can walk - lets try walking faster!!

2006-05-14T14:23:00.000Z

Wooooooooohooooooooooo - two readers!!! Welcome Mr V!!!!! An image in your honour? Wouldn't dream of it ;)

Played a couple of hours cash at Laddies this morning - and early start to this weeks grind. Decided I would play 1 10c/20c table and 3 (Later 4) 5c/10c tables and see how it went - I have to push myself more and move up to a higher level - I AM capable of it. But I need to be controlled and manage it in a way that I know when I have reached my limit!!!

It went excedingly well!!!
10c/20c table played 2 hrs 2 mins - won $18.12 - 22.28 BB Hour (47.68 BB/100). A profit of $8.91 per hour (on just 1 table)
5c/10c Played 2.17 hours - average of 3.14 tables at a time - won $4.45 - 3.27 BB per table per hour - 10.27 BB per hour - 6.87 BB/100. profit of $2.05 per hour
Overall - Average 4.08 tables at a time over 2.17 hours - won $22.57 - $10.42 profit per hour - 7.65 BB/Hr 16.12 BB/100.

Far from conclusive - but an extremely positive start - next time I may try 2x20c tables and 3x 10c tables.

Second cash session of the day over. Looked like being a disaster, but managed to claw my way back from about $40 down to record a small profit.

Overall Day:
Played 3.78 hours on average of 4.3 tables.
Total Profit $25.32
$6.69 per hour
$1.55 per table per hour
5.26 Big Bets won per hour
11.13 Big Bets per 100 hands

Overall Day (5c/10c tables):
Played 3.73 hours on average of 3.01 tables.
Total Profit $8.85
$2.37 per hour
$0.79 per table per hour
3.94Big Bets won per hour
8.43 Big Bets per 100 hands

Overall Day (10c/20c Tables):
Played 3.63 hours on average of 1.38 tables.
Total Profit $16.46
$4.53 per hour
$3.28 per table per hour
8.2Big Bets won per hour
17 Big Bets per 100 hands

Well - a lot to be said for Hungarians!! My second PC has died!!! (leccy is plugged in but nothing happens!!) - so for once I had to choose - V-Points freeroll or SO CL? I reg'd for both. V-Points started 30 mins earlier than CL, so I played it like a Hungarian and was right up there!!! I bubbled in 9th place - but Mr V was knocked out by a right pair colluding during the hand, maybe, I'll get bumped up a couple of spots......

Ended up not playing a single hand in SO CL - that was $3 well spent!!!

Used a Betfred $60 Semi Final Token - but playing like a Hungarian on Virgin, didn't help me play well on Betfred - I did ok in the end, but went out well short of the paid places (top 2). Have 2 of these tokens left - need to really concentrate on this one day and give it a proper shot.......

Net result for the day? $25.32 up at laddies cash and $3.30 down at SO CL. Overall a profit of $22.02.

Poker Million

2006-05-13T16:57:00.001Z

Started off today with some leaderboard $5 STT's at SO - was hoping that I might be able to play a few games and sneak unnoticed into the top 5 - Quickly became apparent though that those above me were around and playing - so gave up on that idea!!!

Main event tonight is the Laddies $100,000 freeroll. This is the result of the "work" and getting 500 raked hands through the week - I want a result!!! The main objective is to get a top 50 finish, which will give me another shot in tomorrows Poker Million Weekly Final - that doesn't mean limping into the top 50 though if I get the chance - I will as usual play to win - no limping here!!! Will remember the dynamic from last time as well - no cash in positions 31 to 50 - there are a large number of people who prefer to go out 55th to 35th - so approaching 50th, it is extremely loose - then from 50 to 31st it is tight as people struggle to survive to a cash payout again - so approaching 50th, I can't bluff, but if I have something, shouldn't be afraid to take people on. From 50th to 30th, I need to be loose and aggressive........ Of course before that, I need to do the business and get to that position ;)

I felt I played the Poker Million really well - for a lot of the time I was in the top 10. Had an extraordinary number of Pocket Rockets in the first hour (3 times!!) but was undone by a few bad beats - 99 turned over by 66 and AA turned over by QQ. Ended up going out when shoving on A6s with about 5 x BB left - I could have limped into the money for $110, but that was what the rest of the table was doing and it was an opportunity to accumulate chips. I was in it to do well. I was in it to win it, not limp into the money!!! I made a stronger effort to play position - playing very loosely in unraised pots in late position - it seemed to work well. Oh well, always next week.......Let the grind begin again - another 500 raked hands needed.

Betfred Match of the Day to follow. Is a rebuy, but I enjoy it - added value and bounties and $3.30 of the $5.50 entry fee refunded.......only 1st place usually paid (with $1100 seat) from about 100 runners, but I seem to do well against the bounties ;)

Had a great run in MOTD - took out BFBeckham - so won a $60 Sunday Semi Final Ticket :). I will call bounties (earlyish) with ANY 2 cards - in fact, I willalways raise all in to try and isolate - no 2 cards are that big an underdog - so I'll take my chances - and it's surprising how often it pays off. Five of us all in - and my A6s flops 2 pair then goes on to House Up - suddenly I'm sat on over 10k chips (2nd had 6k!!!) - but I never managed to move on from there. However, have a nice game to look forward to tomorrow now though :)

Net for the day. $5.50 down of Betfred (though $3.30 and $60 tokens received - so "profitable"!!). Was about $20 down on SO STT's ( I think - didn't track it properly!!).

And a pic for my only reader (that I know of!!) - Uglycow - I salute you!!!

Dreaming of WSOP

2006-05-12T23:02:00.000Z

Well tonight was all about WSOP again - this time the main event of the evening was the 2nd game of 6 in the PL Goalpoker Series. Again a night of disappointment (YES I DO want to win EVERY MTT I enter EVERY night!!!!! Is that so unreasonable?). It is looking tough now - with just 3 leaderboard places qualifying for the STT final and I'm way down in 27th (of 34!!!). So I NEED to win one week to qualify ........

So what do I think of the way I went out? Well not the hand I directly went out to, but the hand I lost most of my chips on - honestly? I don't know - I was overdefending my blind (and despite what I say, and the image I try to sow, I DON'T like the concept of "defending blinds", especially when they are not crippling).

Everyone folded to the SB who flat called. He was short stacked and I decided he was weak and just wanted to see a flop. He had suited connectors. I had 86o. To be honest, my cards didn't matter - my vision - I would raise aggressively and he would fold. He didn't!!! He reraised all in. Now I clearly have the pot odds to call and so do. The right hand wins, I feel like a muppet and my tournament is all but over. Given the cards I wasn't that large a dog - 32.4% v 67.6%, BUT they're not odds I should be risking my tournament on - or are they? Add in my fold equity and was this positive ev or negative ev? If there is a 50% chance of him folding, then when I place my bet, I am the 66% favourite to win the hand!!! BUT if I win the hand, I win a small pot, if I lose the hand I lose a big pot!!!.

Say 50% chance of winning the blinds of $150 + 32% chance of winning an all in - $1740 is $75 + $600 = $675. If he calls and his hand holds up, he has a 67% chance of winning $1740 = about $1200.

If there is a 50% / 50% chance of him folding, then, knowing the cards, I had negative ev on the hand of about $525. I MUST LEARN!!!!

Stage #399191648 Tourney ID 1134038 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $50 - 2006-05-12 16:22:11 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #7 is the dealer
Seat 1 - THE CROC ($5840 in chips)
Seat 2 - RED FEAR ($1430 in chips)
Seat 4 - POCKETLADYPL ($1740 in chips)
Seat 6 - JADEDJ ($935 in chips)
Seat 7 - PLISTONBUST ($1235 in chips)
Seat 8 - LESJOHNSON ($870 in chips)
Seat 9 - TELEPEE ($1335 in chips)
LESJOHNSON - Posts small blind $50
TELEPEE - Posts big blind $100
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to TELEPEE [6h 8d]
THE CROC - Folds
RED FEAR - Folds
POCKETLADYPL - Folds
JADEDJ - Folds
PLISTONBUST - Folds
LESJOHNSON - Calls $50
TELEPEE - Raises $500 to $600
LESJOHNSON - All-In(Raise) $770 to $870
TELEPEE - Calls $270
*** FLOP *** [10s Ac Kd]
*** TURN *** [10s Ac Kd] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [10s Ac Kd 7d] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LESJOHNSON - Shows [10d Jd] (One pair, tens)
TELEPEE - Shows [6h 8d] (One pair, eights)
LESJOHNSON Collects $1740 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($1740)
Board [10s Ac Kd 7d 8c]
Seat 1: THE CROC Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: RED FEAR Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 4: POCKETLADYPL Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 6: JADEDJ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: PLISTONBUST (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: LESJOHNSON (small blind) won Total ($1740) All-In HI:($1740) with One pair, tens [10d Jd - B:10s,P:10d,B:Ac,B:Kd,P:Jd]
Seat 9: TELEPEE (big blind) HI:lost with One pair, eights [6h 8d - P:8d,B:8c,B:Ac,B:Kd,B:10s]

Cash games at laddies - I hit the 500 raked hands and am in tomorrows Freeroll for the first time in a few weeks - whooopeeee!!! Thought I had played badly, and lost, but no, looking at the stats, I should again be happy with results. Total play time was 1.42 hours. I made a profit of $4.58 (or $3.23 per hour) - peanuts - but that is misleading - I made 4.74 BB per hour per table (16.16 BB per hour as I averaged 3.41 tables at a time) - that's the important stat and a result I'm pleased with. ANother way of looking at it is 10.13 BB per hour. :)

Final game I played tonight was the Laddies Poker Million Freeroll - another dream - another blank!!

Net result for the night - profit of $2.58 ($2 lost on Goalpoker, $4.58 won on laddies)

By the way, does ANYONE read this blog? If so, please say hello, or I may decide not to bother anymore!!!

Let's Paaaaaaaaaaaarty

2006-05-11T16:46:00.000Z

Tonight I can feel it - I'm in the mood and I'll hit the groove!!!!

Will start off with an hour or so's cash at laddies. At 19:30 there is the mega Freeroll at Virgin for bloggers. Just 70 entrants chasing a WSOP package and £2,500 worth of V Points - Overall probably a freeroll worth something like $8,000 - with just 70 entrants!!! At 8pm it's back to SO for Champions League - may play it on an old machine if still in Virgin, or even skip it if I feel the need to REALLY concentrate on Virgin.

Well - so much optimism - so much disappointment. :(
Congratulations to moFace on winning his WSOP package and Pene on her Champions League win. Hope you both enjoy my prizes :P

The grind.... laddies cash tables - up to 432 raked hands - just 68 to go for this weeks freeroll - should be about an hours play left..... According to Poker Tracker - I played overall tonight for 2.63 hours, on upto 5 tables of 5c/10c. My profit was 7.59 BB per hour per table, or a "real rate" of 33.51 BB per hour when you include multitabling. That's a profit of $17.65 in total, or $6.70 per hour. As suggested before - I need to get the courage to play at higher value tables and see how I do. Other interesting stat - I was playing at just over 200 hands per hour - when people talk of online poker being fixed - that for me is a clear explanation and what is "forgotten".

So I lost $3.30 on SO CL. I made $17.65 on laddies. Profit for the night of $14.35 - I'll try not to spend it all at once ;)

Poker Grind

2006-05-10T17:12:00.000Z

Still not on top form - and the poker is feeling like a "grind" at the moment - so not expecting to play much tonight - maybe a little cash at laddies (have missed the $100k freeroll for a couple of weeks now - NOT AGAIN!!!!) and the Sporting Odds sponsored MTT at Punters Lounge.

Am I addicted to poker? How bad would I have to feel before I could go a whole night without playing any games at all?

In the end - no laddies cash games tonight - just the PL MTT at SO - got my first PL Final Table in a long time - happy to take my $0.12 profit and run ;)

Not Much Poker tonight

2006-05-09T19:14:00.000Z

Not in the mood for poker tonight - or more specifically - not in the mood for sitting in front of the PC - have a splitting headache and the monitor doesn't help!!!

However, can't miss SO Champions League Leg - so that was my only game tonight. Knew I wasn't "in the zone" though, so went out predicatbly early.

Net for the day - $3.30 loss

Frustrations

2006-05-08T23:33:00.000Z

A frustrating nights poker ..... no notable achievements.

Was fiddling around with my Poker Tracker Database earlier - seeing if I could partition it to make it smaller to make it run smoother - so was thinking of putting my laddies database by itself - reimporting that however crashed my system entirely.

I didn't help Team PL in the inter-forum challenge at poker.co.uk at all this evening - but didn't we do well? We took 108 of the 210 points on offer. Awesome.

Played at Goalpoker for a chance to win a VIP trip to Paris for the Champions League Final ...... but not to be ..... happy with the way I played (the slow blind structure there really suited my early patient game) - ended up being rivered to go out in 5th - being beat by MCFC (an Arsenal fan...honest ;) ) who went on to win it - great result for him - well done Mate!!!

The Betfair Grand Prix Freeroll was going ok - when I got dealt rags. The low stacked Bounty shoved - I'm last to act - so call with any two cards - but it doesn't happen (the correct cards win ;) ), very next hand I get AA - no action, only get the blinds - Very next hand I get QQ, raise and called - flop comes A T x - opponent checks - I shove - he calls with a T ...... the river comes a T. Strange how you go through a tournament and nothing happens for ages, then you get 3 consecutive hands like that.....

Rivered twice on the night .............. but hey - the Poker Gods will smile on me tomorrow instead - I'll get that "bad luck" back (hopefully with some interest).

Not an expensive night - freerolls and low buy in - poker.co.uk I lost $2.20, goalpoker $2.49 up. So net performance on the day - a whopping profit of $0.29!!

A new Dawn

2006-05-08T00:43:00.000Z

The Blog starts here!!!

A nice win tonight in the Blue Square Bubble Freeroll - $320 better off. Had some luck along the way, but hey, you don't win MTT's without dishing out a few Bad Beats.

A decent evening on the Laddies 5c/10c Cash tables too - a healthy profit of $44.39. That's 26.39 BB/100 - At an hourly rate, it's 12.38 BB per hour per table - as I was mostly on 5 tables at once that works out at a real rate over the session of 52.43 BB per hour ($10.49 per hour, or $44.39 over the entire session). A friend was suggesting the other evening I should be playing at a higher limit - and I think he is right!!

No success on SO though - didn't do anything worthwhile on the Super Sunday Final (Freeroll - 110 runners - 1st place gets Main Event WSOP Package) and Champions League was equally poor (for a loss of $3.30).

Net performance on the day shows a profit of $361.09 :-)))