Make-Over

No, not me the blog (although I could probably do with a tidying up). Today I went out ahead and changed the blog layout and colours. For some reason, its taken me the best part of a month to notice that Gordon had the same background as me. Dunno why, it was completly obvious, but I was probably blinded by a sick run of his or similar. Other chages to the blog included that beginning of Blogs list, theres a few names in there now but I plan on adding to it. There three that are in in now are some of a few that I keep an eye on and are updated regularly (Gary doesn't so the daily anymore though, he should)

As for the pub game last night. I approached it with extremely low hopes, no expectations and an open mind. I was let down. I expected the horrible turbo 5 or 6 hands a level structure, I was ok with the shorthanded tables, and knew the standard of play was going to be the dregs of it all. But I couldn't believe my horrible bad luck. I decided to sit about until I made a decent had and ship it, most likely getting a caller. Various races included
JJ vrs 99.....9 on river
QQ vrs A10....ace flop
K10 vrs 77 and 8K on a 2JQK flop, in on the turn with 2 players, 7 on river

I was always ahead in chips getting it in so I never went bust (until the break) so at least I didnt disgrace myself with a rebuy, but it went like this for an hour and a half.
I get it in ahead, I lose, I grind it up, and repeat. When I had hands I got paid off, but if I won some of the races above I would of been chip lead contender and could of play a little properly. lol pubaments indeed
I find it quite hard to believe that I once played these games in oubs, but I still believe that last night was the worst one I ever did play.

I was tempted to go with another Bob Dylan quote sign off (The Times they are a chaging) but instead I leave you with this:


There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

Bad display all around

Played the €45 FO in the jackpot this week. The standard was pretty poor as always. I started off ok, tried to bluff a station when "my" flush got there. He has two pair and raises (my actually hand was a pair) and I fold. Still, I'm happy with the bluff as most players were going to let go. Get back up with a straight, I flat called a river raise with the straight as the board paired and I didn't think less than a house was calling a push. In hindsight I am unsure.

Moved table. And boy is this a donkey stable. Two people opposite me are involved in every hand between them (often they're both in). Such gems as A3 calling solid raises to the river. Incredibly this was split (river pair and high board). So I decide to rock up and wait for a spot.

My bb (150), I have 3500. UTG+1 raises to 550 UTG+2 (male donkey, I believed they are called Jacks) calls, folded to me.

+1's range is probably tight. I have him on a mid to high pair, or a strong Ace with the raise I'm leaning to AK and AQ, as I'm seeing AJ & A10 limp here a lot in this game

+2 has anything, any ace, most Kings, a lot of suited cards, all connectors and of course pairs.

its 400 more to me into 1325, I am holding QJ spades, I think I am getting the value (23% equity) to call so I flick the chips in.

Flop comes: 7 8 J

UTG+1 bets 800, calls

Decision, top pair, I feel im ahead of UTG+1 a good bit, AJ is my only fear, unless he has an over pair. I lean towards AK continuation bet or 99/TT with a gutshot (he checks a set here), I come over the top al-in, ( quickly dismiss UTG+" as he never has an over pair here, and will call down with all sorts of draws and one pair hands.

Both insta-call and I sigh

AJ for UTG+1

9,10 for UTG+2

So the first has my only major fear and the other flops the nuts with his connectors. Right move wrong flop.

I think I should be going back to the uber rock game for the €45 F0, its just too sick a game with the uber LAGs in town.

 

In the meantime, I'll have to rock up on Friday at the pub game if I don't want to spend the night complaining of sick lag pub type (apparent) players.

I leave again with another quote. I'll will try to theme them to the post, but I might just put up one I like.

 

Let fortune do her worst, whatever she makes us lose, so long as she never makes us lose our honesty and our independence

 

Slip sliding away

It's been a busy week in work and I haven't manage to stay on top of this blog thing. Basically the guy who is running the job im on is leaving the company on friday, so alot of the work load is falling on me, much more responcability and i'll have to have more critical decisions involving big bucks, but i'll get no extra credit or cash (at least I don't think so). So the knock on effect to this is im not getting that much poker in this week.

On the gambling front, I went for a big accum bet at the weekend, with only Fulham letting me down, I know they're dodgy but it was feckin' Derby. I did manage to get a steal of a bet on the Argies to beat France.
At half time when up by 14pts
Paddy was feeling nice and gave me 5/6 on The Argies -5 pts to win
Shocking stuff paddy. -14 points would of been fair.


No new bets to announce yet.


I don't have alot of poker planned this week, small flutter about online maybe. But i want to play live on Weds. The €40+5 with €400 added is great. I had a great start to this, but last two weeks I played weren't great. Bubbled and then gone before break, although I got it in 60/40 ahead, hit trips on flop, he turns a straight and no board pair. I played three solids hands. Anmd even folded AQ on an A96 flop to a jack pot regular. For anyone who doesn't play regular in the JP any pair is the nuts, but I was fairly he had a set due to something he did.
I'll be there on weds, come over and say hi, not sure if there are any readers out there, let alone weds night student types.

On friday, I'll be playing a pub game, which I promised i'd never do again. But its a fundraiser for my dads P&P club, so its more for support than value. Gonna go rebuy mad, lag it up, and dish out runner runner to pub types that deserve it.


I feel like signing off in a nice way for a while, so here is a quote. I'm not going to say who by, to keep it interesting.

What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do

Change of Pace

So, i've started my run at satellites. Currently playing a few of the cheap ECOOP sats on ipoker. My first few at low stake as I want to get used to the structure and situations of satellites. So far i've played a wide variety of types, MTTs & STTs, rebuys and freezeouts.
I feel MTTs are better as STTs normally only offer one ticket for 1st, the STTs quote agro, so there are normally a big stack or two when 5 handed, you need to run good here to take first. Also a STTs will never have an overlay. It you watch the MTT sat list you can occasionally spot one. For example, some of the ECOOP feeder sats have 4 seat to the GF guaranteed. I also prefer freezeout, as the games play tighter so it suits me better and also the levels are in general longer, the early stages of the of the rebuys are quite lag and the levels are quick.

So far I have played 4 sats, and won one ticket. Although, I was close to bubble twice. Although technically the sat I won was to another sat so I have played 5/paid for 4.
The sat I won brought me through to the final sat to a ECOOP event but failed to take a ticket. I made a bluff on a paired flop when I raised the button, only to find the BB had made trips from the rags he called with.
As I speak in currently heads up in a STT satellite, and i'm not doing well. Cards are not helping, and this guy is very agro.

In other poker news, GJP announced their feburary festival, which includes a €1400+100 event with a whooping 50k starting stack
Details found Here!!

I plan to keep plugging away at the ipoker sats, get a bit of practice in. Then make a decent run at the various live sats to big events coming up.



Edit: After a yo-yo heads up battle, I took down the STTs for a ticket into the GF sat to the ECOOP#1. Its only a $33 ticket, but I am doing this to improve my satellite game not to play huge events. Baby steps.
Hopefully, I will find myself in enough critical bubble plays and by running over the games afterwards, it will become natural.

Blog from a far

 

So this is my first time trying this. Im posting a blog remotely by sending an email, hopefully it shows up on my page. So whats been happening lately, played the Jackpot €40+5 game last night, disaster. First hand I play I raise te button with AJ, get two calers, have played with both before and they might have me down as a loose player, which im not at all. First is loose passive, second is tight passive. Flop comes A96, check, TP guy beys out 700 into 1200 pot, I get the feeling he likes the flop but I call, LP folds, turn is a 10 and he ships it. I dwell up and fold announcing I think he has a set and lucked out with a flopped two pair, I show my ace and he tells me after wards he had a set.

I now fold every hand for 30 mins, two limpers to my BB and I raise figuring that they will get out of the way of my tight self, BB calls, flop is ace high and I bet BB calls, turn is check check and he bets 1/4 of the pot on the river, I fold and wonder how I got myself to 10 BBs

4 limpers to my BB, I push with A5, one caller with 89

flop: 556

(I announce 7 on turn and pair the board on the river)

Turn: 7

River: 3

I run bad

 

 

In other news, the bet I placed yesterday was good, I check results last night but I wasn't paid by this morning. Lunchtime today and Im still not paid, a polish match is pending, finally got it at 2ish, With my winnings I had a go on the horses, took McCoy in the 2.50 Wincanton, he was joint favourite and PPP were pushing the other fella on the main page, I got him at 11/4, he ran at 9/2 because the other fella took alot of betting, McCoy rides home first and im good.

I have a theory on PPP and irish sport, most of the money is going to be going on Irelands side, so it makes sense for them as bookies to have the odds nuged away from Ireland, ie giving them worse odds than they deserve, like offering 6/1 when 8/1 is a fair price, but the backlash of this is that the other team is offered at a better price than they deserve. For example, if you bet against Ireland in every rugby group match handicap bet, you would of win. Granted Ireland had a bad RWC, but PPP failed to adjust when Ireland failed to show up, their handicap against france was shocking considering irelands previous games.

Bear this in mind and have a look at the soccer handicaps for Ireland verses Germany

 

Bet no good!!!

Noy much to say today, don't even know its there anyone to say anything too. Any one out there? Well the bet last night was no good again, was always a long one. Results were:

Sundsvall Win 2-0
Leyton Orient Lose 0-1
Linfield Win
Forest Green Win 4-1
Stevenage Draw 1-1
Chelmsford City
Bashley Win
Witton Albion Win

Two goals did it for me, its not too bad it's better than one off again, a loss is a loss and this way I break the trend. So I stuck another one on, its 4 teams this time, if I type their names here it might jinx it, so you'll have to believe me tomorrow if I win or not. No poker today, I looking into satellites on various networks, probably make a live run too.

Satellites and long shots

So the big poker weekend has passed. It was a bit of an anti-climax for Mellor. Crashed and burned in IPO and was tempted to go the monthly game in the SE but felt that my head wasn't in it. I still enjoyed the week all the same, I got chatting to a few lads and got names to faces, Rag2gar and Valor at trhe break and FatboyDim who I dropped out to the RDS.

I did a bit of thinking about cash verses STTs and more and more im swaying towards cash. STTs have crazy varience, its a shame because I have a decent endgame in STTs when my head is in it. I don't want to drop tourny play completely. So i've decided to continue playing cashes to try build up a decent roll, but play some STTs or even small MTTs, but only certain ones. I mostly want to keep these to basicly get better at them and bring this to my live game. In my opinion to do well at tourney play you have to adapt to the changing structure, this is most important from bubble point onwards, players who dont consider this change end up with the blinds eating them up. This is of course more prevailing in the lower levels. Understanding ICM is a big part of good endgame, while reading through some tourney threads on boards I came to the conclusion that ICM is an even bigger factor in satellites as so different.

So armed with this knowledge I have decided to only play satallites for a while, I wil be going over to PokerStars for this as I can cash in satellite wins. The only downside is that the bank are taking their getting my new card out to me, so I've no online funds at the moment (except a few quid thats in paddy power sports section). Any ideas for a scheme to earn a few $$$ for stars until I get my card up and running

In continuing my fashion of placing football bets and all but one coming in, I went for an eightfold tonight. Lets hop I can break the chain, even if more than one loser is welcome. All to win as follows:
Sundsvall
Leyton Orient
Linfield
Forest Green
Stevenage
Chelmsford City
Bashley
Witton Albion

Another Sunday Afternoon

Rocking to the sound of my favourite tune, but not in the Jackpot for day two of the IPO. The IPO was a bit of a diaster for me. Nearly 1100 players in the RDS, was quite a sight, sadly the standard of play left alot to be desired.
I started off great, made a few decent plays and took down some decent pots in the first level. I took 10k starting chips to 12k quite quickly. But this is where it went downhill. I had a horrible run, nut flush draws, over pairs to the board and a table full of calling stations that wouldn't go away. Normally this is great, as when you make big hands you get paid, except here I never made a big hand. And the stations repeatedy hit. One guy called every one of my raise from the second level, and once he was in the rest called for value. To make it worse some of these lads were getting smacked in the face with the deck, flopped quads, flopped house and flopped nut flush, and this was only one player over one level.
I was getting ground down quickly and had to makea move. JJ in late position, I raise, station calls, flop is 9 high, so i push to take it down, and the station calls 3k into a 4k pot with a flush draw, turn and river are both 10s, runner runer trips and im out.
I run bad


I out a few euro on paddy power earlier, decided to have a punt on some sunday night football. So lets hope it comes through this time considering I was actually there to make the bet. So AC Milan, Sao Paulo and Santander all to win, comes in about 6-1. Or at least im hoping it comes in.

Training, drinking, Losing, Gaining

So I finished up my microstation training course today. Nothing too exciting, but the "real" finish was yesterday as for everyone not from Dublin last night was their last night in the city. So after we finishing up the training for the day, we did what everyone does on such an occasion ans headed for a pint. Our venue of choice was Hogan's on Georges St, a nice bar with a good crowd early in the evening. The pints were nice, but not the cheapest mind with Heinekin @ €4.65 and Guinness @ €4.15
But we spent a nice couple of hours were spend there (6pm-12pm), then on to flannerys for another. It was at this point I decided to take a trip to the nearby Jackpot Club, as the Wed night game should of been almost over at this stage, and there was probably a decent crowd about. I spent a while talking to a few players about their night including Jeff (DitPoker), Gordon and the regulars from the Wed tourney. After a while I jump into the second table of the €1/€2 games with €170 in front of me. No major hands for a while, lose a bit when no draws make it. Lose a decent chunk to the cute chinese girl when my AK flops and ace and she has 3,7 for flopped two pair, I raised preflop and she called shortstacked, it was all in on the flop and I didn't improve. An orbit later an almost repeat hand. around €110 in front and get it half in on flop and rest on turn. I had top pair on the flop he had mid pair, turn made him mid two-pair, but the river was a magic 2 to pair the bottom of the board.
Back up to €220 but lose the lot to a set, I should of gotten away from it, I'm a clown.

I was about to head home at this stage as its about half three in the morning, but I decided to find a bank link and jump back in as for one, im better than the table, and two it will cost €20 euro to get home, and ill only have enough time for three hours sleep, none is better.
So I find a banklink after some stress and jump in €150, most of the money is in one players stack, and there are five players at the table (inc. myself). Within the first two orbits I remove two players from the table when I got it in ahead preflop against a shortstack, and when I turn the nut flush against the girl from earlier and she goes all-in.

Three handed I grind a few more chips after I fire bluff bets on turn and river a few times. I would of ended with much more if the player to my left was able to let a hand go.
Biggest hand of the night went like this.
button calls, sc calls, I rasie to €8 from the BB with A10.
SB calls, flop comes 555 and I check
He bets €10 and I call.
Turn is a 2 and it goes check, check
River is a 7, and I pause to think. I rule out any ace or a pocket pair due to his preflop play. The flop is low enough that I am happy that it missed him. I expect his range to be any two of 10,J,Q,K It I pot it he folds, if I check he checks behind alot here.
I bet out a smallish €15 and he re-raises to €70. ........Its want I wanted but I have to run through it again in my head. No pair, board missed and no higher ace. I call and he mucks before I flip over my cards, I show ace high and he flips his hand over from the muck showing KJ. I take in almost €200 here, looking back the bets could of been bigger than I have above.
He mumbles nice call but is clearly annoyed at it.
No other major pots and we stop it when the above player leave as only two of us left. I have €462 infront of me. I take the €2 left over to the roulette wheel and make €10 on two spins.

Cash-out for €470, which is €150 profit and its after 6am. There is no point going home as im in work in a few hours. So I hang around and watch a bit of the main round of each game, the Jackpot closes at 8 and I walf to work and get in early, sleepless and not quite sure how my night took the turn it did.

Shut up shop!!

Not much to report on the poker front. In fact nothing, taking a short break from online poker. A 4 week break that runs out after the IPO. It just to get my head clear and droip a few habits.
Today was a very laid back training session in work for me, so I feel i'm in the right mindset to get stuck back into poker online, but I think i'll stick it out, only a few days.

I was planning on sticking a few quid on a football accumulator, but the bookies was closed for the day (hence the title). Online gambling account is empty right now so i'll have to pass on it. My selections were to be Inter Milan, Man Utd, Lyon, Sevilla, Arsenal and Barcalona all to win, all tonight at 19:45. I left out Dynamo Kiev as I feel they are a liability. I don't if I want to be right as I missed it, but i'm not into results based thinking, so i'm standing by my selection. Right now, if I was to place the bet (or able to) it just under 10/1