Great read, ghey result

Was really hammering the $1/2 tables tonight, when the following hand happened. I have played the villain several times before, and know his 4 betting range to be quite big. I figured I was in good shape with TT against his AA-44 and all the big A's he'd happily push with, so I was supremely happy when he turned over his ATs and the flop came ultra ragged. I should really learn not to celebrate until the pot gets shipped to me....

I did tilt for a few hands afterward, but didn't lose more than $25 and quickly reigned it in. Managed to double up a bit later against someone who didn't re-re-raise my KK pf with AA, allowing me to flop a set of Kings before committing himself with his overpair. So swings and roundabouts, but a solidly winning session for a change! Festive cheer and goodwill to all mankind.....

Christmas = no poker???

Don't understand it. I thought christmas would see me sat down playing loads of NLH against loads of terrible players, drunk on homemade egg-nog and excessive festive cheer. The reality sees me running round doing lots of last minute xmas shopping and going out for meals with friends, work mates, and almost-family members. Maybe next week I'll have the time to play each night and hopefully make a killing, but since I will be spending both the 25th and the 26th with Faye's family, I'm beginning to suspect that it's not the most likely scenario.

They say that christmas is 'a time for giving', I just think it's a shame they don't qualify that to 'a time for giving punishment to the NLH fish'. Then I'd have a good excuse to dodge all these social niceties and play plenty of poker. Actually, given my results of late, maybe 'giving punishment' is a bit too confident, but I'll stick with it. After all, I gotta stay hopeful....
So, once again I don't have much to report poker wise. I played a little bit over the weekend, but suffered from a cruel deck mostly, where I got several lovely made hands on the flop, but things quickly went wrong from then on in. Doesn't bother me too much, but sure would enjoy going on a quick rush before the New Year. Please santa?

The real highlight of the weekend was watching Barton Fink (the first Coen brothers film) for the first, which I enjoyed tremendously and which was in keeping with their trademark motif of an incredible story involving several suberb characters in very simple settings. The other highlight was playing Halo2. I must have spent around 6 hours playing it on Sunday, and have spent every spare minute of the day playing it since (much to Faye's annoyance). It's a tough situation, and I won't lie to you. If you have a girlfriend, Halo2, and an absence of discipline, it can get ugly. Real ugly. Think carefully before getting involved!

Anyway, happy xmas to all of you in case I don't post again, hope you all enjoy your holidays wherever you are, and please stay safe. Remember kids, don't drink and drive!

So good I had to copy it

Read a really good post at work the other day, and found myself recalling it several days later. So, I thought I'd link to it here. The well known and respected Hoyazo posted about it, and analysed the power of the advice contained far better than I could. Indeed, stumbling across nuggets of wisdom like this in one of his posts is like tripping over a lump of gold. Or a nugget if you will. Read on, then go check his post here

With a weak draw and poor pot equity (i.e., an inside straight draw), choose between folding and calling (rarely raising). Call if you have good implied odds, and fold if you have bad implied odds.

With a strong draw with good pot equity (i.e., a straight flush draw or a flush draw and two overs, etc.), choose between raising and calling (rarely folding). Call if you have good implied odds, and raise if you have bad implied odds.

Great advice, and should be borne in mind always. Signing off for now....

All quiet on the blogging front....

Since everyone went off to Vegas the world has become quiet and deserted. And when I say everyone, I meant those fortunate few bloggers (Schaubs, Fuel, Alan etc.) who organised themselves to meet out there. And by the world, I meant the cyber-world of poker blogs. So in actual fact, the only thing that has changed for me is that no-one has written any new posts in the last week, and that's not exactly a major change to the world as we know it. Still, it means that the last few days of work have been borrrrrrrrrrring and I really wish I was over in Vegas with them, joining is as they share a few drinks, a few stories, a few games of poker, and have a grand old time doing it. But hey, whatever guys, I'll just stay here in freezing cold London and think about all the xmas shopping that I haven't yet started. Yup, when I stop to think about it, I hate you guys :- P

On a brighter note, discovered I have 2 more days holiday left to spend before I finish work, so have arranged for a few 3-day weekends in January which I'm already looking forward to. Just got given Halo2 for the Xbox and feel the need to dedicate some of my life getting intimately acquainted with one of the most eagerly awaited games of the last 5 years. Probably end up just playing poker though lol.

Anyway, shout out to all my virtual friends in the blogging/poker world, hope you're all having fun in your respective parts of the world. More terrible $1/2 play shown below, will post something more poker-y sometime soon....

VNH of the Weekend:

$1/2 NLHE on UB

Hero is at seat 0 with $212.10.
UncleRickB is at seat 1 with $119.35.
Villain1 is at seat 3 with $183. <--- terrible chaser Villain2 is at seat 4 with $48.80. <--- shortstack monkey crackinbanks is at seat 5 with $193.25.
The button is at seat 5.

Hero posts the small blind of $1.
UncleRickB posts the big blind of $2.
Hero: Td Th
UncleRickB: -- --
Villain1: -- --
Villain2: -- --
crackinbanks: -- --
Pre-flop:
Villain1 calls. Villain2 raises to $9.
crackinbanks folds. Hero re-raises to $31. <--- know I'm most likely ahead of both opponents and want to squeeze out villain1 UncleRickB folds. Villain1 calls. <--- what on earth is he limp calling such a massive rr with??
Villai2 goes all-in for $48.80. Hero calls. Villain1 calls.

Flop (board: 5c 8s 7c):
Hero goes all-in for $163.30. <--- know I’m ahead on this flop
Villain1 goes all-in for $134.20. <--- can’t fold now…. Hero is returned $29.10 (uncalled).

Turn (board: 5c 8s 7c 4h):
(no action in this round)

River (board: 5c 8s 7c 4h 2d):
(no action in this round)

Showdown:
Hero shows Td Th.
Hero has Td Th 5c 8s 7c: a pair of tens.
Villain1 shows 6d 5d. <--- great call preflop (24bb on 65s) Villain1 has 6d 5d 8s 7c 4h: straight, eight high.
Villain2 shows Ah Kh.
Villain2 has Ah Kh 5c 8s 7c: ace high.

Hand #48599349-4028 Summary:
Villain1 wins the main pot $146.23 with straight, eight high. <--- VNH sir Villain1 wins the side pot $268.07 with straight, eight high. <--- again, VNH sir

What a difference.... a drop makes

So following the decidedly poor weekend results, I followed cmitch's example and went back to basics, playing $1/2 tables exclusively. So far I have won 3 of the 4 sessions I've played, and the losing session can be directly attributed to getting allin with AKs against AKs and facing that statistical blip where the result does not include a chop! I did actually make a one or 2 small mistakes in that session which I think stopped me from breaking even, but other than that it was just bad luck.

And that's all that has stopped me from clearing 1k in four days. I really feel I have rediscovered my A-game, and have been playing really good poker. Am still working through the deluge of advice and suggestions received on my last post (come on reader's, I know you're out there!) but in general it seems statistically I'm not doing too much wrong of late, so will keep working on my game and will post my figures again at the end of the month.

While I'm thinking of dates, I have only 40 days left of work before I throw in the towel and fall happily into the ample arms of unemployment. Given my sporadic recent results, I will be taking regular reviews of my playing performance, and will definitely be keeping my eyes out for any marketing/advertising jobs of interest.

Will leave you with my 'VNH of the Week' (see Smart Money for the original Muppet of the Day). This happened just last night, but really didn't bother me. Maybe something from The Poker Mindset has sunk in and I no longer get emotionally involved in pots. Anyway, enjoy....

Hero is at seat 1 with $779.05. <--- table captain. check my massive stack!

Villain is at seat 4 with $183.80. <--- terrible player I've stacked twice already

XXXX posts the small blind of $1.
Hero posts the big blind of $2.
Hero: Ac As
Villain: -- --

Pre-flop: XXXX folds. XXXX folds.
Villain calls. XXXX folds. XXXX folds.
Hero raises to $14. <--- extra large raise to mix things up, and I'm out of position

Villain calls. <--- could have literally anything

Flop (board: Kd 8c Tc):
Hero bets $29. Villain goes all-in for $169.80.
Hero calls. <--- know he has anything from a flush draw (and I have the Ac) to bottom pair 7 kicker

Turn (board: Kd 8c Tc Js):
(no action in this round)

River (board: Kd 8c Tc Js 8s):
(no action in this round)

Showdown:
Villain shows 7d 9c. <--- nice allin with your OESD

Villain has 7d 9c 8c Tc Js: straight, jack high. <----VNH sir!

Hero mucks cards. (Hero has Ac As.)

Hand #48599063-4296 Summary: Villain wins $365.10 with straight, jack high.

Call for help...

Call for help...

Another weekend, and another 1.5k dropped. Honestly don't know what's happened to my game of late, but my bank roll still isn't bouncing back since I donked off 10k in September. November turned out to be just under break even. I suppose after losing 10k break even is great news! This doesn't feel like my game is turning around though, and I highly doubt December will see me winning significant figures.

I'm trying really hard to get my mind focussed only on making correct decisions, and I am recognising several areas to work on each time I play. My last session though, I didn't make any big mistakes, just a few medium sized ones but I still managed to lose 2x $2/4 buyins. Read a really good post on the subject of bucking a bad run (thanks cmitch) but I didn't feel there was anything there that I haven't already been thinking. Maybe it's more a question of what I'm doing than what I'm thinking....

Anyway, have posted my pokertracker stats for the past 2 weeks (2.5k hands) below, would be grateful if anyone could tell me what changes I might benefit from making. Please do tell if anything obvious jumps out...

VP$IP 26.07
PF Raise % 15.11
C-Bet % 71.33
AF Flop 6.62
AF Turn 7.16
AF River 1.78
Went To SD 19.68
Att. to Steal Blinds % 37.35
Won % at SD 49.66

In the meantime it's back to $1/2 while I regroup. I have recently heard that the Party tables are teeming with fish, and since Party have generously given me a free £25 to play with, I figure now is a good time to build a new roll there: will keep you posted. Thanking you in advance for your help and advice....