Lagging Behind

hol-i-day

A day free from work that one may spend at leisure

Or, alternatively, a day for taking the baby to the doctor for more inoculations, and spending the afternoon scrabbling around on rubble beneath the house.

Poker this month has been barely in the black so far. I've been playing pretty badly, but kept my head above water with one big hand.

Flopped two pair from SB on a straightening board, checked, saw someone else bet lightly and pick up a shoal of callers, decided they were drawing to the straight or just to see a cheap card, so check-raised the max, putting my short stack all-in, and found FIVE callers.

Turn made the straight, but river made my full house. A quintuple through. Thank you very much.

I'm just not 'in the zone' this week, so it's good to still be ahead.

Today was a family day. Doctors in the morning with baby and wife. I suspect Mrs Div suffers more than the baby as the needle goes in.

The baby has handled them so well. A quick cry and ten minutes later she is asleep in the car seat.

The afternoon was DIY time. This weeks task - pipe lagging.

The UK Met Office is forecasting a high likelihood of a 'one in fifty' winter. This is a winter where the prevailing wind comes down from Siberia, instead of west off the Atlantic. So, it could get pretty chilly.

Scotland's record low temperature? -27 Celsius!

Unfortunate then that the previous owners of our house had not seen fit to insulate the myriad pipes beneath the house.

As the Div residence is built into a hillside, the under-floor space moves from a Hobbit friendly clearance at the front, accessible through an Alice in Wonderland style door, to about two feet at the back.

So, I spent the afternoon progressing from crouching, to crawling, to wriggling on my back across rubble and the discarded refuse of long departed builders, squeezing foam sleeves around copper pipes.

The good news is, I used all 24 metres of foam sleeve I had purchased. The bad news is, the job is only half done.

The other half will need the old fashioned wind around lagging, as the plumbers past seem to have revelled in fixing pipes in the most awkward locations, and teasing the piping into all sorts of unusual, and decidedly non straight, shapes. One junction was positively spaghetti like.

Oh well, gives me something to 'look forward to' for the weekend. Which will hopefully also see us with a working boiler again.

Broken on Monday; earliest ETA for heating engineer - Friday.

Next chancer who asks me for money on Argyll Street, I'm handing them a leaflet for the technical college.

Down, Down

Not my weekend!

The home game form continued into the online world. I didn't actually lose much cash, but I could not buy a big hand.

I lost every serious pot I got involved in, but recouped most of the losses with lots and lots of little ones. Not fun, but not a disaster either.

I think I won some small pots through the power of tilt, as I was betting hands I'd usually let go, so maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere.

The galling thing was there were some real morons playing, but I could not get my hands on their money.

One stunningly bad PLO hand saw all the cash go in on a flop of QdTx6d. I'm thinking 'top set v straight/flush draw'. The reality? A set of tens v a set of sixes, and no genuine redraws.

How the hell do you put all your cash in with bottom set on that board?

Still, no real damage done. I managed to quit before I got too mad.

To cap it all, I returned from work today, to forecasts of 100mph winds, the coldest night of the year so far, and a busted gas combi-boiler. No central heating, no running hot water. Marvellous.

Fortunately we have a spare electric heater, and an electric shower. So, the baby will be warm tonight - even if mum and dad are sleeping in their overcoats - and I'll probably have someone sitting beside me on the train tomorrow.

Empty Handed

Hmmm, not a great performance at last night's homegame. Three six handed games, first two paid in each. No cashes for Div.

I didn't do too much wrong, but there were a few hands I could perhaps have gotten away from. Tiredness translated to impatience, and I tried too hard to knock out opponents when discretion would have been more advisable.

Game 1 was card dead for me, until I was very short stacked and found AK. Reraised all-in by Pat, this was an insta-call, which prevailed over Pat's AQ.

The very next hand I have ATs, and this time the boot is on the other foot, as Pat's AJ dispatches me from the game.

Game 2 was a tale of two flush draws. Draw 1 was Renny's all-in bet on the turn with two spades showing, and a King and Queen on board. Holding third pair only, I took my time before deciding he was on a draw and calling. The draw missed and I knocked him out.

Draw two saw me with A8 of clubs, again on a two spade board. Allan put me all-in and I felt he was chasing a spade, so called believing my Ace high was ahead. Pretty loose, since with no pair I was a slight dog, but I was sure I was ahead at this point and needed to double through.

I was ahead, and the flush draw missed, but unfortunately for me Allan's queen of spades found a pair on the river, and I was out.

Game 3 was one of the fastest games we have ever played. Perhaps the beer was taking hold. Before I knew it, we were three handed with Dave and I ahead in chips.

So, it was somewhat unfortunate for me that my raise with AK of hearts was called by Dave with QJ of clubs, and the flop came down 89T with two hearts.

It would have been more prudent to fold to Dave's check-raise all-in on the flop, but I decided to go for the win and missed my flush draw to let Pat in for second.

C'est la vie. There's always next time.

With the Christmas season drawing closer, I have quite a few holidays to take, so maybe I'll be able to sneak in a few more live sessions in the evenings.

October Summary

October was a good month.

The little one is doing brilliantly. Every week brings a new surprise. The pleasant one this month being her first all-night sleeps.

Unfortunately this removes my prime excuse for all night poker sessions at the weekend. ‘I’ll just stay up and feed the baby when she wakes’.

This picture is the current wallpaper on my phone, and when I'm sitting half-asleep on the train after getting soaked whilst trudging to the station, all I have to do is take one look and my spirits soar.

On the football front, Rangers appear to be falling apart, Celtic are improving, Hearts are imploding, and now run by a Roman. I bet there are plenty Hearts fans not enjoying that one little bit.

Maybe David Blunkett would fancy the challenge of managing Hearts. I suspect he would get on well with Vladimir Romanov. They do have similar PR and social skills, though Romanov does prefer shafting football managers to socialites.

Now all I need to do is actually make time to go to more games. The season ticket this year has not been a wise investment so far.

As for the poker, I netted a $740 profit, mostly from the cards, but with a few bonuses cleared and a first ever rakeback contribution. Overall, my best result since February.

The most beatable tables seemed to be the Pot Limit Omaha on Crypto, but there weren’t too many players on PokerStars who overly concerned me either.

I’ll be continuing with more of the same games this month I think.

I'm forever saying I should play more tourneys, but finding the time is the main inhibitor. Not so much in terms of total time elapsed, but in terms of guaranteeing three or four consecutive, uninterrupted hours of play.

That may have to wait for the Christmas holidays. First Christmas party just one month away!

You Can't Bluff A Calling Station

I saw this article about Harrington On Hold Em mentioned by Andy Ward on Secrets Of The Amateurs.

Apparently the standard of tournament play has increased as more people are reading Dan's books. Well, perhaps. I'm sure the Two Plus Two guys weren't shy about coming forward with a few quotes for the press on this occasion.

Not that I'm saying anything against the books. However, if people want to call your continuation bet on the flop purely on the basis that Dan says so, that's a recipe for raking a lot of big pots with AA and KK.

Just lay off the gas a little when you miss with AK/AQ.

Or am I missing something?

Champ or Chump

Two interesting hands from the PokerStars $50 Pot Limit Omaha tables. One where I knew exactly what I was doing; one where I was absolutely tied in knots.

Hand one is pretty simple, and a great example of how playing it fast can work well.

Hand two needs the full hand history, as my own words would simply fail me.

The first hand was uneventful pre-flop. I'm in the blinds with Axxx suited in clubs and there are five or six limpers. A typical Stars field.

The flop comes all clubs, with no straight flush possibility. I have the nuts, but am first to speak into a big field. What to do?

Some players in this situation make a min bet into the field to try to pick up several callers. Some players will check and try to induce a bet from a smaller flush, or a bluffer.

I don't like either option. Option 1 doesn't get much extra cash in the pot and flags up what I'm holding. Both options give anyone with a set or two pair the chance to fill up, as there is fair chance it will be checked around if I don't bet.

I decide to bet the pot. Making it look like a steal, and charging a full price for anyone who wants to draw.

Fold...fold...fold...not looking good...fold...reraised the maximum!

Fantastic. Suddenly a $3.50 pot has hit about $20 and I can now reraise all-in as I have a little more on the table than my original buy-in.

The reraiser calls and shows a K high flush with no redraws, and I'm in the money with a double through. Very satisfying.

Now for hand 2. First the history, then the discussion.

---------------------------------------------------------------
PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $0.50 BB (9 handed) hand converter

Hero ($44.35)
CO ($32.80)
Button ($13.75)
SB ($48)
BB (Foe 1) ($38.75)
UTG ($23.60)
UTG+1 (Foe 2) ($33.85)
MP1 ($51.75)
MP2 ($33.60)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Qd, 9c, 8c, Kc.
1 fold, UTG+1 (Foe 2) calls $0.50, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.50, CO calls $0.50, Button calls $0.50, 1 fold, BB (Foe 1) checks.

Flop: ($2.75) 6s, Jc, As (5 players)
Foe 1 checks, Foe 2 checks, Hero checks, CO checks, Button checks.

Turn: ($2.75) Tc (5 players)
Foe 1 checks, Foe 2 checks, Hero bets $2.65, CO folds, Button folds, Foe 1 calls $2.65, Foe 2 calls $2.65.

River: ($10.70) 7s (3 players)
Foe 1 checks, Foe 2 bets $2, Hero folds, Foe 1 raises to $7, Foe 2 calls $5.

Show Down:
Foe 1: shows [5c 6h 9s 8h] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
Foe 2: shows [9d 2d 6d 8s] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
Foe 1 collected $11.75 from pot
Foe 2 collected $11.75 from pot

Final Pot: $24.70
---------------------------------------------------------------

Where to begin? I folded the best hand to two people who both drew to a lower straight on a flushing board!

Pre-flop I've got half a hand and average position. Worth seeing a cheap flop.

On the flop I'm ready to fold to any bet. The only card that can meaningfully improve me is a ten, and it can't be a ten of spades.

I get a free card and hit one of the three magic tens. The nut straight. Perfect, but with spade and club draws out there I'm not home yet. Of course I now have a draw to a King high club flush, so I'm in a good position.

With two callers to my obvious made nut straight, I can only assume they are both flushing. So, I'm hating that spade on the river. It didn't even occur to me that being a seven was significant.

I reluctantly fold to the Foe 2 bet, and am happy with my decision when Foe 1 makes a small check raise. Obviously the nut flush.

Except, of course, it wasn't. They both drew to make a smaller straight with two flush draws out there.

When the straight/flush card came on the river, Foe 1 thought a check raise was the best move.

Am I being harsh in thinking these guys are both complete mongs?

My analysis is pretty simplistic, but having closely observed their play over several more orbits of the table, I don't think either was trying anything so sophisticated as representing a different hand to that which they held.

Foe 2 in particular was a total clown who just bled chips. If only that had been a red seven, I'd have made a fine profit on this hand.

Many notes were taken.

A Risk Worth Taking

Last Thursday I dragged myself along to the Glasgow Science Centre at the ungodly, for me, hour of 8a.m.

The reason for my visit was a seminar, organised by Scottish Enterprise, entitled 'Winning Through Innovation'.

Normally I'm not a big fan of these events, but the Science Centre is a good venue - a Powerpoint presentation somehow seems more compelling when it's being projected on an IMAX screen!

More importantly, there were some interesting speakers, including the President of Virgin Galactic. Now that was an engrossing presentation!

There was also a display of a working automatic baby rocker designed by a Scottish company. I liked that a lot. It could have saved Mrs Div and I quite a lot of hassle if we'd known about it 4 months ago.

In the midst of all the suits and business chat, there was a Q&A session which also involved another of the speakers - David Williamson, the MD of a Glasgow coffee roasting company called Matthew Algie.

He seemed a fascinating character, and had a very informal manner, as well as a near miss for a poker players name.

During the Q&A, someone asked him about his attitude to risk within the company. Although he was very laid back, it was clear he put a lot of emphasis on hard numbers when running his business.

His response to the question prompted lots of murmurs and chin stroking, not to mention note taking, within the assembled throng.

"If it's a risk worth taking; it's not a risk."

That seems pretty common sense to me, but it seemed to be a revelation of biblical proportions to some of the audience. Which perhaps explains the state of the Scottish economy.

For any poker player, this concept should be pretty much second nature.

How often do you get the chips in knowing you are behind but have enough outs to make it a +EV call? How often do you call from the BB with any two cards against a short-stack all-in, to try to knock them out? How often do you push with nothing against a super tight opponent?

Perhaps Scottish Enterprise should splash the cash on sending some business people to a poker bootcamp with Howard Lederer and co. It may pay dividends.

A Kick In The Gut

It was with more than a little dismay, not to mention disbelief, that I read of attempts by the authorities to close down Gutshot - probably the best know 'pure' cardroom in the UK. The current membership of Gutshot numbers over 11,000 people.

Rather than go into the legal ins-and-outs of the situation, there's an article on The Times website here which explains the situation.

There's also some discussion on the Gutshot forum here.

There's another Times feature here, which invites the views of their readership.

A lot of the debate revolves around the old 'is poker a game of skill or luck' question. As one contributor says, anyone who believes poker is purely a game of luck, is welcome to play me online at any poker site.

I'm no advocate of the Thatcherite/Reaganite model of small government, but I do believe scarce resources should be focused on the most pressing issues.

I really can't see how spending time and money on trying to close down a poker room benefits the nation.

Purely off the top of my head, I rattled off a list of more pressing issues which might concern the government.

• Iraq


• War On Terror


• Avian Flu


• Possibility of a 1-in-50 Winter


• People Trafficking


• Street Crime


• Race Riots


• Schools In Disarray


• Economy Slowing


• Transport Shambles


• Health Service Infections - MRSA

Once the government has the health service and schools running efficiently, crime down, economic growth up, and the trains running on time, I might be willing to allow them to take more interest in how people choose to spend their leisure time.

This is made all the more ludicrous by the ongoing growth in online gaming share issues on the London markets. 888, Party, Empire being among those to go public in recent times.

While Chancellor Brown would love to tempt these company headquarters to London from their present offshore havens, it appears the government wouldn't want the bankers who pocket the big bucks for getting the share issues away to pop down to Gutshot for some live poker?

The entire situation is entirely nonsensical, and it beggars belief that after all the debate in recent parliamentary sessions over the introduction of mega casinos, there are such grey areas remaining in the existing law.

Bloggers Tourney

Well, you know you are in for a rough time when you find yourself in front of the PC at 9.02pm, with a reviving cup of tea in hand, thinking 'my watch must be fast, I haven't been seated yet' only to realise, aha I opened the PokerStars program, but haven't logged in yet!

Doh! Still, given the rocky nature of my table, and the lack of chat, I doubt I missed much.

In my defence, I was absolutely shattered after a weekend of over indulging in late night poker, baby minding, Sunday working, and I also allowed myself to be roped into spending Saturday afternoon putting together Ikea units for the father-in-law.

Kicking off at Sunday 9pm was about the best we Europeans could hope for, but it still meant a finish in the wee small hours, and I had no intention of going that far only to bubble.

So, I decided to adopt more of an 'at-it' style than usual, to see if I could get chips early, or bust out trying.

My first move with A6o from the cut-off didn't get very far as the button emphatically reraised and both blinds folded. Durr, pause for effect, grit teeth, fold.

Then for the first time in a while, the deck hit me in the face. KK twice in quick succession.

I was hoping my failed A6o move might earn me a few callers, but the first one was folded around to leave me with the blinds as scant reward.

Two players then went to war on a T66 board and ended up all in. One showed KK, the other KT!? KK held up.

A few hands later. KK for me again. Splendid. Raise. Fold, fold, fold, all-in from KT guy for the last of his chips. Called by me and KK holds up again. But for little gain. Sigh.

Not much later I'm in the BB with Q7s. MP raises and I call along with a LP player.

The flop is 567 rainbow. Top pair and a scary board. Ideal at-it territory you'd think.

Check, MP bets pretty big, LP calls, I call. Turn is a T.

I check again, having already decided I'm going to represent a straight. Heck, I might even be ahead of two Ace-big type hands.

The original raiser pauses for a short while, then bets big again. LP again calls.

I'm sensing weakness. I'm also thinking all or nothing. Check-raise all-in.

MP folds. Excellent. LP pauses, then calls, showing 99. Aarrghh.

That was the end of that. No assistance on the river and I'm out after 42 hands.

Oh well. Off to the micro limits for some fun with the other early bathers. Pinky, Drizz, and a little later Iggy, amongst others.

Blew off a bit of steam there, and off to bed at a reasonable hour for a change.

On Monday morning I was pleased to see the Europeans put up a creditable showing with two Blonde Poker members final tabling, including yet another poker playing Scotsman. Congratulations all round.

Unlucky For Some

Meh. Broke a twelve day winning streak with a small loss on PokerStars last night.

Is it greedy to be annoyed by that?

The loss was pretty small. It was the nature, rather than scale, of defeat that had me feeling a little tilty.

From being comfortably ahead, I plunged into the red on two big hands where bad - and I do mean REALLY bad - callers got lucky.

That happens. The galling thing was they both went bust in short order, and before I found a hand powerful enough to reclaim any my money. I HATE seeing other people taking my cash.

Having been up til 5am the night before, including my long overdue introduction to the world of blogger cash games, I decided to get out while the going was only moderately bad. Especially as I had work today. Grrr.

At these levels - Saturday was $50 Pot Limit Omaha on Stars - getting cards is key.

More specifically, getting cards against the right players is where the real money is made. One hand I was a spectator in went as follows...

No raise pre-flop, several players to flop. Ace high flop checked around. Turn brings another paint card on board, to make Broadway a possibility, and two to a flush.

All hell breaks loose. Raise, reraise, reraise, all in. Me thinking, yawn - two players with KJ for the straight. Only question is does one have a redraw to a flush?

Until the genius that is player 1 turns over AAxx for a slowplayed flopped set. Player 2 has KJxx and takes the lot! Absolute madness.

Those are the hands that make the night worthwhile - when the KJ is in my hand!

Anyway, almost time for the big event tonight. I sincerely hope a poker blogger wins it. Could be a bit embarrassing if one of the nutters I see on Blog Explosion comes along and does a Moneymaker.

Celtic - The Season So Far

It's been a long time since my last proper football post.

To catch up on everything that has happened since the end of last season, would take a book, not a solitary blog post. So, for now, I'll confine myself to a brief(ish) overview of events to date, with some of my thoughts and impressions.

I'll cover some of the specifics in later posts - if I ever get the time - and try to stay up to date in future.

To make sense of this story, it is necessary to start at the end. The end of last season that is.

The final day capitulation at Motherwell, was not only disastrous, but painfully predictable.

The Martin O'Neill era was drawing to a close, and the team was showing it's age. Against less talented - but younger and fitter - teams such as Hibs and Motherwell, Celtic were clearly vulnerable.

The after effects of that day lingered far beyond the hangover, and the Monday morning workplace jibes.

Not only was the league lost, but an additional Champions League qualifier, to be played in late July, had to be negotiated.

With the team in disarray, a new manager on his way, and limited resources to recruit new players, this did not bode well.

Even then I was fearful of missing out on Europe.

I was even more fearful, when I heard Gordon Strachan was being lined up as the new manager.

It was already clear the O'Neill regime had peaked, and a new broom was needed.

O'Neill had done a fantastic job in restoring pride and success to the team, but I was beginning to feel he had done a great company doctor job, turning around an ailing organisation, but didn't seem to have the imagination to evolve the team to the next level.

For once, the ideal replacement appeared to be at hand. Paul Le Guen, the ex-Lyon manager, had recently resigned.

Not only did he have experience of dominating domestic competition in his home league, he had good experience of the Champions League, including a visit to Celtic Park. His team played a skillful and pacy style of football.

No doubt his wages would be significant, but there would be none of the hassles associated with releasing O'Neill from Leicester, none of the bad feeling associated with Tommy Burns move from Kilmarnock. He was a free agent.

Instead, Celtic went for Gordon Strachan. To me, he seemed like the cheaper, though probably not cheap, option. A poor man's Martin O'Neill.

Once installed, I was pleasantly surprised that Strachan was given a fair amount of leeway to strengthen the team. He also set about cutting out a lot of the overpaid deadwood.

Of the players who left, the only major mistake, one which was to prove costly, was allowing Jackie McNamara to leave on a Bosman. McNamara was never the most spectacular player but he was solid and steady in defence, and a capable holding midfielder.

The area that concerned me, was lack of defensive signings. Particularly in light of the failings of the previous year.

At the time I commented to friends that the happiest players at the club were probably the youth team defenders.

Generally when a team is in trouble, the biggest priority is to make them hard to beat.

Wim Jansen and O'Neill both did it at Celtic, even Mourinho, with all the millions at his disposal, spent the first few months at Chelsea grinding out 1-0 wins. Strachan chose a different path at Celtic.

There's no space here to cover each signing in detail, and it's too early to pass judgement on some of them, but overall the signs are positive.

Artur Boruc is a commanding presence in goal, and the signings of Shunsuke Nakamura and Du Wei display an enterprising approach to football as well as commerce.

However, the Artmedia Bratislava disaster, and consequent failure to qualify for any European football this season, was the ultimate price of the loss at Motherwell and lack of defensive signings.

The rebuilt team had to face too big a game, too early. The loss of revenue will hurt the board most. The lack of great European nights sapped the spirits of every true fan.

Big domestic games at Celtic Park are a great event. Big European nights are almost spiritual occasions.

At that point, an entire season of turgid SPL football, devoid of the occasional visit from the stellar talents of Ronaldinho, Shevchenko, del Piero and co, beckoned.

In that respect, the challenge of Hearts this season has actually been a pleasant surprise. Rather than a grim struggle between Celtic and Rangers, there is actually an element of unpredictability in the league this season.

Indeed, it could be said that the Scottish league is actually more competitive than the English Premiership.

Another bright spot has been a marked improvement in the style of football played by Celtic. More focus on passing the ball on the ground, more reliance on skill and pace, and a willingness to give youth a chance. For which Gordon Strachan can take credit.

The future certainly appears brighter than in the dark days after Artmedia. There remains a long way to go; but after a dire start, Gordon Strachan has earned the right to be given some leeway over the rest of this season.

The team is in contention for the title, is playing better football, young Scottish players are being given the opportunity to flourish, and inventive signings have been made.

That said, with Rangers in disarray, and facing the burden of Europe; and Hearts a useful team, but a limited squad; only the league title, and subsequent qualification for next year's Champions League, will be sufficient to fully justify his appointment as manager.

In The Money At InterPoker

Earlier this month I signed up for InterPoker through a rakeback deal and deposited $100.

Today I cashed out for almost $450. Additionally I've probably earned another $30 or so rakeback. Not a bad effort.

I did dabble in the low buy-in pot limit and no limit Hold Em tables, but predominantly I focused on the Pot Limit Omaha tables.

In no way can I claim to be an expert in this game, but at these levels there are enough fishy players to keep me happy. Some with very idiosyncratic playing styles.

One nice thing about InterPoker is the 'bet pot' button, which makes it nice and simple to give people a bad price to chase their draw. It also means my bluffs are indistinguishable from by genuine bets, as I always bet the pot.

Other players seem not to care for this button.

My favourite play is the guy who will call a pot size bet on the flop with a flush draw, sometimes taking the 2/1 odds, sometimes getting priced in by other fishy callers.

After hitting their draw, and just as I am preparing to fold my top set, or at worst two pair, they then lead out with a minimum bet. In an extreme case, with several people in the pot and a raise pre-flop, you might be looking at a single BB bet into a 30 or 40 BB pot.

As well as the actual odds of drawing to catch a paired board, there's also the implied odds that they will call off their whole stack with the nut flush against my full house.

I lost count of how many times this happened in the last week. Of course sooner or later my top full house will run into someone who hits quads, but overall this is a definite +EV situation.

Speaking of quads...in precisely the above scenario, where I'd raised pre-flop with a monster AAKQds, I hit a flop of Axx but with two to another suit.

Of course I bet the pot and got a caller who did exactly what I've described above when he hit the flush on the turn.

I outdrew him in style by rivering the case Ace, and took his entire stack.

I'm definitely enjoying Omaha more than Hold Em at present. Playing tight and fairly straightforward, I feel I've got a clear edge over most players at this level.

I took quite copious notes on the idiosyncrasies of various players, but only wrote a single note highlighting a good player to avoid tangling with.

The next challenge will be to step up to the next buy-in level, with the bankroll sufficiently padded.

Quick Celtic Update

Just a quickie.

I dragged myself, and my cold along to Celtic Park on Saturday for the visit of league leaders(!) Hearts.

If there's one thing a sore throat doesn't need, it's a refereeing fiasco. Dougie McDonald? Old McDonald would have done better.

Still, the big picture wasn't too bad come Sunday night, even if I did sound like a half strangled frog by then. Not a bad game either.

I've been meaning to catch up on footballing events since pre-season, but Mrs Div delivered rather more productively than Alan Thompson has managed in two seasons, which scuppered that.

By the time I'd composed my thoughts, events had moved on again, with the Artmedia disaster. I'll post a proper football article soon, to catch up on the season to date, then try to resume more regular coverage.

On the poker front, I'm still beating the low buy-in Pot Limit Omaha on Crypto - though this is hardly a huge claim to fame. If the baby could work a mouse, I reckon she'd have been ahead over the weekend.

Don't tell my opponents, but reraising all-in on a 4/1 shot with one card to come, is NOT a winning strategy. Nor is drawing to an 8-high flush when your opponent has top set and a draw to a Q-high flush.

Sickness and Suckouts

I am the suckout king!

Friday night was homegame night. I'd been looking forward to it for weeks.

Thus it was somewhat unfortunate that I had to take Thursday off work, through finally succumbing to the bug that's been ailing me for the last week or so. I just finally ran out of energy.

Like one of those little bunnies in the Duracell advert, I abruptly ground to a halt.

A lazy day in bed left me feeling better, but unfortunately the little one has been continuing to suffer too, and by Friday she sounded like a 70-year old man after a lifetime of 40 cigarettes a day.

With her temperature in the high fever range, I called in a holiday and took the day off to help Mrs Div keep a close watch on her.

By the evening her temperature had declined, so I didn't feel too guilty about heading out to play poker.

I was running quite late, and missed the first game.

Before departing I did contemplate 'doing a Hellmuth' and calling the guys to tell them to post and fold for me until I arrived, but decided against it. I was still pretty run down, so didn't see the point in rushing along only to bring my D-game to the table.

Of course I told the guys I was just being sporting and giving someone else a chance to win a game.

By the time we were ready for game two, I'd had the chance to down a few beers and wind down.

We were six handed for a £10 buy-in NLH game, with one newcomer to the group. Allan was later to suffer one of my outdraws.

We tend to play pretty deep stacks and a slow clock, so the structure suits me. I'm not so used to playing short handed, as online I almost exclusively play ten handed cash games.

Adopting my starting hand standards for different game types is one aspect of my play I've been working on.

Consequently as the night went on, and the blinds increased, I found myself in a few marginal situations, all but one of which went my way.

Allan went down when my KQ beat out his AT when I made a pair on the flop.

Now in possession of a big stack, I started to try some selective bullying, which went wrong when a big raise with QT was reraised all-in by short-stack Pat (previously christened Party Poker Pat by me, after an outrageous outdraw run).

He didn't have enough chips to push me off the hand, and my gut feel was I was up against an underpair, so the call was easy.

Doh! How wrong could I be? He had AQ, and I was in a bad spot. Until that is, a T hit the board, and sent Pat to the rail.

He took it well, but I'm banned from using the Party Poker Pat nickname now.

Ultimately I was heads up with Steph, and had him comfortably outchipped. Steph is a tough opponent and much more a SNG and tourney specialist than me, so I didn't want to let him back in by giving him any cheap double throughs.

He survived one sticky situation with a rivered straight, but when I flopped top pair against his flush draw, the chips went in and no flush card emerged.

Over the night I don't think I laid an outrageous bad beat on anyone, but I certainly carried some luck.

Perhaps my newly commissioned card protector can take the credit.

One of Mrs Div's new friends from the breast feeding support group runs a franchise for producing casts or imprints of kids hands and feet.

Hence my new card protector is a cast of a 2-month old babies fist. Pretty cool I thought...

Wisdom Of The Wife

First things first, I finally won one of those big all-in pre-flop Omaha hands that I've been chatting about recently. Lucrative. Boy did it feel good.

Also, hello to any visitors from Guinness and Poker. I had a great time with Iggy, my writeup is here.

Onwards to the post proper....

Scene 1: Me upstairs in computer room, wife downstairs in TV room.

Her: 'Hey, come down I think you will like this!'
Me: 'Like what?'
Her: 'It's the MTV "making of" for the new Jessica Simpson video.'
(sound of thundering feet)
Me: 'mmmhhhhmmgggghhhhh'
Her: 'Do you think that look is deliberate?'
Me: 'What look?'
Her: 'Well Jessica sorta looks a bit grubby, like she kinda needs a good scrub. Don't you think?'
Me: (faints)

Scene 2: Both in TV room, me on laptop playing poker, Scrubs on TV. Dorian needs early morning advice, rushes around to hot ex-girlfriend to chat.

Me: (looking up from laptop) 'Who's the hot ex-girlfriend? I sorta recognise her.'
Her: 'Oh that's the girl from American Pie?'
Me: 'Ah. Tara Reid!'
Her: 'Yeah, that's right. She's a dirty girl!'
Me: 'Huh?'
Her: 'Well, she is always in trouble. Turning up drunk for premieres, boobs hanging out, that sorta stuff.
Me: 'I see. You have a way with words. Tara Reid is a dirty girl. Gotta be worth a Google!!'
(Googles)
(Drools)

WARNING - Actual poker content ahead.

Scene 3 - The TV room, again. Me playing poker on laptop, again.

Her: (laughs out loud)
Me: 'Wassup?'
Her: 'Well, everytime I look at you, you have a sort of incredulous expression on your face.'
Me: 'Ah, well, I'm playing Pot Limit Omaha, and when I'm not in a hand I watch the betting to see how the other guys play. I try to work out what logically they can be holding, but I hardly ever get it right.'
(pause)
Me: 'Look, here's one. Three guys putting a lot of cash in on the flop with an obvious made straight and a flush draw. The guy doing the betting MUST have the straight. But there can't be two guys drawing to the nut flush.'
(pause)
Me: 'Yep, straight holds up. One guy missed his flush draw. Don't even know what the other guy was trying for. He just did his entire stack on it though'
Her: 'Why?'
Me: (grinning)'Who knows?'


I'm getting somewhat suspicious of the wife's sudden fondness for bringing 'dirty girls' to my attention. I suspect a plot to bring forward the schedule for baby two.

I can see the conversation now. Me, quoting finances, living space, and other such practicalities. Her, 'Oh look, there's the Jessica video on MTV again. She really DOES look dirty dontcha think?'. Me, undressing.....

Oh Woe Is Me

I've had a pretty grim last few days.

Work is a bit of a nightmare at present. Last night I got home from my 9 til 5 job at 11pm. Now, I'm definitely more of an evening than morning person, but that's taking it to extremes.

The entire family (all 3 of us) have a cold at present. Mrs Div is worst off, baby Div is coughing and sneezing, but otherwise unaffected, and I'm teetering in between. Absolutely shattered, but otherwise getting by.

It's one of those situations where if I worked for 'Huge Corporation Inc' I'd be tucked up at home for a few days. Working for a tiny company I just don't feel I can do that when we have deadlines to hit.

Mind you, staying at home isn't always such a great option. The damn cat is in a helluva mood at present. Twice this weekend he bit me while I was playing poker.

I can cope with a fair few distractions, but when I'm three tabling Pot Limit Omaha - three being the most my feeble brain and monitor combination can manage - the last thing I need is a demented feline channeling the spirit of his ancestors on the Serengeti to mangle my arm.

To add to my woes, last week I finally got my act together and sorted out a rakeback account. My first sign up - Eurobet. Tarnation. Could my timing have been any worse?

I also signed up to InterPoker, and having cleared the Eurobet sign up bonus last week, I set about the InterPoker small stakes PLO tables.

Perhaps playing on the weekend was an influence, but my initial impression was there was no difference in standard or style of play between Crypto and Party. Both sites play very loose-aggressive at my buy-in level, whereas PokerStars tends to feel more loose-passive.

Very loose-aggressive makes for a swingy, but potentially profitable game. As an example, I offer up a big hand I lost. I can't say I was delighted to lose it, but if people keep offering these odds to me, I'll take it every time.

This is from memory, but I checked the stats straight after so they are definitely accurate.

On the hand in question I am under the gun and find AAQ8ss. Having only played a few orbits, I've established small raises will not be respected, and being in poor position, I decide to limp with my original buy-in almost intact, and hammer the flop if I hit.

There are a couple of calls, a mid-position raise, more flat calls (told you!), and the obvious table maniac reraises the maximum. Folded round to me, with the pot now big enough to facilitate a meaningful reraise.

In previous posts, I've touched on learning that overplaying aces in Omaha can be very painful, but I figure in this situation I am now in a position to be either heads up or three way to a flop with probably the best hand, and a fair amount of dead money in the pot. So, I reraise the maximum.

The original raiser flat calls, the maniac reraises all-in, I call all-in, as does the original raiser.

Cards on their backs, and my AAQ8ss is up against KK23ds(maniac) and an ace and three low cards single suited (original raiser).

My immediate reaction is 'woowhoo'! My second reaction is do these guys think we are playing Hi/Lo?

Of course the flop/turn brings two 2s putting the maniac ahead with trips, and the river completes a wheel for the original raiser.

At which point I groan and reload, as the maniac berates the winner as, and I kid you not, a 'lucky fish'. No mention of my holding.

Back to the Cardplayer Omaha calculator, to discover pre-flop I was 52% to win the hand. So I got my cash in at roughly 5/2 on a better than evens shot.

I'll lose 48% of the time, but that's still a massively +EV bet. Even better, at least one of the two guys I was up against didn't even seem to realise he was a huge dog in the hand.

Losing in this situation is hardly a cause for celebration, but definitely an incentive to get back around the table with these guys as often as possible!

Ah, just typing that makes me feel better. My woes recede...

Empire Fights Back

Yet another reload bonus. There's gonna be a lot of grinding over the next week or two!

I wonder if Party anticipated such a vigorous response, so quickly, from their competitors?

Judging by today's UK newspapers, 'the market' seems to be broadly neutral on the Party move, which suggests to me it might have been more hassle than it was worth.

I also wonder whether we might see the ultimate weapon rolled out by someone soon.

Not rakeback; but rake cut.

Which site wants to really grab the attention of the customers by cutting their fees. $2 or $3 on a $20 pot at 2/4 seems awfully steep to me, there must be scope for more competition in this area.

Time will tell.

Let Battle Commence

I see PokerStars and Absolute Poker have opportunistically rushed out new reload bonuses to take advantage of the Party Poker upheaval.

It remains to be seen who will do best out of this, but expect PokerStars to be rolling out a 'worlds biggest poker site' campaign anytime now.

In the short term, it looks like the Party rump sites will be shark infested waters, but I wonder how the long term will pan out.

Coral Eurobet has just been bought by Gala Casinos, who are a big UK B&M operation - there are three Gala casinos in Glasgow alone.

I'd expect Gala to go down the 888.com route, and try to create a casino and poker site, but they can add a third and fourth unit too, as the combined company are big B&M bingo and bookmaking operators.

We all know how juicy the Pacific Poker players can be, so maybe you shouldn't uninstall your Party skin software just yet.

More Party Poker High Jinks

So, the Party Poker 'upgrade'...

Firstly, what nitwit decided to run an upgrade on a Saturday afternoon(US) or evening(Europe)?

I've worked in IT for ten years, and would have been laughed off every project I ever worked on for suggesting rolling out new software as peak operating hours approached.

It's annoying enough being crashed out of a cash game, but the amount of STT and MTT players affected must be in the thousands.

Secondly, I really don't like the new games as a player, though from a shareholder perspective I can see why they make sense to Party.

If some degenerate gambler wants to blow his cash on Party, I'd rather he did it capping it pre-flop against me with 73s due to it's powerful flushing and straightening possibilities, rather than by handing the cash to Party on a sidebet.

Thirdly, it looks like they have hived off the skin players into a separate database! Right now I am logged into Party, Empire, and Eurobet, and can see the following:

Site	Tables	Players
Party	1864	12748
Empire	560	3797
Eurobet	563	3853

They are also allowing people to 8 table now.

This looks like an attempt to get all the high volume grinders back onto the main site, and off the skin sites offering rakeback. Whether this will work remains to be seen.

Perhaps some people might prefer playing on a site with less grinders.

I'm surprised Party didn't need to publicise this change in advance, as they are now a FTSE100 company. However, I did note that when Sporting Bet pulled out of their takeover bid for Empire, it was stated:

"Neither company provided further details though one source familiar with the matter told AFX News Sportingbet had been concerned by Empire Online's relationship with its bigger rival PartyGaming PLC."

So perhaps the skins already had wind of this.

If this is true, I'm amazed the skins are signed up to an agreement that lets Party cut them off from one of their biggest selling points.

The next few days should be interesting, to see how people react.

Personally, I haven't had time to think it all through properly yet.

Happy Days

Too tired to play tonight. Boy does work suck right now!

Sitting watching an old Late Night Poker episode with amongst others Kevin O'Connell, Willie Tann, Padraig Parkinson, and Phil Hellmuth!

The commentary team, Jesse May and Barny Boatman. Barny's first words of the night (after Jesse has intro'ed as the first hand is played): 'Evening Jesse. Didn't take Phil long to start moaning.'

Bliss. Time for another beer.

Party Poker Having A Laugh

Their latest bonus is a fairly generous 30% to $100 with seven times raked hands.

Nice, but why 30% to $100; why not to $120 so the probable deposit is $400 rather than $333?

Or am I just a pedantic freak?

Checking The Nuts

I've never been a particularly sporty person.

When I was younger, I did play football, badly. My style was more rugged midfield enforcer/hatchet man full-back, than silky midfield play-maker, or dashing goalscorer. I did enjoy it, just wasn't any good at it.

For some reason I got into table tennis, and was pretty decent in a peer comparison sense, but my aptitude for that faded along with my eyesight.

Since then I've just toddled along, with only intermittent bouts of physical endeavour. I'm one of the fortunates for whom weight has never been a real problem.

My occasional bursts of gym going were aimed more at building up, than slimming down, and needed the assistance of copious amounts of protein supplements to have an appreciable effect.

Walking to and from train stations is the height of my current exertions, and poker isn't likely to have me in peak condition.

All that said, I do worry about my health sometimes. More from the perspective of will I be around for my family as they grow up, rather than 'I don't wanna die!!!'

So, I have started paying attention to things like cholesterol levels, blood pressure, body fat ratio, etc.

I'm also conscious of quite a few heart attack or cancer victims within the family gene pool. The dual curses of the Scottish NHS.

So, I am inclined to pay attention to issues such as getting regular check ups, looking out for signs of disease, etc.

Which makes it all the crazier to me that this campaign caused such a furore...

You can check the link if you wish, but the executive summary would be that Ricky Gervais (of The Office fame) has done a fabulous campaign to support prostate cancer treatment, yet the idiotic radio regulators initially wanted to restrict it's broadcast on some sort of decency grounds.

It's fine to have all sorts of crap about sex, guns, violence, or just general idiocy and banality from presenters, broadcast at any time of day or night, but a campaign by an award winning star, which could save lives, was supposed to be a post-watershed event?

Fortunately common sense has prevailed and the regulators have backed down in the face of public ridicule. You can listen to the ad here.

Office chat about this issue reminded me of an earlier men's health campaign, which I think may be of interest to some of you out there.

Rachel Stevens, a UK singer/actress did a campaign to promote awareness of testicular cancer.

As a sort of UK Lindsay Lohan, the idea of Rachel encouraging males to touch themselves is nothing new (as the ad slyly acknowledges). The target demographic may have been slightly older though.

I thought the campaign was very well done, and worth sharing with you.

So, if you are a male poker player, do as Rachel says, and check your nuts.

Let's face it, after all those Party Poker inflicted kicks to the junk, there's a severe risk of damage down there!

Wild Weekend

Poker and babies - guaranteed to screw with your body clock.

By Friday last week, I was really shattered and looking forward to the weekend. Saturday evening was planned to be our first big night out since the birth of Baby Div. Drinks, and a late dinner with friends, with a possible casino visit to round off the night.

First though, I needed sleep. I crashed the second I got home, and was out like a light. Several hours later, refreshed and ready for action, I emerged from beneath the covers.....at midnight.

With the little one asleep, Mrs Div headed for bed leaving me in charge of feeding and changing duties. The plan being that she would get a decent sleep, while I stayed up for a few hours.

A few hours...seven to be precise. I played poker all through the night. Which was great. I won some cash, I had fun, and when baby awoke, I got to spend time with her. Recently, with work and other demands, I haven't been spending as much time with her as I'd like, so even changing nappies has a certain appeal at present.

Of course, come the daytime, I had a different perspective on things. Two hours sleep is not the best way to prepare for a busy day, and a heavy night.

Which perhaps explains why after copious amounts of alcohol, and a nice meal, I found myself in the Gala Merchant City casino, with cash in my pocket, my gambling pals by my side, and no urge whatsoever to play.

Remembering whether standing or hitting holding 13 when the dealer is showing a 2 is the optimum play, was more than my feeble brain could cope with. Staying on my feet was as much as I could manage.

So to Sunday, a day of rest. Or not, as the case may be. At midday my plans for the day were unclear. I knew Iggy was in the country, but whether we could meet up was not yet determined.

One brief call from Edinburgh to Glasgow set the wheels in motion, and the seeds of my killer hangover were sown.

I believe my parting words to Mrs Div were along the lines "I'll just have a few quiet drinks. Shouldn't be too late."

So how was it that nine hours later, I was sending a text message (didn't want to wake the baby) saying "Missed last train. Back in morning. Sorry!"

The answer to that question may well be out there somewhere, but I don't have it!

More specifically, I still can't work out how I went from checking my watch at 10.30pm and thinking "Two trains to go, need to make plans for leaving soon" to re-checking it at precisely 11.30pm and thinking "Shiiiiit, the last train just left!"

Things I CAN recall:

- Iggy is a total gent, and a pleasure to spend time with
- As is his dad, a man who epitomises the phrase unflappable
- They travel in style, as evidenced by a very comfortable carpet
- An evening with Iggy has convinced me I need to win a big MTT so I can afford a trip to one of the Vegas get togethers
- The 5.52am train was very quiet, thankfully
- Work on Monday was torture, but the pain was worth it

Hangover From Hell

My skull is playing host to a herd of stampeding buffalo; my stomach is churning like a washing machine; memories of last night are somewhat hazy.

If I told you I spent the evening drinking Guinness, and got my ass handed to me at heads up limit hold em by a poker playing dwarf, I'm sure you would understand.

September Summary

It's good to talk.

The relatively small amount of poker I had been playing this month had been going pretty well until last weekend - the results of which I documented previously.

The upshot of that disastrous session was my entire profit for the month was eliminated, and I was well into the red.

Had the month ended then, this would have been one depressing summary.

Fortunately for my sanity and bankroll, not to mention that of you, my tiny but loyal readership, there was still the chance to stage a rescue mission.

Stage one of that mission was purging my demons on these very pages. Above all else, this blog gives me an outlet for thoughts and frustrations that would otherwise gnaw away at my innards for a great deal longer than the time it takes to get them into electronic print.

Stage two was getting involved in a thread, initiated by another poster on Blonde Poker, discussing how to play aces in Omaha. Bouncing thoughts and ideas off infinitely more skilled players, and learning from their, as well as my, experiences, gave me the motivation to get back to the tables and apply the harshly taught lessons.

Stage three was the return to the tables. In the last week, I managed four sessions of Pot Limit Omaha on Poker Stars, and posted four profitable results.

Just enough to put me back at break even for the month, and that's a genuine break even - not a poker player's definition of break even (lost an affordable amount).

Most encouragingly for me, I do feel my game has taken a step forward in the past week. Several hands I played in the last few days had outcomes different to that which would have occurred last weekend.

'Frustration calls' - where I just knew I'd been outdrawn but couldn't bring myself to acknowledge it - have been excised from my game, for the time being at least. I even folded the nut flush to a very likely full house.

My patience has been restored. When opportunities arise, I am attacking ruthlessly.

If I can maintain this discipline in the long term, I am optimistic about the impact on the quality of my play, and ultimately my bankroll.

Sweet Lord!!

Count me in........

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

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 5749840

Just A Thought

With my pretty decent Google ranking, people occasionally blunder by on the most unexpected search terms. Sometimes they even find me with searches about poker!

I've been posting quite a lot about Omaha poker recently, so there's always the chance a few searches might hit me based on that.

If you happen to find this post whilst searching on Omaha poker, for goodness sake disregard anything I say, and get over to the experts...

Milkybarkid - just won a nice prize in London
Internet Poker Pro - gotta love that pick axe handle story!

That is all.

Reflections On The Weekend

I was pretty miffed on Sunday morning, as memories of the night before reverberated through my aching brain.

Six months ago I'd have been stomping around like a bear with a sore head, and back on the tables by lunchtime. Hoping to recoup my losses from tired, drunk west coast Americans.

Instead I spent the morning with wife and daughter. Somehow the poker tables don't seem half as important when there's an infant asleep on my chest, her tiny hand grasping my shirt as she cosily snuggles in.

Right now, I'd say that's the greatest feeling in the world. There's a benign tranquility that comes from knowing that I helped make her, and right now that little bundle of perfection is entirely reliant on Mrs Div and I.

Nothing else matters to us half as much as she does.

With this new found outbreak of common sense in my life, I was able to review the previous night's activities with a clearer sense of perspective than normal.

For someone who has been playing poker for less than a year, I've an awful tendency to lapse into a superiority complex when playing.

Just because say 40% of the table are demonstrably terrible - like the guy who just called a raise with A567, flopped no obvious draw on a flushing board but still called another big bet and runner-runnered an ignorant straight - I tend to assume I'm clearly superior to everyone. Which obviously is not the case.

Consequently there's a tendency to assume losing hands are bad luck rather than bad play. Often they are, but there were quite a few from this weekend where I was clearly the sinner rather than sinned against.

Having accepted that, I was trying to figure out the root cause of the bad plays, and this led me to a conclusion that slightly surprised me, though in retrospect it makes perfect sense.

Normally I'm an extremely patient player. When I play live, whether homegames, or my occasional forays in casino or card club, I am invariably the table rock.

When I blow the dust off my chips and stick them in the middle, people sit up and take notice.

That style of play is actually easier for me to maintain live than online at present. When I go to play B&M the night is set aside. There are no distractions from the game.

At home, even though I can multitable and see a ton more hands, there are other unpredictable demands on my time. Each session can end at any moment.

This wouldn't be a problem if I was maintaining the long view, but I've been too focused on each session as an atomic event, rather than looking at the long term bankroll trend. I've been chasing.

Consequently I've been guilty of trying to make things happen when the circumstances are unfavourable. Trying to push people off hands, chasing draws when the odds aren't there, overvaluing my strong hands, too much speculative limping.

For someone who is far from an action junkie, I've been seeing a lot of action!

Aggression with a purpose is one of the biggest weapons in the poker armoury; aggression for the sake of aggression is a leak of Titanic proportions.

There aren't many sports or activities where the superior player or team can always prevail, no matter the circumstances, through pure aggression. Poker certainly isn't one of them.

So, I have resolved to sit back, and let the cards fall as they may. When they fall well I play, when they fall badly I fold, and if I'm down at close of play, it's irrelevant. The long term trend is all.

My motto for this week: No more chasing!

The Poker Gods Giveth...

...and taketh away.

What a beating I took last night at the Omaha tables!! Even Rocky would have been on his knees crying 'No mas' by the end of the night. FIVE buy-ins frittered away.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

- I played a few monster pots abysmally
- The man with no fold button hit every draw imaginable
- Every flop I hit seemed to give someone else a huge draw
- My big draws wouldn't come in
- I just couldn't get anyone to fold to a bet
- As the night went on, I let it get a bit personal

By the close of play, my head was spinning. My screen name should have been Tilty McTilter.

Unfortunately I don't have time to go over it in detail tonight, but I reckon maybe two-thirds of the losses were self inflicted.

Mostly from a huge pot where having almost doubled my buy-in on one table, I got massively involved pre-flop with AAxx single suited, against the table idiot, who held AAKQ and hit a Broadway straight.

From that fiasco I've drawn two lessons. Don't overvalue your hand pre-flop, and even morons get dealt monsters.

The same guy outdrew my made hand by calling pot size bets on flop and turn to hit a backdoor flush holding the TWO AND THREE of spades. So much for only drawing to the nuts!

Another big pot went down when I flopped top two pair with the nut-flush draw, against a guy who had slow played aces and flopped a set.

With my AJ and two hearts I knew I might be behind to a set. However the way the table was playing, I could easily be ahead of a smaller two pair, or someone drawing to a smaller flush, so I figured it was worth the gamble.

That was late on and the tilt factor was high by that point. At the time it felt right to get all the cash in on the flop, but now I'm not so sure. I need to run it through Cardplayer to see just how good/bad a move it was.

Still, we live and learn, and there's no harsher way to learn than bleeding your cash across the ether.

I ran into quite a few situations last night that I hadn't previously experienced, including the classic Omaha hand where my top two pair were actually a very marginal dog to the foe with an open ended straight draw, and the nut flush draw with two overs.

My initial reaction when he outdrew me was that it was a suckout, but I ran the cards through the Cardplayer simulator, and there is was in black and white, the cards ran true!

It's one thing to read that in a book, it's quite another to actually have it happen to you for the first time!

Last night's cards go into the 'Lessons Learned' folder. Next session I hope to apply those lessons well.

Further Adventures In Omaha (and Orwell)

I've had a blast tonight on the PokerStars $50 Pot Limit Omaha tables.

Having recouped all my losses from the insanely misguided session earlier this week, I even added some black numbers to the bankroll spreadsheet.

I played three tables, making unspectacular progress on two, but absolutely killing the third. Every draw hit, every bluff got through, I was flying.

Some of the hands people will call down with beggar belief.

Anything less than a set on the flop gets my nerves jangling if someone calls my bet, yet time and again I see people drawing to straights when there's a flush draw out, calling down with two pair when there's been a bet and a call on a flush board, or raising with two pair into someone with top set.

What can be frustrating is having an obvious fish lay some crazy suckout on me, then watching helpless as they donate their entire stack to someone else on the very next hand.

In a limit hold em game, most half-decent players would be licking their lips when they spot a table with VPIP beyond 50%. Some of these PLO tables are running at 70-80% VPIP and this is big bet poker - the buy-in might only be $50 but some of the pots are approaching $100.

Added to the financial and fun aspects, I also hit a new milestone in my online poker experience. My first ever chat yellow card from PokerStars support.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought it was a tad harsh. I've seen some real redneck stuff in the chat across the various sites I play on. Generally I ignore it, or when I'm in mischievous mode I go for a teasing riposte.

My weakness is while I can usually (but not always) hold fire when some fish rivers me - not wanting to scare them away - I sometimes can't resist sticking my tuppence worth into other people's discussions.

The action tonight was that one player had laid a river suckout on his foe, and was taking some flak for it. His riposte was along the lines 'My BR is more than you've won in your life'.

Now that's the second time this week I've heard that line. A few days ago some muppet was claiming he was superior to the rest of the table as he had won $20,000 last year.

You show me someone who won $20,000 last year and is playing $50 PLO this year, and I'll show you a moron who can't manage money.

So tonight I couldn't resist a little dig of my own. The entire extent of which was 'BR? Bull**** ratio?' (N.B. I used **** in the actual chat)

The guy continued his little verbal war for a few more minutes before leaving without making any comment to me. Literally five minutes later I get a popup warning in the Stars client, and an email message...

"We have received a complaint regarding some things you said in chat at our tables. I have reviewed the chat log and did find some of your comments to be inappropriate.

Our goal at PokerStars is to be a fun place to play, where everyone can feel comfortable. Foul language and abuse of other players takes away from everyone's enjoyment, and therefore cannot be permitted.

We must ask you to refrain from using this type of language in the future, or we will be forced to remove your chat privileges.

Please note that you may not be the only one receiving a message such as this. When we receive a chat complaint, we review the entire chat of all players at the table.
Any other offenders at the table were also warned or revoked as appropriate to our policies.

Regards,

Gabriel
PokerStars Support Team

---
26968401 bull**** ratio? 4 9/23/2005 7:25:40 PM"

Now, full marks to Stars for speed of action. Their support is clearly a notch above most sites, but come on! What a load of crap. If I'd omitted the **** would it still have been inappropriate. Orwell comes to online poker!

Anyway, the table was still going with most of the same players, so I couldn't resist mentioning it. Cue much hilarity/incredulity, and on with the game!

Bloody Hell

I was just about to knock up a small post recording the fact that today is my 5th wedding anniversary, when I decided to run through Bloglines first.

Noticing that Sir Al was back in action, I clicked on his site, and saw this!

Wow. What are the odds on that!?

The Blogger Handbook

Reporters Without Borders have published an interesting handbook aimed at encouraging people to blog, especially in countries where the 'normal' press is repressed or state-controlled.

The Handbook For Bloggers and Cyber Dissidents can be found here.

Adventures In Omaha

Been having (mostly) fun on the $50 Pot Limit Omaha tables on Pokerstars over the last few nights.

I consider myself very much as a beginner at this game. I'm still struggling to get to grips with what does and doesn't constitute a pre-flop raising hand, so I tend to play very tight-passive pre-flop, and hope to hit a monster, or at very least a nut draw.

Based on my reading to date, this isn't optimum strategy, but it seemed to be working pretty well for me. I was generally finishing each session with a reasonable profit.

The texture of the Stars tables can change very quickly. Some tables see seven players to every flop, with no raise. Others see three or four at most, with often a raise and re-raise.

On the madder tables, I've been going even tighter, and letting others do the betting into me when I hit.

Last night I decided to attempt a step forward in my strategy, by going into tight-aggressive mode, and leading the betting more often, as the books recommend.

I was not seeing many flops but generally opening for a raise wherever I got the opportunity.

The results were less than stellar. A few times I did get outdrawn by marginal hands, but mostly I just blew money away, betting out with 2nd best hands, or hammering draws that missed.

Most memorably on a 9-high flop I held an overpair and an open ended straight draw.

My pot size bet on the flop got one caller. The turn missed me but I made another pot size bet, which was called, and again missed the river.

Leaving me with a grand total of not very much, as there are now overcards to my pair.

By now it's pretty damn obvious I'm beat. Equally it seems to me I'm going to get called if I bluff into a pretty big pot. So, I check, expecting to fold to a bet.

My opponent checks behind, and shows 99xx for the flopped top set, which was the stone cold nuts at that point!! So with a medium top set on a drawing board, he simply called my bet.

That's the sort of play the books can't legislate for. Some players seem to make up their mind on the flop that they have a hand, and they are seeing a showdown, come-what-may.

Playing too aggressively I was blundering into their 'trap' - effectively handing the cash over without resistance.

Of course when my draws do hit, these are the guys who will pay off big time, but I need to be more discerning about picking my moments to bet.

90 minutes of all-action play saw me down two buy-ins. An exciting, but expensive, way to pass the time.

By now I was feeling pretty tilty, so I logged out and took a breather.

Once I'd calmed down, I returned to the fray, and reverted to my more passive style.

A short session before bed saw me recover a percentage of the losses.

I know it's not recommended to go back to the tables in these circumstances, but sleep would not have come easy otherwise. I hate ending on a down note.

Still in the red for the night, but feeling much better about things, it was off to bed for a sound sleep.

Baby Update

I really need to get myself a delivery manager for this blog. It's starting to resemble some of the more painful IT projects I've worked on. Gradually slipping further and further behind.

Baby Div was christened the Sunday before last. We had a great, but very exhausting day. Unseasonably pleasant weather, a nice service, and a good little party afterwards.

A plentiful buffet and cheap bar for the adults. Cheesy music and unlimited E numbers for the kids.

The whole day was hectic, I think my beer at the party evaporated quicker than I drank it.

Baby Div was gratifyingly well behaved. Much to our relief. She's a feisty little character, but was on her best behaviour for the priest.

She even refrained from puking on her gown.

I'm certainly open to accusations of bias, but I thought she looked gorgeous.



Modern life is so hectic it needs something big like a birth or death to give me the chance to see some of my family and friends. Every time we get together, we vow it won't take another major event for us see each other again.

It never seems to work out that way.

New Orleans and Global Warming

Now the initial period of rescue and recovery is over, it's worth looking a bit deeper at the possible causes of this catastrophe.

As a starting point, may I suggest this article from The Independent newspaper.

The facts are mindblowing. Arctic ice coverage 18% below trend levels. A latest date for complete summer meltdown of 2070.

Does anyone think it's a good idea to rebuild a city below the current sea level?

Game Report: Cincinnati Club Limited Rebuy

Ahh, the restorative powers of a toasted wholemeal bagel with hot sausage, washed down with mediocre coffee. Suddenly leg two of the trip to work seemed bearable.

I was languishing in Glasgow Central train station on Friday morning, after an unsuccessful, but enjoyable, foray to the Cincinnati Club the previous evening.

The night had started quietly. With an early start time, it made more sense for me to stay in town, rather than heading home for dinner.

I met up with my brother close to his workplace for a traditional Scottish feast of curry washed down with lager. Poker isn't his game so, fed and watered, we parted company and I ambled across the Clyde en route to the club.

With time to kill, I stopped for a few moments to savour the tranquility of the river. Somewhat more relaxing than the other type of river we are accustomed to.


I was really looking forward to the game, as it promised something different.

Most tournaments in Glasgow are of the rebuy variety. From my limited experience of them, I'd come to the conclusion there were a lot more gamblers than card players, some of whom only have eyes for building as big a prize pool as possible.

The low buy-in games are justifiably referred to as 'bingo night', due to the propensity of some players to call with any two cards.

Tonight was intended to be different. As previously advertised on this site, the aim was to go for a structure with more play that would favour skill over deep pockets.

So, there was an initial buy-in of £15 for 3000 chips, with blinds at 50/100 for the first 60 minutes. Only one rebuy or top-up was allowed.

Personally I'd rather just pay £30 and head straight into a freezout with 6000 chips, but it was still a huge step in the right direction.

The driving force behind the new structure was fellow home gamer Rod Paradise, who had persuaded the club management to give the new structure a try, and who I had been assisting in pimping the event across a variety of local forums.

We were delighted to find the club much busier than on previous rebuy nights, as our pimping seemed to have got the message across.

The tourney kicked off at 8.30pm with 54 runners, and a few latecomers missed out. A really good turnout which I hope suitably impressed the management.



After drawing for seats I found myself on a mixed table, with a few players going to war early, whilst the remainder, myself included, sat back and observed the action.

The only notable hand I got in the first hour was QQ, which I made a standard raise with. One caller from the blinds took a flop with me. Checked, and folded to my bet.

There were no obvious draws on the board, and I could probably have risked giving a free card, but I wanted to rake a pot early and give myself time to see how the table developed.

As it happened, that pot paid for my blinds through the rest of the first hour, as I was dealt a succession of trash, and I made it to the break with just my original 3000 chips to show for my endeavours. Taking the top up was a no-brainer.

Meanwhile, the rest of the table had got involved in some big hands.

The loudest player at the table had got exceedingly lucky. Having taken down a big pot with an outrageous bluff, which he showed, just a few hands later he found himself holding AA, and facing an unbeliever. All the chips went in, and the Aces held up.

Post rebuy period, my cards didn't get any better. With a lot of loose limpers, stealing the escalating blinds to stay afloat isn't so easy, and I was gradually sliding down the chip ladder, having missed every flop that I saw.

The situation was not yet critical, but it was getting close, when our table broke and I was moved to sit immediately to the right of 'Whispering' Tommy. A good friend who was there at my suggestion.

Tommy had arrived with a seriously sore throat, and was communicating with croaks and grunts when I last saw him.

It was soon apparent his throat was now in worse shape than my chipstack, as he was conversing in hand signals. Throwing some chips in the pot and pointing skywards to signify a raise.

It hadn't stopped him building a healthy pile of chips.

As the shortstack at the table, I wasn't in a position to push anyone around, so I decided it was time to gamble.

Finding A8s in the small blind, I hoped to get a chance to steal, but an early limper put paid to that plan. I figured a limp in the hope of catching a draw was in order.

Unfortunately, from the big blind a chunk of Tommy's chips went in and his finger gestured towards the ceiling. I could have folded to his raise, but wasn't in a position to surrender the chips easily, so I made the call for around a third of my stack.

The flop brought me a gutshot straight, no flush draw. I pondered for a second, before pushing all in. Pretty much a pot sized bet.

My hope was that I was up against overcards, and might induce a fold.

At best I could be ahead of KQ, at the very worst I'd be behind to an overpair but with the gutshot draw, and perhaps three Aces to save me.

The insta-call told me I was in trouble. Confirmed when Tommy flipped pocket Jacks.

Still, I had seven outs...none of which arrived. I was out in a mediocre position, somewhere around the low 30s of 54.

Time for some socialising, and several pints of reasonably priced beer, served up by the Polish barstaff. A very polite guy who taught me the proper way to pronounce the name of Maciej Zurawski, Celtic's latest goalscoring hero, and a very cute girl who didn't have to do much to make me smile.

I had intended to head home at a reasonable hour but Dave, one of our crew, made the final table, so we stayed to sweat him. Which led to more beers, and a later night, and a very delicate journey to the Glasgow Central next morning.

That's also the reason my description of the play is a bit sketchy. Few notes and many beers equals hazy recollection!

The night went really well and several cash games and SitNGos kicked off as players were eliminated quite early in the evening. The take at the bar must have been good too, so overall I'm presuming it was a good night for the owners.

Let's hope the progress continues and we can move on from the mass of rebuy tourneys and get more variety introduced to the Glasgow poker scene.

Online Update

So, I battered through the latest Party bonus.

Until the final session, I was cruising in the black, before being holed below the waterline by a succession of runner-runner torpedoes - mostly of the backdoor flush variety.

Once again, it was bonus to the rescue, to keep me in profit over the piece.

I'm getting pretty sick of having to rely on the various reload bonuses to keep my bankroll moving forward, but on the whole I haven't been playing horribly.

Sooner or later I am due a session where my premium hands hold up, and my speculative ones hit the flop hard. Until then it's a case of shoulder to the wheel.

One weakness that has crept into my game is losing the ability to fold big hands on the flop or turn when it's screamingly obvious I've been outdrawn.

I'm too keen to explain away my foe's betting and raising as bluffs, when their holdings aren't immediately obvious.

That's a huge error. This is low limit Hold Em on Party Poker. For some players there is no hand range - unless 72o to AA counts as a 'range'.

It feels like a frustration thing, and I'm sure I can erase it quite easily.

Usually I'm very disciplined, not only in poker but any financial matters, so I feel perfectly capable of restoring that strength to my game. Given time to play!

I've been planning to step up to $3/6 on Party for a while now, and have been datamining like mad, but I've not yet made the leap.

Frankly, I don't feel comfortable putting a higher chunk of my bankroll on the line, when I'm not totally on top of my game and just don't feel like my luck is in. That could change at any time, and I certainly have notes on enough players to feel good about finding a decent table.

I really need to get my act together and sort out a rakeback deal before that day dawns.

My only other major online event recently was the second Blonde Poker No Limit Hold Em tourney. I played really well in the first - and also caught some good cards - only to self combust on a crucial hand when I was second in chips, eventually bubbling out.

Consequently I was really looking forward to this game, and was hoping to go at least one place better. Sadly for me, it wasn't to be.

I was card dead from the off, and when I tried to make a move with my only moderately playable hands, I ran into medium pocket pairs who wouldn't lay it down, even to a pre-flop raise and a reraise on the flop.

Most frustrating! Still, I do enjoy the camaraderie of this crowd, and it's a great learning experience.

The fields are relatively small by online standards, and there are several pros involved. So the quality of play is generally high - aided by a big starting stack and slow clock.

The more good players I play, the better I will become, so I'm never upset to run into superior opposition in an MTT. Cash games would be an entirely different story!

I'm Still Here!

The recent hiatus has nothing to do with lack of material. Quite the opposite!

I've been so rushed, I haven't had time to post. (Battering this out whilst waiting for a batch job to complete in work)

Back soon with:

Poker - Live and online.
Pique - Car troubles. Meh.
Parenthood - Christening time.

And sundry other ramblings.

Optimistic Nun

Just a little fun post.

Most people outside Scotland won't know just why this nun is obviously an optimistic lady. Suffice to say, football and religion are involved.

Book Review: Pot-Limit and No-Limit Poker

When I first got involved in online poker, my game of choice was No Limit Hold Em SitNGo games - also known as Single Table Tourneys.

They were fun to play, and had the crucial advantage for a beginner of capping my liabilities at the entry fee. Which might be as low as five dollars.

After a while, I discovered the merits of bonus whoring to boost my meagre bankroll.

This propelled me into the world of Limit Hold Em cash games, where the liabilities were not capped, but were certainly bearable. Especially given the dire nature of many opponents at the lower levels.

Once I had the hang of Limit Hold Em, I began to yearn for the livelier No Limit games I used to play. So I began to dabble in cash No Limit.

Fairly quickly I realised that while not exactly being out-of-my-depth, I wasn't entirely comfortable with how I was playing. My SitNGo style wasn't wholly compatible with cash games.

At this point I recognised learning at the tables could be an expensive experience, and decided to do some reading in the specific area of No Limit cash games. Having asked around for advice, I was recommended Pot-Limit and No-Limit Poker by Stewart Reuben and Bob Ciaffone.

The original issue of this book predates the internet poker boom, but has been updated and reissued over the past few years.

This is not a Hold Em specific book. Indeed I was pleased to see it takes in Pot Limit Omaha, which is another of my recently discovered pleasures. It also uses some more obscure poker variants such as Lowball Draw to illustrate the author's ideas.

At times this can make it hard work to understand the key principles which are being enunciated, as one has to understand the rules of the game before understanding the lesson being taught.

In the short term this can be frustrating, but whether by accident or design, I think it works well. The reader is forced to think deeply about the problem, which in the long term should encourage a better understanding of the lesson.

Key big bet concepts such as relative stack sizes, stacks in relation to the blinds, bet sizes, position, and when to take the initiative are all covered.

The book has substantially altered my strategy on playing big drawing hands, and my perception on when an all-in bet is justified. The all-in as a means of negating positional advantage is not something I was inclined to consider, prior to reading this book.

This is very different to limit strategy.

For someone new to live games, the General section contains some very useful information, which has already improved my live play.

Chapters on such esoteric issues as making deals, dealing big-bet poker, ethics, and a very instructive chapter on the specifics of pot limit rules, all give a useful grounding in expected standards of behaviour if entering a live card room for the first time.

This chapter has already helped me to identify an 'angle shooter' in my local cardroom, by describing exactly a situation which they will try to manipulate. That information alone more than justified the cover price!

This book works well for someone who already has a fair understanding of the rules and mechanics of poker, but not a complete grasp of all areas of the game. It would certainly sit in the intermediate skill range.

It will not teach you basic Hold Em or Omaha strategy, but it will improve your ability to manipulate the big bet games.

The slightly dated tone may be off-putting to some, but personally it appeals to me.

While I am a comparative newbie to the poker scene, I enjoy learning the history of the game. The internet revived poker; it did not give birth to the game.

Recognising the heritage of the game should improve ones appreciation of the game, and, I believe, ultimately improve ones results.

New Orleans

My heart goes out to the people of New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

It speaks volumes for the magnitude of the situation that the news reporters dispatched by UK agencies are people we are more used to seeing reporting from Afghanistan, Iraq, African famines, or the Asian tsunami.

Even so, while discussing the situation with friends, relatives, and workmates, everyone is absolutely agog at the delays in getting the aid effort moving.

If there is one nation on earth you would expect to deal with this situation, it's the USA.

On UK TV there were projections of disaster prior to Katrina hitting. Of overwhelmed sea defences, massive flooding, serious loss of life. We knew an evacuation had been ordered.

Consequently, after the storm hit and the damage became apparent, I expected to see a hybrid of Apocalypse Now and The Longest Day unfolding on the news feeds.

Instead it's been more Escape From New York and Clockwork Orange.

I expected swarms of helicopters covering the city, marine landing craft, columns of National Guard poised to assist.

Instead, the only overwhelming impression I've gotten is one of inertia and complacency. In the immediate aftermath, there seemed to be more news helicopters than rescue helicopters.

Even today, as the helicopters finally arrive in numbers, there are still people trapped on rooftops, reporters are seeing people dying of exhaustion and dehydration, there's talk of the evacuation being complete in ANOTHER 48 hours.

As I type, I'm watching ludicrous reports of people trapped in areas where local civilians have banded together to form a rescue fleet, but are being blocked from gaining access by the authorities.

All hands to the pump seems to be an alien phrase to some of those in control. Imagine Churchill sending the navy to block the flotillas heading for Dunkirk in 1940.

I wonder if control is the key word here. One can't help but get the impression Washington is pretty keen to downplay the enormity of the event. Maybe letting too many civilians close to the heart of the disaster does not suit their plans.

It's an incredulous situation. The hurricane season has not yet passed.

For the sake of the stranded masses, I sincerely hope the government has finally got their act in gear. Better late than never.

I don't see the point in finger pointing right now. There are higher priorities.

In the weeks to come, when all survivors have been rescued, and order restored, there needs to be some serious thinking done, and perhaps heads shall roll then.

For the present time, my thoughts and best wishes are with all those involved.

August Summary

Time for the book cooking to begin. That feels like a bad sign to me.

My spreadsheet shows a profit for August of $633. Yet, for those of you who actually read this humble blog and pay attention, you will know it wasn't that kind of month.

Most of the profit comes from my River Belle Casino exploits, as recommended by Grubby.

Strictly speaking, this isn't poker winnings, but I'm justifying it on the grounds the seed cash came from my online bankroll, and I'd never have known the casino existed without my poker exploits.

Plus, it just feels good to actually bank the first decent, by my standards, profit in a while. So there!

I've already said enough about how the cards went this month. One positive comment to balance all the bad beat whining - Pot Limit Omaha = fun, fun, fun.

After my previous failed experiment to add some additional dynamic content to the blog with live streaming of poker TV, I've embedded a couple of RSS feeds.

One poker related, from Full Tilt, and one providing up-to-date Glasgow Celtic news/speculation from The Scotsman newspaper.

The Full Tilt feed is another way of publishing their regular Prolessons emails. Unlike most mailshots, these emails are always a worthwhile read.

With so many reports of people quitting college or work to become 'poker pros', I'd particularly recommend Rafe Furst's last email, as a thought provoking read. For the first and only time, I wish I was called Betty!

Home Game Report - Quads and Rewards

Our home game reconvened last week for an all too rare session. Five handed at the outset.

In recognition of the recently completed WSOP, I managed to source a few bracelets to reward the victors. Unfortunately these were not of the gold and platinum variety, but the multi-coloured candy type.

The high point of game one was an all-in battle on the following board.



Dave's AQ being heavily outgunned by Rod's flopped QUAD kings. Normally you wouldn't expect someone holding AQ to be all-in on that board, but with the two most aggressive players in the game clashing, there was only going to be one outcome!

(NB I was on the opposite side to the dealer, so the card order is reversed.)

Taking possession of Dave's entire chip stack wasn't quite enough to propel Rod to victory, as yours truly managed to triumph and claim the first candy bracelet!

Playing only five handed, I was trying to loosen up my game a little, as I tend to be over tight in this scenario. There's no point being loose for the sake of looseness, so it was a case of picking the best spot and pushing hard.

What this translated to on the night, was getting my chips in first when I was on big draws. A flopped open ended straight being the prime example.

As it happened, my draws hit and I got all the chips. And the bracelet.



By game two we had picked up a straggler and were six handed. I was second out in this game, having been card dead and seen my chipstack slowly whittled down.

The hand started well, when I found JJ and was faced with a big early position raise by Pat. I figured this was the hand to make a stand on, so pushed, knowing that my diminished stack was likely to find at least one caller.

The action was folded back to Pat who simply had to call with 99. It was looking good for me, until the flop brought a third 9 and no jack.

This 4/1 shot set Pat off on a cruel sequence of outdraws. Dominated ace - kicker paired. Followed soon after by the winning hand, where Teacake was all-in with TPTK on a 6 high flop, only to see Pat's 54 hit a runner-runner straight. Ouch.

That was enough to see him earn a new nickname. Henceforth he shall be known as Triple-P (Party Poker Pat). Bitter. Me!?

Another Party Poker Bonus

Code USETOWIN gets 20% to $100.

Of course after my recent Empire disaster you might wonder why I bother, but the cards can't always be so cruel.

Meandering through my Poker Tracker stats, I discovered that in my worst session, I was dealt 181 hands - winning just ONE, yes ONE!!

Now that's what I call variance.

Still, it would be churlish to grumble about that. Other world events put things in perspective.

1000 dead in one day in Iraq.

Hundreds, if not thousands, dead, as New Orleans is decimated by nature's cruel hand.

In the face of these tragedies, everything else pales into insignificance.