"You're running so hot, I hope you burn thru the floor and get swallowed up by the magma"

What can I say? I was hot.

WHITE HOT.....

I'll finish this post when I get a chance. Suffice to say that I did run goooot, and The Deerhunter didn't.

He must learn to stay out of my way.....

Late post on Deerhunter midweek heads up.

Typical messy midweek heads up game with the Deerhunter. Tuesday I think it was! Hard to remember now. It's been a craaaaaazy large week.

I started out first hand with AKo in the BB. Deerhunter folds ..... BOO YOU BASTARD!

Then a looong period of card death, and he chipped up. To the point where he could put a bit of pressure on me.

Then (and I wanted to get my photo up to back this up) a monumental hand.

I get dealt JQd and am in the SB. I raise $125 to $150. Deerhunter calls.

Flop - 9d - 10d - Kd.

I flopped a fucking straight flush baby!

"My diamonds are looking alright about now"

"So are mine"

Deerhunter checks. I check.

Turn - raggy rag.

Deerhunter checks. I bet half the pot. Trying a 'delayed c-bet' sorta look.

Deerhunter folds. WTF?

"I thought you said you had diamonds?"

"I did. Ace, but still needed one diamond to come."

"You wouldn't call $150 drawing to the nut flush?!" (What a weak-tight bastard!)

"No. Why? What did you have?"

"THE NUTZ BABY!!! Flopped straight flush. Royal draw!"

Faaaaark.

I gotta upload that photo!

(It must be mentioned that I ended up working my way back to chip leader with some slyly played Red Bullets that almost stacked him. And eventually busted his sorry arse.)

Off to the Deerhunters tonight for some WPT action on Fox and then a shuffle later.

You little ripper!

The Deerhunter is a PRICK.

Quads twice.

Queens. Flopped trips. Turned Quads.

K8 off. Flop. K - K - K.

Next hand. AKd. Flop. K - K - rag.

Just know, The Deerhunter is a PRICK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tagged?! WTF!

How very random! (Thanks Astin!) This is really just like a chain letter, only we get to learn shit about other bloggers that you'll never need to recall ever again! Productive!

Here's how it works .... cut .... paste ....

A). Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog...
B). Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself...
C). Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs...
D). Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Alrighty ....

1) I could complete Sonic 2 on Megadrive II (the Genesis to you yanks) without losing a life and getting every power-up available in a matter of an hour and a bit.

2) Once my ex and I were approved for adoption (that's a whole other story right there!) we got a phone call a week later, telling us that a 'baby' was available. A fortnight after that, Zac was home at our place. Quickest adoption in world history?!!!!!! No kid, to having an 11 month old in three weeks = learning curve.

3) I'm doing Movember which is all about raising $$$ and awareness of depression amongst men, as well as Prostate Cancer. If you are feeling generous, sponsor me! My grower number is 126615. GO THE MO!!!!

4) I was a Rotary Exchange student in South Africa in 1988. Apartheid was still at work and Nelson Mandella was still in jail. Best - year - of - my - life.

5) My first car was a 1968 Morris Mini-matic. (Bear in mind I'm 6' 5") Bought it for $50, painted it Fire Engine red myself and put red 'shag pile' carpet on the floor and roof. Sort of like pimp-my-ride 25 years before it was on the telly, minus the plasma.

6) The last three years I've played Fantasy NBA Hoops (Yahoo! league) I've finished on top of the ladder after the 'regular season', and yet I've never won it all. God, it's fickle.

7) I fucking hate AQ....... but that probably doesn't count as weird .....

8) My favourite saying, that I've coined myself .... is "Fuck fashion"!

(couple more coz I'm on a roll ....)

9) My favourite tomato is the Russian Black. Heirloom variety and mega-tasty.

10) My suckerfish in Zac and my cichlid tank have just bred! 8-9 lil ones! W00t!

Now, to continue the fun and games! I choose to tag ......

Yabi , Coxxy, The Good Dr , Subliminal , Suckout , Zen , Donks draw

Sorry fellas, but it's got to be done!

(PS. Make sure you take the time to read Coxxy's incredible post about his exploits in Oz!)

Now I'm going to go and waste another hour or four of my life reading random shit about the other bloggers! Ahhhhh, good times!

PPS. Buddydank is a killjoy!

AQ. The bee-yatch!!!!!!

Long time .... no write! (Thanks for the prompt Yabi!)

It's been busy, as bloody usual. Zac's been a proper little bastard of late. Playing up at school in class and in the playground, so I've been trying to deal with that first and foremost. It's nothing a murder wouldn't fix.

It's also springtime and the weddings are picking up too, so I've got to stay motivated and diligent there. Did one on Saturday .... unmitigated disaster. 50 peeps in a room built for 100+ so zero atmosphere. Two warring families. Only 20 of the 50 peeps wanted to dance at all .... equals hard work for the fucking DJ! By 11pm the bride was crying (literally) to me about how her guests were all fucked. I couldn't necessarily agree with her .... but she was 100% correct! Boring arseholes.

Wedding tip - The guests make your wedding. Invite peeps with a pulse.

Back to reality..... the reality of an impromptu 6 handed shuffle yesterday!!! It started with a txt from C-nut around midday. Fancy a shuffle? Sure! Deerhunter and I had already talked about catching up for a brew or 10, so I knew he'd be good to go. And Mooshie was off shift and available! Excellent! And Leebie, who we 'met' in a poker sense a month or so back. And one more, a noob, Johnno .... who was only with us for a couple of hours. Not an overly experienced player, but not usless either.

So we were staring at a very decent starting kitty. 6 x $25. Not to be sneezed at! Even moreso when there were a couple of rebuys. $10 will get half your stack again, and double rebuys are allowed.

Long story cut short. I ran okay early. Small pocket pairs which never amounted to anything. 3's, then 5's and 10's. Only won anything with the tens. Then pure card death set in, and I basically got blinded away with nothing to work with whatsoever. When shortstacked I ended up shoving pocket 9's into the Deerhunter's Queens. Shit happens. That's poker.

Rebuy for my original stack. Fuggit. There's $45 of mine in the kitty. Then C-nut busts out and does the same. Rebuys his original stack.

At this stage Mooshie was chipping up to a crazy level. Chips ooooooozing everywhere, as we like to say! Rivering everybody. Even me. Bastard! The Deerhunter was travelling pretty gooot and Leebie was playing as tight as a fishes arsehole, and getting zero cards to speak of.

Then I started running okay. In fact, pretty well for a while. I hit bottom set when Leebie had top pair decent kicker and called my shove. He had me covered but only barely. He rebought for half his original stack. Another $10 into the kitty. I had a couple of other decent hands. One in particular, I was in the BB with 9-10 off, and C-nut, to my right popped my $300 post flop bet to $600 on a 9 high board. I really didn't think he had me beat so I popped him again. He folded, and all but admitted he was stealing there. At least my cajones are still attatched! It wasn't an automatic reraise there with a 10 kicker!

Then (and this is the main reason behind todays post) I ran some BIG HANDS into MONSTERS. I'd chipped up to take over the lead and was feeling really solid with my game. Not spewing chips and picking my spots well. But it didn't last. I then had my mentally scarring experience(s) with AQ.

Now to the gory details.

C-nut was managing to whittle away his rebuy very, very quickly. Overly aggressive in the wrong spots more than anything. That's his game. Anyway, when quite short stacked, he shoves. I look down and find AQ sooooted. Chance to eliminate one of my toughest competitiors at the table, and I've got him easily covered. My chance of being ahead here have got to be pretty good with him pushing the action. I call.

Nice one Dillo. Run AQ into AK. C-nut doubles up. Faaaark!

Not even 5 minutes later, after I picked up a couple of small pots and C-nut had donated more chips to me, I managed to do EXACTLY THE SAME THING AGAIN. AQ soooted into AK!

E-X-A-C-T-L-Y!

Now I'm a savvy enough player to know that AQ is nothing more than an A high hand. I really have been working on my game sooooo hard for sooooo long now, and I cannot believe I didn't have the sense to pick a better spot here, at least ONCE. I mean, I'd love some feedback from any of you .... ALL OF YOU!

Was this just a case of bad timing / bad luck / bad poker? Even C-nut said I had to call them both because of stack sizes and the chance to eliminate a player. But I cannot believe that I sucked that bad, and it cost me any chance of the win. I know shit happens, but these two hand really, really ate at me afterwards .... and it still is today. Sickening shit.

The crowning glory was when I was getting short again, and I get the bee-yatch again ... AQ. I raise to 600 pre. The blinds are getting higher and higher and there's heaps of action. C-nut (bastard) calls.

Flop. A - J- rag.

C-nut bets, I raise, he jams.

I tank ....

What has me beat here? Quite a bit I suppose.

Pocket bullets, pocket hooks and bottom set. AJ. Paired A and the rag. AK.

But I'm getting to the point where it's death or glory. Knowing I could be behind, I call.

C-nut flips over ...... Ace fucking Jack. I should've known and IGH.

FARK!!!!!!!! SO FUCKING FRUSTRATING......

So all in all, a very fun but ultimately infuriating. I'm really puzzled. I generally back my ability to lay down good, even premium hands. But I didn't at the pointy end last night. Even my harsh self criticism tells me that all three calls were justified based on stack sizes, but I still come out of it thinking what if ...? To a degree, it's a case of that's poker, but it could be a leak as well.

FUCKED IF I KNOW!!!!!

Result. Deerhunter, the winner of something in the order of $200!
2nd and money back. Leebie.

Will post soon on my fantasy NBA Hoops draft and squad too. Roll on season 07-08!

P.S. Have I mentioned how I really fucking HATE AQ at the mo?!

True story!

I saw HEAPS AND HEAPS of Olympic hoops in Sydney in 2000. Absolutely awesome. That dunk by Vinsanity was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen with my own two eyes in my entire life.

The reason behind this post? Well mainly because the NBA season is just around the corner, and I'm psyched! I'm commish in our Yahoo! Fantasy NBA league again this year.

Live draft happening this Sunday evening Western Australian time.

Can't wait!

I blog my ineptitude.

Monday night fun 'n' games with the Deerhunter.

Basically I smashed him all night. TAG mania central. Only to have this hand come up at the end.

(N.B. Bear in mind I was playing great, and The Deerhunter had changed his game up considerably to try and put me off my game. Hence this ugly, UGLY hand...... the final one for the night.)

Deerhunter - Ac5d
Me - Ad6c

I raise $150 to $200 pre.
Call.

(Fair enough from both sides.)

Flop - 6h - 5h - 5s

Deerhunter bets $500 into $400 pot.
Call.

(My read was that this was a c-bet. Maybe AK or AQ unimproved. Weaker 6? I had a piece and I thought it made sense to call here. DONK ALERT!!!! Even IF I DID NOT put him on a 5 why would I not pop him in this spot? I have no fucking idea!)

Turn - 7d

Deerhunter bets $2500 into $1400.
Call.

(I still believed my read was right. I hadn't 'missed' a read all night. Why would I change now? I chose to call. Not a standard play from me. I normally raise somewhere in a hand like this, but to control an already SUPERMASSIVE pot, I just called.)

River - 6d

Deerhunter insta-jams. Insta-mistake.
I call. "Book"

Silence ......

"Worse book. Fark! You had two outs. TWO POSSIBLE OUTS and YOU HIT!"

Silence. Deafening silence. The sound of a shattered man.

"My bad dude. I didn't put you on that. Horrible suckout. Soz bud."

"Two outs and you hit. Why did you call my turn bet?!"

"My bad buddy. You had me all the way."

"Two outs. TWO ...."

"Soz man. Really. But that's poker. You've done it to me!"

"Shiiiiiiiit. I'm going home."

Horrible, horrible play be me. Despicable. A soul crushing suckout AND FOR THAT I HUMBLY APOLOGISE TO THE DEERHUNTER AND THE POKER GODS.

But like the Terminator, he will be back. Oh yes. He WILL be back.

The only thing I hated about this hand from The Deerhunter's point of view was his insta-jam when the board paired at the end. (And I did say so.) Unless he thought I was drawing to the straight ....which I would never have called that turn bet to keep going on this board... I had to have at least a solid piece, and that 6 on the river could've - should've set the alarm bells off. Oh well. Now I'm just being a c#nt.

Then again, I should've raised post flop and found out I was behind earlier in the hand. My bad buddy! Really!!!!

Bracelet number .... dunno!

Managed to organize a Mates cash shuffle with little to no effort on Friday night. Zac (my boy) was (finally) spending some time in Perth with his (friggin') mum so I was off the leash.

I was keen to at least blow off some steam with the Deerhunter, so rocked around there with a carton of Hollandia and got into it earlyish. 3.30pm. Picture perfect South Western Australian afternoon. Puuuuuuurfect for a brew or ten on the front deck!

After a couple, we decided to go down to one of the local shopping centres and pick up some new cards. Sweet! Bicycle cards DO rock very hard. A$20 for two packs. How's that for poker nerdness?!

So after we get home and start flicking some, I say to the Deerhunter, "Shit, It'd be great if we could organize an impromptu shuffle. Send C-nut a txt. He might be heading down from Perth". Less than 5 mins after hitting send, he was on the blower (phone) and said he was in, as was a noob (to our games) who shall be herefore be known as Leebie. He's played before, but is maybe - not quite as advanced as us three. But it was great to get some fresh blood into the mix.

The good, no GREAT news is, well .... I pulled it off! The bad news is that I have practically NOTHING to tell you about how or what I played. It was quite strange.

My BEST POCKET PAIR WAS FISH HOOKS.
After that I reckon I had NINES ONCE.
I had AK ONCE.
I had KQ ONCE.
I hit ONE SET ALL NIGHT.

Seriously. I had sweet fuck all to get excited about all night. I had average cards, at best. But ....

I managed pot sizes really well.
I played shit hands from the blinds that I hit, well.
I stole heaps and heaps.
I laid down problem hands early.
I played the big stack really well late.
I never once spewed chips.
I made some big, big laydowns when I might have been behind.
I got my money in at the right times when shoved on, at the pointy end.

C-nut was first out and rebought. Leebie was next out and rebought. C-nut busted again next and sat out from there. Deerhunter was next out. Then I busted Leebie with AJ on a J - 9 - x board. I bet out on my TPTK, he jammed as the shorty with A9. I called. He didn't improve. Game over. W00t!!!!!

Apart from that, there's really nothing much else to say! Except I'm stoked! $70 in front after you took out my buy in! I think C-nut is getting a bit pissed off tho. (In a good way!) He hasn't 'won a bracelet' in ages. Deerhunter and I reckon it's probably been 12 months or more! Considering how strong he was when we first started shuffling up, that's a serious drought. It's also validation as to how much Deerhunter and I have stepped up our games over the journey.

Roll on the next time!

Sorry this is really quite a boring recap. There just wasn't any monsters to go over!

Geekdom is for .... GEEKS!

Found this weird and wonderful Nerd Quiz on Astin's (awesome) blog. It's one of the best going around, but most of you will know that already.

It really confirms what I already knew.

A) I'm not a nerd, and probably never will be!
B) I'm a blokey bloke but one who's not afraid of my emotions or expressing them.
C) Computers suck balls unless you're playing poker or blogging.

Surf on over if you're bored as bat shit!



And for the record Astin ..... You're a NERD!!!!! W00t!

Casino recap.

Well, time to bring you up to date with my casino adventures on Friday night up in the big smoke. It was certainly interesting, let's put it that way. We (meaning Big Johnny, Suze's Bro-in-law) sat down at a table around 10.30pm after a HUGE meal at Alure.

Talk about strange though. I'm sure you Yanks would be interested (if not perplexed) about how Burswood run things. For a start, there's only a dozen tables active and one of those is an Omaha table. Because there's so few tables operating, you've got to register and get a ticket to play, then they page you over the in house intercom. Pathetic really.

Even more pathetic is the structure of the games. (I can't wait to hear some American/Canadian reaction to this!) They way they describe it, is ... $10, $10, $20, $20. So basically it's $5 SB, $10 BB, then a max of three $10 raises pre flop, and after that a maximum of three $20 raises on any street. That means one thing the way I play. You can't jam and stop the action when you're in front! I hated it! L-O-T-S! I mean, I love my poker, but this was just too constricting for my tastes. You'll see why as I go thru a few hands of note.

Overall I was really happy with my play. Remember I never normally play a full ring game so it's a good learning experience for me. I just applied as much of my knowledge that I gained from the Harrington books as I could and played position TAG poker. Even tighter than usual, mainly because I was short stacked pretty much from the get go. My $200 buy in (which was the minimum buy) was all I could muster cash-wise, so I had to fold a lot of hands I'd normally be happy to speculate on. Sooooted connectors and stuff like that. I just couldn't afford to go into a hand that I wasn't a great chance of hitting. If I didn't feel I could call a pre flop raise after limping, then I didn't bother. Hence, I folded heaps and heaps of hands. Heaps .....

I only really misplayed one hand in particular. Pocket 7s when I was first to act in a three way pot. Another guy had hit his Queen and I should've got away from that earlier than I did. Representing cards in this style of game was absolutely pointless. A complete and utter waste of time! It probably cost me $40. I knew my mistake immediately and learned from it.

My first big hand of the night was an absolute ball-tearer. Seriously, it's one that'll stay with me for a looooong, looooooooong time. Pocket Queens, with a lot of limpers ahead of me. I raise $10 to $20 to see a flop. Nearly everyone who was already in calls. (Grrrrrrrrr! I mean fuck! How the hell do you protect Ladies while still keeping a reasonable pot going?! Fucking frustrating as.) So I was absolutely ready to get away from this if an Ace or King came along.

Flop. Q - rag - rag rainbow. W00t! Trip Q's!

Checked to the player on my right (the only guy shorter than me at the fucking table!) who bets $20. I raise to $40, after all, it's all you're allowed to do! He calls. Everyone else folds.

Turn. Q! Double W00t!

Player on my right pushes the rest (i.e. piddling stack) into the middle. I instacall.

I flip over pocket Queens and say (for the first time in my life) "Quads" !!!!!!!!

So I turned quads and win something like $130 for my trouble. What a pain in the arse! Of course the bigger stacks weren't in this hand. Of course the only guy with less chips than me was in the hand. So gross.

But incredibly gratifying!

I then had pocket 9's which didn't amout to anything and a A - 10 - rag board. I had to fold that. The pain in the butt thing was I was definitely in front preflop. But unless you can throw out a sizeable raise it's over as soon as that flop came. CRAP!!!!

So I changed my game accordingly. Limped with pocket pairs. Boats once, Snowmen once and Ducks once but never spiked anything. Folded A - rag a lot when out of position. Played hands like K9 sooooted but never got close to my flush. Out quickly when I didn't hit.

Anyway, I folded and folded and folded with nary a sniff of another made hand for ages. Then as i was almost blinded away, I pick up AJd which I popped to $20 pre flop. Couple of callers.

Flop. 8 - 9 - 10 rainbow. So I pick up an OESD. Bet of $20 before it got to me, and my rationale was, no point popping or trying to protect my draw here, so i just call. Couple of other callers.

Turn - 7 and I make my straight and pick up an okay pot. $150? Hardly huge tho, but it did keep me in the game a bit longer.

Then came some of the most frustrating hands. I get dealt AK offsuit twice in 15 minutes. And both times I flop TPTK. Now I know this isn't quite a dominating hand, but I couldn't protect the hands I had! Calling stations galore and they sucked out on me twice! One guy rivered trips despite me putting heaps of pressure on during the hand. I didn't call his river bet coz I figured I was dead when the board paired. He showed and my read was right.

The other Big Slick hand when I made TPTK there was a runner flush out and it came. But at least I had the balls to get out of there when I was beat. Once again it was unprotectable. FARK!

I saw some amazingly shite poker by other players too. One hand I just shook my head. Thankfully one or two other savvy players at the table also gasped in horror.

Donk with big stack and pocket 6's (as it turns out). Flop comes all spades. Donk first to act, bets out. Couple of callers. Turn card comes 6s. He bets again. Callers. River card 6h. He makes quads!!!!!!

Now think about this. He had no piece of the flush board on the flop. None. He had BUGGER ALL OUTS, EVEN AFTER HE MADE HIS TRIPS ON THE TURN, because he was behind someone ....

...... and he hits.

Appalling, bastard poker. What a goon!

Just as amazing was the reaction of this other donk to my immediate left who says, with a straight face ... after he's just pulled this corker of a move .... "He's a pretty good player. He left with a stack of cash last week when I was here."

I explained that he was behind the whole way, hit his card and that based on his play I just watched he was a shite player, and the guy just looked at me like I was mad.

Staggering. Downright staggering.

So in the end I up and leave the table about 1.30am with $70 in chips left. I was happy to have had a crack, but the structured game sucked balls and I couldn't play the way I'm accustomed to in our home cash games. It was a great experience, and I was RAPT to have finally made quads, especially at the Casino, but all in all it was more frustrating than satisfying. No limit Hold'em? I WISH I could play that instead!!!!!

Dunno that I'd bother next time.

Footnote - The Deerhunter went to one of the cash games (Saturday night when I was doing a wedding) that I mentioned were a possibility last week and left the winner and with $70! None too popular with the host either apparently! But he wasn't the guy who invited him. To soothe the host a bit, The Deerhunter said he'd host next time! A very mushy soft game he said too!

I want me some of that action! Ha!

Casino tonight baby!

Off to Burswood up in Perth tonight for a bit of a family thing. Suze's lovely parents have offered to take all 'the kids' to the place to celebrate Suze's mums 60th birthday! I'm pretty strapped cashwise, which will make it hard top get a big enough starting stack to trouble the biggies, but I'll probably have a crack. It'd be a sin not to! I've heard the Omaha game isn't very hard either.

Here's hoping I find a $100 note in the carpark on the way in!

Wish me luck!

Fantasy NFL - I'm a bunny!!!!!! H-E-L-P!!!!

Okay you crazy Americans. I need some help. I've looooong been a demon (even if I say so myself) at Fantasy NBA Hoops, particularly among clueless Aussies who know sweet f*ck all about the great game in the States, but this year is my first NFL Fantasy comp and I'm 'blowing bubbles'! I mean my team's going alright.... I'm 3-1-0.... but I'm perplexed by some of my players and how they're doing relative to their pre-draft rankings. Keep in mind, I didn't 'tweak' my rankings at all pre-draft, coz I know NOTHING about the game or the players! It's taxing I tells ya!

Here's my squad at the mo. I've made about three or four changes at the fringes. Nothing major, but it might be time to do some radical surgery in certain spots (if I'm reading things right.)

Tom Brady (Picked him up in the 4th round. Very lucky score the way he's been playing.)
(NE - QB)

Calvin Johnson
(Det - WR)

Laveranues Coles (Been solid as.)
(NYJ - WR)

Ahman Green
(Hou - RB)

DeAngelo Williams
(Car - RB)

Kellen Winslow (Another nice player apparently at this position.)
(Cle - TE)

Marques Colston
(NO - WR)

Willis McGahee (Been bigtime)
(Bal - RB)

Ronald Curry
(Oak - WR)

Steven Jackson (My first pick. He's either been fucking woeful or injured. Thorts?)
(StL - RB)

Reggie Bush (2nd pick and nigh on useless too. Worth persevering with?)
(NO - RB)

Josh Brown (Ok and a keeper by all accounts.)
(Sea - K)

Baltimore (Rated #1 defense pre season but has been consistently spewing points. Why?!)
(Bal - DEF)

Ed Reed (I've replaced my entire defensive unit. Best I could get.)
(Bal - DB)

Sean Jones
(Cle - DB)

Derrick Johnson
(KC - DL)

Love to get some peeps opinions 'with a clue'. Mainly on Jackson and Bush.

And the Ravens, are they incredibly over rated? Detroit and Seattle are available. Should I stand pat or cut bait?! Also, do you recommend having another QB on the bench? Don't QBs strain an eyelash every other week?

I DO like my flexibility my stable of RBs and WRs gives me in terms of matchups and dealing with injuries, but I'm thinking I should give myself some flex in other areas? That's where you come in!

See? I don't know the nuances in Fantasy NFL.

All I DO know is that we don't need padding and helmets in Aussie Rules! W00t!!!!!

Cheers heaps!

Advice.....

.....from you poor suckers who mite have stumbled onto my blog! (Thanx btw!)

I'm thinking of starting a 'broader' poker career.... i.e. starting to learn the variants involved in HORSE! The reason being that Omaha has really helped me look at hands in a different way. I mean it can't hurt my Hold'em game now can it? Or can it?!

Anyway, is there a site or similar which can not only clue me into the rules of the HORSE variants I don't know, and where I can donk around learning?! HORSE is barely known or understood here in Oz, as far as I know.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

It's a long weekend here in Western Australia this weekend. (Queen's Bday I believe, which I'll take, but I'm for an Aussie republic, so I don't really care for it or her!) It's also the start of the school holidays for the kids, and it's AFL Grand Final tomorrow at the MCG. Geelong Cats versus Port Adelaide Power.

Go Geelong! They haven't won a flag since the mid 60's and they finished on top of the ladder after the 'home and away' season, so they would be deserving!

Prediction. Cats by 47 pts.

Add to FUCKING FRIEND!

Jesus! Impromptu Wednesday night shuffle and party with the Deerhunter .... again .... surprize!

He's on a Facebook bender at the moment. I have no idea why. I mean, I'm a 'poker blogger' and that's all I really give a shit about these days! Poker and blogging about it. Nothing else, well ....matters, apart from my gal Suzie, my boy Zac and my work. Anyway, he was on and on and on at me about getting a (fucking) Facebook page, so he could add me to his (fucking) friends list.

Whatever.

My point is that aside from playing poker, he DID NOT SHUT UP ABOUT FUCKING FACEBOOK!

Once again it was a mix of Omaha and Hold'em. Dealers choice. We started off mainly with Hold'em, and I was racking up serious hands on good cards early.

Add to fucking friend .....

About third hand in I was dealt some shite hand in the BB. 8d4s or similar. The Deerhunter just limped and I was just happy to see a flop.

Flop. 7d 9d 10d. Woot! OESFD! Funny. The Deerhunter said out loud "Geez, my 8 of diamonds is looking better now!" Little internal girlie giggle!

Bet, call. Turn - 6d! Double w00t! Bet, call. Meaningless river. Check, check. Show! Ha! My first ever straight flush in a live game! Stoked! He asked why I didn't bet the river, and I said I'm a nice guy! After all, this is the guy who has accused me of being too good and ruthless a couple of weeks ago!

Add to fucking friend .......

Very next hand. I get dealt AKs. Flop. Qs 7s 3s. W00t and w00t again! He had some part of it again and I get paid off again!

Then I go seriously card dead for fucking ages. Got hurt (when I knew I could) with KJ and he had AK. I ended up hitting my J on the turn which gave him the str8, and I knew it immediately. I slowed it down right there but lost some chips prior to that card coming out tho. Shit happens.

Add to fucking friend .....

Dealt KK in the SB and put in a standard PrF raise to which he folded. Fuggit!

No other serious cards to speak of, but still managed to stack him three times before the night was over. The Deerhunter just picks terrible spots to shove, when I'm only going to call him when I'm ahead or drawing two cards to a monster. I turned the nut flush once when he had bottom pair. He was pissed, but I said to him .... "what if I had middle or top pair? You're still dead!!" Mind you, I made some truly sick laydowns when I was probably ahead. Folded trips on a flush board. Dunno if he had it. Folded top 2 on a str8 board. Dunno if he had it! But he didn't stack me once. W00t!

Great night as usual. And in bed by 1am ... ish!

Add to fucking friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stooopid c*nt!

More heads-up fun.

Flicked cards with the Deerhunter a couple more times since my last post (All this since he said he was 'over it'!)

Funnily enough we've thrown a bit of Omaha in the mix, particularly last week. It's always a variant I've enjoyed (as does C-nut) but never really tickled the Deerhunters' fancy. But he really enjoyed the change up. We made it 'dealers choice' as to which game it was. Interesting mix! Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha, Hold'em, Hold'em, Omaha .... Great fun. I play my pocket cards pre a hell of a lot tighter than Deerhunter, but that's probably because he hasn't played a lot of it.

Both times I managed to play some really solid poker. I never really got any cards to work with last week but still seemed to have the Deerhunter's measure. He's always competitive, and knows how to play, but I just seemed to pop him at the right time, and put the pressure on at the right time.

Oh, and here's something I forgot to mention.

We've stopped 'showing'! He said (and rightly so) that he doesn't want his decisions validated. It's very very weird tho, especially when you've been showing for so long. In fact there were still times when I'd accidently flip over my cards!

Wednesday just gone, we did pretty much the same again, minus as many hands of Omaha. The Deerhunter was a veritable card rack! Jesus. The amount of massive cards he had was incredible. Pocket pairs galore. Paint sooooted connectors. The whole 'kit and kaboodle'. Quite scarey.

Incredibly we finished the night absolutely dead even. We play with three yellow chips each which count as rebuys. The Deerhunter started out like a maniac, busting me out twice in the first few hours. It was a combination of him racking up the cards like nobody's business and me being card dead and trying to make shit happen with 'not much'. Mind you, he sucked out on me bigtime on one hand. I think I got in waaaaay in front with trips. Jam. Call. He flips over TPTK. I said, you've got a runner runner flush out. And FUCK ME, it comes. Unrooool.

RUNNER RUNNER NUTZZZZZZZ! We did laugh tho. Despite the fact I felt sick to my guts!

The Deerhunter even commented how well I played with sweet fuck all in the way of cards. In fact I'm still amazed that I was able to draw even by nights end, let alone not get annihilated!

Great fun, and already looking forward to the next time!

P.S. Funny how things work out. Discovered that two loose mates (meaning we know them but not very well) play mates games reasonably regularly, with invites to join in anytime we can. Great to feel like we're building a broader circle. Can't wait to get in on them!

P.P.S. Came fifth (630 ppl) in another Aussie Millions qualifier on FT the other night. Frustrating! All in A 10h versus pocket 7s and didn't improve when the shorty. Bugger bugger bugger!

MTT Satellites

Jumped on Full Tilt last night and for something different, tried to freebie satellite into a few tournaments. As I've noted before, my bankroll is non existant, so I figured I'd try my luck at getting one rolling for nothing. Of course, first I'd have to win a satellite, then cash in the tourney itself!

Oh well. Gotta aim high and allow for some trajectory!

Played 4 tourneys. 3 x 630 player turbo SnG and one other one. 300 odd players? Can't remember exactly!

Out of the four, I played very well in three. As most of you would know, the standard of play is abhorently low. In fact it's downright appalling! That's 90% of the problem for a player with half a clue. It's just too easy to be sucked out on by someone who shouldn't even be in a hand.

Part of 'my theory' of MTT poker (and there's really nothing new in this!) is to just play solid poker. Of course, the earlier you build a stack in a turbo event, the better, but to my way of thinking there's no need to go crazy. And that's what most of the donks on FT seem to think you have to do. Wrong! Three words ... PICK YOUR SPOTS. TAG poker all the way.

One tournament, very early ... my pocket Queens went down after a pre flop all-in. Shit happens. It's alright. Unless you spike another Lady, they're just soooo vulnerable.

The other tourneys I did really well and was (generally) happy with my play. I do like the structure of the turbo events. It puts the acid on players to make the most of their cards, and frankly, most of them can't and don't. It doesn't hurt that I got Big Slick (soooooted) in the first hand of one of the tourneys, so I quadrupled up instantly, but I still felt that I picked my spots really succesfully, using many of the tips I've read (thankyou Hoy) on blogs and other sites. Particularly in terms of stealing, weilding a big stack with feeling and playing small pocket pairs smart.

I did run pretty goooot too, which is handy, but it's never going to last the whole way thru. My use of mediocre cards to win the blinds tho still amazes me. I mean, once you're down to the last 200 of 600+ players (read - a lot of the donks are gone) it's such an effective play. That's where A9 - A5, K10 - K7 sooooted, suited connectors and decent offsuit connectors really come into play. You can still get away from them if need be, but they help maintain the action and create the table image that you're not to be fucked with. Thin the field pre .... see a flop ... and re-evaluate. And the bonus... they can hit you HARD, and when they do, you get paid off.

Anyway. To the point. I spent quite a bit of time as chip leader in two of the games. Up to 100k in chips in one and 80k in another. In the 'other' one, I was short stacked for ages, stayed patient, and then went mad about halfway thru, changing it up according to my stack size, got lucky a few times and built up to 70k.

I made the final table of the table where I had the 100+k Stack and finally went out in 8th. I was severely 'hurt' just prior to the final table when I had top two pair against a mediocre stack post flop, and while not exactly slowplaying it, maybe didn't kill the hand early enough. Another case of runner runner took me down to about 50k in chips. In fact I didn't 'fill up' after flopping two pair all night in any of the tournaments! Bloody frustrating! I then got killed With pocket Jacks which made trips on a paired board, and the other guy had a book. He was playing a hand which I never would've have been in there with, after I put in a hefty pre flop raise, but you get that. Still, it sux BALLZ!

The other two tourneys I made it into the top twenty. Once again a paired board was my undoing in one. I just don't (sometimes) give players credit for holding that 2, 3 or 4 when there's a couple on the board. Pocket threes did me in that instance. I'd definitely consider this a leak, and plan to plug it in the immediate future. Or maybe I just need to slow down at the pointy end. I'm sure I'll work it out.

The other tourney end game, I had to shove my pocket fives when short stacked. Called by one player with KJs and he spiked his card. Easy shove by me, easy call by the biggie. Too bad.

Fucking annoying to get so deep in three MTTs and not get the choccies. Still I proved to myself that I do have the potential to run deep in these things, and maybe, earn some $$$ down the track. Until I do though, according to Blinders, I'll be happily wasting my time!

Peace!

I am a victim....

... of my own improvement.

Weird sorta post today.

I haven't made many posts of late coz, well, it's been quiet on the poker front. Aside from the last mates game, it's been either a) a heads up shuffle with the Deerhunter (twice) or stuffing around at the 300/600 level on Full Tilt. I'm currently at 900+k in freebie money, so I'm doing okay. But it's the heads up game with my great mate Deerhunter that has taken a weird turn.

A bit over a week ago, we played and had a great night. We played for maybe four or five hours and partied hard as well. The Deerhunter was getting pretty much nothing in the way of cards, and I was getting better, but not great cards ... and I ended up beating him convincingly. Just making good reads and changing up my style from time to time. It's very important to remember that we play together A LOT. A hell of a lot, and we know each others games 'intimately'. So I 'won' that night, altho I definitely had the better of the cards.

But the last time we did it (Thursday last week?) has created a dilemma.

The Deerhunter basically said I was too good and it wasn't fun anymore.

Now .....

The first point that I want to make is that the title of my blog, The Poker Sponge, wasn't just for the hell of it. My whole reason for starting it was to improve my play, but I don't just want to be a solid player, or a good player. I want to be a fucking DEMON hold'em player. I want to be able to sit down at any table anywhere on the fucking planet and mix it up with whoever happens to be there. That's the aim. I've read Harrington I and II, as well as Doyle's books. I read other blogs almost daily. I sit on my fat arse at work watching Pokertube clips. I am a sponge, and if I wasn't I wouldn't improve.

But ... I didn't want it to come to this.

Here's (sorta) how it panned out. It boiled down to this, but it's hard to describe. I just sorta play. Smart and hard. I make plays for pots. With cards and without. I'm happy to lose chips to find out where I'm at in a hand. I'm happy to lay down 2nd pair or bottom pair if I feel I'm behind. (I feel) I pick my spots really well nowadays. The Deerhunters reaction kind of reinforces it. He was just flabbergasted by the time he said 'enough'.

A few times I laid down 'halfa' hand when he had a better hand. These hands he was banking on winning some chips off me. He admitted as much. I seemed to be raking lots of small to decent pots thru my shrewd play, whereas the ones he'd win didn't eat into my stack. He commented that 'six months ago' I'd go along for the ride in those hands and potentially spew chips. But not anymore.

Another example. A few times he'd limp in with not much. J6 off and hands like that. I'd be holding J8 off, sense weakness, and raise. He'd fold. In fact I can't remember how often it happened, but happened a fair bit and almost every time my read was right. It didn't matter what he had or what I had, almost every time I was in front. My 'kicker sense' is spot on at the moment. And it really got to the poor bastard.

Now in one respect I'm really proud of the fact that someone else whose 'game' I admire has said "You're too good for me". I mean it's one thing to feel you've improved based on your own assessment, but another thing entirely when someone else gives you that exact same feedback. But I'm kinda crushed that the one guy who I love playing with, and he's the only fella that I can play with regularly, doesn't feel that keen anymore!

I'm sure (well, I HOPE) he'll 'get over it' and we'll play sometime down the track again. The fact that I have improved means a hell of a lot to me, but I don't want it to 'ruin' a good thing.

Rapt!

Here's something I found on Rizen's poker blog today. I'm sure he won't mind me posting this with due credit to him. This is exactly what i was taking about in my post re Saturday night's game with the fellas. At least my gut feeling was right!

One thing I did a lot of to improve my short stack game is figure out what kinds of hands do well when called (even though they may be behind). Many people are surprised to figure out that you'd rather have JTs than A9o against most people's calling range to a standard push from most positions. By knowing what types of hands do the best when called and you're pushing as a steal short stacked you can buy yourself an extra 5-6% of equity, which may not seem like much, but over the long term it adds up to a lot of $$$. Remember when you're pushing as a short stack your cards never matter until you're called, so even though A9 may look like a better hand, I'd rather have JTs in the event that I do get called.

So, how'd it go then?

Hard to believe it maybe, but I'm not really looking forward to recapping our Saturday night mates shuffle.

Firstly it could be lengthy.

Secondly, well .... I'm pissed off!

See, I'm very frustrated with the way I played. On a scale of 1 - 10, my cards were probably a 5-6. Not great but not totally unplayable. But I'm really pretty steamed with the way I played a couple of hands that cost me. Hindsight tho, is a beautiful thing and I'm sure after I diarise the night's events I'll let it go and hopefully, improve. There's gotta be some reason behind starting a poker blog surely?!

Quick recap of structure. $25 buy in. $10 rebuy for half your original stack. Double rebuys allowed. Blinds go up when we 'feel like it'. Starting blinds 25/50.

Another interesting point, we 'show'. A lot. Rarely do we muck.

Players. 4 player game. Self, Deerhunter, C-nut and noob ... a great fella who shall herefore be known as Schmoll. I've known Schmoll for a good few years, altho loosely thru mutual friends. C-nut's known him better for longer. Really nice guy tho, and picked up the game very, very quickly. He'd never played the game before, but certainly had a nice run of 'beginner's cards'. The great thing is that he seemed to really enjoy himself, so if there's any justice, he might be up for it again down the track!

Anyway. After a few open hands to give Schmoll a clue about the way it's played, we got into it. It made for interesting play early, because it took a lot of the 'aggro' out of the game, because we had a noob there. See first hand covered.

(Note. All hand histories are approx. No notes are taken at the time and we do party while playing!)

About second hand in, I pick up something like KJ. There was a min raise before me, and I just called.

Flop. Rag - 7 - Jack.

So I pick up TPDK (Top pair, decent kicker). The Deerhunter leads out with a decent but not scary bet and I raise double his bet. Reasonably quick call. Turn card, another medium rag. Bet, raise, call. WTF? River another unthreatening card. Bet by the Deerhunter. Reluctant, crying call. He flips up red bullets. FUCK!

Not great play, sure, but not exactly diabolical. I didn't quite find out where I was 'at' in the hand tho, and I probably should have read it better. Part of the thing is, that The Deerhunter's every chance of firing a couple of shots with air when he commits to a pot, so I was reluctant to let this go. I definitely didn't put him on a set, and there were no flush or straight draws out there. Overpair? DING DING!!!! Earth to Dillo!!! Oh well. (When we 'regular' three guys shuffle up, we rarely read it when someone's playing bullets. I slowplayed bullets on someone (Pretty sure it was C-nut) later in the night, and he said he had NO idea. We'll call it even!)

I was playing pretty tight, which is NOT my normal game. I tend to be (and probably play my best) when I'm aggressive and play quite a few pots. I've always felt like a decent post flop player. That's probably why I'm pretty annoyed with the way the night panned out. I laid a fair few hands down (when not in the blinds) that I'd normally play. Suited connectors and gappers. Unsuited medium connectors. K9 - K5 etc. With some of them the flop wouldn't have helped me. Some of them, I would've fucking cleaned up. That's the old 'roundabout' style game that I really enjoy playing. See flops. Bigger swings in stacks, sure .... but the flops where you hit HARD, you more than make up for the extra chips you put in to play those extra hands. I'm sure some of you play that style too. But Saturday night, I didn't ... for some reason. Hence my frustration.

I was taking down a few pots early with reasonable preflop raises. A8 off. Medium pocket pairs. Stuff I'm happy just to pick up the blinds with. Also got tangled in a few pots that I maybe shouldn't have. The Deerhunter and C-nut (in particular) are quite happy to pop you with 'not much'. And if I wasn't absolutely sure that I had them, I'd get away from it. Maybe, more than I should have.

Another hand that came up, and looking back on it, I reckon it could be something that needs attention and some modification in my play.

I'm dealt AJ off. Two players in this pot. The Deerhunter and myself. Quite a bit of action pre. He raises it up and I pop him double his bet. Call. I put him on a decent Ace at least, but has he got me?

Flop comes A - x - x.

Deerhunter leads out with a pot sized bet. (500?) What do I do here? My automatic response was to raise. If he's holding AK or AQ I'm behind, and it's in my best interests to find out NOW. So I raise, and he thinks, then folds.

Poser #1. Should I have flat called here and let another card come off?

I just feel that I could've really put some hurt on him here and increased my stack. We all know how AJ is fraught with danger. Very easily dominated. Plus I figured that if I was to even give him a chance to pair his kicker I wanted more chips in the pot to do it. Still, I rake a sizeable pot and you can't be too disappointed with that. But, could I have played that differently?

At this point C-nut was chip leader. Then Schmoll, and myself and the Deerhunter slowly losing ground. Not long after, deerhunter busts and rebuys his full stack again for another $20.

Not long after that, I pick up J8c out of the blinds. Rather than just limp, I pop in a smallish raise to change it up. Remember, I'm the shorty now. (Not a percentage play, but nonetheless.) The Deerhunter in the BB calls.

Flop. 10 - 8 - 4.

Deerhunter checks. I'm holding middle pair, I'm going to have a crack at this pot. Pot sized bet. Raise. Narp, he's putting the acid on me coz I'm the shorty. Jam. He flips over .......

10 fucking 4.

So after I lambast him for calling my preflop raise with that shite, shite hand, he busts my sorry (and very donkish) arse. Trappy bastard!!!!

Rebuy for my original stack. Fuggit.

Then (and things get a wee bit murky here coz we're partying reasonably hard) I'm slowly blinded away. Not playing what I'd usually play .... moan... and C-nut bullying the table a bit which he always does with the big stack. Schmoll went on a nice run with great cards, and a few very nice bluffs (!) for a noob.

This another part where I'd love some advice and feedback. I was getting mown down slowly but surely with not much in the way of cards. Really, not much! I'd be guessing, but my M would've been around 7/8 and I was looking to make a move and swell my stack some.

Got Kings once in the BB and everyone (even the SB) folded. Un-fucking-real.

One hand that pissed me off. I was in the SB, C-nut in the BB. I pick up pocket 9's. I raised to 500. He pops it up to 1k pre! I agonized over this. He's obviously on a very decent hand. I went into the tank for about 3 minutes (I never usually take that long) before folding. He had two over cards, (A-10?) which is what I feared. To my way of thinking, 9's was right on the cusp of what I could shove there. It's a coinflip. 10's, I woulda insta jammed. 9's I reluctantly folded. We ended up playing the hand out 'for fun' and he got his card that woulda busted me. At least my read was right. That's something!

Poser #2. Was I playing scared in that spot, or would you call that an ok laydown?

Over the next hour I picked up A2 thru A5 maybe six or seven times. Now I really wanted to push here. Heck, I needed to at some stage. (And in fairness, I did twice. With A8d and QJh, picking up the blinds in the process.) But the other A - shite hands, I didn't. Couldn't. WOULDN'T for some reason. And it's gnawing away at me STILL.

My (perceived) problem here was C-nut. As the big stack, he'd happily call my shove, barely denting his stack, and happy to knock me out (knowing it was too late to rebuy again.)

Is ANY ace really good to stuff down his throat here? My thought process was this. If he's holding any two reasonable cards here (say 9's and better), he's gonna call. If he's holding Ace, his kicker is every chance, statistically, to be better than mine. So basically I'm throwing all my chips out there on a A high card. He spikes a shit 10 or something and I brick out with my A, nigh nighs.

Poser #3. Feedback pliz!

My final hand of the night. Freeeky shizzle.

I pick up 59c in the BB. Two players, self and C-nut. He raises pre and I'm happy to call and at least see a flop here. You just can't fold your BB every freakin time there's a raise, especially the way my mates play.

Flop. 6 - 7 - 8. All spades.

Sorta W00t! But not really. I've flopped a str8 but have NO piece of that flush action. I've got to lead out here and try and get some chips. Now we all know that a flopped flush occurs very rarely. I can assume that he might have one spade. The chances of him having two is pretty slim.

So I lead out strong. He raises me, which he, or I would happily do if we were still drawing to the flush to try and take the pot down there and then. So now I figure I've got to jam here with my short stack, and a made hand, and give him a chance to fold. So I do ....

He flips up J4s. GG me.

FARK!!!!!

I can't really complain about my play there. "That's poker" comes to mind. I mean I had a great hand, but got trumped by a better one, and I'd jam with the short stack there again and again and again, regardless of the board. Because the next 20 times we replayed that exact same hand, I'd be in front 90% of the time. Shit happens.

Poser #4. Am I a complete idiot? Don't answer that.

So there it is. A really frustrating (but very enjoyable!) night of fun. Better cards would have been nice. Even the Deerhunter commented that my cards were nowhere near as good as what he was dealt, and I played as well as I could, considering.

If you've bothered wading thru this post, by all means, leave me a note. It would be appreciated.

For the record....

Winner - Deerhunter!
Money back - C-nut.

There's always next week ......

C-O-L-D deck(s) yesterday.

Trip K's cracked...
Trip J's cracked....
Ran sooooted AK into AA pre....
Had nut flush trumped by str8 flush on the river....

I had more fun dislocating my ankle.

This just in....

.....Stephon Marbury's a moron.

The Smack continues....

Me

"Roll on Saturday night!"

C-nut ....

"Indeed Saturday night where I can steal from the poor. Might see if I can rustle up another 1 or 2"

Hopeless. Where has the mateship gone?!! Oh the HUMANITY!!!!!

I love this shizzle.

Have a read. This is great. Hopefully, it's the sorta thing you think about anyway, but it's great to see it written about so well. Fugg I love the net!

The Pareto Principle

Nice job Pocket Fives.

W00t! Game on Saturday night!

Bingo baby! We're on!!!

C-nut and Deerhunter are IN for a shuffle Saturday night at my joint. How's this for starting the smack?! Via email just minutes ago.

C-nut " ....Be prepared to play into the wee hours as well. Better pace that drinking cos I’ll be in it for the long haul ...." Quote - unquote!

Priceless!

My response?!

" ....You playing tight and slow? What the fugg? You better get off the Zoloft mate. It’s doing you no good at all.

I’ll be mixing it up mate. Lots of disguised continuation bets. Checking the turn with monsters. Betting with air. You name it ….. "

Fucking can't wait!

Death .... Card death! Mwa-ha-ha!

Short but sweet (?) post today kiddies.

Flicked some cards with the Deerhunter on Saturday night. The old 'pride' thing again.

And mine was seriously dented...

Not thru apalling play. But thru every poker player's worst nightmare.

CARD DEATH ......

Bullets once. And that ... was ... it.

Any small pairs never amounted to anything. Any draws never came. Any shoves with crap were dominated. Any raises were re-raised. And because we 'show', I was making good reads and good lay downs. It just never changed. A looooong, loooong period of card death. One of those times when even shoving shit won't work. I won't go on.

In fairness I pegged it back later in the night, but mainly because The Deerhunter got so effed up that he lost his concentration, whereas I play long sessions, smashed up, better.

Dunno if that's a good thing!

Email from C-nut thismornin. He's down this weekend and keen on a larger shuffle. Here's hoping!

Shoutout to Aussie bloggers

Further to the previous post, if you're a True Blue Blogger *Regd!* let me know and we'll swap links. Let's try and build this 'frat' a little more. The Canadian guys and gals are all over this like a rash, and we should be too.

Get in touch!

Getting motivated now!

Just sent an email to the main men behind the Western Australian Poker League. I've asked if there is / offered to set up a Bunbury chapter. The idea being that a) I'd like to participate in more live tournaments with players I don't know and b) I'd like to broaden my network of social players who might be up for the occasional cash game. Home games are great fun, and I'd love to do it more. And let's face it, it's FAR too easy in this day and age to be totally insular. It'd be nice to meet some more people who share a common interest.

While I know many peeps who check my blog occasionally aren't even Aussies, let alone from nearby Bunbury, W.A. ... if you are, get in touch!

dillo@dillo.com.au

Advice please guys and gals.

Now that I've had my grizzle about the serious lack of funds in my life (see below) I just want to get an idea of the way you went about starting in the online game. I mean, I read some great posts recently by Chad and 'I forget who' about bankroll management. But it really doesn't cover the hows of actually starting one up. U with me?!

What sort of $$$ did you start with?

How much $$$ on how many sites? I spose I should try and make the most in terms of signup bonuses, right?

Which sites do you prefer? I'm a Full Tilt guy generally. Recently downloaded Party and Titan. They're ok.

What level did you start at?

There. At least I'm getting practical now. Thanks in advance. Pleeeease don't be bashfull.

Been quiet. Too quiet .....

And it has been. Poker has been largely absent in my life of late. And it sux ballz!

The Deerhunter and I have flicked cards, what, twice in the last two weeks? No cash, just for pride. I've been playing well when we have played. Getting cards at a reasonable rate. Playing them ok. He's been about the same. His game has improved heaps over the years. Unfortunately he's been having a sh1t time on the homefront, which has made life hard. Hopefully he'll get thru it. I'm sure he will. We'll probably catch up this week sometime for a shuffle. I know that C-nut is also keen as mustard to do it soon too. He wants our money tho! The problem for him is ... we've improved heaps since we started playing as a troika, and have learned to change up our game to stifle his game! W00t!

I haven't been playing on Full Tilt much at all. I'm just sooo over the pushmonkey tilt bastards on there. Sooooo many clueless fucks. And playing tight and picking your spots is just soooo boring on occasions. I mean, it's one thing when you're knuckling down for the long haul to try and qualify for a tournament in a freebie satellite. But it's another thing entirely when you just want to play a few hands.

Shove. Fold. Shove. Fold. Shove. Fold. Fucking morons.

This sort of brings me to the point of this lil post. Grab some tissues.

I'm fucking poor at the moment. As a house mouse poor. I mean, I'm gratefull for all that's good in my life. There's a roof over my head. Great girlfriend and lil fella, Zac. We eat well. I live in a fucking fantastic country. I'm almost a month off the ciggies.

And I'm playing some online chess against Schaubs. Talk about blowing off some cobwebs! It's been a while, and I never played it that much to begin with. He's already 'pinched' my Queen in one game. How was I supposed to know/remember that pawns can take pieces on their openning move?!!! Lol! If you want a game, register and look for me on there. Dillo. Simple!

(Aside. It's weird this blogging thing. You really can develop an affinity with some of the guys. Schaubs seems like the sorta guy I'd hang with if he was down the road. Poker, golf, beers. Know what I mean?)

Back to the now ..... whinge, bitch ....

But I have a mountain of bills that are sloooooowly getting paid. Ever so slowly. See, being a mobile DJ is very, very seasonal... and right now in Oz, it's winter. That means very few weddings, which are my cream. So the bills tend to pile up at this time of year. It's our first winter in our new house, and we're learing the nuances of our place. i.e. a $400+ gas bill when Suzie uses the heater more than she should! FARK!!!

But I wanna get a bankroll going, coz I know deep down that I can do ok at the tables. That and the fact that I might be able to get away from a few, just a few, of the pushmonkeys. But I'm just not in a position to. Fucking frustrating.

C'est la vie? Perhaps. But it doesn't mean I have to like it!

Grizzle over.

Footnote - This post goes against my typical Sagittarian nature. I'm not a manic depressive. Honest!

Runner Runner Str8 D-O-N-K-S.

I fucking hate them.

Full Tilt. (Rigged!) 1st to act. Pocket cowboys. (W00t!)

And YES, I did raise pre.

Flop. K - 10 - rag, rainbow. (Booyah!)

Bet pot. (Gotta bet your sets. Besides, some dickhead will call.)

One player calls.

Turn. A.

Bet pot and a bit, trying to price them out. (I can see this unfolding like a train wreck.)

Call.

River. Q. (Shit, shit, shit. This can't be happening.)

Solid value bet. Where am I at?

Raise!?!

I knew it. Fold.

Player shows J - 9. Fuckhead. NO piece of the board. Gutty drawin' the WHOLE way. And they fucking HIT?!! Why the fuck should I have to jam here? A donk like this would only call anyway, and I'd lose all my chips!!!

What the FUCK can you do?!!

....other than mandate that ALL Hold'em players MUST read Harrington.

That's not gambling. That's FUCKING STUPID.

There. I feel better now. Sorta.

Why we love this game we call Poker.

This is going to be a very philosophical post. I mean, the reason I started this blog was to learn more about the game, write down musings and join the (vastly) more savvy players in the wider blogger community with a view to eventually mixing it up in the BBT and Mondays at the Hoy.

But Saturday night helped crystalize what I already knew. Reinforced it.

Poker is a brilliant passtime to enjoy.

What I'm putting to you is ... "When did you last stop, and REALLY FEEL IT?" I mean, I know I'm not grinding away in online MTTs or cash games, taking bad beats in the arse every day ... but ....

My luv-er-ly lady Suze had a big work function and so did Deerhunter's luv-er-ly wife, Carls. So both off the leash, we hooked up to do what we do best. Run amok, and play poker.

Run amok we did. With feeling! Smashed up and lovin' it. But that's by the by ....

The point of this post is to just explain how much fucking fun it was.

Firstly, The Deerhunter, Zac and myself played til 9pm! (Christ, I hope his mother never stumbles across this blog!!) Two re-buys each. Zac beat us BOTH. Sure he hit a couple of killer suckouts, but he played SO WELL. Even the Deerhunter said it was frightening! And I was the card rack! He's a really, really good little player. Brings a tear to Daddy's eye!

Remember, he's just turned SEVEN!

(Quote of the night - Zaccy said to the Deerhunter. "I wish you were dealt Kings, and I get bullets. The flop comes A, A, K. You flop a book and I flop quads." FUCK, DID WE LAUGH!!!!)

But then after I put Zac into bed, the Deerhunter and I just played hand after hand after hand after hand. We drank plenty, a bong or four and sucked on a fine cuban each. The only thing we could've used was a nymphette peeling us grapes!

But the POKER.... the poker .... just fucking awesome.

No cash. Just pride.

No pushmonkey tilt shit. Just cards.

Getting in ahead. Going down to an unlucky card on the river. It's ok. It's gonna happen.

Laying down great hands to monsters.

Optimizing monsters!

Reads. Tells.

Changing it up. Trying different things. Gambling.

Consecutive pocket bullets! (And playing them the second time like they were presto!)

IT WAS SOUL ENRICHING STUFF.

I woke up Sunday very bloody average, but still buzzing. A couple of hours of poker with Zac was great for us and brilliant for him. Then the cherry on top, about 5 more hours of heads up with one of the very best fellas on the planet. And I fucking told him so too.

THIS is why I love poker.

Further to yesterdays NBA post.

Faaaaark. This is going to get REALLY UGLY. Read this peeps.

Donaghy analysis from ESPN

It's also been covered by Hoy and Bayne too. Great blogs too, btw.

An NBA junkie from afar.

Non poker related post! What the fugg?!

I've been an NBA freek since I can't remember. Look, I'm 36 and have always loved hoops in any shape or form. My 'hometown' Perth Wildcats (Andrew Vlahov, who some of you may remember as a Stanford player, is majority owner) were at the peak of their powers when I was 10 years old. It was a boom sport in Oz back then. (For the record, it's sputtering nowadays. The football codes are just too all-consuming as our winter sports.)

As for the NBA, it was always something I loved, but just couldn't get enough of. There was a weekly (!) highlights package that you could consume, and THAT WAS IT. It's like a world away now, thanks to the wonders of the 'web'. So to explain, I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of the Bird-Magic days ... the ascent of Jordan ... and the first ever Dream Team. Ahhh, those were the days!

The NBA still holds great allure to me. Partly because if it's played the way ... 'it's supposed to be played' .... it's a thing of beauty. Crisp passing, movement without the ball ... love it. And I've finished top 3 in my first (and last) three Yahoo Fantasy NBA leagues. It helps soothe my inner GM!

But THIS is a real concern. To partially quote the incredible MUSE - SUPERMASSIVE. I've provided a few links of articles I've read over the last few days.

Schwarz - Topic overview - NY Times

Lopresti - USA Today

Stein - ESPN

McCallum - SI

Ratto - CBS

and the always readable Bill Simmons - ESPN Page 2.

I'd love some feedback from you Yanks. This is gonna be explosive shizz in the lead up (and probably all the way thru) this NBA season.

And a few NBA asides .... Is Rashard Lewis really worth a MAX DEAL?!!!!! You've gotta be kidding me!

Brad Newley (Rockets 2nd round pick this year) is a serious talent, but I can't see him coming to the States to ride the pine. He's a star in Oz, and would be in Europe too. On mega-bucks, rather than the NBA minimum.

Andrew Bogut is a twat. If he focused on rebounding like he does openning his trap, he'd be much more popular here at home.

If Steve Nash was still with the Mavs, they'd have two rings by now.

The Raptors to be the big improvers this year.

Love to hear your thoughts!

Pay Per View BABY!!!!

The Main Event final table.

Never done anything like this before! It helps having a juicy broadband internet connection which is able to cope with live video and audio streaming. So I bought the package thru ESPN (which I'm already a member of coz I LUUUURVE my NBA Hoops) and waited for the action to roll around.

I actually woke early yesterday morning Western Oz time (6.30am) and decided to get up, coz I'm not a sleeper-inner. Logged on, and low and behold it was underway, in fact I missed the first few Final Table eliminations. When I logged on, already Hilm, Childs and Watkinson had been eliminated and Yang had a brutal chip stack.

Now I've got to qualify my comments below by saying that anyone who makes it thru a minefield of some 6000+ competitors to make the final table of something like the Main Event HAS to have some serious card knowledge. You just couldn't get thru without it.

HOWEVER .....

There seemed to be some SERIOUS donking going on! I dunno whether it was the pressure of being on the final table and on the telly, but there seemed to be an inordinate number of rediculous plays.

'Rain' Khan pushing with a pair of THREES?!! What a dickhead! You see a flop (and then only sometimes) with threes!

Kravchenko (... who I admire. Typical Ruski tho. Personality of a house brick, but a serious player and played the short stack BRILLIANTLY) pushing all in with 2-3c? Must've been a 'read' situation!!! One he totally fugged up and then got incredibly lucky, flopping two pair!

Yang. Now here's a real tough one. To be honest, he seemed like a very AVERAGE player who couldn't stop getting cards! He was a brutal calling station ... but with cards! Having a gargantuan chip stack seemed to make up for a lot of his inadequacies as a poker player. He called TWO all ins with EIGHTS! Am I alone here? EIGHTS?!!! Must be his 'lucky hand'. And his play was sooooooooo fugging slow. Was it deliberate?! Even his hand movements! It would've driven me batty if I was at the table with him. Keep in mind this man is couselling poor souls in the good ol' US of A!

Kalmar, Lam and Rahme all seemed to be very decent players. Poor Rahme, he totally butchered those pocket Kings, but even then, calling station Yang would've won that hand anyway. And as for Lam, in heads up play, I would've gone to war with A-Q sooooted too. Dunno that I'd be calling with eights! And if you would, I'd love to hear why.

Great to watch most of it over the course of the day. At home and at work. Dunno what I learned from it tho. Maybe that even some really great players make first rate mistakes at times. I'd love to get your thoughts.

And before I go .... I understand that they can't have pocket card cameras operating during the Main Event .... but it definitely took away from some of the theatre of the broadcast. Phil Gordon's comments were good too. Just my two cents!

Over to you.

A quick pat on the back to Astin.

It's a weird feeling starting a blog. Will anyone read the thing? If they do will anyone give a shit?!

Well I'm rapt to say that even some of the more respected Poker bloggers on the web DO take the time and give a shit. Astin stopped by and gave me the (basic) info I asked for to capture some hands on poker sites. The plan is to eventually get my blog to a standard of some of those that I've provided links to. As a technophobe and troglodyte all rolled into one, it might take time ... but that's the plan.

If you haven't been to Astin's site (which is highly unlikely if you're reading this) please take the time and surf on over. It's a top notch blog.

Astin's blog.

I just wanted to say in this public forum, 'Thanks mate'. Your input is greatly appreciated.

And if YOU are thinking about starting a blog, stop thinking about it. Do it! It's reassuring to know that you won't be 'an outsider looking in'. At least, not for very long!

Leave me a note, and I'll pop YOUR name over on my N00Bs link list. I'll try and spread the word for your blog too!

Sunday mates cash game - FINALLY!

Been FAR too long between drinks! I did mention that it was being kicked around as a possibility late in the week. Well it materialized, and I'm fuggen glad it did.

(Before I get into that, I must quickly mention that the Deerhunter and I managed to get into some impromptu madness on Friday night. After I did a community disco in Boyanup til 8.30, I got a txt from him that a) he was home, b) Carls was out, c) there was Poker on the box, d) there was beer in the fridge and e) he was keen for a shuffle up. Now I've been working like a slave of late, and haven't had a lot of R&R, so I took up the opportunity to 'drop by for a while'.

WHAT A JOKE! Got to his place 9.30pm. Pulled up stumps at 4am after much merriment and indulgences! Even better, saw this guy Tuan (WSOP tourney) be a serious card rack, flopping two pair almost every hand and totally dominating the table from the get-go. As for our cards, we must have played a dozen hands heads up, and we made it so they were pretty short stacks. No cash.... 'just for pride' as The Deerhunter likes to put it. The short stacks made it very interesting, because we were basically shoving after a couple of hands went against us. Or in some cirumstances, when we both caught serious cards, a couple of reraises each and it was push monkey heaven .... just with cards! Great fun. I can't remember any specific hands, but it was a handy warm up for Sundays game. I ended up leaving the van there and walking home!)

So .... Sunday! C-nut was down from Perth and keen for a shuffle, and of course, our money. Deerhunter was returning from a big Saturday night with friends down in Yallingup and happy to get back in time for a game too. (Back 2 back 2 back! Impressive buddy! In saying that, he DID start the arvo with a couple of Sprites. Poof.)

After C-nut got to my joint, we played a couple of hands of Hold'em with Zac. He loved it. One hand which he should've but didn't get away from was when C-nut and I flopped top pair (K), him with J kicker and me with a spade flush draw. Zac called our large post flop action. Turn card comes, rag heart. Even more action. Zac went right with us. River - rag spade which completed my flush. And he STILL didn't get away!!!! He was chasing his heart flush draw on the river. Poor lil bugger! He'll get it one day. Don't go chasing a flush with only one one of your cards on the board after the flop! Or ... at least have part of the board!!!

As for our 3 way game, I'll repeat how we work it. $25 buck buy in, with $10 rebuys for a third of our original stack till we deem 'too late'. Double rebuys allowed. (Hey, we're flexible!) 2nd place gets their money back. First takes the rest. We normally play 4 handed, but had to settle for 3 with this one.

Long story cut short. I started out playing good cards well and bad cards better. This is where reading my books seems to have helped me HEAPS. I really started to build my stack early. A few steals. A few really nice hands I disguised well.

One BAD play I made was with pocket Ladies pre flop. Just didn't raise enough. C-nut called my bet and flopped his K. I knew it straight away, and laid it down. Really pissed off with my play there.

Anyway, I had a commanding chip lead and the other guys were starting to make a stand. Even though C-nut was the shortest stack, the first all in play came from The Deerhunter. On a board of 5 - 6 - 8 rainbow (with me holding pocket 7's which I raised up 3x pre hoping to kill it there) I bet out a pot sized bet. OESD and decent pair. Nice. The Deerhunter jammed! And I'm thinking ... "what has he got?!" Overpair? Possibly, but not paint, based on his call of my pre flop raise. Overcards? Maybe, but unlikey. Bloody brave to jam with that. He had to have some piece of the board. Trips? Praps, but my read was that he didn't. 7 - 9? Nah, he wouldn't have called with that pre. So I figured I was, at worst, being beaten by a pair of 8's. At best I was in front and had a better draw with a massive chip lead. It was going to cost me a third of my stack if I was going down. I figure it's a CALL!

Deerhunter. Ah - 6h. BOOM! I'm in front! He'd have to improve and the flush possibility was runner-runner.

Turn - 6. Ouch. River - A! He fills up?!?! FAAAAAAAAARRRRRK!!!!

Oh well, At least my read was right and I made a good call. I was in front when we flipped 'em over. That's all you can do. So after counting out the chips, I reminded myself that I made the right play, my read was good and I mustn't tilt. Turned out to be a good thing. I just kept playing my cards and my opponents.

I worked my way back into it, taking a few chips from both of them. A couple of periods of card death, but nothing I couldn't get through. The antes were coming every 45 mins, and things were getting pretty dire for C-nut. He plays a short stack pretty aggressively and was openly talking about doubling up soon. Then, this hand rolls around.

I get dealt pocket 3's in the big blind. Cool, not great, but quite ok at this point in the evening. I figure I just want to see a flop, and if I don't spike, I get the f*ck out of Dodge. C-nut raises 3x the BB. It's only $200 more to call, so I do. Deerhunter folds his SB.

Flop. J - 6 - 3 rainbow. Sweet! No flush possibilities. Straight? Nup. And I've flopped my set.

C-nut bets. I raise. And he pushes. Insta-call!

Flip 'em up! C-nut. TPTK. Ha!

DOMINATED!!!!!!!!!! The board bricks out for him and I clean him out. Wicked! He bitched for a while that I should never have called his bet with a low pair, but like I said earlier, it was only $200 more to call. Easy call IMO.

So C-nut rebuys for $20, and get two-thirds of his starting stack. That's a pretty good platform for him. He's a solid player, regularly playing in cash games in Perth and at Burswood Casino. He even had a crack at a Aussie Millions satellite last year and bubbled. He's a more than capable player.

Next hand which I managed to cripple him was a ripper. I'll abreviate it tho. I had A4 off. Limped in pre. Not a favourite hand really. Understandable! C-nut was in the BB from memory. He settled to see a flop. Cool.

Flop came 3 - 2 - 6 rainbow. So I'm all around it, but haven't got a piece of it. But I lead out and STRONG. He pops me and I pop him right back. Our $200 chips are flying around all over the place. It's a serious pot. He ends up calling. Turn card 7. Aaaargh! I've got to lead out strong again, otherwise I'm fucked. $800 to go. He sits there, and says '....I reckon I've got you beat, but I'm laying them down." Thank Christ! He had 3's. I had nadda. W00t!!! That was some sphincter trembling action there. So now I was massive chip leader again and he was steamed.

Two more hands to get through.

Then I bust out C-nut. I led out with a 3x BB bet with pocket 9's. He called, so he had something!

Flop - K - 9 - rag. Set mining ROCKS!

Anyway, a bit of action, a shove, a call and ..... DOMINATED!!!!! I think he had KQ soooooted. He normally wouldn't make that play, but short stacked (and late-ish) he figured he'd push. Once again the board bricked out.

Final hand. Deerhunter and I. He was very short stacked compared to me. No action pre. I had Q3 off.

Flop - 3 - rag - rag.

I bet out the pot. He jammed. Swift call (given his range, he had to be pushing here) and he flips over 9-3 off or similar. Outkicked and dead. End of night, $45 richer. C-nuts $25 buy in and $20 rebuy. Booyah! A great night, and great to PLAY WELL as much as it was to win a little cash! I'm soooo fucking tight financially at the mo!

Bad beat #1.

Crap night on Full Tilt last night. Well, it was ok until this.... 10 handed 100-200.

LIMPED (I love it when peeps let me limp with shit!) from the small blind with 2-3 off. Sure it's crap, but I like to mix it up. Flop comes 2-3-x. I raised to 400. Only two callers. Turn card 2. BOOK! I made it 1500 more. One player folded. Then was RAISED by the last remaining player. I jammed and he called. He showed 4-2.

River card....



... a FUCKING 4.

Un-fucking-be-LIEVE-a-ble.

My son is a CARD RACK.

Holy hell. It's been a while! Busy as .... between work, fatherhood and stuff. Poker, in a 'live' sense seems been a distant memory. I've been working even tho the Deerhunter has been keen the last couple of Saturday nights. Since C-nut has gone to Perth it's been quiet. Shame. There is a few emails going around late yesterday and today working on a Sunday arvo shuffle up. Here's hoping it comes to fruition! I'm keen to utilize some of the stuff I've been reading in "Harrington".

(Speaking of, I've finished "Super System 1". Great read, but didn't enjoy it as much as Harrington's stuff. Can't really put my finger on why. Weird. Just Brunson's over-emphasis on aggression pissed me off after a while. I mean, I understand that aggression is essential in poker, but it's got to be controlled, and precise. At times it didn't feel like Doyle made that point clear. I'll end up re-reading it to see if I get something else out of it, no doubt. But Harrington is brilliant. He's probably more consevative than I am in the way I look at hands occasionally, but it's awse. I can't recommend it enough. I will sorta do a review of each of the books as time goes by. It's just a matter of time!!!)

Anyway, on to the topic behind today's title of this post. My son. My brilliant kid, Zac. (I could post about how his mum is supposed to have him for the ENTIRE school holidays to give ME a FUCKING BREAK, and how he's home after THREE FUCKING NIGHTS with mum.... but I won't bore you...! Plus, I love him too god-damn much! There. I feel better already!) Anyhoo .... We went out into The Rumpus after going to see Shrek the Third (Brill flick btw) and played some heads up. He is a certifiable CARD RACK. Unbelievable. He even suggested we play for money yesterday! Classic! 5c buy in. So we did. Winner take all! Oh, the thrill of High Stakes poker!

Anyway, I won't go into minute detail about hands (except for one) but he just couldn't help getting cards. See, the thing is, I don't want to go folding hands that I know are pretty much unplayable, because half ... if not all ... of the fun is seeing the flop and the action that ensues on the turn and river, with him. And he's good. Really friggin good! Classic example on one hand where he just comes across as a very natural player. Flop comes all clubs, and he's first to act. He bets out $200. And I raise to $400, because I had flopped my flush. And he insta-folds. And said to me, "I just wanted to see if you had it". It was seriously eerie. Talk about value feeler bet. Quite happy to lose his chips, but happier to have worked out what I had, and folded.

Keep in mind, the kid's just turned SEVEN. Fark. To quote Eminem "....I've created a monster...."

In the end it didn't matter that he lost those chips. He was virtually unbeatable. In fact, if I didn't know better, he pretty much experienced his first true 'rush'. One of the first hands we played he collared me with Fish hooks. Then about 5 minutes later, I ran Q's into K's. I raised from the small blind, and he just flat called, so I had no real reason to think he had Boys. He ended up busting me when I pushed all in on a rag flop there. Bastard!

Then he caught Boys again when I had something like QJ sooooted. He flopped trips! Only a couple of hands did I have any luck. I flopped a set of 9's which he didn't pick. But apart from that, he just walked all over me, except for the last hand which I'll get to in a tick. Another impressive piece of play he showed was recognition of kickers. We both had an A in the hole. Me with a rag, him with a 9 from memory. We flopped top pair, with me to act, and I put in a good sized bet. He immediately repopped me. I folded, and he said out loud " ... I wondered what your other card was ..." FREEEK!

Last hand .... and it's a ripper. (I took a photo of the cards. Just gotta work out how to get them onto the site!) He's dealt pocket J's. I get AJ off. Flop comes J-A-A. Unreal. I pushed all in and he calls! Classic. Very similar (In fact almost identical to this. Sensational. I feel for this poor bastard! At least he was philosophical!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cixMq97Zo38

That's the sorta stuff you play poker for isn't it?!!

Friendly heads up with the Deerhunter

Monday night! Ha. Suzie's birthday and we went out to L'Amour de la Femme (highly recommended) with The Deerhunter and his luv-er-ly missus Carls. Great food and good company. Went home for a few (more) quieties, and the gals settled down in front of Desperate Housewives or something like that. Shockin' shit! So Deerhunter and I snuck out to 'The Rumpus' for a few hands and, truth be known, cones!

It was a friendly game, just for a laugh. He was telling me all about 'The Professor, The Banker and The Suicide King' book that I leant him over dinner. Raved about it. Can't wait to read it myself, but I'm still ploughing thru Harrington 1!

First hand I get dealt Big Slick offsuit. I raised it up $25, and he called. Flop comes A-A-rag! I bet out $25 again (just wanting to build the pot while keeping him in the hand). Turn card comes K! Nut book baby! Another $25, call. River rag. I bet $50. He calls. Fuck did we laugh.

Played for probably an hour. Ebbs and flows. Pushed me off a few pots with not much, so I changed up my style a smidge. (We always show hands, so we learn about each others thought processes.) Got dealt a heap of PP's but the flop never helped me. Didn't have trips once. One hand I limped with shite, and flopped a 3 on a J-10-3 flop. I bet 300, he raised to 600 and I reraised to 900. "What have you got?" he remarked, and he folded. He showed me A-8 off. Fuggen funny.

Last hand of the night (after the luv-er-ly Carls popped her head in to 'The Rumpus' and said she was going!) he pushed all in. I called (thinking he had ATC and was just doing it for a larf).

I tabled J-2 off.

He flipped over Bullets! Ha! What a wanker!

Monday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW - We're off to Flinders Bay, Augusta this Friday for 3 nights of mayhem and poker!

Can't wait!

Been a while .....

..... so a bit of an update.

Firstly, the mooted game between C-nut, the Deerhunter and myself on Saturday night never materialized, at least not in its fullest form. C-nut couldn't quite get off the leash. Bugger. At least the Deerhunter came around and we had a private party. Great fun. Beers, a spliff or three, X-Box and some Heads Up! Not much to report really. We put a tenner in each, which I managed to win. It's all pretty hazy, but in the final hand he ran A7 soooooted into AQ off and I busted his cardigan wearing arse! (In all honesty, he was wearing a big black coat.... but he still owns a cardigan!) Then we just played some friendly hands, which was nowhere near as aggressive, but great for a larf. We pulled up stumps around 2am. Must be gettin' old!

I might have found another bloke who's happy to play mid-week. Definitely missing the 'real' action of a four way game with the boys, when there's some coin on the line. It's not about the $$$, rather the satisfaction of playing well in more of a pressure cooker situation. Here's hoping we can do it sooner rather than later.

I've been playing a fair bit of free shit on Full Tilt. (I've given up on, and uninstalled Betzip. Their new software sux balls.) Made top 40 (AGAIN) in a 630 ppl multi again the other night. Must've been a bit pissed. Donked out when I pushed top 2 pr into a flush without reaaaally having a good look at the river card. Hey. We've ALL done it!)

Had a bit more luck last night. Ended up heads up in a 630 ppl multi. Played smart agressive poker last night.

* I didn't back off when I had the cards. I was making people pay dearly to see another card.
* I called some stuff that I normally wouldn't in a live game.
* I didn't play suited crud as often as I sometimes want to.
* My set mining worked a treat. Three or four from medium pairs over the journey?
* I didn't pussy out when I was representing cards (even when I didn't have them.) Got me a bundle of chips in fact, when I was quietly shitting bricks and was SURE I was beaten.

Heads up lasted probably 10 minutes. He had almost $300k and I had around $200k and the blinds and antes were horrendous. Talk about card death! I hardly had a decent hand to work with the entire time. When I tried to play strategically, he pushed back twice as hard. The few times I tried to match his strength, I went down. The coupla times I had a very solid hand, it seemed he'd fold from the small blind. The only time I thought '... for God's sake dude. PUSH' was when I was holding Big Slick, and the prick folded. Fuggit! In the end I'm pretty sure I had KQc and he spiked an A with his kinda-average A8 off. I'd probably jam with that 99% of the time heads up.

On the whole tho I can't be disappointed. I thought I played pretty well, considering my dearth of decent cards. I feel since starting to read Harrington 1, my play with crap cards has improved out of sight, and let's face it... sooooo much of Hold'em is playing your shit as much as playing your cream, well. And there's sooooo many complete fuckheads playing in those freebie tournaments, it's ridic. The last 5 or 6 times I'm cracking top 50 at least and have final tabled two, finishing the bridesmaid once. So my honest assesment of my play is this. I'm not getting into too many dangerous spots. I'm laying down when I should be and not chasing crazy shit. If I have one criticizm of my game, is that sometimes I'm don't have nearly enough chips to have an impact at 'the pointy end'. But perhaps I'm learning to rectify that, as evidenced by my play last night. Time will tell.

Weeeeeooooooord!

There is no F#CKING GOD!

....or if there is, he frowns on Hold'em!

630 player freebie multi on Full Tilt. I've got a stack of around 13k and down to the last 50 players or so. Dealt black Bullets. Bet $300 pre. It was raised up to $1200 (With what I have NO idea!) and naturally I called. Flop comes 4-6-7 spades. Someone bets, I raise (pot sized) and two players call. I jam on the turn card (rag) and only one player calls. No other spade and the player makes a runner-runner straight.

Finished 43rd or thereabouts.

Did I totally F#CK this up?! If you were playing it, when would you have pushed?

Night!

Love some input from you Yanks!

In my first post a coupla days ago, I asked for some suggestions for good screenshot capture and hand history programs. If you know the way to go, please don't be bashful. Take some time and leave me a note! Cheers in advance!

An aside.... Played a 600 player multi on Full Tilt last night. God there's some dickheads on there. Seriously. I know a lot of people play loose online when there's no $$$ involved, but it's just crap when Big Slick goes down to some punk who jams with 6-4 off. I placed top 40, I think, but by this stage it was nearly 1am. Trebled up with Kings after getting ZERO in the first 40 minutes, and then was basically blinded to death until I pushed 9's into Q's and didn't improve. That's the thing online. You can't bluff much coz some moron will call! The only one that got away was I laid down 8-3 off pre-flop when it was raised to buggery, only to flop a book. Still, how the hell do you play 8-3 off when other donks are pushing so hard? Love to hear your thoughts!!!

I'd love to play some smaller cash games online down the track, but it's pretty hard when you're poor-ish! We'll get there .... someday!

JESUS ZAC!!!!

Does everyone know the problems associated with playing someone without a complete grasp on the game of Hold'em? It can be BLOODY FRUSTRATING!!!!

Just playing a few hands of Heads Up after picking up Zac from skool and this happened. I'm in the BB and get dealt 5s5d. Zac raised double the BB to $100, and I re-raised to $200. He called. I put him on A-rag or similar. Maybe KQ - KJ? Flop - shit cards and two diamonds. I bet $100, he called. Next card, rag diamond. I'm on a flush draw, or at worst, I might catch another 5. I bet $200, he agonized, thinking out loud "I don't have a pair, Dad". And I said, "Up 2 u". He called, and along came the last diamond, making my flush. Now I've explained flushes OVER AND OVER AGAIN, but he just seems blinded by paint and straights. Anyhooooo.....

I bet $500 on the river card. (Knowing full well that he could have a much better diamond than me!) Anyway, he eventually calls... and says "Ace high". What suit you reckon it was?!!!!

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRK!!!!!!!!!!!

To all wannabe parents out there. Think VERY, VERY CAREFULLY before you go down that path. A) Childbirth and b) teaching a 7 year old Hold'em.

I look forward to the day that he can read Harrington!

Well ..... maybe not! Heh!

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The other quick reason behind me getting 'on' again today was this. This is one of my goals. To compete in (and WIN) one of these fuckers. It's probably like climbing Mt Everest, but I like to aim high ... and allow for the trajectory!

http://bloggerpokerchallenge.blogspot.com/

Basically, you've gotta be a blogger to have a crack. Well guess what! I frickin' well am!

It seems like a really cool community, to the point where quite a few of them headed to Vegas for the WSOP Bracelets (and other R&R pursuits!). A couple of them cashed too. Once again, Hoyazo's site has a great account of how he cashed. Inspirational stuff.