*sigh* why can't I play better? -- The story of my weekend.

So I played the Friday night tourney at the G.

Cardguard puts a bounty on my head and even though I'm playing like a hero, JJ < AK and I can no longer beat Stumpy for the £300 seat. Bah. Wp Stumpy though, well deserved sir.

I then play cash and spunk off with two overcards, NFD and a broadway draw on the turn when some total moron bets £40 into an £11 pot. *sigh* Incidently, I also made quads and got very little action. Scotty raises early to £3.75, I 3bet to £12.25 with KK and some tard shoves ATo for about £20. Scotty was 4betting AQ all day there, but now he has to pass and I flop quads. Thanks for that, retard. *sigh*

Also, I spazz out of the G Online Final, making the money, but not very much. Still, it's £25 for free when AZBO < AQ. *sigh*

Saturday night was the most fun I've had playing poker in fucking ages. A cracking, although pretty short, DC game at the G with Russ the Suit, Chris Carr, Sensh, Cardguard, the Geek, Nemesis, Craig Mac, Scotty and a few others.

Sensh runs like God, obviously, making a ridic call on the turn in 6card PLO8 where the other three players in the hand already have nut nut. Sensh has a set and an ueberwrap with a flush draw, and he binks the river. Still, I only lose about a tenner on that hand, if he folds, I win about a £5er, so meh.

Later, I make a cracking call against Scotty in this hand: 7 card PLO8:

I have A23467T with some suits and flat cgks raise from the button, but say that 'I think I'm supposed to pot it here'. Scotty, who has limped, says 'yeah, i think I'm supposed to pot it too' but just calls.

Flop is a worldy K45r. I now have an ueberwrap for the high and the low, and a pair. I check, Scotty bets £5 and is called by cgk and Sensh, so I come along as well. Turn is a pretty bricky Qc, which puts a flush draw out there (I have three club blockers) and a broadway gutshot. Scotty bets £16, cgk passes and Sensh calls too. Now I have to call also, I don't like raising because I can be dead to half the pot a decent amount of the time here.

River is an offsuit 4. So now I have trips, but someone could easily have KK/QQ for the world.

I check, scotty bets £44 all in and Sensh mucks.  i had sensh on like A23KQXX, and I tank for ages before deciding that scotty has bricked the world here. He has AKQJTXX so often here I think, and his 3/4 pot sized shove just doesn't make sense to me. With him last to act, I think he'd check behind any small value hand like 5s full or the other 4 with a house, and he'd make a smaller bet with KK/QQ. After tanking for eternity, I call and Scotty immediately tells me 'I think you're good' so I flash a 4 and win the pot. He tells me later he had the nut low draw, nut flush draw, a broadway wrap and 2 pair, so good read me :D

On Sunday night, I head over to Circus and get my stack in first hand (I've turned up late) with AKcc. Phil Butler raises to 200 in EP at 25/50 and I make it 725 in MP. With the action back on Phil, he makes it 2000. I read him for having JJ/QQ and folding to a shove, so I oblige and shove. He sigh-snap calls with KK, I turn a Royal Draw and river the Ace. I run so good.

I don't play any big pots really, but I get three streets of value from Malcom, some old fish, twice with AK and KK respectively, both on KXXXX boards. With the addon, my stack is north of 27k (almost twice the average) when I'm moved tables.

I'm reading my table well, so I'm annoyed to be moved, but Dan Trett (with a million billion chips) and Sensh (with about 23k) are on the table, so all is well. This'll be tough, I think, but great banter. There is also Rob 'larfingravy' Richardson, who's a really nice bloke (and, ul for him, stuck between Dan and Sensh, gg blinds...). In addition to these cracking lads, there's a total fish and friend of 'I Call', an old lady to my left, and the biggest prick in the north east two to my right. There's also another arse directly to my right, who's had some choice things to say about me in the past.

A few hands in, I Call 2 raises to 800 at 2/400 and 4 players call. I have TT in the SB so re-pop it to 3300. Everyone passes, except the arse directly to my right, who, with a stack of 7000 or 8000, flat calls. I check fold the AJX flop and berate him for calling and not shoving/folding. He goes into 'but I won the pot' mode, which is so ridic, and then he calls me an arse so I get a little bit lippy. Sensh is laughing, but Dan's a bit pissed at my attitude, and rightly so really. I'm never mornally a prick at the poker table, but this dude just gets under my skin.

Two hands later, I flat an EP raise from sensh with, you guessed it, AQcc. The situation is so ripe for Dan to squeeze light from the big blind, and I only flat so that I can shove over him, really. Dan obliges, makes it 4400 and then sensh shoves. *sigh*. I have to pass, as does Dan. They both had 99, apparently. Nice bet, Sensh.

Then I think the very next hand, I get AJs and it folds to me late. I look like I'm steaming, I kinda am a bit, and I raise, thinking Dan will raise light. He raises, Rob Richardson ships for a little bit more and it's back on me. Now, I only have AJ, and Rob's range is TT+, AK here I think, but as long as he doesn't have AA, I'm getting the right price to call, as long as Dan folds. Now, like I say, I think Dan's light here *a lot* so he folds if I shove about 70% of the time, I think. So I shove. Dan's not light. He has AK. Sigh.

The thing about Dan is that he has an image where people always think he's light. And he is so capable of being light a lot and just taking pots away from people with solid aggressive poker. The corollary of that is that sometimes he will have a hand, and will catch you with your pants down. I'm not scared of anyone on the Newcastle poker scene, I think I've got some game and I'll mix it with anyone, but if there's anyone that I feel a little uncomfortable having on my table, it's Dan. He puts people to decisions all the time, and there have been pots when we've 3 and 4 bet (and even 5 bet, iirc) each other with fuck all. He's so hard for me to read too so is a really dangerous opponent. If Dan's in the zone, he's probably the toughest player on the scene for me. He also has an awesome blog, Full Trett Poker, which he and his brother Mark write. If you don't read this on the regular, what are you doing with your life? Go read it now, I'll wait here.

So there we go, a weekend round up.

Note to self: Dan isn't always light. ;)

Today after work I'm off to the G for the league final. There's £4k in the prizepool and I start with the most chips by virtue of having won the league. I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow.

Gl at the tables,.

--mulhuzz

Good times at the cash table

So bored after work yesterday, I take a trip to Aspers for for something to do. I buy into the £5 donk fest and try to build a stack quickly. I keep running my suited connectors into big hands though, so pretty quickly I look like the biggest donk at the table. Would you believe that everyone thinks I'm an idiot for shipping with 89s, getting called by AKs (why does the BB always have a hand!) and then telling everyone 'if you're not getting it in behind, you're not getting it in enough'. Obviously almost zero percent of these players have ever ground the margins in SnGs online. They thought I was joking -- I wasn't, or that alternatively I'm an idiot -- I'm not. ;)

I then wander past the cash table and chat to Bomber for a bit, sweating a couple of his hands and telling him 'I want action from you Bomber!!'. He proceeds to donk about £20 whilst I'm watching and I feel only a little bit responsible. I mean, there was no way he was calling an UTG raise with K5ss unless I was there! He encourages me to sit down and play a while, so I think about it, fully aware that I have to work early and that if I sit down now, it'll be a long session, but then decide to go have a cigarette and think about it.

I don't play cash that often, particularly live full ring, because frankly, I'm not that good. I'm a little too tight and weak passive if I'm honest. I much prefer shorthanded games, particularly heads up cash. Looking around the table, there were lots of decent players, including Gaz Walker, Ridla, Bomber and a lad called Graham who I know to be a solid player. There also look like there could be a couple of softer players though, so I grab the next open seat because with SamJ dealing, the banter on the table is flowing nicely. I decide to sit for £60 with the blinds at 25p/50p and the occasional straddle from Ridla.

Pretty early in, I flat a small raise on the button with JTs, and four players, take a flop. It's a pretty marvellous JTx rainbow flop from me. Small blind leads for £3, I make it £8 and he ships for £40. I snap, obv, and he flips QQ. How he doesn't 3bet pre is completely beyond me if I'm honest. The turn is a 9 adding more outs, but he bricks the world and I make a nice start. Getting it in good only to have people turn more outs than they flopped is a common theme for me tonight.

With that in mind, Gaz has the straddle on (he pushed a couple of times already tonight, generally being banterous and having fun) and I find AA UTG. I make it £4.50, and get called in about 4 spots.  Bomber takes a little while before he calls, and it kinds looked like he was thinking of 3betting preflop, so when the flop comes down Q24 with two clubs, I'm just hoping that he doesn't have QQ and I know I'm gonna be trying to get my money in. I lead for £16 and Bomber instajams for £45 total. Everyone else folds and I call. I can't ever pass here I don't think. He is nice enough to show me the AzobKING in clubs, so he has a bare draw. Are Aces ever holding against the Azbo? I think not!! Turn is a ten, and this time I can't brick the world as a club on the river seals it.  I ask the table if I'm allowed to call Bomber a cunt, and Keith thinks it's fine, so I do. Nice hand sir, you truely are the AzboKING and I was owned. :D

I must admit, after the profit from the first hand, I'm just about even, maybe down a small piece and a little tilted. I put the straddle on next hand and check with A3hh. Flop is 335dd and I lead, get a caller before Waaaaaalker check raises me. I'm content to shove and get called by a flush draw. He tanks for a long time and then calls, flips 94dd. Turn is a 5 to give him and up and down but this time I manage to fade the world again I've got the double up my Aces deserved!

I go pretty quiet for a while, then limp in the BB to the straddle with 66. Flop comes 68x with two diamonds. I win a nice pot getting it in against Gaz and a tourist. Gaz had a open-ender with 97 and tourist decided that A8 no diamonds was a nice spot to go broke in. Turn's an 8 and I fill up. Pass the sugar pls!

A little later, and i've been pretty tight, there's a raise from EP to £4, a flat caller and I raise the SB to £20 with AA. Original raiser passes, then it's coolertime as I get reshipped on for £45 by KK. AA holds and I take another little pot.

A couple of other hands where I felt I was too weakpassive:
Later in the evening, Adam (who has replaced Gaz, and seems a totally solid player) raises the hijack and I just flat in the cutoff with TT. This tempts Graham to flat on the button and we see a flop. Flop isn't great, but no shocking with J89. Adam fires £6, I flat and Graham passes. The turn is some awful card, like a 3 or something and I fold the Adam's bet. He does get flatted by some other dude who had a bare 7 for a gutshot. Pretty sick, imo. He bricks obv and Adam shows 89s. Nh sir.  I think I should have three bet for value here. I should have realised that Adam's range contains hands like 89s in late position, but he hadn't played many pots (except against one dude, really) and I don't know him that well, so I just flatted. A bit still really.

Later still, I have J4o in the BB and lots of limpers we see a 44X rainbow flop. I check, someone bets, gets one caller and I flat behind planning to lead any turn.  Turn is irrelevant and I lead £6 which gets the original player out, but then I'm raised to £16 by a MP limper. I think a flat is fine here, because I don't want to fold out any draws or X's (I think it was an 8). I'm planning to check-raise most river cards too, so I check and now the bet is only £12.50 on a K river. Player has maybe £30 behind that, and for some reason, I decide that I should only call here, because the bet looks so fishy. That makes total sense, because he also has a 4 but my kicker is good. *sigh* £30 of missed value there. I should have led the river...SamJ rightly berates me for playing like a tard.

That's pretty much all I can remember from the night and I left at around 1:30am with a lovely £220 profit for the evening. I must admit, I should play cash more often, I have some really obvious leaks which I can work on, but the banter with Ridla, Gaz, Bomber, SamJ and the other guys, including James 'Brickontheriver' Howerd who dealt for a while (and was the architect or my two biggest pots, and yes I did say 'thanks for the brick on the river, James' --< I'm such a tard, was tremendous. It's nights like these when I remember why I love live poker. So good. So fun. I genuinely would have said that if I'd been stuck a couple of hundo too.

Oh, and my needle of the night goes to Bomber who says 'Mulhuzz, do you know Brickontheriver? He used to be somebody.' :D

Banteriffic.

Gl at the tables,

--mulhuzz

It wasn't supposed to be this way....

So after my adventures in no sleep land, I slept until 7pm on Monday which made me feel super refreshed and ready to hit the G for the £10 turbo game. As I've already wrapped this league up with a week to spare, I thought I'd go in, play like a champion, and show everybody why I've won.

That's not exactly what happened. On my table I have Rob Charlton and Ian Bertram (Nemesis), the only two capable players and pretty early on they get involved in a nice pot, and Rob folds 2pair to Ian's riverbet. I'm one million percent certain that Ian was bluffing though. With Ian in that kind of mood, he can be tough to play against, so I decide I'm not going to get into any big pots with Rob or Ian, and just take chips from the table morons, of which there are many!

2nd level: Blinds 50/100, stack 10,000.

I'm in the SB with A3hh, and there are 7 limpers. I give a speech about what a perfect hand to squeeze I have, then just complete. BB checks and we see the flop of:

3d 3c 7c.

BINGO!!! I check, thinking someone will bet a club draw, a seven, any pair they've limped in with, or just bet with position (button is a moron, as is cut-off).

BB checks, everyone checks. Sigh.

Turn Js.

I lead 300 into a 700 pot. BB insta minraises to 600. Excellent. He has a three. Let's try and get this in. Player in mid position then makes it 3000 so I just shove, expecting a call from the BB and maybe a call from MP with like AJ or KJ or even J7.

BB snaps, with 35o. MP snaps with JJ!!!! Wtf?!?!?!!?!?!? Could he have played that any worse?!?! Wow.

So there we go. It wasn't supposed to be this way. :(

Urgh. I'm a total idiot.

So after my last post, you know, the bit that said 'sleep now before work tonight', what did I do?

Exactly the opposite of sleep. *sigh*

I went to the beach for cricket and arcade fun with Buzz, Farmer Dave, Burrrrrrrs Hurrrrrrrg, Spoona and Sensh. Good times were had indeed, great banter and I must have only lost like £6 playing 10p arcade games which feels like a winning session against such obv rooooooged games.* Surprisingly, neither Buzz nor Spoona did their nuts and went busto within the first 3 seconds! ;)

The bad news is that I've had exactly 0 sleep and now I'm at work till 8am.  I tried a power nap, but it didn't really work.

All i had to do was text back saying 'nah, got to work tonight, should probably sleep', but then again, I'm an idiot. Totally worth it though. Cheers lads!

Oh yeah. I think I bruised a rib attempting to take the most ridic diving catch in cricket.  That sucks major balls. Oh well, a little bit of paperwork catch up and then cock about for the rest of the night is in order, before sleeping all day tomorrow. Once I've done that, I'll obv play the G £10 Turbo, just for the craic and because I'll need something to do before starting work at 7:30 AM on Tuesday. I am an idiot. *sigh*


Gl at the tables,


--mulhuzz

*srsly, I'm not that much of a degen that I think of visits to the pennyarcade in terms of being 'winning or losing' 

A little bit of HU Cash action

So I got home from work this morning after a not so taxing nightshift, and decided to play a few SnGs and mix in a few 45 mans as well.  I fired up my first set and it quickly became clear that today was not my day.

I was getting coolered and outdrawn all over the place, so I took the loss on the chin (just one measly 3rd place from my set of 6), went for a shower and came back. I thought about opening some of the 45mans I'd promised myself, but I wasn't really calling correctly in the push-fold modes and I certainly wasn't winning flips so I decided not to bother.

Still, I wasn't tired, so I thought I'd play some HU cash to keep me entertained. I opened two tables of 50NL (50BB max) tables as I think I have a bigger edge in this game than I do in the slightly deeper version because people are willing to gamble a little more.

I ended up playing the same dude on both tables, and short of two coolerings (I have Ah on a 2h3h5h6h board, he has 4h) and 4 betting KQ and getting it in on a KQ5 board (he snaps with 55) I completely dominated. Some of the hands were just ridic.  I made a point of calling his raises prF pretty light and rarely three betting. When I did three bet, I three bet for value 70% of the time and as a bluff 30% of the time. On most flops, I was pretty content to check flops back to him and make a decision on later streets.

Dude was so happy to see me check flops OOP that he kept three barrelling and I kept calling down with middle pair, bottom pair, K high, etc. He really made it easy for me. If he had it, he'd bet 3/4s pot or so, and if he didn't have anything, including draws, he'd bet 1/3 pot or less. Incredi-predictable.

One hand, he raised button and I flat with K4ss. Flop comes 425r and I check-call. I check call the 9 turn too, and it's pretty obvious he has air from his bet sizing. Pot is about $6 and the river is a rather delicious 4. I decide I could check to induce bluffs, but I've been doing that a lot, so I tank shove for the $25 effective. He snaps with Queen high. Thanks. Fool.

A couple of examples I already converted:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) ($36.40)
SB ($50.40)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 3, A
SB bets $1.25, Hero calls $0.75 I'm not three betting A3o here because he's gonna call pretty light and I can get value from A high hands far more when I just flat as opposed to 3betting.

Flop: ($2.50) Q, Q, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $1.55, Hero calls $1.55

Turn: ($5.60) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $2.15, Hero calls $2.15

River: ($9.90) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $3.70, Hero calls $3.70 Standard c-c all the way. I considered a raise for value on the end to let him pay me with K high, but he's prone to spazz and could have shoved so I c-c.


Total pot: $17.30 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
SB had 9, 8 (one pair, Queens).
Hero had 3, A (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: Hero won $16.80


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) ($45.55)
SB ($38.15)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7, 7
SB bets $1.25, Hero raises to $2.50, SB calls $1.25 -- Pretty standard 3bet with any pair 55+.

Flop: ($5) 6, J, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, SB calls $2  -- Pretty safe board and if V is floating or on draw he always just flats. He raises any J and lots of 8s.

Turn: ($9) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $5.30, Hero calls $5.30 -- Again, I check to induce a bluffing range on the turn and river. V is prone to 3barrelling me. I would normally c-r this turn, but I know V bets so many rivers for me.

River: ($19.60) J (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $14.05, Hero calls $14.05 -- well, there's no way he has a Jack, so it's either some spazzy 82o or complete air. This is the one time he bet more than half pot with nothing. I still snapped. Far too many spazz hands in his range.

Total pot: $47.70 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
SB had 9, K (one pair, Jacks).
Hero had 7, 7 (two pair, Jacks and sevens).
Outcome: Hero won $47.20

My fave. 6 hands after he got the straight flush, this occurs:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) ($29.45)
SB ($65.30)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 10, 6
SB bets $1.25, Hero calls $0.75

Flop: ($2.50) 10, 3, K (2 players)
Hero bets $1, SB raises to $3.85, Hero calls $2.85

Turn: ($10.20) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $6.35, Hero calls $6.35

River: ($22.90) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $20.70, Hero calls $18 (All-In)

Total pot: $58.90 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
SB had 4, Q (high card, King).
Hero had 10, 6 (one pair, tens).
Outcome: Hero won $58.40

I continued to check-call most boards and he continued 3 barrelling and stacking off to me so light.

Thanks for a pretty easy $150 for the session.

Right, enough now. Sleep before work again tonight.

Gl at the tables,


--mulhuzz

Lost Momentum

So, welcome to my blog.

'À la recherche de l'élan perdu' translates somewhat loosely as 'in search of lost momentum'. It's a particularly telling title because, almost 3 years after graduating from University, I'm still in the same job, still living in the area I grew up, and still monstrously bored. More than that, I feel stuck; almost on the verge of having an utterly clichéd (mid-) life crisis -- which I'd be far too young to pull off properly.

I'm hoping that blogging about my experiences of how I lost my momentum in life will help me regain it. I'm hoping that I can find that force, that classic impulse, which will move me forward.

So what should you expect?

I play cards. I'm not a bad player, but not good enough that I don't have to work. I'll post about that pretty frequently, particularly as I attempt to get a serious roll going. I'm currently grinding the low stakes SnGs in order to rebuild a roll online after a somewhat misguided interpretation of bankroll management. More information on that is here. 

Anything Else?

Well. I'm fairly multilingual so expect to see the odd post in French, German, Dutch or some equally impossible language.

I'm a fan of the (in)glorious Newcastle United FC so I expect I'll post about them. Frequently, during the Premiership season.

I'm almost entirely computer dumb. That's like saying that I can recognise all of the parts of the web, but I couldn't reproduce them, even if my life depended on it. In that respect, don't expect much more than very basic formatting on my posts.

My thoughts wander, randomly, all the time. I'll vaguely recall past memories and future possibilities, so coherence is probably not my strong suit. (a slight nod to Marcel Proust, author of the marvelous 'À la recherche du temps perdu' whose title I've nicked). You can expect that I'll start having a very inconsistent and, frankly, crap, writing style, and after a time I'll reach the level of complete and utter mediocrity where I shall remain till the end of my days.

For now, I suppose that's enough of an introduction.

Peace,

--mulhuzz