Intro: according to "Marathon Monthly" a solid 13 week training plan can sort you out in a tidy manner for a marathon. This is all well and good until January rolls up and its 13 weeks away from April 13th, GAME DAY! I'm running the London Marathon, and it is NOT going to be easy. The more i look into it, the more I realise this is way beyond, WAY BEYOND anything I have attempted. Its very easy to look at a training schedule and see "week 6-, day 1, 30 mins, light run." and think "yea, i could do a light run for 30 mins, no bother!!" I wonder just how many people could reliably run for 20 mins without a break, nevermind 30 mins. And before anyone pipes up with stories about how they concurred the treadmill for 4 hours the other day, FUDGE OFF!!! Treadmills are the devil's toy to trick you into thinking you're fit... it moves the goddamn ground for you... its like swimming in the sea, if you just bob up and down and let the waves push you 500m across the shore YOU havent't swum half a kilometre, you've just let nature beat you up for a prolonged period! In summary, treadmills = dangerous undercurrent = dead children. For every mile you do on a treadmill, there's a serious boating accident... think about what you did!!
Week 1 and 2: did a bit of running prior to week 1 and 2 so I wouldn't be jumping in the deep end. then, in true jeff style I went and injured my foot. Pretty standard stuff... two weeks off! bad start.
Week 3: Tuesday, ran 3.5 miles home from work in 41.18. Then Wednesday I took a massive 7 minutes off my time to beat the 10minute mile barrier, doing 3.5miles in 34.31. Slowed it down on Thursday, largely due to fatigue and did it in 36.30. so total of 10.5miles in three days. Getting started and have broken the back on my training. Body hates me though. I am sick of hearing stories of people running 6k in 15 minutes etc, nevermind that an international competitive pace for 6k is 20 mins. The winning time for 6k at the Great Edinburgh Run (or something) was 19.56, but it doesn't matter because half of dublin knows someone who knows someone who's sister's boyfriend ran 6k in "oh, i dunno, about 15 mins, maybe 20" and the worst thing about this is it means that the person telling you thinks "if my mates friends friends sisters boyfriend can do it in 20 mins, then I could do it in 25, which means if Jeff can do it in 40mins then I am significantly fitter and faster than Jeff" ... yea... really... that makes sense... when does the Nike sponsorship kick in!!??!?!
The week ahead will include my first 10k run, on Thursday, and a "low impact light training session" commonly known as swimming on wednesday which I'm looking forward to a bit too much. Week 4 will hurt alot by Thursday... :(
Monday 28 January 2008
Wednesday 11 April 2007
How much will you pay for 6th street?!
The most reasonable hand of poker ever played: The specific details of this hand are a bit fuzzy. The hand is between myself and HalfBaked from boards.ie in the Grosvenor Lane Fundraiser tournament. Preflop, HalfBaked open raises (this is during the rebuy period and HalfBaked has done this in twelve of the last eleven hands without looking at his cards, he has the table covered as he is a luckbox), i see KQ and have to call. He shows 64, a pretty good hand for him. And by that I mean he SHOWS 64, and there is still betting. The board comes KJ8, and i being all for fairness show my KQ. He bets at it. I figure I have to call. The turn is a queen, giving me 2 pair. he checks, I check behind to trap him (bearing in mind we can both see eachothers cards.) The river is a 7. He bets out 1500 at it (pot is about 5k). This looks like a "please pay me" bet, so I'm tempted to fold. However, i use my cunning observation skills to skillfully reduce his hand range to 64. I know he is drawing to a 5... so I repop it to 3k, saying if he calls we'll see a 6th card. He calls, and 6th street is a blank... he checks it to me and I start worrying about bet sizing, how do i get paid here... there's 11k in the pot... hmmm.. what to do.. so after much debate he suggests I bet 1800 and he'll call, giving him some value to draw to his 5. I oblige and fire out 1800, he insta-calls... 7th street brings a Queen, and HalfBaked shows his impressive poker skills and lays down his straight draw to my full house despite my value bet of 100 into a 14,000 pot. I think it was a good fold...
The financials and the terrible plays of March: ugh... march was bad. march was FUCKING BAD!!! my main issue with march is that in the process of losing money i played so poorly. I threw good money after bad. Equally in March I had some pretty unusual poker experiences. When I played bad, I got punished for it. When I played well fate conspired against me. Some examples:
Hand 1: this is the worst hand of my life. Its the Irish Open Qualifier in the Emporium. I limp with AQ, flop is AKJ. A decent flop for me, i bet it, some fella who I have played against raises me, I reraise him (i dont know why) and he pushes. At this point i am 1,000,000,000% certain my one pair is beat but for some reason I cant stop my hands from pushing my chips in. Player gone (he had flopped the nuts) and I cant work out why i did it.
Hand 2: Its JP's monthly game, and I'm back to have a crack at reproducing my result the previous month. We're two levels in and I riase from early position with AK to about 500 (blinds 75-150). I have about 9k and some chap in mid position has 8,800. He looks at his first card and says "ah that will do, I'm all in". While I'm puzzled I know H ave to call, and call i do. He shows, K4, first card out is a 4 and out I go.
Hand 3: A second Irish Open Sat, down to the last 4 tables and I open push with AQ when i have 13 big blinds. For the second time in a week someone calls on the blind for all their chips. BB who has just shy of 10 big blinds calls and flips over 24... flop is a tasty 24x... bye bye Irish Open. I console myself with the fact that I am playing the Jackpot cash league final the next day.
Hand 4: Second hand of the cash league game I call a preflop raise with 7h8h. Flop is j95, giving me a nice draw. I check call my draw and hit a 10 on the turn filling my straught. The chips go in, villain shows QQ, and the river shows a K... player gone...
I also won a small tourney for a bit of profit but nothing major. Ultimately my march losses of close to 1k have brought my 2007 earnings to a much more modest +€2,000. ah well.. better than nothing i guess.
My plans of attack: its taken me the guts of up to two years of card playing to realise I play too tight in tournaments... I keep trying to survive rather than to accumulate chips. This is gonna change... oh yes... next update will have more on this as I have yet to formualte a plan. get back to me.
The financials and the terrible plays of March: ugh... march was bad. march was FUCKING BAD!!! my main issue with march is that in the process of losing money i played so poorly. I threw good money after bad. Equally in March I had some pretty unusual poker experiences. When I played bad, I got punished for it. When I played well fate conspired against me. Some examples:
Hand 1: this is the worst hand of my life. Its the Irish Open Qualifier in the Emporium. I limp with AQ, flop is AKJ. A decent flop for me, i bet it, some fella who I have played against raises me, I reraise him (i dont know why) and he pushes. At this point i am 1,000,000,000% certain my one pair is beat but for some reason I cant stop my hands from pushing my chips in. Player gone (he had flopped the nuts) and I cant work out why i did it.
Hand 2: Its JP's monthly game, and I'm back to have a crack at reproducing my result the previous month. We're two levels in and I riase from early position with AK to about 500 (blinds 75-150). I have about 9k and some chap in mid position has 8,800. He looks at his first card and says "ah that will do, I'm all in". While I'm puzzled I know H ave to call, and call i do. He shows, K4, first card out is a 4 and out I go.
Hand 3: A second Irish Open Sat, down to the last 4 tables and I open push with AQ when i have 13 big blinds. For the second time in a week someone calls on the blind for all their chips. BB who has just shy of 10 big blinds calls and flips over 24... flop is a tasty 24x... bye bye Irish Open. I console myself with the fact that I am playing the Jackpot cash league final the next day.
Hand 4: Second hand of the cash league game I call a preflop raise with 7h8h. Flop is j95, giving me a nice draw. I check call my draw and hit a 10 on the turn filling my straught. The chips go in, villain shows QQ, and the river shows a K... player gone...
I also won a small tourney for a bit of profit but nothing major. Ultimately my march losses of close to 1k have brought my 2007 earnings to a much more modest +€2,000. ah well.. better than nothing i guess.
My plans of attack: its taken me the guts of up to two years of card playing to realise I play too tight in tournaments... I keep trying to survive rather than to accumulate chips. This is gonna change... oh yes... next update will have more on this as I have yet to formualte a plan. get back to me.
Friday 16 March 2007
Family Guy is loading and I just bit my tongue...
.. so I'm not happy. Well I will be happy once Family Guy loads (apprantly there's several new episodes online that I havent seen, so lots of top drawer cartoon comedy to keep myself entertained with). Also, there was a tongue biting incident at 4.03am which has really pi$$ed me off!
March has been bad, I'm playing bad... and results are bad... poker.. bad.. is pretty much the theme here. What is really getting at me is that I'm sitting at a poker table, knowing what mistake I am making and getting frustrated with myself as I continue to make the same basic mistakes. I cant even begin to guess how many times I've open limped with such wonderful hands like 85-suited. I think its a product of my recent cash game action. If there are several limpers in a cash game 85suited becomes very playable, almost profitable. For the one time the same play is profitable in a tournament it is just not a justifiable play for the numerous blinds you throw away hoping to catch the miracle perfect flop. If I'm so intent on playing cash games I have to learn to adjust play for tournaments. In a tournament, if I'm playing well and limping in, I have a very good reason for it, if I'm playing bad, i'm limping too often and an easy source of chips for everyone... there ya go, free tell for ya!! Now all I have to do as pay attention to my game and fix this kind of blatent error, no excuses!
By the end of March I hope to have played 2-3 satalites for the Irish Open. If I don;t manage to luckbox a ticket from my various attempts it is quite likely the whole effort will cost me the wrong side of 500 squids... in anticipation of this I'm writing March off as a losing month with full details to follow (cash games have been bad, havent played much tourneys either). I will DEFINATELY come out of March, no more than negative 1000. So will still be comfortable up for the year, the €2000 win in February is paying for march... and if I do get a ticket, who knows, April could be stupidly profitable!!
After March though I think I will have to make April a no-no as far as playing poker is concerned. At the start of April I will play the Jackpot cash-league which should generate a few euro, then i'm dealing the Irish Open (assuming I havent got a ticket) and then its exam time... so I reckon poker playing will be limited.
March has been bad, I'm playing bad... and results are bad... poker.. bad.. is pretty much the theme here. What is really getting at me is that I'm sitting at a poker table, knowing what mistake I am making and getting frustrated with myself as I continue to make the same basic mistakes. I cant even begin to guess how many times I've open limped with such wonderful hands like 85-suited. I think its a product of my recent cash game action. If there are several limpers in a cash game 85suited becomes very playable, almost profitable. For the one time the same play is profitable in a tournament it is just not a justifiable play for the numerous blinds you throw away hoping to catch the miracle perfect flop. If I'm so intent on playing cash games I have to learn to adjust play for tournaments. In a tournament, if I'm playing well and limping in, I have a very good reason for it, if I'm playing bad, i'm limping too often and an easy source of chips for everyone... there ya go, free tell for ya!! Now all I have to do as pay attention to my game and fix this kind of blatent error, no excuses!
By the end of March I hope to have played 2-3 satalites for the Irish Open. If I don;t manage to luckbox a ticket from my various attempts it is quite likely the whole effort will cost me the wrong side of 500 squids... in anticipation of this I'm writing March off as a losing month with full details to follow (cash games have been bad, havent played much tourneys either). I will DEFINATELY come out of March, no more than negative 1000. So will still be comfortable up for the year, the €2000 win in February is paying for march... and if I do get a ticket, who knows, April could be stupidly profitable!!
After March though I think I will have to make April a no-no as far as playing poker is concerned. At the start of April I will play the Jackpot cash-league which should generate a few euro, then i'm dealing the Irish Open (assuming I havent got a ticket) and then its exam time... so I reckon poker playing will be limited.
Wednesday 7 March 2007
Online planning!
I figure I'm probably best to avoid online cash for a while... so I'm using my GJP bankroll to attempt STT's... should be fun... updates to follow!
Monday 26 February 2007
Let's play darts!!!
So... february as been pretty good to me.
Cash Games
I have started playing cash games for the first time, playing the jackpot 1/2 PLHE game. I have played the odd game before but never taken it that seriously. I've decided I want to get 55 cash hours before april 2nd so I can play the cash league final. To do this I need a system for playing these games, so basically, €150 buy in and play friday/sat nights from about 1am when the drunks stumble in, play TIGHT and hope the big hands hold up, very formulaic. I have been pretty strict with myself that if I lose my initial €150 i stand up and leave, no rebuying, thats that night written off. This can seem like I'm playing with scared money, but I feel it is playing within my limits and having such a boundry protects me from having a €500+ losing night. So far I have run reasonably well. I have lost a buy in or two but have had some reasonable winning sessions. From the start of March I'll be keeping much better track of my cash game exploits. A conservative estimate of winnings for February from cash games is about €300 profit.
Freeroll Madness
On Feb 22nd we ran the DIT Freeroll with €500 added from Greenjokerpoker.com. There was 50 players and an impressive €855 euro in rebuys thanks mainly to myself, Mark (AKQJ10), Oscar (bohsman) and one or two others who gambled it up early. During this game as I watched a mixed field dwindle I resorted to playing a reserved style (mainly as I was dealing) and I've always faired better in these college games when I minimise my stupidy (sounds obvious but easier said than done). I gathered a healthy stack following two hands with disguised strength when I limped early with JJ and QQ. This type of play has been pretty useful for me and something I've tried a few times with a bit of success after a conversation with Lloyd about a QQ hand from his Drogheda win that got him in a very nice position. I'm aware than underplaying hands can have consequences but it's working for me at the moment, I'll give it a while before it becomes something I will defend as being consistantly effective. One thing I did notice was how much Shane (phantom_lord) has come on as a player, the lads had mentioned how his game has changed dramatically and how he was the best player in a €50 STT in the jackpot. I hadnt played shane in some time, and the last time I played him we was tighter than Christina Aguilera's underwear but when he got moved to my table he had a very big stack and was involved in alot of pots, winning them without a showdown, and when a hand was shown down he had the goods. Equally his success online is something I'm planning on "attempting" to emulate.... but his KK was no match for my AA... har har!! Anywho, finished 2nd and got €300 online which I'm using as my bankroll for lowstakes madness.
Biggest Ever Poker Win
... wooooooo!!!!! And I didn't even win the tournament! I won €2,000 at JP's End of Month game for 3rd place out of 115 runners. My biggest win coming through one of the biggest fields I've played. Only had 90% of my action though so technically after buy in and tip I only made €1,600 but still delighted... now the details. I was easily early tourny chip leader early on after taking out two players in the first level when I limped with JJ from early position and about 7 players saw a flop, of Kc8c8h. Now I've no interest after this flop but all 7 of us check, small blind bets 200 at a 3c turn and I convince myself that a call is correct and maybe 4 others call, I know i'm behind but am happy enough to lose 250 with jacks... but... but.... BUT... the river is a Jc put 4 clubs out there and giving me the 3rd nuts (behind KK and 88), I decide to make a sneaky value bet of 300, but wait... there's a raise.. and now ANOTHER player is all in... i'll call that... and so will one the raiser!! One has K8 for a flopped house, the other has the nutflush! Apparantly when I win a pot now I'm to say "LET'S PLAY DARTS!!!", this is Joe's (goodluck2me) idea, not mine... so LETS PLAY DARTS!! I felt another guy soon after when I limp push with QQ and by the time the tourny average is 20k I'm sitting happily on 50k, knowing that 100k will be average at the final table... but then disaster...
I raise to 2200 with 77 and Eamon (5pin5) calls who has about 3k less than me. We see a flop of 10,6,8. We both check. Another 10 comes on the turn, i check and he bets 6k. I think and call... his bet of 6k on the turn threw doubt in my head. I didnt think he'd bet the 10 if he had trip 10's and definately not that strongly, and I think he'd have bet the flop if he had a 6. So I call, thinking my 77 could be good and I want a cheap showdown BUT Eamon goes ALL IN before the river card is even dealt. So I decide I'm behind and will fold on the river... but the river is a non flush 9... giving me a straight. I call instantly and he shows 88 for a full house 8's full. I'm GUTTED!!! And down to 3k when the average is 25k. Not good. LESSON: Never, NEVER, never call an all in instantly. Take at least 20 seconds to think about calling an all-in. Again, simple to say... but I want to introduce this to my game.
Now follows a crazy 40 mins or so. I decide I'm not going to panic and throw my chips away because I'm short stacked. I fold until it is my big blind, i have 56 and somewhat bizzarrly there are 7 limpers, probably wanting to catch a flop and take a player out. I was going to push preflop but opted for a twisted stop and go move and push any rag flop. The flop is 974 giving me a nice open ended straight draw and I push, and EVERYONE folds... GAME ON! A few well timed pushes and I'm hovering on about 9k as blinds go up to 700-1500. I pick up A8 on the big blind and decide to push, but there is 2 limpers and a ROCK goes all in, it hurts me to fold A8 but I know i'm not live and dominated. Next hand, on the SB and there's a raise and a call from mid position players, I have Ace-ten, now or never, my chips go in quickly. Original raiser who has a nice stack thinks for a while and calls, but then the other player goes all in over the top. We end up with a 3 way all in. I have AT, against KQ, and KJ... I cant ask for better than that, and an ace on the board and i tripple up. I'm now just below average but work my way to about 26k, then raise UTG with AK, and dave from the jackpoton 26k too on the BB pushes with AQ, I call and am on 50k+ and well above average. phew....
zzzz... zzzz... card dead.... zzzz... card dead until pretty much we make the money. I get a cheap double up when I have A5 on the big blind, flop AK9 all spades, check check. Turn is a 9 and I figure if he has the ace and IF he calls we'll split the pot, I don't think he has the 9 or the made flush so I get the chips in. I get insta-called by K4 with the 4 of spades, and a red 4 hits the river and my bigger 2 pair wins... I then hover around the 70k-90k and the money bubble bursts... a few minutes later and we're at the final table. I was quite card dead from about 30 players until the final 9. First hand of the final table I fold 88 to an UTG limper. It just made sense to me. Then second hand of the final table I get AA against KK and double up. Going to the final table there were 2 big chip leaders who pretty much owned the final table. I got 3 handed but was very short. In the end my A6 was no match for QQ on a Q high flop. But 2k richer and I'm away happy!
I'm estimating my February profit at about €2,000 after buy in's to a few tourney's, a few cash losses and percentage pay outs. I'm a happy bunny!
Cash Games
I have started playing cash games for the first time, playing the jackpot 1/2 PLHE game. I have played the odd game before but never taken it that seriously. I've decided I want to get 55 cash hours before april 2nd so I can play the cash league final. To do this I need a system for playing these games, so basically, €150 buy in and play friday/sat nights from about 1am when the drunks stumble in, play TIGHT and hope the big hands hold up, very formulaic. I have been pretty strict with myself that if I lose my initial €150 i stand up and leave, no rebuying, thats that night written off. This can seem like I'm playing with scared money, but I feel it is playing within my limits and having such a boundry protects me from having a €500+ losing night. So far I have run reasonably well. I have lost a buy in or two but have had some reasonable winning sessions. From the start of March I'll be keeping much better track of my cash game exploits. A conservative estimate of winnings for February from cash games is about €300 profit.
Freeroll Madness
On Feb 22nd we ran the DIT Freeroll with €500 added from Greenjokerpoker.com. There was 50 players and an impressive €855 euro in rebuys thanks mainly to myself, Mark (AKQJ10), Oscar (bohsman) and one or two others who gambled it up early. During this game as I watched a mixed field dwindle I resorted to playing a reserved style (mainly as I was dealing) and I've always faired better in these college games when I minimise my stupidy (sounds obvious but easier said than done). I gathered a healthy stack following two hands with disguised strength when I limped early with JJ and QQ. This type of play has been pretty useful for me and something I've tried a few times with a bit of success after a conversation with Lloyd about a QQ hand from his Drogheda win that got him in a very nice position. I'm aware than underplaying hands can have consequences but it's working for me at the moment, I'll give it a while before it becomes something I will defend as being consistantly effective. One thing I did notice was how much Shane (phantom_lord) has come on as a player, the lads had mentioned how his game has changed dramatically and how he was the best player in a €50 STT in the jackpot. I hadnt played shane in some time, and the last time I played him we was tighter than Christina Aguilera's underwear but when he got moved to my table he had a very big stack and was involved in alot of pots, winning them without a showdown, and when a hand was shown down he had the goods. Equally his success online is something I'm planning on "attempting" to emulate.... but his KK was no match for my AA... har har!! Anywho, finished 2nd and got €300 online which I'm using as my bankroll for lowstakes madness.
Biggest Ever Poker Win
... wooooooo!!!!! And I didn't even win the tournament! I won €2,000 at JP's End of Month game for 3rd place out of 115 runners. My biggest win coming through one of the biggest fields I've played. Only had 90% of my action though so technically after buy in and tip I only made €1,600 but still delighted... now the details. I was easily early tourny chip leader early on after taking out two players in the first level when I limped with JJ from early position and about 7 players saw a flop, of Kc8c8h. Now I've no interest after this flop but all 7 of us check, small blind bets 200 at a 3c turn and I convince myself that a call is correct and maybe 4 others call, I know i'm behind but am happy enough to lose 250 with jacks... but... but.... BUT... the river is a Jc put 4 clubs out there and giving me the 3rd nuts (behind KK and 88), I decide to make a sneaky value bet of 300, but wait... there's a raise.. and now ANOTHER player is all in... i'll call that... and so will one the raiser!! One has K8 for a flopped house, the other has the nutflush! Apparantly when I win a pot now I'm to say "LET'S PLAY DARTS!!!", this is Joe's (goodluck2me) idea, not mine... so LETS PLAY DARTS!! I felt another guy soon after when I limp push with QQ and by the time the tourny average is 20k I'm sitting happily on 50k, knowing that 100k will be average at the final table... but then disaster...
I raise to 2200 with 77 and Eamon (5pin5) calls who has about 3k less than me. We see a flop of 10,6,8. We both check. Another 10 comes on the turn, i check and he bets 6k. I think and call... his bet of 6k on the turn threw doubt in my head. I didnt think he'd bet the 10 if he had trip 10's and definately not that strongly, and I think he'd have bet the flop if he had a 6. So I call, thinking my 77 could be good and I want a cheap showdown BUT Eamon goes ALL IN before the river card is even dealt. So I decide I'm behind and will fold on the river... but the river is a non flush 9... giving me a straight. I call instantly and he shows 88 for a full house 8's full. I'm GUTTED!!! And down to 3k when the average is 25k. Not good. LESSON: Never, NEVER, never call an all in instantly. Take at least 20 seconds to think about calling an all-in. Again, simple to say... but I want to introduce this to my game.
Now follows a crazy 40 mins or so. I decide I'm not going to panic and throw my chips away because I'm short stacked. I fold until it is my big blind, i have 56 and somewhat bizzarrly there are 7 limpers, probably wanting to catch a flop and take a player out. I was going to push preflop but opted for a twisted stop and go move and push any rag flop. The flop is 974 giving me a nice open ended straight draw and I push, and EVERYONE folds... GAME ON! A few well timed pushes and I'm hovering on about 9k as blinds go up to 700-1500. I pick up A8 on the big blind and decide to push, but there is 2 limpers and a ROCK goes all in, it hurts me to fold A8 but I know i'm not live and dominated. Next hand, on the SB and there's a raise and a call from mid position players, I have Ace-ten, now or never, my chips go in quickly. Original raiser who has a nice stack thinks for a while and calls, but then the other player goes all in over the top. We end up with a 3 way all in. I have AT, against KQ, and KJ... I cant ask for better than that, and an ace on the board and i tripple up. I'm now just below average but work my way to about 26k, then raise UTG with AK, and dave from the jackpoton 26k too on the BB pushes with AQ, I call and am on 50k+ and well above average. phew....
zzzz... zzzz... card dead.... zzzz... card dead until pretty much we make the money. I get a cheap double up when I have A5 on the big blind, flop AK9 all spades, check check. Turn is a 9 and I figure if he has the ace and IF he calls we'll split the pot, I don't think he has the 9 or the made flush so I get the chips in. I get insta-called by K4 with the 4 of spades, and a red 4 hits the river and my bigger 2 pair wins... I then hover around the 70k-90k and the money bubble bursts... a few minutes later and we're at the final table. I was quite card dead from about 30 players until the final 9. First hand of the final table I fold 88 to an UTG limper. It just made sense to me. Then second hand of the final table I get AA against KK and double up. Going to the final table there were 2 big chip leaders who pretty much owned the final table. I got 3 handed but was very short. In the end my A6 was no match for QQ on a Q high flop. But 2k richer and I'm away happy!
I'm estimating my February profit at about €2,000 after buy in's to a few tourney's, a few cash losses and percentage pay outs. I'm a happy bunny!
Saturday 3 February 2007
Keeping mummy happy!
So as of January 1st mummy ditpoker asked that i keep track of my poker innings and outings. I know this is meant to be good for bankroll control and what not but i still consider myself a relatively casual player and i'm hardly trying to make a living from it. So anyway, my mission was to know how much of money is being invested in the poker world and how much is the kind/cruel poker world giving back to me. Given that I am shockingly lazy but have a keen sense of long-term hazy memory I know must systematically go back through January and work out where my money is... in true AMSTEL tradition, this is gonna be great! (sadly for the purposes of this 2007 exercise im not allowed include my €800 emporium win on the 29th of Dec, fecking self imposed rules!)
Ok, game on... first poker outing in January was the disappointing performance in the Monday jackpot game, 20 yoyo out the door. AJ, AQ and AQ into AA in four consecutive hands in a rebuy. player gone, negative 20. Moving on, the next day we tried our hand at the 100+10 game... a disappointing 11th, negative 110... but for some unexplained reason i sat into an Omaha cash game with 140 (negative 140) but left it with positive 350. I tells ya this game is a rollercoaster! Riding the wave i think i then took on the thursday 20 freezeout, again in the jackpot, negative 23, but took a nice 4th place (positive 70) decided to add my own 70 to this and sat into another omaha cash game (negative 140) and... well... er... zero positive. ooops.
In between all this luke "shoutman" ran a qualifier for the student poker championship and i took a nice positive 80 from this one after ending the tourney with about 60% of chips in play... well played to me eh!? Importantly in this game "aodea" had 'about 54k at the 300/600 level', and, "aodea" also had 'about 54k' at the 3k/6k level... the man is a rock!
during all the madness of january i played a fierce cash heads up game against our beloved hero "aodea" ... for change... interesting discussion on a hand where i folded a set of kings in this game can be found http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055042169&referrerid=&highlight=flopped+trip+kings here! i ended this game up a fiver so positive 5.
i was in bulgaria for a week at the end of january, lots of little stt's for the bulgarian currency "lev" which is tiny, so playing for a fiver is worth very little, i think i was up over the course of the week but i still have 30 lev sitting somewhere that i have little intention of cashing...so we'll call this even. as you can tell this is a very exact science.
last week has been an odd week. Tuesday i played the 100+10 game again, negative 110... but i chopped this with "al gibbons" apparantly. This was my biggest win to date so im all chuffed... positive 1090. Then there was the madness of a home game in aid of "aodea"'s one knee (long story, the man is an idiot, two sambucca's and a beer for breakfast is always going to lead to a knee injury. negative 10, positive 40. and sadly then attempted the thursday game again, and a 5 stt after so negative 28 on the thursday. I played so badly on the wednesday and thursday after playing some good poker on the tuesday, so have had to take the last few days off. ok.. now to do the maths... where's my calculator...
Totals if my maths is right...
-581
+1635
so for january... positive 1054. that should keep mummy happy. not the most interesting read this post but keeps me on top of my poker moneysing (its a word).
Ok, game on... first poker outing in January was the disappointing performance in the Monday jackpot game, 20 yoyo out the door. AJ, AQ and AQ into AA in four consecutive hands in a rebuy. player gone, negative 20. Moving on, the next day we tried our hand at the 100+10 game... a disappointing 11th, negative 110... but for some unexplained reason i sat into an Omaha cash game with 140 (negative 140) but left it with positive 350. I tells ya this game is a rollercoaster! Riding the wave i think i then took on the thursday 20 freezeout, again in the jackpot, negative 23, but took a nice 4th place (positive 70) decided to add my own 70 to this and sat into another omaha cash game (negative 140) and... well... er... zero positive. ooops.
In between all this luke "shoutman" ran a qualifier for the student poker championship and i took a nice positive 80 from this one after ending the tourney with about 60% of chips in play... well played to me eh!? Importantly in this game "aodea" had 'about 54k at the 300/600 level', and, "aodea" also had 'about 54k' at the 3k/6k level... the man is a rock!
during all the madness of january i played a fierce cash heads up game against our beloved hero "aodea" ... for change... interesting discussion on a hand where i folded a set of kings in this game can be found http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055042169&referrerid=&highlight=flopped+trip+kings here! i ended this game up a fiver so positive 5.
i was in bulgaria for a week at the end of january, lots of little stt's for the bulgarian currency "lev" which is tiny, so playing for a fiver is worth very little, i think i was up over the course of the week but i still have 30 lev sitting somewhere that i have little intention of cashing...so we'll call this even. as you can tell this is a very exact science.
last week has been an odd week. Tuesday i played the 100+10 game again, negative 110... but i chopped this with "al gibbons" apparantly. This was my biggest win to date so im all chuffed... positive 1090. Then there was the madness of a home game in aid of "aodea"'s one knee (long story, the man is an idiot, two sambucca's and a beer for breakfast is always going to lead to a knee injury. negative 10, positive 40. and sadly then attempted the thursday game again, and a 5 stt after so negative 28 on the thursday. I played so badly on the wednesday and thursday after playing some good poker on the tuesday, so have had to take the last few days off. ok.. now to do the maths... where's my calculator...
Totals if my maths is right...
-581
+1635
so for january... positive 1054. that should keep mummy happy. not the most interesting read this post but keeps me on top of my poker moneysing (its a word).
Thursday 28 December 2006
Festive Poker
Picking music for the iPod 'Poker' playlist:
My original tactic was to have some decent background, elavator, instantly forgetable hit music with a touch of guitar dribbling through the earphones, but discovered at the Jackpot €100 game that the slow depressing Sade-esque suicide inducing anthems were a bit too successful and lead to me being the table wimp... so that HAD to change. Plan B, crack out the old Eminim Show album, stick that on the iPod and picture all my opponents as my money-grabbing mother who desrves a beating, effectively TIGHT AGGRESSIVE... bingo! However, due to a technical hitch in the updating of my 'Poker' playlist, I now have "My Love" my Justin Timberlake on my iPod about seven or eight times, still not sure how I managed that!
Respect at the Mayfair Christmas game:
When I play in the Mayfair in Arklow I do well, I don't know why but I do. I think maybe the idea of driving for an hour for a game of cards focusses the mind somewhat. Having won their End of Month game before and dragging Lloyd in the door with me fresh from his 30k win I got the impression that the locals weren't happy to see the two boys from Dublin. Its a noticeable change when people respect you before you sit down at a table, in contrast to some Dublin clubs where if you are under the age of 25 people assume you're a cocky no talent ass hat! I think between myself and Lloyd finishing 3rd and 2nd respectively we more than justified whatever respect, if any, shown to us.
Shoes can be terribly constricting:
I have a pair of shoes, they're not particularly nice shoes. Lloyd tenderly refers to them as my Sporting Emporium shoes, as I wear them in order to get in the door their as they frown upon my life policy to live and die in runners . So the morining comes for myself and the usual crew of Dublin student dealers to work at the JP Poker Christmas Festival, and our hero needs a pair of shoes, so I break out the old reliables! These shoes, I know, have seen better days, they are in desperate need of replacement, but I gamble and go to work in my much travelled shoes. Most of the day passes without event, but at about 2pm, after you've been wearing the same shoes for near on 16 hours, they get uncomfortable, and the real shit of it is once you noticed they're uncomfortable it'll take a frying pan to the side of the head to make you think of anything else. So there I am, dealing away, at nearly 3am watching Ken Powell and Rob Taylor showing off their rather impressive MTT skills, and ALL I can think about is my shoes. Being super smart that I am I decide I'll just take the damn things off. This plan is flawless... until play stops and you have to get up from the table... now shoeless! Is there a lesson to be learnt from this experience? There probably is!
My original tactic was to have some decent background, elavator, instantly forgetable hit music with a touch of guitar dribbling through the earphones, but discovered at the Jackpot €100 game that the slow depressing Sade-esque suicide inducing anthems were a bit too successful and lead to me being the table wimp... so that HAD to change. Plan B, crack out the old Eminim Show album, stick that on the iPod and picture all my opponents as my money-grabbing mother who desrves a beating, effectively TIGHT AGGRESSIVE... bingo! However, due to a technical hitch in the updating of my 'Poker' playlist, I now have "My Love" my Justin Timberlake on my iPod about seven or eight times, still not sure how I managed that!
Respect at the Mayfair Christmas game:
When I play in the Mayfair in Arklow I do well, I don't know why but I do. I think maybe the idea of driving for an hour for a game of cards focusses the mind somewhat. Having won their End of Month game before and dragging Lloyd in the door with me fresh from his 30k win I got the impression that the locals weren't happy to see the two boys from Dublin. Its a noticeable change when people respect you before you sit down at a table, in contrast to some Dublin clubs where if you are under the age of 25 people assume you're a cocky no talent ass hat! I think between myself and Lloyd finishing 3rd and 2nd respectively we more than justified whatever respect, if any, shown to us.
Shoes can be terribly constricting:
I have a pair of shoes, they're not particularly nice shoes. Lloyd tenderly refers to them as my Sporting Emporium shoes, as I wear them in order to get in the door their as they frown upon my life policy to live and die in runners . So the morining comes for myself and the usual crew of Dublin student dealers to work at the JP Poker Christmas Festival, and our hero needs a pair of shoes, so I break out the old reliables! These shoes, I know, have seen better days, they are in desperate need of replacement, but I gamble and go to work in my much travelled shoes. Most of the day passes without event, but at about 2pm, after you've been wearing the same shoes for near on 16 hours, they get uncomfortable, and the real shit of it is once you noticed they're uncomfortable it'll take a frying pan to the side of the head to make you think of anything else. So there I am, dealing away, at nearly 3am watching Ken Powell and Rob Taylor showing off their rather impressive MTT skills, and ALL I can think about is my shoes. Being super smart that I am I decide I'll just take the damn things off. This plan is flawless... until play stops and you have to get up from the table... now shoeless! Is there a lesson to be learnt from this experience? There probably is!
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