the merger

I declared my Virgin Poker loses in my main small stakes database today as things were getting a little complicated. At the end of the day, i play roughly the same style on every site. I'm just trying to learn Poker after all.

Decided to try expanding my opening range a bit at PokerStars $0.05/$0.10 and it worked pretty well though I must admit I got a lot more playable cards. The extra aggression helped keep the game interesting too.

In the grand scheme of things, today's success is but a small drop in a very large ocean of Loss this month. I can only hope to improve as the days go by.

Not so fast!

Oh dear. I was tired. Probably shouldn't have played. Got frustrated at lack of good hands and started playing a few other cards too. I think even if I'd stuck to recommended hands I'd have had a losing session but I lost far more than I should have.

There were a lot of very loose players around. Should have made some money but instead I wiped $5.00 of my bank roll :(

Virgin Poker Fight Back

Well, I finally decided to be more patient and *try* to play properly at Virgin Poker. I have lost a lot of money there (in relation to the limits I'm playing) and it will take a while to win it all back if indeed I can win it back.

I've made a reasonable start over the last few days though - thanks to a few bad and very aggressive players and also a little luck. the luck was mainly today - I actually played too long and, being down on my session, went on tilt with K5 suited. Hit a flush draw on the river. Then I lucked out with an A-5 straight on another table and... finally getting myself a head(again) for the evening, decided it was time to call it a night!

I made a huge amount (again in relation to the limits) the other day after I ended up flush vs flush on the river. I had the nut flush so knew I could keep betting but the other guy didn't work that out and basically re-raised me until we hit the cap.

The cap is pretty darn high at virgin poker. I was really surprised at that but mustn't complain as it helped kickstart my upward swing.

Two tables at Hollywood Poker

Just had an interesting and challenging session on Hollywood Poker. Tried out the PokerTracker3 HUD this time rather than Holdem Manager (HEM) and, thanks in part to the latest beta update, I managed to find all the features I use in HEM apart from an easy way to filter the main PT3 db by players I'm currently pitted against on the virtual felt. 

In HEM, you can run the player filter restricted to players at your table so it's easy to get a full breakdown. I use it to find out who's running good at the table as this can indicate the better players.

Read a lot of useful posts on the 2+2 forums before heading to the tables.

e.g.:

• Microlimit Guidelines
• some notes on notes
  
• To the New, Aspiring Player

From the last link, here's a sobering quote:

1. You won’t get rich quick.
2. You’re not half as good as you think you are (severely understated).
3. To consistently make any money worth talking about, it takes more work than you’ve imagined (severely understated).
4. To consistently make any money worth talking about, it takes longer than you’ve imagined (severely understated).

and also:

PLAY LESS!

When you’re just starting, it doesn’t make sense for most players to be playing a ton of hands. If you’re not studying at least twice as much as you’re playing, you’re doing yourself a HUGE disservice. 

I'm pretty sure I'm reading more than I'm playing. The play is definitely very important though. I read loads before I started playing and almost none of it stuck. It's all just beginning to make sense!

Quick PartyPoker Session

having found out that PartyPoker offers the most tables at my current limit, I felt more justified going back there for a quick session today.

Recorded myself two-tabling for a while. Got some good hands initially and made a little then didn't do so well on the slow 10-handed table, losing 2 dollars. 

Closed the speed table whilst still ahead then my fiancee turned up - which turned out to be a good omen because I played less hands and slowly got myself back into the black.

Think the environment was ripe to continue the upward growth but it's time to devote some time to my significant other.

Eureka! PokerScout's GameFinder

It can be a little frustrating finding a seat for $0.05/$.10 Limit Holdem because it's not that popular in most virtual card rooms.

I don't really want to keep going back to Stars just because it's the biggest site and thus most likely to have action. Imagine my surprise and delight therefore when I discovered PokerScout's GameFinder!

You enter the game type, limits and preferred table size then PokerScout will tell you how many tables their are matching your criteria at the sites it tracks.

How cool is that?

the most surprising aspect of it was that PartyPoker has more $0.05/$0.10 games than PokerStars even though it's got a third of the traffic.

Actually, I just did a check: at $1/$2, PokerStars has 3 times more fixed limit tables than PartyPoker so it depends on the bet size.

Watching a donkey

I spent most of my freetime yesterday watching the recorded footage from Titan poker and indexing it for future reference. Pleased with the video results but not at all pleased with some aspects of my play.

didn't get to play poker last night but watching the videos felt like playing.

Talking to myself at Titan

Tried video commentary for this session. Went okay until I started to get tired but found it very useful as I spotted a few things during play that I wouldn't normally. Having to talk about the hand forces you to think about it more and try to justify actions. Found it very useful for talking through odds calculations.

Was lucky to run into a few fish tonight that kept the game juiced up. The players on iPoker seem more casual at $0.05/$0.10 level.

One player was being very successful at 6-max by seeing most flops with any hand and only continuing past the flop if they hit something. they made a heap of money whilst I was struggling to stay afloat.

At one point I thought it was going to be another $2 loss for the evening but I clawed it back just at the end.

putting a brave face on it

The results so far aren't looking good. Over 1000 hands, I'm running at -8bb/100 and this is equating to around losing 50p per hour.

My VPIP has come down. I generally run at about 20-25 VPIP which goes up a bit heads up or less than 6 max. Perhaps it shouldn't for 5/6 players but to be honest, I don't think it will make much difference at the moment. The big leak is just the same as it was a few days ago. Even though I know what it is (going to far with weak hands), I'm struggling to correct it.

virgin back

turns out Malta's fibre optic link to Sicilly was severed, bringing down access for the Boss network.

All back again now. I can go lose money there whenever I want :P

Virgin Poker out of action

Poker site down?!? Never mind, plenty of alternatives. 

controlling VPIP

After Sunday, I got my account on Virgin Poker sorted and loaded a few quid there. the lowest limit they had was .10/.20 (double what I usually play) and I donked loads of chips - my biggest lost in one session (almost 5 euro?).

the day after I had a go on Everest and lost again.

In both cases, the previously identified leak was still the biggest culprit - going all the way to Showdown with top pair weak kicker or worse.

My VPIP has been consistently over 30% - regardless of position - and I couldn't seem to bring it down so today I revised my hand-chart to include clearer advice about what hands can be played from each position.

then I went back  to Party Poker and, after a short time on a table with a very lucky gambler (suspect cheating as everyone else disappeared very quickly when he started winning what seemed to be an unusually high number of hands) who took maybe $1.50 from me (at .05/.10), I opened up two speed 10 max tables and settled into a nice rhythm. My VPIP leveled at around 25%. Much better!

Played about 140 hands, some of them heads-up. Pretty pleased with this but still a lot of work todo to get even overall.

I'm excluding Virgin Poker because I don't want the big loss skewing my figures - especially not when it's an a different currency (Euro).

steaming! the truth begins to sink in...

Wow! WHAT A FRUSTRATING SESSION!

I keep playing hands I shouldn't play. I keep going to the river with top pair or worse. What the hell is wrong with me!?!

I'm sooo mad. I spent half the day deciding which site to put some more money on (in the end PokerStars was the only one with a small enough min deposit and facilities to take the paysafe cash that I had) and then spent ages deciding on a new site to try (answer : Virgin Poker).

Virgin's payment system seems to have taken my money then told me the transaction had failed - so the money is gone from my account but not registered on theirs. eh?!?!

Still, my play on CDPoker is the most annoying part of today. 2 hours. lost just over $2.00. clawed my way back once to within $.50 of my starting stack but donked it all again.

wow. even the $0.05/$0.10 tables are tough for me. This is not good.

Starting to think I'll have to set myself a stoploss figure at which point I should quit poker. Maybe I make a decision after 10,000 hands.

and then there was a party at my expense

Oh well, just when I thought it was safe to consider moving up a level, I went on a donking spree.

So frustrating, there were some much bigger fish at the table but I ended up losing all my money. Should have got up after maybe 70  hands. Played far too long and really didn't care in the end.

So, that's wiped out all the wins of the last two days leaving me with a bigger mountain to climb over all.

88 hands later

Had a go on PokerStars today at the same limits as OnGame ($0.05/$0.10)  this time at a speed 6 max table. played 88 hands in around an hour.

Enjoyed the game. traded a few short comments with a player called "gerry.gi". it's quite good when you have a little conversation at the table as it makes the whole experience seem more human.

Play dried up towards the end as all the major fish disappeared (around hand 55) and it was just me and the sharks. I made my excuses and left before anyone took any big chunks out of my stack :P

OnGame Claw back!

Wow! What a session! 2 hours 40 minutes at Hollywood Poker on a $0.05/$0.10 limit table.

Wasn't expecting such a tough field. Lost $1.50 in the first 30 hands and then tightened up my game and spent the next 65 hands clawing it back. Woah.

This time everything is recorded in Hold'em Manager (HM) so I can go back and review what went on.

Really pleased with the report features in HM. If you've got the HUD running, you can generate a player report that only includes players at your table(s). this is great to find out who the winning players are so you can avoid donking too many chips in their direction. Also helps to determine the fish to shark ratio (i.e. is there still any food other than yourself). 

I spent a lot of the session well in the bottom half of the bb/100 rankings but by the end I was in the top 50%... just!

Was surprised to see that 36 players came and went during the session. It didn't seem that many but I suppose you're focused on the hands not on the player churn.

treading water at bodog

played at Bodog for about 2 hours at $.05/$0.10. Basically ended up where I started.

Had a good run to start with- picked a good table and was up $1.00 in no time at all.

that table got down to 2 or 3 players so I moved to a full ring table... and it started out real good. Got up to $6.50 from $5.00.. then it all went pair shaped.

Yet again no analysis software so I can't tell if it was just  a change in the players at the table or if I'd been lucky or I got loose. I definitely was playing more than the recommended hand-range. I think a big problem was overplaying the strong hands and walking into traps.

ah well. practise practice.

Should start playing somewhere where I at least get rakeback. 

In the dark at Pacific

I went to Pacific this evening to practise what I'd read in Small Stakes Hold'em.

Played 2c/4c and started out with lots of "junk hands" (didn't play them). Also, I didn't hit any flops with the better hands - taking me from $2.30 to $2.00 in my first stint. 

took a break to visit the girlfriend. When I got back, I put $1.50 in play. money started to go up gradually but every now and again I'd play a few hands I shouldn't. so, I decided to open another table to reduce the urge to play more hands.

It seemed to work. I put $.50 on the second table and doubled it (thanks in no small part to AA with a helpful x99 flop and some very loose aggressive villains). Also, I loosed my game more on the second table because it was very short handed (4 max). 

Meanwhile the $1.50 went up above $2.00.  I ended the session with $3.75 (combined total).

As I didn't run any hand-capture software I'm in the dark about how I played.  I'm not particularly fussed in this case because Pacific isn't one of my favourites and I've no intention of putting any more money there. I use it as an "off the record" training ground where anything goes... until the deposit runs out.

Preparing for a return

What with the terrible play last month and being very busy at work, I've taken a break from poker apart from reading the occaisional magazine article and listening to the two-plus-two podcast.

Have gone right off tournament play.

Had been reading "Gambling Theory and Other Topics" by Mason Malmuth on and off and quite liked his style though it's a bit heavy going. Recently I switched to reading "Small Stakes Hold'em" (Ed Miller, David Sklandsky and Mason Malmuth)  instead. I love this book!

It's the first time I've seen a whole chapter on pre-flop play concepts - e.g. what kind of thought processes go into deciding how much you can raise pre-flop with any particular hand and still be profitable. It goes into a lot more subjects than just plain old "Pot Odds".

This book is definitely opening my eyes wider. More of the stats in Holdem Manager make sense now - even after just reading the pre-flop play section. I was able to review my performance with particular hands against the advice in the book. For instance, I didn't know what "Cold Calling" meant until today!

I'm eager to try out what I've read so far so will be hopping back into cash games soon - probably tomorrow.

Holdem Manager is excellent. I think I'll start a new database for this attempt and really make an effort to analyze my play.

Enjoy more success at PartyPoker?

My poker has definitely taken a turn for the worst of late. Just totally out of the zone whenever I play. Very very donkish. Not playing very often and not concentrating when I do.

Anyway, I'm not here to lambast myself so onto the subject matter.

The blind structure at PartyPoker... seems to go up very fast. Fast blind structure increases variance = more luck (and consequently less skill) required to win = more people win. So *that's* how they can justify the claims on their website!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a bad player and I know that. I'm not complaining about my own performance on the site. Most of the time I go out because of a bad play. Just making an observation.

Also, I'm pretty shocked at the Party Poker rake. They take 20% for sit&gos and don't tell you upfront! For instance, in a $3 tourney with 10 people, the total prizepool is $24.

They'll soon get the money they gave away back with interest with rakes like that.

I'll be drinking tea on PokerStars

Well, I tried to use an avatar with cards in it on PokerStars but, with hindsight for obvious reasons, PokerStars wouldn't allow it 'cos it confuses some users to have cards in people's avatars.

So, I figured I'd create one that was more in line with my screenname. Was going to do something 3d or take a serious image but my fiancee suggested I use a cartoon type image.

Found some inspiration at OffTheMark (http://www.offthemark.com/search-results/key/tea/) and created the image posted here.

If anyone ever asks me to draw for them based on this image, I'll pass em straight onto Mark Parisi.

Cash giveaway at Pacific Poker

wow. I went on serious tilt at Pacific today. had about $19 when I started. Was down about $5 then went on tilt (basically got bored) in a $.25/$.50 limit cash game, losing another $5 then donked my chips in a $5 + $0.50 tourney.

After that I had maybe $2 left and I've spent the last two hours trying to dispose of this meager sum in the smallest stake table I could find ($0.05/$0.10 limit).

I couldn't bring myself to play any two cards though so 2 hours later I'm still sitting with $2.30. ARGH! Had to stop.

I really dislike the Pacific interface. Grr!!! I only went there to see if there was enough money to transfer and in the end I stayed there all day. Ooops.

Cash game at Everest

Played limit cash at Everest last night at the micro stakes level. Found a reasonable table and doubled up in about 45 minutes. Think I'll try at higher stakes to see what the difference is.

Was thinking what the minimum stakes would have to be to even attempt to a noticeable difference to my bankroll and I think it would have to be $1/$2. That means a $400+ minimum bankroll perhaps? a reasonable investment. not ready for that yet...

new avatar for poker sites

I had a geeky day today - on top of doing system administration stuff for work I also spent a lot of time on XSI (a 3d software package) and listening to the "modcast" (modo podcast).

The modcast prompted me to sign up to Twitter which got me thinking about what to put in my profile and *that* got me thinking about an avatar that combined 3d with poker.

Well, the avatar I came up with doesn't contain any 3D but it does combine my hobbies in a loose sense.

I've uploaded it to PokerStars (where I will be iDrinkTea forever more - as of today) and to PartyPoker.

Talking of PartyPoker. I played a load of tournaments last night. Tried my hand at multi-tabling - just two tables - but I just wasn't concentrating. Played maybe 4 $1 tourneys (they take $0.20 rake out of $1 - rip off and they don't tell you explicitly) and didn't get into the money once (came 4th a few times).

In the end I decided to try my hand at a $3 tourney and came 2nd. So I pretty much recovered the losses at the other tables - but not quite.

Balance sits at $23.? at the moment.

oh yeah, and Netteller charged me £5 for taking £18 out of the account. Darn it! I won't be using them again :(

Party upgrade

Been a while. Hard to believe a whole month has gone by. Have played a little. Definitely not going to quit poker now as the prospect of earning money if I improve is a real good incentive to play and its enjoyable to boot.

Received a letter from PartyPoker today urging me to try their new site and offering me money so I figured I'd take a look. Have to say I do like the new layout. I'm up about $18 on the evening because I played 3 $1 tourneys, lost 2 (4th and 7th) and came 3rd in one (= -$1.40) but Party gave me $20, hence I'm up $18.60.

Of course, if my performance stays at -$1.40 per 3 games, I'll have lost all the money they gave me in just over 30 games. I'll do what I can to prevent that from happening!

Oh yeah, and I should mention:
- I played a couple of multi-table tournaments in September on er.. Full Tilt I think? A completely different ball game - very tough and they take AGES. I was surprised just how many people turn up for the $1 MTTs but then with fields of 700+ the prize can get pretty big.

- thought I'd developed a strategy for success in Pacific's 888 express ($.88 + $.08, 40 players) after I got onto the final table twice in a row. However, I was out early in the next two in quick succession. I think my best finish in all of them was 6th anyway.

One more win

I placed first in today's tourney. One thing I've noticed recently is that since I introduced raising into my game (thanks to a little help from Harrington) I'm more comfortable playing with selective aggression.

I tried to vary my play but pretty sure I've got a few tells regarding length of time I take to make certain decisions. Fast play seems to be taken as strength. Taking too long can sometimes be seen as slow play. Taking some time (but not the full amount) to think seems to portray weakness.

It's interesting that on the $0.10 tables, people sometimes spot your tight play and fold to a pre-flop raise but they quickly go back to looking you up if you raise a few hands in quick succession.

dont slack!

today I played three tourneys. the first two I just didn't buckle down 'cos I'd had a long day. the third I focused a bit more and - with a bit of help from the cards - came third.

So, I'm down on the day and have found a major leak in my game - not taking it seriously!

Oh, and I've got 203 hands registered in Tournament Indicator now. Only another 700 to go.

Lets say a tourney a day

Decided this weekend that I need to up my practice and perhaps playing a tourney a day is the way to go. If I play when I get home from work, the poker sites are pretty busy. I could get in one SitNGo or 30-45 minutes of cash game play and have plenty of time left for outstanding work or relaxation.

Tonight was the first opportunity I've had this week - having entertained guests Monday and Tuesday. Had a reasonable game. Not much table chat. Came third. I played very badly from 3-handed onwards and lost too much on rag hands.

I was lucky to get paid off a few times - got the right odds to call in a couple of spots and made my flush draw.

Back on the wagon

Played another tourney tonight at CD Poker and came second. Had a little crib sheet of Harrington's strategy in front of me, courtesy of someone at work. It helped to tighten my range a little - I just stuck to hands on the sheet (leaving over 25% of possible hands to choose from) and considered raising when I had position rather than playing quite so randomly.

Also, I've stopped relying on Tournament Indicator now as I realise it can't factor in dominated outs when determining the win odds vs pot odds so making judgements purely on the odds it shows is dangerous in most cases.

Anyway, the game itself was very enjoyable. Some of the other players seemed okay people and the chat comments were a nice extra dimension.

I was maybe a 4:1 underdog going into heads up and started off well but the blinds were high and it only took one bad play to leave me blinded into an all in situation with poor cards. Probably should have seen that coming.

Limit cash games - why bother with tourneys?

PokerStars gave me $5.00 on the condition I play a real money game by tomorrow. I just found out about this offer tonight - having not checked my poker e-mail all week - so I quickly logged in and played 15 minutes on the micro limit cash tables. I ended the session up $0.43 which effectively means I got a 50% return for laying $0.80 at the table. Does that sound right?

The graph from PokerTracker for this session is a stark contrast to my tournament results.


Okay, so it's only 15 minutes and 20 hands. Not enough to draw any conclusions. What's more, it's the first time I've left the table ahead of my start position. Usually I play until I'm back to even just to ease my conscience.

I wasn't keen to walk away when I was ahead but i wasn't the first to leave the table. You know, the first table I tried, as soon as I sat down everyone else left. So I shouldn't feel bad.

Anyway, even if over time I find I can make money at $0.02/$0.04, I doubt you can live on the proceeds. From what I've read, higher stakes gets a lot harder.

It still makes playing tourney's seem like a waste of time. I don't know if I'll ever get back to zero playing tournament poker let alone make $0.40!

Xbox Holdem

Haven't played online this week. Dusted off the xbox 360 and played the Texas Hold'em game on it. After a while I realised there's not much point trying to understand how your computer opponents play because they act fairly randomly once they're in a hand. I think maybe starting ranges are predetermined.

I was thinking of just playing through the single person scenarios where you have to come first to win them but the game play is *really* slow which is totally unnecessary in my opinion. No option to speed it up either - the only option is to turn off animations and that makes hardly any difference to the speed of each hand.


Anyway, I'm knackered. Ciao for now.

Eee-oooorrrrr

Bad night tonight. played 5 tournaments. Came second in one and lost horribly in the others (8th place in most cases).

Just couldn't get a read on the other players at all. I was definitely one of the bigger fish at all the tables I tried. tables varied from super tight to tight aggressive.

I tried to play loose and it just didn't work - I'd get called and then miss the flop or raised out of the hand. I'll have to go back to playing tight. I've opened up my range far too much for my donkish level. Just look at this chart from HoldemManager for the hands where I've put money in the pot at CD Poker:


I've definitely got over my victory a few days ago. Feet are now so grounded I'm up to my knees in dirt.

Play money victory

I went to Pacific to blow some cash I'd left on the site and ended up opting for a play money sitngo tournament.

would you believe it, I won!

The play was really strange even by my standards e.g. people putting lots in the pot only to fold on the river to a small raise.. four way all ins with marginal hands. The shenanigans certainly narrowed the field quite a bit so I didn't complain.

I was middle stack when it got down to three players. The short stack then let himself be blinded right down to his last $10. He tripled up from that point to $30 (luck) but soon went out after that.

In heads up the chip leader had me covered 2-1 but he'd already firmly established himself as a really loose aggressive (and lucky) player with some obvious tells so I won some pretty big pots with a pair or two pair by putting him on rubbish (e.g. high card).

So what did I think of the experience? Well, even though it's a sample size of 1, I will be avoiding the play money tables because:

• I don't think they will help me improve my game as much as real money tables.
• I can't go back and review my hands later
• It's more satisfying to win real money than the play variety.

poker traffic day

A day off to play internet poker and my internet connection is dead until 11 am. I decided to record stats on player numbers throughout the day on various sites and didn't actually play a hand. Spent most of the day working.

collected 5 poker books from the post office (on second attempt - somehow they couldn't find the package until I found proof of delivery from the USPS tracking service). these books came courtesy of 2+2's bonus program and join the ever growing ranks of unread, pristine poker books on my bookshelf.

Bad beat turned good

Sunday night I played in two tournaments. The first was at CDPoker and I ran in to a bunch of super aggressive players. I was pretty much card dead and not in the mood to gamble with my 6p stake and so waited for cards that just didn't come.

As my stack started to dwindle (red mzone), I hit on KK to triple up. The very next hand I got AQo on the button and pushed all in hoping perhaps to steal the blinds. I got two callers (chip leader + another all in).



Plugging the cards into PokerAcademy showdown calculator put me as a distinct favourite but I wonder now if I played this hand too eargerly.

Anyway, *that* wasn't the bad beat story. Oh no!

The next tournament was on Titan Poker. A more reasonable crowd that seemed to be thinking about the game a little.

So, the hand in question came when we were 7 handed. I had slightly more than average chips ($1960) and got K7o, blinds were $30-$60 and decided to at least see the flop.

A guy I had down for a calling station who had recently given me some chips raised 1BB in cut off position. I decided to stay with it, as did the button and utg. I flopped bottom set.

I figured at $.10+$.2 level, a set was a fairly good hand so I decided to try a large value bet (I have no idea what the right strategy is) - expecting the calling station to follow me anyway.

Just as I was adjusting my slider, my internet connection died. I was gutted. I stormed off convinced I would have won the hand and gone on to do well in the tournament.

My internet connection didn't return until the morning. I quickly logged back in and updated my hand-history to find out what happened on my last hand and surprise surprise... I had finished 2nd in the tourney!

what's more, on the K7 hand, two guys went all in and my "calling station" friend flopped a straight on the river having started out with A6s (a better hand than mine :). So, I'd have probably gone out of the tourney right there had my internet connection stayed up.

One of a Kind

I promised myself a few games this weekend but other priorities won out. I did, however, get a chance to read a few chapters of "One of a Kind" - the biography of Stuey Unger.

I'm determined to read the book even though I don't usually go near biographies. Seems reasonable so far.

So, no exploits from the virtual felt this weekend. Under different circumstances I'd probably consider playing now: it's only 11:30pm after all. As it happens, there are a few important meetings tomorrow and I can't justify losing sleep to Poker. Instead I'll hope to reward myself with a game tomorrow night.

First win at CDPoker! 20p up on the day

I almost didn't play tonight but coaxed myself to the tables to chip away at the 884 hands required to unlock Tourney Indicator.

Opted for the more sensible $0.10+$0.02 tourney this time (down from $1.00+$0.20). First hand I went all in after the flop, overcommitting a pair of Aces and completely missing the likely hood of a flush draw. Flop has come A 3 5 and of course, someone was playing with 24s :P

I couldn't let that be my only learning experience tonight so after taking a few deep breaths, I registered for another $0.10+$0.02 tourney.

This time I tried to play more hands conservatively and was more careful on the flop. The table was pretty tight from the get go which seems to be a good omen for me. Managed to build up a chip lead on the back of a few hands where I caught the flop.

A few people went out and then there was a period of drawn out play until strangely, a number of players seem to lose their interest and start shoving. We were down to 4 players in next to no time. A bad beat later and we're down to 3. Not long after, I get all of player 3's chips and arrive at heads up with the advantage!

It was my first experience of heads up and I was pretty nervous. Neither of us wanted to gamble so it took a long time. I lost the chip lead only once for the whole match.

I think the turning point came when I slow played a flopped straight. It was the perfect opportunity to coax him into pushing me off the hand - and he bought it. After this move, I was 3:1 favourite and was starting to see opportunities to push him off hands whereas early on he had been the clear aggressor.

The final hand I gambled K6 on a flush draw (+ K, 6 outs) as I didn't put my opponent on a strong hand. turned out he had 42, had paired the 4 on the flop and shoved all in. K 6 came on turn+river (flush didn't materialize) so I took the pot and ended the game.

I know a single win doesn't count for much but it's still good to finally cash! woohoo!

Take a seat, I might be here a while

Yesterday it occurred to me to check for mentions of Calculatem on 2+2 and - as well as learning that I should avoid Calculatem - I found out about Tournament Indicator.

Now this is a nice piece of software for tournament play. It shows you the win odds against the pot odds, outs and a few advanced statistics like M zones and the Sklansky card score. I don't know how to use most of this information yet but just the win odds vs pot odds is a real life saver playing online because I'm just too green under the gills to calculate this stuff in the time available for decision making.

I also really like the player analysis based on hands played in the tournament. Gives me a better idea of who is taking risks and who is playing tight.

The easiest way to get the software is to join a poker site. The software is then locked to the chosen site - on the relevant machine - until you've seen the flop in 900 tournament hands. After this you can use the software wherever you like.

No worries I thought. Easy... joined CDPoker (as iDrinkTea), played a tourney last night - tight game 11 hands finished 4th. So tonight I played looser to start with - in an attempt to see more flops - only for my 10-10 to be driven out by 45s (see stats above from Poker Academy showdown calculator) after 5 flopped hands.

So, $1.50 spent so far, 16 hands recorded. The software will cost me $84 at this rate. still, I'd rather get the experience than buy the software outright.

thing is, I've installed the software on my laptop too... that's another 900 flops required!

I'm considering trying a multi-table tournament as that might help increase the hand count but it's probably best to concentrate on trying to win single table sitngos for the time being.

Disconnected at the showdown

My first game on FullTilt. Over-committed with a set of 6s on the flop - came up against a set of tens. Pretty much out of it - $15 left (one SB). Got a lucky run to claw my way back to $400.. blinded back to $240.

Get AKo, go to push all in. Disconnect! Oh oh... please don't auto fold... connected again. Phew. Shove.

disconnect! ARGH! By the time I'm back, the hand has finished and I'm out. No idea what happened and no way to request the hand history?!?

Bummer... still, I went from 9th to 5th on a very short stack. At least that helped me to see I shouldn't give up just 'cos the odds are against me. hmmm... with this in mind, was i right to shove with AKo?

Oh yeah, and TexasCalculatem worked perfectly with the HUD this time. I would like to blame this software for my over-enthusiastic push with the set of 6s but the advice it gave was to raise - not to push as many chips as I could into the middle. I was lucky I had the guy covered else I'd have been out there and then.

Give em credit

Out of another tournament in 6th place out of 9 starters - this time on PokerStars.

First I lost a pile of chips by not crediting someone for a hand when I only had a paired Ace. Later I shoved all in pre-flop perhaps too early. Ad 9s in small blind, no raises before me, I had 13 BB . Only one caller thankfully. They had Kh 4h.

with hindsight, according to PokerAcademy's Showdown calculator I was about 3-2 favourite on the shove. So perhaps the call wasn't so bad. Cards came 5c Jc Jc 3c Kc.

I doubt it's the only leak but not crediting players for hands has to be one of my biggest problems. I'm too cynical.

The blind structure at PokerStars was the slowest I've experienced so far. Levels go up pretty slowly.

I tried using Texas Calculatem to help with the odds calculations but it had real trouble reading the board. Might be because I had the PokerTracker HUD running so I'll give it another shot.

Not sure I like losing all the time. Must make some progress. Have probably lost £5 so far since I played my first Sit And Go back on 8th of June 2008.

Much though I like Poker on TV, I'm going to stop watching so much of it and focus on playing. I think watching pros making sophisticated plays and gamble with each other is not helping me to progress. Very tempted to get back to PokerAcademy and do more practise matches before trying a real money game again.

Texas Calculatem

Didn't get an opportunity to play today but the second lot of ceramic chips arrived. I am going to replace the cheaper chips I already had with these ceramic ones but it will cost £250 (approx) so I'll do it bit by bit.

Bought a copy of Texas Calculatem out of curiousity more than anything. Hope it interoperates with PokerTracker/HoldemManager.

Scanned in the copag cards for personal use - I've written a small poker hand tester app and I think the copag cards will look better in it that the Grimaud ones I scanned before.

Copag cards, ceramic chips and Titan poker

Today I received a sample pack of ceramic poker chips plus a few packs of Copag poker cards that had been advertised in InsidePoker magazine (August 2008 issue, page 18 if you must know).

The website was Poker Shop Europe (the American Billiard Company). The service was prompt.

I don't have any friends that play poker so the chances of me hosting a home game are pretty remote but I don't need an excuse to collect things like this. I like the cards and the idea is to use them to practise recognising hands and outs... eventually.

The ceramic chips felt good and they are colourful so I ordered another sample pack for shuffling at work and some $5/$25 dollar chips for the imaginary future home game.

Apart from that, I squeezed in one $.20 tournament at Titan. Shoved AQs when I still had 10 BB hoping only to collect the blinds or meet an idiot. Unfortunately (? maybe using this term only highlights my donkishness) came up against a fellow fish who had JJ and, although I paired my queen on the flop, they made a set on the flop. No doubt shouldn't have gambled my tournament life on that hand.

I watched the rest of the tournament and fired up Sharkscope. It turns out that two of the winning 3 players are consistent winners at this stake - rarely playing above it.

Sharkscope and my first cash game

Yesterday I found my stats on SharkScope.

First off, I've limited myself to <$1 buy in SnGs in general so no high stakes games here. I'd be broke otherwise!

Sit and gos are a disaster so far.

I am classified as "tilt" on SharkScope for my Pacific screenname. I just blew about $5 on that site one day as I didn't want to play there any more (bad case of blaming the site for my own bad play). SharkScope is undecided about my other screenname (Titan) - probably because I've not played many hands.

These episodes convinced me to go with a new screenname featuring the term "donke" at any other sites I subscribe to. I like to have lots of poker clients. I flitter about from one day to the next. So, I picked "obadonke" for Everest Poker and PKR.

Cashed for the first time on bodog yesterday - mainly because connection problems prevented me from playing too many hands in the early rounds. I actually went up 3 places during the 5 minutes I was off the table!

I then sucked out on someone - really bad play having shoved because I'd had enough of the connection problems, I hit a full house on the river and doubled up. I went out in 5th and got my buy in back - but was still down $.20 because of the house fee.

I played a micro stake cash game on Everest last night - my first cash game - and at least ended my 30 minute stint with about the same money I started with. In the first half of the session I was winning. I think the players were tight weak then a few aggressive players joined to my left and I started losing.

The aggressive players didn't seem that good, more like calling stations... but I kept playing through to the river with them.

At least I've started to fold a few on the turn and river. In my first few online games, I'd play right through to the showdown regardless.

Too many really stupid mistakes in my game as yet. Having trouble with the basics - find it difficult to read the board and I'm not calculating outs, comparing pot odds, trying to put people on hands etc. Perhaps playing a little positional play now.

I've read maybe two books completely. I've got a reasonably large poker book library (18 books? + 3 magazine subscriptions). I watch a lot of poker on TV and listen avidly to 2+2's pokercast. However, I've played maybe 50-100 hands so far? Never played live.

anyway, that's the nub of it. time to go earn some money.