An update, FWIW.
Had a great time as ever in Vegas over New Year, but that was obviously so long ago it's not worth recounting now.
On the poker front I finally cleared enough points and maintained GOLD status for long enough on Stars to order my PS3, which to their credit was promptly shipped and arrived less than 2 weeks later IIRC. Then switched my remaining money (thanks to Lilkimmer77) to Full Tilt for rakeback purposes and so far up around $300 grinding it out playing the $40 CAP PLO games.
Should be up another $10 but wasted that on two buy-ins to the Brit Blogger Game on Sunday evenings ;)
1st week I built a good stack and then lost with KK v A10o all-in pre, tonight I never got anything going at all after arriving late and it was my turn to lose with A10 (Ace fucking 10!!!! Dave) when NYRambler shoved K8 from the SB into my BB - Can't blame him for doing so as I was short, 8 on the flop of course.
In other news, bought a new (used) car on Saturday, trading in my short-lived SAAB 9-3 for an Audi A3.
Might post some pics when I get some new alloys :)
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Friday, 19 December 2008
Jigsaw Falling into Place*
Briefly some awesome news. I'm off to Vegas again for New Year for the princely sum of £320.
Stopped into Thomas Cook in the White Rose Centre after finishing Xmas shopping on the off chance they had a good deal (really wasn't expecting much).
Turns out they have a direct flight from Manchester on Dec 31, 7 night stay for £380.
Sounds great, so I get home, manage to get the extra time off work I need, and go on their website to book it. And even better news, it's only £320 on there!!!!!
Dwal has kindly offered me use of his room at IP for the few days he's there and I'll book something else when he's gone. I was beginning to doubt there would be such a good deal available, unless it was a risky really last-minute job, so this has been a great day.
Fired up Stars and won $250 too on some PLO and small tourney cash, although I did get unlucky/impatient in a PLO tourney and blew a decent stack, and also busted my last MTT on the bubble when AK lost to JJ when he flopped quads :)
Finally, it's the 8-game tourney tonight in the Blogger WCOP and that should be great fun.
* Radiohead, In Rainbows
Stopped into Thomas Cook in the White Rose Centre after finishing Xmas shopping on the off chance they had a good deal (really wasn't expecting much).
Turns out they have a direct flight from Manchester on Dec 31, 7 night stay for £380.
Sounds great, so I get home, manage to get the extra time off work I need, and go on their website to book it. And even better news, it's only £320 on there!!!!!
Dwal has kindly offered me use of his room at IP for the few days he's there and I'll book something else when he's gone. I was beginning to doubt there would be such a good deal available, unless it was a risky really last-minute job, so this has been a great day.
Fired up Stars and won $250 too on some PLO and small tourney cash, although I did get unlucky/impatient in a PLO tourney and blew a decent stack, and also busted my last MTT on the bubble when AK lost to JJ when he flopped quads :)
Finally, it's the 8-game tourney tonight in the Blogger WCOP and that should be great fun.
* Radiohead, In Rainbows
Monday, 15 December 2008
Sit down, stand up*
Played the first blogger tourney tonight and busted out fairly early. It was PLO and I hit some nice hands early to get to about $5.4k and the standard of play was pretty horrible. Eg; Guy with AAxx minraises, everyone calls, button shoves, guy with AA just flat calls and lets a few of us call pretty cheap. Flop is all spades and AA guy bets 200 into a 3,000 pot. LOL.
However, I then missed on two big hands in quick succession, the first with the nut flush draw against nothing but bare KK and the second with top 2 and the NFD on a KQ6 flop with two spades. Villain had bottom set and I missed. I think I was also guilty of getting a bit cocky about the poor standard of play and was a bit too loose - you live and learn.
Anyway, made up for that with a very good cash session with 4 tables of 0.50/$1 PLO8 going. Missed the chance for a Drome-esque slowroll when I had nut-nut on the river and donk shoved into me, but also lost a big hand with A36x on a 66J flop. Ace on turn and all the money goes in, villain has JJ obv. :(
Managed not to tilt for once and still ended up around $330 so pretty pleased, especially as I also won a $215 tourney token on Saturday night. It was a qualifier for the Sunday Million but I was working yesterday so unregistered.
Anyone know if I can sell the tourney dollars????
Oh, and Mancini for Sunderland boss!!!!!!
* Track 2, Hail to the Thief
However, I then missed on two big hands in quick succession, the first with the nut flush draw against nothing but bare KK and the second with top 2 and the NFD on a KQ6 flop with two spades. Villain had bottom set and I missed. I think I was also guilty of getting a bit cocky about the poor standard of play and was a bit too loose - you live and learn.
Anyway, made up for that with a very good cash session with 4 tables of 0.50/$1 PLO8 going. Missed the chance for a Drome-esque slowroll when I had nut-nut on the river and donk shoved into me, but also lost a big hand with A36x on a 66J flop. Ace on turn and all the money goes in, villain has JJ obv. :(
Managed not to tilt for once and still ended up around $330 so pretty pleased, especially as I also won a $215 tourney token on Saturday night. It was a qualifier for the Sunday Million but I was working yesterday so unregistered.
Anyone know if I can sell the tourney dollars????
Oh, and Mancini for Sunderland boss!!!!!!
* Track 2, Hail to the Thief
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Free Poker!!!
I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!
This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.
Registration code: 713291
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
True Love Waits
...and so do my loyal fans ha ha ha!!
I realise it's been a while since I updated this excuse for a blog, and it's not as if I haven't been playing.
Earnt enough points to move up to Gold Star on PokerStars, which was worth a mighty $100 bonus - which I still have to earn more points to clear - and I now have enough points for some nice gear in their VIP store.
Thinking about a portable DVD player for those long plane journeys or a Wii for those long winter evenings in front of the box. Other option is swapping points for $285 in bonus, but knowing Stars they'll make sure it's rigged so you can't win while you try to clear the bonus !!!
At the tables I've been playing a few low buy-in STT's and small MTT's and doing reasonably well, mainly because the standard of play is generally appalling. In the space of a few hands in one tournament I had two people shove A-high into me when I happened to be holding strong hands.
If they were playing razz they might have stood a chance, but otherwise it was suicidal!!!
Not making huge money obviously from the $6 buy-ins but at least I'm playing more or less stress free and TRYING not to get annoyed at the usual RiverStars suckouts. Even managed one of my own the other day, shoving with AQ over what turned out to be a guy limping AA. Flop is 10 J K and for once I'm the idiot getting rewarded :)
Anyway, we'll see how long I can keep up the new attitude (over/under set at about 2 days) and keep grinding out the small wins.
Ha'way the Lads!!!
I realise it's been a while since I updated this excuse for a blog, and it's not as if I haven't been playing.
Earnt enough points to move up to Gold Star on PokerStars, which was worth a mighty $100 bonus - which I still have to earn more points to clear - and I now have enough points for some nice gear in their VIP store.
Thinking about a portable DVD player for those long plane journeys or a Wii for those long winter evenings in front of the box. Other option is swapping points for $285 in bonus, but knowing Stars they'll make sure it's rigged so you can't win while you try to clear the bonus !!!
At the tables I've been playing a few low buy-in STT's and small MTT's and doing reasonably well, mainly because the standard of play is generally appalling. In the space of a few hands in one tournament I had two people shove A-high into me when I happened to be holding strong hands.
If they were playing razz they might have stood a chance, but otherwise it was suicidal!!!
Not making huge money obviously from the $6 buy-ins but at least I'm playing more or less stress free and TRYING not to get annoyed at the usual RiverStars suckouts. Even managed one of my own the other day, shoving with AQ over what turned out to be a guy limping AA. Flop is 10 J K and for once I'm the idiot getting rewarded :)
Anyway, we'll see how long I can keep up the new attitude (over/under set at about 2 days) and keep grinding out the small wins.
Ha'way the Lads!!!
Saturday, 4 October 2008
Title change
My loyal fans may have noticed I've decided to change the title of the blog, mainly because the Going ~ Pro experiment thing never really took off thanks to my general laziness etc;
I do have two weeks' off coming up very shortly (from Tue in fact) so I hope to log plenty of hours and grind my way to a healthier bankroll.
It has dawned on me several times the best way for me to make money - namely grinding it out at small stakes where I have an advantage over the donkeys - but I always get bored, move up stakes slightly and after running good for a while perhaps, end up losing a couple of big pots and I'm back where I started it.
I have a bonus to clear at Stars and rakeback on FT so that's where I should be grinding it out mainly, especially as I haven't got used to Party's new software/layout yet.
I do have two weeks' off coming up very shortly (from Tue in fact) so I hope to log plenty of hours and grind my way to a healthier bankroll.
It has dawned on me several times the best way for me to make money - namely grinding it out at small stakes where I have an advantage over the donkeys - but I always get bored, move up stakes slightly and after running good for a while perhaps, end up losing a couple of big pots and I'm back where I started it.
I have a bonus to clear at Stars and rakeback on FT so that's where I should be grinding it out mainly, especially as I haven't got used to Party's new software/layout yet.
Friday, 26 September 2008
So near and yet so far...
So I'm back from the Ryder Cup where Europe were sadly out-putted by the Americans to lose for the first time since 1999 - the only good news being that my debit card wouldn't work on Friday morning when I wanted to back Europe. One bullet dodged there!
Played twice at the Horseshoe Casino in Indiana while staying in Kentucky - gambling is illegal in Kentucky so you have to drive just over the border to an old-fashioned river boat - LOL gotta love America.
First night I blew almost $300, mainly running QQ into a set of Js on a J64 rainbow flop, although I escaped with some of my stack by checking behind on turn and just calling his $60 value bet when board paired on river. Had a nasty feeling he had me beat by the way he check called my c-bet on the flop and then said "AK has shrunk up eh?" when I checked behind on the turn.
Second visit went much better and I turned my $300 buy-in into $1000 in next to no time - all without having better than one pair. It was largely just a case of opponents not catching a draw or sucking out. Eg; I raised AJ, horrible woman calling station calls with A5, flop is A-high, we get it in and I hold. I reraised to $25 pre-flop with QQ, guy behind calls. Flop is 10 5 5, I bet, he shoves for very little more and I call. He has 77.
Won biggest pot without a showdown. I had J10 of hearts in LP and call a raise to $10. Semi-drunk clueless guy in BB I think raises to $45 and loads of people call so I do to. Flop is K J x with two hearts, checked to me and I bet $100 and everyone folds.
Anyway, finally to last night and the "so near and yet so far" bit. Played three tourneys and busted frustratingly in all of them. First was a double shootout to the Sunday Million on Stars - won first table easily as guy I got HU with was clueless, but finished 6th overall with top two getting seats. Won buy-in back!!! Woot.
Then played a PLO8 tourney on Stars and was approaching the cash when I busted with AA5x despite flopping an Ace. Villain called my RR pre-flop with 2356, flopped the low and hit a gutshot straight on turn. Also busted just short of money in HORSE tourney on FT when clown called pre-flop raise in O8 with 2577 and made a seven-high flush to my broadway and went out next hand when a flopped two pair got counterfeited on river by guy who loved his AAxx on a Q 10 2 flop.
But hey, at least I didn't lose this hand below!!!!
Full Tilt $500/$1000 - NL
Seat 4: Ziigmund ($342,506.50)
Seat 6: Ansky451 ($130,499)
Ansky451 posts the small blind of $500
Ziigmund posts the big blind of $1,000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Ansky451 raises to $3,000
Ziigmund raises to $9,000
Ansky451 calls $6,000
*** FLOP *** [2h 9h 2c]
Ziigmund checks
Ansky451 bets $5,000
Ziigmund raises to $27,000
Ansky451 calls $22,000
*** TURN *** [2h 9h 2c] [6h]
Ziigmund checks
Ansky451 bets $21,000
Ziigmund raises to $306,506.50, and is all in
Ansky451 calls $73,499, and is all in
Ziigmund shows [9c 9d]
Ansky451 shows [Kh 5h]
Uncalled bet of $212,007.50 returned to Ziigmund
*** RIVER *** [2h 9h 2c 6h] [8h]
Ziigmund shows a full house, Nines full of Twos
Ansky451 shows a flush, King high
Ziigmund wins the pot ($260,997.50) with a full house, Nines full of Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $260,998 | Rake $0.50
Played twice at the Horseshoe Casino in Indiana while staying in Kentucky - gambling is illegal in Kentucky so you have to drive just over the border to an old-fashioned river boat - LOL gotta love America.
First night I blew almost $300, mainly running QQ into a set of Js on a J64 rainbow flop, although I escaped with some of my stack by checking behind on turn and just calling his $60 value bet when board paired on river. Had a nasty feeling he had me beat by the way he check called my c-bet on the flop and then said "AK has shrunk up eh?" when I checked behind on the turn.
Second visit went much better and I turned my $300 buy-in into $1000 in next to no time - all without having better than one pair. It was largely just a case of opponents not catching a draw or sucking out. Eg; I raised AJ, horrible woman calling station calls with A5, flop is A-high, we get it in and I hold. I reraised to $25 pre-flop with QQ, guy behind calls. Flop is 10 5 5, I bet, he shoves for very little more and I call. He has 77.
Won biggest pot without a showdown. I had J10 of hearts in LP and call a raise to $10. Semi-drunk clueless guy in BB I think raises to $45 and loads of people call so I do to. Flop is K J x with two hearts, checked to me and I bet $100 and everyone folds.
Anyway, finally to last night and the "so near and yet so far" bit. Played three tourneys and busted frustratingly in all of them. First was a double shootout to the Sunday Million on Stars - won first table easily as guy I got HU with was clueless, but finished 6th overall with top two getting seats. Won buy-in back!!! Woot.
Then played a PLO8 tourney on Stars and was approaching the cash when I busted with AA5x despite flopping an Ace. Villain called my RR pre-flop with 2356, flopped the low and hit a gutshot straight on turn. Also busted just short of money in HORSE tourney on FT when clown called pre-flop raise in O8 with 2577 and made a seven-high flush to my broadway and went out next hand when a flopped two pair got counterfeited on river by guy who loved his AAxx on a Q 10 2 flop.
But hey, at least I didn't lose this hand below!!!!
Full Tilt $500/$1000 - NL
Seat 4: Ziigmund ($342,506.50)
Seat 6: Ansky451 ($130,499)
Ansky451 posts the small blind of $500
Ziigmund posts the big blind of $1,000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Ansky451 raises to $3,000
Ziigmund raises to $9,000
Ansky451 calls $6,000
*** FLOP *** [2h 9h 2c]
Ziigmund checks
Ansky451 bets $5,000
Ziigmund raises to $27,000
Ansky451 calls $22,000
*** TURN *** [2h 9h 2c] [6h]
Ziigmund checks
Ansky451 bets $21,000
Ziigmund raises to $306,506.50, and is all in
Ansky451 calls $73,499, and is all in
Ziigmund shows [9c 9d]
Ansky451 shows [Kh 5h]
Uncalled bet of $212,007.50 returned to Ziigmund
*** RIVER *** [2h 9h 2c 6h] [8h]
Ziigmund shows a full house, Nines full of Twos
Ansky451 shows a flush, King high
Ziigmund wins the pot ($260,997.50) with a full house, Nines full of Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $260,998 | Rake $0.50
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