Gotta give the nod to Avatar and NFS Shift

I have just seen Avatar, what a film, I was absolutely transfixed, I cried for about 10 minutes of the film, yes it is emotional but it is just awe inspiring on a totally new level. You just fall in love with the aliens the characters and the whole thing. Absolutely fantastic.

I'm playing a fair ammount on NFS shift at the moment on XBox live, tremendous game. Don't get me wrong it can be very frustrating but the game gives the poor drivers a chance with all of the ramming so they will come back.
I love it.

My tag is Quexalcotal if you want a race!

New car/ Scan

I bloody love it. Great to drive, supercar fast and looks mean! I just saw it and had to have it. I'm concerned by the running costs however I should be ok. They need a service every 4500miles and each tyre is 100GBP oh and it runs on super high octane fuel fuel so that's not cheap. At 16mpg could get harsh.

Went with the Mrs to the hospital yesterday to have first scan. It's amazing to see the baby in the womb, looks ace. It has long legs and is probably a boy but it's hard to tell at that stage.

Buy nappies and babyfood how hard can it be right? Lol!

Poker and tennis betting running good!

All going on!

Okay all happening.

Work.

Can't win. I've been promoted. Now the world's supply of poo hitting me in the face.
It's hard to describe the pain in other people. I just have to be magnanimous and rise above the depth of shit I have to wade in.
I have forms on my forms.

Home.

Wife's pregnant and ready to shout or cry at any moment. Love her but give a wide bearth at the same time. Tough in anybody's language.

Poker and Gambling

Can't grumble, just won $150 in 1.5hrs. Wining 4/5 tennis bets at the moment. All good.

Other.

Have just bought a Mitsubishi Evo8.

Couldn't help it. My old car died and I now need a new one. It will cost me 195GBP a month, insurance is 240 for the next 8 months, and it's 4 door so the kid can go in the back. Good wholesome family motoring if you ask me! The Mrs wants a go so all good there!

Gotta take the rough with the smooth you know!

Preggers!

The wife is pregnant!

Okay this is going to put a dint in my gambling ambitions.

Maybe I can train the kid and send it to WSOP!

One thing is for sure my number of hands will go down.

I'm made up anyway. Due date 14052010!

I'll keep you posted.

Neuralbet Review

I have quit using the software until my bankroll recovers for another go.

I'm running well at poker and okay at tennis so no problem but neuralbet would have wiped me out.

300 bets should be enough to be a guide as to profitability, I would have liked to have 1000 bets but my roll won't stand it.

I reckon neuralbet has cost me but only say $250 + plus the $399 the effing software cost. I will have another go when my roll has recovered.

I have now seen that my blog has made it into the search area of neuralbet. I will give more info.

I bought Neuralbet for Scooer, US Football and Baseball.

For your info I am a small stakes gambler. My theory is to bet many times on selected events where I have a small edge. I love the idea of using computers to beat Sports betting. Hey that's how the bigtime pros do it right?

The software is just a click of a button job, you fire it up and it will churn out the picks for the day.

The problem that I have with it is that it only gives you the figure, not the data behind it.

I use the On court software to cap tennis matches with great success and Neuralbet seemed like an extension of that. I have also made a killing playing internet poker so I know my way around internet gambling. I am a steady winner, my hope in a few years is to grow my bankroll and make some serious money.

The image from above has 82 baseball bets($190 loss) and 56 soccer bets(150 loss) with just 8 Us football bets for a miniscule profit.

I lost over $300 due to Neuralbet on Betfair alone, it's predictions were just so bad that if I had flipped a coin choosing heads for one side and tails for the other I would have fared better.

I have put on 250 or so bets with a $400 loss, my roll is only just starting to recover since I stopped using it about 4 weeks ago.

My belief is that it has been invented by the bookies to get some revenge over the computer whizzes that have been having their pants down for years!

The above figure represents a fairly flat staking system with only small ajustment made if I had a reasonable edge on the bet.

I do realise that my sample of bets is small and that variance could have affected me however a trial of 250-300 bets should show if a system is profitable, Neuralbet unfortunately is not.

Neuralbet

Hmmh what can I say.

Neuralbet is basically a neuralnetwork which predicts the outcomes of sporting events.

The main problem I'm having here is that if I assigned one of my teams as heads and the other tails and tossed a coin, betting the heads team each time the coin would undoubtedtly run better that the software that Neuralbet have provided me with.

Now we have to give it a fair run. I started betting $25 per game hoping for a $1 per game return, not greedy and not unreasonable. The results published by the website have neuralbet winning every way possible.

Not so. So far I have had my arse kicked to the tune of nearly $500.

Small sample, could be variance, end of baseball season, beginning of football season, beginning of US football season could be.

I will ride it out but I can see it busting me on both betfair and bet daq before the trial is over.

I will keep you posted. Neuralbet support haven't been much help. They won't send me their full results even though I have psaid $400 for their software.

Don't get me wrong, this was an experiment and as with any business venture you can get caught out I win at poker win at tennis betting hey why not try to expand?

I may have to scale back but it doesn't look good for Neuralbet.

I'll keep you posted.

Well my Bodog bankroll has hit $1k. My sports betting roll is about the same.
I'm running excellent at poker making $500 in the last 10 days or so.
I just want to make my computer betting to work then I will have it sussed. Pro gambling for me then.

Hmmh.

The computer prediction betting is not going too well. It gives me a ton of picks.
Like I'd estimate 40 picks for today encompassing baseball, US football and Soccer.

I keep lumping it on but I may have to use Human intervention to make it work.

It won the other day and got me back to even over about 115 bets and I've has my arse kicked today.

I won a shitload playing poker so all is good but I'm concerned about the computer betting.

My aim is to get to 1000 bets without going broke. If I can do that i will have enough data to at least work on.

Well back to gambling.

Poker is going well I'm on a 120 BB winning streak I'm starting to eye the $4/8 game. Not bad considering the 11 months ago I was playing 25/50c. I'd just love to get back to 5 figures.

Sports betting is a high variance business.

I am killing tennis, I was running about even on Baseball and Soccer until i had a 4 game loss streak on the soccer betting last night.

I will have to see how we go from there. I have about $400 in play again just for the soccer this weekend and will then reinvest it all in Baseball and US Football once the soccer results are in and I have some of my bankroll back.

The jury is still out as to whether or not my system for Soccer, US football and Baseball works.

I believe that my theory is sound however a bad down turn and I'll go broke.

Promoted - Sucks!

Okay so my promotion has finally come through at work and I start next week. So the boss calls me into his office for a chat. I think here we go, bit of a congratulatory talk, few words of encouragement and a few pointers and here we go!
Not a fucking bit of it mate.
An hour and a half of the boss basically telling me how shit I am, how he dosen't want me on his team and how if I mess up just one tiny bit he'll stick me on the way to a sacking faster that I can blink.
Well fucking great I'm really looking forward to this. I mean being a statistician it strikes me that the odds of me surviving my first 3 months without a severe bollocking are virtually nil. In my business my team will deal with about 2000 jobs in that time and only one of those has got to go wrong to screw me.
I'm confident I know what I'm doing however once they look to shaft you you're in trouble.
I mean could they have done more to knock my confidence or make me feel like shit.
I don't know if this is some sort of reverse psychology shit to try to get me to work harder but I just feel like they are trying to fuck me and i don't really want to work for them. That doesn't motivate me it just pisses me off.
I now approach my new position with trepidation knowing that the boss is the enemy.
I will prevail.

Game on

So my soccer software has come up with about 15 picks today so I'm on them all at $25 a pop!

It's Saturday afternoon so I've got about half of my bankroll in play. I'm not too nervous as it would take a real bad run to bust me but if a few bets go against me I'll have to lick my wounds.

US open starts Monday. Then I will have the biggest amount of cash in play with tennis, the bank holiday soccer and baseball all needing to be bet.

I am concerned that my bankroll is not large enough as most of the bets are available on Betfair so for example today I have $300 at least in play just on Betfair.

I may face the dilema of having to put a few hundred in to boost my roll.

I think I will play poker today as the Mrs is out and try to win $200 then transfer it out.

Feels Like a Lot!

Okay so I now have over $200 in play mostly on baseball bets. The computer tells me what to bet on and I bet on it! It's mental I am sure I'm on to a winner and the nerves will subside soon but it feels like a decent chunk of cash in play.
I mean like Chicago v Wagshington under 8.5 and i just stick the dough on and there we go. The computer says yes so I do it!

I will either go broke very quickly and look like an arse and have to play $25 NL to get my money back or I will have to stop the bookies from banning me!

Either way it will be fun!

I'm currently winning at poker at least so I can handle some of the swings.

Lets Go! Come on you Cubs....

Sports betting lets go

Okay so I have recently hit upon a way to beat sports betting.

Basically my tactic is to use my knowledge of gambling combined with algorithms which can predict the outcome of sporting events.

It's working so far i have been testing it to the tune of $10 per match and have come out on top. $300+ winner.

I am now going to alter my stake to $25 and take it from there.

My roll is about $1600 at the mo. I will be flexible with my staking and may bet up to $100 if I like the game.

I aim to bet Tennis, Baseball, Soccer and US Football when the season gets up and running.

Wish me luck!

Wish me luck!

Nice sports betting!

Well the Tennis betting is serving me well. Won over $100 at Wimbledon and heve won $159 since so that is an excellent mark up.

My tennis sportsbetting winnings exceed my poker winnings at the moment,

The poker games have become uber tough. I'm not saying I'm quitting but it's hard to find an edge.

Retard!

Fine losing streak! I'm getting my ass kicked at poker bigtime. Sportsbetting is going okay but poker meh! My roll may go sub 1k(again!)

Gambler

I fucking love being a gambler.

I'm a sick fuck and I know what I'm doing.

Being a gambler is the most awesome experience ever. I fucking love it and it can't be taken away.

I know I have an edge like Vegas.

When I have a massive roll and bet 10k it will be awesome!

Io I think right, I have lost a load of money. I'll play 1/2 and I win $160 in a couple of hours???

Poker is mental!

Rant 2

Arrrgh. Just had a retard session. The final straw was a guy hitting his customary 5 outer on the river. I had KK and capped it. The dick with A2 hits a 2 on the flop and then dogs 3 bets on the flop and hits his 2 on the river. 7 small bets in pre flop and on the flop with a2 then bottom pair and he still gets there. It has fucking happened all day. One twat had ak I have aa cap flop and turn with a king high board, you guessed it he spiked the king on the river to 2 out me.

When do i get to fucking win?

At least I can pick the tennis winners at the mo. Going well so far am $150 ahead from tennis betting so far.

When you run bad you start to wonder weather to pay off even though you know you should.

Hand AK board 275 A I have raised pf in early BB calls I c bet he calls then donks the A turn i raise the pot and he calls. River Q. He checks I bet 1/2 pot he pushes.
I threw up a bit, called then left the table when he showed me AQ. Another wank 2 outer.

If i bet a horse tomorrow at 22-1 it just will not come in. I'd have to bet 22-1 shots 1 a week for just under 6 months to see one come in and the fuckers just hit them all day for fun.

Rant over.... off to bed.

So I know that I have an edge in poker - now I am trying to get an edge in Sportsbetting.

Tennis betting to be precise. I had a crack at it about 2 years ago betting the whole season. I bet over $4000 losing just $50 in the process.

My belief is that my handicapping skills are not too shabby however my flat staking was incorrect. I will now attempt to win at sports betting using a layered handicapping system where the more sure I am of a bet the more I wager.

Over Wimbledon and the Grasscourt season this worked well and I am tidily in profit so I will now hit the other 11 months of the tennis year and see how I go.

I realize that my edge is small but hopefully I can have a winning year.

I will of course be bonus whoring the sportsbooks and possibly arbing the bets on Betfair to lock in a profit. Wish me luck!

Well of course now that I have moved up i'm running like shit! Ho well that's poker!

$3/6 Here we come

Okay my roll has now hit $1800. Time for $3/6 limit. I know I win all the way up to $5/10 so won't be a problem. I will give myself some leeway and move back down again if I have a poor session. Also because i have decided i play $3/6 doesn't preclude me from playing at lower limits. I always select the best game. A $2/4 game with 45% VPIP is way better that a 25% 3/6 game.

Next stop $2400 and $4/8!

My plan is not to cash out this time and have a wad of a roll ready for when I retire. I have decided that going pro is out of the question and I will just remain a profitable amateur until I retire. Gambling will then be a supplementary form of income for me then on top of my pension.

I don't retire until 2027 so I have a bit of time left. A 50k roll should do the trick!

My career winnings are $15k so far so I should be able to hit my goal by 2027 if the internet is still there!

As well as poker I'm looking to sports bet more seriously. I have been betting Wimbledon and am significantly ahead. I will bet the rest of the tennis season and look to see if I can make a profit in the coming year.
It's hard not to tilt as sportsbetting though. Even a good selection in which you have invested time and effort can look a bit tilty when you see it from another viewpoint.

There's the plan, now I have to execute.

I think the only thing standing in my way is if the Mrs and I have kids. That will seriously limit the amount of poker I can play.

Winning!

I am currently enjoying a nice streak. I have run my Littlewoods account up to over $1k and I still have about another $500 sitting around in other accounts, once I hit $1800 I will play 3/6!

I'm also betting the tennis to see how I go and have pleasantly surprised myself. I've only lost 2 bets out of about 10 so I'm now freerolling the rest of Wimbledon!

As with everything I have a system and I go on the tennis forums to gain that extra info.

All's good at the mo!

Retards!

Okay I've made a bit of a recovery but should have won sooo much more, the retards calling down with every gutshot or runner runner draw possible keep getting there. The good news is that there is nobody on the site playing at my limit as good as me. The bad news is the same. They are all retarded but the games are good. I hope to clear this bonus then move in to the next skin. Should be okay but it's early doors.

Another bright idea!

So I decide to play at Littlewoods Poker, same skin as Pacific. Basically a limit player's dream or so it seems....

I'm now on a 150bb+ downswing again!

Cant win any hand even if I hit my hand I get creamed I have no chance. I mean if I have top pair they have an over pair , if I have sa srt8 flush draw i don't hit, if i have a flush they have a full house if i fold they hacve a worse hand and if i call their hand is better. Typical limit shit. I'll just have to waity until it's over but I'm doubting my abilities again.

Better watch some more Deuces cracked tomorrow and go to the gym.

Hands against my brother

Well god knows not to play cards with family but here we go.

Now my brother and I are good friends, however the following sequence plus a few added crunches makes this mad.

3 handed home game 2 gbp buyin no rebuys no addons.

Ahh so my I'm playing with Andy who I categorize as loose aggressive. He will basically call until the turn or river with any 2 cards and if he sniffs weakness will try to take you off your hand. My brother is more or less TAP he will limp big hands pre flop then if he hits will bet big on the following streets trying to suck you in. he also talks a good game and will try to manipulate especially a call through verbals. He likes to pretend that he doesn't understand the game when he has a sound grasp of it.
Tough game by anybody's standards. Plus my brother has a pregnant wife, he has a 2 year old already and he wants my mum to move to a very expensive part of town to help look after his kids, which she can't afford. I have offered to front my mum some cash so that she can afford to live in this expensive area. This does not appear to have gone down well with my brother as he can't afford to make the same offer and his work is not going too good.

Okay so 2 hands pass by and I limp in the sb against my brother with k6d knowing that a raise is unlikely and that I will see a flop oop but with the superior hand the majority of the time. he calls and the flop comes K58 rainbow I donk bet he calls. I know that he is fairly tight post flop and will only put chips in on a sound basis but I think I'm still ahead. I donk bet knowing he will perceive this as a bluff. He calls. Turn is a 7 putting the str8 on the board but giving me the tp pr and str8 draw combo. I 'm happy so I bet he calls. He now more than likely has a hand but it's hard to gauge the exact strength. The river is a 3 and he checks. I check and he pushes all in. I believe he knows I have a king and he has still bets all in time to exit and i fold my king face up. He says wise man and mucks. Then a second hand ensues where I my brother limps utg sb folds and I check with 84o in the bb. Flop 856 rainbow. I check he bets. I call. Turn K. I check he checks. River he bets 6/10 of the pot. I, after some deliberation and trash talk from my brother call to be shown q8 to beat my 84.

Then I fold on the button my brother limps in the sb and Andy checks. Now im out of the hand and dealing. The flop is a K82 rainbow and a bet comes from my brother followed by a call. Turn is an offsuit 8 again bet call. River 2 my brother checks and Andy moves in. Andy has already been caught with his hand in the cookie jar this evening and could be at it again.

Well now the battle of nerves ensues. I'm sure they are both strong, Ady, my brother, puts chips in the pot and then withdraws them. I call foul stating that he had called by putting his chips in the middle. An argument ensued in which, rightly,I told my brother he had called by putting his chips in the middle. he refused to honour the bet, I explained the string bet rule to no avail and my brother was allowed to fold with no penalty. I knew he had a read off Andy from putting his chips in the middle.

I few hands later Andy coughed to having trip kings. I told my brother that he knew what Andy had and that he gained an unfair advantage. He swore on his sons life that he hadn't and I said he had! Now because I had opposed his son's life in a a matter of opinion I was suddenly the bad guy and my brother threatened to smash my face in. I'm used to violence and was unfased by this however my brother wouldn't let it lie. I admitted that he might not have known for sure that Andy had trip kings but I maintained that he had gained an unfair advantage by his actions. Well this set the touch paper once and for all,. I had disrespected his son's life and I was in the wrong. Andy offered the 2 pounds back all round and I left the arena to go home to my wife.

Now my brother and I don't appear to be friends, all through a couple of hands of poker! I quite like a bit of conflict and a bit of mind games over the table and for me all's fair in love and war but this went a bridge too far.

I think my brother is jealous because i offered my mum some financial assistance over the house, to my mum, but I didn't realize the reaction I was going to get.

Pretty hardcore, I'll let you know how it pans out but I haven't had a fallout like that with my brother since I was 16.(20 years ago).

5th in an MTT.

Have just come 5/85 in a $15 MTT with 85 runners. Only got $35 but it's nice that my MTT game is in good shape. I feel confident about my MTTs and am cashing consistently, probably about 1 in 3 at the moment. My MTT game has certainly held me up recently.
I feel I'm a good limit cash player but the variance there is high. I even read an article by Carl Sampsom that he has given up playing limit due to the swings. I won't be giving up limit but it is swingy.
My NL cash game comes in a poor third. I just don't get what to do with your top pair type hands. It seems every time i hit top pr at the moment somebody goes in over the top of me leaving me with the sort of decision like do I want to call off all of my chips here with a pair of tens, especially when there is a streight or flush out there. The fishies will also call pot sized bets on the turn with the flush draw then bet the pot on the river when it hits. It's just so hard to fold the top pair/overpair hands when that happens, they don't even value bet to give you the odds to call they just barrel a big bet out there, and they always hit. I haven't caught a bluff in ages.
I still don't truly understand the value of my hand in NL. In limit it's easy, you just call down with top pair unless you have compelling evidence you are beaten. In NL it's hazy especially when players will draw to odd hands without the proper odds or just hit a set every time you are in with them.
I know I'm not running that good but I find it hard to get away from my hand.

Just giving the nod to my favourite TV shows....

Which are of course Lost, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and Ashes to Ashes.
Looks like Lost, Heores and Battlestar have just finished so I'm going to have to watch The Unit and Fringe which come a poor second to the above...

2 outer

I get it. So I've run okay for a couple of weeks, so now I have to run like shit again.

I just got 2 outered by some fish limping under the gun with 22. he called all the way to the river with 4 overcards on board and hit his set on the river.

I HATE them! When do i ever get to hit a 22-1 shot? Never that's when.

Now the same dude capped a flush draw into my full house and sucked out again hitting another 2 outer runner runner to split.

I'm not even mad it just stuns me to see a guy hit a 50/1 double hitter and I can't even win with AA.

Paypal Rant!

Arrrrrrrrrgh!

I'm a tad upset. I verified my paypal account thinking that all would remain as it was. Noooo, they had decided that they would then take money directly out of my bank account. Now that particular account has no money in it, although I have a few quid in my other accounts with the same bank.
So my bank sent me a letter that paypal did not get their money and that my bank were going to charge me.
So I rang my bank and they saiid that i have made a direct debit with paypal and that they were going to charge me 38 quid for thier trouble.

Well the baloon went up for a minute there I went mad a paypal, mad at my bank and threatened to take all of my money out.

I then rang my bank back and another lady answered and she was most helpful and told me that it had all been a big mistake.

So all's well that ends well but i went off one one for a minute.

I daren't play poker as i'm now tilted.

On the plus side my roll is now $1500, i'm on my way and crushing 50NL so far.

Now I won a MTT!

So having run like poo for months I suddenly can't lose! I just won a baby MTT! Okay only $100 but it all counts!

And I won $30 in the $50 NL cashgame I was playing at the same time! Yippee!

50NL coming up.

Okay from being unable to win a tin of beans in a tombola I have suddenly grown my roll to over $1200. I've taken over $300 out of 1/2 limit games in the past couple of days. Weird game!

Here's where it get's tricky.

I now have enough for 50NL. So I guess we play that now however the site I'm on doesn't have any 2/4 limit so I'll have to stick to 1/2 until my roll hits about $2.5k when I'll play 4/8.

I have to say I crush 25 NL currently for about 19bb/100 although over a small sample so i won't lose at 50.

I have to say I got into trouble last time playing 50nl/2/4 limit and went on my bad run but I now know it was mostly to do with running like poo and showing down too light.

I'm gonna rest up now and hit the 50s in the morning. Wish me luck.

Result!

Just took $100 out of a limit game. This puts my roll above $1k. I'm back!

So how's it going?

Okay bit of a 4 month review.

Poker. Progerss has been made. Having gone down from $1k to $400 now back to nearly $900 I'm fairly happy. I have control of my NL game but can't win at limit at all! I basically know what I'm doing at poker but it takes a lot of hands to build a decent bankroll. I just don't play enough hands/tables/hours. Overplaying is counterproductve so I'm happy but I'd just like to have a bigger roll and play higher. I would love to get back to a 10k roll which is where I feel I belong. I have to say that the competition is much tougher these days and even the fish who play too many hands have a firm grasp on post flop play.

Golf. Okay I can now scrape round the course in less than 100. I went round in 99 today and 92 last week so my golf is improving steadily however I was a better player about 4 years ago. I struggle with motivation at golf because I know I'll never be very good at it. I am not a big hitter and I struggle with this. If i can just get a little more consistent then all will be good. In all I'm pleased with my golf and it gets me out of the house which is a major bonus.

Career. Well I passed the promotion interview so that is a big positive however I'm still not promoted yet, I'm waiting for a position. At least I'm heading in the right direction there.

Relationship. Wife seems fairly happy, so long as I take her out every now and then and promise to take her on holiday towards the end of the year she'll stick around! We're happy together. We would like to spend more time together but work kind of gets in the way.

Issues: The only thing bugging me at the moment is that my internet connection has gone really crap for no reason. It has suddenly gone really slow and keeps disconnecting me, which really is shit for poker/xbox.
I've rang Netgear who were helpful but they haven't fixed my problem. AOL have the customer service of dead animals. I'd take my business elsewhere but they seem to be the only providers who connect here so i guess I'm stuck. I'd love the virgin package but they haven't dug up the footpaths in my area so i can't get it.
Oh and i'm fat and don't go to the gym enough.

If my only problems are middle aged spread and poor internet connection then I can't really complain.

My goals are to hit a $3k bankroll, get a sub 90 round in at golf and see my promotion through at work. Fairly achievable stuff by the end of the year!

And Ali...

And Tricia.....

The nod goes to Katie!

Katie How You doin?

Just wanted to give Jordan the official thumbs up.

Breakthrough!

I have just finished the Bodog 2k Guaranteed Super Stack tourney and came 2nd!
Tremendous effort. Okay I was ahead in the tourney and got the last guy all in heads up AKo vs T6s for his whole stack and got rivered with a ten but all is good.
124 entrants and I came second. I'm back with avengance,. This has about doubled my bankroll and I can continue with my poker career.
I knew to have faith. I was about to quit and go on a gym binge. Goddammit!
I am the master yippeee!!!!

I'm going to have to quit poker. I just can't win and the fish are eating me up.
I really need to go to the gym and leave poker behind. it's a horrible cruel game and nobody should have to suffer it.
My latest shocker came from having been 2nd in chips in a $1 MTT. I had QQ and raised an UTG limper. I jacked it up loads and he calls. Effective stacks are now 4000. The flop comes 9tx and he shoves 4k into a 2k pot???
I call and he has luckboxed a set.
That left me with about 2 k and that was that. Jammy bastard. I can't even win a $1 MTT. I can't see how I can fold but hey when you run bad you run bad.
I will be broke soon. My cash graph on BOSS looks like an inverted pudding basin. Sharp rise, plateau, then a sharp drop!
Maybe i have addiction issues and I can't quit. I wont bust my self or harm myself in the real world financially. I have examined my play and I play okay, I'm just bloody unlucky at the moment.
I feel I need a break from poker as I'm running like shit and I need to go to the gym and get some fitness going, play more golf and all that.
I just feel like I have the world's supply of poker knowledge but no luck and no skill. Bit of a waste really.....

I suck

Okay I cannot get round a golf course in less than 100 shots, I play poker like a muppett having taken 6 months to win just $300 and I'm a fat bastard.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy in my life but the tings I love I suck at.
Maybe I'll run good, maybe I'll have another good golf day and maybe I'll get free liposuction, but i doubt it!

As Ever....

So as ever I run like poo. Had a decent day yesterday winning about $100 but I've lost it all today.

I had a bad session on the cash tables, to cap my day some dude called my reraise with AJo. I mean i have AQo 5 handed. Utg raises, co calls and I raise to a hefty ammount basically putting the UTG player all in. He calls and then hits his jack on the flop to cost me a few more dollars. The fucking idiots have been calling me with shit all day and winning. One guy called an all in raise by me with K8o and beat my AK. The stupid fucks always win at poker. I mean if i bet on a horse at 10-1 it ain't gonna win, in poker I see gutshots come in every day.
At that point I decide to give up, however I think i know what, I'll play a tournament. So I register, second hand get AA. Utg min raises and I jack it up again. All the money goes in on the flop and he has hit his set, bye bye.
Poker is a stupid game.

Oh well Betfair gave me a $5 free bet so I put it on Cabrera to win the Masters yesterday so I got about 3-1. it's made me a couple of dollars so it's not all bad.

I think I'm a couple of dollars ahead this week but if the odds went my way it would be so much more.

2 Weeks in Goa!

Have just come back from a 2 week holiday in Goa, India.

Fabulous place. Bloody hot though. Was 38 degrees in the day and about 25 at night! I would recommend it but you can't just go last minute. You need a visa to go to India, you can't just get off the plane and get in, noooo! There's a process where you need to send your passports off with 35 pounds to the Visa company. They then reject your visa for some minor infringement then you have to go to the office who won't process the visa fast enough for you to be able to go. You then go to the consulate to get help, which they do and visa you get, but a lot of hassle and worry!
If you want to go get the visa sorted well in advance!

Once I got there then very nice! Lovely hotel, staff can't do enough for you and plenty to do. The Mrs and I went to see waterfalls, the local cathedrals and swam with and rode on elephants! Tremendous experience.

Oh and I read 3 poker books whilst relaxing by the pool: Every hand revealed by Gus Hansen, An FBI Agent guide to deciphering poker tells by Joe Nevaro and Heads up No Limit Holdem by Colin Mosham. All excellent books.

Okay back to the grind, poker and work. Played a swift session on Boss today, won 11 euros so all good!

COD4 Gets the nod!

I just wanted to say how good COD4 is. Fabulous game. I'm very bad at it but it's all good fun!

Okay I won back all of the money I lost yesterday. Ha Ha!
Now I'm going to make myself go to the gym!

Another Horror Show

Another horror rant.

I guess I'll be broke soon and that will be that. I now have poker tracker 3, a dual core PC, 250k hands, read over 30 poker books, have won 11k and cannot currently beat 1/2 limit cash.

Being broke will be fun. I might even go to the gym.

High Altitude Low Opening

Halo is the way forward, instead of the fish taking your money you can shoot them in the head with a battle rifle, outstanding!

I dunno, maybe I just play like shit. Maybe I would beat tougher games by more. Who knows. Last month I had $700 on Bodog, now I have $326.
I'm just getting my ass handed to me by 50/1 idiots, maybe I just play like a bafoon, I have no fucking idea.
Today's fun hand or one of them goes something like this, I have 99 in the big blind, 4 limpers and I check, there is a thin value raise in there however when they will all call and you face 4 overcards and all the backdoor draws that they will call with post flop I'm better off checking.
So the flop comes KTx. I check and the field checks, turn is an 8, I check the field checks, river is a 3. I think well nobody bet the flop or turn therefore my 99 must be good, so I bet, the cutoff calls showing 83s and I lose the pot.
This is the story of the last week or so. An argument could be made for me no longer having the bankroll to play 1/2 as I only have $630.
Once my PKR cashout comes through I'm going to go to Boss Media and get a bonus with 30% RB. A month on there and about 10k hands should get me some RB money so I won't have to run good to make money.
I ask myself, did I play the hand okay? Can I just give up my A9o on a J8x rainbow flop with 3 to the flop? Do I have to cbet? I seem to cbet here, always get floated then I have to decide on the turn, which I will always miss what to do now. It's madness.
This is my conclusion, I'm good at poker, I've put a lot of time and effort into becoming good, but when I won big I was bloody lucky. I think we can convince ourselves that we are skillful but at the end of the day when you buy a scratch card and you scratch off the winner you need 3 things, 1 the money to purchase the card, 2 a coin to scratch the layer off with and 3 a working apendage with which to hold the coin. That is the sum of the skill required. Poker is the same.
Okay XBox time I think, I'll only get an american kid taking the piss out of me for being a crap shot though but at least won't cost me $400.

So I decide that I'm going to get free Pokertracker 3 so I go to my local affiliate and sign up to devilfish poker. If I get 200 Devilfish points I can have PT3 for free. So I dutifully download devilfish poker and start playing in the 1/2 games.
50bb losing streak straight away. It pisses me off so much. I just got my overpair cracked by 63o in a raised pot! Sooo sick I just get outdrawn every time!
I only need 40 or so points now so I'll keep going but the Devilfish and his mates will not be getting another visit!

I'm quiting NL for a while.
I just have to admit that I'm a limit player. My main reason is that I've used 25NL to build my bankroll but now that I can play 1/2limit the RB and bonus whoring is just so much better with Limit. All you have to do is just break even and you will win courtesy of the RB etc. In NL RB is hardly even a factor. Playing 1 month of 25NL with 30% RB I got the princley sum of $30. I would make 5-10 times that playing limit. Granted I did beat the games for over 10bb/100 but at 25NL the money just isn't there.
I'm going to try to claw my way up to $5/10 Limit and stay there raking in the RB.
The other thing is that I'm not that good at NL. The move up to 50NL is tough. The players are better and the skill gap is more pronounced compared to limit. You move up say from .50/1 to 1/2 at limit you won't notice much of a difference. In NL certainly all the complete muppetts get filtered out leaving you to fathom if your set is good against a 4 card str8. No profit there!
Leave it with me, I'm getting there but progress is slow.
I have to admit that I must have been lucky when I made my first $10k I'm struggling to keep up to $1k at the mo but I'll run good and all will change.

I now what those 2+2ers are on about when they go on about 100k hand break even streaks. Just every time I have AK I miss the flop get 4 callers and have to fold. When I have 99 i get 4 callers and the flop is QJA and I have to give up and this is repeated hu. Hu I have kk i raise they fold if I raise Q6o they 3 bet me! Every time no fail.yabe i'm just shit these days but I keep seeing them turn over the winning 73s and thinking that I must have got my money in good at least 3 times in the hand. I therefore conclude that should I run even close to good I will make a lot of money. My patience is being tested though.

I'm like a bloody yoyo at the moment, it's really annoying. Just had a shit session and I have had to quit about $150 down. I played yesterday, withing 15 minutes I was about $100 down then battled back over 4 hours to get my money back plus a bit of spending money.
Today I again go $100 down but decide to keep a little NL table going. Playing a pot in position against a guy with AA vs my top pair who had been callng raises with nothing and had been calling all in on draws. then when I shove on him has the overpair.
*******ker!
I'm pissed off now, teddys are out of the pram and I've stopped playing.
maybe one day i'll run good again. All I want to do is play $5/10 limit again so I can make some money on the RB but it's taking forever to grind my way out of the microstakes games.
Deep breath, cook for Mrs on valentine's day, drink wine chill out!

I have a Star Wars Collection.....

http://threads.rebelscum.com/showflat.php?Cat=5&Number=3612311&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=93&fpart=&vc=1

Arrgh!

I dunno, having another one of those poo sessions where you cant win and people go runner runner all day. Limit poker is a bit mad though. I need to get to the gym and I need to win this money back I'm stuck. the games are pretty good but i"m over 25 bbs down. I could do with a sharp upturn.
Maybe I should play NL again, that was easy. Just keep chipping away and then get all in when you think you have the best of it or your opponent will fold.
PS I quite like the image but it has nothing to do with the post!

Rant!

Okay. I'm running like poo again. I've just had a couple or 5 bad sessions but it does pee you off a bit when the doomer to your left just calls everything and then hits his set/flush/srt8 all day long and you end up doing a couple of hundred just by playing how you should.
I have joined training site Deuces Cracked and am busy downloading their content whilst it's free.
Now my promotion at work is out of the way it's time to dedicate to poker again. I just hope that i can run good and get some more coin.
I want $3k so I can play $4/8 and $5/10, the sooner the better.

Promoted at Last!

Well I have been promoted at work! The boss rang me today after facing a grueling interview earlier in the week and he told me that I have got the job! All +ev in poker speak. of course this means a ton of extra responsibility and a tiny amount of money added but all is good!

Me Has A Grand!

Yippee! Bodog have splashed a nice bonus my way tipping my bankroll over the $1000 mark!
I'm back and on the comeback trail having started with just $200 and virtually no NL cash experience .
I have to say that my impression is that I am a good limit player but my NL cash still needs work. I just still have trouble folding as the ethos of limit play is not to get bluffed out of a pot if you have a showdownable hand. In NL you just have to make more folds with TPTK type hands.
Luckily I pick games where the opposition are way more stupid than I am so I will turn a profit anyway!
I will now have a crack at $50 NL.
My next milestones are $1200 for $2/4 limit and $2500 for $100 NL.

Bodog Madness

Okay so i hit the limit tables again on Bodog. I'm making adjustments again to play with the low stakes players. I made a killing last night but tonight I've hit the usual run of them having aces when I have kings, getting rivered in every big pot and having the fish make 2 pair on me with hands like 43.
I've had to take a break. The variance is mad on that site, don't get me wrong I've made a lot of money there but you can forget hand reading.
An example, i hild QJo in the BB, button raises, sbcalls, I call flop comes QJ4, i cr the flop and the button ans sb both call, the turn is a ten, fearing an AK i check the button bets sb raises and I think and fold. Anyway the sd arrives and the button shows TT and the sb mucks. What can i do? it just went like that all night where no board was playable for my hand, I have 88 flop comes KTQ I have to fold knowing that the will call me to the river with a gutshot.
Oh bless them! Anyway up to tonight I have been running good and am getting closer to the $1K barrier!

Okay, I am now a winning Limit Holdem Cash Player, winning NL cash Player, winning MTT player and winning Sng player.

I rate my skils as Limit Cash, MTT, NL cash, Sng in that order.

My NL cash is good to beat 25nl and I'm sure once I have the roll to play 50NL I will win but I think making the transition between limit and NL is proving mentally tough. The problem is that I have look at the board still as a limit player and put their range as a limit player would. In reality playing NL cash their ranges are much tighter.

I'm strong at contesting small pots and that's what keeps me afloat. i think I'm good when all my stack is not at stake as i can read the board better than NL players and understand the board in comparision with ranges and know where to pick up pots.

When my stack is at risk it becomes trickier.

An example from a cash game yeaterday. 25NL I raise UTG with AA folded to BB who calls. Flop T56 rainbow I bet out 2/3 pot and opponent raises. In my mind I knew he had a set, he just had to but I couldnt get away from it. I mean on that board what else could he have? He's not raising that flop with AT or a straight draw on that flop! He's got me beat.
Now you can look at his range and say well he's unknown he could have AT or the str8 draw or pocket jacks, I knew he had the set I call and lose my stack.
In limit you just cap the flop and then call down if he raises the turn only risking 3bb to get to showdown.
I do read the board but as is always my problem, I read the board, look at the betting put them on a hand and still call anyway beacuse I may be wrong and limit players don't fold!
Maybe I'm just being too hard on myself, I like to win at everything!

Anyway time to get my brother round and hand him his weekly ass kicking at xbox!

Oh and my BR is approaching the $800 mark so may be able to move up to 50nl soon but making a killing at limit and winning $160 at an MTT feels like cheating!

So I have kicked ass at limit today. I just won $150 today playing 1/2 limit. I just played my normal game and ran good for a change. Fantastic!

I have to play xbox now. In fact I might even go up the golf driving range. Down 3 buyins in 2 hrs. I bluffed off one when I tried to push a guy off aces with nothing after he ccd all 3 streets, it looked like a busted draw so I shoved on him, very sily. Then another guy limps HU wth AJ, flop comes ace high, turn comes another ace and I do my stack. I hate it when I play a hand badly which I did with the bluff hand, I mean even if i wanted to take him off the hand he can't call a min raise with a busted draw so why go all in. Stupid. I won't do that again. Then the guy limping hu with aj. I had another one limp HU with aks luckily i only had 2nd pr so I got away there.
I played badly, the fish got me and I have to go and play golf in the cold as punishment.

Well I feel like a gladiator today. I have won all of the money back i lost on Bodog so i'm back with a servicable roll on there and I'm still there or there abouts on PKR. I have run my roll back up to $700 where we started before I had a downturn. I think i'll keep it this time as I have become a much better NL player and it's showing in my results. I may have to stay away from limit for a bit. I keep sitting in that game on bodog and getting killed by the madfish. I just don't konw what hand to put them on.
So my roll has been run up from $200 to $700 now. I'm eyeing the $1000 milestone then we move up. Well exiting.
That's the thing about poker.I could run good and be there in 2 weeks or I could run like poo and still be at the same level in 3 months!

Moving in to my rants over the past two days I have hasd the following hands! AAvAA KKvKK and AAvAA. I split the pots so I am doing better than before but when you get it in with these hands you expect to turn a profit not just pay rake on your returned pot!

Still it's better than getting killed with them. Now for the running good bit!

Well I have doubled up on PKR. It's always a nice feeling to have double the money you started with on a site so many positives there. My NL game is coming on nicely and I have to say that lowstakes NL is just so much easier to beat than limit. The limit guys just call you to the river with any 2 and you have to hit to win. It can be soul destroying to get dealt hands like AK,AQ etc and not hit and the fish take your dosh with 85o havinfg hit on the turn.
I am getting killed at limit at the moment although it is a swingy game, people talk about NL being swingy, I know I have less than 25k hands, at NL, but if you get your chips in the middle good then you're not going to get outdrawn all that often and over time you will be a big winner. In limit your AA can be up against as many as 4 different players all taking shots to get to the river and draw out. Those pots get big too and I can easily see $25-50 swings on 1 hand, a few and you're looking at a chunk of your roll.
That's the downside, I have lost over $150 on Bodog, there is some $1/2 limit action on there but I'm running terribly so this has stunted my bankroll growth. I hope I don't go bust on the site but I guess it's beyond my control.
I will also be interested to see how much rakeback I've earned from PKR. Their rake payday is on the 10th of each month so I will be interested to see how much they give me. I'll bet it's only $5 or something silly like that, still every little helps.
Oh and I just had a crack at 50NL. I bought in for $35 and crushed the game leaving with $70 so very nice. I'll try not to sniff $50 NL again for a while as if I lost a cople of buyins it would crush me(bankroll wise I mean).

Happy New Year

Well Christmas and the New Year are now out of the way. Has been nice and I have played a bit over the festive period.

I am still running like poo, okay my bankroll is not in danger but I have lost 6 times on the trot with AA or KK. Each time I have got my money in good only to be outdrawn. The latest one a guy cold calling my raise with Q6s got lucky.

This is happening in both limit and NL and I rekon it has swung me down nearly $200. I haven't lost that much money but I'm not winning either. The rest of my game is okay, just the AA/KK thing.

I can't wait to run good but i guess I'll have to weather the storm. it's just such a shame I couldn't have run good over Christmas as the fish are at their prime, hopefully they will stick around.

I feel shit waiting to run good but that's what it will take for me to move up in stakes.