Ok, so I don't know how to use iphones properly yet! :-( here is the post intended to accompany the last post!
Apparently I don't know how to copy and paste into blogger from hotmail so I am writing it again..ffs!
Obv have to say wp to keys first of all who destroyed another live tournament, quite a nice name and story to drop into other conversations, and I loved showing off the receipt from the two bottles of Dom Perignon we enjoyed to anybody within 10 metres!! Congrats mate. (If you ever want some heads up lessons I can lend a hand ;-) )...quite funny really how balla the time in Estonia would have been if I wasn't "scared", but the butterfly effect might have meant Keys didn't cash so I don't suppose I was missed! Could be tempted if I'm invited to the PCA!
On a personal level I just completed my first month as a poker pro and it was a huge learning curve! Of course, as always, there is a direct correlation between winning and enjoyment, but touch wood I have been a lot better at handling swings recently and though the start of the month was tricky things have picked up since! I now rarely get joined by regs so have easier games as a result, and I think I'm earning the resepct of other heades up pros! I have had a few requests to pair up with people in 4mans, one of which I accepted in Padgenuts, a big heads up winner and person who has a similar feel for the game style rather than mainly mathematical which has been succesful. We have only had one session at the 4mans but started on fire, winning 6-0 but then both ran so so bad to lose the last two and called it a day! This has good promise I hope and I might hit supernova which is 41k fpps away! I hope to pair up with a reg in the daytimes as well to mix in 4mans with heads ups.
The first month was tough to start with but I managed to pull in £3k which I'm pleased about...that was helped by shipping $1075 in Sunday Million sats from the fpps I've earnt...I hope that can be a good rakeback from the FPP's I make on the way to supernova. I look forward to increasing my poker associate base and making friends with Americans always has value in terms of greater access to Vegas!
The one good thing about this long post is that all my posts are like this but I now blog less regularly you only have to disregard it once or twice a month!
Cheers lads,
poker147star (my aim name!)
Monday, 9 November 2009
Friday, 6 November 2009
Thursday, 15 October 2009
yo yo, yo yo, it's off to work I go...
Evening troops, I have "officially" taken the step of calling myself a professional poker player, and it has been a tricky learning curve so far! I have been joining the tables first and had to contest with quite a few regs joining me initially making the transition pretty tough, but the more I played I started getting more offers for chops which helped. I now pretty much play exclusively $115's and it has been testing but rewarding...if I can avoid hero call mode I can hope to make a nice amount at this game, so I'm working on that. I think I'll get TournamentManager or some other type of software on my desktop when that's set up to help regulate how I'm doing and work on flaws.
Overall, it's going ok but really swingy...last Sunday was a prime example, where I was 4-tabling the $115s and running like God with the quality of the opposition but kept getting raped by the deck...I have had a few $1k swings which is tough to deal with and am currently a little bit under $3k up since my pro status became facebook official (the benchmark of everything!) which I think is a good start but definitely subject to change for the worse given the nature of the beast!
I have been keeping my volume fairly high and hope to be building a nice base of FPPs to work off at some point for a reasonable return...I might give the 4man 3600FPPs hu shootouts to the Sunday Million a go as I think that would work to my strengths, and to be honest my ROI at the heads ups' has been mediocre but a different class at the 4mans...they are so much softer it's ridiculous.
I am making plans with regs to pair up to crush the 4mans, and hopefully this will guarantee a steady profit whilst I can make other money on the side playing several tables.
Whilst poker is good, life is fairly tough tbh...daytimes are pretty lonely and every fucker is "working", which means I haven't got much to do...I have planned trips to keep myself occupied and have joined a golf club which gives me something to do in the day, but without Louise and friends I'm lost a lot of the time as I like to keep busy. Hopefully I'll work something out on that front!
So, life is fairly dull but the grind is on so I'll keep anybody who is interested posted.
.gp_7827 (work this one out!)
Overall, it's going ok but really swingy...last Sunday was a prime example, where I was 4-tabling the $115s and running like God with the quality of the opposition but kept getting raped by the deck...I have had a few $1k swings which is tough to deal with and am currently a little bit under $3k up since my pro status became facebook official (the benchmark of everything!) which I think is a good start but definitely subject to change for the worse given the nature of the beast!
I have been keeping my volume fairly high and hope to be building a nice base of FPPs to work off at some point for a reasonable return...I might give the 4man 3600FPPs hu shootouts to the Sunday Million a go as I think that would work to my strengths, and to be honest my ROI at the heads ups' has been mediocre but a different class at the 4mans...they are so much softer it's ridiculous.
I am making plans with regs to pair up to crush the 4mans, and hopefully this will guarantee a steady profit whilst I can make other money on the side playing several tables.
Whilst poker is good, life is fairly tough tbh...daytimes are pretty lonely and every fucker is "working", which means I haven't got much to do...I have planned trips to keep myself occupied and have joined a golf club which gives me something to do in the day, but without Louise and friends I'm lost a lot of the time as I like to keep busy. Hopefully I'll work something out on that front!
So, life is fairly dull but the grind is on so I'll keep anybody who is interested posted.
.gp_7827 (work this one out!)
Saturday, 19 September 2009
The best call of my life!
We went to watch "O" yesterday evening. It was reasonable, some of the acrobatics were amazing but there probably wasn't enough of that and the storyline was confusing! The way the stage moved around was ridic though and the fact that the Bellagio buffet preceded it made the evening a positive one in the end!!
On the poker front, I have played a few tournies and gone fairly deep in all of them, but ran bad at the wrong time with an AQ v AK cooler with 20 left in the Venetian 7PM and limp shoving 210dd v the table aggressor in the blinds only to be met by AK...I didn't hold up and went out the Caesar's 12pm in 9th with 7 getting paid but the cash only making 4figures for 1st place and $170 for 7th.
Cash is going better, and yesterday I made the best call of my life! I got the table drunk on major tilt after smiling when he swore at me for calling a small bet when he had the best hand and then showing him a bluff, so when he shoved his last $150 into a $28 pot, I faced a tough decision with my AQ on a KK2 board...I dwelt for a couple of minutes and called, and he didn't show. My Ace high was good on the river and I shipped a massive pot v his J5....o wait, o no I didn't, some guy said "o he has the K and I embarrassingly muck my cards before noticing just as they hit the muck...fml fml fml fml fml fml what a stupid King Cnut I am...I was definitely on monster tilt!!
Luckily, my story has a happy ending as I rebought and isolated him again making it $40 pre with AK and getting the call for him...the flop was A22, he led $40 and I flatted....and then he shoved the 7 turn and I called and he showed q5 to be drawing dead...thank fuck for that or my day and life would have been ruined...I don't think I will ever make that mistake again...but now it's a good and happy story I can tell people!!
2day we are going to loiter around the MGM for the Mayweather fight and lap up the post-fight value at the tables...either that or get wankered, depending on how we feel. We have learnt craps and now just need to put our knowledge into action...how do you bet again?!
On the poker front, I have played a few tournies and gone fairly deep in all of them, but ran bad at the wrong time with an AQ v AK cooler with 20 left in the Venetian 7PM and limp shoving 210dd v the table aggressor in the blinds only to be met by AK...I didn't hold up and went out the Caesar's 12pm in 9th with 7 getting paid but the cash only making 4figures for 1st place and $170 for 7th.
Cash is going better, and yesterday I made the best call of my life! I got the table drunk on major tilt after smiling when he swore at me for calling a small bet when he had the best hand and then showing him a bluff, so when he shoved his last $150 into a $28 pot, I faced a tough decision with my AQ on a KK2 board...I dwelt for a couple of minutes and called, and he didn't show. My Ace high was good on the river and I shipped a massive pot v his J5....o wait, o no I didn't, some guy said "o he has the K and I embarrassingly muck my cards before noticing just as they hit the muck...fml fml fml fml fml fml what a stupid King Cnut I am...I was definitely on monster tilt!!
Luckily, my story has a happy ending as I rebought and isolated him again making it $40 pre with AK and getting the call for him...the flop was A22, he led $40 and I flatted....and then he shoved the 7 turn and I called and he showed q5 to be drawing dead...thank fuck for that or my day and life would have been ruined...I don't think I will ever make that mistake again...but now it's a good and happy story I can tell people!!
2day we are going to loiter around the MGM for the Mayweather fight and lap up the post-fight value at the tables...either that or get wankered, depending on how we feel. We have learnt craps and now just need to put our knowledge into action...how do you bet again?!
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Poker, 'O', Grand Canyon and a change in fortunes!
I've finally stopped dwelling over my $1080 pot!!
I played a $120 tournament in the Venetian the next evening and was very pleased with the depth of the tournament and the quality of the opposition...it was the type of game where it is possible to make plays and get credit but also get value from hands....the sort where you feel like you can control your opposition to some extent and people make a stand by calling instead of re-raising. I busted after the break shoving top pair into a pot-sized donk bet by the big blind that I hated but shoved on and ran in to an overpair. I made around that money back at cash that evening but wasn't playing that well...the first fishy table had led me to make too many bad, gambly calls pre that weren't connecting. I then lost 2 BI at the Bellagio, largely due to having a tough table, missing everything, getting moved on on every one of my bluffs and being shit at cash! I think the fact that I may have had my sunglasses behind my cards showing the reflection of what I had for an hour before I realised what a retard I was contributed to that loss!!
So, $600 down for the trip, no means a bad thing but not what I wanted, I played a little online and won around $300...I decided to go the Venetian cash tables, standardise all my actions, chuck on the shades and make a proper go of it...now I don't know if I gave away a million tells, or if my eyes said exactly what I had, but since then I have been running sick.
I made $450 playing cash, playing solid aggressive poker and that was including checking behind what may have been the second nuts thinking that he had a flush which Isaac informs me wasn't actually out...downside to the sunglasses I guess!!
Then I came 4/97 in the $120 Venetian 7pm, building a stack early after Pteveying it up to 1350 from the SB with 57cc vs a 300 raise and 2 flats (blinds 50/100) and growing some making it 2525 on a QJx board and getting two folds! I kept picking my spots and never really put my stack and risk, and picked up the unwanted chips when I could. The final table arrived before long and I steadily stayed around 10-12-15BB, which was average at the time. With 4 left, talks of a deal had been suggested but I was happy to play on...pay arrangements were
1st $3080
2nd $2k ish
3rd $1.3k ish
4th $737
I then had my "ALL IN MOMEMT", reshoving QQ vs a button raise, chucking out the fake shakes as if I was bluffing and after tanking A7ss made the call...he missed the flop and I felt it was my time, but the A on the turn ended my dreams and left me with a 3-figure cash instead of a 4-figure cash. That was the last hand of the tournie after they constructed a deal but I was still happy with the result and no regrets etc.
So, I was finally up for the trip, and cashing out $960 from $200 in the Caesar's Palace game yesterday boosted them figures....the starting table was dreamville and I had hands which got paid off. So far, I'm up on my spending money and hopefully will maintain a winning game and keep running well which I have done. Dreams of living in Vegas for a few months are growing and I am very tempted, these next few days I'll be making enquiries I think and speaking to regs who live there.
In non-poker terms, and poker has only been in the evenings, we have seen the Grand Canyon which was ridic, spent a fair amount of time in the immense pool area and eaten a few nice buffets and checked out downtown and done the Strat. Some people want to leave Vegas after a short amount of time but I love it, and feel home playing poker every evening. We are seeing "O" in the next few evenings which promises to be quality, and the other lads watched Santana the other evening which they enjoyed. We haven't really gambled yet because we are all rocks, but we are going to the 4-8pm Strat drinkfest and having a punt on craps at some point so it's planned hammered gambling...run good one time!
Today we are going to the ESPN zone in New York New York to watch some 9ball, and on Sat we are hanging around the MGM as Mayweather is fighting there...sandwiched in between we will do some shopping at the outlet centRE and maybe catch the beach volleyball at Mandalay Bay as we all follow that sport religiously! Vegas is sick, our hotel is very nice and the food is meaty...all in all I am really enjoying it and want to be out here again soon and maybe for a longer time...DUPS year in Vegas??
I played a $120 tournament in the Venetian the next evening and was very pleased with the depth of the tournament and the quality of the opposition...it was the type of game where it is possible to make plays and get credit but also get value from hands....the sort where you feel like you can control your opposition to some extent and people make a stand by calling instead of re-raising. I busted after the break shoving top pair into a pot-sized donk bet by the big blind that I hated but shoved on and ran in to an overpair. I made around that money back at cash that evening but wasn't playing that well...the first fishy table had led me to make too many bad, gambly calls pre that weren't connecting. I then lost 2 BI at the Bellagio, largely due to having a tough table, missing everything, getting moved on on every one of my bluffs and being shit at cash! I think the fact that I may have had my sunglasses behind my cards showing the reflection of what I had for an hour before I realised what a retard I was contributed to that loss!!
So, $600 down for the trip, no means a bad thing but not what I wanted, I played a little online and won around $300...I decided to go the Venetian cash tables, standardise all my actions, chuck on the shades and make a proper go of it...now I don't know if I gave away a million tells, or if my eyes said exactly what I had, but since then I have been running sick.
I made $450 playing cash, playing solid aggressive poker and that was including checking behind what may have been the second nuts thinking that he had a flush which Isaac informs me wasn't actually out...downside to the sunglasses I guess!!
Then I came 4/97 in the $120 Venetian 7pm, building a stack early after Pteveying it up to 1350 from the SB with 57cc vs a 300 raise and 2 flats (blinds 50/100) and growing some making it 2525 on a QJx board and getting two folds! I kept picking my spots and never really put my stack and risk, and picked up the unwanted chips when I could. The final table arrived before long and I steadily stayed around 10-12-15BB, which was average at the time. With 4 left, talks of a deal had been suggested but I was happy to play on...pay arrangements were
1st $3080
2nd $2k ish
3rd $1.3k ish
4th $737
I then had my "ALL IN MOMEMT", reshoving QQ vs a button raise, chucking out the fake shakes as if I was bluffing and after tanking A7ss made the call...he missed the flop and I felt it was my time, but the A on the turn ended my dreams and left me with a 3-figure cash instead of a 4-figure cash. That was the last hand of the tournie after they constructed a deal but I was still happy with the result and no regrets etc.
So, I was finally up for the trip, and cashing out $960 from $200 in the Caesar's Palace game yesterday boosted them figures....the starting table was dreamville and I had hands which got paid off. So far, I'm up on my spending money and hopefully will maintain a winning game and keep running well which I have done. Dreams of living in Vegas for a few months are growing and I am very tempted, these next few days I'll be making enquiries I think and speaking to regs who live there.
In non-poker terms, and poker has only been in the evenings, we have seen the Grand Canyon which was ridic, spent a fair amount of time in the immense pool area and eaten a few nice buffets and checked out downtown and done the Strat. Some people want to leave Vegas after a short amount of time but I love it, and feel home playing poker every evening. We are seeing "O" in the next few evenings which promises to be quality, and the other lads watched Santana the other evening which they enjoyed. We haven't really gambled yet because we are all rocks, but we are going to the 4-8pm Strat drinkfest and having a punt on craps at some point so it's planned hammered gambling...run good one time!
Today we are going to the ESPN zone in New York New York to watch some 9ball, and on Sat we are hanging around the MGM as Mayweather is fighting there...sandwiched in between we will do some shopping at the outlet centRE and maybe catch the beach volleyball at Mandalay Bay as we all follow that sport religiously! Vegas is sick, our hotel is very nice and the food is meaty...all in all I am really enjoying it and want to be out here again soon and maybe for a longer time...DUPS year in Vegas??
Saturday, 12 September 2009
> $1000 pot!!
Out in Vegas atm and it's absolutely sick!! The "tip trick" worked, and we have a sick room as a result! The third person we basically haggled with was desperate for our cash..."if you can help us we can help you" was a line that made us all realise we were definitely in! An upgrade to the Palazzo with a strip and pool view was the result and it is so ridiculous...it looks great, especially at night!
The weather has been hot but fairly comfortable as the pool areas are quite spacious, and the food is fit...Outback steak last night was 20oz of pure pleasure! Pokerwise has been really enjoyable...the first night playing $1/$2 I was making plays and running good/faster than usain bolt sprinting from the back to the front on a 100metre long concord in full flight at top speed with minimal wind resistance and a 1470mph tailwind.
Eg 1: - Checking J2 in the big blind, a flop of 235 wasn't too appealing...checked round and the J turn gave me two pair. I bet and when I was re-raised was cautious, though the J on the river helped!! I check raised up to $85 and unfortunately the tightest player I've ever seen (he checked the bottom end of a straight flush in position!!!) just flatted with his 22!!
Eg 2:- Standard Vegas hand...a raise to $12 and 4 callers...I have K4hh in the BB and speculate. Flop K high, I check raise to around $87 against the rock thinking I'd get credit...he flatted and I was ready to shut down. The 4 on the turn kept me interesting and I ended his misery stacking him and was around $500-$600.
Then, some not so run good!! [2-3 hours later...same table]
I had 66 and a stack of around $540. Two limps, I limp with 66...fish who has me covered raises to $20...call call so I join the run...dream flop of J62 and I check raise his $50 up to $127 (pot around $310 when he calls). There was some metagame as I'd shown a big bluff against him two rounds ago so when he called I thought he was fairly light and wanted to suck him in. The turn was an 8 and I fired $147 in to the pot, only for him to insta-shove...horrible hand as he was bad and could have had an overpair, but it felt horrible and I reluctantly called off my last $200....he tables 88 and I lose a $1080ish pot...fml! Avoided tilt and stopped for the night, and since then I lost in a $120 tournie when I played so well until I shoved top pair and met an overpair, and made around $130 in cash to be a BI down which is fine.
Loving it out here, making all sorts of sick plans in my head to live out here for a couple of months, maybe May-June next year...anyone up for a different golf trip this time round?!
$147
The weather has been hot but fairly comfortable as the pool areas are quite spacious, and the food is fit...Outback steak last night was 20oz of pure pleasure! Pokerwise has been really enjoyable...the first night playing $1/$2 I was making plays and running good/faster than usain bolt sprinting from the back to the front on a 100metre long concord in full flight at top speed with minimal wind resistance and a 1470mph tailwind.
Eg 1: - Checking J2 in the big blind, a flop of 235 wasn't too appealing...checked round and the J turn gave me two pair. I bet and when I was re-raised was cautious, though the J on the river helped!! I check raised up to $85 and unfortunately the tightest player I've ever seen (he checked the bottom end of a straight flush in position!!!) just flatted with his 22!!
Eg 2:- Standard Vegas hand...a raise to $12 and 4 callers...I have K4hh in the BB and speculate. Flop K high, I check raise to around $87 against the rock thinking I'd get credit...he flatted and I was ready to shut down. The 4 on the turn kept me interesting and I ended his misery stacking him and was around $500-$600.
Then, some not so run good!! [2-3 hours later...same table]
I had 66 and a stack of around $540. Two limps, I limp with 66...fish who has me covered raises to $20...call call so I join the run...dream flop of J62 and I check raise his $50 up to $127 (pot around $310 when he calls). There was some metagame as I'd shown a big bluff against him two rounds ago so when he called I thought he was fairly light and wanted to suck him in. The turn was an 8 and I fired $147 in to the pot, only for him to insta-shove...horrible hand as he was bad and could have had an overpair, but it felt horrible and I reluctantly called off my last $200....he tables 88 and I lose a $1080ish pot...fml! Avoided tilt and stopped for the night, and since then I lost in a $120 tournie when I played so well until I shoved top pair and met an overpair, and made around $130 in cash to be a BI down which is fine.
Loving it out here, making all sorts of sick plans in my head to live out here for a couple of months, maybe May-June next year...anyone up for a different golf trip this time round?!
$147
Monday, 24 August 2009
1200 FPP = $4,198
For anyone reading my blog they must think I am millions up for the year, but the sad fact is when I'm losing I really can't face talking about it and would rather play, so that's partly the reason why it has been a while and I only really post when I'm winning. I'm not sure whether this should be a reason to stop blogging to avoid looking like a show-off twat (even more than usual!!) but I think for now I will keep writing and I enjoy reading other peoples posts so I can't be all selfish!!
I didn't find much time to play in July, struggling to balance leisure with "work", and probably made just under £1k which isn't enough to justify not working! I was doing really well but went on a downswing, losing a few BI at $115's and a couple more at $230's in quite horrible fashion. I kept it together but after shelling out for Vegas and sorting my room out it was technically a losing month and encouraged me to play more this month, which I have been trying to do!
I had been plugging away at the HU, but unfortunately the rematch feature is temporary unavailable (and has been for the last 2 weeks!) so that's cost me some EV. I mainly find value in the 4mans, and enjoy them despite the tilt when I lose the second round. I was plugging away quite nicely, up around $2.5k for the month, and then I did a Ptevey!!
I spun FPP's up to a big score, first winning a 1200FPP sat into a $55 tournie and finishing 6/2332 to take home just under $4.2k. Again, I'm not sure my final table strategy was that good as it was probably too aggressive, but I guess I played the whole way staying above water playing that way so it's hard to justify a change. I ended up busting after shoving Q5 with 9BB utg and getting called by AJ, only for his A to outdraw my Q on the turn. A couple of keys pots I was on the wrong side of....one monster bluff where I double barrelled and was 97% sure my opponent hit his flush on the river which he did so technically I got rivered!! The other I called an aggro opponent with third pair in a pot I should have avoided. Apart from that I played as I would want to, and was pleased to be so fearless, even if it perhaps was too fearless. Either way, I'm chuffed as with the score, mainly due to a 4week profit drive for Vegas me and Isaac were having with $50 on the line which I should hopefully ship now unless I crumble or he hits a good score.
With another 48kFPP's in the bank, I look forward to another $160k if I can carry on at my current conversion rate...that's not too ridic is it? Ty for everybody who railed, I appreciate it, and now I'm just going to keep grinding until myself, Isaac and Gamble hit the 5-star Venetian Hotel in Vegas for a ridiculous time for the first time in the NHV (Nits Hit Vegas) series!!
147_*
I didn't find much time to play in July, struggling to balance leisure with "work", and probably made just under £1k which isn't enough to justify not working! I was doing really well but went on a downswing, losing a few BI at $115's and a couple more at $230's in quite horrible fashion. I kept it together but after shelling out for Vegas and sorting my room out it was technically a losing month and encouraged me to play more this month, which I have been trying to do!
I had been plugging away at the HU, but unfortunately the rematch feature is temporary unavailable (and has been for the last 2 weeks!) so that's cost me some EV. I mainly find value in the 4mans, and enjoy them despite the tilt when I lose the second round. I was plugging away quite nicely, up around $2.5k for the month, and then I did a Ptevey!!
I spun FPP's up to a big score, first winning a 1200FPP sat into a $55 tournie and finishing 6/2332 to take home just under $4.2k. Again, I'm not sure my final table strategy was that good as it was probably too aggressive, but I guess I played the whole way staying above water playing that way so it's hard to justify a change. I ended up busting after shoving Q5 with 9BB utg and getting called by AJ, only for his A to outdraw my Q on the turn. A couple of keys pots I was on the wrong side of....one monster bluff where I double barrelled and was 97% sure my opponent hit his flush on the river which he did so technically I got rivered!! The other I called an aggro opponent with third pair in a pot I should have avoided. Apart from that I played as I would want to, and was pleased to be so fearless, even if it perhaps was too fearless. Either way, I'm chuffed as with the score, mainly due to a 4week profit drive for Vegas me and Isaac were having with $50 on the line which I should hopefully ship now unless I crumble or he hits a good score.
With another 48kFPP's in the bank, I look forward to another $160k if I can carry on at my current conversion rate...that's not too ridic is it? Ty for everybody who railed, I appreciate it, and now I'm just going to keep grinding until myself, Isaac and Gamble hit the 5-star Venetian Hotel in Vegas for a ridiculous time for the first time in the NHV (Nits Hit Vegas) series!!
147_*
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