So I'm really back in the game now, and I've played most days in the last two weeks. Feels pretty uplifting, and I think the break did me no harm, although I'm definitely a bit rusty.
Overall I posted around +$8.5k for June, playing a mix of 1/2, 2/4, 3/6, 5/10 and... 25/50. Most of the profit, $5.6k, came from the 23 hands of 25/50. So wtf am I doing playing 1/2 and 25/50 within a couple of days of one another?
Like a lot of people I often open up the bigger games to see who's playing. Well, I opened up a 25/50 table and saw 3 shortstacks with $1-3k. Within 5 hands I could see that all 3 sucked badly. But I'm not nearly rolled for the game since I withdrew most of my roll. ZOMG a dilemma?!?
In the end I couldn't walk away, so i bought in for $1200 - yes a mighty 24BB. Baller. 3 hands in I open AQ from the button, BB shoves, and I win the flip with TT. Hold'em is easy when you make pairs.
By the 23rd and final hand I was down to 2200 when I pick up QQ first to act. I make it $155 and all 3 players call - sweeet. Now I just need a low flop. I don't get it - but A-Q-9 with two spades isn't bad either.
I bet $444 into about $600. Button shoves for $700. SB shoves for $3100. BB shoves for $1500. wtf? OK boys, I guess I'll gamble with you...
The turn is the A of spades and the river is the 6 of spades. I'm fervently hoping no-one has A9, which isn't unlikely with the action. Buttons turns over A2 of hearts. SB has KJ spades, for the nut flush draw with a gutshot; unlucky. BB has the boat, not with A9, but with 99. Man that guy must have slit his wrists when I showed.
So that hand pretty much made my month. After a few bad days I ended up down more than $3k from peak by the end. Today, first of July, I ran awesomely hot at 3/6 and 2/4 and won $2.8k.
Right now I'm just playing very solid, trying to make good decisions and hardly bluffing at all, since I'm finding that no-one folds these days. I'm not at 100% of my old self yet but I'm certain I can already crush the 3/6 and 5/10 games that I've sat in so far. The future looks good.
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Friday, 4 May 2007
The Christians are back, and this time they're... Muslim?
For as long as I remember, British politics has been silently but single-mindedly secular. No-one has even breathed that religion should influence elections, not the anti-PC brigade, not even the British National Party. And least of all the Church of England, which has been moving away from the whole god gig and focusing on their core competencies; real estate and tea parties.
So, when I turned up to vote yesterday I was amused to see the 'Christian Peoples Alliance' on the regional ballot. Way to miss the last 30 years guys. So who are they?
Well, their most prominent candidate is devout Muslim Abdul Dean.
Dean seems to be a big political hitter in his local area, courted by the Scottish Nationalists among others. The CPA appealed to him, he says, because they put 'values' above 'ideology'.
But what values? Pretty simple; first, 'the family'. For the CPA this means opposing adoption by gay and lesbian couples as well as civil unions, which give equal legal protection to same sex relationships. They're big on education too. But not the kind that provokes awakening minds and prepares people for a working life. Their priority is to prevent homosexuality from being mentioned in sex-education classes.
It seems the god squad don't care much what religion you are, providing you're hating on teh gays.
So Dean wants the Scots to turn back the clock.
Britain suffered centuries of hatred, discrimination, torture and the most barbaric executions imaginable for its religious divides. The religious freedom Dean enjoys came mainly from the ideas and ideals of secular humanists. But, while he might applaud human rights when they benefit him, when they're applied to people he dislikes they become, in his words, 'secular fundamentalism'.
Is there a 'Clash of Civilizations' going on today? Oh yes. But it's not the one George Bush imagines.
So, when I turned up to vote yesterday I was amused to see the 'Christian Peoples Alliance' on the regional ballot. Way to miss the last 30 years guys. So who are they?
Well, their most prominent candidate is devout Muslim Abdul Dean.
Dean seems to be a big political hitter in his local area, courted by the Scottish Nationalists among others. The CPA appealed to him, he says, because they put 'values' above 'ideology'.
But what values? Pretty simple; first, 'the family'. For the CPA this means opposing adoption by gay and lesbian couples as well as civil unions, which give equal legal protection to same sex relationships. They're big on education too. But not the kind that provokes awakening minds and prepares people for a working life. Their priority is to prevent homosexuality from being mentioned in sex-education classes.
It seems the god squad don't care much what religion you are, providing you're hating on teh gays.
So Dean wants the Scots to turn back the clock.
"Scotland should not be ashamed of its Christian roots, as it has produced the open society which we all enjoy today, where people of all faiths or none enjoy liberty."Maybe better history lessons should be an educational priority?
Britain suffered centuries of hatred, discrimination, torture and the most barbaric executions imaginable for its religious divides. The religious freedom Dean enjoys came mainly from the ideas and ideals of secular humanists. But, while he might applaud human rights when they benefit him, when they're applied to people he dislikes they become, in his words, 'secular fundamentalism'.
Is there a 'Clash of Civilizations' going on today? Oh yes. But it's not the one George Bush imagines.
Monday, 23 April 2007
Friday, 20 April 2007
Nice Day
Today I broke out of my poker ennui and fired up Party; after an hour I got hungry and quit, $1600 up. So I decided to come on here and brag, err, I mean share my secrets.
$800 came from one player over 2 hands. Both were at 6-handed $2/$4 No Limit Holdem;
First hand it's folded to his small blind and he raises to $14; he has $400 in total. My jacks look nice so I reraise to $48. He instantly makes it around $150 - I am pretty happy here, since I've never seen anyone react so fast with AA/KK in this situation. He'd have to at least think about trapping. I push all in for the remaining $250 and he tanks briefly then calls.
The board looked pretty dire on the turn showing T87A; I could only beat 99 or something really crazy. Waddya know, he shows 99.
In the second hand he again makes it $14 with $400 behind, this time from the cut-off, and from the button I randomly reraise to $52 with QJ offsuit. I normally muck here but I was feeling playful.
He checks to me on a flop of Q44 with two diamonds. I think a little and just check behind. Usually I would bet for value against JJ or worse, planning to check it down and fold if he calls and leads the river, but intuitively I sense a good spot to induce a bluff.
A Q on the turn gives me the lock and he leads for $88. I call and he instantly goes all in on the river for $276, almost exactly the size of the pot. AJ offsuit no good mate.
From this you would think that we'd been dueling the whole time, but these were virtually the only hands we played together today. We've sat together a fair amount in the past and I've taken quite a bit of money off him, but he's not a fish, in fact he's probably a winning player.
This shows a lot about how the games have evolved. Months ago I would play ultra-aggressive, reraising people constantly and making tons of moves to get this kind of action. But I don't regularly reraise this player with weak hands. I don't bluff him a lot. Now, just by fitting a 'profile' of never limping preflop and betting a lot of flops the good players assume that you're crazy.
I guess ABC is the new LAG?
$800 came from one player over 2 hands. Both were at 6-handed $2/$4 No Limit Holdem;
First hand it's folded to his small blind and he raises to $14; he has $400 in total. My jacks look nice so I reraise to $48. He instantly makes it around $150 - I am pretty happy here, since I've never seen anyone react so fast with AA/KK in this situation. He'd have to at least think about trapping. I push all in for the remaining $250 and he tanks briefly then calls.
The board looked pretty dire on the turn showing T87A; I could only beat 99 or something really crazy. Waddya know, he shows 99.
In the second hand he again makes it $14 with $400 behind, this time from the cut-off, and from the button I randomly reraise to $52 with QJ offsuit. I normally muck here but I was feeling playful.
He checks to me on a flop of Q44 with two diamonds. I think a little and just check behind. Usually I would bet for value against JJ or worse, planning to check it down and fold if he calls and leads the river, but intuitively I sense a good spot to induce a bluff.
A Q on the turn gives me the lock and he leads for $88. I call and he instantly goes all in on the river for $276, almost exactly the size of the pot. AJ offsuit no good mate.
From this you would think that we'd been dueling the whole time, but these were virtually the only hands we played together today. We've sat together a fair amount in the past and I've taken quite a bit of money off him, but he's not a fish, in fact he's probably a winning player.
This shows a lot about how the games have evolved. Months ago I would play ultra-aggressive, reraising people constantly and making tons of moves to get this kind of action. But I don't regularly reraise this player with weak hands. I don't bluff him a lot. Now, just by fitting a 'profile' of never limping preflop and betting a lot of flops the good players assume that you're crazy.
I guess ABC is the new LAG?
Thursday, 19 April 2007
Hello, World?
With one blog being created per half second I've decided to join in the babel. What am I going to fill this space with? Poker, views from a life slightly off the straight and narrow I guess; politics definitely, given how I like to rant. Or maybe just this one post. :-)
Jam
Jam
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