Trip report

Fucking hitting trips out of the BB sucks. Lost ~$50 altogether tonight doing that. First one, flop an 8 with 86s, turn another 8. I really don't beat that many other 8's but I call his river bet anyway. He flopped two pair w/ 84 and turned a boat. I beat 85, 83, & 82 + higher two pairs. Should have, could have folded. AND THEN, flop 99x, river comes runner-runner hearts, SS moves in for $20 more on the river. Oh boy, well, I call. Flush on paired board is good.

But then a few things go right. KK OTB, get 3bet (HURRAY!), call. Call flop bet, he checks to me on the turn, I bet $80 or something, he folds. Mkay, I don't think you're folding a pair so I should have pushed to make it slightly more suspicious. Or pushed flop. KK wins me more monies at 2/4 when I get it in the BB and 3bet UTG and callers 5 handed. $140 on the flop and I hope he pushes. QQ loses money earlier when I get 3bet with QQ and check a Ace-high monotone heart flop. Sure I have Queen of hearts. He pots it when a Jack falls on the turn. Hmmm, well, the only hand I was beating got there too so BYE. Next hand I raise something crap like AK UTG and bet potted into out of the blinds too. I sit out.

I make use of my tight image to triple barrel my whiffed FD. IT WORKS, holy smeg.

I out flop someone set vs. top two on drawy board. YESH.

Flopped a set against a regular on rainbow board. I take a different line, call flop, call turn, bet river. Should have potted river even though a BDFD got there. He knows I can't have that but w/e. Good thing is I seem to be able to bluff cheaper instead of potting it. I guess the downside to that is potting river with strong hands is also ruled out.

BASTARD

Which watch what poll in BBV. Unsurprisingly 'BASTARD' is the resounding winner so far. Linking it here so I can check results later.

Still hate shortstacks

OMG, do I ever. 99, raise, undercard flop with 2 clubs. I cbet, he pushes for $10 more, of course I'm calling. K3 of clubs. Club on the turn, club on the river for good measure. Yawn. Marginally +EV for me. Probably fold preflop.

And then, AQ in the CO, raise, 'pro' shortstack (as if anyone is a pro shortstacking 1/2nl) pushes OTB, I call because I hate shortstacks and will take a coinflip. He shows AA, of course.

Fun way to drop $80. Brag: It's only $80 to these annoying fucks.

Yeah, the AQs might be a fold since he's pushing with SB, BB, & limper to act before me. Oh, someone else says "In a vacuum, 77+/AQ+". Maybe I shouldn't feel so bad about the call.

SNAKES!!!

Finally watching SOAP. Up to the hot chick getting bitten on her tit in the bathroom. Pretty crap film. lol, snakes on a dick! Female nudity may redeem it somewhat.

Found a US site that ships Victorinox watches internationally since the UK sites seem to be useless. Downside is there's a $50 duty on imports $400-$800. They also have a blue dial Alliance for $350, Officer's is $325. They don't, however, have the blue dial Ambassador that I like, nor the LE Airboss. However, I am sure that they could get either. $25 shipping. Looking at $400/$425.

The Alliance and the Ambassador really stand out, I think. Officer's looks a little drab by comparison. Unless you throw loads of diamonds on it:

Gods, Victorinox do clothing too. I better start making some serious cash...

Moran

Geez, I play great but shortstack moron behind me fucks it up. Raise A7 UTG+1, moran calls, BB minraises and we all see a flop. J3Q, a good but not great flop for me. BB hesitates and checks. Hello top/middle set! I check because I no I have zero FE and he will probably C/R. Fucking retart shortstack bets pot when it's checked to him. YOU DOWNIE FUCK. BB minraises, like duh. I can't call (well, assuming I hit and get all-in on the turn I could call but that's unrealisticly optimistic). I fold, downie shortstack folds. God I hate shortstacks.

Check JTo in the BB, TTxdd flop. Lead, SB times down and calls. SB check/minraises me on the turn. I WONDER WHAT YOU HAVE, HUH? Only question is if my Jack kicker is good or not. Probably not. I call minraise, of course. Jack of diamonds on the river. Well, rivering the nuts is fun times. He VBs, I push for $125 more. I think he's folding but he calls at the last minute. I like to think I can fold to his VB but I doubt it.

TT in the BB, I call button's open. Flop is semi-coordinated unders, two spades. I donk, he calls. UH. Turn puts 4 to a straight out, I check, he checks. River puts another straight card out but nothing on board, magic card is a seven or something. I check, he checks. JJ goot for him. I lose $18 overpair v. overpair OOP. Shipit?

Because that's what differeniates winning players from losing: Winning more when ahead, losing less when behind. It's obvious really, you're there to win bets not pots.

I seem to have these little bouts of euphoria when I'm playing & running well. When I'm pushing all-in on a drawy flop and getting called by TPGK I think I'm a genius. When I do the same and they show 2pair+ I think I'm retarded.

Fact of the matter is calling big bets without big hands is the biggest mistake in NLHE. That's why calling stations are the most profitable opponents. So, almost everytime you can beat top pair against an unknown it is not a mistake to shovel chips in. Against special opponents it's even +EV to shovel them in with TPTK since they will call with less.

That is why the biggest mistakes I have made this month stand out as calling too big of a bet with too weak of a hand. From memory: KK on Axxcc flop; TT on 3-spade turn; QQ on 43x flop, King turn; & QQ v. KK. Hopefully I can learn from these. However, where I'm pushing overpairs and running in to 2pair+ is just variance, as far as I'm concerned, since I know I get called by smaller pairs quite frequently.

Shoot the runner

She's my queen, bitch. First break.

HAY, that's better. When winning poker does not consist of folding overpairs than I'm a big winner. From memory: 66 flops set, flush hits on turn, quads on river. SS's flush no goot. Then, JTs against donkey JT2r flop after donkey limp minreraised UTG (I called the limp, downie TAG BB raised). I smoothcall flop, downie TAG folds. He bets 8 turn, I push, he calls with 99 & misses. He donks off some more chips to others and then I get AA UTG. 5Q3, I bet pot, he minraises, I push. 46o misses.

Running good >>> running shit.

AT runner-runner's broadway and I break KQ who turned two pair or something. Checking behind is goot!

Anti-tilt

Negative tilt rest on MSNEK4K is fraking sweetness. Unfortunately, my keyboard shelf is not deep enough to accomedate the added height. This has lead to me dropping it already.

However, I am less than impressed with the phone. I didn't realise that it had no video playback whatsoever. Oh well, it beats my old one in terms of looks & plays mp3s. Fraking whoop.

Clubbed to death

'Wahey!' Tomo wrote off his VW Golf today driving to the shop. lol, crashaments!

I feel bad for him, obv., but watching him drive around in that wrecked piece of shit was hilarious.

Hit a combo draw at 400NL. QT6: AJ v. AQo. It seems B3B all-in has dickall FE. I'm still down on the month with combo draws but of course I've been getting in against the worst possible hands (sets/two pair). Surprisingly, though, I've been getting called by TP, various kickers, middle, and even bottom pair.

So, I made some funky CSS classes for the different suits. I even used the pseudo-selector :after to insert content. Interestingly, inserting an entity (e.g. content: "♠") does not work you have to insert the unicode.

3rd season of Lost is a hell of a lot better than season 2. Not quite sure what to make of the end of 304, though. How can they be on a different island? How come no one's noticed that there's another island before now? I'm sure it will be explained (slowly...) but, as far as mind bending twists go, it's pretty weak.

Rawkets

So I knew it would get to this point. AA all-in preflop against 99. Flop is all clubs. I look over and, yes, he has a club. The turn is obvious. Get KK hand after, I push over a minraise. No one bites.

Before that, folded to me with AA in the SB. KQxcc flop, I pot, BB calls. Turn club, obviously. I bet, he calls. I check call $60 on the river. 53s GOOT, of course. I am so sick of losing pots with so called premium hands.

AK, one limper to me in the SB. I raise, miraclulouslu I flop TPTK (KQx). I lead, limper raises substantially. HMMM, you limp called. How could I possibly be ahead? Figured KQ or a set of x's.

Oh boy, my fold looks to have been awful. That's what happens when you're running like shit, you begin to play like it. More I think about it, I'm pretty sure this is AQ. 65/55 would raise/bet the flop. If he just boated that bet is nonsense. It's AQ/KQ waiting for a non-club turn to get all the money in. IDK, maybe my AA on flush turn bet sucked too. Trying to think of a better line. I guess the old check/call, check/fold or check/check, check/call still applies, even in a blind battle.

Anyway, last night I spilled a glass of water all over my fraking keyboard just before bed. I was going sick. Broke the glass too. Space key sensor is fucked so I'm using this crappy other USB keyboard for now. Also, on my mobo only 2 of the 4 USB ports work so I now only have one mouse on the go, which is annoying. Ordered a MS natural 4000. Balls, it's a bastard to get it all working in *nix. Oh well, I never use that crap anyway.

MMM, ordered a RAZR too. From what I've read, it kind of sucks but whatever. It has to be better than my old piece of shit.

Got VGA cables, no more ghosting. Excellent.

Now I need to fix PAHUD/vmware. Too many tables and everything locks until I finally manage to kill it. Trouble is 'too many' = 5 or something shit.

Oh, good news. I fit midlle set on 257r against shortstack with 22 and full guy with AA at 2/4nl. I'm still down almost 3 buyins (QQ v. 43 [-EV], QQ v. KK [--EV], & AA v. QJ [+EV]). In reality, I should only be down two. High praise, huh?

I think I give up

BB J8, flop J8x. All-in versus fish. Fish shows KJ, King on the river. AA, SS 3bets me to $20 with KK OTB. Boastful guy coldcalls from the blinds. Kxx flop. All-in against the button. OF COURSE. I mean, of course he has KK. The minraise on the flop CANT be AK. Not against me. And that guy can't miss on the river, can he? I mean, 3 outs is a 3-1 favourite against whatever I have. I'm pushing preflop next time.

So, yeah, it looks like I will be killing myself, and I will cite online poker for the reason out of spite.

Headspace

Ali Larter reminds me of Deborah Unger (The Game, Crash) only with a younger, tighter body, obviously. Something about the boxish face.

Anyway, I made some enquires and I am waiting on prices for a 'euthanasia device'. Whether or not I buy it is another matter. I will check and evaluate at the end of the month. In truth, I don't have a lot to live for. IF I can break out of this rut of underachiving through poker then MAYBE the rest of my life will be 'worth it'.

And this is not, oh, wah, I'm so poor. Yes, I'm poor, always have been through my parents (especially my mother's) terrible life choices...and now my own. I accept this, what's past is past. My problem is not that I'm poor. I have problems that being richer will allow me to solve. However, being richer will not solve everything it's just the first step.

Anyway, my work sucks. Paywise it's pathetic and the environment is intolerable. I need to get out of there, one way or the other. To do so...I need to clear ~$4k. At 4PTBB/100 that's 25k hands. At 0.4PTBB that's 250K hands.

Or I can just kill myself.

I'm not being a drama queen here. If I can't make 4PTBB/100, if I continue to make -EV mistakes then my life will not get better. And if my life does not get better I will end it. Ticking along, catching occassional enjoyment in a good book, or film, or tv series is not 'life'. Enjoying other peoples stories is not living.

Nitting

So I'm folding now. Nut peddling, almost. Overpairs I will play cautiously OOP. E.g. Raise KK UTG, flop is Q65cc. I bet, one caller with AG ~2. Turn is another 5, he leads pot into me, I fold. Oh, wait, I was in position against him, duh. Anyway, OOP I would have bet/folded the turn. Another: The mighty hammer (72o) flops bottom-two in a limped pot. I bet 72Khh flop, SS minraises me. MMM, I call. Turn is a non-heart 9, I bet/fold to another minraise. Clearly he thought he had the best hand UNFORTUNATELY his definition of the best hand include those that I beat (AA, AK, KQ) as well as those that, obviously, beat me (K7??, 77, 22). For 50BB I almost considered just getting him all-in however, I am trying to save bets. EVERY BET SAVED IS A BET WON.

My new motto right there. Had I adhered to this over the past few days instead of a) calling when I figure to be beat & b) trying to get max value, I would have saved a ton. I still contend that pushing overpairs on wet flops is +EV, and it has proven to be somewhat. Villains make such terrible calls in those circumstances. E.g. Someone called me with bottom pair earlier this month.

However, had I been paying closer attention I could have saved ~$300 against 34. Family pot, I knew that OOP I should fold to his raise. Especially to that guy. Had I been watching I would have seen him check/call to the river and fold against the overaggro guy on his left (the guy who cracked my AA with QJ).

Semi-bad hand this brief session: Raise 99 UTG, donk who got stacked calls all-in, SB 3bets. Ok, you obviously have a semi-decent hand, I call. Flop T87 monotone spades. He bets $35 and I call with OESFD, although I don't value my flush outs. Ace on the turn, he checks, I check. Well, damn, I was wrong he had me beat preflop. Ace on the river, he checks, I check. He shows JJ, I show 99, donk shows 56ss. I can't actually remember if SB had a spade. If he did then he had me crushed (20/80). If he did not, it's a coinflip. If he had QQ no spade, 60/40. QQ-spade, 35/65. KK is the same as QQ. IDK, I guess calculating the equities makes it a fold on the flop against JJ-AA. Glad I did that, won't make that mistake again.

Another hand, raise A5s in the SB. 20/16 TAG calls, of course. Flop Kxxcc, I bet, he calls, obv. Turn, Ten putting BDFD out, I have neither draw but I figure his flop call indicates either a King or club draw. Knowing that, I bet again. He calls. Okay, well, he must have a King to call, I won't bluff again. He shows ATcc. OBV. I put you on clubs but why on earth should you fold. I mean, you have a flush draw, and now 3rd pair!

Play good, play bad, whatever, I can't win.

I give up

QQ I hate you. Saturday QQ loses $400 to gildwulf's KK because I can't fold (thought he might be bluffing). Tonight QQ loses ~$300 to unknown's 43 bottom two because I can't fold flop (no read). QQ loses $150 to unknown's J8o because I can't fold (he's shortish and limp calling raises, and minraising).

AND THEN, AA loses $400 to QJo when I 3bet out of the SB, donkey (who earlier potted a BD flushdraw into my TP2K, potted river when it got there. STUPID ME giving free cards to backdoor flush draws. christ) pushes, I type "okay, time to lose another buyin", and call on a J98hh flop. Donkey shows JQ (WE HAVE A GUTSHOT). Another Jack shows up. Oh, of course.

So let's see: Tonight -$900. Yeah, I think I did win a pot once when they folded to me in the BB so let's say -$899.

Tonight's EV -$500-ish.

This is where if I had a gun I would literally shoot myself. My life sucks, I need to win monies at poker to make my life better. If I lose monies at poker then I have nothing.

Practically: I am not playing $400NL for awhile. I had my 'shot', I blew two buyins with QQ, and I got sucked out on for another buyin. True, I stacked ONE WHOLE person at $400NL in the same period but I'm still down 2 buyins there.

Let's not forget the amount of buyins I'm down at $200NL. Due to...well, not all bad play. Pushing QQ there was kind of stupid. Should have bet $90 and folded to a push. Oh, yeah, cos' I'm folding for $60 more. IDK, if I think my hand is good which it will be a lot of the time against an unknowns minraise, there is no line I can take that doesn't suck. Calling and bet folding a blank may have been better, I guess.

However, most of the are: I flop combo draw, I B3B all-in, villain shows two-pair/set, they fill up/I don't get there. Oh, and there was that AKo where I got 3bet with 53s and OF COURSE he flops a monster draw.

2p2 QQ

Maybe I ain't so dumb.

Um, played some poker. Played disgustingly nitty and did better. 400NL KcKd in the BB, raise limpers upto $24. ATx monotone heart flop. I go into check/fold mode. Why? Betting KK on a Ace-high flop is a bluff, and I don't bluff because no one ever fucking folds. UTG raise 44, Button calls, flop 469ss, I pot, minraise to $34. OKAY BUDDY, $90 now please push your FD. He calls, turn 9d. Well, I pretty much have a lock here against your range. If you have 66 so be it. I check, he pushes, I call. AJss drawing dead. I love it when they're all-in drawing dead.

So I played some more. Not fun. Got put on tilt by minbetting/minraising fish. They minbet/minraised EVERY flop and potted every turn if I merely called. When I hit a set and raised them they invariably folded their 73o. MAKE ME ANGRY.

I did catch one hand. Raise KK OTB or so, one caller. Flop is AKx monotone spades. I bet pot, get raised, I push. AQo but he has the Queen of spades. FD does not get there. That's about the only hand I won at showdown.

Last hands, I raise 44 UTG, monkeybluffer (that's his SN but he's one of the minbetting downies) calls, regular SB pops it to $30. Frak it. Other table with another downie. AKo, downie minraises, I pop it to $15. SS behind me calls. Flop is no help but has two clubs and I have the Ace of clubs. Downie minbets, I hate my life and call, SS pushes. Downie folds and so do I.

After that I've had it with these fucktards. I'm sure the shortstack is pushing A-crap here but I think it's a much bigger mistake to call than to fold.

Watched idiots call 3bets with SCs OOP and make their hand against top set. Poker, poker, it's aaall skill.

Recall at least one hand I wish I'd played diferently. T9s UTG, raise, monkeydownie calls. Flop 765hh or something, giving me gutshot and FD. I want to get all-in so I lead. Downie calls. Frak, where's your minraise? Turn is a 4 or something, I check, contemplating a check/push, downie pots it. I hate my life and fold since I don't see that my push has any FE.

sc

She's a lady

Back to ~4 tables and better table selection. I don't think I did too badly hudbotting but I need to make better decisions.

Update: It doesn't fucking matter whether I play one table or 100, running like shit is running like shit. ORLY? Yes, really. Let's see, hands today. Set over set against a donkey shortstack. OH WELLS. I push A6s FD+TP on AQxdd flop in a blind battle, of course the SB has QQ. Do I get there? Do you have to ask?

Probably some other hands but I forget. Everything is going to shit so I move up to 2/4NL. Nothing doing. TT UTG, donk minraises me on the flop which has two hearts. I call and check the turn (Qd), he bets a silly value thing which I call, I check/fold to his downie bet on the river. I would be kind of surprised if he did not have the best hand so I fold. AND THEN, fun fun fun hand. I raise QQ, gildwulf 3bets me out of the BB, I call. Flop is TT8ss he bets, I call. Turn is a blank, he pushes...I call :( KK good.

FRAK!

Oh well, Galactica was awesome. The rescue operation was amazing. I've been told that their portrayal of the military is highly realistic and I don't doubt it. Not entirely sure if they had to sacrifice the Pegasus to save the Galactica but it will probably work as far as they story goes. Tigh's execution of Ellen was pretty hard, perhaps Saul will show some resentment but it was the Colonel who saved the people of New Caprica as much as Adama. Casey's mom was a total MILF. That whole interrogation thing with Starbuck by Conoy was pretty fucked up but I guess the Cyclon rightly assumed that psychological interrogation was better than physical. Sharon, Helo, & Adama are going to have problems with Hera. Baltar living with the cyclons is going to be interesting. Will they treat him as a pet? Next week Jammer gets justice for collaborating...

Tried poker. Flopped a set, fish called two PSBs with a gutshot, and hits on the river. He bets $40 into $160 and I call with 44 on a 2345 board. I guess I really should have folded but it's pretty marginal. He had 66 FWIW, not Ace-rag.

So that was nice. However, I got KK>QQ for $300+ at 400NL. Poor schmuck. Kind of hairy since he LRR UTG. His flop bet was $30 or something pathetic into a 3bet pot on 235ss flop. I c/r all-in and when he didn't snap call I knew I was good. In fact, I thought I might have made a mistake since he looked to be folding AK. But he finally calls and doesn't spike a Queen. In future, I think c/r less or c/c might be preferable.

I also made an expert call with AA. I'm in the BB and it looks like it's going to be folded to me. FRAK. But then the SB minraises, so I 3bet to a whole $15. Flop is Jx8hh, I think I get check minraised. Turn is a non-heart 8 and he bets $90 into ~$50 pot. My plan was to get it all-in on a non-heart turn. Go with what you know so I call (should have pushed, really). I see that he typed 'please call' while I was contemplating that. River is a non-heart and he puts me all-in. YES, BUDDY, I'm folding now getting 6-1 or something. AKhh no goot. I play an orbit and leave. I see he "can't believe he lost that hand". Holy shit, do these people suck out so often that they believe it's normal?

Watched Jackass movies. Meh, some funny bits but mostly what I expected.

RapDurrr house. All that money and they can't buy taste. Just kidding & bitter. Good: Hanging TV in the office is neat, BMW M3, shower is awesome, bedroom is kind of nice. Bad: Two 73" TVs next to each other, why? Okay, you're kids who play video games all day but it's kind of lame. Furniture all sucks. Desks, chairs, sofas are all awful. Kitchen has wooden counter tops. Marble, baby! No pool allegedly, wtf? Hot tub (or is it a bath) next to shower is tiny.

Still an awesome house but youth and money is wasted on the young. The gun pics are also incredibly douchy.

Frak

Deed done. Reload deposit good. Only...

AK on AQx flop, I pot & guy calls. Turn J, he checks, I check. River blank, he pots it. UGH, I can't decide if calling or folding is best. I go for call. AJ goot, sir.

I think I'm never 3betting AQ+ again. No one folds to cbets, ever it seems. Flop can be KK5r and they'll call with, whatever, 56s, when I have AQ.

Oh, and everytime I 3bet TT+ flop is Ace-high. E.g. I call a shortstack's open push with KK, other guy calls. Flop is Axxss, he bets, I fold. Coldcaller has AK, shortstack has A6. Or, how about this: Call another SS push with JJ, flop is TTK. Me and other caller check flop and turn. He bets into me on the river, obviously I think he's stupid but fold. TT & quads very good.

Flop is also Ace-high when I 3bet AA and get a caller. AND THEY NEVER HAVE AK or a lower set.

KJs combo draw no goot for 100BB. I haven't hit a combodraw that I've pushed yet this month.

And just now, I open, tardo tag 3bets with 56s. I call. Flop is A94dd giving him a flush draw. I go for c/r, he checks. Turn is a blank. I bet $38, he calls. River 4d, I check/call $90. He has fucking 56s. Unreal. I don't know, he made money there but I don't like it. Obviously I don't like it because he beat me. I guess 'isolating' with 56s is good since multiway your 6-high flush is going to be garbage. Still, generally I don't think shutting out the rest of the field with a hand that sucks HU is good. What does it do? It minimises my implied odds against his 3betting range. So I will not call with speculative hands as often.

And it's amazing how I can go from running hot to this bullshit. I am now running at 4BB for the month. Big surprise.

Alt

Found another watch I want: The ST-4000. More for the geek factor of altimeter, therometer, & barometer not because it looks good (because, frankly, it does not).

myspace.com/borat. JAGSHEMASH!

Emailed about getting Officer's 1884 with blue dial, also asked how much the Ambassador & LE Airboss would be. The white dial Officer's they stock is £195+pnp so hopefully they don't quote too much.

Ghost

Wow, bollocks. 2nd set of cables NO GOOT, even though I ordered M/M and not M/F this time. Belkin 'Gold' series is shit, unbearable amount of ghosting. Oh well, splunked out more monies on 3m 'Pro' series (about the same price as 5m 'Gold'). These had better fucking work.

~$50 left to clear of deposit bonus and FT is down. Back at ~11AM ET, leaving me ~12 hours to clear it. DOABALE.

It also leaves me with two hours to 'kill'. Need shower, need to shave (but I probably won't). Eat, I guess. Game plan is to clear $30 in the first session, break, clear the final $20, and hit deposit. Sounds easy, right?

So bummed about the ghosting on these cables. What a crock of shit.

Started using my wireless mouse that I bought for my ibook while multitabling. Works okay and it's more comfortable. A little on the heavy side, though.

WTF? Nice to see such a 'god'-like man looks normal, I guess. Don't know why he's limp there, whatever orientation he is there should be enough to get him aroused going on around him. Whatever, his limp dick is not my problem. The blonde is semi-hot. Not the best ass, though.

No muss

No fuss. 8 tabling & grinding really got that bonus under control. $88 to go, booya!

Half tomorrow, half before midnight Friday and I can hit deposit with seconds to spare. Then I can pass out.

Good things about hudbotting:

1. I don't feel the need to make stupidly thin calls (e.g. KK on AJ3cc flop, calling a c/r all-in with middle pair when my flop bet is mostly a bluff; TT on 3 flush turn, he pushes, my gut says AA but I call).
2. I also don't feel the need to make bluffs. Any plan that involves getting someone to fold TPTK is ill-conceived.
3. Getting bad beat doesn't even register.

Bad things:

1. My desk fucking sucks ergonomically, I've realised. Mouse is far too high. I've got a Razer mouse and an Icemat which are awesome for FPS but hudbotting is painful. Will switch back to my old mouse so as not to muck up the teflon feet.
2. I run like shit. Seriously. I say again: There is no substitute for running well. The ones I remember: all-in w/ KK v. shortstacks AJ on J-high flop. I say 'Ace', pow, right on the river. Flop 9-high flush with AQ8 out, I pot, pot, board pairs river. I valuebet and get minraised. Eights full good fucker. Can't put in a raise, in position at any point, can you? Um, QQ against loose-passive, flop is 573hh. He check/calls PSB with K5cc, turn 5d. He check/calls again. Frak, I check behind on the river. Flop a small flush from BB, pot flop, pot turn, board pairs on river, VB and villain minraises. FRAK! Boat is goot, sir.

Oh, and I tell a lie. PAHUD/PT or maybe FT itself was so fucked up that I couldn't use it so no reads, no stats.

IDK how I did, I took 100BB with a set, another 100BB with AA. Won a few smaller pots too. Lost loads, however, to suckouts like I mentioned. Doing slightly better than breaking even.

Which is why it fraking sucks when I throw 200BB away with 2 very thin calls, and more with bluffs that involve getting people to fold TP.

Not raining

Raptorjesus, fuck everything.

Missed the grocery delivery by 5mins because I caught a lift with the boss. Have to pay half an hour's wage in re-delivery charges because the selfish fraktard was pissing about with his crap. Great, it makes him money and costs me money too.

So that tilted me. FT support emailed me back saying I have to clear the deposit bonus before claiming the reload, they can't just not pay me the remainder of the deposit bonus. Oh well, I figured I'd ask.

But then, I try to fire up some tables to get the job done and my system is fraking crawling. Ridiculously slow. Postgres is still analyzing from yesterday (lol?) and I think Firefox is eating resources too. TRY AGAIN.

TPTK, AKA the Nuts

So a solidish TAG opens AK in EP, I call with 44. Flop is K99cc, he bets $9, I raise to $35 or something. He calls. Turn is the 2s. He check/calls $65 (Pot: $80). River is Qd, he checks, I type 'lol' and check. He wins my monies.

I mean, how could he fold the nuts?

And it's things like that that sicken me.

My mistakes: I did not size my bets to leave enough for a credible river bluff. $90 left in a $200 pot is terrible pot control. I figured I'd save that last $90 since I don't see how he can fold there. In future, I want to be giving him 2:1 on the river so that his big calls cost him. And, hell, yes, I will bluff this idiot again. Although, if I had a 9 it seems I've found a pretty profitable line against him.

His mistakes: UM? Nit cold caller putting in big bets in position and your calling off your stack with TPTK? OKAY. I think that's about all that needs to be said. You're ahead of bluffs and a flush draw, and, FYI, I don't play a FD like that in position on a paired board. What could I possibly have? A9s, 98s, & 97s are in my range. Okay, KK isn't in my range and 99 is pretty much impossible. Yes, I might play AK like that. Damnit, I really thought he would fold AK to the turn bet.

Okay, he 'induced' a bluff with his expert flop bet so he has to call. Uh, huh, and when I have a 9? Which I play exactly the same way? Oh, didn't think of that.

Still, he got me to waste $100 with a fucking underpair. Shame I had closed out so many other tables otherwise I would have never gotten involved past the flop.

All good things

I knew it was tempting fate. Oh well, damage not too bad. However, called a shortstacks c/r all-in for 50BB on a AJ3cc flop. He had AQdd :( That annoy's me because it's a relatively big mistake in terms of bets. Sure, I may be good here some of the time but, let's see, it was about $90 for me to call and pot was about $40. Getting 6:9 and putting him on a naked club draw I should have folded.

Reminds me of my TT call. Look sharp!

And variance: Flop a set of 7's on a wet flop, put the shortstack all-in on the turn with a flush + gutshot. He hits his gutshot. Good for yous. Is there some reason you buyin for $80?

Um, no real pay offs. Last hand I recall, raise 65s UTG, flop is 978, giving me second nuts + straight flush draw (7 & 8 were my suit). Boom, I get one PSB call out of the frakers before they fold the turn.

Double barrelled AKs unimproved, called by 99. I thought he'd need a monster to call on that board, turns out he had an OESD on the turn (4 to a straight). SWEET. Should have maybe fired the river.

Note to self, double barrelling OOP is now not on the agenda.

Two bad calls this month. I will not make it three.

No Substitute

There is no substitute for running well. Raise A6s, flop A66. Limp/call with A3s, flop 245. I'm sure the guy put me on a set after my 3bet. T9o in the BB, fold before the flop of 897. 67s, fold before flopped flush.

Still, it matters not if you don't win bets, and none of those hands brought frak all. However, I 3bet AA against a fish. He check raises me all-in on a Kxxhh flop. Okay. I call instantly, K5s no goot buddy.

Back to it, I have a bonus to clear. One regular seems to be playing 12 tables of 100NL to get it done.

Not even in war

Rewatched all of BSG up to 301. Will watch 302 now because it must be done.

WTF is Borat/dbitel doing still playing 1/2NL with £5k in cash available to him? I guess that can't be his roll or he's a giant pussy.

Frakit

Wow, looking at my stats I run 13/8 nit city and yet, in today's session I kept getting 3bet by the cocksucker on my left. Worse still he kept doing it when I had pairs...and not raising enough for it to be an automatic fold. So donkey opens for $12 UTG and I'm in the BB with 99. I call. Flop is 98J monotone spades. I bet $20, donkey folds. Yeah, that's right donkey, RUN RUN RUN.

And then I get 88 at a different table. Limper UTG. I raise to $8, limper calls. Flop is A45hh or something. Wheelish with a heart draw. I bet $18 on the flop, he check/calls. Great. Turn is a non-heart Queen, he check/calls $38. OKAY FUCKTARD. River is another Queen and he pushes. Thank god I have nothing.

Raptorjesus, fuck poker. I mean, I don't expect much but perhaps not 3betting me EVERY FUCKING TIME when I only raise the top 8% of my hands, eh? YOU FUCKING COCKS.

It's continued all day. I have TT in the BB, EP raise, shortstack pushes for $18. Uh, okay, I fold given that I'm not closing the action. Shorty has QJ, EP has AJ, ten on the flop. Not that I'd have made any money off of AJ unimproved but fuck sake. Before that, aggro prick raises OTB. I 3bet with JJ. He calls, of course. Flop is King high, of course. He calls cbet, of course. I check turn, he checks. I check/fold river. Well done you fucking prick, you probably outflopped me. I doubt you had a flushdraw but that got there too so well done with that.

I decide to get aggro on the SB, he's tried to steal a few times and raised my BB a few times. Well, fuck you child, I have QTs! So I 3bet him with that. Flop gives me a flushdraw and he folds to my cbet. GET THAT, HE FOLDS TO MY CBET. Wow, first time for everything.

Next hand at that table I pick up KK in the SB. One limper, aggro boy folds his button, and limper + BB fold to my raise. And here was I hoping to get no credit there.

Ugh, looked at my balance. Down probably $200.

UMM. Okay, raise KQo. Blind calls. A4xhh flop. Check/bet/minraise. OKAY, so I think I have implied odds and call. Turn Jack of spades. BOOM. He checks, DAMNIT, I bet an amount so that even if he has hearts I have to call on the river. He check/raises he all-in. HAHAHA. River is a heart, A4 NO GOOT.

And then, same fish a few hands later, I get 55 in the BB. Limp, fish posts OOP, 2p2er raises. Limper calls, fish calls, so I call. K95dd. SHIPITHOLLA. I lead $30, limper and 2p2er correctly fold (GRR), fish calls. Turn is a non-diamond, again I bet an amount so that river is an autocall, he pushes again. AA NO GOOT.

I sit out.

$180 bonus left to clear. Stacked the same fish twice in one orbit.

Slight turn around. 8PTBB is maintained, I need to eat.

Spew

So I actually refused to fold an overpair (TT) and guess what? It was no goot. Guy had limped AA UTG and played it like a set postflop. I read him as fishy but I should have folded the flop. And certainly the turn. WTF did I put him on that I beat? Ace-high. Yeah, I beat Ace-high. The flush came on the turn so I didn't beat that. Flopped sets obviously. 78 would have made two pair. All the other overpairs beat me. But, yeah, why not burn another buyin?

Well, fish has lost 50BB off of what I gave him and is sitting out. Great. Oh, excellent, he's sitting back. Watch me get nothing on this table now. Hmm, got TT again. Folded it preflop to a raise, shortstack push and a minraise. Opener had JJ. Fuck TT!

Open AA UTG+1, everyone folds of course. Next hand I get 99 UTG and get 3bet. $13 to call...hmm, okay. Flop is a very beautiful 339. I figure that he either loves his hand on that flop or will try and bluff me off whatever I have with AK. I check/call flop. Turn is a Ten. I check, he pushes. Wouldn't it be sick if he had TT? But, fortunately, he has KK and misses the river.

Oh bollocks, 'fish' who I doubled lost with KK to a turned OESFD.

It sucks throwing away a buyin on a bad, bad call. Nothing worse then having no one but yourself to blame.

Still, I've done okay. Have ~$210 of the bonus to clear by next Friday which is going to be a bitch. I will get it down to at least $180 by the end of the weekend. Hopefully $160. Still, that leaves me 5 days to clear the remainder. Assuming I manage $20 a night Mon-Thu, that will leave me $80 to clear on Friday. Bollocks. Well, it's 5am I had better get some rest. Looks like I need to get it down to $140 by the end of the weekend to stand any chance of making the deadline. Unless I manage $30 a night Mon-Thu.

Damn, it's doable but a fucking ball ache. Still, worth doing, for the $500 reload bonus.

P.S. I feel 80% better now. Felt like shit all day though. Vapour rub FTW! Haven't even touched on BSG.303 & The Departed but I'll do that tomorrow later.

Bonus

Well, I cleared another $20 of bonus by folding overpairs to monkeys all the goddamn time. Jesus. Last hand I had KK, A34r flop. I bet, he calls. Turn another 4 putting out a backdoor FD. He bets ridiculously small ($16), I call. River 6 putting four to a straight and 3 to a flush out, he bets ~half pot. OK, you either have a 5 or an Ace either way fuck you.

Fun before that, got QQ first hand in the BB. Unknown raises to $9 (I limper), I raise to $30, he calls pretty quickly. Flop is JJx (I think rainbow), I bet $56, he moves in. FUCK YOU. I'm not afraid of a Jack but I have the sick feeling he has KK+. Of course. So I fold.

I get KK sometime later, bet flop, bet turn, river puts four to a straight against unknown who pushes. Great, why don't I fold again?

I get AA a bunch of times and everyone folds preflop. No, because you can't have something in your 3betting range when I have Aces, can you? You only have those hands when I'm raising 33 UTG.

Only good hand: Get QQ in the blinds, I 3bet unknown. Flop Qxxcc. Well, that's amazing, I hit a fucking set, watch him fold. I bet, he raises, I push, he calls. AQo no good. WTF did he put me on? AKcc?

QQ again, I call a raise from the SB because I want to keep the fish in the hand (and I've been 3betting a lot). Flop is JTx. I check, PFR bets half pot (...), fish minraises, I...call. PFR pushes, fish calls, I fold. PFR has TT, fish has AJ. Fuck me to tears PFR plays like shit and still gets there.

Just to mention I did flop another set (ducks) but I fucked up the river. Board was AK2KT and there was a flush draw on the flop so of course I put his calling range on a FD. I checked the river hoping to induce a bluff. Actually, thinking about it that's not a bad play. He's obviously betting a King if I check and possibly a busted draw. Of course, he had AT and might have called a smallish valuebet. Dunno, a AxKK board is not one I want to see too much heat on my underfull.

So yeah, a really shitty fucking session. I stacked one person but I lost money with QQ+ all over the place. Probably breakeven but I try not to look at my balance anymore. It was $1.8k to start the session but it's probably less now. See, that's why I don't like looking.

Departed

Feeling slightly better. Headache is going...want/need to play hands to get through next $20 of bonus. $40 would be better.

Watching The Departed. Good.

"Description: Size 39 woman shoe : 24$ Mini-mini squirt: 12$ Giant amazone who does blowbang : Priceless Enjoy Jayma Reid!"

WTF. Who writes these things?

The hand

http://www.pokerhand.org/?557398

This was the table where I was card dead when I finally got a seat. Steeler ran up to $600 again. JMitch is the bitch that bet me off my 33 (what am I supposed to do, limp UTG?). Pickless is the 'drunk' 'pro' who was gambling it up by pushing everything meanwhile bragging about the balance of his account on FTP and Party. Fun times, and would have been profitable had I got dealt more than 77 unimproved.

Vapour

I have a longer entry but suffice to say: Boy cries wolf on Thu about being sick but is in fact not too bad. Boy goes to work Friday and feels pretty ill. Boy comes home from work Friday feeling like shit. Boy misses out on cashaments because he can't breathe.

Now I know I always have some crappy excuse for missing Friday night madness but this week I was prepared to pull an all nighter since I was well rested on Thursday.

Played some this morning. Ugh, won a single 100BB pot with a read based call on an ultra scary board (4 to a straight and I only had TT). Ran 7/4 at one table I was so card dead, now that's ridiculous. I have never seen so many disconnected, offsuit rags in all my life. Oh 74o, oh Q6o, oh 93o. I'm ALL-IN! I got 33 once, raised UTG, cuntrag BB made it $20 more. I only had 100BB and I couldn't guarentee the fish would call so I fold. Fish calls. Flop Tx3r. FUCK YOU. Raised off my only set all fucking session you piece of shit cuntrag. I watch fish go from $600 to $0, back to $600, all the time folding every fucking bit of trash I'm getting. There was another 'drunk' 'pro' doing dumb gambling things like pushing 32o UTG and winning more than losing.

At another table I get AA in the BB. Few to the flop which is 5xQss. I bet, passive guy calls. I check his stats, he seems to be a winner. Uh oh. Turn is a Jack. I check call. I was going to check/push but I was worried that he wouldn't call with anything that I beat. River is another 5. I check, he checks. DUH. Best card in the goddamn deck and I check it. KQo no goot but boy did I lose a ton of value. Frak.

Cleared $360 of $600 bonus. I want to clear at least $60 more this weekend. Boy what a grind, though. I feel awful and folding for hours on end got to me.

Buddies

Made a lot of buddies tonight but not a lot of bets. Jesus, seemed like I could not flop anything when someone else made at least a pair. E.g. Raise 78s UTG at tightish table, few to the flop. Flop is 456r. Wow, finally I flop a fucking hand. SB shortstack leads, I raise less than pot, he folds. OKAY. 99, I raise and finally hit a set on a Q9xss flop. I bet 4/5ths, guy check/calls. Turn is a non-spade, I again bet 4/5ths, and aggro monkey guy check/folds. No, can't push there like you have been all night monkey boy, can you? Um, other than that nothing overly memorable except every set I hit was mostly c/f. Took down a few pots through cbets. RR w/ AQ and was prepared to felt it against a donkey but he bet/folded the flop. Said he had folded A3. So, you call a 3bet OOP with A3, do you? It honestly wouldn't surprise me. Other than that, nothing cooking at all.

Upsetting

Set over set for 100BBs. Sweet, $200 @ 96% equity. Ship it holla. Also, shortly after, I limp T8s in LP after two limpers (one shortstacked). Multiway flop, 956ss. WE HAVE A GUTSHOT. Everyone checks to me, and I check behind (COME ON LUCKY 7). Turn Kc giving me a flush draw and a gutshot. Shortstack SB leads smallish, the shortstack limper calls, I don't do the math but I like my implied odds even if they are shortstacked and call. River 3c. Boom! SB checks, limper bets $10, and I value raise $35 hoping that the SB can call too. SB folds, limper calls. KQo no goot.

However, it wasn't all graceful suckouts. At the start of my short session, probably first hand, I had J7s in the BB. I check and see a flop. Oooh, flush draw. Lead, unknown on my right raises pot. I decide to call? Turn bricks, I check, considering a check/push, he hits bet pot again. Okay, unknown, you must have 2pair+. Make note that you love the bet pot button. Now, over the next half-dozen orbits he just hammers the pot button whenever he likes his hand so I regret my initial fold and think my C/R all-in would have been better. Although he likely calls with Ax. In which case, all-in on the flop would have been optimal. Buddylisted and will try to get a seat on his left in future.

Up to 212 on Galactica rewatch. 210-212 is the Peagasus storyline. Utterly brilliant.

Think I mentioned this yesterday but dabs.com can go to hell. Cancelled my order and do not intend to use them again. Ordered from ebuyer instead, slightly more expensive card but around about the same price as the cards Dabs had in stock. It will be here on Friday, and I believe they'll make that delivery. Unlike those other fraktards.

Quads are coming...

Watching

Eh, watched Desperate Housewives 303. Why the hell do I still bother with this drivel? Meh. Anyway, unintentionally funny moment when the Brit is looking at Hatcher's ass...what ass? Geez, I mean she used to be attractive circa Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies (what an awful film) but now? Ugh.

Julie, OTOH, is maturing nicely (SHE'S 16 YOU DIRTY 24 YEAR OLD LECH). I get older, the young girls...

Anyway, I've decided what I want for Christmas, and since my life is godawful it will be a gift to myself: A Victorinox watch. I was given a, uh, budget Wenger by my Uncle for graduation. It's actually quite nice and obviously has sentimental value (in that it was a gift from my Aunt and Uncle, I have no fond memories of graduation; I did not attend). #70109. Phew, thought I might have the Lady's model there for a second and would therefore never wear it again. So yeah, it's 'nice' but not very, and for those that judge such things it's cheap.

So, what's a baby baller to buy, eh? Seiko, psycho, whatever. This is some guy's watch he's getting. At first I thought it looked decent. On closer inspection it looks terrible. No elegance, no sense of style at all.

Victorinox is the brand. Fuck Wenger. I have a Victorinox Cybertool which is fantastic but unforunately I have bent the corkscrew slightly so it does not return as it should. One moment. Okay, good I've just fixed that with my Victorinox Swisstool, which is also a beautiful piece of equipment. Victorinox is synonymous with quality and I would wear it with pride upon my wrist. More so than a Brietling or an Omega.

So which one? Blue dial, I think. Of those, I really like the Officer's 1884 and the Ambassador. I prefer the Ambassador to the Ambassador automatical because I think the weekday thing looks awful. Ruins the asthetic of the dial completely, IMO.

And then there's the LE Airboss, which is way more than I can justify spending on a watch right now. I mean, yes, it's very nice and I don't typically like chronos. Leather strap is a bit of a turn off too but it's part of the whole asthetic. If I had too much money I would buy one for sure, and the other two as well. However, IMO, it does not look as awesome as it should given that it's twice the price of the Ambassador.

However, these are my goals: The Officer's costs ~$400 so when I am cruising at 2/4NL I will buy one. Point of fact, I will buy one for Christmas barring any catastrophes. I pretty much have a full bankroll for 2/4NL but have not moved up because I'm afraid. This is going to change. I am going to pursue a much more aggressive bankroll building strategy. Moreover, I will continutely improve my game so that I have nothing to fear. I will be bulletproof.

Ahem, anyway, the Officer's is the first goal/reward. The Ambassador is ~$600 so...3/6NL. And the LE Airboss is ~$1300 so 5/10NL. These are my feeble little goals.

Hmm, well damn. They offer 0% finance on purchases over £400 but the Officer's is £195. Doesn't matter, I probably wouldn't get the credit anyway.

Cha-cha-champloo! Slight snag, PT crashed earlier. I've been trying to mine FT, PP, Prima, & now Ladbrokes. Only PT found 12k old HHs from Prima and it's choking pretty hard on them. Closed everything but FT. I will be watching all 4 sites from now on.

Guess what? The cheap card that I ordered is out of stock but their own brand is in stock now. What a surprise. I tell you I am not using Dabs again if I can avoid it.

Watching Robin Hood while PT digests and hopefully I will get some hands in before bed time. Uh, I mean stack off too easily (it has to happen sooner or later, I can't keep getting the best of it).

Damn, watched Robin Hood and PT is still choking on PP (50 files). Robin Hood is kind of lame, anyway.

Okay, I'm not doing this. I'm not going to make excuses to not play. I have a bonus to clear and I will play hands. Period.

However, I'm not going to lose sight of what the bonus is. There is not point hammering out many hands roboticly if it ends up costing me more than the bonus. In fact, it's probably not worth it if it's breakeven. Slow and steady wins the race. If I miss the reload deadline, it will be annoying, not the end of the world. Besides, I can always pull a sickday next Friday (or god forbid, book the time off like a responsible person) if I have ~$100 less to clear.

60 cents

Decided to pull the last $1k out of Party. It was $1063.60 but I didn't get the change. Given that I can always go back should they stay afloat it's no big deal. Also, they may give incentives for Euro players to deposit.

It hasn't hit Neteller yet but I think I'll leave it there. Not much point in moving it to FT really.

Datamining up to 10/20 on FT now. Very few tables to watch at 11am EST. One 10/20, two 5/10's, two 3/6's, and maybe 4 2/4's. Meh. Watching 1/2 and 2/4 on Party even though I have no cash on there. Games seem to be a mixture of regs holding out and fish getting rid of the last of their bankrolls.

Also datamining Prima. God, just looking at that shitty software hurts. Still best to keep options open.

Godawful headache is finally dissipating. Really fraked up my weekend. Still managed to make more than I will working next week. However, I am under no illusions. I played well but I didn't play many hands. So what I have netted is in no way indicative of my true winrate.

Christ, it seems everyone on FT who doesn't suck that much is 2p2.

Ordered food online. Decided to start drinking more fruit juice and less pop. Also ordered some more pancakes because pancakes are yummy. It's insane how much I spend on groceries every week considering I live by myself. Sure, I'm buying ready meals and not raw ingredients but £40 a week is pretty ridiculous.

My living expenses are meager. I spend ~£600 p.m. on bills and food. I can make that playing poker, pretty easily provided the games don't bust. After this month I will strongly consider quitting my day job if online poker is not FUBARed.

Also, I may play live (£1/2PLHE) but...a) I've never played live, b) I am not a social person, and c) it costs money to get there. I would only take £500 as a bankroll + £100 spends. Assume 10PTBB/100 and I play for 4 hours, I probably make £40 on average and yet I'm spending money on drinks, taxis, and entertainment. Plus there's the obvious fact that I could bust which would put a huge damper on the evening. I imagine that I would most likely be +/-£200 from poker less the majority of the £100. So, I might make £100. Big whoop.

Still, it's an experience worth having, and who knows, if I could swing +2 buyins it would be worth doing. Stop limit would be +£1kish/-£200 plus the ~£100 costs of transport, etc.

Rewatching Galactica. Finished season one and I'm up to episode 5 of the second season (The Farm). On rewatch it's still fantastic.

Oh, you have to fraking kidding. Raise 22 OTB, 43/24/2 who only folds to cbets 56% of the time calls. I hit a set and he check/folds on a diamond draw flop. Yes, of course, RUN RUN RUN!

DamnI'm not half way through my deposit bonus. One of the disadvantages of not playing as many tables as possible. Thinking about it, I'm not doing mega on FT since I've released nearly $300 of my bonus and I'm only up about that much...Oops, sneaked a peak at balance. I'm up more twice that but it's still not mega.

Have 12 days to clear $325. Since $18/100 is maximum we'll say I manage $10/100 so I need to play 3500 hands in the next 12 days. ~200 hands a day. Possible.

Well, that was crappy. Cleared $20 of my bonus...did so cbetting 98s into a fish behind and a TAG in front on KKJr flop. Fish calls, tag calls. Tag leads 9 turn, I fold, fish folds. Whee, so glad I cleared that $20 though!

Lazyboy

Haven't heard much from lazyboy after the summer. Still can't find his album on usenet. Meh.

I play pokers. I think I played well. Still have tilt blocker on Party and I force myself to not look at the cashier on FT. Still catch glimpses of my balance when sitting down, though. Mostly played on FT since PP is busto. Um, notable hands: QQ at SSNL. I 3bet a raise and a call, flop is KKTr. I bet, unknown calls, I check behind on the turn, I check/fold river. Seems kind of weak. I probably call here with AA too much but there it is. A few hands later I do get AA, and 3bet the coldcaller from the QQ hand. Flop is 9xxss. He pots it, I push, he eventually calls with T9o and does not improve. VNH. AKs at 200NL. I decide to do something off the wall and limp AKs after 3 limpers. 5 to the flop, and I flop the fraking nuts, sir. It's something like T84 monotone spades. Blind leads for pot, some folds and a caller to me, I raise (obviously), and blind calls. Turn is a 4th spade which I hate. He check/calls $65, however. Could he have a set? Don't pair the board! River Queen of hearts. He checks to me. UGH, he'll probably fold for a big bet since my hand is obviously best but whatever: $100 (all-in). He finally calls with 9x of spades. Are you frakking kidding me? Thanks for the monies but jesus you suck. And finally, A4s. Raise UTG, everyone folds to big fish. Fish is talking about bluffs in the chatbox. I was also playing with him earlier and he sucked. I left the table because he got down to $70 from $300 or something. I've rejoined the table because he's got $600. Anyway, it's HU, I'm in position and the flop is AA9r. Um, okay. He check/minraises me. Um, okay. Turn is an 8. He checks, I check. River is a 6. He bets $36. Anyone else at the table and I strongly consider folding. However, I call and he has 36o. Yes, well played.

Ooh, I missed a good hand. AKo in the BB @ SSNL. I 3bet unknown calls. Flop is QJxcc. WE HAVE A GUTSHOT. I bet, unknown calls. Turn King, no flush. Um, good but not great. River blank, he bets 90% of pot. Essentially putting me all-in but not quite. I think, well, these are the kind of spots you get into 3betting AK OOP and call. He has 64s for a busted flush draw. Jesus, people, stop calling my 3bets with junk.

Meet the world

Genius.

Galactica

I admit I had my doubts about the planatery settlement idea. It seemed such a radical departure from the previous two seasons, and TOS. However, I know frak all. Occupation and Precipice (episodes 1 and 1.5) are incredible. I can fault nothing, this is the best damned tv show I have ever seen.

Galen Tyrol: This is crazy. You know, we'll need to figure out whose side we're on?

Saul Tigh: Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We an evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death, desperation, devastation, and destruction where ever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

Colonel Tigh is a remarkable character. He's gone from good (first season), to bad (beginning of second season), to badass (beginning of third season/webisodes). He's lost an eye, he's ordered suicide bombings, and he's killed innocent civilians but I'll be damned if he's not right. I am absolutely amazed at just how hardboiled a 70 year old man can be. I would not be surprised if he ever discovers Ellen's betrayal that he will kill her outright.

The Adama's have their problems. The Admiral is right, Apollo is soft and I think the weight is a great way of signifying it. Hopefully, when Starbuck gets back I think she'll kick his ass into shape. A fat, whiny Apollo is a little sickening.

Sharon Agathon is going to be good. In fact, the good cyclons (Sharon's and Caprica-Six) are very interesting. Well, all the cyclon agents are interesting but those two especially.

If Baltar lives through the exodus I will be amazed. Strike my last. Baltar returns to Galactica in episode 11 which begs the question: How many humans are intered with the cyclons after Exodus?

Roslin isn't dead. I would guess that Zarek isn't either.

Um, and then of course there's Starbuck and her new family. Just a little frakked up, there. I predict that she kills Conoy for the sixth time and takes Casey with her in exodus.

Whew. I wish it were next week already.

Beta

Moved to blogger beta. Big whoop.

Played some hands. You know what's good? Playing against regulars that suck. Not to give him too much advice but he played every street horribly. Preflop: Calling a 3bet with KJs OOP. Unless his notes say that I'm a really horrible that is a pretty awful beginning. Flop: His call is debatable I guess. He's either WA/WB on the flop. I.e. he won the coinflip in which case he's getting NADA or I have an overpair/set. Turn: That's a problem with being OOP in a big pot, I can take a free card. River: Um, okay, this is the worst play BY FAR. Two pair on a KJTxxr board in a reraised pot is not the greatest of hands. Sure, it is unlikely that I have KK/JJ given that he has KJ but WTF does he expect me to call an all-in with? AA does not check the turn. Period. And AA does not call that push without a very good reason too. It's possible I have 3 possible sets or, of course, the nuts. I call with those hands all day and fold everything else. No wonder this 24/16/x is in a huge downswing.

However, there's a 26/6/x or something who I have 11k hands on running at 12PTBB. WHAT?

Korean Robin Hood. Awesome shot even if he's just shooting inside a shaft and not actually splitting an arrow.

Um, I'm running out of time. Need to get to sleep for work. Work sucks. If online poker was not FUBAR, I would phone in and have this conversation: Me: "Hi, it's $ME. I'm not coming in today." N: "Okay, are you sick?" M: "No." N: "Um...what?" M: "I'm not sick" N: "Then why aren't you coming in?" M: "Crappy jobs like this one have high levels of absenteeism. I'll be in Monday. Probably. I'm hanging up now." N: "..."

I would then tell them whenever that I am taking all my vacaction ASAP and leaving as soon as it is over. That would be ownage.

However, given the uncertain nature of the pokeronomy I can't do that so I will likely drag myself in for TGIF. Or phone in some weak ass excuse. My excuse will be so unbelievably weak though if I make one. Fuckem, passive-aggressive style.

Um, quick roundup: Lost.301 was no where near as bad as I thought it would be. Julia seems like she could be an interesting character. So does Ben/Henry. Of course it will take all fucking season to find out what the Others are up to, if not longer.

Installed new DVD-drive and pulled the old one. It's no good if it can't read dvds even if the writer is working. Black looks better than beige.

Watched BSG "Hand of God". "I am a divine instrument of God." Awesome. I loved Lee's salvo into the base. It looked so much out of something from Command & Conquer. The way he pops out of the tunnel, looks around, hops over those tanks and drops those bombs outside the distillery. Beautiful.

Sleep. GALACTICA TOMORROW/SATURDAY. WOO-HOO.

Oh, one last thing. What happened to Ellen on New Caprica? I don't recall seeing her in the webisodes so does she reveal herself to be a cyclon? Is she discovered? Is that why Tigh has become the badass revolutionary that he appears to be? Not long now. 2 new episodes. YESH!

Champloo

So, secondary thoughts. Do I need to scrap champloo? I mean, I have close to a million hands in there but most of them are PP. Damnit.

Anywho, I watched PrisonBreak.207 yesterday. Pretty good. I'm not really loving this second season but whatever. I don't know why exactly FBI waxed Tweener. Is he working for the company? IIRC, he said 'they' told him to. Sucre had better not be a dick. Yea, sure, T-Bag belongs in jail but no one else does. Cop girl was good but I didn't recognise her from anything else. Talented and quite pretty.

Nip/Tuck.405 and all the other episodes I haven't mentioned. Good stuff. The handicap theme is weird as hell. Midget nurse? WTF. Sean's affiar is a better storyline (and looks to get better when she reappears next week). Mat's Scientology stuff is also good. The Christian/Black Chick/James thing is all promising and is undoubtedly going to be the main story arc. Well, I think the Church of Scientology is going to be major too.

BSG. Starbuck: "Frak that, give me some more of those magic pills." Doc. Kottle: "[snip explanation] Besides, I need them for myself". Galactica is so frakking awesome. FRIDAY. WOO, WOO.

Lost.301 premieres in a few hours. God am I sick of Lost but we'll see.

"NO MORE MR. NICE GAIUS!" rofl.

Rebooted and vacuum analyzed. Hopefully performance will pick up. Probably not. Frakking come on reiser4 for god's sake. And, no, I'm not using freaking -mm. -ck forever, yo!

Dear god, looking at party tables is depressing. I thought maybe it was just a Tuesday thing since games, iirc, were always shitty when I looked at them. Nope, fish seem to be donking off whatever money they have on the site. Meaning tables full of people with 30-50BBs. Wow, caught an interesting hand. Fish (50/26) LRR UTG with KTs...and he called a push for 100BB. Fucking sick.

This is an amazing thread. Almost everyone I figured to be semi-decent is 2p2. No sign of MrStation33 but roflroflkid, dirkpitt, and a bunch of others come out. The funny thing is I've seen Party tables where 4 out of 6 seats are 2p2. Talk about game selection.

Got new dvd drive. Going to reboot.

Whitewash

Reading some more on the crisis. $4BN wiped off the industry in one fell swoop. So absurd. The Telegraph has a good comment on the situation. Especially:

If it was worried about the immoral effects of the internet it would apply the same act passed on Friday to the porn industry. This act is about protecting the interests of the US horse race betting industry and the health of its state lotteries. It's also about protecting the interests of the Las Vegas gambling giants.

Note, I am not an avid reader of the Torygraph but this is spot on analysis.

Anywho, checked on the status of my dabs.com order (graphics card and VGA extension cables). They haven't even fucking shipped it and I was expecting is tomorrow at the latest (ordered 27th). I told them I was not impressed and would likely be using their competitors in future. Of course that was in email since they have no fucking phone numbers. Of course.

Not that quad-head is essential but it would be fun to try.

I may try playing live. Apparently they spread £1/2PL that's full of weak calling stations.

Just had a reasonably intelligent conversation with J. about the crash. Until this bit. J: "If only you could have forseen that you could have made a killing on the stock..." Me: "Short." J: "See in the futures market it's possible to trade on whether a stock goes up or down...". Okay.

Anyway, colouring on my new monitor was kind of fubared. I RTFM and fixed it. Just cleaned it and noticed some damaged areas on the screen. Bottom-right corner it looks like it's been polished with some abrasive agent. There are also a few more scratches but that's the major area.

Rewatching BSG stonecutter discs. Drive still appears buggered as I cannot reach the end of any disk. BSG is fucking awesome. The tall, dark, and handsome guy from the webisodes is also in 'Litmus' as a deckhand. Six: "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." lol. I love Six. I think I'd probably love Tricia too. </Whimsical> Adama owns too. "Make your choice, son.", as he closes the tribunal/witch hunt.

DAMNIT, can't seek to block 2097152. Fuck.

Meh, far too small to bother downloading and only one with nudity.

Doubla-meh. I really could do with playing poker but the 'best' game on party right now has 3 semi-shortstacks, 1 idiot I have notes that says "called all-in with FD" (I wish I'd noted how high the FD was, IIRC it was pretty low, 7 or 8-high), 1 nit, and an unknown who looks semi-decent. Okay, he's minraising, betting 1/4th pot on the river, and showing Q2o's -- that he limped in OTB -- turned two pair. I take that back he's not even close to decent. Oh, this is bad news. Every table seems to be full of people with less than 50BB.

*Looks at FT*

Tripla? Geez. A good average pot on FT for 1/2NL seems to be anything $40 and over. Compare that to party and it's not close. Well, compare that to how party used to be. Right now they're all $50-something except one with a bunch of SS's where it's $80. My weak tight friend who minraises middle set on a super drawy board is there too. Seems to be up a buyin. I guess he flopped another set and did his minraise thing. Good for him, omg. I am sticking to my plan and practicing at lower stakes on FT. Just had to leave a SSNL table though because it was full of short stacks. I looked down at QJs in the CO, BT and SB had 50BB, BB had 25BB. Fold. Funnily, BT raised and the blinds folded. Oh, I see the standard BS happens at SSNL too. Raise 88 in the SB, BB calls. J26hh. Bet/call. Turn non-heart King. Bet, PSR. OKAY BUDDY. He's repping a HUGE hand, whether or not he had one IDK. I thought it was a good spot to double barrel but I guess not. I am guessing KJ, 22, 66, AKhh, or air. From the way he's been playing since, I'm guessing he had it.

God, fuck off. I call a shorties minraise with AQs. Flop Q67dd giving me TPTK+FD. I try and mash the pot button but *clunk* fucking FT freezes up. Oooh, that was nice. Last hand at 200NL table I get JTs UTG. I debate playing it but decide to. Anyway, I flop overs + FD in family pot (4s5s9d). SWEET. I lead strongly, button smooth calls, and blinds fold. I don't care much what he has calling with on the turn since I make my flush. Hurrah! 3/4 bet, call. River 4th spade. Of course. Of fucking course. I check, as I mostly check with As trying to induce a bluff. This might be a leak since villains won't be bluffing with hands that have showdown value in position. And obviously they have showdown value most of the time if they're calling flop and turn. He shows 44. Nicely played, tardo. I should have probably pushed since he didn't have much left. Or valuebet. VB is a little transparent though, really, so I don't know what value it actually has.

26/7/3 raises UTG, CO fish calls, TAG button calls, I fold AKo in the SB. What? Probably sounds weak as fuck, and it is. but there's method to my nitting. His UTG opening range is small to say the least. Most of the the time it's a coinflip and I will win little more than is in the pot already when I'm ahead and will lose more when the flop comes AJx and he's got JJ. Plus there's the fish who I don't mind playing largish pots OOP with one pair but then there's the TAG OTB. All in all, I think it's marginal either way. I think 3betting there is a terrible mistake.

Anywho, I get QQ in the BB on a SSNL table. There's a 3BB bet out so I 3bet. He 4bets. It looks like it could be minimum raise but whatever, it's a 4bet. Flop is low semi-connected rags with a FD. I check/call, check/call push. At 200NL I probably fold flop unimproved. And probably don't call the 4bet. Unless I have notes that dickhead loves to shove AKo unimproved. I have loads of those notes, believe it or not. Yeah, it sucks having a bluff catching hand but it's good if they bluff often enough. Anywho, he had JJ. lolz, results. I don't know if "hay, I have QQ lets stack off" is something to add to my game or not but it was an interesting experience.

God, there's shortstack bitches at SSNL too. I hate shortstacks. Yes, I'm sure as shit it's +EV for them to play that way whether they're good or bad players. Yes, I'm sure as shit it's annoying because they steal my EV. Die fuckers.

Um, other than that. Small successes. Got minraised on some flops with nothing and gave it up. Check/folded some flops without cbetting. Working on improving my game. The check/folding was going to turn into check/raising with ATC to repeat offenders. I feel that I am playing beter and beginning to 'get' this game.

However, looking at September's numbers, things are pretty dire. I never recovered from the Prima incident and I have broken even. Actually, no. Thinking about it: Prima -$800, Party +$1200, FT +$200ish. Oh wait, that is breakeven. It's also not enough hands.

Someone said on 2p2 that the Prima games are different and you have to check/call more since the fishies fold when you bet but get aggro when shown weakness. Interesting if true. Fishies on Party get aggro when you bet too which is a bonus.

God, I'm going to miss party. Softest games I've found anywhere. People stacking off with nothing routinely. Thank you Bill First for killing my dream.

I might do some SSNL coaching. I feel that teaching is itself a great learning tool. Problem with that is I am not a good orator and the money is not 'much'. I feel I could justify $50/hr but who at SSNL wants to pay that much for a coach. Besides, if I were to teach someone wrong it would be terrible. Maybe as bad as teaching someone correctly given the way things are going.

Goals for the coming month: Really work on my game. Things are going to get a lot tougher and if I want to survive this fall (or, better yet, prosper) I need to be bulletproof solid. That means playing fewer tables and making better decisions. Sure it's cool to crank up as many tables as possible and hit buttons but, honestly, I'm not a strong enough player for that to be profitable. I would like to survive until the Asians and Euros starty pouring in. I would like to survive until the Americans come back. And, above all, I would like to quit my fucking job and fix my fucking life. Thank you.

-$1BN downswing

Haha, take that variance, dikshit! Crack my Aces repeatedly, will you? Hohoho.

God, what a crock of shit. Finally starting to make some decent money. Finally getting to the point of being able to quit my job and POW! Right in the kisser.

Yes, technically I can still play indefinitely but with 70% of PP's player base gone it's fucked. FT/Stars may follow suit. One good thing might be less US pros at the tables over the the next few weeks. After that not only will there be less pros but less fish. Options? Bodog (allegedlly good), Prima (no thanks, awful software, rubbish games, IMO), Ladbrokes (same shitty Prima software, maybe even worse games. Might be good for one table), B2B, or Cryptologic. I don't know much about B2B and Crypto but, again allegedly, they're mostly european based.

A withdrawal request has been accepted to deposit £1,188.04 GBP into account:

Lloyds TSB - XXXXXXXX

Left $1k in Party. 5 buyins ought to be enough for anyone. Besides, if they do go insolvent I'd rather lose 5 than 16. Shipped Neteller to bank account too. Right now, I'd much rather have money in savings than online.

Drive me crazy

I think my dvd drive is el-fubar. Sucks big time. Fight Club wouldn't work (I got to just past the chemical burn scene) a few weeks ago and now Sin City won't play at all. So I tried watching BSG mini-series. Got to the point where the Galactica had jumped after Ragnor(sp) confrontation and busto. It's either that or all my media has become corrupted...or was burnt wrong to begin with.

BSG is the best show evar! I can't wait for next Friday's episode. Watched the 8 webisodes. "Some things you don't do, Colonel, even in war." Awesome.

Had a lazy, lazy 'afternoon' (it's 9pm now but I didn't get up til 1pm). Need to play some poker.

Played a few hands on FT. I was down to less than 2 buyins. Wow, sucks. Trouble with that is I can't make the plays I need to make. Had JJ, guy floated me for the second time. Right, I think I'll check/push the turn...only there's someone else in the hand. UGH. Guy pushed the turn and of course floaty bitch folded. BUT THEN a miracle happened and I flopped a set after raising 88 UTG. Guy pushed turn with 98s and I was more than happy to call him. BACK TO EVEN. GEEGEE.

Dikshit giveth and Dikshit taketh away. Verily. AA within minutes of each other. Cost me 150BB. First one, have two idiots on my right (how's that, position on these freaks for a change? No way!) and they both limp UTG & UTG+1. I only have stats on one but he's 65/23. His buddy I suspect is very similar. Anyway, those two see the flop with me. It's 566cc or something. I bet, he minraises. Oh boy, great. I call. Turn nothing, he bets $60 and I call. River another nothing and he puts me all-in. Call, whatever, T6. Yeah, nh. Fucking muppet. And, to make matters worse, I get AA on another table in the CO. Open, CO calls. Flop is sickly wet, I bet, he minraises, obviously. I call. Turn completes flush & straight draws. I bet with the intention of folding. He calls so I put no more money in. He checks behind on the river so I briefly think "Hay, maybe my hand IS good". Not a fucking chance, of course he had a set. So, I manage to get QQ, KK, & AA with two total fish on my right and lose a buyin at that table. How absolutely standard. The guy I lost to then loses 300BB to his donkey buddy with a rivered two pair against the other guy's broadway. Q4o no goot, donkey. Oh great, now I've had JJ. Good job I didn't go past the flop with that one since tardo had Q2 for TPNK. It's always the same with donkeys like that, I cannot catch one goddamn hand when they appear. Oh, I mean I caught nice starting hands to be sure but starting hands mean dick after the flop. OMGZ, I flopped a set. OMGZ, I flopz a set. OMGZ, I smoothcall his PSBs. He donkbets the river, $35 into $100 and I finally raise. "You have ace-high fuck sake", I said in the chatbox while he hollywoods his inevitable fold.. Ace-high is probably overestimating his range in all honesty. It was more likely 7-high.

So, losing 50BB to an unknown nit, and 100BB to a known tard. Making 60BB back from another known tard. IDK, I will post the hands. I think they are "standard" given my reads or lack of them. Maybe I should have check folded the turn against the unknown nit. I will post that one. Maybe I should have folded the turn against the known tard. I mean, check/minraise, lead turn is pretty strong. Trouble is his range of "strong" hands is super large. Any fucking overpair, especially premiums he's going nutso with. However, obviously premiums don't make sense since he limped in. 99 maybe. UGH. Flopped another set but only the weak-tighty stays in after the flop. I don't know what to do so I misplay it by going for a turn check/raise. He checks behind. GRR. River pairs the turn card giving me a FH. I quickly pot it to look like a bluff. Annoyingly weaktighty has me pegged and says "boat. I'd bet my life. I'm folding QQ." Sweet. So by trying to trap the fish I betrayed my hand to the weaktighty. I don't know how I could have recovered after flop c/c. Leading turn, in retrospect seems good. Valuebetting river also, in retrospect, seems good. However, I'll bear in mind that line when I want to bluff a weaktighty.

This is awesome:

90% VPIP

It's the new winning style. Tripled up when I flopped a set of Tens against a nit and a tard. Nit had AA, tard had 89. I made one hand after that. A6s on an AA5r flop. Tard check/raises to $100 straight over regulars awful cbet and my call. I know he does this with ANY ace and possibly some pocket pairs...and maybe even some high-cards. But, for 300BBs, I'm not dicking around with such a crappy kicker. AQ+ I probably go broke against this guy. If only that five had been a six...

Did okay other than that. Folded QQ on a AKxxxr board. Retard showed QTo. I mean, seriously. I thought the guy (ReloadBra) was solid but there is so much wrong with the way he played that hand. Raising QTo UTG, I don't love his call of 3bet from the blinds either but he has position so okay. And I love his flop call with a gutshot. I was close to calling his bluff on the river too. So close. I thought he knew that I had TT-QQ and would have difficulty calling a large bet on the river, but then I went too far and thought that he would know that I knew that. Meh, I was going to post it but he needs to be bluffing here >50% of the time to make it a profitable call.

RAKEBREAK LOL