Live and kicking (myself even harder!)

There’s a good reason why I don’t play many tournaments…

You may have to stick with me on this it could be a long one. After the arrival in Tallinn on the Friday there was a 500euro comp in the evening. It kicked off at 5pm but I decided to catch up on some sleep in the afternoon. If I woke up before 5pm I’d play if I didn’t I would hit the cash tables / single table tournaments in the evening.

I woke up at 9pm and headed down to check the action. Apparently the cash games were getting raked to death… up to £15 in some pots and run in Estonian Krons (it’s a hard enough working out pot odds without having to do a currency exchange as well)

I decided to play a few single table games and relax before the main even. The STTs were friendly and most were kicking off for about £50 with 10 runners.

I lost the first one with a stupid move, by the time the 2nd one got going quite a few players were out of the 500 tournament and we were joined by two of the Hills sponsored pros (Julian Thew and Steve Vladar) a few locals and a few scandies and Brits. I chopped the 1st one with a local when 50/50 in chips (he had to go apparently and with the half the locals in there having mob connections I was in no mood to argue!), it was interesting only in the fact that I got down to 3 handed without having to show a hand, for some reason I was getting respect. The 3rd one I won as well and in the 4th I cashed in 3rd place. So far so good, it was good to meet a few people and have a chat with Julian Thew… nice chap!


A decent nights sleep and I was ready to go for the main event! It was looking pretty well set up for my game… hour levels, 63 runners , 15000 starting chips and with William Hill adding 25k we were playing for 151,000 euros with a final table of 9 getting paid. There was the expected invasion of Scandies, a few internationals and locals,and about 15 Brits. Hills are obviously targeting the Scandinavian market at the moment and deserve credit for adding the 25k.

My table looked ok. I had Steve Vladar two to my left and having played with him for a few hours the night before and seen him play on TV a few times I was happy have known player near by. Also on there for a short time was Matt Tyler who had a finger in every pot going until he was moved.

1st hand and I’m not off to the greatest start. I pick up AJ and put a raise in I get a couple of callers including Mr Vladar. Great flop for me … Jd with two rag hearts. I decide to lead off with a mid pot bet and get raised by SV, this chases everyone else out of the pot and I flat call. I thought about a re-raise but I know he’s very tight, and I’m little worried he’s got the over-pair or hit his set. Turn is a black rag and I check he bets about 1300 into the 2000 pot. The one place I didn’t put him was the flush draw, so I call and decide there and then that if the 3rd heart drops I’m betting it after I’ve checked the turn… The heart comes on the river and I lead off with a 2000 bet and he thinks for a few seconds and calls showing JhTh flush.. not the best of starts and 4500 down.

This changed the game plan a little, as I could not really afford to take another big hit, so it was batten down the hatches see if I could grind it up again. I then go card dead for a long time, picking up the odd pot here and there but drifting down to about 8-9k by the start of level 4.

I then pick up 44 in a pot with 4 limpers, flops comes 4 K Q. I fire a small bet in looking for a bite and sure enough one of the other three has hit something and puts a raise in. I smooth call. Turn comes an ace, and I stick a mid sized bet in and he flat calls. OK he’s on K rag. River is a great card for me, another K. I bet out and he flat calls and mucks showing a king. Back up to about 14k.

I then limp with Ah3h and call a small raise from Steve Vladar. Flop comes 3 3 J, I lead off and get the raise from SV. At the moment I’ve got him on AJ and I think I’m going to get paid in full. I flat call his raise, turn another J !! Bugger! I check and look up to see him checking and looking like he’s lost the winning lotto ticket. Crafty sod had the Jack beat and has QQ, KK, AA. I stick a little value bet in on the river and he shakes his head and folds. I asked him in the break if I got lucky with that jack and he said yes I had the jack beat. I’m starting to enjoy myself!

Things go quiet through levels 5 and 6 and I pick up a few chips here and there. I’m up to about 20k when I get moved to a much tougher table. Within a few hands it’s fairly obvious that there are several scandie ‘at-it’ merchants who are re-raising with rags every other hand. I’m safe in chips and keep my head down until I get a better feel for the table picking up the odd pot here and there to keep my nose in front. The scandie to my right was all over my blinds and I was looking for a spot to take him on. That came when everyone folded to his SB and he raises to 1.2k, I’m 99% sure he is at it and re-raise him to 4.5k playing 5h6h, I’m a bit worried when he calls but when the flop comes 5d 8h 4h I’m over the moon.

He pushes all in for 24k and has me covered… I’m not laying that down, I think I’m already in front with the 5 to be honest but even if hes on AA I’ve still got 17 outs twice to improve. With 10k in the pot and I stick ‘em in. Sure enough he sighs and flips Q7os. Just to rub it in a bit the river is the 7 making his over pair and my gutshot straight.

I get moved again they announce that play will finish ahead of schedule in 2hours time. The new table was again a tough one with lots of scandies. Including one hyper aggressive chap in a suit (who I later found out was Ken Lennard) who was two to my right on my BB. I had Steve (another Hills qualifier) on my SB and it wasn’t to long before we locked horns. I re-raise him with KK and he calls… the flop comes 6 7 T (two clubs) and he pushes all in… again he has me covered and I have a think, I’m 50/50 on the call, one of my Kings is a club…and my calling station instinct kicks in. He says “oh shit!” turning over two total rags that just about give him an up and down draw… 4 8 !! He does not catch his straight and I’m up to 60k ish.


I bleed off 15k to Ken Lennard when I call his 'button steal' with A9s flop comes T high and I bet after his check and he pushes all in.... it was only 17k more to me to call but I fold… if I lose it I’m back in the shit with 20odd thousand.

There’s only about 40mins of play left in the day and I tell myself once more not to do anything silly. Steve Vladar is now again to my left and has not played a hand for about 2 hours slowly bleeding off his chips. He’s playing about 28k and I’m on about 47k. It’s all fold to my SB and I wake up with JJ and put my normal raise in. He pushes forward for all his stack and I’ve got a decision to make.

Ok, I know he’s tight so he’s probably got a hand. I also know he’s a half decent player and if he’s not played a hand for ages and is getting low on chips then he needs to get paid. If he’s got AA KK (maybe QQ) he has to gamble and let me see a flop in order to get paid. So it’s not AA KK … that leaves me with mid pocket pair or AK/AQ. If it a mid pair I’m miles in front, if its AQ/AK I’m favourite and I’ve got chips in the pot, if it’s QQ I’m still in the game 20k or so left if I lose it… CALL!

He flips AK and picks up an extra two outs on a Q T Rag flop… another Rag and another Q seals his fate and I’m up to about 80K. Play finished shortly after and I’m happy to see that there is no massive chip leader… but 3 of us on 80K!!


DAY2

22 returned for day two, the average stack was 40k, so I was very happy. There were a few short stacks and being scandies they were not hanging around. The starting requirements for a push from these guys was not high and I called a 15k all in preflop with AsJs and he flips AQos, we both catch our kicker but no more help and I take an early hit.

Decided to be patient and find a spot to take on one or two of the guys who were getting desperate. I didn’t have to wait long and I raise with KK and find action from a mid stack who pushes all in with AKos… No help for him and I’m up to about 100k.

We are down to about 15 when all fold to my SB. I raise with A6suited and get the call. The flop comes A 6 Q. I put in a probe bet and he takes the bate and pushes all in, I beat him to the pot and another 40k comes my way after he flips JT!

It then took a while to get down to 11 players. It was tough to find a spot with Ken Lennard still raising a lot and playing his flops pretty well. I did take him on once or twice and I think the score was probably 2-1 to him.

The play went on and on and the blinds steadily rising started to bite into my stack as I dwindled down towards 100k and was pretty much card dead. Finally the 11th player went and we were hand for hand on the bubble. There were no really short stacks but the blinds were putting pressure on everyone. Play went on and on and on! I must have watched about 5 all in races where the short stack could have easily gone out, Matt Tyler got very lucky when his tournament was on the line when he pushed with TT and was called by QQ. He caught a ten on the flop and it was to prove costly for me.

I really needed to start playing some hands but short of re-raising with total trash I was drifting into trouble. I picked up A9 and put my standard raise in and get re-raised all in. I did the same with KK and everyone folds! The guy to my left is getting into a little trouble on 35k and I’m on about 85k. All fold to me on the SB and I push in with 83os looking to pick up the 9k blinds and 2500 in antes. I think he’s got enough to fold on the bubble, especially as there are shorter stacks on the other table. Unless ,of course, has a monster… sods law being what it is… he calls with AK, and I’m relieved to have live cards but he picks the pot up with A high.

This leaves me around the 50k mark and in the shit along with 3-4 other players. I need to find a spot urgently with it costing 11500 every 5 handed round as we had been playing on the bubble for what must have been 2 hours. I push with AJ and all fold, a few more races on the other table can’t give us a bubble boy! All fold to my BB and then I have to give one up to a raise. I’m still hanging in there with 35-50k.

I then pick up TT under the gun. No way on Gods earth am I passing! ALL IN! My mate Ken calls and flips AQos… the poker gods waste no time is putting me out of my misery with a Q on the flop and I’m out in 10th, 9th place paid 4.5K.

With so much bubble play it did not take long for players to fly out on the final table. Matt went deep with a 4th place finish and Ken L continued his run of good fortune and good play out drawing AQ with A4 on the river to seal the critical pot of the final stages and form there went forward to win it taking 55k.


Needless to say… I’m a bit gutted! The money is not the end of the world but missing the chance to get interviewed by Rhowena Colclough on the TV is the real sickner :o)

Ken L came and had a word with me after and told me I played too tight on the bubble. He’s right. I just could not believe it was to last 2 hours combined with the fact I was pretty much card dead for that time.

As you can imagine I’ve been replaying things over and over in my head seeing where it went tits up. Other than trying to bluff some pots on the bubble with trash (which I did once or twice) I’m not sure, I probably need to take a look at this area of my game. Watching that man Mr Lennard has given me some food for though.

Taking the positives from the weekend… I finished about a £1k up and it was great fun.. and I’ve got a William Hills cap! I met some great people… big hello to Gav, Steve, Jake , Julian etc.

I just need to put it behind me and look forward. After the Broadway and Tallinn it’s given me some confidence that I can go deep along with some of the best players in Europe. But there is still room for a massive improvement especially in one or two areas!


As for the reason I don’t play many tournaments…I’ve forgotten already! ;o)

Good luck
Jim

Tallinn bound

I’m starting writing this on the plane out to Estonia. Despite Robs advice I’ve decided to travel with laptop and plan to do one or two updates and maybe a couple of pics while I’m out there.

It’s not been the best preparation so far! I got to the hotel at Stansted at midnight and had the alarm set for 5am after a fitful sleep. I also managed to leave my contact lens box at home and had to sleep in them, my eyes are like piss holes in the snow at the moment.

Any thoughts of sleep on the plane were soon scuppered as just behind me is a group of lads on a stag do. Most of them are ok but in amongst them is the MOST ANOYING COCKNEY I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting in my entire life. He reminds me of a cross between two Fast Show characters, Colin the annoying office prankster with the voice and laugh (every 30 seconds) of Arthur the not very funny old time music hall comedian. He’s just offered the air hostess his passport in exchange for another round of beers, I encouraged her to take his offer on two counts, the first being with any luck the Estonian police would subject him to a rubber glove job if he pitched up without his passport and secondly we would not have to put up with him on the way home.

It’s good to get a break away from March. I can’t remember a time when I ran as bad as I have been doing. Things have perked up a little in the last few days but prior to that it was scary. I’ve always laughed when people talk about golden accounts but I’m starting to believe it! I switched to Betfair from Hills for the WSOP promo towards the end of Feb and ever since its been 3 steps back and one step forward. I’ve had some shocking beats, set over set more times than I can count and everytime I hit a decent flop the turn and river seems to deliver 4 to a flush or straight. I could probably bore you with about 60 such hands but I won’t.

Having said all that the bank roll is a touch bruised but far from knackered and things have definitely been on the up the past few days. I plan to enjoy the weekend in Tallinn and come back refreshed. I may well drop a gear and beat up the lower NL tables for a week or so.

Good Luck,

Jim

Perceptions

It’s been quite and amusing 10 days since my last post. A number of the regular players from £2/5 drop in here now and catch up on the blog. The last entry was a post about losing months and the damage they do to your average earnings, it was prompted by a losing week. Quite a few people have taken this as some indicator that all is not well at Wonky towers!! The bank roll can handle a losing week/month, but it does not mean I have to like it.

Advice has been flooding in from all corners (thanks by the way!) What has been so strange is the range of advice. I’ve been told to loosen up, I’ve been told to tighten up, I’ve been told to move up in stakes, I’ve been told to drop down in stakes! If there was a crisis at Wonky towers I don’t know if I’d be coming or going!?

This got me thinking of people’s perception of me and how I play. I’ve been getting a fair bit of ear ache at the tables (nothing really nasty, just comments) in the past month or two from various players, but again the range of abuse has been from both ends of the spectrum.

Take DavidJames who’s a regular on the £2/5 Crypto tables… it’s an apt name as he’s partial to the odd calamity. He’s constantly having a dig, I’m too tight, I’m easy to read, I’m sooo lucky , he's no idea how i ever wi a hand... when it comes to people like this then I’ll let the stats do the talking. The flip side of the coin is “OMG u fish!!” crew, again I get these comments all the time! So am I tighter than a gnats chuff or looser than a slappers knickers elastic?

Who knows? All I can say is that if I’m pissing people off to the point where they have to give me an ear full everytime I play them, I must be doing something right! ;)

Good Luck,

Jim

The curse of the poker player: Losing months

Well the 1st week in March has almost been as good as the 1st week in Feb! CRAP!

Considering that I took the Mrs away for a long weekend in Brussels and I’ve been away for 4 days in March the poor performance is pretty impressive. It must be something to do with getting a good month closed down and then relaxing and playing like a total arse for 3 or 4 days. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that as far as trends go, months where I have a bad start usually end up ok and visa versa! So it’s up hill all the way from here to avoid a poor month I guess.

I need to sit down and have a good look at the stats and hands where I’ve been getting hammered. Periodic lessons learned sessions are always healthy. I usually do this after each month end. Look back and identify where things went wrong and what can you do to stop it happening again… this months start would suggest I need to work on it a little!

I’ve been trying to boost my average monthly earnings. Now this may sound really obvious but I think the impact of a bad month is seriously underestimated by most people. If you are playing for a living then losing months are a pox on your balance sheet that will kill your average income.

Looking back at my 2005 I had a really good month in early summer where I cleared more than £15K, this was followed by a bad month where I dumped £8K and a month where I just about broke even. I have no doubts that the 8k loss would not have been sustained if I’d not won so much the previous month. At the time I justified it in this way. The figures sound fairly impressive for the level I was playing at but when you look at the impact of such wild swings on your average monthly earnings …..

Net 7k profit across three months… 2.33K ave per month. Now don’t get me wrong this beats a loss but it’s only marginally more than the average rakeback per month. Compare to someone pottering along playing a less volatile (dull?) game and creaming 4k a month out without too much effort.

This all sounds fairly obvious, but I’ve lost count of the number of good players I know who go on a decent 3month run, think they can run over everyone and then throw it all away in a short space of time.

There’s nothing more depressing than losing 6k in a month and working hard the next month to get it back… you look back at the past 60 days and think “Shit! I’ve played 50000 hands and I’m exactly where I started!”

If you can turn your bad months into a break even months then in this example you’d have 3k a month ave to show for your efforts. Work hard to avoid losing months and when you come to your year end audit the healthy profit will look after its self.

Thanks for all the feedback by the way! Much appreciated.

Good Luck,

Jim

February Review

It has to be said that 3 days into the February campaign things were pretty down cast. £5k deficit and an amber light on the bank roll. Since then I’ve managed to put together a great run and with the exception of the last week which has been a bit rollercoaster I was playing solid winning poker.

In the end the net positive after rakeback was getting on for 5 figures. I’m really pleased with this especially considering the 5k I had to make just to get back in the black. Throw in the Tallinn trip as well I think this is one of the most successful months I’ve had for a while….. all the more to spend at Mothercare!

Last night I decided to go down to the local pubs £10 rebuy after a bit of prompting from Rob. The month had been good and the opportunity to lock in the profit, sink a few pints and blow off some steam was appealing. I’ve got a pretty good record in the local game, over the past 12 months I must have played it about 8 times. So far I’ve won once, 2nd once and final tabled on one or two other occasions. Last night I managed to make the final three with a small chip deficit when a 3 ways equal split was proposed for £350 each. 3rd place payed £150 so it was a pretty good deal for me and a nice way to finish off the month.

I mentioned earlier that the last week has been a bit of a roller coaster. I think this is down to two factors. The first is that there seem to be loads of crazy players hitting the 2/5 tables at the moment. The volatility at the tables has been high. When half the all in calls you face are stone cold bluffs you are going to win some big ones with not much but also look a little silly on occasions when you walk into a monster.

The other factor is that I’ve been playing a few more hours and playing 4 tables on occasions as opposed to my usual 2 or 3. This extra play is chasing the Betfair promo WSOP $15k package, it should be achievable with a little extra effort. As a result I’ve lost concentration on occasions (i've not idea how some people can play 8 tables!!) and it is more difficult to play anything other than ABC poker when playing more than 2 tables, you become more predictable and stop picking up the little steals here and there that keep the balance healthy.

In order to combat this I’ve come up with a little handy hint to keep the mind fresh and your opponents on their toes. Nominate one of your multitables as your focus table and put that at the front in the centre of your screen. Play ABC poker on the other tables, but play ‘real poker’ on the focus table, make some moves, steal some pots, keep them guessing. Every 30mins or so, rotate the tables so one of the ABC tables becomes the ‘focus’ table. A simple and effective means of preventing stagnation when multitabling.

Good luck

Jim

PS: It’s good to see that the Blog is getting lots of traffic! The comment button is there for a reason! Say hello! Tell me I’m talking crap! Whatever! Just use it!


EDIT: Bugger!! Rob just pointed out that an option for me to approve all comments had been set. I've just had a look and ive got 20 odd comments for approval from the past month! Doh!! A few of u have asked me for info, i'll reply/send it out today. SORRY! Normal service has now resumed.