Sunday 9 January 2011

New Blog

I now have a new diary/blog on the Blonde forum. Here is the link...

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=50836.0

Friday 26 November 2010

Downswongs

Had a crazy blowup in Notts where I gg'd about $25k over the space of like 4-days. Don't really know why but decided to play some $25/50 PLO. I lost 2 big hands, nut straight with flursh redraw all in on turn vs top two. He made a house. The second pot I 3-bet doubled suited Aces oop and flopped the nut flush draw on what would ordinarily be a good flop of Q42 if my single opponent didnt have a set of deuces. *Sad face*. I'm not really complaining though, it was completely my fault to be playing stakes that are not only pretty tough but that I'm not rolled for. Not even properly rolled to legitimately take a shot at but thats how it goes.

Trying to grind my way out of it at much smaller stakes but not playing well. Not losing but just not winning what I should be. Think I'm pushing the pace too much which is understandable but nonetheless frustrating.

Got back into the gym atm and eating real good and exercising again with my personal trainer who is awesome. Highly recommend getting one to anyone who has the spare cash - they aren't cheap though.

Hopefully update soon, I'm a terrible blogger.

Friday 24 September 2010

Long Overdue Update - Vegas trip report + a bit of pre + online (Part 1)

So I got back from Vegas about 2 sundays ago. It was my first ever trip there and I absolutely loved it. In some ways it was everything I imagined and in other ways it was completely different to my expectations. One thing's for sure, I can't wait to go back.

The run up was pretty turbulent in truth, I'd put a few K to one side as soon as Vegas was booked and invested it with my then backer. Little did I know that he was scamming half the poker community and the £2.5k I'd invested (aswell as the £5k i'd got my dad to invest). Luckily his family paid everyone back (and quite quickly too) and the money I'd earmarked to blow, could now be blown. I wish him well for the future, genuinely.

Because I have a job and ridic small living costs I live pretty comfortably and can spend money freely (a lot of the time too freely - I should probably save more) and this in turn meant I was never really treating poker as seriously as I should be. If I wanted to take a shot in a big game, I would. If I lost lots in a particular month, I didn't care as a paycheck is never far away. In the last 8 months or so, this has really changed imo. I've taken poker a lot more seriously and grinded small when I've needed to. This led to me binking a $3.5k score and a $16k score (+ a few others) before Vegas which is pretty good for me considering I really don't play many tournaments. I followed these scores up with good results in cash games, grinding the £2/5NL at the Vic and $1/2 and $2/4 PLO on full tilt. In fact, I had very few losing sessions. I was also pleased with the fact that I'd shaken any desire to actually gamble. Hadn't played blackjack or roulette at all apart from in the same way a recreational player might (e.g. £100 on a one off, once or twice).

Fast forward to Vegas and I was going with a bigger bankroll online and offline than I'd anticipated. This didn't deter my plan to only take $5k with me (plus my card +£1500 just incase!).

In retrospect this was a mistake because knowing I had more money to pull up meant I was always likely to do so and didn't have to budget as I think it's correct to do so in Vegas. Fast forward to the day of leaving and I win the breakfast flip at the airport, $120ish in Chinese on the plane and then followed this up by fading the flip for the cab to the hotel and just about every other flip with the lads for the first few days.

Before Vegas, I'd told myself I was going to allow $1k as a gambling budget, as it would be unrealistic to go to Vegas and not play house games at all. I also wanted to try out craps.

Upon arriving and checking in to our hotel (Planet Hollywood) we went for a few drinks in the hotel bar and then for a walk down the strip. After a drinks stop and a quick venture into a games arcade we plodded into the MGM and delved into a cash game. Me, Mitch and Jakally put ourselves down on $2/5 and were all seated on the same table. The other boys were playing on tables nearby. The drinks were flowing and I was happily getting drunk whilst playing in a ridic soft game. I was playing very lag and up around $700 though I'd definitely had too much to drink. Because of my lag style (I'm the value) the players at the table wanted me there and when I wasn't happy that they didn't have orange juice to mix with my vodka, only orange soda, one guy got up, said nothing and came back 10 mins later having been to a shop and got me a carton of orange juice. lol! I'd been 3-betting a fair amount and opening even more so to find AA to a Jakally raise and about 4 calls it looked like the perfect squeeze, which I did to about $120ish. Neil (Jakally) moves in and I snap it off and tell him I have aces. Neil does a massive sigh (think it was a 1.2k pot) and the board rolls off J4392 so I turn my hand and Neil taps the table doing a sigh. As the dealer is gearing up to push the pot in my direction, Neil turns over JJ! SKLJDHGSDGHSDG. Gotta admit though it was a class slowroll and set a really high benchmark for slowrolls for the rest of the trip.

I then decided to bluff some young american kid (obv a $2/5 reg grinder there) in a spot where I 3-bet pre, airballed the flop, picked up the miracle double gutshot and fd on the turn, barrelled that too and barrelled the brick river when, if sober, I mostly likely would have just given up. I just couldn't help it, this kid was about 4 foot tall, looked like a cross between a kiddy fiddler, computer programmer and an outright dick and he perma had a toothpick in his mouth.

I play another 20 mins, just folding and drinking. I'm now around $300 down and get up to go play blackjack where I knock in around $700 before the boys come and find me to drag me to dinner. By this point I was annihilated and literally couldn't see. I got to the restaurant, ordered my food and then fell asleep. The guys, (mostly Neil) pretty much carried me home whilst I just kept grunting because of how sick I felt. The last I remember of that day was telling Stu not to leave me as I was going to die and quickly falling asleep/passing out.

Thursday 12 August 2010

HOLZRENHOLZRENHOLZ?


Follow this mug on twitter http://twitter.com/karl_mahrenholz and receive $200 on full tilt from either Praz Bansi or James Akenhead.

Simple as that

Thursday 1 July 2010

Blogays

Having a blog is pretty tedious most of the time, winning or losing. Us poker players are lazy by nature so we aren't built to write and usually I cant be bothered. Here's a synopsis of some of the blogs I read (linked on my right and how they've changed!).

(Hope no-one takes offence - I'm jus' playin).

Amatay: Used to be young and fun, shaggin every bird he could. Recently celebrated his 35th birthday and about to get married. No longer fun. Still a nit though.

James 'MC' Atkin: Former highstakes nosebleed player and badboy gangster rapper has settled down in Leafy Lincoln with mrs. Had baby and grinds poker like 9-5. Not much of a transition then.

Animal: [ x ] Been bashing the game for years. [ x ] Still moans about running bad. [ ] seems to understand variance.

Steve Holden: Not his former self, only updates his blog 23 times a day now. Possible cause: Twitter.

Ant0893275394734: Has been playing the same game (SNG's) for more than 2 weeks now. Wtf!?


More another time.

I'll be at DTD this weekend playing the £300 and hopefully not the £150.

Saturday 26 June 2010

Monday 14 June 2010

Only Sing When You're Winning.....

So it's been two months since my last update. Why? A combo really but not hiding the fact I've been on a horrible downswing, for the most part due to a bad mindset and some permatilt. It's horrible blogging about losing which I guess explains why I haven't been but I guess I should balance by blogging range a bit better so I'll try and post come wind, rain or shine.

I went to Dusk Til Dawn 2 months back for their 3-2-1 weekend and killed the cash games, making over £3k in the £1/2 games. I normally come back to London on the monday but had booked monday-wednesday off work and elected to stay and play on monday night too as they had a satellite to their upcoming UKIPT. After a quick 10 rebuys in the £20r I couldn't be bothered to keep donating to nits who didnt want to gamble to pick up chips in the rebuy stage so off I plodded into the £2/5 cash game. I doubled within 5 hands (QQ>KJ I 3-bet pre and faded all his outs on the 1047hh board - running it twice I scooped both). I was up about £1000 when someone I speak to in London came and asked what the game was. I speak to this guy on the phone occasionally and we've played in several of the same cash games together, going back a few years to the old gutshot.

He sat and lost his buy in while I was having a drink at the bar and I decided to go back with him to London. I didn't have a train ticket and it was easy. In the car he fed me a line about his bank account being scammed a few days before by a phone insurance thing and that he was going about claiming back £40k in lost funds. Normally when a live poker player says something like this the BULLSHIT BULLSHIT alarm goes off in my head. This guy drives an audi sport and is always dressed in designer stuff, sitting really deep in cash games and I just bought it. I lent him £500. We decided to go to the Empire upon getting into London which was a huge mistake. I was knackered from Nottingham should have just gone home and slept. It was 3am. Instead, I played in a game not deep enough, pushed the pace, misread my hand in one hand thinking I had the nut flush on an unpaired board and subsequently tilted away some money in cash and then on the casino floor. I was still up on the weekend but it turned a very enjoyable, very profitable weekend into a shit one for me and I was not happy.

Added to this the guy doesn't answer his phone anymore and from now on I'll only ever lend money to people who I both know where they live and class as a friend away from the table. People don't/can't stay away from poker for long so I'll catch him eventually.

That aside, I continued to lose more in a few tilted cash sessions and this spiralled into my makeup increasing online. I did manage to put in some really good sessions and ultimately ran hugely below EV. It even got me about giving the game up for good. Luckily, the summer has arrived and I'm also back in the gym, going out with friends more than before taking advantage of the weather and I've also started a Brazilian Ju Jitsu class (love UFC and always wanted to learn BJJ).

This weekend on saturday I stayed up to watch UFC which started at 2am. I decided to 1 table the $28k gtd to keep me awake and by 6am when UFC had finished I was top of the pack where I stayed until the final table where I was 2/9. Unfortunately I flatted two red aces against a cut off raise OTB as the blinds had stacks likely to squeeze. When no one bit and the flop came K92 all clubs I got it in nearly dead vs A5cc. Cold. I eventually went out 8th and to bed at 9am feeling gutted with the $588 reward that wasn't going to do much good to $4k makeup. I got up at 2.30pm the next day and regged my session, playing really really good and managing 4 cashes from 8 comps including a $5.3k win in the 962 runner $16.5k gtd. I used to do well in MTT's back on Crypto and Ipoker but the size of the fields on full tilt I always had a mental block with. I think I pushed the pace too much too trying to win the comp before they started instead of taking it one hand at a time.

Hopefully I can build on the rush before Vegas in August. A live comp bink would be nice soon. Maybe the DTD 300 again. (See the sick 'again' brag?). I'm concentrating on gym and poker and going out for the next few months and that's pretty much it. Strangely even the world cup isn't interesting me that much but I know I'll get more excited in the last of the group games and knockout stages. Cameroon vs Japan with that fucking rediculously tilting noise in the grounds just doesn't appeal right now.

Anyway, I'll try update again soon. Pls can my stakes bink huge at the wsop.