Correction

I would like to apologise for any inaccurate impression that may have been created by my previous post, approximately seven hours ago.

For the record, and to clear up any misunderstanding, I fucking hate poker.

I just played another set of three sit and goes. Regrettably, one of them proved to be a Limit game rather than no-limit... I'm glad I managed to realise this just before I hit 'return' on my witty comment about the ridiculous number of mini-bets and mini-raises that were going on.

Anyway, in one game I managed to romp to victory without even once having the worst of it when significant money went into the pot. In the second, I was the short stack (but only a double through from being in contention) with six players left and got it all-in pre-flop with Ace-Queen versus - yes - Ace-Jack. Sure as you like, the fucking Jack turned up on the flop. Again.

And in the limit event, I played rather well actually and got to the last four. Here I got it all-in pre-flop versus the intensive-care short stack with a coin toss, and lost. Since the biggest stack only had four big bets at this stage, that was pretty much the end of me (I couldn't possibly hope to overturn AJ with my K9 a couple hands later).

Stupid fucking game. I feel like Phil Hellmuth, only shorter and with fewer endorsements.

Domination frustration

You know, I really do LOVE poker. I play almost every day; I play for hours on end some days; I have bought over twenty poker (or poker-related books) and still own about 15 of them; I think about it all the time; I read about it all the time, I am obsessed with it.

I just frigging love poker. And that's despite my losses in heads-up battle, either a heads-up match or at the end of a sit and go over the last 48 hours, coming from my A9 v A8, KQ suited v KJ off, AA v 9T on a ten-high flop, and QQ v TT (which was all-in pre-flop on the very first hand). It truly has reached the stage where, with a pre-flop all-in where my hand utterly dominates my opponent, I genuinely expect to see one of his three kicker outs hit the board. AT v T7 was another that I forgot.

But I still love the game - and I'm winning, just not as much as I feel like I could be. I played five 'sets of three' at the NLHE sit and goes yesterday, taking three 1sts, three 2nds and a 3rd. Oh, and two bubbles when I refused to try to limp into third spot. It was a nice return for less than four hours' play, but I admit I am a little sore that two of the second places came down to me getting beat heads-up with 75% and 66% favourite hands. Make it five 1sts, one 2nd and a 3rd and I start to look like Johnny Chan.

If you do play sit and goes, I highly recommend playing several at once. It is all too easy (for me, at any rate) to out-think yourself in these games, but playing three or more at once you zip around the tables and also avoid putting too much emotional investment into any one table or situation. I find myself more prepared to put my chips and neck on the line when I have several necks in play at once, and so I make greater use of that precious folding equity, as well as not folding too easily to some of the bone-headed Party plays.

Talking of boneheads and Party, I really am getting dreadfully sick of all the morons and their abusive table-chat. At times it feels like I am sitting at a table with nine 21-year old pricks, all wearing baseball caps and other sportswear (so that their appearance is unambiguously Not Gay), with an overload of testosterone to match their acne, and no outlet for those hormones besides wanking off and spouting macho bullshit over the internet. Now, apologies to my American reader, but I just don't see this sort of ubiquitous and relentless behaviour at Ladbrokes (no Americans allowed). Perhaps that go-getting, aggressive boldness that has made the USA so dominant in the world (good or bad thing, discuss) also makes its young men behave like complete and utter dickheads.

Having said all that, and coming from my own macho bullshit genes, I have seen the cigar girls outside the WSOP mentioned in a couple of blogs now, and I want to see a picture of them... They've been described as 'skanky', and I have a mental image of 'em that I want to judge for validity.

Until next time, peace!

Buzzing

I had a reasonable weekend. Didn't put in all that many hours of poker as I was fairly socially active, but they were good hours.

Actually, my head is buzzing with hands and situations... Bluffing into two opponents on the river at PLO8, at least one of them should have folded to get me half a decent pot, but both called with non-nut one-way hands despite the strength I had shown throughout... losing a reasonable pot (a session make-or-breaker) as the smallest of small favourites with my wrap draw... taking a nice pot after calling a preflop raise and bluffing all streets to the river... making a good call on the end after an extra moment's thought... and failing to bet and take a pot on the river despite having made the right read.

I have got myself accustomed to playing two tables at the next game up, handling the swings of a session at a higher limit. Last night was particularly swingy, though only from stuck to level to stuck to level again! I feel quite good about my game, and feel a big win in the offing.

I bought one of these today. I've got every old arcade game imagineable on a CD for my laptop, but you can't beat playing them with a nice chunky joystick. One of the very first things I will do when I am making big wedge at the $1000 tables is to buy a cocktail table arcade machine... one of the real classics.