Mixed Fortunes

Flashmob went it's usual self tonight. Actually I played it like a knob but shall explain why. On the very first hand songar was all-in to pick up a 140 pot when the flop was showing 3 clubs (It did not surprise me to find out later that songar has a fish symbol next to him on Sharkscope). Although if Sharkscope only had Flashmob results in it's database so would I :)

So I was dealt KK, blinds 10/20, first to act! Did not want to pick up a measley 30 chips with this beauty so limped. 2 other limpers and the blinds completed and the flop comes Q52 rainbow. Blinds check and I bet 80, songar calls everyone else folds. Turn J, I bet 100, songar calls. River T (Looking dangerous now), I bet 100, songar goes all-in. Now to be fair my call was horrible and songar has totally outplayed me here. But if I hadn't seen his all-in on the first hand I fold. But I called, he had a set of Queens and had played the hand very well.

Last place, my quest to get in the money looking a hopeless cause!

Meanwhile I was playing in the Champions League game on Sporting Odds and lasting a little bit longer. Have a good record in these games which are similar to Flashmob games for tightness. Finished 2nd but didn't play that great really, just got some nice hands at the right times. Also played 33 appallingly when I raised on the button, had a caller and flop comes AT6, I check, Turn 2, I check (wtf), River K, I check (boo rubbish). He shows KQ and I should immediately have switched the PC off and retired from poker. But I plugged on and finished 2nd which puts me 11th in the table although unlikely to play tonight so unlikely to finish any higher.

Sharkscope stats were very interesting but somewhat flawed as they only take into account STTs. I would probably be a losing player at Cash/MTTs but my win ratio was good and shows there is merit in playing to cash rather than playing to win!

Black Thursday to Fantastic Friday.

Played the $30 Champions League game on Sporting Odds on Thursday, did well, a couple of nice bluffs got me nicely into the last 4 but then it went terribly wrong, didn't see a hand, lost patience and ran into monsters when I tried to make a move. Finished 4th for $0, 3rd was $108.

So I was fuming and pissed off and I was still bothered about it when I went into work today. I work at the University and was configuring some PCs whilst some disabled students were around and I looked at them and thought to myself "What the fucking hell is your problem". Here are people getting dealt 27os every day but are happy and smiling and polite. Really put my so called problems into perspective. It's just a game, it doesn't matter!

So I remembered tonight was the City AM freeroll that I finished 7th in last week. Entered it again tonight with a positive frame of mind and finished 3rd out of 155 (22 points and £60). 4th won nothing but I didn't bubble. Get in.

Needed a J on the river otherwise I was out in 30th, then got dealt QQ and had 2 all-ins before me (1 was short stack). Incredibly they both had AK and my hand stood up. Then doubled up to 40,000 when I re-raised with AA and got a very dubious call with AJos. A pleasing night.

But just being able to walk and being in good health makes me a very lucky guy. So what if sometimes the cards hate me, so what if my AA was beaten earlier in a STT with K3os, it's utterly meaningless when I think how fortunate my life has been!

Champions League Disappointment

Only 30 entered last night in Leg 8 but it all went wrong again as I ended up in 22nd. Played well and then got dealt JJ, small raise to 450 (75/150 blinds) and I got 1 call from the Small Blind.

I've still got plenty of chips left so can fold this but the flop was a nightmare, rainbow 952! Small Blind moves all-in. Now I got slated on the Betfair forums when I folded JJ on the bubble last week and again I wanted to do the same. Made no sense for this guy to go all-in without a pair and he hadn't been that aggressive before!

Anyway I called and he showed QQ and I was out. Really pissed off because not only is it unlucky that someone had QQ to my JJ but the flop also made it incredibly difficult to fold. So 2 players who were sitting out from the start cruised into the points which was VERY annoying.

$30 game on Thursday, probably won't bother with this one as 10th-20th (I am now in 19th) only get $25.

Weekly Update

Back at work for first time since Monday so rather than actually do any work I'll update my blog. :-)

Still playing mostly on Sporting Odds and Blue Square, with the odd MTT on Betfair. Played poorly in the flashmob to finish 7th. No excuse to pushing with 77 to a raise from Redcar, yes he might have been bluffing but probably wasn't and was just another example of me rashly going all-in rather than thinking!

Did well in the City AM Freeroll on Betfair where I finished 7th out of 150. No money as it only pays top 3 but I have 12 points although can't remember what the prizes are at the moment!

The Champions League tournament on Sporting Odds continues to go well. Only played in 5 of these so far and my record is 4th, 6th, 7th, 21st (grrrrrrrrrr) and 300th in the Freeroll. Some fine fellow on Punters Lounge has updated the table already and I am 17th so hopefully I can get a Top 20 position now at least.

Blue Square is where I play most of my STTs ($5 & $10). These are running very well at the moment. It's strange I just have more confidence on this site than I do on Betfair. Also have loads of notes and just play so much better than I do on Betfair STTs.

Finally Cheltenham which was why I have been off work lately involved backing lots of slow horses. I was saved as my big bet of the week and main tip My Way De Solzen just got home ahead in the World Hurdle.

Champion League and Flashmob

Why the fuck were there 499 people playing the Champions League freeroll on Sunday? There were only 39 people who would play on Tuesday but now it seemed like most of the population of Budapest was playing!

Had a go at it but didn't really have the patience and just chucked them all-in with AK, called by AQ and 87 and manage to come 3rd in that little race. :-)

Then played the Flashmob, tried to mix it up with AJ to start with (Bad mistake) and then doubled through with TT. Not a lot happened then as the final table rocked up and then lost my customary race (Chip Leader if I win it) when my JJ couldn't beat AQ suited. Doesn't matter what way I do it but my overcards or pocket pair can never win the 50/50 in the Flashmob.

We will keep trying......

So summary of the week:

Betfair: Poor, probably down about £15
Sporting Odds: Good, probably up about $40
Blue Square: Good, probably up about $40

Still struggling on Betfair!

I've only really played poker on-line this week on Tuesday and Saturday.
On Tuesday played a couple of MTTs on Betfair, hopeless, so logged onto Sporting Odds and thought I would have a go at their $5 Champions League MTT. Well basically it is a flashmob game, 2 and a half hours to finish 6th out of 39 and a profit of $2.10!

It was like the flashmob game because everyone was more interested in getting points so ridiculously tight tables but good poker andf enjoyed it. Should have finished 10th really but got some stunning luck with 26os against AK to pick up a few more places and end up with 52 points. I see there is a freeroll this evening so may as well give that a go and see what happens.

Betfair is much more of a grind, tried cash when I got in last night and dropped about £20 so played some thunderpaks but my game is not designed for them and finished 4th, 2nd and 5th (Flopped trips, opponent flopped full house). So moved to the Omaha table where I flopped KKK33 full house and lost to quad 3's and then later flopped another full house and lost to a 2 outer on the river!

And what is it about on Betfair when you get KK, raise, get callers and an Ace flops. I raised hard in a STT and was called by the monsters A6os and A2s, and they hit their 2 outer on the flop, happened again as well later.

REPEAT: IT IS NOT FIXED, IT IS NOT JUICED, IT IS NOT RIGGED!!!!!!!!

Finally finished 2nd in a £10 STT despite this dubious play below but I was feeling so negative at that point that I just knew he had AA, KK, QQ or a set!

Table "STT1 2116975 - 1" Seat 6 is the button.
Seat 1: Tomhaf001 (1952 in chips)
Seat 3: Doob (3112 in chips)
Seat 6: Slimcins sits out
Seat 9: brioli (4431 in chips)
brioli: posts small blind 200
Tomhaf001: posts big blind 400
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [Jh Jd]
Doob: raises to 1200
Slimcins: folds
Slimcins sits back
brioli: calls 1000
Tomhaf001: folds
----- FLOP ----- [8s 2c 4d]
brioli: bets 800
Doob: folds
Returned uncalled bets 800 to brioli
brioli: doesn't show hand
brioli collects 2800 from Main pot.

No Flashmob!

Had to go out on Sunday Night for a meal so was unable to play Flashmob or Blue Square Bubble (I like Blue Square bubble as when it started it was a $5000 Freeroll and I won it for $1500, my best ever poker win). Well done to Spiderman who I think was the winner.

Been playing on Sporting Odds generating my $100 bonus mainly, Bored stiff by the micro limits cash Holdem even multitabling so tried some 7 Card Stud. Really enjoy this game but not very profitable. Shame the tournaments on Betfair take forever to fill.

I will probably be back on Betfair this week, despite making profits at other poker sites, Betfair has been a graveyard for my cash over the past 3 months. Just cannot get a break there. But I shall be transferring some funds on other sites to Betfair today and I will try and make the £10 STTs pay.

On Thursday off to the Gutshot to play a £50 Freezeout. Looking forward to it but not expecting great things.