Boring yet profitable cash tables

Been playing cash on Sun almost exclusively for the past week and have doubled my initial investment of $150. Mainly through playing both forms of Omaha, some really bad players here although I do realise that my hands are in the main holding up to the lunatic flush/full house chasers!

But it lacks the excitement of tournament play, the nervous tension of the bubble, the relief and joy of winning (although I hardly remember what that was like). I still find double ups more exciting in a £1 STT than I do on a 15p/25p table when I double up to around £50.

It's just money, the game isn't about money to me, it's about winning and there's no glory in cash so it looks like I'll be playing some MTTs soon.

Got a 3rd in the Flashmob on Sunday, my 60/40's all held up really and then lost a virtual race against Shalimah to cripple me (my A4 against his KQ) and went out next hand in 3rd. Enjoyed it though and even if I had finished my usual 20th it would have still been more enjoyable (and frustrating) than cash.

New job and they appear to have got Betfair blocked!
However working in IT has it's benefits, have already identified the proxy server, now just need to work out how to log in and change the settings!

Poker Tracker / Cash Tables

I'm sure loads of people have this but I bought it for £36 and it's great, not brilliant for STTs/MTTs as you have to enter your own results but for cash it does everything for you. For a boring old statto like myself it's heaven.

The Doob Betfair account is now basically dead and will only make rare appearances for Flashmob games. I have a new identity on Sun Poker having joined via a very nice link on Dibbles blog (Gatsby also has one but I saw dibbles first, sorry Gatsby).

Cash is going well, don't feel the need to make any clever moves like I do in STTs/MTTs and as long as I play 3 tables at once don't get too bored. Got a bit fortunate with 1 hand though, I'm hard at work at the moment (lol) so don't have the hand history but basically I had KK on BB, it was min raised to me and there are 4 people still in, I re-raise to £2.50 and 3 others call.

Flop J98 (all clubs), I have the King of clubs.
I push for £18 (I paniced) and get 2 callers ..... TT (he has 10 of clubs) and J8 (wtf is he still doing in this pot)!!!!!!!

Anyway a low club hits on the turn and the river misses the 6 possible outs that could kill me and I win a £50 pot. It's not big money just nice to win.

As for the BFWCOP team game I see the Flashmobbers are about 13/2 with a 125% book so there could be some good betting there. I was also hoping to back "The Field" at even money but that doesn't look possible anymore :(

Stop try to be too clever!!!!

Played some MTTs/STTs on Sunday and cashed in precisely none of them.

Most annoying of the lot was the 50 Euro added game at 9 in the morning. Patient for the 1st 40 minutes, hit a few sets, got paid off and I'm on the final table with 8,000 chips and 9 people left.

I then get to clever for my own good and represent the Ace on a flop of A77. Weak bet on the flop and check on the turn told me my opponent didn't have it so I set him all-in on the river and he calls with QQ. I congratulated him on the call but didn't mean it. Poor call in my opinion but most people at this level cannot lay down QQ whatever the flop looks like.

Out in the next 2 hands when my two pair loses to a set (Not unlucky, played it terribly) and then chuck my last 1000 chips in the middle with A9 and get called by AT.

Played Flashmob in the evening and got dealt nothing but I was trying to do work at same time so played it as tight as possible and folded. Knew it wasn't going to be my night when my JJ in BB was folded around to me by 8 people. Got a double up with QQ, raised (for the 1st time in ages) to milton who set me all-in. I always pick the right times to bluff!

Went out when AJ32 minimum raised for the 58th time so I reckoned my A5 suited was ahead and went all-in. It was ahead but J9 suited took me out and that was that.

Cash games on Sun are the way ahead but it appears it takes Neteller 50 days to fund my account the thieving bastards.

Good beats, Bad Beats, Seconditis

Still on the STTs for the moment until my Neteller account is funded and I can have a go at the cash on Sun Poker. Withdrew everything from Betfair apart from £55 and have been playing a load of £5 STTs (Holdem & Omaha). Record is .......

1st - 2
2nd - 5
3rd - 3
4th - 4
Other - 7

I think bubbles are important to record but to many 2nds for my liking. So it's a profit of £39.50 and my luck has been running OK.

Posted loads of bad beats so here's one where I got lucky .....

Table "STT1 3279544 - 1" Seat 4 is the button.
Seat 1: BKSRBA (1598 in chips)
Seat 3: dan_s (564 in chips)
Seat 4: 4 Aces (1889 in chips)
Seat 5: Doob (945 in chips)
Seat 6: mraitch (2286 in chips)
Seat 7: KOMBA (653 in chips)
Seat 8: Davjag (2065 in chips)
Doob: posts small blind 25
mraitch: posts big blind 50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [Jh Qs]
KOMBA: folds
Davjag: raises to 100
BKSRBA: calls 100
dan_s: folds
4 Aces: folds
Doob: calls 75
mraitch: folds
----- FLOP ----- [Qh 4h Td]
Doob: checks
Davjag: bets 250
BKSRBA: calls 250
Doob: raises to 845 and is all-in
Davjag: raises to 1440
BKSRBA: calls 1190
----- TURN ----- [Qh 4h Td][6c]
Davjag: bets 525 and is all-in
BKSRBA: is all-in 58
Returned uncalled bets 467 to Davjag
----- RIVER ----- [Qh 4h Td 6c][Jc]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Davjag: shows [Ac As] (A Pair of Aces, Queen high)
BKSRBA: shows [Ad Qc] (A Pair of Queens, Ace high)
Doob: shows [Jh Qs] (Two Pairs, Queens and Jacks, Ten high)
Davjag collects 1306 from Side pot #1
Doob collects 2885 from Main pot

Utter fishiness from me but the 2 I took on had been utterly useless prior to this so the move made sense and what a river.

And how dare I have a post without a vicious bad beat. I saw the 8 before it arrived.

Table "STT1 3286664 - 1" Seat 8 is the button.
Seat 4: 5lugs_ (2025 in chips)
Seat 6: Casinocaz (3579 in chips)
Seat 7: 19ljr83 (1809 in chips)
Seat 8: Doob (2587 in chips)
5lugs_: posts small blind 200
Casinocaz: posts big blind 400
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [Kc Ks]
19ljr83: folds
Doob: raises to 800
5lugs_: folds
Casinocaz: calls 400
----- FLOP ----- [9d 2d 7c]
Casinocaz: bets 800
Doob: raises to 1787 and is all-in
Casinocaz: calls 987
----- TURN ----- [9d 2d 7c][2c]
----- RIVER ----- [9d 2d 7c 2c][8h]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Doob: shows [Kc Ks] (Two Pairs, Kings and Twos, Nine high)
Casinocaz: shows [Tc 6h] (A Straight, Ten high)
Casinocaz collects 5374 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot 5374 Main pot 5374 Rake 0
Board [9d 2d 7c 2c 8h]
Seat 4: 5lugs_ (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Casinocaz (big blind) showed [Tc 6h] and won (5374) with A Straight, Ten high
Seat 7: 19ljr83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Doob (button) showed [Kc Ks] and lost

He thought about it for ages before calling my all-in on the river and if I had AK etc he is getting excellent pot odds. I don't think he did much wrong and I win this hand with a bigger pre-flop raise but I want to get paid for my good hands and am always prepared to take this risk on the bubble.

I Have Been Beaten By STTs

They used to be my bread and butter but lately good play is not getting rewarded at the right times. and that is critical in STTs. No point winning the smaller pots when as soon as you reach the last 5 you keep getting chimped. I know these dumbfucks will call all-ins with any Ace or 2 picture cards and I should be able to use this to my advantage ......... but they keep hitting.

So lets not throw all the toys out of the pram this time.
Lets have a go at cash and try a new poker site (but still Crytologic).

Doob account for the odd low stake MTT and Flashmob, New SunPoker account for Cash games and proper stakes.

Why I Struggle To Win STTs

By the way I'm not making these up, they honestly do happen.

Game #2130442343: Hold'em NL (500/1000) - 2006/08/10 - 20:14:50 (GMT)
Table "STT 3226799 - 1" Seat 7 is the button.
Seat 3: oliviah55 (4792 in chips)
Seat 7: Doob (5208 in chips)
Doob: posts small blind 500
oliviah55: posts big blind 1000
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [Qs Qh]
Doob: calls 500
oliviah55: checks
----- FLOP ----- [Qd 7s 2d]
oliviah55: bets 3792 and is all-in
Doob: calls 3792
----- TURN ----- [Qd 7s 2d][6s]
----- RIVER ----- [Qd 7s 2d 6s][8s]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
oliviah55: shows [5c 9s] (A Straight, Nine high)
Doob: shows [Qs Qh] (Three of a kind, Queens, Eight high)
oliviah55 collects 9584 from Main pot

So I thought I would have a look at the Sharkscope stats for these morons that have been outdrawing me. Feeling better already :)

I Am A Good Player

There I've said it, never normally a person full of confidence but I am a very good player of poker but it appears only when I get my chips in behind do I have a chance. The 2 STTs I won yesterday were lucky, I outdrew a few people.

The players were all absolutely useless in the game below but when it comes down to the big important pot again I will lose it on the river. I see people winning games and I could do that, I know I could but I need a favourite to win now and again.

There's numerous other examples of this happening when down to last 4 or 5. Can't be bothered to find them in the log.....

Seat 1: Benhur001 (1989 in chips)
Seat 4: Doob (1446 in chips)
Seat 6: Caraco (2287 in chips)
Seat 7: Bhavoo (3065 in chips)
Seat 8: Bananaeye (1213 in chips)
Benhur001: posts small blind 200
Doob: posts big blind 400
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [5s 5h]
Caraco: folds
Bhavoo: calls 400
Bananaeye: folds
Benhur001: folds
Doob: raises to 1400
Bhavoo: calls 1000
----- FLOP ----- [Ah 6c 8s]
Doob: bets 46 and is all-in
Bhavoo: calls 46
----- TURN ----- [Ah 6c 8s][6s]
----- RIVER ----- [Ah 6c 8s 6s][As]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Doob: shows [5s 5h] (Two Pairs, Aces and Sixes, Eight high)
Bhavoo: shows [9h Kh] (Two Pairs, Aces and Sixes, King high)
Bhavoo collects 3092 from Main pot

So I have played 48 £1 STTs.

1st - 3
2nd - 6
3rd - 8
Unplaced - 31

That is a loss of £8.60. Now obviously the loss is irrelevant but I'm utterly embarrassed to be making a loss at these tables but people never believe you but when I have gone out I've been favourite 3/4 of the time and most of the other times I push and run into a monster.

I will play 100 of these games and if I'm not in profit by 100 will have to quit for good this time. I'm obviously just unlucky at the game and I've found out this out cheaply. Some others are not so fortunate.

Give Blood

Gave blood yesterday afternoon and they obviously sucked all of that, nasty unlucky blood out and I came back and won 2 STTs and placed in another out of 4 played.

Had a go at the £2 10 O'Clock Thunder and was going along nicely with 10,000 chips and lost a race with TT, I pushed called by AJ. Blinds are 600,1200 with 200 antes so pushing is all I will ever do here. Although my record in "races" is probably 50/50 I do always seem to lose the important ones!

Oh well I made 59p profit so that was well worth it!

And Still The Agony Continues.......

I can do nothing more, I love the call, I want the call but as it is the last 4 I also know I will lose....

Table "STT 3203755 - 1" Seat 9 is the button.
Seat 4: parents (4198 in chips)
Seat 7: margie (1010 in chips)
Seat 9: Doob (1938 in chips)
Seat 10: winner_66 (2854 in chips)
winner_66: posts small blind 200
parents: posts big blind 400
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [Qh Qc]
margie: folds
Doob: raises to 1938 and is all-in
winner_66: calls 1738
parents: folds
----- FLOP ----- [3c 7h 4c]
----- TURN ----- [3c 7h 4c][6d]
----- RIVER ----- [3c 7h 4c 6d][Ac]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Doob: shows [Qh Qc] (A Pair of Queens, Ace high)
winner_66: shows [Ah 2h] (A Pair of Aces, Seven high)
winner_66 collects 4276 from Main pot

So the record stands at.........

1st - 1
2nd - 6
3rd - 7
Unplaced - 24

I cannot win, thank god I came back and decided to play the £1 games because it would do my nut if it was £10/£20. I will still play 100 of these games but 1 win out of 38. I don't believe this is possible, the standard is atrocious but the software totally hates me, it will not give me a break.

Maybe that is it, I am just unlucky at poker and will be forever. And fair enough, I have a good and privileged life and cannot possibly complain.

Back to late again to play the Flashmob which is a real shame, much rather give the Flashmobbers my money than Ace Rag cretins!

And finally let me end with one more ....
Hadn't been doing much betting so decided to slow play it, software aghast to see me ahead with only 1 card left. Software will sort this little problem out!

So that's now 1 win in 39 £1 STTs.

Table "STT 3204523 - 1" Seat 10 is the button.
Seat 1: Henman7 (1390 in chips)
Seat 2: Doob (836 in chips)
Seat 3: Baz1666 (1278 in chips)
Seat 6: tintagelo (770 in chips)
Seat 7: Captjacq (1875 in chips)
Seat 9: Cocaloca (3178 in chips)
Seat 10: fitness (673 in chips)
Henman7: posts small blind 25
Doob: posts big blind 50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [Jc 9s]
Baz1666: folds
tintagelo: folds
Captjacq: calls 50
Cocaloca: calls 50
fitness: folds
Henman7: calls 25
Doob: checks
----- FLOP ----- [7d 8h Th]
Henman7: checks
Doob: checks
Captjacq: bets 150
Cocaloca: folds
Henman7: folds
Doob: calls 150
----- TURN ----- [7d 8h Th][6d]
Doob: checks
Captjacq: bets 500
Doob: raises to 636 and is all-in
Captjacq: calls 136
----- RIVER ----- [7d 8h Th 6d][8c]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Doob: shows [Jc 9s] (A Straight, Jack high)
Captjacq: shows [8d 7c] (A Full House, Eights full of Sevens)
Captjacq collects 1772 from Main pot

And the nominations for the worst call ever ......

Sod the nominations, bodger get up here you are the winner .....
(I just could not understand how Keenen had won!)

Game #3117858184: Hold'em NL (200/400) - 2006/08/04 - 20:24:21 (GMT)
Table "STT 3188612 - 1" Seat 8 is the button.
Seat 7: bodger (5275.50 in chips)
Seat 8: Keenan002 (2964.50 in chips)
Seat 9: Doob (1760 in chips)
Doob: posts small blind 200
bodger: posts big blind 400
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [Qs Tc]
Keenan002: calls 400
Doob: calls 200
bodger: checks
----- FLOP ----- [7c 5h Jc]
Doob: checks
bodger: checks
Keenan002: checks
----- TURN ----- [7c 5h Jc][7h]
Doob: checks
bodger: bets 400
Keenan002: calls 400
Doob: folds
----- RIVER ----- [7c 5h Jc 7h][Js]
bodger: checks
Keenan002: bets 400
bodger: calls 400
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Keenan002: shows [8c 5c] (Two Pairs, Jacks and Sevens, Eight high)
bodger: mucks hand [2d 2h]

Bubble Luck!

It's always the same when down to last 4 or 5.
It doesn't matter what the 2 cards are I have to lose.
I'm utterly baffled!!!!

Game #3117051134: Hold'em NL (100/200) - 2006/08/04 - 19:26:36 (GMT)
Table "STT 3188302 - 1" Seat 2 is the button.
Seat 1: Robinc001 (2109.50 in chips)
Seat 2: Dickyr001 (4434 in chips)
Seat 3: ruggedman sits out
Seat 7: Doob (1611 in chips)
ruggedman: posts small blind 100
Doob: posts big blind 200
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [Qs Qh]
Robinc001: folds
Dickyr001: calls 200
ruggedman: folds
Doob: raises to 800
Dickyr001: raises to 4434 and is all-in
Doob: is all-in 811
Returned uncalled bets 2,823 to Dickyr001
----- FLOP ----- [Jc 3s 6d]
----- TURN ----- [Jc 3s 6d][Kc]
----- RIVER ----- [Jc 3s 6d Kc][3d]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Dickyr001: shows [4c 3c] (Three of a kind, Threes, King high)
Doob: shows [Qs Qh] (Two Pairs, Queens and Threes, King high)
Dickyr001 collects 3322 from Main pot

A miracle happened late last night

I won a £1 STT. Astonishing stuff, contacted all the major media organisations but no-one bothered getting back to me :(

So after 20 £1 STTs I have ........

1 - 1st
3 - 2nd
3 - 3rd
13 - Unplaced!!!!

Which for the Betfair leaderboard gives me a grand total of 0 points. Atrocious really but I sure my luck will improve now, surely, it must. I have turned a corner haven't I? Bloody well hope so.

(I really should post a good beat where my AT beat 55 and AK but I'm at work so sod it and I only ended up finishing 3rd so wasn't really worth it).

Just got to keep on plugging on

How long will it continue? (Apologies this records bad beats until my luck changes)

----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [Ac Ad]
Meatn2veg: calls 15
Lucky951: folds
Lucky951 sits out
ARKAS: folds
Wilbar: folds
Doob: raises to 60
Sticks01: calls 60
Davmin: folds
mikebdoin: folds
Meatn2veg: calls 45
----- FLOP ----- [Jd 3h 6d]
Meatn2veg: checks
Doob: bets 150
Sticks01: calls 150
Meatn2veg: calls 150
----- TURN ----- [Jd 3h 6d][8h]
Meatn2veg: checks
Doob: bets 1138 and is all-in
Sticks01: folds
Meatn2veg: is all-in 715
Returned uncalled bets 423 to Doob
----- RIVER ----- [Jd 3h 6d 8h][9d]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Doob: shows [Ac Ad] (A Pair of Aces, Jack high)
Meatn2veg: shows [9c Js] (Two Pairs, Jacks and Nines, Eight high)
Meatn2veg collects 2075 from Main pot

This is how poker is at the moment

I've just got to keep playing, I'm confident I'm a good player but again you get down to the last 4 or 5 and get chimped. I'm not tilting because the money is insignificant but I still don't like losing even at the £1 level. It may well take 500 more of these games but I will get through this bad run that has lasted 9 months! These sort of hands make me totally determined to.......

Table "STT 3181917 - 1" Seat 8 is the button.
Seat 1: Joihell (4693 in chips)
Seat 6: AZBOMB (1975 in chips)
Seat 8: Catste (1335 in chips)
Seat 9: Doob (856 in chips)
Seat 10: -Scouse- (1141 in chips)
Doob: posts small blind 50
-Scouse-: posts big blind 100
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Doob [Qh Qs]
Joihell: folds
AZBOMB: raises to 200
Catste: folds
Doob: raises to 856 and is all-in
-Scouse-: folds
AZBOMB: calls 656
----- FLOP ----- [8s 9c Qd]
----- TURN ----- [8s 9c Qd][7s]
----- RIVER ----- [8s 9c Qd 7s][6d]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Doob: shows [Qh Qs] (Three of a kind, Queens, Nine high)
AZBOMB: shows [Ah Td] (A Straight, Ten high)
AZBOMB collects 1812 from Main pot

I Retired For Less Than 2 Months!!!!!

Started playing low stakes poker again but unfortunately the luck is as terrible as ever. So far only playing £1 games to get my confidence back but the results are as terrible as follows.....

1 - 2nd
2 - 3rd
8 - Unplaced!!!!!!

Of those unplaced I believe 4 were 4th and 2 were 5th. Can do what I like for the first 4 levels but just cannot get a break when it comes down to the big deciding pot to get into the last 3. Seem to always lose them, seem to always be ahead. Confidence totally shattered and if I push then someone behind me has a big pocket pair or has me dominated. Always! :(

Anyway 11 is not a big enough sample so will persevere with the low stake STTs until the end of the month, if I cannot make a profit then it is time to wave the white flag again.

My Sharkscope stats (which I have now blocked) were interesting. Shows a graph going up and up until I reached profits of over $1,000 and then it completely flatlined since December 2005.

Will hopefully have played about 100 of these STTs by end of August, hopefully I can win at least 1 of them!