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A proper 'after the Mayor's show' sort of session which mostly bumbled along with lots of folding. Variance made sure that I just couldn't seem to hit a flop and had to rely on a bit more bluffing than usual (probably not a good thing long term) to pick up a few pots - albeit I think I picked my spots well and all the bigger pots came my way.
Shame I didn't have the balls to pick off a bluff though... had the chance at the one NL20 table I had, but bottled it as the timer ran out and moved the mouse to fold... thanks to oppo for showing he did indeed have the busted FD
All in all, lots of frustrating spots, but I think I lost the least in the main... only possible one I could/should have avoided I'll post up in a sec.
Only on the wind-up Craig, although was surprised you didn't stay for a few more orbits to benefit from the station sat the other side of Larson!
I guess there is a case for raising the flop, but I thought that by calling we'd end up 4-way to the turn and that'd give me a bit more chance of building the pot if I did improve / then build the pot on the turn.
It's weird, if it had been checked to me I'd have probably bet big anyway, maybe not whole stack but close to... but when it's donked there is a bit more thought rather than if I was the one with the decision to bet.
I never see this being an air bluff, but at the same time its not like the majority of NL10 players that would only be doing this with KK / 99 / QQ and possibly Ahxh / 88.
Discuss...
Edin Dzeko, ooooooooohhhhhhhhhh
Poker - 916.76 (pts 1,076)
As soon as I make a slight moan about never hitting sets I can't stop hitting them, but constantly done for by a higher set lol... so no more moaning, I'm happy to go a while without my pairs hitting sets
This is one of the particularly harsh ones... could at least have completed the top end of the straight so I got a little bit back from the side pot lol
One thing I really want to find a 'Plan B' for is facing these LAG (I guess) players that play 90% of hands and are constantly betting post-flop as well.
It sort of feels like a very weak and exploitable strategy to fold to them as much as I do and, dare I say, they are well adjusted now to exit hands quite quickly on those occasions where I do get a monster of any sort and start playing back at them.
Any recommended articles of videos to combat such players would be appreciated, as there are a number at the tables that I must be a net loser versus.
Their only benefit it putting other weak players on tilt which in turn often means I have to avoid the LAG but target whoever they put on tilt and try to earn ££ that way. Ho hum.
Honduras couldn't quite hold on till half time, Palacios being as ill disciplined as ever ruined that part, but at least the win to nil came in so happy days.
In spite of the world's best player recovering from injury I fancy the Germans to nick a win today. They scored first half goals in all their qualifiers so am split £2.50 @ 8/5 on them to be leading at halftime and £2.50 germany/germany @ 9/4 as well as a punt on Ozil ew FGS £2.50 @ 15/2.
Seems overpriced to be the 6th highest odds among the German players and, I believe, is their penalty taker so has the chance to benefit from that possibility also.
So it's a bit wrong to claim this as an Englishman but, come on Germany!!
Looking like there should be some very one-sided games based on current showings, the likes of Argentina / Bosnia, Brazil / Croatia, Germany (and probably Portugal) won't offer great odds on outrights but probably warrant little accumulators.
Poker £941.27...
After a rash of aces-related outdraws lately, AA /> QQ for £20 at mastercash boosted last night's sessions, which were often sidetracked by table banter including discussion about Robbie Savage, sheep and goats.
The mini view having chat box on is without doubt my favourite part of the new software. I rarely have the patience to one-table, especially those days where you are utterly card dead, but did miss the banter by not being able to view normal sized tables. Makes the game far more fun now, especially watching the master-tilter wind-up his opponents... it's a truly impressive dark art.
Although I accept he has poor game (compared to the pros), Tony G has long been one of my favourite names to see when flicking some poker on the TV. A panto villain on a table makes it so much more fun than games that are filled with hooded players hidden behind sunglasses and listening to music, trying to give nothing away about their holding. Sure, that invariably helps them to be more successful, but I don't see it doing much to attract any new audience to the game.
Oh yeah, and I'm now a 'sky favoured rungood fish'... I think that means I've now improved to level 4 and am guaranteed to always beat people at level 1-3. I'm this because I 'always' raise out of position. After raising UTG the first time at the table like 4 hands in, the first time I've ever played the person... and I had Aces... which I should have folded out of position.
I feel so blessed to have been recognised for the improvement I've made
And reiterate how much more entertaining things are with being able to see the chatbox these days!
£5 Rooney score anytime and ENgland win (9/2) LOST
Came on to play the WC freeroll and had a couple of tables of cash on the go at the same time, but I'm just not feeling it so shut down for the footy.
I did initially try and push on because there were a few spots at the tables, which hasn't necessarily been the case lately (a standard due to the sun I guess?)... but when you get SB defends by 86o... which float flops with no apparent plan and catch their 8 on the river... well, if you not making money at that sort of table you have to admit defeat and take the break!
Fair to say the Footy aint going much better lol... team backed to win pre: Spain... team to create a few shocks and be a bit of a dark horse: Bosnia... team supported and willed to win: England... Not a hat-trick I'll be celebrating too much!!!
Did another tenner on the Argentina game yesterday, can't believe how average they look given the wealth of attacking options available to them - easily the best front players at the tourni IMO and only opted not to back them because of their defence, but ended genuinely gutted that Iran didn't manage to nick something from it!!
After a season of being wholly underwhelmed by Algerian players at Forest, I'm probably going to regret this. But at 2.08 Algeria seemed like a good punt (Draw no Bet)... they've a talented bunch of mercenaries and will want to do something to earn a big money move (before becoming lazy show-boaters that only perform in Sky TV games that might earn them an even bigger money move lol).
Not had any more gambles since the Algeria game (happy days) but will make one final try to earn some losses back in Group F tonight I'm sure.
In the interim I thought I'd look back to see how the pre-tourni gambles are going and, well, not great lol! At the moment I'm mostly sat with all my eggs in a Neymar-shaped basket!
Neymar £5 @ 8/1 Golden Ball Winner 2 MOM, 4 goals and winnable games (?) vs Chile and then Costa Rica/Greece... if he stays fit then this one could get me out the hole!
Spain £5 @ 13/2 to win the less said the better lol... may get a refund if Brazil/Argentina win the cup
Luis Suarez £2.5 @ 13/8 to be top Liverpool scorer I guess I'm in the minority that want him to play on and not receive his ban until after the world cup? I believe he is L'pool top scorer though and can't think of anyone that can top his 2 goals?
Edin Dzeko £1.25 @ 4/1 to be top Man City scorer I'm sure this is still live, but needs to bang a hat-trick vs Iran... ooooo Dzeko
Paul Pogba £1.25@ 9/2 to be top Juventus scorer With Italy out I still need Brazil to stop Chile scoring and Pogba to get 1 to tie/2 to beat Marchesio... still live...
Mitroglous £1.25 @ 3/1 to be top Championship scorer Think this is game over now... Beausejour (sp?) scored for Chile and Leroy Fer for Holland... ah well.
Group F top scoring group £2.50 @ 5/1 Yeah, I think I need about 18 goals tonight in two games lol... this is now likely to be the lowest scoring group... nuts!
Fred £2.50 EW @ 20s and Higuain £1.25 EW @ 22s Yeah. Miracle or done for lol.
Treble Group A Brazil/Croatia, Group B Spain/Chile, Group F Argentina/Bosnia £1.25 @ just over 20s
Group A - Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon £1.25 @ 3/1 and Brazil, Croatia £2.50 @ 7/4
Group B - Spain, Chile £1.25 @ 5/2
Group C - Ivory Coast £1.25 @ 7/2
Group F - Argentina, Bosnia, Iran, Nigeria £1.25 @ 13/2 Nothing to see here... please move along...
Edin Dzeko top score Group F £2.50 @ 7s Need an Oleg Salenko style performance in the final game to surpass Messi's two goals lol
Russia / S Korea reverse forecast Group H £1.25 @ 9s Meh... still don't rate Belgium... good subs by the manager tho
Mesut Ozil top German scorer £1.25 @ 9s and Ciro Immobile top Italian scorer £1.25 @ 11/2 Another miracle required... I will get a winner off Ozil scoring in matches though... somehow!
I had a bit of a run on the tables last night but the reduced traffic makes it a challenge to really get going at the moment so for most of the time I only had 3 tables running at one time and only racked up a meagre 30 PP
I'm not sure if the lack of tables / reduced number of spots (given the higher reg:rec ratio) but I really don't feel like I'm playing all that well for the last week or so, with luck being my friend to rock up a small profit yesterday.
In particular, patience isn't what it should be. With only three tables and being relatively position/card dead for reasonable periods of time I found myself making unnecessary attempts to force some action, chucking out 3b either OOP or with weak holdings which, if I'm being honest with myself, I'm not good enough to do that in a consistently profitable manner.
Advice to self:
Fold to 4b pre. Check river. Not sure I ever profit from calling pre in the long term. Feels so dodgy to be getting 200bb in pre with AKo. As it is, turns out the villain was a bit of a maniac and I'd have got it in ahead, but mostly I got lucky and then threw that luck away by failing to get full value.
So here are a couple of sigh folds from the barren period before I started playing junk and thinking that I could 3-bet bluff at micro stakes.
To be honest, the second one would normally cost me a lot more so I gave myself a metaphorical pat on the back for losing what I think was the minimum here. The first one should maybe be a call with £1 invested, but with the board also paired I took the low variance (and reduced Sky rake) option.
So, luckboxed my way back above £900 yesterday before taking the wise decision to take my tired-tilt offline to concentrate on the footy.
Played a bit on (football free) Friday but then got coerced into visiting the pub with an ex-housemate who had been left to babysit his girlfriend's Chinese uncles down the pub. An interesting night of awkward conversation, improved by the fact that one of them was the spitting image of the fella that did Gangnam Style and was equally excitable.
No poker Saturday as I was at a mate's stag party in London. Poor planning meant we were all completely oblivious (until already on the tube) that it had been booked in for the same day as Gay Pride... made for an entertaining wander from tube to first pub with a stag dressed as a middle-aged woman with Marge Simpson-style blue wig... we passed sights that a sheltered christian bloke from Swindon never thought existed in life.
It's a weird world that there London Town.
I did sneak in a bit of youtube watching, which I believe highlighted a positional leak I had allowed to sneak into my game through being too aggressive. One of the many vids by (I think) SplitSuit, particularly useful as they aren't as HUD-heavy as most vids.
The footy was a mixed bag but this tournament just keeps getting better and even more fun! After failing with (7/4) Neymar anytime/Brazil win, (11/10) Colombia was an easy nap of the day on Saturday to turn a small profit.
Then Sunday was utter variance in two cracking games. I'd long since written off (9/2) draw/Holland before the remarkable late turnaround saw me hit the bookies with runner-runner outs, before they got their revenge (7/1) Costa Rica to win 1-0 when Greece rivered a very late equaliser.
I love gambling and I love the world cup. Such a buzz!!
This one probably doesn't fall in that category though. TBH I didn't think oppo was as strong as they were and called the turn bet thinking I could be behind (J8 and KJ featured highly in my thinking, as well as several two pair combos) - although I'm not sure (even using implied odds) that I should necessarily be calling to try and house up (which would have felted me anyway with any other pair on the board).
A bigger set was a bit of a surprise as I'd have figured this oppo to donk or c/r the flop, but the turn donk was never going to be less than a two pair hand. I think the strongest of one pair hands (QJ) would still be happy to c/c the turn.
So yeah, pure shakinaces luckboxin.
First things first, I imagine that like a lot of gamblers, Germany's performance yesterday dented the world cup betting. Can't believe how vunerable they looked but there goes £12 that wasn't anywhere near going on a 0-0 draw lol.
It was just rubbing salt in the wounds that, having though 11/4 for Ozil to score anytime was a good price, he saves his one decent bit of football all game for extra time. Sigh.
Still, onwards and upwards! Argentina have got to drag me back in the game again tonight... and I still think Belgium are overhyped, so may find a way to support the US dream!
Bankroll end June £932.18 pts 1,774
Another good end to the month that sees my balance up on where I was at the end of May - will take that after the mix of frustration play and cold decks hit the roll quite badly in the middle of the month.
And importantly, that number of points means that even with the distraction of the world cup, I've still put in a respectable quantity of hands to hopefully add to the learning / development of game.
That my only real frustration is that I have been bad beat out of every world cup freeroll (standard freeroll outcome) and not bagged a toy or gadget... but it is just a bit greedy to want to luckbox in one of those
Sigh.
I'm utterly amazed how many of these I've seen at the tables in 2014, don't know what the odds are but between the ones I've hit and the ones that have occured at my table it must be into double figures now in a 6 month period.
I nearly timed out on the river because the client froze while I was trying to turn off 'auto muck winning cards' in case oppo folded... shame on me.