Tilt Factor

I rarely tilt. I like to think I have a fair bit of self control while playing poker and bad beats rarely get to me. Yesterday was the exception!

I was playing a 12$ and 50$ FO at VC. I played pretty well to make the final table on both but lost a couple of coin tosses in both to finish 5th and 9th. In itself this wasn't so bad, but I had had a few drinks and have also had a couple of things happen in my personal life recently( damn girls) which have messed up my judgement a little.

Anyway, I went and sat down at a PL hi lo omaha table(just 0.5$/1$). Now this isn't really my game, i am more used to limit omaha hi lo but i can still play the game. I was going ok for a while while the table was four handed and built up to about 170 or so from my initial 100 but then i got a bit of an outdraw where i held the nut low, str8 and nut flush draw with

As 2s 5 x on a 3 4s 9s board

- really a monster hand. Some1 bet i reraised and they went allin for their last 40. they had something in the order of A3 78 and hit a T and a J on the river with no spades to scoop the pot. I was a little annoyed at this to see my profit disappear in this hand and was even more annoyed when they upped sticks and left the table!!!!!! HOW DARE THEY!!!!

ANyway the play soon reverted to heads up and I was left with one of the better players at the table. He was quite aggressive so we got into a bit of a raising war. Eventually we went to war on this hand. he riases i reraise with A 5 5 2. Flop comes 5 6 T. I bet pot, he reraised me and i went allin making it 100 he calles with A 79 J. He is drawing very thin here. He can hit an 8 to fill his str8 draw, but this gives me the nut low to halve, with redraws to a full house for hi to scoop. His lows involve him counterfeiting my 2 but he still will only halve to my high. Sadly the poker gods were not with me and he hit a runner runner Q K to take down the pot with a str8.

I must admit i lost it a bit here, started playign angry and proceeded to blow another 200 to him in a short space of time. He must've been loving it. Eventually i clawed a little back and left the table around 230 or so down. Hardly the biggest hit, but i was still very annoyed at myself for losing self control.

SO just to reiterate some words of wisdom(for my own benefit as much as anything else!)

1) Dont play drunk.
2) Dont play games you aren't familiar with if you can avoid it(except when you are intentionally learning the game)
3) Women troubles and poker don't mix!
4) When you start getting angry, stop playing and go kill some cops in GTA San Andreas.
5) Never EVER eat the reduced price cheese sandwiches from corner shops(not strictly relevant but true nonetheless......)

Close thing in the 100K

I feel like I've not been playing great recently. A lot of the fizz seems to have gone out of my game and I think I may need a break very soon.

I did win a 3.5K grtd tourney on bet365 the other day and ive had a fairly profitable time playing small tourneys and stud cash games(I'm gradually improving!) but really i am lacking a little confidence when it comes down to any decent stake tourneys(as I know I have to produce my A game to counter good play going on round me)

Anyway, I was registered for the 100K tourney on bet365 today having earlier won a seat in a 10$ sat. This is a 100$ freezeout tourney. The structure is nice with 3K in starting chips, 10/20 blinds to kick off and 12 min levels not too bad, though i would prefer 15 or 20 but the ******s never asked me. Normally there is a field of 550-600 in the tourney (nice added 40-45K!) although for some bizarre reason 850 people turned up today reducing the value and increasing the field dammit lol!

My usual strategy in this tournament is to play position and implied odds early on, whilst playing good hands very aggressively as there are still a number of weak players who have got in through satellites(like me!) Today i struggled badly early on though. First up, i am on the button with 7s 5s. I like this hand in position, so after 3 people limp i make it 200 to go. one guy calls from MP. Flop is a rainbow K 7 3 with one spade. He checks to me very quickly, i am a little suspicious of this, feeling he is either very scared or very confident. I bet 2/3 the pot as a feeler, he calls.....hmmmmm. Now I am fairly sure i am behind but not quite sure what to. I make him one of three things....King poor kicker, set of 3s or less likely 7s, or pocket pair below kings.

Turn is Js, this is a good card for me, increasing my outs but unfortunately he bets 2x the pot. I can't call him, I am sure he is a set or two pair and i fold as he shows KJ. I now begin a long wait where i am bet out of pots in position and fail to see any decent cards. A mini disaster with JJ where a raise from me was reraised twice and i folded (AK and KK were out) meant my stack had dwindled down to 1.4K and i was looking like an early bath if I didn't get my act together.
There's about 600 people still remaining at this stage.

Anyway I wait patiently for an opportunity and I eventually find bullets on my BB. The table has been fairly aggressive so I am sure i will see a little action. Unfortunately every1 had their x-ray specs on and folded to me in the BB so i sigh as the puny pot heads my way. This is not gonna be my day.

I battle on, average stack close to 4K now blinds up to 75/150 i am in trouble with 1.4K. I find AQ and decide i need to move on this. 2 limpers i raise allin, some1 calls with K4 suited or something and i luckily hit an ace so am back to over 3K. The tourney progresses and im seeing nothing, every time i raise, some1 is over the top of me and i can't call. This is painful!

450 left and i have 2K ish, I get KK UTG. I elect to limp, feelin someone will riase and indeed they do, I reraise allin and get 2 callers. AT and AQ. This is good news and no ace is forthcoming, woohoooo up to 6.5K back in it at above average stack.

Again things run quite slowly though, i steal a couple of pots to maintain parity but no good situations arise for me and i reach 200 left with jsut over 7.5k, quite below average but still enough to survive a while longer. Then i get a break. I limp 88 in EP, and some1 raises to 800, there are 3 callers and i call with a view to try and make a set. The flop is a helpful 8 K 4 with 2 clubs on it. I bet out the pot and some1 reraises allin. I am slightly fearful of KK but call anyways, and they show AJc. The turn is a club and i pack my bags ready to go get pissed, but the river loves me and dishes out another K filling me up and netting me a sweet 18K pot. Now we're cooking!

I win a few more pots against smaller stacks and with 100 left i find myself with 30K, in the top 25. Top 70 paid, it's looking good for at least a payday. I decide to pick up my bullying, feeling my raises are respected now so i do just that. I get lucky one time with AT where i raised 6K from the button(blinds 400/800) and the sb went allin for 8K with QQ. I spike an ace and cop some chips and some abuse. I dont mind being called a twat for 16K in chips!

I reach the $ threshold in the top 20 with about 40K in chips. Now i get AKc in LP, 3 limpers, i have them all covered. I raise allin. the biggest limper with about 30K calls which i am not happy about but he shows Ah9h. Good man! He misses his flush and 9s and i scoop in another big pot to propel me into the top 10. At last I'm starting to feel a little confident.

30 ish left now. My table has gone crazy now though - we have ultra aggressive players with large stacks all over the place and i decide to crawl into my shell for a bit and wiat for a big gun to tkae em on. No big guns come along though and i reach the last 20 with approx 60K. Blinds are now 4K/8K so im in a spot of trouble and only about 12th or so in chips. A bad hand happens now. I get QQ UTG and make it 20K to go. One guy reraises. I am happy to take this guy on as he has been playing pretty poor hands and getting lucky, but when the rock on the button moves allin for 150K i know i am surely behind. I lay the Queens down after some thought and the reraiser calls. He is KsJs versus the rock's Aces! AMazingly the flop comes with spades in spades(hoho) and the maniac scoops up a nice pot. Funnily enough i wouldve hit a queen so im pretty glad i didnt have to suffer this heartache.

15 left i am hit hard with a big blind and sb which i cant play and my stack has dwindled to 27K less than 2 BBs, as they are now 10K 20K. It was a bit of a mistake letting it get to this stage and i realise i shouldve made a move earlier. Anyway 11 left I am 11/11 with my pitiful stack. UTG i find 7c8c and know i have to go allin so i do. The table all pass to the BB who also passes my 7K riase even though he has 200K. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Man i felt happy. I show the rail birds my hand and they have a good old chuckle. Straight after this hand some1 is eliminated so i luckily dodge the BB as I am transported to the final table with 57K. Hooray!

The final table was short and not so sweet for me. First hand I find QQ. The chip daddy raises to 50K i am allin and he flips Kj off. Flop is heartbreaking as it comes Q A T and when the board fails to improve for me i am elminated in 10th spot for $1,200. No shot at the 25K first prize today but it was an enjoyable tournament and i had a good laugh with some of the guys, as well as playing some good poker i feel at times.

It was definitely a shot in the arm for me. Maybe i don't need that break JUST yet.......

Party - leave your thinking boots at home

I have commented on the poor standard of play at party before. This is a hand I recently played in a 50$ multitable there.

Early doors I have my initial 1K and find AQs in the BB, feeling like I can use this hand to make some chips but ready to throw it if the action is a bit too busy.

This doesn't happen, every1 folds around to the sb, who limps in to the 20 blinds. I riase it up to 200 fully expecting him to fold. Instead he re-raises allin, which would leave me a mer 150 chips. Damn, i really didn't want to be in this situation.

I try and reason through what he could have to have played the hand like this. A monster? I dont think so. I have already seen him bluff at a pot of 100 for 200 chips , then fold to another 200 reraise so I have little faith in his poker credentials on this evidence.

In addition he reraised without a thought, I think KK or AA or to a lesser extent QQ would go for a little acting here, a bit of a pause to try and engage a call. I'm happy i now have the odds to play a coin flip so I'm ok (although admittedly not crazy about) playing against a small pocket pair especially as the non-existent action preflop suggests few if any people had any aces (They usually limp or riase with any ace at party) As a result my AQ may even be a favourite over a pocket pair due to the deck being rich in aces.

OK so this leaves AK as my major threat. Limp reraise definitely a possibilty and not a bad way to play it heads up. I think and think, even throw a little question at him but by now i'm being beeped at and asked to respond. I decide all things considered to take the risk and call him based on the little i know about his play.

He flips A4 off. I'm very happy about this obviously, if a tad surprised!

OK so i get stuffed on a 235 flop but ill take these match ups all day. What made me laugh was all the thought I put into my decision, only for him to flip this piece of crap hand lol.

Why did I bother?

Next time my reasoning at party will be something like.....Do i have a premium hand? If so call, I'm almost certainly ahead.

Keeping myself busy

While I'm in a game online, I often have one eye on the game and another busy doing something else. Most recently two things have occupied my time. Firstly Grand Theft Auto San Andreas was released for the playstation 2. I'm a bit of a kid when it comes to computer games, simply put I LOVE EM!

I was a big fan of the two previous GTA games so as soon as this one was released i snapped it up. I have just completed the game (Big Smoke you traitor!!!!) and have to say it is one of the best games i've ever played. Great graphics, cool cars, excellent music, violence, blood, prostitutes, girlfriends, casinos, guns, chainsaws, choppers, jets, and a great plot involving no less than samuel l jackson and james woods in the cast. With Axel Rose, the guns n roses frontman and GeorgeClinton the master of funk also making cameo appearances, GTASA is surely the most inclusive genre breaking game ever to be released. Can't really fault it.

The second thing to particularly occupy my time recently is the new Squire Strat electric guitar i have jsut purchased. I've been learning the guitar for about a year so far, still not very good but I'm having a lot of fun with my first electric guitar. My neighbours may say different when I'm banging out She's Electric at 3 in the morning though!!!!!

I'd be interested to hear what sort of shenanigans other people get up to whilst they play.

Signing off.......