Mini Heater!

Been keeping my sessions real short since last post, and running pretty hot, up 10 buyins ($250) in around 3 hours play today. Tightening up has really helped recoup some of the daft losses when i went tilt monkey spew at 2/4 and the bankroll is getting somewhere near it was before, roughly only down $200 this month so its not been all that bad! I have to remember this feeling for when i run bad or variance slaps me in the face! Its probably the hardest part of a cash game player or infact any poker player, learning to handle the pressure when things are going right, its some i need to work on alot if i wish to progress as decent part time player, i've got to handle the beats and not go tilt monkey spew chasing losses at 2/4 (even though i'm quite succesfull at it!) I've also got to keep it tight, play position and i should do ok at this low level poker playing and earn a pretty decent side wage, $350 winnings this week (not including bonuses/rakeback) thats over £200 as a side income, which i'm well happy at, its like having a min wage weekly pay packet for a few hours work doing something i love (when running ok!) Sod playing mtt's and co, i prefer the balanced money a week/month than one big score everynow and again. Speaking of big scores i watched the WSOP 2009 Final table today - wow Joe Cada = one lucky donk! At least a froggie didnt win, that would of pissed me right off!

Non poker - I want to move to Sweden and live, pretty serious about it, watched Jamie Olivers show last night and it really does look a great place to bring a family up, a little like New Zealand (lived there when i was 10yrs old) but obviously closer to the UK to visit, not sure about the 80% tax thing though, wonder if that includes poker winnings.........going to look into it now!

GL at tables!

Maybe my new neighbour!

Has the tide turned?

Pleased to say variance is being a little kinder to me now after a terrible April, infact its nice to get a couple of winning sessions in a row, rather than win one, lose one i've had for basically 2 weeks now. Really tightened up aswell, and not so quick to shove my chips in the middle, maybe thats helping a little, up close to 8 buyins at PLO25 in the last day or so. Also spun my Powerpoker rakeback of $30 into $67 playing online roulette (total mugs game) and have withdrawn that back to neteller since i got over the $50 min cashout.
Found a great PLO forum and have been reading how the better players play through certain situations, think thats helping aswell, always good to learn from the better players, and read their thought process etc etc. Never to late to learn! 71% through my deposit bonus so should clear it maybe early May! Hope May's going to be a little kinder and i play a little better, could do with a half decent profit to boost confidence, still going to top bankroll up, as at the minute i'm playing under rolled for PLO25 as i never redeposited when i went tilt monkey spew at 2/4!

Another thing that bugs me at the minute, is sad keyboard warriors and their sad little circles, some people think they are greatest thing on earth (non poker wise and poker wise) when they have a sad group of fuck wits backing them up, and trawling 2+2 all day and night and pinching others peoples creativeness does not make you what you think you are, neither does writing a blog etc class as full time work, and benefits isn't a wage its there to help you whilst you look for a job, on the other hand those that play poker for a living, you have my respect, but it doesn't make you a better person than anyone else, so get off your high horse and stop getting a inflated ego from all your butt kissers!

GL at the tables!

Still struggling!

Still struggling my way through April trying to make a profit, just can't seem to get going and book a decent winning session, break even poker really does suck, espcially playing cash games. On a brighter note i'm clearing my bonus on Betsafe pretty nice, so that will add $500 to my roll, will also be topping bankroll back up and returning to Powerpoker once the bonus is cleared, hopefully won't be too long as Ongame poker really sucks, espcially on the run i am at the minute!

Non poker related, the house build is coming along nicely and should be well finished before the birth of the baby, business is also ok, not flat out but ticking along ok.

Ronaldo is such a twat, not only is he rich, good at football now he's riding this beauty!

Tempted back...........why bother!

OMAHA_HI, POT_LIMIT, R5-46741537-179
played at "Sydney" for USD RM from 2010-04-22 04:40 until 2010-04-22 04:42

Seat 2: pikkuahven ($7.60 in chips)
Seat 3: ukilaku ($31.54 in chips)
Seat 6: cryandreload ($23.80 in chips)
Seat 7: sakhs... ($54.49 in chips)
Seat 10: Mr. Ludmila ($57.56 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
ukilaku posts small blind ($0.25), cryandreload posts big blind ($0.25),

PRE-FLOP
sakhs... raises to $0.50, Mr. Ludmila calls $0.50, pikkuahven folds, ukilaku calls $0.50, cryandreload calls $0.50.

FLOP [board cards: 5D,AS,4H ]
ukilaku checks, cryandreload bets $2, sakhs... folds, Mr. Ludmila calls $2, ukilaku folds.

TURN [board cards: 5D,AS,4H,3D ]
cryandreload bets $6, Mr. Ludmila calls $6.

RIVER [board cards: 5D,AS,4H,3D,3C ]
cryandreload bets $15.30 and is all-in, Mr. Ludmila calls $15.30.

SHOWDOWN
cryandreload shows [ 7S,6C,3S,5H ]
Mr. Ludmila shows [ 3H,JD,KS,AC ]
Mr. Ludmila wins $47.10

Obviously his 2 pair no draw was the nuts on the turn! Queue river card!!!!

Car crash, train wreck call it what you want!

After a amazing month last month, i find myself dead and buried this one, 5k last month in winnings and rakeback and now down to less than half my original roll, $450 and change! I've ran like crap this month basicaly scrapping even or little profit and last night i ran like Jade Goody in the London marathon! The river constantly bit me on the arse, friggin sickening and its left wondering if i have a poker future, i wont worry you with the bad beats or anything, lets just say some were pretty sick, but i'm safe in the knowledge i was getting my money in when in front, apart one hand where i monkey tilt spewed my Q flush when i knew the guy had Ace high flush. So the highs of last month are quickly eaten up by the massive lows of this month, where do i go from here?

TIME TO REFLECT:- Its been a few hours since the original post, and now i have had time to simmer or cool down, i dont think i could of done very little to change my massive downswing, surely i want the donks to put their money in bad? I've gone through a few crucial hands and i dont think i've done much wrong, i'm just going to put it down to bad and very unlucky variance! I've blocked myself from playing another poker site for 7 days, and will probably take the rest of the month off, hopefully rake race money will clear most of my losses, and i may top back up from last month winnings to around the $1500 mark and just grind PLO20 from now on, a level where i feel i have a advantage, and where with $1500 i will be comfortably rolled (most of last nights losses came from PLO50 and above!) If it wasn't for playing higher i'd be up $90 today.........maybe thats the level (or more importantly the level of my bankroll) where i'm the most comfortable!

GL to all, see you all in May!
QUESTION:- Isn't it weird 85% of the blogs of the players i follow are having a nightmare April? I can feel a massive change for May!

I think my mates wife wants to shag me!

I'm in a sticky situation and i'm not liking it, it all started on Saturday night when i went out for some beers with my mate (best man at my wedding) we watched the Boro lose to West Brom and had a decent skinfull, we hit our local town and bumped into his wife and her mate towards 11pm ish, now my mates wife is always very flirty, chatty and a outgoing type, but in my eyes not one bit attractive compared to the wife, fuck compared to any half fit bird! Anyway where having our usual chat (the 4 of us) about gossip, beer and anything that came into our head, i'm chatting away to her mate been friendly etc etc, and i feel my arse getting pinched, now i know its my mates wife, she always does it, so ignore her and carry on talking to her mate, next i feel a hand reach round and grab my tackle, this makes me jump a little as she's never been this forward, i turn round and say a jokingly 'Dont touch what you can't afford!' She laughs it off! Now roll on hour or so, and we've moved pubs and i'm left holding my mates pint as he goes to the toilet, i'm stuck with his wife, and her mate who's playing with facebook on her phone, i then feel another hand on my package, i look down and its my mates wifes hand is pulling at my flies, she's also staring straight at me, so i step backwards quickly, the rest of the night i'm doing my best to avoid her, either by talking to other people i know, or her mate , or position my mate sandwiched in between us. It was getting late and i had craving for food so we all moved to the nearest pizza shop, them 3 are ordering pizza's, so i make a quick choice just for a kebab as i'm expecting it to be served quick and i can escape before there pizza's are made, luckily we live in the opposite end of town from them. Whilst waiting for what seemed to be the longest kebab maker in history, i'm invited back to theres for drinks which i strongly decline, giving some excuse i'm wrecked and want to get home, so i say my goodbye's, and for some dumb reason exchange facebook contacts with the wifes mate, DAM IPHONES!!!!
Anyway i get home safely and just brush the experience off as her being pissed and me over reacting to her fun. But today i made the fatal error by excepting mates wifes facebook friendship, and a couple of hours later i'm in even more shock to get a private message from mates wife, basically saying the offer of no strings attach sex is avaliable whenever my mate is away with work (which in Mon-Fri) GULP! How weird is that? Now i have to either ignore it or tell my best mate his wife is a cock hungry whore (his first wife was the same, and it nearly killed him when he finally came to his sensors!)

Sorted!

Since my last post i've pretty much sorted my poker life out, i've deleted and closed my account at Stars completely, so theres no going back there, i've moved my whole roll to one site and i'm determined to carry on playing till i hit my $2k roll goal, then i'll be rolled enough to play the limits i want and take home a wage from any profits.

The site i've chosen was not one of the 3 i listed in my last post, i opted for Littlewoods due to the weak fish but for some reason they have decided to close my poker account and not let me open a new one or reinstate my old one, weird but its there loss. So instead i opted for Everest Poker, basically i was looking for a non rakeback site with weak fish, where i'd be able to dominate the games against far less skilled players. I think i choose right as i've binked a tidy score playing PLO25 and 50 against some complete gutter fish! Today winnings has seen me double this weeks winnings in 2 sessions, which is obviously running hot, but i basically stayed patient and waited for the fish to make the mistakes, generally most of my money came from flush over flushes and higher straights over lower, the less skilled somehow can't seem to find a fold, which is ofcourse nice! I'll continue the grind until i'm rolled enough to skim profits off and maybe move back to a rakeback paying site, but for now my home is Everest!

Enough is enough!

Jumping from site to site isn't doing anyone any good, depositing on Stars was just plain dumb, thinking the RNG may like was even dumber. My poker has been a waste of space this month, chopping and changing, moving around sites like a crazy man, it needs to stop and stop quick! I need to pick a site and just get my grind on, get used to the players moves, get used to the site and what it offers, so thats what i'm going to do!

I've made $147 this week, not including RB or bonuses and i have cashed out all monies out of all accounts back to neteller and will make a decision on what site i'm going to grind fully on out of these 3:-
Powerpoker - my old faithfull, 33% RB, full of fish, a site i've consistantly won on, decent bonuses through the gold chip scheme!
Betsafe - decent traffic, 50% through a $500 deposit, cashback equivalent to rakeback but at a low %
LuckyAce/Littlewoods/Pacific - a very old favourite, weakest standard of player i've come across on the net, may be able to find a skin and get some kind of deposit bonus etc, but no rakeback etc

So i'm taking the next day or so off, will total relax from poker then restart the grind, get to around $2k Bankroll then start skimming off a profit per week/month. Should have around $400-500 rake race payments next month (thats how much i've chopped and changed) so i'll be adding them to the bankroll, need to get back playing seriously and not mucking about, just look at last month when i stuck to one site and won big!

Note to self:- Sort your fucking head out!!!!

Not a bad strike!

Cracker of a goal, not that i support Spurs or Gunners but great to see goals like this!

Poker struggling at the minute like i have been for most of this month, its going to be nothing like last months big pay day! Just can't seem to get a winning run going, no matter if iam playing correctly. Flamingo bet i lost $40 for the day yesterday, but should of been around $100-150 up if the donks hadn't hit massive suckouts or i had won my flips. Deposited on Stars to play some 180 manners but after 25 mins i was bored stupid and basically dumped myself out of them, guess i dont have the concentration or the patience to play NLHE mtt/sngs, so i'll be withdrawing from there pretty soon!

Flamingo Bet and Russian Pokerplayers

I've found a new site to play, mainly due to the rake race only having 12 runners, the site is called Flamingo Bet on the Everleaf network (US players excepted) I thought i'd give it a try with a little deposit. Apart from permantly having Barry Manilow's Copacabana song permantly in my head whilst playing it, the pink Lobby, yes pink lobby and the Tropic themed tables, its not to bad. The wife did make a passing comment last night asking 'Is that a gay poker site?' Yes it does look mightily camp, but if the standard was anything like last night, i don't mind a little camp! It didnt take me long to move most of my roll over to it, i didnt run particularly good, but the standard is totally soft, reminds me of Party Poker 6 years back and the mtt's are softer than Sky Poker! The site mainly consists of mad Russians and other Eastern block countries and there PLO game needs a lot of work, they consistantly chase any draw 80% of the time, any flush draw is good for them to stack off with, 2 pair is the nutz also to them, all i need to do is run semi decent on there and i'll clean up! Spoke to a Danish reg on a 0.25/50 Euro table who was sat with 6 times his buyin, who said basically just nut peddle and you can clean up on the site! Played a few mtt's aswell and from what i saw QJ is worth all the chips to most on there, not matter what stage of the mtt........sweet! Another sweet deal is i get 40% rakeback paid every Monday on the account, plus a 100% deposit bonus just wished i'd deposited a larger sum than $180 when testing the site out, oh well rake race money will boost it a little probably somewhere between $300-700 payout!

Yesterday i won $36 on Betsafe before switching to the gay site where i won another $73 (As said above i ran like crap at first!) which makes me $142 up for the week with hardly any real volume of hands! Still hanging on in the rake leaderboards for Ipoker and Betsafe aswell hopefully around $300 payout at the end of the month from them. Actually going to deposit on Stars today and try some 180 manners as a break from PLO grinding then its back to the Gay site tonight to catch the mad Russians!

No real desire to play!

For some unknown reason i have no real urge to sit at a poker table, have probably played about 3 hours total this week, for a profit of $69, pretty pathetic really as i am missing out on rakeback, rake race points which basically equals free and easy money. Business has been real busy of late, and i find my time being took up alot by that, which is ofcourse a good thing, but even when i have spare time at night, i prefer to waste it reading blogs, facebook and stuff. Maybe a change of game might motivate me, problem is i'm average at any other poker form, and find no joy sitting in a mtt to bust close to the money! I type this words with dread as i am considering depositing on Stars and playing some PLO mtt's, the site hates me, but thanks to reading Custo's blog i now know i can ban myself from cash games! Maybe a night of plo donking in a mtt might encourage me to get back to the grind in the spare time i have! At one point last night i even considered re entering the world of Warcraft and killing a few things, then i came to my senses and realised a 36 yr old running around as a Elf is a little sad, espcially when everyone else playing is under 21 years of age and spend like 20 hours a day mastering the dam game!

Oh what to do, what to do!

Weekly Roundup, Rake races and few changes to blog!

Last week since restarting my bankroll at $1k i made $309 profit not including rakeback or bonus at PLO25, so not a bad week, will try keep up the volume and clear this Betsafe $500 bonus. I've come to the conclusion that playing poker at a high level isnt really for me, so i'm gonna try and get to 80-100 buyins at PLO25 and then start removing winnings on a weekly basis and enjoy the profits, no point grinding all the time and not spending any of the winnings, poker at the end of the day should just be for fun and any profits you make is a bonus! (This poker view may change - as my ideas/views often do!)

For anybody who reads this and doesn't have rakeback/VIP status on their accounts WTF!!!! is up with you? Rakeback can turn a bad month into a break even and a winning one into a even sweeter one! Anyone with any complete sense should take advantage of sites of giving you money back, so i've affiliated myself to a very good professional site and can offer some pretty amazing deals! These guys i work with are amazing and offer upto 40%+ on some of the biggest sites out there, they are very professional, answer all questions/problems quickly and efficiently and are by far the best i've come across in over 6 years of online poker playing. If anyone wants to know more, you email or msn me at r-payne@hotmail.com

Another massive bonus of signing up through me is some amazing rake races. For those who dont know what they are, basically the top earning rakers win bonus cash just for playing their normal game on certain sites. Now normal rakeback sites offer these and they are flooded with pro grinders who clear all the top prizes month in month out, well i can offer races that are so quiet you wont believe how easy the cash is, its basically free money! Heres a taster of some and what rake you need to earn to get a decent payout:-
Bodog - At the minute the top rake earnt is $73 (WTF) and the current leader is looking at walking away with $1000 hard cash, its a $5k rake race so anything over $1 in rake will earn you atleast $50 at the minute, absolute crazy, so basically you could play 10 hands of $1/2 and walk away with over $100 of race bonus!
Ipoker - If u rake more than $160 u could look be over $300 in race bonus, Crazy!
Flamingo Poker - Another quiet rake race, i'm looking at $150 bonus for earning $12 in rake, i only played the site for 25 mins!
You can be a break even poker player and earn a profit a month just by playing these races, i'm on 3 leaderboards at the minute and looking at over $500 race bonus payout at the end of the month, shame i already have a Bodog account or i would be gunning for the $1k first prize, its free money and any player is daft to miss out!!! More on these deals and rakeback in future posts.

How do you like the new blog look? I'm currently working on it, and will be adding a few banners and stuff and trying to make it look a little better!

Sorting my game out!

Since i have reset my bankroll and starting again at the bottom (probably the only level i can beat) i've ran ok, since my last post i've grinded out $244 at PLO25, been trying to keep to a set schedule, but for some reason my business has really took off lately and i find myself more and more busy with that, shouldn't complain in todays climate, better to have a steady income and win some poker cash on the side, than trying to grind out a living. Played two, 2 hour sessions today making $77 for the day, this included being stone cold even in tonights session, would of been up but for one bad beat, but i kept my game together, and have actually adapted it to suit the players i'm trying to beat. I've returned to Betsafe to complete the bonus (i chop and change so much) and to also prove to myslelf that i can beat the utter euro donks on there! Changed my game a little in the following ways to beat the nutters:-
Pot Control
Playing position far more
Limping with Premium hands rather than firing, then blasting the raiser pre, enabling to get 60% of my stack in pre, thus making it a easier decision to commit on a flop.

Seems to be working quite good, or maybe just variance swept back in my direction again after a horrible week last week! Also playing Bodog to try and take 1st place in a very juicy but quiet rake race, hopefully i'll bink the top payout of $1k!

All my winnings are gone!

All last month's profits have been removed from Neteller and safely tucked into my bank account and are going to be spent on a nice little family holiday and baby gear for our arrival in October. The reason i have done this, is that i need to refocus, play sensibly, play correctly and take poker step by step, one amazing month doesn't make me the world's greatest! So the $1000 man is back, yes thats my roll, and hopefully i'll be able to increase it, by taking advantages of rake races, rakeback and hopefully some winnings starting at PLO20 again! I need to keep my old schedule from a few weeks back and not go overboard, need to keep fresh and play how i was a few weeks back. Last month is totally forgotten its time to get back to ABC poker and do it right! No high expectations, no dreams of grinding with the big boys as soon as possible, just enjoy and hopefully do ok and make a steady profit!

Bankroll: $1000
April Targets: Be in Profit from actual playing, $400 in rakeback and rakerace payouts.

I am Isildur!!!!

After last nights rant post i'm taking a few days off from the poker cash grind and will be donking about in some SNG's on FTP, maybe even a MTT or two. Have deposited some $'s on Bodog also, now dont flame me, i know its rubbish, but i spotted on my rakeback site it has a $5k race and so far this month i have a whopping $17 rake to beat to get first place for a $1k payout ........lol free money! There is only two people on the leaderboard, so i'm expecting a decent bonus at the end of the month, suprised no one else has spotted it. Beginning to like these rake races and they certainly help to boost the old bankroll!
Feeling better about poker now, GL at the tables!

More shit!

Just dropped another load of buyins to complete donks pushing their chips all in pre with crap like 33,5,7 if they dont hit str's they hit trips etc, total bull shit, nearly everyhand the clowns hit their flushes on the turn against my sets, straights when we get it all in, totally wank, a bit like this blog and 100% like this rant blog. Cashed my roll out of Ipoker and unsure if i will play poker again, been informed it takes 48hrs withdrawel from Ipoker .........lol shitsiteaments!!! Made decent cash last month playing steady stakes but as its going now i may just hit and run and take another massive break, and sPend the profits on family! Not that people read this blog much, so if i dont post again, GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

Everybody hates me!

Every site i play hates me (well thats how i feel!) Left Betsafe and moved to a Ipoker skin with VIP status a $500 deposit bonus, cashback and some free Mtt buyins. Shame the site hates me........poker gods really are crapping on me lately! Only good thing about playing the site is that there's hardly anyone in the rake race and 1st place pays out $3k a month, going on what i used to grind on Powerpoker i think i can make top 3 and earn myself over $2k bonus.........will need it if i keep running like this! Yet to make a profit this week, times are hard, i hate poker!!!

Goodbye................

Goodbye Ongame it was shit playing you, and all your euro donks that you continued to keep in the game by letting them hit 2 outers everytime i got my money in good! Somehow i managed to scrap a $450 profit on the site during my short time on it, but if my hands had held i think it would of been triple that, probably the worst PLO run of my life, i just couldn't get the donks to fold or more importantly get my hands to hold when i was a 60-75% fav on the flop! Ongame must use the same RNG as Stars as i run bad on there the very few times i play it! Off to Ipoker skin and see how i fair on there, if no real success i'm off back to Powerpoker and staying there!

First play of the month!

Havent played for 3 days as i was away at a wedding, staying at a lovely 4 star hotel, and had a good piss up, game of golf (first in 6 years) which i actually played like Tiger and ended up winning, and fun times all around plus nice food, was a nice poker break. Returned to the felt tonight to grind it out and try complete this dam bonus and get off this dam Ongame network, as i hate it and more importanlty it hates me, totally not enjoying playing it at all! Just can't have a decent winning session grinding low stakes, always having to jump up levels to make up losses, as what happened tonight. So annoying as the standard is dam pitifull, oh well i'm there till my bonus is achieved then off as fast as i can, not sure which site/network to try next pretty sure it wont be Ongame, unless i start to run normal on it, maybe its just a bad streak in variance, but its affecting my confidence more and more! Weird how i run bad at PLO25 but run like god at PLO50 and above on the same site, maybe i'm trying to hard to score at PLO25!

Good luck to any readers i may have! (Unless your playing PLO on Ongame!)

March Review and April Goals!

Well heres my review for March's play (may aswell include the few days of Feb i played)

I've solely concentrated on PLO cash, i think its my best way of making money at poker, it fits in to my schedule, its keeps me motivated, and i believe i can win at it at any stakes under $2/4.

I've played alot of it on Powerpoker, some on Full Tilt and recently bonus whoring on Betsafe(Ongame) and i've been a winner on all the sites i've played. I have real hot patches, some dodgy break even sessions and some super hot tilt spin ups were i have won big.

Starting roll : $1000
Profit per site
Full Tilt : $1011
Powerpoker : $2976
Betsafe : $495

Rakeback + Bonuses : $784

Total Profit : $5266 (including 8 days from Feb)

So basically i've crushed low stakes PLO and i will continue to grind the low stakes again in April, i'm removing $1266 from my roll to spend on the family, whats the point of putting in the grind and getting nothing to show for it, also means if i go busto i havent lost anything since i only started with $1k, so theres no playing with scared money.

So April begins with $5k roll and i'll continue to clear my bonus on Betsafe ($500) then jump to another skin and repeat, should be able to clear the two bonuses by end of April giving me $1k for nothing, hopefully i can at least break even. I have $250 heading my way from Powerpoker race, should of been more but i stopped playing PP for the last 5 days, i should make Betsafe race leaderboard for a similar bonus in April, if i'm somewhere near the top i may see the whole of April out on Betsafe and go for a decent race bonus, but we'll see.
I will be staying away from the big sites as i see no advantage of playing them at all, to many sharks on both Stars and Tilt even at the low levels i play. prefer to catch the weaker players who are experimenting/ playing on tilt/ or just plain bad on the smaller sites, plus the bonuses and rakeback are far greater, shame some of the software/support lets them down, but i'm BR building and i need all the extra $'s i can get! I cant see me having another month like March, it would be nice, but i doubt it, but i'm looking to have a $10k roll at least by the end of the year!

GL at the tables in April! Loved this guy when i first started playing years ago!