Ladbrokes: 237 dollars
Pacific: 160 dollars

Total: 397 dollars

THE FISH BITE BACK!

Another week of high volatility with the Pacific account veering from down to 127 to plus 174 and finally ending up at 160 for a very modest profit. The main reason was that the fish fought back yesterday, with a succession of irritating hands where folk were catching running gutshot flushes, straights and the like. The worst one was when I had two Aces and hit another on the flop which came Ad 6s 2c. Needless to say I was betting for Britain and was happy to see three punters. Fine, except one of the villains hits a couple of spades on the turn and river to take me down. At least I got out when he raised on the river...sigh. You just have to live with this sort of thing, but it isn't funny, especially when it happens serially, as it did yesterday.

I have hardly played at all on Laddies, except for one night when I two tabled - you can only play one table at a time on Pacific. I might well do more of this.

Still at least my old favourite, Kicking King, obliged again in the King George to keep the horse account healthy. A close run thing though, with Monkerhostin overtaking him just after the winning post. I had Harchibald too a few weeks back but correctly passed on him on his latest outing. A difficult horse that one and I'll avoid him in future.

Ladbrokes: 237 dollars.
Pacific: 151 dollars.

Total: 388 dollars.

I've hardly played at all on Laddies but have continued to make good progress on Pacific. I feel I am getting a better read on the general run of players there now. They are loose (50% seeing the flop is regular) and a lot of them will chase down a flush with any two cards. When a third flush card appears on the river and a dutiful caller starts betting you've got to believe him. There is also a strong proclivity to slow play a top pair on the flop - I'm not sure why this should be so prevelant, but I have come across quite a few players doing it. It's very rare on Laddies.

You can't beat the nuts at Christmas!

My favourite hand of the week came when I collected a pair of nines as dealer. I raised when it came round to me and got 3 callers. The flop came 259 rainbow (lovely). I raised again and they all dutifully followed. The turn was a 2. Nice - the nuts - full house. Even better, one the villains bets into me and we cap it out, with one of the limpers still tagging along. The river is a Queen. Theoretically I could be vulnerable to 2 queens but it has to be very long odds against that. We cap it out and I duely take it down with my opponant having three 2's. A nice early Christmas present.

A happy Christmas and prosperous new year to all our readers!

Ladbrokes: 239 dollars
Pacific: 120 dollars

Total: 359 dollars

Another useful week. I definitely feel that I have a handle on the Pacific game now. It is much more volatile than on Laddies, but I think you just have to accept that. You can go down 10 in a session and then up 20 in the next. So long as the trend is in the right direction, which it has been lately, then fair enough.

I haven't played so much on Laddies but have had a useful learning experience. I was chugging along with a decent profit (and reading the Bob Dylan autobiography "Chronicles", which is brilliant by the way) when a new player came to the table, "cjh8047" from Faringdon. He had position on me and boy did he maximise it. I couldn't do anything right. If I raised with AQ suited and hit a Queen on the flop, he had 2 unraised pocket Kings. It went this sort of way for 3 or 4 hands over a half hour period, until I realised what I needed to do - I got out! You can't fight that sort of thing and you go "on tilt" if you try. I would have changed position, but that wasn't possible.

Funny thing is that it was hard to work out if he was a good player or just lucky. I suspect a bit of both. You just have to accept that you will get "bad beats" from time to time. However, if you stay on the "path of rightiousness", you will be sound over time and that is what it is all about.

The stats on Laddies are still totally skew whiff. According to them I am seeing 54% of flops - I doubt if I am seeing half of that, given my current style of play. Clearly if I want to maintain a bead on what I am doing I am going to have to power up "Poker Office" more often. It doesn't work on Pacific however, which is a bit of a shame.

"J" in his blog (I must get around to putting some links in) mentions a site by a Canadian player called David Scharf. This is a good read though it is mainly about no limit.

Ladbrokes: 231 dollars
Pacific: 99 dollars
Total: 330 dollars

A really good week. I have made good progress on both sites (despite the fact that I have played a lot less this week) and, more improtant, I am sure I know why I have made that progress!

I've been playing position a lot more effectively on both sites as per Sklansky (and just about everyone else you care to name). However the big difference has been on Pacific Poker. There the key has been table selection. Despite the fact that there are so many tables to choose from it is actually quite difficult to get seated at Pacific Poker. In the past I have tended to just move about from table to table until I find a spare seat and then start playing. However I realised that this was a mistake. I was missing out on the more "fishy" tables, with high percentages of players seeing the flop. So I decided to wait until I could get on a potentially fishy table and see if it made a difference.

Too right it did. In an hour I had restored my position to above 100 dollars (30+ on the session). I did find at this point that I got a bit over confident and made a couple of mistakes so that was the sign to get out. However there was no doubt about the lesson learned. Find the right table. It's not about "playing" its about "making money" and that is much more likely on a weak table.

4th December

Ladbrokes: 207 dollars

Pacific: 72 dollars

Total: 279 dollars

A bit of a swings and roundabouts sort of week. I continue to work effectively on Laddies but on Pacific I've been on a loser again. I'll keep plugging away until I find out why.

On Laddies I was assisted by a maniac bettor called "frame". I sussed him quickly and managed to change my position on the table so that I was immediately behind him. From there I could pick him off, and I managed to nail him 5 times with top pair or top pair and better kicker. He was making enough off the others to keep him in the game so it was a nice position for me. A useful lesson learned on "managing manicas", as I have been troubled by them in the past.

Sklansky's classic book, "Hold 'em Poker" is all that it is billed to be. Excellent advice, concisely given. The trick of course is to incoporate it into my play. I know from Chess, that a book is only as good as the amount of use you make of the information given!