VARIANCE SUCKS.

Ladbrokes: 44 dollars
Pacific: 376 dollars
Party: 125 dollars

Total: 535 dollars

A difficult week. The Party account is the one where I've had the troubles. First of all I was doing really well. I found the fishy tables and pushed my Party account up into the 190's. Then it started. I could do nothing right. No matter what I tried I couldn't win a hand and the bankroll just leaked away. Now I've had downswings before, as any player has, but I've never had anything so prolonged as this. In the end, when I was down 28 dollars on the week, I just packed in Party and played on Pacific instead. Up 18 dollars there, no problem, to finish -10 for the week.

The end result is no great loss then (except the time put in achieving it) but the problem is that downspells like that they really sap your confidence and that in turn affects your game. You find yourself having to talk yourself into raises that would have been automatic before and avoiding slow playing strong hands because you can't countinence the thought of losing out on a good hand when it finally arrives. Let's hope I have put it behind me.

Just to finish the whinging, a hand that really had me spitting feathers! I had KK late, which I raise. Three callers. Flop comes 259 rainbow. I bet, two call. J on the turn. I bet, one caller. Another J on the river. I bet, he raises, I call. He had J6 off. Sometimes there is no justice.

A FAREWELL TO LADDIES.

Ladbrokes: 44 dollars
Pacific: 358 dollars
Party: 159 dollars

Total: 551 dollars


It's a shame since it is the site where I "learned my trade" so to speak, but I am definitely saying farewell to Laddies. I have tried for the last couple of weeks to play a table on Laddies alongside a table on Pacific but to no avail. I just can't find a ring game at .25/.50 or .50/1 to play on. I've opened an account on Party Poker, taken out a few dollars and I will take it from there. I'm currently playing mainly there so that I can claim my bonus. I've left a few dollars in Laddies in case I want the odd game there some time, but until the traffic thickens up I can't see me playing there much.

Party hasn't been much fun however. It was billed as almost as fishy a site as Pacific, but it's nothing like in my experience. My first session was fine - very similar to Pacific and I finished up 9 dollars - but subsequently I have only met very tight tables. Three people seeing the flop is a big multi-way pot and hands which just go to the big blind without anyone seeing the flop are far from a rarity. This is the sort of thing I had expected to see much higher up the pecking order. There are so many tables that I am sure the sort of loose players I am looking for are to be found, but the front end doesn't make that search easy. I'll play out my bonus and survey the thing thereafter.

At the moment I am definitely favouring Pacific. Since I've made 258 dollars there in 10 weeks that is hardly surprising.

So the plan is to hit 600 and then look at the 1/2 tables on Pacific or 2 table .5/1 on Pacific and Party.

Ladbrokes: 244 dollars
Pacific: 328 dollars

Total: 572 dollars

QUIET TIMES.

I haven't actually played much this week, so I suppose +12 is ok, though I was up in about 30 at one point, before I had a downturn last night. The downturn culminated in the arrival of my old nemisis "the large multiway pot". I had AQc in late position which I raised, getting 3 callers. The flop came 10c 4c 8s. Very inviting (nut flush draw and 6 possible "overcards"), so I bet again and everyone called. The turn is Ks. This doesn't help me except to provide me with some more outs in the case of any jack but the spade. The others start betting now competitively now and I call this down. The turn is 6s. I'm beat and down 5 dollars. So it goes.

On a more positive note I did pick up a nice pot against a maniac bettor called, appropriately enough "Nuts06". He was displaying all the maniac tendencies before and after the flop and had a couple of other players "running with him". I didn't have much involvement, as I simply wasn't getting any hands worth playing, when finally I hit an AK off, which hit a king on the flop. I took Nuts and his pals for 22 dollars with that! That was it, it was the only hand I seriously played in an hour.

I've had a little look at my statistics since I moved to playing more or less all the time at Pacific. Since the 11th December I have averaged +27 dollars per week. Most interesting is the variance. The worst week was -16 and the best week was +81. So long as I can keep it in those areas I should continue to do ok. My next objective is to get to 600 dollars in total, when I will take a look at the 1/2 dollar tables.

Ladbrokes: 244 dollars
Pacific: 316 dollars

Total: 560 dollars

PROGRESS.

I feel a lot happier about my poker this week, which of course is reflected in the bank roll figures, which show a gain of 90 dollars on the week. The main source of my improvement is, I think, "table selection". I had a great start to the week and shot up to the 290's, which had me really buzzing. Then, mid week, I took a bath and dropped down to the 260's which was a tad depressing. So, I reviewed what had been happening and put it down to my old enemy, too many tempting mulit-way pots where, yes, I had the "pot odds", but was taking a hammering when I didn't hit my draw.

Subsesquently I made sure I was playing on nice comfortable "weak, passive" tables where there was very little raising before the flop, except from me when I had the appropriate hand and position. This seems to have made all the difference. Steady gains and no major downturns due to being "trapped" in big multi-way pot hands.

I need to think through my play on these big multi-way pots, since they can obviously be very profitable if you get them right, but for the time being I'll give them a wide bearth.

I have to say that some of the folk you meet on Pacific are quite unbelievable in their ineptitude (thank goodness). On one particular stand out occasion I had KK in middle position which I raised. Everybody drops out except the big blind. The flop came AJ8 rainbow. My opponant checks and I bet. He calls. The turn is a Q. He checks, I bet, he calls. The river is a 5. He checks, I bet, he calls. I win. What is that all about? I have raised before the flop indicating decent cards. He checks because he doesn't have an Ace and calls my bets to the end without improving. Why does he call on the river? He must know he's beaten. I was so intrigued I checked the hand history...he had 2 3's! He was drawing to two cards throughout and was beaten if I paired any card on the board. Long may his bankroll last!