"TWO TABLING."

Neteller: Current $300
Inter: Last week $299; Current; $299 (-)
William Hill: Last week $96; Current $96 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $6; Current $11 (+5)
Sun: Last week $23; Current $75 (+52)

Total: Last week $728; Current $785 (+$57)

I have played the week on Sun, two tabling and was making nice progress until the very last session. It turned into one of those total horror shows where everything goes wrong again and again. My blind steals and blind defences were getting challenged and beaten and my good hands were getting sucked out on - the lowlight being AA in the small blind which was raised and I then threebet. The flop came Qs 7h 2d. Bet; call. Turn is 4s. Bet; call. River is 10s. I check; bet; call and he has 8s9s. I couldn't resist checking the odds on that one - they are 77% v 23% in favour of the Aces. When you are running bad, that's what happens.

I ended up down $74 or 37 big bets on the session. I cleared my bonus, which relieved some of the damage, but it wasn't a lot of fun.

Still, Pete Birks ("Everything has a limit" blog) has been going through the same sort of thing day after day for over a week now, and he's been hit by a bus and is getting flu! So, I guess I shouldn't complain when I've actually turned a profit on the week!

However the downturn at the end has meant that I have failed to beat my $287 target for the month - actual winnings this month being $210. So it goes.

After taking the hammering on Sun I played a bit of No Limit on Laddies with "miasdad", one of Juice's mates. I finished up $5, so I'm somehow still alive there. Mind you it was mainly thanks to my AJ diamonds hitting 3 diamonds on the flop. Even someone with my No Limit skills couldn't mess up that one! :-) I do know enough to know that I still don't really know what I'm doing at No Limit though.

"A QUIET WEEK"

Neteller: Current $300
Inter: Last week $499; Current; $299 (-)
William Hill: Last week $196; Current $96 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $10; Current $6 (-4)
Sun: Last week $23; Current $32 (+9)

Total: Last week $728; Current $728 (+$5)

Having cleared my bonuses at Hills and Inter I've been playing on Sun this week towards the bonus there. Pressure of work and other real life interference has meant that I haven't actually played much, so the lack of progress was to be expected.

Still I haven't much to go on losing the Laddies $10 at No Limit :-)

In the meantime I've moved some money into Neteller ready for the November bonuses. In November I think I am going to play less frequently but concentrate on two tabling when I do. That should be an interesting experiment. I have already experimented a bit at two tabling, using the Laddies account, and I think I can manage it.

"A VERY GOOD WEEK"

Neteller: Current $0
Inter: Last week $429; Current; $499 (+$70)
William Hill: Last week $98; Current $196 (+98)
Ladbrokes: Last week $10; Current $10
Sun: Current $23 (+23)

Total: Last week $537; Current $728 (+$191)

A complete turnaround in fortunes this week. Everything has been proceeding very calmly and pleasantly and I've ticked along on all fronts all week. I haven't had any particularly wonderful hands (I can't remember winning a pot of over $20) but I've been winning steadily every session. I've cleared my bonuses on Inter and William Hill so I've opened an account at another "cryptologic" site, Sun Poker and started to work on their bonuses.

I had a little bit of a retrospective and found that, since I started playing on the Cryptologic sites I've won $287 in August and (amazingly enough) $287 in September! Unless I meet with a stunning reversal of fortunes I should be able to top that this month.

I should be able to lose the random $10 given to me by Laddies - I've been playing No Limit with it and I've seen no evidence that my ability at that game has improved.

It is also interesting to look back at my entries in the blog nearly a year ago. Then, I was bemoaning the fact that I was having a hard time on Laddies and putting it down to playing "too tight" for the game. I broadened the range of hands I would have a punt with up to nearly 40% and saw my ability to win improve. It just shows how much you have to vary your style according to the tightness of the tables you are playing. If I played 40% of flops at $1/$2 on Crypto sites I would get slaughtered. My current game is very much about waiting for good hands and selective blind steals. I've been making a lot more use of "table image" too. If you have taken down some pots with good hands it makes blind stealing so much easier.

One hand I was happy to observe but not be playing in occurred yesterday. Four players saw a raised flop of A84 rainbow. The betting capped out leaving two players. Same on the turn which was a 7. The river is a second 7 and the betting reaches $14 each before one player calls ($54 in the pot). One player had AA and the other unfortunate had 88! On Crypto you seem to be able to bet on as much as you like after the river - I haven't seen that on any other site.

Good luck.

"DOWNTURN TIME"

Neteller: Current $0
Inter: Last week $485; Current; $429 (-$56)
William Hill: Last week $89; Current $98 (+$9)
Ladbrokes: Last week $10; Current $10
Total: Last week $575; Current $537 (-$37)

It's not been a great couple of weeks for my poker. I haven't actually played that much and what I have played hasn't gone well. It's the usual story of a downswing - a combination of bad beats (my "favourite" was AA beaten by Q4s which hit two 4's on the flop) and poor play due to the resulting irritation. I have caught myself on, going "tilty" on a couple of occasions. In my case I start playing hands I know I shouldn't (and of course the reason for not playing them duely transpires) and/or being ultra aggressive with hands like AK off even after they don't hit the flop. Having found myself doing this I have been very careful to play short sessions subsequently unless things are going well (which they havent' been!). I will just have to see it out.

In the meantime I have been subbed $10 to play on Laddies again. The only problem is that there aren't any games there that I want to play. J has suggested I seek him out and have a no limit sit and go game with him, which seems the best way of using the freebie. Nothing lost that's for sure.

It will be very interesting to see the effects of the new American anti-internet gaming legislation on the Poker world. Party and Pacific seem to be the most vulnerable companies with their large US client base. There has been no particularly noticable effect so far on the sites I'm currently playing on but that could certainly change.