"UPS AND DOWNS"

Neteller: Last week $389; Current $30 (-359)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $57; Current $57 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $14; Current $14 (-)
CD: Last week $276; Current: $219 (-57)
Party: Last week 0; Current: $50 (+82)

Total: Last week $783; Current $410 (+25)

A week of mixed fortunes at the poker tables. I started by trying my hand at 2/4 on CD at some suitably loose tables. However I couldn't hit a flop to save my life and I had to pack it in as the variance was slaughtering me. This was a shame, as the players were there to be beaten - but you can't do it without the cards. I shall return!

Meanwhile Party offered me $50 up front to go back and play there. I was looking for another site (which supports "Poker Office") to play on anyway as there are times when there are no tables that I want to play on, on CD. So, back I went and it proceeded happily to the extent that I am now up on the week despite my travails on the 2/4 tables. This isn't to say that you can't find tight tables on Party. I had one where the "flops seen percentage" was 17%! I still made a few dollars, but I didn't hang around. "Office" is very useful on Party as there are no "flops seen percentages" given in the lobby.

I've closed the Bodog account (I never really settled there) and taken $389 out of the Neteller account for a jolly over the Easter holiday period. At Hills and Inter I have "player points" I can use for the occasional MTT, so it's worth keeping those accounts open. Laddies I may use for another foray into No Limit, but my enthusiasm for that format is very low currently.

"The art of folding"

Neteller: Last week $402; Current $389 (-23)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $57; Current $57 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $14; Current $14 (-)
Bodog: Last week $30; Current: $30 (-)
CD: Last week $281; Current: $276 (-5)

Total: Last week $811; Current $783 (-28)

I've had a reminder over the last week about the importance of the of folding to a poker player. I'm down on the week primarily because I allowed myself to get sucked into too many multi-way pots with drawing hands. I had the pot odds to draw but sadly didn't hit as frequently as I needed to and suffered as a result.

A particular weakness I have identified is continuation betting too frequently with AK and AQ after the flop when I haven't hit. At the tables I am playing a lot of players will just call you down with a small pair. You only need to get caught this way a couple of times to do the bankroll a bit of damage. I sharpened up my play on this score by the end of the week, but didn't recover enough to undo the earlier setback.

You live and learn.

"A GOOD WEEK"

Neteller: Last week $270; Current $402 (+132)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $52; Current $57 (+5)
Ladbrokes: Last week $14; Current $14 (-)
Bodog: Last week $19; Current: $30 (-)
CD: Last week $288; Current: $281 (-9)

Total: Last week $662; Current $811 (+128)

This has been an good week for my poker, despite the fact that I lost yet again with a pair of Aces that hit trips on the flop - to a runner, runner straight this time. By playing patient solid poker I was really able to clean up on the CD 1/2 tables. This was helped by good table selection - only playing on tables where the flops seen were hovering around 40% a lot of the time. I have added four folk to my "buddy list" who all dropped $100+ in a session - these guys are seriously poor players. Sadly they won't be around for long I suppose.

Despite the losing hand mentioned before, I'm actually back in profit with Aces, which has to be a good thing...

My Poker Office stats for AA - JJ come out as follows for just over 2000 hands:

AA 18 hands +$8 42% won showdown.

KK 9 hands +$36 80% won showdown.

QQ 13 hands +$94 83% won showdown.

JJ 16 hands +$86 77% won showdown.


So statistically I should expect a nice run of wins with Aces to bring we back to around the 80% won showdown level. We shall see.

"CURSE OF THE FLUSH CHASERS"

Neteller: Last week $270; Current $270 (-)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $76; Current $52 (-24)
Ladbrokes: Last week $21; Current $14 (-7)
Bodog: Last week $19; Current: $30 (+11)
CD: Last week $285; Current: $288 (+3)

Total: Last week $679; Current $662 (-17)

Now I "know" that folk chasing flushes with hands like J7c and K4s are the stuff of which riches are made at the poker table, but they have been a total curse to me this week.

The first occasion was the worst. It was a large multi way pot. I held AA in the cut off postion and capped the betting with 3 followers. Too many for my liking, but hey, you have to take it as it comes...and it came out as a flop of Ah 8c 4c.
The betting is capped with one player dropping out. Turn is Js. Betting caps out again with one man left. You can fill in the rest. The turn is a club and he has J7 of the suit. After that one I am now running at a loss with AA on CD. I didn't lose so much with it, but I later had a hand where my Aces were beaten by J8o which hit two 8's on the flop. SIGH.

In another $30+ hand I had three Jacks on the flop, only to see them beaten by a runner, runner flush. After this sort of thing the only answer is to pack it in and go to the pub!

However I got my revenge with later hand where my pair of Jack's tripped up and hammered a pair of Aces +$45!

Meanwhile the Cryptologic 1/2 tables continue to be a rock festival. I now only play the five hours at Hill's to get my $45 bonus and still managed to lose money this month. It's not difficult when the tables are so tight. I might only play 10 hands in an hour but if the majority go wrong then you are in trouble. I'll stick to my policy of playing games that I am sure I can beat.