ROYAL FLUSH !

Absolute: Last Month $1000; Current $1065 (+65)
Poker Stars: Last month $137; Current $118 (-19)
Total = $1,183 (+46)
Profit in the month = +$46 Profit in the year = +$456
B&M = £113 (+£19)
Betfair = £147 (-£18)
Total = £260. B&M Profit in year +£60

I've been playing online poker for about six years now and a couple of nights ago I had my first royal flush (making it also my first ever straight flush)...and what's more I scored with it. It was in the mid section of a sng and my AT diamonds hit a flop of KdJd3c. A guy went big (33) and with all those outs I went all in. He called and I hit the Qd on the river. He was a bit peeved actually, but I wasn't folding that draw.

I've carried on playing the turbo sng's and seem to have them fairly well sussed. The variance is a bit higher (I started the month with a $77 downswing) but it's nice to get more games in without multi-tabling. I can multi-table, but after a day's work it feels a bit too much like more work - I don't need it.

During the downswing I found myself getting sucked into playing too many hands early on. It's so easy to do and such a major mistake. One laggy player in particular really got my goat. Early in the game I standard raised three times with big Aces. Each time he called me and hit two pair (he showed), forcing me to fold to his bet on the flop the first two times. The third time I had AK, hit a K on the flop and just couldn't believe he could have done it again. He damned well did - he'd hit his K3 off and put me out. A lesson re-learned. Early on, play these hands really big from the start, if you play them at all.

Meanwhile I can make nothing at all of the APAT league games. In the latest run out I finished 31/101, which is actually my highest finish so far - not impressive stuff. To get that far I had to luck out with 88 v QQ. I suppose I shouldn't moan. These games are definitely harder than the general $10 games - eventually a good run in one will come.

Certainly I continue to fancy the $11 36 man sng's on Absolute. Unfortunately they've been running a promotion on $11 tournaments this month, which seems to have attracted away all the regs from these sng's. I've only played one this month but I finished 4th in it and felt very comfortable throughout.

Meanwhile the Raise the River guys are away for a team event in Newcastle over the bank holiday weekend. Sadly I couldn't make it to defend my "last longest" title, but dD has vowed to nit up and give it a go. Now it is inevitable that drink will be taken, so I just hope that Dave "No Shoes" ( see post on the APAT team event in January) doesn't go native and end up minus his shirt in the Bigg Market on Saturday night.

The old and the new.

When I first played poker in the 1960's we basically played 5 card draw with some variations like "Southern Cross" (don't ask) and "Seven Card Stud" thrown in for interest. 3 card "Brag" was another popular game, which used to get quite ferocious with the "betting only finished when there were two players left" rule. I look back now and shudder. I didn't have the blindest notion what I was doing back then, but I think I can safely say that neither did anyone else in our group, since somehow I contrived to be a winning player!

When I started playing again some five years ago, after a lapse of, let's just say a few years, the game that was all the rage was of course Texas Hold'em - easy to learn and equally easy to lose money at. The big difference was that, thanks to the internet, there was no lack of instruction available on how to play effectively - the only real task was to sort the wheat from the chaff. Nothing stands still of course and now the "coming game" is "Pot Limit Omaha". This is a particularly evil variant, full of temptations, where very high hands can appear from all angles.

If the spirit of adventure is with you, you could do a lot worse than look here for some guidance on how to play Pot Limit Omaha. And if you want to take a trip down nostalgia boulevard, you could try here for instruction on how to play Seven Card Stud.

A TALE OF TWO RIVERS

I had a go at the £20 (+5) game at the G Casino in Bolton. Early doors I had a nice double up when my 99 hit a flop of 9h6c5c. The other guy bet the pot, I doubled it and he called. Ten on the turn. He checks, I bet pot, he calls. Ten of clubs on the river, giving me the full house. I go all in, he calls. He had 78 for the flopped straight. He said he thought I had to have the flush or house and shouldn't have called the river bet. Correct. If he had gone all in early doors, I would have too, so neither of us could have got away from the hand really.

I was then totally card dead for 3 levels and then had to make some moves as the blinds increased, which went ok. Then, with about half the field gone, and a 12xBB stack I got TT in middle position. Big bet from me, after one limper - two callers. Flop comes 455 two clubs. Guy who called in early makes a half pot bet and I go all in and he calls. He shows 66 including a club. The turn...8. River a xxxxing 7. Still, at least I got home in time to get a good night's sleep. Did I regard that as a consolation?

Mary's charity game went ok, with ten players. It ended up with BurnleyMik and me heads up, with Mik winning. That makes it 1 - 1 in our recent heads up matches...I'll get him next time :-)

COME AND JOIN A GAME IN A GOOD CAUSE

Next Sunday, alongside the "Bloggerment" which I regularly play, there is a game on PokerStars in aid of a cancer charity. This has been organised by "Mair", one of my regular (and best!) Bloggerment opponents. Do try to get along and join in. The details are...

Pokerstars
Sunday 18th April
8.30pm
$10 Buy In
password: Mair38 (it's a capital "M")
Tourney Number: 261128458

Be there or be square...