"CHUGGING ALONG"

Neteller: Last week $270; Current $270 (-)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $76; Current $76 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $21; Current $21 (-)
Bodog: Last week $19; Current: $19 (-)
CD: Last week $246; Current: $285 (+39)

Total: Last week $640; Current $679 (+37)

Not a lot of poker played but what I did play went ok.

Figures for the month of February. +$203

After two losing months this is a thorough vindication of my decision to stop bonus chasing and concentrate on playing games I know I can beat with decent poker.

"KEEPING TO THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW PATH"

Neteller: Last week $220; Current $270 (+50)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $176; Current $76 (-100)
Ladbrokes: Last week $21; Current $21 (-)
Bodog: Last week $26; Current: $19 (-7)
CD: Last week $207; Current: $246 (+39)

Total: Last week $659; Current $640 (-19)

It's been hard work trying to make progress with my poker this week. To start with I had a run of nasty "suck outs" with people hitting stuff on the river like low pairs making trips, any two suited cards hitting a flush etc. A bad sequence of this saw me decline some +$50 in a couple of sessions. However I managed to keep to the path of poker rightiousness and duely reaped my reward with some good sessions that saw me back to +$17 for the week. Then a poor Saturday night session with a maniac saw me drop back again. I mean what can you do when you have raised in late position with AQ and the man with J7 off hits a J and a 7 on the flop? SIGH. I could feel myself liable to tilt, so I took myself off.

These things happen. Hopefully normal service will return soon.

I haven't played any No Limit this week (apart from the odd tournament) and I can't say I've missed it. Strange really. I had a really good run with it for a while but subseqent to being some $200 up, I haven't been able to get anywhere at all. I've no idea why as I was playing the same style of game in both periods. So it goes.

"AUTO PILOT"

Neteller: Last week $220; Current $220 (-)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $145; Current $176 (+31)
Ladbrokes: Last week $21; Current $21 (-)
Bodog: Last week $26; Current: $32 (+6)
CD: Last week $149; Current: $207 (+58)

Total: Last week $659; Current $ (+95)

I had an amusing occurance one night last week with a multi table tournament I entered on Bodog. There were over 300 players with 27 finishing "in the money". These tournaments on Bodog are a lot more laid back than many I am used to on other sites, with the blinds coming at a very steady rate and less really wild "all in" play than on many other sites. This suited me fine. I plodded along for a couple of hours, doubling up from time to time and after two hours I was down to the last 30 players with a stack of average size. The trouble was it was 12.00 and "time for bed". So, I left the computer on, clicked "auto fold" and went to bed. When I got up the next day I found I had finished 7th! I doubt if I would have achieved that actually playing cards. It just shows what a "crap shoot" tournaments are really. Still, they are quite amusing if you don't take them seriously.

Meanwhile my decision to concentrate on playing tables I can win on consistently rather than chasing bonuses on tight tables continues to be vindicated. There may not be a lot of players on CD compared to other sites, but the ones there are aren't very good and that suits me fine!

"BACK IN THE BLACK"

Neteller: Last week $220; Current $220 (-)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $101; Current $145 (+44)
Ladbrokes: Last week $23; Current $21 (-2)
Bodog: Last week $32; Current: $26 (-6)
CD: Last week $92; Current: $149 (+57)

Total: Last week $476; Current $569 (+93)

This week's events have totally supported my decision to give the tight bonus chasing tables on Inter a miss and concentrate on tables where actually winning regularly was more likely.

I have played mainly at 50/1 and 1/2 on tables where the flops seen have been at least 30% and often well beyond. The only problem with CD is that there are many fewer players, so it is not always possible to find a game I want to play in, but generally it has been ok.

In the meantime I've finally broken my run of losing "all in's" at No Limit. A full house managed to hold up...horray! I'm not getting too excited really. I suspect that unless I can start getting a run again, like I did when I turned $10 into $200 on Laddies, my No Limit career is going to be...well limited.

"TIME FOR A RETHINK"

Neteller: Last week $150; Current $220 (+70)
Inter: Last week $132; Current; $8 (-124)
William Hill: Last week $101; Current $101 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $58; Current $23 (-35)
Bodog: Last week $44; Current: $32 (-9)
CD: Last week $0; Current: $92 (+92)

Total: Last week $467; Current $476 (+9)
(-$104 on the month)

Having had two poor months running I think a review of what and where I am playing is called for. The loss on the month would have been greater had I not taken up an offer of $50 to go back and play on CD.

There are two current problems as I see it. The bonuses on Inter are no longer worth chasing as the new "bonus revolution" system makes them too hard to clear at a level which is comfortable. The 1/2 and particularly the 2/4 tables are incredibly tight (almost all around 20% of flops seen most of the time). This means that a couple of hands which fall wrong for you, like KK getting beaten by AK, which happened to me the other day, mean that you will be really struggling to stay in the black. The answer to that is to give Inter a miss, which is what I am going to do. I will just keep that account going to play the "player points" freerolls using the points I have acquired.

The other problem is an amazingly bad run at Limit. I have worked out that I have now gone a run of over 10 "all ins" without a win. The latest one was a pair of 6's that hit a flop of A65. A guy went all in with me with A5 and hit another A on the river. I must surely come out of this run soon. I am just going to stick to playing No Limit on Laddies and Bodog and if the bank rolls run out, then so be it.

"...AND CONTINUES"

Neteller: Last week $150; Current $150 (-)
Inter: Last week $157; Current; $132 (-25)
William Hill: Last week $101; Current $101 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $58; Current $40 (-18)
Bodog: Last week $53; Current: $44 (-9)

Total: Last week $519; Current $467 (-52)

My downswing has continued. It's nothing epic but very waring. The main problem has been getting rivered on key hands where I was ahead all the way through and betting accordingly. This has happened both at Limit and No Limit.

The worst No Limit hand came when I tripped up a pair of threes on the flop of A23. I went all in for $31 and was called by a guy with A2. He caught an A on the river, so his full house beat mine. Yet another 22/1 shot hammers me. I have now sunk on Laddies from +200 to my current 40. In the whole run I haven't won one "all in" hand, even when I've been virtually out of sight, as on the hand described. These runs happen of course, but they are hard to take.

For a bit of fun, I've been playing some multi table tournaments with the "points" I have accumulated on various sites. The MTT's on Laddies are noticably more wild than on Bodog or Inter. On Laddies players seem to try to double up or steal with the most unlikely hands from very early on in the piece. My usual tactic is to wait for a decent hand and try to pick one of these guys off. I've managed to finish "in the money" a few times, but the money has only been a few dollars, sadly. Top finish so far is 5th. On Inter and Bodog the MTT's bear a closer resemblance to normal poker. I can't see that there is a lot of skill involved in this though - it's just a crapshoot really.

"DOWNSWING CONTINUES"

Neteller: Last week $250; Current $150 (-100)
Inter: Last week $125; Current; $157 (+22)
William Hill: Last week $69; Current $101 (+32)
Ladbrokes: Last week $81; Current $58 (-23)
Bodog: Last week $53; Current: $53 (-)

Total: Last week $578; Current $519 (-59)

I had hoped that my downturn would dissappear with the New Year but sadly that hasn't been the case. No particular things I can blame. I'm not playing badly, just not hitting cards when I need them and particularly, getting good "second best" hands particularly in my Limit games. I will try and tough it out for another week. If that doesn't happen, then I will have to look to dropping in levels at Limit to try to recuperate.

Regardless of that I am thinking of revising my strategy at Limit anyway so that I play a large number of low limit tables - say 3 at 25/50 rather than one at 2/4, which is what I have been playing. The looser play on the lower limits should work out as a steadier earner than the grinding you have to do at 2/4 (where 20+% seeing the flop is the norm). If you get a couple of bad hands where you get dumped on the river (as has been happening recently) then it takes a long time to recover.

I haven't played much No Limit - the loss is down to one sad hand where a "wise fool" called my Aces with a pair of 2's and caught one on the river - par for the course then :-(

"REVIEW OF MY POKER YEAR"

Neteller: Last week $50; Current $250 (-100)
Inter: Last week $60; Current; $125 (+65)
William Hill: Last week $69; Current $69 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $95; Current $81 (-14)
Bodog: Last week $53; Current: $53 (-)

Total: Last week $627; Current $578 (-49)

Not a good week or indeed a good month. I'm down $49 on the week which leaves me down $94 on the month. This led me to taking a look at how the year as a whole has gone.

The monthly figures come out as:

January: +$82
Februrary: +56
March: -$17
April: No play
May: +$112
June: -$114
JUly: +$91
August: +$259
September: +$160
October: +210
November: +169
December: -$94

This leaves my total profit for the year as $914.

Looking back, this time last year, I was playing .25/.5 Limit and just thinking about moving to .5/1. I am now regularly two tabling 1/2 limit and have even dabbled in the giddy heights of 2/4. I've also started playing No Limit with some initial success followed by my recently chronicled disasters with high pairs.

I think I am now a competent Limit player and I should find myself able to play 2/4 comfortably in the next few months. My other objective is to improve my No Limit game so that I am profitable at that as well. I have to say that I have enjoyed playing No Limit more than Limit recently and that is where I can see me taking my game. However I will continue to use my Limit game to build up the bankroll using the bonuses at Inter and Hills.

It's a plan. It will be interesting to review things this time next year.

Happy New Year and may all of your "All in's" be successful ones!

"HAMMERED AGAIN"

Neteller: Last week $50; Current $350 (+300)
Inter: Last week $144; Current; $60 (-200)
William Hill: Last week $169; Current $69 (-100)
Ladbrokes: Last week $186; Current $95 (-91)
Bodog: Last week $83; Current: $53 (-30)

Total: Last week $748; Current $627 (-121)

I suppose it had to be coming, but I've had a really unredeemably bad poker week. I wish that I could say that it is all down to a run of poor cards, but really it's been a combination of both that and poor play also.

The downturn seriously set in with a hand where, after plodding along getting nowhere in particular, I found myself with 66. A player in early position raised substantially, I called, and hit the beast - a 6 on the flop. He bet out, I went all in and he called it. He had 2 Queens. He hit a third on the river - a 22/1 shot. That cost me $78.

Poker playing for the week went downhill from there. Basically, on reflection, I have been trying to force things to catch up and have been caught out as a result. Every time (4 times subsequently) I have had big pair, I have allowed myself to be sucked in and hammered by someone who called my big preflop bet and then hit a set (of course I didn't subsequently luck out on the river). It is a bad habit I have hopefully now cured myself from. SIGH.

Meanwhile I still can't make any progress on Bodog. I've reverted to playing Limit there, but a series of bad beats has seen me continue to decline. I think I'm going to have to give up on that site as a notion.

Meanwhile I played a "player points MTT" on Laddies last night and made the last 13, thus winning all of $1.30!! Still it was a good laugh. I finally crashed out when I went all in against a big raiser who turned out to have 2 Jacks. I had 2 Queens. One of his Jacks was a Spade. I didn't have a Spade. We had 3 spades on the flop and another on the river. What can you say?

A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY READERS! - all 3 of you :-)

"BEST WIN"

Neteller: Last week $150; Current $50 (-$100)
Inter: Last week $127; Current; $144 (+17)
William Hill: Last week $129; Current $169 (+40)
Ladbrokes: Last week $151; Current $216 (+65)
Bodog: Last week $83; Current: $83 (-)

Total: Last week $654; Current $5 (+122)

Yesterday saw my best ever session at No Limit, the highlight of which was a hand where I scored my best ever one pot victory: $82.70.

I was two tabling on Laddies, getting nowhere fast on one table but doubled up nicely on the other when I looked down at 89s in the big blind. This is not a hand I would normally get too excited about, but there were four other punters and no raises so I checked it out. The flop came AJ7 rainbow. A player in early, who also had doubled his stack, called "hmfcloyalist", raised for 3xBB and got two limpers. At that price (plus the implied odds) I thought the four outs were worth a punt, so I limped too. The turn produced a 3. The Hearts supporter offered 3xBB again and we all limped after him. The river was a 10! The Hearts man shoves in $6 and I go all in. He bites and his AJ duely gets hammered by my straight.

I don't really understand why anyone would call an all in bet with less than trips, but I'm glad they do!

Meanwhile I continue to have trouble with two kings as a starting hand in No Limit and I note that I am not alone. "Juice" recently posted concerning his travails with the same holding. This time I got them in the big blind, which is in some ways an ideal position. An early position player raised 5xBB and got two callers before it came round to me. I took the logical position and raised all in and one player called. He had A 10 clubs and duely hit 2 clubs with the third one on the river. I know I am favourite pre flop here but I do seem to have lost a disproportionate amount of times racing with KK recently. I'm due a good run with them I know that much.

Anyway - I got my money back more or less right away at the other table I was playing, when I hit a set and managed to get someone all in on the flop.

I'm currently alternating between clearing bonuses at Limit and playing No Limit. In terms of enjoying the game the No Limit has to be the clear winner at the moment. I would never have guessed I would be saying that a year ago.

"NO LIMIT STRATEGY"

Neteller: Last week $150; Current $150 (-)
Inter: Last week $27; Current; $27 (-)
William Hill: Last week $119; Current $129 (+10)
Ladbrokes: Last week $104; Current $151 (+47)
Bodog: Last week $103; Current: $83 (-20)

Total: Last week $495; Current $532 (+37)

Winnings for the month come in at $225, which is a little bit more than last month.

Regular readers may possibly be wondering how someone with a total inability to make a go of No Limit Holdem up until recently, has suddenly developed a winning game, all be it at a very modest level. A great deal of the credit should go to a site I discovered when I was researching how to play No Limit, called "freeholdemstrategy.com".

On this site they advocate a "tight/passive" strategy for No Limit holdem games with a buy in of below $200. Basically, because of the high number of poor players who see too many flops at this level, you can afford to play a very conservative game, seeing about 20% of flops and waiting for a really big hand on the flop that will give you a chance to double up by getting someone all in. It is certainly a very easy strategy to learn and it has been working for me effectively enough.

In fact it has been so effective that I have begun to tweak it a little bit, by trying some limping with AK in early position and other slightly non-standard moves. I've been doing this from time to time to "mix up my game" and not become too predicatable. So long as I bear in mind (as I have been doing) the fundamental principle that if I've anything less than a set after the flop I'm very vulnerable, I shouldn't come to too much harm. I've also tended to be fairly aggressive with top pair/top kicker if I hit it - though still folding if I meet resistance as advised.

The positive thing about this strategy is that it contradicts a lot of the "conventional wisdom" about playing No Limit that you read about in books - i.e. the "tight/aggressive" approach. I think it is often very useful to apply a "contrary" approach to that generally seen; in the same way that it is best to play a rather looser game at a tight table and a tight game at a loose table.

It's working for me anyway.

"SLOW PROGRESS."

Neteller: Last week $624; Current $150 (-$474)
Inter: Last week $228; Current; $27 (-)
William Hill: Last week $119; Current $119 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $84; Current $106 (+22)
Bodog: Last week $100; Current: $103 (+3)

Total: Last week $954; Current $495 (+25 on last week's position)

I've taken $474 out of my Neteller account to pay for a night away with a good meal for my wife and I over the Christmas holiday period.

Meanwhile the poker has been pretty nondescript this week. Another couple of hammerings with KK getting sucked out on, saw me drop on Laddies, but I recovered later in the week, with a good Satruday night two table session putting me over $100.

My best hand was A8 hearts, which hit three more hearts on the flop. I slow played it from the Big Blind and found a punter who also had the flush and managed to get him all in. Good fun.

Meanwhile I can't seem to get anywhere much on Bodog, but I suppose I should persist and see if I can make a go of it. The games don't seem particularly tough, but I haven't been able to make much progress so far.

"FIRST $50+ WIN AND FIRST $70 LOSS - SIGH."

Neteller: Current $624
Inter: Last week $228; Current; $27 (-)
William Hill: Last week $119; Current $119 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $64; Current $84 (+20)
(Sun: +9)
Bodog: Current: $100 (-)

Total: Last week $925; Current $954 (+29)

I've done a bit of shunting money around, which leaves me with most of my bankroll in Neteller, a closed Sun account (the bonus was too difficult to clear, especially at No Limit) and a new account on Bodog. Meanwhile, before I closed the Sun account, I had my biggest ever win on one hand there - $57.60. It went down as follows...

Game #3968806224: Hold'em NL ($0.15/$0.25) - 2006/11/13 - 17:41:38 (ET)
Table "Selective" Seat 10 is the button.
Seat 1: Kronsdat ($26.30 in chips)
Seat 2: Dave025 ($15.35 in chips)
Seat 3: ellak ($56.60 in chips)
Seat 4: lindy61 ($24.85 in chips)
Seat 5: edske13 ($24.60 in chips)
Seat 6: Acephil ($48.99 in chips)
Seat 7: soden ($5.25 in chips)
Seat 8: Pokerbint ($6.75 in chips)
Seat 9: Redfox82 ($6.10 in chips)
Seat 10: alphaa7 ($22.85 in chips)
Kronsdat: posts small blind $0.15
Dave025: posts big blind $0.25
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Kronsdat [As 9s]
ellak: folds
lindy61: folds
edske13: calls $0.25
Acephil: calls $0.25
soden: folds
Pokerbint: folds
Redfox82: calls $0.25
alphaa7: raises to $0.75
Kronsdat: calls $0.60
Dave025: folds
edske13: folds
Acephil: calls $0.50
Redfox82: calls $0.50
----- FLOP ----- [9h 4c 9d]
Kronsdat: checks
Acephil: checks
Redfox82: checks
alphaa7: bets $2
Kronsdat: calls $2
Acephil: raises to $6
Redfox82: folds
alphaa7: calls $4
Kronsdat: calls $4
----- TURN ----- [9h 4c 9d][Ah]
Kronsdat: checks
Acephil: bets $4.25
alphaa7: folds
Kronsdat: raises to $8.50
Acephil: calls $4.25
----- RIVER ----- [9h 4c 9d Ah][2s]
Kronsdat: bets $11.05 and is all-in
Acephil: calls $11.05
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Kronsdat: shows [As 9s] (A Full House, Nines full of Aces)
Acephil: shows [9c 2c] (A Full House, Nines full of Twos)
Kronsdat collects $57.60 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot $60.60 Main pot $57.60 Rake $3
Board [9h 4c 9d Ah 2s]
Seat 1: Kronsdat (small blind) showed [As 9s] and won ($57.60) with A Full House, Nines full of Aces

Which was fine obviously, but I did take a tonking on Laddies when I ended up all in with two Kings against two Aces. It was a real shame as I was up $18 at the time and my Laddies account was running at $110. SIGH. Still, you have to accept these fluctuations at No Limit and I did take down a couple of decent pots with Aces myself during the week.

At the moment my thinking is that I will play Limit on Hills and Inter at the start of each month to clear their soft bonuses and then concentrate on developing my No Limit game on Laddies and Bodog.

I will also be having a look at developing a strategy for "Sit and Goes", as the player points at Laddies give you free entry to these. However apart from playing a couple of freerolls at Laddies 9 months ago, I have no experience at all of this type of play.

"MORE FUN AT NO LIMIT"

Neteller: Current $400
Inter: Last week $172; Current; $228 (+46)
William Hill: Last week $119; Current $119 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $25; Current $64 (+39)
Sun: Last week $75; Current $114 (+39)

Total: Last week $791; Current $925 (+$134)

My good fortune at No Limit continues. I played twice during the week, both times with Juice. Nothing much was happening in the first session, when I got a pair of 9's and raised it only to be reraised. I called it and had the great good fortune to get the wonderful flop of 933! The guy had a pair of Aces and went all in only to get hammered by my made hand. Nice. I could get to like No Limit :-)

I'm still under no illusions however. I know that my skills at this are very limited (no pun intended) indeed and I'm proceeding very cautiously. Come to think of it, that's probably why I'm surviving.

Later in the week I had another session where I just chugged along doing nothing much till I had A10 diamonds which hit KQx diamonds on the flop. (Not bad - the nut flush and the remote chance of a Royal!). I checked it and was paid of handsomely by the biggest stack at the table who raised and then saw me all in.

Meanwhile I'm not doing particularly thrillingly at the game I'm supposed to be able to play. At limit, I've again made a profit on Inter, but only because of the bonus. A vile last session where I dropped nearly $60 was the main cause of the problem. I don't think I was doing anything particularly wrong. It was just one of those sessions where nobody ever called my bets with strong hands and my plays with continuation bets using position just seemed to find guys who had hit and then check raised me. SIGH. Ah well - no long term damage done. Next up the Sun bonus, which will probably take a couple of weeks, as it's a bit harder to clear.

"DOUBLING UP AT NO LIMIT!"

Neteller: Current $400
Inter: Last week $199; Current; $172 (-17)
William Hill: Last week $96; Current $119 (+23)
Ladbrokes: Last week $11; Current $25 (+14)
Sun: Last week $75; Current $75 (-)

Total: Last week $785; Current $805 (+$20)

Hightlight of the week has to be doubling my money at No Limit. My skills at this game are very embryonic but I'm still better than some of the guys on the beginners tables at Laddies - they just play too many hands giving me the odds to play suited connectors and the like. I'll keep visiting it from time to time and see if I can develop a workable game.

Meanwhile the start of a new month means I can tackle the bonuses on the crypto sites again. Sadly I dropped $22 on Hills but the soft $45 bonus for playing 5 hours still left me up on the deal. I've taken another $100 out of Inter and now I'm working off their $100 bonus. My target is to have enough money by Christmas to take my wife and I out for a night away and a good meal over Christmas and still have a reasonable bankroll to carry forward into the New Year.

Now that I seem to be coming to terms with two tabling at 1/2 I suppose the next step, some time in the new year, will be to move up to 2/4. Ambition indeed :-)

Saddest hand of the week has to be the following...

HAND 5------
Game #3871079314: Hold'em FL ($1/$2) - 2006/11/04 - 09:42:34 (ET)
Table "Metz" Seat 5 is the button.
Seat 1: Krassotti ($67.25 in chips)
Seat 2: Shenghui ($32.25 in chips)
Seat 3: noniis ($56.25 in chips)
Seat 4: SLAYER96 ($28.50 in chips)
Seat 5: Eta0106 ($36.90 in chips)
Seat 6: jerry84 ($37.50 in chips)
Seat 7: kingpack ($44 in chips)
Seat 8: kronsdat ($85.75 in chips)
Seat 9: anmaan ($70.50 in chips)
Seat 10: potlimit9 ($17.37 in chips)
jerry84: posts small blind $0.50
kingpack: posts big blind $1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to kronsdat [Ad Kh]
kronsdat: raises $2
anmaan: folds
potlimit9: folds
Krassotti: folds
Shenghui: folds
noniis: folds
SLAYER96: folds
Eta0106: calls $2
jerry84: folds
kingpack: raises $2
kronsdat: calls $1
Eta0106: calls $1
----- FLOP ----- [4c Kc As]
kingpack: bets $1
kronsdat: calls $1
Eta0106: calls $1
----- TURN ----- [4c Kc As][Ah]
kingpack: bets $2
kronsdat: calls $2
Eta0106: calls $2
----- RIVER ----- [4c Kc As Ah][Kd]
kingpack: bets $2
kronsdat: raises $4
Eta0106: folds
kingpack: raises $4
kronsdat: raises $4
kingpack: calls $2
----- SHOW DOWN -----
kronsdat: shows [Ad Kh] (A Full House, Aces full of Kings)
kingpack: shows [Ac Jc] (A Full House, Aces full of Kings)
kingpack collects $16.50 from Main pot
kronsdat collects $16.50 from Main pot

That damned King on the river meant he equalled my full house. I can't remember having two sets of trips before and certainly not Aces and Kings!

"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.

"BANKROLL MANAGMENT"

Neteller: Current $0
Inter: Last week $414; Current; $485 (+$71)
William Hill: Last week $0; Current $89 (+$89)
Total: Last week $405 (-$185 of my original stake); Current $575 (+$160)

I decided to indulge in a bit of bankroll management.

The bonus on the Inter account has been cleared for the month, leaving me at a very nice $485. At this rate I should make the $1000 target by Christmas I would have thought - barring a terrible attack of the dreaded variance. That is certainly my current target.

Since William Hill have an attractive $70 bonus for playing five hours there in September, I decided to tackle that for the rest of the month, using some money from Inter. I have now put this back into Neteller ready to attack the October bonus on Inter. All did not go smoothly however and I had a bit of bother getting the William Hill account running. This is the first time I've ever had that - normally Poker sites are very good at taking money off you (if nothing else).

I've also taken my "start up" money out, so I am now playing almost completely with money I have won since I started playing again - a nice feeling.

Things have gone quite well on William Hill. Since it is in the same network as Inter, I am essentially playing the same people.

I did have some trouble from a maniac one evening. He wasn't hard to spot - the usual form - raising every other pair of cards and continuation bets thereafter. I took the normal approach of waiting for the right hand and thought I had it when I called his raise from the big blind with a pair of eights to go heads up with him. The flop came 2 8 10 and I thought "gotcha". I duely check raised him on the turn, which was a nothing card. On the river, which was a Q, I did it again only to be "threebet". I saw it and he had J9 off for a straight. SIGH. He wasn't just doing this to me however, he was hitting all sorts of unlikely things against everyone else too and the table was distinctly going on tilt. At least I didn't lose anything else to him. Sometimes folk just get lucky.