ANOTHER STEADY MONTH

Neteller: Last week $108; Current $108
Full Tilt: Last week $45; Current $45 (-)
Ultimate Bet: Last month $140; Current $188 (+48)

Total = $341

Profit on the month = +$48

I've played 30 games this month for a profit of $48, which gives me a "Return on Investment" (roi) of 29%. Not as good as the 50% last month, but that was hardly something I was likely to be able to keep up. I cashed in 16 of the 30 games I played which seems to be my consistent figure and one I am happy with.

I had several $6.60 games, which are certainly no harder than my normal $5.5 ones, but you don't get a field for them so often - more's the pity.

When I get over $200, which looks to be coming up next month, then I'll have a dabble at the $10 +1 games.

The game at the Cricket Club is getting a bit embarrasing. I've finished 1st in 3 of the previous 5 and second in the one this week (and should have won that too in all honesty). One of the regulars, a long time friend, is still utterly convinced that there is no skill in poker, saying "it's all down to luck". When I point out to him that I am winning an awful lot more than the 1/12th of the time that pure luck would indicate he just claims it's because I get good cards near the end of the game. He just can't recognise why I am always at the end of the game or see that the way I play then is totally different to the way I play at the beginning. Oh well, it's not my problem and I did manage to explain pot odds to him.

STEADY PROGRESS

Neteller: Last week $108; Current $108
Full Tilt: Last week $45; Current $45 (-)
Ultimate Bet: Last month $100; Current $140 (+40)

Total = $293

Profit on the month = +$40

I've played 13 $5.5 "sit and goes" this month for a profit of $40, which is of course very encouraging. That makes a "roi" (return on investment) of 56%, which would be pretty awesome if I could keep it up (which I doubt if I could). Anyway it does encourage me to have a go at some $6.6 games which are also available on Ultimate. I'll look at $10 + 1 when I get to $200.

I like the slow build up of the games on UB as it suits my style very well. There are 4 low blind levels, so you have played 40 minutes before you get to the 50/100 mid blind level. This gives the non-thinking players lots of scope for getting all in and therefore out of the game. There is also a fair chance of being able to limp in with low pairs or suited connectors and double up if you hit.

Playing only when it suits me - rather than trying to chase bonuses, "points" and the like - is also a plus I think. My wife certainly appreciates it.

BurnleyMik was asking about the game at the local Cricket Club. That's going very nicely. Because I tend to do so little early on, I am given a lot of respect for my raises later in the game, which is very useful when you have air but need to make a move! We regularly start with 2 tables now and I can see us having 16 plus players in the Autumn when we will go back to a league format again.

A BIT OF A RECOVERY

Neteller: Last week $108; Current $108
Full Tilt: Last week $45; Current $45 (-)
Ultimate Bet: Last week $119; Current $100 (-19)

Total = $253

Profit on the month = -$19

A nineteen dollar loss on the month might look less than thrilling but it actually represents a significant recovery. I played some more .5/1 Limit and had a dismal run which saw me down to $47 left on the site at the worst point. I decided,
since I was no longer rolled for the Limit anyway to change back to $5.5 SnG's and see what that brought me. On reflection I shouldn't really have been playing Limit, since I am not putting in the hours needed to overcome the variance. Seduced by a desire to work off the bonus I'm afraid.

Anyway my SnG game seems to have returned and in the 25 games I've played this month I've made a profit of $53. Not overly exciting in itself, but a significantly good roi which has cheered me up a bit.

The face-to-face game at the local Cricket Club continues to go nicely with 14 players quite often now. I'm running a very steady profit here, helped by the fact that one of my main competitors turns up less frequently since he's become romantically involved - ah the follies of youth!

The best poker news this month was nothing to do with me. Old "Diplomacy" (the board wargame) mate and long time Poker player (he's mentioned in Tony Holden's first book) Pete Birks won $1,000 and an all expenses paid entry to a big tournament in Monte Carlo from Full Tilt. Pete's regular game is $200 No Limit at which he is very successful. It will be interesting to follow his progress. There is a link to Pete's blog on the sidebar.

AN INDIFFERENT MONTH

Neteller: Last week $108; Current $108
Full Tilt: Last week $45; Current $45 (-)
Ultimate Bet: Last week $169; Current $119 (-50)

Total = $272

Profit on the month = -$50

Not much joy online this month. I had a miserable run on the 9 man $5.5 SnG's with a sequence of 12 games without cashing, 6 of them 4th places...SIGH. I couldn't even find anything that I was doing that was particularly poor - I just kept getting caught in key bubble all in situations with someone having a big hand they could call me with and then not getting lucky. I also suffered from the reverse syndrome of having good hands called by big stacks and them getting lucky (my unfavourite being AA called by QJ off which hit a straight on the river). Having had a run of 8 games where I cashed every time previous to this dismal experience at least helped offset it a bit. Not fun though.

Meanwhile the Thursday night game at my local cricket club is going from strength to strenght. We have 10+ regularly now which is great. Talking of statistical anomolies, we had an amazing night last Thursday - quads 4 times in the evening. We had Aces, Kings and 8's twice. What's more I had the Kings and one of the 8's! The odds on that in one night must be incredible. I still only finished 2nd though as one player chipped up hugely near the end when (and I kid you not) 24 suited was called by J9 off. For the record the J9 off, held!

A bit of a rethink.

Neteller: Last week $108; Current $108
Full Tilt: Last week $85; Current $45 (-40)
Ultimate Bet: Last week $150; Current $169 (+19)

Total = $318

Profit on the month = -$15

I continued my losing run at Limit on LuckyAce so I packed the site in (since there was no bonus or rakeback). I signed up at UltimateBet and didn't have much success at Limit there either. I had to come to the obvious conclusion, which was that I wasn't remotely bankrolled for the level I was trying to play at (2/4) so the variance was killing me. It's a shame, as the standard was very weak (40%+ seeing the flop sometimes and always 30+ tells you that) but a couple of bad beats could be totally killing.

That being the case I thought that I might as well go back to playing SnG's. I didn't really want to get back into Limit grinding for bonus money anyway. It worked out pretty well. I played 6 games this week, cashing in 5 of them, to put me into profit on the site.

The $5.50 SnG players are distinctly weaker than those at the same level on Full Tilt (who aren't that great), so it looks like I've found something I can start winning regularly at again.

Meanwhile Laddies bunged me a tenner to go and play there again. Sadly it's totally hopeless. Every game I tried to play the software kept crashing, even after I followed the instructions from the support staff. Still very little traffic too. Laddies looks dead in the water to me.

The variance monster takes another big bite.

Neteller: Last week $108; Current $108
Full Tilt: Last week $109; Current $85 (-34)
LuckyAce: Last week; $299; Current $201 (-98)

Total = $333 (-132)

Profit on the month = +$45

What a shame that a month that started so well should take a major nose dive at the end. I had the FT wedge up to 330, but then hit a major run of "second best handitis" which cost me dearly. I was only seeing 14% of flops against a table average

of 35%+ but when I did hit a hand someone else always seemed to either have or hit something better. I had Kings v Aces, Jacks v Queens, a flopped flush beaten by a full house on the river - the whole nine yards. I've got to expect such a hammering to come along at 2/4 and I managed to take it without going completely on tilt. I should have got away from the Jacks v Queens hand though since I knew the player I was up against was decent and had to credit him with something good.

So it goes.

No luck on FT either. The games there were a bit nitty and I found myself breaking my "no playing sub 30% seeing flops" rule. I won't do that again.

We battle on.

...followed by the predicted variance monster...SIGH

Neteller: Last week $108; Current $108
Full Tilt: Last week $111; Current $109 (-2)
LuckyAce: Last week; $299; Current $248 (+51)

Total = $465 (-53)

So, right on cue it happened. The usual story, sad to say. I was sucked out on right left and centre. On the 2/4 game on Lucky Ace I couldn't hit a hand to save my life and on the few occasions when I did I was collared on the river by flush chasers and paired middle card chasers. Still, I stuck to my guns and managed to battle back up from being -100 at one point. I have the experience behind me to know that really I want to be playing with these people - I shall return.

Nothing doing on Full Tilt either, when I couldn't get a decent game on LA. Similar problems, though I played very cautiously and managed to break even.

A NICE STEADY WEEK

Neteller: Last week $108; Current $108
Full Tilt: Last week $111; Current $111 (-)
LuckyAce: Last week; $195; Current $299 (+104)

Total = $518 (+104)

A very pleasant week's poker. I played about 8 hours of either 1/2 or 2/4 Limit on LuckyAce. These games are very loose so

the standard strategy of playing very tight but very aggressively when given a good hand in position works nicely. I've also been taking the occasional punt on low pairs and suited connectors when the table conditions are right (i.e. lots of calling but little raising pre-flop). This helps project an image looser than I really am as well of course.

Another contributory factor in recent Limit success is being very ruthless about table selection. I will only play on tables with 30%+ seeing the flop and I leave if the table tightens up or numbers decline. Simple basic discipline really.

LuckyAce has some very loose players. Some of them have lost $100+ in a session. Sadly there aren't a lot of them though and I can't always find a game that fulfills all my criteria.

Of course, I'm under no illusion. The variance monster will hit me with a thump any day soon!

A BIT OF CONSOLIDATION

Neteller: Last week $6; Current $108
Full Tilt: Last week $60; Current $111 (+51)
LuckyAce: Last week; $140; Current $195 (+55)

Total = $414 (+106)

I have wiped out the Stars and Laddies accounts because I wasn't playing there. LuckyAce has been running nicely when I can find the right game. Almost all of the profit was made on one two hour session of 1/2 Limit. Over 40% flops seen - several of these guys were seriously awful and one lost over $100 in an hour. All I had to do was sit there an wait to be paid off. Sadly these games are few and far between on the site though, so I'm going to ship out when I've worked off the bonus.

Meanwhile I played an evening of 1/2 Limit on FT and ran up a nice profit there too. I don't have any bonus/rakeback there though.

I might take a look at Cardoza where Raise the River have some sort of deal.

I've kept on Full Tilt for the occasional SnG as much as anything. I like SnG's, but to make any real money at them you need to be multi-tabling and I just can't be bothered with that any more.

REVIEW OF THE POKER YEAR

Neteller: Last week $6; Current $6
PokerStars: Last week $82; Current $82 (-)
Full Tilt: Last week $75; Current $60 (-15)
LuckyAce: Last week; $140; Current $140 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week; $22; Current $20 (-2)

Total = $288 (-17)

Profit on the year: $358

Still not playing much. I lost a little bit at Limit with a bad run, some of which I've won back playing $5 SnG's. However, compared to what I used to play, I'm not doing much - maybe 3/4 hours per week.

It is instructive to look back at the previous year end review. At that time, I had just moved from 1/2 Limit to SnG's and was looking to see if I could move up the ladder. I've subsequently had a feel around at a few things including tournaments, but in the end I think I like the SnG format best at the moment.

Highlights of the year were running the dreaded "Kenn" damned close in the Raise the River league series and winning the first of the face-to-face league finals at the local Cricket Club.

The latter continue to be good fun. I'm currently running 2nd after 6 of the 10 league games. I'm going to have to develop a strategy to counter the current leader though - he's running ahead of me using a loose aggressive approach with a good appreciation of the styles of the players he is up against. Still, having a very tight image (as I do) has its advantages.

Early in the latest game, I was heavily committed with a set on the flop when another player hit a low flush on the turn. My subsequent big bet convinced this normally congenital caller to fold, convinced I had the flush too with an Ace. I didn't disabuse him :-)

VICTORY! :-)

Neteller: Last week $6; Current $6
PokerStars: Last week $94; Current $82 (-)
Full Tilt: Last week $112; Current $75 (-37)
LuckyAce: Last week; $140; Current $140 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week; $0; Current $22 (-)

Total = $312 (-37)

I have continued to only play spasmodically - donking off some money on S&G's on FT. Not on my "A game" there I'm afraid, but I made some of it back playing some Limit.

The victory came in the League Final of the game at the local Cricket Club. We played for 5 hours last Sunday and I eventually took it down. It was a bit hairy around the bubble, but my greater experience at Head's Up play made all the difference in the end. Good fun too and we are going to have another one finishing during the Christmas holidays.

IT'S ALL GONE QUIET OVER HERE.

Neteller: Last week $6; Current $6
PokerStars: Last week $94; Current $82 (-12)
Full Tilt: Last week $93; Current $112 (+9)
LuckyAce: Last week; $140; Current $140 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week; $0; Current $22 (+22)

Total = $352 (+19)

Profit on month: $19

Profit on year: $375

I haven't posted on the blog for a few weeks because there has been very little to report. Because of various changes in circumstances (playing more with my folk group being one of them) I haven't played much poker this month. What little I have played hasn't actually been bad.

I won the "Blogger" tournament on Sunday for the first time in ages. It was made more interesting by the presence of a couple of players we didn't know. They turned out to be very loose ... but lucky. I made it to the Head's Up stage against one of them with about twice his stack. Given his penchant for going large with any Ace (he got away with this on a couple

of occasions) I just waited for him and he duely obliged by going all in with Ax when I had AKs. X didn't hit the spot thank the poker Ghods! This was a welcome little boost to the Stars wedge which had been slowly declining.

Ladbrokes has reappeared because I had $2 left there. I played a $2 sng and won it and then a $5 sng and won that too so I can now afford a few of the $4 tourneys again when (if) I ever have the time. Interestingly I had an email from Laddies today saying they were lowering their rake to 5%. I wonder if this will generate them any more action. It is certainly very slow on there at them moment.

The face to face league games at the local cricket club have become quite entertaining. There are three of us who play "properly" (I'm currently running a close 3rd of them at the top of the table). A couple more guys are too loose, particularly early on but give some thought to what they are doing. One friend of mine is too weak/tight and always "waiting for cards". Nothing I say can persuade him of the error of his ways. He is unlikely to change soon since last week he finally got a huge run of cards and won! Some of the others are now beginning to see the importance of preserving chips to reach the later stages and acting on it. The "League Final", where we start with 5000 chips and 100 for each place in the final league table, should be interesting.

I'm off on holiday next week, so that's it for October!

PATIENCE

Neteller: Last week $6; Current $6
PokerStars: Last week $115; Current $94 (-21)
Full Tilt: Last week $93; Current $93
LuckyAce: Last week; $102; Current $140 (+38)

Total = $333 (+17)

Profit on month: $89

Profit on year: $356

A minor Limit downturn, losing the blogger and bunging the $5 for the entertaining looking RaisetheRiver tournament saw me take a little drop on Stars. This was more than offset by some winning Limit on LuckyAce. In preparation for the RtR tourney I played a 6 man SnG and won it, so I'm fired up and raring to go :-) "Team Sensible" all the way!

The good Limit session on LuckyAce exemplified that most important of poker virtues, patience. I played 83 hands before I did anything more than see the odd flop from the Big Blind and fold. Then I hit a few hands, made some money with them and left.

I played a couple of small tournaments but went out in both to my current bete noire, QQ being called by Ax and hitting. My day will come.

A NEW SKIN

Neteller: Last week $104; Current $6
PokerStars: Last week $106; Current $115
Full Tilt: Last week $93; Current $93
LuckyAce: Last week; $90; Current $102

Total = $316 (+11)

I bunged the $90 from Neteller into LuckyAce, a Pacific skin. I haven't had the time to play much there much, but at least when I do I'll be getting some bonus eventually. There isn't a lot of activity, certainly compared to FT or Stars.

A lot of the Raise the River folk complain about Stars, but I seem to run ok there. A few of us got together on Friday night to play an $8.80 tournament and see who could get the deepest. We all struggled but I managed to come through. At around the first break I had about 7xBB and went all in three hands running with 44, AQs and KK. Nobody called me, SIGH. Then finally I did get called with KK, tripled up and I was away and running. I was "in the money" when I went out 89th (of over 1,100). Some guy bet 3xBB, I went all in with my KK and got 3 (count them the beggars) callers. AK, JJ and rubbish. An Ace came on the flop and my tourney was over. Sad, as if I'd held on that one I'd have had a good chance of the final table and some decent money. So it goes.

Meanwhile I'm still running 2nd in the Thursday night face to face game. The hand that killed me was irritating. I was dealer, raised with KJ and got 1 caller. The flop was J 6 3 rainbow so I went all in. Called by KQ. Predictably, he hit a queen on the river. I still had a few hundred chips so I went all in without looking on the next hand...checked it out... AA! Same guy who rivered me hit a straight. I love the game really. :-(

A NICE LITTLE EARNER

Neteller: Last week $8; Current $104
PokerStars: Last week $103; Current $106
Full Tilt: Last week $93; Current $93
Ladbrokes: Last week; $17; Current $2

Total = $305 (+53)

I had a really nice little session at .5/1 Limit on Stars this week which saw me win $66 like shelling peas. Lovely it was. 35% seeing the flops, callings stations to a man and I hit enough hands to make it pay. Just to highlight the difference, everything else I played this week was break even, usually for lack of hands to play with.

I also had a few punts on tourneys on Laddies, but no joy. There is little action there for anything other than the tourneys, so I'm off. I've closed the Inter account as well, so that, with $60 from Stars, I can build up a little roll to open an account on another site.

Since I'm playing Limit a fair bit, I may as well be clocking up some bonus money as well. I'm sizing up "LuckyAce" which is a Pacific skin (I've already had a Pacific account). This will also allow me to get the "poker indicator" software that is the equivalent of "tournament indicator" which I use for sit-and-goes. It seems to have everything I want in terms of real time info on opponents. I'm not bothered about getting something like Poker Tracker or Poker Office (which I used to use) as I couldn't be bothered doing the analysis that gets the best out of the software. I'm a recreational player.

Meanwhile the second week of the face-to-face league games produced exactly the same 1,2,3,4 as previous week. The chap who has finished ahead of me for both weeks has been milking the weakest player very effectively - I'm going to have to work on that :-)

Not a lot of change.

Neteller: Last week $8; Current $8
PokerStars: Last week $102; Current $103
Full Tilt: Last week $82; Current $93
Inter: Last week $31; Current $31
Ladbrokes: Last week; $21; Current $17

Total = $252 (+8)

Back at work with a vengeance now and predictably less time for poker as a result. I played a bit of limit, but had a downswing after being up about $40 or so. The usual variance thing, where everyone started sucking out on me. AK v A7, he hits the 7, that sort of thing. So it goes.

Only one tournament, my by now regular $4.40 on Laddies which I lost when my 99 was called by A10 and he hit everything ending up with a full house. I think I really need to find another couple of 200 or so player tournaments that I can play at the same time. Failing that perhaps a 180 man sng donk on FT? Funny enough I had a similar exit in the blogger on FT last weekend when Zagga called my 6's with A10 and hit a full house.

The face to face game on a Thursday night has now gone into a league format with a final on a Sunday in 10 week's time, which should be fun. I came 2nd in the first one, so not a bad start.

I got off to a good start (unusual for me, I normally barely play a hand in the first hour) when my 88 hit a 10 10 8 flop. Two punters had 10's and fortunately the board didn't pair, which was the thing that worried me.

I got slammed later though when my two K's were called by two players (despite a 6x BB raise) and Aces appeared on the flop. Predictably both callers had Ax. However, I know that's how this game goes.

Tournaments

Neteller: Last week $598; Current $8
PokerStars: Last week $96; Current $102
Full Tilt: Last week $78; Current $82
Inter: Last week $31; Current $31
Ladbrokes: Last week; $9; Current $21

Total = $244 (+22)
Profit on month = $80
Profit on year = $267


Since it wasn't doing anything, I've taken $590 out of the Neteller account and invested it in some furniture!

This leaves me with more or less my profit for the current year, which is enough to bankroll what I am playing.

I didn't play much Limit this week, hence the minimal movement there. I did have time to play some tournaments on Laddies though...3 x $4.40 $1,000 guaranteed and 1 $6.60 $2,500 guaranteed. I finished 15th of 262 in one of the $1,000 ones and 28th of 392 in the "$2,500 one. I definitely think my game is improving at tournaments and that a serious final table
position should come. (I'll spare you the full "bad beat" tale from my 15th place, but suffice it to say that the charm of 65 off is wearing a bit thin with me currently!).

The trick is to find tournaments with around 200-300 players I think as I don't want to be up all night playing these, which is what happens in the big money ones on Stars and Full Tilt. So for that purpose Laddies is fine - especially as I'm playing with their money!

It's amazing to see how much Laddies has deteriorated since I started playing there some 3 years ago. It used to be full of mad Scandies punting furiously on the Limit and No Limit cash games, but now there is a virtual desert there. The only players they have seem to be for the tournament games - fine by me since that is what I want at the moment. Hence the desperate attempts to lure back former players I suppose. The site can't exactly be a licence to print money at the moment though I wouldn't have thought.

ON THE UP

Neteller: Last week $598; Current $598
PokerStars: Last week $64; Current $96
Full Tilt: Last week $56; Current $78
Inter: Last week $31; Current $31
Ladbrokes: Last week; $14; Current $9

Total = $812 (+49)

I haven't played a lot of poker this week (a nice trip away to Whitby) but what I have has been successful, with progress on both Full Tilt and Stars.

I've only been going on this routine for three weeks now, but already I think it is the right thing for me. I am just finding nice loose .5/1 Limit tables on FT and Stars and waiting for my time. So far it's been working like a charm.

I'm going to use up the few dollars I have in Laddies and Inter on tournaments and see how it goes thereafter.

Meanwhile the face-to-face game at the cricket club is going on a league basis from September with a final tournament on a Sunday in November. Should be good fun.

TILT!

Neteller: Last week $598; Current $598
PokerStars: Last week $31; Current $64
Full Tilt: Last week $56; Current $56
Inter: Last week $31; Current $31
Ladbrokes: Last week; $23; Current $14

Total = $778 (+24)

Well, I have pretty much achieved what I set out to do this week, poker wise. I played a bit of Limit through the week and made a profit at it, bumping up my Stars account and at the weekend I played a couple of tournaments on Laddies.

I played two $4.40 $1,000 guaranteed tourneys and went quite deep in them, but on both occasions I went out before the cash. Looking at them afterwards, my play was sound, I just got unlucky at the wrong times...such is the way with these things.

I blew my "player points" on BigSlick on a $2,000 tourney and my play on that did annoy me on reflection. There were a very large number of sit outs on the tournament and I picked my way through this quite nicely with a decent stack just as the sit outs were being eliminated. However on the table there was a player who had irritated me with the irrational bets he was making followed up by irritating comments in the chat box. I ended up going all in with top pair, top kicker over his bet on a 3 flush flop. He called and had the flush and I was out. Daft - and that's exactly how I felt.

Let that be a lesson learned - switch off the chat box!

A SIMPLE PLAN

Neteller: Last week $437; Current $598
PokerStars: Last week $35; Current $31
Full Tilt: Last week $63; Current $56
Inter: Last week $31; Current $31
Ladbrokes: Current $23

Total = $754

I've been refining my plan over the holidays and decided that what I am going to do is play .5/1 Limit on Stars through the week and use half of any profits (!) to play tournament/SNG poker over the weekend. I'm hoping this will suit me as, when I am at work, I tend to be a bit tired in the evenings and don't seem to be able to play sharp enough poker for SNGs / tournies (at least not enough to make a consistent profit).

I've also ditched the iPoker network sites, as they are much tighter than Stars at the .5/1 Limit tables for some reason. I've got some "player points" on them that I can use for tournaments, but after that I'll leave them out.

Laddies has reappeared above because the sent me a gratuitous $10 and a seat at a $1000 guaranteed tournament. I finished 10th of 633 in the tournament for $20 which was nice.

Two hands of note. Right on the bubble I was lying 15th of 61 with a decent stack. I'm dealt QQ in the Big Blind. Under the gun (TAG with shortish stack) makes it 2xBB to go. Small blind, who has a medium stack goes all in. Tempting, but I fold as I don't want to be racing against AK or even worse a higher pair. Small blind wins with AA v AJ.

The hand I went out with I was 8th of 10 on the final table with 55K chips and blinds 5K/10K. Mid position player (no reads - hadn't played him till now) makes it 20K to go. I have 66 on the button. I went all in. He called and showed A10 off. He hit a 10 on the flop and I was out. On reflection I think this was a poor all in by me. I don't think I should have gone over the top of a raise but waited for a hand where I was the first aggressor to go all in. I was marginal favourite but I think I'd have been better off waiting on reflection.

Meanwhile the face-to-face game at the cricket club on Thursday nights continues to be good fun. I had a very fortuitous win on the last hand this week when we were down to 3 with the top two chip counts cashing. There was nothing much between the three stacks but I was marginally 3rd and in the big blind. 2nd biggest stack went all in (with A3 it transpired), top stack folded in the small blind and I insta-called with...er...58. The flop came A69. Turn is a 3. The dealer looked at me and said, "the 7 of hearts" and damn me if that's not what he turned over!