"A BAD WEEK"

Neteller: Last week $118; Current $118 (-)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $292; Current $221 (-$71)
CD: Last week $260; Current: $26 (-24)

Total: Last week $678; Current $583 (-$95)

Profit for May: +$98
Profit for year:+$453

A very poor week for me poker wise. I just had a poor run of cards on CD, but on Laddies I allowed myself to get sucked into a couple of very loose games and got hammered in a several big multi-way pots. Bad play by me (I do know how to play these tables) which I hope I won't be repeating. I am going to have a stop/loss point of 30BB per session - something I should have instituted earlier really.

In the meantime I think I am developing my ability to handle Multi-table tournaments. I haven't made any money (since my triumph of a few weeks back) but I am consistently going deep into them and I think it is only a matter of time (and
inevitably, some luck) before I do. My current strategy (it's still evolving) is to try to see cheap flops early on with anything semi-reasonable in position, but back off in the face of any opposition unless I hit of course. Early I will only go to war with AA and KK. Lots of people seem to go out to coin flips with Ax or any pair early on. In the middle I loosen up a bit, but basically I'm still trying to play poker, rather than take 50/50 bets. At less than 10x the big blind I start looking for all in opportunities to double up and get ahead of the blinds again. Here I'm not taking on other folks' all ins, unless I have a monster. I want the "fold equity" of being the first one to go all in. If I'm ahead of the blinds, I'm trying somes steals from position. I haven't had a lot of opportunity to develop late MTT play. I went out "on the bubble" on one last night when my KK met AQ, which hit an Ace on the flop. So it goes. They are quite good fun and of course inexpensive, since I am only playing in freerolls and "player points" tournaments. When I feel a bit more praciced I'll have a go at the blogger tournament.

Any experienced MTT players who want to comment on the above, please feel welcome.

"Tagged"

Neteller: Last week $118; Current $118 (-)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $278; Current $192 (+14)
CD: Last week $262; Current: $260 (-2)


Total: Last week $666; Current $678 (+$12)

Juice and lots of the other poker bloggers have been doing this "tagging" thing where you provide 7 little known (or totally unknown) pieces of information about yourself. Here are mine...

1. Kronsdat (my poker alias) is the name of the Russian naval base near St Petersburg. I did the dissertation for my history degree on the rebellion of the anarchist and far left sailors at Kronsdat against the Bolsheviks in 1921.

2. I once danced with Northern Ireland's first, and I strongly suspect only, Cotswold Morris Dancing Team.

3. My surname is the lowest ford on the Firth of Forth (which is hard to say if you've had a few).

4. I once ran against Dave Bedford...in the inter-university cross country championships. He came 1st; I was 322nd. Still, there were over 600 in it.

5. I was at the game when George Best kicked the ball out of Banks' hands. It was a goal. It had left his hands and he never touched him! (but I could be a bit prejudiced).

6. The football team I supported in Belfast as a kid were called "Distillery" (now Lisburn Distillery). My father was their physio when they drew 3 - 3 with Benfica in Belfast (Eusebio and all). Tom Finney came out of retirement to play with Distillery for the match.

7. My only "international" sporting appearance was playing netball against England! (I was a basketball player - they asked my team to play a practice game against them, as their next fixture was against Jamaica and they were expecting a rough game!)

Meanwhile back with the poker...I'm pleased to have finished the week on a positive score. For the first four sessions I played this week I had one of those downtimes we all have to learn to live with. The usual stuff, poor hands (I was sub 10% flops seen in one session) and bad beats when I did get hands (AQ ambushed on the river by the might of K4 off lingers in the memory). Still, I rode it out until $60 down or so and then battled my way back.

So it goes.

"STEADY PROGRESS"

Neteller: Last week $158; Current $118 (-40)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $263; Current $278 (+$15)
CD: Last week $188; Current: $262 (+$74)

Total: Last week $617; Current $666 (+$49)

I now have a beast of a bankroll :-)

I didn't actually play a lot this week for one reason or another but what I did play went ok. I had some interesting times again on Ladbrokes where I again managed to find a wild 1/2 table on a couple of occasions. I remember commenting a couple of months back on how I couldn't get AA, hitting a third to hold up for a while - here's a hand where it did...

Speed $2 10 [Hold 'em] (1.00|2.00 Fixed Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- _Kronsdat sitting in seat 1 with $93.50
- vodichthu sitting in seat 2 with $28.59
- bolnde__25 sitting in seat 3 with $121.29
- paramal sitting in seat 4 with $65.70
- DOC1970 sitting in seat 5 with $74.37
- niloc sitting in seat 6 with $80.51
- yurkes sitting in seat 7 with $69.05
- SegerX sitting in seat 8 with $21.50
- fishing_rod sitting in seat 9 with $1264.74
- Silverfox sitting in seat 10 with $66.81 [Dealer]

_Kronsdat posted the small blind - $0.50
vodichthu posted the big blind - $1.00

** Dealing card to _Kronsdat: Ace of Spades, Ace of Clubs
bolnde__25 folded
paramal called - $1.00
DOC1970 raised - $2.00
niloc folded
yurkes folded
SegerX folded
fishing_rod folded
Silverfox folded
_Kronsdat raised - $3.00
vodichthu called - $3.00
paramal called - $3.00
DOC1970 raised - $4.00
_Kronsdat called - $4.00
vodichthu called - $4.00
paramal called - $4.00

** Dealing the flop: King of Clubs, King of Diamonds, 10 of Hearts
_Kronsdat bet - $1.00
vodichthu called - $1.00
paramal folded
DOC1970 called - $1.00

** Dealing the turn: Ace of Diamonds
_Kronsdat bet - $2.00
vodichthu called - $2.00
DOC1970 called - $2.00

** Dealing the river: Jack of Diamonds
_Kronsdat bet - $2.00
vodichthu called - $2.00
DOC1970 called - $2.00
_Kronsdat shows: Ace of Spades, Ace of Clubs
vodichthu mucks:
DOC1970 mucks:
_Kronsdat wins $29.45 from the main pot

There must have been at least one top straight out there - nice.

Sad to say it is increasingly hard to get a ring game at limit on Laddies though. They seem to fill the tables quite late on in the evening, but even then, not every night. CD I can always get a table on but they are generally much tighter.

I will have a punt on the blogger tournament on PokerStars some time soon - sounds like fun.

"Unexpected tournament success!"

Neteller: Last week $100; Current $158 (+$58)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $170; Current $263 (+$93)
CD: Last week $149; Current: $188 (+$39)


Total: Last week $485; Current $617 (+$132)

I idly entered a tournment on CD last Monday, not expecting much, since it was a 1000 player jobbie. Well, blow me but didn't the Ghods of Poker smile on me! No fancy moves were employed. I just went all in with good hands at appropriate moments. That turned out to be good enough and I finished 7th to win $27.50. I might have gone even further if, in my last hand, my AQ had held up against JJ but there you go.

That accounts for the bulk of the positive score on CD where my cash game play also made a little progress.

In contrast to that the Laddies account shot up when I came across a wild game late on Tuesday night. I just sat and waited for a decent hand, while the rest of them were lathering into each other with gusto. In the end I entered a pot in middle position with QJ off with 6 players in. The flop came J7Q rainbow. Bingo! The big blind raised and I reraised him and got two callers. J on the turn. The two players, one still raising, called me down on the turn and river and one of them turned out to have a pair of 7's which accounts for his enthusiasm. Nice. It continued like this and I ended up $70 up in 40 minutes.

Meanwhile I've closed the Hill's account. I just can't face the pain of trying to collect the bonuses on the likes of Hill's and Inter - the flops seen on the tables you have to play are just too trying (sub 20% most of the time). I'll leave the grinders to enjoy each other and concentrate on tables and sites where the prospects are more inviting. I've kept Inter on for a bit longer, since I've still got quite a lot of player points there that I may as well use for tournament play - now that I'm an expert :-)

"...the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune..."

Neteller: Last week $68; Current $100 (+32)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $58; Current $58 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $116; Current $170 (+54)
CD: Last week $140; Current: $149 (+$9)

Total: Last week $420; Current $485 (+$65)

Profit for April: +75

A week of big swings. My downswing of last week continued at the start of the week and the CD account was down below $100 at one point. I didn't feel that I was doing anything wrong, it was just a continued combination of bad beats and my good hands failing to score heavily - twice I was hurt by flopped straights being matched at the river when my key card was duplicated on the river - splitting the pot. However, and I was pleased by this, I didn't panic and managed to ride it out.

Things turned round on Friday night when I played one table on CD and another wonderful table of 1/2 on Laddies. On the CD table I just made steady progress, but the Laddies table was a wonder to behold. There was a whole bunch of Scandies punting like it was going out of fashion (60%+ flops seen). In this environment I was able to see more flops in late position with the likes of suited connectors and small pairs with a high liklihood of getting paid off. This duly transpired - I only hit two good hands but was able to score heavily with both of them.

Faith is restored.

It's just a pity that Laddies is so depopulated most of the time. It might advertise itself as the most popular poker room in Europe, but that certainly isn't saying much for the others.

"WIPEOUT"

Neteller: Last week $68; Current $68 (-)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $58; Current $58 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $116; Current $116 (-)
CD: Last week $219; Current: $140 (-$79)
Party: Last week $30; Current: $30 (-)

Total: Last week $499; Current $420 (-$79)

I had a disasterous Saturday night session on CD where everything that could go wrong did, hence the $79 hammering. I suffered badly with being chased down by low pairs when hands like AKs and AQ failed to hit. I am going to have to just give over continuation betting on these hands in loose games. The bet is ingnored and you get called down with any damned pair.

What put the tin hat on it was a hand where I had two Kings in the cut off position. I raised and got the usual plethora of callers. The flop came KJJ. Bingo, a full house on the flop. What's more, two guys are actually betting into me!! The turn is a third Jack. Surely nobody has a fourth Jack and my King's up are still winning? Still they are betting into me. The river, unbelievably, is a fourth Jack. I lose the hand to a guy who had AQ and was drawning for a straight or lower full house. I went on tilt after that and dropped some more money. I know I should have walked away at that point, but there you go.

...and it was my birthday. SIGH.

"VARIANCE"

Neteller: Last week $0; Current $68 (+68)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $58; Current $58 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $38; Current $116 (+78)
CD: Last week $219; Current: $219 (-)
Party: Last week $63; Current: $30 (-33)

Total: Last week $438; Current $499 (+61)

Well I made a profit but that is mainly down to the bonus at Ladbrokes coming in. I've been playing on good soft tables but the downside of this is that they can be expensive if you don't hit the hands and by and large I haven't done. Last night on Laddies was a good practical example. I was up nicely and chugging along at a 1/2 table with a flops seen percentage of $48%. These boys were really going for it big style. However when my good hands finally came along, guys kept sucking out on me. You know it's going to happen, but that doesn't stop it being irritating. On one hand my AK hit a King on the flop only for me to be rivered by 92 suited! You just have to grin and bear it, because over time the equity value is there.

I had a similar experience on Party earlier in the week. I had the 50 odd dollars I started with up to 98 on a really nice table, when I hit a similar run and ended up down to 30. I'm in two minds about continuing to play on Party. It's quite difficult to hunt down the loose tables and get on them because they don't show the flops seen percentage in the lobby.

However it is a useful site to have as a backup when there is no action on Laddies or CD. Perhaps Pacific might be an idea for that purpose - I can recall doing well there at one time.

"LADDIES BACK IN FASHION"

Neteller: Last week $30; Current $0 (-30)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $58; Current $58 (-)
Ladbrokes: Last week $14 (73); Current $38 (+24)
CD: Last week $219; Current: $271 (+52)
Party: Last week $82; Current: $63 (-19)

Total: Last week $410; Current $438 (+28)

I haven't played a lot this week either but what I have has been mainly on Laddies since they made me an offer for a $50 bonus (I've cleared it but they haven't confirmed it yet, so I've not included it in the stats). I had forgotten just how loose the Limit tables on Laddies are - sometimes the 50/1 tables were reaching mid 60's flops seen! Of course this means that the varience is very high, but you can get paid off nicely when you hit a hand.

My best one was a pair of Jacks which I raised with in early position getting 3 callers!! J83 rainbow flop - lovely. I bet and get raised, I reraise and it's capped out, with another guy limping all the way too. Fine. Turn is a K, still no flush draw. Betting caps out, still 3 of us. River is a 6. Betting caps out again with everyone in for a $35 pot. It turns out the guy betting back at me had hit trips 8's and the other guy had two pair; wonderful. :-)

Of course you get the reverse too. I got out in timely fashion on another hand when I had raised with AA and got a flop of AQT rainbow. I got a lot of resistance and suspected I needed the board to pair. The river produced a K and I bailed out. They both had the straight and split the pot. I must check how many times I've had trips Aces beaten in the last few months.

"ONLY PLAY POKER WITH PEOPLE WORSE THAN YOURSELF!"

Neteller: Last week $30; Current $30 (-)
Inter: Last week $8; Current; $8 (-)
William Hill: Last week $57; Current $58 (+1)
Ladbrokes: Last week $14; Current $14 (-)
CD: Last week $276; Current: $219 (+3)
Party: Last week 82; Current: $ (+13)

Total: Last week $410; Current $410 (+17)

I haven't played much in the last week and what I have played has mainly been at the lower levels on CD and Party where I can find the sort of chaps I like to play. Hence the revival of my old slogan, above. The 1/2 and even on occasion the 50/1.00 tables on CD have been distinctly tighter recently and I prefer to not play at all rather than have to endure sub 25% flop seen "rock festivals".

One highlight this week was my first ever Royal Flush and in Spades too. I didn't make much with it, but it was fun to see one.

Monthly and yearly update...

March = + $146

Year = + $245

"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.

"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 :-(