END OF YEAR REVIEW.

Neteller: Last week $0; Current $0 (-)
PokerStars: Last week $262; Current $235 (-27)
CD: Last week $249; Current $243 (-6)
Titan: Last week $202; Current $202 (-)
DTD: Last week 232; Current 232 (-)
Inter: Last week 98; Current 103 (+5)
Littlewoods: Last week 29; Current $29 (-)

Total = $1047 (-28)

Total for month = +$54

Total profit for year = +$917

I have been half expecting a reversal of fortune, since the SnG play had been going so well and it duely arrived this week. I only played 2 18 player SnG's, 2 9 player SnG's and a 10 player on CD and lost the lot. I played ok but just ran into good cards at the wrong time or bad beats. The worst of the bad beats came in the 10 player game. My 3xBB raise at 100/200 level was met by an all in from the Big Blind which I called. He had A 10 and hit the 10. Oh well, I still had 800 chips or so and went all in to win the blinds with 88. The same player calls me with (wait for it) 10 6 off. Needless to say he hits another 10 and a 6 for good measure! What can you do? I've also had a go at some $6 tourneys on Party, one with the_Cloud from RtR. Total donkfests, but no cigar, sadly.

Anyway, let's have a look at the year's progress...

There were a number of major changes to my poker playing in the course of last year. I started the year still grinding away at 1/2 limit, making a small profit on the games, but mainly building the bankroll via bonuses and rakeback. It was taking a lot of playing time to achieve this and fundamentally it wasn't a lot of fun. Since I am a strictly recreational poker player, I wanted a bit more entertainment, so I decided to investigate No Limit.

I did a little research and decided to adopt a "tight passive" approach rather than the more conventional "tight aggressive". (There are a number of places where you can see this type of strategy described and the rationale behind it: www.freeholdemstrategy is one and there is a
short stacked approach which isn't dissimilar on www.donkeydevastation). I managed to make this work effectively and it mainly involved multi-tabling at $25 and $50 buy in levels. The problem with No Limit however, is that you can't make anything like the same rakeback and bonuses as at Limit, since the average pot is much smaller. When you get a big one it can be
very big, but most pots are small.

Around the middle of the year "Juice" introduced me to the "RaisetheRiver" site and the "bloggerment" on Sunday nights (9.00 on PokerStars, private tournaments, password "donkament" - everyone welcome!). I enjoyed the craic here and decided that I'd better find out how to play these things, since it was very apparant that most of the folk playing were pretty skilled at it and I certainly wasn't. Tournaments, with their escalating blind structures, are very different animals from cash games. After a while I worked out a strategy that was at least passable and I've even won some tournament games on a couple of occasions. There are quite a few very skilled players here and I have learned a lot from playing them (without losing much money, since it is only $5.5 entry).

From there, I decided to take a look at Sit and Go games, which are essentially little "pick up" tournament games with shorter numbers than full blown tournaments. As can be seen from the results over the last 6 weeks or so, I've made a succussful venture into this form of the game. It suits me very well as you can get an interesting game, which is over in a reasonable period of time (9/10 player games often take less than an hour). Basically, compared to where I was last year, I am playing a lot less, enjoying what I do play a lot more and still making a similar profit at it. You make very little in terms of rakeback / bonus payoff from SnG's at the level I'm playing ($5.5) but I don't really mind that. The rakeback/bonus system is designed to get you playing as much as possible, which is fine for the sites but not necessarily healthy for the players. If I can play profitable poker without rakeback making much contribution, then that will do for me.

So - objectives for next year.

Well, I'm going to take some dosh out of the bankroll to contribute to my wife's "kitchen refurbishment fund". That will leave me with around $500 or so. If I continue to be profitable at $5.5 SnGs (and currently I am running at 28% "Return on Investment" according to "SharkScope") then I will move up a level to $10 + $1 and see how I do there. Since I have made the best part of $1,000 this year I think a "challenging but achievable" target is $1,500 profit for next year!

A Happy Poker New Year to all readers!

BATTERED BY KINGS

Neteller: Last week $0; Current $0 (-)
PokerStars: Last week $262; Current $263 (+1)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $202; Current $202 (-)
DTD: Last week $232; Current 232 (-)
Inter: Last week $103; Current 98 (-5)
Littlewoods: Last week $35; Current $29 (-6)

Total = $1073 (-10)

Played.

11 x 9 player $5.5 SnG's: Won 2; 2nd 0; 3rd 2; Lost 7; +$4.5

1 x 10 player $5.5 SnG's: 3rd; +$4.5

1 x 10 player $11 SnG's: Lost; -$11

2 x 18 player $5.5 SnG's: 1=3rd; 1=4th; +$16.5

2 x $5.5 MTT's: Lost both: -$11

Total = +$3.5

The small negative score is due to minor losses in a couple of cash games.

Not a thrilling week poker wise, mainly due, as the headline implies, to getting bad results following getting a pair of Kings early on. I have the following notes: "All in KK v QQ early. Hit a Q on the river." "Overplayed KK on a AA9 flop" (poor effort that).

I was learning by the time this happened..."Dealt KK early. Player called my 7xBB raise (2 limpers previous) with Q5off. He hit 2 Queens. Didn't get stacked and finished 3rd."

Then..."KK early. Raise 6 x BB and called by 10Joff. He hits a straight on the flop. Didn't get stacked off but lost later". I was pleased that I managed to avoid getting stacked off on two occasions, but I really feel I am due a run of success stories with the cowboys.

I played one $11 game. I didn't play particularly well and the all round play was definitely better - nobody gone when we reached 100/200 level.

The 18 player games continue to go well. I could have done even better if one luckbox hadn't hit his 3 outer when he called my all in with AKs with A5. So it goes.

Meanwhile Party have dontated me $30 to play there again. I don't like the site, but I'll see if I can turn their money into something I can withdraw.

MORE SnG PROGRESS

Neteller: Last week $40; Current $0 (-40)
PokerStars: Last week $209; Current $262 (+53)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $208; Current $202 -6)
DTD: Last week 232; Current 232 (-)
Inter: Last week 103; Current 103 (-)
Littlewoods: Last week 0; Current $35 (+35)

Total = $1083 (+40)

All the good results have been on Stars this week. The breakdown goes:

Sit and Go's

5 x 18 player SnG's. Buy ins: $27.5: 1st 0; 2nd 1; 3rd 1; Lost 3; Profit/Loss +$17.5

1 x 20 player SnG. Buy in: $5.5: Lost: Profit/Loss -$5.5

1 x 9 player SnG. Buy in: $5.5: Won: Profit/Loss +$18

Tournaments

Bloggerment: Buy in $5.5: 2nd of 14: Profit/Loss +$10.5

RtR League: Buy in $5.5: Lost 8/16: Profit/Loss -$5.5

2 x Inter "Points Tournaments" Buy in 120 pts: Lost both.

The players definitely aren't as good on Titan as on Stars (particularly those that get to the later stages) but I actually prefer to play the rather better players. The reason is that I have a better read on what they are going to do, whereas some of the guys on Titan are best described as unpredictable. Around or after the bubble, guys on Stars are not particularly likely to call your all in blind steal with A2 off. On Titan some of them probably will. You can adjust for this sort of
thing of course but it's actually easier to play the more predicatable types.

The 9 player turned out to be an interesting game. We were up to 100/200/25 ante before the bubble finally burst. At this point I was chip leader but the others were only 1000 or so behind me. There was lots of really cagey stuff for the best part of ½ an hour before I finally brought it home. Good fun.

The 18 player I came 2nd in, could easily have been a first place also. Heads up, we were pretty much level on chips and I was mixing it up between all ins and min raises. I got 77 in the big blind and min raised it, hoping he would go over the top of me. He did and I duely followed him all in. He had Q2 off...and hit a Queen on the flop. SIGH. Too clever for my own good.

The Bloggerment was fun and I was running nicely all the way through. However when it came to the heads up with "teaulc" I knew I was beaten before I started - he started, from being nearly out, on an amazing run of cards and I wasn't surprised to lose to him. The league game ended when someone hit a gutshot flush against me when I was ahead. So it goes.

Still on the up.

Neteller: Last week $40; Current $40 (-)
PokerStars: Last week $164; Current $209 (+45)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $208; Current $208 -)
DTD: Last week 232; Current 232 (-)
Inter: Last week 98; Current 103 (+5)

Total = $1043 (+50)

Here is the breakdown on the week.

Tourneys...

$2,500 g'teed. ($5.50 entry) 59/612: +$5
$300 300 Player points. 222/597: $0

Sit and Go's...

Played = 10. Won = 2; 2nd = 1; 3rd = 1; Lost = 6. +$45

The positive score is mainly due to winning a 27 player S&G on Stars, as I was just +$11 on the (very quiet) week, until then. It was a very pleasing game as I felt in control of the thing all of the way through, which is not something you can often say in these tourneys.

I do believe I might have found my best form of poker. The most important aspect seems to be that you have to accept the fact that you can make a series of positive equity value plays and lose every damned one of them. In the long run it doesn't matter. If you keep making decisions to that standard you will win the "meta game". Still only a very small sample, but it's looking good.

I had hoped to be able to go and watch Mair, from the RtR site, playing in the British Amateur Poker Championship in Manchester today, but sadly my car developed an affliction which I had to sort out (SIGH). I hope Mary kept up her recent run of fine form.

APPROACHING THE $1000 MARK

Neteller: Last week $40; Current $40 (-)
PokerStars: Last week $135; Current $164 (+29)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $212; Current $208 (-)
DTD: Last week 202; Current 232 (-)
Inter: Last week 70; Current 98 (+28)

Total = $993 (+57)
Total for month = +$120
Total for year = +$863

The end of November sees the bankroll approaching the $1,000 mark. The switch to playing tournaments and sit-and-goes has certainly worked very well with $120 profit on the month, all from those types of games.

This week I played ...

4 x 6 player SnG's: Won 1; 2nd 1; Lost 2. +$8
1 x 18 player SnG: 2nd. +$21.5
1 x 9 player SnG: 2nd. + $8
1 x 120 player $500 points tournament: 23rd (out of money)
1 x 73 player $200 points tournament: 4th +$20

Conclusions? Well, the points tournaments are obviously good news and I still have nearly 600 points, which will keep me going in these for a while. The improving tournament skills showed up well in the 18 player sng. When I have the time to invest (about an hour for one of those, if I remember rightly) those are the ones I'll go for. The other possibility is to move up to the $10 level. That will definitely happen if current trends continue.

The book on Sit and Go Strategy that I mentioned last week is by Collin Moshman (not Mossman). It is very good. Everything the SnG player could want is there - early, middle and late blinds play, steals and resteals, "Indepedent Chip Model" etc with lots of good practical examples of when and, just as improtantly when not, to use these concepts. I strongly recommend it, as I already feel that it has helped my play considerably.

SECOND PLACE IN MY FAVOURITE TOURNAMENT

Neteller: Last week $40; Current $40 (-)
PokerStars: Last week $145; Current $135 (-10)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $212; Current $208 (-)
DTD: Last week 202; Current 232 (+30)
Inter: Last week 12; Current 70 (+58)

Total = $934 (+78)

Thank you for participating in the tournament "$250 MPP Freeroll 5900165", on Nov 23 2007 11:21PM GMT.
Congratulations! You placed 2nd and won 50.00 USD!

Good luck at the tables,

Ryan Hartley
Manager - InterPoker

The $250 player points tournament that I have been playing on Friday nights came up trumps again when I managed second place out of 73 starters. This tournament suits me really well as there isn't a ridiculous number of entries which makes my equity value pretty good, especially since a lot of the opposition is fairly poor. I have the points for 15 more entries in this so I'll be farming it for a while I reckon.

Heads Up at the end was a bit sad though. First hand I went all in with QJ suited and he called me - he had Kings. Still, I wasn't complaining. I usually do pretty well heads up - in fact (note to self) I must start keeping stats on it.

That has been pretty much it for poker this week. Apart from the win in the DTD tourney, I played 4 six player sit and goes and came second in two and lost the other two.

In the meantime I've acquired Colin Mossman's book on single table sit-and-goes. It looks pretty useful - I'll do a review when I've finished reading the thing.

A PLEASING WIN

Well, would you belive it - I've just won the last of the RTR league games to qualify to represent the forum in Nottingham at a live event. I don't think I'll be able to make it, but it was certainly a lot of fun to play.

What especially pleased me was that I ended up heads up against "Cogsgoine" who thumped me when down to the final two in the first game of the series. I can't say I didn't have a bit of luck, but hey, you have to get that in this sort of thing. Mine came in the very last hand, which sealed the win, when I went all in on a 3 spade flop with my two nines hitting a third. He followed me all in - as he would, since he had two spades for the flush. Well, what do you know - the case nine fell on the river!

There were only 14 players, but it was much more satisfying to end up top of the heap against them than any 100s+ player tourney, since all of these guys (and gals) can actually play.

THUNDROUS STUFF

Neteller: Last week $40; Current $40 (-)
PokerStars: Last week $145; Current $145 (-)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $212; Current $208 (-)
DTD: Last week 212; Current 202 (-10)
Inter: Last week 3; Current 12 (+9)

Total = $855 (-1)

I played my $250 points buy in trourney on Friday night again. I was doing nicely, middle sized stack on level 5, when I got Kings and went all in over a 3BB raise. He had Aces - end of tournamnet. SIGH.

I had $3 left in CD so I decided to mess around with it and entered some $2 "Thunder" six player trounaments. I came 2nd in a couple and lost a couple so I went for a 10 player one and won that. These are totally hilarious. The blinds go up every 5 hands, so there is no time for any "proper" poker. You get a hand - you go all in and hope it holds up. That's it. Somebody always calls.

By the bubble in the 10 player one, the BB was virtually your stack, so you had to go all in with whatever you had. Some folk didn't grasp this and actually folded hands to my "all ins" and this is what won me the thing. I ended up with the biggest stack when we were down to the last three and could actually sustain losing a hand and still have something left to play with. A bit of a laugh but not something you'd want to do regularly if you don't like bad beats. I took one guys AK down with 34 that hit a 3 for example.

Meanwhile the more sanely paced "sixpack" sit and go's on DTD started well and I was up $28 at one time, but a run of 9 games with only one win at the end of the week dropped me back to -1 for the week on them. Played 17; Won 3; 2nd 3; Lost 11. I like this format though, as I can play for short periods of time and you get a bit of action at some point whatever happens. I think I'll stick with them until I can win regularly. I never thought I'd say it, but I've gone right off cash games for the time being. It just takes too long (for me anyway) to grind out a profit at the levels I can comfortably play.

A LESSON LEARNED

Neteller: Last week $40; Current $40 (-)
PokerStars: Last week $151; Current $145 (-6)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $212; Current $208 (-4)
DTD: Last week 202; Current 212 (+10)
Inter: Last week 20; Current 3 (-17)

Total = $856 (-17)

After eviction from the Bloggerment and League games last week (both with Queens getting beaten, by in one cases Aces and the other Kings - I'm really going off Queens) I played three 6 player S&G's. I won one came second in one and lost the other.

The win was hilarious (for me anyway). I found myself playing with 5 real cavemen so I just sat back, kept clicking the fold button and watched the mayhem. We got down to 4 left and all three of the others ended up all in together. This left me in the money without having voluntarily played a hand! However I was left with 800 chips or so to the other guys 5,200. Oh well - off we go. I started after him with repeated all ins which he kept refusing to see. Great and up to 1,600 or so when he finally cracks and sees me. I hit and he doesn't. I'm now marginally chip leader. Now I start getting slightly more selective about the all ins. He raises, I go all in with A7. He calls with K8 and nothing hits so I take it down. He must have wondered what had hit him!

Sadly, since then I have played another 6 and only won one of them for an overall profit of $1 - good or what! :-) I didn't play particularly badly in any of them - just lost crucial coin flips at the wrong time.

The Friday night Inter $250 tourney did see me make a silly mistake though. I was chugging along nicely about 3 levels in having doubled up twice with the only hands I'd played. Getting a pair of jacks in middle position I went for a 3BB raise and was reraised 5BB. I had a look at the respective stacks and thought that even if I lost a 50/50 I would still be in reasonable shape so I went all in. He had Kings and neither of us hit. I could have kicked myself afterwards. He had to have a hand and I had no reason to risk my good stack like that and eventually was eliminated out of the money when my all in with AK missed.

A BIT MORE SITTING AND GOING.

Neteller: Last week $40; Current $40 (-)
PokerStars: Last week $151; Current $151 (-)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $221; Current $212 (-9)
DTD: Last week 178; Current 202 (+24)
Inter: Last week 0; Current 20 (+20)

Total = $873

Total for October = +$23
Total for Year = +$743

I've finally got my system back together again and reloaded all the programs etc. A few wrinkles (as ever) but I think I'm through through the worst now.

Last Sunday I could only play on DTD on my daughter's computer, so when I got knocked out of the league game (rather unluckily as I recall) I had a look for some S&G's and found a 6 player ("Sixpack") game needing just one more. So I joined it and won. I enjoyed that, like you do, so I played another one and won that as well.

Naturally after that I decided to give the format a bit of a run. In the end that is what I played for the week and I finished with Played 10; Won 4; Second 1; Lost 5. A small sample of course, but I seem to have a positive equity value at this format. I've found some useful articles on the correct strategies for this type of tourney at www.donkeydevastation.com and www.sitandgoplanet.com Check those sites out if you are interested, as there is useful stuff there.

I've also checked in at Inter again as I still have some player points there from my limit grinding days. They run some nice $250 player points tournaments each evening which seem to attract only about 60 or so players. I thought I would probably have a +ev there and proved it by finishing 5th for $20 in the one I entered on Friday night. I think I'll factor them in over the next few weeks and see how I get on. I've 830 player points which is enough for 16 of these so it will be interesting to see how much I make out of them.

Meanwhile we are going to have a poker night at my local cricket club on a Tuesday night every so often. Playing face to face over a few beers is a good laugh made better by the fact that I tend to win (as I should being more experienced than the others playing).

"You win some..."

Neteller: Last week $40; Current $40 (-)
PokerStars: Last week $151; Current $151 (-)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $260; Current $221 (-39)
DTD: Last week 94; Current 178 (+84)

Total = $839 (+45)

As it turned out I came second in the tournament game last week and I'm playing this week's event as I write this. I caught a good hand early on which doubled me up and was able to get to the later stages with a decent stack without taking any risks. 88 holding up against Acorn's 44 bumped me up again. Then I started getting lucky - I had a couple of wins when behind one of them when my pair of deuces tripped up on the river. That was enough to get me in the money which was great because the site were adding an overlay to the stakes. Sadly I was never going to get a blow in when heads up with Cogsgoine for the number one spot - he had a huge chip lead and the blinds were quite low so I couldn't even try to get lucky with some all in plays. I battled on for a long time but eventually lost out. Good fun though.

Sadly my cash table play through the week was less successful. I don't think I did anything particularly wrong - just had the 2nd best hand at the wrong time on a couple of occasions. So it goes.

Meanwhile my computer continues to play up - random crashes. Hopefully I can get it sorted later this week.

"Dusk till Dawn"

Neteller: Last week $140; Current $40 (-100)
PokerStars: Last week $157; Current $151 (-6)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $2240; Current $260 (+20)
DTD: Last week 0; Current 94 (+94)

Total = $794 (+8)

I've opened an account with "Dusk Till Dawn" in order to play in the Raise the River league tournaments being held there. It will be interesting to see how I get on. The prize at the end of the 5 weeks the league is running is participation in a live tournament in Nottingham. There is no way I could actually make that, but if I qualify (very doubtful) I will have made some money in the process.

Meanwhile I've been playing cash games on Titan. I was doing very nicely until my all in with Aces was beaten by Kings that flopped trips. Never seems to go my way when I find myself up against Aces with Kings, SIGH. That mishap wiped out most of my winnings for the week but still - going in the right direction.

"REBUILDING"

Neteller: Last week $140; Current $140 (-)
PokerStars: Last week $202; Current $157 (-45)
CD: Last week $249; Current $249 (-)
Titan: Last week $259; Current $240 (-19)

Total = $782 (-68)

I've been suffering with my computer over the last couple of weeks - hence no post last weekend. I've had to totally rebuild the thing which has taken a lot of time and I've lost a lot of data in Poker Office and so on. SIGH.

Meanwhile I had a number of bad setbacks playing $50 buy in cash games on Stars and Titan. Just the sort of "bad beats" you have to expect (I'll spare you the details) but irritating nevertheless.

I decided to retrench and dropped back to multi-tabling on the $20 tables on Titan. This is quite easy to do, as you can get all four tables on your screen and move between them quite easily. For various reasons I was only able to play about 3 hours like this, but it went well and I recovered about $50 or so. That looks like what I'll be playing for the time being.

I'm just about to start the $40,000 blogger tournament on Stars as I write this. It will be interesting to see how deep I can get (not to mention the other RtR folk who are playing). There are 1337 starters, so it will be a great achievement to make the money.

"CHANGING MY SKIN"

Neteller: Last week $358; Current $140 (-$218)
PokerStars: Last week $185; Current $202 (+17)
CD: Last week $236; Current $249 (+13)
Titan: Last week $-; Current $259 (+$259)

Current Total: $850 (+$55)

Loss on month = -$16

Profit on year = +$720

Well, I had a good look around different sites and the offers going with them and in the end plumped for another iPoker skin, Titan, because there was a really nice offer for that room from a website I found offering freerolls, extra bonuses and the regular bonus, which is already pretty sound. The nice thing about it is that it's just the same as playing on CD since it's from the same stable, so I'm used to the general standard on the tables.

Progress on those tables meant that I ended the month only $16 down which didn't look likely in the middle period.

So the plan currently is to carry on playing cash games throught the week and S&G's and Tourney's at the weekends when I have a bit more time.

Three months to go, so hopefully I should reach the $1,000 mark for the year which would be a good objective to achieve.

"QUIET TIMES"

Neteller: Last week $358; Current $358
PokerStars: Last week $217; Current $285 (-32)
CD: Last week $236; Current $252 (+16)

Current Total: $795 (-16)

I haven't played a lot this week - I don't think I've had a night in all week, which can't be a bad thing really. I won a little at the cash games on CD, but lost that and a bit more playing Sit and Goes on Stars on Friday night - I kept finishing on the bubble or 5th, which was irritating. The only time I finished in the money was in the "Raise the River" league where I came 2nd out of 8.

I got down to being heads up with "Resdent Evil" and thought I was going to take it down when I had a significant chip lead on him on couple of occassions. However both times we went all in, he copped a card and eventually it came down to a hand where I made a small raise with QQ and cheered when he took the bait and went all in with A6off. Im approximately 70% v 30% here but, of course, an Ace hit on the flop and just to rub it in he got a 6 as well. Sigh.

That's the trouble with this format - you are very much in the lap of the poker Ghods most of the time. You can play really well to get deep into the thing and then lose a face off when you were big favourite and find yourself out. It works both ways of course, sometimes you get lucky when you are the underdog. Anyway, they are good fun, but not worth a major investment.

I'm looking into another site to play cash games on and am open to suggestions. Full Tilt is one I'm considering - does anyone have any experience there?

"A BIT OF SITTING AND GOING"

Neteller: Last week $358; Current $358
PokerStars: Last week $208; Current $217 (+9)
CD: Last week $230; Current $236 (+6)

Current Total: $811 (+15)

I decided to play mainly "sit and goes" this week just to see how I would get on. I played 9 - placing in the money 3 times, one 1st, one 2nd one 3rd. Not bad, but hardly a way to fame and fortune. My win was down to hyper-aggression when "in the money" - I was easily the shortest stack going in but aggression put that right and I got lucky on the big showdowns, as you need to. The second and third placings were down to losing coin flips. I also went out on the bubble a couple of times - caught stealing on one occassion, but you have it to do.

Good fun, but I think I'll go back to playing mainly cash games with Sit and Goes and tourneys for the weekends.

"...so it goes..."

Neteller: Last week $358; Current $358
PokerStars: Last week $220; Current $208 (-12)
CD: Last week $288; Current $230 (-58)

Current Total: $796 (-70)

I didn't play much this week and what I did play, didn't get very far...until Friday night. I played the "Raise the River" league tournament and finished 6th. Poor play at the end. I went all in with AJ in early position and was called and beaten by AK as I deserved to be...poor concentration I should never have been in the hand.

I followed that with a very poor session on CD where I in the space of an hour I lost with AA, KK and QQ.

BAD BEAT STORIES WARNING

The AA one was the worst. I was beaten by 87 suited when he hit a straight on the river. I was in the Big Blind and he raised 4x ($2) on the button. I raised him by $10 and he called?? The flop came Q92 rainbow and he called my all in??

Then we get a 10 on the turn and a Jack on the river. What can you do?

On Saturday I decided to play some tournaments for a bit of light relief. In the CD No Limit 300 player points tournament I finished 19/429. The sad part was that I thought I'd made the final table. In my last hand I had AA in the big blind which I raised all in. I got two callers from bigger stacks. I was counting my chips when an Ace hit on a rainbow flop only (you guessed it) for one them to hit a runner, runner flush on the river. Pissed off? Me? Too right I was!

Meanwhile I had inadvertently (again, SIGH) entered a Limit tournament on Stars. I made the money there too (20/639). They are a funny business Limit tournaments. Early doors, they are very easy. You just sit there until you have a hand and then bet it like hell when you do. No problem. Once you get into the serious blind levels however, you have to change mentality completely, as it becomes much more like a No Limit tourney with blind stealing, bluffing etc. The trouble is it takes 2½ hours to get to the interesting bit! I had to pack it in and just let myself be blinded out at 12.45 in the morning, when it was obvious it was going to take another hour or more to sort the thing out. Now if I could start one of these early enough there might be money to be made here - this was a free to enter $1000 jobbie and I'm sure I would have made the final table if I'd been able to play on. One to think about.

"NICE FINISH TO THE MONTH"

Neteller: Last week $358; Current $358
PokerStars: Last week $222; Current $220 (-2)
CD: Last week $212; Current $288 (+76)

Current Total: $866

Profit for month = +$193

Profit for year = +$736

I haven't played too much this week, but what I have played, mainly $50 buy in No Limit, has been profitable.

Most of the profit came from one hand where I found myself calling in late position with Q 10 clubs. The flop came AK2 - all clubs! I'm thinking - how do I coax as much profit as possible out of this one? Then the big blind comes at me with a $5 raise. Helpful. I call and the turn is a blank. BB raises $10 this time. I double it and he goes all in, which of course I call. The river is another blank - and thank you very much. It transpired he had J3 of clubs. It's so nice when someone gets a second best hand which can't improve to beat you.

I seem to be settling into a rhythm of cash games through the week and MTT's and SnG's at the weekends when I have a bit more time.

The home game last Sunday was fun. I managed to win (as my greater experience suggested I should) despite the host, Ged, plying me with significant quantities of rather fine whisky! Mind you he plied himself with it too, so nobody had an advantage.

"Doubling up"

Neteller: Last week $136; Current $358
PokerStars: Last week $198; Current $222 (+24)
CD: Last week $106; Current $212 (+106)

Total: Last week $662; Current $804 (+130)

A good week for my poker. I broke my record for the largest single winning hand with an $88 win with three Jacks which turned into a full house on the turn. This isn't a surprise since I am now playing .25/.50 with $50 buy ins, which my roll currently justifies.

Sadly, I lost a hand to the same player I took down with the Jacks about 15 hands later. I had 77 and the flop came 278 rainbow. We ended up all in and he had a pair of 8's, dammit. Still at least I hadn't lost as much as I'd won earlier.

On Friday night I pushed my record a bit further when I had QQ in late position which I raised x4BB. This was called by one player and the flop came Q79 - which looks great until I tell you they were all diamonds (ugh). I put in a half pot bet and was called, which I didn't like at all, as I have to suspect he is slow playing me with the flush. However I figure I've still got 7 outs and blow me if one of them doesn't appear - the turn is a 9! Ok, my turn to slow play. He checks and I bet a quarter of the pot - he raises and I go all in and he buys it for $122. Nice. Turns out he had AK diamonds. I think he should have gone all in on the flop, which would have put me to a very difficult decision.

Before the session where that hand hit, I played in the "Raise the River" league tournament. There were only 14 players but a lot of them are very good, so I was delighted to come through and win it from RickyRosa (current league leader I think) who, when heads up, went all in with KQ, but was unlucky enough to find me with AK.

I'm finding the raisetheriver.com site very helpful, particularly the discussion on the forum about play in the latter stages of tournaments. I took some of the advice and ended up 16/527 in a $300 tourney on CD. I only made $3, but at least I know I seriously tried to make more, which is the whole point.

I'll be missing from the "bloggerment" this week as I'm actually going to play some face-to-face poker with some friends in the village on Sunday night. I haven't done that for over 30 years, so it should be interesting.

Meanwhile I've liquidated the Laddies account - there is no particular incentive to play there.

"A tale of Aces and Kings"

Neteller: Last week $130; Current $136 (+6)
Inter: Last week $96; Current; $0 (-106)
Ladbrokes: Last week $236; Current $234 (-2)
PokerStars: Last week $217; Current $198 (-19)
CD: Last week 0; Current $106 (+106)

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

An indifferent week's poker. I couldn't get anywhere in MTT's and SnG's (the worst "bad beat" I'll whinge about in a minute).

I made some compensation at the cash tables but then a couple of nasty's knocked me back again. My best win was some $50 or so with AA v KK which held up nicely. However I also got hammered when my own all in pair of Kings met a pair of Aces - though at least I didn't lose as much as I'd won previously, as it was a shorter stacked player.

The really bad beat came in a $10 Sit and Go where I'd got down to the last 5. I had Aces and my "all in" was called by the biggest stack - he showed AK. I started counting my new stack. The flop came 10 3 6 rainbow. Fine. Turn = J. I recognised the threat and was shouting "not a ....ing Queen" at the monitor when of course a Q hit to give him the straight and me the boot. I don't even want to check on how far ahead I was pre-flop but I do know I'm still favourite by something like 10/1 before the river card. Ughh.

I played on Inter mainly but got fed up with the number of disconnections I was getting and decided to bail out - particularly since CD had made a good bonus offer to tempt me back.