The Fossil does Vegas

[duke3016]

Run good, be lucky stay healthy.

You just do exactly the same you legend you

[Erimus]

Fun times at the poker tables this week, online minimal as I withdrew all of the cash so cashed in the points and played a few here and there, made one final table but lost a flip for 20 bigs 66 v AJ in a standard spot, got $175 but need to finish top 3 to make any significant cash, seem to be losing all flips at the moment and a lot of 70/30s.

I will need to win a bit live if I want to deposit any significant amount, my intention will be just deposit enough to play the odd game here and there, can"t be bothered to grind out a roll, not feeling the love for the game, this may or may not change in the future.

Live also been frustrating, after the min cash at Nottingham played twice this week and again running bad in good spots, in fact my last 4 hands in both tourneys when in good positions after chipping up, Ak <  K8 in a 3 bet pot, k8 limped utg and called, she hits 2 pair but fails to get fully paid even on the K8x flop, after double barreling flop and turn she is still there at the river so I checked the river only to be shown the bad news.

Raise 33 early position, get flatted by 42 (always a good hand to flat an early position raiser with)  sb and bb make up, flop 345 rainbow, it all goes in, was never going to hold, sometimes you just feel it, brick turn and the 6 smacks the river, another early night.

And the fun continued last night, after getting up to 25k and comfortable, get it all in (400/800), v an 18k stack AK v AQ, the lady arrived on the flop so was down to 8 bigs which I get in good with 66 v K3, the King binked, so back home before midnight.

The old adage of keep getting it in good and all will be well wearing a bit thin at the moment but it"s all you can do, after that fate/luck will decide.

The saga of the fire continues, flue couldn"t be fitted because a part of my fire was not there, after investigation this can be supplied from manufacturer for a further £175, also advised to get chimney swept which will be done on Monday another £50 bill, so we are almost at £1k after deciding to get the fire serviced a few weeks ago for £55, fml.

Looking into the possibility of a new flueless fire but this one cost £1k new and don"t really want to get rid of it, will have a scout about and decide what to do, more than likely just stump the lot up and get on with it.

This one is trivial to what a lot of the country is going through weather wise but garden fence decided to give up the ghost due to the high winds the other day, so more cash to dish out, our neighbours don"t own the house next to us and I can"t see  much of a chance of a split regarding getting a stronger fence built as the landlord lives abroad, when we lost some ridge tiles last year he wasn"t interested in getting the whole row done at 50/50 cost to make the whole row a lot stronger, hope his roof blows, petty I know, whatever.

Actually the way it"s going if it did blow off it would probably land on my car, so I retract that thought and hope your roof stays the distance.

This is fast becoming the poker playing blog of Victor Meldrew and would like to apologise for the incessant moaning but just telling it like it is.

Run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Quick one, played 3 mtts today on tilt, (no tickets remaining), made one final table finished 8th after calling min raise with KQ, flop all hearts including Ace hearts, I have the king of hearts villain has the set of Aces I don"t bink, $55 there, next was the bounty hunter finished 23/200 ish, with a few bounties for another $56 and finally finished 18/875 in the triceratops, jammed AJ 15 bigs over utg limper who eventually calls with KQ, flop was j 9 10, marvellous, $102, at least I have started to run deep again, just need that bit of luck at the end, where have I heard that before.

At least i have built a tiny roll from the tickets and have $390 to splash about with, pondering a trip to Newcastle later today for a sat to the Sky event at Dtd, or may take a single satellite shot online, or more than likely play the £20 freeze out at the G, choices, choices.

[Erimus]

Played the deepstack at the G last night and again it got 60 plus runners, was a total grind but managed to get to final table along with Dave, I finished 7th for £80 and Dave managed a 3 way chop for £300+, so an extra £27 for me as we always swop 10% if we play the same comp, buy in £25 so a cash is a cash, there was a weird spot not involving cards.

Made an incorrect fold v Dave when he made a move with 77, I had 2cd pair decent kicker, but he double barrelled turn and river, repping the flush or the over card, flushes been getting there lately so I gave him the benefit,  I was wrong but it happens.

I also folded to him again when I had 3 bet with 99 and he flatted with AQ, flop was QJx.

One over card I would have reraised flop but I folded again, like the nit I am, albeit correctly, I know he can raise light but utg I will put him on a strong hand range especially when I 3 bet him. Can"t win by folding all the time but on the other hand better spots may pop up down the line.

Utg raises ( he has been very active), I 3 bet JJ, I then get min 4 bet followed by a jam from the big blind, utg folds, I go with my read and fold, the 4 bettor gave a bit of speech play and Knowing this guy if he is talking he is very strong, I still have 24 bigs left so I fold, AA v  big blinds 88, initial raiser folds, Aces hold, pleased with my play here as the last few times in a similar position I just thought feck it and get it in hoping to hit the miracle card.

Our table gets broken and I am assigned a new seat, which is currently occupied, the td or computer had got it wrong so I was stood about for 15mins waiting for a shortie to bust, no one did so had to make one table 11 handed, td was apologetic and gave me a couple of vouchers for free reg for my next 2 games, wasn"t worth making a fuss about.

A young kid who had ran golden in the first few levels up to 120k before the break asked me don"t I get bored by not playing hands ?,  he has me assigned as the biggest nit over there, I gave him my reply at bubble of the final table when I was there with 150k and he had 80k, marathon not a sprint, he didn"t make the final table.

It"s a pretty easy game when the deck is hitting you in the face as it did to him in the first two levels, get more satisfaction from doing the right things at the right times, this game can be a total grind at times.

One of the many things that annoy me over there is the constant moaning at the dealers about getting crap hands, sometimes the cards don"t matter, although after I had 3 bet with j7 and flopping 8 9 10 was quite fun. I know j7 is a crap hand to 3 bet with but I thought it would get the limpers out as I hadn"t played a hand for a while, it didn"t, (got to remember where I am playing), i also got 2 callers behind.

I get a full double up by guy who had hit top pair top kicker, even though turn and river was KK, he said, he knew I didn"t have a King, good read that then I didn"t have a king.

Been a relatively decent couple of days, but not doing as well as Simon Deadman. who is totally crushing everything he plays, he must be up there as one of, if not the best mtts players around, I have been on the same table as him a few times in my limited experience of bigger buy in games and he is not an easy player to play against, watching him play on the live stream he just doesn"t make mistakes, obviously gets a bit of luck here and there but he is always there or there abouts, skill game.

Run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[pokerpops]

The sevens hand was a perfect storm for me with the run out allowing me to rep the flush perfectly. Heart in mouth moment when I bet the river though.
The Sunday game there is so beatable that it seems a crime not to play it.
My prospects were helped by getting lucky late on again. Last week it was J3>AK this week it was QJ>AK but that doubled me up to well over average and when we got to five handed play I was just hoovering up chips with 2 or 3 min raises an orbit and an awful lot of walks.

Deadman though - what a player.

[Erimus]

Fun times at the poker tables this week, after Sundays profit donated most of it back in the following manner.

Mondays 15/15 finished 10th, 5 paid so nowhere near the cash, Tuesdays 30/30 again 11th final table bubble, again immaterial as only paying 5, ended up being a 30/30/30 so breaking even for the week.

Tonight"s game at Gala, got in a raising war early on I had KK, villain obviously has AA, no bink, re entry please, 5 mins before the break, reraise mid position raiser with QQ, 10 high flop, oops he has the Aces again, no bink, left with 2k5 with blinds at 150/300 after the break.

I  limp AA from utg, get 6 callers, from a less than 10 bb stack seems pretty obvious to me what I should have here, K high flop, I get back to 6k, the rest of the game is spent grinding away, get lucky when I have 8 bigs, and decide  10 2 clubs should be live enough over a min raise from button and a flat from small blind, AK re isolates and sb folds QJ2 flop, fade the outs and have 18 bigs now.

Get to the final table with 13 bigs, utg min raises I jam JJ, button rejams QQ, big blind also goes all in JJ, and initial raiser has the bullets, the Ace high flop seals it and he quadruples up, must be nice, got £90 so a £6 profit £1 per hour, wiii.

To run into AA three times is pretty unfortunate especially holding KK, QQ and JJ, this has been the tale of the tape online as well just running into monsters constantly.

As previously stated took most of the cash offline for now and as for re depositing not sure yet, will just pick and choose games, waiting for Coral to confirm they have closed my old account so I can download the new Apat Site, hope this gets sorted before Sunday so I can play the Sunday game.

We have a clash of games on Tuesday which may provide an overlay at one or both casinos, I will probably give the new game at Gala a go, but if I bust out early G has extended it"s late reg so if there is an overlay it may be worth popping over there, again will wait and see.

[Erimus]

Made the final table at the G on Tuesday, but again with only 5 paid we need to win that first hand to get to a stack with some fold equity, I had 13 bigs, the average was just over double that, so win one hand and I have a chance of cashing, alas my A8 suited wasn"t good enough v villains 77. These games always end up so shallow at the business end and there is very little play, shoving and calling ranges required knowledge

Crucial hand lost was KK v A7, (500/1000) after villain had limped utg got the usual 3 callers, I have original limper covered so I set him all in with kings! I here those magic words "oh feck it I call", Ace is the window card and sb informs me he has folded a king, thanks for that.

Made 2 sets earlier which got me chipped up, also flopped quad jacks which I didn"t get paid with, so had my share of run good before losing to the 3 outer which made me a short stack, enjoyed the game though which is half the battle.

Made a small loss live , made a few final tables but not converting them to a decent cash which is annoying.

Minimal stuff online as said previously I withdrew most of the cash to pay for some work to the house, undecided about whether to re deposit, not feeling it at the minute so will just deposit as and when I fancy a game.

G have the £5k gtee on Saturday which clashes with Apat at Aspers, but as I can"t get someone to sit with Susan all day it makes sense to play the game 10 minutes from home in case I have to get back in case of any emergencies, so good luck any one playing at Newcastle.

May try and qualify for Sheffield GPS this month and there is also a 25/25 in Huddersfield at the end of the month, I will have to win something locally or sat in if I want to play these games.

Run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Mini report of yesterday"s game, 42 runners 9 re entries so guarantee met £1k9 for first place, didn"t trouble the cashier, finished around15th.

First hand of significance I raise AJ mid position, sb and bb both make up, flop AK6 all clubs, not ideal but I c bet 1/3 pot and both call, turn card was an Ace, things looking up but still got to be slightly wary, pot is around 4k5, I bet 2k, it now kicks off sb shoves for 8k, bb re shoves for 16k I have 14 behind.

Although I have a decent hand I am pretty sure I am dead unless I hit an Ace for quads or a jack for a full house, I reluctantly fold, small blind has a small flush and bb has a full house, he had pocket Kings pre, surprised no reraise pre, so I had him on 66 or a bigger flush, small blind saved me some chips I think.

Raise KQ mid position again flatted  by 3 behind miss flop but c bet, I am jammed on a 10 high flop, I fold, it all goes in QQ v 10 5 ( it was suited), it didn"t win.

Down to 10k with 5 mins left before tea, as I was going home to feed and sort Susan out decided I needed a double if it was worth the journey back, luckily I get KK and it holds v AJ so 22k at break, could of late regged it and been in the same spot, guy next to me regged 10 mins before the break and was up to 55k mbn..

I win a few when I raise 67 diamonds in cut off, floptastic 66A, and get a significant double with AK v QQ, so I am up to 50 ish.

The next few hours are a total grind, and eventually dribble down to 15 bigs, I am not averse to taking risks with marginal hands but at this stage shorties were pushing and my hands were not good enough to even get a sweat from.

I look down at A 10, this will do, nope raise, reraise, I fold AK v 10 10, wouldn"t of been in the best of shapes, eventually I get my last 10 bigs in with A10 v 33, villain hits a 3 on the flop and the 10 hits the river just for rubs.

I am cutting down on the number of games locally I am playing, I am spending too much and the prize pools are not massive so it doesn"t take long to get in a hole, will concentrate on sats for Dtd, gukpt me thinks. I will still play at least once a week and the monthly £100.

I also made a final table on tilt on Friday night but my JJ was never going to beat KJ for a chance to win the lot, a bit of a confidence boost though.

Obviously if local games being dropped, reports will be less,  hoorah) I hear you shout,  but if anything significant happens will let you know. I hope this blog didn"t come across as one big whingefest, I do enjoy poker and have had some good results here and there but as I said in my initial post it always was a journey to mediocrity, and perhaps I have finally arrived, it"s been fun though, run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Been a while, so a small update on what"s been happening.

As stated in above post volume online and live cut due to run bad, playing  bad, variance, more than likely the middle one.

Had a sweat with Boingblitz in his good run in the Gps at Sheffield, alas the standard flip didn"t go his way at the business end, unlucky Brian good effort though, thanks for the sweat.

Back at it this week, the first being a sat to a 25/25 seat 12 runners 3 seats guaranteed finished 4th, last hand was typical of the way it has been going , hit 2 pair with Ak and came third in the hand v  a set and a rivered straight, it was standard spot limp, reraise by me, flat jam, call, call.

Susan had friends round on Tuesday so played the 30/30 and got off to a flyer when AA held when I flopped a set, but the run out was 4 clubs and 4 card straight on board, villain had a non club raggy ace.

It all kicked off 2 mins from the break there is a 5 way all in creating a +40k pot, K9 (shortie who wants to rebuy), v AQ v JJ v AJ v 88, I had the jacks, the 88 flopped a set but by the river AJ had the straight, sigh had to reenter.

With re entries the game tends to go a bit mad in the last level before the break, and Jacks in this spot looked like AA.

To cut a long story short made the final table and finished 5th for £170 but I was in for £100, gave Dave his customary 10% and after deducting last weeks sat attempt another break even week! should of stayed at home would of been no worse off.

Played at rainbow on Friday night and played the worst I have played in a long time, limping along with everyone losing loads of chips when I shouldn"t be involved, losing the lot on a j high flop with a crap kicker, although I did get slowrolled when he had KJ blind on blind v my J6, lesson learned stop limping with rubbish and just play my normal game.

[Erimus]

Run of min cashes continues  to frustrate, better than losing I suppose.

Sundays deepstack at the G was going ok until I raised utg with 10 10 from a 22 bb stack, guy open ships from the button (20 bigs) decide to take the flip be surprised if he doesn"t have AK, he shows A3, someone pipes up I folded an Ace, didn"t matter though the flop came AA3, yawn, obviously has x ray vision and could see through the deck, nh sir finished 15th or so, all was not lost as Pokerpops went on to win it so I actually picked up more than 9th place.

Tuesdays 30/30 was next, got through the break with about 25k and was gifted chips with pretty stupid bluffs when I had the nuts but lost a few chips before the final table so was in shove or fold mode until I got the double up required with 93 off, was in bb limped round flop 33A, guy jams 22, I call and hold.

Go card dead with 5 left jam Ak over shorties shove, bb calls Ak v Ak v AQ, the other Ak 4 flushes it for the lot, I covered shortie  so finished 4th for £200.

Played a few on Stars last night including big 22 was chip leader for a good 2 hours, QQ had held in some big pots at least 3x, so it was inevitable that QQ would lose v 55 aipf for a top 20 spot, yuk, min cashed in 3 other games for a profit of $55, if only the queens would of held it could of been so different.

New game on Saturday at Rainbow a 50/25 £3k gtee prob give that a go, run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

New game at Rainbow yesterday attracted 50 ish runners, most people thought it was a 50 + 25 but actually ended up as a 50 25 25 with 10k chips for each add on.

Should of just made it a £100 freeze out with a 20k starting stack to avoid any confusion, imo.

I took the first add on and at the break was up to 29k so didn"t bother with the extra 10k as I only had the £75 with me, begrudge paying £1.75 to withdraw the cash in the casino, total nit as ever.

Had the fortunate situation tonight when I called the short stacks all ins after my initial raise, my hands actually held AJ > K 10 and AQ > K8, these two little scoops kept me in a comfortable spot most of the game.

We get to the final table  9 handed and as it"s been a bit of a slog, only 7 get paid so we still need to get busy, everyone agreed 8/9 get paid £150 so we are in profit.

3 bet AA v utg raise, unfortunately this is not against one of the local spewtards and he folds KQ suited.

I squeeze 10 10 from the small blind and manage to lose 2 limpers but the big stack has stayed along for the ride, I c bet a 9 high flop and it gets a fold.

Blinds reach 5k/10k and the average stack is 18 bigs, with the chip leader having 30ish, we agree a chop taking £550 each and the chip leader taking a bit more which he agreed to, this was more than 4th place cash, it was late and everyone wanted to get home, I was ok with it as Susan had phoned and I needed to get back, my son was with her but he couldn"t do what was needed.

It was a really good game, managed to make one or two moves against some of the better players who I know can fold in certain spots and won"t just call because they have put money into the pot, and also managed to get paid from the people who have to call because they have put money in the pot usually with worse holdings.

It"s been a good end to the month with 4 consecutive cashes including Dave"s from last Sunday.

Next week will be trying to sat into Dtds £500, also playing the 30/30 on Tuesday and possibly tonight"s deepstack, let the run good continue, online still sucks though, even though my last $100 on Stars has let me play about $100 worth of tourneys this week, and I still have $100 left in my account, courtesy of a few min cashes and a profitable zoom session, still undecided whether to redeposit again on Tilt at the minute, I need to be in the right mood, and I am still not feeling it.

[Erimus]

April pretty much continues the way it has been all year, nothing much to shout about, made 3 final tables for min cashes live so a losing start to the month, taking into account all buy ins.

Online I had an 11th place finish in a $33 on Stars  for $189 but that has disappeared back into the poker economy in a series of non events.

Saturdays £100 game at G was another frustrating game, (look away now whinge alert).

Started off ok got up to 27k from 20 but then lose a few with 3 bets in position completely whiffing flop and unable to continue with villains betting big and me not being able to continue.

KK loses to A4, and I am back to starting stack after the break, may as well of late regged it.

Lose 10k when I triple barrel a j high flop with QQ, only to be beaten by 83 off who had housed up on the river, the flush draw getting there probably saved me from doing the lot, villain bet really small on the river which I paid off but probably lost the minimum.

Get most of the chips back from same villain as above when I limp AA utg, flop a set and villain stacks off with j5, AJ6 flop.

Down to 10k get back into it shove 88 snapped by AJ, door card j middle card an 8, I fade the flush draw on the river so back to 25k.

Card and spot dead for the next 2 levels, try and steal blinds and antes from dealer position but blinds are in no mood to give up and both raises and c bets meet All in resistance, so back to a 12 bb stack, get 99 which  I shove over aggro guys opening raise, he is probably priced in and shows j3 off, never in doubt, jack hit the river and I am gone, I understand he has to call he was getting 2.5/1 but raising utg with at least 2 stacks between 10 and 15 bigs between him and winning the pot uncontested with J3 off is a bit hopeful to say the least, then again I am out the door and he is gathering the chips.

I want the calls with KK v A4, QQ v 83, 99 v J3, just got to learn to hold.

Run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

After a load of dithering about whether to redeposit and start playing again decided to put $500 onto stars and start the journey of a freeroll to Vegas in November again.

I won a sng and regged a $55 mtt, finished 5 off the cash when I lost a flip, possibly could of folded into the cash but hey ho wasn"t to be, started playing a 5 5 5 on Stars and managed a 4th for $495 made the 2cd nut flush on the river but villain had made the nut flush on the turn, was an aipf KQ v A2 of the heart variety, was 1k2 up top which would of been the flights sorted.

It was a bit of a confidence boost as it"s been a while since cashing for a decentish amount, hopefully will hit a bit of form or luck and get a few more cashes.

Played the G 30/30 on Tuesday, only in for 30, had 18k at the break which is enough to try and get a double up in the turbo part of the game, but nothing much happened lost an Ak v QQ late on, I failed to hit.

G also had sats on for the 25/25 series on Sunday, 3 seats guaranteed I was the only one registered at 20:55, 3 players required to start, they cancelled the game at 21:05, 3 more players turned up within that 5 minutes but they wouldn"t start the game, pretty sure they would of made the guarantee as the normal game had 60 in, and  people were busting and asking to play.

Rainbow have their monthly special on Saturday, will probably give that a spin, see if I can make it 2 cashes on the trot.

The road to Vegas starts here.

[Erimus]

Decided to play Rainbows £40 freeze out  last night, turned into a good decision as I got a chop for £390, so tonight"s game is a definite starter now.

I had been watching a few videos earlier in the day regarding the mental side of poker and found it quite a help, the narrator broke down different personality types and I was in a category which pretty summed up my poker efforts to a tee, it may of been a coincidence or I just got lucky but threw in some unconventional moves here and there, ( deviated from my normal character), and managed to chip up to about 60k and was pretty comfortable, I also held in all ins versus short stacks which helps.

The wheels started to come off though as I had put the big blind in for 12bigs with A10, sb has folded, bb called with the same hand but managed to 4 flush it.

I still had 35 bigs so not a problem, lost a few in blind v blind spots, once I raised, the other I limped, big blind was a non believer and tbh he was correct in both spots, hate playing from the small blind, big leak.

Get moved tables, 12 left 8 paid, dealer raises, I jam KQ suited, then the words you don"t want to hear from Big blind, oh feck it I am bored he rejams  dealer folds, I am behind to A 10, bink KK flop, faded the flush draw on the river.

I now have 25 bigs, but lose a flip when I called a jam with 77 he has A10 and gets there.

Final table reached but it"s the usual shove fest, I jam AJ blind on blind which gets through and a lets me see a few more hands, guy who 4 flushed me earlier jams JJ I snap with AQ and get there, embrace the variance.

This guy got very unlucky on the ft after losing that flip he was all in with 10 10 v A5 v KQ, queen on the flop Ace on the river for the 2 pots slide 2 the others, he then jams J 10 into JJ, ul gg.

Blinds at 5k/10k, chip leader 18 bigs takes £450, the rest get £390, get home at 4;15am, been a long night.

Had to get to a place near York at 10 so only got 4 hours kip, off to sleep for a few hours before tonight"s effort.

Rainbow had an array of new dealers tonight, assuming they have had a recruitment drive and all had been to a dealer training event, all in all they were ok, bit slow but understandable, it doesn"t help when 3 or 4 people are telling them how to split side pots etc, one or two were expecting the players to count the all ins, no doubt this will improve as they deal more.

Depending upon tonight"s result, I have some winnings to throw at a few sats for ukipt, or treat us to a fancy coffee machine, poker winnings for treats, sleep beckons, run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Mini heater continues tonight with a 3rd for £750 at Rainbow, my exit hand being AQ v AJ, me holding the AQ, Jack on the river, normally I would have a good moan to myself all the way home about it but I got  my share of good fortune earlier so no complaints.

Grinded my way to the final table, and was at least in profit £200 so ok with that, then the slog started, hard work folding and waiting for spots.

Gi Mac was first out his AA cracked by KQ, straight on the river, I ladder a few spots and have gained an extra £50 with 6 left, I was rewarded for my patience, (nittyness), no spots or hands to be honest, with a full double up KK v KQ, then the fun started.

We are only 12 bigs deep and drunk guy raises and I look down at 77, and re jam and he snaps me off with 99 which holds, I am left with 15k which is half a big blind, I go in blind and run 67 into Queens, I river a straight, next hand 44 holds v A 10 and another double, next hand j5 beats A2 and I was back in the game, guaranteed £400 now.

2 more are eliminated and we are pretty much equal, a deal is mentioned but all are happy to play on, 3 left and the cruel blow, button jams with AJ, I snap with AQ, I wasn"t confident here as he turned a straight draw and thought that might get there but alas the Jack appeared, I am left with fumes which goes in and doesn"t connect,  as said I had my luck earlier so got to accept it, happy to bank nearly £1200 over 2 nights, can"t complain about that.

Oh just had a thought Vegas in the summer may now be a viable option, next game, sat for the 25/25 tonight or deposit a bit on Dtd for sats to  ukipt or £250 game.