Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)

[amcgrath1uk]

Has it really been 2 weeks since I"ve been on here!

Poker - played a couple of small schedules, ran into the last 100 on consecutive nights in $3 mtt"s, in one lost a big pot AK v 88, the second AK v KQ which hurt. And that"s it! Why? Well...

Work - over pretty much the last month, I"ve worked either 12 hour days or 12 hour nights in order to get my store up to the next "expected standards". Over the last few years, work have cut to avoid us dropping during the recession, and now we"re getting there, they are now looking to spend money to update the stores and make them look superb. We had the visits from the directors on Saturday morning at 8.30am, and thankfully they were very impressed. I"ve seen the plans for the store going forward and it all looks good, the only downside being that as you"d expect, most of the work will be overnight. After a month of that, there have been a few effects on me, firstly I"m absolutely shattered, those that know me know I"m a late night person, every night I"ve been in bed on the right side of midnight! I"ve also definitely lost a fair bit of weight as well as a fair bit of belly which is also good news. The other positive is that I have built up quite a lot of lieu time which I"ll be taking starting next week, so I might just be able to get a game or 2 of live poker in. I"ve also spent a good couple of hundred quid on expenses, so when I get that back, it"s hello online bankroll again.

Plans for June poker:

Stars - gonna stick about $250 on and just play $2.50 180mans, nothing else. I think I can beat these and due to the nature of the tournaments, I won"t be getting bored.
APAT - not been on properly for a few months, will stick the rest of my expenses on there just to play low stakes mtt"s. Hopefully, will be able to bink on there as I did in 2012.

Coventry - at the moment I won"t be playing it, purely as I have too much on. But who knows!

Cricket - still just the 2 games played so far, missed the last 2 games, one rained off, and couldn"t play last weekend due to work. Sooooo looking forward to playing this weekend ( if I get picked!!).

[amcgrath1uk]

Looking like a perfect day to bat. Completely gorgeous it is

Played a lil bit online last night, last 130 in the 7pm $3 before bluffing most of my stack off. Easily cashed in the big $11 despite losing a 70k hand, KK v A7 v A8. Ended up doing the last AK vs AJ all in pre. Ran like a yoyo in the low horse, getting up to 12k very early, down to under 1k, back up to 16k then getting 3 other people to put 4k each in pre then on a 9 hi flop, I had nut low and flush draws and managed to miss everything in a 70k pot.

[amcgrath1uk]

So... the day to bat ended up with us bowling and conceding 200+, I opened the bowling, up the hill and into the wind ( I wasn"t happy about this), bowled ok, and finished with 7-0-27-0. I really struggled with my run up, no issues with no balls or anything, just couldn"t settle into a rhythm. Was focusing so much on run up the bowling wasn"t hostile and didn"t have any big chances. Within that score, we managed a total of 12 drops ( none to me I hasten to add), as I ended up for most of the game sweeping on the boundary. Adam complained towards the end of his spell he had a niggle, so I started warming up to bowl again, but he was fine. Then I get asked to open the batting. ( I"ve batted twice in 6 years at this point). I don"t mind where I bat, so said ok. Got out there, and we were soon 2 down, with their opening bowler coming fast down the hill with the wind getting 1 wicket, then his replacement getting one second ball. He seemed a bloody good bowler, and afterwards, we found out he was a 1st team bowler who had to go early this week. Whilst the guy batting at the other end was scoring quickly, I became pre-occupied with keeping this guy out. Next I know, I"ve batted for 26 overs, he comes down to my end after bowling where he says well batted, and off he popped. 

The opposition now have 10 players, they"ve got a spinner at one end and I"m looking forward to accelerating. Of course, I know get out, mistiming a shot to mid on straight to the bowler. I"ve scored 15 after all that time   The team accelerates and we eventually score 177-7 to get a draw.

From there, we get a lift to New Brighton casino, and sit down in a poker tourny straight away, where Ger, Carl and Michelle are already in. Ger is on my table and already has tons of chips. 1st hand get QQ, raise UTG, 3 callers and my c bet on a K hi flop gets through. Manage to double up after a raise and several callers, I call with 53os in my bb, hit my straight on the turn and the other guy open shoves it

Adam and myself both get to the final table, I go out 9th or 10th and Adam min cashes. Spend the night on the floor at Adam and Joobs" which was a good sleep and not interrupted by cats at all. A good brekkie spent with all in Chester, before Adam and myself head back to Manchester. Pop by mine to clean up after the cats and feed them, then off to the G for their £30 f/out. It starts with an entire 8 runners, never gets over the opening table.... not quite sure what"s going on there at the moment...

Anyways, both Adam and myself start to run over the table, and we have just under half the chips in play with 8 left. I raise UTG with   get 2 callers, then Adam 3 bets. I have a good think here. I know Adam quite well as a player, and I know he knows me. He is aware of my opening ranges, and he knows I can fold if I think I"m behind. Wasn"t happening this time however I put a decent size 4 bet in to see what happens... he 5 bets.. so we get it all in, and I"m a little surprise to see he has   ( can"t remember the suits he had)

The   I was pretty happy with... less so the   river... and I"m crippled and out next hand. Adam still didn"t win, running decent pp"s into KK and AA twice. I go and sit and play Larry for an hour at min levels, then stick my last £20 at £2 spins, get on the special feature last spin to win £60, then in the next £10, twice more to end up with £250.

Monday is spent mainly shopping in Manc with Adam, bought a couple of good cricket bats which I needed, and I"ve spent a fair bit of time over the last 2 weeks knocking them in.

This Saturday, I"ve been asked to play for the 1st team ( they must be short of bowlers), so looking forward to that in this weather...

[Swinebag]

26 overs for 15.....


Asa "worm killer" McGrath

[amcgrath1uk]

26 overs for 15.....


Asa "worm killer" McGrath

Tell me about it. I had no idea, I was completely focused on keeping this bloody good bowler out. My timing was terrible which didn"t help matters. Hopefully now I"ve got a bat that weighs a fair bit and isn"t a teenagers spare bat....

[KarmaDope]

Quick note on the above:

I am lucky enough to have a pretty large living room. Asa slept on the double mattress which had a full duvet set on it - most comfortable floor ever!

[amcgrath1uk]

Quick note on the above:

I am lucky enough to have a pretty large living room. Asa slept on the double mattress which had a full duvet set on it - most comfortable floor ever!

Definitely No complaints whatsoever

[ian.ski309]

 ...then off to the G for their £30 f/out. It starts with an entire 8 runners, never gets over the opening table.... not quite sure what"s going on there at the moment...

I was in there on Monday for the 25/25 Sat which started with 4 runners...  eventually got 15 runners but the place is such a dump. There was a glossy flyer on the table announcing a massive refurb... grand opening July 2013, yeah right !

[amcgrath1uk]

 ...then off to the G for their £30 f/out. It starts with an entire 8 runners, never gets over the opening table.... not quite sure what"s going on there at the moment...

I was in there on Monday for the 25/25 Sat which started with 4 runners...  eventually got 15 runners but the place is such a dump. There was a glossy flyer on the table announcing a massive refurb... grand opening July 2013, yeah right !

And the lack of runners can only be blamed in a few areas.

1) why build a new G less than 5 miles away in an area that is already overpopulated with card rooms.
2) removing the 25/50 level means unless you massively chip up early, it"s a complete crapshoot within 5 levels.
3) they don"t seem to plan ahead. For months I asked for decent freeze outs on a Saturday night, they stuck it on Sunday...
4) no bank holiday event? Perfect day to run a guaranteed comp starting at 4?
5) very little consistency in rulings. Perfectly good rulings overturned because the regular player wasn"t happy. Also same situations different rulings etc

I"ve honestly no idea how they can get players back apart from point 2. The casino is getting a 25 table card room. Will look like a barn and be empty a lot then..

[amcgrath1uk]

Still very little poker to report on and just the 1 game of cricket, where on Saturday I played for the 1sts as they were short of players, and we got battered by a Sri Lankan side carrying a former u19 international ( who incidentally bowled like lightning, took 6-12 inc a hattrick and hit me in 4 places!) Managed to bag a wicket bowling as well.

Playing for the 1sts again next week in a much more winnable game, before hopefully going back to the 2nds the week after.

[amcgrath1uk]

Day off so playing a few tournies and 180s on stars

Nice start in a few tournies, now it"s all going wrong...

PokerStars Hand #99894163743: Tournament #743314419, $5.00+$0.50 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level X (125/250) - 2013/06/11 18:35:39 WET [2013/06/11 13:35:39 ET]
Table "743314419 45" 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: balzacm (3810 in chips)
Seat 2: amcgrath1uk (15408 in chips)
Seat 3: ntredicci (11410 in chips)
Seat 4: Rsousa924 (5585 in chips)
Seat 5: Svetik70296 (13818 in chips)
Seat 6: FRESHGAMER (135 in chips)
Seat 7: Grigsharowka (5419 in chips)
Seat 8: dwerff (11898 in chips)
Seat 9: rowseanaitor (10558 in chips)
balzacm: posts the ante 30
amcgrath1uk: posts the ante 30
ntredicci: posts the ante 30
Rsousa924: posts the ante 30
Svetik70296: posts the ante 30
FRESHGAMER: posts the ante 30
Grigsharowka: posts the ante 30
dwerff: posts the ante 30
rowseanaitor: posts the ante 30
FRESHGAMER: posts small blind 105 and is all-in
Grigsharowka: posts big blind 250
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to amcgrath1uk [ ]
dwerff: folds
rowseanaitor: folds
balzacm: folds
amcgrath1uk: raises 500 to 750
ntredicci: folds
Rsousa924: folds
Svetik70296: calls 750
Grigsharowka: folds
*** FLOP *** [ ]
amcgrath1uk: bets 1250
Svetik70296: raises 5500 to 6750
amcgrath1uk: raises 7878 to 14628 and is all-in
Svetik70296: calls 6288 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1590) returned to amcgrath1uk
*** TURN *** [ ] []
*** RIVER *** [ ] []
FRESHGAMER said, "wtf sveta?"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
amcgrath1uk: shows [ ] (three of a kind, Threes)
Svetik70296: shows [ ] (three of a kind, Nines)
amcgrath1uk said, "sick"
Svetik70296 collected 27511 from side pot
FRESHGAMER: shows [ As] (a pair of Fours)
Svetik70296 collected 690 from main pot
FRESHGAMER finished the tournament in 220th place
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 28201 Main pot 690. Side pot 27511. | Rake 0
Board [ ]
Seat 1: balzacm folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 2: amcgrath1uk showed [ ] and lost with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 3: ntredicci folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 4: Rsousa924 folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 5: Svetik70296 (button) showed [ ] and won (28201) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 6: FRESHGAMER (small blind) showed [ As] and lost with a pair of Fours
Seat 7: Grigsharowka (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: dwerff folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 9: rowseanaitor folded before Flop (didn"t bet)

[amcgrath1uk]

Not a huge amount to update. Been playing batches of 6 of the 180s and it"s fair to say I"m running like dog. 3 times I"ve got onto the FT bubble in the CL, twice I"ve finished 10th, 1st time dealt AA in bb, sb shoves with 98sh, even though I hit the A, I lose, next hand 10 10 in sb, UTG has shoved, he has K 10 and spikes :/

Very last one of the night last night I finish 5th, being one of 3 with chips, and the 2 shorties contiually double up, eventually I shoved AJ called by AK and, even though I picked up a flush draw on the flop, it obviously didn"t come.

Will play a few more of these today, but running low on funds so need a good day. Not so far, at 25/50 with 4 limpers, I bump it up to 300, and someone decides K 3os is a good hand UTG at this point?

Cricket went well on Saturday. We bowled first, had them 31-4 but they recovered to 149ao. I didn"t really help the cause, dropping a tough one at point ( my least favourite fielding position), my second ball got an edge through to the keeper which he caught, I go up to celebrate, no he hadn"t hit it, it"d just seamed that much Then get a difficult caught and bowled chance where he was through the shot and got a leading edge, the ball went pretty much straight up and down and despite a full length dive, only got by fingertips to it. Only bowled 5 overs, went 5-0-20-0. Was batting at 5, but we scored at a run a ball from the start more or less, winning by 8 wickets.

This Saturday, we have a very good team away from home, and these guys turned over the Sri Lankan team who destroyed us. Think I may get a bat in this one  

It"s the last of my extra days off work today, so going to play a little bit online, already been for a good long walk for an hour to stretch my legs after watching England get S Africa 80-8 then let them get away.

[AAroddersAA]

Not a huge amount to update. Been playing batches of 6 of the 180s and it"s fair to say I"m running like dog. 3 times I"ve got onto the FT bubble in the CL, twice I"ve finished 10th, 1st time dealt AA in bb, sb shoves with 98sh, even though I hit the A, I lose, next hand 10 10 in sb, UTG has shoved, he has K 10 and spikes :/

Very last one of the night last night I finish 5th, being one of 3 with chips, and the 2 shorties contiually double up, eventually I shoved AJ called by AK and, even though I picked up a flush draw on the flop, it obviously didn"t come.

Will play a few more of these today, but running low on funds so need a good day. Not so far, at 25/50 with 4 limpers, I bump it up to 300, and someone decides K 3os is a good hand UTG at this point?

Go On I will ask :-)

Why?

[amcgrath1uk]

Not a huge amount to update. Been playing batches of 6 of the 180s and it"s fair to say I"m running like dog. 3 times I"ve got onto the FT bubble in the CL, twice I"ve finished 10th, 1st time dealt AA in bb, sb shoves with 98sh, even though I hit the A, I lose, next hand 10 10 in sb, UTG has shoved, he has K 10 and spikes :/

Very last one of the night last night I finish 5th, being one of 3 with chips, and the 2 shorties contiually double up, eventually I shoved AJ called by AK and, even though I picked up a flush draw on the flop, it obviously didn"t come.

Will play a few more of these today, but running low on funds so need a good day. Not so far, at 25/50 with 4 limpers, I bump it up to 300, and someone decides K 3os is a good hand UTG at this point?

Go On I will ask :-)

Why?

Against me for 20% of his chips? No idea. I have AQ with the   on a 3 hearts board, and he calls my shove with it
( no hearts)?

Anyways, I"ve got a ton on coming up so going to be a busy boy. Will continue attempting to grind the 180s for the rest of the month, and pokerwise that should be it, no opportunity to play live at the moment, and no chance of playing Coventry

However, then I have Cardiff in August, hopefully HOPEFULLY at least some of DtD in August, then the GPS in Stoke in September, using the added value seat I won for winning the online rankings, and hoping for a decent result in something in one of these events, as compared to my online results, my live APAT results, for me, are a little disappointing. I will be giving it a damn good go this season.

Work wise, I have a store reflow to do for the end of July, which will be joyous. Cricket tomorrow will be played just outside Sandbach, assuming we get a game in.

[AAroddersAA]

Not a huge amount to update. Been playing batches of 6 of the 180s and it"s fair to say I"m running like dog. 3 times I"ve got onto the FT bubble in the CL, twice I"ve finished 10th, 1st time dealt AA in bb, sb shoves with 98sh, even though I hit the A, I lose, next hand 10 10 in sb, UTG has shoved, he has K 10 and spikes :/

Very last one of the night last night I finish 5th, being one of 3 with chips, and the 2 shorties contiually double up, eventually I shoved AJ called by AK and, even though I picked up a flush draw on the flop, it obviously didn"t come.

Will play a few more of these today, but running low on funds so need a good day. Not so far, at 25/50 with 4 limpers, I bump it up to 300, and someone decides K 3os is a good hand UTG at this point?

Go On I will ask :-)

Why?

Against me for 20% of his chips? No idea. I have AQ with the   on a 3 hearts board, and he calls my shove with it
( no hearts)?

Anyways, I"ve got a ton on coming up so going to be a busy boy. Will continue attempting to grind the 180s for the rest of the month, and pokerwise that should be it, no opportunity to play live at the moment, and no chance of playing Coventry

However, then I have Cardiff in August, hopefully HOPEFULLY at least some of DtD in August, then the GPS in Stoke in September, using the added value seat I won for winning the online rankings, and hoping for a decent result in something in one of these events, as compared to my online results, my live APAT results, for me, are a little disappointing. I will be giving it a damn good go this season.

Work wise, I have a store reflow to do for the end of July, which will be joyous. Cricket tomorrow will be played just outside Sandbach, assuming we get a game in.

I meant why do you make it 300 at 25/50. This makes no sense in these, you don"t thin the field very often and if you miss the flop you have to check/fold. Just raise smaller, it achieves the same goal but costs you less when you have to check/fold on a load of boards. Also gives you room to make a profitable cbet in some circumstances (pretty rare but possible)