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

[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.

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)

Cool ok fair enough. He then compounded the call, by calling with 3rd pair with 3 hearts on the flop and no heart to my shove. Haha.

[amcgrath1uk]

Poker - the less said about 180s the better, getting to the last 27 without issue, sometimes on 4/6 I"m playing, then it all goes horribly wrong.

Work - all change, we"ve had a 4 person management team, and the same 4 for 3 years, and within 48 hours, 2 have founf other jobs. What this means at the moment however, is outside of Cardiff and GPS Stoke, I can"t see how i can possibly get the UK @ DTD off, I MIGHT be able to squeeze Sunday/Monday, but until I find out who the new boss is, I won"t know.

Cricket - We had just 10 for our 1st team game on Saturday, and then we find out we only have 3 actual bowlers. Usual opening bowler wasn"t there, so 2nd and 3rd bowled about 15 overs, then I come on, score is about 70-0 iirc, and pretty quickly get both opening bats, then the no 3 out, 2 LBW, one caught & bowled, the c & b was smashed straight back at me, a foot either side it was 4 runs, but it was straight at me. Ended up with 11-0-56-3 with my last over going for 17 as they slogged out, 10-0-39-3 was the initial spell, all up the hill into a bloody strong wind. Batting, the less said the better, a 3 ball duck, bowled by a spinner, and one that I somehow lost in flight   We lost by 100+ runs, not really a surprise as they"re a good team ( just lookiing at the table anyway)

I hope all APAT"ers have an awesome weekend in Coventry, absolutely gutting I can"t be there

[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)

Cool ok fair enough. He then compounded the call, by calling with 3rd pair with 3 hearts on the flop and no heart to my shove. Haha.

Think our play is generally fine obviously, these 180 turbos plat strange though. I think plays that (like shoving vs 3 limpers preflop) actually become good plays. I could be totally wrong of course.

[amcgrath1uk]

Quick updates but nothing major going on. Woeful running in the 2.50"s continues, but hit a 2nd in one of only 2 $8"s that I bothered playing, which profit wise, more or less makes up for the rest. Easily won at cricket this week, didn"t come on to bowl until the 38th over, and went 3-1-8-2, figures look good, truth being I bowled absolute filth, took both wickets in my 1st over which were both half trackers and missed, one bowled, one LBW. Chasing 147 to win, they asked me to open, I lasted 4 balls without scoring, where coming forward to defend, one spat off the pitch hit the top edge of my bat and looped slowly to slip. Sigh. The other opener and no 3 put on 142 in quick time, and we won with 15 overs or so to spare.

[amcgrath1uk]

I might be a little bit tired today!

10am yesterday and I"m getting ready to set off for Chester, get a call, the game is off, fancy playing for the 2nds. Why not eh? Get to Chester just before midday, meet Adam, 2nds called off FML. Decide to wait for the next train and watch the Lions in the pub over the road. An hour later, celebrations done, I"ve missed my train, next thing, I"ve agreed to go to New Brighton to play a lil bit of crazy golf with Adam, Joobs and the rest.... after an obligatory and decent pub lunch that is...

Fancy a sit n go? Oh go on then... turns into getting home at 4am, when I"m up at 8am for work...

All I can say is epic day, well worth being this tired, mahoosive thanks to Mich for getting me back to Manchester at 4am!!!

Cracking day, awesome people, and a mega well done to Mich for her online FT, and Ger for yet another medal!

Now... a bloody cold shower after some food, then a damn long sleep

[duke3016]

The golf was fun and it has a new name. It"s now called the "Hard Luck & Feck It" game........

[HOLDorFOLD]

Was a cool day indeed, spur of the moment days like that often turn out to be the better ones   Fantastic company as always  

The evening was funny listening to bouts of "Get in there" from Ger .... was amusing trying to play live round of each whilst playing APAT's NLHE and Omaha at the same time. Chuffed to have finished 6th in the end.

Highlight for me was asking you half the way home, ""Sooooo, whereabouts on the motorway do we come off for yours then"" for you to reply ""No idea, I don"t drive". pmsl, big Okkkkaaaaayyyyyyyyy well I"ll get you to manchester and we"ll drive around til you recognise where you are hahahahahahahahahahaha    

Was also looking forward to nice hot chillaxing bath before an awesome sleeeep .... but alas my powers of blowing light bulbs went a step higher this evening when this time I blew the whole lights ring main ... fml .... it"s a very old fuse box, one of the metal ones with "fat fuses" and i have 30A fat fuses but no 13A fat fuses ..... bed it is then.

(why start a blog when I can just boot-leg off yours haha)

[HOLDorFOLD]

pmsl, just remembered hugging Adam on arrival and getting "doofed" in th eface by his incredibly tough BBP cap .... it may be made of material but fml it did smart a bit. Poker players are dangerous I tells ya  

[amcgrath1uk]

Not much to report this week, had some bloody deep runs in poker, nothing higher than 8th though, that bit of luck on the final table is eluding me at the mo.

Struggling to get to live poker whatsoever, at the moment it looks like the next live for me is APAT Cardiff, where I will be extremely hungover... then again, I was the same at the WCOAP ME when I had a pretty good start...

Cricket - well, it was a tad hot yesterday... we lost the toss and had to field. The outfield was like concrete and lightning!!

We quite obviously wilted in the heat, they scored over 200, we were quickly 20-5 and eventually 75ao. At least I didn"t get a 0 this week, a whopping 5 this time. Only bowled 2 overs :/ Next week all being well, I"ll be playing for the 2nds so I can get some bowling in.

[amcgrath1uk]

Did get to play for the 2nds this week, and did get some bowling in!

However, we bowled the opposition out for just 123, i went 7-1-35-1! Well too expensive! My 3rd and 4th overs were the best, getting the very decent opener out, and beating the bat on several occasions. The other 5 were complete crap. I got a wicket though, more than Adam managed   The plan for me batting wise was to go in middle order, however, Adam dropped a catch at slip which damaged his hand, meaning he didn"t want to bat. So i go and open, and get bowled behind my legs ( again!) for 0. Despite us being 21-3, we knock the runs off in under 20 overs.

As the game finished early, a quick pub dinner with Adam and Joobs which was pretty good, then home, getting in after 11pm! Just the 14 hour day then!

Poker - played online tonight, shouldn"t have bothered. Hoping to play this or next Weds night to get my eye back in before Cardiff.

[amcgrath1uk]

Poker - played last Weds night - the G card room in Manchester looks fantastic, the dealers/valets of the usual quality lets it down a touch. Managed to dust off everything within 4 levels, QQ no match for 98.

Work - madness has finally ended. 2 months of solid work has come to fruition, and it"s probably been worth it.

Personal - nothing much going on as per usual, way too busy  with work, dealing with the animals and all the hassles that comes with, on the plus side only 5 ish months to go, downside being it"s only been 3 months so far. It does mean that Vegas is an absolute definite no this year

Cricket - as were very short of players, only the 1sts played, away at Hartford who by all accounts were very good. We lost the toss, and they batted on another hot hot day. We get a relatively early wicket, and their no 3 comes in, scorer of just under 800 runs this season with an average of 107. First ball he gets off the mark, 1st attacking shot of his next over, he absolutely creams on through midwicket, as hard as I"ve ever seen one hit. Unfortunately for him, he hit it straight at me. It was hit with such ferocity it knocked me off my feet, dropping it. Still on my way down, I manage to grab on again and he was out. As a byproduct, I land very heavily on my back, and also crack my head pretty hard. It certainly had an impact, and until even yesterday, I was pretty woozy.


I bowled 5 overs, 1st 3 n a half were decent, last 9 deliveries weren"t. They were a big bulky team, and they eventually declared on 176-7.

As I"ve often been asked to do as a left hander, I opened the batting, we had a good start with lots of wides and poor deliveries, as well as their best bowler pulling a hamstring in his second over. There was tons of banter going on between their erratic fast bowler and our top bat. We managed to put on 58 for the 1st wicket, where I managed to edge to slip from a spinner, eventually caught by a juggling catch from the guy I caught earlier... I couldn"t resist as I walked off... nice catch.. mine was still better though We were soon 70-4 and 110-7. One of the young second teamers came in at 9, with one of the decent bats then steered us sensibly, until we needed 12 from 2 overs. The main batter was on strike, but because he was shattered and with smallish boundaries, weren"t happening, they stuck 9 on the boundary, and we ended up drawing a quality game.

3 short sleeps until my 1st APAT live event of the season and it"s fair to say I CANNOT wait. If you"re in Cardiff, I hope to spend some quality time with you all!

[amcgrath1uk]

Reminders to self to post:

Cardiff
G Manchester deep run
Pokerstars deep run
Complete lack of sleep
The next few weeks

( When I find time to )

[Santino67]

Reminders to self to post:

Cardiff
G Manchester deep run
Pokerstars deep run
Complete lack of sleep
The next few weeks

( When I find time to )

Get some sleep first mate  

[amcgrath1uk]

Reminders to self to post:

Cardiff
G Manchester deep run
Pokerstars deep run
Complete lack of sleep
The next few weeks

( When I find time to )

Get some sleep first mate  

Indeed, that"s why I posted those as a reminder last night, knew I"d be too tired after work today but I"m off tomorrow so should be able to catch up on everything Hope you"re ok Grant, have definitely missed having a good ol" drink with you!

[amcgrath1uk]

Finally get the chance as well as the botheredness to do a catch up..

Cardiff: The trip down was decent, shared mainly with Adam, and seemed to pass quickly enough. Then a quick shower and change and out with the APAT lot for TC"s stag do. However many of us it was outside and inside the Terranova was a cracking start, then off into town, vaguely remembering feeling pretty hammered, getting back to the casino and hotel feeling very hammered, and decided discretion was definitely a good idea, so headed up to my room for a long night.

Felt fine on Saturday, raring to go:

Nice easy table then:

Seat 1   Josephine Rees
Seat 2   Dawn Dineen
Seat 3   Ben Turnstill
Seat 4   Paul Davis
Seat 5   Patrick Godfrey
Seat 6   Asa McGrath
Seat 7    Gavin Jones
Seat 8    Gerard Smyth
Seat 9   Tom Steuart Fielding
Seat 10    Richard Sutton

Had the feeling when I worked out the table I"d either get lots of chips or be out fairly early...

The latter obviously happened with Ben destroying AA with 65 and JJ with A5. Just chilled for the rest of the day, had a a few drinks, a good chat with a good crowd then bed.

Omaha was decent despite having Dan Owston sat next to me, got off to a good start, lost a couple of hands then decided 7654 was good to reshove. Out in 12th/13th ish. Then played the night tournament, started really well, and bluffed off my 80k stack with 10 hi, called down by 5th pair...

Another highly fun and quality weekend, just needing the poker to start firing... so.....

Played a nice Friday night tournament at the G in Manchester, £20 f/out 1.5k guarantee. Played as well as I have for a long time, made the right calls, right decisions, and had mountains with about 23 left. Then the crucial hand. Raised UTG with QQ, bb is the only caller. Flop is 10 hi, and she open shoves. Easy call, she has A 10, river 10. Manage to claw a good few chips back, but only had one move being shortstack, and eventually ran Q9 into 10 10.

3 times in the last couple of weeks I"ve got down to the last 2/3 tables in mtt"s on stars, all highly frustrating as I"ve played really well and gone out in huge hands twice. JJ v 10 9 after a QJxKA board, and managed to run into AAxx 4 handed with 7 left in a 6 max omaha ( I had AKQ4 double suited). The cashes are obviously quite nice, but the big one still eludes me.

Sleep - until this week, sleep has been horrible, not more than 4 hours per night, coupled with falling asleep at odd times. This week it seems to have self corrected at last, with a good 8 hours 3 times

Cricket - didn"t play 2 weeks ago as I"d managed to trap a nerve in my neck. Played last Saturday, and despite it raining everywhere else, we got a full game in! Was 10 a side as Adam had to pull out for us, we fielded like demons at the start with one of the bowlers going 10-5-10-1 at the start of his first spell, and restricted them to just 143, I got 3 overs, got another wicket so the strike rate isn"t bad! ( 3rd best in the club!) We knocked off the runs ok ( I was at no 6 so no batting). Only 2 games to go for me because...

Upcoming... obviously we"re all at DtD this weekend, am so looking forward to playing the 6 max in particular as I believe I"m going to be tough to play against. Also I tend to run quite well at DtD so the whole weekend is a definite one to look forward to.. that and spending the time with the APAT crew. Then I"m off in 2 weeks to GPS Stoke as part of my prize for winning the online rankings in season 6. Absolutely looking forward to it!