Tales of the Honeybadger

[Honeybadg]

Cash didn"t really soothe me ... starting playing and doing badly ... then some of my mega loose play helped me get paid off ... then lost to a riverred flush ... before failing to spike the the required Ace or six with 55 into 423 ... profit of $6 and run!

L

[Honeybadg]

Middle of the night poker ...

Quelle Horreur : I make the over bet on the turn - get called by the gutshot who spikes : $230 pot slides the wrong way ... what an amazing call ... FTS (For the Spew)

Re-build : I have one guy on tilt : let"s see who that pays??

L

[Honeybadg]

... and then a $506 pot slides the wrong way for me ... I flat call with JT (clubs) ... two clubs including the Ace on the flop ...

I let my opponent do the betting ... bullet ... bullet ... and a club on the river for a flush ... bullet 3 ... I re-raise ... but he holds Q7 clubs ... and I am dead ... (-$200) ...

A pretty poor week following last weekend"s mini-triumphs ... what next?

Win the National ... standard ...

L

[Honeybadg]

... or lose the national ...

Heads Up Poker Masterclass with Nik Persaud kinda crushed my game ... time to repair it ...

Sunday Warm Up ... a tale of nonsense ... got double up with a better kicker and then halved with QQ vs AK ... then slaughted by top pair vs trips on consecutive hands vs the same player ...

Then to the cash tables and final things going my way for a +$205 session ... it could have been a lot better ... flopped a ROYAL FLUSH ... but the extra heart on the turn killed my action ... then frop top pair on a 652 spade board ... and the 4th spade killed my hand ...

Oh well ... nice to walk away on a profit ...

L

[Quasar]

Louis did you think the masterclass was worth the money? Did you actually learn anything or think it was a waste of time?

I"d be really interested to know as I keep thinking about attending something like this.

[Honeybadg]

... great question ... certainly not a waste of time ... but the value could come in different ways.

For me it was a little bit of a wake up call to stop playing so wildly (at times).

For the specific event - if you wanted to grind $1/2 (or below) heads up play then it would sharpen you up.

Nik Persuad is an amazing analyst of the game - though the net effect here was to make me re-consider heading to Vegas this year - maybe that will save me $10k +

A lot of MTT play is pretty automatic - but playing heads up is a great chance to hone the skills in playing marginal hands (which might be useful in the MTTs).

It got me thinking about the following:
Do I really get the most value out of every pot? - No
Do I consider properly how many river cards are actually blanks - No
Do I put the maximium pressure on people to make decisions - No

The course then went into some pretty advanced stuff with regards to using pokerstove and (premium) poker table ratings to select and destroy players by systematically analysing their games as per "jungleman" ... which at the moment I really don"t have the time to do ...

But I was really pleased to have Nik shine a light and stop me playing so automatically ... it will make me a better player (in the long run) ... so I would say yes worth the money.

Caveat - I probably wouldn"t have paid the cash had I not cashed at Black Belt Live.

As a general comment - if the pro player has a great record then probably worth the pearls of wisdom they may provide - perhaps more to follow on this.

L

[Honeybadg]

Nothing happening on the cash tables tonight ... -$182 ... two pairs vs two opponents ... 4 spades on the board ... mmm

Playing cash feels like an epic bouncing ball - whatever ever you do it reverts to nothing much up nor down.

There is something very appealling about bouncing balls ... smile.

I was recalling when I used to play a more grinding cash game (in easier poker times) - I never really sought weak opponents to play - maybe I should??

Need to play some Omaha again ...

L

[Honeybadg]

Weird and wonderful cash session for -$56 ... played badly at the start but got a break catching a flush ... then AQ became a full house ... but then AJ in A88 vs 89 ... then 99 vs TT as overpairs ...

Earlier ... got a life when the stone called nuts just called by trip ... very strange ... but K9 into K33 ... found KQ ... oh well ...

L

[Honeybadg]

Solid start to the weekend ... +$160

Cash session started playing way too loose ... but tightened a little then played every hand ... to the point where my premium hands got fairly well played ... very passive table for the most part ...

Put down AK into Kxxxx (three spades) against a new player to the table who wanted all the money in the middle ... mmm

Pre-flop I had raised and they had re-raised which I had flatted ... it felt like the best I was getting was a chop ... great price to call but was I crushed?

Time to walk in the sun ...

Get ready for tonight"s action ...

L

[Honeybadg]

Out in 23rd of 102 in the APAT Holdem ... killed in two strokes by mporter1 ... all very standard stuff ... 88 on the button I raise ... re-raised by A8 in the SB ... A on the flop ... then AQ vs JJ and no help ...

Enjoyed the play before this - played pretty loose but pretty much always ahead of average until the end ...

Omaha - fairly wild starting hands mainly stuggling - could have been more patient ...

Sunday Warm Up tomorrow ... looking forward to it ...

L

[Honeybadg]

Morning poker : lively : Micro Profit

Fired three bullets at re-raiser with a raggy board ... and they called me down with AK ... great play ... I like hands like that ... maybe next time I will have bottom pair ... (for the terrible call!)

So many time my ultra loose play doesn"t work becase people still refuse to call my good hands ... this time called down with the naked ace!

Sunday chores - need to buy some black shoes - it"s one of the worst tasks I could have - I think the idea of buying gangster spats but they really don"t work for formal events ...

Looking forward to the Sunday Warm Up - will it fill up with all the Pokerstars Shenanigans?

Then only a short week to Newcastle ... FTW

L

[Honeybadg]

End of the weekend ... playing some absurd cash ... for a $200 loss ...

Earlier pretty card dead in the Warm Up ... rammed AQ into AK ... time to get head down into work again ...

L

[Honeybadg]

The eve of the home internationals ...

I foolishly entered the APAT event - 15 min levels (a million things to do tonight) - couldn"t bear to get involved in the fold and limp fest - so instead I just about correctly folded all my draws vs the made hand on the turn ... and then got my money in good vs two runners with a full house ... but the river spiked one of the numerous options for a bigger full house ...

Tomorrow I fold the first hand earlier ... or shove it and get lucky ... Maktub ...

L

[Honeybadg]

What could be better than sitting in 1st Class (£8 supplement - free tea and biscuits - free wifi) on the way to a poker tournament eating HAM AND EGGS ....

... answer ... winning the poker tournament ... having eaten them for fuel and inspiration ...

L

[Honeybadg]

Day 1 - Home Internationals

Scotland "B" 54 points - England "B" are leading with 63 points - all to play for ...

Could have been a little better for some luck in running ... QQ vs 77 ... with Scouse singing for the 7 of diamonds which duly appeared for Matt McKinlay (England "B") to scythe my stack back to size ...

Next up for me, Matt in the Heads Up ...

It all goes to the MTT in any case ... it is worth an expected 66 points vs the rest of the games 68 points in total ...

Hopefully we run late and good ...

L