UK Poker

I've not blogged about my poker playing for a while here but thought it best to provide an update on where I'm at. Basically I've not played a lot but am looking to get back into the poker scene.

My new blog is located at http://www.pokernations.com/ian

Try Poker Nations out if your a poker player looking for somewhere new and different. I think it's great.

Labels: absolute poker, play, social networking

It seems like ages since I've been playing poker but I've decided that I'm definitely going to set aside a hour or three each week to play, even if the babies are all screaming. Well maybe if they're not screaming but you get the point.

Last weekend I played on Friday and Saturday nights for a while and although I won about $30 on Friday, I lost it again on Saturday.

I'm back to playing at Absolute Poker, since I found I still had about $130 in my account and I've decided, for the first few games at least to play $0.50/$1 No Limit Holdem. I'm going to take the minimum $40 into each game in case my play is way off and see how things work out from here.

I'm also going to try and play more aggressively than I used to and try to concentrate more. I'll either make more this way or go bust but I'm willing to give it a go and see.

I've typed this up during a game and now that it's time for bed, I've finished up with nothing!! I was up to 2.5 times my buy-in but all-in with Kings caught a straight and I'm probably off to bed a little earlier than I had imagined.

By the way, Absolute Poker have started awarding Credit and Fame points which I'm sure is grat new and if I ever bother to find out what they are, I'll let you all know.

Labels: absolute poker, playing poker, poker

Played a few games recently but forgot to post in this poker blog how I got on. Anyway, a summary follows:

Won - $80 at PKr in .5/1 followed by another $20.86 in the same type of game.

Then I lost $40 at Poker Host when 3 x Ace was beaten by a higher kicker.

Then I switched to Absolute Poker where I played in some $1/$2 Limit games. The first game I won $39 then lost $20.

The second game should have been a dream game. Everyone at the table was playing with nothing and my idea was to sit it out until I caught decent cards, which I did. Of course, nothing runs that smooth and because all the other players were very fishy, they were calling everything - all of them!!! Of course, 9 times out of 10, one would river a straight, flush or triple up a small pair. Very frustrating as I didn't think I played that badly, you just couldn't shake them off when you had something worth playing and the law of averages says that with everyone in the hand someone else will have a fair chance of getting better cards that you. This style of play was worse for me as I couldn't tell when another player had a better hand, making it difficult to get out of the hand. Of course the pots were big but unfortunately, I didn't manage to catch that many.-$80 in a limit game of Texas Holdem at Absolute Poker. This was a complete waste of time, constantly good cards weren't catching anything and I only won about two or three hands all night.

I may as well have thrown the money out the window.

Anyway on the whole and despite a few large-ish losses, I more or less broke even with a loss of 14 cents. Couldn't really complain in the end and the total of my poker playing figures added up much better than I thought.

Labels: absolute poker, poker, poker blog, texas holdem

Absolute Poker - $6 + 0.60 3rd place $10.80
Absolute Poker - $5 + 0.50 136 from 199 when my pair of 10-10 and my all-in was called by two players with no real hands and one of them made a straight with the river card.
Absolute Poker - $10 + 0.50 86th place from 199, again put out with a made straight on the river after making two pair. That's enough punishment for one night.
Went back to Pokerstars as I haven't been there for a while. Twice I was beaten by the same guy with the same cards and my pairs of Kings and Queens couldn't stand up to Four of a Kind Aces now could they. Talk about bad beats!! Anyway my account is now $80 lighter after a very short period of time. A sad bunny right now.

To finish off I player a Pokerstars $1/$2 Limit Holdem table. Started with $40 at the table. Finished with $74.50.

Overall this post has cost me $57.30. Oh well, next time!

Labels: absolute poker, poker, pokerstars

My first foray into the Poker World tonight consisted of a $10 + $1 Sit N Go game of No Limit Texas Holdem Poker. How long did I last. You really shouldn't ask!

First hand I was out after my QQ didn't stack up against an all-in with KK. Well it was quick anyway! I've decided to play at Absolute Poker tonight and may play another tournament but I've other things to do so I'll see later.

Labels: absolute poker, KK, poker thing, QQ

Since I last updated this poker blog, the first night I made a $3 profit after a fairly abismal couple of games. First of all I went down $25 at Absolute Poker before my PC crashed and bombed me out of the game. After that I played at Pokerstars when I was down $50 at one stage before winning a few hands and coming back to just above evens. Both games were $2/$4 limit games and I quite like playing at that level. There doesn't seem to be as many fish as there are at the $1/$2 tables and it makes for a more interesting game.

However, after not playing so well to finish up at all is a blessing. A Turbo tournament with Coral costing $5 + $0.50 didn't reap any rewards when I went out in 14th place. Only the top 5 were paid.

The weekend before last I went out in 238th place at a BetFred Texas Holdem tournament ($5+$0.50) when my three Queens didn't hold up to a King making a straight on the river card. I was playing ok before that as well. Oh well, that's poker! That night I also played a $15 Freezeout Tournament at BetFred Poker. 262 players. 111th place and also a $15 Freezeout Tournament at BetFred Poker. 250 players.230th place. Simply Hellish!!

Things looked up after that though. I tried a new poker rooms called Poker Host that run as part of the Microgaming Poker Network. I played in an invitational freeroll and actually managed to put out one of the bounty players making me $100. I came second overall and this earned me a qualification into a WSOP Main Event tournament this coming Monday night. The top 5 players will go to Las Vegas to play in the Big One! Can't see me getting anywhere but a slice of the $50,000 added cash would be nice!

An update on this after I've played it but I'm going to practice a little this weekend and hopefully get up to speed again. Overall taking all this into account, and thanks to the bounty, I've made a profit of $67.50.

Labels: absolute poker, poker host, wsop main event

Played a game of $1/$2 Limit Texas Holdem at Absolute Poker.

This is only the second time I've played there but I love it!! The whole site works very well indeed, the buttons are nice and easy, the tables are not too clumsy and everything feels just right.

Anyway, I took $20 into the game and played for about an hour. I got good solid cards for a change which afforded me to play fairly aggressively. I finished up with $83.38 giving a profit of $63.38 and my best result for a while.

I think I should maybe stick at these low cash games for a while as I seem to do best with them. Then again though, I love playing the poker tournaments too much!

Labels: absolute poker, poker, tournaments, uk poker