UK Poker

It's a real shame but 2008 hasn't been a good year for my poker playing exploits. The little I've played, I've mainly lost and I'm struggling to get time to either update this blog or play any poker.

It's been a busy year though. I've been mega busy with work things and I've had three new daughters to add to the fold which has left little time for anything else.

Hopefully the girls will start sleeping next year and allow me a little free time at nights to get back into this poker playing thing and hopefully improve my game.

Here's hoping!! Have a great 2009!

Labels: 2009, poker, poker playing

I'm enjoying playing poker again although I'm still on a losing streak, having lost probably in the region of $150 over the past 2 weeks. Still, my loss per game is less than before and I'm playing less hands which is where, I think, most of the problem lay.

The last 2 games have actually seen me turn a minute profit finishing off with about $20 to the good, which seems to make a (nice) change these days.

Still, I'll plod on and once I get back into winning form (did I ever really have it) I'm going to continue to try and improve.

Labels: losing streak, poker, profit

Just a very quick update tonight.

I've played a few cash games at Absolute and emptied my account. My lack of playing seems to have sent my game into a downward spiral, the abyss of bad poker if you like.

Anyway, onwards and upwards as they say. I'm going to persevere and hopefully I'll get back to at least breaking even fairly soon. I'm determined to get better and start making some cash, but we'll have to wait and see.

I'm sure after a little more practise, my bad poker play will start to improve and I can get back to enjoying the game more.

Labels: bad poker, poker

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

Played a $3 + 0.25, 45 play game at Pokerstars and came 28th. Just couldn't catch 2 good cards and the play was so loose I couldn't bluff to pick up any blinds either. I went short-stacked very quickly and eventually had to go all-in with an Ace and a 4. One other player joined me with an Ace and a six which he won with the higher kicker.

Registered for a $10.70 + $1 with 2 seats guaranteed in the Pokerstars Sunday Millions tourney. The Sunday Million at Pokerstars has guaranteed prize money of $1,500,000. There was 97 players in the tournament. Couldn't catch any decent cards and went out in 67th place when I went all in withh K Q suited and was beaten with a high card Ace.$8 + 0.80 Sunday Millions Tourney, came 13th out of 36

Pokerstars had a $10 + $1 tournament with $15000 guaranteed which I entered. I was put out in 827th place from 2218 players when my JJ in the hole was beaten by a Queen on the board making a pair for the only other person that followed my all in.

A $9 buy in to win a chance to play in a $150,000 guaranteed poker tournament later in the day seemed a good place to start on Saturday morning. However only 5 registered making one first prize of $40. It didn't make any difference anyway as I bombed out in 4th place.

Didn't play until the next Friday when I decided to have a game before bed. Entered a $6 + 0.50 Sit n Go at Pokerstars, a single table event. I trailed for most of the game but managed to keep my head above water until we were down to three players. I was losing by miles but managed to climb back a little before knocking out the second place spot. In the heads up match, it was back and forth a little before my opponent went all-in with a pair of 10s against my 10-J. Luckily another Jack appeared in the flop and I took first place and a prize of $27.00.

Overall though a loss for the past week of $14.45.

Labels: poker, pokerstars, sunday millions

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