Day 224 ... no time to play ...

Don't think I've really played online since the tail end of last week ... It doesn't feel like I've got much else done so far this week but I must have, then again it's Wednesday and this blog entry was sposed to be Monday's so I've ended up putting it down as Tuesday.

The home game on Friday night went well - Echo made a nice stack by the end of the night which must be making up for some last years nights which is good. I ended up down £20 which was ok - my logic on home games now is - the same night out down the pub would be an easy £20 so I've got a theoretical £240 annual poker budget before it's even cost me anything lol. That's sounding a bit too much like the logic of a gambler to me ... hell I'm still £500 up from last year even though I've got no idea what I' did with it.

Anyway it turned out to be a most sociable evening. Shrek's mate didn't turn up but hope he makes the next one. We had a table of five so next time with the other couple of regulars back we will probably have a full table for March game.

Sundays 4kingpoker Tour games were successful on the whole - kicked off with a $50 freeroll at UltimateBet with 30 players - I finished 8th. Beeee was rather unlucky beaten when Cro_boy called an all-in preflop and caught a lone 10 on the river to make a pair, Beeee's AK finding nothing on the way.

I was playing and trying to sort out the entries for the next tounie which isn't a great game plan - so much so that I forgot to enter myself for the tournie at Titan ... I was watching the other game and trying to get people passwords to them at the last minute. We got a 125 entering the Titan $50 Freeroll which made interesting viewing - the final table got halved quickly after a 4 way all-in was won with 55 making trips against 66 and the other couple with pictures.

After 8 events (20) The 4kingpoker Tour leaderboard looks like this -

1. F A T 20pts
2. scrawnybob 19pts
3. BDMK 11pts
4. four ducks 10pts
5. frankovic22 10pts
6. pokerchamp69 10pts
7. Chopper 10pts
8. scott145 10pts
9. Cro_boy 10pts
10. Beeee 9pts

Launched www.badbeatornot.com my poker odds calculator site, hopefully it will be useful to the forum members and might be another site that I can develop into something a bit bigger at some stage - anyway it's a nice simple but effective heads up texas holdem odds calculator - so check it out.

The rest of the time I've been tidying up the reviews and adding some new ones and a couple more articles - I've just checked out WPTonline and got a short review up with some early impressions - I really like it, the software is really slick - let's just hope the player volume picks up a bit - more on that another time.

4kingpoker tournaments ... The 4kingpoker Series this Sunday ...

This Sunday 5th March 3pm EST $5+0.5 buy-in playing through PokerRoom, HoldemPoker & EuroPoker

Trying to get the tournies at the PokerRoom Network off the ground ... Can't do any freerolls as they don't offer them so we've got a $5+0.5 game - once we've got it going I'm hoping to have a monthly game there and run it as a series of 5 tournies - the overall winner of the series will get a 500 piece poker chip set on top of the prize money.

Day 218 ... Staying away from ring games ...

Titan Poker ... $ 104.20

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 6th ... - $ 5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 6th ... - $ 5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $ 4.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 1st ... + $19.25

We'll look what happens when I stay away from ring games lol ... OK so not a massive profit but at least I'm not going backwards quite so fast. I just don't think I have the patience for playing cash games, it's to robotic and structured. I think in cash games you tend to remember the big wins and then try to force them to happen within the hour or half hour rather than just playing your cards straight which is what will win you money over the long run. SnG's however have a finite time, you either make the right moves at the right times to take players out or the right folds to survive - this is much more tactical and that's what I like. I can happily fold many more hands thinking I've got to stay sharp and into the money than cash games where I always think what if.

Titan Poker ... $ 104.20 ... + $ 12.00 ... total $ 116.20 ( +$ 00.20)

Giving up on the bonus - If I clear it I clear it - Concentrating on winning and staying ahead on the bankroll.

4kingpoker news ... The 4kingpoker Tour Double FREEROLL ...

Sunday 26th Feb 3pm EST $50 FREEROLL at Ultimate followed by
$50 FREEROLL at Titan Poker at 5pm EST

We've got 2 tournies on this weekend, 1st a $50 freeroll at UltimateBet (see 100% signup bonus below) and then a couple of hours later a $50 freeroll at Titan Poker.


Poker blog of the week ... threebet33
The life and times of a no-name professional poker player in Las Vegas.

  

Day 217 ... It's a girl ...

Titan Poker ... $ 87.48

$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 18.97 ... - $ 1.03

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 4th ... - $ 5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 2nd ... + $ 9.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 7th ... + $19.25

$5 cash NL 0.10 full ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 5.00

Titan Poker ... $ 87.48 ... + $ 16.72 ... total $ 104.20 ( -$ 11.80)

I pulled out of the first game as soon as I realised my best mate had txt me in the middle of the night to say he'd just become a dad - great result and all healthy which is great news ... There are some things that are a bit more important than poker. Anyway I'm starting to get a bit more settled in the SnG's and I think I really need to stop playing the ring games trying to get points for bonus - I'm probably not going to play enough to clear it anyway so I should concentrate on straight simple profit from playing and not worry about it.

4kingpoker news ... The 4kingpoker Tour Double FREEROLL ...

Sunday 26th Feb 3pm EST $50 FREEROLL at Ultimate followed by
$50 FREEROLL at Titan Poker at 5pm EST

We've got 2 tournies on this weekend, 1st a $50 freeroll at UltimateBet (see 100% signup bonus below) and then a couple of hours later a $50 freeroll at Titan Poker.


Poker blog of the week ... threebet33
The life and times of a no-name professional poker player in Las Vegas.

  

Day 216 ... Slow getting points ...

Titan Poker ... $ 113.47

$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 10.69 ... - $ 9.31
$10 cash NL 0.10 short ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 10.00

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 5th ... - $5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... ?th ... ?????
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 7th ... - $5.75

$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 22.68 ... + $ 2.68

Titan Poker ... $ 113.47 ... + $ 25.99 ... total $ 87.48 ( -$ 28.52)

Pretty dismal day all round - got trip 7's crushed to finish 5th, the next game crashed as I was all-in with 4 left (hence the odd amounts) then 7th with AK loosing to 33. I'm finding it difficult to adapt to starting SnG's with a $1000 stack instead of $1500 which afforded me a bit more sounding out money in the early stages at HoldemPoker - I'm definately going to play ultra tight in the early part at Titan as there seem to be an awful lot of aggressive all-in re-raises.

4kingpoker news ... The 4kingpoker Tour Double FREEROLL ...

Sunday 26th Feb 3pm EST $50 FREEROLL at Ultimate followed by
$50 FREEROLL at Titan Poker at 5pm EST

We've got 2 tournies on this weekend, 1st a $50 freeroll at UltimateBet (see 100% signup bonus below) and then a couple of hours later a $50 freeroll at Titan Poker.


Poker blog of the week ... threebet33
The life and times of a no-name professional poker player in Las Vegas.

  

Day 215 ... Scrapping back to square ...

Titan Poker ... $ 90.80

$10 cash NL 0.10 short ... $ 20.00 ... + $ 10.00
$10 cash NL 0.10 short ... $ 26.27 ... + $ 16.27

$5 cash NL 0.10 full ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 5.00

$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 30.85 ... + $ 10.85

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 2nd ... + $9.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 9th ... - $5.75

$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00
$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00
$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 14.90 ... - $ 5.10
$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 52.15 ... + $ 32.15

Titan Poker ... $ 90.80 ... + $ 22.67 ... total $ 113.47 ( -$ 2.53)

Managed to fight back to roughly square with a great last game making up for another couple of reckless games.

Bankroll Check ... Deposited to date $550 ... ( $600 - $50) ... In play ...
UB $ 66.68 ... HP $ 180.43 ... TP $ 113.47 ... Total $ 360.58 (- $ 189.42)

So having allowed for the -$50 to cover the UltimateBet freeroll prize on Sunday I'm down about $190 since starting in Jun last year. I've still got around $225 in pending bonus money to clear between the sites which hopefully I will get if I can play patiently ... that said I'm going to have to concentrate on the Titan bonus first so I don't end up in a panic and blowing all my profit and deposit like I did at InterPoker. I really regret making a hash of that as I was doing so well, I'd have been better to forget the bonus and just carried on making a tidy profit in the micro games - hopefully live and learn.

4kingpoker news ... The 4kingpoker Tour Double FREEROLL ...

Sunday 26th Feb 3pm EST $50 FREEROLL at Ultimate followed by
$50 FREEROLL at Titan Poker at 5pm EST

We've got 2 tournies on this weekend, 1st a $50 freeroll at UltimateBet (see 100% signup bonus below) and then a couple of hours later a $50 freeroll at Titan Poker.

Day 214 ... Just short ...

Ended up getting 10ish players sign-up for the $3 buy-in second leg of The Titan Series which was a bit of a shame ... but the series continues in a couple of weeks with a freeroll and I think the next buy-in will come together so all is not lost. Having realised that I hadn't got any funds in Titan I deposited $116 before the start of the tournie. Not following my original plan of a max of $44 allowance per month I've ended up capping out at $600 total to work with.

We were due to have a freeroll at Pacific Poker this weekend but due to technical difficulties we've postponed it. Which leads to the next accounting variation ... I've sorted a tournie to replace it at UltimateBet but this means transferring $50 out of my playing account so will now be $550 in play. I would laugh at my own rediculous poker accounting if it wasn't for the fact that keeping track of my progress or lack of it is saving me money ... sort of.

Titan Poker ... $ 116.00

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 9th ... - $5.75

$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 30.25 ... + $ 10.25
$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00
$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00
$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 27.46 ... + $ 7.46
$20 cash NL 0.20 short ... $ 22.84 ... + $ 2.84

Titan Poker ... $ 116.00 ... - $ 25.20 ... total $ 90.80 ( -$ 25.20)

Not a great start, couldn't find any 0.10 games free so jumped up to 0.20 games which was a bit mixed. As per usual I've only got myself to blame as both the bomb outs were down to dubious all-in calls on my part.

4kingpoker news ... The 4kingpoker Tour Double FREEROLL ...

Sunday 26th Feb 3pm EST $50 FREEROLL at Ultimate followed by $50 FREEROLL at Titan Poker at 5pm EST

We've got 2 tournies on this weekend, 1st a $50 freeroll at UltimateBet (see 100% signup bonus below) and then a couple of hours later a $50 freeroll at Titan Poker.

Day 211 ... Titan game on Sunday ...

Haven't had any chance to play poker this week as it's half term and so I'm sposed to be on a bit of a break - certainly no time for playing poker and barely enough time to keep up with daily stuff on 4kingpoker site . Hoping the tournie goes ahead on Sunday but it amazes me just how many players seem to be happy on play money tables or hunting around for freerolls but don't want to play for real money ... $3+1 buy-in is nothing and all you learn is bad habits playing fake money. Anyway it's all a bit short and sweet this week - normal service resumes on Monday.

4kingpoker news ... The 4kingpoker Titan Series continues ...

Sunday 19th Feb 3pm EST $3+1 buy-in with $50 added at Titan Poker -

Second leg of a series of 6 tournies (mix of $50 freerolls & $3+1 buyin's with $50 added) hosted at Titan Poker. The top 30 players with the most points after 6 events will be qualified for the grand final.

Tournaments will take place on the 2nd & 3rd Sunday of each month for the next 3 months. Any forum member can play in all the tournaments at Titan Poker.

The overall winner of the series (winner of the final) will also
win a 500 piece Poker Chip Set.


Poker blog of the week ... Sound of a Suckout
Yet another blog about a poker player cruising the waters, improving his fishy game, building a bankroll one hand at a time.

  

Day 205 ... Played dismally again ...

UltimateBet ... $ 123.99

$5+0.5 SnG Full ... 8th ... - $ 5.50

$10 cash NL 0.10 ... $ 00.00 ... - $10.00
$10 cash NL 0.10 ... $ 00.00 ... - $10.00
$10 cash NL 0.10 ... $ 20.85 ... + $10.85
$10 cash NL 0.10 ... $ 16.35 ... + $ 6.35

UltimateBet Total ... $123.99 ... -$ 7.31 ... $116.68 (+$ 28.68)

Thought a change to UltimateBet might be a good idea but really played poor hands too much - I really must get it into my head that some days you dont get cards and so you don't play hands for the sake of it.

4kingpoker news ... Starting this Sunday The 4kingpoker Titan Series ...

Sunday 12th Feb 3pm EST $50 FREEROLL tournament at Titan Poker -

A series of 6 tournies (mix of $50 freerolls & $3+1 buyin's with $50 added) hosted at Titan Poker.The top 30 players with the most points after 6 events will be qualified for the grand final.

Tournaments will take place on the 2nd & 3rd Sunday of each month for the next 3 months. Any forum member can play in all the tournaments at Titan Poker.

The overall winner of the series (winner of the final) will also win a 500 piece Poker Chip Set.

Day 204 ... Played dismally ...

HoldemPoker... $ 189.93

$5+0.5 SnG Full ... 10th ... - $ 5.50
$5+0.5 SnG Full ... 8th ... - $ 5.50
$5+0.5 SnG Full ... 6nd ... - $ 5.50

Not feeling that great for the last couple of days and not really keen to do anything productive - playing poker seemed better than going back to bed - really not a great plan. Second game ended up going out with a King high flush beaten by a rivered straight flush which was fair enough I guess.

HoldemPoker Total ... $189.93 ... -$16.50 ... $173.13 (+$129.13)

UltimateBet ... $ 132.80

$10+1 SnG 6 seat ... 5th ... - $11.00
$10 NL cash 0.10 ... $10.90 ... + $ 0.90

UltimateBet ... $ 132.80 ... - $ 10.10 ... $ 123.36 inc bonus ( + $ 35.36)

Which I think puts me on a reduced $ 296.49 total ( - $ 187.51 overall) after making a mess of playing at InterPoker.

4kingpoker news ... Starting this Sunday The 4kingpoker Titan Series ...

Sunday 12th Feb 3pm EST $50 FREEROLL tournament at Titan Poker -

A series of 6 tournies (mix of $50 freerolls & $3+1 buyin's with $50 added) hosted at Titan Poker.The top 30 players with the most points after 6 events will be qualified for the grand final.

Tournaments will take place on the 2nd & 3rd Sunday of each month for the next 3 months. Any forum member can play in all the tournaments at Titan Poker.

The overall winner of the series (winner of the final) will also win a 500 piece Poker Chip Set.

Day 202 ... 2 steps forward ... one back

HoldemPoker... $ 202.43

$10+1 SnG Full ... 7th ... - $ 11.00
$5+0.5 SnG Full ... 8th ... - $ 5.50
$5+0.5 SnG Full ... 2nd ... + $ 9.50
$5+0.5 SnG Full ... 8th ... - $ 5.50

Not the best of sessions really but didn't end up too badly burnt. Hacked off with the second game, I'd got dealt 88c re-raised pre-flop and had one caller, flop comes down 9c 8 Kc with a couple of clubs, I really thought my trips were ok but figured I needed to either play'em or fold'em if he had got KK then fair enough - so I go all-in and he calls with K9 off neither clubs giving him 2 pair, turn comes a club so I've still got him with trips and I'm on a long shot flush draw - the river comes down a king so we both make full houses but his with 9's ... ok so he's got 2 pair on the flop but even so I couldn't figure how he called a big raise out of position pre-flop in the first place ... thats poker.

HoldemPoker Total ... $202.43 ... -$12.50 ... $189.93 (+$145.93)

4kingpoker news ... Starting this Sunday The 4kingpoker Titan Series ...

Sunday 12th Feb 3pm EST $50 FREEROLL tournament at Titan Poker -

A series of 6 tournies (mix of $50 freerolls & $3+1 buyin's with $50 added) hosted at Titan Poker.The top 30 players with the most points after 6 events will be qualified for the grand final.

Tournaments will take place on the 2nd & 3rd Sunday of each month for the next 3 months. Any forum member can play in all the tournaments at Titan Poker.

The overall winner of the series (winner of the final) will also win a 500 piece Poker Chip Set.

Day 201 ... Back to Holdem Poker...

HoldemPoker... $ 157.43

$5+0.5 SnG Full ... 2nd ... + $ 9.50
$5+0.5 SnG Full ... 2nd ... + $ 9.50

$10+1 SnG Full ... 3rd ... + $ 9.00
$10+1 SnG Full ... 2nd ... + $19.00
$10+1 SnG Full ... 3rd ... + $ 9.00

$10+1 SnG Full ... 9th ... - $ 11.00

Nice little boost playing SnG's is much more fun and I definately feel more comfortable in them - Don't know how long I can keep up a steady win rate but we'll see. Stupidly decided to play another one in bed when infact I'd have been much better off getting some sleep.

HoldemPoker Total ... $157.43... +$45.00 ... $202.43 (+$158.43)

4kingpoker news ... Starting this Sunday The 4kingpoker Titan Series ...

Sunday 12th Feb 3pm EST $50 FREEROLL tournament at Titan Poker -

A series of 6 tournies (mix of $50 freerolls & $3+1 buyin's with $50 added) hosted at Titan Poker.The top 30 players with the most points after 6 events will be qualified for the grand final.

Tournaments will take place on the 2nd & 3rd Sunday of each month for the next 3 months. Any forum member can play in all the tournaments at Titan Poker.

The overall winner of the series (winner of the final) will also win a 500 piece Poker Chip Set.

Day 198 ... No money ...

InterPoker ... $ 73.02

$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00
$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00
$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 13.65 ... - $ 6.35
$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00

$ 6.67 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 6.67

Hopelessly bad loose aggressive / calling station nonsense - I put my hands up I am playing like a complete t**t.
In fairness I got unlucky with QQ three times - coming up against AA & KK ... fair enough ... and 44 ??
I ended up about 6% short of clearing the bonus which I've since figured out has been raised recently at InterPoker so I think I ended up wagering over $1500 in order to get close to the rake required to release $44. It's a great site for high rollers looking for pretty lose games at higher levels but it's not for me. I don't think I'll ever get into cash games as a long term winner I just don't get the same buzz that I do from a tournie and so I end up creating my own buzz which involves playing the worst poker imaginable - chasing draws and semi bluffing on every hand.

InterPoker Total ... $ 73.02 ... - $ 73.02 ... $ 00.00 ( - $ 44.00)

Time to go back to tournies at a site I love and on software I'm comfortable with - HoldemPoker I'm back.

HoldemPoker ... $ 162.93

$5+0.5 SnG Full ... 5th ... - $5.50

To say I'm pleased coming 5th isn't really true but I'm really glad to be back at a tournie table - more tactics rather than open ended drudgery and at least I can make $5 last somewhere close to an hour instead of minutes.

HoldemPoker Total ... $ 162.93 ... - $ 5.50 ... $ 157.43 ( + $ 113.43)

Off to the pub tonight to celebrate a mates birthday - probably will be drunk after 2 pints - definate limit on 4 - but will be good to just forget about the disaster that I made of playing InterPoker.

4kingpoker news ... Bit last minute but this coming Sunday ...

Sunday 5th Feb 3pm EST $5+0.5 buy-in tournament to launch The 4kingpoker Series -

A series of 5 buy-in ($5+0.5) tournies hosted at PokerRoom.com, Holdempoker.com & Europoker.com. They will take place on the 1st Sunday of each month for the next 5 months. Any forum member can play through any of the three poker sites in all the tournaments as they share the same network.

The overall winner of the series (most points on leaderboard after 5 events) will also win a 500 piece Poker Chip Set.

Day 197 ... No progress ...

InterPoker ... $ 79.17

$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00
$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00
$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 40.50 ... + $ 20.50
$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 61.14 ... + $ 41.14

$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00
$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 32.21 ... - $ 12.21
$ 20 cash NL 0.25 ... $ 00.00 ... - $ 20.00

Miserable play - I can't say I'm enjoying playing ring games and I'm really missing sitting in a tournie - I just get bored and play too many marginal hands - constantly infact, so any gains I do make just get eaten away with my poor play. Still a good way off getting the bonus too, hoping that I keep my head above water to get it and then I can take a breather.

InterPoker Total ... $ 79.17 ... - $ 6.15 ... $ 73.02 (+ $ 29.02)

4kingpoker news ... Bit last minute but this coming Sunday ...

Sunday 5th Feb 3pm EST $5+0.5 buy-in tournament to launch The 4kingpoker Series -

A series of 5 buy-in ($5+0.5) tournies hosted at PokerRoom.com, Holdempoker.com & Europoker.com. They will take place on the 1st Sunday of each month for the next 5 months. Any forum member can play through any of the three poker sites in all the tournaments as they share the same network.

The overall winner of the series (most points on leaderboard after 5 events) will also win a 500 piece Poker Chip Set.


Poker blog of the day ... GoCee's Trip Reports
US based trip reports. Mostly written by Tiger, former NYC lawyer about his poker exploits. Has good contributions from others too.