Day 282 ... Bitter Bad Beat...

Fete Watch - Random pick of a fete coming up no-where near you -
The English Folk Dance & Sing Society Fete
Cecil Sharp House, 20th May, London

Not much to say I guess this is either right up your street or not your cup of tea.

Couple of very telling pictures on their site - one of a lady starring into space possibly thinking when the hell is this going to be over ... who talked me into this in the first place ? And then a bunch of blokes leaping around in bright blue rags banging sticks at each other .... like I said maybe not everyone's cup of tea.

A quick weather check for the previously mentioned Brightwalton Fete Extravaganza near Newbury this weekend - looks like it will be sunny ... just don't get too riotous when the Krazy Kat Theatre come on.

And that's another thing that bugs me - why are we spelling things with K's all of a sudden ? Toy's R Us turn up everywhere and suddenly in order to attract the youth's ever decreasing attention span we have to start turning letters around or spelling like a teletubby.

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Titan Poker ... $ 32.44

$20 cash NL 0.20 ... $60.45 ... + $40.45
$20 cash NL 0.20 ... $00.00 ... - $20.00
$20 cash NL 0.20 ... $18.00 ... - $ 2.00

Titan Poker ... $ 32.44... + $18.45 ... total $ 50.89 ( - $65.11)

I got totally cheesed off with the whole SnG thing at Titan yesterday. I came in last night about 10ish after shooting a very dull business awards dinner (bread and butter photography)and decided to have a couple of hours playing sh** or bust on the cash games - I've just got sick of my stats being way off and watching 20% of my bankroll go in rake. So I sit down for what started a heartening session and ended for me in pure dismay.

Breaking all the bankroll management rules I put $20 ie. 2/3rd of my bankroll into one game - very loose and high pot value game from the stats so this was either going to work or be terminal - played a couple of big hands the last an all-in and cleared up with $40 profit for a 30min session - I love the evenings - so much more traffic and games to choose from and not at all like the players during the day.

I go and make a quick coffee, check on the missus - still nattering to a mate in the yard so I sit down for another session feeling

a) stoked that I won
b) pleased it wasn't just luck
c) eager to go in at the same stake and make the most of prime evening playing time

So in again for $20 (now closer to 1/4 of bankroll still not good but less risk) so a bit of ebb and flow - the standard being better at the 0.10/0.20 game, this is 6 handed by the way so more room for tactics and getting a bit of respect.

Anyway I'm down on a few hands and have about $10 left on the button - what lands in my lap at just the right time ? AA

So I'm thinking I've laid the foundations as a loose aggressive player I'm going to get a caller here when I go all-in. Right so the first to act is a guy with $43 in chips - so with 30cents in blinds to pick up this guy goes all-in ?????

The next two players have a think - they've both got over $20 a piece so it's a bit of a wierd play unless you've really got a very strong hand and even then it's wierd. I mean why bluff $43 all-in to pick up 30 cents ? I'm always going to call that's a given, even if he has KK I'm still ahead so obviously I go all-in $10 and call.

But here's the thing - flop comes down J-3 - now you dont get a turn over at Titan so I'm sat in the dark here thinking bugger I could be dead he's just hit with the Jack - I mean $43 all-in first to act he has to be on a big pair.

Anyway the last card falls and all I'm thinking is I'm dead to a jack nothing else there you would play like he did - NO

This guy went all-in with 33 ????? and hits bottom trips on the flop - now I'm not into the whole rigged internet theory etc but this just seems mighty mighty weird.

OK so I'm an 81% favourite with my hand - but bad beats happen - no problem there - I'd be happy if my all-in got called by 33 and beaten - well maybe not 33 but the point is IF I GOT CALLED not the other way round.

What makes no sense to me is how someone can play 33 all-in in first position

a)you've got to be thinking someone is going to call my all-in - leaving me a totally weak hand to play and sure to loose.

or

b) no-one is going to call my allin so why do it - the best I'm going to get is 30 cents for a $43 bet ???? and waste the possibility of turning trips on the flop.

OK so he's got a pair which could hits trips but why play what is a weak hand so aggressively ???

The cynic in me suggests ... did he have x-ray specs ? ... did he know I had AA and would call any bet ? ... and did he also know that the flop would bring him a 3 to make his hand ?????

We will never know - but this is without doubt the first and only time I have felt uncomfortable with the way a hand was played on the internet - all other bad beats felt just like bad beats.

All I can say is - hosscrazy you lucky muppet - just avoid him at all costs he's is the luckiest mo-fo I have had the misfortune to be at a table with and I still cannot believe it felt right.

Of course I cashed up again and bitched like hell - except you can't swear on Titan - which I used to think was a good thing as I hate moaning and slagging off at the table - until that hand - man I was so tilty I had to leave the table after a few hands and a $2 loss.

Pokerheaven ... $ 38.07

$5+0.50 SnG ... 4th ... - $5.50
$5+0.50 SnG ... 10th .. - $5.50
$3+0.30 SnG ... 4th ... - $3.30
$3+0.30 SnG ... 7th ... - $3.30

PokerHeaven ... $ 38.07 ... - $ 17.60 ... total $ 20.47 (- $29.43)

To say I woke up still tilty wouldn't be strictly true - I felt numb and indifferent to a game that I have been passionately enjoying win or lose. I felt like most days I was learning something, playing better on the whole and mastering a few tricks but really just reminding myself that ...

I don't play golf which is alot of peoples sporting passion - if I played low stakes poker it wouldn't even come close to the annual cost of golf membership and I might even win a bit.

But this one hand - 10 seconds on the poker table is absolutely sure to mess with my head for a long time to come. I've had plenty of bad beats before and always knew what goes around comes around, just stick to playing the game well and you get paid off, but this hand is going to bug me - hosscrazy thankyou for bursting my bubble - muppet.



4kingpoker stuff ...

4kingpoker Tour Double this coming weekend - We've got two $50 freerolls on next weekend - 30th April. First we're at PokerHeaven currently my favourite site and then a couple of hours later we have another $50 freeroll at Poker.com which is a great site too - they've got an improved 100% up to $100 deposit bonus on at the moment which is available through 4kingpoker.


Poker Blog of the Week - Adventures of a Poker Nerd
"Hey, are you the idiot who can't keep up with all the tables you're playing and slows the game down for everyone?" Yes. Yes, I am.

Day 281 ... Paris Hilton bets and loses a Bentley ...

I hate to even mention her name - IMHO Paris Hilton is one of the most pointless and irritating IT girl / socialites I can possibly think of - I dislike her more than Jade Goody. In fairness to Jade I have warmed to her complete and utter stupidity but I will never have any time for Paris Hilton, at least Jade has a lack of money, breeding and eductation to blame. Although I may actually waste space on Paris Hilton's latest move into the poker world further down the page.

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Titan Poker ... $ 75.64

$5+1 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 6th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 9th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 8th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 5th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 9th ... -$ 6.00

$10 cash NL 0.10 ... $3.80 ... - $5.20

Titan Poker ... $ 75.64 ... - $ 43.20... total $ 32.44 ( - $ 76.64)

What an F'ing disaster at Titan - I couldn't do anything right, I didn't play particularly loose, maybe won a couple of pots on very big bluffs but they never got to a showdown so that's just reading the table right. But whenever it came to showing the cards nothing went my way including all the hands that should have. The rake is totally killing me too $1 per game - thats 20% making it almost impossible to get decent returns unless you can make it into 2nd or 1st most of the time. I don't think if I was playing this many games I have anything like the same stats at HoldemPoker or PokerRoom. I guess its just the players are just such damn calling stations and always calling on massive draws even against big raises - the real trouble is they get too damn lucky too damn often.

Poker News ...

Paris Hilton Offered Chance to Win $178,000 Bentley back - PartyPoker.com, the world's largest online poker room, are offering Paris Hilton the chance to win her $178,000 (GBP100,000) Bentley back after reports she lost it in a game of poker at her family's casino in Las Vegas.


4kingpoker stuff ...

4kingpoker Tour Double this coming weekend - We've got two $50 freerolls on next weekend - 30th April. First we're at PokerHeaven currently my favourite site and then a couple of hours later we have another $50 freeroll at Poker.com which is a great site too - they've got an improved 100% up to $100 deposit bonus on at the moment which is available through 4kingpoker - but more about that next week.

Day 280 ... Down at Titan Again ...

Wordsicle Watch It seems that I'm not the only one to find pointless business jargon and buzz words irritating - next week I'll try and give some "heads-up, respect centred interactive facilitation mechanism" yes a few links to site I like who are fighting the Wordsiclizationating of the planet and hoping for the same Wordsicle free universe we all need.

Proactive ... To actually DO something

Knowledge Based ... As opposed to what ? Guessing based ? Hope based ? Ideas based (oops I think thats another wordsicle).

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Titan Poker ... $ 96.64

$5+1 SnG Full ... 7th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 6th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 10th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 5th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 6th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 2nd ... +$ 9.00

Titan Poker ... $ 96.64 ... - $ 20.00... total $ 76.64 ( - $ 39.36)

Terrible run at Titan and the rake is really killing me and starting to bug me too.

4kingpoker stuff ...

4kingpoker Tour Double this coming weekend - We've got two $50 freerolls on next weekend - 30th April. First we're at PokerHeaven currently my favourite site and then a couple of hours later we have another $50 freeroll at Poker.com which is a great site too - they've got an improved 100% up to $100 deposit bonus on at the moment which is available through 4kingpoker - but more about that next week.

Day 279 ... Short and sweet at Titan ...

Dont seem to have much time at the moment - the other poker project is eating away at the day but must get some more news and articles on 4kingpoker this week.

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Titan Poker ... $ 60.64

$5+1 SnG Full ... 1st ... +$ 19.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$ 4.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 7th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 1st ... +$19.00


Titan Poker ... $ 60.64 ... +$ 36.00... total $ 96.64 ( - $ 19.36)

A lot less games and a bit more concentration - think that might be a better plan.


4kingpoker stuff ...

4kingpoker Tour Double this coming weekend - We've got two $50 freerolls on next weekend - 30th April. First we're at PokerHeaven currently my favourite site and then a couple of hours later we have another $50 freeroll at Poker.com which is a great site too - they've got an improved 100% up to $100 deposit bonus on at the moment which is available through 4kingpoker - but more about that next week.

Day 278 ... Home game & Titan Final ...

Had a good night on Friday in our home game - came out about £80 ahead, Shrek managed to clean up - I think playing on the internet has really helped his game.

The Titan Series Final played out on Sunday - Congratulations to our first series winner - katymatey aka pokerkat1

1. pokerkat1 winner
2. track1697
3. neverwin2
4. adrodysee
5. harry777
6. Braisco5
7. donvic
8. seek
9. Gatordad
10. rambojr3

We should have another Series at Titan starting next month.

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Titan Poker ... $ 72.64

$5+1 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$ 4.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 6th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 7th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$ 4.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 6th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$ 4.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$ 6.00

Titan Poker ... $ 72.64 ... -$ 12.00... total $ 60.64 ( - $ 48.36)

Nothing major either way really - the tables seem to be getting looser if anything so I'm playing a bit harder to aviod the badbeats - one game I signed up to, left the computer for a minute and we were down to 7 in one or two hands unreal.

4kingpoker stuff ...

4kingpoker Tour Double this coming weekend - We've got two $50 freerolls on next weekend - 30th April. First we're at PokerHeaven currently my favourite site and then a couple of hours later we have another $50 freeroll at Poker.com which is a great site too - they've got an improved 100% up to $100 deposit bonus on at the moment which is available through 4kingpoker - but more about that next week.

Day 275 ... It's Friday - It's Fete Watch ...

Fete Watch ... Random pick of fete's coming up no where near you -
Singleton Village Fete, Saturday 22nd July, Lavant Valley

The 40 (yes forty) strong Bognor Regis Concert band are appearing at the Singleton Village Fete - result. Mike and Denise are running the clothing stall and need your help - send any unwanted 40's,50's, 60's & 70's to them - but no cheesy raver stuff from the 80's.

If you can't wait for this then check out the St George's Day Lunch this Sunday 23rd April in aid of Singleton Village hall. £15 all you can eat (possibly).

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Titan Poker ... $ 77.64

$5 cash NL 0.02 ... 0.00 ... - $5.00
$5 cash NL 0.02 ... 4.00 ... - $1.00

$5+1 SnG Full ... 2nd ... +$ 9.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$ 4.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 5th ... -$ 6.00

Titan Poker ... $ 66.64 ... +$ 1.00... total $ 67.64 ( - $ 48.36)

Randomly decided to play a couple of cash games - bad choice as per usual. I don't know what it is that makes me do it but I just cannot stop trying to play every other hand no matter what. It's shameful really so gladly got back on the SnG's to make a whole $1 profit today.

Added to my woes the car has given up on me again - hopefully this is just a battery but fingers crossed its not more serious. I've got a home game on tonight - nearly a full table so 8 players and will have to set up the bigger table and pull out the spare chairs. Lets hope I can play real cash games better than I am online.

.

4kingpoker stuff ...

4kingpoker Tour Double next weekend - We've got two $50 freerolls on next weekend - 30th April. First we're at PokerHeaven currently my favourite site and then a couple of hours later we have another $50 freeroll at Poker.com which is a great site too - they've got an improved 100% up to $100 deposit bonus on at the moment which is available through 4kingpoker - but more about that next week.



Poker Blog of the Week - Special K's Place
A Picture Taking, Card Playing, Redneck Computer Geek Tries to Say Something Interesting.

Day 274 ... Titan slippery slope ...

Random Weather Report ... From my skylight.

Drizzle & cloudy - outlook overcast.

For a proper Weather Forecast from anywhere.

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Titan Poker ... $ 77.64

$5+1 SnG Full ... 5th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 7th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 6th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 7th ... -$ 6.00

$5+1 SnG Full ... 1st ... +$19.00

$5+1 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$ 4.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 7th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 2nd ... +$11.00

Titan Poker ... $ 76.64 ... -$ 10.00... total $ 66.64 ( - $ 49.36)

Same as yesterday really.


4kingpoker stuff ...

4kingpoker Tour Double next weekend - We've got two $50 freerolls on next weekend - 30th April. First we're at PokerHeaven currently my favourite site and then a couple of hours later we have another $50 freeroll at Poker.com which is a great site too - they've got an improved 100% up to $100 deposit bonus on at the moment which is available through 4kingpoker - but more about that next week.

Day 273 ... Slump at Titan again ...

Random Weather Report ... Space - The Final Frontier

Solar activity is at at very low levels. Geomagnetic fields at quiet levels. But excitingly the greater than 2 mev electron flux at geosynchronous obit reached high levels.

Damn this space weather stuff is exciting, well probably if you hadn't got a C in physics GCSE it is. For much more information check out Space Weather - Clever Buggers.

For something a bit more down to earth yet still in space check out The Clangers - True Genius.

Wordsicle Watch ... I could just say the Campaign against Wordsiclizationating of the Planet (CAWP) would ban the use of any word ending in IZE but this might mean we lose sight of so many other pointless made up words, instead I will continue to single out those wordsicles most offensive every Wednesday.

People of the world - Unite for the right to speak proper.

Modularize - Break down something difficult into easy bits.

This is nearly as ironic as making the word for not being able to spell stuff difficult to spell - ie. Dislexsic

Even more ironically if you type into google "Dislexsic" it comes up with

"Did you mean: dislexsick"

Talk about kicking a man when he's down -
in wordsicle jargon google have "dis-enablize their deliverables"

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Titan Poker ... $ 99.64

$5+1 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 7th ... -$ 6.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$ 4.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$ 6.00

$5+1 SnG Full ... 10th ... -$ 6.00

$5+1 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$ 4.00
$5+1 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$ 6.00

Titan Poker ... $ 99.64 ... -$ 23.00... total $ 76.64 ( - $ 39.36)

A pretty dismal days play really - I have to confess I have no idea what any of the players were like and really only played the cards as I saw them - which really isn't a very pro-active approach. Fine for getting to the last 5 or 6 but no good for knowing who or what you can play to really stand a chance of getting into the money. On the whole I was far more interested in getting some news up on 4kingpoker and playing poker was more of an unwanted distraction than anything else. If I carry on with this approach I've got to play alot less otherwise my bankroll is just going to disappear again.


4kingpoker stuff ...

Titan Series FINAL this weekend - After a successful last game at Titan it's the invite only final this coming Sunday. Then I've got to sort out the details for the Titan Series II.

Day 272 ... PokerHeaven comeback continues ...

After a nice break from poker and 4kingpoker it's back to the computer to get my head down and sort out the site and while I'm there I may as well play SnG's in the background. The Titan Series buy-in game was a success with 18 entries - I didn't play as there were enough players for it to run and I don't want to be getting in the way of players getting places for the final this coming Sunday.

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

PokerHeaven ... $ 23.67

$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 6th ... -$3.30
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$3.30
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 5th ... -$3.30
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 2nd ... + 5.70
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 5th ... -$3.30

$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 2nd ... + 5.70
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 1st ... + 11.70
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 1st ... + 11.70
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 8th ... -$3.30
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$2.70
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 7th ... -$3.30
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 4th ... -$3.30

PokerHeaven ... $ 23.67 ... + $ 14.40 ... total $ 38.07 ( - $ 11.93)

After a rocky start getting unlucky with KA suited and finding I was up against AA I had a couple of 1st places that put me back on track. I'm not quite square yet but Rome wasn't built in a day. After bombing out at Ultimatebet it's even more important for me to get Titan Poker and Poker Heaven accounts into the black - but I'm only going to be able to do that with patience.


4kingpoker stuff ...

I'm going to be putting in more poker news on 4kingpoker but for the next couple of weeks I'm probably going to be tied up on this new poker project - Watch this space.

Titan Series FINAL this weekend - After a successful last game at Titan it's the invite only final this coming Sunday. Then I've got to sort out the details for the Titan Series II.

Day 271 ... Easter Break ...

It's the Easter Weekend so not much time for play and not much time to do my blog - normal posting should resume tomorrow.

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

HoldemPoker ... $ 182.43

$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 8th ... -$3.30
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$2.70
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 2nd ... + 5.70

HoldemPoker ... $ 182.43 ... - $ 16.50 ... total $ 165.93 ( + $ 121.93)

Didn't play too well - same old story - no patience. But nice to be playing on the pokerroom software again. Once I've sorted out the other accounts a bit then I will have a good session at HoldemPoker.

UltimateBet ... $ 5.93

4 x $2 cash NL 0.02 games - lost them all one way or another.

UltimateBet ... $ 5.93 ... - $ 5.72 ... total $0.21 ( - $ 87.79)

It was always going to be slow progress fighting back from next to nothing but I just didn't have any patience, there's $100 bonus waiting to be worked off here but it may be a while before I get to deposit at UltimateBet again if I stick to my budget.

4kingpoker stuff ...

Poker News section is now running properly - so now I've just got to start putting some poker news in it.

Titan Series FINAL this weekend - After a successful last game at Titan it's the invite only final this coming Sunday. Then I've got to sort out the details for the Titan Series II.

Day 268 ... Yes it's Friday & it's Fete Watch ...

Random Weather Report ... Amundsen-scott, Antarctica -41F

Partly Cloudy - Like minus 41F isn't enough reason to stay away unless your into penguins (or is it polar bears in Antartica) or global warming research.

Batman's The Penguin Comic covers and images.

10 Fantastic Polar Bear Facts including
Minty the bear on the Foxes Glacier Mints.

Fete Watch ... Random pick of fete's coming up nowhere near you -
Brightwalton Fete Extravaganza Sunday 30th April, West Berkshire.

Boasting FREE parking, brass band and the Krazy Kat Theatre's riotous performance of George & the Dragon. Don't forget the terrier racing - bring your dog and enter on the day or just turn up with someone elses.

We will endevour to bring you Fete Watch as a regular Friday feature adding this to our other highly successful regular column - Wordsicle Watch on Wednesday's.

Poker News ... PokerStars 3rd annual World Cup of Poker (WCP)

For PokerStars players worldwide to come together, play poker and

decide which country is the king for 2006. You can represent your country and play for a slice of $200,000 in prize money, a free trip to play in the televised finals and an entire year's worth of bragging rights.

Stage 1 - Qualify for your country's WCP team (50 FPP required) and enter the non-US country qualifiers run on April 16th & 17th.
Leading to the Barcelona Semi-Finals & Finals (Live event).

PokerStars are now running satellites for the 2006 World Series of Poker. They bred the last 3 WSOP main event winners - Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer & Joe Hatchem. Determined to continue the success story PokerStars are running a massive amount of WSOP qualifiers this year. With qualifiers from $5.50 to $370 for a total of $5 million of WSOP packages. They are putting up 150 WSOP packages guaranteed on Sunday July 16th. PokerStars Review

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Poker Heaven ... $ 18.57

$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 8th ... -$3.30
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 3rd ... +$2.70
$3+0.30 SnG Full ... 2nd ... + 5.70

Poker Heaven ... $ 18.57 ... + $5.10 ... total $ 23.67 (- $ 26.33)

Managed to get some time to sort out the news pages a bit on 4kingpoker so while that was chugging away I thought I play a couple of games in the background. Did OK half concentrating - the up side of working and playing is that you really have to cut out the majority of starting hands as your not concetrating on the players enough to really suss out how they play ... this would be dangerous if they were good tight aggressive players - they'd start to steal the blinds and push you around. But on the low limit games you can be fairly sure that a bluff is going to get called all the way down so your better off leaving the clever stuff for later in the game.

4kingpoker stuff ...

Now the news section is up and almost running - I'm going to be a bit tied up getting this up to date so my blog may suffer. Like its got such a high editorial standard to keep up !

Titan Series this weekend - It's the last game this weekend at Titan before the final of the current series. It's a $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 addded - which needs to be busy as you can only qualify for the highest 30 scorer's final if you've played in a buy-in tournie. The series seems to have been a success and we're just sorting out the details for the Titan Series II which is great news.

There is a 500 piece poker chip set up for grabs for the Series Winner - but if it's someone in the States it'll probably be easier and better for them if I send an amazon voucher - no point in half the prize money going in shipping costs.


Poker Blog of the Week - Josh Arieh's Poker Blog
Official blog of professional poker player Josh Arieh, Two-time WSOP Champion and WPT Finalist.

Day 267 ... Win or bust at Poker Heaven ...

Random Weather Report ... Fanny Island, British Columbia 45F

Please note "this station is not reporting" - we'll if I was stuck on Fanny Island I doubt I'd be wasting my time doing the weather either.

On the subject of Fanny, check out -

Fanny's Kitchen that's as in Craddock.

Fanny Hooe Cam that's as in Fanny Hooe Resort & Camp Ground.

Randon Weather Report Apology - One of my avid readers pointed out Charrapunji is infact in India near Bangladesh but not in Bangladesh as the report I had read suggested - (thanks razib for spotting it) - We like random but we also like factual.

Poker News ... PokerStars 3rd annual World Cup of Poker (WCP)

For PokerStars players worldwide to come together, play poker and

decide which country is the king for 2006. You can represent your country and play for a slice of $200,000 in prize money, a free trip to play in the televised finals and an entire year's worth of bragging rights.

Stage 1 - Qualify for your country's WCP team (50 FPP required) and enter the non-US country qualifiers run on April 16th & 17th.
Leading to the Barcelona Semi-Finals & Finals (Live event).

PokerStars are now running satellites for the 2006 World Series of Poker. They bred the last 3 WSOP main event winners - Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer & Joe Hatchem. Determined to continue the success story PokerStars are running a massive amount of WSOP qualifiers this year. With qualifiers from $5.50 to $370 for a total of $5 million of WSOP packages. They are putting up 150 WSOP packages guaranteed on Sunday July 16th. PokerStars Review

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Poker Heaven ... $10.17

$3+0.30 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $ 2.70
$3+0.30 SnG full ... 2nd ... + $ 5.70

Poker Heaven ... $ 10.17 ... + $ 8.40 ... total $ 18.57 (-$31.43)

Well I'm right down on my bankroll at PokerHeaven but then again I was in this situation the other week at Titan and bounced back. So I'm not going to throw the towel in or have a mad moment and put it all in a cash game. Playing the lowest SnG's available I had enough for 3 games or bust - fortunately got placed in both so at least I'm not dead yet. I'm going to stick with SnG's as I seem to have more success (read less failure) at them rather than ring games.

4kingpoker stuff ...

The news section is up and almost running - the links off the homepage are dead at the moment as I'm adding so there will be 10 headlines on the homepage, a summary of 40 news stories on the poker news page and then individual story pages too. This is all alot more work than I'd figured but once I've got things updated then it should be easier.

Titan Series this weekend - It's the last game this weekend at Titan before the final of the current series. It's a $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 addded - which needs to be busy as you can only qualify for the highest 30 scorer's final if you've played in a buy-in tournie. The series seems to have been a success and we're just sorting out the details for the Titan Series II which is great news.

There is a 500 piece poker chip set up for grabs for the Series Winner - but if it's someone in the States it'll probably be easier and better for them if I send an amazon voucher - no point in half the prize money going in shipping costs.

Take a Poker Survey & get $5 FREE at Noble Poker - Exclusive for 4kingpoker members only, earn a Free $5.00 for taking a 2 minute online survey for Noble Poker, then set-up an account & they will instantly credit you with $5.00 real money. Take Survey & More Info

Sign-up Exclusive at Titan Poker - For 4kingpoker members & visitors. New players deposit at Titan poker through out banners and using BONUS CODE: 4kingpoker will get entered FREE for our 25 seat free $250 tournament & the 100% up to $500 deposit bonus. More Info

Poker Blog of the Week - Josh Arieh's Poker Blog
Official blog of professional poker player Josh Arieh, Two-time WSOP Champion and WPT Finalist.

Join 4kingpoker at the poker forums & read our latest poker articles

... www.4kingpoker.com ... dont get bitter - get better ...
rules • tips • forums • reviews • tournaments • competitions

Day 266 ... World Cup of Poker at PokerStars ...

Random Weather Report ... Charrapunji 89F Chance of Rain

Not suprising really as Cahrrapunji, Bangladesh is offically the wettest place on the planet - watch out tomorrow there is a high chance of tropical storms.

Found this random weather generator although it's not half as random as my actual reports from random places - The Weather Randomiser

Poker News ... PokerStars 3rd annual World Cup of Poker (WCP)

For PokerStars players worldwide to come together, play poker and

decide which country is the king for 2006. You can represent your country and play for a slice of $200,000 in prize money, a free trip to play in the televised finals and an entire year's worth of bragging rights.

Stage 1 - Qualify for your country's WCP team (50 FPP required) and enter the non-US country qualifiers run on April 16th & 17th.
Leading to the Barcelona Semi-Finals & Finals (Live event).

PokerStars are now running satellites for the 2006 World Series of Poker. They bred the last 3 WSOP main event winners - Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer & Joe Hatchem. Determined to continue the success story PokerStars are running a massive amount of WSOP qualifiers this year. With qualifiers from $5.50 to $370 for a total of $5 million of WSOP packages. They are putting up 150 WSOP packages guaranteed on Sunday July 16th. PokerStars Review

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Poker Heaven ... $18.09

$3+0.30 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $ 2.70
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $ 4.50
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 5th ... - $ 5.50
$3+0.30 SnG full ... 5th ... - $ 3.30
$10 cash NL 0.10 ... $11.09 ... + $ 1.09
$10 cash NL 0.10 ... $15.47 ... + $ 5.47
$10 cash NL 0.10 ... $ 3.82 ... - $ 6.18
$3+0.30 SnG full ... 3rd ... - $ 3.30
$10 cash NL 0.10 ... $ 6.60 ... - $ 3.40

Poker Heaven ... $ 18.09 ... - $ 7.92 ... total $ 10.17 (-$39.83)

Pretty miserable play at poker heaven ... I had got comfortably up in a couple of the cash games only to blow it - which is the same as usual. Then I ended up making a Full House and was drawing in a player clearly on a fush draw for all his money - the last card came down making him a flush but with an outside possibility of a straight flush - I went with it and sure enough he'd hit the straight flush on the river - NH.

4kingpoker stuff ...

Progress is proving slow at the moment but I'm hoping to have the news section sorted so I can start adding and building the site again. it's taken me ages to sort out the links to and from everywhere as I'd renamed a load of pages to make things work better - but as with changing anything you never get it quite right first time.

Hopefully no more dead links - if you find one then tell me.

Titan Series this weekend - It's the last game this weekend at Titan before the final of the current series. It's a $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 addded - which needs to be busy as you can only qualify for the highest 30 scorer's final if you've played in a buy-in tournie. The series seems to have been a success and we're just sorting out the details for the Titan Series II which is great news.

There is a 500 piece poker chip set up for grabs for the Series Winner - but if it's someone in the States it'll probably be easier and better for them if I send an amazon voucher - no point in half the prize money going in shipping costs.

Take a Poker Survey & get $5 FREE at Noble Poker - Exclusive for 4kingpoker members only, earn a Free $5.00 for taking a 2 minute online survey for Noble Poker, then set-up an account & they will instantly credit you with $5.00 real money. Take Survey & More Info

Sign-up Exclusive at Titan Poker - For 4kingpoker members & visitors. New players deposit at Titan poker through out banners and using BONUS CODE: 4kingpoker will get entered FREE for our 25 seat free $250 tournament & the 100% up to $500 deposit bonus. More Info

Poker Blog of the Week - Josh Arieh's Poker Blog
Official blog of professional poker player Josh Arieh, Two-time WSOP Champion and WPT Finalist.

Join 4kingpoker at the poker forums & read our latest poker articles

... www.4kingpoker.com ... dont get bitter - get better ...
rules • tips • forums • reviews • tournaments • competitions

Day 265 ... Titan Poker shame on you ...

Random Weather Report ... The Moon - I planned to have a weather forecast for the moon, unexpectly as a result of my research I now find out that they forecast the weather using the moon but I'm guessing that the moon doesn't actually have any type of weather being in space etc.

However the weather in Moon, Virgina, USA is 66F
Fair and most importantly the pollen count is high.

View from the Moon

Found this chaps site quite entertaining - Noing Noing

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Titan Poker ... $ 109.39

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 6th ... - $ 6.00
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $ 4.00
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $ 4.00
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 9th ... - $ 6.00
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 4th ... - $ 6.00

Titan Poker ... $ 109.39 ... - $ 9.75 ... total $ 99.64 (-$16.36)

Bit of a downturn but nothing too major. The thing that really bugs me is that Titan have increased the already high $0.75 rake to $1 for a $5 SnG - that's taking the p*ss as far as I can see. OK so they have a $25,000 prize for anyone who can win 5 SnG's on the trott and I guess they have to cover that somehow but now I think they just got greedy.

4kingpoker stuff ...

Hoping to have an much improved and overhauled poker news section in the next few days, which will gather all the promos / poker tournaments and offers at all the poker sites we review and feature. I'm also working on another poker related project which has now been weeks in the pipeline so hopefully next week it will be close to launch, fingers crossed this is an instant success.

Titan Series this weekend - It's the last game this weekend at Titan before the final of the current series. It's a $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 addded - which needs to be busy as you can only qualify for the highest 30 scorer's final if you've played in a buy-in tournie. The series seems to have been a success and we're just sorting out the details for the Titan Series II which is great news.

There is a 500 piece poker chip set up for grabs for the Series Winner - but if it's someone in the States it'll probably be easier and better for them if I send an amazon voucher - no point in half the prize money going in shipping costs.

Day 264 ... Titan back on track ...

Random Weather Report ... Las Vegas 52F Partly Cloudy

Today is forecast to be nearly the same as yesterday (apparently). The rest of the week is forecast to be between 71F-81F with a 20% chance of rain on Friday. Downtown ski conditions are poor. Best to stay at the air conditioned tables and don't pack a snowboard.

For those of you who haven't left the poker table for days -
Live Cam MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada

And if your thinking about getting married in Las Vegas -
Live from the Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas

Wordsicle Watch ... yet another pointless abuse of the English language has been spotted this time at Feedburner.com -

Troubleshootize - What is wrong with saying troubleshoot / ing ?

The wordsiclizationing of our planet continues and we must fight back - otherwise "moving forward" we will all become morons with too little to say in far too many made up words.

4kingpoker Losses Update ...

Titan Poker ... $ 70.64

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 2nd ... + $ 9.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $ 4.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $ 4.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 4th ... - $ 5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 1st ... + $19.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 2nd ... + $ 9.25

Titan Poker ... $ 70.64 ... +$ 39.00 ... total $ 109.64 (-$6.36)

Well a much needed upturn in fortunes at Titan Poker which takes me a few dollars short of square. I think I'm about a 1/3 of my way through the $56 bonus with about 5 weeks left to clear it. I'm not going to loose sight of just playing (hopefully) profitable poker and blow it trying to clear the bonus. If I can get a bit ahead I may consider going up to the $10 SnG's although they seem to take a bit longer to fill.

4kingpoker stuff ...

Hoping to have an much improved and overhauled poker news section in the next few days, which will gather all the promos / poker tournaments and offers at all the poker sites we review and feature. I'm also working on another poker related project which has now been weeks in the pipeline so hopefully next week it will be close to launch, fingers crossed this is an instant success.

Titan Series this weekend - It's the last game this weekend at Titan before the final of the current series. It's a $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 addded - which needs to be busy as you can only qualify for the highest 30 scorer's final if you've played in a buy-in tournie. The series seems to have been a success and we're just sorting out the details for the Titan Series II which is great news.

There is a 500 piece poker chip set up for grabs for the Series Winner - but if it's someone in the States it'll probably be easier and better for them if I send an amazon voucher - no point in half the prize money going in shipping costs.

Day 261 ... Titan Recovery Stalls ...

The Shipping Forecast ... THERE ARE WARNINGS OF GALES IN ROCKALL MALIN HEBRIDES BAILEY FAIR ISLE FAEROES AND SOUTHEAST ICELAND.

THE GENERAL SYNOPSIS AT 0100 - LOW FAIR ISLE 990 MOVING STEADILY SOUTHEAST AND LOSING ITS IDENTITY. LOW FORTIES 992 SLOW MOVING WITH LITTLE CHANGE.

VIKING NORTH UTSIRE - CYCLONIC 4 OR 5 BECOMING NORTH 5 TO 7, PERHAPS GALE 8 LATER IN WEST VIKING. OCCASIONAL RAIN. MODERATE OR GOOD. Full Met Office Shipping Forecast

For anyone in the UK and brought up on Radio 4 / The Archers - The Shipping Forcast is an institution and as a child was totally soothing and bemusing in equal measure. For anyone not British this is probably very alien material for national broadcasting but tune into Radio 4 and you will love it - basically its is vital for fisherman in British waters depending on the forcasts to ensure they come home safe. Names of the areas like Viking, Dogger & Fisher German Bight trigger images of little boats fighting with the weather in their own little drama. I always remember the report having an almost hypnotic effect on me as a kid. There is a great photographic documentary book - The Shipping Forecast by Mark Powers

Fete Watch ... Random pick of fete's coming up nowhere near you -
Thorton in Craven Fete Weekend 27th-28th May, North Yorkshire, UK.

All the classics including - Pottery smashing, stocks, The Chocolate Lottery & the unforgetable Owl Man.

Now I hate fete's - Due to a 5+ year stint as a local press photographer I have attended more fetes than anyone should have to endure in a lifetime. There is something quaintly reasuring about the local village fete but after what must be over 250 the novelty wears off. As with all outside events weather is the key to success so I will endevour to bring a weather report for the fete on the day. To my knowledge I've never covered a fete with a "Chocolate Lottery" - This seems a unique new twist in fete stalls - I am sure the local newspaper photographer will be very grateful and it probably means The Owl Man will be off the hook for this year.

Titan Poker ... $ 86.39

$10 cash NL 0.10 ... 00.00 ... - $10.00

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 4th ... - $ 5.75

Titan Poker ... $ 86.39 ... - $ 15.75 ... total $ 70.64 (-$ 45.36)

Well the inevitable end of my upturn came to with a dull thud this morning - after getting up early and deciding to squeeze in some time at a cash game and an SnG. This was a bad plan from the off - I knew I wasn't going to get any other games in as I'd got to go and see the accountant and other family things. It really fel appart when I had aggressively played AA preflop tto get one caller and then when the flop came down Q-10 I decided it required an all-in to safeguard my AA against a call on a straight draw - this was unfounded as the guy seemed happy to call the all-in (4x pot) on a flush draw needing runner runner - of course he got it. In the SnG I got down to 4 players and had JJ on the button so raised heavily looking to double up - the flop came down J23 making me trips but not wishing to get greedy or unlucky I went all-in at again got called this time with a random A 10 and yep he managed runner runner Q K to make a straight.

4kingpoker stuff ...

This week has been mostly behind the scenes stuff but I'm hoping that next week I will be able to tidy up a few things and get on with adding more news content etc. I'm working on another poker related project which has now been weeks in the pipeline so hopefully next week it will be close to launch.

Titan Series this weekend ... It's the 5th game of 6 this weekend at Titan and the last $50 freeroll in the current series. The weekend after it's a $3+0.30 buy-in which needs to be busy as you can only qualify for the highest 30 scorer final if you've played in a buy-in tournie. The series seems to have been a success and we're just sorting out the details for the Titan Series II which is great news.

Day 260 ... Recovery Continues ...

Weather Report, EuroDisney, Paris 53F
Unsurprisingly the same as the rest of Paris, France -
Possibly less rioting but a few more annoying Disney characters.



I mentioned some sort of Sims soap opera blog - I've found it again but in the process found a few more so I guess it's not so difficult to make the fancy pictures after all - Adventures in Cyberia.

I'm not big on fast action computer games so before discovering online poker I used to waste endless hours on an old version of Civilisation and on the Sims. I think the Sims are better off without me - I used to take great juvenile delight in creating terrible houses without any toilet facilities and watching them get stressed out and if I ended up with lazy one who never held a job down I would pen them up in the garden - cruel really - but it then again they're not real it really is just a computer game. Maybe if anyone can make these picture stories I should start a "Sims in Distress" blog or "Chav Sims - The Soap Opera".

Titan Poker ... $ 52.39

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 7th ... - $ 5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 5th ... - $ 5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 1st ... + $19.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $ 4.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 2nd ... + $ 9.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 4th ... - $ 5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 4th ... - $ 5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 1st ... + $19.25

Titan Poker ... $ 52.39 ... + $ 34.00 ... total $ 86.39 (-$ 29.61)

The upturn continues thankfully and I'm almost in striking distance of square. had a couple of niggly 4ths my JJ falling down against A7 and then 77 coming a cropper against KJ (made a straght on the river). But generally I'm just glad to be getting out of the danger zone. There was a crazy 4 way all-in when I had 22 and hit trips on the flop (827) alsort of crazyness JA / 55 and something else random but the trip stood up - when they all started going all-in behind and infront I was thinking I was in real trouble.

4kingpoker stuff ...

Titan Series this weekend ... It's the 5th game of 6 this weekend at Titan and the last $50 freeroll in the current series. The weekend after it's a $3+0.30 buy-in which needs to be busy as you can only qualify for the highest 30 scorer final if you've played in a buy-in tournie. The series seems to have been a success and we're just sorting out the details for the Titan Series II which is great news.


Poker Blog of the Week ... Part-Time Poker Blog
A companion to parttimepoker.com with half-developed article thoughts for feedback, general poker musings, news about the site and inevitably bad beat whining.

 

Day 259 ... Bounce back at Titan ...

Weather Report, The Sahara - Hot, damn hot & cooler in the shade.

I've spent another 20mins today looking at the blogoshere ... Apparently this is what you call the place where blogs exist ... I will add this to my list of irritating and meaningless wordsicles (hell if everyone else can make up nonsense words so can I).

Why can't people just talk plain English instead of in strings of bling buzzword just to sound refreshing and street - inventing complicated made up words doesn't make you look brainy just a retarded fashion victim.

Blogoshere ... Some blogs
Moving forward ... So when ?
Looking foward ... Next year / sometime / the future
Heads up ... Can I have a word
Visumalise ... Think about it
Human Resources ... Personel / staff
Contextualise ... Look at it how it is
Monetize ... Make it pay

I could go on but it would turn into the rant of some grumpy old man, but really some of the stuff people come out with is just bolox and I've sat through alot of these conference / motivational type things and it's just a collection of nonsense words with lise / ism / istic stuck on the end and if in doubt then just start looking forward ... seriously how many people before they said anything were planning on moving or walking around backwards ?

Anyway I've now decided that my blog will have some structure -

1) A random rant / summary of the non-poker stuff on my mind.

2) Some stuff on poker and if I've played then an update on my losses and hopefully profits.

3) 4kingpoker stuff with what's going on at the site etc.

Finishing off section 1 I did find some stuff that was interesting -

Some sort of Sims soap opera blog - No idea what it was called but quite funny - someone obviously spent alot of time on it.

And some independent guy with some nice ideas who wants to become a US senator in California - Commonsenseworld.com - Maybe I've just been maxed out on right-wing blogs but he seemed quite sensible, then again I know nothing about US politics - just a shame that it ends up having such an effect on what us and the rest of the world - yet we don't get a vote.

Titan Poker ... $ 33.82

$5 nl cash 0.04 ... $ 6.59 ... + $ 1.59
$5 nl cash 0.04 ... $ 5.23 ... + $ 0.23

$10 nl cash 0.10 ... $ 0.00... - $ 10.00

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 1st ... + $19.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 8th ... - $ 5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 1st ... + $19.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $ 4.25

Titan Poker ... $ 23.57 ... + $ 28.82 ... total $ 52.39 (-$ 92.43)

Started off ok in the first cash game and decided to cut and run but then it all went bad in the 2nd - Got dealt AA and ended up with a nasty looking KK- flop which worked out ok and got me up to $18 - Instead of taking out the profit and starting again - I blew most of it going all-in with KA suited when the flop came down KKJ. The other guy called on a big draw with QA but hit the 10 on the turn. Spent 1/2 hour seething and trying not to tilt - Got out with a 23 cent profit and didn't want to look back.

Getting 1st place in SnG's at Titan has been looking rarer than rocking horse sh** recently, so I'm a bit happier today and the bankroll is looking a bit better too.

4kingpoker stuff ...

Titan Series this weekend ... It's the 5th game of 6 this weekend at Titan and the last $50 freeroll in the current series. The weekend after it's a $3+0.30 buy-in which needs to be busy as you can only qualify for the highest 30 scorer final if you've played in a buy-in tournie. The series seems to have been a success and we're just sorting out the details for the Titan Series II which is great news.

Day 258 ... I have got readers ...

Weather Report, Alaska - Bit warmer in Barrow -9F but Janeau is still my tip at 36F and overcast.

Well it turns out I do have some readers, which is nice to know. I spent yesterday trying to improve the visability of my blog so we'll see if that has any effect. I don't really understand it but I now have feedburner and somesort of link so you can RSS feed me or something. Anyway the logo looks pretty and I have put a counter on which started yesterday. I've signed up to a couple of these blog traffic things - where you look at a couple of blogs and then someone is pointed to yours. No idea if this will get me some avid readers but what I saw looking at all the other blogs out there was a real eye opener.

So far I've had the debatable priviledge of viewing ...

A random picture of some street busker dressed as Darth Vader, a scary lady not called Muriel but with an unhealthy love of cats and read a bizarre article written by some pot head entitled " I don't like mustard, I don't like pretzels but I do like mustard flavoured pretzels" ... seems like the internet is full of way too many people with way too much time on there hands.

Oh and about 10 times as many right wing zelots and left wing liberals in equal measure ranting on about Iran, Iraq, the US government & the "fact" that global warming hasn't been proved scientifically ??

All I can say is thank God we still have a half decent printed press in the UK. If we got our information and formed opinions from the internet we would be a bunch of neo-nazi, mustard pretzel eating stoners with an unhealthy collection of hand knitted cat jumpers.

I did have a couple of comments - one from some crazy pole / poll & one from another poker blogger - cheers

A nice read too - Online Poker Thoughts Blog

Titan Poker ... $ 33.82

$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $4.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $4.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 5th ... - $5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 3rd ... + $4.25
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 5th ... - $5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 5th ... - $5.75
$5+0.75 SnG full ... 5th ... - $5.75

Titan Poker ... $ 33.82 ... - $ 10.25 ... total $ 23.57 (-$ 92.43)

Dispite managing to get three 3rd places a succession of 5th's left me with a 30% hit on my limited bankroll. I think tomorrow if I play I am going to sit it a really low stakes cash game and just go for a very small but consistent profit margin. While I am just playing as a sideline to working it seems rather frustrating to have such a consistently low win rate, ok if I'd turned more 5th's into 3rd's the picture would look far more rosy but I can't help thinking $10 loss over 5hrs playing is poor even by my standards. OK I'm paying way less than half my attention to the games and maybe the problem is not getting agressive enough with 5/6 left ... so maybe better off trying to play a steady cash game. At the end of the day a $2 an hour plus is better than a $2 an hour loss.

4kingpoker stuff ...

Titan Series this weekend ... It's the 5th game of 6 this weekend at Titan and the last $50 freeroll in the current series. The weekend after it's a $3+0.30 buy-in which needs to be busy as you can only qualify for the highest 30 scorer final if you've played in a buy-in tournie. The series seems to have been a success and we're just sorting out the details for the Titan Series II which is great news.

Day 256 ... New Improved Poker Blog ...

Weather Report, Alaska

Barrow -11F Mostly Cloudy
Fairbanks 28F Scattered Clouds
Juneau 45F Overcast

Kodiak 43F Overcast
Nome 8F Clear
Valdez 30F

Now I know nothing about the weather but I thought it would just be damn cold everywhere in Alaska - my holiday recommendation on the face of it would be Juneau, if your planning a trip to Alaska, but ski conditions might not be so favourable ... but then what the hell do I know about Alaska ... and what the hell has it got to do with poker ?

Well thats kicked off my new approach on writing a "successful" (poker) blog - So far it seems if in doubt just chuck something random in.

Over the next few weeks from my early research of successful blogging I should be -

a) Posting up a scary picture of myself trapped in the 1970's and acquiring several cats and a terapin called Bernard - preferably mentioning / photographing them endlessly.

b) Giving myself a totally street / gangster name or that of a 70's rock star and combining this with an brand of alcohol or else using an improbable triple barrelled surname prefixed with either Muriel, Dorothy or Ethel.

c) Playing an unreal amount of high stakes online poker preferably attempting to qualify for the WSOP or WPT only buying in to MTT tournaments with a ticket price of at least $350 ... ideally on a daily basis.

d) Somehow be able to trawl through the entire news / humour output of the internet and find and post the best of it complete with commentary and wit.

The only problem with actually using this new found formula for creating a successful and popular blog is -

1) I am not called Muriel and don't wish to own a terapin called Bernard.

2) My nickname is scrawnybob purely because - I'm scrawny compared to my mate who is maybe a bit stocky and my name is Bob.

3) If I could afford to play $300 MMT's and win them I sure as hell wouldn't spend my time writing a blog - if I played $300 MTT and didn't win I sure as hell would be more worried about being addicted and penniless than writing a blog.

This blog is about low-stakes beer money poker for a reason - Most poker players are not going to win the World Series of Poker or even generally ... Some of us will at best keep up with the rake ... Most will not ... A few will win - Alot will tell you they win.

The way I look at it ... Decide what you can afford to loose and enjoy playing with that to the best of your ability ... if you can improve then great but at least you won't go broke.

4) I am rubbish with and not that interested in technology - I vaguely know what a scart socket is, have no idea how SKYPE works, I don't have a webcam and the only way I'm likely to find anything funny off the internet is if I go through my trash box thing and dig out all the not very funny email attachments my friends send me when they've got bored standing next to the office coffee machine discussing Big Brother but still can't face actually doing what they're being paid for.

Which does by some coincidence bring me to another pointless thought not related to poker -

Watching the half dozen or so dullard's who are suposedly the best genius potential the UK business world has to offer pancing around on "The Apprentice" - Just how retarded were the other 1,200 applicants ?

Fair play Sir Alan Sugar seems like a top bloke but I wish he had a gun instead of his pointy finger when they get fired, better still a machine gun in the first episode ... I've never seen a bigger bunch of muppets on TV unless you count my brief viewing of Big Brother in 2001.

Mind you, you've got to question his judgement when it came to last week firing Jo the gobbly one in preference to that complete chinless wonder who I think is called Sam ... What a waste of space.

Anyway that's enough random and pointless waffle, I haven't played any low-stakes online poker today - because I had other stuff to do.

4kingpoker stuff ...

Tour results at Poker Heaven ... We ended up with a small single table affair, I came an unimpressive 5th and Fatboy came in 2nd. Got a nice AK suited on the first hand making nut flush but got too agressive and Fatboy ducked for cover, after that it was junk and no patience. But it was fun all the same.

Day 255 ... Who is the April Fool ? ...

After 255 days of writing this poker blog I think its fair to say that I have no idea who if anyone ever reads it ... But my money is on nobody.

I still have no more idea how to write a sucessful poker blog than I did when I started it ... and it shows.

You may think - whoever "you" is (I'm assuming my readership is singular at best) that I'm not being terribly positive, well guess I'm not. I started this blog with a total lack of focus and very little purpose. I knew that I should have one when I was setting up my poker site 4kingpoker.com and had vaguely thought that a blog was somehow going to help with SEO (whatever that was), getting traffic and everyone promoting a site used it as some sort of promotional tool but I started out with no idea how to use this tool.

My limited aims were ...

a) To keep track of my inevitable poker losses hoping this would act as a check on reaching for the credit card more than I should. This was never going to hold more than a passing interest to anyone except for me. With the exception of anyone who wanted to see just how badly someone could play with a maximum monthly budget of $50 - so far it's fairly conclusive that I can play somewhere between poor and reasonable poker which gives me a net losing game over time.

b) To somehow get massive amounts of readers and therefore piles of traffic to my new poker website.

c) To have somewhere which regularly updated the entire web universe of any changes or progress of my poker empire.

I've succeeded in the first and tried and failed in the other two. 4kingpoker is growing and going from strength to strength but somewhere along the line this blog has lost its way ... Or more probably never found it in the first place.

So where is this moan going - I have no idea other than it needs to go somewhere. I've made a million and one mistakes setting up my poker site but I've learnt from every one. As a result have a much better site than I ever expected and now at least half an idea what I'm doing. This blog however seems to be going nowhere and I still don't know how to improve it or save it. There are a pile of totally nonsense blogs that have nothing in them and yet are doing well. Also a hell of alot more that have something worth reading which also do well. I have no idea what I am doing so wrong for mine to still be failing to show up on the blogging radar but if anyone knows anything about blogging - I'd love to be told what to do and where I'm going wrong.

In the meantime I'm going to give the thing an overhaul, try going in a different direction (still with no clue about the rights & wrongs of bloggery).

I'm guessing that giving it a structure and putting in the same info everyday isn't good blogging. I've ended up with a blog like groundhog day and from what I can figure your better off putting in the weather report from Alaska rather than the same thing twice but I don't really know how that works either. Anyway I'm looking at good blogs and will try and figure out what the rules for success are. One thing I do hope is that in another 255 days I won't be writing exactly the same blog under Day 510.

But then I also hope I'll be playing better poker ... I'll settle for 1 out of two.

Royal Vegas Poker ... $3.62

$3.62 NL cash 0.10 ... 00.00 ... - $3.62

Royal Vegas Poker ... $ 3.62 ... -$3.62 ... total $00.00 (-$00.00)

Finally got broke at Royal Vegas - At least it's one less 2 dollar acount to try and keep track of.

UltimateBet ... $2.72

$2.00 cash NL 0.02 ... $4.77 ... +$2.77
$2.00 cash NL 0.02 ... $2.44... +$0.44

UltimateBet... $ 2.72 ... +$ 3.21... total $5.93(-$82.07)

Slow progress in the micro limits at UltimateBet and still no sign of a refund for that crashed tournie - think I'll give up on that vain hope - everyone lost money that day and I don't think they have the first idea where to start sorting it out.

I think as a quick sum up I started on the basis of no more than $44 per month on poker, this ended up growing to $50 so total of $600 annual bankroll. But it's still very much beer fund poker - money you can afford to loose if you can't make anything much of it. I've lost money at all sorts of places along the way, making pitiful sized deposits and making some progress only to wither away to nothing.

The only place it's really gone right is HoldemPoker where I've grown my $44 to around $180 ... not impressive but at least it is a plus.

PokerRoom - Ended up taking care of $308 eventually, but it's still my favourite network and I was doing ok for a while.

UltimateBet - Was going ok until I cut my bankroll in half paying out the prize money for a 4kingpoker freeroll and it just never recovered. Maybe I can make my $5 there turn into 100's but I doubt it.

Interpoker - Looked like the promise land for a few days, very juicy until I started to panic about clearing the bonus and focussed on that instead of the $100 profit I'd made just playing poker. Moving up a few stakes guaranteed that I would loose the profit, the bankroll and the bonus.

Titan - Just hasn't gone right for me since the off. I deposited $116 on the basis of starting with a decent bankroll and planning to play it up steadily as I had done at HoldemPoker but it's just been steadily going down - now about $50 so I guess not all is lost.

Poker Heaven - The latest new site is at least a very pleasant playing experience and looks like a good proposition but so far my $50 is down to less than $20 and once your down there it could go either way on the next game - so we'll see.

Approx bankroll - total $ 255 out of $600 and some chance of clearing a couple of bonuses but this still along way off square.