Never worked, still working away.

Hello to anyone who reads this, I'm very much appreciative of the kind words and requests for new posts etc. so thank you. As you can see I'm not swimming in a pool of strongbow or being fed crisps by angelina jolie, so you can probably tell I didnt win any money in that tourney.

Every time I got a hand there was always a slightly better one to screw me over, and I never really felt like I could get going. Had 1010 on a K high flop, split AJ with A9 after a lot of chips went in on the flop and turn, QQ on an Ace high flop.. and possibly others. But my final hand was most annoying.
Most players had been playing quite loose, playing lots of pots with rag aces and the like, and I have AJspades UTG, so I have no qualms about raising it to 3xbb. One caller on the button and everyone else folds. The flop comes A7s3s, and I must think I have the best hand here. It just so happens the other player has A7, and the chips fly in with no help for me on turn or river. That was for 6k which wasnt massive but it was slightly above average if I recall correctly. Never mind eh?

I've also made Gold membership, and I await the collection of treats that I am now privy to. Treats such as a €150 bonus sound good, but I'm not sure I'll get it because I get rakeback already, though it doesnt mention it on the site which makes me hopeful.

Its so easy to spend money when you have it, those profits I've been enjoying have just been draining away as I spend money on things I dont need, and things I do need. But I still have enough to go to Nottingham with, and I can afford many a pint of beer, so I'm happy.

I've also cashed out another $400 for the time being to boost my bank balance a little, after having a reasonably good session today.
Had a lovely hand where a person was very annoyed at me for raising so many hands. I was dealt QQ on the button and UTG made it $4, and this annoyed guy calls, I raise it to $16, because I think it will get UTG to fold and angry man to call, which is what happens.
It might be useful to note that I'm aware of my opponents (angry man) skill level - he loves draws and draws to draws! The flop is 27j 2 diamonds, which is excellent. I think I bet $16, he calls. turn is a blank, and now the pot is bigger than my stack about $60 odd where i have $59. If he has a draw only, he might fold to my push, and if he has a Jack he'll call. So I think a little bit and decide its better to bet $30 here to tempt him into calling.
Yes if he hits it will be shit, but if he misses and has a terrible pair he may have to call my last $29 with practically nothing, because the pot will be so large. And thats what I do.
The river is a Jack!! The worst card ever. Or is it? He thinks and pushes, and theres just no way I'm folding, so I call. pot is something like $190 and he shows 10 8, a busted gutshot. Wooo me.
Not the most high level poker you've seen, and there was no hard decision to make, but there was some use of thought, preflop with the choice to re-raise so high to isolate angry man, on the flop and turn, betting not too much, to tempt him in. I thought it was nice.
This is the only hand I can remember, I must try and relay more hands in these posts.

Thats all for now, until next time, swing bada bada swing bada bada oooo!

Faith, Hope and Charity

So, two days ago I was prattling on about getting gold membership to see what it is like. It looks like I'll be able to get it no bother, so when I'll do I'll tell you all about it.
I'm back up to $1k, which is where I want to be. I had enough Faith in myself, to reverse that withdrawal and work my little way back into goodness.

I've also decided to play in a big tournament: the €100k guaranteed on Pokerheaven tonight. Costs about $190 and should be great fun. I set myself and passed a challenge today to win a couple of buy-ins to pay for it, so dont worry I'm not breaking any rules(although I am for mtt bankrolling, but thats neither here nor there.) I really Hope that I do well in it, because the payouts are bound to be amazing.
But, I have terrible MTT patience, and I'm probably not gonna get anywhere, so the chips I give for free will be like Charity to these people.

Ahhh see the title becomes clear. Amazing.

Until next time, shawalawaladingdong kanichidooda.

The Heat of the Moment

ach, I ended up reversing that withdrawal, I'm on $550 just now.

Partly because I cooled down, partly cause I don't have much to do, and partly cause I want to become a Gold member of Pokerheaven. Im pretty close but still probably have to work it hard to reach the €1000 Euros mark that they set for reaching Gold. I was at €790 today, and played a LOT of poker (however it was at the lower stakes, trying to re-establish normality). So we'll see how the rake is doing.

So yeh you might want to disregard the previous post, since Im playing again etc.

What are you going to do with me, eh?

This day was coming..

I've done something a little bit stupid. Perhaps its because im tired, hungry or just not in the mood.

I cashed out $400 after losing about $500. And I've got $60 left.

Im going to break for a few days. Then Im going to start at the beginning. Right back at .05/.10 holdem. Its gonna be weird.

Ach well. I think I'm playing too much. Need a break. I'm hungry. TILT!

Also, it may or may not interest you to know that this whole process of depositing, building and withdrawing has taken place over the course of exactly 1 month.
Maybe I'll repeat the cycle for the next month, who knows!
I'll be back.. I hope..

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

The saying is true. It applies to poker, if you leave off it a while, you'll find your desire to play - and just play for the fun of playing - grows substantially.

Not that I'm stopping playing, I love it still.

However the saying does also apply to food, or I'm hoping it will. I've agreed to take part in a bet which involves not eating until 1pm this Saturday. We started at 1am last night, after wolfing down an awesome pizza, to give us some energy reserves. This is going to be hard, I've never managed probably a few hours without snacking on crisps or something or other. Already I'm feeling like I could probably do with some cereal.

It will be a test of will power and body parts and metabolism. I hope my body is good at using up sugar and fat from places like my ass, cause it'll probably have to, and soon!

Anyway, if you dont hear from me, it could be that I've died from starvation. Or it could be that I'm busy. Either way, for more information, refer to Scotts blog (link in a previous post) for details of the Bet and how we are faring.

I hope I win.

Best regards, Kensteroony.

How is my roll doing? Ok. Bank!

That title is pertaining to the Weakest Link tv show, and also to the few days activities.

I cant stop. It seems I've caught an addiction. Don't worry though, its only an addiction to cashing out!!

Maybe its because I feel so poor that I'd like to see some money in the bank, but I've been cashing out quite frequently. The other day I cashed out about $700 after going on a hot streak. Then I went down below the $1k mark, to about $600, got back up to $900, and I felt I just HAD to get some of those chips into my real life banky, so I cashed out $300. And today, I've just cashed out another $200 after another good session, where I managed to scoop about $400.

So my roll stands at roughly $800, which is fine for playing .5/1 and I'ved cashed out $1200 to date.

Also, me and a friend are discussing the possibilty of going down to Nottingham and sampling the new poker club there, 'Dusk til Dawn', as we've heard nothing but great reports about it.
So when this trip comes around I'll have to temporarily (I hope) cash out most of this roll so that I could play the cardrooms 50p/£1 pot or no-limit ring games.
We're planning on going some time in February, and I'll definately be blogging about that when I come back.

For now though, my plans are to play more cash, get back to $1k, earn that rakeback..... and maybe have a couple cheeky cashouts along the way!

I cant help it I love money!

Until next time, Here's looking at you, kid.

Discussions of a serious nature.

When we left off last, I had $600 and was going back to full on .5/1. I've gotten back to $800 since then, and usually I'd go up to 2 tables of $1/2 as per the rules.

However, after having discussed at length (actually just the length of a number twenty-nine bus journey) the different pros and cons of this bankrolling strategy, I've decided to stay at .5/1 for the time being, until I can build enough to cash out a little for myself, then eventually move up.

See I'm not even sure I can beat $1/2 at the moment because it turns out I'm probably playing scared.
Scott Campbell, author of the poker and sports blog http://scotty2hatty.blogspot.com/, told me that "the pros say that if you're making folds too much [which I did, recently folding Kings preflop] it probably means you're playing with scared money. So maybe what you should do is move down a level."

His words are wise and more sensible. As he pointed out, as soon as I get to about $1200 and playing $1/$2 I'll actually be playing for a fair bit of meaningful money with at the moment no assurance that I'm playing well enough to beat the tables.

So as I write this, I'm playing $3/$6 and saying 'Sod off I'll play with ALL my money!'. Only kidding, I'm playing 1 table of .5/1 and luckily doubled up in the past 5 mins, so far so good.

I might as well relay the hand back. I have 78 on the button and make the usual 3xbb raise. The small blind re-raises it to $8, so 5 more for me, bb folds. We both have full stacks so with plenty to play for yet I call.
Guess the flop? 678. He bets 13 into the $17, I raise to $40, he calls. The turn is an Ace which is either going to scare his lower pair away (or not? dunno) or help a hand like AK. He checks, I say 'no more cards for you mister!' and push the rest of my chips in, and lo and behold he calls! I double up woo.
A good start.

So we'll see how it goes, until next time! Bye!