Amateur Poker Association & Tour
Poker Forum => General Discussion => Member Blogs => Topic started by: monkeyman on February 12, 2012, 09:49:48 AM
-
Long-term APATers will know that I tend to write for a bit, get bored, disappear for a while, return for a while, rename my blog, proclaim some change of direction poker-wise, then repeat the cycle. Given my blogging track record it will be no surprise if in 2 weeks time, this effort gets abandoned and I wander off and do something different. However, rather than reviving the old blog, I thought I"d start a brand new one, if for no other reason than to try and retain my own enthusiasm. Hopefully, if I try and explain the title I"ve chosen it will explain where my head is right now.
Its fair to say that I am probably less wrapped-up in playing poker than at any time since I started on the Party Poker free tables some 6-7 years ago. After flogging myself to death trying to turn myself into a cash grinder last year, I found that I simply wasn"t enjoying the game at all, so I"ve re-evaluated a load of stuff and normally restrict myself to what I know I"m damned good at, which is deepstack hold"em tournaments. Last year I managed to maintain my record of making a profit in all bar one of the years I"ve played the game, chiefly through fiercesomely strict bankroll management. The rule I set for myself a long time ago is that my poker has to be completely self-supporting and thankfully that is still the case. However, this year I will allow my day-to-day money to merge slightly with my poker funds and will attempt a pop or two at a decent prize as long as I know I don"t need the "investment" for something else. That brings me to the first part of the blog title. Yesterday I took advantage of Travelodge"s current sale to book myself a couple of nights in some establishments of theirs to the east of Coventry. I wont buy-in for a couple of weeks, but the intention is that I will have a crack at this year"s Goliath at the Ricoh arena on the basis that I can afford to blow the entry fee, so why the hell not? I"ve got a small,local tournament to play in a couple of week"s time, but otherwise I probably wont play live again until August. In the meantime, if anything of note happens of the virtual felt, it will be mentioned here.
One of the things having an adverse effect on my playing time is that recently a friend of mine asked me to assist with a website he runs. Its called Allthingsnorfolk and was set-up a few years ago to promote independent businesses in my home county. My mate recently revamped/expanded the scope of the site with the intention of it becoming more interactive and reflecting a wider chunk of Norfolk life. Due to me having dabbled with the dark arts of creating writing, I"ve been given, pretty much, a free reign to write anything Norfolk-related. Its very early days, but I"ve got a couple of book reviews pending, I"ve written a piece about my favourite bit of local countryside,did a review of the last gig I went to and have invested in a Phillips dictaphone as I have a couple of interviews lined-up. On the 27th of this month, I will be speaking to Steve Hackett who made his name as the guitarist for Genesis during their early, most critically-acclaimed period, when Peter Gabriel was often seen taking to the stage dressed as a sunflower. A few days later, I should hopefully be speaking to 80s heavy metal band the Tygers of Pan Tang who are playing a show near me promoted by a rock music journalist friend of mine. Hopefully, if I do a decent job of the two interviews, I will then be in a position to arrange more and my poker-playing time will decrease still further.
Getting rich quick? Mmm, I"m nothing if not an optimist and I"ve set myself a horseracing related zero-to-hero challenge. In late October/early November I logged into Betafair for the first time in a while found found that I hadn"t cleared the account as I had expected, but that there was around £7 - £8 left. I decided to place three £2 bets for the following day"s racing at Wolverhampton and when 2 of these bets were winners, the seeds of my challenge were sown. Using my Betfair account for racing punts only, I decided to see how far I could spin my funds up using the same degree of control I have exerted over my poker money. The rules were simple; (1) the bet size would stay at £2 until such time as my funds exceded £150 when I would increase to a £3 stake and so on. (2) I would restrict myself to very specific races, namely all-age handicaps at Wolverhampton over 5,6 and 12 furlongs as I felt these were the races that gave me my greatest profitability. I"ve added 6 and 12 furlong races of a similar type at Southwell to my core focus and will also occasionally bet on other races as I see fit. My funds went from £7 ish to over £100 in around a month, but since then progress has slowed a little. I hit a high of £148 a couple of weeks ago and I"m now sitting at the the princely sum of £127.77. With the current inclement conditions, there aren"t many days when there isn"t a viable all-weather bet or two and I"m backing numerous horses at the moment. Some of my results will be on here as well.
-
Is there any good players in this local tournament in a couple of weeks?
I think Andy is upto about 30 players now. So, the bounty prize of a Goliath seat is guaranteed. I look forward to beating you soon!
:P
-
Is there any good players in this local tournament in a couple of weeks?
I think Andy is upto about 30 players now. So, the bounty prize of a Goliath seat is guaranteed. I look forward to beating you soon!
:P
Apparently there is one guy who is a bit of a wiz online. Nothing to worry about though as he is cack live!
I will be the sole representative of the Norwich posse taking on the might of the North Norfolk batallions. Makes sense for me to win the bounty prize seeing as I"ll be going to Coventry anyway.....
-
Apparently there is one guy who is a bit of a wiz online. Nothing to worry about though as he is cack live!
I will be the sole representative of the Norwich posse taking on the might of the North Norfolk batallions buffoons. Makes sense for me to win the bounty prize seeing as I"ll be going to Coventry anyway.....
I have corrected your spelling mistake.
I think North Norfolk will need a bus for the Goliath, everyone has realised if Andy can finish 43rd in it anyone can! :P
-
Only one race meeting left on tomorrow, but its my favourite stomping ground of Wolverhampton and even though its a bog-standard race, there is an angle in the 2.40 over 5 furlongs. Cri Na Mara is coming over from Ireland for a first prize of £1704, has recent winning course and distance form and at the 8.8 (On Betfair) I"ve backed him at, is huge value. Add to that Kieren Fallon having his only ride of the day in a 0-52 handicap and I cant look elsewhere.
Mind you, I have only had 1 winner in my last 11 bets...................
-
Despite another loser being added to the ever lengthening list, I"ll try again tomorrow more in hope than expectation. The 4.55 at Southwell is typical of mile and a half races at that track; short of both numbers and quality. I"ve taken a price of 10 regarding Captain Sharpe and fully expect a decent run for my money. Equating jumps form with flat is always fraught with danger, but the selection has been running well of late over hurdles and could well be a little better than the rating of 55 he runs off here.
Tomorrow night will be my only opportunity for any poker this side of the weekend. Tonight I had to type-up an interview I recorded yesterday and I"m out every night from wednesday to friday. No doubt the poker gods will take pity on me due to my lack of available time and make every race a winning one.
-
So, I return home after an evening watching Rhod Gilbert in a 300 seat theatre and find the APAt league is going to be way deeper and move to Pokerstars. Yeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! The East will rise again
-
Another night out and another pokerless 24 hours. I"m beginning to go cold turkey and fear I may do something really silly, like opening an Omaha hi/lo cash table when I crawl home in the early hours of saturday morning.
Its not as if I can seek solace in my horse predicting skills as I"ve added another loser to the sequence today. Never mind, there"s loads of juicy racing tomorrow and here for your amusement is where my miniscule investments are going (Betfair odds taken in brackets):
Fakenham 2.35 Black Dragon(26.94) - Probably the most competitive novice hurdle I"ve ever seen run round Fakenham. Black Dragon carries less weight than his rivals due to being a 4 year old and is also aided by the 5 pound claim of the talented Matt Crawley. His last 2 runs have been very impressive and as I believe he is the pick of the weights, the price I"ve taken is generous in the extreme
3.05 Fakenham Gorge (12) . An intriguing race, but most of the runners are eiter out of form or stepping up in trip. Only just got the better of Vincitore, who reopposes, last time, but I"m expecting another victory.
3.40 Fakenham Legendary Hop (11.5). Unlike some of her competitors definitely stays the trip and seems to be making her handicap debut on a lenient mark.
Wolverhampton 5.45 - War of the roses (5.1). Only 2 horses worthy of serious consideration and as this beast has won off considerably higher marks, making it the selection is a no brainer at the price
Wolverhampton 6.15 - Queen of Denmark (1.79). Unoriginal I know and a very short price, but looked impressive when beating the progressive Mazij last time and should win comfortably. I don"t normally like betting odds-on, but in this case the price I"ve taken is value. Boa is rock-solid over course and distance, but will probably be 4 - 5 pounds lower when next winning.
-
Another night out and another pokerless 24 hours. I"m beginning to go cold turkey and fear I may do something really silly, like opening an Omaha hi/lo cash table when I crawl home in the early hours of saturday morning.
Its not as if I can seek solace in my horse predicting skills as I"ve added another loser to the sequence today. Never mind, there"s loads of juicy racing tomorrow and here for your amusement is where my miniscule investments are going (Betfair odds taken in brackets):
Fakenham 2.35 Black Dragon(26.94) - Probably the most competitive novice hurdle I"ve ever seen run round Fakenham. Black Dragon carries less weight than his rivals due to being a 4 year old and is also aided by the 5 pound claim of the talented Matt Crawley. His last 2 runs have been very impressive and as I believe he is the pick of the weights, the price I"ve taken is generous in the extreme
3.05 Fakenham Gorge (12) . An intriguing race, but most of the runners are eiter out of form or stepping up in trip. Only just got the better of Vincitore, who reopposes, last time, but I"m expecting another victory.
3.40 Fakenham Legendary Hop (11.5). Unlike some of her competitors definitely stays the trip and seems to be making her handicap debut on a lenient mark.
Wolverhampton 5.45 - War of the roses (5.1). Only 2 horses worthy of serious consideration and as this beast has won off considerably higher marks, making it the selection is a no brainer at the price
Wolverhampton 6.15 - Queen of Denmark (1.79). Unoriginal I know and a very short price, but looked impressive when beating the progressive Mazij last time and should win comfortably. I don"t normally like betting odds-on, but in this case the price I"ve taken is value. Boa is rock-solid over course and distance, but will probably be 4 - 5 pounds lower when next winning.
Oh crikey, this is getting embarassing. Its not so much that none of today"s selections that have run so far have won, but they were all thoroughly slaughtered. There"s only an odds-on shot at 6.15 to save me. Whoops
-
Another night out and another pokerless 24 hours. I"m beginning to go cold turkey and fear I may do something really silly, like opening an Omaha hi/lo cash table when I crawl home in the early hours of saturday morning.
Its not as if I can seek solace in my horse predicting skills as I"ve added another loser to the sequence today. Never mind, there"s loads of juicy racing tomorrow and here for your amusement is where my miniscule investments are going (Betfair odds taken in brackets):
Fakenham 2.35 Black Dragon(26.94) - Probably the most competitive novice hurdle I"ve ever seen run round Fakenham. Black Dragon carries less weight than his rivals due to being a 4 year old and is also aided by the 5 pound claim of the talented Matt Crawley. His last 2 runs have been very impressive and as I believe he is the pick of the weights, the price I"ve taken is generous in the extreme
3.05 Fakenham Gorge (12) . An intriguing race, but most of the runners are eiter out of form or stepping up in trip. Only just got the better of Vincitore, who reopposes, last time, but I"m expecting another victory.
3.40 Fakenham Legendary Hop (11.5). Unlike some of her competitors definitely stays the trip and seems to be making her handicap debut on a lenient mark.
Wolverhampton 5.45 - War of the roses (5.1). Only 2 horses worthy of serious consideration and as this beast has won off considerably higher marks, making it the selection is a no brainer at the price
Wolverhampton 6.15 - Queen of Denmark (1.79). Unoriginal I know and a very short price, but looked impressive when beating the progressive Mazij last time and should win comfortably. I don"t normally like betting odds-on, but in this case the price I"ve taken is value. Boa is rock-solid over course and distance, but will probably be 4 - 5 pounds lower when next winning.
Oh crikey, this is getting embarassing. Its not so much that none of today"s selections that have run so far have won, but they were all thoroughly slaughtered. There"s only an odds-on shot at 6.15 to save me. Whoops
FFS, even the odds-on shot got beaten. At times like this, beer is the only answer
-
1.45am saturday morning. Lager,lager, tequila,bitter,tequila,lager,lager,lager. I think that"s how the evening went. I"ve just opened a 6 handed cash table on Sky. Oh ****, this could be carnage
-
9.30am out of bed and hangover free. Nothing of any importance planned for the day, so I"ll see how many hours of online microstakes poker action I can cram in. First up is the 9.45 £3.30 bounty hunter on Sky. Let battle commence
-
9.30am out of bed and hangover free. Nothing of any importance planned for the day, so I"ll see how many hours of online microstakes poker action I can cram in. First up is the 9.45 £3.30 bounty hunter on Sky. Let battle commence
FFS I hope that doesn"t set the tone for the day. Out in 24th of 80 when my Kd Qd shove was called by Qs Js and I lost by virtue of there being a Q and J on the flop. Grrrrrrrrr. Time for a brief break, then I"ll be looking for another tourney to start in 30-60 minutes
-
9.30am out of bed and hangover free. Nothing of any importance planned for the day, so I"ll see how many hours of online microstakes poker action I can cram in. First up is the 9.45 £3.30 bounty hunter on Sky. Let battle commence
FFS I hope that doesn"t set the tone for the day. Out in 24th of 80 when my Kd Qd shove was called by Qs Js and I lost by virtue of there being a Q and J on the flop. Grrrrrrrrr. Time for a brief break, then I"ll be looking for another tourney to start in 30-60 minutes
Scrub that. There"s way too much horseracing to watch and there"s also the radio commentary of this afternoon"s Norwich City slaughter of Leicester, so putting my sensible head on, my quest for world domination will be postponed until somewhere around 5-6pm. Be afraid, be very afraid
-
Well would you believe it? I"ve managed to add another 2 losing horse bets to my ever lengthening list. Looks like I"m going to have to restrict myself to my core all weather handicaps until Cheltenham.
2nd tournament of the day coming up in the form of the $3.80 $2500 deepstack on 888. In theory there should be tons of play in a tourney with 5000 starting chips and 12 minute blinds, but because of the number of megafish who play this, its normally a case of sitting tight, waiting for a decent hand, inducing someone to go all in, then using your enhanced stack to bully the hell out of those around you.
-
After playing for a grand total of 3 hours and 20 minutes I finished in 105th place for a profit of $1.85. I can barely contain my excitement
-
After playing for a grand total of 3 hours and 20 minutes I finished in 105th place for a profit of $1.85. I can barely contain my excitement
Drinks on you next Sunday then :P
-
After playing for a grand total of 3 hours and 20 minutes I finished in 105th place for a profit of $1.85. I can barely contain my excitement
Drinks on you next Sunday then :P
Depends how much they charge for a tin of coke
-
Maybe I"m not getting rich quick just yet, but I seem to have discovered my deepstack mojo. I"m still in the Blusesquare $2 sunday deepstack after nearly 6 hours and there are 8 of us left out of 432 starters . If I finish the job off, I could win a whopping.................wait, are you ready for this................. $163.03.
-
Well done.....and good luck.
-
Maybe I"m not getting rich quick just yet, but I seem to have discovered my deepstack mojo. I"m still in the Blusesquare $2 sunday deepstack after nearly 6 hours and there are 8 of us left out of 432 starters . If I finish the job off, I could win a whopping.................wait, are you ready for this................. $163.03.
Final result 2nd for $121.39. I started the heads-up with around a 5-1 chip deficit, doubled-up then my departure hand was QQ v KQ with two kings on the board. I really cant complain though as I came back from being down to 3 x BB on two separate occasions 1.5 hours apart and I ran like a dream all tourney.
I could get used to the idea of playing sunday night events with a 5000 chip starting stack.................
-
Well Done. I"ll have a KitKat with my can of Coke :P
-
There was no repeat of last night"s micro-micro-stakes success, when after 90 minutes of fiddling around in Blue Square"s daily dollar tournament, I departed when my 14 x BB UTG shove with pocket tens was called and defeated by Jacks. To be perfectly honest, I wasn"t really paying attention, as I was listening to and making notes on the current Steve Hackett album in preparation for an interview I"m doing with him next week.
Thinking back to last night"s efforts and it wasn"t at all difficult to decide what to do with my winnings. I"ve said it loads of times before, but I think its worth repeating; I"ve always looked to make my poker self-supporting as I"ve got a crap, low-paid job and don"t have a huge disposable income. The downside to this is that I normally find myself playing at a buy-in level way below where I could hold my own, but at least I aint ever going to go bust. Anything I win is "reinvested" and that brings me onto the $119.39 profit I made yesterday. I wasn"t far off turning cartwheels in the communal carpark outside my flat when I saw the announcement. Playing an APAT event on Pokerstars = ;D , 5000 starting chips with 15 minute blinds = ;D , $11 buy-in with the added incentive of a UKIPT seat and a marriage proposal from Liv Boerree (sorry, but its nearly that good!) = ;D ;D ;D . Of the 15 weeks in the season, I"ll miss one when I"m on holiday in the last week in March, but otherwise I"m good for all the others. 14 x 11 = 154, so I"ve essentially just underwritten the cost of having a serious crack at winning the overall individual title. Bring it on!
As if I didn"t make a big enough ****-end of myself with my attempts at horse tipping last week, there"s a 12f handicap at 4pm at Southwell tomorrow, so I cant resist having a go. Although there are only 8 runners, this looks way more competitive than course and distance races usually are (see that? That"s called getting your excuses in early). I"ve had my regular stake on Cloudy Start at 6.6 on Betfair. Trained by Sir Henry Cecil as a youngster, he was rated 108 18 months ago and tumbled down the weights to 58 which he won off last time out. Ok, it was only a seller he won, but I feel he has more scope for improvement than anything in the field, so is well worth a shot at the price iI have taken.
-
Here we go again.............I"m in the 888 $3.80 deepstack (5000 chips) starting at 17.30 and I"m already in the overall lead with 25000 chips. Happy days.
OH yeah, there"s was another losing horse bet today
-
Here we go again.............I"m in the 888 $3.80 deepstack (5000 chips) starting at 17.30 and I"m already in the overall lead with 25000 chips. Happy days.
OH yeah, there"s was another losing horse bet today
49th out of 922 and my exit hand was AK v AA. 3 consecutive cashes; get in there.
-
Yet another deep run tonight, this time in the "Daily Dollar" on Blue Square where I finished 19th out of 1027. In the opening 2 - 3 hours I survived 3 all ins where I held a pocket pair against overcards, then when just into the money I got lucky when my A 9 hit a straight to defeat A J. It all fell apart on the final 3 tables as I had 99 beaten by 88, split a pot with AA v A 4, had another split with KK v KQ, had 10 10 beaten by A J, JJ by AK and my departure came when my 7.5 x BB shove with Q 10 ran into KK.
Yes, I have backed a couple of horses running thursday, but I"m not going to tell you what they are. So there.
Time for some music
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZkAQoa1plM[/youtube]
-
The consecutive tourney cashing sequence is now up to 5 courtesy of a headhunter event on Sky. With all the horseracing I want to watch this afternoon I now wont play again until later, probably the $3.80 deepstack thing on 888.
Tomorrow I"ve got my first live game since last June in the shape of a deepstack at Holt in north Norfolk organised by APAt regular Andrew Cunningham Brown and also featuring fellowing Norfolk blogger Colin "Thinsy" McCarthy.
The season 6 announcement gives me loads to think about. I"m definitely going to play in the Goliath this year, but I"m also getting mightily tempted to play the APAt national at Coventry in April as well. Add to that the English Online national, which in the last 3 years has seen me finishing 2nd, 2nd and 4th, coming only a week before and I"ve got to figure out how much elasticity I"m going to allow my bankroll management rules to have.
-
Alas, today 2 of my sequences came to an end. Firstly, as mentioned earlier I played the 888 $3.80 deepstack fishfest and almost inevitably departed when my 21 x BB shove with AK was called by K 10 with the almost inevitable 10 on the river. Never mind, I"ve been running like a god this week so one bad beat is no big deal.
In addition, I"ve refound my nag prediction head. I take part in a tipping competition on Oddschecker and of the 10 horses I nominated today, 5 were winners and more importantly the only 2 I backed were winners. The Holyman won the 4.30 at Lingfield for me at odds of 4.3 on Betfair and Helpston was victorius 5 minutes later at Newcastle at the price of 3.30. The latter is probably only the second horse I"ve been so impressed with when seen at close quarters (the other was Starluck who I saw as a juvenile hurdler) at my local jumps track, Fakenham, that I"ve decided to back it come hell or high water for the forseable future. In November he won a 3 mile novice chase. There were only 4 runners and he finished around 4 lengths clear of horses rated 124 and 132. More important was the style of his win as I thought he produced the best round of jumping I"d ever seen from a novice in my almost 20 years of going to the track. As a hulking great brute of a horse, Fakenham is far from his ideal track and I came away thinking there was a national of some description in him one day. I backed him at 27 when he was second in the Rowland Meyrick chase on boxing day and I can forgive him the "UR" against his name from last weekend at Ascot, as he appeared to slip on landing on tacky ground. He is entered in the Fulke Walwyn/Kim Muir chase at Cheltenham, although the upper limit of the handicap for that race is 145 and Helpston was 140 before today"s victory. Wherever he turns up next, I will probably be backing him. Feel free to send me a comission from any future winnigs................
-
Jeeze Louise, I managed to keep posting on a blog for 2 weeks. Sometimes I suprise even myself
-
Yeah, I know I"ve not maintained my blogging duties, but I"ve been busy, OK? Monday night didn"t go according to plan as I managed to get backstage at Steve Hackett"s Norwich gig and although I managed to have a few words with the man himself, the hoped for interview didn"t happen. I"ve then had a couple of reviews to write up, so tonight has been the only night this week when I"ve been able to fit in any poker. Thankfully, things went OK again and I finished 30th of 1100+ in the daily dollar on Blue Square for another miniscule profit.
I wont now be able to play again until sunday, but at least next week is shaping up as being largely free for my continued romp through the internet"s fishiest low-grade deepstacks. I should be nicely tuned-up and ready to rumble by the time the regional league starts. Oh yes, a UKIPT seat will be mine.
Saturday night I will definitely be conducting my first band interview and its with this lot
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf5Xw05gXuA&feature=fvst [/youtube]
-
So 6 cashes in the last 7 tournaments becomes 6 out of 8, but hey what the hell, I"ve had a cracking run. The main thing is that I"ve built up my funds nicely ahead of a few juicy competions ahead, all of which seem to be on Pokerstars. Primary target is of course the APAT online league. I didn"t play very many of the league matches under the old format, but 5000 chips with 15 minute blinds is just about perfect for these and I"m expecting big things. I"ll only miss one league match and cocky git that I am, if I dont finish in the top 10 overall I"ll be disappointed. On top of that the is the Pokerstars micromillions series and I"ll be looking to fit in a few of those as well
The coming months are paved with gold ;D
-
Right here goes. A quick blast of "Take on all the world" by Judas Priest to inspire me and I"m ready to rumble. Suppose I"ve just got to decide which UKIPT event I fancy playing!
-
Oh lordy lordy, my gambling this week has been like repeatedly thumping my head against a brick wall. I managed 4th of about 75 in a Sky deepstack last night, but otherwise I"ve been losing races and flopping big hands which find themselves up against slightly bigger hands. I"ve only backed one winner in three days of Cheltenham and the saving grace there is that it was a double-figure price, so my losses aren"t too severe.
-
And now for something completely different. Tonight I"m playing in the Pokerstars micro millions $3.30 stud hi/lo event. We"ve currently 3.5 hours in, on a break just after the bubble burst and I"m in 189th of the 633 left. Taking the first hour to remember how to play the damned game wasn"t as much of a handicap as I thought it would be. This clearly has my name on, oh yes.
-
And now for something completely different. Tonight I"m playing in the Pokerstars micro millions $3.30 stud hi/lo event. We"ve currently 3.5 hours in, on a break just after the bubble burst and I"m in 189th of the 633 left. Taking the first hour to remember how to play the damned game wasn"t as much of a handicap as I thought it would be. This clearly has my name on, oh yes.
Final result 149 of 4865 for a return of $9.34 from my $3.30 stake
-
Time for another of those micromillions events, this time its the $5.50 6-max one which started at 12.30. I knew there was a chance I"d miss a few minutes at the start, so I decided I"d register whenever I was ready, rather than in advance. Would you Believe it? I sat down within the first level and the two players to my left have already doubled-up. This is going to be a grind
-
Time for another of those micromillions events, this time its the $5.50 6-max one which started at 12.30. I knew there was a chance I"d miss a few minutes at the start, so I decided I"d register whenever I was ready, rather than in advance. Would you Believe it? I sat down within the first level and the two players to my left have already doubled-up. This is going to be a grind
Oh silly me. Why ever didn"t I remember that Aces are no match for the mighty 10 7. Grrrrrr. Suppose I"d better try again later