Author Topic: Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)  (Read 109569 times)

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amcgrath1uk

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Re: Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)
« Reply #210 on: September 08, 2013, 22:10:39 PM »
Soooo again a fair bit to update...

DtD was an absolute blast as usual. The banter at the tables was flying, all in good spirits though, and put some faces to names ( wrong initially in some cases) that I hadn"t yet properly bumped into.

Omaha was a blast, had a good run and ended up finishing 7th, so yet another Omaha FT for me. The strength of the final table shows it was never going to be easy, especially as I ended up doubling a shortstack on the FT bubble, KKxx vs AAxx. Unavoidable that one with me being the bb.

1   Asa Mcgrath 45,500
2   Sean Belton 51,700
3   Ben Burnhill 34,500
4   Dave Burt 28,000
5   John Wood 59,000
6   Leon Blackwell 87,700
7   Lee Strange 91,000
8   Steve Redfern 73,500
9   Chris Webber 132,000

That was the start of the FT, Steve is obviously a very good Omaha player, I"ve played a few times with Leon and always been impressed, Ben is obviously a great non HL player ( not sure about NLHE ;) ) and Chris, well Chris with chips and being aggressive as he is, will always be there and there abouts. He was one of 2 players this weekend that I was truly impressed with.

We lose a couple of players, then whilst I"m on the blinds, Leon min raises, I look down at 33KA, decide it"s good enough. Leon isn"t folding KK75, the flop comes down 356, I"m ahead, turn Q river 4 to give Leon the straight. No complaints, then a good couple of hours in the bar catching up with one and all then finally, eventually, go to the hotel.

The 6 max followed on the Saturday, and this was the one I was really looking forward to.  I get this little beauty of a starting table

32    1    Eric Myers
32    2    Marc Barr
32    3    Dwayne Stacey
32    4    Asa Mcgrath
32    5    James Edwards
32    6    Mohammed Istakhar Sadiq

I"ve known James a while, Mohammed I"ve seen several times from updates at DtD, and Dwayne I"d heard about but not seen play. What followed was about 4/5 hours of seeing one player completely dominate the table, so much so, that he had people on the table all in 9 times, and doubled each one of them up. ( Against me he shoved Q 10 on a K hi flop, my AK was always massive)... and that player was Dwayne. He seemed to have a bloody good insight into how the others were playing within minutes, and took it to full advantage. I must say, rarely have I enjoyed receiving a lesson so much, but it was damn good fun, we had a good laugh and I was pretty gutted when the table broke. Within 5 minutes of changing tables, it was time for a break, I had 12bbs, anything was going in... so when facing a raise on the button holding 77, they looked massive, until the sb reshoved.. he had QQ, no sweats and out 50th.

I basically spent the rest of the night in the bar with the reprobates, drinking, and having fun with the photo app Curly had, which had us all in giggles for the night.

Sunday lunch was spent in Hooters which was a good laugh, before heading in for the ME.

23    1    Asa Mcgrath
23    2    Tom Clark
23    3    Mark Porter
23    4    Roy Forster
23    5    Sarah Spillings
23    6    Mark Morris
23    7    Chen Tam
23    8    Tasos Grigoriou
23    9    Andrew Mcbean

Another simple starting table then  ;D It started ok, then went downhill, losing about 10k in a pot vs Chen where trip Js were no good against a turned straight. I got down to a low of 3.3k, then battled right back to 22k. And from then on my memory is blank! I can"t remember for the life of me at the moment how I went out, but it was pretty soon afterwards in 111th. I think I lost a good few chasing a straight flush that bricked, then got it in pair vs overs, but no matter. Again was great fun, and the rest of the evening passed not too quickly again in the bar.

This weekend coming is Stoke ( IF my token turns up!!)  which I"m bloody looking forward to, will be giving it my best shot, as it"s unlikely I"ll be playing much more until next year :(

Cricket has been going well. When I"ve played, we seem to win... not sure it"s my batting that"s helped...

Yesterday we successfully chased 172 despite having only 10 men, I managed to take 4-47 and actually got a few deliveries in at top speed for the first time this season ( the first one yorked someone so might have to try it again)..and got a 0, very easy cuttable ball that I edged to slip sigh...

Last week we chased down 169 to win again despite having 10 men, another 0 for me opening the batting this time, bowled by one that rolled... I wasn"t going to bowl, however the 3rd change bowler bowled one, felt his knee, so I bowled the last 5 overs and took 2-30.

2 weeks ago I didn"t play against the league leaders ( good timing IMO), as we got hammered. all out for 62 batting first with their opening bowler taking 9-12.

Hopefully, I won"t get another game in as the last game is this Saturday and I obviously intend to still be in the GPS!
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amcgrath1uk

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Re: Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)
« Reply #211 on: September 23, 2013, 19:36:23 PM »
Lost to catch up on, really enjoyed GPS Stoke, and would love to play more of them, but ran bad when it mattered.

Played the last game of the season for cricket, and we were on what looked like a green seamer. It ended up having 450 runs scored on it, one of the opposition scored 99 before I got him out. My 1st over went for 18, so was quite happy taking 3-55 from 7, and even happier I managed to bowl 4 straight overs off my full run up. Once I stopped bowling, I was in quite a lot of pain. In the very first over, I"d dived to stop a ball that eventually went for 4, and after that had a twinge. After finishing bowling it got worse and worse, and by the time we were batting I was in agony. Luckily I was not needed!

Got to say I"ve really enjoyed the season, loved being back doing it and looking forward to next season already.

A big thanks to Adam and in particularly Joobs for all her driving, and I hope the food on the Saturday helped pay a lil towards the gratitude I have. ( Even though Adam and mine eating attempts were pathetic)

Cracked ribs are eventually diagnosed, but there"s not much to do with that but grin and bear it.

With all that"s been going on in life, my online bankroll has taken a severe battering. As of 09/09 I had $10.30 in my stars roll, and nothing in any other site. When I had a spare 2 hours, I played 4 $2.50 180 man"s, and managed to cash in one, and finish 2nd in another which was a boost. On Saturday, having a free evening, I played a few low mtt"s, and managed to luckbox a 5th in the $5 turbo for $552, so happy days :)

Managed to miss the Manchester derby being asleep from 2-9pm on Sunday after going home from work early as I really wasn"t well. I can live with missing such things when we play so well and win :)
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amcgrath1uk

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Re: Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)
« Reply #212 on: September 24, 2013, 22:52:22 PM »
   56.2   2   303   17   4/47   0   5.38   19.87   17.82

My bowling figures for the season for the 1st team.

Apart from my economy rate being fairly high at 5.38 runs per over, I"m actually very happy with them. I do tend to bowl overs 30-48 when the opposition is actually trying to score quickly, I"ve bowled quite a few 2/3 over spells and that"s it .

My bowling average ( runs per wicket) is comparable with our 2nd best bowler, and I actually had the best strike rate (average number of deliveries to take a wicket), at 19.87

I would post my batting figures for the 1st team, but as I scored a massive 16 runs in 7 innings there"s not much point :P
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Re: Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)
« Reply #213 on: September 24, 2013, 23:09:12 PM »

   56.2   2   303   17   4/47   0   5.38   19.87   17.82

OK you explained the 5.38 and the 19.87 - WTF do the rest of these numbers mean - which one is the number of maidens bowled over in Chester after the match :)

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Re: Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)
« Reply #214 on: September 25, 2013, 13:40:45 PM »


   56.2   2   303   17   4/47   0   5.38   19.87   17.82

OK you explained the 5.38 and the 19.87 - WTF do the rest of these numbers mean - which one is the number of maidens bowled over in Chester after the match :)



I"m guessing the "0" :p
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amcgrath1uk

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Re: Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)
« Reply #215 on: September 25, 2013, 15:05:59 PM »



   56.2   2   303   17   4/47   0   5.38   19.87   17.82

OK you explained the 5.38 and the 19.87 - WTF do the rest of these numbers mean - which one is the number of maidens bowled over in Chester after the match :)



I"m guessing the "0" :p


Sigh correct. In my defence, only twice have I remained in Chester after a game, both times kipping at Adam and joobs...

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Sooo last night, went to G Salford with Adam for another go at the Friday night donkfest, got there an hour early with intentions to chill, only to find out it started at 7 due to the card room being booked from 3am! ( league of legends live stream???) Anyways had a decent start was up to 55k, second in chips on my table, blinds 1k/2k/300 when the following happened.

Raised for the 3rd hand running from early position with 10 10 and get 2 callers, flop was Q 10 x with 2 clubs, I check, there"s a raise, call, and I just open shove. The bb tanks and tanks, and eventually calls with QJ, with Jc, and hits runner runner clubs to knock me down to 20k. I"m obviously a little tilted, get up to 35k straight away, raise with 77, again 2 callers, flop 6 4 3 I just open ship the rest, get called by the same guy with A5, turn 2. wp mate, 2 great calls.

I"m obviously a little bit tilted by this, so go sit with £50 on 3 card, and eventually start playing blind. £30 in wins me £40 on prime, that wins me £30, then go on a sick run, hitting 2 flushes, 2 pairs ( all the same colour) and a prime, all in blind every one. Walk away with over £500 :)
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The 6 max followed on the Saturday, and this was the one I was really looking forward to.  I get this little beauty of a starting table

32    1    Eric Myers
32    2    Marc Barr
32    3    Dwayne Stacey
32    4    Asa Mcgrath
32    5    James Edwards
32    6    Mohammed Istakhar Sadiq

I"ve known James a while, Mohammed I"ve seen several times from updates at DtD, and Dwayne I"d heard about but not seen play. What followed was about 4/5 hours of seeing one player completely dominate the table, so much so, that he had people on the table all in 9 times, and doubled each one of them up. ( Against me he shoved Q 10 on a K hi flop, my AK was always massive)... and that player was Dwayne. He seemed to have a bloody good insight into how the others were playing within minutes, and took it to full advantage. I must say, rarely have I enjoyed receiving a lesson so much, but it was damn good fun, we had a good laugh and I was pretty gutted when the table broke.

You forgot to point out that I was actually ahead on the other 8 occasions.
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amcgrath1uk

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The 6 max followed on the Saturday, and this was the one I was really looking forward to.  I get this little beauty of a starting table

32    1    Eric Myers
32    2    Marc Barr
32    3    Dwayne Stacey
32    4    Asa Mcgrath
32    5    James Edwards
32    6    Mohammed Istakhar Sadiq

I"ve known James a while, Mohammed I"ve seen several times from updates at DtD, and Dwayne I"d heard about but not seen play. What followed was about 4/5 hours of seeing one player completely dominate the table, so much so, that he had people on the table all in 9 times, and doubled each one of them up. ( Against me he shoved Q 10 on a K hi flop, my AK was always massive)... and that player was Dwayne. He seemed to have a bloody good insight into how the others were playing within minutes, and took it to full advantage. I must say, rarely have I enjoyed receiving a lesson so much, but it was damn good fun, we had a good laugh and I was pretty gutted when the table broke.

You forgot to point out that I was actually ahead on the other 8 occasions.



Shhhhhh was giving you an image ;)
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amcgrath1uk

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Re: Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)
« Reply #220 on: November 06, 2013, 17:45:34 PM »
Quick catch up

Missed Glasgow which was gutting as I loved last year ( apart from not being well and the casino not the best for poker - again this season it seems).. and also Vegas is not happening, as I just haven"t hit a big bink yet this year.

I am actually trying to knuckle down for the first time ever and play within a bankroll, as well as playing just 1 type of tournament. So at the moment, it"s the old $2.50 180"s on stars. And to be honest, it ain"t going too badly. The bankroll was about $150, now sitting on $400, and I"ve shipped $50 out of that as well. Out of approx 135 tournaments, I"ve 29 cashes and 13 FT"s, averaging about 4th on the FT. All fairly happy, hit silverstar just playing these, and am off till a week on Friday, so hoping to get a good grind in. Playing live tonight, Friday and probably Saturday afternoon..

To counter this complete laziness, and kind of inspired by a few of the APAT crew getting fit, and despite a complete hatred of running, I"ve bought myself a pretty decent exercise bike, full monitors including pulse monitor, so I can build up the aerobic stamina which I"ve definitely lost, anaerobically I"ve been fine which I showed in my bowling spells this season. So to build that up, I"ll be warming up, then looking at nice easy 20 minute stints to start with, slowly building up over the next few weeks. Also got myself some decent headphones, and will take some time in choosing how I"m actually going to take this forward.
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amcgrath1uk

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Re: Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)
« Reply #221 on: December 17, 2013, 17:55:35 PM »
Wow it"d been a while.

Cliffs for the last month: Working my arse off at work, we"re a manager short at the moment, and 2 of them are very new at the position. Which means as well as doing my job ( which is in effect 2 jobs anyway), I"m having to help those as well.

Live poker : I"ve played live an entire once in the past 5 weeks, just at the Aquarium at long last. Was a good laugh and I knocked Adam out which is always a bonus ;)

Online poker: Managed to keep silverstar for the 2nd month running, I should make it this month as well. Grinding hard at just over even, I still have spots to improve in. I could definitely do with something like HEM etc to help me identify these spots better.

I"m really looking forward to the team championships in Stoke. They are the reason I became involved with APAT in the first place, and this time, I have the fortune of captaining the Blonde poker team. I"ve managed to get a nice mix of APAT regulars, Blondes who have been around forever, and Blondes who are new and up and coming. Should be fun!
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amcgrath1uk

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A reminder that I need to update this soon...

Reminders:

Team event
Luton
Online.. if I must meh
WCOAP plans
Everything non poker
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amcgrath1uk

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Finally finally getting round to updating this... for the simple reason the last month or so has generally been all work and no play!

Work - let"s get rid of this quickly... we"ve been a manager down for 3 months, that"s finally sorted. Is it any surprise that in the space of a week with a full team in that I"ve caught up with everything! Pre Xmas was busy, post Xmas was bloody insane!

Luton - epic weekend in which I drank too much, spent WAY too much, but was basically a cracking weekend. Think most have seen the photos on facebook. Poker went really well for once, didn"t win anything bar a saver, but ran deep in all 3 of the games I played in, as well as actually playing well!

Online - has been a bad finish to 2013 and start to 2014. Best result in ANY 180 in the last 120 days is 4th. Which in over 300 games is very very poo. Played really well and got tons of bad beats, then played crap. It"s only now I"ve started playing better again, managed a 5th in an $8 which I played with my last $8 which has helped, playing a set of them now, and in the last 4 of one... ss but you never know!

WCOAP plans - is to play from the Weds onwards, I am planning a staking thread, total buy ins approx £500-£550, so if people fancy a piece reserving, let me know.Will put a thread up after Stoke. Haven"t decided between which Omaha variants I want to play yet though. As part of this I will be making a charity donation out of the winning pot rather than selling at a higher rate. Already have some reserved but will have plenty left.

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Getting fitter - I was cycling an hour at a time without issue mid December, and I"ve done a single km since. Unfortunately, I"ve both tweaked my lower back ( coccyx area) and struggling with the arch of my left foot, which means even walking is painful. And to top that off I"ve tweaked my neck whilst asleep, so it"s fun at the moment!

Team game - well, will post after next weekend I think... it"s going to be epic!
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