Poker Sweet Home

At long last, I am back

2006-08-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I last posted, but I am back. A few things contributed to my absence, but if you asked me a couple of months ago if I would be away from poker and blogging until August I'd have thought you were mad.

I haven't been playing very much in the last while, and the biggest contributing factor has been work. Throw in some travel, a flat move and subsequent loss of broadband and you get the picture.

At the end of May I changed jobs. I didn't change the place that I work, I just changed from being a contractor to being a full time working stiff. I also moved from hands-on doing stuff to hands-off telling other people to do stuff .... er .... management. It's all good though, I have been very, very busy, but that is starting to quiet down. Thus my return to poker, albeit on dial-up.

The first significant poker that I have played was Thursday night. I was home in the evening (which has been pretty rare lately) and I decided to fire up a couple of tournaments on Sun. I normally like to play 2 at a time so as not to get bored. I played a 10 pound as well as a 10 dollar winner-takes-all. I normally don't like the winner takes all format, but since I was playing it to keep the other game company I didn't mind.

Well, I flamed out of the regular tourney, but I hung on to win the winner-takes-all. You suddenly have a very different perspective on 100% of the prize money going to first place when it's you. Forty one people started, so I came away with a tidy $399 profit. Sweet.

I'll try not to leave it so long next time. Take care all.

Variation on Addictions

2006-06-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hey! Wake up!

Now, some of you (perhaps two of the five of you still reading this weblog) may have noticed that my hubby hasn’t posted in a while.

It should be noted that he also hasn’t played much poker lately. And by not much, I mean the following events have occurred:

1. My hubby has been left, unattended, at home in the evenings and chosen not to play poker at all during that time.
2. My hubby had a free evening, when I was going to be at class. I said “Are you going to stop by the poker room after work?” He said “nahh” and then proceeded to come home and watch T.V.
3. My hubby was handed £1,000 by a naked women who purred “Come on big stud… show me what a BIG HAND is” and he declined in order to finish the last few chapters of his book and to go for a nice stroll.

Now, one of those events actually didn’t occur. But I think it could have.

For a while there, especially last autumn, I was getting really worried, as you recall. My hubby was all about crunching the numbers. He depositing his keys and backpack on the floor and going directly to the computer when he walked in. Time to pee/eat when there was a break in a tournament.

Now, it’s as if the will to play has left him.

I asked him about it. He said:

Well, you may recall, I told you that this is how I am with these things. I get obsessed for a while, but then things start to cool off, after I start to get them figured out.

Well, I have to say: it is a relief to know my husband is a real man. For a while there, I thought he was a robot.

Anyway, all this poker talk is getting me itching to play (read: lose) a Turbo quickie on Noble.

See ya!

World Cup Snack Shopping (and other gambles)

2006-06-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

My hubby and I got out of the house and went shopping for snacks in jolly-ole-too-much-rent-for-not-enough-sunshine, in honor of, well, not having any food in the house.

Lookie, lookie what we found on the "Get it the bloody HELL out of here!" discount end cap.

Here's some close-ups for better appreciation of English cuisine!

Yes, fellow gamblers, these are, in fact, Gingerbread footballer and wife. Or, Becks and Posh, cast forever in lard and sugar. Hey, check out her eyes! Now we know why she always wears those really enormous sunglasses!

Now my hubby is definitely less cynical than I, especially when it comes to foodstuffs.

"Hey honey," he said, after we guffawed over this one, "brine after all is just salt water. How bad could they be?" Um, personally, I just think popping open a tin of GIANT Hot Dogs for the game-- especially a tin with a talking weiner whose dressed like Uncle Sam, calling himself "Captain Hot Dog," and proclaiming the health benefits of this delightful treat-- might actually send me over the edge. What is next? Beefburgers sold swimming in a ready-made tomato-ketchup sauce, packaged in a boil-and-serve plastic bag?

In other news, poker is boring, so I write about things like this. $200 win, hands folded, hands played third place in tournament. Blah blah blah.

So much more to life!

Lick her!?! I hardly know her!

2006-05-10T02:39:00.000-07:00

Hup!

Mmmm beer.

So, yeah, M-R-S- Psh here. Hubby gone. Wife out partying.

What is it about beer that makes poker so fun???

I got home late last night, ten minutes PAST midnight. My hubby was far away in Zurich, probably secretly at some Swiss poker room, playing a ring game with chocolate and cheese chips. Oh, the blondes!

Any-hoo-ha... so since my hubby ALWAYS says "I'm drunk! I have to stay up for a little while. Can't go to bed just yet!" I decided, hey, what's good for the rooster must be good for the chicken. Or something like that.

Now let's be clear. I have £4.23 in my Noble Poker account. That's it. I used to have £11.23 in my Noble Poker account, but then I went and switched my avatar from the comb-over guy in the Hawaiian shirt to the gay-looking guy in the cravat and things went downhill from there. Just as they say: never EVER change your lucky underwear.

So I played a ROCKIN' Turbo Cardiff last night. I mean SMOKIN'. I sent one, two, three four guys out in a hurry. I like being the OLD FART at the table (hee hee) even though I am a girl. It's fun.

Anyway, my head was wobbling and I got a little tired. Still is was set to win. I went all in with AQ against the other guy. He had a slight advantage in chips. He called and showed 99. OK.. But a nine came on the flop and I was a goner.

Oh, well, I still finished in the money. And I slept like a baby.

Mmmm beer, good.

It would seem ...

2006-05-08T05:35:00.000-07:00

... that I'm pretty good at qualifying for tournaments, and that I'm not so good at the main event. Either that, or I'm pretty lucky in qualifiers and so, so very cold at the big show.

I qualified for the Party $500K guaranteed last week and played last night. I was pretty proud of my qualifying as only 1 in 24 made it, or about 4%. In the main event 400 of a field of 2900 were paid. That's nearly 14%. But could I make it? Hell no.

I was cold decked. No question. I lost a big chunk of my starting stack when I turned a straight and the villian rivered his boat. The only other hand worth mentioning was my last. I open raised all-in with 77 on a short stack. (M of about 3.5) I was called by a monster stack with JQo; he filled in a gutshot straight on the river.

It wasn't a complete loss thought ... I did make about $130 at a short handed limit table that I played in the early (slow) part of the tournament. I only played for about 20 minutes when I decided to pack it in and concentrate on the tourney. The best hand there: I held QT on the button. There's one limper and I raise. The blinds fold and the limper calls. The flop comes QQT (yippee). The I bet and am raised. I call. The turn comes an Ace, and I check raise. He calls. The river delivers the fourth Q. I bet out and I am raised. On Crypto when you're heads up there's no limit to the number of raises on the river card. We raise and reraise about 5 times before he finally calls, realizing that his Qs over As boat might not be good.

In other news, I'm off to Zurich on business for a day on Wednesday and then the Mrs. and I are on holiday for the rest of May. We'll be all over the US of A. Illinois, Iowa, Florida and Wisconsin, in that order. We'll try to post a bit while we're there, but no guarantees.

May all your flops be quads.

Mutated Animal Life and other Oddities

2006-05-04T00:55:00.000-07:00

Mrs. P-S-H here...

I'm never quite sure what the English are talking about. This photo gives a perfect example of why.

On the poker front, MY poker winnings are dwindling to nothing... but then, I only have an £11 bankroll to work with. Meanwhile, my hubby continues to conquer the world. Last night he didn't get to the tables until almost 10 o'clock. He had so many forms to fill out for work! Well, anyway, it's becoming clear to me that large blocks of time are not relevant to him anymore. I said "Is it really 11:27??!" I suppose he could write blistering posts about my strange addiction to America's Next Top Model.

"Is it that late already?" he said, increduously. "I'm getting off here." And he did, just shy of $300 up.

We are going on holiday soon. Won't be much gambling except the odd trip to the Iowa riverboats and a home game with my family. Should be interestting to see what kind of mutated poker animal returns from beach.

Personally, I think he's hit his stride... "touch wood," as they say over here.

Whatever the hell THAT means.

$500,000 Anniversary

2006-05-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

Hey-ho...Mrs P-S-H here...

Well, of course, because our wedding anniversary is the 8th of May and that falls on a Monday, my hubby and I decided that we would celebrate on Sunday. So I sent a friend who works for the Fairmont hotels an email. I wanted to surprise my hubby with something really special. Lately he has been a stellar husband and doing great at work. So I went covert on him.

I said to him, "Oh, well, let's not do much, maybe just a picnic in the afternoon in the park or something low key." So he was happy with that and said he would even plan the menu.

Meanwhile, my friend and I planned the surprise.

Well, then Saturday evening I was working at the pub and he was home playing poker all night. We got a late license at our pub, so I didn't get home till 1:15 a.m. He was still up.

Well he said he won two tournaments that night. One he placed second in, and he won $135 or something. The other, though, (and he was so excited) won him a seat in a $500,000 guaranteed tournament.

"Oh, when is that?" I asked. I was really happy for him. He's been playing great lately. Very relaxed and having fun.

"Next sunday night at 9:30. Which is perfect, because we planned to celebrate our anniversary during the day anyway!" He was so happy.

Sigh. So I get a few hours in the afternoon, before the tournament. And, Sunday the 7th, in the middle of our "anniversary" evening Colin will be sitting at his computer, playing poker. Until God knows when.

He had better win. That's all I have to say. He did promise, though, that if he places at all that he will call in sick the next day. And I am holding him to it.

Thanks, Adrian, for the offer anyway. Maybe we'll stay at the Savoy another time.

A Few Hands with a Donkey

2006-04-28T05:01:00.000-07:00

"Pint?". A one word message glowed at me from my mobile phone. Ah well, an evening of online poker was to be replaced by an evening talking about Poker with my mates at our local pub. Mrs. P-S-H was going to be there anyway, but on the other side of the bar. All around, a fine way to spend a Thursday.
Unlike the English, I haven't mastered the art of drinking the evening away without so much as a morsel of food passing my lips. I must eat or I'll fall down. So I prepared myself a little supper and sat down at the virtual felt for a quickie.
There was a Crypto $5/10 table that looked particularly juicy, so I jumped in. In the couple of hands before the blinds reached me I identified a couple of donkeys. It's amazing how quickly you can peg a terrible player. One of them was just about to bust, and fulfilled his potential a couple of hands in. I probably only played about 30 hands, but I got into a great rythm against the remaining herbivore. Great cards helped too.

The first memorable hand went something like this:

The donkey limps in.
In the cut-off, with 88, I raise.
BB calls, donkey calls.
Flop: 367 rainbow.
Donkey bets, I raise, BB folds.
Turn: 5
Donkey Bets.
I think .. well he's representing the straight, I need information.
I raise, Donkey calls. Information gathered: he doesn't have it.
River: 2
Donkey checks, I bet, he calls, I win.

A couple of hands later ...

The donkey limps again (he limped on just about every hand)
I raise on the button with A8o
Everyone else folds.
Flop: A84, two spades.
Donkey bets, I smoothe call.
Turn: 7 (no spade)
Donkey bets, I raise, Donkey 3bets, I cap.
River: 9, no spade.
Donkey checks, I bet, he calls, I win.

From then on, he was my bitch. I only played a couple more hands with him in my 15 minutes, but I just had to get a little aggressive and he folded like a tent.

Fifteen minutes, +$143. If only all of the sessions could be that good. Somehow, the pints tasted a little sweeter that night.

My Strategy: Evolution or Intelligent Design?

2006-04-18T08:28:00.000-07:00

Catchy title huh? I wonder if it'll improve my hit rate?

After a long walk in the poker desert I am slowly formulating a strategy for success. My strategy is based on the following basic truths:

I suck at NL ring games. I would like to be a good player, but as of now I am weak and tight. I need to study and practice at low buy-in tables.
I am good at limit ring games. I am especially good shorthanded.
I suck at any ring game when I'm not concentrating.
I concentrate better when the amount of money (compared to my bankroll) will hurt if I lose it.
I can play MTTs without much effort. In the early going it's all about stealing and big hands. The important decisions come along rarely, and I can apply focus when I need to. I find my concentration level naturally comes up as I approach the money. Go figure.
I can play SNGs without much effort. Mostly folding and stealing at the start and folding or pushing at the end.

My strategy isn't mind blowingly complex or even interesting. (unless you're me) First, I must play the game that fits my mood. If I'm not concentrating well, then I shouldn't be playing ring games. Period. If I feel like some relaxing poker then firing up a couple of MTTs (if I have time) or a couple of SNGs (if I don't) is the +EV way to go.

When I am on my game, I should play shorthanded limit ring. I have been playing on Crypto at the £2/4, $3/6, £3/6 or $5/10. I just try to find the juiciest game in any one of those levels. I play one-game-at-a-time. I used to believe in playing more than one game. I still will, but only if I can find two really juicy games. I believe that I can beat just about any 6-max limit game as long as it has my full attention. If I am playing two tough tables, or one tough and one juicy table, I don't think I play as profitably as I do with only one table. If I can find a juicy game at a higher limit I'm better off playing one of those than two lower limit games. The amount of money flying around keeps my interest. As the great Doyle Brunson says: "Play where it hurts".

Once in a while I'm going to play some NLHE ring games. I want to do this when I am "on", but I don't feel like limit. I have to be in the mood to learn; to sharpen my skills. I like the idea of being a solid NLHE ring gamer, but I know that I have a long way to go to get there.

Adventures in British Customer Service

I have a credit card from my bank (Natwest). Last month we paid our bill on Friday the 31st. The payment was due on the 3rd (the following Tuesday). No problem, right? Wrong. When we get our next statement we see that there's a £20 late fee, and they show that they processed our payment on the fourth. So I call the customer service line and politely ask them to reverse the charge. The customer "service" person on the other end of the line is telling me how it takes 3 business days to clear a payment from our bank. I say "But you are my bank this is a Natwest credit card, and we paid from a Natwest current account. Why the three days?" No, she says, the credit card company is separate. Natwest just brands their card. "I don't care," I say, "to me that's a difference without a distinction. You are pretending you're the same organization, you should act like you're the same organization and refund my late fee." She keeps argueing with me about how I should have known to pay three days earlier than the due date, and I am forced to bring out the big guns. "Look," I say, "I'm a good customer. I use my credit card a lot and I pay my bill on time every month. It isn't like I can't get a card from somewhere else. Unless you refund my fee, I'll be cancelling this card and taking my business elsewhere." She backs down a little and says that she'll review my account. I hear clicking in the background for a few seconds. She comes back and says that she will refund the fee this one time only. Gee. Thanks. Boy do I ever miss American customer service. They just don't seem to get it over here.

All over the map? Nah.

2006-04-12T05:33:00.000-07:00

Hell, I don't even know where the map is! I decided to take a sabbatical from the 6-max limit grind I have been playing a variety of games. I've also been playing less than I was. I was getting a little burnt, so playing less is probably a good idea. Work has been helping with my goal of playing less. The project I am working on goes live in a couple of weeks, so we're in push mode. Things are going swimmingly, but these things are time consuming.

So, what have I been up to?

No Limit Ring Games

These, I have been sucking at. I started off well, winning a couple hundred the first time I sat down. Since then, I can't seem to get anything going. I think that my instincts lately have been poor. I seem to play like a pussy when I have the best hand and push when I'm going to get called. I'm thinking about setting up a bit of an experiment. Maybe I'll play a bunch of hours of a relatively low buy-in, and see how I do. I have noticed one thing though. Short stints at NLHE ring games are good for me. I find my attention wandering if I try to play past an hour or so.

Limit Ring Games

I have made a couple of trips back to the land of 6-max limit, and the results have generally been good. I guess playing thousands of hands at a game gives you something of a comfort level. Not ready to go back to the grind yet, but I do like having the old girl around once in a while.

Sit 'n Gos

This has been my bread and butter lately. I've been playing four at a time on Party (11s and 22s) with reasonable results. It's the only thing I have been playing on Party, and my bankroll is going in the right direction, so I must be doing something right. I like these when I only have an hour or so to spare. Start four games up, and one way or another you're done in an hour. I would say that I make top 6 in 4 out of 5 games that I play. The way I see it, if you don't make big mistakes in the early going, you have a 50/50 shot at the money.

MTTs

I have played a few MTTs, but not that many. I keep entering (and losing) the Party-for-Free qualifiers for Party Points. I have also played a couple reasonable buy-in MTTs. Last night I cashed for $280 by finishing 7th in a $55 MTT on Caribbean Sun. Sweet.

Live Games

I've played one tournament since my last post. It was a £30 freezeout at the Victoria. I finished about 15th out of 54 starting. Not bad, but it doesn't pay to finish "not bad".

Overall, I've enjoyed my play of late. I think that I am going to pay a little more attention to the NLHE ring game. It's time to sharpen my pointy stick and join the ranks of the hunters.

Welcome to the Quicksand

2006-04-09T03:49:00.000-07:00

Are there flight attendants on board this alien ship, to direct me to the emergency exits? To point out the emergency lighted paths on the floors? To instruct in how to get high off of oxygen as we all go down?

Well at least we all be together... and smiling.

Mrs. P-S-H here...

There is only nine and half Great British pounds in my hubby's Noble Poker account.

It isn't his anymore. It's mine.

What is this wet substance on my palms? Why are they itching? Why don't I loathe myself as much as I want to?

I think, "When that 9 pounds fifty runs out, I just won't add any more in. That will be it."

But, far away, in the far corners of the last sane part of my mind, I can hear my old self shouting. Sweet little church mouse, she is. What's that, honey?

"It'll never happen!" she's squeeking.

Excuse number one:
It's not my fault. It's not real. It's not happening.

Or is that three?

Here's the song going through my head, these days:

Blood from a Stone

It's as if we're tracing some familiar faultline
Running down the coast from you to me
Dark potential just beneath the surface,
All the worlds colliding in the tragedy

Blood from a stone, wine from water
I'd die here alone, only daughter
Blood from a stone, wine from water
I'd die here alone, like a lamb to slaughter

Silence has become our only currency
You pay me and I'll be sure to pay you back
But step lightly 'til you've crossed the jagged border
'Cause the earth may shift beneath you, pull the rug out,
All your history keeping track

Blood from a stone, wine from water
I'd die here alone, only daughter
Blood from a stone, wine from water
I'd die here alone, like a lamb to slaughter

I'll reel in my addictions in the face of your distress
Aches and pains all shelved and put aside
I'll jump to my conclusions, but I'll leap to your defense
And I'll wish I were the brave one as I breathe another lie

'Cause it runs in the family, it's coursing through our veins
It lingers and gets caught in our hearts
Running in the family, it's a little like insane
The trimmings and the trappings of the artist and the art

Blood from a stone, wine from water
I'd die here alone, only daughter
Blood from a stone, wine from water
I'd die here alone, like a lamb to slaughter --

Jonatha Brooke

The Brush Off - The Post that almost wasn't

2006-04-03T02:54:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks, Quest for the Closet Poker Player has been running a great series on poker and relationships. CC asked me to send him some thoughts on the subject. It took me a long time to respond.

I don't want to talk generally about it: everyday my hubby and I are walking the line. I told CC that even now I don't like it.

Am I a hypocrite? After all I play two or three tournaments a week. I've even won three of the last five I've played. I wouldn't win so much if I had learned such great tips from my hubby.

No, maybe.

I feel a little like a kiss and tell. My hubby is wonderful. He works really hard. He deserves his down time. He doesn't deserve a nitpicking wife who wants him to drop everything and spend time with her!

Lately, I haven't been writing very much. I have a lot of great excuses. You can choose whichever one you like. Here is a short list:

I'm a lazy loser
The weather sucks in London
I am depressed after my miscarriage
All writers go through these phases
All of the above

I am flailing about, trying to get myself rolling again. I am doing everything I can to try not to involve my hubby in this process: I don't know what he can do to help, and I know he hates to see me in a state. So I am doing what I do worst: trying to hide it.

I had a great day writing yesterday. One of the best I have had in a long time. I felt he has been pushing me to work on my book lately, so before I left to work at the pub last night, I left him a few pages to read. I was excited and proud of my accomplishment.

When I called home around 10 p.m., he was in the middle of a ring game. I asked how he was doing. He said he was up a little bit. Then I asked what he thought of the pages I left for him. I was really excited to hear what he thought. "Oh, I haven't read them yet. You know I don't read until I am in bed."

Nice.

I have two questions for all you poker players out there: What are all the things you used to do that you suddenly don't have time for anymore? Like EXERCISE? Going for a walk in the evening with your wife? Or shooting some hoops with guys? Playing on a softball team? Chasing the kids around in the backyard?

Who are all the people buzzing in your ears that you keep brushing off? Like YOUR so-called PARTNER? Or your quote-unquote PARENTS? Or your friends? What do they know?

I sometimes think these poker blogs are just one big forum of co-dependent slackers. My wife doesn't understand me! My Mommy won't let me come play! My friends are mean!

Suck it up. Suck it ALL up. Do a few 100 push ups and let me know how you feel after.

Happy Happy Happy!

2006-03-30T03:10:00.000-08:00

Hi-ho! Mrs. P-S-H here...

When I used to get upset about things, and I thought that other people wouldn't want me to be upset, I would force myself to stop crying and slap myself on the face and say "HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!"

I haven't written anything much here for a while? Why? Because I don't know what the fuck to say!

Should I become Veneno! and be the woman of your dreams??? The superwoman who sets up HUC's while also managing a household and satisfying her man? Or FELICIA who overcomes cancer and also manages to travel to every tournament in the nation and is just as happy as a clam? Or should I be SWEETIE? who shuts the fuck up and doesn't say anything???

Should I just be myself, that bitch who has the nicest husband but who rags on him all the time?

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!

It's a fucking pain in the ass not being a Hollywood Poker girl (Play poker with me!). It's a pain in the ass just being a "wife" who isn't all that interested in looking at you in a hunched position for three hours, or getting blown off or ignored when I try to start a conversation, or feeling guilty when I make YOU feel bad for making ME feel bad.

ARGH. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.

I've just been reading CCs series on poker and relationships, but that isn't what has gotten me riled up. I'm riled up because I wrote a previous post, one to tell about something that occurred between my hubby and I that is poker-sweet-home related, and I didn't publish it. WHY????? Because I thought it might make it him feel bad. Fuck.

So I am sorry to Veneno and Felicia and CC and Sweetie that you get to take the brunt of my anger. I am sure you are all nice people with your own issues and I shouldn't have taken it out on you.

SEE what happens when you don't talk to each other!!!

Now, is everybody HAPPY?!?

Right Decision, Wrong Result

2006-03-27T05:32:00.000-08:00

We were able to make up our HUC match last night. Unfortunately, it wasn't one that I can put in my win column. My first match was with SoxLover. He got unlucky when he hit top pair against my slow played bullets; that match was over fairly quickly. I waited while TanOrpheus had an epic battle with surflexus. In the end surflexus met me at the final table.

Relatively early in the match I caught cowboys (KK), and played them slow. I was happy to see a Q high flop, and I smoothe called surf's half pot bet. The turn was an Ace and again surf came out firing. I went over the top 'cause I needed information. When he went all-in, I knew my KK was no good. I folded with my stack badly wounded. We had started with 3000 each, and now I had just over 1000 left. I managed to chip up to just over 2000 when I caught AQ spades in the big blind. Surf made a large opening bet and I went all-in. He thought for a while and eventually called me with A4 hearts. A four came on the flop and there was no help coming for me. So, that's the end of my HUC3 tournament.

I think I'm the only one that came out on the plus side when flaming out in the first round. I thank the warmup round and FullTilt. I won the warmup round, and because they made a mistake setting our game up, FullTilt refunded the buyin for all four of us. I didn't think they needed to refund my buyin, considering I took money off of the table. Now that's customer service! So, my total expense for the HUC3 tourney was $15 + $11. I won $40 for a net profit of $14.

In the half hour before the HUC match was to begin I played two tables of 6-max limit. It felt like putting on an old pair of shoes: comfortable and familiar. Getting away from it for the last couple of weeks has been good for me. I also enjoyed being in the black. I was up $40 in half an hour of play.

I can't say that I'm ready to go back full time to limit. I'm enjoying the Sit-n-Gos and I want to continue with them for a while. Next, I may move on to no-limit cash games. I think that the key to staying profitable over the long term is to keep it fresh. Each of the different types of games that I play fit a different mood, a different time commitment and a different level of concentration. When I sit down to play I would like to be able to play the game that I feel like playing, rather than the one I feel obligated to play.

Warmup Round

2006-03-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

I played my first blogger tourney last night, and although it was supposed to be the first round of the HUC, it didn't turn out that way.

Our group was the first to go, and unfortunately the tournament wasn't set up correctly as we ended up with the four of us at the same table. we decided to go ahead and play the tourney and then reschedule the HU part.

I was a little nervous playing bloggers as they are usually reasonably skillful. Turns out that I didn't have to worry as the deck took good care of me.

My first major confrontation was with Wes, aka. Boobie Lover. I had KK, put in a raise preflop, and Wes called. The flop came 9TQ, and Wes went all-in. I typed in chat, "Well, this could be a short game!", and it almost was.

Wes flipped over JT for an OESD and middle pair. I was ahead all the way as the turn filled in my straight with J. Wes had 4 outs on the river, and he didn't get hit. He was down to about 300 chips and mortally wounded. (that's foreshadowing, by the way)

The next interesting hand found me with a pair of 9s. Wes was acting before me and he went all-in. I made a big raise to isolate, and Surflexus also went all-in. My original raise had him covered.

Wes had 72o, the blogger hammer; no big surprise there. If you're going to go out, do it in style! It was basically a coin toss with Surflexus who had AJ. I think I hit another 9 to seal the deal, and suddenly the tourney that was supposed to be HU was HU.

The HU match with ingoal wasn't too exciting. I wasn't getting great hands, but I was hitting on just about every one of them. I think I took about 6 pots in a row, and ingoal was crippled. He shoved when I had a decent hand and I was victorious in the warmup match to the HU.

We tried to schedule the real HU match, but couldn't get it figured out that night. I'm sure we'll get it done some time soon.

The Adventures of HUC

2006-03-23T05:56:00.000-08:00

"All I say is, kings is kings, and you got to make allowances. Take them all around, they're a mighty ornery lot. It's the way they're raised."
- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Tonight I make my debut in the wild world of the blogger tournaments. I have registered for the Heads Up Challenge III, and round one (a four person, winner only advances) takes place tonight at 9:00pm my time. (London)

It should be fun, and the competition should be pretty good. Bloggers are above average in skill and you just never know when they'll put in a big raise with the hammer.

Thanks go out to Veneno for organizing this thing.

Last night I continued on my Sit and Go challenge playing another 10. That brings me to a total of 23, and unfortunately my stats have leveled off. I have been having a real concentration of finishes in the 4th to 6th range.

I believe that I have been playing particularly well as I can't think of a single game where I went out on a donkey move. In every case I shoved when I had the best of it and was called by a lesser hand that hit.

I have been contemplating a few things. First, how many simultaneous SNGs are too many. I have been playing up to four, which I find manageable. I find at the beginning I am doing alot of folding and the hands can take a while. I don't think I'll go past four, and I'm only playing four on Party where I can fit them all on my screen without overlap. How many do you play? Would I be better playing fewer at higher stakes?

Second, does anybody out there have experience with the SNG Power Tools? I think I may download them and play around with the free tutorials, then make a decision from there.

Last, how much bankroll do you need to play SNGs. I think about 20 times the entry price is about right? Any guidance on that?

Overall, last night I broke even. (Which I was surprised about ... I thought I would be down). I played 10 games and placed three times: one first and two seconds. My cost was $110 and I made $110.

Here are my up to date stats on the SNGs:

Games Played: 23
Total Cost: $253
Total Won: $310
Return on Investment: 22.5%

A change is as good as a rest

2006-03-20T06:30:00.000-08:00

I started my SNGs over the weekend, and I must say that I am pleased with the results so far. I am definitely running hot, but I think that I am playing well also.

The most important thing is that I really enjoyed myself playing these games. It isn't hard to do when you are winning, but I think it's more due to playing a fresh and interesting game. I think that playing a good limit ring game requires more concentration than playing SNG tournaments, but that's a topic for another post.

I started by finishing third in the both of the SNGs I fired up. Not too bad. I have been playing $10+1, 10 person SNGs on Party so far. I'll probably branch out, but Party just has so bloody many of them going it's always easy to fire a couple up.

I blew out of one early on a bad beat, then went on to take 1st and 2nd in the next two. Sweet. The one that I finished first in was a limit tourney that I accidentally signed up for. I didn't even realize what I was playing until I went to put in a big raise and found that I couldn't. Oops. Time to adjust my strategy.

I had one particularly sweet hand that all the bloggers out there will love. I was on the big blind with the hammer, and it comes unraised to me. I should have raised it, I know, but I am weak. The flop comes with both a two and a seven, giving me two pair. I bet out and am called in three places. The turn comes with another seven, and I get into a betting war with one other player. We cap the turn and river (this was my accidental limit tourney), and my hammer boat holds up against A7 as there wasn't another Ace or pair on the board. It's destiny, baby.

I should be able to play several more of these this week as the wife will be out in the evenings.

Does anybody have experience with any of the SNG tools out the, such as SNG analyzer? Please leave a comment if you do!

Here are my stats so far.

Games Played: 7
Total Cost: $77
Finishes: 3, 3, 9, 1, 2, 4, 5
Total Won: $120
Return on Investment: 55.8%

A Little Burnt Out

2006-03-17T09:15:00.000-08:00

Ok. I'm done, at least for now. I am burnt out on limit poker, and right now my Limit Challenge seems like more of an obligation than a pastime. Don't get me wrong, I'm not done with poker, I just need a break from the grind of 6-max limit.

I've been playing mostly 6-max limit for several months now, and I was doing pretty well at it. Lately, I've been backsliding, and I honestly don't think that I can completely blame variance. I blame my day job.

Currently, work is enjoyable, interesting and demanding. In my last job I was working a straight 40, and the work was uninspiring at best. That left me craving the intellectual excitement of my poker hobby. In my current role, I am working hard and left drained by the end of the day, and more so by the end of the week. I just don't have the focus or desire that I had (and needed) to play shorthanded limit well.

So, what to do? I think I need to take a break from the challenge. The idea of NLHE ring games doesn't inspire me, so I think I will turn to tournaments. I really enjoy them; both live and online. I also like the idea of a structured challenge, so I have decided to try my hand at a personal SNG challenge, with the occasional MTT mixed in for fun.

As they say, a change is as good as a rest.

To start, I'm going to play 20 $10 SNGs in my challenge. As always I will keep results and report them here.

I Like Donkeys!

2006-03-12T05:34:00.000-08:00

Hey-ho! Guess who??

It's been a couple months, guys. Slow. I mean, not fast.

Look at me. Here I am, pictured at right, with a donkey. I am wearing a giant men's fleece I bought in New Zealand, and I look insane.

I wonder why.

For those of you that don't live where they measure temperatures in Celsius, I'll tell you something interesting... the numbers don't change much in winter time. It's either 5 or 6 or 7. FOR SIX MONTHS. I don't even know what that temperature means, except it is too cold to play golf or tennis, and I freeze my tits off when I ride my bike. Except if I wear that big big fleece.

Hmmm.

On the poker front, things have evened out in the P-S-H household, in my opinion. It's an odd thing. My hubby still gets defensive if I ask questions about the time he is spending playing, but he shouldn't. I am asking less and less, and now more about scheduling our day, or the logistics of The Challenge. I don't think he senses how much I have chilled about it. His early morning weekend playing is helping... and my night class gives him time to stop into the Gutshot. We are chipping away at the winter.

Truthfully, though, he seems less obsessed about it than he once did. I'm not sure if I've mellowed because he has, or if he is just less interested. Either way, I feel like we are both working to fit each other's feelings into the equation. That seems to do the trick.

Well, happy March, thank god. Beware the Ides and all that. Pray for Double digits so we can get out on the links!

Donkey Lovers of the World Unite!

2006-03-08T04:13:00.000-08:00

I played some 2/4 SH LHE on Party, and they must have been able to smell me throught the wires, 'cause the first three tables I played at broke within a few hands. The first table cost me about $11, on the second I made $9, and in the third, I netted a bundle when a couple of Donkeys capped the turn and the river with me. I had the nut straight. They had KQ and AQ on a board showing AKQTx, and I had JK. I thought for sure it was going to be a three way split until the whole pot slid my way at showdown. Thank God for the Donkeys of the world, and thank Party for feeding and caring for them.

After my initial euphoria, I went on a steep slide. On one of the tables, after about 150 hands, I was stuck about $120. The table conditions were near to perfect. VP$IP=65, PFR=4, Avg. Pot=$28. Lots of calling, not much raising. I just kept getting second best hand, over and over again. After ten showdowns (and I was only showing down about 25% of the time), I had won just two.

I got things turned around after a while, and the chips started sliding my way. I ended up for the evening overall, but I would have been better off just getting up after that monster hand at the beginning.

If you haven't had a look at the preview videos of PKR.com, I would encourage you to take a look. They are combining online poker and online gaming in their upcoming release. They have game quality graphics and sound, and your character can do things like chip tricks, gestures and give tells.

Follow this link to the video clips.

For some non-poker fun, read this story about a Sudanese man who may have coveted his neighbor's goat a little too much.

"This is my first game of Poker", said the Luckbox

2006-03-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

Sunday evening was spent playing the 60+6 pound freezeout tournament at the Victoria Grosvenor Casino, which is just down the street from my flat.

Cliffe and Colin, two of the homegame regulars, joined me for an evening of no-limit mayhem. It's the first time that I have played there, and I have to say that I'm impressed. The tournament room, (they also have a room for cash tables), held up to 63 for the tourney, and 53 signed up.

We started with 2000 chips, and blinds began at 25/25, rising every 25 minutes. Things went pretty well early for me. Buy the first break I had trippled up by having KK hold up vs. an all-in AT on a ten high board, and a major suckout with K7 vs. AK with a 7 saving me on the river. (The board was K high, and my opponent was on a short stack, so I put him all-in)

The crowd there was a tad more refined than the Gutshot. Most of the players were in their 40s and 50s, with quite a few old farts as well. Younger players were definitely in the minority.

The tale of the tournament was a who was at my table from the start. He very clearly didn't have a clue what he was doing. He didn't understand the betting structure, he didn't understand the value of cards, and he called just about anything. Normally that's a recipe for disaster, but not on this night. He just couldn't miss. He sucked out on just about everybody at the table. He drew out pretty much every time he got his chips in, which was pretty much every other hand.

By the break he had a commanding chip lead at the table. After the break he just kept on going. I made it to the final two tables, and by that time he had cooled off a little, but he was still gaining chips. He almost got me. I was on a short stack and went all-in with about 5 times the big blind. He called me with Q4 sooooted. I had KJo, but he hit a Q on the flop. Man was I happy to see the King on the river!

It wasn't too much later when my all-in with ATs met AQ and AQ. No help for me and IGHN.

I stuck around to watch my friend Colin make the final table, then I split. I'd just arrived home when I got a call from him. His last hand had him all-in with 99 vs. The-Luckiest-Man-In-Poker with 77. The turn came 7, and Colin was done.

Oh well. I guess it was just that dude's night.

In my head

2006-03-03T03:27:00.000-08:00

Hey-ho! Mrs. P-S-H here..

I guess I've been pretty quiet lately. If I have been quiet on our blog, I haven't been much noisier around the house. I've hit the winter doldrums in London, and though it's sunny, the weather doesn't change much here. The trees are bear, the air is heavy and cold, and I am longing to get out and go golfing.

My hubby and I stayed in last night and had a quiet night. He hasn't played much poker -- just a couple hours while I was at class -- since I got back from Nashville Monday evening. He tried to make it to the poker room on Tuesday, but the tournament was sold out.

There is something about this poker, and this winter, and the interminable editing work on my book, that has made me suddenly conscious of time. In my mind, my hubby has given me a gift, this time to break away from the sledge of office work to dedicate to my writing.

And in my mind, also, I am constantly frustrated that I do not know how to give time back to him.

We spent an hour or so, last evening, just talking about our future plans. There aren't any, so we are always batting around where, what, and when. We don't love London. It doesn't suit us. I double-check with him, often, to be sure that he isn't saying that because he knows I don't like it. But I know him pretty well. We miss the space of North America, the openness of the Midwest and Canada, both in nature and in people. And we miss family.

My hubby is good at understanding time. Maybe that is the nature of men. Maybe they feel less pressure because their lives aren't divided into "fertile" and "infertile" halves. Or maybe it is just this one particular guy, who takes it so easy, who doesn't sweat it, while I lie awake at four a.m., worrying again why he married me, who I am, what time I am throwing away.

But then he does it again: reminds me, as he comes out to sit with me on the sofa, that it is OK, what I doing. That I can relax, that I should relax and just focus on the work at hand.

For New Year's, I resolved to be more positive. I was thinking about this poker challenge, and how aware it has made me, that he is so generous in his positive energy, while I tear things down with my fear.

Maybe I can make an excuse, because I lived so long by myself, that I don't trust others. Or maybe I can blame someone else, or myself. Or maybe I can just follow his good example, changing little things everyday.

The good news is, the days are getting longer. The dawn is breaking at 6 a.m. now, and the light hangs on until 5:30. Spring can't be far away.

Anyway, that's what I've been thinking about, lately. That is what's got me so quiet.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

2006-03-02T04:03:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was poker intensive, to say the least. I played many hours of short handed limit (more on that later), a few tournaments, and of course the Million Dollar Guaranteed that I qualified for on Stars.
I learned a couple of things about myself last weekend. When I am playing too much, or for too long at a stretch I start making sub-optimal decisions. I sometimes even go meta on myself, and think things like "That would be a bad call.", then I make the call anyway. Naturally, bad decisions lead to poor results and poor results tend to keep me at the tables longer. I've also noticed that I don't enjoy playing as much when I've been at the tables too long.

Putting it all together I have learned that if I play to long, I:

Don't enjoy myself.
Make bad decisions.
Lose Money.
Stay longer trying to recoup my losses.
see (1), and repeat.

The solution is (duh) to spend less time at the tables at a stretch, only play when I am capable of focusing, and to really try to enjoy my poker time. It's all about balance.

I had high hopes for the Million Dollar Guaranteed, (who wouldn't), but it was not to be. I flamed out in about 1000th (of 2600) after stacking off a fair chunk with a pair of Jacks pre-flop, and post flop to test the waters with an A on the board and two opponents. I met resitance (re-raise, re-raise) and folded, less a large chunk of chips. I was down to about an M of 3 when I shoved with Q7 and was called by A4. No help for me, and I was done.

I have moved back to Party for some 2/4 short-handed action, and I like what I see so far. Plenty of nice loose players. It's just a shame I can't mine the tables anymore.

Planning the Perfect Poker Weekend

2006-02-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

Mrs. PokerSweetHome is away for the weekend, and that naturally leaves me with much free time, a computer and some handy card rooms. What to do?

After thinking long and hard I came to the conclusion that I would have to fill many of my waking hours playing poker, and the rest of my hours dreaming about it. Ok .. I'm not really that bad.

Hell, who am I kidding. Sure I am.

In preparation for this weekend, I thought about some tangible goals. Not monetary ones; my goals are more event driven. Here they are:

Spend a bunch of hours on the Challenge.
Play in a live tournament.
Play in one of the big weekend online tourneys.

I am naturally going to spend a bunch of hours grinding away at 2/4 6-max, which is my current limit. I haven't been going anywhere at Full Tilt as I have found the 2/4 games there to be pretty tight, and pretty scarce too. I still have the majority of my bonus left to work off, but I have until May to do it, so no rush.

I'm going to head back to Party, now that they have their act together (at least a little more together) with their VIP thing. I recently corresponded with them, and after a string of e-mails they said:


We would like to inform you that if you hit a target 
of 2000 party points within a month beginning from
the first you status will altematically be upgraded 
to V.I.P.

Ok. I can do that. And I like the Altematic part. I'll let you know how that goes.

My second goal for the weekend is to play in a live tourney. Three of the home game regulars (two Colins and a Cliffe) are planning to head to the Grosvenor Victoria for the 50 pound NLHE freezeout on Saturday night. Sorted.

My third goal was to play in one of the big tournaments this weekend. Something like the 500K on Party (costs $215), or the Million Dollar Guaranteed on Stars. (costs $530). The only problem is that I don't want to pay for it. Bring on the qualifying tournaments. I played last night in a $10 qualifier on Party for the 500K, and flamed out in spectacular fashion on the very first hand. A lemur before me goes all in. I find myself with KK, and figure what the heck. I call. We get another call from the button, and I'm thinking: what could he have that he'd call two all-ins with on the first hand?. The lemur turned over AQo, and the button had .. you guessed it, AA.

The flop comes K high, and I have trips. Momentary jump for joy. The turn? Yep. The only ace in the deck, and IGHN.

This evening, I decided to play again in the Party $10 MTT qualifier, and I decided to give one shot at the Stars $58 MTT for the Million Dollar Guaranteed. I went deep in both. Very, very deep in Stars. I finished the tournament first in chips, and I guess I know what I'm doing on Sunday night!

Wish me luck!

Stylin' the Flameout

2006-02-22T09:16:00.000-08:00

Last night I met one of my poker-playing pals down at the Gutshot card club. It was the £5 NLHE rebuy tourney that I played the week before. It's known as the "beginner tourney", which is fine by me. I'm a seasoned pro (lol) at tournaments in general, but this was only my second time live.

The structure is must-shove, and last week it was an all-out push fest during the rebuy period. This time it played a little different. I was at the tightest, weakest table. Infact, it was so tight and so weak that it was hard to build a stack .. which you must do during the rebuy period if you want to survive after the break. My first couple of raises just took the blinds. Things did loosen up a little toward the end of the rebuy.

I had a couple of interesting hands. I was dealt AA in early position and made a standard raise. It was called in one place and the flop came 44J. Not the greatest flop for me, but not too bad either. I was just hoping the other guy caught a Jack. I made a half-pot bet and was called. The turn? Another F-ing Jack, making the board 44JJ. Yikes. I only had 150 chips left, so I threw them in. I was called by ... drum roll please .. a pair of threes. Yep. He had the third pair, or a three kicker. I guess he was hoping I had 22 and we'd split the pot based on the board. He didn't hit his 3 on the river and my AA held up.

The other hand was the second last before the rebuy period ended. I didn't have much of a stack .. maybe 600 or so. (started with 500) when I was dealt A9s on the small blind. It was folded to the button and he put in a min raise. I called ('cause I had a good read on the big blind: p-a-s-s-i-v-e) Sure enough, the big blind checked too. The flop and subsequent cards were all lower than my 9, and it was min-bet / unraised until the river. The board was showing a gutshot straight .. only missing the 4.

I check, the BB checks and the button puts in a big bet. He had me covered. I only had 275 at this point, and I was thinking if I call, then I can rebuy and top-up and I'll be better off than if I don't. (You can't rebuy until 250 or lower) So I called with my Ace High.

The BB thought for a while, and convinced himself that he was beat. He mucked his hand. When the Button rolled over his K high, I took the pot with my Ace. The BB had mucked TT. See, I told you he was passive.

That hand gave me a respectable stack to take into the break. After topping up, I had 2350 chips.

Immediately after the break they broke our table, and I joined an uber-aggressive table. I didn't have to wait long before I caught a hand though. After about 5 hands, and 5 folds, I caught another AA. Yippee. The blinds were 100/200 at this point, and I raised UTG to 500. It was folded around to the BB who called. The flop came KT2 rainbow, and I was a happy camper. I stuck in a pot sized bet, and the BB raised me all-in. I was pretty happy to call, but not for long. The BB rolled over a pair of 2s for a set. Yep, the first hand I get to play after the break and my bullets got cracked by twos in a heads up pot. Sigh.

I paid Cliffe £5 for our last longer bet and hit the road.

So, that's two tourneys and two less than spectacular results. I am keeping a bankroll for live play. I started at £200, and have burnt £30 so far. I may have to spend some time at the ring games to build up the roll a little. We shall see.

Dirty little secret

2006-02-20T03:07:00.000-08:00

Mrs. P-S-H here...

What have I been doing, you ask?

Up to no good, you can bet on it.

My hubby has a few quid (England English for "bucks") on his Noble Poker account. Not much. So sometimes, when I get a little hankerin', I play a Turbo Cardiff Tournament. It doesn't cost much. Costs more in my time than anything.

I was just about to close up the laptop to get out and get the work day started. I work from "home" you see, but if I don't take my laptop out, the internet -- and my general lack of will power -- will swallow the hours away.

Anyway, Windows got hung up when I was trying to hibernate. Piece of shit. So I floated the mouse over another program and, voila! all was working.

Well that program was, of course, Noble Poker.

Bad news first. Bad news is, it is now 11:15 and I have not gotten any "real" writing work done, much less gone to the bank to shout at the customer service people there, or to the doctor's office to be told I can have an appointment sometime in 2008. That's the bad news. (I did pay my bills, however. Ah, the internet... Sigh..)

The good news is that I have WON, yes, WON my first tournament ever. OK, it was only a measly $4.20, but what the heck? I WON! Oh, this could be very bad.

I was talking to my Mom a couple days ago. She said that when she took us kids (my siblings and I) to "the boats" (the gambling riverboats on the Mississippi) for the first time, she prayed that we would lose. That way we would never want to come back. I won the first time I played, as I recall, but I didn't like slot machines at all, or the smoky room. I was scared of live blackjack. I didn't want to come back. Yet I still did. I liked it, a little bit. Not much. More and more, sometimes. And less. Then more sometimes. Less when I am there. Then more, in my mind, especially when I am far away, and can't be there.

But I think Mom was right. And wrong. Losing makes you hate it, and want it more. When my hubby is losing, it is harder to get him to quit, especially when he was up for a while.

I felt a little bad for NikNik, the guy I won against. I sucked him out on the river once, making me the undisputed chip leader. But, at times, we worked together to rid the table of the short stacks. And, in the end, when we were head-to-head, he was A3 and I was A5. An Ace came on the flop and nothing else. So it was pretty evenly matched.

Do you know what the worst part about winning at 11 a.m. on a Monday is? I can't call my hubby at work and tell him. He'd be happy, but he'd be disappointed too.

Live Pokery Degeneracy

2006-02-15T06:19:00.000-08:00

I made my first foray into the world of live MMTs last night. I work just around the corner from the Gutshot Card Club so I guess it was inevitable that I would give the place a try. The regular Tuesday night tournament is a £5 rebuy with a must-shove structure. To have a shot, I think, you must be prepared to aggressively build your stack in the rebuy period: even more than in online rebuys. You see, you only start with 500 chips and the blinds start 25/25, moving to 25/50 in 30 minutes and 50/100 after the rebuy is over (one hour). That's not a lot of room to manoeuvre as you are on an M of just 10 from the first hand.

I started out pretty well. I won with AQ vs. A8: he hit an 8 on the flop and I hit my Q on the river. Then I won a big pot with AT vs. AJ and 99. I got lucky with a T on the flop, and the others didn't improve. That left me pretty comfortable in chips.

That's when my rebuy luck ran out. Just before the rebuy period ended, I was holding AKo in the big blind. There was a limper (smallish stack) and a big raise from late position from a guy that had been really aggressive with almost any two cards. I shoved, the limper folded the raiser called all-in (I had him covered .. slightly) and I flipped my AKo vs. his AJs. He made a flush on the turn and hit a J on the river to hammer the last nail in. I rebought (bringing my stack to 550) and didn't do much for the next couple of hands. At the end of the rebuy period I topped up.

I started the post-rebuy period on a short stack of 875, with blinds at 50/100. That gives me an M of just shy of 6, almost at Harrington's red zone. I shoved with 66 from first position and had that hold up vs. ATo. A double up was nice, but with blinds jumping up every 20 minutes I wasn't out of danger by any means.

The table I was at broke and I was placed about 4 off of the dealer at the new table. I got a free look at the flop from the big blind with Q7o. The flop came Q high, but all clubs. There were only three of us in the hand and it was checked down to the river. The SB put in a min-bet, and I came over the top with an all-in re-raise. I knew I was in trouble when the other guy insta-called. The SB folded and the villain showed me his flopped nut flush.

So, that's the tournament in a nutshell. Total cost: £15. Not too shabby for an evening's entertainment, I guess.

The Gutshot itself is pretty much what you would expect from a central London card room. The demographic was all over the map. There were pinstriped suits, bikers and everyone in-between. There were old farts and kids who couldn't have been much more than 18. There were definitely the degenerate loser types that all card rooms attract. One such dude latched on to me from the get go and proceeded to tell me about how he has trouble funding his on-line accounts 'cause he doesn't have a credit card or a bank account.

"You see", he said, "I got a little over my head with the gambling last year and went bankrupt."

Thankfully, he was too drunk by the break to hold a conversation.

I do like the feel of real chips, the human interaction and all that comes with the live poker experience. Seeing the money-bleeding degenerates in the flesh is a little hard to take. I'm sure that I'm playing guys just like my new-best-friend, but the online experience is so much more antiseptic. I guess that if I want to keep playing live poker I'll have to get used to the pathetic degenerate element.

Quality Suckout

2006-02-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a hand where I manage to suckout on the river with (for a runner-runner straight) in spectacular style. I can only see two things that I did wrong: the calling-station action on the turn and not capping the river. As the bard says, All's well that ends well.

Full Tilt Poker
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $2/$4
6 players
Converter

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with 7d Ad
UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, Hero raises, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: 8c Ah 5c (10.5SB, 5 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 bets, Hero raises, Button 3-bets, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls.

Turn: 6s (9.75BB, 3 players)
UTG+1 bets, Hero calls, Button raises, UTG+1 3-bets, Hero calls, Button Caps, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls.

River: 4s (21.75BB, 3 players)
UTG+1 bets, Hero raises, Button is all-in with $5, UTG+1 3-bets, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 29BB
UTG+1 showed 6h As
Hero showed 7d Ad
Button showed 5d 5h
Hero wins 29BB with a straight, 8 high

Rupi and Bikram

2006-02-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

Outsourcing. Off-shoring. Cheap-foriegn-labour. Call it what you will. In the software industry companies are on what seems to be a never-ending cost cutting adventure, and the latest craze is farming out labour to educated, able, dirt-cheap foriegners. Before you get the wrong impression, I'm not about to start a xenophobic rant about protecting domestic jobs. No friends, I'm here to tell you my first impressions of the first outsourced workers that I have come in contact with. Their names are Rupi and Bikram. Actually, their names aren't Rupi or Bikram, and that isn't their photo, but I thought that protecting their identity might help me not to get fired.

Anyway. The project I am working on has one permanent staff member, one legacy-contractor (he worked on the system we are replacing), two senior contractors (I'm one of them) and three "outsourced" workers from one of India's biggest outsourcing companies.

One of the guys (Venkatesh .. not his real name either) hasn't arrived yet due to a hold-up with his visa, but Rupi and Bikram took their first steps off of the Asian sub-continent only last week. They were greeted with a London winter. They thought they were going to die. Now, London winters aren't terribly severe by Canadian standards, but if you have never seen your breath before and it never goes below 15C, then a near-freezing temperature can be quite a shock. Naturally, they weren't prepared clothing-wise for their new climate, so after their first day of work they rushed out to buy hats and gloves.

The next day we are going to lunch for a "full english breakfast". Yes, they do breakfast for lunch over here as well. Eggs, bacon, sausage, chips, tomato, beans, mushrooms, black-pudding, toast, etc. As we were walking out the door into frozen tundra of London, Bikram proudly donned his new hat (a knit cap, or touque for you Canaidans out there) and pulled down the built in face covering. Bank heist style.

Ok. Ok. Not much of a story. Maybe you had to be there. I guess I just love observing people when they're completely out of their natural element.

On to poker news. First, this un-nameable site had apparently hijacked all of our content and is publishing it under their own copyright without our permission. Sigh. They have Veneno's content and a few others as well.

I didn't run terribly well over the weekend. I was down on Friday (brief session, big losses) up on Saturday and down again on Sunday. Sunday was a bloodbath. Probably the worse negative swing I have experienced at 2/4, and it plunged me into the red at that level. I made a little back on Monday night, then went on the biggest positive swing I have ever had on Tuesday (wiping out all of my losses). Variance? Yeah, I know variance.

Tilt-a-Whirl

2006-02-01T23:25:00.000-08:00

Hey-ho, Mrs. Tilt-o-rama, here. Apparently.

I read my hubby's post about our home game a little bit ago. It was fine.

I was just getting ready to do the dishes while he was playing online at Full Tilt.

He asked:

"Did you read the comments?"

I hadn't. He told me about them, that a couple bloggers had posted that they, too, had experienced their wives tilting...

So I was standing there, up to my elbows in suds, fuming and raving in my head. I do that.

I just want to say something about our home game, and about this particular home game. And about anything else that springs to mind.

I introduced my hubby to the guys he plays with. I met them at the pub where I was working. I mentioned to "Billy" (not his real name) that my hubby was interested in hold 'em. One night, at the pub, I even initiated the conversation about poker between the two of them. I encouraged my hubby to join their home game.

I, of course, could not go (although I was invited) because I was working that night.

Why did I do all of this? Because I wanted hubby to make friends, have interests, and get out of the house. I knew he had played a tournament or two before back in the States, and enjoyed it. Why not? What could it hurt?

The devil was in that home game.

Billy and "Curt" are always in on the games. In fact, if they aren't available to play, we don't play. It's their game, so to speak. And, between my hubby, Billy and Curt, the home game is NO FUN for the rest of us. In my opinion.

There have been various fish at different levels at the table, and other regulars as well. Sarah and Jez and Tim. They all have their own style of play. Jez is wild and unpredictable. Sarah is steady and cool, weak-tight sometimes, but with more and more confidence. Tim is hard to read; he plays good hands and slowly accumulates chips, without any dumb moves. All have left in the money at one time or another.

But unlike the "Triumverate," they have lives. They have spouses or jobs or families that occupy more of their brain waves than poker does.

Curt is like a hi-lo game. He has been known to tilt. His style of play is hot and cold. He takes some risks, but stays pretty tight. He usually either busts out early, or finishes second. He is often confused by the fish, doesn't read them well.

But Billy isn't confused. He is aggressive, pushy (or as pushy as a Brit can be) and stays in hands that he shouldn't, when there are fish at the table, just to see if he can push them around. His play is greedy and not fun, although he edges it with lively banter and good jokes. He's a good guy, but a mean player.

And mostly I think my hubby just doesn't quite know how to play against live people.

So, about now, maybe you are saying a few things: 1) she's just a sore loser, or 2) that's just poker, or 3) WOMEN, they can't handle the aggressive play. Or whatever. Maybe. I can tell you one thing: It's a home game. It's supposed to be fun. And even though my hubby and Curt sit at that table and play like real players, at least they don't bully. I understand the job of the chip leader. I can be a bad loser. But I prefer to play against people who don't sit down at a home game table thinking "I WANT TO WIN!"

Why?

Because who doesn't want to win? Duh. I believe the desire -- the longing -- to win is the line in the sand between playing and gambling. Once you want it, it's a problem. The game has to be fun, not a grand scheme. It should be diversion, not derision.

My mom and I used to play Scrabble together alot. We never kept score. We always tried to make the best words, the longest words. We'd trade letters and we'd never block up spaces. It was fun!

Our friends, Frances and Alex invited us to play Scrabble. I said sure. Alex started totting up the points, getting obscene scores with two-letter words crammed into places that blocked anything useful. He'd scan the board and only play if a double or triple word was involved. I got more and more mad. I made great words, but nothing ever seemed to land on even a Double Letter Score. I tried to have fun. I tried to win. And I was failing at both.

Frances said she didn't want to play with me anymore. I understood.

But we still play Scrabble sometimes, only I have a new objective. I don't try to win. I don't even pay attention to points. I try not to nag my hubby for taking forever on his turns. And I try never to let Alex get a Triple Word Score.

Fun.

I may not play in the home game any more. Sure, they owe me big time on the great snacks, but I could just a well stay in, order and pizza and maybe play scrabble over the phone with my mom.

Home Game and Random Musings

2006-02-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Ok. We are going to have to get better about posting regularly. We haven't had a post up since last Friday, and considering this is Wednesday, that's inexcusable.

So, what has happened in our world since our last post? The answer is: Not a hell of alot, thus the dearth of posts.

We hosted our regular home game, and as usual the snacks were top notch. The poker ... well, that's another story. I had only one big hand all night, and Elizabeth was the first into the rebuys. And the second.

She gets a little-more-than-a-little cranky when she's losing, and two early rebuys didn't help her sense of humour. Hey, that's poker, suck it up and move on. Have you ever tried to tell your impatient, cranky, competitive, prone-to-tilting wife that? From personal experience, I wouldn't recommend it.

Well, her game turned around pretty well and she was sitting on a fair sized stack a little after the rebuy period had ended. Miraculously her mood improved as well. Go figure.

Meanwhile, my game was going nowhere. I won one biggish hand and had me a decent stack. I was on AT with a Ten high flop. I went all-in (short stacked) and was called in two places. Suddenly I wasn't feeling so good about my top pair. I didn't get any help from the turn or the river, but I still won to triple up. Since the other two had me covered I didn't get to see their cards until showdown. I don't know which is worse, seeing you are ahead and vulnerable to about half the remaining cards in the deck, or being all-in and not seeing the cards.

I left the table in 5th place (of 6) after pushing with A5 after the river with a board showing TTxT. My only opponent (the eventual winner) was weak and I knew it. He eventually called with a 33 and it was adios to my stack and my chair.

Elizabeth was out next, so neither of us were able to cash in our own home game. Sigh.

I did play on-line on the weekend. I got in about 6ish hours on FullTilt 2/4 shorthanded. I was up about $120 by the end of it and had worked off a whopping $25 of the $600 first deposit bonus. Even at 2/4 shorthanded, that beetch is going to take some time to clear. I am a little worried about the level of traffic on FullTilt. Hopefully weekdays evenings (afternoon in America) will be a little better than the weekend days (morning in America).

I was datamining at the 3/6 and 5/10 levels and I noticed something bizarre. The 2/4 games were playing much tighter than the 3/6 games and the 5/10 games were crazy loose. Maybe it was just that weekend, but it was weird nonetheless.

On Monday night the Mrs. was holding her book club at our flat, so I used the opportunity to check out the Gutshot card room, which is a short walk from work. They were holding a WSOP qualifier that evening which was a little rich for me. It was £200 with one rebuy and a topup. I was thinking of sitting in on the cash games, but it turns out they weren't going to run any until the tourney tables started to break.

On a poker-as-a-lottery note, they were running satellites to the WSOP qualifier before the game was due to go. When I arrived they had a few going with 5-minute levels. Good God. Five minute level changes in a live tourney. What is that, about 2 hands per level, if you're lucky? If that wasn't bad enough, they started one-hand satellites. That's right, pay your £20, get dealt one hand and see who wins. No thanks. I'd rather spend £1.50 on the Euro Millions lottery with a £120M jackpot if I want a -EV long shot.

I was supposed to play some last night, but the DSL gods frowned upon me and denied us broadband. Maybe tonight.

Back to Poker

2006-01-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

We're back from our Italian ski vacation, and I have to say: Wow! If you ski, you have to check out the Dolomites in Northern Italy. We travelled to Milan early on Saturday morning by the most discount of discount airlines, Ryan Air. Our tickets were £0.01 per person, per direction, which is a bargain by anyone's standards. Once in Milan we hired a car for the drive to Val Gardena where we were staying in the village of Selva.

The skiing was magnificent. On one ski pass you have access to over 1200km of runs in the entire Dolomite region. Most of the skiing is interconnected by lifts, so you can ski for several days, rarely hitting the same run twice. One of the highlights was skiing the Sellaronda, which is a circuit that takes you around a mountain (the Sella) through several villages. The views were breathtaking.

Cuisine and culture in that part of Italy is an interesting mix of Italian and German. Most people there speak both languages; there were very few English-as-a-first-language speakers. We ate very well; pasta for lunch, schnitzel or goulash for supper. There were good German beers and fine Italian wines. If you get a chance to visit Northern Italy, take it. In ski season, doubly so.

Last night I played just over 200 hands of 2/4 6-max on Caribbean Sun. I managed to finish my initial deposit bonus and the $40/month bonus. I also ended up just over $93 for a fine start to the 2/4 leg of the challenge. Next, I will be moving on to Full Tilt where I have rakeback and a $600 first deposit bonus to work on. Here's hoping the games are as fishy as everyone says they are.

My favourite hand from last night went like this: I am in the big blind with 4h8h. UTG raises and everyone else calls cold. It costs me $2 to see a pot of $22. No brainer. When the flop comes it has two hearts and is Q high. UTG bets, there are two calls, two folds and it costs me $2 to see $30. 15:1 odds with 4 to a flush, yes please. The turn comes blank, UTG bets, one fold, one call and I call. ($4 to see $38) The river is a beautiful 6h. I check-raise and both of my opponents call; I scoop the $60 pot with my 4h8h.

UTG (who had QQ for a set of queens) starts to berate me by chat for my "horrible" play. How could I possibly have chased that with just a 48s? He invites me to stick around so that I can lose all of my money. I don't like to explain myself to my opponents in chat, so I give my favourite response: "Was that wrong? I guess I'm an idiot. I don't know how to play this game very well."

We have a home game tonight, so we'll let you know how that goes. Both the Mrs. and I are playing.

Skiing in Italy

2006-01-20T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hey all! A shout out to all of our faithful readers and fellow bloggers. We won't be posting for the next few days as we are off for a short ski holiday to the Italian Alps.

Personally, I haven't been posting much lately anyway, so you'll hardly notice. I've been (gasp!) working pretty hard lately as I just started on a new project. It doesn't leave much time for the reading or writing of poker blogs, but the work is pretty darn good.

We'll be back into the swing of poker and blogging upon our return next wednesday. Until then, may all your hole cards be aces.

Graduation!!!

2006-01-18T14:11:00.000-08:00

At long last I have graduated from the 1/2 level. In truth, it has been quite a journey. When I started, I really thought I knew what I was doing. That impression was reinforced by running pretty well at the beginning. In the first 5000 hands I ran up to almost $750 from my starting $500. Not too bad. Then a combination of my naivety and variance kicked me all the way back to where I had started. That took another 5000 hands. 5000 up, 5000 down.

There's nothing quite like running bad to make you take a serious look at the quality of your play. When you run well it's easy to convince yourself that you are a masterful player. The results are guaranteed. Run bad for a while and you can be quickly humbled.

That's what happened to me. After 10000 hands of shorthanded play at the 1/2 level I seriously doubted my worthyness at that game. What to do? First, I vowed to get off of the shorthanded tables while I re-tooled my game. Second, I .. er .. re-tooled my game. I read everything I could get my hands on. If it was about limit shorthanded play, I devoured it. In the meantime I changed my game to 1/2 full ring. What adifference that makes! Full ring limit is not a game for the sleepy.

After the intensity of shorthanded I truly wasn't prepared for the sedate pace of the full ring, and I found my attention wandering. I probably played a few too many hands and I probably overplayed many of those. I think the overplaying comes from the viceral need to do something other than folding all the time. Boring. Boring. Boring. In my break from shorthanded I donked off another hundred or so dollars, leaving me below water for the first time in the challenge.

I was itching to get back to shorthanded, and when I thought I was ready, I did just that. With a new level of aggression (which had always been a weakness in my game) and some new table selection strategies I went to work. It only took me about 5000 hands to undo the damage of the previous 15000. In that 5000 hands I got back above water and advanced my bankroll to the level at which I can graduate to 2/4.

I played some of my final hands at the 6-max tables on Crypto where I was clearing a bonus and getting 32% rakeback. Sweet deal. I made some money (about the same BB/100 as on Party) in the process as well. My bonus there still isn't completely cleared 'cause I went back to Party to clear the 700 hands I needed for my Poker Player's Alliance bonus.

Right after signing up for the PPA bonus and making the deposit to Party, I crossed the $500 mark. The stats up to this time are published below. So, I thought to myself: no problem, I'll just move up to 2/4shorthanded on Party while I work off the rest of the bonus. Problem: there is no 2/4 shorthanded on Party! What's up with that? I couldn't see myself grinding out another 700 hands of 1/2 limit; afterall, I had just graduated, damnit! I wanted to move up.

The logical choice? Why, skip 2/4 and move to 3/6 of course! So that's exactly what I did. There is definitely an adjustment to make, but not a huge one. 3/6 seems to be a little tighter and most of the players are a little stronger than at 1/2, but there are many weak players. Probably the most common fish at 1/2 was the weak / loose calling station. There aren't so many of those at 3/6, but you do see quite a few overly tight can't-lay-down-a-hand types. I think I have made the adjustment pretty well now as I am consistently winning even with poorer than average cards. At first I didn't adjust and I went down, down, down.Now I am back on the plus side and I think I have the 3/6 game figured out.

The question now is whether I am going to skip 2/4 altogether or move to 2/4 when I make my planned move over to FullTilt. The bonus should be easier to clear at 3/6, but I guess it will depend on how I run and what shape my bankroll is in. I'll let you know.

Here's my stats as of graduation day:

Challenge Bank Roll: $1005.94
Change to Bank Roll Since Last Post: $358.23
Current Game: Party and Caribbean Sun Poker LHE 1/2, 6-max (two tables)
BB/100 for Current Game: 4.71
Hands Played Since Last Post: 5087
Hands Played At This Game: 6305
Hands Played in Challenge: 19518

One Short-Handed Leap for Man...

2006-01-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

Where is hubby? At Gutshot? In Vegas?

Nope...

On Friday, good Friday last, he was called to do this odd thing. W...wwww..wuh...wuh.kkkuh.. wwwuuuuu -UH- (punch in stomach)... kirrrrkk.......... OUCH! Anyway.

HOWEVER, for two lovely days last week, while his new wwwuuuhkkirrkk was confirming that he is not, in fact, the DUE-bomber, he stayed in and was happy. Why?

Because, oops!, apparently Party does not host 2/4 shorthanded tables.
AND, apparently, recently, hubby shot over the $500 mark in the CHALLENGE (did he tell you that? He's quite excited about it!)
AND, he signed up for some bonus with Party -- play 500 hands and they will suck you dry... ahem, I mean, deposit X dollars in your account (yes, he did marry a dirty girl! Aren't you lucky?? Hmmm... You'd think he'd be the lucky one.)

Anyhoo! He was forced to stay on Party, skip over the 2/4 level in the Challenge (argh!) and just play $3/6 shorthanded

HE WON Yeah! Then he lost! Booo! Then, HE WON! Rah, rah! Last I heard, I think he was up about $150 or so. I don't know. I always get the numbers wrong. Me word-girl. Him number-boy.

Anyway, maybe he'll be back soon with all the good stuff you like. Meanwhile, I'll try to keep you relatively diverted.

I can tap dance, you know...

P.S. For anyone who cares how I did on the Sit-n-Go tourneys... I was SO bad. Fish heads, rolly-poly fish heads. Eat them up, yum! Hubby tried to help, but sigh. I am word-girl, after all.

A Fish and Its Chips are Soon Parted

2006-01-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

Hey-ho. Still the woman here.

So yesterday, when hubby was home and not working and slacking off, I REALLY wanted to play an itty-bitty tournament. So I said:

"I think I would like to play a tournament."

He sort of did a little side jump of joy, hands clamped in fists over his head. He often makes that Homer Simpson "Woo-hoo!-Donuts-are-a-comin' " sound when I say I want to participate in poker with him.

This time, though, it was just a tiny, suppressed, throat-squeal.

You can understand why he gets excited. Hot chick and hot game?! Oh yeah!

Now, I am no fish. Well, I might be a fish. Well, I know a few things. But I sure don't know as much as my hubby. So usually when I play, we play together. This generally involves him reclining in the IKEA Poang chair, telling me every move to make whilst I drive the mouse and sit uncomfortably upright in the computer chair.

This is boring. Well, kind of boring. I make very few of my own decisions. And when I do get to some choice where it's sort of 50-50, my hubby says:

"It's your choice. You can either fold or raise."

Well. As he has made all of the last 527,439 decisions, I figure what is one more? I defer to him and let it be his game after all.

Yesterday, though, I wanted to see what I was made of. I wanted to see if I could pull it out. Yeah, I know that even if I made all the right moves in a tournament, I might still get sucked out with bad cards. But what the heck?

The problem? Well, it was that tiny throat-squeal.

We got it all set up on my laptop, Noble Poker sit-and-go. Big stakes baby! I was playing against five others for a pot of $4.80. Nerve wracking.

Anyway, I had company for the duration. I got to click the touch pad this time. He helped me "rakeback" (see previous post for new definition) a few times. I learned a few things. I got to heads-up against a player who was definitely (according to my hubby) playing worse than "me."

Anyway, she pulled it out. Luck in the end for her (drew a flush on the river against my three Kings). It didn't matter. I still finished up 60 cents. Well, we did.

Know what I am going to do right now? Post this damn thing and play another sit and go before hubby gets home from work. Why? Not 'cause I think I'll win without him. I know I probably will be first to go. But just because I just want to see what it's all about. See what kind of player I am becoming, by osmosis.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

A Practical Guide to Texas Hold 'Em Terms

2006-01-11T09:29:00.000-08:00

Hey-ho... Mrs. P-S-H here...

I've gotten a little frustrated, at times, trying to figure out what the heck my hubby is talking about when I read his posts. I have to keep asking him.

Me: Hey, honey, what is "V-P- Dollar Sign- I-P"?

Him: stares at the computer screen. Clicks the mouse. Stares at the computer screen some more. Scratches his stomach.

Me: Hello? (our tactical, verbal indicator for "Hey you with the banana in your ear! I just said something and you ignored me!" More often used by me.)

Him: Hell-ooo. (artificial crowd noise from Party Poker. Well, at least he won the hand.)

He quickly clicks the "Sit Out" buttons and turns in his chair to face me. He is getting BETTER at this! It makes me happy!

Me: "V-P- Dollar Sign-I-P"? What the heck is that?

Him: (speaking in Magyar) It is when Rackdar sehshy, whendyrad, rigfordy-hi, aradnik,. HOO!

Me: Ah. I see.

So I've been studying the weblogs of other esteemed bloggers, along with my husband's sanskrit and have created this very handy definition guide.

A Practical Guide to Texas Hold 'Em Terms

6-max - Greatest number of people named Max allowed to sit at one table. Maxes over 200 pounds count as two.

Rock - 1. Dull yet heavy, stone-like instrument thrown at the head of player who refuses bet very often. 2. (less common) Player in late position who always insists on black olives on the pizza.

Kentucky - Screenname for a guy named Andy who lives in Tennessee, but attended University of Kentucky. Very excited that he nabbed such a sweet and coveted screenname.

Flop - Quality of sex after spouse/partner spends night hunched in front of online poker.

Reload Bonus - Quality of sex after spouse/partner spends night hunched in front of online poker while also browsing porn sites.

Rakeback - (v.) The use of one's fingernails and a several cold bluffs to claw oneself back from the edge of empty bankroll.

Donkey - Mode of transportation used by The Lord (SEE PHOTO)

Bad Beat - Losing your wife in your home game.

Buy-in (v.) - Believing you can actually make a living at poker.

So far, I think that is all I can get. Maybe there will be more later.

Still, for now, it appears I have much to learn.

Crypto, baby!

2006-01-10T04:42:00.000-08:00

I made my first plunge into the world of Crypto last night and came out ahead by around 5BB/100 over 400 hands. At first I was playing one table of 6-max $1/$2 limit getting used to the interface and the table conditions. After about an hour I jumped in on a second table. It didn't take long to figure out my opponents, and it turns out that Party isn't the only donkey farm on the planet. The breeding program on Crypto is alive and well.

Generally my impression of the Crypto donkeys is that they are a little more passive than their Party cousins. The aggressive ones that I encountered were probably a little too tight for their own good (on 6-max), some with VP$IPs at 20 or below. I haven't found a crazy LAG yet. The post flop play was generally pretty poor: lots of chasing, and lots of bluff aggression. I established a pretty solid table image on my first table which allowed me to make a couple of well timed bluff turn raises to take down pots. That's probably my favourite move, but it requires a strong no-nonsense table image and a weak opponent to be effective.

I was playing on the Crypto skin, Caribbean Sun, through rakerebate.net, and so far I have been impressed by their service. E-mails were responded to quite quickly, even on the weekend. I will be getting 32% of my rake back, deposited directly into my Caribbean Sun account.

Meanwhile, I am working off two of the easiest-to-clear bonuses I know of. Caribbean Sun has a rolling $40 per month bonus for 5X raked hands (200 total) which runs parallel to their $50 first deposit bonus. The $50 deposit bonus clears at the same rate and will complete after 250 raked hands. It will take me 250 raked hands to clear $90, which is a return that exceeds my portion of the rake over that same period. Paid to play .. oh yeah!

I've noticed that I get propositioned to play at a new table every once in a while. A popup appears asking me if I would like to play at some £2/£4 table (or other denomination), and they will pay me £10 per hour for doing it. Anybody ever take them up on it? Is it worthwhile?

I don't want to jinx myself, but I am getting tantalizingly close to moving up a level in my limit challenge. The return to 6-max has been quite profitable and I feel like my game is the best it has ever been. I am playing with confidence and getting results. Hopefully I will be able to announce a move up in the near future. Having just written that I am probably due for a thumping by the bad beat stick and I'll be one and two outer'd back to mediocrity.

I can't end this post on a pessimistic note, so I'll tell you that I am quite excited to be starting a new job tomorrow. Actually, I am more excited about leaving my current job than I am about the new one, but I'm excited nonetheless. The new job looks to be much closer to what I like doing in software. The only downside is that I am unlikely to be bored enough at work to waste my time reading poker blogs. I guess I'll have to do that on my own time.

Check out this high stakes poker bet!

When The Stars Align, Go For It ...

2006-01-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I wrote a bit of a rant about the suckitudinous site that Party Poker has become. I truly hope that they get it before it's too late, 'cause as I said, I like to play at Party. Here a fishy, there a fishy. Fishy, fishy, fishy.

I've been directed to Crypto (Caribbean Sun) and Full Tilt by Aledan and Wes (respectively), and the advice looks to be sound. I'll try them out first, and if I don't like what I find I will go to Pokerstars as suggested by Michael. I can get rakeback at Crypto and FT and I can help a brotha out a little as well.

Aledan put me on to a rakeback site that he uses for Caribbean Sun and it turns out that they also do Full Tilt. The numbers look good, and if I use Aledan's links, he gets a little something for his pimpage. Win, win, win, I sure hope I win.

I'm a little uncomfortable with doing conventional affiliate style pimping. I sure as hell wouldn't sign up for a site through a no-value-added affiliate link; it seems a little dishonest trying to lure others through links on my site as well. I can however, see pimping rakeback sites, poker tracker and maybe even value-added sites that give you free stuff for signing up through them. As long as it's a win-win I'm totally cool with pimping and being pimped. So, here's to Aledan. I'm your rakeback site ho.

So, what does all this have to do with the stars aligning? Not much. I asked for some advice. I got some advice. I plan to follow through on the advice. Fate kicked in when I checked my PokerSweetHome e-mail account and found an unsolicited e-mail message from Full Tilt. It seems that they want to pay me a small sum every month just for keeping a link to their site on my blog. Yes, it's true:

This humble blog just went pro!

Win, win, win again. On the same day that I solicit advice and am sent in the direction of Full Tilt, they drop a little manna from the heavens. All we have to do is keep doing what we're doing.

I'll definitely be signing up for Full Tilt shortly, but the question is, when do I start to play there? It looks like their bonus (100% up to $600) will be pretty difficult to clear at my current $1/$2 level. I'm playing about 12 hours a week right now, and I wouldn't want the bonus to expire. I am more than half way to the $2/$4 level, so maybe I'll start on Full Tilt then. Perhaps I'll play the rest of my $1/2 at Caribbean Sun.

What the f@ck is up with Party?

2006-01-04T04:48:00.000-08:00

Since we moved to London, we have become acutely aware of the varying levels of customer service. It took us two and a half months to establish a bank account. Getting broadband at our first flat was a six-week ordeal, only to be topped by the three and a half month wait at our second flat. Virtually all customer service numbers are toll lines, so you get to pay for holding. When you get through, the customer service reps are either apathetic or just plain stupid. The long and the short of it is that Americans and Canadians have it good. They don't know how good they have it, and consequently they demand a high level of customer service. Companies that don't deliver can only survive if it's a pain in the ass for their customers to switch.

What does this have to do with Party? I'll explain.

I like to play at Party. I don't like to play there because I am a loyal customer; I like to play there because it is +EV for me. It's +EV due to a number of factors:

There are alot of games going due to their large customer base.
I like to data mine tables before sitting down.
It is fishy as hell.

There are a number of downsides to being a Party player, such as:

You can't get rakeback and the bonus program is in chaos
They seem to be intentionally kicking sand in players faces
Their customer service (by all accounts) sucks

My take on the situation is that the upsides are diminishing and Party isn't doing anything about the downsides.
First, their customer base is no longer that much larger than their closest competitor, Pokerstars. Many sites have a wide selection of games at the levels that I am currently playing and as I move up, I will have options other than Party. Michael of Counting My Outs writes about the Pokerstars / Party crossover here.

According to sources on 2+2, the new Party software won't allow data mining. You'll only get hand histories for hands that you are in. There goes that advantage. Of course, I have been wondering if it is really that much of an advantage? I like to select tables with passive players, either too loose and passive or tight and passive. If I'm the only pre-flop raiser (PFR greater than 12) at a 6-max table, then I am a happy camper. It usually doesn't take me more than about 30 hands to get a feel for this anyway and by that time I should have some stats from PokerTracker and PA HUD anyway. Since I have adjusted my table selection strategy to single table until I have a feel for the players, then adding another table, I don't know how much of an advantage the pre-play data mining is. The other thing is that the VP$IP and PFR don't tell the whole story. A loose passive player that plays well after the flop will kick the ass of a tight aggressive pre-flopper who can't lay down a hand.

Conventional wisdom is that Pokerstars is getting quite a bit fishier. With the growth in their customer base it only goes to follow. The otherwise decent player base must be getting watered down. Also, there are a number of other networks with fish galore. The PokerRoom/Hollywood/Eurobet/etc. network seems to be pretty fishy by my own account, and the Crypto network is fishy by the account of others. The long and the short of it is that Party doesn't have a monopoly on the fish.
My reasons for playing on Party are either disappearing or diminishing compared with the competitive alternatives.

What about the downsides? First, the rakeback issue: Playing at low limit, 6-max, I am contributing a large percentage of rake when compared with my winnings. It sure would be nice to get some of that back. Since Party doesn't allow rakeback, the alternative is to make some money through their VIP program. Reading on 2+2, I learned a some things about Party's fledgling VIP program:

It isn't easy to sign up. Apparently you have to send repeated e-mails to them. Eventually you may get a response by telephone to negotiate your deal.
Players don't seem to be dealt with in a consistent manner. The deals seem to be all over the map in terms of value.
The program doesn't seem to be consistent from month to month. In November, some players were being offered deals like $1800 for 50000 raked hands at $10/$20 or above. In December, the same player was offered $100 deposit bonus and a chance to win a cruise package. There are alot of pissed off 2+2'ers.

Comparing the rollout Party VIP program to the rollout of the Pokerstars VIP program is laughable. Pokerstars rolled out thier program in style: it is clearly spelled out, every player is enrolled from the start, and it is completely automated. Party's effort is amateurish at best. Evidently it was rolled out before it was thought through and it is intensely manual. Given Party's track record with customer service, manual isn't good.

For some reason, Party seems intent on alienating its players. I personally got the much publicised e-mail warning me that my player points were about to expire 'cause I hadn't played there in 30 days. What is that about? If you take a long holiday, or have a death in the family, or have any other reason not to get to the tables for a month, they are going to take away all of your points? That's just plain crazy. Pokerstars will expire your points at the end of the next calendar year in which you don't play. A month at Party, or a year at Stars: You decide.

The latest crazy move from Party I read about in this blog. Apparently Aledan hadn't played at Party in 180 days, and they sent him an e-mail telling him they were going to charge him an admin fee. What the fuck? Yeah, that'll probably attract him back.

I haven't had much to do with Party's customer service, but according to the consensus on 2+2, it sucks pretty bad. Stars service is supposed to be quite good. Again, I don't have any personal experience.

Party may be going through the pain of being a newly public company, and they may have a some fixes to their broken machine in the works, but for now it seems like they are systematically committing suicide. It's like they don't realize that every interaction they have with a player is potentially public. At its core the Internet is the biggest barbershop gossip network ever created, and most online poker players are literate and Internet savvy. Screw a few people around and everyone is going to find out. The biggest problem Party has is that they are in an extremely competitive market where the switching cost is nearly zero.

So, I am seriously considering a move. I want to play on a site with a decent selection of limit tables and plenty of fishy players. I’d like to be rewarded for my play, either through rakeback or a decent VIP program. Comments and suggestions are quite welcome.

Impractical dress codes, OR Another day in soft-core porn management

2005-12-31T04:14:00.000-08:00

I love Jane Bentley. I have fantasies about Jane Bentley. She's a smart woman. She loved math and science in grade school, I imagine. Wore braces until she was 17. Wore glasses and a ponytail and hid behind books all her young life.

Went to university and studied economics. Met a boy named Brandon or Jeffy or Giles, and fell in love. Studied hard, made some good friends, blossomed. Finished in the top 10 percent of her class. Left sweet Giles in the dust.

Worked in some dreary government office at first, wearing grey suits and navy suits and black suits. Still peering out through those heavy, plastic-rimmed glasses. Can't afford contact lenses yet. Hating life on the dull, dreary corporate ladder.

Jane is cruising job postings online one day and stumbles on a lark: Online Casino Manager. She reads through the spec and thinks: What the heck. Posts her CV off to the generic address and doesn't think about it again.

A few weeks later, her cell phone beeps while she is chewing her tuna salad sandwich at her desk. Would she be available for an interview? Jane marks the date in her diary and smirks. What a lark.

What a bird, the guys behind the desk exchange a glance when she strolls in wearing pinstripes and a bun. A money-pusher with a rack to back it up. Two hours later, she's got the job. Under certain conditions...

Now, I fantasize, sweet little Jane, with the braces and the bookish charm, is finally becoming a real woman. Her uniform is looser fitting (not much suited for cool weather) but it is a far more cheerful color. And at least she is finally achieving every woman's dream: pinned-up, half-naked, pasted on the wall of the Victoria Line Tube Station.

Jane Bentley, Intercasino's UK Online Casino Manager, wearing a red sheet and open-toed silver stilettos, on the wall of the Underground, London.

"Play poker online now and you TOO can be just another loser jacking off to images of ME!"

Bloggers on the Town and Other Musings

2005-12-29T08:09:00.000-08:00

Mrs. PSH and I are home after our Canadian holiday, jetlagged and fatter but otherwise well. My ten-day poker drought came to an end yesterday when I played a little 1/2 6-max on Party. I ended up about $32 after playing for a couple of hours on three tables. On one of the tables I was up over $100 and I was down on the other two. Go figure. I hadn't played since we left for Canada. The last time was for the 8 minutes before the mini-cab came to pick us up. I won $8 in those 8 minutes. That's a win rate I can handle!

The night before we left we met our first blogger in-the-flesh. I suppose it can be a little frightening to meet someone in real life after knowing them only through their brain-spillings on the internet. Witness the conversation between myself and Mrs. PSH:

Me: Guess what? One of the bloggers I read is in town and he's staying at the hotel down the street from us. I've invited him to go with us to the Christmas concert.

Her: Really? How do you know he isn't some whacko axe murderer?

Me: Er... I guess I don't, but I've read his blog and he doesn't seem like an axe murderer.

Her: (unconvinced) Alright. I guess it's OK.

Later that evening we met CC of Quest of a Closet Poker Player at St. Martin-in-the-Fields for their annual Christmas Concert. This year's concert featured a string and wind baroque orchestra with various Christmas themed pieces as well as audience participation carols. For me, this was the ideal segue into the holidays. The music was great, the space was ideal and the companionship was second to none.

After the concert we made our way back to our 'hood and stepped into our living-room-away-from-home, the Warrington Hotel. This is a fantastic pub and we are very lucky to have it as our "local". For those of you of the North American persuasion, pubs and pub life are something uniquely British. Imagine a bar in your neighbourhood that is relatively small, doesn't serve much in the way of food and most importantly, always has the same group of people in it. That's a British pub in a nutshell, and there's one on almost every corner. Whenever we walk into the Warrington we can be guaranteed of knowing at least a dozen people. Everyone from our regular home game is there at least a couple nights a week. I'll certainly miss it when we do make our way back to life across the pond.

I am happy to report our first blogger meeting was a smashing success. We took in a great concert and went to one of the best pubs in London. We can attest that CC is not in fact an axe murderer, but rather a hard working father, husband and poker player. If you don't read his blog, you should.

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The Christmas holiday with my family was great fun. My family can be a little zany at times, but there wasn't any major drama and everyone got along. The theme for the ten days in Canada can be summed up in one phrase: too much food. Yes, I ate my way through another holiday season and a quick count of the calories consumed lead me to believe that I don't really need to eat until January 18th.

This year Christmas dinner was hosted by one of my brothers, (I have four), and someone had the bright idea that we should do a "pot luck" style Christmas. We divided the dishes among us and each family was responsible for bringing a couple of things. The somewhat predictable result was that everyone brought too much of what they volunteered to bring and then brought something else that wasn't on the list. By my rough estimate we had about 35 pounds of meat (turkey, goose and ham), and about a ten side dishes. Most of the dozen or so desserts went untouched. Fourteen people were seated for dinner. There were 15 of us in total, but my newest nephew was sticking with the breast milk.

Everyone took home a pile of leftovers and my parents brought all of the untouched deserts to their church.

We saw a couple of movies while we were in Canada: King Kong and Narnia. Both movies were great and I would recommend them. One interesting note is that there was a commercial before King Kong that had to do with intervening in a friend's gambling addiction. The scene was a group of youngish roommates going out for a night on the town. They are pestering one of their friends to come along and he declines. He's hunched in front of his laptop playing poker and suffering loudly from a bad beat.

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I'm starting a new job in the middle of January and I'm pretty excited about it. I haven't been too happy with my current situation and I welcome a change. On the plus side the new job is working on a brand new project. In the world of software contracting you often don't get brought in until after things are already hopelessly messed up. It will be nice to have an opportunity to get some things right for a change.

The new job also has various other plusses. It's a little closer to home and it has a very relaxed dress code (jeans are OK), which is remarkable for an investment bank. It is also very close to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and the Gutshot Card Club.

On the down side I won't have nearly as much time for reading poker blogs and writing my own.

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One of the regulars in our home game just started working for a new poker site. It's kind of like having a junky running a meth lab, but what the heck. The site has it's own platform, so it won't be a skin of anyone else. They have an interesting differentiator. Their plan is to bring modern video gaming technology to online poker. Apparently the avatars are animated and will be fully customizable. You earn points by playing and can cash them in on things like new clothing and chip tricks. I can see this sort of thing really appealing to the RPG-character-building crowd. You can also have your character make gestures and give tells. If you win a major tournament you earn a bracelet for your character. They are running a beta program soon and expect to launch early in the new year. For more information, go here.

Reindeer Games...

2005-12-23T09:26:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season to spend time with family, kiss under mistletoe, eat obscenely and charge up the credit cards. It hasn't been too long since my already large family expanded with the addition of my hubby and his Canadian-Brit hoarde.

What is the secret to being married to Mr. P-S-H? Let's examine this photo -- deconstruct it, if you will -- and see what answers we come up with...

The chicks love him. Sure, it's just a side hug, but who knows what Franny will get up to when I am not looking? Fortunately, my hubby is a loyal old dog. And his extreme inability to do more than one thing at a time (notice the intent focus on the lens, oblivious to the woman with large boobs pressing against him) means his poker game is unlikely to suffer from cleavage distractions.
Pure evil... in that bumbling, also-would-love-a-hairless-cat way. Fortunately, unlike Dr. Evil, my hubby does not always wear grey or ritually shave anything other than his face. Unfortunately, also unlike Dr. Evil, he thinks $77 dollars is alot of money.
Looks good in leather. So far I've only put him in jackets, but I am slowly, slowly working my way up to trousers. Maybe someday: CHAPS!
Ability to raise eyebrow on command. Jim Carrey can do it, and he nailed Renee Zellwegger. Jon Stewart uses it as a punchline. Alan Rickman earns himself close-up after close-up, even in his ghastly Snape makeup, with this talent. Summary: eyebrow raise equals success.
Horny on demand. This may not mean what you think. Well... what do you think?! After all, look at the photo! Those nubbins must be real, because no sane person would actually hang them on the wall! Or would they?
Willing to take a shot, now and then. Even if it does mean photographic proof of his true jolly nature!

As for me, well, this is just another cultural day out for me on a recent trip to Prague. Pop into the Christmas shop, pull on the face mask, hold up the store in another bid to pull my weight in the money-earning department. Too bad they only had about 500 koruna in the till: about 20 bucks. ... oooh... Bucks...

Fluffy, cute, savvy... what more could a hubby want in wife?

Challenge Update, Christmas Edition

2005-12-16T06:05:00.000-08:00

Since I have returned to 6-max I have been running really well. I have had a couple of longish sessions and one short one, and I am up in all of them. I am really, really up which I attribute to a mixture of plus side variance combined with newfound talent and aggression. Who knew that doing the homework and applying the knowledge could lead to results?

I'm back on track poker-wise and really feeling good about my game. I am primed, pumped and motivated. I look forward to getting to the tables and I laugh in the face of bad beats 'cause I know they are very, very temporary. In short, I'm in the zone.

What better time than this to take a ten-day break from poker?

Yep. I'm off to see the family for Christmas and won't likely get to the virtual felt for the next ten days. I'll bring some reading so that I can keep on the pulse of the game, and we'll try to put up a non-poker post or two over the Holidays.

Until then, we wish you and yours the best.

Here are the challenge stats. Take special note of my current BB/100. Yes, I am that good.

Challenge Bank Roll: $647.71
Change to Bank Roll Since Last Post: $116.41
Current Game: Party Poker LHE 1/2, 6-max (two tables)
BB/100 for Current Game: 9.66
Hands Played Since Last Post: 4492
Hands Played At This Game: 1218
Hands Played in Challenge: 15033

Duelling Comedians and Shorthanded Re-Entry

2005-12-14T07:56:00.000-08:00

"I'm trying to bring some dignity to this program!"
-- Sam the Eagle, Muppet

Sorry, no porn in this post. I went for "re-entry" in the title as a leader to attract the porn crowd back. Shorthanded re-entry. Sounds kinky. Anyway, on to more dignified topics.

I was at work last week, doing what I do best (reading poker weblogs), when an incoming e-mail message prompted me to drop otherwise important activities and spring into action. The e-mail was from Mrs. PokerSweetHome, and it informed me that John Stewart was going to be in town on Sunday for two shows in the West End.

When we lived in the USA, The Daily Show was our primary source of television news. It's a sad fact that virtually all TV journalism in the land-of-the-somewhat-free-press absolutely sucks. That a comedy news program can be more informative than the drivel they are spoofing is appalling. Appalling, and true. But I digress. (er .. rant)

By proxy (Mrs. PokerSweetHome), I leapt into action (allowing me to get back to my blogs) and secured us two tickets to "An Evening With John Stewart".

On Sunday we scurried down to the theatre after an otherwise lazy day and queued up at the will-call window to pick up our tickets.

To our surprise, standing only a couple of people ahead of us was none other than Danny Wallace. I'll forgive anyone not from the UK for not knowing about Danny; hell, I'll forgive anybody for not knowing about him. We, however, do know about the greatness that is King-of-Lovely, Danny Wallace.

It all started at a bookstore when we first moved to London. We were browsing a stack of books in the buy-2-get-1-free section and couldn't decide on a third book. We picked up a book called Join Me, which was described as one man's account of how he started a cult, by accident. The author? Danny Wallace. It's a great read, and highly recommended. More recently Danny has had a BBC series all about his efforts to start a sovereign nation in his flat in East London. Great stuff if you ever get to see it.

The John Stewart show was fun. It started with a medley of US news clips around the time of the London bombings. The general angle from the clips was: When will this happen to us? Why we should we be worried. Typical why-you-should-be-so-scared-you-can't-turn-Fox-News-off, in-your-face pseudo-journalism. The show involved some standup-ish comedy and some reading from John's new book "America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction". Overall, quite enjoyable. The pics were taken with a Sony-Ericcson mobile phone.

In Poker news, as planned, I was back at the shorthanded tables. I started playing one table and that worked quite well. I plan to start one table at a time in future. I think that if you start playing one table and add a second (or third) later, you can concentrate on your reads of the players. As you get a feel for the table after a few orbits, then open a second up. That's what I did, and I liked the results.

I'll share a couple of hands with y'all: the first is a great read; the second was a wild hand with a name-calling-table-captain.

A little background first. When I was playing my first table by itself, I noticed this one player, two to my left who was calling with most hands. He'd fold on the river if he didn't have anything. If he bet on the turn or the river, then he was holding at least top pair. He was very straightforward and very easy to read. I went up against him twice when I was betting middle pair and getting called on every street. Both times he showed QQ and took the pot down. Both times there were over cards and I hadn't hit them. With QQ he never raised once, not before the flop, and not after. OK. One calling station identified.

A few hands later the same guy raises UTG. Raises? What the hell will he raise UTG if he won't raise QQ? I wasn't in the hand (folded my SB), and sure enough my calling station flips over AA. Mystery solved.

Later still I have AA in MP, my personal calling station is on the button. I open raise it's folded to him and he re-raises. The blinds fold and I cap. From my previous observations I have him on exactly two hands KK or AA; since I have two of the Aces, I am 85+% sure he has KK. I hadn't seen him with KK, but he sure hadn't been frisky with QQ before.

The flop comes 27Q. I bet, he raises, I re-raise and he calls. Good. He doesn't have QQ. The turn comes Q and I bet. He calls. The river was a blank and we repeat. I show AA and he shows KK. How proud am I of my read?

At another table I had been playing with and taking chat abuse from a donkeyish weak loose table captain. I had the nerve to draw a flush on the turn (with odds) when he had top pair. Name-calling ensued. He was abusing anyone who took him off of a hand. Then he would hit two pair on the river with T3o and comment on his masterful suckout. Some people.

Well, he and I got into it when I was again dealt AA. We capped preflop. The flop came AK6 and we capped again. The turn was another 6 and I have nut full house. The only hand that beats me is a pair of 6s (which I don't think this guy caps with before the flop). I had him on KK and the second nut full house. Anyway, we cap the turn and we cap the river (J, I think). I roll over my AA and he rolls over AKs for two pair. He goes on a tirade about how I "bad beat him" even though I was ahead on every street. I typed in the chat "What exactly did you think I had?" and he complained some more. I typed "Hint: most people won't cap every street without a monster." He made some remark about my mother and left. Donkey zero, buddy list 1.

I tried my new table selection strategy and I like the early results. Not statistically significant, but I was up on three out of the four tables that I played. I am paying primary attention to the Pre-Flop-Raise percentage. I was able to play on four tables that started with less than 5% average PFR, which is pretty bloody weak.

My result for the night was up $77. At this rate I may just break even soon!

Porn on the Side

2005-12-13T03:43:00.000-08:00

My friend, Lane Butler, an editor for Andrews-McMeel Publishing in Kansas City, should get an award for letter writing. Her missives are more like multimedia extravaganza-activity packs. I got one today, and it got me thinking about making money.

I don’t really like this whole poker thing my hubby is up to. He slogs away at it after work and comes to bed at 1 a.m. gleaming!

Me: How did it go?

Him: I finished up $73!

Me: internally groaning Great honey! Come to bed.

$73! $73 measly stinking dollars!?!? How the hell long has he been at this!? Seems like about 726 light years! At this rate, we might someday be able to buy ourselves a really comfortable trailer outside Milan— Illinois, that is! Argh!

(I am not known for my patience, but rather, my spontaneity and fiery charm.)

So, I got this letter from Lane today, with one of those great, informative articles in it that she always sends (along with some Mad Libs and Get Fuzzy comics). I thought, Hey! Maybe I, too, could make some money on the side!

Being a porn film actor isn’t that much further off than what I used to do—modelling for art classes. When I lived in Kansas City, I posed nude and made $25 bucks an hour. Sure it was chilly work in the winter (old churches and warehouses are drafty and depend on donations to pay for heat), but there were always plenty of space heaters, and my nipples look better in cold air anyway.

Besides, I never had to worry about being recognized from the reproductions. Most of the artists could only manage a tortured likeness of a rounded-off stick figure (it was a Communiversity course)— two arms, two legs, head, boobs. Check, check, check. My buddy, Gary, the teacher, never failed to mention to the class that I was “a great model. One of the best. We sure are lucky to have her tonight” but I couldn’t see how it mattered.

But porn… now that is something different. And I am only considering old-fashioned, movie-porn. I don’t have the stomach for anything Internet-related. It is just too… well, easy.

But MOVIES. Now that has some glamour to it. Show up on set for a few hours, strip down to nada, pretend to be surprised and shocked when the milkman has more to deliver than a little fresh cream, and bonk for dollars. Finally put my theatre degree to some use! According to Maximonline.com, “standard boy-on-girl scenario” pays $500 to $800 (less for girl-on-girl, thank God! Yuck!) I could really earn some moo-lah with these knockers.

So I’d have to weigh the pros and cons. What are they…

Pro: Wouldn’t have to take up running, as I was planning to. Would get excellent exercise at work.

Con: Might have to raid XXX shops in hometown to ensure father didn’t have coronary.

Pro: Make lots of new friends, many with connections to Russian slave trade rings.

Con: Increase in inner thigh cramps and charley horses.

Pro: Have something to do while hubby is playing poker.

Con: Might be too tired and worn out to continue process of trying to make baby.

Well, there is a lot to consider. The money aspect, of course, is tempting...all the freedom that comes with porn high-life: environment-destroying muscle cars, cavernously empty Manhattan penthouses, heroine addictions, bleached blonde hair, eating disorders, degraded self esteem.

I don’t know… Maybe that poker-paid trailer outside Milan (pronounced MY-luhn), Illinois wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. At least we would have each other— whenever the tournament was on a break.

Getting Back to Shorthanded

2005-12-12T04:38:00.000-08:00

For the last little while I have been playing two full tables on Party for the Challenge. I have noticed a couple of things about the switch.

I have been fairly stagnant since I switched. I'm not winning much and I'm not losing much.
Full ring games of low limit are a little like watching pain dry, compared with the action of a shorthanded table.

I had always intended to get back to the shorthanded games. The ultimate goal of my Limit Challenge is to become a better player as I advance through the levels. Combining the advice of better players with the fact that as the limits increase the full games tend to disappear, I have decided to get back to the shorthanded game. The advice I have had is that shorthanded is a necessary skill for an improving player, and it is a game where the quality of your play outweighs the quality of your cards. In other words, a good shorthanded player has a bigger edge than a good full ring player.

Conversely a bad player stands at a bigger disadvantage in shorthanded than they do in full rings where good cards can support a weak player for longer. My goal when I return to shorthanded is to make sure that I am the hunter, not the prey.

I have been doing quite a bit of reading in order to strengthen my shorthanded game. I have also been giving some thought to table selection.

For the most part shorthanded strategy seems to be a well-guarded secret of the poker elite. The standard limit books tend to treat it in a hand waving sort of way with platitudes like Treat UTG as if it were middle position and adjust around the boards accordingly All of the starting hand charts deal with full ring recommendations and nary a word is spared for shorthanded starters. Aside from weblogs I certainly haven't read much about the level of aggression-with-nothing you can expect to see shorthanded.

Upon scouring the web for shorthanded information, I have found a few great resources. The first is a number of articles by Jason Pohl on PokerPages. The dude should publish a book 'cause this is the best and most comprehensive selection of shorthanded advice that I have found to date.

Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, Back to Basics
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, Don't Wake a Sleeping Giant
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, Preflop Play (Part 1)
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, Preflop Play (Part 2)
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, Defending the Blinds
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, The Scary Small Blind (Part 1)
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, The Scary Small Blind (Part 2)
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, Adjusting to Real Players
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, The Powerful Turn Raise
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, A Secret About Winning
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, Flop Play (Part 1)
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, Flop Play (Part 2)
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, The Overcard Quandary (Part 1)
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, The Overcard Quandary (Part 2)
Jason Pohl: ShortHanded Hold'em, Varying Your Play

I also found a couple of book chapters on shorthanded play by King Yao of Hold'em Brain. These are in PDF form and aren't as math heavy as some of the Jason Pohl articles.

King Yao: Poker Brain, Shorthanded
King Yao: Poker Brain, Shorthanded Common Mistakes

That's what I have found. If you have any suggestions for my reading list, please leave a comment. I'm going to switch back to shorthanded, one table at a time for a little while. I'll switch to two tables once I feel comfortable with that.

Ice-ing on the Cake

2005-12-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

Mrs P-S-H here...

Now that hubby and I have a couple evenings set aside for his part-time poker work, I am more aware than ever that I want to make the best of "free" evenings. I doubt our London-life will be permanent, and I want to see everything -- experience everything while we can -- not just the inside of our flat. Besides, I've never been one to enjoy just staying home every night, anyway -- I am an extrovert, the life of the party and all that. I think that is part of the reason Colin married me, after all. I am great at doing the laundry and I can coordinate the social calendar too.

Needless to say (or maybe not), adding poker to our lives has been more than just a mild compromise for me. We've been through a lot of that, but when it gets down to the heart of it, doing any activity that is strictly indoor, money-oriented does not fit in with my value system. Until recently, I did not think it fit into my husband's value system either. When I met him, he told me stories about his rock climbing and mountain biking and skiing and camping days. He's been to Whistler with Sarah McLachlan once, but no mountain trips with me yet. We even asked for, and received, camping equipment for our wedding, not once used. So much for that hiking vacation to Switzerland. And as for his climbing gear? It's the heaviest, dustiest piece of luggage we moved from the States.

Sure he works behind a computer, but that is just a job; not who he is. Life -- the living part of it, anyway -- we always said, was about getting dirty, travelling, using your muscles, feeling the wind and the sun on your face, being healthy. We both agreed on two things: 1) having money just was a way to do the things we wanted to do; and 2) working should be something we enjoyed, regardless.

Then something about poker spoke to him, and in a way, he is falling into a new place, a new dimension. He and I have different views of it. It is gigantic learning curve for me, for both of us. Slowly, slowly I begin to understand it intellectually even as part of me continually rejects it; never has the money-work-live connection been more real. The numbers go up and down, the game is a chance, of luck, of skill, the perfect reflection of life.

My hubby always told me he never believed in luck. He hated it when said I was "lucky" that something happened. He didn't believe in those outside forces creating random pressures, sometimes known as the "Fates." Where you end up was a place of your own making. Nothing mystical about it at all.

I wonder what he thinks of luck now.

As for ice skating on Wednesday evening, it wasn't quite a bust. The rink was crammed, the ice was grubby and ungroomed; the blades on the skates so dull we couldn't do crossovers. I couldn't even demonstrate my gloriously rusty half-lutz. But for a short time, on a gorgeous London night in Corporate Disneyland, I held my husband's hand on the ice, felt the wind on my face and got out in the world. I saw him searching the crowd for me. He smiled and sped up clumsily as I waited for him to catch up. He caught me on the bum, wobbled a little bit, and we skated on.

Me: A few more times around and we can get out of here.

Him: Yeah, this is zoo. Like skating on a minefield. He let go of my hand, avoiding a guy in a suit who teetered, skipped, slithered, then finally splatted on his hands and knees. We wove around him and caught hands again.

Me: I am happy we came, and I don't mind you were right.

Him: Yeah, he laughed, it is nice to right once in a while.

His instincts are sharp; it's just that confidence thing. Good thing he has me... (-;

Donkeys on Ice!

2005-12-08T03:42:00.000-08:00

Last night Mrs. PokerSweetHome and I went out for dinner and some skating. Now you have to understand that we live in London where it rarely gets cold enough to form ice the natural way. Hell, you can't even get ice in your drinks.

We went because ice-skating in the heart of a large city is supposed to be romantic. The romance angle, in my opinion, is fuelled by the watching of too many Jimmy Stewart movies. How could stumbling around a few hundred square feet of ice with a couple hundred of your closest friends be romantic? I am a man of the male variety, so I guess I'm not qualified to give an opinion on what is and isn't romantic, but it's my (our) blog, and I can write what I like.

Skating here is confined to postage stamp sized artificially-cooled outdoor rinks. By Canadian standards I am not great on skates; by English standards I am God-like. Most everyone else were either on their butts or shuffling along like they were 105 years old, playing a role in a David Lynch film. I dodged the English-skate-wearing-pylons while Elizabeth glided around the rink backwards. (show-off!) There were a few great spills to add a little excitement and a pre-teen girl making high pitched bird noises apparently at the terror of setting foot on an icy surface. One day I'll take Elizabeth to Ottawa in the winter so we can do some proper skating on the Rideau Canal. (the worlds largest outdoor skating rink .. it's in the Guinness Book)

In poker news, I saved a couple of hands from a few nights ago. These are proof positive that I am a donkey. I can skate, but I'm a donkey.

I embarassed myself with the weakest, tightest most pathetic display of something-resembling-poker. I'm in a 12 step program now and sharing this hand with y'all is part of the "Admit you have a problem" step. Here it is ... please don't laugh too hard.

Position	Name	VP$IP	PFR	TA	Hands
UTG
UTG+1	PSH
UTG+2	Fly
MP1	LoPa	56.7	4.6	0.6	211
MP2	Rock	9.2	5.5	1.2	175
CO
Button
SB
BB
Pre-Flop
Cards to PSH
Pre-Flop Action	PSH calls, Fly calls, LoPa calls, Rock raises, PSH calls, Fly calls, LoPa raises, Rock calls, PSH calls, Fly calls
Pot	$13.50 (13.5 small bets)
Flop
Dealing Flop
Weak Tight Brain Says	Got away with that one. What a crappy loose call pre-flop K7s from early position what the fuck were you thinking?
Flop Action	PSH bets, Fly folds, LoPa raises, Rock raises, PSH folds
Tight Ag. Brain Says	What the fuck was that you pussy? You had two pair and backdoor nut flush draw and you fold on the flop.
Weak Tight Brain Says	... but there was a raise and re-raise. They must be on AA or KK. I'm afraid. Hold me.
Pot	$19.50 (19.5 small bets)
Turn
Dealing Turn
Tight Ag. Brain Says	Oooo .. now we would have had a full house. Satisfied?
Weak Tight Brain Says	Now I'm sure they are on AA or KK. You'll see. You'll be glad we saved those bets.
Turn Action	LoPa bets, Rock calls
Tight Ag. Brain Says	Look at all the action idiot. Now what do you think of your full house?
Weak Tight Brain Says	It must be a slop play. Very tricky. Glad I didn't fall for it!
Pot	$23.50 (11.75 big bets)
River
Dealing River
River Action	LoPa bets, Rock calls
Pot	$29.50 (14.75 big bets)
Results
LoPa Shows
Rock Shows
Rock collects $27.50 from the main pot
Tight Ag. Brain Says	Arrrrg! Tilt! Tilt! Tilt!

I just couldn't believe that I had folded. Before my brain could engage I'd already pushed the button. I was unbelievably pissed with myself, and the 7 on the turn just made things so much worse. After that hand I was so steamed that I started to over-compensate .. er .. tilt. Observe:

Position	Name	VP$IP	PFR	TA	Hands
UTG
UTG+1	PSH
UTG+2
MP1
MP2
CO
Button
SB
BB	Victim	32.6	11.5	1.75	98
Pre-Flop
Cards to PSH
Pre-Flop Action	PSH calls, Victim checks
Pot	$2.50 (2.5 small bets)
Flop
Dealing Flop
Weak Tight Brain Says	Oh well, missed the flop, we don't have odds to chase the straight. We should check / fold.
Tilt Brain Says	Kill the pig! Kill the pig! Kill the pig!
Flop Action	Victim bets, PSH raises, Victim raises, PSH caps, Victim calls
Pot	$10.50 (10.5 small bets)
Turn
Dealing Turn
Weak Tight Brain Says	For the love of God! Fold already!
Tilt Brain Says	Kill the pig! Kill the pig! Kill the pig!
Turn Action	Victim bets, PSH raises, Victim calls
Pot	$18.50 (9.25 big bets)
River
Dealing River
Weak Tight Brain Says	Oh God! Got lucky on that one. The nuts. I approve. You can bet now.
Tilt Brain Says	Kill the pig! Kill the pig! Kill the pig!
River Action	Victim checks, PSH bets, Victim calls.
Pot	$22.50 (11.25 big bets)
Results
Victim Mucks
PSH collects $21.50 from the main pot
Tilt Brain Says	Kill the pig! Kill the pig! Kill the pig!

At least nobody could call me weak/tight after that hand! OK, in the end I probably played it pretty well considering the Victim was a Donkey who refused to fold an underpair after relentless aggression. And I can't believe he stayed in with T5o.

Ah. I feel better now. Confession is good for the soul!

Tools and Tables

2005-12-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

This post is a bit of an idea medley. I want to discuss some of the tools that I have been using and I want to get some opinions on table selection, particularly shorthanded. Please leave comments. Hopefully we can get a good discussion going in the comments section that will benefit us all.

On my last post there were a few comments about the usefulness of PokerTracker and PokerAce HUD. I think it's worth some discussion. Personally, I think that the tools are well worth having in ring game play because in combination they help you model players in a general way. This guy is pretty loose; this guy is pretty tight. I can limp in front of the next few with some confidence 'cause they haven't raised in the last 75 hands. With as few as 20 recorded hands you can get a general feel for the players and the table.

As much as I like seeing the numbers on the screen, I think that it is dangerous to make poker decisions solely on that data. For example, folding to a continuation bet with an underpair just because it comes from a VP$IP=18,PFR=10 player would be a mistake. You might give this player a little more respect than a VP$IP=75,PFR=32 maniac, but it doesn't mean you should play your hand any differently.

Poker is a subtle and complex game, but sometimes you can make some very straight forward decisions, like stealing the blinds from a VP$IP=20,PFR=0 player is much more likely to succeed than stealing from a VP$IP=32,PFR=15 action junkie.

Personally, I think that PA HUD is worth the $20 just for flashing mucked cards on the screen after showdown. It can be very illuminating knowing what your opponent is willing to take to showdown. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen a K high flashed after I take down a pot on a scary board.

PokerTracker obviously has great value in analysing your own play and the play of opponents on whom you have enough hands. I don't think there is any debate about that. But what do y'all think about the PokerTracker / PA HUD combination while playing?

Table selection is another area in which I think PokerTracker / PA HUD shine, especially with sites like Party Poker that don't give you table VP$IP percentages (or equivalent) in the table list.

When I am selecting a full table I usually open up the maximum number that I can (10 on Party) starting from the top of the list ordered by pot size. I let those tables churn away for 15 or 20 minutes to gather some information on my opponents. Then I choose tables like this:

order tables in PA HUD by VP$IP
look at the highest VP$IP, if it has a relatively low PFR then go for it, provided it has a decent pot size. (usually will)
if two tables are close in VP$IP, choose the one with the lower PFR.
if two tables have about the same PFR, choose the one with the larger pot size.

So, in effect I am saying that VP$IP is more important than PFR which is more important than pot size. I think that is a reasonable way to choose full tables. So how about short handed? I had been doing basically the same thing. The more I read about short handedness and the value of aggression, the more I think that I had things a little backward. If aggression is valuable in and of itself, you want to find players who will lay hands down. The higher the VP$IP, the more people are getting involved with hands, and the really loose fish won't lay down any hand when they are involved in a pot. Especially if they get a piece of the flop.

I've had a revelation of sorts. I think that in short handed you want to find the weakest, least aggressive players as your first priority. The type that can lay down to a check-raise bluff on the turn. I guess the best player to meet short handed would be loose and weak, but tight weak is a close second. I used to think that I could get involved in these action packed 6-max games and lay low waiting for a big hand then strike. Nope. That makes me the ideal opponent for a super aggressive player. I can lay down AQ without a fight if I miss the flop. Can't do that in 6-max. You have to fight back. Not on every hand, but you can't lay every hand down fit-or-fold style either.

What do the bigger poker brains think? Is weakness more important than looseness in table selection at 6-max? How about at the full ring? Is looseness more important there? How do you select tables? How aggressive are you shorthanded?

Challenges, Home-Games and Blogger Fun

2005-12-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

We're making progress on the poker-life-balance issue. After lengthy discussion and some friendly advice from other bloggers we've decided to set up a schedule for my limit challenge. I am going to play two nights a week as well as on the weekend for a target of 12 hours per week. We'll see how it goes and adjust as necessary.

I've been on a bit of a downswing lately, to the point that whenever I sit down at a table I expect to dig a hole. Probably not the best mental attitude pre-poker, but that's how I feel.

After a losing session the other day I was bitching to Mrs. PokerSweetHome about my results. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "I haven't had a winning session in the last four times I've sat down."

Mrs. PSH: "I thought PokerTracker and that HUD thing were supposed to solve your problems?”

Me: "What? You can't be serious."

Mrs. PSH: "I just thought the new gadgets would stop you from losing."

Me (irritated): "It doesn't matter what I use, sometimes I'm going to lose .. Hell, sometimes I'm going to lose at multiple sessions in a row. Like I am now."

Mrs. PSH: "Ok. I guess so."

Me: "You know how frustrating that comment was, especially after a losing session?"

Mrs. PSH: "Yeah. Sorry."

I'm quite sure she gets it .. She’s a smart cookie and understands that sometimes you are going to lose in a game of chance no matter how well you play. I don't want to only talk to her about my poker when I win. I guess that would reinforce the notion that I can win all of the time. I want to be able to share all of my poker news: great wins, bad beats, poor play, down days and up days alike.

On Sunday we went grocery shopping and running errands in the morning. She had a jewellery party at friends in the afternoon, so that's when I was going to get in some poker. When she was getting ready to leave she was puttering about the flat and she said to me "Hey. Shouldn't you be starting work?” I was a little shocked to be honest. What a great choice of words! Work. Yes, it is work. I'm trying to be serious about it and I'm glad that Elizabeth is taking it seriously too. She sure is great.

In other poker news we hosted our regular home game on Friday. I really enjoyed my Tequila. I was second to go out (of 6) after several rebuys. Last time I just ran over this game. This time: nothing. I was relatively card dead and when I did get cards I just took the blinds or ran into better cards. It was Mrs. PSH who put me out of my misery when she 3-outer'd me on the turn.

She went on to finish in the money, so as a family we aren't total losers. I think that she played really well in the game. It's not an easy game: it can be quite aggressive and you have to be willing to steal and bluff if you want to stay ahead. She stone cold bluffed a few times with great success. I didn't even know what she was up to until she told me after the game was over. My wife is an excellent liar. I couldn't be more proud.

The 4th blogger USA vs. ROW tournament (my first) was Sunday night. Even though none of the bloggers finished in the money (sad, I know), the USA finally won one. Of course ROW were severely outgunned, as Acorn and I were the only internationals to play. I flamed out early pushing my small stack on KJd into AA and QQ. Acorn almost made it 4 in a row, but pushed with QQ and met a non-blogger with KK. Sir. Waffle needs to either get his deviated septum fixed or stop browsing porn at the tables. All the heavy breathing was turning me on and I couldn't concentrate on Poker. Quick shout out to Chipper whose Broncos failed to beat my beloved Chiefs. The AFC west is looking unbelievably strong with three teams at 8-4 or better.

This week I'm going to get some good hours in on the challenge and hopefully get the bankroll headed in the right direction again.

Nutcrackers, dwarves and acorns...

2005-12-04T14:34:00.000-08:00

Mrs P-S-H here...

Do you ever feel like you are really in the twilight zone?

Right now, I am sitting on the sofa in my flat in London with my laptop on my lap. You can guess what I am doing. I am writing. That's what I do for a living.

What is my hubby doing? He sitting across the room, playing poker. Not unusual, except we are being joined tonight with about 25 friends we have never met. My hubby always plays against real people, but lately, he's started chatting with them. It started with a few, two-letter comments in the built-in chats on the poker websites, like "nh" or "bb!," whatever those might mean. Then the other day he told me he was playing and was on the same table with another player and ended up chatting with her all evening.

Her!?

That specific incident was uninteresting, generally, except that he mentioned, earlier this week that there was a tournament planned for this weekend. U.S. against ROW (Rest of the World), a friendly tournament among bloggers. We were invited! And, he said, apparently we could talk over yahoo BT communicator with the other players while we played.

So, now can you guess what my hubby is doing right now?

I'll describe it: There's a small computer desk in the corner of our living room. A flat-screen panel monitor is pushed up against the wall. Colin is leaning back in his computer chair gazing at the monitor... and voices are floating from the small speakers on the desk. Well, most of the time it is voices. Sometimes it is just heavy breathing or coughing or a woman telling her daughter to put the toy back in the toybox, honey.

My husband is talking to his computer, and it is talking back. It talks to people like Dwarf and Acorn and Waffle and must be a builder or a construction worker because it talks about "hammers" alot. I think it has the Oedipus Complex because it is often using the word "motherfu**er."

A talking tournament sounds like a good idea, I suppose. A real across-the-world get-together between like-minded people. A friendly game made friendlier by technology that let's them talk to each other. But what do people who don't know each other, whose lives (I hope!) don't revolve around a poker game, and who otherwise would never meet, have to say to each other? As I sit here, I can tell you the answer -- not much.

My hubby and I were supposed to be playing the tournament together, but since he bought a microphone, we can't talk to each other now, can't collude on hands. Instead, I have given up, and I am just listening.

The other day, my hubby and I were in Leicester Square walking to the Tube and we saw a person dressed a teddy-bear-nutcracker waving and hugging children while parents snapped photos. My hubby and I glanced and watched as we walked by. My hubby says: "You know, why is it when a person suddenly dresses up in some costume, parents just let their kids go running up to them, hugging them, while they take photos? If that were just some stranger, a parent would never do that."

I nodded and said, "Looks like a great job for pedophiles."

I like stuffed teddy-bear nutcrackers and animated snowmen sliding in the snow. People dressed up in costumes of frosty snowmen and teddy-bear-nutcrackers out hugging children are a little scary.

Almost as scary as talking computers.

I look over. I think my hubby is out of the tournament. Yep, he is. But he is still listening and chiming in. I don't know what he is doing, but here is a sample of what he is hearing:

Hack hack... can't double you up anywhere. Can you beat king high?? Then why didn't you call? haha... motherfu**er.

Poker Life Balance: The Man-Voice

2005-12-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

If you haven't read it yet, Mrs. PokerSweetHome's first post will give you some background for my random musing. You've read it? Good. My turn. What do I think about our poker-life-balance issue? In a word, conflicted.

You see, I love my wife; I love spending time with her doing something or doing nothing at all. We're big time BFFs; we have similar taste in movies, we like to play golf and we both have a healthy sense of adventure. Sometimes we get on each others nerves. That's kind of like a bad-beat; it disturbs you, but you know it's a natural part of the game. I do love our time together, but I also need my own time, and I am obsessed with Poker.

Poker entered my consciousness in a big way last spring. I honestly can't remember how it started. I do remember playing a home game at some friends and talking a little about online play. At the time I hadn't tried it out. Hell, I hadn't even contemplated trying it out. Maybe it was the ever-present advertising on the side of London cabs. Party, Pacific and Stars embalzoned taxis, are everywhere. Maybe I saw one of the mammoth billboards in the tube.

All I know is that one night I logged on and sat down at the play money tables. It didn't take long for me to figure out that this was a collosal waste of time. For some strange reason, when the money isn't real everyone is all-in on every hand. Where's the fun in that? (I was playing NL at the time. I didn't even know what limit was!)

The next thing I know I have deposited $50 into Pacific and I burned through that in a few short sessions. I was hooked. As Elizabeth pointed out, I'm not much of a gambler. Poker, however, was different. I've studied enough math to understand, Gambler's Ruin so other forms of casino gambling weren't attractive to me. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the better poker players win money and the worse players lose money. If I wanted to continue with poker, I had to become a better player.

I started by browsing around on the web, scavenging for poker content. At first I found strategy articles and such at various affiliate sites. In hindsight, some of the advice is truly awful, but at the time it was better than knowing nothing at all. I tried all different forms of Hold'em, and one time I accidentally signed up for an Omaha High/Low Sit'n'Go. Talk about panic when the cards hit the felt.

"What the hell is this? Omaha? I don't know anything about Omaha. I scrambled to find some basic information on the web while I played my first $10 SNG in Omaha H/L. I was basically playing blind, only this time I knew it. I finished third for a $9 profit. I may have put some truly horrendous beats on people; I don't know, 'cause I wouldn't have recognized it if I had. But I digress.

I found my very first poker blog a short time later. The Poker Chronicles is the story of a cocky young gun from Ohio who quit school and quit his Home Depot job to play poker for a living. You won't learn much about how to play there, but it is an entertaining read. It was from him that I started to form the notion that I could make some money at this, but I was going to have to get serious about the game.

I started to read everything I could get my hands on: books, blogs and 2+2 forums. My first set of books were a gift from Mrs. PokerSweetHome for my birthday last spring. One of these books was Matthew Hilger's online limit hold'em book. This book started me on the path of the limit game. If my first book had been a guide to playing SNGs or NLHE, I might be embarking on an entirely different challenge. It's funny how these things work out.

The more I read, the more solid the idea became for me: I can make some money at this. Thinking about poker, not in terms of an enjoyable diversion, but rather a mission with profit potential, led me to re-evaluate some things.

The bottom line is: I am not happy in my job. Allow me to explain. I am a software professional working on large corporate distributed systems in Object Oriented languages, currently Java. I have been an independent contractor for about 8 years, having worked at a small software house for 7 years before that. I am currently at an investment bank in London, and I do make very good money. Once upon a time it was about the technology. I loved the challenge; I loved writing code and fixing problems. I tolerated the Corporate Environment, 'cause that's where the work was.

Lately, after a couple of pretty miserable contracts, the balance is tipping to where I don't enjoy the my work because of the Corporate Environment bullshit. I still have my moments, but for the most part I am currently working-to-live as opposed to living-to-work. I don't feel like the work that I am doing has any meaning.

Enter Mrs. PokerSweetHome. She and I have talked quite a bit about living a life of meaning. While I have talked the talk, she has been walking the walk. She is a very generous and giving person, and she loves to serve. She volunteers at a London soup kitchen two days a week, and I can see how good serving tea and scrubbing pots is for her soul. I haven't done anything like that because I have been too busy grinding away at a job, bringing home the bacon. (or the sausages, to be more regionally appropriate) We have been discussing a career change for me, and I do have some ideas.

I want to find a something fulfilling not just a career. I think that I would like to teach, but who can afford a 90% pay cut? I would also like to do something entrepreneureal. I'm a pilot and perhaps I could combine my love of flying with making a living. Maybe I could be a golf pro? Ideas? Of those, I have many. But if you are working in one field, how do you transition to another field where you will likely need some not-paid-for-training, still pay the bills, and not burn through all of your savings?

The answer, I think, might be Poker.

What if I could use poker to help fund such a life change, and provide a side income after taking a much-lower-paying-job? Other folks are making as much or more than my computer-job hourly rate playing poker, why can't I? I don't see any reason.

Becoming a Poker Professional isn't what I want to do. Even though I enjoy it I don't see it being any more (or less) meaningful than slogging away for the Fortune 100. I see my quest as a means to an end. I will be a Poker-Transitional-Semi-Professional. Try saying that 10 times fast.

So, Poker isn't just a game for me. Whenever I sit down at a table, I start to hum the Moses-and-the-Pharoah song Let my people go. For me, Poker is my ticket out. Poker == Freedom.

Where does this fit in our home life? That's the $64000 question. All my life I have been sacrificing the now for a better future. Long hours at school for a better job. Long hours at the job for a better life. I guess that I see my Poker playing, as long as it is serious, as more of the same. Long hours at the tables to make a life change that we both want. As Mrs. PokerSweetHome says, I can be pretty single-minded when I have a goal. I know this about myself. I am obsessive. We have to find a way for this to work for both of us. We have to live in the now as well as plan for the future. I know all of this, and Elizabeth knows all of this and I am confident that we will make this work together: for life and for love. Wish us luck.

Speaking of fickle mistresses...

2005-12-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

Mrs. P-S-H here...

I was on the road back to London Tuesday... I didn't get to read my hubby's recent posts until today.

Funny thing about word choice.

He called me last Friday night... he'd been out with the guys having a few beers. Pubs in Englad don't exactly serve food; well, they do, but it isn't tradition to eat while you drink. My hubby was pretty buzzed when he got home and ravenous.

We talked while he pulled food from the fridge. It was still afternoon in Iowa. He was lovely and sweet. I suggested maybe he shouldn't play poker in his condition. He agreed that was probably a good idea.

But he hung up and it was early and he was itchy and he is faithful to me. What other mistress is there? Why not play the Prima tournament and see how it goes? Meanwhile I am writing him a love letter...

He won $610! Yeah! We cheered together when he told the next day on the phone. That's great honey. But I was confused.

Me: I thought it was limit ring games you were playing for the challenge? How does this tournament figure in?

Him: It doesn't. That was just for fun. I am down in the challenge.

Me: Oh. But I thought you said you were going to play a certain number of hands, a certain number of hours--

Him: But you weren't here!

Mistress, indeed.

You know, he and I have talked about this alot. It won't break us. But it isn't something I am comfortable with, or something I am comfortable with being the bad guy about either. Western culture likes their lines black and white. Heckfire, poker is an ol' west tradition! I may as well be wearing the black ten gallon hat with my face on a wanted poster. If only it were that simple.

What Would You Do? continued ...

2005-11-30T08:47:00.000-08:00

Last post I posed a number of hand questions and invited comments. Thanks for all of the great responses. Some of the hands had a consensus; on other hands opinions were wildly divergent. These were representative of some of the problems that I was faced with in my last round. I took a good hard look at them and decided that there was a theme. Position, position, position.

I apologise if this stuff is obvious, but I'm still on the poker learning curve and it helps me to work through these things on cyber-paper. Thank you for indulging me.

1. You are in late position with 55, there is one limper in front of you and four to act behind you (including the blinds). Do you call, raise or fold?

Consensus: Split between Raise, Fold and Call

The math for small pairs is pretty easy. I either need to be heads up in which case I am slightly better than a coin toss unimproved (assuming my opponent has two random overcards), or I need a crowd so I have odds to hit try for my set. In this case, I can't be guaranteed either because I am out of position. I may be able to raise and drive everyone else out and get HU with the limper, but in a loose game like the one I described it's doubtful. If I limp, then I may get a crowd behind me. Of course I may not which would make this -EV. Worse than that I may get raised and end up facing one or two opponents while I am dominated. I think this is a fold due to position.

2. You are in middle position with JQs. One of the loose players who fires at most pots has raised. What do you do?

Consensus: Fold (with the wildman Chipper calling)

This happened to me the other day. A player acting two before me entered about two-thirds of the pots and about half of those with a raise. Since I was acting behind him most of the time I ended up laying down great drawing hands in a loose passive game because some donkey was raising with T3o. The lesson here (which I didn't learn at the time), is that position relative to other players is as important as position relative to the button. In this case I think it was more important. It was -EV for me to sit to the left of that donkey; I didn't do what I should have which was find another table, or switch seats. If I was sitting on the other side of this guy, the game and my EV would have been very different.

3. You are on the BB with 89s. The pot was raised and cold called by three more players. You call for one more bet stopping the action. The five see the flop of 962 rainbow. Do you check or bet?

Consensus: Split between Check/Fold, Check/Call, Bet and possibly Check/Raise

How quickly positional advantage changes when in the blinds. Before the flop I had acted last and got a good, but not good enough flop. Now I have to act first and probably want to take the wimpy way out in a raised and crowded pot. I think I have to check/fold if it's raised and check/call if it comes back with just one bet and I am confident it won't be check-raised behind me.

4. You are in early position with AKs. You raise and are called by one other player and the BB. The flop comes J78 rainbow. The BB checks and you bet. Both call and the turn comes 2 (of the fourth suit). The BB checks and you bet again. Both players call. The river comes another 2. The BB checks. What do you do?

Consensus: Mostly Bet, Some Check/Fold

Here I am with good overcards that didn't hit. I've been firing at the pot and that hasn't worked out. Now my position is the killer element. Another bet is likely wasted. If I don't bet I show my weakness and may end up folding to an inferior hand that bluffs into me. In late position in the same situation I am almost guaranteed a free showdown.

5. You are in middle position with TJo. There are two limpers before you and you limp. Everyone else folds and the BB checks. The flop comes 257 rainbow. Everyone checks to you. What do you do?

Consensus: Split between Bet and Check/Fold

The low rainbow probably didn't help anybody else out either. Since I have position I might as well take a stab at the pot, especially if I have a read on the other players as weak/tight. I would keep firing until I met resistance. Even passive resistance, like a call on the flop and turn would worry me. In that case I see the river for free if it the turn is checked back to me. Most of the time I win this one unless I get callers and they catch a card. (Or I'm against a have a fish that won't lay down his pair of twos)

6. You are in the BB with AJo. The one player limps and a tight middle player raises. Everyone else folds and you call as does the limper. Three players see the flop of A72. You bet, the limper calls and the pre-flop raiser raises. What do you do?

Consensus: Check/Call

I may be dominant and facing an isolation raise with the best of it. I probably need to call here and check / call the turn and river unless the situation changes. Again, I am out of position after the flop and I am forced to play defence.

7. Same as 6, except after the flop you bet, the limper raises and the pre-flop raiser re-raises. What do you do?

Consensus: Check/Call

Here's a case where first position helped out. Chances are I am beat with a raise and re-raise out there. By betting first I am effectively last to act when the real money hits the table. If I were the middle player with the same cards I would probably have raised and been re-raised, and I would likely see the turn for three small bets with three (or less) outs. In the BB I get away from the hand for the low, low price of one small bet.
I guess the moral here is that if that early position is superior to middle position for an information bet. (since everyone is left to act behind me, duh!)

Fun Poker Reading

If you haven't read it and you have a few hours to kill I can recommend the Tiltboys Six Sigmas Out, vegas trip report Here's a snip about laying down the most horrendous beat:

Here's a typical example from one time when Dave and I were traveling in London and we stopped at one of the card clubs to see what poker was like in the U.K. (at least this is how I remember it ;-):

Diceboy and a Brit are head's up on the river in a hand which the Brit raised preflop under the gun. Flop had come AA2, turn 2, river 2. Dave leads into him every round, the guy raises every time, and Dave calls, except the river which he reraises. The Brit now is thinking what to do.

Dave: You have an ace? I thought so. I started 3-2 off, and just sucked out, so you should probably fold. Unless you want to donate, in which case you should probably raise again.

Brit: [frown]

Dave: Ahh, that frown is a tell. I think you are going to fold. Nice laydown.

Brit: Listen up you young hooligan, you might be able to get away with coffeehousing in the colonies, but here in Great Britian we frown on that sort of thing.

Dave: Aha! I put you on a stuffy British attitude. I just won another 5 pounds in a side bet with my friends. I could tell just by looking at you that I was locked.

Brit: [tilt]. Raise!

Dave: Well, I guess you've got me. I should probably lay down, but instead I'll pop it back once more. If you call, I'll muck though. I'll even show you one card. [exposes the 3]. If you have pocket aces, you should raise.

Brit: [mega tilt]. I raise, you imbecilic twit.

Dave: Did you know that 'imbesilic' and 'besilic' actually mean the same thing? The cabbie on the way here told me. I'll just call.

Brit: [flips over AK]

Dave: Nut full house no good! Runner-runner quad deuces! [flips the 2, does his body-builder's clench]. Grrrrrr!!!

Brit: [hard power tilt, wings the cards at Dave and says] How can you bet and call me the entire way with that fucking trash, you bloody fool?!?!?!

Dave: Didn't anyone tell you? I live about six sigmas out on the tail of the normal distribution. My adjusted odds makes me a 3-1 favorite to win with 2-3 offsuit. I can't believe you called me with AK suited.

Floorman: [Hears the Brit screaming and comes over]. I'm sorry sir, but we have strict rules against throwing cards and using profanity here. I'm afraid I'm going to have to have you removed.

Brit: [froths at the mouth and screams unintelligible profanities at the top of his lungs as the security guards drag him out]

Dave: [to the rest of the table]: Geez, that guy should take it easy, he could burst a blood vessel in his brain. Kinda reminds me of the time I was in India and was playing a no-limit karmic freezout with the Dalai Lama. Good player, the Dalai, but has a tendency to go on tilt. So anyway, I put him all-in with 3-2 and snapped his pocket kings. He wanted to pay me cash instead of karma, but I didn't fall for that trick. I've got good karma for the next twenty years now. So I've got that going for me...

Also, check this site out for a poker-ghost-story from Liverpool in the UK. The tomb pictured below has a man sat-to-rest at a card table with a winning poker hand.

What Would You Do?

2005-11-30T02:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a hypothetical situation. You are sitting at a table on Party (full ring, limit, 1/2) and your the table has a VP$IP of 35. There are individual VP$IP in a range from 8 to 65. The table is mostly passive with PFR of about 5. There are a couple of more aggressive players at the table and you have a seat where they generally act before you.

Here are some hand examples. Leave a comment and tell me what you do. Try to justify / explain your reasoning:

1. You are in late position with 55, there is one limper in front of you and four to act behind you (including the blinds). Do you call, raise or fold?

2. You are in middle position with JQs. One of the loose players who fires at most pots has raised. What do you do?

3. You are on the BB with 89s. The pot was raised and cold called by three more players. You call for one more bet stopping the action. The five see the flop of 962 rainbow. Do you check or bet?

4. You are in early position with AKs. You raise and are called by one other player and the BB. The flop comes J78 rainbow. The BB checks and you bet. Both call and the turn comes 2 (of the fourth suit). The BB checks and you bet again. Both players call. The river comes another 2. The BB checks. What do you do?

5. You are in middle position with TJo. There are two limpers before you and you limp. Everyone else folds and the BB checks. The flop comes 257 rainbow. Everyone checks to you. What do you do?

6. You are in the BB with AJo. The one player limps and a tight middle player raises. Everyone else folds and you call as does the limper. Three players see the flop of A72. You bet, the limper calls and the pre-flop raiser raises. What do you do?

7. Same as 6, except after the flop you bet, the limper raises and the pre-flop raiser re-raises. What do you do?

Poker, Ye are a Fickle Mistress

2005-11-28T02:36:00.000-08:00

Well, the Poker Gods lined me up and gave me a good swift kick to the junk. The challenge had been going well. I was over half way to my next level (2/4) and feeling good, then Sunday happened. I lost almost all of my hard earned gain in the worst run of my life.

I suspect that I was tilting towards the end and donked off a little more than I had to, but I honestly can't remember making too many terrible decisions.

The highlight for me was a hand which was capped pre-flop between myself and another player. One more was along for the ride. I was on QQ, and I put my capping opponent on another big pair. The flop brought my Q and we capped again. The straggler was calling every bet; no idea what he had. We bet hard right to the end and built an enormous pot. The result? The straggler runner-runner'd for a flush holding 2s5s. The other guy was on AA. If that won't tilt ya, I don't know what will.

So. Time for a change of pace. I think the variance of shorthanded-on-Party is a little too much for me right now. If you have three people drawing on you and you only have top pair, one of them is going to hit. I'm going to change my game to full tables, still 1/2 limit. We'll see how it goes.

On a positive note I had my best ever money finish in a Prima tournament on Friday night. I had a little bonus money sitting in Crazy Poker and decided to give the $35+3, $7500 guaranteed a go. I was a little drunk at the time, and it was probably a bigger tournament than I would have entered cold sober. I had the good sense to fold my way through about half the tournament when I doubled up with AA. I was still pretty short and took another big pot with a semi-bluff all-in with middle pair from the BB. Then I was rolling.

I was about 5 places from the back of the pack when we entered the money. My big hand was KK vs. QQ against the chip leader. He didn't improve and I was about third in chips. A couple of hands later the same guy shoved UTG. He had about a third of my chips and it was folded to me on the button. I called and he flipped 33 vs. my 66. I thought I was probably going to be in a race, but it turns out I had him dominated. It probably wasn't the best call on my part, but it sure did work out and suddenly I was the chip leader entering the final table.

I think I played my big stack pretty well as the table dwindled down to four. The hand that took us from 5 to 4 saw me slip into second in chips as one of the middle stacks took out another to pass me. I was still in fine shape until I made a big bet with QQ from the button. The BB shoved and I called. He had AKo and won the race. That crippled me and not too much later I was out in fourth (of 218 starting) for $610.

Not the best way to end it. It never is unless you win, but I'm happy with my finish and very happy with the cash.

The Poker bankroll has never been better, even with the junk kicking session on Sunday. The Challenge? Well, that's still a challenge.

Here are the Challenge stats:

Challenge Bank Roll: $531.30
Change to Bank Roll Since Last Post: ($224.40)
Current Game: Party Poker LHE 1/2, 6-max (two tables)
BB/100 for Current Game: 0.15
Hands Played Since Last Post: 6073
Hands Played At This Game: 10541
Hands Played in Challenge: 10541

Far away... Love Letter to my husband

2005-11-25T00:03:00.000-08:00

Mrs. P-S-H again...

I am in Iowa now, thousands of miles from him.

I am listening to something funny -- ABBA's "Fernando" -- on my MP3 in the quiet night in my parents' house. It sounds different when they sing it inside your ears... like they are caressing the inside of your mind with the electric music and female harmonies. It is intimate in a way that nothing else is.

He called me this afternoon. It was the end of his evening, after 10, leaving the pubs early, but still qualifying for a drunk dial. His voice was soft, warm, like the insides of the sheets on a Sunday morning. The afternoon light was just dying in the Midwest, but I feel the night-ness of London, the grim silence of the Bakerloo line passengers ... how it isn't really silent when you have a few pints in you... the buzz is audible inside your ears all the way to Warwick Avenue Station.

I could hear him scavenging in the refrigerator as we talked.

Me: Didn't you eat anything after work?

Him: Loud clunking, sliding glass jars over shelves. Door slam. Hey! he shuffled the words over his thickened lips. What country do you think I live in? There's no eating. I had pizza at lunchtime.

I can count the pints in the sound of his voice. He is giggly, ravenous, and slightly lecherous, in his schoolboy way. Not very drunk. No more than four pints, an easy night out after work with his blokes, the ones who are married-with-children and can't hit it quite as hard as they used to.

I got away from London for a couple weeks, to celebrate my American holiday with my family. Funny thing, I realized: I left my family behind in London.

He's back there, in that little flat, carving out some kind of place in this new -- what is the word? Job? Hobby? Fad? Not really right. What is poker for my husband and our little family? Maybe just a phase, or maybe a destination.

When I met him, he talked about wanting to fly. He'd always wanted to get his pilot's license. He was working a job that made him crazy ... falling out of an old life he wasn't sure yet how to shed. We met on purpose and discovered -- like the sweetnest nut inside the hardest shell -- we were both the type who looked up at the sky and saw a place we could reach. We always had before, so why would now be different, if we did it together?

Maybe I didn't need to encourage him to start the flying lessons. But when it started, I saw the measure of my love. I saw what this man could do, when he wanted to really do something. He took a book or two, and a headset and a guy named Dan, and soon, very soon, he was up there. Pretty soon, I was up there, too, with him.

I wondered if maybe I had found and landed the man who was Jack from the fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk." Who else could take a few beans and find golden eggs in the sky? And I wondered how anyone else could have ever let him get away.

How does he do it? I can't answer that. We hardly ever take the same kind of transportation to get anywhere. Our speeds our different. You can hear that in the sound of our voices. Our tools are shaped differently. But we both like to read. We try to keep our minds are open.

He and I read a book by Rinker Buck called Flight of Passage. I bought it for him at the obsequious Barnes and Noble one hot, humid afternoon before we were married. I still owned my own house then; he had that apartment in the suburbs. This book, it doesn't tell our story, but tells the universal one: success is pressing through one leg of the journey at a time, with the help of all the good, kind people you meet along the way.

It's late in Iowa, almost late enough that soon I could call him and wish him an early good morning, but I won't. Unless I am there, he'll always sleep late on Saturdays. As for me, I wake up early everyday, with or without him. Just to miss him, or to move closer against him.

The Isolation Raise

2005-11-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

In my introductory post, which was only a few posts ago I wrote: "I'm not going to attempt to impart poker wisdom or run a poker school; there are plenty of better-qualified poker bloggers for that." It's true. There are better qualified bloggers out there, but I can't resist an opportunity to pump up my fragile male ego by showing the world that I know something. Besides, I have been inspired by veteran bloggers Scurvy and Mark and their excellent posts on the subjects of protecting good but weak hands and value betting, so if you waste 10 minutes on my mindless drivel, you can blame them.

My topic is The Isolation Raise which I have been thinking about quite a bit, especially in my 6-max play. I folded the best hand in a couple of pots during a session last weekend and that crystallized my thinking on this subject. Here is one of those hands:

Position	Name	VP$IP	PFR	TA	Hands
UTG	LAg	72.18	12.59	3.24	152
UTG+1
CO
Button	TAg	26.18	10.23	2.36	97
SB
BB	PSH
Pre-Flop
Cards to PSH
Pre-Flop Action	LAg bets, UTG+1 folds, CO folds, TAg raises, SB folds, PokerSweetHome calls, LAg calls
Pot	$6.50 (6.5 small bets)
Flop
Dealing Flop
Brain Says	Not a bad result: top pair with a good kicker.
Flop Action	PokerSweetHome bets, LAg calls, TAg raises, PokerSweetHome calls, LAg calls
Pot	$12.50 (12.5 small bets)
Turn
Dealing Turn
Brain Says	Ok. That's a scary card. I may still be ahead, but the raise in the last round from the TAg was worrying. Could he be on AQ, or QJ?. I have to bet to find out where I am in this hand.
Turn Action	PokerSweetHome bets, LAg raises, TAg raises, PokerSweetHome folds, LAg calls
Brain Says	Well, that didn't go well. I must be behind and so I fold.
Pot	$26.50 (13.25 big bets)
River
Dealing River
River Action	LAg checks, TAg bets, LAg calls
Pot	$30.50 (15.25 big bets)
Results
TAg Shows
LAg Mucks
TAg collects $29.50 from the main pot

Now the question is, was I correct to fold facing two big bets from a player that I respected? I think that I was, and that is what makes his play so masterful. He was correct to raise with a weak holding; he isolated a weaker player, and he made my decision to fold correct as well. A call here from him and I am definitely calling the LAgs bet (or maybe raising). The thing is that on his turn raise I couldn't rule out his holding a J and raising for value. I knew the TAg didn't respect the initial raise but I also knew he knew that he would get a call and possibly a raise from the LAg. I couldn't just call here, because I knew that I could be facing a cap behind me and more action on the river. Stuck in the middle, folding was the only option with my good but vulnerable hand.

EV Math - Calling
Assuming the cheapest finish to the hand: I call 2 bets, the LAg calls and we all see the river for 1 big bet each. The total in the pot is $36.50, and my contribution is $12.00.
The question is, what is my break even point here? In percent, it is $12.00 / ($36.50 - $1 rake), so to make the call correct, I have to believe that I am ahead and I will stay ahead 34% of the time. With that scary board and 2 opponents I would say that I am good at most 20% of the time, which makes the call -EV.

If I had capped (which I might have done as a semi-bluff against a weaker player) I would have been announcing to the world that I did indeed have the J and the TAG could have shut down and mucked. In this situation I don't think a cap would have been +EV for me as I had to believe that one of them had a Jack. It turns out that his raise had yet another purpose: establishing where he was in the hand against another good player.

So, what are the conditions for an isolation raise? I will try to enumerate them here. Please post a comment if you agree / disagree, or if you think of another.

You have been bet into. It is better to have been bet into by a loose player, but I think that the isolation raise will work equally well with a TAg. In short, I don't think it matters too much who the player is that puts in the initial bet; you are more interested in the players following you.
You have a good but vulnerable holding. (If you have a made hand, then you are raising more for value than for isolation, but it is the same move)
There are good and/or weak players left to act behind you. This is the key. If you have two players behind you and they have been cold calling everything with any two cards, then the isolation raise is of little value. Your goal is to make the players behind you fold drawing hands or better hands than your own. If your targets won't fold, then don't waste the bet.

One of the things that attracts me to Limit Hold'em is the complex and subtle thinking that goes into some of the decisions. We Limit players take a lot of grief from the No-Limit diehards, and while our game isn't one of big balsy bluffs it isn't a mechanical game either. Thousands of sound decisions in a row make a limit player a winner. Make even a small percent of them wrong and you can turn from a winner to a break even player, or even a loser. What a game! What a challenge!

So, what do you think? Was my fold a donkey move, or do you buy my analysis? Also, how was my first foray into the world of strategy posting?

This is the first time I have used my rich-format-hand-history. I'm using the PokerTracker stats for VP$IP (Money Voluntarily In Pot %), PFR (Pre-Flop Raise %) and TA (Total Aggression) for the key players in the hand. I'm also including the number of hands that I have on those players, so you have a read on how confident you can be in the other numbers. I hope that gives a little more context. Let me know what you think.

Rag, bag or hag? A challenge of another kind...

2005-11-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

Mrs. P-S-H here...

You know, I did it. I took my brilliant hubby to the Midwest, to meet my parents. My parents are nice Midwestern parents. They live in a small city on a big river in the middle of a rural state, surrounded by corn fields. They are retired and they like to throw some money -- mainly pennies -- in the nearby docked Isle of Capri slot machines.

So I go with them when I am home visiting. We've always liked to play games, and those funny Cops 'n' Donuts or Money Storm bonuses on those machines, well, gee... they are fun!

My sweet hubby, he never cared much for casinos, least of all the slot machines with their awful percentages tipping heavily toward the house. When we first started dating-- well, I don't know. I guess he loved being with me. He'd go with us to the boat. He didn't drag after us to the noisy machines, but plugged away at the blackjack table. He'd get lucky for a while, then the cards would go cold another time. I'd come back, half-hour or more later, to check on the progress. Truth is, I'd peer at his chip stack from 20 feet away, out of his line of sight first, to be sure I wouldn't interrupt a string of luck. If he was low, I'd swoop in to hopefully help recover his luck and his money.

You see, I keep thinking that I did it. I got him moving money around in chip form... Sure he'd take a token trip to Vegas on a stag weekend, played a poker game here or there with friends. But my hubby hardly seemed the type to fall into the unsavory world of gambling.

Unsavory... that's a funny word. He and I use the word "savory" around our place to mean "salty snack" usually, or at least, "something yummy, yet not sweet." So would gambling, with that "un-" in unsavory, mean "snack, not salty?" No, probably more like "something NOT yummy, yet not sweet?" As my husband started to slowly, slowly acquire poker books and accessorizing himself with hold-'em lingo, I started to guess it was the latter.

It didn't start in a nice big house, with his-and-her offices. We are in London, after all. Our flat is small. His mega-computer is crowded in a corner, huddled with the stereo equipment and the TV. It is there, like a humming, solid-state turd, in the one room we have to relax in together, the square monitor unblinking. It seems always in the corner of my eye, the digitized green felt and the disembodied cowboy voice suddenly proclaiming: "FOLD!"

Playing on that computer wasn't like a Friday night poker game... send him off and out the door and I have the place to myself to take a bath, listen to music, read, or invite friends over. He wasn't off socializing and smoking stogies and winning or losing a few quid over a friendly tournement. He was always there, yet suddenly it was broken time together, when I couldn't be alone, and he wasn't available. There he was, staring at the wall, effectively. Talking never became so one-sided.

Me: Hey, honey, what do you want to do about dinner? Are you getting hungry? (I am sitting about 10 feet away, on the couch, watching TV. The TV is muted though. I am a loud person. I don't have a soft voice. I come from a big Catholic family.)

Him: (He stares at the screen. The sound is low. All I hear is the low shuffle of cards. Two tables are open. I watch him stare, hunched, at the screen. He doesn't appear to have heard me at all.)

Me: Hello?

Him: (He stares at the screen for another half second. But, then, it is as if I can see the word "hello" travelling through the air and actually landing in his ear. He suddenly blinks and turns his head to me, a man as if from sleep.) Hello. (He is distracted and he turns his face immediately back to the screen.)

Me: Hello?! Did you hear me? Can I talk to you right now?

Him: (I have given him the official clue sentence. He straightens his back and clicks one-two-three and in a few minutes he has finished his hand and is sitting out of the tables. Yet, seven minutes have passed in order for me to get his attention long enough just to ask a question. When I call him at work, there is no such delay.) Sure, go ahead. (He rubs hands over his tired eyes and glances back at the screen. In a minute he'll turn away from me altogether to click and close or just generally fiddle with the screen. I just wait and wonder.)

My husband has been playing poker since the spring. I have been playing poker since I was seven. It isn't a matter of not knowing. I learned Seven-Card No-Peek at age eight. I know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. I can shuffle better than anyone I know and learned it well. So this challenge walks the line for me.

How can I fault devotion to a game I love? I like watching the tournaments on TV. I like playing in poker games myself. But watching him get swallowed up, succumbing to his interest, so focused, with real money, computerized poker, frightens me. I have to know: while he is over at the computer, puzzling over pot odds and off suits, where does it all fit for us? Why don't I feel it fitting for me, and how do we make that work? Because he doesn't do things halfway and he wants to approach this challenge seriously. If he is thinking about it seriously, then so am I. This isn't just a game.

He may spin the numbers and play the hands, but this challenge is bigger than the game: for us, suddenly, this is a life change. He started it, rolled into it like a tiny hobby and tried to pretend it was all in fun. But my hubby doesn't just do something halfway. When he is gone, he is really gone. The trick is to get us both there, together, for fun and love, on the terms that work for both of us.

We haven't got that part all sorted out yet.

I've Made A Buddy

2005-11-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

I was able to spend quite a bit of time at the tables this weekend as Mrs. PokerSweetHome was back in Iowa visiting her folks. It was a bit of a rollercoaster, but the general trend was up. Stats are posted below.

One of the highlights for me was the time I spent with the most bizare maniacs that I have rubbed virtual shoulders with. The formula of his preflop play was pretty easy to deduce as it was (almost) identical every time. It went something like this ... If he already had money in the pot (on the blinds) it was an automatic raise. If he was re-raised on either of the first two betting rounds he would re-raise and ultimately it would get capped. If he wasn't on the blinds he would either raise or fold. If he raised, and was reraised ... well you get the picture. Anyway, pretty much any hand that he was in was capped on the cheap rounds. After the turn his betting patterns were less predictable. He would only go to showdown on a hand he had some confidence in. Otherwise, he fold instead of checking or he would cap the turn and fold the river if he was acting first. Truly mind boggling. At least he ticked the box of not being predicable! He's now at the top of my buddy list on Party.

I managed to take a big pot from him holding KK in the BB. Here's what the hand looked like. I haven't finished my rich-format-hand-history-extractor, so this is vanilla Party text. (with names changed to protect the innocent)

$1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Saturday, November 19, 18:40:55 EDT 2005
Table Table 65202 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: UTG+1 ( $49.50 )
Seat 2: CO ( $35.29 )
Seat 3: Button ( $37.50 )
Seat 4: Maniac ( $87.10 )
Seat 5: PokerSweetHome ( $50.75 )
Seat 6: UTG ( $78 )
Maniac posts small blind [$0.50].
PokerSweetHomeposts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to PokerSweetHome [ Ks Kd ]
UTG folds.
UTG+1 folds.
CO folds.
Button raises [$2].
Maniac raises [$2.50].
PokerSweetHome raises [$3].
Button calls [$2].
Maniac calls [$1].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2h, Qc, 7d ]
Maniac bets [$1].
PokerSweetHome raises [$2].
Button folds.
Maniac raises [$2].
PokerSweetHome raises [$2].
Maniac calls [$1].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4s ]
Maniac bets [$2].
PokerSweetHome raises [$4].
Maniac raises [$4].
PokerSweetHome raises [$4].
Maniac calls [$2].
** Dealing River ** [ 6c ]
Maniac bets [$2].
PokerSweetHome raises [$4].
Maniac calls [$2].
PokerSweetHome shows [ Ks, Kd ] a pair of kings.
Maniac doesn't show [ Qh, 8h ] a pair of queens.
PokerSweetHome wins $43 from the main pot with a pair of kings.

Here are my stats for the weekend:

Challenge Bank Roll: $755.70
Change to Bank Roll Since Last Post: $254.39
Current Game: Party Poker LHE 1/2, 6-max (two tables)
BB/100 for Current Game: 2.86
Hands Played Since Last Post: 2756
Hands Played At This Game: 4468
Hands Played in Challenge: 4468

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

2005-11-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, make that two steps back. After steady-as-you-go progress in my first two sessions, I took a thumping at the hands of the bad beat stick. Having said that, I don't think that it was only bad beats, although I did take more than my fair share of river-ings in large pots. I think that I have to plug a couple of leaks in my low-limit-on-party game. I am playing pretty well on the last two streets: extracting extra bets where appropriate, shutting down when I think that I am beat. My problems, I think, are before and after the flop. Mostly I think that I am playing pre-flop pretty well. I should however, step up the aggression.

Here are some of the leaks I think that I have:

I find myself limping with pairs 66 to TT, which I think is wrong. Any pair from 66 up should be a raise or fold situation if there aren't a couple of limpers in front of you. (remember, this is 6-max, not full ring)
I should be playing my somewhat premium cards more aggressively. Raise on KQs or QJs? What about KQo? I think that I should be raising these whenever I am first to enter the pot, with the intention to shut down after the flop if I don't hit. (or make a continuation bet if I am in late position with checks in front of me) Same goes for suited As down to A8 and down to AT unsuited.
I have to pay more attention to calling stations. I can't semi-bluff them off of a pot with a middle pair or a strong draw. Play the player. I have had some success with the occasional check raise bluff in the face of a continuation bet from a rock, but I find myself trying this on a LAG or a calling station. They won't lay it down. I know that. They have a pair of 3s and they are going to the river with it. Who's the donkey. I'm the donkey.
I don't seem to be able to believe the chasing math at 6-max. When the pot is small and I'm chasing a flush or OES draw I need to be able to lay it down. The odds aren't there and I need to realize it. I think that this is a hangover from full tables where the odds are almost always there to chase 8 outs or better. 6-max is a big-card game. If I don't connect with the flop I should be laying down most of the time. (of course if there are 5 or 6 seeing the flop, the odds are definitely there, and are likely to be there on the turn as well)
It always amazes me when players fold to a bet on the river after check/calling other streets (and even raising the flop). I should pay more attention to this stat in PokerAce Hud. A bet on the river seems to win quite a few pots with medium holdings. (at least at this level, on this site)
I shouldn't play tired. I have seen this on many a blog: when I get stuck I want to stick around and get my money back, even though my mind isn't working as well as it would if I were fresh. I have to find the discipline to hang it up when I am not firing on all cylinders. Also, if I'm not up to it, I shouldn't sit down in the first place. Sleep, donkey, sleep.

I would love to get insight from other 6-max players .. what do you think of my ramblings above?

Here are my stats for the session:

Challenge Bank Roll: $501.31
Change to Bank Roll Since Last Post: ($78.39)
Current Game: Party Poker LHE 1/2, 6-max (two tables)
BB/100 for Current Game: 0.04
Hands Played Since Last Post: 804
Hands Played At This Game: 1712
Hands Played in Challenge: 1712

First Challenge Update

2005-11-16T13:45:00.000-08:00

Ok. Here goes, my first challenge update. I have played an average of 3 hours a night for the last two nights. Poker tracker tells me that I am up just shy of $80. Not a bad start. I have a couple of hand histories that I would like to share, but that will have to wait for a while. This weekend I am planning to write a little application that will spit out an HTML formatted hand history given a game id (Party Poker hand number). The goal is to come up with a format that gives a little more context for a each hand. For example, I am planning to give the VP$IP, PFR, and Total Aggression stats for each player as well as the number of hands that I have seen with them. I will be keeping the players anonymous since I will be posting some of their stats. Hopefully I will have some hand history posts after the weekend.

The last two nights weren't stellar by any means. I had a number of calls where I berated my donkey moves. By shaming myself with name calling I am trying to plug some donkeyish leaks in my game. Generally my leaks amount to wishful thinking such as calling on draws where I don't have odds.

Last night I ran really well to start, then I got cold decked and bad beaten into submission. At one point I was down below my starting point. (after being up about $40 the day before) Then I went on an incredible rush of hands and found myself up (overall) about $50. Things settled down to more normalish cards and I managed to creep up to +$80 before I quit.

Some random musings:

PokerTracker / PokerAce HUD: If you don't use these, you are at risk of being a donkey. I didn't use them until I started this challenge and I was (and still may be) a certifiable poker donkey. Now, before I start a session on Party I start up 10 6-max tables, start the import to PokerTracker and start PA-HUD. I have PA-HUD configured to show VP$IP, PFR and pot size for the table in the PA-HUD window. Then I go off and do something else for half an hour. When I come back table selection is a snap.

Tables: I am regularly finding tables with VP$IP of 50-65. Good God! At those tables I find one or two players at the average (50ish), usually at least 1 player north of 75 (sometimes 85+) and usually a rock or two. I have seen one guy with VP$IP less than 10 (over about 100 hands) Fishy indeed. I am always looking to move tables when mine becomes less attractive and to do so I am closing lower performing tables and opening new ones to keep my data mining fresh.

Blind Defence: Ok, so I lied. There will be a couple of hand histories in today's post; just not the rich and beautifully formatted type that I envision. I am currently reading Ciaffone's book on Middle Limit Hold'em. Yesterday I read the chapter about deception. Ciaffone recommends using deception sparingly, and I would have to agree. Some people like to play every bloody hand as if they were a CIA spook, and after a showdown or two, the table catches on. Well, I think that I found my opportunity for deceptive play last night.

At one of my tables, whenever I was in the big blind and the table folded around to the button he would raise. The SB would fold (he was a rock with VP$IP around 12) and I would fold with some random unsuited, unconnected low cards. This happened every-single-time. After about four of these in a row I found myself with J4o and decided to call. Remember that I suspect that the button is raising with any two cards. An ace came on the flop, I check, he bets, I raise, he calls. Blank on the turn. I check, he bets, I raise, he folds. Yay. The very next time we are in these positions again I find myself with J6. I call. The flop comes A high again. I bet, he folds. From then on .. no more blind steals.

Well, that's it for today. I will always be ending these posts with my current stats for the challenge, so here goes:

Challenge Bank Roll: $579.70
Change to Bank Roll Since Last Post: $79.70
Current Game: Party Poker LHE 1/2, 6-max (two tables)
BB/100 for Current Game: 4.39
Hands Played Since Last Post: 908
Hands Played At This Game: 908
Hands Played in Challenge: 908

Home Game Sweetness

2005-11-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

I attend a semi-regular home game with some friends that I met at our local pub. Mrs. PokerSweetHome had been working there part-time when we first moved to London, so we met alot of people in the neighborhood. They are a solid group of players: they've all read poker books and many play online (and at other live games). On this particular night there was absolutely nothing that they could have done to win that game. The fate of the chips was determined when we dealt for seats, and unbeknownst to me I got the unbeatable seat. This post is not a testament to my poker prowess; any monkey in my seat would have collected all the chips.

We play a NLHE tournament with a £5 buy-in and £5 rebuys (you are eligible to rebuy if you have less than half a buy-in left) for the first four levels as well as an add-on after the rebuy period ends. The levels go up every 30 or 45 minutes, and on this evening there were 7 of us to start.

I got off to an early lead with a couple of good hands that didn't make a showdown (middle pair that turned trips) and I bluffed my way to a pot with "The Hammer" (72o for those that don't know) .. I showed that one. Then, still in the rebuy period this hand happened: I was in the cutoff with QQ, it was folded to my immediate right who made a small raise. I re-raised (about three times his raise), the button cold called and the blinds folded. The flop came Q7Q, giving me quads. QUADS!

Well. The action was to the initial raiser who immediately goes all-in. Hmmm .. me likey. I did a little play acting for the benefit of the button: "So .. that means that you probably have a queen, or maybe a 77, or maybe an overpair. Nah. I don't think you have it .. I'll call." Well it was all for naught; the button had the good sense to fold. When the dust settled, somebody rebought and it sure wasn't me.

After the rebuy period I had an even more incredible hand. I was stunned. Flabbergasted. Anyway, I limped in middle position with Qc10c. The pot was unraised and four of us see the flop of AcKcJc, giving me a flopped royal flush. Shake head. Rub eyes. Check hole cards again. Holy crap. Royal. Fucking. Flush. Well, the same all-in player from the Queens hand goes all-in again (he's pretty aggressive, and pretty good), I call and this time the player to my left calls all-in as well. Everyone else is folded and we flip our cards to reveal just how incredibly dead everyone is drawing. Two players are out and there are only three of us left.

A short time later I am in late position with AsKs. First to act goes all-in, the short stack goes all-in and I call. (I am the really, really big stack) My opponents have A9o and AQo respectively and there is much groaning and nashing of teeth when I show my AK spades. I made the flush on the river and it was all over. They gave me the deck to take home. For some reason they didn't want to play with those cards again. Go figure.

The Challenge

2005-11-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Poker Sweet Home weblog! The motivation for this blog is to document an experiment that my wife and I have set up. A little background is appropriate here to let you know why we decided to do this. I am a software professional (the type that writes code for a living) working in the financial industry in London, England. (I am originally from Canada; I have lived in Canada, the USA and now the UK) My wife is a professional writer: she was a journalist for a number of years, but is now working on a book project. She can tell you more about that.

About 6 months ago I started playing poker online. Like most fish I had played a couple of times before at friendly home games, but I had never played a ring game of any sort, nor had I played a tournament larger than 8 people. To summarize, I didn't have a clue what I was doing, and I lost my initial $50 stake in the blink of an eye. However, I was hooked. I decided that I had better get an education quick if I didn't want to have a very expensive poker hobby.

Since then I have been on the Texas Holdem learning curve. I have played on a several websites. I have played a number of different formats including limit ring games (full and short handed), no-limit ring games (full tables), sit-and-go tournaments and multi-table tournaments. Over time I have been improving through experience as well as a formal education. Since poker (particularly Holdem) has exploded in popularity there have been more how-to books published than you can shake a stick at. I have read a few based on online reviews and recommendations. I will probably put up links to my favorites on the sidelines of this blog. I like to play in tournaments; they are exciting (especially when you win!) and they are truly a tactical exercise. If you like strategy games and logic puzzles, you will love Hold 'em tournaments. The problem with tournaments, especially no-limit ones, is that there is very little tolerance for error, and even if you play perfectly you can be out in an instant.

I have come to the conclusion that the steady money (for me) is in the limit ring games. I have come to this conclusion for a couple of reasons. First, at least at the lower limits people generally play very poorly; they routinely pay for long shot draws in spite of the simple math that says otherwise. There are total maniacs everywhere and calling stations galore. I believe that if you play an uninspired statistically correct game at low limit tables you should be at least a marginal winner. If you advance your game beyond that, I think that you can win a bundle. Second, the variance due to luck will be less at limit than at tournaments. In tournaments, especially large ones, a decent payday could be few and far between, which means a large investment of time and money for a potentially large payoff once in a while. Maybe. If I want a steady income, then limit ring games are the only reasonable choice, at least right now. I am much better educated in the ins and outs of limit than no limit ring games. More importantly, most of my online poker playing has been in limit, and I have read more low limit books than other poker books.

Having come to this conclusion I shared it with my wife. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "I think that I could earn some money playing poker part time."

Her: "Huh?"

Me: "You know ... treat poker as a part time job and make a side income from my hobby."

Her: "Hmmm… Overall, are you up or down since you started this?"

Me: "Umm… about even .. maybe up a little, but I've been on a learning curve, and I haven't really been disciplined, and I haven't really been keeping track".

Her: "Oh. So what makes you think you can earn some money at this, instead of breaking even like you have been?"

Me: "Good question."

Ok. So she has a point. I really don't have the data to back up my claim that I can earn a side income from poker. Maybe I can, and maybe I can't. The only way to make the argument stick will be to gather enough data to be statistically significant. My wife is a writer and a blogger, so she suggested that we start a blog to keep me honest and also to chronicle the experiment from both of our perspectives. I thought it was a great idea, so here we are.

About the weblog

The purpose of this blog is to track my progress in a poker experiment from both my wife’s perspective and mine. I'm not going to edit her content and she isn't going to edit mine. I will try to stay mostly on point: poker, that is. I'm not going to attempt to impart poker wisdom or run a poker school; there are plenty of better-qualified poker bloggers for that. I will throw in anecdotes from my games as well as pointing out any lessons that I learn along the way. I am a big fan of hand examples and the documented thought process through them, so I will try to include a bunch of those. I will also be reporting regularly on my status and statistics. I have no idea what my wife will be writing about, but I expect I am going to have to respond to some of her posts as well. We shall see.

About the challenge

Here are the rules of the experiment. I reserve the right to modify the rules, but I don't expect that I will have to.

1. The experiment will run for at least 50,000 hands. I think that 50,000 hands is probably the smallest number that will be statistically significant enough to extrapolate future results. At a short handed table, assuming 90 hands per hour, that amounts to around 550 table hours of play.

2. In order to play a level, my bankroll must be able to support it. Moving up a level will occur if I have a bankroll of at least 250 big bets at the proposed new level. For example, a bankroll of $1000 will trigger me to move up to a 2/4 game. If my bankroll falls below 250 big bets at the next level down, I will be forced to move down a level. For example, if I am playing 2/4 and I run down below $500, then I will be forced to play 1/2 until I build back up to at least $1000, when I can move back up to 2/4.

3. I can play tournaments or any other game that I like, but that money has to come from another source, like a deposit bonus or a rake back, or new money. (Hopefully not new money!) I will account for the experiment money and any other money in my account completely separately.

4. I will start with $500, playing two short handed (6 seat) tables of 1/2. I may change the game that I am playing (either full tables, or a different number of tables, or to another website), but I can't do it before at least 5000 hands at my current game. Level changes happen automatically (either up or down), as dictated by rule 2.

5. I will be tracking my progress with Poker Tracker. I will be publishing select statistics to be decided at a later date.

6. I will be participating in as many rake back and deposit bonus programs as I can. Why not? It's free money.

Well, there you go. Wish me luck.