Amateur Musings
Who wouldn't want to hear about my poker stories?
I mean really. Who?
Well, Mrs Ivory apparently. Not interested in the slightest, not even by my greatest acheivement to date - three consecutive final tables in Victor Chandler's 2pm 5K guaranteed. That momentous achievement was greeted with the same enthusiasm she reserves for all sporting triumphs - a mildly sympathetic acknowledgement it must mean a lot to me, so well done.
So rather than suffer the tilted head of Mrs Ivory I thought I'd start a blog. The musings of an amateur $1/$2 no-limit and multi-table online player are not to be scoffed at I thought, besides, it just wouldn't be fair to keep my $40 paydays to myself now would it?
Occasionally i may have some genuinely exciting things to write about here because I'm actually a journalist for an online poker site. So in that capacity I should be going to the WSOP this year, as well as a number of other tournaments in Las Vegas and the Caribbean. As yet my employers don't quite have the same confidence in my limited poker abilities as I do, so they wont be bankrolling me to compete, but I should get some interesting stories to tell nonetheless.
Its been a good week for me so far. After a $500 downswing last week, almost exclusively from MTT buy-ins, re-buys and top ups I managed to stop the rot this week, principally because of one awesome 45 minute session on a VC $1-$2 NL table.
Sitting down with $100 I flopped the nut straight with KQ on about the fourth hand, doubling up when the player on my left hit trip aces on the river. For the first time in a while i was getting repsect from the table - I was stealing pre-flop and taking down pots with bets on missed flops.
For about 20 mins I didn't show a hand, but my stack was increasing steadily up towards the $260 mark. Then I hit another monster. Picking up pocket aces on the button I raised the pot to $10 and was called by the small blind. The flop was a dream: A-5-2, although there were two clubs. I thought I should bet $10, hoping he would think it was a continuation bet and was delighted when he raised to $30. I knew this guy was willing to stick his chips in the middle, so I re-raised to $70 and he called leaving himself with just $20. The turn was another club, which might have been scary if it wasn't for the fact that he only had $20 left. I put him all-in and he called, showing A-5 for two pair. Nice. I then picked up an $88 pot with A-Jos and left the table with $450 - not bad for 45 mins poker.
Yesterday I finally managed to get to the final table of an MTT - the first in two weeks. I only finished seventh (out of 148) but I played ok. With 18 left I had 37K, which put me in about 10th, but from that point on I did not get a single hand. Not one! In fact I didnt see a flop until my very last hand, on which I was all-in blind (I had 10-3os incidentally). I couldn't even make any steals, beacuse every single time - without exception - that I was on the button or in the blinds there was an all-in raise before me. Oh well, I had my luck before that stage, when I caught trip nines on the flop to beat the pocket kings of the eventual winner. No complaints.
Just to give you an idea of my truly amateur status, I play my poker exclusively at work, when I am supposed to be doing other things, or in the hour long period after work before the office i locked. I have no internet at home as yet, so my hours are pretty limited.
Well thats it for now.
(btw - pat on the back for Steve McClaren and Boro, what a result. Should make up for losing the england job to Big Phil.)
I mean really. Who?
Well, Mrs Ivory apparently. Not interested in the slightest, not even by my greatest acheivement to date - three consecutive final tables in Victor Chandler's 2pm 5K guaranteed. That momentous achievement was greeted with the same enthusiasm she reserves for all sporting triumphs - a mildly sympathetic acknowledgement it must mean a lot to me, so well done.
So rather than suffer the tilted head of Mrs Ivory I thought I'd start a blog. The musings of an amateur $1/$2 no-limit and multi-table online player are not to be scoffed at I thought, besides, it just wouldn't be fair to keep my $40 paydays to myself now would it?
Occasionally i may have some genuinely exciting things to write about here because I'm actually a journalist for an online poker site. So in that capacity I should be going to the WSOP this year, as well as a number of other tournaments in Las Vegas and the Caribbean. As yet my employers don't quite have the same confidence in my limited poker abilities as I do, so they wont be bankrolling me to compete, but I should get some interesting stories to tell nonetheless.
Its been a good week for me so far. After a $500 downswing last week, almost exclusively from MTT buy-ins, re-buys and top ups I managed to stop the rot this week, principally because of one awesome 45 minute session on a VC $1-$2 NL table.
Sitting down with $100 I flopped the nut straight with KQ on about the fourth hand, doubling up when the player on my left hit trip aces on the river. For the first time in a while i was getting repsect from the table - I was stealing pre-flop and taking down pots with bets on missed flops.
For about 20 mins I didn't show a hand, but my stack was increasing steadily up towards the $260 mark. Then I hit another monster. Picking up pocket aces on the button I raised the pot to $10 and was called by the small blind. The flop was a dream: A-5-2, although there were two clubs. I thought I should bet $10, hoping he would think it was a continuation bet and was delighted when he raised to $30. I knew this guy was willing to stick his chips in the middle, so I re-raised to $70 and he called leaving himself with just $20. The turn was another club, which might have been scary if it wasn't for the fact that he only had $20 left. I put him all-in and he called, showing A-5 for two pair. Nice. I then picked up an $88 pot with A-Jos and left the table with $450 - not bad for 45 mins poker.
Yesterday I finally managed to get to the final table of an MTT - the first in two weeks. I only finished seventh (out of 148) but I played ok. With 18 left I had 37K, which put me in about 10th, but from that point on I did not get a single hand. Not one! In fact I didnt see a flop until my very last hand, on which I was all-in blind (I had 10-3os incidentally). I couldn't even make any steals, beacuse every single time - without exception - that I was on the button or in the blinds there was an all-in raise before me. Oh well, I had my luck before that stage, when I caught trip nines on the flop to beat the pocket kings of the eventual winner. No complaints.
Just to give you an idea of my truly amateur status, I play my poker exclusively at work, when I am supposed to be doing other things, or in the hour long period after work before the office i locked. I have no internet at home as yet, so my hours are pretty limited.
Well thats it for now.
(btw - pat on the back for Steve McClaren and Boro, what a result. Should make up for losing the england job to Big Phil.)
posted by Mal | 2:08 AM
|
0 comments
