Shitty Month

So my aim for this month was to get to $2200. This is no looking extremely unlikely, as I am currently on about $1650. The month started well, and after a couple of days I was about $150 up, but then It started going badly wrong. A few days later and I was $150 down for the month.

I realised that I was playing badly, and that my technique of playing very loose and passively pre-flop on iPoker was not a winning strategy. I changed it all around, and started to play really well, but the bad streak followed me...

- UTG limps and I make it $2.25 on the button with KK. The SB pushes for $6.25 and the BB calls. I make it $18.50 and the BB pushes. I call and he shows QQ. The SB shows AQ. The flop of A-9-5 meant I had lost the main pot, but the larger side-pot should be all mine... NO! A Q on the river! -$34.55

Anyway I was going to make this post into a list of badbeats, hoping it would purge my psyche and enable me to get back to winning ways, but it doesn't seem like the right thing to do. I am feeling a lot more positive now, I have dropped down to $25NL breifly just to recoup some losses, and it's going a bit better.

I also played in the blogger tournament. When I saw that we started with 10,000 chips, 1300 runners and only about 30 good prizes, I couldn't really be bothered. I dossed around a lot, made some rediculous plays and managed to get into 9th place with 300 left. At this point it was getting late, and I was still finding it very hard to play sensible and focus, and so I let a friend take over for me.

He ended up getting pretty unlucky, and busted in about 75th with KK v 88. And for that I win a duffel bag and a pack of cards! Brilliant!

Bankroll ~ $1650

Blogger tournament on Sunday!

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7775217

September Done

So here's my results from September. Overall I played about 7k hands and averaged 8.6 BB/100 hands. Since the last update I stuck with iPoker but opened a new account on Noble poker so that I could work off a bonus whilst playing there. It was going pretty well until I had an absolutely awful session. I think it happened because I forgot how to win at iPoker. Although it is really bad poker, I think the best way to win there is to be very passive pre-flop and just wait until you hit monsters and get paid off. It's boring but it's profotable. Anyway, I tried to play aggressively and lost about $190 in an evening, and twice I had AA v KK which both held up. Here's a few hands...

- This hand I am a moron. For some reason I am convinced that the BB is weak, just because he re-raised me twice pre-flop in the last 20 hands. Anyway, I get 66 in the cut-off. UTG+1 makes it $2 and I call. The SB calls and the BB makes it $8. UTG+1 folds and I decide to push. The BB calls with JJ. -$54.60

- I make it $2 UTG with KK and the cut-off makes it $4. I re-raise to $14 and he calls. The flop is Q-9-4. I bet $10 and the cut-off pushes. I am usually ahead here and call, but he has QQ. -$50

- UTG makes it $2 and it is folded to me in the BB. I make it $6.50 with AK and he calls. The flop is Kc-Qc-4. I bet $10 and he calls. The turn is an 8c. I check and UTG pushes for $37. This is an easy fold. I call and he has 44. -$43.05

I didn't really lose any other big hands, but I was just c-betting against people who won't fold and it cost me a lot.

I then tried out FTP a bit and made some of it back on a little beauty...

- UTG+1 makes it $2 and I call with 22. The SB also calls. The flop is 5-5-2. SB checks and UTG+1 makes it $4. I raise to $14, SB folds and UTG+1 pushes for $44. Insta-call. He shows J9. The turn is a 5 to give him a few outs, but he misses. +$45.55

SInce that awful night I haven't played much, but will stick to Noble for a bit but will play FTP when I feel like playing aggressively. The tournaments on Noble also look good. I played one the other night with 580 runners. 80 places paid and I ended up coming 81st, but as you don't even get your money back for coming 80th I wasn't too annoyed. I will try some more MTTs though.

October target - get to $2200

Bankroll = $1772.98