Better

Finally put together a win in a MTT during May - just in time to put me back into profit for the month.

It came in one of the $500 added on Mansion Poker and I guess like in most MTT wins it was a combination of good timing and good luck. Made a couple of poor calls and got punished and a couple of average calls and got lucky - one especially on the final table when my A 10 v A K met a 10 on the river. The guy I put out was not happy (as I wouldn't have been) but I couldn't feel much sympathy as he had referred to me as a 'fish' earlier - at least I think he had meant me !

My downfall in these Mansion tourneys has been targetting individuals I think have bluffed me off a pot, but to the detriment of my game. I did the same again tonight - one was the 'fish' above and the other someone who didn't acknowledge my 'nh' comment. It may be he was playing with the chat switched off but I prefer to think he was either just ignorant or has managed to get himself a chat ban in only two weeks !! Anyway tonight I knocked out both my targets so victory was all the sweeter.

I am playing these Mansion games a lot looser than usual as I am seeing a lot of premium hands and even A rag seem to be rewarded most times by an A on the flop. And the number of times AA is called by lower pocket pairs is a little unbelievable at the moment .......

What a Waste

Just a tip today - if you are going to stay in all day waiting for one tournament, remember to actually register for it !!

Still too much

It's just greed and I need to cut it out !

I could easily just copy Thursday's post and paste up for today, except this time I was out of the money in all three tournaments I was trying to play at the same time.

Played the Poker Dome qualifier and the $500 added on Mansion, which both started at 9pm. Leading one and top 10 in the other when the Betfred World Cup tournament started at 10pm. I won a $1 qualifier for the latter (instead of $5 buy-in) so should have concentrated on that (the Mansion tourneys are still 1c each) but was doing well in all of them and didn't know which to sit out of, so of course they all suffered.

Note to self - read and learn, read and learn, read and learn ...........

Too Much

Tried playing 3 MTTs at once this evening (because they were all freerolls) which meant that I was quickly out of two of them as I cannot concentrate properly on more than one at the same time !

Luckily I ended in the money in the one (albeit only 9th for $4) but with 3 minute blinds it got more than a bit phrenetic - basically all-in at least every third hand near the end !

Needed to earn two player points on Betfair today to qualify for a $5000 freeroll on Saturday so had to return to the cash games. 20 minutes on the cheapest No Limit table (15c/25c) got the 2 points and a $5.05 profit, but that was only after a couple of all-ins with A rag near the end that paired the A each time so more than a little lucky. The rake points bit would have taken a lot longer if a couple hadn't raised and called $20 plus on one hand.

A new poker site worthy of a mention this week is Mansion (mansionpoker.net) as they have a series of $500 added MTTs for a 1c buy in as well as satellites leading to a $7000 live tournament, again 1c buy in. I signed up less than a week ago and a free guide to the beautiful game arrived in the post today.

Oh - and if you look at page 83 of this month's Maxim magazine you will see at the bottom a picture of me playing poker (sat on the dealer's right in the dickie bow). I am contemplating playing a hand and there is a gold star for anyone who can guess from my face what hand I am holding !

A lose / win situation

Went racing at York on Friday with the guys and gals from Punters Lounge - meeting all but a few for the first time and feeling on Saturday as if I had known them all for months.

No winners at the races for me (nearly everyone else made money so well done them) and my one win during the poker in the evening only halved my loss but neither figure was huge and I had a great time all day.

Was really good to leave the PC behind for two days and although straight back into it yesterday I am playing without any of the stress of last week.

And I have learned that I have a decent poker face for the live game and played both on Friday and at the Maxim final earlier in the month without any nerves, so perhaps that will be my game although no evidence financially yet !

ps. Flo visited Danbird today and all went to plan !!

"of course it's not !"

Anyone who thinks that online poker is fixed is crazy !!!

It just needs a little patience and belief and bravado and cheek and some of that composure I talked about yesterday which thankfully returned today.

Won one MTT tonight (the Champions League round on Sporting Odds) to get back a good portion of what I lost the previous two days - not all of it but enough to get me back in a good mood !

A day away from the PC tomorrow - racing at York and then a private friendly game of poker with real live people. Certainly looking forward to not having to shout at a computer screen for one night .........

"It's Fixed I Tell You"

Every so often this blog will tell you that online poker is fixed.

It isn't of course, except for the possibility that today it is .......

Played several STTs on VC and there were too many AA out tonight (mostly other people's) to look completely random and often they were up against a lower pair (often mine) so got the action they wanted and only once did they not hold up. When I had AA I got hardly any action so I am guessing no other pocket pairs around for my turn !!!

Then the start of one game - the first two hands were both won by a flush of diamonds, with four on the board and the winner holding (just) the Ace.

And most of the night the cards were taking the piss. I fold J2 and would have had a full house - very next hand dealt to me ? J2 again to see if I will fall for playing them that time (which I didn't). Numerous times I folded pre-flop a winning hand after the flop until I am so cheesed off I start playing a few less than premium hands and nothing appears, or if there is anything it is bottom pair just to try and keep me interested.

Some nights I do not have the necessary patience - the last two nights have both been examples and I need to regain some sort of composure very quickly .........

Danbird

About time I talked horses and not poker - and what better day to do it than when having a losing day on the tables.

Signed up today for our mare Flo (Flo's Choice) to visit Danbird as her husband for this year ! He stands at Beechwood Grange Stud, near York. The stud is also near where Flo lives (which is near Castle Howard) so she won't have far to travel this year. If you didn't know the mare always visits the stallion as if he is busy he may have to cover 3 or 4 mares a day so he can't be wasting energy travelling about ! Flo has visited stallions in Newmarket the last 4 times which is a 4 hour journey. This time she will only have to wait 30 minutes !

Danbird is a 'first season sire' in the UK this year although he has covered some mares in his native Australia over the winter. It is currently fashionable to have a foal from a stallion's first crop as they often sell better because the stallion has not yet proven that his kids cannot run !

A lot of stallions cover mares in Europe in our Summer and Australia or New Zealand or South America in our Winter. Whe I first got interested in horse racing a 'full book' for a stallion was 40 mares a year. Limits are now set at around 100, if at all, and with dual hemisphere covering some stallions are getting 300 mares a year. The problem is supply often exceeds demand and unless your mare adds real value to the offspring, having a foal by a decent stallion is not enough in itself if there are 100 others by the same stallion on the market !

Racehorses are always conceived on a 'natural' service - artificial insemination is not allowed if the resulting foal is to be registered to race. The covering season for racehorses is middle of February to the middle of July. The mare carries for 11 months and 1 week approx and all racehorses have an official birthday on 1st January so conceiving in February should mean a January foal the next year. You do not want a foal born in December because it would officially be aged 1 when it is only a few days old ! Very few foals are registered as having been born 1st January, but comparatively there are lots on the 2nd or 3rd !

An end of May covering is late enough if you are trying to breed a speedy 2-year-old because when the flat season proper starts (on turf) in March of its second year it will be racing against horses that are several months older and consequently stronger. Doesn't matter at all a year later when they are 3 as a late foal will have caught up, but it can be a big advantage in early season 2-year-old races if you had a January or February foal.

Flo (bless her) usually gets in foal at the first time of asking so hopefully she will do so again. This year's husband can be found here http://beechwoodgrangestud.com/danbird/danbird.htm

Another day of rest !

Played in the Virgin Poker V-Points freeroll on Sunday and in the short time these have been running I don't remember the previous ones being the manic "all-in fest" it seemed to be tonight. From the very first hand - folded 23clubs which made 2 pair by the turn and the flush on the river and would have trebled me up - I was struggling to find the right hands to play. I found the level of play surprising considering the points can be exchanged for cash but I guess everyone plays these their own way.

Paid my $3.30 to play in the latest leg of this month's Champions League tourney on Sporting Odds. On one hand my 77 was up against 99 and AQos, with the latter winning when the board was KKJKK !! Don't think I ever got above the starting 1500 chips so falling further behind on the leaderboard.

Played one $3.30 STT on Blue Square, winning $13.50 first prize so settled for another non-losing day !

Final tournament for the day was the new depositors freeroll on Goal Poker starting at 12.30pm. Find myself on a table with all but one other sitting out and am doing well until my KJ with the board KxJxJ was beaten by KK. Out a few hands later when AQos beaten by 89d by flush on river. Unfortunately for him the table closed shortly after so don't think he took too many blinds single-handed.

During the weeks and months of the Maxim King of Poker qualifiers on VC I regularly shared blinds with one or two opponents if all the others at the table were sitting out because of the nature of that tournament. I never considered trying the same in the GP freeroll as it was a one-off 'final', although it annoys me to see a lot of sit-outs in any tournament. Why register how ever far ahead if you do not intend to play ???

Quiet Saturday

I try not to play online poker on Saturday afternoons. I have suffered my biggest poker losing streaks on Saturday afternoons. This afternoon I played 3 STTs on VC and finished 2nd in one for a $1.80 loss. This evening I played 3 freerolls worth $5000, $3000 and $200 and finished 12th in the latter (the Blue Square Bankroll Booster) for $3.

A profit for the day of $1.20 ......... but not a loss !

Poker Night Live / Spin Palace Poker

There is an excellent value tournament on Spin Palace on a Friday night - a $10+$1 MTT with $2000 added which tonight had 122 entries and paid $805 to the winner and money down to $16.10 for 32nd.

It features on Poker Night Live on sky (minimum 10 mins delay but usually a lot longer !) so you may get on the telly and have your game analysed.

Played tonight and led for a bit when about 40 left and then comfortably in top 10 playing cautiously when raised with A rag and got called. Flop came AKx all spades, called a raise, then the turn was a K so folded to a bigger raise and suddenly 10k becomes 6k in chips.

Worst move of the night was then to raise from the SB with 35 spades when the BB only had 2k in chips and would almost certainly call, which he did with Qx spades and I'm down to 4k in chips.

On my next BB I get AQos and go all-in to be called by A2os so I'm preparing to get back up to 8k when a 2 comes on the flop. Nothing I could do about that and if I hadn't lost 2k with the 35s I would have lost it on the AQ anyway !

Finished 24th for $32.20 and featured on telly for a few hands without making a mistake (folded every hand except one raise from SB with AK which wasn't called).

Virgin Blogger Freeroll

I have gained entry into a freeroll for bloggers on Virgin Poker tonight starting at 7.30 pm BST.

70 entrants and a first prize of a trip to Las Vegas including accomodation and entry to a tournament at the World Series of Poker in July 2006 ! There are also 250,000 V-Points to be shared amongst those placing 2nd-7th which can be exchanged for flights.

Report on the freeroll will appear here shortly .......

....... 54th of 72 so not exactly a great result although was handily lying in top 6 after first break. 15 minute blinds so the players sitting-out were going to take a while to shift and with the blinds on 50-100 and a sit-out on the big blind I was the first raise to what I think was 300 from mid position with K 10 os. Were other sit-outs before the small blind so thought having to add 250 would see him fold, but instead he went all-in for 3400. Don't tell me how but I knew it was a bluff and I could afford to call (it would leave me on 3000 approx). But at the end of the day I did only have K 10 so it wouldn't take much to beat me ....... so I folded ....... and he showed something like 57os !!!!!!!!!!!

The all-in I did not mind and it worked for him. If I had been brave I would probably have won but no guarantee. What I did object to was the show. I might show a hand once a month but only if I want to encourage a player (and usually someone I know) and show they have made a good fold. I would never show as a brag or to rub someone's nose in it - but as it turned out that was a good move for him too because I let it annoy me and only a few hands later he took most of my chips when his 55 beat my A4 (both 4 and 5 on flop unfortunately !).

Show a hand without being called to do so and you are giving everyone at the table, not just those who were in that pot, free information. Poker is about paying to play and to see my hand.


The other MTT I played tonight was in the Champions League series on Sporting Odds. 13 rounds in May with top 20 in each scoring points (and top 10% winning cash - $3.30 entry) with the points winner (best 5 scores count) getting a $1000 seat to a live tournament and $500 spends. Was again handily placed in top 6 when dealt 44 in the BB (600). One raise to 1800 and a call so decided to let the pair go (although I could afford the call to see the flop). So I folded only to see a 4 on the flop. The players still in had KK and JJ with neither getting a third from the board. If I'd have played I'd have put them both out and stopped one of them knocking me out a few hands later when he was holding AA for the second hand running !

I am sure I have folded 44 several times but one other time I remember doing so I had to watch as a 4 came on the turn and river !! These decisions can be very tough sometimes but you can't let it get to you. Pre flop the 44 fold is a good decision against KK and JJ. In hindsight, the mistake in my situation was not paying to see the flop. I was the last to act and could have afforded it.

Poker Virgin

The game you have seen on telly and described as the 'Cadillac of Poker' is called Texas Holdem and it is all over a computer screen near you now !

The game has exploded because it is easy to learn the basics, but with enough intricacies so that skill can quickly take over from luck.

You cannot eliminate 'bad beats' but you can learn from them.

Two tips :-

1. Sign up with a site like Virgin Poker - click on the banner above - offering freerolls (multi table tournaments that are free to enter). Although they can be a bit of a lottery they offer real prize-money for a top % finish and therefore you will experience more genuine play than you will find on the 'play money' tables where very few people take it seriously.

At the moment I would doubly recommend Virgin Poker because as well as money you can win/earn V-Points, which if you collect enough can be exchanged for Virgin flights (or, ok, more money !)

2. Join a forum like Punters Lounge (ok, just PL). The poker section there is the best you will find and offers friendly advice and exclusive value tournaments. Tell them runadrum sent you !

Actually, make that three tips - and this will upset some of my colleagues on Punters Lounge - DO NOT PLAY 2-7 OFFSUIT, NEVER EVER.

It is not recognised as the worst starting hand for nothing. The one exception is if you are holding them in the Big Blind and no-one has raised before you so that you can check your 2-7 rather than fold. But if the flop does not contain at least one of each DITCH YOUR HAND AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY.

Want to know the quickest way to the poorhouse ? Play 2-7 offsuit.

Runadrum ?

Let's get the name out of the way ! Above is the original Runadrum.

We bought his mother already in foal with him so he was our 'first born' and is now aged 11. He was born in the middle of the afternoon, the only one of our now 17 foals not to have been born in the middle of the night - which is how it should be so that for the first hour when they struggle to get to their feet it is under cover of darkness and safer from predators in the wild !

Generally speaking new born foals will find their feet within an hour and find mother's milk within two. Take longer with either and they will accept a little assistance - and it usually means your mare has had a colt rather than a filly ! The male of this species is stronger and faster, but not as bright !

The name Runadrum really comes from his mum who is called Runabay, but it is a slang racing term from Australia. Please note the following definition commences in the negative ........

not to run a drum : In the early twentieth century the term drum in Australian English came to mean ‘a reliable piece of information’, probably deriving from the signal given out by the percussion instrument. It often appears in the phrases to get the drum or to give the drum, and usually in racing contexts: ‘It beats me how the punters get the drum' (1915); ‘I got the drum on the way out to the races’ (1922). From this developed the phrase to run a drum meaning ‘(of a racehorse) to perform as tipped'. The phrase is now almost invariably used in the negative — he didn’t run a drum meaning the horse didn’t perform as tipped. Some commentators see the influence of rhyming slang here, and suggest that drum is also an abbreviation of drum and mace rhyming slang for ‘place’. Thus a horse that doesn’t run a drum fails to run a place.

Unfortunately the horse Runadrum didn't live up to the name as he did fail to make a place in six races in 1997 and 1998, but we still own and love him.

My Poker Life

I guess I have three distinct lives, three main ones anyway - work (which I do not intend to talk about on here ever), horse breeding and racing (about which I hope to keep you informed) and poker, mainly online, which is what actually brought this blog into being ........ and stealing the line which I think still appears on the front cover of every 'Horse & Hound' magazine :-

"I freely admit that the best of my (poker) fun, I owe it to Punters Lounge"