Sup folks.
Since last weeks posts I've played two tourneys. Really shitty volume but I was very busy. I chopped the Tuesday Voodoo and finished 4th in the D1 Top up tournament. Decent return. Tuesday pretty much went off without a hitch. Won a massive 3 way all in about 18 players out and never looked back really. Wednesday was more of a grind and I was very disappointed with 4th. I shipped A8hh UTG and was snapped by the chip leader and only player who covered me. He had AK, good game! Still I think thats 4 cashes in my last 5 so I'm getting back to some nice form.
This week I'll be playing tonight in voodoo most likely, tomorrow definitely in D1 and I'll also be playing The JP Masters Short Handed Event on Thursday.
I'd love to be playing more of JP's events but it just doesn't fit really. Would have really loved to play 3 of the events, the Omaha in particular, but it just didn't fit schedule wise. I'd encourage any serious or casual poker players who happen to read this to try to attend one of these tournaments. JP is one of the true innovators in Irish/European Poker and his events don't disappoint. All details can be found here: http://www.irishpokerboards.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8346
See you at the tables!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Been a long time....
Sup Guys,
Feels like a lifetime since I've written one of these. Apologies to the regular readers, I have no excuse but laziness. Its been that long since I've posted I don't know where to start. 2011 has been pretty much meh poker wise so far. Winning regularly enough to stay comfortable but absolutely nothing to get excited about. Every big tournament I planned to satellite into fell on shitty weekends where I had some things on and as far as the Irish Open weekend, that became an alcohol induced afterthought. I'm 100% gonna be playing some bigger tourneys in the coming months, no excuses. Summer is coming and after a pretty epic weekend spent with good friends I feel well up for some cards, beginning tonight in the usual voodoo game. Small buy in but whatever, just looking forward to some poker.
As far as my thoughts on the online poker situation in USA, honestly, I just think it's really sad and an absolute sickener for both pros and serious amateur online grinders over there. It did all seem to come as a massive shock but Tilt and Stars were engaging in 'illegal' activity, it sucks but their bubble burst. Me playing live I'm not affected at all really but a tonne of people just lost their earning power and have substantial amounts of money frozen with no clear idea when they will be reimbursed. I heard Dan Cates had $4m in his Tilt a/c on Black Friday, turns out hes probably not the luckiest guy on the planet so....
Speaking of online, I'm thinking of getting back into some grinding online. All my roll is tied up in cash and savings so I might deposit a small-ish amount into a PP a/c and see if I can spin up a nice little roll. Been a while since I've played online with any level of seriousness but it can't do any harm. Maybe 3 tabling two sit n go's and an MTT or maybe some small stakes PLO cash games. So any PP MTT grinders out there there's gonna be a big juicy fish in the water real soon ;)
Just a quick note about a new tournament for any players in Dublin. It's a top up tournament in D1. Players can buy in for €20 for 3k in chips and top up all the way to a stack of 20k with a max spend of €50. This tournament offers so much value for such a reasonable buy in I'd encourage anyone who enjoys playing poker deep to come down, you wont regret it!
Poker aside life is pretty sweet, been getting out pretty much every weekend, new girlfriend and no stresses. Absolutely no complaints.
Run Good Folks
Feels like a lifetime since I've written one of these. Apologies to the regular readers, I have no excuse but laziness. Its been that long since I've posted I don't know where to start. 2011 has been pretty much meh poker wise so far. Winning regularly enough to stay comfortable but absolutely nothing to get excited about. Every big tournament I planned to satellite into fell on shitty weekends where I had some things on and as far as the Irish Open weekend, that became an alcohol induced afterthought. I'm 100% gonna be playing some bigger tourneys in the coming months, no excuses. Summer is coming and after a pretty epic weekend spent with good friends I feel well up for some cards, beginning tonight in the usual voodoo game. Small buy in but whatever, just looking forward to some poker.
As far as my thoughts on the online poker situation in USA, honestly, I just think it's really sad and an absolute sickener for both pros and serious amateur online grinders over there. It did all seem to come as a massive shock but Tilt and Stars were engaging in 'illegal' activity, it sucks but their bubble burst. Me playing live I'm not affected at all really but a tonne of people just lost their earning power and have substantial amounts of money frozen with no clear idea when they will be reimbursed. I heard Dan Cates had $4m in his Tilt a/c on Black Friday, turns out hes probably not the luckiest guy on the planet so....
Speaking of online, I'm thinking of getting back into some grinding online. All my roll is tied up in cash and savings so I might deposit a small-ish amount into a PP a/c and see if I can spin up a nice little roll. Been a while since I've played online with any level of seriousness but it can't do any harm. Maybe 3 tabling two sit n go's and an MTT or maybe some small stakes PLO cash games. So any PP MTT grinders out there there's gonna be a big juicy fish in the water real soon ;)
Just a quick note about a new tournament for any players in Dublin. It's a top up tournament in D1. Players can buy in for €20 for 3k in chips and top up all the way to a stack of 20k with a max spend of €50. This tournament offers so much value for such a reasonable buy in I'd encourage anyone who enjoys playing poker deep to come down, you wont regret it!
Poker aside life is pretty sweet, been getting out pretty much every weekend, new girlfriend and no stresses. Absolutely no complaints.
Run Good Folks
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
My poker journey: Part I
Hey guys. It's been a while since my last post. I've had a couple cashes since nothing major. Hovering just above even since my last post so no big complaints.
This is a post I've been planning to do for a long time, how I got into playing poker and how eventually it became my main source of income.
My furthest memory of poker was srangely enough at the end of 6th year in school, I was 17 and me and two friends were out renting out suit for our debs. One of the lads suggested we should have a weekly poker game for €5 or €10 with a few beers, we loved the idea. Soon after poker became a regular occurance for us and I remember we played some ridiculous rules and were pretty much clueless but it was all in good fun. After a while I began to notice certain patterns in what plays and card combinations worked better and I began winning, I think I won like 5 or 6 games in a row at some stage, of course at the time I thought it was all luck.
I then discovered online poker. VC Poker at the time (around 2006) had a promotion where if you signed up you got a free €8 bankroll. I began playing $1.10 6 handed sit and go's and done really well. Within a week I moved up to $2.20 games then $5.50 games and before I knew it I had a bankroll of €1,100 in my account, it was pretty amazing. I was quite the sicko, playing three games at a time I thought I was the cheese. I withdrew €800 at the advice of friends because I was pretty smashed as I was just starting college. Off that free bet I ended up withdrawing just over €2,000 and still had a decent 3 figure sum which I pissed away being either drunk or tilted, I was young and pretty naive but it I had done good, it was the beginning of something.
My first taste of live multi table tournament poker came in the old Jackpot €5 rebuy tournament which I had some success. I scooped a couple of times and over €300 and I remember the feeling being absolutely awesome, then came my first big result.
I had heard my college, DCU, were hosting the 2008 Student Poker Master sponsored by Boylepoker. It was a €55 freezeout. My mate Pete had told me ITB were running a €10 satellite but it was only open to ITB student so I got a friend of his student number and went up and scooped a ticket, all with a massive hangover. So along came the tournament itself and after 3 levels I'm big chip leader. Day 1 finished to a final table and I began the final table 2nd in chips. After a pretty short final table I won the tournament when my QJ outran A9 for the title and €2200 first prize. It was awesome I done an interview with FM104 after and had to give the name I was registered in the tournament as, James McKee it was. Funny times, but still up to this day this was by far my proudest moment in poker.
I'll continue with some more recent results and stories next week......
This is a post I've been planning to do for a long time, how I got into playing poker and how eventually it became my main source of income.
My furthest memory of poker was srangely enough at the end of 6th year in school, I was 17 and me and two friends were out renting out suit for our debs. One of the lads suggested we should have a weekly poker game for €5 or €10 with a few beers, we loved the idea. Soon after poker became a regular occurance for us and I remember we played some ridiculous rules and were pretty much clueless but it was all in good fun. After a while I began to notice certain patterns in what plays and card combinations worked better and I began winning, I think I won like 5 or 6 games in a row at some stage, of course at the time I thought it was all luck.
I then discovered online poker. VC Poker at the time (around 2006) had a promotion where if you signed up you got a free €8 bankroll. I began playing $1.10 6 handed sit and go's and done really well. Within a week I moved up to $2.20 games then $5.50 games and before I knew it I had a bankroll of €1,100 in my account, it was pretty amazing. I was quite the sicko, playing three games at a time I thought I was the cheese. I withdrew €800 at the advice of friends because I was pretty smashed as I was just starting college. Off that free bet I ended up withdrawing just over €2,000 and still had a decent 3 figure sum which I pissed away being either drunk or tilted, I was young and pretty naive but it I had done good, it was the beginning of something.
My first taste of live multi table tournament poker came in the old Jackpot €5 rebuy tournament which I had some success. I scooped a couple of times and over €300 and I remember the feeling being absolutely awesome, then came my first big result.
I had heard my college, DCU, were hosting the 2008 Student Poker Master sponsored by Boylepoker. It was a €55 freezeout. My mate Pete had told me ITB were running a €10 satellite but it was only open to ITB student so I got a friend of his student number and went up and scooped a ticket, all with a massive hangover. So along came the tournament itself and after 3 levels I'm big chip leader. Day 1 finished to a final table and I began the final table 2nd in chips. After a pretty short final table I won the tournament when my QJ outran A9 for the title and €2200 first prize. It was awesome I done an interview with FM104 after and had to give the name I was registered in the tournament as, James McKee it was. Funny times, but still up to this day this was by far my proudest moment in poker.
I'll continue with some more recent results and stories next week......
Thursday, February 24, 2011
More good results.
Howdy folks.
Pretty solid week again as far as poker is concerned. Played three tournaments since last Wednesday. The first was the Friday deepstack in D1 (which I won the previous week). Last hand before the break, blinds 200/400 I'm UTG+1 with AK and a stack of 11,000. Slightly below average. Anyway UTG limps, I make it 2k button calls back to the original limper he makes it 4k. I hated it but I moved in assuming I'd be racing and hoping he has AQ somehow. Button folds and UTG asks for a count. At this stage I know I'm at LEAST a coinflip. Anyway he finds out its 6k more and calls. Rolls over the monstrous 9 10 offsuit. Of course spikes a 9 and I'm outta there, not much fun and pretty tilting but such is life.
Second tourney, usual D1 5k. Tournament got 83 runners quite an achievement. Fair play to Ken and Robbie they're doing a great job down there in keeping the customers happy, I think of all the clubs I've played D1 has the friendliest and most welcoming atmosphere. Anyway, 20 players left I'm cruising with 40k. Went a little card dead and lost an AK v JJ for a monster stack and that left me short-ish. My last hand kinda sucked because it was completely unavoidable. UTG limps, which he had been doing with 70% of his hands. Folds to me on the button with AcQc I insta-ship 22k (blinds were 1500-3000), then sb re ships 60k. I knew the absolute worst hand he'd do this with was JJ or AK. Anyway limper folded and sb had AK. No joy and I was out 8th for a min-cash plus scalps.
The final tourney was the 10k in The Jackpot. I've stated previously how much I like this tournament. The structure is awesome and plenty of entertainment value for your hard earned Euro. With 2 tables left I had 5 big blinds after losing a preflop all in KQ v K3. Anyway I shipped with J10 off suit and got called by AA. Happy days. When I seen the aces I said, "my hand wins this every time." The flop rolls off 457. I then said "Don't worry its coming!" Turn J...........River 10. BOOM!!!! The entire table went into convulsions of laughter, it was pretty sick. Anyway final table went pretty smoothly and I ended up chopping it for a monkey each, not too shabby.
Poker aside I was at propaganda in the academy on Saturday night. Bit of a youngish crowd but the music was nothing short of epic. It was literally like having my iPhone on shuffle the €4 JD & Coke went down a treat. My biggest problem with going out to nightclubs is that all this chart and r'n'b garbage that gets played actually hinders my good time. I'm a bit of a music snob but I physically cant listen to fucking Rihanna and her bloke who beat her up in a nightclub or anywhere else for that matter. Rant over!!!
This weekend I'll be heading to Amsterdam, actually could not be more excited. Last time I got hit by a didlo fired out of a strippers minge so there's more of the same to look forward to, stories shall be told next week!
Later dudes.
Pretty solid week again as far as poker is concerned. Played three tournaments since last Wednesday. The first was the Friday deepstack in D1 (which I won the previous week). Last hand before the break, blinds 200/400 I'm UTG+1 with AK and a stack of 11,000. Slightly below average. Anyway UTG limps, I make it 2k button calls back to the original limper he makes it 4k. I hated it but I moved in assuming I'd be racing and hoping he has AQ somehow. Button folds and UTG asks for a count. At this stage I know I'm at LEAST a coinflip. Anyway he finds out its 6k more and calls. Rolls over the monstrous 9 10 offsuit. Of course spikes a 9 and I'm outta there, not much fun and pretty tilting but such is life.
Second tourney, usual D1 5k. Tournament got 83 runners quite an achievement. Fair play to Ken and Robbie they're doing a great job down there in keeping the customers happy, I think of all the clubs I've played D1 has the friendliest and most welcoming atmosphere. Anyway, 20 players left I'm cruising with 40k. Went a little card dead and lost an AK v JJ for a monster stack and that left me short-ish. My last hand kinda sucked because it was completely unavoidable. UTG limps, which he had been doing with 70% of his hands. Folds to me on the button with AcQc I insta-ship 22k (blinds were 1500-3000), then sb re ships 60k. I knew the absolute worst hand he'd do this with was JJ or AK. Anyway limper folded and sb had AK. No joy and I was out 8th for a min-cash plus scalps.
The final tourney was the 10k in The Jackpot. I've stated previously how much I like this tournament. The structure is awesome and plenty of entertainment value for your hard earned Euro. With 2 tables left I had 5 big blinds after losing a preflop all in KQ v K3. Anyway I shipped with J10 off suit and got called by AA. Happy days. When I seen the aces I said, "my hand wins this every time." The flop rolls off 457. I then said "Don't worry its coming!" Turn J...........River 10. BOOM!!!! The entire table went into convulsions of laughter, it was pretty sick. Anyway final table went pretty smoothly and I ended up chopping it for a monkey each, not too shabby.
Poker aside I was at propaganda in the academy on Saturday night. Bit of a youngish crowd but the music was nothing short of epic. It was literally like having my iPhone on shuffle the €4 JD & Coke went down a treat. My biggest problem with going out to nightclubs is that all this chart and r'n'b garbage that gets played actually hinders my good time. I'm a bit of a music snob but I physically cant listen to fucking Rihanna and her bloke who beat her up in a nightclub or anywhere else for that matter. Rant over!!!
This weekend I'll be heading to Amsterdam, actually could not be more excited. Last time I got hit by a didlo fired out of a strippers minge so there's more of the same to look forward to, stories shall be told next week!
Later dudes.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Sick reads and good results
Been a pretty good week since my last post. I've played three tournaments with a 1st place and a 3rd place. Both the cashes came in D1. The win was in the €45 Deepstack and the 3rd was in the Monday 5k.
Was pretty disappointed not to scoop on Monday. I felt myself and a guy who I had never seen up to that night were the only two solid players who cashed. The final table was pretty poor standard and if I had any sort of solid cards I would have been confident of another win for the books but sure whatever it was a nice cash and some well needed Dublin tournament league points, I was in some danger of missing out and not being able to defend my title. The sickest hand I played in a while also came Monday. I was in middle position with AT and decide to limp for 1k (My Stack 13k, Blinds 500-1000). Went to flop 4 handed with a Q89 raindow flop. Checked all around. Turn 2 checks to button who is table chip leader with 30k and bets 2k, folds to me and I call. I really think I've the best hand here and if I'm wrong I have a gutshot to hit so I call. River comes a 7, this doesn't complete much. I check again and he insta-moves all-in. I hated it. I was seat 10 so I had to ask the dealer to move back a little so I could get a look at the dude. He didn't look comfortable at all. He was super rigid, playing with his cards and then he noticed I was staring at the thing he was doing with his cards and stopped immediately, I made up my mind I was calling off my tourney with A10 high. I slid my stack in and he taps the table and says "good call" and shows me A10, ARGHH!! It was sick but not one person even attempted to bluff me and were pretty astonished I made the call. It was sweet to make the soul read yet sick at the same time not to scoop the pot.
Friday was one of them tourneys where I never made it out of auto-pilot. Nothing was a struggle. All bluffs worked, value bets paid and ran pretty well. Me and a good mate of mine Al finished 1-2. Nice when it ends up that way. He's got really good at tournaments really quickly, sure he'll have more results sooner rather than later.
As for tonight I'm stuck between the 10k in Jackpot or Arsenal-Barca. Pretty sure I'll make the trip into town because I love the structure of that tournament and I'm due some rungood in Jackpot. Looking for 3 cashes in a row, feeling really good about my game and life is pretty good at the moment.
On a personal note, been out kind of on the regular at weekends with friends and haven't had a shit night in a while. Looking forward to this week for another night out then Amsterdam next weekend. Had a blood test today which I got because I'm a new patient at a local doctor. So fingers crossed I've no secret diseases except gambling addiction.
Run Good Folks.
Was pretty disappointed not to scoop on Monday. I felt myself and a guy who I had never seen up to that night were the only two solid players who cashed. The final table was pretty poor standard and if I had any sort of solid cards I would have been confident of another win for the books but sure whatever it was a nice cash and some well needed Dublin tournament league points, I was in some danger of missing out and not being able to defend my title. The sickest hand I played in a while also came Monday. I was in middle position with AT and decide to limp for 1k (My Stack 13k, Blinds 500-1000). Went to flop 4 handed with a Q89 raindow flop. Checked all around. Turn 2 checks to button who is table chip leader with 30k and bets 2k, folds to me and I call. I really think I've the best hand here and if I'm wrong I have a gutshot to hit so I call. River comes a 7, this doesn't complete much. I check again and he insta-moves all-in. I hated it. I was seat 10 so I had to ask the dealer to move back a little so I could get a look at the dude. He didn't look comfortable at all. He was super rigid, playing with his cards and then he noticed I was staring at the thing he was doing with his cards and stopped immediately, I made up my mind I was calling off my tourney with A10 high. I slid my stack in and he taps the table and says "good call" and shows me A10, ARGHH!! It was sick but not one person even attempted to bluff me and were pretty astonished I made the call. It was sweet to make the soul read yet sick at the same time not to scoop the pot.
Friday was one of them tourneys where I never made it out of auto-pilot. Nothing was a struggle. All bluffs worked, value bets paid and ran pretty well. Me and a good mate of mine Al finished 1-2. Nice when it ends up that way. He's got really good at tournaments really quickly, sure he'll have more results sooner rather than later.
As for tonight I'm stuck between the 10k in Jackpot or Arsenal-Barca. Pretty sure I'll make the trip into town because I love the structure of that tournament and I'm due some rungood in Jackpot. Looking for 3 cashes in a row, feeling really good about my game and life is pretty good at the moment.
On a personal note, been out kind of on the regular at weekends with friends and haven't had a shit night in a while. Looking forward to this week for another night out then Amsterdam next weekend. Had a blood test today which I got because I'm a new patient at a local doctor. So fingers crossed I've no secret diseases except gambling addiction.
Run Good Folks.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Downswing
Poker is a mind fuck sometimes. Win a tourney and boom you're invincible, you're awesome, you're freakin' God. Go on a downswing swing you feel like a loser, you suck and will never win again. Some people deal with variance better than others, I'm generally ok with it, but the current run of crap I'm having to deal with to make (or lose) money would test Gandhi's patience. Gandhi was a very tight aggressive poker player :)
The only way I'm getting through this is to realise that this run of horrid luck WILL change, I'm too rooted in logic to think anyway else. In fact I don't really have the right to complain considering I didn't even play much last week, only two tourneys with no cashes but a decent run to 11th in the Wednesday 10k in Jackpot.
All in all I don't have a whole lot to write about this week. I played very little poker and had a decent weekend. Had a small party in mine for the Superbowl, plenty of beer and an in-human amount of wings that my mate 'borrowed' from his shop made it a good night. The game itself was awesome, Aaron Rodgers bossed it from QB and was a super deserving Superbowl MVP.
On the subject of sports Liverpool beating Chelsea the weekend was one of the highlights of our season so far. Tactically Chelsea played perfectly into King Kenny's hands by playing so narrow, directly into Liverpool's flat 3-man backline. The win was made all the sweeter by Torres' no-show and subsequent removal, the 'bigger club' rubbish he came out with after his move pissed me off. It will be a long time before Chelsea are a bigger club than Liverpool. Robbie Savage summed it up nicely on Twitter.
Bigger Club 1 Better Team 0.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Football and losing, yet still winning.
I held off on my usual Monday afternoon blog post until today due to the transfer deadline day being yesterday and what a transfer deadline day it was. As a life long Liverpool fan it was pretty hard to see Fernando Torres move to Chelsea but £50m is a lot more than the player is worth in my opinion. Fernando gave us some great years and was an amazing servant to the club but the way he conducted himself this January showed a lot of disrespect to the people in charge at the club, Kenny Daglish and LFC fans worldwide. His transfer request that arrived in what seemed to be nano-seconds after Chelsea bid for him left a sour taste in the mouth. His decision is even the more baffling when you consider only this summer he stated his long-term commitment to the club while Hicks & Gillette were in charge, two blokes who brought the club to being literally one or two days decisions away from not existing. Now we have NESW at the helm who clearly have long term ambitions and willingness to spend money he immediately jumps ship, tough one to get the head around but sure good luck El Nino, cheers for raping Rio and Terry. We'll always have the memories.
On to the future of LFC. Luis Suarez is a monster signing. Liverpool have a horrid reputation for ruining good players but I really think this one will work. He has pace, he is extremely instinctual in front of goal and has the passion to succeed. I'm very surprised we got him but obviously pleasantly surprised. As for Andy Carroll, £35m is a sick amount of money to pay for Andy Carroll and from a strictly business point of view yes its a massive gamble. I know these hypothetical situation are sometimes silly but I really dont think Liverpool would have got anywhere near £50m for Torres in the summer and probably would have got Carroll for £25m but what's done is done. I think Suarez and Carroll can now start a pretty formidable partnership. A Drogba-esque brute of a man in Carroll who's only 22 who can score a bag of goals on his day and a natural born finisher in Suarez with a proven record internationally and domestically who will be a constant nuisance to defenses in the Premier League. It's an exciting time to be a Liverpool fan thats for sure.
On the poker front, this week was a mega dud for me. The last two Monday's I've got my money in with T7 on a A779T board just to be shown A7 and AK on a K75 flop to be shown AA. Pokers no fun when this keep happening. Wednesday lost a race for the chip leas QQ v AK, then shipped AK v QQ for an above average stack. Obviously lost both races. Pretty massive pain in the hole. Friday was pretty standard, 16 players left I ship 10x short stack KcQc called by JJ and missed. Blergh!!
My only saving grace and the moment is my mate Ray. We play pretty much all our tourneys together and swap 15%. He's been running/playing really good poker recently and has put together some nice results. I bought 25% in the D1 Cash League final and he cashed for €900 so that was nice, add that to a few other little results he's thrown together and he's breaking keeping me in the plus column.
Keep it up mate :)
On to the future of LFC. Luis Suarez is a monster signing. Liverpool have a horrid reputation for ruining good players but I really think this one will work. He has pace, he is extremely instinctual in front of goal and has the passion to succeed. I'm very surprised we got him but obviously pleasantly surprised. As for Andy Carroll, £35m is a sick amount of money to pay for Andy Carroll and from a strictly business point of view yes its a massive gamble. I know these hypothetical situation are sometimes silly but I really dont think Liverpool would have got anywhere near £50m for Torres in the summer and probably would have got Carroll for £25m but what's done is done. I think Suarez and Carroll can now start a pretty formidable partnership. A Drogba-esque brute of a man in Carroll who's only 22 who can score a bag of goals on his day and a natural born finisher in Suarez with a proven record internationally and domestically who will be a constant nuisance to defenses in the Premier League. It's an exciting time to be a Liverpool fan thats for sure.
On the poker front, this week was a mega dud for me. The last two Monday's I've got my money in with T7 on a A779T board just to be shown A7 and AK on a K75 flop to be shown AA. Pokers no fun when this keep happening. Wednesday lost a race for the chip leas QQ v AK, then shipped AK v QQ for an above average stack. Obviously lost both races. Pretty massive pain in the hole. Friday was pretty standard, 16 players left I ship 10x short stack KcQc called by JJ and missed. Blergh!!
My only saving grace and the moment is my mate Ray. We play pretty much all our tourneys together and swap 15%. He's been running/playing really good poker recently and has put together some nice results. I bought 25% in the D1 Cash League final and he cashed for €900 so that was nice, add that to a few other little results he's thrown together and he's breaking keeping me in the plus column.
Keep it up mate :)
Monday, January 24, 2011
RIP Nan
Apologies to regular followers of this blog that I had no update last Monday, my Nan passed away on Sunday morning and it was a really tough for for me to take considering I lived with her all my life.
I was chosen to say a few words about my Nan and her life and it was a real honour. I took two or three hours to finalise everything I was going to say for the funeral on Thursday last. I was ridiculously nervous but I suppose its to be expected. I've done a tonne of public speaking but this had to come from the heart. The general consensus I got from everyone is the speech went really well and I was happy to send her off with something nice to say.
Poker wise obviously everything has been a bit quiet. The Tuesday after my last blog post I shipped the €30 freeze in voodoo, other than that I've played two tourneys. I ran jaw-droppingly horrible in one and played like an absolute ass in the other. The latter worried me because I analyse lots after tournaments and these were just basic errors. I hope it was just a brain fart and not bad habits coming into my game, but the fact I even realise this I guess is good. Keeping my poker player ego in check, very important in my opinion.
Well this was a short post but under the circumstances its nice to stick up a new blog and get some routine back this week. My Nan was always super supportive and always told me if I loved playing poker to go for it, I know the idea of achieving something in poker for a loved one who passed on is alien to people but it will only spur me on to become better and do her proud.
Carl M
I was chosen to say a few words about my Nan and her life and it was a real honour. I took two or three hours to finalise everything I was going to say for the funeral on Thursday last. I was ridiculously nervous but I suppose its to be expected. I've done a tonne of public speaking but this had to come from the heart. The general consensus I got from everyone is the speech went really well and I was happy to send her off with something nice to say.
Poker wise obviously everything has been a bit quiet. The Tuesday after my last blog post I shipped the €30 freeze in voodoo, other than that I've played two tourneys. I ran jaw-droppingly horrible in one and played like an absolute ass in the other. The latter worried me because I analyse lots after tournaments and these were just basic errors. I hope it was just a brain fart and not bad habits coming into my game, but the fact I even realise this I guess is good. Keeping my poker player ego in check, very important in my opinion.
Well this was a short post but under the circumstances its nice to stick up a new blog and get some routine back this week. My Nan was always super supportive and always told me if I loved playing poker to go for it, I know the idea of achieving something in poker for a loved one who passed on is alien to people but it will only spur me on to become better and do her proud.
Carl M
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Pretty boring week and random thoughts on tilt.
Meh is the only way to explain how this week went poker wise. I played four tournaments with one cash since my last post for a small loss for the week. I think the best way to deal with weeks like these are to start a fresh clear your mind and look at the bigger picture. I know plenty of players who who play good for weeks even months on end and then a bad run mixed in with tilt absolutely decimates their bankroll. I think I've enough experience and bankroll discipline to avoid this.
Another big factor in avoiding tilt is surrounding yourself with the right people, people who give good advice and encouragement rather than horrible advice. Choose your gambling friends carefully, they could make you or break you (literally). Luckily for me at the moment i'm surrounded by a great group of lads and we always have each others back.
I'm not usually one to complain about bad luck/running bad but this week took the piss. Countless 3 outers, flush v flush, top two rivered a couple times. With the stacks/structures of the tourneys I play this is almost impossible to overcome. I still maintain people get the same amount of luck over a lifetime, people who lose every week will just never accept this. This is understandable, poker players by nature are ego-maniacs. Everyone thinks they're the best player around and that their plays are uber genius. The problem with this mentality is that these people generally don't change their game over time and in an ever evolving game these people won't win, it's that simple.
Apart from poker I'm delighted to see Kenny Daglish back at Liverpool. Some people may scoff at the appointment but it will bring some much needed feel good back at the club at I really wish him all the best. With the way the league is at the moment 3 wins on the spin and everything is changed, a true gent in the game. Best of luck Kenny.
I also got my car to actually move which will stop me funding half the fucking taxis in Dublin. At least thats some run-good I guess.
Carl M
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Live tournaments v Cash Games
Hey everyone, Happy 2011!
After a really fun weekend in London celebrating New Years Eve with friends I'm 100% ready to get back to the tournament grind fresher than ever. The last couple of weeks I've taken off have me more hungry than ever for success and hopefully 2011 will be a big year for me, and for all my readers I hope 2011 is a massive year for you too, be it poker or whatever your passion.
I've taken this blog to discuss something I've been considering a long time, cash games or tournaments? I genuinely admire live players who make serious bank from both tournaments and cash games. From my time in the Dublin poker scene theses rare cash game/tournament hybrids are few and far between.
Cash games in Dublin are generally €1-€2-€5 or 50c-€1-€3. These games generally play pretty similar to each other with the average amount at the table being €100-€150 per player when a game is in full flight. The variance in these games is MASSIVE! I started out playing cash and went on a sick rush of multi buy-in gains per session simply by playing tight ABC poker and set mining. I thought it would never end, but I soon realised my big hands had been holding for me and this couldn't last forever. It didn't. After getting it all in numerous times being a massive favorite and losing a few sessions I was mega steamed and I began to question my cash game. I came to the conclusion that to beat variance and a pretty massive rake, a serious amount of volume was needed to make a nice living. This is when I began to play tournaments for fun more so than anything.
Tournaments then became a massive area of interest for me. I quickly learned a winning strategy for these things. I was once a sick sit n go degenerate online so I know how to play shallow average stacks as well as anyone I know. This was massive for me. I began to realise that the RoI for these things were huge. Its so easy to gain a reputation as a good tournament player too. After a period of success I was playing a tournament in a Dublin casino and was seated beside this nice man I had never played before, he asked my name and I replied 'Carl Morrissey' and shook his hand. He replied, 'Carl Morrissey? Someone just told me you're the best player in this place!'. With a rep like that people do not want to mess with you and give you respect for a hand everytime. Its pretty cool. Unlike rake, reg fees for me are easily beatable. Avg reg fee is usually €5-€10 whereas rake is 5% capped at €20 in the cash game at my home club.
The reason i'm so impressed with successful players in both cash and tourneys is all the cash game players think the tournaments are too small and a waste of time and the tournament players think the cash games are just places to get bad beats to blow their bankroll. Its a difficult adjustment.
I know if I was to give cash games an extended run and put in the hours I would be a winning player, I know for a fact I study the game more and have better strategic poker thinking than 90% of the cash game players out there, I just really don't want to.
I love tournaments, everything about them. I love the adjustments as the tournament proceeds, I love the money bubble, I love final tables and I love winning titles/tournaments more than anything. I feel so lucky to be making money at something I have such passion for and long may it continue.
Run Good in 2011 Everyone - Carl.
After a really fun weekend in London celebrating New Years Eve with friends I'm 100% ready to get back to the tournament grind fresher than ever. The last couple of weeks I've taken off have me more hungry than ever for success and hopefully 2011 will be a big year for me, and for all my readers I hope 2011 is a massive year for you too, be it poker or whatever your passion.
I've taken this blog to discuss something I've been considering a long time, cash games or tournaments? I genuinely admire live players who make serious bank from both tournaments and cash games. From my time in the Dublin poker scene theses rare cash game/tournament hybrids are few and far between.
Cash games in Dublin are generally €1-€2-€5 or 50c-€1-€3. These games generally play pretty similar to each other with the average amount at the table being €100-€150 per player when a game is in full flight. The variance in these games is MASSIVE! I started out playing cash and went on a sick rush of multi buy-in gains per session simply by playing tight ABC poker and set mining. I thought it would never end, but I soon realised my big hands had been holding for me and this couldn't last forever. It didn't. After getting it all in numerous times being a massive favorite and losing a few sessions I was mega steamed and I began to question my cash game. I came to the conclusion that to beat variance and a pretty massive rake, a serious amount of volume was needed to make a nice living. This is when I began to play tournaments for fun more so than anything.
Tournaments then became a massive area of interest for me. I quickly learned a winning strategy for these things. I was once a sick sit n go degenerate online so I know how to play shallow average stacks as well as anyone I know. This was massive for me. I began to realise that the RoI for these things were huge. Its so easy to gain a reputation as a good tournament player too. After a period of success I was playing a tournament in a Dublin casino and was seated beside this nice man I had never played before, he asked my name and I replied 'Carl Morrissey' and shook his hand. He replied, 'Carl Morrissey? Someone just told me you're the best player in this place!'. With a rep like that people do not want to mess with you and give you respect for a hand everytime. Its pretty cool. Unlike rake, reg fees for me are easily beatable. Avg reg fee is usually €5-€10 whereas rake is 5% capped at €20 in the cash game at my home club.
The reason i'm so impressed with successful players in both cash and tourneys is all the cash game players think the tournaments are too small and a waste of time and the tournament players think the cash games are just places to get bad beats to blow their bankroll. Its a difficult adjustment.
I know if I was to give cash games an extended run and put in the hours I would be a winning player, I know for a fact I study the game more and have better strategic poker thinking than 90% of the cash game players out there, I just really don't want to.
I love tournaments, everything about them. I love the adjustments as the tournament proceeds, I love the money bubble, I love final tables and I love winning titles/tournaments more than anything. I feel so lucky to be making money at something I have such passion for and long may it continue.
Run Good in 2011 Everyone - Carl.
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