So just what have I been up to for the past few weeks? Well I absolutely lost my bollocks (and more than 3/4 of my bankroll) when I logged in drunk one night. According the PokerTracker, I tried taking a shot at 1/2 and obviously failed miserably. I then quickly dropped down to $20NL, and quickly lost a few buyins trying to be creative. Then I flopped a set of aces versus an overaggro donk and got it all in on a 3 flush board vs QQ with the villain having the Qh. Naturally the river didn’t pair the board, obviously it was red and most definitely shaped like the organ in my chest which had just shattered into a million different pieces! Poker has my heart broken at times! Monkey-spew tilt soon followed and I was calling away my stack with great hands such as Nine-Ten off suit! Sick!

With my bankroll crippled, my heart broken and my mind fully tilted, I once again decided to sit down at a 1/2 table with my entire new and improved and vastly reduced bankroll with the intent of either doubling up or going broke and taking a break from poker! About 2 orbits in, I picked up KK in the SB and raised it to 7. I was immediately repopped to 21 by the BB. Now my understanding of this limit is that it’s not unusual to be 3bet light Blind versus Blind, so I elected to just call this as a 4bet would have forced him to fold the vast majority of his range. Anyway the board came Jack high, with two clubs. I check and he throws out a bet that I call. Turn was a blank, I bet out and he puts me all in and I call to be shown KcJc for top pair with the flush draw and a gutshot from what I recall. The river was a beautiful King meaning I doubled up and now had a whole $425 to my name!

It was around this time that I had lodged €100 onto Stars to try spin it up playing some tournaments (or loldonkaments as they’re sometimes affectionately known as). Having spent some time in $4 180man Sit N Go’s trying to get used to the software, I soon found myself running deep in a $10 rebuy tournament where I only had to rebuy once and actually forgot to purchase a top up! I forget how I departed it, but I bubbled the final table finishing in 10th for $250. My doomswitch has since been flicked and I haven’t cashed in a tournament on Stars since! Last night LuckyLloyd from Boards staked a group of us $11 for shits and giggles in a $10 tournament and in the 4th hand in I flopped middle set on a King high board and got it all in on the flop vs AK. Poker Stars rustled up something special for the turn and river though, with a one two combination of Queen Jack enough to almost make me throw my laptop onto the ground! I was left crippled and got what little I had left in with 66 a few hands later only to run into 88. Oh well. Poker is a sick, sick game!

Speaking of being staked, HoLLLaments of Boards has also been staking people into loldonkaments for the past few nights on FullTilt. I joined in on the action for the second night and ran deep in a $28k guaranteed tournament, departing in 25th after I brainfarted and pushed on a flop of 766 after it was checked to me by the chipleader. He had 77 obviously and I was drawing dead! The following night I was put into a 6max bounty tournament which was strange to me. I began by playing like it was a cash game, 3betting light and floating flops which only got me into trouble and left me with half a stack a mere 20 minutes in! My cue to do something else for the night arrived when I found Ace-Ten in the SB after it was folded around to me. My standard raise was called by the BB and I saw a wonderful flop of Ace-Ten-Two. I check raised allin and was called to be shown JJ. Needless to say, a jack reared it’s ugly head on the river!

Last night I was once again staked into a tournament on Full Tilt. a $32k Guaranteed. Of the 8 people who were staked, only myself and Nicky Power reached the money. Nicky was on fire, running better than Maurice Green reportedly getting Kings three times within the first 100 hands! As a result he stormed off into the lead! I wasn’t having as much luck and after taking a few hits (some due to complete brainfarts), I shoved for my last 8BB’s with A8 and ran into QQ. A flop of 885 ensured that I stayed alive. As the bubble was approaching I was getting very aggressive and was raising almost any two cards from late position. I had soon built up an above average stack when my QQ lost a race to AK and then a few hands later my AK couldn’t win against TT. Nevertheless I kept playing aggressively with what was still an average stack and stole the antes and blinds whenever I could and also threw in a few resteals here and there to get myself into the Top 20! I took quite a bit of stick when I called a shortstacks allin with A9 but he was pushing quite a lot and I figured his range to be any ace, any pair, any two broadway cards, any two suited connectors which I am slight favourite against. In fact he had pushed with a gapped connector and there was no help for him on the board. That was the only “race” I won that night and a few hands later my button raise with KT was pushed into by the BB. He felted 99 and I flopped my king but he turned a set. The very next hand I picked up TT and pushed over the top of a Mid Postion raiser who called with AA. I flopped my set of tens but he rivered his Ace.

As I said earlier in this post, Poker is a sick game!