golf gambol

well i'm here in sunny australia on a relaxing holiday but have still managed to find myself some action!

turns our some of my buddies here have turned into total golf nuts. we went down to the driving range yesterday and even though i have never really played golf before (i'm not counting crazy golf) but it seems i'm a bit of a natural! so like any good poker player i've decided to have a little wager away from the table and out on the fairway.


so i've managed to convince one guy to spot me 36 strokes, so a double bogey a hole while he'll plays off his handicap of 14. now given my performance at the driving range i think that i could probably go round in the high 90's to 100 giving me a serious edge. i'm going to combine that with a little stableford and i should be laughing.

we have agreed $5 a point and a $50 best score vs handicap wager and will be hitting the course shortly to settle things. i think this could be a nice little bank roll booster!

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december results

cash games

nlh25
2123 hands for +$60.90
5.74bb / 100

---
2007 finale +$21.71

so a good december in my opinion. i know i haven't set the world on fire with the dolla i have won but its a profit and am fairly happy with c. 6bb/100. if i can sustain that as i move up the levels then i will be chuffed.

there have been some rather dramatic swings as you can see above, some all ins that didn't go my way and others that did. i actually ran pretty much on expectation overall so i have made some bad decisions which i need to fix ready for 2008 and i plan to revisit all my showdown hands.

i did also want to post my last hand of 2007 (off on hols tomorrow) which i think is a great way to end the year

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players

BTN: $40.30
SB: $30.50
BB: $4.95
UTG: $5.60
UTG+1: $14.30
UTG+2: $25.50
Hero (MP1): $20.55
MP2: $23.50
CO: $8.65

Pre-Flop: Q Q dealt to Hero (MP1)
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $0.25, UTG+2 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, MP2 folds, CO calls $0.75, 2 folds, BB calls $0.50, UTG+1 raises to $2, Hero calls $1.25, CO calls $1.25, BB calls $1.25

Flop: ($8.10) Q A 6 (4 Players)
BB bets $2.95 and is All-In, UTG+1 raises to $5.90, Hero raises to $18.55 and is All-In, CO folds, UTG+1 calls $6.40 and is All-In

Turn: ($35.65) Q (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($35.65) 3 (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $35.65 Pot ($1.75 Rake)
BB mucked T 6 and LOST (-$4.95 NET)
UTG+1 showed K A (two pair, Aces and Queens) and LOST (-$14.30 NET)
Hero showed Q Q (four of a kind, Queens) and WON $33.90 (+$19.60 NET)

ship it!!

merry christmas everyone, hope santa brings you all pocket aces and i'll be back at the tables in the new year, although expect some new year goals to be posted shortly

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christmas time, mistletoe and wine

well the festive season is well and truly upon us now. for those of you that have real jobs (like me) and don't make a living playing poker then i think today is probably the last "official" day at work as christmas eve (monday) will be a joke.

i will be spending my last official day in the office mostly down the pub trying random festive english ales. so far i have had yule fuel, winter delight and santas helper. they all taste the same to me, i'm no connoisseur but they get me merry and thats the plan!

i'm thinking i'll be able to get one more cash session in before i head off for the sunnier climbs of sydney to see the other halves folks which should take me above 2000 cash game hands for the month. i'm pretty happy about that given time constraints. i'll post my december results on xmas eve to include that session.

other then that i just hope everyone has finished their christmas shopping and my cards are in the post. if anyone is overcome by the christmas spirit, a time for giving and sharing, and wants to give my bankroll a boost then drop me a line. every little helps!

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simple really

aarrgghh!!

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fishy fishy fish hooks

have just had my largest session ever in terms of hands for little old two tabling me. i don't think i could have had a colder deck. literally nothing, 8/3, 7/2, 10/3. nothing playable at all, i just grinded along for almost 3 hours stealing the blinds, woop woop, and folding about the only decent hand i got, below, although it was a beautiful laydown, holla!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed)

SB ($20.30)
BB ($24.65)
UTG ($15.80)
UTG+1 ($42.85)
MP1 ($4.90)
MP2 ($14.40)
MP3 ($16.10)
Hero ($24.25)
Button ($6.05)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Jc, Js.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, MP1 calls $0.25, 1 fold, MP3 raises to $1, CO raises to $2, 3 folds, UTG+1 calls $1.75, MP1 calls $1.75, MP3 raises to $7.5, Hero folds, UTG+1 calls $5.50, MP1 calls $2.90 (All-In).

Flop: ($22.25) 3h, Qc, 8c (3 players, 1 all-in)
UTG+1 checks, MP3 bets $8.6 (All-In), UTG+1 folds.

Turn: ($22.25) 6c (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($22.25) Kc (2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $13.65

Results below:
MP1 has 9h Qh (one pair, queens).
MP3 has Kh Kd (three of a kind, kings).
Outcome: MP3 wins $30.85.

here's a little graph of december so far, not sure how much play i have left in me but i'll post my overall results on xmas eve or something. the sexy crash around hand 702 was thanks to my kings getting busted quattro times against ace rag. love it!

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bad, bad, bad then good, but mostly bad!

just had an awful session at the tables. i felt like i couldn't catch a break, had my kk busted 4 times, aces busted once and ak busted twice after flopping an ace or a king on a ragged board. most of it was thanks to some great 2 pair suck outs and of course just about every kk saw an ace hit on the river once we were all in.

but on the plus side i definitely felt like i learned a lot, is was a big session and for once wasn't scared of getting it all in when i thought i was ahead. i was gonna post some sick beats here but then this happened and although i won next to nothing and probably played the hand totally wrong (i was just in awe after the turn) at least i broke my duck...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (7 handed)

Hero ($24.85)
UTG ($24.75)
MP1 ($23.95)
MP2 ($5.75)
CO ($18.85)
Button ($14.75)
SB ($21.35)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 6c, 9c.
2 folds, MP2 calls $0.25, CO calls $0.25, Button calls $0.25, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($1.25) 7c, 8c, 8s (5 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP2 checks, CO checks, Button checks.

Turn: ($1.25) Tc (5 players)
SB checks, BB bets $0.5, MP2 folds, CO folds, Button calls $0.50, SB folds.

River: ($2.25) 3d (2 players)
BB bets $2, Button folds.

Final Pot: $2.25

Results in white below:
Hero has 6c 9c (straight flush, ten high).
Outcome: Hero wins $2.25.

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continuation betting

i have a dilemma. i'm finding more and more that my continuation bets are being put to the test. i could understand if i made this move on a regular basis but i don't which puzzles me even more.

now after a preflop raise in a late position and a flop that is checked to you a continuation bet, or follow through show of strength is a pretty standard play. there is a 67% chance that you will miss the flop so when you do, and especially when its a ragged flop, you would still expect to be ahead. so in goes the bet, and then all of a sudden you are check raised! wtf! what could this guy have, pocket pair? or is he just making a move? i find it extremely hard to judge where i stand and i was wondering what the consensus was on this?

to illustrate i have an example from tonight. what do you do? i called the re-raise and folded the turn. waste of money as i knew i would fold but...

1) what would you do in this situation on either the initial flop re-raise or the bet on the turn?

2) and what would you put him on?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed)

MP1 ($24.15)
MP2 ($24.05)
MP3 ($22.60)
CO ($21.80)
Hero ($24.40) Button
SB ($26.55)
BB ($35)
UTG ($5.50)
UTG+1 ($14.40)

Preflop: Hero is Button with As, Kc.
3 folds, MP2 calls $0.25, 2 folds, Button raises to $1.25, 1 fold, BB calls $1, MP2 calls $1.

Flop: ($3.85) 7h, Td, 5c (3 players)
BB checks, MP2 checks, Button bets $1.25, BB folds, MP2 raises to $3.25, Hero calls $2.

Turn: ($10.35) 4d (2 players)
MP2 bets $4.5, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $10.35

please, any feedback would be massively appreciated

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goal update

as promised here is a quick update on my goals. managed to bring the cash back to pretty much even but still need to play a stack of hands to get to the end. the challenge is taking longer than i would like mainly due to a crazy work schedule and xmas parties. need a bit of refocus and maybe a decent session this weekend

-----

the goals i have set myself is as follows;

nl25 9 handed ring games
single or double tabling only to ensure ability to learn from my and others play

1138 of 10,000 hands

$0.24 loss

sng 9 handed $5 + 50c

7 of 25

1st = 1
2nd = 0
3rd = 3

$11.00 profit

max $10 + $1 mtt with 100+ runners

0 of 10

final tables = 0
cashes = 0

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more solid cash play

had another session at the tables tonight. played solid poker again picking my spots and playing the table. i did catch some good cards and my one showdown saw me holding the nut full house but feel i'm reading the table well and most importantly playing my game.

one difference tonight was i picked aggressive tables with what turned out, a few maniacs! usually i try to avoid these tables as i find it very hard to gauge where i stand with mediocre cards even if in reality i'm ahead. however tonight with a little more concentration and the aid of the instant hand history i pegged most players and their potential ranges which made playing the hand post flop a little easier.

other then that not much to report, i was gonna bore you with the only hand i showed down but i won't...although it did rock! oh and i'm finally back in the black, not by much but it feels good to wipe out my fishy losses so i'll post a revised results position vs my earlier goals.

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bit naughty but hey!

so hit the cash tables again today, had planned to have a 2 hour or so session but that didn't go exactly to plan. after only a few hand this happened...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (8 handed)

UTG ($3.75)
UTG+1 ($24.05)
MP1 ($25.70)
MP2 ($20.70)
CO ($12.75)
Button ($24)
Hero ($24.75)
BB ($22.05)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 5d, 5s.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, 3 folds, Button raises to $0.75, Hero calls $0.65, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.50.

Flop: ($2.50) 5h, Tc, Js (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, Button bets $0.5, SB raises to $1.5, UTG+1 folds, Button raises to $5.25, SB raises to $10, Button raises to $28, Hero calls $13.25.

Turn: ($53.75) 8s (2 players)

River: ($53.75) Jc (2 players)

Final Pot: $53.75

Results below:
Button has Ah Ac (two pair, aces and jacks).
Hero has 5d 5s (full house, fives full of jacks).
Outcome: Hero wins $53.75.

so quite pleased with that little ditty! was also quite pleased with my flop re-reraise, the big factor for me here was judging the size of the bet that would bring on an all in re-re-reraise and it did exactly what it was supposed to. after that happened there was just a short prayer to the poker gods for no set over set and the money was mine.

so why was i naughty, well that happened after only 15 minutes and since i'm a little behind on my cash play recently i just couldn't resist the temptation to cash out while i was happily ahead so i did. i'll probably regret it in the morning as i restricted my learning and also probably my earning but once in a while its just nice to hit your objective after 20 mins and cash out and do something else...like top gear!

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playing well

so had me a little cash session tonight. am pretty pleased with my play at the moment. i may not have won a stack of cash but i certainly confused the table with my now standard tight loose passive aggressive image!

that aside i did play well and got my money in at the right times which i think was backed up by winning 71% of my hands that went to showdown. i feel this has been a weakness in my game recently in i seem to be calling with the worst of it. i've actually got a hand example below that i would love to get your thoughts on. i know i shouldn't have called the raise at the end especially with both straight and flush possibilities on the board but i couldn't believe i'd f*cked it up and had to see his cards.

please have a look and all comments are welcome, where did i go wrong? i think i should have played it faster especially with the smooth call on the flop, my turn bet should have been double what it was to push out the draw, but knowing the table i was on he would have called anyway regardless of my bet size!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed)

CO ($22.10)
Button ($22.15)
SB ($32.20)
BB ($15)
UTG ($14.70)
Hero ($24.10)
MP1 ($18.30)
MP2 ($14.05)
MP3 ($6.60)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 6c, 6d.
UTG calls $0.25, Hero calls $0.25, MP1 calls $0.25, 4 folds, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($1.25) Kh, 6h, 5s (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, UTGB bets $0.75, MP1 calls $0.75, SB folds, BB calls $0.75, UTG folds.

Turn: ($3.50) 9s (3 players)
BB checks, UTGB bets $1.75, MP1 calls $1.75, BB folds.

River: ($7) 8h (2 players)
UTGB bets $1.5, MP1 raises to $4, Hero calls $2.50.

Final Pot: $15

Results below:
Hero has 6c 6d (three of a kind, sixes).
MP1 has Th Ah (flush, ace high).
Outcome: MP1 wins $15.

please let me know your thoughts, maybe we can all learn something.

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review: dell xps m1330 notebook

so my lappie has arrived and wanted to share my thoughts.

the first thing that strikes you when you open the box is the lovely dell laptop slip and a wonderful little leather organiser to keep all of your manuals and back-up disks. first thing i'm thinking is thats cool, the last laptop i bought came in a polythene bag!

opening up the slip and pulling out the m1330 you instantly see that dell has put a lot of thought into its flagship range and hasn't compromised on build quality. the shell is coated in beautiful matt black framed by brushed aluminium, and again when you open it up the brushed aluminum has continued through to wrap the keyboard and cover the palm rest.

pressing the on button sees the wafer thin screen light up which in incredibly bright. this is due to the way the screen is backlit using tiny leds as opposed to a long light tube at the base. to be honest i still can't get over the screen, the colours feel so vivid due to the brightness and its leaps and bounds ahead of my toshiba protege which i use for work. doesn't really make pokerstars look any better though, its still a naff 2d table, but at least its slightly brighter!

once booted up its pretty standard. its a vista machine, which i love, and it has all the bells and whistles you would expect. there is a tad to much dell software on there but i'll get round to uninstalling all that soon enough. i've ramped it up to have 4gb of ram and it is quick. i can easily multi table my 2 tables and play music at the same time! that was a joke people in case you weren't sure. i don't suppose i'll ever need 4gb for pokerstars software but its there just in case!

so in conclusion if anyone out there is looking for a new laptop i would thoroughly recommend the xps m1330 and the entire dell xps range. you get exceptional quality and power for what i feel is a reasonable price. plus the m1330 is under 2kg so easy to carry about if required. i've also upped my poundage at the gym so with bigger guns it should feel even lighter!

all i need to do now is cover the cost through poker! lol

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rip chip reese

david “chip” reese, born in dayton ohio in 1951, is dead. widely regarded as one of the best poker players in the world and the youngest player inducted into the poker hall of fame, he died in his sleep last night, reportedly of complications due to pneumonia.

reese won three world series of poker bracelets, including the inaugural $50,000 buy-in horse event at the 2006 world series of poker. he might have won more, but preferred big money, high-stakes cash games to tournament poker.

reese graduated from dartmouth college with a degree in economics and was accepted into stanford university law school. on his way out to california in 1974 reese stopped off in las vegas to play poker. after winning $60,000 he decided to skip law school and play poker for a living, and when asked about his decision, he uttered the now immortal line, “law doesn't have the same monetary incentive as poker."

you were a legend of the game and will be sorely missed. rip chip reese

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big pimping!

yes its time for some big pimping.

calling all fellow bloggers, i'm holding a link sale. thats right, for the rock bottom unbelieveable price of nothing i'm offering a link swap. all this could be yours if you just follow 2, yes just 2, simple steps.

1) leave a comment with your url for me
2) link me up on your blog

and thats it, i'll link you up the next time i log on. easy isn't it!

also, as if that wasn't enough, you can now subscribe to seymour cards by following the below link or clicking on the identical link under the networking tab. thats right every update at seymour cards delivered right to your rss feed free of charge. so don't delay, get subscribing!

subscribe to seymour cards

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turning a profit

so after looking back over my hand history yesterday there was only one conclusion i could come to over why i was losing in the last two cash sessions i played. turns out the standard pokerstars table theme is cursed! i know, who would have thought that someone would go to the trouble of cursing my table theme.

so with that in mind i headed into the options to find a non cursed table theme and head back to profit. i chose the hyper simple theme as i figured it would be harder for anyone to put a curse on, less components to curse after all. once i was satisfied with that i headed back to the tables to play my usual game, i had already established it wasn't my reason for losing after all!

there was the usual push and pull action going on, i was winning a few small pots here and there, nothing major. then it started to go a little wrong on one of the tables i was playing. i'm thinking, not another curse, this is unbelievable! i carried on playing, watching my opponents for any witch craft and after 30 mins i concluded i was just playing sh*t. luckily on the other table i was playing pretty well and covering my losses...just!

another 45 mins passed and i was starting to get a little irritated so decided to quit while i had cracked the curse and book a healthy and rotund profit of $0.65. yep, less than a buck! but the good thing is that i am hopefully on an upswing and free from the stars curse so ready for a hot streak!

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goal update

jesus! i must have upset someone, somewhere, somehow! just had another horrible session on the cash tables. i couldn't do anything right, every hand i played i got beat. my a/k gone done over by a/j, my two pair got sucked out on on the river for a straight, set over set. oh, and the one big hand i that was gonna make the difference to the session saw q/a fall on the turn and river to counterfeit by better kicker!

oh well though, this is poker, its variance, its part of the game, its sh*t! see below for current position vs my goals

-----

the goals i have set myself is as follows;

nl25 9 handed ring games
single or double tabling only to ensure ability to learn from my and others play

634 of 10,000 hands

$39.44 loss

sng 9 handed $5 + 50c

5 of 25

1st = 0
2nd = 0
3rd = 3

$0.50 loss

max $10 + $1 mtt with 100+ runners

0 of 10

final tables = 0
cashes = 0

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sng madness

well played my first ever sng's the other night. good fun quick hits of poker aren't they! multi-tabled (in the loosest sense of the word!) two $5 + 50c games on stars. finished 6th and 3rd so managed to cash although the prize money didn't cover my two buyins so still down.

the final hand of the sng i cashed in was a great one. three players in the hand and everyone went all in preflop and guess what! we all have pocket pairs and by the end of the hand its a boat fest with all 3 of us making 2's full. one blessed guy raked in 2 full stacks and i luckily had 60 more chips than the other loser when we went all in so scraped third! hand is below

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (4 handed)

SB (t2950)
Hero (t1655)
UTG (t7290)
Button (t1605)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8d, 8s.
UTG calls t150, Button raises to t1605, 1 fold, Hero calls t1455, UTG raises to t3060, Hero calls t50 (All-In).

Flop: (t6395) 2s, 6s, 2d (3 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t6395) 2c (3 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t6395) 6d (3 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t6395

Results below:
Hero has 8d 8s (full house, twos full of eights).
UTG has Qs Qd (full house, twos full of queens).
Button has 5s 5c (full house, twos full of sixes).

Outcome: UTG wins t6395.

curse of the stars random generator that all our poc pairs run into each other!

no other news to share at the moment. wombol, as you may have read, guest edited, lol, if you can call it that. i think he's getting the poker itch back but he won't admit it! he'll crack soon enough i reckon.

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