friday night session

have a big night out tomorrow at a mates wedding party, prince willy wonka is gonna be there, its at raf lincoln where he is getting his wings, so stayed in tonight to play a few hands.

tried to push myself out of my comfort zone and play a bit more aggressively and see a few more flops. had mixed results. i doubled up early on but then really didn't hit any flops or get any draws so leaked chips for the next hour or so. took down one decent pot and then called it a night up about half a buyin or so.

i wanted to try and identify all the areas i need to improve my game, of which there are many, and start taking steps to address these. from tonights analysis i'm going to identify three as follows...

1) i limp too much. i need to foster a more aggressive table image to extract value on my big hands. too often i'll scoop min pots on my big pocket pairs and they don't come along enough to allow this to happen on a regular basis. i also find i get raised out of pots because i limp from an ealry position and can't justify a call and play the flop from the front. this is a major leak in my game that needs to be plugged.

2) i find myself checking too much. checking in places where only a bet will win it for me and therefore giving up too many small pots that i could easily take down. i seem to be continually petrified of big pocket pairs and need to put this out of my mind and play the player and the board rather than assuming i'm always beat. if i can learn to control the pot and keep pots small when i'm nervous then i'll put myself in a better place to see more showdowns on the cheap and win more marginal situations rather than giving up.

3) i need to open up a little more in the right places. sometimes i play so tight even aces aren't good enough! it minimises my losses sure, but it means i have to sit at a table for hours for just the right set of circumstance, with the right cards against the right players to make any decent cash. sure that really is grinding it out but its not positive poker and i leave a lot of money on the table that i could/should be taking with me.

so from now i'm i'm going to really concentrate on fixing these problems. i know i won't like making these plays some of the time but i think if i at least experiment and see how some of these plays work/make a difference then my overall game can only get better.

if anyone reading this knows of any common mistakes players of under a years experience make then please comment. i'd be interested to discuss with you.

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poker gods are smiling

now although they may have had nothing to do with it, unless they are really good friends with the tennis gods! they have to be looking down from way up there with a big grin on their faces because the world has been blessed with one of the hottest womens tennis finals in probably the history of tennis...unless you are a big fan of the epic navratilova vs graf era!

so for your viewing pleasure i present our finalists. firstly we have the gorgeous maria sharapova who loves to scream or squeak...or squeak scream when she plays the ball. shes russian but has lived in florida most of her life, hence the beautiful sun kissed tan. i don't believe you can buy her as a your russian bride on the internet but i haven't searched that hard.

next up is the lovely ana ivanovic from serbia. she is apparently a tennis miracle as she used to practice in a dried out swimming pool until some rich guy gave her a load of money to practice on a proper court. i do have to wonder what his motives were though when she looks this lovely!

so there you have it, one hot final. i'm pretty sure they will both try to sex it up as well so you, me and the poker gods should have something fairly nice to watch regardless of who wins, woo hoo!!

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big pot with a marginal hand

i have another hand i recently had the pleasure of being part of that i wanted to share. i know there is a mistake or two in there, so i'm sharing the hand and my thinking and would really appreciate any feedback on either my play or how you would have played it.

Party Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players

SB: $26
BB: $9.75
UTG: $24.39
UTG+1: $32.33
MP1: $34.49
Hero (MP2): $20.03
CO: $4.49
BTN: $26.57

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

i'm in a late position here and feel a 4xbb raise should help give me final position post flop and push out speculative hands that can do damage on a bad flop for me

Flop: ($4.35) 3 Q 7 (4 Players)
UTG checks, MP1 bets $2, Hero calls $2, 2 folds

now mp1 limped in preflop so i'm not putting him on a high pocket pair or a/k, a/q. 33 or 77 are a possibility as well as a pair of face cards. he could also be semi bluffing a flush draw here. i'm not happy with my flat call as it gives me no information at all. mistake numero uno!

Turn: ($8.35) 4 (2 Players)
MP1 bets $2, Hero raises to $5, MP1 calls $3

the turn brings a straight possibility but doubt he would be semi bluffing a gutshot, i feel he either has a set or a flush draw here that he is still semi bluffing. my raise is to try and push out the draw and gain more information.

River: ($18.35) 4 (2 Players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $5, MP1 calls $5

the flat call of my raise on the turn makes me discount a set. i feel if i check here i give him the opportunity to bluff a missed flush draw so my my bet here is to induce a call from a weaker queen or take the pot uncontested. i don't know what i would do to a re-raise here but i feel a bet is better then a check. is this mistake numero deux?

Results: $28.35 Pot ($1.08 Rake)
MP1 mucked Q J (two pairs, Queens and Fours) and LOST (-$13 NET)
Hero showed K Q (two pairs, Queens and Fours) and WON $27.27 (+$14.27 NET)

and there we have it, i take the pot but i felt uncomfortable throughout. any thoughts on how this could have been played better to get more info earlier?

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