Epic Rugby Game

I didn't play any poker this weekend cuz I didn't really get a chance but we did have an awesome rugby win on Saturday. It was a must win game for us if we wanted to make the top of the mid season split. We were up against Burnside who are a pretty decent team about the same as up on the table.

We started well, pretty much on attack for 15mins and got a couple of penalties, 6-0 up. 5mins before half time, their fullback ran a counterattack, chipped over our right wing and scored under the posts. Conversion over for a 7-6 lead to them at halftime.

They came out firing in the 2nd half and drove over in a rolling maul that we were unable to stop. 12-6. They continued to attack down my wing for the next 25mins and I got more ball than the other 3 games put together. Cleaned up a heap of kicks through and even marked one in our 22. We ran it out from out line and had a good opportunity to score but this dirty cunt in their team was all over the ball on the ground. He got sent off and we kicked the penalty to close it to 12-9 with 10 to go. They resumed their constant attack and managed to slot a droppy to extend the lead to 15-9 with about 5 left. We got on attack for a bit and they relieved with a clearing kick down to me. I just hit it up and bumped through their fullback and kept going. I got tackled about 10 short and the forwards got in behind and drove me over the line. I grounded the ball over my shoulder but by the time the ref got around they had it off the ground. Held up ruling 5m scrum our put in. As had happened all game, our scrum got turned 90deg and it was their put in.

They won their scrum under a bit of pressure and the halfback attempted to clear. Our 1st five had read the kick and got round and made the charge down. The ball bobbled around in the in goal until our flanker Wank dived on it mm in from the corner flag. 14-15 with the sideline kick to come.

1st 5 Rata steps up and calmly slots the sideline conversion to make it 16-15 with time almost up. We clear from the restart and the final whistle blows! The boys are pretty stoked with that win under pressure. Mandatory Hawaiian shirts all round after the game and plenty of beers in the club rooms made for a pretty excellent day.

Another shot at 50nl

My roll is back to 30 bi at 50nl so I played a few hands on 6max. Things went fairly well, called one guy down really thin twice and got 2 stacks but tried a couple of ridiculous bluffs to negate any profit. The hand below is pretty interesting I think. I called in position basically for mining odds. Flopped bottom set on a fairly nasty board. The initial raiser is a passive fish, the 3 bettor is a 60/30 fish and the first cold caller is the guy I have picked off bluffs from and is pretty spazzy.



I don't think there is a +ev play here... Calling and all draws have odds to call. Raise and I am only getting called by JJ, KK, AQ + combo draws. Interested to here others views.

Momentary Career Resurection

April started off well, had a few decent winning sessions and was on track to get my bank roll back to it's former glory @25nl. Gone back to a solid (by comparison) 16/14 style with increased post flop aggression stats. Its been working well with far more valuetown action on fish and less spewing all over my keyboard.

I keep getting in the situation below where I play TPTK pretty standard and get too much action on fairly dry boards and don't know where I am.



His lines doesn't make sense for 22's or AQ which is what I initially thought. Some kinda 7 might play it like this but how many of them are in his range?

Despite this I've been running pretty nicely and getting a bit of confidence back which seems to help with making decent decisions.

Had a pretty funny hand will this fishy as guy who was doing some weird shit. Id say nearly 100% of the time my play is spewy except against this guy who I had a bit of a soul read on.


On review of that hand I played it terribly and sucked out.

Sunday session turned to shit to put me back in my place. I kept the non show-downs in the positives for 1200 hands but still managed to lose 2.5 buy-ins mostly due to crap like this:




If you can get away from that you are a champion.

Hard Times and Some Live Play

It turns out my poker autopilot begins to fail at 50nl and I get into too many spots where I'm completely lost. I have been trying to develop some type of thought process to apply to each hand to narrow my opponents range. Its not working so well. Basically started running well below EV (something I can deal with), getting some nasty beats and turning into a station as a result. All in all I have pretty much succeeded in trimming my bankroll down to a tidy $1200 (it was getting a bit bloated anyway). Dropped down to 25nl to try and restore a bit of confidence and won a few buy-ins before getting absolutely smashed with set over set, flush over flush, quads over boat and boat over nut flush.

Back to the drawing board I suppose, I need to revise/ develop some strategy. Easter weekend looks like its going to be good for some grinding, hopefully with some better results.

Went to Chris' (http://deftona1.blogspot.com/) home game last Wednesday for a break from crappy online shit. Buy in for 200bb in a 25/50c game. Got J8/9s a billion times and missed every flop. Hit top set with KK and missed out on a ton of value from AK when he checked the river back to me on the flush card. About 3 hours in the game is down to 5 handed, I'm down to about $75 and I 3 bet A3o from the sb against Chris who had been going fairly crazy. Flop comes down A76 monotone and I c-bet. He calls and I check the King turn to induce the float and Chris bets out. At this stage I feel he is trying to get me off all my medium pocket pairs and missed hands. The river comes a 3 and I feel pretty confident Ive got him. I bet out 1/3rd pot and Chris re-pops me all in. Another 40 or so to call. Pretty sure Chris knows I have an ace but not two pair, I think he would do this with worse two pairs/ rivered straights and sets. Probably a pretty marginal call but I make it anyway and he shows 75s or something for the runner runner flush. Nh I'm off for the night. Chris goes on to two pair every flop and take all the money on the table $750 or something. I'm pleased I didn't re-buy.

Some Scared 50nl

Took another crack at 50nl today after my initial 150 hand stab. Fired up 10 tables and started out pretty standard until I run into this guy who I have identified as a loose reg (but a solid winner at 50nl) who I have noticed pressuring the table. (will put up a video of the hand when I figure out how) I get dealt AsKc in early and raise to $2 and get called on the button by our reg friend.

Flop TsAc9c

I fire a $3 c bet into $4.75 to which is repopped just over min to $7. I call.

Turn 9d

Check Check

River 6h

I lead out for half pot $9.50 and he jams for another $43..... Hero?

Easy lay down at 25nl because the donk would definitely turn over a rivered set but I'm pretty sure the 6h hasn't changed anything. Its either some sick slowplay or a decent attempt at a bluff.

Are we calling here?

Anyway, we spazz off parts of some stacks and get some back to surprisingly end up $12 for the session. I am properly rolled for the stakes so I just need to get comfortable with the more (handy)capable regs. I kinda still feel like the 25nl guy below and need to feel more like the chick in red... but not in the vaginery kind of way.