Online Poker Tournament Rankings

May 2009 - Posts

• William Hill players may have migrated to iPoker but damnit they've been slow to personalise their avatars...

  By raildog - May 05 2009, 08:29 PM

  If ever you walk into a live game and the table looks like that, get out.  I can't bring myself to play much on iPoker since Hills got moved there. I don't know why, it's illogical. But Hills did feel a bit more like a club, and one full of Brit blokes with whom you could have some good, edgy banter. Now you're just swimming around (literally) with huge amounts of international players. It could be PP or Poker Stars. Now, for those of you whose lives have been a tortured maelstrom as you wait for latest news of my 3% challenge, you'll be pleased to know that immediately after the last post (which chronicled my $1 win for fifth place in a 45-player 25c SnG) I slapped down ANOTHER 25c, this time in a 90-player, and came first for a jaw-dropping $6.20.  It was a funny old game, that. When it got to heads up, I discovered very quickly that my opponent liked to fold. Oh boy, did he like to fold. He folded so much when I habitually raised on the button that I started doing it every hand, regardless of position. Was he waiting for a big hand before he got involved? Was he trying to lull me into a false sense of – oh get real, this was a $1 tourney. Playing a madman Even so, it didn't make sense. Every now and then he would call, then usually check the flop and fold to a bet. About one hand in 15 he would raise, and then of course I got out the way. But mainly I was raising, and he just kept folding. At one point he wrote "fu". I couldn't believe it. F me?? I tried to get him to explain, I even tried to goad him with: "STOP FOLDING" but it didn't work. I was just draining the blinds from him at quite a rate.  I had a 12-1 chip lead and he was rapidly on his way to being blinded out... And that's what happened. He was just forced in, doubled up, and lost a few hands later. I've never seen anything like it and it still baffles me. It was actually disconcerting, like I was playing a madman. In an afternoon I'd got my bankroll from 44c to nearly $7. I was pretty pleased, but I unwisely decided I couldn't face any more 25c jobs, I would spend it all, Charlie-Bucket-and-the-bar-of-chocolate style, on two buy-ins to my beloved $3 rebuy at 7.15pm. I doubled up almost immediately with pocket tens, then took a hit with AQ vs AK, then went all in with queens in early position only to get four bloody callers and... and I was out. All that work. Annoying, but that's what you get for putting all your bankroll on the line, even if it is just £7. Anyway, my afternoon of very low-stakes fun did give me a chance to simultaneously finish catching up with Channel 4's Premier League Poker, which is sooooo much better than the leaden Poker After Dark. I couldn't resist snapping this incredible call by Annette. Ah, tourneys, I'm going to miss 'em, but I've finally come to realise (I know I say this every week) that the variance will just crush me, financially and mentally. My decision-making at low stakes is pretty good now, so I'd like to see some money for it up front, rather than all these day-long attempts to go deep in MTTs. Starting balance: $500 Current balance: $350. Absolutely f****** shameful. Until next time. That call: 1 Comments on this post. Click here to post a comment.




• Top 10 things you hate about new players and their close relation, people who don't play poker at all...

  By raildog - May 02 2009, 07:17 AM

  10) Some old git who hasn’t played Hold ’Em before saying: “I think it’s time we played five-card draw – now that’s a real game.” 9) Noobs’ inability to shuffle. They do that thing where they grab a handful of cards and jam it back into the pack. In the same way you’re supposed to be able to hear a tree scream when it’s cut down, you can almost hear the deck squeal. 8) The smug red colour their faces turn when they suck out to make runner-runner royal to give them a big chip lead in their first tourney. 7) Slow rolling. Oh, slow rolling. Also: not flipping their cards at showdown until they’ve worked out what their final hand is. 6) Declaring three cards as a straight or a flush. 5) The hugely disproportionate amount of time they spend trying to remember what constitutes a straight flush and royal flush, even though you tell them they won’t get one. 4) A newbie saying: “We should have whiskey for this!” 3) People who appear to have been dragged along to the game and have a weird terror of losing any money whatsoever. It makes you wonder how they get through life – do they walk everywhere, forage for nuts and berries in the park at lunchtime, strap bottles of home-made lager under their trousers and drink it through a tube when they go to the pub? "For the love of God, how will I ever be able to tell Margaret I'm nine pounds down!?"   2) A non-player warning you against poker, saying the house always wins and telling you they say that film 21 with that Kevin Spacey. 1) People who don’t play asking: “How can you play poker online, don’t you have to look at people?” ARRRGGGHHHHH. YES, YOU’RE RIGHT, IN LIVE POKER THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO TIME FOR CONSIDERING POSITION, STACK SIZES, POT ODDS, IMPLIED ODDS, REVERSE IMPLIED ODDS, PLAYER TYPE, PLAYER HISTORY, PLAYER STATE OF MIND, TABLE IMAGE, BLIND LEVELS, HAND RANGES OR ESTIMATED VALUE BECAUSE WE ARE TOO BUSY LOOKING AT EACH OTHER. WE’RE ALL SO UTTERLY AMAZING AT READING PEOPLE – AND IT’S SUCH AN IMPORTANT SKILL – THAT MANY PLAYERS TURN UP IN A FULL “MARTY MCFLY” TIME TRAVEL SUIT (CUSTOM MADE FOR THEM BY UNIVERSAL STUDIOS IN SOME CASES) AND COMMUNICATE THEIR INTENTIONS (AND ANY ORDERS TO WAITRESSES) ON A SMALL PIECE OF SLATE, ON WHICH THEY WRITE AS BEST THEY CAN GIVEN THEIR HEAVILY PADDED GLOVES. INDEED, EVERY HAND OF POKER TAKES AN AVERAGE OF 38 MINUTES BECAUSE WE STARE EACH OTHER DOWN UNTIL SOMEONE CALLS THE CLOCK ON US, EVERY SINGLE STREET. 1 Comments on this post. Click here to post a comment.




• Local Pub That You're Scared To Go To But We're Not: The Victoria, Hoe Street, Walthamstow E17

  By raildog - May 02 2009, 07:12 AM

  The Victoria is one of those pubs that has surprise on its side, ie it's on a first floor, which means you can't peek through from street level and suss it out. Ergo a tactical disadvantage. But "disadvantage" is grist to the mill for your canine friend in his exploration of the nation's scary pubs. And so it was that one slow afternoon, the doggie one wound his way up the considerable staircase to gauge if The Victoria was the kind of pub that would have made its namesake proud... ARE YOU TOOLED UP? THEN READ ON!!! I had no intelligence on The Victoria, although my housemate had informed me that she had been there once and it was full of bikers and seemed a bit rough. Perfect. Hmmm, it's empty. This is positively the last time I go to see a scary pub in the day. My theory that this would be the best time to encounter nutters – which was based on a hunch that they might prefer to exercise their madness in less crowded environments – has proved false. It's weekend nights in future. Distinguishing features: Scores points for being on a first floor, which is unusual. Tries to mitigate its positional disadvantage with an extensive collection of blackboards boasting Sunday roasts, theme nights, real ales, karaoke and a rooftop terrace. The legend on the main sign reads: "A warm welcome". It's very spacious in the pub itself, with a goodish pool table, thick red carpet and a nice collage showing pics of regulars.  Also darts board. "Stuart you tit" was chalked on the scoreboard on the day I went. Don't believe me? There it is. Characters: A couple of female bar staff plus vocal Irishman who offers unsolicited advice on how to play pool.  Room for fighting: Absolutely tons, though absence of bikers on day of my visit meant I was unable to put this to the test. Don't queue at the hatch, the service is really slow. Toilets: Quite interesting. The escape hatch is quite amusing and a bit worrying, and the cubicles are spacious. Graffiti non-existent. The best feature is some news cuttings about the athlete Roger Black, though it's unclear what they're doing here. Various other faded shots of sporting events are mounted throughout the pub. What else: The inevitable TV set captivates your attention, as ever, and was a bit booming. What would be the most likely cause of a fight? Any slur against Roger Black. If Ross Kemp were narrating a series called Britain's Scariest Pubs for ITV3, what line would he come out with at some point? "It may be karaoke in the bar, but it's carnage on the roof terrace." Scariness factor, based on one visit: 11/20. You're safe. No Comments on this post. Click here to post a comment.