blonde poker forum

I used to enjoy playing poker online. I only ever recall making one deposit on Ladbrokes Poker, I think, for about £40 4 years ago. This became like a personal "goodies" bank account for me - I wanted a new playstation, dvd player, flight to go and see celtic, just withdraw a few hundred quid from the old account, and voila, free money.

this continued on other card rooms - I remember depositing $50 on Doyles Room back in the day, and then having a run on STTs where I couldnt stop finishing 1st or 2nd, eventually taking out about $1500 for a few weeks work.

I have never kept records, but safe to say- I was up - a good amount up over the years. Then it all changed. I dont know exactly when it changed, but it did. instead of withdrawing money, I found myself depositing, and then depositing again, and again. Suddenly the good days were over, and it was costing me a bloody fortune.

In trying to indentify why this should be the case I started analysing what was going wrong. The obvious thing to come out that was the undenyable fact that I wasnt "getting any cards".

People who know me, and have played with me live know that my song of lament is that I never get any cards. I actually believe this to be true for most poker players. There are some people who go thru extraordinary  statistical blips and pick up hand after hand of premium and playable cards. I can actually honestly say that has NEVER happened to me. But getting back to the matter in hand - being card dead isnt always a bad thing - it keeps your decision making easy, stops you throwing money into the pot that you will lose, and teaches you that you need to make a move every once in a while.

This is where my problem lies...In my experience there seems to be a new rule in internet poker which says "though shalt not pass" - I can wait for good position, play a pot, watch a difficult flop get dealt, setup an elaborate play on the turn - only to be called by some donkey with bottom pair and no other draws. Of course he wins the pot and thinks he's phil sodding ivey.

This seems to happen whether its $2 $20 or $200 buyin. Put simply, you will always get a caller. And it is for that reason, I have decided its not for me.

Instead, I plan to get out and play more live poker. I am a decent poker player - I am going to channel all my energies and finances that previously were getting gobbled up on the internet, into travelling far and wide to play this great game the way it was meant to be played. Mostly due to other business constraints I will be confined to glasgow/edinburgh, but I hope wherever possible to explore other places.

This time I am going to keep records of my play - and I believe that I can show a profit, even after expenses have been accounted for. I plan to publish these records, and also any interesting stories I pick up along the way on the forum.


I have actually just uninstalled all the poker clients from this pc - only another 2 to go !

Certainly are a lot of callers.  Which is why I've gone back to playing cash online, and playing fewer tournaments.  It's certainly working for me.  The 'variance' in the tournaments I've been playing (low buy-in freezeouts) was killing me.  In cash, even at the lower levels, I seem to be rewarded.

Best of luck fella, horses for courses :)up

Good luck laz. Remember to record ALL your expenses, juce/travel/food/drink etc. I will be very interested to see how you get on.

I could boringly argue that surely players calling every hand down is brilliant news long term blah blah blah, but i wont! GL!

Good luck, will be interesting to follow this

Best of luck Laz.

coming to Waterford then big boy ??

aye, it is still the plan to come - although the main event starting on a friday is a ball ache. I am considering coming for the saturday night 250yoyo event - you reckin that will get a good turnout?

actually, scrub all of that - I am just going to give up on society and personal hygeine and sit here playing asteroids until the computer gives up the ghost :)

No great loss I'm sure Laz, I remeber you talking of how you found online poker boring anyway.

Unless you're pulling in silly amounts of money, internet poker is just a very dull way to waste a lot of time.
This is my considered opinion after a few years grinding on the interenet, and all I got was a few years older.

Poker is a fantastic game, meant to be played in the casino, there I'm sure you will enjoy it for years to come.

fair enough laz...if the varience is kicking ur ass that hard that you feel you have to quit give it a shot just playing live games- but wheres the value?...what comps do you have in glasgow and edinburgh that will make it worth ur while making the trip into town? example sunday night....riverboat you have the £20 re buy ...full of cheats, teams working etc... cincins £30 freeze 20-30 players..rubbish money not worth the effort same with the wabash unless your just going for a few beers with mates just for a game and have a laugh.

best value comp on the net thats winnable standard wise...price and numbers is the £35+4 game on hills on a sunday £7.5 ADDED! min £4k to the winner max 250 players and a better structure than ull find in most average online tounreys and deff better than any live game in glasgow....you were saying about people calling all the time ...but you know that happens in most live games of the £20-£100 games in glasgow aswell...ive played with you a few times (although not for ages) and know ur a decent player that should turn a profit...but to turn ur back on the net is losing money long term for you imo.

i know myself im miles infront in these games we play live in glasgow/edinburgh over the last couple of yrs but its nowhere near the money that can be made online .

all im saying is dont give up on it (online) at the end of the day ur opponets dont get anymore sets or flushes than you over the period ...dont lose heart

cambo

More to life than "value"

For instance....value

yep, will be a big field, all those people busted out of the main event and with a hotel booked for the whole weekend, gtd a decent turnout i should think.

there is always the £100 + 1 rebuy in aberdeen cambo

or the weekly £25 freeze with 60-90 runners

and travel aint that expnesive

and you get the benifit of actually conversing with people as you play

ironside i usually play once or twice a week live ...a £25 freeze with 40ish players and a 10er rebuy with anything from 50-90 players. these games are all good being out with ur mates and i have my fair share of success in these aswell but ull never turn the same profit for hrs spent etc than playing online. bit of both is required i enjoy live poker much more than online ...its way more fun ....anyway hope to see you at the stanley more often laz

i dont enjoy playing online so rarely do now

basically no vlaue in playing online for me

and the way i am playing no value playing live either

it is a good point that we arent exactly spoilt for choice when it comes to good poker in scotland, but it is getting better - early next year should finally see the opening of the new renedezvous which will take things up a notch again poker wise.

I am not necessarily in it for the money - I am in it for the poker -  I played in the office poker tourney a few weeks ago - its only 30 quid to buy in - spent 7 hours playing poker - good poker, with decent people, and finished 9th for 60 quid. by the time I deduct my petrol money, entrance fees I am left with about 15 quid profit. But I enjoyed the game - thats what its all about.

Similarly the APAT events are a real buzz for me - Luton, where I have since found out I was quite ill, I went out 3 places before end of day 1 and a chance to come back for day 2. I still enjoyed it - almost as much as Dublin , but again, it is very little to do with the money.

Recently I had a big shock where I was told I had a dodgy heart (dilated cardiomyopathy for those interested). This has given me an irregular and heartbeat - it was around 120 bpm.  Over the past 4 weeks I have had intensive tests and therapy, and the consultant is now happy that we are on the road to recovery. He did tell me though that 1 month ago he was very concerned, because if I hadnt responded to treatment there was very little they could do about it (short of a transplant), which doesnt really bear thinking about at the age of 35.

It has made me re-evaluate my life and basically decided that I am going to do the things which I enjoy. One of those is playing poker, properly, not locked away in a room...

Stop talking like a big girl's blouse Laz (not about your health) and as my friend Tom tells me when things are going badly at poker, "keep the faith".

Good players win in the long term, and plaing poker online with a wee dram in one hand and a nice Havana in the other is an excellent way of spending an evening, especially a +EV one.

I'm looking forward to seeing you again in Waterford.

I'm a little drunk and shit this evening, but the next one is to your health Laz.

and Aberdeen aint even playing tonight tank? thought that woulda been laz's job to get drunk :)

Health is the important thing, you do what you feel is right.

Good luck to you Laz. You do what YOU want to do and what makes you happiest.

Vince

I need to set the record straight, Laz is a good player??  When did this happen?

Good decision mate, Live play is much easier than internet play, more info and the muppets fold now and again.



Still cant get over this good player thing though ......... ;hide; ;hide; ;hide; ;hide; ;hide; ;hide; ;hide; ;hide;

A good honest post big fella.

I for one will benefit from your company in Edinburgh, always a pleasure to talk to/play with. I feel much the same regards internet poker and have only ever played at low levels.

I now limit myself to only playing the Blonde league and occaisional sat/feeders for some of the live events. It is just so boring and frustrating playing online now.

I too intend to concentate on playing live, again not so much for profit but because I enjoy live poker and the craic that can be had.

Good luck on the health side and hopefully see you again soon in Edinburgh or one of the APATs.

Geo

I've played cash internet poker almost since it started and IMO you have to play very well to make reasonable amounts.  You can be an average player and play very profitably by practising rigourous game selection, but the best games will not be available for long and you have to be disciplned to leave as soon as the poor players go broke.  You also have to spend time looking/waiting for good games so the hourly profit isn't that great.

There is very good money to be made if you are prepared to invest in PT and PAHUD, analyse the information provided, keep notes on regular players and work out the optimum strategy for a particular table/target player.  Very few actually do this. with most adopting broadly the same strategy and only winning against a minority of players and being broadly even against the majority in the middle.

Position    Member                        Time                          Score         Comment
     17     lazaroonie    October 24, 2007, 05:54:30 pm       7340       takes me back a few years....

maybe you were a bit quick to give up the online poker lark!!

 ;whistle;

hi all, ive just joined blonde poker and it looks great,
when i started to play nl about 4 years ago  i read a lot of articals ,the advice dave colclough gave was brilliant, so i deposited $150 in doyles room, straight away i was winning ,i just played abc poker  ,i think poker has got a lot harder over the last few years, when i first started playing i would  raise with ak or big pp and always get callers,not many players where following how tight i was playing or even cared i suppose, if i had ak i would always make a decent contiuation bet when i missed the flop and would pick up the pot there and then, far more than i do these days,i think i am a far better player than i was a few years ago,playing the odds and position and making good notes on players ,so you would think if i won then i would be cleaning up now, well i have 4 accounts which are all in profit, but do i feel i am far supperior, am i cleaning up NO WAY,yeah i still win but players have got far more better over the last few years and even the bad players know the basics like stealing and contiuation bets so they will know what your up to when you make these plays,the best advice i read about playing a donkey is what doyle brunson said, dont bluff, if i am in sb and i know the bad player in bb is going to call, whats the point of raising with poor hand if you know you will be called, i just fold bad hands call with medium and raise with good hand ,if i hit a very good hand i make him pay if i think he has a hand i really get paid off thats the edge a decent player has over a bad player, not trying to bluff him, gl all

 :goodpost:

I wholeheartedly agree and  the "rigourous game selection" method works for me although I often spend more time looking for the right games than playing.

Indeed - I've spent three months looking for a game I think I can beat.

I'll find one soon.

:hello: and welcome to blonde.  Not a good result last night was it?  At least SG looks like he's getting back his form...

hi kinboshi, thanks for the welcome m8, yeah i wish besiktas would of give us a nice welcome as well ,lol , we have to do it the hard way now,