Wow i've played a bunch of 5/10 NL with 20 Buck Spin in the last couple of years always heads up. To be honest i thought he was really spewy bad perhaps i caught a few of the drunken sessions. Can remember frequently running 1/2 or a full buyin up to 10k against him, mostly used to leave if he got more than 200BB's deep but do recall a couple of times getting stubborn and coming out on the wrong side of his sickness in 800BB+ deep pots.

Hi Riverdave, re-reading your posts in this thread was a pleasure.

I have fond memories (moreso for myself than for you, no doubt) of a $5/$10 HU session on Stars where you span your initial $500 buyin up to well into the five figures, before dribbling it back and ultimately dropping a 1200bb+ pot to busto. That remains one of the most entertaining headsup matches of my life and I would love to play you again if you fancy 4-tabling 10/20+ anytime soon.

Incidentally I will play anyone in the world at four tables of 25/50 NL HU. Challengers welcome.

Haha, at the risk of appearing narcissistic, I can't resist responding at this point (thanks for the concern Kev!) after a recent bump of my twoplustwo threads which 'totalise' so intriguingly linked here (btw if you could PM me there I am curious as to your identity).

For those who were wondering (and to follow-on from the linked threads), I stuck with short-handed $5/10 NL and some $10/$20 until the close of 2008, whence I decided to take a month-long shot at the $25/$50 NL games on Pokerstars and Full Tilt.
Results were very satisfactory and since then I have been playing these games full time and plan on doing so for the foreseeable future, although I would like to get bankrolls on some European sites again at this stage.

To be honest I haven't really read Blonde in the past few years, but I am nonetheless very grateful for some of the early advice I received. Hope all is well.
If you guys have any particular questions then I'll do my best to answer in recompense for the initial encouragement. Ask away.

On an aside, I am now living in London if there are any poker-related events of interest on the horizon or if anyone wants to grab a pint.

guess my entry would have been decisive if I was able to deposit... oh well.

Well, it looks like I'll have to employ the services of Neteller if I wish to use BPL. I don't have an account in place so I won't be entering tonight after all. A shame that I can't be a part of this promising endeavor. The hosts were helpful but the problems couldn't be resolved to my satisfaction.

I would like to play as I have missed the past few blonde comps; but am currently experiencing problems depositing (this is the first site that has ever motivated a 'transaction declined' error for my card, seems a little strange). I messaged "elblondie" earlier and he has responded once already so hopefully something can be worked out in the next 90 mins... good luck to all who have signed up regardless of whether or not I can get in.

Just like to add my weight to the 'ship it in' brigade. I'll take a caller looking for the nut flush any day versus my top set. If he happens to have wrap outs also then good luck to him. But given the amount of folk who have called the UTG bet, one can safely assume that most of the outs are counterfeitted amongst the collective holdings of the pack.

If they are all maniacs and all call your Pot bet (this is the only way you could consider yourself an underdog upon pushing) then so be it -- you've got a bunch of boat outs anyway.

[CHUCKLEVISION]

We are missing something here.

CHUCKLEVISION

mate, party poker blackjack initiated an inexorable downward gambling spiral in me which has yet to subside.

please try to control your urges, it is not at all fun losing most of your bankroll to that game

I like both responses. My play (river especially) sucked and I should stop doing this at 3am.

While on the subject, do either of you have any particular advice as to learning further about short-handed limit? I have been putting in countless hours lately to try and learn the game through experience (actually my main objective was to clear VC's new year re-deposit bonus quickly but that with completed I found I actually enjoyed it a lot). I usually play $3/$6 but like to jump up to the $5/$10 to see how I fare there after a good session lower down.

Obviously however there are a fair few hands like this when I am probably taking a fundamentally wrong approach.

I enjoy an aggressive style at present which tends to accumulate either large wins or sizable losses on a session-per-session basis.

6-max $5/$10 LHE on Tribeca. One of those difficult three-flush flops. Nearly fell out of my chair when I saw ajnyc's holding, but anyone playing this differently?

[Jan 23 03:28:24] : Hand Start.
[Jan 23 03:28:24] : Seat 1 : ajnyc has $139
[Jan 23 03:28:24] : Seat 2 : avalon33 has $519.01
[Jan 23 03:28:24] : Seat 3 : okie77 has $164
[Jan 23 03:28:24] : Seat 4 : Trivial has $423.75
[Jan 23 03:28:24] : Seat 5 : chuck62 has $215.30
[Jan 23 03:28:24] : Seat 6 : late brAKer has $265
[Jan 23 03:28:24] : okie77 is the dealer.
[Jan 23 03:28:25] : Trivial posted small blind.
[Jan 23 03:28:26] : chuck62 posted big blind.
[Jan 23 03:28:26] : Game [127373] started with 6 players.
[Jan 23 03:28:26] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Jan 23 03:28:26] : Seat 4 : Trivial has
[Jan 23 03:28:29] : late brAKer folded.
[Jan 23 03:28:35] : ajnyc called $5
[Jan 23 03:28:38] : avalon33 called $5 and raised $5
[Jan 23 03:28:39] : okie77 folded.
[Jan 23 03:28:44] : Trivial called $7.50 and raised $5
[Jan 23 03:28:47] : chuck62 folded.
[Jan 23 03:28:49] : ajnyc called $10
[Jan 23 03:28:53] : avalon33 called $5 and raised $5
[Jan 23 03:28:54] : Trivial called $5
[Jan 23 03:28:56] : ajnyc called $5
[Jan 23 03:28:56] : Dealing flop.
[Jan 23 03:28:56] : Board cards [ ]
[Jan 23 03:28:59] : Trivial bet $5
[Jan 23 03:29:03] : ajnyc called $5 and raised $5
[Jan 23 03:29:05] : avalon33 called $10 and raised $5
[Jan 23 03:29:07] : Trivial called $10 and raised $5
[Jan 23 03:29:09] : ajnyc called $10
[Jan 23 03:29:11] : avalon33 called $5
[Jan 23 03:29:11] : Dealing turn.
[Jan 23 03:29:11] : Board cards [ ]
[Jan 23 03:29:13] : Trivial bet $10
[Jan 23 03:29:16] : ajnyc called $10 and raised $10
[Jan 23 03:29:18] : avalon33 called $20
[Jan 23 03:29:19] : Trivial called $10
[Jan 23 03:29:20] : Dealing river.
[Jan 23 03:29:20] : Board cards [ ]
[Jan 23 03:29:22] : Trivial bet $10
[Jan 23 03:29:25] : ajnyc called $10 and raised $10
[Jan 23 03:29:40] : avalon33 has 10 seconds to respond.
[Jan 23 03:29:43] : avalon33 called $20
[Jan 23 03:29:43] : Trivial called $10
[Jan 23 03:29:44] : Showdown!
[Jan 23 03:29:44] : Seat 4 : Trivial has
[Jan 23 03:29:46] : Seat 1 : ajnyc has
[Jan 23 03:29:46] : ajnyc has Flush Q6543
[Jan 23 03:29:49] : Seat 2 : avalon33 has
[Jan 23 03:29:49] : avalon33 has Pair: Queens
[Jan 23 03:29:49] : ajnyc wins $242 with Flush Q6543
[Jan 23 03:29:58] : Hand is over.

Poker News published a brief article on this last month, you can find it here.

  & I.

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Andrew, you are a ruthlessly logical machine 

Quite an incredible array of responses thus far, which gives me an immense amount to think about . All your comments have been read and re-read, and I have made some notes of certain suggestions which particularly hit home here .

As a follow-up, it looks as though my main troubles are centering around the following issues:

(i) An Addiction to Gambling (I will include Poker here AT THIS POINT IN TIME)
(ii) Poor Bankroll Management (When I had one!)
(iii) A Lack of Discipline when at the tables. -- {Playing while DRUNK/TIRED/HUNGRY[!] aka less than optimum conditions}


However, I did not originally turn to poker to treat it as a "get rich quick" scheme . My desire initially was to derive enjoyment from beating the game, which, when I finally obtained some results back in the beginning, was an unparalleled feeling . Who remembers the adrenaline thrills which accompanied their first final table? In my experience, at least, despite the fact that I was practically too nervous to play a hand, I was awake for the rest of the night in a cold sweat, reliving every moment. This taught me a valuable lesson about retaining one's cool at the table, and it was evident that I would have to develop a nerve of steel if I were to progress.

Throughout my short playing days so far, my main concern has been with learning, every step of the way. When the blackjack debacle set in, and I recovered from it, I think I needed that harsh blast of reality to remind me of the value of the money. Unfortunately, it didn't quite bust me, and the lesson wasn't brutal enough; so when I had built up another nice stack, I was all too willing to toss it away, throwing bankroll management to the wind, and playing far above my roll in the most volatile games I could find.


This time... I am truly down to the felt. And judging by some of your stories, I am lucky that I am not in debt . I believe that I have now reconciled myself to the loss, and if I treat it as an educational expense (and for £3k, I expect a particularly useful lesson), then it may even bring some good to my poker game.

I have played several $5 and $10 STTs since awakening, and a combination of brutal beats and good results has left me roughly even for the day. On the other hand, I have tried to make a return to the original techniques which saw me enjoy success in the first place. In other words, attempting to play my optimum game, considering my opponents' holdings and the relative stage of the tournaments every step of the way. Ignoring the fact that I have money on the line. This may be second nature to most of you, but equally, if your concentration is lacking, this is the first skill to deteriorate.

Importantly, I think that the financial pressure is now OFF, as the big money has gone away. I don't have the cash any longer, nor do I have the means to chase it. End of. So I can concentrate on the task at hand -- the ultimate challenge -- to build a new 'roll from essentially nothing.


If any interesting developments turn up then I may take the liberty of updating you via this thread . Otherwise, I thank you all once more for the feedback, and hope that I can get a bit more involved with the forum via other postings in the future .

Definitely appreciate the comments, guys.

I think jezza nailed it to be honest . The flop call was about as much of my stack that I felt I could commit to the hand without feeling confident of being ahead. I suppose I was being retrospectively rather generous by considering that at least one overpair had to be out there, but the betting patterns on the flop/turn combined, coupled with the newfound straight draw odds, convinced me that I had to be ahead when I pushed.

While it was a tricky situation, I think upon reflection that the chips would have gone in either way, and it was ultimately unlucky. Filed and forgotten.