Mac's Blog

Stations,stations and more stations!!!

2008-02-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

I wrote this entry last week but never got it completed for one reason or another but better late then never....

What a strange week... started out playing my usual 200nl and had a decent start and then went through a period of not being able to stay ahead no matter what!! See BB section for details..... I had one particular session where I lost 6 buy in's in about 20 mins without tilting at all.... they were all big pairs in preflop.... one after the other...

My NL graph for the week...

So something had to change... so with a combination of determination and greed for rakeback (the end of the month is nigh) I decided to give limit a go again...

WOW... stations, stations and more stations...... every type of station imaginable.... the main station being the calling station that we''re all used to. They really will call tot he river with any pair and draw any overcard.....any chance really of catching up and they are there....

The other station i noticed was the betting stations...... they bet preflop/flop/turn and river with or without a hand...... so with these guys I really found you had to call them down with marginal holdings.......A high was good so many times agaist these guys...

I also found a boardsie that plays limit.... The Mad Chef seems to frequent the 5/10 limit full ring tables....

So plan was to bet when I had a hand and fold when I didn't and the simple technique worked quite well and I made a great recovery to salvage the weel and earn a few bob in rakeback as well.... But I really dont think I could do it long term as the outdraws are just beyond funny... You really have to run good at this game and you need cards at showdown

So to sumarise the 10 days from the 21st to the 31st of the Janurary...

9504 Hands PlayedProfit/Loss $1508
VPIP 27%PFR 14%
Post Flop Aggro 1.27
Showdowns Won 52.1%Rakeback $825 Total Profit $ 2333

So overall an excellent week that yet again could have been better in the NL department but I cant and won't complain...

So overall an good month of January despite downswings.... with a total profit of $4949

Outside poker.....

I decided to build a new PC from my rakeback from last month... spec's are here.... http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055231544 but then finsing a company that will build it for me for 20 quid I couldn't pass it up...

Jackie is on the mend and getting better each day thankfully.... again many thanks to all for their concern....

Best of luck to everyone playing in Droheda... I'm sorry to miss it this year but just couldn't justifty the buy in with very little chance of me cashing in it... So instead I had a punt on Garry Clarke for €10... best of luck garry... if your blog is anything to go by confidence wont be a problem for you...

new entry this week

Swings and roundabouts!!!

2008-01-21T16:45:00.000-08:00

Before I get to the poker let me firstly thank all of you who have been sending best wishes to Jackie for a speedy recovery..... It is appreciated... The good news is that she will make a full recovery although slowly.... she is still in hospital but out of intensive care now.... once again thanks for your thoughts....

Now to poker... what a week it could have been.... If I could remove one day from the week.... On Friday I played a session in the afternoon and was +5 buy ins and playing well... later that evening after a visit to the hospital I got back on and one of my favourite fish listed buddies was on... an Irish guy that the regs know well..

I got a seat beside him and knew it was only a matter of waiting for a hand and he would pay.... but I noticed he was not in his normal calling mode but after he lost a hand he went tilting and started getting it in preflop loads of times... So I get KK and he makes a raise and i 3 bet him and he shoves...... His A3 gets there..... so he continues to do the same for the next few rounds and I find myself with QQ and get it in preflop against him and again his AQ beats me with a turned A... this continues with this one player hitting hand after hand against me...... all in preflop each time I had a big pair and he had a Ax and then I had AK and got it in against his Ax twice and no good again.... before I knew it I was 10 buy ins down against him..... and then preceeded to run QQ into his KK and QQ into his AA... kind of stuff nightmares are made of..... he was a 69/22 player and should be profitable but the variance is terrible against them when u dont run good.. On my other tables I was playing like a donk as this guy had me off my game and I should have stopped but it resulted in this day happening... from +5by ins to -5 buy in's in about 2 hours!! damn! and then I played bad for the rest of the day until I was finished with black friday and I had undone all the weeks good work...

Black Fridays Graph

So on Saturday I had a chat with myself and decided to move back up levels and play my own normal game and forget about chasing fish and I've managed to get the week back into profit again so here's this weeks results..
8147 Hands Played

Profit/Loss +$806

2.19bb/100 (Poker Tracker)

V$PIP 23%PFR 17%

Post Flop Aggro 1.87

Showdowns Won 47%

Rakeback $525

Total Profit $ 1331
this weeks graph...

Other news of the week was of course the shenanigans in the Loft club in Naas... details here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055220611 but I have to say I'm glad it worked out the way it did in the end and I'm glad I had the guts to stand up to someone like this... Cash wise I did well on the night and the game was very soft and I cashed out for over 600 after buying in for 200 so was happy with that.

Also glad to see one the guys I coach do very well in England this week at the GUKPT where he final tabled and cashed two of the side events and had a good run in cash games.... Must have got luck again Paul??? lol the more you play the lukier you get... WP

On the weight front.... I lost another 5 lb this week which was a surprise as I hadn't been that strict with myself.

thats enough ramblings for this week. hopefully I'll a decent ammount of hands in this week and report again next week. GL all

Week 2 update. personal disasters/poker good

2008-01-15T15:35:00.000-08:00

I've just realised that for some bizzare reason... (prob me not pushing send button) my week one report is no where to be seen... prob somewhere flaoting around cyberspace! anyway just to recap on last week. It was a poor start to the year having moved back to 1/2 the first 3 days showed a loss of over 1600 and the rest of the week was digging my way back out of the hole I dug... I ended the week having broke even and had rakeback of $350 o show for my troubles... I took my weekly withdrawal from my BR as I promised myself..

So I decided ot move back to my comfort zone this week and play 100nl
This week was much improved poker wise although I didn't play anything like the number of hands I needed to... for 2 reasons really..... I fell during the week and broke 2 ribs and am finding it hard to sleep at night leaving me tired during the day for poker.. the main and most important reason is my partner Jackie was sceduled to go into hospital for a routene operation this week and during the operations something went horribly wrong and she got into difficulties which left her for the first 12 hours fighting for her life on a life support machine while the doctors did everything they could to resussitate her..... thankfully we got word that night that she would be ok but very very lucky to come out of it... She is still in intensive care but out of the danger zone now thank God... So a lot of my time has been spent at the hospital and I wasn't in much humour for poker when I'd come home..

Hence I played a lot of sng's this week... not a very profitable venture but a change from the norm.. I played 20 100$ sngs with a return of $2335

4452 Hands Played Profit/Loss +$610
6.78bb/100 (Poker Tracker)V$PIP 26%
PFR 17%
Post Flop Aggro 1.77Showdowns Won 45%Rakeback $335

Also +340 from SNG's
Overall profit $ 1285

Paid my self my wages weekly this week again... I think it might be the way to do it as I don't miss it that way from my BR...

I continued giving coaching lessons to 2 guys this week and delighted to see them both doing very well... In particular one guy who I plan to write a feature on has won 40k in tourney wins since october.... lol I've been coaching him on cash games.... but I'll take some credit for it anyway...
I predict he will be a major tourney winner this year taking down a big one..

My trip to Sweden has been put off for another while so I'll update when I have news..

On my weight loss programe I managed ot shed a few of the LB's I put on over christmas by loosing 6lb's in my first week back at it although in saying that my head wasn't in it so this week I'll see how it goes but with grabbing a bit when I can this week it has not been easy...

OK update next week.... I'll make sure to press send this time or save or whatever it is I need to do.

2008 here I come

2008-01-02T04:05:00.000-08:00

Well as 2007 makes it's way into the passage of history I look forward to a new year and all it will bring with it... With it some new dreams, hopes and aspirations...

I wish everyone health and happinness in 2008...

talking about health.. it's my first day back playing poker after the christmas break and I'm dying of the FLU! have to go to the doctor in the afternoon as it's not going away on it's own...

Anyway I've decided to do a weekly update on my blog to try to keep myself disciplined.. I will be posting honest accouns of my weeks play and graphs and stats as well... I'm getting this from dvdfan and I think it is a good idea as the embarrasament factor if I'm not doing well might buck me up..

well 2007 is now in the past but it brought for me my first year as a full time player... by full time I mean I have no other source of income... I don't like the term PRO as it implies that you have to be good at it ;)

While the year could have been much much beter I've managed to make the successfull transition to online play and make an ok standard of living for the last number of months... but 2008 has to be the year where I decide if it's for me or not.... I think making a bare living is not enough and if Iam going to continue with poker as a means of income I need something to show for it... So we'll see....

I've decided to keep my withdrawls to a minimum and try to bankroll build to move up levels or keep a very good buffer for the level I'm playing.

On a another note as some of you know I set about on a weight loss prgramme in 2007 and managed to loose a staggering 9 stone over the year! but have been splashing out over the christmas and have put back up the inevitable few pounds like everyone has I guess... SO from today I'm back on my weight loss programme with excercise although dont feel much like it today with my FLU but have to push myslef.... maybe I'll leave the exercise till I'm feeling a bit better

So I'll update nextweek and see how it goes... Gl for now..

Update at last...

2007-12-09T17:01:00.000-08:00

I cant believe it's that long since I updated here... And what the 1000 of you that checked in actually read I really don't know.....

Anyway I've been a busy man over the last few weeks.... I'm building a new house for the last few months and now that it's coming near completion I've been working on it most days only leaving me time for poker in the evenings... which I might add has been no harm as daytime poker has got so so tight over the last few months on i-poker... I'm actually threatening to change sites soon for daytime play but to find somewhere that meets my needs is tough enough.... I like i-poker as I have a very good relationship with the site I play on and they really look after me.... I'm actually 3rd in their cash race this month so far and with a little bit of effort I could get to first but anywhere in the top 5 would be nice...

Poker : I've been running pretty ok over the last month or so with the last few days being exceptional.. I put in a lot of hands over the last few days and the hard work paid off as did my newish laggier play.... now playing about 25/22 which is not really lag but it's certinly not nitty..

Here's some graphs of the last few days.. I've been mixing it up between 100nl and 200nl but I find I am crushing 100nl so much it might be worthwhile staying here for a while longer although well bankrolled for 1/2 and even for 2/4 maybe

Friday

Saturday

That bit of positive variance doesn't mant that the beats haven't been coming either... there have been plenty.... and some real bad runner runners as well as loads of coolers but I rarely tilt anymore when this happens but one of the most bizzare hands happened this week I've seen in a long time... 3 way AIPF .. someone raises guy in the middle flat calls I rr and the 1st guy pushes and the guy in the middle pushes and it's back to me with my AA..... what happened felt worse then loosing a 400bb pot!!

Me in the middle in case you hadn't guessed...lol

Coaching :
I've recieved some coaching in the past from the infamous Jellyfish aka HJ from boards and found it helpful to my game at the time and certainly has been a large part of my transition from live to online play...

I've been referring a number of players to HJ since then and they all found it worthwhile... A while ago a friend of mine wanted to play online but was loosing considerably altough quite a successful live player so I agreed to show him the basics of online cash play and it has worked out quite succesfull for him and he referred another guy to me and then another and now I've been dabbling in the coaching for the last while and I enjoy the new challenge it presents with the satisfaction in seeing them improve their games and turn around a loosing streak...

Sweden: A cold place with hot women?

It's really all I know about it but I'm travelling there next week to have a look at a poker job/opportunity that has been presented to me... I'll update here when I know more as at the moment I'm not sure what eactly the story is until I meet these guys but it is to do with their upcoming launch of a poker staking/coaching site here in Ireland......

Well thats all the news I can think of for now.... I'll update on my return from the land of the midnight sun

The Downside of the Job!!

2007-10-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

Well I've found it hard to update over the last 2 weeks as I was on a horrible downswing..... I was ready to make the move to 2/4nl permanently as planned last monday morning ahead of schedule...... on friday night I hit the magic 10k bankroll mark that I had set myself for the move.... and by Monday Morning I had halved my bankroll!!! had a few really horrible sessions.. one particular one was where I got AA 8 times and lost my full stack 7 times in the space of about 2 hours... I really didn't know how to deal with it.... on each occassion I had the chance to "get away" from the hand but failed/refused on each occassion being right about half the time... The action went very similar in each hand. I would raise PF and c-bet the flop and they would min raise me..... min raise used to mean a set but now it can mean anything including a set... on 3 occassions they had a set. on 2 occassions they had top pair and on the other two they had an overpair to the board..... and they managed to get there each time by the river...
and the ammount of KK vs AA hannd I had were unbelieveable...

but the bad variance led to bad play and I think I was becoming the fish... I asked for a little help on boards and as usual the advice was spot on whether I liked it or not....

So I've moved down levels and have had a very very good week running at 20bb/100 and have managed to undo a lot of the damage done last weekend.... I have a new SN since I moved networks this week... and have secured a very very good rakeback deal which should improve things greatly... but more importantly I'm back playing good poker again....

update during the week

Even Even

2007-10-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

A break even Player is a winning player... So they tell me... and "they" would know...

Uneventful dissappointing day of poker today.... Was 8 tabling today for about 7 hours in total and after a few hours was doing nicely to get up by about 4 buy in's so I took a break and back into it this evening.... Again managed to build stacks on every table and then the BOOM factor... get all in for 150bb's with JJ on a AJ7 board and he of course has AA. Get my KK AIPF against QQ and Q on flop. and then my usual AA is no good against 85% fish who calls my 3 bet preflop with 64s and flop is Q96 he calls a PSB and then the turn is another 6... helps me I think so i bet again and he calls and river is a 4... he checks leaving 50 behind.. i set him in and he turns over the house... lovely....

So even for the day in the end!! dissappointing considering where I came from earlier... anyway rant over!!!

Meh!

Poke Her in the Eye!

2007-10-04T08:24:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last few days helping fellow boardsies setting up their eyepoker dataminer. Not that I mind but it has greatly reduced the number of hands I played on those days so I've decided to write a guide to setting it up...

For those in the dark eyepoker is a datamining program for use with i-poker that allows you to collect stats on other players when your not at the table. It also allows you to scan all tables for fish after datamining

1) Firstly download eyepoker from www.spadeit.com and install it according to directions on screen

2) Click my computer and click c drive and set up a new folder called datamine

3) open pokertracker and in the auto import hand histories witht he timer click HH folder location and add folder and navigate your way to that new folder called datamine and click ok.. It should now be in the list.

4) In poker tracker click file and maintain database names and take note exactly of the name of your database.. the default one is c:\program files\poker tracker v2\ptrack.mdb but yours may be different

5) open eyepoker and click main and options and in the general tab click search and navigate your way to the file called datamine and add it in

6) on the datbases tab select pokertracker (access) from the dropdown menu and where it says database enter exactly what you saw earlier in poker tracker in step 4 above or navigate to this file. then click add database and it should appear at the bottom with a green tick in the box beside it.

7) In the display tab make sure all boxes are ticked except for join waitlist and click ok

8) On the main screen click filter on the bottom right and set this up to look for the kind opf player you want to play against. I just have mine as follows. tick vpip and set it to 40-100 and click stack between and set it to 50-400 and click save

9) open an i-poker client (PPP,GJP,NOIQ, etc etc)... you only need to do this once. Open a table and set it to mini view (not necessary but handy). make sure in the chat options that all boxes are ticked. Then close this table.

10) in eyepoker click on the filter tab at the top of the screen and set it to include the tables you play at... 6max/turbo etc etc

10) you are now ready to datamine.. In poker tracker click start timer as you normally do. I set this timer now to 1 minute as if you leave it too long it tried to import to many hands and slows down my computer. On eyepoker click Run Datamining. select 16 tables and select the default 2 mins.. ou should see the tables opening and it will start datamining.. after a wjile click on poker tracker and make sure it is importing hands.. if it is your there..

11) when your ready to play click stop datamining and click close tables from the datamining tab or manually close them. then click scan tables and wait a few mins. When the scan is finished you should see some players in the bottom section of the eyepoker screen that meet your filter critera... ie fish.. the ones at the bottom of the list have the highest VPIP... select the player and click join waiting list and your added to the waiting list for that player... Simple really...

If anyone is having problem by all means give me a shout on msn at zousers@hotmail.com or mail support@spadeit.com they afre very very efficient

Cool Hands no Luck!!

2007-10-02T20:33:00.001-07:00

Just in from the tourney in Cool Hand Lukes where I believe I played what I think to be the perfect poker all night.... I built my stack well without ever putting it in danger and got my money in good everytime.... NOT EVEN ONCE was I behind!!! Made some great plays taking guys off top pair with ease and favourite hand of the night was a hand with Harry Potter... he limps... I raise to 500 with K7 off and he limp/raises to 1200 i call... he checks a Q73 flop and I lead for 1200 he makes 3.5 K... I push for 4.5 K and he folds for the extra 1k.... Like that one......

Anyway story is the usual stuff,,, I get to the final table with Vera Duffy to my left and Goodlucktome at the opposite end of the table..... I think I'm chip leader with about 30k or so... maybe harry potter covered me but that was all..... unknown guy makes it 2.5 k to go. I make it 10k with KK and he insta pushes for 20k with JJ and rivers a J!!!! then I go into push mode with my final 10k and get it back to about 15k stealing blinds and then get my AQ AIPF against AJ and the J on the board does me again and I'm home on the bubble...... I then played an hour of that sick game called yamaha or omaha or outdrawaha or whatever they call that version of poker where nobody ever folds in a round of each game???? and I leave that after an hour a little down after I had built my stack nicely to nearly double and then get it AIPF in holdem with AKs against AQo and of course the flopped Q halfves my stack for me.......

I'm really due a good tourney run sometime but I find it much harder then the cash games to deal with... In the cash games because I'm bankrolled for my level I just reload and get back my money... In the tourney I leave and watch the guy who just played his hands terribly take my chips and go on to cash nicely...... tough!!!

As garry said yesterday... It's my blog and I'll whinge if I want to....

jus reminded me..... whats the difference between a dog and a poker player? ..... a dog stops whining after about 12 years or so!!

I'll try and make a post tomorrow if I can... Gl at the tables everyone... looking forwars to the IPO :)

First attempt at a blog

2007-10-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

Suppose I'll start off with a little history.......

Some of you will know me from boards.ie where I believe I dominate the BB sticky thread with my tales of woe... in particular my "big pairs!" I actually find it a great help for my game hence the posts.... I used to throw the mouse... kick the cat... the dog would run for cover..... etc etc... now i just laugh and say one for the BB sticky!!! and then it's over and done with.... I've come to reaslise no matter how I play AA or KK I'm going to loose 1 in 5 of them anyway!! and Sklansky claims in his theory of poker that good players get drawn out on much more then bad players.. I guess he's kinda know a bit about poker so that makes me feel a bit better....

Others would know me from the live poker scene which I play very little of now...... as the man with the hat....... which is now missing presumed dead!!

I started playing poker in collecge in Kevin Street when I was there studying electronic engineering... sometimes spent more time playing poker than actually going to lectures.... I played in a band since I was 17 and was one fo the "rich" guys in college as I had some form of income which was rare enough in those days... I went on from college to get a very good job with fancy cars and all the perks and some form of temporary insanity made me go and work for myself!!! I spent about 7 years building up my own business in which a lot of the time the only people making money were the guys working for me....... Unfortunately due to a "bad beat" of a large robbery in 2005 I had to close down but thats another story....

Back to poker... I hadn't played holdem much really and came from the old school of draw poker but had played a good bit of 7 card stud which gave me a platform for holdem.... my first holdem game I think was in about 2004 when I was away for a weekend in the Cahir House Hotel in Co.Tipp and I noticed there was a game on that night.... The place was packed with poker players of all types all around the place and I decided to give it a go.... It was run by the now infamous CPT... but I have to say in fairness to them the setup wa very good and it was the first time I had seen such a big event with over 200 players and all the fancy tables etc etc.... anywayhow I don't know but I managed to luckox my way to the final table and finished 4th for my efforts winning 600 euro... I was absolutely delighted and I also got a ticket to their next event in Wexford which I went to and also cashed....

The poker bug had me!!! for a spend of about 200 euro i had made about 1000 euro... easy!!! I then started to play more regularly mainly in the Merrion and was a regular casher in the tourneys there and very seldom left the cash tables without profit... I don't think this was really anything to do with skill but more my starting hand ranges which was AA KK and QQ with the off AK thrown in....lol... I remember one week cash in 5 tourneys and winning two of them and cashing every night at the cash tables..... I think also a lot of my succes in the early days was also that I was playing for pure fun... I didn't need the money as I had my own business and while not rich from it I always had cash flow and if I would also go with a lot of draws because if they hit I got paid and if they didn't I just reloaded...... I'd say the regs loved to see me coming ....;)

I remember my first tourney in the emporium where I final tabled with the now imfamous chief and the Jaymanator.... I remember chief sticking me all in with his 33 vs my KK and filling a 4 flush with his bloody 33! sound familiar? anyway ended up spliting that one with Jay in the end if memory serves me rightly.....

While still not really knowing what I was at poker wise I managed to cash quite regularly in the dublin cash games and was enjoying it.... Shortly after my business closed down and I was left without an income and couldn't go and get a job either because my tax affairs weren't in order as yet and couldn't go and sign on till my business had been properly closed down which took several months......

So with a small bankroll I went to the the Card rooms of Dublin Most nights and while never setting the world alight I managed to knock a living out of it for almost 12 months playing live and a little online... I was a very small winner online playing on PPP on the old tribeca.... During this 12 months I educated myself the best I could by reading books/reading 2+2 and reading boards although I never really posted..... I used to actually enjoy people whinging about "Paul in the cap" but never really replied.... but I know who you are!!! ;)

Towards the end of last year I arranged some coaching with the infamous HJ and decided to give it a better stab online as the previous year although profit I made prob what a guy would make working in a supermarket for the year and I needed to improve on that...... some decent pointers from the great man and a lot of hands later I seem to have the hang of it although still only grindng a living out of it at 200nl..... I find it very hard ot build a bankroll when I have to constantly withdraw to pay the bills.......

Hence project 400nl........ I want to be playng 400nl by this time next month... so I've decided and made a plan not to withdraw at all for the next month .... no matter what.... and with a new deal done for bonus/cashback should help greatly.......

So thats the history of my poker carear so far...... I'll try and update regularly...... and keep it interesting if anyone want to add it to their favourites and check in every now and then....