RK - go to rkiamok.blogspot.com

Poker table !

2005-05-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

The poker craze continues, now we have a poker
table !! This is in addition to our poker chips,
and poker books and poker know how! Actually
i think only the latter is missing.

Two nights ago i had a dream where the poker table,
was at my house and i was sleeping, and everyone
came over to play a game, and didnt wake me up.
And then i woke up and they wouldnt let me
play, and I got very angry, and I kicked everyone
out of the house along with the table. I predict
the table will bring dooom and glooom, i think
it should stay at dooon...

Tho it did look quite good at CHS :)

test

2005-05-25T17:33:00.000-07:00

test

Boys and Girls

2005-05-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

According to the article, you can control the
sex of your child by the profession you choose. At least in this
group of friends i would have to say that there are probably
going to be a lot of boys. Engineers , computer scientists and
scientists , cant see many girls.

Does this hold true for you ? On my mum's side.
Dad - engineer - mum - house - 2 boys
Uncle - doctor - aunt - teacher - 1 boy 1 girl
Uncle - doctor - aunt - admin/house - 1 boy 1 girl
Uncle - engineer - aunt - science - 3 boys

May be there is some truth ?!

Poker 101 explodes !

2005-05-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

I had 2 students this time to 101, kind of just
1.5, as one was more observer than active
participant. And if i could have kept the orginal student
then i would have been prolly unable to cope, with
the rapid increase in demand. Student T, played
two single table tournaments, coming 2nd and 4th,
with the second one unfortunately experiencing
ghey internet connection issues. Good to see
that student T was thinking, coz she identified
the fact that when playing with a short stack
she seemed to have much better results. The reason
was quite simple, as the bets she made with a
larger stack just encouraged ppl to call, but
with a shorter stack, she often entered the pot
with a raise, and perhaps pushed all in on the
flop, hence the opposition were put to a decision,
and won a lot more pots without having to show
the best hand. NL poker is about being put to
a decision, else limit is probably your game !

101 class

2005-05-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

Monday nite From 7pm - Im running another poker 101 class, if
anyone wants to come. Have been dubbed as a poker stalker
so beware !

Blabbity blab blab blab

2005-05-19T23:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes ppl are pretty sensitive about certain
issues being leaked out to the general public.
For example if i was to say that so and so was
pregnant, everyone would be like, thats pretty
sensitive information, dont go telling everyone.
And so i wont tell everyone that xxxxxxx is
pregnant. Now ur instic was to count the number
of x s and see whether that corresponded to
anyone u knew, well i dont know how many xs i typed.
But as long as the information is not bad for
example, then it doesnt hurt for ppl to share
it around. I personally dont particpate in any
exchagning of information. These days brad often introduces me
as a poker professional, which i kind of feel
stupid about, and tanya says im a "poker champion",
which i feel even more embarassed about. But sometimes
good or at least interesting opportunities can spring
up from these pieces of information. coz as a result
i got an email today that one of the editors of ralph
was interested in having a chat with me and doing a story.
Unfking believeable. even if nothing comes of it, i can
at least thank freedom of infromation for giving me a random
opportuntiy to do something different. I wonder
whether i can get free subscription. Gold.

morning ...

2005-05-19T23:39:00.000-07:00

Went to bed around 2, my mum was still up, asked
me what time id like to be woken up, and what id like for
breakfast. 10am and id like bacon, eggs and mushroom. Awesome.

Ive woken up, breaksfast is being made, I look in the mirror
and think fk i am the bomb. I look awesome. Ive got a
suave, high quality fibre shirt on. Ppl must do this
regularly, for me i cant really relate to it, but I
tried to slip into character. It kind of felt good,
to be highly delusional.

There are these people who think they are models, or rock
stars, but they actually just work normal jobs and lead
no more exciting a life than anyone else, but in their
eyes their some kind of superstar. Its interesting, if you
call yourself elvis presley you get put into a clinical
ward, else if you keep quiet your just some delusional rock
wannabe.

The Robe

2005-05-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

Glossay

Robeworthy - to be worthy of wearing a robe
Rober - a person who wears a robe
Robelicious - a robe with remarkabley soft and
smooth characteristics
Robeanabe - Someone who wants to be a robe
wearer
Freelancing - Robe wearing with only minimal
clothes on underneath.
KKK - store that sells kuilts (quilts), kapes (capes)
and kobes (robes)

So word out on the street is that im not
robeworthy and that im a robeanabe. First of
all id like to say thats bull. I recently
bought a robe, and let me say it was a
robelicious. However as ive been in robe
hiatus, due to various circumstances, that
doesnt make any less of rober than the
next person. Ive been robing since i was
young, and am very serious about the whole
robing buisness. People may have questioned
my freelance ways and perhaps that has
put me on the outer edges of the robing
community, but i feel i have been unfairly
ostricised. One current rober, has criticised
my copying of him, but just because i went
to the local kkk store and bought a similarly
robelicisous robe, im some robeannabe. I
challenge him to be robe-duel, where we
battle to the sorry end, and one us is
forced to leave the dueling premises
without a robe. Do you accept, i
await your response !

New Monkeys !

2005-05-19T23:20:00.000-07:00

Nothing is more exciting than the discovery of
something new. Wait that sounds a bit stupid. How
can you disover something old, well i guess you
could find something which has been hidden for a
while. And actually the discovery of a new species
is really the discovery of something old. Anyway,
a new species of monkey in Tanzania has been discovered,
it is called the highland mangabey. "Unlike other
Lophocebus mangabeys, which communicate with a "whoop
gobble," the new species has an unusual "honk bark,"
the researchers said. Im eagerly awaiting any photos/
videos.

Wat day is it ?

2005-05-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

If i can ever retire from my job, i will have
the problem of remembering wat day of the week it
is. In fact as i was trying to put coins in the
parking machine today, i forgot it was friday,
coz the machine allows for a special all day parking
mon-thursday, and i didnt know y it wasnt working.
Anyway someone told me wat a schmuck i was. So
im thinking of moving to a colour coded shirt
system. Usually friday, im in a very sarcastic,
cynnical, bitter and twisted fram of mind. So
black seems appropriate. Thursdays, im going
to wear army green. Monday - blue seems
appropriate. Tuesdays - brown. Wednesday, ill
go for white. Saturdays and sundays can be
free choice. In this way ill be able to just
glance at what shirt im wearing and no wat
day of the week it is.

Poker 101 cont..

2005-05-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

I attempted to finish off at least lesson 1, to my
only poker 101 student, and it felt like i failed
miserably. The major tip was not to call weak/marginal
hands out of position, and whilst watching dayle
play, she probably saved herself a 100-150 chips.
However she got knocked out in 7th, and this was
after picking up Aces twice, Ak, aq twice and qs.
Also two players were eliminated in the first 5
hands. The key hand was 7s in the big blind.
Late pos made minimum raise. She smooth called, every
play was ok in this spot. Re-raise, call, fold
(weak play, but not terrible). Flop came
10 high. Bet half the pot then was called. Turn
came blank, she put her all in, this was the mistake,
i mean u had to give her credit for a hand here,
opponent had put 1/2 her chips in it was unlikely for
her to fold. Anyway dayle puts her all in the other
player has j-10, dayle is crippled and never recovered.
Well at least it means more lessons are required,
playing medium pairs are one of the hardest hands to
play. But still it didnt bode well, for my teaching
skills. I left appreciating that there was no silver
bullet solution. May be i take things for granted,
may be teaching takes time...

Make up

2005-05-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

sometimes you see people whom usually have make up on
and then suddenly they dont have make up, and its
like argh, i didnt know make up could make such a
difference. It must be hassel tho, coz once u set
a certain standard, u have to live up to it. Its similar
to the Seinfeld, good lighting , bad lighting episode.

being a guy i obvioulsy have little idea about makeup,
and going over to england for tv poker was a rare entry
into the world of cosmetic manipulation. Initially i thought
they were joking, it was like ok, Rayan, we've
finished your interviews and then we'll send you through
to make up. Your kidding me, i dont need make up, do i?
Actually "Make up" is kind of cool, coz it was
the first time, you actually got to meet the players.
During the semi-finals, tony-g, t-bloom, l.flood , and
the other 2 players, were just talking casually under
thr brighlt lights of make up while each of us are
getting touched up etc., and it sort of relaxes u
before u have to go in and play against each other. It
was kind of weird tho coz they knew each other, and I was
just the internet qualifier.

Good thing about make up for myself, was that it took
30 seconds, apparently my skin was really good or something
so they just chucked some powder on and presto i was done.
I thought the make up person must just tell that to
everyone, but then the two female dealers and
the make up lady and the photographer were there talking to
me, saying how wonderful my skin was, etc. All that praise
must have given me a dose of unnecessary self confidence,
coz i then got a thorough beating in the semi-finals.

Spoofproof / Unspoofable

2005-05-19T18:49:00.000-07:00

Saw the final star wars movie last night, hmmm, i guess
it was better than the other two, but wat does that
mean? Not a lot. And some of the parts were really.
cringeworthy. I mean the team from spaceballs, would
be thinking, we can't spoof this movie, it spoofs itself.
My main criticism, was the actors. They were wooden,
no one cared about them. They should leave hc in the
darth vader suit so he can't scare ppl with any more
woeful acting perfomances. In all fairness it might
have been tough acting out that script in front of
a blue curtain.

Foreign currency

2005-05-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

after going overseas i still have foreign currency
lying around, the good thing is u can give away
your coins to unicef on the plane. However the
notes are ghey, like, wat am i suppose to do
with the notes. I think ive decided to collect
the notes and use them when im overseas again.
I just have to not lose them between the next time
i go overseas, 100 pounds is quite a bit, but
$20 singapore isnt much. My favourite currency,
is guilders. I like the name , plus, u can pick
up exciting and tasty products using guilders, and
they're colourful notes takes the seriousness
out of money. Unlike say US currency which all looks
the same. Oh and the other day i saw someone buy
monopoly, im surprised anyone is still buying
that gane, i mean doesnt everyone already own
a copy?

Tsunami

2005-05-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

I havent been following the aftermath of the tsunami.
But it seems that it is no longer in the eye of
the public, which seems a shame considering the ppl
are probably still suffering. I was suppose to
go to sri lanka this month, but apparently due
to army problems, it can still be dangerous...

If your so smart why arent you rich ?

2005-05-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

This is one of the more aptly named titles in batman
the animated series featuring the riddler.

I can only assume that ppl had a subject clash, and
that perhaps james' rival class dvd 101 was more
popular. In fact im hoping to make it to the
next dvd 101 class. Last time i went to james'
place to borrow dvds, i ended up borrowing 10
blank dvds instead of 10 movies, im sure such
topics will be covered.

Actually i know the notice i gave was quite late.

On a positive note at least one person sent me their
party poker transcripts, which upon analysis, i picked
up a few easy way to improve their game. However that
person could only turn up for 4mins, and spent 2mins
45sec on the phone, and the remaining time drinking
a beer.

Tho i figure most ppl are probably unwilling to listen
to me, which i find kind of interesting, because after
spending a week with mitch who had more of an open mind
and after giving a couple of tips, his game got to a pretty
decent standard. But the important thing is to have
fun, right !

poker 101

2005-05-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

Struggling with your NL Holdem game, want to improve?
Then come to poker 101. Poker 101 is an open
class that runs from 6.45pm to 8.45pm this Wednesday
at my place.

All u have to do is rock up any time between that time,
with any questions you have? Class consists of mainly
playing online poker, with myself giving tips on
what i think people should do, and suggetions of what
to look for? Come and watch different people play
online poker at various levels, and hopefully you
can take something away.

Participants should be open to suggestions if they
want to improve.

You whine like a mule !

2005-05-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

Funny how ppl complain when other ppl dont
do things for them. Seems a common complaint
when ppl dont get their favourite programs
recorded, may be learn how to use a video player?!

I used to get angry at ppl when they didnt record
stuff when i was a kid, thinking back its kind of
funny. Once i accused of my brother of some sort of
conspiracy theory, that he deliberately didnt record
coz he didnt want me to watch the program. ha.

And ppl have been complaining about the poker
table, the colours etc. For one i think the
other table looked better, but still at least
this table will always be useful and two wat
more can someone do then send a picture of the
table that we are going to get. And ppl wonder
y ppl are reluctant to organise anything. Zero
gain situation.

List of good things ppl have organised
- poker table
- brisbane trip
- house boat
- beach volleyball

please keep them coming !

Currently im investigating the possibility of hole
card cameras.

home home

2005-05-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

Im kind of reverse housesitting, coz ive moved
back home at nights to keep my mum company.
As a result i get completely spoilt. When i
came back saturday night, my mum had switched
on my electric blanket, except the only
problem is i hate having the electric blanket
on, and couldnt sleep. Tho last night
as i sat wearily after soccer, my mum served
up spag bol (one of my favourites), and
then we watched / danced to some indian
dvd music clips. She showed off to me some
of these jewelry pieces that she had made,
which were extremely impressive. I think i have
to market them somehow.

Then woke up next morning, bacon and eggs
and mushroom, with a cover placed on top
to keep it warm. How good is that !

Also there are a group of peacocks that
have decided to visit our house in the mornings,
which is kind of bizzare.

tuday

2005-05-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

lost soccer 4-2, frustrating, couldnt get any goals,
and we actually defended really well for most of it.
number of saves our goalie made was crazy, and he
still got yelled at i think. Need to learn iranian.

Matchroom 1-2

2005-05-16T23:19:00.000-07:00

Coming first and second at matchroom on Sunday was
pretty decent, only disapointing thing was not going
out after to celebrate, and no one there to witeness
the match. Unfrotunately i lacked the patience
to try and take chad out heads up, but for $70,
and to stay up any later, seemed hardly worth it.
However chad did his best to give me a sporting
chance despite having over a 5 to 1 chips lead, i
got it back to even. But when he called a re-raise
with 5-2, and the called a check raise all in
on q-q-5 flop (i had a-6), he managed to take it down.
The hand b4 that managed to level it, was interesting.
I raised with 7-8, and he made a small re-raise
with A-10. I called, flop came q-8-5, he pushed
all in i called and took it down. Mistake not
re-raising me all in, classic error - not raising
enuff. Think about how much your raising, may
be with Aces possibly ok !

Earlier I potentially made a mistake when i didnt re-raise
with a-q, from the bb, but 2 ppl were effectively
all in. Chad meanwhile kept knocking everyone out
on the table, after flopping a straight and a straight
flush, and both players pushed all in against him. Woke up
the next morning at 5.30, to play in 250K tourney,
out first hand ! Came back from the bathroom,
saw i had jacks, got re-raised. Called, flop was 9
high, called his bets to the river, he had
Ks. Oh well.

Overload

2005-05-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

Had a chad overload last weekend. In all fairness it
was my fault, coz i went over there. Thursday -
dinner at cm2, chad was there, poker at my place,
heads up with chad. Friday - dinner at mandarin house,
poker at apa, exeter (chad there), saturday -
went over to chs, lunch with chad, shopping with
chad (that was actually good fun!), dinner marcellina,
party etc., Sunday - matchroom (heads up with
chad , 1 and 2), Monday - drinks for barter,
and movie at chs, more chad. Im sure he feels likewise.

rejection, failure and bitterness

2005-05-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

This can occur in any field any spectrum, but
in the world of poker its easily quantifiable.
Failure, amounts to a dwindling bank roll. It
is easy to see. There are 2 reasons for failure
in poker, one is a lack of skill and the other
is luck. The second is beyond your control,
but for a lot of people the second (luck) is
what controls a person's skill. When your running
hot, the decisions u make seem to be better as
well, and when things are running bad, you
can get caught chasing. Its hard to tell, but
its important to know whether its skill or luck
which is the root of the problem. Most of the
time i can confidently narrow down poker failure
to luck.

Bitterness is often caused by someone else's
success/failure. Its like in Seinfeld, when Elaine
is bitter about George getting married. I seemed
especially bitter on Saturday.

1. I had to watch the crows incompetent shooting
performance lead to a narrow defeat to Brisbane,
nothing worse than having to watch the entire game to
see them just lose.
2. At this party Brad invited us to, I ended up talking
to this reasonably attractive girl, whom i forgot her
name in the first 2 seconds. Then everything i said
got twisted around and back fired. And then she
was going out with some dweeby guy anyway. The
Brunatex t-shirt was recognisable, which was kinda
a surprise.
3. Went out to the grace. Apparently c0 has found
blissful happiness, i mean wat is the world coming
to. Not that im not happy for him, but ffs, you
cant be serious.
4. The girls i was hanging out with were merely
wallpaper.
5. Chad picked up in his stupid wig, my stupid russian
hat yielded nothing, not that by then i was even remotely
interested...

Unlike poker this had nothing to do with luck...

Boring

2005-05-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

Im sitting at work, which is ok, except Brad is sitting
in on a telephone conference meeting, which is
the definition of hell, if i had to sit in a room
and listen to this i would go mad. eg. "Item
9 on the agenda...., but we will leave that to item 10,
wind energy ..., the review of joint interconnector,
and i would like to move forawrd..." Now the person
talking has a strong asian accent, and is difficult to
understand. I need to go home and get headphones.

Im so glad i will never have to listen to this again.

last nite - got back to belgium dinner and everyone was
going home, ghey, to do ironing and hang out clothes and shit,
"we have to work tomorrow", cmon. I will need to find
non-working friends, coz my work hours in the future will
be completely adhoc, and im most likely to be out of
sync.

Its that whole "Live to work" or "work to live" . Ok
i know the first one is no good, but the second one
isnt much better. Surely the goal is just to live. If
i had 20million dolllars id still play poker, id just
probably play less.

high roller

2005-05-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

Ive been trying to find poker related movies of late to watch.
So far I have seen, Cincinati Kid, Card Player and High
Roller the Stu Ungar story. Cincinati kid is an old classic
steve mcqueen film, the poker is 5card stud, which is really
quite a boring game, but despite being an old film its pretty
enteraining. Good things about the film, were the ending
was different, and something about old films, there is always
a classic last line. People say the final hand is
so improbably its ridiciculous, so i decided to deal myself
a draw poker hand. (draw poker allows for a change of
cards, stud doesnt), anyway unbeliveable, i dealt myself
the exact straight flush (including suit) the guy gets
in the movie, and then the following day i dealt myself
Ks full of As, almost the same hand the other guy gets in
the film. Very weird !

The card player is to do with video poker, which is 5
card draw, and there is a serial killer who is challenging
ppl to beat them. And if they fail he kills someone,
its a pretty budget foreign type of movie, but was
watchable.

Finally High Roller - the stu ungar story. Ok, there cant
be a bigger stu ungar fan, than myself, the guy has
won 10 out of 33 major tournaments, which is beyond
phemonenal, he is the best poker player ever, and a
cards genius. But imagine Rounders, and take out
the good actors, some offcut takes of sopranos, and
the worst music in history, and remove any of the
card scenes, and increase the annoying girl scenes
10 fold, and have an hotel room tell my life story
thread, and u have the worst movie i have ever
seen. Considering wat the movie is supposed to be
about. The redeeming factors were that there were 7 of
us who had to suffer through the agony, and that
a lot of the latter half was in 4x speed. I have
never been so disapointed about a film ...

Funny things

2005-05-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

These things were at least funny at the time, but
might be lost in translation.

(watching BB, gretel says, little do the housemates
know there is an imposter under their roof)
Horry: U mean someone is on the roof?

(explaining digital and analog dual)
Rk: I have a video card that has an analog output
and a digital output. So one is digital and
the other is analog.

(at work)
I fell asleep at work, with my sunglasses on.
Boss walks past shuts the door hard, and then
on re-entry he notices me looking confused.

Boss: nice to see youve woken up (busted !)

(Signing up for matchroom)
Maja: I walk into the place, and then everyone
stops, and when i start to sign up, everyone
"happens" to come to the table, and start
talking. Like thats normal behaviour.

Maja: I was thinking of giving my name as Miya
Reid (worried about the legality of matchroom)

(on asking chad how he went at apa last night)
Chad: "Last night reminded me of my time in Vietnam, I think
I was stationed at Denang, VC were swarming everywhere and
there wasn’t anywhere to hide. I found a few tunnels and made
one escape, I could hardly fire back- they had me out numbered
ith much superior fire power, I made it to the evacuation tent
and had a pinocolada on the beach!!"
(he still hasnt even mentioned anything about poker!)

(Pre match poker banter / stirring)
frage says:
anyone in tonight then ?
rk says:
so far me, brad , chad
frage says:
brad and chad
frage says:
chad and brad
frage says:
hoh
frage says:
wish i was playing
rk says:
please
frage says:
sounds like easy money
rk says:
easy
rk says:
brad especially, he an idiot !
frage says:
haha
frage says:
chad and brad
frage says:
brad and chad
rk says:
tweedle dee and tweedle dum
frage says:
snugglepot and cuddlepie
frage says:
haha
rk says:
haha
rk says:
brad says "when was the last time you were in the money?"
rk says:
he thinks your dead money
rk says:
dont let him push you around
rk says:
id come and defend yourself
frage says:
haha
frage says:
please brad
rk says:
he calls you - paul wont play a hand belfrage
rk says:
and paul dead money belfrage
frage says:
has brad actually ever won one ?
rk says:
split 1st
frage says:
tell brad lost his money to maja harrison
frage says:
that when hes made the money more than
once he might be allowed an opinion

(eating dinner at Ky Chow, with my brother and gf,
have ordered bean curd, bok choi, chicken , duck)

RK: this dish doesnt have a very strong duck taste
brother: which dish ?
(pause)
rk: the duck.

(at Cafe M 2 for dinner)
Chad: Id like to order a tiger, meanwhile pointing
vigourously at his shirt, which has the tiger
beer logo.
(pause)
Waitress: Im afraid we dont have that.
(chad looking slightly dejected and for something else
to point at)
RK: im sorry, hes not with us, is there a table for one
somewhere where you could put him?

I brought a sweat band to mop up chilli induced sweating,
very useful and highly recommeneded.

RK Poker Series

2005-05-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

Game 1 , of the RK poker series was played last night under
the "new" rules. There were a couple of differences, with
a 30sec time limit in place as it was a 4 handed game,
instead of the proposed 15 second rule, and prize money
was distributed 75% 25%. Starting chips 2000, blinds
25-25, for 20 hands and then increasing every 10 hands,
25-50,50-100, 75-150, 100-200, 200-400, 300-600.

In my opinion the game was a higher standard then
the series of home games we have played so far.

Evidence of this was a early on in the first level 1,
where Brad limped check his option in the small blind,
Chad raised to 100 in the BB, and Brad came over the top
for 500 in the small BB. Chad spent his full allocated
time thinking about it before folding A-K face up,
and Brad showed 3-7. I think Brad couldnt believe
Chad would fold such a hand.

Some of the other interesting hands were when
3 ppl limped into the pot. With a board
of 10-6-4. Dayle, led out and bet 200, Chad
raised to 400, and dayle re-raised 200 more
to 600. That last raise didnt really acheive
anything, coz if even if you are on a draw
you will still call the 200 more, so basically
u are just building the pot, and opening
yourself to another raise, without finding
out anything. Especially when the turn, and
river were checked to Chad, who then bet
another 400 on the river, which Dayle folded
with (8s). Middle pairs are the hardest hands
to play, and if you dont re-raise pre-flop
to eliminate junk hands, then you can't know
where u stand, at which point your hoping
to hit a set. Once Chad made the re-raise,
you prolly had to give him credit for a 10,
and if thought he had nothing, then the
re-raise needed to put him to a decision.

Dayle then made a big re-raise on a chad
minimum raise for most of her chips, and
chad put her all in. A-Q (chad) vs 10s
which chad hit an ace on the turn.
With blinds at 50-100, and Dayle having
around 1000 in chips, Chad raised to 200,
and dayle re-raised to 750. Chad made a minimum
raise with Ks earlier and came over the top
of a dayle re-raise which she made a good fold
with a medium pocket pair. With around a 1000,
in chips a possible re-raise to 500/550 would
have found out more about Chad's hand. Coz
if he re-raised all in, then u probably
decide to call, and if he calls, then there
is a possible 500 to bet and bluff the flop.
Not that either play is bad, but if you put
him on a hand like that A-Q, the player
is more likely to miss the flop than hit it..

Brad, meanwhile had been accumulating chips,
and then a big hand came, where he raised
to 400 (4x BB), Chad decided to move over
the top. No doubt partially set up with that
ChadvBrad AK hand. Tho Chad did have Js,
and Brad called with his Qs. Chad all in,
hit a J on the first card,and Brad was left
crippled.

Soon it was heads up I had 2500 in chips
to Chad 5500, not really picking up any
hands yet. Up till now Chad had picked
up As twice, Ks, Qs, Js, Ak,AQ ! Tho
got no action on the As. Key hand
heads up, Chad raised to 600, I had
pocket 5s, now i could re-raise
all in, but i figured, i wanted to know
more about his hand. So i decided to
call. In my mind i was thinking that
he had two high card, but was worried
about a higher pocket pair. Flop came
10-3-4, i checked and he bet 600, now
i really should have decided to raise
but thought if i smooth called i would
find out whether he really had it. The turn
came an 8, and i checked again. Now he paused
for a bit, he had been smooth called, with
the raise and on the flop so i dont think
he knew wat i had. And after he checked
i was sure he had two high cards. Then
the river came a 5! I thought id bet a 1000,
except this was a mistake, coz if my read
was that he had 2 high cards, then he couldnt
re-raise me and force me to fold, coz i didnt
have enuff chips, and he probably wouldnt call
with A or K high, even if it looked like i was
trying to steal the pot, so I really should
have checked or bet less. Duh! He showed K-Q.
I then managed to keep the pressure on Chad,
and take it down.

I thought Brad played really well, and really
should have about 5000 chips 3 handed. But
luck wasnt with him.

On Brad's recommendation, he said that we start
up a leaderboard.

Rundle Player Points
Rk - 150
Chad - 50

I havent worked out what ill do with them, but
may be the winner can get entry into some tournament.

Dayle unfortunately said the buy-in was too much
and probably wouldnt play again. One possibility
is if some ppl are only prepared to pay $30, ill
put in their $20 to top up to $50 and take 40% of
wat then win. This will work where the majority
are paying $50.

Anyway at the moment im convinced this provided a
better standard of game, which should benefit
everyone, i hope !

Poker

2005-05-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

Our home games are of a reasonable standard and can be
entertaining, but there are some ways which could
improve the standard and quality of the game, which
will ultimately benefit everyone.

Here is a list of proposed changes, which i plan on
implementing at least for the standard games at my place.

1. Increased buy in ! - the buy in has to hurt a little,
no one cares at the moment, everyone works, $10 is
nothing. If you dont care about wat you lose, then
how can the decisions you make be even remotely right.
When ppl say "im all in, i want to go home", that
highlights the stupidity of the situation, u dont think
that happens in a major tournament?! Propose to increase
buy in to $50. Is it a coincidence that whoever lives
in the house, is quite often first out ?

2. Game should be a higher paced, speed poker is a popular
form of poker which is being played. You get 15 seconds
to make a decision, with one chance of using a 1 minute
time extension at some stage. Basically it means people
have to think quickly and can't ask, oh who is in the pot?
wats the bet?

3. Remember to bring money, or know someone who will spot
you money when you turn up. Not a big deal, but if your
coming to play poker, money is the only thing u really
need to remember.

4. Wat the dealer/tournament director says goes, ie. if
the tournament director says your hand is dead! Then
thats it. No exceptions.

5. Proper poker rules - ie. say Raise if you want to
make a raise, else assumed call, announce the size
of your bets, no string bets, there arent that many
rules in poker, so its not that hard. Being slack on
the rules just creates bad habits. In poker if you
are

6. Prize pay out structure, 2-4ppl - 1st gets 100%,
5-9ppl, 1st gets 66% 2nd 33%, 10ppl, 1st 50%,
2nd 30%, 3rd 20%

Any suggestions are welcome, but ultimately if u
dont like the rules dont come...

ADSL 1 ADSL 2

2005-05-11T20:34:00.001-07:00

Its coming, just a few more days, and i get ADSL,
how exciting ?! Well its not really that exciting,
but it will mean ill waste a lot less money when
the internet connection dies. Estimated loss due
to wireless, somewhere around US$1400, argh!

BB Late

2005-05-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

BB late, is theoretically quite boring, in fact the
people in BB are largely uninteresting, thus
far. So an unedited version of ppl talking
about crap, is even worse! Right ?! Well the
only redeeming feature of this show, is the
whole evil twin idea. Its makes the show
completely watchable, and when they are on,
quite entertaining. However BB late, can be
quite mesmerising, especially due to the
interesting camera selection, and the fact
that some of the ppl on the show must be
doing somethings to get air time. I mean
it just cant take 5 minutes to rub cream
onto your breasts, can it ? And then ppl on
the show were giving her shit about wat
a poser she was, which is probably true,
but interestingly highlighted how self
conscious some of my friends can be, eg.
at wet and wild at the gold coast, versus
ppl at bondi, its a whole different way of thinking
and one I believe is clearly advantageous.

Poker couple of key hands

2005-05-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

Dont be in a hurry to dump a whole heap of chips into
a the pot ! A lot of ppl just push all in, and as
a result leave their fate, in the hands of the poker
gods. Eg. a coin flip situation or 60-40. If you can get
your opponent to fold, however, thats a lot better outcome,
as you are guaranteed to win.

First hand, is a hand where u can get caught pushing too
hard with a marginal hand. I pick up pocket 6s, in
the small blind, with one limper. The limper limped
in from early position, and as a result, i am reluctant
to raise with the 6s, Also the guy in first position limps
into a pot, with a very short stack, which is very suss.
So instead of re-raising with my 6s at this point which
could well be the best hand i decide to call. Read below for
the result of the hand.

***** Hand History for Game 1992630469 *****
100/200 TourneyTexasHTGameTable (NL) (Tournament 11875145) - Tue May 03 11:26:41 EDT 2005
Table Table 10874 (Real Money) -- Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 2: rkruok (1085)
Seat 4: eoppynation (2433)
Seat 5: jstexas (737)
Seat 6: XDsGrrrr (1270)
Seat 7: mmmhh (2760)
Seat 9: hermannaftel (1715)
rkruok posts small blind (50)
eoppynation posts big blind (100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to rkruok [ 6c, 6h ]
jstexas calls (100)
XDsGrrrr folds.
mmmhh folds.
hermannaftel folds.
rkruok calls (50)
eoppynation checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 9s, Jd, 4s ]
rkruok checks.
eoppynation checks.
jstexas bets (637)
jstexas is all-In.
rkruok folds.
eoppynation calls (637)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 9c ]
** Dealing River ** : [ Js ]
Creating Main Pot with $1574 with jstexas
** Summary **
Main Pot: 1574 |
Board: [ 9s Jd 4s 9c Js ]
rkruok balance 985, lost 100 (folded)
eoppynation balance 3270, bet 737, collected 1574, net +837 [ Jh 8c ] [ a full house, Jacks full of nines -- Jh,Jd,Js,9s,9c ]
jstexas balance 0, lost 737 [ Kh Kc ] [ two pairs, kings and jacks -- Kh,Kc,Jd,Js,9s ]
XDsGrrrr balance 1270, didn't bet (folded)
mmmhh balance 2760, didn't bet (folded)
hermannaftel balance 1715, didn't bet (folded)

My decision to smooth call was right as the limper
did in fact have kings. He got unlucky as the big blind
decided to call the all in after hitting top pair that
turned into a full house. It was prolly incorrect of the limper not
to have raised. If he did in fact raise to 200, i may have
called, and the big blind wouldnt have got to see a cheap
flop. The chance of the short stack limping with any marginal
hand was remote, which should have alerted the big blind.
However sometimes a short stack has to gamble and try and double
up with a big hand, even if it means the other guy hits a
lucky card to bust you.

Next hand i pick up 6-7s on the cut-off (1 off the button),
and i raise to 250 (blinds are 50-100). 25% of my stack,
hoping to pick up the blinds. Now im up against two big
stacks in the small and big blinds, so pushing all in
is not the best of plays, coz they may well call you.
As it turns out the big blind calls my raise. Now i dont
know what he had, but say he has A-j,A-10, 9s,8s , hands
which he would easily call with, i would have been a big underdog
if he called my all in.

***** Hand History for Game 1992633356 *****
100/200 TourneyTexasHTGameTable (NL) (Tournament 11875145) - Tue May 03 11:28:00 EDT 2005
Table Table 10874 (Real Money) -- Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 2: rkruok (985)
Seat 4: eoppynation (3220)
Seat 6: XDsGrrrr (1170)
Seat 7: mmmhh (2560)
Seat 9: hermannaftel (2065)
XDsGrrrr posts small blind (50)
mmmhh posts big blind (100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to rkruok [ 7d, 6d ]
hermannaftel folds.
rkruok raises (250) to 250
eoppynation folds.
XDsGrrrr folds.
mmmhh calls (150)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 4h, Ks, Qh ]
mmmhh checks.
eoppynation: i guess thats why you dont limp with K's in thiese things
rkruok bets (275)
mmmhh folds.
** Summary **
Main Pot: 825
Board: [ 4h Ks Qh ]
rkruok balance 1285, bet 525, collected 825, net +300
eoppynation balance 3220, didn't bet (folded)
XDsGrrrr balance 1120, lost 50 (folded)
mmmhh balance 2310, lost 250 (folded)
hermannaftel balance 2065, didn't bet (folded)

The flop comes 4,K,Q, giving me absolutely nothing, but
after i lead out and bet another 250 chips. He folds.
And if he had any of those hands i mentioned before a-x,
medium pair, with K and a Q out there, its hard to
call such a bet after the flop, but quite possible
to call an all in with. As a result, I pick up a handy little
pot and stay in the game. Pushing all in, has its advantages, but its
worth considering other plays as well.

Fantails

2005-05-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

On the back of fantails there is a fountain of useful information.
Apparently Mike Myers' dad didnt let anyone into their house
unless they were funny, and look at him now, hes a funny guy !
I blame my parents therefore on not being selective on who
they let in, however if i have kids im not going to make the
same mistake. Tho it is an interesting idea, like jenifer
harman , used to sit on her dad's poker games when she was
6, and now she is the best female poker player and a top poker
player full stop. It must have an effect ! Anyway when my friends
start popping them out, pop , pop , all i can is be careful who
u let your kids come into contact with.

Footsal

2005-05-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

Played in the Sunday vodafone competition, with team Iran,
knocked out on penalties in the first round, after the
score was 1-1. I got my penalty in at least, plus i was
off when they scored the equaliser, these guys argue so
much on the field its ridiculous. Tuesday same guys plus
barter. There was a distinct trend where when barts and i
was on the team would do better. This was for two simple reasons
one i would defend while everyone else would run around like
crazy, usually lap does this job but hes away and 2, having
2 ppl on the field who dont understand iranian, means there
are 2 less ppl for them to argue with, hence meaning we play
more soccer and less arguing. Last nite we won against ppl
who were somewhat handicapped, now some teams go out there
and beat them 30 something. Which means they are scoring
a goal a minute. Isnt that cruel?! We won 19-3, tho the highlight
of the match was when nai surged forward from goals, played a 1-2
with james, took his shot which hit the apex of the cross bar and
the post and then they rebounded back, took a shot, and nai
fell over backwards whilst letting in a goal. The whole time
the rest of us were pretty much standing there, laughing.

Poker

2005-05-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

Key hand at Matchroom. Matchroom on sunday,
winner gets an $1100 seat, (2nd - 500, 3rd - 200),
currently 4 ppl. I have about $120,000 in chips,
and there are about $560,000 chips in play,
blinds $4000-8,000, antes $2,000. I have folded
quite a few hands, not picking up much, and decide
to raise on the button, with 10c-7c. Im up
against the chip leader in the big blind, who is
a calling station, but on a positive note has
been folding on the flop. So in position, i need
to try something. I raise to $25K, No surprise the
big blind calls.

The flop comes 10s-5s-2s. Hmmm, Thats not
too bad a flop for 10-7, only problem is
spade draw. I could move all in, but i figure
30K bet is enuff to see wat happens. Plus if
a spade comes on the turn i can get away from
the hand. He calls. the turn comes the 6c.
He checks again. This time, i bet out my remaining
60K, confident he is on a flush draw. He decides.
to call. He shows As-5h. Giving him a pair and
the nut flush draw. I didnt think he had such
a strong hand, but he has 14 outs (3As,2 5s, 9 spades),
making me slightly more than a 2-1 favourite. Boom, 8s
on the river, i finish in skunk hole.

Ignoring the result, was the hand played badly?
On the flop, there is $62K in the pot. By
betting half the pot, i am giving him
the right odds probably to call for a flush draw.
However, the correct play on his part was probably
to raise me. With second pair and nut flush draw,
he is a favourite against pocket Ks at this stage
so he should have raised while he was ahead.
After calling the flop bet, there is now $122K in the
pot and after i be my remaining, $60, $182K in the pot.
Is the $60K call right ? It is actually correct,
coz he has a 1 in 3 chance of improving, so
he is roughly getting the right odds to call my all in
bet. If i had 30K more , then it wouldnt have been
a right call, making his decision not to raise on the
flop, more costly. The fact that is he didnt really
make a mistake on the hand. Calling the raise with
A-5 pre-flop was probably correct (tho could have
re-raised) and all his calls were mathematically
correct. Just how it goes sometimes...

poker

2005-05-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

need to keep proper records, at the moment im not
really focusing on any one type of game. Playing
the odd single table tournament and dabbled in
some live game last night. lost $1K.

Key Hand - ($10-$20NL), i have $460 (and a bit fked
off)

Limp in under the gun with A-5s, one caller in lateish
position, and the guy who compulsory raises limpers,
makes it $70, clearly a hand that he doesnt want callers,
so i decide to re-raise to $200, he stubbornly calls.
flop 9-6-2. I check he check. Turn comes an 8. I push all
in he calls, river comes a 5. He shows J-7, $900 pot
gets pushed over to him, ffs ! Anyway, the positive note
was my read was correct. And i had the best hand till
the river, even if it was only A high.

One thing i have found about live games, is that a "high"
stakes live game resembles wat u are likely to face in
a big tournament situation, more so than single
table tournaments. Coz u have to make decisions for
significant $s, and therefore test yourself under pressure.
Typically u should play in live games wiht buy in say
5x bigger than wat your playing single table tourney. Eg.
$10 ST, then dont sit in for a live game for more than $50.
Finding yourself outside of your comfort zone is important,
if you want to improve...

Pocket Js.
Single table tourney ($200), i have 800, i raise to 150,
get re-raised all in by the s-blind. Decide my Js are ok,
even though i think he must have As,Ks,Ak,Aq,Qs or may
be 10s. So really im either 50-50 or big underdog. He
flips over As. cya later. Not the best call.

Next ST tourney, i get Js again. This time UTG calls for $50,
2nd position calls for $50, i raise to $200 (i had $800).
The limper smooth calls, and then the 2nd limper raises to
$800. Wtf ? Y would the guy who smooth called the $50,
then come and make this big re-raise. Seemed completely
bizzare. If he had As, why not smooth call again, if he
had Ks or Qs why didnt he raise the first limper. Anyway
although i wasnt sure wat he had, i was more worried about
the guy who limped in, and then smooth called.
**potential mistake** - dont forget about the person caught
in the middle, and wat they might have , ppl sometimes only
look at the raiser and forget about the guy who called in between
or who is yet to act. So i decided to fold my Js this time.
The guy who limped, then re-raised the other guy all in, which
was obviously As, but the other guy called with his Qs and
sure enuff the limper had As.
I managed to get away from that hand, and grab 3rd. If u cant
get away from hands, then u going to be in a lot of trouble,
but more imporantly ur still in the tourney with chips !

Dreams and movies

2005-05-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

Saw Kung Fu Hustle , last night, crazy martial arts film
with stephen chow, hong kong's funny guy. Tho this was not
as funny as some of his other stuff, but still just
as entertaining. One part i was laughing so much , the laugh
turned into a cough, and then i had trouble breathing.

Had this weird dream last night that seemed to
last all night, had some ppl from party poker tournament
in the dream, tonyg was evil, and everyone was dying in
random ways. In the positive column, one of the girls
from party poker was there, so wasnt all bad.

Brad said he saw Lost in Translations last night, "some
of the imagery was fantastic, especially the opening
scene". haha

Bombs, bins and blues

2005-04-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

I sit there sometimes, and Im so mentally calm,I
dont understand when other people start rambling
about various things. Its all seems so non-sensical.
Tho although it feels like im suffering this feeling
which equates to post holiday blues, but i find this
weird coz i was looking to getting back to adelaide,
but now that im back, im not sure what the hurry was.

Also I dont understand how ppl go to work, and do these
tasks which arent enjoyable and most of the time
without consequence. If you enjoy it some of the time
or more than half the time, it makes sense, or it has
some overall purpose.eg. garbage collection at least
if no one did their job the streets would be messy, so
im appreciative of what they do. In London garbage collection
in the city takes the form of people leaving rubbish out in
paper bags. Also bins are so scarce in London, mainly because
people put bombs in bins i guess.

I bought Hungry Jacks at paddington st train station, then
i couldnt find a bin to put my rubbish, i then got into
Victoria st train station still no bin, but there
was another Hungry Jacks store there, so i lefy my wrappers
at the Victoria st Hungry Jacks store on a table, coz there
were no bins in there either!

I think the terrorists have won at that point, once a city
like London has to eliminate bins, and as a result have
more rubbish lying around, im quite sure a terrorist would
say well i could put a bomb and blow this place up and cause
a mess, but this place is quite messy as it is. And i could
cause carnage in the subway but the lack of ventialtion and
polluted air will kill you all soon enuff. Not to mention,
i dont think terrorists come into london with a bag full of
explosives, realise there are no bins and then go home. Wat
would be really clever would be to build bins out of that
black box material, coz you could clean up crime and the city
in one.

New blog

2005-04-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

I usually start of saying this blog will be different
or better, but it probably wont. The only reason
I had to change, was because the last one wasnt
saving my posts, force majeure (An unexpected or
uncontrollable event). Also I realised my memory
for all events non-poker is garbage, so I need to
write things down.