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So I've become addicted to Rush poker. There I was, happy in my decision to go back to STT's, and going along nicely - had improved my "decade starting roll" of $200, to $300, and then along comes rush poker. I gave it a tentative go, didn't do very well, then went back to the sit'n'go. I had a bit of a bad run, and found my bankroll back down to $270, so I thought I'd give rush another go. My bankroll is now $380, and right now I can't think of a better way to try and build my bankroll. I can play so many more hands playing rush poker, that it doesn't make any sense to play sit'n'go's right now - rush poker opens the door to the Full Tilt Ironman status for me, it's much easier to play (can play on any PC as it doesn't require a HUD - although I'm sure this will come, though I'm not sure how right now, as you only get to see which players are playing where from a hand history, and by the time this comes, that table is history), and seeing as I get rakeback from FT, it's a win-win.
The long term aim is to being playing sit'n'go's mainly, with the odd MTT thrown in, as I don't think I'm much of a cash player - but I do find 6-max rush poker quite straightforward and some of the play is horrendous.
Sets are very interesting playing rush poker. I'm finding that if I flop a set, it's easy to double up, as top pairs are not folding. However, on the flipside, playing against sets is tough at times. In a normal cash game, you have a lot of info, but with rush you don't know if a player is the type who go OTT with a top pair Q kicker type hand, or a decent player who is only shoving with a made hand. Playing at $10NL, if I have AA and I meet opposition on a K,8,2 rainbow flop - I'd say it's probably profitable to presume a player hasn't got a set when they shove over the top on the flop. I have been caught a couple of times, but there have been a few times when I've doubled up in this type of hand.
Obviously there are clues you can pick up - for example, of someones bet sizing is good, I'm more likely to give them credit. Or if they limp-call, I'm less likely to give them credit. But it can be tough, and I know I'll get caught out a few times.

But I have to say, Full Tilt have come up with something quite groundbreaking, and it will be interesting to see how the other poker sites deal with this.

Played in the first World Bloggers Championship game last night on Pokerstars. I like these games - firstly because they are a good chance to meet other bloggers, and secondly because they are free with good prizes!! (and I am a bit tight...)

So there I sat with my 2000 chips and I thought I'd start the chat rolling.
"May you miss every flop and may your internet connection go down until you are out" "Good Luck Everyone" I type.
I receive a reply in Turkish. Now my Turkish isn't great, but loosely translated I think he replied "Shut up you dirty English blogger", although it might have been "Good Luck".
The rest of the table were particularly sociable, three of them sitting out, and the other four either not wanting to talk, or not being able to talk because they had had their chat privileges revoked (these Bloggers don't react well to bad beats - I should know).
I look around the table - a Croatian, a Turk, two Norwegians, a German and an Irishman - fuck me, it's the Eurovision Song Contest.

A few hands in, and here's my chance.
Ace King.
Oooohhhhh.
Two limpers, and then a raise in front of me.
I shove em in. That'll show 'em!!
The limpers fold (weeds) but the the raiser calls.
We're racing - AK v QQ.
Do I hit????
Course I don't.
I'm down to 325 chips.
I'm not upset, hey it's only a blogger game, and my wife easily persuades me not to take the 38 paracetamol that I am about to shove into my mouth.
"Hey Nick, a chip and a chair and all that" she says.
"You don't believe that bullshit do you?" I answer.

But then she might be right.
A limper limps in, and I have A2s. I shove, and am insta-called by K 10 (which proves the theory that you don't have to play good poker to write about it - which is my mantra).
My A2 hold and I am back to 700.
All I need is another double-up and I am back in it.
I have A8s, and it's folded around to me - and I shove from the cut-off.
The big blind calls me with A4off (same player who limp called K 10 - poor guy didn't have a fold button).
Here we go - I'm back in it!!!!
Until the river.
A 4.
A 4.
4.
4.
4....
I get out my guitar and play a particularly moving rendition of "Heartbreak Hotel" (available on youtube from tomorrow) and then head off to bed.

Roll on event two.
(actually that's a bit late for me - so roll on event six)
See you there!

I have formulated a plan, which is both cunning, and evil – a plan which will see me dominate the poker blogging world in the upcoming Bloggers World Championship of Online Poker. Here is my plan:

1)Leave the following comment on every poker blog in THE WHOLE WORLD.
“Hi, I have followed your blog from the start, and I think it is absolutely splendid. Your poker tales make me both laugh and cry, and not a day goes by where I am not checking *insert blog name here*. I would be very honoured if you could participate in a link exchange with my new blog – PokerifficPoker.blogspot.com”

However, the site PokerifficPoker.blogspot.com will actually be a dummy blog and not a real blog (see, cunning!!).

2)Set up the dummy blog – but install a malicious worm (not an actual worm, as these are very difficult to install on websites) that overwrites the PC users pokerstars passwords with entries from the Tasmanian edition of the Yellow Pages. So when Mister or Missus Blogger goes to log-in to play the WCOOP – they can’t (unless of course, their password matches up to the exact entry from the Tasmanian Yellow Pages) and they’ll all be sitting out except MEEEE!!!!! (see, evil!!)
Now this plan should work, but there are bloggers out there who know their way around a laptop, who might be able to over-ride the worm – so the following back-up plan is required.

3)Leave a subliminal message on PokerifficPoker.blogspot.com. The user might think that he/she is listening to Christina Aguilera singing about being beautiful when hitting the site, but they are actually being brainwashed. And little do they know it, but at the exact times that the Blogger tournaments start – every time the blogger reaches for their mouse, it will initiate a reaction in the brain, that will cause the blogger and all of his/her housemates to riverdance around the garden until dawn.

The Bloggers WCOOP is mine. All mine. Mwa haaa haaa. Mwu haaaaa haaaaaa. MWU HAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAA.

This hand is in a satellite with the top two winning seats (a v.small FTP's prize for third).
I shove with 33 here, knowing with a shorter stack here, that the other large stack can only call with a very good hand.
Not bloody JQ....

Saw some of these on the Betfair forum today, and I thought they were good.

1. The referee must only blow for full time when the ball is in mid-air after a long goal kick.

2. Any player, no matter who they are, shall not be punished for commiting a foul throw.

3. The assistant referee will ask an oncoming substitute to show him their studs - and will then take no further action upon whatever it is he sees.

4. The keeper always, always jumps up and gives his defence a huge bollocking after a great save.
The better the save, the bigger the bollocking.

5. European nights at anfield are always "special"

6. Non league scorers of winning cup shock goals must be postmen.

7. If a player goes down injured the crowd will jeer shouting "cheat".
If player goes off on a stretcher whole crowd will stand and clap.

8. If the ball strikes you on the hand anywhere on the pitch, it is always a free kick. But if you are inside your own penalty area, it has to have been deliberate, otherwise the award of a penalty is deemed ‘harsh’.

9. Any player being filmed leaving a team bus must ensure that he is wearing headphones and carrying a small Louis Vuitton wash bag.

10. Any player who has recently become a father must pretend to be cradling a newborn should they score.

I've hit my first poker wall of the year. It has been going swimmingly so far, but for the last three or four days it's been a struggle, and if my AK's would hold up against any two fucking cards I'd be getting somewhere. As you can see from the graph a couple of posts ago, it was all upwards up until the 150 tourny mark, but for the last 100 I am a little bit down.
I'm playing super turbo $1.50 + $0.20 games 6 seater games, so before I started playing them I expected huge variance, but my great start gave me a false sense of security that the variance wouldn't be that bad - when it clearly will be.
To be honest, I'm not playing anywhere near as much as I should be - I have played 244 games in 18 days - but because each one lasts 15-20 minutes and I am 5-tabling, I should be getting in at least 50 a day - so that is my target for the next few days at least.
I am operating on a very strict 100 buy-in rule, and my next target is $380 so I can play the $3.80 super turbos, and right now my balance is exactly $300.29 - so I'm not a million miles away. I get rakeback from Full Tilt, but my account was slightly in deficit (used a lot of points recently to buy into satellites), but now my account is clear, and I'll start earning rakeback this week - which should speed things along a little.

A big game for Spurs on wednesday night at Anfield. This is a true test of where we stand, and if we've got the bottle to take that next step. Player for player, considering Gerrard and Torres are out, we look the better team, and three points would be a huge fillip for the boys - but I've suffered so many letdowns over the years (lasagna-gate being the worst) that I know Spurs are capable of finishing anywhere between 4th and mid-table this season.
I'd probably take a point, but there has never been a better time to go to Anfield for the win.

I've added 3 more vids to my favourite youtube cover songs blog - link top right.

Don't forget the Bloggerment tonight - 9pm


You'll be pleased to know that I have started another blog - though this one isn't anything to do with poker, and I have no intention of stopping/renaming/deleting this blog, as this blog is for keeps.
The new blog is just a selection of some of my favourite "cover" songs on youtube. There are now thousands upon thousands of "amateur" covers on youtube - and some are very good and some are very bad. I thought I'd keep the ones I like the most in one place.

http://youcover.blogspot.com/

My window cleaner looks like Kevin Pietersen. I actually thought he was Kevin Pietersen the first time I saw him, but the fact that he wasn't wearing pads and holding a cricket bat made me a bit wary, and also the fact that England were playing Australia on the TV, and KP was fielding on the boundary, whilst he was cleaning our windows (the window cleaner, not KP).
And the fact that his "window cleaner mate" kept calling him Steve, was another indication.
I said to him, "Do you know who you look like?"
"Kevin Pietersen" he said.
"Yes" I replied.
"People say that all the time."
"Are you related?"
"No."
"It's funny, there's a guy works down the jewellers who's a spitting image for Michael Schumacher" I tell him.
I don't think he is Michael Schumacher, because he is loaded, and probably doesn't need to work in a jewellers - in the same way that Kevin Pietersen probably doesn't need to clean windows to pay the mortgage. And he doesn't walk about in a crash helmet.
What an exciting life I lead!!!!
If you know of anyone who looks like a famous sportsperson - hey, let me know! I am waiting with baited breath...

Poker.
Is good.
Oh yes.

Like most poker players, the big debate is - which is better - Stars or Tilt.

I think Stars are better, because they are nice to look at and twinkle.

I don't like Tilt, because there is nothing worse than going for a super-megatron bonus, just by firing the pinball through the "tunnel of Morkonoid" - and just when you are going to get the highest score, your wife plonks a cup of tea on the pinball machine a little too hard - and TILT!!!!
And it's game over.

So....Stars are better

Obviously

Had a little blogging break, as I was all blogged out.
The poker front is still going surprisingly well. At the end of the year I had started playing STT's again, and I've continued with that. I've moved over to Full Tilt, where I have rakeback, and I am sticking to strict bankroll management.
I put $200 in on New Years Day, and it's up to $250 now - I've been playing super turbo games - 300 chips, 3 minute levels - and a lot of them. So it's pretty pleasing, and I'm confident that this year I'll be able to turn that into much more (I'm hoping four figures at the very least).


I don't know if anyone has noticed, but it's kinda cold.
A friend of my wife came round the other day in the snow, and parked her car on our driveway - but she suffers from migraines, and wasn't able to drive home, and her husband picked her up. The following night he came round to pick up the car, but because of the cold weather, it had a flat battery, so I had to jump-start him.

Now this guy is one of those "practical" people. He has jump leads, he knows what he is doing with cars, and he knows how they work. Me? We've owned our car four and a half years, and I haven't been under the bonnet once.
So stage one was opening the bonnet. Did I know how to do it? Nope...
It was dark and I was scrabbling around trying to find a handle. I managed to open the petrol cap whilst pulling any handle, and after about thirty seconds I found a handle, which made a distinctive click - and the other guy was opening the bonnet.
"I've got away with it...he hasn't realised I'm a car idiot yet..." I'm thinking as I walk the long way around the car to sneakily close the petrol cap lock.
Jeremy Clarkson would hate me (which would be OK as the feeling would be mutual..)
"Nick, where's the rod that keeps the bonnet open? I can't see it in the dark?"
FUCK!!!!!! How do I know???? I feel around the edges..can I find it? No.
"I had this problem before, I'm not sure it's got one."
What the fuck did I just say?? Of course it's got one. EVERY CAR EVER MADE HAS GOT ONE.
"I'll hold the bonnet open, whilst you attach the jump leads" I say.
He gets on with it, doing the practical jump-leads bit, me standing there like a prize lemon holding the bonnet open (which is bloody cold on the hands btw).
He tries the car, but it won't start. "I'm gonna need more gas.."
Which is a problem, as it's a tough job placing your foot on the accelerator whilst holding the bonnet open.
Plan B is called into action. I call the wife outside. The wife holds the bonnet open as I place my foot on the accelerator - and the other car starts. Thank fuck.
He thanks us for helping us out and wife says, "Why didn't you use this?", pulling up the rod that holds the bonnet open...
I disappear into a huge whole in the ground.

Babe of the Decade - The Winner

There was a lady called Kylie,
Whom Cloudy rated highly,
From her head to her toe,
Cloudy wouldn't say no,
Her surname is Minogue not O'Reilly



Happy New Year and may all your pokering be damn fine!