Screw PartyPoker, Go Betfair!

Well, it's been a rocky ride on every site except Betfair.

I started playing a little Omaha Hi. I was doing okay until tonight when I dropped 1.5k on Stars. I've decided no more until I read a book. My hand reading is okay, but I just don't know the basics of the game (especially pre-flop and flop). I'm just sort of lost in that game even though I think I compete okay, but I don't think "okay" is good enough. A little education would help.

I played a bunch of Sunday tourneys, something like 6 tourneys for a combined buy-in of $1,130. No damn results again. Got knocked out by 2 flush draws, and a straight draw in 3 of tourneys. Shrug. On the worse streak of not cashing in a tourney I think I've ever had. It's been at least 20 tourneys without a cash now (or even close to a cash!). Guess a lot of experienced players have probably had much worse streaks than that.

I've been struggling on Party lately. Down a little over $5k since last update. Just can't seem to catch any hands. I've played hours on end with 4-5 tables open and just not catching anything even remotely noteworthy, just a ton of 2nd bests. But, I've admittedly probably not played my best poker. But, I'm not too stressed over it, just a bad run of cards.

So, I decided to jump ship for a bit and pound a little Betfair. Well, that turned out to be a great idea! I actually started out playing quite tilty after a frustrating Party session and found myself all-in pre-flop on a 10/20 table with AK vs. KK. I super sucked out an A on the flop and the ball kept rolling from there. I ran that table as high as $9,600, then finished between $7-8k. On another 10/20 table I ran up to $7k or so. I was actually a bit down on my two 5/10 tables. Finished the Betfair session up just over $10k. Nice rebound from a few bad sessions.

I jumped back on Betfair tonight and am playing just one table as I write this. I've hit 3 lucky and big hands. I got the majority of the money in as a favourite, but the situations were just quite lucky. Twice I re-raised pre-flop with crap and busted a full $2000 buy-in player. They were on Betfair with no hand histories, so I have to write manually....

First hand I posted on the PCH message board here. I won't bother repeating.

Next hand, brutal player on button raises, SB calls, and I re-raise with J3o. Button calls, SB folds. Flop T93. I fire around $400. Button calls and I'm thinking "Hmmm...definitely a draw.". Turn is a beautiful J making my turn move a no-brainer. If I'm losing, so be it, the guy had less left than what was in the pot. My 2 pair is good here against this guy the majority of the time. I put him all-in for $1,100 or so and he snapcalls with J8 and I hold. So, pretty lucky hand for sure.

Next hand, against the same guy, I check the BB with A5. Flop is T42. I check, guy bets pot and I decide to call, planning on check-raise bluffing the turn if I like the turn. I don't think he has much. Turn is a perfect 3 bringing in my wheel. I check, guy bets $360, I check-raise minimum to $720 (I've started doing min-raises more against bad players who I think have weak hands) , he tanks for a bit and jams in for another $1,000 or so. I call and win versus his A9. What a donation. Guess he thinks I'm bluffing the turn (haha, like I was going to, but it wouldn't have been a minimum raise so he wouldn't have been able to re-bluff anyway). But who knows, anyway, sort of another lucky one. I've dwindled in the past while from my high point of $9200 to $7200, and the table has toughened up considerably, so I think I'm probably done in a bit. Couple other $4-5k stacks at the table, so we'll see what happens. Woops, I just rebounded to $8300. :)

So, it's been a good past 24 hours. Nice to be off that bad online downswing I've been on in June. Hopefully it keeps going.

I got a new sweet LG french door kickass stainless steel fridge today, and it's at least 2" too wide for our space. I'm such an idiot. I could swear I measured all the ones we were considering at Dufresne. Anyway, now we're planning on remodelling our kitchen. LOL. Making the fridge fit isn't the only reason, we've been planning on it for a bit. If anyone knows a good contractor, let me know!

I've taught my son a very valuable lesson in the past while. If you ask him "Who's boss?", he always says "Daddy boss!!!". I get him to tell my wife regularly.