Puddy cat update

The boys are really relaxing and getting much bolder now. Though they still run and hide when strangers come round, they are wary but inquisitive when it is me and a someone they have "met" on at least one other occasion. Achilles, the big brother of the two definitely has more bottle than Hektor. Hektor is more childish and playful though and is still learning that feet <> toys and claws = pain for us humans. Last night I was privileged enough to have both of them cuddle up on my lap, which only ended when Hektors foot slid into Achilles' mouth and a mini-play-scrap broke out. The boys are happy and relaxed at last… so am I.

Settling

The furrbabies are slowly and steadily growing in confidence. On Saturday when they arrived the whole day was spent in a cubby-hole near the front door, the two of them cuddled up for safety with hisses for greetings to anyone who strayed nearby. The following day was much the same, though they had ventured out in the night to eat and use the litter tray and at 11pm a reccy-mission to the kitchen meant they found their way behind my units and resulted in a 20 minute rescue involving much dismantling of cupboards with a screwdriver. On Monday night around 11pm again they found themselves investigating the lounge and started playing with toys during what is apparently, the mad half-hour.

Last night all they heard was banging and drilling from the lounge as J and I put up a series of shelves which double up as a carpeted climbing frame for the boys. It raised their curiosity rather and the mad half hour turned into a mad hour as the two of them discovered a new game of who can get to the top first. If I get a chance I'll take a pic of the shelf set-up. Watching them grow in confidence and settle in is a real joy, each time they push themselves a little further I feel so proud of them !

Today I'm out buying latches for the kitchen cupboards and more carpet off-cuts for the balcony sun-room which will eventually become a total cat pampering room I think.

Purrrrballs

I have some new housemates...

I will be smothered in cuteness and unable to blog about poker ever again :)

Vegas in December

No, alas not for me, but in a months time the yankee-doodle element of the poker blogosphere will descend yet again on Vegas for a weekend of debauchery. I'm even more jealous this year than last. Not only will there be more new faces than ever before (I imagine) but those sharks will be surrounded by English fish who make the journey over to see the biggest fight of the year. I'm talking about Hatton - Mayweather. What's devastating though, is that none of these travellers have mentioned what's going to be happening on the 8th. Not one of their blogs has even a squeak about the price of a seat! I will be entirely disappointed if I read 40 trip reports and not one of them sees the fight. I'll wish it had been me out there. I'd have surely talked someone into coming along to see the spectacle ! Instead, I've got 4 weeks to make $6,000. If I did that I'd be on a plane without a second thought. Ah, why does everything have to be complicated by money !?!

An eventful night

Sometimes just about everything possible occurs all in one night. Sorry, I know hand histories are boring, but I'm just not in the mood to put many words together today...

Very first hand of the night, in a sit and go,

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (6 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero (t1500)
SB (t1500)
BB (t1500)
UTG (t1500)
MP (t1500)
CO (t1500)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8h, 8s.
1 fold, MP calls t20, CO calls t20, Button raises to t80, 2 folds, MP calls t60, CO calls t60.

Flop: (t270) 6h, 8c, 3c (3 players)
MP checks, CO bets t60, Hero calls t60, MP calls t60.

Turn: (t450) 8d (3 players) DQB !,
MP checks, CO checks, Hero checks.

River: (t450) 4c (3 players)
MP checks, CO checks, Button bets t280, MP calls t280, CO folds.

Final Pot: t1010

Result :
MP has 3h Ah (two pair, eights and threes).
Hero has 8h 8s (four of a kind, eights).
Outcome: Hero wins t1010.

A couple of hands later, in the same sit and go,

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (5 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero (t2040)
MP (t2450)
Button (t1070)
SB (t2230)
BB (t1210)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ts, Ad.
Hero raises to t80, 3 folds, BB calls t60.

Flop: (t170) 3s, Js, 9s (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t100, BB calls t100.

Turn: (t370) Ks (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t100, BB calls t100.

River: (t570) Qs (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t500, BB calls t500.

Final Pot: t1570

Result:
Hero has Ts Ad (straight flush, king high).
BB has Ah 9h (flush, king high).
Outcome: Hero wins t1570.

Sometimes poker is a beautiful thing!
Then again, occasionally we make mistakes, and go to far in hands we know we're already beat in, but at least I got away from it in the end on the next one!

Full Tilt (8 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Ac, Tc. SB posts a blind of 25.
1 fold, UTGB raises, 4 folds, SB (poster) raises, BB calls, Hero calls.

Flop: 2h, 2d, 3s (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: Th (3 players)
SB bets, BB calls, Hero calls.

River: 7c (3 players)
SB bets 3560 (All-In), BB calls 1690 (All-In), Hero folds.

Final Pot: 6,380

Result:
BB has Qc Ah (one pair, twos).
SB has Kd Kc (two pair, kings and twos).
Outcome: SB wins 6,380.

There's always someone who thinks he's being clever and gets lucky though...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (3 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero (t2885)
SB (t1655)
BB (t4460)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8d, 7d.
Hero raises to t150, SB calls t125, 1 fold.

Flop: (t350) Jc, 9h, Td (2 players)
SB bets t200, Hero raises to t500, SB raises to t1505, Hero calls t1005.

Turn: (t3360) Jd (2 players)

River: (t3360) Js (2 players)

Final Pot: t3360

Result:
SB has Qh Qc (full house, jacks full of queens).
Hero has 8d 7d (straight, jack high).
Outcome: SB wins t3360.

But guys like that will usually give you a chance to win them chips back :o)

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (3 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero (t1180)
BB (t3360)
Button (t4460)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4c, Ac.
Button raises to t200, Hero calls t175, 1 fold.

Flop: (t450) 9h, Ad, 3c (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

Turn: (t450) 7s (2 players)
Hero bets t980 (All-In), Button calls t980.

River: (t2410) 6d (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t2410

Result:
Hero has 4c Ac (one pair, aces).
Button has Qc Qh (one pair, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins t2410.

And then there are the times when you've just got to hit 'n' hope

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (3 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero (t1085)
Button (t3535)
SB (t4380)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ac, Tc.
Button raises to t450, 1 fold, Hero raises to t1085, Button calls t635.

Flop: (t2245) Qd, 5h, 9h (2 players)

Turn: (t2245) Jc (2 players)

River: (t2245) Td (2 players)

Final Pot: t2245

Result:
Hero has Ac Tc (one pair, tens).
Button has 8h 9d (straight, queen high).
Outcome: Button wins t2245.

Poker is an ugly, painful, but still beautiful thing at times like these!

Full Tilt (8 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 9d, 9c. SB posts a blind of 40.
1 fold, Hero raises to 240, MP1 calls, 3 folds, SB (poster) calls, BB calls.

Flop: 4c, 9h, As (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets 904 (All-In), MP1 calls, SB folds, BB folds.

Turn: Ac (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: 4h (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot:2,768

Result:
Hero has 9d 9c (full house, nines full of aces).
MP1 shows Ad Ks (full house, aces full of fours).
Outcome: MP1 wins 2,768.

I smiled after every one of the hands above, the big hitters and the suckouts. Of course there are fools out there. There's good players making mistakes and getting lucky too. There's the hundreds of hands where you've made mistakes and caught cards, only these you justify by saying "he didn't raise enough" or "he didn't have many chips" or "that players been very aggressive". Maybe if you're feeling really honest in the cold light of day you'll admit "I got bloody lucky in this hand, the guy totally outplayed me" How often do you see that on a blog though ?! You can't change your luck by getting annoyed about it or giving the opponent, or for that matter the site grief. If you can't take the good with the bad you really shouldn't be in the mixer at all.

Everyone's trying to accomplish something

I had a very good night last night, I made dinner and watched tv until 7. That's the time I always used to start playing. Making myself comfortable on the reclining sofa I fired up 3 sites and 4 tables, DTD (cash game), Full Tilt ($5 45-man) and Stars sat to Sunday million and cash game. The Stars game felt slow but there were always the others to keep me occupied and my attention span was reasonably good. Things were ticking along and after about an hour I busted from the Stars satellite on some unmemorable hand. 10 minutes later I had a hand on the cash table vs a rock where I turned the nut straight and he was betting the pot into me. I actually had a read for once that the guy had trips and then greed got the better of me and instead of reraising there and then. When the river paired the board I should have been able to fold but instead I let the guy stack me with his rivered quads !

Shortly after that mistake the DTD game stopped due to technical difficulties (not really a surprise once I checked and found it was on the craptologic network) and so I was left with my Full Tilt game and I'd been stacking up nicely. I didn't note many of the hands save for KK coming up 3 times for me at the Final Table and me getting paid off twice. Anyway I finished a mighty second and felt pretty pleased with it.

So, I stopped, and watched the Adam Sandler film "Click" which is better than most of his films. Not that his films are bad, just this is one of the better ones. That finished around 10pm and I settled into bed for an early night with a great book, cool drink and fired up the laptop with another FullTilt $5-45man. I busted 20th in that one so I started one last $10-45man, this one I finished 6th in, doubling my money which was nice and during that game I had the occasional moment where I started to feel the interest again, on hands I wasn't playing but were interesting none the less.

I wont tempt fate yet so let's just say the winds are fair and the omens look good.