I'm ok, poker just not floating my boat

hey anyone thats still out there checking my blog.

I am still well and in remission so i hope my absence hasn't got anyone thinking i had expired!

hair is back now and looking dashing once again :)

Bad news is poker doesn't seem to hold the same appeal it once did. In all honesty I haven't played since June sometime, just not feeling it.

That said I still really appreciate the all the words of support and friendship over this year, really appreciate it and it helped me no end.

Anyway, over the course of the last few months i've been telling a friend of mine about poker, the money, the beats etc and i think i have to poor bloke hooked. He bought a few books and he's sitting here next to me now dealing himself hands while I set up a blog for him! God knows whats gonna happen but i have never seen anyone more serious or excited about hitting the tables!

Check out his blog at http://seymourcards.blogspot.com

If it ends conveying what he's like in real life it will be a good read...funny, arrogant, emotional, passionate and probably slightly zany!

Thats all for now folks

Wombol

So who took my advice?

...anyone? I gave it to you on a platter after all! A vivid dream, a game set to go any way and a solid betting tip...England to win the forth test.

So any takers?

Obviously I took all of my recent winnings and stuck it on the mighty England for a laugh, I'm not really taking this bankroll management serioulsy! But it came good :) Now I'm telling a small lie there, i didn't stick it all on England, I stuck on £25 but that was good enough and repayed me decently.

So what have I done with my money, well I was thinking of Bluecourse who has finally spent some of his winnings and thought I better do the same, so since I play all my poker online I thought I'd do the shopping online as well.

Firstly I started with Amazon and looked through the DVD's but got massively bored with this since I have 2 Lovefilm subscriptions and they are sending me DVD's everyday so moved on from the DVD's. Then looked at the books but have tons from my last shopping spree left to read so skipped over books as well. I then became stuck over what I should buy...

With no ideas I headed to eBay, the only place to spend poker winnings in my opinion! I searched high and low and as the night pulled in and the sun set my eyes started to hurt and I was squinting at the screen. Not good and I was wishing that I had a lamp or something as I didn't want to turn the main light on and waste all that energy (i'm a carbon neutral poker player you know!).

It was then that I found it

http://cgi.ebay.com/XF7C3-112013-New-Tiffany-style-Poker-Table-Lamp_W0QQitemZ280124498060QQihZ018QQcategoryZ45509QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hurry there are 3 available and I have one!

Wombol

Quite possibly a world record!

So booted up the lappy yesterday for some Mansion fun and actually hit a very nice run of form. I wasn't really doing anything different but had a great run of cards and spun my roll up to about £75!

In the process I busted 3 people in a row which was sic and has to be a world record!! ;)

Basically first hand I was dealt JJ in a mid position, there was a total maniac on the table that kept raising and re-raising and was bullying the table big time. He raised early and it folded round to me and I called hoping for a decent flop. The flop came down rags and I was pretty dam sure he didn't have a higher pocket pair then me. He fired, I fired back and then he went all in. That put me on the back foot slightly but trusted my instincts and called. He flipped poc 3's and my $20 was now $40.

Next hand I got dealt A/K, raised it up again and got a few callers, flop came down a beautiful Axx, 2 guys fired in front of me before I raised it, one folded and the turn was a K! Loving this big time! Another bet from in front and I raise it up again, one fold and its heads up. River is an A and he fires again I raise him all in, its called and he mucks. $40 is now up to about $75!

Last hand is fairly straight forward, i'm dealt pocket 9's, I'm on the button and there are a couple of callers. Flop is 97x and I'm laughing, some action before me and a fold, I just call. Turn and river are both blanks but the other guy gets it all in, i call and he flips poc 7's to lose to my higher set! $75 is up to $100!

I faff about for about another 50 hands or so not really getting too much and not willing to risk anything as the table was a little crazy and the best hand I saw for a while were some low suited connectors so cashed out on $101.12 a prof of $81.12 for the sess.

Very nice. I am now tempted to whack it all on England winning the cricket today as had a dream about it last night and they did!

Anyway, thought I would share, quite a pleasing arvo!

Oh and who out there loves marmite? I discovered it in hospital last week and can't get enough of the stuff! Toast and marmie every morning from now on!!

Wombol

Finally a new post!

Hey all,

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, have just had my head in other places.

Got some great news recently though, the chemo has been working and I am now in remission, thats right those evil cancer cells have gone!! I still need a final cycle of chemo just to make sure they never ever come back but for all intents and purposes I am on the road to recovery, phew!!

Poker wise, have been trying to grind it out on $20 NLH with my tiny bankroll of £25, big step back to what i'm used. Have been as high as £40 and as low as £5 and am now hovering around £26!! So overall rather uneventful.

Standard of play has been mixed, some good aggressive play other total donks keep drawing out on me so has been frustrating.

Not sure how much longer I continue playing at this level, part of the motivation for me at poker is money and this clearly isn't cutting it! If I can get myself up to £50 I might just dump it all down on $100 NLH and see what happens, do or die!!

Hope everyone else is well in Blogsville!

Poker plan!

So I have had an Epiphany! This morning poker came into focus. I need a plan. Nothing crazy just a little motivation to get myself going and to make the game mean something to me, add a little spice if you were.

So here it is, firstly I have withdrawn all my funds from FT and what I'm going to do is deposit £25 into my Mansion account. Most people probably don't rate Mansion and to be honest it s hardly full of players but I like the software, the sound effects and the play really isn't that great!

From that £25 I'm either gonna go busto or build my bankroll and forever play with that money. The more I win the higher I will go but its not a race, there is no goal its just about the poker.

The twist though my friends is that if I lose that £25 deposit thats it, no more poker!! Its over, the poker had its time, I tried and failed and it will be placed in the old memory bank to regale the grand kids with!!

So there it is, £25 between me and poker!

Let the fun times begin!

Bankroll = £25

I'm back!

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay in posting but have felt so rubbish since i got home from chemo on Saturday that i'e steered well clear of all blogs and blogging!

So thats the worst of cycle 3 over already, i can't believe that I am now in week 8 of 15, technically over half way, phew!!

Over the last week I've been trying to get my head in order. I've been given a chance to make sure I don't waste my life and I am determined to live it to the full. Whether that be great holidays, expensive dinners, spending time with friends, staying healthy, and from a previous post...heading to the market!!

One of the key things for me heading forward is staying healthy and fit. I want to be in the best condition I can be in by the end of 2007 and to do that I really need to get focused. To help me do that I've been talking with a couple of personal trainers I know and I developed a website that will not only follow my progress as i look to achieve my goals but also to help me share my knowledge as I go. One day I would like it to become a feasible business but for the time being I'm just happy to hear your thoughts.

The URL is http://www.advancebody.com

Its very much a work in progress, some pages haven't been finished and the coverage of my progress won't begin until later this year but any feedback would be great.

Also if anyone out there is or knows the best way to qualify as a personal trainer/nutritionist part time I'd love to hear from you. Very interested in taking this forward for my own benefit as well as others.

Cheers all
Wombol

Poker Lesson #1 - Never let avatars push you around

LOL, This is great! Some awesome SNG advice in here!! Follow this and you'll all be millionaires!

Cookies, Chemo and Charlton!

Hey ho all,

I'm trying to post a video but having a few problems, hopefully it will work shortly as its an expert guide to SNG's. I've taken all of the advice on board and feel I'm a more complete player now. I'll certainly be pushing with 9/4 offsuit more because of its straight possibilities and I didn't realise I could be on a flush draw pre-flop! But thanks to You Tube and our fishy friend I'm now very much enlightended!! You'll know what I mean if I get it to work otherwise I'll post a link!

So whats new? Its been a strange week, feeling good, feeling bad, all swings and rounderbouts! I have become addicted to cookies though?! One of the side effects of chemo is cravings. One of the reasons for this is the fact your tastebuds get dulled so sometimes you'll find a food that tastes really good and not metallic like everything else and for me its been frickin cookies. I've had to drive to the supermarket on a daily basis to get my cookie fix and one day they hadn't baked any, man was i p*ssed off! Needless to say they wouldn't bake any while I waited so went home empty handed.

This will all change tomorrow though as I'm back in for a week of chemo. Not looking forward to it to be honest. For the last cycle i was kinda indifferent but this time i'm just not happy. Its only 5 days though and when i leave I'll be over half way through so there is most deffinitly a plus but the thought of being stuck in the same room for 5 days is annoying!

Plus last time the nurse fucked up my arm. Now, as a patient I rely on the nurses to know best. It is after all their job. So here goes, one of the side effects of chemo is a burning of the flesh around the canulla (needle that the drip goes through). Its really painful and can be quite serious if its left unchecked. So on days 1-3 i have the drip in my left arm. For days 4-5 they move tha canulla. The nurse that was putting it back in couldn't find a vein so she was going to put it back in the same vein just a little lower down. Now i ASKED her if that was ok, it seemed a littke strange putting it in the same veing as what was the point of changing it? She said it was fine and there was nothing to worry about. Anyway turns out that the chemo leaked out the first hole in my vein as it couldn't heal in the 10 hours it didn't have a needle in. Now I can't straighten my arm and it burnt to f*ck. Well done nursy, you have been a great help!

Now don't get me wrong, nurses are great and we need more of them but shouldn't they know this kinda stuff? This wasn't a general nurse either, this was a cancer nurse. Its her specialist field?! There wasn't any undue pressure there, she wasn't coming off the back of a 324 hour shift she just didn't know her sh*t!! Oh well, Now I know so god forbid any nurse that tries to needles the same vein twice!!

On a less aggressive note, I've bought a pair of Charlton season tickets! This may or may not be a good idea but I feel we have a good chance of bouncing straight back up and its probably more enjoyable seeing your team come in the top 2 of the championship (ie win games) then watch them get stuffed by most of the teams in the Premiership and finish 16th! Only time will tell if thats accurate though!

Until chemo is finished its over and out!

Wombol

Insanity

So there I was, just logged on to Full Tilt and as usual before I sit down at a table I like to have a browse through the high stakes tables across all poker variants to see who's playing. Sometimes if the games are juicy I'll rail for ten minutes just to watch some huge pots.

Today I came across what looked like a huge Omaha Hi game going. I had never heard of any of the players but it looked like most people were sat down with in excess of $200k in front of them.

So there I was, Id just come into the game in the middle of this hand and here is what happened! Amazing!

Full Tilt Poker Game #2437179612: Table 1041 - 1000/2000 - Pot Limit Omaha - 7:15:57 ET - 2007/05/16 (partial)
woogie420 is feeling confused
toddie128 calls 102,500, and is all in
crazy_hun folds
woogie420 is feeling angry
woogie420 folds
woogie420 is feeling normal
DNTH8F8 raises to 304,000
hotbmrchick calls 177,000, and is all in
DNTH8F8 shows [4h Td 5c 5d]
hotbmrchick shows [5h As Qh 7s]
toddie128 shows [8c Qc 4d 9c]
Uncalled bet of 13,000 returned to DNTH8F8
*** TURN *** [5s 4c Qd] [Ac]
woogie420 is feeling confused
*** RIVER *** [5s 4c Qd Ac] [9s]
DNTH8F8 shows three of a kind, Fives
hotbmrchick shows two pair, Aces and Queens
DNTH8F8 wins the side pot (377,000) with three of a kind, Fives
toddie128 shows two pair, Queens and Nines
DNTH8F8 wins the main pot (361,500) with three of a kind, Fives
hotbmrchick adds 200,000
toddie128 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 738,500 Main pot 361,500. Side pot 377,000.
Board: [5s 4c Qd Ac 9s]
Seat 1: Manny68 (big blind)
Seat 2: crazy_hun
Seat 3: brkawy_7 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: woogie420
Seat 5: DNTH8F8 showed [4h Td 5c 5d] and won (738,500) with three of a kind, Fives
Seat 6: trelos2
Seat 7: hotbmrchick showed [5h As Qh 7s] and lost with two pair, Aces and Queens
Seat 8: toddie128 (button) showed [8c Qc 4d 9c] and lost with two pair, Queens and Nines
Seat 9: blondie6282 (small blind)

So I'm in semi-shock here, did i just witness a $700,000 pot! Just insanity, imagine that much money changing hands in one go, thats just under what I earn a year (haha!). Well I watched a few more hands, the average was over a $100k per hand and I jus couldn't believe it!

After a while I got bored and headed back to holdem to find myself a table, however when I clicked on the holdem tab the highest stakes that were being player were $10K/$2ok...a flag popped up in the back of my head. You can't play this high on Full Tilt I thought to myself, whats happened, especially since there are a couple of tables full at these stakes.

I looked around for some clue, or an answer and it was then it dawned on me! While switching variants I'd clicked on frickin play money! I didn't just witness a $700k pot, id witnessed play money dudes throwing around worthless play chips!! LOL!

What a donk!

Wombol

Having a Flutter!!

So, it was the last day of the Premiership season yesterday and even though my beloved Charlton were already down it was still gonna be a great day of action and heartbreak for some teams. So given the excitement I thought I'd have a little flutter and make it all the more interesting.

Now I haven't' had a bet for a while now but do enjoy putting some money down, not loads, maybe a tenner or something, just enough for a bit of fun. So there I was looking at the fixtures and thought I'd play all 10 fixtures on Sunday and looking at them I thought Id go for Doubles all through so 45 bets in total.

Here were my picks for the day;

Blackburn vs Reading - Blackburn Win
Bolton vs Villa - Draw
Chelsea vs Everton - Chelsea Win
Liverpool vs Charlton - Liverpool Win
Man Unt vs West Ham - Man Unt Win
Middlesbro vs Fulham - Draw
Pompey vs Arsenal - Arsenal Win
Sheff Unt Vs Wigan - Draw
Spurs vs Man City - Spurs Win
Watford vs Newcastle - Newcastle Win

Clearly my bets must have leaked to all the clubs bar 2 involved in the last games of the season as it went catastrophically wrong!!

I don't think there was 1 point throughout the entire afternoon that if you had stopped the games there and then I would have had more than 3 results right!!

Oh well, I raked in £1.12 thanks to the 2 games i did call correctly!! So I'll try not to spend it all at once! Was fun though and will defo be placing a few more wagers next season :)

Am also haggling over a Charlton season ticket at the moment, I'm wondering what the revised prices will be so if its only a few hundred quid I'll get a pair for the misses and I. Could be good fun and I only live 2 stops away from the Valley so if I'm to call myself a real fan I really ought to go more!

Wombol

Poker me up!

Firstly I'd just like to say thank you to the following for their comments on my last post. Everyone has been very positive and given me great advice to help me with my blip and its very much appreciated.

CadMunkey : http://cadmunkeypoker.blogspot.com/

Yorkshire Pudding : http://yorkshirepuddingpoker.blogspot.com/

Drunken Monk : http://drunkenmonkpoker.blogspot.com/

Tx4themoney : http://freerollertohigroller.blogspot.com/

UKGatsby : http://ukgatsby.blogspot.com/

Today I played some pokes. Not a lot...well 7 hands in total :) but I at least booted up the pooter and logged on which is a start.

I can't say I was impressed with my play over the 7 hands and was lucky to take down a 4 way pot with a pair of 8's as everyone else was chasing 2 flush draws that were on the board but hey, it was only 7 hands so what am I talking about!

Felt ok, didn't feel anti poker in anyway, just felt normal so maybe thats the first hurdle out the way. I may log on again on monday as dunno if I'll have time to play any more this weekend.

On another note, I'm all set for a marathon gaming sess tonight. Bought myself some organic Aussie ale and have Virtua Tennis 3, Resistance Fall of Man, FEAR, Fight Night Round 3, Motorstorm and Full Auto 2 : Battlelines ready to go. I think Virtua Tennis will be the game most played tonight somehow!!

Time to kick ass!!

Why poker why!

Hey all,

I just wanted to follow up on my bemused post yesterday and hopefully add a little detail to my sketchy reasons why poker is loosing its appeal.

Firstly though thanks for the comments guys, its good to know that I'm not the only one Amatay, and also that when others have gone through something similar (Cadmonkey and Drunkenmonk) that a little time away from the tables has helped.

Here's my problem, or what I think it is. Poker, its a long term game. We all talk about or experience variance but over the course of say 12 months luck should even itself out and if we make the correct decisions over and over again then those little donkaments that suck out on us in January should, in theory, have swelled out bankrolls by December.

Now I'm feeling a little dejected with this whole long term thing. Maybe its my current situation and the fact at 26 years old, without a care in the world, a great career, great girlfriend, a dream holiday to the Maldives only weeks away I was told I had cancer. Yes, everyone has their setbacks and this is just that. I'll be better in a few months and only missing the dream holiday to the Maldives which I had to cancel and take a rather hefty financial hit on but it got me thinking about how planning around such long term gains/objectives can be a little dangerous.

Say all this happened and I was in a huge downswing, I'd be stuck for a few months and could end up fecking myself up even more as I try and chase my losses to get out of the position I'm in coupled with the unfortunate events that have befallen me. Not good.

So one, planning for variance seems like a very risky business. What I mean here is positive variance. So, brushing off that runner runner straight because in the long run you'll get your money back seems quite a scary thought.

Another area of concern for me at the moment is fitting poker into my life. I feel like my prior ties have changed completely. Its like I'm starting to feel and new exuberance for life and a deep need to do anything and everything I can. So yes I'll probably travel more, eat out more etc, the standard easy things to do but I also what to do other things and I don't know how poker can compare against them at the moment. For example its Saturdays morning, lovely day, about 9am. I can play poker for 2 hours and still head out for lunch, meet some friends or I can go for a walk, head to the market or something and try something new. What do I do?! Well at the moment it feels like heading to a fricking market is winning!! The idea of sitting in front of a computer screen clicking on fold, raise etc only to be sucked out on or earn $25 in an hour seems crazy. Yes there will be thrills along the way and I may even suck out on a few people as I chase positive variance but the thought of heading outside, on a nice warm day, taking my time to wander about, experiencing some of the nicer things in life (say I'm at Borough Food Market...go there if you haven't, amazing!) seems so much more appealing! Aarrgghh!!

I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't know what sitting in front of a computer clicking on buttons can beat. Meeting friends, market, gym, movie, restaurant etc all seem so much more appealing!

So what does this mean for me? No idea to be honest. I'm going to take some advice and take a few days off. I'll still be updating the blog etc so don't worry but playing wise am just gonna take it easy, play some PS3 or something and go from there. By the way, Virtua Tennis 3 comes today which should be fun. Have a buddy coming round on Friday who thinks he is gods gift to gaming so have bought this as the great equaliser. I've never played it, i don't think he has and it will remain in the shrink wrap until he gets here so all is fair!

So thanks for listening, I don't know if any of this made any sense. You may think I'm mad and nothing could be better then online poker, maybe I've forgotten the thrill etc that everyone gets so please feel free to remind me, it might just chivvy me along again!

Now its time for some beans on toast and a boiled egg! Lubbly jubbly!

Wombol

Where is the passion going?!

Hello all,

I'm back from chemo. Nasty week but am feeling better now which is a relief!

This is going to be a short post as I've been up since 3:30am for no apparent reason!

I think I'm losing my passion for poker!! I don't know why, I don't know where its going but its going somewhere!!

Some friends dropped by while i was in hospital and very kindly brought me some poker mags, and even got some poker goodies but in all honesty they were just left on the side and hardly touched. Not once did I feel like opening Inside Poker or Poker Player Mag and catching up on news or strategy. My desire just vanished!

DOES ANYONE ELSE EVER FEEL LIKE THIS!

I haven't booted up Full Tilt since I have got home and I was actually (in my head!) working out everything I could buy with my bankroll! This is not good.

I don't know what else to say at the moment, a little bemused. Is it a phase, will it pass, or has poker kicked me to the curb and thats my lot...I just don't know!

Wombol

May Final Table

Hello all,

As my hair falls out (yep its time!) I've been inspired to add a monthly strand to my blog. 'The Final Table'! Basically its going to consist of 6 things that I feel worthy of an extra mention for a particular month, things that have kept me busy, impressed or intrigued me, or even things that have really annoyed me but I just have to respect.

So below is my first ever final table and my reasons why. Disagree? then please feel free to comment or even suggest for June's final table.

UKGatsby (http://ukgatsby.blogspot.com)

Top guy! I only know Paul though his blog but for someone I've never met he's been very supportive, posting positive comments and mentioning me numerous times on his blog. So I'd like to say a massive thank you to the man, I really appreciate everything and its helped keep my spirits high. Please go check out his blog.

Shannon Elizabeth

Well she just hot, she plays poker and she may be single. I'm not 100% sure about that but I'm sure she was getting divorced. Again, if anyone runs into her then she is more then welcome to come and visit me in hospital - nurses uniform optional!

Resistance: Fall of Man

The PS3 game. Its taken away a small portion of my life recently!! Incrediably addictive and great story line. I've just completed it for the first time and was well worth the time. Multiplayer is great through Sony's online set-up. I am totally useless and haven't won any matches yet but blasting the faces of overconfident, cocky little sh*ts is loads a fun!! ...If only they'd stand still long enough for me to do it though! Buy it!

Lance Armstrong

Hadn't even though about Lance until I saw him on a TV show last night. This man beat cancer, quite serious cancer as well and went on to win 7 tour de france titles! Thats prety f*cking special and he's become a bit of an inspiration for me. I don't intend to win 7 tour de france titles, or even take up cycling for that matter! But the fact that someone can come back from cancer and rule the world in a particular field really shows the power of the human body, mind and spirit. I'll be happy with whacking 20lbs on down the gym post cancer but knowing what Lance did is a great example that anything is possible. Note to self, must buy his book.

Railing on Full Tilt

I don't often rail online games but have been checking out some of the $500/$1000 NLH and the $200/$400 NLO Hi on Full Tilt. Mostly been watching when Luigi6693 is playing, aka Patrick Antonius and its pretty sic stuff. Patrick seems to steam roll most of the guys and I don't think I've ever seen him have a losing session. He is super aggressive, maybe too much in the sense he can get trapped but since those hands come along a lot less frequently he racks up the change. If you wanna see stupid big pots and some serious pressure poker then check out these games, you just have to be logged on around 8am to catch the end of them Vegas time!

Joe Hachem

I had to add Joe to the Final Table. I think he is an amazing live player and had really showed the world that not everyone that has won the Main event over the last 4/5 years has been a one hit wonder. Congrats on the WPT win and I hope he gets his second bracelet at this years WSOP. Great player and great ambassador for the game.

Well there is is, the first ever Wombol Final Table for May 2007. Enjoy! I'm in chemo from Tuesday to Saturday so will no doubt feel like total shite by Sunday plus will probably be very bald, oh well! I hope everyone runs well this week, enjoy the game and don't let it rule the way you feel.

Wombol

Aggression...

As poker players one of our biggest weapons we have when our cards are running cold is aggression. Well timed aggression can take players off pots when they currently hold a vunerable but winning hand.

Well timed bets, re-raises, all ins when the board is looking dangerous to a straight or flush can keep poker players afloat when nothing else is going their way. I've found over the last week however that I seem to be playing more and more passively which isn't good!

I've been waiting for the stone cold nuts, folding in the face of a raise or suspicious large bets because I didn't want to put a large portion of my stack on the line with a marginal hand. Its meant that I've been sitting around for ages waiting for a playable hand and when they do come I'm just not getting paid for them.

I tried to go some way to rectifying this yesterday with some Wombol style aggression and it seemed to work 90% of the time but the opportunities to play this way just weren't coming along enough, which was probably down to me not entering enough pots. I think I see 25-30% of flops and probably hit the same percentage of the ones I see. So not really generating a massive level of playable hands.

I've experimented with playing more hands and always seem to get myself in trouble or burn through my buy in far to quickly so am at a crossroads here. A comfortable style seems to be alluding me. Any thoughts?

Might experiment a bit further today, but I guess this is a key time in moving my poker self forward. I need to settle on a style that I'm confident in, a way to play that I can push with otherwise I'll always be second guessing or on that back foot.

How do you guys feel comfortable playing? Is it all out aggression, raise, raise, raise, or are you more passive, or somewhere in between. Would love to know.

Wombol

Just pulled in my biggest pot ever!! To be honest shouldn't have even have been playing $2/$4 put decided to have a pop!

Full Tilt Poker Game $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:29:51 ET - 2007/04/26
Seat 1: lovedog666 ($233.75)
Seat 2: Abmatic ($328.10)
Seat 3: CmeWin ($245.65)
Seat 4: Dopester ($562.25)
Seat 5: Stunbob ($464.40)
Seat 6: Bank Shot ($242.10)
Seat 7: SomeDude69 ($463.85)
Seat 8: Wombol ($398.75)
Seat 9: mike the dyke69 ($348.90)
Stunbob posts the small blind of $2
Bank Shot has 5 seconds left to act
Bank Shot posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Wombol [Jh Jd]
SomeDude69 folds
Wombol calls $4
mike the dyke69 raises to $14
lovedog666 folds
Abmatic calls $14
CmeWin folds
Dopester calls $14
Stunbob folds
Bank Shot has 15 seconds left to act
Bank Shot calls $14
Wombol calls $14
*** FLOP *** [Js 6c Kd]
Bank Shot checks
Wombol checks (Let the pre-flop raiser make the first move)
mike the dyke69 bets $32 (Perfect!!)
Abmatic raises to $64 (Even better!)
Dopester folds
Bank Shot folds
Wombol calls $64
mike the dyke69 calls $64
*** TURN *** [Js 6c Kd] [7h]
Wombol bets $40 (Lets lead the betting now and see if we can't force an all in)
mike the dyke69 folds
Abmatic has 15 seconds left to act
Abmatic raises to $250.10, and is all in (Happy days!)
Wombol calls $250.10
Abmatic shows [9s Kh]
Wombol shows [Jh Jd]
*** RIVER *** [Js 6c Kd 7h] [7d]
Abmatic shows two pair, Kings and Sevens
Wombol shows a full house, Jacks full of Sevens
Wombol wins the pot ($759.20) with a full house, Jacks full of Sevens
Abmatic is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $762.20 Rake $3
Board: [Js 6c Kd 7h 7d]
Seat 1: lovedog666 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Abmatic showed [9s Kh] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sevens
Seat 3: CmeWin didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Dopester (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: Stunbob (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Bank Shot (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: SomeDude69 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Wombol showed [Jh Jd] and won ($759.20) with a full house, Jacks full of Sevens
Seat 9: mike the dyke69 folded on the Turn

What a strange world we live in...the poker world that is!

Had a comment from a non poker playing friend of mine that stopped by my blog for a read.

Quite funny and makes you think about how weird poker can look to non players looking in!!

"Dude, been thinking of you. i have no idea what these weird poker terms mean but they sound cool! ten-four, don't leave the flop hanging on the river or the deuces will come and bite you on the ante. seriously."

Wombol

Music to watch the cards go by

Decided to invest in a new Sony MP3 player today. I've owned an ipod for the past couple of years but haven't really been using it lately. Not because its an ipod, just because its big and I haven't been buying many new cd's recently. However being stuck at home with lots of time on your hands you start looking for things to do (beyond poker obv!) and I've started to get back into music.

Decided not to follow the flock and buy another ipod, yes they are great but I have never been impressed with the sound quality and although iTunes is cool I normally buy the CD just for the sake of adding it to my collection so not too fussed about software (Have heard Sony Connect is average at best!)

I've gone for a little flash player rather then a huge 80gb f*cker, I'd rather have something light and portable which I can take to the gym unoticed as opposed to carrying around a small record shop in my bag just for the sake of saying I have every song own on my person! So should arrive tomorrow.

I have quite strange tastes in music, in that I hate commercial music, not a massive fan of anything in the charts and beyond the odd good car song I tend to stay away from it. Part of my fascination with music is discovering new bands, finding great songs, and creating a completely unique soundtrack to my life.

To do that I really love American alt and soft rock, I can't seem to listen to anything UK based, its just a little too punky/indie for me.

Some more famous or at least well known examples of the kind of music I listen to are Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls, 3 Doors Down, Third Eye Blind, Counting Crows etc.

Some of the more obscure bands that I would thouroughly recommened if you are up for trying something new and love Rock music would be;

Dakona/Perfect Change - Canadian band Dakona have only released 1 album but it is unreal. Stand out track is 'Waiting'

Vertical Horizon/Everything you want - This band can seriously do no wrong, great songs, great lyrics and amazing music. This is my fave album of theirs but you can do no wrong with any of them. Stand out track, 'Everything you want'

Lifehouse/Lifehouse - Again, this band can do no wrong. Three albums, all 5 stars in my opinion. Standout track, 'Come back Down'.

I've also just bought albums by Greenwheel and Vonray, again, completely based on US Amazon recommendations. I'd never heard of the bands before ordering the CD's so hopefully they'll be good.

If anyone reading knows of some good American alt/soft rock bands then please let me know, totally open to suggestions.

Wombol

Relegation 6 pointer

Today is a huge day for me. Today, my football team, Charlton Athletic, take on Sheffield United in a game, that if won by a team, will more then likely secure their survival in the premiership for another season.

For those of you not familiar with BOTTOM of the Premiership table it currently looks like this;

A win for Charlton will see them move to 35 points and potentially move as high as 15th dependent on results aand goal difference in other games. A loss will set them at least 3 points off the pace dependent on results with only 3 games left to turn that around. Not good news.

Unfortunately I can't watch the game, its not on TV and I couldn't get tickets so my phone will be my connection while I'm out and about today. Fingers crossed!!

My sister bought be Fight Night Round 3 the other day for my PS3 and finally played it yesterday, it had sat on my tv for a week without being opened!! Wow, its brilliant, so realistic. No energy bars or Had-o-kens, just proper brawling. Managed to take down my first fight as Jake LaMotta then got a bit cocky and set Jow Frazier (Heavy Weight) against some small Feather Weight guy and lost!! I'm currently building my own Butterball fighter to take online and whack a few losers with!!

Thats about all for today, Come on you Reds, do me proud!

Wombol

Wanna Play Tube Poker?

To everyone out there that gets bored on public transport, there is a new craze in town...Tube Poker!!

Check out the website at http://www.tubepoker.com and let me know if you manage to get 5 of a kind Aces!

Wombol

Always running into Aces!

Anyone else have the same problem as me?! Or is it just me...it can't be everyone as someone has to have those aces that always bust me when I try and make a move.

Played the $5+0.50c today and was rolling along nicely, taking my time, no connection issues. Was an low to average stack and decided it was time to make a move to push deeper into the tornie. Flopped top pair, top kicker and was heads up. The other guy, a massive stack, checked, i took it as a sign of weakness as he only called a small raise from me pre-flop, I'm all in, he calls...what do you think he has...those dreaded aces. BUSTED!! 34th out of 104 runners so way better then the 7 shamble hands of Monday! Still no return though!

10 minutes later I decide to play a quick SNG before lunch, 2 quick exits and already my starting stack is the smallest at the table, not because I had spunked any of it off but 3000 chips got shared around ever other player left! I have A/K and raise pre flop, one caller, flop a king, all in...oh its those Aces again, I'm out in 7th!

Other then that had mixed fortunes in the cash games, managed to pick up aces and win a decent pot for once but really was pretty card dead. No massive changes roll wise today, really would like a hot streak just to boost things up and get the ball rolling to move up a level, at this rate it could take a while though!

Also, decided to check my rake back today, there was never going to be much there but just though it was worth checking in to make sure everything was working. I signed up through Rake the Rake as I had seen them advertise in Poker Player Mag here in the UK. Anyway, unsurprisingly given my run of luck, the account was never completed!! I few emails later though and they assure me that everything will be rectified and I will get full credit on all past transaction!! I bloody hope so!! So as it has been, life in Wombol world is never as straight forward as it seems!!

I just wanted to leave you with one hand I caught today, didn't exactly milk my opponent but I haven't flopped quads for AGES and was so happy with it I feel the need to share!!

Full Tilt Poker Game #2234029789: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (16781106)
Table 9 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:55:47 ET - 2007/04/18
Seat 1: Wombol (2,140)
Seat 2: ggrammer (5,950)
Seat 3: perlbot (755)
Seat 5: prodigio20 (6,890)
Seat 6: meltpot (5,015)
Seat 7: MNavarro87 (890)
Seat 8: old matt (4,020)
Seat 9: ississ (10,145)
old matt posts the small blind of 80
ississ posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Wombol [Jc Jd]
meltpot: guess his luck fell out the third time
Wombol calls 160
ggrammer folds
perlbot folds
prodigio20 folds
meltpot folds
MNavarro87 folds
old matt foldsississ checks
*** FLOP ***
[Jh Ad Js]
ississ checks
Wombol checks
*** TURN ***
[Jh Ad Js]
[7s]ississ checks
Wombol checks
*** RIVER ***
[Jh Ad Js 7s] [5d]
ississ checks
Wombol bets 300
ississ folds
Uncalled bet of 300 returned to Wombol
Wombol mucks
Wombol wins the pot (400)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 400 Rake 0Board: [Jh Ad Js 7s 5d]
Seat 1: Wombol collected (400), mucked
Seat 2: ggrammer didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: perlbot didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: prodigio20 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: meltpot didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: MNavarro87 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: old matt (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: ississ (big blind) folded on the River

So there we have it, mighty quads for 400 chips!!

Wombol

First full day at the tables...well half as of now!

Got up ready for the tornie, cooked myself some beans on toast for energy...I tell you, on chemo beans on toast is food from the goods!!

Sat down at the pooter, booted up, surfed the net a bit, registered for the $5+50c (chickened out of the $2,500 guarantee as wanted to run my tornie play through a couple of cheapies first!).

Deal is at 10:30 GMT time, roughly about 10:11 GMT, connection goes...comes back...goes...back...gone!! Aarrgghh!

Reboot, its back, no its gone! Switch off router, reboots, its back, no its not it just teasing by pretending to connect but transferring no data.

Try for a new connection, go through all security questions...this connection already exists!! WHERE! Why aren't you connecting!!

Reboot everything...I'm on, I'm late...phew just missed one SB.

Connection lost, connection found, connection lost, found, lost, found, 7 hands later all in...i so did not do that, out in 74th place from 105 runners!!

NOT the return to glory I was hoping for!! Connection seems fine now, have played some small cash games to test things a little further, no idea why the connection was playing up but it did so with the utmost of perfect timing!!

Not sure if I'll play anymore today, little worried about the connection at the moment, after all the Neteller trouble I've had the last thing I need is arguments with poker support over refundable buy-ins!!

Probably no poker tomorrow either due to chemo but should everything connection wise hold out as it is now I'll be back in the $5+50c on Wednesday and hopefully fair a little better then 7 hands!!

Thought I would leave everyone with another lovely picture of the delightful Lacey Jones, poker pro.

She's only 20, she's a model, an ambassador for Absolute Poker and looks great in a bikini!! Expect big things from Lacey Jones!

Wombol

That felt so good!!

So just to quickly cut the Neteller story short, I have finally deposited funds and can play poker!! Slight error on Netellers part about the exchange rate, but to be honest I'm beyond caring!!

Right, managed to play some poker. Took it easy and just logged some time playing 0.25/0.50c, only played about 70 hands or so but just really wanted to test my concentration and get used to the new software. Overall I hardly set the table alight, finished up slightly thanks to someone chasing a flush draw vs. my pair of flopped aces (A/K), but it felt good...real good!!

Think I might play the $2,500 guarantee tomorrow morning if I sleep right tonight and kick on from there.

There was one hand which unfortunately didn't save that I wanted to show everyone. Was a hand that was destined to lose a lot of people money. Now I didn't play as everyone went in on the flop and I folded to some major raising pre-flop, but essentially I held Q/J suited clubs;

3 players in the hand
P1 - Ah/Kh
P2 - 7/7
P3 - 8/9c

Flop - Qh/7h/10c

All 3 players go all in

Turn - Jh
River - Js

So there was the nut straight, the nut flush and a full boat. The full boat 7's full of Jacks won about $105, but what kills me is, if I'd gone all in I'd have Jacks full of queens!!

Obviously never gonna happen but what a killer hand and very funny how the cards fell to make trips, straight, flush and boat!!

Run well everyone, and glad to be back :)

Wombol

Back at last!

Well, what was probably the longest week of my life is now over. Five days of chemo down and i'm off until Tuesday when I need to go back in for another blast.

I've been trying to think of the best way to describe what chemo feels like, for me its like having a nasty hang over coupled with some food poisoning. Your whole body feels it, and its impossible to escape. You can taste metal constantly and the smell of food makes you feel sick. Given all that though your mind almost comes to accept the way you feel and you go into some weird insular place where everything is trance like or a little surreal. Your conversations are slowed and you just feel super chilled because you just can't do anything about the way you feel. It was tough, but I've got one of the 5 day stints out the way now!

Feeling a bit grotty at the moment, so am probably gonna rest up for the rest of the day and check back in tomorrow. Hopefully with some happy news from Neteller!! As I need poker!!

Thanks for reading all

Wombol

The A Team never fails!

For those of you that read my comment on my last post you'll know that I've been trying A Team style to post something from my phone. Well the brussel sprouts and wire coat hanger didn't quite cut it, so I went all out and built a tank out off old dust bins with a potato cannon made from a toilet roll!

Given all that it seems to have worked...well I borrowed my girlfriends Blackberry to be honest!
Now I'm on not a lot to add to my earlier comment. Am trying to get a few work buddies along for a poker session here in the hospital. I reckon their sympathy may give me an added edge and help me earn some extra cash while plugged in to the drip!

Think I'll leave you with a terrible joke...how do you start an onion race?

Onion marks, get set, go!

I'll understand if you never visit again!

Wombol

The big day commeth!

Sorry for the random post title, just came all over Adidas, David Beckham for a second. Anyway, moving swiftly on. A quick recap on my blossoming realtionship with Neteller, the cash has left my bank account but has it arrived in my Neteller account?! Of course it hasn't!! That would be the simplest and most satisfying outcome, and Neteller, as I have discovered are the polar opposite of what the internet is all about. What is the internet all about you ask? Well in my opinion its about making peoples lives easier, its about delivering supirior on demand content and functionality allowing users to make decisions about how and when they consume it. Neteller on the other hand is about functionality when they can be bothered and making peoples lives more difficult by fecking every transaction up repeatedly just for the fun of it, then compounding the situation by employeeing the worst customer service team anywhere on the planet!! Good stuff Neteller, you are great...no really!

So after that rant, I just wanted to let everyone know I'm off to chemo for my first session this morning. I went on a massive track suit binge yesterday so am properly kitted out in lounge wear!! I really have no idea what to expect if I'm honest. After the first consultation when I was run through the treatment, I haven't really had any further explanation so will be interesting to see what its all about.

I managed to tick everything off on my list which was good, actually don't mind the shaved head if I'm honest. Its good not having to worry about having bed head anymore!! Sorry correction, I didn't tick everything off on my list - Anything poker related didn't happen thanks to Neteller!!

I also wanted to leave everyone with a little something to stare at in my absence. Just lovely...

I'm sure you all know this is Shannon Elizabeth looking stunning, but I have tried to keep this poker related. Shannon recently nailed a 4th place at the NBC National Heads-up Championship, knocking out some greats like Barry Greenstein and Humberto Brenes along he way. Shannon is a sponsored Full Tilt Pro would you believe and a regular in the card rooms of Vegas.

So please enjoy Shannon while I'm out at chemo and I'll be back soon...probably to more Neteller nightmares!

Wombol

Why is playing poker so hard!

So have been trying and trying to get myself ready to start playing poker full time and every step of the way I have encountered some dip stick problem! Is this a sign? If it is I am well and truly ignoring it, but come on, things shouldn't be this hard!!

Just to share my pain, and maybe I'm being unreasonable, but its gone something like this...

1) Log onto Full Tilt Poker and decide that I'm gonna play there for a while due to the rake back option and the number of players.

2) Try and deposit funds into my account though my Mastercard, declined! Try Click 2 Pay, no good, try Neteller and I can only deposit $200, so look to upgrade my account. Takes up to 5 business days to register a bank account. See no other option so proceed!

3) Call from Mastercard, my card has apparently been snaffled by some naughty fraudsters so they've cancelled it. Mention I was trying to deposit some money into Full Tilt Poker, line goes suspiciously quiet, repeat line about fraudsters! They've stuffed up, so no credit card for me for a week.

4) Finally Neteller finish their registration process and I can use my Neteller account. Log on...oh no I don't! My account has been closed. Of course it frickin has!! Phone Neteller,

Neteller 'Sir, you are trying to use Neteller from the USA'

Me 'No I'm not, i'm in the UK'

Neteller 'Sir, your IP address shows you are in Washington'

Me 'I wish I was in Washington, its raining here in London at the moment. Do you think my ISP might be routing me through Washington'

Neteller....pause 'Will you hold sir'

Me...sigh 'Yes'

Neteller 'Sir, we are going to have to call you back for security purposes, what is your mobile' etc

Netteller phones me back, and goes through all the security questions again

Neteller 'Sir, we can confirm you are in the UK'

Me 'Really! thats amazing, didn't I tell you that?'

Neteller 'Yes'

Me 'Can I access my account now'

Neteller 'Yes sir, thank you for using Neteller'

5) Decide it times to INSTANTLY deposit some funds through Neteller. So log on, enter my details...declined. Try again...declined. So I phone my bank, all good there. I then phone Neteller. They then tell me that I am entering the security number on the back of my card incorrectly. Kindly point out that I managed to make it through to a uni level education and there was a whole module on copying, so I have a high proficiency in that. Ask to speak to her supervisor. On comes the supervisor. Conversation goes something like this;

Neteller 'Can I ask you a few security questions sir'

Me 'You've just been passed the phone from your colleague, do we really need to go through this all again, its painful'

Neteller 'Yes sir, we do'

Go through frickin security questions

Neteller 'How can i help you sir'

Me 'I'm trying to deposit money using Maestro and it keeps declining me'

Neteller 'Sir we don't take transactions through the Mastercard network which includes Maestro'

Me 'Then why on earth is it a god damn option on your site if it doesn't work?'

Neteller 'We are experimenting with Mastercard now and hopefully will be an option in the future'

Me 'So how the hell does that help me now then'

Neteller 'It doesn't sir, you could try getting a Visa'

Me 'By saying something that stupid you are really embarrassing yourself'

Neteller 'Sorry sir'

Me 'Right so I can't use my card and I verified my bank account for no reason at all, thank you! what other options are there?'

Neteller 'You could try a bank wire'

Me 'What does that involve?'

Neteller 'You need to do this, and that and then go into your bank to authorise the transaction'

Me 'Taking into consideration your last statement, please explain the point of internet banking and why the hell I would use NETeller if I wanted to go into my bank?'

Awkward pause...

Me 'How about a bank deposit, it say's here its instant. Can you stay on the line why i go through this please'

Neteller 'Yes, certainly sir'

Me 'Ah, look, after going through 3 pages it says it isn't instant after all'

Neteller 'Ah, yes sir, some of our wording on the website is a little...'

Me '...wrong!?'

Neteller 'No sir, not wrong, just...inaccurate'

Me 'You muppet!'

Neteller 'Thank you sir'

Me 'Right I've set up a bank transfer, how long does that take?'

Neteller '2 to 7 business days'

Me 'For gods sake, this is so shit, how are you still in business'

Neteller 'Our services work well in other countries sir'

Me 'I should hope so, because they are terrible in the UK. I need to go now, you've probably raised my blood pressure 10 fold in the last 10 minutes. If this doesn't work, you've officially lost a customer'

Neteller 'Thank you for using Net....'

Me 'Please, shut up' *click*

So current state of play is, no money to play on Full Tilt, I'm utterly disillusioned with the world and am in no state to play.

Thank you Neteller for totally ruining my Sunday night, it takes a lot to piss me off, but you have passed with flying colours!

Wombol...currently NOT playing poker!

Its Chemo time!!

Right, so I have finally been given my Chemo schedule and there seems to be no hanging about, I kick off on Tuesday 9th April!! Jesus, I think its finally sinking in, its taken a while but the time has come. Technically I should be sunning myself in the Maldives right about now but I had to cancel that holiday to get cracking with the Chemo, great, I know where I would rather be!!

I need to have 5 cycles of chemo, and each cycle is 3 weeks in duration. So what that breaks down to is;

Week 1: 5 days continuous chemo using a rotation of 3 drugs, so Monday through Friday staying in the Oncology ward

Week 2: 1 day of treatment using 1 particular drug in the Oncology Ward

Week 3: 1 day of treatment using 1 particular drug in the Oncology Ward

So overall I will be having treatment for 7 days of every 21, the remaining time I will be at home, playing poker as a rookie pro, on the PS3 or snoozing!
Things I need to do in the meantime are;

• See the fam this weekend
• Shave my head on Monday
• Get fricking Netteller to deposit some money into my account
• Have a party of some kind
• Go buy a few tracksuits to stay comfy and pretend to be such a massive high roller that dressing well is below me!
• Work out a poker plan of action ie. Cash games vs tornies
• Send in a massive book order to Amazon
• Sort out any other loose ends and keep smiling!

I think thats about it. I won’t be able to post anything between Tuesday and Saturday of next week so readers please don’t all disappear on me!! ...tell you what would be awesome, and thats having wireless in the oncology ward so I could log on!!

Righty-ho, unsurprisingly I feel like a stiff drink...

Wombol

Married to Aces

So there I was playing the 0.25/0.50 tables, keeping my game tight and watching the other players moves when within 2 hands one of the other players at the tables was felted. Now in some circumstances this could be a sign of a player going on tilt, playing naff hands into a raise or re-raise, or as it just turns out getting married to aces and then getting extremely unlucky with aces!! Thats right this poor guy picked up aces twice in the space of 3 hands (he didn't play the second hand!) and was felted!!

I've taken some snaps so you can see this poors guys pain. The first hand below, well to be honest, he was wedded to his aces. He didn't raise enough pre-flop to drive out the hand that eventually flopped the 2nd nut straight and busted him up big time. I'm still a little confused to be honest as to why the guy with aces re-raised the raise so much on such a dangerous board!

Two hands later the same guy picks up aces again!! Now i would probably be over the moon to see pocket rockets again so quickly. I would have put the last beat down to bad luck or stupidity and would be itching to make some money back this time round. So off he goes again, playing his aces and manges to get all the money in the pot again, on a board you'd probably wish you had raised more pre-flop with, when magically, while chasing a flush draw the other guy rivers 2 pair and busts him again!!

So although the other guy had outs he didn't have the odds to call the all in bet and then he essentially back doors 2 pair!!

So is there a moral to this story?! Probably not, however I will be re-reading Doyle Brunsons section on playing Aces and Kings in the hole and will pay even more attention to the fact that these hands either win small pots or lose big ones!!

Make sure you all put in a decent raise pre-flop, or if you limp, have the courage to muck this monster hands when then flop gives your opponents to much that can beat you.

Run well all

Wombol

Eye Candy!

Quite a simple post really in that I was wondering who the hottest female poker player is! Now this could be open to massive debate as everyone one will have a different opinion here. However in my opinion there is a tough call between these two exceptionally beautiful poker players.

Miss Liz Leui
Miss Jennifer Leigh
Now if I had to pick one I would probably say Liz is the hottest. But the real issue here is how does playing across the table from a lovely lady affect your game. Can you concentrate, do you get distracted, does that killer instinct leave you and do you feel the need to impress said lady by being hyper aggressive and then, sadly, getting trapped!!

Imagine sitting opposite a Liz or Jen during a 12 hour cash game. You’re playing solid patient and disciplined poker which leads to long dry spells without action. How can your mind not wander onto that lovely lady opposite you?! In my opinion it can’t, maybe you can fight it for the first few hours but eventually one simple male weakness will creep in and you’ll lose concentration and poker law dictates that, that is exactly when you pick up aces, she plays suited connectors and busts you big time for not paying attention to the game and missing the flush or straight draw!!

So let this be a warning to you all. It may brighten up the table to have a sexy lady playing cards with you, but while your contemplating whether she likes you and wants to go for a drink, she’ll be busy stealing all of your chips and leaving you flat broke!!

Nice pictures though!!

Wombol

Thank You!

I just wanted to say, thank you so much for all of the comments and emails I have received over the last few days. Its pretty amazing how people who I have never met are saying good luck and get well soon. I really appreciate all of the well wishes and its definitely keeping me in a nice positive mood.

When you think about poker players, you essentially have a bunch of lone rangers all playing for themselves, using their own skill and mental powers to go to war and out wit other players at the table. Its not a team event, you can’t get an assist for taking down a pot and you certainly don’t have half time team talks to stop everyone going on tilt!

However off the table I think poker players are probably the friendliest bunch of people you can find. Every time I meet a fellow player they are always easy to talk to and game for a laugh. Maybe its because every player knows that when they meet a kindred spirit they have something in common that they could talk about and discuss for hours on end without ever getting tired. And if, unexpectedly they do bore of talking about poker, their new found friend is more than likely up for some friendly wagering on random surrounding events – after all, all players have that gamble in them!!

So, again thank you all for the support, but don’t think I’ll go easy on you, nor would I expect you to offer me a hand if we meet over the green baize!

On another front, I have the results of all my recent tests and apart from the cancer I don’t have any other problems. That is a huge relief as even discounting the cancer itself Chemo is so destructive and nasty its important to be as healthy as possible to pull through and recover as quickly as possible. So fab news there, and a sigh of relief!

Update 19:01, 01/14/07 - Must enter tournament!

As if The Main read my mind about how poker players seem to look out for another, this guy is going to run a tournament where he puts up his own winnings!! Think about it for a minute, The Main, a poker pro, is going to grind his way through April, playing thousands of hands for hours and hours, with the goal of posting some pretty decent numbers, and is then going to offer part of his winnings to whoever can take down his tournament!! How about that!! They do say that money won is sweeter then money earned, so let The Main earn the money and then you can win it off him!!

You can check out the details here

Wombol

Pre-pro Poker Challenge

So, as I outlined in my first post when I start my chemo and leave work I'm going to turn 'pro' and rely on poker to get me through the 6 months away from the office. Now since I haven't started chemo, I'm not officially 'pro' (not that I'll ever be in the same league as the actual pro's, so tenuos terminology anyway!!) so I thought I would set myself a little challenge. Can I turn a $100 profit from $0.25/$0.50 NLH cash tables. Now this obvioulsy isn't going to be an amazing feat but those tables are nasty for suck outs thanks to many calling stations and rank amatuers so I figured that if I could actually complete this I'd tighten up my game, hopefully plug some leaks and start my quest on a winning run.

I kicked things off this morning and played for an hour or so and turned a small profit. There were only really 2 eventful hands as shown below;

Pocket Jacks beating pocket 4's - Do you see what I mean about calling stations!! Madness, but great for me!

Then about 40 hands later I pick up pocket Q's. I can't say I'm a big fan of queens but the flop was helpful for once and I took the pot on the turn.

So given session 1 of the pre-poker pro challenge I am $87.45 shy of my target!

Correction : $77.65 to go

This is going in the right direction!!

Wombol

Poker Reading

So I'm currently reading a book called 'The Big Deal' by Anthony Holden and I got to thinking about the next book I'm going to read, and then on to all the poker books I have read and thought it might be good to share my thoughts. With that, if anyone has read a particular poker related book that I haven't included (the list isn't that large!) then please share. As you know, I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands in the coming months so some good reading material is essential!!

Right, here we go, and in no particular order;

Syper System by Doyle 'Texas Dolly' Brunson + guests
The original version, not the re-hashed SS2. I have to say that yes, this is a fantastic book and as a read for an intermediate player it opened up so many new ways of thinking that would have taken me years and a lot of money to figure our on my own. However the one downfall with this book, and its not the books fault, is that everyone has read it and it means many of the players you are up against play the way that is outlined in the book. This can be problematic as its very hard to judge where you are in a hand if everyone is aggressively betting a flush or straight draw, or you are continuation betting a missed hand and people start playing back because they know what you are thinking and don't have a hand themselves! Overall though, thouroughly recommended.

Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big with Expert Play by David Slansky et al.
This book is tough going. It was the second book I read after picking up poker and its hard work. Its very mathmatical and derives everything from a plays Expected Value. However even though its hard going the book does try to deliver its principles in a simple enough fashion and there are some great insights into the statistical side of the game. My only problem is that its totally focussed on Limit Holdem.

Poker Tournament Formula by Arnold Snyder
This book takes a look at poker tournaments from a completely different angle then some of the other great books like Harrington and Slansky's. Having said that its focus on the blind structure and tornie speed really doesn't give you enough wepons in your armour to be successful. Recently Poker Player magazine invested $150 in online tornies to see of the principles worked and they made a return of $0. I would say that if you can borrow this then its worth a read. This book cannot give you a full tornie strategy that will work but will give you more wepons and another way of thinking when playing.

Texas Holdem Poker: Begin and Win by Paul Mendelson
I love this book. For anyone that wants to read a short and concise book on the basic principles of poker play then this is the book for you. Dirt cheap as well!!

The Professor, the banker and the suicide king by Michael Craig
I love this book!! Its basically an account of the richest poker game of all time between Texas billionaire Andy Beal and a consortium of Vegas pro's that pooled their bankrolls to play at the highest stakes ever seen. The book is extremely well written and really captures the tensions and feel of the games. I would definitly recommend everyone reads this as its a great true story but it will also spark some ideas for your game.

One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey ', the Kid', Ungar, the World's Greatest Poker Player by Nolan Dalla
Another factual book following the cursed life if Stuey Ungar, an amazingly gifted card player who had the world in his hand but turned to the destructive powers of drugs. This book recounts his life, his games, his wins, his losses and his tragedy. Its compelling and heartfelt and the poker world was lucky to have him, even though all to briefly. Please read this book as it is worth the investment and you will be amazed at some of Stu's plays and reads. He was remarkable!

Books on the shelf ready to read;

The Big Deal by Anthony Holden. Reading this now, I will post a review soon

Holdem Wisdom for All Players by Daniel Negreanu. Kid Poker is, in my opinion a true star and I think this book will really help clarify some areas and push my game on.

Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments: Strategic Play v. 1 by Dan Harrington. This is a big one, better prepar myself!

The Education of a Poker Player by Herbert O.Yardley. This is a classic and am really looking forward to reading about Herberts life playing poker during the war.

As I say, any recommendations are more then welcome and I hope you find some of this useful.

Wombol

You can't rush poker

Hi all,

I just experienced, again, the problems of trying to rush a cash game session with huge consequences. After flopping a set and turning a full house I should have read the fact the only other player left in the pot had the higher full house. But oh no, in the vain hope that I could rake that pot in and quit my session in time for some good TV caused't me to miss something which in hindsight was blindingly obvoious. Anyway, end result, wasted an entire buy in and left the table very annoyed with myself!! If I'm gonna move up the stakes when I leave work then I'm gonna have to avoid such stupid things. I feel that I need to plan in a least a good 2 hours to play through c0mfortably and come out the other end in profit, anything less and I'm just rushing myself and I'll lose.

But anyway, enough about a bad beat. I mustn't dwell. Tomorrow I have 3 tests, firstly a fertility test to make sure the little guys are all good, secondly a lung test to ensure they are working good and proper, and lastly a hearing test as apparently a side affect of the chemo is the dulling of your hearing so they need to benchmark me. What a great day I have planned!! After that I'm meeting up with an old friend to give him the good news about me and have a few jars after (no one has said I can't drink yet!!).

Next poker session will be friday so am looking to make amends for todays stupidity!

Run well all
Wombol

My plan

Hey all,

I've been running through my options to begin my pro (ish) career and I've decided that I want to progress to either $1/2 or I'll be able to cope with the swings and I won't be jepordising anything that could change my life financially. After all I don't want to be playing with scared money.

First things first though and over the next few weeks I'm going to tighten my game up on the 0.25/0.50c tables. These tables are so random that it will hopefully keep my game solid ready for the higher stakes. I'm also going to use this time to put together a decent enough bankroll to kick things off with, I'll probably look to run with around $500 to a $1000 and work from there.

I will make sure I post my progress on this blog but don't just want to bore you with poker stories and bad beats so you will have to listen to how I'm coping with the chemo, if I kicked ass on my new PS3 online or anything else that crosses my mind duing the many hours I will have sitting about having chemo!!

Hope that all makes sense, make sure to pass on a link to my blog to all you friends, they may just like it! Or email me if you wanna chat.

Take it easy
Wombol

Poker and Cancer!

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog :)

This blog is dedicated to the art of poker and will follow a little journey I'm about to undertake. I have been diagnosed with cancer and am about to undergo chemotherapy to cure me of my ailment. First things first and that to let everyone know that I will be fine. I caught it early and after about 12-15 weeks of chemo I will be fine.

During this rather unpleasant journey of mine...what chemo is nice, lets be honest!...I'm turning poker pro. I've been playing for about 6 months with some good success and since I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands I figure I might as well go for it.

Now I've chosen to play on Blue Sq Poker as a pro mainly because of the selection of games and the numbers of players. I've played on many other sites and although I've only been a member of Blue Sq for a week I'm very impressed by the software, the number of options available and the bad players!!

I'm hoping over the next 3 or 4 months I can build myself up into a player that can make a decent living through online poker, and when I say build myself up I mean that I will be starting off on some of the lower tables initially just to get myself moving in an upward trajectory, after that the sky as they say is the limit.

So to everyone reading this post, please join me on my journey and please feel free to get in touch with me and offer any advice etc as I will probably need it - wombolpoker@hotmail.co.uk

See you all soon

Wombol