Congratulations bro. How is the sleep coming along? My last one is now 10 months old and just about to start walking. Enjoy every moment as each day brings something new and exciting in those first months

Congratz on the new baby! My wife is currently 8 months along w/ our 4th and LAST one!

Jeff - thanx - your 4th!!

You really must be either very rich or insane

On the poker front, another 100 hands quick tonight whilst he was feeding got me another $50 and took my roll over $6000 for the first time

My target for the roll is $8000 (which should be comfortable for the $200NL game when I get to it). Over that I'll just spend it - most probably on the wife and kids.

Congratz excession!!!

Where are you playing right now?

What is your win rate at NL$100? What sites are you playing? I am really excited about playing these stakes because even when I have noticed a real difference in skill compared to NL$50, I am still doing quite well.

I am heading to Prima´s Bet365 for the monthly $100 bonus, which seems very easy to clear.

OK weekly update w/e 13th November.

Bitty week this week - my last at home with the wife and newborn before going back to work. Very tired much of the time.

I've played a bit of 6max $100 NL Ring - not particulary well - about 1800 hands at 4PTBB/100 = +$140. Also finished up $100 bet365 bonus, and picked up a $45 one from William Hill. Am about 1/3 of the way thru the Empire $100 one .....total ring profit +$285 over 9.5 hrs ($30/hr).

I played 4 $15 Turbos at PS and didn't cash - my worst streak for a while on them.
(-$64)

This however was more than made up for on Saturday night by my victory (with baby in lap) in the BTP PL Tourney. Probably the toughest $44 I've ever won..

I did find that my new found hobby of HU SnG's really improved my reading skills for the BTP tourney. I would recommend it to anyone. I played quite a few of the $10 HU SnG's at Paradise and showed an $86.50 profit for the week on them. I also managed to clear a $10 bonus (woot - I get one point for each SnG and need 100 for each $10 so I wouldn;t recommend this as the easy way ).
They don't do tourney histories so I'm not sure of the time spent or exact numbers played but I'm pretty sure I'm winning 70-75% or so.. I'd guess I've played about 20 and they take an average 8-10 minutes each, so I've spent maybe 3-4 hours playing em..

My record in normal SnG's once I get to heads up (counting the BTP event) is now 10/10 over the past month

I have just ordered HOH2 (mainly for the HU section), Ciaffone's NL and PL book and a new book called 'Mastering NL Holdem'. I'll review the latter when I get it.

All told not a bad week, just need more sleep..

ack - took some bad beats tonight just shy of collecting my Littlewoods bonus - it is really frustrating to lose to such muppets - my 4 biggest losing hands tonite are below:

First my top set (666) hits a 54o BB special on a 632 rainbow board - OK can't complain too much as he flopped the nuts in the BB - sure stung tho.. but then..

Hold'em NL ($0.50/$1) - 2005/11/27 - 18:18:35 (UK)
Table "Phantom" Seat 4 is the button.
Seat 1: []
Seat 2: AAplease ($86 in chips)
Seat 3: Excession ($37.75 in chips)
Seat 4: []
Seat 5: punisher6 ($106.88 in chips)
Seat 6: []
punisher6: posts small blind $0.50
[]: posts big blind $1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Excession
Flymo_1: folds
AAplease: calls $1
Excession: raises to $4
[]: folds
punisher6: calls $3.50
[]: folds
AAplease: calls $3
----- FLOP -----
punisher6: checks
AAplease: checks
Excession: bets $9
punisher6: calls $9
AAplease: folds
----- TURN -----
punisher6: checks
Excession: bets $10
punisher6: raises to $93.88 and is all-in
Excession: is all-in $14.75
Returned uncalled bets $69.13 to punisher6
----- RIVER ----- [[Js]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
punisher6: shows (A Straight, Queen high)
Excession: shows (Two Pairs, Aces and Jacks, Queen high)
punisher6 collected $77.50 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot $80.50 Main pot $77.50 Rake $3


Check out calling that pot-sized flop bet with nothing but a gut-shot!

Then this one against a villain who has been all-in pre-flop 3 times in the previous 6 hands:

Game #1433427063: Hold'em NL ($0.50/$1) - 2005/11/27 - 18:33:36 (UK)
Table "Sun City" Seat 2 is the button.
Seat 1:[]($104.01 in chips)
Seat 2: akkurat ($29.50 in chips)
Seat 3: []($67.87 in chips)
Seat 4: []($82.75 in chips)
Seat 5: [] ($89.25 in chips)
Seat 6: Excession ($111 in chips)
[]: posts small blind $0.50
[]: posts big blind $1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Excession
[]: folds
Excession: raises to $3
[]: folds
akkurat: raises to $29.50 and is all-in
[] folds
[] folds
Excession: calls $26.50
----- FLOP -----
----- TURN -----
----- RIVER -----
----- SHOW DOWN -----
akkurat: shows (Two Pairs, Kings and Jacks, Nine high)
Excession: shows (A Pair of Kings, Ace high)
akkurat collected $57.50 from Main pot




and finally:
Game #1433702743: Hold'em NL ($0.50/$1) - 2005/11/27 - 18:59:54 (UK)
Table "Sun City" Seat 3 is the button.
Seat 1: Jemisis ($99.26 in chips)
Seat 2: akkurat sits out
Seat 3: []($40.65 in chips)
Seat 4: []sits out
Seat 6: Excession ($62.50 in chips)
Excession: posts small blind $0.50
Jemisis: posts big blind $1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Excession
[] folds
Excession: raises to $4
Jemisis: calls $3
----- FLOP -----
Excession: bets $2
Jemisis: calls $2
----- TURN -----
Excession: bets $4
Jemisis: calls $4
----- RIVER -----
Excession: bets $7
Jemisis: calls $7
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Excession: shows (A Pair of Aces, King high)
Jemisis: shows [ 5c] (Three of a kind, Fives, Ace high)
Jemisis collected $32.50 from Main pot

OK maybe I played a bit weak in trying to extract but calling all the way with 55?

sigh I ended up $18 down over the 500 hands needed to clear the $45 bonus - so a lot of hands for less than $30 - waste of time...

Hi - I've moved up to the $1-2 $200 NL 6 max game at Stars (releasing my Stars bonuses at 40c/raked hand) until the New Year.
It is the land of the all-in muppets and it's hard to beat them without joining them - I am getting betting much better at getting my money in with the best of it.

I decided it might be useful to review and critique (at the end of a session) all $50+ hands that I got involved in, so here goes from this morning's session (in descending value):

[I am consilience of course] and as I don't get reads for a while I usually buy in for the $80 Stars standard until I spot some well-stacked bad players

My biggest winner was the bread and butter hand of bottom set vs TPTK. Not much to say here except that an AJo isn’t a hand that should be taking this much heat after a raised flop against anyone who isn’t a showdown muppet even if it does hit TPTK…

POKERSTARS GAME #3478341761: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 06:56:54 (ET)
Table 'Albireo' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: consilience ($103.60 in chips)
Seat 2: Yanksta32 ($67.05 in chips)
Seat 3: revigres ($286.70 in chips)
Seat 4: aaaacccceeee ($33.50 in chips)
Seat 6: xecontrol ($254.80 in chips)
Yanksta32: posts small blind $1
revigres: posts big blind $2
gypsy_135: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
aaaacccceeee: folds
xecontrol: raises $4 to $6
consilience: calls $6
Yanksta32: folds
revigres: calls $4
*** FLOP ***
revigres: checks
xecontrol: bets $18
consilience: raises $79.60 to $97.60 and is all-in
revigres: folds
xecontrol: calls $79.60
*** TURN ***
*** RIVER ***
*** SHOW DOWN ***
xecontrol: shows (a pair of Jacks)
consilience: shows (three of a kind, Deuces)
consilience collected $212.20 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $214.20



Second biggest winner was the often trappy AKo played against someone who couldn’t let go of 2nd pair, no kicker + gutshot..what can you say? (His stats were 55% Vp$iP, 18% PFR)

POKERSTARS GAME #3478375052: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 07:11:12 (ET)
Table 'Albireo' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: consilience ($291.60 in chips)
Seat 3: revigres ($453.20 in chips)
Seat 4: MIKE 7340 ($104 in chips)
Seat 5: Carp Carl ($87.80 in chips)
revigres: posts small blind $1
MIKE 7340: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
Carp Carl: folds
consilience: raises $6 to $8
revigres: folds
MIKE 7340: calls $6
*** FLOP ***
MIKE 7340: checks
consilience: bets $28
MIKE 7340: calls $28
*** TURN *** [
MIKE 7340: checks
consilience: bets $255.60 and is all-in
MIKE 7340: calls $68 and is all-in
*** RIVER ***
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MIKE 7340: shows (a pair of Kings)
consilience: shows (two pair, Aces and Kings)
consilience collected $207 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $209



Next one I catch the table bully (30/15 player) when I have suited connectors and position in a raised pot...

POKERSTARS GAME #3478337065: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 06:54:55 (ET)
Table 'Elektra III' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: consilience ($100.40 in chips)
Seat 2: jaymzisking ($184.65 in chips)
Seat 3: superman2121 ($77.80 in chips)
Seat 4: revigres ($197.70 in chips)
Seat 5: crowb29w ($240.45 in chips)
Seat 6: zawaaa ($189.15 in chips)
revigres: posts small blind $1
crowb29w: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
zawaaa: folds
consilience: raises $4 to $6
jaymzisking: folds
superman2121: folds
revigres: raises $8 to $14
crowb29w: folds
consilience: calls $8
*** FLOP ***
revigres: bets $14
consilience: raises $72.40 to $86.40 and is all-in
revigres: calls $72.40
*** TURN ***
*** RIVER *** [[Jc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
revigres: shows [Kc] (a full house, Kings full of Jacks)
consilience: shows (two pair, Jacks and Sevens)
revigres collected $199.80 from pot
consilience said, "lucky"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $202.80

and get unlucky !
- it was noticeable how he stopped trying to run me over after that hand though...

Here I flop the nut straight out of the BB and the table maniac (58/34) catches up to trips on the turn... J - a small mistake to call the flop bet and he wasn’t getting away from it once trips hit..

POKERSTARS GAME #3478375311: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 07:11:20 (ET)
Table 'Leukothea' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: nuts69 ($177.45 in chips)
Seat 3: Dallas117 ($89.35 in chips)
Seat 4: dzudik ($74 in chips)
Seat 5: jerseygene ($203 in chips)
Seat 6: consilience ($114.45 in chips)
jerseygene: posts small blind $1
consilience: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
Tomcat29 has returned
nuts69: folds
Dallas117: calls $2
dzudik: folds
jerseygene: calls $1
consilience: checks
*** FLOP ***
jerseygene: bets $4
consilience: calls $4
Dallas117: calls $4
*** TURN ***
jerseygene: checks
consilience: bets $24
Dallas117: raises $59.35 to $83.35 and is all-in
jerseygene: folds
consilience: calls $59.35
*** RIVER ***
*** SHOW DOWN ***
consilience: shows (a straight, Seven to Jack)
Dallas117: mucks hand
consilience collected $182.70 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $184.70


Next one a call a min-raise with J9s, hit top pair and get lucky against a short-stack (who is something like 37/19 aggro player)...

POKERSTARS GAME #3478365233: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 07:06:56 (ET)
Table 'Albireo' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: consilience ($216.05 in chips)
Seat 2: Yanksta32 ($62.40 in chips)
Seat 3: revigres ($458.20 in chips)
Seat 4: MIKE 7340 ($110 in chips)
Seat 5: Carp Carl ($121.80 in chips)
Seat 6: Cribo ($56 in chips)
Carp Carl: posts small blind $1
Cribo: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
consilience: calls $2
Yanksta32: raises $2 to $4
revigres: folds
MIKE 7340: folds
Carp Carl: calls $3
Cribo: calls $2
consilience: calls $2
*** FLOP ***
Carp Carl: checks
Cribo: checks
consilience: bets $8
Yanksta32: raises $8 to $16
Carp Carl: folds
Cribo: folds
consilience: calls $8
*** TURN ***
consilience: checks
Yanksta32: bets $20
consilience: raises $176.05 to $196.05 and is all-in
Yanksta32: calls $22.40 and is all-in
*** RIVER ***
*** SHOW DOWN ***
consilience: shows (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
Yanksta32: mucks hand
consilience collected $129.80 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $132.80

Next a piece of classic positional spongeing…(Borat is a 53/11 player but he only went to showdown 7% of the time he saw a flop – so I had him pegged as a good guy to rep the 7 for)

POKERSTARS GAME #3478207597: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 06:01:22 (ET)
Table 'Albireo' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: consilience ($101.85 in chips)
Seat 2: Henry1982 ($79.70 in chips)
Seat 3: Cass033 ($39.60 in chips)
Seat 4: the sorrrow ($214.50 in chips)
Seat 5: Borat17 ($284.50 in chips)
Seat 6: xecontrol ($171.35 in chips)
Henry1982: posts small blind $1
Cass033: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
the sorrrow: folds
Borat17: raises $4 to $6
xecontrol: calls $6
consilience: calls $6
Henry1982: calls $5
Cass033: folds
*** FLOP ***
Henry1982: checks
Borat17: bets $8
xecontrol: folds
consilience: calls $8
Henry1982: folds
*** TURN ***
Borat17: checks
consilience: bets $28
Borat17: calls $28
*** RIVER ***
Borat17: checks
consilience: bets $59.85 and is all-in
Borat17: folds
consilience collected $95 from pot
consilience: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $98

Here I misread a short stack uber-muppet (82/42) – who calls a raise OOP with 42s, call a pot-sized bet with bottom pair and then catches his baby flush with the same river card that gives me top pair..ugh..

POKERSTARS GAME #3478312053: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 06:44:16 (ET)
Table 'Albireo' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: consilience ($143.15 in chips)
Seat 2: TOOTHPICK86 ($57.85 in chips)
Seat 3: revigres ($279.25 in chips)
Seat 4: MR.CORY78 ($13.15 in chips)
Seat 5: Hans Gruber ($147.65 in chips)
Seat 6: xecontrol ($259.85 in chips)
TOOTHPICK86: posts small blind $1
revigres: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
MR.CORY78: folds
Hans Gruber: folds
xecontrol: folds
MR.CORY78 leaves the table
consilience: raises $4 to $6
TOOTHPICK86: calls $5
revigres: folds
*** FLOP ***
TOOTHPICK86: checks
consilience: bets $10
TOOTHPICK86: calls $10
*** TURN ***
TOOTHPICK86: checks
consilience: checks
*** RIVER ***
TOOTHPICK86: bets $18
consilience: calls $18
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TOOTHPICK86: shows (a flush, King high)
consilience: mucks hand
TOOTHPICK86 collected $67 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $70
Seat 1: consilience (button) mucked [Qs Kd]
Seat 2: TOOTHPICK86 (small blind) showed and won ($67) with a flush, King high


Here I run a bad bluff and get away with it – Villain is a 70/8 Xtra-Loose but he also goes to SD 37% of the time he sees the flop and is 40% W$SD (in other words he is also a calling station). What is worse I am not particularly consistent in what I am repping and there must have been a chance that the small bet on the end was a player with KQ (or 87) trying to induce a bluff

POKERSTARS GAME #3478350693: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 07:00:42 (ET)
Table 'Elektra III' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: consilience ($204.30 in chips)
Seat 2: jaymzisking ($207.65 in chips)
Seat 3: superman2121 ($71.80 in chips)
Seat 4: revigres ($307.55 in chips)
Seat 5: crowb29w ($239.75 in chips)
Seat 6: zawaaa ($151.15 in chips)
crowb29w: posts small blind $1
zawaaa: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
consilience: raises $6 to $8
jaymzisking: folds
superman2121: folds
revigres: folds
crowb29w: calls $7
zawaaa: folds
*** FLOP ***
crowb29w: bets $8
consilience: calls $8
*** TURN ***
crowb29w: bets $8
consilience: calls $8
*** RIVER ***
crowb29w: bets $10
consilience: raises $40 to $50
crowb29w: folds
consilience collected $67 from pot
consilience: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $70

Next hand I limp-call raise with not much – I just think that by the time it comes around to me it’s worth $4 into a $14 pot in MP vs a 47/17 and a 37/19 player. Ace is the 47/17 player who has gone to showdown 3 times and lost all three, has 25% WtSD% (and so is prepared to make some laydowns). On the flop I felt my top pair 2nd best kicker was likely good. Again my push all-in on the turn was risky as he could have made a draw with the 8 but I felt that a heart flush draw or weak top or 2nd pair was more likely.

POKERSTARS GAME #3478336569: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 06:54:41 (ET)
Table 'Albireo' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: consilience ($70.60 in chips)
Seat 2: Yanksta32 ($61 in chips)
Seat 3: revigres ($292.70 in chips)
Seat 4: aaaacccceeee ($60.50 in chips)
Seat 6: xecontrol ($263.80 in chips)
aaaacccceeee: posts small blind $1
xecontrol: posts big blind $2
gypsy_135 joins the table at seat #5
Yanksta32: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
consilience: calls $2
Yanksta32: raises $4 to $6
revigres: folds
aaaacccceeee: calls $5
xecontrol: folds
consilience: calls $4
*** FLOP ***
aaaacccceeee: bets $8
consilience: raises $8 to $16
Yanksta32: folds
aaaacccceeee: calls $8
*** TURN ***
aaaacccceeee: bets $8
consilience: raises $40.60 to $48.60 and is all-in
aaaacccceeee: folds
consilience collected $66 from pot
consilience: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $68


The next hand in value that I played OK until the river (chasing a small flush against a min raiser with an SC) and then really played it badly by missing a value bet on the end – I was looking for a check-raise..the other lesson from this hand is that min-raises suck as do small probe turn bets when your opponent has called your raise on the flop..

POKERSTARS GAME #3478278962: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 06:30:33 (ET)
Table 'Albireo' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: consilience ($150.50 in chips)
Seat 2: Cribo ($73.55 in chips)
Seat 4: MR.CORY78 ($46.20 in chips)
Seat 6: xecontrol ($308.20 in chips)
xecontrol: posts small blind $1
consilience: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
Cribo: raises $2 to $4
MR.CORY78: folds
xecontrol: calls $3
consilience: calls $2
*** FLOP ***
xecontrol: checks
consilience: bets $8
Cribo: raises $8 to $16
xecontrol: folds
consilience: calls $8
*** TURN ***
consilience: checks
Cribo: bets $8
consilience: calls $8
*** RIVER ***
consilience: checks
Cribo: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
consilience: shows p7s] (a flush, King high)
Cribo: shows (a pair of Kings)
consilience collected $58 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $60


The last $50+ pot is me chasing a flush that didn’t hit:

POKERSTARS GAME #3478212419: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2005/12/30 - 06:03:17 (ET)
Table 'Leukothea' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: MIKE 7340 ($127.35 in chips)
Seat 2: n00uts ($196 in chips)
Seat 3: x_winner ($63.30 in chips)
Seat 4: TheDeaner_yo ($357.20 in chips)
Seat 5: cribtx128 ($127.55 in chips)
Seat 6: consilience ($78.85 in chips)
x_winner: posts small blind $1
TheDeaner_yo: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to consilience
cribtx128: calls $2
consilience: calls $2
MIKE 7340: calls $2
n00uts: folds
x_winner: calls $1
TheDeaner_yo: checks
*** FLOP ***
x_winner: checks
TheDeaner_yo: checks
cribtx128: bets $4
consilience: calls $4
MIKE 7340: raises $4 to $8
x_winner: folds
TheDeaner_yo: folds
cribtx128: calls $4
consilience: calls $4
*** TURN ***
cribtx128: checks
consilience: checks
MIKE 7340: bets $10
cribtx128: folds
consilience: calls $10
*** RIVER ***
consilience: checks
MIKE 7340: bets $16
consilience: folds
MIKE 7340 collected $51.40 from pot
MIKE 7340: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $54



Anyway not too bad overall although I am treading a fine line with some of these big pushes with nothing (or very little) on the end…

OK managed 1000 hands 3 tabling at Stars $200 NL 6 max in the past 2 days... up $405 (at 10.7 PTBB) and cleared another 2 x $120 bonuses (at the end of year double release speed).

Taken 4.5 hrs for + $645 - nice way to end year after all the inability to concentrate with screaming small baby around..I think that I can officially say that I have moved up to $1/2 now..


Roll has reached $7k (overall winnings 9.5K). Once it hits 8K that's as high as I need it for $1/2 and the rest I will cash-out for spending on treats/nursery fees etc..

My wife is not that impressed with my poker so far as she hasn't seen any cash - once she sees the $$ rolling in I think she might even let me play a bit more

Have a great 2006 guys..

as someone who has fought and won the the battle of getting the wife to accept the poker "thing"Iall I can say is show her check or EFT #1, and youre golden. The first time i presented her with a 2K check, i went from being able to play on weekends, if I was "good"all week, to playing whenever the fvck i want. godspeed brother. buy her a present and youre all set.