bad man

OK… I’m a bad man! I’ve not updated the blog for some time now, but I do have a good reason!

As I talked about in my last entry, I’m still in poker limbo at the moment. I just haven’t been able to muster up any enthusiasm for the game whatsoever. It seems, the longer I stay away from logging into a poker site, the less chance of me playing online for a while.

Its a strange situation, as I did have the urge to play, but as soon as I logged into a site, I just wanted straight back out. The only exception to this is the forum’s sit and go league. It’s the only games where I feel the need to WIN…. the urge to play returns. But as soon as these games are over then I’m back to square one.

I did however, play a freeroll game at Cake Poker the other day that I did enjoy and did manage to cash in. OK, it was only $0.55, but the important thing was that I did get enjoyment from the game. Could this be the return of the Gopher? We’ll just have to wait and see!

I will try and get back into updating the blog on a more regular basis, but I have been busy (outwith the complete poker scene) so it has been difficult. I have a few articles up my sleeve for future updates, including the promised final table strategy (from months ago!), so hopefully, these will start rolling out soon.

Catcha all later, and you never know…. you just might see me back at the tables!

It’s happening again!!!

 

How do you maintain an interest in poker? Please, can someone tell me???

I wrote a few months back about having the ‘can’t be bothered’ syndrome when it came to poker.  This affects all players at some time. The last time it happened to me I was on a very bad streak where, no matter how well I played, I still ended up being put out of games by abismal play from the other player – and them getting lucky. That would put anyone on a downer!

Well, it has returned. But this time, I cannot put it down to being unlucky. If anything, I’m playing quite well at the moment, but am finding I am losing interest in all the games I play. For example….. last Friday, I played a forum game at PKR. I dominated early proceedings, but once we got down to the final table, I just decided I had had enough. I could not be arsed playing any longer.

I tried to play my normal game, but actually ended up playing like a bingo player…. chasing poor draws knowing fine well I was beaten. In effect, I tried to wrap the game up as quickly as possible. In reality, I was up against players whom I knew were not easy pickings, but I still tried it. (Apologies BTW to those at that final table). In the end I got my just deserts by going all-in with a K 9 offsuit (when there was no need) and was called instantly by pocket rockets.

So back to the real issue. How to get rid of the apathy for the game. How do I regain the appetite for the battle? I mean, I’ve heard all of the ususal words of wisdom (and advocated them myself), like,’take a break from the game’, or ‘change to the cash tables instead of sit and gos’ etc… but I don’t think any of it is going to work.

Why, you may ask. Well basically because the pull is still there. I cannot help but get involved in a game. As I said, it’s after around an hour into the game that the ‘cant-be-arsed’ syndrome kicks in.

I’ve still to work out if it only happens in the private games (where the majority of the regular players are tighter than two coats of paint), or if it has spread to oudside of the forum.

One thing that could be a major contributer to this syndrome is that I have caught a virus…. not any virus that makes you ill. I’m infected with the downloading bug. In the last week or so, I cannot pull myself away from downloading more and more music/DVD’s etc. I truly am hooked. It’s been ages since I downloaded stuff from the internet and now I just can’t get enough.

So for the time being, I’ll play only the odd sit and go and of course the S&G Challenge games at the forum. It will be a case of ’see how I feel’ for any other games, as I will more than likely be downloading again…

All change!

After the hacking incident last week, the forum has now moved to pastures new. We now have our own site back up and running and are using a new forum. Check it out by clicking here.

It was a busy weekend as far as I was concerned, as I had to move all the league stuff over to the new forum. As with everything new, there were a few teething problems that now seem to have been sorted out, so here’s hoping everything goes smoothly from here on in.

As for poker, not a lot to talk about. I won a few sit and go’s in the last few days – none of them hold’em though. I seem to be winning in probably my least accomplished game – omaha hi/lo. I don’t really know if I’m getting better at the game or if the omaha golden horseshoe is firmly stuck up my rear end, or if I’m just getting lucky and playing with people who don’t really have a clue either!

But tonight, its back to hold’em as I’m playing a satellite tourny for entry into a $150K guarenteed event. Blagz was thinking about joining me in the tourny as he has a couple of satellite tickets waiting to be used up.

As I’ve not been doing too good lately in hold’em I’m going to re-read my own articles to give myself a refresher as I’m sure I’m forgetting to do some of the important stuff. The articles helped me when writing them (dusts the old cobwebs of the brain when writing them) and I did see a marked improvement in my game.

So, thats my tip of the day for you all today. Sit and take stalk of where your game is at, at the moment. Read a few articles to give yourself a little refresher. Try and pinpoint where you might be going wrong in your game. Constant self analysis definately helps improve your game. The more you think about it the more focused you will be at the table, come game time. Remember, poker is a game of constant learning. The more practice you put in, and the more studying you do will make you a better player.

Till next time….. I’m off to do some reading!

Hacked off!

A very apt title this week. As members of the forum will no doubt be aware, it more or less was deleted this week. A hacker had gained access to my account and deleted all the threads and posts. All that was left was the header picture! I found out via a phone call from the bossman asking if I had deleted anything! As it turned out my computer wasn’t even on at the time, but knowing that it was my account that was deleting everyhting, put me into a blind panic. If they managed to get into my forum account, what else did the hackers have access to?

I had been having a load of problems with my computer contracting viruses and stuff and had thought that I had managed to get it all sorted out. Obviously not! It seems as if the hackers had used a key logger to try and access my details but the only passwords that I had entered in the week prior to the attack was my forum details. Which in retrospect was quite lucky.

My wife normally goes into our online banking account every day, but she had been out of the country and I hadn’t bothered checking it. All my poker sites have automatic logins for the most part – well at least the ones I used that week, so I didn’t need to type in any passwords.

Anyways, with all this going on, I felt I had no option but to completely format my hard drive and start from scratch. So this is what I have been doing for the past few days. But, to my horror, I still had a virus after the format. It seems as if the virus has lodged itself in the boot sector of the hard drive so I still have some work to do.

Luckily, me old mate Blagger, had sent me a computer that was set-up and ready to go. So, hopefully I should have no more problems. If only I had set it up earlier in the week…..

On to poker, and obviously with all this mess I didn’t have time to play any these past few days. But the forums’ sit and go league continued as planned on Tuesday and Thursday, with CrazyYorkie, aka Panther, aka Sue, taking down the 1st game for the ‘Black Panthers’ and my very own Varmint team mate Jimplay taking down Thursdays. After 4 games, the league is starting to hot up!

Now that I’m sorted out on the computer front, i’ll be playing again this weekend. So after my unscheduled sabbatical, you all better watch out!

See ya at the tables!