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This site has been optimised for use on MS Windowsusing IE7/FF at 1024x768 or higher.Mac OS X users may find some features will not function. jon@nospam.com (TGF Poker) jon@nospam.com (TGF Poker) Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:13:04 -0400 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:13:04 -0400 http://backend.userland.com/rss e107 (http://e107.org) 60 http://tgfpoker.com/images/button.png http://www.tgfpoker.com/ 88 31 TGF Poker is the fastest growing online casino. Great bonuses and sponsored players plus real teams at your local casino. http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.34.6 karl_mahrenholz@nospam.com (Karl) Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:41:58 -0400 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.34.6 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.32.6
After a frustrating time in the $5k APT event which didn’t last past day 1, the equivalent Pokerstars event at the Lisboa began slightly better. I ground up an above average stack on day 1 and by the time day 2 was in the books we were in the money with 42 of the 450 strong field remaining. The field was a mix of experienced online players and fresh local “talent” and I was hopeful of a decent run at this one. My stack for the 3rd day was just above average but the structure was becoming very fast. Unfortunately I got off to a very bad start when raising A10 from late position and losing to a defend from the small blind with Q 10 which rivered the nuts. The structure, as unforgiving as it was at that stage, didn’t allow me much breathing room and soon after my push with 10 8 was looked up my the small blind’s J 6 and I was gone in 37th place for a disappointing $8,500

Spending some time in Hong Kong was good and allowed me to catch up with an old friend who is now based out there. I was however quite happy to be back home after almost a month away when our 12.5 hour flight landed at some ungodly hour on the 2nd September. I was looking forward to getting back to the grind, especially online, with a plan to make enough to tick off the various big live buyins that are coming up this month. How fitting then that I should manage to equal my biggest ever losing day online on our 1st day back. Luckily the GUKPT was to offer a timely reprieve and a chance to get away from the PC again, and after some deliberation I decided to drag myself down there for the £250 PLO event for a chance to defend my crown from Luton and to have a drink with a few friends I hadn’t seen for a while

I ended up departing in about 16th place, with my last chips going to my good friend Nick Gibson who went on to final, with his pair and flush draw getting there against my pot committed aces. I just had enough time to buy half of Paul’s action in a juicy dealer’s choice game before heading off to bed. The main event was set to be a reasonably quiet one, what with good events at both the International and DTD, as well as Barcelona and Cyprus all on at the same time. I just hoped I had made the right choice...]]> karl_mahrenholz@nospam.com (Karl) Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:03:24 -0400 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.32.6 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.31.7
The only time I “perked up” in Vegas was after I changed my flight and knew I would be coming home in a couple of days, as if I could see light at the end of the tunnel and knew the pain would soon be over.

On the last night I actually had a good win in the $5/$5 Omaha game. For most decent UK cash Omaha players, playing in this type of game in Vegas should really be akin to picking money off the floor, as the players, in general, are terrible.
When you are running bad this is the worst place to be as not only do you lose your money, you are also subject to experiencing a level of injustice that would be normally be reserved for outrageous breaches of human rights.


]]> karl_mahrenholz@nospam.com (Karl) Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:50:43 -0400 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.31.7 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.30.6
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]]> karl_mahrenholz@nospam.com (Karl) Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:41:54 -0400 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.29.7 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.28.6
Since my last update I've played in 5 more WSOP events. The $2,500 round of each tournament is one I always look forward to. 2 of my good friends JP Kelly and Dave "riverdave" Penly made deep runs at it last year and it is one of the best structured events of the whole series.

]]> karl_mahrenholz@nospam.com (Karl) Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:29:31 -0400 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.28.6 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.27.5
The mtts and cash game are soft with the odd sprinkling of very good players and the usual clueless idiots but once you have the feel for who is what it can be a profitable night. The 2/2pl cash game is particularly loose with little or no thought process and if you get a hand you get paid. Once again though this weekend I was on the back end of several horrible outdraws and falling at the final hurdle once again there. 3 outers it seems are the order of the day and having reached several finals there I'm still yet to win.

Im not often frustrated but recently walking like a crab is becoming a full time occupation, and leaving any poker room at 4am with no cat to kick does leave you unsatisfied.]]> karl_mahrenholz@nospam.com (Karl) Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:59:36 -0400 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.27.5 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.26.7
Earlier last week I went to the Bridgenorth cash game (NL £5/£10 blinds) and as usual it was very lively. I struggled for most of the evening and ended the night £300 up which was very reasonable, given that I did not really get any good situations to take advantage of. Even with a struggle for my own part it was still, as usual, very entertaining with good banter and remarkably creative play at times. In one hand after an initial, not irregular, pre-flop raise to £100 with 3 callers the flop came 8d7d2h. Player 1 checks, player 2 bets £300, player 3 calls, folded to player 1 who now re-raises to £1500 the bettor folds and player 3 calls. Turn is Ts river Tc player 3 says you win and turns over 56 off suit, for a missed straight draw ( arguably a hopeful call on the flop) the check raiser says no you win and turns over 5d3d for 5 high and a missed flush draw, so 6 high wins the near £4000 pot. Later on a £100 bet is made on a flop of Ac 5h 7s called by one player turn is 7c followed by a £300 bet and call. River is 10h which resulted in two checks. The initial bettor had given up chasing his gut-shot and showed 23 off suit and the caller had given up chasing his double belly buster (probably not the best option when it is checked to you on the river) and showed 34 off-suit, so the £1000 pot is split by both players as both are unable to beat the board.

Next game was the new cash game, on Tuesdays, at Walsall Grosvenor which is a £500 sit down with blinds at £5/£5.
I started off very poorly and in one hand raised with AhQh and the flop was a reasonably adequate KhTh5h for a flopped nut-flush with gut shot royal flush draw. It is not often that when you hit a flop like that you need to do well to “get away from it” and lose the minimum. I fairly solid player bets £75 I call and everyone else folds. The turn is a less than pleasant Tc he now checks I bet £100 and he calls. The river is 3d and he now bets £100. In many cases any many players I would probably re-raise here as I have to be very unlucky to be losing. In this case however because I know he is solid and he knows it and also I appreciate that he thinks I am a good solid player for him to bet into me and get called on the flop and then following a check call when it paired up on the turn for him to now bet into me on a blank river makes it, given the betting pattern, far more likely, than might usually be the case, that he has me beat. I just flat call his river bet and he shows me KT for a nice nut full house.

A new player to the game (who often encounters snow fall even in summer, if you know what I mean) was playing very tight and after I raised to £20 (holding 99) he re-raised to £50 from the small blind. Myself and two other players called. The flop was Ah7h6s and all players chacked. When he re-raised me pre-flop I assumed he had either AK, maybe AQ suited or more probably a big pair and when he checked the flop it seemed unlikely he had AK or AQ as it would not seem sensible to risk checking with 3 other players in the pot as there are so many unpleasant turn cards, so I thought maybe he had KK or QQ or possibly a set of aces which, if correct, he was , in my opinion, playing too tricky as with three players and such a drawing board I would not like to be allowing a free turn card there with a hand that I did not want to fold. The turn was 9d giving me a set and he now bets £100 which I though meant he either had KK or QQ and was betting assuming no-one had an ace as it was checked around on the flop or he could actually have a set of aces. I called to see what he did on the river and another player also called behind me. The river card was 7d pairing the board and giving me a full house that was now only losing to aces over or quad sevens and he now bets another £100. Now given his playing tendencies I would expect him to check if he had QQ and KK and hope to win on showdown after his turn bet had received two callers so this river bet suggested that the most likely hand he had was AA (as he would surely have bet the more vulnerable AQ AK on the flop) I just called the other player folded and I said “please don’t show me aces”. That is what he showed me.

I appreciate that the above two hands if put on a poker analysis forum (especially in the USA) would have EV merchants screaming how bad and weak my river calls were (particularly if not knowing my opponents hands in either case) and that I should re-pop it as a re-raise would be +EV given my opponents likely ranges and I am sure that a spectacularly impressive mathematical calculation could be produced to unequivocally prove this opinion. As I have said before I would prefer to analyse the variables so I can accurately estimate my opponent’s actual hand in the situation I am facing rather than estimate his likely range in 1000 similar situations, that, in reality will not happen. Anyway I managed to recover, fortunately we had Dominic, the table bitch, there to donate as well as another player, who seems to lose most of the time. I would feel sorry for him as he never seems to win but, it is hard to feel sorry for a bank robber.

Friday at The Broadway was very nice as I won £2050 including winning a £1700 pot with Ace high which is probably a hand worth going over. The very very LAG Dang limps in mid position (his hand range to do this extends to any two cards, in fact if the dealer has miss-dealt and only dealt him one card he still may call) and then the aforementioned bank robber raises to £30 I make a very aggressive call with AhKh and other players fold (I take it for granted that both Dang and the bank robber call as it is not in their make-up to fold pre-flop. The flop is QhJh6s Dang checks the bank robber bets a weak looking £50 (generally means his hand is as weak as his bet) so I re-raise to £175 happy to win the pot there and then, even though I have a nice draw. As it happened both players call. Now Dang could have either a weakfish hand or some kind of draw at this point, probably a draw I thought, and the bank robber could have almost anything, though unlikely to be top pair as he generally considers top pair to be the nuts and would more likely have bet stronger in the first place or re-popped me again slamming his sawn-off on the table. The turn is a safe looking 7d and both players check to me. I decide I need to put Dang off his draw which I guess might be 910 or could be a flush draw (yum yum), or possible weak gambling made hand, and I am not sure about the bank robber but I am sure he does not like his hand that much, so I bet £500 and Dang calls and the bank robber folds and starts to walk away from the table. (he was actually playing the tournament on the night and had just stopped by to drop and hop, as opposed to hit and run). Now my experience of Dang makes me believe that he has to have a draw to call this huge bet (given his previous action in the hand) as he does not make bad calls with weak made hands for large amounts, though he will with a decent or good draw, even if the pot-odds do not necessarily warrant or justify it. The river is a yummy Js which means that I have nut no pair which is almost certainly beating any draw I was up against. I now felt compelled to call any desperate bid that Dang might make to win the pot but, because I had played my hand like a good made hand Dang felt unable to make a hero bluff and checked his 85 hearts. He had a flush draw on the flop and also picked up an open ended straight draw on the turn. In fact had he pushed it on the turn he may have been able to win the pot and it was my aggressive (I have a made hand) type play that dissuaded him from doing so.It may seem a tad greedy but I think I may have been unlucky in this pot even though I won the £1700 pot showing down just Ace high. Had we both hit the flush I would have got the lot and had he made a desperate bluff on the river I was intending to make a nice hero call with Ace high. I say that not having been faced with it, and it is obviously a lot easier to say it than do it. I do however like a hero call and in this game have made several river calls with Ace high and king high (most have been correct so far).

Saturday I went to Sheffield for the Betfred ladies tour event. I am happy to travel some distance to watch significant girl on girl action! The TGF ladies team did reasonably with Michelle going deep (there is another good joke in there somewhere but my mind is not rude enough to think of it- is yours?) and Cara making the final.

Bridgenorth tonight for some more entertainment which started, fisrt hand on a seven handed table £20 live straddle 5 people call so we go to the flop with £120 in the pot. The flop is Qh5s2c all check, turn is 10h all check again, river is 7d all check to last player who bets £10 all fold to last player to call who folds showing AQ. I say how can you fold that for £10 and I was advised that he did not like to win the first hand. I questioned why, if that was the case did he call the £20 straddle pre-flop and I was properly educated with “ I forgot not to call”- let that be a lesson to us all. I struggled all night and ended up losing £120.]]> karl_mahrenholz@nospam.com (Karl) Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:38:58 -0400 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.26.7 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.25.6
I will keep this blog entry short, which suitably befits my tournament. First I tried a squeeze play from the big blind after a young Asian player had raised utg. I was planning on reraising him from the big blind in any case, bus as each of the subsequent 4 players called his raise to 300 my planned squeeze became more and more expensive but likewise more and more appealing. I made it 1600 from the big blind and as suspected the UTG raiser passed. My 102o looked a certain winner. That was until next in line set me in. Marvellous. Amusingly the next player in line then went into the tank (wtf hand can he have that wants to flat call 300 behind another caller and then consider calling another 5k). To cap off an enjoyable hand, when this player eventually folded and action was round to the small blind, he too decided to tank for 3 minutes before eventually laying down his monster.

I was duly punished for this attempted squeeze by being dealt 83o for the next 3 hours. Still, not deterred I eventually found the spot I was waiting for. Folded to me on the button I find aces at the 100 200 level. I make it 525 from my 3k and the big blind (most active player on the table) makes the call. Flop is Q 7 4 with 2 spades. He checks and I bet 550, attempting to give the illusion of some fold equity. The big blind calls. Turn pairs the 4 and he checks. Now I'm not worried about the flush draw as I'm sure he shoves all flush draws on the flop. The 4 pairing seems a safe card so I decide to check behind and hopefully get paid on the river. The river was an offsuit 9 and he moved all in. Never planning to fold this hand with my stack I made the call and was shown the 3 4 of diamonds. gg me.]]> karl_mahrenholz@nospam.com (Karl) Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:48:16 -0400 http://tgfpoker.com/news.php?item.25.6