Not been playing much poker lately apart from the NL50’s on Cake.  I managed to win $1024 during December which kind of fits in nicely with my $1000 per month challenge. Actually I am still working on my methodology to beat these games and tweeking things all the time. Blew a fair chunk of money off this month through indisciplined play but still around $175 up on the month……they are just so dull…..LOL.

No action to report in the 25-50 game and I have decided to knock all other forms of poker in the head for the time being so no PLO, no HUNLHE or anything else for that matter.

I have a great idea for an e-book should I start beating the NL50’s regularly and this is why I am playing them. But it also supports my sponsor as well as I am multi-tabling these games. Figures for December over 20,500 hands at NL50 was roughly 10BB/100 which I am pleased with.

Actually with a good rakeback deal then I dont see why someone cannot make $2000-$3000 a month playing these games. The most tables that I have played is nine which is some going for someone who rarely multi-tables. Someone with better focus could well play double the number of tables that I am playing and if you can take advantage of big juicy sign up bonuses as well then you can make decent money MT these games.

I noticed the other day that some poker sites are offering $1000 sign up bonuses, personally I think that the 33% rakeback deal on Cake Poker is a better deal and they have a great sign up bonus too. I reckon that with a proper methodology, a good sign up bonus, rakeback and good discipline then many players could make $3000 in their first month.

Thats pretty impressive for doing nothing but play NL50. I reckon with a 30 buy-in bankroll of $1500, a player could make a living wage from this. But my methodology has shown numerous weaknesses and I noticed tonight that I am missing value too much. I should hopefully correct this starting tomorrow.

Bad weekend sports betting, never got to trade Phil Taylor in the PDC…..awesome performance. I also failed to lay Chelsea for the title at 2.20 when it was begging to be laid. Not all doom and gloom though as a lay of Rafael Nadal and Australia came up trumps.

Catch you soon.

CAKE POKER.…..WHERE YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR SCREEN NAME EVERY WEEK TO AVOID YOUR MORE OBSERVANT OPPOSITION……..AND THE HOME OF ONE OF THE BEST RAKEBACK DEALS ON THE INTERNET.

2009 has started with a bang and I have won more in the first two sessions than the whole of 2008. I am now concentrating on the 25-50 game but believe it or not I am also multi-tabling NL50 and NL100 games on Cake which is proving just as much of a challenge. Well to cut to the details I am ahead by $14,000 so far this year after one really great session.

I had some great data on a player who was very aggressive. Their VPIP was running at 53 and the check-raise percentage was very high post flop. I had pocket jacks on the button and raised to $175 and was called by the big blind villain. He liked to call raises and then look to make moves post flop. If he had a hand then he liked to call down with it and let his opponent have the lead. His pattern was so exploitable it was silly.

Flop came K-10-3 rainbow and he checked and I bet $275 and he check raises me to $800 and I re-raise again and put him all in……he folds. I was torn between calling and letting him outdraw me or squeezing him out. The next hand was more of a test as he had a similar stack to mine but I felt that he was gunning for me.

I had AK on the button and raised to 175 and the BB calls again. Flop comes A-J-9 and they check and I make my usual 2/3 pot sized bet and he shoves all-in……all $4600 of it. Now I hate to go against my philosophy of big pot big hand and getting all in for well over 100BB at this stage with one pair is not geat.

But he was so erratic that the call looked pretty good to me and the fact that I am properly bankrolled now made the call far easier than it would have been last year. I called and they showed Q-J, I sweat the five outer but win the pot and he leaves the table……hope he comes back.

New year was quiet for me but as always I have set myself some personal as well as poker goals. My aim is to win $250,000 this year although only around 1/4 of this will be mine but this will well and truly get me back on track and into the modern online WINNING poker scene again. I am also hoping to start earning in the small stakes games and am still around $1000 up so far but I am hoping that my e-book should do well if I can maintain the discipline…..should be an interesting year.

Have a big bet riding on Phil Taylor in the PDC, laid him at 1.6 but I am just hoping for a close match or for him to get behind and should be able to trade this for a profit. Barney is looking good which is great news and his nine darter last night will have made Taylor take notice.

See ya soon

CAKE POKER……WHERE YOU CAN AVOID THE USERS OF TRACKING SOFTWARE AND OTHER TYPES OF POKER PROGRAMMES

With 2008 coming to a close then it is time to report my poker results. Before I do this I have to report some more good news in the $25-$50 game as I have recorded three more sessions and all three were winners (if not small ones). i have had wins of $740, $820 and a brief hit and run session of $410.

But my year has been spoiled by my bad run in the middle but breaks down as follows.

NL5000 (25-50)          - $37,000

NL2000 (10-20)          +$14,400

PLO  5-10                   + $8800

SSNLHE                       + $1000

SSPLO                         +$7700

HU NLHE (heads up)   +$11,000

Total:      + $5900

By far my worst year ever as a professional player but I have won $42,900 not counting the 25-50 game. I have wasted a lot of hours playing poker for piddling stakes and messing about playing low-stakes SNG’s as well so it is actually better than what it sounds.  Taking away the silliness in the middle of the year and I reckon I would have been into six figures.

But I have big hopes for 2009 and during 2008 there were long periods in which I didnt play poker at all. I also want to play some high-stakes limit games at 150-300 and 200-400 next year but I have been out of the loop for a while so will need to prepare for that.

Having said that I really dont fancy having another bad year on the tables and messing around with high-stakes limit may just ruin another potentially good year. Still……could be worse……at least I am still here to talk about it.

Before anyone starts feeling sorry for me then I have to report that I had had decent years sports betting and also staking players as well. But if my bad run in the middle had been replaced by even a mediocre decent run then this would have changed my year around alarmingly.

Have a great 2009

CAKE POKER……THE SITE THAT DO NOT ALLOW TRACKING SOFTWARE AND EVERY PLAYER PLAYS ON A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD.

I have read many poker books over the years and probably more than most people. To be quite honest, I think that the overwhelming majority of poker books that are out there at this time are totally inadequate for teaching players enough in order to make them successful in todays online environment.

I remember the flak that I took when I first placed COSST on The Hendon Mob forum and the biggest obstacle was the price which at that time was $200 if I remember correctly. COSST was designed as a kind of “Kill Phil” SNG e-book for novice players. It was never meant to be sophisticated but yet I felt that it was good enough to make novice players transcend into being winning online poker players for the very first time and certainly at the small stakes.

The SNG’s have toughened considerably since I wrote that bookand those basic strategies are no longer workable above I would say the $33 level. I wrote that book to target the masses but recently I have encountered another e-book by a couple of top online professionals that is being sold for a staggering $1850.

Now I am not one to quibble over price because at the end of the day, price isnt the issue……quality is. In fact even that isnt correct because you can get a very high quality book that still will not teach you enough to transform your game sufficiently enough to make you a winner. If I think that an book is +EV then I really do not see that price can be an issue.

I would not baulk at paying $100k for an e-book if I knew that it was going to return me 200k as a result of reading it. The book is called “Let there be Range” and has been produced by Tri Nguyen and Cole South.

I am aware of these players and the strength of their games so I suspect that this book will be of a very high quality. I am going to attempt to read this book and if I do so then I will tell you exactly what I think of it and if this book is worth the money. But like I said, although the price will very much be the issue fo many people, it is the potential return that is the key here and not the price and that has always been my view.

Will keep you informed

I will also be compiling my year end results soon and I think I am slightly ahead despite my bad run during the middle of the year. Had another good session last night in the 25-50 game and picked up a nice $4100 in just under two hours.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your Christmas

THE DEAN IS SPONSORED BY CAKE POKER AND CAN BE SEEN AT WWW.CAKEPOKER.COM/THEDEAN

Well it had to happen, I was actually sad enough to be playing poker on Christmas day. Actually I wasnt playing disciplined poker as I wasnt signalled into the game…..but I won anyway. I just felt my way into the game and decided that there was at least one provider although I sensed that two of the players were colluding although I have no proof of this as yet.

I won just over $17k (3 buy-ins) and now I really am on course for my best month ever as a pro. There was one hand where I got very lucky. A player who had been LAG raises from the hijack to $175 and I call on the button with the 9c-8c and to my surprise the big blind also calls which ruins my plans somewhat.

Flop comes Jd-7c-3d giving me a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw. With $550 in pot, the BB checks and the raiser bets half pot of $275. We both had over $6k on the table and the BB had about 4k. I decide to put the pressure on him and float him (I hadnt made a move so far). I was trying to intimidate him by using the presence of the third player (the big blind) to affect his thinking.

The turn card was the 4h and he checks it to me. Now I sense weakness and bet $750 into the $1100 pot and expect to see him fold……he calls. Now i know that I have to make a hand to win and the 10c comes on the river giving me the nut straight. With $2600 in the pot they bet $800 which seems like a milking bet to me so now I am expecting them to have a set which they cannot lay down.

I move all in and they insta call and I win the pot…..$12,000!!!! This is one of the biggest pots that I have won in ages and I got lucky big time. This makes a change given the year that I have had. A couple of people have remarked to me how I was crying too much about my 20 buy-in bad run this year. Twenty buy-ins isnt out of the way but it is when you have played the number of sessions that i played over 6 months. I was a losing poker player forsix months and that aint good.

Feels like I am on the way back, hope you are enjoying your Xmas

CAKE POKER…….WHERE YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR NAME EVERY WEEK

No results in the 25-50 to report since last time which is good news really seeing as I would have just jumped in and played in times gone by. But my partner is telling me when my targets are present and if the games are not juicy enough then I dont play…..its that simple. All rather basic really but its amazing how you fail to do the little things at times.

I think that I needed to go back to basics and rework my swing (to quote a golfing expression). Anyway what else has been happening, well I have still been in training on the NL50 and NL100 games on Cake Poker and I am having to learn a whole new poker game I can tell you.

I have played just under 50 hours this month doing this and I have gotton skinned by having KK under AA quite a few times. What I need to realise is that KK versus AA is not only far more common when you are 6-8 tabling full-ring games than it is one table at 25-50, but also that the betting indicates a real hand more than it does at 25-50.

EXAMPLE……today I have KK…..open raise, player in cut-off three bets and I four bet and they five bet and shove their stack all in (it was still a sizeable all in shove)……I called. This is where it is causing me problems switching from 25-50 six max to NL50/NL100 games because very aggressive players will do this more often at these levels with weaker hands.

But one of these days I am going to wake up and smell the coffee and stop getting all in for 100BB pre-flop with KK in NL50 games and listen to what the betting is actually telling me. Thats just it with these games, you can trust what the betting is telling you most of the time. Like yesterday, folded to me in the hijack with Q-10 and I open raise to x3BB. Cut-off min raises me.

Now I am thinking that they are thinking that I am stealing (which i am) and are putting me to the test…..not a great thing to do as you are guessing. So I re-raise again to put the pressure back on them and to let them know that I really have a hand…..they call.

Flop comes all low cards and I bet the pot and they shove…..pot odds are about 10/1 so I call the remaining $10…..they show KK. My play was terrible on many counts. Open raise was OK but when I was min-raised I should have either called and seen a flop or folded. I allowed myself to get into a silly ego war and get committed to going all in with nothing……bad poker.

I am actually out thinking myself on occasions, it is no use thinking multi-dimensionally if your opponents are only thinking on one. Still its been a good training month and am still $950 ahead which is 19 buy-ins. I reckon next month will be better as my game will be stronger.

Havent played any PLO or HUNLHE since last post.

See ya soon

CAKE POKER……THE SITE WHERE YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR NAME EVERY WEEK

I remember back in my blackjack days, the swings were horrendous but the best part about it all was that it was someone elses money. This made a huge difference as at the end of the day, you could go home and the losses were not coming out of your pocket.

Also the biggest skill in getting an edge in that game wasnt in actually learning about card counting, any fool can do that just by reading a book. The real edges came with game selection and getting away with it. The so called experts who claimed to be doing it wouldnt have got within a mile of our team.

But game selection is just as critical in poker too and to underline this still further I have played in three sessions in the 25-50 since we last spoke and have won all three sessions. I have started and left the game when the targets have been there which is something that I have not always done. So the upshot of all this is that I am now $19k ahead so far this month and add to this another 5.5k playing heads up and $950 six tabling the NL50 games on Cake then I am well on the way to recording my best ever month as a professional player (wish all the 19k was mine).

Having a third party scan the games and tell you when to enter them and when to leave them has been massive and they have my mobile number and instructions to contact me 24/7…..I dont always answer depending on the time of day.

But the 19k is still only 4 buy-ins so not getting too excited. Its just that after the past six months, it has come as welcome relief. I have developed a new love of the game and will certainly be squeezing in as much play over christmas as I possibly can.

See ya soon

CAKE POKER…..THE SITE WHERE YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR SCREEN NAME EVERY WEEK

$25-$50 game last night. I open raise from the cut-off with pocket sevens and button calls me. Flop comes 7-6-6 and I am thinking how to extract the maximum. I figure that this guy is calling me with the intention of looking to make a play post flop so I am going to give him ample opportunity to do something fancy so I lead out for half pot and they call.

Turn card is a 3 and I make another half pot bet again giving him the rope to hang himself. River card is a 2 (rainbow board) and I bet half pot again and this time he min raises and I move in on him and he shows 6-6 for quad sixes. How unfair is this when my confidence is still fragile and I am trying to piece things back together. But I have been on bad runs before, I recall a 270BB dip at limit hold’em twice in the space of two months a few years ago.

Another pot sees a guy with $2500 make it $175 to go and I make it $600 with Q-Q, they call. Flop comes J-6-3 rainbow and they check and I bet $800 and they call. Turn card is a deuce and they check and I put them all in and they insta call and show 2-2…..WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those two hands came very close together and my head wasnt right but I stuck in there and played out which I am proud of as I held myself together which in times gone by may have proven to be more difficult but having people to answer to has definitely improved my game. I am a little down since the last post but playing OK I suppose.

Take Care

CAKE POKER………..THE SITE WHERE YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR SCREEN NAME EVERY WEEK

Well it is hardly coming back from the dead because I wasnt really dead to begin with but 20 buy-ins down over six months does seem reaaaallllyyyyyy bad to yours truly. But after another winning session of over 7k last night then things are really looking up.

For those of you who are unaware, I now have no fewer than three financial backers and while I am not going to divulge what their percentages are, they have taken the pressure off things like you wont believe. I thought that I may actually feel more pressured like I did in my blackjack days but I guess that I have matured somewhat.

Plus it has also transpired that one of my backers is also a very keen online player and plays very successfully at 2-4 and 3-6 NLHE six-max games. He is tracking the games for me and providing me with the data on the players that was sadly lacking from my game upto now. I have used PT and PO but not to the level that he uses it and suddenly my online game has been totally transformed basically overnight.

I am now identifying weaknesses in my opponents and attacking whole new weaknesses that I wouldnt have spotted in days gone by. To be honest I am not really bothered about not getting 100% of my profits because I would rather get a lower percentage of something than 100% of a 100k loss.

Its going to take me sometime to get that 100k back but I am confident of doing it by the middle of next year. Had another good patch of results in the HUNLHE games as well recording six sessions and winning four of them for a profit of $620. Also the 1k challenge preparations on Cake Poker are also going well and I am $720 ahead for the month playing NL50 games.

Good times are here again

CAKE POKER…….WHERE YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR NAME EVERY WEEK TO AVOID YOUR MORE SAVVY OPPONENTS

Boy did I really need to be reporting this……played the 25-50 last night and won just over 2 buy-ins and that 10k was the sweetest 10k I have won in a long time I can tell you. That also followed two more sessions on Thursday where I won one and lost one but now I am ahead by $4900 since the start of the month.

The pre-flop aggression stats that I had on someone were totally out of whack but I got lucky as I ended up three betting from the button wtih J-10s and flopping a straight on a 9-8-7 board when they held pocket kings and decided to flat me pre-flop. A classic case of doing the right thing at the wrong time and getting the right result.

Still…..anyone who begrudges me this luck obviously are not aware of my past six months of pain but I do feel on the road to recovery (fingers crossed). I am getting someone who I know very well to analyse the PT data as I simply do not have the time so I am definitely working in a far more professional way, professional for online that is.

I am game selecting far better these days but its really great to share the load and be working with someone. This win came just as well because I was serioulsy contemplating moving down to 10-20. I am actually also considering playing more than one table at 25-50 should the circumstances arise and that would be something for me.

But the players at this level are good on the whole and I do my best to avoid them if I can. Things must be turning as I also won $140 yesterday six tabling the NL50 games on Cake Poker in preparation for my $1000 a month challenge. I also won a further $1400 playing HU at NLHE as well so I am one happy bunny this morning……now if I can just keep this going until Christmas……should be a good one.

Take Care

CAKE POKER…….THE SITE WHERE YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR SCREEN NAME EVERY WEEK!