The Poker Whisperer.???

I like to surf the 'e-poker' press and other blogs daily and am intrigued as to who the poker whisper is on ukpokernews - any ideas folks.??

I have so far ruled out:

1. Tikay
2. Me
3. Camel


Anyway he says some nice things about me in this article here http://uk.pokernews.com/news/2006/2/poker-whispers-february.htm

and has a regular monthly musing on ukpokernews.

Answers and speculations in the comments box please.

William Hill Poker Grand Prix - Trip Report

As my previous post stated i was on the box on Tuesday night and for those of you that watched, you would have seen it was a very satisfactory result against a very tough field. I have done a trip report for UK Poker News for who i occasionally write. this can be viewed by clicking

http://uk.pokernews.com/news/2006/2/william-hill-grand-prix-greg-hill.htm



I hope you enjoy.

The final is in 3 weeks time (Tuesday Night's on Sky Sports).

I'm On The Telly This Week - The William Hill GP

On Tuesday night at 22:15pm (21st Feb) my heat of the William Hill Poker Grand Prix is airing on Sky Sports 2 at 10pm and it is repeated on the Wednesday morning at 03:15am, again at 08:00am (skysports 3) and again at 12:30pm on Sky Sports 2.

If you haven't been watching the action in the 6 weeks prior to this then you really are missing out. This is the best ever line up for a 'made-for-TV' event and the best structire as well. Most Tv tournaments have fast structures and become crap shoots, which are over after about 75 hands. - This is different. 10,000 starting chips and a 45 minute clock - this was poker at its very best with total room for moves and every weapon at the players disposal.

The line up....

Seat 1 - Barny Boatman
Seat 2 - Patrik Antonius
Seat 3 - Robert Cooper
Seat 4 - Jani Sointula
Seat 5 - Christer Johansson
Seat 6 - Greg 'junior' Hill (thats me.)
Seat 7 - Brian Wilson
Seat 8 - Marc Goodwin

A real quality field - A WSOP bracelet winner, a WPT winner, an EPT winner, a Hendon Mobster, an on-line millionairre and a good looking young lad from Notts!

Hope you enjoy - i personally can't wait.

Taking A Cyber-Break

No!.. i haven't decided to go on a virtual reality holiday (although i am sure they are available if you googled hard enough!) I am merely deciding to give on-line poker a break now for at least a week. I am not gonna play one single game until next Monday (20th) and even then if i really don't feel like playing,.. i won't.

I have been in some horrible form of late and feel that i am 'going bad', meaning that i am only seeing the negatives, i have no confidence in my on-line game and am looking for excuses for my bad luck, clutching at straws and at times am questioning the integrity of the deal on some on-line poker rooms (surely no card room would risk their licence to print money by enhancing starting hands and manufacturing action flops??!! - i'm still suspicious but just can't see why they would take such a risk of damaging their reputations for a few extra quid).

I need to get that hunger back. I always look forward to playing but because i have been playing so much of late, i can't help but think i haven't been at my best or my freshest whilst playing, thus i have been making tired plays and stale decisions.

I'll most probably be at Sheffield on Wednesday for their £100 re-buy comp and the following week i will be at Walsall for the £300 freeze and maybe the £100 re-buy and of course i may give one of the super-sats a go with a view to getting a seat in the main event. Lets see if this little break from staring at the screen of lappie gives me some renewed vigour and helps me return to some form.

Cosmic Connections – Is Brain to Brain Communication Really Possible?

You will notice from the tone of my last blog entry that I am not currently in the best of 'nick' luck-wise. On the table of good fortune, I am quite literally the short stack. This current run of form has been happening solidly for about 4 weeks now but I would say it has been happening for about 3 months on and off. I know there are ups and downs in the game but this is the longest ‘down’ I have ever experienced and it seems like a piss-taking ‘down’. A ‘down’, where the poker gods are really having a dig at me, testing my remaining resolve and my true faith in the skill factor. But, what has really got me thinking these last few weeks is if there really is a connection or a form of communication between state of mind, the poker gods and the cards, whether they be actual plastic coated Kem variety or the floating e-cards that dance around the screen in front of our eyes.

I pose this question as my run of bad luck just isn’t normal and I really am in a very negative frame of mind right now – I don’t expect a hand to hold up, even if I am an 85% favourite – and that’s scary! It is not just a case of running a big hand into AA or having my KK cracked by AQ (that is happening regularly), but it is far more bizarre than that. It seems like whatever needs to transpire and whatever the odds of it happening… it happens! People catching perfect-perfect to beat me, or someone moving all-in with nothing to spring my trap and they hit their miracle 2-outer. I am not blaming the internet as it has been consistently happening live too but as I play more hands on the internet it seems like the e-deal is to blame. It is getting to the stage now where when I am all-in and my opponent flips over his rags, I say to myself (as an example) - “right NO Jack” – a jack being the only card they can hit (whether it be the 3 remaining jacks or the 2 remaining jacks in the deck) – I stare so hard at the screen and want him to miss so badly but ...., and as if by some cosmic communication via my brain through the ether, down the internet connection and into the servers of whatever site I am playing on – it finds that jack EVERY F**KING TIME!!!

I was watching something on the TV the other night about the powers and electricity of the brain and have heard it said a few times before that if someone believes something so strongly then they really can truly make it happen – and if one person's mind can connect on exactly the same frequency level as another person’s brain then surely they can communicate without actually talking. Look at the connection some sets of twins have with each other – one of them breaks a leg and the other one feels the pain too - and they could be hundreds of miles apart and not actually know of the injury to their sibling. So why not for example, when I think so negatively at the screen and virtually pray for a card not to come does it arrive? I am going to research into this and report back – hopefully I will learn some mind reading skills along the way :-)

Cheerio

P.S. I still haven’t found that witch I’ve been looking for! – Or maybe it’s because I didn’t buy that lavender off of that Gypsy woman standing outside M&S in Newark! – Who knows?

Well, I must have F***ed a Witch!

..... either that, or i have murdered the wife of a poker god. Something has certainly happened in my subliminal or subconcious or within my dejavous outer-life parallel aoura (am i sounding like Phil Laak yet?!!)

I can't begin to tell you the current extent of my bad form, my bout of the badbeats and the strength and suction power of my suckouts at the moment - its just a serious tale of woe, a real real real sad sickening run of form.

Now, I am not pretending that my problems are greater than anyone elses in real life, I am only talking about a game of poker after all - (i still wouldn't swap places with a homeless destitute, a New Orleans old-timer or a drugged up lady of the night working the street of Sheffield - they've got real problems!!) but in terms of playing poker, whether it be for fun (it isn't that right now!) or for a living, I HAVE got problems, i really am right at the back of the luck queue! I am not even asking for any good luck to come my way - i feel i am good enough to make a profit through good play and not have to rely on good luck, however i just don't want any BAD luck - its all i ask from time to time.

KK seems to be the main culprit. In the past 3 weeks i have re-raised all-in with this hand 8 times, each time i have been a favourite at various % levels ranging from 84% to 67%, however it has only stood up once. It has been cracked by A-10, A-8, JJ, 44, QQ, A-K and 88. Now what am i doing wrong in life or more importantly in the game to be suffering here. Every single time i move all-in i am doing it against players that still have enough chips to pass, i interestingly enough haven't once had to call all-in with KK - every time i have been either first in with it or i have re-raised with it.

AA hasn't been fairing much better. (5 All-ins and only 2 victories). The worst of all was just today - a real moment to reach for your sick bag. I was playing a large multi on pokerstars and there are two of us on the table with similar chips - we both have 10k, the chip leader in the tournament has 18k, and with blinds at 100-200 we are both not really in need of a gamble at all. However, the ultimate situation occurs - i have AA and he has KK and all the money goes in preflop (it wasn't played slowly either, he makes it 700 and i move in for 9875!!!!) - My all-in reraise surely tells him i have a monster and i don't want an accident but he duly calls with his KK anyway. The flop brings another ace and i think "drama over - i will be chip leader in a matter of seconds when the chips get moved around however the turn brings a ten and the river a queen to go with the jack on the flop and the king in his hand!!! - so there you go, he beats my AA with KK without even spiking a king - and to cap it off and really take the piss, the pokerstars software deals me AA the very next hand and allows me to push all-in with my remaining 575, only to be called in 2 spots and have it cracked this time by Q-8o who makes a straight by the turn. - What have i got to do FFS!!!!!!!!!!

I really don't want to continue and i know those that have bothered to get this far will be greatful for that, but i really haven't even scratched the surface here! - day after day, week after week i just seem to be outdrawn for fun - people are spiking 2 and 3 outers for fun against me. Its getting so bad now that i even expect to lose when i have the over pair - i really can't see it standing up against the under pair that has called my all-in.

I don't want to make this a badbeat blog at all - i hate those types of blogs, they bore me but this is a diary of whats happening with me in the game and right now this is how i feel and this is what's happening - its sick and the sooner i find that witch and f**k her agin, the better.

adios

I'm Saying Nothing

I decided to deposit some money into my pokerstars account recently and have been playing a few multi table tournaments (MTT's) on there and the odd Sit N Go with varying successes. In my opinion pokerstars has the best range of MTT's on the net in terms of regularity, stakes, chip stacks and blinds. I also feel it has the best software, graphics, user friendliness etc.- in short its my preferred site to play on. I have, however noticed that it is infested with loud mouthed poker coach, know-it-alls, who seem to believe it is their sole function at the table to discuss strategy, their hands, other player's hands and in general verbally spew their entire game plan onto the cyber-felt in front of them.

I hadn't really thought about this much until a couple of nights ago and to be honest i have in the past myself been guilty of lambasting my opponent for a weak call or asking why matey boy "has just done so and so in that position", or showing a hand because someone asked me too. I had just accepted it as part of the game and wanted to vent my anger at the 'poisson merde' that just called my all-in with rags and got lucky. So it took a totally innocent and genuine barrage of questions from a complete novice to get me thinking about this subject.... picture the scene.....

Now, this may sound a wee bit sad but the real pokergirlie, my adorable girlfriend likes to sit and watch me play on the net... partly because she is learning to play and partly because she thinks she is better than me (probably not far wrong on current form) :-( - only joking.... she is a complete novice but enjoys to watch - the point to this diversion into my evening currciulum with the real pokergirlie??....

- Well, I was playing on one particular table and it was particularly 'knowlegeable' - full of loveable (not) americans all telling each other how fishy they are and how in deed they 'own' each other "i own you daaawg" (what on earth is a daaawg anyway?) (This speach play in my opinion is as good as declaring to the table that they are capable of moves and bluffing) etc. etc. - you get the picture. I am looking on in amusement at the chat box when i hear the following question.... "Why are they all talking about their hands?" i respond with, "oh some players just like to do that when they think they've been clever and made a bluff". Question 2.... "But, why would you do that, surely they are giving away their tactics aren't they?", Response 2.... "errr, well I suppose they are". Another five minutes of poker 101 for begginners ensues on the screen in front of me when in my left ear i get Question 3...

"Did that guy just show his hand?" - response 3... "errr... yes darling, you can do that if you want" Question 4.... "But why would you ever do that? Response 4.... Well, I didn't really have one! At first I just answered the questions defending the other players actions and not really thinking about it, but as the game went on, the coaching just became more and more frequent and to be honest it annoyed me that these guys were discussing all the hands (some that they weren't even in) and were telling some of the other players, who were quite clearly useless or new to the game or both how to play and what not to do etc. It triggered something inside of me (the stubborn bone i think) and I have therefore decided that from now on at the poker table (either live or online) i will only talk about issues unrelated to the game and i will never show a hand to anyone unless i can see it being of benefit to me later in the game (i will never show a hand just for the sake of it - i just can't see what value at all there is in doing this)


Anyone think this is a good or bad strategy or am i just getting old, grumpy, fed up and annoyed at being out of form?

Answers on a picture card please.....