Just too busy to play and blog.

Break Even: Up with a bouns payout, down without it ($5 swing either way)

Updates are light at the moment as university work (I'm doing a PGCE to become a teacher) takes over. I've a mountain of work to do and probably won't get a real good chance to play some poker until Easter.

I did get some poker in over the last few days though and it was a mixed bag.

On Tuesday I was neither up nor down. I was doing the silly thing and paying people off again which was quite annoying but in another room I doubled up so it turned out about even.

Yesterday was a bad day. On 888 I was being a big pay off wizard. In one hand I had AK, flopped an A, didn't bet for some reason and then bet on the turn. I got called and bet again on the river and was min raised. I even said to myself, 'I know I'm beat' but called anyway. Sure enough the raiser had A-rag for two pair.

Another hand I played really badly. Had 55. Flop brought two of the same suit. I said to myself, '5 of clubs please'. Instead a 5 of spades came giving me a set but the board a third spade. I made a bet and got called. River was a blank and the last player in the pot checked to me. I knew I should have checked as I was worried about a flush. Instead I bet $4, was raised to $8 and I called. Sure enough he showed a flush. It was such an obvious hand to check down as I sensed my set was no good.

I played on Full Tilt after that and got a bit fed up. No hole cards and no flops. Everyone kept raising my bets too. To be honest I think I was getting out played. I quit that after about a $10 loss. Full Tilt isn't the site I thought it might be. While it's good to have Poker Tracker working things out for me, the rake is real swine (10% at the 0.05/0.10 tables) and I just don't seem to get the cards on there. Of course I'll be wrong about that; only fish blame the poker site.It's taking too long and too much money to earn the bonus too. Maybe Full Tilt as a whole package just doesn't suit me.

So today I went back to Bodog and racked up a $38 profit. I hit an A high flush in the new six-handed 0.10/0.25 rooms (well done, Bodog. Shorthanded small stakes cash-rooms!) and got two people to pay me off for quite a bit of money. Played well in general in the room too. I left the room $27 up.

I also went back to the old $8 sng beginner rooms where 5 from 10 get paid. They've changed the format a bit. No longer is it 10 hands per blind increase, it's 10 minutes per blind increase. Also the blinds start at 10/20 now instead of 5/10 but you do start with 1500 chips instead of 1000. Overall it felt about the same because you get more hands in per level. I played just two hands in the first 50 or so. My 26suited flopped a flush and I doubled up. Then I had pocket 10s and called an all-in by the shortstack when we were on the bubble. He showed A2 and hit a four-card flush. Very annoying until I went all in with Q5 v his JJ. I hit a flush. Justice. In the end I finished 2nd for $12 profit.

So it was looking bad until today when Bodog saved the day and got me back level.