Ok I am still going on, like always.
Had my first losing session on monday but made up with the best session of the year on wednessday.
I have been playing every day because of the Alpha 8 being at my local casino and there is enough action around.
Last night I was there watching the action of the Alpha 8 with Ray Rhame who had just come backed from the Auzzi Mil.
Below is a picture taken during the break.
and now for a picture or the real Antonio with the best live player in the world.
I have to say that, contra to what has been said by joe, the players were real ambassadors for the game. They were all very approachable and very easy to talk to. Ivey in particular was very friendly (ok that was before he got eliminated).
I went to play the cash game and found the game populated with a number of young pro's from cape town. I found it difficult because the guy next to me had such a chip on his shoulder that I had to duck to miss it every time I looked at my cards. In fact they managed to get some players to move table. I cannot remember when last I saw a recreational player, who had not lost his stack, asking the floor to change tables. Last night we had 3.
I left normal time but only 50BB up (which was ok having regard that I spent a lot of time at the alpha 8) mostly due to non-showdown winnings. I had only 1 showdown with AK v AK split.
Dont know if anyone even is reading this but ....
My nephew got engaged two weeks ago... this is how we roll
Originally posted by mineriva
..My nephew got engaged two weeks ago... this is how we roll
Was it a freeroll?
Is it possible your nephew or his fiancee are poker players?
I posted the link from youtube because I cannot seem to get it to work.
No it is not a freeroll... at 38 we thought he was never going to get married. I thought it was because I listened to my advise...
Originally posted by Hamishk
Originally posted by mineriva
..My nephew got engaged two weeks ago... this is how we roll
Was it a freeroll?
Is it possible your nephew or his fiancee are poker players?
no neither of them play poker because they have religious objections to gambling but his father (my brother in law) cannot seem to understand that "online forex trading" is gambling. 
ps. my line normally is "poker is not gambling... well not the way I play it."
Originally posted by mineriva
Originally posted by Hamishk
Originally posted by mineriva
..My nephew got engaged two weeks ago... this is how we roll
Was it a freeroll?
Is it possible your nephew or his fiancee are poker players?no neither of them play poker because they have religious objections to gambling but his father (my brother in law) cannot seem to understand that "online forex trading" is gambling. ?(
ps. my line normally is "poker is not gambling... well not the way I play it."
:f_confused:
online forex trading... Not gambling.... Yeah ... Right....
Ok it is long over due so a short post about poker.
Still playing 2 - 3 sessions each week and had my first two losing sessions last week Friday and Saturday.
One hand in particular is of interest:
It is Saturday night and we have only one cash game going due to the tables being occupied by the normal Saturday tournament which just finished the rebuy period.
The first player eliminated out of the tournament and a very well known "gambler" comes to the last seat on our table. He sits down with about 400BB but some stupid shortstack complains and his stack is reduced to 200BB. (this is the min table and there is a max buyin amount).
It is about 10 min later and this Villain is UTG and I am CO with about 150BB. Villain is busy with something behind him but he look at his cards and picks up some raising chips. It should be mentioned that this would be the 4th consecutive hand that he raises. As he picks up the chip a few chips gets stuck together and puts them back on his stack. He then goes and tries to pick up some raising chips again but again the chips gets stuck together. This time he just puts it in the middle. The result is a 15BB raise.
It is folded to me and I look down to AcKd. I know he does not have a monster because he has been raising so often and because he in fact tried to raise less. I decided to make a slightly bigger 3bet with the intention of committing our stacks. I 3bet to 50BB.
Flop: As5d6h
Villain checks. After consideration I thought that there is no good point in betting the flop. If villain has an Ace then the money always goes in. So I check
Turn: 7d
Villain checks again. Now I have to bet as there are a lot more hands in his range that can call. I bet 50BB. Villain calls.
River Ad
Villain checks. I ship for remaing 50BB odd. Villain calls and shows Td9d 
In retrospect I think I should just ship the turn. Really dont know why I mess about with the 1/2 PSB. Alternatively I should really slap myself for the river bet. I cant think of many weaker hands that calls the river.
Well it has been in the news a lot the last few days.
I plan on making a post on my impressions of the Oscar Pistorius trial.
For now suffice to say I dont think he has a leg to stand on. 
Originally posted by mineriva
Well it has been in the news a lot the last few days.I plan on making a post on my impressions of the Oscar Pistorius trial.
For now suffice to say I dont think he has a leg to stand on.
Are you sure he isn't a tigger? Tiggers bounce.
Spoiler
I don’t know how it is in the rest of the world but here in South Africa all eyes are on the Gauteng North High Court. I have to admit that I have been taken by surprise by the media hype.
So here is my opinion about the Oscar Pistorius trial.
It is important, IMHO, to state an explain what the charges are: (1) Murder; (2) Discharge of a firearm; (3) Discharge of a firearm; (4) Possession of ammunition.
He is not charged with premeditated murder. In fact there is no such crime as premeditated murder in South African law. South Africa only knows "murder" which is the intentional causing the death of another person. There is no 1st degree/2nd degree ect. What South African law does have is that we introduced minimum sentences for certain crimes some years ago. In the case of murder the minimum sentence is life if any of a number of predefined circumstances were present. One of these circumstances is if the murder was premeditated. This means an accused gets convicted of the crime "murder" and then if the court finds during sentencing that the murder was pre planned then an accuse would get life. The crime however is murder.
The next important feature of the first charge is that South African law recognise competent verdicts for murder meaning that a court is at liberty to find an accused, who had been charged with murder, guilty of a lesser crime (which normally would mean culpable homicide) if the facts proved this lesser crime. This created the practice that more often than not when the state decided to charge an accused for the death of a person the state would almost by default charge the accused with murder. The reason being that the state takes no risk charging an accused with murder but will take a risk by charging an accused with a lesser offence. On the other hand we, that is lawyers in general, have become use to seeing verdicts of culpable homicide being handed down. Especially in matters where the intention of the accused was in issue and where the state tried to prove its case by way of circumstantial evidence or similar facts evidence. I still remember, reading, one of the very few cases where a wife was in fact found guilty of killing her husband who had been found drowned in the bath. The similar fact that secured her conviction was that this was husband number 3 who had been found drowned in the bath. When I heard that Oscar was going to be charged with murder my first reaction was that it was to be expected but without doubt he would only be found guilty of culpable homicide.
Looking at the remaining charges I have to say that I was very surprised that these charges were included. It was immediately abundantly clear to me that the main purpose of these charges are to make admissible some evidence which under other circumstances would not be admissible. On the other hand these type of charges are very "run of the mill" meaning they very straight forward and it is seldom that an accused is acquitted on these type of charges.
Now I have had the benefit of some of the coverage of the trial and I must say it is not as clear as what I thought at first. Long story short I believe that the case will turn around Oscars testimony. Specifically if the Judge makes a credibility finding against him he will be found guilty of murder. On the other hand if the Judge believes him it is most likely, but by no means certain, that he will be found guilty of culpable homicide.
Having regard to all the above I believe as of now the probabilities are that he will be found guilty of culpable homicide and some of the lesser charges.
South Africa 
lived in CT for almost a year as an exchange student. What a country
I'll be following your blog! Not only because you're from SA but also because I find live cash very interesting.
The case is generating quite a stir amongst the media in the UK as well. I found out that there is no jury trial , so do you think that detracts from impartiality or not? Just a curiosity question I don't get to ask is all. 
I have a friend from SA and she always finds it cold in the UK even at height of summer.
Mal.
yes jury trials went out of the door more than 40 years ago. They left unlamented as it was said. That is why we, in spite of what some bookmakers and some commentators may believe, dont do mistrials.
I know Judge Masipa as we were in the same group just before she became a judge. She is really a very sweet lady. I am sure she will not only be impartial but she will go out of her way to demonstrate that she is impartial.
I have been playing the Saturday tourney at my local casino. In the last couple of months it has consistently been the biggest regular tourney. The thing is that it is a very low buyin tourney at only R600 but it has unlimited rebuys for two hours plus a top up after two hours. It is almost the norm to rebuy like 3 times and do a top up. With 50 players the total pot is normally R100K which makes for a very nice potential ROI :f_cool:.
I have played the last 3 weeks but without rebuy or top up. The reason is that as soon as the tourney starts all the cash tables just dies and there is no cash game for at least the rebuy period.
The first week and about an hour into the tourney a number of cash players arrived and a nice cash table started. I just donked off my chips in order to get to the cash game. I thought that R600 is a very small investment in order to get on a good cash game. (in retrospect it was a very good decision) 
Last week I came 6th, which brings me to the only problem I really have with this tourney: it only pays the top 5 ;(. So after 8 hours of play I bubbled ;(. Ok we did do a small deal which means I did get a bit but really not worth 8 hours of work. The difference between 6th and 5th was that 5th got 6x more.
Last night I came 12. I was a slight chip leader after the rebuy period but was so card dead thereafter that I played only 1 hand in the 2.5 hour session after the rebuy period until the second break. Which left me with about only an average stack going into the final 2 tables. Final hand I (approx. 20BB) open raise the btn with KJo and flopped TPGK (J32) and then stacked of against SB (25BB) who called preflop with 33 :O.
As entertaining as it was I dont think I want to play it again. It is high variance and long hours. The ROI is very good but it is off a very low base. The fact is I would have to cash almost every week to sustain an hourly rate that is comparable to my current cash hourly rate. In fact I think the cash games are better on Saturdays when the gamblers get eliminated from this tourney (they already use to rebuying every 10 min ♦) So I think I just stick to cash.
NOW FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT:
In a live low buyin rebuy tournament on a Saturday night one is sure to find some really LOL hands. Here is my pick for the week:
It is just after the first break. The chipleader on the table is a VERRRY drunk Russian sitting in seat 7. He is so drunk that just before the hand he dropped one of his blue chips (5K) it rolled over to me (seat 10) and I pick it up. I proceed to place it on my stack and returned a white chip (500) to him. He did not even notice and about 5 min later when I, realizing that he is never going to notice, tried to rectify the situation by giving him back his chip and taking back my he looked at me so bewildered that I just told him that I was donating some chips to him.
Now the hand:
Our drunk Russian has been raising more than 50% of all hands. I have seen him raise any pair any broadway any SC and any Ace. One regular in particular has been trying to play as many pots as possible against him.
Preflop:
Russian is BB. Regular limps in from MP2. SB complete. Russian raises to 6BB. Regular calls and SB folds. All this time the Russian has not noticed that the Regular is in the hand so after the SB folds he proceeds and shows Ac. 
Regular immediately claims that Russian hand is mucked because he exposed this hand. Dealer decides Russian hand is not mucked and deals the flop.
Flop: As5sAd 
LOL so everyone knows Russian flopped trips :P. Russian checks. Regular, still claiming and complaining that Russian hand is mucked, checks
Turn 3s
Russian leads out. Regular, no longer complaining, ships and Russian calls.
Regular shows TsJs for the flush. Regular holds.
yes stick to cash I really think it is more +ev.
Only problem is that you have to travel so far. I have 4 casinos within a 100km radius from me that offer poker but I almost always (read 90%+) go to the closes one (<10Km)
My poor nephew has been flooding my Face book time line.
His proposal (
) has been entered into some competition for a honeymoon. The competition is to get the most votes. ATM they are leading with 2 days to go but they only 10 votes ahead.
Shame the guys needs a kick arg man I mean a click.
So please go and vote (it requires that you "like" some page then press vote on next page). You can vote every 24 hours.
Here is the link:
