Update 2014

Hello internet.

Studying takes up a large part of my time these days so I've hardly played Poker recently. I've also been playing some Chess which was a hobby of mine when I was a little younger. I think I'm probably about as strong as I was before at that game now (which isn't to say particularly strong, probably average club standard - chess.com rates me about 1850 ELO in correspondence games). However I'm enjoying the ride, so I will likely continue to use some spare time for Chess.

So where does this leave Poker?

A large reason why I've been reluctant to put in the hours is the time commitment required to put in a sufficient volume of hands. Additionally I just haven't felt much like playing. There's no doubt that Poker affects me emotionally sometimes and I find that to be quite wearing.

When I do play, I find that I'm only ever a little ring rusty and my knowledge remains intact. I also enjoy playing more when I approach Poker casually without putting pressure on my performance, so I'm going to endeavour to start to put in some more hours again but I'll really try to avoid taking it too seriously.

Perhaps I will play an occasional session for the sole purpose of updating this blog with a few cool hands and thoughts on the state of the games.

I hope that those of you who still put in a lot of volume are all running well!

SNGs

Full Tilt have been offering discounts on SNG and tournament tickets this week so I've cashed in all of my FPPs for 44 x $10  tickets. Ill probably play the 9-man SNGs and with average luck should bag around $450 for my troubles.

I've always been interested in the 9-man SNGs, they were the first game I ever really played (before HUSNG and then later full ring cash).

Back then I was a very poor player; I remember reading an article recommending folding anything below AK and JJ before the bubble which I took as gospel. But even when I got to the bubble I'd often play it too tightly and get blinded out.

So it will be nice to play a few and see what the standard is like these days. Ill post a graph of my results when finished. 

Hands of the Day

Thought I might start sharing more hand histories because:
1/ I don't care what anyone thinks about my play any more
2/ It will very probably make my blog more interesting reading!

Number #1 : Making a nitty fold

PokerStars Zoom Hand #100973187172:  Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2013/07/04 21:43:19 WET [2013/07/04 16:43:19 ET]
Table 'Arp' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Little_Watz ($43 in chips)
Seat 2: BeppoSon ($58.71 in chips)
Seat 3: Harry_Lion ($52.68 in chips)
Seat 4: kadianika ($37.81 in chips)
Seat 5: tanfoglio107 ($50 in chips)
Seat 6: Misteriouz66 ($60.98 in chips)
Seat 7: Yi1688 ($43.87 in chips)
Seat 8: FrancoViola ($59.14 in chips)
Seat 9: BankoBet ($55.62 in chips)
BeppoSon: posts small blind $0.25
Harry_Lion: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BankoBet [Qs Jd]
kadianika: calls $0.50
tanfoglio107: folds
Misteriouz66: folds
Yi1688: folds
FrancoViola: folds
BankoBet: raises $1.50 to $2
Little_Watz: folds
BeppoSon: folds
Harry_Lion: folds
kadianika: calls $1.50
*** FLOP *** [7s 7d Qc]
kadianika: bets $4.50
BankoBet: calls $4.50

This is the decision I wanted to show, and weak/tight/nitty as it sounds I think I should have folded immediately here. My opponent has demonstrated very passive tendencies so far and while passive-pre-flop/aggro-monkey-post-flop players do exist they are definitely in the minority. The pot sized bet tells me he likes his hand and it's likely to cost me much more than four fiddy to see a showdown with top pair third best kicker.

*** TURN *** [7s 7d Qc] [5c]
kadianika: bets $5
BankoBet: folds
Uncalled bet ($5) returned to kadianika
kadianika collected $13.13 from pot
kadianika: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $13.75 | Rake $0.62
Board [7s 7d Qc 5c]
Seat 1: Little_Watz (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: BeppoSon (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Harry_Lion (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: kadianika collected ($13.13)
Seat 5: tanfoglio107 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Misteriouz66 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Yi1688 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: FrancoViola folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: BankoBet folded on the Turn

Number #2 : Second nut draw against passive aggression

PokerStars Zoom Hand #100973585458:  Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2013/07/04 21:50:56 WET [2013/07/04 16:50:56 ET]

Table 'Arp' 9-max Seat #1 is the button

Seat 1: dída ($39.62 in chips)

Seat 2: hahaChina ($22.25 in chips)

Seat 3: ieatRollz ($50.08 in chips)

Seat 4: Ogel1 ($49.75 in chips)

Seat 5: BankoBet ($50 in chips)

Seat 6: mirjam91 ($37.35 in chips)

Seat 7: kadianika ($47.95 in chips)

Seat 8: Vermont VII ($60.04 in chips)

Seat 9: bschwarz56 ($18.48 in chips)

hahaChina: posts small blind $0.25

ieatRollz: posts big blind $0.50

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to BankoBet [Jd Jh]

Ogel1: raises $1.50 to $2

BankoBet: calls $2

I don't call with many hands in early position to early position raises but JJ is one of them. Actually on this subject, I think my early/middle position strategy facing a raise is seriously flawed. I play a very face up range and at 50NL it might not matter but if I ever move higher then it surely will. 

mirjam91: folds

kadianika: calls $2

Vermont VII: folds

bschwarz56: folds

dída: folds

hahaChina: folds

ieatRollz: folds

*** FLOP *** [Ah Qh 3h]

Ogel1: checks

BankoBet: checks

I think I should bet here.

kadianika: bets $3.50

Ogel1: folds

BankoBet: calls $3.50

Opponent is loose passive over a very small sample but this situation is why I think it was better to bet first. Do I call and draw to the second nuts? Check raise bluffing a passive player is not generally good strategy. Still, I don't think it's a huge mistake - after all I was getting ~33% from the pot with some implied odds if I hit. 

*** TURN *** [Ah Qh 3h] [4d]

BankoBet: checks

kadianika: bets $6.50

BankoBet: folds

Falling implied odds versus a range that's looking stronger by the second lead me to ditch my draw. 

Uncalled bet ($6.50) returned to kadianika

kadianika collected $13.13 from pot

kadianika: doesn't show hand

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $13.75 | Rake $0.62

Board [Ah Qh 3h 4d]

Seat 1: dída (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 2: hahaChina (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 3: ieatRollz (big blind) folded before Flop

Seat 4: Ogel1 folded on the Flop

Seat 5: BankoBet folded on the Turn

Seat 6: mirjam91 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 7: kadianika collected ($13.13)

Seat 8: Vermont VII folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 9: bschwarz56 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Number #3 : Another nitty fold

PokerStars Zoom Hand #100972232620:  Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2013/07/04 21:25:52 WET [2013/07/04 16:25:52 ET]

Table 'Arp' 9-max Seat #1 is the button

Seat 1: vladibeest ($40.80 in chips)

Seat 2: JoooooooooJ ($57.52 in chips)

Seat 3: iLikeSnow ($46.25 in chips)

Seat 4: BankoBet ($50 in chips)

Seat 5: Cisko555 ($59.71 in chips)

Seat 6: Bossi22 ($51.61 in chips)

Seat 7: ozazello ($52.13 in chips)

Seat 8: mlnrrbrt ($101.98 in chips)

Seat 9: Kayvorle1 ($21.83 in chips)

JoooooooooJ: posts small blind $0.25

iLikeSnow: posts big blind $0.50

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to BankoBet [Qh Ah]

BankoBet: raises $1 to $1.50

Cisko555: folds

Bossi22: folds

ozazello: folds

mlnrrbrt: calls $1.50

Kayvorle1: folds

vladibeest: calls $1.50

JoooooooooJ: folds

iLikeSnow: folds

*** FLOP *** [9c 3c Qd]

BankoBet: bets $3

mlnrrbrt: calls $3

vladibeest: folds

*** TURN *** [9c 3c Qd] [4c]

Villain is a semi-loose but solid regular. 

BankoBet: checks

mlnrrbrt: bets $5.50

This is the interesting bit. Against a fairly tight flop calling range - and assuming TT and JJ are checking back this turn pretty often - my equity makes a call here around break even (if I've done the maths right). So assuming check folding and check calling are even, is it profitable to turn AQ into a bluff? {Either by c-betting again or check raising}. I will need to do some working out to answer this question and I don't have time right now. Perhaps someone else can answer and post a comment below. 

BankoBet: folds

Uncalled bet ($5.50) returned to mlnrrbrt

mlnrrbrt collected $10.74 from pot

mlnrrbrt: doesn't show hand

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $11.25 | Rake $0.51

Board [9c 3c Qd 4c]

Seat 1: vladibeest (button) folded on the Flop

Seat 2: JoooooooooJ (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 3: iLikeSnow (big blind) folded before Flop

Seat 4: BankoBet folded on the Turn

Seat 5: Cisko555 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 6: Bossi22 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 7: ozazello folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 8: mlnrrbrt collected ($10.74)

Seat 9: Kayvorle1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

There were a few other hands that I mis-played and one or two that I played well too but I think that's enough for one night. 

Some of these decisions might seem completely trivial, but I'm not a great player and I find range dissection interesting. I love the way that in poker a hand can be bet for value on one street and then as a bluff on the next. That's where poker's beauty lies in my humble opinion. 

GL! 

Hand History

Just had a so so session, you know one of those where nothing goes right. It's very easy to tilt when it happens but when you've played close to a million hands it's easier to manage your emotions in those situations.

So I was pleased with the way I played other than one hand which I'll share:

PokerStars Zoom Hand #100929348436:  Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2013/07/03 21:57:23 WET [2013/07/03 16:57:23 ET]
Table 'Arp' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: monnemma ($25.06 in chips)
Seat 2: dbubll ($23.25 in chips)
Seat 3: ira5000 ($32.42 in chips)
Seat 4: BankoBet ($55.78 in chips)
Seat 5: hassofass000 ($67.67 in chips)
Seat 6: konn84 ($63.54 in chips)
Seat 7: ZEROPOSITIV ($40.90 in chips)
Seat 8: prelop_me ($141.46 in chips)
Seat 9: plesko ($99.01 in chips)
dbubll: posts small blind $0.25
ira5000: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to BankoBet [9d 9s]

BankoBet: raises $1 to $1.50
hassofass000: folds
konn84: folds
ZEROPOSITIV: folds
prelop_me: calls $1.50
plesko: folds
monnemma: folds
dbubll: folds
ira5000: raises $1 to $2.50
BankoBet: calls $1
prelop_me: calls $1
*** FLOP *** [8h Kc 9c]

BAZINGA!

ira5000: bets $2.50
BankoBet: calls $2.50

This is where the decision tree gets interesting. I don't think that calling was the right play given that there is evidence that ira5000 is an inexperienced player. Historically I've always done better by playing good hands fast against players like this. How would you have proceeded?

prelop_me: calls $2.50
*** TURN *** [8h Kc 9c] [Th]
ira5000: checks
BankoBet: bets $9.50
prelop_me: calls $9.50
ira5000: raises $9.50 to $19
BankoBet: raises $31.78 to $50.78 and is all-in

Given the evidence we've got so far about ira5000 I'm not too worried by this check raise. I've seen enough players like this overplaying AA and AK post flop to shit myself about KK - although it's obviously in his range. The question again is whether I took the right line by raising rather than calling. I can definitely see merits in calling. Again, what do you think?

prelop_me: folds
ira5000: calls $8.42 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($23.36) returned to BankoBet
*** RIVER *** [8h Kc 9c Th] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ira5000: shows [Qc Jc] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
BankoBet: shows [9d 9s] (three of a kind, Nines)
ira5000 collected $77.09 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $79.59 | Rake $2.50
Board [8h Kc 9c Th Ah]
Seat 1: monnemma (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: dbubll (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: ira5000 (big blind) showed [Qc Jc] and won ($77.09) with a straight, Ten to Ace
Seat 4: BankoBet showed [9d 9s] and lost with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 5: hassofass000 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: konn84 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: ZEROPOSITIV folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: prelop_me folded on the Turn
Seat 9: plesko folded before Flop (didn't bet)

You might wonder why I posted this hand, but my instincts are telling me that I got it wrong and I wanted to hear some other points of view. Looking back I can understand why I took the line that I did but it still feels wrong somehow.

Right, time to head in. GL

Quick Update

All hands are 50NL Zoom poker on PokerStars

My play has been much improved lately which has coincided with an upturn in fortunes. I'm not naive enough to believe that the upswing is all down to better play but I am certainly making far fewer mistakes now that I've got hands under my belt.

When I first started playing again after last year's break I was being overly aggressive and not giving up in enough pots; I was playing too suspiciously by bluff catching too often and I was hand reading poorly. But since the 10k hand mark I've felt really sharp again so hopefully winning ways will continue.

There are definitely a few areas that still need work; I think I've missed value in several large pots in the last few thousand hands so I'll be looking to rectify that in the next.

Overall though I'm happy with my game, I haven't forgotten everything and I'm still competitive at these stakes in my opinion. GL!

Good Session

Played some 50NL Zoom and I think it's the best session I've played since I've been back. I made very few mistakes in my opinion and I also got dealt black kings so got a free buy-in from Stars. Weeeee!

Also played the Hot $16.50 but it didn't go very well. I must be honest and admit that my push/fold knowledge is very poor. I feel that the last few tournaments I've let my stack get way too short before committing to an all-in spot.

In the past one of my key tournament money earners was shoving very wide in the small blind or on the button but it just seems to me that it's very rarely folding to me in those spots these days. I wonder if this is just small sample variance or whether the tournament short stackers are improving.

I tried loading up SNGWiz to try and practise some late game situations but for some reason it no longer recognises me as a registered user which is kind of frustrating. I've not used it for over a year so I've probably only got myself to blame.

I'll try emailing the developers and see if they can send me a new license and perhaps I'll read "Kill Everyone" again and study the push/fold tables printed in it.

Tournaments are fun and it would be nice to be able to register a couple of good scores now and then.

Right, I will post again soon. GL!

Full Tilt MTOPS Main Event

Got myself four entries. I have a bunch of FTP points so I purchased tickets from the store and will see how I get on.

I think technically for a proven tournament winner with good knowledge of push/fold ranges it would be best to enter for the maximum number of entries with eight. This would give such a player a good chance to go deep. But for me - probably a break even tournament player - I thought that four entries would be sufficient. I think that making good late game decisions would become difficult if I had eight tables up.

The tournament itself is massively under registered currently (with about 15 minutes left) so there is a large overlay. Get yourself involved, it looks like free money!

Anyway I will put updates here, it's $90k to the winner.

Update 1: Didn't realise there was a 30 minute seating window, so I'm just sat around waiting right now. I've also opened a beer. Not the most sensible tournament decision but I'm just viewing this as a bit of fun. If things get serious I'll switch to the coiffee later on. The tournament still has an overlay, although it is diminishing.

I've never noticed that FTP offer multi-buy-in tournaments before. I wonder how it affects the ICM; I imagine that for a proven winner it's best to buy in as many times as possible. But does this mean that the fish/reg ratio deteriorates? I'd imagine that only knowledgeable players would buy-in more than once.

Great. The HUD isn't working on FTP for some reason so time to nit up. Should probably have checked before I registered...

Update 2: Fishy field, but card dead. Really not running too well, got three lives left but the fourth I was knocked out dominating my opponent with AQ vs Q8o right to the river. Meh. The three remaining lives are very close to being valueless given the stack sizes relative to average so I don't think my tourney foray will last a great deal longer!

Final update:

Last life, very short, over 10k villains to beat. It's not happenin'! Signing off as I will need to sleep as soon as I'm KO'd.

Good night!

Latest News

Hi!

So I've finally reached 10k hands in my new sample. I'll be honest - I haven't played well enough to beat the games and I'm suprised that I'm around break even so far.

I sense that I'm making fewer mistakes as time goes on so perhaps after a few more thousand hands I can get back to winning ways, but since I'm playing at a higher limit and I have no "previous" at these stakes it could just be that a winning 25NL zoom strategy does not equate to a winning 50NL zoom strategy.

I think I'm going to mix in some non-zoom cash game tables and really concentrate on beating the fish.

Why 50NL?

After all those years playing like a nit in 10NL and 25NL games that's a good question, but the truth is that now I'm earning more money I can afford to play higher stakes. I'd like to go to 100NL soon but I wanted to give myself a run at 50NL first as a warm up. If I can do OK (read breakeven) at this limit over say a hundred thousand hands then I'll just go straight up. The rakes better at 100.

HUSNG?

A couple of years ago I dabbled in the HUSNG games before I caught the Rush bug and I've quite fancied giving them a go lately. I'm sure there are enough weak players about that they are still profitable but the barrier to entry is that they are a totally different ballgame to full ring so I'd need to start my learning again from scratch.

But there are some great HUSNG resources out there, and the Sharkscope leaderboards prove that there is still tons of money to be made in that format.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that this was no brief flash in the pan and that my enthusiasm has returned for the game no matter whether I win or lose. I think I needed a year to sort my life out and now that all is good I can attempt to bring my game to the next level. GL

2.5k hands so far

Super small sample, break even overall.

I have a habit when playing after a break to fight for too many pots, and this showed itself again in two different forms.
1/ I recklessly 5-bet shoved A2o against an aggressive late position opener who 4-bet from the button. I was convinced in terms of game flow and given his wide steal range that he would be 4-betting light in that spot quite often plus I had a blocker. He did call though and I was dominated.

The trouble with 5-bet shoving light is that the odds we're laying ourself aren't that good. If I have 25% equity against a calling range (true in this case) and I'm risking two and a half times the pot then I need a large percentage of his 4-bet range to fold for it to become profitable (I think it's around 40%). This sounds possible but pretty unlikely.

2/ I made a call with ace high on a double paired board against an aggressive fish. The board played out in a way that it counter-fit all of his low pairs and all of the draws missed. So I decided to play bluff catcher.

I can name plenty of times in the past when this might have been a reasonable call against certain opponents and I guess I threw this guy in with the same player type. The problem was I had very few hands on him. He was certainly a fish (weird bet sizing plus less than full stack) but I don't think I had enough hands to reliably make an ace high call. He could have turned out to be a really passive fish who only bets the nuts (which he had in this case).

Other than these two big mistakes I think I've played pretty solidly. Enough of my opponents were making errors against me that I'm pretty confident that I can beat this limit providing I can cut out mistakes like the above.

I can sense that some of my sharpness is returning with time and hands and I think that I will make fewer mistakes as time goes on. And really this is the essence of poker; the challenge is to reach a standard where the very best players at your limit are making no fewer mistakes than you are. GL

I'm Back

Good Morning

It's a rather lovely British bank holiday Sunday and I'm up for some Zoom poker.

In the last few weeks I've begun to get a bit of an itch to play again so I've decided to put in a few thousand hands at 50NL Zoom. I'm pretty busy so I'll have to fit it around other commitments but hopefully I'll be able to manage a few thousand hands per week.

Once I've reached a milestone (maybe 50k hands) I will post some graphs and give some thoughts on the current state of the games.

I really don't anticipate much because after a year out my game is likely to be very rusty. Additionally I imagine that there are new trends and theories doing the rounds that I will not yet be aware of.

I'm not sure how much of a renaissance this will be but for now I'm back at the tables. GL!

Edit:

Message from PokerStars:
Welcome back to PokerStars, where the Stars come to play!
As a welcome back present, we'd like to deal you quads.

Thank you for playing at PokerStars!

PokerStars Zoom Hand #99121709247:  Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2013/05/26 10:32:19 WET [2013/05/26 5:32:19 ET]
Table 'Arp' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Interface21 ($25 in chips)
Seat 2: wordsmt ($55.04 in chips)
Seat 3: chachar73 ($43.75 in chips)
Seat 4: Blood Out444 ($61.76 in chips)
Seat 5: daveaneo ($25.50 in chips)
Seat 6: Hero ($56.68 in chips)
Seat 7: tezonchik ($54.64 in chips)
Seat 8: faustus2 ($48.50 in chips)
Seat 9: The Cambist ($50 in chips)
wordsmt: posts small blind $0.25
chachar73: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [9c 9s]
Blood Out444: folds
daveaneo: raises $0.65 to $1.15
Hero: calls $1.15
tezonchik: folds
faustus2 has timed out while disconnected
faustus2: folds
The Cambist: folds
Interface21: folds
wordsmt: folds
chachar73: calls $0.65
*** FLOP *** [9h Js 9d]
chachar73: checks
daveaneo: bets $2.50
Hero: calls $2.50
chachar73: calls $2.50
*** TURN *** [9h Js 9d] [5d]
chachar73: checks
daveaneo: checks
Hero: bets $6.50
chachar73: folds
daveaneo: folds
Uncalled bet ($6.50) returned to Hero
Hero collected $10.70 from pot
Hero: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $11.20 | Rake $0.50
Board [9h Js 9d 5d]
Seat 1: Interface21 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: wordsmt (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: chachar73 (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 4: Blood Out444 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: daveaneo folded on the Turn
Seat 6: Hero collected ($10.70)
Seat 7: tezonchik folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: faustus2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: The Cambist folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Edit 2:

Initial thoughts are that the games don't immediately seem too dissimilar to before. Many of the regs that I used to bump into are still present in the games. I imagine that they have improved beyond my old standard by now though.

I was reading through some old posts on this blog, and it's clear to me that I used to think at a much higher level than I do now. A year out of the game is a long time, and I may never return to that standard (in fact I'm pretty sure that I won't).

However what today's play has reminded me of is that I used to love the challenge of playing hands against thinking opponents; the challenge of assigning ranges and making the right decision. I've missed the battle with these regs that I used to compete with day in and day out. So I'd like to keep this little renaissance going; perhaps I begun to take the old battles for granted and forgot that I actually relished them.

So expect to see more posts in the near future as I begin to rediscover my passion for the game. I'll never be as sharp as I was but at least I'm back!

Boo!

Been a while, huh?

I've been pretty busy with work and things and to be honest I've hardly played a hand in 2 - 3 months.

My training is going to be worth much more value in the long run than earning a few dollars per hour at poker so unfortunately the game is going to be on the back burner for the foreseeable future.

Overall my life is well back on track after my work frustrations at the start of last year and the brief turmoil of being unemployed. It's great being a driver and being in a role where I have a chance of progression and where I'm undertaking training that will put me into a different league of earnings.

And what about poker? Well I've started to get a little bit of an itch to play again. I think I had a bit of burn out for a while after playing nearly a million hands in a couple of years. I quite fancy playing a bit of tournament poker for fun in the remote chance of a big pay day, because the grind of cash games (not to mention the time effort required) is still a bit of a turn off at the moment.

I'll probably be looking at Full Tilt's Rush tournaments so that I can get in more volume if I do play. And if I do I'll be sure to post all about it here.

It would be a shame for my history to fade away; for the ups and downs and the rants and raves to disappear; for the booms and busts to become another dead thread at the back of a google search. So I will try to keep my blog going, even if my posts are only intermittent.

Until then, good luck at the tables!