Aug 26th - €50+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

Being on holiday at the moment means that I can indulge more in the local game than of late.

After Wed night's great performance I was hoping to do well here again and a 6th place finish endorsed the fact that my play - live - has come a fair way what with all the Internet poker I've been playing of late.

Again I played tight early on and when getting good cards coupled with good flops I made sure I made money out of them. I got lucky again once or twice and had a nice stack as we began the proper session after the break.

Players in the Friday night game seem to play better than those in the Wed night game, as you might expect so I had to pick and choose my spots carefully. The problem with this tactic though is that if the cards don't co-operate you can find yourself getting a bit bored and, in the search for action, make rash choices about certain hands that, in the light of day, maybe have better left alone.

I curbed my enthusiasm for getting involved unless I had the goods but with 121 players left I had only 8k left and with blinds at 1k/2k I had to get busy.

I get A-9 and go all-in. No callers. +3k
I get A-2 and go all-in. No callers. +3k
I get A-10 and go all-in. No callers. +3k.

I make the final table with 11k!

So I'm short stack and need to get busy. Luckily for me two players dropped out quickly. And then I get A-Q, go all-in, get called with player and his A-4 and I double through.

One more player drops. We're now 6 and I have 40k in chips. I'm only looking to get involved when I believe I have the lead pre-flop!

We do a deal where 4th, 5th & 6th all get €500 and I look down to see J-J. I raise to 18K and its passed around to the BB who thinks that A-9 is a great all-in hand for 40k (exactly the same as me). Of course I call and Am a nice 65-35 fav! Hah!

The flop comes 3-4-5. Uh Oh!! The turn is a King. The river a frigging TWO! Mr Gamble makes a straight and I'm done. Yes thats poker but really!!

75 Entries - 6th - Win - $512.50 (€410) Loss $0 - Acc. Total +621.64