Living the High Life!

I've always wondered what my life would be like if I could just get lucky enough ONCE to win an amount of money that would enable me to quit my job and play poker on the circuit for a while.

It seems to me that any Tom, Dick or Harry can get lucky once and then suddenly become attractive to all the on-line card rooms that want their products splashed across chests from here to Timbucktoo in the hope that beginners, seeing these logos, will somehow then decide that they'd like to join THAT particular card room and be a hero like the people they see on TV.

I'm very distrustful of on-line poker full stop. Ultimately I believe that when the software decides its time to go then its time to go and there ain't no way you can get out of it...anyway I digress!

I've decided that 2006 will be THE YEAR that I either make the ranks of the so called 'pro players' or I call it quits and forever then just play in the $20 tournaments that Pokerstars, or my local club for that matter, feed me and that will be that.

Expect to see me in the BIGGER BUY-IN tournaments in 2006. The $200 NL tourney on a Sunday (every week), the $500 NL every month and I'm going to attempt to get out more and play in the bigger LIVE tournaments in 2006 starting with the €1000 buy-in at the Westcliff hotel in Dublin on Jan 6th.

It seems to me that I just need to get lucky ONCE then we can go from there!

I've been playing poker for around 15 years now and have served my apprenticeship. 2006...YOUR'E MINE!!

Nov 25th - €50+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

Ok...I could write about how incredibly lucky I was on I could write about how incredibly 'unlucky' I was. Either way in the bigger scheme of things the lucky bits were surpassed by the one 'unlucky' bit and I finished in 33rd place (from 76)!

I couldn't find a hand early on although I did manage to last until 2 hands before the break before my first lot of chips disappeared. With only 3k in hand though and antes at 200/400 there was only one way I was going to play and that was fast.

Lucky hand number 1 - Holding the 8c-6c I'd flat called the antes and 3 of us saw a flop of 5-7-J rainbow. I was 2nd to act and called the 1st players bet of 800. The other player dropped and we were heads up. Another 7 came off on the turn and the first player picked up his chips and went 'all-in'. I had approx 1200 chips left so couldn't pass. I called and my opponent flipped K-K. "I need a 4 or a 9", I exclaimed! Plop! A 9 fell on the river and I was upto circa 7K.

Lucky hand number 2 - Holding the Ad-Kd in MP and with ante's at 300/600 there'd been a small raise (to 1800) by the player immediately to my right. I wasn't going to mess about so went 'all-in' for my stack of around 6.5k. The player, on the button, then decided he'd go all-in for 10k and the original raiser passed. Button man had Q-Q. Flop = 10-2-3. Turn = 6. River = ACE!! I was now upto 15k!!

At this point I felt good but as usual disaster lay await!

I got moved table and made a couple of dubious calls from bad position with so-so cards and got what I deserved in a good spanking. Down to 9k and on the button I looked down to see A-2. It was all passed around and I instinctively went all-in in the hope of just grabbing the blinds. The SB woke up with A-J and called. The flop brought my 2 but also a Jack and my time was at an end!

Lesson to be learned methinks!

76 Entries - 33rd - Loss $115 (€100) - Acc. Total +$5208

No place for the idiots!!

Its recently become more and more 'de rigeur' to stamp your feet, bang your drum and generally bereft your opponent when winning a pot these days. Certain poker playing individuals take great pleasure in ridiculing opponents in circumstances that are best left in the play pen!

With the advent of TV poker this behaviour has become more & more gross. None more so than recent incidents involving Phil Hellmuth and Tony G.

ESPN in the USA seem to have taken a certain pride in spending several hours filming Phils antics at the WSOP $10k event. You know the story...here's Phil showing up 1 hour late in a limo...here's Phil winning a pot with AK...here's Phil shitting himself when he sees he's behind to two-pairs etc etc.

Whats more gauling, to me anyway, is that ESPN seem to take great pleasure in filming Phil not for his poker skills, cos lets face it the guy has won 1 tournament these past 10 years, but because of his unpleasant nature when he loses. Players now refer to Phil as Phil 'The Donkey' Helmuth and was even presented with a toy one at the final table of the WSOP tournament of champions (in which he hustled himself a freeroll into).

Tony G, an Aussie playey, on the other hand, is a totally different animal entirely. Not satisfied with upsetting counteless players with RUB-DOWNS after sucking out on them in a given pot in a recent tournament in Monte-Carlo he then goes onto say, quite publicly on a public forum, that certain other players are 'hopeless' and 'wankers'. Obviously he's decided that to get air time on TV he needs to be noticed and as poker is a fairly sedate game he needs to liven it up a bit.

Personally I'd ban these individuals from the game at the first sign of trouble but as they themselves have put up the money to play it would take a very brave man indeed to censure them to such a degree that they could then sue the organisors for what would amount to stopping them from earning a living!

I, personally, have no time for such antics at the table as Phil & Tony give out and if we allow this kind of behaviour to manifest iteself then things can only get worse.

Nov 23rd - £20 NL Hold'Em - Cavendish Club (Belfast)

A small but fearless crowd of players for tonights £20 game at the Cavendish club and, as has been the norm for a good few weeks now, I played well and got my just rewards.

For the last three weeks here I seem to have been all-in first hand followed by the word 'rebuy'. Not tonight Josephine as my A-2 hit the muck on a 7-8-9 flop and a bet from across the table.

From a starting point of 1500 I scurried up to almost 6k with the help of a treble-up. Holding J-7 on the button and just me & the blinds in play the flop came J-7-J. Checked all round. The turn card was a 5. Check - Bet 500 - Call (me) - Call. River card was another 5. Check - All-In - Call (me) - Call. The SB had a 5 for 5's over 7's. The BB had Q-7 and I scooped.

My chips went all-in three hands later holding K-K but was outdrawn by player holding A-K. Bahhhhhh!

Not to worry though...I got good cards and at the break I had no rebuys and was holding 8k in chips. That plus the obigatory add-on (5k chips for £20) gave me a nice 13k to start.

Things then started to happen. In the space of 4 hads I flopped a straight (added 5k) - flopped a flush (added 8k) and flopped a set (added 5k). In no time at all I had 30k and from that point on I coasted to the final table and got there with 50k in chips.

With only 5 prizes to play for I was determined not to do anything silly so sat tight and waited for my opportunities.

Players dropped out. And then there were 7.

I get J-J in MP and was about to launch when the bloke sat to my immediate right announced he was all-in. Now this guy had played like a rock whilst I was there at the final table. He'd gotton lucky a bit earlier when he trebled up to about 40k with Ad-9d against 10-10 & A-6 but this play was 'way out there'. I folded. A player in late position called him and flipped A-K. The raiser flipped A-8!! I couldn't believe it! An eight came down and the guy doubled up leaving the A-K man well cheesed off at his bad luck...so was I!

A deal was made at 6 players giving 6th £50. I then got lucky!

Holding Ah-7h and with blinds at 4k-8k I raised to 25k. Guy, 2 seats down, went all-in for 35k as did another for 15k. I, of course, called the additional 15k and we saw what everyone had...A-Q for guy 2 seats down...10-10 for Mr 15k all-in!

A flop of 7-6-10-6-9 gave me the side pot and another player hit the rails. Then there were 5.

Blinds went upto 5k-10k and I have around 70k. I then get EXTREMELY lucky.

There's a raise to 30k from across the table. I look down and see A-J. 'All-In', I announce. The original raiser smiles and calls with A-Q. The flop is A-J-6-4-7 and I double up leaving Mr AQ with 15k and the BB next! He goes out next hand.

Down to four and one or two are short on chips so me & mr next-big-stack take turns in knocking each of the short stacks out and we're heads up.

We each take £575 and play for an additional £225.

After bumbling around for a few hands I get Ac-Jc and go all-in. My opponent calls with 2h-2c. Flop is Ah-Jh-9h-9c-Jd.

Nice to win!

31 Entries - 1st - Win $1400 (£800) - Acc. Total +$5323

Nov 18th-21st - Various Events

Ok. Three poker tournaments to tell you about in this blog, none of which provided any winnings but hey you can't win them all!

Fri 18th - €50+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam Club (Dublin)
A so-so night at the tables in Dublin with my actually managing not to have the add-on until the prescribed time (at the break). Shortly after the break and with around 8k in chips I get dealt Ks-Kc in MP. There's a raise to 400 just before me and so I, and another player, flat call. The flop is Jh-9h-3h. The original raiser, who's first to bet, fires out a 1200 bet. I raise it to 3000 and the third player, after some deliberation, flat calls my 3k bet.

Surprise surprise though...the original raiser now goes all-in for 8500 and I immediately call. The third guy drops out but flips over the 6h-4h moaning about his luck! The original raiser now flips the Qs-Qc and I'm jumping up and down like a good-un! No Queen to save my opponent and I'm upto almost 20k and looking good again for another good finish!

It doesn't happen though and I go card dead finally gambling it up with my Qc-Jc on a flop og 9-5-3. Unfortunately for me an opponent (beginner obviously :) ) calls me with 4-4 and I don't hit my outs so I am! (Out that is) My 1 scalp means I lose €100 here!!

58 Entries - 32nd - Loss $120 (€100) - Acc. Total +$4293

Sun 20th - $50+$5 (Rebuy) NL Hold'Em - (Stan James Poker)

Tonight started with a $100,000 guarantee event on Stan James. 130 got paid and 781 started. I re-bought immediately (giving me a stack of 3k) and off we went! With an immediate battering (my K-J got squashed by A-Q on a flop of K-J-5) I found myself back down to 1600. This got trebled up though when my Kh-5h flopped a flush and two other players flopped two pair and after 1 hour of play I was on 8k in chips. I then top up so I'm on 10k when play recommences!

After hour 2 I had 11k but with the chip leader, at this time, only on 35k I certainly wasn't out of it. With 175 players left I still had 10k but then got badly caught out when I launched with Ac-10c only to get called by a desperate player holding Q-10. He made a straight (bah, humbug)! I struggle on but with blinds at 1200/2400 I'm forced all-in holding another A-10. Flop is K-10-7 and I have a chance of getting through but the SB has K-4 and I'm out in 143rd place! Arghhh!

781 Entries - 143rd - Loss $155 - Acc. Total +$4138

Sun 20th - $200+£15 NL Hold'Em (Pokerstars)

There were 3314 runners tonight and towards the end of hour 1 I'd not seen any hands at all and was already down to $1980 from a start point of $2500. I get Kc-Qc in LP and once a player raises to 400 I decide to crash the party and go all-in. The SB wakes up with As-Ks (always the way) and raises all-in. I automatically call and hit a Queen on the flop. My opponent wasn't too happy but heh...thats cards. At the end of hour 1 I have $4360.

In hour 2 I meet my demise. Holding 7-7 in LP I raise to 600 and get the player to my left calling. The flop comes K-4-5 and I check. My opponent bets $150 and I sense weakness so I go all-in. He calls with K-K (as you would) and I'm staggering! A short while later and I get Jc-10c so decide to lump in for all my remaining chips. Of course the SB has A-K (again) and I can't improve.

A duff weekend at the tables then!

3314 Entries - 1753rd - Loss $215 - Acc. Total +$3923

Nov 16th - £20 NL Hold'Em - Cavendish Club (Belfast)

Forty runners for tonights £20 game and, as usual, I end up re-buying in after hand 1. I'm the BB and there are 5 players seeing a flop of J-3-7 rainbow. Lucky me (or so I think) holds J-3 so without further ado I go all-in in the hope I'll get the 'one-pair' players along for the ride. Well I got what I wanted...one player calling...trouble was that he held 7-7 and no more help for me. Bah!

After this debacle though things got better. My chip count steadily increased from the 2k rebuy level to around 7k. Got very lucky when my 10-10 held up against A-A when a 10 fell on the river and got one blokes chips when I made a straight whilst he was still pushing top pair.

At the break I had 7.5k in chips and with the 5k top-up I was in a nice position to do well again.

Straight after the break I get a nice touch with Q-J in the BB. There are one or two limpers and, with blinds at 300/600, I make it 3k to play. The guy immediately to my left calls but the gut immediately to HIS left goes all-in for 9k. I'm now getting 2/1 my money so I call the extra 6k while the guy to my left passes.

My opponent flips 6-6 but a flop of 9-8-Q-4-5 seals the deal and now I'm looking dangerous! Then disaster!

I hold J-J in late position. An EP player makes it 5k to go. The player immediately to my right goes ALL-IN for 17k. I think about it! I don't put either of these two players on bigger than J-J. One maybe on A-K and one on a lower pair. Its a good sized pot and if I get lucky and win it then I'm pretty much assured a seat at the final table. I flat call and the EP player also calls for all of his chips (14k). Its a 50k pot and its time to flip-em.

My EP flips 10-10. Player to my right flips 9-9 and I flip my J-J. In situations like these (3 players with a pair) its almost a guarantee that ONE of us will make a set. Tonight it was Mr 9-9's turn. A flop of 9-Q-K meant I was looking for a 10. Two of which were already out there. The turn was a THREE, the river a FIVE! Doh!!

With only 6k left in chips it didn't take me long to get them into a pot. Holding Jd-9d I got up against a K-10 and couln't make anything. C'est la vie!

40 Entries - 24th - Loss $105 (£60) - Acc. Total +$4413

Articles Of Interest - 2.

Five years ago nobody noticed if there was a game of poker being played. Rooms full of smoke and old men wearing raincoats were the norm when it came to opponents and if you managed to squeeze a fiver out of these tight rocks of a Friday night then you were doing well but...nobody noticed!

Five years later and suddenly the world and his new-born son are gagging for a game and with it comes a whole new set of problems...publicity & the law!

Whilst any law is there for a purpose, usually to save civilisation (as we know it) from itself, the law stays silent when you're going about your business and having fun. Prostitution is illegal yet millions of men, the world over, still partake...drug use is illegal yet millions of people still partake...and now POKER is suddenly illegal in the western world (well it always was in some areas).

The last few weeks have brought about bigger & bigger media coverage on how a clampdown on an activity promoted on TV (for gods sake) as being fun and pleasurable is considered, in some parts, the scurge of society!

Following on from last weeks 'Articles Of Interest - 1' blog which pointed you all in the direction of how the Irish are suddenly in the sportlight as regards its poker & gaming clubs comes a follow up piece from Bloomberg giving more details about how the clubs there are being 'closely monitored by Mr Plod' and politicians alike.

Also its getting harder to play poker ANYWHERE in New York at the moment as the cops there continue to raid and seize countless thousands of $'s of players money. Methinks they'd do better raiding drug dealer houses and local brothels to look for REAL criminals.

Finally the biggest court case of its time comes to London on Nov 22nd where the owners of the Gutshot club in Londons East End try to convince a judge that playing poker is a game of skill and, as such, does not require a gaming licence in order for it to operate!

Thats a bit like saying tossing a coin is a skillfull operation!

Win the case and there'll be 100 poker clubs across the UK by Xmas 2006...lose it and consider them all closed with immediate effect! Watch this space!!

Nov 13th - $200+$15 NL Hold'Em - Pokerstars

Ok...running it by the numbers....

Three thousand three hundred and thirty-two runners with a top prize of $133,000.

Hour 1: Finished this hour on $7000. Got VERY lucky in one pot where I get A-A. With blinds at 50-100 I raise it to 500, the player next on my left calls. The player two to HIS left goes all-in for $1200, I re-raise to $2400, player, immediately to my left, calls. One has Q-Q the other 4-4. Everyone misses and I'm sitting nicely.

Hour 2: Finished this hour on $12000. Again I get lucky. Have KK in the SB...its all passed round to the button who decides to go all-in for $6k. I, of course call. He flips J-4 and gets nowhere near it. A few hands later I get 9-9 on the SB. Again its passed round to the button who raises to 2400. I go all-in but the guy to my left calls for $5k. He flips A-Q and when a 9 flops its all over!!

Hour 3: I sit very tight waiting for the 'money' to roll in. I've scraped on by and have 11k when, with THREE players to go before the money, I get K-K on the button. There's a raise to 4k before it gets back to me and I click on the 'time' button and think! Bugger it! 'All-In'. Of course I'm called as the original raiser has J-J but no Jack comes and I'm into the money (324 players left) with $25k.

I then go card dead but I can ante away for a while. We're down to 180 players ($533 payout level) and I'm down to $11k. With blinds at 1500/3000 I go all-in UTG with 9c-10c hoping to get through. No such luck...I meet A-A and thats goodnight from me!

Never mind though a good day all round as I also win $1000 playing in the $1/$2 PL Omaha.

3332 Entries - 178th - Win $318 - Acc. Total +$4518

Nov 11th - €50+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

Sixty-two runners tonight so a little bit better show than last week but still its tough to fight your way through it all.

As per usual I had to rebuy fairly early on (pre-break) despite the fact that I didn't start until just a couple of minutes before the end of level one. The first 45 mins of tonights game were pretty hopeless for me and couldn't catch a card to save my life.

With 3000 newly purchased chips though I saw my opportunity to get lucky just before the break. Holding K-10 in the BB there were three callers but no raises when the action got back to me and I checked it down. A flop of 2-3-10 meant I was all-in on the chance I'd pick the pot up there and then. No such luck though as I get TWO callers. On their backs! The jokers has A-4 (for a gutshot) and A-3! Lucky me!! No help to anyone else on the turn or river and at the brak I had just over 8k in chips!

Things continued to go well for me after the break and, with 18 of us left, I was chip leader with 41k in chips...then the wheels fell off!

First I lost 10k of my stack...then another 12k...then another 7k! I then get lucky (or unlucky depending which way you look at it) when I get quad Queens but couldn't get anyone to pay me off. I lose another 10k pot and suddenly I've got 9k left with 12 left and the blinds about to go to 2k-4k.

I get Q-10s and lump it in to the pot. I get one caller, who flips A-Q, and despite a Queen falling on the flop I didn't improve and was out in 12th place. The only good thing was that I picked up 6 'scalps' - worth €10 each - so my loss for the night was limited to €50...which was nice!

62 Entries - 12th - Loss $60 (€50) - Acc. Total +$4200

Articles Of Interest - 1.

I spend a fair amount of time covering the poker forums and searching out articles of interest to me (and by definition) poker players the world over so I thought I'd start a regular blog pointing all my readers (all 3 of you) to some of the more interesting newspaper & blogs that I come across.

There could be a weekly magazine in this you know :)

Anyway to start things off lets start with some news from Ireland (where I live)...

Interesting news this morning from the Irish Independent newspaper.

As we all know (or maybe you didn't) 'casinos' in the Republic are illegal under the 1956 gaming act here. Since Mr Dermot Desmond (wealthy Irish businessman) has opened his €6.5M club in the heart of Dublin the government here have now decided it may be time to investigate them with a view to closing the lot down.

Article 1.

Article 2.

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In other news another blogger by the name of PokerBastard (now thats original) has written about his views on London's Gutshot club. The club is currently due in court on Nov 22nd to face charges of running an 'illegal gambling operation'. Now of course in places like New York, where Mr Plod (the police) simply turns up and confiscates the entire property there is a very clear law which states that playing poker IS illegal and thats that. In the UK, its a slightly more grey area and so this case will, for once and for all, clarify the Gutshots (and other similar outfits in the UK) operation.

If the law says the Gutshot club is illegal then I would expect all such similar outfits to be closed by Xmas. If, on the other hand, the law decides otherwise then expect every street corner to have a 'card club' by Xmas 2006!

I'm highlighting Pokerbastards view of things cos he's a funny guy who likes to stir things up although I've no clue to his identity!

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The WSOP 2005 main $10K event is going down a storm on ESPN. For us Europeans though we usually have to wait months to see it on SKY TV. Luckily for us with broadband access to the Internet we have TORRENTS...and I'm happy to point all my readers to Tillermans blog where you can follow the links from his blog to pick up the latest episodes.

For those of you unfamiliar with TORRENTS and how they work then take a look at my post on the Hendon Mob forum entitled 'The Dum Dum Guide To Getting Chris Ferguson In A Fridge'

Nov 9th - £20 NL Hold'Em - Cavendish Club (Belfast)

A small field of 34 for tonights £20 NL Hold'Em event (must be the weather) but we still managed to generate a prize pool of £2k between us so it just goes to show that its all quite mad here of a Wed night for buy-ins.

My bankroll of £120 was gobbled up within the first hour. First hand I get 2-2 and, as is custom here, it was all-in in an attempt to double up early. Unfortunately I get TWO callers...one has K-K the other A-A!!! Needless to say the word 'rebuy' was used!

My chips were disappearing quicker than you could say 'rebuy again' and just before the hour mark I was looking at 2k in chips and no money left in my pocket! Then things started getting better...!!

I get K-K which doubles through. I get A-A which picks me up the antes and a bit more. I make a flush. At the break I'm at 7k. Then the fun begins!!!

Three hands after the break I get A-A again. With antes at 300-600 I raise to 3k and get two callers. Flop is 2-4-6. I go all-in and they both pass. I'm now at 13k.

A few hands later I'm UTG and get A-A AGAIN! Its called in three spots before it gets back to me and I raise another 4k. The player, to my immediate left who flat called the antes, suddenly goes purple and reraises me all-in for 10600 in total. A couple of grunts from the other two original callers, who both pass, and I of course call! He flips As-2s (to gasps from the audience) and gets nowhere near it as I scoop another pot! The river card is a FIVE which one of the original callers groans at as he passed a pair of 5's in the hole...lucky me then!

So with over 20k in chips I now relax and cruise to the final table getting A-A FOUR times more along the way (7 for the night).

So...10 of us at the final table and only five prizes. I knock out a couple of players along the way and before you know it we're down to four with me having 100k in chips in front of me.

I get 9d-9h UTG and raise to 25k. Next player goes all-in and I call him for another 45k. He flips Ac-Kh and we're off to the races. Flop is 7d-3h-2h. Turn is Jh. River is the 8h. He makes a four card heart flush on board and wins with the King of hearts...GRRRRRRR!

NEXT hand I'm all-in with J-J against the small stack (25K) who flips Kc-8d. Flop is J-7-6. Turn is Kd (GRRRRRRRRRRR!!) and I'm left with one 5k chip which dutifully goes in next hand for nothing as all other players call and one of them beats my pair of eights!

So there you have it...I was one card away from total domination of the final table but have to make do with the connsolation prize of 4th and £150 giving me a £30 profit on the night.

As I said earlier...GRRRRRRRRR!

34 Entries - 4th - Win $52.50 (£30) - Acc. Total +$4260.50

Nov 4th - €50+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

I've been playing pretty well recently. No doubt about it! I've been unlucky in the last week or so when I finished one of the prize pool last Friday night and two off the prize pool last Wed night. Tonight it all came together!

With the opening of Dublins newest club now a couple of weeks old I resisted the temptation to see what all the fuss was about and went down to the Fitz for the weekly €50 game there. Fifty eight runners in all so the new club, whilst taking perhaps a dozen or so off the event, does not seem to have destroyed it!

I won tonights 'suck-out' contest 3-1. Probably my worst suck-out came when I was all-in with Ad-5s against a pair of 6's and a pair of Queens. The flop came 9s-Qs-4s-8s-Jc and I'd trebled up. Another great suck-out came when I held Jd-Jh against Q-Q and T-T. Again a four-diamond flop gave me the flush and the writing seemed to be on the wall!

I got to the break with around 7k in chips.

I started to get some very nice starting hands after the break. My K-K took in around 8k from a non-believer. My A-A found a set on the flop and I got paid off again. All in all things were looking good.

I made straights, flushes, full-houses. Infact by the time the final table came around I had 90k in chips with my nearest challenger on 40k. It was just a question of sitting and waiting.

With five of us left I get dealt A-K and call a raise, from 2nd chip leader, of 10k. The flop comes a dreamy A-K-7 and my opponent, who's first to bet, bets out another 10k. I raise to 20k and he calls. A NINE falls on the turn and he goes all-in. I, of course call, and he flips A-10...drawing dead...and I'm now pretty much home & hosed.

I do a deal at the end with the guy who has 1/3rd of my stack so I get €1700 whilst he gets €1300. That, along with the €100 I get in SCALPS (bounties), gives me a nice chunk of change.

Nice to be back in the winners circle!

58 entries - 1st - Win $2160 (€1800) - Acc. Total - +$4208

Doing ones bollux!

As with most bloggers in the world I take great interest in other peoples blogs who carry the same interest as I do...poker. I have several blog links in my 'favourites' list one of which is Daniel Negreanu's a Canadian born player who I've known for a few years now as he wrote an article for an edition of the World Poker Diary.

His recent journals on his website have discussed him playing in a high stakes 'cash' game for TV where the money, and therefore the winnings & losses, is real. In TWO days of play he's been candid enough to admit that he's lost a total of over $447,000.

Now me, as a small time player, £20 this / €50 that, is AMAZED at this! Why I should be I don't really know...after all he must have it to start with...its his money...and if he should want to piss it all away on the turn of a card then thats upto him.

Am I jelous? Probably! I'm sure there's nothing more I'd like to do that turn up at a poker game, whip out $1M bucks (as Dan has professed to doing) and saying 'ok guys...lets play!'.

If I go play in a cash game (which I rarely do) I'll sit down with 100-200 of the currency I'm playing in and be sure to get up if, and when, I get to 1000 or more. That, to me, is having a great night! How I'd cope with losing $400k within 48 hours is anyones guess.

Each to his own though and good luck to him but I'm dam sure its easier to drop back down to a 10/20 game than it is a 1000/2000!!

Nov 2nd - £20 NL Hold'Em - Cavendish Club (Belfast)

Doh & Double Doh! With 12 players left, 10 getting paid, and blinds at 3000/6000 I held 37k in chips and really under no pressure at all. With at least 3 short stacks at my table it looked as though I'd get to the final table with ease...who was I kidding!

I always attend these 'rebuy' tournies with £120. Thats the initial buy-in, 4 rebuys and the extra £20 for the top up for which you now get 5000 in chips extra. This is an absolute MUST BUY so its better to conserve early than go gung-ho.

First hand of the night I get 88. All my chips go in on a flop of Jc-10c-7c. (I hold the 8c). I'm called by player with A-J and couldn't catch another club. REBUY!!

A few hands later I'm all-in again with JJ. Get called by player with A-7. Ance Ace on the flop! REBUY!

Thirty minutes late I get 22 in late position and go all-in. Get called by player holding A-Q. An Ace on the river! REBUY!

Another thirty minutes later I get 10-10. All-in again. This time I'm against KQ. You know the rest! REBUY.

With all my rebuy money gone I now finally start hitting cards and get to the break with 7k. Add in the top up and I'm upto 12k. Ready to play properly!

Two hands stand out after the break. With blinds at 400/800 I raise in EP to 3000 with KQ. The guy, immediately to my left calls. All pass back to the guy immediately to my right, who limped in originally, who goes 'all-in' for 8k. I call as does the guy to my left for all HIS chips. He flips 7-7 whilst the guy on my right flips...wait for it...9s-7s!! Unbelievable! The flop comes 6-6-Q-K-6 and I'm in the pink!

With blinds at 800/1600 I get JJ in LP. There's an all-in from across the table for around 5k in chips followed by ANOTHER all-in from the new guy on my right for 18k. I call. First man all-in flips A-K. Second all-in guy flips A-Q. Flop is 6-K-J-Q-4 and I scoop the loot!

So now I'm upto something like 44k and cruising. We redraw seats at 18 players and all the heavy artillary seems to have gotton moved to the other table so there were a number of short stacks at mine. With blinds at 2k/4k players dropped like flies.

With 3k/6k blinds I was in EP with A-J and I raised to 16k. The player to my immediate left goes all-in for 29k and I called the remaining 13k. He flips A-K and I was down to around 12k.

NEXT hand I get K-K. All-in!! Before it gets back to the blinds there are two more ALL-INS. All flip. One guy has Ah-9h whilst the other has Ad-Jc. I'm feeling good until the flop comes 3d-Jd-ACE-8-4. I'm done in two hands and finish 12th!

Bugger!!

56 entries - 12th - Loss $216 (£120) - Acc. Total - +$2048