Jan 30th - Feb 6th - Various

Four events to blog about today and zippo in prize money to spend. I know you can't win every time but there's no reason why I can't play well every time. Even this was too much to do...

Jan 30th - €100+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

This event lasted 5 hands for me. I got seat 9 so no blinds for a while. They were...

Hand 1. K-4 o/s passed.

Hand 2. 7c-6c. Call a raise of 300, along with 3 others, Flop totally misses me so I pass when an all-in bet comes in from the player to my right.

Hand 3. Ks-5s. Flat call a raise to 250, along with two others. Flop is K-9-4 rainbow. Original raiser bets 800. Other players pass...I call. Turn is a 7. Original raiser bets 1500. I call. River is a 10. Original raiser checks as do I. He shows A-A and I'm down to 1500 already.

Hand 4. 9-6 o/s. I pass.

Hand 5. Js-9s. I go all-in but get called by a player holding A-10. An Ace on the flop seals my fate. Early bed!

Feb 3rd - €50+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

Tonight went quite well for a while. For a change I didn't have to use my rebuy/top-up option until the break (proper order) and as we began part two of the day I had around 7k in chips so was happy enough.

Good hands and good play saw me get upto 15k and with 3 tables left it looked as though the final table might be on but I should know that one hand can change all that and so it came to pass.

I was on the button holding As-5s and with blinds at 300-600 I raised to 3k. The SB sat back in his chair for a while then called. Everyone else passed. The flop came Js-10s-5c so it was all going in...I just didn't expect the SB to get there before me. 'All-In' he exclaimed. Taken a little aback by the move I still felt I had no option but to call.

He flipped Q-Q (fair enough). The turn card brought the Kh and the river the Ac pairing my Ace but giving Mr QQ his straight. Funny old game!

Feb 5th - $200+$15 NL Hold'Em - Pokerstars

I'd qualified for this via a $10 satellite so decided to play. At the moment Pokerstars are running turbo satellites every couple of hous throughout the day so its easy enough to get through one or two. There were 4197 runners so basically it was a total crapshoot.

I didn't start too well when my top pair top kicker scenario got crushed by a flush and my end came about when my 9-9 went up against J-J. I finished in about 3200th place. Whoopee!!

Feb 6th - €100+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

A much better evening than last week when I lasted 5 hands but then again that would not have been too hard.

Only 43 runners tonight though so it should have been fairly easy to get through to the final table. I just couldn't find a hand to get going with though! I think my best hand in the first two hours of play was an A-K from which I picked up the blinds from.

With 3 tables left and just prior to the break at the end of level 5 I got lucky. On the BB I checked with 5-3 o/s. There were 6 players in with no raises. The flop came K-3-5 and I knew it was lucky time or home time.

One player went all-in with K-J and I called. No Jack and it was happy days!

With two tables left I'm all-in with 3-3 against J-J. A 3 falls on the flop and its Happy days again!!

With 11 left I get As-3s and go all-in on the button in the hope of robbing the blinds. The SB wakes up with A-10 and calls. No improvement all round and I'm out in 11th place. Doh...I do wish I wasn't so cavalier at times!

Entries -> xxx - Place -> xxx - Loss -> €330 + $210 ($611) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$2853