Apr 28th - May 1st - Various

Well its Tuesday and as I look back to the 4 days of poker I've played since my last update I'm not TOO disappointed in the results but realise that night after night play is not good on the concentration levels.

To give you the story of the weekend might be easier if I did it via the cash in my pocket story. On Friday night, just prior to registering for the LCI tourney, I had £610 in my pocket. On Monday night, as I left LCI, I had £590 in my pocket. I'd spent £20 in 4 days and this included all meals, petrol and entry fees. (Good old roulette!!)

Friday night was a washout. Seventy six runners and I couldn't get out of first gear. I spent £101 in rebuys & top ups. I ended up going all-in with As-10s against Mr 'I know I'm behind but its my favourite hand' Bollux's J-10 (of course he hit a ten) and that was that really.

Saturday I had high hopes for as it was the £500 event at the FULLHOUSE. In all honesty though the club overreached itself in that it couldn't attract the numbers to make it REALLY worthwhile. Only 18 runners and four prizes but I suppose if you're a 4/1 shot to make some money then its not all bad.

I doubled up early, from a start stack of 8k, and looked good to do well. Holding 10c-10h in EP and with blinds still at 25-50 I raised it to 350 and got one caller immediately to my left. The flop was 10d-8c-4c. Not wanting to give my hand away I bet 500 and was quite surprised to hear the word 'raise' come from my opponent. '2500', he said as he pushed in his chips. Now I'm a great believer that if you can SEE you're winning you make your opponent pay for any draws they might be looking for so I didn't hestitate...'all-in'.

To my even bigger surprise my opponent called and flipped A-A. I turned my 10-10 and when no help came for him he congratulated me...moaned about there being only 18 runners...then left the building!

Well with 16k in chips and no rush to get them involved I sat back and bided my time. Trouble was as 18 became 9 I was STILL only holding 20k (average I know) but the blind levels were now 400-800 and I had the monster stacks (40k / 38k) immediately to my left. Not the best place to attack!!

Well 9 became 8 became 7 became 6 and I have only 14k left after finding zero hands to get involved with. I pick up A-3 in MP and raise to 2800. Monster stack, to my left, calls and we see a flop of Ad-10c-7d. I go all-in and Monster stack calls. He flips Qd-10d and I stand up just in time to see the 5d arrive on the turn and finish me off in 6th place...just out of the money! Doh!

Sunday night was better. I finished 4th for £700 in the £50 rebuy event at the LCI and picked up 26 valuable points towards the league thats currently going on for another two weeks. That pushed me up to 20th spot! When 5 of us were left we did a 5 way split for the £700 each and played on for an extra £400 + league points.

My biggest play tonight came when I held the Qc-Jc. I'm sat on 12400 points at the time and, with blinds at 100-200, I raised to 1000 to be called by a player from across the table. The flop came A-K-10 giving me the nutty straight and, like the night before, went all-in with the best hand at that moment.

Luckily for me my opponent had slow played his K-K (giving him trips) but couldn't house up on the turn or river! After that little double up I was on easy street. I spent £155 so ended up with a £545 profit!

Finally onto Monday nights £30 NL event. Forget about it! I spent £180 on 5 rebuys before giving up the ghost. My concentration had gone and I was bored.

So...by the numbers then...

Fri - Spent £101 - Win £0 - Loss £101
Sat - Spent £500 - Win £0 - Loss £500
Sun - Spent £155 - Win £700 - Win £545
Mon - Spent £183 - Win £0 - Loss £183
Tot - Spent £939 - Loss £239

Entries ->??? - Place -> ??? - Loss -> £239 ($418) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$8068