Apr 24th & 25th - LCI (Brighton)

I need a rest!!

After playing poker every night since last Thursday AND having to get up for work at 6.30am for a 50 mile drive to SW London every weekday morning I'm knackered.

Its all very well chasing points in leagues but after a while it becomes a grind so I'm taking a couple of nights off now to recover and prepare for another busy weekend ahead.

Monday night's £30 NL game resulted in 5 rebuys (£183 spent) and a quick exit which, to be fair, I was happy about cos I was tired.

Tuesday night was one of those games that make you remember that nothing is forever - chip stacks that is - after I was severely mugged at the table by some sad muppet who decided he'd had enough and wanted his bed!

At the break, and after only 3 £20 rebuys (£82 spent), I had 4.5k in chips. After doubling up a couple of times & more I arrive at a new table with 23k and immediately pick up J-J in EP. With blinds at 400-800 I raise to 3k more and when the table chip monster goes all-in I have a decision to make. A microsecond later and I call. He flips A-K and doesn't get there! He flings his cards across the table and storms out muttering muppet language about why he never hits with A-K! He has around 10k left.

Ten minutes later he's back and I'm sat in LP with As-Ks. Without looking at his cards he picks up his 10k in chips and goes all-in. Easy call for me and he mutters some shite before flipping 8-2!! The flop is 8-6-9-2-K and I give hime 10k back. Hmmmm.

NEXT hand I get Ac-Jc. I raise to 4k and once again muppet man grabs all his chips and goes all-in...obviously desperate to go home I figure! Again I call. He flips Kc-10c and with a flop of Q-K-7-K-10 I'm battered back down to around 15k after having to ship Mr Muppet 30k in chips cos he's on tilt! Hmmm.

Several hands later I get K-K. There are 2 all-ins before it gets to me. I call. One player has A-10 another A-K. Flop is 3-6-8-9-ACE!!! Fecking hell!

I have 5k left which goes in with K-J which doesn't get there. Pooey!!

Entries ->??? - Place -> ??? - Loss -> £265 ($464) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$8486

Apr 21st - 23rd (Various)

Running it by the numbers then....

Fri - LCI (Brighton) - £10 NL Hold'Em - 67 runners - 2nd - £41 spent - £585 win - £544 profit

Sat - Fullhouse (Reigate) - £20 NL Hold'Em - 24 runners - 7th - £140 spent - £0 win - £140 loss

Sun - LCI (Brighton) - £50 NL Hold'Em - 28 runners - 23rd - £255 spent - £0 win - £255 loss

Total profit over weekend = £149 ($261)

Through period Tues - Sat last week I played in 4 events and hit 4 final tables. Sun night was a complete washout as I got done with outdraws, suckouts, higher pairs etc etc. Such is the live of a poker player!

This week its DOUBLE points week at the LCI and with me now safetly inside the top 20 of the league there, thanks to Friday nights results, I'll be just turning up to collect the 10 points on offer for playing tonight, Tues, Fri & Sun. Saturday is the £500 FREEZEOUT event at the FULLHOUSE club in Reigate for which I won a satellite earlier this month. They're expecting around 40 players so a £20k payout looks in order.

All in all I continue to run reasonably well at Hold'Em at the moment so fingers crossed I can do well and make some 'proper' money on Saturday. If I do well there I'll then be off to play in the £1k event in Blackpool on May 7th.

I can only wish & hope :)

Entries ->??? - Place -> ??? - Win -> £149 ($261) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$8950

Apr 20th - £10 NL Hold'Em - LCI (Brighton)

After my 25 point haul from winning Tuesday nights tournament at the LCI I now find myself handily placed, in around 20th place, in the current league standings for the £10k+ freeroll event that takes place at the LCI in Brighton on May 17th.

Only the top 27 as of May 14th are to be invited and with next weeks events (Mon-Tue-Fri-Sat-Sun) all counting double points I'm determined to make a concerted effort to finish as high up the leader board as possible as the more points I have then the more chips I'll get to start with on the night itself!

Back to tonight then and the £10 NL BEGINNERS night tourney. I invested £21 and won £45 for finishing 9th. I'd gotton a bit bored by the time the final table came around as it was after 1am already so pushed all my chips in on a flop of 9-10-6 holding 8-9. I got called by a player holding J-10 and couldn't catch up. Oh well!

This weekends events will be played exclusively at the LCI with the Fri-Sat & Sun tournaments all counting towards the league. I'll update on Monday!

Entries -> 67 - Place -> 9th - Win -> £24 ($42) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$8689

Apr 18th - £20+£2 NL Hold'Em - LCI Club (Brighton)

Tuesday night at the LCI and back to the weekly grind that is. The management there decided they'd made an error in banning me 'wot a surprise' so no bother in getting in today. Apparently I'd been spotted, on camera, lurking with intent by a slot machine. Yeh mate...I was playing the fucker!!

Got news today that it may be a couple more weeks yet before I even GET A DATE as to when my Greek Cypriot freeloader of a tenant will be evicted so it looks like I may get to chance my arm in the league that is currently being run at the LCI till May 14th.

Before tonight started I'm in 29th place and with only the top 27 getting into the freeroll event to take place on Wed 17th May I needed to get some points on the board in double sharp time.

Tonights event was the £20 NL Hold'Em REBUY event and over 60 runners participated. With the usual zest I spunked away £120 in rebuys before the break. That AND a top up meabt I'd spent £162 already and only had 8.5k in chips to show for it. Never mind the game started here!

Early after the break I got down as low at 4k before scambling my way back to 9k and then got moved to another table. Within a few hands of arriving the following hand comes up...

I get A-A in MP. Blinds are 300/600 and without warning the player UTG shoves his last 4k in chips into the middle. I flat call in the hope that someone else behind me has good cards and goes all-in also. I wasn't to be disappointed as the player to my immediate left shoves all HIS chips in (8k) as well. Its passed back around to me and I duly call.

Mr UTG has Qh-9h claiming to be in great shape whilst Mr 'to my left' has 6-6. A flop of 4-4-10-8-4 sends them both home and I'm now in good shape.

Four tables becomes three becomes two and I'm on 24k in chips. With blinds at 2k/4k I call an all-in of 12k with A-J (he holds K-5...duh) and I'm at the final table shortly afterwards with 42k.

With still 9 players I get Ah-8h in LP and raise to 14k. I get one caller. The flop...a luverly 3h-Jh-9h. I check. My opponent bets 15k. I flat call. The turn is the Qh. We both check. The 8c falls on the river and I bet out 10k which is duly called. A gasp of amazement around the table as I flip my cards.

Players start dropping. With blinds upto 4k/8k there are 5 of us left. With blinds at 5k/10k there are 3 of us left. Me, on around 75k. Player A on around 100k and player B on 200k.

I get A-J on the button and go all-in. Its called by player B who feels as though K-7 might win. It doesn't and I double up.

Player B (who was chip leader) suddenly decides to start going all-in most every hand. I wait.

I get 2-2 on the SB and, like before, player B goes all-in for 80k. I call. He flips Ad-10d but when a 2 is the first card off the deck its all over for him.

I now have a 2/1 chip lead against player A and we do a deal. I get £1355 he gets £1100. A profit of £1193 on the night and lots of points on the scoreboard for the league.

Nice!

Entries -> 64 - Place -> 1st - Win -> £1193 ($2088) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$8647

Easter Weekend - Dublin

Not much in the way of success for my poker tournament play over the weekend in downtown Dublin but it was nice to mingle with some of the 'old skool' crowd who were mingling down at the venue for the Irish Open on Sunday afternoon.

Roy 'Tubby Boy' Brindley was still in the tournament with around 120k when I went over to him to ask where I could take bets on him NOT reaching the final table. He took it well and pointed me in the direction of the Paddypower booth who had him at 16/1 to win the title at the time.

Joe 'Reggie Cray lookalike' Beevers was circling the tables taking pictures with his digital for use on the Blondepoker site. He ribbed me a little about Blackburns defeat at the hands of Liverpool earlier that day but I got my revenge when West Ham got squashed 2-0 by some lowly team called Middlesborough on Easter Monday!

Simon Trumper was, once again, berating his luck at the tables citing the problems in winning these days. 'Too many potholes', he exclaimed and to be fair he does have a point. Given that the final 6 players at this years Irish Open were all total novices, in terms of time playing the game, it just goes to show that anyone can win. Unfortunately that never seems to include the so called 'pro's these days!

An unnamed source told me that Dave Colclough won over half a million dollars in prize money not THAT many years ago but STILL managed to end the year DOWN!! What sort of life is that??

Anyway my €440 play went south as I couldn't get going on Friday night down at the Fitz in the €50+€10 NL Hold'Em event and even though I DID get going in the €300+€30 NL FREEZEOUT on Sunday at Jurys (I doubled up 2 hands in) I couldn't hang onto the chips and got busted just before the two hour break when playing 4-5 against my K-Q. (He flopped a straight)

Mind you at least I don't worry about things as much as some players do!

Entries -> ??? - Place -> ??? - Loss -> €440 ($528) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$6559

April 10th - £20+£2 NL Hold'Em (Grosvenor, Brighton)

Its a funny old world!

Tonights plan was to go down to the LCI and play in the £50 PL Hold'Em event so I roll up at 7.30pm, give my membership number at the desk and proceed to enter the club.

'Excuse me sir', said the guy at the desk. 'It says here you're barred'!. 'You're having a larf', I say, 'I come here to play poker not to get myself barred'.

'Sorry sir...I can't let you in'! So the 'duty' manager comes down. 'Whats all this about be being barred?', I ask.

'It appears the security people have barred you!'.

'For WHAT exactly?'.

'Don't know sir...it doesn't say'.

Despite arguing the toss for several minutes the jobsworth manager refuses me entry and promises to investigate but it'll be tomorrow (Tues) before he can do anything! In the meantime...I'm barred...apparently!

Lucky for me there's the Grosvenor which has a £20 NL game on a Monday night so off I go there.

With the festival at the LCI there were only 16 entries for the game but at the end of the rebuy period there was a prize pool of £1300. (I'd contributed £100 of it) Trouble was only 3 got paid!

I got lucky, just before the break, when my A-2 (all-in for 6k on a flop of 2c-6h-10c) got called by someone holding the Jc-3c. No J's, 3's or clubs came down on the turn or river and I had 14k at the break.

Of course with only 16 runners the final wasn't too far away and by the time 8 of us sat down for this I had 27k and was chip leader.

Being chip leader is all well and good if you can hang onto it but once again I attempted to give away most of my chips when going all-in on a flop of 10-6-4 (holding A-J) only to be called by Q-Q...ok...he HAD raised to 5k pre-flop and I HAD flat called.

With memories of Saturday close at hand I decided to play tight...after all I still had 11k left and could still reach the prizes with a bit of luck. And what happened next could be described as just that!

With 5 of us left I decide to go all-in for 6300 with As-8s and run into the BB, and his 6200, with K-K. I make the flush and he's gone.

With 4 left the next lowest stack goes all-in with J-J. Chip leader calls with A-K and a King hits. I'm in the money!

With 3 left I lose a couple of blinds and am back down to 6k. The two BIG stacks see a flop of Ah-9d-6h. One goes all-in...the other (bigger stack) calls. Mr All-In shows A-J. Mr Caller shows Kh-Qh. Another heart falls on the river and I'm now guaranteed £415.

With 6k left I go all-in with Ad-Qd. Chip monster calls me. I double through.

With 10k left I go all-in with K-J. Chip monster calls me. I double through.

With 18k left I go all-in with K-J. Chip monster calls me. I double through.

At this point I offer to take £500 and go away. No so big a chip monster gets £615 and agrees!

As I said earlier...its a funny old world.

Entries -> 16 - Place -> 2nd - Win -> £398 ($696) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$7087

Apr 7th - 9th - Various

Only £356 down for the weekends games spread over the three nights this weekend I played. Har Har!

Friday night was the £10 NL game at the LCI with a full house of 80 runners. I couldn't get going and losing almost all my stack with A-J v K-10 didn't help. I was out shortly after the break - £41 spent!

Saturday night was a right old story. The £20 NL game at the FULLHOUSE club in Reigate provided the entertainment. I was in for £180 and at the break I had exactly 4k in chips. I get A-A & double up followed by 6-6 and TREBLE up as I hit a 6 on the flop. Some smarty pants was slow playing A-A and another had K-J as the flop came K-10-6.

Before I knew what was happening I was then sat at the final table with 42k in chips (chip leader) and looking forward to a good payday. In the space of 2 hands though I was out!

Holding A-K in MP and with blinds at 1k-2k I raised to 7k. Passed around to the BB who looked across at me and then went all-in for 34k. Never one to back away from a challenge (a weakness I must confess to) I called and was somewhat pissed to see him hold A-A. Down to 8k and the blinds about to go to 2k-4k I get 9c-5c and decided to speculate. I go all-in. The BB, who has 1k more than me, calles with Q-6 and even though I hit a 9 on the flop I go out to runner-runner straight. I get £70 for 9th meaning I lose £110 on the night.

Sunday night was back down at the LCI for the £50 NL game. Thirty runners and I spend £205 (three rebuys) in getting nowhere. My out hand is 5-5 v Q-K. (He hits a straight!!)

All in all then a rather poor weekend. This week I play at the LCI as part of the festival there tonight (Mon) then I'm off back to Dublin for till next Tuesday. Hoping to play in the €300 FREEZEOUT event next Sunday as part of the Irish Open weekend. The €3000 MAIN EVENT is a little on the high-side for me!

Entries -> ??? - Place -> !!! - lose -> £356 ($623) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$6391

Apr 6th - Satellite Day

Today I had a plan!

Took the day off work and decided to play in the £20 NL Hold'Em satellite into the £750 event in Luton. If I won a seat there I'd hang around and play that. If I didn't I'd head back down to the Fullhouse club in Reigate and play in another £20 NL satellite which would give me a seat in their April 29th £500 FREEZEOUNT event. So how did I do??

Arrived in Luton in plenty of time, despite the 105 mile drive from Brighton, and along with 89 other hopefuls I proceeded to throw money at securing a seat in tonights £750 NL event. At the break I had 10k in chips which considering that we were only given buy-ins of 1k a time wasn't too shabby. Mind you I was helped by a Mr Johnson who called my all-in bet of 2200 on a board of A-6-10 (I had A-7) with nothing more than K-4! (I still don't know why??)

After the break it was a case of holding on really. There were 11 seats on offer and players dropped like flys. With ante increases every 15 minutes it only took us another 2 hours to drop to 2 tables. Sixteen of us left and I had 13k. Just had to hang on!!

With blinds at 1k/2k I gave them up on the first round of the level. I was at 10k...14 left...11 seats!! Another few hands go by and I look down to see 10-10. Now for those of you who read this blog regularly you'll know that I've had NO luck at all with 10-10 recently either in playing with them or against them. So what did I do??? All-in of course!

I'm in MP when I do this. But whats this??? The player to my immediate left goes all-in for 14k and the BB is all-in for 20K. Mr 'Immediate Left' has Q-Q, Mr BB has K-K!! How bloody unlucky was that??

I'm out in 14th spot just 3 from a seat. Its 6.45pm and I head back south to Reigate.

Only 2 tables (18 runners) in the Reigate satellite event but thats okay cos I'm a better player than most at Reigate anyway so having to finish in the top 2 to get a seat at the £500 event wasn't going to be THAT tough...right!!

At the break I was chip leader having got very lucky on one or two suck-outs. I gave a few chips back (well half really) calling an all-in with Kc-Qc against A-K (lucky fart) but managed to knock out two players on the hand just before the final when my K-J got the better of 9-9 and A-5 when a Jack fell on the river!

So 8 of us left and I am chip leader. Being chip leader means you make more marginal calls against the lesser stacks. I did this on several ocassions. Some successful. Some not!

With four of us left I was okay in chips. With 3 of us left I was 3rd in chips.

Mr chip monster was calling every blind and bet going, as he should, so it was a toss-up as to whether or not I was to be 2nd or 3rd.

Didn't have to wait long. Mr 'other short stack' went all-in for 12k holding A-J. Mr 'Chip Monster' called with K-5...flop...8-7-6-10-KING!!

I finish 2nd...secure my seat and its been a good day! Only cost me £60 for tonight as well!

Entries -> ??? - Place -> !!! - Win -> £318 ($557) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$7014

Apr 4th - £20+£2 NL Hold'Em - LCI Club (Brighton)

When the 55/45 shots dont come off in your favour then you can kiss goodbye to your chips. Thats how it was tonight in the £20 rebuy event at LCI.

Having built a nice stack up to around 30k with 17 players left I got decimated on 2 hands where I went in as clear favourite but ended up with zippo.

Fifty six runners for tonights game then (down from almost 70 last week - I blame Luton) and with only one buy-in and a top up to my name I started part 2 of the game in fine shape with 10k in chips.

Ten became twenty as I called an all-iner with J-J. He held A-9 but no Ace came to save his stack.

Twenty became thirty with some good bluffs and I looked good for a spot at the final table.

Of course once you get to two tables the shorter stacks are just going all-in. There is little, if any, play to speak of so in order to move up to the 'bigger' stack rankings you have to put your chips in play when you think that these 55/45 shots are available!

My first chance of doing this came when holding 9s-9c in LP. A player went all-in for 13k and I called. He flipped Qd-Jd and off to the races we went. The flop brought 8s-3s-4s cutting my opponents outs to 4. One of which he hit on the turn (Qc) and so I'm now at 17k.

About a half dozen hands later I get 3-3 in LP. Usually I'd pass these to a large raise but when a player from MP went all-in for 20k and just me to go I decided to gamble. He flipped A-K so I'm favourite to double through but a King on the flop sent me home for the night!

If I'd have won these two hands I'd be a good favourite for some serious prizemoney. On such slight indifferences we all play by!

Entries -> 56 - Place -> 16th - Loss -> £62 ($109) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$6457

Apr 3rd - £30+£3 NL Hold'Em - LCI Club (Brighton)

Only 22 runners for tonights £30 game at the LCI. Apparently we've lost 10 to Luton as there's a festival on there all this week. Next week there's a festival here in Brighton and I look forward to that with some glee!

Meanwhile...back in the jungle...I made another final table appearence (not hard) but could only make 9th place. Still got £50 though as all finalists did a deal where that we all got something back for our troubles. So tonight cost me £43.

My 'out' hand happened like this...

Blinds were at 600/1200 and I'm in EP with A-Q. I put in a raise to 4k but Mr Timmy Man (used to play against him many years ago at Reading) went all-in for 18k. I had 12k left so called and he flipped my nemesis hand this week of 10-10.

An Ace appeared as first card out on the flop but along with it came a 10 so that was that really!

In other nooze my bank stopped my card from being used again (see yesterdays blog for what the hell I'm on about) and I now have to wait a week till I get a new one and I'll get the £700 back the crims nicked out of my account.

Also got word today that my tenant at my home in W.London, whom I've been trying to get rid of for weeks now, has been told by Ealing Council to stay put until the bailiffs physically arrive to remove him otherwise they won't rehouse him. Apparently he must not make HIMSELF homeless in order to get a freebie apartment from the council.

Warning...DO NOT RENT YOUR HOME OUT TO FOREIGN NATIONALS WHO RELY ON HOUSING BENEFIT TO PAY THE RENT!!

Entries -> 22 - Place -> 9th - Loss -> £76 ($) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$6565

Mar 31st - Apr 2nd - Various

Firstly let me say that its been a good weekend at the poker tables but a bit of a downer in other respects! Firstly the poker!

Friday night was always planned to be a 'take it easy' night with me probably spunking several buy-ins in the £10 rebuy tournament at the LCI followed by an early night. It didn't quite work out that way.

Yes, I did purchase seventy quids worth of buy-ins plus a top up but I did manage to reach another final table despite the fact that my 70-30 hands were being beaten up in good style and of a regular basis. My A-J got smashed by A-5 (he made a straight), My A-Q got snuffed out by A-9 and my A-J got beat up by A-10 (yawn). It was getting boring!

Anyway so there I was at the final table with around 20k in chips and all set to go. I got an early double through when by J-J beat out 8-8 but then it all went wrong. Down to 7 players I get A-Q in EP. A player goes all-in from across the table for 45k and I feel obliged to call. She flips A-10 and I can see it coming...8-9-10-6-10. Feck it! Shortly after this I'm all-in with 9c-5c (under ever increasing blinds) and get called by Qh-10h. I finish 7th and pick up £120 for my troubles.

Saturday was a big day for me in that having won a satellite for the £400 FULLHOUSE freezeout I took my seat amongst 46 other hopefuls and proceeded to play to the best of my ability.

The structure was fine (35 mins), the starting chips were a little on the short side (6000) and the standard of play was generally good...to start with!

I won't bore you with the bits before the final table, which I managed to get to with 22k in chips (average was 30k) but the final table proved to be a much better story to tell.

First up came what was the luckiest break of the night. With 7 players left I get J-J UTG. With blinds at 2000-4000 I wasn't hanging around and so went all-in. 'I'm all-in as well', said the player to my immediate left who'd just sank a whole bottle of champagne (as it was his birthday). He had more chips than me so once the rest of the table had cleared and he flipped A-J I just hoped I could hang on. The first card out on the flop was an Ace. I got out of my seat and started to walk. The flop continued...A-10-7-Q-JACK!! WoW...I'd hit the 44/1 shot and doubled through.

Next up came the 2nd most inept play of the night...and not by me!

We're down to 5 and Mr Shortstack goes all-in for around 14k. The player to his immediate left calls. The next player (last to act) umms and arrs. He has around 70k in chips and its 10k to call. He flips 8-8 and folds! Mr shortstack shows Jc-2c. His opponent shows Ad-Jd. Flop is Qc-3c-3d-9d-8c. Mr Shortstack doubles up whilst Mr 8-8 is smiling ruefully!

A short while later we're down to 4 as I get K-K against Mr 8-8's 7-7.

So...4 of us left and I have 100k in chips. Next...the most inept play of the night and me on tilt!

Ok...I have 100k, player to my left has 10k, next player - 40k, next player - 130k.

I'm on the button and blinds are 4k-8k which means that Mr 10k is about to go all-in. Mr 10k puts his 4k in...Mr 40k puts his 8k in. Mr 130k passes as do I. Mr 10k (now 6k) goes all-in. Its now 2k more to Mr 40k. He PASSES!!!!

To say I explode would be an understatement. Accusations of chip-dumping came immediately to mind & mouth and Mr 40k is wondering what all the fuss is about (as he's now pissed as a fart himself).

Well...now I'm out to get him but things conspire against me in a cruel way!

I'm dealt Ks-10s on the SB. As Mr 40k is pissed he puts his chips into the pot and then says 'all-in'. 'Sorry sir...thats a call', states the dealer. 'Er...ok', he slurs and waves his arms around like a big jellyfish. Mr 130k passes and I now flat call myself. Mr shortstack checks and off we go.

Flop = K-J-7. I check eager to get Mr Pissed's chippies. Mr shortstack checks and Mr Pissed puts all his chips in the pot! I call. 'You must have the King', he says and stands up. He flips J-9. The next card kills me as its another Jack and suddenly I'm down to 60k in chips!

Mr Shortstack disappears next hand and now there's 3 of us.

I'm free of blinds and get 9d-10d. 'All-In', I say. 'Call', says Mr pissed and flips 10-10. Doh!

Of course I don't get there and have to be content with £2350 in 3rd place prize money.

Sunday night I play the £200 freezeout at the LCI in Brighton. I'm kippered up when I decide that my 4-4 is good on a flop of 3-3-9. An opponent flips 10-10 (what else) and I'm out in 16th place (out of 16).

On another note I found that my bank card had been cloned and £700 lifted from my account over the weekend! Apparently the culprits were in Glasgow & Edinburgh attempting to lift £300 a day since Friday. Wot a life!!

Entries ->??? - Place -> ??? - Win -> £1745 ($3054) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$6641