Jan 25th - £50+£5 NL Hold'Em (Loose Cannons)

The problem with having a winning streak like the one I've been on at 'Loose Cannons' recently is that it has to come to an end eventually. Was tonight going to be that night?

Looking back at my results at LC since I first joined I've come 9th, 1st, 1st, 2nd, and 1st. Hardly a terrible record.

Tonights league event was 'double points' night. In some ways this is good...in others bad. After all if I did no good tonight then the others catch up! If I did do good then my lead becomes massive!

Thirteen runners then and tonight was a tale of 4 hands!

Hand 1: Ten minutes in and with blinds still at 25/50 I get Kh-3h in the BB. Its flat called by two other players and we see a flop of Qh-4h-7c. I check and Mr MP bets out 300. Pass, Pass. I flat call. My gin card arrives with the Ah falling on the turn. I check. My opponent bets 600. I flat call. A 2d appears on the river. This time I bet out 1500. My opponent calls and declares 2-pairs (Qc-4c) and I scoop.

Hand 2: Five minutes later. I'm in LP with Ad-6c. Mr MP, who'd I'd virtually cleaned out earlier, goes all in. I flat call and we're heads up. He flips A-J. Ok. A flop of 6-9-3-7-4 and I'm upto just over 7k (from a 3.5k start) and my first 'bounty chip' is in the bag!

For the next 90 minutes I get zilch, zippo, nada! Its a nightmare. I'm at the final table...there are 6 of us left...I have 5k in chips. Blinds are 200-400 and I'm on the BB.

Hand 3: I get 9h-7h. A short stacked player goes all-in for 2k. Another short stacked player does the same (he has 2k also). I can't pass and call the extra 1600. One flips 5-5. The other A-A. Flop is Ah-8d-4d. Turn 6h. River 3d. Baaaaahhh!! Mr A-A triples up.

Hand 4: Next hand I'm in the SB. I get Jd-2d. Player on the button flat calls. BB checks. Flop is 7d-8d-9c. How can I fold??? I go all-in! BB folds but the button calls and flips Q-9. Any 10 or any diamond for me!! Turn is the Kc. River the 3h. I'm out in 6th!

Points wise I got 3 (for turning up) + 2 (for my one bounty chip) * 2 (double points night) = 10. Total points = 90!!

You can't win ALL the time!!

Entries -> 13 - Place -> 6th - Loss -> £50 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£682
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Gutshot Court Case - The Aftermath!

With last weeks decision by Her Majestys courts here in the UK that poker, organised and run outside legally established casinos, is illegal, its fast becoming apparent that London clubs such as The Gutshot, The Western & Big Slick are starting to feel the heat!

In the immediate aftermath of the courts decision it was declared 'business as usual' by one club owner. Now though, after several days of futher operation, the consequences of running such a club are beginning to hit home.

For these clubs to continue operating there must be NO entry fees charged on tournaments, NO rake taken from pots and NO charges made WHATSOEVER for providing the dealers. Of course the club owners are currently running around like headless chickens looking to 'bend' rules somewhat in order to accommodate its members whilst at the same time providing revenue for the clubs operation. Its not easy!

One London club, the Gutshot, has already tempered its working hours from 24 hrs to 4pm - 5am and closed its premises that adjoined the main bar & restarant area. Obviously to save on costs.

The ONLY poker club in London that is operating within the law is 'Loose Cannons' in All Hallows Lane, EC1. This club decided that it would become a 'private members club' and as such a joining fee (currently £25) + a daily 'visit' fee (currently £5 a visit) was asked of its players.

Whilst this idea was laughed at by the majority when the club first opened it now may look like a shrewd move as Mr Plod has now carte blance to raid the other clubs at will and close them down instantly if found to be operating illegally.

Just as the USA has decided that poker is an evil way of spending ones own money on the Internet and are currently choking off financial pathways to funding such sites it appears that while the UK Government is happy that people can get pissed up 24 hrs a day down at the local pub they are not happy to entertain a group of like minded people playing cards outside 'designated areas', i.e casinos

Best to move to Las Vegas now I feel and be done with it!!

Jan 18th - £50+£5 No Limit Hold'Em - Loose Cannons (EC1)

'Wages Day' was a song by Deacon Blue back in the 80's and just recently I feel that Thursday might become my very own 'wages day' as it appears that my recent excertions at the Loose Cannons Club of a Thursday night have proved very fruitful indeed.

My last 3 competitions down at the club have resulted in 2 1sts and a 2nd so its fast becoming my favourite place to play. Of course it helps that the standard of players there are not of the calibre you'd find at the Vic and the fields are somewhat smaller than your average field but you still have to work your way through the 'luck' factor that exists in all poker tournaments.

Tonight was 'league' night. I've harped on about this for a couple of weeks now but I'm determined to win this thing and a week in Vegas awaits the lucky player to do just that.

After two weeks I'm top of the league with 51 points. What could I do tonight?

Eleven desperados started the nights event (told you the field was small) and as usual the plan is just to wait until the cards arrived and play from there.

I got A-A early on and made 600 from those then, at the 100-200 level, I get K-K UTG and flat call. All check to the BB and we see a flop of 8-5-6. BB bets out 400 and I insta-flat call. Not wanting to see a 7 appear (for obvious reasons) I was semi-pleased to see the turn card was another 5. The BB bet out 800 and again I insta-flat called.

The river card came a Q and this time the BB checked. Of course this didn't help the board so with K-K in tow I bet out 1500. BB called and flipped Q-8 for two pair but my K-K got there and I'd now doubled my stack.

I got a nice few chips when I hit a straight flush with Qs-9s on a board of 8s-Js-10h-Ks-10s against my opponent straight and so with just 5 people left I was cruising!

Three prizes were paid tonight - £325 - £175 - £50 so it was worth playing for and before you could say "boo" we were down to the final 3.

My chip stack was around 15k (out of 38.5k) as was another guys and the short stack held the balance.

The problem with short stacks though is that they'll go all in and gamble. The short stack was pushing in most every hand and when I found K-Q I felt compelled to call. He flipped Qs-9s so I was praying no 9. No 9 came but a spade flush did and suddenly I was short stack.

I then followed the same strategy (all-in every hand) and got called from across the table who'd also found himself short of chips. He held A-3. I held A-9. A flop of J-3-9-10-7 sealed the deal and I was now heads up!

Chip counts were 24k-14k in my opponents favour so I needed a double up! Holding J-10 I pushed and was called by my opponent and his A-8. The flop was 7-8-3-A-9 and I'd doubled through.

A bit of chip trading went on and we got it to where chips were essentially even so we split the prize money (£250 each) and played on for the points.

Final hand...I held Kh-4h...opponent held K-8. Flop was 2-3-7-4-5 and I'd won!!

Points total for night - 18 (for winning) + 3 (for attending) + 8 (bounty buttons) = 29.

Total for the 3 weeks fo far = 80 =>WELL AHEAD!!

Entries -> 11 - Place -> 1st - Win -> £215 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£732 (As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Jan 13th - £30+£ NL Hold'Em (Western)

These £30 comps at the Western of a Saturday afternoon are great fun but with 66 runners, a 30 minute clock and a 5k starting stack they tend to get a bit weary if you are not doing well in them and after 80 minutes of play my patience finally ran out!

You always hope than in any competition you play in that you'll be dealt good cards. The court case thats on at the moment between Gutshot & 'the establishment' about whether poker is a game of luck or of skill can simply be answered by playing in a tournament where the best cards you get in 80 minutes are A-9 o/s. That mlud is 'luck'...bad luck at that.

No sireee. No skill involved. You have to work with the cards you get given and todays adventure consisted of pooh followed by more pooh!

Anyway I got fed up and shovelled my 2.4k remaining stack in with 10d-7d with two all-ins before me. On their backs and I was up against As-9s & Q-Q. The Q-Q stood up and thats all he wrote. Ho Hum!

Entries -> 66 - Place -> 60th - Loss -> £33 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£517
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Jan 11th - £50+£5 NL Hold'Em (Loose Cannons)

Thursday Night is 'Loose Cannons' night although the worst case scenario for them is that Gutshot lose their current court case then appeal! In this instance the place will shut (too expensive to keep going I feel) and I won't get my trip to Vegas!

As I said in last weeks blog I'm determined to win this league for the free trip to the WSOP so was anxious to do well again in tonights event!

A slight change in the rules means that if you crap out of the 6pm event in short order you can play in the 8.30pm event as you can take your BEST score from the night into the league.

Tonights 6pm event attracted 15 runners so 3 prizes were on offer - £375 - £225 & £150 plus, of course, all the £5 bounty chips you can get your hands on.

Early doors and I chipped up quite nicely. Fair play to the fella that folded A-Q face up, after I'd moved all-in once the river card appeared, on a board of Qd-8d-5h-4c-Ad. I was first to act and held the Kd-5d for the nuts. He claimed it was too early to put all his chips out there...nonetheless a great laydown!

My first setback came when holding 7-7 and the blinds were at 100-200. I was in the cut-off seat (one before the button) and raised it to 600. The BB called for the extra 400 and we saw a flop of 4-5-J. He checked, I bet 1500, he goes all-in! I can't put him on a Jack (too lucky) so call. He flips 4h-5h for two pair and I don't improve!

Never mind....I still had just over 3k (from a start stack of 3.5k) so I could still play a while!

Players dropped and we got to 10 players. (Final table at 9). I launched all-in a couple of times with no callers but with the blinds now at 300-600 I was picking up close to 1k in chips each time and I eventually reached the final table with just short of 6k.

With the table back to 9 players I could afford to play tight again and got lucky in one hand when I got dealt A-A in LP. A MP player went all-in for 4k with K-Q and my Aces stood up on a board of J-J-4-J-10.

Blinds increased to 400-800. The chipped up guy at the other end of the table to me was hitting everything and knocking people out every other hand. We were soon 4 handed!

My stack wasn't improving though and with 7c-5c in hand I flat called, from the SB, an extra 1k for a family pot look at 7-2-3. I checked, as did two others, but the button decided to bet out 2k. I decided that I was winning and went all-in for 6k. All passed to the raiser who joyfully called my all-in bet flipping 2-2 for a set!

Ok...so coat on time...but wait...a 4 on the turn was followed by an Ace on the river giving me a straight (A-2-3-4-5) and my opponent could hardly believe it!!

Shortly after that the same guy bet out 2k. I looked down to see Kc-10c and decided to bet out 10k. All folded back to the original raiser who decided that with only 3k left he'd better call. He flipped A-3. A King on the flop sealed his fate and I was in the money!

My chip stack had increased to circa 16k and when the chip leader went all-in and I found Ah-Qh in the hole I could hardly refuse a call.

He flipped A-J but a Queen on the flop sealed the deal I was now chipped up table captain!

Heads up soon came when the one time chip leader got knocked out so we did a quick chip count and with a 30k-22k lead we did a deal where I took £325 and my opponent got £275. Now for the points!!

I called an all-in bet with 5-5 only to see my opponent with 9-9! Boooooo!!

I called my last chips off with J-9 only to see my opponent with Q-Q! Boooo!!

So in points terms I collected 15 for finishing 2nd (even though I picked up more cash), 4 points for my 2 bounty chips (2 for each 1) and 3 points for entering. Total = 22 points.

After last weeks 29 point haul I'm still top of the tree with 51 points!! Only 11 weeks to go!!

Entries -> 15 - Place -> 2nd - Win -> £280 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£550
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Jan 9th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em (Western)

Forty six runners in tonights £100 NL Hold'Em tournament but for the first time this year I couldn't get going and was out before the 1st break.

For the first 60 mins or so I was running between the live play and the HM tournament on 'Full Tilt' where I managed to accumulate a few chips before going out in 19th place with my A-K unable to win the race against 8-8.

My demise in the live tournament was worse.

After 80 mins play I held 4k, from a 5k starting stack, and was looking to get involved in order to increase my stack somewhat. When I feel like this I usually make mistakes and when one mistake compounds another then its usually au-revoir.

Holding Ad-Qd, in LP, I raised the pot to 700 (blinds were 100-200). I got one caller! Flop is Kh-Jd-3h. My opponent checked. Flops like this look nice for A-Q as immediately you see the 'straight' potential and act accordingly.

My 'accordingly' was to bet out 1300 leaving myself with 2k. Immediately my opponent went all-in! A quick maths check said I needed to put 2k in to potentially win 8.7k. A no-brainer really. I called.

He flipped K-J for two pair so I needed my '10' badly. Turn card was a Queen giving me a few more outs but a dead looking 9 appeared on the river knocking me out.

Further analysis suggested I should have checked the flop, called the turn bet, that would have inevitably come, and binned on the river (maybe)!

Thats the great thing about 20/20 in poker...you can write books on the stuff!

Oh well...back to picking up the wages at Loose Cannons on Thursday I hope!

Entries -> 46 - Place -> 38th - Loss -> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£270
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Jan 6th - £30+£5 NL Hold'Em - Grosvenor (Victoria)

Saturday afternoon at the Grosvener and 37 of us sat down for the £30 NL game. Given that the majority of decent players avoid these kind of tournaments like the plague (they're usually still in bed at 2.30pm) then they're not that difficult to do well in and given a modicum of luck, which you still need, then reaching the final table is pretty much nailed on!

Of course it helps that players which attend these Sat afternoon games are generally recreational made up of players who can't lay down bottom pairs but I meandered my way through to the last 9 without sweating too much.

A couple of nice hands lifted my chip stack somewhat along the way. In one I held Qs-10s and in a four way pot, where we'd all put 300 in pre-flop, the flop came Qc-Qd-4c. We all checked! The 8c fell next. It was checked to me where upon I bet out 5k. A man holding K-K (no clubs) called for all his chips. The 4s fell on the river filling me up. Nice!

So...final table and I was in no rush to get involved. Lucky for me everyone else did and within 35 mins I was heads up with a young guy who, having just knocked out 2 people, held a 4/1 chip lead on me. This wasn't going to take long!

Three hands in and he went all-in. I looked and saw Qd-10d. Call! He flipped 4-4 and we were off to the races.

Flop 6-6-8. Turn 5. River 3. Ho Hum. Second place and £200...better than a slap in the chops with a wet fish!

Entries -> 37 - Place -> 2nd - Win -> £165 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£380
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Jan 4th - £50+£5 No Limit Hold'Em - Loose Cannons (EC1)

My first foray of 2007 into the world of 'live' tournament poker and, as things panned out, it couldn't have gone much better!

Loose Cannons - the new & under used poker club down in the City - started their 'league' tonight where the eventual winner - and partner - get a free trip to Vegas and a seat at this years $10,000 WSOP main event. (Well thats how I read it anyway!)

With the City still on holiday from the Xmas break only 7 players deemed it necessary to turn up for tonights 6pm event thereby giving the winner a running start at winning the league.

Heres how the league works...

The game is a £50+£5 (bounty button) NL Hold'Em event. Every Thursday night there are TWO events. One starts at 6pm (20 min clock). One starts at 8.30pm (15 min clock). You can only play in ONE of the two scheduled!

You get 3 points for turning up. The winner of each event gets 18 points, 2nd 15 points, 3rd 12 etc etc.

In the event you have any bounty buttons in front of you when you get knocked out then these are worth both £5 each + 2 bonus points!

With only 7 runners the prize pool was - winner £250 + 18 points - 2nd £100 + 15 points.

So how did I get on??

With a starting stack of 3500 and blinds at 25-50 there was no need to get involved right? But everyone did! It was only 10 mins in when we lost our first player and I hadn't even played a hand as yet!

Now with the game 6 handed the value of hands started to change so I'd always be calling with 'callable hands' like 8s-9s.

Three of us saw a flop of Q-9-6. One checked, I bet 500 and the guy next to me raised it to 1000. First guy passes. Now what?

Now before I say what I did here there was also the thought in the back of my mind that IF I got knocked out early from this comp I could leg it across town to the Grosvener to play in their Thursday £50 freezeout event which stopped taking registration at 7.30pm. It was 6.40pm!

'I'm all-in', I said and stood up. 'Call', said my opponent who turned Q-J and I was looking for the door!

The turn though brought a 7 which meant that I now had a straight draw as well as a pair of 9's. The river was a.....10!!! Cripes...I'd hit runner runner to double me through. My opponent was not best pleased!

So now I have just over 5k in chips and the next hand I play knocks another player out!

Holding Jc-10c I smooth call a small raise from across the table. The flop is a lovely 8-9-Q. My opponent bets out 1000. I go all-in. (Perhaps my overbet would convince him to call??) He hums and aars but calls for all his chips - these city guys!! - and flips A-Q.

Nice hand sir but I scoop the chips and suddenly its a different game!

Two more players dropped and we were down to 4. I then get A-Q. Blinds were now 100-200 and I had around 8k in chips. I call the 200 but SB decides to knock it upto 1000. I call. Flop is 10-Q-Q. SB bets out 2000. I flat call. Turn is a 6. We both check. River a Jack. SB checks. I bet 2500. SB calls. I flip my A-Q and he looks well pissed as he turns A-A. Oooerr!

I take this guy out two hands later when my Q-Q outguns his Q-K. Three players becomes two!

At this point I have better than a 2/1 chip lead and the first hand of heads-up play it looks all-over. On a flop of Kc-10c-4h my opponent bets out 1000. I have K-J and move all-in. He calls and flips Kh-7h. This looks easy right...just no 7 please!

I'd forgotton about the hearts though and ehen the 9h was followed by the 6h he'd doubled through on me with his flush...argh!!

The end though came as it started in that my 8-9 proved to be too much for his A-9. On a flop of 8-8-7 we both checked. An Ace popped out next. Hoping he'd hit it I bet 1000. He goes all-in and I duly call. A boring 6 hit the river and my first tournament win of 2007 was secure!

For the league I got 18 points + 3 points + 8 points (4 bounty buttons) = 29 points.

I've told Roy he might as well buy me the flight tickets now! He laughed...as did I!!

Entries -> 7 - Place -> 1st - Win -> £215 (£215) Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£215

(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Dublin & the end of 2006!

First some numbers from my last two 'live' tournaments of the year...

22nd Dec - €50+€5 No Limit Hold'Em (Rebuys) - Fitzwilliam Club - Dublin

Entries -> 98 - Place -> ??? - Loss -> €155 ($202) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$17312

(As from 30th Nov 2006 rate of exchange is calculated at €1 = $1.30)

29th Dec - €50+€5 No Limit Hold'Em (Rebuys) - Fitzwilliam Club - Dublin

Entries -> 102 - Place -> 4th - Win -> €1395 ($1813) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$19125

(As from 30th Nov 2006 rate of exchange is calculated at €1 = $1.30)

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So there you have it...a profit on 'live' tournament play in 2006 of just over $19000, or close to £10,000.

Internet play though is another kettle of fish entirely and I suppose I chose not to keep records of play on there for 2006 as there's no doubt that I'm a loser overall for the year there despite having one or two 'nice' results.

If there is anything at all to be learned from Internet play though is that I don't believe for one minute that the cards are 'random', as advertised, and that sites DO have a structure in place that keeps the fishes in the game for longer than necessary. Just my opinion folks!

So what for 2007?

Well I'm certainly going to keep records of my tournament play on the Internet. My initial plan is to just play in the £4k guarantee event on crypto software at 7pm (GMT) and the now heavily populated $26 'Double-Stack' event on Full Tilt at 7pm. I may also then play the $10 NL Hold'Em rebuy event on Stars at 9pm but thats it!

I'll update a spreadsheet which I'll present to you all to view on a monthly basis. After all how hard can it be to win a 400+ player event? Har Har!

As for 'live' play I hope to qualify for an EPT and the WSOP this year via satellite, either web based or live, The Grosvenor GPT event looks promising as well so I'll be giving that a bash!

Finally as for a target I'll set myself...to show a profit of £20,000 on the year.

Now that'd be something!!