Marks Poker Blog

Dec 31st - All over!!

2007-12-31T13:57:00.001Z

So Dec 2007 comes to an end and another year goes by!

This year has been a bit of a downer as far as 'tournament' play has been concerned with a big gap in picking up winnings. Its hard to play week after week getting nowhere and as poker is a volatile game at the best of times you just have to learn to live with the losses!

On-line its been a different story this month with me picking up 2nd place in a Full-Tilt $150 tournament for close to $7k. Of course once I'd 'cashed out' then the old 'cash-out curse' began to take hold and I ain't won a bean since but as I've been on holiday since Oct having sold my house in London and spent 4 weeks in Florida the extra cash I DID manage to get back down into my bank account will come in handy for the new year!

I'm back in Dublin at the mo but cometh the new year then cometh a new job somewhere! Whether that be here in Ireland or back in the UK is still unknown.

My blog will end today. After 5 years of blogging on both this site and on UKPOKER.COM, the UK's first proper website devoted to poker, I'm retiring from the public domain.

Of course if I ever become world champion then you'll hear from me again but in the meantime I'd like to thank you all for following the ups & downs of my poker career for the past while and hope you've had as much interest reading it as I have had in writing!

Au revoir & happy new year!

Dec 21st - Florida - (Part II)

2007-12-21T12:24:00.000Z

The Seminole Hard Rock Casino sits just off junction 7 on the I-4, the road between Orlando & Tampa. A forty five minute drive from where I was staying took me into the parking lot of this, now, infamous hotel with the recent death of Ann-Nicole Smith (money grabbing young lady), still fresh in everyones memory!

The casino itself is not what you call a 'real' casino. Inside there are two things going on...slot machines & poker!

The slotties go on for miles...there must be at least two thousand...whilst the poker room sits about a 50 yard walk from the main entrance and my how things have changed since I was last here!

Back in the summer of 06, my last visit, a Tuesday night tournament for the $200+$40 NL event would regularly fetch around 200 players. On the first Tuesday I visited the casino this time around there were 45 runners!!! So what was going on??

Since my last visit here gambling, especially poker, had started to be allowed at more locations throughout Florida. People were taking their game elsewhere...it was as simple as that. There was a NEW game in the room though that lists were long for and everyone seemed keen to get involved with...the NL CASH games!!

I'd always avoided the 'cash games' here! A couple of years ago the biggest 'cash' game in the room was a $1/$2 LIMIT game. Yup...thats right...!!! Still the place was full though...mainly of old men passing the day by paying a rake that you just couldn't beat. Got 4 of a kind...a nice $2 bet on the end would get 5 callers and you'd end up with of pot of $50. Wow!!

Last year the limits got raised to...wait fot it...$2/$4 LIMIT!! So the pots doubled in size put I'd rather play $5 a spin on the slotties than snooze away a $4 bet at the end of a hand in limit Omaha. After all there was NEVER going to be any bluffing at these stakes.

And so to today. Thanks to continuing lobbying by the Seminole Indians No Limit poker got introduced. Another problem though!

Forget about bringing a wad to the table...the maximum sit down amout, to start, even in the $2/$5 NL game was $100! Crazy man! Whilst some players had spent all day at the tables building up their stacks to $2000-$3000 a newbie could ONLY come into the game with a $100 buy-in. It was therefore always good practice to join a NEW game than to sit at an established table where several big stacks would always take pleasure in calling you down then get lucky on the end!

So anyway...I had three trips down to the casino on my vacation and my results were:

Trip 1 : Tournament - -$240
Cash - -$800
Net Win/Loss = -$1040

Trip 2 : Tournament - -$400
Cash - +$1300
Net Win/Loss = +$900

Trip 3 : Tournament - -$400
Cash - +$1200
Net Win/Loss = +800

Vacation Win/Loss = +$660

Oh...I also won a $2000 jackpot on the slotties which the casino then kindly took away $600 in 'taxes' and so I was well pissed about that!

All in all though the play was soft...must be as I won...and very enjoyable. Luckily for me the casino is just far enough away from Orlando as to not make it a 'must go every night venue'!

Dec 10th - Florida (Part 1)

2007-12-10T17:42:00.000Z

I've just spent the last 30 days in Florida, Orlando to be exact. With temperatures in the 78-85F range for the whole duration and only 2 days of rain I'm feeling a bit depressed at being back home to the chilly winds of Western Europe!

The best thing about being in Florida though was not the weather, but the value. With the exchange rate being in excess of $2 for every £1 the price of everything you currently buy in Florida looks absolutely brilliant in comparison to UK prices. Some examples are:

All you can eat pizza + dessert + soft drinks = $4.99
Denny breakfast (2 eggs, 2 bacon, Ham, Hash Browns, 3 pancakes, coffee) = $7.49
Gallon of Tropicana Orange juice = $5.99
Dinner for two in a nice restaurant = $65

With Walmarts offering shirts for $8, trousers for $12, t-shirts (3 for $10) its not hard to get carried away and totally kit yourself out for $100. A true bargain indeed.

Forty-two inch HDTV's for $799 were another bargain and with laptops selling for under $600 its a great time to get over there and shop!

I left home with just a carry on case and came back with a 32kg case on which I had to pay $50 in EXCESS baggage with all the new stuff I'd bought!

Anyway...this column is about poker and in part II I'll let you all know about the latest happenings down at the Hard Rock Casino in Seminole County which is run by them Indian chappies....!!

Nov 3rd - APAT - £75 NL Hold'Em (Walsall)

2007-11-06T13:39:00.000Z

After being robbed at Dublin airport by Ryanair, who insisted I had to pay a £2 'check in fee', I wasn't in a great mood when I finally arrived in Birmingham for the start of what I hoped was to be a long weekend of poker playing in the Walsall APAT event.

Two hundred runners, a 10k starting stack, and a 40 minute clock meant that this was to be a hell of a day and my initial luck was very poor indeed. It was half way through level 4...I'd had NO pairs...I'd had NO luck and my chip stack was at 2375. I get Jc-6c in the BB and see a flop of 3-4-5.

I checked. Player in MP bet out 600. Next player to act called. I push all-in with my straight draw and both opponents called. Turn card was a 2 (yipee)...river card a 7. I triple up and I'm back in the game.

I then get A-A and make another 4k on that. The last hand before the break I get Qd-10d and call a 1200 raise. Flop is Jd-8d-6h. I ask my opponent as to how much he has left. 5400! I make that the bet and he calls with K-K. Turn card is a diamond and no help to my opponent on the river. I'm now on 20k!

Levels 5-8 increase my stack upto 40k.

Level 9 and I get lucky. Holding A-8 I call a players all-in, for 7k, along with another player. Flop is A-x-x. My opponent checks. I bet 5k. He calls. Turn card is an 8. Opponent checks. I bet out 13k and he calls all-in with A-10. All-in player has A-10 also. No help for them on the river and I'm upto 60k. I cruise to the next break at the end of level 10.

Level 11. After many hours of play and my earlier 'travel time' I'm a bit tired. I'm on the button and I look down to see what I THINK is 8-8. I raise to 6k. Player on BB re-raises to 16k. I call.

Flop is 2s-4s-5d. BB bets out 10k. I RAISE to 20k. BB goes all-in for another 40k or so. He has me covered. I check my cards. I HAVE 8-9!!! Argh!! I fold in disgust. The pot cost me 36k!

A short while layer I'm UTG and smooth call the 2k blinds with K-J. Three other players come in. Flop is 2-3-5. Its checked around. Turn card is a Jack. BB bets out 6k. I re-raise all-in. BB calls and flips 4-6 for a flopped straight. I'm out!

I've no qualms about my play other than the 8-9 debacle but dems the breaks. I lasted to the last 6 tables and I'd played for around 9 hours.

Next tournament will be in Florida. Its a tough life!

Entries -> 200 - Place -> 55th Loss-> £75 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£2362(Rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00 / £1 = €1.40)

Nov 1st - €500 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam Club (Dublin)

2007-11-02T13:26:00.000Z

A nice field of 40 runners for tonights €500 No Limit event held for charity where €100 from every €500 went towards the charity itself!

Form is a wonderful thing, when you have it! At the moment I don't and I ended up finishing in around 25th place after being unfortunate in a 14k pot when holding A-10. More on that it a mo!

We all started with 7.5k in chips and early doors I couldn't find much to get involved with. What I WAS getting involved with proved to be worthless after the flop so drifted to 6.5k in the first hour.

I then get moved tables and the action started. Holding A-Q I picked up a 5k pot on a board of A-J-10-7 when my big bet on the turn frightened off my opponent. Three hands later this happened...

In MP I get A-10 and limp in for the 200 blinds. Four of us see a flop of A-2-7. A player in the BB bets out 1200 and its on me. I decide that the bet was a feeler bet as there's be no raise from the off so my A-10 was probably strong. I re-raised to 3.5k. Back around to the BB who then shovels all-in for another 3k on top!

I'm pot comitted so call and he flips A-2! Blah! No help and I'm back down to 2.5k.

Just before the break I get a split pot with A-4 against A-Q on a board of A-K-6-6-7 and start level 4 with just over 3k in chips!

Shortly into level 4 I get Q-J and call an all-in bet against A-K. I get lucky on the flop as it comes Q-2-4 but a horrible looking King appears on the turn and I'm gone!

Its been a while since I got paid in tournament play in a 'live' situation. APAT, in Walsall, is next followed by some tournaments at the Seminole Hard Rock Casinio in Tampa, Florida throughout November which I'm thoroughly looking forward to!

Entries -> 40 - Place -> 25th Loss-> £357 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£2287(Rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00 / £1 = €1.40)

Oct 22nd - €75 + €5 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam Club (Dublin)

2007-10-24T14:00:00.000+01:00

Having just sold my house in W.London I'm currently back in Dublin for a couple of weeks before going to Florida for a month before Xmas in Dublin before who knows what!

I thought I'd check out whats been happening at one of my favourite clubs here in town with a trip down to the Fitz club to play in the €75 NL Hold'em tournament and to catch up with some faces of my past!

With so much competition in terms of card rooms in Dublin these days (there are now 4 major card rooms in town) I wasn't really sure of what turnout to expect but at the end of the day there were 43 runners and I finished 14th!

The starting chips were 6k with a 30 minute clock which would point to a well structured event. Of course you still get the 'goonies' who want to go all-in on A-K in level 1 pre-flop but this kind of tournament is excellent if you can sit there and wait for cards to come and flops to develop in your favour!

After 3 levels, and the break, I had 7k hardly having seen a hand I could get involved with but with antes at 100-200, for level 4, there was really no need to panick!

Once again I was was playing good poker, bluffing nicely on a couple of pots, calling down players with King high Winning both pots) and eeked my way upto 9k and the last two tables.

Of course in any poker tournament there WILL come a time when you have to take a chance at doubling up annd my moment came shortly after...

Holding As-Jd, in MP, and with blinds at 300-600 I raised it up to 2500. My stack at this point was just shy of 9k so had around 6400 left after this raise!

All passed to the BB, a stubborn kind of player who would play medium hands like good hands and would refuse to let go if he felt good about the cards he was holding. He called and we saw a flop of Qs-6s-5s. The BB immediately bet out 4k. Decision time!

There was no way he'd bet out unless a piece of the flop but to have made a flush already would be pushing it and anyhow I had the best flush draw with the Ace of Spades in my hand! All-in!

He duly called the other 2400 and flipped Qc-8s.

The turn came the 8d...the river the 9h and that was me done!

Its a very thin line between sucess & failure at poker and I just seem to keep falling on the wrong side of that line at the moment.

Entries -> 43 - Place -> 14th Loss-> £57 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£1930
(Rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00 / £1 = €1.40)

Oct 12th - £500+£50 NL Hold'Em (Victoria Club)

2007-10-14T13:15:00.000+01:00

I'll maybe play 4-6 of these £500+ buy in's in a single year as the variance in poker is such that you have to get EXTREMELY lucky to get your money back on them in general.

Tonight there were 137 runners at the Vic for this event and even though the structure is good with blind increases every 45 mins you're always looking at your cards knowing that this could be the last hand on the night if the poker gods deem it that way!

On table 12 I get pro's Willie Tann to my immediate left and Ben Roberts two doors further away. You know you're not playing with muppets even though the rest of the table looked, and acted at times, as though they themselves were!

I started steadily. A pair of 6's in the hole turned a set on the flop and even though betting was slow I managed to eek out 1200 points in profit which added nicely to my start stack of 5000.

It wasn't long before we moved tables and I get the bucket seat (seat 1) on my new one. Not my favourite position!

Nevertheless I get a few more chips when I make the nut flush with Ac-5c on a scary board of Qc-Qs-Jc-8c-4s and a few more chips then get added when I flop two pair. The wheels though were shortly to come off!

At this level of buy-in I expect players that raise from the off to have a certain standard of hand and I assume that if you took a straw poll amongst other like minded individuals they'd agree. This is where poker becomes POKER though and its a fine line between success & failure!

In LP I get J-J. With blinds still at 50-100 there's a raise, in EP, to 400. An EP raise to me looks like A-J, A-Q or A-K. When the action reaches me I decide that discretion is the better part of valour and simply flat call as the alternative maybe a raising war which I'd be scared to lose.

The flop is 6-8-9 rainbow! EP man bets out 500. I decide to flat call one time and then reraise all-in if no 'scary card' comes on the turn...after all he's missed right???

The turn card is a 4. Its a rainbow flop! AGAIN EP man bets out...this time 1100. Now I'm getting concerned but what the hell has he got?? A set is probably out of the question as he'd have checked from the off. Big pair??? Maybe??? I'm stumped. I call the 1100 bet.

River card is a 3. He now checks! In hindsite I should have just checked and shown my J-J but I decided to get agressive and bet our 2k. He then moves all-in for another 1450 and I'm forced to call. He flips.......10-7 for a flopped straight.....URGH!!!

My chip stack is decimated although I still have a playable 2500 chips left.

The trouble with me though is that I HATE playing short stacked. My game isn't geared to mini-bets & mini-calls. I wanna beat the fuckers out of pots with booming bets and big bluffs which I can't do with mini-stacks.

A short while later I get 3-3 and decide for a double up or die! Some 18 year old kid thinks K-Q is nice and calls my 2200 bet! A King hits the flop and its all over...again!!!

Entries -> 137 - Place -> --- Loss-> £550 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£1873(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Oct 2nd - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em (Western Club)

2007-10-04T13:01:00.000+01:00

I heard Norman Chad say, in one of the current episodes of ESPN's WSOP 2007 coverage, that there are lots of times where A-K is the last hand a player will hold in any given tournament and once again I seem to run into a brick wall when I get this hand!

Fifty eight runners for tonights event and once again I played good and steady poker throughout the evening. At the moment I'm not walking away from tournaments thinking I could have played any better or that I'm making silly moves & bluffs cos I ain't. Its just that the poker gods are putting me in situations where I can't get out!

At the first break I held 8800 in chips (from a start stack of 5k). No big hands to speak of. I just chipped away and got lucky once or twice, as you need to.

The 2nd session started a little more fortuatously. Holding Q-Q in LP there was a raise & a re-raise before me. At this point I had only 6700 in chips so in some respects it was an easy push. The original raiser folded. The re-raiser called with 10-10. My Queens held and I was upto 16k.

A few hands later I was once again back to 8k.

This time I held 10d-9d. With blinds at 200-400 I called a mini-raise to 800 and 3 of us saw a flop of J-Q-4. First to act bet out 1200. I flat called. Next to act mini-raised to 2400 and we all called. Next card out was a 7...close but no cigar. First player checked. I checked. Next player bet out 4800. EP player called, as did I. River card was a....4!!! (Oh well never mind)

Despite this minor setback I struggled on but at the 2nd break I held 8700 chips and with blinds about to go to 400-800 I had to get busy!

I moved all-in, in LP, with Ac-8c, for 7k. Lucky for me, as it turned out, the BB decided to call the 7k with 7c-6c. My Ace high took it down!

So...back upto 14k when I get A-K in LP. There's an EP raise to 3k and I don't mess around and shove all-in for 13k. The player who'd earlier called my first all-in couldn't wait to get his chips into the pot! I'd run into A-A.

And so there you have it...another disappointing night out for me! I'm sure the cards will turn soon. Just goes to show the number of pot holes one has to survive if you're going to win at poker tournaments. Me...I just can't avoid them at the mo!

Entries -> 58 - Place -> 13th Loss-> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£1323(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

2007-10-03T16:47:00.001+01:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 4766745

Sept 28th - £40+£4 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2007-09-29T13:30:00.000+01:00

Ok...there was definately a lack of barn doors & banjos tonight but despite playing good solid poker and making some nice calls on the river to get my stack up to 10500 (from a start point of 4k) at the break there was to be no prize!

Thirty eight runners tonight! This was put down to the fact that the traffic around this West London cardroom was 'murder'. Oh well!

With this being a 'double chance' tournament I stuck my hand up and got my extra 2k in chips pretty much straight away. I've come to realise that these kind of events at the Western attract mad gamblers and its better to have ALL your ammo available to you at any one time as there'll no doubt come a time when you're in a position to use it!

This was proved on a couple of ocassions during the first levels when 'players' (I use this term advisedly) would be seen calling 1k pre-flop raises with Jd-6d and Qd-4d with the excuse that they were 'soooooooted' as they scooped the pots from their unsuspecting opponents playing the likes of A-K & J-J.

As previously stated I managed to get upto 10.5k at the break (4 20 minute levels) and with the field fast diminishing I was looking to pick off the players desperate enough to go 'all-in' with duff hands. Ok...I did call an all-in with Qd-9d against a player who decided to risk his tournament with K-2 but he only had 2k and I was 'live' all the way to the river when a 2 dropped!

So I have 8k left in LP and look down to see A-K. First time tonight! Chip leader, across the table, had flat called the 600 blind and I raised it up to 3k. Back to him and he announced that he was all-in. I wasn't going anywhere!

He flipped Q-Q so it was a race for the chips. The flop was 9-7-4-9-6 and that was than. Maybe when I win a race I'll be winning my next tournament but its been a while!!

Entries -> 38 - Place -> 17th Loss-> £44 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£1213
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Sept 21st - £40+£4 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2007-09-24T14:03:00.000+01:00

After the joy and fun of Thursday night at the Vic it was back to the bread and butter tournaments with a look at the £40 'double chance' NL event at the Western.

Fifty three runners tonight and I get a seat with 7 other like minded individuals hoping to score a few quid from the evenings entertainment.

Like Tuesday night though I couldn't hit a la barn door a la banjo and there was always someone waiting in the long grass with a bigger hand than me when the time came to put up or shut up.

Cards are frustrating when you can't win a pot. If you read other bloggers blogs about how boring it is when you can't find a hand you'll see that its sometimes no fun at all.

I was out of the tourney within the hour having achieved nothing at all this week except the expense of £804 which won't be happening again anytime soon!!

Entries -> --- - Place -> --- Loss-> £804 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£1169
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Sept 19th - £500+£50 Omaha Hi-Lo (Victoria Club)

2007-09-24T13:35:00.000+01:00

Its not often that I play at this level of buy-in and to be honest the swings in the NL Hold'Em put me off from playing that high a buy-in in that sort of tournament.

The Omaha Hi-Lo event is nice as you can win pots with crap hands as well as good ones and as I get my fair share of crap hands I thought it'd be a good idea to try and see how I got on at an event like this.

My initial table line up was full of celebrities (in a poker sense). Lally Khadjuria, 7 card stud master, sat immediately to my left. Next door but one to him was Jeff Lisandro, recent WSOP bracelet winner. Next to him was Thomas Brihl. Recent winner of the HORSE event at the WSOPE and the winner of the 7 card stud event the previous night. Two doors from him was Woody Deck whose speciality seemed to be the Hi-Lo events.

Finally sat immediately to my right was Vicky Coren. Vicky is a bit of a celebrity down the Vic which was proven by the fact that she couldn't sit still for five minutes as a collection of 'B' TV celebrities passed by eager to be introduced to one of only to female players to win either an EPT or WSOPE event in recent memory.

With this sort of line up what chance did I have??

Actually quite a good one. This was a 2k (double chance event) meaning that you started with 2k in chips and could have the other 2k at any time in the first hour. During that first hour I got dealt A-A-x-x twice and scooped nice pots on both ocassions. At the break I had 9k whilst two or three 'professionals' at my table were struggling somewhat.

Three hands into phase III and I get As-Ah-Kh-7c. Three of us see a flop of Kc-9c-7d. The guy across the table bets out. I re-raise all-in and he calls with K-J-J-10 no clubs. Two harmless cards fall and my A-A wins again. I'm now up to 14k and promptly get moved tables.

In MP I get 2-3-3-8 and flat call the blinds. Flop is A-3-9. Paul Alterman, a player who's been around the circuit as long as I have (early 90's) bets the pot. I re-raise with my set of 3's and he's all-in. I call to se he has 2-4-x-x. Looks like a splitty.

The turn is a 9, completing my house, and the river a King giving me the scoop. I now have 27k in chips whilst the average is 14k and I'm flying.

With blinds at 400-800 and 17 left I'm feeling good totally unaware that the next hand I get dealt is to be my 2nd last!

I get 3-4-5-6 in LP and 4 of us see a flop of 5-7-Q. I have the wrap and I'm not going anywhere.

EP player bets out 3k (obviously with high). MP player calls (obviously with a straight draw like me). I duly call.

Turn card is a 10. No help to anyone. EP player knows this and bets out 9k. Now I KNOW he's on a high and I would have passed here if it'd been heads up but MP player callls 9k as well giving me extra value should I hit.

River card is a 2. To me that looks an excellent card as if anyone HAS A-2 as the low draw its just knocked them out and my 3-4, for the low, must surely take half the pot.

Again EP player bets out...this time for 14700 (all his chips). MP player passes leaving the way clear for me to take the low with my 3-4. I call.

EP player flips A-3-Q-7 for two pair high (as anticipated) and nut low (NOT anticipated). I was fecked good and proper and have 400 points left.

This went in next hand and I was out of the door seconds later. Hit by the perfect storm!

Sept 18th - £200 NL Freezeout - Western Club

2007-09-24T12:51:00.001+01:00

The words 'banjo' & 'barn door' come to mind for tonight as I just couldn't hit one with the other as far as the cards were concerned.

Whatever I tried to do went wrong and whatever evil plan I had in order to scoop a monster pot it was immediately put in its place by the next flop card out.

With 7k in chips and a 30 minute clock you would have thought that getting deep into the tournament (time wise if nothing else) would be a sure thing then why 'o' why do I get nice starting hands that demand to be played (pairs, A-Q, A-K etc etc) and then get shafted as the flop drops.

Within 30 minutes I had lost 3k and, in a fit of madness, I decided to play 6-4 in EP in the hope that if the flop came right I could scoop a monster and get back to playing properly. Four of us saw a flop of A-6-4 and I immediately began to feel better.

I checked. Player to my immediate left bet out 800, no doubt with A-big kicker. Player across the table ALSO called and when the button passed it was back to me.

There were certainly two Aces out there but with the flat call from across the table it was very likely that both had a medium to large kicker card with it. I decided that my two pair were obviously in front so raised to 1600 with the full intent of going all-in on the turn. One player called the extra 800. Yum Yum!

Well Yum Yum turned turned into Bum Bum as the turn card came AN ACE!!! Arghhhhhhh!!

I was fooked. I checked. Opponent bet 2k and I had to pass! Story of my night.

Twenty minutes later I had 1750 left. Blinds were 50-100 and I look down on the BB to find 10-10. Surely I can double up here???

There's a small raise to 250 from the player immediately to my left. There are 3 callers. It comes to me. I lump in for 1750 total. Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass. The player in the SB mutters someting about wanting to gamble and calls with Q-J.

Coinflip ahoy!

Flop is A-6-4-QUEEN-7. I'm out and a bit pissed off in the process.

Sept 11th - £100 NL Freezout - Western Club

2007-09-12T13:25:00.000+01:00

Sixty six runners for tonights £100 NL Freezeout at the Western and for once in a while things actually went my way.

After a shaky start where my chip stack got decimated early to 2k I hit a couple of flushes and by the first break I held 8k in chips. No biggy cards as such but my play was solid and I was playing relaxed.

Levels 3,4 & 5 found me increasing my chip stack upto 17k at break number 2 and I was hopeful of a good result but for a while in level 7 I struggled, went card dead, and trickled back down to 10k. I then get a nice double up when someone plays back at me on a flop of A-K-10. I held A-6 and had raised pre-flop. He was the only caller and refused to let go of his K-J.

Then came the defining hand of the night for me.

With blinds at 400-800, in EP, I looked down to see A-J. The player to my immediate left had me covered in chips and, after a couple of minutes consideration, pushed all-in. It was passed back around to me.

In order to do well in these tournaments there comes a time when you make a stand and play the hand you're dealt for all your chips. As soon as the guy had pushed all-in I'd decided that I wasn't backing down and called.

He flipped 6-6. First card out was an Ace and I ended up with a flush. Suddenly I was in great shape.

The final table arrived but with everyone with 30k in chips (apart from 1 player) it took an age to lose a player.

Blinds were 2k-4k when the 9th & 8th person went out and I was card dead once again. My stack had dwindled to 20k and on my SB (2k) I picked up A-8. Play was very tight so it was passed around to me and I shoved all-in hoping to pick up the 6k loose change. Unfortunately the BB decided to call with A-10 (as you would) and it was all over for me in 7th place for £330.

Still...its nice to be a winner again and brings the total cost of playing 'live' poker in 2007 to just £365!

Entries -> 66 - Place -> 7th Win-> £220 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£365
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Sept 8th - £20 NL Hold'Em (Rebuy) - Grosvenor - W1

2007-09-10T15:23:00.000+01:00

Since Sept 1st things have changed a little down the Grosvenor. The Saturday £20 rebuy now starts at 1.45pm but 'late arrivals' now mean that the number of runners can increase by upto 50% in the hour that they're allowed to join the game after the start.

And so we began with 35 runners and 6 tables. By the time the rebuy period was up we'd upped to 54 runners, still with 6 tables!!

I like these £20 rebuy events although in order to accumulate chips you just HAVE to gamble and on the ocassions I gambled this afternoon the winners were smaller pots than the losing ones!

Buy-in 1 lasted all of 5 mins when my all-in move with 8-8 got called in 2 spots by A-J & A-K. A King hit.

Buy-in 2 lasted a little bit longer. Approx 10 mins. My shove in with Qd-Jd on a flop of 9-10-6 totally missed on the turn & river and I was onto buy-in number 3 which lasted much longer...all of 35 mins!

I'd actually managed to chip up somewhat to 3k (from the 1k start point) and we were five minutes before the break when I get dealt Qs-9s UTG. There was a small raise to 250 from the button and I duly called. A flop of As-Ad-2s gave me second to think before pushing all-in. The player on the button paused for several seconds, at least, before calling and flipping A-5.

Its times like these that you need the luck and as it was, on this occasion, it wasn't on my side as two red cards appeared to complete the hand and me in my pocket for buy-in number 4.

The top-up was buy-in number 5 and so at the break I had 2k in chips. Hardly enough for one round but all I needed was a double through to be back in the game.

My chance came 3 hands after the break when I got dealt 9-9 in EP. I pushed all-in and was called by the dealer with a mountain of chips and Qd-Jd to boot.

A flop of A-6-6-Q-5 and I was out...£103 the poorer!

Entries -> 54 - Place -> --- Loss-> £103 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£585
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Sept 4th - £100 NL Freezout - Western Club

2007-09-05T11:34:00.000+01:00

I got a freeroll this eveing at the Western thats to Geoff, the PR guy there who won his seat in a £24 satellite then decided he couldn't play.

He gave me the ticket in exchange for a 50/50 split of any winnings.

If you can call 50% of fresh air a good deal then we both did well out of it!

I went down to the club early in order to play some S & G's on Full Tilt where I've been having quite a bit of success in the past few days on MTT's finishing 2nd on two ocassions for cira $6000 in prize money.

I sat down at the $69 6 seater 6pm tourney and by the 2nd break at around 8.10pm I was 3rd in chips at 31k. By 8.30pm it was all over and I was out in 34th place, 10 shy of the money....don't ask!

Having donked my way through that tourney I wasn't at all as concentrated as I should have been for the £100 FREEZEOUT event and lasted just shy of an hour playing like a donkey for the time I was there!

Being only 9.30pm I decided to play £100 in the cash game which by the time I left my seat at midnight had grown to £563 the highlight hand being dealt A-A in the SB, having someone bet all-in on a flop of A-Q-Q (with A-J) and being paid nicely!

Its not a bad life sometimes!

(Sorry Geoff!!!)

Sat / Sun Aug 25th & 26th - Victoria & Luton

2007-08-28T08:24:00.000+01:00

The forums are abuzz with the hand I went out on at the European APAT championships this past Sunday. Before I divulge the play, and the reason for my sudden exit, I'll start with Saturday and my trip down the Vic!

The satellite event for the £250 NL game at 7.30pm attracted 30 or so runners. This £20 rebuy event eventually offered 6 seats and £170 for 7th so how would I fair?

To begin with I couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo! I'd had 3 rebuys before I dealt myself A-J and decided that with two all-ins already in front of me I'd swallow another rebuy and hope for value. I was up against A-K and 10-10.

Its always said that if you're dealing yourself in situations like this then why not deal yourself the winning hand so on a flop of A-7-J-9-4 I reaped the pot and was suddenly upto circa 3k in chips.

From then until the break I could do no wrong. I finished up with 7k in chips and no add-on.

Total cost for satellite was £83.

After the break it was a case of sitting tight and waiting for opportunities. I took down a nice pot with 9-9 v 3-3 & 5-3 (nice man had decided to bluff!) and with 12 of us left I looked a shoo-in for a top 6 place with over 15k in chips.

Its never that easy!

By the time the final table started (9 of us) I had 10k, after playing tighter than a ducks arse, but with antes at 800-1600 I was hopeful others would drop before me.

I attempted to take out the blinds, who were short stacked themselves, with A-J. The BB refused to let go of his K-5 though and a flop of A-9-K-5-7 saw me move down to 5k and on life support myself.

With 8 left I found myself on the BB and with one stack all-in there were 5 of us in the pot. We checked down a flop of 9-9-9-7-K. I turned over my cards and found A-9 and won an 11k pot!

I'd qualified....!!

The evenings event attracted some 44 runners and a prize pool of £12,000 which to be fair I never got near!

I finished 19th though but was short stacked when I decided to make a stand with Jc-9c against an A-Q. The flop of Q-10-7 kept me interested but I then got bricked out when two fives completed the flop!

Entries -> 42 - Place -> 19th Loss-> £83 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £407

And so to Sunday....

The European APAT event held at the new 'G' casino in Luton attracted 300 runners. 150 played day 1 on the Saturday...another 150 played on the Sunday although they played 151 as one player hadn't turned up on the Saturday!

I took my seat at a friendly table of unknowns and play began at 2.30pm with 10k in chips and a 40 minute clock.

By the end of level 1 I'd 10600 and had no bother.

At the end of the table (seat 9) sat a gentleman who APPEARED to play too many pots. Infact in the time I was sat there he appeared to play in around 1 in 2 pots either by raising or re-raising. Of course it didn't bother me until I came up against him shortly after the start of level 2.

UTG I got dealt A-K and, with blinds of 50-100, I raised it up to 300. It was passed around to seat 9 who promptly re-raised to 700. I flat called and we saw a flop of 7-8-9. Not a great flop for A-K by any means so I checked. Seat 9 bet out 800 and I called. A 6 fell on the turn.

To anyone to act AFTER a bet on that flop without a 5 or a 10 in their hand would be mightily worried so when I fired out a bet of 1500 to indicate I had some of that seat 9 looked mightily pissed as he turned over Q-Q and folded. I flipped my A-K! 'Nice bet sir', he said but you could tell he wasn't happy!

About a round later I get 10h-9h in EP and decide to raise it up to test the waters. I make it 250. Its again passed to seat 9 who flat calls. You could tell he was itching to get back at me.

The flop looked nice from my point of view...10-8-4. I immediately bet out to 750 but was amazed when seat 9 then re-raised it to 3000.

To me this smelt like an obvious bluff. After all I'd just minutes earlier taken his pot away with my A-K against his Q-Q and he was surely looking to get back at me.

'I'm all-in', I said as I pushed my stack forwards. 'I call', came the reply. Oops!

He tabled 8-8, for a set, and there was no way back. I wasn't playing my cards I was playing the man. Wrong time to do it!

C'est la vie!

Entries -> 300 - Place -> --- Loss-> £75 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £482

Aug 21st - £100 NL Hold'Em (Western Club)

2007-08-22T09:45:00.000+01:00

The thing about playing poker tournaments is that every hand you play could be your last! Not that you plan it that way of course but circumstances dictate that nomatter HOW you play the hand you're given your fate will ultimately rest on two things.

1. The flop
2. The actions of others

Last night at the Western there were 70 runners for the £100 event. By far the largest turnout for the Tuesday game I can remember.

I'd got to the club at 6.30pm intending on playing some Internet poker for a while but a cash game with a seat got me interested in that so I sat down with £200. Thirty-five minutes late the game broke in order to play a satellite for the evenings £100 event and I cashed in for £415!

Nice start!

Having then paid out £24 for the satellite (finishing 5th) I then bought in for the main game and put £50 on my FT account for a quick stab at some cash games.

I bought into a $55 turbo S & T, finished 2nd, and just before 8pm I had almost $200 in my account from a start point of $100. Bought into the HendonMob league tourney for $10 then proceeded to plod through that till the start of the £100 event I'd obviously come for!

Being still in the HM event online I had to keep flitting from the 'live' play back to the 'internet' play which is not the best of things to do as ones concentration tends to wander easily. Anyway after doubling up on the HM event I sat out and concentrated on the live game...for what it was worth!

Arriving back at my tabe I find myself on the button. Blinds were 100-200 and I got dealt Ac-2s. Crappy hand at the best of times but as there was no raise I flat called the 200 and saw a flop of Jc-7c-3c.

Now with a hand like mine (nut flush draw) you're ALWAYS going to play it but it ended up costing me all my chips.

The SB bet out to 300. Player in MP raised to 800. I flat called the 800. SB goes all-in for 4k more. MP calls all-in. I'm now getting over 2/1 my money and, as Phil Laak would say, it was time to 'CFM' - call for maths!

SB flips 8c-4c for a made flush. MP flips 7-7 for a set. I'm on the nut flush draw!

Turn card is the 10h. River card is the Qs. That was that!!

Meanwhile back on the 'Internet' I finish 8th in the HM league event for some $30 and win $300 in PL Omaha! I cash out for £250 at the desk!

I can't complain!

Entries -> 70 - Place -> --- Loss-> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£326
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Aug 14th - £100 NL Hold'Em (Western Club)

2007-08-15T12:56:00.000+01:00

Back in the saddle, as it were, after a 6 week hiatus from playing 'live' poker I found myself at tonights £100 NL game at the Western a little unsure as to the rules.

Not the rules as in 'two cards to start...round of betting...etc etc' but as in 'raise with good hands', 'call for cheap flops with suited connectors etc'. For the first 30 mins or so I realised I was asleep as pot after pot went in other directions so I decided to wake up and play poker!

For a while it worked. I got a nice pay off why my flush hit and got doubled up when my opponent had hit his straight when I'd hit the nut flush on a board of 5d-6d-9c-9d. At the 1st break (90 mins) I had 12k and wondered how I'd managed to ever lose at this game!

Part two though was more of a struggle as I'd forgotton that not only do you need cards to start with but you also need a bit of luck on the flop. I was getting neither so for this part of the evening I meandered around the 12k mark feeling increasingly fidgity at the fact I'd ground to a halt!

Blinds kicked off at 400/800 when I got A-10 in LP and raised it upto 2k. The SB, who has approx 7k left, went into a huddle for all of 10 secs before announcing that he was all-in. All remaining players passed back to me and I decided to call.

He flipped 7d-8d and I looked to be a nice fav until the flip of 6d-4d-9c took the shine off. The 2h fell on the turn but a poxy Kd fell on the river and I was back down to around 7k myself.

With it now costing 1200 for every time the button would pass having only 7k is not a nice place to be so I lumped it it with Js-9s to be called by a player immediately to my left to 3k with A-Q. I lost.

Next all-in I held Kc-10c. All passed and I picked up the antes. Next all-in I have A-4 and AGAIN I get called by the player to my left who has A-Q again. No luck and I'm out in 19th place (out of 59).

Ah well...its good to be back!

Entries -> 59 - Place -> 19th Loss-> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £216
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

July 3rd - Half time report for 2007!

2007-07-03T15:42:00.000+01:00

After filling in my spreadsheet detailing all my 'live' tournaments these past 6 months (see below for link to actual spreadsheet) I find I've made a slight miscalculation as to my winning/losings and, as it stands on June 30th, I'm currently DOWN £106 on the year!

Now lets put that into some sort of perspective...

I've played in 42 'live' tournaments over the past 6 months and paid a sum of £5962 in order to play. My winnings came to £5856. So thats 42 nights out for a shade over £100!

I got to 11 'final' tables (over 25% of tournaments entered) and those of you who play poker on a regular basis in tournaments in casinos and card clubs up & down the land I'm sure you'd be impressed to see that all those nights out have cost me less than £3 a time!

Of course there are those of you that might think 'Pah...wot a load of rubbish', and, if I was a professional where my life depended on it then I'd be inclined to agree. Lucky for me then its not the case as I have a full time job which pays the bills and poker, as my hobby, is just that...win or lose!

Last year I won almost £10,000 by the the time December 31st rolled around. I can't really see anything like that happening this year but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying!

I'm on hols now till mid August so there won't be any more updates till then. Hopefully I'll come back refreshed and ready to go again!

Click on this link for my spreadsheet detailing all my results so far this year!

Jun 30th - £55 NL Hold'Em (Victoria Club) W1

2007-07-02T13:19:00.000+01:00

The £55 NL Hold'Em freezeout event drew 63 runners which for the Vic isn't half bad.

The only trouble with the Vic's events though is the poor chip stacks (2k) they give you to start with and the ever increasing blinds in 20 minute intervals. Compare this with the Tuesday night event at the Western and you can see why I prefer the Western!

With only 2k in chips its important to get off to a fast start. My usual plan of play suited connecters doesn't work so well when you're faced with a raise most every hand with players looking to either double through or die.

Through the 1st level I must have played 2 hands and ended up losing both times. My chip stack dwindled to 1200 in fairly short order.

It was then I picked up Q-9 on the button. With blinds at 25-50 (level 2) and with three other 'callers' it was an easy call to make and a flop of Q-Q-2 made it more so.

Of course there's always one player who 'has a go' at taking the pot but why oh why do they always feel the need to bet so much? '500', came the voice from across the table. Now cummon people. Any player WITH a Queen at this stage is either gonna check or call that silly bet for sure!

With action back to me I re-raised him all-in for another 500 or so. 'Can't fold now', he said as he duly called and flipped A-8!! What a donut!

Ok...so my stack is back to 2k and its a minute or so from the end of level 2.

I get A-K in LP and raise it up to 450 in order to thin the field somewhat. I get one caller and a flop of J-2-4.

My sole opponent, whose first to act, decides to put the rest of his chips in. He has me covered by 50 chips!

Of course I'm looking at a pair at least but as it IS important to try and accumulate chips early on I decide to call him and hope to hit an Ace or a King on the remainder of the flop.

He flips K-J with is a bit of a surprise but as I say its a wild ride. I'm praying for an Ace but a Queen followed by a Three sends me home!

Entries -> 63 - Place -> --- Loss-> £55 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £108

(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Crooked bookies in Wimbledon

2007-06-29T18:24:00.000+01:00

Four weeks ago on the Gutshot forum Nick Scott (Nick S.) took up my request of odds of 5/1 that I would make a final table in the Gutshot ESOP festival.

The bet money was t/f'd into his Pokerstars account ($200) on the Tuesday prior to the ESOP starting. I duly finished 6th in the Omaha event thereby 'winning' the bet!

The day after I won the bet Nick Scott disappeared from the Gutshot forum. I sent several PM's to him asking for payment but no reply came forth!

The following week Nick S. once again appeared proclaiming that he'd been in hospital and that the debt would be paid 'face to face'.

In following PM's to Nick S., and on that forum, I gave him the benefit of any doubt and asked him to meet up at the Western club where he would pay over the £600 owing upon which I would donate £100 of my winnings to the 'Lynda McMillan Cancer Fund' by way of the jar that sits on the counter at the Western.

I have a PM from him confirming this arrangement.

Nick S. never showed up and never paid any monies owing.

Again he disappeared. Another week passed and OMEN666, another forum member, came onto the Gutshot forum and publically announced that he, himself, was sure of Nick S.'s intent to pay and proclaimed that he would settle the debt himself if Nick S failed to pay within 14 days.

The 14 day deadline passed as of yesterday, Thursday 28th June.

I have contacted OMEN666 on THREE ocassions this past week informing him that the money was to be paid and that there could be no further deadlines.

OMEN666 did not respond to ANY of these PM's.

Nick S. has STOLEN £100 ($200) of my money.

Nick S. has STOLEN £100 from the Lynda McMillan Cancer Trust Fund by not turning up at the Western, as agreed, and paying the money over then!

OMEN666 has been, at best, misguided in his attempts to back up his mate and therefore by association has become tarred with the same brush.

There can be no excuses for what Nick S. has done.

He has had 4 weeks to pay over the money owing.

He has had my contact details (phone & email) and had shown no interest or decency in sorting this matter out!

I asked the administrator of the Gutshot forum to ban Nick S. from the forum for life for being a thief and a crook. Instead they decided to ban me for exposing Nick Scott as a common crook & a liar!

I also emailed Barry Martin & Derek Kelly to express my anger at this situation whereby one Gutshot forum member can rob another without even a shred of regret or remorse.

If Nick S. ever appears again on ANY forum I shall hound him till the day he leaves!

He's a fucking disgrace to honest poker players everywhere!

Jun 26th - £110 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2007-06-27T12:26:00.000+01:00

June can be written off as a complete disaster as far as my play, both on-line & live, is concerned.

Tonight at the Western I never got going and when my chips went in with Ad-Jc I found myself up against Qh-Qd. Lucky me I hit my Ace. Unlucky me he flushed out when a 4th heart hit the river. I'd lasted just shy of 5 levels.

I'll write a bigger blog at the weekend with a few stats from the period Jan - June.

Despite everything I'm still a winner during 'live' play tournaments for this period but a lot down on the Internet side where the software never seems to like me and I get done over like a kipper time and again.

Entries -> 41 - Place -> --- Loss-> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £163
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Jun 19th - £110 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2007-06-20T13:07:00.000+01:00

Last week I left you with shortened details of my 'out hand' at the Western.

If you hadn't guessed then I was holding 6c-4c and hoped my all-in shove at the end could convince my opponent to lay down his K-Q. Well it nearly worked :)

You have to be in a particular frame of mind to play in live poker tournaments. Having spent 90 mins prior to this weeks £110 FREEZEOUT on the Internet playing 70 hands an hour its a big step down to suddenly playing 25 and I was fidgity from the off!

For the first hour I saw very few playable hands (out of the 25 dealt) but I suppose getting K-K, 3-3, 4-4, 2-2 and Qh-Jh meant I had an interest in around 25% of the hands dealt so it could have been worse.

A big leak in my game in recent weeks has been the tendency to bluff at pots more than I should. I always try to start games with the 'if it hits I'll play...if not I'll pass' mentality but my out hand tonight was probably me trying too hard to get a guy off a hand that he was never ever going to lay down!

Holding Kh-10h in LP and with blinds at 100-200 I raised it upto 600 to a) pump up the pot and b) nick the antes if I could. I got one caller from across the table.

The flop was J-7-4. My opponent immediately bet out 300. Now smart players will use this tactic in order to a) slow down the original raiser from putting out a big bet or b) bluff themselves in the hope that if their opponent (in this case me) has missed the flop themselves they might fold altogether.

I couldn't see that a 300 bet meant anything so duly raised it upto 1500. I now had 2500 left. I was called.

Now this is where the red lights should have started flashing and a 'DO NOT BET ANYMORE' sign should have appeared alongside a big ding-dong bell. Instead I took the call to mean that my opponent was trying to pull a fast one and I'll soon show him har har!!

Another 7 fell on the turn. Now my opponent checked. Ha...got him...I thought and so lumped in the rest of my chips on nothing more than King high. My opponent shrugged his shoulders and called.

Of course I stood up and prayed for a King as he flipped A-J but an 8 arrived and I was back home in time for Big Brother!

Perhaps I should lay off the speed game mentality of the Internet prior to playing here as I'd just pissed another £110 up the wall!

Entries -> 52 - Place -> --- Loss-> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £273

(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Jun 12th - £110 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2007-06-13T13:13:00.000+01:00

Some people can't bluff to save their lives. Some bluff far too often for their own good. I tend to take the middle road and attempt bluffs when, and only when, an opportunity presents itself.

The very first hand of tonights £100 NL event at the Western saw me get Ad-Jd on the button.

With blinds at 25-50 a player to my right, in MP, raised it to 150. I re-raised it to 350. Only he called and we saw a flop of A-K-10.

First to act my opponent checked. It was a good flop for me and I bet out to 750. After some initial thought my opponent re-raised me another 1k. What to do?

If he'd slow played A-K then I still had outs. A-10 was unlikely but A-Q was a possibility as was K-K, Q-Q and J-J. It was also possible he had a smaller pair and was attempting to see where he was at. After all a flat call here, on his part, was probably the worst of the three options available to him once I'd bet out.

I decided to semi-bluff and re-raised him all-in. If he called I could still win with a Queen for a broadway straight. He sat back in his chair and puffed out!

Well that was good news...he wasn't as strong as all that. After much deliberation he flashed A-J and passed. Nice!

I chipped upto about 7k when the following hand came up. I won't name my hand (answer next time) but was I right to do what I did??

I was in the SB. Blinds were 50-100. The guy to my immediate right raised it up to 375. I looked at my cards and called as did the BB...no doubt for value!

The flop was K-5-7. I checked as did the BB. Original raiser (OR) puts in a bet of 800. I called. BB passed.

Turn card was another 5. I checked. OR bets out 2k. I called. River card was another 7 making the board K-5-7-5-7. I pushed all-in.

Panic stations for OR where after much thought he called and took down the pot with his K-Q.

I was out. Any thoughts anyone??

Entries -> 45 - Place -> --- Loss-> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £383

(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Jun 5th - £110 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2007-06-06T13:13:00.000+01:00

Never got out of first gear tonight as my highest stack size was 5600 if that.

My table was in 'terminate' mode. For the opening 30 mins or so until the table broke there was always someone 'all-in'. I include myself in this as my As-Js got the better of J-J but that allowed me to get my stack back upto the starting level of 5k and I'd lost 2400 fairly early on chasing a flush draw that didn't get there.

At the first break I had 4600 and at my new table most players had around 8k+.

Timing is everything in poker. If you're there from the off then you can scoop large pots whilst everyone around you calls you a lucky so and so (see my Omaha event last Friday). If your timing is out though you just find yourself shaking your head thinking 'if only'.

So anyway...after the break I was in 'move-in' mode. Holding 8c-5c I moved in on a flop of 4-5-6 figuring I was ahead. Indeed I was and everyone passed but a player at the far end showed A-7 as if to say 'nearly'.

My next attempt at a move came soon afterwards and brought about my demise. Holding 6-4 in the BB four of us saw a flop of 3-6-7. I checked, as did player 2. Player 3 makes a bet of 600 (blinds were 150-300) and I moved in for 4900. Player 2 called, as did player 3. Player 2 flips 10-10. Player 3 has A-7.

I have numerous outs but can't catch any as the turn and river cards are both Jacks!

Ah yes...timing is everything.

Entries -> 46 - Place -> --- Loss-> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £493

Jun 3rd - £100 Satellites to the Poker Million

2007-06-04T12:19:00.000+01:00

Sunday morning. Its 10am and I'm pulling up outside Leyton Orients football ground for a shot at qualifying for this years Ladbrokes Poker Million event.

You wouldn't think that there'd be that many poker players up and around at this time on a Sunday but you'd be wrong as over 40 players had converged in order to take part in 'one-table' satellites to the bigger £1000 satellite event taking place later this afternoon.

I'd come armed with £300, for three gos, and felt confident enough that I may do ok. Of course confidence comprizes half the solution. The other half is entirely dependant on the cards you get and the five that follow!

The satellites were 50k starting stack, 15 min blinds and blinds started at 1k-2k and went up from there.

Satellite 1:

Early doors I get 8-8 and raise off with A-K for 20k. I lose. I then raise off for the rest of my chips with Ah-Qh v Ad-6d v Kc-Qd. I lost that one when Mr Ad-6d makes a flush on the river!

Satellite 2:

Early doors I get 9-9 in LP. There's a raise to 8k. I call. Flop is A-8-9. Raiser bets 10k. I flat call. Turn card a 6. Raiser goes all-in. I call. He flips A-10. I'm on 100k.

I then get 6-6 which doesn't improve and lose 15k. I then get A-3 on the button and make it 15k to go. The BB makes it 30k. I shove (doh) and he calls flipping A-K. He has me covered. That was that!

Satellite 3:

I'm in LP with 6-6. Barry Hearn (owner of Leyton Orient) makes it 8k to play from the button. I flat call. Flop is 10-7-3. I go all-in. He calls and flips A-10.

Just not my day :(

Loss-> £300 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £603

Jun 2nd - £525 NL Hold'Em (Gutshot)

2007-06-04T12:16:00.000+01:00

For tonights £500 Gutshot main event I decided to be brave a do a 'live' report on my progress.

You can see the thread I generated on the HendonMob forum.

I got bogged down early, got a bit lucky later, then disappeared down the plughole as I was firstly 'outdrawn' then decided that the value was there with two players already in for 3600 (I held Qd-Jd) but couldn't catch up to A-10. Ah well.

As far as the festival went its been an ok sort of time. Finishing 6th in the Omaha helped my +/- a little although I did end up down on the weekends 3 events overall to the tune of £415. Could have been worse I suppose.

Still I won my bet with Nick S. to the tume of £600 (£100 @ 5/1 for reaching the final table at Omaha). Now all I have to do is collect :)

Entries -> 104 - Place -> --- Loss-> £525 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £903

Jun 1st - £215 PL Omaha - Gutshot

2007-06-02T14:55:00.000+01:00

Only 45 runners for tonights PL Omaha event and half the players had not one clue as to how to play the game.

Having said that though you'd still need a great deal of luck to get to a final table where my 'bonus' money (see May 31st) awaited.

With only 5k in chips you were gonna be pretty much pot committed afer a couple of pre-flop raises so hand selection was gonna be pretty much the key. Not that I saw that much in the way of hands in the first hour or so and was unable to make any 'big' bets as such. Then I got lucky.

Holding A-Q-7-4 (suits unimportant) I flat called a raise from across the table. Usually when raises come in pre-flop in Omaha it points to a high pocket pair. My brain had gone into 'mush mode' in calling the raise. The flop was 9-5-4. So I had a pair of 4's...big deal.

The anticipated continuation bet came in from my opponent and for whatever reason I decided to call for all my chips!! I was up against A-A-K-7.

The poker gods smiled and a 4 fell on the turn giving me trips. A blank fell on the river and I was upto 8k. Wow!

Once again though my chip stack fell away. I saw no hands again until I get 3-4-5-6 and flat call the 200 blind. The player immediately to my left decides to 'pot' the pot and another player also decides to call for all his chips! Decision time!

If the 'potter' has A-A (highly likely) then I'm gambling to see a low flop. I decide that I should chance it and call.

Flop is 5-10-7. I have an open ended straight and a pair of 5's. I decide to gamble and pushed all-in which is duly called. The original 'potter' does indeed have A-A in hand along with two other random cards not associated with the flop.

The turn is a King, changing nothing, but a lovely 5 appears on the river giving me trips. Not so lucky for me was that the other caller in the pot also had a 5 with a higher kicker (9) so took the main pot whilst I got the side pot. I made 1k on the action :(

Anyway...I'm upto 10k with 20 players left. I had to sweat it out.

Player numbers continued to trickle down. At break 2 (8 levels played) there were 12 of us left. I had 9k in chips but with tables now short handed and blinds at 600-1200 I really couldn't afford to sit around and sweat out losing 3 more players (final table was 9). I needed a hand or two or preferably a double-up!

I then get Ks-Js-Kd-4h and decide to make a stand so raise it up. Another player calls. Flop is Qs-10s-8d. I immediately push and get the call. My opponent holds Q-J-x-x. Two blanks fall and my K-K doubles me through. Phew!

I then get 'really' lucky. Holding A-A-2-6 theres a raise and a re-raise all-in for 10k. I push all-n myself (15k) and the first raiser passes flipping K-K-x-x. My 'all-in' opponent holds Ks-Kc-Js-8c so all I have to do is avoid a black flush!

Flop is 9c-6s-4s (ruh roh)....As.....(doh)....4h (weeeeeeeeee) for a full house!!

Eleven players becomes 10 becomes 9......its final table time!!

Its a different game now. Mr Gryko goes out in 9th, Barry Martin 8th, Brian McDonald 7th.

I get 9-10-J-Q and call a pot sized opening bet from across the table. Flop is Qs-7s-Jh. I bet out 10k. My opponent goes all-in and I duly call.

He flips As-Ks-Kc-x. The 4s appears on the turn (completing his flush) and I cant make the full house by the river. I'm out in 6th for £540.

Oh...and plus the £600 from Nick S. which at the time of wring I await with anticipation appearing in my Pokerstars account :)

Entries -> 45 - Place -> 6th - Win-> £325 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £1428
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

May 31st - £215 No Limit Hold'Em - Gutshot

2007-06-02T14:15:00.000+01:00

And so to the start of a very busy weekend with me playing 3 (maybe 4) events between tonight and Sunday.

For those of you that read the HendonMob & Gutshot forums you'll know that I saught odds of 5/1 on me reaching any final table of the Gutshot events with me wanting to put £100 on. Nick S., a forum member from Gutshot, kindly took me up on the offer. Now all I had to do was to make it happen!

So back to tonight then and when all was said and done 107 runners started off this event, with a 7k start stack, at around 8pm and I was in the thick of the action before you could say boo!

On about the third or fourth hand of the night I got 10c-Jc in MP and flat called the 50 point blinds. Three of us saw the flop of 8c-3d-Qc and I was seeing a big chip stack in my mind!

Someone led out the betting, for 300. I duly called and we were heads up.

The 8h fell on the turn. Again my opponent led out, this time for 600. Whilst I wasn't thrilled at that bet I still thought that any club (especially the 9c - yum yum) would win me the pot so called. The 4c fell on the river. Surely now the pot was mine?

My opponent led out AGAIN! This time for 1600. Of course I'm now committed to calling so do and he flips Q-8 for a full house. Oops!

So my stack is squished before we get going!

For the next while my stack size gets worse and worse. I'm down to 3.5k.

I get dealt 8-9 in the BB and with no raises we get to see a flop of 8-9-9. Nice. It gets better when I get someone betting into me and before you know it I'm all-in, my opponent calls, and I'm doubled up :)

So...back to 7k I can start again but I then get plenty of playable hands (K-10s, A-Js, A-Q) but can't connect with any of them as my stack size dwindles on down!

I'm down to 3k again before you can whistle dixie and I decide that A-8 is a great hand to try and take the blinds + 2 callers. Unfortunately one of the 'callers' decides that my feeble attempt to nick needs looking up so calls with 5-5.

A 5 appears on the flop and I'm off down the Vic for a cash game by 9pm.

Entries -> 107 - Place -> ---- Loss -> £215 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £888
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

May 29th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2007-05-30T11:29:00.000+01:00

I played a hand on the Internet the other night. It went something like this...

Blinds were 10-25. I'm in the BB with Ah-7h. Four of us saw a flop of 4d-6h-8h. I checked. A player bet out 250. All folded to me. I called. Turn was the 10d. I checked. My now sole opponent bet out 500. I called. River was the 4h giving me the nut flush. I immediately bet 750. My opponent went all-in and I called only to see he had 10-10 for the nutty fully house. Pisser!

That hand was the first hand of the Blue Square $200 NL Hold'Em event on Sunday and I use this to illustrate a remarkably similar hand that occurred in tonights £110 NL Hold'Em event at the Western where there were 56 entries in total.

We're four hands into the tournament. I'm in MP and look down to see 10d-10s. I bet out to 250 and get two callers. Flop is Jc-8c-10c. Its checked to me. I bet out 750. I get one caller. Turn card is the 3d. Its checked to me. Not wanting to make things TOO cheap I go all-in and get an immediate call. My opponent flips Ac-Qc for the nut flush. Ah well I still have outs. The 8s plops onto the river and I double up. Life is good!

So...four hands in and I'm at 10k. At the start of the 1st break I'm on 13300. No pressures and I'm feeling good.

But....

There'll generally come a hand that plays itself and nomatter how you would have played it it'll end in defeat. At the start of the 2nd break I was on 17k but should have been on 35k except for this hand...

Holding K-K in EP and with blinds at 300-600 I raise it up to 2500. The player to my immediate left, a nice lady from Brazil by the name of Alex, goes into think-tank mode and eventually pushes all-in for 8k. Its passed around to me and I, of course, call. She has 8-8. Of course that doesn't prevent another 8 from appearing on the flop and suddenly I feel a little deflated.

With blinds at 400-800 at level 7 I suddenly start to become impatient. My discipline goes a little and I lose 7k with 3 un-timely bluffs. I then look down to see Kh-Qh. Nice...I thought.

I bet out to 3500 and once again that nice lady from Brazil (well Hendon actually) flat calls me. Now I KNOW she has A-? so I'm praying for no Ace on the flop. Flop is J-Q-A! Urgh!!

The trouble with that flop though is with my stack now at 6.5k and in desperate need of resuscitation I can see enough chances to win it so push all-in. Alex calls with A-J and once an 8 followed by a 5 has fallen its all over for another night.

I finish 20th, out of 56, but undoubtedly could have done better. Tilt takes all forms. Beware of the type that'll hang around long after your big hand has lost!

Entries -> 56 - Place -> 20th - Loss -> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £1103

(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

May 26th - £250+£25 No Limit Hold'em FREEZE (Gros. Victoria)

2007-05-27T11:46:00.000+01:00

Back in Black!

Tonight I decided, rather late in the day, to troop down to the Victoria to play in the £250 NL Hold'Em FREEZEOUT event being held there. I left the house at 6.15pm and it took me 75 mins to get there as the A40 down into town was reduced to one lane cos of roadworks! Bugger!

Anyway I managed to be the last entry in so sat down, with 46 others, for a pop at the £4k first prize.

The event was a 'double chance' one. This is where you get half your chips up front (in this case 2k) and you can have the other half (2k) at any time during the first hour.

There are many schools of thought about what the proper strategy is in these events but I don't play enough of them to have an opinion either way. Tonight I decided to wait it out a while thinking that I could make a move or two with my 2k starter stack and, if I lost a coin flip, could get the other half at that time! I wish I'd have taken the full 4k up front!

My newly devised tournament strategy seems to be working well at the mo and suited connectors are a great source of chunky pots. Holding 4d-5d and with blinds at 50-100 I flat called a raise to 300 from across the table, as did one other, and we saw a flop of 3-7-8 rainbow. If a bet came in here I was done with the hand but we all ended up checking.

The magic '6' came down on the turn. I, being first to bet, bet out 500. Next player dropped but the last player moved all-in. Of course I called. 'I have a straight', I exclaimed. 'What???', said my opponent looking rather perplexed and flipping over A-A. I took him for 1800 and I was on my way. The bugger of it was was that he had ANOTHER 1800 left over. Now if only I'd have taken that extra 2k up front!

I was seeing a lot of duff starting hands with plenty of 2-7's, 8-3's, 4-9's etc to keep me out of bother. My chip stack had climbed to 9k when my next action hand came about.

Blinds were at 300-600 and I looked down to see K-J in the BB. I, and four others, saw a flop of Jd-2d-4c. Not wanting to give freebies out I bet out 600 but the player to my left suddently went all-in for about 8k. All other players passed and it came back to me.

The flop texture screamed flush draw as if the guy had flopped a set he'd be more inclined to flat call at this point surely? Putting him on the flush draw meant I was 65/35 fav so called. He flipped 8d-5d.

No more diamonds arrived to save his sorry arse and I was upto 17k with about 18 players left.

Not a great deal happened after that for a while. The final table arrived (9) and with only 6 getting paid a deal was done whereby 7th, 8th & 9th got their money back and so off we went. I had 13k.

Of course it helps to get good hands at the final table and for a short while I could do no wrong. I doubled up my stack when my A-K beat off A-J. I doubled AGAIN when my A-K beat out 10-10 on a board of K-K-7-7-3 and I knocked out another player when my A-A beat up Q-K on a board of A-2-3-4-3. I was chip leader on 70k and supposedly cruising. Ha!!

Blinds were still tiny compared to stack sizes (1k-2k) but the opening bets were either all-in or a minimum of 10k. A couple of times I called these opening bets but then couldn't continue after duff flops.

Suddenly there was 3 of us left and I'd got 40k left (out of 188k).

I just couldn't find a hand!

Raising to 10k with As-9s I get a call from the now chip leader. Flop is Kc-10c-Jc. Not exactly ideal. I check as does my opponent. The 9h falls next. It looks risky. I check again. My opponent bets out 20k. I pass and he kindly flips a King.

So now I'm the one on life support. With blinds moving to 1500-3000 its costing me almost 6k every 3 hands. On the button I go all-in with 9-10 and get called by the chip leader with A-2. Ho help on board and I'm out in 3rd place which is good for 2k.

I'm back in the black for the first time in a good while and on form too.

Its a busy week next week with events at the Western (Tues), Gutshot (Thurs, Fri & Sat) and Orient football club (Sun) in the hope of qualifying for a seat at this years Ladbrokes Poker Million!

Stay tuned for regular updates!!

Entries -> 47 - Place -> 3rd - Win -> £1725 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £1213

(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

May 22nd - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2007-05-23T11:11:00.000+01:00

Some evenings you dont have to work too hard for the money. Tonight at the Western was one such ocassion for me.

After a two week break from 'live' play I was eager to get back in the saddle and the £110 NL Hold'Em Freezeout at the Western is an ideal way of getting back amongst it.

A nice easy pace and a smallish field of 33 meant it was just a case of waiting for good cards (all too easy to say but not to do) and hoping to score a few points from the flop onwards.

Recently I've discovered a playing style can can prove quite lucrative if you're lucky enough and as its now fairly refined I'm trying my best to stick to it.

At the first break my chip stack had increased to 9k from a start point of 5k. No big hands to speak of and no 'all-in' moments either. I was playing relaxed and focused.

During the next three levels I again increased my stack somewhat, upto 22k. I knocked three players out during this period...

1) Called an all-in bet with A-Q for circa 3k. Opponent had A-5.

2) Called an all-in bet with A-J for circa 5k. Opponent held A-10.

3) Flat called a raise to 2k holding 10-10. Flop was Q-9-4. Check check. Turn another Queen. Check. I bet 2k. Opponent all-in. I call. He flips A-J. A 3 on the river gives me another 6k.

Another thing I found during the first few levels was that my A-K holdings (4 times) held up on each ocassion. Twice I got lucky when either an Ace or a King hit the flop and twice when betting out after crummy card flops. Makes a difference I can tell you.

And then there were 9. Final table at 1am and I have 24k in chips.

With only 5 getting paid I was watchful of the low chip stacks of which there were two.

Nine became eight as player A went all in with Q-Q only to see K-K behind him. Poor sod.

Eight became seven became six as Mr Low-Stack went all-in with Q-3 to be called by the big blind and his J-2. Things looked great for Mr Low-Stack on a flop of Q-3-5 but runner runner Jacks sent him out.

The other low stack at the table went all-in soon after with Q-J. I called with A-Q and we were in the money!

A lot of to-ing & fro-ing followed for circa 30 minutes before I asked if everyone wanted to split the prize pool for £650 each - rest to dealer. We were all approx 30k in chips and so all agreed.

So there you go...not a lot of action but a profit of £540 on the night. If only ALL nights were like these :)

Entries -> 33 - Place -> 5th - Win -> £540 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£512

(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

May 8th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2007-05-09T12:41:00.000+01:00

Getting good cards in poker does not equate to getting a stack load of chips a lot of the time!

The problem with getting good cards, of course, is that you have to play them and when the odds go the other way, as in a couple of hands tonight, then it can be devastating to your stack.

Nice & easy did it for the first couple of levels in tonights £110 NL Hold'Em game at the Western. First drama came when holding the Qh-Jh in MP with blinds at 100-200. Four callers and a flop of 9-10-3 meant I was always going to be involved so when it was checked to me I immediately bet out to 1200. The player, immediately to my left, came over the top for another 1700 and it was passed back to me. I duly called.

He flipped A-10 for TPTK but when a Jack appeared on the turn followed by another Jack on the river I'd scooped a nice pot and was nicely stacked. It didn't last long!

I get Q-Q in EP and raise to 800. Two callers. Flop is 8c-6c-3d. Could have been worse!! I bet out 2500 in order to grab the pot there and then. One player folded the other moved all-in and I insta-called. He flipped 9c-10c. The 4d fell on the turn but the Jc fell on the river. I was back down to 4k.

A short while later I made an all-in move with Q-Q on a board of A-8-4-K having made an initial raise and got one caller. My opponent HAD bet the flop but not strongly enough to warrent an Ace in his hand so I moved in on the turn (K) and he folded!

Ok...so I was back upto 8k. The hand before the 1st break and I get Ad-Kh and raise to 600. I get one caller. Flop is 9s-7s-4s. I bet out 800. My opponent raises to 2000. I took him for a spade draw with one spade in his hand so duly called. The 9c came off on the turn. Again I checked and again my opponent bets out...this time 3k. I'm still not convinced. I call.

The river brings a 4th spade. I check and my opponent goes all-in. I pass!

My chip stack is decimated!

After the break I'm looking to move in and double up or die. I find the Ac-3c and launch all-in. Unfortunately a guy with K-K is right behind me! Dohhhhhhhh!!

Entries -> 41 - Place -> 27th - Loss -> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£1052

(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

May 1st - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2007-05-02T12:47:00.000+01:00

Undoubtedly at poker there are times when things need to 'break' for you. Whether it be that your K-Q beats out A-10 or your 3-3 beats on 7-7 there will come a time when you'll need to catch a card or two to stay in the game. Tonight at the Western was a mixture of both for me!

With the footy on tv there were 38 runners for the £110 NL Hold'Em event. After last weeks 3rd place I was keen to put into practice what had proved so successful last week but playing hands like I do in suited connectors etc comes with a higher risk of failure than playing A-A all night!!

Early doors and as usual the play is controlled from all parties concerned. The first real action comes in level 2. I get dealt Kd-Qc in LP and with the blinds at 50-100 I flat a small raise to 300 from across the table, as do 3 others! Flop is Kc-6c-2c.

The original raiser bets out to 300. I re-raise to 800 and a player in the blinds re-raises to 1600! The original raiser folds. In situations like this I can never fold. Of course I COULD...but I dont so go all-in. After stating that he can't possibly put HIS hand down either my opponent calls the bet and flips Jc-9c for the completed flush. I'm looking for a club to save me. That doesn't come!!

What DOES come though is another 2 followed by another King giving me an unlikely full house!! I'm now on 12k and cruising.

Cruising that is until I decide to call a shortish stack (4k) and his all-in bet with 9-9. He flips A-9 and the inevitable Ace appears on the flop knocking me back somewhat!

I continue to increase my chip stack though and by level 6 I'm on 18k with around 12 people left. Then comes a kick in the goolies!!

With blinds at 200-400 its the last hand of the level. Im on the button and look down to see 4d-7d. There are no raises and I flat call the blinds. Five of us see a flop of Qd-2d-7s. Player on the SB bets our to 2k immediately. Its passed back around to me and I put in a raise to cover the SB's chips. He calls and flips Q-2 for 2 pair on the flop. The 6d falls on the turn and it looks like its a done deal for me but a horrible 2 appears on the river to give my opponent a full house and I'm back down to 11k!

Through the next level I creep back upto 14k and I hit the final table with just short of average chips.

Of course though its now when you need the luck.

A few hands in, on the BB, I get dealt A-A. Great...all I need now is a raiser. Nuffin. Not a jot.

The SB makes up the meagre blinds and I raise another 4k. He passes. Pooey!!

Few hands later I get Ks-Js in MP. I raise it to 5k with blinds still at 600-1200. I run into A-A from a guy who's short on chips (6200) from across the table. A flop of 4s-7s-Kc looks promising but I can't connect on the turn or river and I'm down to less than 8k with blinds just about to go to 800-1600.

I'm, of course, now looking to double up. My next move is all-in!!

I find K-Q on the SB. Its raised to 5k from the button and I shove. The original raiser sighs and calls the extra 2k. He has A-6.

A board no higher than a 10 ensues and I'm out in 10th place - 4 off the money!

Entries -> 38 - Place -> 10th - Loss -> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£941

(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Apr 26th - £50+£5 NL Hold'Em (Victoria)

2007-04-27T11:50:00.000+01:00

I hate myself when I make big boo boos in play. Generally I'll make an excuse like I was tired and was fed up etc etc.

Last nights boo boo put me out of the tournament when I was comfortably cruising and I've no excuses. Just poor play.

The £55 NL Hold'Em Freezout at the Vic had 41 runners. You only get 2k to start with an 20 min blinds don't make the job any easier so I was pleased to get off to a good start.

First hand I'm dealt A-Q in LP. With blinds at 25-25 there's a small raise to 125 then a slightly larger one to 325 from the player just to my right. I flat call as goes the original raiser. Flop is 9-2-2.

Original raiser checks and the original re-raiser bets out 300, a continuation bet if I ever I saw one. I launched all-in and all then passed. Easy game innit??

I then get lucky when I knock out someone with Ah-5h that gets there with runner runner hearts to make my flush so in level 1 I get upto around 3.5k.

Level 2 I suffer a small setback when my Q-10, on a board of 10-9-7, gets rivered by a player holding 8d-9d but at the break I'm on 5300 and well up with the leaders. 32 left.

Once blinds, at the Vic, get to 200-400 the cull starts big time and by the time the 300-600 level comes around there are 16 of us left and on the last two tables. I have 6400. Then came the boo boo!

I'm UTG and look down to see Ac-Jc. A bet of 1200 would hopefully cull the field but nooooo I get 2 callers. Flop is 8s-5s-2d.

Of course I'm nowhere near it but I figure an all-in bet will gimme the goodies. So all-in I go. I just didn't figure on a player flat calling my raise with Q-Q.

Ho hum. No Ace to save my sorry ass and I'm out in 16th. Lesson learned I feel.

Entries -> 41 - Place -> 16th - Loss -> £55 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£831
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Apr 24th - £110 No Limit Hold'Em (Western Club)

2007-04-25T09:00:00.000+01:00

Tuesday night is Western night and as I've said before this is the best 'weekly' tournament in London bar none for chip stack (5k), ante-levels (30 mins) and generally good value all round.

The only gripe I have is that for us 'workers' if you do well in the comp then you're gonna be there most of the night!

Thirty-eight runners tonight which was surprising as I was expecting circa 60 however it did mean that things would finish sooner rather than later or so I hoped!

Level 1 and nothing happens...level 2 and I get a nice double up!

Holding Jc-10c I flat call the blinds. Four of us see a flop of 2-6-J. BB bets out to 300. I flat call. Other players fold. Turn card is a 10. BB bets out to 600. I raise to 2k. He goes all-in. I call. He flips 6-2!! An 8 on the river and I'm a happy bunny.

Levels 3, 4 & 5 nothing happens!

With there being so few entries the final table came fairly early at around midnight. I held 20k in chips at this point and so did most other people. Blinds were at 400-800 and nobody was in a rush to leave!

Three more levels passed and only ONE player had gone. Five prizes were up for grabs and everybody was playing with caution.

I grabbed my fair share of blinds and not once did I have to go all-in.

With time approaching 3am there were still 7 of us left then this hand came up...

I held 10-10 in MP. EP player raised it to 12k. This particular player had been raising most hands he came into a pot with but on call-downs he was turning some right junk. I had no qualms about moving in over the top of him for my 20k stack absolutely knowing he would call.

Player to my immediate left went all-in also, for 6k. Original raiser calls and he flips A-3. Player to my left flips A-Q and I like my odds!

Flop is 10-8-J-A-6 and I'm home and dry. We're down to 6.

Money paid at 5 but blinds were upto 2000/4000 so things were about to get hairy for the short stacks. Fifth went...then 4th. Three of us left and I had 50k in chips.

Blinds moved up again to 3k-6k. There was little play left. I got K-J on the button and moved all-in. The SB woke up with 3-3 and called for 30k. Flop was 7-3-J-9-A and I was almost to the felt.

Very next hand I'm all-in with K-8. Of course my two opponents flat called. Flop looked great for me with a K-K-9-7-4 but one of my opponents has lucked out on me with K-9 in his hand.

I'm 3rd for £608. Better than a kick in the buddies!! Its 4am.

Entries -> 38 - Place -> 3rd - Win -> £498 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£776
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Apr 21st - £525 Gutshot Open (Gutshot Club E1)

2007-04-23T11:00:00.000+01:00

The last time I played at the Gutshot, in a £300 event, I managed to worm my way into the event by playing in the last multi-table satellite held on the day. I realised, at the time, that concentating for 5 hours in that before finally winning a seat and then having to start all over again within a couple of hours was bloody hard work and despite the fact I went out of that event with A-K versus Q-Q I was very tired at the end of it.

Today I attempted to qualify for the nights £525 event via the same route. With a 12 noon start for the satellite and only 21 runners I figured it couldn't be too difficult to at least get a proper rest if successful in winning a seat!

The £30 rebuy satellite took in enough for 3 seats and £195 for 4th. Not bad!

In total I spent £150 after getting sucked out on early doors but a couple of rebuys and an add-on gave me just over 6k when the time to 'play proper' came around...more than enough to be getting on with.

Of course there comes the all defining hand which either makes or breaks you. Mine came with 10 players left.

With blinds at 350-700 and me having around 11k in chips I held 6s-6d in the BB. It was passed around to the SB who made it 2k to go and I flat called. Flop was Qs-9s-3s.

The SB checked. I bet out 3k...he went all-in and I, looking at only 5k left if I folded, called. The crafty SB held Kc-Kh!

I needed a spade....7c....6h.....weeeeeee!!!

Final table time and the short stacks soon busted leaving five of us looking for the seats. Three of us looked fairly certain of one whilst the two small stacks agreed a deal amongst themselves.

One of the small stacks went all-in and I gladly called with A-K. He held K-10 and didn't improve. Down to 4.

As one of the major stacks I was in no hurry to get involved and let two other stacks tussell for one seat versus £195.

It was 4.15pm and over. I was in the Gutshot Open!!!

------------------------------------------------------

Eighty seven runners each with 10k in chips and a 45 minute clock. I felt ok, at 6pm, as we got underway.

By the time the first break came around after 2 levels I was down to 6500 after a few 'hopeful' calls had got nowhere. Urghhh!

Things brightened up somewhat in level 3. Holding 2s-3s in LP I decided to call the 150 blind. No raises and three of us saw a 2h-2c-Kc flop. It was checked around and I too checked. Turn card was the 8s. Things then got interesting.

The BB bet out to 600. I mini-raised to 1200 and the BB then raised me back to 3k. Trying to look worried I flat called. The 4c fell on the river. Although a flush WAS there I felt it was irrelevant as I was pretty much pot committed anyway. The BB checked, I went all-in, BB called and flipped A-K in disgust! A major mistake on his part.

So now I'm upto 14k and feeling a bit better. Blinds go upto 100-200 and my next 'double up' occurs.

I get dealt A-A in EP and raise it up to 800. All pass to the BB who flat calls and we see a flop of K-4-4. BB checks...I bet out to 1200 and immediately the BB goes all-in for about 12k. Of course I call. He flips K-Q and although a Queen appears as the turn card an 8 falls on the river giving me Aces & Fours to beat out the Kings & Queens!!

At the end of level 4 I'm upto 28k.

Levels 5 & 6 come and go. I'm down a little...to 26k...but no worries however I'm about to suffer!

Level 7 and its almost midnight. I get 4-4 in LP and call a guy whos pretty short on chips (circa 12k) to 3k. Flop is A-3-5. He checks. Now I KNOW I'm behind here to his Ace and any move by me will get a response but I figure if I'm going to win I have to take chances SOMETIME. I go all-in and get an immediate call with his A-J. Any 4 or 2 will do!!

The turn card is a 9...the river a THREE! Boooooooo!!!

Ok...so first major hit of the night but it seemed to punch me mentally more than I though as I suddenly started to get agitated.

Twelve hours of poker and my brain was getting mushy.

An interesting hand then came up.

I held 4h-6h in LP. I look at these kind of hands as a potential '2 time winner'. The flush & the straight although I am prepared to drop them sharpish if things don't happen on the flop.

There was a raise out of EP to 2k. Two callers before it got to me...wonderful odds...I flat call. The SB decides to raise it up some more...to 7k. Original raiser calls as does one other player before it gets back to me. Pot is MASSIVE!! I, of course call!

Flop is a woozy Ad-3d-9h. I'm ready to fold...but no-one bets. Turn is the 7h. Ok...now I'm locked in. Any 5 or any heart...pleeeeeeasssssseeee! Again no-one bets.

River the 6s. Bah-humbug. Almost!! SB immediately bets out 10k. We all fold and SB flips A-3 for two pair on the flop. Little did he know he was 'this close' to being infertile with a swift kick between his legs.

So I'm down to 10k and its 12.30am. I'm tired and get all my chips in with Kc-2c...yes I know...hardly the bollux!

The good news is that there are two callers. Its a 30k+ pot which gets me back in the game if I can win it. Flop is A-Q-9 and I sigh. There's a bet, a fold, and I flip my meagre holding only to see A-Q from my opponent.

A King fell on the turn to make it interesting for all of 5 seconds until the 9d fell on the river to knock me out!

The guy who knocked me out went onto claim the £15k first prize. Good luck to him but it could have been o so different!

Entries -> 87 - Place -> 40th - Loss -> £150 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£1274
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Apr 19th - £10 NL Hold'Em - Gutshot Club

2007-04-20T16:19:00.000+01:00

Before we begin with my 'short' blog today I just thought I'd better mention how I got on in Wed nights 'final' of Loose Cannons 'Vegas Trip League'.

The fact is that I got unlucky in one pot that I couldn't recover from and after that it was a slog.

Holding A-J, and with 5k in chips (from a start stack of 4400), I called a smallish raise from a player in EP. Flop was K-J-6. He checks, as do I, as I wanted to see another card before getting involved.

Turn card was a 3. Mr EP bets out to 1100. I flat call as I think he's reacting to my initial check after the flop so fancies a bet. Then again he may have had a king so I figure if he bets massive on the river I'll fold anyway.

River card is another Jack. Mr EP bets out 1100. I re-raise him all-in and he calls. He flips 3-3 for an unlikely full house and I'm down to mash.

With blinds at 200-400 I go all-in with A-2 in the hope of a double up and get called by Mr A-K!

Urggggghhhh!

Last night at the Gutshot I blew another £80 attempting to get into Friday nights 'mammoth' tournament without success.

My highest chipcount was 2600 and I busted out shortly after the break with Qc-Jc against a pair of 4's on a flop of Q-9-4.

Baba!

My plan now is to take a rest on Friday night then play in the satellite into Sat's £500 event at the Gutshot at noon on Saturday.

We'll see what happens!

Entries -> 70 - Place -> --- - Loss -> £80 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£1124
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Big Time Gamblers !!

2007-04-19T15:52:00.000+01:00

There's been a lot of chat in the past few weeks about Ram Vaswani & Marc Goodman being 'hustled' out of a large sum of money by Phil Ivey on the golf course.

I've tended to keep out of the argument as, being a Libran, I tend to want to balance up the arguments before putting in my twopence worth.

Theres no doubt in my mind that Ram & Marc WERE hustled however...

They're both grown men who like to gamble and it would appear from the story that they simply got in too deep!

Cliff notes seem to read as :

Phil :- 'Wanna play for $50k a hole over 18?'
Ram :- 'How many shots are we going to get cos I haven't played in a while?'
Phil :- 'Neither have I...lets play even'
Ram :- 'Fair enough...lets go!'

Ram & Marc lose over a million dollars on the basis that Phil has lied through his teeth.

Ram & Marc refuse to pay!

Now, of course, this maybe a very simplistic view of things but the thought process goes that if you make a bet / agreement then you honour it!

I made a big thing last year about Jamie Gold's attempt to wiggle his way out of his agreement with Mr Leysher about 'sharing his WSOP winnings'. Of course winning $12M seemed to give Mr Gold the right to wiggle. He tried and failed and had to cough. Reputation in ruins!

Americans are very good at 'hustling' as we Brits tend to keep our word, and honour, as intact as possible by being only 'slightly' economical with the truth at times whereas Mr USA holds no qualms about telling the biggest porkies in order to keep his edge.

At the end of the day though its the honesty of Ram & Marc that may have allowed them to be reeled in by Mr Ivey & friend and now there's a price to pay.

Honesty and Americans never did go hand in hand!

Apr 16th - £10 NL Hold'Em - Gutshot Club

2007-04-17T12:45:00.000+01:00

So its Monday night and I'm looking for a game. Where to go??

To be fair there was only one place TO go tonight and that was the Gutshot Club where there'd be x number of places up for grabs in the 1st of thier 4 prelim rounds into Friday nights Mammoth tournament.

Each night till then (Mon - Thur) there's a £10 rebuy, with 60 mins of rebuys, where the top 20% of entries each night win a seat in Friday nights grand final where in excess of a £10k prize pool awaits.

Tonights event saw 50 runners attend which meant there were 10 places up for grabs on Friday. I never got out of the starting gate.

With a budget of £100 (plenty of rebuys) I was keen to gamble it up and hoped to get enough chips together to then play steady after the rebuys. Well the gambling happened but the 'accumulation of chips' didn't.

To begin with I'm all-in (500 points) with any Ace. After three of four goes at finding that didn't work I then tried pairs. One pair out of 4 got through so that doubled me up to just over 1k.

That disappeared soon afterwards when my J-10 failed to beat out 10-9 on a flop of 8-9-4.

Ho Hum.

In the end, and shortly before the rebuys finished, I went on a desperate 'all-in every hand' race which was finally called by both 7-7 & A-A. I held the As-8s and things looked hopeful as the 1st card out on the flop was the Qs. As it was I didn't improve so needless to say I was on my way home soon after.

Maybe next time will be better??

Accumulative wins / losses since my last update = £200 + £158 ($300) - £33 = (£365 - £1269) = -£944

Entries -> 50 - Place -> --- - Loss -> £100 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£1044

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

Apr 14th - £30+£3 NL Hold'Em Freeze - Western Club

2007-04-15T15:19:00.000+01:00

Within this blog you'll be told of the donkiest donkey call by one of my opponents I've ever had the pleasure of being involved with. Infact the call made must rank as the No. 1 donkey call of all time. Read on....

Sixty-Five runners in todays £30 freezeout at the Western and as with all these events held at the Western over the past few months (London Poker Meet Up event) the standard of play can vary between 'good' to 'shit poor' and mostly in between. For the odd player, like myself, that think they're better than 'good' then there's money to be made. Unfortunately there are just too many 'donkeys' to get past in the normal course of events to make it pay...as I was to find to my cost!

Early doors and I find A-A in MP. Me and A-A at the Western don't seem to get on at the moment so I raised it up to 400 (blinds were 50-100) and I get a reraiser from across the table to 1100. With a 5k start stack, a 30 minute blind level and the whole of Saturday afternoon ahead of me I wasn't keen to comitt all my chips just yet so I flat called and checked the flop before it had been dealt which came Q-J-2. My opponent immediately checked as well.

Having this information I immediately bet out to 2k on a turn card of a 7. Surprise, surprise...my opponent went all-in and I was committed to call. He flipped Q-Q, for a set, and when no Ace came to save me on the river I was already down to 600.

Two double ups later and I had close to 3k again. I then continued to hit some cards, get lucky when I needed to and generally move up the chip count.

By the time the level was 350-700 I had 18k in chips and we were down to 34 runners. Then came THIS hand which even now I have no logic to explain WHY it happened the way it did...

I'm in LP with 4d-6d. Not a super hand by any extreme but a nice flop can change all that so I flat called the 700 and four of us saw a flop of 4s-5c-6s. From a distance this flop could have been better but I'd flopped two pair and so was considering my options when suddenly the BB went all-in for 4k.

I wasn't worried by this bet as he was short stacked and was more likely than not drawing to either the flush or the straight. A 4k call wasn't going to be the end of the world so I got ready to call. The player between me and the BB then flat called as well. He had 17k in chips, before the call, and the flat call smelt like he was fishing as well. Isolation time!!

I loaded up the barrells and announced 'all-in'. If the player with the 13k left HAD a big hand he'd have raised immediately after the all-in from the BB and NOT flat called. The 4th player folded and it was back to the player with 13k left. I had him covered!

The player ummed and aared then called. I was expecting to see either a straight or a flush draw. Instead I saw As-Jc. WHAT???? No draw no nuffin...just Ace high!!

The BB shoved oved 10-6 for a pair of 6's and even if I got unlucky with a TEN dropping I was surely going to pick up the side pot of over 26k. Right....WRONG!!!

The turn was the 9s the river the 10s and Mr Donkey had hit the nut flush to scoop the lot!!

Fuming wasn't the word. I had 1700 left and with blinds coming at me I gambled with Kc-9c and ran into...A-A!!

Arrrrrrrgggghhhhhh!!

Apr 13th - £10 rebuy - NL Hold'Em - Loose Cannons EC4

2007-04-14T10:52:00.000+01:00

When in doubt visit the place where the wages truck always seems to drop by! Well that the theory anyway.

My last blog stated that my next port of call for 'live' poker would be the Western Club on Sat 14th for the '7-2 offsuit' clubs monthly £30 freezeout. Ok...so I couldn't wait and decided to try my hand at Roy's £10 rebuy comp instead this Friday the 13th!! The competition down there is much lighter than anywhere else although when I saw that Mike Magee was there (just visiting thank God) I thought the night was about to become much tougher than anticipated.

For those that don't know Mike Magee was a bit of a legend around 10 years ago when he was leading the WSOP main $10k event with two to go for the money. On that ocassion he blew up and through an unlikely sucession of beat after beat in short order he got knocked out WITHOUT making the money. What made it worse was the fact that TV camereas were following both him & Andy Black for a TV documentary and the sight of Mike walking out of the door at Binions into a lot of empty space makes ones toes curl up!

Mike took a break after that but came back in 2001 to win my websites (UKPOKER.COM) 'Best Player Of The Year' award. He's no mug!

Anyway...with Mike NOT playing it was me versus 18 city boys (+ 1 lady) and with it being a rebuy I knew it was important to accumulate chips as they'd be useful later on when it came time to 'play properly'.

Early doors I went all in (1k) with Kh-2h and got called by a young Spanish guy with A-J. Now recently my hand would have lost no problemo but today....3h-4h-8c-5h-Ad !! I was up & running.

A short time later my chips went south as I battled K-Q / K-9 with my Ah-8h but came out a loser on a board of 9-10-J-4-Q but I got lots of chips from another 3 way battle shortly afterwards. On a flop of Ad-2d-8d I called two all-in bets from players holding 3d-5d & A-10 with my Qd-8c. The 7d popped out on the river and I was upto around 4k.

The obligatory add-on gave me another 1500 points so I started 'proper play' at circa 5.5k.

With only 20 runners of course it didn't take that long to get to the final table of 10 although my stack hadn't moved. I was drawn in seat 4, immediately to the right of the monster chip leader who seemed to have around 20k+ With blinds at 250-500 I could wait a while.

What was interesting was that Mike Magee had re-appeared from his meet with the management and was trying to get a bet on ME winning! No-one would take the action but I was glad of the confidence vote. Even so there'd be a few 'all-ins' I'd have to negotiate in order to even have a sniff at this thing. So...10 left!

It took a good 30 minutes to lose the players. A three way charge saw A-A v K-K v A-J. The Aces held and we were 8.

There were 4 prizes up for grabs with 1st spotting £240+ a $300 'Brucie bonus' which would be put onto your VC account. Nice...if I could get it!

8 became 7 became 6 became 5. I'd have thought at this point that play would have started to tighten up but noooo...those city folk like to gamble. 5th went out with 2-2 versus Q-Q and we were in the money.

Fair play to the chip leader...he seemed to know what he was doing as he called an all-in bet with A-Q on a flop of 3-4-7. His opponent held A-J and so chip leader got bigger.

Three of us left and I was almost Mr short stack. I'd gone all-in with 10k in the pot for my last 6k on a board of 6-6-K-A-9 with 7-2 offsuit and BEGGED the chip leader to call me as I wanted to go home. He grinned and passed although in situations like this its always better to advertise and he looked like crying as I flipped my hand claiming he'd passed a King. Yeh right sonny!!

Two hands later I was all-in with 3-3 and got an instacall from across the table wih my opponent holding Jh-10h. A board of 7-4-2-5-7 doubled me through and put my opponent down to the felt. He went out next hand and we were heads up!

As we began I was outchipped 3-1. Even with 20k + in chips I knew I couldn't really fart about so played strong. Luckily the cards started falling my way. I got dealt Kc-Qc. All-In and was called by a suspect looking Q-J. Not to worry though as the flop came Jc-10c-Kd-4s-Ac for only my second ROYAL FLUSH ever at hold'em. The first was in a game in Belfast about two years ago!!

I'm still in need of doubling through though again. I get 8-8 and again go all-in. He calls with Ac-7c but a flop of J-10-4-9-6 seals the deal and now I'M monster chip stack.

Next hand its all over as my Qh-8h beats out his all-in with Jd-3h on a board of Jh-7h-4h-4s-9c and I'm the winner. Ok...so my form returns and order is restored at Loose Cannons where I've finished first on more ocassions than anywhere else in the past 12 months.

With the league final for a trip to Vegas being held there next Wed I can only hope my LC form continues...just one more time!!

Apr 12th - £50 +£5 NL Hold'Em - Grosvenor Victoria - W1

2007-04-13T11:48:00.000+01:00

My 200th post on BLOGGER and its a loser!!

I always think its better to gamble it up early and see as many flops as possible whle the antes are small in the hope of hitting and taking many of my opponents chips in the process. Of course this theory goes the other way at times and when you don't manage a hit its usually 'get your coat time'.

Forty two runners at tonights £50 freezeout at the Vic. With the Loose Cannons league all over with (final is next Wed) I'm trying to re-evaluate my 'live play' strategy and after next week when I'll be attempting to qualify for the Gutshot version of the MAMMOTH I'll be hitting the Western of a Tuesday and the Vic of a Thursday night.

Early play saw me hit very little and during the 1st level I managed to increase my 2k starting stack by all of 50 points. Level two (25-50) brought a little more in the way of action but not a lot to write home about. One player hit a staight on the flop to take down another players set of Jacks but my action was kept to a minimum. Infact bugger all happened until my 'out' hand appeared.

Level 3 (50-100) and I get Ks-5s on the button (I'm dealing). There's a small raise to 200 from a player UTG which is duly called by myself and a player to my immediate right.

Flop is a groovy looking 4s-6h-7s. Ok...hands up who can get away from this?? My hand stayed firmly by my side!

The player UTG bets out to 400. Player to my immediate right goes all-in (he has me covered) and I'm stuck with having no option but to call. Player UTG moans about how he can possibly fold but flips 5-5 and does so whilst player to my right flips 6-6 for a set!

So its 'cummon baby...you can do it'. I then deal the 10h followed by the 10c and its all over!

So I've 30 outs and can't find myself ONE!! Arggggggh!

Next stop is the Western on Saturday afternoon...come back form all is forgiven!

Accumulative loss since my last update = €1920 (£1371) + £110 + £55 = £1536 - £267 = -£1269 in 2007 so far!!

Apr 10th - 100+10 NL Hold'Em - Western Club

2007-04-11T13:50:00.000+01:00

Getting A-A cracked is all part of the game. I accept that. What really pisses me off though is that the poker Gods deem in necessary to have them cracked within 15 hands of the start thereby giving me much pain and grief in the fact that I hadn't even started the game!

7 hands into the game and I'm moved tables as 'the next big blind'.

Seventy two runners tonight at the Western which is pretty good going and this event is probably the best weekly tournament, in terms of valuye (5k start stack - 30 minute blinds) there is in the London area. Anyway I digress.

I get put next to Mick Cook, on my immediate left, another stalwart from the 90's who's probably played all there is to play in terms of poker, and so am not eager to get involved unless I have some sort of goodie bag in my hand. I didn't have to wait long as 3 hands in I get A-K.

Now I'm not a great fan of the '3 * BB' rule when it comes to raising with ante's at 25-50. For a start the mediocre hands are always going to call and once one calls then half the table will usually join in 'for value'. Nope...I raise it to 400 and collect the blinds. Job done!

Three hands later I get A-A in MP. There's a flat call, to 50, from my immediate right, and again I choose to raise to 400. All pass back to the guy on my immediate right who decides to call. Fair enough. Flop is 9c-9d-5h.

My opponent checks and I fire out the obligatory continuation bet of 800. He immediately reraises me to 1600! WTF!!

I HATE situations like this. With no straight or flush draw probable he either hit a set of 5's (possible), a nine, (not likely) or has a pair in his hand (most probable) and is trying to get me off my A-Q/K or my pair.

He hadn't raised before the flop but WAS happy to call my 400. A pair in his hand was most likely here. I just had to hope it wasn't 5's as I went all-in!

Of course he called and flipped 9h-10h!! Just what can one do??

After that debacle I had 600 left which went in with Ah-8h and got two callers. Nothing hit and A-J picked up the pot. Early night for me then!!

Dave Uliot & Jennifer 'Fucking' Tilly

2007-04-09T13:04:00.000+01:00

You may think that the headline for this piece is derogatory in some way but Jennifer is one cool looking lady.

My table assignment for the €1000 NL Hold'em was to begin with Devilfish immediately to my right with Jennifer Tilly three to my right. Having seen how Jennifer played her set of Jacks on a recent edition of 'Poker After Dark' I had no doubt that I shouldn't be worrying too much about her play neither that of Dave U who seemed to be more pre-occupied with the female dealers than his card holdings!!

Having Dave to my immediate right also meant I'd be giving up on a lot more hands sooner than planned as Dave, the ultimate professional, would always come into a pot with a raise meaning that my 'looks playable' hands would be hitting the muck without getting involved without the goodies. That plan seemed to work as Dave hit an early straight with A-2 after I'd passed A-10 to his pre-flop raise. An Ace also fell on the flop as did a 3-4-5!!

With blinds still at 25-50 I got A-K in MP and raised it up to 300. I got one caller and a flop of 6-7-9. I'm not a great fan of flops like that when holding A-K but as my opponent checked in response to mine I felt he was on a similar holding. A 'five' came off on the turn.

Again I checked but this time my opponent bet out 400.

There's no doubt you have to follow your instinct in Texas Hold'Em win OR lose. I called. A 10 fell on the river! With the board reading 5-6-7-9-10 I again checked and again my opponent bet out...this time to 600. Having put him on A-J or A-Q I called and was rewarded as he flipped A-Q. Nice!

My next decision wasn't long in coming.

Holding 10-10 in MP I flat called a raise to 300 from Jennifer. A player, two to my left, then raised it up to 900. It was passed back around to me with JT passing.

The re-raiser had suffered a little at the hands of another player a short time earlier so was down to only 3k after the 900 raise. I felt that he could be making the bet with A-K so called the re-raise and prayed for a reasonable flop which would allow me to go all-in and scoop the pot. The flop was Q-Q-5.

Having put him on A-K I immediately moved all-in. He sat for seemingly an age before calling and flipping A-A. Urgh!

Oh well...one all on the instinct stakes! I now had 4k from a 7k start stack.

Blinds moved to 50-100 and I found 9-10 in MP. Usually these kind of cards, in this position, would be instamucked but with no raise and only 100 to call I was feeling lucky so flat called. There ended up 4 of us including both JT on the SB and the big blind.

Flop was 9d-10d-5d. JT immediately bet out to 300.

Of course on flops like this and two pair in hand you have to take a view on whether the original bettor has a high card diamond (Ace or King) and make it difficult for them to continue. I raised to 1200. Jennifer came back over the top for 4k and I obligingly called.

She flipped Qd-3d and I was hoping for a nine or a ten...which never came! Ho Hum!!

So there you go my adventure in the €1000 event lasted less than an hour and I end up getting knocked out by Jennifer 'Fucking' Tilly...and I mean that in the nicest way :)

Apr 5th - Reporting from the Irish Open

2007-04-06T12:42:00.000+01:00

Four Hundred and One runners & €178,000 in the prize pool meant that 50 seats + €3000 were up for grabs in tonights super satellite into the main €3500 Irish Open event itself due to start on Friday at 4pm.

Well that was the theory...in practice the main event had SOLD OUT by 4pm today, Thursday, so the organisers could only offer 20 seats with the next 30 getting €3500 cash. Well I wasn't going to complain!!

The buy in for the super satellite was €200 and I had a budget of €800 (£570 approx) for this event. It was all spent!

First rebuy came with a bit of a gamble holding Jc-6c on the BB. A Russian guy, across the table, was gambling it up big time and, with blinds at 50-100, he'd raised to 400 from the off. I called as did one other. The flop was 3-4-5. I checked...he moved all-in and I decided to gamble. He flipped K-7 so I needed help. None came. REBUY!

Second rebuy came again when gambling with the Russian. Holding A-5 I called his all-in move from the off. He flipped K-Q but after a nice looking 10-10-8-6 flop the river brought a Queen! Pooey!

So I rebuy again and manage to make it upto 4500 before the break. My top up of another 3k gives me 7500 to start the 'serious' side of the game but its a long way off the prize money.

After the break I received NO big starting hands at all. I got a break when my 7-7 turned into a set on the turn card of one flop and again when it was a blind v blind battle. I held 6-5 in the BB. Player UTG flat calls and everyone else passed with antes at 300-600. At this point in time I held around 7k. Flop is 6-7-Q. I bet 500. UTG raises to 2k and I decide he's at it and push all-in. He joyfully calls and flips K-Q. Oops! The turn is an 8 giving me a few more outs but a lovely 5 arrives on the river and I double through to 14k. Table breaks.

We're at about 170 runners now and they're dropping fast. I scrape my way upto 19k on the next table when this happens...

I'm on the BB and blinds are 1500-3000. I haven't looked at my cards but its passed around to the SB who's chipped up. He decides to put in a chunky bet and so its pretty much all my chips to play. I look down to see K-10 and decide to go all-in. The SB looks well perplexed but calls the additional 4k. He flips 7-4! The flop is A-10-9-Q-J and I make the staight and, more importantly for me move to circa 40k. At this stage I just figure to cruise into the money with around 120 left!

Another 2 levels go by. I'm getting no cards and blinds are 3000-6000 with a running ante of 500. Because I'm blinding away I've got 26k left when I'm on the BB. There are 9 minutes to go on the level when blinds will be 4000-8000 ante 500 and with 9 players at our table it'll mean 16500 a round. In other words I have about one round left. There are 72 runners showing on the board.

I look down and see Ks-Js. There's a raise from the player UTG to 18k. Its passed back around to me and I decide that its worth the risk as after this hand I'm down to 20k with a 3K ante to come. I go all-in.

My opponent calls and flips A-J. The flop is a decent looking Q-9-8 meaning any 10 or K will give me the win. Another 9 drops on the turn followed by .......another 8!! I'm out in 70th spot just 19 shy of the money.

Maybe there would have been a better spot to come but you pays your money and makes your choice. No regrets...no seat and no €3500!!

So no Irish Open main event for me but I've registerd for the €1000 event on Sunday and I'm now looking forward to that.

The Irish Open event is always well attendedand well run. If ever you get the chance to come over to Dublin of an Easter and play I heartily recommend it but remember....book early!!

A month in the Internet blinds (March 2007)

2007-04-02T10:12:00.000+01:00

With of loss of just over £1200 on the month I've decided to really cut back on 'Internet Poker' for the time being as there's just no way I'm making it pay.

Big losses this month were on Stars (-£485) and VC Poker (-£360) with smaller losses at Full Tilt, Partypoker, Gutshot & Mansion.

Of course playing in events with 1500+ runners (Stars) is never a good idea if you're looking for profit but I'm always of the opinion that I only need to win one of these monster runner events and I'm back in the black. On VC I lost mainly in the cash games in Omaha. Amazing how many times you can hit a set there only to be up against either a higher set or get turned over by a flush or straight draw!!

For people that think Internet poker isn't juiced in some way is living in fantasy land. Too many times, when heads up, the flop will bring a great hand for hand 1 and a great drawing hand for hand 2. Generally the person with the biggest stack at the time will prevail and generally it'll be for all ones chips. It gets boring after a while.

April will be an interesting month on the 'live' front with me attempting to qualify for the Irish Open on Thursday 5th. If I DO qualify via the satellite I'll be doing a daily report on my efforts from Friday 6th. If not I'll be playing in the €1000 freezeout event at the Irish Open on Sun 8th and, of course, on the 18th its the final of the Loose Cannons 'Trip To Vegas' league.

My life could be very different in 18 days time. Stay tuned!

Mar 29th - £50+£5 NL Hold'Em (Loose Cannons - EC4)

2007-03-30T08:42:00.000+01:00

While the world of big time poker is over in Reno or Monte-Carlo my efforts were being concentrated on one of the more mundane events going on in the world tonight. Yup...its Thursday which means its time for Loose Cannons league night!

Before start of play tonight I sat 3rd in the league on around 148 points. Can't be sure exactly but 1st had around 165 points and 2nd 153. My target was/is 200 points but with just this week and one more to go before the final itself on April 18th I really needed to find some form as I hadn't even managed to find my way into any sort of reward for several weeks now.

Form is a wonderful thing in poker...it comes and it goes. High level, low level it doesn't really matter. If you're hitting cards then you win...if you're not you lose! Its usually fairly obvious within the first 30 minutes of any game what shape it'll take and how 'lucky' or 'unlucky' you're going to be and to be fair my first 30 mins of the game tonight went surprisingly well.

Seventeen runners tonight then and my first 'luck-box' moment came soon into level 1.

Holding 9s-7s in LP I flat called a small raise to 200 (blinds are 25/50). Flop is a yummy looking 8s-6d-As. Check check. The even yummier 5d fell on the turn. My opponent bet out 500. I mini-raised to 1000. He pushed all-in and I, of course called. He flips 8-6 for 2 pair. No improvement on the river for him and I've doubled up already.

Level 2. (50/100) Another player on my table was also getting lucky. He'd amassed a few more chips than me by the time this 'luck-box' hand arrived.

Holding 10s-8s in LP I'd flat called his raise to 600. We were heads up on a flop of 6-7-9! He bet out 1k. I raised to 2500. He pushes all-in and looks disgusted when I called. He flips K-K and was dead in the water. I now have over 12k in chips and on cruise mode.

Of course with 17 runners it doesn't take long to get to the final table...of 10. I held 16k so was in no hurry to get involved until some of the smaller stacks had dispersed. Four prizes with 1st getting £360.

Players dropped quite quickly but we got stuck on 5 players for a while. With antes at 600-1200 the following hand came up.

I'm UTG+1 and get A-A. The guy to my immediate right with around 6k in chips himself raises it to 3k. Music to my ears! I lump in for circa 12k and its passed back around to the raiser who has no choice but to call. He flips 10-10. Its my lucky day as no 10 falls and I'm monster chip lead with 4 left.

Four becomes three and I decide to then take on the smallest stack left calling his all-in bet with Ks-6s against his Q-9. A 9 falls on the flop but so does a 5-7-8 to make me an unlikely straight by the river. Heads Up!!

I had my opponent outchipped by 2-1 but knew I only needed to win one all-in hand for the 1st placing. I didn't have to wait long.

On the BB my opponent raised to 5k. I looked down to see A-Q. Whaddya gonna do?? I went all-in. He called and flipped A-10. Flop was Q-10-J-7-2 and it was all over. 33 points + £360 + £30 in bounties. A highly satisfactory night...for a change!!

Entries -> 17 - Place -> 1st - Win -> £335 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£267

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

March 22nd - Loose Cannons (London WC4)

2007-03-23T12:19:00.000Z

First 'live' play in two weeks and I was hoping to shake off the deadzone which seems to have surrounded my results of late!

Nineteen runners for the first event of the evening down at LC and tonight was week 11, of 13, of the league which I've been an active participant in since Xmas.

I'm holding my own in the top 3 at the moment but my wish to get 200 points on the board seem a bit forlorn at the mo as I'm plodding along scraping 3 - 10 points a night as I struggle to find form once more.

Ah well...!!

Tonight I started brightly enough with some nice calls which got me to circa 6k, from a start point of 3.5k, in no time at all. I then made a couple of loose type calls pre-flop, both times with A-10, but on each occasion I failed to connect on the flop and so had to give them up. Those calls cost me 1200.

One guy was down to his last 700 already, at the 100-200 level, and pushed all-in from EP. I was in MP with Jd-5d and decided to call. Guy on BB also called when it got back round so 3 of us saw the flop of J-5-7. With a guy already all-in the BB checked and I pushed all-in wanting to isolate the all-in guy.

Mr BB sat back in his chair & pondered....and pondered....and pondered! After what felt like several minutes of this pondering he pushed all-in himself and told the table he wanted to go home! He flipped J-10.

Ok so I thought no 10 please!! The turn was a Queen...the river...another bloody Queen thereby counterfeiting my two pair and him winning with Q-Q-J-J-10!! Barf!!

I had a few chips left but they soon went and that was the first tournament over with. £55 down the Suwannee!

Tournament 2 and I was under the impression it was a 'turbo'! Apparently not as Roy has now decided to abandon that idea and play 20 minute levels instead. No frigging good to me as I had to be out of there by 11.30pm to get my last train home!

The game began at 9.30pm and I was out of there within the hour. I did pick up a bounty along the way though so my points score for the night was a massive 5!

I did win £200 in the no rake cash game so was actually up on the night however the £105 I lost in tournament fees means that for the first time in 2007 I'm actually negative on 'live-play'.

Eeek...not used to that!!

Entries -> -- - Place -> --- - Loss -> £105 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£68
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Mar 6th - 8th - NL Hold'Em (Vic & Loose Cannons)

2007-03-09T10:02:00.000Z

I'm going though what is known in the trade as a 'dry spell' at the moment. Two plays from this weeks events showed that although behaviour of other players can be assessed to a certain degree there really is no way of knowing if the next hand you play to the river in ANY tournament will be the last one of the night.

Firstly to Tuesday night where I played in the £30+£5 rebuy at the Vic. This used to be a £20 rebuy but bumping it upto £30 seems to have no impact on the numbers playing (circa 40) and over £3k in prize money was available to those that made it that far. I wasn't one of them.

During the rebuy period the usual monkey plays take place but even I had to scratch my head at this one...

Blinds were 25-50 and I'm on the BB with 8c-7c. The SB raises to 200 and both myself and another player, who'd flat called the original 50, came along for the ride. Flop is 3-3-7. I checked, as the next player, but, as expected, the SB put all his chips forward (around 1750).

I'd been fortunate to double up in early play, from a start stack of 1000, when my J-9 hit trips against a player with A-10 on a 9-9-10 flop and with the likelyhood of the SB attempting to nick the pot with nothing much better that A-J I duly called with my pair of 7's.

What surprised both me & the SB was that the next player ALSO called. There was almost 6k in the pot and it was turn-m-over time!

SB flipped A-10 (as hoped), I flipped my 8-7, next players flips K-3 o/s!!!!

Gasps of amazement and when nothing else came to help my cause the massive pot (for a 25-50 level) was pushed to my left! I was gobsmacked!

I had a rebuy...followed by 2 more followed by a top up. As the 'freezeout' phase started I had 3k in chips but with blinds shortly to be 200-400 I couldn't wait long.

Looking down I found the Qc-Jc and pushed all-in only to be called by a player with A-A. Wonderful! A Queen on the flop brought a glimmer of hope but that was all she wrote!!

Entries -> 41 - Place -> ??? - Loss -> £155 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£92
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

---------------------------------------------------------

Thursday night and the Loose Cannons league. Week 10 of 13.

Before start of play I was still in 2nd place on 138 points. Leader had 165 but he's on holiday for three weeks!!!

With a start stack of 3500 I took it nice and easy for 50 mins. My stack had barely reached 4k when this hand occurred...

On the SB with 10c-7c the BB had gone walkabout. With blinds at 100-200 this was noticed by all the table and everyone was itching to try and nick the free blinds as there was only one hand to defend against in the blinds (me) and not the usual two.

Anyway its passed round to the button who raises it to 700. An obvious nick if ever there was one. Desperate to disappoint him I flat called. Of course 10c-7c on the SB isn't the best spot to call a 700 raise but I felt he was making a move and would give up on the flop if I showed some strength.

Flop was 3-4-7. I felt sure that sort of flop could not have helped him. I checked and he immediately bet out 1500. So now put yourself in my shoes!!

If the pre-flop bet WAS a move with A-9, A-10 etc then he missed. I have top pair (albeit 7's) and I've given him a chance to check as well. He's bet 1500 on an obvious miss...right???

'Im all-in', I stated, and pushed my load out front. 'I call', came back the reply. What?????

He flipped A-7!!!!! Feck a doodle-doo. I never saw THAT coming!

So I'm out and that was that. What a freakin luckbox to have THAT hand and hit THAT 7.

Poker eh....don't you just love it!!

Entries -> 20 - Place -> 16th - Loss -> £55 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£37
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Mar 1st - £50+£5 NL Hold'Em (Loose Cannons - EC4)

2007-03-02T09:53:00.000Z

Things are starting to liven up a bit down the Loose Cannons club with 23 runners for tonights 6pm (6.50pm) £50 NL Hold'Em league event!

Tonight was week 9, of 13, and as it now stands I'm still in 2nd place 20 points behind the leader...Mr Prazi...who somehow manages to do very well in these events!

Anyway with the majority of new players drifting from the Gutshot (can't think why??) the standard of play hasn't got any more difficult but of course the increase in numbers and the luck factor needed to progress through an ever larger crowd of players getting increasingly difficult I'll be very happy indeed to hit 200 points come the end of the 13 weeks. (Currently on 138)

Ok so off we go...

First hand I get dealt the Ac-Qc on the SB and raise it upto 300 after the button did an initial raise to 150. Just me and him then to see the flop of Q-9-7 and I immediately led out for 600.

The button flat called. Next card out was an 8. Again I led out, this time to 1500, and after a few moments though the button folded like a cheap newspaper and I was off & running.

Throughout the first level I steadily increased my opening stack upto 5k (from 3.5k start) before getting moved tables to the immediate left of J.J Hazan who seems to have already been on a streak and has got around 8 or 9k in chips.

For those of you who don't know JJ won over 300,000 euros at last years Amsterdam Masters Classic event so others now see him as a bit of a celebrity. To me he's just another player but the mere fact I'm mentioning him by name here in my blog recognises his face as Mr Lucky! :)

Second level then (50-100) and I'm dealing holding 6s-8s. There's a small raise from the player UTG, to 300, and remarkably everyone at the table, including myself, calls.

Flop is 4s-7h-10s. Well thats nice, I think. Its checked around to JJ who fires out 2k.

To be fair I had no intention of EVER folding here. With a gutshot draw and a flush draw giving me a potential 12 outs twice (to the river) I would have been happy enough to put in the 2k bet myself but as JJ had asked the question I felt compelled to answer.

'I'm all in', I exclaimed, and so the 2k went first followed by another 2375!

Now of course the whole field folded back to JJ who confessed to being behind but called anyway with his set of 4's!

As I was dealing I felt confident in my ability to deal myself a 5 or a spade card that didn't pair the board...instead I dealt myself the Qc followed by the Ac!!

Much whooping & hollering from JJ, as is the norm, but looking back on it I was always going to be there so early in the tournament and with a chance to get to 11k so quickly. As Dave Ulliot once said...'its better to have lived one day as a lion than a lifetime as a lamb!'.

Entries -> 23 - Place -> 20th - Loss -> £55 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£247

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

A month in the online blinds (Feb 07)

2007-02-27T13:00:00.000Z

Undoubtedly my month was saved by a $1560 win in a VC Poker tournament on Feb 23rd. I finished third going out with A-Q v K-K but was happy enough beating out 270 opponents.

Prior to this though the month of Feb has been pretty much a disaster in terms of results. To be fair to myself I generally only play either :

a) $3 / $5 / $10 rebuy events on Stars
b) $24 freezeouts on Full Tilt
c) $18 / $27 rebuy events on VC Poker
d) £10 freezeout events on Willy Hill / DTD Poker
e) $100 freezeouts on Mansion ($100k guaranteed)

The events on Stars show a loss of just over £600, Full Tilt : -£140 approx, Mansion : -£150, Others - £40, VC Poker : +£600.

So for the month of Feb I'm down just over £330! Of course this is considerably better than Januarys £851 defecit so either I'm getting to be a better player or just luckier??

The thing with the rebuy events on Stars is that generally I can cruise along quite happily for 3 hours besting thousands of opponents only then to run into 'set up' hands that occur when close to or just into the money.

My favourites this month include my Q-Q beaten up for $100k by K-K. Flop is 6-7-8...no escape really - 9-9 v 10-10 for $80k on a flop of 2-4-4 - whatever!! and this months favourite is my A-K versus 10-10 on a flop of A-K-7...Q...J!! You gotta larf!

Stars have now kicked off their WSOP satellites and I'll be playing exclusively in the $16 Turbo shootouts for a seat in the $650 Sunday events where theres a 15/1 chance of winning a seat at this years $10k event at the WSOP. I'll let you know how its all going in my next 'Month In The Internet Blinds' post!!

I've given up on Mansion as I cant get better that 143rd nomatter how hard I try and VC Poker are in the process of moving to new software imminently. Should be interesting!

Feb 22nd - Loose Cannons (EC4)

2007-02-23T08:43:00.000Z

DOUBLE points night tonight down at Loosey Cannons so I decided that if I did no good in the 1st £50 freezeout game I'd play again in the turbo event which would kick off later!

Its been one of those weeks though! Since my K-K outing from last Thursday night on the bubble my best hand has been 9-9 and whilst I appreciate that given the number of hands actually played this 'crap-hand syndrome' is perfectly within normal statistical boundries I still hate it when that happens!!

The first £50 event drew 18 runners, something of a record, and so it was just a case of playing a straight bat, where possible, and hoping to catch some cards.

I grabbed a bounty button off some guy who went all-in for 1100. I called with my A-4 from the BB and hit and Ace. He was at it with 10-7! After that though it was pretty much all downhill.

Lost a bundle when holding 7-7 in LP. Flop was K-6-5 and I bet out 200. Call. Turn another King. I again bet...this time 500. It was mini-raised to 1000. I went all-in. He called and flipped K-Q...lucky fecker! No 7 to save me and I was virtually out.

All-in with 10h-9h and was insta-called by player with A-J. Two Aces on the flop and I was out of game 1.

Game 2 was a turbo event...15 min clock...20 secs to act...20 runners.

Got a nice double up with my K-J out gunned K-Q on a board of K-5-7-J-A but after that it was another piss poor session as the clock ticked by and my hands were not even worth a call with never mind a raise!

My early double through enabled me to sneak to the final 9 but I was desperately short stacked and with blinds at 600-1200 I only had one move...ALL-IN!!

I draw seat 5 for the final table which means my stack of 2500 had to move within 2 hands.

I get Kc-Qc on hand 1 and push. All fold.

Hand 2 I get 8-3 and pass!

Hand 3, on the BB, I get 4-4. Its raised from across the table to 2400 and I steam in. The raiser has a few chips in front of him and calls the extra 1800 or so. He flips J-8.

The flop contains two JACKS and no four comes to save me!

It turned out to be a free night as I won £110 in the cash game there but a loss of £105 on the nights tournaments meant a poor return from this weeks play in general!

Another 10 points for the league though...upto 127 now with just 5 events left before the Grand Final on April 14th.

Entries -> -- - Place -> --- - Loss -> £105 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£302
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Feb 20th - £30+£5 NL Hold'Em (Grosvenor - WC1)

2007-02-23T08:40:00.000Z

My first foay into the Vic for a while proved to be less inspiring than usual.

A healthy 45 runners, or so, for tonights £30 NL Hold'Em which just goes to prove that there's still the interest in this game we love so much!

As always the usual mix of has-beens & wannabes sat down to start but for £30 you only got 1k in chips which basically meant you either had to play tight as a drum in the hope that some of the 40 or so hands played in the 1hr buy in period would prove fruitful or you could gamble it up like a good thing and hope to suck out your opponents on a totally unscientific couple of rags.

For the first 40 mins I managed to tread the middle ground having doubled up in the opening 5 hands when my flush draw got there against top pair.

My next 'all-in' move came when holding the Ah-10h. Mr 'manic' was on his 4th buy-in and lumped in for his next 1k. Lally Khajuria, a regular down at the Vic, flat called behind him and I launched all-in for 2k more! Lally insta-called and flipped A-Q. Nobody improved and it was my first rebuy!

My 2nd and third followed swiftly as with blinds at 50-100 there's not a great deal of thought process involved when you have 1k while the rest of the table has circa 4k each!

My 3rd rebuy lasted all of one hand and so onto my 4th.

Luckily I got A-K and got called for my 1k bet with a K-Q. So I was 2k and a bit as we got to the last hand of the rebuy period.

I look down to see A-J. Now I'd much rather start the 'proper' part of the game with 5k as opposed to 3k (after my add-on) so there wasn't much though involved in going all-in. A guy from across the table said call and threw out a 1k chip. It was then pointed out to him that I'd gone all-in for just over 2k and a certain amount of aggravation appeared on his face!

'Fuck', he stated, 'I didn't want to do that!'. He threw in the remainder, as he was obliged to do so, and flipped A-6.

The board read blah-blah-blah-blah-SIX!!

I left!

Entries -> 45 - Place -> 38th - Loss -> £155 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£407
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

15th Feb - Loose Cannons (London EC4)

2007-02-16T12:01:00.000Z

Two games tonight as I didn't do too clever in the 6.30pm I decided to try my hand in the 8.30pm game.

Both were the £50+£5 'bounty' games and as you could put your best score of the two events towards the league then it was a no brainer to play in the 2nd as in the 1st I scored a massive 3 points!!

Game 1:

Thirteen runners for this and as usual it didn't take long to get to the final table of 9.

Early doors I got Kd-6d in the BB and called a tiny raise from across the table to 150. Flop was Kc-6c-9d. EP player bet out 200. There's no way I wasn't ahead here so I raised to 600. EP player decided to push all-in. Of course I called and he flipped K-Q.

The turn and river changed nothing and it left him with 1 100 point chip left.

In the mayhem that followed to grab his bounty button I forgot how to play and bluffed at a pot with Jack high which cost me 2k and no bounty button. Blah!

I reached the 'final 9' with 7k though so wasn't too worried. That was until this happened...

In LP I flat called the 200 BB with Qc-8c. Three of us saw the flop of 7-8-9. A bet of 400 came in from across the table and I flat called. The Qd fell on the turn so I assumed I was ahead and bet out 1500. It was called. The horrible looking 6d fell on the river. If I checked here I'd be giving up the pot so I bet out another 1500.

My opponent sighed and called. To be honest I thought I'd won it but he flipped 9-10 for a rivered straight and I was severely crippled.

A short time later I held the 8d-10d and in a fit of madness I went all-in for 1900. It ended up with 3 others in and when the board settled at Ac-4h-9d-6d-Qc I was out in 9th!!

Game 2:

Eighteen runners and 4 places paid!

Got off to a tremendous start when, on the button, I got K-K and flat called a raise to 600. Flop was 7-5-3. My opponent went all-in, I called and he flipped 8-8. One bounty button & a double up to me!

My next victim fell when I held Q-Q. He went all-in for 3k. I called. He flipped A-K but an all-low flop brought me upto 10k and cruising.

I then got card dead. Not to worry though as the players fell fairly rapidly.

Still had 10k when we reached the 'final 9' after about an hour!

Nine became 8, became 7, became 6, became 5. I STILL had 10k but the blinds were lifted to 300-600 and it became 'all-in' time for most of my opponents on the shorter stacks. Trouble was that they were winning & doubling up!

I called an all-in 3k bet with A-J only to find my opponent with A-Q and so with 7k left and blinds now at 400-800 I was the one looking wobbly!

I then get K-K UTG. Now rather than blast all-in I REALLY wanted to see a flop so bet out to 2k with the intention of getting a caller then passing if an Ace fell and betting ensued!

What I got though was the finger of fate telling me to forget about it!

The player to my immediate left had circa the same chips as me. He looked down at his cards...did a bit of dancing...then proclaimed that it was either 'all-in' or fold! Ok...so he didn't have Aces and I was ahead so why did I want him to fold??

'I'll toss a coin', he said, 'tails - all-in else I'll fold'!

He tossed his £1 coin. It came up HEADS!! 'All-in anyway', he exclaimed and shoved his chips towards the middle. All passed to me!

Now of course I was stuck with it and folding K-K is not an option here. I called and he had me slightly covered.

He flipped A-J and my heart sank cos we all know what THAT means!!!

Sure enough the first card out was an Ace. I shook his hand and my head and exited stage right! Bubbled and baffled. Why me???

Seven more points towards the league though!

Entries -> -- - Place -> --- - Loss -> £100 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£562
(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Feb 8th - £50+£5 NL Hold'Em (Loose Cannons)

2007-02-09T12:41:00.000Z

Thursday night is league night down at Loose Cannons and with this, the 6th week of 13, now done and dusted I can obviously take some pleasure in knowing that I'm knocking out an average of 20 points a week so far!

Thirteen runners for tonights event - smaller the better as far as I'm concerned - and as usual with such a chunky stack to start (3500) and blinds at 20 minutes a level there was no need to go mad and look for trouble. Nice & easy does it!!!

Within two levels we were down to the final 10 and I had an ok stack of around 6k. Made without too much resistance I might add. Three prizes up for grabs so again it was just a question of waiting.

A-Q proved to be particularly lucky for me this evening. With 8 left I call an all-in raise for 1675 with As-Qs. My opponent flips K-8. Flop is 4s-8s-Qh-8d-Qc and I get lucky to take a man out and grab his 'bounty button' for an immediate fiver.

Shortly afterwards I get A-Q again, in MP, and with blinds at 200-400 I raise to 1500. The SB goes all-in for 2k so I'm obliged to call. He flips K-7 but again I get lucky on a board of K-J-6-10-7 making a straight and another fiver.

There are now 5 of us left and I have circa 10k in chips. I get A-K in the SB and its passed back to me. I raise to 1500. BB RE-RAISES another 2k. Now what??

A-K is a bok hand for me at the moment...nevertheless you can't ignore its potential to win big if it hits. The BB had me covered in chips and I'm only really a big dog to A-A which I discount. Glory or bust then! I go all-in!

The BB hums a little but calls and flips K-K. No Ace on the board and I'm out in 5th place just a couple of spots shy of the money. Dooooh!

With my 2 bounty buttons and 3 points fo entry I collect 7 points from the evening putting me on 117 for the league so far. My closest rival now has 120 (he picked up 3 points tonight) and everyone else is nowhere!

Entries -> 13 - Place -> 5th - Loss -> £45 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£662

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

Feb 6th - Loose Cannons Official Opening Night

2007-02-07T09:17:00.000Z

With over 200 runners for tonights $10k freeroll event at Loose Cannons official opening night it was never going to be easy.

Indeed the amount of alcohol consumed from players at the tables meant that with self deal a reality it was taking nigh on 5 minutes to play a single hand of poker!

Never mind though...it was a fun night out with 'bounty' buttons given to various celebrities worth $100 (on a VC poker account) and a bottle of champagne! On our table we had Matthew Stevens - World Snooker Champion.

To be fair I wouldn't know Matthew Stevens if he came round our house and asked for help with his broken down car but apparently after taking his bounty button off him with my 3h-4h beating his Q-8 I didn't really need to!

At the break I held 8k in chips and was in good shape but the blinds suddenly started increasing at a substancial rate and with Jd-9d in hand and midnight close at hand I decided to gamble it up with two all-in players with similar stacks.

One held A-10 the other K-Q so we had the top cards covered and it was anyones game. A flop of K-J-4-4-8 meant I was out in around 80th place but I'd had a good time and my champagne will be put to good use next Wed!

Finally much thanks to Sarah, Particks wife, for giving me a lift home at 1.30am. Saved me £60 on a cab!!

Feb 3rd - A day at the Gutshot (London)

2007-02-05T14:39:00.000Z

This weekends plan was simple...

Play in the cheapy (£20 / £30) satellite events at the Gutshot and the Vic on the Sat / Sun afternoon in the hope of getting a seat for the bigger events to be played that same day at the respective venues. In the case of the Gutshot it was the £300 + (donation) NL Freezeout and at the Vic it was the £500+£50 NL Freezeout!

Ok...so down I trot to the Gutshot for the 2pm £20 rebuy satellite. With next door to the club now shuttered because of the recent court case loss the satellite was played in the bar area.

Over 40 runners and at the end of rebuys & add ons there were 8 seats up for grabs.

With 1000 points to start and rebuys at 500 points or less there was a fair amount of early activity which saw my chip stack dwindle to 500. A rebuy was sought!

There were a couple of loosey-goosey types on the table. One player went all-in with 4-5 o/s and was pleased to show it to gasps of admiration. Next time he did it I called with 8-10, to show him that people WOULD call. He proudly showed A-4 but on a flop of 6-10-K-A-10 he swore like a trooper, rebought, and didn't try it again!

At the break, and with an add-on, I started with circa 4500. I'd spent £60.

As is usual the case there was a flurry of drop outs and I managed to rake in a couple of pots with varying degrees of card holdings. Four tables became three became two and I was pretty healthily stacked with circa 15k. No need to get involved now!

I sat tight and we were soon 9 handed. With 8 getting a seat it was just a case of waiting for the short stacks to burn themselves out but they refused to budge. It was 30 minutes into the final table when finally we lost a player and I'd won my seat to the £300 freezeout!

It was 7pm. With 5 hours solid play behind me already I decided to sit outside for a while. All the smog from the players ciggies had desended and the atmosphere was now thick with it. Roll on no-smoking day!!

At 8.30pm we started play with 7 tables and 65 runners. For the first 4 levels I played well and my stack increased to around 14k, from an 8k start. The break came and went and we began level 5. I began to feel tired.

Suddenly from feeling great and playing well the smoke filled room began to make my head spin. My decisions started to get worse and I started calling hands that I'd really no business in calling.

A bluff with As-4s on a flop of 8-6-10-3-3 (one spade) lost me 3k. A daft call with 7s-5s cost me another 1500. My head started to drop and I was looking for a hand to put all my chips in with.

At 11pm I get A-K in EP. I raise to 1300 holding back 6k. There's a re-raise to 3k from across the table then an all-in from LP. I call. The initial re-raiser folds showing J-J.

My lone opponent shows Q-Q and so its a 50/50 race. A flop of 8-2-5-3-5 does me no favours and I'm out in around 45th position.

I suppose looking back its always a bad idea to play in satellites for bigger events that take place just a short while after the satellite finishes. I was knackered mentally any my head was spinning. The smoke certainly didn't help!

I missed the Vic reasoning I couldn't enter a tournament if I couldn't give it 100%. The satellite...YES...main event...NO!

Entries -> 65 - Place -> 45th - Loss -> £90 (£60 satellite - £30 'donation') Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£707

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

Feb 1st - £50+£5 NL Hold'Em (Loose Cannons)

2007-02-02T09:37:00.000Z

Thursday night is league night, well at least until the end of March, down at Loose Cannons and the offer of the $10k freeroll taking place next Tuesday night down there has brought new members in like wildfire!

A few dained to join tonights £50 (+£5 bounty) event so upon starting at 6:25pm we had 16 runners. A record me-thinks!

For those of you new to this blog I'm attempting to win a free trip to Las Vegas, courtesey of the Loose Cannons club. The 'league' takes place every Thursday night and entrants accumulate points based on a) entry (3 points) b) bounty buttons collected (2 points each) & prize money points (18 for 1st, 15 for 2nd, 13 for 3rd).

Points accumulate on a weekly basis for 13 weeks at the end of which there's a final tournament where every point you've collected over the 13 weeks are worth 25 'chip' points for the final. The winner of that wins the trip to Las Vegas in June!

There's one more thing as well. At the start of the evening a player draws a card, from a choice of 4, to see if the league games, that night, are for 'single' points or 'DOUBLE' points. Of course doing well when its single points is not quite the same as doing well on DOUBLE points night but we try our best!

Upto now, and after 4 weeks, I'm on 90 points (1st - 2nd - 1st - 6th) but its important to continue to do well as some lucky brick got 44 points last week and is on 110 already!

Ok...so what about tonight!

The usual fish were on the table and as its been the usual set of players these past few weeks its now fairly easy to see how most of them play and adapt accordingly!

Early doors and I make an ill advised 600 point bluff at a point with Q-10 only to get called by opponent with bottom pair on a board of J-9-7-A-5. After that I tightened up somewhat!

With blinds at 50-100 I held 5h-7h and flat called a small raise to 200 from Mr MP. Three of us saw a flop of 9h-10c-Jh. I checked. Mr MP bet out to 500. Mr LP re-raised to 1500 and I, after a tiny amount of thought, went all-in looking for any 8 or a heart!

Surprise, surprize when BOTH players called. Mr MP held J-K (no heart). Mr LP held 10-J (no heart). The 3h was followed by the Ah and I now had circa 7k in chips!

Players started to drop at the 100-200 level but I just bided my time kocking another player out when my A-Q beat out K-Q and I reached the final table of 9 with circa 10k in chips.

There were three prizes tonight (£400-£240-£160) but the points mean that little bit more so I sat back and waited for the drop-outs to commence.

I didn't have to wait long. At the 300-600 level 4 players dropped. The 400-800 level started and there were five of us left. An all-iner with 9-9 was called by a player with A-K. Both an Ace and a King hit and we were down to 4.

The short stack went all-in with A-4 to be called by player with K-K. Now we were 3. Points time!

As I'd sat back and waited for other players to go my chip stack had gone nowhere and I was down to 8k. Compared to the other two players left I'd have to come out swinging to get back into the game...so I did with A-6 and ran into A-K.

Oh well...3rd place and £170 (£160+£10 for my 2 bounty buttons) was ok by me. I also got 20 points from the night so now sit on 110 after 5 events. My nearest rival now has 115 after he got knocked out early with 1 bounty button to his name.

I reckon if I get upto 200+ points by the time the final comes around I'll be in great shape for a shot at the Vegas trip!

Entries -> 16 - Place -> 3rd - Win -> £115 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£797

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

A month in the online blinds (Jan 07)

2007-02-01T13:12:00.000Z

As every avid poker player knows theres more poker on the Internet than you can shake a stick at these days so with this in mind I've decided to keep a close record of all my wins & losses, over the wire, for 2007 just to see if I'm as good as I think I am.

For January the answer is a resounding NO!!

I've played on 5 different sites over the course of the past 31 days of Jan with losses of between £37 (PaddyPower) and £295 (Pokerstars) for a total months loss of £851.

Compare that figure with my 'live play' win, for Jan, of £682 then I'm in an obvious 'loss' situation for my poker playing of Jan 2007!

Whats interesting to me though is the way I perceive both online & offline poker as two very different beasts.

The online stuff is 'for entertainment purposes only' and I suppose, as such, the £27.45 its costing me every day to satisfy my poker playing mentality is probably what most people would consider an ok amount to spend on ANY recreational activity.

Its a bit like the lottery in that you're always hoping for a nice win but the reality is that these are too few & far between to be worthwhile playing for?

I only play tournament poker online these days as the bad beats one has to live with in the cash games occur far too frequently for my liking. A bad beat at the end of the tournament is bad enough but a bad beat every 5 minutes in a cash game I've no interest in anymore!

So I've played in about 100 tournaments in Jan. Spread across the 5 sites I think my best effort was a 25th place in a $5 rebuy on Stars which from over 2500 starters wasn't too bad. The prize of $150 was pissy to say the least. Especially when the total prize pools tops $50k.

I've given the $100k guarantee event on Mansion a bash on 4 ocassions with my best finish being 142nd when my A-K got shafted by 8-8 for a 20k pot! Oh the joy!!

So there you are...one month in and 11 to go. It can only get better from here!!

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

2007-01-26T11:48:00.001Z

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!

2007-01-23T14:15:00.000Z

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)

2007-01-19T10:56:00.000Z

'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)

2007-01-15T10:30:00.000Z

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)

2007-01-12T13:07:00.000Z

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)

2007-01-10T11:52:00.000Z

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)

2007-01-08T10:41:00.000Z

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)

2007-01-05T13:21:00.000Z

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!

2007-01-02T08:47:00.000Z

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!!

Dec 19th - £100+£10 NL Hold'em (Western Club)

2006-12-20T10:45:00.000Z

Last night at the Western I entered the 'twilight zone' for the first time since my win at Loose Cannons a couple of weeks back.

For those of you uninitiated in such things its the time of the game between when the last train leaves for home and the final table is still hours away where at least you get some money for the taxi home.

Failure in this part of the night means that there's no reward and you're faced with another £30+ pullup in order to get your bed for the night via a cab!

Two weeks ago, after picking up £3k at the Loose Cannons, I couldn't have cared less about the fifty note it cost me go get home from central London at 1.30am. So what about tonight??

Seventy runners, a record, kicked off at just before 9pm with our 5k chip stack and, for once, I played pretty much perfect poker in that I played good hands strongly...got the hell out of the way if it got too frisky...and generally played well.

For the first 40 mins I saw not one hand before kicking off the shackles. At the 1st break I had a little over 6k. Enough to be going on with!

With no Hendon Mob League event this evening (missed the buy-in) my concentration was on the job in hand. 6k turned to 10k, to 15k, to 22k and with three tables left I was set fair for a good finish. The last train left without me so I decided to bucke down and attempt to win the thing!

It was 1.45am and the third break of the night when things started to go wrong.

With blinds at 800/1600 I kept attempting to bluff at pots I had no business in bluffing at. Whereas I'd played it tight for a good deal of the time upto that level I suddenly felt like the 2400 in the pot before it got to me was to be mine at most any price. That level (800/1600) cost me 7k in attempted bluffs!

The 1k/2k level was next. I had 15k in chips (average was circa 20k) and there were 16 of us left. I'm on the button and get dealt Qh-8d. Now lets be honest here the hand was crap BUT I had position so when it came around to me I decided to bet it. "10k", I said.

Knowing that I'd effectively committed myself to the hand regardless of whatever the blinds did made me suddenly nervous. 'All-In', said the SB who had me covered. The BB passed and it was just mono-et-mono. I, of course, had to call.

The SB flipped A-A (2nd time this week thats happened) and so me and my meagre Q-8 were looking glum.

But wait....whats this...an 8 appeared as first card out on the flop giving hope...for a second!

No further joy and I was out in 14th spot at 2.17am. Another £15 taxi fare home and my night was complete!

Next stop...Dublin!

Entries -> 70 - Place -> 14th - Loss -> £110 ($209) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$17514
(As from 30th Nov 2006 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Dec 16th - A day at the Vic

2006-12-18T09:54:00.000Z

With the missus back over in Dublin preparing for Xmas I found myself at a bit of a loose end this Saturday so I decided what better way to spend the day than a day at the 'Vic' for the two tournaments down there.

First up was a £30+£3 NL Hold'Em rebuy event which kicked off at 3pm.

Twenty four runners started with 1k in chips and I managed not to rebuy in the time alloted (1 hr) and with the automatic top up I started the 'proper' phase of the game with circa 4k in front of me.

The speedy rise in blinds (20 mins) means that you're always looking to move up the ladder as quickly as possible as if you don't then you start to struggle fairly quickly.

I soon found that my hands weren't standing upto scrutiny too well so was forced into a cycle of 'all-in' bets which seemed to go ok until I got the Kc-10c in EP.

With 2900 in chips (blinds were 300-600) I went for glory but was collared with a guy holding A-A directly behind me. A King fell on the flop, so the chips would have been in anyway, but all to no avail. I was out in 13th spot...£63 poorer.

Not to worry though eh...there was always the £50+£5 freezeout event which started at 8pm.

Forty two runners for this one and I doubled through early when my 9c-7c made a flush on a flop of Ac-Kd-4c-10h-9c. Unfortunately the guy with A-K was cursing away merrily...as you would.

Once again though the ever increasing blinds started to catch up with my chip stack after the break and despite getting to the last three tables (24) I again ran into a brick wall at the 300-600 level. With 2700 in chips I decided to take a punt on A-9 raising the pot to 1200. I get one caller and a flop of 10-8-4.

I go all-in but my charade fooled no-one as my opponent called and flipped 7-7. Still a few outs though but no help came so gone again in 24th spot and again £55 in the hole.

Entries -> -- - Place -> -- - Loss -> £128 ($243) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$17723
(As from 30th Nov 2006 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

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Talking of poker...as I do...I came a credible 11th in the Pokerstars Sunday '$215 Warm Up event' for a payday of just over $1350.

What irked me more than anything though was the way my demise was cynically planned by the software!

I had $750k in chips when in the space of 3 hands I was gone.

Hand 1: SB (Blinds are 12k-24k) I get Ac-7h fully intending to fold to ANY raise. The button flat calls and, as there'd been no raise I decide its worth the exta 12k and so flat call. Three of us see a flop of Jc-9c-7c.

Now I'm not going to get cheeky here, even WITH the nut flush draw, so I check it. The BB also checks but the button bets $128k. Seems a bit small so I call. The BB folds. The Js comes on the turn and again I check, as does the button. I still have bottom pair when the river card brings the 4h (or something like that). Again I check but the button bets another $128k.
Now either they have nothing or a monster but with a pair of 7's I decide to call. The button flips J-9. Oh really!!

Hand 2: Button. I pass (now down to 428k approx)

Hand 3: One off button. I get 6-6. Its passed around to the player immediately to my right (who had J-9 a minute ago) who raises to 72k. Well a pairs a pair so I launch an all-in bet. Its passed around to the original raiser who calls. They flip Q-Q.

Now you know that these hands are set ups because the flop with ALWAYS bring a situation where you're all-in anyway and a flop of 2-3-4 was always going to invite me, with 6's, into the pot. The turn is another 4, the river another 2.

So close to a decent payday...but I'm just not THAT lucky!!

Dec 14th - £50+£5 NL Hold'Em (Victoria Club, W1)

2006-12-15T13:08:00.000Z

Tonights £50 NL Hold'Em game at the Vic had 42 runners and I started like a man on fire!

Second hand in I get 2-2 in LP and despite there being a raise & a re-raise upto 400 I decided to call, the reason being that I'm looking to double up or go home early doors so ANY pair is always worth a call looking for that knockout set that will see me accumulate a few chippies!

Well wad-ya-know...the flop comes J-9-2 and I'm looking for action.

EP raiser bets 400. MP re-raiser boots it to 1k...me...I'm all-in! Call. Call.

EP man has Q-Q. MP Man has 8-8 and I have a set. Turn is a THREE, RIVER a NINE!! Treble up time!!

So I now have 6k in chips and on easy street. Trouble was that that was as good as it got!

I just couldn't get any further forwards. I'd win a pot then lose a pot win a pot then lose a pot etc etc. At the break I had 5800!!

Trying a cheecky nick with A-9 I raised to 800 only to see Mr Chinese guy go all-in behind me for CONSIDERABLY more chips than I had. Pass!

Got moved table and was down to 3600 when I picked up K-Q. I raised it to 1200 but the BB decided to flat call. The flop was Ah-7c-5h.

'All-In', said the BB! Now in usual circumstances my hand would have hit the muck but a) I was short of chips & b) I did'nt put the BB on an Ace so at least I'd still have outs if I called. So I did!
He looked a bit peturbed but flipped the 7h-5h for bottom pair and a flush draw. The 9s was followed by the 4d and I was a gonner!

Entries ->42 - Place ->18th - Loss -> £55 ($105) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$17966
(As from 30th Nov 2006 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

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Prior to entering the tournament I sat and played in the £100 Pot Limit Hold'Em game. Whilst I bought in for what I assumed would have been a medium stack of £300 it appeared that the regulars (Michael Arnold, Neil Channing and the like) though nothing of bringing £3k+ to the table!

Whilst I appreciate that the big guns like to have a lot of ammo when playing against the likes of me it really does put me, and others with similar 'small' stacks at a massive disadvantage if the big stacks suddenly decide to start gambling it up!

Luckily for me it was a quiet hour and I stood up with £586 - an ok profit of £286 - but I'd hate to hold K-K against a raiser on that kind of table as I really don't see the point of doing £300 a pop on gambling on a flop that makes my K-K looking like god then find I've been suckered at the end once all my cash has hit the felt!

Dec 12th - £100+£10 NL Hold'em (Western Club)

2006-12-13T09:51:00.000Z

Last night at the Western was the weekly £100+£10 NL Hold'Em freezeout. I'm going to keep this short.

Slightly drunk guy appears to my immediate right just after start of play in seat 6. "I'll play blind", he says and puts in his 50 points. Its raised to 250...he looks at his cards and passes.

Next hand I look down and see A-Q. "I'll play blind", says the guy, and puts in his 50 points. I raise it upto 300. One caller across the table. Guy looks at his cards and pushes all-in. I call. Guy across the table passes. Mr Drunk flips K-K. No Ace to save me. That's all!!

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Analysis of ones results, over time, is obviously a good way of determining just how good, or bad, you actually are at something.

As I reach the end of another year of my life on the poker treadmill I, like many others, wondered just how good (or how crap) I am at the game I love to play so much so I decided to take a look at some Internet sites that seem to provide facilities which I, as a poker player, can tap into to see just how good/bad a job I'm doing at a hobby which takes up a third of my life (the oher two thirds being sleep & work!!)

Of course Internet sites only relate to Internet play but as I'm fairly happy playing at one or two sites and generally just play MTT's, and to a lesser degree Sit'n'Gos, I don't have to spend THAT long seeing that I'm doing ok!

Firstly to SHARKSCOPE (http://www.sharkscope.com/). This site just concentrates on Sit'N'Gos and luckily for me the only two sites I play these games on are both listed. (Full Tilt & Pokerstars).
So I do a search on myself - "UKPOKER" - for both sites and get the following results (as at 13th Dec 2006):

Username Played Av. Profit Av. Stake Av. ROI Total Profit Form
ukpoker 56 $16 $33 16% $916 FullTilt
ukpoker 35 -$7 $50 0% -$254 PokerStars

So what does this tell me? Obviously to stay away from Pokerstars when it comes to Sit'N' Gos!

Next up is The PokerDB. (http://www.thepokerdb.com/ - Registration required)

Doing a search there I find that for Full Tilt I've won over $7,500 in the past 3 months since I started playing on that site whilst I've won almost $8,000 on Pokerstars this year.

Whilst The PokerDb does not show ALL entries, only those where cashed, its nice to know that I'm more than holding my own in the big scary world that is the Internet!

For 'live' play I document ALL my play and the cumulative number you see below is from Jan 1st this year so looking back its not been too bad a year.

Lets hope I can do just as well in 2007! More on my dreams & asperations for that later this month!

Entries ->49 - Place ->49th - Loss -> £110 ($209) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$18071
(As from 30th Nov 2006 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Dec 9th - £30+£3 No Limit Hold'Em (Western Club)

2006-12-11T12:55:00.000Z

Todays 'fun' tournament, held at the Western Club, was a £30 NL freezeout event for the London Poker Meetup guys & gals.

Sixty-two runners, a 5k starting stack, and a 30 minute clock meant that there was no rush to get your chips in once play started at 1.30pm.

I had a nice and easy first 60 mins when I chipped up to 7k before my first major confrontation took place. Dealt Kd-Kc in LP and with blinds at 50-100 I raised it up to 500. I got one caller!

Now we all know that holding a pair of Kings means that the flop will bring an Ace! The number of times I've had Kings in the pocket and an Ace has appeared is ridiculous so I'm sat there praying 'No Ace...No Ace!'.

The flop came Ad-Jd-6d. (There's that Ace again!!) My opponent checked and I went all-in!

The reasons for this should be obvious. If my opponent HAS no Ace then he can't call the bet (unless he has made a flush already in which case I still have outs). If my opponent HAS an Ace with low kicker he CANT call the bet. If my opponent HAS an Ace with a BIG kicker, and he calls, then I still have outs. If my opponent has TWO ACES, and he calls (duh) then I still have outs!

He called and flipped A-10d. I wasn't worried. The turn card was the 3h, the river the luverly 4d. Nice!

At the break I had 14k in chips and was well in control of my game. As we know though poker has a way of creeping up behind you and kicking you in the nuts as I was shortly to find out!

As players got moved to the table I was at one guy came, trebled up with A-A v Q-Q v A-Q and suddenly had the same chips as me. I get dealt Kd-7d on the BB. Mr 'Same As Me Chips' raised it upto 600, blinds were now 100-200, and I flat called for the extra 400. The flop was K-10-7.

I checked and he bet out 2.5k. Now it was obvious the guy had a hand. I put him on A-K, K-Q or K-J. Certainly not K-10 and certainly not a set. As I had two pairs made I wasn't about to let him off cheap...so I raised it to 5k...another 2.5k.

I fully expected him to flat call, if he held the King, as that would be the obvious play in his position and if a scare card came next I'd be all-in before you could say 'Merry Xmas'. He didn't play ball though and announced 'all-in'.

I insta-called and he stood up and said 'good game'. He flipped K-J. Ok...so he had outs. Not many...but some.

The turn brought a 9 the river an 8 and the fecker had done me with a runner-runner straight!

Ooooo. That hurt. It took me a moment to register the scale of my demise. Ooooo. Win that hand and I'm chip monster...as it was I was on my way home to watch the football.

Entries ->62 - Place ->44th - Loss -> £33 ($63) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$18280
(As from 30th Nov 2006 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Dec 6th - Grand 'VC' Final (£5k added) - Loose Cannons Club (London EC1)

2006-12-07T09:01:00.000Z

Thirty seven runners in last nights 'Grand Final' of VC Pokers £5k added event held at the Loose Cannons Club in Cannon St, EC1 and undoubtedly the best value tournament of 2006 by a long chalk.

After qualifying in week 1 it seems to have been forever in coming but when we finally got down to it last night we were playing for a prize pool of £11700, an equivalent buy-in of £316, and hardly a professional in site!

So with a 4k starting stack and a 25 min clock my plan to play good cards strongly, pass if I raised and got re-raised and generally keep out of harms way...if I could!

Level 1 - I get 9-9 in MP and flat call the 50 blinds. Its raised to 300 from LP. I flat call. Two of us see a flop of 7-6-2. I check. Matey comes out betting 600. I flat call. Turn is a Jack. I check. He fires out 1500. I fold. Down to 3100 in short order.

Level 2 - Two big hands here. I get 5-5 in MP and raise it to 300 as I noticed that players were generally passing to most ANY raise. I get on caller, a guy who'd been a little agressive early doors. Flop was 3-8-8. He's first to bet and fires out 1500. No way hozay!! I move all-in and he folds!

I then get Ac-3s on the SB. Four of us see a flop of 2s-4c-5s. I immediately bet out 300. Its raised to 1500 by the guy who caught me earlier with my 9-9. I move all-in and its think-tank time! After a bit of verbal about him going home if he calls he flips 2-2 and folds! Could have been worse...he could have called!

At the end of the level I'm on 6400.

Level 3 - I get K-K in MP and raise it up to 600 (blinds are now 100-200). I get one caller. Flop is J-9-7. My opponent immediately bets out 800. I move all-in and he folds showing A-Q! I end the level at 9400.

Break time. Only 4 players have gone out! Urgh!!!

Level 4 - Things start to move with blinds at 200-400. I get A-A in the SB and theres no action as its passed back to me. I check hoping the BB will attempt a steal. He checks and we see a flop of A-10-4. I check, my opponent bets out 1500, I move all-in. He folds. I have 12400 at the end of the level!

For the next hour I tread water but players are busting out quickly. We're down to 2 tables (18), 16, 14, 12, 10...FINAL TABLE!!!

Now to be fair I always had a plan for tonights game. I wanted £1000. That was all! Before the final table started I offered the table a deal where that everyone would be guaranteed £1k. Of course the 2 big stacks weren't having it...oh well I tried!

We got down to 6 in short order. The next hour and thirty mins though saw NOBODY move! Through 3 LEVELS and NOBODY fell. It was attrition. There were all-ins all over the place...every one of the short stacks (including me...twice) won. I doubled through when my Q-Q beat A-J. I doubled up again when my A-10 routed A-9.

At the end of the 1k-2k level I was chip leader with 38k. They were going to need a crow bar to get those chips off me now! Still no deals though.

Finally 6th and 5th succumbed. Minimum pay was now £1170.

Suddenly there's an all-in bet from the guy to my right for 22k. I looked down and saw A-K. Gulp! My luck with A-K this year has not been too clever but I made the call. My opponent flipped A-7 and he didn't improve. I was now chip leader by a fair chunk!

Antes were at 2k-4k when my two opponents got their chips into the middle with A-Q v K-J.

Flop was K-10-A-x-x and matey boy with K-J had just one blind left which he duly put in on the next hand. We all called! I won the pot with a pair of 8's and we were heads up.

A swift count ensued and I was chip leader with 77k v 69k. We agreed a deal and I was declared the winner. I took home £3100. My opponent £3000.

Thanks to Roy and the boys down at the club. If they run another one of these then count me in! Great fun.

P.S Thanks also to Dave 'Dubai' Shallow who laid me odds of 14/1 on me winning. I had a score (£20) with him. Nice!

Entries ->37 - Place ->1st - Win -> £3050 ($5795) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$18343
(As from 30th Nov 2006 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Nov 30th - £50+£5 No Limit Hold'Em (Victoria, London)

2006-12-01T10:19:00.000Z

Thursday night at the Vic...its been a while!

After my short break from 'live' play it was back to the grindstone this evening for the £50 freezeout. Forty three runners so a prize pool of £2150 and its all self-dealt. Not a game for the purists.

The usual mix of total incompetents and Vic regulars make for an interesting night and as with all nights like these you do need a modicum of luck in order to progress as all-in bets are usually called down and its then a case of staying ahead or sucking out depending on your start position.

With blinds rising every 20 mins theres not much time to settle. You play your good cards strong and pass most of the rest. I started well and from a starting stack of 2k I was up to almost 3k at the end of level 1. Nice!

A couple of 'loosey goosey' calls in level 2 meant I was back down to 1800 at the start of level 3 and by the time level 4 started (200/400) I'd only 1500 left and it was already time for a move-in or fold!

On the BB I get 9-2 offsuit, a bin job if ever there was one, but with one flat caller from Mr Beginner across the table and the SB calling the extra 200 the 3 of us saw a flop of 9-2-6. Check-Check-All-In-Fold-Call. The limper flashed A-Q and although an Ace fell on the turn I collected the pot.

Level 5 (300-600) and I insta-call with 9-9 against a short stacked all-in bet. He flipped Q-8 but a Queen appeared on the flop and I was back down to just over 2k.

Level 6 (400-800) and I get all my chips in with Q-Q against J-10 (all-in) and A-9. My Q-Q holds and I'm upto 6k.

Level 7 (600-1200) and the blinds go through me. I have 4k left. Its final table time :)

I draw the worst seat in the house, seat 3, as the button always starts at seat 1 on the final table at the Vic and proceed to lose another 1800 instantly. I then pick up Ac-Qc and go all-in. With my bet being only 2200 I end up with two callers. The flop is Q-J-J-6-4 and I scoop!

Level 8 (800-1600) and I know I'm still on push mode. I get 10-10 in MP and there's a flat call before me as I go all-in for 5200. All pass back to the flat caller who checks his chips then calls. He flips 6-6.

Easy eh? Er no! The flop is 8-4-6-J-6 and he wins with quads. I finish 9th for £60. If I win that hand I have almost 15k and a shot at winning the tournament. On such fine lines is poker played!

Entries ->43 - Place ->9th - Win -> £5 ($9) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12548
(As from 30th Nov 2006 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)

Nov 21st - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Western Club

2006-11-22T09:55:00.000Z

Another day, another £110 out of the window and I think its time for a break away from 'live' poker...well for a week or two anyway.

Tonights event at the Western was attended by 62 runners and the inkling I got that things were not going to happen for me was very shortly into the game itself when I get As-Ks in LP.

As is customary in these cases I raised to 350 (blinds were at 25-50) and got two callers. The flop looked fine for a holding like mine in 3c-7c-8s. Ok...I had no pair but I couldn't see either of my opponents having any of that either so once they'd checked I decided to cover my position and went all-in without much hesitation.

Then came the dwell-up from next player to act. He'd already lost 1000 points in an earlier skirmish so was looking at a stack of 3500 as he finally decided to call. The other player passed and yer man flipped over Qc-Jc for a flush draw. Well I suppose I'd have called as well! The turn card was the Js which although gave matey boy a pair of Jacks at least helped me somewhat in the process. The 2d fell on the river though and I was down to 1500.

I scrapped my way back upto 3000 and we were well into the 2nd level when I get my bogey hand at the Western in 10-10. Again I raised it up to 500 and again I got the same two callers as last time. The flop looked okay with J-6-3 and once again the two lads checked before it got to me. So what to do?

I'm a great believer that a one card higher than your holding pair flop is fine, especially if no Ace or King, as it limits the scope of an opponents holding somewhat. So with 2500 in hand I again launch an all-in bet, in defence of my 10's, and pray that neither of my opponents held a dreaded Jack.

Once again I got the dwell up from opponent 1 who wrestled with his conscience before finally folding. Opponent 2 though called without hesitation and proudly flipped 6h-3h for two pair!!!

A King on the turn was followed by a Queen on the river and I was out before the end of level 2.

Yes...its time for a break!

Entries ->62 - Place ->55th - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12539
(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Nov 17th - £10 NL Hold'Em (FullHouse Club - Reigate)

2006-11-20T14:15:00.001Z

Form is a wonderful thing. It comes & it goes...not always in equal proportion and people say that it always evens out. At the moment though I'm on the down slope of form, with ocassional peaks, but definately on the down slope.

Tonight was the £10 NL Hold'Em rebuy event at the FullHouse Club in Reigate. Scene of last weeks 2nd placing I was hopeful of more good fortune. It just wasn't to be!

With any £10 event these days you're always going to get the crazy players and if you have enough rebuy money then you can usually buy your way to 10k in chips with no bother. £100 isn't what it used to be though and where once upon a time that would be one of the top wedges in the room in todays card rooms the £100 will go in 10 hands and you're still staring at young players with £400-£500 in cripy fifties just looking for more action.

My BIG chip stake was 6k which, with usual dramatic effect, got whittled away to zero after one too many races came unstuck. These young fellas call with anything and they're encouraged when their 10-2 ('it was only 3k to call' look) batters A-Q & A-K relentlesly. I couldn't compete.

At the break I'd spent £90 and had 4k in chips. At least people would play properly now right?

Three hands into the 2nd session I get 9-9 in LP. One bloke, from across the table had limped in, another went all-in for 1100, and I duly followed suit to get rid of the limper. Trouble was that the 'limper' held A-A and was glad to call.

No 'shocking' 9 came to save me and I was home by 11pm. Not bad from Reigate!

Entries ->68 - Place ->??th - Loss -> £90 ($167) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12743
(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Nov 14th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Western Club

2006-11-15T11:53:00.000Z

Too many good starting hands meant my demise tonight before the break but what can you do?
Its true to say that I'm never going to be knocked out of a tournament holding 7-2 o/s under the gun. Mind you...nor is anyone else.

With a 5k starting stack and a 30 minute clock there were 60 runners in tonights £100 NL Hold'Em at the Western.
Within the first 30 minutes I'd had K-K once and Q-Q twice and had expanded my stack to close on 7k. I then get my first knock back.

Holding A-A in mid position there's a raise, to 400, from a player in EP. I re-raise to 1200 and there's an all-in at the far end of the table. Mr 'first to raise' folds and I, of course, call. Mr 'all-in' flips Q-Q!

The flop is x-Q-x-x-x and I'm back down to 2k already! Bah.

I then get 10-10 and make 500 back then launch an all-in bet with As-10s and get called by player holding A-K. A 10 appears on the flop and I breathe again.

Ten mins before the break I get A-Q in MP and with blinds now at 100-200 I raise it up to 700. The player to my immediate left looks down, looks up and then announces 'all-in'. He has me covered. Now don't get me wrong I COULD have passed this hand and if my A-A had have held up earlier I probably would have but my stack was shrinking so I decided to gamble. I called and he flipped A-K.

Flop was 9-10-6. Turn = K. So I now needed a Jack to get out of jail. River = 5. Argh!

Entries ->60 - Place ->49th - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12910
(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Nov 12th - £50 NL Hold'Em (Fullhouse Club, Reigate)

2006-11-13T13:15:00.000Z

Buoyed up from Friday nights £660 profit I decide to go and play in the FullHouse Sunday night game which is a £50 event with optional £50 rebuy or top up. Eighty runners partook and I was gone before the break!

In events like these where there's an optional rebuy I always try and use the first lot of chips to gamble and try and accumulate chips. With 4k to start you just have to wait for the opportunity to do so. It came when I held the Kh-5h.

On a flop of Qh-7h-6c I re-raised a guy to 1000 who bet out 300 at it from the off. Usually opponents will flat call or pass in these situations. Not this guy though who proceeded to go all-in. Even if he had a set in this spot I couldn't pass this 6/4 chance so I called. He flipped Q-7 o/s (wierd call to start with) so I needed a heart to scoop the loot.

The turn card was the Kd, which made things slightly more interesting, but the 4s fell on the river and it was rebuy time!

So now I have to play tight and wait to get good cards. The Kd-Qd looked nice. What happened then though made it even more impossible to put down.

I flat call the 100 blinds. There's a raise to 300, then to 1000, then to 1750 all-in, then a call, then another call! It was my turn. I could pass if I wanted to...not with all that moola in the middle and the implied odds of more calls to come.

Sure enough there were 6 of us...all in for 1750.

The flop was 8d-9d-8h. Theres a bet to 500. One all-in already. Three of us call. One pass.

The 8s falls on the turn. Guy goes all-in for 1000. Next player calls, as do I leaving myself with 50 chips left!

The 2h falls on the river! Boo bloody hoo.

Player flips 5-5 for a mini full house and every one else passes showing A-K and A-J along the way. Dang!

So that was that. My last 50 points goes in with As-7s and gets robbed by player holding K-K. Come back form...all is forgiven!

Entries ->80 - Place -> 75th - Loss -> £100 ($185) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$13114

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Nov 10th - £10 NL Hold'Em (FullHouse Club - Reigate)

2006-11-13T13:12:00.000Z

With my form seeming to have returned somewhat after Tues nights qualification to the Grand Final of Loose Cannons event I hopped it down to the FullHouse Club down in Reigate for the weekly £10 NL rebuy event.

Arriving there at around 7.30pm I was surprised to hear that I had secured one of the last places available. The place was deserted! Apparently members can phone up from 4pm on the day and book their seat! Nice.

Anyway 66 runners took their seats at 8.30pm and, with it being a rebuy event, the plan was to accumulate chips ready for action in part II. Unfortunately things didn't quite go according to plan. By the time the rebuy period was coming to an end I'd spent £90 and had 2k in chips. Last hand I get Kh-4h, go all-in and get called by A-K (as you would) The flip was 3-4-7-4-J and I'd doubled up. The top-up gave me another 2k so I started the 'proper' game on just over 6k.

This dwindled away to 4k before I get a free flop on the BB holding 10-7 against two other players. The flop was 10d-7c-4d and I lumped all-in, being first to act. I was called immediately by a player holding the Qd-8d but luckily he didn't improve and the night began to go my way.

I chipped my way up to 15k and, with 2 tables left and blinds at 1k/2k, I decided to nick the antes with Ks-9s on the button. The BB woke up with A-K and called. The flop contained 2 9's and he wasn't best amused!

So I get to the final table with 24k. Chip leader has 80k and there is 409k in play. I draw seat 1 which gives me a free round as the button always goes to seat 1 and its 3k/6k.

Lucky for me there's plenty of action with the other players. There's a hand with 3 all-ins. Two get eliminated. Another two go. I get lucky then going all-in with K-10 against Q-J and suddenly we're down to 3 with blinds at 8k/16k. Needless to say a deal is done which guarantees us all £600 with £560 left to play for.

Two hands into the level there's an all-in from the chip leader and a call. Chip leader prevails and we're down to heads-up. Trouble is I only have 40k left!!

I press for another £160 which chip leader agrees to and its over soon after when my A-3 can't beat Q-4. Never mind...the £760 will come in useful.

Entries ->66 - Place -> 2nd - Win -> £660 ($1221) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$13299

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Nov 7th - £50+£5 NL Hold'Em - Loose Cannons (London EC2)

2006-11-08T09:01:00.000Z

While the big guns of the European poker world hover around Amsterdam hot spots like a swarm of bees us poorer poker players seek out the best value tournaments and attempt to have a good night out knowing that we won't be too broke in the morning!

Tonight saw the first leg of the £5000 added VC Grand Prix event held down at the newest poker club on the block, Loose Cannons, close to Cannon St station.

Entry costs £50 and the idea is is that tonight, and for the next 3 weeks, 25% of all entries qualify for the Grand Final night to be held on Wed Dec 6th. Prize money is accumulated throughout the 4 qualifying weeks and with the £5k that Victor Chandler is kindly adding there should be around £15k to play for come the big night! Not bad for a £50 comp where the final may just about comprise of 50 runners or less!

So...with that said, 34 runners sat down for the 1st heat (expected to grow in weeks to come) and 9 qualifiers were sought. Where did I finish?? Read on...

Firstly let me say that strategy in these 'qualifying' events is simple. Survive! Its not about winning. Its not about making re-raises with A-Q. Its not about playing aggressively! Its about nicking the odd ante, flat calling where possible, hitting the odd flop and waiting. Waiting for other, not so-experienced players, to gamble it up and knock each other out!

Of course you need chips to play with and if you find yourself short then you must not let yourself get ante'd away with half the field remaing. That said you should do ok!

With Loose Cannons attracting a certain type of crowd - city workers & the like - its very likely than 90-95% of the field have little thought on what the game plan should be. They're there to win! Big mistake!

Antes started at 25/50 and we ran a 25 min clock starting just after 7pm. With a 3500 starting stack there was no need to panick...ever...just roll along!

By the break (3 levels in) we were down to 3 tables of 8. Ten players had busted out. Duh???

My chip stack hadn't moved. I had 4100. Best hand I had was 6-6 and didn't connect on the flop. Oh well never mind! Passive play was the order of the day and that hand cost me 100 points!

After the next level (150/300) another 8 players had gone. We were down to 16. I had 3900 and was going nowhere. Its ok!

After the next level (200/400) I'd managed to nick a couple of antes and my chip stack stood at 4000. We were down to 13. Four more before we all qualify. Easy right???

Things started to slow up. People with similar stacks to mine were still intent on going all-in though and were getting called by the monster stacks. I saw some terrible play. We were down to 10. One to go!!

With blinds now at 300/600 I had dripped down to 3100. Enough for approx 15 more hands. Nobody was moving. I pass both my blinds. I have 2200 left. I'm on the button and I get Ah-9h. Its passed round. That 900 out there sure looks tasty. I go all-in! 'Call', says the BB, who has a mountain of chips.

He flips A-10 (gulp). Flop is J-5-6 (uh oh). Turn is 7. (I shout for an 8) River is EIGHT!!! I survive!!

Blinds flip to 400/800. There is one small stack at our table. Its hand for hand. Small stack goes all-in for 2800 on the SB. I'm in the BB and look to see A-J. Can't pass that as I'd still have enough for a round or two even if I lose. I call. Short stack flips A-Q! Oh dear!!

Flop is 10-JACK-5-7-3. Its over. I've qualified. Perhaps there is a poker god??

Oct 31st - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Western (London)

2006-11-01T13:28:00.000Z

I think I must sounds like a right old moaner recently. Its been several weeks now since I last hit a final table (the last being at the Western in early Sept) and I'm still in this rut of getting runover by players 'getting lucky' against me!

Apart from last Fridays effort when my K-J got pasted by 7-7 I generally get my money in with the best hand. Not that that matters of course as I'm being drawn out on most every time. There's no rhyme or reason to it as thats just the way it is.

Tonight at the Western was another case in point...

At the first break (90 mins play) I had 8500 points and was playing well. There had be no 'all-in' moves and I was swimming along nicely. In LP I get Q-Q and with blinds at 150/300 I make the obligatory raise to 1300 and got called in two spots. The flop was a decent looking Jh-8d-5d.

Without so much of a blink the SB, who has me covered in chips and is first to bet, goes all-in. The 2nd player passes and its back to me....hmmmm!

Ok..a set is automatically ruled out as which donut goes all-in with a set? Two pair is a possibility but with the cards spread as they were...J...8...5 then that was unlikely too. He either had 9-10, A-J, K-J or Q-J. In any instance I was winning. Could you or I put Q-Q down? Of course not!

I called and he flipped Kd-Jd for top pair & flush draw. Now this is where form comes in. When your form is good two low black cards appear and the pot is yours. When its bad....well!

The turn card was the 3h and I prayed for a black card to appear. No joy as the 3d fell on the river. Another £110 bit the dust. Next stop is Equal Chances £10k guarantee on Friday night. Last time I was there I won £1k in the cash game :)

Entries ->50 - Place -> 27th - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12078

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Oct 27th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - River Card Club (Stanmore)

2006-10-30T10:49:00.000Z

Tonight I decided to visit another one of the newer poker clubs that have opened around London in the past few months! The 'River Card Club' in Stanmore Middx is set above a Bradford & Bingleys close to Stanmore tube station and about 5 miles from where I live.

A £100 freeout was advertised and whilst this type of event might draw 50+ runners down at the Western Club this particular event could only muster 14 runners and that was despite starting the event at 9.30pm (advertised as an 8.30pm start). Apparently Monday night is their 'busy' night with 60+ runners turning up for their £10 rebuy comp!

Anyway...the club itself is nicely decorated with around a dozen or so tables in play, a bar area where tea, coffee & soft drinks could be gotton free of charge and, as per the norm in the newer clubs these days, a bank on computer monitors for Internet poker play.

So 14 runners it was then and with 5k in chips and a 20 minute clock I was hoping for a much better show than of late in my 'live' play as its been rotten!

When form isn't going your way its easy enough to tell. The raises I was making were being called in two or three spots and the flops were being missed completely. I dwindled down to 3200 points when the following hand came up...

With blinds at 100/200 I get Kc-Jc in MP and flat call the blinds. Three of us saw the flop of J-7-5. There was a bet from EP of 300. I raised to 1000. It was passed back around to the original raiser who, after a moments thought, went all-in covering my chip count!

Knowing very little about the way these players play I felt as thought I was ahead so called. My opponent flipped 7-7 and that was that!

Knowing that form can return at any time I just have to keep playing and hope to see it again soon. In the meantime all I can do is keep playing!

Entries ->14 - Place -> 10th - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12282

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Oct 24th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Western (London)

2006-10-25T11:33:00.000+01:00

Before my poker night at the Western last night I took it upon myself to go and visit 'Loose Cannons'...the brand new club opened up by Roy Houghton & friends Catman (why they call him that I still don't know) and Sonny Osman! Being situated under the railway arches close to Cannon Street railway station in the city of London the place is ideally situated for the city types who prefer to go straight there from work!

It has its own bar, restaurant and of course, plenty of space to play poker. The obvious question is 'will it work'?

'Loose Cannons' have decided to take a different route to operating a club than others in that their aim is to charge a £91 'quarterly' membership fee! Once this is paid then no other charges are payable. No 'juiced' tournaments, no 'raked' pots, no table charges for playing...infact no other charges at all! Sounds great eh?? The only problem could be the coughing up of the £91 to start with!

In order to get the show on the road, as it were, the club offers founder members a membership fee of £18 till Jan 23rd after which time the £91 becomes payable for continued membership. Because of various promotions the club are having between now & then I was happy to stump up the £18. Would I have been happy to stump up £91?? In a word...no! Will I be happy to pay £91 in Jan? The jury is still out!

The presence of a membership fee ensures that the club can operate as a private members club where much can happen without the long arm of the law intervening. Unlike the Gutshot, say, where pots are raked and the Gambling Act 1968 needs observing (licences etc) no such provisions are required at Loose Cannons but will the imposition of a £91 quarterly fee, payable up front, encourage or discourage potential poker players to join?

There is an undoubted air of wonder about this point of imposed membership fees!

Of course this all could change quite rapidly if Gutshot, who's court appearance to fight the injustices of the 1968 Gaming Act comes before the Hight Court in early January 2007, actually WIN their case. In an instant this would legalise all such clubs throughout the country which have sprung up as a result of Gutshots continued defiance and the 'membership fee' would become an obsolete requirement overnight!

If, however, Gutshot lose their case then Loose Cannons would suddenly have free run of London as the authorities would undoubtedly clamp down rapidly on other like-for-like operations leaving Loose Cannons the only 'legal operator' of a poker club for miles around!

In the first instance though its about getting feet through the doors and I was surprised to be given membership number 1194 as that would indicate that 1193 other like minded bods had already joined!

I'll report back on what its like to play there in a couple of weeks time when I take part in the VC's £5k added event. For now though I thoroughly recommend you take a look as poker playing in London in 2007 may about to change forever!

Meanwhile.....

My 'live' poker experiences of late have been poor to say the least. If it wasn't for Full Tilt and the decent MTT results I've been getting there of late I'd be well down on recent activities!

Last night at the Western was just one of those nights where 'form' meant that I was outdrawn in two successive pots, in quick succession, and there endeth my night!

The mere fact that they occurred on hands 1 & 3 of the evening meant I could concentrate on the FT $150 event which I'd bought into in a moment of madness (seeing a prize pool of $30k for only 200 runners helped)!

So here's how it went down...

I get drawn in seat 4. Button goes to seat 1. Blinds are 25-50. I have 5k in chips.

Hand 1 : Jd 8d.

I flat call the 50 blinds and three of us see a flop (SB, BB & me) of 8h-3h-2c. SB bets out 100. BB folds. I raise to 300. SB calls.

(I have top pair nice kicker. I believe that the SB bets here to attempt a cheapy hoping that anyone with a stronger hand than his will be put off slightly by his bet and simply call. I put him on a flush draw and raise as I want him to pay for the draw. The fact he merely calls re-inforces my view that he's 'looking' for something)

Turn : 4c

SB bets out 300. I re-raise another 600. SB calls.

(Ok..he's now definately looking for something...probably the flush. Maybe I should have raised him to 2k??)

River : Jc

SB bets 600. I re-raise to 2000. SB calls. Showdown.

(I have two pairs. No flush came for the hearts and he's flat called again. Surely I must be winning??)

SB flips 7c-3c for runner-runner flush. I'm befuddled and down to less than 2k already!

Hand 2 : I pass

Hand 3 : 7s 8s.

(I'm on the BB now. The guy who knocked me for over 3k last hand raises to 250 in LP. I flat call. Two of us see the flop!)

Flop : 8c-6c-3s

I bet out 300. Original raiser calls.

Turn : 9c

With the straight draw now in play I go all-in. He insta-calls and flips Ac-5c for the nut flush!

Woe is me!!

Entries ->55 - Place -> 55th - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12486

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Meanwhile....

Back over on FT's $150 event I finally succumb in 60th place when my 6-6 gets run over by A-K. This after I was beaten up when my 9-9 got squished by K-Q and my 10-10 got squished by J-J. Ah those 50/50 balls...don't you just love'em!!

(I ain't counting the 10-10 v J-J!!)

Oct 17th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Western (London)

2006-10-18T11:56:00.000+01:00

Its been a while but tonight was one of those nights when I couldn't get out of the starting gate. It doesn't help, of course, to have the UK's biggest fish in poker (Koresh) on your table who calls with anything with spots on and will ALWAYS bet the flop nomatter what comes, but the cards were not on my side tonight and when that happens there's very little you can do!

The evening started brightly enough as I collected £1000 from the cash desk by way of a cashout from Full Tilt! Handy that the Western acts like a cash point for them so money can be put straight onto your account and whipped out in a matter of minutes if you get lucky! I'd come 2nd in Monday nights $25 NL event which paid me $1800. No way am I having that sort of dough floating about the on-lines so that was cashed in!

The £100 NL game at the Western was, this week, attended by 53 bods all anxious, no doubt, to get their hands on the £2k first prize. At the end of level 1 I had 4700 in points from a starting stack of 5000. I had hardly played a hand!

Level 2 saw me call Koresh's 'over raise' to 1000 with Ad-10d but had to let it go on the river as the board read 9-7-7-K-J and Koresh decided to go 'all-in'. He then turned 9-9 and moaned that I hadn't hit my cards...as you would!

At the end of level 2 I had 3200. And so to my demise on level 3...

With blinds now at 100-200 and holding As-10s I raised it up to 1050. All passed to Koresh who, like any good minded fishy, inst-called with some do-do or other. Its always nice to get a call from Koresh :)

The flop came 8-6-4 and immediately Koresh went all-in. Of course Koresh could have anything so I duly called for my last 2k in chips. 'So what part of that crappy flop have you got?', I asked. 'I have the 6', he declared as he turned 9-6 offsuit. No surprise there really!

The turn card was a Jack, the river another 4 and I was out! The fishy had its own rod this time!

Entries ->53 - Place -> 37th - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12690

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Oct 10th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Western (London)

2006-10-11T14:28:00.000+01:00

You work your bollux off getting into a position of strength and then it all disappears in a puff of smoke!

Tonights £100 NL event at the Western was attended by 49 souls all looking for that first prize of close on £2k.

The start I had was indifferent. My J-J got squished by 10-10 when a 10 appeared on the flop (lost 2k) and my 9-9 holding had to be dumped after a flop of A-2-3 and a big bet (another 1k). Apart from that though things went well.

I got VERY fortunate on one hand. On the button, and with blinds at 100-200, I raised to 600 with 6h-2h. I get one caller. The flop is A-K-4 and my opponent checks. I bet 1500, attempting to look strong, and my opponent called. Ok...well that was that then...or so I thought!

The turn brought a 5. My opponent checked, as did I. Now it got interesting. The river card was a 3 giving me the most unlikely straight in history. Again my opponent checked. This time I bet out to 3.5k. No hesitation and my opponent called all-in but was properly disgusted at my hand. So was I!!

At the break I had 14k and moved quickly to 20k shortly after seeing off a couple of 'all-in' opponents with better starting holdings than they. Nice when the best hand holds up!

Ok...so there are 23 left and I look down to see 10-10 in LP. With blinds at 200-400 I raised to 1200 and got a call from the BB. The flop was 9h-3h-5c. My opponent immediately bet out to 4k. This, to me, looked like an obvious bluff to get me off my hand. Either that or he'd hit a 9 or something! Anyway I wasn't about to let him off cheap so re-raised all-in!

Surprisingly he called!! So what could he possibly have? It turned out he has the Ah-Kh. Nice hand sir!

Of course I now had to duck & dive. The 5d fell on the turn followed by the 2 of bloody hearts!

There is such a fine line between winning & losing that it can be difficult to retain your sense of rationale after being 'outdrawn' again. As a poker player you learn to live with it but its a real pain in the arse sometimes!

Entries ->49 - Place -> 23rd - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12894

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Oct 6th - £200+£20 Omaha FREEZEOUT - Gutshot (London)

2006-10-09T11:16:00.000+01:00

Omaha...now heres a game! In a cash game its a virtal certainty that I'll end up broke inside 5 minutes. There's just so many combinations that can win it for you and just as many that you can lose with.

I tend to take tournament play a bit more serious though and tonights £200 Omaha freezeout at the Gutshot gave me both the highs & lows of tournament poker!

The game was a 3k 'Double Chance' FREEZOUT. Basically you got 3k in chips to start and could take the other 3k at any time during the first two levels or, of you hadn't done all your chips by then, you got the extra 3k at the end of level 2. I took mine immediately as it means I don't get scared about someone who's only playing a 3k stack as opposed to a 6k one.

I played a steady first hour!

In tournament Omaha I never raise with A-A in hand. Only re-raise! My first holding of A-A came just after the hour mark. I held A-A-J-3. In EP I flat called the blinds. Immediately to my left was a player who LOVED raising. He raised. All passed to me and I RERAISED. He flat called. The flop came J-3-6. (I'd hit my backhand for 2 pairs...J's & 3's). I immediately bet out! He called all-in and flipped J-6-8-9. His two pairs (J's & 6's) held up and I'd done 2.4k.

My next A-A holding proved more successful knocking out a player sat immediately to my right and I was moving along nicely. The hand that came about next proved pivital to my night!

Holding 3s-4s-9c-10c I flat called a small raise from across the table in LP. The flop came 7s-8s-2h. The initial raiser bet the pot and I assesed my hand. I had both the straight draw AND the flush draw. There was no doubt I was behind but if the bettor had A-A and NO flush draw I was undoubtedly the favourite. With this in mind I re-raised all-in (about 6k)

My opponent sat back and pondered. 'Set of eights?', he asked. 'At least!', said I. 'Ok', he said...'I call'. He flipped Ks-Js-6d-9c for a bigger flush draw and 2nd straight draw! Surprisingly enough neither of us had a pair!

The turn card was the 4c (giving me a pair of 4's)..the river the 8c. My pair of 4's took down a massive pot! My opponent was flabergasted!

For the next 3 hours things went well. We got down to 2 tables. 15 left and then I get Ad-Ac-9d-9h. Oooooer missus!! I'm in EP and flat call the 2k blinds. I have 27k in chips (just above average). To my left there's a pot sized raise. I can hardly contain my excitement! I re-raise the pot but my opponent (on 21k) then goes all-in!

'We must have the same hand', I say! He nods and flips Ah-Jh-As-5s. Its a coinflip. The flop is Kh-10h-7d-4h-8s and I'm cratered 21k. I have 6k left!! Ooooo. That hurt!

Three hands later I get all my chips in the middle with A-Q-J-5. I get two callers. Flop is A-10-J-9-K and I make broadway to get myself back upto 18k.

Five mins later I'm all-in again with A-A-K-10 against K-K-Q-8. My hand stands up and I'm back to 30k. There are now 12 of us left with 9 getting paid!

Then the poker gods conspire against me!

Blinds are still 1k-2k and I flat call in LP with Q-Q-4-5. The BB checks and the flop is a marvelous looking Qh-3s-2c. I bet 4k. The BB calls. The 5c falls next. I bet 5k. The BB calls. Now at this point I should have got the message. I'd put in 11k already and he'd called me all the way. With what though? The Kc fell on the river. 'I'm all-in', said the BB!

I should have thought but I didn't and said 'Call' instead. He flipped Ac-3c for the nut flush and I was busted in 12th place. It was 2.20am and the £50 cab fare home made things slightly worse than they could have / should have been!

Entries ->57 - Place -> 12th - Loss -> £220 ($408) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$13098

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Oct 6th - My take on the 'Unlawful Gambling Act - 2006'

2006-10-06T11:36:00.000+01:00

From being called a 'weasal' to 'a bunch of monkeys' Bill Frist and lawmakers in the US decided, this past week, that it'd be a great idea to try and stop gambling on the Internet by making it as difficult as possible for punters to deposit money onto these 'unlawful' sites.

The 'Unlawful Gambling Act' was tagged onto some 'must sign into law' papers and, unlike in the UK where each piece of legislation must stand on its own two legs to pass, the Congress waved it through without debate.

The 'Land Of The Free' became 'Land Of The Not-In-My-Backyard' and whilst the practicality of the law may look tough to police there's no doubt the American lawmakers mean business when it comes to keeping as many $ inside the country as it possibly can.

Of course 'in practice' the law does not attempt to outlaw gambling on the Internet. No mention of illegality is seen in the bill that passed. By cutting off the money supply via credit cards and banks however the intent is there to demonstrate the lawmakers ability to crack down on the ability of Joe Soap citizens to spend their money as they see fit.

This 'half arsed' approach to prohibition though is fundamentally flawed in one major aspect.

With 3rd party money pushers (NETELLER, FIREPAY, MONEYBOOKERS etc) in play there really should be no problem whatsoever in funding on-line poker rooms by Americans or anyone else for that matter.

NETELLER, and the like, don't operate out of the US, they dont have a US presence and they're run in accordance with the rules and regulations of the country they operate out of. In NETELLERS case its the Isle Of Man.

By funding NETELLER directly this circumnavigates any direct reference to a gaming site and, as such, the banks etc cannot prevent these tranactions from occurring as they don't contavene and 'direct funding of gaming site' rules.

Of course the big name in on-line poker in Partypoker has informed its clientel in the US of its intention to quit the US immediateley upon the bill being signed into law by the president. This is entirely understandable as they are a public company, quoted on the stock market, and whilst they may have been happy to operate in the 'grey' area that existed before the US law was changed they're certainly not going to operate in an area that totally makes their product dodgier than it already looks. After all their CEO and directors will probably still want to visit the USA from time to time without fear of being arrested as soon as they land!

As for the immediate aftermath of the law becoming signed Bill Rini (www.billrini.com) has written a very good discertation as to what HE perceives as the likely outcomes. Makes grim reading in you're an American!

Meanwhile, back in the UK, our government is content to let its citizens continue to spunk its money whichever way it chooses and tax accordingly. The Gambling Act of 2007 comes into effect within 12 months and we're about to embark on a scenario of major casino expansions.

Gambling is good..except in America!

Oct 3rd - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em (Western)

2006-10-04T11:46:00.000+01:00

20th out of 62 runners in tonights £100 NL event at the Western. No great shakes about the way I played although calling a 5k all-in bet from across the table with Jh-9h perhaps showed more of my mental state than anything else (I lost the hand)!

Once again though all had started out quite merrily. To my immediate right sat Simon (Clint) Eastwood. I've known him from the early days at the casino I'd play in at Reading when a £10 rebuy was a big comp! Luckily for me he was more interested in the cash game that was going on across the other side of the room as he dumped his starting tank to me with A-J versus my 10-10.

At the end of level 1 then I had 12k in chips.

Between hands at the Western I was also attempting to play in the HM league over at Full Tilt! Luckily for me the Western Club has a bank of pc's which allow for Internet play on Full Tilt software so I was darting backwards & forwards between the 'live' & 'online' play. I ended up in 29th spot on the HM event!

At the end of level 2 I still have circa 11k in chips and with 30 left I STILL have circa 11k in chips!

So we're down to three tables and the fun starts.

I LOSE 5600 when my Jh-9h fails to overcome A-10, double through when my Qj-Jh beats up As-Ks on a flop of A-K-Q-4-10 then lose the lot!

Holding 10-9, in the BB, its me versus the SB. The flop is 7h-8c-Qh. SB bets 600, I shove it all-in and he calls with 8h-5h. So any non-heart 7, non-heart 9, non-heart 10 or non-heart Jack and I win. Turn is the Ac, River the 4d. Booooooooo!

I'm out in 20th. Next stop the Gutshot!!

Entries ->62 - Place -> 20th - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$13506

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Sept 27th - Oct 1st - Various

2006-10-02T14:14:00.000+01:00

Live play this weekend consisted of the £30 NL event up at the Equal Chance club in Walthamstow on Friday night.

The event was a £10k guarantee and altogether 120 of us poker fanatics sat down to play. With a £30 buy-in you got 1000 chips (pretty poor) but you were then allowed rebuys & DOUBLE rebuys when, and if, your chip stack got below 1000 points. After losing my 25 points in the SB first hand I was about to rebuy but realised the dealer didn't have change (you rebought from him directly) so put the £50 note back in my pocket. Just as well really as within the next 10 mins I had 6k in chips and was table captain...for all of another 10 mins anyway.

A couple of 'beats' later I'm back below 1k so DOUBLE-REBUY and have almost 3k to play with. At the break I have 10k and with a DOUBLE-ADD'ON I have 13k once we resume play and am looking good.

My A-J then gets rolled by 7-7 (lost 4k) then comes the big pot of the night...for me anyway!

I get dealy A-Q in MP and with blinds at 200-400 I raise it up to 2500. The guy across the table looks me up and down and calls. He has me covered! The flop is J-J-6 and I check...as does my opponent. A 10 drops off. Again I check...as does he. The river brings a nice big ACE. Again I check, looking for a check raise, and my opponent obliges by putting out a 3k bet.

Now, of course, I could always be walking into a big fat hand here but his actions suggested he held A-10 or similar. Rather than flat call I decided to put him to the test and go ... 'all-in'.

He takes a deep breath and calls turning over K-J. I'm getting very adept at putting all my chips into pots with the worst hand AFTER the river! Maybe I'll take up gardening!

The cash games were good though and I cleared over a grand! Life could be worse!!

Entries ->120 - Place -> 55th - Loss -> £150 ($278) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$13710

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In my last blog I mentioned that I'd be spending the weekend playing in some major on-line events. How did I get on???

Wed - $320 PL Hold'Em - Pokerstars - 292nd out of 1700+. Payout was 220. Big of a bugger really. I was cruising along at circa 11k in chips when in two hands it was all gone. My A-J got snapped off by A-Q followed by my A-9 against J-10 on a flop of 8-9-10.

Thur - $100k guarantee - Gutshot - 643rd out of 1100+. Made a nice start but got a bit greedy. Just me & SB who raised to 3*BB. I called with Jh-5h. Flop came 3-5-7. He bet. I raised all-in. He called! He flips A-7. Brilliant!

Sat - $100k MONSTER freeroll on Party. 1312th out of 4921. Actually this was good as it qualified me for the $1M MONSTER freeroll at the end of October. All I need do now is finish in the top 1000 of that and I'll be in the grand final next May! With no Americans there it'll be a piece of piss!

Sun - $215 NL Hold'Em on Party - 4700th out of 5100. Decided to let loose with 8s-9s on a flop of 10-J-6. My opponent held A-J so refused to quit...as you would!

Sep 26th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Western Club (Acton)

2006-09-27T11:11:00.000+01:00

In order to be a success at poker there are certain 'pre-conditions' you must adhere to. Any attempt to play whilst digressing from the following list will lead to your demise at the table in a rapid like fashion...

1) Don't drink too much either before or during the game - Makes the game fun but forget about winning as your brain contains nothing but thoughts of sex

2) Don't eat too much either before or during the game - Your body becomes pre-occupied dealing with the food in your stomach and loses interest in the though processes that go into playing poker.

3) Be relaxed and WIDE AWAKE - Being snoozy leads to no coherant thoughts whilst playing as you're too busy thinking of bo-bos.

So having broken 2 of the three rules, as set out above, in last nights £100 NL game at the Western I lasted precisely three hands...two of which I passed.

I ate pie & chips (very nice it was too) 1hr before play commenced, had stayed up till gone 1am on Monday night, up at 6.30am Tues AM was ready for snoozies BIG TIME!!

Hand 3 then and I'm in late position with 6d-7d. An EP player raised the blinds up to 250 and I was the only one to flat call. The flop came 3h-5d-7h. My opponent led out to 200 and I flat called thinking he had a hand like A-K, A-Q, A-J etc and was seeing where he was at!

With top-pair I should have perhaps raised here to see where I WAS but food & snooze kicked in! The 8h fell next.

I wasn't too concerned about that as now I had a straight draw AND a pair of 7's. I immediately bet out to 600. My opponent called. Hmmmm???

The 5c fell on the river, pairing the 5d. I had two pair and was feeling happy. My opponent though immediately bet out 1500. WTF! I couldn't fathom that. No way did I put him on a 6-9 or a 4-6 (for the straight) after he'd raised from EP at the start. A bigger pair was certainly possible but why bet it when the board had paired up? No way did he have a 5 either!

Maybe he was trying to scare me off the pot...uh...we'll see about that! 'All-In', I announced ans shoved my 4k+ chip pile into the middle.

He turned away in disgust...turned back and called!! He flipped Ah-Jh for the nut flush and I was gone...mind you I was in snooze land for 10pm!!

Entries ->44 - Place -> 43rd - Loss -> £110 ($203) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$13988

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

----------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of this week will be taken up by 3 events on-line.

Tonight...Wed 27th...I'm playing in the $300 PL Hold'Em event on Pokerstars. Tomorrow the $100,000 guarantee event via the Gutshot website and on Saturday I'm playing in my first Partypoker 'MONSTER' $100,000 Weekly free-roll event. Not really a free-roll as I had to qualify via a $10 satellite but for a $12.5k 1st prize I'll take what I can get!

I'll do a brief write up on each event over the next few days but you'll find me on all sites as UKPOKER!

Sept 23rd - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em (Gutshot)

2006-09-25T13:40:00.000+01:00

Another freeroll! Tonight was the £100 freezeout down at the Gutshot club. I got there quite early so jumped in a cash game where the most surprising thing was that they were raking £10 out of £200 pots!! Scary!

Anyway...I win £103 so the £110 entry fee was no great shakes. 4k in chips and a 25 minute clock meant a fair bit of play. 120 runners as well. Nice!

I started off like a train...picking up pot after pot. My first 'all-in' of the night occured about 20 mins in and went like this...

I get dealt the 10d-7d and flat call the 50 in blinds. Theres about 4 of us in and the flop comes 5d-6d-7c. Now as soon as this falls there's no way I can get out of the pot! Could you? Anyway...

The player to my immediate right bets out to 500. I'm not pissing about with top pair and flush draw so I raise to 1500. Now HE comes back over the top of me for another 3000 and suddenly I'm all-in. He calls and flips Kd-Jd. Ooooerrr!

The turn is the Ah and the river the 8h. I'm now upto 10k in chips and sitting pretty.

At the first break I have 16k. At the 2nd break I have 12k but still above average.

The next big hand I get involved with goes down like this!

Blinds are 350-700 and I'm on the SB. I look down to see Jc-4s. An instant fold in usual circumstances. The player to my right though was a chinese guy who'd been playing a lot of pots then giving up on it, usually by the turn card. Everyone folded, back to me, so I flat call the blind. The chinese guy checks and off we go...

The flop is As-Ks-5d. I bet out to 700 as its usually better to do theses things rather than let your opponent get free cards...especially when you, yourself, have doggy doo!

Surprisingly he immediately re-raises to 2k. Now this stunk to me as I was PRETTY sure he didn't have much and was thinking I had nothing either. So I went all-in!!

Well that did it...he got up from his chair...walked around a bit...oooed and aared then finally CALLED!! Argh!!

He flipped A-3. Ok...so I'd been caught big time but when the turn card brought a 3 I suddenly had 4 outs for a straight. An 8 appeared on the river and all I could do was chuckle to myself...or was it cry...I don't recall!

Entries ->120 - Place -> 48th - Loss -> £110 ($203) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$14191

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Sept 22nd - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Sportsman (London W1)

2006-09-25T13:39:00.000+01:00

After a nice win on the magic wheel the £100 NL REBUY event at the Sportsman became more of a buy-in fest than usual. I really don't like rebuying more than twice at this game but by the time the dust had settled I'd spent £510 and zippo to show for it!

For the first hour I was card dead to the extreme. Virtually EVERY hand I got dealt contained a 2 or a 3 in it and the best hand I got was A-7. Trying to wrestle aligators with one hand tied behind your back is not the best way to play so I tried to make the best of a bad job and found that bluffing with hands like 8-4 and 9-5 just didn't work too well.

So...3 rebuys later and I finally get lucky when my A-8 doubles through a Q-10 on a board of 7-8-10-A-9 and I'm off to the races. My stack builds to 11k and its into the last three hands before the rebuy period ends when this happens...

I get J-J, in LP. With blinds at 100-200 theres a raise from across the table to 500. I immediately re-raise to 1500! So far so good! The original raiser then RE-RAISES another 4k! Ok...alarm bells went off and I should have passed but a picture pair looked ever so yummy after the trash I'd been getting so I decided to call fully intent on dumping if an Ace or a King hit the flop.

The flop was 3-4-7. My opponent immediately goes all-in for another 4k. I'll have 1500 left if I call! Theres a big gap between a 7 and a J so, of course, I'm obliged to call. He flips over A-A (what else?) and I'm toasted.

The worse value rebuy at the Sportsman is the £100 add-on as with blinds at 200/400 on return to the table you're in effect buying 5 bets! I took it anyway as I was still on a freeroll.

Three hands after the break I'm outsky when my made straight gets beat up by a made flush! Ain't life grand?

Entries ->60 - Place -> ??? - Loss -> £510 ($944) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$14394

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Sept 17th - 19th - Various Western events

2006-09-20T10:12:00.000+01:00

I had a fun night tonight!

Arrived at the Western at around 5.50pm, straight from work, and plugged straight into the 'Full Tilt' website to where I signed up for both the $50 NL and $10 NL turbo events that kicked off at 6pm. I also signed up for the 'live satellites' to the £100 event taking place later on.

Despite bad intentions I was still involved in both the FTP events after one hour of play so had to roll myself over on the 'live' satellite side.

The $10 event desintigrated but at 8pm I was still in the $50 event and approaching the final table.

The 'one handed' satellites were starting so I got one of the dealers to play my hand for me!

Luckily for me I won it...my 2 card holding of 2-4 flopped a straight on a flop of 3-5-6! So I'm into the main £100 event with an outlay of £22!

Meanwhile back in the $50 event I ended up in 3rd spot picking up $562 which I converted to £250 cash.

And so to tonight event....

Holding Kh-9h I flat call the blind of 50 and see a flop of K-Q-9. Nice!! (or so I thought) Its checked to me and I bet out 300. Its passed back around to the player to my immediate right who RE-RAISES me another 1000. Hmmm!!

I immediately put him on some holding like K-J or Q-J so was happy to call hoping for a dead card next!

The 5c fell. Great card for me...or so I thought! My one opponent then reaches for his chips and goes all-in! I just couldn't put him on 10-J so called. 'You got 10-J', he asked. 'Nope', I said turning over my K-9. He flips K-Q and I stand up only to see a lovely 9 fall on the river. Yes folks dreams DO come true!

For the next hour I could do no wrong. My holding of A-A got me another 7k in chips when against an all-in bet holding of 9-9 and at the 1st break I had 20k. At the 2nd break I had...er...20k!!

Card dead wasn't the word...I drifted down to 15k..its 12.50am and the following then occurs....

Down to 16 players. Antes are 600-1200. I have 15k in chips. I'm in LP and look down to see Jd-9d. I fully intented to raise and thinking it was my turn to act declared 'RAISE'.

What I hadn't seen though was that the player 2 seats to my immediate right had just thrown in a bet of 3600. The bet landed on the table the second AFTER I'd said raise. I had no notion of him being there as the player to my immediate right had just mucked his cards.

I argued that I wasn't aware that the player, two to my right, was raising as I hadn't heard the words raise from him. Infact he'd said '36 to play'.

I asked for a ruling!

The ruling was that I'd 'raised' out of turn and that as I'd declared 'raise' I must at least 'mini-raise' the 3600 initial bet.

Given that if I did that I'd be pretty much throwing my chips down the drain (as no doubt the original raiser would have sensed weakness and re-raised me straight back) I decided that the best course of action would just to then go 'all-in'.

At least this action would give my opponent the chance to pass if he didn't fancy calling the extra 12k and with Jd-9d I wouldn't be THAT much of a dog if he called with anything other than a pair higher than 8's.

As it turned out he called and flipped A-K.

The flop was A-K-10-8-3 and I was eliminated.

Some you win!!

Entries ->61 - Place -> 16th - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$15440

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

-------------------------------------------------------

On Sunday last I also visited the Western to play in the £50 NL game that had a guaranteed prize pool of £1000. Just as well really as it took a number of 'staff' to make up the numbers!

With only 20 runners only 3 would get paid. The clock was 20 mins and you started off with 3k in chips.

I started well and got an extra 1k in my stack before the wheels fell off slightly. Holding 9-9 I went over the top of a shortish stack (1800) when he raised to 300 with the blinds at 50-100. He called and flipped A-K. The usual suspect, an Ace, turned up on the flop so that was that!

I drifted down to 1200 chips before making a stand with 6h-4h. (Yes....I know!!) I get a caller with A-K again only this time my hand wins when the flop comes 2-3-4-5-9...my 6 giving me the bigger straight :)

Once I'd revved up with that hand I was determined to get a bit more agressive so did my usual 'I'm in charge' raise to 1000 with 4-4 in EP. The player to my immediate left decides his Q-Q is good and goes over the top.

I call (Yes...I know) and its goodnight from me when I fail to improve! No surprise there then!

Entries ->20 - Place -> 13th - Loss -> £55 ($102) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$15338

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Sep 12th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Western Club (Acton)

2006-09-13T11:42:00.000+01:00

In any game where the outcome isn't decided until the very last second, or in the case of poker where the last card falls, there are a number of things that must go your way in order to both progress and do well.

Last week, at the Western, I got good cards and they held up nicely. Last night I got mediocre hands and with them goes mediocre luck especially as we had a Mr Hoover on the table who's every participation in a pot usually meant he'd be the one winning it!

After the first hand I knew it wasn't to be my night. I get dealt Qs-8s in EP, flat call the blind of 50, and by the end of the circle it was just me versus the big blind. The flop comes 8c-5c-2d.

Of course with top pair (even if it is only 8's) I feel somewhat secure knowing that I'm going to pound the pot and if my opponent has better then I'll soon know about it. The BB immediately bets out to 150.

Not wishing to give freebies I immediately raised to 500. He flat called.

I've mentioned before here that if I see 2 'flush cards' on the flop and I'm getting flat calls from a bet I'm making I'll usually put my opponents on a flush draw and act accordingly but the 2h, on the turn, pairing the board made me slighly uneasy. He checked, I bet another 500, and he duly called again.

The 9c fell on the river. He immediately bet out 500! I suppose the speed in which he bet threw me off and I called. He flipped the 6c-7c for the flush and, to be fair, I don't think I'd have put that hand down at any stage during the hand what with the flush AND straight draw to play with.

So down to 3500 after the first hand!

After the first level of blinds I held 3300. After the 2nd level I held 2800. Before the end of the 3rd I was gone.

I won't bore you all (and remind myself) with details of my last hand as I played it like a muppet and got what I deserved. Mr Hoover scooped mine, and another players chips, and it was au revoir on another night of poker!

Entries ->64 - Place -> 51st - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$15644

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Sept 7th & 9th - Various - Western Club (Acton)

2006-09-11T14:56:00.000+01:00

I don't usually do write ups for events that cost me £20. I mean...I'd be here all week if I blogged on about all the $10+$1 rebuy tournaments I'd played on PSTARS this year without success.

Whats £20 when its at home?? A couple of pints...A McDonalds & change...please!!

Anyway I just thought I'd blog about TWO small time beer events I played in at the Western Club last Thursday night and Saturday afternoon. This won't take long as I was 1st out in one and 2nd out in the other...just can't take them seriously!!

Thursday night was a £20+£2 NL freezeout with not only the prize money to play for but a chance at finishing in the top 2 to play for a seat on in a TV challenge event for forum members of participating cardrooms.

Anyway as I said...I was first out when my 7-7 got beat up by K-K. No outdraws just beat up! Better to go out like a lion than a lamb...who said that??

Saturday (1pm) saw a £30+£3 NL freezout as part of the 7-2 offsuit club event (see http://www.londonpokermeetup.co.uk/)

59 runners were contesting for a prize pool of just short of £1800 and I thought, after Thursday nights debacle, to try harder! We were given 5k in chips and a 30 minute clock.

Three hands in I get 2-2 in MP and flat call the 50 BB. Three players round the track and I hear 'two to play'. The bloke then tosses in 2 black chips. Its passed around to me and without a moments hesitation I call. The flop is A-K-J. I check. He bets 500 and I pass. Now this is where it gets interesting...

I look down in my tray and find that I'd thrown out two 1000 value chips. 'Hang on a minute', I said, 'I think I should have put out two 100 point chips?' grabbing 2 100 point chips from my tray. 'No', said my opponent as he was scooping in my chips, 'it was 2 to play...2 BLACK chips. 2000'!

The table around me looked as stunned as I did. I hadn't become accustomed to to colours of the chips and had given 2k away on a pair of 2's!! I couldn't believe it!

Suddenly I was on mega-tilt feeling like a total dum-dum.

Three hands later I get 7-7 and raise to 500. I get two callers. Flop is 6-5-2. There's a bet to 500, I raise all-in, and the third player calls. The initial bettor folds and my opponent flips 6-5 for two pairs.

Turn is a FOUR...river a TEN. I'm out...in 6 hands.

I was fuming over that '2 to play' call for ages afterwards.

ntries ->-- - Place -> --- - Loss -> £55 ($102) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$15848

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Sep 5th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Western Club (Acton)

2006-09-06T09:22:00.000+01:00

"Congratulations Sir", said the dealer as I sat down at my drawn seat for the £100 NL Hold'Em event at the Western Club.

"Huh?", I replied. "You've already won the event... ", he went on, "as the players who have drawn that very seat you're sitting in has gone onto either win the event or finish high up in the prize money for the past two weeks now!".

Well I needed all the help I could get so I smiled politely and the game began. Strange thing occured! I was getting good starting hands...I was hitting the flop...I wasn't getting beat up by outdraws. Hmmmm...must be something to this 'seat' lark thing after all?

At the end of the first break I had 12k in chips (from a start point of 5k) and I hadn't broken sweat. Session two was a bit more iffy and my chips dwindled to 9k and then came a stroke of luck.

On the button I get J-J. I flat call the 400 BB. The SB, immediately to my right, then raises to 2k. There's a caller from across the table and I decide its time for a punt. "All-In", I announce and shove my 8.5k into the pot. The SB hums and aars then finally calls. The caller from across the table passes claiming to have A-K. The SB flips Q-Q! Oh dear, I think, but not to worry as the first card out on the flop is a Jack and whilst my opponent hits the rail I count upto 20k in chips and I'm loving it!

My chip count continues to go northwards, albiet quite slowly, and I'm upto 25k with two tables left when I get 10c-10s on the button. The player to my immediate right flat calls the 1200 blinds and I raise it up to 5k. Its passed around and he calls.

The flop is Jd-3d-7d. He checks! I go all-in and he thinks for a while before calling flipping 6d-6c. The 5s comes off the deck next followed by the ruddy Kd. That pot cost me 14k of my chips! I was back down to 11k.

I didn't get disheartened though and by the time the 10 man final table came around I had 15k left. Average chips was 35k so I didn't feel too much out of it!

On the final table the cards were hot for me big time. My K-K doubled through a non-believer who called with 7-7. My Q-Q grabbed another 25k in chips as firstly an EP player raised to 10k was followed by a caller for another 10k and I shoved all-in for 40k+. They both folded!

My A-K then took in another 30k against A-Q and before you knew it we were down to 3, at around 4.20am, with me on 130k, player B on 140k, and player C on 80k. Blinds were 3000-6000 and I get J-10 on the SB and make up the blinds.

The flop is 7-8-4. I check. Mr 140k bets 6k and I flat call. The lovely 9 drops on the turn. I check. Mr 140k bets 12k and I move all-in fully expecting him to pass. Unbeknown to me though the guy has 9-7 and has made two pairs. He calls! Oops...no 9 nor 7 on the river and I have 290k of the 350k in play!

The end is near. Mr 140k (now 10k) departs two hands later and at heads up my opponent goes all-in with J-5 versus my called K-5. No Jack to save him and I win £2500 with no deals!

Oooooooo....I'm good!! :)

Entries ->70 - Place -> 1st - Win -> £2390 ($4421) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$15950

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)

Sept 1st - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Sportsman (London W1)

2006-09-04T12:26:00.000+01:00

This particular Friday night at the Sportsman was more like a snooker pro's convention. With the filming of the new series of 'Pot Black' about to take place at the RAC Club in Pall Mall the following day it appeared that any snooker player worth his poker playing salt was set in his seat as the numbers topped off at 66 runners and there was no room at the inn for those late to the party.

On my table I get Mr Rock himself in Steve 'Interesting' Davies. Steves undoubted attributes as a snooker player are that he can wait for the right moment before making his move but in the world of 'randomness' that poker lends itself to implicitly he ran foul of a few 'bad beats' and was seen to be emptying his wallet on rebuys.

My efforts tonight never really got going. I took a rebuy after the first hand when my pair of 4's were no match for A-A and then again shortly after once my chips has gone back down to the 1000 mark where rebuys were permitted. With my budget now blown I had to sit and wait for a hand or two.

My first 'get lucky' hand was whilst holding Qh-Jh. A flop of 9-10-4 was checked all-around. A nice looking Jack fell on the turn so I bet out to 400 only to get re-raised to 1400 by the gentleman immediately to my right. I pushed all-in figuring my Q-J, whilst maybe not the best hand, had more potential, and was duly called. He flipped A-J and I duly patted the table only to see a Queen appear on the river and I scoop a nice pot.

My chip stack got to 10k where I then cruised to the break but after that it was all downhill as my initial calls, pre-flop, couldn't find anything post-flop to continue the hand with.

In desperation, more than anything, and with blinds at 300-600 I pushed in my last 5700 with K-J and got called by A-Q, as you would.

A low flop sealed my fate and another £310 hit the bin!

I really am going to have to evaluate these 'K-Q', K-J' type of hands. At the end of the day they give you nothing but grief!

Entries ->66 - Place -> 36th - Loss -> £310 ($574) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$11529

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)