Congrats..

To James Atkin for shipping the 500 euro side event in Ireland this weekend!

Its been a while....

Since my last update, so have a fair bit to go through.

Live poker:

Have not played a huge amount tbh. Second weekend in September, I went to Leeds for Blonde Bash 8, which was a highly enjoyable and expensive weekend!

Got there Friday afternoon, met up with Bongo off Blonde at the train station, straight to the hotel, saw a few of the guys outside having drinks, so after checking in, when straight out for a quick drink... 4 hours later still there, and luggage still there. Great fun chatting to everyone, missed the comedy moment of Bongo falling backwards down the stairs, but we saw the aftermath!! Drinking in the sun is just awesome :) Bout 8-11pm we were all in Leeds, getting drunk in random places, met up with the Shrewdies after escorting Ling ( ie making sure she didn't fall over) to meet Rooks, then on to the casino for some comedy cash. Sat down with £60 on a 1/1 table. Sure wasn't an all in every hand. Jones sure didn't bink hard. Bongo dealt and prob got the best profit! Went to toilet at approx 3am, next thing I remember its 6am and Bongo's hammering on the hotel room door as he forgot his key. Sure remember how I got back there.

Obv, getting up at 9am to play footy was always tough, but it was managed somehow. Team I played for won on penalties beating the Shrewdies, think we won 4-3 on penalties, scored my 1st and then scored the winner in sudden death before saving FTW. Quick shower/changed/food before going to play the £30 tourny. Managed to get to the last 2 tables fairly comfortably, even tho I got it all in with 74 after calling a raise with it ( 7 4 3 flop he had 7 2), and with J7 blue, beating Bongo's pocket pair. Ran AQ into AK one hand after the break, then watched as Bongo managed to luckbox his way HU, then winning it!! Went to bed fairly early on Saturday as I was exhausted ( still 2am-ish)... Sunday consisted of many many bacon sarnies for breakfast, cricket for 45 mins which was just awesome, then the quiz, F1 watching, HU ( too short n sweet lol) even tho we got a bye ( also managed to deal a HU match which lasted one hand, 2 pr vs nut straight) then general chatting and more drinking in the hotel, midnight cricket which was just the NUTZ and more drinking.

An absolutely awesome weekend, which I hope is repeated fairly soon.

Also played the APAT event in Bolton, a very sick structure, 10k and 45 min levels. My 1st table dind't last that long, my 2nd I had 3 regulars from Manchester G in, so was comfortable. Managed to double up my 6k with AA v 10 10 , then lost 10k the hand after QQ v KK. Managed to grind it all back up to 14k, then at 300/600, got it all in blind on blind with 99, he had QQ. Game over sigh. Stayed in the G playing scrabble, and ended up drinking with Laz and MickyP. Sure didn't have a hellish hangover!!

At the G in Salford, I've won the £15 Wed f/out again ( bout the 3rd/4th time I've won or chopped it) as well as chopping the Saturday afternoon tourny. No other cashes ( all or nothing it seems).

Online poker:

I've run awfully again on Stars, got mega deep in just 1 tourny despite getting some decent stacks, finishing 32nd out of >6000 in a $5 tourny for all of $32. Prize structure is sooo frustrating. Obv, with 40bb stacks, a guy raises from late position, I re-ship it, he comes over the top, I have AQh, auto call, he as A8os, 1st card is an 8 and I have 3bbs left sigh. wp.

On Blonde, I've had to call a halt to my staking, as at the mo, I just don't have the time to play. Have paid everyone back what they're owed bar 2 ( paying them at APAT team in Manchester). Ran really well over the last 2 periods, without getting that mahoosive score. Think I had about 8 final tables, and still didn't show any profit ffs.

Life:

is just poo at the mo. Still single. The ladies I like are all taken. FML. End of haha. Still working my arse off for not enough money. Can't wait for a chance to find a decent paying job when I actually figure out what I wanna do! Will be moving to Bolton at some stage in the 2nd half of next year, so need to find somewhere and someone to live with as I def can't afford anywhere half decent on my own. FML x 2. But c'est la vie, it'll all turn round at some point.

I'm giving myself some goals for 2010, some poker related, some not.

1) Win a decent NL tournament on Pokerstars, or at least get a 4 figure cash on it.
2) Grind a bankroll playing STT's on whatever site Blondepoker ends up on.
3) Go on a decent holiday for the 1st time in 4 years.
4) After having a year off doing sod all, getting fit again and losing the belly I've so skillfully gained.
5) Final table another good live tourny.

Probs have more to add to that when I think about it.

Quick update....

Its the busiest time of the year for me at work at the mo, so haven't had the time to play much online. Had one session, bust early in all of them, way ahead when I get my chips in. Way it goes.

Played a few times live, last Monday in the £10 + 1 £5r/b, finished 7th for £40, which was fairly annoying, played pretty well all night in spite of dealing, and lost twice when ahead, QQ v AJ, A river, and KJ v K10, 10 1st card out.

Played both games on Saturday. Only 32 in the £10 + 1r/b, finished 4th for £60. Played extremely well yet again. Had 7 all ins on the final table. Lost 6 of them, all ahead, most ahead 70/30. The other one we split AK v AK. Final hand sb shoved on me, I had JJ and instacalled. He had A9, flop 939... gg me.

Playing the £15 f/out tonight in the G, and having online sessions tomorrow and Wednesday, which will be the last 2 before the Blonde bash in Leeds.

Mega looking forward to it, many people I haven't seen for nearly/just over a year. Lots of drinking and poker to be done!

Cursed... and popping bubbles,

Work is fun at the mo. Got 2 lovely 4-midnight shifts today and 2moro, and then lates till Weds night, meaning I won't be playing at all till Thursday.

I've played pretty much all of the tournies at the G, minus the £20 r/b and the £30+1 as those are both on nights I can't play... the only other fairly big one is the Sat night £25 + 1. I've played it about 6 times, and have never cashed. I know its just variance, as the players aren't anything different or special, I just run bad at crucial times.

managed to final table bubble last night, shoved UTG with KJ for 9k at 600/1200, s/stack calls for 5k with 78, which flops 2 pair!

Next hand have Kj suited and lose to A7 suited. LOL

My 3rd staking period has finished, being just over $1k down. Most annoying, when I've hit the final tables, I've never gone above 8th. Also have run bad approaching the bubble, several times losing with KK or AA for a CL pot.

Apart from that life just goes on. Nothing special happening, just saving up for BB8 in Leeds in September. Its kinda my hols for the year ( I have the week off after it as well) so not planning anything expensive till then.

Staking period 4 starts on Thursday, giving it a good go and will see what happens!

In a hole

$500 in my mtt hole...

its quite bluntly fucking me off how bad I'm running from the bubble onwards.

I've cashed 4 times more often in this staking period than in any others, and its the only time I'm way down.

I NEED a win, that much is certain.

I'm in shock!!!

A final table on pokerstars!!

The fact it was a HORSE tournament ( knowing nothing about the other 4 formats, even tho I played particularly well at stud hi/low) doesn't bother me!!

Ended up finishing 3rd for just over $200, after losing a mahoosive pot to go into HU 10:1 on the river in stud hi.

Happy days :)

A good catch up

Haven't updated for a while. Mainly due to laziness, and a hell of a couple of weeks.

June 10th would have been my Dad's b/day, which always makes the week leading up tough, compounded by the sudden passing away of my grandad the week before. On top of that, work hasn't been fun recently, if I had another place to walk into a job, I may well have done.

On the poker front, I've played much more live than online recently. Online, I KNOW I've played pretty damn well. I'm regularly going much deeper in tournaments, generally getting to within the bubble period. From here on, I'm running awfully. My best result in the last few weeks has been 9th, which was last night. I keep finishing 35th onwards, which is most frustrating, to me and my backers. I know that a big score is close, but its soooooooo annoying!

Live, I had the utter joy of looking forward to the £500 summer series event in Bolton. I somehow lasted 5 hours, having just 2 pp's, losing 4k with one of them hitting trips vs a rivered straight. Had AK once which I managed to raise past everyone, and eventually went out when I shoved all in with A9c after a raise and a call, one of them unsurprisingly called with 66 and the board came 8 high. It was interesting, but oh so frustrating.

Have played about 6 tournies in Salford, going out on the final 2 tables once, but mainly not even troubling anyone. Have dealt pretty much every tourny I've played as I find it helps me focus.

I needed to get Saturday off my back, so played the £10 + 1 £5r/b on Sunday. Played pretty passively, and was paid off pretty much every time I raised. Got down to the last 15 and shoved 64c into KK to leave me with 9.5k at 4k/8k. 2 hands later, shoved Q6d UTG, 2 callers and it somehow won. 2 orbits later I have 110k, picking up KK twice, esp handy after someone had raised all in with JJ before me.

On the bubble I dealt a cruel hand. It was passed to the SB who shoved for 40k, BB insta called with AQ as you would, SB posted K3.. flop... 3 3 3 ... rofl!!

Was a bit of a joke the FT. At no point did anyone stop the clock throughout hand for hand so by the time the bubble was broken we were at the start of 6k/12k.... and I was CL with 110k!! Crazy!! They still hadn't stopped the clock so when we got on the FT it was 8k/16k. We basically refused to play unless we had a round of 6k/12k then start the clock at the start of 6k/12k.... the dealer agreed and we didn't bother telling the guys running the room...

2 were out within 3 hands, I had AQ knocking A 10 out with one of them. I had pretty much the chip lead knocking a cpl of people out, until we got to an interesting hand 4 handed. The 2 short stacks had both shoved in, and I was in SB holding A6 suited... had 160k back if I called the raise so 10bbs... and was about to call... then noticed BB 's antics.. looking very nervous.... eventually I folded.. BB auto shoves as you would in that position with AA... LOL.. he knocks them both out..

He had maybe a 100k lead, but he said it'll be a coin flip, lets split it.. I wasn't saying no with £480 for 1st and £270 for 2nd... £20 for the dealer and £365 each was a good Sunday afternoon!!

Won't be playing any mtt's at all this week. Working lates all week, with my grandad's funeral on Thursday, then stocktaking all weekend meaning I'll be working silly hours.. .so to relax I'll go back to my stt grinding on stars... $3 stt's aren't fun, but I need to build a roll on stars. Am now up to 50 buy ins at that level from a start of 30, and intend to carry on until I hit approx $275 so I have 50 buy ins at the $5 level.

Pokerstars can just die. + I run bad at crucial stages live

Played all the mid stakes tournies on stars on Sunday. In the 1/4 million, get lovely stacked up, with 800 left am in the top 60 in chips, when the following hand happened.

Blinds 2k/4k, I'm in BB with approx 240k. Villian raises to 12k from mid position, s/stack goes all in for under 12k. On BB, I have AK, so raise to 56k. Villian insta calls. flop 9 9 7, I shove, he calls instantly with A7?? How the HELL does he make that preflop and flop call??? gg Stars tyvm and a whopping $50 to me. Gladly, he didn't get too far and only just scraped over $100 winnings, but still.

After that, I tilt played my minute roll off on stars on the $16 turbos. Won't be going back on there unless I get staked I think, or unless I start winning big monies elsewhere.

My Blonde staking is going ok, at crucial times I'm losing the vital hands, usually against players making awful calls. Have final tabled more often, but because I run SO bad on them, the best I've had is 2 4th's. Going in to the last $100 of the period, I need to win $150 to break even, which just sucks. Will still be going all out for a result tho, can't play any other way.

Live I've played more recently than I have in a while.

Played a £10 + 1 £5 r/b a cpl of weeks ago. Was in the last 15 when I lost a race at 1k/2k and went down to 8k. A cpl of shoves got through, then 3rd hand, mega stack limped, I looked to see 83d so shoved and he folded his A + decent kicker!!

Crucial hand was on my SB, 2 limpers, I have 24k so shove the lot, BB eventually calls, as does one of the limpers. Q hi flop was nice, esp when they both checked. J turn and BB shoves. He has JJ. FML.

In the £25 + 1 r/b on Saturday, 5k starting, I bullied my way up to 8k with no worries whatsoever, then did 6k in one hand.

Early raiser to 325 at 50/100 5 callers and I have 10 10. Just call ( I know I know) and see a K J 10 flop. Check raise all in, someone has KK sigh. Manage to get back up to 8k by the add on break, shoved KK off an A hi flop, I had 65 was one of the highlights. Had 12k at 200/400 and 10 10 UTG, so raise to 1200. Villian repops to 3k, he'd reraised a few times with Ax, so I tank/shove. He obv has AA. gg me.

Also played the £15 + 1 r/b last night. Wasn't a big tourny, only 37 in it, but we all had a laugh, especially at the new fucking self deal rules. One shuffles, another cuts, another deals. Absolute fucking farce if you ask me. Only interesting hands came late on. Am on the button with 12.8k at 600/1200, no raise before me so I shove with Q8d, BB obv calls with KK and he's dead by the turn weeeeeeeee. The hand before the break at 800/1600 killed me. SB checks to me in BB, I have 63 in BB so check. We both check the 552 flop, and he fires 5k outta his 10k on the 4 turn. I just throw 21k in, he tanks for an age, eventually calls with KK. I flip 6 4. Oops.. major fucking misread there. Go out on the FT bubble with a standard shove of KQ after a mini raise and a caller, mini raiser apparantly folds A8 for just 8k more, and same villian tank calls his A2. I miss my gazillion flush, straight and KQs and out 10th.

Pls run better. On the plus side, I am seen as quite a dangerous player in there. The regulars that I've talked to think I'm one not to tangle with as they know I'll stick it in in any situation with any 2. Which seems to be quite advantageous. Shoved 10s off a KQJ high board last night, both times with air.

On the negative side, work is abs fucking doing my head in at the mo. I just cannot be arsed with it all. Def need a new job as retail is fucking with my head. Its such fucking easy work, yet can be so fucking stressful. Anyway, will stick with it through this recession bollocks, and decide what I actually want to do. On a 7pm-7am shift tonight as there's new tills going in. Marv.

GUKPT side event report part 2, railing FTW and the summer series

My second attempt at the side events lasted until level 3. Have a fairly good image at the table, and at 100/200 on my BB I was dealt AK, 5 limpers and I have 4.5k so shove the lot. One bloke insta's with KJ and spikes the J, go out soon after.

Then watched Simon Moorman, father of the pretty famous Chris Moorman proceed to rip the final table of the main event apart, which lasted until 2am.. up for work at 6, totally worth the lack of sleep just for the look on Chris' face!!

Using part of my winnings from my 5th place, I'm wanting to play in the summer series main event in Bolton, £550 buy in. Am putting in £275 myself, and selling off the rest at 1:1. Of that half, I've already sold 50% of it, not bad as I only put it up late last night!!!

In other staking news, got a cpl of decent results on Monday night, 4th in the 4.5k on Blonde, where I ran KQ into AA blind on blind for just over $400, and 21st in the 10k, where I lost a 3 way all in KK v 77 v A2, obv the A2 got there sigh. I've got roughly $300 of tournies to play ( will check properly tonight) and am about level, so 1 decent result puts us in profit for the period.

GUKPT side event report..

Thursday 23rd April was my first glimpse into the GUKPT world, playing in the £100 f/out. Met up with Claw from Blonde about 6ish, had a bit of a wander sampling the atmosphere and meeting a few Blondes around the place... then to kill time...

£20 each in a fruity.. Claw wins £75, I win £110... we stick £20 each in another one, similar results :)

feeling flushed, we go and play 3 card poker... never played it before.. started with 40 quid, and just continued winning... came off the table with £100.. so was freerolling in the tournament already. Obv Claw and myself swapped 10% and we were off.

Started in seat 2 on table 9, noone recognisable on my table, so went about playing my own game. On my 1st BB I get KK, only limper is the SB, so I raised 4bbs to 200. He calls, flop is J 4 3, he checks I bet 350 and he calls.. turn is a 2, again he checks and I pot bet, again he calls. Turn is a 5, pretty big danger card, to which he checks. Weigh up carefully, am behind to any A and even with just 2k back, I don't want to go out on 1 pair.. so check.. he shows 42os. Sigh. It was the sign of things to come from him, I just knew I had to get in my chips at the right time.

At 50/100 after multiple limpers he raises to 700, don't even look at him as I shove with KQ, he has KJ and calls, J turn and Q river weeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Only one other time was an all in of mine called in the first 4 levels, raised UTG with 66, s/stack shoves so I call, he has QQ and I hit a 6 river ( although I did have many more outs). From then I on, I just quietly accumulated chips, picking on the weaker members of the table, still trying to bide my time to bust the guy on my SB, however he got knocked out with 2 tables remaining, calling all in on a K J 9 7 flop with J3, and was drawing dead.

We were down to about 16 at this point, with 13 paid, and the table noticeably tightened up, apart from 3 players, myself, and the 2 guys to the left of me. Shoved all in on my SB a cpl of times with nothing, causing agony for the BB, both times he folded however. The pivotal moment for me came when, on my SB I had 88, I had about 42k at 2k/4k, and UTG had raised to 12k. He'd been playing a lot of pots with suited cards, KJ, Q10 etc so decided I could get him to fold with a shove. He called however with KQs, 1st card out was an 8 and had safely housed up by the turn.

Once the bubble had gone, we were playing 6 handed, so started opening up a few more pots, and eventually made the FT with 70 at 3k/6k.

Was pretty card dead during the 1st 2 orbits, managed to get a raise through twice to keep my head above water, and eventually we were down to 6. At this point, get chatting to a guy opposite, he's only tommymfkinC from Blonde, so we have a quick chat, wish each other gl gl, and he goes out next hand, QQ into KK!!

5 way, there's a deal proposed. CL 3k, 2nd CL 2.5k, other 2 2k and me 1.5k, I'm s/stack so happy to take as thats higher than 4th pays, but one guy isn't interested in seat 4 ( as he was on my other table) so we play on. I manage one double up, shoving with Q9d UTG, getting looked up by A2os, hit my Q, he hit his A, but I hit a diamond river. Am still fairly s/stacked tho, so when it comes round to me with no raises on my SB, I sneak a look at a card, its an A, I shove, BB eventually calls with AJ, my kicker was a 5, and I was gone. Was shoving any 2 in that position with the blinds + antes what they were.

Happy enough with my first foray into the GUKPT world, probably will play the £100 bounty on Sunday, but as of yet am undecided.

I'll update this with names of opponents etc when the results get posted

work and more fkin work... staking period 2 and GUKPT side events

Been working a ridiculous amount of hours recently, which is knackering me out. Means when I get chance to play poker, I'm shattered. Have cut right back on playing. Finished work early today for once, so had a pop in a few Blonde tournaments, as well as a few on stars. In the 30k on stars, ran up the 3k starting to 12k within 15 mins, out within 70 mins having lost 2 races, both times chips in 1st and ahead. Finalled the 3k $20 on Blonde 4/10, but went mega card dead, abs no spots to shove/push as most of the time, someone was all in b4 it got to me. Its fair to say I was playing tight...

so when I shoved all in on a 9 hi board, showing 3 diamonds, I didn't expect a call from 10 9 h??? I'd raised pre as well. 8th place for not much more than $100 sigh

Played the $33 NL SCOOP event on stars.. comfortably in the money, then quite bluntly get fcuked over...

[ ] good call pre sir

PokerStars Game #26771983927: Tournament #200904081, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIX (1000/2000) - 2009/04/06 2:41:39 WET [2009/04/05 21:41:39 ET]
Table '200904081 1486' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: hamsterboy (13334 in chips)
Seat 2: ohsportsguy (25809 in chips)
Seat 3: unreality0 (53273 in chips)
Seat 4: dillerdopp (48393 in chips)
Seat 5: alimali63 (110546 in chips)
Seat 6: NotABot (71735 in chips)
Seat 7: Thomas823 (122491 in chips)
Seat 8: malle501 (59252 in chips)
Seat 9: amcgrath1uk (40104 in chips)
hamsterboy: posts the ante 250
ohsportsguy: posts the ante 250
unreality0: posts the ante 250
dillerdopp: posts the ante 250
alimali63: posts the ante 250
NotABot: posts the ante 250
Thomas823: posts the ante 250
malle501: posts the ante 250
amcgrath1uk: posts the ante 250
ohsportsguy: posts small blind 1000
unreality0: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to amcgrath1uk [Th Td]
dillerdopp: folds
alimali63: calls 2000
NotABot: calls 2000
Thomas823: folds
malle501: calls 2000
amcgrath1uk: raises 18000 to 20000
hamsterboy: folds
ohsportsguy: folds
unreality0: folds
alimali63: calls 18000
NotABot: folds
malle501: folds
*** FLOP *** [8c 2c Ts]
alimali63: bets 20000
amcgrath1uk: calls 19854 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (146) returned to alimali63
*** TURN *** [8c 2c Ts] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [8c 2c Ts 9h] [As]
amcgrath1uk said, "sigh"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
alimali63: shows [Qc Jc] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
amcgrath1uk: shows [Th Td] (three of a kind, Tens)
alimali63 collected 88958 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 88958 | Rake 0
Board [8c 2c Ts 9h As]
Seat 1: hamsterboy (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: ohsportsguy (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: unreality0 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: dillerdopp folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: alimali63 showed [Qc Jc] and won (88958) with a straight, Eight to Queen
Seat 6: NotABot folded before Flop
Seat 7: Thomas823 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: malle501 folded before Flop
Seat 9: amcgrath1uk showed [Th Td] and lost with three of a kind, Tens

Also using some of my winnings from my live win to play the £100 GUKPT side event on 23rd April, same structure as I'm used to at the place, so just the small matter of slightly better players to try my moves on!!

staking.. and live!!

My 1st period of staking ended up in a profit of just over $1k, from a starting roll of $1.5k I'm pretty damn happy with the start :)

The second period has started slowly, just the 1 minor cash so far, but plenty of time to go.

As I've run relatively bad online, I decided to have a laugh and a break and play the £15 deepstack at the G in Manchester on Weds night, 7k starting stack, pretty much suits my game.

Owned my opening table, won 2 all ins both times as massive favourite, called 4th pair on a dangerous board to snap call a bluff.

At the 1st break I had 25k! I continued plundering away, had an average stack when we were at 1k/2k and then shoved with A10, looked up by 99 and didn't hit. Left me with 3k.

It then can be described as a rampage. Quadded up next hand I played with J5, shoved with AK the hand after and beat AQ. Moved tables for a short while, and ended up making a hero call. 1.5k/3k blinds, a bloke throws a 5k chip in meant to raise on my bb, was ruled as a call. I had 10 9, flop was a rainbow J 9 7, I checked and he threw another 5k in.. got a soul read on him ( had him on AK/AQ) threw in a strong looking 15k, he shoved with A10, I called, and the board bricked.

very next hand on my sb I had 44, 2 short stacks had gone all in, and I was preparing to call, when a big stack shoved, correctly folded IMO, the 4 was the 1st card out, would have had a monster stack. Get moved back to my original table, pick up JJ and shove it straight into bb's AA.

Was basically in no danger of missing final table from this point on, including shoving with Q10, called by JJ and I 4 flushed, calling a short stacked all in with Q5h, he had QJ and flushed that too.

FT'd as 2nd stack, and lost 2 races immediately, 77 into JJ, AK into 44, which left me with 50k at 4k/8k. Played positionally ( and aggressively) until 6 left, shoved my 110k stack in with AA, called by A10 and won, 3 hands later, did the same again, and bust AQ. 3 left, with roughly similar stacks, 1 wanted to deal 390 each, I was happy with that, but the guy in the slight CL didn't want to. Fine. Then went on to own him. Kept shoving over the top, won most of his chips with a straight vs 2 pair on a 4 club board.

The final hand was a fun one, I'm BB, and have QQ with 340k. short stacked bloke shoves and I shove behind, button had limped with AA. Q on the flop.. £620 tyvm weeeeeeeeee

Quick update..

Off to DtD for the weekend so hoping to run good :)

Staking is still going well, 3 very well played tournies last night IMO, finished 26th ( 20 paid) running J10 on a J hi flop into a slow played AA, final tabled bubbled losing 2 straight races in another, and finished 5th for just over $300 losing a cooler, JJ v AJ, A on flop kind of killed me dead!!

Up at least $800 on the staking period, still have just over $500 of buy ins to go. Hoping for another $700 of winnings at least to double all stakers :)

Staking so far...

Until last night, I had played in $451 worth of tournaments, with a total of $174 in winnings.

Played a decent schedule last night, including the 6k $30 on Blonde.

Early on, doubled up with AA v QQ, and promptly lost it all with AK v AA.

After a while, pushed for a 2.5bb raise with JJ, and called the all in from a loose player who tabled KQos.. I held..

Managed to misclick a shortstacks all in call with 87s against their AQ and managed to bink the straight :)

Twice I raised with Jacks preflop, both times called, and both times rewarded by low flops and a subsequent fold.. which helped me into a decent position..

The big hand of the night for me unfolded..picked up KJc in early position and put in a 2.76bb raise ( ty Rooks) a shortstack pushed as did a bigger stack.. was a very easy call putting in the extra 1.5k into an approx 10k pot.. rewarded by a 3 6 J K 7 board :)

Finding a raiser before me holding AA was good.. esp with an A on the flop.... also KK on a K hi flop with an all in ( and no straight/flush possibilities)

Got to the final table 5/10 and fairly comfortable, and basically, after the 1st couple of people went out, I went on a rampage.. 35 >> AJ , AJ>> AK, KT>>55, KQ>>A8, 22>>AK, A5>>32 to win

$1.7k ftw tyvm :)

Dusk till Dawn.. 13th-15th March

Right I've got the time booked off work so I'm 100% going. Booked the hotel tonight for the Friday and Saturday nights.. so if anyone wants to split a room let me know!!

Staking

I've decided to take a leap and be staked in Blonde mtt's for the next 4-6 weeks. Playing at the $10-$30 levels, I'm being staked for $1500, which will see me through approx 80 tournaments.

I'd like to thank those that are staking me for this chance, and hope I repay them by running like God and shipping much profit!!

It all starts on Sunday after work!!

A live game for a change

Went to the G in Salford for their £30 f/out, with £10 being for bounties. 7k stack and 1/2 hour blinds till the 1st break, where it shifts to 20 mins. And had a bloody good laugh. Every minute, my table was having a laugh and a joke, and not getting disheartened etc.

Played ABC poker till the break where I'm on 8k. 1st hand after the break, 100/200 blinds, 5 limpers on my BB, and I have JJ. To make a point, with the pot approx 1.5k, I reraise to 3k with the sole intention of getting rid of the lot. One bloke goes all in, I'm priced in to call ( leaves me with 2k back) he flip AK and I hold. Nothing really of note happens until 400/800, where with 66 on the button, I raise to 3k. The BB is a total nit, only plays premium hands, he tanks then calls. The tank says to me he hasn't got a pair.. so something like AK/AQ is most likely.

Flop was Q 10 x and I continuation raise 4k. Again he absolutely tanks... he's obviously missed..so AK/AJ but eventually calls.. I have 7k back.. turn is another low card... fire 5k this time, as I kinda want him to call for value, but also want him to fold... eventually he calls... the river is an A... sigh.. I know, KNOW he's hit at last... I have 2.3k back.. he'll insta call... so decide to check in hope he thinks I have KJ.. he goes all in... I fold... sucked...

Next hand I have K5s go all in, have 3 callers inc an even shorter stack, the K hits and I win and get another bounty. I'm raising any 2 and do so 3 times in a row, none of which are called...

Right before the break, 800/1600 blinds.. I have ~13k.. on BB with J7 off.. button pushes all in... announce.. this is my fav hand online.. think its 1k/2k blinds and with 11k I won't last long.. call.. he flips 65os and I knock him out for my 3rd bounty :)

After the break 1k/2k I become aggressive, 1st orbit I raised 4 times all getting through. UTG I get A10s.. push for 8k... BB hasn't played much and raises all in... its an easy call imo and I do.. he flips 88 and I'm fairly happy...

esp with the 10 3 10 flop...

and the 2 turn...

but the fucking 8 on the river... FML!!!!!!!!

I still laugh tho, wish the players all the best and off I pop.. just pausing in time to see the 100yd interception touchdown in the Superbowl.

Single table tournaments.. and the 30k

My stt challenge had a good day on Saturday. I'm not putting anywhere near the volume in that I want to, as I've other things to do. But...

I only played 12, in 3 groups of 4. Managed to win 5 and come 3rd in another. will take the $40.2 profit!!

The 30k on stars. I always enjoy this tournament, as with that little bit of luck, you can go mega deep. Managed that last night.

sometime in the 2nd hour, pushed in early position with JJ, get looked up by AK, AA and KK..

the quads on the flop were nice :)

Played fairly well, apart from running J9d into 88 aipf blind on blind, managed to bink the flush on the river :)

with about 40 left, lost AA v some random hand which I can't remember.. pushed 2 hands later with 10bbs with KJ in late position, ran into KQ and AK but still managed to 2 out the straight on the river.. :)

got down to the last 2 tables in very comfortable position, had 800k at 20k/40k.. and again blind on blind punishes me... have KQ in bb, and the sb raises just over the minimum.. its something he's done b4.. think I'm way ahead of his range so ship it in.. he has A 10 and binks the A...

down to dust which I manage to get back up to 300k within 3 hands.. then my exit hand.. get KK in late position, and its an auto all in.. the bb calls for 40% of his stack with Q7... obv 2 Q's on the flop... sigh fml etc and 16th for $123.

[ ] that was worth 6 hours of play

I HATE POKERSTARS!!

I'm a little annoyed at the moment...

get into the last 50 of the 10k $10 on stars...

1/50 in chips..

blinds 3.5k/7k

Button +1 raise to 21k with 33

BB calls..

flop 3 4 J

"we're getting paid!!!"

bet 28k he calls...

turn 10... thinking now if he has J 10/AJ/KQ time to ship it in...

bet 70k ( about 65% of pot)... he RR all in... I have to insta call IMO

He obv flips JJ

wp sir. ty stars. gnite

why I do what I do... and other ramblings

Its a Friday night and for a change, I've not been at work today. Since 2 weeks ago, I've not had a day off, and this is the 1st day off of a long weekend. And to put it honestly, I'm exhausted. I've got a new boss at work, and unlike my previous boss, she actually is good at the job, but it does mean on a temporary basis, I need to put that bit more effort into each and every day.

Last Saturday was supposed to be a day off, but I ended up helping in our Wigan store, which is one of the smallest and quietest about. Obv the day I was there it was as busy as it had ever been. But me being me, I've also volunteered helping other stores out and about over the next 2 weeks, 8 shifts in Stockport, which for me is a pain in the arse to get to, 1 in Bolton and 1 in Warrington. Which is all going to be great fun not driving!! But if that what's needed to move onwards and upwards so be it.

All this has left me very little time to play poker. Especially with my stt challenge!!

Managed a FT on the Blonde league game after magically sucking out on 3 straight all ins.. then proceeded to lose the flip to give me the enormous chip lead. Needed 1st to win the league, but busted 7th. Quite happy to have been in contention, seeing I'd only played 2 of the 4 games. Had a giggle on the 10c/20c cash game, where the others all railed me in the 6k on Blonde, finishing in the last 20, quite an achievement, when 40 out, I was down to 1sb!! I did run sick tho, KK, AJ both all ins not called, ( even for 1bb extra) then my next all in called very next hand.. I had KK again which held v 77... can't remember how I went out but was a good laugh nonetheless.

Managed to spend nearly half of the 1k comedy cheque so far, Ipod, Friends series 1-10 box set which was an abs steal @ £55, and a cpl of digicams ( one for my mum.. awwwww)..the rest I think I'll use for poker.

Playing a new tourny on Sunday night at the G, £30 bounty, £10 for the bounties so will be taking a pretty aggressive game I think. I tend to play conservatively and start pushing hard at 10-15bbs, think I'll take more risks this time... must tell myself to NOT limp!!

The stt challenge... total stats so far:

Played 30
1st:4
2nd: 4
3rd: 2

total buy ins $102
total prize money $108
profit $6

I soooo need to develop my stt game... struggling at the $3 level lol!!

Having played them in the past, I'm pretty comfortable at the $10stt level, but I'm going to earn my way there this time rather than just playing them when I fancy it.

Grinding.. and my work night out..

So my decision to play stt's on stars has actually happened. Have slightly changed it tho.

I'm playing $3 turbo 10 seat stt's. They're pretty quick which stops me getting bored, and I can play 4 at a time on my laptop without worry, and can probably get through 12 an hour if I try hard enough. Work at the mo means I don't get home till about 10pm, and after doing all the usual shit it only gives me an hour to play. I've got a bit of a good weekend coming up ( finish 4pm Thursday not back in till Monday) meaning I'll be hammering the tables. Going to see if I can play a good few hundred and see how I run when I'm concentrating properly. I do need to have a slightly higher bankroll, as I want to use Sunday's as an mtt day, using my weekly profit to play some fairly decent ones on stars. So its a decent challenge for me.

So far, I've managed to play a whopping 16 in 4 days! And made a whopping $11.60 profit haha.


My work night out as a comedy night. Started off planned as our store going on the piss in Manchester ( about 20 of us).. ended up being just 5 of us ( a 6th joined later).. At the same time, Vinny ( or celtic as he is known on Blonde) was playing in the EC tourny in London, of whom I had 20% of. He gets into the money.. so I start celebrating buying cocktails... as he gets deeper.. I buy more expensive cocktails.. obv he ships £4k so £800 for me... weeeeeeeeee a beautiful Xmas present.. hopefully when I get to use some of this for playing a weekend/few events at DtD I've already mentioned to him he has 20% of me if I run good...

now if I can just get Trigg to ship me the $100 on stars that no doubt he's forgotten about...

And a quick well done to Le( golden boy) Knave for shipping $77k... fancy staking me??? LOL

A new challenge

I've decided over the last couple of weeks to stick to just 2 sites for the time being, until I have a comfortable roll on them.

Blonde: for mtt's. Especially after a decent start to the year.
Stars: for stt's. Purely about traffic levels. Oh and starting to learn bankroll management.

At the moment, I'm playing the $3 turbo stt's. Don't find them difficult at all, but as I've only started on them tonight, maybe its beginners luck

Played 3. Total spend $10.20
1st = $15
2nd = $9

and lost in the other aipf in the 1st level AA v JJ v 44.. obv 44 won

so a good start. As I'm working a lot over the next week or so, I won't have time for mtt's apart from maybe Sunday night, so am planning on 3-4 tabling stt's on stars which I'm comfortable doing. $300 profit is my target before moving up...

goodbye 2008... 2009 starts with a bang!

December 2008 was probably my worst month in a while. No significant cashes, with my best result being winning a blonde league game, and 2 cashes in one of my favourite mtts, the 4k $15 that starts at 3.30pm on Blonde.

On the 5th Jan, my mini-run started.

I final tabled the 10k $10 on Blonde, but after being chip leader 20 out, managed to play as bad as I could imagine, but 7th for $400 was a welcome boost, both to the bankroll, and the confidence.

Exactly a week later, on the 12th, I managed to final table the same tournament. This time, in a completely opposite situation, laddering all the time, was 10/10 on the final table, before eventually finishing 6th for just over $500.

The night after, I also final tabled the 6k $5 on Blonde. This time, I managed to play fairly well. Followed my instincts and eventually got HU.

We battled for what seemed forever, however I did feel I was getting the better of things. Played very aggressively and forced my way through to a 2:1 chip lead.

In the end, I got him to call all the way with big bets for just 3rd pair, I had 2nd pair.. and SHIPPPPPPPPP the $1.5k+

Astonishingly, just 2 nights later, Geo from the Blonde poker forum took down exactly the same tournament... we Blondes obv pawn that tourny...

So with over £1.4k sitting in my Blonde account, the temptation was to go for a mega spin up...

However, have withdrawn 1k, so I can stay within my current comfort levels with a slightly higher bankroll than I usually keep on Blonde, so I can play a few $20mtts when I fancy it. As I write, I'm 7/14 in one at the mo... ONE TIME!!

Pokerstars:

How the HELL do you run good in mtt's on this site??? I've been chip leader in an mtt after an hour, and lost 12 flips in a row.... whenever I take on, or see anyone else take on a chip leader, the chip leader always, ALWAYS manages to find a card when needed...