The Christmas season is traditionally a slow time for live poker, and this was evidenced at Loose Cannon last night. Only 6 hardy souls made the Thursday night pilgrimage as well as myself - Jody, Dev, Uncle Paulie, The Volcano, Sir Mike and The Baron. Since our league had finished last week, we were due to begin another one, but as there were so few of us we opted for a couple of £30 sit and gos instead.

Unfortunately I was unlucky in key pots, and made little impact. The first tournament was a NLHE event, and I was down to 2.5k from a 3.5k start, when the following hand came up. I am in the BB and The Baron shoves all in blind UTG with
1300 chips (blinds are 100-200). Deven is also down to 1500 and checks one card before calling (that will be an Ace then!). Folded round to me and I find JJ and have to call, and unfortunately get outrun by Deven's A2. I fight with my short stack for a couple of orbits, but eventually get trapped by Jody's KK UTG, and I get no help after shoving with Ace Ten suited.

The next game was HIHO - a round of each of Holdem, Irish, Holdem, and Omaha. I start poorly, after losing a big early pot to Uncle Paulie, re-raising out of the blinds with 99 and firing a 1k bullet on a rather unhelpful K, Q, J board.

However, in the Omaha section I get some very nice starting hands and get back to about a 3k stack when the following hand comes up at 100/200. There are 3 limpers and I pot it out of the big blind with AdKhKcJh. Deven and Jody call.

Flop arrives 8h, 4h, 2c.

Jody pots it from the SB to put me all in. I figure Jody is either doing this with the nut flush draw, or has a set. 2 pair seems remote on this board. As a result my hearts are either blockers or outs. I feel pretty pot committed after potting it pre-flop so make the call. Jody has the Ace flush draw, and also one pair, and unfortunately another 4 hits on the river to give him trips and bust me. If I had won that pot I would have been in a decent position, but it wasn't to be.

I play a little heads up 25p/50p cash with the Volcano to pass the time, and he takes £70 off me, so not a good night all in all.

With the December slowdown, I imagine big field tournaments are going to be hard to find. I aim to try out the £25 Tuesday tournament at the International next week, but the two biggish events left this year are my home game a week tomorrow, and the Loose Cannon Xmas Party on 20th December. The LC bash features a MTT, sit and gos and cash games all rake free for the day..........should be a long day.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,075
Live Holdem Cash 365
Live Omaha (590)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 160
Online Holdem Tournaments 54,939
Online Holdem Cash 16,552
Online Omaha (140)
Sundry 1210
Rake (5,600)

61,254

After the disappointment of missing out on playing the UKPT £300 event at the Vic, I decided to play online for the first time in a while, to quench the poker thirst.

I was a little apprehensive after some brutal nights recently, but the evening was a success, and came in at a profit of a little under $1,000. I played tournaments only, and made one final table and two other cashes, as I started to find patches of my strong online form which had seemed a distant memory.

After suffering some questionable plays from my opponents in two early events, I had worried that my recent form was about to continue. However, with the aid of a slightly less expansive game, I began to build chips in most of my tournaments. At one stage it was beginning to look like it could be one of those special nights, but I suffered a triple collapse almost simultaneously in my remaining tournaments:

1) We are approaching the bubble on the Full Tilt 50k guaranteed, and I have a little under average stack. I raise in mid position with KsQc, and the button calls and slightly has me covered.

Hmm - out of position.

Flop: Qh, Tc, 3h

I bet the pot, and he calls.

Turn: Kh

Not ideal, but at least I have outs if he has the hearts. I shove with my top 2 and am amazed to find he has called my pot bet with AsJs. Gutshot, no hearts. I miss and am gone.

2) Everest 15k Guaranteed

While the above hand is happening, I have suffered multiple disappointments on the final table of the Everest Event. I arrive at the table clear 2nd in chips, but due to the structure of the tournament and the passivity of the players I myself only have about 17 big blinds. Because we are not deep stacked, I get myself into 3 races in quick succession with 3 big blind stacks and loose every one. If one or two of those go my way then I am confident of winning it due to the reluctance of players to take risks despite the huge blinds, but I end up busting 4th I think for a little over 1k.

3) Party Poker 18k Guaranteed

During my final table meltdown on Everest, I have progressed nicely in the Party Event which I think has a very nice structure, and really good software. I'd go as far to say it has become my favourite site now, but that is bye the bye. We have 33 players remaining (60 got paid) and I get all my chips in (slightly below average stack) against a big stack, my 77 verses his 55. He raised first and I shoved over the top of him from the big blind. I guess he hoped he was taking on a race, but unfortunately for him I had an overpair. However, there was good news on the turn for him when a 5 popped out to send me spinning out of the tournament.

So, a good night, but I can't help feeling it could have been a great one. Still, money in the bank, and I've withdrawn the Everest winnings to put towards next year's live poker adventures. Judging on my previous dealings with Everest, when this cheque actually turns up is any one's guess, but hopefully I won't have to write any more angry e-mails.

One observation I would make, is that the standard of play is considerably different between a European site like Everest and my usual Full Tilt tournaments. Several times I saw people let their stack dribble down to just over 2/3 big blinds before shoving with their AJ. My favourite incident was a guy raising in mid position to 3 times the blind for 70% of his stack, and I just min raise him from the big blind with QQ with my huge chip leader stack, knowing that he can't pass...........except he does (?). He is of course eliminated soon after. This very rarely happens on the US sites. I don't necessarily think that the average American is superior to the average European, but more perhaps the fact that the best players are naturally attracted to the sites that offer the biggest fields and the biggest guarantees (i.e. Stars and FT).

In any case, I am thinking of incorporating a few more of the euro sites into my schedule.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,195
Live Holdem Cash 505
Live Omaha (590)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 160
Online Holdem Tournaments 54,939
Online Holdem Cash 16,552
Online Omaha (140)
Sundry 1210
Rake (5,600)

61,514

The £300 at the Vic is already sold out for tonight............150 runners + 18 alternates waiting already. I was really pumped up for this one.....no evidence of the credit crunch in poker it seems!

December is never the best for poker, as players have other family commitments to worry about, so I guess I am entering the last 4 weeks of playing time for the year, before taking a couple of weeks off and ushering in 2009.

Tonight, I've decided to play the UKPT £300 side event at The Vic, my last sizeable buy in event for the year. The rest of the month will bounce between online tournaments and Loose Cannon League nights. I'll also squeeze in a trip to the International at some point as I haven't been there yet.

The tentative plan for the first half of 2009 will be a Dusk Till Dawn festival in Nottingham in February, the Irish Open in April, a UKPT event and then Vegas for WSOP. After that I'll take stock and see how much I have in the tank for the rest of the year, as with the economy as it is, the bankroll for next year is likely to be significantly reduced. The USD exchange rate is also a factor of course, as this has effectively increased the cost of the trip to Vegas by 30%.

I'll post again tomorrow with a report from the Vic. Honest Dave, Jalfont and Sir Mike should also be in action, so hopefully one of us can run well.

No £500 seat for me unfortunately - I placed 4th in the Loose Cannon Thursday league final, which was good for £75 but unfortunately I missed out on the chance to play for free next week. Congratulations to Mike who secured a seat - just desserts after being the most consistent league performer over the 3 months. I am considering buying in direct next week, but I will see how I feel.

In terms of the tournament, I began with 3,800 chips in about 4th position. I soon eliminated two short stacks including Honest Dave when I was lucky enough to find KK verses QQ and TT all in pre-flop. From thereon I accumulated chips fairly steadily until we were about 6 handed, at which point I was conscious that Mike and a dutch player had a big chip advantage over the rest of the field. Our Dutch friend picked up pocket Aces FOUR times during the final table which was of obvious benefit.

My elimination hand occurred with 4 players remaining. I limped UTG for 600 with Ad4d and the Dutchman in the BB raised it up 2000 more. I was playing a stack of about 9k/10k at the time and should probably have passed here. However, I made a questionable call for 20% of my stack and took a flop in position.

The flop arrived Q, 8, 2 with one diamond.

Dutchman checked, so sensing that he either had AK or didn't like the Queen I shoved my remaining 7k into the middle. He dwelled for a while and eventually made a good call with TT. The 3 diamonds gave me a whole wealth of outs for a runner runner escape (as well as my Ace of course), but it wasn't to be and I busted in 4th spot.

The cash game started well but ended in disappointment. I began with £250 and build up to about £500 with some good aggressive plays, as well as hitting some useful quads verses Baron's overpair. However, I then lost the lot in two hands, both Omaha.

Firstly I ran a bare ace flush bluff against the Baron, when he held the Jack flush. I think I picked my opponent poorly here, as the Baron had suffered some heavy blows at this point, and was unlikely to lay down the 4th nuts in this spot. On another day perhaps, but this was £150 gone.

I then lost a £700 pot to Deven - Deven held AAxx verses my nut flush draw + open ended straight draw. Most of the money went in on the turn and I missed my outs. Perhaps I overcooked this one, and should have just taken the river to see where I stood.

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,195
Live Holdem Cash 505
Live Omaha (590)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 160
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,984
Online Holdem Cash 16,552
Online Omaha (140)
Sundry 1210
Rake (5,525)

60,634

Time for an update - I've been laid low for the last five days with a nasty ear infection which spread to my glands resulting in one side of my face swelling up, leaving me with a passing resemblance to one of the villains from "The Hills Have Eyes". The symptoms started on Thursday afternoon, and I figure they contributed to my woeful performance at Loose Cannon on Thursday night where I lost £300 in the cash game.

The cash table was fun, involving Wilkinson, Honest Dave, Tony R and The Baron, but I played too aggressively to get down to £150 and then called an all in against The Baron where I was clearly behind during an Omaha hand. My body was grateful for the chance to go and get some sleep, but ultimately failed to fight off the infection and I was incapacitated for five days.

The £50 tournament beforehand was the last outing before the league final, and I put in my best performance in a live tournament since Vegas. I was aggressive pre and post flop and made some good reads. I hit the final table with about 9k in chips, which was well above average, before my challenge was cut off at the knees. I got my chips all in pre-flop holding KK against Ben's AK in a 16k pot, but an Ace arrived on the flop to virtually kill my challenge. Hopefully this performance can give me something to build on.

One upside of my illness, was that I was able to watch a number of films from my sickbed. However, one item in the batch was UNQUESTIONABLY the worst film I have ever scene and I can't dissuade my readers strongly enough from watching it. I guess I only have myself to blame, seeing as the item in question was Steven Seagal's latest straight to DVD offering "Kill Switch".

Some observations:

1) Seagal has put on weight. A lot of weight. He still retains the small piercing eyes and slick back hair, but now resembles some strange puffer fish.

2) Seagal has adopted a bizarre Deep South accent. The film is set in Memphis to be fair, but it is just ridiculous. His character also calls all his male colleagues "Baby" after every sentence, leaving Seagal's character reminding me of Scotty Nguyen crossed with a white Barry White.

3) The action scenes are ludicrous, using multi repeat action moments. At one point Seagal throws a character over a table and the action is repeated 5 times. The film would only be 65 minutes long if it wasn't for the repetition shots.

4)The villain is called Lazerus and is described as an "ingenious serial killer". He isn't. He sports a handlebar moustache, looks like one of the village people and likes astrology.

5) Seagal's adherence to police protocol is slack to say the least. In one scene he tortures a suspect by pulling his front teeth out. After obtaining the required information, Seagal leaves, but a gunfight ensues in the street. The suspect, finally gives up and runs away. However, at this point Seagal shoots him in the back, killing him instantly. The police arrive and Seagal tells them to clean up the mess.

A shocking film. We could make a better fist of an action thriller using a mobile on a Thursday night at the Loose Cannon.

Anyhow - it's the League Final tomorrow so I'll be trying to win a seat at the £500 UKPT side event at the Vic next week. You never know, perhaps that might kickstart my poor form this month.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,045
Live Holdem Cash 1,055
Live Omaha (590)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 160
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,984
Online Holdem Cash 16,552
Online Omaha (140)
Sundry 1210
Rake (5,525)

61,034

Wow. I'm now on my biggest downswing of my poker career, after losing $1200 in PLO over the last 2 evenings.

I've decided to blog now to put a line under it and hopefully start afresh tomorrow.

Tuesday night brought outdraw misery. 3 times I got it in with the nut straight only for the other guy to put it on the line with a bare flush draw or 2 pair and hit. That was $400 in the hole for that. Each time he helpfully typed "that's Omaha" which I thought was a nice variation on the usual "that's poker".

Tonight, I played badly. I was too passive, although I got no help whatsoever when all the chips went in. They were not outdraws as such, just situations where I flop the nut straight and opponent has 2 pair and the nut flush draw. All the money goes in and I lose. And rinse. And repeat. I am down $800 at the time of writing - it was worse but I've had a small $300 fightback. I'm going to quit for the night though soon, so I imagine this will be close to the final number.

To cap it all, 3 marvellous incidents to finish:

1) I flat call top house on the turn and let some guy in for a straight flush
2) The Baron raises when I have KKxx and he is re-raised so I pass pre-flop in a pot which ended up being $400 between the pair them. Flop was of course KKx.
3) Myself and the Baron were accused of collusion by one of the other players. Considering we were both down, I can't imagine the evidence would show collusion!

So including Saturday's debacle, I'm over $3,500 down for the week online, which is far greater than I have experienced before.

I guess I'll take an online break now, as I need to refocus. I'll keep playing live which is going well, and take it from here. These runs are bound to happen, but I can feel a tilty edginess creeping into my online play, and I need to put a stop to it.

Tomorrow brings the welcome distraction of live play at Loose Cannon. Not a moment too soon....

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,145
Live Holdem Cash 1,655
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 160
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,901
Online Holdem Cash 16,552
Online Omaha (490)
Sundry 1210
Rake (5,515)

61,711

Saturday was a complete mess on the online tournament front - I cashed once, played the FTOPs Omaha for $500, rebought seven times in the FTOPS $100 rebuy, and by the time the dust had settled I was in the hole for about $2400 which is about 25% of my current online bankroll. I guess I need to have a think about bankroll strategy from now on, as much more of this and my online reserves will be depleted to nothing, and I don't really want to reload if I can help it.

In the Omaha I put someone in with my top set against their open ended straight flush draw and they got there. That left me down to about 3k from a 6k starting stack, and someone called my pot bet on the turn, again against my top set to hit their gutshot wheel draw and stacked me on the river, when I didn't believe that someone would have called me with that draw.

The Full Tilt $322 short handed ended early when I ran QQ into KK on a very aggro table. The FTOPs $100 rebuy saw me build up quite a good stack after a rebuy splurge early on. However, after about 2 hours I held AQ on a Queen high board with nut flush backdoor draw, but the other guy had AA and that was that.

The middle section of the night saw me run very badly - I lost a string of all ins - AA v KK, KK v JJ and about 5 hands were I was dominating (AQ v AJ, AK v AQ etc). Combining this with losing 3 races in a row left me sitting alone at 3am in front of the PC, with a manical look in my eye chain smoking. It also began to affect my game - badly. For about 2 hours I went from loose aggressive to a horrible spewey maniac, which clearly didn't generate any results.

I pulled myself together in the last hour or so and placed about 15th in the FT 40k guaranteed, although given I was 2nd with 18 remaining with a 150k stack wasn't much to shout about. I four bet shoved the loose aggressive chip leader with AQ and of course he had AK. Well played me.......

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,145
Live Holdem Cash 1,655
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 160
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,901
Online Holdem Cash 16,552
Online Omaha 710
Sundry 1210
Rake (5,515)

62,911

A very brief update as I'm feeling a bit uninspired today. I seemed to spend the entire tournament short stacked at LC's £50 League night yesterday, and must have been all in about ten times during the course of the evening.

I picked my spots well, but the end had to come eventually. With 6 players remaining, and blinds at 300-600 Sonny min-raises blind UTG to 1200. I decide to shove in for my 3.5k stack with T8 off, as he's folding half of his potential holdings here, despite having a big stack. Unfortunately I get looked up by someone on the button holding AJ and that was that.

The cash game was enjoyable - I played a couple of fun pots with McDee, one where he got me off a paired Ace with pocket 4s, and the other where I got a fold from him when I re-raised the river with Ace high. I registered a £200 win for the night, so my cash game is ticking along nicely at the moment. It would have been a lot more, but I rashly put Honest Dave all in holding AK on an A, 6, 9 board. He gleefully called with a set of 6s, and I think I lost £200 in that pot. I'm considering stepping around him at the cash table at the moment, as he seems to be on a real heater.

I'm going to get an early night tonight ahead of FTOPs tomorrow, although this may not be possible as I'm dog-sitting my mum's loud, deaf 98 year old dog who is affectionately known as "Death". He picked up this nickname from Shazbo, as she is certain his insides have long since rotted away judging by the various aromas which are periodically emitted from the beast.

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,145
Live Holdem Cash 1,655
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 160
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,654
Online Holdem Cash 16,552
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1210
Rake (5,346)

65,333

I tried something a bit out of the box last night, which didn't work, but I hit a 4 outer on the river to save the day.

I popped down to the Loose Cannon to play the £10 rebuy tournament, followed by some dealer's choice cash. The field was small - Sonny and Roy made up the numbers together with myself, Fluke, The Baron and a new guy. We made the rebuys unlimited for the first 40 minutes, which led to a nice pot and some pretty big chip stacks. At one point I had a 25k stack with blinds of 150-300 after eliminating Fluke. I ran pretty well, and bossed the tournament from the first round, but ended up chopping it with Sonny for £100 each, after he hit runner runner when I was on the verge of outright victory. Still, I was only in for £20 so I banked a decent profit.

The cash game went extremely well - I bought in for £100 and cashed out for a profit of about £400, recouping my losses from the home game the previous night. It was dealer's choice, so there was 5/6/7/11 card Omaha, 2-7 lowball, triple draw, 3-2-1 Omaha, River blood and Deuces wild together with the standard holdem, irish and Omaha fare.

The interesting hand comes up in Irish - and The Baron is frankly still grumpy about it. In this variant, you were required to show your discarded card face up.

I hold Ah4c5h and raise to £3 - I get two callers, including the Baron.

Flop arrives As, 3c, Jh

At this point I decide to try something a bit different. I discard the Ace face up to the other players. Now, the only rational reason you would do this would be either that you hit a set with your other cards, or you had a huge combination draw. Since the board was discombobulated, in the minds of the other players I must have a set (well this was my thinking in any case). The Baron, undeterred by my show of massive fake strength bets £10 into the pot, and I decide to float, with the intention of putting him all in for his last £18 on the river (again consistent with a set). However, disaster for my strategy strikes when the Baron beats me to the shove on the river, and I am left with a gutshot straight draw with no odds to call. I am so disappointed that he hasn't fallen for my majestic discard bluff strategy, that I spite call him for the £18. My inventiveness is rewarded with a 2 on the river to fill my straight and I scoop the pot. Baron not happy.

The other big pot also comes against the Baron and is the one reason I don't like Omaha. Invariably in cash games agressive players will get all in on the flop or turn, where one of them has the nuts and the other one has a huge draw. This makes the game extremely swingy. Fortunately I came out in front on this one, in a fairly big pot of £250ish I think. I held the nut straight, but with only one redraw to a bigger straight, whereas the Baron had a house draw and a flush draw. The money went in on the turn, so I am ahead, but I have a ton of cards to fade to pick up the pot and fortunately I do.

A busy week of live action will be concluded tonight with the League night at LC. After that it's a rest day, before hitting the FTOPs Omaha $500 event on Saturday.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,245
Live Holdem Cash 1,205
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 160
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,654
Online Holdem Cash 16,552
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1210
Rake (5,286)

65,043

I'm not one for poker lingo, but at The Baron's impromptu home cash game last night, I lost £330 in two consecutive hands - the first when someone who shall remain nameless played the role of ultimate "calling station", and then to a "cooler".

I guess the combination of these results in a "Cooling Station", which apparently is an ice cream specialist in Highwood, Illinois whose signature production is ice cream cakes. Their motto is "Get Cool, Be Cool, Stay Cool", which I certainly did not. After a brief hissy fit on the balcony, I said my goodbyes and left.

Before these hands, things weren't going very well. I was on a stack of about £330 having bought in for £400 - I wasn't getting hole cards or hitting flops, and got drawn out against on a couple of occasions. However, I hadn't really stepped out of line in 3 hours, so I was fairly shocked at the hand that followed.

I raise to £4 with 24off. Mini Baron re-raises to £12. Calling station villain calls. I make it £36 and mini Baron passes, but Villain of course calls. I decide that I am going to pot any non-ace flop, and it duely arrives K, J, 7 rainbow. I bet the pot of £100 odd which puts the Villain all in. He SNAP calls with JT for middle pair, no draw and I am crushed. Sigh.

That leaves me with about £150ish which is then lost in the cooler. I raise to £4 with 77 and Wilkinson calls on the button I think.

Flop arrives a promising looking 7 5 4 with a couple of clubs. Can't remember how the betting went, but we got all the chips in and Wilkinson has the straight with 3c6c and a redraw to a flush. I hit my nut full house on the river, but along the way Wilkinson has picked up a straight flush and that is me done! I guess I am behind all the way on this hand, pre-flop aside, but I can't really see it playing out any different.

A £397 loss for the night - considering popping in for the £10 rebuy tonight just to exorcise the demons, as at the moment I don't feel playing poker at all.

On the plus side, at least I got a full night's sleep - 2 of the home game players ended up in The International till 7am, so I suppose £400 is worth it to not feel as ropey as they do right now ;)


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,065
Live Holdem Cash 475
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 160
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,654
Online Holdem Cash 16,552
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1210
Rake (5,286)

64,133

Professor Jalfont won a seat at the PCA EPT event this weekend, to be held in the Bahamas in January, so huge congratulations to him. He fought off a huge field to win a $30 rebuy on Stars to take down the $13k package which is a great achievement.

He kindly offered me the guest seat on the plane and at the hotel, but the fact that early January is when I am needed at work the most, combined with a $10k Main Event entry fee and a plunging GBP exchange rate has meant that I have to decline the offer. Also, with the economy in such a fragile state, it's probably best I don't race half way across the work to blow such a large amount on a single poker tournament when I could very easily be out of a job next year. Next time, Jalfont!

Anyhow, I'll get the Professor to blog his Main Event report when he returns in mid January. Fingers crossed it will be a long one.

Tonight sees a spontaneous home game at the Baron's. Short handed fare expected, including Fluke, Jody and Honest Dave. It will doubtless be brutal, and I'll report on the anticipated comedy £400 pots with middle pair verses a draw tomorrow.

Thursday, I'll play the League night at Loose Cannon, before getting an earlyish night to rest for Saturday's bumper online session, which will include the FTOPS Omaha $500 and the FTOPS NLHE $100 rebuy. A big score would do nicely in the current economic climate...........

The Pakistani cricket team has suffered from a frustrating recurring issue over the last 15 years, namely that there is about a 70% chance that both openers will be back in the pavillion within 10 overs of a Test Match. Numerous combinations have been tried over the years - among others Elahi, Butt, Umar, Nazir, Hameed, Hafeez and Farhat have all been given a spin. The situation got so desperate they even experimented with a hit and miss slogger (Afridi) and the wicket keeper (Akmal).

These failures have severely limited Pakistan's effectiveness as a Test nation, often exposing the classy middle order to the perils of the new ball ahead of schedule. The opener's primary job is to see off the new ball, so when the key batsmen at 3 (Khan), 4 (Youhana) and 5 (Inzy) arrive at the crease, they can face slightly better conditions to manufacture big scores. I remember numerous matches when Inzy would trundle to the crease just before lunch, visibly upset at the prospect of doing a full day's batting.

On Thursday night I got to play the role of the Pakistani opener on my return to the live arena for the £50 Loose Cannon tournament. I was first man out, about 5 minutes into the 2nd level. I had poked around during the first level, and had about 3800 chips from my original starting stack of 4k when the following hand came up.

Jody raises UTG to 300, I re-raise to 1100 with QQ in the cut off. Jody flat calls.

Flop is all rags. Jody leads for 500, a very suspicious bet. I make it 1500 to play and Jody flat calls. I'm not sure how I feel about my raise on the flop - I think I have to define my hand, but once I raise to 1500 I am pot committed. In this case my raise was the equivilant of the Pakistani opener chasing some wide ball down the leg side and being caught in the outfield. Once Jody bets 500 on the turn I know I am toast but put in my last 900 chips. I expect to be shown a set, but Jody flips a rather defensively played KK to bust me. The flat call on the flop and the small lead out made it hard for me to put him on a hand here. I think if you are going to flat call the pre-flop re-raise, a more logical line, out of position, would be to check shove on me on the flop. It did the trick in any case - in a deeper stacked tournament I could certainly get away, but not with these relatively shallow stacks.

I won about £200 before tips/rake in the cash game, more through luck than good play. I won a number of set ups (eg being dealt AA v QQ verses Uncle Paulie short handed), and also took three big pots of the Baron, one of which was a good call, the others were suck outs on my part. Given the fact that I also stacked the other Tom, I should have ended more than £200 up were it not for some reckless bluffs being called down. Not happy with the cash play, so hopefully I can play better next week.

And, of course, in the tournaments next week I hope to give the scoreboard keepers some work to do!

Sunday's tournaments didn't work out well - I played 6 and only cashed in 1 for an $800 dollar loss on the evening. The lowlights:

PokerStars Sunday Warmup
Started well in this one - moved my 10k starting stack up up to 25k, primarily because some guy was happy to call off their last 5k on a ten high flush draw, on the turn against my set. Then this little belter comes up. Big stack (50k) raises to 1800 (blinds 300-600) in the cut off and I defend with Ah9d. I would let this go against a tight player, but the big stack has been splashing around a lot.

Flop is 9s, 8h, 5d

I check, he bets 4k, I check-raise him to 12k. He shoves for my last 11k and I decide to call him for a shot at the 50k pot, but fearing the worst. However he has 6s8s for mid pair and a gutshot, but no worries, he hits running spades to bust me. I almost fell off my chair at that one - it's not the worst beat in the world, but I simply can't see what he is trying to achieve with his shove - it's hard for me to put down most hands having already bunged 60 odd percent of my stack in the middle. Very disappointed with this one - I should have either moved on with a 6k bigger stack, or been in a really commanding position in the tournament.

Full Tilt Brawl
Doubled my opening stack to 6k, before going back down to 3k to a guy who held AA on a JT844 board (I held JT in the hole). My exit hand occurred very shortly after the debacle on the Sunday warm up above, so I may well have played it differently had I not had steam still coming out of my ears.

I was holding JT and got it in on a QT9 flop, as I had middle pair and open ended straight. However, my opponent had one of the worst possible holding - QJ - the same draw but a bigger pair to leave me drawing very thin.

Crypto 40k
Bled away about 800 of my 3k starting stack by playing too many hands, then this occurs: Player raises UTG to 150 and I find TT in the hole. I want to define my hand here, so raise in late position to 400 and he flat calls. At this point I put him on AQ, AJ, JJ, or any lower pair than mine.

Flop arrives 9, 4, 7 rainbow.

Checked to me which confirms my read on his holding so I lead for the pot with a bet of 950 leaving just 900 behind. However, when he check raises me all in, I know I am probably toast, but have to call for the size of the pot, and he shows KK for a well played hand and busts me.

Party 300k
Success of sorts - I finished 113th for $480. As always in these tournaments, the prizes that matter are at the top, so it wasn't enough to rescue my evening. I played very well in this one early on, building my stack up to 35k from the 5k starting stack. However, I didn't really kick on from there, and once we were approaching the bubble at 200 players, I decided to tighten up as I have had too many bubble disasters in recent weeks. The bubble bursts, but by the time it does nearly all players are moderately short stacked with blinds of 3k and 6k. I pushbot my way up to 60k, before getting greedy and returning to short stack 30k status after shoving J4 in the cutoff. I eventually bust shoving A7 in an unopened pot and getting a customer holding AJ.

Sunday Million
The fact I was playing very tight on the other table in the Party tournament, meant that I found myself playing too loose in the Sunday Million. I fluctuated wildly between 10k and 6k playing all manner of suited gappers trying to hit a disguised monster. When the blinds rose to 300-600, I tightened up, as with 7k in my stack I needed to find a spot to double up, or at least add some breathing room. I found it, when a loose medium stack raiser opened to 1800 in mid posit on and was called by a large stack behind. I shoved A9 in the BB for 7k total on the squeeze, and was snap called by the initial raiser. I was pleasantly surprised to see 88 (not sure how he finds a call so easily with the big stack behind him - if the big stack has AQ for example he is likely to call after the opening raiser has now gives him such good odds). The race was on, but I lost, and with it my tournament life.

I'm back at the Loose Cannon for a live game on Thursday, and that will kick off a busy 6 weeks or so. Several FTOPs events are on the horizon, as well as a busy live schedule. I'll also be taking a Monday off work, so I can play the full Sunday programme some time in November. Time to fatten up the bankroll for next year I hope.

Also, interesting to note that while I registered a $500 loss for the period online, I was slightly up on poker, but spent about $550 on online rake. Food for thought!


October Challenge (FINAL) ($)
Goal 6,000
Bankroll 2,504
P&L Tournaments (496)


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,165
Live Holdem Cash 175
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 960
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,654
Online Holdem Cash 16,552
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1210
Rake (5,176)

64,843

Had an unproductive online session on Friday night, losing about $500 worth of buy ins. Nothing much to report - didn't run particularly well, but didn't play well either to be honest.

Tonight I'm having a run at the Sunday tournaments for an outlay of about $1k. The sun is setting on my October challenge - I'll update my stats tomorrow, but if I come up dry I'll be about $800 down for the challenge which is disappointing.

On a distressing note, I was driving up the M40 yesterday afternoon when I saw a lorry coming the other way. It was across all three lanes, and sliding on its side. This seemed to be mildly distracting for the drivers on my side of the motorway - some doughnut in front of me actually slowed down to about 20mph in the fast lane to watch, and I nearly ended up sitting in his back seat. Well played mate - not dangerous at all. Several cars were hit by the out of control lorry - hopefully casualties weren't too bad, but Shazbo was travelling the road about 30 mins later and reported covered up bodies by the side of the road so it doesn't sound good. A stark reminder of our own mortality.

Going to rest now ahead of my final assault on hitting my October target. I'll write up the tournaments tomorrow - but whatever happens, it's only money I guess.

After online success last week, this midweek session produced very little of note. I played my standard batch of 5 tournaments, and busted from all of them out of the money.

The $10 PS/$24FT/$55FT were all fairly uneventful and hardly worth blogging. Just a combination of lack of cards, and being cold decked a couple of times, resulted in me exiting the tournaments early on.

The $163 FT event was going reasonably after the first break, when I raised pre-flop with Aces attracting two callers. By the time one of my opponents check-raised me all in on the turn, on a low flop, I had committed about 60% of my stack and felt obliged to call. I was fairly certain he had a set (which he did), but due to the flop there was enough chance someone was getting carried away with JJ or TT to justify the call. My opponent had flopped a set of 4s and I was gone.

The $55 PS event had a more explosive start. At the first break I was sitting in 3rd position with 18k in my stack (from a 3k start). A fair whack of this came from limping on the button with 4s5s and flopping a rather pleasing 3,6,7 rainbow for the nuts. The UTG limper in the hand then went potty with his "disguised" pocket Aces and we got it all in on the flop, with him drawing very thin indeed. After the break I lost a crucial pot - mid position raised to 450, I make it 1100 with AK and the big blind shoves it in for 6k. The early raiser calls for his last 5k or so. I decide to gamble that they have stepped slightly out of line, because I still will have 12k behind if I lose this 17k pot. It turns out to be a good call, as I am against AQ and JJ, but the Jacks unfortunately hold for a monster pot. Despite being way above average, I never really regain my momentum, and end up busting about 40 short of the money. I had 12k remaining at the time, which was starting to look short, but still a meaningful hit to the bigger stacks. Unfortunately, when I picked a spot to re-steal, the big blind woke up with AK and picked me off.

Time is now running short on my challenge, and I look unlikely to meet my target. As a result, I've decided to play a small schedule of Sunday tournaments this week to try and get things back on track. I'll play the Sunday Million and Sunday Warm-up on Stars, the Brawl on Full Tilt, and the crypto 40k guaranteed. I'll report on progress next week. I'll be interested to see the difference in standard between these and my standard tournaments (you must remember it has been a long time since I've played a Sunday). All the big guns will be out to play no doubt.

Also, my month in Elba is almost at a close, so I will be returning to live action a week today (Thursday) and it will be interesting to see if my style changes after so many hours online. I'll be down at the Loose Cannon for the £50 league night - don't everybody cheer at once ;)



October Challenge ($)
Goal 6,000
Bankroll 3,772
P&L Tournaments 772

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,165
Live Holdem Cash 175
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 920
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,603
Online Holdem Cash 16,526
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1244
Rake (4,747)

65,155

My home game was a smaller affair than usual, but a great evening nonetheless. 7 runners attended - myself, Shazbo, Jody, Debs, Professor Jalfont, The Doctor and Deven. Unlike many home games, nobody really won or lost a huge amount - I think Dev was probably the biggest winner, although I am unsure what his final total was. As for myself I lost £100 in the tournaments, but won back £120 in the cash game to register a tiny profit.

One rather worrying aspect was that I found myself frequently frustrated to be only playing one game, since I am now reacclimatised to playing up to 6 tables at a time online. In cash I am generaly a loose player so it doesn't really matter what I am being dealt, as I can still play many hands, but I found it infuriating in the tournament when I went card dead. Due to frequent raisers to my right, I just couldn't get myself into the game without putting it all on the line with a marginal holding. I hope this impatience doesn't wreck my game when I return to live action in a couple of weeks.

There was one interesting hand to blog from the tournament. I have 3.2k in chips, and am probably in last place, with blinds of 150-300. There have been some serial pre-flop raisers so far, and I find JJ UTG. This is pretty tough to play with my stack size. I can either raise as normal, and take it as it comes on the flop. However, this will leave me with 2200 if I get a bad flop, and in real trouble. I decide to be more unconvential and limp with my JJ, which is a hugely dangerous play, but I figure there is a decent chance someone will pop it up to 1200 and I can shove for my last 3k, and make it look like Aces. Some people might argue I am turning JJ into a bluff here, but I think it works well with my stack size.

Anyway............everybody calls. Great - that worked.

Flop arrives 7,9,10

This is not the worst flop in the world, but clearly I am worried about the straight potential out there. With 1500 in the pot, I decide to shove for my last 2900 to take it down, but Jalfont has a set of 7s and I am toast. I think the hand is unavoidable, as if I raise to 900, Geoff probably calls with 77 and I get it all in anyway on the low flop.

Back in the online world, I see there is another FTOPs festival coming up on Full Tilt. I have one more big Saturday and Sunday session lined up this year, as well as my usual midweek schedule, so I have targeted the following events:

Sat 8th: $535 PLO
Sat 8th: $109 NLHE rebuy
Tues 11th: $216 Round of each
Sun 16th: $129 NLHE
Sun 17th: $535 NLHE

I guess the whole lot including the rebuys will cost a little shy of $2k, so it would be great to register one or two decent cashes in these. On the Sunday, I've also set aside some bankroll to play the usual big Sunday tournaments as well, so that night will really be a long slog. I'm really looking forward to the Sunday tournaments, as I so rarely get a chance to play them with work comittments.

Congratulations go to Deven, who registered a meaty 4 figure win on a Full Tilt Sunday tournament. On the flip side of the coin, he finished at 5:30am on the Monday, and had neglected to book the day off work so a nightmare start to the week workwise. That age old question - "shall I bother having one hour sleep?"

Poor old Pete Best. Talk about missing the gravy train - one minute he's happily playing the Hamburg club circuit in a young band known as The Beatles, and the next he's been kicked out, just as they have secured a recording contract. To rub salt in the wounds, he briefly thinks he has been replaced by a dog, before realising that a man can actually be called "Ringo".

I guess Best never really fitted in to the band - he dressed differently, abstained from drugs and preferred time on his own, whilst the others were going potty around the Reeperbaum. His popularity with the female contingent of the early Beatles' following was also a source of irritation for Lennon, and once Abbey studios decided they weren't too keen on his drumming during a recording session in early 1962, there could only be one outcome.

In poker terms, I still have a feeling of what might have been from last night. I played phenomenally well - probably the best I have ever played online I think, even surpassing the FTOPs success (and this is saying something as I am normally pretty critical of my own play).

Even when I am back on the live poker scene in a few weeks, I aim to play online midweek, once a week. I've come up with a schedule for these weekday forays:

7pm FT 27.5k guaranteed ($26 buy in, 2500 runners)
7pm PS 30k guaranteed ($10 buy in, 3500 runners)
8pm FT 75k guaranteed ($162 buy in, 350 runners)
8pm PS 80k guaranteed ($55 buy in, 1800 runners)
830pm FT 20k guaranteed ($55 buy in, 350 runners)

I think this schedule doesn't stretch the bankroll too much, provides a shot at a big win and also prevents me going to bed at a stupid hour on a school night. I guess the first 2 tournaments are odd choices, normally below my bankroll but:

A) the top prizes are significant
B) there is a lot of shoving involved, and I should be better at picking spots than a lot of my opponents.
C) they are really fun

Astonishingly, I final tabled both of the 7pm events fighting off a combined total of 6000 players to take my seats at the end game. I also cashed in the 20k, and was only eliminated from the other two after suffering outdraws. Like I said, on form. However, at $1950 up for the night, I can't help feel that I should have won a truck load more. I busted 6th and 8th respectively on my FTs, after arriving at them 3rd and 4th in chips. The prize jumps were steep in both, at $500+ a spot.

Quick summary:

FT 27.5k
Played very aggressively, and people were far too tight once the final table was in sight. I picked up so many blinds uncontested I was chip leader with about 15 remaining. Unfortunately, at this point the wheels came off a little, and I had to make several lay downs when I had open raised the pot. I then lost a huge pot for the chip lead 77 v AQ all in pre flop, and that left me in 5th spot with 6 remaining. I shoved my last (still substantial stack) in with AQ and was called by the big blind with A5 and he spiked a 5 to bust me in 6th for $1350.

PS 30k
Again built a huge stack with aggression, and also picked some nice spots for resteals. Was sitting 7th of 8 at the time of my exit. However, I had over 1 million in my stack and the chip leader only had 1.6 million so it was any one's game. The blinds were 50k/100k, so everyone had 10-15 blinds remaining. I find AhKh UTG and stick it in. The big blind calls with AdQd and flops a flush. Really gutted about this one, as would have been chip leader if my hand holds. I am out and win $750.

FT 75k
I fly up to 12k from 3k starting stack fairly early on, and am sitting in about 15th place. After the second break, I have trodden water at 13k, but am still in the top 40 or so. Someone raises UTG to 1200, and I find QQ in mid position and make it 3600. He shoves for 15k total and I make the call, to be shown Ah9h. I flop a set, but he makes a straight to bust me. His play is so bad in so many ways. Recently I have prided myself on not tilting online, but I am close to the edge after this one. You just don't expect it in a $150 tournament.

PS 80k
I run my 3k stack up to 8k in the first 2 levels, before getting into a pre-flop raising war with the other big stack. We get it all in - I have AA verses his KK, so it looks good for an early chip lead, but he flops a King and I am knocked out. Hand plays itself really - just one of those things.

FT 20k
I build a big stack early (again), but am not going anywhere fast as we plod into the money. The tournament pays 65 places, and I wriggle up the ladder, as with 45 remaining I am still clinging on in 41st place. I still have 15 blinds though, so no need to worry yet. However, when I find AQ in the cutoff I decide to just bang it in as i don't want to lay down post flop if I miss. I get called by the BB who has A5 and he flops a 5 to bust me.

As you can see, I played really well, and generally got my money in good. I just can't help wondering what might have been on the final tables.

Missing out on the big one...........Pete Best must have mused what he had done wrong when the Beatles roared into the charts and registered their first number 1 in 1963. I felt similarly despondent when my huge mound of chips disappeared to the AQ villain on the PS final table. Oh, and the title of the Beatles first UK number one? "From Me To You". How apt.


October Challenge ($)
Goal 6,000
Bankroll 4,082
P&L Tournaments 1,082


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,165
Live Holdem Cash 175
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 920
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,603
Online Holdem Cash 16,526
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1244
Rake (4,747)

65,155

Meltdown

noun

1) (in a nuclear reactor) the melting of the fuel rods, escape radioactivity
2) a sudden disastrous failure

Utter frustration. After playing pretty well during my 10 hour Saturday session online (I had made 5 cashes in various events), I was going strong in my final event - the Full Tilt 75k Guaranteed. My other 4 cashes had been in the minor placings, but in this event I was 4th of 10 remaining runners. My beady eyes were on the first place payout of 19k USD, but in fact any place in the top 6 would have made the night a decent success.

In the blink of an eye, 3 hands later I was out - and didn't even make the final table. The $750 earned for 10th spot, meant that I was up about $200 for my night's efforts, but I went away feeling deeply disappointed to not convert this chance of a big score.

For the record "The Meltdown Three":

1)We are 5 handed, I raise to 20k with A8 on the button and the short stack goes all in for 80k. I will be left with 200k left if I call. I have been the most active by far in opening pots, so I am everyone's target for resteals. I probably should have dumped this, but called and it wasn't a resteal after all and he had AQ to reduce me to 200k.

2)UTG raises to 30k and I find A9 in the big blind. I put him all in for 160k total and he calls with KJ. I lose and am down to 60k.

3) I shove my last 60k in a few hands later with JT and get called by 9T in the BB, and he binks a 9 on the flop.

For a minute I just sat staring at the screen as the action moved to the final table and everyone started congratulating themselves :( Oh well - chance missed, but at least I am starting to get a bit of form together.

One of the other events I cashed in was the Full Tilt Heads-up tournament, which made a change from the usual NLHE. I made it down to the final 32, after receiving a first round bye and then beating my next 2 opponents reasonably comfortably. The majority of my cash winnings came from 25/50 headsup sessions when I was better rolled, so I know how to play the single opponent game.

My style is pretty unorthodox, and seems to confuse a lot of the headsup regulars. In a static blind scenario (cash) or low blinds relative to stacks (early tournament), I will always play loose passive pre-flop (i.e. limp call). I will do this with Aces, or 45o. The advantages of this several fold. Regular headsup players will generally raise nearly every hand if you are passive, so this means the pots get built up by them when you have a good hand. In addition, the opponent can never put you on a hand, and will in all probability think I am a "fish" who just plays every hand passively. However, my post flop play is very agressive, whether I have a made hand or a draw, and again this creates deception. Due to my pre-flop passivity, my opponents generally feel that they are in control of the hand, and my rapid post flop gear change confuses them. This style goes out of the window when blinds are bigger, and stealing actually becomes worthwhile.

As I said, my style is unorthodox, and many headsup players might disagree with it, but it works for me. My last 32 place earned me a minimum prize of $200, and I was in control of that match as well, until my opponent got back in the game hitting a 5 outer on the river, before calling my top pair check raise all in with a flush draw, and hitting his spade on the turn.

I played a ton of tournaments on Saturday, hence my rather miserly profit despite the 5 cashes. I think there were too many tournaments to remember in detail, but I can share two rather amusing exit hands (neither are bad beats):

1) I have noticed that one guy is raising frequently and continuation betting all the time. I decide next time he does it I will come over the top of him. The blinds are 50-100 I think, my stack is 3k and his is 4k, so we are not short by any means. Anyway, sure enough he raises it up to 300 soon after and I call him with J9o in the BB. Flop arrives 2, 5, 6 rainbow and I check to the raiser. He continuation bets the pot for 700, and I check raise all in for 2.7k total. He calls INSTANTLY, doesn't even think about it, so it must be a monster. He in fact has AK high which holds and wins the pot! I was stunned and actually thought for a second he had one of these mysterious "superuser" accounts, but on reflection he was probably just a donkey.

2) Folded round and I complete the SB to 150 with 45o (we are quite deep at 5k each). Flop arrives a magnificent 2, 3, 6 rainbow. I check the nuts and BB leads for 300 which I flat call. Turn is a 5, which isn't helpful, but probably will be ok. I lead this time for 700 and am check raised all in. I call and he has 47o for the turned bigger straight. Splendid :)

Anyhow - success in my October challenge is looking unlikely now, as I only have time for 3 more online sessions before the end of the month. I'll need to luckbox a big score in one of those sessions to make my target, so fingers crossed. At least I now have a string of cash finishes to my name, so I am feeling pretty confident about things now.

It's my home game on Saturday, and I am itching to play some live poker again. The feel of cards and chips in your hands, and the slide of the felt. Can't wait.

I'll squeeze in an online session tomorrow or Wednesday I guess.

October Challenge ($)
Goal 6,000
Bankroll 2,107
P&L Tournaments (893)


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,165
Live Holdem Cash 175
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 920
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,603
Online Holdem Cash 16,526
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1244
Rake (4,747)

65,155

I played 4 tournaments last night and then decided to stop for the evening, when I was eliminated from all of them in short order. I think the longest I lasted was about 90 minutes. I didn't really do too much wrong - just got in marginal situations where I didn't hold up when small favourite. I'm not really too fussed about my barren run this month - this happens, and I know I have the game to get a really big score online at some point, as I've shown several times in the past.

In terms of my October challenge, it's looking like Saturday's planned marathon is going to pretty pivotal to whether I achieve that goal or not. Fail on Saturday, and I'll be clinging to the hope of a random big score on the last few online sessions planned for the rest of the month. Otherwise no UKPT Grand Final for me. In some ways, that might not be a bad thing, in that I can use my sacred last day of holiday this year to book a monday off, and blitz the Sunday online programme.

Anyhow - to the 4 tournaments I played last night:

UB - 8k Guaranteed Rebuy
This one had an odd structure - $30 to buy in, plus one hour of rebuys (each buy in gets you 1500 units). Then, you have the option of a double add on for $60 which gets you 6000 units! Very strange. Anyway, I decided to go in with a $150 budget allowing for 2 rebuys to build a stack. 3 hands did for my rebuys:
- My AJ v AQ all in on the turn - board A,10,9,8 giving me top pair + open ended
- My KK v QJ v Q9 all in pre-flop
- MY AK v JJ v J9 all in pre-flop
After this sequence, I decided it probably wasn't going to be my night in this particular tournie, and quit $90 lighter.

PokerStars 80k Guaranteed
I get up to 4000 quite early with KK, when someone plays K2 hard against me and I have a set. However, not much happens for an hour or so, and I have dribbled back down to about 3k when my exit hand occurs. I get into a cheap 5 way pot with As6s
Flop Jd, 4s, 3s
Someone bets the pot of 800 and gets a flat call. Now, I'm normally not a fan of the "shove with a nut flush draw" approach, but in this case it has merit. With 2000 in the middle, blinds of 75-150, and my stack at 2900, this look a good spot to gamble with my nut draw to try and get a decent stack (bare in mind there are still 800 odd runners left at this point). I shove and get called by JT (the flat caller was still to act, so this guy was definitely in the mood for a gamble). We go heads up for the 8k pot, and I hit my flush with the Js, but he hits a house to eliminate me. I think my play was right there, when you consider my fold equity, size of pot, size of field, stack sizes and blinds. He really should be passing JT there with someone still to act in any case.

Full Tilt 50k Guaranteed
Not sure how I feel about my exit hand in this one. A pretty big pot develops early on between myself, on the button, and the BB.
I hold KsJh
Board on the turn is J,T,6,4 with three hearts.
The final action involves him having to call 1300 more into a 4.2k pot. I have top pair with a Jack flush draw as mini insurance. He is getting a bit more than 3-1 on his money, and he makes the call with AcQh. He has the 8 remaining hearts for the bigger flush, as well as the 3 remaining Kings for the straight as well as the aces and queens. These outs just about justify the call, but it's fair to say he couldn't possibly know he had all these outs, as his flush draw could be dead, as could his Aces and Queens. Irrespective of him having the odds, I am still commanding favourite to take a big pot early on, but another heart pops up on the river and it's an early bath for me.

Full Tilt 30k Guaranteed
This is the only tournament where I got my money in really bad, but I was pretty cold decked, truth be told. This was going well early on - a comedian 3 bet me pre-flop with 72o, getting me to be cautious with AK. However, he didn't follow up on his pre-flop aggression on a dangerous board, allowing me to figure it out on the end, and call his river lunge with Ace high, winning a nice pot. I won a few more pots to sit with 3k (from the 2k start), when the following hand occurred after about 90 mins play. 4 limpers for 100, and I make up the SB with 5h7h.
Flop comes 2, 5, 7 rainbow
This looks perfect - I have a limped big pair beat, and there are no straights or flushes available.
I bet the pot of 600, and get called by BB and one the limpers.
Turn in a King bringing the second diamond.
The pot is now a whopping 2200 and I decide to try and just take it down by shoving my last 2300 in the middle. I get insta-called by the BB. The other guy tanks for about 45 seconds before calling with.........a set of 5s. What was he thinking was beating him? KK raises pre-flop from our position in the blinds with so many limpers, so he only has to worry about the remote possibility of 77. The BB made a terrible call for his tournie life with the open ended straight draw. No miracle 7 for me, and we are both busted by the set. Not sure if I can avoid that or not - probably not - it's fairly early in the tournament and the pot is significant on the turn. Probably just one of those hands.

A disappointing night, although at least I didn't waste too many hours, which is always a worry with these mammoth tournaments. I am chomping at the bit to get back and play again, which is a good sign. However, I'm going to be disciplined and have two early nights ahead of the big Saturday session. I'll blog again Sunday or Monday.

October Challenge ($)
Goal 6,000
Bankroll 1,907
P&L Tournaments (1093)

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,165
Live Holdem Cash 175
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 920
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,603
Online Holdem Cash 16,526
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1244
Rake (4,747)

65,155

Before I review last night's online action, a word on Everest Poker. I signed up for this supposedly reputable European site on Monday night, with the aim of playing on there on Tuesday. Having set up my account and deposited $500, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail at lunchtime on Tuesday, informing me that my account had been suspended for my own protection, due to unusual activity. No worries, I'll just call them up. Unbelievably, Everest Poker DO NOT have a telephone contact number. Ok - I'll e-mail them. Oops - no e-mail address. Great. So basically I've deposited $500 to an entity which has suspended my account, but I have no way of contacting them.

Eventually, I get to the bottom of the issue by using their "user-friendly", online form and find out I need to provide them with a multitude of information. They need photo id, photocopy of credit card, credit card statement, as well as some other form I need to fill out. On the positive side, at least they drew the line at asking for a photo of my Johnson.

However, what happens if I send this off and then they don't respond, or there is a problem? Again I have no way of contacting them to resolve it. For Everest not to provide a contact telephone number is a disgrace, and bordering on fraud in my opinion. For any readers considering opening an account at a new site - I'd recommend staying away from Everest.

Anyhow onto last night's unsuccessful action. I built up decent stacks in both the Betfair $150 and the Full Tilt $150, but bust myself out being too aggressive. I guess I'll try to play a bit tighter in the middle stages of play tonight, when I give it another go.

Full Tilt 17.5k Guaranteed
This tournament was going reasonably - after the break I was in the middle of the pack with 6k after gradually doubling my starting stack. Blinds are up to 160-320 and I am in the big blind. The button pots it up to 1120 with 3k behind. I sense a steal so I put him all in with AJ and he decides to call off his whole stack with QT and wins :( I am down to about 1.8k and really struggling, when I jam over an early raiser with AQ, but he as AA and I'm toast.

Betfair - 16k Guaranteed
Well I made a right mess of this one. 2.5k starting stack, and a generous blind structure gives room for manoeuvre. I am upto 4.5k when this happens half an hour after the break. UTG raises to 300 (blinds 50-100) and i call with 88 next to act. No other customers and the flop comes down Jc, 7d, 7c which isn't too bad for my hand. He bets 700, which I read as a standard continuation bet. I raise to 2100 which he ponders for a while. Eventually he shoves for my last 2000 or so (it's most of his chips as well). I now think there is enough chance he has AcKc to justify a call here, so I do, but get shown KJ and am drawing very thin. I overcooked this hand way too much. Should have just tried to hit a set and quit the hand, or perhaps re-raised preflop. My flop re-raise was poor, as I ended up committing myself. I guess there is also an argument for passing as well - my chip stack is healthy, and will find better spots than a mid pair, second to act facing an UTG raise.

Pokerstars - 80k Guaranteed
I made a questionable pass in this one in one of the first few hands. UTG raiser to 80, I flat call with AK, as I want to disguise my hand and the 80 isn't worth taking. SB makes it 360 and then UTG makes it 1080. UTG must have AA or KK I guess, so I pass having only invested 80 in the pot. SB shoves and is insta-called. What do our fearless punters have? SB has JJ while UTG has AQ(!?). Perhaps I should just bung them in with AK here in an online tournament and take my chances for a treble up - you simply can't trust some people online to actually have what they are indicating and thus fold AK or QQ pre-flop. Anyway, the dunce with AQ would have won the pot even if I was in there so no harm done.

For the remainder of this tournament, I just hung around like a bad smell. My stack never moved outside the bands of 2k and 4k and I was there for a good 2.5 hours. Predictably the blinds caught up with me and I shoved KT in an unopened pot in mid position and the BB has AK and I'm done, well short of the money.

Full Tilt - 50k Guaranteed
This tournament was my best showing last night (although that is not saying much). 3k starting stack with about 350 runners, was the format. I had a tough first table, including the world number one online player Moorman, although I had position on him. Our only encounter was straightforward for me, as I flopped top set and managed to coax a few chips out of him. I built my stack up to a peak of 13k - flopping 2 pair and then leading out with the betting, which induced one opponent to shove with TPTK and I held. I also made a very marginal call with QJ against a re-stealer but it held against his 104off (I could easily spare the chips to call this one).

Next to arrive at the table was "El Blondie" Dave Colclough, who I have played with a couple of times on the professional circuit. We had a quick reminisce about my record of being the player who drank the most alcohol ever during an EPT Main Event. This record still stands I am told, despite the best efforts of one of the locals in EPT Dortmund. The write up on that tournament is under EPT Warsaw in the 2007 archive, if anyone wants to re-live that glorious showing.

Anyhow, Dave busted to a bad beat before my own exit hand occurred: I was playing about 11k after getting re-raised a few times, when I found the monster that is J8off in the small blind. At this stage there are about 90 players remaining, 37 get paid and I am sitting in about 40th spot. It is folded round to me and I raise to 900 (blinds 150-300 with a running ante). The BB, who just covers me, re-raises to 2700. This is pretty common online, and his range could still be pretty wide, as he knows my opening range is massive in the SB, in an unopened pot. I decide to represent AA by shoving for 8k more, because I still have plenty of fold equity. Anyhow, after I represented AA my opponent promptly calls with................AA. Well played Jimbo. The flop is a disaster for him, coming 8,9,10, but consecutive bricks give him the deserved huge pot and I am out.

Clearly I overcooked the aggression on several occasions last night, so hopefully I can work on that tonight. My early play seems pretty strong at the moment, and I have little trouble building up decent stacks. I guess I'll try and tighten up after the first 2 hours of play tonight. It would be nice to get a confidence boost ahead of my marathon session on Saturday night.


October Challenge ($)
Goal 6,000
Bankroll 2,272
P&L Tournaments (728)


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,165
Live Holdem Cash 175
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 920
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,603
Online Holdem Cash 16,526
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1244
Rake (4,747)

65,155

I played four tournaments last night - my first foray into online tournaments for months. I cashed in one event, but lost overall. I feel I played pretty well, and got back into the different swing of things in these huge field events pretty quickly. Hopefully, if I play to a similar standard as last night for the rest of the month, I'll have a fighting chance of reaching my 6k target. As always, the key is to go really deep when you do cash, as a significant majority of the time you are going to bust out of the money. Unfortunately I didn't achieve that last night:

Full Tilt $50k Guaranteed
This was a quick event for me. The guy to my right had doubled up to 6k early on, after stacking someone, and he would also be the person to wipe me out just after the first break. Mid position raise to 240, he makes it 900. I shove for 3,500 with AsKs. He tanks for a while and makes the call with JJ and wins the race. Not sure I like his call to be honest, as this early in the tournament I can only have 4 hands there really, and 3 of those crush him. Perhaps he didn't figure me for AA or KK because I shoved as opposed to re-raising, and in addition he had a bit more margin for error after the earlier double up. Whatever his thought process, I'm certainly not making that play with TT or AJ.

Cake Poker - $15k Guaranteed
I took the double buy in at the start, and started very strongly. After the top up at the break I had about 13k which was in the top 5 stacks. By the time the bubble burst a couple of hours later I was up to 42k, but had fallen back into the middle of the pack. With 22 players left, I was busted by losing 2 hands in quick succession. I raise (45k stack) to 5k, which is a pot sized raise in earlyish position with KhQh. The guy two slots down shoves over the top of me for 20k total and it is passed back to me. In a live tournament this would be a likely fold, but re-stealing is common-place from good players online, and I have been opening a lot of pots, so I am a perfect candidate for someone to target. I decide to gamble as the payout structure is very flat up to about 5th place, and he has JJ, but I lose the race to move down to 25k. A few hands later I am in the big blind, and the button shoves for 45k (?) into an unopened pot. I have AQ, and figure this is miles ahead of his range and call to see him flip over K9. The first two cards are Queens, but a Jack and a ten seal my fate, and I bust in 22nd for $140ish.

Betfair $10k Guaranteed
I didn't like this tournament much, as the buy in was steep ($163) to make up for the lack of runners, which was about 70 I think. As a result, they only paid the top 9 spots, although the structure wasn't too bad. From a 3k starting stack I built up to around 9k over a few hours, but whilst sitting in about 18th position, the blinds were getting a bit large for my liking. As a result, I pushed in mid position with AJ to pick up the blinds and antes, but the button flat called, rather than isolating me. Oh dear - must be the bullets...........and it was. Game over.

PokerStars $80k Guaranteed
This tournament started well for me - I manoeuvred up to about 14k (starting stack 3k)with few dramas. I had an AA v KK aipf scenario which contributed 4k of that to be fair. Anyhow, there are about 500 left, 270 get paid and I'm probably just about in the top 150, when this hum-dinger happens. Early position raises to 3k, with only 3k behind, and I find KK in the big blind. I don't mess around as he is pretty committed to the hand and shove, getting a call from JJ. The flop comes blank, club, club, club, club and I lose the 12k pot to the 4 flush. Nice :( I lose another chunk calling a short stack's all in with AK and losing a race, before shoving my last 4k into an unopened pot from the small blind with 7d8d and the big blind wakes up with AJ and I'm done.

So, not a successful night overall, but I thought I played pretty consistently, and if I can keep this level up I can hopefully nab a big score at some point this month.

October Challenge ($)
Goal 6,000
Bankroll 2,672
P&L Tournaments (328)


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,165
Live Holdem Cash 175
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 920
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,603
Online Holdem Cash 16,526
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1244
Rake (4,747)

65,155

We all need a rest from time to time. After a rather over ambitious jaunt across Russia, Napolean spent a brief period exiled on the Tuscan islan of Elba, before regrouping, escaping and then getting a good pasting a year later at Waterloo. For long periods over the last month, my body has felt like a weary french footsoldier plodding across the seemingly never ending Russian terrain, urged into playing endless hours of poker by my dictatorial brain.

In all seriousness, I've realised that I have stopped playing poker to win, and now just play to drink, laugh and enjoy the game. This is not necessary a bad thing in small measures, but it has left me devoid of goals and resulted in me gambling aimlessly. I've also had way too much drink on occasion, and have seen aspects of my character that I really don't like.

As a result, I've decided to stop playing live poker for a month, and concentrate on my online game, which has been neglected for so long now. I've also come up with some basic goals for the next month to keep me focused. I guess the period can be split into two sections - October, which will be all online play, and the remaining months. I'll deal with both in turn.

October
I'm going to chuck $3,000 into my accounts. $2,000 of which I'll use to give me a shot at playing a decent volume of tournaments, and the other $1,000 wlll be used in cash games. I have decided I need to turn this $3,000 into $6,000 by the end of the month, or I won't play in the UKPT Main Event in November ($6,000 buy in).

This is a pretty modest goal in doubling my money, but at least it will give me something to shoot at. I aim to play twice a week - one session of cash, and the other a tournament session. One Saturday in the middle, I'll do a 12 hour stint playing through the night on Stars and FT to try and register a big score on the tournaments. Unfortunately I won't be able to play a Sunday session, because work is so manic at the moment, and I can't afford to take a day off.

November/December
Again modest objectives, but if I can achieve them I can enter next year with confidence:
- Win a further $2,000 playing online cash
- Win $2000 for the period playing live cash
- Win $1000 for the period playing live tournaments

I'm going to keep a mini October P&L to see how I am doing, and I won't update the Main P&L numbers till the end of the month. My first session will either be tonight or next week depending on how I feel.

Hopefully, when I return from my exile, I'll have a different perspective on live play, and won't find myself stationed on St Helena one year later.


October Challenge ($)
Goal 6,000
Bankroll 3,000
P&L Cash NLHE 0
P&L Cash Omaha 0
P&L Tournaments 0


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,165
Live Holdem Cash 175
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 920
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,603
Online Holdem Cash 16,526
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1244
Rake (4,747)

65,155

I've floated along for the last three months since Vegas, with no real aims except to enjoy myself. The results have been predictably uninspired - I've won a little over $1,000 in poker related activity, whilst paying $431 in rake. I'm really not happy with my game (particularly in tournaments), and feel that I am lucky not to be down for the quarter.

As a result, I'll be far more goal orientated in the last 3 months of the year, and hopefully this will inspire me a bit more. I'll come onto that in later posts but for now here are the breakdowns:

Live Holdem Tournament +650
From memory I had a rush early on in the quarter when I was finding it hard to miss, as I'm certainly down for tournaments in the last six weeks or so (in fact I am struggling to remember the last time I cashed). I think this figure is misleading - it's been a very disappointing 3 months.

Live Holdem/Omaha Cash + 1,356
The highlight of the period - I've plugged some pretty significant leaks in my game and am now above break even for the year, which is a decent achievement after frittering away so much cash earlier in the year.

Live "Professional" Tournament (1,120)
I only played in two larger field events - the Gutshot and Virgin Main Events. Both were pretty lacklustre performances, the hands of which are blogged elsewhere. The Gutshot event, in particular, was disappointing, after bluffing off my entire stack in a 70k pot midway through Day 1 after putting myself in a nice position in the middle of the pack.

Home Games +380
Home games tend to have high variance for me - I either seem to win $800 or lose $800. Fortunately this period's batch of games left me on the right side of the line.

Online Holdem Tournaments (1,120)
I remember sitting down for a few sessions in tournaments, early in the period, but my activity in this area is certainly well down. It doesn't surprise me to see a negative in such a small sample.

Online Holdem Cash (500)
PKR - sigh! I'm not having the rub of the green on that site at the moment, although I am admittedly playing too loose.

Online Omaha cash +880
I'm feeling more and more comfortable in this game every time I play. I'm going to put some decent time into this over the next quarter so we shall see how that goes. I'm certain there is easier money in online Omaha, as opposed to online Holdem, particularly at the lower levels.

Sundry +390
I think is the partial staking I received for the Gutshot $1,000 event.

Rake (580)
Helping to pay the boys' wages ;)

As you can see, a pretty mixed bag, and uninspiring overall. Next post I'm going to set out my plans till the close of the year. At least then I can set myself some targets and get motivated again to actually make money, as opposed to just drinking and gambling :)

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,165
Live Holdem Cash 175
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 920
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,603
Online Holdem Cash 16,526
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1244
Rake (4,747)

65,155

220 runners gathered at the Loose Cannon for the Main Event of the Virgin Festival. It was well run, efficient and friendly. With a 10k starting stack and 40 minute blinds, it also offered the players plenty of room for manoeuvre. My chip stack went up and down like a yo-yo, before I was eliminated half way through the day in a monster pot, where I was either unlucky, or misplayed the hand depending on your viewpoint.

My opening table includes Fluke and Briony, so at least I had some advance information on two opponents, although clearly this cuts both ways.

Oddly, in a long tournament like this, I see the first 5 flops of the day, before things calm down.

Hand1
2 limpers I raise to 300 in the SB with QQ and all pass.

Hand2
1 raiser and flat call and I call on the button with 44. I miss and fold to a bet.

Hand3
I see a flop with 9d10d in an unraised pot, but miss completely and pass to a bet.

Hand4
I see a flop with 7h8h in an min-raised pot, but miss completely and pass to a bet.

Hand5
Loose player limps UTG for 50. Briony raises to 250. I find JJ in late position - I want to raise here, but decide to take a flop as Briony is a tight player, and the UTG limp looks a bit suspect. I call and UTG goes to limp raise, but then decides against it and calls.

Flop 6c, 8d, 7h. Hmm.

UTG guy leads for 1500 into a 875 pot! What now?

Birtney informs him that his bet is "ridiculous" and passes. Clearly he has no idea how strong my hand is because I didn't re-raise, but I am seriously worried this guy has an overpair to mine from his pre-flop mannerisms. I don't want to re-raise, as that will commit half my stack, and I'll be kind of committed to the hand then anyway. I take the easy option and pass. At the time I thought this was the right thing to do, but from observing his play later in the day, JJ was probably good there, as he had a tendency to bet small when he had the goods, and overbet when he had a vulnerable hand. Also, a key point here, is that my table image is very loose after seeing EVERY flop so far, so a re-raise here wouldn't get the respect my hand merited.

Anyhow - things now calm down and I fold a fair number of hands.

Hand6
One raise to 150 and a call from the button. I am in the BB and come along with 7h8h.

Flop is 5h, 7c, 8s

I check and opening raiser bets 300 which I call. (was close to check raising here but decided to see what developed on the turn).

Turn is Ace spades.

Raiser bets 600, which I check raise to 1600. He calls. Hmm - bit worried now that Ace has helped him in a big way.

River is Qc

My hand has deteriorated pretty fast. A8, A7, AQ all make sense from the betting. I should have check raised the flop when I had the chance, but I pretty much have to call his 1k river bet just in case he has AK/AJ type hands, but he shows A8 for the bigger two pair on the turn. Sigh - down to 6.5k. I played this one badly.

I then have a quiet level, and am down to about 5k when this hand happens.

Hand7
Briony raises to 600 in mid position and I call on the BB with with AJo

Flop brings a rainbow Ace with rags. I don't really like this scenario as feel there is a decent chance Briony has AQ/AK here. Anyhow, I check and Briony bets 1200. I decide this tournament is going to the dogs, so I shove it in for another 3.2k, figuring she might has QQ or KK here as well and I don't really have any room for manoeuvre. I'd rather ask the question now while I still have enough chips. Briony tanks for a while, so I'm starting to feel more optimistic. She eventually calls with A10 and I double up back to 10k.

Hand8
UTG makes it 800 to play and I find my signature hand 22 in the big blind. I call to see the expected flop of 2, 5, 4
I lead for 2k and the UTG player moves all in, and I pretty much snap his hands off. He has KK and doesn't catch up and I move up to 20k. This highlights the value of playing small pairs in deep stack events - the implied odds are huge.

My table is now broken, and I am assigned to table 2 over in the far corner.

Hand9
Blinds are now 150-300. Very first hand on my new table I pick up TT in the big blind and raise the pot to blast away 3 limpers. They all fold.

I now go very quiet, as the table seems pretty active and I'm not picking up any hole cards.

The 200-400 level starts after the dinner break, and I start off raising 3 pots in a row with garbage, as the blinds are certainly worth stealing now, and a few people aren't back in their seats, and so we are effectively short handed. Unfortunately I meet resistance each time and only win one of the pots with a continuation bet, but have to give up on the others.

I spend the rest of the level, card dead, and just stealing blinds when the opportunity arises. Unfortunately this is not enough to stop me slipping down to 16k stack at the 300-600. I'll still in decent shape, above average, but unfortunately I now lose a 33k pot to bust out of the tournament:

Hand10
I am on the big blind and a guy who has been reasonably active raises on the button to 1800. I defend with QsJs

Flop Qd2h4s

I check, and the guy bets 2.5k. I kind of want to shove on him, but my stack size is really awkward. A shove is a huge overbet, whilst a big check raise commits me to the pot anyway. I make a bad play and just call it.

Turn is a harmless looking 6 of clubs.

I decide I will go to war with the hand now as, the pot is pretty big. My stack just gives him enough fold equity I think if I check raise him all in, so I check. He obliges by betting 4k and I move in, for about 9k more and he calls with Q6 for the turned 2 pair. Sigh. No miracle on the river and I am out.

I really don't like this hand at all, I'm not sure how else to play it though. I hate to have been all in on the turn with top pair, mediocre kicker, but against a button raise, folding pre-flop seems weak, as does folding on the turn. I guess I should have check raised the flop - if he had come over the top of me it would seem QJ was no good, and I could perhaps have played on with my 8k stack. I haven't played well in a tournament since Vegas really, and I'm really disappointed with my game at the moment.

I played cash for hours and hours after the tournament. My wallet contents on Sunday morning told me I won about £200, but I got shamefully drunk on white wine, and have only intermittent recollections of the end of the night :(

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,165
Live Holdem Cash 175
Live Omaha (190)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (7,436)
Home Games 920
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,603
Online Holdem Cash 16,526
Online Omaha 1,210
Sundry 1244
Rake (4,747)

65,155