The Bazza Blog

What next?

2007-09-22T13:19:00.001+01:00

For those of you wondering why there has been a lack of poker updates the answer is pretty simple. I havn't been playing, and at the moment I have no real desire to start playing again. I'd been planning to start playing again this week but just found excuses and reasons not to play. As for what the future holds, I'm not entirely sure, I read other blogs and see people write about their love of the game and that is something which I no longer have. Will it return? Not sure to be honest. I need to start making some decisions about the direction my life is taking.

In the meantime however

QPR v WATFORD 5/4
Gretna v DUNDEE UTD EVENS
KILMARNOCK 4/6 v St Mirren

Look good to me.

Back again

2007-09-20T16:57:00.000+01:00

OK the 100% record has gone with only 2 winners out of 4 on sat, bit disappointing but never mind. I shall get back on track tonight hopefully with:

Aberdeen v DNIPRO 6/4

Having seen Shakthar blitz Celtic on Tuesday I think Dnipro at 6/4 is a very generous price, when you consider that; Scottish clubs (Old Firm aside) have woeful European records in recent years, Aberdeen have started the season poorly and Dnipro are only 3 points behind Shakthar in the Ukranian league.

Tip time

2007-09-15T11:19:00.000+01:00

After lasts weeks Internationals which I leave well alone, I'm back with another tip or 4.

RAITH Evens v Ross County

Two of the favourites for promotion, but for me Raith are the far better side. I fancied them a fortnight ago when they were away to Queens Park @ 6/4 but changed my mind and they duly romped to a 5-2win. I'm not making same mistake this week :).

Montrose v EAST FIFE 10/11

East Fife strengthened significantly in the summer and added a few players with experience at a higher leveland their manager also has a proven track record at this level. They have 5 wins from 5 so far and also knocked St mirren out of the CIS cup so they are a side in form.

Gretna v KILMARNOCK 6/5

Kilmarnock have had an excellent record against the weaker sides in the league and they don't come any weaker than Gretna. I saw them at first hand a fortnight ago and Rangers won 4-0 despite an awful performance. Kilmarnock will miss Naismith but have enough about them to take care of Gretnas motley crue.

HAMILTON 4/7 v Stirling Albion

Short price but should be even shorter. Hamilton have made a flying start in the league with 5 wins from 5 and only conceding 1 goal. In Offiong they have arguably the best striker in the league and will be too strong for newly promoted Striling.

Never in doubt

2007-09-02T22:29:00.001+01:00

Both tips win again (6 from 6). I'll need to start charging for these :). Both sides made heavy weather of it mind you but a win is a win. Rangers also covered the -2 and -3 handicaps despite an awful performance lol. One thing I have stopped doing this season is betting for the hell of it, which I used to do a lot of, particularly when live games are on and invariably I'd lose. Looks like I'm developing some discipline at long last.

On the poker front I have had a pretty quiet week or so. I managed to finish with a profit of $3868 from 75hours play on the cash tables, which I'd have taken at the start of the month. However if I'm going to continue with it I need to be able to play more tables therefore I'll need to get a bigger/another monitor. I tried resizing the tables on my screen and could fit 9 in but it wasn't easy on the eyes so looks like I will have to invest. If anyone has any advice on what to buy give me a shout.

Another couple of tips

2007-09-01T12:52:00.000+01:00

Nothing really stood out this week, unlike last Saturday where I had two really strong fancies and both obliged. I did think there was some huge value on the go when my mate told me that Rangers were 5/2 -2 goals. Too good to be true surely? Well it was the 5/2 price was for -3 goals and -2 was 5/4, which is probably still a decent price given the gulf in class between them sides. However I hate tipping my own side and my success rate in the handicap markets is woeful, so I won't bother.

COVENTRY 4/5 v Preston looks a like a decent price to me. Preston have started woefully and Highstack has left Coventry off his acca so they are surely a shoe-in.

Clyde v DUNDEE 11/10 is my other selection. Alex Rae has built a decent side at Dundee and they have started the season well, whereas Clyde have struggled badly although they did pick up a win last week. I think Dundee will have far too much for them though.

Beautiful Belgrade

2007-08-29T14:55:00.000+01:00

Where do I start??? :) It was a helluva trip. I had booked up for the day trip after hearing that Red Star fans were not the most welcoming, and for once it looked as though I made the right call when I heard reports on Monday night that fans over there were told not to leave their hotels as the police couldn't guarantee their safety. Bit of a scandalous situation in this day and age but never mind. The story was then plastered over the front pages of the gutter press with a little exagerration thrown in for effect. Thankfully my flight had departed by the time my mother saw them.

For the first time ever I was actually more nervous about what might await us over there rather than the game itself. However I needn't have worried, there were no baying mobs waiting at the airport and we spent a decent day in the centre of Belgrade without any hassle and enjoyed some banter with the locals. We had been told that we would be getting escorted to the game well in advance of kickoff but thankfully they changed their plans and decided to take us there at the last minute. Good idea seeing as the Red Star fans had been there for up to 4hours prior to kick off.

When we got to the stadium the atmosphere was incredible. I've been to many away games in Europe and seen some hostile atmospheres but nothing came close to this. I spoke to one guy who had been to Galatasary and he said even that didn't come close. There was around 500 of our fans there and we were herded into a small section of the ground surrounded by riot police. We had been warned of possible heavy-handedness from the police thankfully that was unfounded as they treated us well, some even indulging in a bit of banter. This was in stark contrast to Pamplona last year where the scumbags started indiscrimantly hitting fans for no reason in the worst case of police brutality I'd ever seen.

As for the game itself it was far from a classic and pretty nerve shredding at times but we got the job done and will be in the draw for the group stages :). So all in all it was a good trip (much better than I was expecting) topped off with a great result.

Oh almost forgot to mention that Belgrade has some of the finest looking ladies I have ever seen :)

Couple of tips

2007-08-25T10:59:00.000+01:00

Gretna v MOTHERWELL 10/11

Match is played at FirPark (Motherwells home ground) and Gretna have no fans so in effect this is a home match for Motherwell. They have also started the season well under their new manager (Mark McGhee) winning first two matches and being robbed v Kilmarnock last week. Gretna on the other hand have struggled, and lack quality, although they did pick up a point at Hearts last week.

Inverness CT v DUNDEE UTD 15/8

Inverness have started the season woefully and are still pointless and their manager chucked it during the week as well. Dundee Utd on other hand have started season pretty well beationg Aberdeen and being one up v Kilmarnock before a scandalous sending off saw them eventually lose 2-1, they followed that up with a goalless draw v Hibs. 15/8 is a BIG price.

Ouch!

2007-08-20T20:22:00.000+01:00

I run so sick its unreal. I decided this morning that I would play solely NL cash until the end of the month, this was despite running bad the past few days. Well the day is not over and already I feel like chucking it. I have ran so so so sick. The funny thing is I feel that I have played far better today than I have been the past few days but I've been constantly gang-raped and coolered. If I see one more set over set I think I will vomit. STTs used to drive me insane but nothing like this lol.

Just for you loyal readers I have uploaded some of the more delightful hands where I've been stacked :)

First of all we have this lovely flop for a pair of 9's v an obvious overpair. Obv turn gives him his set too. Happy muthafucking days.

http://runittwice.com/viewgame.aspx?id=BMMFIEM6216137

Then we have this little beauty. I middle set and the chips are flying into the middle, I can't get mine in quick enough and low and behold someone else fires his in too. Can I hit my one out??

http://runittwice.com/viewgame.aspx?id=TNOGOSM7638818

Theres more where those came from but I think you get the picture. Been one of them days. I did however win a hand, always nice when your opponent gets all his money in with no hand and no draw.

http://runittwice.com/viewgame.aspx?id=IGQNMDP6204631

Whats not nice is when the retard is left with $22 and I then proceed to double him up three times and he basically gets the money back lol.

Anyways the oven is now ready for ones head. Get the feeling I will be back on the STTs tomorrow :)

It was due

2007-08-15T21:51:00.000+01:00

A bad day on the cash tables that is....and today was the day. Prior to today I was $2268 up for the month of August, today however was my second losing day...and it was a big one (relatively speaking) -$683. One positive to take from today though would be the fact that I didn't tilt despite some sick hands. It was mainly coolers as opposed to bad beats.

I've posted a few of the hands below.

This was the first hand I got stacked with. Not too sure about the way I played it but bit of a sickener when I see his hand.

http://runittwice.com/viewgame.aspx?id=NCJMLNA0146850

I then run KK into AA twice. The first time I avoid getting stacked but in the second hand I do, despite knowing he had them :(.

http://runittwice.com/viewgame.aspx?id=TGHDGNO0787724

http://runittwice.com/viewgame.aspx?id=PKKJPRG7630031

Then to top it all off I get hit with this muthafucking hand just as I was making a bit of a recovery. I'm certain UTG here has either a set or overpair to the board, with obviously the latter being more likely. If I put a re-raise in here the only hand I get action from that I'm beating is 22. When the BB just calls I know I have him beat. The turn looks a safe card :(.

http://runittwice.com/viewgame.aspx?id=SODDBOO3637686

Ah well tomorrow is another day :)

I also booked up for Belgrade today to see the return leg between Rangers and Red Star. By all accounts its not the best part of the world to visit hence why I'm just going on a day trip. The atmosphere in the Marakana is supposedly pretty intense so it should be a good experience with hopefully the right result.

Weekend is here

2007-08-10T20:54:00.000+01:00

Well my cash foray is still going relatively well despite some spewy play (it had to happen eventually) in the past couple of days.

Day 8: 44
Day9: 16
Day 10: 285

Running total now stands at $1,987 from 4,817 hands in 21.5 hours of play, giving me an hourly rate of $93 (these figures are from pokertracker, I assume they are accurate?). Obviously these figures are pretty meaningless at the moment due to the small sample of hands...but its a nice start :)

In the main I think I have played well. Obviously I have made mistakes and there are things I need to work on (my turn play for starters) but in the main my game has been pretty solid. Yesterday was probably the first time my play became a bit dodgy. It started off so well when my set of 7's trebled me up within the first orbit, soon after though my set of Kings got busted by 8c5c on board of KcTc8h5d7c with most of the money going in on turn when he turned 2pair with the flush draw. On that board all the money is destined to go in although I didn't think much of his preflop call UTG+1. After that I kinda made some spewy calls and couldn't hit a hand but managed to get out with an ever so slight profit for the day, so I guess it could have been worse. I don't think I played particularly well today either and hovered between -100 and +100 for most of the day before hitting a couple of hands late on to make it a decent day.

I have yet to play a MTT this month and to be honest I havn't missed them. I've still been hammering away on the STTs and have done OK so all in all it has been a good start to the month..heres hoping it coninues. I won't be playing tomorrow as I'm going for a few jars before the footy then having what is likely to be a very messy night out after it. Depending on hangover I may/may not play on Sunday.

Couple of valooooooo bets imo below:

Hibs 4/9 v Gretna
Clyde v Hamilton 13/10

Week 1

2007-08-07T17:47:00.000+01:00

Ok first 7 days of my cash experiment are up and to be honest it has gone a lot better than I expected. I've managed to play 2871 hands and my daily P/L are posted below:

Day 1: 373
Day 2: 138
Day 3: 444
Day 4: -154
Day 5: 213
Day 6: 139
Day 7: 489
Total:$1642

One losing day out of 7 when I only played for 50mins and got 2 outered in a $200 pot in the last hand I played with KK v 89 on 844 flop. I've been playing mainly in short bursts which seems to be working as I tend to play too many hands and call too many bets if I have been playing for too long.

Today I did however get lucky and hit my own 2 outer in a $420 pot with KK v AA allin pre. Two mp limpers and cutoff limps also, I make it 15 from the SB, BB and both MP limpers pass and cutoff then re-raises to $72. I can't put him on AA there especially not when his stats are 40/10. I think he thinks I'm trying to buy it and I jam, he calls obviously and I spike my King on the river :).

So what next? Well I'm going to continue playing $1/$2 and maybe step up to playing 6-tables. I will be trying to put more hours in and try and aim for a minimum of 4000 hands.

I have finished for the day as I'm about to head out for a few jars and to watch the footy. Its a hard life :)

At long last...

2007-08-06T23:59:00.000+01:00

..the football saeson has started...and started well. Rangers win, Celtic drop points, I back Falkirk and Dundee Utd and both win (the latter scoring a last min winner after being reduced to 10 men in 1st half), also back Hibs antepost to win league w/o Old Firm @7-1 and they got off to a winning start against Hearts and only other genuine challengers Aberdeen also dropped points. So not a bad start :)

On the poker front I've hardly played over the weekend, managed to put in a couple of short cash sessions and so far I've made $1,153 from 2,526 hands which has come from around 11 hours play. So far so good. I've a couple of hands I will upload onto runittwice (when I figure out why it ain't working) which show how dire some of the play is.

So far so good

2007-08-03T23:44:00.000+01:00

Well my NL cash has got off to a decent start. So far I've played 1837hands and I'm $955 up but perhaps just as importantly I'm enjoying playing it, infact so much so that I may cut down on my STTs in order to put more hours in on the cash tables.

Although I've started well I'll be first to admit that I've ran pretty well, however I havn't played too shabbily either. I've yet to be outdrawn in a big pot but I've no doubt that it is just around the corner (i always have a positive outlook lol) and how I cope when they come thick and fast will be a telling factor. I'd like to think I won't tilt or start playing like a donkey but until it happens I won't know for certain.

New month and a new challenge

2007-08-02T01:32:00.000+01:00

Normally I welcome the arrival of a new month however July was pretty kind to me and alas I'm sad to see the back of it. I had a very good month on MTTs which more than made up for a pretty ordinary month on the STTs. I'd been running sickeningly bad on them for the first two weeks but managed to turn it around and show a 5% ROI for the month so won't grumble...too much. I also had a little dabble in NL Cash in the past week or so...which leads me on to my challenge.

I have hardly set eyes on an NL cash table for months, mainly because I did my dough on them due to my propensity to tilt like a lunatic. However nowadays I'm a much more cool, calm, collected and mentally stable individual...so heres hoping those days are behind me lol. For the past few days I've been dipping my foot in the water and playing a little $1/$2 and $2/$4 on Mansion..which went well. However there is a lack of traffic on there at the best of times so I decided to deposit on Full Tilt today, I was however limited to my daily deposit limit of $600 (I tried to get it increased but was told it could take up to a week to get it authorised?!?) plus the shrapnel I had lying in the account. Bit of a pain in the arse but I wasn't planning on 12-tabling (one must learn towalk before one tries to run) so it wasn't a major problem..well it would have been had I done a couple of buyins quickly...thankfully I didn't :).

I started off 3-tabling $1/$2 due to the $$ constraints, but I'm planning on 4-tabling whenever I play (making sure I keep well away from Smart Money :) ). I won't be playing exclusively NL cash I will also be playing STTs and the odd MTT although not at the simultaneously. To be honest I've no idea how many hours/hands I will be able to fit in during the month as I'm a busy man these days. I'm not setting any profit targets, I will however be posting updates of my progress on here in the hope it will keep me focused and be a deterrent to tiltation.

Day 1 went ok and I managed to make $373 from 920 hands but it should really have been double that as I played some hands horribly and made a couple of donkey calls, but we live and learn. Hopefully as the month progresses the mistakes will become fewer and the profit greater :).

I run bad

2007-07-24T23:10:00.000+01:00

Not poker this time but darts. Over the years darts is one of the sports where I have consistently made money on and I've had a dabble or two this week during the World Matchplay and I couldn't buy a winner. Virtually every player I have backed has been unable to hit a double and it has proved costly. However Mr Reliable Terry Jenkins dug me out of a big hole tonight. If you take Barney and Taylor out of the equation then he has been the best player out there for the past year or so making 3 TV finals, so I was more than happy to lump on him large at odds against. Thankfully he did the job to get me back on track.

I've hardly played any poker last week or so and at the minute I'm not missing it. I tend to go through spells like this from time to time. Thankfully it has coincided with the darts so its maybe not a bad thing. Oh and the football season starts soon :-)

Will I ever learn??

2007-07-22T23:12:00.000+01:00

Will I fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I've been laid low with what has been diagnosed as tonsilitis (I'm unconvinced mainly due to the lack of a sore throat?!?) I have done very little apart from lie on the couch and watch The Open. On Thursday I decided to back a few outsiders who I thought had a chance at fancy prices. A few of them threstended to get involved but ultimately fell away (Weekley, Edberg and Westwood, also had Daly at 600 who was flying high on Thurs when I went to the docs by the time I got back he was a goner lol). So going into the final day I thought I'd done my money. However Andres Romero decided to get me interested (I'd backed him at 320).

He made an early charge and then I thought he had blown it with a double at 12 but he only goes and hits 4 birdies in a row to go to -9 and two clear. Did I lay off??? Nah that would be too fucking clever. I was at the birds house and she was fannying about on the PC, so by the time I had kicked her off he had hit his tee shot at 17 and his price had drifted...so I waited..and he hits his second OOB. Oh FFS!! He then lipped out for a par on the last to go back to -6. -7 is then good enough for the playoff :-(

Only myself to blame though, should have laid off and had a nice 4figure sum win or lose. I must have lost thousands over the years by not laying bets off but I'll never learn. When I do green up they go on and win and when I don't they lose lol. Maybe I will learn my lesson this time....won't hold my breath. Also backed Dudbridge in the darts and he lost...really should give up sports betting!!!

Impeccable timing as ever

2007-07-19T09:59:00.000+01:00

No GUKPT for me today. My bird has been suffering with the flu for the best part of a week and despite doing my best to keep my distance it would appear that I've finally succumbed to it. I woke up during the night feeling lousy so went and had a couple of lemsips in the hope I'd feel better but alas I don't, and theres no way I'm going to play a £1k buyin feeling like this. Pretty pissed off as I was looking forward to playing today but I will just need to put my live comeback on the back burner for a few weeks. Will probably try and qualify for the next event in Luton. But in the meantime I'm going to go and overdose on Lemsips and Paracetamol and watch the Open.

Time for some live action

2007-07-18T18:08:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to get out and play some live events for the past while but for one reason or other I've not got round to it but I've decided to change that by buying into the GUKPT in Newcastle this week. I'm down to play in Thursday after much after managing to reserve my seat after lenghty deliberations on the phone. I was initially told that I couldn't reserve my seat despite someone telling me prior to me phoning that they had managed to do so. Eventually I managed to speak to someone with a modicum of common sense and decency and was allowed to reserve my seat (will probably get down there and find out that I was just being fobbed off to get me off the bloody phone :) ). Although I've been told that I need to be there by 2pm or shortly after to complete my registration or they will give my seat to someone else. My train doesn't get into Newcastle until 13.37 so I'm cutting it fine.

I havn't played a proper live game since the Barcelona EPT so I'm looking forward to it, heres hoping the cards don't shaft me.

Bazza in form

2007-07-15T02:58:00.000+01:00

Surely not?? Well it would appear so. In the past weekI've managed to pick up some decent mtt results. The really sick thing is I'm not even playing particularly well, but I'm running average :).

Last Sat I finished 3rd in the $100k on Mansion for $10800. not really many hands of note that I can remember and eventually went with 22 v 33 when I was short. I followed that up by finishing a very annoying 12th in the ipoker $100k the following night. I was chip leader with 40left and then the wheels slowly fell off after I misplayed a couple of hands. The lack of antes as well was a killer which meant things were very slow as we got down to last few tables and luckboxes were able to ante away and wait for AA. I then got crippled when I called an allin with AQ. UTG pushes allin for 6xBBs and its folded round to me in the SB. In a normal tournament versus normal people this is a insta call as UTGs range is huge however this guy had anteed down to 3BBs earlier and found KK on his BB so I know he isnt shoving ATC that coupled with the fact he had only played a couple of hands in 2hours meant that folding was probably the correct play as absurd as it sounds. I called and he showed AK, to be honest I felt I'd be racing at best.

I then didnt play much during the week but managed to final in the Crypto $20k with my AK losing to AJ to go out in 7th. Also finalled in the $7.5k on ipoker before being royally shafted on umpteen occasions and finally bustoed in 6th. I played the $50k on stars as well but won't be repreating that due to the horrible payout structure. They pay far too many places meaning that for making the final 3 tables out of 1400 runnersI got 5xbuyin back.

Tonight I decided to stay in and watch boxing and sat on couch with my laptop and reg'd for the Mansion $100k. For the first couple of hours I payed more attention to the boxing but was amanging to keep my head above water in the $100k. Anyway I plodded on and made it to the final 2 tables where it looked like I was going to finish when I called an allin with AQ, other guy had 64 and hit a FH. It was pretty crapshooty at that point and I was now short and shoved with A5s from cutoff and button called with AQ but I managed to luckbox a flush on the river. I then got my chips back off of Mr 64 when he tried the same trick with 94 with rather less success. He shoved from the SB and I called with A6 and held. So I made the FT for the second consecutive Sat.

At start of FT i was 3/9 however stacks were very even. I didn't pick up any hands of note but managed to maintain my stack as the bodies started to drop. We made it to 4handed when my AJ held v A8. That put me 3/4 and I fancied my chances of taking it down. I then managed to double with 55 v A3 to give me a decent stack which then disappeared inthe space of 3 hands. Firstly I button raise with QJo and shortstack on BB shoves, it was pretty marginal but I opted to pass. Then on my BB the same guy shoves and I'm holding AQs which obviously I call with and he has 22. A 3 heart flop doesn't do me any favours especially as he is holding the 2h. I don't hit any of my miracle outs on turn or river and I'm basically crippled. I then shoved my pennies in with T7 next hand and BB calls with TJ. I hit my 7 on turn to give me hope but he rerapes by hitting a straight on river to send me out in 4th for $7900.

That was about an hour ago and I'm still a bit pissed off as I really fancied my chances of winning tonight but wasn't to be. Has been one of my better weeks so I can't complain too much.

Sunday Savagery

2007-06-10T21:31:00.000+01:00

Standard!

Some multi form at long last

2007-06-09T19:00:00.000+01:00

After taking a bit of a break from multis during May (I did play the odd one or three) I decided it was time to make a comeback...glad I did. I havn't played all that much this week as I've been busy with other things so have only played a handful of mtt's at most each night. I started the week off making the FT of the $16k on Betfair, only to frustratingly go out in 7th when I ran AJ into AQ. The following night I came 6th in the $11k on Betfair going when I reraised allin with 55 and was called by AK with A hitting on river, if I hold there im chipped up and id fancy my chances of winning it. I also came 4th in the $20k on Crypto on the same night, my exit hand escapes me for now so obviously I had no complaints lol. I've also been playing the $100k on Mansion but dont think I've got above my starting stack in 3 attempts lol.

On Thursday night I decided to download Blondepoker to have a look now that they were no longer on the Tribeca software which I hated. I saw a $7500 guarantee with $100 buyin due to start, so decided to give it a bash and duly won it for $2250 and FT'd in the $5k as well. Now when I have one decent result I tend to follow it with another and with the £100k on Crypto the following night I was hopeful!!

I started off pretty well and increased my starting stack from 4500 to 9300 just after the first break. Seeing KKx3 and QQx2 helped a tad. Then I did a chunk of my stack with KQ on KQT board, I should have passed to a check min-raise on the turn but couldn't help myself from calling and he had AJ for the nuts. From that point on I was toiling a little, and my run of cards had well and truly dried up. Thankfully I was getting most of my steals through so I was albe to keep my head above water, however eventually the blinds were starting to eat my up after I got re-raised a couple of times and had to pass. I managed to win 3 coinflips when all in which helped me survive but I just couldn't find the hand which would give me a decent stack...I was having to grind away.

Basically from 100 out I was shortstacked with only 20 paying but somehow I managed to make it despite being a little short on the bubble. I then managed to acquire chips when I re-raised allin with JJ on my BB and got called by KQ, a Q on flop looked to seal my fate but runner runner straight meant I was back in the game. That JJ was the only big PP I saw in the last 4.5hours of the tourney, I evidently had used all my cards up early doors.

I managed to make it on to the final table in 7th in chips and had to lay down 99 to a re-raise from a tight player which left me a bit short. I then passed 77 in my BB to a raise in MP as I didn't fancy racing at best. I then was able to shove from the SB and button to give my stack a much needed boost. However the end was nigh as on the next round with the blinds now 2k/4k I was toiling a little and a laggy player made it 16k from the cutoff, I have AJo in the SB playing 32k. I'm still not entirely sure about this but I push and he calls with 66, I miss and its game over and I cash for £2k. I got in through a £60 satellite so not a bad return. Bit sick though as I'd have fancied my chances of a big pay day had I been able to get some chips but it wasn't to be.

Anyways I'm off out to celebrate my birthday and no doubt spend some of my winnings.

Adios.

FFS

2007-06-04T23:40:00.000+01:00

I am a retard. I've just played possibly the worst hand of my life to exit the GCSOP on Crypto. I'm not even going to embarass myself by posting the hand but needless to say it was one of the worst I've ever played. I made an error on every street. So instead of sitting with a decent stack with 70odd left im busto. I'd rather get shafted with a 2 outer on the river than go out playing like a muppet. Sick! Finished 7th in the $16k on Betfair AJ into AQ bollocks. Waste of a night.

I was down at London for badbeat final but I'll post about it later as I'm not in the mood atm. I'm off to stick my head in the oven.

Good night.

Yet more positivity....

2007-05-27T18:26:00.000+01:00

....it won't last. I had another good week although only really played mon-wed and Fri night. My good form continued though so all is well. Mon-wed was spent playing sit and goes and on Fri I played the $20k on Crypto and $15k on Virgin, I decided to give the sit and goes a miss as I was nursing a hangover from the previous nights alcohol induced carnage so decided I'd try and keep losses to a minimum.

I actually played pretty well and was looking like making the final table in both. However it wasn't to be as I died in 15th in the $15k when I re-raised allin from the BB with AT, button raiser called with KQ and hit on river. I managed to make it onto the FT in the $20k although I took a hit on the FT bubble when my JJ lost to AT so instead of having 70k I had 40k with average 50kish. I then picked up a bad seat on the FT with both the big stacks to my immediate left. I was completely card dead as well which was a little hinderance. I lost a chunk with A5 on A high board. I raised on button and BB smooth called and then called my bet on flop, I sensed I was beat and checked it down, I was outkicked. After that I was in push or fold mode and finally died in 6th shoving K2 on the button and SB called with A3.

I played no poker yesterday as it was my mates birthday so my day involved drinking copious amounts of alcohol and I'm just about to go and get ready for a repeat performance tonight :)

Sunday again!!

2007-05-20T22:57:00.000+01:00

No multis this time though and resultantly a winning day :). It had been a bit of a dodgy week up until today, I'd been running poor and playing worse so it had been a struggle. It looked as though it was going to be my first losing week for a while but i managed to turn it around today to show a small profit for the week. I only played two multis this week, the Badbeat and $16k on Betfair on Thursday. In the badbeat I got savaged twice and in $16k I played my exit hand like a donkey and compounded it by making a sick call on the end when I knew I was beat.

To be honest my biggest obstacle at the minute is laziness (a recurring theme) in that I'm not playing enough games. I lack motivation and have too many distractions at the minute and I suppose I will need to get my act together but for now life is good!! :)

Blergh

2007-05-06T22:22:00.000+01:00

Not been the best of weekends pokerwise...but the footy was good :).

Deposited $1k in Stars tonight to play the million and WSOP sat (I know I said no multis but it seemed a good idea at the time). Started off well when someone re-raised allin for 6k with 55 blinds 25/50. Then I manage to get my 17k stack (still on level 2) in on the turn v table muppet in a battle of the blinds with AT v 92 on AT92 board with river 9! Standard!! So instead of a tasty looking 35k stack I have nada! Promptly unregistered from WSOP sat and withdrew the rest of my $$ and deleted the software. Am I bitter? Yes lol

Also played the 40k on Crypto with some rakeback that I had in the account.

Game #3996929663: Hold'em NL (150/300) - 2007/05/06 - 22:40:21 (UK)
Table "4" Seat 7 is the button.
Seat 1: cliff (5838.50 in chips)
Seat 2: torkel (4318 in chips)
Seat 3: Zendar (12699 in chips)
Seat 4: lakini9 (24532 in chips)
Seat 5: _tiltiana (5996 in chips)
Seat 6: redmundir (19170 in chips)
Seat 7: Kvista01 (19281 in chips)
Seat 8: Bazza (6585 in chips)
Seat 9: GREEKFISH (34266 in chips)
Seat 10: Jibby147 (7332 in chips)
Bazza: posts the ante 25
GREEKFISH: posts the ante 25
Jibby147: posts the ante 25
cliff: posts the ante 25
torkel: posts the ante 25
Zendar: posts the ante 25
lakini9: posts the ante 25
_tiltiana: posts the ante 25
redmundir: posts the ante 25
Kvista01: posts the ante 25
Bazza: posts small blind 150
GREEKFISH: posts big blind 300
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Bazza [7c 7s]
Jibby147: folds
cliff: folds
torkel: folds
Zendar: raises to 900
lakini9: folds
_tiltiana: folds
redmundir: folds
Kvista01: folds
Bazza: calls 750
GREEKFISH: folds
----- FLOP ----- [Qc Ts 7d]
Bazza: checks
Zendar: bets 900
Bazza: raises to 2400
Zendar: calls 1500
----- TURN ----- [Qc Ts 7d][Qs]
Bazza: bets 3260 and is all-in
Zendar: calls 3260
----- RIVER ----- [Qc Ts 7d Qs][Td]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Bazza: shows [7c 7s] (A Full House, Sevens full of Queens)
Zendar: shows [Jh Qh] (A Full House, Queens full of Tens)
Zendar collected 13670 from Main pot

Why do I bother?? gg and good night

When I said no multis...

2007-05-03T23:07:00.000+01:00

.....I meant no flaming multis. But as I was playing the Dream Team multi last night I decided to play another couple as I don't like playing multis and SnG's at the same time. So I play the $20k or whatever it is on Crypto and the Betfair $16k. Crypto game was a bit of a non-event, went up and down and back up again.

However it was not all bad as I was going well in the $16k. I had chips, was feeling confident and playing well with 3/4 tables left. Then things started going tits up. I raise it up with AA and get a caller from SB flop 678 he checks and I bet half pot which he calls turn is a 9 and he bets pot which is roughly half of what I have left. I pass and he shows 97sooooted. I lose another couple of pots and from my peak of 30k im down to 17k as we are on the bubble when I pick up QdQc on my BB. The guy who had 97 earlier limps in cutoff (he liked a limp and was now chipped up), I raise it up to 3k (blinds 400/800) and limper calls. I see a 10 high flop all spades and jam my 14k into the 7k pot which he calls with Q9 spades for the flopped flush and its the bubble for me. Not sure I like the way I played the hand but think I go busto there regardless.

I was also going well in the DreamTeam with 20odd left before it went tits up as well and I eventually jam my 16k (800/1600blinds) with 44 and find KK and QQ behind me. 4 on flop is quickly followed by a K and I finish in 15th or something like that.

A night that promised much and delivered ride all...reminded me why I decided to stop playing multis though :)

It's been a while

2007-05-01T16:12:00.000+01:00

The moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived.....a new post :). I finally relented to the badgering from the infamous Spudy who incidentally will be making his poker comeback in a months time after sailing the world. He has been gone so long I might need to explain the rules to him lol.

Anyways where does one start?? It has been a pretty hectic few months (hence the lack of updates..well that my excuse anyway). My good start to the year was followed by a dry spell during late January and February and then my poker playing ground to a virtual halt and my bankroll was decimated. No it wasn't after a tilty session playing 150/300 limit, I actually decided to buy a flat. Since then I have been pretty busy with stuff relating to that and poker has had to take a backseat. Its only really in the past fortnight where I have been able to play regularly and distraction free. I've now settled into my flat and can focus again on my poker..I have bills to pay after all.

Since I came back I've actually ran pretty well (it won't last) and I'm enjoying the game again. I have banned myself from playing multis for the month of May as I attempt to boost the bankroll. Instead I will be focusing 100% on shorthanded sit n goes. Heres hoping it goes well other wise the bailiffs will be round :)

I will try and keep updating this as regularly as I can.

Bazza

Sunday Donations

2007-01-22T16:30:00.000Z

I haven't played much poker of late mainly due to my head being in a mess due to an acrimonious break-up with my girlfriend, and seeing as I'm not the most mentally stable person at the best of times I figured it best to have a few days off to get my head in order.

I have only really played the odd multi with limited success. There have been no decent wins..but there should have been. Twice I pissed away a big stack with 20odd left in the £12k and £8k on Crypto to leave me shortstacked on the FT and subsequently finished 9th and 10th respectively. Its bad enough having to cope with outdraws never mind my own donkey moves but never mind.

Yesterday I did my usual Sunday donations. Played the £1m on stars and ran QQ into KK early doors which I should have got away from. UTG+1 raises and UTG+2 calls, I reraise from the button and the initial raiser calls and other guy folds. Flop is rags and I'm check raised all-in, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be shown AA or KK but I call anyway. The $15k on Betfair was going ok until I made a cracking call to a raise allin with 2nd pair as I was sure my opponent was drawing..he was..and he hit. The Crypto £40k went a bit better despite me getting no cards to speak of I managed to hang around and steal like a gypsy to keep my head above water before finally falling just inside the money when I re-raise a Laggy player allin with 88, obviously he has a hand this time (QQ) and I'm a goner. Standard Sunday really!!

Bizarre

2007-01-13T22:11:00.000Z

Tonight has been surreal. I have just had the most amazing run of cards ever in the $25k on Stars. AAx2, QQx3 and KKx2 in the space of 32 hands!! End result.....I'm out before the second break after QQ loses to TT in 20k pot with ave stack 4k. I manage to run my remaining 6k up to 10k before my KK is no good v 44 (4 on river) in another 20k pot v the same donkey!!!

Also had a 4 outer hit on me after I made a sparkling call in the £12k on Crypto. Happy Days!!!

Prior to tonight I'd actually been running ok picking up the odd decent win here and there (nothing spectacular but they all add up). Came a disappointing 9th in the Crypto £12k the other night after again losing a big pot with AK v QQ v JJ. One day I'll win the races that matter.

But its not all doom and gloom as the Walter Smith era has kicked off with a 5-0 win :-)

I run good

2007-01-05T13:35:00.000Z

No really I do :-). 2007 has got off to a very good start!! Its only 5 days old and already I've pocketed $10k in winnings. On Jan 2nd I finished 2nd in the Stars $20 rebuy for $7.3k and yesterday I finished 2nd in Stars $10 rebuy for $2.7k. If only I could play HU :-(.

The $20 rebuy with 550 runners was a bit of an afterthought. I'd just been donked with AK v AJ in the Crypto £8k in a pot for the chip lead with 16 left so I went and watched a bit of the cricket thinking my poker playing was done for the night, however at 1.50am I decided to go and play the $100k GTD and $20 rebuy on Stars. I lasted about 20mins in the $100k when I 3-bet allin on the turn with a open-ended straight flush draw..the other guy was never passing his full house :-). At that point I was pissed off and ready to give up on the $20 rebuy but instead I decided to start hammering the allin button and managed to build up a healthy stack before losing it all in a 40k pot with QQ v KK 5mins before the end of rebuys. I did the double rebuy and won a pot and with my top up I was on 7k. Below average but whenever I finish the rebuy with a lot of chips I donk them off quickly so I wasn't overly concerned.

I battled away for a couple of hours slowly building my stack but seeing no hands when I decided to call a re-raise all in with JTs for no reason other than I was bored (it was for 10k of my 25k stack). That left me short again and it was a case of allin or fold. I don't really remember any big hands but I must have accumulated chips somehow. My table was very passive (either that or they were shit scared to reraise me after seeing me call with J high :-)) and I was able to get virtually every raise through uncontested.

When we reached the final three tables I decided it was time to waken myself up when I looked at the $12k payout for winning. So I went and made two cups of coffee and zoned myself in. With 11 remaining I was one of the chip leaders and cruising with 465k when a sick hand came up. Blinds 10k/20k and I make it 80k on the button. BB thinks for an age before pushing for 300k. I pass AK almost never and I wasn't passing now, the re-raiser was one of the more active players at the table and I felt his pushing range there included Ax and possibly KQ, KJ as well as any pair and possibly even air. I call and he flips 99 and holds. I'd just lost a race a couple of hands previously with A9s v a shortstacks 55 so I thought my old habit of losing the races that really matter was coming back to haunt me.

I'm down to 165k and two hands later I find AQ and jam, the guy who has just done me with 99 insta calls with KK but I flop trips Queens and its game on again. Thankfully it wasn't my table which was broken when we went to FT as the player to my left was very passive and folded her BB to my raise every time. She didn't just fold, she did it quickly :-). I was still relatively short for most of the FT and eventually I had to make a stand with 66 with 6 left, I re-raise allin knowing that I'm getting a call but I was happy to race as I was down to 7BBs at the time he calls with AQ and one time I hold. I then hit a rush as the chip leader doubles me with AK v AQ and AK v AJ twice in quick succesion.

The next key hand I had was 3-handed when I lost a race with QJ0 v shortstacks 55. I win that I go HU with a 2-1 chip lead and I'd have fancied my chances of closing it out from there. As it happens the other guy eventually accounted for the shortstack and I had a 3-1 deficit when I got to HU and I eventually got it allin with A2 v A7 and 7 on flop sealed my fate.

In the $10 rebuy with 450runners again I failed to get a decent stack during the rebuy period and I compounded that by forgetting to addon and thus ended up with a paltry 4400. I never really had a stack worthy of the name at any point and after losing a couple of pots I was left with only 11k with blinds at 800/1600. I get K4o utg and push (can't let blinds pass through). Its folded to the BB who is playing only 9k, he calls with 88 and I lose. This leaves me with just under 2k as we go on a break (blinds 1k/2k on the restart). I've basically given up and i'm busy reading forums when the table pops up and I've got T7o in my BB and I'm up against A8. I hit my 7 to double up and next hand its folded to my in SB with J7o, I push and BB calls with KT and I hit my J and I'm now back to where I was before. The very next hand I'm on the button and have JJ, theres a raise before me and I push allin and get called by 77 and I hold and now have 26k :-). Golden!!

From that point on I led a charmed life. I've never won so many races in my life and managed to build a proper stack by the time we were down to 2 tables. I continued to run good on the FT and we were down to 3 handed when the shortstack starts mumbling something about a deal. I'm chip leader at the time and have no interest. He then jams on my BB and I call with A8s, he has QJs and hits. Very next hand he jams again and I hold QQ and beat him into the pot. I hold and now have a 2-1 chip lead HU. I was very confident of winning here but I blew it :-(. I didn't play particularly well HU and although I hit nothing at all I made a couple of dodgy calls/plays and allowed him to gain the initiative. He then had the 2-1 lead and the final hand was a bit of a sickener. I flop and open ended straight draw and check raise the flop which he calls. Turn gives me my straight and I lead and he jams, I call and he turns over the straight with the flush draw and hit on the river :-(.

All in all it has been a decent start to 2007. I'm feeling confident and playing well and shrugging off the beats (always easier to do after a nice result). Hopefully this continues in the coming months :-)

Update and Review of 2006

2007-01-05T13:16:00.000Z

Firstly, apologies for the lack of updates but I hadn't been playing much poker and I couldn't be arsed :-). 2006 ended as a bit of a damp squib as far as poker was concerned. I hardly played the last 3 weeks in December. I had been running bad and it was affecting my game so decided to take a few weeks off. That coincided with the darts starting so had plenty to keep me occupied, and I won a few quid as well which is always good.

I did play some of the big multis on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, with limited success. On the 24th, 10th in the Crypto £40k was the best I could muster, losing a big race with AKo v 88. On the 31st I cashed in the £40k again and was going nicely until I hit the self destruct button and donked my chips away with 9high :-). I also played a few hours of low stake NL cash as well with reasonable success. I may play more of this in the coming months.

As for 2006 as a whole one word springs to mind....underachievement. I really feel I should have done a lot better, particularly in the latter half of the year, however when I look back to where I was this time last year I have to be happy.

There were undoubtedly some highs, notably cashing in the WSOP, although eventually getting KO'd would be down there with the lows. I also had some decent MTT wins as well, although there should have been a lot more. Combination of bad luck, bad play and my propensity to hit the self-destruct button has definetly cost me at times.

As for the lows, the one that immediately springs to mind is the sick outdraw in Barcelona EPT. I've also been disappointed with my STT results, and I'm going to have a bit of a rethink on them in the forthcoming weeks.

All in all 2006 was a decent year and I believe the foundations to enable further success have been built. Heres hoping that 2007 yields that success.

Time for a crew cut...

2006-12-07T23:13:00.000Z

...to stop me from tearing my hair out.

I should really be documenting some fine results in the past few days but I have nothing to report. I keep getting into decent positions in multi after multi only to be gang-raped time after time. I have ran so bad for the past 3 months (Betfair $15k win aside, see what happens when I don't get shafted :-)) that I'm feeling like chucking it. I know it will turn and I just gotta play through it but it starts to take it toll and is pretty damn soul destroying!!

The Crypto Christmas league started this week and runs for 20days with 3 MTTs each night. I'm confident that if I run average I will place in top 10 in this but so far I've ran like a diseased dog. I was lying 37th after Wednesdays tournaments, but I've picked up no points tonight (dont ask) so will likely plummet down. I'm going to have to pick up a few FT's in the coming days which I'm more than capable of..if the cards allow it that is.

A number or near misses and then....

2006-11-21T02:39:00.000Z

The past 3 weeks weeks ive predominantly been playing mtts. I was playing well and getting myself into decent positions and faltering with 2 tables left through no real fault of my own...although thats no real consolation when you have just worked your ass off for 5hours and barely doubling your buyin. I needed to start converting my decent positions into wins as much for my own sanity as anything else.

I'd started playing on the Betfair software last week and whilst it is far from perfect it is playable and there was some value kicking about. The first tournament I played was the Online BAPT3 and I finished 6th and got a 17" LCD TV, bit pissed off as I was hoping for the holidays for 1st or 2nd but never mind. I also played the $15k the same night and finished a poxy 8th...another near miss.

I entered the $15k again on Friday (plenty of value with only 96 runners) and first couple of hours were pretty uneventful but I had got myself into a decent position with 20 left when I won a huge pot with a set of 7's v AA. That made me big chip leader and from that point on there was only one winner :-). I steamrollered the final table, although I did hit some nice hands..which always helps. I had half the chips in play 6handed and then lost a pot with KK v AQ which would have given me 80% of the chips 3-handed, but I was undeterred and got HU with my good old cheating Italian buddy assocunt.

I had a 2 to 1 chip lead (140k v 70k) but I that was reversed after a few hands. I raised to 9k on the button with KhJs which he calls. He then leads for 9k on a Kc9h4h board. I'm 100% sure im in front here and having played him HU before I know that if he fires on flop he will keep firing so I just call. Turn is Ad and he fires out 20k and I jam, he calls with A9 for two pair. Not a good start. We then play for what seems an eternity with chips going back and forth when I eventually get it all in pre with QQ v AK and I hold to give me the chip lead again. I then cripple him when I raise to 10k on the button with Q2o which he calls. I like the look of the QQQ flop. Flop goes check check, turn is a J and he leads for 12k which I just call as I know he will fire again on river. He duly leads for 32k on river and I jam and he quickly passes. I finally put him to sleep when my QJ holds against his T9. Happy days.

Sunday was a bit of a disaster as I got outdrawn in the £40k on Crypto, had set over set in the Stars million and the Betfair $35k never got going. Did pick up pennies for 20th in the $4k added on Crypto, losing a race for a proper stack.

As for tonight, well I'm not sure what to make of it. I blew a big chip lead on the FT in the Betfair $15k to only finish 7th but took 3rd in the Crypto £12k for £1200. My performance on the $15k final table was deplorable but I rode my luck on umpteen occasions in the £12k (twice I was down to 1xBB after losing a race) so I guess I cant really complain. Although if I ever produce another FT performance like I did in the $15k I'll never play again.

Was time for a change

2006-10-27T17:15:00.000+01:00

After running so bad on the crypto 6paks I decided it was time to hop back to Pokerstars and for the past few days I've been playing the $110 6seaters on there....and killing them despite still running like an old banger. There is much more play in them and the game rarely descends into a crapshoot. Recently on crypto id been finding that virtually every game i played would be 3/4 handed with blinds at 200/400. If you are running well and winning the coin flips, 60/40s, 40/60s etc and picking up big hands then thats not a problem, however when you cant get a hand to hold up it can be a bit soul destroying...hence my earlier disillusioned post. I feel a lot happier with my game now and hopefully things will pick up in the coming weeks.

Waste of time

2006-10-18T19:37:00.000+01:00

Decided to play the Dublin EPT sat on Stars........neednt have bothered. Was going along nicely with 5k when I raise to 325 in MP, muppet in BB calls and flop comes As7c7s. He checks and I bet 475 and he pushes for 3k. I insta call and he turns QQ and hits running spades for the flush. Total spastic!! To bew honest I expect it now, as soon as spade lands on turn I know I'm doomed as I run sooooooooooo bad. I then proceeded to tilt my last 2k away. Thank you and good night!

Disillusioned

2006-10-16T15:51:00.000+01:00

OK apologies for the lack of updates but I have had nothing positive to write. I'm growing increasingly disillusioned with poker at the minute. A couple of months ago I thought my game was going places but recently it has gone backwards bigtime. I'm running bad, playing bad, have no confidence and tilting....a pretty lethal combination.

I'm not really sure where I go from here. Sixpaks are killing me and recently they have started boring the life out of me. I run so bad in them its not true and subsequently I end up tilting and playing like a clown. My multi form hasn't been any better either, although that probably has something to do with the fact I'm trying to win every one within the 1st hour and having an aversion to the fold button. First and foremost I need to get my game back on track and then take it from there. I know I can play this game its just that quite often I tend not to show it. I also think I need to get out and play more live events, so I will have to have a look at the tournament schedule and see what festivals are coming up.

I have a couple of days off planned as I'm off to Livorno to watch Rangers UEFA Cup match, However I have noticed Pokerstars have a last chance qualifier for the Dublin EPT and I'm tempted to play that (I've missed all the other qualifiers due to being busy every saturday night since they started lol) so might take the laptop with me and piss away $475 before I go and get drunk.

Sixpaks

2006-09-21T22:44:00.000+01:00

Surely the sickest form of poker??? Every day I have umpteen hair pulling out moments...and thats just in the games that I win!! Some of the stuff I see is so unbelievably sick, oh to be golden like one or two of my opponents. Why do I put up with it?? Simple really, because they pay well :-)

I've been pretty lazy with regards to putting the hours in online in the past month or so and its something I need to snap out of. I have set myself pretty ambitious profit targets to be obtained by the end of the year and the only way I'll be able to attain them is by putting in the hours or returning a 40% ROI :-) I know which I'd prefer but while I might be good I'm not that good...yet!! I've now played 200 of the £60 sixpaks (I told you I'd been lazy) and my ROI is sitting at 18% (despite the sickness) so not far away from the 20% which I reckoned was attainable in the long run. I'm relatively content with that, but reckon I can improve on it in the coming months.

Barca Hangover

2006-09-20T01:09:00.000+01:00

After being KO'd from the main event in sick circumstances I really had no desire to stay in Barcelona but I had my room booked until Saturday so decided to grin and bear it. I also tried to look on the positive side of things. I've played two big buyin live events this year and managed to get chips early doors in both (despite getting no bloody hands but thats another story) so I must be doing something right.

I slept most of Thursday, played for a couple of hours online then decided to go and find a pub showing the Rangers v Molde UEFA Cup game. I phoned a mate who had been to Barca before and he told me of a pub that would definetly be showing the game. So off I head and surprisingly I manage to locate it with the minimum of fuss only to discover that the pub has now shut down. I'm just too lucky!! So I set off in search of another pub which is showing the game. I walk for miles and miles and get nowhere and I'm on the point of giving up when I stumble across an Irish pub and spy the game on through the window...happy days?? Yeah that will be right what a fecking awful game and performance.

I then head back down to the casino to see how the other lads are getting on and I find that Azimut has just busted out, I have a few drinks then decide to head back and get some shut eye. The following night I met Azimut and his mate Mark and went for a few drinks before I headed back to get a relatively night as I couldnt really face being tired and hungover on flight home.

Upon arriving back in Glasgow I'm beseiged by calls and text messages asking how Barcelona was....well incase anyone else is wondering I fucking hated it. Although in fairness thats basically because I got busted out early. I went to Barcelona to play poker..not enjoy the sights and as soon as the poker was over I just wanted to get home.

I had planned to play the Dublin EPT sat on Stars when I got home on the Saturday night but had totally forgotten I had arranged to meet a young lady that I had met a few weeks ago. Now I'm tired and not really in the mood for going out, but I'm not one to disappoint so I scrap my plans to play the Dublin sat. The young lady tells me not to worry about getting a taxi home later as I can sleep on her couch..now I've heard that umpteen times and had never spent a night on a couch yet ;-)....however there is a 1st time for everything and she really did mean the couch!!! One was not amused..I mean there is a time and place for morals but this was not one of them surely lol.

Anyways back to the poker. On Sunday I had a 'mare, I played the £50k on Crypto and spunked my stack away early doors. I was also in WCOOP event2 on Stars as well as the Dublin FPP Sat. I'd never entered one of the FPP sats before but I guessed that as they didnt need to part with money they would be full of even more muppets than normal...I was right. There were 140 runners with 2 seats and I cruise to the final table as chip leader before doing a chunk with JJ v QQ in bvb but I get it back without too much trouble then I picked up my only 3 hands on the FT AA, KK and QQ consecutively and I picked up the blinds each time lol. Then I really started struggling, I had no cards to speak of and I was being constantly re-raised pre. The players were so bad that you couldnt put any kind of move on them as they would call, anyway we ended up 4-handed with a huge chip leader (he was also the worst player on table but had shit the deck and was hitting EVERY flop) who was sat two to my left which was a bugger as he called all my preflop raises and check called every c-bet on the flop and the sick thing was he had it every time. I had been card dead for over an hour now and SB made a standard raise on my BB and I jammed with QT, he called with AJ and he held which crippled me down to around 2xBBs. However I won a couple of allins and got myself back into things when I find KhQs on the button and raise. Chip leader calls as per and flop comes Qd9d6d, he checks as per and I jam and he takes a while before calling with Q9 and I got no help. Sick!!!

As for the WCOOP I was going slowly and found myself down to 1200 with blinds 50/100 when I my EPT sat goes on a 15min break. Now I have my full focus on this and I manage to spin my stack up to 2.9k without showing a card when I pick up KK on the button and smooth call the cutoffs raise to 400. Flop is all raggy hearts (I have no heart) and he leads out and I jam..he calls with TT with a heart and the Kh duly lands on the turn just to tease me lol, I don't fill up on river and I'm a goner. Win that and I have a playable stack but thems the breaks. I've had better weekends!!

Today I went back to the 6paks and played really really well only to get outdrwan time and time and time again. WTF do I have to do to get a hand to hold up FFS. Oh I still ended up well up on the day but thats hardly the point lol.

Barca Report

2006-09-14T14:11:00.000+01:00

I woke up yesterday morning and felt as though I'd been kicked in the guts by a mule...the platter of smoked fish I had eaten the previous night was taking its revenge. I spent most of the morning being violently sick and was in no fit state to play poker. I still had no idea whether I was playing on day 1a or 1b so I had to drag my sorry carcass down to the casino. I was still feeling like death although I'd stopped vomiting.. I was really hoping I was day 1b but it wasn't to be as luck would have it I was allocated day 1a. Now I had to get myself in the right frame of mind to play...this wasn't going to be easy when all I wanted to do was go back to bed and die quietly.

5pm came and I was feeling slightly better and the couple of coffees I had had woken me up a little, I wasn't in ideal shape but I was well enough to play which was the main thing. I recognised three players on my 1st table, Jan Sjlavik, Fuat Can and Johnny "Texas" Hewston (I didn't actually recognise him but he had his name on his shirt :-)). The table was fairly tight during the first level, It was clear however that there were 3 weak players at the table. The first big hand on the table came early in the 2nd level when Hewston made it 300 in mid position Sjlavik called as did the Welsh/Italian bloke to my right. Flop came down 987 with 2 diamonds. Hewston led the flop and the other 2 called. Turn was a black 5. Hewston checked and Sjlavik bet out 1.5k other guy folded and Hewston quickly called. Turn is a 2 so board reads 98752 with no flush possible, Hewston then jams for 7k into the 5.5k pot. It stank of a complete and utter bluff, I couldn't put him on a made hand that he would play like that JdTd perhaps for the nut straight with flush draw but surely he would raise turn with that holding. Sjlavik thinks for 10mins before a clock is called and he makes a cracking call with J9, Hewston had KdTd and had missed all his draws. one of those hands where you know he has nothing but it takes bollocks to call for virtually all your chips with top pair J kicker on that board.

My first proper pot of the day came in level 3 (75/150) when I made it 450 UTG+1 with TsTd which Fuat Can called. Flop came AsJhQh, not quite what I was hoping for so I check and Can checks behind. Turn is the Kh giving me the nut straight with the heart flush also out. I check again and Can bets 1k, which I call (not convinced about that play but I had my reasons). Turn is 3h so board reads AsJhQhKh3h. Again I check and Can bets 3.5k, I only have 6.5k back so its for a fair chunk of my remaining chips but I'm certain im ahead so call and he flips over AJ for 2 pair. That got me off and running and the table broke soon after.

I don't know anyone at my new table and sit quietly for the first 3 rounds folding the rags which came my way. The guy in seat 2 who looked familiar was very aggro and running over the table and had 30k+ in chips. I won a couple of small pots from the guy in seat 2 simply by playing back at him then I took a nice pot when one of the muppets raised to 1100 in MP, I call in the cutoff with AdJd. Flop comes Kh4d2d giving me the nut draw, he leads for 2.2k which I call and he grimaced at this point I have him on a hand like JJ, QQ and he is worried about the King. Turn is a blank and he checks, I bet 4k and he eventually calls but doesn't look happy about it. The river is another blank and again he checks, I now have A high so have to bet, he has about 8-9k back so I put him allin. He thinks for ages before shouting something in Spanish and gesticulating at the board and mucks his QQ face up :-).

Next big hand (and the worst hand I played all day) was against the guy in seat 2. He raise to 1200 in MP and I called on the button with 88, flop comes a lovely looking 843 and he checks to me I bet 1500 and I'm happy to see him reaching for chips he raises it up to 4.5k which i call. I'm hoping he has an overpair but I suspect he is making a move on me in light of the couple of earlier pots we had played. Turn is a 7 and he checks to me and for some unknown reason i think itll be a good idea to bet and he subsequently folds (hate that turn bet, I have to check behind him imo). Not to worry i'm now over 30k with average only 15k. My next big pot is again against the guy in seat 2. I raise it up in MP with AJs seat 2 calls as does the BB, flop comes J96 and I bet out which seat 2 calls and BB folds. I'm positive I'm ahead at this point and planning on a check raise on a blank turn. Turn is a 2 and I check he bets half the pot and I raise, he duly passes. That put me up to 44k and at this point I felt in total control, i was playing well and knew where I stood in virtually every pot I played.

I then took my first hit of the day when I found QQ in the cutoff, i made it 1300 and BB called flop comes down Jd4d3h, he checks and I bet 2k which he calls. Turn is the Jh and he checks to me again, I'm still sure I'm good here as he check raises me on flop with a J only possible holdings I'm behind to are 44 and 33 imo. I bet 3.8k which he calls at this point I'm sure he has the diamond draw. Turn is Kh so board reads Jd4d3hJhKh and he leads for 4.5k I don't like it as it seems a milky bet and all I'm beating is a busted diamond draw but for 4.5k I have to call. He turns over Ah9h for the flush. Yeah well played sonny jim.

I'm a bit pissed off with that hand but still have 30kish and fluctuate between 25 and 30k for the next few hours and there is 30mins of the days play left when the exit hand arrives. The totally useless muppet to my left raised UTG for the umpteenth time, every time it had been folded to me in the past I was callinfg with ATC and taking the pot postflop every time. I look down at 4h4d this time and obviously call the extra 1.2k, flop comes a sexy looking Ac7c4s. I check and he bets 2.4k i make it 6k and he announces allin (he has me covered) I insta call putting him on a big Ace. He turns over As7s for top two pair, ok i think no Ace or 7 and its happy days. He didnt hit an Ace or a 7 but it sure as hell wasn't fucking happy days, he only went and caught running spades for the nut flush. Really really sick. 55k pot right at the end of the day and I get shafted. I'd have been going back on day two in great shape with almost double the ave stacks had I held but it wasn't to be.

I now know I can compete at this level and I'll be doing my utmost to qualify for at least 1 more EPT event. I was planning on buying into London had I cashed over here but thats not to be so I'll be satelitting my way to Dublin and Copenhagen...hopefully :-). Day 1b is about to get started but I'm too sick to go anywhere near the casino so I'm going to go and see what sites Barcelona has to offer.

EPT Time

2006-09-12T23:38:00.000+01:00

This week I make my 2nd attempt to win an EPT title in the wonderful (so everyone keeps telling me) city that is Barcelona. I've not actually seen any of it yet as I arrived late this afternoon and decided to get some shut eye as I was totally and utterly shattered. I was eventually awoken by the loudest crack of thunder I'd ever heard in my life and could hear the torrential rain lashing down outside. I'd been planning to head down to the Casino tonight to have a look around but to hell with that idea lol. I'm staying in the Hotel Princess and it looks pretty damn fine to me...although I've yet to fully explore it.

I played a bit of online poker yesterday without too much success. I played the $150 doublestack on Full Tilt and had a stack of 40k (ave 25k blinds 500/1000) with 13 left when I picked up 89o in the cutoff and make a raise to 3k which the button called. SB passedthen BB thought for a while before re-raising to 13.5k. Normally I pass here however I had played with the BB in the past and I was sure he was making a move here, he was also playing a 40k stack as was the button. With now over 20k in the middle I make a bold/rash (you decide) move and jam which the button insta calls..that wasn't part of my well thought out plan, i hadnt been overly concerned by him as he had been calling preflop raises with a wide range of hands. Anyway the BB folds (hardly surprising as he would need AA to call here now) and the button shows AA and I'm a goner. Oops!! That was the proverbial spanner in the works, I'll never know if the BB would have called had the button passed but I was certain he wouldn't, even without the buttons intervention he would have needed a "big" hand to call me. A play gone wrong but not a bad play methinks ;-).

Anyways time for some more shut eye. Heres hoping my next post is detailing how I've built up a healthy stack by the end of day 1.

BFWCOP

2006-09-12T23:02:00.000+01:00

I had been looking forward to this for a while and it didn't disappoint. I arrived late Thursday afternoon and a few of the lads were already congregated in the hotel bar. A quick check in and change and I joined them. Had a couple of pints before heading down to the Waddon Hotel for some pool and pizza (pool was crap, pizza was good) and of course some more drink. We then ended up heading to some pretty rank club in Croydon where plenty more drink was consumed, then it was back to the hotel where Highstack decided to play barman :-). This was unfortunately frowned upon by the existing staff members so we had to vacate and ended up in Kev and Highstacks room where I lounged until 7am before heading down for some breakfast...which was awful. After that I decided that some shut eye would be in order..but could I sleep?? Could I f***!!! I proceeded to roll about my bed for a couple of hours before I eventually managed to sleep.

Friday was the team game and I put up a sterling performance....I was first out. Hand 3 I look down at JJ UTG and make it 200 to play. Hawko calls as does Tankdahl in the BB, so we have a pot of 625 and the flop comes 567 and the drunken scouse clown goes and throws a 5k chip in the middle which causes me to recoil in my seat in horror. After much deliberating I decide to move in out of curiosity...Tank calls and shows a set of 7's and says "I meant to bet 500" LOL.

The main game on the Sunday was a bit of a non-event for me. I never got going and bit the dust when I re-raised Hawko all-in with 97s after he made his 3rd consecutive preflop raise. Of course this time he had a hand lol. Never mind the proper poker is this week :-). A few of us then headed for an Indian before I finally got to bet around 4ish I think.

Sunday came and I was rudely awoken by my alarm at 9am...I don't think I've ever been as tired in my life. I got to the airport earlier than anticipated so had a couple of hours before my flight was due to depart. I checked my bag in and went and took a seat..bad idea as I then fell asleep and wok in a blind panic as I thought I'd missed my flight, I had however only been asleep for 40mins or so. Thankfully there were no delays and I stepped through my front door around 4pm. I had a cracking week and I'm already looking forward to BFWCOP3 next year.

Quick Update

2006-09-07T01:47:00.000+01:00

Things have picked up past few days, I'm still running bad but actually managing to turn in a profit which is always good. One of these days I'll run well and cause some serious damage. I have concentrated solely on 6pacs since the start of the month but decided to play a MTT on Stars tonight whilst finishing my last batch of 6paks. I started off pissing about and found myself down to 500chips early on and then got slapped about the chops with the deck for a couple of levels and found myself in the chip lead. I then take a huge hit when I am re-raised allin on Q65 flop holding AQ, he turns over AK?!? Turn obv a K. Unperturbed I set about demolishing the field again and get my stack up above average when I suffer a sick outdraw. I have KK in the BB and chip leader in cutoff makes it 2400 (blinds 400/800), SB smooth calls, so now I have to raise, I put 8000 of my 25000 in and the original raiser moves allin. I call and he shows JJ. If I hold here I have 60k with only one other stack over 40k with 55runners left. Flop comes a sickly looking KsTs9s and he holds Js, tur Q gives him his straight and I don't fill up on river. Siccccccccckkkkkkk. If I take down that pot I can run riot but wasn't to be.

Tomorrow I'm heading down to London, well Croydon to be exact, for the BFWCOP. Should be a cracking weekend and really looking forward to it. I fly home on the Sunday and have 2 days at home to recover before I head to Barcelona to begin my quest for an EPT title.

Sick sick sick

2006-08-30T00:05:00.000+01:00

My run of form at the moment makes me want to vomit. Its so bad its untrue and the really sick thing is I'm not playing all that badly. Admittedly past few days I had played with zero confidence but today I felt ready to go and felt sure today would be the day when I would turn things around. For the past week or so I have had an unbelievable number of 2nds and 3rds in 6paks and it has reached hair tearing out time. But today I was sure that I was going to get some breaks....I was wrong :-(.

I lasted the sum total of 5 games before I gave up, I had two 2nds and 3 bubbles to show for my efforts. Honestly I don't mind getting raped in the 1st hand but when it is constantly happening HU or on the bubble it hurts. I could easily have won all 5 games but had nothing to show for my efforts except another losing day. I started off with two bubbles, 1st one I got them allin pre with AKs v KQo for a 4k pot and lost. In the other I made a marginal call with A6o, other guy had 66 and held..fair enough, I then recovered back to 1500chips and jam with A9s from the SB, BB calls with J8o?!?!?! and KO's me. The temptation to tilt is building inside me but in going well in 3rd game so try to remain positive. I get HU but blinds are at silly level, other guy has been jamming virtually every time he is SB, with stacks level and blinds 300/600 I make a stand with K20, he has K60 but flop comes a friendly looking QQJ..turn 8..ok I'll take a split....river 6 :-(. Game 4 I get HU with roughly even stacks, we have a bit of jousting before he pumps on SB, I have AT and call he has 99 and flops a set, game over. Game 5, 3 left I have 1200 chips, big stack on button jams I call with AJs he has KJ and I lose. I have now won 1 of my last 27 6paks and it would be fair to say I'm a little peeved.

Apologies for boring you with all of that but 'tis tricky to try and remain positive when its losing day followed by losing day. By writing it down hopefully it will reinforce the fact that I'm not doing anything wrong and it will turn. I'm still making it to the final 3 as often as I was when things were going well, back then I was converting more than my fair share of them into wins, however past week or so I can't buy a win. Gotta take the good with the bad though I guess. Tomorrow is another day.

Bad Few Days

2006-08-24T16:08:00.000+01:00

Where do I start??? At the weekend I decided that I would be a donator and pissed my chips away in every tournament I played in. I decided at that point I needed a couple of days off to get my hunger back.

Tuesday came and I decided to play a few 6paks and did ok, nothing great due to my recently contracting 2nditis as well as bubbleitis (a nasty combination I assure you). However since then it has been bad news brown and my sharkscope graph is in freefall, I'm currently unplaced in 11 as I type and have only 2 wins in my past 28 games...not pretty viewing I can assure you. Now the obvious explanation would be that I have played like a clown :), however I'd dispute that lol. I actually don't think I've done all that much wrong, I have just run unbelievably bad. Today for example 3-handed, I hold KJ on button playing a stack of 1500, I make it 150 and the blinds call, flop comes QJJ, checked to me and I bet 200, SB calls and BB makes it 400, I smell a rat here but realistically there are only 2 holding he could have which beat me AJ and QJ as surely he would re-raise with QQ and arguably also AJ. Of course he has the QJ and I pay him every time.

There havnt even been that many beats (mainly because I've never been in front) although when they have happened they have been in key pots. I just can't buy a win at the minute. Anyways PMA there is a trip to Singapore to be won this evening :)

MTT win

2006-08-18T22:57:00.000+01:00

Has been a while since I actually won a MTT but got the monkey off my back tonight. Took down the $50 FO on Pokerstars for $3.9k. I hit some decent hands early on and built up a stack and from then on never looked back. I reached the final table in good shape, about 3rd in chips, but then proceeded to lose 3 consecutive coinflips to a shortstack which put a big dent in my stack. The table however was pretty tight and I was able to get 2/3 raises through a round uncontested which helped me rebuild.

The shortstacks then started dropping off pretty quickly and soon we were 4-handed, during a break one guy suggested and even chop when the stacks were 145k, 140k, 85k and 80k. I was on 140k so my answer was a resounding no thank you LOL. Oh and the guy suggesting the even chop was the chip leader with 145k LMAO. I had no intention of dealing unless it was on very favourable terms as I had a big edge over the other three. So we carried on and I built my stack up to 190k when the shortstack moved in on the button for 50k (blinds 4k/8k) I call with 77, he turns over KTo and gets no help. I'm now playing a stack of 250k with the other two on 100k each. At this point I went into overdrive and started raising every pot applying maximum pressure. Eventually one of them finds a hand and plays back at me but by this point I have the chips to call I have A6s v AJ, I flop my 6 and go heads up with a 5 to 1 chip lead and it was all over in one hand. I have Q7 in BB, SB completes and flop comes QQJ, I check and he moves in with J8. Game set and match :-)

I had started the day intending to hammer some £60 6paks but after only managing a 2nd from my first four I decided I wasn't in the right frame of mind so took a break and came back refreshed for my MTT...looks like it worked.

Crypto 15k

2006-08-17T23:31:00.000+01:00

I feel like a moan so I will. Of all online tournaments this one really does attract the dregs of the poker playing population. 90% do not have a clue!!! FACT. But lo and behold I cannot get a result in it for love nor money. To be honest i'm only really moaning because I was sure I was getting a result in it tonight and got raped yet again, this nasty 3 outer was a killer, exceptionally well played by my opponent though..excellent stuff hardly surprising that he was still in after i crashed and burned.

-----HAND 19------
Game #2230243043: Hold'em NL (300/600) - 2006/08/17 - 22:32:15 (GMT)
Table "£15K_THURSDAY 3229354 - 3" Seat 10 is the button.
Seat 1: Slambello (7485 in chips)
Seat 2: ----TECHN (9515 in chips)
Seat 3: Ptarmigan (28005 in chips)
Seat 4: LeGil (12280 in chips)
Seat 5: Kirsten (45473.50 in chips)
Seat 7: riverdave (33690 in chips)
Seat 8: shag07wal (14967 in chips)
Seat 9: P.LeGuen (22963.50 in chips)
Seat 10: annakin (10455 in chips)
Slambello: posts the ante 75
----TECHN: posts the ante 75
Ptarmigan: posts the ante 75
LeGil: posts the ante 75
Kirsten: posts the ante 75
riverdave: posts the ante 75
shag07wal: posts the ante 75
P.LeGuen: posts the ante 75
annakin: posts the ante 75
Slambello: posts small blind 300
----TECHN: posts big blind 600
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to P.LeGuen [Jd Td]
Ptarmigan: folds
LeGil: folds
LeGil sits out
Kirsten: folds
LeGil sits back
riverdave: folds
shag07wal: folds
P.LeGuen: raises to 1775
annakin: folds
Slambello: folds
----TECHN: calls 1175
----- FLOP ----- [8c Ts 6s]
----TECHN: bets 7665 and is all-in
P.LeGuen: calls 7665
----- TURN ----- [8c Ts 6s][Ks]
----- RIVER ----- [8c Ts 6s Ks][Ah]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
----TECHN: shows [Ad 3c] (A Pair of Aces, King high)
P.LeGuen: shows [Jd Td] (A Pair of Tens, Ace high)
----TECHN collects 19855 from Main pot

If I win that pot I'm top 3 in chips with 33 left and I would have got a result but it wasn't to be. I managed to recover and get myself back into it but my fate was sealed when I lost 2 flips to die in 17th. One was not amused.

On to other matters. Lack of players on the STTs on crypto past few days has been a problem. I have hardly played any 6paks (16 total) since my return from Vegas due to playing mainly MTTs but I decided to have a go yesterday and had to endure annoying waits to get a game started. Who knows what things will be like when Betfair leave.

Speaking of Betfair, I have to say their communication at times leaves a lot to be desired. As mentioned in previous post I won an EPT package on Sunday and I have received not communication from Betfair regarding this, I have since emailed them as I have a few queries regarding the package, and as I type I'm still awaiting a reply. Compare this with Pokerstars who send you an immediate confirmation email and full details within 48hours.

Finally I'd just like to wish my mate Spudy all the best in the Irish Poker Classic in Cork, unfortunately due to family reasons I was unable to go. Good luck lad bring it home :-)

If at first you don't succeed....

2006-08-13T23:45:00.000+01:00

I woke up this morning in a positive frame of mind despite last nights faux pas. Yeah I blew a golden opportunity of an EPT seat but I also knew that if I kept playing at that standard(with the exception of the last hand) I'd get other opportunities. I had 4 super sats lined up for tonight, the Macau on Betfair, the Crypto wide EPT and the CPC and WH Grand Prix on William Hill.

First thing was I was struggling to play effectively with all 4 tables running at once. 4-tabling STTs is one thing but MTTs are a different kettle of fish, but I was struggling along and actually got off to a decent start in the CPC. But things went sour when I lost a 5k pot with a set of tens, the villain hit his flush on the river. That crippled me and I struggled on for a while before bowing out in 11th. The WH Grand Prix I never really got going and died in 21st when my AK was bust by KT, I was short at the time so no real complaints.

The Macau sat also started slowly, only 16runners with one seat and cash for 2nd and 3rd. I made it to the final table (great achievement eh?? :-)) pretty short and never really got going at all until we were three handed. At this point I took control and set about reeling in the big chip leader it started well and my stack was building and then I find AK0 in the SB and make standard raise, BB (the chip leader) then makes an big re-raise effectively putting me all-in. My chips beat his into the pot and he turns over A6o...only to hit a gutshot straight on river. I win that pot I'm clear chip leader and odds on to win a seat but instead I pick up $400 for my troubles. I'm still going over to Cork to play in this as the legend Spudy won a seat a couple of weeks ago and I told him I'd play if I cashed in the WSOP, so its off to Cork I go :-).

So thats in effect two bubbles in consecutive nights...happy days!! But all was not lost as I was still running in the EPT sat, tonight there were 113 runners with 2 seats up for grabs. Again I started slowly, I think this was ue to having all 4 tables running as when I started busting out of the others I started to gather chips in this. It was only really when I got down to the last 20 or so that I managed to build up a "proper" stack getting a tasty double up when the SB decides to limp trap with KTo, unfortunately for him I'm going nowhere with my QQ.

The final table is soon upon us and like last night I go there as chip leader and this time I'm determined there will be no bubble. I don't recognise many of the other combatants and indeed Shaa is the only other person I know on the table. It starts off well and I'm basically being allowed to do as I please picking up small pots and blinds here and there to keep the stack ticking over. Then I pick up a nice pot when guy to my right who had been anteeing away since he got to the final table decides to jam from the button for 16k, I call from the SB with AK and I hold up (he had rags). We were 5-handed by the time of the break and I was 2nd in chips behind a clueless and classless clown to my left, so it was all still to play for. At this point I'm saying to myself "DO NOT THROW THIS AWAY BAZZA"...... I didn't :-)

We got three handed with the classless clown having a big chip lead and at this point I'd love nothing more than to see him bubble. I got my wish

Game #2175637853: Hold'em NL (800/1600) - 2006/08/13 - 22:10:00 (GMT)
Table "EPT 6600 Final 3173053 - 1" Seat 9 is the button.
Seat 5: shuffle10 (78010 in chips)
Seat 7: P.LeGuen (76370 in chips)
Seat 9: Ukpoker1 (128120 in chips)
shuffle10: posts the ante 200
P.LeGuen: posts the ante 200
Ukpoker1: posts the ante 200
shuffle10: posts small blind 800
P.LeGuen: posts big blind 1600
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to P.LeGuen [4d 4c]
Ukpoker1: raises to 4800
shuffle10: folds
P.LeGuen: calls 3200
----- FLOP ----- [As 4s 8h]
P.LeGuen: checks
Ukpoker1: bets 20800
P.LeGuen: raises to 71370 and is all-in
Ukpoker1: calls 50570
----- TURN ----- [As 4s 8h][7s]
----- RIVER ----- [As 4s 8h 7s][8c]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
P.LeGuen: shows [4d 4c] (A Full House, Fours full of Eights)
Ukpoker1: shows [Js 8s] (A Flush, Ace high)
P.LeGuen collects 153740 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot 153740 Main pot 153740 Rake 0
Board [As 4s 8h 7s 8c]
Seat 5: shuffle10 (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: P.LeGuen (big blind) showed [4d 4c] and won (153740) with A Full House, Fours full of Eights
Seat 9: Ukpoker1 (button) showed [Js 8s] and lost

A friendly river for once. Although it'd have been a travesty if that idiot had ever got to sit his arse down at a EPT event. He busted a few hands later and the seat was mine :-) Maybe I can play this game after all!!

PS This is probably a bit of a rabble as I'm half asleep typing this, I'll try and sort it when I'm more awake.

I am a muppet!!!

2006-08-13T01:14:00.000+01:00

As I type I'm completely and utterly disgusted with myself. I have just blown an opportunity to win a EPT seat of my choice. We are playing 3 handed and I feel in total control when the following hand happens.

Game #2163259343: Hold'em NL (400/800) - 2006/08/13 - 00:40:24 (GMT)
Table "EPT 6600 Final 3172933 - 1" Seat 3 is the button.
Seat 3: Blackkat (11748.08 in chips)
Seat 4: sixpac (51093.45 in chips)
Seat 9: P.LeGuen (37158.47 in chips)
sixpac: posts the ante 100
P.LeGuen: posts the ante 100
Blackkat: posts the ante 100
sixpac: posts small blind 400
P.LeGuen: posts big blind 800
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to P.LeGuen [Th Ac]
Blackkat: raises to 11648.08 and is all-in
sixpac: folds
P.LeGuen: calls 10848.08
----- FLOP ----- [9h Qc Ad]
----- TURN ----- [9h Qc Ad][Qd]
----- RIVER ----- [9h Qc Ad Qd][Ts]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Blackkat: shows [2d As] (Two Pairs, Aces and Queens, Ten high)
P.LeGuen: shows [Th Ac] (Two Pairs, Aces and Queens, Ten high)
P.LeGuen collects 11998.16 from Main pot
Blackkat collects 11998 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot 23996.16 Main pot 23996.16 Rake 0
Board [9h Qc Ad Qd Ts]
Seat 3: Blackkat (button) showed [2d As] and won (11998) with Two Pairs, Aces and Queens, Ten high
Seat 4: sixpac (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: P.LeGuen (big blind) showed [Th Ac] and won (11998.16) with Two Pairs, Aces and Queens, Ten high

OK nothing too bad there, except the fact that I fail to realise its a split (I never was the sharpest tool in the box). So I'm sitting there punching the air already trying to decide which event to go to when I see the pot being split and I'm like WTF??? then I look again at the board and I'm like FFS. Aaaarrghh focus and concentration totally and utterly gone. Then to make matters worse Blackkat goes and doubles up with KK v 66 against sixpac. Then the tilt monster envelopes me and I just want the game over and I go and make a completely and utterly fucking disgracefully bad call :-( What a complete and utter cunt I am, I know I'm beat but still call. Well played Bazza you cretin.

Game #2163330603: Hold'em NL (400/800) - 2006/08/13 - 00:45:26 (GMT)
Table "EPT 6600 Final 3172933 - 1" Seat 3 is the button.
Seat 3: Blackkat (24896 in chips)
Seat 4: sixpac (35870.45 in chips)
Seat 9: P.LeGuen (39233.55 in chips)
sixpac: posts the ante 100
P.LeGuen: posts the ante 100
Blackkat: posts the ante 100
sixpac: posts small blind 400
P.LeGuen: posts big blind 800
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to P.LeGuen [Kc Qs]
Blackkat: folds
sixpac: raises to 2400
P.LeGuen: calls 1600
----- FLOP ----- [3s 9d Qd]
sixpac: bets 3200
P.LeGuen: raises to 8000
sixpac: raises to 33370.45 and is all-in
P.LeGuen: calls 25370.45
----- TURN ----- [3s 9d Qd][4s]
----- RIVER ----- [3s 9d Qd 4s][6s]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
sixpac: shows [9s 9h] (Three of a kind, Nines, Queen high)
P.LeGuen: shows [Kc Qs] (A Pair of Queens, King high)
sixpac collects 71840.90 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot 71840.90 Main pot 71840.90 Rake 0
Board [3s 9d Qd 4s 6s]
Seat 3: Blackkat (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: sixpac (small blind) showed [9s 9h] and won (71840.90) with Three of a kind, Nines, Queen high
Seat 9: P.LeGuen (big blind) showed [Kc Qs] and lost

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH Just looking at it makes me want to vomit!!!

Oh well got to look on the bright side I got £1930 for my troubles, doesn't feel like much consolation but its better than a poke in the eye.

Post Vegas Blues

2006-08-10T01:36:00.000+01:00

The flight home was a killer, I was shattered but couldn't sleep and it took forever. Then I land at Gatwick which was in chaos and I face a lengthy wait before I get my baggage, I then have to hightail it to the other terminal in order to catch my connecting flight.

Since I've been back I've been royally shafted, indeed I've been humped by so many donkeys I now have to play standing up. There have been a couple of bright spots, I have won a 470euro seat in the EPT Sat on Crypto and a £130 seat in the William Hill Grand Prix Sat. Mr Pokerstars has not been so forthcoming with seats in EPT and WCOOP sats. I thought it was going to change when I played the $25 rebuy sat for the $475 super sat for the London EPT, I'm in for $125 (not ideal) but have an above average stack (8k) with 24left and 6 seats. The table muppet playing 3.5k makes it 600 and I bump it up to 1800 on the button with AKo, he moves in and I expect to be racing at worst, but I'm in front as he has decided to go to war with K9s, he hits flush, wp sir. A couple of rounds later and the same clown makes it 800, I have JJ on the button playing 3.5k and push, BB then jams for 6k, uh oh I've walked into a monster methinks. Muppet features insta calls for most of his stack and proudly shows off his KQs, BB has TT?? so I'm in about as good a shape as I could hope to be in preflop. K on flop seals my fate. From now on I'll just buyin to the super sats and save myself the grief :-)

Days 2 and 3

2006-08-10T00:18:00.000+01:00

After the highs of day one its not surprising that I went into day 2 full of confidence (something I lack at times) and ready to press on and build that stack of mine. Things look good when I sit down at my table and notice that I'm chip leader by over 20k.. Good stuff, lets take command here . I didn't get off to the best of starts and soon my stack was down to 50k. Things soon started to pick up however.

I won my first decent sized pot of the day when I raised in MP with Ac9c, guy two to my left who had taken a couple of pots off me earlier called as does the button. Flop comes QJT with one club, I check guy to my left sticks in a half pot bet button folds and I call. Turn is the 6c and goes check check, the 3c lands on river giving me the nut flush. I lead and other guy calls with QT for two pair. This pushed me up to around 75k. I then took down another nice pot with KQs busting someones very poorly played KK. So after the slow start I was now flying and had over 100k. Things were looking promising....then the downswing came.

I can't recall many of the hands but I ran very bad for the next 2 levels, I made a couple of errors which compounded things and before I knew it I was struggling badly with only around 38k when I pick up my first hand of the day QQ, utg makes it 3200 and I re-raise it up to 10k and she quickly calls leaving herself only 17k behind. Immediately alarm bells start ringing, she had been very tight, only playing a couple of hands since I got to the table, I feel I'm either already behind or up against AK. Anyway flop comes K high and I'm now certain I'm behind, she checks and I decide I'm done with the hand unless a Q comes on the turn . Its a blank and she moves in, I pass. The table soon breaks and I then spend a total of 3 hands at another table (of course the three hands were UTG, BB and SB) before it breaks and I get moved two to Joe Hachems left with half an hour of the days play remaining. At this point I'm severely pissed off and looking for any excuse to get my chips in the middle. The dealer manages to stop me spunking off the last of my chips by dealing me nothing better than 9 high. So the day ends and I have a paltry 21,600 left!! Not good!! I then have to endure the bagging up procedure which is really should be a simple procedure taking only a few minutes but it is carried out like a military drill and takes forever. On day 1 I didn't mind it although I was shattered, but at this point I just wanted out of there, I was pissed off with the way things had gone and with how I'd played (although looking back with a clear head I didn't do all that much wrong). Anyways eventually the procedure is over and I leave only to be hit with a mile long taxi queue. Happy days!!

The following day was a rest day for the main event and it gave me time to reflect on things and try to get things in perspective. I still had chips which was a commodity 7700 others didn't have. I was odds against making the money never mind going deep which was my aim but hey what was gone was gone, I now had to make the most of what I had.

Day 3 arrived and I set out with the intention of attacking, I wasn't going to allow myself to ante away, if I was going down I was going down fighting. I had drawn a decent table, I was the shortstack but there was only two stacks over 100k so I had enough chips to "hurt" anyone on the table besides them. It was therefore going to be a case of picking my spots (I was assuming I'd get no hands, I had none for first 21hours of play so didn't expect things to change and I wasn't disappointed). I had decided in advance that if any of my chips were going into a pot the lot were (obviously I'd be seeking action with a big hand) to I utilised the allin move on many occasions early doors. Two guys to my left had 60kish and seemed unwilling to get involved so when it was folded to me the chips were in. I made my way up to 30k and bought myself a little time before I got knocked back down to 20k at which point I'm now getting desperate. I find AQo and TT in quick succesion and push, I get no action but the blinds and antes lift me back up to 30k. Then I just couldnt find a spot to push and the bubble was fast approaching, the guy two to my left had been replaced by someone holding a monster stack so I had to tread a little more carefully.

I get battered back down to 14k, its costing 6k a round and its folded to me on the button, I can see up on the screen that there are less than 892 left with 873 paid. I look down at K4s and jam, SB folds and BB thinks for a while, and starts calculating whats in the pot, at this point I know I'm in front. Eventually he looks at me and says "You're in front but I gotta call you kiddo", he turns over T9o. So basically this is a $14.5k pot, and I'm doing battle with K4s :-). Thankfully I hold and I move up to 30kish.

At this point they stop play and announce that they will play one round at each table and if the bubble bursts then anyone knocked out on that round will share any prize money. At this point its -EV for me to get involved until the bubble bursts so i'm hoping it bursts on that round, but it falls three short and we have to play another round. Again I have to fold like a little girl (I didn't pick up any hands which made it easier), incidentally a guy had sat at the table with 80k at the start of the days play and did not play one hand, I guess he needed the $14.5k but it was sad to watch. This time the bubble does burst and I have 21k left, the first hand after we restart its folded to me in the cutoff, I look down at A6o and push, SB says he is all in and I know I need to get lucky. He has AQ and holds and its goodbye WSOP 2006 for me. However I will be back.

Some pre Day2 thoughts

2006-08-02T04:34:00.000+01:00

Day 1 went as well as I could have hoped for but all that will count for nothing if it goes pear shaped tomorrow. Today I've spent most of the day in my hotel room, indeed only leaving it to go for some food, as I have tried to make sure im 100% mentally right for tomorrow. As I type I feel, focused, zoned in and ready to go, pity its still 15hours until kick-off lol.

Tomorrow is the biggest day of my poker life to date and I fully intend to do myself justice, now I know that due to the nature of this sometimes sick game that I could play superbly well and be out by the end of the 1st level, but theres nothing I can do about the turn of a card. If it happens it happens, but heres hoping it doesn't :-). If I play like I did on day 1 then I should be fine, i'm going to continue to be aggresive and hopefully that 65k will grow. The advantages of having a stack at the end of tomorrow will be huge as the bubble will be burst at some point in day three and as it approaches the rich will undoubtedly get richer and the poor will get poorer. Given the number of online qualifiers I imagine those with a stack will be able to have a field day...heres hoping I'm one of them :-).

Bazza in Vegas

2006-07-31T19:39:00.000+01:00

Well started off on Wednesday night when I flew down to Gatwick and spent the night in the Holiday Inn. Decided to fly down the night before just to avoid any mishaps, nothing could go wrong could it? Well I woke in the morning and was shattered so decided to have an extra half hour in bed, I calculated that I still would have plenty of time however I failed to account for a number of factors a) I hadn't been able to check in online due to problem with their system so would have to do it at airport b) travelling time to the airport, shuttle buses ran every half hour and I faled to note the times they ran at c) the potential for a rather large queue at the check in desk.

Eventually I manage to drag my carcas out of bed and meander down to check out and get shuttle bus to airport. I checked times and realised I'd just missed a bus, hmm ok cutting it a bit fine now, so I went and asked thedesk to get me a taxi. "No problem sir" said the man, he calls them and then tells me "it will be here in 20minutes sir", eh wtf? that ain't no use to me so I decide just to wait for the shuttle bus after he confirmed that it is reliable and always on time...he was right. So off to the airport I go, whence there I follow the signs for departures only to reach the check in desk to be met with a queue that was zigzagged umpteen times...oh dear. Then I remember about the DIY check in kiosks so all is well. Checked in, ready to go and off I trek to the departure gate.

The flight itself was decent considering I'm not the worlds greatest flyer and the 9hrs 45mins seemed to go in relatively quickly. The first thing I notice about Vegas is the suffocating heat. I havebeen to warmer climes in the past but never experienced anything as hot as this. So that was me here in Las Vegas, It was late Thursday afternoon andI didn't play until Sunday, plenty of time to get acclimatised.

Its Vegas and everyone has fun in Vegas don't they?? Well not me lol, I was generally underwhelmed by everything. I was bored and pissed off due to a lack of sleep, and just really wanted to get underway. Eventually Sunday arrived and my preparation for the biggest game of my life didn't exactly go according to plan. 2.30am I wake up and an then unable to get back to sleep due to booming music aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhh. FFS just what I need. So i can do nothing but wish the hours away. Eventually it is time to get ready and head down to thr Rio. My eyes are blearly and my head is pounding and it would be fair to say I wasn't in ideal shape for a 15hour (including breaks) poker marathon.

Pokerstars were putting on a breakfast for those playing so thought I might as well head down to that for some sustinence to try and get me through the day. When I get there I witness the rather comical sight of 2 members of Pokerstars staff trying to explain to a middle aged European gentleman who spoke very little English that only he and not his wife was entitled to the breakfast. Having seen this and been told in advance that you were only entitled to the breakfast on the day you were playing (they had a sheet where the checked your name) I was expecting a banquet fit for a King, alas it was not even a banquet fit for a Bazza. Tight fuckers.

Anyway the time had arrived and my main event was about to kick off. I take my seat and I'm pretty happy when I notice that half the table is made up of online qualfiers (2 from Party, 2 from Pacific and one from Bodog). Jeniffer Harmans other half was also at the table (Marco something or other) and seat 8 was empty, it was to be filled some 20mins into the game by Simon Trumper turning up fashionably late.

I Started off pretty slowly went down to 9k after losing a couple of small pots then got myself back up to 10k when my 1st big hand arrived. I limped in MP with T9o with one limper before me, button also limps and Simon Trumper who had been raising a lot of pots makes it 300, 1st limper (worst player on table) calls so I call as does the button. Flop comes J84 and ST leads for 900, muppet to my right smooth calls as do I button folds. turn is 7 and its checked to me and I bet 2k..they both call, river is a nice and safe and St leads for 1175 and muppet calls. I have 5kish back and move in, they both pass, ST said he had set of 8's.

That shoots me up to 19k and I dont deviate much from that mark for next few hours.An aggresive scandi joined the table with a stack and rudely began raising every other pot. i pick up AQo utg+1 andmake it 800 (blinds 100/200), I get 4 callers, flop comes AJ4 and I lead for 1800, scandi calls, turn is a 2 and it goes check check river is 4 and i check call his bet of 4.5k...he mucks. that was me up to 30k+.

Next level came a big hand Joe Hachems cousin (Tony Hachem) was sat to my right and he had seemingly been playing pretty solid aggresive stuff. It was folded to him in the SB and he made it 1100, I look down at TT and elect to smooth call flop comes T87 and he leads for 3k, I raise to 8k which he calls. turn is a blank and he bets out basically committing himself, I move in and he calls with AT, he was evidently a non-believer!! That got me up to 50kish and gave me a sizeable chip lead, and I was able to use that stack to pretty much control the table and finished the day on 65,200 (39th of the 861 who made it through). Not a bad days work if I do say so myself.

I played very very well today (even if I do say so myself) without picking up any big hands preflop (nothing better than Jacks until I saw Aces with 50mins of the days play remaining). In the past few months my game as come on leaps and bounds and yesterday I believe I took it up another level. Prior to yesterday I had never felt totally comfortable playing live. I had very little live experience and no results to speak of but I realised the importance of building a strong table image, I had given it a lot of thought and had a plan of action, which seemed to work. When I had the goods they paid me and when I didn't they passed...long may it continue.

It was a helluva long day, 1st time I had played a live event for so long (6X 2hr levels) and was pretty drained by the end of it and took my foot off the accelerator in the last hour, I know I this was the time to pressurise the table with my stack but with fatigue now well and truly set in I didn't want to be making any mistakes and was more than happy to take my 65k onto day 2.

So it was off back to the hotel for some much needed shut eye, only problem was I had consumed copious amounts of red bull to get me through the day (15-20 cans), my heart was racing and my eyes were bulging..can't be good for you lol and it was after 6 before I got to sleep and I was awoken at 11.30 with the sound of a bloody pneumatic drill, wtf does a man have to do to get some sleep in this place.

Anyways time for some much needed food, then I think ill go and slap on the factor 75 and chill out poolside today as i prepare for day 2 on Wednesday.

Thankfully it aint always this tough

2006-07-21T00:01:00.000+01:00

From one extreme to the other, past few days I have been running well, today has been a bloody nightmare. I have had to battle, scratch and claw for everything today, nothing came easy, missed every flop, missed every draw, when I had a hand someone had a better one, that kind of stuff, and to top it all off I wasn't playing particularly well. The staggering thing is I still managed to turn in a profit (just), and it could have been even better had i not lost HU in my last 2 sixpaks.

One of the (many) weaknesses in my game in the past was the mental side of the game. I had a propensity to tilt all to easily when things weren't going my way, but I have been trying to eliminate that from my game and so far so good. I know that had I had a day like today a few months back theres no way I'd have been able to turn it round and show a profit, I'd have been throwing good money after bad. Then I'd get up the next day and be pissed off with myself for tilting so I'd go piss some more money away whilst still tilting like a maniac. Controlling these dark forces is one of my main objectives in the coming months. Another is to give each and every game I play my full attention. In the past I'd have games running whilst reading forum, writing emails and chatting on MSN, well I discovered that this guy ain't no good at multitasking, so when I'm playing now I generally only have the poker software running and some music playing.

As for the sixpaks, well I'm still enjoying playing them. I have seen nothing to fear and I know that so long as I bring my "A" game I'll have a lot more winning days than losing days. The pool of players is not that large so ultimately I end up playing against the same players day in day out, so I've been spending a lot of time building up my notes this week, particularly on the "regulars".

Time for some shut-eye as I plan on getting up early to watch some golf in the morning.

Oh and this time next week I'll be in Vegas :-)

If only it was always this easy!!

2006-07-19T23:20:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update. I Havn't really played much past couple of days but I have still been running well :). I know I said I'd be putting in the hours but to be honest I'm inherently lazy and I look at guys like Buzzer, Hawko etc playing umpteen tables at a time for hours on end and think to myself how the fuck do they do it, I'm happy with my 2/3 tables :).

I have played solely the £60 sixpaks on crypto and I'm delighted with how things are going. So far I've played 48 and I'm showing a profit of £1602, ROI of 50.5%, if only that was sustainable in the long run, but I know a run of beats is just around the corner LOL. However I do feel a long run ROI of >20% is achievable. I am now playing under a new WH account due to them offering me a better rakeback deal...it must be golden :).

Oh and its only 8 days until Vegas so its all good :)

Nothing much to report...

2006-07-14T17:33:00.000+01:00

....and that just about covers it.

Played a few 6pacs on the devilish crypto site..did ok, played a few mtt's didn't do ok, and thats about the sum total from the past few days. Had intended to play a bit more this week but just havn't felt in the mood and when I have played I havn't felt comfortable, confident or in the zone.

I havn't played today so far, I may play a few games later but for now I'm off to watch Rangers v Jomo Cosmos, only 15days until season kicks off and I will miss it :-(, one downside of qualifying for the WSOP, I also miss the second game as well, but I'm certain we will have 6 points in the bag by the time I return. I don't remember ever looking forward to a new season with so much anticipation and I will be having a chunk on Rangers to win the title @5/4...stick on IMO. Anyways kick-off is in 15mins and I'm out of beer....

.....ok watched game, typical pre-season crap, but it was a win and the new signings looked capable, difficult to take anything from the game though as it was played at walking pace.

Decided to play a handful of 6pacs tonight...the standard truly is poor...and that is just from the players that are winning (according to sharkscope). Past couple of days I've played 10 £60's winning 3 and 2nd in 2 coupled with 2 sick bubbles. Think I will start playing them more often as there does seem to be money to be made. Will hopefully be able to motivate myself and put in some hours this weekend.

The Story to Date

2006-07-11T16:43:00.000+01:00

I started playing this game almost 2 years ago. I was on holiday from work at the time and received an email from Betfair telling me about their poker site. I had seen it played on TV from time to time and I'd always wanted to give it a go...well now was the time.

Within an hour I was sat playing Limit cash...I lost, always likely to happen when you barely know the hand rankings. Anyways not to be deterred I did some reading and thought I had a rough idea of how to play the game and came back the following day....and lost again. Now this continued for a few days before I discovered tournaments...I lost at them as well.

Gradually however my understanding of the game developed and the losses slowed down and before long I was actually showing a profit, and after 6 months of playing I was making a decent return from the game, picking up some decent four figure cashes in a few online multis..everything seemed easy. For the next few months everything was easy, there were ups and downs but the ups were significantly greater than the downs and life was good. I then had my biggest cash to date when I picked up 2nd in the weekly Sunday tournament on Crypto (think it was 40k GTD at the time) for a tasty 6.3k then a couple of months later I qualified for my first ever offline tournament, the EPT event in Baden.

Then things turned sour..I couldn't beat an egg, day after day week after week I was shipping money left right and centre. Mixture of tilt, bad luck and downright crap play was responsible. At this point I was predominantly playing MTTs with the odd ill advised foray onto the cash tables, and to be honest at the time my game selection was awful. This continued until the start of this year when I decided I had to make changes..I didn't have an infinite supply of cash that I could piss away day after day after day. Changes had to be made, and first to go was the cash tables, I don't have the correct mindset to play them, I am far too prone to tilting and throwing away one weeks profit in the space of a few hours. Next to go was the number of MTTs I played, I reduced them dramatically and was far more selective in choosing which tourneys I did play. So that basically left me with SnG's to rebuild the bankroll. I started off playing the 6paks on Crypto before moving over to Pokerstars where I now play the majority of my poker.

Things started to pick up and the bankroll was being rebuilt at a steady rate, was frustrating at first playing at lower stakes than I was used to but I just had to get on with it. My game was improving and my confidence was being rebuilt. This carried on for a couple of months until I felt I was getting stale playing solely STT's (I get bored easily), so decided to spend a week playing some multis. Things started well, made 3 final tables out of 5 played on Stars, no big payouts but helped to build the confidence. Then on the Sunday (21st May) I decided to play a sat for the $1m on Stars, whilst playing I had a look at the lobby and noticed a $25 rebuy sat for the $650 WSOP qualifier was about to start. Last year I mist have pissed away around £1k trying to qualify and didn't get close and this year due to the bad run I had I had no intention of even trying to qualify, however I thought what the hell I might as well give it a go. A few hours later I had a seat in the $1m and the WSOP qualifier, despite some skullduggery in the WSOP sat. I was 2 hands away from being allin on my BB on the bubble, however on other table the BB was allin, inexplicably UTG moves allin and obviously the rest fold...he turns over 94o v the BB's T8 but the 9 landed and I had my seat in the qualifier which kicked off at 11pm that night.

The structure is great with 30min levels and 2500 starting stacks there are 474 runners with 26 seats. Things start well and I hit a couple of flops early and build up a decent stack before I lost a big pot with 200ish left which put me in trouble, my stack kept on dwindling and at one point I was down to 5BB's and that WSOP seat looked a long way off. Anyway I battled on and slowly managed to rebuild my stack, details are a bit hazy now but I do recall getting lucky when I pushed with T9s from the SB and BB called with 99 and the 10 landed. Slowly but surely other started to fall and before I knew it there were only 50 left, I was below ave stack but that seat was moving ever closer. Only 24 to go and I knew a few of them would dig their own graves with awful calls/plays. I was still below average but managed to maintain my stack with the odd steal here and there (I picked up no big hands). I was in desperate need of chips when this hand cropped up (can't find the HH but I posted it and my thoughts on blondepoker)

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=10641.0

Once I won that hand I knew the seat was mine and at 7.30am it was confirmed when the unfortunate bubble boy was KO'd. Happy days....oh and I cashed in the $1m as well. Since then my good form has continued with some decent results, most notably winning the 5000euro added on Betfair for £3300, I also had a good run in the $1m on Stars but faltered in 40th when my JJ ran into the chip leaders AA for a $1900 payout.

With the World Cup and what not I have hardly played in last month or so but I have developed a habit of blowing big chip leads on FT's, twice I have had the chip lead going onto the FT in the 15k on Crypto only to finish 7th, one was not amused. Anyways think thats enough for now, will be playing a bit more in the next week or two before I head to Vegas...16 days and counting :)

Bazza