APAT > UKIPT

UKIPT Newcastle sucked. I'm trying to think of any part of it which I enjoyed and I'm coming up empty. I made Day 2 and then busted in the first level back. Annoyingly this meant I missed the first of my two return flights and so had to wait around for 2.5 days.

There were no big pros there - all were either in Vegas, busy or CBA to go to Newcastle. The only faces I recognised were a couple of APATters, a handful of CBMPTers and some faces off the telly like Nick Wealthall and Julian Thew. The hotels were rubbish - I had to switch places mid-trip and the cab driver pleaded with me not to stay in the second place as it was a total dive. Alas I had already paid for it.

In happier news - APAT Blackpool was a good weekend away. We managed to take 2nd overall and so we all get silver medals and £1k to split between the 8 of us. I also played a further three other scheduled tourneys in the casino with two cashes and a near-cash in the other. So total returns were £325 from an outlay of £155. Not vast, but it means I freerolled the weekend. I very much enjoyed the last game I played. It was billed as a freeroll but was actually free to enter but with £5 reg and two optional reloads at £20 a pop. So it is the most expensive freeroll I've ever played. The standard was very good. The two players to my left and the one to my right ran the table and stayed out of each other's way for most of the game. The four of us all final tabled which is unusual. There was some proper poker being played. Annoyingly both my exits from the two games I cashed in were as a result of me having my fingers in the cookie jar. Both times were the first times I'd shoved from the button or SB to pick up the blinds and both times I was unlucky to walk into hands. The structure had overtaken the game though - in both instances the average stack was sub-10bb.

Last night I had my deepest Kitchen Sink finish yet with a 33rd from around 4500 runners. Ive had around 100 entries in this to date and so I should have probably managed a final table now. If you one of the 3 people who read this blog and have a FTP acct but are yet to experience the Kitchen Sink then be sure to play it. It's the most fun game online.

Oh, finally I am labelled as a fish on Sharkscope for FTP. Scope only seems to pick up some of the results though cos my roll there is still roughly the same as what I deposited and yet scope says I have a -$85% ROI. I don't play serious games on there - just the Sink, some superturbo Matrix games and odd micro Rush game.

Luckboxing to the max

I didn't FT the final MCOP. I snuck in to the cash though. I lost a blind vs blind flip 8 players from the cash and then just managed to hold on. It helped that I got a walk when I had half my stack invested in the BB. Talking about unusual non-pyhtonesque walks... the other day I was utterly crippled early in a tournament and found myself in the big blind with 27 chips @25/50 and I got a walk. It was a bounty game also. The mind boggles.

I played two other games last night and shipped them both. Neither had big fields and were low stakes, but I was delighted non the less. This hand happened on the final table of the PokerPlayersPlace homegame:

The guys at PPP have a royal flush jackpot as well - amazingly it was hit last week. I only got a few bucks but the money isn't really the point. I continued my luckboxing all the way to the end. The penultimate hand saw me raise Jc9c from the BB. I very rarely raise from the BB without a big hand but I decided I should bung a raise in here to balance things out so when I did get a good hand I wouldnt be met with a limp/fold or raise/fold. The flop came out JxTc8c for top pair and an open ended straight flush draw. I think I got a fourth bet in before she folded out. According to Stove I am 64% against pocket aces in that spot. It felt like I had the stone cold nuts. Then the very next hand I pick up 44. I called her 5 bet shove and she had KK. My logic being that pair vs pair at HU happen only once every 225 times or so, plus I had her 2:1 in chips. Also add in some kind of tilt/aggression after the previous hand, I decided to just go with it and win my flip. Only it wasn't a flip and instead had to rely on binking the turn. She deserved better though and was the best player on the final table.

This evening I am playing the £20 triple chance in Gala with GusMangoFish and LuckyScrote. Hopefully some others will come down. I have a thirst for beer and tomorrow off work.

Weekend grind

There are some excellent low stake MTTs running on poker.co.uk - yesterday's was the best yet. The MCOP main event is €30+3 freezeoout with a €50,000 guaranteed prizepool and it only managed 918 players. That's a 100% overlay. A bunch of us from the gambling network forum played it and all had percentages of each other. I ended up busting in 40th for €175. My exit was frustrating in its banality. I peel a KK4 flop in the BB with KQ, check/shove someone who had aces and he catches an ace on the turn. With over €10k to the winner, it was one tourney where I wanted just a few more doses of the rungoods.


I had three other three figure scores over the last few days. MCOP4 (€3+r) I final tabled for €125 and I came second in one of the new deepstack games:

Tonight is the final MCOP in the series. MCOP stands for Monthly Championship of Poker - I highly recommend these games in July. They are cheap, soft and overlayalicious. The perfect combo. Also if you final table more than one, you get a juicy cash bonus. It's almost as if the network doesn't like money.

Other than poker, things in Africa plod along. The droughts continue for yet another year which means many people are stuggling. With my sister we have decided on the next main project for 2011/2012. Firstly we'll be kitting a classroom out with desks and secondly repairing the concrete ball pitch at the blind school. The desk project sounds minor but it is pretty important cos when a child starts at secondary school they have all the usual fees to pay but they also have plenty of one off costs and one big cost is providing their own desk and chair. By us supplying these for all the first year students it means they can then delay having to find this money until the start of the second year when there arent anywhere near as many extra costs besides tuition. Thus a barrier to education is reduced. The ball pitch is also important but in a different way. The blind children have very little with which to amuse themselves and the concrete area is a fantastic resource. By filling a plastic bottle with sand they can play football whilst listening out for the direction of the 'ball' as it skittles along the ground. Currently it is badly pockmarked and potholed and a little dangerous.

I've also managed to find funding to get two blind students back into education. They graduated from the primary school last year and this year they have funded places in mainstream secondary schools. The only snag is the funding does not cover the hundred and one small things like uniforms, travel at the start/finish of the terms, bedding, utensils etc etc etc. Some poker friends have contributed enough to resolve these issues for the next year, so thanks very much to them!

A long session only to break even

I played 20-30 MTTs yesterday and broke even. That was a useful way to spend a day away from work! I had some deep runs - notably a 20/1918 on Stars in a $4+$1+$0.40 bounty game plus two Boss final tables. The Stars game was irritating as I lost with both KK vs QQ very late on when all in-pre against Ax and 79. My exit was standard - It folded to my SB and I shipped in 7bb with A3 and BB woke up with AQ.

The Boss final tables were not exciting at all - a 3/95 and a 9/182 I think. The most annoying game was when I bubbled the FT. I was 3/11 and the CL was in the BB. I raise JJ and he flats. The flop brings a jack and two clubs and he ships it in for about 5x pot on a flush draw which got there. That was for the big chip lead as well. Sigh. He had also been a right nob in the chatbox and whenever he busted anyone he would give a smug 'bye bye' or 'ty'. I so wish my hand had held.

Next week I play the UKIPT Newcastle main event. I fly up on Thursday and play Friday. I have two return flights booked and I hope I need to use the latter one of the two.

I'm then thinking of UKIPT Brighton next month - much depends on if I cash in Newcastle and if I am happy with my play there - and then it is the £750 Bristol game in August. The WSOP is running at the mo, so Newcastle might be ever so soften than it would ordinarily be.

Oh Blogger. How I've been ignoring you.

I haven't had a huge amount to write about poker-wise. I've not played anything big in 6 months and am not even venturing down to the casino. I should start up again though. Instead the only regular live cards I play is in the pub. That's going alright though it has been a while since I won a game. I'm making final tables more often than not so the wins will come eventually.

Next month I'm playing UKIPT Newcastle. The standard in the north east is very high indeed. I'd say it is the strongest area of the country in terms of ability. So perhaps I haven't picked the best stop of the tour to lose my UKIPT virginity.

Later this month is the LVTC live final - myself and the team I'm in have not done great in the online qualifiers and as a result we'll go in to the event with 6k stacks but on a 45min clock there is enough room to grind the stack up.

In African news, I spent 3 weeks out there and I've done a pretty comprehensive write-up here: http://www.gamblingnetwork.com/forums/general-chat-fun/14683-toms-tanzanian-diary-2011-a.html

I probably made a mistake with it all though - at the start of the year I had around £3,500 in my Africa fund which is more than I've ever had in the past. As such I felt it would never run out and so when I was in Tanzania I got involved in dozens of projects. Now however I'm down to just £130 on the kitty. The money has been used well but there is a stream of issues constantly arising. Currently these are:

• Getting sponsorship for a secondary school child



• Ensuring 2 ex-students at the blind primary school have access to secondary education



• Supplying a blind man with bags of cement so he can enlarge his house



• Supplying food to families in particular hardship



• Buying a plot of land to build a house for a family. The money for the building is already secured.

So anyone have £500 they want to send me? It was worth asking! Fundraising will take place later this year but the problem is you help people solve their issues and then not only do they have more problems that need assistance but other people come forward as well. It is a little like battling the Lernaean Hydra. You solve one problem and two more problems replace it.

LOL Pub donkaments

There isn't a huge deal to report poker-wise from me - I'm probably just about break even this month. I've won my local pub game for the past two weeks and the top-heavy pay structure makes up for other losses. Yesterday there was approx £75 in the prizepool from a 27runner game and I got £40 for first. However I've been donking my money away in drunken cheapo cash games. I think I have a 'it is only a fiver, so let's ship it in' gambling mentality which I need to break free from.

I go to Tanzania on Thursday for 3 weeks so will be taking an enforced break. Having said that, a guy out there wants to learn how to play. He has railed me playing micro SnGs before where a win at that low level equates to about 3 weeks work. I will have a go at teaching him but I won't have the spare time to plough through hundreds or thousands of hands. For the final four days of my trip I'll be joined by Kieran who I know through poker - though he isn't much of a gambler which means it won't be a HU or prop-bet fest.

The break will do me some good I think - last year it was when I got back from Tanzania that I went on a crazy run. Fingers crossed the same happens this time as well!

And to go back to yesterday's game... I have never ever run so good. I only had two pocket pairs the entire game: 22 and 44, but time after time I got my chips in bad and came out ahead. On the final table I caught numerous 3-outters. Poker is so much easier when that kind of stuff happens.

This might be my last update in a while. I'm not sure whether to do Trip Reports In-Running when I'm away or do them on the Gambling Network Forums or not do them at all.

Onlineaments

I've not had a proper session online this year but I think tonight will be the night. I'll likely play approx 20 MTTs on Boss ranging from the freerolls and €0.10+r up to the €20 deepstack. The ICOP game this evening is a €40+r which I am perhaps rolled for but would not feel comfortable playing if I am going to be 9-tabling.

I've recently joined FTP so I can check their Rush tournies. So far so bad. Ive played a dozen or so tournies without a cash. They are fun to get a poker fix but I doubt I'll play sufficient games to really get to grips with the strategy involved. I've run pretty bad in them - whenever I get a big hand someone either has a bigger one or they do me in with rubbish they should not be playing. I am at the $1 and $4 level and so the games are full of idiots which makes it harder to learn. At least in a non-rush format I can beat those stakes so I'll likely stick to what I know best.

My live game has not been great of late. I did however ship a stud tourney last week - the first time I've played stud outside a HORSE environment. I haven't won or even cashed in Gala in my last half dozen visits. I'll be spending March in Africa though so will be having an enforced break which should do me some good. Having said that, someone out there wants me to teach him how to play the game - I think that will be a difficult challenge.