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.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
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.
Monday, 13 June 2011
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:
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!
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
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:
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.
Monday, 28 February 2011
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.
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.
Friday, 18 February 2011
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.
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.
Friday, 28 January 2011
Weeee for steaks!
Two guys I have percentages in have binked in the past 24 hours. My slices aren't vast but I'll have turned $50 into $450.
It has been so long since I had a return from someone's BAP. It also means my Stars account will be topped up as it had dwindled to under $50. I'll no doubt spunk it all away trying to sat in via Steps to live stuff.
So thanks Paddy and S4ooter!
Two guys I have percentages in have binked in the past 24 hours. My slices aren't vast but I'll have turned $50 into $450.
It has been so long since I had a return from someone's BAP. It also means my Stars account will be topped up as it had dwindled to under $50. I'll no doubt spunk it all away trying to sat in via Steps to live stuff.
So thanks Paddy and S4ooter!
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Amsterdamned
My plans to play a €100 tourney in Amsterdam failed. I arrived at the New Holland Casino at 7pm and the game kicked off at 8pm but all the 100 seats had been sold in advance. I never considered this might happen as it doesn't happen to regular casino games in the UK. It also turned out to be a €100+10 single rebuy. I only had one free night amongst the four I was in Amsterdam so I didn't get the chance to check out games in other parts of the city. There were cash tables in another room, but the cheapest was €2/€4 NLHE, so I gave it a miss. Also, the players I saw walking around looked like they knew how to play.
Playing in Amsterdam was central to my New Year's poker resolution to play poker in three different countries this year. I will be going to Tanzania in a few weeks with a poker player but I dont know if a HU match will be sufficient for me to count that country. Can I also include Scotland later in the year as they are hosting both a UKIPT and (I hope) a CBMPT and chances are I'll play one of them.
So now no poker is planned until Bolton for the APAT team champs this weekend. Well, I might be at the local pub tonight for the £3 buy-in two-30-player-games-in-an-evening-crapshootalolament and I'm playing a live £20 STT tomorrow.
Playing in Amsterdam was central to my New Year's poker resolution to play poker in three different countries this year. I will be going to Tanzania in a few weeks with a poker player but I dont know if a HU match will be sufficient for me to count that country. Can I also include Scotland later in the year as they are hosting both a UKIPT and (I hope) a CBMPT and chances are I'll play one of them.
So now no poker is planned until Bolton for the APAT team champs this weekend. Well, I might be at the local pub tonight for the £3 buy-in two-30-player-games-in-an-evening-crapshootalolament and I'm playing a live £20 STT tomorrow.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Deep and weep
I played a proper live deepstack game at the weekend: 30k in chips with 4x60mins and then 30 min levels. All this for £25. Not too bad at all.
I was optimistic about my chances but I busted after about 5 hours. I was on the wrong end of a few coolers. My exit had me flopping a flush and he had a set. We got it in on the turn only for the river to pair. Earlier I had lost a fair chunk when I was the one who had the set and he made his flush. In another hand I turned a set but had to lay it down after a guy had raised-pre with J9 and then called a reraise and my magical set-making T on the turn filled his gutter-ball. Poker is a sick game.
It was fun though playing so deep and I wish I could have done a bit better.
Looking to the coming weeks – on Thursday I’ll be playing a €100 freezeout in Amsterdam. The following weekend I’ll be playing the APAT UK team championships in Bolton and then it is the turn of Star City for another team game. For both of which I’ll be representing the Gambling Network Forum. They should all be cracking fun.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
2011
I've set myself some 2011 goals:
Play two UKIPT events
Play a live event with over a £500 buyin
Learn how to play from the SB
Win 10 times in Gala
Play in three different countries
Final table a CBMPT
Final table an APAT
Win a live game with over 100 runners
Play more sats/steps and get a WSOP package
Win a monthly title in the pub league
Get staked less and use my online roll to fund live entries
Finish €5k in proft on PCUK
All simple, right? If I achieve half of them I'll be happy enough. 2010 was a fantastic year for me - I had some CBMPT success and my win rate in my local Gala was approx 1 win in 6 games (with average fields of approx 60). I'm not going to assume that 2011 will be even better, cos 2010 could have just been a luckbox year, but some success would be very welcome. I've got the 2011 goals off to a reasonable start though with two wins from three games at Gala.
Play two UKIPT events
Play a live event with over a £500 buyin
Learn how to play from the SB
Win 10 times in Gala
Play in three different countries
Final table a CBMPT
Final table an APAT
Win a live game with over 100 runners
Play more sats/steps and get a WSOP package
Win a monthly title in the pub league
Get staked less and use my online roll to fund live entries
Finish €5k in proft on PCUK
All simple, right? If I achieve half of them I'll be happy enough. 2010 was a fantastic year for me - I had some CBMPT success and my win rate in my local Gala was approx 1 win in 6 games (with average fields of approx 60). I'm not going to assume that 2011 will be even better, cos 2010 could have just been a luckbox year, but some success would be very welcome. I've got the 2011 goals off to a reasonable start though with two wins from three games at Gala.
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
December write-up
I've not been playing much recently due to another bout of man-flu - I've only been to Gala once since my back-to-backs and I busted approx 20/90 shoving 12BB with KJ and the SB looked me up with an equal sized stack holding A6. I think calls like that deserve to be punished, but on this occasion it wasn't. Perhaps I do shove when too deep - and I'm fully aware of the weakness of KJ.
I've won a couple of pub games this week though - I think they had about 18 and 23 runners. The first one was a weird game - I got very short on the FT bubble - I got it all in pre with AQ vs Q8 and he rivered his 3-outter which left me 1400 chips and I was straight into the SB on the FT @ the 800/1600 level. I built my stack back up and on the way busted the Q8 guy when his KK were no match for my AJ. This time the karma gods were watching though as he raised and I shoved for not much more, it folded back to him and he thought for a bit and then said 'I guess I have to' and flips the cowboys. I had my coat on by the time I binked the river. He had a moan about being unlucky in a typical short-sighted poker player kind of way.
I then get crippled yet again with QT on a KJ9 flop versus A9 and then it comes running Jacks. By the time HU started I was short yet again - the other guy is a bit of a skinflint and wanted to deal for the £40 or so in the pot but I refused cos I didn't want him to go gung-ho on me. It seemed to work as I shoved every single button and he folded hands he shouldnt be folding. There were only 20bb in the game. Eventually he decided 97sooted was what he had been waiting for and my Q6 held.
As it happened, I got up against the same guy HU on Tuesday. He hadn't bought in to the pot though so the dynamic was different and I chipped away at him before he once again decided 79 was the hand to go with. He doesn't grasp the difference between a good all-in-pre showdown hand and suited-connectory cards which play better post flop.
I also binked a 220 player tourney online - shame it was only for €26 though. I've been losing for the past four or five online sessions and am down around €200. BRM means I can take a several month losing streak like this though - but I want to use some of my roll to fund some UKIPT and CBMPT festivals in the New Year.
January and February looks to be a busy month for me right now poker-wise. There are both the APAT and Not-the-APAT team events in Bolton and Birmingham, plus a UKIPT in Nottingham. I'm also in Amsterdam for a few days and one day I'll be all alone but I've sniffed out a €100 f/o which looks promising. I run good when playing in other countries so I hope this continues!
I'm off to Tanzania for the majority of March and then April-onwards I'll be playing the festivals.
One area which has been bad for me this past quarter are Bristol Poker Meetup games. I think I'm down around £200 when usually I'm a winning player. I'm not sure why that is. I offset that loss at a cash game the group hosted which is unusual cos my cash record isn't the best.
I hope both my readers have a very Happy Christmas and New Year.
I've won a couple of pub games this week though - I think they had about 18 and 23 runners. The first one was a weird game - I got very short on the FT bubble - I got it all in pre with AQ vs Q8 and he rivered his 3-outter which left me 1400 chips and I was straight into the SB on the FT @ the 800/1600 level. I built my stack back up and on the way busted the Q8 guy when his KK were no match for my AJ. This time the karma gods were watching though as he raised and I shoved for not much more, it folded back to him and he thought for a bit and then said 'I guess I have to' and flips the cowboys. I had my coat on by the time I binked the river. He had a moan about being unlucky in a typical short-sighted poker player kind of way.
I then get crippled yet again with QT on a KJ9 flop versus A9 and then it comes running Jacks. By the time HU started I was short yet again - the other guy is a bit of a skinflint and wanted to deal for the £40 or so in the pot but I refused cos I didn't want him to go gung-ho on me. It seemed to work as I shoved every single button and he folded hands he shouldnt be folding. There were only 20bb in the game. Eventually he decided 97sooted was what he had been waiting for and my Q6 held.
As it happened, I got up against the same guy HU on Tuesday. He hadn't bought in to the pot though so the dynamic was different and I chipped away at him before he once again decided 79 was the hand to go with. He doesn't grasp the difference between a good all-in-pre showdown hand and suited-connectory cards which play better post flop.
I also binked a 220 player tourney online - shame it was only for €26 though. I've been losing for the past four or five online sessions and am down around €200. BRM means I can take a several month losing streak like this though - but I want to use some of my roll to fund some UKIPT and CBMPT festivals in the New Year.
January and February looks to be a busy month for me right now poker-wise. There are both the APAT and Not-the-APAT team events in Bolton and Birmingham, plus a UKIPT in Nottingham. I'm also in Amsterdam for a few days and one day I'll be all alone but I've sniffed out a €100 f/o which looks promising. I run good when playing in other countries so I hope this continues!
I'm off to Tanzania for the majority of March and then April-onwards I'll be playing the festivals.
One area which has been bad for me this past quarter are Bristol Poker Meetup games. I think I'm down around £200 when usually I'm a winning player. I'm not sure why that is. I offset that loss at a cash game the group hosted which is unusual cos my cash record isn't the best.
I hope both my readers have a very Happy Christmas and New Year.
Monday, 6 December 2010
Flaming Galah
I won the Saturday afternoon game in Gala for the second week on the trot - 88 runners meant there was £610 up top but after savers and suchlike I got £530.
I made a special point of playing it this week because it seems whenever I get a result anywhere I always follow it up with another result a week later. This is true of both pub and casino games. I'm not sure why it is. I've won 8 tourneys this year in Gala from approximately 50 attempts and 6 of these have involved some kind of back-to-back action.
Alas I am unable to play this Saturday as I have plans.
I have a question to ask about deals though.
When we got to heads up play the blinds were at 8,000/16,000 and the 350,000 chips were split roughly 250,000/100,000 in my favour. The payouts, taking into account a £20 saver for tenth, were £590 & £360. I offered him £60 to walk away and he accepted. I was prepared to offer a little more if he pushed but this wasn't necessary. I figured I was offering him a quarter of the money-in-play and he was just a double up from us flipping stack sizes. Does this seem reasonable?
I made a special point of playing it this week because it seems whenever I get a result anywhere I always follow it up with another result a week later. This is true of both pub and casino games. I'm not sure why it is. I've won 8 tourneys this year in Gala from approximately 50 attempts and 6 of these have involved some kind of back-to-back action.
Alas I am unable to play this Saturday as I have plans.
I have a question to ask about deals though.
When we got to heads up play the blinds were at 8,000/16,000 and the 350,000 chips were split roughly 250,000/100,000 in my favour. The payouts, taking into account a £20 saver for tenth, were £590 & £360. I offered him £60 to walk away and he accepted. I was prepared to offer a little more if he pushed but this wasn't necessary. I figured I was offering him a quarter of the money-in-play and he was just a double up from us flipping stack sizes. Does this seem reasonable?
Monday, 29 November 2010
I managed to squeeze in 29 hours of live poker this weekend. That’s as much as I’ve probably ever played in a 48 hour period. The time was spread over 7 different games and from a total stake of £91 I had £740 returned to me. The bulk came from winning the 62 runner Saturday afternoon game in Gala for £420. Just before the final table I got rather lucky when I shipped it in over a button raise with A9 and he had AK. I naturally binked the river. He looked about as angry as I’ve ever seen anyone and an hour later returned to the card room to shout ‘lucky’ at me. I think he suffers from short term memory problems cos the last time I played on a Saturday we were on the final table and he busted my Queens with QT all in pre and then backdoored a straight in another hand when I had him pretty much drawing dead. I didn’t shout at him then.
I went in to the final table second in chips. I really open up on final tables – the prizes are so top heavy that I tend to be all-or-nothing. My aggression built up a stack but then it also resulted in someone getting it all in pre with KQ vs my A9. KQ always beats a weak ace and sure enough it did this time too. I was left with 1.5 big blinds and had to then post two thirds of my stack. I won that hand and then picked up a seemingly endless run of small pairs which managed to hold each time and when we got to heads-up I had towers of chips and the other fellow had about 4bb. I offered him an extra £30 to take second but he refused. HU lasted one hand as he shipped it in with Q6 and I had yet another pair which held.
Of the 7 sessions I played, three were cash games. I tend to dislike cash as my main strength in tournament play is understanding the importance of stack dynamics and this is pretty much irrelevant in a ring game. My biggest cash game win came in a 25p/50p PLO/NLHE game. Perhaps I was fortunate in that I had clear cut hands – I was either way behind or way ahead and I only paid someone off one time all night when I had K8 on a KQJKT board and the LAG villain had bet every street with 89. Having said that, the pot wasn’t too big. I think I lost £20 in total. I possibly should have check-raised the turn but the guy likes to fire in so I decided to let him hang himself. I was pleased with my Omaha play – I tend to be pretty weak at this game but I seemed to be synched in to betting pattern and squeezed out some thin value bets.
My plan for this week is to try some of the Christmas games on poker.co.uk and to use my €700 step ticket. In my mind I’ve already won EPT Prague so I guess I should get my skates on and try and qualify.
I went in to the final table second in chips. I really open up on final tables – the prizes are so top heavy that I tend to be all-or-nothing. My aggression built up a stack but then it also resulted in someone getting it all in pre with KQ vs my A9. KQ always beats a weak ace and sure enough it did this time too. I was left with 1.5 big blinds and had to then post two thirds of my stack. I won that hand and then picked up a seemingly endless run of small pairs which managed to hold each time and when we got to heads-up I had towers of chips and the other fellow had about 4bb. I offered him an extra £30 to take second but he refused. HU lasted one hand as he shipped it in with Q6 and I had yet another pair which held.
Of the 7 sessions I played, three were cash games. I tend to dislike cash as my main strength in tournament play is understanding the importance of stack dynamics and this is pretty much irrelevant in a ring game. My biggest cash game win came in a 25p/50p PLO/NLHE game. Perhaps I was fortunate in that I had clear cut hands – I was either way behind or way ahead and I only paid someone off one time all night when I had K8 on a KQJKT board and the LAG villain had bet every street with 89. Having said that, the pot wasn’t too big. I think I lost £20 in total. I possibly should have check-raised the turn but the guy likes to fire in so I decided to let him hang himself. I was pleased with my Omaha play – I tend to be pretty weak at this game but I seemed to be synched in to betting pattern and squeezed out some thin value bets.
My plan for this week is to try some of the Christmas games on poker.co.uk and to use my €700 step ticket. In my mind I’ve already won EPT Prague so I guess I should get my skates on and try and qualify.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Photos from Tanzania
Yesterday I received a bunch of photographic negatives from Tanzania showing how various small pots of money have been spent. I try and get photographs as often as possible as it is interesting seeing the actual people involved, plus they are useful when providing feedback to people who provide the money in the first place.
The two on the left are new kids at the school. The boy on the right is Thomas. Some money was used to buy them skin cream to give them a little protection. For people who have read pre-blog updates about Tanzania, you may recognise Thomas from other pics. I first came across him when he was at another school in the region which had a unit for the blind which I visited in 1998. 
This is just a random shot of some of the kids at the blind school with Mr Julius on the right. The kid third from the left standing in the line is Salim. I helped locate him in a remote village and got him registered at the school. When I last saw him in March he was tiny, having been kept at home and fed barely anything by his family. Blind children tend to be treated poorly as they are unproductive. I can see he has shot up in size in this pic.
Flora made quite an impact on me in my recent trip - she is young and was a student at the blind school until she got pregnant. Her child is blind. She was given a room in a nearby house to live in but she had no possessions of her own. Courtesy of Ampleforth, she now has two piglets and she is being taught how to rear them. It looks like her handling technique needs a little work though!
The third animal rearing project was set up for Sarah. That is her daughter in her lap. When I spent a long period in the village over 2008/9 I employed her to do things like cleaning and washing. I'm pleased she now has an income generating project.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
I got knocked out of a live tournament by a friend last night. It was really frustrating. In brief the hand went down like this.
I raised 3xbb in late position with JJ. SB calls and everyone else folds. Flop came down 7s3s2x. SB checks and I lead for 60% of pot. SB check raises me. I ship it in for a pot-sized four-bet and he pretty instantly calls me for most of his stack. I'm thinking I'd walked in to a set but he turned over AQ. The turn was another spade, killing two of his outs but he binked the red queen on the river.
I asked him after the game why he thought he had the best hand with Ace high and his answer was 'I thought I had a reasonable hand'.
This is someone who plays several times a week and has down for more than two years. Yet it seems he doesn't understand pretty much anything about the game.
Poker can be the most irritating of games.
I raised 3xbb in late position with JJ. SB calls and everyone else folds. Flop came down 7s3s2x. SB checks and I lead for 60% of pot. SB check raises me. I ship it in for a pot-sized four-bet and he pretty instantly calls me for most of his stack. I'm thinking I'd walked in to a set but he turned over AQ. The turn was another spade, killing two of his outs but he binked the red queen on the river.
I asked him after the game why he thought he had the best hand with Ace high and his answer was 'I thought I had a reasonable hand'.
This is someone who plays several times a week and has down for more than two years. Yet it seems he doesn't understand pretty much anything about the game.
Poker can be the most irritating of games.
Friday, 19 November 2010
Back in the land of the living
I've been able to grind away this past week due to manflu. I go through fits and starts with online poker. Earlier in the year I put in some serious volume in the evenings but ever since poker.co.uk lost their €20 deepstack I have lost my motivation. I would use that one game as the anchor for the evening and then play the micros either side of it. They have recently reintroduced a €10 game with the same structure. I think I prefer this as it is more affordable and sits snugly amongst the level of buy-in I am comfortable playing at.
I am definitely a bankroll nit online. I’m rolled to play €30 freezeouts but this past week I’ve played 90 MTTs where the average buy-in is just one tenth of that. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly I like multi-tabling. I play 8 games simultaneously. I know full well that my results are a lot worse when playing this many games, but this is offset by the volume which means I’ll go deep in one or two. I get bored just single or double tabling.
Secondly, the standard in the cheap games is laughable. There is some ability around, but it is pretty diluted. I tend to play strong hands far far stronger preflop as it is an easy way to accumulate chips. I’ll often ship all-in pre into an unraised pot with AK, JJ & QQ for 15-20 big blinds cos some muppet will decide his AT, KJ or 66 is good in this spot. Of course this means bad beats happen quite regularly, but the plusses outweigh the minuses, and there is always going to be another tourney just starting which I can join.
One way I release the tension when having a bad beat is writing ‘wp’ in the chatbox. I find this far more effective than giving abuse or saying nothing at all. I get to feel all superior for being sarcastic and the person at the other end might have it reinforced in their mind that a middle pin straight draw really is a good hand to call your chips away with.
So to my session this past week… I played 90, final tabled 21 and had 6 wins with average fields of 136 runners. Giving me a profit of €600. I’m happy with these numbers. I’ve also spun up 15FPPs on Stars into a €700 Step F ticket. That’s about a 4000x increase in value. If I make it through this step I’ll be into the final step for a €7000 EPT Prague package. I have unsurprisingly run like god. I have had far more than my fair share of high pockets and have binked turns and rivers when required. I just hope the luck holds out for a little bit longer.
I’ll finish up with my sharkscope graph. I like how I am a losing player but all of a sudden it takes an upwards tick. I think someone must have died and passed their luckbox on to me.
I am definitely a bankroll nit online. I’m rolled to play €30 freezeouts but this past week I’ve played 90 MTTs where the average buy-in is just one tenth of that. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly I like multi-tabling. I play 8 games simultaneously. I know full well that my results are a lot worse when playing this many games, but this is offset by the volume which means I’ll go deep in one or two. I get bored just single or double tabling.
Secondly, the standard in the cheap games is laughable. There is some ability around, but it is pretty diluted. I tend to play strong hands far far stronger preflop as it is an easy way to accumulate chips. I’ll often ship all-in pre into an unraised pot with AK, JJ & QQ for 15-20 big blinds cos some muppet will decide his AT, KJ or 66 is good in this spot. Of course this means bad beats happen quite regularly, but the plusses outweigh the minuses, and there is always going to be another tourney just starting which I can join.
One way I release the tension when having a bad beat is writing ‘wp’ in the chatbox. I find this far more effective than giving abuse or saying nothing at all. I get to feel all superior for being sarcastic and the person at the other end might have it reinforced in their mind that a middle pin straight draw really is a good hand to call your chips away with.
So to my session this past week… I played 90, final tabled 21 and had 6 wins with average fields of 136 runners. Giving me a profit of €600. I’m happy with these numbers. I’ve also spun up 15FPPs on Stars into a €700 Step F ticket. That’s about a 4000x increase in value. If I make it through this step I’ll be into the final step for a €7000 EPT Prague package. I have unsurprisingly run like god. I have had far more than my fair share of high pockets and have binked turns and rivers when required. I just hope the luck holds out for a little bit longer.
I’ll finish up with my sharkscope graph. I like how I am a losing player but all of a sudden it takes an upwards tick. I think someone must have died and passed their luckbox on to me.
Monday, 15 November 2010
I've been sick for the past few days and so have had some time to play online. On Friday I ground out 26 MTTs on poker.co.uk and turned a €200 profit overall. I won two of the tournies, including a HU game with 35 runners. Today I'm mid-grind but have already taken down another two of those €1 HU games so am something like 18-0 in individual matches. In one game I was down to a single BB but came back and I won the final tourney when I flopped a set and checked across to him expecting a shove but he checked and the turn filled his middle pin straight draw. We get all the money in (I had him 4:1 in chips anyhow) and I river quads. Booom.
For the rest of the day I'll be playing every €0-11 MTT I can find on Poker.co.uk and hopefully I can end the day in profit.
On Sunday I dragged myself down to Gala and played a long session - I cashed in the afternoon game for £80 with a 5/60 but donked the evening game. I played like an idiot and got what I deserved. I play best when (a) sober and (b) focussed and I was neither. I then played some cash and lost £30 over about 7 hours so finished -£6 overall. I did get to see the various boxing matches though. The casino was crammed for the Harrison-Haye fight. There were so many people it got crazily hot and some young guy, who apparently was sober, fainted and faceplanted the table next to me. So at least I got to see some action.
For the rest of the day I'll be playing every €0-11 MTT I can find on Poker.co.uk and hopefully I can end the day in profit.
On Sunday I dragged myself down to Gala and played a long session - I cashed in the afternoon game for £80 with a 5/60 but donked the evening game. I played like an idiot and got what I deserved. I play best when (a) sober and (b) focussed and I was neither. I then played some cash and lost £30 over about 7 hours so finished -£6 overall. I did get to see the various boxing matches though. The casino was crammed for the Harrison-Haye fight. There were so many people it got crazily hot and some young guy, who apparently was sober, fainted and faceplanted the table next to me. So at least I got to see some action.
Thursday, 11 November 2010
I was going to go on a pub crawl this evening but am feeling a little under the weather. A friend is trying to get me to go play cards through the power of rhyme:
There was a man who went to try
the Gala Casino tenner rebuy,
He mucked face up
two aces yielding
Sick, his name Tom Feilding
At last the end of my brainwash saga,
to make Tom stop drinking lager,
tonight no more upon bar stool,
instead donk fishing in Gala's pool.
There was a man who went to try
the Gala Casino tenner rebuy,
He mucked face up
two aces yielding
Sick, his name Tom Feilding
At last the end of my brainwash saga,
to make Tom stop drinking lager,
tonight no more upon bar stool,
instead donk fishing in Gala's pool.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
And so begins a new blog
I tried writing a poker blog a couple of years ago but it went the way of many blogs - I was eager at the outset but then would post less and less frequently until things came to a halt in April 2008.
Will this blog go the same way? Probably. Let's see what happens between now and then though.
So a little about me and the games I play. I play live poker 4 or 5 nights a week. Local games range from £2 buy-ins at my local pub to £33 at the casino. I've also had a shot at playing bigger games this year, up to £500 buy-ins. I enjoy playing the game, regardless of the standard of opposition. Sure it is fun to play against excellent players, but there is also a lot to be said for kicking back, having a drink and a laugh with a bunch of guys in the pub over inconsequential sums of money.
This year I played five out of the six legs of the Coral British Masters Poker Tour. This sprang up as a result of a last minute decision to play the opening leg of the season in my home town of Bristol. I rather surprised myself by finishing second in the main event for a £9000 payday. Previous to this my biggest win had been approx £850 in a bizarre tournament in Uganda. I was spurred on to try the further legs by the tour’s sponsored pro who said I had the game to compete at that level. I’d always suffered from self-doubt when taking a shot at bigger games (which for me at the time were in the realm of £50-100 buyins). I went on to make two further Main Event final tables in the tour.
My hope for 2011 is to continue playing the £500ers, possibly with some UKIPT events thrown in to the mix as well. If I don’t get any results then I have no problems at all dropping back down to the sub-£50 buy-in games. Whatever happens, I’ll document things on here.
This blog won’t solely be about poker though. My other passion in life is Tanzania. I have been out to a village there four times, totalling over a year. I’m involved with several groups of people out there, most of whom are blind. I’ve sorted out the funding for 12 children to continue their secondary education this year, have started over 20 small businesses which have been passed to families to generate incomes from, supplied countless white sticks and talking watches, built several houses for the poorest of the blind and been involved with well over a hundred small projects ranging from supplying exercise books to getting people cancer treatment. A fair chunk of what I do out there is funded from poker. Some friends have also become involved and contribute money directly or help raise money through things like raffles, poker challenges and half-marathons.
I’ve also set up links between the school for the blind in the village and a regular London primary school. The children have written letters to one another, held conference calls and made friends. They do a sponsored walk in the summer and that raises a healthy amount of money. I’ll be back out in March with a bundle of cash raised in this way and I’ll also be able to see how the projects are proceeding whilst I’m in the UK.
So should you decide to follow this blog, then expect a mix of the two things. And now to click ‘publish'and make this blog live.
Will this blog go the same way? Probably. Let's see what happens between now and then though.
So a little about me and the games I play. I play live poker 4 or 5 nights a week. Local games range from £2 buy-ins at my local pub to £33 at the casino. I've also had a shot at playing bigger games this year, up to £500 buy-ins. I enjoy playing the game, regardless of the standard of opposition. Sure it is fun to play against excellent players, but there is also a lot to be said for kicking back, having a drink and a laugh with a bunch of guys in the pub over inconsequential sums of money.
This year I played five out of the six legs of the Coral British Masters Poker Tour. This sprang up as a result of a last minute decision to play the opening leg of the season in my home town of Bristol. I rather surprised myself by finishing second in the main event for a £9000 payday. Previous to this my biggest win had been approx £850 in a bizarre tournament in Uganda. I was spurred on to try the further legs by the tour’s sponsored pro who said I had the game to compete at that level. I’d always suffered from self-doubt when taking a shot at bigger games (which for me at the time were in the realm of £50-100 buyins). I went on to make two further Main Event final tables in the tour.
My hope for 2011 is to continue playing the £500ers, possibly with some UKIPT events thrown in to the mix as well. If I don’t get any results then I have no problems at all dropping back down to the sub-£50 buy-in games. Whatever happens, I’ll document things on here.
This blog won’t solely be about poker though. My other passion in life is Tanzania. I have been out to a village there four times, totalling over a year. I’m involved with several groups of people out there, most of whom are blind. I’ve sorted out the funding for 12 children to continue their secondary education this year, have started over 20 small businesses which have been passed to families to generate incomes from, supplied countless white sticks and talking watches, built several houses for the poorest of the blind and been involved with well over a hundred small projects ranging from supplying exercise books to getting people cancer treatment. A fair chunk of what I do out there is funded from poker. Some friends have also become involved and contribute money directly or help raise money through things like raffles, poker challenges and half-marathons.
I’ve also set up links between the school for the blind in the village and a regular London primary school. The children have written letters to one another, held conference calls and made friends. They do a sponsored walk in the summer and that raises a healthy amount of money. I’ll be back out in March with a bundle of cash raised in this way and I’ll also be able to see how the projects are proceeding whilst I’m in the UK.
So should you decide to follow this blog, then expect a mix of the two things. And now to click ‘publish'and make this blog live.
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