redsimonpoker

It's official. We are the dirtiest side in the "Coca-Cola Championship" (Division 2 in old money).

Most yellow and red cards, which is amusing as most of our players can't tackle to save their overpaid lives!

Lost again today. 2-1 at home to Watford. Another dreadful performance.

It is often said that teams end the season pretty close to where they are on the 1st November. Well, we are bottom 3. Lovely.

An amusing notice at today's match, "Stan Collymore will be in the club shop signing his auto biography at 5pm Wednesday". Some wag near me asked whether he would be in the car park later. (If you don't get this point Google "Stan Collymore dogging" :)

Admittedly it was only 24 runners. The Clubpoker challenge on PokerStars.com on Friday night. It was $11 No limit Omaha Hi Lo! Scary Huh!

I was short stacked for a hell of a long time. Then I hit a rush up to chip leader on the final table. 3 places paid and I played very tightly apart from one bluff with the bare ace with a flush hitting river.

I also hit a few rivers when I was on my knees.

I've posted a few hands below:
Table '3089417 2' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: AwesomeAli (3586 in chips)
Seat 3: NiceComeBack (2705 in chips)
Seat 4: hung (3065 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 6: goodi (2248 in chips)
Seat 8: redsimon (5126 in chips)
AwesomeAli: posts the ante 25
NiceComeBack: posts the ante 25
hung: posts the ante 25
goodi: posts the ante 25
redsimon: posts the ante 25
goodi: posts small blind 100
redsimon: posts big blind 200
redsimon said, "nh"
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to redsimon [3h As 8c 7d]
AwesomeAli: folds
NiceComeBack: raises 1200 to 1400
hung: folds
goodi: folds
redsimon: calls 1200
*** FLOP *** [Ac Ah 8d]
redsimon: checks
NiceComeBack: bets 1280 and is all-in
redsimon: calls 1280
redsimon said, "gotcha"
*** TURN *** [Ac Ah 8d] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [Ac Ah 8d 7h] [9h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
redsimon: shows [3h As 8c 7d] (HI: a full house, Aces full of Eights)
NiceComeBack: shows [Kc 4d Ad Kh] (HI: three of a kind, Aces)
redsimon collected 5585 from pot
No low hand qualified

Table '3089417 3' Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: redsimon (8581 in chips)
Seat 3: massacrator (4788 in chips)
Seat 4: gorgo (5140 in chips)
Seat 5: AwesomeAli (5061 in chips)
Seat 6: Albatros15 (4935 in chips)
Seat 7: Bagger (5830 in chips)
Seat 8: hung (1665 in chips) is sitting out
redsimon: posts the ante 25
massacrator: posts the ante 25
gorgo: posts the ante 25
AwesomeAli: posts the ante 25
Albatros15: posts the ante 25
Bagger: posts the ante 25
hung: posts the ante 25
Bagger: posts small blind 200
hung: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to redsimon [Ac 2s 3h Td]
redsimon: raises 400 to 800
massacrator: folds
gorgo: folds
AwesomeAli: folds
Albatros15: folds
Bagger: calls 600
hung: folds
*** FLOP *** [6c Qc 5h]
Bagger: bets 400
redsimon: calls 400
*** TURN *** [6c Qc 5h] [9s]
Bagger: bets 800
redsimon: calls 800
*** RIVER *** [6c Qc 5h 9s] [Kc]
Bagger: checks
redsimon: bets 1600
AwesomeAli said, "u want a call si?"
massacrator said, "lol"
Bagger: folds
redsimon collected 4575 from pot
redsimon: shows [Ac 2s 3h Td] (HI: high card Ace)
redsimon said, "nope"
Bagger said, "deux paires"

Table '3089417 3' Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: redsimon (16753 in chips)
Seat 3: massacrator (6312 in chips)
Seat 5: AwesomeAli (12935 in chips)
redsimon: posts the ante 50
massacrator: posts the ante 50
AwesomeAli: posts the ante 50
redsimon: posts small blind 400
massacrator: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to redsimon [Ks 3s Kc 4s]
AwesomeAli: raises 3200 to 4000
redsimon: calls 3600
massacrator: folds
*** FLOP *** [Tc 4h 7s]
redsimon: checks
AwesomeAli: bets 8885 and is all-in
redsimon: calls 8885
*** TURN *** [Tc 4h 7s] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [Tc 4h 7s Ah] [4d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
redsimon: shows [Ks 3s Kc 4s] (HI: three of a kind, Fours)
AwesomeAli: shows [Ac 9c Qh 2s] (HI: two pair, Aces and Fours)
redsimon collected 26720 from pot
No low hand qualified


Like I said I got lucky sometimes!

Forest got a 1-1 draw away at Sheffield United Tuesday night.

United are a difficult team, tough and it hurts to say, reasonably good.

The referee sent off a Sheffield player late in the first half after retaliating to a late tackle by our defender. Despite the one man advantage we struggled to get an equaliser. It came though. Then in the last minute Kris Commons was upended in the penalty box. Amazingly the referee booked Commons for "diving". Commons had 6 stitches in an ankle wound. Some dive!

The referee seemed to over compensate for what was a stupid decision to send off the Sheffield player.

Well, we ended up 1-1 and are still in the bottom 4. Amazingly we are still only 9 points off the play off spots. There is still hope.

I shall be back to poker in my next posting, looking ar how to build an online bankroll.

My winning run continues live. The Sunday night £30 tourny at my local cardroom normally generates big pools. This week it was slightly less. 66 runners, only £7100+ in prize pool. I get a good start after 30 minutes or so with 3s5s in the big blind. A guy had raised every pot for a while and when he showed down had real rubbish. He raised and I called along with 4 others. Flop comes 2s4s6c. I have the nuts and a draw to a straight flush. Of course I check. One guy bets 400, the raiser puts 1400 in and i call for my last 800. When the cards come over I am glad no one else has a flush draw. The original raiser has 62o(!?) and other allin has 65. Two blanks hit and I scoop up a 3000+ chip pot. I win 2 more pots during the rebuy period and end it with 5800 after taking the add on. As usual once the freezeout ends the players are dropping out fast. By 12.30 am we are down to two tables. I have now got 15000 and have worked out 22000 will be a good stack for final. My cards go a bit dead and we go through two levels with no casualties. I get down to 10000 and get moved as lowest chips to the other table when two guys bust. I get in two hands before my bb. Blinds are now 2000/1000. I need to make a move. There is a new lad on my right who states that "I want to get to the final". He has 25000+ chips. I took his statement as raise me I pass! In my bb new lad calls and so do 2 others. I look down. I have AA. I lump it in, no fancy play! newbie passes. Two others call. Time to pray! Flop is KJT...Ugh..One guy goes allin. Other passes. He turns over QJ and two blanks means he misses. Newbie proudly announces he passed KJ so I was definitely right to raise!

Suddenly we are in the final. I have 28500. The chip leader has 88000 and the rest are short-stacked. I dwindle down to 23500 and get AK on the button. A tight aggressive player bets 10500 (the blinds are 3000/1500). I flat call. My aim is to see if A or K hits. I have position so could get a free card too if flop misses us both. Flop comes QcJcTh. well it turns out it hit us both! Raiser has KcTc and I have the current nuts! All the money goes in. Luckily for me no club comes and I am now on 51500 and second in chips. 7 players are left and it starts to unravel. I get 6s4s in bb, sb only calls 2000, blinds are 4000/2000 now. Flop is 7s8s9c. I have open ended straight draw and a weak flush draw. sb bets 8000 and has 18000 left. I call. Turn is 9h. sb flinches and checks. I check. river is Qd. sb checks again. I am now "playing the board" so I do what anyone should do I bet 15000! After a good 3 minutes thinking the sb reraises to 18000 and I pass, saying I can't call. He has 7 for 2 pairs. I have just blown off 23000 on a hand that couldn't beat the board!

I then make another bad play. I am in the bb (blinds now 6000/3000). I have 12000 left after posting. One guy has 1000 chips and will be in blinds in two hands. We are now 6 handed. The KT guy from earlier raises to 15000 allin. The sb calls 12000. Its 9000 to me. If I call I have 3000 left. If I pass I have 12000. I have KTo. I pass. Of course the allin has K3 and the sb Ax. 3 on flop, T on turn. I shouldn't have been so passive. I end up allin with K3 in bb next time round along with another short stack. We both bust and I get 5th (£510) . Soon after, the last 4 split it £1200 each with chip leader getting £1800. So my passivity with KTo cost me £700.

However, I am now well ahead for the month. Lets see if I can lose it all online!

Managed to clear the bonus on PokerStars, spent $275 to get $120, oh dear. I have been having better results on Doylesroom and looking at my stats I am down $5 since 1/10/2004 on all online sites. I was over $300 up at one stage but some of the hands that killed me were nut flush running into straight flush, Full house into 4 of a kind and trips vs trips!

Poker does this to you and luckily I have been running well in live poker.

Forest even managed to win last night, so life isn't too bad at the moment!

I noticed a long time ago that after I have a big score "live" I lose big online and put it down to being tired after a long live session. So after Monday's exploits I did not go online Tuesday.

I am currently working off a bonus on PokerStars.com and trying to accumulate 10000 APs on Doylesroom.com for a copy of SuperSystem2.

I was going well on PokerStars, 210 FPPs of a target 600 FPPs and up $90. I had decided playing Sit and Go single table tournaments would be the "easiest" way to get the bonus. So what do I do? Play multi table cash games! Then the crash. $3/$6 Limit Omaha Hi Lo. Managed to accumulate another 300+ FPPs but at a loss of $250! $250 is a small bite out of my online bankroll. I have been working on a 900 big bets 'roll and only just stepped up to 3/6. So I am 87 FPPs off target but -$150 for a deposit bonus of $120!

Better news on Doylesroom I am up $50 with 400 APS earnt. Problem there is the lack of games. 1000ish players at peak, PokerStars has 15000+

Bonuses can be a pain. PartyPoker has the easiest to clear with every raked pot counting. At PokerStars only once the pot reaches a certain size do you get a FPP. You do earn them in tournaments though. Ultimatebet only lets you clear bonusses through cash games, which is a bummer as I have over $1100 bonus $ there. That will take forever to clear.


Football tonight...at home to Wolves who are also struggling. Should be a classic (sarcasm detectors on!)

My last blog entry must have been tempting fate!

I went to the £30 comp at my cardroom Monday night. The rebuy period was uneventful. I started with 1000 chips, ended it with 1700 and bought a 1000 chip top up. 55 runners generated £5910 prize pool. There were a group of Canadians playing, from the local Ice Hockey team. One was on our table, playing very weak, never raised, but had built up his chips largely through pots where he bet on flop and everyone passed. I get KQ in bb. Hockey Guy limps with AA. Flop KQ8. He bets pot a short stack underaises allin. I call and the AA cannot reraise. Turn J. I hate this card but call the Hockey Guys allin. this gets me up to 7000+. Final table will need average 19000+ so still early doors.

I get moved to new table 20 left with 9000. Get anted down a bit then with AK beat a calling station, known locally as "standing Order" as he limped into every pot!. AK again on bb I have around 18000. One limper I bet pot,he calls. Flop 235...I have four to flush and go allin. Limper beats me into pot with A4!...I get up thinking he has me covered. Dealer finds I have 900 left. 400 to post sb next hand so I go allin blind (K8). Two others in pot. Flop JT2, 9, river 7...I am back to 3500. I get A8 on button allin. AQ in bb. Flop all rags..river 8. I then win 2 pots uncontested and final announced.

I have 12200 as final starts. I am 9/10 in chips I nurse shortstack. Go allin with JJ...win pot. 2 bust then I get 66 and go allin. Chip leader calls with AJ. Ace on flop...6 on river. I am now on 27000 with 5 left . I lose a few more blinds. split a pot A3 vs A2. we get down to 4, one guy has similar stack to me.. Chipleader bets pot from sb. I have 99 in bb. Other short stack will be allin in 2 hands so I pass. He had AK. Two hands later other short stack goes out. I have 16000 but antes are 6000/3000. Other two guys have mountains of chips. I get 66 on button. raise allin. sb has AJ. J on flop, no miracle 6 this time and I'm out 3rd...

£590..£530 profit...my long dry spell is broken...

Quick update. I played two nights in a row at the cardroom. It was going to be three in a row, but more of that later.

Thursday I had 1 rebuy in the £20 Pot Limit Hold 'em comp. 97(!) runners and a big £5800ish pool. I bombed out with AJ which ran into a bb of A7 who thought I was stealing and reraised me. 7 on flop, no J and I go and play the Pot Limit £100 Dealers Choice cash game. Had some tremendous luck plus some good play and at one point was up £500...Lost a chunk back with AA235 with both aces suited with low cards. Ran into A2 of diamonds on 359 (two diamonds) flop. High Diamond on turn and I passed a £110 all-in bet into a £600 pot. All in had nut flush and A234 for uncounterfeitable low draw. River card was not low so I saved £100. I figured if I called I would only get £175 from the £700 ish in there. Maybe I should've passed on flop with bottom two pair a wheel draw and no flush draw?

Anyway I left soon after, at 4am. I had arranged to go Friday To meet Simon C who now lives in Greece. He actually turned up late on Thursday. Plan was to play a comp in Walsall Saturday night.

Anyway, on Friday I bust out early when I reraise an early position raiser. I have AA he has KK. Flop K22, no miracles for me. I shake his hand and wish him good luck. I had been a bit rude on Thursday to the A7 guy, I said "that was the worst play I've seen here" or some such Hellmuthian rubbish (I must stop watching the WSOP on telly as it's giving me bad habits). Anyway I was a more cheerful redsimon on Friday.

Simon C was still going strong and I decided to have an early night (2 am!).

On Saturday I was so tired that I hoped Simon C would ring and say he can't go. Amazingly he did, even more shocking was that he had chopped the comp 4 handed and took home a cool £1100! (dontcha just hate that). Only joking Si...nice one!

I put my tourny stats into my spreadsheet. Depressing reading. Since June I have cashed 1 time live, been 11-15 8 times and spent over £1500 for £250 return. Cash games have been a lot better. Over £1500 up with an hourly rate of £15 approx. Maybe I should stay home until 11 pm then go to the cardroom?

Well Sunday was yet another defeat. 1-0 away at Milwall. As usual we dominated the game, but failed to score YET AGAIN.

We are now 3rd from bottom, no game until 15/10/04, due to international call ups.

We need 4 players according to our manager. Our chairman says no more cash. I forsee a clash sooner or later. Who wants to start the "Kinnear out" campaign?

Been pokering online a bit. New bonuses (bonii?) to get at PokerStars.com and Absolutepoker.com

I will be back out to the cardroom later this week. Hopefully I can reverse my dire tournament performances this last 3 months.

So it helps to play a poker tournament until 3 am, so you can spend Monday asleep!

The £100 competition at the cardroom is booming. Last night attracted 94 runners. after the rebuys ended there was £28700 in the prize pool. the casino added £1300, so a cool £30000, with £12000 to the winner. I had one rebuy so the night cost me £210. I got lucky near to the end of the buy ins. Flopped a straight with 65o (flop 234), and a guy with a flush draw came along for the ride. Luckily he missed. Then later I got QQ and flopped Q74. The same guy with 76 this time put me allin. He missed whatever he thought he was drawing too and I had 10300 chips, when the avearge was 7000. Early doors though.

I moved around between 10000 and 15000 and then our table broke up. I moved to the last 3 tables with 15000 and it dwindled to 10000 until I picked up AA in the blind. TT got me allin and I doubled through.

I then had my usual nightmare with AQ. I have this in the small blind. Blinds are 1500/3000 with 14 players left. The button raises the pot. I have 16500 and its 9000 to call. the bb has 7500 left. I reraise all-in, sensing the button is stealing. the bb calls allin so does the button. button has KK and bb AJ. KJ8 on flop. My only hope really is T. This misses and I go out 13th. 3am 5 and 1/2 hours work for -£210. the cash game is full with a big list so I go home.

This is a trip report from the 2002 Aruba festival.


In a typical redsimon fashion my Aruba road trip report starts in sunny Luton. Having decided to poker my way from Nottingham to Gatwick Airport I rolled up at the Grosvenor Casino on the Friday night. This happily coincided with the first anniversary celebrations of www.gutshot.co.uk.
A happy if expensive night ensued. The boring details, £22 NLHE entry plus 2 rebuys and a top up, didn’t get further than top 30 places. Played cash game round of hold’em/ Omaha. Had expensive experience of the uselessness of AA double suited when you miss your flop and ended the night £180 down overall. I better be careful; otherwise I spend all my Aruba ‘roll before I step onto foreign soil!
Saturday is spent enjoying the sights of Luton, the other 23 hours 59 minutes there are spent sleeping, eating drinking and...Poker playing.
A trip to the Grosvenor, via a delightful Chinese meal, to play £50 PLHE. This went well to start with; I flopped flushes, full houses etc and was soon up from 1000 starting chips to 2500. Dribbled these away to nil on the last hand before re-buys ended. Re-bought and topped up. Somehow I survived with 1000 chips till we were 12 handed, then doubled up twice. Suddenly I’m on final table! A deal at start gives bottom 3 spots £250. After some gains, I fold winning hand when the large stack puts me under pressure. I end up out 7th but the £250 puts me up £95 for the night. It’s been a long day and I go back to the hotel.
Early start and a long but pleasurable flight and I touch down in Aruba at 10 pm local time.
After a quick unpacking Oldkingcole and myself get some food and hit the Casino. Notice the minimum cash game is $5/$10 limit and decide to avoid the games tonight.
Monday morning wake up early (well 9.30!), find a nice breakfast place, *all you can eat for $7.95*. Spend day relaxing on the beach, eating, surfing the ’net and writing out postcards. Pool party in evening, free food and drink and manage to nab some free t-shirts! Later play a little $4/$8 cash game. Several of the players are drunk, make a small profit and leave 2 am.
Tuesday, big day, early start. Seminar with Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Howard Lederer and John Bonetti providing tips. Something Phil says sticks in my mind. *Be patient* *you can be antied down but don’t throw chips away on poor hands out of position*.
The Last chance freeroll has 26 runners, with 22 seats up for grabs. Oldkingcole qualifies (though we hear later that all 26 qualify!).
My final (7 Card Stud), is called and all 8 turn up. 5000 chips each and I decide to play tight at the start, trying to get a feel for the table. My personal target is not to bust out first. Very friendly table, including one big name. Perry *the baiter* who has won a WSOP bracelet! Early on I get two big starting hands in about 5 minutes, 3 to a flush and a big pair with an Ace kicker. I’m suddenly chip leader with 8000 chips. After the first break Perry goes out 8th, my target is achieved! I’m still leader when I make the stupidest move. *Yougottohaveit* has 1010 showing, I have (Ah2h) 10h 8. Next card gives him another 10, me another h. He bets, I re-raise! (I think I convinced myself that my flush draw was good. Next card blank for both. He bets; my sense returns and I fold. He shows 88 in the hole for full house. Unfortunately I have now chipped him up, which I will regret later. The dinner break is announced as lasting 15 minutes, I know they do fast food here, but that’s too fast for me. So enervated by a polo mint, packet of crisps and a coffee we start the final run. We’ve been playing 3 hours and we’re down to 5. I’m still in a good position, 2nd in chips. The antes are rising and I go through a good 15 minutes without playing a hand. Suddenly we’re down to 4, then 3. I’m lowest in chips with *Procu8ator* on a rush into a chip lead and *Yougottohaveit* a close second. I propose a 3-way chop $1200 each. Surprisingly, this is agreed (told you it was a friendly table!). There’s $200 surplus and a bracelet to play for. We agree the $200 to the dealers, (feeling very charitable!). So now I loosen up and hit a rush to get heads up with *Yougotto..*. I go all in with (QQ) A. He flips over AA. The dealer forgets to *burn* the cards we get dealt (locally stud is played *no burn*). I get 2345 for a straight. A row ensues, I offer to chop the pot and get on, but this is turned down. The tournament director rules an innocent mistake by dealer and awards me pot. I go all in a few minutes later. (77) K. Opponent has bigger pair. A new dealer makes same mistake re: *burning*. I get 77 to make Quads and I’m now in a 70000 to 10000 chip lead. Heads up carries on for a good hour, about 5 hours play have gone when I make two pair and go all in. My opponent has rolled up 9’s and it’s all over. No gold bracelet but a nice $1200 to my account plus plenty of good memories. Considering it was my first *live* Stud tournament I was pleased with my showing, though another second place, will I ever come first? Tired and hungry a slap up meal ensues and after some wild cash action, which I lost $40/$50 in about 3 hours I crawl into bed. The following day, Wednesday, I play a $40 limit satellite for a $335 seat and chop it heads up. (That pays for my $125 seats all week in the Caribbean Classic!).
Thursday is the *big one*. I’m drawn on a table with *Michigan Mac* (Tom McEvoy), Tipsy Joker and Landish (who I know and fear from ultimatebet). 10000 starting chips and slow blind levels leave plenty of room for play. I fold most of my hands including decent pairs when a scary board comes. I get a big pay off from Cornholio when I flop a straight vs. a pair. Lose some back before the break, where I have 9025 chips. Oldkingcole is in better shape. The antes and blinds are gradually creeping up when I find KK in the big blind. Landish raises, I re-raise all in. He thinks for a while, so I know he doesn’t have AA. He calls, shows QT. A Q on flop gives me a scare but my Kings hold up. Now up to 40000+. Another 30/45 minutes pass with no playable hands. I’m getting antied down when Ram Vaswami joins table with an enormous stack. After another few rounds of folding, I find AJ suited on button. Folded to me. I raise 3 x bb. Ram shoves his chips all in, he's covering me so a call will put me all in. I decide its time to stop folding re-raises. I call for 25000. Ram flips over 88. A J on flop gives me the hand. Bad call by me, but two overcards only 52/48 ‘dog. Next hand I get AK, raise all in steal 15000 as they all fold. A break is called. Tipsy and Landish come up to me and thank me for crippling Ram’s stack. I tell Landish I’m trying to avoid him and Tipsy. Landish says he and Tipsy both agreed that I’m the *danger*. (Nice to know this, though they both last longer than me.
After the break Cathy, (Party Poker Million winner joins table). We are down to 36 and players are dropping away. Soon after, I get KK in late position. Cathy raises utg 8000. Steve (From Carib classic) reraises 24000. I reraise 60000 all in. Cathy folds so fast I now she had Ax! Steve asks how much to call. He has several thousand more. I count out my chips and tell him, trying not to appear nervous. He goes into a long think and stare session. I stare right back and smile. I know he doesn’t have AA. QQ or AK? After a long think he folds and shows AK. I flip over KK. I am now up to 100000. The hand took so long that we are down to 27! Jack McClelland offers to carry some of my chips (It was a big stack!). I join a new table to hear a loud-mouthed player boasting about his stack. *Anyone have any 5000 chips? *. He probably thinks I’m shortstacked as Jack had carried 30000 in 1000 chips to the table. I empty my pockets with another 70000+ chips and he shuts up! I get up to 120000, with the average 40000. We are now down to 18 players. I go another 30 minutes seeing nothing. Lots of all ins by other players. I get 22 early and raise 15000. Landish reraises 49000 all in. Even if he has no pair he has two over cards. I fold, he shows QQ. I’m being antied away, 15000 chips a round and 14 left in. I get A9 in mid position. A weak player limps in, I raise all in 35000. The weak player mucks out of turn. One player to call, he has enough to do so. He thinks long and hard and then calls. Flips over AQ. No help from flop. I’m out 14th, $300 richer, tired and in need of my free meal courtesy of a *last longer* bet with Oldkingcole. A nice Italian meal and a few drinks ensue.
Friday is the televised finals of the Ultimatebet.com poker classic and the heads up with the *pro*. I watch this and play the limit/stud tournament later with no success.
Saturday is a day of rest. I play a few satellites, without success.
Final day Sunday. I play the $125 NLHE event. 46 runners 600 chips. First bb I have J9. No one raises. Flop QJ9. I check. There's a bet of 250, I reraise all in. I get a caller with KQ. A 9 on river is icing on cake. Next bb. I have 67. No one raises. Flop 8910. I check. One bet of 150. I reraise to 650. He folds. Gradually build stack up to 2000 when rebuys end. Soon down to 18 players 2500/3000 chips. Not getting many hands. Steal a few blinds. Get down to 11 players. Final table will be 10 with 9 being paid. Down to 2100 chips, easily shortest stack. Suddenly an all in on other table. He’s out so I make the final table. Before final starts I suggest we take $100 off first place and give 10th $100. This is agreed, though someone does point out I’m equal 10th with a guy called Vegas! (More of him later!).
Suddenly get a series of good hands. AA in bb. The guy who came second in the U P Classic raised I called all in. He had A7. I double through. Few hands later I have KK utg. I limp in, he raises me all in. I call. He shows KQ and lets out a cry of despair when I show KK. These hold up and I’m now chip leader!
A few hands later he has AA and Vegas goes all in with JJ. A jack on river kills our Finnish friend off, not his night I guess!
We are down to 5 and I kill off another person with AA vs. AJ. Down to 4 including two Venezuelans who I suspect are soft playing each other. The female of the *team* goes all in with Q4. The short stack has KT. A board of QxxQ4 means we are three handed. I have 33 on button. I raise and Mr Vegas calls. Flop K87. I check, he goes in for 1500. I must call though I suspect he has a K. He turns over AA (!). Now I’m no longer chip leader. A few hands later Mrs V is in sb Mr V in bb. I fold she calls leaving 2000 chips. He flat calls and they check the hand down to the river. She hits a Jack on river and he folds. Strange play indeed. After a few more hands I have A6 in bb. I reraise all in and Mr V calls with QJ. A Q on flop and J on turn end the event for me. 3rd place and $770 is no consolation, when the two Venezuelans agree a deal straight after! Mrs V was down to 3 chips so definitely a bad play by me, but I was ahead preflop!
So a good end to the trip though playing poker till 5 am when you flights at 8.50 am is probably not advised!
The trip was brilliant and Ultimatebet.com should be praised for this promotion.

A hand from the Dealers' Choice £100 cash game at my local cardroom. Not played too brilliantly.

The game structure is minimum buy in £100, two blinds of £2 one on button one to left of button. Button "chooses" game. Max 8 players. Typical games are Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, Stud Hi/Lo, Irish (a sort of hybrid of Hold'em) and Padooki. Games are pot limit.

The hand. I am on button and call 5 card Hi Lo. I get 7899T. A right lot of crap! No one raises. Flop is 68T rainbow. I have "the nuts", I am last to act in a 5 way pot. First to act bets the Pot (£10), one guy calls and it's up to me. There are really only 2 ways to play this. First is to pot raise, other is to pass. Why pass the nuts? Well it's hi lo, I have no lo hand and there is a high % that a low card will come. In fact if a A 2 3 4 5 7 9 J Q come I am no longer able to scoop. 34 cards can therefore split pot or outdraw me. In fact more. I could be up against A2 and a set and lose the lot. I bottle it and call £10. Pot now £40. I have £70 left in front. The original player is very loose and the other caller is the only guy tighter than me. I put one on trips the other on a draw with A2 or A3. The turn comes 9. Gives me trip 9s but puts a heart flush draw out and means QJ is best st8 and I no longer have anything approaching nuts. Original raiser bets £40, caller calls after a long think. I pass. Probably should have passed on flop. River puts third heart up and "raiser" bets pot with a flush. He had A23 for low draw too. I don't believe I could make him pass on flop as he has a history of going for low in multi way pots.

This hand for me illustrates one of the keys in Omaha Hi Lo Pot Limit. That is you need a REDRAW as well as nuts. My hand was the nuts on flop but was so weak that that £10 call was basically throwing money away as the deck was very cold for me. Even with the straight and Top two Pair! That's what makes Omaha a fascinating game.

Back to live poker tonight.

It's the £100 PLHE comp at my local cardroom. Thursday night was my first visit there for 5 weeks. I took a conscious decision to play less and play a bit more on-line and read up on some of the books I bought when last in Vegas.

Thursday was weird. It was a full house 70 plus runners over 7 tables. £20 buy in and rebuys for 90 minutes. The comp took over £5800 and I busted early. Nothing new there!

No, the weirdness was our table. No smokers! This is a particular bugbear of mine. I usually have to wash my clothes twice after a visit to get the stench of second hand smoke out. The cardroom is not well ventilated and most gamblers like to chain-smoke!

One guy was a smoker but he said he wouldnt smoke until he had to buy in. I seriously think that the two guys who went allin with nothing vs his Full House on the first hand were doing it to get a smoke free night!

I had my usual sucession of bad cards or bad flops. My biggest win was with 84o in the small blind. Everyone had limped in. I completed and big blind checked. 11 people see the flop! 446 flop out and I check call. I get allin on the turn card vs two callers with 65 and A6. No 6 came and I tripled up. Lost it all back over the next hour, the last big pot I saw I had JJ and gave up on an Ace high flop, opponents both had an Ace.

I busted making a stupid move with K3o. Made trip Kings on river but this was third diamond on board. My opponent had diamonds for a flush. He went on to make the final table.

Hopefully tonight will be better. I have had a very cold run in tournies. Luckily my cash game results have been better. More on Dealers' Choice cash games in another post.

No footy today. Forest are away at Milwall rearranged to Sunday 3pm as Milwall were briefly in Europe. Ironically they were attacked and had players racially abused in their game on Thursday. Ironic because Milwall have/had a bad reputation for mindless violence and racism. It's about the only away ground I have not been to in the top 2 divisions.

Forest are in a bit of trouble at the moment. We are in the bottom 3 of the "championship" (The jazzed up version of Division 2). Last Sunday saw their first league win, an emotional 2-1 over West Ham. It was the first league game since the death at 69 of Brian Clough. Clough was Forest's manager from the dog days of 1975 (bottom 5 of Division 2, sound familiar?) through promotion in 1977, Division 1 title in 1978, League cup in 1978, European Cups in 1979 and 1980 and until recently a record 42 games unbeaten in the League. In fact between November 1977 and December 1978 Forest lost 1 game in 60. Things have reverted to the bad days pre Clough and we are now a struggling "Championship" side. The team went back to losing ways on Wednesday, an awful 1-0 home defeat by recently promoted Brighton.

I'll update on the football Sunday night.

We desperately need to win!

So many poker player blogs. do we need yet another one? Probably not!

There are several very good blogs if you an aspiring poker player. I will recount my poker activities, some interesting (and some not so) hands and also touch on my other interests including the once mighty Nottingham Forest FC.

Once I get my "head" around this blogging concept I will post some older trip reports one a trip to Aruba, two WSOP trips and my first visit to a live cardroom.

I welcome any comments good or bad (I can delete the bad ones) :)