redsimonpoker

Las Vegas December 2008 Trip report

2008-12-15T13:48:00.003Z

Had a good visit to Vegas.

Stayed at Imperial Palace, which was on the flight path from the airport so was a bit noisy in the AM when trying to kip but was overall passable.

The trip out there was trouble free, though one tip I got was to book a airport hotel at the North Terminal and use the monorail as my South side hotel was a £11.50 taxi ride away.

As I arrived at room 4pm local time (midnight UK) I decided to sleep through rather than play tired.

I had planned pre-trip not to play donkaments so the first thing I did was sign up for the 10 am Planet Hollywood Tourny!

I got 6th spot for a nice $43 profit and after lunch went to play $1/$2 NLHE at Flamingo.

This was fun, starting with AA first hand managing to get me $100 ahead in 5 minutes. I trod water for a while then got KK in the big blind. UTG made it $8, got 4 callers so I bumped it to $33 got UTG man to call. Flop 664 two spades (I had KsKc) I bet $50, snap called. Turn 8s so flush out I check he bets $100 I called after long think. River 3s I bet allin $197 and he snaps with Qs9s so I got lucky :)

This got me to around $500. Lost some back while Q9 man pulled up $300 and got his stack up to $450 by some crazy bluffs.

Next big pot I get JJ on button. I raise to $12 and Q9 man calls. Flop J92 rainbow. I bet $25 he calls. Turn K I bet $100 he snaps! (Has he got QT?) river 5, he checks and I'm allin for $200ish. He snaps I say trips and he instamucks and storms off. This gets me up to $950 which drifts back to $880 by the time I quit so over $700 up first full day.

Tuesday was dialysis day, quite a depressing experience. I was one of the few patients with all limbs intact and was one of two white folks there. Being English was a novelty for the staff who asked me if Amsterdam was in England. I also told one I was from Nottingham, she said I love Nottingham, especially Hugh Grant (Notting Hill??). Very clean compared to UK and will have to use them when I go next year.

I felt wasted after the session (as well as $1020 worse off after paying for both sessions). Thus I didnt play any poker until Wednesday.

On Wednesday I went back to Flamingo. I won a $117 high hand bonus with quad 2s but over 5 hours won $7! I also played at Caesars Palace but only 1 cash game and a 25 runner tourny which I busted with JJ in bb vs AA called down by sb.

Thursday I went downtown, Binions was a lot cleaner than before and had new flooring, new table felts but no cash players. After a trip to Gambler's bookstore to stock up I went back to the Orleans as there was a $80 Limit O8 tourny, I managed to finish 12/70 but a stark reminder of why I should avoid tournies, a sick 22% juice.

Friday was dialysis #2. Rinse and repeat from Tuesday.

Saturday was my last full day and Flamingo was frustrating. Could never get going and dropped $378 in about 6 hours.

Overall made just over $100 playing poker, cash games were quite soft and next year's trip (hopefully June 09) will have to be cash only. Would've been closer to $300 plus more cash time might have established if I could beat the games. Flamingo had a $300 max buy in so made it better game than some on the Strip.

I am not playing the Pokerstars.com Blogger Tournaments

2008-12-15T13:46:00.001Z

Got the bums rush from 'Stars as I have obviously not updated this blog often enough.

Boo fucking hoo!

Holiday Time

2008-11-23T14:49:00.002Z

Only 7 days to go until I'm in Las Vegas (naturally) again. I've complied with the NHS and organised dialysis while there, $510 a pop (didn't pay for it in June...sigh add 20% to bill!).

NHS tried best to throw spanners in the works by "forgetting" to send paperwork until I told them if they didn't I would still go but not dialyse whilst there and hey presto! it gets done.

Plan is to relax day time by the pool or on excursions and cash poker at night. I think the donkaments are too fast and too highly juiced to be a profitable way of spending my poker time.

Online not much going on. I've got rakeback with FTP after asking for it 3 months ago, but not playing much cash or tournies.

Live I've staked a few players with mixed results, the best being Simon Trumper who has spun his stake into the late three figures, paying for the trip to LV (almost).

If everything goes OK I have a week booked for June 2009, hopefully WSOP will be on then too...

6 monthly revisit :)

2008-08-10T16:36:00.002+01:00

I am such a lazy sod!

Vegas was great had lots of fun and wins playing cash mostly $2/$5 NLHE at Caesers.

I played about 6 tournies closest I got was FT bubble in a PLO at Caesers.

Weather was nice and I got sun stroke first day as I fell asleep 11am by the PH pool and woke up a very red simon. Despite not dialysing over there my health was good and I came back to UK refreshed.

Played very little poker since, a few tournies at DtD which is a great venue.

I like the new changes to get rid of rebuys and I am hoping to play a bit more.

I have another Vegas jaunt booked for December and 'cos of the length have two dialysis sessions booked at a ball busting cost of $1040...

A few poker things have pissed me off. I think the whole M3Boy saga on Blondepoker got out of hand and I am still not sure if the software "bug" he found has been resolved. I still play there tho' ands wish I could get a run together on it.

DtD not liking criticism and banning Mick McCool seemed to me a bit OTT. There were certain facets of DtD which caused me to cringe when I bought my poker buddy Derek (OldKingCole) up the other weekend. Such as drunks, boorish table behaviour and the usual live poker crap.

Overall tho' I prefer the place to the Gala in Notts, just not convinced "life" bans are FTW.

I'll try and update a bit more often...

Still alive...

2008-02-20T20:21:00.002Z

Just not played much poker.

Which is a strange prperation for a 4 night jaunt to Las Vegas.

Flying out on Sunday March 2nd, had loads of stick from doctors as I will not be dialysing whilst there. I figure I can maintain my weight and I don't retain much fluid so I believe I will be OK.

I am staying at Planet Hollywood, which was Alladin last time I went.

My plan is lounging around the pool in the day as I am now free of embarassing tubes in my stomach or chest so got to get my body in shape :) and a few donkaments in the evening.

I might even break the habit of a lifetime and go see a show whilst there.

My Party challenge has stuttered and ny balance has dwindled to $131, still its all free money so can't moan.

Next post will hopefully be Vegas trip report.

Another Year Over

2007-12-31T20:05:00.000Z

2007 was a bit of a non event poker wise.

Live played 5 tournies cashed once and lost £90 overall.

Online dropped over $700 during year. This was -$1000 until recently when I gave up on donkaments and SNGs and put my efforts into cash mostly PLO8 full ring.

Plus points online are my Party Poker expolits. The $25 free money is now $207 and 2008 will see an effort to keep building this. Betfair also saw a free bet of £5 now be £96 thru sports bets and a bit of poker.

Health wise another year of running to stand still. Still awaiting a transplant and now resigned to haemo dialysis.

I am determined to do a Vegas trip even if I forego dialysis out there. I went 28 days this year without it after CAPD failed. 7 days might be my limit though.

2008 should also be when my legal action against the NHS Trust reaches some sort of decision.

Have a happy and wealthy 2008!

Stitched Up.

2007-12-04T15:14:00.000Z

Well the plan was to play the £100 freezeout at Dusk Til Dawn this weekend as part of their opening weekend.

I had my invite, £110 and a freshly ironed set of clothes ready for action.

Unfortunately my dialysis got in the way. The exit site to my temporary line was gunged up on Saturday and by midday Sunday I was running a temperature and feeling like shit.

Today they took the line out and sent bits of it off for analysis as I defintely have a bug.

Online I have withdrawn most of my cash and apart from what follows haven't played much.

I got a letter from Partypoker as I had deleted client some months ago. $25 was in my account and if I could clear 150 points in one month it was mine.

I have spun it up to $110 so far playing $25 buy in PLO8. Only a bit of fun and I would normally put my online roll all on one table but the players are truely awful so even I can beat them.

Hoping to get to DtD next week and would love to get into a routine of weekly vists.

Alea Casino First Poker Tourny report

2007-10-12T18:52:00.000+01:00

Managed to play this £50 +£5 with one rebuy £50 event recently.

The casino is very plush, just down the road from the Gala (Notts) but a million miles away in terms of niceness, including some very nice valets.

Myself and Derek (Oldkingcole) signed up on Saturday night. Luckily as it sold out before the day of the event.

4000 chips to start and 45 minutes x 2 levels to rebuy then 30 minute levels.

Some observations:

Sold out (99 runners) because of added £2000 and newness. Following week saw 28 runners. Luckily casino will add £500 to pool if 30 or more runners. I can see this being a once a month event for me.

Dealers were variable. My first table the girl had never dealt a poker event but we treated her well and she gained confidence.

Tables. Kidney style but with no proper felt so very hard to lift cards up. Promised this was being looked into.

Chips. Maybe UK casinos should get together and standardise chip colours as well as rules?

Players. A lot of the "usual suspects" from the midlands. Mostly played in a good spirit.

Performance 25th JJ vs KQ. Knowing my history with JJ I knew I was losing the race.

Would I go again?
Yes, but if they can put on a freezeout in the week too might try that as £105 per week is a bit rich for my bankroll.

Well it is a Freeroll :)

2007-10-12T12:40:00.000+01:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 1698051

Still here....

2007-09-14T19:46:00.000+01:00

I guess with a poker blog if you don't play much you can't post much.

I have started to play a bit more so time to post I guess.

Healthwise I had another operation last week (8th or 9th I've lost count). This one was to finally remove my CAPD tube (Literally hanging around since May) and start the creation of a fistula.

I also had my two year anniversary of going on the transplant list. When I went on it was 2-3 year wait. Now its a 4-5 year wait, spot a pattern here?

So health is still shaky and most of the poker Ive played has been cash PLO8 on Ipoker and PokerStars. I'm limiting myself to at most $100 buy in tables, on Ipoker these are not run much higher and often two table $50 buy in. So many short buy in players so Ive had a recent good run. I have been lucky i.e flopping set of 2s vs set of 8s and turning quads to stack him. I also turned nut flush vs top set and second nut flush for a $220 pot to get out of a $100 hole on 'Stars. Guess the downswing might happen soon.

Not got much energy for donkaments. Played the 901 runner WCOOP freeroll last night and realised why I don't play Holdum much now. Went out after 2 hours in 100ish with AQ vs AJ when flop came down a pretty convincing KQT :-). AJ matey boy managed to spunk his stack off pretty quick...c'est la vie.

Hoping to go to Cardiff for Blondebash 5. Hopefully will be in better shape than BB4 when I was carrying a hernia and ended up in hospital 5 days later...

Long hot Summer

2007-07-19T20:24:00.000+01:00

Not been much to report. I have had to give up on CAPD so its back to 3x week to hospital for dialysis. Originally it was three nights a week but got this changed to early mornings.

Played my first live poker since the smoking ban. Finishing 5/69 for £160 in a £30 freezeout. That will keep me ticking over. Smokers may be outlawed but bad play abounded, mostly overly tight. The end of the tourney was crapshootastic with the final having a 35k average and playing 10 hands of 3k/6k then a level of 4k/8k. I started final 10/10 with 22k yoy'd as high as 55k before losing a race with 99 vs QJ (who limped utg) then instacalled his remaining chips when I raised it up in the sb.

I ended up in 12k bb with 19k left behind with 69 suited c/l raised allin with AT 9 on flop T on turn....

Hopefully will play a bit more online when my new PC arrives 30 July as current one is almost dead.

That was the week that was.....

2007-05-23T20:26:00.000+01:00

Well a lots happened in the 9 days since my last post.

On the Tuesday I went in for more tests, with a negative diagnosis I was expecting to be told I would have to wait 4 weeks plus for an operation. By 7 am Wednesday I was in my hospital bed waiting to go under the knife.

The intention was to reposition my CAPD tube as it wasn't working. However, when they opened me up they found part of my stomach lining had snagged the tube plus I had a hernia (which explains the intense pain which the doctor couldn't diagnose on the Tuesday!).

I was discharged on the Thursday at 3 pm but by 3.30 pm they wanted me back in as my blood results were poor. As I had two Forest tickets for the following night and my mate lives many miles away I had to sort that out.

So, I had more tests over the weekend missing the Forest game (watched it on SKY). The less said about the game the better. We got what we deserved,,,nothing.

As of today I've not dialysed for 15 days and have more tests on Thursday.

All this means I've played little poker since the last update so bankroll still intact!

Que Sera Sera

2007-05-14T16:38:00.000+01:00

Well, Forest have limped into the play off reckoning after starting the season so well we fell apart in between December and February.

We, i think got the easier draw with two games vs Yeovil thereby avoiding Oldham (0-7 this season) and Blackpool (who are the hot side in Division three).

We got off to a great start last Friday with a 2-0 away win. Just need to avoid the temptation to sit back in the return leg on Friday night.

In other news, I won a 4 x$100 entries on www.mansionpoker.com in their Blondepoker draw. Luckily a mate played these for me and got one cash $250 (50/50 split).

I also played my first live poker in the UK for over 18 months at the G Casino Luton as part of Blonde Bash 4.

The cardroom at the G casino is non smoking, but with the rest of the casino not this meant you still ingested a lot of poison. 2nd in a few SNGS and meeting up with some blondeites from the Notts area made for a pleasant weekend, however my health was suffering and I can't say I was unhappy to get back home.

I also played a £20 rebuy PLHE at Notts Gala. Now this was smoky!

Healthwise, things are in a bad way. I haven't been able to dialyse since Tuesday last week. Been in and out of hospital for x rays, blood tests etc. Tommorrow I have one last test. If my tube still doesn't work its back under the knife.

This won't be treated as an emergency so it will be back onto Haemo dialysis and all the joy that was.

Whatever happens tommorrow, I need to get my appetite back as I've hardly ate anything in 10 days.

Not Going anywhere

2007-04-13T16:34:00.000+01:00

Since my last post I have got back onto the APD dialysis routine and today had my old haemo dialysis "temporary for 6 weeks" cathetar removed (after 6 months!).

So the "plan" was to get out and about. Unfortunately due to other problems I don't seem to be able to find anyone to go to Vegas with :(

I did go twice on my own in the past but that was pre-Kidney failure. Not too confident that solo travelling will be a good idea.

The positive for this is Simon C (simoncook1969.blogspot.com) is going to Australia for some high faluting job with a Poker Site, jammy fish! Seeing as his comments are disabled better say well done here.

Poker has virtually ground to a halt. Played a few freerolls and made $153 profit in March online.

Football makes poker look good. Forest seem to have blown automatic promotion and now we have lost another striker to injury weclook like entering the play offs with 2 strikers with one having a dodgy temperament still possibly getting another suspension if he carries on picking up yellow cards.

So April onwards hopefully I can get to blonde pokers BB4 but even that might be out of the window.

Locally the Gala Poker Tour comes to Nottss in May so if I can get my act together I might have a punt on that with my "travel" money if I'm not going abroad..

Un-frigging-believable

2007-03-12T19:57:00.000Z

Well the operation went ok but the last week has been Victor Meldrewesque in its insanity.

Tuesday my dialysis never got going and i had to finish it after 1 hour without taking any fluid off. Thursday my next session went OK but I was so bloated and unwell I couldn't trust myself to play for real money.

All week Blue square decided to fcuk me around with their transfer to Playtech software.

Eventually I got my money back into my account.

Played a bit of PLO8 sng at weekend so currently up $50 in March from 1 days play.

All week been feeling sore and a bit of a temperature.

Well today put the cap on it. I go to get my dressing changed.

Nurse removes the dressing to reveal a nice scab on my exit site and its red raw too.

She decides to swab the scab in case I have a nasty bug and as she rubs the scab a long black hair pops up. Now bear in mind I am a greying ex blonde and my surgeon has long black hair, put 2 and 2 together and guess why I have an infection. An experiment for you; Slice a hole in your guts put a hair on it and seal with a plaster. Take it off a week later and see how much pus you will have seeping from it.

So yet another day in our wonderful NHS. Marvellous!

And don't mention the football :(

Crawling back to happiness

2007-03-02T16:17:00.000Z

February overall was -$190 with -$175 from SNGs.

I only played for 14 out of 28 days so failed to get the silver star status.

-$175 is only 5 buy ins at the $35 Turbos so not really too much to worry about as I was -$600 in mid Feb so I am crawling back into the black.

Health wise my operation is going ahead on 5th March so hopefully it will work and I will be back on CAPD and have a bit more freedom to go to the USA Europe etc.

March poker wise will be more SNGs hopefully with a profit at the end of it :)

A Game of Two Halves?

2007-02-16T20:25:00.000Z

I'm hoping so as the first half of my project For February has gone badly.

Only racked up 450 fpps so I need 1050 in less than 14 days to get to keep my star status and at one point in the month I was down $600 playing mostly $35 and $16 PLO8 SNG turbos.

Hit a bit of a rough spot with many 9ths and 8ths and I knew I was playing badly when I was 3rd with 4 left the C/L goes allin 2nd C/L calls and I call with 24xx on a A39 flop...this is a dumb move in late stage and of course I missed and other guys had 24AA and 2456 anyway so I was never going to make much if i "hit"..

This run means my Sharkscope rating is very much a "fish" with a ROI of -23% last I looked.

Last two days I've cashed in 7/10 and started to pull back the losses but I guess unless I run hot in the next 12 days its another loss. I have not been tempted into cash games though.

With SNGs it really is a matter of grinding them out and I have got into an evening regime of playing a set of games and evaluating after each session.

Game Selection rethink

2007-02-02T19:09:00.000Z

January was a good month for SNGs but the continual drip drip of cash games led to a -$188 figure.

I managed to sneak silver star on Pokerstars and I am going to try another experiment.

February is SNG and MTT only month and I'm going to try to retain silverstar just through non cash play.

Still waiting for my operation. Provisionally told 5th March. Hopefully it will be successful then I can plan a jaunt to Vegas..

End of the year

2007-01-01T16:15:00.000Z

Managed to finish 2006 down overall $111. Already -$98 for 2007.

Xmas was unusual, managing to fall down the stairs at home capped it really. Amazingly I broke no bones just a lot of bruises.

Forest seem to have decided to suddenly start to lose where they were drawing and draw where they were winning, at least it will lead to an "interesting" end to the season.

Health wise I have to go back in for another operation in early 2007 as the tube they fitted in December is not working, despite several attempts to get it going including pumping me full of laxatives so I spent one day just shitting :-(.

Once the operation gets sorted out I can boom my LV (orLA) holiday.

I'm looking to update the blog more regularly but heh thats one resolution I might break :-)

Stitched Up

2006-12-03T17:15:00.000Z

The operation went Ok. With it being a day surgery jobbie I was there at 7.30 am, undressed and ready by 8 am seen at 11 am and home for 2 pm :-)

The Forest game the Saturday before was a bit of a nightmare as I managed to bring my mates season ticket from the previous season with me and only realised my faux pa when I got to the turnstile. Luckily I got a replacement ticket from the ticket office and only missed the first 10 minutes (including Milwall's goal) and the Trees went on to a 3-1 win which was a relief.

Poker took another hit and I am now -$100 for 2006, first losing year since 2002.

I've taken a broom to my accounts if thats the right similie (or is it metaphor?). I've closed my Ladbrokes account (not played on it since 2004), and my Sporting Odds account as they are due to merge/collapse into Paradise Poker. Mansion have joined the former sites list after fcuking me about with needing photo id. Never any decent O8 there anyway. Littlewoods took the £3.50 I managed to have left there without telling me so they are on the list too.

Most of my dwindling 'roll is now on Tribeca, Stars, FTP and UB with a small bonus chasing amount on Bodog.

I just need to decide whether I should ditch cash and try the SNG grind with a few MTTs to get me back in the black.

Under The Knife

2006-11-25T12:58:00.000Z

Back into hospital on Monday for my CAPD tube to be refitted. Will be great to get back to some sort of normality regarding dialysis i.e not having to trek to the hospital at night for 4 hours haemo dialysis with all the waiting around before and after.

Poker wise Limit O8 has been a nightmare for 4 weeks now and I've 90% switched to $100 buy in PLO8 with occasional dips into $200 by in PLO8. Nothing spectatcular there either and my YTD is now a massive +$215, but heh its still ahead :-)

Hopefully once I get back on CAPD I can plan my next foreign trip. I have pencilled in LA or LV for February 2007. Fingers crossed.

PS

Can't be bothered to go over my last Vegas trip suffice to say I won't be using the train to get to and from the airport!

A Turn For The Worse

2006-10-12T17:58:00.000+01:00

No poker in this post so all you fans looking for great insights move on to Andy Ward's blog :-)

Saturday 30 September was the start of a really bleak time. As regular readers will know I suffered kidney failure last year and I have been on dialysis since last November.

I do a form of dialysis called APD which basically uses my peritonial sac as a form of "kidney" by pumping dialysis fluid in over night and draining it off and refilling during the night. This has been working well and I even have been to Vegas twice using my machine.

Saturday seemed like any normal day, I was due to meet a mate to go see Forest play Swansea. Around 11 am I started to develop bad pains in my stomach, eventually i had to lie down as moving caused sharp stabbing pains. I cancelled the footy trip and retired to bed. It seemed to get better but overnight Saturday the dialysis was painful. Sunday was more pain and fluid was no longer coming out during dialysis.

I went in to see my nurse on Monday morning and was diagnosed with peritonitis. My fluid was now like sludge. I was given antibiotics and painkillers and on Tuesday and Wednesday things improved slightly. Even so I was completely without appetite and survived on water and toast.

Thursday was the turning point. I woke up feeling queasy and promptly threw up all over the bathroom floor. I tried to sleep it off but the pain got worse and several vomitting sessions later I was rushed into hospital.

In agonising pain I had to wait 3 hours to be seen and after being examined and admitted I was violently sick again.

The next morning the Doctor broke the news. My peritonitis was so severe I needed to have my dialysis tube removed.

So instead of seeing Forest get tonked 4-0 on Saturday I was under the knife.

The alternative to my APD is Haemo dialysis which I have been told will need to be done three times a week until I have to tube refittted (another op) in late November/early December. I had planned to go to Slovenia for a poker holiday but that will have to be shelved now.

I had a line fitted for this which was quite painful even if I did have a local anaethestic.

With some time off work I might get round to doing that Vegas report!

So I am now back home sore and tired.

In the absence of an update

2006-09-20T20:36:00.000+01:00

I am planning to do a "Vegas mostly shit" trip report soon...guess I've been neglecting the blog :(

Online I steamed up close to + $1000 for 2006 but Saturday and Sunday I dropped nearly $500 (Stars bonus looks like costing me money AGAIN!) back to grinding out a few low buy in SNGs and Tourneys, looks like I won't get silverstar again :(

On a tangent readers should log into stars and look at this weeks tlb leader board winner, is it David Walliams? ("I'm a pokah playah/laydee you know?")

Blankety Blank

2006-07-28T20:45:00.000+01:00

Vegas drew a big fat zero..the complete reverse of March. Can't really say I got unlucky just ran into good hands at the wrong time.

Simon C. did well, including a nice $2600+ at Caesar's Palace (Lucky I had my ITIN number for him!).

The trip there was horrible, struggling with heavy cases and a dialysis machine up 4 flights of stairs at Luton was a real ballsache.

The holiday though was great, Alladin was OK but miles better than downtown :-)

Despite losing my machine for an hour after the lift door closed ultra quickly :-( I settled in quickly.

Most days consisted of play a tourney, bust out early and watch Simon C or Justine cash in said tourny.

The WSOP is now just a corporate junket and the "good old days" of the smelly old Binions is long gone. When I first went to Vegas there were 6 or 7 places to play no every other casino has poker. How long it will last I dunno.

Best card room....Caesars. Away from Casino floor so quiet, cool and well run.

Worst...easily Paris. A shit hole and fucking noisy.

Not played since I got back(1). Hopefully will back in the saddle next week.

(1) Apart from Blondepoker tourny which don't really count!

Good Riddance

2006-06-30T19:45:00.000+01:00

..to June. My online YTD is now +$389 yet is was +$901 on 20 June so its been a spiral down through my bankroll in the last 10 days.

Not a good preparation for Vegas!

I am probably take it steady over the next 7 days before I fly out.

Hopefully my good live form from March will be still there when I touch down on the 9th July

Upsetting the applecart

2006-06-20T08:57:00.000+01:00

Seemed to have pissed off a few people in my usual diplomatic style on a poker forum.

Firstly the Devilfish book. I found it was cheaper going directly to Amazon rather than a certain sites so called exclusive deal. In their defence the site claimed amazon takes 3-5 weeks. More like 3 days as its arrived today! Ironically the site claimed not to be making any money from the "exclusive" deal, yet if they used their amazon affiliate link they would make money. You can't make it up.

Secondly, some clown starts bragging about commiting credit card fraud and I criticise him. amazingly I am the one who gets it in the neck from some plonker and no one seems to think maxxing out your credit cards with no intention of paying back is in any way wrong. Strange morals I guess.

Anyway Vegas feels even closer now as my ITIN number arrived today. Less than 3 weeks to go and I am steadily increasing my YTD figure.

Oh and I forgot about the bloggers tourny and was blinded off 1300th+. Got the hh's and only one person was sitting in on my table so I guess I wasn't the only one!

Poker Stars Tourny

2006-05-31T22:07:00.000+01:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 9888552

Cash bang wallop...

2006-05-31T07:41:00.000+01:00

May's stats are +$249 for a YTD of +$649...looking at my stats I lost $620 in 4 cash sessions during the month so that $649 could've been so much better.

So I have set myself a little challenge for June. SNGs and Tournies and NO MORE LIMIT CASH. If you see me at a limit cash table give me more abuse than normal :-)

Bounties taste nice.

2006-05-30T11:16:00.000+01:00

Succumbed to the temptation to play NLHE last night. 2 $10 +$1 tournies, one on Blondepoker the other the "Tikay" tourny on Sportingodds.com

Busted pretty early on Blonde when My TT failed to win a race with...erm..A6o. Yes people do move all in on you after you raise in MP with TT with Ace rag. Of course the A hits on the river.

Sporting odds was a different kettle of fish. $1000 added and $100 bounty on "Tikay" which I won with 85o in a 5 way coup :-)

I ended up 3rd for $253 plus the $100 bounty so that makes my YTD figures look a bit healthier.

Maybe Limit cash games should go on the burner for a bit and MTTs and STTs given a try.

40 days until Vegas...

Vegas dreams

2006-05-25T20:03:00.000+01:00

Still over 6 weeks 'til I fly out and online seems to be kicking me hard in the balls. Amazingly I am still up overall and slightly up for May, despite donking off $330 at 2/4 limit ffs last weekend. Now I remember why I had decided not to play at weekends. If I hadn't I'd be up $500 ish this month, instead I'm scaping around $40 which even with the 10 hours or less per week I'm playing is still godawful.

Ironically I still haven't got back into tourny or SNG mode yet when I am over in Vegas NLHE tournies will be my daily fix of poker, with the occasional O8 foray. Need to get some practice in.

Despite Stars having the best site I am still struggling to get my head above water whilst Party is shit in so many ways but a consistent earner, irony there somewhere.

Long weekend ahead, off work until Wednesday, though I will mostly be chilling out catching up with DVDs rather than being glued to a mouse playing poker (Or so I hope) :-)

WSOP (Sorta) here I come

2006-05-15T18:10:00.000+01:00

Booked another trip to Las Vegas.

9 July to 20 July, staying on the strip this time at the Alladin.

Not got a bankroll for the WSOP events, so unless I run well or get in via a satellite it will be the usual low buy in stuff in my trip.

If I do run well then the $3000 Limit O8 on 15 July or the $1.5K PLO on 17 July appeal. As well as WSOP there is a festival at the Orleans so I might try the $540 Limit O8 there on the 14 July.

Can't wait 'til I'm there :-)

The internet year so far

2006-05-01T13:06:00.000+01:00

Gruesome, these are the accumalative figures

January +$320
February +$175
March +$72
April +$400

So, April has seen me hopefully turn the corner but $100 a month for around 7 hours per week is a bit puny.

I had a bizarre O8 session yesterday after crashing out of 2 SNGs on the bubble I sat in a $3/$6 game with $200. 9 hands later I had seen 9 flops! won 7 hands scooped 5 of them 3/4rd 1 and chopped 1 and had $420 in front of me. I then lost a pot to a gutshot with the low and trips and left soon after +$185 which accounts for much of my +$400 for 2006.

I am bankrolled for 5/10 but I seem stuck in a 2/4 3/6 mindset.

The plan for May is more SNGs. If derek (OldKingCole) can mash up the $30 turbo PLO8s I must have a chance :-)

WSOP Freeroll on Virgin Poker

2006-04-28T15:00:00.000+01:00

http://www.virgingames.com/banners/poker/affiliate/VirginPoker_468x60.gif

Sign up for a chance to win a WSOP package by clicking the link

100 Not Out

2006-04-17T12:51:00.000+01:00

I discovered a new "when not to play online" on Friday, add to "when drunk. tired, overly upset etc" the "when you've spent 4 hours setting up your DVD recorder to copy your Live 8 video and then delete the finished item in error". Managed to tilt off 30 big bets on Interpoker undoing my good work in building up a + 47 big bet run 3 tabling over the previous 5 days. Variance sucks :-(

I have adopted a new position since returning from Las Vegas. No internet poker at weekends, mostly so I get DVDs copied, forums and books read and telly caught up with, though I've cut down on taping to the minimum now. Can't see me ever ditching the Telly ala Andy Ward though.

I broke that rule last night playing the 7000+ runner Poker Million freeroll on Laddies. 143rd was bloody frustrating just glad it didn't involve money.

You know when you go allin with KK your foe turns over A2 and you can feel the Ace is going to river? Well I get that feeling before today's footy. Forest are on an incredible run and could be in the play off places for the first time this season by tonight. I fear we will lose a game sooner or later 8 unbeaten while every other team above us is choking means we are 2 points behind with 4 left. Fingers crossed we can beat Yeovil today.

99 red balloons?

2006-04-15T13:15:00.001+01:00

This is the 99th post in my blog. At long last the Vegas trip....

Myself and Old King Cole (OKC) had decided to book a hotel near Gatwick for the use of their free car park, unfortunately the idea of leaving redsimon towers at 5 pm developed into a 11 pm start and 4 am arrival at said hotel. Hence we were completely shattered arriving in rainy old Vegas at 3 pm local time. After a few hiccups getting the hire car (which was massive, a boo boo on the booking front I guess) we arrived at a smoky and bad tempered Gold Spike check in to find the rooms not yet ready and a staffing crisis there. After the best part of an hour we got our rooms (I got the shitty smoking floor one, OKC landed on his feet again with a newly redecorated non smoking). I did a quick and much needed dialysis and we had a late supper at the Plaza. A strange decision of the chef was to include a choccy muffin with our steak and eggs and a side garnish of strawberries. I decided to trust my guts and not mix steak with chocolates and strawberries.

First poker was the following day. I'd heard good things about MGM so off we popped. I recognised a few faces from the Orleans in the cardroom staff and we signed up for the 11 am $65 NLHE tourney. This was full so we were alternates 18 and 19. 6 tables ran and we both got in during the hour as it was a freezeout. 1200 chips and quickly escalating blinds. I got to the break with 700 and the next level was 200/400, time to get busy! I got it allin twice vs same guy first with AQ vs AJ then 66 vs A6 and both stood up. Then I called a serial pusher with Kd9d in my bb after flop came 8 high with two diamonds. He'd limped with 55 and I spiked 9 on river. It was a very fast structure with doubling blinds every twenty minutes. I saw a bizarre laydown. Flop 456 all spades. Matey boy bets 1200 leaving 2000 behind, foe reraises 2000 and matey boy proudly flips over 66 and says I can't call. Foe laughs and shows red kings. With the blind structure there I don't think I could lay down top set even on a monochrome board but heh ho. Mr Laydown of course got nowhere near the final.

I was moved table when we got down to 20 left and straight into OKC's old seat. I then went on a rush and got to the final with 15000 out of 102000 in play. The blinds though were 1500/3000 soon to go to 3000/6000. They only paid out 6 spots and only one player was really short so we chopped for $425 each which suited the house as they got 10 tips for the dealer not 6.

So a good start.

The form continued with a 5th spot at the Golden Nugget for $410 .

My big downfall was cash games. The only one I won in at the Orleans was a bizarre one orbit after I'd waited for 3 hours for a seat OKC finally reappeared from one of his many trips to try and get his laptop connected to the internet and I had to leave.

The Rio cash game was the real disaster. $4/$8 limit Hold 'em and I actually went 2 and 1/2 hours before I dragged a pot. The average pot had 8 callers and a classic hand I had AA on the button. By the time it arrived at my action it was 4 bets so I capped and got the obligatory 6 callers. Flop J95 two hearts I have AhAd. I bet after its checked and bb raises, one cold caller and I call. 3 of us left in Turn 8 spades. bb bets out cold caller calls I raise bb three bets cold caller cold calls again and I call with a sinking feeling (Has bb got QT??). River is T spades so board is J958T. I feel like hurling my breakfast as bb bets and CC man cold calls. I call and throw down AA and say nice river, bb turns over 79o and CC 77. Sick stuff but I got some of it back with KT in the blind later with a KT2 flop K turn J river vs Mr Cold call with AQ. He decided to rerereraise river with his straight and almost choked on his drink when I flipped KT!

The final day found us at Caesar's Palace which defintely had the best structure. $80 + $50 rebuy for 4500 chips 25/50 blinds and 40 minute levels. I never saw a pocket pair until 13 left in but had some good fortune with J2 in the sb. 6 limp so i limp and flop comes 222. Holy cow! I check in the hope someone has a pair and will bet. They all check, drat... Turn is Q they all check. River K and I bet 2 x blind and get one caller, typical!

My first pocket pair was the best AA and I was in blinds and button got leery with 85 suited. After that double up I got one more pot with quad 5's and was 6/10 on final. I had a mini rush on final and got to 5 handed where a deal was suggested $1200 each. One guy refused and I busted him a few hands later. Suddenly we were 3 handed and I was chip leader $688 third, $1200 ish 2nd and $2400+ first. I then got AJ in bb sb goes allin for 24000 more and I have 120000+ so call. He has QJ and of course first card out is Q. I miss my 3 outs and am now on 99000 chips. I post the 2000 sb and look down to see AJ again. Allin. bb calls instantly and turns over A8...of course first card out is 8 and miss my 3 outs :-)

So $688, less 30% bloody tax. Knew I should've sorted out ITIN but all casino's I'd cashed in paid chips before. Caesar's were a bit more sticklers for rules. Getting the tax back is a real pain in the arse so if you go to Vegas get your ITIN sorted.

All in all the trip was good. Won money, had a good time and my dialysis wasn't disrupted too much. The plan is to go back during WSOP though I may go to Paris in July for WPT festival instead.

Meanwhile its back to the internet poker and hopefully I can get back into profit. A measley +$210 for 2006 online is not good for the soul

Vegas...the results

2006-04-06T20:38:00.000+01:00

Trip report to follow when I can get my notes together.

Tournies:

MGM $65 NLHE Chopped 10 way (!) $425
Plaza $98 NLHE rebuy 11th $0
Orleans $75 LO8 37th $0
Gold Nugget $100 NLHE rebuy 5th $410
Sahara $62 NLHE rebuy 80ish $0
Rio $80 NLHE rebuy 38th $0
Orleans $85 LO8 70ish $0
Plaza $68 LO8 9th (4 pay) $0
Stratosphere $50 NLHE rebuy 30ish $0
Binions $110 NLHE rebuy 90ish $0
Caesars Palace $150 NLHE rebuy 3rd $688
Plaza $98 NLHE rebuy 4th $210

Totals:

Buy ins $1041
Cashes $1733
Profit +$692

Cash Games:

MGM $3/$6 LHE -$54
Orleans $4/$8 LO8 +$25
Rio $4/$8 LHE -$330
Stratosphere $2/$4 LHE -$2

Totals:

Loss -$359

Big loss came at Rio waiting for OldKingCole to finish in the tourney I busted out of. Went 2.5 hours in that game before I won a pot :-(

So close I can taste it

2006-03-16T19:23:00.000Z

Vegas is so close now I can hardly sleep with anticipation.

This will be my 4th visit, but the first time I have flown direct and my first foreign trip while dialysising (if thats a word!).

Its been nearly two years since I last hit Vegas, WSOP 2004 to be precise. A lot has changed with the poker boom in full swing I am salivating at trying out the new poker rooms, plus I am committing myself to do some "touristy" things for once.

Myself and "OldKingCole" are staying downtown but most of our poker will be on strip and at the Orleans. I think for cash it will mostly be Limit O8 and a few NLHE freezouts or limited rebuy events.

I am just hoping my online lack of form is a temporary blip. After a good January I have slipped back in Feb and March and currently am a incredible +$78 for 2006. I've not played much since a dramatic 50 big bets loss on UB at O8, but tiredness and being busy is the main cause of that.

I hopefully will have plenty to report when I get back in April

Happy Days

2006-02-18T14:43:00.000Z

On many fronts

1. Megson finally resigns as Forest boss. Pity it took him until he had dragged us close to relegation to the old Fourth Division.

2. Finished January ahead online to the tune of $320. Not played live yet.

3. Went into hospital for tests to go on a different form of CAPD dialysis called APD. The difference is I get hooked up to a machine and the dialysis is done while I sleep so it gives me a bit more freedom. I was told the waiting list for machines was up to a year. Well, I got one last week and will start using it up next week after two days of training. Its quite a sophisticated piece of kit, links up to the hospital by modem and is about the size of 3 VCRs stuck together.

4. Vegas is getting closer. I am even starting to look up the tourney schedules in Cardplayer to work out how quikly to spunk my money away.

5. Even the job is going well. I'm out of my training course and working on real cases. 11 years in the Inland Revenue seems just a bad memory now.

I might even be more proficient in updating my blog :-)

Bonus Whoring the lazy way

2006-01-16T19:01:00.000Z

Well my good run ended last night, -$100 over 380 hands at 2/4 Limit O8 with a bit of 3/6 towards the end. Luckily I cleared an old bonus for $120 during the run so I continue to be ahead.

I seem to have accumulated a whole bunch of uncleared bonus:

$510 at PokerStars
$430 at Paradise
$100 at Bodog
and a sick
$3469 at Ultimate Bet.

Time to get busy I guess :-)

Tempting Fate

2006-01-14T11:48:00.000Z

By posting how well I'm running I am probably risking it all going tits up...

Since 1st January I have been playing mostly full ring Limit Omaha Hi/Lo $2/$4 (Only played 1 SNG a quick session of Badugi and a $1?!?! tourny). I have mostly been playing between 7pm and 9pm UK time but not necessarily every day or for the full two hours. Racked up a, credible for me, +$268. The worst I have run is -$30 in the first 20 hands on a table but generally I have left ahead. The games on the site I have played at have generally been juicy, though I noticed theres less action the last 3 days with more 6 handed being run a format I'm not too great at but even there I've been paid off on so many hands its unreal.

Of course this run will stop but as I've avoided the temptation to play PLO8 a drought will cost me a few big bets not a few stacks. I think I've also been more disciplined and folding more marginal flopped hands (unlike my foes!).

Also work has been taking up more time so I have not been keen to play loads of tournys as I don't think I have the stamina. I also don't feel like grinding out the SNGs at the moment so I've changed my new year resolution (well they are meant to be broken).

My next post will probably be "ouch lost the lot!" :-)

Football Stuff

2006-01-08T17:23:00.000Z

My ante post bets are looking a bit sick.

Granted Leeds are 3rd so in the "place" spot for my Championship bet and Oldham are 4 points off 3rd in League One, but Ipswich Gillingham (?!?) Barnet and Lincoln look stuffed.

Yesterday was the FA Cup 3rd Round and for the first time since before I was born Forest did not feature. Shows how far we have fallen.

How the game has changed has been seen in that all the Premiership teams were drawn against lower league opposition and only Fulham (A fucking joke to be in the Premiership IMHO) have been ousted, though as I write Nigel Clough's Burton are giving Man Yoo a good run for their money.

Work wise I start my new job on Monday. 8 weeks of training, one week of work then its Vegas baby Vegas :)

Vegas Baby Vegas

2005-12-21T19:11:00.000Z

Took the plunge and booked 9 nights in Vegas for 21st-30th March 2006. Relative luxury of a direct flight and a downtown hotel for my suitcases. Getting travel insurance was stupidly easy despite my medical condition and was cheaper than my previous annual policy. How sick is that!?

I've reached the end of the year online (Year actually ended mid November), with a final +$1200 for the year. Considering how little I played I'm pleased with any profit. My SNG stats are poor but my MTTs and cash game/bonus whoring kept me out of the red.

A few days with my relatives then back onto the online poker rollercoaster on January 2nd.

My targets for 2006?

To get through the year without falling ill

To get my SNG game back on track

To win a $100 or higher buy in comp online

To play a few more £300 or higher live tournies and cash in them

To win a seat in a big event i.e WSOP/WPT Aruba or PCA etc

Have a good Xmas and a great 2006

The On Off Holiday

2005-12-02T17:35:00.000Z

After I started dialysis I decided to look into booking a trip to the USA. I have to give the hospital notice to deliver my supplies. A trip to the LA Poker Classic looked likely, mid January 2006.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I just heard I have been promoted in my job and start a 6 week training course in January.

Holiday on ice now, possibly a trip to Las Vegas in March hopefully in time for the WPT final (as a spectator not a player, $25K a bit pricy!).

More poker in my next post, 2005 updated and 2006 goals

About Bloody Time!

2005-11-16T13:00:00.000Z

Finally, 8 months after the diagnosis and 4 and 1/2 months after I was supposed to I finally started dialysis today. It didn't start smoothly as I had a blockage in my tube, but it was soon fixed. No leaks so far so hopefully I am back on the road to recovery (of sorts)....

How to misplay Kings

2005-11-03T11:00:00.000Z

I'm in seat 4, £1/£1 blinds NLHE.

Seat 6 has made it "£8 blind" pre deal so there are £1 +£1 blinds £2 straddle and £4 straddle in the pot as well.
The action goes:
Seat 7 Limp call £7 (£1 blind) He has £300 behind and is a loose aggressive but good player
Seat 8 Limp call £6 (£2 blind) He has £35 behind and is a total fish
Seat 1 Limp call £8 He has £150 behind and is even tighter than me
Seat 2 Limp call £8 He has £25 behind Fish #2
Seat 3 Limp call £8 He has £80 behind So fishy he has gills
Me Seat 4 I have £190 and look down to see Kc Ks
Seat 5 still to act has around £50 and made it £4 blind
Seat 6 still to act and has £200 and is quite good and can make big laydowns.
Pot size now £60 before I bet. How much do you bet?

I bet £18, which was "weak" but read as strong by the astute players, the fish of course called as they had two cards in their hand.

Flop came 567 two spades. The rest of the money goes in £22 and £12 for the two fishes. Surprisingly Fish #2 had AsKd and Fish #1 had Jh9d. 5 spades turn but killer 8 hearts river so mr J9 hits his straight. I was still £50 ahead after this hand but cashed out as I felt I might tilt the rest off. By time I got back to the room Fishy Mr J9 had lost all those chips to the guy who took my seat. Now thats a bad beat! :)

No gain no pain

2005-10-25T08:03:00.000+01:00

Or is it the other way round? The hospital visit went relatively smoothly if you consider the following. When I got there I had no bed, literally a corner of a room with a chair. A bed was wheeled eventually closely followed by a important looking fella demanding to know"where I got the bed from". The bed fairy was my first answer. Anyway I bluffed him by saying I'm not getting off this bed at any cost and he folded in a huff. I then had the worst nights sleep (or lack of) for a few months. Not just because I was worried and nil by mouth made me desperate for a drink (I normally quaff a pint of water between sleep and getting up) but because of one patient who was shouting "nurse" every 30 seconds from 11pm until I left on Wednesday afternoon. Nothing wrong with her apart from a need to be waited on hand and foot!

The operation went smoothly and they let me go home in the afternoon. The pain is quite intense though, despite the painkillers and I'm off work until 7th November. Time to get some online poker in.

Got onto Blue Square and set up my account. Surprised to find I had £22 in my BSq sportsbook account so started on the micro blind PLO8.

Apart from that I played the PokerStars blogger tourny and managed to call off all my hard earned chips with AK on a board of JJ7A vs a foe with 77. Oops! That after recovering from 300 chips in level 2 up to 6000 just after the break.

A Load Of Balls

2005-10-16T08:40:00.000+01:00

...not the football, a nice 2-0 win over Hartlepool (the glamour of football in League 1). But a rather surreal experience as up until yesterday Forest had a system of ball boys and multi balls so play was kept flowing. Amazingly the manager of Tranmere complained about this so now theres one ball no ball boys and the poor overpaid sods (players) have to go and fetch the ball. Took about 5 minutes off the game. Progress I guess.

It was an odd day as well, 20 degrees Cent before KO and a quick change to fog/mist meant it was about 6 degrees by full time. Global warming and the ice age in one afternoon.

Health wise unless they cancel again, Wednesday is operation day and dialysis will start mid November. Seeing as I was supposed to start in July and am still walking around semi normally in October I wonder whether the quacks panicked back in June. We shall see.

Mini Break

2005-10-06T09:52:00.000+01:00

Only played 20 minutes of poker since getting back from Walsall. 10 days now and I don't really miss it. Was a bit fluey after Walsall and just can't be arsed to log on to 'Stars or Party at the moment. Been keeping updated on the forums and blogs but hopefully I will be back to the game after the op. This has now been rearranged for 19th October after being cancelled last time. Fingers crossed they won't cancel again.

Whilst the op won't immediately change much it will bring dialysis closer and hopefully I will be fitter than I am!

In the meantime I am reading (just got a few new books, Harrington vols 1 & 2, Ace on the River, Suicide king, Moneymakers biog), so that will feed my addiction :-)

PokerStars Freeroll

2005-09-30T08:27:00.000+01:00

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 9787069

Crazy Weekend part two

2005-09-28T14:58:00.000+01:00

After my second late night I got up late had breakfast and then back to sleep whilst OldKingcole went off to an antiques fair. Got back to the casino at 3.45 to find the 4pm £10 was starting at 4.30 so missed the chance for more sleep :-)

Dealt the table I was on again and only won one pot in the rebuy period. Moved to a new table and busted in my first hand! Got back to the hotel via the M6 due to Cole missing the exit turn, teach me to be giving him a bad beat story, distracted him.

Ate dinner and straight back for the final tourny a £25 PLHE one with a £6000 guaranteed pool. Dealers provided which meant my tiredness was more pronounced as I had less to concentrate on. 69 players meaning one table was away from the main card room. This had a negative effect as the rebuys had to literally shouted for and I managed to run TPTK into trips twice. I rebought 3 times and decided £100 plus reg was enough. Dwindled to 1200 and moved tables. Got K4 in blind on new table. Flop K83 rainbow. sb goes pot I reraise and he calls with 82! King on turn and I double up. Rebuys end and I am on 2100 out of 200000 in play. Guarantee isn't breached. I get up to 4000 with a few steals (uncalled) and move table. My new table has loads of chips on it and I soon get a nice pot with 55. I limp late position as "The Mad Turk" limps UTG. Flop A57 "Mad Turk" bets 1500 I raise to 3000 and he goes all in. I call and he shows A8 7 turn blank river and I'm back in the game. I get QQ and reraise a button raise and he lays down AT. I eventually get up to 25000, but then go really card dead and by the time we get to the final I have 5800 with 1600/800 blinds.

3rd final table hand I get AA. UTG bets pot (5600) I reraise to 5800 allin. He calls with KJ Flop QT2...I'm praying not to make trips :-) and two blanks get me up above 13000. In the bb antes 1000/2000 I get KK. SB limps I bet 4000 He reraises me . I go allin and he calls flipping over QQ. Flop comes 234 turn 5....2 on river..phew. This puts me up to 30000 and players are steadily dropping. 5th pays £240, 4th £450 3rd £800+ 2nd £1100+ £2400 first. I am on 16500 and get TT on the button. I bet 11500 (pot) and bb is allin for 5500 more I call my last 5500 and he flips over AK. Flop TJ2 he misses his Queen outs and I am on 34500. The chip leader has around 90000 2nd has 60000 3rd 50000+ and I trail with 34.5K. The chip leader proposes a deal and after some huffing and puffing I accept £750 which is a bit more than my equity. Connsidering the blinds were now 4000/2000 and I had two greeks among my foes I was glad to bank a pay day. After tips and % swaps this left me up a nice sum for the weekend.

Overall I would give Walsall 7/10. The negatives were small things like ineffective non-smoking rules, some poor dealers, starting times being a bit sloppy. Plus two times in satellites we came back to find chips had been stolen from stacks. On the plus side the structure in the main event was good. Food and drink OK and not many twats in the poker room. Generally a good atmosphere.

Crazy weekend

2005-09-27T08:19:00.000+01:00

The big weekend at Walsall was certainly a rollercoaster ride. We (myself and OldKingCole) eventually found our Hotel the appropriately named "Village" at Junction 10 and after a shower shave and a short sleep ponied up to the Grosvenor Casino for the £5 super satellite. 149 brave souls turned up for a bingo session :-)

I eventually won a hand after 5 rebuys and built my stack up to 8000 at the break. The crazy play continued after the break and tables were breaking fast. We were on table 11 which was unfortunately next to another table which had "table 11" above it but was table 10. We played with 7 players for 2 levels as everytime a player was sent to "table 11" they went to the other one. We also were not told blinds had gone up and were still on 100/200 while everyone else was on 300/600. I had built my stack up to 20000, after getting K2 in the blind seeing a flop of 225 and two guys getting frisky with A3 each. they missed and next hand I get KK and flop K24 and get another 6000 chips. Table then broke and I gradually dwindled to 8000. Antes 600/1200. I get 10 9 suited and on a checked board of AQ8Q I bluffed into a guy with A9 and that was the end of me. I was dealing and carried on to the bitter end. There were 10 seats 600000 chips in play so with 12 left average stack was 50000. The blinds were 4000/8000 so not much room to play other than allin.

Because I went so deep in the supersat I missed the Speed Poker, so only played 5 tournies during the weekend.

Saturday saw a day out doing some business in Shrewsbury a quick nap and the 4 pm £10 supersat. I dealt this from the start and whilst not having a rebuy I didn't win a single pot during the 60 minutes rebuys. I had 2100 at the start of the freezeout and 7 seats up for grabs. I then went on a rush and won a few pots to get me up to 10000 then lost a couple and moved to a new table. Found 88 raised 1/2 my stack and ran into AA in the blind.

Bought in to the £325 main event and went back to the hotel for a nap.

I had a tough starting table with Malcolm Muskett and Jo Handman from Blondepoker.com and a couple of loose aggressive players. It seemed a bit of a rock garden to start with so I made a few "at-it" moves including a raise with 75 off suit, flop 444 I bet 400 :-) a oldish geezer puts it up to 1000 and I go allin. He passed very quickly. When I did get an hand it seemed to induce a call and a horrible flop. Example I am now on 6000 fro a 3500 start and get TT I raise to 600 and bb calls. Flop is KQ5 I check fold to a 2000 bet.

After the double chance period ends I have 7800 from a total of 7000 to start with. I move up to 12000 then get TT again. One caller and Flop AJx. I bet 2000 and he dwells and calls. I then check K on turn and he checks a low card on river. I decide I can ony get called by a better hand with the 6000 I have left and show TT. He shows J9 off and says I would pass if you bet again. (After calling 2000 I think maybe he was trying to tilt me). Moved tables soon after and got into rut of missed flops and was soon down to the felt. Got 68 suited in the sbb and put my last 1200 in. Flop 86x and I am up to 5600. I then have a huge dose of bad luck. I bet preflop in sb with A5 bb calls. Flop 444. Checked. Turn Q. Checked. River Q. I check he bets 2500. I thought for 5 minutes and called "playing the board". He of course turns over Q4 for the flopped nuts. Play is due to end at 3 am and at 2.45 I have 3600 with 400/800 blinds. I am on button +1 with A6. I go allin and after a long think bb calls with KT. BB hits a flush on the river and thats the end of me.

Back to the hotel for 3 am and a long restless night trying to sleep. Two more Tournies to go. Will I end my dry spell?

Big Poker Weekend

2005-09-22T15:28:00.000+01:00

A big weekend coming up. Going to Walsall from Friday through to Monday morning. Itinery is:

Friday 9pm £5 (!!) rebuy satellite
Saturday2 am £20 Speed Poker freezeout

Saturday 3pm £10 Super satellite
Saturday 9pm £300 NLHE Freezeout

Sunday 4pm £10 PLHE
Sunday 9pm £25 PLHE with £6000 guaranteed pool.

Hopefully I will be in action on Sunday. Worse case scenario is I play 6 competitions. Almost a mini festival :-)

I will need the time off work to recover I think. With the dialysis delayed this might be my last trip in 2005.

Double Whammy

2005-09-20T09:35:00.000+01:00

Well I was booked in to go to hospital today so I palmed off my Forest ticket for tonight's game. Typical of my luck I rang the hospital this morning to find they "have no spare beds" and the op is off. So unless I want to shell out £20+ its a night in in front of the telly (Or online card room). My alternative is the £10 early start tourny locally but my chest condition won't get better if I'm in that smoky place all night.

So it looks like Walsall at the weekend (cardroom non-smoking!) for their £300 freezeout and back on the NHS wait list.

The only bright moment of the day is I'm definitely on the transplant waiting list now (average wait 3 years) so something to look forward to.

Lazy Days

2005-09-14T03:56:00.000+01:00

Neglected my updates so in reverse order this is whats been going on:

Last night I tried my first WCOOP money satellite. A disappointing 54th in Omaha Hi LO $31 down the drain. The odd thing about these is the buy in is $11 rebuys $10 but apart from the seat ($530) the pool is split into $22 prizes. So there were 6 seats and 18 x $22 prizes. Daft thing is most players will be in for $21 or $31 (more if you really suck) so why not change the prize structure to say $60 chunks. I liked the "old" method, managed to once finish 2nd in a $1050 WCOOP sat for $1040 in cash :-). 3rd got eff all.

My second tourny last night was one of those "bit of a waste" one. A EPT freeroll organised by talkSPORT. Only the top 2 went through to a final on Saturday lunch time. So even if I won a seat I'm watching Forest that day so wouldn't be able to play. Somehow ended up 9th. My best hands were flopping a set of 3s on a Jack high board and my foe with QQ called my allin reraise, having AK in the bb and the sb moving allin with A2!

My exit was a case of bad calls and my trying to keep the foe in backfiring. I have AA utg and bet 6000 (blinds 2000/1000 100 ante). UTG+1 calls all others pass. 15900 in pot. Flop QTJ two clubs. I bet 6000 and get insta called. Bet out on blank turn leaving me with 2825. Called again. 8 on river yuk. I bet and he reraises my last few chips. I have a sinking feeling and call to see his A9o take down the pot. So I'm out 9th. I don't think I could've played this pot any differently apart from maybe betting more preflop. But ultimately I want A9o to make a loose call here!

The week before I cashed high in the Hendon Mob Forum tourny 3rd spot for $228. Got to love added money :-) Nothing much remarkable about this tourny apart from the number of hands I passed where I'd normally lump it in. Obviously patience plays. I wasn't even going to play this but I'd overslept too late to go the Gala early evening £10 NLHE jobbie. Obviously some clouds have a silver lining.

I lasted 1 hand in the Blondepoker forum event on the same night. QQ utg I raise 4 x bb and late position min reraises. I rereraise and he goes allin. I call to see KK a low board means I'm out 93/93. Probably 99% certain to move in on low raggy flop so can't really be too hacked off.

Only a week until I am back in hospital for the operation. Hopefully I will be limping into the cardroom at walsall on the Friday for their £300 freezeout (well the satellite to be 100% accurate).

Shoot The Dealer?

2005-09-04T10:20:00.000+01:00

Went down to the local cardroom Friday for a £20 rebuy PLHE competition. Only 76 entries (107 the night before) and I drew a table where no one wanted to deal. Every other table had started and all the players on mine looked completely lost at what to do. So I volunteered to deal, swapped seats and got £2 off each of them (that was my first rebuy paid for!).

Started off well, raised with JJ got 2 callers Flop J85, first caller lumps it allin. I call allin and other guy passes. Lumper has QJ 5 on turn 8 on river and all chips to me....sweet!

Had a couple of funny pots. Raised with TT bb is short and lumps in a 200 reraise. I call he has 45 off suit. Flop 456 I say 7 8 coming...turn 7 he starts swearing river 5, cue him pumping his fist and chattering away in Greek. His friend, another excitable Greek then calls my bet allin on a flop of QQT with KJ I have AQ and his only outs are running Kings or a 9. Of course 9 hits, for more loud Greek celebrations. I got to the end of the rebuys without rebuying and with 3100 chips froma 1000 chip start. The table was very loose and i took the add on. the table broke soon after and I eventually got busted with 77 vs 88 Flop QQ4 turn 7...river 8. At least I wasn't dealing that hand!

Saturday saw Forest lose yet again against a very ordinary Brentford who are supposedly the best side in the League. The worst thing about our current plight is the league is so crap yet we are 1 point off the relegation spot. Scary!

Health wise I have been given a date for the ligation op to clear up my "leak". 20th September will see me back in hospital, hopefully I will be fit enough to play the £300 freezeout at Walsall on the 24th September. A nice smoke free cardroom will make a pleasant change.

A Tale of Two Tables

2005-08-28T21:03:00.000+01:00

Played the £325 plus one rebuy competition at my local casino Sunday night. 90 runners and a cool £41000+ in the prize pool. I drew a tough looking table. Names and faces I have seen on Blondepoker.com (RED DOG McReedy, Barry Neville, Big Bob, plus others I've seen around including a couple of total fishes.

Things started quietly for me. I built my 5000 starting chips up to 6000 and then lost a 1000 pot with TT when flop was QQJ passing to a reraise. I then got TT again just at the end of our table (as it was breaking up). Flop JT9 rainbow. I bet 500 and a loose chinese fish reraised 5000 allin. I had 2700 and called. He had J8 and of course the Q hit on the river. Rebought and moved to my new table. I kept to my pre arranged plan to "not show" and built up to 12000. This new table was a complete opposite to my starting one. Lots of weak passive play, cheap flops and checking unless they hit. I stole around 10 pots. The "no show" was messing with one guys head and I got him to call my big bet on the river with top straight with 2 pair because "I had to see what you had"...cheers!

However this was the high point and gradually as the night wore on the tiredness started and I made a few bad plays and one disastrous one. I was certainly feeling the effect of the medication I have been taking to stop me vomiting up everything I eat :-( Basically I lost the plot big style.

I had QQ in UTG +1 and raised the 400 blind to 1500. The button reraised 12000 more allin. He did this earlier with JJ but I felt I was behind and if I lost the pot I'd have 4000 left. This was a classic case of talking myself out of a play which if successful would give me 50% of the tables chips and a big chance to move up to a good position for the rest of the night, accidents notwithstanding.

Definitely a bad pass. Never saw what he had but after that I got a succesion of raggy hands until the exit hand.

I have AK and raise to 2200. The loose guy on my left reraises 5000. I call, probably too loose a call as this was the 1st time he'd popped me. He'd flat called me 3 times before. Flop T46 rainbow. Both check. Turn 8 putting diamond draw up. He bets 1000 into a 15000 pot! Hmm..I should've smelt a rat but I foolishly called. River Ace putting flush out. I bet 3000 and he re-raises me 3400 allin. Foolishly I compound all the errors I had made by calling. Of course he had TT in his hand for Trip Tens and I'm out with a rub down from him as I go...twat :-)

The way I exited shows I still need to maintain my concentration. It was a very slow clock with plenty of chips (I had enough for 20 orbits before the AK hand) so I should've played it better than a £10 rebuy competition. Lesson learnt though and nothing in the way the tourny played suggested I was totally dead money in a £300 competition. Just need to play more and get more experience.

Found my Level

2005-08-24T15:18:00.000+01:00

Played the £10 NLHE rebuy tourney at my local Casino, 2nd time I played it now cashed in both. Last night was 17th/110 entries so only got £30 but a wins a win, especially as my biggest pocket pair was 99 :-)

It was billed as a "newbie" night and boy did it show. One guy on the table seemed clueless to the point of retardness. He continually took 2 minutes over each decision, checking and rechecking his cards. The funniest spot was where he was in the big blind. Two players had gone allin for 950 each. It was allin for him to call. "Check" he says. Pointed out he can call or pass. "I pass" he says and grabs the 50 blind. "No you can't do that". " OK, I call and flips over 43 off suit. Of course QQ and AK in his foes hands see a flop of 256 and the fun starts.... :-)

He pulls the same coup with 43 later hitting a 4 high flush which creams AK and JJ. Then comes the nasty stuff. After a few small bets the board reads KJT5K. Mr 43 checks. His foe, completely drunk, bets allin, Mr 43 has him well covered and as is his style goes into the tank. He looks like hes going to call and drunk guys shouts out "chips please". Mr 43 calls with AQ for top straight, drunk guy has KJ for the stone cold nuts. Nasty angle shoot, which he finds hilarious and brags about for a while.

I never really got going. Had KT in the big blind vs Drunk guy. Flop KT2 I check raise allin. He calls with AJ and Q pops up on river.

I float around the 2000-3000 mark and by the 400/800 levl we have lost 80+ players. I get AJ move in vs AQ and A9 Board flops 789 and a lovely T on river propels me to 5000 ish. Suddenly we are in the money and with blinds 800/1600 I have 4300 UTG and see 44. Lump it in and drunk guy eventually calls with AJ (by this time he was close to being in a coma). Flop incuded Jack and I missed my 2 outs.

Luckily with it being an early start I am back home for 11.30 pm.

Plugging Leaks

2005-08-19T14:52:00.000+01:00

Not in the sense of calling all in with second nuts in PLO :-) but healthwise.

Still not started the dialysis and on Monday I went in for "tests" basically being pumped full of liquid and being X-Rayed. The outcome of this is there is a hole causing the leak from my perotenial cavaity. The good news is that it isn't an hernia. The bad is it is a genetic fault which will still require an operation to rectify. Generally this fault afflicts a tiny % of men, and only becones apparent when you need to fill the perotenial cavaity with fluid. So it's a bit like flopping Quads and losing to a runner runner straight flush. Shit happens...

Taking Risks

2005-08-12T16:31:00.000+01:00

Or rather not taking them............?

I had a punt a few weeks ago on Betfair on the "Ashes" series ending in a draw at 6/1. Only £20. Last night the price had dropped to 4.9/1 so I layed off and now whoever wins the series (or if its a draw), I am guaranteed £12 profit (60% return)...not massive I know. I am probably not made for this gambling lark, the safety of banking a small profit versus letting it ride for £140 gain with the prospect of losing the whole £20?

Also had one of those strange limit O8 sessions today. After 100 hands of $3/$6 limit I was up 30 big bets. Left table up $144 (24 bbs) for a good day, only marred by a continuation of my SNG cold run.

Bits and Bobs

2005-08-12T08:40:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday at Cheesey (and later Luton) was a bit of a damp squib. Finished 11th in Cheesey's play off and spilled £120 in the £20 Luton tourney. Old King Cole managed to get to the final so I did hang around for several hours on the rail (a bit like real life reflecting online).

A nice meal in Luton but earlier I picked up a cold off one of the Cheeseyites.

Spent the whole week off work so played a little on PokerStars. A few SNGs (2/7/8) and PLO $100 buy in (went $50 down left -$9 when table got 3 handed).

Health wise apart from the cold the Kidney situation seems to have flat lined as my blood tests are static. I am back in hospital Monday for an X ray to see why my CAPD is leaking. Worst case scenario is that I have to go back in for an operation.

Forest are there usual inconsistent self. Won 2-1 Saturday then lost 3-2 Tuesday to Walsall. Walsall are definitely a jinx on us and I wasn't surprised to see them get a dodgy penalty and our new keeper red carded.

I am looking forward to the cardroom's two day event on bank holiday weekend. Hopefully I can spin up a super sat entry or cash in one of the £20 comps before then....watch this space

Some Football stuff

2005-08-06T05:01:00.000+01:00

Well its the start of the reds "glorious campaign" in League 1 (Division 3 to us old gits). Amazingly I will be missing the first game at home to Huddersfield as I am in the Cheeseypoker play off. I put enough of my dead money into the Cheesey league this last year so I might as well have one last punt on getting a freeroll into an event at Luton for the UK Open next week :-)

I have had a few £10 EW bets on the leagues. (Ever the high roller!). So you can rip the piss over the next 9 months these are revealed:

Championship: Ipswich (18/1) Leeds Utd (10/1)
League 1: Oldham (16/1) Gillingham (12/1)
League 2 : Lincoln (16/1) Barnet (20/1)

All on Totesport as I seem to have great difficulty getting money onto Hills etc (I gave up after hour of trying to register my Switch card!).

I certainly haven't backed Forest. 4/1 to win over 46 games looks bad to me and Megson still hasn't got the squad he needs IMHO.

Not a Lot Going On

2005-08-01T13:20:00.000+01:00

My cumulative stats for 2005 do not show much change over previous months apart from a dip in live cash after a disastrous session last month. (Mainly a big pot (£600) with nut straight and a redraw to nut flush managed to get a guy allin on the turn with him drawing to the non nut flush and needing a Jack to beat my straight, you can guess the rest!)

Live Tournies:

12 played
3 cashes
£1375 in buy ins
£2570 in cashes

£1195 profit

Live Cash

8 sessions

£1365 in sit ins
£1279 cash outs
£86 loss

Online

MTTs
25 Played
5 Cashed
$271.50 buy ins
$588.17 cashed
$316.67 Profit

STTs
54 Played
15 Cashed
$525.75 buy ins
$260.50 Cashed
$265.25 loss

Overall online $1226 profit (cash games, bonuses etc).

I seem to be disproving the theory that STTs are lower variance than MTTs. Though of course my sample size is definitely less than most play in a week!

August will probably see me trying to spin up some satellites on PokerStars for their WCOOP

Early Night Poker

2005-07-20T10:55:00.000+01:00

Trundled off down to my local cardroom's first £10 NLHE "Rookie" night. 69 runners with a cap of 4 buy ins. 1000 chips per buy in. My first table was mostly newbies. An example of the standard. Newbie, first pot bets 50 with 50 (blinds 25/50). Passed on flop. Next hand he lumps 900 all in preflop and wins...err the blinds!

I get AA on the button 3rd hand and get two guys allin preflop. one has QQ the other KJ(!!?) and Ace on flop and paired up turn gets me up to 3000. I stagger around 3000-4000 during the rebuys until I get the dreaded AK suited in the bb. 4 limp so I bet 400. Unfortunately the previously mentioned newbie calls without blinking. Everyone else passes. Flop J69 rainbow. Newbie has 500 left. I bet 500. He calls straightaway. I say "You must be ahead" and he turns over 85 off suit. Before the dealer says "85 or 7 needed" up pops the 7 on the turn! King on river is irrelevant. Oh well we live and learn!

I got to end of rebuys with 2200 so added on. 3200 when the freezeout started and I had err...3300 when the final started. Blind 800/1600 and I lasted until 9th.

A good night though and getting busted at midnight meant I still had time to have my usual 2 hours of fitfull sleep.

(Lack of rain) stops play

2005-07-17T08:16:00.000+01:00

Not played much poker this month. A combination of factors, too hot, back to work and still waiting to start dialysis so I am still ultra tired most days.

Work have been kind enough to let me work part time while still paying me full time wages, if only for two weeks. I am due to restart dialysis on 25th July and I am hoping that it will run more smoothly than last time. One good thing I found from the company delivering my dialysis materials is that they have branches all over the world, especially the USA. This will make travel a lot easier.

Got a payment off my Health Insurance policy so my finances are in good shape, though I will not be rushing to spunk it away on poker!

Once I can get back into the mood for poker it will be back to the Sit N Goes. Until then its a watching brief.

I might be tempted by the £10 NLHE at my local casino as it has a 7.30pm start which will enable me to get back in time for work the next day!

A riddle for you...

2005-07-09T16:11:00.000+01:00

When is $150 not $150? When you win it in a VCPoker Freeroll.

I played the $500 added PLO8 2000 APs freeroll today and somehow managed to fluke a win!

I had left $0.00 in VCPoker and last withdrew back in February, when the exchange rate was $1.88 to £1. Now its $1.77 to £1. So in there infinite wisdom, according to VC online support my $150 is only really $141.46!

It seems I will stay on a $1.88 Xchange rate until "I take money to a table", well this was easy to do I sat in the smallest limit and left. Hopefully this will satisfy their bizarre rules.

The win (even $141) was useful as I was down for July, now I'm up a measly $60 but a wins a win!

Mr Big Balls

2005-07-07T13:20:00.000+01:00

Started my dialysis today. What happens is I have had a cathetar fitted in my abdomen and I release fluid (a sort of glucose solution) into my perotenial cavaity. Every 4 or so hours I drain off the fluid and repeat the process. It can be dodgy as if you don't maintain a sterile area you can pick up all sorts of nasty infections.

Anyway the "training" was today. It went well and I was released from hospital at lunch time. I was feeling a bit sore when I got home but I got the shock of my life when I went for a piss. My scrotum was now the size of a cricket ball!

Some drastic googling and I found that this is often a problem with new cathetars and I rang my nurse up. After being reassured I drained off the fluid and am now having to wait another two weeks to start dialysis. Meanwhile I am walking around like John Wayne. :)

Recovery Position

2005-07-01T04:47:00.000+01:00

Managed to scrape back some of my losses. Ended the month minus $69 online, from a gain of $350 to -$250 so I am definitely swinging around. Most of the recovery was in $100 buy in PLO. I still continue to suck in SNGs.

I spent most of Wednesday night doing what I do best, sweating two players in PartyPoker's "Latenightpokerace" semi final. Both jbsc7769 (Simon C) and Awesome Ali (Ali!) got through to the televised stage. (In)famy awaits them. It should be screened on Channel 4 in August. Good luck guys!

I was so bored yesterday I even ventured down to my local cardroom. It was a £20 rebuy PLHE affair and I tripled up early with 54 suited when the flop came 554 and I got action. I dwindled down to 1500 due to a pretty crap run of cards, no pairs abouve 5's no AK no AQ not even the dreaded AJ! I then get AK utg. I pot it and big blind has a monster stack and reraises I go allin and he has QQ. I don't catch and rebuy. this was in the "last 3 hands" stage and I ended up having 2 more and a top up in the next 3 hands!

I finished about 50th. Cash game £50 dealers choice saw me go from -£100 to +£150 then I lost two pots in a row, both where board paired up and I knew my nuts flush was dead so passed (correctly as matey boy had hit his 4 outer). This left me +£2 and it was getting to the stage where I was tired and the big losers were posting live straddles and going all in blind to try and get even. Not my idea of fun!

Interestingly, after all the fuss about the "atmosphere" there the cardroom actually banned an abusive player. The player was a right prat, drunk and nasty, funnily enough he was chipped up on the final table when he got banned so he was anted out!

Health wise I am feeling a bit better and I am hoping to be fit to go back to work on the 11th. I will continue with my efforts in PLO, though possibly not on PokerStars!

Monthly stats Online -$69
Live cash +£2
Live Tourny -£100

Running Bad (2)

2005-06-28T15:42:00.000+01:00

PLO Trny My two foes had had a lot of rebuys, 2nd hand after rebuys ended:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to redsimon [Ah Ac 7s 4c]
EILAND: folds
thaitiger: calls 150
BeltBuster: folds
martin69: calls 150
redsimon: raises 675 to 825
stokie: folds
Jayrule: folds
WakeHeel: folds
dirtyfox: folds
thaitiger: calls
675martin69: calls 675
*** FLOP *** [Qc Jh 6c]
thaitiger: checks
martin69: checks
redsimon: bets 1450 and is all-in
thaitiger: calls 1450
martin69: calls 1450
*** TURN *** [Qc Jh 6c] [5c] Yum!
thaitiger: checks
martin69: checks
*** RIVER *** [Qc Jh 6c 5c] [5d] Oh bugger!
thaitiger: bets 750
martin69: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
thaitiger: shows [Kc Js Th 5h] (a full house, Fives full of Jacks)
redsimon: shows [Ah Ac 7s 4c] (a flush, Ace high)
redsimon said, "lol"
thaitiger collected 7050 from pot

Running Bad

2005-06-28T08:37:00.000+01:00

Seem to have hit a bad run. was plus $350 at one stage this month. Now I am -$200. Disasters yesterday include being 7/36 with 18 places paid in a PLO8 rebuy trny on PokerStars and ending up 24th. I then took $200 onto a LIMIT O8 game and left with $4.50. All in all a bad month.

My SNG stats in a small 50 sample so far in 2005 is ITM (in the money) 26% but running at a loss of $200. Basically too many 3rds (and a lot of 8ths!).

Healthwise things are a bit ropey too. I am responsible for replacing the dressing on my operation wound and that is very tiresome to do. Plus the last two nights I have not got to sleep until 3 or 4 am. Even when I do sleep its for 1 or 2 hour spells.

I was thinking of going to my local cardroom Monday but I don't really want to risk an infection at the moment so it might be next Monday night. Looks like June is adding to my May blip. Maybe it is more long term pokerwise? I might have to just knuckle down at a lower limit or really get into NLHE SNGs again as I have been trying Omaha and faring badly.

Definitely Gone To Pot

2005-06-23T14:40:00.000+01:00

Well just had a $250 down swing in the $100 game. I should have known it was going to be a bad session when this happened on my first big blind:

Dealt to redsimon [Ad Ac 7s Tc] in bb4 limp in for $1
redsimon: raises $5 to $6
greenwave05: folds houdini_msu: folds kekimo: calls $5kingpin182: folds

So heads up:

*** FLOP *** [5h 4d 9s] Not great but lets see what a bet brings
redsimon: bets $11
kekimo: raises $3 to $14 and is all-in (Shit!)
redsimon: calls $3 (Can't pass $3 to win $40, though I suspect its going to be $3 more lost!

*** TURN *** [5h 4d 9s] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [5h 4d 9s 9d] [4s]
*** SHOW DOWN
***redsimon: shows [Ad Ac 7s Tc] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
kekimo: shows [4c 2h 8c 7c] (three of a kind, Fours)
kekimo collected $40.90 from pot

So he calls on flop with 4 and needing a 6 to make a straight...hmm. Unfortunately he busted soon after and left. a hit and runner who busted and ran?!

I lost a big chunk with AA d/suited when turn put a straight and a flush not in my suits, then spilled a chunk with Top two pair vs Top set (!). all in all a drag down to being less than $40 up for June. I will return but will probably try Party PLO for a bit of an easier time.

The stats read 50 hands saw flop 37% 0/8 pots won at showdown and 4 won without showdown (all tiny!).

Almost A New Season

2005-06-23T10:58:00.000+01:00

Football fixtures for 2005/2006 issued today. God the new season starts 6th August and I still haven't got over the last one!

Strange to see we play the FA Cup in November, and our Xmas fixtures (Doncaster and Chesterfield at home, MK Dons! and Colchester away) throw up some interesting conversation pieces as OldKingCole is a Colchester resident and CheeseyPoker is in MK. Might be seeing some away games?

My season ticket has been paid for an soon there will be a flurry of new signings (I hope!) and then the struggle to get back into the Championship will start.

Gone To Pot?

2005-06-23T10:52:00.000+01:00

Since I came out of hospital I have restarted playing PLO ring games and PLO8 or PLO SNGs.

Mixed results so far. Four $100 buy in PLO sessions, +$11, +$87, +$17 and -$14 in ring games and one 3rd place out of 2 SNGs. Not a great sample size!

I watched the PLO ring for about 2 hours before getting in and have several players tagged as poor or good, obviously I try to avoid the latter. Todays session was a minus and I wasn't too surprised. Despite 3 truely dreadful players there I never got going, was -$40 at one stage and only got paid off by small stacks. I always buy in for the max, but not yet developed a need (until today) to top back up. What amazes me is the number of folk who buy in short and fail to get full value off their nut hands, but I guess they think their "style" works (or they may be running scared?)

Health wise I am still having trouble sleeping and the current warm (for Nottingham) weather isn't helping. Doctor has signed me off sick until July 11th so I will probably hit the poker (online at least) over the next fortnight.

No gain without pain

2005-06-20T07:14:00.000+01:00

Back from hospital after my operation. I start dialysis in July, so I actually feel worse than when I went in!

Stomach feels like I've been given a good kicking, but at least the pain killers are dulling the aches.

First few days after the operation I couldn't even walk more than a few paces without being in severe pain, at least now I can sit down and get up without wincing.

I might even progress to playing a bit of online poker. Currently up $260 for june, though I have only played for 12 hours so far.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2005-06-08T14:04:00.000+01:00

Just back from the renal unit at my local hospital. I am booked in for an operation on 17th June to help start me on kidney dialysis. This will be a relief as I am in a constant state of tiredness, with the added edge of being unable to sleep for more than 2 hours at one go.

This will mean I will be off work for at least 2 weeks, luckily the WPT dvds arrived today so I will have plenty to keep me occupied.

Poker wise I played a small buy in Omaha Hi Lo event on PokerStars and managed 16th out of 300+. Frustratingly I was 2nd with 30 left, but the wheels fell off my good luck at the 2000/4000 level.

The Road to Hell.....

2005-05-31T14:56:00.000+01:00

....is paved with good intentions.

I never really got started with the plans for online SNGs and MTTs.

The bare stats are Online -$83 for the month, leaving a yearly figure of +$1171.

Live was boosted by the win I reported. The cumulative figures are 9 tournies, £1165 in buy ins and £2520 in cashes. +£1355.

Live cash saw a £13 loss from one session and stands for 2005 at 6 sessions, £670 sit in and £1177 cashed out +£507.

So overall this year I am around £2500 ahead. Not bad for a few hours per week!

Hopefully I will get more hours in next month and reverse the "blip", if thats what it is!

What a Difference a Year Makes

2005-05-23T15:32:00.000+01:00

This time last year I was recovering from a 3 week trip to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. I left before the main event. A win like my one on Friday would then have meant a quick look on the internet for a hotel and a flight out with little notice. Unfortunately my health situation (plus my job) mean that is no longer possible.

So what do you do with a sudden influx of cash (even a relatively small amount as £2K). Sadly most of it has gone into the bank to be used later in the year (hopefully). I have bought some goodies though. WPT series two on DVD has been ordered and I got the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" DVDs of series 1-3, along with , rather tragically, a 2005/2006 Forest season ticket. A freebie I got this weekend was the WSOP on DVD which covers nearly all the ESPN shows from 1973 up to an including the 2004 shows. Theses were courtesy of my friend Derek (OldKingCole online) who I believe will be selling copies at 25 quid (which considering there are 20+ hours of shows is great value). If you are interested contact colepoker@yahoo.co.uk

Friday Night's alright

2005-05-22T18:03:00.000+01:00

Whoever said you have to be lucky to win a poker tournament would have been proud of my effort on Friday. 75 runners turned up for the £20 PLHE rebuy event. By the end of the rebuys over £6000 was in the pool with £2420 to the winner.

I had a relatively quiet rebuy period, buying in 2 times and adding on at the end. One big suck out was where I was short and raised an early limper, I had 88 and 3 called until the limper re potted it. So I was allin and faced the limpers AA, AQ and 87. Amazingly the first card dealt was the case 8! Nothing else of consequence appeared and I got up to 3000+ chips. I ended the rebuys with 2750 and topped up 1000.

My next big hand was TT in the big blind. The button mi-raised, small blind called so I smooth called. Flop KT3, small blind goes all in. i smooth call and button reraises all in. I can't put him on KK so I call. Small blind has KQ button AK 3 on turn and I triple up.

We move tables, already down to 40 players and I get a few small pots then raise in first position with AJ. My foe on my left reraises all in. I have seen him do this with any pair and I really cannot see how I am ahead. I decide to gamble and call. he has JJ! Oops. Luckily flop brings Ace and no case Jack appears. I then raise with QQ get 2 callers. Flop KK2 and I bet out the pot. Both my foes had Ax and passed. I am now up to 15000 with 30 players left. average is 11000ish.

On my new table I get KTo 3 hands on the trot and win 2 of the pots, one with K high! I then get QQ. UTG raises 4200 (Pot raise was actually 5600), One guy (very loose) flat calls. I see UTG has 5600 left and bet 9600. he calls and loose guy calls allin. UTG has small pp and loose AQ. Nothing hits and I win a 27000 pot. we move again now on last two tables i have 40000 which is well placed for final. The last tourny I played though I had 90000 with 15 left and busted 11th. I bust one guy with 99 vs his AJ after 9 flops. I then get AA in the small blind with 1500/3000 antes. UTG bets pot (10500) this puts him allin. Next guy reraises to 35000 allin. i call and big blind passes. My foes had 77 (reraiser) and KT (UTG man). Flop is 456 all spades. None of us has a spade. My 77 foe now can win with 7 twice, 3 four times and 8 four times. Running spades will split the pot! Next card is K and A on river. I now have 120000 plus. Eventually we get to final. I have 104000 out of 300K in play. Several guy have less than 20000 with 2000/4000 antes.

I dont play a contested pot until I am down to 79000 and there are 5 players left. I lose a few more small pots then raise UTG with 88. The bb calls. Flop is Q79 and he checks. I bet the pot and he reaises me allin. I am in a position where if I fold I am extremely short and I want to WIN not get 3rd or 4th. So I call. He shows 97 suited for two pair. amazingly 10 on Turn J river and I hit a straight! This puts me into a commanding chip lead with 170000 out of the 300K. I bust the third placed guy when I slow play QQ. Flop is 346 and he has A5 and misses his 11 outs.

We get heads up and play a few small pots. I then win a pot with trip Qs and the final hand occurs thus: I have 10 7 in the bb, I call a pot raise (I have nearly 260K now). Flop is Q107 and my foe puts all his chips in with JJ and my flopped two pair hold up.

A nice payday and I bought into the £250 NLHE freezeout for the 29th May. This payday has certainly boosted my 'roll!

Chirp Time

2005-05-21T03:07:00.000+01:00

Brief chirp as I am away this weekend....Went to my local cardroom for the first time since Easter. Ostensibly to sign up for their £250 NLHE freezeout 2 dayer to be held on the bank holiday weekend but also to play a £20 PLHE rebuy tourney. Long and short of it is I won the competition for a cool £2420 prize. Paid my entry and a bit more!

A fuller report will follow. I am off to play the "Cheeseypoker" home game (after banking the winnings). Will update the blog on Sunday night...

A change of tack

2005-05-07T12:05:00.000+01:00

Decided to take a rest from cash games on PokerStars for a few weeks. I am going to concentrate on SNG's and play a few multi table tournies there. I have neglected these so far this year and this despite a good return on my play in these in 2004.

I will be playing a bit of cash on Empirepoker, just to clear their bonus on offer on Tuesday. Plus I have $1800 in Ultimatebet.com bonus dollars to clear too which need cash game play to clear, so its a semi-retirement :)

Most of my SNGs will be NLHE around $20 or $30 single tables, though I started this afternoon with a $20 PLO8 one (finished 2nd yipee!). Hopefully the experiment will recover some of the losses I incurred in the first 48 hours of May.

The (Second) Nuts of May

2005-05-05T09:20:00.000+01:00

Not a good start to the month. dropped $70+ on Sunday at $2/$4 Limit O8 and another $140+ on Monday in the same game. Got a $120 bonus from PokerStars but the losses combined with a $27.50 entry into the Hendonmob.com forum tourny leaves me minus $130 already.

The O8 was on initial inspection a good game with some poor players chasing thin outs. Unfortunately they hit too many times and i also had some fatal second nuts. One example I have 2345 in the blinds Flop AA3, turn 3 river 3. My foe had AA. That multiway pot cost me a lot!

I tried my luck in the Hendonmob forum tourny. $25 plus $2.50 NLHE. 2500 chips a slow clock and $500 added by the site. I started slowly then hit paydirt with JJ. Flop 9J4 two spades. turn 4 of spades. My one foe bet minimum and I called. River K spades. Now the only hands beating me are KK 44 or QT spades for a straight flush. Foe bets 300 I raise to 600 and he goes allin for 1500 more! I call and he shows red QT. Four spades on the board plus a paired board and he puts all his chips in with a straight!

I hovered around 10th for a few levels and after the break went card dead. I saw one pair 22 and folded to a massive reraise. I got 55 two hands later. A early position raiser put 2 x bb in. I reraised allin for 3000 more. The big blind flat called (yikes!). The original raiser passed. I am up against AA and An Ace on flop comes just to rub it in! Out 24th.

Hopefully i will play a bit more this weekend and get back to winning ways.

Down & Out

2005-04-30T12:37:00.000+01:00

Well thats it, Forest are relegated. Lost 2-1 today and Brighton won (making our performance irrelevant!).

Dreadful season is now drawing to a close. The only silver lining was I had a couple of bets on todays games and courtesy of a 90th minute goal by Sheffield wednesday I have most of next seasons season ticket paid for. I'm a glutton for punishment! That said I won't be going next Sunday to see our last home game of the season. Will be at home hoping Ipswich can catch Wigan (and hopefully send Brighton down) and fingers crossed Derby miss out on the play offs.

It's oh so quiet....

2005-04-30T03:53:00.000+01:00

April has been a very quiet month poker-wise. No live play and about 20 hours clocked up on internet cash action. I played a few "fun" sng's with Simon C. (JBSC7769) on PokerStars and absolutely no tournies on-line.

I have definitely spent more time in hospital, travelling to hospital and waiting in hospitals! Things seem to be progressing slowly on the kidneys. Generally I still am knackerred all the time but cannot get a good night's sleep and the time when I start dialysis is approaching quickly.

I was thinking of going to the local cardroom's tourny on 1st May but I understand it's going to be a £200 PLHE rebuy event. As it will start late and end up as a chip count at 5 am I'm not too bothered about missing it. I may go for the cash game after midnight if I'm still unable to get to sleep.

Anyway my stats for April are quite good considering I played so little: +$348, mostly from a good run at $2/$4 short handed LO8 on Pokerstars plus the usual good tmes on PartyPoker.

Heres hoping I can get about more in May.

Dire here

2005-04-23T14:14:00.000+01:00

Well, Forest won today so we are still hanging on to our Championship status by our fingernails.

The game was generally awful and if our opponents (Burnley) had something to play for I guess we would be dead and buried now. At best the show goes on for our trip to QPR next Saturday and if we win there it possibly is down to our last game vs Gillingham who are one of only 3 sides we can overtake now....

Digging Holes

2005-04-17T11:39:00.000+01:00

I seem to have spent the last few days getting deep into trouble in Limit Omaha 8 or better ring games and then getting out in spectacular fashion. If only I could lessen the downswings!

First I went 40 big bets down on Empire doing their bonus. Luckily this was at $1.00/$0.50 limit so not much harm to the bankroll. I got out of it and cleared the $150 bonus with only a $3 downside. I then sat in on PokerStars $3/$6 and proceeded to go down $200 and then after working it up to -$120 and sticking there for 30 minutes hit a rush up to +$4.

Today I sat in on the $3/$6 6 handed on PokerStars. Wow this was rough. -$200 in 30 minutes then over the next hour I went up $335 to leave +$135. Edging closer to the $120 bonus there. What little hair I had is even greyer!

Talking of digging holes, Forest lost yesterday and it looks as it will be a fresh start in League One (The old third division) next season.

Healthwise I am recovering from a severe case of anaemia and look on course to start kidney dialysis "soon". You gotta love the NHS waiting list!

Fat Lady clears her throat

2005-04-12T08:27:00.000+01:00

Forest are looking doomed. after Saturday's miserable showing against Plymouth we are now 6 points adrift with 5 games to go. Our goal difference is so poor it really is 7 points adrift. We need to do something we haven't done all season, win 3 games in a row!

Tonight is versus Sheffield Utd, a side we rarely beat. I shall not be there. More due to a stinking cold and I think me coughing up phlegmn all night might not go down well.

Shall probably play some poker and watch the Champions league on TV.

Talking of TV, there is a new Poker Channel. Unfortunately channel 425 is only on SKY. My NTL channel 425 is Glasgow Rangers TV! (Can't imagine who would want to watch that).

First quarter results: Room for Improvement

2005-03-29T10:12:00.000+01:00

Live Poker:

Tournies: 7. Cashed once. Buy ins £710 winnings £100

Dealers' Choice Cash: 5 times. Sat in with £570 cashed out £1090

Live overall -£90

Online:

SNGS: 24 played. In the money 4 times. Buy ins $266.50 prizes $85.50. Total -$181

MTT's 8 played. In the money 2 times. Buy ins $122 prizes $438 +$316

Cash games. Numerous sessions on Party and poker stars. At least 9000 hands now on my database. Including bonuses +$771

Overall online +$906.

Not in Big Dave D's or Milkybarkids range but not too bad.

Interestingly, I had a good weekend. 5th in a $22 PLO on 'Stars for $230+ and $200 in bonus on Party yesterday. Before that I had a silly run -$300+ on 'Stars. Probably was a bad idea playing after my kidney diagnosis.

I am going to take a break for the next week. I was thinking of a couple of days in London at Gutshot's festival but I don't seem to run well in live comps at moment.

If, health considering, I play live again soon I think it will be cash games. Spilling off £90 a throw at the cardroom seems to be bad game selection. It's just the temptation of the big pools there. (£11000 plus on sunday!).

Groundhog Day

2005-03-28T09:10:00.000+01:00

Got a distinct feeling of deja vu at my local cardroom. My second vist in 3 days followed a familiar pattern, sucking in the rebuy event and winning in the cash game. As ever the place was packed, 91 runners for a £30 PLHE rebuy comp. Generated £11000+ prize pool. I got off to my usual awful start and had 3 rebuys quickly. I got up to 2400 chips at the end of the rebuys and decided not to top up. I was already looking forward to the cash game!

I then got a marvellous piece of luck with the last hand of the second level (50/100 blinds). I have AQo in the bb and 4 limp. I decide to check. Flop A6Q two hearts. All check. Turn is 9 clubs. I bet 300 into a 500 pot, one caller, next player makes it 1200, next player lumps 4000 in. I call my remaining 2100 along with raiser. 3 of us allin. I have AQ my foes have A9 and 96 neither has a flush draw. King on river and I am chipped up!

Wheels fall off with AQ again vs AJ. Flop 9TJ I miss my outs. I then get AK allin vs short stacks 33. Flop AK2 turn J river 3!

That decimates me and I go allin in bb with T8 suited hit a four flush but miss.

I get a seat in the £20 cash game, sit down with £50 and first hand in 7 card stud hi lo get quads on 4th street and split with a low in a 4 way pot. Things turn shitty when I get trip tens in 5 card Omaha and my foe has AK for a flush draw. I have QQTT8 and board is 9T2 turn J river Q!

I pull up another £50 and get very lucky. In 5 card O8 I have A2KK4 in blind. No one raises. Flop A5K. Turn 7 river gives me flush. My 4 foes have AAxxx 23xxx 23xxx 23xxx, so I was stumped for any of the pot until the river. That got me up to £170 and I lost a little back and left up £55.

I seriously should consider playing the tournies less!

My next post will be my end of month stats. It makes gruesome reading!

Live Forever

2005-03-25T05:49:00.000Z

Made my first trip of the month to my local cardroom last night. Lucky I got there early as they ended up turning people away. Over 100 runners for a £8000 prize pool. £20 Pot Limit Hold 'Em.

I had my usual Tourney. £100 worth of rebuys and top up and short stacked when the "freezeout" started. worked it up to a decent stack then misplayed AK, overplayed 55 and made a weak call in bb with A8 (foe had AK then!) and was out.

Luckily the £20 cash game had an open seat and after 2 and 1/2 hours I left up £105. £5 profit for the night (paid for taxi anyway!).

I don't seem capable of getting far in live tournies but live cash I have had a good run, though I probably just bokked myself now!

With it being a public holiday in UK I will probably go Sunday night too.

This might be my last live poker for a while. I recently had a blood test and after further tests have been diagnosed with Chronic Kidney disease. In a few months time my kidneys will be totally out of action and I have been put on a transplant waiting list and will have to undergo dialysis. An effect of the kidney problems is I have been failing to produce red blood cells, making me anaemic. The doctor has nixed my flying to Slovenia next month, which is a REAL pisser and I am in for some pain and a need to adjust to regular dialysis.

I'm keeping my chin up. Theres always internet poker i guess!

The Corrections

2005-03-20T03:37:00.000Z

One of the benefits of PokerTracker, which I posted about recently, is that it keeps you on top of how many big bets you win (or lose!) over time. The short term can trip you up.

Recently I have been on PokerStars as the bonus has attracted players into the full ring Limit O8 games. Usually the only $2/$4 or $3/$6 Omaha limit games running regularly there are 6 handed, which I've tried but I'm not aggressive enough for.

Anyway, I got ahead $160 or 40 big bets at $2/$4 limit in 220 hands, yummy! The inevitable correction came yesterday!

For conspiracy theorists I tempted fate by cashing out $1000 to try the 20% $200 max bonus on PartyPoker this coming week. I sat down at two $3/$6 LO8 games and over 3 hours lost $240 or.....40 big bets! (bigger big bets too, ouch!). Pokertracker comes into it's own here. Analysing the hands I played too many (twice as high saw flop than winning session). I stayed in hand too long (a ridicolous number of losing river bets called).

Still ahead for 2005 but now down $100 for March. I have about 2 hours of play on PokerStars left before I get $150 from an old bonus and after Tuesday I will be back 4 tabling PartyPoker for that $200. Lets hope I get my poker "head" back on.

Was my foe on drugs?

2005-03-13T06:42:00.000Z

PokerStars Game #1348639272: Omaha Hi/Lo Limit ($2/$4) - 2005/03/13 - 05:12:56 (ET)Table 'Ontake' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: jaguar90 ($154 in chips)
Seat 2: woodymocha ($74 in chips)
Seat 3: c.c.z. ($113 in chips)
Seat 4: redsimon ($98 in chips)
Seat 5: Bond001 ($28 in chips)
Seat 7: tugboat2648 ($50 in chips)
Seat 8: four_treys ($480.50 in chips)
Seat 9: ickday1969 ($113.50 in chips)
Seat 10: towt ($135.50 in chips)
ickday1969: posts small blind $1
towt: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to redsimon [Ac Tc Ad 2d]
DARTHVADER has returned
jaguar90: calls $2
woodymocha: folds
c.c.z.: folds
redsimon: raises $2 to $4
Bond001: folds
tugboat2648: folds
four_treys: calls $4
ickday1969: calls $3
towt: folds
jaguar90: calls $2

*** FLOP *** [Jh 7c 5c] Nice. I'm nut lowing nut flushing...do I ram it or keep my foes in?
ickday1969: checks
jaguar90: checks (damn they all checked!)
redsimon: bets $2
four_treys: raises $2 to $4 (Yum)
ickday1969: calls $4
jaguar90: folds
redsimon: calls $2 (hmm if he has set Ill take one off)

*** TURN *** [Jh 7c 5c] [9c] (Hit my nut high)

ickday1969: checks
redsimon: bets $4
four_treys: calls $4 (damn no raise)
ickday1969: calls $4
*** RIVER *** [Jh 7c 5c 9c] [4d] Yumm nut nut, probably 3/4 but life can be unfair!)ickday1969: checks
redsimon: bets $4
four_treys: calls $4
ickday1969: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
redsimon: shows [Ac Tc Ad 2d] (HI: a flush, Ace high; LO: 7,5,4,2,A)
four_treys: mucks hand (???!!??)
redsimon collected $24 from pot
redsimon collected $24 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot $50 Rake $2 Board [Jh 7c 5c 9c 4d]

Seat 4: redsimon showed [Ac Tc Ad 2d] and won ($48) with HI: a flush, Ace high;
LO: 7,5,4,2,A

Seat 8: four_treys (button) mucked [Ks 6h 6s Kd].

Pretty odd hand to raise on flop then check call on 4th and 5th street. Oh well!

Who said Pokerstars games are tight?

2005-03-13T06:30:00.000Z

PokerStars Game #1348682631:
Omaha Pot Limit ($10/$20) - 2005/03/13 - 05:44:01 (ET)
Table 'Iduna' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: nazzdog ($3964 in chips)
Seat 2: Sarrom ($3198 in chips)
Seat 3: Darwinism ($1940 in chips)
Seat 4: alwaysnice ($1917 in chips)
Seat 5: jdags21 ($4966.50 in chips)
Seat 6: donnydnm ($3218 in chips)
Seat 7: naithan ($6931 in chips)
Seat 8: sprägäri ($4588 in chips)
Seat 9: Par65 ($16420.05 in chips)
Darwinism: posts small blind $10
alwaysnice: posts big blind $20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
jdags21: folds
donnydnm: folds
naithan: folds
sprägäri: calls $20
Par65: raises $70 to $90
nazzdog: folds
Sarrom: folds
Darwinism: calls $80
alwaysnice: calls $70
sprägäri: raises $360 to $450
Par65: calls $360
Darwinism: calls $360
alwaysnice: raises $1467 to $1917 and is all-in
sprägäri: calls $1467
Par65: calls $1467
Darwinism: calls $1467

*** FLOP *** [8s 3h Ts]
Darwinism: bets $23 and is all-in
sprägäri: calls $23
Par65: raises $1557 to $1580
sprägäri: calls $1557

*** TURN *** [8s 3h Ts] [3s]
sprägäri: checks
Par65: bets $10848
sprägäri: calls $1091 and is all-in

*** RIVER *** [8s 3h Ts 3s] [Th]

*** SHOW DOWN ***sprägäri: shows [Qh Kc Ah 6c] (a pair of Tens)

Par65: shows [5d 4d Jh 8h] (two pair, Tens and Eights)

Par65 collected $5296 from side pot-2

Darwinism: shows [Kh Kd 2d 5c] (two pair, Kings and Tens)
Darwinism collected $69 from side pot-1
alwaysnice: shows [4c 7s 5s Ac] (a flush, Ten high)
alwaysnice collected $7665 from main pot

*** SUMMARY ***Total pot $13033
Main pot $7665. Side pot-1 $69. Side pot-2 $5296. Rake $3

Board [8s 3h Ts 3s Th]
Seat 1: nazzdog folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Sarrom (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Darwinism (small blind) showed [Kh Kd 2d 5c] and won ($69) with two pair, Kings and Tens
Seat 4: alwaysnice (big blind) showed [4c 7s 5s Ac] and won ($7665) with a flush, Ten high
Seat 5: jdags21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: donnydnm folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: naithan folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: sprägäri showed [Qh Kc Ah 6c] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 9: Par65 showed [5d 4d Jh 8h] and won ($5296) with two pair, Tens and Eights

Needless to say Spragari was from Helsinki....

Keeping Track

2005-03-13T06:12:00.000Z

Recently downloaded pokertracker for omaha. (Available in beta testing form from www.pokertracker.com). Pokertracker for Hold em has been around a while, but I don't play enough HE cash to get it.

Interesting stats! I have 5700 LO8 games from Party/Empire and the downside of four tabling is clear! 0.76bbs won per 100 hands, officially weak-passive. I only have 76 Pokerstars hands on the database and that shows 24 bbs/100 hands!! Shows the necessity to have a big sample size, I guess.

The interesting feature of Pokertraker is it can show how your foes play. I was amazed by the stats of some of the biggest winners in the Party games I play. Some were seeing the flop 80% of the time. Guess once I have 20-30000 hands these will just be glitches as I cannot see how you can win playing that loosely.

I saw the flop 21% of the time, which was looser than I thought I was playing.

As well as my spreadsheet of balances on sites, MTT results and SNG results pokertracker is a welcome addition to my arsenal.

Downsides of bonus chasing

2005-03-08T20:45:00.000Z

After my foray into Partypoker where I cleared the $200 bonus at the weekend and made a small ($48) profit 4-tabling Limit Omaha H/L, I took out my roll and took up FulltiltPoker's 100% $600 bonus offer.

Disaster struck. First off very few games when I play. Only one micro blind PLO8 game and I'm used to several O8 tables, spoilt by Partypoker and PokerStars I guess. First day I won $49 on one $1/$2 Limit Hold em table, lost $50 on the other and spilled $60 on a $2/$4 table. Dusted myself down and tonight spilled $120 at $2/$4 limit Hold em and gave up in disgust.

I am certainly not one to believe online is rigged theories but I seemed to be cursed by second best itis and outdraw flu. Too much Omaha and too little Hold Em played recently I guess.

Still ahead for March but the $250 profit has shrunk to barely $30. Back to the drawing board!

Ups and downs

2005-03-08T14:51:00.000Z

Looking good for my Slovenia trip. Hopefully I can win a bit of buy in money at my local cardroom before the festival in Nova Gorica in April.

I am hopeful to visit the cardroom this Friday (11th) Easter week up to 4 times (!) and possibly once in the week before I fly out.

The down was after finding a £399 direct flight to Vegas and good cheap hotel accomodation I found out at work that I couldn't have the time off in June. Sometimes a 9 to 5 job sucks.

Hopefully my leave entitlement will be there later in 2005. I went to the Four Queens festival in 2003 and fancy a revisit as it offers reasonable priced events.

A Quiet Month

2005-02-27T12:27:00.000Z

Not played much online and played live 3 times.

Figures +£360 Live Cash (6 hours). -£210 Live tournies (cashed once!).

Online I played 1 online trny, no online SNGS and several hours low limit HE and O8. Ended up +$205. Midway through a bunch of bonuses at Party Poker, Fulltilt Poker, Paradise and old bonuses at Ultimatebet and PokerStars. Clearing a few of these should bring a bigger plus figure for March. Also with Easter during March I should get something like 7 or 8 live appearances in. (though I should consider cash games and give up tournies!).

April will hopefully see my first festival outing as the Torneo Di Poker takes place in Slovenia. If you are interested in coming between 18th April and 24th April email colepoker@yahoo.co.uk

No Poker Post

2005-02-21T14:02:00.000Z

Incredible draw for Forest yesterday. Away in the FA Cup to spurs, a Premier League side. So a replay away from a Quarter Final with Newcastle (away). That brings back memories of 1974 when Forest led at Newcastle in the F A Cup Quarter Finals and the pitch was invaded (sparked by a massive Geordie). The Forest players were attacked and ended up losing.

Bizarrely, the FA ordered a re-run of the game at Goodison Park. This was drawn and instead of taking the game to Forest's ground a second replay was played at Goodison, Newcastle won, got to the final and were creamed 3-0 by Liverpool. (One of the few times I've wanted Liverpool to win a match!).

If only we could play as well in the League. 9 points adrift with two home games this week, vs Preston and Derby, both sides running well (Derby on an incredible 6 wins out of 6 away from home). I'd seriously swap a cup run for a rush up the league to one place above the relegation zone.

It's a Kind Of Magic.....

2005-02-19T05:43:00.000Z

....How to turn a big stack into 11th.....

How I got to 60000. £20 PLHE event. 82 runners. £7700+ pool. 1000 starting chips.

Had no joy in rebuys and never won a hand until freezeout. Even then I was down to 700 with 50/100 blinds. Get 77 and raise and have to call allin after bb reraises. 4 to flop A73 A on turn. Amazingly bb KK and I am back in the hunt. Get 33 and limp in. Flop A35 and bb has A7 and doubles me up.

Antes up to 200/400 and I get JJ. Guy on right raises pot I reraise, foe on myleft reraises but I'm pot committed with 900 left. He has KK first raiser AQ. Flop A....J!!!...A...I sweat two blanks and treble up.

I get AA...raise into 4 limpers, all pass. Next hand AA again and same happens all pass. I get AT and raise. One caller Flop T98 He goes allin for 3000. I have 20000 and call. He turns over QJ. Oops! Turn A river A and i fill up....

I get up to 20000+ and get AJ in bb...one limper and button raises. I call with limper...25000 in pot. I see flop J4x Go allin. Limper has A4 and calls 12000 allin. Raiser has AK and passes. Turn K...good bet! and I am on 55000. I get AA next hand. AK man raises I reraise and he says I'm nicking and passes. I am now on 62000, 370000 chips in play 19 left in and I've a "final table " stack. How can I mess this up?

Well....I get 99 and call two allin guys. Initial raiser has QQ and other AJ. JJ on flop and I lose both pots. We are now 13 left with 6 on our table. I have 30000 with 2K/4K blinds. I lose 18K in blinds with seriously bad cards. We get 11 handed. It is offered to take £100 off top for 11th. 10th pays £150. I'm not keen but agree. I then get QJ in sb. All pass I raise 6000. BB reraises allin. I pass after long think. He shows KQ.

I get to 10000 after posting bb. QT suited and button raises. He has me covered. I call as I'm dying a death by ante. He has QJ flop AAQ no miracle to save me and I'm out.

Took the £100 into the cash game and managed to spin it up. My stats for live play in 2005 are now -£300 tournies plus £500 cash games in 4 visits. Maybe I should go to the cardroom at midnight when the cash games start :)

A site for sore eyes

2005-02-16T00:10:00.000Z

Played the "HendonMob" Forum users tournament last night.

76 runners for a $25 NLHE event with $1000 added and "bounty"s on mob members playing. I've had problems in the past with Prima Poker's software but apart from the garish green backdrop it wasn't too bad.

I had a quiet competition floating around the top 10 for the first hour. I had AA once and no callers and won a big pot with AQ vs KK with an AQJ flop. The structure was good with 2500 points and a slow (for online) clock.

It went tits up when an Hendon Mobster joined the table with 30 left. He went allin first hand. I had AJ suited and in most situations I'd pass pronto. The $100 was too tempting and I called. He had 99, Ace on flop, Ace on turn and I'm counting the money, ready to type "GG" and then river comes 9! Oops....

Very next hand I get QQ, lump it in, no callers. AK next hand _PJB_ raises and I lump it in. He calls with 86 suited hit 6 on flop and I go out 30th....

So my abysmal Hold 'em Tourny form continues! Luckily I had a good weekend online and at my local cardrooms cash game.

Four tabling is dangerous!

2005-02-08T01:08:00.000Z

***** Hand History for Game *****0.5/1 OmahaHiLoGameTable (Limit)
Mon Feb 07 13:35:08 EST 2005Table Table 25429 (Real Money)

Seat 9 is the buttonTotal number of players : 9
Seat 1: stuneht ( $24.5)
Seat 2: Muppet ($25)
Seat 3: firedoctor1 ( $11)
Seat 4: Jackson37 ( $4.63)
Seat 5: motosan ( $14)
Seat 6: vjc107 ( $66.5)
Seat 7: beannie1972 ( $22.5)
Seat 8: lowerhay ( $8)Seat 9: JAG311 ( $18.75)
Seat 10: Thomas707 ( $25)
stuneht posts small blind (0.25)
Muppet posts big blind (0.5)
firedoctor1 posts big blind (0.5)
** Dealing down cards **Dealt to Muppet [ 9c, 3d, Ad, As ]
firedoctor1 checks.
Jackson37 raises (1) to 1
motosan calls (1)
vjc107 folds
beannie1972 calls (1)
lowerhay calls (1)
JAG311 folds
stuneht folds
Muppet folds. (Oops wrong button!)_
firedoctor1 calls (0.5)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ah, 9d, Jd ]
firedoctor1 bets (0.5)
Jackson37 raises (1) to 1motosan folds
beannie1972 calls (1)
lowerhay folds
firedoctor1 calls (0.5)

** Dealing Turn ** : [ 6c ]
firedoctor1 bets (1)
Jackson37 raises (2) to 2
beannie1972 calls (2)
firedoctor1 calls (1)

** Dealing River ** : [ Kd ]
firedoctor1 checks
Jackson37 bets (0.63)Jackson37 is all-In
beannie1972 calls (0.63)
firedoctor1 calls (0.63)
Creating Main Pot with $15.89 with Jackson37

** Summary **Main Pot: $15.89 Rake: $0.75Board: [ Ah 9d Jd 6c Kd

]stuneht balance $24.25, lost $0.25 (folded)

Muppet balance $24.5, lost $0.5 (folded) (the NUTS d'oh!)

firedoctor1 balance $6.37, lost $4.63 [ Td Jc Js 2c ] [ three of a kind, jacks -- Ah,Kd,Jc,Js,Jd ]Jackson37 balance $0, lost $4.63 [ Ks 5d Jh Ac ] [ two pairs, aces and kings -- Ac,Ah,Ks,Kd,Jd ]motosan balance $13, lost $1 (folded) vjc107 balance $66.5, didn't bet (folded)
beannie1972 balance $33.76, bet $4.63, collected $15.89, net +$11.26 [ 7c 4c Kc Kh ] [ three of a kind, kings -- Ah,Kc,Kh,Kd,Jd ]
lowerhay balance $7, lost $1 (folded)
JAG311 balance $18.75, didn't bet (folded)
Thomas707 balance $25, sits out

The only plus point is I got through the bonus requirements and won $66 (66 big bets) in a weekend worth of low limit grinding. After my disaster on VCPoker (-$135 in one session, whereupon I gave up on bonus), I am now back in profit for February and have another two bonuses in sight.

Bonuses everywhere

2005-02-01T15:50:00.000Z

Looks like February will be a bonus chasing 28 days.

Loaded up on VC poker for their $150 bonus. Empire Poker has a $150 bonus starting Thursday, Paradise has a $200 bonus on Friday plus another $200 one at the end of February.

Thank f*ck for Neteller!

January was good. In the little time I played I made over $450 profit online. $190 plus courtesy of a 4th place in a Pokerstars Limit Omaha Hi/Low tourny last Monday (only played 4 events this month). A $90 loss in the 5 SNGs I played (only one 3rd spot) and $350 profit in cash games/bonuses.

I only played live twice, at the cardroom and in a "home game" (see www.cheeseypoker.co.uk).

February will probably see only 2 or 3 live outings, and I still haven't got into a routine for online play. I will need to in order to clear these bonuses successfully!