Frustrating Day - Newcastle UKPT Main Event

Date: Fri, May 16, 2008 Professional

Yesterday was an extremely frustrating tournament in Newcastle, involving a tough table and tough laydowns. My table included two former UKPT winners (Jerome Bradpiece and Jeff Kimber) and last year's UKPT Grand Final winner (Michael Ellis). Add to that two on-form locals, who had gone deep in the £200 side event the previous night, and it was clear there were not going to be many easy chips to be had. Key hands detailed below:

Hand1

This is a very early hand.
Button raises to 200 and I call in the BB with 5c5s
Flop 5d Jh 10d
I check, button bets 400 which I call
Turn As
I check, button bets 600 and I check raise to 2000 as the board has tons of draws now.
Button calls, so I put him on a draw and the river is the worst card in the deck:
King of diamonds - all the straights and flush draws just got there.
Opponent bets 2000 and my set is useless so I pass. He shows King Queen so he already had the straight, and in fact in river saved me a lot of chips. Still lost 2600 very early on though.

Hand2

I call a raise to 200 with AQ, 3 of us in the pot.
Flop K, 8, 2
Checked around
Turn Q - I bet 600 and win

I build stack back up to about 9k with small pot wins and then this hand happens:



Hand3

UTG raises to 300. Two other callers and I call with KsQs
Flop 10sAd4h
Checked to UTG who bets 800. Everyone calls including me.
Turn As, giving me gutshot straight draw and royal flush draw.
UTG bets 2000. All fold to me. I consider using my draw to push over the top, as the pot is pretty large. The paired board troubles me though, as if he has a house I am drawing just to the Jack of spades. I pass after a lot of thought and he shows tens full. Phew!

However, down to 6.5k at the break

Hand3

I raise in early position to 500 with AQ and get 3 callers
Flop K, Q, 8
All check
Turn Q
I lead for 1000 and all pass

Hand4

Multi limps into my big blind and I check with 55
Flop: Ace, 5, Jack
I lead with my set for 500 but everyone passes. Unlucky none of the limpers caught a piece of that. Feeling more confident though.

Hand5

I limp 2nd to act with KK
2 callers and then Kimber puts it up to 600. One of the blinds calls and I re-raise to 2500 and everyone passes.
Stack reaches high point of about 11k.

Hand6

Bradpiece raises to 600 and I flat call with TdTh in the SB.
Flop 6s, 3s, 9c
I lead out for 1500 and Bradpiece calls
Turn 8s
I don't want Bradpiece to use the spades to check raise me, so I check as does he.
River is 4s.
Great.
I check (maybe a mistake) and opponent takes initiative and leads for 2k, and I pass. Not sure about this hand - seems pretty logical he has 2 high cards in his hand, and one is a spade, but equally he might just be using the board against me after I checked and have something like AdKd
Back down to 7.5k (I'd missed a few flops between hands 5 and 6)

Hand7

I raise UTG with QQ to 500 and get five callers.
Flop 9, 5, 2 with two clubs
I bet 2000 into the 2700 pot
Bradpiece min raises to 4000 and the next guy goes all in for 7000
Visions of Dublin fly back - must be a set right?
I pass
Wrong - Bradpiece has AK (?) and the other guy has A9 of clubs
Sigh - at least there is an Ace on the turn so I'd have been bust if I had called.
Down to 5k and feeling tilty.

Hand8

I limp UTG with AK
It's raised to 600 and there is one caller. Back to me, and I think about pushing, but my stack size is too big for it, but equally too small for a re-raise as I'll be committed.
I call
Flop Qd, 6s, 5c
Initial raiser bets 1200 and other guy passes back to me.
This could easily be a continuation bet, so I decide to commit fully to this pot. I want to look as strong as possible so I opt to flat call and push if there is a drawing card on the turn.
Turn is 6d so I decide to instapush, as I want him to think I am protecting against the flush.
He has a think for a little while and then calls with KQ (it's 3k for him to call)
I am drawing to an Ace - I miss and I'm gone.

This tournament never got going for me. Key pots went away, and I never really got on a roll. Hole cards were pretty poor for a 4 hour stretch - Kings once, Queens once, Tens once, AK once and AQ twice. I dunno, maybe that's about average.

Back to London for a few weeks now and then off to Nevada.



PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,020
Live Holdem Cash (2,211)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (12,691)
Home Games (760)
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,932
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 630
Sundry 814
Rake (1,987)
57,873

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Newcastle Preview

Date: Tue, May 13, 2008 Professional

Some towns produce an inspiring list of famous people, bands and institutions over the years........take Seattle for example: Jimi Hendrix, Bill Gates, Nirvana, Microsoft and The Seattle Coffee Company (since rebranded as Starbucks).

Some places don't do quite so well. To date Newcastle's highlights have been Jimmy Nail, Cheryl Tweedy and the synthetic entertainment duo of Ant and Dec. The Geordie production line reached an all time low in 1990, when the cover of "Fog on the Tyne" sung by Paul Gascoigne hit the charts.

My own home town of Watford does not fair particularly well either - Ginger Spice, Tim Lovejoy and Nick Leeson, to name but three. Lovejoy, of Soccer A.M. fame, currently resides at number two in my celebrity irritant list, just pipping veteren sportscaster Jim Rosenthael, but behind Chris Moyles.

Rosenthael has been irritating me for nigh on two decades now, as the front man for ITV's chaotic sports coverage. The nadir was reached in San Marino during 2005. A fantastic F1 race was reaching it's climax - Schumacher was all over Alonso's tailpipe for ten laps and the tension was electric - one mistake would settle it. The boys at ITV, at this point, realise that they are one advert break short of their contracted amount, and decide to take us for a break ............during the 2nd last lap. Four minutes later, we cut back to Alonso punching the air in triumph after holding off the German superstar.

Great. The commentator nervously hands back to the studio where we see a nervous looking Mark Blundell staring at the floor. At this point the screen fills with the beaming tanned face of Rosenthael, who instead of apologising profusely and explaining about contractual obligations, opts intead to treat the watching public like lobotomised monkeys.

"Well, wasn't that exciting! Let's enjoy a re-run of those final 3 laps again".

Again? Again? I bet you saw it in your studio in Imola, but I was watching an advert for Capital One credit cards while Alonso was crossing the line.

Anyway, where was I..................ah yes - Newcastle. I'm travelling up there tonight, and will play in the £200 event on Wednesday night. Thursday should be the UKPT Main Event, which has a nice structure I'm told along similar lines to the Irish Open. If I bust early from that there is a £100 on Thursday evening which I may play, but after that I'll spend the rest of the weekend relaxing.

I played 4 online tournies last night - I went pretty deep in 3 of them, but didn't cash unfortunately. I built up decent stacks in those tournaments, but lost the key races as has been the way recently. Perhaps the problem is partly that, when I take on the races, it is for my tournament life, when I should be looking to generate bigger stacks in the mid/late stages of tournaments so my neck isn't on the line so much. The issue is, restealing is so prevalent at that stage during MTTs, that if you are going to raise for 20% of your stack, it really needs to be a hand you are comfortable calling an all in with. In the tournaments I played last night, people pushed over a raise two or three times an orbit. In many ways, you are better off being the "re-stealer" because if the initial raiser has AJ or mid pocket pair it's pretty difficult for him to call no matter what you have. Online tournies certainly play a lot different to live tournaments, particularly in the mid-late levels when you are down to three tables.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,020
Live Holdem Cash (2,211)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (760)
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,632
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 630
Sundry 814
Rake (1,867)
60,103

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Getting Information Too Late

Date: Fri, May 9, 2008 Professional

Sometimes you find out about the extent of a situation just a little bit too late. This happened to me last night in a very interesting hand during the League tournament at Loose Cannon. I was up to 5k in chips (from 3.5), after having the fortune of being dealt Aces (no action) and Kings (plenty of action) back to back.

At this point Hugh sits down, having arrived late after work drinks. Hugh professed to being drunk, although there wasn't (at this stage) too much evidence that it was going to affect his play. Hugh wins a pot to get up to 4k and then this interesting hand occurs:

I get KcQh UTG. I hate this hand really, as it's a trap hand, so I just limp for 100 to see how cheap the flop is going to be for me. Hugh raises to 300 and Shazbo calls in the small blind. I call to make the pot 1000 and we go to the flop:

Flop Kh, 10h, 8h

Great flop for me, as I have top pair, decent kicker and the Queen heart draw.

Shazbo and I check and Hugh bets 500. Shazbo calls, and I think about shoving here, but my stack is a little bit big to do it. If I raise and either one shoves on me, it's likely they have at least the Ace of hearts, perhaps a made flush or AK, in which case I have to probably call knowing I'm behind.

I decide to call, and see what develops on the turn (I am praying for the Ace of hearts to give me the nuts, or perhaps the Jack of hearts, to give me made flush and royal redraw if either player has the Ace. Pot is 2500.

Turn is a black 4.

Shazbo checks, as do I because I'm trying to figure out what Hugh is up to, and Hugh responds by betting 2k. Shazbo dwells and passes. I hate this spot. I have zero fold equity as Hugh only has 1k behind, and if we get it all in and I lose I will be crippled and down to about 1.5k.

This hand is one I have given a lot of thought to, both at the time and since. Hugh is normally a very solid tight player, who plays premium starting hands agressive. A classic TAG I guess. The hands I like to play against him are odd hands like 46, 57 etc, because I want to be in a spot where I know I am ahead of a big starting hand and can hopefully get his whole stack if he overplays AA for example. The worst hand to play against Hugh is a trap hand like KQ, KJ or JQ because you will generally be getting yourself in a spot where you have hit, but there is a decent chance you are behind, as was the case here.

Hugh's likely hands:
AK, no hearts - I think Hugh would be more cautious here with the hearts out and 2 calls, but possible as he knows myself or Shazbo may have the bare Ace of hearts, and that's the reason we are hanging around.
AK, with Ace hearts - I think this is most likely - Hugh is afraid of the hearts but has the nut draw to back him up, if he has been unfortunate enough to run up against a made flush. Betting makes sense as Hugh can be agressive with his redraw and TPTK.
AA - possible - makes sense with betting, particularly if one is Ace hearts.
AJ hearts - Hugh has played this hand too agressively to have this, he would try and trap I think
QQ/JJ - unlikely - board is too scary for Hugh to be betting like this.
KK/TT - makes sense - afraid of the flush draw but with a made set may have taken the stance to play agressive to stop someone with a lone heart drawing out, but also with the redraw to a house if someone has a made flush.

From the above, I figure I'm in pretty bad shape despite my apparently strong hand. I put Hugh on AhKx, in which case I am drawing to 2 outs. I pass and Hugh shows...............QQ. Wow - I am really surprised and have clearly made a bad pass, but it was made with my read on Hugh as a tight solid player, who wouldn't put his chips on the line like this without really strong hand.

I then get the extra information I mentioned at the start. Hugh has to move tables - as he goes over there he stumbles into the side table, and catapults two of his new tablemates dinners onto the floor behind the dealer. He is slightly more drunk than I realised! The uber agressive play with the Queens on a flushing board is making sense now! Oh well - would have been good to have that information before the pot. Never mind. The fold was correct the normally sober Hugh, just not in this situation.

That hand was the most interesting thing that occurred during the tournament. My stack mostly stayed average, but with 6 players from 22 remaining I became short stacked and had to shove A9 and was called by Maltese Mike with a big stack holding AJ and I was done for the night.

I did have a small win on the cash game (£22) playing a bizarre combination of IronCross, 5 Card Omaha River Blood and 3-2-1 Omaha. I also won 2 last longest bets for £5 so it was almost a flat night. Not sure where these go, so I have added a "sundry" category to my P&L which includes these items, together with any sponsorship received so far this year.

Next stop..............GeordieLand. Next week I'll blog the £200 warm up event followed by the Main Event.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,020
Live Holdem Cash (2,211)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (760)
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,932
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 630
Sundry 814
Rake (1,827)
60,433

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The Lab Rats Died Again

Date: Thu, May 8, 2008 Professional

"Day one thousand and one. Blood tests confirm that I remain immune to both airbourne and contact strains. Vaccine trails continue. I'm still unable to transfer immunity to infected hosts. The Krippen Virus is........elegant"

I attempted to re-invent my cash strategy once again last night with the usual results. I feel like Mr Smith, making constant minor or major adjustments to my vaccine, only to wake up in the morning to find my lab rats dead again.

Last night's experiment was to play short stacked at £50, with rebuys in the pocket if needed. This style had been patented over several centuries by wiley cash game veteran Sonny O.

The preceding tournament followed the usual course for me at the moment. I built up a decent stack for the final table, and played pretty well overall, if a little cautiously. I got lucky early on, turning a set of 6s against Sir Mike's two pair and doubling up but, predictably, when the big tournament hand arrived it went against me. This time I really should have been good - AK v AQ against the Professor in the blinds, but unfortunately a Queen took me almost down to the felt. I busted to Fluke soon after with 9T verses A8.

And so to the experiment - it all blew up in two hands.

Hand1
Holdem
I limp in late position with 4h5h
3 callers involved and then Sonny raises to £5. Everyone calls, as do I.
Flop 2h3h3c
Mark P bets £15 and I push for my £45 remaining, with my open ended straight flush. Mark calls with pocket 6s and I miss the lot.

Hand2
Omaha
I call a raise to £2 with 8c8dTc7d along with 4 others
Flop is J, A, 9 rainbow
Sonny bets £8 and I call
Turn Q
Sonny bets £20 and, although I am worried about K10 I decide to push with my straight for £20 more.
Sonny calls and has 4 pairs so lots of outs, and the Jack hits the river to give him the house.

Not much opportunity for me to play cash now for a couple of weeks. It's the league tonight, and then two tournaments next week in Newcastle. Perhaps I'll have time to work on the vaccine while I am away...........


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,130
Live Holdem Cash (2,211)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (760)
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,932
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,827)
59,739

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Looking for Clues

Date: Wed, May 7, 2008 Professional

It's been a pretty ropey 6 weeks since the Irish Open. I looked back and it seems to be three cashes (albeit one win) in 12 tournaments, which isn't really good enough. I suppose these runs happen, but I thought I'd look back over the tournament knock out hands to see where things were going wrong. I really don't feel like I am playing badly, certainly not like the October/November period last year, when my game went to pot in a hyper LAG experimental stage. Data is displayed below, but from some quick analysis:

Bad points
I am getting into too many race situations (which I am losing)
I am overvaluing medium pocket pairs

Good points
I am generally the aggressor in exit hands
I am rarely in worse shape than a coin flip
Eliminations are occurring generally late in tournaments around bubble area

Of course, all this data is of limited use taken in isolation, because you have to account for stack sizes, player reads, payout structures and blinds. The data is below, most recent tournament first, displaying hand matchup (mine first), whether I was aggressor or caller, and also whether elimination was early or late in the tournament (late being final 9 players).

Tournament1: AK v AQ v JJ, Aggressor, Early
Tournament2: AJ v A10, Aggressor, Late
Tournament3: T2 v A5, Aggressor, Late (cashed)
Tournament4: TT v A5, Caller, Late
Tournament5: 99 v QQ, Caller, Late
Tournament6: Mid pair with Ace v Set, Aggressor, Late
Tournament7: Winner
Tournament8: Top pair with Ace v Flush draw, Caller, Early
Tournament9: 22 v AK, Aggressor, Late
Tournament10: 88 v KQ, Aggressor, Late (cashed)
Tournament11: 99 v AK, Aggressor, Late
Tournament12: J10 v 77, Aggressor, Late

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Good Idea - Terminal Outcome

Date: Wed, May 7, 2008 Professional

Thomas Cromwell was a genius. Methodical, detached, calculating - he was the thought tank behind much of Henry VIII's reign, and revolutionised government in England. Already popular with his ruthless King, he sought to cement his position following the death of Jane Seymor, by securing a 4th wife for 'ol Henry.

This is where his ingenuity came into play. English wives were out of the question - Cromwell had already hacked off the English noblemen with his streamlined new government (clearly he did not want to strengthen an enemy's position). Catholics where not an option either, as his boss had already stuck his fingers up at the Pope during the Katherine of Aragon debacle. Eureka! "If I marry him into the Protestant German nobility" mused Cromwell "it will forge a diplomatic alliance against the European Catholic powers. The boss will be most pleased".

Undoubtedly a fine plan, but Cromwell hadn't factored in the painting style of the artist he sent over to "capture the beauty" of Anne of Cleves. It seems he adopted a bit of creativeness in his work, and happy Henry finalised his marriage on the basis of the painting. Upon meeting her face to face, it seems Henry experienced the medieval version of "who the hell is that lying next to me?". It was the beginning of the end for Mr Cromwell and he was executed within a year. Cromwell had come up with an idea that could have benefited England on a global scale, but it ended up costing his life.

And so on to the Better Poker tournament last night - £50 freezeout, and 3k guaranteed so not to be sniffed at. 55 runners, so Better only just fell short of their guarantee, but the field contained several beginners and the action was fast and loose.

I had already suffered a bad beat with QQ v K9 all in preflop in a 1800 pot, when my "Cromwell Hand" occurred:

I am back up to 2800 (from a 3500 start) after winning a few small pots after the QQ nonsense. I am UTG and get dealt AcKc.

I decide to limp for 200, and the person next to act raises to 800. Now, normally I'd flat call him here when it is folded round to me, because if an Ace comes on the flop, if he has a weaker Ace, it is virtually impossible for him to put me on AK, and I will likely win all his chips.

However, I am forced to change the plan when THREE other people call the raise to 800. Since there is now 3700 in the pot before I have decided what to do, a unique opportunity has presented itself. I actually have to chance to execute a squeeze play with a premium hand. Make no mistake, when I push for 2000 more I don't want any callers, because of the size of the pot. However, my actions certainly look like AA or KK rather than AK, and it is pretty hard for people to call without really strong hands, even given the size of the pot.

I give it a little thought and decide to push (I really think there is no other option here given the way the hand has played out), but unfortunately I am called in two spots by JJ and AQ. In fairness, they both give it a bit of thought before doing so, and incredibly it's the AQ with scoops the 10k plus pot as two Queens rain down on the flop to bust me and the JJ holder.

Good idea, terminal outcome.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,330
Live Holdem Cash (1,961)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (760)
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,932
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,817)
60,199

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Home Game IV

Date: Mon, May 5, 2008 Professional

The latest installment of the home game provided the usual mix of alcohol, a deep stacked tournament and a hyper agressive short handed holdem/omaha/irish cash game. In attendance were myself, Shazbo, Fluke, Maltese Mike, Sir Mike, Honest Dave, Tom, Briony, Jody, Jason, Uncle Paulie and Professor Geoff.

The tournament started with 10k in chips and 30 minute blinds, so plenty of room for manouver. However, this didn't stop the other table going potty during the first two levels, the action likely caused by Tom. Professor Geoff and Briony were early casualties in the tournament.

I placed 3rd to sneak into the cash and a £200 payout, so doubling my money. A few key hands:

Hand1
I raise with A9 to 300 on the button and it's called by Fluke in the BB.
Flop 10, J, 4
Check, Check
Turn Q to give me a ton of outs
Check Check
River is a 5
I bet 400 hoping to steal the pot, but Fluke makes a hero call with Ace high. However, my 9 kicker luckily secures the pot.

I bumble along to the final table, winning a number of small pots and, at that point, a number of key hands occur

Hand2
Folded round to Jason in the SB who limps (blinds 300/600). I am relatively short stacked on about 6k so I push to pick up the 1200 in the pot with A9. Pretty questionable play, and I am instacalled by Jason with A10, who limped anticipating this move. However, a 9 arrives on the flop and all is well - Jason now shortstacked.

Hand3
Fluke raises UTG to 1800. Folded round to me in the BB and I flat call with QQ.
Flop 10, 7, 2
I check, Fluke pushes for about 5k and I instacall. Fluke is drawing pretty thin with AJ and the Queens hold to elimate him. The check on the flop did the trick there - Fluke was relatively short stacked after suffering a bad beat to Shazbo a few hands earlier.

Hand4
Infuriating hand. Shazbo raises to 1800 on the button (we are down to 5 players). I flat call in the BB for 1200 more with 8h9h. At this stage I have worked up to about 22k in chips after the Fluke elimination.
Flop 8s, 4d, Jh
I bet 3k and it's called
Turn 9s
Check Check
River As
I have two pair and am feeling pretty good about the hand. I check to give Shazbo the chance to bluff, but what I wasn't expecting was for her to bet 150% of the pot by going all in for 14k. Horrible situation - if I call and lose I am crippled and down to about 3k. Not much makes sense but perhaps I've let her river a flush. Set? Doubtful as she would have bet the turn with the straight and flush draws. Q10 perhaps? I pass and am shown pocket 3s. Gutted. This hand costs me the chance of winning the tournament, as Maltese Mike and Jody are very deep stacked.

While I dribble down to about 8k, Shazbo is elimated, so at least I make the money. The blinds catch up with me so fast tough, because I am the short stack and we are only 3 handed. I end up pushing from the SB with 10s2d but get called by Jody in the BB with Ace rag.

The second tournament I am eliminated in 4th place (I think). It was a blind v blind battle my AJ verses Tom's A10. The ten on the river was particularly galling, because not only had I missed out on the chance to cash in the tournie, but also had a £50 last longest bet with Tom, so the river card was a £100 card!

That brought me back to level for the night, but the cash game would cost me £150, so my dodgy run in April continues. I started nicely, but then suffered a disasterous Omaha hand described below, against Honest Dave. This hand also had implied tilt odds built into it, as after that hand I spent an hour happily tilting off anoth £70 or so to Dave, in a heads up game which finished at about 7am. It was a heavy night, and such was the severity of my hangover that I had to abandon plans to play the Sunday night online tournaments, which was a shame. Anyway:

Omaha Disaster Hand:
We are playing 4 handed, I think, and I have about £250 after a decent start. Dave is playing about £100 after losing a few recent pots. Memory is a lttle hazy at this stage in the morning, as myself and Dave have been drinking some weird lemon spirit for the last few hours, so Dave is invited to fill in any details of the hand in the comments if there are any inaccuracies ;)

Dave raises in the SB to £8. I call with 6c, 8d, 9d, 5c, and there is one other caller

Flop is 6s, 7s, Kd giving me bottom pair and a wrap straight draw

Dave bets the pot for £24 which I call and other player drop out - pot is £72

Turn is 10h giving me the nuts.

Dave bets £50 and I push, but Dave only has about £8 behind so makes the call.

He has (I think) Qs, 4s, 3d, Ad which gives him middle pin nut straight draw, togetger with Queen flush draw

River is a spade, and the £190 pot heads off to Honest Dave. Win that pot and it would have been a profitable night. Ah well. It's predominantly a tournament week this week, with 3 Loose Cannon tournies on consecutive nights. Hopefully I will achieve at least one cash to try and get some momentum going ahead of Newcastle, otherwise I'll be playing the UKPT as one of the most out of form players in the field!

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,430
Live Holdem Cash (1,901)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (760)
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,932
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,817)
60,359

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Losing Key Pots

Date: Fri, May 2, 2008 Professional

A disappointing couple of the nights down at the Loose Cannon. I played in two tournaments, and felt like I was playing well in both, building a decent chip stack. However, when the crucial pots came I missed out - one was a bad decision, the other was a bad beat. I'm not too disappointed, as at least I am getting into decent positions in tournaments, so hopefully a run of cashes will be just around the corner.

On the Wednesday, I had built myself up to about 7k from a starting stack of 2.5k. I then lost a medium size pot with 5 players left to go back down to 4k when the following hand came up. Blinds were 200-400 and I was in the Big Blind. It was folded round to the small blind, who put me all in! I looked down to see pocket 9s. I couldn't imagine he would do this with a big pair, so I figured he had AK/AQ in which case it would be a race, but I also thought there was a decent chance he would do this with 77 or 88 (him being the big stack and just looking to bully). I called, and he turned over QQ. Wow. A clever bet on his part I suppose, as he disguised the strength of his hand with the overbet, and was lucky enough that I woke up with a hand.

On Thursday I again began strongly, and was just getting some momentum up, with my stack sitting at 7k. Blinds were 200-400 and Hugh pushed all in for about 3.5k from early position. I pushed over the top of him with pocket tens but unfortunately was beaten out by A5. The final table started pretty much straight afterwards, and I drew seat 3 so was straight into the big blind at 300-600 and I never recovered. Busted out soon afterwards pushing with 77 and being called by 99.

A busy poker week coming up now. I am hosting a home game on Saturday, which features some pretty wild and agressive players, so the cash game post tournament should be fun. Sunday I am taking the opportunity to play the big online Sunday tournaments, because it is the bank holiday on the Monday. I am particularly looking forward to this, because I just haven't had enough time to play online recently, and these Sunday tournaments, while featuring huge fields, offer the chance of a big payday if you get a decent run going. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be spent at the Loose Cannon, as I play the Better Poker event, City 100 and the League on the three respective nights. The week after that I leave for Newcastle to play in the UKPT, which will be a decent warm up for WSOP.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,430
Live Holdem Cash (1,901)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,932
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,817)
60,659

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Provisional Vegas Schedule

Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 Professional

Vegas looks like it's going to be brilliant this year. I'd love to be able to stay for the full 6 weeks of WSOP, but will have to make do with 10 days. All the other casinos seem to have cottoned on to the fact that the WSOP simply doesn't offer great structures at the lower buy-ins, and there are numerous tournaments all over town which offer deep starting stacks, and reasonable buy ins. What the blind levels will be like in these tournaments remains to be seen, but I have heard the Venetian has a particularly slow one.

I've put together a schedule for the trip below - I've opted for all no limit holdem, because I haven't had enough time to practise Omaha this year, so entering big buy-in Omaha tournaments is likely to be negative expected value for me at the present time. My schedule may change, of course, depending on how many second days I make, and also, if I win early on, I may give the 10k heads-up championship event a bash. Failing that, this is what we are looking at:


8 June $540 Caesars
9 June $500 Binnions
10 June $540 Venetian
11 June $5,000 WSOP Event Rio
12 June $2,000 WSOP Event Rio
13 June $2,500 Venetian
14 June $250 Binnions
15 June $3,000 WSOP Event Rio
16 June $225 Caesars

Add to this 500 dollars for a few smaller "fun" tournaments, plus a 1,500 USD cash poker budget and I think we are looking a great few days. Stamina will be one of the biggest challenges to be faced - with 12pm starts every day, it will be vital not to be out on the pop too late into the Vegas mornings. Easier said than done..........

I am back on the live tournament trail for the next 2 nights, probably both times at Loose Cannon - I'll blog them later in the week.

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,590
Live Holdem Cash (1,661)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,932
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,801)
61,075

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Online Weekend + Upcoming Live Events

Date: Sun, Apr 27, 2008 Professional

Played a number of tournaments on Friday night, and it didn't go too well. I think I cashed once quite deep in the PokerStars 25k guaranteed, but this was not enough to prevent me being USD 800 down for the night. I think my treatment of online tournaments is going to have to change a little. At present I play many at the same time (up to 7 on split screens), but there are numerous downsides to this:

1) If you don't have a good night you lose $1k+ instead of $300
2) You can't see how the other players on your table are playing
3) You can't evaluate odds correctly and chase too many draws

Clearly, there are also advantages as well, but I play pretty loose in the early stages of online tournies, and my brain is just going into overload at the moment. I think I'm going to try to play 2 or 3 tournaments maximum from now on, and see how that works for me. I'm sure it's no coincidence that the 6 or so times I have cashed big in online tournaments over the last 2 years, I have played (for the most part of the evening) that tournament alone. This coming bank holiday weekend I have a rare chance to play the Sunday tournaments, so I'm going to try and put together a schedule that won't overcrowd my screen. It's always tricky, of course, as you are never sure how long you will last in a tournament, but I'll try and budget for 3 hours in each one I enter and see how that works.

I also had another small $100 win in my online cash challenge, which takes the roll up to $2k, but to be honest, I'm just not getting the time to play this enough, so I think I'm going to knock the challenge on the head for the time being.

It will also be Newcastle UKPT in a few weeks, so I need to get a bit more live tournement practice in before that, so I'll be playing (and blogging) live tournaments twice a week for the next month or so. After that, it's only 3 weeks till we leave for WSOP which I'm really looking forward to. Unfortunately, post Vegas I'll have used up most of my days off for the year (I've committed several days in the future to seeing my son) so it will be a bit less exotic after that. There's a chance I'll play WSOPE (althought the 10k GBP entry fee is eye-watering) and perhaps the UKPT Grand Final in November. Otherwise, it will be about building up the bankroll for next year, and trying out a few new playing styles ahead of 2009.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,590
Live Holdem Cash (1,666)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 53,932
Online Holdem Cash 16,996
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,801)
61,040

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Musings on receding hairlines

Date: Thu, Apr 24, 2008 Professional

Have you noticed that, since about 1995, any man under the age of 50 with a receding hairline has opted for the grade 1 or 2 all over buzz cut to disguise the soap opera unfolding on top of his head?

I have been off work for 2 days now with a virilent case of man-flu, and have had to endure wall to wall daytime television, punctuated by the world snooker championship. My thoughts on the receding hairline came while watching today's second round match between Peter Ebdon and Mark King. Now these boys have opted for a grade zero up top, and the relections coming off their heads, combined with the Crucible lights reflecting off the snooker balls didn't do my headache any favours. Whilst the skinhead option is understandable, it's a bit uniform and seems to have been taken up by the entire population. Perhaps trends will change, and in the 2012 match up between Ebdon and King, Peter will be sporting a Bobby Charlton style comb over and King will have a patchy affro similar to Dr Emmett Brown from Back to the Future.

You can tell it's been a boring few days...............anyhow - thought I'd give a quick update on this week's league match at LC on Tuesday night. Only 12 runners, which often happens when the day has to be changed from it's usual berth of a Thursday night. We were split into two tables of 6, and the action was fast and furious. Can't remember too many hands as I'm flued up, but here are a few:

Hand1
I raise to 150 with 5c7c and get called in two spots.
Flop: Ac, 10d, 2c
I bet 300 and get one caller
Turn is a brick - check, check
River misses my flush draw, but the guy has played the hand pretty weakly, so I put him on Ace Rag. I bet 700 which I hope would make him pass but he calls with A4. Bad start........

Hand2
Get involved in a large pot with Tom and McDee. Both myself and Tom end up all in on the turn with identical top 2 pair, and we chop it. McDee put a fair amount in the pot though, so it wasn't a bad result

I then win a few pots without showdown and head to the final table with about 6k, which is a bit below average. I win a few more pots with raises, and win a decent 1k pot pre-flop by re-raising a raiser to 1800 with QQ. We are down to 6 players:

Hand3
Deven pushes all in for 3000 total on the button (blinds 150/300) and I hold AJ in the Big Blind. If I lose this it will really cripple my stack, and I worry that I am completely dominated or racing. I suppose he might have A10, but my read on Deven is that that is the only hand I am beating, so I pass. I think he probably had 77-JJ there, but we'll never know. Not sure about whether that was the correct laydown or not to be honest.

Hand4
Very next hand I find Ah8h in the small blind. and when folded around I make up the small blind (400 now). Chip leader Fluke, who has been experimenting with a new LAG approach bordering on manical, raises to 1200 in the BB. I'm starting to feel pushed around after the lay down last time, so decide to flat call and see what the flop brings.

Flop 3, 8, 9

This looks a pretty good flop for me - it's low enough to not give Fluke a straight draw with big cards, and also if I was dominated with a big Ace preflop I am winning now. I decide to risk that he doesn't have a big pair and push all in for 5k in total (it's an overbet, but this pot is big enough to put me in decent nick for the run in.

Unfortunately he has the one hand I can't see, a set of 3s and I'm virtually drawing dead, and out in 6th spot.

A bright spot, however, is that I am pleased to report a winning live cash session! Not much, about £70 I think, but maybe it's the start of better form in that discipline. I also played a little online cash while ill, and boosted the bankroll challenge by 70 dollars or so in a little under an hour. Updated results below:

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,590
Live Holdem Cash (1,666)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 54,832
Online Holdem Cash 16,896
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,801)
61,840

Online Cash Challenge Bankroll 1,870

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Playing monsters when short stacked

Date: Tue, Apr 22, 2008 Professional

From time to time, I like to go over previous entries in my blog and see if I am playing any situations in a way that doesn't seem to be optimal. I think I have found one - the situation where you are short stacked (7 big blinds or less), and get dealt AA or KK.

For me, if I see someone with a small stack limp or raise 3 times the blind in early position, I frequently put them on a huge hand. If you have AK, AQ, or pocket pairs you should push every time with a short stack. Several times, when I am the big stack, I have passed a decent hand in this scenario and it has turned out they have Aces or Kings. However, I am not sure that some players pay the same attention to opponents' stack size as I do.

Four times this year, I have been in the situation where I have about 7 big blinds, and been dealt Aces or Kings. To me, the best way to disguise the hand is to push all in. If you limp it looks like Aces, if you raise 3 times the blind it looks like Aces. If you push all in it could be anything, particularly if the pot is unraised. However, the results when I have done this have been disappointing - Fold, Fold, Fold and Fold.

I'm going to make a slight adjustment to my game and do a small raise in future in this scenario. I'm going to keep a dirty stack when I get short, and see if anyone makes the effort to count out what I have to see if this improves results in this scenario.

I would add though, that in a major tournament, pushing is still the way to go. When I got short stacked in Dublin, I pushed all in from the small blind with pocket Jacks with ten big blinds, and an unraised pot. Graeme Newman, a top player, called me with K10. No way in a million years he calls if I raise it to 3 times the big blind in that spot.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,690
Live Holdem Cash (1,806)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 54,832
Online Holdem Cash 16,826
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,801)
61,730

Online Cash Challenge Bankroll 1,800

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Another Clay Court Car Crash

Date: Fri, Apr 18, 2008 Professional

Good grief...........when will the live cash game pain end. I don't think I was even outdrawn in a hand.

:(


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,690
Live Holdem Cash (1,806)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 54,832
Online Holdem Cash 16,826
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,801)
61,730

Online Cash Challenge Bankroll 1,800

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Bus Pass

Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2008 Professional

I had my first live tournament win since the Irish Open last night. Only a £30 tournament, so £190 for first, but it was nice to get back in the winners' enclosure after a barren month or so on the live scene.

Both the hand that kick started my tournament, and the hand that won me the heads up, involved me holding the mighty hole cards of T6 offsuit. I was hoping to find a fancy nickname for this starting hand, but it doesn't seem to have one yet. The best I could come up with was 6T = 60 = old age freedom pass on the London Underground. So Bus Pass it is then.

Anyhow - on to the key hands of the evening:

Hand1

I raise to 150 with KhKd in early position (sometimes I get cute here with a limp, but the table was playing pretty loosely so there wasn't much point).

One customer (Mitch) and we go to the flop:

Ks, 9d, 8d

I bet 300 and am called by Mitch.

Turn is Ace clubs

I risk a check, because I want him to think I am scared of the bullet, and he is an agressive player. However, he checks behind.

River is a blank.

I bet 500 and he passes.

I then fritter down to about 2400 from a starting stack of 3000.

Hand2 - (stone cold bluff alert)

Sonny raises on the button to 500 (blinds 100-200). Slider calls in the SB and I find a "Bus Pass" in the BB. Hmmm - terrible hand but only 300 into a total pot of 1500. I call.

Flop A, A, 2

Checked around

Turn is a 3

Slider checks, I bet 500 and Sonny calls, looking a bit reluctant. Slider passes.

River is another blank, and I decide that since I am first to act I am going to push for 1400 to try and pick up the decent pot. I've played the hand like I have Ace rag - I flat called in the BB. I checked the flop with the initial agressor behind me. I bet small on the turn, and now I've pushed on the river to maximise my value. Sonny eventually passes pocket 7s and the bus pass is triumphant! Phew. Up to about 5k heading to the final table.

Hand3

Tom is deepstacked and has raised four pots in a row. Sure enough he raises to 1250 in early position (blinds 200-400) and I resteal with AsJs by pushing all in for about 5k. Unfortunately, he has AK on this occasion and snap calls me.

The first 2 cards are low red cards, and it's looking bleak, but my favourite dealer, Hassan, delievers three running spades to save my bacon, and give me the nut flush.

Hand4

We get down to 6 handed. I make up the SB to 600 with A9 and Slider checks.

Flop 2, 5, 10

Check, Check

Turn is a King

I check and Slider bets 900. Now, Slider knows that I think he is too tight as a player so I will respect his bets. However, I wondered if he was trying to make a point by loosening up specifically on me, so I decide to call.

Check, Check - my Ace high is good ;). That was a case of I know, that he knows that I know.

Slider, Sonny, Fluke and a young new guy are all elimiated and it leaves myself and Tom heads up.

I start about 3-1 down on the chip count, but get back to near parity when the huge heads up hand occurs:

Hand5

Blinds are 600-1200, and Tom makes it 3600 to go. I call with Q9.

Flop K, K, 3

Check Check

Turn is a Queen

Tom bets 5000 which I call

River is a 3

I check and Tom pushes all in, and has me covered (I have about 9k behind). This is a tough one - there is not much I am beating except an outright bluff. I have the Queen, but there are 2 pairs already out there and I don't like my kicker considering Tom raised pre-flop. I still have a playable stack left as well. However, eventually I make the call and beat Tom's Ace high kicker with the 2 other pairs.

Tom was now left with about 4k, and I wanted to finish it off quickly. Tom stole a few blinds, when I couldn't call with 23 etc, but on the 3rd hand I find another T6 "buss pass" and put him all in from the small blind. He calls and is ahead with Queen rag, but I am not far behind, and hit one of my cards on the river to finish the game.

These bus passes are magic - good old Red Ken.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,790
Live Holdem Cash (1,106)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (10,291)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 54,832
Online Holdem Cash 16,826
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,791)
62,540

Online Cash Challenge Bankroll 1,800

Read Full Poker Blog Post