Online poker break- doing well. Havent played a hand in what feels like an eternity and don’t miss it.
New job is much more tiring and satisfying, GET IN!
Played 2 tournaments at Luton recently. I played a £5 re-buy for the fun of it and a quick peek at cheeseypoker.com showed that the 1st prize in this is often £500+. That is superb for this number of runners at these stakes. Well, sat down at a loosey table and quickly saw there were only 35 runners. Played my usual game and got to see top trips TWICE in the opening 2 levels and get paid on both. Starting stack= 500. End of level 2 = 4.7k. Sitting pretty I then get hit when my opponent outplays me and makes me lay down the best hand with a well timed bluff (move logged-tell located!!).
A little after the rebuy period ends I broke a regular when this happened. I get dealt A10d in the cutoff in a pot with 2 mp limpers. SB limps also and we see a flop of J6A rainbow. SB,BB and 1st limper bets ¼ of the pot. It comes to me and I decide to buy some info and raise 2/3 of the pot. All fold round to the 1st limper who asks me how many chips I have, when he can clearly see we have about the same amount. He says "im putting you all in". Now this is out of character and overtly aggressive, I know the player is a nice guy. BUT he did limp in EP and I think he is good. Now previously I would prolly fold this hand here as there is a chance he has something like JJJ or 666 or most likely AJ. But I go with my gut that he is bluffing and call and he shows J9. Nice try mate, but you’ll need to do better next time. No lucky spikes and I’m one of the leaders. I keep building my stack and then disaster strikes. I double up 2 short stacks when I get my chips in with marginal hands 88v AA preflop (ooops) and dump a fair few greens. But I cling on to the final table where I play ok. Basically my cards at this point were obsolete. I go all-in with 4,2 and steal the blinds form MP. Same again with 79s from the button. I then go 3 rounds without getting a chance to be the 1st raiser, any Ace, or any sort of pot odds. When its my BB I only have 2* the BB left so obv I defend with 7,6 v Q10 and lose. Never mind, 6th place I think.
Played the £10 re-buy comp at the same venue on Tuesday. Cracking tournament. Guy to my left is an excellent player and even better, he had the vvvvv bad habit of showing me his hand whenever he looked at his cards !!!! I saw EVERYTIME!!!!!
Morally wrong? Should I have said something? IMAO I think not. EVERYTHING that happens at the poker table is competitive. If he was a mate, id tell him. Table looked fairly soft. An elderly gent to my left thought 33 was a RERAISING hand pf. A guy 2 to my right bet his flush draws every time (as well as middle pair in multi-way pots) and the oriental guy opposite me was truly awful. Happy day’s. I double up early with JJ v 77 aipf. Then I get some more when I find AJ and call an all-in bet preflop by a loose cannon who shows A7. Then this little bitch. I have KJ in late position. 3 limpers, im not concentrating and limp also. MISTAKE! Cutoff limps (I didn’t even bother to see his hand as I was reading !!! doh!!). Flop comes K105 with 2 diamonds. All check, I bet the full pot with this connected board. Cutoff calls. EP calls also. Turn, a lovely black 6. As I cant put them on a made hand due to the dangerous nature of the board I go all in and get called by K5s (there is also a spade flush draw now). Fuckit. I rebuy and add-on after a couple of minor pots and end the re-buy with 3500.
After the break I find myself seeing a free flop from the BB with A9s. Flop comes A82. I check, as do the 3 others. Turn comes Q giving me a 4 flush draw also. I bet ½ the pot hoping to get action off someone with a Q. I get called by a rookie in late position. All of a sudden im worried about him having 2 pair (likely to be A2 based on previous betting patterns. River comes a 9. I look at the board and decide the best way to get paid is to make a "bluffalike" bet hoping that he puts me on a busted flush draw. I try and give out a reverse tell with a bit of chip banging and staring as I raise the full pot. Dumb move. Fuck reverse tells, I should have put him on a hand…THEN decided what to do. OBV in retrospect he has either a weak ace (doubtful), a Queen (likely), or a busted flush draw. Given that it is impossible to find out which I should go with % likelihood. If he has a busted flush, I should induce the bluff (which would have to be large given the pot size). ?If he has either of the other 2 I should value bet and sell my hand. I think (and feel free to disagree) that I should have bet v.small. This gives him the option to bluff if he percieves weakness, ensures he at least calls and allows me time to study him. He folds. He had QJ. Dang.
Little later I get chips when I have 10,6s in the BB. Flop comes Q93 with 1 heart. Turn is a 10hearts and I check raise when the Button (only other player involved, mediu7m stack) raises ½ the pot and I think he is flushing. He lays down J7hearts mentioning pot odds (a player like that is a genuine genius here).
Then all of a sudden we are down to 3 tables from 12. 1st prize is about £1500 so not to be sniffed at. Im hovering in push mode at about 6k chips (average is 10k). The blinds pass through me and im shown a "steal" by the button with AJ. He genuinely thought that was a move…?
I finally find AQs in MP and go all-in after an EP limper. He has 10’s. Flop is KKK. Turn 3, River Q! Lovely. Back into breathing space with 11k. 2 hands later I get KK UTG+1. EP player (vvv good indian older chap who has won a LOT of tournaments limps). Now this STINKS but im going with this hand. I raise the pot (effectively me all-in with only 2k held back) as blinds are 1600/800. All fold around to the BB, who must have coated his dentures in speed or something. Elderly, greying chap says this out loud…honestly, I couldn’t make it up…."Limp in trap 1, pot raise in trap 2, hmmmmmm……call". Ali gets out of the way in a micro (AJ) and we see a flop of AJ4. I think im fucked and start getting up, he says "you are way in front" and flips 44. Horrible 4 spike on the river and im in such a rush to get home (and I hate whingers at the table- save it for youtr blog ;) ) I don’t bother whining. The other players at the table berate the guy and tbh its vv frustrating when you don’t win those ones.If I win that im up to 24k and can start to prey on the shorties hovering around the 6k mark without being worried. Ces’t la poker, learnt a lot and had fun on my second table which was full of jokers.
Should play on Saturday but going to the theatre tonight and busy Sunday (shooting small furry things).
Have fun guys, remember, that’s the name of the game out there.

Short post. New job is COOL and dont have the time for online poker anymore. Will be playing a little live for the fun of it but thats it. Im having an online poker break until the end of the world cup. Its time to recharge.

GL all you addicts ;)

Played HU last night for £20. Played well, but im glad this wasnt the WSOP. Grinded the Artist down till he was short stacked and the blinds were huge. £20 starting chips, blinds £1/£2 and he goes all-in. I have the cowboys, but we both agree his 8,5 o is in fine shape. He duly hits his Straight on the river. A little later, we get it all in the middle with him having a slight chip lead. I have K9, and the "artist" has K6 sooooted. He makes another straight....Ill get you next time gadget!!

This is unashamedly pinched from Iggy’s blog. But I liked it and, if we keep really quiet, he will never know.
Ill give a detailed post in a week or so, work is busy and im looking forward to it, funnily my poker is just the opposite. COME ON THE ARSE!!!!!!

THE EDGAR ALLEN POKER GAMEBy: Phil Cerasoli'Twas past midnight, damp and dreary, I in bed awake but wearyTrying vainly to establish with sound slumber a rapport,When I heard a sound so muffled, sounded like cards being shuffledComing from the other side of my sturdy bedroom door.I tossed and turned and said, "It is the wind and nothing more".But the sound it was remaining. With bravado in me drainingI donned my robe and tiptoed to my sturdy bedroom door.I opened it a crack, peeked out and saw the backOf a man who was just sitting, playing cards upon the floor."'Tis a nightmare of my mind," I said, "Just this and nothing more".'Twas a cloak draped 'cross his back and a Raven, shiny black,Was facing him and pacing in a circle on the floor.My jaw dropped when I heard the soft voice of that huge birdSaying, "Deal me in this card game for a couple hands or more".And the man tossed four chips to him; four blue chips and nothing more.Then I must have made a sound, for he slowly turned aroundAnd his face was pale as misty, eerie fog that hugs the shore.Then he whispered to me low, "I'm the ghost of Allen PoeWho has come here to play poker as I did in days of yore.'Tis a poker game I'm craving. Only this and nothing more"."Won't you sit in for a while?" he asked me with a smile,"It will make a better card game than it was an hour before".And, not wanting to incite him, I slowly walked beside himMeekly asking what the stakes were as I sat down on the floor."Penny-ante," said the stranger. Quoth the Raven, "Nothing more."From the start I had a streak of luck that reached its peakBy my winning all the pennies that the two had owned before.Then the man said, oh so slyly, (as the Raven grinned so wryly),"This low stake game we're playing I'm beginning to abhor."Then by all means", said the Raven, 'we should surely play for more".Then the man, with gesture bold, from his cloak withdrew some goldIn a bag that was so heavy that to move it was a chore.His sly look I failed to heed for my soul was filled with greedAs I saw the golden coins from the sack begin to pour."Yes," I whispered weakly, "We should surely play for more".Then he said in voice so solemn as he stacked coins in a column,"The hour grows late; I'm weary, so we'll play but one hand more.If you win, my gold you'll own. If I win then it's your homeThat will be mine to have and keep...to keep forevermore".Quoth the Raven: "Evermore".I said, "That's fair, I feel." Then the man began to dealAnd the cards I had were aces and the aces numbered four.I said, "My hand is pat and I'm only sorry thatThe pot has been established and that we can bet no more."Quoth the Raven: "Bet some more!""He speaks true," I then was told, and the man pulled out more goldAnd tossed it with the other coins that were strewn across the floor."But I cannot match your bet," I sadly said, "but, yet,I must have something left; something you two would adore".Said the Raven, "You in bondage. Only this and nothing more"."He speaks wisely", said the man. "If you want to bet, you can.But lose and you're our slave and servant now and evermore".I stared at my four aces, smiled and looked at my guest's faces,Sealed the bet and spread my aces down and out across the floor.Said the Raven in a whisper, "I see aces numb'ring four!"The face of Poe just glowered as his poker hand he lowered'Til it covered my four aces that were resting on the floor.Then amid a quiet hush, I saw his small straight flushAnd knew that I was beaten and was doomed forevermore.Said the Raven, "You in bondage here and now and evermore".Now on dark nights, cold and dreary, my sore body grows so wearyAs I dust and wash and clean and sweep the droppings on the floor.While my master and his Raven live in comfort in their havenWith their slave who's held in bondage, held in bondageEvermore.
As a side note I want people’s opinions.
After Arsenal beat Juventus in the 1st leg of their CL ¼ final I was owed £20 by a good friend. He offered me 6-1 on Arsenal winning the comp for the £20. I reasoned that was a good price so took it. We since qualified for the final. After looking at Barca recently (and getting scared I might lose) I offered him a deal, instead of the existing bet- he would pay me £60 now and we would play HU for £20 where I was freerolling. So if I win the poker, I get £80 and if I lose I get £60. He accepted and brilliantly outdrew me in a way only the "artist" can. Did I make a good deal on the footie? I think it was fair.

Just spent about 2 hours playing on the .10/.20 tables, multitabling 4 at a time and playing solid poker. Registered a losing session of about -$20. I now remember the good (bad) old days when i would grind out small cash wins on UB simply waiting till i flop the nuts. That is what the games are like down there. Honestly, i think some of the .10/.20 cash game players are incredible. So measured.... and tighter than a Catholic virgin on Sunday, in church. Not sure what ill do now as the game plan has taken a hit. Historically Saturday nights are were i win. Ill let this session go but i cant see me being able to do well enough down here to beat the rake. Might have to go back to grinding the SnG's where the variance is lower and the skills needed harder to learn (who am i kidding).
On another note, i injured my leg playing footie on Thursday and my GOD its fucked now. The knee joint barely moves anymore. A huge congrats to Liverpool FC and Stevie G. Fucking Awesome is all i can say about his second goal. The commentator got it spot on when he said it was like a tracer bullet. Very unlucky for the Hammers, but with the quality they showed they will get other chances. Cant wait for Wednesday now. Arsenal in the Champions League. If we win (doubtful, i reckon we are about 2/3 ;) ) ill be taking £140 of "me mate dave's" hard earned (ROFL) pounds. Seeing as im funding his education through these fucking taxes ill view it as a rebate.

Ill check in later. Gonna have to pimp ukgatsby.blogspot.com

Coz i STILL cant get the link right.

GL all

Not a great evening, but in terms of my new objectives, not a bad one. I played the 20k gtd last night and spent about $60. I played reasonably well and could have done better if my AJ had beaten an A4, sigh. I really wish I knew what to do with the "marginal" hands when the blinds are high and you have a short/medium stack size. It seems I am always making weak decisions with these hands that cost me long term. I could have pushed with 2 hands yesterday 77 and 66 and tripled up both times as I was against AK and AJ both times respectively. But Im still learning. There are times when I like pushing with these hands- specifically against a steal from the cutoff,button or SB when im in the BB, but are there other occasions where the medium pairs are pushworthy (bearing in mind you have a functional stack)?
I played few hands in the rebuy period, doubling up with QQ v 99 and getting some more chips when I flopped the nuts from the SB with 64 on a flop of 664. As there were 2 spades out I led at the pot and got a lot of chips when the river brought the 8s completing the straight and flush draws. After that card dead for a while, got caught bluffing at a pot and got snapped off. Then had a nice hand where I flopped a gutshot str8 draw with 2 connecting overs and a backdoor flush draw. Im holding 10Jc and the flop came 783 with 1 club. After both blinds check I bet and get min-raised by the SB. As the blinds were still low and the BB also calls I let the turn peel off revealing a lovely 9c. They both check, I bet, SB raises….then I make the mistake of inst-all-in. I have the (shocking) tendency to do this when I have a monster and he must have got the vibe. He laid down 2 pair and the BB laid down A SET OF 8’s!!!!!!!!
Congratulations to that chap- I know I couldn’t do it. But tell me, is that a winning play long term?? I’m definitely in the minority of players that would call a gutshot str8 draw on the flop so I question his lay-down. Pretty damn sure its –EV against the range of hands I could be pushing with there.
Later on I turn into some sort of weak/passive twat who bleeds off tons of whips limping with small pp’s and AJ in EP, only to see a large raise round the back and be forced to fold. Why do I even play them there? Raise or fold. It makes the decision easier later. I then went card-dead for a while and saw 2 limpers on my BB. I had already decided preflop that I was pushing with any 2. Blinds were 800/400 and about to go to up. My stack was 6k. I found KJ and with the 2 limpers and the SB completing I pushed and got called by A10. Shame really, as nearly every other player on that table would have folded that hand, but the guy was good and he knew I was frisky. No help for me, 3 aces for him and im out. 93rd or something and not a bad stint, just needed some cards when the crunch arrived. Still, cant wait for aces all day long.
I played a $15 SnG and came a pathetic 3rd after going for gold and getting my case chips in with K5 v K10. I had the odds if I wasn’t dominated and put him on a weak ace. But why do I always seem to get into shit CALLING!!!!
I played a little cash last night and had a poor session. The juicy tables I just couldn’t get on. So I went for a couple of passive ones and made the mistake of sitting next to one of the best cash players at this level I have ever played against. The guy is awesome, lays down great cards when he knows you have monsters, changes gears seamlessly and always gets his monsters paid off hansomely. So bright spark here decided to sit next to him and take advantage of when he loosened up. I got the better of him when he overplayed aces out of position against me on a board of 77J when I had 87s. Could have made more but did the insta-all-in when the pot got huge and he recognised the move and folded. But then I suffered with this hand. I have 1010 on the button. An EP laggy player limps UTG+1 on a 6 handed table. I raise to $2. He re-raises to $5 to play. THIS IS WHERE I SHOULD FOLD!!!!!
I call and these are the problem flops. The flop hits you just hard enough to get you to play on. Flop comes 78J. He bets, and I want to see where I am as I think he could easily have AK and have missed the flop. Good player, he calls. Can you guess what he has yet? Im struggling, as with that sort of coordinated board why would he let the turn come off softly. I reason he has to have an absolute monster, ie top trips or AA. I pray for a 10 as I know ill get paid. The little beauty duly arrives, and gives me the straight. He bets on the turn, $10, which indicates to me that now he is worried about letting me catch up. Now I know this chap is good, but he has a tendency to marry his hand and I know he is a calling station on the river. So instead of raising on the turn- WHY WHY WHY- the pot was already $70 and we both only had about another $50 back I flat call trying to trap him for all his chips on the river. River arrives, J. Now this does 2 things, scares the shit out of me for minute, as I think he has quads. Then I think he probably doesn’t have them. I actually contemplate asking the rest of the table if they folded a J hehe. He checks, now conventionally I "know" I should check here…he will fold losing hands and raise with monsters with a board like that. So dickhead here decides that he must have KK/QQ/AA and will have to call for pot odds. Pot = $80 so I bet $25. He thinks for a while, then goes all-in. Now I have no idea where I am. Im either massively infront, or he has the house. But I think he would surely value bet his house on the river right??, right???
I call, and the guy has Quad Jacks, nh sir. Lost interest after that and dropped another buy-in before the platelets started working and I stopped bleeding $ all over the shop.
Ended up broken and bruised, but still intact (kinda). Im now operating with about £95. Positively, I have designed a spreadsheet- WHICH I USED!!! and also logged my results quickly. I will be dropping down the buy-in to .10/.20 short-handed for a bit till im back up to the required level. As a secondary though, I will only be playing the rebuy tournaments in future if I have a bankroll in excess of 20* greater than 3*the rebuy amount. IE $18 rebuy, I will need $18*3= $56. 20*56= $1120. Obviously wont be playing for a while, but when I do it will be without chains and ill be able to go for 1st with a vengeance. Only exception to this is if I have a superb session on cash, buy into a $25 SnG and come 1st or 2nd. Got to have incentives right ;)
So, in truth a poor night, but a single poor night wont destroy me. Im looking at the weeks/ months/ years bottom line from now on. Im out on the piss tonight and and seeing the missus on Saturday. On Sunday I might play the Luton £5 re-buy comp in the afternoon and some cash/small stakes tournies in the evening.
Gl all.

World Poker Exchange. Rake Free Poker. This is the kind of wake up call the price-fixing bastards that charge extortionate rake need. Hopefully it will set the trend in online rake- ie. none at all. They make loads on the transactions in and out every day.

Tip of the Day

Get outside and see some sun. Stop reading this drivel an visit bodogari.blogspot.com for some insight into the world i want to be part of :(

Records Management
Due to recent online disasters through poor money management I have decided to start keeping record. There is a nice facility for this on the http://hendonmob.comif you wanna try it out. But this blog is where I am going to keep score. Starting from today every score will be recorded and every session logged. Im going to use today (boss’s day off ;) ) to design a spreadsheet specific for my needs. I will be setting online and live goals.

Goals
To turn my starting bankroll into 50* the starting amount. Ill be playing mainly cash games where I know my hourly rate is v.good. Starting bankroll is £100 so 5k by 2007 is the plan. This will be from playing solely on VC poker where the table layout is nice and the customer service excellent.
To win outright 3 Luton tournaments.
To play more live tournaments THAT ARE APPROPRIATE TO MY LEVEL OF PLAY. No more £100 freezeouts until I win a £10 rookie night.
To use correct money management skills and not risk going broke on any 1 hand. An absolute maximum of 10% of my bankroll on any 1 table. This will drop to 8% and then 5% at predefined intervals as we move North ;)
To final table in the 15gtd at least once a fortnight. I have a strong record in this tournament and this will be one of the only online tournaments I play- and ONLY after winning the buy-in from cash games.
To practice good game selection and GREAT seat selection.
To practice good poker, whatever that may be.
To continue learning.
To keep record and update this blog religiously.
To not play when I feel tired, upset, tilty or if not 100% focused on the job in hand.
DISTANT GOAL- to final table in the $100k gtd. This tournament will only be being entered once my roll has reached £2k.
To get enough traffic on this blog to sell some advertising space ;)

So there you are. Those are the goals and im going to stick like glue to the game plan.
Results- from last night.
Starting roll = £108
Finishing roll = £135
Duration = 65mins
A nice starting session. Simply focused on targeting known weak players and loose tables and went from there. Could have been more but never got the hands at the right times. Made money when holding JJ in EP. I raised and got 2 callers.Flop was the magic J55 with 2 hearts. I bet small and get 2 callers, the trick here is to bet hoping that they have a flush draw. You can’t charge people on the river after they have missed all draws (also adds deception but on this table that REALLY didnt matter). Turn 8h putting the flush out. I bet small again and there is a raise and a call. I opt to flat call this but in retrospect could maybe have made more by betting. River is an A. I bet and get raised. Late position, a very strong player lays down the nut flush I believe…I re-raise and the poor sod has A5. Big pot that 1. I had some more winning hands by purely focusing on bad players and the silly little things they do. Failing to protect top trips on a flushy board then getting maried when the 3rd spade comes for example. Or getting married to big pairs when an overcard comes along. Or being bluffable when a scare card comes and I have position.
I don’t play good enough poker to beat about 35% of the players out there. But I don’t need to. I must continually recognise this.
But the 1st day is over. I kept score, logged my results and as an added bonus made some $…. A moot point. Im in for the long slog now. Ill move up to .50/1.00 when I have £650. Which at my usual rate ($18/hour) should "only" take 36 hours. Add some bad luck, setbacks and tournament buy-ins and I guess 50 hours is a more realistic figure. Wish me luck and all the best to each and every one of you. (Editors note: that’d be 5 of you then :)).

Poker. Puggy Pearson said there were 3 things to becoming a good poker player " knowing when you have the best of it, money management and managing yourself". He found the last one hard, I find the second. My cash game "game" has got very good lately, I seem to be able to make good $ multi-tabling and build up a decent bankroll. Then I do stupid things like play the $54 rebuy MTT or go loco in the $24 rebuy and lose $$$. I have cut down massively but need to work on my dedication and bankroll management skills. Iv lost another decent roll through playing a tourney that was out of my league and I MUST stop it. In a cash game, if I take a rough beat, I quit. In a tourney, I ALWAYS rebuy. I’m not going to deposit my own money, so it looks like ill have to wait until iv won something largeish at Luton to redeposit. There won’t be any great posts about me going deep in online MTT’s for a while……coz I won’t be entering them. I think my "real" return to online poker one way or the other will be around the WSOP when hopefully the publicity generated will make me more +EV. I only have to look at a recent post I made on secretsoftheamateurs.blogspot.com to see how dire my mentality had got. "Try and get into the money in SnG’s- don’t risk it all for the win"- losing mentality.
When winning, you ride high on a wave of confidence, have deep insight and are generally fearless. The opposite has been true of my online tournament play for a while now, so ill try and reverse it. I’m playing the "rookie" night at Luton this eve and I’m going for podium playing MY game. Making the right decisions, more often, because I have less. If that doesn’t make sense to you, fold to my raises. GL all, and especially to those fearless players who go with their gut and for 1st place, I was one once, and summer could see the final stage of my metamorphosis come full circle. More learning, less umming and ahhing, less calling, more raising, more pot odds and body language, less probability I’m beaten.
Tip of the day: Consult someone with some authority on Bankroll Management. I don’t have the first idea.

1 month of recovery. I recently have had some issues over the amount of poker I have been playing. I am well and truly addicted to tournament poker and I think it has become an unhealthy obsession. So, for a period of 1 month, possibly 2, I will be taking a break from playing poker. I will still be dipping into books and articles, following the results and learning. I have withdrawn all funds from my accounts and intend to let my younger brother play my action points for me. It would be nice for him to get some experience and if he cashes he can have it all.
The reason for this abstinence. Several members of my family have highlighted the fact that I probably get in about 40-50 hours a week of poker. I know these people have told me because they care and I know I will very shortly be referred to as "the one with the problem" if i continue without listening to their advice. Kind of fed up with justifying poker with the whole "its not gambling" tag when quite blatantly it is. So a break is in order. At the least it will convince them I am indeed ok (I naturally have an obsessive personality) and it will get me out of smoky cardrooms and allow me to refocus my game. Summer is here baby! There a re better things to be doing with my time than staying glued to a monitor!

But not before I share with you a mammoth weekend of hold-em fuelled antics. I played on Saturday at Luton. In the £10 re-buy I started off well and got a big stack early. Then I had a couple of nightmares. A medium stack raised largeish and I look down at Aqs. I decide to raise in the hope he has a hand he can lay down like AJ or 88. He doesn’t, he has KK and im halved. Then I have to play patient, get nothing, find A9 on the button and try a steal which gets called by 99 which holds and sends me out. I play a SnG soon after and come 4th after I make the correct decision based on pot odds and call with 88 v AK and lose.
£20 re-buy later. I get the most perfect starting table imaginable. Steve Templeman, Ali, a cash regular and 3 maniacal chinese folk. I flop 2 pair in a multiway pot with J10 on a board of J10Q. Ugly as hell board but I find out later I was miles infront as one chinaman has 77 and the other had 7Q. Triple me up please. Next hand I get QQ and get paid. I then get that same fucking hand again Aqs. I wont play this hand to a raise any longer. I call a short stack all-in and he has KK which holds. I make a move on a tight player and he calls my A5s re-raise with 88 and im crippled. Finally duck and dive to 3 tables left. I find QQ and get NO ACTION. I am forced to go all-in with A8 against KK and don’t spike the 1 remaining Ace in the deck. Side note to do-gooders. I DON’T want to fucking hear you have folded and ace. I am trusting to hope and I don’t want that dashed. I saw a guy all-in against another with 66 v 88 and another guy said "I passed 66". Great for you, but keep your trap shut. Got some £ though when I swapped % with players who are noticeably better than myself J
I then had to witness this remarkable play from a truly remarkable player. Steve Templeman is a regular player at Luton and several other venues. He is also a nice guy even if he does fall into the category of "huge ego, not a great player, but good at putting down beginners category". Now I have played at final tables with this guy before and he is remarkably lucky. After re-buying about 10 times at the starting table he finally got a stack. My mate Rob was chipped up along with Steve when the tables went down to 2. In a battle of the blinds Rob gets dealt Ajc and Steve KJh. No other players. Rob raises preflop and Steve calls. Flop comes 4810 with 2 clubs and 1 heart. Rob bets, steve raises, rob raises again and steve goes all-in which rob duly calls. Steve then hits running hearts to make his flush. The thing that makes this play so strange is that Steve is usually a good player. Did he know what cards were coming? Were they marked? You have to ask these questions when that happens. These were 2 of the big stacks at the table. Hmmmmmm………
And he has the nerve to say "you’ll be alright" to ME when I make a marginal call on the flop with a straight draw? Get real. Obviously Rob was a little upset and rightly so, it was one of the strangest plays I have seen made when deep in a tournament in POT LIMIT. Anyway, when we went back on Monday I was pleased to see the big friendly fish came 8th for £180 which probably didn’t cover his buy-in.
Don’t get me wrong I think he is a nice guy. Iv had many good conversations with him. But he CANNOT try and maintain the aura of a superior player and berate others play when he himself is a lucky boy.
Not much happened on Monday night. Got QQ beaten by QK on the river. Made a horrible play when I had 93c and this happened. Im in the SB. Board checked on every street. Final board, 6c2c7s9hJc. I check in the SB. BB bets 500 into a 1k pot, Alan goes all-in. I know he could be making this play with a straight. I think he would have raised with a flush draw on the flop/turn. I think he has a straight, I call and he indeed does have the Q high flush. I got my read wrong as he looked scared . He was of course scared, but of the higher flush. Crippled, I double up with Aks v Aqo then I get to the final table where I go all-in with K9 v QQ and don’t hit anything. My own fault. I should have laid it down.
And now the break begins. Can I say a quick well done to Poker Pete who had some cracking results this weekend winning the £10 NL Saturday game and the £25 NL Sunday evening game. Well done sir, I like it when the good guys win.
Ill be updating periodically. Gl all.

Tip of the day. AQ is a bitch of a hand to play if there has already been a raise. Depending on the raiser this could well be an instant lay-down from me in future.