Warning long post. Get it overlapped by some work incase your boss catches you. So my most hectic week of poker in 2007 is over and i am reasonably happy with my progress.

Started out in the 110 runner £200NL event. I have a new style in these kind of comps that basically goes after avery easy chip on the table from the moment the whistle goes off. Just playing position and almost any 2 cards knowing that i can play small-ball against most average opponents better than they can and recognising +EV situations when i find them. Never playing scared poker is the key.

So in the opening orbit iv moved from 5k starting to 8k then slow down a bit. Just getting ready to attack again when an interesting hand crops up which made me feel a little ill. 3 limpers ahead an i limp on the button with 7h8h. Jim McBride makes a big raise from the BB and all 3 limpers call. 1 guy had a big big stack as did Jim so i decided on taking a punt. Flop comes down 9c10hJc. Jim now bets 1k into 1.3k. Mateyboy (who looked crazy) goes ai for 8k. Action on me. I passed without a huge amount of thought and discussed the hand afterwards. Basically i dont want to risk my comp life there when im so happy picking up small pots little and often. Turns out Jim had AQ and mateyboy had 1010 which scooped after Jim passed. So i keep going nice and slowly knocking out the odd chap here and there when i get moved to a sickening spot 3 tables out. I am in the top 5 chip stacks and get moved to the right of Lloyd who has millions. I got squeezed twice and had one unusual hand. Rock with ave chips raises from the cutoff and i have JJ. I re-raise and Lloyd sets me all-in. Marvellous. Rock passes. I have 50kish and blinds are 600/1200. I elect to pass and im sure he had AK. The table screws down towards the end of the night as i start to catch a nasty chill from an AC unit above my head. Luckly this sparks some life into me and i go on a rampage before Lloyd snaps me again and i lose an AQv KK encounter to a medium stack. 12 players return for day 2.

That night i realise im pretty ill with ManFlu and go through the motions. Realise im a bit of a pansy. Return next day to play 7 hands. @ 800/1600 SB moves ai on me for 27k and i find KK. :). Not to be though as he spikes an ace and i dont get back in it. Annoyed as the comp only had rocks left in it and i would have fancied to outpoker most of them. Apart from Terry Mason who is golden and my Nemesis.

Not planning to play the 400NL as feel so rank but get put in by a couple of deluded regs who think im gods gift (cheers Alun/Nav) and get gifted the most fantastic starting table in the world. Only 1 other player there in the form of Vinni but we stay out of each others way for the most part (esp after i show him how good i suckout). The first 4 hours of this comp was the best tournament poker i have played. After my 1st multiway bluff got through v a young kid who deffo had my Q high beaten on the river my confidence was high enough to captain the table. Ian Woodley helped the table by letting me talk a load of shite and keep everyone amused whilst robbing every orphan pot in the world. Went from 5k to 20k in the first two levels. Then had Santa play me a visit when i raise with JJ from the button and the BB (with equal stack) min re-raises me. I call praying he has AA. Flop comes KJ4 and he goes all-in. I give him a token thought (for etiquetee) and then he shows A9 for, erm, no pair no draw. 40k baby. Nick a bit more an then limp in mid position with 3h4h. Damon D'Cruz raises pre with a 14k stack and im contemplating a fold as i like Damon a lot and dont want to bust him (only preson in Luton i dont always want to destroy) but then i kick myself and stop fannying about. I have implied odds, i know his game, i know his betting patterns, i know he checks behind when he misses AK. Flop comes 3c5h6h. Just a little draw for me then. I cr him ai and he has AA. Ian Woodley gives me some speech, i tell him to keep playing like a rock its worked well all year. =) 60k.

Then move table and its not so much fun. Dave Courtney/Jeff BuffenBarger, Woodley and some good Asian kid all have same stack as me. I lose about 20k on small mistakes, plus Dave Courtney nearly gets all my chips when he plays a hand so weird i thought it was a bluff. Table breaks and i think im getting a nice one but no its onto a very strong table. Jim McShane, Greek Jack, Jeff, Asian guy,Des Jonas, Other random pro, not liking this table so much.

Decide i need a good image build if im going to get away with murded when we close in on the final table bubble so begin to selectively rock up. Lose a few more k before playing a big pot against Jeff. He raise my BB relatively smallish and i have KsQs. Fancy playing this so have a look. Comes 2 low spades 9high and after i check he just moves in. Lol. These septics need some finesse. I decide this is a pretty good oppo and make the call getting pretty appalling odds. He flips KQ too. LOL. How good do i run. So he has no pair no draw and i am cold free-rolling the flush draw. Doesnt materialise and the nutter survives. I return along with 14 others for day 2.

Day 2 and im pretty well dead. This flu is a nasty bugger but Nina the cardroom mgr gives me plenty of paracetamol which was nice of her. I decide to open up now and target the players playing excessively tight abc poker. Im trying to play a big pot against Des or Greek Jack as i think thats where my leverage is. They have both been pretty observant about my tightness. So with 38k i open UTG+1 with A10o (8handed table). All fold to GJ who calls the extra 4k @ 1k/2k/100A. Flop comes 3d8sKd. He leads out for 8k into 13k and looks at me like he's gonna piss himself. He just lost a big pot to Jim McShane who called in the BB with 910. Im thinking he has an 8 here. He doesnt have AK, KQ or KJ i think he check raises me with. This look like a weak protective bet. I go into the tank because the stacks are awkward. If i push 32k more into 21k it looks pretty weak but i cant see less of a bet moving him off his hand. I study him for a while to make sure my read is pretty right and decide he deffo either has a flush draw or an 8, flush draw less likely as he didnt check his cards again before firing. Ok i think, this has to have a 65% chance of working which is plenty, he is tight, views me as tight and has no hand. But we dont play scared poker baby, we go with our gut and live with it. All you can eat. What happened next was my own fault. I settle down hand on chin, looking forward, glancing this way for a mo, then that for a while. HE gets his chips together and starts clanging the table, shit he's gonna call my senses start telling me, but deep down i know its a move and he wants me to give off something. So im pretty confident he's gonna fold and just want to seal the deal, so i open my mouth. Moron. Worst move in poker. I cannot try and get this inane babble past a real player and he duly looks me up with 810. Well played sir, i felt humbled. But oddly on the drive home i felt good, not only could i go to sleep but i went out trying what i thought would work at the right time. Just a shame it didnt.

To finish off the week i played the ecoop ME. 1000 runners $1000 buyin, 200k for 1st. 1 time baby. Played ok fromt he get go, manily because my opposition was so bad. Was hilarious watching them overbet buhe preflop then whine when they got outdrawn. The stacks were so deep compared to the blind that it was fun for a while. I went here and there for a while before finally winning with AK v 88 in a button/blind tangle then lost a 30k pot when the average was 30k with 66 on the button. I raise to 6k with blinds @ 750/1500 telling the blinds im commited as they both only have 15k and have been very active. The SB then has a moment of inspired brilliance and decided with 150 players left he wants to risk his tournament life with Q10o and jams for 8k more. I snap call this monkey, i thought i might win another race but it wasnt to be. I went out shortly after pushing K4 from the SB into the BB's A6 for 1/2 his stack. Nice call hero. Finished 148/994.

So at the end of the week i made two day two's and came close to life changing money once but didnt get there. I did however play some patches of faultless poker that im truly proud of, even if it ultimately wasnt rewarded financially.

Iv added a couple of blogs as the sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed. Longypoker should be a cracking little read. Longy is a member of blondepoker and from reading his hand analysis thoughts knows the game pretty well. He's only started linking and whored me out to say LONGY RULES!!!

Jim 77Dave McShane is one of the best all-round poker players in Luton. The golden boy for much of 2007 he has a tournament record in the local comps that speaks for itself but he makes most of his mulah creaming the cash. He has decided to move to Vegas to start a family with his fiancee and has started a blog to let his mates follow. Best of luck to the man.

Bazclef is another young pro trying to kill the SSNL and from what i saw the other night appears to have the right attitude. I still looked him up with 88 on a JQ663 board though (had to show him who's boss) but gl to him and iv linked you up.

Other than that there is a new shiny banner on the top of my blog. I was approached by the MD of this new British company that wanted to give me a few quid. I said stuff the money ill put it up and he said thanks. I get no money for this but its always good to support the growing uk poker economy and i wish all the best to this co.

Ok its 4.30pm and time i got to work. Xmas is expensive. I cant be arsed to proof-0read it so sod it if you struggle to understand. Cheers, Over and out.