WBCOOP Final here i come

Just a quick post to let you all know i got myself in the final last night. Pretty straight forward tourney tbh, built up a stack in the earlier levels then got too tight later on and found myself in the 10-15bb's range for the latter part of the tourney.

I ended up going out in 48th just b4 the other prizes kicked in as i had to aim for the final table for the bigger prizes. My 210 ai from the sb was called by the bb who found aj and i couldn't improve on a j104 flop.

At least for the rest of the qualifiers i can take advantage of the bubble, going to try and play a couple more and see if i can win anything worthwhile.

2700% bankroll increase!!!!

Just realised my last post claimed it was a $3 challenge but i claimed i found $4 in my account!!! Seeing as the post said $3 challenge i will carry it on as a $3 challenge.

Since my great start at these double your money sngs i went on a bit of a dip, not really losing money but breaking even. I had so far played my normal game, opening a lot of pots with wide range of hands and generally trying to outplay people. One of my leaks is def my play on the button as i don't believe i hammer it enough but i really started to do this a lot more.

I found another regular who plays these religiously, he had a star on sharkscope, i got talking to him and i asked him why he was still playing $5 sngs with the profit he's made. Turns out poker nearly took over his life so he quite playing high stakes and only plays these for a bit of pocket money. Anyway i noticed he went with traditional sng theory of sitting tight till the blinds go up where as my theory was to increase my stack by 50% in the first 3 levels so i can sit pretty when the blinds go up.

I thought my theory was best for these tourneys as i seemed to be getting better results than him but then after my dip i analysed the games a bit more and noticed that 90% of the time when the blinds went to 100/200 i would cash. So now i'm sitting tight and trying to stick around starting stack till the 50/100 level.

Since taking this approach my results are buzzing again cashing in 12/15 games. Hopefully i won't go through a long dip again but i feel like i can sustain a very high roi at these stakes.

My balance now stands at $84, i think i will move up to the $15 games once i reach $200+.

Stats at the mo are:

Games played : 65
ROI : 23%
Ave profit : 1.27
Profit : 82.69

Even though i know the roi is too high at the mo and should come down as i play more and can't help but think i am cruising through these and that with my new tactics i can actually improve on this, here's hoping.

$3 Challenge

As the dollar is so strong and i'm pretty broke i decided to cash out all my dollars from the sites i no longer use. I found $4 left in my Interpoker account so i've decided to see if i can turn that into $400.

Obviously so sensible bankroll management to start off and played a $2 sng which i lost, then onto the cash tables playing 3p/6p and got a quick double up and then won i few more pots and got up to $6.

Time for the $5 sngs!!! I decided to play the double your money 6handed games and won my 1st 6/7 and the one i lost i disconnected from the internet for almost 10mins before reconnecting with 2bb and i get dealt 64 in the bb. Sb limps in i check obviously pushing any flop, lucky me i flop top pair and he check calls my ai with 55 and hits runner runner st8 :(.

Anyway i've now played 19 of these and cashed in 15 of these so very profitable at the mo and my accounts at almost $50.

Just one tabling at the mo as i can't really afford to make any mistakes but once i hit $100 i'll either double the stakes or play 2 tables.

Tried to play the 100k double deuce last night but logged on half an hour b4 it started and it was full, but after a min or so i got on the waiting list and managed to get up to 90th, from 250th, in the half hour so i expected not a long wait till a seat opens up but it turns out the waiting list is only to replace players before the start of the tourney, maybe next week.

I'll let you know how the challenge goes, go on who thinks i'll go bust?

Good luck me!!!

The Matrix Revolution

Hi,

Not too much to write about really, was in London till Thurs caught up with some family so that was cool. Played 2 plo sessions since i got back, one half a bi in the 1st stint but then donked away 1.5bi's cuz i was too busy watching the footy, L'pool Vs Bolton.

Got an email from Full Tilt about their Matrix sng's so thought i would give em a try. Basically they are a set of 4sng's played simultaneously with the same set of players and there is an overall leader board for the best performing players based on knockouts and where u finish.

First of all played a $6 6handed turbo and got a 1st and 2nd and won the leader board so i got back $12.

Next one played a plo 6handed and started off horribly, i called 3 raises on the 1st hand with very marginal hands. The great thing about these are they are they have a predicted leader board which is constantly updating depending on chip counts. I went straight to the bottom, by a long way. After starting to play properly and some nice hands i was quickly top of the table.

It became clear there was only one other good player, i had come 2nd and bubbled 2 one in a horrible outdraw when i had acesxx and the guy called my ai after raising with 2467 and hit 2 pair. The last game was the decider with me slightly ahead on the table but needing to beat the other good player who had come 1st, 2x2nd and 5th. I did end up winning and again doubled my money.

Great thing about these i think is the rake is the same as 1sng so i think for bankroll management i count these as 4 different sng's, not that i'm really one for br management!!!

I think these are just what i needed as i was starting to get a bit bored with poker.

SNG hell/PLO success

Hey everyone,

When I got back from Stockton decided to play a 90sng on FT, $10+1 with a $2 bounty. I ran deep as usual but then went out with less than 18 left, for these sng’s I’m going to call the final 2 tables the bubble.

I was playing a lot of these a few months ago, after logging onto FT for the first time in a year to send someone some money I decided to play to register in the 1^st tourney about to start and ended up winning it for over $200 and picking up numerous bounties.

I think in about 20sng’s a came 1^st, 9^th and 5 bubbles, these games are really easy to run deep but I seem to have a problem getting into the money.

Again after coming back from Stockton I bubbled 3 times in about 10 games. I usually play very tight but in two of them I decided loosen up a little and 3bet and bluff more often. It worked quite well and in the 1^st I made the bubble with 25k blinds 500/1000/100 I think, I usually have around 10-15k at this point. 15 left and I had enough for the final table as I’m looking for 20k+. After a raise to 3k from mp I reraised all in with kq from the co and he called with a10, flop came j10 but I couldn’t hit one of my million outs. Looking back at it maybe I should make it 9/10k then I can go all in on the flop but if he pushes on me pf I still call as it would have been 12k more into a 35k pot so I’m getting more fold equity if I push but it does look weaker. Regardless awful call by him.

This sent me on tilt on the other sng and the very next hand I stacked off with aj Vs ak after I was rr pf and I pushed.

For the rest of the week I played plo cash on Betfred, I found £150 in that account which I have built up from £10, I decided to start at 10c/20c despite my roll being a little short of what it should be for this level. On the first night I was on a total heater winning pot after pot, although I have to say the other players weren’t great and kept paying me off. This hand underlines it, to be fair to the guy I had been playing very aggressively and hadn’t had to show down many hands but even so:

Saw flop | saw showdown

Button bileams ($18.86)
SB besi82 ($19.72)
BB TurkiyeStud ($23.90)
UTG RCBaasted ($23.69)
UTG+1 Hero ($50.77)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Ac Qd Ah 4h
RCBaasted calls 0.20, Hero raises to 0.70, 3 folds, RCBaasted calls 0.50.

Flop (1.70) 3h 7h Td
RCBaasted checks, Hero bets 1.40, RCBaasted calls 1.40.

Turn (4.50) Jh
RCBaasted checks, Hero bets 3, RCBaasted raises to 13.50, Hero raises to 24, RCBaasted moves all-in for 8.09.

River (53.09) Tc

RCBaasted shows 8d 8h Qs 9c
Hero shows Ac Qd Ah 4h

Hero wins 53.09 with Flush (Hearts) with Ace high

That night I won 3bi’s despite losing a hug pot with a flush draw when a donk in the middle priced me into calling $10 for a $40+ pot, I was against a set and another flush draw and the 1^st guy also had a blocker.

Played again the next 2 nights and won over a bi each night, happy days!!!

Currently I am running at 71PtBB/100 but that’s only over 400 hands, however i don't even think i've been running well as when i've been all in i've had the best hand 3/4 times. One being the fd above, another two times with a flopped str8 Vs a set and 3pair both times lost and once on the turn with a full house against a flush draw plus aces when he was drawing dead as i had his other 2 aces!!!

As I said I’m in London at the mo till Thursday, been doing the tour of all my family and had a lot of good advice on the job front.

I think its time I start really putting 110% into finding a job as trying to play poker and look for a job just means I’m not doing either at the mo so for the few weeks I’ll be doing that so wish me luck!!

Thx

Stockton and Teeside GCBPT

Got to Stockton on the Thurs and went straight for a cash game that night with the main aim to felt Gurney!! For those of u who do not know him he plays 99% of hands pf regardless of raise size and he runs like a god and somehow always manages to hit the river. So when I got all in with him on the turn with q10 on a board j1010x he showed j7 with a flush draw I said I have one out and called for the queen of spades which I hit, ship it!! I also managed to felt him twice more. In one of the last hands of the night I got in a big pot with John when I folded my flush on the river assuming he had a full house but he showed ace high, I think I talked too much in that hand which cost me.

Me and John went back to his and decided to play some online tourney, logged onto Stars and found there was a late registration for a $1 HORSE MTT with over 300 entrants. We started off with LH and added over 50% to our stack,

Had this very funny hand where we thought we were playing Razz but still managed to win a big pot though we did lose a bigger pot the next hand where there was 4 betting going on when he was showing 2 face cards and I had a few baby cards. What was so funny was we didn’t have a clue why we had the bring in with a four!!

PokerStars Game #21443246593: Tournament #114745648, $1.00+$0.10 HORSE (7 Card Stud Limit) - Level IV (60/120) - 2008/10/23 22:21:10 ET
Table '114745648 4' 8-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Yep mmm hmm (1690 in chips)
Seat 2: Fabelfjes (379 in chips)
Seat 3: bigfoot1000 (1630 in chips)
Seat 4: GoBucks821 (3146 in chips)
Seat 5: alta99 (1657 in chips)
Seat 6: Hurricane010 (2017 in chips)
Seat 7: nastyimpulse (2337 in chips)
Seat 8: LilBrat24 (1544 in chips)
nastyimpulse: posts the ante 12
LilBrat24: posts the ante 12
Yep mmm hmm: posts the ante 12
Fabelfjes: posts the ante 12
bigfoot1000: posts the ante 12
GoBucks821: posts the ante 12
alta99: posts the ante 12
Hurricane010: posts the ante 12
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to Yep mmm hmm [Th]
Dealt to Fabelfjes [7h]
Dealt to bigfoot1000 [Kh]
Dealt to GoBucks821 [Ah]
Dealt to alta99 [4h]
Dealt to Hurricane010 [5d 7s 4c]
Dealt to nastyimpulse [Tc]
Dealt to LilBrat24 [Qs]
Hurricane010: bets 60
nastyimpulse: folds
LilBrat24: calls 60
Yep mmm hmm: calls 60
Fabelfjes: folds
bigfoot1000: folds
GoBucks821: folds
alta99: calls 60
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to Yep mmm hmm [Th] [7c]
Dealt to alta99 [4h] [Qc]
Dealt to Hurricane010 [5d 7s 4c] [Qd]
Dealt to LilBrat24 [Qs] [8c]
LilBrat24: checks
Yep mmm hmm: checks
alta99: checks
Hurricane010: checks
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to Yep mmm hmm [Th 7c] [Ks]
Dealt to alta99 [4h Qc] [Jc]
Dealt to Hurricane010 [5d 7s 4c Qd] [3c]
Dealt to LilBrat24 [Qs 8c] [As]
LilBrat24: checks
Yep mmm hmm: bets 120
alta99: folds
Hurricane010: raises 120 to 240
LilBrat24: folds
Yep mmm hmm: calls 120
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to Yep mmm hmm [Th 7c Ks] [9c]
Dealt to Hurricane010 [5d 7s 4c Qd 3c] [3d]
Hurricane010: bets 120
Yep mmm hmm: calls 120
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to Hurricane010 [5d 7s 4c Qd 3c 3d] [Jh]
Hurricane010: checks
Yep mmm hmm: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Yep mmm hmm: shows [Qh Ad Th 7c Ks 9c 5h] (high card Ace)
Hurricane010: shows [5d 7s 4c Qd 3c 3d Jh] (a pair of Threes)
Hurricane010 collected 1056 from pot

Again thought we were playing Razz, just noticed when trying to find this hand we were getting a lot of comments on our fold. How the guy can bet a pair of sixes there is unbelievable unless he had a read on us that we were playing the wrong game!!

PokerStars Game #21445864060: Tournament #114745648, $1.00+$0.10 HORSE (7 Card Stud Limit) - Level XIV (1500/3000) - 2008/10/24 0:35:18 ET
Table '114745648 13' 8-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 2: perkatferg (14352 in chips)
Seat 3: Caroline24x (32137 in chips)
Seat 4: Hurricane010 (13531 in chips)
Seat 5: Supertoddd (30718 in chips)
Seat 6: Outlaw2431 (24830 in chips)
Seat 7: CowboyFan71 (35973 in chips)
Seat 8: Merge Racing (8023 in chips)
Outlaw2431: posts the ante 300
CowboyFan71: posts the ante 300
Merge Racing: posts the ante 300
perkatferg: posts the ante 300
Caroline24x: posts the ante 300
Hurricane010: posts the ante 300
Supertoddd: posts the ante 300
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to perkatferg [8s]
Dealt to Caroline24x [7h]
Dealt to Hurricane010 [4c Jc Ah]
Dealt to Supertoddd [Jd]
Dealt to Outlaw2431 [2h]
Dealt to CowboyFan71 [Tc]
Dealt to Merge Racing [6h]
Outlaw2431: brings in for 450
CowboyFan71: folds
Merge Racing: calls 450
perkatferg: folds
Caroline24x: folds
Hurricane010: calls 450
Outlaw2431 said, "i have family at texas so i like em, but ROLL TIDE"
Supertoddd: raises 1050 to 1500
Outlaw2431: folds
Merge Racing: calls 1050
CowboyFan71 said, "longhorns or bama could beat dallas right now! lol"
Hurricane010: calls 1050
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to Hurricane010 [4c Jc Ah] [As]
Dealt to Supertoddd [Jd] [7c]
Dealt to Merge Racing [6h] [Jh]
Pair on board - a double bet is allowed
Hurricane010: checks
Supertoddd: checks
Outlaw2431 said, "lol, you might be right"
Merge Racing: bets 3000
Hurricane010: folds
Supertoddd: calls 3000
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to Supertoddd [Jd 7c] [8h]
Dealt to Merge Racing [6h Jh] [Qd]
Merge Racing: bets 3000
Supertoddd: calls 3000
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to Supertoddd [Jd 7c 8h] [5s]
Dealt to Merge Racing [6h Jh Qd] [2s]
Merge Racing: bets 223 and is all-in
Supertoddd: calls 223
*** RIVER ***
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Merge Racing: shows [Kh 6c 6h Jh Qd 2s 3h] (a pair of Sixes)
Supertoddd: shows [Kc Js Jd 7c 8h 5s 9c] (a pair of Jacks)
Supertoddd collected 19496 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 19496 | Rake 0
Seat 2: perkatferg folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Caroline24x folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Hurricane010 folded on the 4th Street
Seat 5: Supertoddd (button) showed [Kc Js Jd 7c 8h 5s 9c] and won (19496) with a pair of Jacks
Seat 6: Outlaw2431 folded on the 3rd Street
Seat 7: CowboyFan71 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Merge Racing showed [Kh 6c 6h Jh Qd 2s 3h] and lost with a pair of Sixes

CowboyFan71 said, "wtf hurricane?"
Supertoddd said, "Why'd you fold your aces, Hurricane?"
perkatferg: brings in for 450
Caroline24x: calls 450
Supertoddd said, "I was all set to fold..."
Hurricane010: raises 1050 to 1500
Supertoddd: folds
Outlaw2431: folds
CowboyFan71: raises 1500 to 3000
Supertoddd said, "Couldn't believe it"

We ended up coming 10^th after getting raped by the big stack which was running all over the table raising with shit and hitting every time.

Day 2 was golf with Ptevey and Keys which was good fun, on hole 1 my first ball was lost and my second tee shot went 50 yards, I then hacked it out and then my approach was within 3 feet of the pin but it was all downhill from that. On the 10^th Ptevey said he would give me £20 if I could drive the green, the wind was also against me, I got him to change it to pin high. I hit it ok but was just a bit short but it was a valiant effort although I did end up with a bogey after an awful chip

Back to another cash game that night which was extremely boring and slow and me and Gurney amusing ourselves with playing high card for money, I know ure feeling envious Mav, I managed to lose 4 times in a row for £6 down but got it back to £2 down before the cash wrapped up. I had 95p left which I high carded for with Gurney for and doubling the stakes till one of us went broke, I ran well and after few up and downs I turned that 95p into a tenner!!!

Woke up early the next morning wishing I had gone to bed earlier, I wasn’t feeling nervous at all which I guess is a good thing. Got to the casino a bit early and chilled with Keys, Bowburn and Ptevey before seating. I’m guessing this may be the third time people may read this story but I may as well tell it too. On walking into the card room Keys says to me he’s on table 8 which I groan and say me too 88 I think, he doesn’t believe me as it turns out he’s 89 but just before sitting down he gets asked to move as a man in a wheelchair needs his seat, dodged a bullet there but on finding his new seat he’s placed right of Ptevey!!

The first hand I played was AQ which I raised and took down at showdown after a horrible flop, next hand that I remember I raised with tens after one limp and got called by 3 people including the limper. Flop came 548 with 2 diamonds and the limper bet 1600 into a 1750 pot, looked a very strong bet and my pair looks quite bad on this flop so I folded and he showed 6d9d, I’m happy with my line here but John reckoned I should have raised here so I would like people’s opinion on my line here.

After getting pushed around a little and having been quit for a while I decided it was time to loosen up and play back, I look down at sooted cards in LP and decided to raise, not going to tell u what they were as it was that bad, first of all I over raised meant to make it 300 but put in 375 putting in a 100 instead of a 25. Button and bb called, button he had done this many times on the button. Flop came j 9 x with two diamonds and I c bet 600, he raises to 1650 and I make it 3650 which he thought about for a while before calling. After some thought I checked the turn and he quickly checked behind, I have him on q10 or fd and the river pairs the 9. I now think shit this could be a £500 bluff but then think better of it and fired out 4k which he folded to. I’m not actually quite sure what I’m trying to represent here, initially I was trying to represent aces on the flop but obviously aces prob checks river but he looked very weak on the river so I don’t think it’s the worst bluff, thinking about it maybe he had queen’s?

At the break I had 12.5k and was quite happy with my table and the way I had played in general. Shortly after the break this horrible hand came up where I raise aq in EP and the sb calls out of turn, then the button calls and the sb re-raises!! After the bb asked for a ruling it was ruled a call which he was not too happy about, the bb then came along. Flop comes q9x and it gets checked around, 1^st mistake I should have obviously bet, turn come a jack which the blinds check I bet 1k, button calls and sb moves all in for 3.5k more. I couldn’t make sense of the hand, the only hand which made sense to me was 10’s trying to make a squeeze play as I don’t think a set or 2 pair checks that turn and he’s not trying to reraised pf with k10. I eventually call after a few mins of thinking and he flips jj for a turned set, very brave check but it worked out. Again do people think this is a terrible call? Probably!

I then limp ak utg+1 after utg limped, sb completes and there are 4 to the flop a8. The sb fires out 600 which I call everyone else folds, turn he again fires out 1600. He must assume I’ve got an ace so I think he’s got to have either set or 2pair so I fold it face up and another player who seems to friends with the guy says to me it’s a good fold, I hope so. I was now down to 6k, amazingly a pattern had emerged in the first couple of hours where when in the sb it always seemed to get folded to me, the guy to my right and been very active limping into many pots and taking a lot down on the flop. He had so far managed to win 4/4 of these, 2 of which he did uncontested. I know find kdqd and flat call and we see a raggy flop with 2 diamonds. I bet out 200 he raises to 500 and I flat called, turn is the bingo card and I lead out for 500 wanting it to look like a blocker bet hoping for a raise but he flat calls and on the river I bet 1.2k and he calls with 2pair, missed out on a bit of value and my river bet is way too cheap but I didn’t realise how big the pot was which is something I need to be more aware of in live completion.

I grinded my way back up to 10k after this taking down a couple of small pots. The next few hours were a complete grind, with the 200/400 level I did have plenty of time to find a hand but it never came. I did keep chipping away with a few small pots here and there keeping a steady stack of between 7-9k for the next 3/4 hrs.

One very annoying hand was when I pushed for 9k on the 200/400 +50 ante level and the cut of dwelled for a while and then the button and sb folded out of turn, he then showed his hand to the person to his left and made an comment which gave away he had a big ace, I saw aq when he was flashing his cards, he then folded to the bb who asked if he folded an ace, obviously he could tell him but it was obvious and he folded aq too. That could have been a sweet ’50/50’ to have.

Then lost a small pot when I raised and c-bet from the button and got reraised, I then found 7’s but another short stack limped and I found this very suspitous as he was a very cable player. The even shorter stack behind me then limped too and sb folded, flop comes out 7 4 2 which checks to me, I check too and super shorty pushes and no one else bites and I win another small pot, the guy who limped showed ak.

Again a lot of blinding away and at 400/800 + 75 I was still around 7-9k not having only been all in once with those 6’s earlier!!! Now it was push or fold and I get moved to a new table and a woman with a 4k stack min raises on my 1^st hand, wtf??? I ended up folding aj as I didn’t have any info on her and it looked pretty strong though she later did the same and folded to a reraised though she had a slightly bigger stack. Once the blinds came thorough me I was down to 7k and I was pushing any 2 cards next unraised pot, I had to wait 4 hands but when it was unraised I also found q10 so I felt good as q10 is my favourite hand. It gets through to the bb who tanks and counts his stack looks at the blind levels and eventually calls with a6. Flop is q10x with three clubs and he holds the 6c but I hang on and have 10k+ for the first time in 5hrs.

A lot of raising on the table and I’m stuck between two huge stacks, the standard raise on the table is 4/5xbb too making restealing very hard with my stack. I had jdqd in the bb when a guy raises 5x and I don’t think I can push here, possibly a stop and go but I thought I could get a better spot plus I prob have too many chips for this. A lot more blinding away and a MP raises my bb and I find aj but he’s pot committed so I do a stop and go on a paired board and take down the pot.

I ended up going out with jq pushing in ep and getting instant called by the big stack to my right, I thought I’d run into a big pair but was happy to see ak but was dead by the turn and a quite uneventful event was bought to an end.

Sunday got up for the football Chelski Vs Liverpool, nuff said!!!

Then went to see how Keys was doing but he had just busted out, went back to the flat to get ready for some more poker as it was Queen’s poker soc’s weekly game, my two aims were to felt Gurney and John.

In the third level I got Gurney all in on a k high board with my aces against his k10, turn came a king and there’s a massive eruption and the other table comes over to see what’s caused the commotion what else but a Gurney outdraw!!! Till the river that is when an ace comes to an even bigger uproar and celebration from everyone!!! A bit later I raise utg 6 handed with a6 sooted and John moves all in from the bb, I’m chip leader on our table but its half my stack. I count the pot to see if its mathematically correct which it’s not so the only justification is I want to knock him out which is enough for me and he show’s aq which holds up.

Now get to the FT with a short stack and I’ve stole 3 lots of blinds in the first 6 hands, when dealing I flip over a k of John’s. I then find 7’s and push in ep John gives me a look of disgust when folding and of course he would have had kings. I told him he’s lucky as I would have won the hand so we ran the flop and there was a 7 in the window, gutted!!!

One more thing to mention an annoying fat guy who started to left of me on the 1^st table and then moved after 30mins but he was the most annoying guy in the world chatting shit the whole time. Anyway I found him in the same position come final table, arghhhh. He had no etiquette as well, on the hand I went out I had aj Vs aq and pf, flop and river he just kept on saying I wasn’t going to hit cuz he folded a jack. He did this again to someone else and when he outdrew someone he jumped out of his chair and ‘shouted yea come on’ with no apology. I hanged around after I went out and eventually got pissed off with all his crap and told him to stop being such a dick!!! Not something I usually do he just kept going on and on.

Anyway that was the end of my eventful weekend, just want to say thanks to the people who backed me and made it possible for me to take part in this event and hopefully next time I can get you a return on your money.

Hope u enjoyed my essay!!!

Year 3

Finally got round to year 3 so here goes.

I moved back to Stockton for my final year so I could attend some lectures. It was the first year we had a fresher’s fair for Queens but that didn’t go too well. We did however host a fresher’s non drinking event where we had a turnout of 30+ people which I was told was the highest non drinking attendance for the week.

It was a £1 entrance fee but the prizes were donated from the JCR, naturally I won it and won a meal for two but I was later offered two Jimmy Carr tickets instead, SCORE!!

It was a really good year for the society and we soon had a regular cash game going which was awesome. Six/seven handed usually with mostly £250 pots obviously it was a very fishy standard but fun as hell, standard raises were 50p plus as otherwise it became a family pot.

I didn’t do a dissertation as it was optional and I chose to do 2 modules instead, BIG mistake. Although it did give me a lot more free time up till Easter.

Ipoker launched the ECCOP which was very much like the WCOOP Stars have but smaller. Carrying on from my PLO summer my 1^st target was to qualify for these, did this 1^st time for the $100r qualifying from a $10r where I was in for $20. The $250, I think, freeze out however proved more difficult. There were two stages both freeze outs, first was the $5 which usually had around 10 people with 3 seats Guaranteed, I would breeze through this with ease usually doing so 80%+ time. The next level, $30 I think, had 1/2 seats with the remainder of the money being returned tourney fees. I think it took me around 6 times to finally get a seat with me bubbling twice, although I usually did get my $33 which was a nice profit and I kept playing these even after I qualified just to build my account up a little. I also qualified for the limit hold ‘em event but no NL but in truth I didn’t try too many qualifiers for them.

Unfortunately didn’t cash in any of them, I’m still fuming to this day with one of the plo knockouts where I flopped broadway and he flopped a set then turned a flush draw where we got it all in and he made the flush in the river, that was a little way out of the money but was for a huge stack, he ended up coming 11^th and I’m sure I would have done much better with that stack. In the rebuy PLO I didn’t really play very well, maybe still a bit steaming from the previous day. I donked off half my chips within an hour and then got involved in a very amusing hand. I don’t know what Spacefreak folds on the flop but how can he fold!! LMAO just remembered something Vindla was the guy who knocked me out with the flush before, how random!!!

saw flop | saw showdown

Button Spacefreak (2730)
SB 7SamAt (3480)
BB CY27 (2040)
UTG NChristensen (2530)
UTG+1 Kiraj (2890)
MP vindla (2550)
MP Vladislava88 (8410)
MP boldie1974 (2850)
CO-1 Hero (1610)
CO XoKuhn (2910)

Preflop: Hero is in the CO-1 with 6h As 7s 7h
2 folds, vindla calls 40, 2 folds, Hero calls 40, 1 fold, Spacefreak raises to 220, 2 folds, vindla calls 180, Hero calls 180.

Flop (720) 8s 9h 3h
vindla checks, Hero bets 720, Spacefreak raises to 1440, vindla raises to 2330, Hero moves all-in for 670, 1 fold.

Turn (5880) 2c

River (5880) 3d

vindla shows Kh 7c Ah 4d
Hero shows 6h As 7s 7h

Hero wins 5880 with Two pair, Sevens and Threes with a Nine for a kicker

I actually thought I had lost the pot till it came to me, at least I got a bit of revenge on him.

I’m getting bored of writing about the past so I’ll just do some quick points.

• The week before the UPL final started I started trying to qualify for it, I shipped 3 online tourneys in one week to win 2 seats and won a 3^rd seat with a last minute organised UPL live tourney.
• I did ok at the final but came unstuck when I massive stack came to my left that messed me up.
• Cash games were a good laugh with several funny hands but I’ll just mention the one. Me and John Campbell, we love to make moves against each other, I raised pf with kh10h and the flop was paired with two hearts. Of course we got it all in on the flop for around £35 pot if I remember correctly and we ran it three times. First time I made a full house with 10 10!! Number 2 and 3 I made a flush, SICK!

Not much other online to mention, sorry there is I signed up to Stars after my exams to play the Steps and from 10 step 1’s I made it up to step 5.

I then finished uni and started playing for bad beat, and I said no more poker, I wanted to learn cash but thought I had better make a profit to start with by playing sng’s. How wrong I was, it was more running very bad then anything with lots of bubbles to throw in but I did over $100 before starting playing cash but I quit a few weeks later getting to $50 down I think. The main reason I started it was for the mentoring and getting the discipline to play everyday which I never managed to do.

Prob not as good as a read as the last too but hopefully u can all look ward to my next write up of how the Gala event in Teesside went but then again there isn’t too much excitement there either.

Running bad

Hey all,

Bad day 2day, played a couple of $11.70 double shoot outs for the million.

Didn't make the it past the 1st table but had this hand when hu:

PokerStars Game #21157352102: Tournament #113293082, $10.70+$1.00 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level V (75/150) - 2008/10/13 8:44:19 ET
Table '113293082 1' 10-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 2: Hurricane010 (2890 in chips)
Seat 5: insagi (3110 in chips)
insagi: posts small blind 75
Hurricane010: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hurricane010 [Kh Ad]
insagi: raises 300 to 450
Hurricane010: raises 2440 to 2890 and is all-in
insagi: calls 2440
*** FLOP *** [7d Qh 4d]
*** TURN *** [7d Qh 4d] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [7d Qh 4d 8d] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hurricane010: shows [Kh Ad] (high card Ace)
insagi: shows [Td Kd] (a flush, King high)
insagi collected 5780 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5780 | Rake 0
Board [7d Qh 4d 8d 3s]
Seat 2: Hurricane010 (big blind) showed [Kh Ad] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 5: insagi (button) (small blind) showed [Td Kd] and won (5780) with a flush, King high

Also went out of the other with this hand in the other sat:

Seat 1: Justkaiser (1410 in chips)
Seat 4: shar347 (2480 in chips)
Seat 8: Hurricane010 (1360 in chips)
Seat 10: O.D.B.61 (750 in chips)
Hurricane010: posts small blind 10
O.D.B.61: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hurricane010 [Kh Ah]
Justkaiser: folds
shar347: raises 20 to 40
Hurricane010: calls 30
O.D.B.61: calls 20
*** FLOP *** [3h Kd 6s]
Hurricane010: bets 100
O.D.B.61: calls 100
shar347: calls 100
*** TURN *** [3h Kd 6s] [Ts]
Hurricane010: bets 140
O.D.B.61: calls 140
shar347: raises 520 to 660
Hurricane010: raises 560 to 1220 and is all-in
O.D.B.61: calls 470 and is all-in
shar347: calls 560
*** RIVER *** [3h Kd 6s Ts] [Qd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hurricane010: shows [Kh Ah] (a pair of Kings)
shar347: shows [Kc Ks] (three of a kind, Kings)
shar347 collected 1220 from side pot
O.D.B.61: shows [2s 2h] (a pair of Deuces)
shar347 collected 2250 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3470 Main pot 2250. Side pot 1220. | Rake 0
Board [3h Kd 6s Ts Qd]
Seat 1: Justkaiser folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: shar347 (button) showed [Kc Ks] and won (3470) with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 8: Hurricane010 (small blind) showed [Kh Ah] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 10: O.D.B.61 (big blind) showed [2s 2h] and lost with a pair of Deuces

I hate how i played this, i knew the button raiser was super strong which if why i flatted pf. The guy in the middle was an obvious donk so wasn't concerned with him and when i pushed on the turn i knew it was the wrong move, i need to learn to follow my reads more.

I had a couple hundread quid left in my VC account which i've been slowly dwindling away playin various sats and cash late at night. Usually play 10c/20c but decided to go for the 25c/50c for some reason and had been a bit up and down until an agonising outdraw, this one really hurt.

Button ($52.25)
SB ($30.43)
BB Hero ($49.95)
UTG ($49.90)

Preflop: Hero is in the BB with 7h 2d 8h 5c
UTG calls 0.50, Button calls 0.50, 1 fold, Hero checks.

Flop (1.75) 6d 4s 3h
Hero bets 1, UTG calls 1, Button raises to 5.75, Hero raises to 14, 1 fold, Button raises to 44.75, Hero moves all-in for 35.45, Button calls 4.70.

Turn (108.40) Qs

River (108.40) Qc

Button shows 6s Th 8c 6h
Hero shows 7h 2d 8h 5c

Button wins 108.40 with A full house, Sixs and Queens


I know i've still not written up my 3rd year account but i was thinkin about it and i don't actually c why i've taken that line in starting my blog, but i may still write it up just to bore u lot a bit more.

One of the aims of this blog is get myself to play a bit more reguarly while i've not got a job so i'll be setting myself targets each week. This week's is to play 10-15 of the double shootouts and if i can qualify in 2 i'll play it this w'end.

Cheerio

Gutted, Lesson learnt......

Don't' fall asleep in the middle of a tourney!!!!

Just a quick vent for now, not played any tourney's in ages but thought i better get some practise in. With around 200 runners i accumulated a big stack in the first two levels and kept building on that and took the chip lead with 60 left which i kept till the bubble burst.

I was playing really well, my post flop play in particular, and was winning most pots i entered. The bubble didn't last very long and at this point i was chip leader, 18 left, with a very deep stack.

Now i cant tell u how long i kept the chip lead as i fell asleep and blinded out to 7th place. Most annoying thing is not the money but the fact that i really enjoy this period of a tournament.

Till next time,

Nick

The almost year

Sorry about the delay, this is why I’ve never started a blog as I know what I’m like but also I couldn’t blog for the past few days as mine got locked as they thought I was a spammer!!!

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was the Inter-poker student championship. There were daily qualifiers for the weekly final which got u to the live final, I entered several of these and must have got to half a dozen weekly finals but unfortuantly never made the final. After the qualifiers I was offered a place on the reserve list but no one dropped outL, anyway this just ties in with the little so thought I would quickly mention it.

Anyway 2^nd year I moved to Durham and began coming to the Durham Poker Society regularly. I hadn’t read any books up to know so I learnt a lot of strategies here such as the squeeze play and stop and go. The exec organised the Durham Poker Invitational and were running weekly sats to it, I entered one and this was very educational for me and I don’t think I’ve ever learnt so much in one game. I ended up hu against Keys with a 4:1 chip deficit, he told me he was crap at heads up so I thought I may have a chance as I consider myself a good hu player but within a few hands it was over.

I was meant to be working the day of the DPI but the day before it I swapped my shift and bought myself in on the day. This was my first tourney in a casino and I was quite nervous to say the least. It started at around 1pm if my memory is correct and within 5mins I found myself all in on the river of the 1^st hand!!! I had raised pf after one limper and the bb and limper called. The board came out q 10 5 and the limper cr me which I called, queen on the turn I called his bet and river paired the 5 which we went ai on he showed q9 which got me steaming. Anyway over 12 hours later I found myself with Ptevey, another Durham player, on the final table. Five handed was a nightmare with Ptevey on my right stealing my bb EVERY round!!! I don’t think I saw a face card for a good 30mins and finally found q10 to call him with but he somehow found ak but I outdrew him and quickly departed soon after cashing for £400/500 I think.

Living in Durham was a nightmare for studies and on top of this I also had other issues to deal with so my attendance record was awful, there was one module whose seminar I never managed to make!!! In Feb I was told it would be best for me to leave and return in Jan as they thought I couldn’t do my coursework and pass the exams, I declined this offer and said I would try my best. I managed to pass the year somehow, I have to also say thx to Mav for this if u r reading I couldn’t have passed CFR without you, but I scraped through in 3 modules which dragged down 2 very good results including a joint highest exam mark, which proved that if you start your revision early enough you can sail through most these exams, and ended up with a 2:2 for the year.

VC then launched a great set of value guaranteed tourneys which were designed to always give you added value, the 1^st being a $10 fo which I think was over 100% value. I started on a table with two fellow Stockton players one of whom stacked two people in the first two hands. I made the FT for a very good payout but this was the last of this tourney as I think they figured out it was too good value. The other three which ran for months were the $1r, $3r and $5r all of which were terrific value, are house mainly played the $1 as we all had a good laugh playing it. We regularly made the FT with an average of 70/80 players, Lees actually made the FT 4days in a row. By the summer there were 100+ players and we stopped playing it as it didn’t seem worth it.

VC also held a student championship this year, I qualified for the semi final by winning a 120man freeroll. The semi final again had around 120 players with the top 18 going through, now they changed their software 2 days before the semi final and I couldn’t log myself on!! With some frantic phone calls I finally got myself sorted and I was in, the software however was awful. I still got off to a very good start and found myself 5 in chips. On the table I had a very good fellow Stockton player and a very well known student player, so well known I can’t remember his name!! I recognised his user name and would remember it if I saw it but I’m pretty sure he was from Warick. With regards to the software it was very hard to raise to the amount u wanted as whenever u typed the amount it kept missing out the first number. I was not the only player complaining as there was a lot of groans in the chat box. The Warick player had been very active raising a lot of pots, I had aq on the button and he raised from ep which didn’t concern me. I wanted to 3bet him but was about to time out so I went for a flat call, flop come out q high with 2 clubs. He bet out and again I wanted to 3bet him but couldn’t manage it so I went for the min raise this time and he pushed ai, I was steaming at this point as I shouldn’t have been in this situation if it weren’t for the software. I ended up calling and he showed 5c6c and hit his flush, he was the only player who had me covered so I was out. I win that and I’m in the final, we were so deep it was ridiculous how we got all in but his push was huge.

When WSOP satellites came up I decided to try and qualify for it, firstly with Betfair which I made a profit from by bubbling the 2/3 stage a couple of times. I then moved to PokerRoom where I entered a couple of $1 sats and then I qualified from a $7 sat and won the $50 sat with 10’s Vs ak when an ace flopped and a 10 saved me on the river, my housemate at the time was over the road at his gf’s and he said he heard me scream!! I then came 4^th in the final stage with 2 packages available ironically calling an all in with ak coming up against 10’s which held up, we both had around 8BB and the other two had quite big stacks but I still wonder if I can fold there.

PKR were also offering a lot of free super sats to the smaller events and I decided to go for the hu event, to qualify for it I need to gain 150pts with 3pts for a win and 1pt for a loss. I had to do this at $5 and all over one weekend as my exams covered most of the qualifying period. This was the most depressing period of my poker life, I think I ended up just over $10 in profit after a major tilt period which kicked off with me open pushing 2’s on the 1^st hand and getting called by a10, next game 2’s again 2st hand which I pushed over a raise which called with jq!!! I think I lost 9/10 games in this period just trying to get as many games out of my way as quickly as possible.

I did end up doing it and I think there were around 60 runners with only the one package on offer. I came 5^th in the end for another near miss and was absolutely gutted as I knew that was my last chance for the year.

In the summer I started playing PLO and loved it, I began playing 6handed sng’s on VC and I found myself cashing in 70%+ of the time and I think it was 50% wins!! This rocketed my ROI to around 70% but this was only over around 40 games and over the next few months it obviously came down but I think it was more that the players were becoming better.

After my PLO stint I decided to read my first book, Super systems, I then went back to playing hold em and felt I was playing a lot better but without the results. After busting out of a MTT on Betfair after a horrible badbeat I saw a satellite to the $50k weekly starting I 1mins for $40, I never usually play for more than $20 but thought sod it. There were 11 players who registered with 2 packages available, after a long slog 3 handed I was relieved when the other two players got it ai with almost identical stacks.

In the tourney on Sunday I was delighted to see we started with 5k with long blind levels, I think there were around 120 runners. I got off to a very good start and was in the top 10 chips for the next couple of hours. I then had qq on the button and raised it up and got it ai on a low flop with the other guy holding 10’s but he spiked a 10 on the turn to cripple me. Two hands later I pushed with around 9bb’s with k9 and ran into qq fortuantly it was my turn to outdraw the ladies when I flopped trip 9’s.

With the top 18 paid and 25 left I was around 12^th in the chips, this was a big cash for me and I hate to say it but I tightened up a bit too early. After around 30mins we were down to around 20 and I was getting a little too close to comfort, I then stole a couple of pots for the first time in that 30mins which gave me a little buffer. Come the bubble we had all the time wasters which I wasn’t too bothered about but it was very annoying, I remember one buy in the bb folded jj with half a less than half a bb behind and then cashed when someone busted on the next hand when he was ai in the sb.

As a short stack myself now I decided I would stick to being patient before sticking it in but soon found we were quickly down to 11 players and saw the next pay jump. I managed to hold on again making the final table as the short stack, I then got busy as I was not interesting in moving up a couple of brackets anymore. With about 7 left I found my groove and started playing more aggressively, the game had come down to pf raise and take it or resteal and take it. At this point I was 5^th in chips and I had raised with 10’s only to be reraised ai, this player was very tight and I made a very hard fold but I thought at best it was a coinflip which I felt I didn’t need to take.

With 5 players left I was 4^th in chips, I then took out the short stack and then another player to find myself with even chips with the chip leader. I then took out 3^rd place and acquired the chip lead goin into hu, but first we had a 10mins break!!! Very frustrating, a quick look at the prize board and we’re playing for $5k hu. I tried to ignore this and concentrated on the fact of playing my normal game. When we kicked off I got aggressive straight away and raised 4/5 of the first hands, I then found 8’s on the button and he rr me ai and my 8’s held up against his a7.

I really felt I dissevered this not just for how I played but after all the lows of the year this really was a good way to end it.

Wow that’s a long post!!! For every1 who got through it congrats and hope u enjoyed it, I’ll try and write up my third year in the next few days so I can start concentrating on recent activates.

Cya

Where it began.....

For those of you who don't know me my name's Nick, and i have just finshed at Durham University where i got a 2:2 in Accounting & Finance. For various reasons i got my 2:2 despite a number of 1st class marks in some modules so u can imagine how bad the others must have been for me to manage that!!!

This blog will hopefully be mainly about poker but i am currently looking for a job so hopefully i'll be able to tell u all of some good news when i get some.

Where it began - I was born on the 22 March 1984 in Manchester...... i prob just not bore u all with my 1st 21yrs and move straight to the poker. I started playin Texas HE when i came to uni and got my 1st set of cheap plastic chips for Xmas and soon began a very comical home game in halls every week. We were soon watching it on TV and started playin online at Interpoker as it was the only site which worked on the uni network.

Easter of my 1st year i signed up to Party Poker as i found a very good bounes, it was around $300 free after i played a certain amount of raked hands. I think i deposited $100 and played 25c/50c limit he as i was too scared to play NL. This worked out very nicely and i made a small profit but made the full bounes.

I then set up an account with Poker Room where they had an amazing value tourny $1 with $1000 added and usually attracted just over 1000 people but unfortulantly after the US got banned they stopped this. Since i have set up a number of accounts but never really managing a bankroll and just playing low stakes MTT's with a few STT's mixed in.

At the end of the year i set up the Queen's Campus poker society and became president. Thats my very brief account of my 1st year at uni and i will continue it 2morrow hopefully but its 4am and i need some sleep before the game.

Come On Liverpool!!!!!

Nick