tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63332789431754487182024-03-06T00:07:08.183+00:00Four King HellLife playing poker part timeMichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-51009529571313890962012-04-20T19:16:00.000+01:002012-04-20T19:16:00.241+01:00FA Cup competitionI'm running an FA Cup Final competition on behalf of my softball team the Speeders.<br />
<br />
Anyone intersted in entering let me know, the details are below:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">GOALSCORERS
SHIRT NUMBERS COMPETITION – 2012<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Rules:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Pick a number that you think will be the
total of the shirt numbers of all the scorers in the FA cup final.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Guess the time of the first goal. In the
event of a tie the entrant whose guess is closest to the time of the first goal
will be declared the winner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">All times and goalscorers will be as
published on </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.thefa.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: blue;">www.thefa.com</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Own goals, extra time and penalties count<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f">
<v:stroke joinstyle="miter">
<v:formulas>
<v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0">
<v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0">
<v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1">
<v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2">
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth">
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight">
<v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1">
<v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2">
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth">
<v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0">
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight">
<v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0">
</v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:formulas>
<v:path gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect" o:extrusionok="f">
<o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit">
</o:lock></v:path></v:stroke></v:shapetype></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Example:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Stephen
Gerrard (no 8) scores in the 33<sup>rd</sup> minute<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Didier
Drogba (no 11) scores in the 58<sup>th</sup> minute.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Scores
are level at full time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">During
extra time:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Stephen
Gerrard (No 8) scores again in the 100<sup>th</sup> minute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Jordan
Henderson (No 14) scores in the 118<sup>th</sup> minute<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Liverpool
win the FA Cup<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
T<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">he
result is calculated as 8 + 11 + 8 + 14 = 41<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Whoever’s
guess is closest to 41 wins the prize.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">
A list of entries and the results will be posted onto our </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.oldxaveriansfc.com/"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Facebook</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"> page at <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/SpeedersSoftball"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.facebook.com/SpeedersSoftball</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">The
aim of the competition is to raise money for the club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>50% of the proceeds will go to the club and
the remaining 50% to the Competition Winner(s).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Please
feel free to enter as many entries as you can afford (£5 per entry).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please encourage family, friends, work
colleagues etc to participate, <i>the more the merrier!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">If
we can encourage 50 people to participate, you can win £125 for a £5 stake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-46588313487324900672010-07-17T14:35:00.004+01:002010-07-17T14:51:10.450+01:00Mid season break<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWb0Fx2elPTBbpIcDiC4t7nLk5BNaznjY247aqKfwymjQu6cs7oEoWp_tqyxQcTpNRLH3zasEOT7u6ldM8cpOSEQQcTG5LQUdCbdrXBfAO2ykhQlQbJ6SdY04jr_mMegG_N4sjwYtartA/s1600/Pozatrofeu.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494872153001958130" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWb0Fx2elPTBbpIcDiC4t7nLk5BNaznjY247aqKfwymjQu6cs7oEoWp_tqyxQcTpNRLH3zasEOT7u6ldM8cpOSEQQcTG5LQUdCbdrXBfAO2ykhQlQbJ6SdY04jr_mMegG_N4sjwYtartA/s400/Pozatrofeu.jpg" /></a><br /><div>There have been lots of excuses made as to why we didn't do well at the world cup.<br /><br />One that is always trotted out is that the players are tired because of such a demanding season.<br /><br />I'm not sure about that because <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Messi</span>, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Ronaldo</span>, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kaka</span> etc also haven't performed.<br /><br />However, if we assume that we do need to reduce the burden on players then having a midwinter break is not the answer for a number of reasons:<br /><br />1. The players would still have to play the same number of games but in a shorter space of time.<br /><br />2. The clubs would undoubtedly want the players to keep up their fitness during the break.<br /><br />3. The football on their return would not be as good as the players would all be short of match fitness.<br /><br />4. Fans really enjoy their Christmas football.<br /><br />5. No-one knows when the weather will be bad and so we could have a break and then when everyone comes back there could be a bad weather spell which would leave no time to finish all of the fixtures by the end of the season.<br /><br />So what are the alternatives?<br /><br />I think there are two that would not impact on the clubs or fans that are worthy of consideration.<br /><br />1. Players are limited to a certain number of matches/playing hours in a season. Each manager would then have to manage when they play each player, staggering the games players miss. To a certain extent a lot of team do this already so by enforcing this it would ensure that each player is not overworked in the season. This would also enable more of the younger English players to get game time during Premier League matches rather than just the Carling Cup.<br /><br />2. Manager have to declare a mid season break for each player. This break would be for a set period of say 2 or 3 weeks. You could put whatever restrictions you want on this period - like players are not allowed to train or they can only train for a set number of days etc and they can't play in that period either. It would then be up to each manager to manage his squad and stagger the players' breaks throughout the season. You would have to stipulate that players cannot serve suspensions during this period. The benefit of this is that players who get injured and so miss a lot of football anyway could have their break during this injury period since they won't be tired if they have been missing games anyway.<br /><br />I think all of this makes a lot more sense than having an arbitrary break for a set time... it's bad enough during the close season!<br /><br />This blog seems to be evolving into a less regular, less poker themed blog so I don't know whether to start bring more poker back into it.<br /><br />I did play the Friday night side event at Leos last week but that was a pure crapshoot with the blinds steeper than the normal Friday night event. A starting stack of 7500 was worth only 10 big blinds by the end of the first 2 hours. I ended up going out when I was down to 4000 ish chips and raised to 900 with 77 which was called by the chip leader. I lead out for 1000 on the 6 high flop and got reraised all in by AQ for 1800 more. Of course a queen hit the river. I then had a bad couple of hours playing cash to finish a couple of buy ins down in the £1/£2 cash game after. I did meet the eventual main event winner Mark McCluskey in the cash game and had a good conversation with him over a number of things which was well worth the time.<br /><br />Anyway that's it for now.</div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-74489874924846367292010-07-07T23:42:00.004+01:002010-07-07T23:52:49.369+01:00World Cup Woes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfT_3_a0oU6yboabKRzcJusH-URG3B12itjEXdQuTibQ5r_Di-gUb0rlmd1mBe6BxOYBps89RrH78I2r4uxgBYMHvSwMYBdp0rxy-O-AEq2p3H_S3niH031cMNgp7buWNfshJcrvmM8Jk/s1600/fabio-capello.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 275px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491300990557417442" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfT_3_a0oU6yboabKRzcJusH-URG3B12itjEXdQuTibQ5r_Di-gUb0rlmd1mBe6BxOYBps89RrH78I2r4uxgBYMHvSwMYBdp0rxy-O-AEq2p3H_S3niH031cMNgp7buWNfshJcrvmM8Jk/s400/fabio-capello.jpg" /></a><br /><div>Whilst commuting to and from work I listen to a lot of people airing their views on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Talksport</span>.<br /><br />Since England's sorry exit from the World cup there has been a lot of drivel spouted by people that is absolute nonsense. One of the biggest fallacies relates to how it was all down to the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">primadonna</span> players not caring.<br /><br />Whilst it's true that players might not get the same buzz from winning with England as was so well described by Jamie <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Carragher</span>, there is no way that the players weren't interested in winning the world cup.<br /><br />Even if you genuinely believe a certain payer is only motivated by money (and I don't believe a professional footballer would make it if money was their only motivation) that player would still want to win the world cup, if only for the commercial and sponsorship opportunities it would open up!<br /><br />The second issue that is annoying me is the people (like <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">talksport</span> presenter Adrian Durham) saying that the FA copped out by not sacking <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Capello</span>.<br /><br />I think I'm right in saying that he was saying before the world cup that <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Capello</span> was the best manager for the job yet 4 games later he should be sacked!<br /><br />Let's put that into perspective, England didn't perform to their best and there seems to have been some problems in the camp that we might have to wait to hear about in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">someone's</span> autobiography at a later date.<br /><br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Capello</span> undoubtedly made some mistakes but he will learn from them.<br /><br />Also, when you actually look at the results, yes we were abysmal against Algeria, and we didn't play great against a US team that beat Brazil last year and we would have won that game but for a bad goalkeeping mistake.<br /><br />Against Slovakia we played well and then there was the Germany game. Look at what Germany did to Argentina who everyone was raving about before their last match! Yet we managed to pull 2 goals back (<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">ok</span> one was ruled out wrongly) and then we were undone by a great counter attacking team when we were pushing forwards trying to get back in the game!<br /><br />Despite all of the above we still didn't play anywhere near the level we should have, and that, in my opinion, is because we failed to find a system to accommodate all of our best players.<br /><br />I believe that the best team is not always your best 11 players and by trying to play <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Lampard</span> and Gerrard together as he did made our team worse. Clearly he should have taken Adam Johnson and/or Ashley Young to play on the left. Even when he brought Joe Cole in, it was to play on the right instead of the left.<br /><br />Against the lesser teams in qualification we coped because of the vast difference in quality of players but against stronger opposition we were exploited, especially by Germany who saw what I have been bleating on about all season which is Gerard's inability, or more likely unwillingness, to track back and Germany exposed that side of the field time and time again.<br /><br />I do feel though, that <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">Capello</span> will learn from this and we will be better for it next time around.<br /><br />What we also need to understand though, is that defeat to one team alone should not be a reason to sack a manager which is something that the Argentina team have done amazingly enough considering their good showing up until they met Germany.<br /><br />Anyway, in terms of poker, not a huge amount going on but I am playing the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">GCBMPT</span> side event on Friday (why the main event final is on at the same time as the World Cup Final I can't understand!)<br /><br />I have another blog post in my head about mid winter breaks but I;ll do that one next week and update what happens on Friday.</div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-61088766465766043572010-06-13T13:21:00.002+01:002010-06-18T01:39:10.599+01:00An accident waiting to happen...So the world cup has finally arrived but the optimism has already shrivelled up after Robert Green's howler.<br />As I heard Adrian Durham, one of the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">talksport</span> presenters say, Robert Green is an accident waiting to happen. Thankfully it came when it's not too late to recover.<br /><br />Granted he did make a save later on but to be honest, if that had gone in everyone would have been very disappointed and it nearly did!<br /><br />Since <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Ledley</span> isn't fit then Dawson needs to play alongside Terry because <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Carra</span> is too much like Terry and we are very vulnerable with those two playing at the same time but it doesn't look like that will happen!<br /><br />It's good to see Barry back, hopefully he can play himself back to match sharpness over the next couple of games whilst still managing to get through.<br /><br />I wish <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Capello</span> would play Crouch instead of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Heskey</span>, whilst <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Heskey</span> did well to set up the goal, it's nothing that Crouch couldn't have done and his goals per minute must be up there with the best England have ever had.<br /><br />I've not been playing much recently because I've been really busy, including a fantastic trip to London to watch Emma dancing in a fantastic show at the Albert Hall that was done with the school and the Royal National Ballet. The show was superb and it was great to see how exhilarated the kids were after the show.<br /><br />Anyway... come on England!!!!Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-84301011468331553612010-06-03T22:51:00.003+01:002010-06-04T00:36:40.510+01:00Busy busy busyWell, after an incredibly busy couple of months I have finally finish the year end accounts and so I have a bit more time to update this blog.<br /><br />I've not been playing that much lately other than the Friday night cash game in Leo's which is still going well b although I have had 2 losing weeks which are inevitable in this game we love so dearly.<br /><br />I'm reading a body language book at the moment which is not poker specific but I have seen the smile I look for in it and I have also picked up another indicator that someone is lying which I will be looking out for next time I play.<br /><br />I'm away for the weekend camping with Andrew and the rest of the AC Mags football team as we are in a tournament on Saturday morning so there will be no poker this weekend.<br /><br />Things are <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">changing</span> at Liverpool <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">FC</span> too with the news that Rafa has finally been put out of his misery.<br /><br />I've been a supporter of his but in the last year his relationship with the players seems to have waned and this has lead to the season we have just had so I couldn't see any other option for the club other than to part ways.<br /><br />To be honest, I still think that we need to sell Gerrard since he is 30 now and so only has a couple more years left in him. If we can get £20-£30 million I think we would have to take it since there is no way that we would sign him if he were currently at a different club <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">because</span> of the cost for s 30 year old.<br /><br />Whoever we get to replace Rafa is critical since this could be a pivotal moment in our history with the rise of Manchester City, Spurs and the threat of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Everton</span>.<br /><br />My choice would be <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Hiddynk</span> but I don't know if he is available.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-45597013624699778892010-04-26T23:26:00.001+01:002010-04-26T23:30:22.619+01:00Drunken Cash gamesLately I've been playing tournaments live in the circus but then going to Leo's when I am knocked out because the circus cash game is more like a home game with the same faces playing every week. The alternative in Leo's is so much better because newcomers are welcome and because of the location of the cash tables there is a steady stream of non poker players having a dabble.<br /><br />It's got to the point where I have been considering skipping the tournaments and going straight to the cash game.<br /><br />The last two weeks have been particularly interesting.<br /><br />2 weeks ago, as I sat down I saw the back end of a hand where a tight female player made a raise of £100 all in on the river into a pot of about £90 when the board showed 4 to a straight and she was called by a player who was holding J4 for a pair of 4s!<br /><br />As the hand was finished she said to him, don't worry, you've got another £1000 in your pocket (apparently he has actually been banned from the Circus for card counting on the blackjack and he had won £1000 on the blackjack earlier that night.)<br /><br />So as he was considering leaving I said to him that he was unlucky in that hand in an attempt to get him to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">rebuy</span> and fortunately that worked.<br /><br />I soon noticed how interesting this game was to become.<br /><br />He pulled up £200 so I matched that and the very next hand he declared that this hand was going to cost £50 minimum before he looked at his cards.<br /><br />The blinds are 50p/£1 in this game and I was conveniently sat to his left.<br /><br />Anyway it was folded to him and he bet the £50 and the girl from the previous hand on his left thought for ages before passing and then it was folded to me and I looked down to see A8. Since he was in for £50 blind I did the honourable thing and went all in as I was well ahead of average and it folded to him and he folded. A nice £50 profit. It turns out that the girl had folded AK!!!! But she didn't want to gamble1<br /><br />The next hand and he makes it £100 to go blind and I look down to see <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">AJ</span> and so push again and this time he calls and his 10 2 wins with a ten on the turn.<br /><br />I pulled up another £200 and the next significant hand is when we were 3 handed and there was a raise to £8 from Mr Blackjack which I flat called and the other player <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraised</span> to £16 which Blackjack and I called. The flop came <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">AJ</span>6 and amazingly the other player bet £100 into the pot of £48, Blackjack folded and I called to see his <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">KJ</span> which didn't improve.<br /><br />One of the reasons I like this game is because of the number of players who I see playing the tournaments each week but seem unable to make good decisions when the are very obvious – For example, in this spot it was pointless betting when he did (especially the amount he did) since blackjack was betting every single flop blind as well if he had raised blind and so he would have bet here, I would have called or raised and he could have saved himself £100! – I'm not complaining though!!!<br /><br />The next hand came when there was no raising <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">pre</span> flop and the board had been checked to the river when there were 4 spades showing and Blackjack bet £100 into the pot of £4. Nothing unusual there except he then told me that he hadn't looked at his cards and the dealer confirmed this so I called with my 6 high flush and he turned over his cards to find the 8s and a higher flush!<br /><br />Anyway, I finished the night £250 in profit which I was pretty happy with considering the 2 big hands I lost.<br /><br />Last week was just as interesting with another couple of drunk players.<br /><br />However, circumstances were very different and these guys were a bit cleverer.<br /><br />The first pot of note came after one of the drunk guys had just lost £400 of his £465 stack.<br /><br />The very next hand he pushed his £65 into the middle <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">pre</span> flop (at this point I thought he had done this blind) so I called with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">AJ</span> and when it was folded back to him he turned over AA!!<br /><br />Although drunk, he had looked at his hand and correctly deducted that anyone would think he was on tilt (<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">ie</span> me) and his hand held up.<br /><br />The second hand of note was surprisingly similar.<br /><br />The other drunk, who had been taking ages, slowing the game down and talking rubbish all night picked up his cards in the big blind and looked at them and went to throw them away but realised he was in the blinds.<br /><br />I limped in with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">AQ</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">UTG</span> as did a couple of other players and then when it came to the big blind he started talking rubbish again and said that he might raiser and – having seen him about to muck his cards before I told him to feel free. He then asked me how much he should raise so I said in pretend annoyance "all of it!" so he did I snapped called and everyone else got out of the way only to see him turn over AA! I still don't know if it was a calculated ploy in pretending to throw away his cards <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">pre</span> flop but it worked a treat – until my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">AdQd</span> hit a queen on the flop, a second diamond on the turn and a third diamond on the river to give me a flush!<br /><br />I don't know what he was doing <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">pre</span> flop but I am fairly sure that it wasn't a deliberate ploy in attempting to fold but the all in move was good. To be fair though everyone else on the table was happy that the result ended up the way it did given how much messing around he had been doing at the table.<br /><br />I will have to look out for him again in case this is all an elaborate trick.<br /><br />The last hand that stood out involved the first drunk player who had said he was going to raise "all in the size of the short stack (about £20)" after the short stack had raised to £4. I had already called with 99 as had another The dealer told him three times to wait his turn and that it was not all in but if he kept saying it his verbal bet would be binding. The third time he told him all his chips (about £140) would have to go in if he said it again. When he said it again the dealer told him he had to put them all in and the player said <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">ok</span> then. It was folded around to the short stack who called as did I and the other player who was already all in for £16 blind) I called since the drunk player was playing blind and we all turned our hands over with the non drunk player who was all in for £16 blind winning the small pot with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">KK</span> and me winning the remaining £300.<br /><br />All in all it was another interesting night and another £300 profit.<br /><br />On the football front I don't know who to support at the moment. The other week I was wanted Chelsea to beat Bolton to stop Man <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Utd</span> winning the league but every time Bolton attacked I was hoping they would score until I realised.<br /><br />Then when United played City I kept hoping City would score until I kept remembering that I wanted City to lose and give us a chance of 4<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> place.<br /><br />As for Sunday I don't know who I want to win. A win for us gives united the league and us an outside chance of 4<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span>.<br /><br />Man <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">Utd</span> fans I am sure will be cheering us on!!!<br /><br />On the plus side I am glad to see that united have God on their side given the miraculous recovery that happened to Rooney last week when he collapsed in a writhing heap until he looked up to see the opponent who had fouled him get his yellow card and then immediately spring up and trot off as though nothing had happened.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-29805627665235402212010-04-06T13:37:00.001+01:002010-04-06T22:18:57.076+01:00strained relationsRafa is getting some stick in the papers today about substituting Torres on Sunday in a must win match and rightly so!<br />Judging by the look of bewilderment on his face when it happened he was clearly not injured and was obviously told to put the<br />Ice on his knee to stop <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">rafa</span> getting stick. Even more bewildered though was Gerrard who had a look of utter astonishment.<br /><br />I am going to draw 2 pieces of comfort from that look though:<br /><br />1. Gerrard has been playing the way Owen did before he left and with the rumours going around I felt that there was a fair chance he was going but<br />That look of disappointment shows how much he still wanted to win the game.- although selling Gerrard might be in the club's best interests given his age and market <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">value</span><br /><br />2. My thoughts that there is a bit of a problem between Rafa and the squad does look like it might have some<br />Truth in it. I do think now that if we can get M<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">ourinho</span> or H<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">iddinck</span> then we should!<br /><br />On the poker front I've not played many tournaments online as I've been dabbling in low limit <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">omaha</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">hilo</span> and spent a couple of hundred dollars learning that I need to be trying to win both halves of the pot. Since I learned that lesson I've won back most of the $200 at the $0.10 0.20 level and I'm enjoying it.<br /><br />Live I haven't cashed in a tourney but a few good cash sessions has earned me some nice<br />profits including 1 $800 profit session at $1/$2 in Leo's where top pair was paying me<br />off every time I had them beat.<br /><br />Anyway, that's it for now.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-65149693120935935412010-03-16T19:44:00.002+00:002010-03-16T19:52:17.480+00:00I played the $45k guaranteed $50 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">rebuy</span> on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">ipoker</span> last night which I never do because it starts too early for me but I was playing the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">WPT</span> mag Irish open satellite <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">freeroll</span> so had a go whilst I was online.<br /><br />After starting off really well in the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">freeroll</span> and being chip leader with 200 left I busted out after losing a couple of big hands in quick succession which often seems to happen.<br /><br />The first hand involved AK v 33 on a board showing K53 5 Q. I can't remember the betting but he did well representing a very fishy play when ha actually had the goods.<br /><br />The second hand was K7 versus KT on a KT7 flop where I saw the flop for nothing in the big blind.<br /><br />So on to the $45k:<br /><br />I got to the end of the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">rebuys</span> with not much more than I started with and purchased my add on.<br />Before long I had someone double me up when I held aces and then, when the blinds were something like 400/800/50 and there was a raise to 6000 all in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">UTG</span>, I <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraised</span> all in to 12000 with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">JJ</span> and was called by 99 as well giving me a treble up and a decent stack.<br /><br />I had another couple of really big double ups including one player who open shoved for 25 big blinds holding 6c8c just in the money.<br /><br />I eventually got to the final table and this was pretty tight with hardly any flops being seen with either the first raise getting through or every <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraise</span> shove not being called.<br /><br />There was one player effectively putting pressure on the medium stacks but whenever I had a hand and tried to invoke the bully he never took the bait.<br /><br />I had a similar issue with the player to my right who I had a note on saying limp into his big blind and he will raise.<br /><br />Unfortunately I never had anything playable whenever he pushed and the one occasion he raised on the button and I had 33 I failed to pull the trigger when I should have… chicken!!!!<br /><br />My last hand was one where I had a bad feeling but failed to listen to myself. The blinds were 5000/10000/1200 and there were 8 left. $12000 to the winner and $1200 for 8<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span>.<br /><br />The table was playing with a 14% <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">VPIP</span> with no-one very far away from this figure.<br /><br />I had only recently said to myself that everyone was folding to the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraise</span> shove and when I make one I'll probably get called.<br /><br />A player who had shoved all in for 100,000 a couple of times raised to 22300 in early position and I had <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">JJ</span> in the small blind. When he raised less than all in warning bells went off in my head and if I had AK I would definitely have folded. As it was I tanked and nearly did fold but decided that since I only had 95000 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">JJ</span> was too good to fold. I shoved and indeed he did have <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">KK</span> and no help on the board sent me out in 8<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> for $1200.<br /><br />There was one other hand that I might have misplayed which was when I had AA and had raised to 15,000 and was called by the big blind – he had me covered with 120,000 effective stacks.<br /><br />He then lead out for 22000, on a K high rainbow board and instead of calling I raised all in thinking that the 90,000 in the middle was enough to win without the chance of being out drawn but really I should have called and looked to get it all in on the turn.<br /><br />I might have possibly been swayed by a hand from earlier in the tournament when there were about 50 left and I was chip leader. A player had raised in early position with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">JQ</span> and called when I <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraised</span>. Then when he lead out on the KT4 flop and I put him all in he called and hit the 9.<br /><br />Anyway, it was a shame to miss out on the bigger prize money but considering I do not normally play this tournament it was nice to get a good cash and I can play the Irish open super satellite on Sunday.<br /><br />It was finally good to see Liverpool play a little better last night. I was relatively pleased with our performance in the second half last Monday when <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">Aquilani</span> came on and started to get us playing football again.<br /><br />Last Thursday was not good to watch but at least we got a few goals last night that could get the confidence back. It is still ridiculously frustrating though, to see us taking a corner when we are 3-0 up against a relegation threatened team and only have 4 players in the box!!!!<br /><br />Anyway, I said before last week that if we lose 1-0 in Lille then we will probably be out of the tournament but I am a bit more confident now, time will tell!Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-49851882190816171752010-02-26T18:42:00.003+00:002010-02-26T18:51:32.961+00:00Football oddsJust about to go to our sportsman's night with Ron Yeats and comedian Mark Rough - raising money for our kids football team.<br /><br />Before I go I just heard Paddy Power giving the odds for this weekend's fixtures and there looks like a few good value odds there.<br /><br />Some of them are outsiders but the odds are a bit high in my opinion.<br /><br />Blackburn to beat Liverpool at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Anfield</span> (useless after a European match - and playing pretty badly anyway) 10.5-1<br /><br />Man City to beat Chelsea at the bridge - 3.8-1. This is not normally such good odds but the Bridge factor could add a lot of motivation to the City players<br /><br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Burnley</span> to beat Portsmouth at Turf Moor - evens. Portsmouth are woeful and have just <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">gone</span> into administration meaning they will almost certainly be relegated and so <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">their</span> motivation will not be high for a team that will all probably be sold in the summer. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Burnley</span> punch above their weight at home.<br /><br />Stoke to beat Arsenal at the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Brittania</span> Stadium - 4.6-1. Stoke (on the back of a great result against Man City) to bully Arsenal - as long as <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Delap</span> doesn't hurt his arm!<br /><br />Anyway, I don't expect them all to come in (if they do you could get something around 800-1 for the quadruple) but I expect at least one to come in and you never know.....!Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-11502571100470051272010-02-17T22:29:00.001+00:002010-02-17T23:39:45.414+00:00Even the fish can get good hands!An alternate (first timer) comes to the table and flat calls in early position then leads out on a Q rag flop before proudly showing his J8 bluff.<br />Next hand he is ready to call when Utg raises so he calls and leads out on an 8 high flop before calling all in to the check raise and catches<br />An 8 on the river. A few hands later and I call with 22 on the button.<br />The flop is Q85 and he bets 500 into 1600 which is called by the third player in the hand and me.<br />-<br />I'm banking on winning a big pot if a 2 comes...<br />Turn is the jackpot 2 and we both check to newbie who bets 1000 this time and I decide <br />To flat call since the board is pretty tame.<br />The river is a 9 and I check again pretty sure he will bet which he does -5000 this time. And I raise all in 3000 more.<br />As he goes to call I still think I'm ahead <br />But he shows 88 for a better set. It just goes to show that even bad players get good cards!!<br /><br />I eventually went out with 66 running into KK for a quick departure to Leo's where I am currently sat waiting for a seat. In the cash game.<br /><br /><br />On the football front, it was interesting to see the suggestion that the premier league are considering plans to <br />Give the 4th champions league place to the winners of a play off.<br /><br />As a Liverpool supporter we are one of the teams that stands to lose most if this happens but I<br />Think this would be a great idea. Some of the best games of the season are the playoff finals that decide promotion<br />And relegation in the championship etc so I think it would add some extra high quality games to watch as well as keeping the<br />Premier league competitive for almost every team right up to the end of the season.<br />Add to that the added possibilities for the also ran teams and we would maintain the best league in the world.<br /><br />I've just seen the Fabianski howler in tonights champions league and it just coinfirms to me that Wenger has lost his edge. Everybody has<br />Been saying how he needs a goalkeeper and tonight just proves that he doesn't even have a good no 2 either.<br /><br />I'm not and Arsenal fan, although I love the football his teams play but they play very pretty football until the last third where it counts and then teams just play narrow and block off all the passing routes to<br />Leave them toothless.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-80641197521022500152010-01-28T01:18:00.002+00:002010-01-28T01:28:26.380+00:00Pokerstars Blogger ChampionshipsPlayed event three of the Pokerstars Blogger Championships tonight.<br />After an hour I was sitting pretty in about 20th place and then I saw that there were 1000 runners left and it was midnight!<br />I decided then that I might as well play recklessly with the intention of spewing away my chips or building a huge chip lead. Fortunately for my bed sanity prevailed and I was out 5 minutes later when my up and down straight draw couldn't get there against top pair and I was out.<br />I don't think I'm going to play any more until the Main event since winning will probably need me to be up till well after 4/5am.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-15062117528070349132010-01-24T14:13:00.003+00:002010-01-24T23:39:47.067+00:00Day 2First hand back and I'm in the big blind at 800/1600 200 and there are 2 limps.<br />I look down to see 9<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">dTd</span> and shove, all fold and I'm up to 19000. Terrible play by the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">limpers</span> with my stack size!<br />We then had an all in which was survived but it left the loser with only 5600 chips left.<br />Then, on my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">bb</span> the short stack shoved in the cut off which was called by the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">sb</span> after a good think. I decided to fold with 34o had 34 and folded. As it turned out we would have split the pot 3 ways.<br />A few hands later and the short stack pushes again from early position. When I saw <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">TT</span> I shoved for 15000 only to run into the big blind <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">holding</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">QQ</span>.<br />The board came Q75 and paired the 5 on the turn to leave me out short of the money.<br />Nothing I could have done there.<br />Enjoyed the game but would have been nice to get some chips at some point!<br />Good luck to Andy and Jimmy who have both made the final table.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-43672201543859168912010-01-23T20:44:00.011+00:002010-01-24T23:41:35.293+00:00GUKPT side event - Bolton - every hand revealed!I started off recording the main hands I played in this tournament but I've ended up recording pretty<br />Much every hand I've played <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">ala</span> Gus Hansen.<br />Everything has been recorded on my phone so it might not look tidy when I upload this post.<br />If so, I apologise in advance and I will tidy it up <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">tomorrow,</span><br />For now, enjoy it, if you like this sort of thing, if not, skip through!<br /><br />Level 2 50/100 with 7500 starting chips. It's folded to my button and I raise to 300 with 88.<br />The flop is <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Js</span> 7d2d and after 2 checks I bet 600 into 900 and get <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraised</span> to 1700 by the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">bb</span> so I fold.<br />I might have been ahead, but I can't call!<br />Level 3 75/150<br />Checked <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">kj</span> in the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">bb</span>, flop k high with 2 diamonds and I check called the button's 350 steal and checked the turn rag<br />River came a third diamond so I just had to check the river with the intention of calling a medium sized bet on the river<br />Which didn't come and I won the pot to get back to 7500 chips.<br />Level 4 100 200 25 ante after a limp I raise <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">KQ</span> and got <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraised</span> to 2200 all in by <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">AJ</span> and I had to call the 1700 and a king on the turn meant I had 9900.<br />I then got moved to a new table between jimmy <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">morgan</span> and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">steve</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">holden</span>.<br />One of the first hands and there are 3 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">limpers</span> and a go to call the 200 with T7 but throw a 1000 and 100 chip in by mistake. With<br />One caller I have to continue bet on the AK 3 flop which is called. I check behind on the T turn and fold to the pot bet on the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">riverm</span> Down to 5800.<br />Next there is a raise to 650 by jimmy so I call with 77 and there is a squeeze to 2200<br />. Jimmy then did his usual <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">hollywood</span> think before <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraising</span> and saying "go on I can't pass with<br />his <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">KK</span> and I folded leaving me with 5025 chips.<br />After a button raise to 800 I went all in with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">JJ</span> and he folded AT, up to 5675.<br />Moved tables which is a shame because when the blinds go up the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">limpers</span> on he old table would have been profitable for a short stack.<br />Raise from buddy to 1500 who folded his <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" class="blsp-spelling-error">KJ</span> to my shove with AA, 7125 chips but would have been better because ash told me he would have set me in in the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" class="blsp-spelling-error">sb</span> with K9!<br />Next level 200/400 50 ante.<br />Down to 4750<br />Not played a hand that level with junk hands and. Saw 2 flops in the blinds.<br />Didn't even have any spots to steal.<br />Second hand in it's folded to me, all in 23o, I pick up the blinds.<br />Next hand and there's a raise to 1500, I'm all in again with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" class="blsp-spelling-error">KK</span>. He s<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" class="blsp-spelling-error">ays</span> he raised blind and. Calls 24<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" class="blsp-spelling-error">hh</span> flop<br />comes K99 2 hearts but I survive and up to 13000<br />300/600 50 next, all in or fold.<br />Raised late <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_25" class="blsp-spelling-error">pos</span> to 1700 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_26" class="blsp-spelling-error">KJ</span> and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_27" class="blsp-spelling-error">bb</span> called and check folded in disgust on an ace high flop.<br />Next hand raised 1600 AT all <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_28" class="blsp-spelling-error">folded,</span> up to 15500 with the average 19200 and 34 left.<br />After a raise <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_29" class="blsp-spelling-error">utg</span> and 2 calls I called 1600 more with 34 and missed.<br />10500 left.<br />Folded to me on the button I pushed <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_30" class="blsp-spelling-error">TJ</span> and won the blinds, 12300, blinds now 500/1000 100.<br />Raised 88, all folded.<br /><br />Tight cutoff Raised to 3000 on my big blind when I had Ac 9c, I folded with 12300 behind.<br /><br />Folded K4<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_31" class="blsp-spelling-error">hh</span> on button, blinds had nothing but don't want to shove every time.<br />Next hand <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_32" class="blsp-spelling-error">Jd</span>7d the same, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_33" class="blsp-spelling-error">bb</span> raised the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_34" class="blsp-spelling-error">sb</span> limp.<br />Blinds up in 8 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_35" class="blsp-spelling-error">mins</span> I'm going to have to raise next button if folded to me.<br />Blinds 600 1200 100<br />A9 on button, all fold, stack is 8300. All in again soon.<br />Nice time to find AA all fold 11600.<br />After a limp, I called in the small blind with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_36" class="blsp-spelling-error">KJ</span>, it was checked around on the 732 flop,<br />I bet 2200 on the 9 turn and took the chips, 13100, 18 left.<br />99 in the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_37" class="blsp-spelling-error">bb</span> but a raise and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_38" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraise</span> meant I folded, 11500.<br />4 hands left for the night, blinds are 800/1600 200 tomorrow.<br />Last hand, after a limp from a guy who just raised 3 hands in a row,<br />all in 10500 with 6h7h. All fold, including a good player called Raf who folded <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_39" class="blsp-spelling-error">TT</span> which is a bit tight<br />Given my stack size but I was raising an early position limp on the blind of<br />Howard plant and he still had a few to get past, facing at least <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_40" class="blsp-spelling-error">overcards</span> normally, I would suppose.<br />Anyway, I'm back tomorrow for day 2 with 18 left, including Andy Booth and Jimmy Morgan out of the Liverpool lads who were on the cruise with us in 2008.<br />£17,400 in the pot, 10 get <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_41" class="blsp-spelling-error">paid</span> with the winner picking up about £5000.<br />Let's hope one of us wins.<br />Good luck also to terry <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_42" class="blsp-spelling-error">owens</span>, another Liverpool player who is on the final table of the £50,000 1st prize main event.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-48217348444225675042010-01-18T01:22:00.001+00:002010-01-18T02:56:07.224+00:00Quad twos again?!!Played cash tonight at the circus in Liverpool.<br /><br /><br />A couple of hours in I'm sitting on a stack of £600 from a starting <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">stack of £100. </span><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error"></span><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error">I had built the stack through a few nice pots including </span>one hand where I had limped in the big blind after the button had straddled and I was holding <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">KK</span>.<br /><br />No one raised and I checked an A63 flop and the button bet £16 into the pot of £16. I called this having expected him to bet most flops. The turn came a 7 and I decided to check again and let him continue his bluff.<br /><br />The river was a J diamonds that put a flush on the board and I checked a third time hoping to see a check back but he bet £100 on the river.<br /><br />At this point I am only beating a bluff but my plan all along had been to let him bluff at me. The fact that a backdoor flush had arrived factored into my decision but I felt that he was more than capable of 3 barrel bluffing so I took my time and asked him if my pair of kings were winning.<br /><br />To cut a long story short, after a couple of minutes I got the smile I was looking for and called to see his 35 bluff and rake a lovely pot.<br /><br />Anyway, I also had a couple of hands against John, a pretty good lag player, who will raise a lot of his buttons.<br /><br />On one of these hands John had raised again on the button and it ended up me betting the river and john flat calling with trips that he had made on the river. After that hand we talked afterwards about how john couldn't raise because he was only getting called by a better hand.<br /><br />There were 2 pots where each of us made quad 2s before the fateful biggest pot of the night.<br /><br />With a straddle from John on the button I flat called with 99 along with john and a couple of new players. The flop came Kc2h3h and the new player bet 10 into the pot of 18. I called along with John. The turn was a 2, which was checked all around and the river was a wonderful looking 9 giving me a full house of 9s full of 2s. I bet 50 into the pot of about 60 and John thought about it for ages before raising £200.<br /><br />This is where it got interesting because of our previous conversation.<br /><br />I have to admit that I did consider folding because of our previous conversation, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">however, I</span> just called, even though he could have had K2 for a lower full house and he showed 22 for quads and raked the pot.<br /><br />I've never been so disappointed to walk away with a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">profit</span> of £80 for 2 hours work!!<br /><br />Things went from bad to worse when I got to the car park.<br /><br />Parking is normally £2.50 (after 18:00 apparently) which we get from the casino, however, when I went to pay the machine asked me for £12. After cancelling and checking the tariff on the wall I realised that this was because I had arrived at 17:57. So I reluctantly put my ticket back into the machine to pay my £12 but now the machine was asking for £15!<br /><br />After looking around for the hidden cameras that had to be filming me for some TV prank show, I check my ticket only to see that it had just clicked past 1:57 which meant that I had gone from the 6-8 hour <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">tariff</span> of £12 to the 8-10 hours rate of £15!!!!<br /><br />If only I had arrived 3 minutes later.<br /><br />Needless to say I won't be playing the lottery this week!!!Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-57760006004765941902009-12-31T02:13:00.004+00:002009-12-31T02:47:10.323+00:00Silver medal<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmJmYeCiwSpmtkVML9rdTCzD8VBwfWcH2HA0B7ZR86dwPoGB7o5H_LJdtorD0zI1YFlS0ivA3levcAcGg96OwMJLz1fQ4rv8NUGdfWCl4Jpb3YaFZRI-YEcJ3TwgPyidMPwnyUVsLM4M/s1600-h/silver_medal_sticker-p217553475209696409836x_325.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 325px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 325px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421226336816410674" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmJmYeCiwSpmtkVML9rdTCzD8VBwfWcH2HA0B7ZR86dwPoGB7o5H_LJdtorD0zI1YFlS0ivA3levcAcGg96OwMJLz1fQ4rv8NUGdfWCl4Jpb3YaFZRI-YEcJ3TwgPyidMPwnyUVsLM4M/s400/silver_medal_sticker-p217553475209696409836x_325.jpg" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><br />Not done much recently because of Christmas and everything but I did get the pleasure of a couple of hours cash poker in Manchester whilst Emma was at the Miley Cyrus concert.<br /><br />Unfortunately lady luck decided that I wasn't coming home with any profit after a couple of hands of interest.<br /><br />The first one involved effective stacks of £175 in the £1/£2 game that involved a lot of pre flop limping with multiple players seeing the flop.<br /><br />I got to see a cheap flop in the big blind with J9 and about 6 checked the Th9d3s flop. When the 9h came I checked and it was folded to the button who bet £12 into the pot of about £16 I raised slightly less than I wanted to because I didn't pick up enough chips in my hand so the raise was to £25 and everyone folded except the big blind who went all in. I studied before calling expecting at worst that he would have something like 89. He turned over Ah2h for the turned flush draw and the dealer turned over the 6h to give him the flush.<br /><br />I wonder if everyone else thinks along these lines?<br /><br />I quite liked his bet on the turn with the flush draw but when I raised with 5 others still to act he must I must have either a nine of at worst a flush draw. By raising he is chasing away the flush draw that would get him paid and almost always getting a call from a 9.<br /><br />The other hand involved what I now think was a bad play by me.<br /><br />After limping I called a late position raise of £16 with QsTh, 3 of us see the flop.<br /><br />The flop came KsJs2s to which two of us checked to the raiser who went all in for £50 holding what I thought was likely to be top pair maybe with a spade then the first player announced that he thought the raiser had a big pair and then called the £50. At this point I felt certain that the first player had a poor 2 pair because of what he said and so if I raised now he would "know" that I had him beat and I had the up and down draw with also the second nut flush draw so I went all in for an extra £70. He called with his K2 and the dealer dealt the 2d to give him a full house.<br /><br />Afterwards K2 man told me that he knew he was behind when I went all in (even though he wasn't)<br /><br />My thinking at the time was flawed because the play might have been right if there was extra money in the pot that the raiser couldn't have won, giving me a side pot and a free shot at the main pot. The other flaw is whether my raise was big enough for him to fold 2 pair to my reraise. I'm not sure how big the reraise would have to be in that spot to make him fold. I know that I am representing the flush but as he has outs/ I'm liking my play less and less now the more I think about it...<br /><br />Feel free to criticise me here!<br /><br />Another hand that comes to mind is where I was UTG and raised to £12 with AA only to be reraised to £35 all in by UTG+1 and then called in late position by a guy who was playing 80%+ hands. I reraised another £40 and he folded having another £100 behind. I lost the race against 99 but thinking now, I possibly should have called pre flop in the hope of getting some more money from the late position player post flop? He did seem to be playing all these hands but then playing carefully post flop with top pair type hands so maybe reraising was right considering the strength he showed pre by calling the rereraise.<br /><br />Two other things I saw also made me laugh. One was a guy straddling his own big blind!!!! The second was overhearing a local who was thinking about playing the £30 freezeout tournamant saying that there was no value, but if it had been a double chance tournament he might have played for the value! I think he was totally missing the point of what value represents in poker!<br /><br />The only other thing to mention is that I came second in the APAT online WCOAP stud tournament to win a silver medal and entry into the next live APAT tournament. I haven't played many stud tournaments but I really enjoyed it and I am thinking of playing a few more as even a novice like me could see loads of mistakes being made by players who I know to be competent at holdem.<br /><br />Anyway, bed for now.<br /><br /></div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-83787861449795148082009-12-17T23:35:00.004+00:002009-12-18T00:15:58.684+00:00It's a squad game<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbFFYIdllu0raXaN3sHJP_9WYhPrmi-hmsSAeCKGKKA8GrzSsFFWKSmfarDN13KhqvWImX7xJAhRvmQFtB6r6mdUNQ8sgpL7aB1T89uqtT5TAXhgAruSoh71CDDVGC6ee3sD7irQOT2_w/s1600-h/wolverhampton+wanderers.gif"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 280px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 310px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416362861893024834" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbFFYIdllu0raXaN3sHJP_9WYhPrmi-hmsSAeCKGKKA8GrzSsFFWKSmfarDN13KhqvWImX7xJAhRvmQFtB6r6mdUNQ8sgpL7aB1T89uqtT5TAXhgAruSoh71CDDVGC6ee3sD7irQOT2_w/s400/wolverhampton+wanderers.gif" /></a><br /><div>There have been a few instances in recent years where football teams have sent out sub strength sides in various situations.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Arsenal and the other big teams in the League and FA cups,</div><br /><div>Bolton fielding a weakened team against Sporting Lisbon in the Uefa Cup</div><br /><div>Everton and Celtic in the Europa League tonight</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>However, one of the most controversial decisions was made by Mick McCarthy on Tuesday when he made 10 changes for his match at Old Trafford against the champions Manchester United.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>McCarthy has been widely criticised by many for, amongst other things, letting down the away fans, devaluing/cheating the Premier League, giving away points.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>But was he wrong to do this?</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Let's look at this problem from an expected value perspective.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Wolves were 18-1 to win and 6-1 for the draw with their first team. If we assume that the bookies are usually right then their chances of winning were around 6% and drawing they were 16%. With 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw that would give them an expected value of 0.18 + 0.16 = 0.34 points for the fixture. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Even if we go to the extreme and say that the reserve team's chances of winning or drawing are halved. That means this decision has cost Wolves 0.17 points.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Now the chances of Wolves winning their next fixture against Burnley are evens - 50% and the odds on the draw are 3-1 - 33% giving an expected value of 1.83 points. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>The question is how much more chance do they have of winning given the fact that Burnley played a difficult game in midweek and Wolves were able to rest their injury ravaged squad.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Clearly they only need to increase their chances of winning by 5% in order to break even. On top of that is the fact that the match against Burnley is a 6 pointer since they are both likely to be near the relegation zone in May.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>My view is that this was a very brave and sensible decision by Mick McCarthy. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Similarly I can understand when the bigger teams use squad players in the Carling and FA Cups. Based on the premise that the players being used should still be good enough to win the games.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>What I disagree with is when teams field weakened teams that have no chance of winning the match in these cup competitions. In particular the Bolton decision in the Uefa cup last year.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Bolton had fought all season long the year before to gain entry to this competition only to then give away their chances at the business end of the tournament when anything could happen to give their fans an opportunity to get to a semi final, final or even with the tournament - look at what happened to Greece in Euro 2004.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>It's fine when there is nothing to play for, as is the case with Everton and Celtic tonight.</div><div> </div><div>Poker wise I had a good night on Tuesday winning 1 and final tabling 2 of the other 3 MTT's I played for $800 profit. Didn't fare so well last night when I tried the deepstack in Bolton that was a nice little tournament which I will be trying again in the near future.</div><div> </div><div> </div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-35166465713484970992009-12-07T19:37:00.004+00:002009-12-07T19:59:33.091+00:00Under Pressure...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVdexBJl6Rc5jZ-ERjFj5Ht2Bdz8GFBbpSrHMskaobdUMxSUzP5rSbJqPu2zVg4A4f1suGenJl2jpdyahePRlRV9DKpMeULdEMKh0eIycYSriEjum1DGAWSlHvCh-rWls2wszo8sC6vAA/s1600-h/y1pvjyd3hnzyiclyrkph3mvfe0dqhmg5qz5vrycvp4z-yd5wgkw4q42xncnrqcv0pmwgihbcjgkahu.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 267px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412582215869642994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVdexBJl6Rc5jZ-ERjFj5Ht2Bdz8GFBbpSrHMskaobdUMxSUzP5rSbJqPu2zVg4A4f1suGenJl2jpdyahePRlRV9DKpMeULdEMKh0eIycYSriEjum1DGAWSlHvCh-rWls2wszo8sC6vAA/s400/y1pvjyd3hnzyiclyrkph3mvfe0dqhmg5qz5vrycvp4z-yd5wgkw4q42xncnrqcv0pmwgihbcjgkahu.jpg" /></a><br /><br />On Wednesday night Liverpool take on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Fiorentina</span> in what is predominantly a dead rubber. All that rests on the outcome is a mere £600,000 prize money since Liverpool have now qualified for the Europa League and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Fiorentina</span> are through to the group stages of the champions League.<br /><br />The atmosphere is likely to be strange, compared to what would ordinarily be another special European night at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Anfield</span>.<br /><br />There is, however, one other factor that will make Wednesday very interesting. That of the full home debut for Alberto <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Aquilani</span>.<br /><br />There has been a lot said over the last month or two relating to Liverpool's lack of form and the loss of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Xavi</span> Alonso (a fantastic player and one of the best passers in the world.)<br /><br />There is an incredible amount of expectation being placed on the shoulders of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Aquilani</span> before he has even played 30 minutes of football for the reds, due to his delayed introduction to the team through injury and then lack of match fitness.<br /><br />Liverpool clearly have a very good set up with the two holding midfielders <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mascherano</span> and Lucas, when they play the top teams. However, when they play teams who are happy to sit back, Liverpool suffer because Lucas and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mascherano</span> are generally dropping off to receive the ball from the central defenders when <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Agger</span>, in particular, is more than capable of bringing the ball out <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">ala</span> Alan Hansen in his prime.<br /><br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">Aquilani</span> is seen as the answer to all these problems, but you only have to look at the problems Newcastle United have when relying on a new messiah to save the club (Kevin <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Keegan</span>, Alan Shearer)<br /><br />I am very concerned that the weight of all this expectation is going to be very difficult for <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">Aquilani</span> to bear. He is coming into a team that is struggling, without having had a proper <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">pre</span>-season, lacking in match fitness, and, depending on how Rafa plays him, potentially a new formation.<br /><br />I only hope that our very knowledgeable fans bear this in mind and do not expect miracles immediately.<br /><br />Poker wise, things have been going well in the last couple of weeks. I've started playing cash live again, and, apart from losing a pot with AA when I was <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraised</span> all in by Q9 (the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraise</span> was less than a quarter of the actual raise) I've won some nice pots including the quad pot previously mentioned and another healthy pot with set over set.<br /><br />What is more pleasing is that I have finally made a final table after a long run of missing out. Along the way I survived a huge limp <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraise</span> with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">QQ</span> against AA when the flop brought 3 diamonds and his Ace of diamonds left me drawing to the only remaining queen which duly came. It makes a nice change when the odd hand like this comes out in my favour rather than against and even more pleasing because the guy slammed the table in celebration when I called his <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">reraise</span> as he turned over his aces.<br /><br />I went on to come third in the tournament after having taken advantage of the short stacks on the bubble even though everyone had agreed to put £5 each into a saver for the person who bubbled. I was against this because I am not scared of busting out on the bubble and it is the time when people play really tight and real poker can be played.<br /><br />I was also pleased with a couple of folds I made on the final table.<br /><br />The first one came when a relatively short stack raised half his stack and I had <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">AQ</span> with plenty of chips behind. I had a think about it and asked him how many chips he had which he answered whilst staring at me. I was pretty sure he wanted me to call so I folded and told everyone what I folded to a couple of people saying I was stupid before the short stack showed his AK.<br /><br />The second time we were 5 handed when a guy limped in early position which he had been doing all night with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" class="blsp-spelling-error">KQ</span> type hands. I was in the small blind with K2 and 3 of us saw the flop of 665. I checked, as did the big blind and limper made a bet that I was certain was nothing but as I was contemplating the raise or out of position float, the big blind leaned back in his chair acting very uninterested so I folded and he called. When the K came on the turn Mr limp inevitably went all in and lost to the trip sixes!<br /><br />Anyway, in typical fashion I busted out when all in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" class="blsp-spelling-error">pre</span> flop with AK against A2 for £425 when second paid £650 and first was £1200 but as I've said many times, that's the way it goes in poker!<br /><br />Finally, I have finished with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" class="blsp-spelling-error">badbeat</span> after 9 months.<br /><br />There were two reasons why I started with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" class="blsp-spelling-error">badbeat</span>, firstly because I had run my bankroll down playing on the cruise, and secondly because I wanted to take advantage of their mentoring scheme.<br /><br />My mentor was (I think) mainly a single table tournament (<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" class="blsp-spelling-error">STT</span>) player and we started out having sessions every week or two where he would watch me play a couple of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_25" class="blsp-spelling-error">STT</span> tournaments. During this period he would watch my hands by using a screen capturing program.<br /><br />As the weeks went on the gap between sessions grew a little bigger mainly because there were never any sessions in his diary during the evenings for me to book a session. I would book one whenever there was a spot free and I did e-mail him a couple of times to say that there were no sessions available for me to book a session on the online diary system.<br /><br />In all the 9 months of this I never once had a single comment said to me about how I could have played a hand differently. The only comments that were ever said to me were along the lines of "Oh that was a really good move!"<br /><br />When I went on holiday in August I was moved to a different skin on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_26" class="blsp-spelling-error">ipoker</span>. My ROI on the original skin was around 10% over 1000 games with a profit of $4000 (and I don't think that included the 2 jackpot consolation prizes and a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_27" class="blsp-spelling-error">MTT</span> win of about $2,000 in total.<br /><br />For some strange reason, on the new skin I <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_28" class="blsp-spelling-error">couldn</span>’t win an argument and over the course of 500 games I lost all of the profit I had made over the previous 7 months. I wasn't doing anything differently and so I don't know whether it was down to having a different image on the new skin, whether it was just variance or because I was playing a lot more double or nothing tournaments. Anyway, about a week ago, I got an e-mail saying that my daily loss limit was being reduced from $750 to $500. At this point I e-mailed my mentor saying that I had got the message and was half expecting and talking about the point above regarding different skins, but I didn't get a reply.<br /><br />The next thing I heard, was about 5 days later when I got an e-mail from the admin team saying that on the direction of my mentor they were dropping me from the trader scheme and I was more disappointed that my mentor didn't even contact me to let me know!<br /><br />To be honest, I had already e-mailed a contact on another <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_29" class="blsp-spelling-error">ipoker</span> skin enquiring about <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_30" class="blsp-spelling-error">rakeback</span> deals because I was considering making the break anyway since I felt that the mentoring side of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_31" class="blsp-spelling-error">badbeat</span> was as good as a chocolate fireguard and I had a big enough bankroll to play the levels I was playing at anyway.<br /><br />However, that doesn't take away from the fact that the way things were handled were unprofessional.<br /><br />After all, although my combined profits for bad beat were -$500, I had still generated over $2000 in rake and so they were still in profit from my stint there. The other factor is that, by dropping me they were, in effect, saying that I had become a worse player since joining, which says all I need to say about the mentoring system.<br /><br />I was considering leaving before the holiday in August but they announced a series of online sessions where strategy would be discussed (I had previously suggested that they hold some live seminars similar to the ones held by <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_32" class="blsp-spelling-error">Blackbelt</span> poker during their audition process) but the one I attended was held online and was unsuccessful because of issues with connections and so got cancelled part way through.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm not concerned but disappointed that, what should be a good concept, was unsuccessful.<br /><br />The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_33" class="blsp-spelling-error">APAT</span> online championship is on Sunday so I might have a run at that and some other <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_34" class="blsp-spelling-error">MTTs</span> because, since I joined bad beat I've not really played many <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_35" class="blsp-spelling-error">MTTs</span> which I think are my best format. I've also not played any satellites to the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_36" class="blsp-spelling-error">GUKPT</span> or other tournaments either so I'll go down that route and see where it takes me over the coming months.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-11805277858023479522009-11-30T12:54:00.001+00:002009-11-30T12:54:30.905+00:00Good BeatThere are quite a lot of poker stories online that relate to bad beats and I try not to put any that I have on here.<br /><br />Memory is very selective and there is a psychological term called highlighting that is used to demonstrate that we tend to only remember the things that have significance to us.<br /><br />People always think it is uncanny how you might talk about something that you have not seen in a while and then you see a load of them in a short space of time.<br /><br />Well the reality is that you probably have seen them but not noticed them.<br /><br />You can try this yourself for example if you ask yourself when was the last time I saw a red mini. Chances are you will say it was ages ago. I bet you see more than one in the very near future and you will probably keep saying to yourself, 'there's another one.'<br /><br />This is the reason why people always moan that they always lose with AA of their favourite hand is 45 sooooted. In reality what happens is that they only remember the times when they lost with aces and forget every time they win with them because there is no reason to remember the things that go right.<br /><br />Well, last night I had a 'good beat' where it turned out I got very luck in a hand.<br /><br />I was playing cash in the circus in Liverpool and I had about £250 in front of me in the £1/£2 pot limit game that has a lot of callers pre flop and a standard raise does little to thin the field.<br /><br />I limped in with a pair of 3s in late position. The flop came down 873 rainbow and I can't remember who lead out for about £10 into the pot of £10, I called with the cut off and button behind me who all called and 4 of us saw the turn which was an off suit J. There was then a pot sized bet of about £30 which was also called and I was about to raise when I had second thoughts. Because of the number of people in the hand I felt that 9 10 was a very conceivable holding and I didn't want to get all in when someone was sitting the with the straight so I flat called again and the other two folded.<br /><br />At this point I was now more confident that I was ahead.<br /><br />The river was a lovely 3 giving me quad 3s and the nuts (the best possible hand)<br />The player who had bet the turn (I've only played against him a couple of times but he looks a good solid player) then lead out for £100 and I pushed all in which with his pair of 8s in his hand giving him a full house and a real cooler of a hand.<br /><br />I actually felt bad even though I won a huge pot because I had gotten so lucky on the river, although the majority of the money didn't go in until I was ahead I know how sickening I would have felt had I lost in his position.<br /><br />So the moral of the story is to remember that we don't always received bad beats but we all give them out as well, whether you are Phil Ivery or Phil 'Aquaboy' Benton – sorry phil if you are reading this – I couldn't resist!Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-8905768077286511022009-11-19T12:53:00.003+00:002009-11-19T13:26:31.412+00:00Out of Hand<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT18daoHtYuDkUqrLKSmTeqFiQKl-C-4730wqJ-dqkyqwmhD9JM4B1W1y5y_zdiQwQ57BEm13318cc9fPOC4Hc0C3-D_2JsOOGfsl3QunaHzKQtuu6Aufun-7sLZ9kzWOJu2ej_ke_H9k/s1600/IrelandFootball.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405805526665211650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 230px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 230px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT18daoHtYuDkUqrLKSmTeqFiQKl-C-4730wqJ-dqkyqwmhD9JM4B1W1y5y_zdiQwQ57BEm13318cc9fPOC4Hc0C3-D_2JsOOGfsl3QunaHzKQtuu6Aufun-7sLZ9kzWOJu2ej_ke_H9k/s400/IrelandFootball.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>I watched the Ireland game last night and have to say that if FIFA don't sort themselves out soon we might as well stop watching football.<br /><br />Thierry Henry has been a fantastic player and a great ambassador to the game but what he did last night will probably undo all that good work and will be the only thing he is remembered for.<br /><br />He strikes me as the sort of person who would never do something like that in the cold light of day, but in the heat of a match it happened instinctively.<br /><br />He has now come out and admitted it hit his hand but that it was accidental. Well the first touch probably was accidental but for the second touch he was almost placing it into the right spot and I have absolutely no doubt that it was intentional.<br /><br />I noticed that straight after the game he was sat down consoling Richard Dunne and I think it was only then that the enormity of what he had done sank in. When he got up he had the look on his face of someone who had just lost or made a big mistake and I think that he was probably regretting what he had done.<br /><br />However, we all know that there is nothing that FIFA will do about it. They insist that they will never bring in TV replays because there are no replays available at grass roots level. Well if that is the reason then they had better get rid of the assistant referees, 4th and 5th officials because we never have them either at grass roots levels.<br /><br />The must bring in TV replays for incidents like this. We don't need every throw in and corner challenges, even if they give each team 2 challenges. It works everywhere else so there is no excuse.<br /><br />On the poker front nothing significant has happened but I did have to laugh last night in an 18 player $30 SNG. I was chip leader after this one player had gone all in for 14000 chips into a pot of 2000 with a flush draw when I was holding top set. We were down to the bubble (there were 4 players left with only 3 getting paid) and the 3rd place prize money was $109 and one of the players was sitting out due to a connection problem.<br /><br />The blinds were 300/600 and I had 17000 chips with everyone else having between 2000 and 4000 so I was able to raise every hand safe in the knowledge that the other two players would have to fold almost everything they had.<br /><br />The funny thing was that, once we were heads up the same guy said in the chat box that I was "very loose!" not really understanding what I had been doing!<br /></div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-59211686333535639482009-11-16T20:02:00.003+00:002009-11-16T20:34:23.294+00:00Call or foldWent to Blackpool again yesterday and played the bounty tournament.<br /><br />Unfortunately there is not much to report since I played one hand badly and that eventually lead to my demise.<br /><br />The hand in question involved me limping on the button with Q3 after a couple of early limps, something I've been experimenting with lately trying to use position to my advantage.<br /><br />In this hand the flop came down Qs 7s 5d. The other players all checked and I bet 700 into the pot of 1000. Everyone folded until the last player who thought for ages and then decided to call.<br /><br />My thoughts here were that he didn't have much at all but thought I was stealing the pot with position. The turn was an 5s and here he checked and I felt that if I checked I might get something on the river so I checked too. The river was a 9s or something similar putting 4 spades on the board. He then bet 600 into the pot of 2400 which I felt was probably screaming for a call with a flush but I thought there was a chance he was trying to buy the pot knowing that I would need a spade to call. Rather reluctantly I called and he showed JcTs for the flush and showing that he had indeed called with nothing.<br />Looking back I suppose I was being greedy trying to get more chips on the turn rather than looking to take the pot down there and then.<br /><br />Anyway this left me with 2200 chips as the blinds rose to 150/300 and so after there had been 3 limps on my big blind I shoved with 89 and I got 2 callers. The K82 flop lead to a check and a bet with the bettor having K6 who called with the aim of getting my bounty pre flop and succeeded.<br /><br />I then went over to the £0.50/£1cash table and had an even quicker experience.<br /><br />The first hand involved 3 limpers when I had AJ on the button so I raised to 5 and was called in 2 spots and then the villain pushed all in for £180+ which we all folded to.<br /><br />Next I was involved with the villain in a 3 way pot where he checked called the flop with AdQd in an unraised pot. He then lead out for £10 into a pot of £20 when a second diamond came on the turn and then he bet £6 into the £50 pot on the river when the flush came and reraised when raised holding the nuts.<br /><br />A few hands later he raised to £5 again from the small blind and I called with 2 of the limpers holding As Jh in the big blind. Now when he raised he was shaking like he did when he bet the AQ on the turn before and I had him down as having a big hand here and called with the aim of stacking him on the right sort of flop.<br /><br />The flop came down AhQhTh and he went all in for £200. I had £112 in front of me and I've got the ace, straight draw, second nut flush draw and the Kh would give me the royal flush.<br /><br />This put me in a really difficult spot and after a think I decided that I couldn't fold.<br /><br />The question is should I have?<br /><br />What hands would he do this with?<br /><br />I felt that KK holding the Kh was a fairly good chance as was AK, AQ and AT but AQ and AT less likely given his percieved strenght pre flop.<br /><br />I didn't think a flush was at all possible.<br /><br />So I felt I was probably behind but with the best possible draw and no chance of drawing dead.<br /><br />AK and the Kh was my worst case scenario.<br /><br />Any opinions would be welcome here.<br /><br />Needless to say I left straight after although, given the overbetting in the short space of time I was there I regretted that 10 before I even got to the door.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-43310828180771965582009-11-13T18:58:00.005+00:002009-11-13T19:44:28.252+00:00Four King Hell!!!!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRyVkGJYsXQ2f4XWgpECi5XAeK9T0TmljHdkFuTTwqCyCynScPf-GWzMjDqVDQuS8e_73bgrCw1BlO5B59LaseTSw0jHznX2lLQPyPyOmbMSjpcXcy5QO7wPILSRUW9qtKEVhbUqWRSVI/s1600-h/kings2.jpg"></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3mXkDVFGuB2zlHKp4smMqO_fHNOOX7w4NBDCrTRlHYmiBNgPN2rg3FEqWr-aTpY3aZKXuKgZqHiXEc6aUgeeNy5TkIjiV6ylYkP3QiE347oJyEGNRDX8zd5PQwJ2FPP2Jc2fKPJHnxvI/s1600-h/kings.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 100px; HEIGHT: 114px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403665119674857058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3mXkDVFGuB2zlHKp4smMqO_fHNOOX7w4NBDCrTRlHYmiBNgPN2rg3FEqWr-aTpY3aZKXuKgZqHiXEc6aUgeeNy5TkIjiV6ylYkP3QiE347oJyEGNRDX8zd5PQwJ2FPP2Jc2fKPJHnxvI/s400/kings.jpg" /></a> </div><div> </div><div>I went to Blackpool last night to play the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">GUKPT</span> side event. I went straight from work so got there at 5.30 and went to buy in to this 90 runner event only to find that there was already 16 people on the alternate list.</div><div> </div><div>By 6pm that numbered over 40!</div><div> </div><div>Luckily they squeezed an extra table in and I managed to start from the beginning.</div><div> </div><div>After a brief appearance from Ali Mallu who went out in shocking fashion, probably on tilt from earlier, Steve Holden sat down 3 to my left.</div><div> </div><div>My first of only 2 significant hands involved Steve. </div><div> </div><div>After dropping to about 2900 from his original 5000 I raised from 100 to 300 in early position with KK and Steve reraised to 1200. He called my shove with AQ and the door card A was good enough to take half of my chips.</div><div> </div><div>A short while later I got kings again and there was a raise from UTG to 300 which I reraised to 1050. He tanked for ages and then called. </div><div> </div><div>I can't remember the exact flop but it was something like 863 and he checked, I bet 1000 and he called. The turn was a 4 and he checked again with me putting my last 450 in for him to call and announce straight showing 57 and leaving me out before the end of the second level.</div><div> </div><div>Oh well, that's the nature poker.</div><div> </div><div>So I went to Leos to play some cash which started off really well going from 50 to 200 in quick fashion before bluffing off some chips with air. </div><div> </div><div>I finished that session only £50 up but enjoyed the session and with the new dealer dealt game much more comfortable than the games that used to be there and stopped me from playing so I'll be there a lot more regularly from now on.</div><div> </div><div>That's it for now, footy then a few drinks.<br /><br /></div><div></div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-18630605039171015292009-11-09T13:14:00.002+00:002009-11-09T13:22:29.468+00:00The boy who cried wolf<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCdG5rkWl18GG4_7sSkto8S5Atuxxx4SyCgnKrd8JmAkUB4_TQHKVucMvHTWTxFUAUy3Vj8-3cgZktfTfuO2C23hzlZ3n3-qkoo4eUfb-SmS0X9ZuqAEdvy841vLriE2qcPQJrbNtLbCY/s1600-h/Drogba_Injured2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402092380990404930" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 220px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCdG5rkWl18GG4_7sSkto8S5Atuxxx4SyCgnKrd8JmAkUB4_TQHKVucMvHTWTxFUAUy3Vj8-3cgZktfTfuO2C23hzlZ3n3-qkoo4eUfb-SmS0X9ZuqAEdvy841vLriE2qcPQJrbNtLbCY/s400/Drogba_Injured2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>The funniest thing I've seen in a long time happened yesterday when <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Drogba</span> was booked for assaulting Johnny Evans' studs with his chest.<br /><br />I think I've said before that one day that girl is going to get seriously injured and everyone will carry on playing around him. I thought that had happened on Sunday when he got those studs right in the chest and he was shaking on the floor like someone who had just received a horrific injury. My thinking was still the same as he tried to stand up and then nearly collapsed as though he had snapped about 3 ribs.<br /><br />Fortunately the referee came over administered a miracle cure that must have been developed somewhere in the Ivory coast, namely the brandishing of a yellow card. As soon as the yellow card was shown <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Drogba</span> instantly forgot about his catastrophic injury and started jumping up and down complaining about the card.<br /><br />What the referee can possibly think he was booking him for I don't know unless it was for simulating a casualty from a war film.<br /><br />For me he got exactly what was coming to him and the sooner he gets this out of his game the better, until then I hope he gets booked time and time again.</div><div> </div><div>Interesting that it wasn't difficult getting a photo of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Drogba</span> injured!</div><div> </div><div>It was also funny when I heard a Man <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Utd</span> caller on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Talksport</span> phone in saying that they haven't have any decisions given to them since <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Fergie's</span> rant. </div><div> </div><div>He must have been looking the other way when <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Drogba</span> got his yellow. </div><div> </div><div>It was a nice change seeing a decision go against them yesterday though!</div><div> </div><div> </div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-70788334697394821942009-11-03T13:43:00.003+00:002009-11-03T20:21:21.090+00:00This is it!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBkrPTeJlyrV_Ea13ZzAXYUbGa3eAkiZhwk6pFH7Yk6IGxgZDKHuzXowJkHHB9H3a0EbsuC0i45Wf756RPU83rFUeU2hV2orolJHojlS9G1kUvJpP8UhKA84NJhxbCLCL9fT7jIGMTu7A/s1600-h/5+times.bmp"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399872770232421106" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBkrPTeJlyrV_Ea13ZzAXYUbGa3eAkiZhwk6pFH7Yk6IGxgZDKHuzXowJkHHB9H3a0EbsuC0i45Wf756RPU83rFUeU2hV2orolJHojlS9G1kUvJpP8UhKA84NJhxbCLCL9fT7jIGMTu7A/s400/5+times.bmp" /></a><br /><div>Wednesday is crunch time for Liverpool in the Champions League. Whilst a defeat does not spell the end of the line, it would make things very difficult and we would be relying on results elsewhere going our way.<br /><br />On the positive side though, when the chips are down we do play at our best, with or without Gerrard and/or Torres.<br /><br />A win tonight, though, and I would expect us to qualify.<br /><br />There has been a lot said recently about Liverpool and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Benitez</span>, including a lot of people coming out of the woodwork saying that <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Benitez</span> has lost the plot.<br /><br />Funny how these people can change their minds in such a short space of time, coming on the back of a very good campaign last season.<br /><br />Teams just do not become bad overnight.<br /><br />Liverpool are currently suffering from a combination of problems.<br /><br />1. The squad players are just not performing. People like Babel are woefully underachieving and that means that when Gerrard/Torres are out we are struggling to replace them.<br />2. We are not going on the front foot soon enough. Keeping the ball and having 75% of the possession is no good if that possession is all in our own half with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mascherano</span> and Lucas dropping back to the halfway line, picking the ball up from one centre half and then giving it to the other. We need these guys finding space behind the opposition midfield, creating space for the forward players. I don't mind us doing that when we are already in the lead but I'm afraid that we have fallen back into the bad habits of last season. Only when we go a goal down do we suddenly spring into life and we need this attitude from the off, playing as though we are behind.<br />3. Alonso is sorely missed and whilst we may well have replaced him with a quality player in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Aquilani</span>, until he is fit and playing we will struggle with both Lucas and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mascherano</span> in midfield.<br /><br />It must be said that we need to learn to perform from the offset and also to grind out the 1-0 wins when we are not playing well – something that the other lot down the East <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Lancs</span> are masterful at doing.<br /><br />One thing I will say is that this blip will end shortly and we will then go on a run where we will get 40+ points out of 45 and I am very confident that we will finish easily in the top 4 at the end of the season. I also wouldn't rule us out of winning another trophy this year. If we do fail to reach the knockout stages of the champions league then we will challenge very strongly in the Europa League.<br /><br />One thing that won't happen though, is we won't get rid of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Benitez</span>.<br /><br />Another tip for you, Wayne Rooney will be player of the season. Sportsmen who become fathers very often hit a good vein of form and I am predicting this will happen to Wayne and hopefully this will also end with England doing well at the World Cup next year.</div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-71373086240105215992009-10-25T16:13:00.005+00:002009-10-25T18:06:06.675+00:00"Do you speak English?"Dream Team Final<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn4XAQY3mD3WAv1ZZ_fKr2__SniGdkabfURAmcQgTG9j9rYewEToCuHr0OY2HzJkFCQ0xz25LsehYTK0C7SnNrk751LXFr0DTgNGl-k0rr_UR2F75gAZdaHtEbzwqQRSgnljqidbyifWo/s1600-h/Andy+massey.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396576109342720258" style="WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn4XAQY3mD3WAv1ZZ_fKr2__SniGdkabfURAmcQgTG9j9rYewEToCuHr0OY2HzJkFCQ0xz25LsehYTK0C7SnNrk751LXFr0DTgNGl-k0rr_UR2F75gAZdaHtEbzwqQRSgnljqidbyifWo/s400/Andy+massey.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div> </div><div>So the dream team final was held in Birmingham on Saturday and Sunday with a big starting stack and loads of play. We had a team of 5 players who had played enough tournaments to qualify for the final and we started with 13000 chips, blinds at 25/50 and a 45 minute clock.<br /><br />Teams played for points, with the winning team being the team which had the highest number of points from their top 4 finishers. <br /><br />Unfortunately nobody told Andy who must have assumed that going out 1st in 110th place would give our team a huge advantage!</div><div> </div><div>Anyway, at least he won a free monkey (pictured above) - Andy is the one in the white t-shirt!</div><div> </div><div>As for the poker, it started off really well.</div><div> </div><div>I started off winning a few small pots and quickly got up to 15000 chips before losing a few reraising a serial raiser (who had shown down k9 etc) with AQ only for him to reraise again before showing AA after I had folded.</div><div> </div><div>By the time the blinds were at 150/300 I was sitting on 7500 chips and so when I raised with AK and was reraise I took the race against QQ and hit an ace on the flop.</div><div> </div><div>Shortly after there was a string raise from early position which was classed as a call so I took the opportunity to see a cheap flop against someone who could easily get attached to his good starting cards. The flop came down T 9 4 and the player who had wanted to raise bet 1300 into the 1050 pot and when I questioned him I decided to set him all in with my Q9 which he called showing AK and my pair of nines held.</div><div> </div><div>The next pot was my the biggest of the tournament. </div><div> </div><div>A girl on my right raised to 1000 which I flat called with two tens looking to use position to my advantage.</div><div> </div><div>Everyone else got out of the way and we saw a real action flop of Ac Td 5d. The raiser lead out for 1500 which was great news as she clearly had an ace so I raised to 6000 to which she responded by pushing with her AdKd giving her top pair and the flush draw against my set if tens. The turn and river were both black and I was not sitting on 35000 chips.</div><div> </div><div>I did make a couple of bad reads in the tournament, one in which I held AK and was reraised by the tightest player at the table. I should have just folded there and then but decided to see what came on the flop. </div><div> </div><div>The flop came Q high, I checked and he bet his remaining 5000 into the 5000 pot and after asking him if he had AK he looked like he subconsciously nodded so I called be he actually had KK and I didn't outdraw him.</div><div> </div><div>For a large part of the tournament I was sat on the right of Nicklas 'ymermeddrys' Hindsberg who's style I like, especially the bit where he raised blind in seat 4 and then when he was reraised look to find that he had QQ which held against JJ. </div><div> </div><div>Anyway, we had a fair few battles throughout the day which I really enjoyed. One of those came after I had had a fair few hands and had raised about 8 times in 20 hands. On this occaision I raised to 1200 with QQ and he reraised to 3000. </div><div> </div><div>After another player had a good think about calling I dediced to flat call and see what came on the flop since there was a fair chance that the guy who tanked could have had one of his aces.</div><div> </div><div>Also, we both had 25000 behind and I felt that was too much to push and I didn't want to play a huge pot for a race if he had AK.</div><div> </div><div>Anyway the flop came down K high, I checked and he bet out 5000 I folded and he showed AK.</div><div> </div><div>Eventually the table was broken and I moved to the right of a guy called Terry from Liverpool who was telling me that the rest of his team was out and so he didn't want to sit around for another day and a half to try to win the tournament so he was going to go all in all the time.</div><div> </div><div>He didn't actually do this but he did call a raise and reraise with AT. </div><div> </div><div>Anyway, I was in the small blind of 800/1600 100 ante when the UTG , who had lost most of his chips 2 hands before went all in for 3500 before he even got his second card. I then decided that if it was folded round to me I was going to push my remaining 17000 in with the intention of going heads up against a random hand regardless of my cards. </div><div> </div><div>As it turned out I had A2, but the plan went badly wrong when Terry called and turned over AK with the UTG having A7.</div><div> </div><div>The flop came down a hopeful QJQ giving the possibility of a split pot, the turn was a 7 and the river was a lovely J.</div><div> </div><div>A couple of hands later there was a raise in early position and I looked down to see AQ. At this point I knew that there was a fair chance that Terry could reraise a huge range of hands so I flat called with the intention of calling a shove if the original raiser folded. However Terry just called and we saw a flop of A 4 7. The original raise checked and I decided that I was almost always ahead here but that if I checked Terry would almosty certainly bet. </div><div> </div><div>As I hoped he then went all in for 30000 into the pot of 10000, the raiser folded and I snap called with AQ to see his 34 well behind. The turn was a ten and the river was a pretty horrible 3 giving him 2 pairs and sending me out just before the end off the day.</div><div> </div><div>So that was the end of the Dream Team.</div><div> </div><div>I lasted longest of our team after Darren had gone out with JJ against TT amd AK but I really enjoyed the event and will definitely be getting a team together for the next one, although I will be looking to make sure that there is more committment from the other team members as there was only 5 of us that played enough tournaments to qualify. Why people say that they are going to play and then don't is a mystery to me, but thanks to the lads that did take part, Andy, Chris, Tim and Darren.</div><div> </div><div>The highlight of the day though was when I overheard Neil Banks asking a member of one of the danish teams where he was from. When he duly answered Neil then went on to ask him if he spoke English, to howls of laughter from the rest of his table and then a few moments of head scratching whilst Neil tried to work out what he had said!</div><div> </div><div>I'm off for a week now and playing the side event at the Circus tomorrow so hopefully better luck will come there.</div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6333278943175448718.post-12947007442178003282009-10-20T00:16:00.002+01:002009-10-20T01:17:24.326+01:00DreamingAfter 20+ weeks I've finally finished my FA Level 2 course which culminated in our assessments this weekend gone. There were three groups of 16 at the outset each meeting on a different day. 8 of the potential coaches came from our club The Mags and each group was coached by a different coach educator.<br /><br />Our coach educator was a guy call Bill Prendergast who I found to be really helpful and, on the evidence of the assessments I saw from the people in the other groups, by far the better coach educator.<br /><br />The course involves planning and preparing 12 or more coaching sessions using a format of technique, skill then small sided game where the coach is expected to demonstrate that he/she can identify errors and coach the player to correct those errors.<br /><br />The culmination was a 2 day assessment day where each coach had to coach a 35 minute session that was assessed by an independant assessor.<br /><br />I've got to say that the course was the first one run in this format over the course of 20 weeks and there were some teething troubles, but on the whole it was well run.<br /><br />What I will say though, and I am glad I passed so it can't be called sour grapes is that the standard of assessment was poor.<br /><br />I'm fortunate in that I did the FA Prelim course 20 years ago and also used to be a PE teacher but the standard of tsome of the coaching from some of the people that passed was not very high and yet I saw a couple of people who failed that did much better sessions.<br /><br />Our Mags club did very well with 7 of the 8 coaches passing the course and I am quite keen to go on to the next level 3 course.<br /><br />The other long running committment that I had has norw also finished - the Dream Team.<br /><br />I ended up playing 18 of the events, and after a poor start I began to get some results towards the end including a 2nd in event 13 for $588, 10th in event 18 for $59.9 and 1st in event 20 for $1027.5.<br /><br />The final result for me was played 18, cashed 3, total buy ins of $899 and total winnings of $1675.45 for a total profit of $776.45 and a ROI of 86% which is not bad considering that half the prize money was held back for the live final on Saturday and the vast majority of players are also sponsored players meaning there is not as much dead money as you would normally have.<br /><br />Obviously this is only a small sample but it has highlighted to me that MTT's are my best format and that is also backed up by my return in the 18 player stts on ipoker.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm looking forward the live final on Saturday in Birmingham.<br /><br />On the football front I'm surprised there has not been more made of the fact that Premiership referees don't know the rules of the game, as demonstrated by the Sunderland goal at the weekend! I don't actually think it made a huge deal of difference since we were never going to score in a month of Sundays.<br /><br />It was good to see Button with the F1 title on Sunday. I've heard some rubbish, mainly on Talksport, questioning whether he is a worthy champion given the way he has limped home but what they fail to realise is that the whole grid is currently separated by as little as half a second, showing how competitive the grid is at the moment. So I say congratulations to him, especially given the difficulties the team has faced over the last few years.<br /><br />Anyway, that's it for now.<br /><br />I'll update either after or during the Dream Team Final.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08283075073006502706noreply@blogger.com1