Catch Up

I've had this half written for over a week and just now getting around to finishing it so here goes.

Monday March 10th

I was planning on going out last night to play in Stockport but a last minute hitch meant I would have been last so I decided to leave it. So I ended up playing the $75 late night freezeout on ladbrokes that starts at midnight.

I've been having a good run in this tournament over the last 6 months and with a two double ups with sets early on I ended up winning the tournament for a much needed $1020 addition to my bankroll.

There was one hand of particular interest that I can't decide whether he played it incredibly well played or very badly.

The play involved a limper on the button, me completing the small blind with something like 6h7h and the big blind checking when the blinds were something like 150 300.

The flop came down Q74 rainbow or similar and I checked, the big blind then went all in for 3400 into a pot of 900 and the button folded.

To be honest, I had just over 3000 chips but if I only had 1000 chips I would have been seriously tempted to call.

Anyone care to take a guess at his hand and what your calling requirements would be?

Anyway, I eventually played in Manchester G on Thursday in a £35 freezeout. 60+ runners and it's been too long for m to remember anything significant so I am going to be more diligent in updating this a bit sooner.

I ended up going out when short stacked with KQ against kings and that was that.

I then played the Ladbrokes Cruise Reunion tournament on Tuesday.

The tournament was a bounty tournament with 15 bounties ranging from $12 satellites for the first few bounties up to a WSOP package for the 15th.

This went pretty well for the first half without any bounties being at my table and then I got involved in a 3 way pot after raising with AA with Skalie (John Kalmar) and A N other.

The flop came down T J 7 with 2 clubs which was checked by the other two and I bet out 2/3 of the pot and was raised by the first player who was reraised all in by Skalie.

To be honest I thought that there was more than a 50/50 chance I could be behind but since there was a lot in the pot and half of my stack was in there too I made a crying call and to my surprise I was way ahead of a Q high flush draw and Skalie's A high flush draw.

That put me on 15000 chips and into 5th place.

By this time the bounties were up to $1000 worth of satellite entries and one of them appeared at our table, 2 to my left which was a bonus.

She was playing pretty tight but had 5000 chips and the blinds were 400/800.

I was then on the big blind when Daddymac (one of the top Ladbrokes players sitting on 22000) raised to about 2500 in early position which was reraised to 5000 virtually all in by the bounty.

The small blind (with 10000 ish) called and I considered reraising all in with Qd9d, because the bounty was the majority of the prize pool and this was a chance to take her out. Obviously, in a normal tournament Daddymac would need a huge hand to call that but I felt that he would feel like me in this case and probably call along with the small blind and so I called, mistakenly thinking that the bounty's raise was an underraise - meaning daddymac couldn't reraise.

Unfortunately I either calculated wrongly or Ladbrokes' system allows someone to reraise an underraise (which I know it used to but I did think it had been fixed)

Anyway, Daddymac did reraise and after the small blind called I decided that I was going to call in the hope that I got lucky and had live cards and take my chance at the prize.

Also knowing that if I did win I would have 50000 chips and be in a very strong position to take the main prize.

For the record I was really in a bad spot as Daddymac had QQ and the bounty had JJ. Anyway no diamonds came and although a nine did hit the flop, despite my chanting, another didn't come to give me the win.

I've had a think about whether I should have just played it normally and let any bounties come my way naturally but I still think that playing for the bounty was the best course of action.

Comments welcome.

Wednesday March 19th

Won a lovely $1200 pot last night at $1/2 on Ladbrokes with A 10 in a 6 way minimum raised pot against an overplayed AK and 10 5 saw a lovely A 10 5 rainbow flop.

So with that $900 profit, along with another cash in the midnight tournament for $400 I'm going to play the GSNPL event in Manchester next week.

Hopefully see a couple of people there.

I'll also be more diligent in future with the postings.

Until then…

Back to the grindstone

Thursday March 6th
Bolton
£150 f/o
75 runners

After a couple of weeks off with the back problem I decided to try a game on Thursday.

I was told about the tournament by a mate an it really is good value with quite a number of players having qualified through satellites.

They have the tournament every month and it's one I plan on playing every month.

So, on to the tournament.

Plenty of limping and plenty of tells, particularly one player who had a habit of tapping his folded arms when he had a good hand which saved me a couple of times from tptk which would normally have cost me fair chunks of my stack. Even better was he was showing his hands, confirming what I already thought.

Didn't do me any good though because whilst it did save me from losing chips when I was behind it did help that I was always behind when I was involved in a pot with him.

I did last 4 hours and I eventually went out with a stack of 8500 when the blinds were 500/1000. I open raised all in with AK from mid position and was called by 77 in the next seat.

Don't mind the call as that is why there is value in the tournament.

Had a bit of trouble with the back and had to do plenty of stretching in between hands, as well as lying down during the break but it ws good to be back playing live since it has been quite frustrating.

Also still having trouble opening Mick McCool's blog. For the last couple of weeks it has been saying that I am not authorised to view it. This did happen a few weeks before so don't know whether he has taken it down or not. I hope not because it is one I really enjoy reading and since Snoopy has stopped updating every day and Amatay is away on holiday I'm not getting my daily read!

So if you read this Mick, hope you are still posting and if you have restricted access hope you'll add me.

Gentlemans club

Wednesday February 20th
Casino 36
Stockport
£50 rebuy - 3000 starting chips
61 runners.

I decided that it was about time I tried out the new casino in Stockport that apparently caters for the rich stockbroker belt.

So off I went and I wasn't to be disappointed.

The casino is set in what looks very much like a gentleman's club.

All the walls were wood panelled, free drinks for everyone playing in the tournament including red bull and possibly alcohol although I'm not certain of that as I don't drink when I'm playing.

Anyway, the tournament started quite slowly for me with not many hands of note.

I got to the end of the rebuy period having had one rebuy and taking the add on.

So I've got 7000 chips and the blinds are 200/400 and I've not played many hands as the general play is quite loose and I tend to find that playing tight in those circumstances plays well in the long run as I don't need many rebuys and there is usually a good prize pool at the end.

Anyway, after all this great image building I get moved tables and as I am bemoaning my luck under my breath I am approaching my table when the dealer is starting to deal. The tournament director tells the dealer to deal me in and I just get to my seat in time to see a pair of aces staring at me. So I raise to 1100 and am called in two spots.

The flop comes down K high with 2 spades, I continuation bet 2000 and get raised all in which is called y the other person too I call and triple up!

Next hand and the table is broken and I walk back to my original seat with 3 times as many chips, much to everyone's surprise!

Not much of interest happens until I get to the final table.

Here I am sat in a slightly difficult situation since the two players to my left are loose fish who will call with a wide range especially if they are in the blinds so there is no point in trying to steal, I just need to wait for hands.

Unfortunately no told the dealer this.

Anyway, my exit hand involved me making a mistake.

It was folded to me on the button with A6o when the blinds were 2000 4000 and I had 26000

Now in any usual situation I would raise a standard 3 times the big blind in this spot but because I know I'm going to get called in this situation regardless I decided to raise the minimum so that I would be indicating that I had a hand but to minimise the amount I put in in case I missed and he hit as he would still call any continuation bet if he hits even bottom pair.

So the big blind called and the flop came 763 he checked and I bet 6000, he reraises to put me all in for another 11000.

And this is where I made the call thinking that if he had hit the 7 he would have bet out and so thinking that he either had a 6 with a lower kicker or a lower pair I called to see his 72o and I was out for £420, a profit of 250 when you consider the £20 we each gave to the bubble.

I did notice that the way he bet was quite exaggerated and I had seen him do that once before with KK and so at least I now have a baseline for him and I'm pretty sure that is a sign that he thinks he is ahead which will be useful given his propensity to be involved in a lot of pots and bluff regularly.

Anyway, I'm actually writing this from my sickbed since I injured one of the disks in my back on Saturday, so I've got plenty of time to catch up on my reading with this month's pokerplayer and inside poker magazines plus 2 thirds of TJ Cloutier's book still to read although what I read today from Cloutier didn't totally convince me but more of that later in the week.

Until then...

Bankroll rebuilding...

Monday February 11th 2008
Leos Casino
£10 rebuy

A bit of a drop down from the last few tournaments but since I put a lot of my bankroll into the cruise I need to build it back up again.

That and the fact that I can't play in the 2 day event in Walsall because the final table will be when I am in work so it was Leos £10 rebuy for me tonight.

Once again I started off well as I quite often do in these tournaments. A few people I know complain about them saying that they can't be bothered with them but for me there is so much value in them if you play tight during the rebuy, people are more than willing to give you their chips.

So with this in mind I build up a stack from 1000 to 3600 pretty early.

Then, despite what I said above the following hand occurred.

Blinds were 50/100 and a couple of the habitual limpers limped in seats 3 and 4 so I limped in position for 200 with Kh9h on the button (there tends to be a lot of limping in these games).

The big blind then raised all in for 500 which was called by the 2 other limpers so I decided that, since they weren't raising the two limpers couldn't call a reraise of 3500 (they both had just over 3400 chips).

But boy, was I wrong, not only did one call, they both did.

So what hands did they have I hear you ask?

A huge 10d6d from the first limper and the equally massive 2s5c from the second who announced that she knew everyone was playing rubbish onmce the hands were turned over.

Obviously the board came with 3 diamonds to give limper no 1 the pot.

Oh well, chips please!

So, after 5 rebuys, the break is here and I have about 5000 chips.

We get to the last 27 and I am moved to a new table where I have just under 4000 chips and the blinds are 300/600.

I then get a run of cards including AK twice, AJ, QQ where I raise all in 4 times in about 6 hands showing them each time because I know I will be raising later with poor hands if short stacked.

I then get AJ near the button after a limper, a regular I know called Phil "Aquaboy" Benton who would not slow play a big hand in that position so I go all in again. He says to me that I've been very active but I think you have a big hand this time, but I feel like gambling. Eventually he calls the all in with KQ and spikes a king or queen to leave me down to 1600. I then get another couple of good hands and take the blinds until my exit hand.

After a limper I get KK in late position and go all in again for 3000 odd chips which is called by the BB and limper. The flop comes all middle cards, I'm not certain the exact cards and there is a bet and a call, the turn is checked and the river gives the limpers pair of nines a straight and I am out again.

I could do with a couple of tournaments where the hands hold up and I get come cashes to revitalise the bankroll.

I'm sure one of those winning streaks will copme along sonner or later and I just need to take advantage when it does.

I knew when I entered the tournaments on the cruise that I was using a large portion of my bankroll and I needed to cash in one of them to keep my bankroll healthy enough.

I have about $3500 in various online rooms and my poker account has £1500 so I'll have to stick to the £100 f/o and maybe the £100 rebuy events as my biggest events until the bankroll is large enough again.

I was planning to play all of the Gala (GCBPT) events this year (5 x £500 entry) and enter as many GUKPT events that I could satellite into but I can't justify it on my current bankroll so I'll just have to enter stick to the satellites to try to win my way into them.

I actually played a GUKPT satellite on Bluesq on Wednesday and was chip leader for quite a while until my pair of tens were reraised.

Then on a J High flop I check raised what I thought was AK only to find out it was KK when he went all in but I was priced in and my 15000 chip leading stack was reduced to a 5000 below average stack. The only consolation being that a mate (Charlie Denton) who was also chip leader with me at the time went on to qualify for the event at the Vic next month.

Anyway, I'm off to Walsall tonight for the £100 f/o and I know snoopy and Flashbadger are there in the main event today so I'm hoping to say hello as I've been reading their blogs since they inspired me to start my own and I've not spoken to them in person yet.

So good luck me.

Bluffing the second nuts

$1000 f/o
January 31st 2008.

Well, unfortunately this post won't be very long.

In fact there is only one hand of note!

One of the first things I noticed in the first orbit was that whilst the dealer was dealing the flop one of the players was watching the player he was involved with rather than the flop.

Now this is something I always do and it is surprising how few players actually do it.
Funnily enough I did consider that if I was involved in a pot with this player I might watch the flop and pretend to be either happy or unhappy with the pot depending on whether I hit it or not.

Anyway, I dediced against that and just do what I normally do since I would likely have position of him if I was involved against him.

Anyway, the pot of interest came up with the blinds at 25/50. There was a raise by the watcher to 150 which was called by Nick Gibson, a pro player who was playing with dark sunglasses, not because he wanted to hide his eyes but because he had a hangover from the night before - in fact he said that he was looking forward to having a hangover because it would mean that he was not drunk any more!

So after the raise and call I saw AsQs and decided that this would be a good spot to make a squeeze and raised to 750. This was called by the watcher after a little think and Nick Gibson folded.

So the dealer was getting ready to deal the flop and the watcher is looking at me and I'm looking at him. So I said to the watcher "You've got to look before me" since he was due to act first. At that, once the flop was dealt he checked without looking at the flop!

So I look down at a 10 5 4 and bet 1500 into the 2300 pot with 2100 behind. He checked the flop and then called.

Now maybe that is where I should have shut down but with 2100 left and another check by the watcher after the turn card of a 4 I moved all in and the watcher quickly called with 10 10 for a full house and I was drawing dead and out of the competition.

So 4 tournaments on the ship and no cashes other than abou $1000 on the cash games and the cruise is over.

All in all, apart from the lack of a cash I really enjoyed the cruise and would recommend it to anyone.

Ladbrokes put on a great show and all of the players are friendly in what is a great atosphere. I am definitely going to make it my goal to get back on the next one.

So now I have to build up my bankroll again but it was all very much worthwhile.

Fast and furious

Side event 2
$300 f/o
3000 starting chips
January 30th 2008

This event was always going to have the biggest field due to the size of the buy in but also, because the $1000 event was due to start the next morning, everyone I spoke to was planning to play it fast and either get through to day 2 with a lot of chips or go out early.

My plan was to do the opposite and be aware that people would be playing it fast.

Things started out brilliantly.

At the 25/25 level there was a raise to 125 from a player called Gangster99 on Ladbrokes. He does very well in high level cash games on Ladbrokes and I have come across him in a few festival events in the North West. I looked down at a pair of aces on the button and raised to 350 which he called.

The flop came down 8 high rainbow and Glenn checked, I bet 375, Glenn raised to 950, I went all in and Glen stands up saying have you got aces?

So now I know he has KK and just stare ahead as I normally do.

Glenn then asked me if I had QQ, so I want to give him some clue that I do so when he asked
that I very briefly scratched my nose and kept staring ahead.

As I hoped Glenn took that as an unconscious cue that he had named my hand and called instantly with his kings.

The turn was a blank and the river was a queen meaning that Glenn would have lost even if I did have queens.

So I was up to 6000 chips very early and then out table was broken.

A while later when the blinds were 50/100, I was in the small blind after the break when the big blind was missing.

A player in late position appeared to look at the missing big blind and then raised to 300 so I decided to call with 56o.

The flop came down a lovely 56J and I bet 400, the raiser raised to 1100 and I went all in for his last 1000 or so which he called with his Kings and I was up another 2500.

I then went through a spell where I was card dead and any time I was involved in a pot I totally missed the flop and my opponent hit.

Eventually I went out with KQ v 10 3 after my short stacked push.

In all I was pretty disappointed that I never posted a result after such a good start.

Flash Badger

I've still not written up my posts for the last two tournaments on the ship. I will do that this weekend.

One of the blogs I read regularly is flash badgers but I've just tried to access it and it is now only open to invited readers.

Google is telling me to contact the author (Graham) but doesn't allow you to e-mail him directly and since I don't know his e-mail address I can't.

So if you're reading this Graham, can you allow me access, if not and anyone else has a contact for him will you pass the message on please?

Thanks.

On a quick note I played my first poker tournament since the cruise last night on Ladbrokes.

I only had $100 left in the account since I had emptied it to play all of the cruise tournaments. Fortunately I made the last 2 in the $75 freezeout at midnight and with 60000 to 20000 chip lead even managed to make a good call which got my opponent all in with A7 against my A9 but the cruel river allowed him to double up and he went on to win.

I was lucky to flop a couple of very good hands when someone else flopped second best hand to give me a chip lead for most of the second half of the tournament so I can't complain.

Going to play a satellite to the GUKPT in Walsall tonight on Bluesq. My mate Andy qualified on Wednesday. It's not one of my main targets for this year since I have only just come back from the cruise, it's my birthday next week and I need to build my bankroll back up again but if I qualify I'm obviously going to play.