Cottlads Poker Ramblings

Moving House

2010-11-08T02:18:00.002+01:00

Blimey i've been a busy boy. The last 6 months have been manic. I've finally and thankfully finished my house renovation and it's ready to move into. Just gotta pack up this place and hire a van. Hopefully less than 2 weeks and i can concentrate on playing poker for a while and do some serious grindage. I guess i've been playing maybe 40% of what i should be playing each month and have just been covering the bills whilst dedicating most of my time to decorating. Not a lot else happened in the last 6 months. I helped deliver an adventure yacht from Istanbul to Barcelona via Malta which was pretty cool (hot.) It took about 3 weeks in all and was great to be out on the waves again with blue skies and jumping dolphins. Earnt a few bob too but tbh, if i didn't have a family and bills i'd do it for free :) That job was on the back of a weekend in Ibiza for a friends stag doo. Glad i got called away to Istanbul really as my Ibiza days aren't quite as easy to manage as they used to be. 1 decent night out was plenty..... god knows what i'd do if i was there for a week with the lads.... die probably!

Pokers been going pretty well what little i've played. This month has started awesomely too with 5 mtt played with 170+ runners...... won 2 and 2nd in another :) I really gotta play more mtt's but am usually too busy grinding cash. The cash tables have also gone well so far this month and i'm in profit total about £3.7k. Not too shabby for the 1st week. Will give me some leeway to get moved without needing to play although i've promised myself that this months points total will be at least double what i've been making for the last 6 months.

The PFU session starts again real soon! Last years was a great success. It's a $10 league with $5 into prizepool, $1 rake, and $4 into a kitty for end of league prizes. Session IV saw cheesies win a £1.1K UKIPT seat and 4 other players win £110 seats of their choice. 30% was to go back to the league players and cheesies nearly obliged with a huge score when chippo in the UKIPT game when in the money. Unfortunately he fell just before FT but still won enough to give stakeholders a nice bonus. It always attracts some class players so if you fancy a crack then please come and join the forum and look out for updates. The website is http://www.pfupoker.com/ - come say hi :)

Sick Of Painting - Time For A Holiday!

2010-06-04T16:21:00.003+01:00

Been a strange month. Really could have done to have knuckled down and played some serious hours at the tables but never seemed to have enough time. I seem to be chasing my own tail around trying to get stuff done and the list of jobs seems to increase. I guess including poker i'm busy for 14 hours every day with the other house taking up a fair chunk of my time. I'm really and utterly fed up with painting now.....ceiling, edging, walls, ceiling, edging, walls, masking, walls, ceiling, edging, omfg i'm going insane!!! Next job is the woodwork..... all of it..... sanding, masking, painting, sanding masking etc etc...... i really should just get someone in and concentrate on the poker i suppose. Will decide how/if i continue when we get back from Portugal. OMG let this holiday happen puuuurleeeaaaasssse! I don't want to see any more volcanic bullshit on the news til we've touched down back in England in 10 days time.

What poker i've actually played hasn't been too bad this last week. Final tabled 3 x 500 player mtt's out of 5 played which can't be bad for about £1,600. Finally got me my gold sharkscope star for Sky mtt's :) Want the platinum by the end of summer so will again concentrate on playing as many mtt's there as i can rather than 1 or 2 per week. It's gotta be hugely +EV for me considering the 6max structure of the games there.
Sadder news is i qualified for 2 WSOP qualifiers at £1,100 each. 1 in 10 got a £10k package with left over cash going to bubble. Well i managed a poor showing in both so looks like my WSOP this year won't happen... anyone wanna stake me? :)

WTG Praz on yr bracelet double-up! Hope the Brits can continue and take a few this year. UL Mr Channing.... sooo close :( Still, quarter of a million may soften the blow somewhat :)

Righty.... Portugal bound....... so long suckers!

I hate houses

2010-05-03T18:18:00.003+01:00

So instead of 10 days in Portugal we ended up with 10 days near Hull instead. Instead of sitting in the sun sipping cocktails i was standing in a shell of a house stripping wallpaper. Sick of the place..... why can't Nick Knowles turn up and sort the fookin job out for me? :) So with all that i didn't get to play much poker at all in April but at least i made a little which is encouraging after the horrificness of March. Played a 1 in 10 WSOP ME package last night and busted out after someone called my squeeze pre with KdTd. I thought the AdKs7d flop was awesome for my KK but the river thought otherwise and Mr Luckbox makes his flush :( Got another 1 in 9 sat for a smaller package tomorrow so hope to run better in that.
Have vowed to knuckle down and make some bonus this month so will be playing all out and hopefully earn some rakeback and maybe even a little profit to boot.
The league i organize (PFU Session) already has $1800 in the kitty with 35% of the games yet to play. Should be over $2.5k when the 20 weeks have played out so i reckon a GUKPT seat for the winner and some side event seats for runners up. Check out pokerfriendsunited forum for the next league and your chance to win a big buyin for a live event for just $10/week.

High stakes poker Episode 12 for yas:

Holiday Doomswitched

2010-04-20T15:15:00.003+01:00

FFS i'm running like death in all aspects of life at the moment. We left to catch our flight to Portugal last Thursday for 10 days and are still sat at home with cases packed and nowhere to go. Have now cancelled and re-booked for June so let's hope this bitch of a volcano has STFU by then. Really needed this holiday too as I seem to be losing my mind bit by bit grinding at a game that seems intent on me losing my mind! Actually the last 2 nights i've won 3 buyins/night which is utterly unreal and feels so weird. I think I won double in the last 2 nights what i've won in all my winning sessions over the last month...... actually, it's only about my 5th winning session in a month so that's not a particularly difficult achievement. Let's hope things continue to improve and I stop really hating this bastard of a game.

The LuckAce offer is still on btw..... Open account (banner opposite), deposit $400, get $100 insta-bonus (no need to play), withdraw $400, play with yr free $100!!....simplez :)

More HSP for you. Enjoy!

Grafting

2010-04-08T23:33:00.006+01:00

Well March was pretty shitty. Month of 2 halves with the back end screwing me to the boards. April's started off in exactly the same way with some ingenius 2 and 3 outers that i barely knew could exist, never mind call with. Hope it ends soon as i'm becoming increasingly noncholant about losing multiple buyins which isn't good. Although they do advocate playing without worrying about actual monetary values (whoever they are.) I think i'm taking that philosophy to the extreme

Here's this weeks HSP to cheer me up and see some people losing more than me :)

Have hardly played any poker really as we went over to my parents at Easter for a couple of days which turned into a week after realizing how much work my recently vacated house needs. Already ordered a full new kitchen after ripping out the old one down to concrete and plaster.

Every single room nees stripping back to bare walls and boards so i've got plenty of work on... That's before i even think about the garden ffs. Windows go in next week hopefully and until then i'm stripping paper...... Deep joy! A job made twice as shite by ligving 70 miles away from the project. Luckily parents are in Portugal so staying at theirs for the forseeable.

So, whilst updating this i've had KK v AA twice and a flopped broadway beaten by a runner runner flush. It really is beginning to fkin stink! I haven't even been able to play the LuckyAce fishpond as i've been away and didn't have any stats/notes. That's still the same as last update but i hope to play a bit more there for the rest of the week........ oh wait..... just to finish KK beaten by 22 in a heavily 3bet pot...... fmmfl!

Roll on next Thursday when we go to Portugal..... poker can fook right off for 10 days!

Just 1 Reason????

2010-03-31T20:31:00.005+01:00

Why you shouldn't play on an 888 skin? hehe. My 50nl experiment/spinup continues and my original rungood got even better. Have played about 9000 hands now and will be looking more seriously at nl100 soon. I just hope it's as mental as nl50. I would say the level at 50 is somewhere were it was at other sites 3 years ago lol. Free money basically.

I can't expect such a good winrate to continue i suppose altho i know it's soooo crushable. I'd go as far as saying there's a decent living to be made just at $50nl with a decentish volume.

Yes this is a bit of a plug for you to click the banner on the right and signup to LuckyAce but i wouldn't be posting this if i didn't think a) the game there isn't as soft as shit and b) the bonus wasn't top drawer. As i've said before..... deposit $400, get $100 insta bonus and if you want, insta withdraw the $400 so you have $100 free money to play with which is the amount i started this experiment with :)

I haven't played much elsewhere since the last post. I was running so bad i decided a few days off (at least) would be a good idea. The tennants have moved out of my rented house too and after 7 years there's shit loads of work to do so poker will have to take a back seat for a while. Whole place needs gutting and redecorating.

Played the PFU Session and THMF league last night and was bridesmaid in both. Took Joe and Barny outa the Hendon Mob game though for 2 bounties and have moved up to 4th overall. Thanks to Joe for also joining our PFU game. PFU was an invite only forum but we've now opened our doors. The old policy ensures we've got an awesome base of players and contributors. The weekly Session game is a league where we play 20 weeks with a percentage of the buyins going towards decent live buyins for the winners. All players who play enough games then get a slice of the action of all the winners so it's a great community game and gives the chance for some to play in major events by playing in a $10 game. Feel free to join PFU and read more about the Session in the official threads. We also have PFU radio that provides live railing, commentary, banter and tunes. It's pretty fantastic.....

GLATT

HSP Mondays

2010-03-29T23:23:00.007+01:00

It's beyond funny how bad i've run the last 5 days at Sky. 15 buyins in 1500 hands seems like it should be impossible. Every flop i'm beaten by a set. Am seriously thinking of ditching Sky as i don't feel it's random...... this happens EVERY month for about a week. Can it just be variance? Yeah maybe just a supersik DS but if i'm doubting the integrity of it i maybe should at least take a break. It's not like i'm a 1st deposit donk crying cos he lost a few quid..... i've played lots of hands at lots of sites and have seen upswings and downswings at all...... never anything like this though...... maybe i need to buy a tinfoil hat? Anyways, gonna move a bigger chunk to LuckyAce and hopefully run a little better.
Other news.... had my Toe operation last week..... pretty horrific and the before and after pics are too graphic for here. Went to have the dressing changed today and about time too as it was ponging a bit.
My tennants of the last 7 years are moving out tomorrow so i'm across there making sure they leave the place in an OK state...... god knows how i'm gonna get rid of the smell of chinese takeaways lol..... actually, i quite like it :) Gonna have to find some more tennants sharpish as a rentless month this month alongside a sicko downswing = worrying times :/
The LuckyAce insta $100 bonus offer is still available for those that want it..... can't say no to free money :) Look below for further details or drop me a line.

Here's this weeks HSP to cheer me up...... Please let Negreanu lose another pull-up lol.

$100 FOR YOU.......... FREE!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-23T19:41:00.008+01:00

This blog entry is purely to give all you good people $100....... for free!!!!! No risk, no cost, just free money to play poker with :) Too good to be true? Here's what you do.....

1) Look right>>>>>>>>> for the LuckyAce Banner, they are on the 888 network..... click it....... open an account.
2) Deposit $400
3) You will get 100% bonus up to $400 BUT you will get 25% of this immediately without needing to play a hand!!! That's $100 free!
4) Spin up your $100 free money on what i reckon is one of the fishiest sites out there at the mo.
Whether you withdraw your $400 and just play with the bonus is entirely up to you!!!!!!
Read the below post for more details on how soft this site is..... even i can crush :D

Sorry for the blatant advert but ffs....... $100 for you!! :) Oh, and have a $5k freeroll entry too :)
Good luck

Free Poker + Donks = Sexy Spinup

2010-03-23T16:50:00.005+01:00

So, the 888 network made a slight cock-up last month by entering me, and a few other luckies, into 3 x mtt's per week. My roll there stood at zero but after a series of minicashes i had $100 before they realized their error and cancelled our freebies. I played 9 sng's and cashed in them all....... followed by some 6max $50nl. In a very short space of time i had made $800 and am on the way to having a decent roll there again. The software is much improved since last time i played there but the level of play is still spectacularly BAD!!!! The lack of rakeback means it's not swarming with sharks but for regular players there is a decent rewards programme that seems similar to Pokerstars whereas the more you play, the higher up the ladder you climb, and thus making more points that can be turned into cash. So, now i'm gonna really try and build a roll on LuckyAce which is an 888 skin. I'm hoping the standard of play i've seen at 50 and 100nl continues comparatively up the chain. As a general idea, stats-wise, when sat at 50nl 6max the general opponents will comprise of 1 decent player, 2 x 22/11's, 1 x 45/16, and 1 complete maniac. Time and time again i'm seeing these awesome tables. Here's my HEM graph for just over 2k hands :)I know variance is an issue but i really think i've re-found my new home. So am just gonna try build my roll up to $200nl level without depositing and see where we go. I'll keep updating with the journey and see if we can't do another zero to 5 figure spinup which would be number 3 :)

You'll find the luckyace link if you look right>>>>>>>>>> I know a lot of sites brag about how soft their tables are but most are usually just trying to get you to play there. You can take it from me though that this place is still swarming with fish when other sites/networks are full of rocky regs. There's also a $5k freeroll for noooooobs :)

Other news..... well, i'm in for surgery on my to on Thursday. It's been gammy as hell for months now after we got stranded before xmas in the snow and the taxis stopped running. This resulted in me walking 5 miles home, in 6 inches snow, in the most ridiculous pointy shoes. Ingrowing toenail resulted and after 2 months of self operating i took the plunge and went to the doc..... who actually gasped when he saw it lol. So, am losing my entire nail on Thursday and will have a bald big toe :( Not lookin forward to it. I would post pics but ffs....... it's pretty gross!!

Still not sold the house and have had builders in all last week giving estimates on renovating into 2 flats...... more upheaval and worry. Just sell already!!

Other than LuckyAce, poker's been going OK this month up to now. Around +£2,5k with a week to go. Gonna have a big push this week as i haven't played loads up to now. Maybe after 2moro though as it's our wedding anniversary number 2...... and they said it wouldn't last! :)

GLATT

2010-03-03T02:14:00.004+01:00

Bit of a sad month when the highlight of February for me was pancake day :( Although i do make an awesome pancake! I'd hoped to continue January's rungood but almost immediately the cards dried up and the coolers kicked in. Up 500, level, up 500, down 300, etc etc etc. I played more hands than i've done in quite a while nearly all at nl£100. It shouldn't shock me anymore when my aces get cracked in a 3bet pot when on a flop of 235 opponent flips 46... Got a nice little bonus late Feb with 3rd in an mtt for £650 and managed a small profit in cash as well as a semi decent points bonus so not an entirely wasted month. My goals for March are to play more donkaments and spend more time on hands rather than insta-clicking. I gotta start playing back more rather than rolling over which is what i fear happened in Feb after a shaky start. Off to Luton Friday for a couple of days live poker.... there's a £75 F/O on Fri night followed by another £15k Sky Poker Tour game on Sat.

Bought a new car in Feb.... well, new to me anyway. I've officially become old and got myself an estate.... a sad moment indeed :( At least we can now take all the pointless junk with us wherever we go with ease :)

Oh.... have applied to be on Bargain Hunt too so fingers crossed on that one! So balla!

Month total +£2350

Happy New Year

2010-01-27T14:51:00.003+01:00

Belated but what else do you expect? Hope you all had a great start to 2010. They say the recession is officially over which can only be good news for poker. Let's hope some of the donks have a little more spending money burning a hole in their pockets :) 2010 started pretty well for me after what was a great christmas and new year. last week was especially good having a £3k tourny cash and a +£1.5k week at the cash. Not bad for nitting around at NL£100 & £200 only. Played the Sky Poker Tour in Newcastle early January which didn't go to plan.....out before 1st break :( Made amends at the cash tables though which made the journey worthwhile. Other than that i met some of the other Sky players for a beer and a chinwag then ended up dealing sng's and being bought single malts and red wine until i was about sozzled. Good job they were only £10 sng's and a bit of fun as there were cards flying everywhere. Good giggle though. Have qualified for the next leg in Luton early March and hope to go a little deeper.

Sky's Total Player has started and this week 6 of us (team Ed Giddins) have been grinding the £500 we were given by playing a mixture of sng's mtt's and cash. Monday went OK ending on £582 but had a nightmare yesterday and am now back down to £425 :( Last night tonight to make an impression. 3 of our 6 will get eliminated on Saturday so fingers crossed i can impress tonight and scoop some pots.

I'm organizing another league match for the next 20 weeks for PFU so if you're a member get involved.... we hope to have some major mtt seats as end of league prizes. We also have some weekly spot prizes and bounties on offer thanks to Mr Beevers at The Hendon Mob

Nothing else much happening...... trying to sell my Audi A4 without much luck...... trying to sell the Harrogate house without much luck........ it either needs to sell or I need to raise £50k to re-convert back into 2 flats........ i better get back to the grind!

Oh.... If anyone knows anyone who wants to join Full Tilt please point them to my banner opposite. The full 27% rakeback is available as well as full $600 100% deposit bonus.... i don't think that will be beaten anywhere.

Been An OK Week

2009-12-23T03:06:00.003+01:00

Nothing much to grumble about this week. Well, i say nothing, but i had a couple of days of running like death that knocked me for 6. Lost like 12 buyins in 2 days through no fault of my own. Had an awesome run of four consecutive allin hands were opponents called between 3/4 and pot sized bets after turn with naked flushdraws and they all hit lol. I spent a fair bit of time staring blankly at the monitor wondering what i would do to these morons given half the chance lol. Anyways, since then i've made about 15 buyins and feel a touch better.

I still don't understand how the way i run is so cyclical...... i can almost set my watch by it. Win 1-4 buyins for 4 days...... make about 15 buyins....... then run horrificly for 2 days and lose 8-12 buyins....... then start over. I don't think i'm playing any differently, am just getting hammered by hands like AQ v Q7 where the flop comes A77 and i end up losing like 50bb's...... then repeat for 2 days...... It's almost too regular to be true. So by that reckoning, from this moment on i'm going to losing a whole lot of cash and hair in the next 2 days i play. Maybe i'll drop to 1p/2p and ride the storm there.

Yesterday i became the PFU Session III champ. Bit embarrasing seeing as i organize the thing. Anyways i finished with a win on week 25 and finished top of the leaderboard. Can't buy myself a trophy as that would be too weird so ordered myself a chipset instead.

Sky are running an Xfactor type comp at the moment called Total Player. 3 mentors pick 18 players over the next few weeks who will compete to take down the title, knocking out 1 player at a time, until there are 3 left. It will then go to a public vote (i may need yr help if i get that far) where the winner will receive a £1k UK entry + a full WSOP ME package. The mentors pick players who they think can represent Sky at the top level and who they think can win based on what they see at the tables. Ed Giddins was 1st up on Sunday evening and made 3 picks...... i was one of them! Yay.,,,,,, go me! Should be fun no matter what happens but the WSOP package would be soooo schweeeet! Details are here http://www.skypoker.com/total-player/ so fingers crossed i can go deep.

I've concluded that this blog is pretty boring these days, especially since moving back from Ibiza. I will continue it though just for my own amusement if nothing else. Keeps me saner putting stuff down on paper so to speak.

I was gonna have a proper rant about all the goody goody, vegetarian, green, world saving, tree hugging, annoying fookers at Copenhagen this week who want us to stop eating meat and drive 5 miles less per week in order to save ourselves before it's too late but i've written enough for this entry so may save that for another time.

Off to parents tomorrow for Christmas until New Year so will be reduced to a laptop and having to play on miniview tables......bah! Am hoping for a lot of drunks playing over Xmas so lets hope we can all make a little by picking them off :) ...... GL at the tables everyone and Happy Christmas!!!

2 Steps Backward, 3 Steps foreward

2009-12-07T16:34:00.002+01:00

Oooooh things are fairly positive today. Last weeks sickness has been remedied with 3 decent days so i'm now back to where i started 7 days ago. Wastedweekaments! Am gonna hammer poker in December and aim for max bonus. I keep being handed excuses not to play and taking them. I wanna take some time off at Xmas though so if i can run good till then and make some $$$'s i'll be able to relax a little. I also want to qualify for some live events, starting with the new pokerstars tour next year. I guess i should deposit some money on PS first then start flooding the sats. I really don't want to pay more than £75 for the £500 seat but maybe i'm being a cheapskate? It's a shame the GBPT and GUKPT will probably see some decline but as long as they only run the main qualifiers on specific skins they will always be short of achieving full potential. I don't know why they don't roll-out the qualifiers across the whole iPoker network and maybe offer incentives for thos choosing to qualify for say GUKPT via BlueSq. It's a real shame because a lot of people just don't have enough funds to spread across numerous sites. Anyways, I think the new UKIPT could be huge and can only be good for the game. Hopefully see you at Manchester in Feb!

Is anyone else feeling christmassy yet? I've had enough already. Morries were playing Slade on Nov 20th and i know people who had their xmas doo week before last......ffs!! I enjoy xmas and all that goes with it but it can get fooked til at least Dec 20th. I've been that pissed off with the whole thing i've had to order Wii F1 & SMK just to cheer myself up. I was just going to get F1 but it only came with 1 wheel so i obviously had to order SMK in order to get another :) I got the Wii 2 years ago and have probably spent 2 hrs on it in total. I got Wii fit about 6 months ago, had 1 session and discovered it was very ghey indeed and it's been in a box since then. No doubt i'll get another 2 hrs use over xmas with these new games before it's packed up again til next xmas.

Righty, less writing, more playing.

GL at the tables!

AA r teh nutz

2009-12-04T00:37:00.003+01:00

Had a slightly better day today and even sucked out on someone. Am still stuck a load this week but am clawing it back steadily. 3 hands that stood out for me today.......

1. AA i 3bet pre and a proficient player calls. Flop 79T and i open shove 80bb's. I thought he could easily have an overpair and/or think i'm spazzing out with AK/JQ or some other weirdness. I think the set is unlikely as he's rarely calling pre with a hand he can usually only win if he hits his set...... setmining is unprofitable would have been an easier way of saying that..... So anyways, he obviously calls and obviously has top set.... FML.... oh wait.... what's that Mr River? I hit my 2 outer!!! WTF???? I rooooon gooooood???? woot woot woot!!!!!

2. AA I open raise and a decent player 3bets fairly big. I've been flatting a fair bit lately but it's been getting me into trouble. I seem to be winning not much postflop or else losing a monster so with my nerves already on edge, and my luckbox completely fucked, i ship it in. He thankfully calls and guess what..........AA fooooookin holds!!! woot woot woot woot!!!! Yeah i know, a standard hand where AA beats an underpair....... well this is how utterly shit i've been running lately..... AA holding is like a big event. Sad innit!

3. TT open raise button called by SB & BB. Flop 9TK. sb 1, bb call 1, btn raise 9, sb shove 85, bb reshove 280 (wtf?????) me? bb plays fairly gambly style but he knows i fairly nitty so shoving 280bb's there would be crazy without the goods. I folded after some thought and they both flipped JQ. I still don't know if my fold was good tbh. I still have 35% equity even if bb does have JQ but can he have like 99/KT/AK there? probs not. Anyways i happy enough when i saw 2xJQ but hated seeing the 9 turn for my folded boat :(

Live poker seems to be drawing me closer. I don't play nearly enough live and have heard there are good cash games in Leeds most nights. Am seriously considering raising some funds to give it a shot. A friend tells me there are often utter maniacs looking to donate as well as the weekend warriors after their night out. Should be easy money but i just don't know how much i can expect to make playing 2/5pl. Is it really worth the hour drive to come home steaming when some donk hits their 2 outer? I just don't know if i'll be able to mentally handle a game where there are bound to be massive swings. At least online i can throw something, switch off and steam in peace. I dunno, i'll probably head down there to play 1/2 for an evening nearer xmas and check out the games. If they look good i'll give it some serious thought and maybe have a crack.

Driving to Manchester tomorrow for a 1st birthday party. No poker til Saturday which is probably for the best.... i could use the break...... and am gonna get utterly hammered!

Pwned by the Tards

2009-12-01T19:04:00.006+01:00

Have just had a horrific 2 days. I really didn't want to rant anymore in this shitty blog but Sky can go fuck itself. I logged on yesterday to get to 16k points from 15.7k. That would mean a £150 jump in my bonus for the month up to £500. Just needed to play a couple hours at 50p/£1....easy peasy. In that 2 hours i lost £600 to some hilarious suckouts and coolers......

3 x AK versus stations after 3x3bets pre.... 3xKhigh dry flops........ All 3 times against AA.

QQ fired 2 barrels allin after 3betting pre on QJ39 board versus AK (10 river...wtf?) FML

AA allin on JK4 flop versus KT (T turn) FML

AA allin on 23T flop versus TJ (J turn) FML.

So i went to bed proper pissed off but got up today with the £500 bonus which meant that yesterday was only -£100 and the whole of Nov was worth fook all bonuswise...... sigh.

So today i feel better and am ready to play some more. 20 hands in i 4 bet a lagtard 'happywild' who knows my range there is tiny....... he obv shoves his QQ into my AA and spikes the Q for a £460 pot. WP.

Then comes the retard spewtard PlayerX who 3bets light and overbets when in trouble...... this guy plays so badly it's untrue. I call IP and he ends up shoving £75 into about £60 after turn with a flushdraw and gutshot...... obviously he hits for a £260 pot. Did you think you had fold equity ther u donkey?

So, in 2 days i've been involved in 8 x allin pots. 3 i've been coolered, ...... and 5 i've lost when i've had over 75% equity. Won = zero

Sky poker can go fuck itself

Sky retards can go fuck emselves

This blog can go fuck itself

Need More Time!

2009-11-27T15:11:00.007+01:00

Blimey a month has nearly passed. Now I remember why I closed this thing down. Do you ever wonder how the day can be so short? It's probably just me making work for myself and not having any time whatsoever to spare just to sit down and relax. Get up 11am, make tea, check emails/forums etc, make lunch, sit a few minutes with Millie, go to shops, upstairs to check emails, forums, etc.... open tables........ play 4 tables til 5.30pm, make tea (dinner to you suvnas,) sit down to eat 7pmish, watch Eastenders and whatever junk is on the telly until 8.30-9pm, back upstairs..... check emails etc...... open tables........ play until 1.30-3am........ wake up/repeat^ Arrrggggghhhhh!!! I'm back playing at Sky quite a bit (God knows why) which means i can't even type whilst playing as it's browser based and my cursor disappears to active table every 3.2 seconds. I seem to have about 90 mins per day when i'm sat doing nothing and that's downstairs with the missus and Millie. So anyways, that's my excuse for not updating and also why my parents rarely get replies to their emails...... must try harder..... again!

The above hecticness really made for an awesome holiday in Portugal though. OMG what it feels like to wake up and have no pressure to do anything other than relax :) Even the 1st trip flying with Millie wasn't as tilting as i thought it would be. I think we'll be back out there after Christmas for a week, then again in April AGW.

Poker has been mediocre at best lately. Ever since i withdrew a chunk of roll earlier in the year it's been a struggle to make good money again. I went on a bad downswong straight afterwards and suddenly i'm only comfortably rolled to play $1/$2 absolute max. This knocked my confidence and saw me playing more hours and reverting to $100nl +/- just to cut down on some variance. This inevitably led to making less money which means (what with bills and the fact wifey is currently on maternity) that the roll still isn't where i'd like it. It's going in the right direction which is the main thing but i'm still not able to play the stakes i'd like to in order to give the roll a proper boost. I could do with 1 big score to get me back where i want to be so here's hoping i take down the ECOOP this Wednesday.

I haven't played much live which is something else i want to address soon. I really feel my live game is good compared to most of the opposition and i'll be trying to qualify for some live events in the new year. I played the GUKPT Manchester earlier in the year and cashed for £2400 iirc and played a £100 event in Leeds last week versus God who got it allin with me with KK v my QQ on a 7JQ board for the chiplead with 2 tables left. Obv he binked the K and sent me to the rail in a state of shock...... i was tempted to sit down at the cash tables but got a grip of myself just in time and led myself by the collar to the car and drove home, agog, before anymore damage could be done. Donkaments!.

Unfortunately Inside Poker magazine is ceasing to exist after this month. I've really enjoyed writing for them over the last year and a half. Hopefully I may get some work with the magazines stablemate Poker Player. It's a shame as i thought IP was one of the better mags out there and for me, it was a welcome break from playing and of course, provided a little pocket money. Anyways, good luck to all the IP staff in future ventures.

That'll do for today i think. Future posts will probably discuss some hands good and bad and go into some strategy and thought processes.

If anyone fancies backing me live, for tournies or/and cash, please feel free to drop me a line :)

Ciaou 4 now.

Edit...... opened 4 tables up after this post and made 6 buyins in about 650 hands. Maybe writing this blog is linked with running good? Bout bloody time!

PPS..... for Snoops.... have linked up Blackbelt. Will they sponsor me now please? ;) Where's yr blog now?

It's me Again

2009-10-29T00:47:00.002+01:00

Blimey, nearly a year since i logged on to this ghey blog. I promised myself i would kickstart this thing and try and update at least once a week so here goes..... although we go to Portugal for 10 days tomorrow so maybe not quite every week just yet.

I've got a beatiful daughter called Millie since my last entry. She's almost 6 months old already but i'll bore you with more of her another time.

Poker has been fairly shite tbh over the past few months. I've been struggling due to trying to completely revamp my game when i should have just changed 1 or 2 things very slowly. I went from being a fairly nitty player into trying to emulate the Cardrunner lagtards which resulted in me pissing and spewing money left right and centre. More of that in future posts also as i think lots of you can learn a great deal from my utter stupidity.

So anyway, i've gone back to being a nit for a while and hopefully things are beginning to get back on track. My theory side is still strong, i just gotta listen to my own advice now and again.... /big sigh.

Anyways, long day tomorrow so for now i'll say tata and start this thing up again when i get back.

APT Manila Package!!

2008-12-14T15:29:00.004+01:00

Woot!

Had a good week on the cash tables which was topped off by an mtt win last night. I had qualified for a $270 seat for $20 earlier in the week and the field ended up being 44 last night for a $6,000 package to Manila to play in the Asian Poker Tour Jan 2009. There was almost 2 packages on offer but the prizepool was just short which meant that 2nd-20th got their $$$'s back. Once the bubble popped i was freerolling really as i was guaranteed $270 for my $20 investment. With 8 left I lost a 88 v QK which crippled me and left me on 2000 chips. After working my way back up to 20k by playing like a maniac I settled down and played well. Then i lost an AIPF 77 v Q7 which nearly tilted me when 2 Queens came down. Built my way back up playing pretty agro and got a decent 3-1 chiplead HU. Lost another flip to get back level and then got dealt 77 again. It all went in preflop and he flipped QK. Flop again contained 2 Queens... WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!? I had just drawn back my throwing hand (which contained my wireless mouse) when a 7 blipped the turn! Woot for 2 outers...... so rigged lol!

So anyways, i now have a $6k package which is $2700 seat + expenses. Anybody want to make me a sensible offer? Could do with the cash to add to my roll tbh. Especially as the boiler at the house i rent out has just gone bang which is gonna cost me £500 best case and over £1k worst case. Poor tenants must be freezing their nads of at the mo.

2008-11-21T23:05:00.002+01:00

Spent the whole week analyzing my game and plugging leaks. Seem to be going round in circles somewhat. I'm happy with my preflop play now but my postflop play needs a little improvement i think. Made a 4 table, 200nl video and have posted it on PFU in order to get some useful criticism. Will definitely be making some more videos now i've got the hang of things with Camtasia. Will also edit the next one down so there's not as much inane waffle and boring hands.
Dropped a few hundred on ipoker this week after a couple of crappy sessions. Seem to be fighting back a little in the last couple of days though and am raking plenty at the moment and the bonus for this month will be very timely.
Congrats to Cheesies who's had a sicko month of November. Achievements too numerous to list but was capped by a 20k gtd victory last night. Also idi0..... another sicko who won another 20k gtd earlier in the week. PFU seems to be going great this month.... long may it continue.

My god what a boring post that was......
Can i save it with a funny vid i wonder?

Been Fishing!

2008-11-13T15:00:00.004+01:00

Ahoy there landlubbers! Things are looking up.... at last!! Thank fook for that i hear you say! About time he stopped whinging ffs!! Well, i've had a decent week after slapping myself around the face a few times. Talk about a rut ffs..... You know when you're watching some utter moronic garbage on the TV at 3AM after a night out on the piss. You tend to stare open mouthed at the telly focussing about 3 yards behind it..... wondering why the fook you don't go to bed....? Well, that's been my poker game for a while now. I slipped into playing 20/15/1 before realizing what a tit i was and seeking some help..... that worked for a few days and i tightened up to play somewhere around 16/14/3 and felt much happier....... then i realized i'd slipped back to playing 18/14/1.5....... wtf?...... i'm supposed to be doing this for a living ffs? Pass me the dunse cap!

So, this week i spent a lot of time looking over my PT figures and plugging huge leaks. My bb/100 rate for $1/$2 had slipped to less than 2 over 35k hands after being around 4.5 over 20k hands.......Anyways, after a lot of studying and a few hours on cardrunners i've spent the last 2 days playing a different style and things are going really well. Yeah i know i've run pretty well but i'm back making decisions again instead of autofolding/playing just my cards v board.

Sunday I played the 250k satellite $40 rebuy event for a $300 seat. Got the seat without any rebuys or addon. So then played the 250k at ipoker and was looking to go really deep until i lost a standard flip and got knocked out 43rd for $1k. Quite happy with that ROI.
Yesterday i played the 15k rebuy at ipoker and managed to go deep after no rebuys and 1 addon. Cost $50 and i got 3rd for $1500.
Yesterday and today i've played 600 hands of $1/2 and made $1000. I've run pretty well to be fair but still, i'm so much happier with the way i'm playing and am enjoying playing again. iPoker roll up to £5k so may have a sniff at $2/$4 this week and see what occurrs.

Enough of all this upbeatednessization..... Saturday i went down to Birmingham to play in the Sky UK Poker Tour at the Broadway. It was only a £50 event and i went down to see one of the Sky guys (didn't show) and a couple of other poker chums. Great to meet Wayne and his missus and also Chris who somehow came 2nd! Have no idea ho as he was plastered lol. WP mate!
My exit was odd to say the least. We started on a fairly weak table with 4 decent players and 3-4 donks. Come the 1st break and all the donks were gone leaving the rest of us with around double starting stacks. After the break we go repopulated by decent players and things got tricky. 1 of these guys was really talkative to put it politely. He really couldn't stop talking for 5 seconds..... Within a few hands he'd run AA into KK twice and after arriving shortstacked had got to about 9k....... anyways, the dealer is shuffling and he's making a huge thing about telling the entire table how he's UTG and his book says he should limp with aces.... i mean he made a massive show of this even telling passers by.... The dealer deals and sure enough he limps UTG and it's folded to me in the cutoff... i look down and see KK and raise about 4x.... folded to UTG who shoves (he was auto shoving a lot) and i titter to myself as i call :-) He flips AA!! WTF?
That left me with less than 2k and i was done for a few hands later. I suppose they were using the Sky Online RNG for this live tourney!

Found this video on Youtube and it reminds me of Sky poker back in the day when it was swarming with fish..... those were the days...
Enjoy...

12 Weeks!!!!

2008-10-30T16:35:00.002+01:00

Wow..... am a bit numb at the moment. Today we went for a 12 week scan and all is well. We are expecting a baby on 13th May 2009 :-)

I iZ 1 Dumm FisH

2008-10-13T11:40:00.003+01:00

WTF have i been doing recently? No really..... WTF??? I've been playing like a complete fookwit tbh. How i didn't realize sooner is still baffling me now but at least i realized whilst i still had something that resembles a bankroll left. Sky still seems to be dishing out horrific beats to ALL of the regulars there. If any regular, normally winning Sky player is not currently getting bashed about then please reply in this post. Anyways, i've been concentrating on bIg slIck (ipoker) and have been doing pretty well playing 50c/$1 and half stacking $1/$2. I took my £50 starting deposit and what with rakeback equivalent bonus and running good i managed to get my roll there to a little over £2k in a little under 2 months. Was well chuffed with that tbh as the 1st few weeks was spent trying to build enough to play with and was slow going. The last 10 days or so have been pretty gruesome though and i knew it was because my game had gone to shit and was not down to suckouts/coolers. Looking at my PT stats i had somehow slipped to playing 23/12/1.5 :s I enlisted the help of a stats expert who really knows his stuff and he had a look at my PT stats and PokerEV graphs and came to pretty much the same conclusion as me....... i was playing like a muppet!! Even before the last 10 days or so i wasn't playing very well but i was running good at ipoker which always helps. Anyways, we came up with an action plan and things are hopefully back on track. I'm feeling good about my game for the 1st time in a few months tbh. Can now hopefully put the last 3 months behind me and move on and start earning some $$$'s again.

Had another article published in this months Inside Poker. Am fairly happy with it but again, it's so difficult to convey points accross when you only have 1500 words to work with. Not only that, I don't think much of playing poker is 'standard' anymore so one mans line in any given scenario can be completely different to anothers and both can be correct. Just sent another peice in about playing OOP so hopefully that one will go to print before crimbo.

So i'll be spending the rest of the month grinding 4-5 tables at ipoker. Hopefully the next week or 2 will go to plan and i can move up to fullstacking $1/2 but i would want £2.5k before i considered that. Until then i'm thrashing about in 50c/$1. Current roll at ipoker is £1.8k.

Huge congrats to idi0!!! He only went and PFU'd the Brawl for $75k!!! Amazing!! :-)

Also, thanks again to Mark for helping me with my game!

The Good, The Bad, And The Fugly!

2008-09-30T01:41:00.006+01:00

The Good:

Big Slick roll is improving and i'm managing to multi table more without losing as much value as i used to. This comes with practice i suppose but also better PT stats as i've been mining every hour of the day i'm not playing...... that's about 40 minutes lately lol. I've been playing too much tbh and i'm tired. Am really trying to build a decent roll as quickly as possible though and once i have sufficient funds i will maybe slow down a little. I'm still for the moment though only playing 50c/$1 & $1/$2 both with $100 stacks. I've drifted away from the mtt's again. They were a very nice change of scenary for a while but i don't think they suit my game as well as 6max cash so i'll reserve the mtt's for when i need a change.

So, the £50 i deposited in Big Slick last month is now £1500 and i'm running at just over 7PTBB's/100 which isn't spectacular but is certainly acceptable.

The Bad:

How fooked up is Sky Poker right now? I've actually stopped playing there for a while after taking a quite frankly unbelievable amount of beats, coolers, suckouts....... My graph is horrific. I just wish i could somehow make an +/-EV chart. It's so hard to log hands there though as the software is really bad and the hand histories are non existant. After consistantly winning a decent amount for more than 15 months straight, the last 2 months have been break even apart from my Primo FT. I really don't know what to do as i still feel i'm playing OK there but 2 months of staleness may suggest otherwise. There just aren't enough players playing there any more, not that there ever was...... it just seems that every single table is full of regulars with maybe 1 or 2 fish split between the 4 tables that are usually at £1/£2 or above. Anyways, i'm concentrating on ipoker for the time being and if all continues well i'll withdraw all my roll from sky and kick it into touch.

The Fugly:

My Sky profit chart for the last 4 months. Without the Primo FT on about day 62, my profit is the same as it was 47 playing days ago....... I run bad! :-(

Don't forget about the Big Slick deal above. If you currently play ipoker network and don't get 30%+ rakeback equivalent then let me know and we'll sort you out. Better that 30% in your pocket than theirs!

Back And Primed!

2008-09-16T08:50:00.002+01:00

Well i can certainly recommend that to anyone. A week spent lazing on beaches, eating good food, in good company with good wine. Not a cardroom or laptop in sight!
Got back on Saturday evening but didn't actually see a hand of poker until Monday. I just didn't want the holiday to stop tbh. When i did eventually get round to playing i felt refreshed and ready to go. I was actually enjoying this stupid game if i'm completely honest.
Spent most of my day at bIg slIck playing 50c/$1 6max and a couple of mtt's thrown in trying to build my roll there. Managed to make 4 buyins playing cash and also cashed in both of the mtt's. The 2nd one was the $15k gtd rebuy which i final tabled. My exit hand was AIPF with QQ from MP that was called by AK from the SB. It would have given me the chiplead had it held but a flopped ace scuppered my plans and kicked me out in 7th for $666. Oh well...... as Amafish has been saying of late..... that decent mtt win is close..... i can smell it!!!
Congrats to Sheep who won the PFU Session last night. I just can't seem to get started in that stupid game. I tend to try and pull off some silly moves that eventually get called. I'm stuck on 13.5 points after 9 games lol...... think the leader has about 408! Luckbox! :D
My local cardroom has just started its 'End Of Summer Festival' and tonight is the £10 unlimited rebuy! Bingo Bingo gogogogogo!!!! Cheeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiips Pleeeeeeaaaasse!!!!! Should be good for a giggle........ i'm taking £70 and when it's gone it's gone!!! Honest!
GLATT

Off On Hols

2008-09-05T00:57:00.002+01:00

Well that's all last nights profit gone, and more, to an incredible series of 1, 2 & 3 outers. Off to Portugal for a week and not taking me laptop. Seriously sick of this game atm.

GLA

I Feel Goooooooood!!!

2008-09-03T22:45:00.005+01:00

Thanks for the comments in the last entry. You're right...... i've been a miserable git the last few weeks. Even when i've been winning i've felt bad about my game and my results. The reason is simple.... Until the last 3 days of August i was down $400 and facing my 1st ever losing month after 16 months of decent profits. Pretty scarey stuff when the bills need paying but the roll isn't increasing. The last 3 days of the month really saved my sanity though helped by the Primo FT and my September total was $4.5k. Not fantastic but a mile away from where it could have been.

Tonight is the 1st time in a long long time where i feel i've run decent. Top pairs with decent kickers were being called by worse hands and not raised......flopped sets were paid...... i even flopped a couple of straights that got paid pretty well. I just feel i was getting a bit more respect and combine that with running good and you have a happy Cottlad. I've not had the happy, fluffy feeling in my chest when it comes to poker for ages and with luck, it's back! Made a great start to September tonight and am already +$1.3k by playing 1/2 & 2/4 6max by playing for just a few hours. Most of my time has been spent trying to get my roll increased at BiG SLiCK without much luck. Roll there stands at $700.

Got an article coming up in Inside Poker about playing overpairs. It's due to be in Octobers edition. Let me know what you think if you read it.

Been reading a great blog recently by One Angry Kid. I'm sure he's me in a parallel universe. Maybe everyone turns into Victor Meldrew with age? Scares the bejeezoos outa me i tells ya. Have a read http://oneangrykid1.blogspot.com/

Portugal on Saturday. Yipeee! Fooked if i know what my body will do when it sees even daylight, never mind 40 degrees of sunshine!

GLATT

Strange Week

2008-08-30T01:00:00.002+01:00

I have no idea what's been going on with the poker of late. I just can't seem to get in, and then stay in the groove. I've taken my BiG SLiCK roll up from £50 - 950 and then back down to £700 in the last 2 weeks and my other accounts have been stagnent. Every time i make a couple of buyins and think things are on the up, i lose a couple of buyins + change to coolers and suckouts. It's been really ugly. Ya know, them hands where you're waiting for that muppet sat to yr right to make that 1 mistake......... you pick up AK and a full buyin ends up going in on a Axx flop, he flips Ace rag and rivers his rag. Happening time and time again..... 2 and 3 outers galore. Have really doubted myself lately tbh but i just keep telling myself the money is consistently going in ahead and things must change soon. Fook me..... i wish i could spend Sklansky $$$'s......... I'd be so far up this month it's untrue :S

Took the boat out last Friday and it performed remarkably well to be fair. We had a couple of hours fishing and caught 30 odd fish between the 3 of us. All mackerel & whiting, the majority of which we let go. Just need a towbar on me car now and i'll be all set.

A bit of good news at last........ I entered the Sky Primo bingo allin donkament tonight. it's £25k gtd and i have a real good record in this one. It's monthly and i forget about it nearly every month. The 4 previous ones i entered resulted in 2 FT's. Anyways, i final tabled again tonight and got 4th place for £1750..... a very timely boost to the bankroll! :D Maybe that ease in pressure is what i need to turn the corner.

GLATT

Deeper Still......

2008-08-21T16:13:00.005+01:00

Just played 2 rebuy $5k GTD donkaments at ipoker. Really enjoying playing there at the moment. The mtt standard seems to be soooooo poor. It must be if i'm regularly making FT's! lol.
1st one was a $7 rebuy and i was always there or there abouts. Major hand was when 3 left. AIPF my QQ v his AJ and he spikes an A to double up. Can't blame the shove but was a sick hand which would have given me the win i'm sure. I finished 2nd for $850 so can't complain too much. Cheesies got 4th. A good showing from PFU!! :-)

2nd one was a $10 rebuy and again i made the final table. Was doing OK until i picked up KK.....

No Limit Holdem Tournament
$5,000 GP Rebuy Buy-In: $10+$1
8 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:

UTG	RippThePot	(97832)
UTG+1	MartinL	(107377)
MP1	bouque0808	(51693)
MP2	Bobby291	(126612)
CO	Jackovich	(187684)
BTN	AnnaLies	(57985)
SB	whyme1	(85097)
BB	avemaria	(191719)

Blinds: 5000/10000

Pre-flop: (15000, 8 players)
2 folds, bouque0808 raises to 20000, 2 folds, AnnaLies goes all-in 57985, 2 folds, bouque0808 goes all-in 31693

Flop: (124678, 2 players)

Turn: (124678, 2 players)

River: (124678, 2 players)

Final Pot: 124678
bouque0808 shows:
AnnaLies shows:

bouque0808 wins 118386 ( won +66693 )
AnnaLies wins 6292 ( lost -51693 )

Horrid beat that was. I finished 8th for $177 but was/am pretty gutted tbh.

That mtt win is so close..... i can smell it!
Donkaments!
GLATT

Late edit>....... I played another mtt tonight ($6k gtd) and made it fairly deep. Ended up 14th out of 220 odd. Went out by another suckout and felt pretty steamy so entered a $10 PLO tourny to let some steam off. Started pushing every hand and kept hitting the nuts so slowed down a bit and played it proppa lol. Only 70 odd started but i manage another FT and got 3rd for about $100.
A decent day then with 3 FT's out of 5! 2/235, 8/275, X/300, 14/220, 3/70.
Did OK on the cash too. That means my Big Slick roll has increased from $100 - $1700 in the space of a week playing mainly mtt's :-) They seem sooooo soft/tight/weak etc etc etc. Maybe i'll ditch the cash games for a while ;) Plus i've already got enough points for a polo shirt!

NN

Getting Deeper

2008-08-18T02:29:00.003+01:00

Man i must be close to a decent mtt win soon. I keep getting deep in a huge percentage of the tournies i'm entering at the moment but just can't seem to close the deal. Just final tabled the $7.5k GTD at ipoker for 7th place after being chipleader for most of the tournament up until about 14 left. My exit hand was a disgusting AQ v AQ! :-(
Was also going well in the 250k at ipoker earlier tonight and was top 20 all the way through to just after the 2nd break. I then got crippled by an uber donk playing 33 who called an allin checkraise on the flop with 33 ffs....... he had an underpair to the board! He spikes a 3 on the turn and i don't improve. I'd not long before doubled this donkey up when he called a turn push with AT for all of his chips, he had no pair, no draw...... he wasn't even close to being pot committed. It was as if he was playing to lose his chips as quickly as possible.... Just checked the tournament and he came 6th for 12.5k ffs! Where's the justice?
Anyways, at least i know i'm back to playing good poker. Quite enjoying playing a few donkaments for a change but the beats and suckouts don't half hurt after giving your all for 3 hours+
Cash games still not going fantastically.... made a $20 loss today :S

Got the boat ready for launching today but didn't have time to get her in the water. Hopefully Friday should see us getting the boat wet..... only the outside i sincerely hope!

3 Days of Profit!!!

2008-08-15T01:20:00.002+01:00

Thank the Lord! The last 3 days have shown a profit and about time. About $800 in 3 days aint bad considering i've only been playing $1/$2 3 tables at the most. The previous 9 days before that consisted of loss, loss, profit, loss, loss, loss, loss, level, loss! About $2.8k down altogether! It could have been a lot worse i suppose and i certainly aint counting my chickens just yet. The last 3 days profit puts me back to where i was 3 weeks ago. I should have just taken 3 weeks off. It would have been a lot more enjoyable than 3 weeks of coolers! Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Here's my graph for the last 40 days or so. Each vertical value = $4k. I suppose i was running pretty hot before the dip so i can't complain too much.
Have been playing some mtt's lately which have been going OK. I'm regularly getting down to the last 10% but am not having the luck when deep. I could do with a decent win at Big Slick to give me a roll there as the games look pretty soft. I just haven't got the spare money to deposit a decent amount at the moment so will just stick to playing smallish mtt's and hope to score a FT or 2.

Looking forward to our week in Portugal.....3 weeks and counting.
GLATT

Slowly Slowly

2008-08-13T15:14:00.002+01:00

I feel positive. I don't know why, i just do. The poker hasn't got much better but i woke up this morning feeling generally brighter. Maybe the following cheered me up a bit.......

Holy shit Rolf.... WTF were you thinking man? He painted our Queen FFS! LMAO. I dunno if my respect for him has fallen or risen after hearing that. Am a bit numb TBH lol.

Got 4th in a local tourny last night. Only 25 runners though but was a good laugh and i cashed for £90. Bout bloody time!

Righty, i best crack on. I've got an article to scribe for Inside Poker and it needs to be in by the end of the week.
GLATT :-)

Slow Going

2008-08-12T14:23:00.002+01:00

It's not getting any easier this poker lark! I've even started playing a few small buyin mtt's to try and stop the rut. Probably not a good idea because i tend to go off the handle a bit when i've played solidly for a few hours then get a bad beat/cooler/suckout to knock me out just before the big money. I remember now why i stopped playing these damned things lol.
On a brighter note, the standard of mtt play at ipoker seems pretty awful tbh. Lots of players wanting to shove any 2 cards early on. Played in a $11 mtt last night with 366 entrants. This was whittled down to 140 by the 1st break! It wasn't even a turbo! lol. As usual, i got down to 18 left (with 10bb's) and shovelled it AIPF with KK v AT & Ax. Obviously the ace flopped and i've just spent over 3 hours playing for a $24 profit..... sigh. Oh well.... at least i know i was playing solid poker. I'll take that as a huge positive after the last few weeks.

Don't forget the Big Slick offer i got available for new signups. See above for details.

Hopefully gonna try and get the boat in the water this weekend. Keep the RNLI on standby!
GLATT

Poker Is Like Golf

2008-08-07T16:50:00.002+01:00

Just been for a golf lesson which was really interesting. My golf game has been really really bad of late so i went to try and get it sorted out. I took a few swings, then went to video my swing, then talked about my swing and state of mind, then hit a few more balls. The points i need to work on were exactly the same points i should be looking at in my poker game.
This is what he told me:
- You're overcomplicating what you're doing. Just get the basics right and the rest will follow.
- More aggression is needed. At the moment you're swinging the club with no punch
- It looks like you've tried changing everything to find the problem. The trouble is, you've succeeded in changing the good things in your swing as well as the bad.
- Don't try too hard. It will come but 1 stage at a time. Don't go hell for leather trying for the perfect golfswing or else you'll come unstuck.

I stood there listening to what he had to say and was thinking...... 'wow, do you want to be my poker coach too?' The above rang so true with how my poker game has been lately. Trying too hard, changing my game, lack of aggression, trying to get too tricky, tilting easily etc etc. Pretty strange to hear all that from a golf coach.

Now i'm hoping my frame of mind is getting more positive. I admit to being pretty low over the last few days but feel generally brighter in myself. I recouped some of yesterdays losses last night and have played a couple of sessions today both resulting in small wins. I know i'm still only 75% but i feel i'm back on the uplslope again. I know i'm still playing too cautiously but at the moment, reducing variance is the key whilst still hopefully making a profit.

A few more winning sessions should see my firing on all cylinders again.

GLATT

Sigh..........

2008-08-06T14:49:00.002+01:00

Not a lot of improvement since last post. I've been playing OK but seem to have run into a whole host of donks recently and variance when playing these muppets can be huge. I've lost count of the number of times my money has gone in good and lost over the last week. It's the same old same old...... raise with AK to 6x as yr guaranteed at least 1 caller. Get called by the table fookwit shovefest alliner who calls with A7....... Flop comes A23...... it all goes in and he rivers his magical 7....... then thinks he's the worlds best poker player. Aaaarrrgghhhhhh..... this hand just happened BTW for a $1k pot but is typical of the last week.
Am actually quite sure this has been one of my worst weeks of all-time. 4 losing days out of the last 5 and currently stuck $1k today. Maybe i should just avoid the maniacs for a while and stick to grinding it out on the $2/$4 tables. My mental state really isn't up to playing loose cannons at $3/$6.
I'll spend some time over the next day or 2 watching some cardrunners vids too. That normally sorts me out a bit.
Not a lot else been happening in my world. Got the car back which hit me for £1200 so all in all, a week to be erased from the memory banks.
So..... yet another bad beat post entry in this blog. I promise the next one will be more positive.......

Coolerizations

2008-08-01T09:24:00.003+01:00

Wow I can still tilt bad. I mean really really bad! I thought the swirling stomach, the throwing of objects, the shouting at the screen, the rush of blood, etc etc was all behind me? Obviously not! I still get annoyed sometimes but haven't gone on monkey tilt for months until now.

It started Wednesday evening when i went to the river, betting the nuts fairly hard, when i got 2 outered by someone who shouldn't have been in the hand. Basically i flopped the nut flush and he's calling (twice) with an underpair to the board. The turn did pair the board (QQ) but i wasn't at all worried about being beat due to the dynamics of the hand (which i won't bore you with. What i will say is that i 3-bet a decent amount pre-flop with AcKc and he wasn't even the original raiser but still calls with 66.) This guy is normally OK (so i thought) and to be honest, his play wasn't completely out of line other than a terrible call pre-flop. It's what the knob typed in chat after he 2 outers the river....... 'TY'! WTF? Do we not play together nearly every day of the week? Have i ever disrespected you like that? Did i not have a right to be amazed at the way the hand panned out? Anyways, stupidly i got annoyed. I mean.... there is not an occassion EVER where i would disrespect a regular after sucking out like this. I would at least have the decency to give an 'UL' or a 'Sry man' in the chat..... or say nothing at all..... Anyways, i'm over it now lol but that's what started my tilt. 10 hands later it was confounded by someone else 2 outering me when i bet the nutz hard through the streets. I was gobsmacked........ 2 in 10 minutes? WTF is going on? I still ended the day up a little after being really dumb and joining a $5/$10 game for a while. Luckily i hit a couple of decent hands.

Then...... yesterday......... I'm grinding away at 2 x $2/$4 tables and have made about $500 when in the space of an hour i get 2-4 outered 4 times! Yes..... 4 fookin times! I quickly went from being +$500 to -$900. The red mist dropped again and i did well to shut down my games without destroying my computer.

So....... Lessons learned. Don't let some prick wind you up so much. Don't play when tired.

I'm feeling a little less tilted right now but am not gonna play for the time being. May play a little tonight when the donks come out. It is payday afterall ;)

PS.... yes i'm fully expecting all regulars to type 'TY' after every pot they take off me now lol..... i hope they do...... it will de-sensitize me :D

GLATT

Anyone Wanna Hear A Bad Beat Story?

2008-07-25T01:37:00.004+01:00

Ya just can't believe some peoples play. It's as if they are completely unaware of what the game entails. I hate bad-beat stories but this is funny (or not)

This has gotta be in my top 5 i reckon......

The table is full of habitual limping/calling donks. Villain UTG is a complete muppet!

$3/$6 6 max with stacks $400-900 6 sat.

Villain has $400 and i have $400

limp, i raise to $24 with A5s, fold, fold, fold, BB calls, Limper calls.

Flop AJ5 rainbow

Check, check, I bet $50, fold, villain raises to $150 i call. (99% sure i'm way ahead ere.)

Turn AJ5(9)
Villain bets $150, i call

River AJ59(7)

Villain shoves rest in (about $80), I call

Villain shows 86o and wins a $800+ pot!

Gotta laugh innit!

I finish the day £31 up after an 8hr+ grind :S

I Lied!

2008-07-23T14:46:00.003+01:00

........in my last post when i said the car was almost fixed. Got the parts and replaced them only to find the damn thing still mis-firing. Had a garage look at it yesterday and they just called me with some great news.......
Best case scenario....... bad valve...... £750
Worst case scenario.....New head...... £1600
WTF!!!!!
Am utterly fooked off right now. How can a supposedly solid reliable car need this work after only 75k miles? I drive it proper steady too :S I've got no choice i suppose other than get the thing fixed. Just hope i can have a decent run at poker to pay for it.
Pokers been going OK with the last 4 days winning ones averaging $800/day. I suppose that's paid for the car in the worst case scenario but i'm still not happy.
How the fook can these fookwits....... and when i say fookwits i mean someone who plugs a computer into a car then changes any parts that aren't working properly...... justify charging £40/hour. I mean WTF is going on in the world when a parts fitter is earning £300/day? Oh i forgot to add the juice they put on top of parts also! I gotta stop this rant before i tilt myself lol.

Right. Back to the poker...... relax!

Huuuuuuge congrats to idi0 from PFU who took down the FTP 40k last night for $15k :-) WP mate....... Fix me car for me? TYTY

GLATT

Absinthe Makes The Heart Grow Fonder!

2008-07-21T13:07:00.007+01:00

I still feel sick :-( What a bloody marvelous night Friday was though. There ended up being about 14 of us out on the town all pretending we could still drink like 25 year olds. We started off sensible enough in our local pubs at 7.30 but it started getting silly when we hit the city. Our 1st 3 pubs in quick succession involved 1) Flaming Absinthes and pints of snakebite & black 2) Pints of Old Peculiar 3) Double whisky with a Schnapps Shooter. It's all a bit fuzzy after that but i think everyone kept going until at least 2am.

Fook me did i feel ruff Saturday morning! I had to look in the mirror to see if some joker had lobotomised me in the night.

Got up at 10.30 but that was just wishful thinking so went back to bed until 1.30pm. I had to force myself out of bed then as i had to go and pick the boat up. A bacon butty and cuppa tea went some way to curing me but i still felt like death.
Anyways, got the boat picked up and put in her new home then drove down the coast to see work in progress on a similar boat. It was at this point the friggin car broke down. My own fault as i didn't change all the coil packs the other month when the 1st one went. So, i couldn't get back home and had to spend another night in Hull. Not a very happy wife as she'd planned a really nice meal for when i got home..... oops. Spent a couple of hours playing poker instead for a $1k profit which is a decent result considering the day i'd had and how i felt at the time.

Anyways, the boat is sorted, the car is all but fixed and apart from feeling sea-sick i'm back up to 65% health! :-) Happy days!

GLATT

OMFG

2008-07-19T21:50:00.001+01:00

Somebody please make it stop!!!

LOL Boataments!

2008-07-18T10:18:00.007+01:00

Greetings! WTF am i doing? I seem to have bought a boat! Well myself, my Dad and my Step Dad in-law have. It's a Microplus 501 and we'll use it for fishing out of sunny Bridlington whenever we get any decent weather. That should give me a year or two to do the thing up! It's not quite what i've been used to over the last few years but hopefully she'll float and will give us at least 1 afternoons entertainment per year. The pic isn't our boat but is the same type. I pick ours up tomorrow. We are still to decide a name for her so any suggestions welcome. The shortlist so far: SEVEN DEUCE, SHARKBAIT, BAD BEAT, SUITED ACES, ANNAMARIE, GUTSHOT.

Poker's been up and down the last week or two. Swings have been bigger than i wanted but the action lately seems to have been crazy. My last 8 days have been -450, -500, +1800, +70, -4, +840, -1260, +960. Thats a 735 swing average per day. That's 91 big bets or nearly 2 buyins. Considering i'm only playing 2 tables per day for about 3-4 hours it's just too much. Only a very small sample i suppose. Anyways, i'm babbling....... STFU Shaun.

Going out with the boys tonight for the 1st time since my wedding in March!!!! It's not that i haven't wanted to or been allowed to (lol) but just haven't had the time. What with Vegas, other weddings, Silverstone, Honeymoon, parent visiting etc etc it's just impossible to get a free weekend. Doesn't help by living an hour and a half away from the drinking action....... which by the way i'm quite thankful for hehe. Anyways, there's close to a dozen middle aged warriors on the pop tonight acting like 19 year olds. Anna hit the nail on the head last night..... ' you lot are like kids when you all go out.... why can't you just drink normal drinks? Why is it that you act like you've never tasted alcohol before, never seen girls before, and never heard music before. You're 36 ffs not 17!!!' haha i think she's absolutely right...... So boys, who's round is it 1st for the sambuca afterburners?

Here are a few pics of a previous social occassion..... Come to a nice BBQ they said...... :s

Rich swimming in the carp pond

Agent Smith has had enough

Full bottle of JD for Martin!

Oh dear, it's gonna get messy!

GLATT

Grinding

2008-07-15T01:06:00.002+01:00

Coolers, cold decks and suckouts. Sounds like a great name for a movie i may make one day. I spent most of my day occupied with the above and worked really really hard to keep my head above the water. Was just so frustrating 3 tabling 3/6 3/6 2/4 and being met by really really bad players who just seemed to hit endlessley. I left 1 donk sat with 2200 on 3/6 and he would religiously limp call a 5x preflop raise with any ace. He just never got caught out and always seemed to hit. I think i must have played for 9 hours today and until the final 30 minutes i have been in the red all day. Never really down a lot but always -$100 to -$400. The last half hour saw me eventually hitting some cards and going on a bit of a rush that put me +$400 for the day. With my other tables already closed i was UTG on my final 3/6 table and was dealt AsKs. It was my final hand of the night. So..... i raise to 20, MP calls, BB repops it to 100. I should maybe have just passed and shut it down (then again that would be uber nitty) but this player is fairly gung ho and only had about $400 stack................ so, i call, MP folds and we see a flop.....
Flop comes down 26K rainbow....... i'm still not sure i like it........... he bets 120...... i call.
Turn 26K (J) he bets $50............ i'm already well committed and hope this is weak so shove the rest in over the top.
River is a blank and he flips KK :-( He takes down an $800+ pot which is fair enough. I think he played it well and really think the only way out for me is pre-flop when he puts in a big 3-bet. Anyone else and i may consider folding but this guy could easily be JJ QQ AK AQ.

So..... after 9 hours of play today i'm -$2 which is a loss of just over 22c/hour (sigh)
Better than it could have been i suppose so can't grumble.

As you can see i've re-designed my blog. I think it looks better but i'm having to find red piccies so it all matches lol.

GLATT

Lewis Hamilton FTW!

2008-07-08T11:00:00.003+01:00

Just got back from an amazing long weekend at Silverstone. My wedding present from my wife were Platinum weekend passes for the British Grand Prix.... how lucky am I?!!! We got there on Thursday afternoon and after bemused looks from other campers, finally got our new tent up after about an hour. It was still a bit wonky but looked like it would at least keep us dry. Practice and qualifying were amazing. The weather was mixed but it wasn't too bad....... until Sunday! It was like a day in February instead of midsummer. We were sat in a covered stadium at Copse but because we had front-row seats and a strong head-wind we got battered by icey rain for most of the day. Was bloody freezing but had an awesome time. Definitely booking for next year. The atmosphere was unreal and the noise when Lewis passed the chequered flag was deafening.

Have been so busy what with Vegas and Silverstone that i've hardly played any poker since the middle of June. I have to put that right so will be hammering it for a while. I'm gonna have another go at qualifying for some live UK games too just to mix things up a bit.

Can't really discuss much poker as i haven't really played much. I played a little bit more in Vegas after my last post with mixed results. I got dealt AA twice the whole time i was there, Firstly in a Caesars tournament where i raised preflop and it all went in on the flop after i flop top set, only to see him turn over a flopped broadway straight :-( No help and i'm busto. The other time i got them was in a $5/$10 cash game on a crazy table. One of my targets was a crazy gambler who liked to see flops and bet draws hard. I look down at AA and am happy that he raises before me to $40. I make it $100 to go and he calls. We see a flop of J73 and he checks to me. I bet $150 into $215 and he pushes me allin. I have $700 behind and i'm sure i'm beat. I um and arr for a minute or two and the guy to my right is sighing 'Call!' to me whilst eating his burger. He's not even in the hand but is really trying to give me a read. I was honestly about to fold the hand before this happened but took this as a sign that the other guy had been pushing like this for a while and was probably weak or maybe had TPGK or overpair. That along with my original thoughts that this guy was a gambler led me into umming and arring for another 2 minutes before eventually making an unhappy call. He flips J7 for 2 pair and after no help, i muck my aces face down, stand up, and leave........ very annoyed with myself. I don't blame the guy with the burger, it was my own stupid fault. He could easily have 2 pair or trips. I should have listened to the check-raise and folded. If he open shoves i'm instacalling all day long but the C-raise should have waved the big red flag in my face...... It did to be fair...... i just didn't listen.
That was my one and only forray into $5/$10 whilst out there. I definitely think i could beat the game but it was a little above my available roll so the one shot was enough for me.

My flight left at 3pm on Tuesday so i entered the Goldcoasts $20 tournament which started at 10am. The average age was 113 and the skill level was terrible. There were a few decent players but at least half the field were complete donks. Anyways, i took it down for my 1st live win which felt pretty good lol. It only paid $300 but that was enough for gifts in the airport and a few beers.

So, i'm back at home without too many plans apart from poker for the forseeable future. Time to get that roll back up there. Need to pay for those Silverstone burgers somehow.

GLATT all

Event 31

2008-06-17T18:24:00.002+01:00

Well that didn't last long :-( Level 2 and i'm outa there. It was a 6max event and my table was fairly decent. with only 5000 starting chips the blinds were starting to count right from the off. I really didn't want to play too tight but maybe i played a little loose. I got no luck though and was left with just over 1000 chips in level 1 after a flopped flush was beaten by a bigger one. I coulda/shoulda gone bust there maybe but with the blinds now at 50/100 i was in terrible shape. My final hand gave me A8 v TJ with a flop of A9Q. It all went in and the turned K left me drawing dead and eliminated much earlier than i wanted.

The whole experience was awesome though. The Amazon room is huge. The TV table is in the corner and yesterday saw a FT consisting of Negreanu, Hellmuth, Chan, Galfond, Juanda & Benyamine! Really strange to see all these stars and to be playing in the same tournies.

After i was knocked out i sat down to play some 2/5 cash and after 4 hours i left the table $9 down lol.

Met the mob (minus Ram) for a few beers early evening along with 3 other qualifiers, Rob, DJ & Jarrod. Great bunch of guys! Had a few too many then headed back to the Goldcoast to see if there was any cash action.....

Sat at a $1/$2 table and the action was beyond belief. I have honestly never seen anything like it in my life. The average stack was around $500 and the average pot preflop was around $80! WTF?!!!!! One guy was making all of this action...... Ron!! Rocket Ron as he soon came to be known. He was very pissed and very funny. I imagine he would be a half decent player if sober but in his state, he may as well have just burnt his cash. His standard raise was to $27 with any 2 cards and this would generally attract at least 3 calls from hopefuls with better than average cards. It was fookin brutal i tells ya. If anyone dared to raise, The Rocket would just push allin and outdraw your arse with his 65/35 LMAO. I don't think i've ever had such a laugh at the table. The guy was so pissed that everytime he pushed preflop and picked up the blinds ($3) he would tip the dealer $15!! hahaha. It really had to be seen to be believed. There was probably only 1 other decent player (if i'm included) at the table and between us we took a few nice pots and i left with $800 at 3.30am. I had to leave them to it as I was nodding off but would have loved to stay at that table for the rest of my poker career hehe. I just wish i got a picture of The Rocket to show you guys. Just his image would have you laughing hysterically...... especially after i stuck my Full Tilt logo on his shirt. Anyways, will have a look tonight to see if our friend is back. Hell..... i may go down there now to see if they're still playing lol. Notable quotes from the Rocket....... 'Can i say Bitch.....Bitch!' 'Have you got a queen?' (after EVERY flop whether a Q there or not.) 'Don't ever try that again or i'll reraise your ass!' 'Another Heineken would work well!' You really had to be there but the whole table, even the dealers (who were making $50/hr off him alone) were in a constant state of hysterical laughter.

Heading to Binions today to play in a small MTT with Rob. Good luck to DJ & Jarrod who are playing in todays $1500 WSOP event. Take it down guys!

GLATT

Spinning it up!

2008-06-16T01:42:00.002+01:00

Bloody hell it's hot. Arrived in Vegas at noon to be greeted by 38 degrees! It's like being constantly blasted by a hair dryer.
Got checked in to the Goldcoast. Not bad tbh. Rooms nothing special but are spacious, have internet connection and a decent TV. What else do i need?
Nipped across to the Rio and got registered for tomorrows 6max tourny. Saw Raymer and Goldstein playing which was really weird. then headed back to the Goldcoast to chill. Am bloody knackered but it was too early to sleep so i went to the poker room which only had 2/5 limit on offer. No thanks. So what to do? Put $20 into wheel of fortune slots of course :-) Spun that up to $100 and took that to the blackjack (yes i'm being smart with my roll lol) where i turned the $100 into $300! :-) Easy money lol.
Left it at that for the night and have come back to the room to get some rest. It's only 6pm at the moment though (2am UK) so i might play a bit online for an hour or too. Wanna be fully awake for tomorrows excitement though.
More updates to come.

GLATT

No thanks!

2008-06-13T17:37:00.002+01:00

Not a chance i'm falling for this one again. The last Friday 13th i remember playing was right at the start of this blog. I said i wasn't going to play but i gave in and ended up losing $2,400! I think it was my biggest losing day ever! So i'm not going to chance it this time. Yes yes, i know, it's all a load of bollox, but even thinking about it whilst playing will put doubts in my head, especially after getting sucked out on a couple of times. Have had a great fortnight ($9.5k up) so will protect that before my Vegas trip and have a day off.

Took Betty to the vets today. Bless her..... She had to have her booster vaccination. Not a happy kitten at all. We've had a nap on the couch together though and everything seems to be forgotten.

It's my birthday tomorrow so all donations are welcome if you want to buy me a beer. My username is cottlad at FTP ;) Wifey is taking me out to a posh Thai restaurant tonight which i'm well up for. Not had Thai in ages. Bring on the chicken feet! yum yum!

Right, i best go and start packing. Flight leaves early morning on Sunday from Manchester to get to Vegas lunchtime. Will be meeting Joe 'The Elegance' Beevers (namedrop) Sunday evening for a drink and to collect some pennies, then registering for the $2500 6max tourny that starts on Monday. I dunno what i'll be playing after that one..... suppose it depends how i get on. I'll be updating my blog from Vegas though.

GLATT

Great Day

2008-06-12T11:58:00.007+01:00

Am running good at the moment. In the last 12 days, 3 have been losing ones. I've dropped back down to playing 2 to 3 tables max and am finding it much easier to make the correct decisions and reads rather than just playing my hole cards and the board(which is what i find myself doing when trying to play too many tables.) I'm also giving myself more time to assess the situation and extract maximum value from winning hands. Even though i can 4-5 table profitably, i don't think i can get as much value out of that as i can 2 tabling with 100% focus. Yesterday was the best day i've had for a long time ($2.2k) so lets hope i've hit a vein of form just at the right time. I can almost smell that bracelet lol.

Only played for 20 mins so far today as there just aren't any decent games open. Had to drop down to NL$200 to even get a game and am gonna hit and run now for $75 :)

Am trying to get back into golf at the moment. Had a couple of lessons lately which completely destroyed my game but things are just starting to buck up a little. Played at the weekend and shot 90 which is nowhere near where I ideally want to be, but a vast improvement on how things have been going. Maybe the lessons are now starting to pay dividends and I can get my handicap down to 12 or less by the end of summer. I'm off now to thwack another couple of buckets of balls down the driving range. Will be back to the poker later this afty.

This made me smile today. Why can't these sort of things happen more often? Justice in the form of a crushed leg for this vandal as opposed to a tap on the wrist!...............

Help me.... help me..... LMFAO!

Counting Down to WSOP...

2008-06-10T13:38:00.002+01:00

I fly out to Vegas on Sunday. I won a $4k package some time ago courtesy of The Hendon Mob. I'm there for a little over a week and i think i'll play event No. 31 on Monday which is a $2500 buyin 6 max tournament. I much prefer the thought of this rather than a full table event as my main game is 6 max when i play day to day. It's not that often i play in 9 or 10 handed games anymore. It's also much more comfortable playing with 6 at a table, especially if you're sat there for hour after hour, which i hope i am! Much more action too......mmmmmmmmmm action!! I am of course fully expecting to come home with a gold bracelet and tales of final table battles with Brunson, Hellmuth and co. You can't blame me for dreaming lol. Saying that, i'm going with every intention of winning the thing, as should everyone else who plays in it!

If anyone wants to buy chunks of me i'm on sale. I may play in a $1500 event later in the week if i can get backing for 50% of me ($750 total.) $75 will get you 5% if you're intrested.
If not, i will play a few side event tournies at Binions/Caesars/Venetian etc. What i don't want to do is take another big chunk out of my bankroll and face the prospect of rebuilding it again like i am doing following the wedding.
Anyways, i'll keep you updated on events Stateside. Anyone else heading over that way?

GLATT

Still alive!

2008-06-10T09:08:00.007+01:00

I've had a few people nagging me to update my blog so i thought i would apease them. Can't believe how long it's been.
Since my last post i've.........

Done this...........

Been here.........

And here......................

And got this.............

I married Annamarie on the 24th March. We had a fantastic day and really enjoyed ourselves. Even i enjoyed it! I thought i'd be running about the whole day to be honest making sure everything ran smoothly but there was no need to worry. The day went perfectly (apart from the bride being 30 minutes late!!) The wedding car was late apparantley! hehe. I believe ya! The congregation were kept amused by the organist though, who at one point broke into 'why are we waiting!'

We had a great honeymoon too. We started off in Vegas for 4 nights at the Flamingo including a couple of shows and a helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon. La Reve was very spectacular and well worth seeing and the Rat Pack tribute show at the Plaza was entertaining but i would advise taking a hipflask with you as the cocktail service was worse than terrible. We flew from Vegas all the way to the canyon with Sundance. I can't recommend this highly enough for anyone visiting Vegas. Limo from your hotel to the airport followed by a champagne picnic in the canyon itself. Very reasonably priced too for what you get.

We didn't gamble very much at all apart from a little video poker and our main vice........ Wheel.....Of......Fortune slots. How addictive can that get!

I did walk past a few poker rooms, including the Bellagio's, and not once did i fancy playing...... Gawd i'm a crap liar....... Ya just can't on ya honeymoon though can ya! lol.

We left Vegas with a small profit and continued on to Maui. What a beautiful island. We had our own private honeymoon cottage for 10 nights which was just superb. The weather was mostly good apart from the last 3 days which we used to see some sights and for Annamarie to get savaged by dozens of mozzies at one of the many waterfalls.

We then headed back to Vegas for a night at the Bellagio before heading back to the UK the next day. The views from the room can be seen above. Pretty damned amazing!

Been grinding the tables since getting back. Weddings and honeymoons and all the things that go with them seem to add up to unholy amounts of money so i'm now in the process of building my BR cushion back up. The poker is still going well but i won't be posting a running profit anymore, although i may just mention any big wins/losses as well as any significant hands played. It wouldn't be a poker blog without that now would it!

We had a PFU forum meetup a few weekends back at Dusk Til Dawn in Nottingham. Bit of a shame that the place was full of Norwegians for their national championships because the schedule changed significantly and the tournies we wanted to play were no longer running. So, we went down the local Gala on the Friday and played a £20 rebuy donkathon. There were lots of Scandies there too and the action was fairly manic to say the least. None of us made the money.... think i finished about 17th/65 or so. Sat night we all went to DTD and the management were extremely kind in finding us a private table and a dealer so that we could play some SNG's. We had a great night and will definately have to do that again. We'll play a tournament next time so we can all use our new PFU card protectors! :-)

Anyways, that's what i've been doing for the last couple of months. Oh, we also got a kitten which we named Betty. Damned thing loves drawing blood at the moment so having to wear 3 pairs of socks and leather chaps hehe. I never realized they did such smelly poos too. It'll be a sack and a brick and a visit to the canal if she doesn't buck her ideas up! lol. Bless her.

I see Amafish has set himself a crazy SNG challenge and has taken $1.5k of prop bets lol. Oopsadaisy dude. I reckon you could have made it if you'd pulled ya finger out!

Am off to Vegas again next week to play at least 1 WSOP event and a few side tournies. I'll update before i go and also from Vegas. A bracelet or 2 would be nice ;)

TTFN & GLATT

Finally!

2008-02-14T01:35:00.003+01:00

Woot! It seems like i've been grinding up and down for months and months to make that last 5k but tonight i eventually made it to the $100k profit mark :-) Thats from April 2007 starting with $400. All in all i'm more than well chuffed. It's been a bit rocky of late and i hope that i don't have to post this 100k reached ever again. Lets hope i can keep it going and put a cushion between me and the milestone.

I'm just in the process of looking for a new base for my cash games and think i may plump for Pacific again.... yes i know i've slated the place in the past but there just aren't the games available at my current location. Lucky if there's 2 games open per level above $2/$4. So it's either there, Cake, or Bodog. Any recomends greatly appreciated.

Gonna start proper figures again as from now too. Have been lazy since i lost my hard drive and really need to get on top of stats. Put me pokertracker on my new desktop so hopefully things can be a bit more automated rather than having to sum up every session which normally takes 25mins/day.

Anyways.... WD me :-)
Current total $101,500

GLA

Aloha!!!

2008-01-31T18:49:00.001+01:00

Booked it. Packed it. Fooked off!!

After weeks of umming and ahhing i've booked the honeymoon. 4 nights in Vegas followed by 11 nights in Maui in a honeymoon cottage, then a night in Vegas on the way back. Can't wait. So looking forward to seeing the sun again. It's gonna be weird going to Vegas and not playing poker but i'll get the poker in when i go back in June .... Just booked that also :-) Heading out for a couple of WSOP events on 15th June. Heading back on 24th. Hope i can come back a bracelet winner........ gawd that would be so awesome.

The poker has been going MUCH better. I have no idea what the fook i've been fannying around at since crimbo. Trying to get tricky, poor hand selection, poor table selection, no concentration etc etc etc etc etc etc.............................. I've taken a leaf out of Jones's book and have dropped down to $1/$2. I've turned the telly off. I've started taking notes again. I've got my patience back etc etc etc etc etc/.... Net result is a $2.2k profit in 3 days after a total of about 17 hours (3 tabling.) Everything just feels better. Not even gonna think about moving above 2/4 at all unless i see 'Irishpig' has come back for another bashing lol.

The reason i've moved back down is simply due to reading my own blog. My normal game when i was winning constantly was 1/2 or 2/4. Not 3/6 or 5/10 or higher. I've been such a fookwit. My game suits 2/4max so thats what i should play. My stats should tell me that but having lost most of my stats when my harddrive went pop i haven't updated. I was planning on starting keeping better stats when i eventually have my desktop connected (probably next week.)

There are a lot of huge lessons to be learnt above. Not just for me. Take heed people!

GLA :-)

Sigh

2008-01-28T11:01:00.000+01:00

Having another bad run. Playing marginal hands and trying to conceal biggies. Trouble is, i aint hitting any biggies. Played Saturday and was doing OK until i did something incredibly stupid that slightly tilted me. I'm playing $600nl and wake up with 99 on button. I raise to $20 by highlighting the bet box and typing 20. Trouble is, i didn't delete what was already in there so ended up with 620. I hit 'raise' before i realize what i've done and it raises me allin. This is the 1st time i've done that in around 100k hands at this site. Anyways, i thought i'd probably get away with it as long as someone in the blinds didn't have AA/KK. BB calls and flips AA. Odd's please? LOLOL........absolutely gutted.
Spent the rest of the weekend getting rivered. Not a massive amount down but if i'd won even 40% of my 80% shot's i'd be well up for the weekend. My luck has been trully awful.
Here's an example......... you know who you are lol..........
$1000nl. I raise to $50 in position preflop with QQ.
A very drunk guy calls from blinds.
Flop 469
He bets $100. I raise to $400. he calls.
Turn J
He pushes for $550. I call.
River 3
Hi flips 52 offsuit and rivers his gutshot straight. I'm not moaning at his play here. I'm quite happy with his play. It just highlights the unreal luck i've been having lately when someone bluff pushes over $500 with 5 high, i make the right call and get hammered by a 4 outer.
Apologies if the above not 100% accurate but if it aint, it's there abouts.

Anyways, time to move onward and upward. Hope i can make this week work a little better. Gonna try and stop calling raises with my 64c and get back to ABC's for a while.

GL for the week all. Tallyho!!!!!

edit: It's 10:55 and i've just started........ fooks sake.
$600nl. Full Stack. AA dealt to me.
Raise to $24. 1 caller.
Flop 854
I bet $40 he calls
Turn 2
I bet $100 he calls
River 7
He pushes $150 and i have to call. Of course he has 86 and hits his gutshot straight.

Next hand.
Same guy raises to $30 preflop and i push the rest in (slightly tilty) with AK. He calls and takes down a $600 pot with QKo. I mean.... wtf is going on ere.

Any advice please? Am i playing like a fookwit?

10 minutes into today and i'm $600 down after about 6 hands. Both coming from suckouts.
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONTS!!!!!!

Iron Man

2008-01-24T19:44:00.000+01:00

I am now officially a 'Fitness Fanatic!!!!!'
I didn't actually go swimming today but i did walk 3 miles. OK..... it's nothing special but at least it's a start. Have decided that walking is the way to go for a while at least as it will allow me to get to know Harrogate a bit better. The reason i walked 3 miles today is that the local cardroom is a mile and a half away and i wanted to scope the place out. It was shut! Grrrr. Ah well. Will nip down and join another time. Gonna start upping the walking to 5-10 miles to cover the whole of Harrogate and surrounding area.
Anyways, came back from my stroll and had a real nice afternoon at the tables. Played for about 2 hours only and have just finished up $1200 playing NL$600. Schweeeeeeet. Bout time i had a decent day.
Like Podium Boy, i must work out a schedule between playing/sleeping/exercise/days off etc etc etc. Am also playing when i shouldn't and not taking the thing seriously enough of late. Just haven't had the concentration or been in the 'zone.' Feel better for getting out of the house today though so hopefully things will change.

Only 1 terrible beat today by a player who should bloody well know better..........
Oh fook it, i'm not gonna bore you all with BB stories.

So, at 6pm i'm $1600 away from the magic figure.

GLA

Oh...... can someone tell me why, after i post an entry, it doesn't update for hours and hours? It used to be instant?

Bad Mood Today

2008-01-24T02:03:00.000+01:00

Dunno what's put me in such a grump today. I've won about $1k tonight and still feel pissed off. I feel like i need to kick the shit out of a punchbag for an hour or two. Either that or smoke a pack of reds. Been 5.5 months since i gave up now. Still get urges but i'll never smoke again. Would be so easy though.

I've deffo gotta go swimming or running or something tomorrow. I must get active instead of sitting at home eating chocolate. I'm becoming a tubby fooka which aint good.

Can't get my graph working in that nice steady uphill walk that i've had since April. Deffo less fish swimming in the pools. Either that or my game is getting a lot worse. I had hoped my next post would be the $100k celebration but i just can't seem to crack it. Still another 3k to go.

Lost a $1000 hand yesterday and had to laugh like fook afterwards. Fair play...........

6 handed. Me button. Him BB. 500 each. Blinds 3/6

Folded to me. I raise to $18 with 88. BB calls.

Flop 844 :)

He checks. I check.

Turn 844(7)

He Checks. I check (hope he hits the river teehee :-))))

River 8447(A)

He goes allin for 500 and i instacall.

He only goes and flips 44! FFS!!!! lmao. was funny. Good luck to him, he played me like a fish hehe.

Sx2 + others + 70.8

GLA

Cashout Blues

2008-01-18T17:26:00.000+01:00

Why is it? I'm playing what i consider very good poker this week. Up to Wednesday morning i had 13/17 winning sessions Somewhere near 10 buyins to the good. Wed morning i cash out 20% of my current roll at this site. Since then i've had 10/12 LOSING sessions. Somewhere near 5 buyins down I'm sure i haven't changed my game. I've been completely card dead. When i do limp in or pick up a semi decent starting hand i'm outdrawn every time. My str8 outdrawn after money goes in to a flush. My flush outdrawn after money goes in to a boat etc etc. Time after time Last night i needed a change so opened up another client where i had $400. I've played and won in 5 sessions and my roll there is now $2k. I ask ya....... wtf? Is it really just variance? I know this has come up sooooo many times in the past and this is a bit of a rant, but why does it constantly come up? Aliens DO exist! Diana WAS murdered! Amatay IS a fish!

Anyways, gonna stay away from the cashout site for a while until my doomswitch has been reset. Might even have a pop at a few donkaments for a change.

Maybe Sunday will change my luck. We are having our bands read (whatever that means) so i'll be attending church and praying to God for a nice streak of luck. Wonder if I can tempt the vicar into a backroom cashgame after the service? hehe.

Still can't reach the magical 100k figure. Seems this last 10k is proving to be a bit tricky. Current profit $96k. Hopefully i'll be there (and not lower) by the end of the month.

I didn't make it to Brighton. A bit too far to travel really. Hopefully i can get to one of the more northerly legs. GL Gliterbabe who's made it to day 2. Take it down!

GLA

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-09T18:29:00.000+01:00

Yeah yeah, i know i'm a bit late. Better late than never though innit! Been grinding away for the last month trying to rebuild my roll after losing that 10k in a short spell. Happily i've made that back in December with a little bit on top so all is well in my little world :-)

I hardly played a hand over christmas as i never had any time really. The only time i really did want to play i couldn't get a signal and settled for about 10 minutes of $2/$4. Back into the groove now to a certain extent but will be easier once i have my new system connected to the tinternet. I've just been out and bought a decent spec PC, 2 x 22" monitors and a printer from PC world for 666 quids. Great offer imo. Dual core 2.2ghz with 2g ram. Haven't been able to play yet though as i wont have tinternet service until the end of the month. Will probably plug in my mobile dongle modem thingymebob to test it out soon though. I spent the first 15 minutes just moving the mouse cursor from screen to screen lol. Gawd i'm a saddo.

So, what have i been up to i hear you say? Well i've been upto this..........

Xmas - cooked xmas dinner for mine and fiance's parents. Great success! :-) Fiance bought me a Wii for xmas prezzy. Great success! :-) Spent a couple of nights between xmas and NY in the Lake District with my girl. Had a spa bath and a hot-tub. Even managed a 4 hour walk on 1 of the days - Great Success! :-) NYeve went to a restaurant with friends and got hammered. Not as hammered as the girls though who ended up pretty comatoze. NY day was a bit messy to say the least - Great success! :-)

The wedding's creeping up quickly and most of the planning has been finalized now. Last major job is to book a band which i'm off to do right now - I hope Led Zep are free on Easter Monday!

Hope you all have a happy and healthy new year. Good luck at the tables.

PS..... anyone playing the GUKPT in Brighton next week? Think i may be attending.

Better

2007-12-03T16:43:00.000+01:00

Here's a theory someone came up with on a forum...... Hit the tables hard at the end and start of each month. Everyone's just been payed and are eager to part with their monthly salary!...... Why the fook have i never thought of this before. It must make perfect sense.
So, can we now say that the optimum time to play is the 1st weekend after payday between 9pm and 3am? Could this be the formula to guaranteed success? Unfortunately i couldn't play Fri or Sat this week. Played yesterday though and am much happier with my game and my results. Started at $400nl and left with $1k from 3 hours after losing a buyin early on. Moved up a little later on with a $600nl table (left with small profit) and a $1000nl (left with $1k profit after 3 hrs play. So all in all a good nights work. Apart from the ECOOP #3 i entered and bust out out in 1st 100 to flopped quads :-(
Hopefully this start to December can continue.
Question............ lets start thinking about this early..........
When, over the festive period, can we expect to see fantastic overlays? Surely there's gonna be some great juicy mtt's on offer. Maybe xmas day? xmas eve? NY eve? etc etc?
Also, there's gonna be some heavy drinkers wanting to chance their luck at the cash tables. I reckon these will start the Thu before xmas and last until after the new year...

Discuss......

$92k into $82k in just 5 days..... oops

2007-12-01T19:25:00.000+01:00

The last week has been gruesome. For sure the worst week i've ever had. Everything was going wrong. The coolers i've been getting are beyond my belief. The following happened in a 40 minute spell the other night.....

got it in on a 248 flop with 44 Clown takes $800 pot with A8

Got it in with KT on a 9J3Q board clown takes $1000 pot with a rivered FH

Got it in with KK on a T3K8 board (2 spades) Clown takes $800 pot with flush.

The above is just a snippet of a 5 day spell. I reckon i won 2 decent pots in the 5 days and lost around 20! Scarey shit!

This was followed by a horrid night on Thu where i was stuck about $2k. I stupidly then sat at $2k NL and lost a buyin very 1st hand when a psycho raised preflop, i called with AJ, J high flop it all went in and he flipped pocket kings for a $4k pot. That nearly tipped me over the edge lol. I spent the next 30 mins just staring at the screen.

So... all in all..... i'm stuck about $10k this week alone. Bet you don't feel so bad now Amatay? hehe :-) Amazingly though i'm still about $4k up for the month which has just cheered me up 500%. I was sure i'd be down a load. Was starting to worry about my game and TBH, my game has been real bad lately. Think i've plugged the holes though and am playing only NL $400 to get some confidence back before moving up again. Today went well with a $500 profit just playing ABC poker. I need to get back to making constant substainable wins rather than the big wins followed by big losses.

Anyways, enough waffle from me. Lets all start December with a positive outlook and see if we can't catch a netfull. GL at the table all.

PS....I'm starting my positive December by deleting my previous post about that plum. Why i was letting him get to me i have no idea. Onwards and upwards...... Tally Ho!!!!!!

Lookout WSOP!

2007-11-22T23:38:00.000+01:00

Woohoo!! (i love it when my posts start this way.)

Had such a good day. Drove down and collected my car today and i'm well chuffed with it. I'ts got a cup holder and everything! Made it back at 19:45 just in time to play a 9 man sng on Fulltilt. I've been playing in the Hendon Mob league for the last 15 weeks and managed to come 12th. This entitled me to play in tonights SNG for a $4k Vegas package for next years WSOP. $1k flight, $1k hotel, $500 spending and entry into $1500 tourney. I only went and won it! :-) Am chuffed to bits. I think that was my most meaningful/important win to date. I'll have to start practicing my chip tricks now and buy a ridonkulous pair of shades. I suppose i ought to link the mob up too. What a great bunch they are :-)

Cash tables also pretty good since last post. Just crept over the $92k mark and edging towards the $100k landmark.

Happy days :-)

Running Good

2007-11-17T16:52:00.000+01:00

I've just bought a car! I've never bought a car in this country before and am quite excited. It's an Audi A4 2.0 FSI SE. It's not new but is still real nice. Thank you to all the fish out there for making this possible :-))))) Maybe next year i can afford that R8 :-) I was really torn between cars when i was looking. Part of me really wanted something sporty as i've never owned a car with any oomph. Then i had to think about golf clubs and got all sensible. Was close to buying a mazda RX8 as they look real nice. Also had my eyes on a classic shape Audi cabrio V6 but i was too late :-( Aah well, i don't suppose i have any need for a pulling car anymore. I pick my A4 up on Tuesday and can't wait :-)

Been running real well this week. Think i've played only 4 sessions and have been $1000 - £2500 up in each session. Just played an hour before updating blog and made a nice $1400. Made another sick sick call earlier too. Another uber aggressive psycho sat to my left and i limp with A5 to his BB. He makes his standard 5xraise and i call. He bets out aggressive on flop and turn then pushes allin on the river for $600 more. The board is 57Q9Q and i call with A5........ he had nowt! hehe $1600 pot! happy days.

Going out on the piss proppa tonight. Paddy's birthday bash. I expect it to get rather messy.

Haven't properly updated my figures since getting my hard drive back. I must get round to it. Running total is now $88,500

Good luck at the tables all. Thanks for reading x

LOL Updateaments

2007-11-02T10:23:00.000+01:00

Can't believe my last update was Hull Fair. Am such a lazy arse. I can't even remember what's happened between then and now. At least i'm not dead after my bird incident.
This weeks been a bit mentalist to say the least. Monday was easily my worst ever day and i was stuck for around $4.5k. Most of this being donated to 1 player whilst 2 tabling $5/$10. Every every every single time i hit a flop or got dealt a premium hand, this guy was waiting with a better hand or an outdraw. I've never run so bad. Have spent the rest of the week trying to regroup and had made probably about $2k of it back and then yesterday happened. I don't think that i ran great but i was making some sick sick reads and playing what i thought was close to perfect poker. Was much happier with myself too. If Monday had happened a year ago i would have probably spent a fortnight coming off tilt and dropping another $5k along the way. Nowadays i handle beats and losses much better. They are basically inevitable. No point holding a grudge against anybody either. Just make notes on bad play and smile sweetly :) I still sound off occasionally when i get a real donk calling my pot bet after turn with their gutshot but that's all it is..... a quick release...... these donks are good for me :)
Anyways, back to yesterday. I think i made the sickest/stupidest/greatest play in history lol. It went something like this........

$1000nl - 3 seated - Stack sizes hero $2000 villain $1600 - Villain is uber aggressive - Dealt to Hero Ac9c - Villain raises to $40 Hero calls - Flop 7c Td ks Villain bets $50 Hero Calls - Turn 7c Td Ks (As) Villain bets $300 Hero Calls - River 7c Td Ks As (2d) Villain bets $1200 and is allin Hero calls (heart in mouth!) Villain turns over Js8s Hero wins $3200 with a pair of aces

I didn't even think about the all in call. I don't think i could have stopped myself if i'd wanted to lol. My right finger seemed to have a mind of it's own for that split second....... good right index finger! :-) That hand ($1600) along with others made me $5k yesterday in around 3 hours, 2 tabling $5/$10. Back on track!

My hard drive arrived yesterday along with my files on dvd. Gotta spend the rest of the day transferring them to my new hard drive. Hope they're all there. I've then got to fill in the gaps as my poker figures ceased about 6 weeks ago. I reckon on having 7-15 hours work ahead of me
to update to present day. Deep joy! :( I best go and get cracked on....

Thanks for reading. Will update with a figurey based entry when i've done. Rough profit $78.5k but i've completely lost track of days played. Must be 140 odd by now.

note to self: Sx2+P+FT+BF+66k 20-nov

The Birds

2007-10-10T18:52:00.001+01:00

WTF was going on when i woke up this morning? A sparrow was circling the room FFS! If that wasn't fooked up enough, the door was closed shut and so was the window! That's some creepy shit! Spent ages catching the little fella and released him safely back into the wild. Yay!

Doesn't a bird in the house mean impending death? Well that's a bit of a bugger aint it. Don't usually believe that kind of stuff but the fact that it flew through a solid glass window to get into my room is slightly worrying.

Have no idea why i played HU this afternoon for $1k. Was easy money as my opponant was VERY tight aggressive and was folding 99.999999% preflop. He only raised 2 hands in the hour and guess who got involved in both of them? Yes that's right....... what a clown i am!

Off to Hull Fair tonight. It's the biggest travelling fair in Europe and is full of scum, swindlers & greasy chips. It's a tradition though so it's gotta be done. Our lass wants to bash some frogs on the head and win a teddy! Anything involving giving the French a seeing to is fine by me! No doubt the air rifle on tin can alley will backfire, killing me instantly, as per Mr Sparrows prediction.

Back tomorrow with a bit of luck.........

Rollercoaster

2007-10-10T02:25:00.000+01:00

Gonna take the rent boys advice. No more Napoleons for me. What a shit show tonight was. Everyone screaming and shouting in a £10 rebuy. My table was like a chimps tea party. Some loud mouth woman really getting on me tits calling with any 2 cards. Any decent raises being called by an average of 5 players....... they all call for the value of course because they know there will be loads of callers. WTF? 4 Hands tonight in the 1st hour where i smashed the flop, bet it max, and was outdrawn by some numpty with bottom pair. Think i spent close to £100 lol. 48 players and the prizepool made £3000......wtf?....... lmao. Suffice to say i didn't cash.........

Until i got home.......

Actually came home pretty pissed off and dropped $1400 in just under an hour. Kept my head though and in the next hour i had somehow made $1800. That's a $3200 swing lol :-) Phew!
Add that to the $800 i managed to win on a 2-1 shot this afternoon at Leicester and it's been a good day afterall.

Total profit $71k+ though i'm still waiting for my hard drive stats.
Happy days :-)

Small mtt win

2007-10-08T18:38:00.000+01:00

Played in cafe solo at PP today and took it down for $350. Not bad for a $20 buyin i suppose.
My local Gala is holding a live game tonight so am gonna give it a bash. Says £25 entry on website but dunno if this correct, is it a rebuy? Is it a freezeout? Turn up and find out i suppose.
GL at the tables.

Update..... played at Gala tonight and it was a £10 rebuy. Was crap tbh and there was only 23 turned up. Will stick to Napoleons in the future. I went out for the 2nd live game in succession with AA Grrrr. AA v AQ tonight as opposed to AA v A3. Fookin ridonkulous! I've been reliably informed that the combined percentage of being eliminated both times is less than 1%. Fookin marvelous. That makes me feel much better! lol.

Just finishing the night playing a couple of cash tables. $720 up at mo and will be calling it a night soon.

100 days and onwards!

2007-10-06T12:39:00.000+01:00

Well it's been a funny old month. Still not playing a great deal of poker but what i am playing is still going well. Got back from a week in Portugal last weekend where i didn't play a hand all week. Came back refreshed though and had a fantastic week of poker last week. Think i finished every day with a profit and gave a nice boost to the BR. Made up for getting about £600 worth of stuff nicked outa my luggage somewhere between Faro & Madchester. Feckers!!
Played in a live £20 rebuy last Wednesday which i'm gonna make a regular game i think. The competition are mostly fishy fookwits who haven't got a scooby doo. Came 3rd on 1st attempt and then got proppa unlucky last week when down to about 13 left. Average chips and dealt AA in mid. I reraise this gobby twat from 1200 to 3200 and he calls with A3. I mean ffs..... what could he possibly be beating at this stage? What could he possibly be against that even gives hime a coinflip? 22? Fookwit. Well he catches a 933 flop and the money gets in. Now had he apologized and shook my hand i could have walked out feeling a bit pissed off and agitated. The fact that he shouted his mouth off and braggede at how well he played his hand proppa sent me over the edge. I even kicked my car tyre when i got to the carpark! lol! Anyways, if that's the level of play i'm gonna make it a regular game. Winner usually gets over £700 so not to be sniffed at.

My hard drive on my laptop melted the other day. I knew it was getting well dodgy so at 10am on the Thu i put everything that i wanted saving into a specific folder then took my laptop to me mates so that he could save the folder on an external HD then have a look see what my problem was. Got to his house at 11am and the laptop wouldn't even fire up :-( Looks like i may have lost everything i had on there......BOLLOX!!!!! Why didn't i back stuff up?
All me photo's from my Pacific crossing as well as other trips and basically my whole life, as well as all my music, as well as all my poker statistics....graph/profits/etc etc etc etc. Impossible to recreate. I may have to start again from scratch.
Have sent my HD off to a company that specializes in HD data recovery so hopefully they can do something with it. Back stuff up now guys...... it'll take you 20 mins!!!

Anyways, that'll do for now. Gonna try keep on top of this. I've said that in the past though. Trouble is, because i don't get as much time to play now, i like to spend that time playing and don't get that spare 30mins to update here. Must try harder!

Without my stats i can't really do my figures........
Profit so far after around 115 days a little over $68k

See you at the tables!

Day 87 - Day 99

2007-08-23T11:06:00.000+01:00

13 days of updating to do. Not played a great deal. Even on my 13 playing days out of the last 23 have only been for a few hours. I need to be putting more hours in really but the distractions of being home, nice though they are, don't really give me the time that i used to have in Ibiza.

Played in the GB Poker Tour last week. 100 freezout on Thursday ended in disaster when i reraised from the BB with AJ (this guy was raising my blinds EVERY round!) Rather unfortunately he held King Kong and i was a gonner. Was about 4th in chips at the time.

Fridays was horrible. I still wake up with cold sweats :-( 200 freezout with 111 entered. I am playing some great poker and have worked my stack up steadily to have about 45k with 12 left and sat in 6th place. 11 get paid. Blinds 3000/6000 with 600 ante. 6 at table. Folded round to me in SB with 78 so i push allin to pick up the 13k in the middle. Didn't really want to be called by the BB with AA!!! AAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Was so gutted to be leaving right on the bubble in 12th after 7 hours of solid play. What a plonka! Don't regret my steal attempt but i do regret him holding AA lol. Feckin typical innit! Loving the live games again though after 1.5 yrs in Ibiza, and will deffo be playing more in the future.

My graph is still a thing of beauty if i do say so myself. :-)

previous balance $57,265
13 Day Profit $3,456
Todays balance $60,721
Total profit $60,321

note to self: Sx2+P+FT-800+31k

Thanks for reading

Update

2007-08-22T12:41:00.000+01:00

Blimey, why don't i keep on top of this? Sorry it's been a while. I've got no excuse other than general laziness and the fact i haven't had as much internet time lately. I've had enough though and must try keep this thing in order. Am off now to spend some time on figures. I'm not going to be keeping a running total on this blog anymore due to people not wanting to play me, and also, the fact that i have no other income now and i can't call what i have my current bankroll as i need money to live on too. I'll update figures with new total in next post but will then only mention profits/losses as and when. I will probably keep total of monthly profit/loss.
Anyways, where's that calculator?

Day 86

2007-07-31T11:59:00.000+01:00

Well being back in the UK isn't that bad afterall :-) Staying at my parents for the time being which is a bit of a pain but hopefully that won't be for too long. Hardly played any poker for well over a week but went to a live 10 quid rebuy game last night which was good fun. Came just outside of the money but only spent 20 quid so not too bad. Went again tonight and didn't do very well at all. The format was trully awful. 10 quid gets you 1000 chips with 12/table and blinds at 100/100. Basically a crapshoot. Not much skill involved. Don't think i'll be going back there..... although there was only 59 runners tonight, top 10 paid, winner took over 1,300! Shows how many rebuys there was.
Played 3/6 this afternoon and 5/10 tonight and made a nice profit on both :-)

Previous balance $54,813
Todays profit $2,452
Todays balance $57,265
Total profit $56,865

Note to self Sx2+P+FT-600+25k

Adios Ibiza

2007-07-26T17:40:00.000+01:00

Not played all week and haven't even itched for a game. Had a great week on hols eating and drinking too much. Went to a swanky party last night to mark the 20th anniversary of Madrigal bar and restaurant and also Fairlines Summer Party. Free bar all night saw me get rather squiffy and Anna completely and utterly trashed hehe. Fashion TV were there as well as a whole host of reporters and photographers. I've never seen so much plastic in one place! Was a really good night until the effects of the booze kicked in! Then it just got messy hehe.

Well i sold my prize posession today. My Jeep Wrangler will have a new owner as of Saturday night and i'll be leaving the island with Anna and heading home to the floods and misery. Can't wait ;-) Will actually be nice to get off the island for a while but i know i'm gonna miss the place so much after a week or so (possibly a lot less!) I just hope we can get things sorted at home quickly so we can come back in September or October and find a nice apartment. At least i'm gonna be able to play a few live games again. Gonna be kept really busy when i get home what with looking for a business, sorting my house out, planning a wedding and hopefully fitting some golf and poker in between.

Congrats to Idi0 on your UK Open seat :-))))) Nobody more deserving!

Congrats to Welshy on your $10k victory...... that's the 3rd time! Mucho respecto!

Good luck at the tables all. I'll be back playing next week i hope.

No poker today

2007-07-21T19:37:00.000+01:00

My head just aint up to the job. Went for a Ruby last night and then down the Rock Bar for a few sherberts. Ended up in Pacha at about 3am but i could have been at the Roxy for all i knew. Was slightly pished and really didn't enjoy Pacha at all. Went for coffees to keep me awake and sober me up as i had to take my flatmate and his girlfriend to the airport at 10am. Felt like shit but was ready to go at 10am. They still fannying around at 10:15 and i'm telling them they gonna miss the flight. We leave house at 10:25 and their flight leaves at 11:25! We are 30 minutes from the airport! Anyways, we set off and he says he needs to go to a tabac before the airport. WTF? So we get to the airport about 30 mins before check-in and i'm convinced they missed it so i told him to call me ASAP so i could turn the car around and pick them up. I set off and they call me to say all OK..... whew. I drive the 15 miles home and as i'm pulling up the phone rings...... Oooops we missed the flight afterall...... we were in the wrong queue!......WTF!!!! Are these people fucking donkeys or what? So i drive all the way back to the airport and wait another 45 minutes while they fanny around getting other tickets. Then drive all the way back home. Can you imagine what a good mood i was in after zero sleep and the effects of a major hangover kicking in! Got to bed about 12:45 and i've had about 4 hours kip. Now gotta take them BACK to the feckin airport for 01:00 tomoro am but that's OK cos i pick my fiance up at the same time. What a pair of grade 1 listed numpty fookwits!! Anyways, i've calmed down a bit now. Gonna have a weeks holiday with Anna then i'll be heading back to the UK for a while, probably until Sep or Oct.

Day 85 - Thank You Queen Scarlet

2007-07-20T18:42:00.000+01:00

Get in there! :-)))) Started today playing $800nl and somehow managed to boost up to $3k in about 40 mins (woot!) Left with about $2,800 and went into sports betting for a bet on a little tip i received the other day. Queen Scarlet in the 6.15 at Newmarket. Was only gonna have a tenner each way but as i'd done alright at the poker i decided to have a gamble and sling 100 quid e/w on her. She only romped home at 14-1!!! (Woot!!!) :-) I actually took 10-1 but still can't grumble.

Off out tonight to celebrate at Pacha!

Previous balance $50,417

Todays profit $4,396

Todays balance $54,813

Total profit $54,413

Day 84 - 50k post

2007-07-19T23:59:00.000+01:00

Quite a milestone post tonight. 50k barrier has been broken and i'm chuffed to bits :)))))

Took down a small Pacific forum game tonight. Only 13 runners but it buys my place into the bootcamp qualifier on Saturday. No doubt i'll come 2nd again!

Played up and down at cash tonight. Mostly leaving about even after 2-3 hours. Sat at a $800nl table and was taking some flak. AA beaten by TT then a horrible hand with AK saw me with only $120 left. I switched to tilting maniac mode and left with $1150 soon after :-)

Previous balance $49,867

Todays profit $550

Todays balance $50,417

Total profit $50,017

Day 83

2007-07-18T13:12:00.000+01:00

Wow what a night. Managed to get a live feed to the final table and stopped up to watch it. Think i nodded off at about 7am then woke up to catch the heads up. Can't say i was very impressed at all with Yangs play throughout the FT but i couldn't see the hole cards and i suppose he went there 8th in chips with a plan of pure aggression and it worked for him. I think his early prays to God & Jesus put me off the guy to start with but he seemed to chill a bit later in the game. After seeing the end of the tourny and his celebrations and post game interviews i completely change my views. What a nice guy he is. Very humble, very gracious, and a great future ambassador for the sport...... No, i'm not talking about amatay! hehe.
Well done to John Kalmar who made 5th for a nice payday. Still think the AK shove was a bad move though. Ah well, still an incredible performance and another nice guy!

I have my own big game playing tonight at Pacific. For the last 20 weeks we've been playing poker idol where all of the prizepools are put into 1 big pot for a winner takes all tourny which must be spent on a live seat. I was lucky enough to win early on so i got my final seat for around $25. We now have 20 players going into the final with a prizepool of a little under $3,500. It's a winner takes all format but the rest of the finalists are to split 40% of any winnings that the winner makes in the live event. Costa Rica here i come!!!! (i hope!) .......................................

Well that didn't go quite to plan. Unless coming 20th outa 20 was the plan :-( Got screwed on 2 hands and the game was up. Holding AK on a TJQA board and got rivered by a flush. Then holding QKc on a 82K rainbow flop i got outdrawn by KJ....... J turn, J river! Sickness!!!!

The good news is that the prizepool of $3300 went to a very deserving winner. Very well played Peeko2. Best of luck in the live event.

Rescued the evening by a nice couple of quick sessions in $2/$4

Previous balance $48,701

Todays profit $1,166

Todays balance $49,867

Total profit $49,467

Day 82

2007-07-17T19:19:00.000+01:00

I am unemployed! It's official! The boat has just about been sold so i took her for a last trip to Barcelona on Saturday. Dropped the keys off at the Barcelona office and that's that! Had a great trip over and invited a couple of friends. The weather in Ibiza was pretty shitty and the sea was real lumpy for the 1st hour but then it smoothed out and we had a great passage. I'm gonna miss the boat but i'm also looking forward to a new life without her. No more polishing for me! WOOOHOOO!!!!!!
So, I guess i just became a professional poker player. That sounds so scarey and i never had any plans to turn pro. I suppose it's just happened. I'm still looking for a business with my fiance and that is the goal but if i can keep the money coming in from the tables then all is well. It means i'll be leaving Ibiza in a week or 3 and heading home for a while. I hope there's gonna be something that resembles a summer by the time i get back. We plan to head back out later in the year when apartments are more readily available and they're not charging silly holiday prices. My fiance flies out here on Saturday for a week and i reckon i'll probably leave here on the same flight after we've had a nice holiday. It feels so weird having zero work responsibilities. I can go to the beach without getting a call or having to be somewhere to meet someone. I think i could get used to this :-)

Previous balance $47,584
Todays profit $1,117
Todays balance $48,701
Total profit $48,301

Day 78 - 81

2007-07-17T18:59:00.000+01:00

Man i've been blog lazy for the last week. TBH I took a fairly big hit last Monday and i just couldn't be arsed updating. It's no fun when i'm registering a -$1800 figure :-( Lost 3 x $600 buyins fairly quickly and turned the laptop off. Didn't play for a couple of days and needed to get my heed together. Had a few good days since then and am back on track again.
I am now officially a pro poker player! That's some scarey shit! I'll update more on that in my next post. Anyways, i've gotta dig around and collate some stats now........................

Previous balance $47,748
09.07.07 Day 78 -$1720
12.07.07 Day 79 $10
13.07.07 Day 80 $1,160
16.07.07 Day 81 $468
4 day profit -$164
Todays balance $47,584

Day 77

2007-07-08T23:48:00.000+01:00

Oh i've suffered today! Who suggested Jaegerbombs & Sambuca Afterburners? Empire at Privelige went so well last night. Big congrats to JJ & Ally for putting on a top night. The main room in Privelige was dead but Empire rocked! Have hardly touched the poker today and have only played 2 small forum mtt's at Pacific, both of which i somehow managed to win :-) I have no idea how as my brain ceased to function at around 6am today and probably won't start to function again until around 2pm on Tuesday lol. Anyways, am finding this difficult so am off to stare at a wall.

Previous balance $47,670

Todays profit $78

Todays balance $47,748

Total profit $47,348

Day 76

2007-07-06T23:22:00.000+01:00

You'll have to excuse any missing e's in this post. Feckin button keeps sticking lol. The guy never turned up to see the boat which has really pissed me off after all the work last week. He's saying he'll send a deposit on Monday though so yet again, i'm waiting on what's gonna happen. Whatever happens i'm outa here at the end of July. Would have been nice to know today though so i can top up the tan then get back to the UK to soak up some rain.
Had a bad start at the tables today losing 2 x $600 buyins. I then entered the UK Open qualifier at Pacific and held JT in my exit hand with a JTT board. Fecker had JJ innit! Nothing i could do there to get away from that :-( Seem to have a trend going atm of losing to a bigger boat!
Now for the good news :-)..... Entrd the $50k Gtd primo for $110. The last 1 i played in i came 3rd for $9000 which accounts for the spike in my graph. Anyways, tonight i came 5th out of 650 for a nice $3200. Wanted to win this soooooo bad and got rivered by the chippo to take me out in 5th. Still, can't grumble. Was in bad shape with 10 left and would have settled for 5th every time.
My mate is headlining at Privelige tomorrow night so have been summoned to support him. Good luck Jean Jack...... av it large mate!

Previous balance $45,792
Todays profit $1,878
Todays balance $47,670
Total profit $47,270

Day 75

2007-07-06T01:21:00.000+01:00

Outplayed? Suckered? Got lucky? Whatever it was i should have been reporting another nice profit tonight but for 1 hand. Was doing very nicely and had a good read on 1 particular player. Then this hand happened in $800nl.
Me TT
I call a 4 x raise on the button from Mr fish.
Flop K99 rainbow
He bets $24 and i raise to $48
Turn Q
He bets $24 and i call
River T
He goes allin and i instacall with my rivered boat TTT99
He flips QQ for the better boat :(
Looking back at the hand i don't think i did a great deal wrong? TBH i didn't think he even had the straight and was trying to bluff me off the pot. He was obviously hoping i made my straight and was looking to earn maximum chips. Well he did lol. It cost me $680 but the weird thing is, that's the 1st time i've lost that amount in a single pot and not felt devastated. Looking back, it may be the 1st time i've lost a pot that size without being outdrawn. He had me beat fair and square and hats off to the guy, he got paid for his hand too. Other tables were slow tonight but i managed to eek back my losses and make a bit of profit on top.
Big day tomorrow. Pleeeeeeeaase buy the boat Mr Italian man!

Previous balance $45,586
Todays profit $206
Todays balance $45,792
Total profit $45,392

Day 74

2007-07-05T01:31:00.000+01:00

I feel like i've been lobotomized! I've never been so card dead ever. 2 hours at a $600nl table and only 1 playable hand. Was down to $120 not so long back but a few outrageous bluffs got me back to $400 and as i'm typing this i've just had my 1st nut hand (broadway) that has catapulted me up to $720. Worth the wait then i suppose but it's been hellish slow. Won a nice amount earlier so today has turned out OK (if i stop now ;/)

Got a guy coming to look at the boat on Friday so will be spending tomorrow (today now) polishing and getting it ready. Looks like he'll buy it so i may well be out of a job come Friday! Me mother will have a duckfit if i tell her i'm gonna try poker for a living! lol. Well at least for a couple of months anyway until we find out if this donk in Ibiza is going to rent me his restaurant. If not, we'll be looking at some other places and you're all invited for fish & chips :)

No news yet on Mister Incredibles next race but i'll let ya know when i do.

Previous balance $44,852

Todays profit $734

Todays Balance $45,586

Total profit $45,186

Day 73

2007-07-03T22:33:00.000+01:00

Mister Incredible not running tomorrow. Chepstow waterlogged :(
Tired.
Bed.

Previous balance $44,292
Todays profit $560
Todays balance $44,852
Total profit $44,452

Day 72

2007-07-02T14:37:00.000+01:00

Mister Incredible is due to run again tonight in the 7.10 at Windsor. I don't have as much confidence in him as last time and there probably isn't much value in the current 11/4 available. 5/1 or better would be worth a punt but i may have just a few quid in a reverse forecast with the favourite. I can't help but feel they may run him easy at this price and await a better race/price for his next win attempt. The following is an email i got off the trainer....
------------------------------
The race looks to have a clear favourite in Mafaheem who should be odds on for the race, so really the rest are almost running for 2nd/3rd place. I guess 5/1 or better would be worth betting e/w or betting exchanges/tote for place only, though i would be looking for 8/1 to make a profit from a personal betting point of view. Mister I looks around 3rd or 4th best if handicap but his run the other day puts him in with a great chance.
-------------------------------
What to do? (sigh)

Well he finished 4th and out of the places. He had a bad run really getting badly hampered half way through and doing well not to fall. He's due to run again on Wednesday if he's in shape so more to follow.
Lost a few on the geegee's.......won a few at poker :)

Previous balance $44,278
Todays profit $14
Todays balance $44,292
Total profit $43,892

Day 71

2007-07-01T20:27:00.000+01:00

Day 71 in the big brother house. Cottlad has been doing nothing in particular all day. At least the beard has gon. I was starting to resemble Frankie Wilde in both looks and mentality lol.
Have done my best to sat into the 75k at pacific tonight to no avail. Spent $40 trying to qualify for a $70 tourny lol. Gave up in the end and i'm not buying in. Will try the sky $24k instead.
Why is it that whenever i nip for a packet of fags i end up spending 50 euros? Always the same..... go for fags, see supermarket, nip in for nothing in particular, then walk out with 4 bags of shopping! I think i may have some sort of compulsive disorder lol. My shopping consisted of:
2 bags haribo, 1 giant toblerone, 2 bags tortilla crisps, 1 bottle wine, 3 tubes mentos, 1 tin chicken curry, tabasco sauce, salami, pate, 2 pot noodles and a tub of cream cheese. Never shop when hungry. I now feel utterly sick! Anyways i'll stop wittering now, crack some wine, and throw my hook in.
Not a bad evening, started poorly but a nice result in the end...

Previous balance $43,668
Todays profit $610
Todays balance $44,278
Total profit $43,878

Day 70

2007-06-30T14:47:00.000+01:00

Well i feel better than i did when i packed up last night. Was proppa angry lol. Ah well, gotta think about the long run and not let these donks effect my game i suppose. Just cooking sausage sarnies which i think will be followed by an afternoon around the pool. Maybe i'll put an hour or 2 in later at the tables.
Had a call off the trainer today who says Mister Incredible should deffo be racing on Monday at Windsor. I will get another call over the weekend after entries are finalized and the ground conditions have been assessed. Things are very positive at the moment but i'll await the next call and let you know. Keep em peeled ;)

Well i finish 2day a lot happier than yesterday :-) Was $400 down until 1 hour ago where i met the biggest psycho maniac i've ever seen. Was unreal. 1 hour in $800nl and this guy must have reloaded 7 or 8 times! Was a case of doin a zulu on him...... hold.......hold......hold.......FIRE!!!!
Opened a fulltilt account today also but not played yet. Watched a few of the pro's playing high stakes and it scared the bejesus outa me lol. Think i'll stick to this level for a while.

note to self: 25k -200 + pp + skyx2

Previous balance $41,686
Todays profit $1,982
Todays balance $43,668
Total Profit $43,268

Oooh just realized that's the end of June! I suppose i should tot up my monthlies......

April profit $20,266
May profit $7,554
June profit $15,448

Day 69

2007-06-30T01:50:00.000+01:00

I am well and trully gobsmacked. Am sat here numb after that sesh. I said i wouldn't play today and i really wish i never. Have had to walk away for fear of ubertilt. I felt good today and was playing well. Made $800 earlier but my last 2 hands leave me completely speachless (altho still able to type.) We had an utter utter utter DONK at a $1000nl table who was obviously pissed or severely retarded or both. 1st hand I double him up to $800 with my AA losing against his 33 (allin preflop!)
Very next hand i get TT (now bear in mind i never raise with nothing.) I raise to $100 and the donkey calls. Flop 336. I bet $200 donkey calls. Turn 8. I push for $500 and he calls. River K and he flips QKo. I thought i was seeing things. Good job that wasn't a live game!

Previous balance $42,328
Todays profit -$642
Todays balance $41,686
Total profit $41,286 Fooking Gutted!

Day 68

2007-06-28T22:39:00.000+01:00

What an awful day at the tables. Didn't even really get any big pot bad beats. Just seemed to be frittering cash away. Was bored stiff playing which probably explains a lot. Couple of days off for me i think. Catch some rays while i'm still in Ibiza. Looks like i'm going home at the end of July and this pic shows what i might be going home to. It was taken about 2 miles from my house lol. Hope that's not my brother waiting for a set! hehe. More severe weather warnings forecast for the weekend so with a bit of luck, Hull may be completely washed away and they can start again with a blank canvas :-)))

Previous balance $42,842

Todays profit -$514

Todays balance $42,328

Total profit $41,928

Day 67

2007-06-27T01:35:00.000+01:00

Just had an email telling me that MISTER INCREDIBLE is due to run again on Mon July 2nd at Windsor. Think over 6f this time and he'll be stepping up 2 classes to class 5. It will be a tough task for him but not impossible. I should get some news off the trainer later in the week so keep em peeled!

Here's a hand for the poker textbooks for ya:
Playing against a known fookwit fish (cas) $400nl. Can't get history but here it is:
Blinds $2/$4
Dealt to me JJ in the SB
MP raises to $20
Button calls
I reraise to $92
cas in BB calls
MP folds
Button folds
Pot = $224
Flop = 667
I put cas allin for another $100 He instacalls.
Turn = 2 River = Q

Can you guess what he flips to win a $424 pot? No, really, have a real good think. Go through the betting. Pure genius.

Q8o FFS!!!!!! WTF?

Well that finished off a pretty shit day. Have seen some real donktastic play today and i'm stopping before i tilt a stack off. AA cracked twice.... 1 of them allin preflop v 97! Ridonkulous!
Can't complain too much i suppose. These fookwits are my bread and butter. Still hurts when they hit tho.

Previous balance $43,312
Todays profit -$470
Todays balance $42,842
Total profit $42,442

Day 66

2007-06-26T14:56:00.001+01:00

Well today is Tuesday and last week was a great week for me. My poker wins and my horse winning pales into insignificance compared to my girlfriend saying yes to my marriage proposal :-))))) I don't think anyone thought i would ever get round to settling down. Neither did i to be honest but i got very lucky indeed by meeting the girl of my dreams. I wanted to wait until i knew things were right and i'd met the right one for me. Now i know i have :-)

The above took a couple of trips to the UK to sort out and i've also been mega busy with the boat. It still hasn't sold yet. The guy who is supposed to be buying it keeps stalling. I just got a call off my boss with some news though and whatever happens i'll be finishing at the end of July which will give me some time in the UK :-) This is why i've not been great at updating this blog. Had my head full for a couple of weeks. Anyways, hope to keep on top of it now.

Update........
Well that was a giggle. Just been playing some tables of $400 nl and my last 6 hands against alliners stood up. Think i wiped 8 people out in about 20 mins hehe. Played the pokerroom teamplay $500 FR tonight representing pokerfriends and went out 19/19 oops (blush.) The standard was very poor and i should have altered my game to match really. People calling with anything. My 8x PF raise with JJ did most damage when some numpty flipped 97 and hit a boat! Grrrr. Next round tomorrow.

Thanks for reading

Previous balance $42,442
Todays profit $870
Todays balance $43,312
Total profit $42,912

Day 58 - Day 65

2007-06-26T13:49:00.000+01:00

Have been bad with my housekeeping over the past couple of weeks and am spending the day catching up. The below are for cash games only and don't include my horse win or my mtt expenses. All i know is that my current bankroll is correct but to try and work out every day would be a complete nightmare and take forever. Must keep on top of this!!

Previous balance $38,095

balance 10.06.07 $39,032
balance 11.06.07 $38,452
balance 14.06.07 $38,364
balance 18.06.07 $38,578
balance 19.06.07 $39,682
balance 20.06.07 $42,292
balance 21.06.07 $41,226
balance 25.06.07 $42,442

Profit for above 8 playing days $3,410
New balance $42,442
Total profit $42,042

COME ON MISTER INCREDIBLE!!!!!!

2007-06-21T14:32:00.000+01:00

Sorry i've been a lazy arse. Just haven't got round to doing my housework (blog & records) for some time now. I'll be updating today or tomorrow with recent events. I'm posting this today as it was my birthday last week and as a present i got a part share in a racehorse :-) I don't get a cut of winnings or anything and it isn't a classy horse but it has won 3 times and i think it will win again. All previous wins have been on all weather but they are giving him more turf time this year. Anyways, i got a call from the trainer a couple of days ago telling me he's running tonight at Beverley in the 18:30 race. The horses name is MISTER INCREDIBLE. Quite apt really don't you think? ;-) The trainer said that conditions are good as he likes soft ground and they have a great draw. He's racing at his preferred 5f and it's a class 7 race (he normally races class 6.) All in all the trainer sounded very upbeat about it's chances and i think they'll be having a go with him. Jockey has been told to try and get on the rail early.

I've had a few quids e/w on him for a bit of fun (i have to really eh?) and he's currently at 11/2 with skybet. I see Ladbrokes and BetDirect have both reduced their odds to 9/2!

This aint a tip, just a bit of info, so don't blame me when he loses hehe. Good luck if you have a bash :-)

Update.....

WOOOHOOOO!!!!!

Wow that was exciting. Can't believe i can now add 'winning racehorse owner' to my CV :-)

100 quids e/w was quite sweet too at 11/2 :-)))))))) Hope you got on it?

Day 57

2007-06-10T14:18:00.000+01:00

Yay, a day off! No plans as yet for today. I was gonna go and chill at the beach with a book but we have rain today for the 1st time in ages :( There's the $75k Gtd to try for at Pacific tonight and i might have a bash at the $18k Gtd Open as well. Both of them crapshoots TBH but the payout structures aren't too shabby should you hit the money.
GL at the tables all!
Daft day. No sun, no wins, no battenberg cake. For some reason i'm really craving for some.

Previous balance $38,347
Todays profit -$252
Todays balance $38,095
Total profit $37,695

Day 56

2007-06-10T14:04:00.001+01:00

Well, the boat has been packed up and emptied. It really looks like this guy will buy the thing on Wednesday but can't be certain until the deposit has been payed. So, looks like on Wednesday i could be out of a job. Yipeee!!! LOL. Heres a piccy just to give you an idea what the boat looks like. It's not a monster compared to the megayachts of today but she's a beautiful boat all the same.

Played the last WSOP qualifier at Pacific tonight and came 22nd i think out of 90 odd :( Barring a miracle it doesn't look like i'll be gracing vegas with my presence this year :( Oh well, plenty of other live events to gun for. Upcoming events WSP Costa Rica, UK Open, WSOP UK, EPT Barcelona. I might even treat myself to a buyin for the Barcelona game if i can't qualify.

Went for my 1st visit to the cash tables for a few days after the WSOP game and did OK although i was only playing $2/$4.

Previous balance $38,072

Todays profit $275

Todays balance $38,347

Total profit $37,947

Day 55

2007-06-10T13:51:00.000+01:00

Day 55 = Friday 8th.
Played very little and didn't even look at a cash table. Was doing well in a UK Open qualifier when down to the last 6. Only winner got a seat. Was joint chipleader when got dealt KK in the BB. Other chippo was UTG and raised. I reraised and he called. Flopski 59T rainbow. I bet, he goes over the top and i call for a monster pot and a double chip lead. He flips JJ and catches another J on the river! AAARRGGGHHHHHHHH 3 and a half fooking hours wasted. That was one of the most difficult to take beats i have ever faced as i was playing so well and really fancied it. A friend got heads up with the same guy who who eventually won the thing. The final hand saw him suckout again catching his 2 outer on the river to make his set. UL Begg :(

Previous balance $38,209
Todays profit -$137
Todays balance $38,072
Total balance $37,672

Day 54

2007-06-08T00:56:00.000+01:00

Down a tad tonight. Tired, will update tomorrow....
Ooops, sorry i'm late. Have been mega busy since Friday getting the boat ready for a client who was supposed to be arriving yesterday. He not coming til Wednesday now so i gotta do the same thing all over again. I really shouldn't be hoping he buys it as that would put me out of a job but i think my time in this job has run it's course now and it would be nice to get back and spend some time in the UK over summer.
Anyways, Have to trawl through any games i've played now and try and come up with some figures.........

Previous balance $38,436
Todays profit -$227
Todays balance $38,209
Total profit $37,809

Day 53

2007-06-06T10:36:00.000+01:00

OK Nicholson. I have pictures and i'm not afraid to use them! :-)
Right...... To do something....... The sun is shining, i feel much more positive, and i'm off down the boat to spend the day cleaning the damn thing. Good luck in whatever you're doing today.
This pic btw is my mate Ben on his stag night just before he got changed into his 'stag outfit.' I do believe we should have died, the amount we drank that day. I vaguely remember meeting at 11am for a pint and a fry up but the rest is a bit of a blur......

At the point of not being physically able to drink any more, we took to buying pints and pouring them directly down the toilet!

By special request from the man himself.............

And just to prove they succeeded!

TILT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Started off the day very nicely with a 2nd in a 2k Gtd at Pacific for $400. From then on i seemed to lose my marbles completely and donk off a stack or 3. I was playing like a retard TBH. Went out to watch the 2nd half of the footy and cool down. Come on England!!!! Made a bit of my losses back when i got home at cash and got 18th in the 2nd 10k at pacific for $85.

Previous balance $38,980

Todays profit -$544 - am fairly chuffed with that. Could easily have been -1300

Todays balance $38,436

Total profit $38,036

Late edit: CONGRATULATIONS WELSHY from PFU on taking down the 10k at pacific for a nice $2500. Dominated the game from start to finish matey. Get in there! :-)

Day 52

2007-06-06T00:17:00.000+01:00

Back on the tables tonight. Only for a couple of hours though. Am bored tbh. As amatay says in his blog i've lost that oomph. Really enjoyed the Pacific Poker forum freeroll tonight though. Were only playing for $12 but the level of play and the banter was top class. Played 2 tables of $3/6 after that for 2 hours and made a tidy profit. I just aint getting the buzz like i used to though. I don't think it's to do with the winnings as i could quite happily stick to this level and continue making money. Maybe the game is just numbing my brain. I think i've got to stick to set times and give myself more non poker playing time off. Maybe if i set myself 2 days off a week and actually do something with my time like getting out of this apt.
Spoke to my girlfriend who's still in the UK tonight and i think that's gettin me down as much as anything. We have all these plans that are dependant on things happening out of our control. My bosses boat selling, an apartment coming available for us, Getting the OK to aquire a restaurant here, her house selling etc etc etc. I'm hopeful that this week will sort some of this stuff out but we just have to wait and see. I know i'm having a bit of a rant but it's sooooooo frustrating. Maybe i'll look back on this post next week and smile :)
Anyways, as you say hon...... things WILL work out! Patience :)

Previous balance $37,851
Todays profit $1,129
Todays balance $38,980
Total profit $38,580

Day 51

2007-06-04T13:07:00.000+01:00

Didn't touch poker yesterday (Sun) at all. Instead got up late morning, met some friends, had a few drinkies then headed to Space! Got there at 3pm ish and went through til 3am today. That's a 15 hour sesh! Feel like a zombie today. Just trenched a full english which has improved things slightly but i still fancy a few hours kip. Maybe i'll have a look at the tables this evening.

Hardly played again today. Been in a grump tbh. Lack of sleep + hangover + constant disconnections at Pacific = Unhappy me. Played the 25k there and got to see 3 hands in 30 mins. Hope i get my $38 buyin back. at least i got a bonus of $135 from the global promotion so finished up on the day.

Previous balance $37,791

Todays profit $60

Total balance $37,851

Total profit $37,451

Day 50

2007-06-02T16:46:00.000+01:00

A nice site to find more blogs and/or advertise your own:

Hardly played at all today. Played a 1 in 3 sat at pacific for the wsop but took 3 consecutive beats by the same player and busted out. Played a little cash at pacific and won but was really too tired to play so i called it a night early.
Tomorrow is the Space opening party. Should be a giggle.

Previous balance $37,824
Todays profit -$33
Todays balance $37,791
Total profit $37,391

Day 49

2007-06-02T00:42:00.000+01:00

WOOOHOOO!!!! :-) Check out the spike!!!!

What a great day. I satted into the Primo final at sky a few weeks ago for $48. The final was tonight. $220 buyin $100k gtd.

Played a good game with a few ups and downs along the way. Had a mini rush 3/4 of the way through that took me from 5,000 - 15,000 chips that set me up for a money finish.

Got a bit of luck with about 10 players left that again put me right back in it. Think i hit a flopped FH....... which was nice. Anyways, finished 3rd for $9,000. Really wanted the win for $25k but i can't grumble with 3rd. The hand that put me out was A5 for me on the button. I had 90k chips v 150k & 220k. I pushed allin from the button and found AJ in the BB :-( Ah well. A good nights work non the less.

Oh PS...... had a decent afternoon on the cash tables too :)

Previous balance $27,820

Todays profit $10,004

Todays balance $37,824

Total profit $37,424

Day 48

2007-05-31T20:17:00.001+01:00

Only played for an hour or so tonight. 2 x $3/$6 that went fairly well. Am feeling very loose so am calling it a night before i donk off a stack or 2. Anyways, i'm in the middle of a book that's fairly good. Broken Skin by Stuart Macbride. Someone has just been killed by being buggered by something 5" wide and 14" long!!!! Ouch. Would make your eyes water a bit!

Previous balance $27,180
Todays profit $640
Todays balance $27,820
Total profit $27,420

Onward and upward!

Day 47

2007-05-30T12:02:00.000+01:00

WE'RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BOAT

Apparantly this is 100% genuine! I nearly nmessed my pants just looking at the pic!

Decent night on the $3/$6 tables this evening. A few people have asked me about what bankroll management system i've been using. Well it aint anything special, just the standard thinking really. Only play cash & STT's with max 5% of yr bankroll and only play MTT's with a buyin of no more than 2% of your BR. Of course the odd higher buyin is acceptable depending on mood and who is sitting there. I tend to hunt people that i know are fish and if there is more than 1 sat in a higher limit i may have a nosey. Generally though i stick well within the rules and often play at slightly lower limits as profits often come easier without much risk.
What has probably helped me more is this blog. I find that when i'm publishing my results it's easier to stay professional and stick to my limits. If people are reading this then i don't want to be donking off loads of cash. Makes me look like a twot lol. I feel i just have a more professional overall approach to the game now. Before i could easily take a BR from $100 - 400 - 1000 - 3000 - 1500 - 0 in as many days. Sometimes i would cash out some profit, other times i would lose the lot. I wont ever go back to that craziness.
Another way i help myself is by keeping accurate records. Number of hands, time played, profit per session, profit per level, BB/hr/level etc etc etc. Proper records are invaluable and can improve your game and identify weaknesses. It will also tell you where you are making your most profit (and biggest losses.)
I have around 26000 hands logged since i started this blog but will need another 200k before i get a true reading. Thats approx 40k hands per level.

Emptied my account at Mansion poker today. I just can't seem to cash in the 100k no matter how hard i try. It's still probably the best daily tourny on the net at the moment. $100k gtd for $100 entry. Averages around 450-550 entrants per day so a massive overlay. Maybe i'll sling another grand in there for another 10 buyins. Maybe i wont. We'll see.

You'll be pleased to know that the sunburn isn't hurting as much now but i still can't go out in public just yet for fear of beeing pointed and stared at. Maybe tomorrow :)

Previous balance $26,054
Todays profit $1,126
Todays balance $27,180
Total profit $26,780

Day 46

2007-05-30T11:45:00.000+01:00

Spent all day on a friends speedboat today zipping around Ibiza. Sunburnt isn't a word that's strong enough! This all happened yesterday and i'm currently sat with lips that feel like twigs, shoulders that feel like i've been flogged, and a perfect line around my face where my shades were that makes me look like Robbin FFS! I really do look like a complete tool. Why do i insist in wearing sunglesses and no sunscrean? Had a few too many beers as well and was not in any state to play cards upon my return. Did that stop me though? Did it bollox!
It only took me about 20 minutes to lose a considerable amount. At this point i saw sense and stopped. Too tired, too drunk. Most of the money i donked off in 1 hand http://pokerfriends.myfastforum.org/about1600.html

Previous balance $26,532
Todays profit -$478
Todays balance $26,054
Total profit $25,654