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

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

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

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

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

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!

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?