Thoughts of Rup

New blog

2006-12-04T17:26:00.001Z

I ought to refer you to http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/relder which is where my blog lies nowadays. It is largely uninteresting but you should be used to that from this one. Theres a higher content of drivel though

Not much to report

2006-10-27T10:40:00.000+01:00

Settled into uni fine and made lots of new friends. Attended poker society on the first night and chopped the tournament but haven't been since because Monday nights are free nights at the union (haha how unballa does that sound) and everyone goes out.

Contracted SARs in my second week here or some similar coughing disease that kept me in bed sipping hot ribena for weekends at a time so really haven't been putting in the hours poker wise.

I'm one of the slacker people on my course but I pretty much expected that -- I am motivating myself to do some work though so it's not all bad.

Been playing sit and go's when I can be arsed/have some time and they have been going "ok".

My bet on Alonson/Renault came through so I haven't been strained money wise since I got here. Am going to cut down on sports betting (lol that old chestnut) and maintain my sound 50 buyin policy on sit and go's before I move on up.

Took a reasonable amount of my stars money out because I thought I needed it for uni, but I really don't despite the union being 2.50 a pint (YES, £2.50, at a student union!). Might stick it back in or just wait until they have a reload bonus or something. No real need to jam it in yet.

Halls are fantastic this year and there are some great people here (the odd arsehole but you have to expect that in all walks of life). Friends birthday today so likely to be going out on the piss and get a chinese or something. Anyway blog blog blog pretty boring post since i'm back to the daily grind of not attending lectures and moaning about 9am seminars.

Take care world

Turbulence

2006-09-19T14:43:00.000+01:00

I've been playing lots out of my bankroll and donating lots on cash games so it's been a very up and down week.

I withrew a fair chunk of my bankroll from stars last Wednesday and went to Bishops Stortford to play the £20 rebuy there. Only 24 runners or so and I was in for £140 somehow and ended the rebuy period with just about the minimum... Fortunately I went on to win it for a tidy £400 profit. Dropped 150 on the £1/2 cash game playing weak-passive.

Went back to sit and go's on stars and ran badly (and played badly in this batch). Entered a $50 rebuy on stars and got deep before shoving ATo UTG (very very questionable push in hindsight) and got called by a Q4s misclick in the SB which hit.

Dropped $900 playing $10/20 NL.

Won an $11 freezeout the next day (15th) for $1.5k which got me out of that hole and reloaded $600 for the stars reload bonus.

Dropped $2100 playing 25/50 NL.

Won a PLHE frequent player point satellite for $530 which I intended to use for the WCOOP #2 event. Also won a $20 180 player sit and go for $1080 to get me unstuck once again (or near enough anyway).

Sunday... -$530 on the WCOOP, -$215 on party million, -$215 on stars second chance, +$346 for coming 11th in the stars $215 HORSE. Very annoyed by that result since I lost a 45k pot when I raised UTG in O8 (6 handed with 23k, blinds 10k/20k) with AK57 to 10k, BB calls then leads a KQT flop I shove he calls with KJ75. Turn was an ace to send me packing. Has inspired me to play the HORSE WCOOP event (the $215 not the $5k obv).

Anyway, dropped the HORSE winnings on $5/10 very quickly and we get to yesterday where I won the £10 rebuy at bishops for £650.

To sum up: tournaments good, cash bad. Cash is my vice. I need to stop gambling on it. I have a bigger edge at roulette when I play cash games badly.

Chop chop

2006-09-08T15:19:00.000+01:00

Chopped an $11 tournament on stars for just over $2.3k each. Played well and got lucky more than once but had a dominating chip lead at final table. Was 1.2mill : 700k heads up but he pulled back then we decided to chop it after I turned down his 60/40 chop offer (great). Still it was 6:30am and I was getting a bit tired.

The bankroll is in great shape at the moment, and the mansion bet last night helped also (I hedged it off but my girlfriend didn't) so we have means to celebrate tonight.

Had a cash in the stars million last Sunday but only for $440 after I decided my Q9 was good on a Q high flop for a 60k pot. Oops.

I seem to run good in $16 SNGs but run pretty bad in $27s... And i'm pretty sure it is just running bad with the way some of these people play. Still it's all about sample size so i'm not making any judgements till i've got at least 500 under my belt, if not more. I am over-rolled for the $27s but I don't want to move up until I have established that I am winning at them (although i'm pretty sure I am, but everyone says that).

Other than that it's a theatre show, a wedding, then back to uni. Warwick still haven't sent details of accomodation yet so I could be sleeping on the streets for a while -- or commuting 2.5 hours, pass.

Warwick

2006-08-17T18:35:00.000+01:00

Since it's A level results day I thought a uni post would be apt. Whilst I didn't receive any results, my place at Warwick is a lock which means I need to start brown nosing the poker soc people so they can roll me when the donkaments on stars robusto me again. I've done a bit of snooping and firstly I have a link to David Lu's blog (on the right). Seems like a good player, saw him bust early in some student thingy and go deep in a gutshot 100 but thats all I have on him. I might start rating him more after he cleans me out in the 50p/£1 game (or whatever they play there).

Secondly I found a guy called maryhadalamb. I'd hazard a guess that his real name is Thomas Partridge judging by the URL name but you never can tell. Amazingly enough he seems to already be linking to my blog so I guess I should return the favour. Seems to be a bit of a card rack and enjoys taking shots at the most -EV games on the net. Right up my street then.

Finally a link to "Super Try Again" blog. Seems to be some sort of cult of low limit grinders. Lots of dull hand histories and graphs to be found here.

I also slapped a link up to the Warwick Poker Soc site which might be of interest to some. Looks like one of their lads shat the deck a bit at the WSOP and came 54th so congrats to him. Forums are a bit shite as you can't signup to them for some reason.

As for poker, i'm losing at a nice steady rate at the moment, which means i'll win $10k next month. Maybe.

Step by step guide to not donking off bankroll

2006-08-02T22:17:00.000+01:00

1. Withdraw online bankroll into cash
2. Play live really really really TAGgy
3. ???
4. Profit!

Optional 5. Stop sports betting

DONKAMENTS

2006-07-24T08:41:00.000+01:00

Got into the Stars million for $60 on second satellite attempt. Did well then lost a coin flip for 8k pot and down to 125 chips. Quadrupled up with AQ, doubled up with T8, doubled up with KJ and soon enough I was up to 100k chips. Ended up coming 119th when AK missed and AJ missed and AK had to be laid down when there was a re-raise and a re-re-raise (they had AQ and KK). I declare to mate that I am drunk and on tilt, so enter the $215 omaha hi/lo on his behalf.

Soon enough (because i'm drunk and on tilt), he's on final table and my 50% is looking very reasonable indeed since he has half the chips in play. SamENole proves to be a bit of a bastard heads up winning 6 out of 7 pre flop all ins (full scoops) but a gin river on the 7th one scooped the lot for us and the $11.5k first prize.

Celebrate, probably, bed first though.

Not to be results orientated or anything but...

2006-07-18T18:55:00.000+01:00

Looks like the hand converter messed up and didn't post results, and obviously I didn't proof read.

Anyway Hand 1: BB had K4, UTG had QQ
Hand 2: Other guy had A7
Hand 3: He had T7hh
Hand 4: Had an ace I believe, maybe AQ can't remember

Ran badly yesterday and tilted away lots of money, taking a few days off to recover (ok it was a lot of money I donked off UGH) then will consider what I do next.

Got Dennis Bergkamps testimonial on Saturday at the new stadium which will be good, then I might head off to Gutshot for the £110 freezeout which is usually a pretty good tournament but becomes a complete pushbot/crapshoot after the first break.

Big WSOP tourney on stars

2006-07-16T23:10:00.000+01:00

Qualified for this on about 10th time of asking, was in for $400 in a $370 comp... great. Started badly and lost half my chips with bad play, doubled back up to par then got a multitude of interesting hands:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

UTG (t1550)
UTG+1 (t2250)
MP1 (t5185)
Hero (t2625)
MP3 (t2225)
CO (t1800)
Button (t2255)
SB (t2945)
BB (t1665)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 9h, 9c.
UTG raises to t100, 2 folds, Hero calls t100, 3 folds, SB calls t75, BB calls t50.

Flop: (t400) 9s, 4d, 4h (4 players)

SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets t200, Hero calls t200, SB folds, BB calls t200.

Turn: (t1000) 7c (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MPB bets t300, BB calls t300, UTG calls t300.

River: (t1900) 8d (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MPB bets t500, BB calls t500, UTG calls t500.

Final Pot: t3400

Think I got maximum value there, if I push the river I think the 4 calls but the overpair has to fold. He may have called though in this tourney... No read on players at this point.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

CO (t1175)
Button (t850)
SB (t6660)
Hero (t4925)
UTG (t3235)
UTG+1 (t2600)
MP1 (t2380)
MP2 (t1860)
MP3 (t7653)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Qh, Ac.
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t300, 1 fold, MP3 calls t300, CO raises to t1175, 2 folds, BB raises to t2600, 1 fold, MP3 folds.

Flop: (t4425) 5h, 6h, Qc (3 players)

Turn: (t4425) 4d (3 players)

River: (t4425) 3c (3 players)

Final Pot: t4425

Initial raiser is TAG and will fold everything cept KK+. Limper is loose semi-aggressive and is playing every pot. I read the shorty as pretty weak so I doubled his raise which represents a pretty big hand for me and should push the other two off. This is a token bad beat story.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

MP1 (t2750)
MP2 (t3950)
MP3 (t6960)
Hero (t3100)
Button (t6055)
SB (t2125)
BB (t2230)
UTG (t3307)
UTG+1 (t3443)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Ad, Qc.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls t100, 3 folds, CO raises to t350, 3 folds, UTG+1 calls t250.

Flop: (t750) 9h, 9s, 5h (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, CO bets t600, UTG+1 calls t600.

Turn: (t1950) 2h (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks.

River: (t1950) Qd (2 players)
UTG+1 bets t1300, Hero calls t1300.

Final Pot: t4550

Passing the river here? Bet less on the flop? This is same loose semi-aggressive player as hand above.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

CO (t2200)
Button (t3800)
SB (t6810)
Hero (t850)
UTG (t6055)
UTG+1 (t2300)
MP1 (t3430)
MP2 (t2807)
MP3 (t5668)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 4c, Kc.
2 folds, KDW^ calls t150, 2 folds, CO calls t150, 1 fold, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: (t600) 7c, Ac, 9s (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, KDW^ bets t500, CO folds, SB folds, BB raises to t1200.

Turn: (t1800) Ah (2 players)

River: (t1800) 8d (2 players)

Final Pot: t1800

Possibly push pre flop, possibly push the flop, was pretty certain someone was betting that flop and was pretty certain my chips were going so wanted to get as many people in there as possible.

Other than the AQ I think it was all pretty normal.

Complete luckbox --> Running really really hot

2006-07-16T01:08:00.000+01:00

Came 2nd in $55 freeze on stars. $3.2k. Final table was a pushbot excercise. Lost A3 vs K6 in pre for chip lead heads up. Drinking to celebrate now. Will have a playthrough hand history tommorow. Maybe.

PLHE

2006-07-15T15:48:00.000+01:00

Just came 2nd in a PLHE (which Americans suck at by the way) for $540. 18 runners and I was down to 700 from 1500 after 2 hands when I made 2 donkey calls. Ran the final table, lost a 7k pot to a 3 outer but recovered nicely, 14.5:12.5 heads up and he caught up AK vs AT with nearly all the money in pre flop. I offered an equal chop as soon as it was heads up but support took too fucking long to get on the table so we just played and I got that cooler 2nd hand in. $900 for first but nevermind, maybe next time.

Running good!

2006-07-13T20:27:00.000+01:00

Saturday started with me sweating Justine Henne-hardenne in the ladies final at wimbledon, I had £120 at 4/1 but I laid it off before the final so when she ballsed up after the 1st set I still made a £45 profit. Pretty disappointed but there you go. The big one to sweat was Sunday.

In the morning I was strolling in my garden enjoying the sunshine when my eye caught a 4 leaf clover. Marvellous thought I, I can't lose now. Running very good.

And so it came, I had laid off 30 points before the match so I had a profit locked but Italy winning was still the matter of a monkey+. Fortunately Buffon made a fantastic save to a Zidane header and by the time it got to penalties I was feeling pretty good since Henry/Ribery/Vieira/Zidane were all off. The bet held up and I got a nice lump of cash from Coral. Obviously this is the bet that I didn't like pre-worldcup, it was only natural that this was one of three that came in. Running good.

It got to Wednesday and the cash still wasn't in my bank account so I login to find that I didn't actually withdraw it. I did the obvious thing and lumped 100 quid into Coral Poker and withdrew the rest. I gave it a bit of a spin up heads up at 25c/50c before entering the $20 rebuy tournament. 412 runners with the vast majority not knowing what they were doing. We were down to about 300 after the rebuy period and I was in for $122, not ideal since I only had 4500 chips which was a double rebuy and the addon. Running bad.

4 hours later and I find myself at final table with a dominating chip lead after much stealing and getting dealt kings in the BB with the chip leader moving in on me on the button with 22 (twice he did this and twice I held up). I pretty much ran the final table and a 1st place was inevitable when we were down to 3 and it was 800k:100k:100k. Running very good.

I managed to spunk away all my chips (KQ < A8, KT < QQ, A2 < KJ) and finish in a rather poorly third. Still $1600 is not to be frowned upon and so I did the old leave $200 in take the rest out. 3am comes and goes and my balance is reading $570. Superb think I as I trot off to bed.

Morning (afternoon) comes and I fire up Coral to give the $1/1 heads up a shot. I run very very well and am up to $1k in no time. Took a portion out and took the rest to $2/4 NL 4 handed turbo. Lovely, this will be an action game! I was the only one sat with the max of $400 but that didn't bother me particularly since everyone was fairly rubbish and the deck was hitting me in the face anyway. Long story cut short, I hit a ten on the river of a jack high board with my JT and a $1000 pot ships my way as the guy starts berating me in chat for his loss with QQ. Marvellous! I took the lot out since I had now cleared the $93 deposit bonus and will probably look to getting started on Stars again.

Few other things, Nottingham and UCL gave me the official rejection but Warwick let me in which was my first choice anyway. They have the best poker society I reckon so it should be a good laugh and I might get a degree as well if i'm lucky.

3 more links on the right, firstly Madyanks (Ronald Fanelli) blog who I have been following avidly (one of the few blogs that gets updated on a more-than-monthly basis). I met Madyank when I was at Imperial and he showed me how to play sit and go's properly so I probably owe him a beer or three at some point. He's out in vegas at the moment, as is Rob Sherwood who is doing some great updates from the States and is a good read. Skolsuper is James Keys' blog who is an old school friend of mine. He's new to the blogosphere it would seem but no doubt it will be full of good reading.

Au rev!

World Cup Fever

2006-06-08T12:34:00.000+01:00

For my sports betting I use a tipping service since I am too inept to make my own picks. I've put a couple of the ones I like down as well, most of the prices the tipping service offers is all taken so I don't think they will mind if I post the bets here.

12pts @ 3.75 - Sweden to win Group B World Cup
6pts @ 2.625 - Holland to win Group C World Cup
5pts @ 2.625 - Mexico to win Group D World Cup
10pts @ 1.91 - Portugal to win Group D World Cup
6pts @ 3.5 - Ukraine to win Group H World Cup
5pts @ 6.0 - Switzerland to win Group G World Cup
10pts @ 10.0 - Italy to win the world Cup
2pts EW @ 17.0 - Spain to win the World Cup

The Portugal and Mexico bets combined basically amounts to a 2pts bet @ 2/1 on Portugal if you consider that Togo and Angola have no chance (which they don't really).

I like all of those picks except the Italy one. I suspect they will recommend laying off Spain after the group stages.

I only have one pick, 2pts @ 37.0 - Luca Toni to be top goalscorer. He's trading low 20s on Betfair now so looks like I picked up a bit of value there.

That's it then, COME ON ENGLAND! (just let Sweden win the group!)

Pokerstars bloggers tourney

2006-05-25T23:56:00.000+01:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

Could be fun

Catchup

2006-05-24T21:37:00.000+01:00

Went to Gutshot to watch Ben Mayhew play in the €5000 Showdown Poker Tour comp. He did pretty well to knock out Joe Beevers but ended up coming a couple of places off final table. Was a pretty mad weekend, went up on Saturday lunchtime with the intention of hanging around until Sunday for the last match of the season. By about 2am I realised I had no where to sleep so decided to play at Gutshot until the morning. There was lots of good table chat with general banter and strategy discussion which was great as you don't often get to sit down with 3 other solid players on a £25 buyin table.

11am came and I decided it was time to leave for the match to try and get an hours kip in or whatever before the match (haha). I realise that Barbican tube station is closed for Sunday so start walking to Farringdon. Needless to say I got a bit lost and ended up at Angel sweaty and tired. Decided I didn't want to walk the extra couple of miles to Highbury so caught the tube. The ground was absolutely buzzing, this was 12:30 and the streets were packed in red. The whole ground was fenced off by the OB and I made the mistake of going straight in rather than soaking up more of the atmosphere. Nevermind.

Headed into the match after doing a lap of the ground, had a quick pint (last ever at Highbury) and went to my seat to find a lovely t-shirt and goody bag. The t-shirts were coordinated so that everyone put them on and the stadium was covered in red and white. A bit of a class act from the club that they even gave Wigan blue shirts like our ones.

The match was proper entertainment for a last day. News of Spurs going down was flying in, we go down, then score a loada goals. Madness but in the end we got the result we needed and West Ham did the job down the road. I managed to stay awake for most of the "final salute" presentations but they put some music on when a load of junior gunners were running round the pitch and I just dozed off. Woke up for the fireworks and left the ground with a big grin on my face watching the helicopter flying an Emirates Stadium flag over the ground.

As if I wasn't dead enough for the weekend, I headed back to gutshot for the 55 quid comp that both Ben and I played. I played like an absolute rock built my stack to about 6k then with blinds 600/1200 I pushed in the cut off with KTo and ran into AA. Hmmmm. Ben bullied around his table and ended up finishing 5th for about £300 which I had 10% of.

Stayed on and played a bit of cash with no success before I fell asleep on a table at 7am. We headed off back home at 8am and got a very good 2 hours of sleep on the train.

Since then I have been down to Bishop Storfords new room called Jack Kings Clubs sponsored by an online bookie. Quite a nice little place hosted at their local footy club, they have some of the funniest players ever. Just a couple of hands... £20 rebuy, someone declares they are all in blind, someone else calls, another guy instantly folds QQ face up. Righto. In a £5 rebuy last night, blinds are getting fairly high but the table chippy has 20k and gets involved in a pot with someone. The board reads something like 289Q7 and the chippy calls for 15k on the river with KJ -- other guy had T8. Ben ended up getting bubbled in a fairly unlikely scenario, all in pre AsAx vs AQo, flop is raggy but all spades, the other guy makes running non-spade queens. I also bubbled when I moved in with Q3 suited and got called (by AK and KJ).

On the uni front I am fairly certain that I want to do Economics and I want to do it at either Warwick, Nottingham, or Leeds. I am leaning slightly towards Warwick at the moment because they have a better poker soc (oh the degeneracy of it all) but Nottingham has Dusk Till Dawn opening soon. I might even factor in their academical benefits. Maybe.

Thats it then, you might also be interested to know that I found out how to add photos. Marvellous.

Bloggers Freeroll

2006-04-28T12:27:00.000+01:00

London, Leeds, Life

2006-04-08T04:00:00.000+01:00

I planned to go to London a couple of weeks ago for the Arsenal Juventus match, I had my ticket, was very very excited, arrived at the train station at 5:30 ready to depart... The train had been cancelled. I eventually got in at 8:30, decided to watch the second half in Gutshot since it would take me another 25 mins from Liverpool Street anyway. We won which softened the blow a bit, just wish I was there though. On the plus side I got a ticket to the Spurs match which I will not miss for the world! The last ever North London derby at Highbury, it's gonna be special.

I played really tight at Gutshot, just playing the pony cash game which the usual faces. It was all going well until I lost my stack of 80 with QQ vs AA. It was annoying, because I knew he had it as well. Very hard to fold those hands still for me. Should have trusted my instincts more.

Leeds have asked for my first term uni grades which is proving a pain in the cunt since the Imperial grading system was all computerized, and my record got deleted when I left. Marvellous.

On thursday i'm heading down to i27 which is a LAN party being held by a company called Multiplay. For the non-poker crowd, it is a bit of a geekfest where loads of people take their computers and get together to play games over the network, drink beer, and have fun. I'm playing in the staff vs punters football which is always a walkover for the punters, since the staff are either really fat or really skinny, and dire at football anyway (even by my standards). Plus they are mostly cunts so we just hack the shit out of them and the ref does nothing.

Tuesday is my birthday but my mum is away in Canada at the moment studying so it is just my dad and sister at home. Was meant to go out with mates this weekend but it didn't happen, because they're all pricks. So i'll probably just get hammered at the geekfest.

Not much else happening, won nothing in the way of poker, always seem to build up to a 15k stack on the Party tournaments then fuck up completely and either bubble or come 400th out of 27 thousand or whatever.

Lyon bombed out of the European Cup with 5 minutes left which ruins my best bet for the season, i'm freerolling for St Johnstone to win their league, and my 2 F1 bets on Alonso/Renault have had a great start to the season. Alonso has come out in the press saying that the others will catch up later on in the season, but I reckon he's an lying prick. Will get on some bets tommorow and hopefully get a break and win a few quid. Might even have a flutter on the National -- which will be a waste of money because the best book is 120%! There is no value what so ever but I don't mind throwing a couple of quid in the bookies faces for the sake of rooting purposes.

Anyway, good luck to everyone planning not to do their bollocks this week. Enjoy the mighty gooners giving the yankies a lesson in football tommorow. I'm off to drink 12 litres of five alive in the hope this cough goes away before the turn of the century.

Quietly along...

2006-03-13T22:56:00.000Z

Nottingham rejected me, they basically said "we have had a shit load of AAA applicants this year, and since you only got AAC and are applying late, you have no hope unless you fluke a place through clearing". Nevermind then, might see how Leeds/Warwick respond, and will probably look into some other places as well. If not then I guess it's clearing. I probably won't bother with uni if I can't make a place for September, I think I will feel too left out if I am 2 years older than all my peers.

Things are pretty quiet on the sit and go front, i've only managed 73 so far this month due to basically being slack. Sitting on -$36 as well after a fantastic +300 day then 2 -100 days in a row added to the -150 on the first. I feel good about my play in them though and am coping with 8 tabling them. I'm pretty sure my ROI should be about 15% in these things so we will just have to see when I hit 500 (or more). I should really knuckle down and play more but the MTTs just seem like much more reward.

I've pretty much cleared the $120 bonus Stars gave for the WSOP qualifiers and I changed up 630 W$ (satellite money) into real money which I got $545 which is $45 better than the going rate... I probably could have got more if I posted around a bit but I wanted to buy into the big one on Sunday (which I played badly).

I do have a couple of cashes to report so it isn't all bad. I completely ruined my sleeping pattern by playing a $3 rebuy satellite to Sundays big one. The players were awful as you'd expect and i'd pretty much won it by the time the rebuy period was over. Qualified easily there for $15. Then I played the $50 PL Holdem on Stars today, having read the i-reraise blog I was inspired. I came 7th having been short stacked the whole way. I've decided that on Stars I prefer tournaments without antes because the players are too aggressive still (imo). Also I think PL helps my game as it forces you to play the streets rather than just jamming it all pre flop.

Anyway, i'm holding out hopes I get tickets to the Juve/Spurs/Wigan matches and I think I should do but being our last 2 games at Highbury (and a huge European Cup tie) it ain't gonna be easy. Was a brilliant performance and atmosphere for the Madrid game followed up with a deserved win against 'pool.

Au rev

Feb Results

2006-02-28T13:26:00.000Z

The sit and go's are going well right now, after a cold run last week, yesterday and today have been very nice days to round off February nicely.

Feb stats are:
Played: 167
Profit: $688.50
ROI: 15.27%

These are $25 turbos on stars. It leaves the overall stats since 01/01/06 like this:

Played: 256
Profit: $1390.50
ROI: 20.12%

A bit more than I expected but the results are still fairly irrelevant until i've done 500. I've been doing quite nicely in satellites as well, last week I qualified 3 times for the Stars biggie, one of which I used for $530, and the other 2 which I got money for. Profited about $800 from them and freerolling in the comp itself. Also won a Monte Carlo satellite (not the big one) for $650 but as I decided not to play the satellite, i've got $650 in W$ which can only be used to enter satellite events. Of course Stars have absolutely no satellites at the moment so they are fairly worthless right now. The next satellites they start are WSOP ones and i'm still well under age to even try for that. I will probably wait for the EPT to start again, or the Caribbean adventure.

I'm considering going to Warwick University this weekend to play in the £40 competition they are having there. It has $3000 added and it will mostly be students so it looks like it could be huge value. It's a 2.5 hour drive though and the competition is 2 days which is pretty long for a small buyin event, they could easily get it over with in one day. Still my parents are going up there anyway to see my sister who is at uni there so chances are i'll go up a day or two early to play the comp.

Arsenal beat Real Madrid, and although Wigan probably could have beaten them the way they played it feels good. Still can't beat Blackburn though obviously. I've got my ticket for the return leg lined up so hopefully we can pull through then inevitably draw Barcelona in the next round.

No news...

2006-02-21T13:48:00.000Z

I've been having a pretty bad run on the sit and go's last 2 days. Just sticking to the $25 and taking the downswing at the moment. Just playing through it and waiting for the upswing again. It's the kind of thing you have to expect playing them though.

I decided to quit uni the other day, it wasn't really any fun and I found myself at Gutshot more than lectures so i'm at home a lot now. This means it is mostly internet poker I am playing as well. I do miss live poker but my results are a lot better online so I guess it's a blessing in disguise.

There's a couple of events I really want to go to in the future. First one is Aruba with Ultimate Bet. I made it through to one of the $300 qualifiers but I played pretty badly and dropped out around 40th. I am guessing the satellites are going to be bigger nearer the time of the event with more people wanting to go so I think I will try again nearer the time. The other one is the PCA with PokerStars again in January. I had so much fun this time that i'm already planning to go to next years! It really is a class event with great people and lots of poker and fun.

I'm going to stick a couple more links up on the side, firstly Poker 4 Charity and secondly Matthew Milne's blog. I've taken down the Imperial Poker Society link as well (seeing as i've left).

I will try and update more often but there isn't a lot to write about at the moment. I'm still saving up FPP's for a monitor and Arsenal are still doing shite.

Till next time

As expected...

2006-01-24T03:17:00.000Z

Over the last week and a half I have done my absolutes. Not gonna lie about it, i've lost pretty much all my Bahamas money in a combination of playing tournaments too big for me (playing $200 comps and pissing about in them) and having the worst weekend of sports betting i've ever had.

I have been unlucky though, I bubbled in a $50 freezeout with $12k first prize when I raised my SB with KK, the BB moved in on me and I called, he had K2 and made runner runner 2s. That pot would have put me a big chip leader. I have also come close in 2 satellites. Firstly the Bahamas satellite on Paradise Poker, $8.5k package, I entered the $25 rebuy and just had an addon. Got to heads up and I was a 2:1 chip leader with only one package available. All in preflop, A5 lost to K9. I worked back when he bluffed off lots of chips with 3rd pair and I had 2nd pair. Then lost an astronomical hand with KQhh vs JThh all in pre flop! Went out 2 hands later with A4 vs AT. I was very VERY annoyed. I bought straight into the £100 satellite on Getminted poker for the £1000 event at Luton thats just happened. I was playing really solidly and had half the chips with 4 of us left. The guy in second place raised it up to about 3xbb and I made a move on him with 22. He instantly called with AT and flopped some sort of pair... Was absolutely gutted there as well.

So having done my bollocks, I am considering what to do with myself... I haven't been to uni since I got back, missed an exam and 2 bits of coursework, and in general am behind on the course. I have just started a sit and go challenge. I am going to play 1000 sit and gos at the $25+2 level and see how it comes out. If I have an ROI of 15% thats over $4000, not to forget the FPPs that come with it which I can put towards a monitor or ipod or something. So far it is going very well:

Played 42
1st 11
2nd 5
3rd 6
Profit: $711
ROI: 63%

That is just today though and the figures are highly unlikely to stay that high. I think once the sample size gets to 1000 that is when the figures start becoming accurate. What is useful though is that today has basically created the 25 buyin bankroll I need for this challenge. I will post some progress updates here.

Special mention for mikkyT who is an absolute different gravy at the moment. I linked to his blog on the right so be sure to check it out, basically the guy has won the $2k tournament on Virgin a couple of times, final tabled it about a million, and qualified for the EPT in Deauville! I am dead jealous, it's the only satellite I have been an absolute mile away from qualifying for that I have tried. For some reason I can't focus in them. I wish him all the best in France and I think he has a very fair chance of bringing home the bacon!

Arsenal have been busy in the transfer market but still can't beat Everton away, more on that in a future post if I can be arsed. Its been a pleasure...

WPT PCA report!

2006-01-13T17:06:00.000Z

This is going to be quite a long post so if you get bored half way through I don't blame you ;-)

We kicked off at 5am at my house, and myself and Ben (Sunday8pm) headed towards Heathrow. The flights changed twice as this was the cheapest route, at Chicago and Miami. All flights went pretty smoothly, we missed one connecting one from Chicago but there was another one soon after and it wouldn't effect our arrival time. We were a bit nervous about the propellor plane that would carry us over to the Bahamas but it worked out fine and we landed around 9pm.

The useless gits at AA had lost my luggage on the Miami->Bahamas flight so we had to hang around the airport for an additional hour asking where the hell it was. They said it would be on the next flight and they would deliver it to our room at the hotel by 9:30 the next morning. I was a bit anxious to get some clothes, I had a pretty nasty odour working for me by this point and I was playing in the main event the very next day so I didn't want other things on my mind.

Well the luggage turned up at 12, to the bellman, so I had to start the tournament in a pair of Bens shorts and a Poker Stars t-shirt. I looked like a bit of an idiot but who cares I was playing the WPT!!

Day 1 went pretty smoothly for me, I loosened up towards the end of the day and tried a couple too many bluffs. I had Eric Seidel on my table who couldn't find a hand all day. I had a nice chap to my left whos name I can't recall, but when one guy made it T1000 with blinds 200/400, I whacked it straight up to 3000 in the small blind with AQ (he was an aggressive player and I had a ridiculously rocky image), the BB folded AK and showed me!! It was the last hand before the break so I showed him my AQ and we had a laugh about that (only he saw my hand). The other guy claimed he folded 88.

I ended up the day on T19600. A pretty good day I guess, my highest point was around 29000 so I was a little disappointed especially as I said to myself that to do well today I had to finish on around 30000. I was still happy with the way I played though and I don't think I made too many mistakes, whilst still making a couple of moves.

The next day I had off as it was the second Day 1 players so we had a few drinks and fun with Brian Wilson, played some $1/2 NL very loosely and ended up losing some money. As it was my day off we decided to check out the swimming pool. Day 2 was pretty nasty in weather terms, it was cold and overcast... Wheres the Bahamas weather!! Needless to say, it was 3 degrees back home and a bit of wind wasn't going to stop us having fun. The swimming pool was empty and we tried out all the slides they have there including the "Leap of Faith", pretty suggestive by name, it was a near vertical drop curving off through a shark tank with glass walls. It was a good kick and we went on it a few times.

Day 3 I was playing again, I drew a ridiculously hard table at first but fortunately it was to be broken up soon. I didn't actually recognise them but Brian told me there were a couple of very good players there. We broke up after 5 hands and I got moved to a much softer table where I would spend the rest of the day. I slowly accumulated some chips and slowly lost them, up and down all day. Then I went into 9th gear and raised in early with JT off. The guy on my left had been coming over the top all day, on one occasion I raised in the cutoff and he reraised me. I considered moving in with my 52o because I was so sure he was just restealing but I ended up laying it down. He showed me an ace, but as he chucked his cards to the dealer a 6 was revealed as well! I was annoyed at myself because going over the top again there is the kind of move I make. Later on I told him I passed AQ and he said he also had AQ, I laughed! So after he reraised me I called this time to take a flop. It came ten high and I was out of position so I checked. He bet nearly all my stack and I pushed in for about T13k total. It was an underraise so he pretty much had to call and his KJ couldn't catch a king so I doubled up to 33k. Not long after I found myself raising with 67 hearts. The SB reraises me quite heavily, something like 4k after my 2100 raise. I decided to peel off a flop, he was playing the hand very aggressively, he had a big stack, and I think I had ridiculously good implied odds. I certainly didn't think he would play a big pair like this, something like jacks or tens I think he would take a flop with rather than reraise. By this point I was like 90% sure he had AK, maybe 8% jacks/tens. The flop came 862 and he bet 14000. Huge bet and if that isn't AK then I don't know what is, I push all in which came out as an underraise and he called. Of course he has AK and my pair is winning. It holds up and I double up again to 65k! I am now amongst the chip leaders, probably top 15. A few steals with hands like 77, AJ, and I am up to 75k. The day is going very well all of a sudden. Unforunately I didn't shift back down a gear and got involved in a pot with AT with a big stack. I can't remember the details but it cost me about 20k and I know I played the hand very stupidly. After the dinner break we were battling for the money, 130 paid with 130th getting $10,700 so for all the satellite players there was a lot at stake and my goal now was to make the money. This is where I think I started playing badly. I was playing for the money, not for 1st. It allowed every other player to capitalise on my tightness. I squeezed into the money with 45k and decided I would loosen up. I then had my most annoying hand of the tournament. I had 67 suited in the BB and a guy 3 off the button raised it up to 3.5BB. I called as he could be doing this with lots of hands, he was an aggressive player. The flop came ace high and I bet out and he called. I had no pair no draw, and we both checked the turn. I then bet T8k on the river which he called with AT. I only had 20k left total so I think if I pushed he will fold but I think he knows that I had loosened up now we were in the money. Next time I think I will pass preflop... So I was down to 12k at the start of the last level of the day. First hand in the SB I have jacks, the same guy raises before me again, another short stack goes all in, I go allin as well, the other guy calls presumably for the value. I am in pretty sick shape, original raiser has 44, other all in guy has KK. Flop comes 789 with 2 spades and I have no spade. Turn comes a rag, but a spade rag and the KK guy has a spade. I stand up getting ready to order a beer when miraculously the river comes an offsuit T. Wow, saved or what. I am back up to 40k, still under average but very playable, blinds now 1k/2k with a 300 ante. After lots of folding I get those f'ing jacks again. I raise to 6k in second position, chip leader 2 to my left calls, next guy who had a rock image pushes in for 50k. When I am awake, I fold this hand quicker than a Japanese Origami artist, but for some reason I lumped those chips in and of course he had kings which held up nicely for him. He was a nice Canadian chap called Brian and he bought me a beer later on which was a nice gesture.

A great experience overall and I was 10 grand richer. 2 silly hands to learn from but lots of people have told me they liked my 67 play against the AK. It was also great fun playing with John Phan who was pissing about no end. A really good internet player called Ozzy87 was an experience to play with as well, I swear, that kid was a different gravy.

The next few days were holiday and we chilled out with the sharks, lots of swimming, playing $1/2 and just getting drunk. Met some great people on the $1/2 game, mostly guys and gals who have come with friends in the main event. I'm going to give them a mention just in case they read this: John, Kyle, Jeanine, Anthony -- others whose names escape me as well!

I entered the $2k event out of my own pocket on the last day, I think I played it well but I can't be sure. Second hand, blinds 25/25 starting chips 3000, I made it 125 with 78 spades. There were only 5 players at my table as it had only just started so I think this was a fair raise here. The BB called and the flop came 982 with one spade. I quite liked it, he checked and I bet 225, he raised me another 325. I wasn't sure if he just sensed I was weak and put me on high cards like AQ, so I decided to call. The flop came a pretty dangerous 7 and he bet out 700 very quickly. I figured I should find out where I am in this hand and so I pushed in ;-). He dwelled for a bit and called with JJ. River came a Q and I doubled up. The guy plays the 25/50 NL and he went and told them all that he got donkeyed out! Matusow took the piss out of him though so all is good.

A few hands later and I have TT on the button. Aggressive player calls, internet player raises, 25/50 player calls, I call, limper calls. Flop comes 332. Checked to me and I fire out, aggressive player raises me right up, other guys pass, and I push in. He calls with 63 and doubles up. Back down to 2500. Soon after I raise UTG with AK suited, aggressive player calls, another guy calls as well. Flop K72 with 2 spades. Wrong suit for me but I decide I will check raise it, I check, aggressive player checks, other guy fires out for 1200, I push in and they both call. Fuck there goes 2k I am thinking. How right I am, they both get it in on the turn which is a spade. Aggressive player has 77, other guy has A9 spades, river paired the board, but that didn't matter to me and I walked away disgusted.

The evenings cocktail party was great fun, all drinks were free for an hour and a half which made a change from the $8 a drink we were paying in the poker room. The inevitable happened, Ben and myself hung out with Brian Wilson most of the time (WSOP $5k PL HE champ), tried on his bracelet and silly things. We also made sure we got our photos with Mr Raymer and Mr Hachem. Later on I was shitfaced and hit the poker room, bad idea obviously, thankfully the cash game was full so I played a $50 sit and go. This basically meant all in or fold for me, I don't remember much specifics but I got AA 3 times and was completely running the table on the bubble. Heads up the guy asked if we wanted to chop it and I laughed and pushed my chips in blind. He called with Q7 and I had KK! He flopped two pair though so nevermind. I doubled up a couple of times and went on to win it somehow.

Myself and some of the 1/2 players hit the casino to test the blackjack tables. Obviously a stupid idea and I dropped $500 veeeery quickly. At some point in the night I ended up in bed and at 7am Ben thought that we should get ready to go so he woke me up. Our flight was at 3pm and I had a killer hangover so this was waaaaay to early to wake up! He told me Daniel Negraneuaneuneunruneu was in the lobby though and I idolise him so I had to go and meet him. We went down and he was kicking back on the sofa with his laptop. We got some photos done and I asked him when he was coming to England, he told me it wasn't on the plans so he wasn't sure.

The flights back went smoothly, although once again the propellor plane decided that the best way to land was a nose dive, that scared us shitless. Hachem was on our plane as well and he looked like he was about to cry!

Back to Blighty and I hit Gutshot for the £50 freezeout, I played it very well, got my KK outdrawn by AT all in preflop, then ran into AA with my QQ in a hand that played itself.

A fantastic trip all in all and I have lots of catching up to do uni wise and sleep wise as well. Hope everyone is well... Till next time

P.S. pics are available here -- sorry for huge filesizes but i'm too lazy to resize them

Updates + 2005 Review

2005-12-26T15:11:00.000Z

The last time I posted I was about to play a comp on GetMinted. I think I played pretty solidly, I came 2nd and took home 330 quid, next day I played it again and won it! It definately put me back on track and since then I did well in a pretty big Ladbrokes tournament for over $1k and having won a seat for $13 to the $500+30 on Stars, I came 22nd and took just shy of $2.5k.

Onto 2005... It kicked off playing poker until 6am at my mates house but will probably end up drunk somewhere. A lot has happened, my life has moved on a lot and I think I have improved my poker game a lot.

It feels like so much longer than half a year that I was studying for A levels (probably because I hardly did) and even though I didn't expect to get an offer from Imperial, let alone a place, I ended up getting both and am quite nicely settled on my course. The poker society there is good fun as well, some good characters and obviously i'm a long walk from the Vic and a 25 minute tube journey from Gutshot.

Qualifying for the WPT has probably been my highlight of the year, i'm not sure yet how I will play it but coming 22nd last night in the big one on Stars has certainly given me a lot of confidence and motivation. At worst it will be a good holiday so I am looking forward to enjoying the experience.

I think I for the future I need to pick my games carefully. I am a good tournament player as my results show, but I think my cash game is pretty shit. If I pick a good game (and there is a very nice pot limit game on a particular site) and I am focused then I can play some really good poker. Being focused is probably just as important as picking the game, when my mind is in bad shape I don't play well. In tournaments I think I am motivated more than trophy objects rather than money itself. I haven't lost total regard for money but losing 3 or 4 hundred quid in a bad session doesn't bother me as much as it should. When I play for a fucking signed book in the Hendon Mob forum league I wanted to win so much more. Even playing the huge comp last night I wasn't that excited about the money, it helps obviously but I think I just like seeing something rather than money. Probably just shows youth or something.

I better copy Ben Grundy and set myself some targets for 2006. I'm going to break it up into 2006 targets and longer term targets. In no particular order...

2006 targets

Cash at the WPT event in Bahamas
Start keeping records other than my bank statement!!
Qualify for another big live tournament
Win a tournament at Gutshot with a buying of £20+
Pick my cash games better
Keep following the Arsenal!
Sort out a seperate bankroll for sports betting
Sort out my money
Do some work at University and pass my first year

Longer term targets

Graduate (obviously)
Play some WSOP events
Get a £35k+ job by 2011 (3 years after graduation)
Don't go broke (stole that one)

That's about it from me, next time I update will probably be post-WPT. I might try and update during the WPT but i'll probably rather be having fun and who reads this shit anyway ;)

Hope you all had a great Christmas, have a great pissup on new years and I will see you in 2006!

Last week

2005-12-11T19:52:00.000Z

It's my last week at uni before the Christmas holidays, i've got some work left to do (coursework for Tuesday, small questions paper for Wednesday, tests all day Thursday) but I can't wait to get back home and especially can't wait for the Bahamas.

Last week I managed to get myself into uni every day except Thursday, and did lots of work as well which I am happy with considering the week before I didn't go in any of the days, missed a test and a couple of hand in deadlines.

Money wise i'm in a pretty bad way at the moment, I came second in a comp on getminted for £320 last night which helps a bit but things haven't gone too well recently... Swings on multi table tournaments are bigger than cash games, it isn't hard to go 40 tournaments without a final table. Coupled with the fact that I was playing pretty shit it has left me empty handed. I had a read of Harrington 2 though and I think I am getting back on track. My form is pretty similar to Arsenals as of late...

There's a couple of nice looking tournaments tonight including the Getminted £2500 guarenteed... It's a £25 buyin but they don't normally get 100 runners and the play is usually pretty bad and as long as I don't get unlucky I think I can get a result.

I seem to be listening to lots of Dido at the moment and playing lots of Pro Evo... Till next time

Update on life

2005-11-30T15:38:00.000Z

Been a while since I last posted so thought I better make one now... I can't remember exactly where I left off but i'll just ramble.

I did well on a multi on blue square, won about $500 and used it to bankroll my cash games there as Blue Square have this ridiculous 72 hour withdrawl rule. In two days I managed to work my balance up to $1700 before blowing the lot in 2 hours... I went over to Noble poker and lost another £320 with AK before calling it a night, angry and broke!

Fortunately Noble owed me £1k at the time so I was only broke until they paid me, as well as the £100 in my wallet.

I took the £100 to Gutshot on Friday (as usual). Not many people there that I knew that well, Paul was there playing deuce seven triple draw. Crazy game that one... I played solidly in both the happy hour and the £10 rebuy but I didn't pull a result and eventually went out when I moved in with KQs and got called by 44...

I was £50 stuck for the night and down to my last few pennies, so I span it up on the pony game... 2nd hand in and I have the elusive aces UTG. I make it £1.50 to play (blinds £0.25/0.50, pot limit) and next position calls. Mid-position raises the pot, BB reraises the pot, I get my 25 quid in quicker than lightning, next position guy calls, mid-position calls, and the BB also calls!!! The guy to my left has 66, mid pos has QQ, BB has TT, and amazingly my aces hold up and I become unstuck. I win another big pot later on but I can't remember the details...

I went home with £350 in my wallet so it was a good night... My Noble cheques cleared yesterday and after paying off my credit card I had a play around on Laddys and Stan James. Lost £40 on SJ and about the same on Laddys just doing multi tables. I knew I wasn't playing well and I really should have gone to bed.

I overslept an exam this morning stupidly -- not sure how important it was but it wasn't a big one. I have also missed 3 days of lectures now due to a ruined sleeping pattern. I'm going to sort my head out a bit and get back on track, losing the £1k that night got to me a fair bit and I know I was playing on tilt straight after which I shouldn't do.

In the early hours I was doing a $20 multi on stars and was going strong. 600 entrants and I was 1st going into the 2nd break. I wound up coming 40 something which paid out but not a lot. I had JJ in late position, early-mid raised it to 3600 blinds 600/1200, I had 13k and stuck it in, he called with 88. The flop came all spades with no 8 or J and I had the Js. Turn was the 8 of clubs and the river gave me no help. Was really gutted as I knew I was playing so solidly.

Did a sit and go 2 table afterwards and won it which was nice and I am feeling good about my game in general at the moment. Going to gutshot again on Friday with Dan (old school friend) and going to look to make some money from both the comps and the cash games.

In other news... Van Persie scored an absolute cracker against Blackburn which i'm glad to say I was there to witness. It really was a different class and I think Van Persie is going to become one of the worlds best. Arsenal are doing well at the moment and I think if we can keep this up until the Chelsea game, and then beat them, it will throw open the title race again. A decent european cup run would be good as well but anyway...

Sadly a guy at my old 6th form died in a car crash the other day. They were driving through thick fog with out their safety belts on and had a head on collision. Tragic stuff and obviously thoughts go out.

I'll try and keep posted more even if no ones reading this, it's fun writing and looking back. Hopefully by the next time I write I will have another multi win under my belt... Could sure use one right now!

Shit weekend

2005-11-21T18:52:00.000Z

Kicked off on Friday at Gutshot, £10 rebuy, spent £60 on that one and went out with QQ vs KK vs A9. Moved onto the pony game and before long I had my top two cracked after I bet the pot on flop and turn before the river completed the other guys flush. Next up I had my flopped trips called by 3 people when I was in for £30, flop was 553 and I had 52. Not wonderful with 3 callers, one was flushing, one had queens, one had 46. The flush made on the river. I was down 280 for the night and started playing rock at the pony table. Managed not to lose any more and there were 3 of us left at 7am. Myself, Malcolm, and Cal. Cal is a dealer there and Malcolm a regular. Good players but I went on a big card rush making trips/set almost every time I entered a pot! It was a fun game and I reduced my losses for the night to £80. It felt like a win though.

Next up the £100 freeze on Saturday night at Gutshot. My multi table game has been pretty good (before this weekend) and I felt I was playing solidly. I passed kings after I raised pre flop on an ace high flop and got bet into. The hand I went out on, I was BB with AK suited, 4 limpers before me including SB and button, I made it 600 more (blinds 75/150), so 750 total, the button called, the SB moved in on me, I called (2000 chips before the hand), the button dwelled and folded. The SB, (Stuart who plays at gutshot a fair bit) had 66 and we were racing. Flop came 234, turn 5, river a blank and I was out. The button says he folded 77.

I played the pony game a bit and was playing awfully, not sure how much I was down but about £90 I think.

Tried a $100 tourn on stars, Rupon comes over and asks if I want to play together for 50% each. I say yes and he takes a call whilst I get 1000 more chips with a set 7s. We play solidly before losing a huge pot with KK vs JJ in pre flop... The flop looked nice but the turn was a jack, and the river was also a jack. Out of that tourn...

We decide to go back to Rupons appartment to play some multi tables and just chill. Tried a $50 multi and a $20 multi at the same time. The $20 is over soon, we move in on a 6 high flop with JJ having raised 7xbb pre flop, someone calls with 86!! They turned another 6... The $50 was also pretty bad, moved in on a T high flop with JJ again, they had TT... We both agreed that we did the right moves and played well but were just unlucky... Next time maybe

To round off a shit weekend, I tried a $11 rebuy satellite to the big $215 tourn on stars. I was playing very well in the satellite then my tens ran into nines and they made a set on the flop! How many times!! I bought into the tournament regardless, played pretty badly, everyone was tight as hell, I was aggressive, I ran AJs into queens and the queens held up. Huge field and you need to get chips from somewhere...

Did a $200 multi on victor chandler, AQ ran into 88 on an ace high flop... They turned an 8. Marvelous.

Luck will get better soon I hope, playing very solidly though so not too bothered. Forgot how long Noble cheques took to come so i'm a bit skint as it is but owed lots of money ;)

Ben Mayhew and Tom Ferrari (links on right) are off to St Kitts on Thursday to play the CPC, I wish them both good luck and hope they do well!!

Playing well

2005-11-15T17:17:00.000Z

I feel like i'm playing really solidly in multi table tournaments at the moment and really badly in cash games. I have imposed a ban on myself for online cash games but I will continue to play the pony game at gutshot as thats still profitable.

In the last week or so I reckon i've done to the tune of $800 on online cash...

To the tournaments... Saturday I played the £100 freezeout at gutshot, I was playing strongly at my first table and managed to double my stack up to around 8000.

I was moved table and there was one player who was HUGE value and everyone knew it. I got involved in a big pot with him. He called in early position (the guy was a donkey he had no idea). Everyone else folded to me in the SB, I called with AJ and the BB checked. The flop came J45 which I checked, the BB checked, and limper bet out 1000. I reraised to 3000 (blinds are 200/400). The BB dwelled and moved in for 5000 total, the initial limper dwelled and called, I also called as it was an under-raise. The turn came 2 and I moved all in. The initial limper dwelled for the best part of 5 minutes before a clock was called. He asked "if I call thats all my chips right?". With 10 seconds on his clock he finally folded. The BB showed J3 and I was in good shape. A 6 came on the river though to cut my stack back to ~7000. Later on the limper said he folded A2 with the reasoning "I was hoping for an ace or a 3 on the turn but it was too tense". Madness! He was a good chap though and probably pissed anyway.

I built my stack back up and got to around 30,000 with 11 of us left. This is where I crashed due to the stupidest move ever. The game was reasonably tight but there was 1 guy attacking blinds a lot. He was on my right so he stole mine with reasonable success. It got passed round to me on the button and I had 63 diamonds. I opted to call with the intention of raising on a scare card. The SB folded and BB checked. We both checked a flop of 992 with 2 hearts. The turn was an Ah. He checked and I made it 3000. He dwelled a fair bit before making it 7000. He had about 12,000 left. I reasoned that he was trying to find out where his ace was or he was just trying to resteal as he thought I was weak. I moved in and he called with Q7 hearts. He said that he actually thought I had aces the way I played but he had to call. I guess it's hard representing the hand your opponent has! I crashed out 4 hands later with Q2 diamonds (I was reduced to 2 big blinds). Made £80 from £25 on the pony table despite being up to £160 at one point and down to £15 at another...

On Sunday I played 2 big online tournaments. The $50,000 guarenteed on VC and the $500,000 guarenteed on stars. I was playing solidly in both and had accumulated a nice stack. The blinds in the 50k were getting big and I decided to come over the top of someone with 66. I had him covered, he called, then another caller called! The initial raiser had AK as I suspected, the other caller.... A7... Needless to say a 7 on the flop and we were both out! The stars $500k was a bit different. I was playing ridiculously well, a lot of people betting into me with top pair when I had an overpair. I was very pleased with the way I played but then I guess I blacked out or something, lost 2 big pots after folding to reraises (AQ one time on the button, AT in late pos). Then I moved all in UTG with QT hearts... What a donkey move, AK called and crushed me. He later went on to come 2nd.

Last night (Monday) was interesting... I got home at 5:30 from uni, straight to the $2/4 NL, did $600 about as quickly as you can... KK on a Kxx flop all spades, he had flush but I didn't think he had.

Tried the $5k guarenteed on VC, $36 buyin. Played very solidly and strongly and eventually won it when my AA held up against 44 on a 235 flop. A four came on the river and I thought I had lost (it was 4:30am!) but after a moments reflection I realised I made a straight. Screenshot...

Playing The Hendon Mob forum league event tonight, as well as the Gutshot forum members event. I will probably try out some other tournaments as well, just to keep me from doing my plums on the cash tables

Sicko

2005-11-10T11:06:00.000Z

Since I last blogged...

Lost $1000 on Noble poker playing $2/4, some guy called $250 on the turn with a flush draw and hit when I had aces
Won $1100 on Ladbrokes coming first in their lunchtime crapshoot - screenshot
Lost $700 on VC, $200 on a tournament which I got sucked out on but was playing badly anyway so I didn't mind. Then did $500 on cash games, $2/4. Always in ahead, always out losing
Another $300 in the same cash game, I won back $880 to leave me on profit!

I'll be alright as they say...

Swings and roundabouts!

2005-11-07T01:12:00.000Z

The weekend had me up and down in money terms but i've come out on top eventually!

It kicked off on Friday afternoon when I went down to Gutshot for the £20 freezeout (and further events). I met my mate Mike there and his mate Sam, also Paul from LSE was there and a few other regulars. Zimmi from Imperial came later on.

The £20 freezeout was pretty much over before it started for me, second hand in I limped with Q9 with about 7 players, the flop came QJ9. I bet, another guy called, another guy reraised, I called, the caller went all in, the reraiser folded, and I announced that I was going to gamble and call. He showed KT as I expected and I didn't house up. I later found out the other guy folded AA. I was hungry though, that's my excuse and i'm sticking with it!

Two hours and two sit and go's later, i'm breaking even in the internet room. Played the pony game for a bit and did my £25 within an hour. The £5 happy hour tournament was starting though so I had that to play in. I took the full 1500 chips at the start for £15. Pretty weak table except for Paul and a couple of others, it was mainly fish ;)

I was quite strong before I got moved table, it is a turbo tournament so the blinds go up very quickly (10 minute clock). I had Mike and his mate on my new table, and soon enough I was all in with 88 after Mike had called. He dwelled then called and showed QT. My hand stood up and that put me in a strong position. Final table came quickly and Sam had done well to hold on till final table. First prize was something like £240 so there was a fair bit to be won.

As expected the players dropped very quickly from final table and before soon we were down to 3 players. I had gotten lucky a couple of times with the blinds being so big and having a bigger stack attacking my blind. The 3rd man dropped out and it was heads up! Back and forth with the blinds and eventually the other guy moved all in and I found TT. I called in a flash and it was looking good for me when he showed 96.

Flop came AK4 or something to that effect. Turn 6. River 9. Balls. Oh well I picked up a healthy £124, left a £14 tip for the dealer who gave me some very lucky hands. So I turned a £95 profit from that tournament.

The £10 rebuy was dull as hell, had 2 rebuys big deal, no big hands, moved in with K9 at one point with 6 callers or something, didn't win. Quit at the end of the rebuys.

Pony games 'till sunrise! The first one in the VIP room was very very tasty. Some awful players and I doubled up soon enough the details of which I forget.

A big pot developed when I had kings. A guy bet the pot in early position pre flop. I raised £10. Everyone folded to him, he raised the pot again. I was worried at this point. Aces were my only worry and he was playing his hand like they were. So I raised the pot again and he was all in. I showed him kings (showing is optional in cash games until showdown) and to my amazement he showed me 55. I was in great shape but the pot was huge and I was still worried. Zimmi dealt the cards out nice and slow to torment me but the kings were good!

I left the table soon after with a £165 cash out as well as £60 in cash from other people buying chips off me. Good start, took a break in the internet room and did $25 or something. Had a chat with Mike and Sam and chilled out before going down for another game.

A last hand before the table charge, I limped with T8 hearts along with about 6 or 7 others. Flop came with two hearts and a pair so I had the flush draw but was worried about the full house. Mike bet £3 and a couple of people called as did I. The lovely 9 hearts came on the turn and I suspected I was ahead. Mike bet £10, another guy called and I also called. Mike was left with £2.50 or so at this point and the other guy had me covered. River was a blank and I bet £20 and they both folded!! I showed the flush and they both showed AJ (with no A or J on the table!). Shocking hand but I guess they were winning until the turn.

I cashed £100 from that game and called it a night for poker just chilling out with a coke and sandwich.

Absolutely shattered the next day, I managed to get myself up in time to put some bets on before heading off to Arsenal. A good performance, expected a win but we played well. Sunderland had about 4 fans arrested which was funny.

Got home still tired as hell, decided to play a $109 double shootout on stars. I should NEVER play when tired and I went out in 4th on my first table bluffing off my chips. So what do I do, well the $109 heads up tournament of course! A bad idea as well, the first guy was easy because he couldn't play heads up, I think he thought we were 9 handed or something because he hardly ever played. The second guy was better than me but I lucked out, and the third guy was easy but beat me.

Oh well, at least I came £150 up on the sports. Brings me on to tonight, tried the $500,000 guarenteed tournament on stars. The players were mostly bad but there were 2 good players at my table (other than me ;)). Stupidly I bluffed into a calling station. I was doing quite well, up to about 3600 chips from the initial 2500, taking small pots with no hand or sometimes a hand and making good calls. I raised in mid position with JT off suit and the button called. We saw a flop of 983 with 2 diamonds and I led out again which he called. The turn was a 3 of diamonds which he bet about half the pot into, I raised him all in as I thought he could get away from his hand especially after a dangerous turn and he called with A9 and no diamond. He stood up and I was down to 1100. Later on I was in the SB with 77 for 50 chips and the button made it 400. I moved all in (tired, steaming, some other excuses probably) which he called with... the monster that is 95 suited. Of course he flopped a 9 and I went out.

I took a 2 hour nap and decided to play some $2/4 NL on pokerroom. Unfortunately there is a $250 deposit limit there per week unless you are a VIP. I deposited $80 as that was the max I could and sat at the $2/4 like a maniac! Picked up aces second hand and doubled up against queens then did all my money playing like an idiot.

Took on the $2/4 NL on Noble Poker where I can actually deposit $400. Soon enough I was up to $500 and not long after up to $800.

A big pot arised where basically I bluffed $120 on the river and they called and won the $440 pot which put me down to $450. Another big pot started building where I had aces UTG. I made it $12 to play, the button called and the BB made it $30 which I called as did the button. The flop was 954 and the BB lead out for $65 which I limit raised to $130. The button called and the BB folded! Seemed a bit curious to me but I liked the off suit ten on the turn and pushed all in for $380. They folded and I scooped the pot.

The last pot I played before I left -- KJ spades on the BB. Couple of callers and the SB makes it $12 which everyone calls. Flop is A76 with 2 spades. The SB leads out for $24 which only I call. The turn is the lovely 9 spades and once again they lead out for $34. I call again and the river is an off suit 4. I have the stone cold nuts and they make it $123! I dwell then push them in for their extra $80 which they call with A9. A lovely pot and I cash out $1080.

Off to bed now, did badly in a practice exam on Thursday (read: 0%) and I really need to focus for this Thursdays real exam. Still not booked flights to WPT, waiting for the info email from Stars and for my mate Ben who i'm taking to get his passport sorted. Still really excited about that, it's a great oppurtunity as well as a great holiday. I'm looking to play my best game so I need lots of practice at gutshot -- that's my excuse for going there every week anyway! I'm going to i26 on Friday for the weekend (it's a big computer LAN party/geekfest) so I might not get any poker in this week at all! Oh well I need a break anyway.

Au rev

WPT havin' a laugh!

2005-11-04T01:25:00.000Z

It was a pretty quiet week up till Wednesday night. On Tuesday I whacked $200 into pokerroom to play some $1/2 and $2/4 NL. The 1/2 paid off nicely and soon enough I was up to $700 before I called it a night.

The half day off on Wednesday allowed me to get some more NL in before the Arsenal match, I worked my way up to $1300 before I lost a big pot where I read someone incorrectly (Mi1kyBarKid -- Ben Grundy). He had trips and I had two pair but I put him on the same two pair as me or a PP. Anyway I was down to $800 and withdrew my cash before I tilted it all away as I so often do on pokerroom.

Off to the match I went, a good start from the arse scoring midway through the first half with a classic Thierry goal (although it looked like it was an accident and he slipped from his celebration). The rest of the match was tight until Van Persie came on and showed everyone why he should be picked up front. Good result, good night, qualified for Europe, next case!

I had already decided before I left for the match that I would try a satellite for the WPT when I got home. I got back with 1 hour to spare before the start of the $175 double shootout event which I bought into. I didn't even know what a double shootout was but Tom Ferrari told me on MSN.

After a bit of persuasion I got him to play as well so both of us were in the satellite. Amazingly he got drawn to my table as well. We agreed before the tournament started that no matter how big the pot we would not tell each other our cards as it isn't good for the integrity of the game. He was doing well until unfortunately a maniac went in with 74 off and Tom called with AK but got outdrawn. Interestingly the very next hand I picked up AK with position on the maniac. He went all in again and I called based on his previous play. Everyone else folded and he showed 74 again!!! I guess he was in a hurry to go or something but this time AK stood up and he was out.

I breezed through my first table, outdrew people a couple of times, got outdrawn in a big pot. It's all part of the game though.

The final table was tougher than the first one but there was one guy who was pretty big value. Early on he showed that he would fold hands easily and so whenever I got involved with him I just raised him up and he would fold giving me respect. I managed to win a LOT of chips without showing down and i'm not sure if they cottoned onto it or not. There was one pretty good player who said he met Dubai/dpommo out in Dublin for the EPT event so based on the fact he'd played I had to give him some respect. Not the case, as I had position on him everytime he raised I pushed them in. The first couple he folded, the next one he called with KQ where I also had KQ (suited) which was a chop. Another big one he had AT and I had KJ. I flopped a pair but he turned and rivered a straight! Big pot but I remained chip leader for the most part and we were still 4 handed. I knocked another short stack out with jacks after a T high flop and he had QT. The turn gave him a flush draw but I managed to avoid the suck out! Anyway this EPT guy raised it up nicely, I moved in again with KJ and he called with AQ, this time I made my pair and held up. Bit of a suck out but you have to get lucky at some point and he could just have easily been stealing my big blind! The heads up went in with me having a 12.25:1.25 chip lead over him. It was over in three hands:

1) Me SB him BB, I fold
2) Me BB him SB, he folds (I had AQ suited)
3) Me SB him BB, I move all in with 9To, he calls with K5, I make a full house and it's over!!

I'm going to the WPT event in the Bahamas! Check out http://www.pokerstars.com/2006pca/main.html if you are interested in more details.

I am taking my mate Ben Mayhew, he helped me out a bit towards the end of the satellite and kept my head straight (I don't believe I considered calling QJ!!!). He loves the game but has had some ups and downs recently but its all good. We will be jetting out Jan 4th to fleece the pros of their dinner money.

So keep your eyes open around the start of January guys, you never know I might wind up being the next WPT champ!

More gutshot hands

2005-11-01T00:55:00.000Z

From Sunday:

Bet the pot with kings pre flop in the 25 PL, one caller in the BB, flop comes T97, i'm absolutely loving it, throw in £5, he makes it £15 which is all of mine, I call he shows me J8!

Called a £4 bet pre flop with 55, 5 runners and pots just over 20 bones. Flop comes Q54 with 2 spades. UTG checks, initial raiser bets out, I reraise, UTG rereraises, all-in, all-in. Initial raiser has AJ with two spades, UTG has 44. 2 turn. 2 spades river. I house up and take the £90+ pot.

77, one raiser, I call, another calls, 3 players. Flop comes 743. Initial raiser is in the blinds and bets the pot, I limit raise, last position calls, initial raiser reraises, I reraise, last position dwells then declares that he's calling for value. Initial raiser shows TT, last position has 52 off. 77 holds up.

By this point i'm on £150 from £25 (minus the £65 I did on a different table). A big hand then develops;

A9 on button but one, half the table calls the 50p and I make it £2 to play (it's a loose game, I planned to outplay on the flop). 4 people call and it's 5 to the flop of A96. UTG makes it £5, folds to me, I make it £10 which he calls. Turn is an 5, he checks, and I also check. River is an 8 which he checks to me, I bet £25 and he dwells and puts in his remaining £46. I call the £21 and he has A7.

Such stupid play from me, firstly not reraising enough on the flop, secondly not continuing to bet on the turn, thirdly betting so much on the river, and the final call was debatable just in case he fancied his lower two pair or something. Bad play but it was 2am and I was thinking of skipping the programming lecture the next morning.

A pretty good night out, was with the poker society from Imperial, 7 or 8 of us went in total and none of us had any luck in the tournament. I was drawn left of Adam our poksoc chief. Second hand I have AA, raise it up with one caller. 554 flop, he checks I bet 3/4 pot size, he limit raises me which I call. Both check the Q turn. River comes 2. He bets 3/8 of the pot which could easily have been a double bluff with a low queen or even a 4, I call and he has 55. Adam had a nasty one with aces as well. He bet pre flop with the bullets, one caller to see a flop of Qxx with 2 diamonds. The money goes in and his opponent has AQ of diamonds and a diamond nails him on the turn.

Our furthest finisher came 12th with 9 paying so he was a bit gutted I think but he is less experienced to live play and overrated a lot of hands that are bigger on the internet -- he was the AJ player in the earlier hand.

Got back at 4:30am on Monday, slept till noon then went in for the afternoon lectures. Was actually a very productive day although i'm a lecture or two behind now in programming and logic so i'll have to do some reading.

Watched The Cincinnati Kid this evening which i'd say was largely disappointing. Apart from a few legendary lines "You're good kid but while i'm here you'll always be second best" or words to that effect, and a couple of others it was mostly dull misplayed hands of 5 card stud. How can you possibly call $3k on a flush draw and gutshot straight draw with one card to come in a pot of about $2k. What a fish. Personally if I was the kid i'd be loving the action he's getting from Lance Howard. Still, nice to see a film that doesn't end happily ever after. The cock fighting was good as well.

Pro Evo 5 arrived today (well Friday actually but we have to collect parcels between 8pm-8:30pm for some obscene reason and I was out on Friday and Saturday) so I have been playing that a fair bit. It seems a lot harder, I lost 5-0 on 6 stars my first game and only just scraped a 1-0 win through a penalty on 3 star (both Arsenal vs Chelsea). Guess i'll have to get used to it a bit more, Pro Evo 4 got to the point where it was 5-0+ every game on 6 stars.

Speaking of footy, off to Arsenal on Wednesday for the game against Sparta Prague, then Sunderland on Saturday. Pretty disappointing result on Saturday in terms of bragging rights against the scum but to be fair to them they are playing well and our away form is pretty poor at the moment. Hopefully things will pick up and Wenger will maybe get his arse in gear and throw some cash about in January whilst holding onto Henry for the next 40 years. At least Europes going well for once.

Tunes this week? Audio Bullys new album without a doubt.

Bad run

2005-10-30T15:22:00.000Z

Did my weekly trip to Gutshot on Friday for the £10 rebuys.

The tournament was pretty boring, got to 3000 chips from the initial 500 by taking flops cheap and hitting lots. A couple of 50/50s lost set me back and I decided to go out just before the end of the rebuy period at damage of £20.

Went to the pony game for some action, lots of familar faces around. One pretty nice hand, I limped with 74 suited in midposition, guy in late position bet the pot and I called with about 4 runners. Flop came Q4x and everyone checked. Turn card was a 3 and the initial raiser bet £3 which only I called. River came a Q and he bet £10. I was fairly certain that he had been betting and missed with something like AK/AJ maybe even AT in this game so I called and the 74 was good. Everyone was pretty surprised with my call, he showed AK and I reasoned that that was exactly how I used to play AK.

Another big hand, I straddled for £1 (an additional optional blind making it £0.25-£0.50-£1) and found aces. Nearly everyone called and I bet out the pot to make it £7 to play. 2 callers and I was in midposition. Flop came 974, pretty much an ideal pot for me. UTG made it £10, a fairly small bet considering the pot size, so I went all the way with my money which was about £60. They both called! I knew I was in big trouble, Jimmy who was last to act said he hoped one of us had Aces. I showed them, he showed 99, and the other guy showed 97.

After rebuying in a couple of times (can't remember how I did my second pony), I had found my way back up to around £45. I limped with 99 and the small blind bet out the pot making it £7 more for everyone. Nearly everyone called and the pot stood at around £30. The flop came 443 and it checked round to me, I bet out the pot which was all of my remaining money. It folded to the inital raiser who thought and kept saying he thought I was trying to bluff the big pot. He eventually called and asked if I had the 4. I said I didn't and he said "I knew it". The turn was another 4 and the river an ace. I say I have 9s and he says well i've just rivered you then and he showed AQ! Bit annoying but he's made an incorrect play and so I have gained in the long run from it...

I ended the night stuck £160 which includes meals/drinks/internet so a pretty bad night all in all.

On Saturday I made £210 from sports betting which was nice and today I am off to Gutshot again with the Imperial Poker Society to play in the £30 freezeout which should be good fun although i'm hoping to get an earlier night than normal trips to the gutshot which means leaving before the tube is closed. Of course if I get far in the tournament then I guess I will shift the 20 quid for the taxi home...

Till next time

The pony game

2005-10-26T19:16:00.000+01:00

I went down to Gutshot last night seeing as I was completely lecture free today for the "starters night" tournament as well as cash games. I arrived at about 7pm, plenty of time to signup for the 8pm £5 rebuy tournament.

After finishing my tuna and cucumber sandwich, we kicked off and it seemed as though I had a pretty tough table -- Ade and Rupon being two strong players that I recognised. As well as that, Ade asked before hand if anyone was an actual beginner so he could explain basic rules and etiquette but no one said they were and that became clear once we started playing!

The structure of the £5 event if quite a quick one, 500 starting chips and a 30 minute clock initially, 20 minutes after the 1 hour rebuy period.

I decided I was going to play fairly tight unless an all in session all round happened which aren't rare in these events. I doubled up fairly early on with KK against Rupons QJ after a queen high flop. A jack on the turn left me in trouble but the board paired and it was mine.

Towards the end of the rebuy period I made a move with KJ under the gun but a guy two to my left couldn't get his chips in quicker with AJ. The board didn't help and I took the rebuy. A complete drought of hands despite the top up at the end of the rebuy period and I was soon committed with 73 in the big blind, I called the UTG all in (half my stack was the BB) and he had KJ sending me out.

To the cash games! At gutshot the smallest game is a £25 PL with a 3 quid rake every hour. I soon got through my first pony, details of which escape me so I went and chilled for a bit in the internet room whilst I waited for a spot on the table next door to come free with 3 LSE students who are always great fun to play with.

A seat came free and I sat with my pony, soon doubling it up against a nice chap across the table from me. The LSE guys Paul and Rupon were discussing how I played and Paul reckoned I was a rock! Gave me a bit of a laugh but I guess I do play much tighter in live play which probably isn't as correct seeing as you see a lot less hands than online.

I was on about £60, and Rupon on my left bet the pot out (he has me covered). I had KT of diamonds and decided to take a look in the BB with 3 runners. The flop comes KJx with 1 diamond, and I check as first to act. Rupon makes a medium-large bet (can't remember if it was the pot or not -- it may have been) and Dan, the other guy in the pot, and myself call. The turn comes another medium diamond and I make a bet of £25. Rupon thinks for a long time before making it £50 and Dan passes after some thought. I call my remaining 20 quid or so and the river makes my flush. I took down the pot but Rupon shows AA! A lucky river for me. We discussed the hand afterwards, both Dan and Rupon weren't sure if they should put me on KJ or not, Dan said he put me on KQ with a flush draw which was as good as correct.

So i'm sitting at the pony buyin table with around £135 and it is the last hand before the £3 table charge. I decide to limp with 77 for £1 (there was a straddle) and the flop comes 7TQ rainbow. I check and a fairly tight player bets out the pot. Rupons girlfriend raises for the rest of her chips (about £15) and I call. The initial raiser then reraises the pot and I am left with a genuine decision. I finally decide that if he has a bigger set than good luck to him and move all in which he calls for not much more. The turn and river were low I think, can't remember exactly but he has a good look at his hand before showing an ace and mucking. Rupon's girlfriend (who's name escapes me) shows QT and I scoop another huge pot. A nice cash out of £268.50 from a £25 buyin game!

Later on I sit again with 25 and sit tightly before losing it with QQ vs AJ on a 678 flop, A on the turn. Another 30 was done with 99 vs AT, me all in pre flop -- by this time they had fairly big stacks -- so I got 2 callers and the A on the turn and T on the river put me out.

By this time it was 5:20 and the tube was back up so I strolled home.

All in all a good fun night at the Gutshot with a nice profit to come home with!

Intro

2005-10-24T21:51:00.000+01:00

I suppose I should introduce myself really...

First of all my name is Rupert. Lived in Suffolk my whole life until I recently moved to London for university, more on that later though. I first got into poker via the internet like so many others. At first I just played the freerolls for fun whilst I was making nice money out of casinos -- while I was 16.

After getting bored of losing $10 on every sit and go I tried, I decided I wanted to get a bit better. I wanted to play winning poker. A friend recommended some good books on the subject, David Sklansky ones mainly but I have since added to my collection with Harrington books amongst others.

I started doing ok, I got a couple of nice multi table victories under my belt and I naturally thought I was invincible. It didn't take long to pay back the winnings as I found out I was no where near as good as I thought. Sod it I thought, I even considered getting a proper job for a long long time but alas poker was much more fun.

Move forward a year or so, last year of A levels and going to mates house to play a 50p freezeout was much more fun than sitting through another tedious Physics lesson -- good days, poker, nintendo, and maybe even a drink or two if I wasn't driving.

As the school year came to a close and the pressure of exams was on, I decided that just in case sometime in the future I wanted to get a paying job rather than living on my swinging bank balance my whole life, I ought to do some work. I did enough in my A levels to get into a nice uni, two A's and a C in maths, further maths, and physics sealed the deal.

Rather than get a job all holiday I opted to bet on sports and play poker, as well as the odd fleecing of an online casino (i'm sure you are all aware of the money to be made there). I was partly doing well, but largely unsuccessful and found myself poor as a tramp come the end of the holidays.

Like having no money would stop me from gambling, I discovered a nice overdraft/student loan as I started at Imperial college, University of London. First week in, no poker yet but a couple of hundred quid down from various freshers events and getting used to paying for my own toothpaste, but I was just getting ready.

At the end of my first week, I made a trip over to the Gutshot card club -- I had been many times before but never by myself always with mates. On a Friday you can play the 2pm freezeout, the 5:30pm happy hour, and the 8pm rebuys. It's a busy day, especially if you decide to skip the hardware lectures.

I got my first cash from a tournament in a live game that day, coming 7th in the 8pm £10 rebuy tournament. It was a nice £120 cash and kept me going for the week.

Confidance was high but I was very tired from the freshers events. I proceeded to lose the £120 in no time on the 'net but thats isn't a problem -- i'm used to it by now.

Back to the gutshot the next Friday and despite spending £100 on the £10 rebuys (!) I somehow managed to come back with the amount I took, thanks to the crazy £25 PL cash game there.

The next week I had an amazing run. On Wednesday I won a $5 rebuy on Stan James for $430. I have half of Thursday as pointless lectures so I got back at 12 and played the $30 "lunchtime crapshoot" tournament on Ladbrokes. I ran off as an easy winner -- the quality of play is appalling even if it is a crapshoot -- and took a nice $1200.

The next day, Friday, I was down the Gutshot again, this time arriving just in time for the happy hour. As I queued up, they had to open up another table due to the popularity of it making it 49 runners instead of 40. As I got to the desk, Jake behind the counter said "Sorry tournaments full". Gutted I was! He decided to make an alternatives list so if anyone went out in the first 30 minutes we could play. It didn't take long and I took the full 15 quids worth of chips and my seat. 2 hours later and i'm at final table as chip leader. The blinds are crazy so people are going out every other hand. Before I know it, I have won first place and £192! I left a £12 tip for the dealer which is the norm there.

This pretty much brings you up to scratch with my life of gambling, feel free to leave a comment or two (you will need a blogger account but everyone has one these days).

No wise words to leave from me but i'm sure you could teach me a thing or two about the game, life, money.