Poker : Home tournament – end of season reflections

The 2009 season seems to have been a success from an organisation point of view :-)    Everyone seems to enjoy themselves, some new faces have joined us to keep a good dynamic and mix up the play, and the mix of games seems about right.   

The standard of play generally also seems to be increasing so the new rules for next year are coming in at a good time

For me personally, 2009 seems to be a bit of a breakthrough year for my Poker game (at last!) and my second league win in a row showcases my better recent performances.   My average finish of 5th place was significantly dragged down by Sean’s double bad beats on me in March (Yes, I still remember ;-) ) so although being slightly worse than my 4.8 average last year, feel I played a lot better overall this year.   Like Jenson Button, I did most of my good work early in the season so a slightly lacklustre end to the season for me just kept it interesting until the end of the year.

Most people got a cash finish during the year, with Andy being the most experienced exception, despite his 7 points paying finishes! but in the end was not an expensive season for anyone (not for the Poker anyway!)

Our two newbie's Daniel and Janice both made a big splash… Daniel for his two 5th places in 3 games and Janice’s maiden victory which certainly caught our attention !

Other noteworthy performances this year (in my opinion) were Darren for his 4.9 average finish (bettered only by Janice’s 1st place average)  and Lee who had an impressive end to the season, but was let down by a few poor results in the summer after a solid start

Whilst in a mood to look back…. having forgotten the history of our gatherings when asked about it, I just had to look back on the previous years results.   We started the “CamberleyBoyz” in 2002 (16 month season ending Dec ‘02) having been inspired by watching Late Night Poker on TV.  The previous league victors  have been:-

2002 – Bill (5 wins during the season)
2003 – Andy (8 wins)
2004 – Jon (1 win)
2005 – Alex (4 wins)
2006 – Simon W (3 wins)
2007 – Jon (1 win)
2008 – Mike (3 wins)
2009 – Mike (3 wins)

The rules changes for 2010 should shake things up a bit and make things a bit more interesting, so am already looking forward to the first game of the season and my change to make it three in a row :-)

Good luck and see you soon……

Poker : Home tournament – December 2009

The last game of the season and a festive spirit is in the air as well !    With 15 players, both Derek and Alex have both got a chance to take the lead away from me, but will depend very much on them winning and taking out lots of players, and me scoring no more than 4 points (due to the best 8 game results rule)

We also have a new player in Janice so more unknowns to throw into the mix

The “special” games always feel different to the pot limit rebuys, and tonight's is no exception.   Everyone seems more serious and focusing more than normal.   My game starts out fairly poorly and don't get a decent hand to play.   In the third level, I was just doing an Andy (pointing out how poor my cards have been) when I get dealt AT and raise it so everyone folds :-)  Next hand I get AK so raise it again, but everyone folds again… on well you can’t have it all ways I suppose.   Couple of hands later I am on the BB and look down at 7-2o   Unusually, everyone folds to Steve on the SB who just completes, so I decide to steal the blind and as the blinds are already 125/75 make it a 500 raise.   Steve thinks briefly then calls (to my horror!)   The flop of T-4-2 and Steve’s check makes me think he has probably missed so decide to fire at the pot and bet 1000   Steve thinks for a long time then calls, leaving him with 1000 behind to my 650 chips.   The turn is a T and Steve checks again….. convinced he will call a bet I check behind and the river is another low card   As Steve checks again, I am pretty sure I am ahead, so go all in.  Steve calls to show K-Q and my 2 takes a sizeable pot !  Understandably, Steve thought i was bullying him out the pot (which I was of course) so was just unfortunate I out flopped him and he didn’t improve

We were already at the break and I was looking pretty good with around 7000 chips.  Everyone got lucky as Karen and Sean had kindly supplied some lovely cakes for us all to eat – thanks chaps :-)

After that my memory gets a bit vague as there were many significant hands and lots of action.   I remember one hand with against Andy where I had pocket 3’s in the SB and raised Andy’s BB  He flat called but I flopped a 3 and check called all-in   Andy was well behind with a middle pin str8 draw, but the river saw him catch his card and he doubled up.  I still had around 5500 chips which was about average at this stage.   The next hand saw me with K-9s on the button and everyone folded to me.  I raised to 1500 but Andy went all-in.   I decided he must have a middle to high pair and put him on either T’s or 8’s and folded in the end… he showed J-J so I made the right choice !

It took until level 7 with blinds at 1000/500 before we got to the final table.   Janice had made it on her first attempt and the chips were fairly evenly spread, although i had just over average at around 9500 chips

My final table was a roller coaster ride… I remember going up against Janice when I hit top pair and she showed a straight…. later I was all-in against her with A-J against her 9-9 but hit an A on the rover… I limped UTG with KQ and was against Lee in the BB.  He checked the A-3-4 flop but called my bet… so I put him on something like 7-4 and checked behind the turn and river and he had 5-4 and rivered the straight (although the 4 was enough to beat me :-) )

In the end we were down to the last 6 and 3 hands to play.  I was all in with AK, Simon was all-in with 9-8s, Daniel was all-in with K-x  but Janice had pair 9’s   I was pleased to see a K on the flop, but Janice hit another 9 as well and took three of us out !   

The last hand saw Jon and Lee both with 21’500 chips and Janice with 17’000   Jon was in the BB so needed to play to win, which meant Lee also had to play or settle for 2nd and Janice had nothing to loose, so all the chips went in the middle     Janice took the pot and the victory and left an unusual dead heat for 2nd place !

Wow, an unusual game but very exciting and interesting as usual !  There were lots of thrills and spills and for me personally it was a wild rollercoaster ride after a slow start!

I’ll do another post about the end of year League results soon, but was certainly a great game and a fitting end to a thrilling season

Roll on next year !

Merry Xmas and a happy and prosperous new year to all

Poker: Black Belt Poker update

I started playing Black Belt Poker (BBP) as my Poker site of choice back in September.   I chose BBP as they offer a grading system instead of rake back for playing, and also have an active user forum for which you also get benefits for participating in.

The basic idea is to earn points every month to get upgraded through the rankings, really aiming at Blue belt where you get sponsored for live play !

November was my first really serious attempt and managed to get from Yellow belt to the Orange belt level.   The side effect (so far at least) is to have made some money at it as well !!    Despite not liking playing cash so much, I made about £70 on cash games and another £50 on single table tournaments (STT) so a good month for me on the Poker tables :-)

My Sharkscope graph (which only shows the STT) also reflects my success !

December may be a bit more tricky to maintain my current good fortune, but will be giving it a good go and will report progress :-)

General : My first trip to casualty (and hope my only trip !)

Managed to get my finger slammed into Lynn’s car door on Saturday !     I was OK to begin with, but about 15 mins after (I guess when the adrenaline had subsided) I did begin to feel a bit queasy and sweaty and nearly fainted !   Luckily I was able to sit down and get a drink of water so was OK but the finger was a bit sore and bruised !!

On Sunday the fingernail was completely black so called NHS direct who went through some symptoms and in the end recommended me to go to casualty

I duly went and was actually only in there 2 hours, which I thought was pretty good… especially considering they did an X-Ray (luckily nothing fractured) and poked about with a needle (you don't want to know!)

I don't think it will stop me shuffling the cards on Thursday but am sure we can work something out if it does ;-)

Gadgets: New laptop (with Windows 7 !!)

I couldn’t resist :-)    Having had a good run with Poker recently, I decided to invest in a new laptop.     The netbook I previously bought is fine for what I originally wanted it for (and will still be used) but the screen size was bugging me when using it to play Poker, so have gone for the Dell Studio 17 laptop to give me a decent machine to play on in front of the TV :-)

 

The main criteria was screen size and resolution, so have gone for the 17 inch screen.   It also has Intel core 2 Duo processor T6600 (2.2GHz) 4GB RAM and ATI Mobility Radeon graphics with 512 MB dedicated memory (more powerful than my Desktop and about one third the price !!)

There wasn’t a choice of operating system, so had to have Windows 7    It has had a couple of random hangs so far, but the usability seems much better than Vista, although has many similarities.    

Overall I am pleased so far, and most importantly allows me to have 2 Poker tables going simultaneously wherever I am in the house so giving me more playing time :-)

Poker : Home Tournament – November 2009

All players seemed excited and keen to get stuck in today… maybe due to the week delay from the normal date ?  :-)

My table started out pretty steady and passive, but the other table was a bit riotous and they probably had about 2 rebuys every hand !   Karen had been volunteered to do the running and she must’ve been getting worn out !

My game was fairly standard, playing tight and getting a lot of respect for my raises.   After a slow start I had 8-5 on the BB which was un-raised and was pretty happy to see that I had flopped a straight !    I checked to Lee who bet out and the two of us got all in, with Lee showing AA    He was drawing deal on the turn and so I took his chips then berated him for slow playing AA in that situation :-)    This put me up to around 2000 chips where I pretty much stayed until the break

At the break, the average chips were 2700 and that was exactly how much I had !   Lee had a whole load of chips on my table, but on the other table, Bill and Sean seemed to have it all sew up already !

After the break, I managed to fritter away a fair number of chips and so getting 6-6 in late position saw the opportunity to re-raise after Daniel had made a raise… unfortunately for me he had K-K !   As it turned out, a 6 came on the turn and I had knocked him out !     

As the blinds went up and the players diminished, Jock went all in for 1200 and as I was in the BB for 1000 I called, although with 7-7 I probably would have called a bigger bet anyway…. but Jock had J-J   My outrageous fortune held up and a 7 came on the flop, so we are down to 9 players

It wasn't long before we were on the final table but only had a few minutes before the final blind level.    With lots of small stacks and high blinds, it was always going to get messy.   Darren was out first, then after a couple of hands we saw a quick flurry of exits… myself included when my A-4 got turned over by Sean’s T-x on the river !

The last few hands saw Roger go out, then Lee, leaving the three remaining players all went all-in on the last hand (it was that close)    Sean took it down on the chip count, but had a huge chip stack since well before the final table so was a well deserved victory.

See you all next time !

Poker : Casino trip

Due to the addicts not being able to wait another week to play Poker, we decided to go to the Casino for the normal £10 No limit re-buy tournament

My evening didn’t start fantastically well, as seeing a traffic jam on the A329M had a split decision to come off the motorway or stay on…. so decided to come off and go the back street route.  Unfortunately it took me about 30 minutes to work my way round the dark and wet country lanes… mainly due to having to follow a train of cards behind some “Sunday driver” who was obviously trying the same thing !   

Sean ummed and ahhhed about coming, but in the end decided to join myself, Bill, Lee and Alex for the tournament, with the game kicking off around 8:15pm with a total of 37 runners

My table had a mix of talents, some being loose aggressive, tight aggressive, loose weak and tight/weak, which combined with my getting absolutely no promising cards make it very tricky for me to pick a spot to play a hand.   Whenever I thought about making a move with rubbish (as rubbish was all I got dealt) someone would raise or there would be 5 callers….   Finally I did get something like A-7 which I got my first raise in with after about an hour and of course everyone folded so I won the blinds :-)  (OK, so I was really wanting them to all fold…;-) )  

I don’t know what happened to Alex, but saw him walking off just before the rebuy period was over… I guess he didn’t have a great night !

All through the re-buy period my chip stack varied between about 1300 and 1800 (starting stack was 2000) so on the last hand before the add-on, having less than 2000 chips that you can rebuy if you have none, I decided to just stick it all in without looking at my cards.   Two players called and I saw A-6, which was actually slight favorite at this stage.   The A on the flop and 6 on the turn saw me win a huge pot (well, it seemed huge to me!) and we were at the first break

Mike : 5000 chips
Bill : 3800
Lee : 4600
Sean : 3300

With play much tighter after the break, I sat there for a level (20 minutes) without playing a hand, but the next level I looked down at AA in late position.  My heart started racing as the UTG player raised 3x BB.   I min raised and it folded to the UTG player who wet all in with his QQ   My dream hand held up and suddenly I was the table chip lead with just over 10’000 in chips !

I noticed Bill walking away from the table, finishing about 25th ?

When it came to my BB, I got moved to Lee’s table and was immediately to his right.  Unfortunately, everyone on this new table seemed to have a significant amount of chips… especially Lee who had over 20’000 !  I had to sit there and re-assess all the players to get to know them, so didn’t get out of line with any hands.    After a couple of orbits, I looked down at A-A again !   All folded to me and I made a small raise from the SB into Lee’s BB.   With around 5000 in the pot and draws on the flop, decided to push all-in for my remaining 6000 chips, but Lee folded (telling me at the next break he had 7-4 but did consider calling with his straight draw on the flop!)

It all went quiet for me again but was pleasantly surprised when it only took another hour for Lee, Sean and myself to make the final table (10 players)

Mike : 13’700 chips
Lee : 24’000
Sean :19’600

The final table is playing pretty tight, with the blinds now 1600/800   A couple of the short stacks get taken out before Lee gets a bit fruity with K-T (?) against 4-4, taking him down to around 3000 chips.  He soon pushes those in and is out in 8th place

Sean by now has a significant amount of chips, but then gets involved in a three way pot and takes out 2 players !  Not only has he now got a huge chip lead, but we are down to the top 5 players who all get paid !   (Thanks Sean :-) )

The last 5 are playing tough, aggressive Poker, with chips being pushed around the table (normally towards the one who bets first)    The next break sees :-

Mike : 25’000 chips (about average stack size)
Sean : 65’000

After the break I am struggling a bit and am short stack for a long time.   The other fellow who is also short manages to double up so I am a long way behind.    Decided to get more aggressive, but luckily also get a run of about three decent  hands where I can get all-in but no-one calls.   

Eventually a couple of other players get knocked out, with Sean still the huge chip leader and me being the short stack.    After some tense play I get all-in with K-Ts against Q-T and manage to double up.

Sean 51’000
Mike : 46’000
The other chap : 40’000

At this stage we all agree to split the pot equally three ways and the game ended at around 2am with us each taking home £320

A great game, made all the more sweet with some cash to take home :-)  Bet Sean is pleased he decided to come along as well ;-)

Poker: Home Tournament – October 2009

My house move the day prior to the poker certainly didn’t stop me playing but did stop me from being able to immediately report on all the action that happened…. consequently I only vaguely remember what happened now (even less than normally), so will be brief !

I do remember cruising along and being happy with my chip stacks, then with blinds around 200/100 and Steve with around 800 left in the BB, I put him all in with something like QT    He nearly folded, but called in the end with K-9 (?) and doubled up.  After that my chips seemed to slip away and was happy enough just to make the points

The final battle for the top three was also amazing, with Lee as the chip leader he took on Steve with A-J but Steve had A-Q   No-one improved, until Lee hit his J on the river to take out Steve in 3rd, then a couple of hands later took on Derek with A-Q against Derek’s A-K but Lee hit flush on river to win the game!  (I think anyway, but certainly won the hand on the river)

Any players who have better memories than me, then please go ahead and post a comment…. Normal service will be resumed next month

Cars: Bentley Drivers club at Brooklands

It’s been a while since we went to Brooklands Motor Museum, March last year being the last time I blogged about it, but sure we have been since then !

Anyways, yesterday was the Bentley Drivers Club day at Brooklands so we went…. no, I don’t have a Bentley but do like the majesty of the old ones and the looks and sounds of the new ones :-)

It was a lovely day and a good turnout, with plenty of cars on show, Bentleys of all shapes sizes and ages

It is amazing how much they have changed over the years

Both old and new still set the pulses racing, particularly when tacking the Test Hill

In the end, for me it is the old Bentleys which are the most romantic and beautiful

They just don’t make ‘em like they used to ….. :-)

Poker : Mansion Poker challenge – final analysis

Today was my last Mansion Poker session for two main reasons… firstly I am expecting to exchange contracts on my house move this week but perhaps more importantly I want to crack on with my BlackBeltPoker project (although if I get a positive response from Bankroll Supply then everything will change :-) )

My original intention for Mansion Poker was simply to try out for Bankroll Supply.  In the end, it turned into a challenge to see if I can really get in the hours of playing needed every week, and of course get the results needed, in order to move my game to the next level.  

I have no idea what ROI Bankroll Supply would be looking for but here are my final Sharkscope figures (which show a 9% ROI)

The previous ramblings summarised the figures from 10 days ago, but the final analysis from my own manual records show:-

From 4th August to 16th September I managed to play 25 days.   In that time I have played 153 STT games, either 10 or 6 seat (all except 4 games were at the $20 level)    It has taken me 63 hours of playing time and have made profit of £251.03 (which includes £36.38 bonuses)

These results can be broken down as :-

Ten seat table results

For 62 games played:

1st:   8
2nd: 11
3rd: 3
4th: 7
5th: 4
6th: 1
7th: 7
8th: 10
9th: 8
10th:3

Profit : £128.56

Six seat table results

For 91 games played:

1st: 17
2nd: 19
3rd: 13
4th: 18
5th: 13
6th:11

Profit : £86.09

OK, so a profit of £250 for a month doesn’t mean I am ready to turn professional yet, but am happy with any profit in the end :-)

Now I have set myself a nice benchmark, I will just have to try and improve month on month… but nothing will be happening until around mid-October now

Poker : Been working hard

I have been working hard this evenings session… managed 18 STT games !  (playing 2 at a time)

My results are a bit mixed….

10 seat table.   1 first, 1 second, 1 third, 2 eight and 3 ninth places

6 seat table.   1 first, 3 second, 2 third, 3 fourth and 1 sixth places

Total profit for the day…  £2.47 loss !

Wow…. lot of work for no gain…. but am sure the results tell me something about my game….. just not sure what right now as my brain is stewed from playing intensive poker for 4 hours or so…

Maybe I should play 6 seat games more… or maybe I should be less aggressive on the 10 seat games :-)

Poker : WCOOP Event 6 write up

 

Since registering just over a week ago, I have been looking forward to playing my first PokerStars WCOOP event

Having played the SCOOP in April, I had some inkling as to what to expect so had prepared myself and the wife for a long session.  It started at a very reasonable 5:45pm on Saturday so very easy time for me.   

When registering there were over 2000 players so was expecting at least 6000 to be playing.... so was slightly shocked when we started with 12'754 players.... and due to registration not being closed down until an hour of play, there were a total of 15'675 entrants !

The starting stack is only 3000 chips and the levels increase every 10 minutes so the first few levels sees a lot of uncalled for aggression, so I am sitting back waiting for hands and taking it easy.      The end of Level 3 (L3) sees me with 2690 chips when the average stack is 3156 (2690/3156) and am 10'815th place out of 14'004 players who are still left playing 10815/14004)

During level 4 I get my first big hand which is pocket Jacks (J-J)  My raise is called by one player and the flop is a great flop for me, being 9 high.  The other player bets out and I am a bit nervous so just call, he also bets the turn which I call and checks the river   I do think about re-raising as there are no scare cards, but have no read on the player so check behind.  I am pleased to see he has T-T which hadn't improved so I win my first pot !   The end of L4 sees me with 4100/3333 chips and 2672/13561 players

I am playing very steady although have the odd go at the blinds when I have enough information about the other players, but it's tricky as I end up moving tables 4 times so have to keep re-assessing my opponents from scratch.  

L7 sees me having made good progress with 5850/4817 chips and 2729/9823 place.     During this level a key hand develops where I get dealt Q-Q and raise.  A short stack goes all-in and another player calls, which is a bit concerning, but the 9 high flop looks good for my hand and bet out, then call the re-raise all-in.  Luckily for me.. BOTH the other players have T-T and I take out two players and now have a significant amount of chips (12'175)

L9 sees me with 11400/7841 chips and 1139/6072 place and is quite eventful.  I get involved with A-T against Q-Q but luckily hit my A on the flop to take the pot.  Then I get dealt A-A (actually the third time during the game) and get it in against Q-Q and take another big pot, so   L10 sees me with 25499/10426 chips and 138/4604

  L12 was a bad level for me as there is starting to be a lot more aggression and end up dropping significant chips, but getting K-K against Q-Q restores some of my fortune and am back to 20'000 odd chips

L13 has me at 20437/19399 chips and 874/2435   The blinds are now 1600/800 with 160 ante so are starting to hurt all but the big stacks.   It is also interesting as 2250 places are paid, so we are all near the bubble !

I am starting to play more tightly now and people seem to be all0in more or less every hand, so L14  has me pegged back to 16127/20825 chips and 1199/2258 place.  with only 8 people to drop out we play one hand "hand for hand" and the bubble has burst.   This is at 8:30pm so only 2 hours 45mins of play !

After that things go mental and lots of people start getting really aggressive and the number of players is plummeting all the time

L15 sees me at 12567/24277 chips and 1387/1963 place but then get lucky with A-8 against 9-8 and double up

L16 sees me back to a respectable 22324/34859 chips and 593/1355 but by now any hand you play will pretty much guarantee someone being all-in, so end up being blinded away until L17 I am down to 3 big blinds and toss in my chips just before the BB reaches me with 4-3 !  (hoping to have 2 live cards) but get called by T-T and am out !

I have ended up in 959th place at 8:55pm receiving $329.17 for just over three hours of play.

Whilst I am delighted to get a payout, it was a little disappointing not to get a bit further.   It seemed to all slip away in L16 and feel I should have probably pushed a bit earlier rather than hang on waiting for a hand.   

My dilemma is now what to do next... I am very tempted by Event #25, the $320 HORSE, next Saturday :-)

Poker : BlackBelt Poker

In my previous discussion about bankroll/sponsorship, I mentioned that Blackbeltpoker had not got up and running yet, but at last they have opened up their iPoker client by which you can gain points to earn your “belts” and go up the rankings.   The ultimate aim is to get to “Blue Belt” status which gives you a bankroll to play live tournaments !

As I am currently  embroiled in the MansionPoker challenge, I am not going to be able to do anything more than open an account and make a deposit (which takes me up to Orange Belt already :-) ) but hopefully (unless I get a deal with Mansion) will get cracking on this new ”project” in October

The group discussion forums are pretty active and I do join in with those, which will continue to do of course as I intend this to be my primary (and likely only) online Poker community that I actively participate in….!

Will keep you updated, let me know if you also join up and we can be “buddies” :-)

Poker : Mansion Poker challenge - update

My previous update was after only a few days, but have now been going for one month, albeit less one week as we had a well earned holiday.   In that time I have managed to play 105 STT games, either 10 or 6 seater (all except 4 games at the $20 level)

It has taken me 42 hours of playing time and have made profit of £133.20 (which includes £24 bonuses)

As my sharkscope stats shows, there have been good sessions and bad sessions

I have cashed 39 times out of 105 (37%) but my ROI is only 5% (according to sharkscope anyway)  I have also had 14 finishes on the bubble (13%)

Whilst I am not exactly “crushing” the game, I do feel comfortable at these stack levels and overall believe my game is fundamentally sound…. but do need to work a bit more to improve my results.   I just need that bit more focus, which should come by getting more time to play, and perhaps re-visit some of the strategy books and online articles to refresh my thinking… hopefully these steps will improve my overall Poker game

So what's next ?   Well, I will certainly continue with my challenge but may only have one or two more weeks of play before having to shutdown for a couple of weeks (due to the impending house move)  The good news is that Lynn is starting her college course at the end of September, so should be able to find more time to play generally :-)

Poker: Home Tournament – September 2009

There are 12 players for the £10 special tonight, but that doesn’t mean the action is any less frantic !

My game got off to a frustrating start… during the first level I got dealt K-2o twice and both times folded (as you would!) but then the flop brought not only a K but also a 2 !!   In the end I was a bit up and down, but by the break was still around the starting stack.  Andy was the only one on my table who needed his extra chips before the break, but otherwise everyone was fairly even on chips

After the break was when things got interesting , as with the blinds going up the pots were more hotly contested.    I had some good fortune when I got 6-8h and flopped a straight draw.   The straight came on the turn with a second heart and Lee was betting out.   The river gave me the straight draw (to the 8) but Lee checked… so was surprised and delighted when he called my pot sized bet and all of a sudden was table chip leader !!   

Later on, Lee flat called my BB and SB folded… but the flop was a load of old rubbish.   I had something like K-4s and there was one of my suit on the flop.   The two of us checked and the turn came another of my suit, but was checked again.  The river gave me the flush so bet out and Lee called – showing pocket A but loosing to my flush !    That’s the trouble with slow playing I guess :-)  

Lee was in trouble now and got down to 400 chips with the blinds at 300   He hung on to the BB but won that to give a bit of a breather.    Lucky for him, Jon got busted on the other table at the same time I busted Steve W so he sneaked into the top 7 !

The final table did see Lee bust out first quite quickly but the blinds are up so its starting to hurt the short stacks   

There was quite a long time before we saw another casualty and it was when I got dealt pocket A in the BB.  Alex flat called, then it folded round to Karen in the SB who called and I raised.   I was a little surprised when both Alex and Karen called.    The flop came something like K-8-4 and Karen led the betting with 1000 bet.  Despite being a little nervous, I went all-in for about 10’000 chips, but Alex insta-called   Whilst Karen contemplated, I was wondering if Alex had woken up with K-K … but my misery was soon dispelled when Karen folded and Alex showed K-Q !   My A’s held up taking Alex out and giving me a huge amount of chips (probably around half the chips in play!)

By now Darren was low in chips so went up against Bill but Bill took his chips and we are suddenly down to 4 players.

Karen is the short stack and is a little unlucky to push all in when I had A-9   I was always ahead but my 9 came on the flop to take Karen out.

We are now in the last blind levels so the chips are moving around the table very easily now !     I raise from the button with A-7 but Steve re-raises all-in with 4-4  Neither of us improve, but gives Steve the chips lead with around 24’0000 and I’m down to around 10’000 with Bill on around 15’000

Down to the last three hands and I get all in against Bill and double up.    For the very last hand, Steve has around 21’000 and I have about the same, so with Steve folding from the button, if I fold I come second but if I play and double up Bill I still come second, but if I play and take the blinds (or more) then win, so I play :-)    My K-T looks good against Bill’s 7-5 and I hit my K on the flop.  Bill then hits a 7 then 5 to double up and prevent my win, but I still take the 2nd place

Phew what a game…. it seemed quite tight and tense early on but then there was action all the way after the break.  There were several key hands and chips going everywhere so very exciting and several people had places where they can say “if only…”  That's why we love Poker :-)

See you next time

General: Cinema : G I Joe

Got to see GI Joe : The Rise of Cobra on Saturday.   It is definitely aimed at boys, with lots of loud explosions, carnage, gratuitous violence and a couple of hot girls in tight clothing…. what more do you want !

Nothing more to say about it really… the film really is that shallow, but was certainly entertaining.  If you want a more thoughtful comic book character, then something like Batman is deep, thought provoking, stylish and meaningful (compared to this anyway) but if you want a bit of escapism on a wet afternoon you could do worse….

Poker: the EPT dream is dead….. and a new one starts :-)

I was trying to qualify for EPT  Barcelona as described before, but what with everything else going on, I didn’t notice the date for the last qualifiers and missed the opportunity to try again !!

Looking at the EPT London schedule, unfortunately the date for this event is exactly when I am likely to be moving house, so dare not try to qualify for it as I may face the prospect of not being able to play in the final if I get through the two prior satellites !

So that's it then ? …… well yes for the EPT but luckily there is always something going on in the online poker world and as it happens, the Pokerstars WCOOP is starting on September 3rd :-)

I have spun up a starting bankroll of $55 (which I got as a dividend from some shares I own) to $130 from playing Blackjack on UB (tournaments and cash games),  so have got enough to go straight into Event 6 which is the $1 Million Guaranteed No Limit Hold’em event.   Even the timing works well for me as it kicks off at 17:45 on Saturday 5th September, and the wife has agreed to me spending the evening playing poker :-) 

All the stars are aligned and the omens are good, so maybe I will get lucky ;-)

Poker: Lee’s Casino deflowering

It was not that long ago we last went to the Casino, however Lee is now 18 so decide to organise a trip to celebrate

The best Thursday for us co-incides with the Reading Festival so bit concerned about traffic, but actually the roads within Reading are far quieter than normal… so seems all the locals are avoiding the area :-)

Despite Lee’s photo in his passport looking nothing like him, he joins up uneventfully and can enjoy the full range of facilities in the Casino

My evening started with the Roulette wheel being uncommonly unkind and took my money in about 15 minutes, which seemed to set the tone for the night

The poker players were called around 8:30pm so we all took our seats.   There are 45 players in total.  

I had Alex and Karen on my table and the other people were chatty and friendly so very pleasant table to be playing from the social point of view.   Lee had ended up on a table with Bill, so at least he had one familiar player

I played my normal tight style, although did flat call with some marginal cards on a cheap flop but never really hit.  There were a couple of occasions where my folded rubbish hands would have hit trips or something similar on the flop and would have won the pot, and the good hands I played seemed to get busted.  Had Q-Q against A-T but a T came on the flop, followed by an A on the turn.  My A-Ts got called by 3 players, then Alex bet big on the flop which had missed me, so had to fold.  

The best luck I got before the break was folding A-7.. as the flop came Q-7-x and was checked round… then an A came on the turn, so was a bit unhappy… then another 7 came on the river making me the full house !   Luckily for me, the player next to me had Q-Q for the higher full house, so would have lost all my chips !!

At the break, the average chips count was 4400 and our chips counts were:-

Jon   4300
Mike  5200
Lee    3000
Alex  5600
Sean   2500
Karen   4700
Bill  10800
Andy   2700

Prizes are for the top 7 finishers, with 1st getting around £710, 2nd £390

On resuming the game, my best hand was when I flopped an up and down straight draw on the BB.  Only the SB had called, and he bet the pot.  Despite it being a bit of a loose call, decided to and was very happy to make the straight on the turn and also have the SB bet into me.   When he called my all-in bet I guessed it would be a split pot, and sure enough he had 7-7 !

11pm - Sean knocked out

11:20 – Jon knocked out when his A-Js ran into K-K

11:35 – Mike got knocked out when J-J lost the race against K-Q  (about 25th place)

11:40 – Andy out in appx 24th and Bill out in 23rd

11:50 – Lee out in 21st and Karen out in 20th

We left Alex still playing at midnight, so hope he will update us with his progress

To top off the evening, decided to take the roof off the car for the journey home, but that was a poor decision as well as it started raining on the way back so had to stop and put the roof back on!   When it rains it pours…. :-)

UPDATE

Alex just let me know that his last hand came about when he raised with K-Q and got re-raised all-in which he called… only to see K-K !    Ended up finishing 17th just after midnight