Poker: Home Tournament - December 2008

It is the last game of the season ....  even though the top spot is already wrapped up, it is a big game for many people and everyone wants to win!

My table started off pretty tight and reasonably quiet with few huge lunges at the pot.   Of course it didn't last all that long with Sean on the table and chips were soon moving around a bit....    I had a flush draw and top pair on the flop with KQc but Derek was betting into it.   I reluctantly called as felt I had to improve to win.... unfortunately I missed my flush draw and Derek had hit trips on the flop, luckily I had only put in half my stack so still in with a chance !

Later on I was up against Bill and Derek, with a draw to a straight this time... luckily for me an A came on the turn to give me the nuts and started betting out, and was surprised when both called my all-in.   My straight held up and so I had tripled up and was now well over the starting stacks.

Sean and Bill seemed to keep running into each other, neither of them necessarily having a great hand... and even splitting the pot between them at least twice during the evening !

After the break things and with the blinds getting significant, the action got more frantic.   Derek hit trip 4's on the flop with A-4 and went all in.  Sean called with a 7 (hitting 2 pair)  so only a 7 could save him.... sure enough it came on the river... (luckily I had folded my K-4 pre-flop!)

We were soon on the final table, and Lee had maintained his impressive 100% record of points finishes so well done to Lee.... lets hope you don't keep it up next season ! :-)

On the final table, I was down to around 2500 chips and in the small blind.    With everyone folding and Bill on the Big Blind decided to lump it all in and (hopefully) at least get my money in ahead.... as it happens Bill made a rare fold so I had some breathing space to build up some chips.   Luckily I had a run of reasonable cards so did manage to accumulate chips.... unlike Darren who called Andy all-in and lost, then split a pot with Sean when they both had A-K (after Andy had lumped all-in with JJ)  then gave a load of chips to Bill when he needed an A or 3 on the river... and a 3 came !

With time running out and action all the way, people were down to the felt.... Lee was all-in twice on the BB but managed to double up both times so was clinging on....

By the last hand, Bill was way in front, I had around 9000 chips, Darren had around 6000 and Lee had around 2100.   Darren went all-in, I had A-3 and felt vulnerable so decided to go all-in... Bill dipped out as he could win by folding and Lee went all-in for his last 100.  Although I was ahead pre-flop, Lee won the lower pot and Darren beat me for the 2nd pot... leaving me in 4th place... !   oh well, that's Poker

So Bill takes his first win of the season, Darren takes another 2nd place and Lee finishes in the money for the 2nd time from 5 tries... well done to all

The end of season league table sees me 18 points ahead of Andy and Alex equal on 49 points, but Andy is given 2nd place on a count back of Wins... you can't get much closer that that !

Well done to all during 2008.... Merry Christmas to all and lets make 2009 another great year of Poker

General : Home Gym

We decided to set up a home gym in the garage, mainly as I am starting to work from home regularly now, but also as Lynn wants to do more keep fit as well.    Due to the coldness, we got the floor boarded and insulated, and put curtains over the garage door (keeping it all temporary so it can be converted back)

We got most of the stuff from Fitness Superstore in Frimley where after extensive research found the kit we had decided on was around the cheapest !   We also had sent off for a brochure, which came with a 10% discount voucher, which we could use on the whole order value.   The one exception was the the Multi Gym which we got from Connection Fitness as it was significantly cheaper….

In the end we decided on the following:-

Weider Pro 2000 Multi Gym
Oxford II CS rower
Life Fitness C1 Cycle
Andes 308 Elliptical Trainer
Bremshey Ambition T Treadmill

The weight machine came first and took about 4 hours to assemble !   The instructions were clear and having used the machine a few times already, it seems to be doing me good !

The remaining kit came a few days later and were less pieces to put together but still a surprising amount of assembly required !   The rower was the worse instructions as it was always a bit of a guess as to what screws/bolts/nuts to use at each stage… but in the end after another 4 or 5 hours of assembly everything is now setup and ready to go !   We did have a slight hitch with the console unit for the Bike… they sent the console for the treadmill instead !    I don’t think you can really judge how a good a company is unless you need to use it’s customer service when things go wrong, and did feel that the Fitness Superstore people reacted well and quickly, with the component swapped over a couple of days later, so all is well now and am happy by the service we received.

I am still going to David Lloyd on work days, as I have to give 3 months notice !! so will not get fully into the new regime until March, but will update on progress as I go

Poker : Home Tournament : November 2008

It's not quite "end of term" yet, but the game tonight had a end-of-term joviality to it for some reason (I only had 1 beer!) but was great to be in that atmosphere.

My poker night started well also as I got Pocket Q first hand, raised got 4 callers (no one respects me anymore!) and hit trips with a Q high rainbow flop. Even more lucky was that Sean decided to call my all-in with nothing, and apart from a brief scare of runner-runner flush was given a comfortable stack to play with.

Lucky for me as I didn't get many cards after that and started to get blinded down, but had plenty of time.

Our table was quite solid with not all that many rebuys, but on the other table Mick seemed to be grabbing more chips every hand !

As the blinds went up, I got involved in a hand where it looked like I was good on the flop (can't remember the exact details now), so managed to get all the chips in but Steve had me well dominated and I needed a ten to save me.....it came on the river and was suitably embarrassed as I gleefully raked in the large pot :-)

Luck always evens out and I later lost an even bigger hand to Derek. I had K9 on a KTx flop. Derek called my all in bet with AT but hit his A to take my stack

As the blinds were going up and we were approaching the last rebuy time, I got dealt K9h and decided to go for it. Unfortunately I got called by Sean and Steve (I think) who had KJ and KQ respectively. Needing a 9 or lots of Hearts, I got lucky again and a third Heart came on the river to give me around 2500 chips as we went to the break !

It had been an exciting night for me and my last hand was no exception.... my A6 on the blind looked a bit light to bet on the flop of 245 but the turn of 3 gave me the straight hit and so made a large pot sized bet. Derek called me and despite the flush coming on river pushed his remaining chips in. Feeling obliged to call, he showed his flush to leave me with 100 chips (with the BB at 200 !) Two hands later I was in the BB and Sean K3 took my KJ out when he rivered trips and I finished 9th.

One of my championship rivals Alex had also got knocked out just before me, so only Andy could mount a challenge for the title.

With 8 players left we were down to the final table. Mick got knocked out my Lee and then quickly went on to put Andy to an all-in decision. Deciding he was ahead Andy called... and was ahead! With Lee needing a ten to win the hand, sure enough it came on the turn and Andy was out in 7th place..... meaning I cannot be caught and have won the 2008 League :-)

Lee, Bill and Derek all had dominating chip stacks so it was inevitable that the others quickly got swallowed up, despite some valiant attempts to survive.

Bill made an all-in lunge at the top but unfortunately his bluff was called by Derek and it was down to the final two.

The heads up battle didn't last all that long. Derek had a huge chip lead but both players were playing it tight and it needed both to hit something to see the final showdown.... and we were not long in waiting. With the blinds at 1000/500 Lee raised on a flop of 92x all diamonds which Derek re-raised all-in. Lee called and shows Ad with a Q Derek had 9-2 (two pair) Lee thought it was his when he hit the nut flush on turn, but river came with a 9 to give Derek a hard fought victory

Phew what a night, the chips were flying around and everyone seemed to be involved...

The final battle of the year is only a month away, and should be a cracker so don't miss it !!

Gadgets: New camera !

Whilst my little Nikon Coolpix L3 (5.1 Megapixels) has been pretty OK for me since I bought it, I have always had a hankering to get a more "serious" digital stills camera. I have still got my JVC DVL365EK digital video camera but never really got into video very much.... and although I had a good "old fashioned" film stills camera (Canon EOS 500N SLR camera) finally decided to take the plunge and go for a Canon EOS 450D Digital SLR (12.2 Megapixels)

After much research and consideration... went for the "Canon EOS 450D Twin Lens Bundle" from Jessops

• Canon EOS 450D with Canon 18-55mm IS lens
• Tamron 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens
• Sandisk Ultra II 4GB SDHC memory card
• Camera bag

Taken quite a few shots with it, but still getting used to all the buttons and how to get the best out of the technology.... great fun to use and got some good shots already (well I think so!)..... couple of "artistic" shots below:

 

Just need to get the external flash and remote control now :-)

Poker: Home Tournament - October 2008

I am a bit late with my report this month.... nearly 4 weeks late! 

Actually I don't remember much about it now, so sorry to those who have enjoyed reading about our exploits so far.... but normal service will be resumed next month (next week in fact!)

Holiday : Costa Del Sol – September 2008

Went to our Timeshare apartment for a lovely relaxing week.  

Pretty much the same pattern as last years holiday, apart from the weather which was cooler (around 25 degrees) and we had cloudy mornings three days and a complete cloudy day on the Thursday.  As we had planned to go to Torremolinos market on Thursday it was good that it was cooler, although the market itself was a lot smaller than we had seen in previous years (maybe we are out of season this time!)

I always find this holiday a complete relax whenever we go, although will probably revert back to the normal June time of the year next time we go.

Holiday : UK leg of holiday

This year we couldn’t decide where to go for our main holiday, so decided to take a week in the Sun (next week, so check back for update!)  and also do some things around England for a week.

The weather hasn’t been fantastic, but had a great time at Aldeburgh over the weekend.    Had a couple of walks around town, but wanted to show off the car and see everyone again. 

On Monday we went to Norwich and stayed in a Premier Inn.  The hotel was clean, big enough and functional but was good location and good service.  We arrived around 11am and was able to check-in to the room and had rest of the day to explore Norwich City

After a long day hammering the shops, we had a nice meal and surprisingly good sleep to be refreshed and recuperated for our journey home.  

We took the long route home, which was very relaxing and pleasant, with a long lunch stop in Chelmsford.  Wasn’t my favorite place but had good choice of eating places.

We are now having a couple of relaxing days at home (although just spend loads of money in B&Q and MFI!) and am looking forward to our Sunny holiday next week

Poker: Home Tournament – September 2008

I only have vague memories of the event this month, partly down to the fact that I had a couple of beers, but mainly as I am writing this nearly a week later after a particularly hectic week

We managed to get back into the normal room this month, so was happy about that and also had both Colin and Martin join us for the first time this year… good to see some of the old faces back :-)

I seem to remember having some good luck early on, then letting it dribble away towards the end.   At one point I was worried about making the final table even but luckily for me, Sean and Alex were busy on the other table taking people out and with Karen's cautious play seeing her taken out and Andy’s over aggression getting him taken out in quick succession on my table, we had only 7 for the final table

Martin was pretty short stacked, so I thought I might squeeze into 6th place, but although Martin was first to fall I managed to win a couple of pots and got it up to average stack.   With Roger going out, then Lee and Bill both being taken out by a very aggressive Alex, I suddenly find myself falling into a cash paying position (albeit massive short stack)!

With time running out and being so low on chips, I pushed the panic button and did get quite lucky and crept into 2nd place just above Sean at one point….. unfortunately it didn’t last and got done by Sean.

With three hands to play, there was only 100 chips between the last two… so all to play for.     A very tense last few hands saw Sean win by a tiny margin, but was well fought to the end

The £10 special always sees a very different style of play and today was no different, with solid play throughout.  Back to manic shoving and rebuying next month :-)

Poker: Reading Casino Trip

Went to Reading Casino for the £50+5 No Limit Freezeout tournament yesterday.    The first problem was getting in as due to the Reading Festival, there were people everywhere and was temporary railings blocking access all along the road.  Of course the Casino was open and had a couple of people on the gate to let people in!

I was the first to buy-in and also went for the optional extra 1000 chips for an additional £5, so will be starting with 6000 chips in total.    Whilst waiting for the tourney to start, went on the Roulette.  Had a pleasant half hour with my funds going up and down (well, down then up actually) but in the end decided to cash in when I had got back to my starting level.   Then tried my luck at Blackjack, which went down then up again... so only played around 20 minutes and left the table £10 up !   Then had a final bet on Roulette to try and break even for the night, but lost £50 instead... of well, that's gambling for you :-)

At last it was time for the Poker to start.  There were a total of 20 runners in the end, although several were late comers,  so was never more than 9 players on each table at any one time.  My table was playing mainly tight, with a one chap looking like a novice and one other who was a bit of a chance taker.   I had "Granny" to my immediate left who seemed to call with two high cards and raise with any pair over 8, so seemed easy to read.

As the game progressed I was playing mainly tight but limping in cheap when I could.   My first real hand was poker jacks in early position, so played them fast.  I got one caller and was very happy to see another Jack it the table, but there was a flush draw possibility so bet out again and got called.    The turn paired the board so had the nuts and checked, hoping for some action but it got checked for the river.  The river brought a Q and completed the flush draw, but my bet didn't get any action, bit of a shame but was happy enough to take reasonable pot.

By the first break I was around 8000 chips, slightly over average.   The restart saw me build up my chips a little bit, but then I raised with KJ clubs and had Granny re-raise all-in.    I presumed I was behind but was only another 2500 to call, and sure enough she had AT     She hit T on the flop but a Q came on the turn to give me more outs, but none of them came and I was down to around 4500 chips.

I struggled after that and the next break came when we got down to the final table, and I was around 4000 chips with the average now around 11'000.    Luckily I drew seat 8 so had some time before the blinds came round.   With 10 players there was a reasonable amount of action so didn't get any opportunity to make a move.   

Another player went down when Granny got pocket 8's and went all-in.   Pocket 8's had been the pair of the night, having seen them showdown (and win!) at least 3 times before, and sure enough Granny took the pot and we're down to 9 players

With the blinds now 800/400 and approaching me fast, I look down at A-Q offsuit.  With the UTG player limping in and the next two players folding, I stick my chips into the middle and only get called by the UTG player... but he has got the dreaded pocket 8's !   Sure enough I don't improve (he actually made a straight on the river as well) and I am out in 9th.   (only the top 3 places paid out)

After a quick consolation go on Roulette, I end up having played in the Casino for over 4 hours at a total cost on the night of £50... which isn't bad in my view. 

On reflection, I think I played OK and didn't make any huge mistakes.   Had a couple of chances to get chips and would have played the final hand the same way with the cards face up.... so not a bad nights poker either.  

General: London trip

This weekend the weather forecast wasn’t great, and being bank holiday was bound to rain :-)  so decided to go to London for the day.

Although we didn’t want to buy anything specific, our plan was to start out in Camden Lock Market, then go to Trafalgar Square for the festival being held there there and also look in the National Gallery. mostly because we hadn’t been to either place before.

Got the train from to Waterloo and the tube up to Camden and got to Camden Lock Market about midday.   Had a good walk about and Lynn bought a dress…. I nearly bought some jeans but found they didn’t take credit card (and didn’t have any cash!) so missed out on the bargain…   Weather was warm and sunny so was very pleasant walking around and had a nice lunch there as well.

Feeling refreshed, we decided to walk back to Trafalgar Square, which took 45 mins or so, but allowed us to stroll through some parts of London we hadn’t seen before and was interesting to see what was going on.

On arriving at Trafalgar Square we wanted to see what was going on.  There were a lot of people and a large screen showing the Olympics, but apart from a few people prancing around in leotards there wasn’t much happening…. so went into the National Gallery.    Neither of us had been before, so was interesting to look around.  I was a little disappointed at first as all the pictures seemed to be religious, with a few mythological scenes thrown in, after all once you have seen one picture of Christ's crucifixion, you have seen them all!     We persevered and the second part of the gallery had more of what I was expecting to see, with Constable, Turner, Van Gogh and the other famous painters all being represented.  

We then went onto Hamleys to have a nose around like we normally do, but didn’t get tempted to make any purchases.

As time was marching on, we decided to march on as well, so walked back to Waterloo via the Hungerford Bridge Footway.  We were both glad of the rest by the time we got onto the train, and didn’t even need to walk far for our dinner as we stopped at Jagz in Ascot where we needed to change trains anyway.   All in all, a very nice trip out and even the weather stayed nice :-)

Gambling: Golden Tiger online casino

Last week I got a "gold" CD through the post from Golden Tiger online casino.  I am normally skeptical about these sorts of "offers" but this introduction offer seemed to be offering me £1500 for free.... surely too good to be true, but my curiosity got the better of me :-)

On further investigation, you actually get £1500 PLAY chips to spend on their casino games and have one hour to use these chips to try and increase your stake... keeping anything over the £1500 that you win (although it turned out the maximum win was £200)

I thought "why not, its a bit of fun" so had a go at the roulette.   I fired up the software on Monday and was pretty lucky,  ending up winning £200 so seemed like I was quid's in.

Of course on reading the full terms and conditions, you can't just withdraw the £200 bonus, you have to deposit at least £40 and then cycle through the bonus 30 times before you can withdraw it (actually more times than this if you play anything other than the slot machines!!)

Having won the £200 it seemed silly not to continue, despite the restrictions.... so tried to deposit £40.   Unfortunately it wouldn't allow me to register a debit or credit card... apparently I am some sort of risk !    After talking to Support online and emailing various people, they ended up telling me a couple of days later that I couldn't use a card, so would have to use an e-pay method, such as Neteller.   I wasn't particularly impressed but on Friday (yesterday) went ahead and setup a Neteller account and made the deposit there.   

The next twist in the tale was that when trying to deposit in the Casino using my Neteller account I still couldn't make the deposit, although soon realised this was because of Neteller's security processes so had to talk to Neteller's Support to get my account properly opened.

Phew, now at last I have got my deposit into the Casino, but wait a moment, where is my £200 bonus ???!!!  Another conversation with Support later, and it turns out it can take up to 2 hours for the bonus to be registered in your account, rather than the 30 minutes advertised....   After an impatient wait, finally my account gets updated with my £200 bonus and at last can start playing some games for real money to capitalise on my "free" funds!!

As it had taken about 2 hours of waiting and calling, I only spent a little bit of time playing roulette again (this time for real!)   After a bit of losing and a bit of winning, ended up logging off after about 20 minutes play, with exactly £240 - the same as I started with... on well, at least it is mainly their money and I'm having fun :-)

Today (Saturday) I had a quick 15 mins playing the 5 card poker and after a bit of losing and a bit of winning logged off with £241... a profit is a profit....

So has it all been worth it so far ?      I was wondering at one point whether I would ever get to see my bonus, but I normally judge the quality of an organisation by the service you get when things go wrong.... and in fairness both Golden Tiger and Neteller their Support and response times were prompt,  professional and were able to solve the issues being experienced - so I am happy and confident to use these organisations

As far as the gambling goes, I am realistic enough to expect that I will probably blow my £40 and leave it at that, but you never know...  I might double up and then be able to make a sizeable withdrawal... either way I am sure I will get many hours of entertainment from the games.   Lets see what happens.......

Poker: Home Poker Tournament - August 2008

Slightly surprised to turn up at the club and find our room full of furniture !   Seems like there is some refurb going on, so had to setup the tables in the main club room.   Ended up being OK as the club wasn't that busy.   Also had the effect that Andy didn't swear or stomp about at all, no matter what happened !!

There were two tables of six this time, with Lee joining us for the first time.    On my table were Bill, Steve, Andy, Darren and Simon.    The game started fairly typically with lots of calling and at least one person all-in for the first few hands.   Luckily for me, when I got involved early on with J-T suited I flopped a straight against Steve and Andy.  Despite my going all-in both called me and I pretty much tripled up which set me up for the early part of the game.   I was then able to sit back and pick my moments and build up my stack slowly.   

Meanwhile Andy was having a bit of a mare, going all-in with almost any two cards, or not hitting the flop when he did have a hand, so was in rebuy city!

Overall my luck went up and down.  I don't remember much of the detail now, but was calling with medium hands and raising with good hands so played solidly.   Bill amassed a reasonable stack, but then called them off against Darren on some wild chase of a runner-runner flush, leaving him down to the felt and rebuying a lot.   

At the break, I had a reasonable stack of around 3500 but Darren had chip leave of around 6000, but the other table had been rebuying more than us and all seemed to have around 5000 or more !

First hand after the break saw Bill chasing with A-T but Darren had hit the flop already and Bill was left with 300 chips.   Typical of his luck, I raised from the SB to put him all-in and his 6-3 was dominated by my Q-6  but we both ended up with a straight to split !   It didn't last much longer for Bill as he went out first on the table after a spirited defence

I had been playing pretty tight and was starting to get a little low.  There were at least 3 hands where I would have won the pot if I hadn't folded so was feeling a little under pressure.   I was a bit card dead so wasn't getting any good spots, but despite my fears other players getting knocked out on the other table suddenly saw us down to the last 8 and I'm in the points !

The final table sees me on the SB with around 3500, 2nd lowest to Andy who has 700.    Sean, Alex and Lee join us from the other table, but they all bring a bundle of chips with them.   Simon and Darren from my original table are holding their own and Steve in the BB has around 2000 odd

The first hand on the final table sees Steve all-in but gets busted by Alex, who is probably the chip lead by now.    Andy is delighted as it gives him another point, but he is all-in the next hand and manages to double up to give him a respite.   As it happens it just gives him more chips to give to Alex who busts him out the next hand!

With the blinds up to 500/1000 and still low on chips, I need to get busy so go all-in with pocket 3's.  Lee calls with K-5 on the BB and neither improve so I have got a reasonable stack of chips now.   Lee is a now the short stack so goes all-in and is called by Sean.  Lee's A-A against Sean's J-8 looks in good shape, even when a 8 comes on the flop, but a J on the river takes Lee out in a very respectable 6th place

With the blinds hurting, Simon is all-in with T-T but gets done by Darren's A-K and we are down to 4 players for the last blind level (1000/2000)     I start to get some luck at this crucial stage and manage to take Sean out.  This also leaves the remaining 3 on roughly the same chip stack.

Play gets a little cagey for a few hands, but with time running out the status quo was not going to last long.   Sure enough I get a bit fruity with my Q-J suited, but am behind to Alex's A-K   The flop is kind to me by giving me a Q but there is plenty of outs for Alex... luckily for me they don't come and I take Alex out and get a huge chip lead.

With just two hands to play I have the luxury of being able to fold and win... luckily for me I get rubbish cards so don't feel embarrassed by folding both hands face up and take the win for the night

It was a really good game (not just because I won!) and seemed to me that everyone was playing well tonight.   I just happened to catch cards at the right time, which gives me the tournament lead for the moment, but there is still plenty of games left for anything to happen.

Roll on next month !

General: Fitness, half year report

In my previous report I was doing OK, but having just had a BUPA health check decided to capture my current stats to see how I compare.   The BUPA health check results for my fitness were pretty good, so just got to improve my eating habits to cut down on fat, sugar and all the other stuff that tastes nice !!  (there is always something they pick up on!)

Monday (Running)
Run at 10 kph for 25 minutes, then 12kph for 5 mins, plus 5 minutes cool down. Total of 5.16 km covered (excluding the cool down)    Heart rate peak at 180 bpm

Tuesday (Rowing)
25 minutes at around 30 spm, then 5 mins at 35 spm, plus 3 minutes cool down.   All done at maximum resistance    Cover 5440 metres.   Heart rate peak at 161 bpm

Wednesday (Cycling)
Pedal at around 80 rpm at level 11 resistance for 10 minutes, then 10 minutes at 85 rpm at level 12, the 10 minutes at level 13 at 90 rpm, plus 5 minutes cooldown. Cover 13.88 km.   Heart rate peak at 163 bpm

Thursday (Swimming)
Swim 25 lengths in around 25 minutes. Do alternate breast stroke and crawl, with 1 minute rest after each set of 10 lengths.

Friday (Running again)
Same activities as Monday, but didn't measure this time round.

Interestingly the rowing is less distance, so must be putting in less effort !   Otherwise the results are around the same as in February, which kind of makes sense.

Just need to keep going at my current rates, but maybe try to pull a bit harder in the rowing.  

Poker: Casino trip 31st July

Myself, Jon, Andy and Bill went to Maxims Casino in Reading for the Texas Hold'em £20 re-buy tournament.

There were 41 runners (after they all turned up!) on 5 tables and with plenty of re-buys the prize pool was fairly chunky with £60 for 10th through to just over £1000 for 1st place.

Andy was on my table, seated two to my right,  Bill and Jon were on two other separate tables to begin with, but when Jon's table was split up he was seated on Bill's table (to Bill's right)

I had a elderly gentleman to my immediate right... reportedly 92 years old ! but he was a bit spaced out and seemed a little confused at times.   With or without his glasses he had trouble seeing the cards and insisted on flashing his hole cards around when he was in a hand (despite being told!)  

Things were quiet for me to begin with.  I limped in a fair bit but folded to any bets on the flop.   The whole table seemed to be playing like this in the beginning, so all very pleasant and friendly.     It didn't last and found myself sitting on the BB with K-5 and checked to see the flop.  Amazingly the flop was K-7-5 !   The SB checked, so I also checked.  There was a small bet which SB called but I raised it up and only SB called (the elderly confused gent)   The turn was a blank and saw me all-in and the SB called.  He showed A-7 (1 pair) to my 2 pair but the river was another 7  leaving me a little disappointed and down to 300 odd chips.   Luckily I could re-buy when below 2000 chips so reloaded

It all went quiet again for me but managed to raise a couple of times and take the blinds, then found myself with K-K and heads up against elderly gent again.   He wasn't lucky this time and decided not to re-buy after I took all his chips (well, got my chips back!) although now had Andy to my immediate right

Andy was doing well, mainly by flopping a low straight and getting all-in with it so by the break I was on around 7800 chips (unfortunately had bought 7000 of them) and Andy was on 17000 odd and Jon was on around 7000   The average was 7600 so wasn't in bad shape.

After the break the table tightened up a bit as expected, but all of a sudden there was a raise which Andy called from the BB.  The flop was A-K-x and Andy bet out, was re-raised then immediately went all-in.   After a long think, he was called.  The caller had A-Q but Andy had A-J    With no improvements Andy was down to around 1700 chips !

A few hands later I was on BB with pocket 4's and the same fellow made a standard raise.   I thought he was playing a little loose after his big win,  so decided to call.  With a K-x-x flop I was a little worried about the K but decided to bet out and was called.     The turn was another low card, so bet out again and was called again, so was pretty sure I was behind and checked the river (another low card)   He bet out 500 but decided I had to call in case he was on A-x type cards, but he showed A-A !!   This left me with around 5000 in chips, so still plenty of play left.

Somewhere around this time, there was a huge discussion going on on the next table (Bill and Jon's) about someone going all-in out of turn... the tournament director was called for a ruling... not sure what it was all about or the outcome, but seemed to involve Bill !! 

With the blinds up to 400-200 I got K-Q in the BB.   There were three limps then Andy decided to go all in for 700   Unfortunately for Andy it was automatic calls for everyone and 5 players saw the flop of Q-9-x   With 3500 in the pot and only appx 3000 back, I decided to go all-in and got called by the lady to my left.  Everyone else folded so we all went on our backs.   Andy had pocket 4's and the lady had Q-7  so I was in good shape.   Unfortunately a 7 came on the river, putting both myself and Andy out of the tournament !!

It was not long after that Bill joined us on the tables and soon after Jon was also out.... so not a great show for the CamberleyBoyz in the end

Approximate finishing positions were

Andy 31st
Mike  30th
Bill      25th
Jon     20th

In the end, I felt there was only one hand where I wasted my chips and had two bad beats at key times, so felt happy with my overall performance on the night, although obviously disappointed with my early exit.   Already talking about going to on the Sunday £50 freezeout tournaments :-)

I didn't even have a great night on the Blackjack or Roulette, so ended the night down.... but not too much, so still have got most of my casino fund intact ;-)

Music: Glastonbury 2008 and subsequent CD purchases

I didn’t go to Glastonbury myself, but recorded a load of sessions from BBC TV coverage.   Have finally caught up and seen all the recordings and thought  The Verve were definitely one of the highlights of the whole weekend.   For me, JayZ was the lowlight and didn’t deserve all the hype but there you go….

Having seen some good bands that I haven’t previously encountered, obviously decided to buy some albums, so ended up getting

The Ting Tings
elbow
Editors
The Raconteurs
The Pigeon Detectives

Also got  Kaiser Chiefs and The Best of REM CDs whilst in the shop as they were cheap ! (obviously like the bands as well!!)

Have only listened to The Ting Tings so far, which is a great album and glad I bought it…. just got to listen to all the others now… as I only get to listen to one album a day (one I get around to putting them onto my iPod) it will take a little time, but will hopefully be worth it

General : Kung Fu Panda

We went to see Kung Fu Panda Saturday night.  I wasn't sure how much Adult humour there would be, but actually the film was very watchable and thought it was hilarious in a lot of places.   The training and fight scenes with the Panda were in particular very funny. 

The story was mainly predictable and had a few moments of American preachiness, but don't detract from what is an easy going, light hearted fun film.... definitely worth seeing (for adults) and kids will probably enjoy it as well !

Cars : Goodwood Festival of Speed

This Sunday we went to Goodwood Festival of Speed.   Left the house around 9am and after a nice relaxed drive, arrived around 10am.   Came in the South entrance so first went to the Paddock to have a look at the cars.   The F1 cars were all waiting in the holding area, so had a quick peek at them (from a distance as it was packed!)  Then went around to Goodwood House itself, and saw a huge crowd there as well... turned out Lewis Hamilton was about to address the crowd, so huge around there and he soon came out.  He did a nice interview and got the crowd going

Then walked towards the Cartier "Style Et Luxe" but the marshals were cordoning off a section of the drive... turned out Dougie Lampkin was shortly going to utilise the space, so we hung around and then saw him do some amazing feats on his Motorbike... including jumps and turns on the roof of Goodwood House !!

After that we did look at all the lovely cars in the Cartier area, which this year included several of James Bond movie cars....

Had a look round the Supercar paddock, which was packed !   This year does seem a lot more crowded that when we've been before (the event was sold out), maybe due to more F1 teams that ever before and the "Lewis effect" ?

Managed to see some cars going up the hill, then decided to have lunch after we walked up to the Upper Paddock

Seems to be a lot more going on generally, more "experiences" you can go on and lots more for Kids to do.   The rally stage at the top of the hill was bigger and catered more for the spectators than previous years, but also meant it was a lot more crowded than before !

Back down the hill we saw Nick Mason in a Mercedes-Benz W154 at close quarters and Adrian Newey ran past us, also caught glimpse of Steve Rider, so saw more celebrity than ever before as well.   Also got around 100 photographs of various cars (mainly) so only a small selection here!

Around 5pm we decided to leave, so ended up back at the car around 5:30pm.  The journey back was horrendous, with nose-tail traffic form the car park to the other side of Midhurst, then again around 2 miles or so before the A3 traffic lights... so ended up taking 2 hours to get home

The event itself was great though, so next time we go it'll be on the Saturday which should be less traffic !

Poker : Annual Satellite 2008 - Final Result

It seems we have been waiting for the final for an age, but at last the evening we have all been waiting for has arrived!   

Bill and Mick were eager and waiting at the club when I turned up , Bill in his suit and tie "to distract the opposition" :-)    Bill's pre-game prediction is me and him heads up, but him taking the title.... yeah right ;-)

Karen, Sean, "Andy x" and Alex completed the 7 seat final table (Bill and Sean bought in for £50 but no-one else was available to fill the final available buy-in seat)

My recollections are probably vaguer than normal as I got dropped off and was drinking !   From my recollections, the first level was a tense affair with a not much action and only small pots being played.   I wasn't getting much in the way of cards, so was playing pretty tight.   Second level was much the same, even Bill was playing tight and was paranoid about Karen, often folding whenever she bet out.    Karen was doing nicely when she played a hand, betting a small amount on each round and taking the pot uncontested, although three or four times Sean called her down on the River, but believe Karen won all these confrontations!

The third level was key for me, when on the button there were 5 callers of the 75 BB so with A-Q os raised another 500.    Sean called and everyone else folded.   The flop came a nice A-6-5 but had two spades so wanted to make Sean pay for any draw he was on.... so put in 1000 bet.  Sean quickly went all-in for another 2000..  My tournament was ruined if Sean had A-K or trips, but had to call... and was actually quite shocked to see I was way ahead as Sean had 9-8 hearts.   My A held up and Sean was the first casualty of the night.  

With a large chip lead I played more passively to the break where the chip counts were (roughly)

Me 6500, Mick and Andy 5500, Alex 4000, Bill and Karen 3500

As the blinds went up I got some good starting hands and was often taking the blinds, so managed to get up to around 8000 chips, but then in a few hands it all went horribly wrong.   Bill was short stacked and went all-in.  Can't remember the details but I must've had a hand as I called and am pretty sure I was ahead pre-flop... but Bill hit on the River and doubled up.   A hand or two later and I was BB and checked when Mick made up the SB.    We both checked the 8 high flop and I bet out 1000 into a 600 pot when a J came on the turn (complete bluff) but Mick went all-in (dammit....)  As I had absolutely nothing I couldn't call the extra 2000.   A hand or two later I was up against Andy.   I thought my A-x was ahead on the low flop and turn but we were both checking.   On the River a K came and Andy came out betting, so had to fold that one as well.   I was now down to around 2800 chips in one round !!

Things went a bit quiet for me, but there was plenty of action for the other players.   Andy busted out Karen then Mick got busted by Alex (I don't remember the details now, for those in the know feel free to add a comment)   Despite my low chip count and desperate times, Bill is adamant the last two will be him and  me, with him taking the win

With the blinds going up all the time and now 1000/500, I finally get a hand I feel has a chance to win something when under the gun, although it was only A-T os went all-in for around 2500 .  I was dismayed when Andy and Bill called.... seemed like I would be in trouble.   The flop gave me an A but with Andy going all in for another 3000 or so made me think I was out-kickered....  Bill thought for a long time and then called.   Andy's K-8 was in deep trouble and Bill had 2nd pair or something like that, so I was ahead !    Andy didn't improve so Bill took the side pot, but my A held up to triple me up and I was right back in the game with three players left !   I had around 9000 chips in total which was just under average... Bill was chip leader and Alex had around 7500  (?)    

The action didn't stop and somehow I took out Alex and had a large chip lead over Bill playing heads up.  

Unfortunately my chip lead didn't last long when I put Bill all-in pre-flop with A-J and he called with Q-T   He hit Q on the flop, and another Q on the turn and we now have pretty much exact chip counts (14000 each with blinds 2000-1000)

We then have a couple of hands where its folded pre-flop or just called down and small pots, then the last hand of the night starts with me getting J-T and raised to 6000.  Bill goes all-in and although I have a feeling I am behind, have to call for my last 6000.  Sure enough Bill has A-T and the A on the flop seals my fate.  

Spookily enough we have our Winner!!

Bill takes the trophy and title of CamberleyBoyz Annual Satellite Tournament 2008 WINNER !

What can I say, I was up and down like a yo-yo and thought I was out first, out in 5th, then winning it... but can cope with 2nd place finish (for this year anyway :-) )

Bill played his normal way and managed to amass enough chips to survive when things went against him, so fair dues - a well earned victory.   I think he was pleased with the win as he carried the trophy around with him the rest of the night !

Someone remind me in JANUARY next year that I need to get the 2009 tournament underway!!

Footnote : there was a cash game after with Sean, Karen, Alex, Bill, Mick and myself.    It was a hectic and frankly bizarre game (Bill could hardly see his cards by now and Mick wasn't much better ;-) ) with Sean ending up with all the chips and winning the entire £75 fund.... at least that paid for his nights entertainment :-)

Cars: My old racing car !

Sold my race car to Samir at the end of 2005 season who has had a lot of success with it since.... but seems he had a "spectacular" with it last season!  You can see the video from the car behind at http://youtube.com/watch?v=FJdRAzUCV00&feature=related (about 3/4 way through)

Luckily seems he recovered well (according to the article at http://www.tmcmotorsport.co.uk/Samir.htm) although Samir's own web pages (at http://www.entiaracing.com/index.htm) don't seem to mention it....

Music: GuilFest 2008

Went to GuilFest 2008 for the first time yesterday (Saturday)   We had hoped to go by train, but the last train back was at 11pm (and the station was around 30 mins away) so didn’t work out and we had to drive.   The weather forecast was bright but with sudden downpours and as there was a monsoon style shower around 8am on the day, we decided to go prepared for rain and shine !

The car journey there was relatively easy and the queues to get wrist bands were negligible (in contrast to the Reading experiences)  so were in the site by around 2pm. 

 We had a walk about and soon found the site to be reasonably sized with lots going on.  GuilFest seems aimed more at families and definitely has a more laid back feel.  Apart from the main stage, there was a mini version up the hill, plus four tents for bands (various sizes)     Even the toilets seemed more civilized, although by mid-afternoon there were perpetual long queues for the ladies!

After our trawl around the site, we settled down at the main stage for a rest in the lovely hot sunshine and to watch “Little Man Tate” who were quite good, “Hoodoo Gurus” who were a bit better, then we saw 3 songs of “Wills and the Willing” before I got fed up with them and we went off to find something more interesting to watch.

We ended up watching “South Parade” in one of the tents who were young but were pretty good.  The only thing I didn’t like was that they did a cover but perhaps they didn’t were too new to have enough songs to do a whole set !   We also caught a couple of tracks from “Nylon Sky” who seemed to think they were Limp Bizkit (particularly as they covered one of their tracks) but weren’t all that great.

After eating our squashed sandwiches we made our way back to the Main Stage for the two groups I was particularly looking forward to seeing

Kula Shaker came on at 7:50pm and did a great set of all the popular tracks, plus a few new ones.    The were great and sounded really good… with Crispian Mills putting on a good show, make me pleased I already got their previous albums as I want to listen to them again!   Will probably get their new one as well !     When they went off I was quite surprised, but looking at the time, they really had played an hour already….

There was a bit of a break until headliners Blondie came on, but were well worth the wait.     They played for over their allotted 85 minutes… more like 100 minutes.   They played most (or all) of “Parallel Lines” (which is now released) and Debbie Harry was wonderful and got the crowd going with her interaction and bouncing around the stage.    When you think of Blondie, you tend to think of Debbie Harry’s singing, but the band were really on good form in the show as well.   Overall, an oldie but definitely a goldie !  (probably buy the album as well)

GuildFest itself was well organised, lots of things to do and see and was worth going to see for sure.  The only slight irritation was getting out the car park at the end, but not enough of a problem to stop me wanting to go again sometime.

Poker: Home Poker Tournament - July 2008

As there are only 10 players this time, we all play on one table.   This tends to give a really weird dynamic to the table and this, along with the fickle nature of the Poker Gods, produced a really exciting (and soul destroying for some) game!

With so many players we were only doing around 9 hands every 30 minutes, so there was frantic action before the rebuys stopped, with lots of people seeing the flop and lots of rebuys :-)

   In one such hand, I limped in late position with A-3 (a little loose for me, but hey...)   The flop came something like A-J-8.  Andy and Sean checked to me, so I bet it out.  Steve called, along with the other two.   The turn was a blank and we ended up with all four of us all-in.    Bizarrely, myself, Andy and Sean all had A-3 o/s and split the pot three ways !

Alex could be considered fairly lucky then unlucky in one hand, where about 5 people saw the flop and most were all-in.  Alex had two spades and picked up a flush draw.  He hit the flush on the turn, but then the fourth spade on the river gave Derek the nut flush with his A

Jon was probably the unluckiest person all night, the main hand I remember was where he got all-in pre-flop with Q-Q   Sean showed A-x and Alex had 5-5    The flop was blank, but the turn brought Alex his 5 and his trips held up (did I just say he was unlucky ? ;-) )

Once the rebuys stopped and everyone had time to reflect... we started up again.  I had around 2300 chips, with Bill and Derek having largest stacks

Thinks didn't go to well for me after the break.. a couple of draws didn't come, no cards to play so had to sit back and wait.    Sean was first to get busted out and as the blinds increased Andy and Alex followed in quick succession.   Things started getting a bit tense as myself, Mick and Steve were all relatively short stacked compared to the others.... Mick decided to keep his unnatural consistency going and went out in 7th place (again !) 

My luck wasn't with me as was down to my last 500 chips after the blinds went through me and couldn't get any cards to play.   On the dealer button I nearly stuck it in with 4-5s when two other people called the blinds.   As it turned out, I would have won with a straight as the board came 2-3-4-Q-A so I felt gutted, but the very next hand I saw A-6h and with Bill calling the blind I went in.   Luckily for me I hit the A and have now got 2000 chips

Jon's bad run continued as he went out on a bad beat to Bill (who else...) can't remember the hand now, but by all means add a comment with your views :-)

The next hand saw me raising the pot with a decent hand and Steve calling all-in.  The blinds got out the way and left us heads up.    Can't remember the details now, but I was behind but hit the River to take Steve out and virtually double up.    

A few hands later, with Derek on the SB and Simon BB, I see A-2 suited and raise the pot when Bill folds.   Derek re-raises all-in and Simon folds.   As its only around 2000 more to call I have to go for it, and found myself against K-J, so was in better shape than I thought.   The first card turned was a K, but the turn brought my A and Derek goes out in 4th and suddenly I have slight chip lead !!  

As we all have similar chip stacks the game is interesting with chips passing around, but with the blinds at 2000-1000 and average chip stack just over 9000 there is some action going on.....

I manage to build up my chips so when Bill busts Simon, I have 14'400 chips to Bills 13'600 with 4 hands to play.    Bill wins one, then folds one but with 2 hands to play calls my large pre-flop raise (I have A-9)   I have hit top pair with my 9, so go all-in and Bill calls with 6-4 (!) and as he doesn't improve, we have our result !!

Full results and analysis at http://www.statsgenie.com/poker/ as normal

The single 10 seater certainly makes an interesting game, although can be a bit frustrating with it being Pot Limit at times.  

Next week we have the Poker Satellite final table, so not long for some of us to wait.    For the rest, I will see you next month

Technorati Tags: Poker

Computing : I am now using a new editor for my blog postings

Technorati Tags: blogging live writer

I am posting my first post using Microsoft Live Writer, so lets hope it looks OK :-)

This is a GIF image that I just picked randomly from my hard disk.... apologies as I have no idea where it came from but just wanted to see how easy (or otherwise) it is to add an image and format/position it where I want to .... and it's very easy !

Of course HTML tables helps formatting, so have put an example below, just as a test

Title	Result
Complete gibberish	and here also

I must say, I am pretty impressed with the editing capabilities and will likely use this software for updates to my blogs in future !

Editors Note:   Editing existing postings seems equally easy... I am just adding this paragraph but there really is nothing to it

Holiday : Devon 2008

Went to Brixham in Devon Saturday 21st June for a week, so here is diary of our activities

Saturday 21st June

The day dawned dull and drizzly, which kept up for the whole journey down. We left around 10:30am but the run was surprisingly clear, except for a section around Stonehenge (I guess due to the Solstice being this morning!) so despite stopping a couple of times, we arrived at the bungalow around 3pm. First impressions of the immediate area was that of a council estate, but actually wasn't all that bad really. The bungalow was big and clean, but you could tell it was owned by an elderly lady.

By 4pm we were walking into Brixham town to see whats what. We are staying at the top of a hill on the outskirts of town, so is quite exhausting 20 minute walk, but amazing views on the way down. Our route takes us through a picturesque park as well. It is still drizzly and very windy, but quite refreshing after the journey. On arriving in the town, seems there is a trawler race, so the pubs are packed with drunk trawler men, who are also protecting about fuel costs (lucky us) ! We had a walk around, got cold and wet, so had a nice cup of tea in a cafe on the harbour front. Then decided to have Fish and Chip supper, which was most excellent :-) This gave us the energy to walk back up the hill to the bungalow, it certainly is a steep climb!

A short rest sees us fit and healthy enough to venture out again (back down the hill, again!) but this time to a pub for a drink or two..... enough lubrication to get us back up the hill (didn't seem so high or steep this time)

Sunday

Woke early and out by 9:30am ! Not raining, but still windy and cloudy (with Sunny spells) Walked around Battery Gardens after getting a paper and sat to have a nice read in the Sun whilst looking at Tor Bay below us. Walking round the headland found an isolated craggy cove, which was great, but very steep hill to climb back up for lunch back at the bungalow. Also managed to watch the French Grand Prix before going out for another walk where we found a beachy cove for future reference (not exactly sunbathing weather today) After a rest back at the bungalow, went out to find dinner. Tried the local pub, but they don't serve food after 4pm on Sundays (would have been OK any other day!) so ended up at the local Holiday Park where the restaurant was open to non-residents. Food was OK, but the main advantage was that we didn't have to climb a big hill to get back to the bungalow. Got back to the bungalow knackered by all the walking done so far, so just enough strength to watch Top Gear and a bit of footy

Monday

Up early again.... must be the Sea Gulls waking us up I think... also the bed is tiny double compared to what we are used to ! Out and about by 9:45am and went to Paignton Sea Front for a walk. Cloudy, cold and windy today, although starting to get Sunnier by the time we left around midday. Went onto Compton Castle and had a good look around, but not very big place so only there a couple of hours, so ended up at Totnes for a nice lunch by the river.

After lunch we walked up the high street (which is steep uphill climb!) going to the museum, buying an Ice Cream, finding a bear shop and going to the Castle before running out of time in the car park

Back at the bungalow feeling knackered again, but force ourselves walk into Brixham to find a pub for a drink. Walked back via the closest pub to our Bungalow before the hill climb to take away some of the pain of getting up that hill!

Tuesday

Up even earlier and out on the road by 9:15am heading for Kingswear. Parked the car at the top of a steep hill !! and walked down to get the ferry to Dartmouth and at the shops by 10am. Walked around a bit then stopped for elevenses This gave us the energy to walk to the Castle and have a good look around. Back into the town in time for lunch and found a lovely tea shop to stop in "The Singing Kettle Tea Shoppe" and had a nice lunch (albeit a little expensive, but certainly worth it)

After lunch we did the rest of the shops, couple of parks and nice views walking along the river, then went back on the ferry just in time to look in the Bear shop in Kingswear, so now have a new addition to our furry family (called Charlie so I'm told)

Once we had walked up the hill to get the car and got back to the Bungalow, we were knackered (again!) so drove to a local Carvery pub/restaurant... unfortunately it is curry night, so no nice roast turkey for dinner. The normal (non-curry) menu was OK, so had a decent enough dinner.

After dinner, had just enough left in the legs to have a walk along Paignton sea front before heading back.

Wednesday

There was a knock on the door at 7:30am as the fuel delivery man wanted access. We had been told about the delivery but was expected around 8:30am and he should have gone to the bungalow 4 doors down for access.... oh well, its Sunny spells but still very windy, so can make the most of an early start

Went to Berry Head to start off, which had Napoleonic/WW2 forts as well as lots of wildlife to see. The guillemot colony was incredibly noisy and there was a RSPB post where the very helpful lady had telescope and binoculars set up to allow anyone to take a closer look.

Then went to Coleton Fishacre which was spectacular art deco interior to the house and fantastic views around the gardens (up and down hills again!) before going back to base for a well earned cup of Tea and a quick snooze!

Around 3pm set off into Brixham for a long walk to Shoalstone Beach then back round to the Harbour (and back up the hill!) returning around 5:30pm for another well earned cup of tea.

It's been a long day, but with the local Weatherspoons pub firmly in our minds, we set off back into Brixham and had a decent meal in the pub. Only slight problem was the air con in the pub was set to super cold, so was glad I had my jumper with me!

After the meal we had a slow meander round the harbour to let the food digest, before fueling ourselves with a swift pint in the pub for the walk back up that hill

Thursday

Decided today is our "rest day" so are intending to spend the day at the beachy cove by the lifeboat station. Despite the sunny weather promised by the BBC the previous evening, it looks just as windy and cloudy as the previous days.... so decide to lay in bed until 9:30am. Didn't leave bungalow until 11am so got to the beach around 11:30am. Quite warm and sunny by now, but lots of clouds about. Leave beach around 1pm and go back to the bungalow for lunch. Then walk back down and get the first cream tea of the holiday. Get back to the beach, but actually around 4:15pm by now and no sign of the sun, so only stay half hour before walking back to get ready for dinner.

Decided to drive to Stoke Gabriel based on looking at the map (looked like it may be quaint and on the river), but the two pubs in the small town didn't appeal so ended up back at the Carvery pub we went to before. Unfortunately no carvery being served tonight, but did have a reasonable meal from the normal menu. As the weather is looking a bit like rain, decide to go back to base and walked down the local pub

Friday

Forecast is to be wet all day, although it looked kind of OK when we woke up. Still cloudy and windy, so decided to go into Brixham where we had a walk then a Fish & Chip lunch. Decided to come home early, so packed up and left around 1pm, arriving home by 5pm after an uneventful journey home

We both enjoyed the holiday and were glad we went, but both felt the hills on our legs ! It was a shame the weather wasn't better but didn't really have an impact on us, apart from making us decide to cut half day from the stay down in Devon on the Friday. Overall it was a good holiday and a nice rest. Certainly is a very beautiful part of the country and well worth seeing and experiencing

Poker : Annual Satellite 2008 : Semi Final result

With two men and two women, it had the hallmarks of a classic battle of the sexes. With three tight/passive players and a relative unknown in John, the pace from the start was "leisurely" By level 3 we were still looking for a hand with some action... so far there had been a lot of calling and checking.... John was even reading the newspaper, although it was a bit of a tell as he put it down when he got a good hand !!

Sure enough John puts the paper down and bets 200 pre-flop.... Karen and Steve call and the turn is 8-3-J. Everyone reverts to type and check, and also everyone checks the A on the turn. A J falls on the river and John bets the pot to take the largest pot of the night so far.

Karen's strategy for the game seems to be to see a lot of flops and make lots of minimum raises, but seems to be working now as she is taking a lot of small pots uncontested.

Bit of excitement when 9-T-Q flop comes, as Steve and Lynn start raising. The turn of 8 is followed by J on river, giving both the straight, but its checked down as they both are playing the board.... Steve had a 9 and Lynn the Q, but the split pot was quite large This is soon followed by more action after the 5-5-7 flop is checked, the A on the turn doesn't prevent Lynn from calling and the Q on the river really makes it hot up as Steve takes the 1500 pot from Lynn with A-Q to Lynns Q-7

Level 4 continues the action, as John has finished reading his paper and calls with everyone else for a family pot. Its checked down to the river and Johns pot bet of 500 takes it uncontested. He shows his K high bluff. Johns relatively low on chips now, but his more aggressive stance falls foul when Lynn goes all-in on the turn and shows a made flush and Johns drawing dead

At the break the chips levels are: Lynn 5700, Karen 4600, Steve 3800 and John 1900

Karen and Lynn start what becomes a game long battle, with Karen betting 500 into 1500 pt and taking it down., but before that develops we see Steve John and Lynn getting a A-K-A flop. John bets 500 into 600 pot but gets called the turn and river bring J-5 and John is all-in thinking his J is good for 2 pair, but Lynn has hit her straight and sends John packing

We are now at level 6, with Karen still min raising and lots of checking going on. Lynn checks Karens min raising but on the river Lynn puts in a strong 1000 bet on K-6-8-A-9 board. Karens turn to let go and Lynn takes a good pot. Soon after another Lynn/Karen pot evolves with Karen min-raising and Lynn calling. With the board J-5-9-3-K Lynn sticks 1000 into 2000 pot and takes down the pot again

The next level sees pressure on Steve with the short stack. Lynn bets 500 into 2000 pot and Steve calls. The 9 on the river gives it to Lynn, so Steve under more pressure now. Its then Karens turn to bet 1000 into a 2000 pot and pushes Lynn off the pot The last hand of this level sees Steve pushing all-in although its only for another 600. Lynn and Karen both call. The flop of Q-9-8 doesn't make Steve look happy, although the girls check down the turn and river of 2 and 3. Karen takes the 6000 pot, knocking out Steve and giving a 2:1 chip advantage to Lynn

Lynn has around 4500 chips left, so it's soon over as a couple of hands into level 8 sees unraised flop of 7-2-3 Karen bets out 2000 and Lynn calls all-in Lynn's A-K was ahead pre-flop but Karens 6-3 is ahead. The turn/river of 2 and Q don't help Lynn so we have our winner

It was a well fought game by all and although it was a steady start, it had moments of brilliance, aggression and thought

See you at the final table !

We did have a quick cash game afterwards, and one hand was hillarious. We were down to 4 players and blinds of 25/50. Bill folded and Sean immediately went all-in for 2050. There was no way I was calling, but needled Sean a little about how he overbet the pot and was only going to get called by someone way ahead. Lee in the Big Blind insta-called with pocket A's and Sean giggled as he showed his 7-2 off suit. The first card turned was another A, but a 7 gave Sean a miracle runner, runner out. The turn paired the board to give Lee the full house, and the 7 on the River gave Sean a consolation lesser Full House.

Poker : Home Tournament - halfway there....

Reflecting on the statistics for the first half of the season there are some interesting patterns emerging (You can see the spreadsheet at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sceaga/Poker/poker_2008.xls)

Sean seems to like finishing 11th, Mick has one 8th place and four 7th places and Alex seems to love finishing 2nd :-)

The least consistent finisher seems to be Darren with a 1st and a 14th, although Roger is close behind on this measure (1st and 13th) with a gaggle of players with 9 place differences (including me!)

If we ignore the players who only played one game, the highest average finishing position is Andy at 3.8, with the next closest person being Derek with 5.2 (maybe Andy consciously talks his game down so much to lull us into a false sense of security!)

Poker : Home Tournament - June 2008

I was lucky to make the game this month... had it been the previous evening then I definitely wouldn't have made it as I was in bed with "Man Flu" but felt OK by the next afternoon (albeit maybe I shouldn't have bothered in the end :-) )

The game started off fairly briskly on my table (probably because Bill was on it !) although Bill managed to fold several winning hands in the first level, including what would have been four tens !! My play was not on top form but was also hampered by Bill calling down and hitting his hand. I managed to dodge his 7-3 when it hit trip 7's on the flop, and didn't push hard enough when I was ahead and ended up laying down a couple of hands by the river, so my chips were disappearing fast. Derek on the other table took his top up first, but I soon had to do the same. Even then my bad run continued and was down to around 900 chips. Luckily I hit A-K and went all in after a couple of callers and took a reasonable pot without having to play. I then got Q-Q and went all in again, this time Alex called me with K-J and didn't improve so I was back in the game with nearly 4000 chips

My memory is very woolly about the proceedings (due to the cold unfortunately) but by the break I was up to around 5000 chips, with Roger on around 6000 and the others slightly under chip average.

The restart started seeing some action on the other table, with Steve busting out first Sean (at least it wasn't after two hands...) then Steve W in quick succession. I was the lucky one to change tables, but was 2nd in chips to Steve (who had a huge stack) The first hand on the new table saw me with A-9 suited, so put in a standard raise. Derek quickly called behind me but the others folded. With flop of T-9-x I was hoping Derek had missed the flop and with the pot at 2300 put Derek all-in for his last 2200. As it turned out Derek had missed the flop but called with his A-J. I was a little disappointed to see a J on the turn and blank river, so was down to around 1500 chips. A few hands later I was down to 1000 and the blinds 500/300 I had to go for it, but on the other table Bill went out in 10th so I tried to hang on to make the top 8 for one point. Unfortunately my 9-3 on the big blind didn't hit the flop and had to fold to Andy's bet (he showed Pair so was the right choice) then the Small Blind saw me all in and taken out in 9th.

The final table started off with some technical problems with the tournament software, which was resolved when I realised I had managed to turn on the keyboard lock ! That's what a lack of Adrenalin does to you when you got a cold. The play was tense and cautious, as the blinds were starting to hurt most people. It took some time, but with the blinds at 1000/500 Darren found he had to go for it..... but Steve took him out ! Mick followed suit the next hand, but Simon taking the scalp.

Andy was getting some stick for moaning about not getting any picture cards (he had only got 4 all night apparently), but suddenly got an embarrassment of riches when he seemed to have nothing but pictures and was taking down some pots.

As we came into the last 20 minutes with blinds at 2000/1000 Derek was the next victim by Alex this time. The action died down a little and the chips were being passed around, but for the last few hands there was an explosion of activity as Roger came alive and hit some stonking hands. First took down Simon to get a large number of chips, then went all-in again on the next hand. Steve decided to call and Andy chose to stick in his remaining chips, despite having the option to play tournament strategy and let the others fight it out. As it turned out, Andy made the wrong choice, as Roger hit big and took both out, Andy being 4th by having less chips than Steve who took the 3rd place prize money.

With Roger a huge chip leader over Alex and two hands to play, it was all over. Roger took the deserved win and an sure Alex was happy to have seem Roger blitz the remaining players to promote him to 2nd.

Another exciting and enjoyable game, which leaves the leader board wide open at the half way point.

Andy (who never has any good hands or any good luck according to himself) is at the top of the leader board with 100% point's finish record (how did that happen !) but the top 8 are split by only 12 points, so a win could take anyone anywhere in the leader board, so all to play for and should be an exciting rest of season. The title can literally still go to anyone.... !

Travel: Visit to Stratford

Went to Stratford-upon-Avon Saturday, on the way to Nottingham..... had a nice walk about but was dismayed (well one of was) to find the Teddy Bear Museum has moved to Wimbledon !! Still managed to find a shop that sold bears, but also found a nice tea room for Tea & Cake :-)

We had a lovely weekend away, coming back Sunday. The cruise there and back at 60mph on the motorways did have one beneficial effect (other than me not getting ear ache :-) ) and that was achieving an incredible 48.75mpg in the Fiesta !!) Won't see that kind of fuel consumption when I'm on my own in the car I bet !!

Poker: Annual Satellite 2008 : Heat 4

Martin was luckily able to get a heat together at short notice (thanks) so went round to officiate. Martin, his friends Andy and John, plus his son Luke and his friend Chris being the players.

Level 1 started quietly with little pre-flop raising, and any raise pretty much taking the pot.

Once the blinds went up, Martin seemed to wake up a bit and start sticking in some raises and all-ins!. He mostly took the pot uncontested but then Andy called him pre-flop, called on the flop and stuck in a re-raise on the turn. After some thought Martin folded.

Chris and Luke had so far also been busy texting on the mobiles which got them some stick but as the action hotted up they seemed able to "fold" their mobiles... Chris played his first hand and although he hit his flush and had a showdown was only a small pot.

Went back to the standard call, call, raise, fold, fold scenario with Martin being the aggressor a lot of the time. Andy came back at him again and showed KK when the pot was taken uncontested.

The Kings kept coming up as Andy re-raises Martins pre-flop raise to 1000. The flop comes Q-9-4 rainbow and when Martin checks, Andy goes all-in and takes a sizable pot. He shows KK again!

The last hand before the break sees Martin raising again, but Luke on the BB calling. Luke checks and Martins bet takes down a reasonable size pot

Soon after the break we have our first casualty. Chris had been sitting quietly most of the night, but raises from the button. Martin goes all-in and Chris calls. Chris shows the ladies (QQ) but Martin has the gentlemen (KK) ! No-one improves so Chris goes out in 5th place

Luke is now the short stack and sticks most of it (around 2000) into a 600 pot with the K-Q-8 flop and takes it uncontested. He shows A-4 (Martin shows A-6) so seems Luke has been taking note of his Father style and adopting it :-)

It is Johns turn to be small stack and lumps it all in when the flop comes 6-4-2. Martin calls with pocket 3's but doesn't improve, doubling John up.

The action is really hotting up as the blinds increase, and soon see Luke going all in on a flop of A-Q-7 He must feel pleased to get a caller when he shows his A-7 but his hopes are soon dashed when Martin shows 7-7 and takes down the pot.

Luke has 1000 chips, Andy 4500, John 8500 and Martin 6000

With the high blinds Luke has to get busy but manages to get a caller for his QQ. Andy's TT seem to be in trouble until the flop comes T-7-6 Two 5's don't help so Luke is out in 4th

The chips move around the remaining three players and it is all quite close, then Martin decides Johns all-in push on a board of 9-9-7-9-4 is a complete bluff...... but Martin shows K-3 and although John only needed an A to beat him, he actually showed T-9 so was way ahead from the flop..... so Martin finished 3rd and we are heads up !!

John has around 2:1 chip lead but Andy is playing very cagey. Lots of cautious play so its a tense time. The blinds go up to 1000-500 so neither player can afford to give up chips easily now so start seeing calls and raises pre-flop. Andy takes a reasonable pot and goes chip leader, but then John pulls one back and the chips are moving around.. eventually both players feel they have the better hand and all the chips go in the middle. Andy takes the pot and a well earned victory, but we'll see John in the semi's

Well done to all and see you at the next one!