General : Fitness Review

What with one thing and another, it's been a tough year this year.   My exercising regime has been a bit sporadic and also had problems with my left shoulder which scuppered some of my exercises and meant I had to change my regime to protect the shoulder a bit.    It will be difficult to do direct comparison against last year, but at least I have a new benchmark against which I can hopefully improve against in 2011

Monday (Running)

Run at 6.5mph for 25 minutes, then 8mph for 5 mins, plus 5 minutes cool down.

My heart rate peak at 178 bpm and average 157

Tuesday (Rowing and Weights)

My rowing target is 20 minutes at 28 strokes per minute plus 2 minutes cool down

Heart rate peak at 150 bpm and average 142

It is always tough to get through the rowing but hope to get back to 30 minutes eventually....

Then do one cycle of weights (about 5 mins)

15 x 2 reps of Chest Fly (1 weight)
15 x 2 Chest Press (2)
15 x 2 Lat Pull Down (3)

Heart rate peak at 130 bpm and average 114

I am not sure if it was the rowing or the weights that messed up my shoulder, so will probably increase the reps rather than the weights over time

Wednesday (Cycling)

Pedal at around 14mph at level 11 resistance for 20 minutes, then 10 minutes at 16mph at level 13.   Then do 5 minutes cool down. Cover 7.5 miles

Heart rate peak at 171 bpm and average 153

Thursday (Cross Trainer and Weights)

6 minutes on the Cross Trainer at level 2 plus 3 minutes backward peddling (or whatever it is you do on a Cross Trainer!)  Then 9 mins at level 4 plus 3 minutes backwards.   21 minutes in total, covering 1.8 miles

Heart rate peak at 168 bpm and average 151

Then do one cycle of weights (same as Tuesday)

15 x 2 reps of Chest Fly (1 weight)
15 x 2 Chest Press (2)
15 x 2 Lat Pull Down (3)

Heart rate peak at 133 bpm and average 123

Friday (Running)

Same as Monday

My current body weight is 73kg (11 stone 6 pounds) so spot on what I consider normal, although this is just before my excessive Christmas feasting so who knows what it'll be in January :-)

I have been pretty good at maintaining my no cakes, chocolate or biscuits from Monday-Thursday, but want to try and reduce the gluttony on Friday-Sunday (when I seem to eat more than a weeks worth of cakes, chocolate and biscuits to make up for it !)    I think the only real answer is simply to not have any in the house !! 

All things considered, I don’t think my fitness levels are bad, but are a little below 2009 levels.   I intend for 2011 to see me back to “normal” fitness levels and then possibly increase the rowing and/or the weights a little.

General: Decided to setup Twitter account

After years of thinking I would never use it, I finally succumbed to setup myself with a Twitter account !

http://www.twitter.com/mikeshawuk

I was a bit upset my normal username was not available, nor the obvious name based ones, but in the end plumped for “mzshawuk” as I’m likely to remember it and hopefully so will other people !

For anyone redirected here from Twitter who doesn’t already know me, then “Hello” to you    This blog is mainly for my Poker related activities, but also put in a few other bits and pieces from time to time.  My main interests are Poker, (of course!) Technology( in general), Photography, Games and Cars.   My profile photo is from when I did Locost racing (http://www.750mc.co.uk/F-locost.php) for a couple of seasons, although that was back in 2004/2005 so becoming a distant memory now….

Anyways, will be seeing how often I use Twitter and if it is really useful to me, so hope to see tweet with you soon…

Poker: Live tournament–Reading 16th Dec 2010

I didn’t do great on my last trip to the Casino tournament so was looking forward to this months journey.   This time, Myself, Andy and Alex were the representatives from the CamberleyBoyz out of the 39 runners

Including the bonus chips, I’m starting with stack of 11’500 and with the blinds starting at 100/50 there is plenty of time to ease into the game.   Although I made a few rough notes, my memory is fading fast for the key hands, so hope I have remembered enough to give a flavour of the game!

In the BB with T-2s I obviously just check to see a flop with three others.  The Txx flop seems about the best I can hope for, and call the min bet from the SB.   I pick up a flush draw on the turn and again call a min bet from SB, but everyone else folds.   The river brings my flush so I bet out the pot when checked to and get called.   The SB had QTo and seemed a little disappointed not to have taken the pot down   but gave me a nice boost to my stack early on.

I also get lucky to win a decent pot with QQ and AKo early so am in decent position at the first break with 27’500 chips.   Andy has 8300 and Alex 10’500

Having Alex on my table is a mixed blessing, on the one hand I know his play, on the other he knows my play     When he limped UTG it didn’t seem he would be particularly strong, so decided to raise Q-To    The QJ9 flop seemed pretty reasonable, so re-raised Alex’s lead bet but when he re-shoved it seemed I was in trouble, but had to call.  Sure enough his J-9 was ahead (so I was right in my estimation pre-flop ), leaving me needing to hit my draw, but it didn’t come and Alex has half my chips !  (I’m down to about 12’000 now)   It looks like it could be Alex’s night, as he gets his J-J in against K-9 and 9-9 when another J came on the turn

The second break sees me with a small recovery to 14’000 chips, Alex on 29’000 and Andy doing well on 20’000 (the average is reported as 23’400 but would be more like 26k)   We are already down to 15 players so over half the original number have gone !

With the blinds up, I’m now in survival mode with around 10 blinds left.   When I see K-9s on the button decide to shove into two tight blinds, but horrified when BB calls with QQ.   Although it looks grim (I’m about 30% to win) the 9 on the flop leaves me 25% to win, but the 9 on the turn seals the deal for me and I’m lucky to have doubled up to around 25’000

Not long after sees Alex shoving all-in from early position and I have an easy call with my A-A    Alex’s A-J shows a bit of promise when a J comes on the flop, but that’s all the help that comes and I’ve got my chips back from him and am around 48’000 now. 

Alex is down to around 10’000 so shoves all-in next hand UTG.  The BB calls and shows A-A and that is Alex’s night over.  Talk about unlucky !

This gives us a final table of 7 players.   Andy’s table had a double bust out just before, so Andy finished a credible 9th place, with Alex in 8th.   Officially Alex made the final table, as there was a place marker out for him, just he had no chips to take to the table !

With the top 5 paying out, I will need to take it steady to ensure I don’t crash out on the bubble.  There are a couple of big stacks, about 3 of us with similar chips and two shortish stacks.

The first hand on the final table sees a short stack shove all-in, the big stack call and the other short stack also call !   The short stacks show 7-7, J-J but the big stack has K-K… the the rest of the table all thank him when he busts both players out and everyone is in the money already !!  I was expecting it to be a tense drawn out affair to get into the money, but the cards dictated otherwise… phew!

I decide to not sit back and blind away into 4th or 5th place, so when I am BB against the big stack’s SB I decide to lead out with my K-8 when a K comes on the turn (we had both checked the raggy flop) I am not too worried about the call, as the Big Stack is a bit loose and happy to try and hit cards on the river.   He checks the blank river and so I push all-in , getting called !   Despite thinking I am out the tournament to 2 rags, he shows K-6 and I’ve got a lot of chips to play with now.,  (still in 3rd place out of 5 left)

Things do then get quite tight and tense.  I try a couple of moves, but seem to always get re-raised, or see a short stack go all-in on the flop, so my stack is a bit up and down.   Eventually though, the shortest two stacks get each other all-in so we’re down to  4 players, but I am now lowest chip stack.

I get a bit of a boost soon after though, when our former big stack (who has managed to fritter away a lot of chips) get’s all-in against the really tight former short stack and he is out the tournament and I have crept into 3rd place

Being the short stack and with large blinds, I have got about 5 BB left and decide to shove into the other two players from the button with 6-3o   As they have both been tight/passive, I expected to take the blinds, but to my horror they both call !   They also check it down to the river so all three see the showdown.  They show 8-8 and A-K which are both decent hands, but (again) lucky for me the board came Q46,6,9 tripling up with my trips     I have around 115’000 chips now and am second in chips.  

Luck comes around but also goes around, so when I flopped a straight and got all-in against the small stacks flush draw I couldn’t really moan when he hit his flush on the river, but put me back to lowest stack again.   

My notes (and memory) get very vague now as it’s getting late, but seems my A-J tripled me up somewhere along the line.   I also think I made a move against the tight playing SB with 7-6s but he pushed all-in with A-4 and I had to call.    I got lucky again and took him out so we are now heads up !

The chip counts are 230’000 against my 190’000 stack, so actually pretty evenly matched.   I did consider suggesting an equal split of 1st/2nd at this stage, but decided against as was feeling OK, albeit a little tired by now.  

The heads up went on for a while, as the other fellow was playing very tight/passive and was folding to my raises/bets I was being pretty liberal with.   When he shoved all-in from the button I judged he would have a big Ace rather than a big pair, so called with my 4-4 (being about 2:30am may also have influenced my decision though….)    As luck would have it, he did have A-K and the first card on the flop was a 4, which saw me safely through to take him out and WIN the tournament !

I ended up winning £445.  Luckily for Andy, we swapped 10% of each other (as we went in the same car) so he ended up £5 up on the night as well

It was an exciting game and actually think I played pretty well.   Even though I got lucky in a couple of key places, I think my decision making was still correct and played the percentages right.

It’s always nice to win , especially as it’ll give me bragging rights over Christmas

Have a nice one and see you in 2011

Poker: Home tournament–December 2010

Due to work commitments, family occasions, sickness, the weather, etc it ended up with there being only 6 players for the final game of the season.   Whilst it was a little disappointing not to have more players for the grand finale, it did at least guarantee my third league championship in a row

Despite the reduction in numbers, there was no reduction in the quality or enjoyment of the Poker.   Early on in the session I got AKo in the Big Blind and re-raised Andy’s initial raise    With a raggidy flop, we both checked so I decided to bet the blank turn as well, which Andy called again.   The A on the river almost certainly assured me of winning the hand so pushed all-in and Andy called me with his A-T and I took a big pot

Karen and Sean were having one of their ding-dong battles, this time Karen had the advantage when the Sean got all-in with pocket 6’s with three tens on the board (for a full house) but Karen showed the remaining ten in her hand for quads ! 

The good hands kept coming, as my unpromising looking 5-4 in the big blind looked a bit more interesting on the A-7-6 flop.  Karen bet out small and myself and Darren both called.   The 6 turn wasn’t helpful but Karen was only betting  small still, and again myself and Darren called.   The 8 river was a great card for me, but as I was wary about a higher str8 or full house, decided to just call Karen’s bet , with Darren also calling.   As Karen and Darren both just had Ax  I took down another big pot and am clear chip leader.

At the break, myself and Karen have most of the chips, Andy, Darren and Sean are all fairly low.

It didn’t take long for Sean to get his chips into the middle on a K-9-5 flop and was in serious trouble when Jock called with K-x against Sean’s 6-5 (or similar)   Sean got no help and was the first out, but at least he got 3 points !

It was a tough battle after that, although having around 11’000 chips (average 7200) it wasn’t to bad for me    I had a bit of bad luck against Daren, when with K-3 in the blind saw a K-K-6 flop   It was too good to bet, and Andy, Jock and Darren also checked.   The turn was something like a 5 and again I checked but this time Darren put in a small bet which only I called.  The river was something like a 8 and decided to bet out 1000 into the 2500 odd pot, hoping Darren would shove his remaining 3000 chips… as it turned out he flat called, worrying I had hit str8 but his K-Q out kickered my hand.   

With the blinds at 600/300 my crucial hand of the night came.   I was sitting UTG with 3-3 wondering whether to fold, call or raise… this time decided to play as a draw and just call, hoping to get a good flop.  Jock plus Darren and Karen in the blinds saw the flop with me which came 7-7-3 !  can’t hope for a much better flop than that.   I was also gob smacked that Karen came out betting 200 into the 2400 pot, so was clear she had something she liked.   I was certain I was ahead (as didn’t think Karen would get quads twice in a night, and 7-3 was also unlikely) Deciding I was way ahead, and wanting to try and keep the others in, decided to flat call (with plan to shove to a re-raise or on the turn)…. sadly Jock and Darren folded.     The T on the turn wasn’t scary so was delighted to call Karen’s all-in of around 5000 chips, however was a  little saddened to see Karen’s T-T for a higher full house.   My one remaining 3 didn’t come to save me, so am now lowest chip stack at around 2000 chips

Couple of hands later I’m in the big blind so when Jock flat calls and Karen makes up the small blind, I shove all-in.  Turns out Jock was being a bit sneaky with A-A and the K-4-2 flop didn’t help my J-T and I’m out in 5th place !

Couple of hands later Andy is also out by Jock and we’re down to three players

The chip stacks are roughly equal and so it’s a tense tough game, with chips moving around from player to player.  

It took until the last round of play before Jock finally succumbed to Karen who had a commanding lead.   After a couple of tense hands, and with time getting short, Darren shoves with something like A-5o and Karen called with K-9s but Darren held on and doubled up.   

The stacks were very close and although Darren had more chips, the blinds were high enough that Darren had to win at least one out of the last three hands.  He picked the first hand to shove, Darren had something like K-9o against Karen’s Q-8s.    This time Karen hits a str8 draw on the flop and makes a flush by the river leaving Darren running on fumes.   The formality of the remaining hands was cut short when Karen won the next hand as well, knocking out Darren for the extra point

Wow, despite the low numbers it was certainly a tense, tough and exciting game… so well done to all

This games results didn’t change much on the league table, as Andy and I already had qst and 2nd sewn up.  Karen’s win and 2 knock outs took her to within 2 points of Steve W’s third place so was close call.

Hope everyone enjoyed the 2010 season and I for one am certainly looking forward to wiping the slate and starting afresh in 2011

Poker: BBP league heat 7

I haven’t posted my previous results since my Heat 2 win, mainly as I had complete rubbish finishes:

Leg 2: 1st from 112 players
Leg 3: 18th from 99
Leg 4: 47th of 94
Leg 5: 74th of 82
Leg 6: 74th of 84
leg 7: 1st of 76

By contrast (hinted at by the fact I am posting this article ) …. last nights Leg 7 BBP League heat was a great game and thoroughly enjoyed it.  OK winning made it *very* enjoyable, but just taking part (as it looked like for a long time) was great anyway.   There is always a nice amount of banter going on and it's a nice atmosphere

Although it is my second win this season, this one is the more satisfying in many ways, as really felt I had to work for it, and needed my 'A' game to end up on the final table.   Unlike last time, I only saw AA once and KK three times, so wasn't exactly running hot this time.

Early on I was playing my normal tight game and picked up a couple of hundred from starting stack, then really went to town and won a good size pot by blind aggression alone (as well as holding my breath and crossing my fingers).   It was just as well as although I won a few small pots, nothing much was happening for me for another couple of hours ! 

The mid part of the game was hovering around 10-15 BB most of the time so was in shove/fold mode really, but again the aggression paid off and was able to maintain station.  The key hand for me was with blinds 600/300/100 I decided to make a loose call with Q9o in BB.  With Qxx flop I shoved for about a pot size bet and was called by JJ.  The Q's held up and at last I had some chips to play with !

KK came not long after that at a good time for me, and put me well into the table chip lead, so could me a bit more creative, but had the chips to be patient and made it to the final table !

My initial patience on the final table was paid off again when early position pushed with JJ and I woke up with KK again, which held up again !   This put me in clear 2nd place so could afford to kick back and relax.

Things got a bit frantic as blinds went up and players went down.   By the time we got to top three the stacks of the remaining players was about even, so it was now very tense and interesting match.   I dropped a load of chips and had to go to shove mode, but was able to claw back to average, when my AT blind was raised... so shoved and found myself against QT.  I didn't really need to nut flush draw on the flop, as my AT held anyway and I'm chip leader.

At last we get down to heads up, with myself playing “blackbeltninja”.  We were about even in chips, so the tussle lasted about 20 mins.  The chips were flying around both ways, but think I was probably the more aggressive of the two of us.  The killer blow came when I raised (as normal) from button and got called.  The 977 rainbow flop looked safe for my AA :-)  so decided to re-raise the half pot bet and was delighted to call the shove on seeing J9o 

It really was a tough heat and “blackbeltninja” was a constant thorn in my side once we were down to 3 players.  The whole heat was very well played by all and really felt I worked hard for my win

Despite 2 wins from the 7 games so far, I am only 21st in the league tables and have no real chance of finishing in the top 10, but overall am pretty pleased with my performance in these games.

Interestingly, Steve W was on my table most of the game and also made the final table, finishing 5th.  He is 48th overall in the league which is no small achievement, so well done Steve!

Nice announcement on BBP Web Site as well