Poker : Home Tournament – June 2009

The £10 specials are always interesting games, and this proved to be the same.   I was feeling a bit spaced out by now, after the late night and working all day, so will doubtless remember even less than normal for my write up !

My evening started well, by not being on the same table as Sean ! (who scuppered me in the last £10 special) although do have Bill to contend with.     My table was pretty laid back and solid in the main, especially in the early stages.   The first couple of levels I dropped around 500 chips from the 2000 starting levels, then won a hand or two and was a little up mid-way through the first hour.    I vaguely remember I get into a hand with Bill and take a good chunk of chips to get myself into a good chip lead on the table.   

At the break, I have a healthy chip stack, with the extra 2000 I think I’m around the 10’000 mark….  this stack gets bigger when I get 8-7 on the SB and only Karen on BB and Steve W see the flop.   The flop comes 7-x-x (3 clubs ) and I check then call Steve W smallish bet (even with top pair and flush draw I wasn’t sure I was ahead, but was relatively cheap to call)   The turn sees another 7, so I check call another bet by Steve, but then the river is a spectacular 8 !   so check call the all-in by Steve W, who had flopped a flush !   Talk about a bad beat !!

With players starting to drop like flies on the other table (Steve is knocking them all out!)   we are soon down to 9 players.  I get tangled up with Bill again, who calls my confident bets on each street… can’t remember what I had, but was ahead ! and therefore took the pot, took out Bill and we’re down to the final table

Jon is ecstatic as he made the final table for the first time this year !   Unfortunately he is first to fall, but at least he gets a point

Darren is short stacked and gets it all in on the flop with a flush draw (I think)  but doesn't improve and is next out

With the blinds now up to 1000/500 we see Alex making a big raise and takes down a pot uncontested and shows KK.  Next hand he makes another big raise but this time Derek goes all-in and Alex calls…. then shows KK again !    Derek has Q-J  so is in heaps of trouble, even the J on the flop doesn’t help… but the J on the turn certainly does., and Derek takes Alex down to about 1200 chips.    It is only a hand or two before Alex has to stick it all in but doesn’t get lucky and Steve takes him out

Karen gets taken out next by Derek but can’t remember the details now… and Andy follows soon after with a mad lunge at the pot with not much

This leaves us with three players and the blinds at 2000/1000   I had been OK chip wise but had given some chips away to Steve earlier so think I am down to around 17’500 (avg = 18’500) with Steve the chip leader. 

A few hands in, we see a key hand for me, when dealt 6-6 on BB I just call when Steve completes on the SB (Derek had folded)    The flop comes something like J-6-2 and Steve immediately goes all-in !   His timing is very unfortunate as I am insta-calling all-in for 20’000 chips   Steves A-7 is well beaten already, but I hit another 6 on the turn for quads and am now the huge chip lead !

With very few chips and big blinds, Steve makes a valiant but ultimately futile attempt and is out in 3rd

I have around 40’000 and Derek is around 16’000 and there is very little time left on the clock.     After a hand or two of exchanging blinds, Derek goes all-in pre-flop.     I had J-J but on checking the chip counts, if I double Derek up he will be slight chip lead so decide to fold as the timer signals the last three hands to play.    Next hand I have 9-7s but decide to call Derek's 4000 raise to see the flop.  Nothing comes for me, so fold to his bet.   I also realise that by now I can only just afford the 3000 blinds to be around 1000 chip leader after the next two hands, so need very good hands to justify doing anything other than folding.   Both my last hands end up being rubbish so fold and win by around 2000 chip difference in the end

I was delighted to win, just a bit disappointed not to be able to “finish the job” by knocking Derek out, but that’s the nature of a time constrained game I guess

Overall, it was a very enjoyable game.   Even the people knocked out early seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially those involved in the cash game !

League wise, we are now halfway through the season and I am points leader with 61, but Darren and Alex are not far behind with 42 each and Derek on 49 makes up the top 4

All still to play for… see you next time

Poker : Deep Stack tournaments

I have recently be playing in “Deep Stack” tourneys on my Wednesday night "online poker night"   This is where you get 5000 starting chips and the blinds go up every 30 minutes, so you need to be prepared for the long haul if you do any good !

First attempt was 6th May in a $11 deep stack tourney.  This had 1026 players and I crashed out in 660th place after 90 minutes

Then decided to switch to the $22 deep stack tournament , so on 13th May sat down for a nice game for a couple of hours as there were only 152 players.   As it turned out, I did pretty well, so after 8.5 hours playing ! I finished in 6th place and took a nice $152 prize

Last week I played the $22 tournament but things went against me and finished 59th of 135 so a very poor showing

This week I did have had some more success !!  Seems my temperament is more suitable for the patient, long, drawn out game

From my 5000 chip starting point, I got some good hands early on and had built up my stack, which was just as well, as I ended up all in on the turn having flopped two pair and some clown with his flush draw hit his 1 in 6 chance to put me down to around 1200 chips !   As the blinds were so low, I managed to keep calm and play on, and was lucky to very soon double up with a good hand, then tripled up when I got lucky having gone all in pre-flop with a speculative hand and got 4 callers !

From then on, I just tried to maintain above average chips, but was going up and down a bit.... but over time was pretty well in control.  

One hand in the middle stages that stuck out was when I got A-Ks on the Big Blind.  There was a raise then a re-raise all-in and as the original raiser had a load of chips, decided he was likely to call even if I went all-in (which I seriously thought about) so decided to fold.   The original raised had T-T and the original all-in had A-6 so was happy with my choice when the blank flop came down, but when the A then K came, I was not so pleased.   I know made the right choice, but when the outcome would have been in my favour (like tripling up!), it still hurts...

As we got into the last 40 players, I had some good hands and felt I was playing well... and managed to get myself up into the top 6, where I pretty much stayed (with my normal loose aggression when I get a lot of chips!) until the end

After 5.5 hours play !  I am in first place with 102'131 chips out of 19 players (Avg = 37'631)

At the next break after 6.5 hours, I am still in 1st with 140'488 and 11 players left (avg=65'000)

Next break after 7.5 hours, I am still in 1st place, with 176'133 with 9 players left.   Avg=79'444   I want to now build up to and maintain stack of 178'750 which is the average stack for my target of a 4th place finish

8h 25mins into the game,  I drop to 2nd place – having dropped down to 134'533 chips (8 players left ) but suddenly it all goes nutty and chips leader takes out another player as well !   Chip avg=102'142  Couple of hands later and another player get really lucky and takes out someone else... I am now 3rd place from 6 so am getting excited…..

Next break (8 hr 45 mins)  I am 3rd now out of 6 players with 119'133 (Avg = 119'166 !! )  Starting to buzz now, but from drinking too much water I think !!

After 9 hours,  I am 5th of 5 players with 99'559 (avg = 143'000)  All to play for and blinds only at 4000/2000   News flash... just as I am writing this, I win a decent hand and now jumped to 3rd place with 140'509

Hit the 9.5 hour mark and a key hand.  I am in BB with A-Q (5000/2500 blinds) and button goes all-in   He normally flat calls good hands, so decided to call (I would also have about 40'000 chips behind)   Turns out he has 8-4s and neither of us improve, so I take him out and we are now down to 4 players and I am chip lead again at 267'128 (avg = 178'750)

Has it really been 9hr 50mins !   I am now 2nd of 4 players left , so have hit my target finishing place.   I have 236'996 (Avg=178'750) and the blinds are now 6000/3000    I am up and down a bit, was 1st for a while, then 4th, worked up to 3rd, then hit some cards and got aggressive and got to current 2nd place     Lynn is probably snoring her head off by now, but my adrenalin must be flowing... still drinking a load of water (it is very hot and muggy tonight) so also having to go to the loo every half hour as well !

After a 10h 25m slog we are now head up !!   I have 293'000 v’s my opponents 422'000  (357'500 avg)

Lost big pot with  my Q-4 against K-6 on a A-K-Q flop !    but a couple of hands later I have doubled up,  then managed to get back to about 307'000   Then my A-A holds up and win a bit more to take us almost dead even in chips

Then we have the key hand... I have J-5 in BB call a raise of 14'000....  flop comes J-T-3 so check and re-raise all-in when he bets.  He calls and shows A-T so I am way ahead.    The turn is a safe 6, making me about 90% certain to win the hand……. but the A on the river takes me out in 2nd place !!

After 850 hands and 10 hour 45mins playing time, I won $457.60 for 2nd place (first was $657.80)  

It is amazing how your expectations change during the tournament, most of the way through I would have taken a cash finish were it offered, but then being chips lead a lot of the time you hope to make the final table (9 players) then on the final table, still at the top of the chip count, you then hope to take 4th… having got to 4th I was gunning to win it…. and on the last hand thought I pretty much had won it !  It is a bit gut wrenching to get so close to the win, but ultimately happy to take 2nd place.  I am happy with my play and the luck evened out so can’t complain too much :-)

These deep stack tournaments may suit my temperament, but they certainly take time !     Mind you, the hourly rate of $40 isn’t too bad I suppose.

Poker : Satellite Final table results

At last the night of the Satellite Tournament “The Invitation Cup” Final table has come, everyone is keen to get cracking and the tension is mounting as people take their seats….

The first hand of the first level and everyone starts out quite cagey.   The flop comes 2-3-A (2 hearts) with three out the eight players still in.   The 8h comes on the turn and everyone checks, but the Jh on the river sees Sean all-in !!   Alex and Roger fold, but Sean shows his nut flush (so wasn’t a mad move after all :-) )

The first level is pretty tight, with a lot of calling and checking and most people having something half decent on the showdowns… for example a flop of T-6-5 (rainbow) sees everyone check, Darren bets 200 into a 100 pot when a 9 comes and Sean, Karen and Derek call.  We get a bit of action when an A comes on the river, with Darren betting 500 and only Sean calls with A, but Darren has A-T

Level 2 is much the same, but some risks are being taken…. on a board of 8-8-9-9 Martin bets 1000 into Derek who folds, showing 6-6   Martin shows Q-J !

Level 3 sees one of the first larger pots as Alex hits his straight to take some chips off Karen but restore himself to starting chip level (4000)

Level 4 sees Sean hit his flush again and take a good size pot, but the action is starting to come as Derek raises to 500 and Martin/Jon call.   The T high flop is good enough for Derek to bet 1000 and takes it, showing QQ

On the first break, there has been a lot of tough playing, mostly tight.   Roger has 2500 chips, with Jon on 4100, Sean 5000, Derek 5200, Karen 4000, Darren 4300, Alex 3300 and Martin on 3600 so not much in it at this stage

Level 5 is really where the fun starts, as the blinds are at 200/100 and some people need to catch up !   We suddenly see a spate of pre-flop raises but normally they take the pot there and then.   Alex raises to 600 and takes pot, then Martin… then we have 4 players see an un-raised flop, but Derek bets 600 and takes it down.   Then we see Martin and Alex take turns at raising and taking pot pre-flop again.   Sean is obviously not being believed as his raise is called by Martin and we see a flop of 9-7-6  Martin checks and Sean bets 1000, but Martin responds by going all-in !!  After a long think, Sean folds and sits there for several hands thinking about whether he made the right move or not…..

Martin is on form though as he manages to fold his A-Q against A-8 when the flop comes K-8-5

Sean is low on chips and the blinds are going up…. 4 people see flop of Q-T-5   Sean bets 1100 and only Martin calls.   The turn of 9 sees Sean all-in for his last 1400 and is called again.  Martin has J-9 to Sean’s J-T so Sean is way ahead !   Neither player improves so Sean survives and Martin is getting low on chips.   Soon after, Martin raises and Sean and Karen call.   The flop of K-8-5 sees Karen betting out 600, but Martin moving all-in.  Sean quickly folds, but Karen thinks for a long time before calling with her K-9.  Unfortunately for her, Martin has K-T and with A then 3 coming his better kicker holds up and is back in business, but Karen is now low stacked with 900 chips

Level 7’s sees the blinds at 500/300 and Roger calling all-in against Sean.   Rogers J-8 against A-K doesn’t look good on the flop of 9-4-4 but J on the turn doubles up Roger

With the blinds on their way to her, Karen launches all-in with 2 callers.   The board is Q-8-Q-8-A and Karen has  Q-J so triples up !   Jon and Alex split the top pot

Martin has been pretty steady all night, so when he launches a 2000 attack pre-flop he takes it down.   Couple of hands later his aggression pays off when on the BB with J-4 sees a Q-4-2 flop.  Alex, Martin and Sean all check, but another Q on the turn sees Martin bet 1500 and Sean re-raise all-in, but Martin call !  Sean has A-6 so was only slightly more optimistic than Martin, but the blank on the river sees Martin take a huge stack of chips and take Sean out first

Level 8 starts to see the nose bleed blinds levels with 7 players still in…   Martin uses his new found wealth to raise 3000 and take uncontested.   Then it’s Jon all-in with A-T against Derek who has to call as it’s only another 600 to him on the BB, so his K-3 has a chance… but Jon doubles up

Alex is all-in with 55 against Karen with A-Q   Neither improve so Alex is safe and Karen is down to 500 chips.   This leaves Karen to be all-in on the SB with 8-2 but is dominating Darren’s 3-2   Unlucky again for Karen, as 4 diamonds give Darren a flush and she is out !

The last hand of the level sees Jon all-in with 3200 (Q-9) Darren all-in with A-Ks (3800) and Roger all-in for 3000 (A-Qs)   Only a 9 is good for Jon, but after a flop of T-5-3 the 9 comes on the turn and Jon has suddenly leapt towards the chip leader and Roger is out

The last level has blinds of 2000/100 and chip counts of Darren with 600, Derek 5600, Jon 9900, Alex 550 and Martin chip leader with 10’400

Alex shows he means business by sticking it all-in first hand on the new level, but takes it down without a fight

Darren is all in and triples up with 7-7 so is showing that he won’t go down without a fight, but is all-in on BB all too quickly for 1800   His A-6 is up against Martins Q-J and the flop of 9-6-5 is good for Darren, but the fickle poker gods throw down a J on the turn to take out Darren

It’s all action now with just 4 players left,  Jon is all-in and takes the pot, Alex is all-in but gets called by Martin.  Alex’s Q-Q is against A-K so close race, although the Q on the flop doubles Alex up.  Martin is then all-in put gets no takers, but shows A-K again to prove he’s not really on tilt.    Alex and Martin on the blinds see an un-raised flop, but then Martin sticks it all-in when Alex checks and takes it down

Alex is all-in but Jon calls from BB with J-9   It seems to be a bad move with Alex showing T-T but the turn is good for Jon (again!) as a J falls for him (again!)   This leaves Alex in poor shape with just 1100

Derek can’t hang around with his 1400 chips but the blinds come round too quick and sees him all-in with 9-6 against Jon in SB with T-8   An 8 on the flop puts Jon more firmly in the driving seat, but then the T and another 8 come to really stick the boot in and Derek is out in 4th

Alex is in trouble now, and is all-in on BB with 7-4   Martins K-8 doesn’t improve but is good enough to take out Alex and give us our two final players

Martin has 17’800 and Jon is on 14’200

It is never really going to last too long, but there is a bit of to-ing and fro-ing  before we see Martin raise 6000 and Jon call.   The flop of J-9-4 doesn’t look too inspiring so it is no surprise that when Martin goes all-in to eagerly (out of turn) that Jon folds

Soon we have the key hand of the heads up battle when Jon raises and Martin re-raises to put Jon all-in, who duly calls.  Jon’s 8-8 is ahead of Martin’s K-Js until the flop which comes J-9-3  The turn of A is no good to Jon, but he hits his 8 on the river!   This gives him around 22’400 against Martins 9’600 chips so is an uphill battle for Martin from here

The last hand probably typifies the sorts of clashes we had all night, in that the un-raised flop of 8-7-4 sees Martin push all-in and Jon call.   Martin shows K-4 but is crushed by Jon’s A-4 and sure enough it is all over and we crown Jon our 2009 Champion

Well done to Jon for putting it out there and winning, but Martin was no pushover and showed the same discipline and strength seen in the heat to be a worthy runner up

Everyone played well and was entertaining to watch, so hope everyone who took part in the heats and final table all enjoyed the experience and will want to try again next year !

Onward and upward, see you next time.

Poker: Home Tournament – May 2009

I have had a bit of a mare for my last few sessions in April and first few sessions in May… felt I was playing well, but the cards were running against me.  However against this backdrop, my feeling of foreboding did not stop me from looking forward to the monthly game as normal :-)

As it turned out I got pocket 9’s a couple of hands in which held up and gave me a good chip stack early on, always nice when that happens !   Unfortunately Sean started out playing tight, so didn’t give him enough respect for a hand a little later and ended up giving him half my chip stack !    Easy come easy go…..

After that I kept bobbling along with around 500-1000 chip level and not much happening for me so as we got towards the end of rebuys, an opportunity came where four people was going all-in and as I only had around 600 chips went all-in as well with my J-8 but the gamble didn’t pay off so had to take the double re-buy to give me 1000 in chips for the first level after the break.   Jon, Jock and Karen also had 1000 chips, with Sean and Andy having the larger stacks

The first hand of the new levels sees Jock on the BB and managed to double up against Sean, so taking the pressure off him a bit.   The next hand I find myself on the BB with A-J but Jon sticks his stack in and everyone folds to me.   I guess I am in a race, but Jon could also have a better A than me, but have to take a chance.  Luckily Jon has pocket 8’s and I hit a Jack to take the pot and take out Jon !

With the blinds going up and more action going on, the chips start moving around the table as people have to play pots to ensure they don’t get blinded away.    A couple of people get knocked out on the other table, then Andy takes out Jock and we are down to the final table.. nice and early for a change !

On the Final table, Roger has only 300 chips (blinds are 300 / 150 !)  I have around 1600.  Karen and Steve are also fairly low on chips.   Bill is probably the chip lead but Alex and Sean also have larger sized piles.  The big surprise of the night so far is that Lee has not made the final table for the first time !!

It is inevitable someone will be knocked out early on with so many low stacks, and it turns out to be Karen who is busted out by Bill, who seems to be his normal aggressive, happy go lucky self tonight (some may say very happy and very lucky :-) )  

This seems to trigger a rush of people going all-in as Andy raises all-in on a flop of Q-T-9 (2 diamonds)  Everyone folds round to Bill who agonizes for quite a while, but decides to call (which was no great surprise to everyone else) As it turns out the pot of around 7000 will go to Andy unless Bill can hit another diamond, as Andy has A-K and Bill has 5-3 of diamonds.   The Turn brings a K for Andy, making him even more of a favorite, but the river is K of diamonds    As Bill calmly collects his chips, Andy has a bit of a moan, although in fairness his first of the night and not without provocation !

The next hand sees Roger all in against Alex (again!) but this time Roger gets knocked out, despite going in favorite.   I am starting to get excited now as I have only 1300 chips and the blinds are now 500 /300 so am climbing up the points by staying out of the action !

Being on the BB, Steve is short stacked and decides to go all in when a couple of other people call.   Unluckily for Steve, Alex is on a hot streak and takes another person out !

I have to fold my BB and SB leaving me down to 500 chips, 4 players left in and the blinds just gone up to 1000/500 so looks like 4th place for me…. however to my astonishment, Sean and Bill start re-raising each other and end up with Sean all-in on the flop.   Even more amazing (to me anyway) is that neither of them really has a hand and both missed the flop.  To my great advantage Bill is ahead and wins the pot with his A high, taking out Sean and gifting me 3rd place – what a result :-)

Even more surprising is the next hand with Alex on the BB he raises pre-flop and Bill calls.   With 7000 in the pot, Alex bets the pot and gets re-raised all-in by Bill.   With only around 1000 left behind Alex calls… and Bill inevitably takes out another player and I am 2nd with 500 chips left !!

Although everyone (including me) thinks it is all over, I double up on the first hand heads up….. then again as I am BB anyway.   When I double up the next hand as well, I am starting to think I might have a chance and Bill is feeling vulnerable and folds a couple of his SB… suddenly I am up to 8000 chips, then 10’000 !   We then get a hand where I have J-6 and flop comes A-5-4 then the turn comes with a 3 and crazily the 2 comes to make a straight on the deck on the river, so I decide to go all-in to represent me being desperate.  After some thought, Bill decides I have a 6 but calls anyway with nothing, so I now have 20’000 of the 25’000 chips !     The final hand is quite funny, as Bill is on the SB, looks at his cards and sighs/gesticulates as if he isn’t happy and calls.  I have got Q6s so push all in believing he has a poor hand… as it turns out Bill had something like T-4 but called anyway and I take a very unexpected victory !

To be honest I should not have won, but a mixture of patience and luck, along with Bill’s over zealousness gave me the victory (but I will take it anyway I can !)

Poker: Lucky day today !

I am working from home today, so decided to get my hair cut at lunchtime….. luckily for me the hairdresser had a lot of people waiting, so didn’t bother to get my hair cut and instead stuck my £8 into the roulette machine in the bookies :-)     Fortunately my lucky numbers got lucky for me and came out with £20   Nice result for 10 minutes work ;-) and can still get my haircut tomorrow !

Wednesday is normally my online poker night, so decided to enter a 180 seater $4 buy in SNG Hold’em tournament.   It was  a bit of a long slog, but was worth the investment, as I managed to get chips early on and then got myself up into the top 50% of the players and stayed there for the rest of the game.   When we got down to the last 18 (all of whom got paid) I was in 9th place but got some good hands and managed to win the tournament !!    This netted me $216 for a $4.40 stake, so a great return for me there as well.  I also felt I was playing well and not getting too much of either good or bad luck, so very satisfied indeed

All in all a lucky day for me today, but now worn out by all the excitement so going to have a well deserved rest and beer :-)

Poker: Satellite Semi Final playoff

Before the tournament, Mick had unfortunately had to pull out at the last minute, so ended up just the three of us playing for the final seat at the final table.

The first level saw pretty much every hand being raised by someone pre-flop so was a pretty brisk game to begin with.   On one of the early hands, my 5-x on the small blind (SB) didn't look much , but I called when Sean just called and the flop gave me two more !    I had to check but no-one bet... the turn gave me another 5 for quads!   I checked again and was pleased to see the A come on the river, especially when Darren bet out.....

Later on, my J-T looked pretty good on a A-J-x flop as Sean betting out didn't necessarily mean he had a hand :-)  I was a little nervous but called down to the river and was pleased to see Sean with J-7 and I took a nice size pot.   

With a reasonable stack I could let Darren and Sean battle it out for a few hands, but with only three players it was always going to be brisk....

A key hand came when I had K-2 suited on the BB and decided to call Sean's raise from the SB   Darren also called and I was  happy to see the 8-2-2 flop !    Sean bet out and I raised, but Darren went all-in with a total of around 2400 chips... prompting Sean to go all-in as well with 3025 in total    I was in a quandary but couldn't work out what Darren had.... I considered various holdings but had to call really.   Sean had K-K but Darren had A-2 !      Running A-A gave Darren the Full House, but at least I won the top half of the pot and Sean was out ! (in 45 min's !!)  

Unfortunately Darren had 2:1 chip lead so was a tough proposition

By the break we were roughly equal in chips, but was tricky for either of us to win a lot of chips in any one hand so was a long slog

It was inevitable that there was going to be two good hands before the chips went all-in... sure enough on a un-raised flop by J-8 looked good for a shove all-in when the flop came J high..... but Darren called... with J-4   Unluckily for me , high cards came and we split the pot !

With the blinds going up to 500/300 and my stack staying stubbornly around the 4500 mark (to Darren's 7500)  I had to start taking some risks, but a couple of bad calls and Darren getting more aggressive (probably with good hands)  saw me down to around 3500 and needing to double up.   Getting 4-4 on the button seemed like a good spot to go for it and Darren called with A-T   The flop was blank but the turn saw the T come for Darren and it was all over....

Well done to Darren for a deserved victory, commiserations to Sean who at least went out with a bang (and a good hand!)

I'll see you at the final table, but probably only as Tournament Director !

Poker : SCOOP summary

Playing in the SCOOP events was quite time consuming but was pleased I took part.,

I was particularly pleased to satellite my way into the HORSE event and the 8 game events as this made it very cheap to have a chance at winning a huge pot, which is pretty exciting prospect :-)

As it turned out, my best change of cashing was the $109 HORSE event which was also the juiciest pot to have a go at, so was a little bit of a disappointing result, but certainly enjoyed the chance and felt I gave it my best and had a chance to win

The 8 game and NL Hold'em events were also fun to play so overall am happy I spent the time playing the satellites and the games themselves, and certainly feel I got a lot of value for money

Next time I would probably play both the HORSE and 8 game events again, but not play the low stake NL Hold'em as it really is a crapshoot at the beginning.  Instead I will take the time and effort to try and satellite into the higher stakes game as the number of players is a LOT lower and presume in the main the standard of play will be higher, making it less down to luck.  The ability to use the FPP to qualify in the satellite events also makes it particularly attractive to try this

All in all, a good set of Poker events, well run by PokerStars and seemed very popular with the players.   I just need to play better and cash in next time :-)

Poker: SCOOP NL Hold'em event result

The last of the SCOOP events for me this time round is No Limit Hold'em which is the most familiar of the games, but also the one where you will generally need to get lucky somewhere along the line to do well in these huge field events....

As it turned out there was a massive 9657 player field which is  bit daunting.  You get 2500 chips to start and can have one re-buy then an add-on after one hour play.  

My basic strategy is to play really tight, then play any good hands strongly. but keep an eye on my relation to average stack as I don't want to fall too far behind the average

There is a mix of playing styles on my table, with a couple of loose players, a calling station and the rest seem pretty tight/solid

The early stages see me calling with reasonable hands and raising with great hands, but either way folding if I miss the flop.   I am not playing many hands so the chips are down to around 2200 when the calling station goes all in in early position.  It seems a bit weird move to win the blinds as they are so low.... anyone else I probably would have folded my AKo but thought it was likely I was ahead or 50-50 so called all-in.  No one else got involved and so it transpired I was up against 8-8   Luckily a K came and I doubled up so could go back into my shell and wait for the next big hand....

The calling station raised all-in a couple more times during the game, with 4-4 and 3-3 but was also raising a fair bit with any A as well as calling may of the other pots...l as he had already had his rebuy it seemed he was just an action junkie !

At the break I had 3890 chips and was 6523 out of 8026 players left (average was 5047 chips) so was a no-brainer to take the add-on.  When the session re-started I had 7390 chips against the 8001 average and had promoted myself to 4694th place with the add-on !

After the restart I got a couple of good hands and had worked my way to around 8000 chips when I got A-Qo on the button.   The calling station called but everyone else folded.   I put in a standard raise and the BB plus the calling station both called.    The flop came A-Q-2 (2 hearts) which was a great flop for me, but the BB player quickly went all in for around 6000 chips and the calling station called.   The BB all-in seemed a bit odd and I put him on a flush draw and he wanted to win the pot straight away, but the calling station was a bit trickier to read.   I thought his likeliest holding was A-2 (with his range it could even be just an A)  I did worry about trips but he had so far been all-in pre-flop with all his pocket pairs..... so I went all-in and got called.    As it turned out, the BB had the nut flush draw but the calling station had 2-2 so I was in poor shape, with 4 outs (16% chance)  The flush came for the BB on the turn which was irrelevant to me anyway, so went out in 4'694th after 90 minutes play

I was actually pretty happy with my play in this game as I had been steady and tight.  Although I was wrong in my read on the last hand, my reasoning was sound so percentage wise there was still a good chance I was going to be ahead.  Had I won the hand, I would have gone to 22'000 chips and had a good shot at making the money, so overall not to disappointed.  

Poker : SCOOP 8 game event result

I really enjoy the 8 game format so have been immensely looking forward to this SCOOP event ever since I managed to satellite through to the event

Despite there only being $25'000 guarantee there ended up being 2'178 players and a very generous payout to the top 50 players

There are only 6 players to a table, so quickly determined that the player to my right was solid/tight/aggressive, the player to my left and player opposite were complete idiots in all games except hold'em, and the other two were very tight so was difficult to get a read on them (but at least I knew they were very tight)

With the poor play of the other players, who were in most pots, I was feeling pretty comfortable and built up from the 5'000 starting stack to around 7'000 in a couple of rounds (the games were changing every 10 mins)     Then the terrible player to my left got a bit lucky in Stud and despite showing 6-4-6 actually had another 6 and 4 hidden so took me to the cleaners with his Full House as my 2 pair improved to a flush so thought I was ahead.  I was still left with around 5'300 chips at this stage so nothing much to worry about

Later on I had a great draw in the 7-2 triple draw but despite only needing one card in all three draws ended up with A high and my opponent had a K high to take a large pot !  

The Omaha pot limit crippled me as I kept getting decent starting hands but there was a lot of aggression from the poor players pre-flop so was calling them and not hitting the flop... not even a dodgy draw so had to give up the hand.   

At the break I was 1'501 out of 1'965 remaining players and 3'737 chips to the 5'541 average so not in great shape, although not bad enough to panic yet

Unfortunately for me my cards played tricks on me and kept being drawn in by good starting hands which didn't improve and was soon down to under 1000 chips with the blinds going up to 100 in the hold'em round.   Ironically my last hand was Q-5 on the BB which was un-raised so was happy to see Q-J-9 flop as I was already pot committed   My opponent had J-9 of course, so that sealed my fate and was out in 1'859th place after 85 minutes play

Not a great result and was very disappointed.  Overall there was not a lot I would have done different and felt I played the cards and the players fairly well.   The terrible player to my left had got very lucky on more than one occasion, (not just against me) which was where a lot of my chips ended up going.     I could have played tighter in the early rounds and would probably have lasted longer but in the end you have got to play your cards when you get them.

I have one more SCOOP event to play tonight, which is the No Limit  Hold'em so one more chance to cash in.  Let's hope I get more luck this time !

Poker: SCOOP HORSE event - results

Having managed to satellite through to the final for the SCOOP HORSE event (event #7) I was looking forward to taking part.

Checking the number of players of Saturday morning, I was quite surprised there were only around 400 players registered, as the $250’000 prize pool guarantee was pretty significant.   Logging on half hour before the game started, I was surprised again as the number of players had jumped up to a rather more substantial 2674 players !    This was more the number I was originally expecting, so the task ahead was no more daunting that I had originally envisaged in the end.

The first prize was a whopping $43’452 but even the first cash prize for 520th position was a very reasonable sounding $117 so settled down for what I was hoping to be a long evening of playing poker.

As you should expect me to say by now, I started off playing steady, but with a lot of aggression in the early rounds it was difficult to commit to a pot without it costing several bets on each street.   The problem with limit poker of any sort is that you can’t scare people off the pot and you tend to get a lot of callers, so the low blind levels encourage people to call you to the river with very little and they hope to get lucky and draw out on you (and often get good pot odds to try)   On the plus side, it does mean that you can be the person doing the drawing, as long as you have the chips to do it with

For the game itself, I didn’t get much luck in the early rounds so lost around 1000 chips from my 5000 starting point in the first half hour, but by the first break after an hours play, I was back to my starting stack size (average was around 5100 at this point)

The next session saw me get some good hands and got paid off by them, so got up to around 8000 chips with the average around 6000 and was happy to sit back and play tight, but with the blinds going up you can’t sit around forever, and by now committing to a hand was costing around 1000 chips to get to the river.    There are also some bigger stacks emerging on my table around the 20’000 mark and couple of them seem loose and aggressive.   I commit to a hand against one such stack in Razz, but don’t improve…but even so,  the other fellow had to hit a lucky card on the river to beat me, so took a large chunk of my chips and I was down to just below average chips again !

After what seemed an age without a hand, my chips were dwindling so committed to a flush draw on a Stud hand.   By this time, a bet on every street was enough to put me all-in by the river and I was being called down by one of the big stacks (they can afford to be loose by this time!)   Luckily for me, my flush draw became a flush on the river so doubled up and had around 9000 in chips (around the average)    A little later I had one of those “dammit” moments, when I ditched a pretty awful Omaha Hi-Lo hand pre-flop of Q-7-3-3, only to see the other two 3’s come down on the flop !   There was significant action on all rounds of betting as well, so had I made a very loose call of the pre-flop raise then I would have made a huge amount of chips….. unfortunately making those calls is a long term looser so I definitely made the right choice…. but still feels sickening when you see the perfect flop for your mucked hand :-(

The next couple of hours saw me maintain just around or slightly above average stack.  By now the standard of play seems to be getting distinctly better than in the early rounds, with much better starting hands being showed down and more selective aggressive betting, so am pleased to be able to maintain my relative position…. but then a minor disaster !    On an Omaha round, I called pre-flop with a double suited starting hand, but then got distracted by the TV so glanced up to look.   I heard the beep to indicate it was my turn, so looked down and saw I had hit a flush on the flop, so bet out and called a raise from the one other player.    I bet the turn which was blank, but then realised to my horror I had misread the flop and only had a flush draw !  With another raise from my opponent, it seemed clear I was way behind so had to fold… but had given away about a third of my chips and was well below average stack now…..  Luckily it was only a few minutes before a break so had a chance to switch to the PC with the large monitor as it seemed I was getting tired and needed the clearer screen

The blinds are now getting high and my chip stack is definitely low, certainly any raise or calling a bet on the flop is committing me to the pot.   Luckily we are on a round of Hold’em now, which I am most comfortable with so hope I can pick up a few pots.  Unluckily I am not getting any cards so have to be patient.   On the BB I get dealt 8-4 and only the SB has called.   I consider making a move and raising, but he has a huge chips stack compared to me so decide to play safe and check.  The flop is a reasonable 9-8-3 rainbow for my hand but my opponent bets out.   Being the SB he could have any two cards so decide to re-raise to see how much he likes the hand, but unfortunately he calls….. the turn is a 5 which doesn’t seem like it would improve his hand (and certainly didn’t improve mine) so we both check.  The river is another 8 !  I am very happy with that, especially as my opponent checks to me…. so bet out.  His re-raise is a bit worrying but I have only enough chips left to call so am committed…. and am gutted to see his hand of 8-6    OK, so I was always behind, but it seems very unlucky that all four of the 8’s would come out

So my final result was 784th place out of 2674 runners and played for 5 hours 55 mins.  All things considered I don’t think I did too badly, but am still pretty disappointed with my result.  Overall I believe I played pretty solidly, although did make a few mistakes which certainly effected my finishing position as I felt I was playing well enough to have a good chance to make the cash prizes.

Oh well, will try again sometime and also have another couple of big tournaments to look forward to :-)

Poker : Annual Satellite - Heat 4

The final heat was being hosted by Jon, round Derek's house !

With only four players, all of whom could reasonably be ranked as "tight", you would think it would start out a tense, tentative match... and in the main you'd be right ;-) 

The first few levels saw a lot of unraised pots and first bet taking it down.   There was some aggression though, Derek raised 150 and got two callers.   The 8-7-3 flop didn't look promising, but Jock leads with 100 bet and Derek re-raised... but all folded and Derek took a reasonable size pot down uncontested.      Then we see Jock raise to 100 and Jon re-raising to 300 , only Jock called.   The Q-T-4 sees Jon check then re-raise to 1000 when jock bets.   The 2 turn doesn't seem to help anyone, but Jock calls Jon's 1000 bet.   The 9 on the river sees Jon ship all-in but Jock folds and shows A-J, Jon shows Q-Q so Jock made the right decision, although it left him with only 2175 chips left

We get to level 4 and see Jock raise to 200 and get called by Jon.   The Q-9-5 flop also sees a bet from Jock and call from Jon and with not many chips left the K turn sees a bet and call, then 8 on river which follow see Jock all-in and Jon calling.   Both have two pair, but Jon was lucky enough to have the higher two pair which he hit on the river !     

We are now down to three players and are on the first break.    Jon has 7800 chips, Darren 4800 and 3400 to Derek

The next couple of levels are cautious with lots of limping and folding to a bet.    There are some hands where it all suddenly starts to happen, for example at level 6 all limp to see T-4-2 flop.    All check then an 8 comes on the turn, at which point  Jon bets but all call.   The 2 of clubs on the river makes a flush possible but the 700 bet from Darren gets a call from Derek.   Darren has A-3 clubs for the flush against Derek's tip 2's !    Derek is down to 700 chips

Couple of hands later see's Jon raised to 700 with Derek on the blind, so has to call with Q-9  but Jon has K-9 and takes Derek out.

We are now heads up and Jon has 9300 to Darren's 6700 chips

The chips go back and forth with more raises pre-flop but more caution on the flop.     In an unraised pot, both check the 5-5-2 flop and the 2 on the turn   The 7 on the river sees Darren bet 1000 into the 2000 pot but Jon calls... Both have an A so the pot is split !

Level 7 sees a lot of caution and not much in the way of big pots, but Jon is being whittled down.  He goes all-in pre-flop with K-QQs and gets called by Q-3o so takes the 9000 pot and we're nearly all square again !

at the break before the last level, the chips stacks are 8000 each so can't be more evenly matched !

It quietens down for a few hands, but this time Darren is being whittled down.   Then Darren goes all-in with A-2 and gets called with Jon's K-J   The A holds up and Darren is dead even again at 8000 each

The next hand goes to Jon, then Darren gets all-in with 6000  Jon thinks, then calls with his J-8s and is doubtless happy to see Darren with T-6o   Unluckily Darren hit's and takes the pot leaving Jon 4000 chips

Then Jon is all-in with A-5 against Q-8 and without improvement this time, Jon immediately gets back to 8000

It was never going to last long, but  it was 15 minutes into the last round before we saw a final decisive battle.    Jon went all-in with A-K and got called by K-J  leaving Darren needing a bad beat, but the luck wasn't with him and Jon took the victory.

From a slow start, the game certainly built up to a fascinating and exciting finale, so well worth watching.   Roll on the Semifinals

Poker : Home Tournament - April 2009

I have really been looking forward to the Poker this month and was in suitably determined mood to make amends for my disastrous outing last month !  I had a feeling in my bones that I would do well so was feeling calm, relaxed and ready to play

A good omen was that there were no "wild" players on my table so was looking to play good solid poker.   Of course it didn't quite work out like that and found I was buying in three times in quick succession (still in the first level), but then my luck did change and managed to win some good pots to get a reasonable stack size.  There was a fair bit of action on our table, but the "wild bunch" on the other table were whooping and hollering and buying in a huge number of times.... Bill seemed to have a mountain of purple chips by end of the first level !!

I am struggling to remember the details now (as ever!) but do remember the last 10 minutes before the break saw a lot of action with Mick and/or Simon being all-in a fair few times to try and build up their stacks

At the break I was around 4500 chips with Karen being the chip leader on our table

With the break over the serious business starts and is no surprise that the "wild" table sees the first three knock outs.    On our table, Jon finds himself short stacked but has a couple of good double ups to build a good stack... only to get in with J-J against Darren's A-3s pre-flop and then saw the A come as the first card on the flop !   Darren improved to flush but had the pot wrapped up and left Jon very low again.  This time he couldn't recover and got taken out by Simon.  Within a couple of hands another three players got busted in quick succession and we have a final table already !

As I got seated at the final table, I was just telling myself I had to play solid, take my time, keep the pots small and don't take any risks... but the first hand I got pocket tens, so immediately raised the pot despite myself !!   Luckily everyone folded and I could tell myself off (again!) and settle down into the game

Lee has maintained his 100% record since starting but is taken on, and taken out as it turned out, by Alex who has a HUGE pile of chips .  

With blinds at 1000-500,  Karen who is now short stacked calls as does Darren but all else fold to me on the SB.  My 9-6s doesn't look pretty but am getting in cheaply so also call.    The flop is 9-5-5 rainbow so a good flop for me, but being out of position decided to check.   Bill checks but Karen goes all in for 2800 chips... Darren folds and I have to think as I have exactly 2800 chips left myself !     With Karen's range being quite tight, I decide to fold as I get the button next hand but was a close decision.   Bill calls and as it turns out, Karen had A-Q and takes a large pot with A high and is also now the chip leader.  I was a bit despondent, but still felt I made the right decision...

With the blinds going up to 2000 and me down to 2300, I have to wait for a good hand and hope it holds up in what would inevitably be a multi-way pot.   As luck would have it, I am dealt A-Qs in late position so still my chips in and get 3 other callers.    With a Q coming and no-one else having much, I have suddenly got 9200 chips !    Couple of hands later I get dealt K-K and re-raised Simon's all-in raise to get heads up with him.   Luckily my kings hold out and I knock out Simon and take my stack up to around 12'000.  This makes me 2nd chip leader to Alex, just at the right time as we have only about 5 minutes left to play

Bill is short stacked but doesn't get lucky against Alex "the destroyer" who takes out another player.   Darren puts up a solid defence and had several battles with Alex who was putting his huge pile of chips to work... but in the end got taken out by Karen in the last hand of regular time

With three hands left to play, Alex is significant chip lead with around 20'000 then Karen and myself are roughly level at around 12'500 each

My BB gets attacked by Alex's all-in so have to let it go, but Alex folds the button on the next hand and I decide to make a raise into Karen.  After a long think and advice from Sean ! she decides to go all-in, which I have to call.    My Q-8 isn't looking great against Karen's K-3 but the 8 on the flop seals our fates, giving me over half the chips and Karen has around 500 left   

The last hand is immaterial as I can take 1st place if I fold, which I duly do... but Alex takes out Karen to get an extra point to add to his assured 2nd place

It was very well played by all and certainly was a lot of exciting action going on....  can't wait until next time :-)

Poker: Another minor victory

My Poker gods must be in a hot phase right now ! 

Although not “free” like my previous victory to satellite into the SCOOP HORSE event, I played in a $4 rebuy event for a seat in the $44 buy-in 8 game event  (SCOOP Event #15)    For a total cost to me of $12.40 (including rake fee) I managed to finish in the top 4 of 24 players to win a seat, so will be playing this event on April 9th!! 

Not free, but definitely a bargain… and didn’t take very long to complete the satellite game either.    I played pretty solidly and was pretty much in the top 10% all the way, so was a relatively easy “cruise” for me into a winning position.

The event itself as 199 players registered so far, but only a $25’000 prize fund guarantee , but I am still looking forward to playing in it :-)

That’s it for me on the SCOOP excitement for now, until the tournaments themselves start that is….. as the only other event I will be playing is the $22 NL Hold’em and I can’t be bothered to play a satellite for that one !

Just need to get into training for the event now… so will have to practice by spending hours playing poker long into the night :-)

Poker: SCOOP here I come !

Wow, I don’t believe it !   As mentioned in my previous post, I was trying to satellite my way in to the HORSE event.   At my second attempt in the satellite qualifying (using my Frequent Player Points (FPP) as the entry fee) I managed to win a seat in the $109 HORSE event in SCOOP (Event #7)  There were 32 entrants giving 3 seats as prizes   It only took 2.5 hours as well…. I am so excited :-)    

My actual play in the game was a bit up and down… well, mainly down and down to begin with… after the first hour I was just under my starting stack and way below average.  I “peaked” at 19th place by the time we were down to 23 players, but after having a beer and concentrating more… either my play improved or I got better cards !     On one of the hold’em rounds I got some really good cards and doubled up, but then decided to fold pocket 8’s when there was a raised and re-raise behind me… only to see an A-J-8 flop and another 8 on the turn !  Oh well, it didn't matter in the end.

At the moment there are 216 players entered into the event on April 5th, but its got a guaranteed prize fund of $250’000 anyways, so should be a nice one to win !

Phew…. I am going to have a well deserved rest now… and maybe another beer!!

General: Camberley Theatre Comedy club

On Saturday night we went to Camberley Theatre comedy club. 

We haven't been there before to see a show so wasn't quite sure what to expect, but as it turned out it was pretty much as you would expect... with tables/chairs scattered around the auditorium and the bar was open so you could take your drinks through.... in fact the bar (and the doors) was open throughout the performance so it was no problem to come and go as needed (provided you could survive the quips from the comic if you went out which they were on stage)

The first comic started a bit later than advertised, apparently due to problems with the trains... he was kind of OK but no more than slightly amusing.   He seemed more interested in finding out about the audience than trying to entertain the audience.

After a break the second comic was slightly better, in that she did tell a couple of pretty funny stories but overall was not a rib tickler

We were a little disappointed so far, but got another drink in the next break and waited for the headliners set.  As it turned out, he was hilarious and really got the audience going.   He did a lot of funny stories and did a bit of audience ribbing as well and really showed up the previous two acts as being pretty shoddy by comparison.

The last act really made the evening worthwhile and felt we did get value for money (apart from the bar which was hugely overpriced!!)

Would we go again ?   Yes, I think we would.... it is a good night out and if you get tanked up before going in, wouldn't need to cost a great deal either  

The next Comedy Club is April 11th and seems to be run every six weeks or so

Poker: some success in Omaha Hi-Lo tourney

Last week I decided to enter a freeroll "8 game" tournament on Pokerstars as a bit of a break from my normal Wednesday night online poker routine.   With over 6000 players it was just a bit of a laugh, but ended up doing pretty well and took it seriously, so ended up finishing in the top 48, all of whom get a free entry into the Weekly Round-2 tournament   Mind you, at just over 5 hours it was a long time to play !

From the outset I decided I would take round 2 seriously as there was $2000 in prizes up for grabs.  I so sat down at 6pm on Sunday for the tournament start, having already prepared Lynn for a long game.   When I went to register , the game happened to be limit Omaha Hi-Low split which was OK, but baulked slightly at over 7500 players but decided to go for it..... 

The standard of play was pretty terrible in the early stages and were also a lot of players who had registered but not bothered to take their seats (go figure!)   I just played pretty solid/tight and managed to steadily build up my stack.   Being limit, it takes a long time to go broke even for terrible players and the blinds were only going up every 15 minutes so looked to be in for the long haul.     As it turned out, I was generally always ahead of the pack, mainly being in the top 10% of players so kept me interested to keep playing...

After around 7 hours (!) we were down to about 20 players and I was a steady 8th/9th sort of position with over 1 million in chips.  Unfortunately I think I must've lost concentration/focus as, with the blinds going up to 30'000/15'000 and 2'000 ante, I found myself quickly slipping down the rankings after a few dubious calls

In the end I finished 14th (which I didn't think was too bad, but felt I should've finished higher)  after playing for just over 7.5 hours... yes it really was 1:35am and yes, I had won some money..... $7 to be precise !

Oh well, better than playing for 5 hours and winning nothing I suppose.... :-)

To be honest, although I am glad I did it... I feel $1 per hour win rate is a bit too low to bother again....  I will now spend my time on qualifying for the SCOOP HORSE event then go back to my normal STT or cash games

Poker: Annual Satellite - Heat 3

Bills heat ran last night, with Lynn, Lee, Mick and Roger playing

It was a frantic match with lots of action, so the following is just a summary of the 6 pages of notes I wrote (and I lost track by the end as well!!)

It all kicked off from the start with family pot and everyone calling Mick's small bet on the flop.  The turn was checked round then Lee bets the Q on the river to take the first pot uncontested.    The second hand saw the first of many encounters between Bill and Lynn, with Bill betting the flop and Lynn calling, Bill betting the turn, but taking it with another bet on the river.   The first big pot was the third hand (!) with Lynn's flush beating Lee's two pair

Level 2 see's one of the many raises from Bill on the button, with everyone calling.   The flop is T-5-3 (2 hearts)  and only Mick and Lynn call Bill's bet of 500   Bill bets another 500 on the turn of 6d  but Mick calls again.  The 3h comes on the river and Mick bets out 1000.  After a long think , Bill is sure Mick has hit the flush, but decides to call anyway.... sure enough Mick has the flush to Bill's A-T (top pair)  so Mick gets a huge chip lead

And so it goes on (I only got through the first page of my notes so far!)  There is lots of calling pre-flop but most being quite tight once the flop is down... the chips are moving around the table pretty quickly.    Suddenly Lynn is down to 2000 chips and gets involve in a big pot with Lee.  In the end she decides to fold on the river leaving very short stacked

At the first break the chip counts are Lee 6700, Mick 5300, Bill 4300, Roger 3000 and Lynn 700

With level 5 we see Lynn all in on flop of Q-8-3    Mick bets the 8 on the turn with everyone else folding we have a showdown... but Mick's Q is good enough to take out Lynn and we are down to 4 players

With the blinds starting to hurt some people, we are still seeing lots of pre-flop calling and action on the flop.  We have a family pot for a A-J-T flop.    Mick bets 500 from button and only Bill calls.   The 9 on the turn sees Bill bet 1000 but Mick calls   The river of 7 obviously doesn't help and is checked down.  Mick's A-3 takes a reasonable sized pot to Bill's Q-8

Level 7 sees Roger all-in on the BB and only Lee calling from the SB.   Roger has pocket 3's to Lee's 6-5 hearts, but a 3 on the flop leaves Lee drawing thin and doesn't improve so Roger doubles up

Next hand sees another family pot for a K-K-9 flop (2 hearts)  Bill bets out 1000 and only Roger calls for the rest of his chips    Bill has 9-6 against Rogers A-Q but an A comes and Roger doubles up again and now has around 2800 chips (Lee has around 2700 and Bill 7000)

Lee is short stacked so goes all-in on button with Q-9 but Mick looks him up with A-7     Luckily Lee hits a 9 on the river and takes a 4100 pot !

Level 8 and it is always going to be all action with 4 players still left !    My notes get a bit vague here as there is lots of action and at least one player is all-in every hand!

Roger doubles up on SB, then doubles up again the next hand when he hits a Q on a K-Q-4 flop against Bill's J-T

The small stacks seem to have the edge, as Lee goes all in with AQ against Mick's BB and with no-one improving takes the pot.

Then Bill is raising from the button and Roger goes all-in with 9-9 against Bill's A-Q    Roger holds on to take a pot of over 10'000 and the chip lead !

The last level sees Bill out on the first hand of the level against Roger, but Lee quadruples up his 500 stack.   Mick has 400 chips to Lee's 2000 and Roger has the rest, having been down and very nearly out not so long ago !!

Next hand sees Mick and Lee all-in with Roger in the BB  Mick wins so triples up, but Lee takes the higher pot beating Rogers hand

hen we have Lee going all in from the button with A-6 but Roger hits his hand and takes Lee out

With Mick having less than SB left, the next two hands are dealt face up but Mick doubles up three hands on the trot and seems to be coming back into the game.... however Roger's touch returns and hits a good hand to take Mick out and the heat victory

Phew, it was a roller coaster, turbo charged, all action event and I'm quite exhausted just watching !

Well done to Roger, but we'll see Mick in the semi-final for another try

Poker : Pokerstars SCOOP

Pokerstars are running their Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP)  from April 2nd for 2 weeks.

There are three levels of play for low, medium and high buy-in's so am looking at entering three or four events myself !

One thing of particular usefulness is that there are feeder satellites tournaments into the main events, some of which allow you to use your Frequent Player Points (FPP)   As it happens I have several thousand FPP which I can use, so hope to qualify on the cheap rather than having to pay all the entry fees

At the moment I am hoping to enter :-

4th April : Pot Limit Omaha ($22)
5th April : HORSE (if I qualify through satellite  as its $109 entry fee!)
9th April : 8 game ($44)
10th April : No limit Holdem  ($22)

Will report how I get on with the satellites  (if I do any good :-) ) and the tournaments I decide to enter.

Poker: Annual Satellite Heat 2

Sean ran his heat last night, with Karen, Alex and Steve playing

The play started out cagey and tight, taking a little while before we saw any big bets.  The first big hand came when Q-9-8 came on the flop then J and A on the river.   Sean bet the river with Karen calling and shows Q-9 for two pair against Sean’s KK !

The next couple of levels are steady, although a couple of hands got interesting when Sean raised it up on the flop or pre-flop but both times taking the pot uncontested… this being the main pattern (call, raise, then fold all round)  

At the first break, the chip stacks reflect the level of aggression shown so far :-)     Sean = 4000, Steve = 3800, Alex=3300 and Karen = 4900

After the break, the blinds start to hurt a little so the action cranks up a notch… although there is still a propensity to fold to a large raise…. until…..  we see an unraised family pot, and the flop is K-Q-4 (2 hearts)  and all check    The turn is 9 and Steve bets 200, Sean raises to 500 with Karen then Steve calling.  The river brings 8 and Steve checks, but Sean bets 1000 into the 2300 pot.  After a long think Karen calls, but Steve folds, also after a lot of soul searching….. Sean shows A-9 and takes the pot from Karen’s J-9  Steve is gutted as he had them both beat and is now getting low on chips !

We see another family pot and the river of 5-4-2 (all clubs) looks dangerous, so everyone checks.   The turn is T clubs and Karen bets out, with only Sean calling.  The Qd on the river doesn’t seem to change much but Sean launches one and puts Karen all-in for another 1500   Karen calls without having to think to long and shows Q clubs to take the pot from Sean's two pair !

The next level sees blinds at 500/300 and with Steve down to 800 chips, he goes all in from the button.  Karen calls from the BB and shows A-T against Steve’s A-K    The first card shown on the flop is a cruel T followed by A-J,leaving Steve needing the Q, but two blanks see the first casualty of the game

Soon after Sean raises from BB and Karen calls on the button.   The flop sees T-7-4 and Sean checks to Karen , then calls the 1000 bet.  The Q and 4 are checked down, but then a bit of controversy as Sean points out that Karen had put the burn cards on top of her hole cards…. as it is easy to reconstruct the hand, the Tournament Director ruling goes in Karen’s favour, who then shows A-7 against Sean’s A-K to take a good sized pot and the chip lead….  (Sean=4200, Alex=3300, Karen=8500)

The chips start moving around the table though, as the next level has 1000/500 blinds.    Alex is soon all-in with Karen calling, but the flop of 3-5-6 had given Alex a straight against Karen’s pair and suddenly Karen chip stack is looking under pressure.     Sean is getting more aggressive and taking down pots uncontested again, so is building up his stack

The last level sees Karen and Alex battling it out again, when on unraised flop of 8-8-7 Karen checks then calls Alex’s all-in bet.     Alex’s J-7 is ahead of Karen’s T-2 and another J on the turn seals Karen’s fate and we are suddenly heads-up

It is soon all over, as Sean folds the first couple of hands, then Alex folds the next, but the next hand sees Sean all-in pre-flop with K-7 and Alex calling with 8-3     Poker is a cruel and fickle game as the first card shown on the flop is…. yes you guessed it…. a 3 !  This is followed by J-J-2-6 so Alex wins the heat !!

It was a thoughtful and edgy game overall, but the sudden flurries of action made it interesting to watch.  The finale couldn’t have been predicted as it seemed Karen had it wrapped up, then Sean but Alex coming in right at the end (when it matters most) so all in all another good game

Well done to all, see you next time

Poker: Home Tournament - March 2009

Its the first £10 special of the year and there is a full compliment of players so will be hectic

I started out pretty cautiously as normal, going into a hand with Jock when on BB, nothing came and Jock bets and as he had a good hand the previous two hands I folded.  He showed a bluff this time, but wasn't worried as it was early on.   Couple of hands later I limp in with 33 and the flop comes an ideas A-3-x    Sean bets a fairly substantial 500 chips and as Alex was behind me, decided to just call (but Alex folds)   Sean checks the turn which was a 6 so I moved all in for around 1000 or so and Sean calls... showing 5-4 for an up and down str8 draw.  Of course a 5 comes and gives him the straight so I am first to rebuy !

After that I play pretty cautiously, so raised with 88 when it came to ensure only good hands called me. Jock called and bet out on the Flop and turn but when A came on the river I decided to fold to another bet....  he showed AJ so despite being ahead to the river could easily have been out !

It wasn't long after that when on the button I looked down to see pocket Q's... lucky really as I only had 975 chips and the blinds were 75.   As a couple of people had limped, I decided to go all in, being happy to take the blinds and calls.... however Sean calls again, this time with pocket 4's.    I am way ahead again, but the flop comes 2-5-6, giving Sean a middle pin straight draw, which comes in on the turn !  I couldn't believe it, but was out in 35 minutes after two bad beats  from Sean!

Things are a bit of a haze after that... :-)  but what I remember is it being a night of the underdog taking the spoils and crazy things happening.....   Sean's large stack seemed to go to Jock and I remember one hand where Jock was betting each street, then Sean put in a huge overbet on the River which Jock thought about but called with A high !    Funny thing was that Sean had a worse hand !!

Later on, Derek was down to being all in blind on the big blind with around 300 chips, but managed to trip up.  Darren similarly was all in when low stacked with KK, but hit a K on the flop and also got back into it.

Mick was low stacked and trying to get busted out so he could go home.... so went all in blind and won, next hand did the same... and doubled up... and again.. so suddenly was the table chip lead !  So much for wanting to go home :-)

Time was getting short and the blinds high, but we still had 10 people in entering the last round with 2000/1000 blinds.

The action suddenly came thick and fast with all-ins on both tables pretty much every hand... but it still took 5 minutes before we were down to 8 players when Jock took out Andy, then a hand or two later Mick as well.... so the final table at last (with around 15 min's left to play!)

Lee kept up his 100% points scoring record, but was out in 8th on the first hand of the final table

Derek gave himself a good stack when he busted out Bill, but Jock took an unassailable lead when he bust out Karen and Alex in the same hand... but just in time, as with three players we only had 4 hands left to play

It was a bit of a damp squib in the last few hands as it was mainly folding or calling then folding to a raise.... so the positions remained the same and Jock took the victory with ease !

It definitely seemed to be a weird game, but that is what makes the game so fascinating.... roll on next session as I have got some catching up to do now !

Poker: Annual Satellite Heat 1

I ran my heat yesterday (Tuesday) with myself, Lynn, Martin, Andy and Simon playing

It was quite a lively affair, but I was keeping my nose clean and playing tight and timid.   Didn’t pick up any hands to start with, but then had a couple of good hands on the trot and was a few hundred chips up.   

Then got AJs and raised, with Simon calling from the button.    The flop came A-Q-x and I put out a small bet, with Simon re-raising to 1000    I knew Simon would have an A, but wasn’t sure if he had 2 pair, or an A with better kicker so decided to fold.  Simon showed his AT when I showed him my A   Although I was ahead I was happy enough with my decision

Lynn was playing OK, but then got involved in a hand with Martin.   He made substantial bets preflop and on the flop but checked the turn and river, showing pocket A to go with the A on the river !    Lynn had been drawing and hadn’t anything and was only left with 1000 or so chips (but was lucky Martin hadn’t been more aggressive!)

It was nearly an hour before the first person went out, when I knocked out Lynn, which took us to the first break.    I had around 6000 or so chips as did Martin, with Simon getting a bit short stacked

After the break I had a bit of a purple period, getting pocket 8’s I raised and only Andy called.   The flop came A-8-x with two spades so decided to bet aggressively and put Andy all-in.   Andy had nut flush draw and straight draw, so called for all his chips… but unfortunately for him no help came and he was out in 4th

Couple of hands later, I got pocket T’s and raised, with Simon calling.   The flop came T-5-x giving me top trips but to my surprise Simon quickly called all-in when I put in a bet, showing pocket 5’s !   Neither of us improved so I had taken out Simon as well !

It was now heads up with myself and Martin, with me having around 13’000 chips to Martins 7’000.    Martin had been playing unusually steady and solid all night , so seemed really determined to do well.   I therefore started out quite playing quite passively, resulting in us soon having virtually identical chip stacks.    I got some good hands and had made a few chips, but was still very close chips stack when a key decision came….

I had pocket 8’s and raised from the button and Martin went all-in    I had previously folded a couple of times to an all-in thrust from him pre-flop, so wasn’t sure what his shoving range was…  my initial reaction was to fold, assuming he had a pair, but in the end decided his range would be any good Ax or any pair so decided to call his all-in.   Unfortunately for me, he had pocket 9’s and hit a 9 on the turn for good measure!    I thought it was all over but actually had more chips back than I thought.  Even so I ended up with only 800 chips and with the blinds at 500/300 things weren’t looking good for me !

The next hand I went all in from the small blind and doubled up, then had a string of good cards so was either going all-in with Martin folding,  or Martin just folded his small blind.  I quickly was up to about 3000 chips.  Then another key hand happened….. I had T2 in the big blind and decided to not raise (for a change!)  The flop came A-x-2 so stuck all my chips in but Martin has A6, so I am way behind….  lucky for me help comes in way of a T and I get a good double up  !!

With my aggression continuing, by the time we get to the 2nd break we both have around 10’000 chips again so it’s game on again !!

With both of us with 5 blinds each, it was never going to last long… so two or three hands into the round, I get AJ diamonds and raise, Martin re-raises all-in and I call.  Martins A3 clubs is well dominated, but the hand played itself really…. the K clubs came first, but it was the 3 that came on the flop which proved decisive and Martin had taken a well deserved victory.

It was a great game, ending up with an amazing heads up struggle which on its own took taking an hour for it to conclude…. having thought I was out once on a bad decision by me, it was good I was able to claw my way back and go out in a more befitting style (not saying I wouldn’t rather have won it of course :-)  )  At least I came out of it with a heroic tale to tell and a second chance in the semi-final play off…..

General : Cinema “The International”

Last weekend we went to see the film “The International”   It was immediately gripping and interesting, with a plot that was not difficult to understand but were never quite sure where it would go.   It also had some good action sequences and stunts so for me was definitely worth going. 

Lynn didn’t mind it either, although she might have preferred to see “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” which I actually thought we had agreed to see in the end, but I’m not sad about our choice of film :-)

Gadgets: Decided to go for a Netbook

I have been looking at Netbooks for a while as I wanted something I can use at home for playing poker on (apart from when in my office), something to use as media player - particularly for my digital photos (so I can bore the parents and in-laws with my collection of snaps) and also to use for the poker games up the club

Thing is I could never really justify the expense, but having had a bit of luck on Ladbrokes.com Blackjack and Roulette (OK a lot of luck!) found myself with some spare cash so have treated myself to one !

In the end I went for Advent 4211-C with Windows XP (due to most poker clients only working with Windows) and the Logitech V220 Cordless mouse for Notebooks.  It has 1GB RAM and 160GB disk which should be fine for the intended use

The great thing about the Netbook is it's small size and light weight (and pretty cheap as well !)

The thing  had to be very careful about was the size and layout of the keyboard... as they vary quite a bit in feel, layout, size of enter key and very importantly the ease of use for the mousepad and mouse buttons.   If you are thinking of getting one, you really have to go and play with a few to be sure you can cope with it.

I ended up getting mine in my local Currys shop as the prices seemed on par with what I had seen on the Internet

The screen resolution is the other downside for Netbooks, but once you get used to it, it is OK actually.  Most applications will adjust to the screen resolution and are can be used with a bit of scrolling here and there.  The Advent also allows you to se the screen res to 1024x768 (rather than 1024x600) so any "awkward" applications (like "Tournament Director" in my case) can still be used successfully.  

The only thing annoying me so far is that it seems to get the Home/End buttons to work you have to turn on NumLk which is really frustrating, but otherwise no real issues so far and am really pleased with my purchase. 

I need to get an external DVD r/w (as you don't get one as standard) and might look out for a small case to carry it in, but otherwise nothing else I am planning to add to it.  

Poker: Home Tournament -February 2009

Wow, where do I start ?   Another great game had by all.... a big crowd as well, with Jock and another long term no show, Jon both turning up ;-) so 15 players for the off.

I started off well, with my normal careful start I hit the flop and tripled up which gave me a nice stack to sit back and relax with.    Sean had his normal rebuy every hand kind of start and chips were flying everywhere in the early stages.  Lee also made a good start and got a heap of chips early on.  

Oddly enough both Lee and my stacks seemed to dwindle towards the break, with Steve W and Bill getting the chips.   The hand before the break saw me with A6 and under 1000 chips, so decided may as well stick them in.  I wasn't that worried by Bill's call, but Steve W also went for it.  Turned out Bill was the one to worry about, as his pocket K became quad K by the turn and Bill now has huge chip stack.

After the break, Mick was the first to go- busted by Darren but my luck changed for the better.   Can't remember all the hands now, but I think it was when I busted Jock that my Pocket 4's ended up quads !   The other table also had quad Q's so seemed the pattern of the night...

As the numbers dwindled, I hit another couple of hands and we even saw both Bill and Sean folding post-flop ! but the net effect was that my chips stack was around the 10'000 mark for a good while.  

With 9 players left, Lee was in the Small Blind of 500 leaving him 100 behind.   He astutely folded and found himself outlasting Alex, so maintained his 100% record of points finishes, now a run of 7 games !     His luck ran out on the final table, finding himself on the Big Blind but was impressive finish nevertheless

Having dispatched Lee from the final table, the Big Blind fell to Andy who had less chips than the Big Blind, and Darren promptly dispatched Andy as well !    Steve W was next in line but managed to survive the onslaught.    Peace did not last long, as with Simon all-in on the big blind I raised with A8   Bill called for his few extra chips so three showed their cards...Bill was ahead with A9 and Simon has A2 so looke3d rosy for Bill.  Unfortunately my 8 was the first card shown on the flop and no-one improved so I took out two more players and was very close to chip lead with Derek

With the blinds at 2000/1000, 4 players and Steve W short stacked it was never going to last long... sure enough Steve W got taken out by Darren leaving three for the money and about 10 minutes to play.   I hit a bad run and gave a load of chips to Darren, leaving me in 3rd place with around 10'000 chips.    I then got pocket 8's and raised, with Darren calling me with KJ.  a J spelt disaster for me and I'm out in 3rd.     Felt I played OK but was gutted not to finish better

The final two played for a couple more hands before Derek succumbed to the inevitable 2nd place, Darren taking a deserved victory

It was a great game with lots going on... I know I say that every month but its true !!   That's why we all will be back for more next month :-)

General : Cinema “Revolutionary Road”

We went to our local Vue Cinema to watch the movie “Revolutionary Road” last Saturday

The critics will doubtless describe it as a “thoughtful drama” but we both thought it depressing, sluggish and boring !

Our best hope is that the film wins an Oscar, then we win a couple of free cinema tickets to go see something decent !  (Saw a trailer for “The Boat That Rocked” which looks like a must see for me :-) )

In fairness, I would say it was well acted and had some story to follow, but you would get just as good acting, story and more satisfaction from watching Coronation Street   At least the soaps throw in some humour and you don't have to sit there for 2 hours…..

Poker: January is a miserable month !

The first week of January was good for me in the Poker world.  I was a few bucks up online and cashed in the Monthly live tournament… but them it all went horribly wrong :-)

I was playing almost exclusively $30 and $20 STT tournaments, but just couldn’t seem to cash in on any of them… actually tell a lie, I did come 3rd in one… but not enough to make a difference.   When my Pokerstars funds exhausted 14th Jan, I decided to go back to Ladbrokes for a while.   

It took me a few games to get back into the UI and how to find the right games, but am finding that there are very few players in the games I want to play…. all seems to be $5 turbo games or those double or nothing STT.  

I have ended up playing the odd cash game (which is not my favorite) or the MTT tournaments of various buy in levels (which are good, but take 2 or 3 hours normally).    Actually my MTT performance has been pretty OK, coming 11th of 55 players (top 10 paid!!), 10th of 113 (for a $7 profit after nearly 3 hours play) and 25th of 175 (only the top 20 paid out which was a little disappointing)

Despite losing $100 on Poker, I have managed to maintain my funds by getting lucky at Blackjack and Roulette (I have won around $110 !)  however not only is this not sustainable, but it isn’t the way I want to maintain my bankroll either !

The most annoying thing for me on Ladbrokes is the game selection (or lack of it) so will probably keep enough in to enter a few of the MTT but either go back to PokerStars or PartyPoker where the game selection is much better and can also get back to using  PokerTracker, which doesn’t work at Ladbrokes !!

General: New fitness regime

Now we have got our Home Gym sorted out, Christmas is over and I’m back to the normal regime… thought it was time to review how I’m getting on with it….

I haven’t recorded the heart rates like I did on my previous Gym Update last year, but my current workload looks like this…

Monday (Running)
Run at 6.5mph for 25 minutes, then 12mph for 5 mins, plus 5 minutes cool down.

Tuesday (Rowing)
25 minutes at around 27 spm (there is no resistance adjustment and I am convinced it is harder than the hardest setting on the Concept 2 rower in the David Lloyd gym !) plus 3 minutes cool down.   Cover 3.45 miles

Wednesday (Cycling)
Pedal at around 13mph at level 9 resistance for 10 minutes, then 10 minutes at 14mph at level 10 and finally 10 minutes at 15mph at level 11.  Then do 5 minutes cool down. Cover 7.3 miles

Thursday (Cross Trainer and Weights)
6 minutes 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

Then do one cycle of weights

15 x 2 reps of Chest Fly (1 weight)
15 x 2 Chest Press (1)
15 x 2 Leg Extension (1)
15 x 2 Lat Pull Down (4)
15 x 2 Ab Crunch (4)

Friday (Swimming or Weights)
As my David Lloyd membership doesn’t run out until end February, I am currently going Swimming on a Friday.  Once membership runs out, I will be doing 2 x cycles of the Weights (described above)

The above is derived from my old gym workout schedule, so the running, rowing and cycling is pretty much what I was doing before anyway… but obviously with differences now on the Cross Trainer and weights.   I am hoping to get the rowing back up to 30 minutes and increase the weights a little bit as I get used to them, but otherwise am expecting the above to be my long term regime

Just got to cut down my fat and sugar intake now :-)

Poker: Investing in Poker Tracker 3

Having had some good hints from using the trial version of the software, I decided to invest the $90 to get the full version of Poker Tracker 3

The software basically keeps track of all the hands you play and allows you to :

• Review your performance and the performance of your foes by interrogating the database of hands played
• more importantly (in my view)… gives you a real time Heads Up Display (HUD) of all kinds of interesting statistics whilst playing

You still need to pay attention to your opponents and put them on hands as normal, but you can see statistics like how many times they enter a pot voluntarily, how many times they raise pre-flop, do they check/raise, and masses of other data.   Once used to the output and verified some of the meanings behind the stats, I have used this information to help decide how to play against my opponents

One of the most interesting things I have noticed is that I seem to enter a lot of pots and my “aggression factor” always seems to be amongst the highest on the table !!    Never really thought of myself as being an aggressive player :-)

If you play the sites that are supported by the software, then you get a 60 day free trial, which allows you to do pretty much everything the full version does…. so in my view, it’s worth a go if you are playing regularly online as you can see if you get on with it and it actually helps your game

Poker: Home Tournament - January 2009

Wow, what a start to the season!

Although it was only last night.... my memory is a bit vague, but due only to the fact that there was so much action on the tables and lots of frivolity, that I am just having trouble recalling the best bits !!

With Martin to my left and Darren to my right... I was always going to have and interesting game... my basic strategy was pretty standard in that I started out steady and let the others go all in if they wanted to (Martin was the first rebuy in the first hand on our table :-) )  I was going pretty steady and managed to win some chips somewhere along the way, then had a run of cards.. first getting QQ but Lee and Darren both called... Lee with KQ and Darren has QJ.  The flop brought a J then the turn saw another J !!  Luckily Darren has a fair bit less chips so I won pot 2 from Lee so wasn't dented too much.    I then took down a pot uncontested with AT  and the next hand got KK and managed to win some chips there as well !   Later on Martin re-raised my raise and we ended up all-in pre-flop.  My KQ wasn't looking good against his QQ but the ladies were not lucky tonight as a K took Martins stack very low

With all the action going on we seemed to get to the final table quite quickly.  I had managed to build a good chip stack of around 12'000 or so and was probably the chip lead... and had even draw the dealer button so could relax for a few hands.

Lee was always in trouble with the short stack (but was in the points again !) and was the first one out from the final table, taken out by Andy.  Andy then took out Bill when Bill decided his T high was good enough to call to catch a bluff (however Andy wasn't bluffing..)

We then seemed to have a phase were the short stacks were doubling up... I remember doubling up Derek somewhere along the line when my A7 was dominated by his A-9... I also gave Andy and Darren a load of chips (I think)

Eventually, with the blinds now at 2000/1000 something had to give....  I managed to take out Derek and get myself back in the running, then just as the time ended Alex took out Andy and gave himself a very healthy looking stack.  

With three hands to play and 4 players left, all with reasonable stacks, it was all to play for.    Simon took out Alex and had a reasonable lead, the 2nd last hand I got KK and was happy when Simon raised.  Darren folded to my all-in.   Unfortunately an A came and reduced me to 1000 chips with one hand to play and that was it as Simon had an unassailable lead and Darren was large amount ahead of me....

It was a great game with loads of action, so a really good start to the year.  I am not sure if the new rule of getting a point for each knockout was in peoples minds during the game, but certainly make the January results a bit closer than they would have been otherwise.... looks to be a cracking season in prospect

Looking forward to the next one already......

Poker: How was 2008 ?

My year started out with the best of intentions and had the motivation of trying to make this a breakthrough year (this was my main hope from my previous end of year reflections)

I did manage to stick to my basic bankroll formula and playing on one site (mainly, just a couple of temporary switches here and there) and also didn’t get distracted by trying to satellite into a big tourney….. however still managed to finish the year down $1155 !

Up to the end of march I was $40 up, but April was a definite downswing for me.  I was playing some games like Omaha and Horse (and also started 8 game) which was a bit of a drain on my resources, but really just had a few games at the $33 level which I didn’t cash in on to give a big dent to my funds.    July was a disastrous month for me, as it started with a big win at $22 level so I foolishly decided to try playing a couple of games at $100 level.   I did win the first game, but lost a couple on the trot to give me only a small profit for the month.  Although I did them drop back down to less giddy stakes, I didn’t cash in on the key games and ended up $100 own on the month, whereas I should easily have set myself up for a sizeable profit… oh well lesson learned :-)

October was the worse month, although in fairness I had decided to allocate some specific (extra) funds to risk in order to try and double up to fund a specific purchase I was keen to make.  Unfortunately my gamble didn’t pay off and so my figures are around $250 more than they would otherwise have been…. although still would have been another bad month!

Nov and Dec I am quite happy with my performance and do seem to have had more consistency for these two months.    For the two months combined I do make a small profit and of the 25 days where I played, 12 were profitable days

Overall, I feel I am playing OK but do need to be a bit more careful about sticking to my Bankroll strategy and my game selection.

In 2009 my aims are to firstly stick to the game level I can bankroll and focus on STT.  My MTT will be very restricted so will try to only play one a week.      I will doubtless play some cash games as well, but only low limit NL Holdem.      The games will primarily be Holdem, but do enjoy the HORSE and 8 Game, so will also continue with these but only for low stakes.     I will probably keep an eye open for the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise as am tempted to go for it again in 2009…..