Holiday: Trip to Bath

Went down to Bath on Sunday 13th February… bit of an odd time of year to go, but decided we needed a nice getaway for a few days.

Stayed in Haringtons Hotel, which was right in the centre of Bath, so great location.  The hotel itself was very clean and pleasant, with nice airy room and very quiet even though it was in the centre.   Breakfast was pretty ordinary but otherwise no problem with the hotel.

We were ready to explore by around 3pm, so went out for a reconnoitre in the drizzle and wind, which luckily we had prepared for!   Got soaked but had a good walk and a lovely cup of tea out and about.  

For evening dinner, we decided to walk literally across the road to the Raven Pub.   It seemed a “locals” pub, but the food was nice despite the tourist prices.   Everywhere we went in Bath seemed to charge a lot for food/drinks, I guess that’s the problem with holidaying in a tourist hotspot !

After dinner had another walk and ended up in the Volunteer Riflemans Arms pub for a drink.  It was about the size of a small front living room, but seemed friendly enough.  

Monday 14th Feb

Up around 8am for our designated “Shopping Day”  Didn’t need to get up so early as Breakfast is served 7:30am until 10am, but think Lynn was eager to get out and about!

In contrast to yesterday, the weather is bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, but there is a very chilly wind.    I bought a new compact camera then headed for the coffee house, of which there are loads to choose from so spoilt for choice.   Walked around shops, Lynn bought a watch, had pub lunch,  walked around more shops, had mid afternoon coffee, walked around some shops again and were both glad to get back to the room for a nice long rest.  

Being valentines night, decided to go out for a nice romantic meal.  Lynn fancied pizza so went to Pizza Express.    Wasn’t my choice, but happy enough as I like Pizza too

Tuesday 15th Feb

Today is our “Art & Culture day” but still up around 8am !    Back to drizzle and cold wind, but we are well wrapped up and expect to be indoor most of the time.   First went to Jane Austin Centre but wasn’t open yet… so went to No. 1 Royal Crescent… and that wasn’t open yet either… we’re obviously too keen. 

Luckily the Fashion Museum was just about to open when we got there at 10:30am so were able to get inside and see something.  also took the opportunity to have a nice cup of tea and a Bath Bun in the coffee shop there

Next stop was Bath Aqua Glass.   We paid the couple of quid to sit and watch the glass blowers at work, mainly because it was fantastic to be a nice warm environment and can sit and watch other people working for hours Also has a look round their small shop but didn’t buy anything in the end.  

Lunch soon beckoned, after which we went to the Victoria Art Gallery  The guest exhibitors were rubbish, but had some nice art work, pottery and glass to see in the upstairs gallery.  It is also one of the few free places to visit so good value for money!

Went back to the Jane Austin Centre and managed to get in this time.   It was quite fun, but didn’t really amount to that much so was quite expensive for what you got (more so than the other attractions we had been to today)   After such a hectic day, we we had our fill of culture and headed back to the room for a well earned rest.

Evening meal was at the Firehouse Rotisserie.   The food seemed quite expensive and didn’t even get veg with your main dish unless you ordered them separately (another £7 on top).  Having said that, the food was exquisite and did get good portions so I guess you just have to pay for good quality.  

Wednesday 16th Feb

Another bright and sunny day, but with less wind so a bit warmer.   Nothing specific planned for today, so just wander around aimlessly really.   went into the Abbey which was quite spectacular.

Then decided to go to the Museum of Astronomy, but once we’d walked there, Lynn decided she didn’t want to go… so went back to No.1 Royal Crescent, but found it didn’t open until Saturday so we’re having a nice walk but not getting to see everything we expected !      Popped into the Fashion Museum as we were walking by and National Trust members get in free (to use their very nice toilet facilities) then rather than going to the Building of Bath museum decided to go and get some lunch. 

After such a hectic few days, Lynn was getting a bit worn out (and me!) so just had a leisurely stroll round the shops in the afternoon and found a nice coffee shop to rest in.    Also decided to go into the local Salamander pub for dinner as it was close by, but did some decent “normal” food which went down very well.

Thursday 17th Feb

Up and on the road by 9:30am today and off to Bognor Regis.  The day starts out dull and misty, but by the time we get to Bognor just before midday, it is brilliant sunshine and pretty warm as well !

Had a quick walk on the beach, then it’s time for our Fish & Chip lunch.    Walked around town for a bit but decided not to stay the night and headed off for home.   Stopped at Caffe Verdi in Midhurst for nice coffee and cake

We had a lovely break and Bath was definitely a good place to visit for a few days.   The weather didn’t matter as there were so many places to visit undercover, although is definitely nicer walking around when it wasn’t raining.     It did seem quite expensive to eat out and get into some of the attractions (and I don’t normally notice such things) but Bath does has a lot to offer and is very compact city, so suited our requirements and have no regrets in going there.

Poker: Casino Trip for £100 game

Myself, Jon and Bill excitedly escorted Andy to play in the £100 freeze out at the Casino last night.   

We were horrified to see a sign at the cash desk saying that as from 4th Feb, the first Friday is now a £50 entry with unlimited rebuys for 90 mins (and an add-on).   We retired to the bar to decide what to do, as clearly did not really suit our purpose.

After a discussion we decided to abandon the staking arrangement for tonight as there was no way to predict how much money would be needed.  I was not keen to play at all, but as the others were up for playing anyway, and as we were on site and keyed up, decided to have a go.   

The problem I have with the rebuy tournaments is you get a lot of people just gambling it up and so you can end up being stacked by all sorts of crap hands.   In the early stages my table had a couple of raise anything players and lots and lots of limping, so took it steady (I wasn't getting any decent hands anyway!)   In a Blind vs Blind scenario I did win a small pot with my Q-J against Q-2 on a Q-8-8-x-x board, but then in the second level managed to get all-in against a small stack with A-7 on a A-6-2 flop, only for the small stack to have A-2!  I didn't improve so was down to about 1/2 my starting stack.   Did decide to rebuy straight away and sat there throwing hands away looking for something decent

Just before the end of rebuys, I was in small blind with Q-9o   The UTG player (who was a serial raiser) put in a small raise, then the next player folded, but accidently showed a Q.  The raiser made an exclamation and seemed dismayed a Q had gone, so when an aggressive player on button also called, the sensible choice for me was to fold my hand even though was tempting from pot odds perspective.   The BB called as well so three players saw the 9-9-6 flop !    The UTG player led out and aggro player called, so was livid when the turn came another 9  as I would’ve tripled up.  
I was probably slightly tilted, as on the next hand it folded to me on the button and so raised A-6d   I expected SB to fold as he was solid/tight, and BB to call… but they both called.   The flop looked OK for me being 7-5-4 rainbow, especially as it was checked to me.  With just over pot stack left, I decided to shove, expecting SB to fold and BB to call with 2 almost random cards.    It almost went to plan as SB folded and BB called, but with 7-6o so was behind and hoping to catch for a split pot!    The turn gave small hope with a flush draw, but river was a brick, so had no chips.    

Here is the problem for me with £50 buy-in…. had it been £10 or £20 I would have had a double buy-in plus the add-on which was about 5 mins away, to give me a decent 15000 chips to play on with…. but didn’t want to spend another £150 so decided to give up (seems like the Poker gods were indicating this to be a sensible move )

There were around 45 players starting in the end, and I was out in about 4oth place as several players had already given up like me.

As it was now the first break (and end of rebuys) I waited to see how the other lads were doing.   All three had around 15000 chips each at that point (including add-on) and had all spent just the initial £60 plus one add-on (or rebuy) for £50

I was going to relax by spending my last £50 on the blackjack table (Madame Roulette had already stolen £60 from me ) but then Andy pointed out there was a cash game starting up (with mostly Tournament players) so thought I may as well give it a go.    There were 9 players (including Bill who’d joined) and I recognised one player as a wild gambler.     Started steady and managed to win one small pot to take me back to starting stack levels, then folded a few.   The wild gambler was raising most hands or posting straddle bet so seemed like a good player to target.  

As the tourney was about to restart we were soon on our last hand (only played about 15 hands!)   The mad gambler was on BB, the next player had posted a straddle bed (£4) and the next chap (who seemed solid) had limped.  With 9-9 decide I wouldn’t mind taking the pot, but more likely get heads up against wild gambler, so raised to £24    Got a call from one player with £21 and wild gambler called as well, the other two fold, so plan working so far.   Flop comes 8xx and wild gamber checks.  He has a huge range, so shove my remaining £28 odd and he calls.   the turn is Q and river is 4.  Wild gambler says he’d missed and folds when I show my 9-9   Other caller had A-K so had missed as well and I’ve won a huge pot.     After the rake I end up walking away with £120 !  so only £40 down on my Poker activities for the night.

Although slightly disappointing evening, I ended up feeling fairly pleased overall….and of course will have to escort Andy to the Casino another night in February for the staking game

Poker: Home Tourney–February 2011

Another good turnout this month and for some reason the whole game was filled with all kinds of craziness and emotions.   Just your average game of Poker then

On my table Andy started to get his backers worried by having about three double buy-in’s in the first level, but then it was Derek’s turn to start racking up the double buy-in’s, easy surpassing Andy’s relatively meagre number.   

My game started out well enough, with A-K hitting a K on the flop and getting a good haul of chips and soon after Q-Q took an even bigger pot and put me firmly in the chip lead with around 10’000 chips in the first level.   After that I was fairly low key, picking my spots, but with most flops having 4 callers no matter what the action, it was difficult to be too tricky.   For this reason I limped Q-Q UTG and there were 5 for the A-x-x flop.   Karen on my right and in Big Blind led out so I immediately folded.  She did get one caller and won the pot with her A-Q !   I must’ve sensed her cards as that one could’ve got messy for me..    Q-Q is my hand of the night, as in the second level I get Q-Q again and make a big raise.   Andy comes over the top and shows A-K   Sadly for me Andy hit the K and I’m down to around 7000 chips, being slightly over average stack at this point.

With the last rebuy approaching, Jon joins Derek in the double rebuy derby but has left it too late to win the most rebuys of the night (I think Derek won that easily!)

By the break I am around 12’000 chips and with the average around 10’000  

I manage to go card dead so am patiently waiting for a good spot.   With Roger to my left, on the odd occasion it folds to me in the Small Blind, I attack Rogers BB with any two and take blinds uncontested, but otherwise have to have a hand to see a flop with the game dynamic as it is

It’s all tense and chips move around the table, but after a couple of blind increases, short stacked Jon finds himself all-in with A-4s against Derek who’s got A-A  so Jon’s out first but gets the £1 bounty from Lee (as Lee isn’t playing)   Simon soon joins him as next out, so missed the bounty by about 2 minutes !

As there’s so many chips in play, it takes until the next blind level before we see another player out.   Derek shoves into my BB and I’ve got Q-9o   Its about 3000 more, leaves me around 7000 chips if  loose, Derek could be pushing with any two high cards and there’s a £5 bounty for knocking him out, so I call    I’ve got my chips in very badly, as he shows A-Q but hit my 9 on the flop and am lucky to take Derek out and win the fiver!

We’re into the second last level of 2000/1000 blinds and still have 10 players !   Only Darren gets knocked out this level, so the last blind level sees us playing 9 handed.    As it turned out, Bill goes out fairly quickly and at last we have the final table

With blinds at 4000/2000 and average stack is around 16000, things should be happening quickly now.   I’ve got 12000 and am in the big blind      Andy on my left goes all-in first hand and takes out Steve W who was all-in on the BB anyway.    The next hand I look down at Q-Q (again!)   Mick and Karen call, so I shove all-in.  Andy immediately calls, then Mick calls but Karen ducks out.   Mick shows A-2h and Andy T-9s.  My sense of foreboding doesn’t improve when there are two hearts and a 9 on the flop.   The heart on the turn seals my fate and I’m out.

At the end of normal time we still have 6 players left in !!   Andy is down to about 2000 chips and is taken out by Roger.      Then Roger gets taken out by Alex.  The last hand was between short stack Sean and Mick who had 2nd locked up anyway.  The last had was a bizarre and fitting end to a weird and wonderful game, when the flop came Q,T,9 diamonds, then K diamonds on the turn and the J diamonds on the river gives both players the K high straight flush on the board!

Wow, fantastic, weird and wonderful game even by our own standards, what on earth is gonna happen at next months £10 special ? !!

Poker: Home Tourney–January 2011

The first game of a new season and slightly different structure so looking forward to an interesting game., especially as there’s a £10 bounty on me as well !

I was expecting 11 players after Sean/Karen dropped out at the last minute, but Lee and Mick ! turned up unexpectedly so had a good crowd to kick the season off

On my table I made a good start by doubling up against Lee with K-K    Sadly, I managed to give a load of chips away to Derek who was “playing so loose my pants are falling down” in his own words… but later managed to get some chips back off him and was about average chips at the first break.  

Everyone else seemed to be in a re-buy frenzy and lots of chips were flying around on both tables.  Seemed everyone was pleased to be back at the table after the long layoff

The first player out was Darren, who got all-in with J-J against Jock and Lee who both had A-T.  Of course I said “you don’t want to see an Ace then” to Darren and promptly dealt one out on the flop !   Sorry about that

He was soon followed by Andy who called all-in on flop with Str8 against Steve W’s two pair, but the river gave Steve the Full House and Andy was soon off back to his fishing

Lee teed up my demise when he defended his blind against my pre-flop raise.  The K-7-2 flop was good for my K-J so bet half pot when Lee checked, but he then called.   The 2 on the turn looked safe enough so put Lee all-in for a pot sized bet and he called, tabling his 9-2o !   The river bricked so  I was down to about 2000 chips with the blinds at 400/200.   A couple of hands later I looked at T-9s in the small blind and as it folded to me, decided to shove against Mick in the Big Blind.   He called with K-5o but hit K on the flop, so he got my chips and took the bounty

This took us to the final table and with some short stackers it was Jock who got taken out first by Lee.    Soon after, Derek managed to bust three players in one hand giving him the chip lead, then a few hands later busted two more so now has a huge chip lead and the last three have made it to the money already!

There was no time to rest though, with Steve raising, Lee shoved all-in and Derek called.   Steve sensibly ducked out and Derek took another player out (good job we don’t give points for knock-outs anymore!)

The heads up match between Derek and Steve was tense and tight.   An early hand had them both all-in but they both had the same hand

The chips moved around a bit, the chip lead swinging from one to the other, until on the 2nd hand of the last three they were both all-in and Derek deservedly took the win

It was really interesting game and enjoyed it immensely (despite my early exit) so can’t wait until next game….. there are three players with bounties next month so look forward to knocking them all out

Poker: £10 satellite to £100 Casino game

The time seemed right to setup a 10 seater No Limit Hold’em game as a Satellite to the £100 buy in at the Casino.  It’s a cheap night as the total cost is £10.50 and gives a bit of excitement as well as a share in the runner we send to the big game next month

The 10 players were all keen and showed up on time    Thanks again to Jon for acting as host and the facilities were great.

We start with 15’000 chips and try to recreate the same blind structure as the Casino’s rules, so start out at 50/100 with the first two levels being 30 mins and 20 min levels thereafter

We kicked off at 19:52 (as it took me longer than expected to sort out the chips!)   It didn’t take too long before there was a big pot and it was me v’s Sean but luckily the pot went to me.  It’s always nice to get the first win under the belt.

The next big pot was also Sean, but this time against Karen when Sean’s AQ probably looked good on a AA9 flop, but Karen has AK !

Things took a turn for the worse for me when I 4 bet Alex’s 3 bet and we got all-in with Alex’s T-T holding up against my A-K and I’m short stacked, however not long after fortune favoured the brave when I got all-in again with 8-8 against Derek’s A-Q on the turn and was back up to 17’000 chips.

Bill had been quiet but his nut flush on the turn overtook Karen’s K-K and 2nd nut flush and doubled up

After all that action the first break was a welcome relief and with all 10 players still in the running, the chip counts stood at:

Bill 20’550
Alex 19’600
Mike 18’200
Jock 17’900
Steve 16’300
Andy 14’350
Jon 13’350
Karen 11’950
Derek 11’300
Sean 6’500

Soon after the restart Derek’s Q-Q gets all-in against Andy 9-9  The flop was safe, but a 9 cruelly cut Derek’s dreams into shred’s and makes him the first faller.   The 5% stake and ability to get home in time to watch the News at Ten is scant consolation….

Bill starts his golden run, when his K-Q outflops Sean’s A-K on K-Q-x flop and Sean goes crashing out.   Two hands later Bill limp/call’s my raise and the A-K-x flop looks to good to bet for me heads up against Bill, as I’ve got A-K so check behind.   An 8 on the turn is enough for Bill to shove all-in and I call.  His A-8 is way behind but a miracle 8 on the river sends me to the rail as well!   Karen says she folded an 8 as well, which didn’t really soften the blow  

The action quietens down a little after that and the remaining 7 players all make it to the 2nd break.

Bill 48’400
Andy 28’200
Jock 24’100
Alex 18’300
Steve 11’400
Jon  10’400
Karen 9’200

After the second break the blinds are starting to hurt the short stacks, so it’s no surprise to see Alex making a move from the Big Blind but Andy calls from the Small Blind and takes him out.. neither player really having much of a hand !

Karen has to make a move and Jock decides to keep her honest and doubles her up

With the blinds increasing again, Jon is short so shoves.  Jock calls only to see Andy re-shove.  Jock calls and shows 6-6 against Jon’s A-8s but Andy has J-J   The J on the flop wasn’t really needed and Andy takes out two players in one and has the chip lead!

Bill’s beer goggles are not helping his game and he makes a crazy call to Steve’s all-in and doubled him up.  Steve gets a bit aggressive for a few hands and takes down the blinds about 4 times in 6 or 7 hands, and is suddenly in contention.   He tops out his run of good form by taking out Karen, leaving just three players to contend for the top prizes.

The third break sees the chips stacks as:

Steve 66’000
Andy 59’900
Bill 24’100

There’s still plenty of play left but inevitably it’s Bill out next by Steve.   It’s a cagey head up match, but in the end it only lasts about 20 mins when, after taking a series of small pots, Andy and Steve get it all-in but Andy takes the deserved victory at just after midnight

Phew, what a game.  There were highs and lows for everyone, drama and action along with fun and frolics.  

It seemed that everyone enjoyed the game and everyone has at least a 5% stake in the £100 tourney so we all come away with something invested from the night

The Casino game is Friday 4th February and despite not winning the seat, am planning to play anyways…. so lookout for the live tweets on the night

Can’t wait… and maybe we’ll do something similar again as well

Poker: End of year review and plans for 2011

I have posted my end of 2010 thoughts and plans for 2011 on Black Belt Poker blog, see http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/226381/sceaga/Farewell-and-hello/

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

Poker: Live tournament–Reading 18th Nov 2010

Here’s a 10 minute video report on the Poker Tournament I played in last Thursday

Hope you enjoy the experience

General: first test of publishing a video

Decided to try out creating and publishing a video.  This is my first test, so decided to test out the embedded link as well  

OK Cool – it works !

I created the original video in CamStudio 2.0 then edited it in Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 (as I’m using Windows 7)  I also used Audacity 1.3 Beta  although in the final edit I just added some music and deleted the original video, so just left with a picture and a couple of bits added by Live Music Maker

All in all, it didn’t cost me a penny and have now got the tools sorted out to do some proper video, etc now (hopefully I’ll get some ideas and some time!)

Poker : Home tourney–November 2010

I was happy to be playing live tournament again, it certainly has a different feel to playing online and is a nice change !

With Andy and Sean on my table they were seeing a lot of flops, which seemed to encourage Lee and Steve W to limp as well.  I tended to pick my spots a little more but often was worth seeing a flop with two connected cards.   My luck came when I managed to persuade Andy I had best hand with K-9 on a A-9-x flop.  I was certain he didn’t have the A and seemed to be in his normal mood to chase draws, but my all-in on the river saw him manage to find a fold !   a few hands later and Steve raised it up before me, so I re-raised my A-A and was delighted to see Steve call.  The flop was inconsequential so I launched all-in and Steve called with his 7-7   No help came so I was a good chip leader on our table.  

Sadly for me, this meant I was a little over average chips, as the other table included Bill who seemed to be making up for the previously missed games and was “stoking the pot” more than normal !

I played pretty solidly after that, making a few stabs at the pot here and there.  On the break I was again just over average and about even in chips with Steve on my table

It was inevitable that Bill was first to fall and just as predictable that Andy and Sean got each other all-in, with Andy being the victor this time, talking out Sean.   It seemed to come round quick but we were soon on the final table

Derek had amassed a huge chip lead on the other table, with Jon and Jock both very short stacked against the increasing blinds

A few hands in and Jock was all-in against Steve, but couldn’t hold on and got taken out.   Jon soon followed when my A-Qo hit an A-x-x flop.   Karen had seen the flop with her K-K but found the fold to my Check/raise

Steve’s form and aggression  has picked up in the last few games (must be coz of the practise he’s getting on BBP ) and was able to stand up to Andy’s all-in.  Andy had limped K-K but Steve hit the flop well and took him out !

Soon after, Lee made a brave attempt to bluff Derek off a huge pot on the river, but sadly Derek had the hand to withstand the attempt and Lee went out in 5th

With only 4 players my A-J on the SB looked in good shape when two players folded, so raised it up against Derek in the BB.   He called and we saw a Q-6-3 flop.   I did wonder if he’d hit the Q but felt it more probably he’d missed the flop or had a medium pair, so shoved all-in which was about a pot sized bet.   Of course Derek had A-Q so took me out on the money bubble.

The final three played a tight, tense game.   Karen let herself get too low on chips and got blinded out in 3rd.  Steve made a good attempt to make up the huge chip deficit but had too little time to have a realistic chance of success, so Derek deservedly took the win (first time this year!) and Steve took (another) 2nd place

Great game and still all to play for.     Andy has a Jenson Button type chance to snatch the League Title away from me  and there are three people in serious contention for 2nd place

See you for the exciting finale to the season !

Poker: Lets forget about October, shall we ?

Uggghhhhh, what can I say about my Poker results for October that won’t make me depressed

The ugly number is the $1350 loss  (£860) which is the worse month I have ever had.

The root cause was my ambition to undertake the Black Belt Poker Grading again. My first Grading attempt in January wasn’t great for me financially either, but in the end felt I got a good return on my investment as I got various training days and sponsorship into various tournaments (plus all the experience and on-going mentoring).    This time however, I blew up on the Pre-Grading, I don’t even get the benefit of any of that

Breaking down my figures a little, it is easy to see where it all went wrong…

• Cash : NL Holdem = £857.38 loss
• Cash : PL Omaha HL (Dont ask!)  = £12.51 loss
• Tournaments : NL Holdem  = £9.20 profit (hoorah )

For the tournaments I only managed to get time for 9 tournaments (winning two) so was pretty content with that

On the cash, I played 187 table hours of cash in 21 sessions, of which only 4 were winning ones.    The worse session was dropping £240 in a 5 table hour session (just over 1 hour elapsed time!)  Obviously not sustainable results and poor by any standard.

On the positive side, I still have some money in my “Poker fund” so have not had to re-mortgage the house or anything (the old adage of “if you can’t afford to loose it, then don’t risk it” firmly applies for me all the time in my gambling of course) and have a plan to recover my confidence and improve my cash game, whilst also trying to recover my bankroll to a reasonable level.  More on that in a future post.

For now, I have firmly closed the door on October and have just had a nice boost with my BBP League win, so normal service is resumed

Poker: BBP League

I managed to win heat 2 of the BBP League  last night !   Sadly I had missed last weeks kick off heat, so despite the win am only 41st place in the rankings !!

It's certainly nice to win anything, but there are a lot of pro or semi-pro players in the league and is a tough game (especially considering the $5 buyin), which makes it all the more sweet to win :-)

Hopefully my form will continue to the Thursday night Camberley Boyz league game as well

Poker: BBP Grading III

I was quite excited to hear about another “Grading” at Black Belt Poker.   This is the process I went through earlier in the year and was very worthwhile (if slightly expensive) education into Poker and all it’s doings.

The timing seemed right as everything has settled down, and had money in my “Poker Fund” to “spend” and Lynn was happy for me to take the time to play the 4 hours a night required !

I have just finished the Pre-Grading stage, where I needed to play 10’000 cash game hands within 10 days.   Although I managed to finish in 7 days, the last three days were very poor for me and dropped over £700 in total !    Whilst this is a small fortune, it was money set aside for Poker but I never really thought  I would have to spend it !     Having spent a week playing cash games, I decided to have a couple of Single Table Tournaments as a welcome change.   Something must’ve helped me as I won both games…

It seems my destiny is not following the Cash game path, so will not be taking up the full Grading, even if it were offered to me.  

So, it’s back to my natural hunting ground of STT and MTT tournaments.   I do want to ensure I keep improving my game so will be putting together a cunning plan as to how I will approach my game going forward…..

Poker: Home Tournament – October 2010

I missed last month’s game so was pleased to be going again this month to try and maintain my league lead.  There were only 9 players this time, but everyone seems up for the challenge !

Things started out pretty normal enough, lots of people limping, raises being called by 2 or three players and generally misbehaving during the rebuy period. 

Alex was going a bit wild, with three double buy ins in quick succession, so was some excitement

I was basically keeping my nose clean and not getting too involved, until one hand in the second level against Andy where I raised A-7o from BB when he limped the button and we ended up heads up on a A-Q-x flop (2 spades)  I bet out and Andy called.  The turn was a blank so I bet again, thinking Andy probably had flush draw, so called his all-in reraise.  As expected he just had the flush draw, but he hit the flush on the river so I was needing a double buying in as well !

After that I had a torrid time, having another two double buy-ins myself to the break, where I took the final add-on as well.  At this stage I had around 3000 chips and the average was 6000.

After the break, I sat there for ages with no hands and no opportunities, until I saw K-To in early position and decided to push all-in and steal the blinds, but  Derek called on the button.   To my surprise Derek showed K-6, but the first card on the flop was a 6 !   Lucky for me I hit my T on the turn and doubled up….!!

Couple of hands later, I’m on the button with AKs and am happy for Jock to limp.  I raise it up but Alex on the BB shoves all-in, Jock calls and I call as well.   Alex showed A-Q and Jock A-9s   Luckily for me, no-one hit anything so I got a huge stack and busted two players out for good measure.  My luck had certainly changed now..

There were a couple of those annoying moments where I would've won big pots had I followed through, but was generally playing solid poker now I had the chip lead.  

Steve W had a double up against Andy and leaves Andy with 400 chips… the blinds are now 600/1200 so he shoves it in the next hand and I raise my A-7 and am happy to see the blinds fold.   My hand is good enough and  I get the point for taking Andy out, even though Steve W did all the hard work :-)

The blinds are hurting now, and Jon is moaning every time I raise his Blinds but is generally folding  :-) 

We’re down to four when Lee get taken out by Darren and there is not much in it between the four of us.   I am small chip leader with around 13’000 but the average is around 11’000 so it’s pretty tense and tight.   Time is running short though and we’re soon into the last level.

Darren takes a chance against Steve W but is taken out on the money bubble.   Jon is Steve’s next victim so with only a couple of hands to play we are down to two players and have almost exactly the same chip count.

Steve folds the next hand, but leaves me in a position where I can fold to win on the last hand, which I duly do (with T-5o)  I won by less than one Big Blind, so was very close

We really must try and get a longer game sometime as the play was finely poised for a long time and the chips were moving around well, which made for an interesting and exciting game.

I’m not sure how I managed to win it, but am pleased to be back with a bang ! :-)

Roll on next month…. see you then…..

General: King William IV pub /restaurant

Monday lunch was a nice drive out to the surrey hills and a trip to The King William IV pub.

The pub itself you would never find by accident as it’s tucked well out of the way up a steep gravel drive.    I struggled a bit to get up the rickety huge steps, so certainly not a good place to go if you have mobility issues !   Luckily Lynn is not very heavy so managed to get her inside….

The menu is a bit more like “normal” pub food, but with a twist.   Lucky for all involved, Lynn was able to have her chicken dish :-) albeit a Thai Chicken.  I went for the Beefburger which was slightly spiced up as well but both dishes were nice.    The treacle tart was again slightly different to normal, not sure it was my favorite version but certainly was nice for a change

The total bill was pretty reasonable as well, so overall a very nice lunch out

If we were in the area, would certainly not be adverse to going back for another meal, particularly on a warm sunny day when sitting out in the garden would be a good option.   Not special enough to make the trip just to go to the pub though.

General: The Royal Oak (Paley Street) Pub and restaurant

Decided to go out to lunch today and went to The Royal Oak pub at Paley Street chosen at random from the Michelin Guide “Eating out in pubs”, partly due to wanting to go to Ascot on the way there and this seemed closest.

The outside was ordinary looking, but was warmly greeted as soon as we walked in.  The inside was quite small (being an old building I suppose) but nicely laid out. 

The service was excellent and certainly felt welcomed and looked after.   The choice from the daily changing menu was pretty good for me, even with the large choice of fish (which I don’t like much!)  The menu was a bit limited for Lynn, as there wasn’t any chicken on the menu :-)    In the end we decided to go for the beef, but on ordering were told it would take 90 minutes, so we changed our minds !     I ended up going for (in effect) Cod and Chips with Lynn having the Grouse.   Both dishes were excellent (although I was disappointed by the chips) and the two deserts were also very tasty.     I didn’t know the restaurant had a Michelin star, else I probably would have expected the eye watering prices (£30 for a main course and £7.50 for a pud…. plus 12.5% service charge on top!)  

At that price, as you would expect, even the toilets were nice and felt “posh” with the individual towels to wipe your hands…. but not sure it represented value for money compared to other gastro pubs we’ve been to.

In the end, it was a nice meal in pleasant surroundings and we felt well attended to, so have no complaints.  It is the most expensive of all the gastro pubs we’ve been to though, so doubt we will go back as there are other gastro pubs that give the same level of excellence but at a more reasonable cost.

Poker: another go as a sponsored player for $200K

See article at http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/48554/sceaga/Pressures-of-playing-as-a-sponsored-player/

Holiday: Week off in August

You would think that having a week off in August would guarantee you the opportunity to get sunburnt, but in England that is obviously not the case :-)

As it happened we weren't that fussed as we are just doing whatever we fancy from day to day.

The first “official” day of our holiday was the Saturday 7th August, but was a normal day for us in that we had to go to Tesco for our weekly food shop…. but in the afternoon decided to go to the Subaru Dealer and look at some cars (as we need a bigger boot than the Fiesta offers).  We saw a great value Impresa WRX which we would’ve ordered there and then, had it not been for insurance complications….  We then popped into Guildford for a quick walk around, then Lynn’s mums and finally the Audi dealer to quickly look at the A3 Fastback and the A4 Avant.   Needed a rest that evening after all that excitement!

Sunday we went into Camberley for a spot of lunch, but also had a good walk around the shops.  Ended up in Bella Italia to eat, which was nice enough food as normal.

Monday we went to Basingstoke to buy me an office chair, then went to The Pot Kiln pub for lunch, then had a quick walk round Newbury before going on to Corinne & Mia’s for tea.  Another hectic day and were both worn out by the time we got home !

Tuesday was a “rest day” so just went M&S for a walk but otherwise had a lazy day

Wednesday was our 20th Wedding Anniversary and went to Chichester for an afternoon’s shopping and site seeing, then onto The Royal Oak Inn for dinner and stayed in the guest accommodation there.

As we were in the area, on Thursday went to Bognor Regis on a lovely sunny morning.   Of course it soon clouded over but was warm enough.   Had a nice walk about and a Fish & Chip lunch, before heading for home via a stop in Midhurst to get ourselves an Ice Cream !

Friday had another “rest day” so had a late breakfast and decided to go out for lunch at the Swan Inn.   We then went into Camberley Vue to see Knight and Day.  I thought the film was really good, with the action keeping you amused and entertained, with plenty of comic moments to remind you it’s not a serious film.  Lynn said she enjoyed it as well, so seems to appear to boys and girls.

Has it been a week already !   With work looming, we’ll have a “normal” weekend so nothing special planned.

General : The Swan Inn pub and restaurant

For our last official day of our holiday, we decided to go to the Swan Inn.   The interior was a little surprising as it’s very modern,clean and stylish.    The seats were a little un-comfy after an hour or so, but not too bad overall.  Service was efficient but a little to quick at times…although this may be due to the pub being pretty quiet whilst we were there.

The menu was a little restricted but was quickly served and very well cooked and presented.   Certainly was very filling as well !    The deserts were definitely a disappointment…. to be honest I nearly didn’t bother, but did end up choosing a desert but in the end wished I’d just had a coffee instead.

Overall, we probably wouldn’t bother to go there specially for a meal again, but would go in again if we was already in the area.

General: The Royal Oak Inn pub, restaurant and hotel

For our wedding anniversary, we decided to push the boat put and stay in a “posh” hotel, but also wanted some decent grub…. so in the end picked The Royal Oak Inn

Whilst not an immediately obvious choice, through their web site found they rented out some cottages right by the pub, as well as having rooms in the pub itself…. so thought having a cottage would suit us better.

As it turned out, the cottage we had was fantastic.  It was a two bet cottage, with fully kitted out kitchen, dining room and lounge… including a wine fridge (although you had to pay for any wine you drank!) Flat screen TV in lounge and bedroom, both with DVD players, also a CD player as well as things like games, magazines and books.    They also provided milk, tea, coffee machine, biscuits and even a chocolate bar for guests to tuck into!    I also hadn’t realized that breakfast was included so that was a bit of a bonus.  The only slight downside for us (which I hadn’t thought to check) was the stairs to the bedrooms were very steep, but as we only went up and down them a few times it wasn’t a bit issue.   Lynn also struggled to get in and out the shower (as it was over the bath) but again managed OK as it was only for one morning.

Having settled into the cottage, we took the short walk to the pub for dinner.  There was a wide selection on the normal menu, plus a couple of extra choices on the specials board.   Lynn went for the corn fed chicken but I went for the Pork on the specials board…. both were superb.   Both of us ended up having three courses which was a bit of a stretch (for our stomach’s :-) ) but thoroughly enjoyed our meals.

The next morning we took the short walk again and had a huge breakfast so was stuffed up for the day !

The meal itself was pretty reasonably priced and although the cottage was pretty expensive, I certainly felt it was a luxurious stay and seemed everything had been provided that you would expect and more.

General: The Pot Kiln pub & restaurant

Finding the Pot Kiln pub is a feat in itself, being out in the middle of nowhere and having to traverse into a maze of single track roads…. but the effort was worth it in the end.

It was beautifully warm and sunny day, so was able to sit outside to enjoy the view of the fields and trees, plus the general ambiance.  Inside was quite small in the bar area and no-one was in the dining area, so being outside was probably the more pleasurable experience anyway.  We were also joined by the owners dog, who sat under our table as good as gold all the time we were eating, but he was disappointed as we didn’t give him any scraps :-)

Although the lunchtime a la carte menu was available, we chose from the normal bar menu, both ending up picking the Ploughmans.  It was huge and each had a lump of cheese that would ordinarily last us a week at home !  There was also Ham and Pate to go with the home made pickle and coleslaw plus a massive Ciabatta bread.    As with most Michelin rates pubs, it was a little pricier than average, but certainly was fantastic food and in this case a huge portion !

Poker: Black Belt Poker – League VI : week 1

At last the Black Belt Poker League has started up again

Being on holiday, was not sure if I would get the opportunity to play or not, but as luck would have it, did manage to fire up and get involved !

Sadly, despite playing solid and boring, my AA got cracked by QQ on a cruel turn and ended up 83rd from a very healthy 95 starters after just 26 minutes of play.

At least I have a few points to kick off my new season’s campaign, although not as many as I would have hoped for.  Will be able to review my miserable haul of points in the Leaderboard

Roll on next week !

Poker: Late Night Poker Freeroll - Round 2

I have been eagerly looking forward to round 2, but realise it is a long shot still.

It kicks off at 8:35pm with 315 runners
1-12th get through
13-16th get Points as consolation prize

Fairly steady in the first 20 minutes so at the break am doing OKish…

Break 1: 1900/2413   152 /261

First hand after the break I get AT and manage to find myself allin on the K77 flop against AA !   Kindof lost the plot there I think, and am down to around 140 chips !

Next hand see TT so get allin but against AKo and QQ !! but hit T on river and triple up to 565 chips

Still not playing well and make a stab at an unraised pot when I hit 2nd pair but get found out by to pair…. so finished 225th at around 9:15 pm

I really didn’t play well at all, which is disappointing.   Really I should have not played, as it wasn’t really very convenient, so had to play in front of the TV and was also feeling tired.   As it was a free-roll and wanted time to take another pop at qualifying before the 15th August final I went ahead anyway… but wish I hadn’t now….

Will have to go back to the grinding through round 1 again now.

Poker: Home Tournament – August 2010

It seemed we would only have one table of 8 players… right up until Lee, Mick and Roger turned up , so not a bad turn out in the end !

I was on the table of 6 players, being  Jock, Roger, Darren, Daniel, Simon and myself.    To start with it seemed Daniel was getting all the cards as he seemed to be winning every hand and building up his stack.   I have a bit of a go at his BB with rubbish hand but he hit the flop and called my bet, so I slowed down and didn’t improve so he took a reasonable size pot.    He did get stung a bit later when heads up with Roger he folded A-x with A7744 board… Roger showed a small pocket pair and this threw Daniel off his stride for ages after, as he kept thinking about his fold !   Even getting quad 4’s didn’t help his mood as he only took a small pot.

A few hands later I was on BB with rubbish, but picked up a straight draw on the flop.  Roger bet small and Daniel called, so gave me the odds to go for it.  In the end I hit my straight on the river, but Roger led out with a sizeable bet, Daniel called and I raised all-in.  Despite correctly deducing I must have a straight, Roger decided to call and so did Daniel, which tripled me up and gave me the chips to sit back and relax.

I was able to pick my spots and play mostly good cards…. sometimes taking advantage if it folded to me on the blinds, but in the main keeping it solid.     

Darren couldn’t get to see a flop as every time he raised, even min-raised, everyone folded :-)    On the one occasion (before the break) I remember he limped to see a flop, he min-bet and everyone folded.   His reputation for being tight seemed the opposite to my loose aggressive reputation !

At the break I was up to around 6500 chips and one of the chip leaders.      On the other table, Andy had just fleeced Karen the hand before the break leaving her without chips, so she was starting with 3000 chips at this point, but this wasn’t much below the average as there had been few buy-in’s all night. 

Despite his earlier good fortune, Andy was the first out and immediately bolted for the door – heading for his fishing

There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, but we then hit a run of knock-outs.   Daniel got busted by me whilst Jock was being busted by Mick on the other table so all of a sudden we are down to the final table.

The first hand on the final table seem myself in SB and Roger to my left in the BB.   I think Mick called but everyone else folded, so I had something like 4-4 so put in a raise.  Roger called but Mick folded.  Roger had a 50-50 with his Kh-9h but failed to hit so I took him out in 8th

Soon after Darren managed to get some action and also managed to knock out Simon !

After a lull in the action and with the blinds increasing, I somehow managed to knock out Mick and Sean in the same hand…which really set me up as big chip lead so just had to keep focused to take another win as we’re down to 4 players

I got a bit over anxious in the BB when Karen limped and Lee called in the SB.  With 1800 now in the pot, Lee had about 1200 and Karen around 1600 left behind.  Although my Jc-7c wasn’t a great hand, decided that if I wanted to see the flop, might as well get all the chips in anyway :-)   Both Karen and Lee called, Karen showing Ac-Tc and can’t remember Lee’s hand now…   an a came on the flop, but Lee hit 2 pair on the turn and took the main pot.  Karen was left with the consolation of 400 chips and the BB fast approaching…..

With Karen all-in on the BB I decided to call with Td-7d and Darren didn’t take the option to raise from SB.  The flop was all low, then hit T on the turn, so bet out and Darren folded.   Karen has 7-3 but had nothing, the 7 on the river no consolation and is out on the money bubble, but put up a good fight from low chips at the break

Lee doubled up against Darren which helped me out a bit, especially when I managed to get all-in against Darren with Q-Q to his A-T (I think)  The flop and turn were blank and didn't need the Q on the river to take out Darren in 3rd

Heads up I folded the first hand, the second hand I don't remember, but the third hand Lee flat called the SB, I raised all-in and Lee called with 3s-2s.. ! but I had As-Js and it was all over as I hit my J on the flop and that was it… another victory to me !!!

I really am running hot at the moment and am enjoying every minute of it whilst it lasts !   Great game obviously, winning always make’s it sweeter but always enjoy the game itself of course…  I did make a couple of mistakes, but overall felt I played pretty well.

I’m pleased to be back at the top of the league, but it’s still pretty tight at the top so all to play for !

See you next time….

Poker: July summary

Compared to an exciting June, July was a quiet month for me

On Black Belt Poker (BBP) only playing for 16 hours, being 22 Hold’em STT and 1 MTT, but still somehow also managed 1 Omaha HL MTT !   

The results are accordingly dull, being a total month profit of £42, not that I am complaining… any profit is a profit and much better than a loss !! 

Interestingly my 12x 6 seater STT netted me a loss of £7 (2 wins and 1 second) and my 10x 10 seater STT had a profit of £57 (2 wins and 5 third places!)  which is the opposite to my June results… still I suppose the sample is very small.    I also had one sponsored MTT but didn’t do well, and the Omaha HL was a £7 loss.

Did also play for 7 hours on Pokerstars, 1x HORSE and 10x 8 Game STT netting me a loss of $12 (about £8)

Looking forward, I have a week off in August and other things probably kicking off which will likely also restrict my Poker hours, but am still Green Belt on BBP for August and have enough points to play two more sponsored tournaments.   

Am also trying to get onto Late Night Poker via Full Tilt which looks like it will eat a load of my playing time in August as well, but sometimes you just got to put in the hours….  :-)

Poker: Late Night Poker – off the ground, just two more huge mountains to climb

Seems I'm on fire at the moment !   After my cash in last nights tournament I was feeling a bit tired, but decided to register for the two Round 1 freerolls for Late Night Poker, continuing my quest to get on the show again !

I played the 7:15pm game and had a slow plodding session… I don’t have any recollections of any huge good or bad fortune swings and just made steady progress through the 750 odd players and kept it steady.   

By the time the second qualifier started at 9:15pm I was about 20th out of 40 remaining players and still feeling in control, so with A-9s UTG decided to just stick all my chips in (on the second game) so I could just focus on the first game…. but got a caller and won the hand, doubling up.  

Over the next half hour I played both games and was staying slow but steady on the first game, but was being wild and stupid on the second game (wanting to bust out really…) but ended up chip leader in the second game !   I had to then sit out the second game as the first game was at that crucial stage….

After all the wild swings and excitement of the second game, I really had to calm and focus on the first….. I was now around 12th out of 35 left (27 go through)   Kept it nice and steady, don’t get involved, be passive, concentrate on survival…. but as we got to 30 players left, although I was still around 12/13th it was very slow going.   With about 6 players less than 10 BB stacks, seemed I would cruise through if only I can restrain myself… so went back to the second game :-)

Although I could use two tickets to the 2nd round,  I was really starting to feel tired by around 10pm and didn’t want to play another couple of hours, so was incredibly loose and aggressive but was around 3rd place from 600 odd remaining (900 odd started)  It was so much fun to play with idiotic abandon, going in with any two after a raise and re-raise, to see them fold :-)   Then get called when I got a decent hand and take out another player.  In the end, probability was always going to catch up with my stupid play and lost a couple of big pots, then doubled up with rubbish, but then the table chip lead ended up taking me out (he would probably be able to cruise through, so hope he appreciated my generosity ;-) )

This had been a welcome diversion from the slow, tense pace of the first game so was a relief when at 10:30pm, after 3.25 hours the final 27 were rewarded with their tickets to Saturdays Round 2… and I was one of the lucky few :-)

Of course there will likely be around 3oo-400 players in the next round with only about 10 tickets to the final round so will be tricky to get through.   Even then, the final round will only have one seat in the LNP televised finals…. It really is a slog, but I’m going to give it my best and see where I end up.   

Poker: Black Belt Poker – First cash as sponsored player

Weeeee, made it in one… . read all about it at http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/31208/sceaga/Another-go-at-a-sponsored-tournament----300-20-with--200k-Guarantee/