So i haven't done a blog for a while and i guess this is just down to a pretty poor run at the tables. Things have gone quite badly in August and its a shame to report that it will be my first losing month of 2008, boooooo!
Picking up where i left off, i played 4 of the FTOPS events and failed to cash in any of them. I never really got going in any of the comps and wasn't close to the business end of things once. A Personal highlight however was busting Mike Mattasuw out the $240 6max comp when i 4 bet him all in pre with J8 V his AA, lol.
After that was all over i headed back to thanet for folk week, which as usual was awesome. Went out every night and the town was very busy but was nice to see all the lads from home with the banter flowing as usual. The annual half pint challenge was certainly the highlight of the trip (drinking a half pint in every pub in broadstairs) and it was achieved in record pace this year, with only 2 of the 13 starters being sick, not a bad ratio at the speed we were going.
I was back in sunny London just in time for my birthday which was a quiet affair, just the way i like it. We went to a pub in Canary Wharf for a few drinks then we went to Goucho for dinner which was excellent. The fillet steak was 9/10 and the red wine was some of the best i have ever had, will certainly be back there again.
The next day was the GSOP £100 nlh which was full to the 80 capacity. I was going along quite steady up t0 12,500 from my starting stack of 8000 when i find 10 10 playing 200/400. UTG limps and after some thought i make it 1500 from the CO, button and blinds fold and after about 15 secs the limper (who i knew nothing about calls). The flop comes Q 9 3 and the guy checks so i check behind. Turn is a 10 which obviously is always a nice sight and i see an even better one when he bets 3000, i move in, he snap calls and flips QQ, gg me!
Next day was the PLO £150 which was equally annoying as i bubbled in 8th with 7 getting paid, thought i played ok getting my fair share of luck on the way but i couldn't find a good spot towards the end. A big congrats to my friend Joe for taking it down and playing a very good tourney and a very well thought out heads up match. I also had a 15% swap with him which softened the blow of bubbling.
So the warm up events were a little frustrating but was still very excited about the 3 day main event which kicked off at 2pm on saturday. Also had quite a few friends in the tourney and a few big names as well including the hit squad and nick persaud among others.
As usual my day 1 was a lot of fun. I cruised up to 28K in the first two levels on what was a pretty weak table all things considered when i decided that i wanted to play a big pot with 97 soooted, lol. I raise in ep to 550 playing 100/200 and get 3 callers, standard. Flop comes 10 8 3 rainbow, bb checks i bet 1200 the 2 behind fold then the bb makes it 3200 leaving himself 10k behind. He had been playing a little fast so i figure i'll just move him in and take it down, he calls with a set of 8's and i'm down to 13K. I then lose 9K against a moron when he check calls a bet on the flop of 10 8 8 with AQ then check calls a bet when another 8 hits the turn and then bets 3K into a big pot when the river comes a Queen and i pay him off with a 10. So i was down to 4k playing 200/400 which was a small problem however i soon got things going again when i got it all in with KJ v 7x on a 9 7 3 board, jack on the river and i'm back in the fight. I double again with 99 v AQ all in pre he flops a flush but i then hit runner runner house to get up to 16K. Finally i find QQ v AQ blind on blind to get back to 30k and i start to wonder what all the fuss was about. The rest of the day was very smooth as i found a few hand and managed to 3-bet in some good spots to end the day with 42,700.
I had about average stack at the start of day 2 with half the field left and we were playing 500/1000/100 so still had some time. Lost 10K early but got up to 60k when i had 88 v 98 on a nice 9 8 2 board and from that moment things went very well indeed. Got my stack up to 100K showing down some big hands and running a few bluffs along the way and then a guy bluffed of his 50K stack against me when i had raised the A5 and it came A 4 5. Shortly after this the strangest hand of the tourney came up playing 800/1600/200. Folds to me on the button and i make it 4500 with A7 off, sb folds then the bb calls and bets 4k in the dark!! The flop comes 9 8 8 and i figure i'm still good so i make it 11K, he calls and then shoves for his last 20K in the dark, WTF?! So the turn comes a 6 and its decision time; running through the hand i think he hasn't got an overpair or a big ace having flat called pre. I make my read that he has J10, qj or Q10 so i call saying that i think ace high is the best hand, he shows Q10 and i win a very bizarre but also a very nice sized pot. With 2 tables left porno Mark gets moved to my left with a mountain of chips so i make a conscious decision to slow down a little and try to avoid playing to many hands with him out of position, thankfully he also seems eager to avoid playing big pots with me so we take it in turns to bully the table and we make it through to the final table as the two biggest stack.
The final table was crazy, i busted in a disappointing 7th for £2200 and Porno Mark smashed it up in record time to take the title and the £12000. Before the final table we had agreed to swap some % so at least i got another £1000 for that. My key hand came up playing 2000/4000/500 when i raised to 11K pre with J10 utg. Folds round to Mark in the bb who calls, flop KQ5 with 2 hearts, he checks i bet 20K he makes it 60K and i move in for 200K more thinking that he can only call with a set, KQ or a big draw like J10 of hearts or AJ of hearts. Shame for me he had one of those hands and i was busto, I don't really regret the way i played the hand cause the stacks were deep enough for the move, oh well.
Went out for dinner and drinks with Mark and a few others after to celebrate which was a lot of fun. Mark lost 3 flips in a row for cocktails which was a nice piece of poetic justice and we ended the night in Mahiki which was a pretty awesome club with the dj banging out some classics.
So that pretty much brings my life up to date, went to Roadhouse last night and got absolutely smashed having decided that dinner is for girls and a pint of gusiness and 2 bottles of wine would be a better idea, worst hangover of 2008.
So August is nearly over and we're now moving on to good old september. I've been getting a bit lazy of late basically just jerking off money on play.com, getting up at 2pm then watching peep show, inbetweeners, green wing and good old teachers instead of doing much work. So i'm going to try and be a little bit more productive this month and try and play over 50 mtt's and a hell of a lot of stt's and maybe even win some $. I also have two massive highlights to look forward to, first is WSOPE event 1 on the 19th which is £1500 with a decent structure can't fucking wait. Also going on a lads golfing holiday to Devon right at the end of the month which should be a good laugh. I've only played 3 times this year so i'm a bit worried about my game but a couple of hours on the range and a bit of happy gilmore and tin cup should have me ready to go.
Saturday 30 August 2008
Thursday 7 August 2008
No love on Full Tilt poker.com
So it looks like fulltilt poker has not taken kindly to wendyx25 jumping on their site. I've now played 2 of their festival tournaments and busted early in both.
First up i played event 1 the $216 buy in $1 million gtd and was card dead for the hour and a half that i managed to survive for. The structure was ok with 3000 starting chips and very low blind increases: 10/20, 15/30, 20/40, 25/50, 30/60 etc so as usual i wasn't in a hurry. Had 3 or 4 low pairs and got in quite cheap everytime but no set and no win on any of these occassions. I also had AQ twice and both times it went raise then re-raise from the first two spots so i had to fold which sucks. After the break i then had 10 10 playing 50/100. Started the hand with 2100 so was ready to get it in when i raised in mp to 300, guy next to me re-raises and then the button 4 bets so i have to fold again marvelous! Finally i find AQ soooooooted in ep so i limp for 120 with 1600 behind, Co raises and sb flats so i insta jam and the Co has AK, gg sir.
Event 2 was a $216 6-handed shootout. Very little experience playing these but i found a shed load of hands early to get me going, problem was i wasn't getting paid and building a loose image so think getting AA, KK. AK, 10 10 and AA again in the first 20 hands was actually a bad thing. First big hand was playing 40/80 and folded round to the button who made it 230ish. I make it 660 with JJ hoping he'll shove which he does for 2000 total and i snap call, he has KQ and hits the flop. The same player busts me a few rounds later with his QQ v my AA, ffs gg sir!!!
So that sucks. Also played the super thursday tonight on party and lost a massive race for 20,000 chips with JJ v AK playing 300/600. It's a massive race for me cause once i get the chips on that site my record over the last year is just so so sick as anyone who knows my results will confirm.
So not a good couple of days (i'm also down $1500 playing stt's). I might play on party tomorrow night but not sure, i'm defo playing the $1m gtd on party on sunday and the $250 comp on full tilt but the fields are massive so just hope to run good and keep playing my best. Dinner with the family on saturday at a fancy restaurant and a show before, nice change from usual.
First up i played event 1 the $216 buy in $1 million gtd and was card dead for the hour and a half that i managed to survive for. The structure was ok with 3000 starting chips and very low blind increases: 10/20, 15/30, 20/40, 25/50, 30/60 etc so as usual i wasn't in a hurry. Had 3 or 4 low pairs and got in quite cheap everytime but no set and no win on any of these occassions. I also had AQ twice and both times it went raise then re-raise from the first two spots so i had to fold which sucks. After the break i then had 10 10 playing 50/100. Started the hand with 2100 so was ready to get it in when i raised in mp to 300, guy next to me re-raises and then the button 4 bets so i have to fold again marvelous! Finally i find AQ soooooooted in ep so i limp for 120 with 1600 behind, Co raises and sb flats so i insta jam and the Co has AK, gg sir.
Event 2 was a $216 6-handed shootout. Very little experience playing these but i found a shed load of hands early to get me going, problem was i wasn't getting paid and building a loose image so think getting AA, KK. AK, 10 10 and AA again in the first 20 hands was actually a bad thing. First big hand was playing 40/80 and folded round to the button who made it 230ish. I make it 660 with JJ hoping he'll shove which he does for 2000 total and i snap call, he has KQ and hits the flop. The same player busts me a few rounds later with his QQ v my AA, ffs gg sir!!!
So that sucks. Also played the super thursday tonight on party and lost a massive race for 20,000 chips with JJ v AK playing 300/600. It's a massive race for me cause once i get the chips on that site my record over the last year is just so so sick as anyone who knows my results will confirm.
So not a good couple of days (i'm also down $1500 playing stt's). I might play on party tomorrow night but not sure, i'm defo playing the $1m gtd on party on sunday and the $250 comp on full tilt but the fields are massive so just hope to run good and keep playing my best. Dinner with the family on saturday at a fancy restaurant and a show before, nice change from usual.
Tuesday 5 August 2008
Heavy training
I use the term heavy training quite lightly in this instance. Basically i'm staying up late cause the FTOPS event 1 kicks off at 2am our time and i want to be in peak mental condition for it, well at the very least i want to be awake. Event 2 is the same time on thursday at 2am and they are both $216 so if i make it past the 2nd hour of either of these comps i want to give myself a shot or i could just get one of my flatmates to play when they get up, hmmmmmmmmmm.
I've played a bit tonight but only a few sng's and one very early exit in an MTT, up about $600 so nothing to exciting. What is exciting however is the USPGA which starts on thursday and in the immortal words of sky bet, it matters more when there's money it! I've gone for three to win bets which are a little silly but all three are playing quite well and have quite long odds: $75 on M A Jimenez at 66/1 (ship the $5K). $50 on R Goosen at 22/1 and $50 on Zach Johnson at 50/1. They also had Zach Johnson at 80/1 so i stuck $25 on that. I'm sure that all these bets seem like long shots but with no tiger it's so open and as long as 1 of my men is in with a shout on sunday i'll be a happy bunny and if its Zach Johnson that would obviously be awesome.
I've also got some bets on the US Open but that is after the Olympics so plenty of time and may change a few before the start. The one bet i will not be changing however is my $50 on big Andy Murray to take it down at 15/1, good luck getting a price better than that. It's coming up to 3am and i'm exhausted not looking good for event 1.
I've played a bit tonight but only a few sng's and one very early exit in an MTT, up about $600 so nothing to exciting. What is exciting however is the USPGA which starts on thursday and in the immortal words of sky bet, it matters more when there's money it! I've gone for three to win bets which are a little silly but all three are playing quite well and have quite long odds: $75 on M A Jimenez at 66/1 (ship the $5K). $50 on R Goosen at 22/1 and $50 on Zach Johnson at 50/1. They also had Zach Johnson at 80/1 so i stuck $25 on that. I'm sure that all these bets seem like long shots but with no tiger it's so open and as long as 1 of my men is in with a shout on sunday i'll be a happy bunny and if its Zach Johnson that would obviously be awesome.
I've also got some bets on the US Open but that is after the Olympics so plenty of time and may change a few before the start. The one bet i will not be changing however is my $50 on big Andy Murray to take it down at 15/1, good luck getting a price better than that. It's coming up to 3am and i'm exhausted not looking good for event 1.
Sunday 3 August 2008
Close again
So i just busted out the party 300k gtd in a rather annoying 13th place for a massive $2400. It's my best ever finish in one of the big sunday comps but this is little consolation and right now i feel pretty gutted. I had a really slow start to the comp but after a couple of hours i went on fire turning 7500 into 68,000 in about half an hour, the best hand was when some donk shoved on me blind on blind with 32 off for his/her whole 22K stack playing 400/800. I snap called with JJ and from that hand on i was in my element and able to build quite easily. I got up to 420K playing 4000/8000 but i lost two big pots with AK and 1010 that i might have misplayed but not to sure. Finally busted shoving 250K playing 15k/30k blinds with A9 v AK so no complaints on that hand but i was a little disappointed with the structure. From the 3rd hour on the average stack was always around 16-18 bb's and there was very little play post flop, i rate my pre-flop game very highly but the poor structure certainly wasn't allowing me to play many flops at all and 3-betting light pre was often difficult without committing my stack.
Anyway that's 5 top 100 finishes and my number 1 goal for the rest of 2008 is to make the final of a major sunday comp. When i do i'll probs bust first hand but i don't care i just need to make one cause it's starting to really fuck me off!!
In other news i can now confirm that July was my best ever poker month winning close to $30K. It's a strange thing to say but my main emotion would have to be that of relief, it's nice to feel i have some decent cash behind me and now a couple of bad months would still suck but it wouldn't be the end of the world and i certainly wouldn't have to face the horror of getting a real job. If i had busted the main event early i would have probably tilted the $3K i had left for the trip and had to come home facing a long grind on a $7K bankroll with not a whole lot in the bank. As it happens i have a roll now in excess of $20K and enough in the bank to allow me 6 months of rent/booze/chinese food so life is all good. For some reason i can't help but think my 86 sooooooooted holding up v AQ was a sign that when it really matters the luck will always be in my corner, bring on the WSOP 2009!!
As far as the live poker goes i'm glad to say that i've now played since Vegas when last night i hit the gutshot for the £300 monthly comp. It's a shame there was only 25 runners due to the festival at the empire (that i didn't know about), but the structure was all good and the £2400 for first would have been nice. I lost 2.5K early but doubled up in the following hand: Folded round to young aggressive guy on the CO who makes it 525 playing 100/200 button and sb fold but i call from the bb with 53 sooted. Flop 3 5 9 and as usual i've smashed and i know this guy is very lag so i figure my best option is to fire at it, 750 so he thinks for 10 secs then calls and i just know this kid is floating and he has no idea that i'm any good at this game so he'll try and take it on the turn which is a 6. I think for a while then check and obviously he bets 1500 leaving himself 4K back (i had around the same) so now the question in my head is do i stick it in or just call. I think his hand might include a 7 or an 8 so i think about shoving but at the same time i know he is mega weak and i want that 4K so i think for about 30 secs and call with the intention of snap calling any river and hoping its not a 7 or 8. The river is a king and i check fast he moves in and i snap call; his hand hits the muck very quick and ship the easy double up, pweennnnnnd! After this hand things were quite easy and the early introduction of antes meant i got up to 25K without to much work when this hand goes down: folded round to me on the Co playing 300/600/50 so i'm pretty much going to open with 60-65% of hands in this spot so to look down at JJ it was actually a pleasant surprise so anyhoo i make it 1600 and the button who has me covered and been calling light all day calls again, the blinds pass and we see a juicy J 8 5 flop with two spades. I check he bets 2K, i make it 5500 total and he raises 8000 more so i ship it in and he explains he is committed (which he is) and calls with the 65 of spades. So it's the biggest pot of the tourney and i'm a 5/2 favourite which was nice, instant service for him on the turn and the river brick meant i was officially busto. It was a shame cause i was playing my absolute best and this is not always the case with me in live tournaments. I've also played the £300 twice now and on both occasions busted with a set v a flush draw but i hate blaming luck and just have to hope i can win the next one and maintain a high level of play.
So into my schedule for August which i wouldn't describe as hectic with a lot of sleeping/wanking planned but does include a little bit of 'work' as well. The bad news is that i'm not going to be able to play the GUKPT Luton as i'm not allowed back into grosvenor casinos within 6 months of finishing work, boo! I'm not sure on the date i finished but i think i'll be ok for the GUKPT Thanet in October (will have to check that at some point). I am looking forward however to the fourth annual FTOPS on full tilt which starts in a couple of days. I'm looking to play around 4-5 of the tournaments and realistically i'm just going to hope for 1 decent run as i know with the amount of runners it's going to be a bit of a slog. The buy-ins aren't to excessive however so worst case scenario i'm going to drop $1K which isn't a nightmare, i'm also not going to play at all till event 1 so i wont be tilted at all and can bring my A game every night. After that i'm going to head back to the planet that is thanet for folk week which is always a good fun so as usual hope to spend it on the beach and then in the pubs with my friends having a good old folky time and playing 0 poker. After that i'm back in London for the gutshot series of poker (GSOP). Wednesday the 20th is event 1 but is also my birthday so i'm gonna take that off and go out for a few drinks with the lads instead but nothing to major planned. The day after is event 2 the £100 nh freeze which will be fun and then friday is the £150 PLO which i'm most looking forward to, finally the 3 day main event runs from the saturday until the bank holiday monday which is a £500 with a great structure. The only problem is that the size of gutshot will mean small fields so when i get back from thanet i'm going down to gutshot with £650 to buy in for all of the tournaments and then i can spend the next 3 days relaxing before it all starts.
Ok so as far as poker goes that pretty much is the lot for the past present and future, as usual writing this has taken me off tilt so life is good. On to the non poker shit:
I'm starting to lose back the weight that i stuck on on Vegas. Been swimming most days and also been in the gym a fair bit, still eating really badly but as long as i exercise to balance this out this seems ok.
I shot through 'beneath the shades' which is a book all about the legend that is Stu Ungar. It was a fantastic read and a real insight into the man that is talked about as the greatest poker player of them all. I would recommend it to anyone, not just poker players, and it certainly was fascinating reading about the extent of his gambling and drug addictions and the way they took over his life; a sad but great story. I'm also reading 'scar tissue' by Antony Kiedis which is also a very good read and in the same way as the Stu Ungar book talks in depth about the problems caused by drugs. I'm only halfway through the book but given RHCP's status as one of the biggest bands in the world, i'm sure it will have a better ending. Finally i'm just finishing off Friends like these by Danny Wallace. It's a lot more lighthearted than the other books but still quite good. I'm not enjoying it as much as 'Yes man' or 'are you dave gorman' but i really like the authors writing style and his decision not to take life to seriously, something i feel that i can certainly relate to.
Anyway that's 5 top 100 finishes and my number 1 goal for the rest of 2008 is to make the final of a major sunday comp. When i do i'll probs bust first hand but i don't care i just need to make one cause it's starting to really fuck me off!!
In other news i can now confirm that July was my best ever poker month winning close to $30K. It's a strange thing to say but my main emotion would have to be that of relief, it's nice to feel i have some decent cash behind me and now a couple of bad months would still suck but it wouldn't be the end of the world and i certainly wouldn't have to face the horror of getting a real job. If i had busted the main event early i would have probably tilted the $3K i had left for the trip and had to come home facing a long grind on a $7K bankroll with not a whole lot in the bank. As it happens i have a roll now in excess of $20K and enough in the bank to allow me 6 months of rent/booze/chinese food so life is all good. For some reason i can't help but think my 86 sooooooooted holding up v AQ was a sign that when it really matters the luck will always be in my corner, bring on the WSOP 2009!!
As far as the live poker goes i'm glad to say that i've now played since Vegas when last night i hit the gutshot for the £300 monthly comp. It's a shame there was only 25 runners due to the festival at the empire (that i didn't know about), but the structure was all good and the £2400 for first would have been nice. I lost 2.5K early but doubled up in the following hand: Folded round to young aggressive guy on the CO who makes it 525 playing 100/200 button and sb fold but i call from the bb with 53 sooted. Flop 3 5 9 and as usual i've smashed and i know this guy is very lag so i figure my best option is to fire at it, 750 so he thinks for 10 secs then calls and i just know this kid is floating and he has no idea that i'm any good at this game so he'll try and take it on the turn which is a 6. I think for a while then check and obviously he bets 1500 leaving himself 4K back (i had around the same) so now the question in my head is do i stick it in or just call. I think his hand might include a 7 or an 8 so i think about shoving but at the same time i know he is mega weak and i want that 4K so i think for about 30 secs and call with the intention of snap calling any river and hoping its not a 7 or 8. The river is a king and i check fast he moves in and i snap call; his hand hits the muck very quick and ship the easy double up, pweennnnnnd! After this hand things were quite easy and the early introduction of antes meant i got up to 25K without to much work when this hand goes down: folded round to me on the Co playing 300/600/50 so i'm pretty much going to open with 60-65% of hands in this spot so to look down at JJ it was actually a pleasant surprise so anyhoo i make it 1600 and the button who has me covered and been calling light all day calls again, the blinds pass and we see a juicy J 8 5 flop with two spades. I check he bets 2K, i make it 5500 total and he raises 8000 more so i ship it in and he explains he is committed (which he is) and calls with the 65 of spades. So it's the biggest pot of the tourney and i'm a 5/2 favourite which was nice, instant service for him on the turn and the river brick meant i was officially busto. It was a shame cause i was playing my absolute best and this is not always the case with me in live tournaments. I've also played the £300 twice now and on both occasions busted with a set v a flush draw but i hate blaming luck and just have to hope i can win the next one and maintain a high level of play.
So into my schedule for August which i wouldn't describe as hectic with a lot of sleeping/wanking planned but does include a little bit of 'work' as well. The bad news is that i'm not going to be able to play the GUKPT Luton as i'm not allowed back into grosvenor casinos within 6 months of finishing work, boo! I'm not sure on the date i finished but i think i'll be ok for the GUKPT Thanet in October (will have to check that at some point). I am looking forward however to the fourth annual FTOPS on full tilt which starts in a couple of days. I'm looking to play around 4-5 of the tournaments and realistically i'm just going to hope for 1 decent run as i know with the amount of runners it's going to be a bit of a slog. The buy-ins aren't to excessive however so worst case scenario i'm going to drop $1K which isn't a nightmare, i'm also not going to play at all till event 1 so i wont be tilted at all and can bring my A game every night. After that i'm going to head back to the planet that is thanet for folk week which is always a good fun so as usual hope to spend it on the beach and then in the pubs with my friends having a good old folky time and playing 0 poker. After that i'm back in London for the gutshot series of poker (GSOP). Wednesday the 20th is event 1 but is also my birthday so i'm gonna take that off and go out for a few drinks with the lads instead but nothing to major planned. The day after is event 2 the £100 nh freeze which will be fun and then friday is the £150 PLO which i'm most looking forward to, finally the 3 day main event runs from the saturday until the bank holiday monday which is a £500 with a great structure. The only problem is that the size of gutshot will mean small fields so when i get back from thanet i'm going down to gutshot with £650 to buy in for all of the tournaments and then i can spend the next 3 days relaxing before it all starts.
Ok so as far as poker goes that pretty much is the lot for the past present and future, as usual writing this has taken me off tilt so life is good. On to the non poker shit:
I'm starting to lose back the weight that i stuck on on Vegas. Been swimming most days and also been in the gym a fair bit, still eating really badly but as long as i exercise to balance this out this seems ok.
I shot through 'beneath the shades' which is a book all about the legend that is Stu Ungar. It was a fantastic read and a real insight into the man that is talked about as the greatest poker player of them all. I would recommend it to anyone, not just poker players, and it certainly was fascinating reading about the extent of his gambling and drug addictions and the way they took over his life; a sad but great story. I'm also reading 'scar tissue' by Antony Kiedis which is also a very good read and in the same way as the Stu Ungar book talks in depth about the problems caused by drugs. I'm only halfway through the book but given RHCP's status as one of the biggest bands in the world, i'm sure it will have a better ending. Finally i'm just finishing off Friends like these by Danny Wallace. It's a lot more lighthearted than the other books but still quite good. I'm not enjoying it as much as 'Yes man' or 'are you dave gorman' but i really like the authors writing style and his decision not to take life to seriously, something i feel that i can certainly relate to.
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