Poker Blogs by Popularity

Poker Blogs by Type

Poker Blogs by Wonk

Recent Blogs

Poker Articles by Blog

Write about Poker. Read about Life. Welcome to PokerWonks.com.

Magical Mystery Poker Tour    Friends

Scissor, Paper, Stone

Date: Wed, Apr 9, 2008 Professional

It's been a great performance. I have gone deep in the Scissor, Paper, Stone 110k USD guaranteed tournament, sponsored by MansionPoker.com. There are 23 gladiators left, and my next clash is with the Italian in seat 3. If I can win this clash, I can smell a big return. Sweat drips of my forehead as I elect for trusty paper, and prepare to go into battle. The Italian stares me down, and I pray to see the clenched fist of rock. No! He has gone against his previous form and produced the deadly scissors, and my dreams are over for another evening as I finish in 23rd place.

As you can guess, the structure of the Mansion Poker tournament I played in yesterday was a bit of a joke. 100 USD buy in (with rebuys), and 110k guaranteed, looked a tournament worth playing, so I joined 560 others in the pursuit of the 38k first prize. I eased up to 6k at the break without rebuys and after a few hours was hovering in about 40th place. Then, the hand that shot me up the leaderboard.

I am playing 40k with about 50 players left. UTG min raises to 1200 and is called in 2 spots. I decide to call in the BB with Ac6d, knowing that I need to hit 2 pair at least to proceed with this hand, but getting great odds.

Flop 3c 4c 5c

Wow - that is some draw. Open ended straight, with nut flush draw as well as gutshot straight flush draw. Check, Check. UTG bets 5k, one of the limpers re-raises to 15k and I put him all in. I'm up against pocket Aces, but my hand is still marginal favourite at 55% and I end up hitting the 2c for the straight flush. Up to 100k and in with a great chance.

We get down to 23 players, and then I realise that there is now NO play left in the game. I am in about 13th spot with 90k in chips and I have less than ten big blinds! We are playing for a large first prize, yet now there is no poker left to be played in this tournament. I don't know why people would choose this tournament structure over the nice slow structures at Ultimate and Full Tilt.

I guess some players don't like seeing flops, and would rather find a spot pre-flop to get everything in and then leave it up to luck (let's call them prefloppers). This is not the way poker should be played. The best part of the game occurs just after the flop, because this is when hand values have changed the most dramatically. There is a place for pushing all-in, and there is a place for re-stealing preflop, but it shouldn't be the be all and end all of the game. TV popularity would soon dry up, if all we ever saw was AK v JJ all-in preflop. The classic race, as Honest Dave likes to call it.

Anyway, you can guess I'm bitter because I lost my coin flip ;) Italian "big stack" (15 big blinds) raises to 30k (blinds 5k/10k). I shove from the SB with pocket 8s for 95k and he calls off 70% of this stack with KQ. King comes first card out and I win $1k instead of having a shot at the big money.

I guess it was a good night - I placed about 16th in the Full Tilt 40k guaranteed to pick up some more cash, and also had a minor cash in a Pokerstars event. 3 cashes out of 6 can't be sniffed at I suppose, and generated about 1.6k of tournament profit for the night.

My 1k to 100k cash challenge has also started promisingly. I added about $300 after the tournaments last night, so the bankroll for that stands at$1,800.

Dealers Choice at Loose Cannon tonight - bring on the 2-7 lowball ;)


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 3,184
Live Holdem (International) (9,076)
Live Omaha (Local) 110
Live Omaha (International) (1,215)
Online Holdem 71,658
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,771)
63,520

Online Cash Challenge Bankroll 1,800

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Following Ebbo's Wisdom

Date: Mon, Apr 7, 2008 Professional

It's a new week, and I'm about to go and sign up for the gym. Hopefully I can make it there 3 times a week, either at lunchtimes or first thing in the morning. Besides being worried about my general lack of fitness, I've found myself becoming very lethargic when I am playing poker recently and trying to force action, particularly in cash games.

The snooker entertainer Peter Ebdon, swam and ran daily, which allowed him to have legendary long term concentration at the table. In one match in 2005 he spent 8 minutes compiling a break of 12, and 3 minutes over one shot. I don't think Ronnie O'Sullivan has ever recovered from this mental torture. Hopefully, a few visits to the gym will improve my concentration levels at the tables, and maybe solve the mental fatigue issue I've been experiencing in multi day tournaments.

I got the online cash challenge underway this weekend. I took my original bankroll from 1k USD upto 1,150 in an hour or so. Nothing spectacular, although it would have been a better start if I had not flopped a set of Queens up against a set of Aces in a blinds battle, which cost a couple of hundred dollars. What are the odds on that eh? SB has pocket aces, BB has pocket queens and both flop a set................hmmmmmm. You can find me on the pokerstars 1/2 tables at the moment under my username BlueberryMix - I know this is probably too high a level for the 1k USD buy in, but I started lower and just couldn't get motivated. If the challenge bankroll goes, it goes.

This week I'll be playing the new Dealer's Choice cash game at the Loose Cannon which should be fun, as well as a chance to start playing some different games aside from Holdem and Omaha. It will also be the league, as usual, on Thursday night.

Speaking on Peter Ebdon, one of my favourite sporting interviews occurred after one of his victories, in the early rounds of the UK championship in 2006.

Interviewer: "Peter, now you are living in Dubai, I hear you practice with Ding Junhui regularly"

Ebdon: "Yes - Ding is such a great player. We get on really well - I'd go as far to say that he's my best friend"

Interviewer: "So.......does Ding speak English now"

Ebdon: "No he doesn't"

Interviewer: "Do you speak Chinese?"

Ebdon: "Um.......no........no I don't"

:)



PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 3,184
Live Holdem (International) (9,076)
Live Omaha (Local) 110
Live Omaha (International) (1,215)
Online Holdem 69,210
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,621)
61,222

Online Cash Challenge Bankroll 1,180

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Quick Update

Date: Fri, Apr 4, 2008 Professional

A totally uneventful time last night. 24 runners in the league, and I think I busted about 15th place. I knocked someone out when I played AA pretty trickily from the BB, but apart from that I didn't play many hands and then the blinds caught up with me. Ended up pushing pocket 4s into pocket 9s to depart.

I also lost £120 on the cash game, although my stack was going up and down like a yo-yo. We had a couple of Norwegians on the table, as well as Sonny, which made for a good agressive game. Unfortunately I lost a £350ish pot, when my 2nd pair on the river gave the other punter his gutshot straight, and he check-pushed for £80ish on the end. If it hadn't have been for that hand it would have been a successful night, as my game was working pretty well by the end. I had very few strong starting hands (can't remember a pocket pair above 4s) in 4 hours, but I hit the flop pretty hard a few times.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 3,184
Live Holdem (International) (9,076)
Live Omaha (Local) 110
Live Omaha (International) (1,215)
Online Holdem 69,030
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,621)
61,042

Online Cash Challenge Bankroll 1,000

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Getting a kicking from AQ

Date: Thu, Apr 3, 2008 Professional

One of my drinking buddies from my youth was a guy known as "Hard Man Dennis". An interesting night was normally in store, in and around Watford/London, with Dennis in tow. He was an intimidating presence to have in your drinking group, but invariably any trouble he got you out of, was trouble he had instigated in the first place.

If Dennis was a poker player, he'd never fold. If he raised with AQ and someone went over the top, he'd be all in irrespective of the odds.

Flash back to New Year's Eve 1997, and Hard Man Dennis is seething. Myself, Dennis and Big Nick are stumbling around at 2am after a night out in Fulham, and Dennis is mentally unstable on 3 fronts. He's drunk, his subtle attempts at pulling the ladies have come up dry and on top of that, he realises that "some f*cker" has stolen his jacket.

There are 3 skinheads standing next to a bus on the other side of the road and, before I can stop him, Dennis has started the verbals. (Dennis raises the pot with AQ)

Suddenly, the bus pulls away revealing..............another 8-10 skinheads. Nice one Dennis. They start to cross the road. (Skinheads re-raise with AA)

Surely it's time to do a runner here, but the fold button in Dennis' brain doesn't exist, so he bellows and goes into full war mode (Hard Man Dennis is all-in)

Dennis goes into a frenzy, but we are obviously outnumbered and soon my head is getting pounded from side to side. We are backed into a wall and reverse through a small opening into somebody's front garden. I bizarrely remember the arch to the garden doorway being tastefully decked with holly around the trellice, and make a mental note to perhaps put that up at the house.

We think we are safe from the onslaught, but Team Skinhead go single file and march through the opening like a well oiled machine. They reform the umbrella formation to continue administering our kicking, but thankfully leave us in a heap without causing any permanent damage.

It was a joy to wake up on 1st January, and have my pillow stuck to the side of my face with blood, and with 2 loose front teeth to boot. I could tell it was going to be a great 1998. Hard Man Dennis decided that morning to join the army to curb his agression. That idea lasted about 12 hours until the booze wore off. He is now a fully qualified solicitor :) .

Anyhow, I think AQ cost me a fortune in chips in the City 100 last night, and half the time I didn't see a flop. It's one of those hands that has to be played, but it can't stand too much heat. Only 25 runners - I played pretty well and placed 7th, which was a pain when they only paid down to 5. I will keep an "AQ body count" as I go through the tournament so I can see how much the cursed hand cost me.

4500 starting stack, 25 minute clock, 25 runners.

I start steadily and inch up to 5000 by the end of level 1, but then loose a few speculative hands and am down to about 4000.

Hand1
Blinds are 50/100, late position raiser to 500 (very agressive player, almost boardering on being a maniac). I flat call with 99 in the big blind. Sonny and Bo both call their early position limps.

Flop Q, 9, 4

I check, because I know maniac will bet. Sure enough he fires 750 into the 2050 pot. I think the pot is big enough here for me to check-raise all in for 3000 more, as there are flush and straight draws out there. Everyone folds.

Hand2
I raise 300 with AQ. I get 2 callers.

Flop 10, 8, 5

I bet 500, and am called.

I give up on the hand (body count 800 chips)

Hand3
One big blind of 200 following an elimination. I raise with Kd9d in mid position, but just to 400. I want to make my hand look huge, and since there is no small blind, there is little point raising to 600 only to get re-raised and have to lay down.

Sonny and Bo call, as does the BB.

Flop Q, 5, 5

I bet 1100 and take the pot down

Hand4
Bo raises to 600 in early position. I call in the BB with 77.

Flop 6, 3, 3

I check, Bo bets 1000, I raise to 2500 and Bo passes. Not sure what I do if he puts me in there as I am pretty pot committed, but would have clearly been drawing to 2 outs.

Hand5
3 limpers, I raise to 1100 with JJ. The only limper to call is Sir Mike Conway.

Flop A, K, 4

Now this flop is a problem for JJ against most players, but against Mike it is a total disaster, because he tends to play big cards only if he is in a raised pot.

Check, Check. I know I need a Jack on the turn or I am done, and it doesn't come so I fold to Mike's bet. I'd put him on a AJ/KQ type hand here I think.

Hand6
Sonny asked me not to disclose details of this hand, but my duty is to entertain the troops so here it comes......

Sonny raises to 600 UTG. Called by maniac down the far end. Tom re-raises from the BB to 2100. Sonny calls as does maniac

Flop: Ks, 6d, 3s

Check, Check, Maniac goes all in for about 4k.

Tom calls his last 3k.

Sonny calls the 4k which is about half his stack.

Tom: Set of Kings
Maniac: 6s8s
Sonny:.................7s2s :)

"Red, Red" urges Tom, and sure enough out pops a heart and a diamond and Tom takes down a 15k pot.

When I do the Christmas awards, this hand is likely to make the 10 best hands of the year :)

Hand7
Blinds 200-400

I raise to 1100 with AQ. One caller and then maniac (who has rebuilt his stack) raises to 3500. If no-one else is behind I push here, but I have to pass. (Body count now 1900 chips)

Hand8
I find AK UTG and raise to 1100. Maniac calls.

Flop K, 10, 4 with 2 clubs

I bet 1800 and Maniac pushes for 4k (finally I've got him).

I call (as my hand is good here against such an agressive player 99% of the time) and he has J10 and doesn't suck out.

Final Table

Hand9
Sonny limps for 400, Tom makes it 1600. I call with QQ in mid position. Sonny calls

Flop K, K, 4

Tom leads for 1600 which is a kind of weird bet, so I decide to re-raise to 3800 and be pretty much done with the hand if I get anyone pushing back at me (as I still have about 9k left). Tom gets a count, but folds JJ.

There is one huge stack of about 35k in seat 1 (I am in seat 10). I haven't seen him play, so I am unsure at the moment if he is lucky or a strong player.

Hand10
Blind 300-600

One limper, I raise to 2k with AQ. Monster stack re-raises to 12k! Having since played with this guy for a while, I reckon there was a decent chance he had AJ, A10 here, so I should have taken my chances, but I pass. (Body count 3900 chips)

Hand10
I raise to 1600 with AQ and monster stack calls.

Flop 3, 5, 9

I contination bet 2500 and monster stack pushes all in. :( Fold. (Body count 8000 chips)

I then lose about 4k defending my big blind and bluffing, when the original raiser doesn't seem to want the pot.

So I'm down to 8k and the blinds rise to 400-800. I get pocket 9s in early position. Now, there are not a lot of flops I am going to like with my reasonably strong hole cards, so I decide to push, as at least the blinds will buy me a little time. However, monster stack (who else) pushes over the top of me and he has AK. Ace on the flop, goodnight Irene.

I'm pretty pleased with the way I played - I only had one showdown (apart from the end) and my money went in good most of the time, so hopefully a good result is just around the corner.

The cash games were pretty thin tonight - I made £70 on the Omaha and lost about £20 on the Holdem.

It's the League tonight. If I get AQ tonight, I'll either limp, or put all my chips on the line adopting the Hard Man Dennis mentality!


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 3,524
Live Holdem (International) (9,076)
Live Omaha (Local) 110
Live Omaha (International) (1,215)
Online Holdem 69,030
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,621)
61,382

Online Cash Challenge Bankroll 1,000

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Quarterly Review

Date: Tue, Apr 1, 2008 Professional

Well, I guess to keep on top of your game you need to consistently evaluate how you've done, and set yourself goals for the future, so I thought this would be a good point to review progress. The Labour government would be proud of my box ticking and target setting, rather than getting on with actually playing. There is a job in Town Hall for me some day.

Review (Jan-Mar)

1) London Tournaments (7/10 Rating)
A little under 4k USD profit for the quarter - pretty steady stuff and I'm happy with that. I'm well placed in the WSOP league at the LC, so should start the May final with a decent stack. I've found the Gutshot relatively straightforward to play on my 6 visits there, cashing 3 times and since they get bigger fields that makes for decent paydays. I also broke my City100 barren run during the period, although the monthly BetterPoker 60 runner event continues to deliver outdraws and I have never cashed in that. I gather the Loose Cannon regulars ruled the roost in that one last night, however.

2) London Live Cash (3/10 Rating)
I'm down for live cash - 246 USD. This is pretty poor considering the hours I've played it. I've seemed to grind out a lot of smallish wins, but twice I've lost 1000 USD + in huge drunken sessions, with various reckless plays. This will have to stop going forward, or I may as well not play cash. When I've had a couple of drinks I'm a decent cash player, when I am drunk I am a manical fish. The invention of the "Cannon" drink in Dublin has not helped this area of my game.

3) Professional Circuit Tournaments (6/10 Rating)
Only one pro-event attended so far - Irish Open. Lost a little over 9k USD over the weekend. Certainly proved I can live with that company during Day1 of the event, but tilted pretty badly after an outdraw on Day2. I was knackered going into Day2 of the event (and not because of late night partying), so I think there is a question mark over my mental stamina at the moment. I was pleased to hold my own playing Omaha with the pros in one of the side events though.

4) Omaha (7/10 Rating)
Has improved a lot this year, after more felt time and after reading several books. Will target High-Lo next year I think. 700 USD profit.

5) Online Tournaments (9/10 Rating)
One big win, and several final tables in daily tournaments. Has provided the bulk of my profits - 53k USD profit. I'd play a lot more of them, but it is simply a matter of time constraints at the moment as they take so long. I've only sat down for about 10 sessions so far, so the return has been pretty amazing.

6) Online Cash (7/10 Rating)
16k USD profit. Most of that came from a drunken 4 hour rampage on the 25/50 tables, but the returns on the 1/2 tables have been pretty consistent as well. Again, I probably have not played enough hours to evaluate this area properly. I definitely have to stay away from the high roller table, as I certainly don't have the bankroll to support that and this won't happen again. (Well at least not for a few years).


GOALS - (APR-DEC)

1) Cash in a professional tournament.
I have yet to achieve this, so it would be nice to get the monkey off my back. I have 6 more shots this year - 4 WSOP events, 1 UKPT event and the UKPT Grand Final. I'd like to play more events than these, but it's difficult as I need time for work and also time to spend with my son.

2) Stop playing live cash after 6-8 pints
This is a total waste of money. I definitely play better after a few drinks, but my live limit will be 4 Magners/Pints from now on I think. Any drinking of wine tends to have disasterous consequences also. And certainly no Cannons ;)

3) Online cash challenge (1k-100k)
A slight variation on the Chris Ferguson 0-10k challenge, I am going to see if I can turn 1k into 100k by the end of the year, solely playing online cash. The tight budget should ensure bankroll discipline and it will mean picking stakes according to the current bankroll. This will be one of those challenges that will be either a roaring success, or will be an embarrassing flop within a month. Either way, I will report progress.

4) Play more online tournaments
My biggest money spinner, and probably the strongest part of my game. I have to try and find the time to play these, even if it means cutting back on live play at certain times of the year.

5) Continue London tournament success
I'd be happy to continue at the current rate on these - if I can clear 16k USD profit at the end of the year that will have to be considered a good year.

6) Turn live cash around
If I finish the year down on live cash I'll be pretty disappointed. I need to claw back the loss on this and move on from there. I'll set a pretty modest target on this one, perhaps finishing 3k USD up for the year.

So that's it - overall a strong quarter, but the strong leaning to online play troubles me slightly. Would be nice to see the live areas of my game catch up over the coming months......

Next tournament report will be the City100 at Loose Cannon on Wednesday night.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 3,744
Live Holdem (International) (9,076)
Live Omaha (Local) (30)
Live Omaha (International) (1,215)
Online Holdem 69,030
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,601)
61,482

Online Cash Challenge Bankroll 1,000

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Visiting The Inner Temple

Date: Sun, Mar 30, 2008 Professional

Have spent the weekend working out what is going on in my head poker-wise......feel a bit refreshed. After all, if you'd given me this position at the start of January I'd have taken it with open arms. I'm really disappointed that I feel stale after just 3 months of playing a couple of times a week, but I think I've got a different mindset on it now. I feel that since I am only playing a couple of times a year in big tournaments, I am at the mercy of poker variance as far as those go. The bottom line is I played well in the Irish Open, and if Kabbaj doesn't hit the set I move up into the top ten and would have been in command of my table. If I get to play the few big tournies I have planned, and still come out ahead at the end of the year overall, I have had a year of free holidays and big tournament experience which I can build on the following year.

I think I'm going to start a 1k to 100k online challenge to try and keep me fresh (cash games only). I also think I'm ready to start getting things on the simmer ahead of Newcastle and, of course, Vegas.

Looks like City 100 on Wednesday and the League at Loose Cannons are the next ports in the storm....... :)

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Payment Protection

Date: Fri, Mar 28, 2008 Professional

A bit off topic, but let me see if I can work this one out......

Let's say I take out an unsecured loan of 25,000 GBP over 7 years. I sign up to pay £380 a month.

The banks says:

"Sir, you should take out income protection in case you become unemployed or sick. This will give you peace of mind and will only cost £89 a month".

Excuse me? I am paying interest on the loan to reflect the fact that you have given me an unsecured loan over 7 years and thus have risk. Why on earth would I want to pay you to reduce your own risk to zero when the loan is not secured on any asset? Utter nonsense. Anyone who takes out payment protection on an unsecured loan has made a serious mistake. Do you really think I give a monkey's about my credit rating if my spine has been cracked in two places in a car crash?

Income protection is one of the biggest frauds in the financial sector. I ran this argument by Alliance & Leicester 2 years ago when taking out a loan, and they almost withdrew the offer :) Of course income protection on a mortgage is sensible, but I urge you all to take the zero protection route on unsecured finance!

Anyhow, where was I? Oh yes, poker. I am totally disillusioned. I played like a mug on the final table of last night's tournament, coming 6th after arriving as chip leader. I then burnt £500 in the cash game - losing a £300 pot with AQ v KQ all in blind on the flop and then another £200 pot with 2 pair verses top pair. :(

I am wondering if poker is worth the effort. I am knackered all the time, and frustrated a great deal of the time. I am considering returning to the high stakes gambling arena. Banks will always lend me cash, despite the fact I have no assets following my divorce (figure that one out) and spread betting companies give me pretty much unlimited credit.

I'll spend the weekend with my son before deciding what to do (hopefully I'll cool off).

Remember the saying: If I owe the bank 10k it's my problem. If I owe them a million - it's their problem ;)


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 3,744
Live Holdem (International) (9,076)
Live Omaha (Local) (30)
Live Omaha (International) (1,215)
Online Holdem 69,030
Online Omaha 630
Rake (1,601)
61,482

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Irish Open Omaha - Devilfish and Micky Wernick's Bacon Roll

Date: Tue, Mar 25, 2008 Professional

I expected to struggle badly in the Omaha - it was a highly competitive field of only about 120 players. It was rebuy format - 400 euro - plus an add on at the break.

At my table were Devilfish and Micky Wernick, plus a couple of guys they knew, so clearly this was going to be tough. The play was agressive, but I was pleasantly surprised to get to the break without a rebuy with 12k in chips (from starting stack of 3k), so with the top up I would start the freezout with 16k, which was plenty to work with.

The average age of the tournament must have been 40, as opposed to 25 in the Holdem events. The action was fast and furious - the table next door had Andy Black and Bruno Fitoussi on it, and all ten players agreed to go all-in blind on the first hand!

Devilfish was providing a mix of self promotion, witty table banter and some frankly lewd comments, which we could have done without. His tennis elbow story isn't going to make it onto this blog. His girlfriend arrived on the scene - can't be older than 22, but Devilfish informed me she was excellent for the around the house chores and a decent cook to boot. Sometimes I wonder if if he wasn't plucked out of the 1930s.

The big incident of the tournament occurs as follows: Micky Wernick is enjoying a bacon and sausage baguette and turns back to the table to play his hand. He folds, and looks back and the staff have taking his baguette away.

Wernick is furious:

Brummie accent "Where's me foooking cobb gone? I only turned away for 10 seconds! What is this place?"

A couple of waitresses and the manager are called over to resolve this traumatic incident. After a detailed inquest, Micky is placated by the provision of a brand new baguette, which Devilfish manages to secure a 50% share of.

I'm afraid I can't remember Omaha hands with the same detail as holdem hands, and there has been a lot of water under the bridge since this tournament.

However, I was pleased with my performance, and certainly didn't feel outclassed. I am confident I'll be able to compete in WSOP now in the discipline. After the rebuy period, I kept getting decent starting hands like KQJ10 but then missing the flops completely. It was hard to get people off hands pre-flop, and a couple of times I get short stacked and have to raise pre-flop, and then push on any flop just to get some chips back.

I eventually bust holding A223 in the big blind and shove short stacked on a double Ace flop. I am called by someone holding the other Ace, and I don't hit the house. The turn and river are both Jacks, and the other guy thinks it's a split pot before I explain to him that it isn't.

All in all, a good experience and a boost to my Omaha confidence.

PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 4,784
Live Holdem (International) (9,076)
Live Omaha (Local) (30)
Live Omaha (International) (1,215)
Online Holdem 69,030
Online Omaha 690
Rake (1,591)
62,592

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Irish Open Holdem Side Events

Date: Tue, Mar 25, 2008 Professional

I played both the 1500 Euro freezeout and the 300 Euro scalp side tournaments while I was in Dublin.

I shouldn't have played in the 1500 event - I had been knocked out of the Main Event literally 15 minutes before it started, and was tired and frustrated. This was not a good frame of mind to be playing a deep stacked tournament, where patience is key. I lost about 3k in chips trying to bluff Praz Bansai off a hand on a low board where he held pocket Kings. He had been playing a lot of hands early on, but unfortunately I picked a spot where he had a hand which was tough to put down. He reluctantly called my re-raise on the turn, and I thought briefly of shoving on the river for my last 4k, but instead just tabled my losing AK. Praz was a nice guy though, and good table company.

I then get a little short stacked and I am now on the small blind. I complete with 9s10d, but an agressive scandi reraises to 600. I should fold here but I'm knackered and flat call. Flop comes 9 high. I check, he continuation bets as he always does 800, so I shove over the top of him for about 2000 more. He calls with QQ. I actually hit a 10 on the turn but he 4 flushes on the river and I'm out.

The scalp tournament turns into a crapshoot, not because of the blinds which are on a 25 minute clock, but because people are in gambling mode.

First hand I play is AA UTG. I limp for 200 and unfortunately 4 other players call.

Flop 10, 9, 2

I bet 600 and one guy calls.

Turn 6.

I put him all in and he calls, having hit his up and down with 8s7s in the pocket.

I scrap around with 1600 chips for several orbits and then come over the top of a regular raiser with pocket 6s but he has pocket 9s and I'm done.

P&L table is updated, to reflect the fact I won 250 Euro on cash overall for the weekend, instead of the 1k loss budgeted for, and also I didn't rebuy in the Omaha.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 4,784
Live Holdem (International) (9,076)
Live Omaha (Local) (30)
Live Omaha (International) (1,215)
Online Holdem 69,030
Online Omaha 690
Rake (1,591)
62,592

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Irish Open Main Event Day 2 - Chip Burning

Date: Mon, Mar 24, 2008 Professional

Day 2 of the Main Event was a total disaster. Truth be told, I was pretty exhausted after my marathon session on Day1b and was pretty fatigued going into Day 2. I started with 60k in chips and my table looked good for me - John Kabajj sat on 35k, one other guy played 30k and the rest were short stacks fighting for their lives with 10k-16k. That said, one of the short stacks was the dangerous Graeme Newman (Grazza to Betfair users), a friend of mine, and winner of the online version of the Ladbrokes poker million event a couple of years back.

So all I had to do was stay away from Kabajj and pick off the short stacks...................well that was the plan. I have played the hand below over in my head a hundred times, and have come to the conclusion it's pretty hard to get away from given the action.

About third hand of the day (blinds 300-600 with a running 50 ante):

Kabajj raises in early posiiton to 1800. I re-raise to 6k with QQ.

Folds to Kabajj who calls.

Flop 2d, 6d, 10s

Checked to me, I bet 12k. Kabajj pushes for 29k total. Wow. Decision time.

I'm pretty sure he doesn't have an overpair to my QQ, as he would have re-raised me - the 6k would have been a welcome addition to his stack at this stage of the tournament (bear in mind, I would be the one stack he would have wanted to avoid when he sat down).

I doubted he would have called my re-raise with pocket 2s or pocket 6s, as the call was for 20% of his stack and he's going to miss the flop over 80% of the time and have to pass when I bet. I think there is a pretty strong chance he has a set of tens here, as that would all make sense, but the problem is that him holding a pair of Jacks also makes sense. The other alternatives is that he is being agressive with AdKd, or perhaps puts me on AK myself and has decided to make a stand with pocket 9s. I don't think he has A10 in this spot, and certainly not 2 pair.

It's another 17k to me into a pot that stands at 74k in total if I call. My final thoughts were:

Pocket 10s (50% chance)
Pocket 6s or 2s (15% chance)
Jacks (20% chance)
AK diamonds (10% chance)
Pocket 9s or 8s (5% chance)

Even though I think I am probably behind to a set of 10s, there are enough hands he might have that I beat and it's 17k into a massive pot.

I call and he has a set of 6s. The turn brings a diamond to scare the daylights out of him, but the set holds and I am down to about 25k.

I have to say I'm surprised he called the re-raise with 6s, given that is was 20% of his stack to call and he still had a good stack size relative to the table if he passed, but I guess the reason you play the baby pairs is exactly for the scenario above.

Things are compounded a few hands later on my big blind.

3 limpers and I have 66 in the big blind. I decide to check, as I'm still a bit sick after the last hand and don't want another tough decision immediately.

Flop 2, 3, 5 rainbow.

I fire 3k at it, a pot sized bet to bring it down and restore morale. However, familiar looking irish guy shoves on me for 7k more. For heavens sake, this is going badly.

I'm not really sure what I am beating here to be honest, but I make a tilt call with the straight draw to back me up, but he has pocket aces which hold. Down to 16k and I flee for a cigarette to prevent complete implosion. I am absolutely reeling.

I compose myself and grind it out for another 2 hours of play, including one double up with JJ, when I make it look like a steal by pushing from the SB against Grazza in the BB, who calls with K10.

However, Jacks aside I am totally card dead - and I don't have the chips to make speculative calls for 25% of my stack. I am down to 13k when this happens:

Blinds are 600-1200 with a running antes of 100. There is 2800 in the pot before any cards are dealt.

First hand after the break

Folded to me on the button and I push with Q2 offsuit. I am instacalled by the BB who has pocket tens. I lose the pot and gather my things to leave. However, the tournament director runs over waving his hands.

"THIS HAND IS DEAD! THIS HAND IS DEAD!"

The tournament clock hasn't started yet and our dealer wasn't supposed to deal. There is a bit of a furore but, eventually, I become presumably the first player in history to be re-instated to a main event after losing all his chips. This would be better than the chip and a chair legend ;)

Unfortunately it is not to be, as I see no cards for 2 more orbits and am down to 9k. This is Defcon 1 for me, and I am ready to push if it folds to me from mid to late position. I eventually push with the monster that is 8c2c. I get called in two spots and it's actually not a bad situation for me.

Grazza has A10, BB has AQ to I have 2 cards to hit to take it down, and neither of them have clubs either. Unfortunately it is not to be, and I am busted in 140th place, a bitter disappointment after being so well placed coming into Day2.

Clearly the Kabajj hand killed me, both from a chip point of view and more importantly emotionally and my play deteriorated from then on. Still, a big improvement on last year, which bodes well for the tournaments coming up over the next few months.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Irish Open Main Event Day 1 - Pocket Rockets, Slowrolls and Scalps

Date: Sun, Mar 23, 2008 Professional

Day 1 of the Main Event was a great success. I finished the day with 60k in chips, in 5th position for day 1B and in 12th spot overall. I found the standard of play pretty mediocre - some good players, some loose players, but generally most players were pretty straightforward to read. Hand summaries below:

In the early 2 levels, I built myself up to 13k with standard plays - seeing cheap flops with my mediocre holdings, and winning pots when I hit or picking up pots if no-one seemed to want to bet at it. Blinds are now 75-150.

Hand1

I hold JQoff in the big blind. Guy in mid position puts it up to 400. He's probably one of the stronger players at the table and I flat call.

Flop 2, 3, 10 all spades.

Since this guy is a good player I decide that this is a good spot for a bluff. He bets 500 and I flat call.

Turn 6 diamonds

I check call his 700 bet. Now the key to this bluff is that I may have a spade in my hand (I can't remember) but if I check my hand then it gives away the fact that I am spade hunting. I want him to think that I KNOW that I called his raise with Ace rag of spades.

River J hearts

I fire 2000. He thinks for an age and passes, muttering to himself as he walks away from the table for a break. Up to nearly 15k

Hand2

I raise to 500 in early position with pocket 10s. Guy from the hand above calls and we see the flop:

2, 8, K.

I bet 700 which is called.

Turn J

The board is all hearts so I bet 700 again to try and represent, but I am check raised and have to give up the hand. Back down to about 14k.

Hand3

There is a guy raising every 3 hands to about 400, so I decide to put him off going after my blind. Sure enough he raises as standard to 400 and I re-raise to 1100 with 4s8d. He instafolds and I show my hand, and he stays away from my blind for the rest of our session at the table.

Hand4

I've lost a few chips raising with marginal hands and getting re-popped, or seeing flops with suited connectors and missing (it's generally a good thing to see flops with suited connectors in deep stacked tournaments, due to the implied odds of hitting the monster). Anyhow, I'm down to 11k when this hand happens:

I raise to 600 in mid position with JJ. Big blind calls.

Flop K, A, 2 (tremendous)

BB bets only 400 so I call.

Turn is the lovely third Jack.

BB bets 700 this time and I check raise him to 2500. He passes.

Table breaks.

I am taken to my new table with 13k in chips and it is much tougher, with Tony Phillips, Bruno Fitoussi and a german guy who I recognised but couldn't name. Incredibly I would bust all three of them before the day was out.

Hand5
German star raises UTG to 700 (blinds 200/400). I call in BB with As9s.

Flop A, A, 2 (no spades)

Check, Check

Turn J

I bet 800, German calls.

River 3

I bet 800, German calls and mucks.

Hand6
Tony Phillips is short stacked and raises to 900 with only 2k behind. I find AK in the BB and make it 3k and he pretty much has to call with AJ.

He pairs his Jack on the turn but I make broadway on the river to bust the on-form youngster.

Hand7
I find AA on the button and raise Bruno Fitoussi's BB to 800. This is the best place to have Aces because no-one believes your raise. He reraises to 2400. I make it 6k to go (I have him covered) and try to look nervous. I scratch my head, shift in my seat and gulp several times. He re-shoves for 14k in total and I beat his JJ, having to dodge a diamond on the river. I am up to 30k.

I now use my bigger stack to take down a few blinds and antes and am up to about 34k

Hand8
Guy to my right makes it 900 to go and I call with 55.

Flop 10, 5, 4

He bets 1600 and I make it 4k to go. He passes A10. Good fold - probably should have got more out of this hand.

Hand9
I raise German guy's small blind on the button to 1k with 8c8d. He makes it 3k to go, leaving only 3k more behind. He has been frustrated so I think his range is pretty big here so I put him in and he calls with pockets 4s and doesn't hit his 2 outs. Up to 40k now.

Hand10
I find AA under the gun and make it 2k to play (blinds now 300/600 with running antes). Loose Irish player makes a huge overbet by pushing for 18k. I think the guy on my right is still in the hand. He is hunched over his cards with ipod and shades on, shuffling his chips furiously. I sit figuring if I actually want him to call, because I am not sure I want to be against 2 players. The clock is eventually called on him, and it runs down to 15 seconds. I decide to check what is going on to be safe, and realise the guy has no cards at all and the clock has in fact been called on me! In 15 seconds my hand would be dead so I call and thus deliver the worst slowroll in poker history :( The Aces hold up and apologise profusely to the young irish guy who in fact had QQ. He takes it well, given that for a full 3 minutes must have thought I either had JJ or at worst AK.
This hand had a fair bit of coverage on the various blogs and forums under the title "comedy slowroll".

I finish the day on 60k, 12th in the overall chips count from both days, and in a great position to go deep in this tournament.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Irish Open Again

Date: Sat, Mar 22, 2008 Professional

I'm going to have to update the full tournament report when I get home I think, as this diabolical internet connection just deleted my lengthy Day1 post. Typical of today.

As many of you will know I busted in 140th in the main event after losing a 75k pot early on day2. Details of the hand are on the Paddy Power blog, but I'll do full report when I return.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Irish Open Update

Date: Fri, Mar 21, 2008 Professional

Finished day 1 with 60k in chips. I'm probably in the top ten, certainly in the top twenty, so it will be an interesting day 2. Average is about 27k so I'm in good shape. I've played solid and have busted a few big scalps including Bruno Fitossi and Tony Phillips. I'll do a full review when I am less knackered. I also gave one of the biggest slow rolls in poker history, but it was an honest mistake so don't believe the bad press if it comes up on the forums..............

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Roll up for poker roulette!

Date: Thu, Mar 20, 2008 Professional

A last minute change of plan led to us going to play in the Fitzwilliam in central Dublin, instead of playing the main event qualifier. The format was 20 euro rebuy and was dealer dealt, so plenty of play in it.

However, the players seemed to have some interesting thoughts on hand values - anything with paint on is massive for these guys, and if you have KQ, KJ or JQ you have the nuts pre-flop. The game was hard to play, because the players would re-raise pre-flop with KJ, so it was tough to know where you stood.

Two interesting incidents. Firstly a guy next to me raises to 800 and the big blind goes all in for 2800. He says "I know this is a bad call, but I call" showing pocket 5s. The guy shows QJ and the guy with pocket 5s says "I knew it was a bad call". I say "surely you'd call if you knew his hole cards?" and he replies "I don't think so" :)

The second incident involves Shazbo pushing with pocket 9s for 3000 chips, and the guy next to act calls with KQ. He is devastated when he misses the flop and bemoans the bad luck that his monster has been cracked!

Predictably I get into a huge pot before getting unlucky. Action is as follows: Blinds are 200-400. Early position raises to 1200. Mid position min-raises to 2400. I push for 8000 chips with AK, because in this game that is good here 90% of the time. Early raiser installs, and the min re-raiser is having none of this, and puts all his chips in the middle so quickly I can barely see his hands move (it's for his tournament life).

My hand: AK
Early raiser: KQ
Min re-raiser: K9

K9 is clearly good, and I am busted missing out on a 22k pot ;) K9 man utters the legendary words "Come on I can't pass there, they were suited" :)

This afternoon, I thought I'd pop down to the conference centre, where Day 1A of the Main Event is underway, for a quick cash game. I bump into Lauren, a former dealer at the Loose Cannon, who I get on well with. He tells me he has a seat for me and I go and take my seat. I notice that the stack sizes are a little bigger than normal, and immediately realise that I have been popped down in the 2/5 Omaha game. Cheers Lauren, always looking out for me ;) Clearly, to save face I fish 500 Euro out of my pocket and enter the game.

It becomes quickly apparent that these people are total lunatics. Several are deep stacked, and they are pure gamblers - it's a game that has disaster written all over it for my solid cautious Omaha game, as they will put me all in and if I miss it's 500 Euro down the drain.

In this game, a hand like 8, 10, 2, 3 is worth a pot sized re-raise of an early position raiser. I have to put Aces down twice after huge action on the flop, but the flip side is they will pay you off when you hit a flush, straight or house. The art is getting into the positon of having a big hand without investing too much of your stack.

I see one 1200 Euro pot, where the initial better on the flop has mid pair and puts in 400 Euro. The caller has bottom pair and a Queen high flush draw. This is enough for him to call. Madness! I have a feeling Sonny O is going to make a lot of money this weekend, but this game is not for me - a game of Omaha can be full of thought and strategy, but this game is just coin tossing.

The final hand sums it up. I call a 10 Euro raise with JcJs3d3s but the big blind pot raises to 60 Euro. I don't like this situation already, but given that all the other 5 players call, I have to call to try and hit a set.

Flop 2, 6, 8

Someone puts in 150 Euro and someone pushes for 350. In any sensible game, the overpair of Jacks is no good, so I pass. The initial raiser calls with a pair of 6s and a low flush draw. The re-raiser has the lone 8 with a gutshot straight draw. He eventually makes 2 pair on the river to win another huge pot. I was ahead on the flop and actually would have hit a set of 3s on the turn. I was ahead on every street. Unreal.

I escape from the game after 2 hours 120 Euro in profit and, more importantly, with my sanity intact.

Main Event starts for me tomorrow..........

Read Full Poker Blog Post