JAN SPORTS LOSS

Casino-675
Darts -70
Football-71
Greyhounds200
Horses-447
NFL135
Loss-928

PROS - NONE CONS -675 CASINO (GET A GRIP !!!! LOL)

JAN POKER P&L

6 Pak733
Rake / Bonus 863
Fixed Limit1940
Heads Up-208
Multi320
NL-1250
Total Profit2398

Figures are Ok but I am majorly dissapointed - especially last few weeks where I have gone from £1500 up on NL to losing £1250. Guess 1st 2 weeks Jan great last 2 weeks the opposite. Was 4.5k up at one stage.

BEST BITS

1) Return to form at fixed limit - played loads with good profit and decent rakeback to come.

2) winning 160 odd runners multi and 2nd in Annette game.

3) winning 5 6 Paks in a row for firsttime ever.

WORST BITS

1) Last 2 weeks NL - I have lost my buy in and left every session playing crap or getting outdrawn.

2) The river in Annette toruny that cost me the win.

3) Work hours mean I have no way near the time for poker that I wanted to have and motivation low atthe moment.

4) Lasting less than 30 mins in EPT / WPT final.

I did quite a bit of volume (over 5000 MPP on Chrypto) and hence am due about 500 in rake and bonuses to start off Feb. I am going to use £400 to buy into WPT / EPT final again.

Some great promotions on Interpoker this month for high volume players. If you aint got an account and are interested and want good rakeback deal then click on the raketherake banner above.

http://www.interpoker.com/promotions/0108/theitalianjob.shtml

NO LIMIT OFF LIMIT

Having a disaster at no limit and have lost my buy in last 5 times i played ( i didn't rebuy any time).

Every time i push with crap I get called by marginal hands - when i go back to NL think I will start pushing with z nuts !!!!

Jan cant end soon enough and going to take it easy on poker front as in Berlin next week with work. I may play the £400 WPT final again on Sat night on Crapto which leaves me about 2k up for month as won 5 stt on bounce last night to push profits up a bit.

I played quite a bit this month so should get about £500 rakeback for Feb which is good when I am out the country for a few days at start of month.

POKER PODCASTS

I had to play dream team on Betfair for some one tonight which is a huge zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz hence looked into some podcasts Azimut had told me about in St Kitts.

Basically just go to your itunes - click on podcasts and then sports and poker is on the last page. I downloaded about 4 which were mainly crap but the rounders poker show which now resides on the 2+2 forum is pretty good and worth a listen if in a multi and nothing on TV :)))

You can subscribe then it downloads the episode each week. I also subscribe to sports weekly on the BBC which is excellent also.

Good luck to Flash Badger who heads of the the German Ept this
week.

IT GETS WORSE

Bad luck now

Both multis tonight lost to overpair v underpair including v some muppet who spikes a 9 on river after pushing with 99 with 50 blinds for 3K. Every single time I get into the top 10 in the Betfair leaderboard the beats seam to start !!! ( I was 10th in multi board)

Had hit a high of 4k up this month despite not feeling very good about game but now up half that and happy to stay that way till end of Jan as motivation is shite.

Im going to play a new skin starting Feb 1 also for a month to see how that go's.

Need to play 50 more raked hands on crapto for a £200 bonus and will have to do that sometime this week.

Gl all.

EASY COME EASY AGO

One of my worst days betting wise.

My last post tells how I won 2.5k$ at 1am this morning - well I think I have approx spent that today and I have left the house for 10 mins spending £10 at local supermarket.

Horses - big place bet early doors then numerous other large bets no joy.
Football - I always back a sh1t prem team v 1st div team every year when odds against at home and never learn.
Poker - Lost £500 at NL and then my 500EUR WPT final qualifier treat lasted 27 mins in total when i lost all my chips when i had raised pre level 1 with 77 and could not put my opponent on a better hand on a 578 board (he had 6 9 os).

Terrible day for me with me to blame for it all. However, this is my blog, warts and all so that's how i spent it.

I ain't proud but I am trying to force myself to think I got my £10 shopping this morning for nothing - LOL

We live and learn.

Troubled the scorer in 08

I just troubled the scorer with my 1st win in a multi of 2008. Not very prestigious as was the 55$ Donkfest Eyes Wide Shut on Betfair (Bingo poker) - but anyway beat 165 other runners but got lucky a couple of times at final table winning 2 30 70s.

1st - 2500$

BETFAIR JOKE SITE

Once again gos down again tonight and no doubt people will have to jump through hoops to get cash back.

They use the great customer service mentality if you don't ask for anything back they just keep it.

New manager - same old shit - its like the toon replacing Roeder with Fat Sam ......

Pretty disappointed as used to be my fav site but rapidly getting pished off with it.

ROOOBISH

Dropped almost £2k since the Annete tourny 2nd last week which almost equals profits from that game.

No major complaints just any move I try and make seems to be getting called when i dont have the goods and losing every important race in multis.

Played Anettes game tonight - lowish all the way but built a stack up with 20 odd left and 18 paid but then lost 2 50 50s on bouce to exit ahead of the cash. Also tryed and failed to qualify for Betfair 100k - 5th and only 3 seats and tryed to qualify for Monte Carlo final on Crpato and failed also. Then i lost £500 as a mix of FL and NL - all in all not a good night.

Virgin Poker has a festival at Aspers in April which I really want to go to. However, you have to qualify on line via some 5 eur crap that I cant be bothered with. Need to motivate myself to win a seat as cant buy in direct.

Details for anyone interested are below.

http://www.virgingames.com/poker/Festival.aspx

SOME TREATS FOR ME

Treated myself to 2 things from my 2nd in Anettes game and almost blew nearly all the cash!!!

TREAT 1

Direct buy into the 500EUR WPT qualifier on Interpoker on Sat night. This is a 1 seat only sat and tends to be the kind of thing I come 2nd or 3rd in but if you don't try you don't get in.

TREAT 2

As some of you know I have a small percentage in a horse called Guest Connections. I nearly bought a share a year ago in a 2 year old called Fol Hollow - I wish I did as it went on to win 2 races - I have now bought that share in Fol Hollow but it cost me double it would have a year ago. Anyway hopefully its good enough to run on Saturdays and get me a few days out at premier racecourses. New edition is pictured above and like Guest Connections is trained by Dandy Nicholls.

BLUFFDADDY - ZERO TO HERO

Great story this one.

Betfair run some freerolls to there 100k gtd tourny (550$) entry - I think top 3 get to a final and the winner of the final gets entry into the 100k.

Well Bluffdaddy entered via the freeroll and got into the main event. He has just won the main event for 30k$.

Hes a regular on Betfair forum and had his share of savage beats near Xmas so delighted for him. As I told him at the time he was posting loads of bad beats do you not ever have a good beat then !!?

He got that when trips v trips with 3 left tonight when he paired his lower kicker.

Very well done and well deserved

PISSED OF PART 2

Out tonight so just had a few games.

Only game of significant $

£200 heads up Chrypto me flopped flush v a raised on ace high board - manage to getthem all in turn when he hits 2 pair and he hits 4 outer riv for the £400.

Variance etc I know

THE AK CASH CLOWNS

Very pissed off.

Just lost 1600$ pots in two hands against AK holders where both times i raise them on a low flop.

One flop 882 and I have 44 and called a raise pre - from betting patterns im pretty certain he has AK especially from size of his cont bet which I have picked up a bet related read on.

He bets 50 into 100 I raise to 150 he jams for 450 and im still certain he has AK so call. He indeed has AK and hits ace on river.

Great read with kick in the teeth reward :(

Played live last night at aspers came about 20th after 4 hrs and was bored out my mind. Don't think I will play live unless a decent buy in or something I have qualified for online.

Annetes 20k tourny

6 hours in I'm heads up - 1st gets 6k$ 2nd gets 4k$.





The important hand below - 50 50 but OUCH -I haven't won this tourny on Betfair as it is newish so a but gutted.





http://www.runittwice.com/gamedetails.aspx?id=DSJOMIQ5247102








Deffo my best performance for ages - I was chip leader for 90% of final table and know I played my best poker for ages. I won one suckout for a 50k pot although I still would have been left with 60k. I picked up all the big pots heads up but he won all the small ones and the one that mattered. Not sure what people think of his & my play in the hand above - I'm pretty happy how I played hand and don't think I would have called in his position but that's the way it gos. It gets me £2k which is needed in Jan as wasn't going great although I have managed quite a bit of volume as Inerpoker has numerous offers on in Jan and they all relate to MPP. These are :-

over 2500 MPP = top rakeback rate
over 2500$ rake = 250$ bonus from raketherake
10k freeroll tourny each Sunday if done 500 mpp in week.
Also 2 platinum club offers also on mpp.



However wont get much poker in next 3 days.

- Tomorrow = toon (Special K) v Bolton then going to Aspers for £30 freezout.
- Sunday going to see a comedy play called Mrs Brown - if this comes to theatre near you go and see it its usually sooooo funny.
- Monday taking the wife to strictly come dancing for her xmas pressie (fortunately just watching)

Well done to FlashBadger for his Ireland performances (link on my blog)

UPDATE - Just had 2 hrs 10 20 fixed limit from 1am to 3am and got hand after hand on a very loose table and turned 400$ into 2000$ so a great night for me :)

SPECIAL K

Welcome back - Im pretty happy to have him back.

I think the biggest impact will be on fans and nows the time to lump the even money v Bolton at Sat when they are without Anelka.

Get in fast will be 4-6 by Sat!!!!

SHAMELESS

Not me - just started watching this on Ch4 even though its season 5.

I need to go back and watch season 1-4 as its a howl -

On poker front I just lost 3 races in a row for 12th of 136 on Mansion 100$ tourny for the grand total of zilch (top10 only split > 13k$ pool) - but gutted as not getting rub of the green - standard variance i suppose.

SUNDAY MULTIS IN RUNNING

Prob a short post as going crap in them all.

Bought into Betfair 100k moved from 5k to 7k quick then played crap and donked off chips - gone.


Crapto 40k qualified via £12 sat have less than starting stack.

Betfair 16k qualified via sat and 60% of starting stack

Interpoker freeroll 10k starts at 9 looks like double last weeks runners :(

UPDATE 1030pm

Gone from the lot - no sob stories no bad beats and no way near the cash in in any.

Betfair 100k Sunday

The 50k tourny is replaced with a 100k tourny from tomorrow onwards. However the buy in has also changed from 330$ to 550$ and hence a bit steep for me. However, I just won £350 with 4th in a multi so will treat myself to a direct buy in - it starts 1830pm tomorrow.

I went down to Man U today with my mate who works for the club to watch the toon play. We had tickets in the chair mans lounge and had a drink their after the match and I got to meet Bobby Charlton, stood next to the new England boss and seen the premiership trophy. All nice touches but unfortunately after doing ok getting to 0 0 at HT with a perfectly legit goal chalked off for offside we proceed to lose 6 zip - the worst defeat I ever have seen Newcastle have !!!

Harry turns us down also -what next for the toon army !!

BETFAIR SIT AND GOOOOOOOOOOO SCANDAL

Oh dear its all going off at Betfair (allegedly)

A glitch in the software had been identified.

Anyway my understanding is that from 3-6am on Thursday night 100s of 6 paks were played where everyone went all in 1st hand. Each time winner was paid and all 5 others were paid as 2nd due to the glitch that had been identified. These were all 1000$ games.

It seems Betfair paid out 1.7$ million during this period. Im sure this story will run and run and will be interesting to follow what happens to the funds.

Is it fraud?
or is just people taking advantage of added value / software issues?

I will follow with interest and Im sure this story will make the poker mags this month.

LAST 24 HRS

Lost loads at NL - breaking a dont play when tired / work late resolution.

SOAP THE DOPE

GOOD BYE SAM HELLO JOSE !!!!

Click below for the inside scoop !!!

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/index.php?module=see&lang=uk&code=f3563427adf4775401cac084075a2e18

SH1T HAPPENS

LOL

Built up a nice balance at a NL table on Interpoker and tick sit out next hand. (my big blind) I get dealt 67 clubs and raise up the "last hand" in possy 1 to 33 - 2 callers which I like but then big blind raises 4 times - I should have been done here !!! - However I call as I think this prices in the people behind and I want a multiway pot - I also have position on the raiser.

Anyway flop comes KQ10 with 2 clubs and initial raiser checks - I think he has something like 99 but not sure - I fire out decent size bet - anyway get raised by the other player and BB folds. Im pretty priced in to flush draw and then play a shocker by jamming (I couldnt put him on pair the way the hand has gone) - called by ten ten and lose biggets ever cash pot of $2400 dollars when I miss my flush outs (needed to not pair board also so was in bad shape).

Looking back at hand 1010 is a holding he could easily have had and not a hand Im proud of.

EXPENSIVE LESSON - MULTI@S ONLY TOMORROW !!

KNOWING YOUR IMAGE - MTT TIPS

In a multi you look around the table and quickly work out who's tight, who's aggressive, who's a donk, who's good etc.

However, a large number of people don't look at something equally as important - what is your image? This is mega important as you can play on this image in numerous ways - I give an example below on how this could be used.

EXAMPLE 1

I qualified for a promotion 25k freeroll on Betfair the other night as had been in top 10% of players in their Dec promotion. However loads of runners and I decided I was going to double up early or go out. I pushed all in 1st 4 hands with any two cards giving the looney image and on 4th hand i was called but happened to have a good hand (JJ) that won. Whats my image - loon who wont last 10 mins - right !!? So i played on this continuing the trend and pushed all in in 2 of the next 6 hands - 1st time with trips and 2nd time with KK pre and got paid off both times.
I then continued in this vain until KK got beat on AJ and shafted my momentum but knowing my image was mega important.

EXAMPLE 2

I know a very good MTT player who is perceived as a rock whom I know for a fact is not and certainly changes gears as the blinds get higher. However, hes totally happy to trade on rock image and steal blinds when others assume he has big cards at crunch time.

What am I saying above - always know you image at the table - if you have aces 3 hands in a row and win each pot uncontested and muck dont be surprised when your raise with KJ gets called next hand as they think your at it - sometimes worth showing cards if getting big hands all the time and you have moves in your locker.

So my simple multi tip is be aware of your own image as well as everyone elses - if I ever have anyone watching me on a final table I always check what they think my image is based on what they are watching.

THE F A CUP & The Poker COCO

I know what FA stands for betting wise and it equals my total returns from bets on the footy this weekend and the 2nd word is all and the first has 4 letters.

£150 on Liverpool odds against in running - go 1 0 up when I'm having my tea - usually i will take stake back at that stage but was having tea downstairs you know the rest.

Then naively thought Newcastle cant be as bad as they have been playing and had 2 ton on them. They are absolute crap and if tickets for the replay are above a fiver they will get one of the lowest ever crowds for a FA cup replay. Best start giving them away to schools for free like Sunderland do.

Poker wise go out the 50k with full house v full house where I am in front till river (well go mega short anyway) and then in 25k freeroll huge filed I am quickly chip leader and then put a huge over raise on some one at 100 200 raise they have raised to 600 i push for 10K and they call for 6k with Ace Jack - NH COCO. (of course jack comesv my KK) - I just donked off rest of chips on tilt (if u can be in a freeroll).

What as crap day - sorry for rant had to get it off chest !!!

I have the Blue Square qualifyer later but will come nowhere as mindset is crap and if could unregsiter and take cash I would. UPDATE
Played pretty well in GUKPT qualifyer 7 prizes and 4 seats and was about 6th of 13 left but then made mistakes 2 hands in a row inclusing an over aggressive reraise on the BB v SB with an ace and lost to his pair and gone.
Fortunately i played solid NL poker at 5 10$ for 2 hrs and won about 1200$ so day about rescued.

What as crap day - sorry for rant had to get it off chest !!!

LUCKBOX DAY

Not multis I still run sick in them.

But in last 2 300$6 paks I have had AQ beat AK and I went on to win and A6 sooted beat AK and i went on for 2nd.

Also earlier today and recognised I was playing crap and needed to get patience back so entered a 15$ feeder into the 250$ Sat Final on Sunday to Brighton UKGPT on Blue Square. Great format ran for a few hours. Got one decent piece of luck in rebuy period when aq on q high board beat AA and then I had this player on my case for next 2 hours even when I knocked them out they stayed window licking.

Anyway 1 seat to next level 2nd about 150$ cash 3rd nothing. I lose nearly all my chips 1010 v QQ which was blind v blind. They have about 18k each and I have 2k max. The next 5 mins I win every time I go in with a combination of weak folds, winning 50 50s and one 3 outer suckout. I then knock out a player and get heads up with 25% of chips. I double up 1st hand of heads up and go on to dominate and win it to qualify for tomorrows final 250$ final with 2 seats guarenteed.

However, I have to hand it to the window licker who stayed to rail and abuse me. When i was sucking out with hardly and chips in 3rd he told me " Your like a turd that you cant get rid of no matter how many times you flush" - have to admit made me laugh :D

UPDATE

Wish I had waited till end night to post that as very next 300$ game lost to runner runner whn i had trips !!

HORRID DAY

Tournies got shafted in nearly every 1 i played including deep in a $50 rebuy with JJ on J92 baord and lost to AK ( tq turn and riv. Got a 5th for peanuts in the 2k gtd and then just had a shot at 10 20 cash and lost my 1000 buy in rather quick and played pretty crap to be honest.

2008 POKER AIMS

Ok first and foremost I know my job / career needs to take priority in the first half of the year and I have major project go lives in April and July hence sometimes have split aims into 1st and 2nd half of year.

1) Win £18k in the year (7K 1st 6 months / 11k 2nd 6 months) - reason for split is just simply I think I can do a lot more volume in later half of year which results in more rake and hopefully profit.

2) As last year qualify for one major live event (restricted in 1st half of year as cant really get time off) - targets will be UK GPT at Newcastle, CPC and Aussie millions for Jan 09.

3) Make 6k in year at no limit cash.

4) Break even at fixed limit (profit from rake)

5) Create a list of players whos table you want to sit at for NL cash.

6) Make top 3 on a Betfair leaderboard in the year at either STT or MTT.

Again 2 less measurable aims also.

1) When stressed / tired either dont play or play sit and go's only and log off when have that cant be arsed felling!!. (harder to measure)

2) Be dedicated and even if have good win continue as one was before win.