Monday, December 31, 2007

THE YEAR IN FIGURES

Delighted with the year - figures below.


SPORTS

Won £3376

POKER

Won £36197

Breakdown.

No Limit +5k
Fix Limit - 2k
Multi Tab +14K
Single Tab+9k
Rake +10K

DEC POKER P AND L

One of my best months is poker profit wise which is strange as I have had some horrible luck late in big $ tournies ( I guess I prob got my share in getting to the final table. I have had 3 big months this year that make up 75% of the years profit and this was one of them.


6 Pak100
9 Seater974
Rake / Bonus 445
Fixed Limit-665
Heads Up-630
Multi4287
NL4500
Total Profit9011

GOOD POINTS

1) NL cash has been going very well since Kitts although I have to say my hands have been holding up in big post which is always nice when i get it in when in front.

2) I played really well to go deep in some multis this month with 2 small multi wins, a 2nd and 5th in the 16k and that horrid beat on Mansion for 4th in the 50k.

3) Fixed limit although still lost feel my form came back a bit and I have made a couple of changes.

BAD POINTS

1) Playing crap in heads up games especially late at night.

2) That Mansion sick 2 outer beat which cost me a fortune and Ak not beating QQ on betfair when 5th the night before last.

3) getting involved in needless spats on fl for peanuts.

A pleasing end to a very good year - will post year to date breakdown of the year tomorrow or the next day.

Good luck at tables.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

DEC SPORTS P AND L

Terrible month dont want to go into much detail but the NFL money train ran out and had some savage beats in it this month. Painter losing tonight meant I would not recover any of the months lossers hence good job I have had good poker month.


Boxing-120
Casino700
Darts18
Football-540
Horses-687
NFL-580
Specials175
Loss-1034

HIGHS

Non as such but got a couple of nice looking Ante Post bets placed in the month - Kato Star for Gold Cup at 11-4 and Celestrial Hero at 18.5-1 for Triumph. I guess Come Dancing was a plus as well!!

LOWS

1) NFL nearly everything went wrong

2) Every big footy or horse bet lost.

3) Painter absolute pap tonight.

Will post year figures tomorrow - pretty sure I am in front for sports which is pleasing.

THE ARTIST !!!


I have had a shocking month sports about 4 figs down but all could be saved !!!


I backed Kevin Painer AKA the Artist for the PDC darts after the 1st roud at 27-1. He has since beat Barny and Taylor lost tonight. He has a very tough looking semi v John Part tomorrow night but if he wins that I think he will win the whole event. I have took stake back at 9-4 but will not be laying off as need to recover this months sports losses.


Good Luck Kev !!

2007 REVIEWED

First and foremost - this has been my best and most enjoyable year in poker. Qualifying for St Kitts and for the Blue Square event at Newcastle were added extras on the profit that I have made. However, I wanted to go back and revisit my 5 major aims for the year and am very pleased when I did this in the afternoon today. I will think of my 2008 aims in next few days and probably will include some non poker elements this year which i didn't last.

Review is below hope you enjoy.

ORIGINAL POST

Saturday, December 30, 2006

2007 POKER AIMS
I need to do a thread which is not me twisting so here gos.Aims for 2007 in order of importance and % chance I think I have of achieving it.1) Win 12k on line in 2007. 50%2) Make a profit from stt's or dont play them. 80%3) Have at least 9 winning months from 12. 50%4) Qualify for a major live tournament making the effort via satellites. 20%.5) play NL cash on betfair more and make a profit - 80%plus 2 less measurable ones.1) dont abuse anyone in chat unless abused first no matter how bad there play is.2) have at least 1 day a week when dont play poker.

REVIEW

1) Final figures are not avilable yet but I think I won almost 3 times my target. A huge success and the pleasing thing for me is my 3 main earners are all similar % of profits which is single tables, multis and rake/bonus.

2) I have made a big profit from STT hence continued to play the - approx 8 or 9k this year although I have not kept detailed ROI records.

3) I had 10 winning months out of 12.

4) I qualified for the Blue Square Newcastle event and won a package to St Kitts worth 4k$.

5) I played more NL also although not just Betfair. I was in front for year but behind mtt's and stt's although done well this month since St Kitts coaching and hopefully can keep progressing.

The ones i didnt achieve were the 2 less measurable ones - I still get in some stupid spats and many weeks play every night. I will post a full breakdown of year i the next few days.

The question I ask myself - am I a better player now than 1 year ago and I can say with confidence a resounding Yes. That's not being arrogant I just know I have improved a lot in the year.

I want to thank my blog for improving my game by helping me avoid tilt and reminding me we have good beats as well as bad beats :). This really has given me a great focus and something i will continue into next year.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

6th in 16k and gutted

35 left me AA v TT for 25k pot and chip lead board comes kq2ja giving me trips and he hits 2 outer for straight.

Then really proud that only had 5k left and didnt donk it off and got to the chip lead again winning only 1 race. Then Im sick.

6 left 2k$ plus for top 3 so thats what Im after. Im joint leader and the other guy is the guy above - he raises 1 from cutoff I pick up AK in BB and jam - he has QQ and it holds and Im gone 6th.

Could have folded into 3rd or 4th and mad as hell I didnt flat call. He has only been raising with decent stack with decent hands although I didnt rate him and thought if he had AQ he would call.

Mad as hell with 800$ and 6th which aint going to put me into the $ prizes in the multi leaderboard. Stupid pushing for the win instead of taking a big cash - annoyed a lot at myself.

Anyway had good day on single tables won 3 2snds and 2 nowheres so 4 figure £ profit on day.

Also my new Wii came today which seems very good and Im going to make it my resolution that when tired after long day at work not to play poker.

UPDATE

My mate Carl notified me of a complete fish at 1 2 $ nl who had moved to 2 5 so i joined that table. I won about 800$ including a 1k$ pot with a 10 outer suck out which makes me feel better about the above multi beat !!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

HEADS UP NOW MY HEADS DOWN !!

Gave up work a bit early today and played the 50$ 2.5k gtd on Betfair at 5pm.

Got heads up and quickly established chip lead then the 3 hands below for the victory.

Me A7 v his A3 - split.
ME KQ v his K8 on K high flop - he spikes 8
A9 v 109 and he spikes 10.

2nd for 600 and odd $ instead of 1st for 1000$ plus and some nice leaderboard points.

Quite frustrated as he never put sorry when sucked out on K8 hand and this is a bit bad manners imo as had been talking to him.

Im going to play the 22k gtd on Betfair tonight - entry 82$.

UPDATE

FFS - 3k gtd Betfair 5 paid decent prizes 7 left someone pushes ahead of me I call AQ for chip lead against ace 8 and he flops an 8 and again no manners to say sorry - sick as a pig

ANOTHER SPECIALS SPEACIAL

A brit to win best actor at 7-1 at Laddies.

This is massive as the fav will be British (Daniel Day Lewis) - unfortunatley max stake £20 on web.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

XMAS DAY POKER - GRRRRRRRRRR

Played the 11k on Betfair which was 3k undr gtd amount after been round family etc.

Only 9 paid rather than usual 18 but as a result prizes started high with approx 400$ for 9th. Was top 3 all the way but dropped back approaching ft and all of a sudden I was 9th of 10.

Anyway sb raises I push all in with nothing he folds and Im back to 6th or so and safe for cash. Then next hand I do something stupid. I raise in cut off with jack nine and get a call from big blind. Flop 9 6 3 and he says I have pocket pair Im warning you before betting out. I 100% believed he had pocket pair but thought he would have re raised preflop with better than 9s so I reraised all and he shows jacks and Im gone on bubble.

Pretty sure if I had typed which pocket pair he probably would have said. Anyway annoyed i raised the hand after I got safe should have just passed.

Never mind I was going for win as usual and took about £1k last night late on so not a bad xmas.

I am thinking of playing a £200 tourny at Aspers Newcastle tomorrow but at work the next day and have a feeling will be an all night job so need to decide tomorrow.

Unhappy end to my xmas - but thats poker.

Monday, December 24, 2007

SUNDAY MULTIS

Player Stars 0.5 million gtd which i qualified vi 39$ sat had ace 4 v ace 3 on a 4 3 q board got them all in he had ace 3 river a 3 - out.

Ladbrokes - player their rebuy thing got myself a decent stack but out midway through running 2 big hands into bigger hands - no complaints.

Betfair 50k - again qualified via a 50$ sat. Picked up KK 2nd hand few limpers raised quite big one called flop jack high all spades - no spade turn and king river - I bet pot each street he had ace 6 spades left me with 500 chips from starting 5000. Anyway had my share of luck in getting 500 to 20k with 20 left and picked up KK reraised all in and opponant folded getting me safely in cash. However, bit annoyed as came 13th and didnt give it a chance to get a decent hand - i raised fold with a mid ace then pushed next hand with nothing running into KK. Finished 13th for 600$.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all readers a Happy Xmas. Its been a good year for me poker wise and I will review the year and look at 2008 aims in the upcoming week or so.

PS Fat Sam - toon are pap sort it out - I will give you some help for when all fit !!!


Given, Beye, Capaca, Faye, NZogbia, Duff (left), Butt, Emre, Milner(right), Owen, Fat Viduka 442

Saturday, December 22, 2007

MISS DYNAMITE !!!



Ship me the easiest dollars ever :) !!!

PLAYED SHIT ALL DAY

Been on poker for about 12 hours at approx - 100$ an hour.

Also lost K7 v Ak on K 7 9 flop for a seat to finsl wsope / wsop qualifer.

Never mind day off needed then regain some focus.

LOl and I just spun £100 on roulette and changed it into 650 almost covers the days losse

Friday, December 21, 2007

Best and worst poker moments of the year

I have started a thread on the Betfair forum and its a good read wo what i hope was an interesting question.

go to www.betfair.com click on forum and then poker if your interested in poker plus like to have a giggle in general.

My answers were below although i would prob add qualifying for St Kitts to the best.

Best

Not for monetary purporses but captaining the ante post forum team to poker forumites champions and also taking the game in the spirit it was intended - e.g. genuine ante post forum writers making up the team (except coupls of drop outs).

Worst

AA losing to JJ in last 4 of Mansion 50k for 75% chips in play with 3 left or KK losing to AK and QQ with 3 left in WPT qualifyer.

Had a bash at very high limits but.......................

Didnt win and didnt lose!!!.

Once in a while i like to have a bash at limits much higher than the norm. The bankroll management people wont like this as i usually only play 1 or 2 buy ins but i do it for the buzz and I ain't going to go bust trying.

This is the scenario when i would give it a try.

1) Need to be using poker profits and never own cash. I am over 10k$ in front this month so i met this need.
2) Need to play natural game as you would at lower stakes.
3) Make sure you know how much you are prepared to risk and never re buy beyond this. I was prepared to risk 1250$.

Anyway I had a look at the tables on Betfair and the 10 20 NL looked very tough so i bought into 25 50$ Fixed Limit. There were 4 players whom were sat and 1 looked very good but sat out shortly after i joined. Anyway i played for an hour or so until we got 2 handed and won 950$ and was comfortable at the level, However, i have reminded myself today I am a losing FL player this year without accounting for rakeback.

Anyway I had a look at 10 20 nl and 2 of the best players had left. I raised quite a bit as i would at lower stakes but faced far more resistance than I would at lower levels especially the player to my left. Eventually i picked up 99 on cutoff and raised to 40 when playing 650$ he reraised to 210$ and I thought his range was wide so reraised all and he called and turned over ten ten which held.

Did i overplay 99 or is this ok?

Betfair have a 550$ tourny on Sun where 2 seats are gtd for players to win a wsop packages which includes entry to wsop and wsope and cash. I know I cant play wsop due to work so dont know whether to enter or not - Im sure they would change it to a 2009 entry so i may as im sure will be lots of added value.

Monday, December 17, 2007

I thought i was running too good

aa just lost to 1010 half way into 30k on Laddies for decent stack plus did a fortune in on nfl yesterdaY !!!

update

Maybe I still run good - didnt get any good beats but a few big hands when i was 80 20 and 70 30 both held up - played NL for 1 hour and won 2000$ probably my best ever hourly return at NL :D

Also just layed my £250 back on Ms Dixon at 1.41 in Strictly !!! so nice large free bet now

2nd in the 16K

Just came 2nd in 167 runner 16kgtd on Betfair - short post as need to go to bed. Keith played well also to finish 3rd.

Had KK beat AA on final table for half my stake so cant twist at all. Got heads up with basically a 10:1 disadvantage and got it at best at 3:1 but basically i mainly had to push ATC.

Anyway 2nd was for $3340 so decent day overall.

I played shit in the 550$ buy in 150k on Betfair and got a decent stack on Mansion before a bad beat and then i basically gave the rest of the chips away.

Also chip lead the passport stamp on Betfair but ran AK into AA in a pot i had made huge which was a big error and finished 5th.

Think I will have a day off poker tomorrow night so updates later in the week.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

WE HAVE A DEC MULTI WIN

It wasn't glamorous or big $'s but it was welcome.

Played a Multi on Mansion this morning and came 1st for 1280$. Pleased to say my final table luck changed when I was a total luckbox winning 3 40 60s on the final table including one on the river.

I have just seen Betfair has the 150k gtd tonight with 550$ buy in and I may treat myself to that if I cant qualify via the 10$ rebuy I am in now !!!

I also hear rumours that Gethan will be from Strictly tonight getting Aleisha heads up against Matt :) !!! Go on Ms Dixon.

The mansion final table beat the other night still netted me 4k$ so Dec is going OK thus far on poker front although my sports have been shat. A nice last min winner for the toon for 2nd week in row was a very welcome 3 pts as we have chelsea Man u and Arsenal all away in the next month.

Friday, December 14, 2007

MY SICKEST MOMENT IN MY POKER CAREER

Played the 50k gtd rebuys (250 runners) on Mansion tonight and played really well - got to fianl table without getting any good beats - (won 1 big race)

Get down to 4 handed - prizes are huge with 12.5k$ for winner and I have been very loose stealing a few pots.

I get dealt AA and raise and the 1 other good player on the table reraises so I jam and get called. This is for a million chips and 66% of chips in play with 3 left so highly likely for the tourny.

Me AA ( inclusing Ace hearts) him JJ

Flop 3 hearts no jack - river comes Jack hearts and i lose the most important pot of the year for me as the board paired on the turn despite me having the ace flush.

Feel physicaly sick :(

Thursday, December 13, 2007

COME DANCING


Ok - I dont even have the excuse to say I watch this just because Kelly Brook is in it as unfortunately she had to leave the contest after the death of an immediate family member. My wife is a huge fan so its often on in our household.


Anyway Ms Dixon drifted out to 2.4 Betfair - get stuck in !!!!


NO LIMIT CASH EXPERIMENT - OUCH

Beat 2/5 moved to 5/10 and beat this so of course I move to 10/20 far too quick and got a quick hiding last night losing a 1k$ buy in.

Still a little up on NL but this wiped out the roll as I had withdrawn £2k at weekend so need to redeposit - a bit stupid to be playing 10/20 with a role of 50 bbs i suppose !!!!!

The pro poker players wil desapir at the above but to be honest I aint one that has ever invested in good bankroll management - I only every play high limits with profits so I can never lose anything that wasnt poker related unless i lose it big at low limits. I use same theory if i ever have a spin at the casino if i win a bit i risk profits at a higher level - my feeling is if you never try high levels then you never know - back to drawing board !!

Net result is I will probably play multis and hope for a decent return before returning to NL cash. However short experiment of 2 weeks and I can see from my St Kitts lesson I have definately improved - thanks Mr Brennan.

Just reread the above I sound like Bluescouse :) !!!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Hendon Mob

I just seen my 7th in St Kitts gets me in the database - wooohooo - hopefully i can win an event next year so they can get a pic :) !!!!

http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=95764

Another Freeroll multi win :)

I was free rolling again tonight and couldn't be arsed to play any of the big multis as was up till 6am watching the Hatton fight and then winning the work 5 a side comp this afternoon :D.

Anyway Interpoker had a promotion called cash and gadget race where the top 500 players based on MPP all qualified for 50 runner free roll. I qualified for the position 100-150 free roll of which 30 of the 50 people who could have played did play for about 8k$. I was very please with this as 8k$ over 30 players its like a 300$ entry game.

Anyway I got to the final table with 1 big scare - I was all in with tenten and got a bad call by ace 9 and an ace flopped but a ten on the riv came to my rescue (and was to again).

With 3 left the other 2 looked like they were playing to move up a place so I put my foot on the accelerator and picked up pot after pot uncontested. I got to heads up with a chip lead and continued with aggression - however I was all in AK v A4 for the game and he hit 4. I was then all in again AK v AT and he hit split. I went very low and won with 67 v 44 and then in final hand i pushed and was called - my K10 v his A6 and ten came to my rescue on river. However, I think i deserved it after than hands above.

1st paid 3600$ and well done to Keith coming 4th for 1000$ and currently leading the 16k on betfair.

No travel this week so hopefully get a few games in and next multi planned is Mansion 100k on Tue.

GL all + thanks for reading.

soap

Saturday, December 08, 2007

NO LIMIT CASH EXPERIMENT

In December I am going to have a decent shot at no limit cash.

I got an hr lessON from a winning 0.5 1 NL player in ST Kits that I found very useful and I am going to try and play 1 month of 2 5$ NL and if winning 5 10$ NL. I am also going to play NL unique on Interpoker so will keep you updated as to how I progress. I have had a decent winning day so took my initial deposit out so if I go bust I aint lost anything.

I will also play some 6 paks on Interpoker and Betfair this month.

Nice last minute winner for the toon at the match today which I think they just about deserved. However that horrible man Terry Mac jumping all over FatSam like we had won the league made me laugh.

Have a full weEkend of boozing next weekend so poker will have a backseat.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

CPC REPORT


3 That did the deal in the 300$ with John in green from the toon !!


Me watching the final 4 (in Grey ) with Animal and my Mrs




















me raking a pot in on fin tab ( seat 2)

Ok back now after a 21 hour delay coming home which was not nice. We basically were at airport for 7 hrs then told to go back to hotel for night and come back the next day. This was a horrid end to a fantastic week.

NON POKER









Marriot resort was absolutely fantastic with great accomodation and restaurants at reasonable prices. It was a beach resort and Interpoker had put me in a huge room with King Bed and a massive balcony to sun bath on - some shots on next post of views etc.









Climate is 80 degrees every day which is perfect for me and quite a strong breeze etc made the heat bearable. I didnt really leave the resort except for few nights out. 3 pools private beach etc was very relaxing.

Interpoker also through on a couple of events. A Catmarran cruise with scuba diving and barbeque and then a platinum night out with zillions of glasses or rum punch at a nice restaurant up in the mountains. This resort would be really good for a relaxing holiday but the poker kept any potential boredom away.

Travel too and from was not great. XL airways are nowt flash and the huge delay coming home was not pleasant. However , this is something I will definitely try and qualify for again next year.

I experienced my 1st ever earthquake also which fortunately was too deep in the earths surface for a tsunami to follow. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7120018.stm

POKER

I played a sat to the main event on the first day which was add on and rebuy and went out with 40 left ( 10 seats) when I lost a race 5 hrs in. I played the 500$ and didn't really move till i pushed with A2 for 3k with 1k in pot of blinds and antes - I couldn't believe it when Big blind said he had pot odds and called with 5 2 but my initial delight soon turned as a 5 flopped and I was gone.

The best event for me was the 300$ with 150 runners. I played real well in the tournie but had 2 big slices of luck. I won a KQ v QQ midway through and then with 2 tables left I won with JJ v KK ( other person said they passes a Jack) in a pot for 2/3 of my chips. I dominated a table with 21 left but then an Eastern European ran over me for an hour. I dropped right back but focused about what change I would make to my game in the dinner break and won 2 huge pots v the same guy with some subtle changes I had made which was pleasing.

I got to the final table as 2nd chip leader with big prizes 1st 13k 2nd 7k 3 4k etc and the top 3 eventually split for 8kish each. I'm slightly annoyed with my exit hand as I'm not sure if I should have pushed. I was 3rd of 7 playing 50k with blinds 3k 6k and antes in total of 3.5k ( 12.5k pot) when it was folded to me on the button - I pushed with ace seven and was called by aq on the big blind and was gone 7th for 1500$. This was my 1st final table with someone with a mike announcing hands etc and I got very frustrated at how few hands you are able to play at these levels as it takes them 5 mins to get it sorted each time someone goes all in.


Away from that game I would like to mention a few things.


1) It was great to meet some guys I have spoken to on e mail and forums etc for the first time - Azimut, Animal , Dests, Luke, Whitedog, John etc .


2) A special well done to Dests who played awesome all week. She basically played 4 events went out on bubble in 1st 2, cashed in the main event and then came 4th in the 500.


3) Also a special thanks to Interpoker for hosting me - it was good to meet Kristen at last and they looked after their players very well. Done forget to look up interpoker as they are now doing treble bite bonuses which means based on MPP's you can make 3 times the deposit amount every month. Anyone needing more info please contact me via the blog.

4) Well done to Ben ( my mate) who won through the sat for a main event seat. This was a great 1st experience of a big event with a big chip stack.


5) Last but not least I wanted to thank the Mrs - she was great on holiday let me play any events I wanted to and I never got any pressure to not play poker so it was much like home !!!!



The huge delay at the end of the trip was the only black mark on an awesome week.