Presently in the UK, poker is classified as a game of chance, and not a game of skill.  Its been thru the courts, and that ruling is the reason why The Gutshot card room in London was forced to close.

Last nite i proved this to be true :o)

Mostly this week i’ve been happy enough with my play, and a few crucial outdraws at critical times have prevented me getting to final tables and doing well.  Such is life, and such is poker.  Last nite i played some frankly abysmal poker, was tired and lacked concentration, dealt some sick beats, and got paid.  Its a beautiful thing.

To begin at the beginning…  Last nite was the £200 freezeout.  There were 60 or so runners, and we started with 6k in chips.  I was off the ball from the moment we started.  With blinds at 25/50, I raised to 150 with pocket 4’s, to be re-raised to 550, which was subsequently called, so i folded.  It turned out i was up against A-A and Q-Q, so i felt it was a good fold.  Obviously a 4 flopped.  Various people suggested i should have called ‘for value’ but i’m 15% to win, and needed to called an extra 450 into a 1250 pot.  So i’m 6.5/1 to win the pot, and i’m only getting 3/1 on my money.   However, if i do hit my 6.5/1 shot, i’m going to get paid, probably both of their stacks, which would make my implied odds enormous, so really i proabably should have called.

However, that’s an aside.  This was how it went in the early stages - on 2 occasions i missed the fact that the blinds had gone up and my attempted 3x raise ended up as a min-raise which was called all over the place as people realised my mistake and i lost the pots.  Also, i flipped in a big chip to raise pre-flop but said nothing, so it was a call, and the same thing happened.  I just wasnt at the races at all, and was frustrated with myself, making it worse.  I folded A-Q and a couple of times and felt that was wrong in hindsight as well, and also flat-called what i felt was an A-K raise with my pocket 10’s, with the idea to jam the pot on a flop with no ace or king.  Obviously an ace appeared :o)  So at the first break i really needed to get my head together.

In the second session not a lot changed and i continued to be unfocussed.  Then i got moved twice in 20 mins, and in my distracted state i put some fairly heavy music onto the ipod and determined to jam it all with a decent hand, (i was quite low in chips at this point, for obvious reasons).  I got lower, until i found myself in the BB for 1600 with only 4k behind, so i decided to jam it in blind.  Looking at your cards in this situation doesnt help, you know what you have to do and if you look at your rubbish hand you might not have the balls to follow it thru, so why bother?  At Caesars Palace during their Megastack series i did this and flipped up 2-4, only to hit the flop and double-up, and went on to win several thousand dollars, and funnily enough i once more flipped up 2-4 once i called the inevitable all-in from across the table.  Spiked the 2, thanks very much.  Next up, K-Qs - pushed, got called by an ace, spiked the king.

So now i have playable chips - in behind twice, and 2 for 2 :o)  Now i pick up the A-A - bingo, lets ‘ave it.  A guy called Tony raises in early position.  Tony likes to raise and bet flops, he’s an older guy, and quite funny despite rarely smiling - he’s a bit of a Victor Meldrew type, but he is aggressive.  I flat-call the raise in the hope that he will bet the flop.  The flop comes J-4-8 with 2 diamonds, so i’m happy enough.  Tony checks, i want to look like i’m making a regulation continuation bet, so i push some chips in.  Tony raises me all-in and i call.  He has indeed hit the flop, as his pocket 4’s have made bottom set.  No sooner have seen how much trouble i’m in than BINGO - the big ace on the turn, and then WALLOP - quad aces on the river.  Ship send, its a game of skill y’know.  Now 3 for 3 when getting it all-in behind - it’s the new sensation sweeping poker.

Anyway, i’m pretty hefty in chips now and we’re approaching the final table.  I don’t get too many playable hands but i pinch a few blinds and when we get down to the final 9 I am second or third in chips.  This sounds better than it actually was, the structure of this tournament meant i still only had about 20 big-blinds…

After the break we came back, and i decided to keep the ipod on as my run had started when i began listening to it.  We sat down and I had the following brief conversation with a Spanish guy to my left:
“What are you listening to?”
“Electric Wizard”
“Electric…?  What is that?”
“It’s kinda vaguely Satanic, druggy doom metal”
“Oh my God!” (and moves ever so slightly aware from me)

Quiet start for me on the final, but stayed pretty much where i was as several were knocked out.  I hadn’t done much, and then I found K-K in the BB.  This was the one hand i actually played well all nite.  Now admittedly it’s not hard to play pocket kings well, but this was more about how much i could win, than if i could take the pot.  Sadly for me it folded around to the SB and i feared a walk, but thankfully the SB completed.  I thought for a while and decided to throw in a weak, ’stealy’ raise.  I bet an extra 4k into the 6400 pot, (blinds were 800/1600).  He thought for a minute, and called.  The flop was Q-x-x, no draws.  He checked.  Once again i wanted to make a standard c-bet, to look like i wanted to take it there and then, and  he’d hit enough to shove, (but hopefully not a set again…).  He had indeed hit the queen, and he check-raised me all-in.  Obviously i insta-called.  I needed to fade a queen or a 6, but the king on the turn killed it and he was gone, and i was massive.  The surprised at the table when i turned up the kings suggests everyone bought my weak-steal ruse.

I lost a couple of pots after that, but nothing sensational, but i was well above average when we went to another break.  We came back, and were down to 5 quite quickly.  Then the blinds hit 3k/6k with a running 600 ante, and i went card-dead.  One guy shoved on 3 consecutive hands and made over 30k without a showdown.  With raises and all-ins ahead of me i was dealt cod hand after cod hand and blinded 60% of my stack away.  With 35k left i found J-10s, and thankfully no-one opened the pot in front of me so i shoved on the button.  I got called by the BB, who showed pocket 5’s.  There was £720 for 5th place.  First card out was a 10 - happy days, and i’m 4 for 4 with my money in behind.  Now i’m comfortable enough for a while, and when we lost the 5th-placed player shortly after it was suggested that we chop it up.  We all had fairly even chips, give or take 20k, and it was 3am so we all agreed easily enough, and each took roughly 2nd place money at £2k.

So, another festival, another decent cash - 2 on the trot, and £5k in winnings over the 2 combined.  It is funny tho, all the time i was playing my usual game and feeling good, nothing would happen.  Then, when i bring my D-game to the table, (at least up until the final), i end up splitting the money.  It’s a game of skill - no doubt about it :o)

The lesson?  Put on some doom metal, and get your money in behind…

The £150 w/ 1 rebuy/addon last nite continued Sickness Week at the Rendezvous, Brighton.  This is a very good event, effectively a £300 freezeout with a 15k stack, as you start with 5k but after only an hour you can have a 10k addon/rebuy.

Prior to the break not a great deal happened, i went from 5k to about 6.5k but then on the last hand before the break i found K’s in the big blind, with blinds at 50-100.  The small blind called, i raised to 300, the SB called.  The flop was J-6-7 rainbow, which i was obviously pretty happy with.  SB fired out 300, i re-raised to 800 and he flat called me.  This sent out some warning signals - if he’d raised i would have been more comfortable and almost certainly put more chips in.  The turn was an 8, which i felt was a scare card.  SB checked, i decided to check behind.  The river was another J.  The SB checks again.  Now, anything he had on the flop could easily be beating me, so I just checked.  He showed 7’s for a full-house.  I got away with losing the minimum there, mainly due to scary turn and river cards.  I was back to 5k, where i started.

After the break, with 15k, i was card-dead for ages.  Then, in the big blind and with blinds at 200-400, i found K-Q and there were 2 limpers, so i checked.  Normally i’d raise here, but this table was a bit strange, the habit on the table seemed to be to limp-call.  Several times there had been 3 or 4 limpers, the blind would raise 6 times the BB and they would all call, and i have no intention of entering a huge multiway pot with K-Q.  Anyway, the flop was 10-J-Q all hearts, and my K was indeed the K of hearts, so i have top pair and an up & down royal draw.  The 2 limpers checked, i bet 800.  They both called.  The river was another Q, so now i have top set as well.  The 2nd limper bet 800.  I re-raised to 2k, both called.  The river was a K, so now i have a full-house.  Theres 8k in the pot.  The 2 limpers check.  I bet 5k.  The first limper insta-mucks, and the second guy thought for ages before folding.  A bet of 4k probably would have got paid off.

And that was it, i stuck around 20k forever, up a bit, down a bit etc, getting blinded down and then stealing a couple to get back up.  With blinds at 800-1600 a guy oved all-in for his last 13k, and i looked down at A-Q in the big blind.  I called.  He showed A-10.  Obviously he spiked his 10 and that was that.  Down to 7k, i moved all-in the small-blind with A-9, only to run into A-K in the big blind, and for the only time that night the bigger ace held up and i was out.

It was a night of out-draws - how about this.  First guy all-in with A-6, second guy calls with A-Q.  First card off the deck is a Q, second card is a 6, third card is a 6.  A-Q loses.  Then, pocket 7’s v pocket 6’s.  On the flop is a 7, then a 6.  Turn card is the case 6 for quads.

It was that kind of night.  Disappointing, coz with only 24 left at 2am i would have been comfortably just above average if my A-Q held up, with a chance to repeat my final table in this event from the festival in October.

Last chance tonight in the £200 freezeout…

So here we go again. another week off to play some poker and sleep late :o)  It’s back to the Rendezvous Casino at Brighton Marina - these festivals are pretty good and offer some real value.

For starters, a £30-rebuy satellite into the £500 Main Event.  Now last time, in the Harbour Lights festival, i qualified at the first time of asking.  A lot of that was down to a structure that meant you could get a double-rebuy at the break for £50.  Everybody did this, and that generated 2 more seats on its own, and lead to us having 5 seats available from 25 starters.  No such luck this time, that was abandoned and just a standard rebuy & add-on was the order of the day.  Altho this is only a difference of a tenner, the issue is that with not many rebuys, hardly anyone on the first table to reach the break went for it, and that meant that no-one could see the value, and in the end only 2 people added on, and so there were only 2 seats up for grabs.

This changed the whole thing from last time when there was plenty of play and a lot of action with so many seats in play.  Anyway, before the break i was pretty card-dead, but managed to get a useful stack when 8d-2d gave me an open-ended straight and a flush draw on the flop, (where i took it with a raise), and in another hand 7-5 gave me a straight on the turn, so after the break i had about 6k, with most people only having between 1.5k and 4k.  After the break it was a sad story of outdraws - in the big blind with A-9, the small blind pushed all-in for 2.5k.  I called and he showed Q-4.  He spiked the 4 on the flop.  A few hands later and the same guy pushed all-in again, for about 3k, (he’d lost a couple of hands since), and i called with A-Q.  He showed A-6, and spiked a 6 on the turn.

Nevertheless, i crawled to the final table with around 2k in chips, looking to get it in with blinds at 200-400.  I did so with pocket 10’s and got a caller who showed K-Q.  He spiked the K on the turn, and i was out in 8th.

I was pretty happy with how i played, the luck just wasn’t with me at all.  Thats poker.  Don’t know if i’ll try another satellite if they don’t bring back the double-add-on at the break.  The point of a satellite is to generate seats, and the new format actively prevents them being available, so i hope that changes.

Other plans for the week include the £150 + 1 rebuy (effectively a £300 freezeout), which is the event i came 3rd in for £3,000 in October, and the £200 freezeout the following day.  Watch this space…

It was a great turn-out for the Main Event, a £40k prize-pool with 80 runners including ‘Maltese’ Jo Grech, Dave Colclough and Jeff Kimber, among others. Sadly for me it wasn’t anywhere near as eventful as the £300, i played a single hand before the break - aces. I raised, got re-raised, i 3-bet it and he folded a pair of kings. Fair play to him, it was a good fold, but the fact that i didn’t play a hand perhaps telegraphed it and maybe i should have flat-called and got more off him on the flop. Nevertheless, a couple of thousand chips won. After the break it continued in much the same fashion. Paul Parker was min-raising a lot pre-flop and i played a few hands in position by calling these with middling hands, when perhaps a re-raise would’ve been better. Even so, i didn’t connect with flop all night and so gradually got whittled down until had about 7k left.

Then i found pocket kings in first position and raised to 800, (150/300 blinds). The big-blind called. I thought he was a pretty poor player and wasn’t unhappy to see him in the pot. He held his cards up to his chest to look at them, which, although it isn’t exactly telling in terms of his bets, is kind of indicative of his level. Anyway, on a 6-high flop, he fired out 1.5k, and i had to think about whether to flat-call and hope he’d fire out again on the turn, or just to shove there and then. I decided on the former, and the dreaded ace came on the turn. He bet out with 2.5k and it was fold or shove for me. My first thought was that he probably had some kind of middle-ace and had tried to steal the flop, but had now actually hit his ace. Nevertheless, i’d played so few hands and was pretty frustrated, and couldn’t lay down my kings, (which is sad, i’m well aware), so i shoved, he called and showed A-6, so he’d fired out with top pair on the flop and had indeed hit his fishy ace on the turn. The river bricked and i was out. I have to admit to being surprised with the weakness of the hand he’d chosen to call the pre-flop raise with, but there you go.

Never mind, if i got all my good playable hands and decent flops the day before then so be it. All in all, i’m very happy with the week, which started out with me winning my Main Event seat in a satellite and getting my best festival result before playing in the biggest event i’ve yet played in the UK, alongside some great players, (tho I’ve played bigger in Vegas). A great result for the first time i’ve taken the time off to focus on a festival over here, and £2.5k profit, so no complaints here.

Can’t wait for the next one :o)

So, play began at 3pm with me having 47k, 20 players left and the top 9 being paid.  The blinds were rising and i couldn’t find any hands to either attack the blinds or defend my own, but people were going out, so it was a tricky situation.  A guy known as Tikay, who presents Sky Poker, got moved to my table, on my right, and at one point he raised on the button.  I needed to act as the rounds were crippling me, so i shoved with J-10 hoping he was either bluffing or just not that strong.  He took a while to decide, before mucking and showing A-J suited, which was far stronger than i thought, so i got away with that.  More players out, and me down to below 40k.  On the button, play had actually folded round to me for the first time in ages, and i had Ks-4s so i shoved, intending to win the blinds.  Sadly the big-blind called with A-10 so i was in trouble.  A 10-high flop with 2 spades gave him the top pair and me the flush draw.  Fortunately I hit the flush on the river, when the 10 of spades hit, and i doubled up.  That took me thru to 10th, where a deal was made to give 10th spot £300, (the entry money back), so the heat was off.  7th-placed money was only £700, so i wasn’t prepared to just try to eke it out and climb the ladder, i was prepared to gamble it up and go for the win.  With 10 players left and just one to go out before the final table i found As-Ks int eh big blind.  There was a raise and a heft re-raise and i shoved all-in with my 60k stack.  The re-raiser, James Browning, took ages to fold, but did so, leaving me with 80k+, and soon after, a final table spot.

On teh final table i was sat next to a pro-gambler from Stoke, and early on he raised under-the-gun.  I found pocket queens and re-raised big, he thought about it hard before re-raising all-in, and i called.  he showed A-K.  He hit the A, then i hit the Q, and i doubled up.  Now i had 180k or so, and was feeling pretty good.  However, with blinds now 3k-6k and with a 400 ante, a few pots took their toll on my stack, and i was back to 120k or so.  I then found pocket 4’s and raised on the button.  The small-blind pushed all-in, and i called as it wasn’t much more.  He showed A-8, and he hit his ace on the turn, but i hit a set of 4’s on the river to knock him out.  Now there were 7 of us.  Strangely, i found queens again, and ended up with them all-in, once more against the guy from Stoke, who once again had A-K.  This time he hit and i didn’t, and i was back down to around 50k, and that’s when we had a break.  With blinds at 4k-8k and a 400 ante i had less than 10 rounds, and needed to shove.

When we came back i managed to get my stack up to around 60k by stealing some blinds in position, until i woke up with pocket 10’s in early position and pushed all-in.  A guy in late position went into the tank.  He looked at me and said:
“can i ask you a question?”
“fire away” i said.
“do you have a pair?”
“yes”
“really?”
“oh yes, absolutely”
“are you sure?”
I looked at my cards.
“yes, definitely a pair”
He called, showing A-K, and was as surprised as the rest of the table when i showed my pair.  Everyone just assumed i was lying.  Didn’t make much difference, i felt it was a certain call anyway, and handily my 10’s held up and i was back with a playable stack.

I was whittled back down to around 90k, and time was moving on.  Another tournament had started and 4 of the 6 remaining players wanted to play in it, so talk of a deal began.  Eventually it was suggested that we would play one more round and then talk.  Blinds now were 5k-10k with a 1k ante, so 90k wasn’t that big.  A proposed deal with centre around the percentage of the total chips in play that your stack represented, so the biugger your stack, the more money you would get.  At that point, if a deal was done i would be in 5th spot, and get around £1.5k.  However, if i busted before a deal was done i’d get £800.  Halfway thru the round, the big-stack raised 40k.  I found pocket 10’s and re-raised all-in, knowing it would be an insta-call for the big-stack.  However, he had a large range and had called with some pretty weak hands during the game.  He did indeed call.  If i won the hand, it might go on to win me a lot more money, but if i lost, i’d be out with £800 and they would all do a deal without me.  He turned up pocket 8’s, my 10’s held up and now i had £180k and was in 3rd position.

The deal was done 2 hands later.  First place ended up with £3.5k, i took around £3k and officially, 3rd place, (with was pretty much 2nd-place money).  My best result so far, and pretty happy with it.  I’d had some luck, both good & bad, and i’d had no shortage of playable hands, despite the occasional drought.  Mainly, i was pleased that i’d been happy to gamble it up to make the big money, and not meekly try to stay out of harm’s way and crawl up the pay-scale.

So, £2.5k profit for the week so far, and now i’m free-rolling in the Main Event tomorrow, and i’m looking forward to that.  Winning the satellite to the Main Event and taking 3rd today have totally justified me taking the time off to do this and it’s been great fun so far.  Feel i’m moving on with my game too, and that’s cool.

Doyle Brunson said “when luck shuts the door, you gotta climb in thru the window”.  I’m not sure that’s relevant here, but i kinda like it :o)

This event starts you off with 5k in chips for £150, with one rebuy or add-on for a further £150 for another 10k in chips, so basically its a £300 freeze-out with a 15k starting stack.

And this could not have been any more different to the non-event of last night. My table draw was tough, with my mate Adam, who’s been running really hot online, and several high calibre players at my table, including a very good player called James Dempsey, who has played in many big events around the world - of who more later.

Early on I wasn’t really at the races, and didn’t adjust to the better players at my table compared to the much lower standard i’d played against for the past 2 days. I was pretty inconsistent, but on the other hand i didn’t lose many chips either and was in a pretty average position with 14k at the break. After the break things got more interesting, i got a few hands i could play, and got my stack up to the mid 20’s without much drama. One particular hand saw me bet out with my jacks on a 10-high board, only to be asked how much i had behind before being flat-called. This was a concern, with me being out of position. Anyway, i checked to see what my opponent would do and he checked after me on both turn and river and i took it down - he didn’t show. Very odd.

Then it all happened - First i made pretty standard raise with A-9 and followed up on a 9-high flop to win a pot, which most people thought i’d bluffed on. Next hand i was up against Dempsey, who had built up a big stack of over 50k when i got aces against him. On a pretty harmless board he check-called me the whole way, resulting in me doubling up from him. The very next hand i got pocket queens, and made the same raise for a 3rd time. Dempsey called, i hit a set on the flop and we got it all in, with him showing aces and going out. I’d busted his huge stack in 2 hands, (that any novice could have played equally well), and soon i had a stack of over 80k, a really ginongous stack.

At that point it was around 2am and i had thoughts of getting thru the next 2 hours, just nursiong it up to around 100k and being in great shape for the final. However, blinds got high and i lost a couple of pots when i was re-popped after opening with decent hands but not feeling i could call, and eventually, at 4.30am, we broke up with 20 players left, and me with a stack of 47k. I reckon that i lost about 10k more than i should have done, and it’s easy to feel disappointed at this stack after having so much, but the key is that i’m still above average and in as good a shape as anyone, so the overnight break gives me a chance to re-focus and come back fresh.

It’s now nearly 5.30am and we start again at 3pm tomorrow. The final 9 get paid, so there’s still a lot of work to do yet, to get 11 players out. I wont be able to coast as i’d hoped when i had 80k+, so i’ll need my game-head on.

Now THIS is why i took the week off - had i been working i couldn’t have played the satellite that got me my Main Event ticket, and i couldn’t have played a 2-day event, at least not without much rushing around and being shattered. If i can cash then my week’s events will be paid for, and who knows, i might even take it down… Watch this space for the conclusion.

This was pretty uneventful to be honest.  We started at 5k and i was up to 9k at the break and going pretty smoothly.  Got some luck with pocket jacks on a seemingly very safe board, i was betting it all the way but unfortunately a guy had flopped a set of 3’s.  The luck came on the river.  After the break that luck was conspicuous by it’s absence as i was completely card-dead until i picked up pocket 10’s.  A guy in early position shoved all-in for 6k, and i had 9k, so i shoved as well.  He showed pocket 2’s, but the sickness came with a deuce on the turn and that was me crippled, and out shortly thereafter.  The 15k i’d have had if it had held up would seen me comfortable for quite a while.

The only other entertainment was a older guy at the table with a heart-felt and totally irrational hatred of Bruce Forsyth.   The list of potential death then began to extend thru various old-school comedians such as Arthur Askey, Max Wall and even Tommy Cooper.  He hadn’t met Bruce, or any of the others, and to be fair, i hope for Briuce’s sake that he never does :o)

Tonight, the £150 double chance, (basically a £300 event, with 15k chips)…

I kicked off my week of poker today at the Rendezvous Casino in Brighton Marina with a £30 rebuys satellite to Saturday’s £500 Main Event.  I’ve never played a live satellite before, and i’ve very rarely played them online either.  Being terrible online doesn’t help, and there aren’t many live ones.  Also, i haven’t played much casino poker for a while, so really it was a case of taking it easy, play by the book and settle back into things.  A satellite is a nice way to start.

So there were 23 runners in this thing, and i kicked it off playing very tight.  When playing very tight, getting some cards helps (!) and i managed to make aces pay off when i limped with them in first position and got raised, which was then called, and then my re-raise got paid.  I rarely do the limp-in-early-position-with-a-monster thing, but given the rebuy situation it seemed like the best way to get paid.  I didnt do much after that, and didnt rebuy until the break, when i topped up with 3000 chips for £50, giving me aroudn 6000 chips.

The rebuys and add-ons meant there were 5 seats up for grabs, and without any more rebuys it was time to get involved.  Over the next few rounds i won a fair number of chips without seeing any showdowns, by raising and re-raising pre-flop.  I had an image as a very tight player, (becuase i was), and so the big stack would routinely lay down to a re-raise from me.  He didnt like it, but he did it.  I got beat when a pair of 7’s beat my A-K, and i got the rub-down for it too, which was nice, but i called an all-in with Q’s and won, and that saw me to the final table of 9 with a good stack of 25k, so i was really just intending to fold my way thru to a ticket.  I hadn’t ever been in danger, had played good hands, in position, with solid raises, and so i was feeling quite good about things.

One hand of note, that didn’t involve me, was when a guy went all-in, and was horribly skow-rolled by a guy with aces, who was chatting with someone else, counting his chips, thinking about what to do etc, before turning them over.  No need.

Anyway, on the final table we needed to lose 4 people for the 5 remaining to get thru to Saturday’s event.  After a lot of very tight play, 2 people went, and then i witnessed some diabolical play.  Some of these guys had no idea of how to play a satellite.  3 hands to mention:

1.   The action folds round to the small blind, who has a big stack.  He raises, 3x.  The big blind moves all-in quite quickly, with a stack only slightly smaller.  The raiser thinks, then calls.  Both turn over ACE-JACK!  The raiser said “well, it was suited, so that made the difference”.  He was prepared to put all his chips on the line by calling with A-J, when there were a good few short-stacks at the table.
2.   So, at one end of the table were two people, a girl and a guy, who had both been whittled down to having one big blind each left, with the rest of the table being pretty comfortable.  We’re donw to 6 now, so only 1 left to go out.  We get to a stage where the girl is the big blind, and is all-in.  The short-stack under the gun folds, as he should, hoping she will go out this hand.  Then, the big stack in 2nd pos folds!  Then the guy in 3rd pos folds!  Unreal - I, and the others, were expecting everyone to flat call, knock her out, and it’s all over.  This is clearly a kind of ‘conspiring’, but we all know thats how it works at this stage, like when everyone just checks a hand down with someone all-in.  But no, not this time.  I auto-call with 7-5 and the small blind calls, and she ended up winning the pot.  If either of the other 2 had played, she’d have lost and we’d have gone home.
3.   Next hand, the guy with the short-stack is now all-in with the big-blind.  Again, i expect it to call all-round, as it should have last hand with such a call not damaging anyone else’s stack.  However, the big-stack under the gun RAISES!  Yes, he actually raised.  Unreal.  That meant the rest of us were forced to fold.  At least we all thought he must have a monster to do that, but no - he turned over QUEEN-JACK, the big-blind got to play heads-up against him and won.  Again, he’d have been out if the rest of us had called.  The raiser deliberatley played to force us out of the hand - quite incredible.

The guy who was a short-stack went out several hands later and so the rest of us got our tickets to the Main Event on Saturday, but there were a few of us who were left wondering what on earth goes thru some people’s heads when they sit at a poker table.  I’m no Doyle Brunson, but this is schoolboy stuff, surely?

Tomorrow, a £150 freezeout.  Hopefully i can take some of this momentum forward and do well.  Watch this space…

A decent-looking poker festival is coming to Brighton in early October, the Harbour Lights at The Rendezvous at Brighton Marina and i’m going to be taking the time off to play in as much of it as i can. It’ll be good to be able to concentrate totally on the game over that week, it’ll be a bit like the Vegas trips, and i hope my game comes together quickly so i can make agood run at some of the events.  We shall see…

I’m also off to play in a tournament thats been put on by a company to market some new design tools they are releasing, with the first prize being a set of that software worth in the region of £20k.  And it’s a freeroll, wiht very few of the invited entrants having played much, so theres a decent chance if i can stay out of trouble and avoid the inevitable minefield…

So, right now its the World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP), the 2-7 triple draw event. There were 750-odd entrants, and we’re down to 450 with me having around average chips. Actually i’ve been average or above the whole way. I was drawn on the same table as Isabel Mercier and Victor Ramdin, which is a tough draw, but I outlasted Ramdin already, coz he’s out, and now Bill Chen has arrived at my table :o) Its good fun - i’ve made a few errors but generally played my usual very tight game, getting paid off with the best hand. One of my mistakes was commented on by Ramdin after i beat him in a pot, which wasn’t particularly classy of him.

Its midnite - Blinds now 150/300 and i have 4775. Isabel has about half that, but Chen has about the same as me. I’m 212th out of 397 remaining, with 108 getting paid. I’ll update this post as we go.

Won a couple of reasonable pots then lost a big one to Isabel when my 86 was beaten by the nuts. However, i’ve just won a massive 3 way pots to get up to 6800, when Chen was pat all the way and i made a 7 ont eh 2nd draw. Dont know what the 3rd giuy had, but he called the raises all the way. 371 left.

00:15 - Blinds at 200/400. Chen is down to 1500. Given the 3 name pro’s at the table, there are a lot of observers posting comments supporting them all. Its pretty tiresome to be honest. One guy asked Isabel for an autograph :o) So anytime a pro wins a hand, there’s cheering in the comments box. It would be nice to outlast them all.

00:30 - There are some big stacks on my table now. I’m still average, but i’m 5th out of the 6 on the table.

00:32 - Lost a big one, drawing 1 to the nuts and missing by a mile. Pots are very expensive to play now, i can only afford to lose another 1 or 2. Have to win the next one that goes to a showdown or i’ll be crippled… Down to 4k, 239th out of 290 remaining.

00:45 - Lost another one drawing 1 to the nuts. Down to 2.5k. Its turning into a repeat of the WSOP. And now we’re on a break. Any decent draw i get now i need to play hard and fast, there’s no point being left with a pitiful number of chips.

01:00 - Decided to go all the way with 367, missed all of my draws all the way against the big stack but took the pot with a stone cold bluff at the end, when i had a pair of 6’s. Still alive… 206th of 250, 3.5k.

01:05 - Massive pot, 6.k - won it with an 8 on teh last draw with 2345 in hand. Up to 7.5k, 125th. Then, made the nuts and up to 9k, then lost another 1-draw-to-the-nuts and back to 8.2k, now 89th of 220. Blinds now 300/600. Won a couple of pots, up to 10k for the first time, 92nd of 212.

01:20 - Bill Chen is out. Another pro gone. Blinds at 400/800, 114th of 195.

01:40 - 96th of 164, just beat Isabel in a decent pot to go back up to over 10k, but thats someway short of average at this stage.

01:45 - In trouble now. Lost a pot when drawing 1 to the nut 8. Drew an ace, then an ace, then an ace. Then lost a pot ehn my 86 was beaten by an 85. Down to 4.5k, 142nd of 158. Tilting.

01:50 - Stays alive by hitting a 7. Back up to 7.5k, 120th of 147. Blinds gone to 500/1k. Another draw-1-to-the-nuts sees me back in trouble…

01:55 - On a break. 129th of 141 remaining. I’m starting to think that when i get dealt hands like 2,3,5,7 i should just fold them, coz its always, without fail, those hands that cost me all my chips. The chance of hitting the out you have seems so small, and its so expensive to play all the streets, that these hands just bust you. But you can’t fold them, can you… The hands i’m winning with are the ones where i’m drawing 2 cards, improving on the first draw and winning without a showdown.

02:00 Back at 10k after hitting a 7 against Isabel for a big pot, and then making my play of the night, whcih was to stand pat with a 9 behind someone else standing pat, and winning with a better kicker. And then lost with an 87 to an 86, back to 7.5k again. This is painful. Won with a pat 8, up to 9.5k, lost when my 8 was beat by a 7, back down to 4.5k. This game is such a crock.

02:10 OUT. Outdrawn horribly to take me down to a miserly 800 and then lost in a 4 way pot. Finished in 130th, just 22 places out of the cash out of a field of 750 or so. Pleased with the showing, but gutted at the disgusting way i lost, it really is a sick sick sick game, make no bones about that. TDL tilts me in a way that hold ‘em never can.

Maybe i’ll play some other WCOOP’s…