Matt7184's Poker Blog

New home

2005-11-21T11:41:00.000Z

Well time has come to leave blogger and launch my own website... this will be my last post here... the new URL is

http://www.i-reraise.co.uk

Hope to see you all there soon.

Ta

B&M Success and oh I've booked my flights

2005-11-05T13:27:00.000Z

How do you follow up winning a seat to the WPT?? By winning your first B&M tournie. Ok so we did a deal 3 handed but I had over 50% of the chips in play so I won right?

The £20 NL rebuy event had 46 runners (i think) and people were rebuying like crazy.. I finished the rebuy period with 14 times my starting stack and after 3 shorties went allin after the end of the rebuy period I gladly called with AA and never looked back.

Walked in to the Edinburgh Maybury with £60 walked out with over £1100 , £1050 from the poker and unbelievably £50 from £2 Min Bet blackjack. I don't really like blackjack but I've always got 1/2hr spare waiting for the tournie to start.

One crazy blackjack hand dealt 66 with the dealer showing 2. Split the 6's and received two fives. Doubled on both and received two kings. Dealer makes 20 :)

The main reason for me going to play last sunday was to get live practice.. I really need it. I gave away a strong scented tell one time with Kings and I was only given the blinds and also working out bets and pot sizes.

On a Non poker related note I am now clear of all my student debt solely thanks to big MTT wins...

Just counting down the days til Atlantis....

Out

Wheres my bucket and spade gone?

2005-10-28T23:19:00.000Z

To quote myself from two posts ago :

"Next stop and I've said it before is to get that freakin seat to the WPT Atlantis!!! Grrrr."

what is it they say a picture says 1000 words?

I'll post a detailled report once i come down from the ceiling... its kinda a weird feeling its like im watching myself typing but im not really here.....

Anyway heres what ive won

Win your $12,000 2006 PCA Prize Package!

PokerStars wants to see this tournament full of PokerStars players, so you'll have the chance to play in three months worth of satellites. And when you win, you're going to get the royal treatment. Each cash or Frequent Player Point freeroll winner will receive the following complete prize package valued at $12,000:

2006 PCA PRIZE PACKAGE
World Poker Tour event buy-in: $7,800+200
Accommodations and meals: $3000 - Seven nights at Atlantis Paradise Island, meal vouchers for two people.
Spending/Travel expense: $1,000 credited to your PokerStars account

and I was like Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

PCA update

2005-10-25T16:36:00.000Z

Played 6 sattelites now won 3 / bubble in 2 received $175 cash in one.

Played 1 Doubleshootout for a seat, finished 2nd at 1st table.

W$D are as pictured

OMG pokerstars blogging championship

2005-10-24T06:51:00.000Z

Well I'm posted from my bed just now at 7:51am and I'm not feeling well, got a nasty stomach bug :/ .

But anyway wanted to point out that I came 4th in the Pokerstars Blogging Tournament out of 1473 runners. To be honest I was a bit gutted that I didn't walk away with the WPT seat, as far as skill levels go I feel I was at least matched with the 3 remaining competitors but I just did not get the cards I needed 4 handed , just couldn't muster up a big enough stack.

For my troubles I won a 24" Dell Flatscreen monitor not bad for a freeroll and also have my Blog URL posted on pokerstars software and website. Seen already about 100 hits since I went to bed so it sure feels nice to have people come and read my blog.

Next stop and I've said it before is to get that freakin seat to the WPT Atlantis!!! Grrrr.

L8rz

****Update for Tues I'm up to over $1000 W$D and when I get some time I'm gonna do my best to sit and play through the double shootouts. I've played one so far and finished 20th which worked out as 2nd at my first table.

My quest for the Pokerstars Carribean Adventure

2005-10-17T17:38:00.000Z

Ok Im going no matter what it takes.

I didnt play much poker after that big win last week as I've been far too tired due to being on early shift at work.

However today I've started my quest to qualify for the PCA.

Attempt #1
27+2 + rebuys

2 seats to the $615 qualifier given, 33 runners.

Finish 5th....

Good for $175 I suppose but its a start. :D

Biggest cash to date

2005-10-09T16:15:00.000Z

Wow I hit the Crypto £15,000 GTD and boy did I hit it hard.. 280 runners and I took down 2nd. There wasn't anything seperating my and chopp HU but he finally started griding me down.. at about 350k him v 150k me i pushed in on his blind with 66 and he called with Q7.

A rivered straight ended it for me and a payday of £2,700 was mine. Thats over two months wages for 5.5 hrs work.....

hmm also signed up for this...

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 2720063

PokerRoom GrandPrix $100+8

2005-09-18T19:35:00.000Z

Vegas trip report and another big MTT cash

2005-09-18T19:31:00.000Z

Man I could write an essay but ill keep it short and sweet I managed about 15-20 hrs of poker while I was there as there was just SO much to see and do plus i was with the future Mrs Jock and she finds poker boring.

We arrived at the Plaza on the saturday night at 11pm and were shattered and hit the sack.

Sunday Im up at like 6am and all excited!! so we head out and check out the shops and casinos downtown then head back to the hotel for breakfast. We then go up to the strip check out the big hotels and book show tickets for the rest of the week we saw splash , tournament of Kings and fantasy.

Sunday night I decide to play in the midnight madness tournament at the plaza $60 buyin for 1500 chips plus an extra 500 for $10. So I buy in for the 70 get past the first break with a wounded stack and eventually get them all in with A7s from the button which go down in fire to a pair of 99's from the big blind. A7s ironically was the best hand id had all tournament finished about 17/35. Play some 1/2 NL and win about $75. Up $5 for the night. Cant remember any notable hands hit the sack at 4am.

Monday Miss Jock goes horse riding out at sage brush ranch at red rock and i get a day of poker. Head to binions horseshoe play some NL 1/2 won $325 for about an hour and a halfs poker. Both times limping with small pocket pairs hitting a set and cracking Aces and Kings preflop. Man that was a juicy table I didnt want to leave but I went card dry and started to bleed off chips when I wasn't connecting with any flops. Head off for some food and wait at the plaza for Miss Jock to get back.

Tuesday she's off again and this time I decide to venture to the strip and have heard such good things about the MGM grand i decide to venture down. Sit down at 1/2NL with $200 and get my ass handed to be on a plate for the first hour or so. Bluffed out of a $140 pot with QQ when an Ace falls on the river completing a wheel and a flush and putting out two overcards. He pushed and should me QJ for high card Ace :| . But things turned around I raised to $25 from the button after 3 limpers with KK and get 1 caller. Flop comes down K2K i call down and get a raised called on the river for a decent sized pot about $150 - 200.

Then this hand happens. Im on the button with about $250 in chips EP (tight player) $10 to go MP2 and 3 call (both decent players with about 500 in front) Im on the button and find J10 suited and decide to call. Apart from the KK hand ive been making no major headways and have had been bluffed out 2-3 times of hands i was in front of.

Anyway flop comes down 2 9 Q rainbow. EP fires out $20 MP's both call and im looking 5 to 1 to call this with an oesd and a backdoor flush draw.. id be a fool not to.

Turn card is a K which completes the rainbow EP again fires out $20 two callers and I push ( i went for the whole weak means strong thing and figured i may get action from an over pair or a set). EP folds MP2 goes all in and MP3 calls.

River card was a 7 i flip up the nuts... Mp3 flips up J10 also and MP2 for the cameras mills around looks like he's going to much but turns up............... J10o I was gutted the pot was freaking huge and all we had done was share the EP's money.

I finished the session up about $20 it was a tough table.

My last day of poker was on the Thursday when the other half went for her last horseback trail. I was thinking about testing myself and sitting down with $500 for the $2-5 game at the bellagio but there was no buses and no taxis that i could see and after waiting about 40 minutes i decide to stay downtown. (probably a good idea as last time i played 2-5NL i got my ass handed to me). So i play some single table shootouts and the plaza $25 buyin 200 goes to first place 50 to the house. I run over the table and end up HU with an old woman I get 3 -1 chip lead and find aces in the big blind she goes all in and i insta call. Her Q10s turned into a flush, next hand i get KQs and push and her K7 rivered a 7.

Next one I run over the table again and get HU with a kid from Washington who was actually quite decent anyway i propose a deal and it got politely declined. I then raise 99 pf and get called. flop is 433 i bet half my stack he calls push when the turn comes a 4 and he showed 42. Im gone again.

I figure enough is enough and play a little cash game and lose a buyin after raising a fish all in on a 742 flop with 99. He undoubtbly caught his straight and that was that.

I want to go back!!!!!!

Also from an $11 qualifier i managed a tremendous ROI% coming 5th in the Pokerroom Grand Prix see above

Ok so i aint posted in a while but hey look at this:

2005-07-24T23:12:00.000Z

w00t

A learning Experience

2005-07-02T13:56:00.000Z

Well I walked into the casino on thurs night handed over my ticket which was worth £1,000 then sat in my seat and I'll happily admit it to one and all I was nervous as hell.

In fact I'd been nervous since Monday night.

Double chance freezout meant we got 12,000 chips in two installments the first at the start then the second whenever. I needed my 2nd installment after 45 minutes.
Stack sizes me 5600 MP about 7000 neither of us had taken the 2nd batch of chips.

I raised 3xBB from UTG+1 with AJs one caller from MP

Flop came down A 2 3 two diamonds

I check he bets I raise and I get reraised... Here my head says fold because im outkickered , my heart says fold everything else says fold but someone lets call him Mr X seemed to be controlling me he says push. So i Did MP has AQo and im down to the felt.

Nothing much happens for a while I miss the nut flush getting the odds to call and lose a bit more.

Then the hand that sunk me,

I have about 2700 chips left blinds are 100/200. I raise to 600 total from UTG with Ako only the BB calls and he checks in the dark.

flop comes down K 2 Q rainbow.

Well im sure im ahead here and as its checked to me i check also. The turn is a Jack and he fires out 600 I instantly go all in and he calls and shows KQ.

My reasonsing behind pushing was a) i was short stacked b) i put him on AJ AQ or a lower pair 10's or lower.

Anyway river was also a Jack and i go out.

1 Goal down 4 to go

2005-06-29T09:01:00.000Z

Well I struck the first goal off my list, that was to qualify for the scottish poker championship £1k event. I went to the £50+5 satellite with £60 in my pocket and after a couple of lucky breaks (3-outers)in the first hour I sailed through the bubble with ease playing confident error free poker to claim my £1000 buy-in for Thursday.

So theres 34 hours to go and thinking about it is giving me butterflies. My highest buy-in before this was a £250 sng a quarter of what this one is. Im now training myself not to see the chips as money, normally I am very good at this but when Im playing for a prize pool of between £50,000 and £100,000 it will be hard :| .

Wish me luck....

New goals

2005-06-19T10:18:00.000Z

Apologies for the length of time since the last post been on summer hols in Egypt with the now fiancee (we got engaged on hols).

Pokerwise it was a bit dry prior to going. After cashing out the roll of about $1.4k to go on hols I managed to find an old 0.87c lying in Paradise.

In the space of a weekend i turned it into $160 which was nice. Included in this was a 15th place finish in the Seahorse $60 MTT. Think there were about 300 runners and I went out with a decent stack when my all in with QQ was called by AJ... grr

Anyway cashed in a new role and have Im going to set out my poker goals for the rest of the year. A bit much I suppose but I have to keep pushing myself.

Ok my goals for the rest of 2005:

Learn Omaha8 Hi/Lo

Play in the live sattelite for the Scottish Poker Championships at the Gala Maybury (if there is one)

Try to win the $15k jackpot SNG's on Noble Poker

Try to qualify for the WPT paris

Try to get on the ladbrokes poker cruise in January

Not much huh?

I'll keep you posted.

Oxford Poker Cup Report [LONG BUT A GREAT READ]

2005-05-11T18:07:00.000Z

Making a full trip report for my blog here goes

Oxford Cup Trip Report Beginning to end.

Sat 7th May…..

1.15am Finally finish up work and head off home arrive home and play two hours of 0.50/$1 finish up $40 and get some shut eye around 3:30…..

5:50am Near enough smash my mobile phone after the alarm goes off but after a quick shower im feeling bright and breezy can feel the butterflies going around in my stomach .

7:10am Train departs Edinburgh Waverly bound for Oxford.

12:30pm Meet up with the first ITH’er as paulnico21 (paul) asks “ Are you suited?” Obviously reply yes and wonder until the Sunday how he realised it was me … Didn’t realise that Sklanskys TPFAP isn’t the norm reading for a Virgin train commuter. Have some banter about poker and what not. I try and get some kip but find that England’s noisiest and worst behaved kids are sat behind me and find the squeaking noise the tray table on the back of my seat the most fascinating noise and is repeated 4,231 times before we finally reach oxford.

1:30pm : Finally arrive in Oxford and myself and Paul get hurried off in Heyberts! (Mike) car to dump off bags at the randolf and head to new college. Get completely lost and end up getting a taxi to finally arrive to meet OohGravy!(shareef) who had been waiting on us for about 1hr poor guy.

We then try to find out what’s happening at new college which turns out to be nothing so we promptly head off to Greg Raymers talk in vain hope of being one of the first 60 seated we in fact are 200th and some more. Ah well.

3:00pm The talk itself mentioned *ok*rs**rs .com more times than I can remember and was really geared at making as many students sign up for *ok*rs**rs .com and spend their “hard earned” cash on that site. However it was quite an interesting listening to what was going through gregs mind on some of the key hands on the final table of the WSOP. Just for attending we got a small *ok*rs**rs .com goodie bad with a Cap, Stress toy, two decks of cards, a cash band (for keeping a roll of cash) and a cdrom which contains more than likely *ok*rs**rs .com software and to top it all off a poster of the fossilman itself… .

5:00pm We then head off to allbarone for some dinner I think I managed to neck three pints which was to prove eventful with 2 hrs sleep and no food until that time after that we head off to New college to see what action is going on.

Once we get there we hear that Greg Raymer finished 4th last in the freeroll, got his AK busted by K8. He was then taken through to where the cash games are going on where he proceeds to play heads up matches against random punters. Needless to say the matches did not last long.

6:00pm Seeing as all the cash games were full we decide to start our own 10p/20p NL table with a £20 buy-in. I must say it was the most fun live cash game I’ve ever sat in. I had the concentration span of a guppy and proceed to lose two buy-ins im having fun though so who cares?.
I also remember shouting out is "anyone here pokerdog from ITH?" remembering he came down the night before, five minutes later he's sat to my left asking if i was matt? lol He said he didn't hear me shout out? Not sure how i was definitely loud enough.

Couple of memorable hands:

Ive got a stack of about £17 after a rebuy and HeyBert! Opens for either 80p or £1.. my memory was quite bad at that time even though I’ve only had 5 pints by that time usually is not much by my standards. Anyway its folded around to me in the CO, I flat call with by 35o and the blinds get out the way. Heads up we see a flop of

5d 5s 9c

I check HeyBert bets £4 and I reraise to £8. He mucks and I show him the best starting hand in NL holdem.. he still wouldn’t tell me what he had.

2nd last hand of the night

Loose fishy player raises from UTG to about 80p folded round to myself on the button and I reraise to £1.60 with 10s 7s . He calls and we see a flop of something like Ks 4c As (might have been different) He goes all-in for £18-£19 I start laughing and announce “ I’m calling you , you know why? Cause I’ve got a flush draw and because im dealing im going to hit it on the river. I then call for my stack Ive got him covered just. he showed ajo i think

I then go on to deal the 4h then the 6s.

Cashing up I find myself with £45 and incredibly have only lost £5 for the whole night no idea what happened. I then head off to bed get very little sleep in my youth hostel… Why oh why did I not pay the extra £20 for a hotel.

Sunday 8th May (tournament Day)

I wake up at 9:30am far too awake after the lack of sleep get some breakfast then go register. I wander about town for a while as Im not meeting the rest of the ITH’ers til 11:30am. Oxford is a really nice city however there are bikes everywhere you really have to be careful im saying this after nearly losing a leg in a bicycle related incident! Lol. So about 11am I head back to the Randolph hotel where the tournament is being held and sit down at a £20 buy in 50p/£1 NL game. I sit tight for about 20 mins then find Black Rockets in MP. UTG makes it £2 to go, I raise to £6 the button moves all in for £11 UTG pushes all in for his last £25 and I call leaving a couple of £1 chips in front of me.

Cards are up its black queens for UTG , and A10 for the button a beautiful board ensures my Aces hold up and I rake in a nice pot. Play another couple of hands then cash out in time to meet up with everyone for lunch.

A further few names join us from yesterday added are the man who made it all possible for ITH to come down Pinky (andrew), Cybrarian (Neil), Lurpak ( forgot your name soz). We all head down to for a pub lunch and a drink or two before the action starts and get back to take our seats at about 2:40pm.

I found it weird that the seats weren’t drawn so it was sit where you like, My seat was right next to the exit so if I was making it out early I didn’t have far to go.

Sitting opposite me was one of the named celebrities visiting the event Ashley Revell, the man who sold everything including the shirt from his back cashed up and placed all the money raised on Red at a roulette table in the plaza. It did come up red good for over £150k and he got a sky one documentary to boot. He played in last years WSOP.

On his left was Mad Marty Wilson’s wife or girlfriend I think. She seemed like a solid player I am sure she had a lot of lessons from the man himself. She told an interesting story about how she had entered a Limit tournie instead of No Limit, phoning her man for advice he put her on to devilfish who was luckily sat next to him who then talked her through winning the tournament. LOL.

To my left was some pro cash player (I think) he didn’t seem to happy at the speed of the game and was trying to tell people when to fold to other peoples raises I didn’t like this at all I mean fair enough there were 3 complete fishes at the table but they didn’t need to feel tiny small and like they didn’t belong. He also didn’t seem happy with the slowness of peoples dealings.. When the majority play mainly online what was he to expect? The remaining 6 I have not mentioned were 4 fairly experienced Student players and 2 extremely fishy student players.

On to the action Round 1 25/25 Starting stack of 1k chips. Don’t see many cards at all, we have four flops with Queens in them when I see Qc2h in MP I call (as queens were HOT! Lol) and we’re three to the flop of Q 2 6 rainbow checked to me where I bet the pot the others fold. I show the Queen face up. Only hand I played that round along with one blind steal and I’ve got about 1250.

Round 2 25/50 Again I’m playing tight with selected agression and raise 3xBB A8o from MP all fold to a fish on the button who calls. Blinds get out the way and we are heads up to a flop of 3c 8d 6s, talking about tells he looked disgusted at that flop I bet out about 200 and he raises me the minimum? (ive seen him play Q7, J6, K2 and lose all of them so far) so I know im ahead when I push and am delighted when he calls with KJ. No help and I take my chip count slightly over 2k. The fish exits the tournament choosing not to reply

I push with JJ from the button with weak looking limpers, SB calls ( this so called pro-cash player) and the limpers fold. He shows JJ and we split the pot (not the first time im gonna be tying preflop)

The rebuy period is nearly over we can maybe squeeze in 2 more hands before this break. I find myself with 44 on the button with a min raise from MP(martys gf/wife). At this time if I play and lose ill have some chips with the chance to rebuy / add-on so will look at worst at 2000 chips so decide to push all in with my 2100. SB calls(pro cash player) with about 1100 chips and the min-raiser also calls for about 900. SB shows 1010 and MP shows J10. High stakes Pro-cash player exits tournament opting not to rebuy.

Again its always when im dealing and the first card I flip over is a 4c followed by 8c 7h Ks Qh respectively. MP shouts out she wins with a straight but after checking the board again I realise that she misread the board not me LOL. The rebuy period ends with a break and im sitting with roughly 4700 chips after an add-on.

After the break blinds of 50/100 and I get a total of two starting hands, AK from UTG raised to 150 with everyone folding (didn’t think I was respected that much). 88 from MP raised 3xBB when I had to lay it down to the rock of a BB’s push for half my stack. Not wanting to lose his rock like image he turned over two ladies and I pat myself on the back for a good fold.

75/150 I have seen no starting hands in a long time and the blinds are eating away at my stack. I limp in from MP with J9s 4 to a flop of 6s 8s 2s I bet out 5xBB in a bit to scare away the Ace of spades, One caller turn is a 2h I then bet out 8xBB he calls. Not got a read on him yet but after the turn call ive got a horrible feeling im beat. Turn brings the 4s I check the river to him and he bets out 4xBB I grudgingly call and he shows As2s Think I could have played this hand better comments accepted??

The blinds go up again twice and I don’t play a single hand starting to struggle and am relieved to get a break for some dinner.

I find Cybrarian, Pokerdog,Lurpark and pilchard outside the door and find its only myself and paulnico still in from those that I knew of.I told them id see them soon but id hoped I could prove myself wrong..

So getting no cards I go through another 2 blind levels and when It gets to 400-600 with AhKc from MP I decide to push with about 1100 chips left, get called by the button who has about 900 in chips who shows AdKd. No diamonds I shout as 2 hearts come off with the Ks. The turn a heart and the river a shiny shiny glorious heart and I suck out on the guy. Poor fella had only been at the table for 2 hands.

We finally get broken up this about 3-4hrs in to the tournament 5 of us at the table had been there since we started which was some feat and at that time we were all below the average stack which was about 5kish.

The blinds go up again and under the 7xBB factor im playing time to double up poker. I bust out AdQd with my AhQh flush.All in preflop.

Move tables again steal the blinds twice in a row with KQ, and 77 pushed from late position and am now finding myself about average stack for the first time since the first break. Ive got about 5k left theres 43 players remaining and the blinds are 800-1600.

The blinds have just gone up again and im UTG with 99 Ive got 4600 i think with the blinds now at 1000-2000 i cant afford to hit this blind and Im sure that I wont get a better hand than this my 2nd highest PP of the tournie and decide to push.

Folded round to the button who thinks for an eternity and calls. He shows Qd 10c

He had me covered by maybe 2000 max. Had I won this hand I could have started to play my game again but alas it wasn’t to be.

Flop came down 7 4 2 rainbow Qh turn something like 6 on the river I remember hoping that I was looking at the card upside down 

Ironic that I go out having the hand that is ahead preflop in an allin for the first time in the tournament.

I was extremely happy with my play in what I would say my first live poker tournament with decent opposition(I really cant count the times at be B&M as its just rebuy city and suckouts) and can’t wait for my next live tournament.

Before heading home I played a 25p/50p NL ring game and made another £50. Can’t grumble really.

Apologies for the length of the report.

Matt out.

Back in business and a MTT cash

2005-05-05T17:33:00.000Z

Yup May is a glorius month.

Deposisted £25 into Ritz Poker (crypto) 1 week ago and today the roll sits and £246 thats 10x!! (almost) how's about that for ROI.

It all started playing a £5+1 MTT on the thursday morning 80 entrants I only go and come second!!! good for a £68 score. Should have won the bleeding thing as well, Mix up my play first to act heads up blinds are big now I raise 4 x BB with 23 o !!! (theres method in my madness), Villian flat calls. We see a flop of 2 3 Q rainbow. I raise 4x BB he goes all in.

He shows the measly Q 10.

Turn Jh

River Jc and im counterfitted!!! harsh i know... but my heads up play is outstanding just now and its showing mainly in my sng's im 4/4 1 x 20 and 3 x 10 dollar tournies cashed in all 4 3x1sts and 1 second at the $10 level.

The rest of the cash has been made playing .5/$1 ring where i am feeling totally comfortable again after last months downfall.

Ive studied poker tracker over and over again and I realised i was semi bluffing far too much at draws and then bluffing far too much when id missed. That coupled with trying to play sheriff against a maniac PF raising everytime (i only push with my KK to see his AA for my entire stack), and also AA losing to a rivered flush for my entire stack. It pretty much explained my losses.

So Im feeling so good about my play again my reads are spot on and im switching gears smoother than a well lubed gear box on a very fast car (who knows if that sentence made sence or not [also is it just me or do i use too many bracketed explanation type things] but hey I didnt get my higher english at school).

Next stop Oxford and the Oxford Poker cup.. Ill be leaving saturday morning, spend some time there with smaller cash games a small tournie and hopefully a freeroll with the WSOP greg raymer before the big event on the sunday.

£20 rebuy tournie 250 entrants.

Cant WAIT!!

Ill post a full trip report when I get back and maybe learn about punctuation and grammar.

Tough month and gutshot visit

2005-04-28T10:31:00.000Z

Hey guys apologies for the lack of post for the 2 weeks. Has been a very tough month play wise. Down about 300xBB so its kinda tough. Next month will be back with avengeance also got the Oxford poker cup on 8th May where none other than WSOP champ GREG RAYMER will be playing (I've heard this rumour in faith by someone in touch with the organizer may or may not be true).

Also while down in london at the weekend spent a night at the gutshot poker room, It kinda sucked profit wise although was great fun.

Played in their freeroll with 60 odd entrants went out at about the half way mark.

Sat down at a PL table 25min - 50 max blinds 50p / £1 , fold for almost all the first orbit then pick up Kings in the button.

With four limpers in front of me im knowing its gonna be juicy so i bet the pot get 4 callers.

Flop of Ks Ah 7s.

Jackpot. The pot is bet out twice in front of me 3rd guy folds and reraise the pot putting me all in for £48 ish.

The other two still have a little money and get it in on the turn of the

2h

River

3s

First caller showed 5s 8s other showed AQ.

Pot was over £160.

Probably one of my worst bad beats ever , im sure ill get worse.

Lovely place nice atmosphere. One guy was back chatting alot and probably got his head kicked in at the end of the night. From what I heard he probably deserved it.

I'll keep everyone posted on my time at the Oxford poker cup.

Fame! I wanna live forever (well kinda)

2005-04-13T17:53:00.000Z

Today I was featured in the Edinburgh Evening News's feature on poker.

Read it for yourself here .

Poker wise it was a bit up and down. I fired $100 back into neteller went $200 up lost $200 decided to move the cash somewhere else so i've put money in Pokerstars and Full tilt. Im feeling i need to play more tournaments. I managed to come 21st/356 on interpokers $4k GTD but it was only good for $38.

Ill keep everyone posted.

a wee cough (week off)

2005-04-10T14:11:00.000Z

Well it has been a week without poker being down in a cottage in dorset for a week for a well earned break. However since I aint posted for 2 wks ive still got a week of poker to post about.

Interpoker Bonus chase: Finished at a total of $721 withdrew $650 back to neteller and left the remaining $71 to try and qualify for the wsop tournie. Spent today (sun trying that) Finished 3rd 3rd and 2nd. No good for a seat :/

So im back over at 32red rounders tournies while im waiting for the money to jump back into neteller then im gonna fire some money in party poker for their WSOP steps tournies.

Im really happy with the way i worked the inital $90 at interpoker up to $721 and ive filled up the free 1k hands in pokertracker so i think ill be investing in that. Nothing else to report really.

Out.

Bonus chaser me? But i dont do ring

2005-03-25T11:50:00.000Z

Well after the dry run at 32red i fired some money into neteller and deposited $90 to chase Interpokers 100% match bonus.

I started off just playing sng's (which dont count towards the bonus lol) to make some cash then started playing some ring. Yesterday I was up $140 at the $.5/$1 tables today im currently sitting up $130 after this monster

----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Matt_7184 [Qs Qd]
Mrteddie: calls $1
sksk: calls $1
Matt_7184: raises to $4
LadyCat: calls $3
Mrteddie: calls $3
sksk: calls $3
----- FLOP ----- [Qc 8c Ad]
LadyCat: bets $2/ Mrteddie: calls $2/ sksk: calls $2/ Matt_7184: raises to $113.47 and is all-in/ LadyCat: is all-in $33.25 /Mrteddie: is all-in $63.25 /sksk: is all-in $14
//I got them all covered :P
----- TURN ----- [Qc 8c Ad][Qh]
----- RIVER ----- [Qc 8c Ad Qh][5h]

Quad queens for $198.25 Main pot $77.50 Side pot #1 $57.75 | Side pot #2 $60 | Rake $3

Im still playing ring games as if I was playing tight in a tournament (say early stages) and it's paying off. Only another 200 raked hands to go for that $90 go me!

My not so great week.

2005-03-19T09:44:00.000Z

Not been the best of weeks this week. Last weekend i battled so hard to get another cash finish at the rounders tournaments on 32red. Round 1 was an epic struggle , round 2 was comfortable, round 3 was so so and round 4 i bubble out. BUBBLE OUT!! A blind steal with 99 runs into QQ still hurts. I know poker players say they can eliminate themselves from their feelings which i can most of the time but that stomach punch you get when you get the popup on the screen saying "You finished in 6th place" when the top 5 go through is heartbreaking. Also in the chat box the players congratulating themselves kinda sucks.

So I cheer myself up by going to the Maybury casino to play their sunday £10 NL R&A. My inexperience shows at B&M tournaments until I settle into my seat I feel so nervous one particular hand shows it.

Its quite early on maybe 2 or 3 orbits and Im in the SB with Jc8s with 2 limpers behind me and decide to raise 3 x BB. (loose i know but ive got this crazy ass internet player unpredictability going for me) the BB calls as do the two limpers.

FLOP 9c Qd 10c

so its checked round to me and im thinking im still in cyber space i reach for my chips then go to check then reach for my chips again then finally wrap the table.

BB bets 3 x BB as do the two limpers and i push. Get two callers (forgot what they had) 3 players all in by that time two rags on 4th and 5th street and i take a big pot.

A couple of regulars commented on the skill of that bluff and when i tried to tell them i didn't mean it they just laughed LOL.

I go on to finish 26th out of 70 which I was happy with for my 4th B&M visit. I overplayed JJ and ran into a nut flush :E.

Theres always next week though :)

PS it looks like ill be going to the oxford poker cup in may :) Ill keep everyone up to date

Where I am today

2005-03-07T20:26:00.000Z

Man that was a long intro Sorry.

Where I am today well I am an exclusively NL Tournament Player, SNG's being my forte so to speak.

Last month my profit was $2900 (At one point my initial deposit was down to $7) I then went on to cash three round 5's in the Prima Rounders tournaments $1200,$800 and $800. The structure for this is There are 5 rounds each with buyins that go up and up. Like a sort of cup tournament You can find info about them on the prima poker website (http://www.primapoker.com).

I used this money to buy things that I need put a large chunk away for a holiday etc and left a little bit for a bankroll. Hence the blog ( I see it as a way of record keeping and charting my success[heres hoping]) .

This issue im going to set my Years goals.

1- Make a steady side income from poker ( Even if it is only $200 extra a month on top of my wages i will still be a happy bunny).

2- Play as many sattellites as I can to get into a major buy in tournie (WSOP anyone?)

3- Play in a couple of UK land based tournaments (perhaps Edinburgh,Glasgow,Dundee..)

4- Learn as much as I can from Forum posts and books.

I find other peoples poker blogs very interesting to read and thought it might be an idea to create my own. I hope you will enjoy reading about my experiences as much as I enjoy experiencing my experiences LOL.

Introduction

2005-03-07T20:15:00.000Z

[LONG SOZ]
A little bit about me and my poker life.

Ok so Im a 21 year old Male from Edinburgh Scotland . My chosen career path is IT and currently work on the IT helpdesk for a major Scottish Newspaper. I have a lovely girlfriend of 18 months who means the world to me and who helps me with staying calm and playing through losses at poker.

I wanted to keep the personal stuff short as it is meant to be a poker blog.

Anyway I started playing back in May 2004 when I heard a couple of chaps from my old work (hi kev and ross) talking about a freeroll on totalbet. I was intrigued and decided i wanted to try this whole money for nothing thing. Internet money making sounded good :D So I googled texas Holdem and found the rules and that was pretty much it. I played a few freerolls and eventually won one at interpoker. It was amazing.At the start I was teaching my flat mate how to bluff and was in MP with 3 limpers with 3s6s. I was telling him this hand was junk and pushed my starting stack of 1500 into the middle. I got 5 callers. I won with a rivered spades flush. Think i beat AA , and AK along the way. I went on to win that tournament and won $200 for my troubles. That was gone in 3 days playing 2$/4$ ring. Again as I said i hadn't picked up any of the basics.

Then for a long time nothing happened.....

Couple of months down the line some things did happen I found a couple of forums where I could learn about Poker and strategies and it really did open open a whole new world to me. There was soo much strategy behind it I had completely missed. I was under the impression it was 25% strategy 75% luck but oh how wrong I was.

Anyway the forums are and still were invaluable sources of information the first http://www.internettexasholdem.com Is run my poker pro Matt Hilger. Also http://www.rpoints.com/bb another great resource of this time almost solely UK players.

I then went on to buy my first Book Super System a course in Power Poker by Doyle Brunson I read this through and found some invaluable information. I also started watching Poker on Challenge TV which showed the WSOP, WPT etc etc.

Anyway this is getting a bit long. Ill cut it down

Other books ive read

Play Poker like the pros - Phil Hellmuth
No Limit Texas Holdem for Beinngers - Mcevoy and Daugherty
Sklanskys Tournament Play for Advanced Players (STPFAP)- David Sklansky
Super System 2- Doyle Brunson
Caro's Book of Tells- Mike Caro
Just about to start Harrington on Holdem Vol 1 : Dan Harrington.

Anyway this post is a bit long dont think many will choose to read it so ill skip to another post.