888 POKER OPEN 2008

888 Open V

Heat 10
SEAT 1 Jon Askey 6/1
SEAT 2 Andy Greekfish 4/1
SEAT 3 Dale Hoy 9/2
SEAT 4 Jon Magil 4/1
SEAT 5 888 qualifier Kimmo Louhelaimen 6/1
SEAT 6 Paul Zimbler 3/1


So this was the line up and those were the odds.

I have not played in many TV events over the years as I was not a big fan of them since they add no added prize money but things have changed over the years and some of them are ok.

I was not originally in this event as it was sold out and I was 1st on the reserve list.
With consistent phone calls and emails to make sure if there was a seat I would get it I started to visualize and mentally prepare for my win.

WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE…………….IT CAN ACHIEVE.

I have been doing a lot of self development work since I got back from Las Vegas. I have been doing a lot of cosmic ordering and visualizing for what I want and believing in all that I do.

I finally got a call on Wednesday letting me know that the Devil Fish had to pull out and that I have a seat in heat 10 on Friday. He went on to tell me the format and when he said if you come second you will play the turbo on Sunday I stopped him to let him know I would not be coming second and I only needed to know when the semi final was and also the final. He laughed but I guess he must hear that a lot.

I was over the moon but not surprised as I knew I would have a seat in 1 of the heats cant explain it but when you know something you know it and do not think about it anymore, it just happens.

So my plan was to wake up early go for a run then drive up to Kent where they film it all.
If you know me you will know this is not an easy task as I am not a morning person or a running person but I know it will be good to stimulate the mind. The night before I needed to see a friend and managed to get into bed about 01:30 setting my alarm for 07:30. I woke up pushed snooze then snooze again and finally managed to get out of bed only to see the grey clouds and feel the cold.
The run was off not surprisingly and I jumped into the shower and prepared for my day ahead.
The heat was to start at 11:00 and I needed to be there by 09:45 and being 65 miles away having to do the M25 I preyed that I would not get stuck in serious traffic.
I got there on time and put on my BETFRED sticker.
After make up I was taken for the interview and then meet the rest of the players in my heat and off we went.
There were a few confident players but I did tell them all before it started that they were playing for a place in the turbo heat which was a heat for all the second place finishers in the heats to try to get into the semi finals.

The seat draw was great for me although in the old days of late night poker there was a curse on the end seat but saying that we used to play 7 handed.

I started with the button and raised the first hand to send a message out. I was there to play as a win was the only result in my mind. 2nd place meant playing a turbo heat which is a gamble in itself so I may as well gamble to win the heat and directly go through.

I got off to a great start and played good.
S the blinds increased the level of play increased and the Finish player Kimmo on my right found gears I didn’t think he had. I knew there that my prediction from before the heat began which was that I would end up heads up with Greekfish was not going to happen and that I would be heads up with this kid.

Before the heat begun I wanted to make a bet on myself but I was told I was the favorite at 3/1. I was not surprised to be favorite but 3/1 was a short price in my mind. I have not played TV event for years and I have never won a 5 handed heat on TV: I also knew that I would be the first out or the winner which I guess Neil Channing also knew as I believe he made the book.

Back to the heat. I started playing to poker and firing on all 3 streets only to get called and thinking if this carries on I will look a complete fool and also be out the competition very soon.
I played a few hands weirdly but then I made a great play with 5 high against the Fin on my right. I had already bet 3 times into him and he had called me so I thought the set up had to work the third time. The flop was AKT the turn was T and the river was 6 after he checked again to me on the river I said to him you must have a King. How much will you pay me? 20K? I then bet out 25K he thought for ages and looked at me and said “you cant be doing this a third time” He then folded PHEWWWWWWWWWWW……Of course I never showed and from there I went from strength to strength.

I was raising a lot in this heat and not having to show many hands. My chips were up and down which is normal for me. I found JJ and raised as normal Dale called me and the flop was 8 high. I bet out and he moved all in. I thought for a minute and said I am here to win and I cant see that I am behind so I call.- He turned over 89 and I managed to double up.
A few hands later Dale made a raise I looked down to see KK. I always think about which way I should play this hand as I like to trap if they have smaller pair but what if AK then I will prob not get anymore chips from them unless I am lucky to see a King high flop. I also do not want to loose to a 3 outer but you need to take these chances and play the Math.
I did take my own advice and I re-raised He called me with AJ I think and I managed to survive again.
Dale was left with 8K in chips and I was now over 200K and getting back into the game.
Next hand he was all in when the blinds were 5K 10K and I made it 20K with 66. I know that we could knock out a player and I should let the small blind in but I want to win the heat and also start a small side pot incase I hit. Dale had T5 and a 5 on the flop and a 5 on the river and he was back in the game with 21K. The next hand he trebled up to 63K.

Greekfish was playing well and also giving a lot of chit chat. I think it was a great table for the banter as there were 3 of us giving it a lot of chat… part of the game.
HE looked like he was going to sail it until he made to massive mistakes and donked off most his stack to the Fin on my right.

The Greekfish raised my BB and I looked down at AK I think and pushed he folded. He was looking like a man on TILT and with only about 70K left he was bleeding them away. I was of course happy with this as of all the players on the table I would have preferred to play heads up with the Fin.
Finally a hand arose where the Fin raised UTG Greekfish moved all in and then Dale went all in behind him. The Fin had to call 41K from his fair sized stack and did.
The Fin 22
Greekfish KQ
DaleAK

Flop K high was it to be fate…….
Turn 2 and it was all over we were heads up and at that point there I knew I was the winner. I diod not have the chip lead but there was not much in it and the blinds were not at to bad a level.

HEADS UP

I was giving the Fin the verbals as I knew I could and explaining to him that there was no shame coming second to me.
Heads up went on for like 70 hands which was crazy and I was playing ultra aggressive.
I took a shot at winning the heat once I took the chip lead. I raised with KT and he then moved all in. For me to call it would leave me with about 160K and as long as I was not dominated I was happy to have a shot. I put him ion an Ace or small pair and of course I would prefer to go in ahead but 60/40 is not so bad and if I lost I could still come back. I thought for ages. I know the right decision is to pass as I had the chip lead and could chip away but who knows what the future would be and with the blinds going up I wanted to end it there and then.
I did call and with an Ace on the flop I was down to about 150K
From there I was going all in most hands to steel the blinds with 64, J3 and all sorts but we managed to have 7 show downs and at one point I was down to 75K v his 525K and that was the most exciting time for me as even then I told him that I would come back and that he was not to be upset with himself and that he was not able to change destiny.
I managed to doubled through when Kimmo min raised to 30K on the button and I called with 6 8 diamonds.
The flop was KdQd3s and I thought if I check raise here he may be committed so I shoved and he called quickly. He turned over AdAc and I managed to spike a diamond on the turn and dodge a diamond on the river to take control once more.
The final hand He pushed all in for 110K and I called with Ks7d. He showed Qh 8d The flop was 762 and with a K on the turn it was all over no sweating needed and I was through to the semi finals………
I stayed to watch Kimmo in is turbo as I think he played fantastic and deserved a seat in the semi final. He didn’t make it but I did promise him I would send him money after I win the event next week.
I thanked god and my sprit guides many times through the heat and even more so before I played and after I finished.

I will let you know how many chips I finish the semi finals with and the line up for the final on Saturday.
Until then Be lucky.

My Last week in Sunny Spain

My last week living in Spain playing the local clubs and the festival week in Calahonda.

I managed to get a few on line competitions in before my computer was packed up onto the lorry headed for London.

I was not sure if I should play on line or go out and play live. Being undecided I logged into a tournament online and as it started I received a call from a friend asking if we were playing tonight.
I said hang on 1 sec I have just started a comp online I will go all in and if I lose we can go out.
There was a raise from UTG to 100 with 2500 starting stack and the blinds 10/20. 7 callers so I moved all in with some rag AJ. To my amazement I only got 1 caller form a player with AQ and I was down to less than 300 chips.
I told my friend I will see him in 20 min.
20 min later I was one of the chip leaders in the tournament having fun.
He stuck around for a while but as I was accumulating more and more chips he left me to go to the game. This was 21:15. at 00:00 we were approaching the final table. I was playing another tournament now at the same time and had made the final of that too. There was also a plo cash game and HORSE cash game going on to keep me busy.
Thankfully I was doing ok in these and I also joined in a 7 card stud game which I made about $100 in. Bit slow and fixed limit but was ok to kill time.

So back to the final. I think we were 7 handed for over 1 hr and then 5 handed for about 20 min. The first prize was all I was interested in so I decided to become a little more aggressive. I went from low stack to big stack to average stake to out in about 4 weird hands.
I was happy with my night considering the start and really wanted to get down to this live game before all the dead money had left the table.

I turned my PC off and went to the game. WOW what a game as normal. In fact I cant believe I am leaving Spain with games this good even though they are only small.
I did OK in this game too so took a few hours sleep as I needed to start packing up my life.

The rest of the week.
This was spent playing in small cash games and trying to pick up enough money to pay of some bills I had and also there was a festival week coming up in Calahonda so I wanted to build up a bankroll to play the big crazy NLH game that there will be with many scandies coming over to play.

I also played twice a week in a 1 2 plo game with players well 80% of ther players who do not understand plo.
It is a funny game as I know they all gamble and will not lay a straight down on a paired or flushing board so DO NOT try to bluff!

I managed to end up in the 20 days a winner in this game but not by as much as I would like. I had 1 bad night where nothing was good. Flop the goods and get outdrawn or not catch a draw no matter what. But still not the end of the world.

Week by week I was wining a few grand to get by and now the time has come for the festival.

The first event was a 20 rebuy event.
I arrived early to play some cash and was doing ok up like 400 in a 200 sit down 1 2 game. I decided I would not play the first 3 levels as I know what I am capable of!

I took a bad beat in the cash game for half my stack so went to relax in the tournament. 1st mistake, I ended up having to many re-buys and not getting anywhere.
Once I was out which didn’t take too long after the knockout stage I sat in the 5-5 nlh game where there was over 10K on the table. I managed to win 1500 playing properly and called it a night after a few hours.

The next night was a 30-30-30 and I had a good feeling. Again I arrived early to get some cash action in and won a few hundred to pay my entry fee and also have some spare $.
This time I played my A game and though I was low stack most the night I managed once we were 20 left to start getting a stack in front of me. I was moved table and found AA UTG I made a minimum raise to 3000 with only 7000 in chips. My friend Ben from Bedfred re-raised me from the button to 6000 so I said well I guess I need to gamble and put my last 1000 in. He called and turned over AQ and this was the start of my chip building. Thanks Ben. I managed to get some more of his chips later on but the good thing I told him later was: at least they went to a good home.
Final table. I had about half average chips but there were 2 players with massive stacks so I wasn’t in that bad shape.
I also got a 20 man last longer bet going before the tourney started and surprisingly there were still 6 of us in at the final including the 2 big stacks.
I managed to double up early on so I was sitting pretty waiting for my opportunities.
These came more often than in most tourneys as the strength of the players was not so good and I could take advantage more often.
When we were 5 handed the chip leader who was very drunk now played a weird pot and lost most of his stack. He then went on tilt and lost the lot. We didn’t stay 4 of us for long and by the time we were 3 handed I have just over 100K v my 2 opponents who had 200K and 250K. The prize pool was 1500 to the winner 900 to second and 400 to third. So I suggested a deal. 1000 each. Of course they said I had less chips and I did not argue this but I said we were all getting more than second place money and once I had doubled up I would be favorite to win and I would not do any deals heads up if we did no deal now. They were both happy to deal as it was late and 1000 was still a good night’s work. Good news was we were only 2 left in the last longer so we took that and used it for a tip.

Being tired but keen to play some more I took the first seat in the lively 5-5 game where there was now over 20K on the table. There were 4 good players 2 ok and 2 crazy gamblers. They both had big stacks and I thought about what to do. It is never a good ides to play 7 hours in a tournament then sit straight in a cash game. I also was tired and knew I would need 1500 buy in and 2 or 3 buy ins incase I lost as well as 3 or 4 hours to make the most from this game. I also know I had to be up early in the morning to trade the stock market and decided to be disciplined and go home. There is always tomorrow like I tell so many players and now it was time to take my own advice.

Thursday.
This was going to be my leaving drink night as it was my last night Friday was D day and after 7 and a half years of spending a lot of time in sunny Spain I was needed in the UK.
Trying to finish up packing and moving stuff into my mums place as well as trading the markets took up a lot of my day so no real plans were made but as I know the best nights often come from nowhere. This was no exception.
It started with a quiet drink locally where we managed to get through a fair few beers before moving onto my friends bar Liquid Lounge. If you ever go to Marbella and have never been there you have to. Great atmosphere and excellent food. Ask for Mic and tell him I sent you. There is also a lively bar area and it is set back from the main port but worth the visit.
Here we started on the whisky and from there it only got better.
A bar called PINK well it is a bar but a strip bar.
Some of my friends know a lot of the girls in there as well as some of the staff so we headed in there for a couple. After meeting a few unbelievable girls I remembered why I want to be single. I would like to add I did not pay for dances as I do not understand all that. For me it is like playing poker getting a royal flush and not being able to bet.

We went on to a few other bars in the port meet some more people then got a booty call from a few girls I had meet earlier. Well I was just about managing to stand up at this point but I had to be of service.
1 of my friends and I meet the 2 girls and headed back to mine for my last night!
What can I tell you about this girl. WOW she was young like 19 had a figure to dye for natural, large, firm breasts and skin that was tight and beautiful. O to be young. On top of that she had an accent which just drove me wild.
We had a fun night as I said goodbye to my life in Spain with a smile.

Friday – D-day
I managed to get out of bed after like 3 hours sleep as I needed to get to the bank before it closed. I am sure I was still over the limit and I could not stand up for long. My head was in a bad way but I had many thanks that needed to be done.
I finally managed to get everything done and headed of to the airport at 22:00 leaving the storms that had come in behind me.
It was a weird day as it was full of mixed emotions.
I hope soon I will have managed to sort everything out in the UK and will be able to return or even head somewhere new.
You are able to play with me on http://www.betfred.com/ and I look forward to the challenges that lye ahead.

THE WEEKEND ....ITS TIME TO PARTY

Friday
TIME TO PARTY!
Before going out I went to a small 1 2 plo game and picked up some spending money for the night.
I won’t bore you with the poker but from there I went to Fungirola for a night out with some friends.
We meet up for some drinks and went salsa dancing. I must admit it was really fun and I had a great time. I did start to learn dancing as in salsa and ballroom as I find it very sexy and interesting after watching that strictly come dancing I wanted all the moves.
I did not find too much time but learnt some and enjoy a night out with a little dancing in it. What started off as a night out for a few drinks turned into a drinking session…most unlike me and before I knew it we were bar hoping and in a club.
At 630 we left and I managed to get a lift home to my friends’ house who kindly said I could stay. Problem was I needed to be home in the morning which I new was not going to happen. I manages to get a parking ticket in the morning as I was not there on time to take the car away and in Spain it is €60 or €6 if you pay now…. Weird I know as a pay and display is like 3 or 4 euro. In my hung over state I managed to get it all wring and paid the €6 into the envelope provided but forgot to put the ticket inside. I had posted it into the slot in the machine so it was too late.
I know most the time they never chase you up and rely on people just paying and trough them all away but I didn’t want to take a chance. I then found out you need to pay the €6 into the meter then get a printed ticket then post that. So I had to do it all again but at least it was done.
Saturday night I played in a comp was tired and hung over but was on a free roll as was playing for someone. I managed to not make it past level with AK v AQ on a KQ7 board but to be honest do not think I would have been able to make it through the night. I went straight home to watch strictly come dancing and fell asleep before they had even started.
Sunday
RYDER CUP
Gutted. I do think that Nick Faldo was not to blame but I think my order of players may have been different. I wanted to back USA before it began as I thought it was clear that they would win and it is the first time that they have not been favorites for a long time. Saying that I am trying not to bet so I didn’t and decided I would not trade through the cup and just enjoy watching it.

So it was the last day I went to my friends to watch the football Great result for me a Liverpool fan, watch the single matches and eat and drink. I had another fun day and night but the result was not to be for Europe.
USA played well and deserved to win but with a few home town players I think the course knowledge helped a little. Well played Mr. Poulter I think you played fantastic and proved all your critics wrong.

Well that’s it for this week.
Remember if you cant be good be lucky :)

$500 Triple Shootout

Thursday 18th September

Poker stars on line championships
I was going to go out on this night but had a gut feeling to stay in and play the triple shoot out on stars.
As I have said before and if you know me you will know I love STT and I believe I have a better chance than most in the ones I play.
A triple shootout is 3 STT. The winner of the first STT go to a second STT and the winners from those games meet in the final.
I played this event in the WSOP this year and was unlucky to come second after having half chips in play 3 handed and then playing 90 min heads up.
This was a great strucred event with 5000 starting chips and with 30 minute blinds starting at only 10 20 it looked as thought his could take 6 hours to complete if we were lucky!
I started as the table aggressor since no one wanted to take on the role. I was up and down like a yo yo and had a few good key hands in this event.
HAND 1 UTG I limped with 66 the blinds at this point were 50 100. a player in middle position makes it 400 to play so I called. The flop was 6h 4d 6c I checked and he bet into me 400. I thought for a min and called. The turn was Tc and I again checked into him, he again bet but this time 900. I thought for a min and called. The river 2d not a good card for me in case he puts me on 5 3 but I think I will take my chances.
So what did I have…… forget that I have to think now what does he have and how should I play my hand. Ill tell you this, I could not lose the pot.
I was sure he was a weak player. I put him on TT or JJ something like that but would he try to value bet the river or just check it behind me to collect it?
Being sure he was weak I felt safe to check hoping for like a 1200 plus bet. I only had about 2500 left at this point and had put in 1700 in already. To my surprise he moved all in immediately so of course I called. He showed me QQ and I thanked him as I turned over quad sixes.
Now I was in good spirits and the table saw mw check 3 times with the nuts. This was good for later when I would want to see free cards in big hands.

Next up was a horrible situation. Sitting pretty with 8700 now I got involved in a hand against people who like to throw their chips away.
UTG again I was dealt QQ. I limped as I like to do this with QQ as an interesting fact is that QQ UTG is actually favoutire to lose. Bizarre to think I know but when you read about it, it does actually make sense. Any way they player next to me limps and then player raises to 300 I call and the player to my left moved all in for 3505.
I think it is clear he does not have AA or KK here so I can not pass. He turns over AhJh and the flop comes perfect 6h9h7h well perfect for him. lmao.
The turn and river do not help so I was left wounded and not on the 12K mark I would like to be on.
Next I played a hand I have mixed emotions on.
6454 in chips and I raised with AQ my pet hate hand. I min raised to 300 as blinds were now 75 150 jeff710 called me with 6930 in chips. The flop was 333 I checked and he bet 500. I thought I may be ahead and if not I had 7 cards to hit or more to represent a better hand if he had a small or medium pair. The turn was another 3 and I had to look again to check that I did now have the nuts. I checked again to show weakness and he checked behind me. The river was perfect K. With 1600 in the pot I did not know whether to bet 1000 to get paid or would it look obvious so I went for the over bet to look weak. I bet 2400 hoping to get a caller to split. He thought for ages and was writing LAME in the chat box amongst other things. He finally folded and I said I had to bet to win the pot. This got him fired up I hoped and we played on.
With nearly 4 hours play and 45,000 chips in play we were now 3 handed me with 6500, Jeff with 2700 and jimbomber with over 35,000.
Talking to a friend on msn I said if I can get heads up with this fella with between 10 and 15K I have a good chance as the blinds were low enough and I knew I was a far better player. I tried to eliminate jeff who doubled up through me but knowing there was nothing for second I stepped up a few gears into overdrive and started building my stack to a good level. Finally I got Jeff out and was heads up with 15K v 30K.
Heads up went on for nearly 90 minutes with my stack going down to less than 8K at 1 point. I did manage to swap 10% with Jimbomber amazingly he agreed to my powers of persuasion.
I got up to 20K in chips when he raised on the button to 1200. The blinds were 150 300 with 25 ante. I flat called out of position with 77 as I did not need to play big pots with him and with over 1 hr of heads up play I knew he had some kind of hand.
Flop was TsAd7c. Wow all I could hope for now was that he had an A so I bet out waiting for the re-raise. 600 to look weak. He only called. Turn was the 3c perfect I decided to check knowing he would have to bet here with any hand as I looked weak on flop and now checked a little obvious I did not have an A now. He bet 1200 so I re-raised to 3600 not wanting to scare him off and also allowing him to push all in on me. He called, the river was Qc. I now bet out 5700 trying to get paid when he re-raised me 10500 to 16200. WTF have I walked into here. TT if so he played it well. KJ I cant believe that AQ I was hoping or A bit clubs which I also cant believe otherwise he would have bet the hand different. I typed SO SICK into the chat and had to call off my last 8900 to win a 40K pot and he turned over T9c….What can you do except laugh…….That’s poker. After a my friend consoled and comforted me for a few min I switched off and could only hope that he went on to win to get my 10%. I wished him luck and switched off.

BACK IN THE SUN

BACK IN THE SUN AT LAST.

Wednesday 17th September

After 6 weeks in London with no poker, well hardly any poker as I took a well deserved and needed break I have finally arrived back in sunny Spain to decide on my future.

Whilst deciding I thought I would go back to the small easy games to pick up some spending money.

I spent a day or two sorting my stuff out at home as I had been away for 4 months with only 1 week back and had to make the house nice again.

I set up the sky + for my shit as now I did not have to record or watch the girlfriends stuff as she no longer lives here J

I went to see all the boyz to say hello and enjoyed a few nights out on the town as a single man again. That was fun and needed……..

POKER what to do.
I went to a local game to get my appetite back for the game that I had become fed up with and decided to play disciplined poker.
Easy to say and not easy to do when the players around you are so bad and like to gamble. You really needed to loosen your game as your range of wining hands could be so much larger than if you were playing in a normal game… (what is normal these days).

I got into the game and to my left was matey J I had been told about him and his game, betting everything and calling if not re-raising most of the time.
I was in a pot or 2 with him and was studying him and his play/actions. I think I had him worked out as he liked to show me his cards every time I was not in the pot so this was perfect and lots of extra free information for me.

I was in the SB with 62 and he urged me to call. He was on my left so I knew that he would not re-raise pre flop. The flop came down 653 so I checked to him to see what he did. He bet out so I thought for a while of his possible hand selection here and thought that I could even be in front and if not I should have 10 live outs. (any 6,4 or 2). I pushed all in and he called me only to turn over 5 3. No help on the turn or river and it was CHIPS shouted for me.
Funny thing here is the rest of the table all thought I had like trips or the made straight and when I mucked put me on JJ or better.
I think I will take my chances against this kind of player who could have had latterly any 2 cards.

I re-loaded for 500 and with 2 5 blinds and a 10 straddle there was a player in early position who raised to 40, 4 callers so of course when it came to me I knew I had to move all in to collect the pot. Who here would call 500 pre flop except possibly the first raiser?
Silly me I forgot matey was at the table and would call 500 blind lol.
I managed to get lucky and I beat his K9os with my sexy J7 spades and from there I did not look back.
I did make it clear I would only be playing for 2 hrs when I sat down as I needed to get home and sleep as I had a full day on the next day.
Next thing I know I have called out of position a small raise from my friend on my left with T9 and checked to him on a T82 board. He bet out 50 so I called. The turn was a 9 so I checked again. He bet 200 so I re-raised to 600. He pushed all in and I called. He turned over 89 and the 7 on the river was no help (glad all the money went in on the turn though).
I went from 500 down to 1250 up in like 15 min.
Seemed like no one else wanted to gamble with him and there were like 5 rocks just sitting and waiting. I think Mater liked me because I was gambling with him and not just sitting and waiting for AA. I was card dead for 20 min after and left the game as I said I would returning home to sleep feeling good about myself and my game again. This is important.
I wish I could have stayed all night with him as I think it could have been profitable but that is the gambler in me. I still won 1250 which for 2 hours work is ok in a small 2 5 game.
I said my goodbyes and told my new friend that I was here for a few weeks and he would get a chance to win it back any night he wanted.

The 10K challenge

So I set my self a challenge to make a minimum of 10k in the week I was going back to Spain.

How did it go? This is the big question. Last time I set myself a task I ended up after 3 days just short but this time I was determined to make it happen.

I started of in a 5 5 plo game in London the night before leaving for Brighton. I managed to get outdrawn again by a fish who wanted to call a pot sized bet on the flop od 8 6 2 with just a 6 and then bet out the pot when the turn was a K and managed to find another K on the river to save his arse against my trip eights.
OK 1 pot down, a few hands later I get it all in a again with nuts straight v lower straight but he manages to pair the right card of his 2 pair as well to make a house.
Then a few other pots and I was over 3K sterling down.
NOT A GOOD START.
From there I went to spend the weekend with my family in Brighton, Well my dad, step mum, brother, niece and nephew. Sweet really and I had a great time.
I love spending time with my niece and nephew as well as the rest of the family.
There was no Poker for the weekend but I decided to go to Spain on Sunday night and play there for a week as I had some good friends of mine Mathew and Emma coming to stay for a week.
So I arrived back home to find it remarkably clean state considering my girlfriend had left and I was expecting the worse.
It was late so I just went to sleep for the night and woke up to deal with the flat.
The sun was shinning and it was hot not as hot as Vegas but a lot more humidity but there is a nice breeze in Spain.

After sorting myself out and relaxing for a few hours I went down to play in my local 2 5 plo game which really is the best game I have ever played in.
Monday was not a great day with the normal swings. I lost a sick hand the first one I played and spent all day trying to recover. I managed to do this and went for the win near the end but failed and ended up losing 350 euros.
So Tuesday morning I woke up with 5 days to go and 3500 down instead of in the black towards my 10K target.
Tuesday was also a sick day. I went back to the plo game as this is where the money is to be made. I was up and down most the day but taking some sick beats. There was a huge pot for about 6K where I hade the nuts on the flop and turned a flush draw and knew I was splitting the pt at the moment but 1 player called 1200 more with nothing invested in the pot with trips wanting to see the turn which was a blank. The turn he only had to pay about 700 more but of course hit the river and scooped the pot.
I also made a calculated decision to fold a big hand on this day which most people would put all there money in with. I was out of position and the flop was K82 with two diamonds. I had trip 8’s and also the bare Ace of diamonds. I bet the pot which was 40 there was 1 caller and then came a raise then a re-raise, it came to me and it was about 400 to call. I have to fold or stick it all in.
I thought for a minute I had about 900 in front of me and I knew that something as not right. What did these players have to raise and re-raise me? I know the players well as we have played for years together and there was 1 gambler in the pot who was not on tilt yet so playing fairly conservatively and the other player is a solid good player.
I had trips; I also had the bare A for the flush draw so someone else must have trips and the other player 2 pair and a flush draw?
So I needed to blanks to potentially win this pot if 1 of the players did not have trip Kings. If not I needed an 8 for quads and knowing a King would not help me and if it paired the 2 then the other player could make quads. Ok I could go for running pair but realistically I new I had to pass as the gamble was not in my favour. As it happened the pot got big and the turn and river bought no help and I was right 1 player had top 2 with flush draw and the solid player had trip 2’s with a higher flush draw.
Why could my A not have been suited???????????????????lol
I ended the day down 2K euro and not in a good mood. This was now beginning to get to me as it can’t happen everyday that the lucky fish always hit.

Though I do not like to admit it losing does effect how I live the rest of my life. It effects my relationships with friends, family and loved ones. It also effects how I go about my other business. NOT GOOD.

I relaxed at home with my friends then set myself up ready to smash it on Wednesday.
Wednesday. Well not too much to say about this day except the action was big and good in the game but I was unable to make it pay having what I only can say to myself as the worst every run I have experienced in 12 years of playing.
I know bad beats happen and the game is about maths and in the long run if you play your odds you will be a winner. I must say I don’t talk to much about bad beats anymore, everyone has them and that is poker but I was not sure how much more I was able to take!
I went n the evening to play in a NLH game as maybe I needed a change.
This proved to be more successful as the players are also weak and you can pick and chose your spots, though the players there some of them will but you to the test all of the time.
I played a solid game and was always ahead in the game but could not get passed the 750 mark even thought the game was a good size but every pot could commit your whole stack.
I decided to call it a night to change my frame of mind and leave a winner after a few hours of play which made me start to think.
Maybe I should be playing more hold’em, but the plo game is so good.
I was now about 8K down and it was going to be Thursday when I woke up.
System going well! Send more $$$$$$$$$$$$
Thursday I set up a friendly 50 euro re buy game for some friends and this would be followed by a cash game.
I managed to start wining my 50 50’s but as I said before when I am a 75% or higher favourite I manage not to win and this is not a good thing especially in Hold’em.
I did not do any good in the tourney and went out with AK v KT and the cash game to follow was so bad I resorted to getting drunk and waiting for good cards which never held up. I managed to lose another 2K on this night and decided to stop there.
I also played a few times online where I managed to spend what I had left in my accounts which was not so much but not the plan. I played HORSE on start and this was my only winning session but all the players left the game after a while but I am sure they will all be back.
The challenge of making 10K turned into a 10K deficit and started to make me think that I need to give this up and go back to working. Poker used to be fun for me but it has defiantly changed since it was my only form of income.
I think I will take a break and when I am all set up in a new business with time to spare I will return and hope my form has changed for the better.
I will be opening a poker school and I will get the enjoyment from teaching and playing will become fun again.
I am off to the UK for 2 months to set up some other bits and get away from Marbella for the summer. More importantly I have 2 of my best friend’s stag nights and weddings which will keep me in the UK till mid September.

I will keep writing about what I am up to and keep you informed about the seminars I will be holding.
Be lucky!

POST VEGAS BLUES

So I have been Back from Las Vegas for 1 week where I stayed in London and what can I tell you.

I miss it!

On my last few days in Vegas I partied. It was a friend of ours 21st so we stayed out a little longer and I threw him a party he or any of will not forget for a long time. I am afraid I can not post any pictures on here or tell any stories but it was a blast!

I managed to reduce my debt before I left Las Vegas as I had a few good nights for a change.
I still left losing and losing by a fair amount but I did spend a lot of time and $ on the shopping. I think I came with 1 case and left with 4 but hey who’s counting!

We managed to get an upgrade at the airport and my friend kindly flew us home first class. This was great even though I did explain I would probably be asleep for the 10 hours as I had not slept good in 2 days and I had a wedding a few hours after we landed.

As I got on board and we took off I turned my chair into a bed ordered a drink and started to think about my trip.
6 weeks in Las Vegas living at the Wynn sounds good but not too easy. I nearly came home after 4 weeks as it started to all get on top of me.
I had some personal emotions to deal with also this year while trying to keep a clear head for playing. My girlfriend and I split up and knew exactly how to get to me. We decided amicably it was not working and she was going to move back to London. The sad news was she would be taking our dog that I have grown to love like I can not explain over the last 9 months we have had her.
Lola, which is the dog’s name, was a puppy when we got her and having a responsibility to walk, feed and care for each day as well as the fact she was a daddy’s girl and slept on my pillow every night was something I took on and loved every minute of.
I guess having 6 weeks away without them both was good as it would have been weird otherwise. I still miss the dog very much and see her when I go to London.
All in all I had a great trip in fact I had the time of my life, I meet some good people who are now friends and had some incredible experiences on my journey.

I will now be focusing on my work for 2 years and will build up all I have planned for the past 4 years. Poker is what I love but without being able to put the hours in it is hard to make it pay.

I saw my bad run continue in the UK where I was playing in a 5 5 plo game and flopping the nuts several times with big redraws seemed not to be enough against some lucky fish who somehow manage to hit 1 or 2 outers on me or in fact the runner, runner option which I think hurts more. LOL

I am now back home in my own bed in Marbella and will stay here for 1 week playing in my local games. I have set myself a task of wining 20K in a week. I am not sure if I will play every night but the games are certainly big enough to make this happen. Saying all of this I do have some friends staying with me and have set aside Fri and Sat night to see them so I do not have so long to play. ( I think 10K would be a beeter target and also a good week).
I will keep my blog updated to let you know how I do.

That’s all from me until later in the week so I hope it is hot where you are so you too can relax in the sun before playing.