Finished work early enough to play the stars sunday funday 100k - was planning to go away for a couple of days but going to leave it until tomorrow. Lost a load of chips early on when AK missed its flop - was called by AJ and the J on the turn and A on the river were enough for me to be short stacked early on. A series of steals and double ups with marginal hands which I managed to get called by people with worse kept me in it and i actually had an average stack after 90 mins. Had about 8 or 9 BB's when 44 in the cutoff seemd like a good steal opportunity. Might have been if the SB didn't have KK. I don't seem to get many bad beats on stars but sdon't seemto give many out either so it was back to the pavillion.

Was also playing dashboardpal's charidee tourney - he's off to Vietnam to save the world and the $700 raised will go a long way towards making a difference there. I don't give to charity that often (apart from the monthly Greenpeace membership which many wouldn't consider charity anyway) but it seemed the right time to do it as i'd been doing well on stars lately and wouldn't miss the 10$. Actually won the tourney (28 runners) mainly due to one guy donking off chips so he could get to the pub and then everyone having a laugh on the FT - calling with any A rag.

Unfortunately entered a 2000 added 10 rebuy on Laddies - knew i shouldn't as I am very very tired - built up a biggish stack in the first hour then lost it in the second - firstly by calling too much on after the flop trying to hit a flush and then a series of missed flops with hands I wanted to play.
out about halfway down the 500 odd field - shame as i'd put myself in a good position.

For some reason I then entered the 11pm rebuy and the 11:30 turbo mtt (got to try and defend my title :-)) - no luck in either - a decent enough 43 / 251 in the ten rebuy but nothing to report really.

Well for some reason i'm still awake and playing the GY - just keeping my head above water - as I type I just went all in from cut off with A3 suited - only had 5BB's left so needed to nick somebody elses but even as I did it i knew it was a bad move - luckily they folded - ooooooooooooh -- AA. bollocks - 4 x BB raise from mid but they all folded. Just doubled up nicely though with 5 BB's left and from cut off - 1 I all inned with AK - cut off called with A10 and the rng failed to bring the ten - in his position I was folding A10 but each to their own. Some dickhead (mrscott)thought he needed to go all in with any 2 and his J2 held up against my AJ in the BB - he'd been all in from UTG - flush shared board. I then had the Dundee Aces in the SB and his KQ beat me - back to 6 BB's. After going all in 2 or 3 times with absolutey f all he then found AK twice and beat decent players with AQ each time. This guy should be out - i'm not usually so annoyed about idiot play but he's now 2nd in chips with 19 left.

AK utg with 3 and a half BB's left was good enough to double against AQ so thats bought me a bit of time - one more double and i'm in with a good shot at the ft.
Desperate now - A4 from the cut off stole the blinds but living on borrowed time. Playing 7 handed - 14 left - A9 from utg plus one - called by BB's KJ and the JJ flop ensured I didn't even have a get out fluke clause. Bit gutted really - thought I deserved better there having avoided the worst of the muffs.

Ah well tomorrow's a new year and all that - well it will be by the time I post again - so merry 2008 to one and all - and gl.

tired and ill but half heartedly played the laddies 3 rebuy and a stars 5$ toureny ealier with no success. Slept for an hour and woke up just as a 2000$ added omaha PL hi lo was starting on Ladbrokes - with a 500$ bounty on Steve Davis. Haven't played much hi lo but it looked like a laugh. Finished a creditable 62nd out of 228 by having a pretty tight range of starting hands and at one point was 20/100 before seeing a few flops with must see hands and ended up hitting nothing. Got them in with a reasonable hand at the end but again hit nothing. Ended up costing me 40$ including re buys and add on which wasn't very sensible but I enjoyed it.
Also played a stars 8$ tourney but quickly gave up on it to concentrate on the Omaha.
Probably be my last games for a couple of days so hopefully the new year will bring a change of fortune.
Hahahahah - entered a 5$ turbo mtt muppet fest for a laugh - with 3 min blinds it's pretty much anything goes - not complaining as $358.53 is the biggest bankroll boost i've had for a while on Ladbrokes - just ironic that the biggest win for a while comes from the worst standard tourney. Might get pissed and play the graveyard to celebrate. Working tomorrow but fuck it.

GY was ok - saw a few flops early on but didn't hit - then had to fold QQ after an UTG 6xBB raise by a guy who I know to be a good player follwed by an all in by someone I didn't know with a lower stack. UTG turned over AK - it was that or KK AA knowing him so QQ turned out to be a good fold as I didn't want a race that early in a tourney with a decent blind structure and anyway he hit his A. Dead after that but doubled up when the SB made a routine raise and I pushed with A6 to his 55 and hit the 6. Doubled again with JJ on a low flop and was doing ok until it as folded to me in the SB - I have 10 BB's and all in hoping to steal or double - would have been happy either way except that my timing was off as the BB had AK. Prefer that to going out to a bad beat anyway.

Also watched forum mascot Mitchy in a pokerstars freeroll with over 4000 runners - was great fun watching him win - $15000 first prize but a deal made it $10000 - he appreciated the support from a few of us although he isn't quite as chatty at the table as on the forum. Can't say I really know anyone online but you get a fair idea of who people are and it was nice to see someone who's fundamentally a good guy take away a decent prize.

Well thats probably it for this year - off to the countryside tomorrow for 3 days piss up - possibly deserved as I haven't had a day off work since about the 19th Dec - finish work about 9 tomorrow so might stay home and play the sunday 100k and a private game thats going on on Stars but will probably piss off and forget about poker for a few days.

So happy 2008 and may all your dreams come true (apart from those ones about really weird stuff)

Can't be arsed writing much but just wanted to note down what's happened - played a 10 dollar freeze on stars - 1200 runners - 135 paid - hung around for a couple of hours but went out about 280th - no real opportunities or cards. Also played the forum game on Ladbrokes - 19 runners and all good players - big chip stack and slow blinds so it makes for a great game. Didn't get as many flop seeing hands as I would have liked but won a fair bit when my 99 hit it's set. Was just getting to the stage where I needed to muff when I was lucky enough to get AA and doubled up. After 3 hours i found myself heads up and a 3 to 1 chip dog. got them in with pocket tens after a 996 flop but Tony2005 who had been chip leader for a while had pocket sixes for a flopped full house - no complaints as he'd played well and deserved the win. these games aren't really about the money but 51$ for a 10$ investment was nice.

playing the 5$ rebuy on Stars and the 10$ rebuy on Laddies so will update in a bit.
Hmm - 2666 runners in the stars game - was about 600/1200 after nearly 2 hours when I found QQ in the SB - button calls - i raise - 8 4 2 flop - I bet - he raises and I put him all in - his pocket 8's had hit and that was the end of that - maybe should have folded to his raise but a flopped set is hard to get away from when you have a high pp - also he'd been a bit loose.

currently 33/109 in the laddies 10 rebuy - 278 runners with 30 paid so fingers crossed. Bugger. Out 34th. Stupid play probably and I won't enjoy looking back at this when I read it in a few weeks time but I was low stacked - 33/34 - with about 4 and a half BB left when I got the Scandi aces (Jack ten suited) in the SB - now i'm probably folding to any raise and calling if there are calls before I act but it was folded round to me and I pushed all in to lose to the BB's AK suited. He'd been pretty tight so I was expecting a fold or would have been happy to race a small pair. Really don't know how bad that was - could have done with the 40 odd dollars for cashing (30 invested with a rebuy and add on) but mtt's aren't about cashing - with 278 runners the decent money is in the top 3 so maybe I was right to push.
Ah well tomorrow's another day.

Very tired tonight and the bad beats are kicking in which doesn't help. 10$ freeze on stars got off to a bad start when JJ lost to Pocket tens - crippled me a bit then lost a race with AQ v 77 and that was that. Played the 10 rebuy that started just after I went out and couldn't get going - so when my QQ got beaten by the mighty KJ hitting a straight i decided to cut my losses and get out. Not going to start anything else tonight so that just leaves the pp freeroll and the 5$ second chance on Ladbrokes. Soon got bored with all the cash players on the freeroll and went out early. Played Ok in the 5$ 2nd chance - but very tired and disinterested and by the time I was about 75/85 from 400 runners I did something stupid - think it was all in from early position with QJ off or something similar. Wasn't too unhappy as i really didn't feel like playing.

Hmm - played a 30$ freeze on stars as it was the only tourney starting when I got in at 9am from work - bit above the level I should be playing bankroll wise but confident enough in my game so thougt i'd go for it. 180 runners - 18 paid.
Started slowly and lost a few chips - made some good folds as the field was small enough to do well without having to race. Got nicely back in it with a couple of blind steals followed by a double up with KK. I was about 45/70 with roughly 12 BBs when I found 77 in the sb and flat called - BB made a small bet so I called. Flop came 888 and I was pretty sure I was ahead as with a higher pair his initial bet would have been bigger - unless he had nines or tens and I wasn't going to let that put me off. I went all in as he had a big stack and didn't want him calling and hitting an overcard. He thought for a while and called with QJ off - J on river and that was that. I exited to general sympathy from 2 guys who had been discussing every hand played (chipgreed and perfect_read) - something I don't normally like but these two were doing it with the class that is normally lacked by know it alls who feel they have to criticise every play.

So, once again not unhappy with my play but nothing to show for it. An afternoon's kip followed by 3 hours work and hopefully I'll be back for more tonight.

Well came in from a wonderful evening's work to the ladbrokes xmas gift pp 3000 added freeroll - soon realised that i wasn't in the mood for poker when I saw that 1900 people had entered - most of them cash players - I hate cash games and i'm sure these guys - at least some of them - are good at what they do but I don't see what the fuck they are doing in MTT's - constant complaints of 'i'm bored' 'this takes too long' (my own sentiments when playing cash) etc were punctutated by calling big raises with shit and calling any size bet to ther river. I finally cracked and pushed all in on a Q high flop with JJ only for the table big stack / calling station to turn over Q10. To be honest I was glad to be out of it. Was also playing a 2.50$ freeze on stars - glad to be out of that too as I lost most of my stack early on when my 6x BB raise was called by the mighty J7 suited which hit his flush on the turn after calling a big bet on the flop.

Was pretty much giving up for the night but entered a 50$ freeze on Mansion - to be honest I can't really remember what happened but think I tried a bluff for big pot and it didn't work.

As for the rest of the night - well - ladbrokes first. I have a very small bankroll on there (about 30$) so can't really excuse 'playing' 3 X 3$ all in heads up sats to the graveyard. Didn't win one otherwise i'd currently be writing about how I played really well then didn't get a chance and finished just outside the money. Wow I even know how I do in hypothetical tournaments.

Continuing the sensible approach to bankroll management I then entered the 6$ quick blinds - 66 runners - sneaked on to the FT low stacked and left it as the winner - 118$ sounds like a million to me right now on Ladbrokes so i've now got something to play with on there. Still gonna have to play those 2$ stt's if only to finish off the series of ten I started.

Played 2 other stars tourneys tonight - the 5 rebuy which i somehow cashed in despite losing most of my hard earned stack when my early position raise with QQ was raised by the next guy with A9 - I called - he hit - crippled. I don't often give abuse in the chat box but made an exception. At least i cashed.

The other one was & 10$ freezout with 2285 runners. As I write it's been going 4 hours 40 mins and I am the extreme short stack - wahey got AK - now still very short stacked - 61 left but only the FT worth decent money.

There's something I really enjoy about these Stars mtt's - somehow it seems that decisions aren't automatic as they are elsewhere - each hand seems to require more on the spot analysis rather than an obvious response. Could also be the fact that i'm cashing regularly - something i'm starting to get suspicious about - this run of cashing in probably over 70 per cent of stars tourneys must be just a good run and down to positive variance.

Wahey - A9 utg looked very good with only 1 and a half BB's left and doubled against sb's 22. A few hands later i'm all in with AK from mid position and steal the not unconsiderable blinds.

I then find A10 in the BB - the sb is the only person left who has a lower stack than me so I call his all in - his A7 hits the 7 in the flop and once again it's goodnight etc. Still, 50th in such a big field isn't bad.

so merry xmas folks - no poker tomorrow as I'll be on a 15 hour shift explaining to the Sudanese refugees why they have to sleep outside so that the drunken French homeless can take all the beds. Cost of living is so low here that one or two decent cashes could see me giving up work for 6 months. Stars results seem to be encouraging in that respect but it's probably just variance and i'm shit at poker.

Just 2 mtt's today so far and cashed in both - Ladbrokes player point freeroll (yes i'm desperate on there) - came 30/586 or something similar for 6$ which i'm going to use to play the 3$ rebuy.

The other one was the sunday hundred grand on pokerstars nearly 20000 runners but managed to come 141st for about 178$ (10$ entry). Blinds increase every ten minutes in this so you need to keep up with it which I try to do by racing a bit more than I would do in a slower tourney. I did get into a couple of positions where i had a big enough stack to buy me time but didn't get anything I wanted to make a move with even against a smaller stack. With the stack dwindling and blinds and antes getting very intrusive I had lowered my range of all in hands - no point trying to see or play a flop in this tournament as it just doesn't happen - but every potential steal I was planning was foiled by someone raising before me.

Matters weren't helped when I was moved table - I had thought I had about 4 or 5 more hands with only one and a half BB's left but was moved into UTG with Q2 so had to wait for my BB. Was reasonably pleased to see 22 there but the only raiser had K9 soooooooooooooted and hit his 9 and it was game over do not pass go do not win 20000 and have a year off etc.

Used some of the winnings to play a 27.50$ freezout on stars to run simultaneously with the laddies 3 rebuy. Crashed out early in both though - tired and disinterested although i'm sure that would have changed with some luck or decent hands. Just as well really as I need the sleep.

Ffs just bubbled on a 10$ stars tourney with 1251 runners - 135 paid - i'm about 70 ish with a decent stack so i call a 3XBB raise with QQ - easy to get away if overcards on the flop which came 10 rag rag - matey checks so I get them in ahead of the A10 he calls with but he hit his 10 on the turn. Wouldn't mind but had a crap day half heartedly playing mtt's and until that i'd been disinterested and playing like crap. At least I played ok.

5$ rebuy on Mansion - didn't realise it was 5 minute blinds - came 31/950 ish though for 67$ so that was a bit of a laugh. Couple more coinflips won and I might have got myself a decent cash (only went out to a rivered straight).

Currently on break in 2 tourneys - 5$ rebuy on stars with 2428 runners - we just hit the money about 10 mins ago so time to gamble for a stack - i'm 280/419 but not worth laddering - FT is where the cash is.
Also playing the 3$ rebuy on Ladbrokes - playing it as a freezout coz i'm skint on there apart from what's set aside for boring myself silly on stt's. (won 4$ in the playerpointfreerollmuffingcashplayersdonkeyfest earlier so invested it in this)
26/78 left from 115 runners so might have a chance of FT.

Well nearly 4 hours into the stars game with 250 left and I was quite happy raising from mid position first to act with KK - even happier when the BB raised me and I instantly called. Slightly less happy when he turned over AA though. Still it keeps the bankroll going so I can play mtt's rather than stt's on there.

Hmm not sure if that was bad play or not when I just crashed out of the 3 rebuy. I have shit in the BB - can't remember what - SB calls and bets the minimum at a low flop - i raise just over half my stack with nothing convinced he'll fold as would happen 90% of the time but he raised me all in. I folded to leave myself extremely short stacked - 3BB's. Next hand I steal the BB with A3 suited then get AQ the hand after which runs into AK. Comments would be appreciated but I guess if anyone's reading this they'd rather do it anonymously - not criticising as thats what I do with other people's poker blogs. :-)

So roll on tomorrow and gn and gl.

Results of the Manic 2$ stt don't spunk all your cash on high buy in mtts challenge

Game 1 - 4th - blinds getting high lost Race AK v 66
Game 2 - 5th - outdrawn when all in with AK on A high flop - caller 10J hits straight
Game 3 - 7th - level 4 had no cards so dwindling stack - pushed with A10 suited ran into KK

not going great this.

Game 4 - 1st
Game 5 - 1st
Game 6 - 5th - ridiculous lack of concentration due to playing 2 mtts and 2 stts
Game 7 - 2nd
Game 8 - 3rd
Game 9 - 5th
Game 10 - 10th - KK all in pre lost to JJ

So - 23$ invested - (3$ rake) - total back - 30$

Not great but could be worse - gonna try another ten before I do anything else on Laddies.

Game 1 - 4th
Game 2 - 4th
Game 3 - 5th
Game 4 - 7th
Game 5 - 6th
Game 6 - 1st
Game 7 - 3rd
Game 8 - 6th
Game 9 - 5th
Game 10 - 3rd

23$ - return 18

Got to concentrate more but really can't be arsed. gonna have to play some more when i'm in the mood.

Ok next lot of games:

Game 1 - 2nd
Game 2 - 5th
Game 3 - 1st
Game 4 - 4th
Game 5 - 2nd
Game 6 - 2nd
Game 7 - 5th
Game 8 - 5th
Game 9 - 5th
Game 10 - 7th

23$ - returns: 28$

So, 69$ invested - 76 returned = 7$ profit.

Not going to make a fortune playing these - although I was giving them 100% of my attention all the time.

going to try 10 x 5$ next and try only to play when i'm 100% up for it.

Out of the GY 23/82 - was hanging in ok despite not having much to play with - the biggest pot I won was when I hit 2 pair on the flop after limping in with 12/1 odds with 10 8.

Had 6 BB's left (level had just gone up) when the big stack calling station called from early position with - I pushed all in with pocket tens (the same hand i'd folded 3 hands earlier after calling a small raise with 4 in the pot and an AJ4 flop)
Anyway he thought for a while and called with 66. 6 on flop and goodnight Manic. another perfect example of why not to play mtt's that cost over half your bankroll - something i've only just started doing. 35$ left now on Ladbrokes so some serious bankroll building needs to be done. Might as well set myself a challenge now - might help me with discipline tomorrow in case I start getting funny ideas about playing a 10$ rebuy or something.

So i'll set aside 10 of that for the Friday night forum game if there is one - think quite a few regulars are away so it might not happen and use the rest to play 10x 2$ STT which I shall record briefly here then see where I am after that. Mind you my stt play has been awful lately but hopefully I can do something at that level.

There's also the possibility that I might find someone who can transfer cash for me on Laddies in exchange for a roll on Mansion in which case I can carry on playing mtt's which are out of my range.

Now stuck playing a 5$ freezeout on stars which started at the same time as the GY. Would prefer to go to bed as I have a jobcentre interview tomorrow (despite having 2 part time jobs they are on at me to work more) but i'm in the tourney and will play it to the best of my ability. Currently 33/361 (1767 runners) so might take a while. At least there's plenty of stuff to watch on youtube - addicted to QI at the moment which i've never really seen having been away from Britain for 14 years.

OOOPS - up to 10/275 after a raise with 66 - one caller with about the same stack as me 10 9 4 flop so I bluff all in hoping he has A rag - he calls and turns over ...... 55 - bad bet and bad call or genius play from 2 people who put the other on AK? Possibly the former in a 5$ freeze on pokerstars. Back to 36/256 after tens lose to AQ but he was pretty small stacked so happy with my play. hardly got time to type the amount of hands i'm involved in - back to 17th after a very small stack called utg - i had 85 in BB and a low flop gave me second pair with my 5 - I checked then called his all in - he showed ace ten and got no help. Need to make FT to get 100$ though so this is probably a waste of valuable sleeping time.

Lol out in 149th after a pretty ridculous play - raised from early position with QJ off - KQ8 flop and my bluff was called. Probably better off with extra sleep than an extra 2 hours play so not exactly bovvered.

Well crashed out of the 5 rebuy on stars after 3 hours - can't remember a tourney where i've been so card dead and had so few opportunities but still nearly made the cash - JJ ran into big stacked KQ and thought i'd doubled until the Q on the river. Was doing ok in the 10$ freezout until a guy who had 1/3 of my stack went all in and with 3 left to act I went all in to isolate with my AQ - had his A8 dominated but hadn't counted on the BB's call with KK. Never mind can't win em all.

Bad news is they finished at 2:53am - leaving me just enough time to deposit another 70 on Ladbrokes to play the graveyard - bit worrying as I have now deposited 3 times in 3 days after not depositing since August. Also the first time that i'm showing signs of compulsive behaviour - although i've played a lot this year i've managed to keep within reasonable limits up until now. Ah well never mind - it's not as if I haven't paid the bills and I haven't got much else to spend it on as Xmas is pretty non existent for me here as I don't get the time off work to go back to England. Also playing a 5$ freeze on stars which should be pretty muppety - update later.

Great night for mad beats so far - 2nd hand into a 50$ freezeout on Mansion (1500 chips) and my 6xBB raise with AK was called. A47 rainbow flop so bet out 400 - called by a guy with 86 off who hit his gutshot on the turn and obviously called my all in. I'm not one of these people who calculates mathematically every call/move/bet I make but I think I can safely say I would never risk that amount of my stack on a 4 outer. Didn't make it anywhere in the 5$ 2nd chance on Laddies - hung around for a while but finished 89/400 odd.

Cashed in the Ladbrokes PP freeroll - 500 runners - of which I reckon about 80 per cent are cash players - plenty mad plays but easy enough to get through the field barring bad beats. Was getting into contention - about 60 left and I was 30th with about 14 BB's when I pushed all in with QQ to a raise from a player who can only be described as loose. He made a straight with his 10 7 suited and I bowed out unsurprised for about 4$. Playing a couple of games on Stars so will update later.

More total stupidity to report tonight - couldn't resist depositing another 100$ on Ladbrokes despite not really being able to afford it - and of course I played the GY again which is ridiculous with only a 100$ bankroll. Played well - took down one decent pot with a bluff when it was obvious no one had anything but crashed out just short of the cash in 15th when I had only 5 BB's left and the button raised my SB. Pushed all in with AJ and failed to hit against 88. Not disappointed with my play but really need to acquire some discipline or i'll be playing laddies freerolls soon.

Two tourneys on Mansion but no cashes. Only played one on Stars - a 5$ rebuy with over 2000 runners which at the time of writing has been running 5 hours and i'm 67th with 73 left. going to have to make a move soon but not desperate yet. Just doubled up when first to act from the button - Q10 not the best hand but with only 4 BB's left and antes eating away at my stack thought i'd get them in - got called by the BB with Q5 suited and he got no help from the board. Puts me up to 54/62 but still in the game. Dammit out in 56th when pushing all in with KQ suited - again first to act from the button. Called by A2 of the same suit by bigger stack and that was that. Had about 8 BB's at the time so not sure if I should have just raised - didn't have much fold equity but thinking about it was probably a rash move. Mind you I was 55/56 at the time and the prize structure was only getting more interesting when it got down to 18 so maybe i was right. Either way i now have 250$ on stars from an initial deposit of 150 - not bad as I only play mtts.

Well that was very fucking clever I don't think. That 100$ I deposited that I can't afford disappeared pretty fucking quickly - first 40 on the GY and took the rest to a cash table where KK got beat by 77. kerzqimojfojfqzdc,osk;!fcewirveowi,w!cdilvw,!iseorùvoàrwùopcdx;!brw!vicwkfdo,:

well bollocks to poker is about all i've got to say tonight. Deposited 100$ on ladbrokes and either got them in ahead or ran QQ into KK or KK into AA etc. Not to mention the bad beats on Mansionin the 50$ freeze - KK taken down by the mighty A4 - and doing great on stars 5$ rebuy - 43/222 in a 2000 runner tourney until KK again loses to A8.

So bollocks gl and gn.

Well bollocks. That sucked. Got on to the final table of the GY third in chips. Then I found AK in the SB - small raise from the cut off who is 2nd - button folds - I think about pushing but call as does the BB. K rag rag rainbow flop so I bet about half my stack - BB folds and i'm raised all in by the guy with more chips than me. Now his range of hands is enormous here but the last thing I was expecting was AA. :-( :-( :-(

Out in 10th for $37.50 - less than the buy in. Not too chuffed as I was looking forward to a good bankroll booster. So the ladbrokes account is looking pretty low - to be honest I shouldn' have entered a 40$ buy in mtt with only 80$ in my account but i've cashed in over half of the mtt's i've played in the last 2 or 3 days and I was feeling confident.

An interesting comment was made to me the other night by a Ladbrokes player who I don't 'know' personally but who is a very good player always hanging around the business end of late night mtt's. The comment was basically that I was a very tight player and that something or other was 'as deadly as one of Manicboy's hands' - which I took to mean that i'm getting a reputation as a tight aggessive player. Fair comment - I do play mainly ABC poker and it's nice that people think that - because I am capable of winning hands when I don't have much and sense weakness - did it a couple of times when low stacked in the GY tonight. The tight image does help when you do bluff - guess it's all a question of timing.

Either way another day's poker over and i'm still not rich but happy with the way i'm playing and hopeful that a biggie is round the corner - possibly on Mansion as I have the roll to play the higher buy ins there - although tomorrow i'll be looking to build back up on Ladbrokes.

Will be working a lot in the run up to xmas - i've got 4 part time jobs and would love it if poker became the 5th. On the whole i'm encouraged - with my first year of poker coming to an end i'm slightly up overall so here's to a profitable festive period.

So good luck at the tables and sweet dreams one and all.

Well I guess i'm not too good at keeping this blog going when things aren't going well - not that it's been going too badly but it's much better to come on and have a huge win to announce. Sadly that hasn't been the case so just here to keep a record of what i've been up to - something to show the grandchildren if I ever meet a bilingual poker playing girl with a job and a car whose dad owns a pub and obviously is a Beatles and Manics fan and who wants me to live in her house in the country and play poker all day.

Bit of a nightmare on Ladbrokes but it's pretty much my own fault if I don't have a bankroll - 400$ from a couple of decent cashes last week has turned back into 40$ - although i'm currently 13/18 in the graveyard tourney with blinds low enough to give me a chance.

Main problem has been bankroll management - temptation to play the bigger tournies when I shouldn't. Played the GY 3 nights in a row - KK ran into AA one night - pushed to a small raise from the button when medium to low stacked with 66 another time only to run into KK. Can't remember the third one but the point is that variance dictates that even when you make the right moves you aren't going to win every time - I should be concentrating on lower buy in mtt's as my stt play doesn't seem to be paying off either. Cashed in the 25$ freezout the other night but 49$ for 25 invested is hardly life changing.

Was about 25/41 on the bubble of the 5$ 2nd chance on saturday night and looked down, well across really, at AK - put in a standard 4 or 5 times BB raise and was called by the big stack. Flop had a K on it so I pushed all in and the big stack called and hit his flush draw. Question is should I have folded into the money. Pretty gutted after about 3 hours for nothing but what's the point in folding while your ahead? Could have done with the 14$ for 40th place lmao but can't be unhappy with that - after all I want to win tournaments not just cash in them.

Cashing in mtt's seems to be the story of my life on pokerstars - been playing 3 or 4 a day - usually about 2000 runners and have been cashing consistently enough to keep the bankroll stable but lacking that extra edge to get towards the final tables. Mansion poker's the same - played 3 today - cashed in a 30 freezout and a 50 freezout - the latter pretty disappointing as I would have been looking good for the FT if my AK hadn't lost to A10. Anyway - gonna concentrate on the laddies GY and will update later if I get in the cash.

This report comes to you live from the end of a 14 hour poker session and from the wrong end of a bottle of whiskey. As I type i'm on the FT of the ladbrokes G/Y tourney (40$ entry, 70 odd runners) and on the break after the third hour so more from that live and as it happens. Played really well at the start of the day and finished just off the cash in a few MTT's - not through being short stacked but by being aggressive near the bubble. OK it didn't work but made a change from limping short stacked into the money. Played so badly towards the middle of the day that I even tried to unregister from a tourny on stars but it was too late and I duly donked off my chips. Played Deliiight's Xmas tourney on Ladbrokes - an added money tourney donated by Deliiight the Scandi star of ladbrokes but hardly made my presence felt despite hanging in for over 2 and a half hours.

Got my buy ins back for the day on stars when I cashed in the 5$ rebuy - also qualified via player points for a rebuy muppet fest with one package to the EPT Dortmund tourney to be won - finished 31/180 odd in the craziest tournament i've played - people rebuying at 20$ a
time to throw them in with any 2 cards. Will be watching the event with interest as some of those people have no business on a poker table whatsoever. I know it was a turbo rebuy but some of the plays defied all known mathematics.

Just went out of the GY in 5th for 211$. Arrived at the final table in about 5th but had no cards at all. Usually I can find an opportunity to hang in without cards but had nothing playable for about 45 mins. Managed to stick around and only went out when my JJ lost to A rag. Still at least that's another profitable day and i'm still in the game.

By the way if anyone reads this let me know what you think - if not it doesn't matter - I only started this as a response to a thread on the forum asking if blogs improved peoples games. I'm still not sure if it does or not but at least it's a record of what's happening.

So gn, gl and good dreams.

Pretty crap weekend really - the 200$ i'd worked for on Ladbrokes disappeared - couldn't even cash in enough ten pays fives to make a profit!! Couple of minor cashes on Mansion and played the 150k gtd seeing as a have a large free bankroll that I can't cash out yet but went out roughly 250/850 when I pushed with 77 from the small blind only to run into a well played AA (min raise from button) and that was that.

Managed to get 150$ deposited on stars and played the sunday hundred grand. 20000 runners and barring bad beats not too difficult to get towards the money. Managed it this time and had a reasonable stack to progress with until I found 99 in the SB - all folded to me and the BB called my all in with A6 and hit the A. Finished around 1100 for 40$. Had a couple of other cashes on stars in 10 and 8$ freezouts but nothing that gave the bankroll a significant boost.

Had about 30$ in my ladbrokes account so when I came in from a hard evening's work telling homeless people that there are no hostel places available and they have to sleep outside I dcided to play the 5$ 2nd chance with 385 runners. Not much happened in the first hour but things picked up after the break and an hour or so later I was about 70/140. My KK then held up in a 3 way all in against 10 10 and QQ and I was suddenly up in the top ten. Ended up going into the FT about 4th in chips and when we were 4 handed there was one huge chippie and 3 of us playing for 2nd place. Unfortunately my AQ in the SB ran into the chippie's 99 and I finished 4th for 228$. I celebrated by playing the Graveyard tourney but finished just out of the cash in 14th - I must learn to make moves earlier to avoid becoming too low stacked but sometimes you just don't get the opportunity. One added benefit of playing the GY was that I also played the 6$ quick blinds (I concentrate much better when playing 2 tables) which I won for 108$.

So I now have a bit to play with on Ladbrokes and with a whole day in front of me will be looking to boost that roll even further.

just a quick update on the grinding - played about 15 ten pays five stt's today and losing only 2 got my laddies roll up to 220 at close of play from 11$ yesterday morning. Going to try and resist the temptation to play to many mtts and try and get some cash for xmas. (yeh right, by tomorrow night i'll be pissed and playing all the medium buy in tourneys. ) At least I warned myself. Gonna stop now, getting confused.

Poker took a bit of a back seat at the weekend as I flew across to England before being driven to the depths of the Welsh valleys on a surprise visit to freak out my Mum on her 60th birthday. A successful evening all round especially as my Aunt is a fireworks expert who was one of the people in charge of the Liverpool 800th birthday display which is well worth checking out at fantasticfireworks.co.uk - wasn't exactly much of a challenge for her to set up a 5 minute show in the pub car park. Heavy drinking all round ensued and despite the usual drunken arguments which are easily swept under the carpet the next day a good time was generally had all round.

Poker accounts are not looking too good with the exception of Mansion poker which I am trying to leave alone until i've worked out how to withdraw. Pokerstars account is zero and Laddies is on about 16$ and as I can't really justify depositing i'll have to ignore pokerstars for a while.

The plan on Ladbrokes is to play the dreaded ten pays five stt's until I build a roll of 200$ so i'm not likely to enjoy playing much but I guess you have to grind it out sometimes. Shame I can't play the Laddies forum xmas events but work dictates that I could only play the 3 least enticing games anyway so never mind.

I'm still trying to work out where my roll went on ladbrokes - a lot was wasted on sats to the bigger tournaments and as the roll was decreasing I kind of assumed I was due for a decent cash which just didn't happen - I didn't do anything stupid but some bad play and bad beats put me into this situation so I guess i'd better get on with it.

Time to try and remember what i've been up to pokerwise today. It's as much the purpose of this blog to help me remember what went right or wrong as anything else.

Off work today so had more time to play than I have done lately. Started off with a pokerstars challenge - a couple of people have been funding these and though it was about my turn to have a go - especially as I could do with a bankroll on there. The idea is to play four 45 player $3.50 turbo sit n gos and move up from there - refunding the benefactor once you get to 113$. No luck though as I finished 22nd, 16th, and 13th twice. Maybe i'll have to deposit after all.

Couple of tourneys on Laddies - crashed out nowhere near the money in a 10$ hi stack but cashed in the 3$ rebuy - something like 32/400 runners but only got about 16$ for it so waste of a few hours really.

Made up for it all by entering a 5$ rebuy on Mansion with my new freely acquired bankroll. Didn't realise it was a turbo with blinds going up every 5 minutes and with over 650 runners was thinking it was a bit of a waste of time but kept myself in it and 3 hours later was on the final table. Went out in 4th for 597$. :-D :-D

Will have to get my head round the withdrawal procedure tomorrow.

Thinking I was playing well i entered the Laddies GY tourney despite my bankroll screaming at me not to - everything going great with half the field gone and an average stack until I raise from the SB with AQ. BB flat calls and on the Q35 flop calls my all in and showed pocket 3's. Going to need a serious commitment to bankroll building on there and hope i've got the patience for it - the ten pays five stt's which I can't stand playing are calling me.

Anyway got to go and oil the cat etc - gn sweet dreams and merry poking.

Didn't play much this weekend apart from the pokerstars hundred grand and the Mansion 150k gtd, both on Sunday evening. Crashed out 3012th out of 18000 odd in the stars game - just out of the money but managed to finish 43/843 on Mansion. Was quite pleased as I lost over half my stack early on when the nut flush ran into 4 jacks and I somehow managed not to give away all my chips. Tripled up with tens after waiting a while low stacked then kept it going from there. With 90 places paid I was resigned to not cashing when 127/127 but somehow managed to stick around and doubled up twice in succession shortly after the bubble before my AK was called by the big stack in the BB with A9 and he hit his 9 on the turn. What with my laddies bankroll diminishing it looks like i'll be playing a bit more on Mansion in future. collecting 555$ for my troubles of which i'll get a roll of 395$ once the cash put into a pot for a saver gets dished out.

Spent the rest of the evening poker free but kept an eye on Sparks43 in the pokerstars hundred grand I had gone out of - always good to watch players when they go this deep in such a big field and he was unlucky to go out to a 3 outer in 22nd place. Was interesting watching the chat box as he had about a dozen members of the ladbrokes forum cheering him on - not quite sure what the table full of yanks made of it - especially Murph's running commentary on his Xbox world cup football campaign (wp btw Murph) - but with what i'd been smoking it was pretty surreal.

It's not working

Going to give poker a miss for a while - probably only a few hours ;-) as my game's getting a bit stale and even when I do manage to play well i'm getting outdrawn.

Played the 2nd superstars semi just now and having built up a reasonable stack I was pleased to get some chips in the middle with pocket tens on a 9 high flop by calling an all in from a desperate short stack who showed AJ and hit the J on the turn.

Was still in good shape and feeling confident until it was folded round to me in the SB where i put in a 4xBB raise with AJ - the BB (another short stack) put me all in and although I thought I might be behind I definitely had the odds to call. BB showed K5 so i was reasonably happy when the J came on the flop only for him to hit his K on the turn.

Now short stacked myself I missed the opportunity to get some chips when I had J8 in the BB and there were two 8s on the flop. Unfortunately my screen was frozen as Ladbrokes software clearly lacks the ability to work properly and I was powerless to act. Not that Ladbrokes give a toss.

Got them all in when the SB flat called (I had K2 in the BB) and a K appeared on the flop only for him to show pocket aces. The only good thing about the whole game was that i played well. I'll take this opportunity to thank Richlizard for organising the competition which was great to play in despite the disappointing finish.

A friend of mine's coming over from England for the weekend which is pretty good timing as I definitely need a break from poker although i'll still be playing the Sunday tourney on pokerstars and the 150k gtd on Mansion thanks to their kind offer of a free entry.

So gl all and happy pokering.

From despair to where?

Pretty bad day all around really - came in from work to play the ladbrokes forum superstars semi final which co-incided with the unfortunate demise of England's footballers in the 2008 Euro championships. Absolutely gutted and despite the obvious problems with football ( players being paid enough per week to feed an entire small town in most parts of the world) live sport is still the most fabulous live theatre that exists and any one of those overpaid players would quite happily swap a years wages for the chance to play in euro 2008 next summer.

The superstars game went ok - was lucky enough to hit a lot of flops from BB/SB and only had to bluff once to keep myself in it. Went out in 3rd whilst extremely low stacked and lost the race I had hoped for when committed myself with 44. Fun tournament played in the right spirit (apart from the odd bad loser ;-)) and looks like i might even qualify for the final with a reasonable performance and a bit of luck tomorrow which is more than i'd hoped for as i've never played anything like this before.

What with the England game and my alarmingly decreasing bankroll I didn't play much else apart from a 3$ rebuy where QQ lost to JJ and the Graveyard tourney on Ladbrokes (40$ buy in) where my re raise with QQ was called by A10 - his stack wasn't much bigger than mine so can only assume he put me on A9. Makes a change at least to go out to bad beats rather than the bad decisions i've been making lately.

Just when I thought the bankroll was going to be bolstered in the 6$ quick blinds bingo fest and with 8 left on the final table I found myself looking down at QQ so got my chips in only to be called for a 3-way all in by AA and......................................AA

Somehow I failed to hit a Q and bowed out with my head held high after an exchange of chat banter with some Scottish gloaters.

So onwards and upwards despite a fear of heights (I have to go on an aeroplane next Friday) help help help i'm scared, and gl, peace and love and may the cards be with you.

In the beginning

Well I guess this is as good a time as any to start a blog - I enjoy reading those of other people so hopefully what I have to say will amuse/entertain/ make people think.

I won't claim to be a great poker player but will start this off with a résumé of whats happened so far.

Having led a bit of a Bohemian lifestyle I was finally introduced to the wonders of the wwwwweb pretty much exactly one year ago - Nov 2006.

Having played cards since about the age of 5 - mainly 13 card brag (or Crash as my Dad's mates called it) I was naturally intrigued by the idea of online poker and an initial win of $3:10 in a Ladbrokes poker freeroll turned into over 400$ by the end of April 2007.

Playing about 30 hours per week this free bankroll allowed me to gain a lot of experience - in 4 months I went from being somebody who thought that A10 UTG was an immediate all in to being competitive in most mtt's I entered.

That 400 was soon lost but coming back from a July on the road in England with the band I somehow ended up playing tea chest for a deposit of 200$ turned into a $2500 roll on
Ladbrokes - nothing spectacular but some decent cashes in the late night $10 rebuy and winning the graveyard 40$ freezout were the highlights.

As I write this i'm pretty much back down to being level for the year having had a run of bad play and bad beats but hope to be updating this blog soon with tales of wonder and awe and a central theme of poker.

So gl all at the tables, peace, love and sweet dreams one and all.