So Ridiculous

The last two days i must have played around 20 hours online. For half of that time i have played like a right idiot and how i ended up winning yesterday is anyone's guess. At one point i was up £6000 from playing NL Holdem, only to blow £11000 playing Omaha in about two hours. I deserved to lose the way i was playing to be fair, but i ended up playing someone heads up for two hours on two £10/£20 tables and managed to get myself together and put him on the biggest tilt i have ever seen and won £11000 of him.

It seems that my brain doesn't allow me to play two games well in the same day. I seem to be playing well at the NL Holdem at the moment, but very badly at Omaha. I had turned £2000 on the £10/£20 into £7000 yesterday and £1000 into £4000 on the £10/£20 till i gifted Dpommo a couple of grand on the £5/£10 table. Some recent £4000 plus pots that i have won/lost.

£10/£20 NL Holdem - 6 handed. I raised to £70 with 66 and got called by Roland De Wolfe in the small blind. I have just under £3000. Flop 267 with two hearts. He checks, i bet £120. He makes it £300. I decide no messing about... all in. He calls in a flash with 77. Never lost with top set over middle set in Holdem, it wasn't fun.

£10/£20 NL Holdem - 6 handed. I limped UTG with AA. Roland makes it £100. One caller in the blinds, i just call. Flop JQ2 all diamonds. I have the Ace of diamonds. I check. He bets £300. Other guy passes. I go all in and he calls with JK with the king of diamonds. Turn and river blanks.

£10/£20 NL Holdem - 6 handed. I raise in the cut off with 55. Small blind calls. Flop J95. He bets out £200. I call. Turn 3. He goes all in for £1800. I call instantly and he has QQ. River blank.

£10/£20 PL Omaha - 6 handed. Ridiculous hand this one. There is a raise and a reraise and its £200 to play. I call with 5AQK double suited. Flop 459 rainbow. Four players check to me. Bluff time. I bet £1000. Short stack calls and leaves himself with £500. Turn T. I can't pass so put him all in. He calls with 678J. River a 2 and my pair of fives win the pot.

£10/£20 PL Omaha - 5 handed. UTG raises to £70. One caller. I make it £300 with AAT3. Three callers. Flop 446. Aggressive player who always represents trips on flops like that bets £1200. No messing about i reraise and put him all in for £2900. He calls. Oops. He has 4357. Turn 3. River an Ace. Very lucky.

£10/£20 PL Omaha - 5 handed. I have £7000 going in to this hand. I call £150 preflop with three other players with 779T. Flop 7J3 rainbow. Original raiser who has £1200 in front of him bets £600. One caller. I make it £2400. guy who bet £600 passes. Other guy goes all in and has me covered. Does he have JJxx? hmmmm. I reluctantly passed and he showed JJxx. Phew.

£10/£20 PL Omaha - 5 handed. £200 to play. I call with 4567. Three other players. Flop 568. Checked to me and i bet £800. Check raiser goes all in for £1700. I call. He does have 79xx and no lucky pair up for me.

£10/£20 PL Omaha - 2 handed. So many big hands against the guy i won £11000 off but this was the biggest. I reraised preflop to £150 with AAKT one suit. Flop TJ2 with two diamonds. He checks. I bet £150. He makes it £450. I call. Turn 8... no diamond. He bets £1000. I call. River Q diamonds. He goes all in for £2300. I call and he has the king flush.

£10/£20 PL Omaha - 2 handed. Well if i thought i tilted badly.... I reraise preflop with 9JQK double suited. Flop KQ2. He checks, i bet £350. He calls. Turn 3. He checks. I bet £1000. He goes all in for £2000. I call. He shows K32T. Mmmmmm.

EPT Baden

Firstly, this tournament was superb. I know i had complained about Barcelona and the London EPT events, but Baden was different class. The structure was great... all the blind levels were there. They changed the clock to 60 minutes after a few levels. Then the played Level nine twice for 120 minutes. After that they switched to a 75 minute clock for the second day. It wasn't just the structure it was the whole feel of the tournament. They had set up a big flag parade before the start .... the food was superb. Drinks were free. There was so much room for all the tables.... i could go on.

As for my tournament. I played much better than i did in the other EPT events. I just couldn't pick up any cards and with two calling stations either side of me, bluffing wasn't that much of a good option.

I did get to 16000 after this hand. UTG raised to 600 (blinds were 75/150). I had QQ and just called in the SB. The BB called as well. Flop 227. I check, BB checks, original raiser bets 1000. I make it 2000. Turn a 9. I checked, and he checked. The river was a 5. I decided to make a big bet and hoped to get called bt TT or JJ which is what i had him on. I bet 3500. He called with JJ.

I survived all the way to Level 9 without ever going above 16000 or below 7000. With about 45 left i was playing all in poker. Blinds were 600/1200 and my stack was just 7600. I needed to double up. Twice i moved in with AQ and actually hoped for a caller. Everyone passed. Then i picked up AT. I was ready to move all in if it passed to me on the button. The cut off raised to 5000. I thought i may have still been in good shape or if not a coin flip against a pocket pair under ten so moved in. He had JJ and it stood up. Think i finished 44th out of 180.

The Scandanavians seem to be tearing up the fields at the EPT events. Everyone in the final is from Sweden, Denmark, Finland or Norway. The average age must be around 25.

So what am i doing? Flying to play in the Swedish Open next week to take them on in their own back yard. Should be interesting, i'm going to armed with plenty of Euros for the cash games.

Off to Baden

Just decided a few hours ago that i am going to Baden in Austria, to play in the next EPT event. Wish i had booked earlier as the price of flights have gone through the roof.

I am even leaving my laptop behind, so it will be live cash games to keep me entertained if i get knocked out early.

Haven't been to Austria since i went skiing about 15 years ago, and i have never been to Vienna so i am looking forward to the trip.

London EPT Event - I hate AK

Well that didn't exactly go as plan.

It was AK that did me in. Not a big all in coup preflop but i had it 8 times in about 16 hands. Wow thats form some might say but not when you lose 7 of those times. It became a running joke on the table.

I started ok and ran my chips up to 12000 after level 1. It was all downhill from there. One hand against an all in merchant was my big chance. He limped and i checked in the BB with JdQc. Flop TKA with two diamonds. I check and he bets 500. I call. He had moved all in on huge overbets a number of hands so maybe i can tempt him to do it again. Turn 4c. Now i decide to bet 500 to try and make it look like i am buying a free card. He pushes all in. YES. No - he has the nuts as well.

I made one bad call. Started this hand with 9500 ish. Blinds 100/200. I limped UTG with AdQd. All around to the one guy who made it 1000. I call. Flop JhKh2d. I check with the intention of folding. He checks. Turn 7. Again, i am going to check if he bets. He checks. River Th giving me the top straight. This player has called alot of hands down so i decide to bet 2300 hoping he calls with a pair. He think for a while then makes it 4600. The thinking should have set alarm bells off but then i decided to call. If i win the hand i have 15500, and if call and lose, 4000. Is that a call i have to make?

There was no recovery to be made and i was out shortly after.

As for EPT Baden next week. Even though i have registered and paid 190 euros, i still haven't decided whether to travel. I was also very annoyed with the Vic management team just prior to the start of the EPT event, when someone says they are 99% sure never believe them. I posted what happened here. I just knew it would happen.

£1000 PL Omaha

I decided to give the tournament a go despite thinking the structure wasn't exactly player friendly.

Had an interesting table to say the least... Jan Boubli, Mafews (big net player) who I have probably played more against that any live player I know, Steve Vladar, Sonny Nijran, John Gale (who seems to stalk me wherever I sit), Willi Tann and another couple of players I don't know by name. I got really lucky early on against Willie. Blinds of 50/100. Few limpers and Willie makes it 600 from from late position. I call as do the others limpers. Flop A49. I had put Willie on AAxx but it got checked to me on the button. Now I convince myself he either has AKQJ or KKQQ or something like that. So I bet 1600. He moves in for 3200 after the others pass and I call. Oops... he does have AAxx but of course the 2 pops up on the turn to give me the nut straight.

Lost my chips on this hand but I must say "I WAS RIGHT"

Not with the play in particular, but with the discussion afterwards.

A few limpers and I had quite a lot of chips so made it 600 to play with 4578 one suit. Tight player to my left raised the pot leaving him with about 5000 chips. Now I know he has Aces. Everyone else passes. I think then decide I can take a flop and get away from it easily enough. Flop 67J rainbow. I put him all in. He calls immediately. He has AAQK one suit and calls. I have any 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 or 9. All of which practically kill the hand dead. 19 cards in all.

Turn and river are evil for my hand and I lose a 16000 chip pot.

Cue some friendly banter between me, mafews and sonny about my odds when I move in. At first I said 70/30 in my favour and they laughed. In fact, Sonny was willing to bet me £10000 that it wasn't over 60%.

The more I thought about it I was convinced it was nearer 70%. Well here it is... straight from the Hendon Mob calculator.

My hand was 69.47% chance of winning after the flop.

Its the EPT main event draw today at 2.30pm. Fingers crossed i get to play today.

Wow Part 2

I managed to win the £250 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. So chuffed... i love tournaments again! :-)

I can't really remember that many hands.. well a few from the final mainly. Day 1 was a bit of a grind. Had a table full of tight players except for John Gale to my left who is was involved in alot of hands and he built up a healthy stack. Despite talking a good game (I'd had a few drinks), i think must have only raised about five hands the entire evening preflop. I just can't bring myself to raise with trash in Hi/Lo as you always get callers and i wasn't seeing many good cards.

I didn't rebuy and i can remember winning two big hands. First one, i ended up in a three way pot with A2T4 ds against Gryko and one other guy. All my chips in preflop as i was short. Me and Gryko had the nut straight with a card to come but i made the Ace flush to scoop. I think i had about 9000 when Richard Ashby aka Chufty raised or limped in early position and moved half my chips in with AAJ6. It flopped 24T. Hardly ideal, but i was committed. He had A3xx. Luckily the board paired and a high card on the river doubled me up. I managed to get up to 40000 at one point. However the blinds were 2000/4000 and i was soon back down to 20000 by the time we reached the final table.

Final table had Woody Deck who came second in the last one, Ian Turner the winner of the last one, John Gale, Greg Raymer, and Chandra who is one of my Vic boks, and a few others i don't know the names of. The blinds were 2000/4000 for day 2 so i had hardly any play with my 20000 chips (5 BB). I decided the first semi decent hand i would move in. I must have been all in about 15 times throughout the final table and survived, getting lucky twice. I was in huge trouble with seven left when i committed my last 28000 with KKT4 and faced AAxx, and i made Kings over on the turn.

I never amassed a big stack but whenever i moved in and i was called, my hand prevailed. I got very lucky against Woody once. I had KJT4 in the SB and called the big blind which was 6000. He raised 12000 and i called. Flop J23 rainbow. I hated my hand but as over a third of my chips were already in the pot i decided to gamble. He had AAxx and i made two pair and split the pot.

With four remaining me, Chandra, Woody and John Gale all had similar chips. Chandra then raged a path of destruction and outdrew Woody and John and we were heads up. I had 90000 and he had about 350000. My tactic was to try and play as many flops as possible. Blinds were 4000/8000.

I made up the SB on the button with QQ52. He raised. My hand is ok heads up so i call. Flop Q55. What a hit. He checked surprisingly and so did i. Turn a J. He checked. I put a small bet of 20000 out and he passed. Damn.

I won the blinds a few times when we got involved in a huge pot. I had 160000 by now to his 280000. I had 39JK ds. I limped again. He raised. I thought about passing but decided to see a flop. Flop AT2 all diamonds to give me the Jack flush. He bet 48000 and i moved in. He called. He had a an A and a low draw. Turn and river both high and i scooped a huge pot with my flush.

It wasn't long before it nearly ended. He raised on the button and i called with A3TQ with A flush draw in spades. He raised. I took a flop which was 9T3 two spades. I checked and he bet the pot and i moved in. He called with 9K25. So my two pair was in great shape. Turn 6 spades to give me the nut flush. River a low to split. I feared the tide had turned again.

I think it was the next hand i found my best starting hand of the whole tournament AA2K. I limped hoping he would raise the blinds as usual. He did. I put him all in and he called with KK94. Please no case King. He missed and i picked up the first prize and the trophy.

I probably have missed out loads of key hands but there were so many that its a bit of a haze. When i blogged here i said one of my main aims in the next six months was to win a ranking tournament. To have done it so quickly after setting the target feels very good, especially in PL Hi/Lo Omaha.

My tournament form hasn't been that great in the last few months so hopefully things will get better from here.

Wow

I managed to make the final table of the £250 Omaha Hi/Lo. This has been some kind of personal mission of mine since i have been so unlucky here and here in the last two of these events..... it doesn't even matter if i go out eighth or ninth which seems very likely as i have only about 7 big blinds when i return. When playing hand for hand with ten players left i lost about half my stack due to the size of the blinds. I passed some hands i probably should have played but finishing 10th would have forced me to retire from Hi/Lo tournaments forever.

Greg Raymer was also there and made the final nine players.

My run finally ended on the tables of Betfair. Dropped £4500 on Monday which is ok considering the form i had been in of late. It was due to happen sooner rather than later i suppose.....

Run continues... but only just

I played yesterday for a few hours on the £5/£10 NL Holdem and $10/$20 PL Omaha tables.....

I was hitting cards big style in the NL Holdem... well compared to whenever i play tournaments these days i was. Playing six handed i hit a queen flush, king flush v lower flushes both times. Had set over set... higher straight over smaller straight! I was down to £450 from my starting £1000 so was happy to finish up with £1800.

The PL Omaha it was an extremely strange session. Four handed. There was an absolute lunatic playing that i have never played with before and he did get me on tilt i have to admit... i did make one call i was very pleased which i will come to. I don't often brand players lunatics, but i defy anyone who has the pleasure of facing this player to think otherwise.

- I lost $2000 almost immedietly. Called a raise with 79TJ double suited. Flop 89J with two of my suit. Second nut straight, flush draw and top two pair all in v bottom set. Turn K. River K.

- Reloaded again for $2000. Held A678 with A flush draw in hearts. Flop 59Q with two hearts. All got in again and lost to a full house. Fair enough.

- Reload number three. Built up to $3000 when this happened. I held 5QKA preflop. Call a raise before the flop on the button. Flop 55A. Original raiser bets $200. I make it $600. He calls. Turn T. He bets $600. Hmmm i call. River 9. he bets $800. I call. He shows ATT9. I may have typed lucky fish into the chatbox. Oops.

- Managed to get back up to $3600 again. Maniac got me again. I held TTA9. Bare Ace hearts. I raise. He reraises. I call. Flop T45 with two hearts. He checks. i bet $400. He calls. Turn 9 hearts. He checks. I bet $1000. He check raises me another $2000. Very irritated by that hand. I pass.

- I was now sitting on about $2000 and the maniac had $8000. Most of which was my money. I made $1000 of him when he couldn't lay down Aces on a 567 flop. I then called him down with the King flush when he bet flop, turn and river. He had the 7 flush. I was up to $4000.

- Probably the key hand of the session. I held 9dTdQhKh. He made it $90 on the cut off. I made it $200 on big blind. He called. Flop 2hJhKc. A decent flop for my hand. I bet $300. He calls. I put him on some kind of draw. Straight draw or flush draw. He wasn't the slowplaying type so i could rule out a set immedietly. Turn 2c. Not a great card. I still think my King may be winning and he may pass to the scare card. So i bet $500. He calls. River a Qc to bring the backdoor flush. Horrible card for me. I check. He bets $1300 into a pot of $2010. I am losing to any flush, ATxx, any house and even a rag 2. I quickly process the information in my head and am convinced he had a busted Ace flush draw in hearts. It was a question of whether he had a Ten with it. I call. He shows 3c6s5hAh and i win a pot of $4610 with the small straight. There are very few times i would make that call, but after playing with that opponent for two hours i just had to call.

- The hand that wiped him out came not so long after. I held JJQK and reraised him preflop from the button. Flop T55. He checked. I bet $400. He calls. Turn J. He checks. I bet $400 again. He calls. River 8. He bets $2000. I go all in. He calls and mucks.

Considering i was in for $6000 i was very pleased to finish with $9000.

Today i think i am going to play a few tournaments just for a change.....

Next week is the Vic festival. Normally i aim to play in as many tournaments as possible. Not this time though. The £1000 NL Holdem just doesn't have a structure that appeals to me and the £1000 PL Omaha has been made a one day event apparantly due to the start of the EPT on Friday. A £1000 tournament a one day affair? You can make your own minds up about that.

I will play in the £250 Hi/Lo again. I obviously want to build up a huge stack and go out to a miracle on the bubble like has happened the last two times i have played it. Playing the £3000 EPT main event as well. After the Vic festival i fly directly to Austria to play in the 4000 Euro EPT main event in Baden as well. I may play the Gutshot main event as well if the Vic EPT doesn't go to plan. I came 3rd in the last festival main event and i could do with some of that form returning.

Insane Form

I am on a run at online poker like nothing i have ever had in my life at the moment. After i blogged here on September 4th with my six month results, things have just got better and better. Playing $10/$20 PL Omaha 90% of the time, my figures since that day for when i have played are +$2070 per hour. I mostly play one or two tables, so i work it out that i have been winning between 60-80 big blinds per hour.

I am almost afraid to play as the run must end with some horrible losses surely. I have won 16 days on the trot when i have played which is just completely ridiculous. Also since i had my worst ever online day which i posted here, i have had 24 out of 26 winning days. This madness must end. At such a high variance game such as Omaha the swings can't just keep going up and up.

After i wrote my poker blog yesterday i had a couple of sessions. The first on the £10/£20 NL Holdem and the second multitabling at Omaha. I won £6000 by the end of the day.

The £10/£20 NL Holdem

- I started with £1750. I was treading water for about an hour and had £1850 in front of me when this happened. I called a raise to £40 with 4h5h and four of us saw a flop of 2d3d8s. I bet £45 and on player check raised it to £120. I called. Turn the Ah to give me the nuts. He bet £200. I thought about slowplaying then decided not to. So i made it £666. He moved in and i called. He showed 88 for a set and it didn't pair so i was up to £3800.

Didn't play a hand that i lost more than £150 on and ended up leaving with £3350.

The $10/$20 PL Omaha. 5 or 6 handed for the session.

- Ridiculous first hand. Someone raised. I called with TTA9. A few of us saw a flop of T65 with two hearts and i had the Ace flush draw and TTT. All the money goes in three way. One player had 66xx. The other 789x. Turn 7. River rag. I thought that was the start of a downswing.

- I held QQ44 and made it $100. to Play on the button. Flop 44A. I was hitting quads lots. Checked to me. I bet $100 into a pot of $500. One call. Turn 3. He checked. I bet $200. He made it $400. I called. River 3. He checked. I bet $500. He called and showed AKxx.

- Early position raiser. I had AA35 ds. After a couple of callers i managed to make it $530 to play from the SB. One caller. Flop 36J rainbow. I bet $1000. Opponent goes all in for $1300. I call. He shows JQQ3. Turn 2. River a 4 to give me the straight.

- I have AA43. I raise to $60 in early position. Another player reraises it to $200. I decide to just call. Flop 667. I check. He checks. turn a 2. I check. He bets $400. I make it $1000 and he passes. I show my hand and he said he had Aces as well.

- Another lucky aces hand for me. I have AAJJ double suited. Get into a raising war with one opponent. He has $1100 and it goes in preflop. He shows AAK9 double suited. Flop J43 rainbow and i win another big pot.

This one happened on the $5/$10 table. I had turned my second $1000 buy in into $3000. 5 handed.

- I called a raise with 5d8d3cAd on the burron. Yes garbage i know but i was hitting. Four of us see the flop of 552. Original raiser bets $200. I decide to make it $600 as there was a flush draw there. He calls. I think he must have a 5 now. Turn a 3. He checks. I bet $550. He calls. River a 5 to give me quads. He checks. I bet $2000 and he moved in for $1670. Nice.

Some NL Holdem

I have started taking some tentative steps back into playing the NL Holdem cash games on Betfair. I have played some $10/$20 and £10/£20 short handed games.

So far i am about £1100 up.... so not bad.

Some hands i have played.

£10/£20 - Six handed. I have £1100. I raise UTG with AK to £66. Middle player makes it £200. The button calls. I call. Flop A22. Unless the unlikely scenario that one of my opponents has AA or 22 i probably have the hand locked up at the moment. I check. Middle position raiser makes it £200. Button passes. I call. Turn 3. I check. Middle position makes it £200 again. I call. River 7. I check. He bets £200 again. I go all in. He calls and mucks.

£10/£20 - Five handed. I have £2300. UTG limps. Cut off limps. I have AQs. I make it £120 to play. UTG limper calls and we are heads up. Flop 6QK. He checks. I bet £125. He makes it £250. I call (should have passed there). Turn A. He has just £500 left in front of him. He checks again. I bet £250. He goes all in. I call. He shows 66.

$10/$20 - Seven Handed. I have £1700. UTG makes it $50. I call with 6s7s as do five others. Flop 3s4s5h. Woohoo. Original raiser bets $150. I call. Button makes it $450. Passed to me. I move in. He calls with 5d6h. Turn blank. River a 7h to split the pot. FFS

$10/$20 - Five handed. I have $1400. I raise UTG to $66 with 8h9h. One caller. Flop JhQh2d. I bet $100. He makes it $200. I call. Turn a blank. I check. He bets $200. I call. River a heart. I bet $500 and he calls and shows J6.

I think the short handed tables are what appeals to me most. So i will continue to play a bit more Holdem unless i take a huge hit.

My form is still ridiculous on the Omaha tables. Two hands is all it took to wipe out three players.

$10/$20 - Four handed. I start with $1600. I raise on the button with AhQh6d7d. Everyone calls. Flop As6h2h. Checked to me. I bet $400. One caller. Turn Th. He checks. I bet $400. He moves all in. I call. He's drawing dead with a jack flush.

$10/$20 - Three handed. I have $3400. I raise it to $80 the big blind with KhKs9h9d. Button who had $400 in front of him makes it $175. SB calls. I raise it to $375. Button moves all in for $400 in total. SB calls. I now decide to reraise the pot to try and isolate the button and make the SB pass. So i reraise $1200. He calls. Not exactly what i was hoping for but i know he doesn't have Aces. Flop T62 rainbow. He checks. I put him all in for another $400. He calls. Cards on there backs. Button has JQKA and SB has 9JQQ. So i am in great shape barring a Q or runner runner. Turn a 2. Looking good. River a K just to make sure.

Barcelona - Update 2 EPT main event

Hmmmm... i thought my tournament form couldn't get worse. But it seems to have found an all time low.

Got my chips up to 14000 after level one after i called a big bluff with the second pair on the board. For seven levels/five hours i saw AK once... highest pair was 99 which i had to lay down preflop... 77 once and 66 once. No AQ, AJ or even AT. Never had a hand where i actually wanted a caller at any point so that says it all.

Lost most of them on this hand. Early position raised to 500. Five limpers and i call on the button with JsQs. Flop 9sTsAh. Checked to me. I bet 3000. One reluctant looking caller. Turn Ac. He checks. I bet 3700. He calls. River a blank of course. Check...check. He shows A4.

Barcelona - Update 1

I arrived and headed down to the casino to play the 500 Euro Pot Limit OHold'em. We started with 3000 chips and i doubled through on level 1 with QQ on a jack high flop. Card dead and missed everything for a couple of levels. I then bluffed off 2400 of my chips to someone i thought could lay down the hand i had correctly put them on. The last lot went in on a 9 high flop with J9 against 9K and i was out. Still, its the Pot Limit Omaha today so i should do slightly better i hope.

I'm still buzzing on the 10/20 tables. A few players were telling me just how bad the play is in the 10/20 Euro in the casino. At the moment though, i just can't do a thing wrong online so why change?

Richard Gryko is always amused that i always seem to flop the nuts and get paid off, so it was almost incredible that when he sat at the table last night the first hand i had was Quad Aces on the flop. Last night i must have raised with AAxx over ten times and at least 1/2 an Ace was appearing on the flop. I also had AAKK three times which is a record. Playing on the 2/5 i turned $500 into $4000 and on the 10/20 i wasn't doing so well, and was in for $5000 and then hit a few huge hands.

- I held KK88. There was a raise and reraise so i just called in the small blind. I had $3500 in front of me. Flop KT5 rainbow. I check and one player bets $400. The other passes. I call. Turn 9. I check... he checks. River a 9 to give me the house. I check... he bets $800. I reraise the pot and he calls and mucks. TTxx or 55xx surely.

- I then got lucky against Gryko. I held As 3s Ad Ks and he held Ah Ac 2s 6d. All the money went in the middle preflop. Flop 2d 5c 8h. Turn Th. River... yep of course 4s to give me the straight.

- I then won $4500 on this hand. I had 9TAQ. I raised preflop. two callers. Flop JQ5 rainbow. Checked to me. I bet $300. Turn 8 to give me the nuts and bring spade flush draw that i didn't have. I know this player always raises when i bet weak. He checks so i bet just $300 into a pot of $900. He pot reraises to $1500 to play. Hmmmm. I could easily move in here but he has a huge stack as well and could be freerolling me with a flush draw and straight. So i call. River a 6 and he bets just $700 and i reraise and he passes.

£10000 hand

Its been a while since i won a 10k sterling pot as I usually play the 10/20 dollar table. Four handed on Betfair's new six pac table......

On the button i raise to £80 with 8899 double suited. I get reraised to £200 and three of us see a flop of 57T with two of my suit. Checked to me. I bet £600. Pick up one caller. Turn 6 to give me the nuts. He checks. I bet £1800. He reraises it to £4500. I move all in for £3300. Just £600 more to him and he passes. How he can pass for £600 in a pot over £10000 i will never know. Still i hardly wanted to see the river card given my usual form in huge pots.

I fly to Barcelona tomorrow. These are the events i am going to play.

Monday - €500 Pot Limit Holdem
Tuesday - €300 Pot Limit Omaha
Thursday - €4000 No Limit Holdem EPT event

Really looking forward to the start of the EPT again. Hopefully i can take some of my cash form to the tournament.

Blondepoker Tourney

I played in the Blondepoker forum tournament on Tuesday night which was good fun. I build my chips up partially thanks to hitting a Gutshot against another blogger Ben. Cruised into second place out of 13 left and was sitting great in second when with blinds of 400/800 and running antes i raised to 3300 on the button with AhTh. BB moved in for about 8000. I called as i knew he had me on a steal. He had TsQs. Flop rags but running spades gave him the flush. Back to the drawing board. Next hand (on tilt obviously i pick up AA). Small raise in late position and the BB calls. Flop 56J. He bets 4000. I go all in for 9000. he thinks and calls with 34. Turn a 7. Wooooooo ... that was that.

Was playing the PL Omaha 10/20 at the same time. There were 4 or 5 players that i had never seen before which is very strange as i normally know everyone. I turned $1700 into $4700 mainly because one of the newbies couldn't lay down the second best flush against me - fair enough. Then this hand happened. Raise and reraise preflop and its $200 to play. I called with 5678 in late position. 5 of us see the flop. Flop 45T rainbow. Checked to me and i bet $1000. Foe who checked originally goes all in for $1700. I call. He shows T99K for one pair. Of course his solitary ten is stands up to win a $4400 pot. Playing his hand that way he is either in a whole load of trouble, alot of trouble or just trouble. No justice.

Still got back up to $5000 through this hand. Held TTxx. Flop KT7 rainbow. I bet $200. One call. Turn 4 to bring flush draw. He checks... i bet $600. River rag 3, He bets $1800. If he holds 56 with his hand then he is just too good. I call. He has A high.

WCOOP - $200 PL Omaha

Hmm started very well in this and the structure was great. Got a load of chips early when i called a raise preflop with 89JQ. Flop JQ4. On player moved all in for about a third of my chips and two others called. I then moved all in and they both called with draws. They missed and i had 10000 chips from the 2500 starting amount. Some of the play was just terrible but i wasn't hitting any cards to get any of the chips that were flying around on my table. Called down some bluffs and managed to get to 20000 chips.

Lost a few hands and after playing for 4.5 hours i limped with AAJQ double suited UTG (blinds 300/600)... knowing that one of the loose players would raise in late position. One raise... one call and i moved all in for 11000. Call... call. I was in such good shape against AKQJ and KKJT with only one flush draw live that could beat me. Flop Q44 :-). Then runner runnered by spades and tumbled out in 200th out of 900 odd that entered. Agggggggh

Cash has been going very well on the 10/20 tables so i can't complain i guess.

So how has it gone?

I guess six months is long a long enough time playing poker for a living to see how its gone. Reading Rob Sherwood's review on his blog made me think about doing a review.

I'm not going to count Monte Carlo as i still had a couple more days to work after that and it kind of distorts how i've done.

Tournaments

It hasn't gone great to be honest. I had a decent result coming third in the Gutshot main event scooping about £10000 and couple of money finishes on my last trip to Barcelona, but other than that its been a bit of a famine. Doing some calculations i've spent £19800 on tournaments and recouped £11700. Not great but not awful either. I have been out of form of late. Its not entirely the cards fault, i have made some mistakes as well. I've been very close in a couple of festival main events only to go crashing out just outside the money. Most frustrating moment was the $10000 Omaha in the World Series in Vegas. The cards were just horrible for hours and although i knew it was going to be a tough event, i'd back myself on any Pot Limit Omaha table.

Overall -£8100

Live Cash

I think i have fallen out of love with playing live cash. I still generally do well when i play but i find it slightly boring as i'm so used to constant action online. I won a bit in the cash games in Vegas but that cancelled out losses in Barcelona and the London festivals. If there was a really juicy Dealers Choice or PL Omaha at the Vic i would play more.... but there isn't.

Overall +£2400

Online Cash

Despite some severe swings the last six months have been good online. Getting my head round the size of some of the pots i now often play in has taken some doing. In $10000+ pots i have played in i have been extremely unlucky. I have lost over 3/4 of them despite being a favourite in 90% plus of them when the money went in. In four hands worth a combined total of $70000 i had over 75% chance in each and lost all four. Online PL Omaha will hopefully continue to be my main source of income.

Overall +£41000

Other stuff

Getting sponsored by Betfair and being asked to write a poker column for the Telegraph were both highlights of the last six months. Hopefully they will both continue.

Its been a great six months to be honest. If it doesn't last forever and i go back to work it won't be the end of the world. I have a couple of other things in the pipeline as well that should give me a more constant stream of income i hope.

A few targets for the next six months

- To win a ranking event.
- To play in a WPT event.
- To continue to play 10/20 PL Omaha. If i am still playing at that level in six months time it will be good news as it will have meant i haven't dropped down to save the banrkoll.
- To win enough to buy a top quality car.
- To choose another cash game online and win consistently at it. Trying to decide between NL Holdem and Triple Draw.
- Play in big online multi table tournaments more often. Starting tonight with the $500 NL Holdem WCOOP on Pokerstars.
- Double my bankroll. I'll settle for that even if all the other targets fail :-)

Its almost a year since i started up this poker blog as well. How time flies. I do love reading other people's blogs, although i don't comment that much. Its one of the first things i do when i go online. If anyone knows any really good ones that i haven't linked let me know. I've just linked Ben and Tom to my list.

Bankroll Booster

I've settled into a schedule at the moment of playing Mon - Thurs and giving myself the rest of the week off. At the moment i guess its keeping me fresh for when i do play. Sometimes i am playing for 10 hours without a break and by the time Monday comes round again i am looking forward to playing again. When i enjoy my poker i generally play better.....

Doing some calculations in August i increased my bankroll by 40% which i am extremely happy about. Playing in games too big for my bankroll is bound to have that effect when things are going well i guess.

This week i have lost two horrendous hands and am still in decent profit. Both were in approximately $10000 pots on Tuesday. The first i held QQTT double suited and there was $1000 in before the flop. I had $4900. Flop T82. I bet out $1000 in first position and the second player made it $4000. I go all in and he calls with 8895. Turn J. River a 7. I did feel extremely sick after that hand and after six hours more playing i was up again. Then i held 52JA and got into a raising war on a 552 flop. Half of my $5500 went in on the flop. Turn a J. It all goes in. Opponent turns over 22JJ. Sick again.... did the most sensible thing i had done in ages and stopped playing immedietly.

The biggest pot i have won this week isn't very exciting but it was still a tough decision. Five of us see a flop of J66. I hold 6J9T. Early position original raiser pre flop bets $300 into a $500 pot. I had slow played on that kind of flop earlier and allowed someone to hit their over pair so i wasn't going to make the same mistake again. I bet $1000. Aggressive player behind me makes it $3000. Hmmmm could he have JJ? Conventional play would be just to call with JJ but this was a very erratic player. I had $4500 in front of me after the $1000 bet. I moved in eventually and he called with AQ76 and fortunately the turn and river were blanks. It was the same player who had done me the day before with middle trips v my top trips so maybe revenge was on my mind.

I have started playing a bit on the £10/£20 No Limit Holdem table and am generally doing well on there. I only play short sessions as i find playing too long gruesome and i hate the trouble that the all in button can get me in to. One big pot i won. I held Qd9d. Early position makes it £60 to play. 5 limpers.... i call in the big blind. Flop KdTd7h. I fire a bet of £250. One player calls. Turn 6d. I check. He bets £400. I call. River a Th. Now i am not going to pass even if he moves all in here so decide to move in myself as i may get called by hands that he would check down like trips or a smaller flush. So i move all in for £900. He calls with 8h9d and i scoop a nice pot.

Betfair have opened six pac Omaha tables. So i no longer have to endure playing 10 handed which i hate......

Busy week

I have been putting alot of hours in on the Omaha tables since i last posted. Luckily my form has continued to be good and after posting that i couldn't string three decent sessions on the trot, i have now won eight of the last nine times that i have played. Long may that sort of form continue.

In a way its been a very strange week. Twice i have been over £4000 down in sessions and feeling slightly tilty. Only to recover and book decent wins both times. Looking at my Omaha play in general, i think i have learned more in the last six months than in the previous fifteen years i have played the game. When i was primarily a live player i could categorise players into a few categories.....

- Very good/good player
- Rock
- Maniac
- Easy money

On the net though i encounter styles that i have never seen live. Players who raise a huge number of hands preflop even when the game isn't shorthanded and more often than not there extreme gambling seems to reap dividends for them. I still find the ultra aggressive opponents short handed the most tricky. Its scenarious like this that i struggle to make the correct decision.

Say i hold AQ45 double suited. My opponent like he will with every hand raises preflop to £60 to play on the button. I call. It flops AT5. I think the check raise is the correct play here as he is more likely to have nothing and he will always bet the flop if he raises preflop. I check. He bets £120. I reraise to £360 and he moves over the top of me for another £1000. I pass. Should i? I am losing too many of these kind of hands for my liking.

I've probably played 25 hours + this week. Some of the significant hands that i remember.

Hands played badly:

Five handed. Middle position makes it £100 to play. I call on the button with AQK9. Four of see a flop of 7TJ with two clubs. Original raiser bets £400. I call. Turn a Q clubs. he checks. I check. River a blank. He checks. I bet £500. He reraises and i pass. I hate my bet here there was just no need for it.

This one really annoyed me. I had just won a couple of pots over a £1000 and thought i would call a raise with 9422 double suited from the small blind. Flop 952. I ended up losing £1200 against 99xx in this hand. I hate losing money on hands that i should never have been involved with in the first place.

Hands i got lucky:

Very lucky in this one. I call raise in late position with KQ89 double suited and there is £500 in the middle when the flop comes Q82 to give me two pair and a King flush draw. Late postion player bets £300. I reraise it to £1000 and he goes all in for £1700. I call. He shows 88A5 for trips and the aces flush draw. Yikes. River a Queen to save me.

I did win one huge multiway pot on the $10/$20 table. I held 789T double suited and somehow ended up putting $800 in preflop along with 5 others. Three were all in preflop. Flop 89J rainbow. Everyone who is left has less than $2000 so i bet $2000 on the flop. One caller all in for $1500 with a Gutshot draw to beat me. The cards turn over and i am in great shape. No higher straight, no trips. Turn an Ace to give someone a set of Aces and now there is a diamond flush draw. River a low diamond. I quickly scan my opponents cards and realise my T high diamond flush is good. Nice $6300 pot there.

Hands i got gifts:

I call £80 to play with A567. Flop A49 with two hearts giving me the nut flush draw. I bet £150 and pick up one caller who is severely on tilt. Turn a J. I check. He bets £400. I may pass here alot of the time but i think if i hit i get paid. River a 2 hearts. I check. he bets £1200. I put him all in for another £1100 fully expecting him to pass. He calls with a straight.

I hold AKxx. Flop TJQ. £3000 pot by the turn. He shows K9xx and no out to even split it.

Hands i liked my play in:

I love the deception of raising in the small blind at the moment. Players put me on Aces which is exactly what i want them to think. I raise to £100 with 3456... four callers. Flop A29 rainbow. I bet £250. One caller. Turn 5. I check. Opponent bets £800. I call. River a K. I bet £1600. My opponent goes all in for £600 more. I call. He shows AAxx.

I call a raise preflop with 9TJ4. Flop 8T2 with two hearts. I check. Opponent bets £250. I call. Turn a 4. I check. He bets £750. I am pretty sure that this player is on a draw and my two pair is good. I call. The river is a 3. I check. He bets £1750. Errrgh time to close my eyes and press the call button. He shows AAKQ and my two pair is good.

I noticed that the schedule for EPT Season Two has been released. I am looking forward to a busy couple of months in September and October playing in events in Barcelona, Baden, London and Ireland.

Something different

I decided to try a few new games on Betfair just to vary it a bit from the PL Omaha. I played $30/60 Limit 7 Card Stud, $30/$60 Limit Holdem heads up, £5/£10 NL Holdem Headsup and £10/£20 NL Holdem.

The $30/$60 Limit 7 Card stud - I like playing stud though i think i am probably better at the Hi/Lo version

Couple of hands...

- I have AdTd hidden and a 9d showing. I raise and get two callers. 4th card is a 8d. I bet again. One caller. He pairs his Ace on the 5th card. I get a 7h. I check... he bets... i call. 6th card is 2h. I check with AdTd9d8d7h2h ... he bets. I call. Last card a 5h. I check. He bets. I reraise. He passes. Not sure how i got him to pass for one more bet. He must have put me on a banker straight.

- By the end of one hand i had QQ22 showing and get called by a player with two smaller pairs. Bizarre.

I enjoyed it and won about $300. I was gambling in places that i shouldn't have. May give it another go soon.

$30/$60 Limit Holdem heads up - Not sure why i tried this one out. My Limit play isn't great though i have read up on it a fair bit of late.

- I'm dealt QK. I raise preflop. He three bets. I call. Flop K26. He bets... i raise. He calls. Turn 7. He checks. I bet. He calls. River 9. He checks. I bet. He raises. I call. He shows K9. Now i remember why i hate Limit.

- I'm dealt 44. I raise preflop. He calls. Flop J23. Two hearts. He bets. I raise. He calls. Turn a 4. He bets. I reraise. He calls. River a heart. He checks. I raise. He reraises. I call. He shows 2h6h. Errgh .

I lost $2000 overall. Not a great experience. Though three crucial pots over $500 i was ahead till the river. Not again me thinks.

£5/£10 NL Holdem Headsup - Playing a guy from Denmark. We both started with £1000. I got up to £1450 without anything particularly interesting happening then he gave up.

£10/£20 NL Holdem - Started with £1100. Called a raise with AQs. Flop AT9. The original raiser bets £150. I make it £400. He goes all in. Its too likely here that he has trips, two pair or AK. The only hand i can beat that he is reraising with on that flop is AJ. I quickly ruled that out and passed. Overall down £600.

I don't particularly enjoy playing any game ten handed. Especially Holdem. I decided to scurry off to the Omaha tables again after that.

That little experiment cost me £1200.

So i started on the £10/£20 PL Omaha tables again.

Started with £1600.... my foe really got me good on this hand. Have never played against him before so had no idea how he plays.

- Three handed. I raise on the button with 6s7s8hTh. Small blind calls. Big blind makes it £200 to play. I call. Small blind passes. Flop 9JQ rainbow. He checks. I bet £400. He thinks then calls. Turn a 2. He checks... i check. I am pretty sure now he has trips or maybe AAKQ or something like that. River a 3. He checks. I think about checking. But as i checked on the turn i think i may get a call from trips not believing i have the straight. So i bet £700 into a pot of £1260. He thinks then reraises all in. I only had £300 left so couldn't pass. He shows TJJK. Hmmmm.... the check on every street with the nuts.... thats my trick dammit!

I then bought in for another £1700 and was quickly down to £1000 when my opponents left. I sat and eventually was joined by one player. Ok player who likes to gamble alot with marginal draws. I went on a wonderful run of hitting cards and was soon up to £3000.

Another ultra aggressive/maniac player joined who raises all the time preflop shorthanded.

- I call a £60 bet with 5578 and three of us see a flop of 542 rainbow. I am in the small blind and check. Opponent bets £150. I don't put him on the straight so reraise to £600. He moves all in for £1700. I call. He shows 36xx for the nuts. Turn 8. River a 6 and i make a higher straight. Up to £5000.

- I went on the best run of cards i have had ever i think. I flopped top set every time i played with a high pocket pair. The most fruitful was when i called a raise in the SB with KK7T and it flopped K95. I checked... both my opponets checked. Turn a 5. Managed to milk £1200 out of opponent with 59xx.

- I was up to £7000. Playing five handed now. Under the gun with AA9J double suited. I call with the intention of reraising after the small blind has made his guaranteed preflop raise. He makes it £100 to play. Big blind calls. I make it £400. He calls. Big blind passes. Flop K83 with two of my suit. He bets £900. I put him all in for his £1600. He shows K942 with no flush draw. Turn pairs the 8 to leave him nearly dead and a blank river and i am up to £9000.

I finished shortly after. Too many times in the last month i have been up alot on the 10/20 tables only to play to watch it dwindle before i stop.

Onwards and Upwards

I have tried dropping a few levels and multitabling to take a break from the stresses of playing the 10/20 games. Mostly i have enjoyed it (probably because i am winning). The decisions are easier i find when i don't have to lump £3000 into a pot when i am only a marginal favourite. So i have dropped to 2/5 and so far so good. The bizarre thing i have found that as a general rule the players are actually better than on the 10/20 game. Some hands that developed into big pots....

I was treading water until this hand. I had sat down with $500 and was up to $620.

- I call a raise to $10 on the button with 4455 and six of us see a 236 rainbow flop. First player bets $60, call, call, call, call. Hmmm what to do now? I decide to just call as i suspect that they have two pair, trip hands and are all killing each other. I would have reraised if there was a flush draw. Turn a King of hearts to bring a flush draw. First player bets $150, call, pass, call, call. I move all in for about $400 more and all four players call. There hands 36xx (interesting), 33xx, KKxx and someone with the Ace flush draw. River a blank and i was up to over $3000.

- I called a raise to $25 on the button with JJT4. Flop J23 with the spade flush draw. Early position bets $100. I reraise to $400 and he moves all in for $1000. I call and he had the Ace flush draw and no other outs. He hits and i am back down to $2000. Do players on the net actually realise that the Ace flush draw with no other outs v a set is not a good spot to put all your chips in on the flop?

My winning streak has hit five and i am actually at a high point of online poker profit for the year. Considering the horrendous day i had last week i feel pretty good at the moment.

My next tournament is probably going to be in Barcelona for the start of EPT season two. I have given some thought to my performances of late and though i have had some really bad luck i have also made a few mistakes that i will put right in the next few tournaments i play in.