Ohh Bo***cks

I didn't quite hit my $4k target, infact I dropped a good chunk of my roll and withdrew whilst I still had a healthy profit. Hence the title of the post. It hurt more at the time than it does now in the cold light of day, as I still made a large amount of money in 5 days of play.

I moved a few hundred into a new poker room called Poker770. It's one of the Playtech sites, so I thought I'd give it a shot for the review on UK Poker News.

I managed to get $500 ahead after 1hr and 4mins and that eased the pain of the $4k chase going Pete Tong.

I'm off to sunny Vilnius tomorrow for the Lithuanian Open. One or two Brits are already there and it should be a sell out. Fingers crossed for a good result.

Almost a ten bagger!

Had a good session today and finished up on $3680. Almost at my $4000 target.

I made the $400 deposit last Wednesday. I played that evening and the following day. Then again on Sunday, Monday and finally today. It would be nice to collect the last $320 in the next two days to cover $4k in a week.

Now I'm off to the dentist to almost complete the work started on my teeth 3 months ago. It's been costly but not too painful. Today is root canal day and I'm not overjoyed at the prospect. One root canal and a couple of small fillings. After that the really expensive cosmetic stuff starts.

At least I'll have a healthy mouth to go with my healthy bank roll.

Brighton bubble

To follow on neatly from the 'Horse bubble' post, I conveniently bubbled in Brighton too. With 12 paid I managed to go out in 14th. I have put up a full report on my website - link on the left.

My guard slipped, I lost my aggression and it cost me at least £250 in winnings (12th), maybe 6 grand (1st). Who knows? One thing is for sure, I've chewed the tournament over in my head ever since Saturday night and when I get to Lithuania later this week, I will not give an inch, I will pressure everyone I feel I can. I'm going to Vilnius to win this tournament, anything less will not be satisfactory.

As is the norm, after a festival event, I ran over everybody online. I'm trying to turn a small-ish $400 deposit into $4,000. So far I'm up to $2,600 after 4 days of play. Most of this came yesterday. As I was running very hot, I took a crack at a $300 heads-up game, beating some chancer called DPommo with T,4 (second pair) after he committed with AK (A high) on the turn of a scary flushy board. (Just joking Mr Pomroy)

It's been a so-so Easter at Chateau Moves. Had I cashed in Brighton it would of been a great weekend. I had three sports bets with two winning, the third losing out due to poor goal kicking by the rugby league team I backed. Online poker has been very kind to me. Over the 4 day long weekend I am well ahead money wise. I guess I'm just greedy, there is no such thing as "enough".

I do feel my tournament game is very good right now but not as fearless as it was in mid-2005. Players have improved, in general, in the last 12 months. The first time I played live poker I could not believe how poor players were, I felt I could make serious money by taking them on regulary. I must step up my game now and rediscover that feeling.

My goal for the rest of 2006 is to cash in the WSOP and win another Euro ranking event. I don't think I'm too far away from achieving those.

Horse bubble

I took part of the Roy "the boy" Brindley invitational last night on Ladbrokes.

It was a mix of sports people, celebs and journalists. 52 runners in all, 12 paid (with lumps for charidee). The first two won satellite entries to the Poker Million. 3rd and 4th a $1,000 share in a race horse.

Naturally, I was 5th. It was a nice event though, lots of chat with the odd stupid railbird. You can read more about it at UK Poker News

I've had a pretty steady week all in all. I played like a complete muppet at Broadway in the £250 dc freezeout. Online made up for that though with a couple of K from various sources.

I'm working hard on my tournament game, analysing everything post-event, I want to get to Vegas in July and feel like I'm playing the best poker of my life. I have the cash games cracked. I can play X amount of hours and know over the course of a year I will have X amount of profit. I accept the losses, which simply have to occur from time to time, because I know I am a long term profitable cash game player. I'm not satisfied with that.

My tournament record is not as impressive. In 2005 I made a profit from B&M and online tournaments. In 2006 I am behind in B&M and only a recent spate of results on Poker Stars have put me very slightly ahead online. So, until Vegas I will be playing every MTT or B&M tournament that time and bank roll will allow.

Tonight I'll start with the $55 PLO on Party. I really hate this platform but the Omaha players are terrible.

100 runners, 99 paid

I read earlier this week that Luton paid 18 runners in a 100 runner field. Many supported this by stating that lots of players had to return for the second day and that they deserved something. Perhaps this is true, I know it sucks to play for 8 or 9 hours and get nothing. To come back the next day and face maybe 3 or 4 more hours and STILL get nothing is a real slap in the face.

But... and there has to be a "but"... isn't that part of poker? Part of what makes it a tough game, a rewarding game, a game that makes you tear your hair out and a game that makes you smile for a week? It seems the poker rooms are trying to keep everybody happy, credit to them, but this is an impossible task.

I'm of the view that 10% of fields are paid (rounded up/down to the nearest 10 runners), no more, no less. Why this cannot be a standard rule everywhere, I do not know. Bubble deals should be banned. Simply because a bubble deal moves the bubble further down the field, it does not eliminate the bubble, it just passes it on to some other poor sod.

That said, I'm off to Broadway Casino tonight for their £250 dc freezeout. Their payout structure? Over 100 runners = 20 paid! 16th - 20th getting their money back.

I won't complain, of course, if I go out in 20th but c'mon guys! It's not funny anymore. Can we get back to proper poker, where the final table(s) are paid and not half the field? Is it any wonder the Americans and Scandies crush us at poker? We're turning into a nation of soft players, more concerned about getting a few quid back than looking at the bigger picture.

One thing is for sure. If I make the final here, there will not be a deal.

Have a good weekend.

Before May...

...I'd like one more B&M cash. I've had two reasonable results so far this year, final tables in a £100 DC Freezeout and last month in the €500 Freezeout in Paris. This gives me 5 finals from 16 festival events. I was sure I'd played more that this but apparently not. I guess when you play internet poker day after day this gives the illusion that B&M tournaments last longer than they really do.

3 or 4 tournaments in April should give me one cash at least, fingers crossed.

A new Poker Whispers came out today.
http://uk.pokernews.com/news/2006/4/poker-whispers-april2006.htm