Backup, backup and laydown

It's been a quiet month on the poker, mainly because the hard drive on my laptop died a few weeks ago. All my records, hand histories and spreadsheets are currently inaccessible - hopefully not gone forever though. I don't think there's anything physically wrong with the drive, it's just that Windows doesn't seem to recognise it any more, and none of the software recovery tools I've tried have worked. My next recourse is to take it in to professional data recovery people, but I don't know how much that will cost - I suspect maybe more than it's worth. Valuable lesson learnt though - partition your drives and backup your data.

I tried playing on my desktop machine, but that's a bit older than my laptop and so it can't seem to handle two tables open at the same time. I think I'll treat myself to a new processor and motherboard for Christmas and make my desktop my main poker machine - it's not in the same room as the TV so that might make me concentrate a bit more.

As for the little internet poker I've played, I qualified for Crypto's £150,000 Christmas Cracker but only lasted 12 minutes as I had AA beaten. This really annoyed me as I should have got away from the hand. We're about ten hands in (15/30) and I make a standard 4BB raise from my 2500 stack. I get one caller - the guy who has played most hands so far (about 7). The flop is QJx (two clubs) and I make a continuation bet, which he immediately min-raises. I call and the turn is another Jack. I check, as does he. What does he have?

River is a brick so I bet, trying to take the pot down. He quickly raises me all-in, and the only real play here is to fold. However, I managed to con myself into calling by being convinced that he was trying it on, and that I was still ahead, despite the viable hands he could have which had me beat (QQ, JJ, QJ). He showed QQ and I was gone. I was absolutely livid with myself for such an idiotic, amateurish play - laying down AA in situations like this (when even a modicum of thought would lead to the conclusion you are behind) is a vital facet of the top players' games. In a live setting, I think I would have folded here, but the tick-tick-tick of the internet timer rushed me into a decision.

I also had a slightly tilty cash session, where I kept missing flops, but kept getting my continuation bets called. The one time I hit a flop big (set of sevens on a 972 board) the pre-flop raiser had 99 and my goose was cooked. I wasted more money by being too fancy with bluffs and trying to force people off hands, though I think the real source of my frustration was the slowdown of my desktop computer - I had to turn animations off and even then, the poker was very jerky. This should all be solved by the upgrade after Christmas.

My one live event recently was the £100 freezeout at the Gutshot, which I'd decided to try as I didn't fancy the packed rebuys any more. I managed to come 13th of 50-odd. I initially got no cards and had few chances to steal, so I was very rocky at the table. I got a double up with I went all-in against 3 limpers on my BB with 33 and got a called by the UTG's AK. I got another one when AT spades came up against KQ spades. Oddly, first card on the flop was the Jack of spades. My stack took a huge dent when I had AA cracked by AJ diamonds. An all black flop of Q54 looked perfect for me, but a Ten on the turn and King on the river hurt me badly. From there it was all about trying to steal blinds to stay alive - 13th was OK considering at no point was I ahead of the average stack.

The year is nearly over, and I had hoped to be able to collate a total profit/loss for the year, but that will have to wait until I can get the data from my busted hard drive. My goals for the next year are to win a biggish online comp (like the £15K Guaranteed), cash big in a huge online comp (such as the upcoming $500,000 Crypto event), qualify for another big offline tourney (WSOP?) and spend more time playing cash games, as I get tempted into playing tourneys too much, when my cash games are more profitable for me.

Chip and a chair

Ever since the Gutshot opened, I've stayed away from the Tuesday and Friday rebuy comps, as I don't like the place when it gets too busy, but I decided to take the plunge last Friday to get back in the live poker groove.

It was, of course, full - 120+ runners. My table had the obligatory couple of drunks, who were a pain in the arse with their 'is it my turn?', 'what's the bet?' shenanigans, but they were loose as hell . I doubled up twice early with TT and AK when I reraised the guy immediately on my right, who called with raggy aces both times. At the end of the rebuy period, I had got my starting stack of 500 up to 3100, with no rebuys and no add-on, so I was in great shape.

Our table was the first to break, and I got moved to a very sober table. Raises were being respected, proper poker was played. I grew my stack (including one hand where I pondered calling an all-in with 64 on a 653 flop, before realising I had top pair and an up and down straight - 'what took you so long to call?' one of the other players asked afterwards), then went through a cold spell until a crucial hand with the blinds at 600/1200. A solid player raised about 3BB in mid-position. I have AQ on the button with about 11,000 chips. At this stage, I'm contemplating all three options - raise, call or fold. I quickly rule out fold, as I've only got about 9BB left (we are down to three tables).

I put his range of hands as pairs down to about 66, and aces down to about AT. Obviously, when I write it down like that, things become very clear for AQ - I'm only ahead of two hands, in big trouble against four, and slight dog in races with the rest. However, in the heat of battle, my thinking was clouded by the fact that, given the state of the tournament, and considering the fact that I hate getting blinded away, I was looking for a reason to get all my chips in. I thought 'he's probably got AJ' and went all-in. He called and turned over TT, so it could have been a lot worse. I had no help from the board and we started counting chips to see if he had me covered.

He didn't, I covered him - by a single 100 chip. I've never been, literally, down to a chip and a chair before, especially not when that chip is only a twelfth of a big blind. However, this is where the fun really begun.

First hand, I'm all-in (blind, of course). There are two other players who go to showdown, one of them takes the sidepot with Ace-high. I then turn over my cards to reveal 32 offsuit, and the 2 has hit for me to treble up to 300. Next hand, same again, this time there are four players in the hand, and my 300 becomes 1200 when my T3 hits a ten. Third hand in a row, I'm all-in blind (this time for a full big blind), and A2 hits an ace to quadruple up to 4800.

I pass a couple of hands before finding AQ again. Someone calls my all-in and I win again, up to 11,200 from 100!

I am flying at this point, and get caught up in the rush. At 800/1600 a short stack goes all-in for 6300 on my BB. I only have 63 offsuit but decide that luck must be with me and call for another 4700. He shows 88 and my two big undercards come to zero. Here I learn a valuable lesson - never get caught up in rushes, they only muck up your thinking.

A few hands later it's folded to me on the button and I go all-in with 83 offsuit (I'd already decided to go all-in with any two cards if it was passed to me in late position). The woman on the BB called (after a slight ponder) and whatever it was she had held up. Ironically, I think that if I hadn't chucked away some chips with the 63 call, I may have had enough to make her pass. I exited in 17th.

The Monte Carlo Millions is currently under way (on day two) and I have ten pounds on Fuat Can at 110/1 on Betfair, and he's currently still in (and going well) with about 36 players left. I've probably just bokked him; if so, my allegiance turns to Granite John from the Gutshot, who beat me in the Pokerzone TV tournament (see blog posts passim).

Incidentally, when typing the title of this entry, I accidentably wrote 'Chop and a chair' - I fully intend to use this if I ever come back to cut a deal at a final table after being down to a single chip during the tournament...

Beginner's luck

Little poker over the last week or so - bought Civilization IV last Monday so have been playing that in the evenings, then went to Paris for the weekend. Civ IV rocks, I started playing one game on Noble difficulty level to get the hang of the new features and once it became obvious I was going to win (huge technology lead and I'd wiped out the Japanese) I started another game on the next level up, Prince. This has been tougher. It's a map with lots of islands and I've been put in a part of the world with small islands which only support one city each. This has made expansion a pain. I also made an error by not noticing that when your treasury level falls close to zero, the science rate is adjusted downward so you don't go broke. Thus my science rate went from 70% to 20% and I've fallen well behind in the tech race and am currently ranked 5th out of the six civs.

Anyway, back to poker. On Monday night I played in the Blondepoker forum PL Omaha tourney on Pokerstars. 26 entries at $11 a pop. Now, I've played, at most, one PL Omaha MTT before, so had to play this by ear. I started off playing very tight, then got bored with that and started seeing some flops. My starting stack of 1500 went down to 900, then back up to about 2000 when I doubled up with AA87 double suited against AAT6 ds when I hit my flush. 4000 came by hitting a straight on the turn against a set plus flush draw.

My favourite hand of the night was dealt next. I had AA96 and raised a limper preflop. Flop was Q23 and my opponent check-called my bet. Turn was an 8 - he checked, as did I. I'm not exactly sure why I checked, as it gave up the initiative I had in the hand - I think this was an error. It also, in my opinion, gave away the fact I had AA, considering I raised preflop. River was a 7 and matey boy bet the pot. I had a little think, but was sure that this was an attempt to take the pot, and called. He had JJT8 and I was up to about 8000.

Got to the final table 3rd in chips, and made the final 2 with quite a deficit. At this stage hands were going by at quite a blur, and sometimes I won hands at showdown without having time to work out why... I drew level when I called a re-re-raise all-in on a J64 flop (two clubs) with J4Q2 and my opponent only had an Ace-high flush draw.

The next big hand was when I had KKA5 and saw a flop of AJ7. Matey check-called my bet. Turn was 9c and he again check-called. At this stage, his J7T4 was ahead with two pair. The river was 5h, giving me a higher two pair, and he checked again. I checked behind because I hadn't worked out this had helped my hand :-) This took the pot and gave me a big lead.

The tournament ended when I had another pair of Aces hold up and I won $130. It's amazing to think of all the Hold'em tournaments I've played well in and come nowhere, and then I fluke this Omaha one.

Cardiff and card dead

It's been a couple of weeks since I filmed the Will Hill Grand Prix heat and, whilst I can't mention what happened in the game till it's broadcast, I can say what a great time I had. Being able to watch players like Tony G and Scotty Nguyen (yes, he got added to my heat after the draw) up close was fantastic, as was spending time in the bar afterwards with Jesse May, Vicky Coren, Lucy Rokach and John Shipley, among others. Can't wait to see it on the TV but, at the same time, don't really want to in case it shows I was bluffed out of pots. Ah well, it's all experience.

Stayed in the Cardiff Hilton for the heat and was surprised to see no Welsh people working in the hotel at all. French guy at the front desk, Polish barmaid, South African waiter, Filipino cleaner - all very strange.

Over the last few weeks I've had a very good time on the NL 6-max tables. Playing two at a time I'm averaging a profit of 15 BB an hour per table, so 30 BB in total. This has been mostly through managing to get out of the way of other players when they have their big hands. I did have an annoying habit of crushing a table, and then pissing my profit away in one hand when I got all-in with the worst hand. There's been less of this recently.

There have also been fewer tournaments of late. Annoyingly, I bubbled in the Crypto £15K last week. I had an absolute death of cards, but managed to double through with the various good hands I got. Losing one hand then knocked me down to a level where I had no folding equity, so had to find two decent cards to go all-in with, which never came, whereas the various shortstacks below me managed to double-up and pass me.

Analysing my results over the past few months, it seems better financially for me to play cash games, but I have more fun in tournaments. Think I'll concentrate on cash - try and build up my bankroll a bit, instead of blowing groups of £55 on the £15K.

A nice quiet table...

The draw for the heats of the William Hill Grand Prix was made on Poker 425 last Wednesday. I can't watch this channel, as it's only on Sky, and I have cable, but I got my Mum to watch it and give me a ring to tell me who I'd got.

"OK, the first one is Tony G" - fantastic I thought, nice easy start there. "Then there's Donny, er, Donna, um, the Irish guy" - Donnacha O'Dea, another fish... :-) "There's a Pascal something and a Roland something" - that would be Pascal 'Triple P' Perrault and Roland de Wolfe. The heat was rounded out by Roy Brindley, Simon Nowab and the guy I'd pegged as one of the trickier of the other internet qualifiers, Voitto Rintala. Quite a lively bunch, with some very aggressive players. If I get a decent run of good cards, I could cause real damage as these guys are likely to pay me off. However, if the cards go cold on me, it'll be very difficult to pick up pots. In what is essentially a winner-takes-all heat (2nd place goes into the repechage for another chance to qualify for the final) I'd imagine there will be a lot of aggression early on as players try to build stacks with which to bully, especially with the likes of Tony G and Roland playing - it could be carnage.

William Hill make me 9/1 to win my heat and 80/1 overall. In these televised tournaments, there is usually plenty of value to be had in backing the outsiders, as things can get a bit crapshooty towards the end (like in the Ladbrokes Poker Million, where the final two were Helen Chamberlain and a guy who qualified via a freeroll - don't think either really had to make any moves to get there). However, William Hill have come up with a great structure for this event to ensure there's more 'proper' poker being played - this increases the chances that the greater experience of the pros will come to the fore. It's going to be a tough ask for me to get through this heat. From the order of the betting on the Will Hill site, it looks like Tony G will be immediately on my left - limping with marginal hands probably won't be a good idea...

Decided to try moving up a level on the cash tables to £1/£2 NL, and almost immediately doubled my buy-in with another classic 'rape an over pair with a set' play. I had 66 in the blinds and Isomerkii (tight, aggressive player) raised pre-flop. I hit my set on the flop and bet out, with him and another player calling. Turn was a rag, and I bet out again, with both players calling. The river game me quad sixes, and I thought about checking, but decided this might look too suspicious and so just went all-in for about 3/4 of the pot. The first player folded, but Isomerkii called. He showed Kings. In retrospect, I should maybe have bet more on the turn. By the time the river came, Isomerkii had about £54 left - not enough to get away from the hand, but the other guy had over £100. By getting him to call a larger bet on the turn, I maybe could have got him pot-committed as well so that he couldn't get away. Ah well, £250 is still a nice pot.

If you think 62 suited is worth a shot, go for it...

Went down the Gutshot on Saturday to play in the £30 rebuy satellite for the main event of the London Masters. I'd budgeted for one rebuy and top-up, but didn't need the rebuy as I hit an unbelievably cold deck, and just folded hands for an hour. Not only no big cards, but not even any pairs or connectors I could see a flop cheaply with. The one time I found AQ, I got another guy with AK - thankfully I rivered him.

The last hand of the rebuy period was mad. I've seen crazy hands at this time before, but this was something new. I had J9 suited on the button, and limped in after two others. SB then goes all-in, followed by the BB, and then the two limpers. With 4 all-ins ahead of me, I figure there's value for suited one-gappers, so I call as well, fully expecting to be up against some big cards and big pairs. The other four hands were Q8, Q9s, 54s and 62s!! A board of QQ885 meant I missed completely, so I started putting my hand in my pocket for the rebuy, when it was pointed out to me that I'd won the sidepot against the 62 guy because of my Jack kicker! I actually made a profit on the hand.

During the break a couple of the players at the table complained at the muppetry of a few of the others (62 guy in particular, who had 4 rebuys and a top-up = £180 down the drain). I just nodded and said 'I know', but I would never complain about these players - it's where the extra money in the prize pool comes from.

Once we got to the freezeout bit, the cold cards continued, and with the blinds going up quickly I got it all-in with AJ when I raised a weak limper. He called, and I thought he'd turn over a rag Ace, but in fact it was K7 of spades. I was dealer and dealt a flop of 3 spades, and that was that. So no main event for me, but well done to Tony 'Tikay' Kendall of Blondepoker, who got second, and also to Dave 'Dubai' Shallow, who went deep into the EPT event at the Vic.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been using up the Poker Points I've collected through playing at Littlewoods to enter their daily CPC qualifiers. Not only were they effectively freerolls, but the standard of play was mostly awful. Each one would have about 20ish entrants, with the winner making the weekly final. After coming second twice, I finally won one and made the final, but I completely wrecked it, playing awfully. I started by folding a winning straight, after a bet and call in front of me on a four-flush board - neither player had a flush. I leaked chips away, then came back, then blew them all again to go out 8th of 12.

The draw for the William Hill Grand Prix takes place on Wednesday, according to an email I (and the other players) got sent today. Only the email addresses weren't sent in the BCC field, but in the To field, so I now have the email addresses of lots of Europe's top poker players!

News reaches me of a tournament at Pokerstars just for bloggers (hence the banner below). This should be a lot of fun, and shows how Pokerstars are taking notice of the power of the blogging community.

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

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 3260134

Couldn't make the greatest fold

Made sure I was awake and alert for the midday start of the Pokerstars EPT Dublin final and I nearly shouldn't have bothered. 30 minute levels meant a nice slow structure, so I planned to take things easy early on. I did this by being card dead for the entire first hour, barely increasing my stack at all.

By the first break there were 6 of us left, and I was one of the short stacks. I managed to not slip back, despite still getting crappy cards. Once the blinds went to 50/100 I decided to start making moves and was finding, unsurprisingly, that my raises were being respected, particularly after the flop. As has been my style recently, I was betting every flop and taking most of them down.

I took control of the tournament when I flopped a set of eights and milked an opponent for a load of chips. I made sure I picked up my share of blinds, which included raising on the button with 65o when we were down to 4 players. The shortstack went all-in for not much more, so I had the pot odds to call with any two cards, which I did, and I duly lost. It did mean that the other players saw that I had raised with filth, though...

The very next hand I pick up KK UTG, and raise to 300, hoping someone wouldn't respect my raise. It went round to the BB, who reraised me to 1000. Success! I reraised him another 1200 to 2200 and he went all-in for 4270. At this point, I should probably have had a think and considered what group of hands the biggest stack at the table would re-re-re-raise with...

But I didn't - all I saw was KK in front of me and went all-in, and it failed to crack his AA. Out in fourth and I was really annoyed, because I felt I had the run of this table and could have easily won without taking massive risks. Pah.

Cremeing the opposition

So, what have I been up to recently? Last weekend I played in the Betfair forum game at the Gutshot (jokingly referred to as BFWCOP).

103 of us took part and we all got a lot of good play early - no one at all was knocked out in the first hour and a bit. 10,000 starting chips and blinds of 25/50 gave everyone a chance to get settled in. I grabbed a few blinds to move up a bit and then moved up to 13,000 when I check-called, check-raised Dubai Millenium (great player and a great bloke) with bottom set and managed to completely flummox him as to what hand I had. "I have no idea what you've got", he said before folding. After the hand he even wondered aloud if he'd been bluffed out of a pot.

Rather annoyingly, I missed a chance to double up when I limped pre-flop with TT, and called a raise from a tight player who had an obvious big pair. The flop was something like Q-x-x and I check-folded to his bet, only to see a ten fall on the turn. Obviously I was in no way getting correct odds to chase my set but it was a pain all the same.

On the fourth level, the blinds jumped from 100/200 to 200/400 with antes of 25. This meant the cost per round nearly tripled from 300 to 850. This represented nearly 10% of the average stack - therefore the blind-stealing stage of the tournament had started. I did my bit for a while, but then got reckless. At 300/600 I raised up to about 2000 with A6s (not a good hand to steal with). I got called by the button and the flop was AQ4. I'd got myself into a hole here, and had about the size of the pot left. I went all-in, thinking that he either had a pair, or a bigger Ace than me. By going all-in I would hope he'd fold hands like AT or AJ. He thought for ages before calling with AK! I asked him why he thought for so long and he said he was worried I had AQ. Super-tight play there from him - in his situation I'd have called like a shot, thinking that any hand which beats me would have been checked to me.

Out in about 85th and I went to the internet room for an hour or so whilst waiting for the SNGs to start up. Played my first ever Omaha High/Low tournament and won it, immediately recouping £40 of the £105 it cost to enter the big event. Played in two £20 SNGs downstairs, winning them both, so that was more profit of £140 (did a deal on one and tipped each dealer a fiver). All in all, I came out on top from the day and got chatting to a few of the other players - had a lot of fun.

On Monday night I took part in a satellite freeroll on Pokerstars to win entry to a final on Saturday where there's an EPT Dublin package for the winner. 159 took part, but about 60 of those were sitting out (registration for the event had been open for a couple of days and a lot of players simply forgot about it). I doubled up on the first hand with JJ when someone got it all-in with AT on a ten-high flop. This set the tone for the next hour as I hit the hottest rush of cards in my life. AA (twice), KK, AK (3 times), AQ, AJ and 99 all came my way. Even more amazingly, I hit every flop and quickly became chip leader.

After an hour or so, the blinds had picked up to a point where there were plenty of free chips from the sitting out players up for grabs. Unfortunately for me, I got moved to a table where I had horrible position - three sitting-out players were to my right, and two more were three and four to the left of me, meaning I was in the worst position to grab blinds. I was UTG when the three to my right were in the blinds, and the pot was always already raised once it was my turn to act when the other two were in the blinds. I bluff-raised a couple of times but was content to drift back to just above average chips.

Once we got down to 11 players, I had got myself back up to chip leader, and was on a table of 5 players, who were all quite passive. This meant I could bully to my heart's content, and did so, quietly adding to my stack at virtually no risk. I eased back a bit once we got to the full final table, but could stretch my legs again once were were at six. Top two got the seats for Saturday and I took the fourth and third place players out in consecutive hands to grab my place in the final.

It's at the odd time of midday on Saturday, so I must make sure to not sleep in all day at the weekend. This tournament was the first time I've played on Pokerstars and I was very impressed with the software - quick, clean and easy to use. Much smoother than Crypto, better looking than Prima - think I'll play more there in the future.

BTW, the title of this entry refers to the fact that I had to choose a username when I joined Pokerstars on Monday, and chose CremeEgg, which goes with the Creme handle that I have on the Betfair poker forum.

Grand Prix Qualifying - more exciting than F1

No posts this month thus far as I've been playing mostly NL cash games, which have been quite uneventful. This is probably a good thing, as the 'interesting' games I played last month contributed to a total loss in July of nearly £1,100. This included all poker: cash, tournaments and live, and also included £150 of free bonus money which gives an indication of how crap it was. I knew I'd lost a bit in NL cash (nearly £500) but, until I added it all up, I wasn't aware that my MTT losses were £500 as well. Eleven goes in the Crypto £15K at £33 a shot and not even one finish in the top 100, let alone in the cash. The poor results in MTTs continued until Sunday...

It started well when I won a Cruise Qualifier on Ladbrokes. OK, so there were only 12 entrants, but it was my first MTT win for ages and it puts me into a Cruise final tomorrow night. In the evening I decided to give the William Hill Grand Prix Final a chance - £66 for a go at appearing in a televised tourney. I nearly didn't bother paying the money as I was cooking my dinner but my decision to register was to prove wise.

There were 106 entrants fighting for one ticket to the Grand Prix in October - 2000 chips and a 20 minute clock meant there was no immediate rush. I could afford a nice quiet start, which was spoilt by getting AA on the third hand. There were 4 limpers on the 6-seater table and I raised to 160 on my BB. The UTG player (Badger23) called and the flop was JJK. I checked and called a bet of 280. The turn is another King, and I decide I'm done with the hand - he's almost certainly got a Jack or a King, so I check and fold to his bet. Four hands later I make my losses plus a bit more back when my JT hits two pair on a JTA flop and I win chips from someone who I assume has a lone Ace.

1400 chips come my way when someone goes all-in on the flop with bottom pair and a flush draw and I call with my overpair (QQ) which holds up. I make a mistake by calling a river bet from someone on a 9AAA3 board with nothing but King-high (he had TT). I've noticed this isn't the first time I've done this recently, so I must stop calling a bet when I can only beat a bluff.

With the blinds at 25/50 I get in a raised pot with 3 others with 54 offsuit (I limped, then called a 2BB raise). Flop is 963 rainbow, giving me an open straight draw. The pre-flop raiser bets 150 into a pot of 550. There's a fold and then a raise to 750. I thought the reraiser may well be trying to take the pot away from what looked like a continuation bet. Therefore, he probably didn't have much of a hand, so I went all-in, knowing I had outs if I got called. the pre-flop raiser folded and re-raiser had a big think. He said '999', putting me on a set, before folding what he claimed was A9. I didn't believe him for a moment, but it was a nice pot to win with what was essentially 5-high.

At the first break I had 4860 chips and was 13th of 60. At 75/150 I raise to 600 with A3 on the button and get an SB caller. We both check a flop of KQJ and the turn is a 2. He bets 150 into a pot of 1275, which struck me as weak. I raised to 1050 and he called, making the pot 3375. The river is a 5 and my opponent checks. I'm now in a pickle, as I've invested 1/3 of my chips and I've nothing but Ace-high to show for it. A check means I lose the pot, so I decide to follow through with my show of earlier strength and go all-in for 3700. Obviously a very risky play, but it works as he folds. This isn't something I normally do - lately I've been giving up on bluffs if they don't work the first time (admittedly this has been in cash games) but I think I'm more likely to do it in tournaments. There's the obvious risk of going broke but in a big tournament (where people are less likely to think 'sod it' and call) but when the pot is big enough it surely has +EV over checking (which loses the whole pot).

The hand which changes the whole tournament for me happens at 100/200. I'm on the button with 86 hearts and limp behind one other. The BB min raises and three of us call. Flop is K25 (two hearts). SB bets half the pot, and the original raiser calls. I decide to raise it up to 2800, hoping to take the pot down now, but hopefully also buying a free card on the turn if the flush doesn't come. Both players call, resulting in a massive pot. The turn is the 5 of hearts, making my flush, it's checked to me and I go all-in for 4900 into the big pot of 10,000. I get one caller (the pre-flop raiser) who shows KJ. He has no heart and so only another 5 can save him. He's out of luck and I have a huge 19,800 and am leading the tournament with 22 left in.

The best part of an hour goes by with me treading water, picking up the odd pot here and there but not really increasing my stack much. At 150/300 I get KK on the BB. There's an UTG raise to 1200 from a very loose player. I pop it to 3000 and he re-raises to 5700. He has more chips than me, so if he has AA he could knock me out, and his smallish raises look designed to keep me in. However, with the game I'd played thus far I wasn't in the mood to fold KK pre-flop, so I went all-in. He almost immediately called with A8!! Thankfully the other 3 Aces stayed in the deck and I was up to 46,000 chips, with the 2nd of the other 9 players at 32,000.

Five hands later and I'm dealt AK on the BB. There's a single raiser before me, so I re-raise and he goes all-in for 22,000. I call and he shows T7 of hearts!!! This was the most spectacularly bad play I think I've ever seen at this stage of a tournament. Doing a min-raise UTG with this hand is madness, unless he was trying to induce a raise that he could then re-bluff out of the hand. He was under no chip pressure to make a stand - just crazy. His play got what it deserved and I have 68,500 chips.

Nearly an hour later and we're at the final table, with 5 players left. I've worked my chips up to 76,000 by picking up a lot of small, uncontested pots. Pocket rockets come my way and I get all excited. Guy to my right (Badger23, from the first hand where I folded AA) limps and I raise him, which he calls. The flop is T87. He bets, I raise, he reraises me and I call. The turn is another ten and Badger23 goes all-in for 28,000 chips into the pot of 22,500. The little voice in my head (which I'd made a resolution to listen to more, as it's more often than not right) was screaming 'FOLD'. If I had any hand other than AA, I think I would have, but I was probably loath to fold the second pair of Aces I'd got in the tournament. I called and, of course, he had another ten. This knocked me back to 38,000 chips, third of five.

I limp into a hand from the SB with T5 and BB completes. The flop is 925 and I bet (throughout the tournament I've been betting every flop I've caught a piece of - as well as some I haven't). BB calls. Turn is a ten and I bet just under the pot, which is called. River is a beautiful 5 and, again, I bet just under the pot with my full house, which is also called. This recovers most of the chips I lost with the Aces.

The next hand of importance was one where I avoided doing real damage to my stack. Myself and Badger23 saw a flop of AKJ. He checked and I followed with my K7. Turn was an 8 and he bet. I raised him but he called. River was a harmless two and he checked to me, no doubt expecting me to bet his two pair of J8 for him. I checked behind and he took the pot. I could so easily have stuck more chips in on the end - it was the mood I'd been in all night.

With 4 of us left I saw a free flop of 964 with 75. I check-called with my straight draw, which was completed on the turn with a 3. I check-raised, which was called. I bet out on the river, which was also called, and I was up to 93,000 chips. I was chip leader, with Badger23 on 74,000 and the other two on 25,000 and 20,000.

I took out the player on 25,000 chips when he re-raised my cowboys with AQ and we're down to three. We dance for a while, and I increase my stack slightly. Then the shortstack re-raises me all-in with A7. Unfortunately for him I have JJ, which holds up and I'm heads-up with Badger23.

I have 153,000 chips to his 58,000 and he's been playing very passive, so my plan is to hammer him until he raises/re-reraises me, then step out of the way unless I've got a hand. As it happens, our heads-up battle lasts only 4 hands.

I'm dealt J2 diamonds on the SB and raise. Badger calls with AT (Ace of diamonds). The flop comes down T95 all diamonds and he check-raises me all-in with his top pair/nut flush draw. No more diamonds fall and I win the ticket to the TV stage!.

Come October I'll be in a heat up against seven other players - almost certainly all pros. However, I can take comfort from the Ladbrokes Poker Million which was on Sky recently - the final two were some guy who qualified via a freeroll and Helen Chamberlain, who only started playing holdem in March. When it comes to TV events, the pros are not necessarily all that.

The worst read since The Da Vinci Code

Fourth Street Poker is closed for a bit due to licence renewal, and judging from what happened on the last night before the break, that's probably just as well. Biggest tournament yet - 50-odd people in a £30 freezeout. I had no cards, then got a pair of queens, with which I collected a couple of limps and the blinds. Then nothing again till I got in on a free blind with T3. Flop is T22 and small blind bets out.

This was where I made a monumental error. I'd already identified the SB as a pretty straightforward player, so I should have believed his bet that said he'd hit the flop. Instead I threw in a raise and he went all-in. I had a think but I didn't really have enough chips left to fold and called - he flipped up K2. As it happens, I hit a backdoor flush, but the river was the King of hearts, which gave my opponent a full house.

I then made my way to a £20 SNG, which had some of the better players in it (for some reason, most of the big names got knocked out of the main tourney early on). I then had the coldest cards I can ever remember - which drew comments from the other players who have seen me get very active in the side games previously. I managed to hold on till the final 4 (money was top 3) but eventually went in with Q8, only to find the BB with A8.

I've been doing pretty crappy in online MTTs recently - I've barely made the second half of one in the last two weeks. I've also taken a bath in NL cash games - nearly £500 down this month, including one memorable Saturday afternoon where I lost £260 in 2 hours. I got dealt 55 twice, made sets both times and yet lost to a higher set. Hopefully I'll have a change of luck next month.

More bubbles than an Aero

Played in two small tournaments on Tuesday (just 12 and 10 runners) with the top 3 getting the money. Rather annoyingly I came 4th both times. Can't really remember many hands from the evening. On one occasion I had an all-in with AQ called by the BB's 94. He was getting 2/1 on the call, so he's getting pot odds with his undercards provided I don't have a pair, but it was still a pretty loose call. One idea which occured to me later was that maybe this was an advertising move - he was essentially saying to the other players at the table "I'm liable to call your all-in with anything, so your hand will have to hold up - you can't steal my blind", though I think that's not really worth it. Anyway, I doubled through - people can call my all-ins with 94 till the cows come home for all I care.

At one stage I also won a big bluff when I raised limpers with T4 and thought about showing, but decided against. The limpers said they folded QJ and AT. This is becoming my favourite move when the blinds are big. An all-in when you're first in looks like a steal, but doing it when at least one other has already limped in looks really strong - plus you pick up more than a blind and a half when it works. In future I will try and identify weak limpers late on - inexperienced players do this a lot, not realising that limping is death when the blinds are big.

Last night was another select affair - a 12-runner £30 freezeout. A very strange tournament for me, but one which could radically change my thinking and make me a better player. Things started off very slowly - I got no good cards. One of the other players even commented on it, saying 'Aren't you going to play a hand, Andrew?'. As if to show to everyone how the cards were running I raised from early position. Everyone folded and I showed 54.

I won a big hand with low cards. I raised with 86 (getting one caller) and flopped a straight draw. I bet it strongly and the other guy kept calling till I hit it on the river (which also put a potential flush on the board). He went all-in and I had a think before calling (he bluffs a lot). As soon as I called he mucked his cards without even seeing what I had.

Going to the final table I think I'd managed to be chip leader (I'd knocked someone else out but can't remember anything about the hand). Cards went cold again. I pissed away some chips on two hands by bluffing/calling to hit a straight. Then came the hand which crippled me.

I got dealt AQ in mid position and raised. It's folded to the BB who re-raises me. I immediately re-raise him all-in, which was a huge mistake. This guy had been playing ultra-tight - I don't think he'd raised before the flop. Now he re-raises me, someone who'd also not been raising much. I had to give him credit for a huge hand - but I acted too quickly. I'd got too excited at the first big hand I'd been dealt all night and made a rash move. He turned over AK and it held up.

I grabbed some blinds, then doubled up when I went all-in with TT on my BB and was called by a limper with 43!! He was getting pot odds of 2/1 on the call, which is exactly his hand's pot equity, provided I haven't got a pair, which I had. Silly call.

The hand which fatally crippled me went thusly. Someone raised to 4BB, next guy called (the 43 caller from earlier) and I called on the button with 76 of clubs (looking to break someone if I got a favourable flop). Blinds folded and I dealt the flop of T85 with two clubs. A straight draw and a flush draw - lovely. Original raiser checked, then the next guy went all-in. I started having a think but, as I pondered, the first guy folded out of turn, not realising I was still in. My main concern was the all-in guy having two club overcards, and pushing on a better flush draw than mine, as it would leave me with only six outs (not enough to call). However I decided that, in his position, I'd be going all-in with lots of hands other than a flush draw so I called. He turned over KT for top pair (and showing what a questionable decision it was to call a raise with the hand). I didn't hit and was short stacked - I went out in 5th not long after with AJ.

So how will this make me a better player? Well, I got no big pairs and only twice got big cards (and they both lost). I think I'm at a stage now where I can be a lot more creative with the hands I play, and move to the next level which is concentrating on what I think my opponents are playing - just relying on cards is death.

I got involved in a little Sit and Go and was as loose as a goose (as I often am in those things) and went out in 3rd (top two paid). My last four live tourney results have been bubble, bubble, one off bubble, bubble. Bah.

I'm out on Saturday but I'm planning on making Sunday a big internet poker day, as I haven't had a chance to enter the big weekend tourneys for a while, due to being out and about.

Victory at last

Finally, after over two months of toddling down to Baker Street to play in live tournaments, I've managed to be last man standing, and what a rollercoaster ride it was.

£10 Rebuy, and I rebought on the very first hand when I went all-in on the flop with an open-ended straight draw, only to be called by a flush draw, who hit. Next rebuy was calling an all-in on the BB with AQ - the raiser was someone who I knew always tried to take chances getting a big stack early. He flipped over J2, so of course that hand ended with me pulling another picture of Charles Darwin out of my pocket. I had still not won a hand, and called a frequent raiser on the blind with A3, looking to bet out all-in on just about any flop, even if I missed. I did so, but he had a genuine raising hand of QQ. On the last hand before the break, I raised pre-flop with 55 and picked up the blinds - my only pot in the first hour.

Luckily there was a double top-up so, despite my being £50 down, I had enough chips to play with. I got better cards and picked up some pots, lost a couple when I made slightly optimistic calls I had to let go on the flop, but then came the most important hand so far.

I'm in middle position with 44. I decide to raise (it was quite a tough table and limpers were being, quite rightly, raised out of pots). Guy immediately to my left re-raises me the minimum, so I call.

Flop comes A82, or something. Can't quite remember, but the important fact to note is that there was an Ace. I felt he had a big pocket pair, so I went all-in for 1,250 into a pot of about 1,600, representing the Ace. He goes into the tank for a a long time (and I mean a long time, at least two minutes, which is an eternity for this type of tournament). Usually when people have a long think, they eventually fold, so I thought that was what he was going to do. However, he made a fantastic call with QQ. Thinking about the hand afterwards, I wonder if he picked up something on me that indicated I was bluffing. I did feel the pulse in my neck throb, so at one point I shifted position in my chair so I was leaning my head on my hand, covering my neck. However, he wasn't really looking at me for a tell, more working things out in his head.

Turn was a blank, before the fortuitous 4 fell on the river. It was cruel luck for him, as it was such a great call, but I've been due luck like that for weeks.

The blinds had now picked up, so I was into my usual tactic of going all-in with any Ace, and I found a few. Stack took a hit when one BB found AK to call my AT with, but rose again when I managed to knock out two short stacks by isolating them with good, but not great hands when I felt they would call anything.

Made it to the final table, and was annoyed to find myself immediately to the left of a huge stack. He had come from the other table and had about 17,000 of the 44,000 chips in the tournament. I only had 5,000. Can't remember much about getting down to 4 players - I picked up a couple of rounds of blinds, and certainly knocked out one player when I called on the BB with any two cards as his all-in raise barely covered the blind.

We were four-handed for quite a while, chips flowed around with the shorter stack winning every showdown. A big hand occured when the large stack completed the SB on my BB. We saw a flop of AKx and he bet out 4,000 into a pot of 4,500. I had K8 and 9,500 chips left. I had a think. If he had an Ace, I felt sure he would have raised pre-flop (unless he had AA, when he may have limped) so I discounted that. However, the main line of my thinking was that he was preying on my perceived weakness when I just checked my blind. His thinking would have been 'If he had an Ace, he would have raised pre-flop, so he doesn't have one. After a think, I re-raised all-in, and after his own ponder, he folded. He said he had a King and that he knew I didn't have an Ace. I showed my K8 and he said his kicker was worse than mine, but I'm sure he would have raised pre-flop with a King and that he was just trying to take the pot.

That pot made me chip leader, and the last big hand was when the original big stack went all-in from first position. I was on the button and had JJ (the first pair I was dealt at the final table), so I called. The SB then had a think, but discretion got the better part of valour and he folded. I was up against Ace-something, but the first card I dealt on the flop was a Jack, so I won the massive pot.

I was a huge chip leader over the other two, and we actually all got it in pre-flop on the first hand when I took a chance at ending it early on my BB with JT. They had QQ and AQ, and the Queens held up to put us heads-up. He then went a bit too timid, folding the first two hands. The blinds were 3,000/6,000 by then so on his next BB he only had 2,000 chips after putting in his blind. I found my second pair of the final table with 88 and put him all-in. He had to call, but only had 73. I again hit my set on the flop and that was that - £270 first prize and a profit of £220 on the evening.

Instead of running to try (and probably fail) to catch the last tube I treated myself to a taxi home and had a nice long chat with the cab driver about poker.

Two live reports

Two nights at Fourth Street this week. Tuesday was the £10 rebuy, and it started very slowly for me. In the rebuy period I didn't win a single pot till the very last hand, when I went all-in to grab blinds of 150 with K4, purely to take a chance at either getting some chips, or going bust and being able to rebuy. Luckily, one of the drunk muppets at the table (of which there were three) called me with inferior cards and I doubled up. Once we got to the freezeout, I managed to knockout one of the muppets when I picked him off trying a complete bluff on the turn. At the first break I was doing quite well - I had one of the bigger stacks.

A bad read cost me when a small blind went all-in for 3BB on my BB. I had A3 and thought he was trying it on so called, only for him to turn over AT. I made it to the final table though and exited when my AQ came up against the BB's pair of tens. I'm getting quite annoyed by the fact that I keep managing to find BBs who have proper hands when I go all-in, and yet I always seem to get trash, which I can't defend when the other guy is all-in. Didn't help matters on Tuesday that the guy who knocked me out was a bit of a wanker who thought he was all that. More than one of the other people at the table quietly expressed their disappointment that I had lost to the tosser.

Last night was the £30 freezeout and I had a bit of a mare. I got some chips early when I managed to trap another guy with a set of threes, but chips dribbled away till I had exactly what I started with - 2500. I then managed to make a complete mess of a hand which did for me. I saw a free flop of 997 with A3. Four of us in the pot, and it's checked round to the guy who I beat with the set earlier. He bet 100 into the pot, but I took it for a steal and raised to 500. He called and it was just us two for the turn of an Ace. Whilst I originally read him for nothing, I now had the added insurance that even if he had a nine, I was ahead. I decided I would like to check-raise him all in, and my plan worked, only for him to call with K7 and that was me gone.

It was a dreadful risk to take with no more than a hunch, especially when it was so early in the tournament. I've noticed I've been trying to pick off bluffs a bit more recently, but I think I need to ease off unless I have a cast-iron reason for thinking someone is trying it on, rather than just 'maybe he's bluffing'.

A couple of SNGs did nothing to recoup my losses. I've been doing OK in these recently, as my more aggressive style pays off in the contracted levels/chip stacks in these, but I think I had a bit too much of a 'fuck it' attitude last night (like calling two all-ins with 22).

Overall my poker losses on the night were £57, so my live poker losses are now getting on for £300. One tourney win will sort that out, and I am due a big run of good luck in the main tourneys (ignores fact of luck being totally random and uninfluenced by past events).

A Good Plan Derailed

Not as much poker over the last week or so - GTA San Andreas coming out on PC has diverted my attention somewhat. I did get stuck in a bit on Friday and Saturday night as a) I was in anyway, b) I wanted to make sure I cleared my Crypto bonuses this month and c) after last Saturday's good fortune, I hoped to take advantage of the drunk fish who tend to play late at the weekend.

I was not to be disappointed, turning in a profit, despite twice taking big hits when an opponent showed down the only two cards that could hurt me. I've become quite good recently at gradually building up my stack by taking down lots of small pots, which is more in line with good NL play, rather than just waiting for big hands. I've also got better at stealing pots when it is clear no-one else has a hand (or when I spot a weak player who I can knock off the pot).

I'm still not having any luck with pairs of TT and below - I just cannot hit a set with them at all. One other thing I haven't yet been able to do is the classic NL trick of crushing a player with a big pair by playing a small pair or connectors against him. I just haven't had the cards yet - hopefully my time will come (and I'll start hitting those sets).

Only one tournament of note this week - a £15K where I came 28th for £120. I was actually quite pleased with this because of the structure of the payout. 21st-30th was £120, 11th-20th was £150 and 10th was £225 (with jumps of £75 or so for each place thereafter). Therefore, once I made the top 30, there wasn't anything much to be gained by coming 11th-30th - I had to make a push for the final table. I saw my opportunity when on the BB with T8s. There was a min raise and a call ahead of me so, with the antes and blinds already in the pot, there was about 17,000 chips in the middle, and I only needed another 2,400 to call. I did so, with the plan of going all in if I caught the flop at all (this would have been a pot-sized bet). Flop came down KQJ, giving me an outside straight draw. I pushed in, but came up against someone who had flopped the nut straight with AT. Another Ace would have given me a split, but there was nothing doing. Still, I wasn't displeased as I still think the theory was sound - if I'd won that hand I'd have doubled though (or tripled if I'd been called) which would have almost certainly got me to the final table.

94 - An All-In Hand If Ever I Saw One

Friday night freezeout at Fourth Street - instead of the £15 rebuy tourney of previous weeks, this event has changed to a £30 freezeout. I prefer this as it means you immediately start with 2500 chips, rather than the 800 of the rebuys, so there's more scope for proper poker.

Scope I very nearly blew when I got knocked down to about 400 chips relatively early on. The first couple of dozen hands at our table were fairly quiet - no one showed a hand down and the same chips got pushed about between players. Then came a hand when I got dealt AQ. I can't remember the exact position of the players, but I recall that I came to the conclusion at some point that the other guy had a weaker ace than me, but I flat called at one stage instead of reraising, thus allowing his kicker to hit the board, and I doubled him through. I was very annoyed with myself, but I felt better over the course of the next 45 minutes or so as, through a period of very good bluffing and recognising stealing opportunities, I managed to regain all that I had lost, plus a bit more.

Once we were down to two tables, the blinds had a bit of a steep jump, so I quickly found myself shortstacked. My cards were cold so I needed an opportunity to steal to stay alive. I'm on the button, and had identified the BB as someone who would only defend his blind with premium cards, so even before my cards came to me, I'd decided to push for the blinds if it was folded round to me, which it was. I went all in (about 6BB) even though I only had 94. to my horror, the SB called. "I'm in trouble I thought", but I had a lifeline when he turned over 33, giving me two live overcards (and a 45% chance of winning). I didn't hit and was out, though I think I've developed a reputation as a bluffer, as it's not the first time I've been caught going all-in with not-very-much. I must try and use this reputation in the future.

Once out of the freezeout I got stuck into a couple of SNGs, and came second in both, meaning I broke even for the night. The second SNG was a comedy affair. I built up a huge stack by gambling with Ace-rag, coming up against a better Ace, and winning (usually by hitting a flush or a straight). Four times in a row this happened, knocking out 3 other players. Sometimes you just hit a run of luck. This continued into the heads-up, though it took on the more general 'favourite's no good' form, as seemingly every time one of us got all-in, the inferior hand would win. I thought I had it won when he went all in with 44 against my QQ but, predictably, he made his set on the river. After a good tussle, he finally prevailed, but I had got some great heads-up experience.

Saturday night I found a fantastic muppet on the NL table on Crypto. An awful player kept getting lucky against everyone else at the table, but found his crappy cards didn't hit against me, so I took everyone's money via him. I worked £100 up to over £500 - my best ever NL cash result.

TV Superstar (of sorts)

Big ol' poker day yesterday. Spent most of the afternoon at the Pokerzone studios taking part in a televised tournament. Six of us sat down - five of the top guys from the Gutshot and me. I took part because the poker room I work for was sponsoring it, and they needed to fill a seat (originally the idea was we'd send the top players from our site, but we only got told about it on Thursday (that's a whole different story that I can't go into here) and so couldn't get anyone at short notice).

The guys from the Gutshot were a great bunch, but I did detect that they thought of me as just some internet mug they were going to rob of his chips. Once we got down to business, I managed to win a nice pot early and stay out of trouble. First hand of note was when I won a big pot after calling a bet on the river with just top pair when the other guy bet with a busted straight draw. I then made my one big mistake when I called a pre-flop raise in the BB from a guy called Granite John with A something (maybe an 8). An Ace comes on the flop and I bet out. He re-raises me and I have a long ponder about the situation. I think I have kicker trouble so I fold, only for John to show 52 - absolute nothing. Apparantly this hand has a reputation at the Gutshot for being a show hand (it's called the Powerhouse) - and so it proved.

The next big hand was when I knocked a guy called Hugh out. I limped in from the SB with 55. Flop was 842 and I threw a bet out, which Hugh called from the big blind. I made my set on the turn. Can't remember if I bet the hand and he called, or whether I check-called, but we saw the river, which was a 7, putting four to a straight on the board. I bet and Hugh reraised me all-in. I had a think but I didn't believe he had a 6. Because he'd seen me be intimidated by a reraise before, I believed he was representing a straight to push me off the hand, so I called. He only had a pair of sevens and I was about chip leader with 4 left.

Myself and Granite John had about 24,000 chips each, with the other two guys only having 12,000 between them. After a few hands where not much happened, one of the short stacks went out and we were down to three. The new shortstack, Amir, then got a great run of cards. A7, A8, two AQ and an AK in the space of about 6 hands won him a few blinds, which were worth having at this stage. Before long though, John got Amir's chips and we were heads-up.

Things then went very cagey. I did get cold cards, but I think I failed to be aggressive enough when I got a sniff of anything decent, like a K or a Q. John picked away at my stack, until we reached a stage where his chip lead was about 3/1. I had A7, and the flop was Q75 (all spades). I think I checked, John bet, I reraised all-in (trying to push him off) and he called with QJ. My Ace was red, so I needed another Ace or 7 to fall. A spade on the turn gave me a chance at a split pot if the river put a flush on the board, but I got no help and that was the end. 2nd prize was £300, but sadly that couldn't go in my back pocket (work had already given me the afternoon off to play poker, and so said I had to give any winnings to charity). Twas a fun day though, and I didn't disgrace myself, even though I know I could have played better.

In the evening, I went to 4th Street Poker for a game and ran into a big slice of bad luck. After losing my first buy-in to an idiotic play (reraising all-in with 99 on a Q-high board) I gained a nice stack. At 100/200, it's folded round to me on the SB with AQ. I raise to 300 and the BB immediately goes all-in. He has about 2700 chips and I have a think. I didn't rate him as much of a player, and the speed of his all-in meant it was clearly pre-meditated. It also looked like he didn't want a call, so maybe he had a small pair. It looked more like a bluff though, so I called, and he showed T8. Flop was blank, blank, 8 and the players at the table went 'Oooh'. Turn was an Ace, and there was a bigger 'Ooooh'. River was another 8 and there was an almighty 'Ooooooooh'.

This hand crippled me to 400 chips and I was out soon after. First time I've not made the final table for a while (went out on the bubble in 5th last Friday). Actually, thinking about it now, that's not true, the Tuesday before I was knocked out before the final table when I had KK against AK and he spiked an Ace on the river.

Not as much internet poker recently, though last Monday I won £800 in Betfair's Anniversary tournament to celebrate the fact they'd been online for a year. The slow play was a major pain, though. The event cost £10 to enter, but any winnings would be multiplied by the number of months you'd been a member of Betfair Poker. This meant a lot of the players had a shot at really big sums for only a tenner (for a 12-monther, the first prize would have been about £14,000). Each jump up the prize ladder was quite substantial for a £10 tourney. On my table this resulted in just about every other player taking the maximum amount of time to fold their cards, and we only got through about three hands per level. By the time I got to the final table, the other players had big stacks compared to mine. It also meant the blinds were ridiculous - even the 2nd chip leader had under 3 BB in their stack. I went out in tenth (which still isn't bad considering there were nearly 500 entrants) but the tourney had very little skill at the end. Cryptologic really need to introduce hand-for-hand play in their tournaments to eliminate this problem.

Downs and Ups

Arsenal and Man Utd are 0-0 at the end of 90 mins in the FA Cup Final, but my tales are of poker. Have just had my first dabble in 6-max NL cash games and I didn''t like it. Managed to lose my £100 buy-in in an hour. Had one of those annoying sessions when, on the few occasions I got dealt decent cards, I either won the blinds, or had very little help on the flop when no-one else hit. I don't think I connected with a flop at all in the hour - no help whatsoever. Quite frustrating.

Last night was better. Went down to 4th Street Poker and managed to come second in the second freezeout of the evening, despite not really getting any decent cards in the tournament, especially once it got to the final table. The guy that eventually won adopted an ultra-aggressive stance (raised most hands all-in). Under the game conditions (high blinds relative to stacks) this was the right ploy. Unfortunately for me I suffered the coldest cards I can remember in quite a while. Every hand was 63, 53, 74, etc. I managed to scramble on when my 98 doubled through (and also hit a runner-runner straight in another hand), but my luck eventually ran out and second it was, and £54 tucked away in my back pocket, making a profit of £24 for the evening (£12 if you include beer).

The Bad Play and the Bad Players

Got a phone call out of the blue last week from Ladbrokes about their Poker Cruise qualifiers. Seeing as I qualified for it last year, they offered me a free place in Monday's $130 qualifier. This got me inordinarily excited (shows how lacking in thrills my life is), but I managed to completely douse the fervour by playing like a loon. KK and AJ early on helped me accumulate some chips, but then I managed to spunk away most of my stack when trying to push someone off a Kxx flop with 77 in the hole. God knows why I came to the conclusion that this guy must be bluffing, as I had no real evidence apart from the fact it was checked round to him. He, of course, had a King and I (rightly) missed my two outs. There is no more annoying feeling in poker - the knowledge that you completely messed up a hand through amateur play.

No-limit ring games are going OK. Had a good session on Monday night when I took my £100 buy-in up to £250. Managed to get a great table (a ten seater that was just filling up). Loved it when I noticed that most of the other players hadn't sat down with much money (a couple even with the minimum of £20). Nothing screams fish like this does (you've got to buy in for the max available if you want to get best value for your good hands). Had a great little battle with one player. I annoyed him by going all in with AQ on a board of KJxx. He called with his King and I hit my Ten. Couple of hands later he got me back a bit when he spiked trip fives on the river with his 52!. I did him eventually though for all his money. Another muppet was incapable of laying down top pair, crap kicker, even when facing all-in bets on the river.

Did notice a leak of mine though - I'm playing too many speculative hands out of position. Think I get a bit wound up in the whole 'you could flop a monster and break a player' mentality. At one point I dribbled away £60 without winning anything back. Also had no luck with pocket pairs recently - can't remember the last time I flopped a set.

KQ - the killer

The last few Fridays I've been playing live poker down at a new night just off Baker Street - Fourth Street Poker. Nice little tournaments (under 20 entrants) and a young, friendly clientele make for a fun evening out.

Last Friday I started quite well, I got my starting stack of 800 up to 2300 in the rebuy period (thanks in part to getting dealt QQ twice) and yet still managed to have to use a rebuy as I lost them all. The major damage was done when I had a J-high flush lose to a K-high flush (with the Ace on the board). Managed to get some chips somehow and made it to the final table, but cards went cold and I had no opportunities to snatch chips and I went out in 8th. My last hand was KQ, which is my traditional hand for exiting live tournaments with.

Over the weekend I decided to give no-limit cash games another go. My first foray into the field last month was a nightmare - I played twice and lost my £100 buy-in both times. The mistake I made was treating it like the early stages of an internet MTT. The objective in the early stages of these tournaments is to try and get all your chips in the middle with big hands and hope they hold up, as there are many players who will go all-in with less than premium hands. I did the same in the cash games with QQ and KK, only to run into KK and AA respectively. I failed to understand that no-limit cash games are all about trying to accumulate chips through your betting and play, rather than by going to showdowns and your good cards holding up. (It's also about successfully trapping someone with a big pair by hitting two pair or a straight, but I haven't had a chance to do this yet).

I played four sessions of no-limit cash games and won about £50 in each one - 4 winning sessions wiping out the losses from my first dabble. I feel more confident about the game now and will try and make this my staple for earning the bonuses on the Crypto cash tables as I've been finding limit poker a bit boring recently.

Sometimes Skill is Secondary...

After a run of improved tournament results without actually hitting any real big money, last night I finally managed to hit a sizeable score.

The Crypto £15K (as usual). Twenty minutes in, there was an odd hand. I call a minimum raise on the small blind with 87s. The three cards in the middle are 776. I check (looking to check raise) and the button bets 30 into a pot of 240. This annoys me (though I'm mostly annoyed because I didn't bet out) but I raise to 120 to signify strength so the sandwiched players will pass, but not enough to lose the bettor. It goes to plan and the turn is a 2 (which puts 2 clubs on the board). I bet 300 into the pot of 480 and the other guy calls. River is an off suit 4 so I go all-in for 650 more, He has lots more chips than me so I'm hoping it's not going to scare him off. He calls with K8 and I take the pot. He had no pair. At no point did he have a draw to anything and yet he called me down, even at the end when he couldn't beat high card Ace!! Thanks for the double up, dipstick (Valmont is his name).

Another double up happens when my pre-flop raise with KQ gets a flop of QQJ (I'm hitting trips nicely so far) and I take out an AJ.

Sometimes you have to bet when you may not have the best hand to find out where you are, especially if there's a chance you could take a pot immediately. Such an occasion arose when I saw a free flop of 962 rainbow when I had J2 in the BB. There were 4 of us in the hand and the pot was 400. Now, there is a chance my pair of twos is good at the moment, as this is a flop which may not have hit anyone. Also, a check from me may allow someone else to bet - a bet I could not call. So I bet, hoping to win the pot right there. I try 300, which could be viewed as being too much (3/4 of the pot). The reason I did this is because we were still fairly early in the tournament (first hour) and so the chaff had not yet been sorted. These fish tend to call any small bet to see another card, so I wanted to scare them off. Unfortunately fo me, the last player to act went all in over the top of me. Did he read me for a steal, or did he have an actual hand? Who knows - but at least I knew where I was in the hand and so could fold, but it did cost me 300 chips. Maybe fewer chips would have had the desired effect?

The very next hand was of note for a very simple reason - I wasn't paying attention properly. I'm on SB and call 3 limpers with 65s. Five see the flop of J43, giving me an outside straight draw. I'm first to act and I've recently been coming out and betting draws from the blinds, to try and take control, rather than let someone else push me off the hand. However this time I think I must have still been thinking about what happened on the previous hand, so I checked, as did the two who followed. There is then a min bet of 100 and a call back to me. I call the 100 (pot is 700 at this point), BB folds and then the next player goes all in for 1070 chips. Original bettor folds, next player (Valmont - the muppet from earlier) calls and it's back to me.

I quickly try and do some maths in my head (that timer doesn't half move quickly when you're trying to calculate things). There was about 2800 in the pot and I needed 970 more to call the two all in players. Odds of nearly 3/1. I assume I'm behind but that I have 8 full outs to win, so I think I have just about the right pot odds to call (this is very marginal at best) so that's what I do.

The turn is a King and I wait for the final card to fall. Except that it doesn't. In my haste to add chips up in my head, I failed to notice that Valmont was not all in at all - indeed he had me covered. If I check, and he bets (which he's liable to do - betting into a dry pot would be something I expect him to do) then I have a horrible call to make. I'm so annoyed with myself for making the error of calling the all in that I have a 'sod it' moment and go all in, hoping Valmont will fold and thus at least protect the 2500 chips I have left. Thankfully, he does fold, the river is another Jack and the all in player shows 44 for a full house. As far as badly played hands go, I'm not going to get much worse than this.

I see a free flop with one other player (Truckone) of T76 (2 clubs). I have Q9 but decide to make a semi-bluff at the pot with my gutshot draw. It gets called and the turn is a red 6. There's nearly 2000 in the pot and the other player has 5500. I go all in for 2835, because I put him on a flush draw and I want him to fold, which he does. I'm up to 4785.

A few hands later and I see another free 3-way flop with JT. Cards fall 633. SB checks, I check and Truckone bets 400 at a pot of 1200. This looks like a steal and, knowing I pushed him off a previous hand, I reraise him all in (3600 more). To my horror, he immediately calls. Crap!. He turns over A8, so he was trying to steal, but he also correctly read my reraise as a rebluff, and thought his Ace high was good (which it was at this point). However, turn comes a Ten and I double up to 9620, which puts me 20th of 96 entrants still left in.

With the blinds at 1200/2400 (antes 300), and my stack at 8900 after posting the SB, I make an awful play. It's folded round to the button who raises my SB all in (he has me well covered). For some reason, I think 'blind steal' and call with A2. Even if I had thought it was a blind steal, A2 is an awful hand to make a stand with. He showed JJ and I hit an Ace on the turn to double up.

Next level (1500/3000) and I'm on the BB with KK. Early limper, min raise by cutoff. I push all in and the limper calls with AQ. He flops an Ace and I'm down to under 1BB left. Seems like any Ace is good tonight :-)

The next hand I'm all in on the SB with JT up against TT. I hit a runner-runner straight to get a lifeline. Two hands later it's folded round to me with 75s, so I go all in, everyone folds and I nearly double up just by winning the blinds and antes.

Three minutes later and I get KK again. This time I flop quads against the guy whose JJ I beat earlier and his AT is no good. This takes me up to 5th out of 16 left in and I'm flying. He gets some revenge when I foolishly reraise his all in with A5 and his A7 holds up, though as he's shortstacked it doesn't hurt me too much.

I then get lucky again when I reraise on the BB with K2. Admittedly I'm being aggressive as I only have 5BB left but this was a lunatic move. My reraise means he only has to put 10,000 more chips into a pot of 43,000 - calling with any two cards is the right move. Incredibly, he folded. After I expressed my surprise he said 'sorry, I clicked the wrong button'. I think this is bullshit and that he was stealing with rubbish, but doesn't understand pot odds enough to know that folding was wrong. Anyway - his loss.

I grab some blinds with JJ before the misclicker goes all in on my BB. It costs me 11000 to call him with a pot of 30000 and I decide to defend with Q2s. I'm pleased to see a flop of QJJ but his T9 gives him a straight draw which he hits on the turn. However, next hand, my QQ hold up against QT and I'm up to 60,000 chips and the final table!

I win one pot and then get 66 in mid position. An early position player goes all in for barely more than the big blind. There's already 21,000 in B+A in the pot so, technically, there's a case for reraising all in with any two cards (provided everyone behind you folds). As it is, my pair makes it an easy decision and his AQ doesn't improve. I now am in 2nd place of 7.

We lose one more player and there is one guy with 234,000 chips, with the rest of us between 70,000 and 95,000 (I have 85,000). I am on the button with AK of clubs. The player immediately before me goes all in and has me covered. I call and he shows QQ. I pick up a flush draw on the flop, in addition to my overcards, but get no help and I'm out in 6th, with £600 finding its way into my account.

So, analysis. It's my best MTT result for a while (and puts me in profit since I started recording results properly in a spreadsheet) despite the fact there were certainly five and maybe six hands that I played badly. Add this to the fact I got crippled with the first really good hand I got and you can see that Lady Luck was stroking me seductively in this tourney. Let's hope she deigns to continue her dalliance with me in the future.

Tweaking the plan?

Maybe it might be time to give the tournament strategy a tweak. Last night started OK (got a double through with AA in first hour and then more than doubled-up when I reraised a late raiser with 33 on BB and they held up against his AT). At the second break I was average stack and lying 18th of 43.

I then got lucky when I went all in for 10,800 with A9 to grab 4,200 of blinds and antes and got called by the SB's AQ. A nine on the turn moved me to 25,000 chips (7th of 34).

Now, the next jump in prize money (doubling) was at 30 - so you'd think I'd make that easy, yes?. Each round was now costing 6,200 chips, so I couldn't just sit back and wait for top hands - blinds must be grabbed at least once a round. At 16,000 chips, I'm on the button and A4 seems good enough to go all-in (B+A are 6,000). SB has AQ and wins the hand. I have him covered so I'm still alive (though 2,700 with blinds at 1,200/2,400 is practically a coma).

My aim now is to try and hang on to get 30th - it's between me and a guy at another table, and we're both taking maximum time on our hands. He looks favourite to go out first, but he has slow-playing help on his table so I'm all-in first. As luck would have it. I'm happy to see my BB hand is a pair of tens, but someone else's AA does for me and I'm out in 31st. As for the other shortstack, he triples up with Aces and actually goes on to make the final table.

My possible reason for changing tactics came in an earlier hand. Normally, when I'm trying to grab the blinds late on, it's with a hand I don't want action with (Ax or a mid-low pair), so I don't mind going all-in for 9 or 10 BB or so, because that should scare off everything but a monster. However, in this tourney I got KK and thought about raising by the more usual 3 or 4 BB, to try and get some action. I decided against it, because it would make me very easy to read. All in it was, and everyone folded.

Could I possibly risk giving away some information about my hand to observant players in order to make more use of my huge hands? Lately I've not been able to build a huge stack in tourneys because I'm only ever picking up blinds late on, which keep me where I am, relative to other people, rather than propelling me towards tournament domination. Usually, the first time I get called, it's by a better hand and I'm gone.

Toy with trying to get action with big hands late on - don't just settle for the blinds.

Tonight I didn't get the chance to try the new tactic out as I crashed and burned just before the first break. I called a 4BB raise with 99 and two of us saw the flop of 66T (2 clubs). He checked and I pushed all in (I had about the pot in chips). He called with AK clubs and he filled his flush on the river.

I'm currently wondering whether it's 'all-in' or 'all in'. I veer between the two, but I think I'm coming to the opinion of losing the hyphen.

April £100K - sigh

OK, so after the initial rush of posts, nothing for nearly a week. I've been out and about a bit more over the last few days.

Just got knocked out of the April £100K tourney. Coming up to the first break and I haven't really had any hands. I see a cheap flop on the SB with K7s, which comes K76 (two spades). I'm first to act and consider betting out into the pot of 400, but the two players in late position have been quite aggressive at trying to take pots when no one has shown strength, so I check. One of them dulys bets 500 and it's back to me. I stick the rest of my 2400 chips in, to force out any draw he might has. Unfortunately, he hasn't read the script and thinks his K3 of spades is worth calling my bet. As it turns out, the Ace of spades on the river proves it was and I'm out in 402nd place. Grrr.

Friday night, I went out and played some live poker at a new club in London. Fourth Street Poker was started up by a group of guys who were fed up of going down the Gutshot and finding the tournament full. There were only 12 of us on Friday, but I had a lot of fun. I went out in 5th, two places off the money when my KK were beaten by KQ which hit a runner-runner straight. I think I'll try and make it a regular thing, as my live poker needs practice if I'm to move on in the game.

The Duplicitous Lady Luck (and not following a winning plan)

Last night - made the money again. Got my pre-1st-break double through with QQ. 1st interesting hand was with the blinds at 300/600 (antes 75). I'm dealt AQs on the SB with an average stack (5600). The chip leader (32000) is on the BB. It's folded round to me and I raise to 2400, hoping he'd call, which he did. Flop comes AK8. I know a bet here will scare him off, so I check. I wanted him to try and take the pot. However, he checked behind. Turn is another 8. Now I'm worried he has an eight. He may not have bet the flop, fearing a check raise. I check, he follows. A 3 falls on the river. I have 3200 and there's 5550 in the pot. I stick them all-in - if he folds, he folds. Luckily for me, he doesn't. He shows 63, and I double through to 11860, which puts me 21st of 85. Twenty minutes later and the second break finds me with 14,500 chips and 23rd of 55.

Not long after, I get AJ in mid-position. An early player (who only has a little over 2BB left) goes all in. With blinds at 800/1600 and antes of 200, there is 4200 in the pot before EP stuck his chips in. An all-in raise from me will knock out all but a monster behind me, and give me just over 2/1 odds. I'd be 45% against an under pair and about 28% if he's got KK, QQ, AK or AQ. I like the odds so make the push. He shows 22 and flop comes J84 (2 clubs). Turn is J of clubs. I quickly look back at my cards. No club. I look at his pair. One of his twos is a club. River is, of course, another club and I'm down to 10,000 chips - just over 6BB.

I'm now looking for a half decent hand to go all in with - I only have enough chips for two rounds. I get AQ and go all in against an early limper, there's a caller behind me, plus the BB and the limper. BB is all in as well. I have the best hand - the limper has A3, and I'm winning till the river when a paired board splits the pot. So, I'm still in trouble.

I then get this run of cards. 76, J7, A2 (two all ins in front of me), 52, 74, 74 (on BB behind raise and all-in). Absolutely nothing to play. SB - I'm forced all in with 85 and get nowhere.

I'm out in 24th and win £120. The main problem with this tournament is that, with the levels as short as they are, unless you get a massive stack, losing a hand cripples you. You need your luck to hold out all night to win.

Tonight I had another go, and started really well. In the first hour, I flop a set of tens and knock out someone who limped in with 10 2 (suited, mind), and complained when his flopped two pair were no good. More chips come when, after limping with 76s, I raise all in on a flop of 578, and am called by 66. Another 7 gives me trips.

Then I get two hands which show the fickle temperment of Lady Luck. First, I get A9s and limp in. Four see a flop of A54. There's a bet of 300 into the pot of 400 from the SB. I raise all in (hmmm). SB calls and shows 54 for two pair - ouch. However, turn is a 9, giving me a better two pair, and another Ace rubs it in with a full house. I'm up to 5440 and 11th place. Hoorah!

Two hands later, I get J6 and see a four-handed flop of J82 (two diamonds) for free. I bet 450 into a pot of 600 and get one caller. I think he's either got a better Jack or a flush draw. Turn is 10 of spades. I decide he's on a flush draw, so go all in. He calls and shows QT diamonds. River is not a diamond, but it is a Queen and I'm back to just above average.

Cold cards follow and I'm 2285 at the break - 121st of 192. Ten minutes in the second session and I get QQ on the cut off. Folded to me and I raise 900 of my stack of 2700. Earlier, I'd gone all in with QQ when first in and picked up the blinds. In this hand, I wanted to get some chips. This went against the strategy I've been following (with some success) in this competition recently (all in with under 10BB, no small raises). Button called, as did SB. Flop is K33 and SB checks. I go all in for 1785 into pot of 3000 - hoping neither of them has a K or a 3. Unfortunately, button had KT and I'm out in 136th. The annoying thing is that he would probably have folded if I'd gone all in.

Note to self: when you find a strategy that seems to be working, don't go against it without a very good reason.

Still, in my last seven of these tourneys, my lowest finish is 185, whereas in the previous thirteen I'd only twice got in the last 130 - so things have definitely improved.

Holy Exit, Batman

OK, so I did enter the New Orleans competition after all, 120-odd entrants gave it value. Unfortunately, I didn't last too long. I found myself directly on the right of a player called The Holy. I've played him before and he's been very aggressive, though never struck me as being particularly good.

Anyway, second level (15/30), we all started with 2500 chips. I have 44 in mid position. Two limpers in front, I follow, as does The Holy. BB raises to 60, we all call. Flop comes Q66 rainbow. It's checked round to me. I bet 210 into a pot of 315. My thinking, if no one has a Q or a 6, my 44 could be the best hand. With the turn, only 2 cards help me, most of the other 45 will cause me problems. Define my hand now and I'll know where I stand. In retrospect, against four opponents (especially with one left to act behind me) this might have been ambitious. The Holy called, everyone else folded.

Turn is a 7. Pot is 720. Now, common sense dictates that my thinking here should be 'he called my bet, which means he has something (there are no draws on the board). Anything he has will beat me, therefore I don't put another chip in this pot'. That's not what I did, I bet 630 chips, following through with my display of strength on the flop. I did it because I didn't respect his call - I thought he read my bet as a bluff, and would bet big to force me off the hand if I checked to him on the turn. Why I came to this conclusion, I don't know. Part of it is that I don't want to let him win the hand. The last time we played each other was in an STT, and he cracked my Aces when he went all-in on me pre-flop with KQ. He limped for 50, I raised on the SB to 200 and then he put me all-in for the other 800 chips I had. Even though I would have called anyway, he was trying to push me off the hand. I thought he was trying the same thing tonight.

He called my 630 (pot is 1995) and the river is a 3. Then, he types into the chat box 'QQ'. Whenever I've seen people type things like this before (telling their opponent what they have) it's invariably turned out to be true. It's a sort of reverse bluff - they are trying to induce a bet. As a rule, I don't fall for it on the rare occasions it happens to me. Even though I wasn't completely sure in this case, I checked then folded to his all-in bet.

I'm still not sure what he had of course. His chat after the hand followed through on his claim of QQ ('I was scared you had 66 in the hole'), which made me doubt his original claim. Looking at the hand in retrospect, I played it badly. It could be argued my flop bet was legitimate (defining my hand there and then), though there is an equally strong argument for leaving well alone. Once that bet had been made however, that should have been it - I should have folded to a bet. Ah well, you live and learn - that's the point of this blog.

Note to self: don't get hung up about one opponent - judge each hand on its merits.

I played just one more hand. I'm on the button with 77, 1500 chips in front of me, with blinds at 25/50. There's a raise to 200 and a call in front of me. I call, thinking I'm just getting the right odds for a call, provided I can get someone to match my chips if I flop a set. The Holy, on the small blind, then goes all-in (he has me covered). It's folded round to me and I have a decision to make for all my chips. With longer than the 15 seconds you get to make your decision on the internet, I would eventually have come to the correct decision (fold). However, my initial thinking was 'he's trying it on - call'. More thought would have led me to consider what his bet meant. He went all in, overbetting the pot, therefore he didn't want to play his hand post-flop. Which hands are strong enough to think you're ahead pre-flop, but are difficult to play post-flop?

Answer - mid pairs (88 to JJ). This is what I would have (and should have) put him on. I didn't. I called and he turned over a pair of 10s, and that's me gone.

Note to self: think things through properly. And do it bloody quickly!!

So, a tournament in which I only played 2 hands, and played them both really badly. I find this far worse than a bad beat of getting a huge hand cracked, as there's nothing you can do about Lady Luck chopping your balls off, but everything you can do about playing like a eejit.

Just watching the Hit Me Baby One More Time results on the telly - Carol Decker looks good for 46! Vernon Kay, of course, looks like a prick (white polo neck indeed!).

Curse of the Limped Kings

The £15K last night. An uneventful first hour - up from 1500 to 1770 at the break. First hand after, I get AA all-in with AJ and move to 4400. Five minutes later, my raise with 99 is reraised by 55. I take him out and go to 10,320.

With the blinds at 200/400, it's folded to me in the button with A8. I raise to 1600 and the BB goes all-in for 3500. It's 1900 more to me, with a pot of 5700, so I call, but he has AK and I'm down to 6000 chips. This hand illustrates one of the problems with these big tournaments that only have ten minute levels. The blinds rise so quickly that, once you're through the first few levels, any bet you make represents a considerable proportion of your stack. When a shortstack goes all-in against your raise, you're rarely getting bad enough pot odds not to call, even when you have a hand like A8, which was just a blind steal.

A pair of Jacks takes me to 8600 at the second break, and I'm 39th of 57, with the top 50 getting paid. Five minutes after the restart I'm dealt 77 on the BB, with blinds at 800/1600 and antes of 200. There's a mid-position limper, SB calls, and I go all in with a raise of 7700, at the pot of 6200. The limper then goes all-in and the SB folds. I knew I was in trouble, and the limper's KK duly knocked me out on 55th - 5 spots off the money.

At the bubble of these 20 or 30 quid tourneys, I'm not one to try and scrape into the money if I have a reasonable amount of chips - if I think I have a decent hand I'll go ahead and bet, so I'm not too disappointed at missing out on the £45, as if I'd won that last hand, I'd have been in good shape to finish well up the money.

I also had a go at qualifying for tonight's New Orlean's tournament, but had cold cards until I made a set of 7s which lost to a rivered straight. That left me crippled, and I eventually bowed out when I (again) went all in against someone who limped with KK.

Note to self - watch out for those who limp with monsters. These people will also generally limp with mediocre hands as well (and raise with good hands AK, AQ, JJ etc) so it can be difficult to spot, especially with the high turnover in online games.

I might buy into to tonight's New Orleans tourney, depending on the value. There's a seat for every 80 entries and 3 spots, so the overlay disappears at 240. There are currently 90 people in with 40 minutes to go. I'll make some dinner, then see what the turnout is.

Gnothi Seauton

So who am I and why am I doing this blog?

Well, my name is Andrew and I started playing poker over the internet about 2 and a half years ago. At first, it was just £1/£2 limit poker, which I did for fun, and also because I made a profit on it (nothing big). This went fine, till the company I was working for went bust, and I was out of work for six months. Financial reins were tightened, which meant emptying my poker accounts to use the money for food and rent etc, so I didn't play any poker for about six months.

When I started working again, back to the poker I went. This time though, I decided to do it 'properly'. Books were bought, articles were read, forums were digested and contributed to - becoming a good poker player was my new project. There was initial success, steady profits were accumulated. I then discovered tournaments, and took to them like a duck to water. I won the first one I entered, and logged continued success. I even qualified for the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise last year - a $700,000 tournament taking place on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean.

Recently, however, I've been finding it tougher, and have been treading water. Why is this? Three reasons spring to mind.

1) I'm not as good as I think I am - I originally went through a period of good luck, and so my early success wasn't really due to me being really good, but just lucky.

2) Early results were an accurate reflection of my ability - I'm just going through a period of bad luck at the moment.

3) My luck and ability have remained fairly constant - it's just the other players have got better.

I definitely think more players know what they're doing now, certainly at the limit tables - there are fewer fishes on the Cryptologic network. Many players have rocked up in order to claim the free money for the first 5 hours you play every month.

As far as multi-table tournaments (MTTs) go, the higher number of players has increased my variance. When it originally began, the big evening tourney on William Hill used to get about 150 players, and I did well in this (never actually won it, but managed quite a few final tables, including 3rd, 4th and 5th in consecutive nights). Now there's regularly over 550 players, it becomes that much harder to make the final table (though when I do, the rewards will be greater).

So, that brings us to the 'Why?' of this blog - I'm making a permanent record of my ups and downs so I can properly analyse my play. Simply writing this thing will hopefully alert me to problems with my poker. Knowing me, it will probably expand to other things as well, depending on how much effort I put into it.

No Place At The Top Table For Me

OK, let's get this thing kicked off. Whys and wherefores will follow shortly, but I will start with details of last night's competition.

The £14,000 Guaranteed on William Hill - 580 entrants.

First hour - pretty uneventful. Dropped from 1500 to 1100 chips after I raised a couple of times with big cards which got no help on the flop. Then came a crucial hand. I limped in with 99 in early position. Two callers followed, then a raise. The blinds called, and so did I plus the two other callers. Five saw the flop of KQ9 with 2 clubs. Person before me bets 30 into a pot of about 300. Grrr. A call allows draws in cheaply, but a raise puts everyone on their guard. I decide to call, hoping the pre-flop bettor (in last position) raises. Luckily for me he does - he goes all-in (1325 chips). Big overbet, and I did think maybe he had a set of kings or queens, but I still thought I was ahead. Small blind folds, big blind then calls. He was an idiot (from what I'd seen), so I didn't mind that. I go all-in (not quite covering bet), then player behind me calls the bet. Turn and river are blanks. At the showdown I find I'm up against two hands of KT, who went all in with top pair and an inside straight draw. I quadruple through, leaving me with about 4500 chips.

At the break I'm at 3500 chips. Just after, a pair of Kings takes me to 5500 after someone tried it on with an unimproved AQ. 9500 follows soon after when I call an all-in flush draw (J high) with 88.

Next hand of note, I'm on BB, folded round to SB. The previous time it was folded round to him, he'd raised and I'd folded. This time I fully expected him to steal again, and he duly raised to 3BB. I have 78s. I call, hoping to smack him over the head with a face card on the flop. Flop comes 752, giving me top pair. He bets into me, I raise all-in and find him calling with 76. I have nearly 20,000 chips.

Hands go by. I have 99 running into a shortstack's AA, but then claw back when I force a fold on the flop with a straight draw. I grab some blinds, but then my AA comes up against a shortstack BB's T9, who flopped two pair. I'm knocked down to 7500 with blinds at 400/800 with 100 antes.

I get back up to 15000 when my A7 all-in is called by JJ and I hit my Ace. Twice in 3 hands I'm dealt AQ and take the blinds and antes.

With blinds at 1500/3000, I raise all-in when on the BB with TT and force two limpers to fold, gaining 10,000 chips. Another AQ takes the blinds, followed by A6 and A8 (I now go all-in with any ace if it's folded round to me pre-flop). Even a late raise with K3 gets the chips.

A crucial hand occurs when I have 38000 chips when there are 12 players left with the blinds at 4000/8000 and 1000 antes (18,000 in pot pre-betting). Button limps, which I read for a marginal hand. I reraise all-in on BB with 66, hoping for a fold, but expecting to be ahead if called. Button eventually calls (he had a good think) and turns over A5. He flops an Ace and I'm crippled to 10,000 chips. I hope to sneak in to the final table but am forced to go all-in with 77, wich runs into KK and I'm gone in 11th - just missing out on final table. I collect £140.