Saturday 26 December 2009

GUKPT, EPT, DTD and looking ahead to 2010 - Long Post....

So I have been really lazy over the last few weeks when it has come to updating my blog, for anyone that has followed me for a while this is pretty much routine.... After the ftops concluded at the back end of November I have pretty much not played online at all which has been a nice break but not great for my pocketfives ranking as I hit a peak of 8th but have slid down again now due to not putting up any results. Hopefully when I start playing regular again in the New Year I can get back into my groove and start moving up again.

At the end of November I went to London in order to play the £3k GUKPT main event which I managed to luckbox last year (sick brag) I arrived in time to play the £1k side event which only managed to attract 60 something runners but still worth playing with about £20k going to the winner. I never had a stack the whole tournament and from when the antes kicked in I was grinding between a 10-15bb stack. I managed to double just before the final and then take a few pots uncontested until we formed a final table of 9. I had about 40bb’s and was in decent shape and one of the micro stacks busted so we had 8 ppl left with 7 places paying. I had raise/folded twice on the final when I picked up AKhh and raised again finding a guy with 50bb’s just jamming (lol) I get it in for almost chip lead stack and can’t get there vs JJ after a hh flop, sigh. Not the greatest start to the week, ha

Just got drunk for the rest of the week donking around in some low limit cash and doing chunks on blackjack, sigh. On to the main event and I had a mixed starting table as I knew 3 players, sunny chatta, pyrian de mel and Matt perrins. I don’t know that much about their games but guessed they were all solid and were not going to be spewing chips about. After playing for a while though it came apparent there were some good spots on the table so would be looking to capitalise on them to chip up. I made one really bad call against sunny when my set was almost never good on the river but paid off his straight like a mug. Was winning enough pots though in order to keep around average stack though before the table broke. On my new table I managed to get a stack going when I won a race vs Roberto romanello at 300/600-75 level. The penultimate level of the day was a terrible one for me when I cold 4 bet from the BB only to find the original raiser snap 5 bet shoving, sigh. After that I also butchered 77 and donked ¾ of my stack off leaving me with around 12k going into the last level 500/1k. I did manage to double up with AK vs 88 and then found AA when some1 else had JJ and ended up with 55k to end the day and the dream of back2back titles was still alive.

My starting table on day 2 had Stuart rutter and Julian thew both on my direct left so wasn’t planning to get out of line really. However Julian had a brutal run of hands/situations and was sent to the rail early in the level. I had a really good start to the day when I got a somewhat fortunate double up. We had some crazy Italian guy who ended up finalling that would limp 90% of hands and almost never fold post flop if he caught a piece. Anyway the Italian guy limps for 1200 and I make it 4000 with JJ and every1 folds back to him who peels. Flop is T73 rainbow, he checks and I bet around 5500 and he basically sets me in for 50k, I call and he shows T7 off but the turn and river is 6,6 ship!

My next big confrontation would come vs Stuart rutter when I made it 4200 blind on blind at 800/1600 and he shipped in around 40k, I called with AQ but lost the rave vs his TT I think. I was grinding for the rest of the day and was picking some good spots to 3 bet to keep my stack intact but no hands of note or big confrontations meant that I was treading water. Then mid-way through the 1500/3000 I opened AK to 7500 and a guy re-ships a 55k stack on me with KQ, flop comes JxxTA, wonderful. This left me with around 10 bb’s and I bust shortly after absolutely gutted :-( Tilted off around £2k playing blackjack with Jeff kimber while knocking back JD n coke before heading to a club with JP Kelly, and a couple of others to drink myself into oblivion and forget poker existed!!!

After the drinking exploits of Saturday I sacked off online tournaments on Sunday as I was in no state to be playing and then headed to Prague for the EPT on Monday. I had managed to win a seat on stars for this so that was a nice bonus and I was playing my first EPT since they Improved the structure to a 30k start stack and longer clock. I had a pretty soft starting table and I was winning a decent amount of pots without risking a lot. I had slowly chipped up all day without any bog confrontations or memorable hands and the last level of the day we would be playing was 300/600 -50 and I had 60k stack at the start of this level so was very comfortable with my position. This is when disaster struck when I managed to bust in the very first hand of this level. I 3 bet and oldish guy with 57 suited, he peeled and the flop came j53 rainbow. He check/raised me on that redic dry flop and I just couldn’t really put him on a hand that he could call my jam with and imo he was the type of player that would check/raise KJ there to ‘find out where he was’ and then pass to my 4bet jam on the flop. I thought for a little while and shipped in my 60k stack, he had me slightly covered and snapped me off with JJ for top set, lolololol gg Prague. I have spoken to a few people about the hand as I was pretty pissed off myself for donking out, but others reassured me my move was ok. The only debate we were having was despite my move being good, albeit very risky, is there any need when the field is pretty weak with lots of easy chips on offer. Looking back I don’t really need to make plays like this at this stage of the tournament but it did free up my time to enjoy drinking in Prague, :-)

After this I came home for a few days before heading to DTD in Nottingham for the £1k ‘monte carlo’ event that boasted an EPT structure as well as a £250k guarantee that they easily surpassed with a turnout of 300 and a £93k 1st prize. This is the first time I’ve been to DTD and was very impressed with the facilities and all the dealers etc as well as how efficiently the tournament was run. My day 1 was going quite well picking off bluffs at the right time and chipping up nicely especially once the antes kicked in. I then got involved in a monster pot at 300/600-50. I raised 89 suited utg to 1500 and got called in the next seat, on the button and by the big blind. The flop came 963, big blind checked and I bet 3600 and was called by utg+1 and the other guys folded. I wasn’t happy at all with my hand at this point and would be giving up on most turns, but the turn was an 8 but brought out 2 flush draws. I now bet pretty big, 9000 and the guy jammed on me for about 30k total, I called and was in pretty good shape vs his JJ, not good enough though as the river paired the 3, sdfghjdfghjdfghj. That pot would have taken me to around a 95k stack at 300/600 and loving life. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful with me grinding a short stack and eventually won a pot towards the end of the day after busting rivermanl when he shoved the button with A3 and I found AQ and held. Came back for day2 with 38k at 800/1600 so quite short but a stack I’m very comfortable playing and not likely to make many mistakes with. I didn’t get anything going in the first level so I was playing around 30k a 1k/2k when my exit hand occurred. The button opens to 5k and I jam from the BB with AT and he calls with KQ and turns a K, gg. No complaints really, things just didn’t go my way. Ended up going out on Saturday night in Nottingham with about 12 others doing all types of shots as well as witnessing 3 fights in 20 mins in walkabout, lol.

OK, looking back on the year I am really happy with how it has gone online but pretty disappointed with my live performances. The most annoying thing was playing most of the NLH holdem events at the WSOP and not even managing one cash, fml! Looking forward to 2010 I plan on putting in a much improved performance at the WSOP. I am playing the PCA and aussie millions in January so plan A is to bink one of those and take the rest of the year off but if for some reason that doesn’t happen I’ll be grinding online until EPT grand final in Monte Carlo. Shortly after that it will be time to make the annual pilgrimage to Vegas!

Think I’ve rambled enough now, so hope everyone had a great Christmas and have a good new year, good luck in 2010. Also ive decided to moderate all comments as the amount of spam is tilting me....

Pab

Wednesday 2 December 2009

Been Busy

I will do a combined gukpt (sigh) and prague trip report this weekend once i get back home, hoping to fit in ukip galway as well b4 christamas but need to get some other stuff organised first,

Pab

Thursday 19 November 2009

FTOPS over, Children in Need!


So, the ftops finally came to an end this past Sunday and it was a relief that this intense period of playing was over. Been shackled to the computer for 12+hrs a day for 2 weeks straight is not fun even when you are winning so when you are losing/breaking even its an absolute nightmare. The $2500 on Saturday was a shambles, I played pretty awful and was out very quickly, sigh. I made a semi deep run in the $100 rebuy omaha event but lost 2 big pots right after the bubble burst so ended up with not much more than a min cash. On to Sunday, pretty shitty day again, made a few deep runs early, notably 42nd in stars early $100r when it was $80k+ ftw and 20th in UB $100r when it was $24k ftw. Things were looking bleak as the session was winding down and then I got a stack in the $200 rebuy on stars and the UB $120 deepstack. I was mentally exhausted from the last 2 weeks poker and wasn't playing my A game by any stretch of the imagination and finished 9th in both, fml.

These last 2 final tables add another $200 the charity fund so no that its all done I will be donating $2534 to Children in Need. Obviously it is a little disappointing to get nowhere near as much as last time but I ran so golden last time, lol. I haven't played poker since Sunday, been catching up with friends and drinking. Also I got the new call of duty game, pretty awesome, xbox live ftw! I am heading down to London on Saturday for the gukpt grand final festival to defend my title, :-) Then straight from London I'm going to Prague for the EPT. Will probably take it easy after that up until Christmas and then the travelling starts again in the new year!


Friday 13 November 2009

Frustrating so far.......


Been too lazy to update on my progress for a couple of reasons, firstly poker hasn't been going that great since this started and Ive been playing long hours due to ftops and been exhausted every day once Ive done playing. I have had one deep run the FTOPS which was the $1k 6 max event but I managed to lose 4 all ins in 30 mins to finish a soul destroying 14th for $11k when first place paid $300k sdfghjksdfghjksdfghjkdfghj. I did manage to win a EPT Prague seat last Saturday so that was good but apart from that not much else has been going right. Have just unregistered for the later tournaments on Friday and am going to get drunk instead before the final 2 days of ftops with the $2500 buy in tomorrow and the $500 main event on Sunday. As far as the charity goes i have decided to donate to Children in need. Here are the standings so far

Final tables - 12 - $1200

Wins - 3 ( $100r stars for $13222, $50r UB for $4809, $77 turbo stars for $4649) 5% of these is $1134

Total so far is $2334


Hopefully I can add to this over the next 2 days with a couple of big wins......

Saturday 31 October 2009

Team PLB bet and Charity drive (1st-15th Nov)


OK, not really played that much poker since getting back to the UK since i had some family commitments as well as catching up with friends etc.. Did manage to play last Sunday and was looking at a pretty dismal session until the $200 rebuy came to the rescue and i earned $27k for finishing 2nd. This result was enough to see me jump above moorman for the UK number 1 spot on pocketfives, :-) The lead however is uber small and we will both be putting in a ton of volume until the ftops is over so whoever runs best in that period will have the spot for a while. A team PLB bet has been organised on pocketfives for 1st-11th of November and features a lot of high stakes regulars and should be a lot of fun. You can read more about it here:

http://www.pocketfives.com/online-poker-scene/pocketfives-plb-competition-kicks-off-november-1st-4828683

After donating a % of my winnings to charity over the wcoop period it made me feel really good about myself so have decided to do it again for the ftops period. I will work it the same as last time, $100 for every final table appearance and 5% of the payout for any tournament i manage to take down. Last time i ran super hot and ended up with a healthy total of $6600 going to charity so topping that might be hard but ill give it a go and see what happens. I will decide what charities and how to split the money at a later date...

Once this intense period of online play is over I plan to cram in quite a few live events before christmas including EPT's in Portugal and Prague, the GUKPT grand final, Stars UK tour event in galway and possibly the DTD monte carlo £1k event. After new year the plan is to play PCA in bahamas followed by the long journey to australia for the aussie millions then after that who knows............

Monday 12 October 2009

Sunday Shippage

Only played on monday last week as it was my friends birthday. Still manged to turn out for the sunday touraments but only registered for the 7pm-9pm uk tournaments, (7am -9am NZ) as Its my last night so heading out for food and drinks with friends. Had a deep run in the warm up and the $100 rebuy but fell short on both before making a run in the tilt $150 f/o. Structure was pretty shallow at the business end but my run good came through to secure the win, :-) The heater continues....

Wednesday 30 September 2009

Post wcoop laziness


Since the wcoop wrapped up I've been pretty lazy to be honest. I took the full week off not playing any poker whatsoever. I planned to play a full schedule on Sunday just gone but overlaid and only started at 7pm UK time instead of the targeted 5pm. It was turning into a very frustrating session with a few stacks materialising in big tournaments but any chance been scuppered moments later. Heading into the last couple of tournaments I had registered for, the outlook was bleak with only 2 min cashes to my name. Things started to go well in the $200 rebuy on stars and the $30 rebuy on ftp. Somehow I managed to final both tournaments at the same time but was really focused on the $200 rebuy and was kind of neglecting the $30 rebuy. I got heads up in the $200 rebuy with my friend and fellow UK player Gregior but i ran better heads up and ended up taking it down :-) I was mentally exhausted after the win but was 3 handed in the $30r but didn't last long eventually busting in 3rd for a bonus $4k. I didnt play Monday, and bricked out everything on Tuesday which wasn't fun at all. Don't think I'm playing today, might be back playing Saturday but if not it will be Sunday again, gl

Pab


Monday 21 September 2009

WCOOP final day!!!!!!!!





Well, woke up pretty tired and hungover this morning and wasn't really feeling in the mood. Took me a few hours to snap out of that and was OK then and on the grind of a full schedule including the $5k buy in WCOOP main event. My only really sweat from the early tournaments was the UB 500 but I ended up losing a 100k pot at 400/800 shortly after getting in the money, sigh. I went deep in the full tilt 9pm $69 tournament and came 3rd for $6100, ran pretty bad 3 handed tbh. Got nothing going in the later tournaments and was finally left in the wcoop main event and the $1k 2nd chance event. Unfortunately they both ended pretty quickly, I squeezed KJdd into QQ with 24BB's and bricked a 78Tdd flop to bust the 1k. Not long after I opened K4hh in the main event and got 3 bet on the button by a super aggro guy, I 4 bet jammed for 34k at 300/700 and he tank called with JJ (nice nitroll). Board ran out AA5hh Q 6 :-( gg WCOOP 2009. Was a real shame not to make any runs in the WCOOP events but ran very well overall so no real complaints. Going to post my OPR stats for the wcoop period from the 3 main sites:

Stars :

Game *PrizesProfitROIABIAFSR/AITMITM
Hold'em NL $72,398$16,33329%$30195054%30/18616%
Hold'em L/PL $0<$0-100%$21518000%0/10%
Omaha $575$367%$18011720%1/333%
Omaha Hi Lo $0$00%$000%0/00%
Other $633<$0-71%$271103213%1/813%

$73,606$14,61725%$29896152%32/19816%

Tilt:

Game * Prizes Profit ROI ABI AFS R/A ITM ITM
Hold'em NL $68,005 $39,405 138% $155 668 33% 27/184 15%
Hold'em L/PL $0 $0 0% $0 0 0% 0/0 0%
Omaha $0 <$0 -100% $216 228 0% 0/2 0%
Omaha Hi Lo $0 $0 0% $0 0 0% 0/0 0%
Other $0 <$0 -100% $136 936 0% 0/2 0%

$68,005 $38,702 132% $156 666 32% 27/188 14%

UB: Cant Find any OPR stats for UB but i had two good wins on there for $21k and $7.1k as well. Makes for a pretty good ROI etc.. as most days I only play 2 tournaments on there, couple more at the weekend.


So with just the final table for today the grand total to be donated to charity is:

$6663!!!!!!!

Pretty pleased with that effort, shame i didn't Bink a wcoop and really shoot that number up but there is always next time. I received 4 suggestions for possible charities so have just decided to split the money equally between the 4 of them. The charities are:

Myelin Repair foundation - http://www.myelinrepair.org/

Macmillan Cancer support - http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Home.aspx

Teenage cancer trust - https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/

Bolton Hospice - http://www.boltonhospice.org.uk/

I will donate $1665.75 to each of the charities which comes to £1028 using xe.com. I like to thank everyone for their comments throughout the wcoop and support on the rails, much appreciated. I am moving house tomorrow to live with some friends from home so have no idea when ill be playing poker again, planning to have an extended break. Took a few screenshots to show i actually made the donations, :-) One last thing, A friend of mine Nicky evans has just started a blog (link on right hand side) He seems really enthusiastic about it so should be a good read and worth checking out imo.
Thats about all for now, looking forward to a long sleep and forgetting about online poker tournaments for a while, gl at the tables.

Pab











Sunday 20 September 2009

Quick update and triple crown


Very quick update of whats been happening this week. I played on Monday/Tuesday took Wednesday off and played Thursday/Friday. I am not playing today as i am just heading out the door for an afternoon drinking session and watch the mayweather fight. Since Monday i have made 6 final tables winning 2 of those tournaments. The wins came in the UB $120 deepstack and Stars $30r 6 max completing a triple crown on pocketfives :-). The wins were worth $7113.60 and $3704.26 so coupled with the 6 final table appearances its has kept the charity find ticking over. Will be playing a full schedule tomorrow including the main event of the WCOOP and then after that ill be taking a well earned rest from online tournaments. Heading into the final day of WCOOP the current total I will be donating to charity is:

$6563

Tuesday 15 September 2009

Sunday bricks and monday roundup


Just finished playing all the Monday tournaments after another full schedule. I bricked out everything on Sunday, no final tables, no deep runs in anything big and just generally a super annoying/frustrating day! I tilted off my last couple of tournaments which was a bit stupid on my part but never mind. Today i have made deep runs in lots of stuff but only managed 1 final table but busted 2-3 tables out in at least 5 others maybe more. I final tabled the $50 1r1a on FTP and ended up winning the whole thing for $7527. The final wasn't very strong and the other 3 were desperate to do a deal when we were 4 handed. Gradually wore them down and sealed the victory and a boost for the charity fund. Congrats to moorman who has been on a terrible run since we got to NZ who shipped the late $100r on stars for $52k ish. Still planning to play full schedules from now until wcoop is over so hopefully i don't get burnt out!

Current charity total - $5422

Sunday 13 September 2009

Saturday Review

Played a full schedule today, registering from 6pm UK time until 2am.... I managed to final table 2 tournaments, the Stars $300 and the FTP $30 rebuy. I came 4th in stars $300 getting set over set for a huge pot right at the start of the final then eventually busting with AK vs 99 for a 400k pot at 3k/6k. The $30 rebuy went better though, I came into the final in decent chip position and got some nice hands that held up. I had a good seat with position on the other big stack who i busted in 4th place winning a coin flip. I had so many chips when we got 3 handed it was just a matter of time and eventually took the whole thing down for $6500. So 2 finals is $200 and $325 from the win means the current charity total is $4946.25....

About to crash now to get ready for a gruelling Sunday schedule, hope it goes better than last week

Saturday 12 September 2009

Quick Update

I took the day off on Monday after 4 full days playing as I felt pretty tired and drained. Came back and played on Tuesday making 2 final tables in the FTP $100r and the $77 turbo on stars so +$200 towards the charity fund. Even more good news was that I managed to win the FTP $100r for a nice $22800, so another $1140 towards charity. I have had several suggestions on here for potential charities as well as a few via pm on forums/facebook. After a few wins it looks like I will be donating a decent amount so will more than likely spread it around a few different charities. I will sort it all out once the wcoop is over next Sunday and i have a final total. Since Tuesday i just played the late tournaments on Wednesday and just a handful today (got tilted) with no joy. I plan on playing full schedules everyday from now until the wcoop ends so hopefully will hit lots of finals and Bink a few wins!!


Current total for charity - $4421.75

Monday 7 September 2009

WCOOP sunday


I was really looking forward to the Sundays with so many big events going on it was ridiculous. 3 big wcoop nl holdem events, all with 2nd chance events as well. Party poker had their monthly million as well as all the other regular Sunday majors having bloated prize pools due to wcoop. Unfortunately I bricked everything apart from a few min cashes, no final tables and not even close to a win, sigh. Not gonna complain given how I'm running at the moment, just hard when there are so many opportunities for a massive score on one day and you don't get a sniff at all, sigh. Had some stacks and good chances in a few of the later tournaments, the $100r and $200r on stars, as well as the $69 f/o on full tilt, but nothing materialised. Having the day off today as 4 full schedules on the bounce has taken it out of me, will be back on the grind tomorrow. I will leave you with the highlight of my day from yesterday when i played this hand vs shaundeeb in the $10k hi roller, :-)

PokerStars Game #32533609962: Tournament #200909010, $10000+$300 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (200/400) - 2009/09/07 0:21:29 WET [2009/09/06 19:21:29 ET]
Table '200909010 15' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: TheTakeover (21653 in chips)
Seat 2: frtzer (9074 in chips)
Seat 3: Danny98765 (33925 in chips)
Seat 4: FrinkX (107915 in chips)
Seat 5: Paolo69 (21706 in chips)
Seat 6: shaundeeb (54242 in chips)
Seat 7: BreakRibs (46113 in chips)
Seat 8: #1PEN (23714 in chips)
Seat 9: nofingclue11 (5420 in chips)
TheTakeover: posts the ante 50
frtzer: posts the ante 50
Danny98765: posts the ante 50
FrinkX: posts the ante 50
Paolo69: posts the ante 50
shaundeeb: posts the ante 50
BreakRibs: posts the ante 50
#1PEN: posts the ante 50
nofingclue11: posts the ante 50
TheTakeover: posts small blind 200
frtzer: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Danny98765: folds
FrinkX said, "dont u dare tell me nh"
FrinkX: folds
Paolo69: raises 625 to 1025
shaundeeb: raises 1450 to 2475
BreakRibs: folds
#1PEN: folds
nofingclue11: folds
TheTakeover: folds
frtzer: folds
Paolo69: calls 1450
*** FLOP *** [3s 2d 7d]
Paolo69: checks
shaundeeb: bets 3253
Paolo69: calls 3253
*** TURN *** [3s 2d 7d] [Kh]
Paolo69: checks
shaundeeb: checks
*** RIVER *** [3s 2d 7d Kh] [2c]
Paolo69: checks
shaundeeb: bets 48464 and is all-in
Paolo69: calls 15928 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (32536) returned to shaundeeb
*** SHOW DOWN ***
shaundeeb: shows [8h 6h] (a pair of Deuces)
Paolo69: shows [Qc Ac] (a pair of Deuces - Ace kicker)
Paolo69 collected 44362 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 44362 | Rake 0
Board [3s 2d 7d Kh 2c]
Seat 1: TheTakeover (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: frtzer (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Danny98765 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: FrinkX folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Paolo69 showed [Qc Ac] and won (44362) with a pair of Deuces
Seat 6: shaundeeb showed [8h 6h] and lost with a pair of Deuces
Seat 7: BreakRibs folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: #1PEN folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: nofingclue11 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Sunday 6 September 2009

WCOOP days 2 & 3 review


Day 2 of wcoop events was pretty much a washout, I had a semi deep run in the $200 PLO, finishing 150th ish from a 2400 field. For some reason I played the NL 2-7 single draw event as well but was way out of my depth. There was also a $109 8 game event that started OK but i never got going properly and the structure was very fast and i bust quite early on. For the whole session I final tabled 2 tournaments, the $100r on stars, and the $30r on full tilt. I was first out on the final of the $30r but faired much better on the $100r, getting a nice cooler early doors for a massive pot and never looking back. I ended up winning the whole thing with no chops for $27989.

Today was going very badly at the start and came close to quitting the session early doors because i was very tired and busting out of everything. Perseverance paid off though as the later tournaments proved to be very fruitful. I made 4 final tables in total, the UB $100k, the full tilt $75f/o, $30r and $163 f/o. I was first out of the $75 final and 2nd out of the $30r final. I came 2nd in the tilt $150f/o for around $11k or so and ended up winning the UB tournament with the aid of a chop for $21655. A pretty amazing couple of days result wise and hopefully i keep this run good up throughout the wcoop series. So, with 6 final tables and 2 wins it adds a fair amount to the charity prizepool, please keep the suggestions coming for possible charities as well. About to crash now before a full Sunday schedule tomorrow including the $10k hi roller event, :-)

Current total for charity - $3081.75 :-)

Friday 4 September 2009

WCOOP day 1 review


Only had about 3 hrs sleep before the first full session as I'm still adjusting my body clock to the new time zone. Had a few deep runs in some of the early comps finishing 29th in the stars 100r with $55k up top, :-( and then came 9th in the party super with $10.5k ftw after losing a CL flip just before the final. So a frustrating start but i was still registering and manged to run golden in a $30r sat the the WCOOP $10k hi roller event and Bink a seat as well as busting moorman in 16th place, justice. I never got going in the $200 6 max event, and managed to bubble to razz as well. So with 2 final tables there is currently $200 in the charity kitty and appreciate the suggestions after my last post. Depending on how much the final total is i could split it between several charities, will just sort of play it by ear. About to crash now ready for another full schedule tomorrow, PLO, NL 2-7 single draw and 8 game, :-)

Thursday 3 September 2009

NZ, WCOOP and a little something for charity


OK, so the WCOOP is finally here and event 1 starts in around 2 hour’s time. I have arrived in Queenstown, NZ with moorman where we will be based for the whole of the WCOOP. I plan to stay here for several weeks after and relax with my friends from home and hopefully learn to snowboard, if the snow holds out. The flat is pretty nice but the surroundings are awesome and will try and get some photos on at some point if I’m not too lazy. I have not played an online tournament since 16th august so am feeling very refreshed in order to put in some sick volume for the next 18 days or so. I am hoping by living with moorman we can keep each other motivated/sane through this period as well as having his general aura of goldenness around to help us get the lot, :-)

I have also decided to pledge some money to charity for the WCOOP period. Not really sure why or how this came to me but had a really strong urge to do it. For every final table I make from today until the WCOOP ends I will give $100 to charity, and for any tournament I win I will donate 5% of the 1st place money. I will keep a running tally of how much is in the charity pot and sort it out at the end of the WCOOP. I welcome any suggestions for possible charities and hopefully run good over this period and end up making a sizeable donation. That’s about all for now, will try to keep regular updates on my WCOOP progress etc...

Thursday 20 August 2009

Have a break have a........


The conclusion of the FTOPS series which I bricked (again) seemed a good time to stop playing for a few weeks and relax. When I started going on my heater and racking up a few results I was obviously motivated to play a lot and it is easy to get fully engrossed in the online mtt schedule. Grinding online mtt’s fulltime is not a healthy lifestyle whatsoever; a typical day would involve waking up around 5pm and grabbing a quick shower and some food before starting off with the 6pm tournaments. I register until 2am UK time and can have up to 12 tables at once, sometimes more on a Sunday. If I don’t final table one of the later tournaments I will finish playing maybe around 6-7am and then probably rail friends who are deep in stuff until going to sleep around 9am. Sometimes you don’t leave the house for days, have limited conversations in real life with people and become detached from reality. I think extended breaks are very important for an online mtt player in order to keep balance in your life and not become a social recluse. I had to learn this the hard way when I was first getting into online poker and became totally obsessed and harmed some friendships because of it. That’s all way in the past though and I feel I have the balance pretty much spot on these days.

I am playing the APPT Macau event next week which should be really fun; I have attended the last 2 years and always had a great time. I was lucky enough to win my seat on stars so it’s a nice freeroll as well. Will be meeting up with a few UK players out there as well as a few people I know from online so all in all should be a good trip. After the Macau tournament I am heading to Queenstown, New Zealand to meet up with some good friends from back home and possibly learning how to snowboard! Before that though there is the small matter of the WCOOP on pokerstars. Me and moorman have rented a pretty nice apartment for 3 weeks in order to grind this so hoping for some big scores. Moorman is coming off the back of a chop in the FTOPS $300r 6 max for $200k which has put him back in contention for the number 1 spot on pocketfives again. It is always good to be living with other poker players for things like wcoop and ftops because the days are long, the beats can be brutal and soul crushing.

That’s about all for now, will do a tournament/trip report after the APPT and then updates about me doing chunks in the WCOOP!