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!

Doubt its possible for me to run better

I have run ridiculously hot online for the last 3-4 weeks starting in Vegas with the UB 200k and tilt 100r on Sunday 28^th June. Since getting home I have been catching up with family/friends etc... But still playing online a decent amount as well. I have been really struggling to sort a sleeping pattern since getting home as well; usually not sleeping for more than 3-4hrs at any one time but that isn’t too out of character for someone who plays poker for a living. Being back at home seems so quiet after living in Vegas for 3 months and it does make a refreshing change of pace, sort of, lol

Back to the poker, It feels as though I can do nothing wrong at the moment, winning key flips in big tournaments, being on the right end of coolers , making good calls/laydowns and getting there when I get in bad, all in all a pretty lethal combination. Following on from my good Sunday form in Vegas I managed to get 4^th in the $100r on stars, Sunday 26^th July for a tasty $32,302. The rest of the week was pretty quiet on the poker front until it kicked off this past weekend. On Saturday I made 2 final tables at the same time eventually finishing 2^nd in both, sigh. One was the Stars $100 2r1a for $5500 and the second was the FTP $100r for $12,700 marking a pretty good start to the weekend.

On to Sunday and up until recently Sunday’s had been the Bain of my existence, promising so many opportunities but failing to deliver any real substance. Obviously that had changed in recent weeks but the best was yet to come as I bagged my biggest online score to date. After numerous final tables in the big 100r on stars I finally managed to take it down for a cool $78,342!!! I felt I played really great throughout, especially form the last 3-4 tables but received a huge slice of luck 4 handed when I got all in pre with JJ vs KK and binked a J on the river, oi oi. Heads up really tested my patience as the guy was constantly betting 5x pre or 3-4x the pot once we got to the flop and I wasn’t making a pair for what felt like hours. I eventually got the upper hand, and clinched the victory, :-)

I am hoping this rich vein of form continues into the upcoming FTOPS and WCOOP festivals and can bag some more big scores. I have also come out of obscurity to claim 2^nd place in the UK rankings on pocketfives as well which is quite cool, although once I start travelling again my volume will drop significantly and those playing day in and day out will move back above me I’m sure. That’s about all for now, still undecided about playing GUKPT Luton this week, before heading off to Macau for the APT and APPT events.

GG Vegas 2009

Ok, so as usual I was absolutely useless at updating my blog on this trip managing only 1 measly update, sorry... In the beginning I wasn’t updating because if pure laziness and then got twitter organised so I was updating on my tournaments in real time. After that the real reason I wasn’t blogging is because I had nothing positive to post about, I was bricking every tournament and getting more demoralised by the day. After my last post I was just about to play the $5kNLH event which went very well on day1 for a change and I ended up with 130k stack. Moving into day 2 and everything went wrong, got bluffed off a decent size pot, and made a few bad call downs then 4 bet 88 into KK to bust vs AMAK, fml.

After this I played a couple more 1500 events and never got going in any of them which is pretty common since u only start with 4500 at 25/50. The next event was the $2kNL event and I never had a big stack all day until the final level of the night. I had online player Breeth on my left and we had been talking for a while and then I managed to win a 40k race against him at 400/800 to give me a very workable stack. Breeth busted soon after and I was starting to gain momentum and had around 50k at 500/1000. I then lost two big pots, two hands in a row to the same guy to bring by tournament to an abrupt end. First I set the guy in for 15 BB's with A9 after he opened and he woke up with AK, I bricked after the 78T flop obv. Very next hand he opens again and I 3 bet AK and call off for 55k pot vs his QQ and lose, run better full tilt pro's imo.

Played 2 more 1500 events without success as well as a venetian 1k and then it was time for the $5k 6 max, an event I’ve had success in before in previous years. Unfortunately this year was over very quickly. In level 1 (50/100) I lose 25k when guy check raises his gutshot, bets half his stack on the turn and jams when he binks the river vs my set, wonderful. Grind for a while then lose AK vs JJ to the same guy, Marv.

As I’m writing this I just bust the main event about 90 mins into day 2. My day 1 started pretty well with me getting a full double up to 65k when I flopped a set vs 2 pair and held. I took this stack into the dinner break and then all went wrong in the final 2 levels. First I bricked top pair and flush draw vs a better top pair in a 3 bet pot, then 3 barrelled some guy who snapped me off with 1 pair despite the board getting uber scary. Another double barrel snapped off and I find myself on around 25k heading in the last level. I move tables and flop a set first hand, no good vs a gut shot obv. I fold for the final 30 mins and end the day on 22'400, not the greatest considering the 30k starting stack but the excellent structure still meant I had plenty of room. So today I got back and the blinds started at 250/500 - 50 and I get AK in the small blind second hand and 3 bet one guys open to 4100, he flats and I bet 6200 on a J68 flop and he sets me all in, fuck my life. I don’t really play any more hands and blind down to 8k when it folds to me in the SB and I have A6dd, I jam and the French guy slowrolls me with KK, wonderful. Flop comes 753 for additional outs and he gives it a victory cheer when the K turns but I don’t get the justice 4 on the river and my WSOP 2009 is officially over.

Looking back at the series I definitely didn’t play my best poker but got some rough beats and sick set ups/coolers which amounted to a very frustrating time poker wise. Not a lot you can do about these types of things because in reality bricking 14 tournaments is just regular variance, it just feels worse as it takes a month and costs like $50k, lol. My live poker is just about done this trip apart from maybe the $5k main event of the Venetian festival on the 13th but I’m still undecided. OK, I started writing this entry about a week ago and didn’t make it to the Venetian 5k, prob saved money the way I’m running.

Had too many nights out to recall exact details but a lot of them followed a pretty similar pattern:

· Meal in a swanky restaurant

· Table in a club where too much vodka/jack daniels is consumed

· Stumble onto casino floor to play craps

· Go rhino/sapphire and spend remaining money that wasn’t spunked on the craps table

· Wake up at 6pm the next day feeling like death

Some of the nights out were epic and some pretty special photos made their way onto facebook and I’m sure many more will emerge over the coming weeks. Despite bricking out live I managed to run pretty golden online to ensure a winning trip overall. On 28^th June I managed to win the UB 200k for $44’600 as well as the Full tilt 100r turbo for an additional $34’925, pretty good Sunday! Didn’t play online again until the following Sunday when I came 6^th in the early 100r on stars for $14’352 and then came 2^nd in the late $100r on stars for $26’965, run better me. Came 7^th in the stars 1k Tuesday for another $10k to round off the trip pretty nicely.

Not really sure what my plans are now, heading back to the UK for the time being and gonna go to Macau for the APT and APPT events because I managed to win a seat for the APPT. After that there is a decent chance i'll be heading to New Zealand to meet up with friends, grind the WCOOP and then maybe some snowboarding. Gonna wrap this blog post up now as it seems to be dragging on a bit but can’t finish without giving a big shout of congratulations to James Akenhead for making the final of the WSOP main event and becoming one of the infamous November 9, SICKDOG!

Here is a link to an article i did for pocketfives.com not long back as well:

http://www.pocketfives.com/online-poker-scene/how-to-win-a-sunday-major-and-100-rebuy-on-the-same-day-4460433

WSOP so far

Well, not been the best start to the WSOP, 0/4. Not been playing that great really, obv got coolered by Stevie in my first event but than ran up a decent stack in the $1500 6max event the next day. i had 15k at 100/200-25 but didn't see the end of the 150/300-25 level. I was very comfortable on my table but then got moved and made some rash moves with no real information to back it up and got caught out. After butchering my stack my exit hand was at least standard with me re-shipping AQs into KK with 20BB's, nice sweat after the K44 flop, sigh.

Next event was the $2k NLH but didn't get off to a very good start at all and was getting frustrated at old guys check raising me out of my seat. Made a couple of ill-timed moves and soon slipped to a push/fold stack. In the first level of antes I open 88 on the button with 20BB's and the small blind has TT, marv.

Yesterday I played the 2.5k NLH and things were going well early doors with me taking my 7.5k stack up to 12.5k in level 1 but then I made a move against an old guy (shoot me now) that didn't work out. He limps for 100 and and isolate to 350 with A5cc, he calls and we go HU to the flop. He had called a few of my raises and had not won one post flop yet, or seen any of my hands so had a feeling he was gonna try something funky soon. The flop comes KQQ and he check/raises my 400 to 1200 and i make the call planning to take it away on a later street. This was probably the big mistake, vs an old guy i should just small 4 bet the flop and he folds everything but Qx instead of trying to make a believable multi-street bluff. Anyway hindsight is 20/20 and we got to the turn which was a J he led for 1600 which again i called. The river was a 5 and he checked with about 5400 left in his stack, I dwelt for 30 secs and moved a stack of 1k's forward to set him in. He tanked for about 1 minute before calling with KJ, fml.

On to the $5k NLH today hopefully goes better and will write don't make moves on old guys on my hand to keep me focused. Ul to praz bansi yesterday who had his 2nd bracelet in sight but just fell short with a 7th place finish in the $1500 6 max. Stevie also had a deep run the $2.5k PLH/PLO tournament but came a frustrating 20th to go along with his min cash $1500 to make him the easy leader for cashes in our house, lol


Have started using twitter to update my progress in tournaments in real time if anyone is interested, here is the link:

http://twitter.com/Pab09

There is a box on my blog that also updates with my twitter messages as well, that's all for now, time to crush the 5k, gogogogo