I played a couple of stts today and managed to come 2nd and bubbled 4th in the other.

In the first game I got absolutely no cards and just hung on to get in the money - one player had disconnected and never came back so it was simply a case of waiting for him to bust which he did. When he had 25 chips and was in the big blind the next hand, I even folded KK preflop! Once in the money I then picked up a few cards and came back from 500 chips to get heads up and be a 2-1 chip leader. However, 2 consecutive rivers with my AJ falling to a river Q and then 88 falling to a rivered set of 7s saw me finish 2nd. Frustrating but that's poker and a cash is a cash.

The hand below is a classic from earlier in the game where 2 big stacks collide and one of them has the bigger full house.

> richmagpies1 posted small blind (25)
> pedmcg posted big blind (50)
> Game # 860,675,838 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(2h 6h )
> TallTexan4 called for 50
> Try_Harder folded
> weeslick folded
> dave4a2000 folded
> richmagpies1 folded
> pedmcg checked
> Dealing the Flop(4s 3h Qc )
> pedmcg checked
> TallTexan4 bet for 100
> pedmcg called for 100
> Dealing the turn(4h )
> pedmcg checked
> TallTexan4 bet for 200
> pedmcg called for 200
> Dealing the river(3s )
> pedmcg bet for 300
> TallTexan4 went all-in for 4,185.48
> pedmcg called for 3,885.48
> pedmcg shows a Full House, Fours full of Threes
(4d 4s 4h 3h 3s )
> TallTexan4 shows a Full House, Threes full of Fours
(3c 3h 3s 4s 4h )
> pedmcg wins 9,095.96 with a Full House, Fours full of Threes
> TallTexan4 has left the tournament in 6th place

In the 2nd game it was pretty much the same story. I didn't get many cards and when I did get big pocket pairs, everyone folded to my pre-flop raises which was a shame lol. I guess I could slow play but I've seen too many people do that and then someone limping in or in the big blind with 72 hits 2 pair and your out - better to win a small pot than lose a big one especially in the first few levels. Anyway I managed to get to about 9k after playing back at a guy 2 seats to my right who was a serial raiser - I had QJ and he made his usual preflop bet to 2.4k, I'd had enough raised to 4k and when he re-raised me I called. He had A4 which is just crazy play in my opinion and I was pleased to see a 5T89J board to give me a straight and slow him down a bit.

On the bubble I looked down at 45 in the big blind and checked, QJJ flop was checked. The turn was 5 and our friend bet 1k. I re-raised to 4k determined to make a stand. Of course the guy who was it seems unable to ever lay a hand down called and of course hit runner runner for a flush...Jesus it took some restraint not to let rip at him but in the long run its just not worth it. I'd rather they didn't know that they play like complete morons as they can't hit every time! lol

I've been on quite a good run over the last week or so and I've doubled the bankroll so I can't complain too much as it now stands at $46.46

I managed to play a couple of STTs today. Whilst waiting for the laddies super deep stack to start, I played a $1 stt on pokerstars. I never picked up anything and with just 8 big blinds, I pushed on the button with AT and ran into AK in the big blind.

Anyway I faired better in the laddies super deep stack. I got off to an excellent start when I tripled up with 99 after flopping a set against AQ and KK. The board was T94 with 2 hearts and all the chips went in after the flop. Fair enough with the KK but the AQ with a gut shot straight draw lol? The turn and river were A, 6 and I'm up to 14.8k. After this I was card dead for ages and there was no point risking the stack raising with mediocre cards as at this level people are quite prepared to go all in with any A or a flush draw.

I won a few hands with QJ, AT, QT in position but lost about 1k with TT to a flopped quad Ks! I made the money in 3rd with about 10k which was a bit disappointing as the other 2 had 20k each. Again I was getting nothing - i don't know about you but I always get crap in the big blind and the other 2 were quite rightly raising my blinds! The last last hand I raised from the button with A8 and was called. I hit top pair on an A62 board which also gave me the nut flush draw and I pushed. However, the chip leader was unable to lay down his A3 and rivered 2 pair and so I was out.

I was disappointed not to win as I had big stack early on but I guess it could have been worse!

The bankroll is now $44.86

Cashed in Stars $100k guaranteed

I played this $10 game tonight and managed to come 2237th out of 17984 entrants for $17.98, half of which will be sent to action man as he staked me.

It wasn't a bad game but I never really got going. I was down to 2.1k from a starting stack of 3k after half an hour but managed to win a few small pots and was back up to 3k at the first break. Apart from QQ (to which every one folded pre flop) and AK/AQ which missed the flop, I never really got any decent hole cards. I picked up 22, 33, 44 and managed to double up to 5.4k when I pushed under the gun with 33 and hit a set.

I managed to get up to 9.5k after pushing all in twice in a row and stealing the blinds and antes. Towards the bubble the blinds were 800/1600 so almost 3k a round. I was short stacked but players were dropping like flies and I never looked like I was going to miss out on the cash. The bubble broke on the last hand before the 2nd break. I was pleased to make the money but I did find it amazing that it went from 18,000 players to 3000 in 2 hours! I finally pushed with A9 under the gun when I had less than 3 big blinds and was called by QT with the inevitable Q on the flop and I was out.

I didn't think the standard was that great and I made the cash comfortably without picking up any cards or making any big hands. I think that with a few cards I would fancy my chances of going deep in this sometime in the future. As it turns out, of the 15 from the laddies forum who entered I finished 2nd and as I write this manicboy is still in 496th/597 with 36k and looks like he will get at least $71.

The bankroll now stands at $44.26

Stars $100k guaranteed

Whilst looking through the blondepoker forum this morning I noticed a thread started by actionman who offered to stake 15-20 players in the stars $100k guaranteed tourney this evening with any wins split 50/50. Its $10+1 to enter which is above my usual stake online so I volunteered my services and the cash was transferred over and I'm now registered.

It usually gets about 18,000 players so the prize pool is about $180k with the top 3000 getting paid. I'm glad its a freeze out as it gives everyone a more equal chance than it would if it was a re-buy which just rewards those with deeper pockets. The 3000 starting chips and 10 min blinds is not a bad structure either. A load of the regulars on the laddies forum also enter this and one of the guys came 8th a few weeks ago which was an awesome performance. Its good fun playing the same tourney as others and posting bad beats, double ups and muffings on the forum and railing each other. So looking forward to it and will hopefully do as well as I did in my last big stars tourney, the blogger free roll.

I'll update later today or tomorrow.

I played another laddies deep stack stt this afternoon and managed to get 2nd for $6.

You see some hands and then you think whatwas that all about? Well take a look at this one! This is at level 1. The guy won it with a pair of 7s which he hit on the turn so what the hell was munners calling 2.7k with if he couldnt beat 77? Did he have AK? is so why the hell would you be calling of all your chips with A high lol. Also luckyluc calling for 1.6k after the flop but then folding on the turn and leaving himself with just 1.2k. What did he have after the flop? The mind boggles some times!

> richmagpies1 posted small blind (10)
> dave-uk posted big blind (20)
> Game # 858,030,744 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(Ks 2h )
> munners66 called for 20
> rayburntr folded
> nuttynicky23 raised for 40
> leonace folded
> luckyluc called for 40
> marqmeredith folded
> Redbreast folded
> richmagpies1 folded
> dave-uk called for 20
> munners66 called for 20
> Dealing the Flop(9c 8d 3s )
> dave-uk checked
> munners66 bet for 180
> nuttynicky23 raised for 360
> luckyluc called for 360
> dave-uk called for 360
> munners66 raised for 1,790
> nuttynicky23 folded
> luckyluc called for 1,610
> dave-uk called for 1,610
> Dealing the turn(7s )
> dave-uk went all-in for 3,967.89
> munners66 went all-in for 2,755
> luckyluc folded
> Extra chips returned to dave-uk, 1,212.89
> Dealing the river(5s )
munners66 wins 11,950 with One Pair, Sevens and kicker card Ten

I played fairly tight and in level 2 picked up AJh in the cut off. I call a 120 bet along with 3 others. The flop was KQT with 2 spades giving me the nut straight. I re-raised to 675 which got 2 callers so the pot was building nicely. The turn was a Qc so still no flush and I bet 1.3k and got i caller. The river was 4c and I bet out 2.6k and he folded. In hindsight that was probably too big a bet given that if he was on a flush draw he had missed but I still took an 8k pot.

The game was pretty uneventful after that as I didnt pick up may cards and as usual sat tight and let others muff each other out of the tourney!

Down to the last 4 and I have 6k with the others on 23k, 12k and 11k and I'm thinking that I'm gonna bubble unless I can pick up some cards when this hand happens lol

> richmagpies1 posted small blind (75)
> munners66 posted big blind (150)
> Game # 858,059,392 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(10s 3s )
> luckyluc called for 150
> Redbreast folded
> richmagpies1 folded
> munners66 checked
> Dealing the Flop(8s Kd 3h )
> munners66 bet for 450
> luckyluc called for 450
> Dealing the turn(Kc )
> munners66 checked
> luckyluc bet for 637.50
> munners66 called for 637.50
> Dealing the river(8c )
> munners66 went all-in for 20,857.81
> luckyluc went all-in for 9,823.01
> Extra chips returned to munners66, 11,034.80
> munners66 shows a Full House, Kings full of Eights
(Ks Kd Kc 8s 8c )
> luckyluc shows a Full House, Eights full of Kings
(8h 8s 8c Kd Kc )
> munners66 wins 22,196.02 with a Full House, Kings full of Eights
> luckyluc has left the tournament in 4th place
You are guaranteed a Prize !

Luckyluc was v v v unluckyluc to go out with the worse full house and I cant say he could be blamed for that. Munners huge over bet for 20k on the river looked dodgy but I guess he was gonna call whatever anyway.

Down to the last 3 and I'm the short stack but pleased to have made the money as it wasn't looking likely. The chip leader always had about 32k, to my 6k and 2nd places 12k. I wa getting no cards and was blinding away. The sb rasied my bb constantly and I always had nothing to go back over the top with. I knew he was looking to take me out so I bided my time. I did play back twice in a row and he did fold. By now I was in 2nd as he had lost a big chunk to the chip leader who was now on 43k. In the bb i looked down at 22, as usual the sb bet 3x the bb, I re-raised ai and he called with QJ. The flop was blank but the turn gave me a set of 2s and he was gone in 3rd!

Heads up lasted 1 hand as I was a 6-1 chip dog and pushed with A3. He insta-called with 99 I couldn't hit my A and I was a gonna. Still nice to make 2nd but mainly thanks to others donking their chips off lol.

Bankroll is now at $35.27

I played a Laddies deepstack STT tonight and am pleased to say that I won it!

It wasn't a bad game but by level 5 we were down to the last 3. It started off as usual with people trying to double up early on. The guy to my right was involved in pots of over 5k in the first 3 hands of which he won 1, lost one and split one so no damage done lol. I just sat tight and apart from getting 99 twice and as my pre-flop raise of 5x bb got 3 callers each time and there were 2 over cards on both flops, i laid them down to pot size bets - no way was I going broke like that!

The first hand I won and in fact the only hand I won before we reached the last 3 was with AA lol. I raised pre-flop in the cutoff to 400 (bb was 50), and was pleased to be re-raised to 700. I re-re-raised him to 2.1k and he then put me all in and I was only too pleased call for the rest of my chips! Even more so when he showed 99 and the board came 3383Q board and i doubled up to 8.8k.

After that I was pretty comfortable and was happy to sit tight, fold the rubbish I was being dealt and let the others knock themselves out until we got into the last 3. Given the blinds there is no need to go crazy and play poor hole cards! By level 5 we were down to last 3 - the guy who bubbled had been the chip leader with 20k+ about 5 hands before but donked them off spectacularly!

In the money and I was getting on for a 3-1 chip dog to other 2 with about 7k compared to there 21k each. I won 2.8k with AK on the button after a 950 raise and a 950 continuation bet on a 542 board. I then managed to knock out the 3rd place guy who had blown most of his chips and the chip leader now had a massive 39k stack! I picked up 33 and flat called in the big blind. The flop was J62 and we both checked. Turn was Q and I called a 150 bet. The river was 3 and I re-raised t0 850. He then min re-re-raised me so i pushed for my remaining chips, he called with J6, and I was up to 11.3k and he was gone.

Now heads up and I'm a massive 4-1 chip dog so it was not looking good! He was quite aggressive as you should be! I couldn't call raises of 1k with only 11k if I didn't have a hand. I needed to sit tight and hope he let me see cheap flops which I could hit. The blinds were still 75/150 so there was no great urgency. Anyway I picked up KQ and called the 375 raise. The flop was K32, we checked, turn was 2, we both checked, river Q, and he folded to my 525 bet and I won 2.1k. Now at level 6 and I pick up AA again, I'm so pleased he is first to act and bets. I raise to 3.2k. The flop is 963 and I go all in for 6k, he calls with K9 and I double up to 17k and am now in with a shout.

In level 6 I have KJ, and call a 600 bet. The flop is K86 and I bet 700. He re-raises to 1700, and I push all in for 14k. He calls with Q8 and no help for him and I'm up to 34k and its looking even better! There were no real big hands for about 20 mins as its just raise and fold or see cheap flops and fold to bets. I got up to 39k and then back to 36k and so it went on. I guess he was just waiting for a hand to push with and I didn't want to call with any old crap and double him up needlessly. The final hand was TT so I bet 900, he re-raises all in and I think for about 10 seconds before calling. If he has a bigger pair, fair enough but I can't see him pushing all in pre-flop. If he has over cards say AQ or KJ then I'm still a favourite and I'm not gonna get better than TT very often. He had KT and is down to 3 outs bar an unlikely straight or 4 flush. The board came 6724Q and its all over baby! Lol. I said gg wp to him but he didn't reply so he either had his chat off or was pissed off he blown a 4-1 chip lead heads up lol.

The only other game I played this week was a quick $1 5 equal pay stt in which I finished 3rd for a grand profit of 90 cents lol. Still, every little helps I guess!


The bankroll is now up to $31.47

Not had a chance to play a game since last week as I was at a wedding over the weekend and was just too hungover to play yesterday when we got back.

But today I managed to play another deepstack stt on laddies and its fair to say it was a pretty poor game all round. There was an all in on the first hand with a rivered 2 pair knocking someone out - why someone would go all in with AT on a KT8 board is beyond me but if they keep hitting on the river they will carry on like it. Even more ridiculous was the next hand where the same player called an all in with A high to give back the 5k chips he had just won...just ridiculous really. Anyhow, I didn't see a hand worth playing until level 3 when I re-raised to 1k on a T82 all diamond board with AT. I didn't have a diamond but I was just sick of this one guy raising my blind every time and he laid down. I then picked up AA and managed to get 2 callers with a raise to 400. The KT5 board (2 spades) meant I had to bet and I got a caller. He then folded to my 2k raise when the 4 hit the turn.

After about an hour we were down to 4 with the huge chip leader with 32k and 3 of us with about 6k. The same guy as before continued to raise my big blind when he had the button every single time. I looked down at AQ and decided to play back at him after his raise to 1.2k. I re-raised to 2.7k and of course he re-re-raised me. I was pissed off now and called all in. He had 55 - can no one make a lay down these days? I think it was pretty poor play on his part to come over the top of my re-raise with just a small pocket pair. What did he think I had? Surely at best he was gonna be facing 2 over cards and therefore in a race (55%-45%) and at worst he could have been a 4-1 dog to a higher pocket pair. I was pleased to see the A hit the flop. I was less pleased to see the 5 on the turn which sent me out. Internet poker rewarding poor play as usual.

Thinking about my play afterwards, I think I made the right move and that he was just so lucky to hit his set. I mean its not that hard to lay down 55 is it...its not a great hand to play against a tight player after he has re-raised you is it - see above? I guess I could have laid down but I had decided that I had had enough of him stealing my blinds and so laying down after re-raising him would have just look incredibly weak.

I really think that more often than not people give no thought to what their opponent could have but just play the game based on their own hand. I was pleased to see that he didn't win the tourney anyway as he was a luck box more than anything.

Bankroll for the challenge is now at $22.77

Not had a chance to play since Sunday due to work and watching the depressing England defeat tonight...I knew that draw against Macedonia would come back to haunt us! I hope to play a game or two tomorrow or Friday. Unlikely to play at the weekend either but Sunday is more likely.

Poker Stars Blogger World Champ game

As I mentioned in my post yesterday I was playing the Poker Stars World Blogger Championship tourney - 1337 entrants, 10k chips, 15 min blinds, 81 paid - so an excellent structure and some good prizes like ipods, tickets to big tourneys and its a freeroll so nothing to lose! I was hoping to go deep and there were a couple of others from the Laddies forum (judge and pokerkaz) who were also playing so had something else to keep me interested too. This is quite a long post as I have poker tracker and therefore can pull out all the hands I played.

I didn't start off great and lost about 1k chips after the first hour which was not like my usual tight style at all. I resolved to tighten up and wait for some good hands and play position instead of limping with crap!

I managed to get 650 back in level 2 when JJ held up and then in level 4, my TT held up on Q9K34 board for 2.1k - this took me back to 9k. Pokerkaz then joined my table to my right and I was hoping that we weren't going to knock each other out - she raised my big blind a couple of times and I was happy to fold crap!

Then I was card dead until near the end of level 5 when I looked down at KK. I raised to 1.6k (4x bb) hoping for some action and was called. The flop came Q93 (2 clubs) and I called the all in who had J8 and i was up to 13.5k.

Unfortunately Kaz went out with A6 running into QQ which was a shame as its always nice to see people you know do well.

Next level I had KK and QQ but all folded to my preflop raises. TT on a 53629 board against AQ doubled me up to 23k and I was starting to feel pretty good - waiting for hands and then getting paid off is pretty cool!

Level 8 and the blinds are 400/800 with a 50 ante and if you go card dead your stack can dwindle pretty quickly. I'd not made a raise for a while and my raise with 55 got respect. Next hand I raised with AQ and got a caller. A flop of QJ2 had me betting 2.4k and getting a caller. 6 on the turn and a 3k bet saw me win an 8K pot and up to 26k.

Level 10 and i find TT. There's a raise to 6.8k, a call and I re-raise 12k all in and get 1 caller with A7 and the J2946 board takes me to over 40k. No cards for the next 30 hands but a couple of raises in position with QQ & 99 take down the blinds and antes. At this point I was still well outside the top 100 but getting closer. I went card dead for the next 40 or so hands and found myself getting ever closer to the bottom places as those with big stacks raised and re-raised. I was conscious that they were likely to call me if I pushed and I didn't want to go out with a poor call with JT or KJ. With only 7x the big blind I picked up AQ and decided to make a move rather than blind out raised all in and a flop of Q77 was just what the doctor ordered and I doubled up to almost 50k.

Its now level 15 with 2k/4k blinds and I re-raise the short stack to 36k all in with 66 hoping to take down the blinds. He calls for his last 7k with 73 but the flop comes 456. I think 'yes' as I hit my set but then realise he has flopped a straight! The river 5 is a god send and my boat knocks him out and I win 40k lol.

I see that judge has gone out in 108th which is a shame - he has a report on his blog and it seems that he just didn't get any cards or the luck when he needed it..unlike me.

I go card dead again and I have about 20k left with blinds at 2.5/5k and I'm very close to bubbling and decide to push with KTd utg. I get 2 callers and the flop comes a lovely looking Ad, 9s, 4d, giving me the nut flush draw and a chance to triple up. The turn is a Kh which gives me hope and the river a delicious 9d to give me the nut flush and I just hope the pair on the bard doesn't fill someones boat! I'm now up to almost 70k and looking good to make the prizes although 81st-46th just get a PokerStars duffel bag and pack of cards! It would still be cruel to bubble though after playing for about 4 and a half hours! 4 hands later I pick up AKd and re-raise all in. I'm called by JJ but the flop and river bring me 2 pair and I'm up to 100k and 50th/95. I guess this was a bit lucky but you always need a bit to go deep in a tourney I think.

The last few players before the bubble take an age to go but we finally get to 82 left and hand to hand is in progress. Its now costing 21k a circuit and I am 81/82 with 73k. The first hand of hand to hand and I look down at AA. Its raised to 30k and I have a huge decision to make! Do I try and cling on and make the prizes as its taken almost 5 hours to get here or do I show some balls and go all in? I tell you my heart was pounding as I clicked 'all in' and he called with JJ....please please please I mumbled as the board came 2...Q....2....5.....4 and I mumble a muted yes as AA holds up and I'm up to 163k and a few hands later am 33rd/75.

Level 18 and I get AK and re-raise all in to isolate a short stack who has gone all in. He flips over JJ and its another race which I'm winning big time on an AA5 flop. The turn K seals the deal and I'm up to 195k.

I go card dead again but am starting to think about the next bubble which is where the decent prizes start 45th-37th get an 8GB Ipod and as I lost my Ipod recently, I really want to win one to make up for that! I've just blinded away to about 80k as I haven't had anything for about 60 hands and there are now 46 left and I'm 46th lol. I look down at 99. There is a 3xbb raise to 45k from a big stack with 300K but I decide to make a ballsy but probably stupid move and go all in for my last 80k. The insta-call is not what I wanted and when he turns over QQ, I'm gutted and think that after over 5 and a half hours, I'm gonna be the bubble boy for the prizes....not at all happy...BUT the flop is a life saving 49A (3 hearts) and my opponent doesn't have a heart. The turn and river are blanks for him and I've hit my 2 outer to double up to 186k and almost guaranteed to win an Ipod....yesssssssssss! I was so lucky but as I said before you need a bit of luck.

I posted my finish on a thread on the blonde poker forum and it turns out that longy (who I sucked out on there with the 99) was also a blondeite and posted to say he was happy to help me out and didn't realise that I posted on that forum which is quite funny.

We finally reach the next bubble which is at 37th and 36th - 27th get 80GB Ipods. This bubble bursts pretty quickly. Its almost 2.00am and I look down at JJ which so far has either held up for me or I have out drawn it in this tourney. I re-raise the big stacks standard 3x raise all in for an extra 135k but wince when he turns over his AA and the board is 5 bricks for me and I'm a gonna in 36th/1337 after 6 hours play! If I out drew him then who knows....lol!

By the end the blinds were 10k/20k with a 2K ante and it was becoming a bit of a crap shoot. Still it was great to play a tourney with such a good structure. I thought I played quite well, was patient, played my big hands aggressively and didn't throw my chips away chasing draws. I admit I did get lucky a few times and the 99 vs QQ was a massive hand and I was lucky enough to hit my 2 outer.

Looking at my stats on Poker Tracker, I played 416 hands, saw the flop 10% of the time (very tight), went to showdown 17 times out of 38 hands and won 77% of these hands which is a pretty good %!

Hats of to Poker Stars for putting on such a good tourney with great prizes and structure!

Now as the Ipod is probably worth about £175 do I count this as $350 in my bankroll challenge as this would be a real boost?..lol

I played another laddies super deepstack STT and managed to come 2nd despite not really having a hand all game. I guess I was lucky as I did suck out when I hit a 3 outer on the river to double up.

> richmagpies1 posted small blind (25)
> tonytheram46 posted big blind (50)
> Game # 849,596,015 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(Kh Ac )
> B4dger folded
> thegingerone called for 50
> Ocean-T folded
> tallullah called for 50
> richmagpies1 raised for 150
> tonytheram46 folded
> thegingerone folded
> tallullah called for 125
> Dealing the Flop(3c 10h Kd )
> richmagpies1 bet for 225
> tallullah raised for 450
> richmagpies1 called for 225
> Dealing the turn(2h )
> richmagpies1 checked
> tallullah bet for 1,350
> richmagpies1, you have 15 seconds to respond
> richmagpies1, you have 70 seconds to respond
> richmagpies1 went all-in for 4,165
> tallullah called for 2,815
> Dealing the river(Ah )
> richmagpies1 wins 9,680 with Two Pair, Aces over Kings

This was a crazy hand - with 5 left the 2 massive chip leaders go to war lol and both hit full houses. Unfortunately one of them was better than the other....and so 4 were left.

> thegingerone posted small blind (50)
> Ocean-T posted big blind (100)
> Game # 849,607,741 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(10d Kh )
> richmagpies1 folded
> tonytheram46 folded
> B4dger folded
> thegingerone raised for 150
> Ocean-T called for 100
> Dealing the Flop(7c 9h 5c )
> thegingerone checked
> Ocean-T bet for 200
> thegingerone called for 200
> Dealing the turn(6d )
> thegingerone checked
> Ocean-T bet for 400
> thegingerone raised for 2,000
> Ocean-T called for 1,600
> Dealing the river(6c )
> thegingerone bet for 4,800
> Ocean-T raised for 9,600
> thegingerone went all-in for 9,792.50
> Ocean-T went all-in for 4,570
> Extra chips returned to thegingerone, 422.50
> Ocean-T shows a Full House, Sixes full of Nines
(6s 6d 6c 9c 9h )
> thegingerone shows a Full House, Sevens full of Sixes
(7s 7h 7c 6d 6c )
> thegingerone wins 33,140 with a Full House, Sevens full of Sixes
> Ocean-T has left the tournament in 5th place

I was never really in danger of bubbling as I had 8k and the 2 short stacks had about 3k each. I managed to get heads up but was a massive 6-1 chip dog and my opponent played his big stack well- putting me under pressure every hand. Unfortunately I never got a hand to go back over the top with as I knew he would call me with any 2 cards. The last hand was A9 and I managed to get all my chips in on an AJ8 flop and he was sitting with AJ and that was that.

The bankroll for the challenge is now $24.97 which I'm quite pleased with.


I am playing the Poker Stars World Blogger Championship game tonight which has a great structure (10k chips, 15 min blinds) so I will hopefully pick up a few cards! I have work tomorrow but I hope I go deep!

I only managed to play a couple of STTs during the week. The first one was unbelievable - it was super deepstack (5000 chips, 15 minute blinds) so a chance to play some decent poker....how wrong I was! After only 20 minutes we were down to the last 4 - why do these people play deepstacks and go all in with rubbish??? As a result I just sat tight with about 6.4k chips and waited for a hand to be paid off with by one of the muppets. I pick up KK and think great, here we go, double up time....if only

** Game ID 847161756 starting - 2007-10-10 20:36:22
** $2 Super High Stack[1485587]:Table 1 [Hold 'em] (50.00|100.00 No Limit - MTT) Real Money

- chieftain69 sitting in seat 1 with $5998.75
- winner11111 sitting in seat 3 with $19305.00 [Dealer]
- lesr sitting in seat 5 with $18252.50
- richmagpies1 sitting in seat 6 with $6368.75

lesr posted the small blind - $25.00
richmagpies1 posted the big blind - $50.00
** Dealing card to richmagpies1: King of Hearts, King of Diamonds
chieftain69 folded
winner11111 folded
lesr called - $50.00
richmagpies1 bet - $250.00
lesr called - $250.00

** Dealing the flop: Queen of Clubs, 7 of Clubs, 10 of Spades
lesr went all-in - $18027.50
richmagpies1 went all-in - $6168.75 there is no way I can lay down here and it was the right decison
lesr shows: 5 of Clubs, Queen of Hearts

** Dealing the turn: Jack of Clubs

** Dealing the river: 3 of Clubs
lesr wins $12837.50 from the main pot

End of game 847161756

This guy had been up and down like a yo-yo all game, calling with rubbish, hitting and then losing the chips again shortly afterward. I think its a terrible move to go all in with just top pair and such a poor kicker and is typical of the shove and hope mentality that seems to be taking over online. The sad thing is that he will continue to play like this as he sucked out a few more times and won the tourney.

In contrast to the above, on Thursday I played another super deepstack and it was one of the best games I've had in ages - no all ins early doors, people respecting re-raises, making laydowns - just the type of games I like and that deep stacks encourage. The game lasted almost 3 hours. I was never below 7k chips. On the bubble I picked up AA, I re-raised all in for 14 K and there was one caller after the original raiser folded. He had 99 and was the bubble boy. I then knocked out the 3rd place guy next hand with A9 vs A8. Heads up I was the was 2-1 chip leader but he was very aggressive and got back to even. He then suddenly became so passive (I presume he must have gone card dead ) which allowed me to take control again. I did suck out once when 2 pair came on the board to counterfeit his pair and I won with the A kicker. The last hand was 99 vs AQ and with no help for him I won the game.

The bankroll for the challenge is now $21.17. I probably won't play today as its England vs Estonia in the footy and then England vs France in the rugby semi-final so I'll be down the pub! If I'm not too hungover tomorrow I'll probably play a couple of STTs.

STT time

I decided to play an STT today, a $2.20 super deepstack (5k chips, 15 min blinds) on ladbrokes. Now I know this is probably a bit too big a buy-in for this bank roll challenge but I think that these games suit my tight style and give me a chance to play some poker. For some reason on Laddies the regular STTs miss the 75/150 and 150/300 levels and go from 50/100 to 100/200 to 200/400 which in my opinion turns games where you only get 1500 chips into a crapshoot once you hit hit the 200/400 level. I guess some some people like these almost turbo style games but I'm not one of them! The super deepstack games tend to last around 2 hours which can be frustrating though if you bubble! I make the money in almost 50% of the deep stack STTs I play which is not bad and I do show a profit on them so I may continue to use them to build the bank roll for this challenge.

Any how I managed to finish 3rd in the one game I was able to play today. I didn't get any big pairs, in fact JJ was my best hand preflop, but I managed to hit trips a couple of times and bet the flop when I hit in the blinds or with connectors in position. One guy was up to 25k after about 20 mins via some ridiculously awful calls which hit i.e. calling an all in preflop with AT after someone had already called- of course he hit a river T to make trips to knock out KK and AQ lol. I just played steady and used position and after a long bubble managed to make the money with about 11k chips in 3rd place. Unfortunately I was then pretty card dead and when I raised preflop with cards like AQ, 66, I always seemed to miss the dangerous looking flop which is the way it goes sometimes. I finally went out with AQ after raising pre-flop and making a continuation bet when the flop brought me an open ended straight draw. Unfortunately, I ran into a flopped set and that was it when I didn't hit my 8 outs. Still its always nice to make the money and it was an enjoyable game.

I played the Inside Poker magazine freeroll but went out early doors when my QQ ran into KK.


The bankroll now stands at $15.57 which is the highest so far.

Go on England!

I was a bit hungover today but wacthing England beat Australia in the rugby soon made me forget about my headache! It was a fantastic perfromance by the England pack and I was surprised we won as I was expecting us to get a bit of a shooing. I think the Aussies didnt play that well which was maybe due to complacency and thinking they only had to turn up to beat us. Bring on the All Blacks who should be too strong for the French.

I have also entered the PokerStars blogger tourney - see link on the right - which has some great prizes such as ipods, tvs as well as tickets for some of their big Sunday tourneys. First prize is a$12k package to their live tourney in the Carribean which would be awesome! I expect there will be thousands of entrants but so would be cool to make the prizes!

I only played the $250 freeroll as i wasnt up for concentrating on poker today but managed to come 55/2445 for $0.62 lol.


Bankroll is now at $13.77

WCOOP main event and auto folded straight flush

Haven't had time so far this week to play any decent sessions with the bankroll challenge in mind and unlikely to be able to play until the weekend as will be busy in the evenings for the rest of the week.

I was following the WCOOP Main Event on poker stars at work via the various forums (laddies and blonde) and managed to get back from work to catch the last hour or so of the heads up - 22 hour game and playing for $1.2m first prize! Gotta say well played to all those who made the final table and nice to see punkfloyd (who I used to watch play on laddies a few years back make the top 50). I've never played for 24 hours straight....now theres something that might be worth giving a go to see how I cope with the tiredness...I bet good decsions are hard to come by when your that tired (i noticed a couple of times the players mentioned they had misclicked which is understandable after playing for that long) especially with$100,000's on the line. Man I would have been shaking like a leaf I expect! Hats off to TheV0ID for his victory.

This hand below was from a freeroll and its not the first time that I have returned to the laptop to see the hole cards for a straight flush auto folded. I would have folded preflop anyway to a 900 raise with 83 off so no big deal...would have been a sweet runner runner suckout though to the 2 all ins lol

> xxdjmxx posted small blind (75)
> cara1701d posted big blind (150)
> Game # 841,018,279 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(8d 3s )
> john_bhoy_ called for 150
> marcopaulo folded
> tbjb2006 raised for 900
> richmagpies1 folded
> kaisterite folded
> The-Sarge folded
> C411UM called for 900
> freddie111 folded
> xxdjmxx folded
> cara1701d, you have 10 seconds to respond
> cara1701d folded
> john_bhoy_ folded
> Dealing the Flop(7d 10d Ad )
> tbjb2006 bet for 1,087.50
> C411UM went all-in for 4,530
> tbjb2006 went all-in for 1,640.84
> Extra chips returned to C411UM, 1,801.66
> Dealing the turn(9d )
> Dealing the river(Jd )