Well all I can say is that the feeling was dead on! I played a great game last night and finally shipped my seat for Ireland! All things told it has probably cost me $750 to get in but for a €3400 seat that seems like a great investment!
I am really looking forward to Ireland. My game is flying high at the moment, I seem to be pulling out the A game more and more. I ‘live recorded’ my session last night and I am really looking forward to reviewing it all – seeing if there were any mistakes and also seeing how my emotions were! I felt really in check all night. Ok I was lucky to build a good stack for the bubble – but my play on the bubble was ‘pure abuse’. It was sick! I took my stack from 25k to 61k (getting slightly lucky in the final bubble hand), but then my AK did lose to KQ for a 40k pot later on- the reality is, my chips were at risk 3 times all night! I will be uploading the live recordings and I am happy to share links if anyone wants to see it.
As for Ireland itself, well I love the venue! The city west hotel and its conference room make a great venue for such a big tournament. I played the Irish Winter Fesitval last October, and felt like I played great, both in the Main Event and the 200r. Infact my nemesis QQ put pay to my deep run in the 200r! Sigh. Then there was the recent Deepstack when I went from chip lead to busto in 40 horrible minutes! – yes 20 hands! So, the way I see it I am due some of that Irish Luck! The great thing about Ireland is. At least if you bust - there is plenty of craic ‘on tap’!
Keep it all, crossed!
One time!
Monday, 30 March 2009
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Thursday, 26 March 2009
STEP to it!
The WSOP that is! I have decided to turn my focus to the World Series both as a bankroll builder and as a serious attempt to get out there to play.
I have decided that 3 seats will be enough to take 2 weeks unpaid off work and feel comfortable about doing it! As such I have started building up ‘steps’ on Poker Stars. I have already achieved 4 step 4’s and would like 10 in the bag before heading on up to the summit (and probably having to beat Stevie444 on the way!)
There is obviously the final Sunday game (650 or 320 buy in 200 seats guarantee). I have had good success with this in the past, but I want to have 1 or 2 in the bag by the final weekend! I am probably going to try on I poker as well due to the softer fields, and i also have to accept the package if I win it! It would be nice to be ‘forced’ to go
I’ll keep this updated
I have decided that 3 seats will be enough to take 2 weeks unpaid off work and feel comfortable about doing it! As such I have started building up ‘steps’ on Poker Stars. I have already achieved 4 step 4’s and would like 10 in the bag before heading on up to the summit (and probably having to beat Stevie444 on the way!)
There is obviously the final Sunday game (650 or 320 buy in 200 seats guarantee). I have had good success with this in the past, but I want to have 1 or 2 in the bag by the final weekend! I am probably going to try on I poker as well due to the softer fields, and i also have to accept the package if I win it! It would be nice to be ‘forced’ to go
I’ll keep this updated
Monday, 23 March 2009
Someone applied the breaks!.....
Oh well – Sunday sucked! I was actually really happy with the way I played – my game reading is at an all time high.
The weekend started on Friday – I went to my local casino, only to find the usually 50 runners had turned into 10! I managed to convince people to stay and we had a £25 triple chance! I suggested a £50 freeze – but no, apparently that wasn’t a good idea. It was an amazing experience to go back to that level again. The play was soooooo bad. I decided to make it a personal test and make sure i won – or at least have no reason not to! One example is all you need – at 50/100 some kid moves all in for 4500 UTG! I relinquished my BB! Needless to say he was soon heading for the door! His justification.... “i didnt wanna see a flop with 8’s”! I suggested that he might not only have seen a flop but also the door – which he did get! Oh well – thats where the money comes from I suppose.
Infact, when it boils down to it, it is the millions of people like that who, at the end of the day, keep Phil Ivey and co’ in Penthouses and Helicopters! Poker has a strange eco system which if you think too hard about it would make you stop playing! Anyhow I digress! I ended up shipping the £295 for 1st. I contemplated a chop HU – but the kid clearly had no idea of push fold, so played it out and won!
So, as for yesterday, I pretty much played 14 hours of poker yesterday! Was playing cash, 3/6NLHE, and the pattern was fairly consistent in each set i played:
Sit down – get AA or KK – get AIPF – lose $600 to a 2 outer (ie $1200 pot), reload and grind up to $1200 - log off!
I do not joke when I say this happened 3 times! I am now open folding AA in cash games – it is the biggest ‘leak’ in my game!
So I played great – but broke even – meh! I also cant believe that people buy into a 3/6 game with $120! – Open to $18 and fold to a 3bet! – Very profitable for me!
Then onto the tourneys! To be honest – i was probably a bit tired to play my A game – but that said – I think I was on a really good auto pilot.
I poker 250k – ran it up to 9k in 1st hour – card dead in 2nd hour – although I managed to 3 bet the guy in seat 6, 5 times to maintain my stack! He was raising alot! The rot set in when AJ < J5 - aipf!!!! That pot would have put me right on track for a result. Instead i was left with 7k @ 300/600 (50). Found some spots and eventually my 99 was no good into BB with QQ!
Irish Open – I couldn’t get the stack moving in this one – but played great. All the money went in on a Qs 9s 7 board (3 way mine went in 1st). I had AQ, donkey had KQ (last in the pot) and the other guy had Asxs for the nut flush draw. Turn came a pretty A, river a very ugly spade! Was a 9.5 k pot and left the winner as chip lead! Still – you gotta win those hands!
Sunday Million – ended up in a Last Longer with 2 other pxf subs! Lost a big pot early got me down to 5k (i missed!). Built it back up to 9k before losing a race AIPF JJ < AK – rivered!
So as you can see – it wasn’t my day – however – i didn’t exactly play bad!
Got 2 more weekends of shots at the Irish open – 1 timmeeeeee pls!
Focus now turning to the WSOP!
The weekend started on Friday – I went to my local casino, only to find the usually 50 runners had turned into 10! I managed to convince people to stay and we had a £25 triple chance! I suggested a £50 freeze – but no, apparently that wasn’t a good idea. It was an amazing experience to go back to that level again. The play was soooooo bad. I decided to make it a personal test and make sure i won – or at least have no reason not to! One example is all you need – at 50/100 some kid moves all in for 4500 UTG! I relinquished my BB! Needless to say he was soon heading for the door! His justification.... “i didnt wanna see a flop with 8’s”! I suggested that he might not only have seen a flop but also the door – which he did get! Oh well – thats where the money comes from I suppose.
Infact, when it boils down to it, it is the millions of people like that who, at the end of the day, keep Phil Ivey and co’ in Penthouses and Helicopters! Poker has a strange eco system which if you think too hard about it would make you stop playing! Anyhow I digress! I ended up shipping the £295 for 1st. I contemplated a chop HU – but the kid clearly had no idea of push fold, so played it out and won!
So, as for yesterday, I pretty much played 14 hours of poker yesterday! Was playing cash, 3/6NLHE, and the pattern was fairly consistent in each set i played:
Sit down – get AA or KK – get AIPF – lose $600 to a 2 outer (ie $1200 pot), reload and grind up to $1200 - log off!
I do not joke when I say this happened 3 times! I am now open folding AA in cash games – it is the biggest ‘leak’ in my game!
So I played great – but broke even – meh! I also cant believe that people buy into a 3/6 game with $120! – Open to $18 and fold to a 3bet! – Very profitable for me!
Then onto the tourneys! To be honest – i was probably a bit tired to play my A game – but that said – I think I was on a really good auto pilot.
I poker 250k – ran it up to 9k in 1st hour – card dead in 2nd hour – although I managed to 3 bet the guy in seat 6, 5 times to maintain my stack! He was raising alot! The rot set in when AJ < J5 - aipf!!!! That pot would have put me right on track for a result. Instead i was left with 7k @ 300/600 (50). Found some spots and eventually my 99 was no good into BB with QQ!
Irish Open – I couldn’t get the stack moving in this one – but played great. All the money went in on a Qs 9s 7 board (3 way mine went in 1st). I had AQ, donkey had KQ (last in the pot) and the other guy had Asxs for the nut flush draw. Turn came a pretty A, river a very ugly spade! Was a 9.5 k pot and left the winner as chip lead! Still – you gotta win those hands!
Sunday Million – ended up in a Last Longer with 2 other pxf subs! Lost a big pot early got me down to 5k (i missed!). Built it back up to 9k before losing a race AIPF JJ < AK – rivered!
So as you can see – it wasn’t my day – however – i didn’t exactly play bad!
Got 2 more weekends of shots at the Irish open – 1 timmeeeeee pls!
Focus now turning to the WSOP!
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Part III...........?
Well I have been playing great of late – had a mishap on Tuesday night after getting very deep in the 109 12.5k nightly game on I poker. Despite the one off I am really happy with my game. I have been getting to the bubble with good stacks of late and abusing it senseless! I feel like I am having a mini on line renaissance!
So – part III – can I make it 3 Sundays on the bounce? Well, Ill be going for the Ireland satty, and i will also play the 250k on I poker, so to be honest I can only really concentrate on 3 big games. Therefore I will miss the Brawl and probably play the Sunday Million instead!
My concentration has definitely improved whilst playing on line, and I will let you all in on the secret – Peppermint Tea! I reviewed some games and noted a really high correlation between my ‘second break coffee’ and donking off chips early in level 3. So I have cut out the coffee and replaced it with my new Minty Infusion! What with my beverage alterations and people telling me to eat Low Carb/Low GI before big games – im starting to think that playing poker is becoming more akin to being a top athlete! ................ Erm well OK – maybe not!
So – part III – can I make it 3 Sundays on the bounce? Well, Ill be going for the Ireland satty, and i will also play the 250k on I poker, so to be honest I can only really concentrate on 3 big games. Therefore I will miss the Brawl and probably play the Sunday Million instead!
My concentration has definitely improved whilst playing on line, and I will let you all in on the secret – Peppermint Tea! I reviewed some games and noted a really high correlation between my ‘second break coffee’ and donking off chips early in level 3. So I have cut out the coffee and replaced it with my new Minty Infusion! What with my beverage alterations and people telling me to eat Low Carb/Low GI before big games – im starting to think that playing poker is becoming more akin to being a top athlete! ................ Erm well OK – maybe not!
Monday, 16 March 2009
weeeeeeeeee - Run good Sundays!
Weeeeeeeeeeeee – Run good Sundays
Well – its not the game a was hoping to hit – but I managed to come 2nd in the 109 30k guarantee on I poker on Sunday. TO be fair it should have been a win but AA < Q2hh AIPF (2 on flop, 2 on river – obv).
So thats the good news............ now for the Irish Open satty...... erm played really well – went card dead – got to the bubble – 3 bet AIPF against a raise from the cut off ....... my AA<910 – obv! To be fair I didn’t have to sweat it – he flopped the str8! MBN!
However after 2 weekends of results the bank roll is healthy for Ireland sattys. Surely I can get it wrapped up this week!
Well – its not the game a was hoping to hit – but I managed to come 2nd in the 109 30k guarantee on I poker on Sunday. TO be fair it should have been a win but AA < Q2hh AIPF (2 on flop, 2 on river – obv).
So thats the good news............ now for the Irish Open satty...... erm played really well – went card dead – got to the bubble – 3 bet AIPF against a raise from the cut off ....... my AA<910 – obv! To be fair I didn’t have to sweat it – he flopped the str8! MBN!
However after 2 weekends of results the bank roll is healthy for Ireland sattys. Surely I can get it wrapped up this week!
Shooting for Ireland
Shooting for Ireland
Well the next date in my ‘live poker’ calender is the Irish Open, with 1 minor snag – i haven’t qualified yet!!! I usually get my qualification for live events out of the way as early as possible, but I am having issues this year!
So, the flights are booked, the hotel is booked, but the seat isn’t! Im not too concerned, as the City West is a great venue and even if I don’t qualify I will go for the craic! However thats not the intention nor desire!
I have booked my flight for Thursday morning, so worst case I can go to City West and play the super sat the day before. Although given it is a 3 day tourney – i don’t really want to play 9 hours the night before trying to qualify!
I have some ghosts to put to rest in Ireland – so I am hoping that this will be my weekend -qualification updates to follow............................... (trying again on Sunday)
Well the next date in my ‘live poker’ calender is the Irish Open, with 1 minor snag – i haven’t qualified yet!!! I usually get my qualification for live events out of the way as early as possible, but I am having issues this year!
So, the flights are booked, the hotel is booked, but the seat isn’t! Im not too concerned, as the City West is a great venue and even if I don’t qualify I will go for the craic! However thats not the intention nor desire!
I have booked my flight for Thursday morning, so worst case I can go to City West and play the super sat the day before. Although given it is a 3 day tourney – i don’t really want to play 9 hours the night before trying to qualify!
I have some ghosts to put to rest in Ireland – so I am hoping that this will be my weekend -qualification updates to follow............................... (trying again on Sunday)
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Right weekend, wrong game!
Right weekend wrong game
Oh well – calling my £300 win seems a little premature! I got to the last hour of DAY 1 with 15 Bb’s and ended up losing a race. I had been pretty card dead and couldn’t find any spots so when got 77 (with a raise ahead) i decided it was time to take a flip. The raiser has AK – and the A binks the river! Would have been nice to go back for Day 2 with 30 Bigs – but hey – you gotta win them flips!
I managed to play the I poker $2.5m guarantee on Sunday. Lots of study pre game and making sure I was feeling good about life before the 7pm sit down.
I played the best I have done for a while and managed 80th for 5k which was nice and has me break even for the year! Last year I wasn’t break even till May again having had a horror Jan-March! Lets hope that this gives me the same kick start as it did last time!
I am really looking forward to Ireland now. I haven’t qualified yet but with any luck will bink my seat before I go! Flights are booked so I will be going anyway – but it would be nice to be in before i get there. Otherwise it will be cash games – and that could lead to a crazy weekend!
Oh well – calling my £300 win seems a little premature! I got to the last hour of DAY 1 with 15 Bb’s and ended up losing a race. I had been pretty card dead and couldn’t find any spots so when got 77 (with a raise ahead) i decided it was time to take a flip. The raiser has AK – and the A binks the river! Would have been nice to go back for Day 2 with 30 Bigs – but hey – you gotta win them flips!
I managed to play the I poker $2.5m guarantee on Sunday. Lots of study pre game and making sure I was feeling good about life before the 7pm sit down.
I played the best I have done for a while and managed 80th for 5k which was nice and has me break even for the year! Last year I wasn’t break even till May again having had a horror Jan-March! Lets hope that this gives me the same kick start as it did last time!
I am really looking forward to Ireland now. I haven’t qualified yet but with any luck will bink my seat before I go! Flights are booked so I will be going anyway – but it would be nice to be in before i get there. Otherwise it will be cash games – and that could lead to a crazy weekend!
Friday, 6 March 2009
"calling" out a result
OK – one of my poker mentors BeLOWaBOVe “called” his Sunday Second Chance win on stars several hours before he hit it – so Im going for the same feat!
I am playing the £300 at DTD this weekend which usually pulls some great fields especially since it now qualifies for European Ranking status! I have a reasonable record at DTD, so Im calling my own result – Guy Johnson is gonna be shipping the title on Sunday night/Monday morning!
I have some big targets for this year – one of which is to score some serious European ranking points, and...... well lets just say......... Q1 hasnt started too well! That said Q1 has been f@#kin horrible – i even bubbled my satty to the DTD 300 with KK AIPF! (ok so i ran into ACES again! – but wtf!)
So, ill obv update this on Saturday night – hopefully with a big chiplead and great table - but either way – it will be optimal poker all the way!
I am playing the £300 at DTD this weekend which usually pulls some great fields especially since it now qualifies for European Ranking status! I have a reasonable record at DTD, so Im calling my own result – Guy Johnson is gonna be shipping the title on Sunday night/Monday morning!
I have some big targets for this year – one of which is to score some serious European ranking points, and...... well lets just say......... Q1 hasnt started too well! That said Q1 has been f@#kin horrible – i even bubbled my satty to the DTD 300 with KK AIPF! (ok so i ran into ACES again! – but wtf!)
So, ill obv update this on Saturday night – hopefully with a big chiplead and great table - but either way – it will be optimal poker all the way!
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