The Fossil does Vegas

[pokerpops]

Hat trick of victories at Rainbow tonight, slightly soured by me going on tilt early doors, this is most unlike me and it was such an insignificant pot it for some reason just sent me off it.

Anyways took the 2cd buy in, and reached the, the final table with 35 bigs, usual limp fest with 5 to 6 to a flop, usually the blinds won the hand flopping monsters when they shouldn"t be there.

Only 3 paid but protocol dictates the bubble is paid £100, with 50/30/20 removed from top 3 prizes.

I burst the bubble JJ holding v Q 10, when 3 handed the massive stack offers a deal with him taking first place, other guy said yes, I refused, the other guy only had 8 bigs and tbh i fancied my chances against either of them.

I don"t think the big stack was too pleased he had to play on, I coolered the big stack with the nut flush v the 2cd nut flush and so I had loads, get 77 in v AJ v the shortie (revenge for putting me on tilt earlier).

We played heads up for about 20 mins and I was chipping up nicely and probably had a 3 to 1 chip advantage and was probably 80% certain to win it, pretty confident against this particular villain but I did offer the guy an equal chop which he accepted.

For some reason I don"t think this guy likes me too much, he always says I am a target for him as he can never beat me in a hand, mmmm wonder why that is, the £90 difference was a bit of a peace offering and as we play the same games in the same venues don"t need to get his back up any more, so the last 3 Monday"s have yielded £450, £360 and £360 plus last nights £600 on Tilt means we are off to buy some new fish and if Vegas is a goer its paid for.

Also we had Dave make an appearance, but I dont think he will be making it a regular Monday appointment, self deal, sent on tilt by the the usual suspects, don"t think it was an ideal comeback, G tonight, let"s try and get some love at the G.

Well played Brian, it"s a tribute to your mental game that you can consistently win in this field. I need to rediscover that part of my game, and that"s hard whilst I"m only a casual player.

If only the TD had the strength to speak to players about their antics. The one in particular was constantly talking during hands and offering opinions whether he was involved or not. I had a streak of good starting hands and his comments about my propensity to raise were tilting in the extreme.
I lost a bundle to the eventual choppee when I flopped a set on 3 6 10 and let him get there on the turn with 4 5 ...
Gobby"s propensity to call pretty wide was also irritating, particularly when I squeezed large with AK from the SB and he called, along with a couple of others with 10 7 off suit. I jammed the flop blind, which probably wasn"t the wisest of moves (I had raised to 6X and jammed around 20BB as effective stack at 150/300) and he had hit middle pair and held.

IF I return I WON"T be offering to deal again, and WILL be using headphones from the start.

Keep up the good work, mbn to have a cash machine tourney every week  

[Erimus]

Made 4th tonight at Rainbow which yielded £100, I was only in for £30 so will take it, 88 v AJ, lost the flip in last hand, standard spot jammed 15 bigs into initial raiser who called with the AJ, assume they split when I got knocked out probably cost me £200.

It"s my 4th consecutive cash on a Monday but will be surprised if this game doesn"t get the elbow soon as again there was a smallish overlay, they have already reduced the guarantee on a Friday night. The G is now usually getting 60 plus runners on a Friday, and the Rainbow getting 24 to 30, late reg at the G means the gamblers who have done their buy ins at Rainbow have until 10:15 to get over the road to late reg that one, don"t think I could be pestered tbh, the G sends me on tilt as soon as I walk in lately, and it"s nothing to do with me not cashing down there for a while, that"s tournament poker, the whole ambience is not what it used to be.

A bit of Deja vue as Friday night same venue 88 v AJ, again ahead until board runner runner straight for villain, finishing 5th for £160 again cost me a minimum of £150, probably more as I would of been 2cd in chips.

Had 5% of someone who finished 19th in the bigger $55 on Sunday, that was $50k up top, almost a decent payday for him and me.

Vegas was  to be booked for mid November but care home was unable to guarantee a room even though there was one available for that time, they for some reason said it can"t be reserved, even though on my last 3 visits its been the usual procedure, room available, book it and that"s it, oh well, I will check a week before i want to go if it
is still available will book it then, don"t fancy spending £1k, then having to sweat a room half a mile from my house.

Looking at going mid November, there is a Venetian deepstack on including a seniors event plus a WSOP circuit event at Planet Hollywood which I may play if I am there.

I was watching the live stream of the Gps on Thursday and seen Simon Deadman lay down QQ on a Jack high flop v a turned straight, the straight getting the lot v AA, think he only had 15 bigs as well at the time, how many people just get it in there and just say cooler innit, 3 days later he makes the final table, class player, always worth watching him when he is playing live, think he came into the 3rd day with 6 bigs as well, too good.

No G tonight, Boro are at home so it"s off to the riverside, hoping for another 3 points, played at G last Tuesday managing to get in 50 big blinds pre flop with KK against Q 10, and they say there is no value in Poker anymore, the Q 10 managed to turn a full house though, yes I know 50p blah, blah.

Bubbled a final table in a 5 cubed on Stars, and finished 8th in a $33 $4k for not a lot last week, also had a semi decent run in the Sky Roller on Sunday after getting in via a sat, usual game was accumulating nicely until it was time for the shortstacks to reshove raises, although I had enough chips to withstand a couple of losing flips, jammed QJ over 2 limpers, Big blind wakes up with AQ, gg me, limpers folded though, can"t do anything about people you have no info on and have yet to act, waffled on enough, run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Remember the 5% of the guy on Sunday, well we carried it over to his Monday sweat, again he had deep runs in Wcoop events and made some cash, so was nice to see $220 shipped over to my stars account, not life changing but saves me depositing for a few days so I can play a few games here and there.

Transfered half over to Full Tilt and we managed to win one outright for $993 then had a deep run in the T. rex, unfortunately losing a final table position flip.

It was nice to win 2 flips on the final table, one ahead, one behind to get me over 100k, then when we got to 4 handed we were all 40 to 50 bigs deep, I then ran AK into KK to leave me as a short stack, was slightly annoyed here as there was a guy who had dropped to 8 bigs so may of been an icm mistake but was going for the win.

Grinded my 10  big blind stack to 3rd place then got a treble up, and was heads up with a 3 to 1 disadvantage.

Villain was from Mexico and assumed it was an American pro, who constantly berated my bad play which was highly amusing, ( it may or may not of been bad but I was accumulating his chips), I normally don"t get involved in the chat but after each insult just replied thank you, unlucky and just generally being pleasant which hoped was winding him up a treat, heads up lasted about 40 minutes and the guy had his chat banned on 3 occasions for a minute.

One of the hands he had a go at me was as follows, we are 4 handed 50 bigs effective, I raise 77 (2bigs), he 3 bets QQ (5bigs), pretty standard call here with 77 we are deep enough, flop was 456 both check (free card), 3 on the turn, yes I know played it badly bet call, bet call, river was an 8 so didn"t get full value as obviously any 7 gives a straight, then I am the worst player he has ever played with, lol.

No doubt this guy is bigger winner than me , couldn"t be pestered checking but he has to realise it"s people like me who play for fun, lose redeposit etc which effectively pays for his living in the long run so he should show some humility and grace, any way won the last hand and we seen in chat a load of asterixes suddenly appear, pretty sure it was Spanish for well played, good luck or something like that.

I am still not in the mindset to grind this up so I will probably withdraw most of it and leave in enough for a few games over the next few days usually the $25 ones, enough for 10 games, after Augusts efforts a small winning month, we are now on a + £1k2 upswing, off to buy some fish and a new hat.

[Scousebill]

Enjoyable read. Coldwater or tropical fish, and is the hat for you or the fish..?  

[Erimus]

Cheers Bill, marine, a tropical oasis in the depths of teesside, there are videos somewhere probaby about 2/3 years ago on here, had an enviommental disaster a few months ago, not quite on the axon Valdez ( may be the name of the oil tanker, can"t remember) scale, currently reef has recovered enough to start restocking with fish.

If I win a tourney always buy a new hat, currently got 2 hats, loads of socks for min cashes though.

[Erimus]

Rough with the smooth and all that, no 5th consecutive cash at Rainbow tonight, played pretty badly, plus was dealing I could use this as an excuse but I just wasn"t in the zone, stupid thing was it was an auto decision to go, I wasn"t in the right frame of mind to play tbh but hey ho no problem, exit hand raised A 10, 3rd consecutive raise, been jammed on in two previous hands, both showing or claiming decent pairs to my unders, I was getting desperate raising with marginals, again should of folded the A 10 as I pretty much knew I only had 30%, villain had QQ which held, was relieved to get home tbh, it was going to be a long grind.

Again no dealers on Friday at Rainbow and no one wanted to deal so I dealt, managed to get all my chips in after the break AK v A2 v the table drunk, he hit 2 pair so I was gone, it was early so late regged at the G, wrong decision.

For some reason the G decided to put 4 trainee dealers on the biggest tournament of the week, levels after the break are 20 mins and we were seeing 3/4 hands an orbit as there is always one who thinks he is playing the World Series and tanks every decision, decide to jam AJ (18bigs) over an Utg raise who called with 55, flopped the world but had too many outs to hit so I didn"t, home James.

I spewed some on Sky and Stars over the weekend accidental regged the $50k, on Stars, luckily I had emptied the account the previous day so no damage done to bankroll,   all  in all I have been playing my F game over the weekend, it feels like I have forgotten how to play.

Riverside tonight for the whatever cup it is these days, definitely no live poker this week, off to Northumbria University to see the Sleaford Mods, brother had a spare ticket, just googled them, gulp should be different.

Dirty Leeds visit on Sunday, hopeful a 3rd hoodoo to be broken after wins at Sheff Wed and Nottingham Forest, we are looking a lot stronger this year and fingers crossed we can keep it going, as I have said before Gibson deserves a chance to get a lot of his cash back with the daft money on offer next season in the Premier league.

All in all poker over the last few days  has been pretty shambolic but we have still made a £1k profit so far for the month, stupid game.

Run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Swinebag]

A great read as ever Bri

One Q:

You wrote "protocol dictates that the bubble is paid"

What happens if someone (like me for example) does not want to pay the bubble?

It is a pet hate of mine (dealing before the money) as I love the action near and on the bubble and I hate playing players who fold down to 1 BB just to pick up a saver. I"m normally happy to deal once the cash is made and like you can be generous with deals for the sake of an earlier finish.

I guess your situation is different to mine, as you play all the time and have to face up to the same players week in week out. If I was a reg, I would possibly be different too.

[Erimus]

Cheers Rob, re the bubble, pretty much as you said all local players player pool very small so we tend to bump into each other a lot so I am ok with it.

The Monday game is so small and can play quite deep, time considerations can dictate, it"s effectively a sng and it can last 5/6 hours, seems a bit churlish not to give 4th place £100, usually a small overlay in this one so its free money.

The Fridy game is different, plenty of times got there 10 handed with 5 paid and someone enquires 5 bubbles, would never agree to this one, a few weeks ago there was a 10 way chop, wtf, again if I was there would of thought it was a joke and laughed it off, then realised it was a serious suggestion, wouldn"t agree to that one.

Again if someone refused to pay it I would be ok with it, I was in a position a few weeks ago when I was in 4th with a short stack (there"s a surprise), one guy offered a bubble but the other 2 I could see were uncomfortable as they were massive stacked, (one  random and one bad reg), I refused to accept and just said play on, when I got knocked out, they didn"t even give me the courtesy of leaving the table before splitting it 3 ways, not a problem, I wouldn"t of paid the bubble in that situation with their stacks.

Trying to get Manchester sorted 50/50 atm , you playing that weekend ?.

[Erimus]

Down with the Kidz at Northumbria University on Friday night to see Sleaford mods, wow one angry man, enjoyed it probably wouldn"t go to see them again but it was a good night, there is some stuff on you tube but don"t let your gran or young uns listen, nsfw.

I was looking good for a decent cash in one of Skys bounty hunter mtts on Thursday, I had one of those golden rarely seen nights were I just ran so golden it was impossible to lose early doors, had about £60 in bounties within the first hour, then lost 2 flips v the same guy mid tournament first one tens v AK it was for 10 bigs, then 88 v AK v the  same guy for the 20 bigs he had just gotten from from me, my last slightly tilted push was for my final 12 bigs with K 10 but ran into you guessed it AK, we both hit but I lost, gg me.

Late regged the G game on Saturday night, took all chips (35k), and did pretty much nothing but kept my starting stack until I got a nice double with KQ v Q10 just before the final table, hand for hand before the final table because of league points was unnecessary but got to the ft with 13 bigs, with 1 minute left on the clock I look down at 55, easy shove even from utg not loving it but didn"t fancy sitting through a 15 min break and go back to 10 bigs in the big blind, get reshoved on, oops going to need to hit a set here me thinks, didn"t even think I was flipping, I was right, ran into King Kong, oh hello Mr 5 on the flop, fade the 2 outs, even the dealer said I deserved that one after the run down there were my big hands have been cracked on a regular basis, obviously villain didn"t agree but happy enough, to cut a long story short got £240 for my troubles but it was a long night, got in at 3:15, too many chips tbh for a one nighter but it"s what the people want.


I mis regged a sat on PartyPoker tonight and landed in a $109 sat for a $530 ticket, as I am writing about it you would assume I got in, well I didn"t 8 seats generated $160 for 9th, finished 10th, dohh, don"t you just love this game, brings a smile to your face at all times.

I am not sure how I mis regged it, think I clicked on one I wanted to enter, then the panel moved up and I just clicked ok, never to worry worse things happen at sea.

Susan has just this second asked if I had won anything today and after explaining the situation she didn"t believe me because the air wasn"t turned blue in the previous hour on my exit from said game.

Another hoodoo broken at the Riverside today, didn"t get out of 2cd gear and Leeds realising they had robbed us on the previous  few occasions decided to give us 2 defenders without a transfer fee, comedy own goal, and a slapstick fall gifting us the win, again we didn"t play well but 7 wins on the spin is not bad going, should be good if we start playing well, hoping to emulate the Jack Charlton side of the seventies and get promotion wrapped up by March, unlikely but would be good.

After last weeks hiccup at Rainbow, will probably make an appearance tonight and Hopefully get back to winning ways there.

[Erimus]

New month, new hope, same old same old, finished 8/1000 field 6 max ($10k Gtee), turbo on Stars On Thursday, got $240, ($3k up top) a few min cashes here and there  got me to $250 from an initial $50 deposit.

A load of games all over the country this weekend costed them all up and Apat Manchester seemed the most logical, Edinburgh, bit too much, Nottingham meant Susan going to bed 3:30, plus long drive back on same day if I ran deep plus hotel costs etc, the local 5k at the G was in but didn"t fancy it for some reason even though it"s a 10 minute drive from home, a change is as good as a rest.

Promised Susan a trip to Trafford centre Sat morning for some treats before heading to play the Apat Europeans in Manchester.

I popped down for the local game at £25 freeze out with a £2k3 gtee, only one hand of note, utg sits down for his first hand at 100/200, his chips had been in play from the start, he raises utg, to 500, I 3 bet to 2k on bb with AA, he 4 bets to 8k, I 5 bet to 16k, ( don"t think I am folding now, lol), he jams, obviously call, flop AKJ, can you see were this is heading ?, the 10 on the turn, fail to fill up on the river and was back to the hotel to watch part 2 of Gogglebox.

Hope to run a bit better than tonight, but whatever will be will be, if you see me gone early in the updates, you will be glad to hear I will not update but if I run deep apologies as I will be back on Monday with an in depth report, will let you lot decide how you want me to do, keep it to yourselves though as it am a sensitive soul, GL all.

[Erimus]

Quick report re the weekend, don"t worry wont be a long one.

I made a few hands early doors, a nut straight and two pairs but unfortunately ran into 2 full houses, on both occasions I was oop and had led out on the river only for villains to bet very large into a small pot and a third pot size bet by me, I folded on both occasions and the villains kindly showed I was correct in folding, both had made houses, smaller bets may see me call them but in the early stages pretty sure they have it most of the time, with these two randoms go with my general read, this may make me quite exploitable but was ok with the folds, however folding doesn"t win tourneys.

Got a table move and was as card and spot dead as earlier  was a total grind, exit hand at 200/400, weak utg limps ( has limped kk, qq, and every other hand he was involved in), aggro button 3 bet him as he had done on previous occasions, I jam KQ off (8K), limper folded, but had ran into the top of the aggro guys range, AA, lol, nh gg me, no problems

Disappointing end but its just another game in the long run, nice post by Rodders on his blog, cant disagree with what he says re Mtts, well done on another deep run Sir.

I couldn"t get involve with the extra curricular activities as the 2 hour journey to Manchester had Knocked Susan for 6 (still paying for it now) so it s looking like no more away days unless there is someone at home to stay with Susan.

Just noticed reached 50k on the forum, didn"t expect that to occur when I started 4 years ago with some odd ramblings about Vegas, which still may be on the cards for mid November.

Enjoyed the tourney any way good deep structure, just unfortunate to have one of those days which is un avoidable, thanks for reading, run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

At last a cash in the Tuesday game at G , a 3 way chop for £560, a total grind but got there, was also only in for £30, so even sweeter, slight downer was the fact it finished at 3:55 am, which was pretty ridiculous.

The week started with Monday at Rainbow, finished 6th, 4 paid running KK into the mighty A6  at 2:15am, got lucky just before midnight, when Q8 Aipf held against Utg limpers reshove over my reshove over the initial 4 limpers, looking back would of preferred to of been Knocked out then.

The Tuesday game was the usual ridiculous game in the first 3 levels, pots reaching 6k plus in the 25/50 level with one of the fishiest tables ever assembled at one place.

I may as well put a sign on my head and say in these levels my range is capped at 3 hands, and I was dealt 2 of the aforementioned hands and had 40k at the break, from 12 starting stack.

The 2 biggest fish at the table which luckily both were involved in when I had Queens and was duly paid off one chasing a flush which didn"t materialise and the other unable to fold AJ on a Jack high board.

I then played my worst ever hand of poker ever, I raise QJ clubs Utg , get 1 caller, flop 234 two clubs, I led out 7k Into a pot of 2k5 accidentally putting in a 5k chip, guy doesn"t go away, (head was gone here now), turn was a Jack, which pleased me as I now had a hand of sorts, I bet 2k into a pot of 17, wtf was I doing, guy calls, turn was a non club 5, so now any Ace or 6 beats me pot is 22k, I lead out 7k which is snapped by villain, assuming he had got there with the Ace, he just calls showing a set of twos, gone from 40k to 20k at the 200/400 level, after that hand I had decided I was pokered out and needed a break, turned out my 7k bet end the end was a decent bluff but against said Guy even a 20k shove on the river would never of got rid of him, he always says oh go on then if you have it good luck to you.

To cut a long story short went to the final table with 12 bigs, got lucky in a few spots, a few light shoves get through, 1 bubble is paid at 2:30, then AA and QQ hold, yes I know luckbox, decided to chop at 3:45 am, was absolutely goosed, no more live games till next week now as Partying on Friday, no doubt the odd game online if I fancy it, recouped the weekends expenses and now showing a small profit for October.

Thanks for reading, run good, be lucky, stay healthy

[Erimus]

Not a lot happened in the last week or so, no online play,apart from Coral game(haven"t missed it all),  Tuesday At the G, ran AK into AA blind on blind, was 2:15am, and I went out in 13th, they really are becoming long grind these days, would imagine another 2 hours at least, far too many chips in play for a school night, G may be amending the schedule so we will see what that brings.

Just got in from Rainbow, 2:30am, AK into KK this time, 2 of the cash, frustrating but pretty standard stuff. Looking like a break even month on the cards after last weeks win unless I can conjure up something in the next fortnight.

In other news will be making my 4th visit to Vegas in November, currently leading 2 1 in terms of winning trips, just working out a schedule and it should include a seniors at the Venetian and also a Wsop series event at Planet Hollywood which has a $500k gtee, around $1500 worth of buy ins if I play all on the list, but would imagine I won"t get them all done, there are a few sats to the Planet Hollywood event which may reduce that buy in, or increase it, to be confirmed.

Obviously not good bankroll management, but a quick tot up of the yearly figures and I can justify the trip overall, averaging around £550 a month from both online and live this year, not enough to make a living from but enough to add to our income stream for treats and extras.

Already took one bad beat, got it booked on Thursday for £1100, from Manchester staying at Ballys for 7 nights, looked tonight and it was down to £986, all about timing I suppose, still OK though as Virgin flights are still around the £950 mark and that"s from Gatwick, with no hotel, paid £608 last year for same flight, although that was a last minute buy.

Home to Fulham today looking forward to it seems an age since last there, these international breaks are really tedious, remember when there was no international breaks and England were as bad then as they are now, I understand 10/10 is pretty good going but given the quality of opposition, should of won 11 really, any way club football always takes precedent for me, Utb.

Had a health scare for my Dad over the last few days, lumps found and, appointments were brought forward which sent my mam into a bit of a panic, but every thing looks ok, he is a bit of a hypochondriac to be honest, loves going to the Doctors for tests, this one did un nerve him a touch, but he is doing ok for his age and his exploits in his early days.

As usual run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Everything sorted for Vegas, heading to Manchester on Tuesday 10/11, flying on the Wednesday.

October after starting well turned into a break even month, but it also included a poker weekend in Manchester, but a slump in the local games means not a lot of profit, made 2 final tables  but no cashes were forthcoming. Actually reducing the amount I am playing locally, 3 games a week without a win can become a bit expensive so will be just playing the Tuesday or Friday game dependant upon mood and weather.

No volume online, the odd game here and there but again no love. I still have very little enthusiasm for grinding online  at the moment and can"t see that changing in the foreseeable future, pick and choose my games.

I did manage to win a seat to the Wpt £500 at Nottingham via their Mega stack on the Sunday, was a really long bubble and wasn"t guarenteed a seat, folded AK on direct bubble as 2 people were all in because of the blinds on other tables, one of them got knocked out so no sweat, probably correct to fold Kings and Aces in that spot tbh, I had 9 bigs at that point but was still 25/51

It made more sense to play the online leg and that ended in an annoying fashion, 60k going into last 4 levels, river a straight v higher straight, then lose with a set v another rivered straight, then AK < A8, all v the same guy, mbn, cest la vie as they say somewhere in the world, £1.50 placed in the tin.

I managed to luckbox my way to win the Apat Irish online last night as well, see the above moaning, well reverse it, cracked AA with 99 4 handed then AK with A7 ( ul Steve with that one), then the last hand of the game AA v AK on a King high flop, I did lose with AK v Q6 for a massive pot as well so it wasn"t all golden, embrace the variance. The prize money will go towards helping one of our American friends get through college in Vegas, or another Mtt ,decisions, decisions.

It"s been a good few weeks for the Boro, although after the Cardiff result and the first half of the Wolves game, local message boards were going barmy, then the following results happened we are suddenly going to win the lot, fans are just so fickle it"s mad, it"s going to be as close as last year, with Boro, Derby, Hull and Burnley fighting it out for the top 2 spots in my opinion.

Looking forward to the Everton match, although after what they did to Blunderland yesterday it will be a tough one, fingers crossed.

The following games have been pencilled in for Vegas but are subject to change.

12/11/2015 Seniors $400 ($30k) at the Venetian.
14/11/2015 Wsop circuit $585 ($500k) at Planet Hollywood
16/11/2015 Deepstack $250 ($30k) at the Venetian.

There will be one or 2 others added in no doubt dependant upon, mood, results morale etc, will update via here, Twitter (erimus1) or Facebook.

Thanks for reading, run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[duke3016]

Nice win, I had script errors on the site so failed to play.

Everything sorted for Vegas, heading to Manchester on Tuesday 10/11, flying on the Wednesday.

We fly south to Portugal on 10th - probably miss each other (Unless you have a penchant for queueing for hours instead of getting smashed in the hotel) - have fun and take Vegas apart.....