The Fossil does Vegas

[Erimus]

Long time no post, well for me any way, didn"t want to leave this hanging in no mans land.

Since the Sheffield game, i played the local 25/25, 2 bullets were shot, one courtesy of a sat, first effort ran fairly deep then lost AQ v JJ, I needed to hit, didn"t then decided to leave the Boro game early and late reg the Saturday leg.

After getting absolutely drenched at the game and sitting in wet jeans for a few hours this was definitely not one of my better decisions, lost a fair chunk of my chips with AA v 56, on a 55 X board, just stationed every bet she made, probably knew I was beat by the time we get to the river, at this level they are never triple barrelling without the goods, she probably does the same with over pairs to the board as well, so sigh paid her off, the rest went when I shoved 77 over a min raise approx 18 bigs, got 99 to fold in the big blind but that suited A 10 was just too pretty, after a ridiculously long tank, he hit a flush, anyway not a problem, got home and found I had blue legs, the dye from the jeans had decided to join me, serves me right for buying Devi 601s, originals always best. By the way well played Craig he cashed again in a G event, well played him.

Played twice since, rinse and repeat above, tbh heart no longer in the local games, the cash cow has decided not to play ball and it"s a struggle to get motivated to play, partly because of a downswing and its consequences on finances and the Sheffield and Vegas games are the ones I prefer, 6,7,8 people to a flop doesn"t appeal as much.

It"s been a difficult week, my mam had a serious bleed on the brain at the weekend, and it was a close thing whether she would survive but she was up talking today and the neurosurgeons are pleased with her progress and her prognosis is good, so that is a relief, she is going to have to take it easy when she leaves hospital and with me being at home going to have to become a taxi driver for them for a while, don"t really want her driving anymore and my Dad doesn"t like driving so preparing for a half carers role up at the parents.

Off for a small home game tonight with some mates found a bottle of Jack Daniels i forgot I had so that will be drunk, son is home for Christmas so he is a designated taxi driver for the night, off to Blackburn on Saturday, my  first away game for ages ( not counting Wembley), again drinks and pub meals will be taken. We looked like a team on Saturday at Brighton and fingers and toes are crossed for the next few games, let"s push on and win this league outright, no play offs this year hopefully.

That"s your lot for this year, never say never regarding posts but will only be if I sat into bigger comps, pretty much exhausted the local scene, although will no doubt still pop up every now and then if the fancy takes me.

New York still on the radar but it maybe March time now, too much hassle to get sorted in January, or a spring trip to Vegas is also a possibility, mid life crisis has begun, getting wanderlust, want to do so much stuff.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, thanks for reading , run good, be lucky, stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Finished the year off with a part chop of the £2k gteed at G last night, massive chippie took £700, the other 4 of us took £450 each, was just over a £3k prize pool, the only annoying part was it was a 3:15 am finish.

My situation means time it finishes is pretty irrelevant ie no work the following day but would hate to bubble these things that late, it may be the time if year but was a really friendly and enjoyable game which is pretty unusual down there these days.

The hand which probably helped a tad, utg raises, A7, I 3 bet AA, KK 4 bets, 10 10 jams  , short stack gets his stack in with 88, A7 folds (she told me what she had when the chips were being sorted), so we are 4 way with AA v KK v 10 10 v 88, no sweat other than set outs but we hold for a 120k pot, (why couldn"t that happen first hand in Sheffield earlier in the month)

There is a dispute over the pot, I had around 30k pre, old guy (KK) moaning saying he had at least 40k pre, I offered to give him the 10k to keep the peace, the td came along  and took the decision to give the guy 9500, obviously dealer error, if the guy was correct, I assume he wasn"t trying to angle me.

Just the odd online foray, had a few $$s in my Party Poker account, won a $5 sat into a $22, then binked a seat to the Old Trafford Gppt, having a day out in Manchester in January, weather permitting so will coincide that with a live leg down there, so we have had £1k8, month to finish the year, this clears the Vegas effort so it"s good to get that back in such a short space of time.

There is a print by McKenzie Thorpe I want to buy and that £450 from last night means I only have to put £150 to it, but £600 for a print, Susan ain"t too chuffed, I would imagine it would hold its value or maybe go up in the future but currently 50/50 on that one, feckin fence currently being pounded by the winds so that will more than likely take precedent, but I can live without a fence till the spring, first world problems.

Art is not my normal big purchase, it"s usually electronics and Gadgets but I really like this piece, it"s called Where the heart is by McKenzie Thorpe, googling it should bring up a picture if interested.

The £5 sngs with my mates just before Christmas was the best poker of the year, drinks, curry laughs, when we started playing I am the only one who caught the bug and continued to play seriously, they all know the rules etc but no mentions of equity, ranges, merging, gto, great night, oh yes didn"t cash in any of them although my A.....  But you you don"t want to hear about that and tbh, I don"t want to tell you either.

There are 25/25 "s in Newcastle and Leeds in January so will play at least one, at the minute it will be Leeds as Day 1 is on the 21st which is my birthday and that will be my present to myself.

I had tickets for Blackburn on Boxing Day and we were 15 minutes into journey down when it was postponed so no problem there back home to watch the premier league.

It"s good to go into 2016 top of the league and with Derby to visit on Saturday big opportunity to open up a gap, we just don"t look like conceding, still a long way to go no chickens being counted but we are looking good.

My mam continues to recover in hospital, she is still in Hdu but she may be moved in the next 48 hours, she is aware where she is and seems to still have her wits about her,  it may take a while for a full recovery though.

Well that"s your lot for 2015, quick summary, won, lost, won, lost made some part time money over the year, won a Gold medal on Apat so I have one of each now, busto on Stars, robusto on Sky, made my first ever Day 3 of an event, free rolled Vegas again.

Hopes for 2016, be here this time next year still breathing, the rest of the stuff will happen whatever I wish for, Happy new year to everyone involved in Apat and all your families, run good, be lucky, stay healthy, peace.

[Erimus]

Ok then, we are back on the grind mainly live and it"s gone ok ish, could of been a lot better but still ok with what"s happened.

Had 2 seconds and a 5th locally for approx £730 winnings, profit around £600 which equals last years monthly average, played the GPPT in Manchester at the weekend won 2 tickets online, played one leg online, not a lot happened and decided to have a day out in Manchester to play the live leg at the 235 casino on Friday.

I had a good table and was a fun tourney, was doing ok until I lost a flip then AQ was better than KJ blind v blind in the penultimate level, I was  trying to get a stack for Day 2, maybe could of folded and tried to get a min cash for reaching Day 2 but wanted a stack if I had to drive back to Manchester on the Sunday, wasn"t to be, will be having a go at the next leg which is at St James park Newcastle.

There was a change of schedule at the G which didn"t go down to well with the locals and a meeting was arranged which got a few things sorted, this was my first game at the G this year and the chip stack and structure was tweaked slightly for the the better.

Numbers have been pretty low at both casinos, Monday night at Rainbow had  a £350 overlay, and there was a small one tonight at G as well, may be because of Christmas and people are skint or it could be a downward trend, we shall wait and see on that one.

Decided not to play the 25/25 at Newcastle at the weekend, too tired from the Manchester trip, but it"s at Leeds this week and Day 1 is on my birthday on Thursday, so seen as though I am in profit for the month may as well play it, gl me in that one.

Other news, mam still in hospital, currently getting rehab, the part of the brain affected is to do with balance so she still has difficulty walking as she tends to fall to the left when she stands, Physio and time is the key.

The Boro are looking good although the last few games have been a bit dodgy, the Burnley game was mad, we should of been 4/5 up at half time, but if you have a 100% shots on target leading to goals ie 2 out of 2 then Burnley deserved it, not mentioning Bristol City, although it may be the reminder we need that nothing is won in January, still fairly confident of automatic promotion and the general consensus of people who I was speaking to in Manchester including Burnley, Sheffield Wed fans think we will have it sown up by April, hope so, don"t fancy a trip to Wembley this year.

The countdown has started to the beginning of my mid life crisis, it"s in the early planning stages, this time next year I will be paying my last payment on the mortgage and at long last we shall be free of that pain in the backside, so just need to still be breathing in 2017, had a well man clinic in November and although slightly overweight, nothing to worry about.

I have had a couple of invitations for Vegas this year, a few local regs are going in June, and Stuart has been in touch saying he and a few others are off there in November, ideal situation go in June and win, then go in November and lose, that seems to be how it works for me, to be decided, still fancy New York as well, maybe that could be a long weekend in June then Vegas in November.

Remember that piece of Art I mentioned in the last post well I have put a deposit on it and ohh look, Januarys profit covers it, that should be due in next week, Susan actually likes the piece so it"s a late Christmas/Birthday present.

Very little online stuff, other than Party Poker and 25/25 sats, don"t miss it tbh, perhaps the odd game here and there but no longer interested in trying to grind a bank roll up, deposit and win,  withdraw and spend or deposit and lose and maybe try again.

God I do go on, if anything exiting happens in Leeds will let you know but  if not maybe will appear next month, run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Big Club]

You came across us (Bristol City) at the wrong time Brian, having just lost our manager and being in the bottom three we have that backs to the wall mentality at the moment and are scrapping for everything.... I don"t think many teams will be able to say they did the double over Middlesborough in May and that might be the only positive we take out of this season.... Boro will be there or there abouts at the end of the season though, will probably be between you, Derby and Hull come May is my guess.

[hi_am_chris]

*Cough* and Burnley ...

[Big Club]

*Cough* and Burnley ...

Who?

[hi_am_chris]

That team that"s already done the double over you

[Big Club]

That team that"s already done the double over you

I shall withdraw gracefully and quietly  

[Erimus]

Spluttering end to January both poker and football, played Leeds 25/25 and it was another exit in the final level all in pre QQ v AK, unfortunately couldn"t hold, was a standard spot, the guy who got my chips I know so wasn"t too fussed, he went on to cash for £1k I think so well done him, at least he put my chips to good use.

Generally played pretty well throughout but the amount of times I am running into monsters when I decide to make a move is getting beyond a joke, usually it"s been pretty obvious when they have it so its general an easy fold, they always show it proudly as well.

There was loads of limp calling in Leeds, not sure if this is the new trend but it seems to me once someone has put money in the pot, they are never going to fold, this trend seems to be from the £30 locals to the £220 25/25 series, perhaps it"s because people sat in or have the opportunity to buy in 3x per flight.

Anyway people can play how they want, their money, their choice.

Onto the football and by the way the locals reacted on the local radio we are doomed to relegation after a few bad results, admittedly we haven"t been good but even the game on Saturday give credit to Forest, they came and done a job on us gl to them still plenty of time, nothing decided in January.

With the Leeds buy in, Januarys profit has reduced  so will have to stump up the extra  to buy the McKenzie Thorpe print, bit of a social whore this week, Match Saturday, Party Sunday, Massive Attack in Leeds Wednesday, and back to Leeds on Saturday to see Reeves and Mortimer, busy times.

Nothing of note online, actually only played once and that was a freeroll on Party via DTD, built a stack then lost it cest la vie.

Below if I can get it on is the print I am buying this week, I never take much notice of Art tbh but I just love this piece, it is a bit of an extravagance but hey ho why not.



Late Christmas and Birthday present

[Erimus]

And we win £270 tonight so the above becomes a freebie for the month, could deposit £600 on Stars and star grinding the micros, no thanks win and treat yourself.

Wouldn"t be a post without a moan, so here goes Monday night, make up the small blind with Q9 after 4 limpers at 2k/4K , flop QQ 6, we are both trapping but villain has trapped me better flopping the house with 66, sigh balls.

Tonight again limpers give me daft odds with wth J3 sooted in the small blind, flop J35, course villain has flopped the set, with 55, more sigh balls.

Moral of this stop calling in the small blind for value because it always leads to rubbish, anyway jammed next hand blind, well it was red, and get an Ace to fold for 6 bigs, love it down there, someone suggests 7 way split, snap their hand off, all profit is good.

We will start February again with hope in our hearts and perhaps I can join in with the limp, call, get there brigade, concert tonight, live music for the win.

Also having lunch with the missus before purchasing the above, run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Fun times at the felt at the start of February, first the good news, won 2 seats for the Grand Prix in Newcastle for a total outlay of £25, to be decided whether live or online, more than likely one of each we shall see.

Deposited enough on Full tilt to play the ceratops on Sunday finishing 7th for $300, $2k up top so sighballs again.

Decided to try and spin that up in the Manchester 25/25 tonight, Susan had the other Carer in all day so why not, a nice sing song down the motorway and a game of poker.

Unfortunately I didn"t make the start of the first break which is pretty unusual for me as I can normally grind for Britain then lose a flip late on but tonight"s effort was pretty brutal.

I never got above starting stack, I played less than 10 hands including AA, QQ, JJ 10 10 and AK, lost the lot, annoying one was the Aces get it in with a set v two pair, the board runs out Broadway but he has a flush, urgh.

A few hands later raise QQ over  2 limpers,  3 callers later original limpers calls, pot is now 5k, I only have 5k left, 9 high flop  2 diamonds I shove get one caller, then an all in, not realising I go to turn my cards over saying show me your set, the other guy the tanks for 5 minutes, he obviously has a flush draw, I have inadvertently told him villains hand, he eventually folds, guy has a set of nines, didn"t get the the rebink of a Queen and I was out of there.

All hands played couldn"t play any differently, other than folding and having a flip at 2am, just one of those nights.

Had some fun messages from Stuart the other night he had decided to play the Wednesday turbo at the G and from the players descriptions it was all very standard stuff in the Teesside poker scene, 10x Bb raises, Betty getting there virtually every hand she plays with her 100% vpip, he ended up cashing so well done him, after this weeks efforts including the local games, don"t ask, time for a break, going to learn to crochet I think need something less stressfull.

Anyway run good, be lucky, stay healthy or my new mantra may be limp, call, get there, because that seems to be the strategy in these 25/25 games.

Exciting times down at the Riverside, hopefully we have got a striker who will continue to score for us not like the usual duds which tend t turn up here and dissapears without a trace UTB, Ironically Blackburn our first opponents for said striker, £10 on a hat trick, maybe.

[Erimus]

Round up of Februarys occurrences so far, I had won 3 tickets to the Grand Prix at Sid James Park, the first one disappeared online, then the 2cd one disappeared in a live game at Aspers, the 3rd seen me scrape into Day 2 with a 3 big blind stack, I lost a few in the penultimate level and with very little fold equity with my stack I managed to use my time bank to my advantage, with a min cash guaranteed for making Day 2 it made more sense to scape into the cash, I think I finished with 3 bigs which I wasn"t even going to bother driving up to play Day 2, however instead of playing Rainbows game on Friday I decided on one more shot live at Aspers.

I finished Day 1 with 103k, which would be 20 bigs so worth a drive up north, had my fair share of luck in this one Queens into Aces, I turned quads, then last hand I jammed j4 for 10 bigs into 88, KJ folded in big blind, Jack on flop gave me a fighters chance, I had already cashed so wanted a double to make the journey worthwhile.

Stuart also made Day 2 with a small stack and we both travelled up there hoping to get some run good, think Phil came out retirement as well but he didn"t get there.

After 30 mins seen Stuart walking away from table he ran into 10 10 with very little equity, although he picked up a straight draw which didn"t get there, he was soon on the Guinness.

I made it through the first 2 levels with a slight increase but ended up jamming KQ 13 bigs, in cut off into 99, Q first card out, unfortunately followed by a 9, had outs on the river but didn"t get there, then jammed K 10 into QQ for the rest, had outs on the flop but alas no bink, got my receipt and had managed to ladder another $100 I think, plus a $109 seat, so there might be enough to withdraw and play the GPS at Sheffield at the end of the week, to be decided.

After Januarys excesses on the Spending front I am pretty much busto on the poker roll, the drawer in which my poker winnings goes into is just full of socks now not a £50 note to be seen, never to worry it"s not a problem,had bigger worries in my life.

Locally played once, can"t really be pestered at the minute, maximum 1 game a week for the time being, more sats online preferred games, although this week won"t be playing Tuesday as its back to the Riverside to see us hobble on in our promotion push, it ain"t looking good at the moment but still a long way to go.

One of the local commentators died last week and although I had never met him it seemed as though he was one of my mates as I had been listening to him for the last 30 years, I must admit I did shed a tear, especially after listening to a few of his commentaries from past games, it will be pretty emotional on Tuesday I would imagine as some of his stuff will be played and a minutes applause, he was only 56, diagnosed with cancer in November, 3 months later gone, life is fragile, rip Ali  Brownlie.

Back to the poker, it was a good weekend for Teesside poker players, with local players winning both the high roller and the Grand Prix in Newcastle and a few more running deep and getting decent cashes, me, I plod along breaking even but it is what it is, just reread above paragraph, poker is pretty insignificant in the great scheme of things.

If you are still here thanks for reading, if anything of interest occurs I will be back but in the mean time run good, be lucky, stay healthy.

One final thing bought the picture in the thread above, got pride of place in the house, it"s just increased the value of the living room 6 fold, remember poker winnings buys the stuff you wouldn"t normally buy, the wife still thinks it cost £60, don"t tell her if you see her.

[mousebob]

Another good read as usual, made me smile & wistful at the same time!
Don"t worry about the wife, she"d never believe you "d pay more than £60  
I read your poker exploits with envy, living in Somerset any poker game is at least an hours drive & I work most weekends.
Play sats online but usually sell seats as can"t get away. Sold a GUKPT final seat to NC who went & won a few days previous, fml.
Keep writing & we"ll keep reading.

[Erimus]

Thanks for the above comment, I am fairly lucky with poker options as we have 2 casinos locally which provide a variety of games although one is currently doing its best to lose all of its customers, I prefer to play at Rainbow the structure for a one day game is slightly better than the G, but they don"t seem to have a clue about treating players and increasing the player base, they have effectively killed the Monday game, last week indicating that 16 minimum players need to start the game due to a massive overlay a few Mondays back, they actually tried so stop the game after it started and offered all money back, they eventually relented and said the overlay will come from the following weeks guarantee, hence game didn"t run and probably won"t again.

Anyway I digress after a small upswing in the previous 3 days £230 from the Grand Prix, £400 from Rainbow on Friday night and £120 from sky I decided to pop to Sheffield for the mini GPS, alas my run good decided to halt in this event as I peaked at 26k then went on a downward spiral and didn"t get above starting stack.

It was just one of those days were I was card and spot dead and just couldn"t get anything going eventually I jammed AQ over a min opening raise who snapped with KK, no ace from space and I was off up the M1, no bad beats to moan about just one of them days on the poker front.

Fun hand from Rainbow on Fridays chop, flopped a set with 44 against an overset 77 villain didn"t bother to get it all in just calling my river bet, there was a possible flush on board so left me with 10 bigs at 9:25, managed to get a chop at 2:15 for the £400.

This game plays so odd, most people play so loose early doors because they could potentially spend another £64 on a re entry whereas after the break they just tighten up, I try the other way round, monsters early, had to fold KK and JJ early doors, correctly because they always show when they make their odd straight or weird full house.

This game only payed 4 but chips are easily obtainable around the 12/13 player left as people want to reach the final table for some reason, maybe it"s a pride thing, even when ft is reached you are still 6 from the money and no certificates or medals are handed out for a ft appearance, as there was a £400 overlay we actually did give 5 to 8 the overlay cash just to speed the game up as it could of gone on for ages.

Small profit for February then below average but any profit is good,not enough for my next art purchase as the Sheffield game took that away, always another game to get that.

Enough of the poker, Boro seem to have found a bit of form after a small wobble with 2 wins from 2, going to Blackburn on Tuesday first away game for a while, and with Wolves on Friday next poker will probably be Gs £5k guarantee on Saturday to be decided, run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Fatcatstu]

Just about to go buy our tickets for Blackburn mate, will have to meet up for a pint!