GB2Loose

[George2Loose]

blog updated guys- check it in the sig. Please leave comments too if poss- need feedback!

tytyty

[lukybugur]

Why don"t you Blog about it on here? (Copy > Paste works a treat) That way I"m sure you"ll get a LOT more feedback, regularly

[nosey-p]

George, just read your blog, a good reed it is. I did not realise the year you are having, you must be on cloud 9. I know you won the GAPT (or whatever it's called) last year, but what is the difference from now and last year? Are you playing different? Have you been lucky? And most importantly will it last? The Stars/FullTilt  thing is not on, can Blonde not help you and contact the member directly for you? (I am presuming that they have his address).

Wayne      

[George2Loose]

i will copy paste blog over- can someone move this to diaries and I"ll answer questions shortly

[Chipaccrual]

i will copy paste blog over- can someone move this to diaries and I"ll answer questions shortly

Sorted.  

[George2Loose]

Sunday, 27 April 2008
I"ve started A Blog!
Ok I"ve really been against nobodies starting a blog. I mean, who"s going to want to read about me?

Recently winning the Gala title in Nottinham has given me the confidence to start a blog. Even if no one but me reads it- so what? I think it will help me looking back in a years time to see how far I"ve come.

Or maybe remind myself of better times when I"m busto

I"ll try and keep this updated as often as possible but I know me being me my next entry will probably be in September of 2013.

I"m going to now write entires dating back to the just before my first major win to the present day.

I hope you enoy reading my blog

[George2Loose]

Thursday, 26 June 2008
I told you so....
Not quite as I predicted but here I am. Back almost 2 months later with my second entry. I am going to try and make a mental note to update this at LEAST once a week.

I"m not going to go too much into my biggest live win- the details are outlined in a tournament report I did for blonde:

Ever heard of a superstitious poker player? Or someone who thought they were "destined" for the win? That was me a week before I sat down to play the GCBPT in Notts. Even after I"d managed to bubble a freeroll live satellite holding the chip lead at the final. Maybe that"s the sort of belief you need to win a big tournament. I had no doubt from the moment I sat down on at my first table on Saturday that I was gonna win. I still remember the words of my mate - the "real" Kev Smith who"d made Day 2: "Be patient, despite the buy-in, there"s plenty of easy chips out there." Easy chips? I had Ash Hussain sat to my left, local tough players Nick Hicks and Sam Trickett as well as the now infamous Spencer Lawrence - a man so aggressive he makes Ivey look like Hellmuth. After losing an early pot to Ash and not hitting one set with a gazillion medium pairs, I found myself down to 4,200 chips with blinds at 200/400/25. I pushed all-in under the gun with 8-7 of spades. Nick Hicks made the call from the button - please have Ace King! He flipped Tens. I stood up still believing and out came the Flop, -6s-Qs. I sat back down with that guilty pleasure you feel after sucking out.

A couple of hours later the table breaks and I take my 8kish stack to another table. I double through with 8-8 vs 5-5 and am up to a peak chip count of 18k. I actually start raising a few pots, for the first time able to play some poker rather than shove/folding.
The key pot of the night occurred when I re-raised an early position raise of 3k to 12k at blinds 400/800/25 with Ace King. He pushed and I called. He flipped QQ - a loss at this point would have left me crippled. Never has a River been so sweet as the Ace of spades, what a beautiful card. I win another A-K vs. Q-Q confrontation (this time most of the money going in on a King high Flop) and after a quiet last hour end the day on 55k, which was just above average. I"m delighted having played most of the day with a short stack.

I return on Day 2 sitting down on what I believe to be a very tough table. I have James Keys to my right and Dave Colclough sat opposite. I"m praying for some real garbage early just so I can settle in and get a feel for the table. No such luck, third to act I look down at A-K. I make it 5,000 to go with blinds of 1000/2000/200. Obviously the one caller I don"t want calls and I"m heads up with Mr Colclough. Great. At least I have positon. Flop K-J-6 with two diamonds. I continue for 7,500 and Dave flat calls. The Turn comes a Three and Dave checks - now I"m pretty sure I have the best hand. I thought Dave might be drawing or he may have flat called me with a set but on that board I think he would re-raise the Flop. One because it"s draw heavy and two because it"s a Flop I"ve most likely hit, so I bet a pot-tastic 22k. David counts out a call and sticks it in. Wow. River Six, no diamond. If Dave had now shoved I honestly do not know what I would have done for my last 20k, he could have filled up so I may have passed. He checked to me so I value shoved all-in, I was certain I was in front. Dave reluctantly called. I flipped my hand and he showed a king and mucked. Double up in hand one, now I could play!

The table broke fairly quickly after that and the next couple of hours were quiet with my stack yo-yoing between 120 and 140k. I"m absolutely card dead at another table of death, Maria, Spencer Lawrence and Dominic Kay all in company. After another hour of folding, I look down at Bullets. I raise, Maria shoves and I insta call. Maria flips Kings and my Aces hold. Next significant pot involves me and Lawrence. He has been liberally raising my blind throughout Days 1 and 2 and I have been letting him take it, in Hellmuthesque fashion, waiting to trap him. For about the third time it folds round to the small blind and Spencer raises; I look down at -Jd and re-raise thinking I"ve trapped him. He goes all in, I am priced in to call and see him flip Aces. Great. Down to just 20k at blinds 4000/8000, I"m shocked and now looking at a 17th place finish. However, I wasn"t too despondent. I STILL believed I would win and There was not one negative thought in my body. I fold a couple of hands and end up shoving for 16k with A-3, the small blind isolates with K-4. Flop K-4... I still believed! This couldn"t be over?! Third card is a Three followed by a Three on the River! Double up and after a blind stealing spree I shove with K-K for 75k (blinds 6k/12k), get a caller from A-Q and somehow am heading to the final with 270k!!!

I feel like I"m freerolling. I am fairly quiet early and win my first significant pot when a short GiMac [Gordon McArthur] is forced to commit his last chips with Q-8 on an A-Q-2 board. I hold A-Q. I must at this point mention my faithful following who had come down from the best homegame in Leicester: Paul, Yan, Kirk, Neil, Kev and Satman - thanks for coming down. Every time I won a pot there was plenty of cheering and the occasional weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! First hand after the break UTG makes it 83k (blinds 10/20/2000). I look down at Kings, Hollywood and then decide to just stick it in. He calls and shows J-J, but my Kings hold. I continue to use the re-steal and open pots infrequently, getting a high percentage of my pre-flop raises through. Three handed I make a shove with 9-5 when James Keys (left) raises from the small blind. He calls thinking he"s behind but perhaps live with K-J. You're very live mate, you have the best hand! Somehow K-J beats 9-5 and now I"m down to 300k with blinds of 15000/30000. Button raise from Keys, I shove A-K, he calls A-Q, what a cooler. Three handed and by far the most active player is an Asian player who has loosened up. He makes it 100k (blinds 20k/40k/4000), I think about shoving A-3 but decide to see a Flop. Flop 2-4-5! OMG, what a luckbox! I check-raise his 100k continuation to 200k and he shoves! I double check with the chipleader that he has in fact gone all in and call. I have to sweat a split when he flips A-K, but my straight ultimately holds up to give me the pot.

A few hands later and I"m heads up with almost a 2/1 chip lead. My recent heads up record was played four lost four. I decided I was going to be aggressive. Not many key hands heads up, I saw a few cards and mixed my play up well. Eventually I re-raise Keys" bet from the button all-in with A-9. He calls with A-7. Nine on the Flop but have to sweat a flush draw on the Turn. Board pairs and it"s all over, I am the Notts champion! I honestly believe this was my time. I"d like to thank all the staff at the Gala, the fellow players and everyone involved. What a fantastic tournament. See you in Bristol at the end of the year... George2Loose

[George2Loose]

Saturday, 17 January 2009
Back from Brighton [ ] I will update my blog more often....
Just got back from Brighton where I played my first two events on the grosvenor poker tour. For anyone who doesn"t know I put up a staking thread on blonde and managed to get backing for the main event and Flushy put me into the £300. I was feeling very confident having just finished 4th in the daily 80k on stars for $6000- my biggest score for a while. Travelled down with the family and it was nice having them around while I travelled for a change. It"s not always easy playing these events with a wife and 4 (yes FOUR) kids but my wife is thankfully very supportive of my chosen path (and the money it can sometimes bring!) We check into 8 Bright Apartments- 2 bed for £75 a night- can"t be bad! Very enjoyable stay and had fun on the beach and looking at the many sights Brighton has to offer with wife and kids in tow (nice to spend some of the trip outside a casino for a change)

As mentioned previously this was my first experience of the Grosvenor poker tour. I"ve played 5 gala events so will try and make some comparisons:

Staff: The grosvenor dealers are very competent on the whole and jovial enough but I find the ones on the gala to be better. This is probably due to the fact that I"ve won an event and obviously know Mark, Robin and his team very well.

Atmosphere: I don"t whether it"s the venue or because there"s more UK pro"s playing the GUKPT but the armos was very stilted and much more business like. They call gala the people"s poker tour and there are a lot more amateurs playing the GCBPT which always creates a good atmosphere.

Standard: tbh the standard of both tours is pretty poor imo. My table (yes I only got to play one in the main event!) was very soft with only Tony Phillips and Micky Wernick providing any meaningful opposition.

Stucture: This is where grosvenor is streets ahead of gala. Their side event and main event structures are a million miles ahead of gala, also with lower antes. However you are paying DOUBLE the price. I think people forget this when looking at the gala tour- you"re paying £500 quid for a pretty good structure!

Now onto the tourney"s themselves. First the £300- not to put too fine a detail on it but I should have cruised to day 2 but a mixture of luck and spewage saw me bust out 6 mins before the end shoving my short stack straight into"s Dominic Kay"s AK. I had 40k before the final 3 levels of the day (300/600, 400/800, 600/1200) with average being around 18k. I had to laydown QQ twice post flop. The first laydown to James Sudworth on a J323J board. I think I made the right laydown but played the hand pretty badly- not c-betting and getting too trappy.

Anyway onto the main event- my tournament report is as follows- please comment on my play- I"ll always take constructive criticism!

Sat down at table 5 seat 5- very cold but overall please with my table. Micky Wernick sat to my right but apart from that no names at my table. Im going to try and post as much detail I can up to my bust out.Don"t play a hand for a round or two. Very standard table. Not too aggressive but was a fair amount of action mainly due to people hitting the flop hard (saw at least 4 flopped sets in first half hour)I limp utg for 50 with 87ss (sorry for not raising flushy!). 5 to the flop which comes down 853 one spade. I lead for 150, big fish at the table repops to 450 so I decide to peel 7 clubs hits the turn putting two clubs on board and I check call a 1200 bet. 6 clubs on river so the board is 85376 with 3 clubs. check check on river so I think my hand is good but no, my opponenet has checked the 53 clubs behind for the flush. Down to 8k- great first hand!

I pick up a couple of pots and get back up to around 9k and open utg with tens to 175. SB re pops to 600 and I peel off a flop which comes down J92 rainbow. He continue bets for just 650 so I flat. The turn comes - and now he pots it. 2200. I fold.Next significant hand I play, 2 people limp and I look down at AQcc on button so raise to 500. I get the sb plus the two limpers call. Flop comes 766, two spades. checked to cut off who bets 300- obv very weak bet so I make it 1200- perhaps should have folded on a wet board with two opponents behind me but felt like a good spot to put the pressure on. SB cold calls behind. check check turn and check check on river. He turns over the 98ss for the turned straight and rivered flush!So down to 6k I"m feeling a little aggreived!

I open in the hijack at 50/100 with A3dd for 300. Fishy button flats.Flop comes A35 two spades. Lovely! I c-bet for 400 and he insta calls. J on turn. I bet 1500 this time and he calls quite quickly again. 2 spades on river so we check check and he shows AQ. I scoop but am annoyed at not being able to value bet river.Reach first break with 9300 which Im very pleased with considering. I"m still happy with my table but a little annoyed that the cards aren"t being kinder- I seem to be playing multi way pots even when I"m the aggressor and my c bet success frequency is very low.

Back after the break player to my right makes it 450 at 75/150 and I peel with KQhh. Flop comes 10, 7, 3 diamonds. check check. He then lead for 600 on turn when 9 hits. I don"t put him on much but decide to peel off a card instead of raising. If a blank hits the river I plan on betting. An offsuit jack hits giving me the nuts! He then leads into me for 1800. I make it 4600. He flats so obv ship! NO- he has flatted me with KQ. WTF??? Chop it up anyway.Tony Phillips moves to my table. Never played him before but he immed starts to run the table. 3 limpers to my button for 150 and I make it 700 with JJ. Everyone calls me! Am I getting my bet sizing wrong??? Flop comes AQ2 checked to me and I bet 1600. Thankfully everyone folds and I"m at my peak chip count of 11k.

Next significant pot I play I get two limpers from seat 1 (nothing to worry about limping a lot ep) and seat to my right. I make it 800 with AJ. Colder caller from button (fishy fisherson). UTG and limper fold. Heads up and the flop comes 866 two spades. I lead for 1300 into 2k. He flats. 4 hearts on the turn. I decide not to double barrel as I"m unsure whether he has a draw or a pair ( and I know he isn"t folding a pair) so check it to him. He bets 1500 which immed tells me he has it. I fold AGAIN and he shows me 88. MBN

Down to around 8k and again two limpers in pot. Notice the theme??? I don"t know whether I should be limping along here or what cos my raising pre and c betting post flop didnt seem to be having much success but I make it 1k with KQdd from the cut off. SB (fishy fisherson believe it or not) calls and one limper calls. Flop comes a very helpful 854 all clubs. check check check. even more helpful on turn. check check check and finally a jack on the river. fishy bets 1k which limper calls. Fishy shows 10 9cc. MBSFN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Down to about 6.5k now and I open to 600 with AKcc. Tony Phillips asks me for a count before repopping to 2k from sb. I shove he calls with JJFlop comes BRICK BRICK BRICK.

[George2Loose]

Thursday, 22 January 2009
10 rebuy win
Woke up Friday morning and left Brighton around 12pm- home by 2pm and the whole family were pretty tired. The mrs could see how disappointed I was so gave the green light for some online poker. I had around 1k on stars having cashed our 5k the week before (afetr coming forth in the daily 80k) Busto on tilt so just played stars.

I played:

50$ daily 80k
22$ heads up (a tourney I hadn"t played for a while)
10rebuy on stars

I think I also played a few low buy in freezeouts. At about 11pm I was only left in the 10r and was one tabling. It can be a grind sometimes but I do think that playing too many games can hinder my game. Obv I use a hud but working with just those stats can be misleading.

I play rebuys quite often and like the fact it gives you time to play and build a stack. Dependant on what mood Im in will determine how much I spend on buy ins! My mates will know I have a tendency of approaching rebuys the same way:

- Set myself a spending limit
- Spending at least 3 times that amount after losing one pot

I remember one time going to play the 20 rebuy at broadway, I was speaking to my mate Sat and we decided to limit ourselves to 60 quid. Maybe 80 max. £180 quid later at the break I have the minimum chipstack tilting off my money after getting outdrawn. All"s end that ends well as I ended up splitting it and taking 1200. Gamble FTW!

Back to the 10r, I had 43k at the break and only in for 30$ Obv very happy- I had some big hands in the rebuy period- crucially they held up. I ended up winning for 14k and change. My biggest ever cash online in a normal buy in MTT and also the biggest field I"ve bested- 2592 runners!

Obviously you need your fair share of luck in these fields and I sucked out in one cruicial pot against an aggro cl who had opened with AK- I shoved with AQ and spiked a Q on the turn to take the chip lead with 65 left..

On the final I played a more conservative game than I would usually employ. I think obv aggression is important in hold em but sometimes you can get obsessed with playing for the win. This has resulted me in being TOO aggro and busting out 4th, 5th, 7th etc etc etc. I think changing gears in poker is more important than out and out aggression and I did this particularly well. Cranking it up 4 handed. I went into heads up with a 2/1 deficit but played really well (I usually suck heads up) I got lucky in one spot where I flatted with AA pre the money going all in on a 10 2 8 flop. Wasn"t until the Jack on the turn that I realised I didnt have the best hand- my opp had opened the button with 10 2. Fist pumping was order of the day when another Jack hit the river.

[George2Loose]

Sunday, 1 March 2009
Big catch including GUKPT Walsall
Introducing the wife and kids......


Probably should have done this ages ago but for those of you who don"t know I"m married with 4 kids! Yes I"m a sicko and get to play way too much poker- what can I say? I have THE most understanding wife in the world! Here she is:







Despite what it looks like- I promise you she is not ginger! She also plays poker online and has head some sick results in the 35k 10r on ipoker coming 4th for 4k (her biggest score) and 8th last week for 500$. Was a shoot toward the end and had cards run better we"d be looking at 8k easy! She has yet to make the plunge live- finds the whole set up intimidating which is why I"ve changed my view on women only tourneys. When Ace (our youngest- I"ll introduce him later!) is older I"m hoping to persuade Shelley to play on the Betfred tour to help her find her feet live or perhaps the Sky Poker Tour.


My eldest are twins- Esme and Kieran. They"re both 11 and without a doubt the best behaved kids you could meet. No really! Here they both are:








Both know the basic rules of poker after asking and often play for fun money online. Esme is a complete fish and will not fold if she has a picture card or if they"re suited! Kieran is quite aggressive and will bring it in for a raise. Both have potential but in all honestly I don"t know how I"d feel if any of my kids wanted to play full time and as sexist as this might sound, especially Esme.




Next up we have Rio. Yes I"m a Man United fan and that was some inspiration for his name! He;s 4 years old and going through he tantrum stage! Not all kids can be well behaved right?











Rio thinks I play poker for a living often referring it to work. Maybe one day when I have a huge roll but with 4 kids, I need a steady income. Whenever I take a beat in a tourney it hurts- can"t imagine what it must be like if you"re relying on that money for an income!



Finally we have Ace. Obviously his name is related to poker but it was his Auntie Andrea who actually came up with his name and I"m glad she did. He"s just 9 months old and a bit of a handful!














Online Variance

I"m sure many people say this but I can honestly say I"m playing the best poker I"ve ever played at the moment and had variance/poker Gods been nice to me I"m sure I"d have another 5 figure sum to report on. I"ve made it deep in tourneys on stars/ipoker but lost big flips late on. I may switch to playing more regularly on ipoker although the tourney schedule sucks. The best tourney on there is the 35k 10 rebuy. Unfort it doesn"t start until 8.30 and usually finishes at around 2-3am which during the week is far too late! The players on there are so much worse then stars. You"ll get people 4 betting AJ suited with no fold equity! Or calling all in with Q10 suited with about 150 big blinds during the first level.
GUKPT Walsall
I played Day 1B after selling 70% on the staking board on blonde. I played good solid poker making the odd bluff and couldn"t have really asked for a softer seond table. However the cards didn"t run for me in crucial pots- tourney report below:
Sat down and had a tough table with Neil Channing and Mark Goodwin. They were both to my right and after playing a few rounds I was quite pleased with the draw. Most players were pretty straightforward- and the table was quite solid early.I splashed around a little early- playing some suited connectors etc and set mining. I went down to just over 8 before returning to my starting stack.
First significant hand I played I managed to win a big pot. David La Ronde who cam second in Luton to Sam Trickett opened to my right for 450 out of a stack of 8k from the hijack+1 at 75/150. He has been doing this quite a lot and it was starting to frustrate me as I wasn"t able to play too many pots. I look down at 45 decide to make it 1200 out of a stack of 12 in a hope of slowing him down. I hadn"t played many pots and knew I had a very solid image. A tight player by the name of Wass flats for 1200 on the button with around 6800 behind. I put him on quite a tight range. 99-JJ. AK, maybe AQ. Possibly even QQ. La Ronde decides to join the party so we"re 3 way to the flop. It comes down 653, 2 clubs. La Ronde now leads into me for 1500. I think this a fairly straightforward weak lead- he never leads with a set here imo and if he does he would bet more to protect his hand. I"m happy to get it in with either opponent here. I"d still have 4.5-5k left if I lost and am a slight fave against an overpair so I make it 4800.Wass on the button tanks for an age so I know he hasn"t got 99-10 10. Maybe he has AK clubs here but I think with his style he"d have mucked by now so I"m putting him on QQ. He eventually puts his stack in- La Ronde gets out of the way and I call the 2k extra, shaking my head when he asks me if I have aces. He flips KK and I bink a 2 on the turn. I then start using my stack- playing quite a few puts, pushing my opponents about and keeping out of the way of Channing and Goodwin.
The table breaks and I leave it with a healthy 27k.I then get moved to what I can only describe as a dream table. Very soft, only trouble is I have a guy who likes to see a lot of flops two to my left and another fish two to his left so opening in late position was tricky. However, there was very little 3 betting and no less than 3 rocks. I even had the value of having Neil (Blatch) on the table.After playing quite solid and not getting anything in the way of cards I decide to make a move when UTG (FISH!) opens for 800 at 150/300, 3 to his left calls for 800 and I make it 3200 on the button with 63hh looking to pick up the dead money. They both call! The flop however comes a nutastic 245 rainbow. Action on the flop is check check check. I"m not sure if I should lead here and build a pot? The turn comes down a 7 and fishy fisherson bets 1800 utg, the guy to his left calls and now its down to me.I think one of them has some sort of middish pair so decide to raise for value confident one of them will call so I make it a massive 5400. As expected utg flats, other guy folds. Now UTG checks in the dark and the river is a 4. I"m not worried about a set as I"m sure the money would be in on the flop. He has about 20k left and with about 18k in the middle I decide to shove. He folds pretty much straightaway and I"m a little annoying I didn"t bet around the 12k mark which I"m sure a player like him calls cos he has chips behind. I think I need to learn not to keep value shoving as it"s much less effective live than online.
I lose 6k when the sb shoves A10 and I call with AJ. Flop JQK. MBN.I sit around the 50k mark for a while. Open a couple of pots light and get re raised on the flop when I c-bet so decide to tighten up my range. Next significant hand I play I get dealt aces. I open to 1625 at 300/600/25 in the hijack+1. The cut off, button and small blind decide to join the party which isn"t what I had in mind!The flop comes an ugly 7,8,10 two diamonds. sb and cutoff have around 30k each and button is short so after the sb checks I decide I"m going to either check raise or peel a turn card (again should I lead this flop?) off for free. The button decides to shove for 7k- I call. He shows A7. Bink- 7 on the turn. My stack takes a hit back down to 35k instead of reaching the heights of 70.
Playing a little bit tilty I lose a significant pot to the legend Wernick. This is the worst pot I played all tournament. I"m in the big blind and 5 people limp. I check with Q2ss in bb. Flop comes Q, 10, 3. Everyone Checks. K on turn and after it"s checked to Mickey on the button who bets 3.6k. With 316 players begind me I decide middle pair bottom kicker is good and call. Everyone else gets out of the way and I check/tank/call another bet of 6900 as Mickey obv shows the straight- J9. Well played George.I"m now on around 25k. Player who has just sat down opens for a massive 3800 at 400/800/50 from 3rd to act and I look at 10,10 in cutoff. Should I be shoving here? folding? Calling? I really didnt know but decided to call. SB also calls and we see a threeway flop of JJ9. I bet 6500 after both check and am relieved to rake in a nice pot.
I kick things up last level of the night as people clam up and try to fold to day 2. I"m back up to around 45k when I find 10,10 again in hijack. Mick McCool is in the big blind and I open for 2650 at 500/1000/75. In hindsight I"m gonna open to closer to 3k cos I was getting a few cold callers when I was 2.5xing at this level. Mick flats out of the big blind with about 12k back. Flop is J65. I c-bet 4800, he shoves I call. He has K6, bink a 6 on the turn. I could not believe how bad I was running and was now down to 26k. Fine- that was average stack.UTG then opens for 4k out of a stack of 16k and I set him in with AK from the big blind. He calls and shows tens. Flop is Ace high. Turn 10. TURN CARD WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO!!!!!
So came back to day 2 with 13k. Blinds go thru me as I can"t find a spot to shove. Folds to me in the cut off, button has literally just turned up and sat down when I shove 43 off, he calls and shows AK. MBSFN!!! No binkage and I"ve hit the rail.

[George2Loose]

Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Grimmed, Karma and Sunday Million final table.................
Few bits to catch up on.... I"ll come to my tourney report on the Sunday Million but a few bits first!

Ginger Watch

A fun segment which I"ll be updating on a ad hoc basis. Shelley treated herself to a cut and colour on Saturday so not much ginger in sight atm.

Rest of the family are good. Ace has had a bit of a bug and a cold but he"s getting better thankfully. Still not sleeping through and he"s gonna be 9 months this Friday (incidentally the 13th- Ace was born on Friday the 13th!) It"s been really tough on us, especially Shelley. The first 3 all slept through from six weeks so it"s quite a culture shock!

Rio is behaving better though which is a Godsend! Something which I believed has helped is banning him from all video games. Yes we were probably naive letting him play them as young as 4- I really thought it was some sort of fable/old wives tale that computer games can have an effect on a childs behaviour! But it isn"t! They turn into little terrors! Lock away your Nintendo Ds"s!!! Instead have been taking him and the kids to do more outdoor activities- swimming, running, the park, footie. Poker can sometimes consume your life- I have to remember why I"m making money- for my family. What"s the point of doing that if I"m not enjoying them? That"s why Shelley"s so good for me- she keeps me grounded when I get carried sometimes......

Kieran has his first girlfriend! At the tender age of 11 he asked out a girl called Ellie in his class. I"m dead proud of him cos this is something I never had the courage to do until I was 19 lol! I was a little different back then. Very shy and not confident at all- at some point I"ll put up some piccies.

Grimmed

Sunday was quite an eventful day for me in more ways than one. I"d qualified for the ipoker 2.5mill guaranteed for 200 bucks (1700$ buy in) which started at 7pm so had to miss the DTD 300 which was a bit annoying. I"ll also be missing it in April due to APAT Cardiff which myself Neil (Blatchley) and Kev Smith (bag man) will be attending.

I decided to approach the tournament seriously as it was a huge pay day and the field wasn"t too huge to conquer considering the pay day (500k for first, 1300 runners). I woke up with the kids Sunday and then went back to bed at 11am. I decided that for the first time in ages I"d use a significant portion of my roll to take a shot and play a big Sunday schedule which included:

Stars:
Sunday Warm Up 215$
Sunday Million 215$
Sunday Second Chance 215$
Couple of 100$ f/outs

Full Tilt:
750k guarantee 215$
Mulligan 215$
Brawl 256$
50k guaranree 163$

Laddies:

Skalie Deepstack 109$
Dream Team Vegas Satty 100$ with EIGHT 5k Vegas packages ADDED!

One problem- I had no dough on full tilt. There"s an official person to person transfer thread on blonde and I had about 3k on stars so I put up a message asking for 600$ on tilt for stars then went to sleep......

I wake up at 3.30 (Skalie deepstack starts at 4pm) getting ready for a big day- log onto blonde and have received the following message from what I believe to be Le Knave (Dave Jones):

Hi mate, its Le Knave I can sort you out $200 on tiltShip to THE_KING_JEW on stars and ill ship once received, lets win it allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Now I want to blame the fact that I"d just woken up on the fact that I shipped it without too much thinking. I did wonder why Dave would play under the name as THE KING JEW as I"m sure he played as Le Knave pretty much everywhere but I dismissed this and just shipped the dough. Many little things pointed to the fact this was not Dave:

1) His name was Le Knave. Dave is LeKnave no spaces.

2) Le Knave had 0 posts. Dave has 3524.

3) He had no contact details MSN etc and no tag line (www.weregettingpaid.com) although he had cunningly copied Le Knave"s pic

4) He said in his message- "Hi it"s Le Knave." COURSE IT"S LE KNAVE- it"s a pm from him! Actually it"s NOT! Hence why he" saying "Hi it"s Le Knave!"

5) The most active thread on blonde that day was titled "Grimmer?"

Anyway I"m waiting and waiting.... and waiting and waiting. Keep checking my full tilt account- no 200$. I finally get around to reading the thread on blonde and own up to being the dullard I am- get some rightful abuse and some not justified from Richard Kellet and one of his minnions.

Now I have nothing against Richard Kellet. I have actually never shared a poker table with the guy and I"m sure he has a fairly decent game as he gets a lot of backing. He tried to angle shoot Neil in a big pot at DTD which is not on imo if you have an ounce of integrity but it happens, people do it, poker"s about a game of edge"s and he tried to use one.

Me and Kellet clashed when I made I comment at an omaha table where he was playing (and getting owned) by Dave Penly. I made a comment about Kellett knowing when he"s beat= no malice intended but I just didn"t understand why he would want to play someone heads up where he has little/no edge when there must be TONS of bad omaha players out there. It"s like me asking Tom Dwan if he wants a quick heads up session! Kellet then made a racist comment whcih obv shows his age- I seriously hope that he said this in the heat of the moment cos he was losing $$$. If he wants to apologise I will gladly accept- anyone who knows me knows I don"t hold grudges and I"m basically a nice guy.

ANYWAY, I"m digressing but there is a purpose. Kellett and his minnion (can"t remember his name, not important enough) start talking to me about karma and the fact that I DESERVED my grimming for accusing Kellet of the same (big thread on blonde, won"t go into it lol)- I said if there"s any karma hopefully it"ll be delievered tonight by the poker Gods.

Back to Sunday, I"m playing a few tourneys- get a couple of mini cashes but nothing massive. My attention soon turns to the Vegas package on Laddies. I"m deep and not really concentrating as well as I should on other tourneys including at this point the Sunday Million (I was card dead and was blinding away something cronic- think my stats at 200/400 were somethings like 5/2/NA lol!). There"s 8 packages up for grabs and nine of us left. Folds to me in small blind. Me and the smaller stack we both have around 14k and the blinds are a hefty 2000/4000 and I shove Q5, he obv wakes up with AK and holds. I bubble the sat (although win 1500$) and am sick. Maybe that"s karma after all......

I then bust the 50k deep with QQ vs KK. BS!!!! Im one tabling the Sunday million with hardly any chips. FML!!! Another ****ty (and costly) Sunday. UM WRONG! I actually FINALLED the million and won 26k- my biggest online pay day. I have posted some hands and comments below. I have very mixed feelings about the final and think I played scared in one pot in particular- waiting to see the reply but I"m sure if I had the opportunity again I would re shove. Please see hands below for more.

Big Bink:

*********** # 91 **************PokerStars Game #25752970094: Tournament #144032321, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (300/600) - 2009/03/08 18:58:40 ETTable "144032321 169" 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: dirkyNL (37713 in chips)
Seat 2: Desert Horse (12515 in chips)
Seat 3: Tommy2tyme (10760 in chips)
Seat 4: Guerrouij (15537 in chips)
Seat 5: Tschan19 (7850 in chips)
Seat 6: George2Loose (6275 in chips)
Seat 7: jwalk007678 (16525 in chips)
Seat 8: jamal p (7175 in chips)
Seat 9: Bicman777 (65233 in chips)
George2Loose: posts small blind 300
jwalk007678: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to George2Loose [ Td]
jamal p: calls 600
Bicman777: folds
dirkyNL: folds
Desert Horse: folds
Tommy2tyme: folds
Guerrouij: folds
Tschan19: folds
George2Loose: raises 5675 to 6275 and is all-in
jwalk007678: folds jamal p: calls 5675
*** FLOP *** [ ]
*** TURN *** [ ] []
*** RIVER *** [ ] []
*** SHOW DOWN ***George2Loose: shows [ Td] (a straight, Nine to King)jamal p: shows [ ] (a pair of Queens)George2Loose collected 13150 from pot*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 13150 Rake 0 Board [ ]Seat 1: dirkyNL folded before Flop (didn"t bet)Seat 2: Desert Horse folded before Flop (didn"t bet)Seat 3: Tommy2tyme folded before Flop (didn"t bet)Seat 4: Guerrouij folded before Flop (didn"t bet)Seat 5: Tschan19 (button) folded before Flop (didn"t bet)Seat 6: George2Loose (small blind) showed [ Td] and won (13150) with a straight, Nine to KingSeat 7: jwalk007678 (big blind) folded before FlopSeat 8: jamal p showed [ ] and lost with a pair of QueensSeat 9: Bicman777 folded before Flop (didn"t bet)

Now this might seem like a donkey move- and it pretty much is. But this is where multi tabling and having a HUD can **** you up. I had the table minimised cos I was concentrating on Laddies tourney and the HUD covered up the UTG call so I thought I was shoving small to big. Yes- I"m a LUCKBOX!!!

TY Donkey:

*********** # 175 **************PokerStars Game #25755958806: Tournament #144032321, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (750/1500) - 2009/03/08 20:21:34 ETTable "144032321 169" 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: dirkyNL (12375 in chips)
Seat 2: Rightcurver (91939 in chips)
Seat 3: Tommy2tyme (44034 in chips)
Seat 4: Guerrouij (11952 in chips)
Seat 5: dp112 (35488 in chips)
Seat 6: George2Loose (27046 in chips)
Seat 7: jwalk007678 (31052 in chips)
Seat 8: kylmac85 (45335 in chips)
Seat 9: rotiv azar (29045 in chips)
dirkyNL: posts the ante 150
Rightcurver: posts the ante 150
Tommy2tyme: posts the ante 150
Guerrouij: posts the ante 150
dp112: posts the ante 150
George2Loose: posts the ante 150
jwalk007678: posts the ante 150
kylmac85: posts the ante 150
rotiv azar: posts the ante 150
Tommy2tyme: posts small blind 750
Guerrouij: posts big blind 1500
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to George2Loose [ ]
dp112: raises 3000 to 4500
George2Loose: calls 4500
*** FLOP *** [As ]
dp112: checks
George2Loose: bets 4500
dp112: calls 4500
*** TURN *** [As ] []
dp112: checks
George2Loose: bets 17896 and is all-in
dp112: calls 17896*** RIVER *** [As ] []
*** SHOW DOWN ***dp112: shows [ ] (a pair of Aces)
George2Loose: shows [ ] (a pair of Aces - Queen kicker)George2Loose collected 57392 from pot

Do most call with AQ here 2nd to act? Is it too nitty to fold? He snapped the turn so obv I thought he had trapped me a treat- nope. He obv put me on A2

It"s late and will post some more up later- pls leave some comments and I"ll respond back

Thanks to everyone for the rail on stars, facebook, blonde. Threads on blonde, punters lounge and APAT. Oh and thanks to Dave Mfkin Jones for the grim. Karma indeed.

[George2Loose]

 AMRN said...
A helluva busy Sunday George. With that list of reasonably high buy in tournies all running into each other, do you really feel you can do any one of them justice? or are you starting several hoping to hit a big stack in one, and then concentrate on that one alone?

Excellent cash btw!!

11 March 2009 01:02

[George2Loose]

AMRN said...
A helluva busy Sunday George. With that list of reasonably high buy in tournies all running into each other, do you really feel you can do any one of them justice? or are you starting several hoping to hit a big stack in one, and then concentrate on that one alone?

Excellent cash btw!!

11 March 2009 01:02

Playing more comps obviously lowers variance but playing these high level of comps with huge fields isn"t sustainable imo. I will every now and again "take a shot", probably once or twice a year esp. if I"ve been playing/running well and my confidence is up.

I try to play live on Sunday"s as much as possible cos the temptation to fire up more tournies is just too much and sometimes playing a £100 live tourney can actually save me money lol.

As for multi tabling I think it can help with boredom- I use a HUD which is essential imo even if you"re playing one table- you just can"t commit as much to memory as you can live.

I think I play optimum when play between 3-4 tables, anymore i probably do lose a bit of my game but I have been known to 8 table before. I did skip some of the tournies mentioned mainly cos I was deep in laddies tourney.

I used to have a massive issue with tilt if I got outdrawn I"d spunk it on other tables and every now and again the tilt monster does rear it"s ugly head. It"s one of the biggest leaks of my game. I used to gamble quite a bit on the table games and sometimes when I take a beat, my gambling nature rears its ugly head

[George2Loose]

WP George.

How did you find the tournament? It always strikes me as an exceptionally difficult tourney to go deep in?

A lot of it is a blur and I will post up some more HH"s on the tourney report thread when I get a chance.

I played exceptionally tight early and tbh it"s very difficult to think about getting deep. I mean you"re playing against 8117 opponents- how can you start thinking about the final?

I think what helped was that I was never out of the top 10 from around 200 out so I wasn"t pressured into playing pots.

When I finalled I had one hand where I think had it been a normal tourney I would have shoved but the money and the win meant a lot so I raise folded 99 with about 15 big blinds behind.

I"m really hoping the reply shows he had an overpair but I suspect he was just muscling me off the pot

[George2Loose]

George, just read your blog, a good reed it is. I did not realise the year you are having, you must be on cloud 9. I know you won the GAPT (or whatever it's called) last year, but what is the difference from now and last year? Are you playing different? Have you been lucky? And most importantly will it last? The Stars/FullTilt  thing is not on, can Blonde not help you and contact the member directly for you? (I am presuming that they have his address).

Wayne      

I contacted stars and unfortunately they can"t get involved in any disputes on forum- had it been on stars chat they have been able to do something but it"s my own fault. I knew the rules b4 the transfer and I cert should have checked first!

I think confidence is massive in poker. After my win in Notts I had a terrible run of cards and was playing far too tight (believe it or not) I think in any game- be it football, rugby, basketball, poker- anything, confidence is HUGE and at the moment taht"s helping my game no end.

Of course running good helps too but in my last few tourneys I"ve made chips with no hands but lost by getting outdrawn! Crazy game.

When I won in Notts I played well but it was one of the easiest tourneys I"ve ever played. I just had a bigger hand than my opponents most of the time. I had KK when someone had JJ at the final. 20 out I had AA when someone had KK- sometimes poker is the most difficult game in the world and at others it"s simple.

Overall I would say i"m a better player now but I am always learning.