The Fossil does Vegas

[Erimus]

It"s harder to keep these blogs updated when nothing happens but I want to keep the momentum going and keep updating on a semi regular basis.

Poker for the last few weeks has been pretty meh getting deep in a few tournaments then losing standard hands, currently slightly down for the month but nothing a little win wont put right. I have had to half my roll on Stars to pay a few bills which is annoying as I wanted to play for the full year and see how much is in there at the end of twelve months but still playing with free money so will have to see how it goes.

I have played 2 of the scoop events on stars min cashing and 2 bounties in one and nowhere in the other,

I see Leigh had a nice cash in one of the events well played sir unlucky not to go all the way, but a nice cash anyway.

I played the local 10 10 10 game at the G on tuesday and as per the standard was questionable but happy with that as we know it"s profitable in the long run.

I decided I would deal, and the game started 4k chips with 1 rebuy and 1 add on if required, every pot contested in the early stages was contested by at least 7 players every pot limped and the array of cards at showdown was laughable but was a fun table, the first hand I played went as follows 4 limpers at 50/100 gets to me on the button look down to see  raise to 650, get the sb and bb to fold but the others couldn"t resist so pot is 3k, floptastic
, (reading Paul Daniels magic card tricks really helped), utg leads, couple of folds gets to me I just call next card leads again so again just call, I am just putting him on the draw or top pair,river card another heart prob lose my action but no he duly shoves all in and on a non paring board show him the bad news he shows the the As so up to 10k in one hand easy game.

The next hand of any significance I get QQ utg raise to 500 get 3 callers not ideal but it is what is flop Q high rainbow I check get an all in and 2 folds easy call, set holds and have got 14k going into the break, I add on the extra 4k so got 18k blinds 150/300 15 min clock.

I lose a few chips and am down to 16k when I get AA utg I raise to 875, folds to big blind who makes up the extra, I know the player in big blind is very loose and will defend wide,in fact in all the times I have played him I don"t think he has ever folded a big blind he states that he doesn"t like folding once he has chips in the pot flop come 2, 7, 10, I bet 1k2 into 2k2 pot he insta shoves 15k, I don"t think he"s KK or QQ, would probably reraise pre, sets are possibility or 2 pair hands, after 30secs dwell I fold face up and expecting him to muck and move on but he shows 7 2 off for a flopped 2 pair, good fold move on, I thought a set or 10 7 but 2 7 was a slightly loose defend, he says I should of raised more pre and he might of folded, I am not one for trying to explain what I do at the poker table in fact one of my pet hates is when people try and tell the worse players how they should of played a certain hand Don"t tap the tank etc.

I get to the final table with 15bigs get AK utg first hand raise to 2k4 big blind shoves, call hoping for a flip he shows KK, nice A on the flop but the case K on the river scuppers my chances of the £250 first prize so another  cashless game but I actually enjoyed the game which is what it"s all about.

I may pop along to the G tonight for the 20/20,and they are also having a 2 day event next week 20k start 45 min blinds, might play this if there is decent number of runners will decide nearer the time.

Run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Swinebag]

he says I should of raised more pre and he might of folded.

You forgot to thank him for the rub down!!

Its good that poker is still profitable after all these years

[pokerpops]

Name and shame the villain with 72 Bri?
So many candidates...

Nice fold though.

[Erimus]

Not too much volume last week due to the fact Stars had decided to give me a good kicking, with a ridiculous amount of coolers when apparently every time I had a premium my opponent decided to flop the set or two pair or straights (50pin the tin), so I took a few days off and surprised the misses with my decorating skills and done a 60 minute makeover to the bedroom.

The fact was 60 mins turned into 3 days and after knocking over a tin of red paint onto the carpet it has turned out to be a more expensive task than playing small stake mtts on stars.

After finishing the job on Saturday I logged on to Apat and seen that the Welsh online champs were on so I deposited 33 on W Hilll and set about the task at hand.

I like the structure of these games plenty of chips and decent blind levels means you can make mistakes and be still in with a chance rather than shove fold early if you have lost a few early on.

I can"t remember many hands but the most significant was late on when utg raised, I have QQ in cut off (20 bigs) I re raise, not intending to fold, gets to initial raiser who shoves, I call hoping to see JJ or AQ, but no he has AA but I got lucky and hit the Q on the flop and it held, ul for the AA but at that stage was just standard stuff.

I have a stack now and managed to get to the final table in about 6th place, 8 got paid and to be honest I would of been ok with a min cash the way things had been going the last week or so.

Ger went out on the bubble 99< JJ, so I made the cash, to cut a long story short I finished 2cd for £350, when heads up had a massive deficit to make up as the eventual winner had just won a massive pot off the person who was second at the time, last hand was 55 v 10 10 no miracle 5 for me, got to be happy with the cash and my second silver medal (does this get sent automatically or do I need to contact Des anyone know).

I have withdrew the cash from Hills as I have to go and buy a new carpet, easy come easy go.

Onto Stars, stars played and cashed in a couple of 6 max sit n goes so played the $55 7k5 game, was sitting 6/13/166 when I had AQ 3 times in 5 hands needless to say didn"t win one of them first was a standard race v shorties 99 that would of been for chip lead, next was v similar stack got checked down to the river of course he had hit his 3 outer AQ < A7 and finally Ran it into AK, I should of folded it after my raise I still had 20 bigs left but it was 3:15am and was slightly tilted from previous hands, I finished 13th for $190, profits profit.

I have played 2 live games this week finishing in 6th no cash at the Local G, and bubbling the final table at Gala on Thursday night, which was a horrible game really didn"t want to be there, too many coaches and professionals at the table, keep your mouths shut and stop tapping the tank please.

Gala have a mini festival on at the weekend, I may play the £100 on the Friday night, the Saturday game is a 2 dayer so can"t do that one, that"s your lot for now.

Run good, be lucky and most importantly stay healthy.

[duke3016]

Ger went out on the bubble 99< JJ, so I made the cash

The nightmares have stopped   Glad to be of service....

[pokerpops]

Time you reported on your game on Tuesday I think Brian...  

[Erimus]

Tuesday game report as requested

10 10 10 game at the G, started at the same table as Pokerpops and Stuart, I took my seat and proceeded to take my powernap, I am fairly inactive in the early levels so a sleep is most welcome.

Stuart was trying to outnit me and was fairly successful I think I played 2 hands to his 3.

I was fairly card dead but made a squeeze to the usual 6 limpers with A 10 in the big blind, Pokerpops calls but an ace high flop sees me take the pot.
I get to the add on stage with 8k and take the rebuy and add on so I have 16k after the break, this is where the trouble starts.

Just before the break in the last hand I get KsQs in the cut off I raise expecting folds  but get 1 caller, floptastic QdQh I bet out I get called turn is I bet another 2k, another call, river I check villain then shoves the lot in, about 9k which if I called would leave me with 2k5ish after the break, being the total nit I am after a dwell, I fold and villain shows a total bluff, wp sir nh outplayed me move on (this will come back to haunt him later on).
I thought going back after the break with with 40bigs rather than 8 would be better for me as I believe I have an edge on this table.

After the break Pokerpops has been moved, Stuart is still on the table I start to become a bit more active, my table image is only ever plays AA so I get a few raises and c bets through.

Captain Birds eye turns up at the table he is a really bad reg, you can never put him on a hand because he limps every single hand he has from whatever position, whatever stack size, he limps utg gets 1 caller I have AK on the button I pump it up to 2k blinds 200/400, Captain calls leaving himself 3k behind, flop is AK7 I bet he shoves I call he shows QQ, this hand should of been all in pre but whatever, good result for me up to about 30k, same scenario last week  that time his QQ held   standard flipaments.

My next important hand utg limps at 300/600 Stuart calls in cut off I bump it up to 3k with A 10, utg  calls pricing Stuart in he calls flop comes Ace high 2 spades, Stuart checks I lead out utg folds Stuart shoves he has a flush draw, I fade the flush and win a nice pot, Stuart got his revenge at last nights home game beating me heads up AA v K6, and he calls me a luckbox, nh sir gg.

We get to 5 handed and decided to take 30 off for the bubble so a free game for whoever bubbles, I raise with AJ from cut off, mr bluffer from earlier calls, 2 to the flop, flop all low cards, I check he insta shoves, he has been donking every flop and has been in saying its hard for people to call if they haven"t hit I called and was good,faded his cards and off he trotted.

Sometimes a bad fold will help you cash in tournaments, trip queens easy lay down.

Stacks are now fairly equal so a chop is agreed with the 2 bigger stacks getting £145 each and I picked up £130, blinds would dictate an all in move for all stacks so a deal was agreed plus it was 2 30 am.

Online got a 9/455 in a six max for a $130, again losing a 60/40 at the business for a final table spot but that"s poker. I will be playing the £100 game at Galas mini festival tonight so hoping for some more run good.

Run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

End of May passed with a whimper, I played the £100 game at Gala Teesside which turned into a damp squib, lost a biggish pot early on when I hit a straight on the turn but the flush arrived on the river and I folded like the big wimp I am when he shoved 8k into a pot of 3k, he might not of had it but blinds were 100/200 at the time and I thought I could find a better spot, it turns out I couldn"t and went out to  a standard flip my KQ v 33 not even a sweat as the door card was a 3 with no straight or flush draws I headed home.

The structure of the games at Gala are pretty poor and tbh I should of paid the extra and headed down to Dtd for their 150 game, we live and learn.

Bubbled the Local G game on Monday and Tuesday got my cash back in the Tuesday game, again at that stage of the game it"s which cards hold up as there is pretty much no play left at the business end, still getting there though,got to be in it to win it.

I finished May with a profit but was a fairly swingy month was down £200 ish for the first two weeks managed to get to £650 up before ending the month with a profit of about £450, this was eaten up though by the purchase of a new carpet as previously mentioned in an earlier post.

June had started ok with 5/5 cashes in $15 sngs 1 win,3 seconds and 1 third,but the profits from these disappeared in a couple of mtts which amounted to nothing.

Played a couple of stars mtts tonight including the league game in which I managed to make the final table to finish 6th, QQ < A9 board ran out 5687 but I was short stacked so it was a fairly standard raise, shove call situation.

The other game a 5k gteed went out on the stone cold bubble with QQ again, this time losing to AQ min cash was $22 , never folding in that spot just for the min cash, again it was a standard spot the villain had been playing like a total nutter think his vpp was about 65% but he was just smashing the deck every single time, gotta win those 70/30 "s.

It"s nice to see the holdem manager stats go into Green after tonight"s result, just hoping for some run good this month and keep the graph going in an upward direction.

Run good, be lucky, stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Played 2 games at the local G this week, both are advertised as mtts but due to low numbers are basically sit n goes, both attracted 10 runners each, and total prize pool  of £300.

Mondays game is a 15k starting stack 20 min blinds this is my preffered  game as it gives you a chance to play a bit of poker ie being able to 3 or 4 bet without committing to a hand early on, the table on Monday had a few younger players out and listening to the chat most knew what they were doing.

Tuesdays game is a 10 10 10 4k chips start 4k 4k rebuy add on, Tuesday"s table is a bit softer than Mondays, a couple of decent players and a few weak regs.

The contrast between the 2 games were fairly extreme the only premium I picked up all night was JJ which I 3 bet an utg raise and the small blind folded QQ to my c bet on a K high board, obviously my reputation helps in these situations, the rest of the night consisted of smashing the flops with daft 2 pairs, flushes getting there and just getting paid off with daft holdings most of which I should not of been in the pot but because of weak passive play by opponents, to cut a long story short we chopped the £300 we both had 70k ish and it was late.

Tuesdays game I feel I played a lot better but I couldn"t hit a flop for love nor money, still managed to chip up to 35k when I limped QQ early position 10 bigs
Small blind makes it up flop comes 6 high, I check both players shove respective stacks easy call, fade a straight draw, back in it.

The next decisive hand was 5 handed I raise 2k5 (500/1k), k3 suited on the buttonCaptain Birds eye calls as he does every time flop 337, he shoves I call of course he has A3, we seem to tangle every time we play and he even gavle me a rub down earlier on in the game when I raised utg must be AA he said its the only thing he plays, if you are reading this it was 9 8 suited and  after double baralling the flop and turn on a 44 3 2 board managed to get 98 off suit to fold in the big blind.

Exited in 5th place A4< A10 blind on blind standard shove and call, although cashed in the first game I felt as though I played better poker in the second but didn"t get the rub of the green ie hitting flops and draws, standard variance I suppose but we carry on, this time next year Rodney.

[Erimus]

The Stockton home game was cancelled this week due to lack of numbers, so had a night off and decided to play the G £20 double chance on the Friday, this seems to be the best attended comp of the week the last few weeks there has been 25 plus runners with a few re entries, making a decent prize pool of about £800ish.

A few of the regulars were there and a few regs from Gala had come over, the £10 rebuy at Gala on a Friday night can turn out to be a bit expensive with a fair bit of Gambling going on and if you are not careful it can turn out to be an expensive night  if you don"t catch the cards early on.

The first hand of any significance was as follows blinds are 100/200 utg limps ( never played this player before, he had bought in late and just sat down),
Utg +2 calls  gets to me in cut off I have JJ, I assume to have the best hand so pop it up to 800, it folds to original limpers who both call so pot is now 2700, flop is K22 rainbow, checked to me I bet 1200 utg 1 calls as does other player , probably going to shut down now on this flop turn is a blank utg goes all in player two calls, I fold at least one should have a king, cards turned over player A has 92off and player two has pocket Kings for a flopped house.

Apparently Guy  with 92 plays like that in the cash games and when he is in there is a clamour to get to his table, I don"t play much cash poker but I think if I see him sat down I may take a seat.

When our table was split myself and another guy got to our table and asked TD which seats we were assigned to, due to screens being bust he said flip a coin, I ended up on the dealer button and the other Guy got the other empty seat, this other guy proceeded to hit a massive heater and in about 15 hands had gone from 15k to about 80k so that was a nice flip for him to win, I dwindled down to about 15k and was just looking for a hand to shove with.

Got the elusive double up with JJ v J10 so had a playable stack.
To cut a long story short we were 5 handed it was 2:30am wife had just phoned to see were I was,the big stack pushed all in with A10 called by 88 (50k effective) I called with JJ (80k) so 240k  in the middle first card out was an ace, I didn"t hit my miracle 2 outer so took 4th place £120, bit annoying the last hand but was only 12 bigs so it was a standard spot I suppose.

Nothing much to report online, finished 13th or 14th in league game tonight AK < KK but had a  bit of luck to get as far as I did AQ> AK and AQ > KK earlier in the game, looking back at the hand history stacks dictated shoves and calls so all standard stuff.

One or two deepish runs in other mtts but no cashes of significance bankroll slightly reduced but had a decent run in sngs to pay for the mtts.

Run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Been a very good week so far, online had my biggest win finishing 4th in S tars Big $33 for $2k4 was a tilt entry as  had registered late in an earlier tournament had been knocked out in my second hand with KK v A10 and just decided to play the above tournament as it was top of the list (great game selection).

I went through the game yesterday in a replayer and was quite surprised how I actually made the final table, not many premiums or coolers just doubling up at the right times and just keeping my stack above average all the game.

I did get lucky on the final table cracking AA twice once was we"re I raised KJ suited, one of the shorter stacks pushed I had to call and flopped a straight and it held.

The other was played pretty badly by villain, he limps utg gets 3 callers and I have K7 in small blind, I make it up as getting massive pot odds, flop come k high not especially happy but put a third pot size bet out, (any significant action I am probably done with the hand).

The original limper  calls all others fold, turn is a blank and the river is a K, again although I have it trips kicker is not very good , I put out a half pot size bet he calls and shows dem aces.

Laddered my way to 4th place had Ger on the rail via Apat and lost when I shoved AK into A5 and the 5 binked, was a disappointing end as I had caught up chip wise to 3rd place and was attacking him each time and getting all the shoves through, there was one hand I will put up on strategy board when 4 handed and get people"s opinions later.

Played at the G last night and decided to deal, dealt myself AA 4 times in the first 4 levels, once all in pre v 77 they lost, once against a small all in shove won a small pot, once won the blinds and the last time raise by me call in the big blind flop 9 10 J 2 hearts I lead out,  lady in big blind insta 2.5x my raise pretty sure she has 2 pair, set or flopped it, fold asking nicely for a show she shows the flopped straight nh miss.

Proceeded to deal 2 coolers in favour of the same guy AA v KK twice in 3 or 4 hands, once was against Stuart Ward, I don"t think he is talking to me now lol.

Managed to get to final table and when 4 handed a deal was done, we all had even chip stacks and blinds were 3k/6k so took £180 so that"s 3/3 cashes at the G in last 3 games.

[Erimus]

Unfortunately couldn"t make it 4/4 cashes at the local G last night when I finished 5th with the payout being top 4, no saver for the bubble was paid, no one suggested it so wasn"t too bothered, I never ask for savers would rather just play for the cash.

My exit hand was a bit meh, I raised AQ, short stack shoves all in 18k,I have 23k  I call she has KK, not ideal but standard, flop AQ2 (still running good) turn blank but the case K on the river some one had folded a k pre, hey ho got lucky then got unlucky, she says sorry for shouting in the K on the river, no apologies needed its poker.

Made the final table with Pokerpops, he may go through his tournament in his own blog but his exit was pretty sick, he ran into someone playing his first live game and the Poker gods decided to let him hit every hand with whatever 2 cards he was holding, hopefully this will keep him coming back for more as it will be easy chips in the future.

I got home about 11:30 and was wide awake so decided to late reg the Stars $55 $5k guarantee, started playing on the I pad in bed,but at about 2:30 the battery was running low and was about 2 away from the cash so I got up to finish the game on the other pc.

I scraped into the cash with 15 bigs and about an hour later was on the final table with 15 bigs.

I was in 8th place when the table just went stupid with big stacks clashing with others and knocking each other out, I just kept out of trouble, in one hand there was 3 all ins with the chip leader scooping the lot so had laddered to 4th spot without playing a hand.

It was now 4 handed and I managed a double up to 30k with K 10 > A9, then went on the most ridiculous heater I have had for a while going from 30k to 187k and the chip lead.

3 handed the game was close but managed to get heads up with a chip disadvantage of 2:1 but still had 25 bigs to play with, heads up I lost a few chips with the nut flush draw and a middle pin straight draw but missed this left me with 10 bigs, I shoved with got called by AK but 2 hearts on the flop gave me hope but I bricked turn and river so I went back to bed $1288 better off,which was quite spooky because earlier in the day I had withdrawn that exact same amount back to my bank account.

This has been my best ever month playing poker I am up over $4k including live winnings so far, long may it continue.

When I am next in the G I might just buy the girl who knocked me out a drink as it turned out to be the best case  K I have seen for a while.

Run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[pokerpops]

[Erimus]

Been a mish mash of poker this week with pretty limited success, I normally only play tournaments or sngs but I decided to give cash and zoom a go on Stars.

First zoom session went really well up 4 buy ins 10/25 cents due to a generous Russian deciding to put $75 into a tiny pot with an 8 high flush when I had turned quads easy game, other sessions haven"t been so profitable  losing here and there and I have probably lost them buy ins at zoom and 25/50.

Although cash is probably the best way to go to make regular money at poker (if you are any good) I just don"t think I am any good at it so will stick to mtts and hopefully bink the odd score here and there.

This month has been my best yet peaking at $4k1 including live results currently showing a slight drop down to $3k9 on holdem manager.
I have took half out and this will be put towards a kitchen makeover ( I wanted a trip to Vegas but the wife wasn"t having any of that).

Today was a frustrating day played 6 mtts so far cashing in 3 with one deep run in a 6k gteed going out in 13th when I called a 35big blind shove with JJ against A4, I could of folded but he had 4 bet all in a few times, I was pleasantly surprised to see I was 70/30 fav but the ace hit the turn and that was that,I thought his play was pretty awful but that"s what we want don"t tap the tank etc.

The Stockton home game resumed last night after a few weeks off, I managed to 5 bet Pokerpops with 89off but had to fold to his 6 bet, he sometimes gets AA and this was his time lol, then bluffed rest of stack off with 44 when an ace hit the river and the flush came in, alas villain had flopped a full house with 10 8.

My second stack eventually ran into AA again when I pushed late with AJ got a flush draw on the flop but missed, still a good time was had by all, just got to work on my timing.

I also had a small stake in some one mentioned today in a different thread although I didn"t profit only lost $13 but did rail a couple of his games, he really is good to watch and was pretty deep in big $162, I think he finished 16th but he was unlucky not too get to final table, that would of been a nice score.

I have unlocked my stats on opr and may put in for the staking license at some stage if I fancy taking a shot at something a bit bigger, will decide on this later on, that"s it for June I think unless anything major happens in next 24 hours.

Run good, be lucky and stay healthy.

[PHIL_TC]

I have unlocked my stats on opr and may put in for the staking license at some stage if I fancy taking a shot at something a bit bigger....

All of it please Brian x

p.s. http://www.apat.com/forum/index.php?topic=11468.0 ?