Pilgrims Progress

[fandango]

Sooo where to start.. Ok let"s go, Last Wendsday night wasn"t the best preparation for WCOAP, went to bed early managed to sleep until 2 am then with a few disturbances mainly a four year old wide awake, I didn"t really sleep again..knackered.com.

So Emma did the school run to dispatch the kids, last bit of packing dog to kennels and off we went..

Arrived at hotel after stress free 3 hour drive bunged luggage in room and was off for team meat up at Frankie and Bennys.
Walked in to bar and was greeted by Lucy, Stu an Asa, Steve and Tony arrived shortly after that, few other APAT members had also frequented the establishment team Canada and Jaxie also made an appearance..
So after we had donned the obligatory tattoos badges wristbands etc, stuffed our faces and talked tactics it was off to DTD to do our business..

Now Steve had really done his homework and had calculated that because of the scoring system it was pretty much a must to try and score in the top 3 each SNG to garunteed a top 2 finish going into the HU.. No pressure then let"s do this..

So the cards where in the air for the first SNG, first hand in I had the tricky but very talented Warren Jones on my table, he raised very first hand 125, I look down KK nice start huh re pop it to 300.. Warren comes along for the ride, flop comes Q 9 *. Two spades, not a bad flop for me.. So I lead out for 450 Warren calls spade on the turn hmmm.. He leads out for 600 I call even though I have no spade in my hand I have him on perhaps AQ with  .. River was a brick he bet 800 I think and turns over   so was basically a 2 k loss first hand in great start grrr.. Few hands later I tangle with Warren again I re pop his raise with QQ and he out flops me with AK hitting the K on the flop, another 2k pot slides his way.. So I have to pick my spots and play really well from there on and eventually manage to get HU which I lose to a American guy .. I Was disappointed with my HU play and missed some big opportunities to accumulate chips.. Oh well pleased with that got in the top 3 as been requested, with Asa winning his heat and the other guys all picking up good starting points we where off to a flyer.. But a long way to go..

Next it was PLO time I really enjoy PLO and was looking forward to playing these as I was reg for ME Sunday when the PLO was being played. Played really well on a tough table, Carey was beating us all up and I was lucky to turn the nut straight versus her top pair nut flush draw, never really looked back from there on and managed to win my SNG without to much fuss.. Asa was on fire and won his SNG aswell for 2 wins on the trot!! Steve also getting a 2nd and Tony a 3rd Stu a 4th we was still on top and flying.. We finished the day in a healthy position coming back for day 2 but there was still lots of points to win and to,lose before we could dream of playing HU!!

Friday was upon us after a great nights sleep!! And drove back to DTD to commence battle.. So it was back to NLH and if I was honest I can"t remember much at all about the SNG apart from the finish lol.. Basically I got HU versus Craig captain of Canada, with a slight chip lead .. Ok I was 29-1 Craig had less than 1 BB.. 15 mins later I finished 2nd lol after losing every all in / flip.. Not to worry another top 3 finish as requested by the skip..Steve also getting a second and both Asa and Stu securing third we where still flying..
Back to PLO and the wheels came off our run as to speak two of our players where both first out only scoring 1 point. Stu and myself managed third and Asa was the star winning his game .. PHEW!!
So as it was pointed out it was ours to lose going into the final SNG we still held a slender lead, but the others had bunched up behind us waiting to pounce on our every failure.. Our main rivals where Italy, Portugal, Canada and Ireland, this is where the tatics really needed to be employed..
That session of poker was the most stressful painful sickening session I have ever played, I can"t begin to to describe the emotional ups n downs I / the team went through, basically at the business end of things it was just Steve and me left with the other guys running around like headless chickens totting up points telling us we need to hang on etc etc.. I even had to fold AK versus a crazy French guy something I could never invisage doing in a million years, but when your playing for your team mates it all goes out of the window, you would sacrifice a kidney if it meant you stumbling across the line..
So the immortal words from Stu, Asa and Tony was we have made it we are garunteed a top 2 finish..YES!!!! GTFI ..
I had managed to get 3 handed versus France and Frank from Ireland, sick exit hand but I didn"t care we had made it roll on the HU..

So we had actually fallen into second place behind Italy in the group standings, with Canada and Spain duelling it out for the bronze.. But did we care we had fallen into second?? NO we felt invincible it might come across sounding cocky big headed and i apologise for this, I knew it was England"s year and I knew nothing was going to spoil the party for us NOTHING!!
We sat down and Steve asked us which of us wanted to play first last etc etc,  I didn"t care just wanted to play, so Steve decided I went first Asa last and the others jammed in the other positions.. But DTD found the extra dealers and this made for an even more exciting format, we all would play simultaneous ..

We all sat down with one thing on our minds GOLD and Jangle Jangle ( Tony had coined this expression for the Bracelet)..

We had the best rail ever Emma and Lucy with homemade Pom poms cheering us on and in a flash there was a whoot of delight as Stu had won his HU in record time 1-0 to the England.. Now I had gotten off to a flyer and had my opponent down to his last 1k within no time and he had his back up to the wall, I raised his BB every hand and he had shoved on me every time, so it was a matter of time before I would find a hand to go with.. A few hands later I find JJ min raise and the inevitable shove came from my apponent, he flips over Ten 2 no real sweat and the rail erupts again we was 2 up,..

I just said after this to Emma we only need 1 more win and we have done it!! I had barely finished my sentence when there was an almighty roar from Tonys table he had won!!

Cue the celebrations the guys clambered and climbed over the tables to come and give me a group hug!! Something that will stick in my mind for ever.. What a feeling cue the cheesy football songs etc.. Now usually before I celebrate a win I always firstly shake the hand of my oponent/s but this seemed to go completely out of my head but I did shake hands a little while later with Italy, obv they where gutted but was very gracious in defeat.. Canada secured Bronze after a monumental tussle with Spain eventually with Cath winning her heads up, many congrats to Craig and his team they played an absolute blinder the two days..

To be continued...

[cincicrappykid]

Nice Carl, reading it brings it all back . emotional times .

[fandango]

After a few drinks/shots which i obstained from, it was time to head back to the hotel for some well deserved rest..

Woke up at 11.30am on the Saturday, and treated ourselves to breakfast in bed   well what else do you expect from a World Champ jangle jangle, Steve and Tony where rumoured of having a champions breakfast in Frankies and Bennys.
Today it was HORSE, a tournament which i was really looking forward to, as i had missed Stud and i enjoy playing this both with OHL it was a must to play, only downside was that i was missing the PLO on Sunday  ..
Maybe next season they can keep the PLO as the Monday game, also would be immense if they added a PLO/HL side event i know this would sell out in a heart beat..
As far as the HORSE went, well it started fine for me accumulated 2k pretty early on, then it seemed that the structure caught up with us all and one bad outdraw really ruined your whole tournament, played the HORSE last WCOAP and it seemed to be different? Dunno maybe it was just me but seemed to go in a flash, by no means i wish for this to sound derogitary but there where a few players on my table who just seemed to have no clue? Paul Mcguiness was on my table as was Matt Carter and could not believe some of the calls etc that was occuring, saying that i did get rather lucky in a Stud round chasing a flush to only make 2 pair   on 7th street.. so hey ho.. So after i exited there was no more poker that day for me, as the cash tourney had started..

Saturday evening was also the presentation of the APAT awards, i was nominated for APAT Player of the Season, a huge honor and was chuffed to bits to secure enough votes to win!! many thanks to the commity for the inclusion and many many thanks to all of those who voted for me, my trophy takes pride place along side my medals and bracelet.. Was great to see Suzy win breakthrough player of the year, David for his award of best performance/s outside of APAT, Lucy was so pleased and so very very proud.. And as for Paulie being inducted into the Hall of Fame what else can i add to what already has been said before so so deserved, his commitment has been second to none!! and seeing him fight back the odd tear on collection was a moving and awe inspiring moment i will always remember, Paulie i tip my hat to you sir may we see you for many more seasons to come..

Huge congrats to Steve for winning his second bracelet i cant wait to watch the vid when it is posted sounds exciting stuff!! After staying to rail the win it was another 12+ hour day gone by, need sleep to come refreshed for my attack on the ME Sunday..

Sunday is upon me, after sleeping like a log i felt refreshed and raring to go i was going to play my heart out i was so focused on a deep run.
So i sit down at my table and is greeted by some familiar faces, Adam Sharples, Cath Gartmann, Rita Galvin, Vik Mehta and after a bustout Peter Wigglesworth!! Holy crap what a tough table..
Vik Mehta in my opinion is one of the strongest players amongst the APAT community, a awesome player who i believe is a nailed on cert for a national title one season..
Adam got of to a flying start and we clashed many times in the early stages, with Adam getting the better of me on the whole, it was only a complete cooler that crippled Adam when he run his Kings into Aces and never really managed to rebuild his stack above the starting 15k..
Rita was very very unlucky just wasnt her day, she did nothing wrong in my eyes just got called down after milking a guy who had JT on a J high flop, her betting repped to me a large pair, and on showdown i announced she must have KK, indeed she had shame the guy hit the 10 on the river, it left her with a bowl of rice  .. on a side note it kinda makes me chuckle when after i announced Rita had KK, the villain then proceeds to blurt out, "yeah i put you on an overpair aswell".. ok good read so why keep calling when Rita was betting overpot size bets basically for your whole stack?
Then this hand played out between me and Peter, Pete had been very active peeling off many flops and C betting leading out etc etc.. I believe he had limped early and i found   mid position and raised 4xBB, cant remember levels was fairly early on.. Flop came   so Peter leads out a pot size bet i call turn was a blank, so Pete then bets large again probably just under pot.. Now im in a tough position has he flopped the flush? and protecting the board? or is he betting K and protecting board? now i think long and hard, and eventually after about 3 mins Pete calls the clock on me.. Now i think this was a mistake not because of sour grapes etc, i think he wanted me to fold so before the floor even made it to the table i called.. River was   making me 2 pair, ok doesnt really change much in fact it couldnt of made him broadway? .. So then he overbets the river 9,800!! basically leaving me with 1,300 chips if im wrong if i call.. So after another long hard thought i decided that he didnt have the flush it just didnt make sense to me the way he was betting from the flop, so if he had flopped a set or rivered a straight so be it nh etc etc.. Call... he announces 1 pair and doesnt show as i announce 2 pair, and a huge pot slides over to me.. Very next hand in a 4 way pot i double him back up he flops straight i flop 2 pair   i put him on a tilt flush draw and was wrong hey ho i was nicely chipped up..
Our table didnt break all day, and had numerous players join and exit through out the day, i had continued to chip up nicely and with my stack was able to get lets say a little "adventourous" one of the players who had joined our table was pretty active from the start but at the same time willing to fold to a raise, we had played a few pots previous and i think i must of won 90% of them from him..
Then this happened, blinds where 300/600 with antes he raised from UTG 2,400 everyone fold to me in the HJ.. i look down at   so decide to steal and make it 6,100, it works and after a shake of the head he releases his hand, i show the bluff (was setting up for a move prehaps later if i had the goods).. So very next hand it folds to me on the button and i look down at   and proceed to raise the same guys BB   perfect he puts in a big re raise, great hes making a tilt move!! i ship he instant calls and flips over   lol ooops flop comes K high all red turn is a heart so he sweats any K or any Heart, river is red but wrong shape   so all my hard work has been frittered away as a 90k+ pot moves his way.
Just to add to my pain after Alan Storey departed from my left his seat was filled with no other than Tod Wood!! great..
Basically i was card dead from there on and was dying a slow and painful poker death, just before the last few hands of the day i moved all in with 88 and was racing v KQ managed to run out with quads lol but still only had 10 bigs to play, oh well im gonna shove any picture card, PP in the next ten mins i have always got the HU to play on Monday.. well before i could do it after some slow and painful hands from the rest of the table Day had finished!! and i was coming back with 19,800 chips around 5 BB.. Oh well the dream of the hatrick is still on but only if i run incredible again on Sunday, bagged up my poultry amount and made it back to hotel for more sleep..

Woke up Monday checked out of hotel and went for lunch at the Mexican opposite F+Bs, stuffed myself with too much garlic bread   must of stunk to high heaven, this could work for my favour lol..
Now it being April fools day when i looked on forum thread and saw that all 64 remaining players had got paid i thought it was a joke!!.. but no on chatting with Des it was correct a decision that DTD and he had made yippie i had cashed  
Now could i spin my 19k up and make a run or would i bust and join the HU? time will tell it was going to be messy thats for sure  .. First hand in lady to my left doubled up with AA v TT nothing much strange you may think? but if rumours where correct i belive she doubled up last hand of day1 with AA MBN lol..
So hadnt played with any of the players on my table before, had Dan Williams to my right and knew he had a good game, the rest i hadnt a clue?  not that it really mattered i had just one move and one move only ALL IN!!
First all in i picked up the blinds and antes with KT after everyone folded, and was up to the giddy heights of 24k!!.. then next it was blind on blind i shoved with the mighty J2 and managed to bink the 2 on turn to beat A6..Wiii above 50k..
Two hands later get dealt AA now because i had shoved every hand i decided to do the same hoping for a call maybe a x3 raise would of looked to strong? anyhows everyone had folded and just picked up blinds and antes again
So was at my highest chip count of whole tournament 60k!! average was 135k one more time and i was in with a chance..Then the hand that ended the dream occured basically it was a re run of a early situation and was folded around to me in the sb, i look down at K2 of clubs and ship all in BB snaps with QJ he had 46k behind so was standard call, flop came K*j turn J river blank so i was felted and running on fumes.. made it almost another orbit and we got the rest in blind on blind he had KT i had K6 we both flopped our kickers but i couldnt suck a 2 outer and i was gone as my hatrick dream too.. £225 was banked -10% i had swapped so i cant complain had a profitable series..
Said my goodbyes to all that where left behind and drove back to silly Suffolk...

Well thats the end of season 6.. WOW an unbelievable season for me, if anyone would of ever said i would win 1 National title and Gold medal in all the years i play APAT events i would of snapped their arms off!! So as you can imagine i still need pinching every now and then when i cast my eyes on the shelf with my medals etc on  

Have to say a huge huge thankyou to Des, Leigh, Matt all the others Ian,Paulie Ger Phil etc etc that makes APAT the success it is and of course the members who are in a league of their own..
Bring on Season 7 and more fun events and meet ups with my special APAT freinds..

Will be playing the Southend leg of the GPS in August really looking forward to this, and i may venture into my first staking request, will announce nearer the date once im registered, getting excited already....

Enough Pilgrim ramble for now and eagerly await the season7 announcement..

[fandango]

Got Lucy around showing me the wonders of how a computer works!!.. Who knew that you could do all these clever things other than playing poker and sending emails and posting rubbish jokes on FB!!

So this is my first ever image i have posted on the forum  

[mousebob]

That"s a very fine collection of cufflinks you"ve got there.
N1  

[Chipaccrual]

Good God, he"s got a photobucket account.  We"re all in trouble now  

[fandango]

Good God, he"s got a photobucket account.  We"re all in trouble now  

Wiiiiiiii   Blame Lucy I even know how to use the control buttons on my PC!!!

[Santino67]

Best opening photograph ever if you ask me  

[fandango]

Had a very successful online WCOAP..

First up was the Stud event, not a great lover of limit poker myself but managed to play some good starting hands/draws and managed to "get there" when needed..

One very sick hand springs to mind when I was short stacked .. Had AA in the hole and re raised all in my last few chips after a guy in early position, only to be re raised by Dave Howard also short stacked.. Original raiser had 77 in the whole and Dave had KK.. Well as it goes so fast as all streets are dealt it ended up Dave hit a King on fourth street to make trip kings original raiser with 77 also made JJ and 7.. On 6 th street to make 7sfull.. I hit 22 on remaining streets and by the power of grey skull hit the case Ace on 7th street to make Aces full!!!  My lucky mascot Lucy Amos was staying with us and we high fived the eventual win   .. WCOAP online Stud champ who would of funked it?

Also put me on top of the POTS table with 15 points..

Next day was PLO.. Love playing this game and enjoyed the games when playing for team England in the sngs.. Played very solid and didn"t really have any scares, managed to get HU with Don, and after a see-saw battle claimed my 2nd win of series !! WCOAP PLO champ aswell wow I was on a complete heater.. Thanks to Lucy again no doubt for her excellent railing abilities..

Another 15points towards POTS and had opened up a nice gap..

Thursday saw two games six max and PLO/HL .. I play mostly h/l on stars and was really looking forward to playing this big time.. Six max went really well picked my spots really well and managed to get to the final table of six, 5 getting payed.. Jo Sharpe was unlucky to bubble  and with 5 left me and Liam had jostled for CL since early on.. Then the wheels came off for me, I made a dubious call with 44 v Liam"s 77 then Mark Gray played AA very well to stack me, smooth calling my re raise of AT and on a T high flop my fate was inevitable.. John Murray also acknowledged the good play and indeed it was.. So 5th for me and another cash and more points towards the POTS..
The H/l was going to plan played my best poker of the week in this.. early on in the first hour really had no playable hands/draws... Lost a three way all in with AA3* when Tony Trippier made trip kings (fish!) but the side pot was enough to keep me in with 4.8k.. Then I doubled up v Liam who I"m sure will admit his knowledge of high lo is somewhat limited, made the nut lo and nut wheel to bust his set to move up to over 10k.. A few hands later made nuts again to scoop with   2s3* when flopped nut flush draw and nut lo draw  when the   hit on turn I knew this helped Mark Gray as it was an obv flush draw for him, needless to say when I min bet the turn and he shoved the remainder of his stack with Q high flush no lo draw I was delighted..
Top 3 places payed in this event and four handed it was Phil TC , Don Roberts, John Murray and myself.. Phil was on fumes and after a small rally bubbled in fourth..
After getting beat up by John Don fell in third place, and it was me and J M heads up..
I held a good chip lead and was playing good, then kinda let it slip with a couple of mis timed plays  .. John is a great player and knew what I was doing and correctly called my bluffs and missed draws.. Tried to bluff him off a flush draw when he had trips aswell when I only had an open ended straight draw I think was the final nail in my coffin.. John deserved the win and I had to settle for second place.. Excellent performance by JM making 2 final tables on the night aswell and scoring well in the POTS..

Well what with my finishes over the first five tournaments I had secured enough points to go into the ME knowing I had secured POTS and a prize of a ISPT day1 ticket.. It would of been interesting if John had managed to play the Stud event as I"m sure he would of pushed to also win the POTS, but due to the late reg cock up it wasn"t to be.

The Saturday was the ME and was looking forward to this good deep stack to play with just up my street..
Was a strange tournament for me, just didn"t "feel" it don"t know if it was my state of mind or just not focused never really got going!.. Had one interesting hand and don"t know if indeed I played it wrong or not or I should of folded.. The reason I ask is was the comment from Ian after the hand, perhaps I took it as a rub down (although im sure he didn"t mean it like that) or indeed he was right?? But this is how it played out..

Can"t remember the blinds exactly maybe 50/100 .. Ian (thehealer) raised early position to 300 folded around to me in the HJ.. I have AA and raise to 650 I believe, and Ian calls.. Flop JJ8.. Ian checks .. I check to hopefully induce a bluff on turn.. Turn is a brick rag Ian leads out for abou 900 I call the river is another blank .. Ian bets 2.3k.. I call and he flips over AJ .. Ok standard beat move on, well that was until Ian said " bad board for AA Carl".. Now this got me thinking, was it a bad board really? Well I guess it is if someone has J or 88, but I didn"t really put Ian on 88 or any J pre flop with the re raise, I"m thinking he had AQ/AK .. With the betting on turn and river is this a sigh fold?

Well as I said couldn"t really get going and was hovering around 8-9k.. I found 88 early position and raised 3x standard raise I other caller in late position and Richard Baker in SB shoved for his last 3.8k, I re shoved and got rid of the other caller to get HU, safe flop and turn but Rich spiked K on river to leave me with around 5k.. Few hands later I limp with KQ early position guy next to me raises 3x folds back to me and I complete, flop comes Q85 I check he C bets I snap call 6 on turn I check he bets 2 on river I check to raise all in, he puts me all in I snap call he flips over 66 .. GG me   .. I can"t ever complain about taking beats in poker, after my run over the last 12months I think I would be lynched lol..

I was never going to play the ISPT tour, I had won a package when taking POTS at ECOAP and was fortunate enough to receive a cash equivalent.. So winning he WCOAP POTS online although was another feather in my cap the prize was always going to be given away in another charity freeroll, the logistics of London for me in a wheelchair is a bit of a nightmare so will give it a miss.

So let"s hope we an all make the charity freeroll another huge success as before and raise some much needed funds for Muscular Dystrophy..

[fandango]

Really chuffed that between us all we managed to raise over £2,600 for Muscular Dystrophy, what started off as a idea to prehaps raise a couple of hundred quid when I decided to give away one of my GPS seats kinda snowballed..

Rich coming up with a great idea and gesture to set up the Bakers dozen series I can"t thank him/ you all enough, was a great series and very successful with so many winners..

The ISPT freeroll was a great success I really enjoyed setting this up with Matt, and on the night it played out great and in true APAT spirit   some of the table banter was epic!!

Steve and Tom having a bounty on their head made for extra fun (at one point i was sure Tom was gonna win it all again until Rich took the wind out of his sails with his errr "creative" all in versus Toms QQ   )..
Congrats to Mark on winning a bounty and the ISPT seat and Sue for another bounty, I will try to bink us some cash in my GPS quest.. Also hope Mark can make the final stages of ISPT and win some money for himself, MD Suzanne and myself..

As poker goes for me.. I have no plans at the moment, just awaiting what season7 is going to bring.. May look into prehaps asking to be staked for a couple of the SCOOP events coming up on Stars, I never play buy in tournaments over $20-$30 as a rule unless I satt in or they are APAT online events.. I have never really had a BR to justify lumping $200+ in one go since I have had lets say more important use for my poker winnings.. So will see how it goes, never asked to be staked so it will be a first if I do.

One quick brag.. Was randomly going through my stats etc on certain sites and on the Hendon Mob site noticed that I"m now ranked number 2 in all time cash won at APAT events!! Just behind Dave Garden  

As for total cashes in APAT events errr a certain fish called John Murray kinda owns that.. Must of been really soft in the early days IMO  

[fandango]

Well have not had much to report of late.. so have been pretty lazy in updating my blog  

Poker has been restricted to the daily Stars $2 NL OHL with no real results for a long time managed a few min cashes but nothing like the results i was having 6 months ago.. Been playing a few of the APAT/LPPL games, great fun and managed to win a few along the way to keep my bankroll ticking over..

Saturday brings my next live poker game, since the WCOAP!! can not believe how much i am looking forward to playing and meeting up with some real good friends 3 more sleeps wiiiiiiiiiiii..
After the long awaited season 7 announcement i have been through and marked my events for the season, so if all goes to plan i may even venture abroad with APAT to Prague!!  

So hopefully next week i can update my blog with some news on how the poker went in Coventry..

Hope to see some of you at the weekend.. take care safe journey to all those making their way there.. xx

[adilong1]

Well have not had much to report of late.. so have been pretty lazy in updating my blog  

Poker has been restricted to the daily Stars $2 NL OHL with no real results for a long time managed a few min cashes but nothing like the results i was having 6 months ago.. Been playing a few of the APAT/LPPL games, great fun and managed to win a few along the way to keep my bankroll ticking over..

Saturday brings my next live poker game, since the WCOAP!! can not believe how much i am looking forward to playing and meeting up with some real good friends 3 more sleeps wiiiiiiiiiiii..
After the long awaited season 7 announcement i have been through and marked my events for the season, so if all goes to plan i may even venture abroad with APAT to Prague!!  

So hopefully next week i can update my blog with some news on how the poker went in Coventry..

Hope to see some of you at the weekend.. take care safe journey to all those making their way there.. xx

Be good to see you again Carl, looking forward to some more Hollywood lessons!!  

[fandango]

Time to update my blog me thinks...

Will keep it as short as possible so as not to ramble on too much  

Coventry was a little bit of a blur to be honest never really got going and probably never got above 18k all day!!

Remember getting moved table early evening with a short stack of about 12k, had Tod Woods and Chris Hiam aswell as Brian Yates so was a very tough table..
Lost a couple of grand when my KQ lost to T5 after i flopped top pair he flopped middle pair and called a flop bet and turn bet to river another T, lucky for me he checked river and my spidery senses worked it out and lost min..
Couple or orbits later i raise mid pos with 66 with a 8k stack and short stack decides to commit his last 6k with K7 and flops the K.. Very next hand i shove my remaining chips in with TT and same guy re shoves with 55 so was looking good for a small dble up but the 5 in the window saw paid to that..
Was looking forward to the PLO on the Sunday, and shared a opening table with Dann Williams, John Murray Andy Cairns and Brian Frew.. Started off won a small to get above starting stack and then a train wreck of a hand crippled me, cant quite remember the positions and betting but basically i called a pre flop pot raise by Dann with J98T ds. Brian Frew came along for the ride.. flop was 99J Brian led out for around half the pot and i put him on either A9 or a straight draw, Dan re potted! at this point i was thinking a combo draw prehaps AAQT or AA9T i had flopped the world and decided to get my chips in and if either of Brian or Dann had JJ so be it, Brian thought for a while and sigh folded Dann snapped me off and tabled JJ obv a mis step on my behalf but didnt put him on JJ after a raise pre.. A few hands later my fate was sealed by John when in my BB i flopped a set of fives, John flopped the nut flush draw and my paltry few chips went across the felt, John missed his flush but the turn gave him a gut shot str8 aswell and the dealer dealt my fate on the river.. Coventry was over for me.. But huge congrats to Warren the machine Jones for doing the double, and Shaz for securing a silver.


International duties beckoned for me next and after having the honour of being skipper choosing my team had its usual heart wrenching moments..
So after days/weeks of pondering i decided my team to represent England would be Tod Woods, Adam Sharples and Joe Car-Hill.
The weeks of waiting was over and the home internationals where upon us, after a quick meet up in F+B we was straight into 2 days of action.
Wont ramble on to much so basically i was rubbish and my 3 team mates where utter stars!! my poor results aside we entered day 2 as point leaders.. Tod and Adam along with Joe all won at least one of their SNGs Tod was his usual machine self and never struggled to score high points..
Day2 the wheels came off for Wales A and England A, infact in 1 SNG Wales A lost all 4 of their players first!!.. We had a terrible PLO round and terrible last round of NLH and when all the points where totted up Ireland A+B would duke it out for Gold and Silver England A+B for bronze.. (kudos to James who amazingly hung on in with 1 blind to outlast Wales A to secure enough points)

Frank and his team spanked Brians team 4-0 in the HU to secure gold!

Then it was our turn to play Stuarts heroes.

First blood to us Tod beats Stuart.

Then i have James all in when i have a 2-1 CL i hold AA James 77 .. James binks 7 on turn game back on, was looking good for a 2-0.

Then Joe looses out in his HU to Dann honours even 1-1

Then Paulie gets the better of Adam after a topsy turvy see-saw battle to go 2-1 up

Then James finishes me off after i have to gamble with T9 v JQ.. Ship the bronze to Stu and his team, guess if we had to lose it was fitting it was England B.

I was very proud of my teams performance overall albeit my bad results didnt help they played their skin out!! a better run late on day2 and we would of been hunting the gold..

Big thanks to Adam who helped me along the way in fact he was doing some of my captain roles with keeping us all informed of chip counts points etc, as its not poss for me to keep jumping up and checking   .
Big thanks to Tod for being a poker machine his skills are unbelievable and cemented the fact why he was my automatic first addition to the squad.
And last but by no means Joe, what can i say Joe was like a kid in a sweet shop!! his exuberance and excitement both leading up and during was like having a fifth team member, and scoring top points in the first PLO put us in a great position.

Cannot wait for Prague now and my three pokerteers of Rich Baker, Paul Haycock and Tony Trippier im sure will carry me across the line to GOLD!!

Now the team event was over it was ME time..

Shared a table with Bob Bulmen and Craig Dawson (Zozzy) on day1.. was a very aggressive table right from the start (and not just poker wise lol). Some guy managed to spunk his 15k off in the first level with a dummy straight v broadway on a board of TJQ87 after original raiser was betting every street.
Then fireworks was going off as seat 8 and 9 had a leveling war after they had clashed in numerous pots.. this happened bearing in mind they both had 150 BB each it was amazing to see it go all in pre..
Blinds 75/150 seat 8 raises to 1,800 pre!! seat 9 re raises to 5k!! seat 8 re raises to 8.5k (lol) seat 9 ships both with a little over 25k.. On their backs, seat 8 QQ seat 9 AK .. flop AKQ turn J and lol river T chop it up..

Seat 9 tilted his chips off after losing QQ v AA blind on blind.

Seat 8 made a terrible play to gift a talented young player 80% of his stack with just QT on a Q high flop after the youngster had flopped the nuts, he just couldnt take his foot off the pedal. So this is when a sick spot arised for me and Craig put me to the test, my memory is a little fuzzy but im sure Craig will correct me.
I limped EP with 66 and Craig limped next to me (im in seat 6 Craig 7) seat 8 shoves the rest of his stack around 6k.. folds around to me, now i thought i would smooth call to indicate real strength so Craig would fold and i get HU.. whoops Craig re shoves for another 7k hmmmm not looking good lol but obv im priced in and have to call the extra 7k, leaving me only 10k if i lose.. On their backs Seat8 KT me 66 Craig KQ suited.. flop K** ughhhh turn * river 6!! bink sorry Craig.. Set me up well and was cruising.. Then get Steve Redfern get moved next to me and Vik Metrum also gets moved oh Joy!!.. Get some great cards AA twice flop sets etc and heading towards last level of the day sit with average stack of 60k+.
Well its always a disadvantage when you get players who know your game so well and having Steve on the table with position was making my life harder, i had been adjusting bet sizes pre to disguise my hands and i think it worked as i was getting questioned why   thats perfect Steve is having to work out how strong/weak i am. I know that Steves Knows my game and he realises im pretty nitty and i often fold to a shove pre. So i had been playing a 60k+ stack for a while and Steve was sitting on around 40k still plenty of play as it was 500/1k with antes, now i know Steve likes to go into day 2 with a decent stack so would be pushing on to try and build and my plan was to try and catch him out.. So i decided to limp with AK and Steve duly shoved in on me for 40k ish, folds around to me and i call, Steve groans and flips over AJ rag flop with 2 hearts on board, turn another heart gulp i have no heart Steve has J of hearts, Steve politely asks dealer for J or heart and bink heart on river, Steve up to over 80k im down to 20k. Managed to build stack up to 43,200 with no showdowns of note, just picking up pots by shoving, and was in the last 34 heading back for day2.

Monday we met a few in the pub for lunch then back to DTD for the final push. Had Steve on my table when we got moved with 27 left aswell as Mark Porter, Gary Phillips, and Chris Hiam. The long and short of it all was i basically nursed a 70k stack into the cash, and then ran into the inmoveable force that is Chris Webber, shoved my last 40k (5bb) mid pos with A3 hearts, Chris with a gazillion chips correctly called with A5 couldnt manage a chop when he turned the 5 gg me in 15th place, no hatrick for me or title defence but a cash and more importantly a fab weekend!!

So next live poker for me is a few months away.. but it will be worth the wait PRAGUE baby bring it on!!

[fandango]

This time next week will be in Prague, excited much  ..

Will hopefully do a full report when I get back with good news!!

Have not played any live poker since Coventry (apart from Chezcurly) so I"m chomping at the bit to get on the felt, had a few wins on Pokerstars to pay for all my Prague trip mainly in the daily $2 NL/HL re buy so kinda freerolling for the few days.

The dates for the team championship sadly clashes with my youngests birthday, so I can"t apply to play that event wich is a shame, if I was lucky to get a pick in either squad it"s a great honour to represent APAT.

So 6 more sleeps .. ( Paulie dons his ban hammer for countdowns )

[Paulie_D]

. ( Paulie dons his ban hammer for countdowns )

One does not "don" a banhammer, one wields it like a Norse God!