Richard 'Strummer9' Herbert's Blog

March 4th 2010

2010-03-04T14:51:00Z

Well what a month!!!My little boy is now home after a few weeks in the baby unit and my family and I are getting our heads around living off 30 mins sleep a day, and you know i wouldnt have it any other way! Been through the full rollercoaster of emotions these last few weeks and to come out the other side this time on the right side of the coin, well its nothing short of wonderful. So i finally got back to the grind this week, and well i suppose your cant have everything as you would wish, lets say the poker gods are trying to cancel out the joy in the real world by giving me hell! Ive had a massive winning 6 months but this month is doing its best to remind me how tough this game can be, thankfully the years of pain ive suffered in the past stand me in goodstead and ive taken the loses in my stride, doing all the things i know i should like steping down the levels, being more selective with my table selection, playing the "A" game or not playing at all and most importantly not tilting, and the end result, well a month that im sure in the past would have been a 10-20 buy in down swing is a very small, pain free 3 buy in down swing, and if thats as bad as it gets well im a happy man. Hoping to get back to the live arena at the end of the month with the Irish open, ive booked my flight so the intention is there just need to win the seat now! But overall life is wonderful, im still blessed and my word this really is the year of the strummer!!!!!!!!!

15th February 2010

2010-02-15T08:49:00Z

Well basically poker is not the talking point this week, no i feel the arrival of my son Oliver last Sunday is more of a story!!! As is standard in our household we like to make things a little difficult, so fitting in to that roll straight away young Oliver decided to join us just the 6 weeks early via a emergency section! Hes came in at a very healthy 4.10lb and for the past week hes done brilliantly!! As for his mum, well shes home now and is also making a great recovery, but for the coming weeks poker has to take a back seat as i combined being a full time dad, cook, cleaner, taxi driver, nurse, teacher, etc etc etc...........but i wouldnt swap it for the world!!!!!!!!!! Some how though i did manage to fit in 20 mins poker here, another 40 mins there over the last few days (sick i know) and also managed to recover this months loses, so all in all a pretty wonderful week!!!!

3rd February 2010

2010-02-03T16:16:00Z

First month of the year and im off to the perfect start! A 30 buy in plus month, 50,000 raked hands and I bagged the $5k live event rake bonus. To be honest at the mid levels that I play I know this isn’t anything special, it’s a good solid month, that’s all, but to do it while doing a full time mentoring job and having to do more than my fair share of household duties (have I mention the missus is 8 months gone?!!), well im pretty happy with the performance. The p&L side to be honest is a little disappointing, on true EV (I mean true EV, not HM EV) I worked it out I should have been close to 45 buy ins in profit, buy hey im not complaining!!! It’s the rake side of things im most pleased with, having to play 50,000 hands was a big ask for me with my currently work load, so to do it was a big plus…………though I don’t plan on doing it again anytime soon. Another big plus was once again playing and winning in the 2000nl game, theres still not enough value at that level to be playing daily, but when the right players are there im scoring well. Though the month was a good one it did end on a down note with the weekend being nothing but pain!! Again though this is no complaint, the money went to the blessed fish, and every now and then you got to feed the fish, just happens the weekend was my time to pay.

Buts it’s the regs who never fail to amuse me, lets have it right someone who plays between 4-10 tables for 12 hours a day you would have thought would have some understanding of “outs” and “pot odds”, but from what im seeing on a regular bases a lot of them turn to the trusted quote of “it was suited” and/or “I thought you where at it”………….5 years on and its still the same old same old! And again, this is no complaint!!! In-fact I cant remember the last time I moaned about anything poker, no, I cant remember the last time I complain period?! I think these days its more a case of really realising how blessed I am and how grateful I am, and its true, I am bloody blessed and I am bloody grateful!!! Thank you!

All being well the online form and results are going to transfer to the live arena. This weekend im kicking things off in Birmingham in some team event, im playing for the poker magazine WPT team which includes Paul Jackson and our very own Sandy Jackson. This will be a nice warm up for the following weeks UKIPT event in Manchester which I am told has already sold out, no surprise really as its only a £500 buy in and has the backing of pokerstars, this itself will be a even better warm up for my first major live event of the year which is the Irish open…………………..i cant wait, just hope its my time to catch a few fish rather than feed them.

25th January

2010-01-25T09:12:00Z

Two weeks since my last post and the reason being im back in a world that requires a 30 hour day. First of the builders are still on site! To be fair to the fellas its nothing to do with bad planning or lack of effort on there part, like a lot of things this year the weather caused major delays, even I can see that its pretty difficult to fit a new roof with 10 inches of snow covering everything. The missus is also adding big time to my work load! Again not too much can be done, I think her being 32weeks pregnant gives her good reason to not really want to be rushing around Sainsburys etc. Then of course there’s the daily work load that is being a badbeat mentor, and then finally the small matter of playing poker. Again its been a fruitful time for me at the table with another very healthy $7k upswing, another $20k plus month on the way and the year of to a flyer. Im also chasing a $5k badbeat rake bonus seat. As of last Friday I needed to rake around about $2500 to win the seat, this has to be done by the end of January. By my reckoning I need to play about 3,000 hands per day to hit the target which on the current number of tables I play works out about 8 hours play/ day!! I think im on target but ive got to admit im feeling the strain! Still im sure once ive hit the target and used the bonus to pay for the Irish open I’ll feel its all been worth it, just not to sure the missus will see it in the same light!

BTW, the £1 bet with the daughter that I wouldn’t have a drink for 40 days fell apart last Saturday as I couldn’t resist a nice bottle of red! Still 14 days isn’t a bad effort, infact im pretty impressed with the will power I showed to last that long!!!!!

12th January

2010-01-12T17:37:00Z

Well its been another splendid week with another $10k+ win, starting to get used to this. Trying to put my finger on to why im running, playing and winning so well over the past few months is something ive thought about quit a bit, and well the main reason I would say is attitude. Last night with the missus and young un tucked up in bed and the TV offering nothing more than the bland brain dead weekend nonsense schedule I found myself reading my blog from 2007. Now 2007 got of to a great start for me, I was crushing the 20/40-50/100 FL games on ipoker and Betfair and I also cashed for $35k at the EPT grand final in Monte Carlo…………….then the wheels came off! Reading the entries for June and July brought back painful memories of sick outdraws, huge down swings and several smashed up laptops! The most striking thing for me though was just how negative I was, don’t get me wrong most days I talked about how I knew I was good enough to come through the down swing and how things would turn for me, but I also never stopped going on about how unlucky I was, how the poker gods hated me, basically I talked the downswing in. I didn’t read past July, that ended with another badbeat, this time on the final table of a Bellagio Cup event, but no surprise there, lets face it if you talk about it enough and believe it enough its going to happen and my word I talked about being unlucky enough and believed enough and guess what?! It Happened!!! So to my current form and my current results, well for the past 12 months ive been talking about how well im playing and how the results are going to come, talked about it, believed it and hey the results are starting to come my way. So guess what? Im going to keep going on about how im going to have a huge live touch soon, not because I think talking about it will make it happen, but because talking about it and believing it will make it happen……….well I know its not going to do any harm, that’s for sure. Away from the poker tables im also inline for a nice touch due to a very large bet ive made. 3nd January I made a bet with Jade my daughter that I could go 40 days without touching a drop of alcohol, 7 days in and nearly 20% of the task complete im cruising, what im going to spend the £1 on yet as not been decided, but what ever I spend it on I know its going to be purchased from behind a bar!! Yep 2010, im sure is the year of the strummer!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010! Happy New Year!!

2010-01-05T09:34:00Z

So a quick review of 2009, put simply 2009 has been a great year for me, sure I didn’t get my hands on a big live win but apart from that its been good! The bread and butter of online cash play: after a real slow start (mid January I was -$14,000) I got down to the grind and after winning my way back up the levels (at some stage during the year I played 0.50/1, 1 /2, 2 /5, 5 /10, 10 /20 and 25 /50…………………0.5/1 !!! FFS!!!) ive finished with an acceptable P&L that with the rake added turns into a pretty good year. Either way it’s a good solid winning year which finished with a great November and the best winning month of the year in December, and if January so far is anything to go by 2010 is going to be a GREAT year. Though I didn’t register that big live win I know im due i was still more than happy with my live play in 2009, lets face it not many people get to play the amount of live events I do and as always I feel blessed to be able to play in great events like the Irish open, the WSOP in Vegas and the WSOPE in London. Ive taken a lot from my live play in 2009 and I know, I really just know that my time is coming soon on the live stage.

The truth is though all this is over shadowed by one event in 2009, and that was the news that Debbie was pregnant, 7 months down the line and all is well as we look forward to the birth of our 3^rd child in March, now seriously nothing can top that! So all in all 2009 was a wonderful year for me on most levels.

So to 2010, well of course the birth of my third born will be the highlight by a country mile, but real life to one side im so looking forward to this year. Ive got off to a great start online which im sure will stand me in good stead for the rest of the year, ive got a target figure in my head for my P&L and it’s a big one, but on current form it’s a realistic one, but as always with me though it’s the idea of doing something on the live stage that I really want. The live events of the year for me are starting with the Manchester leg of the UKIPT in February, then im planning on playing the Irish open in April then its on to the big one: Vegas 2010! The opening events start in late May and im looking at getting out there for 2 weeks to play 5 or so events, win a couple (ok one will do) then home to watch England win the world cup (im pushing it I know, but come on!!!! Positive thought!!!) then all being well back out to Vegas for the main event. At the moment these are the only live events I have pencilled in, I will be adding a few GUKPT events for sure and with the new structure of the EPT events im also looking at playing one or two of those, with Monte Carlo being the event id most like to return too. What ever I play though, just one big result and I’ll be a happy fella!

Roll on 2010, surely the year of the strummer!!!!!!! Happy New Year and good luck to you all.

PS.

Cant believe ive not spoken about my poker highlight of the year!!!! WSOPE main event, and a player arrives an hour or so late taking the seat to my left, the cameras arrive and theres a buzz from the rail. The opening words as he takes his seat "Your strummer from badbeat right?".....................the man in question, only Peter WORLD CHAMPION Eastgate!!!!!!!!! I just wish id been more switched on and said "yes, who are you?" instead of my reply "yes" in a high pitched voice!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

2009-12-27T08:14:00Z

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!! And a merry Christmas it has been too. Been a very busy week or so since my last post, so much has happened with most of it being good happenings! So lets start with the basics, online. Well its been another good week or so, with another $10,000 upswing making December one of my top months of the year and helping turn 2009 into a very good year indeed. With the current badbeat promotion im also inline for a very nice live bankroll which im probably going to use toward the WSOP, the plan being to spend a good 3-4 weeks out there next year. The big wins of December also have the very obvious financial benefits, coming at this most expensive time of the year with the added cost of the garage conversion, well my timing couldn’t have been much better. Its also been nice to play a lot more $1000nl and $2000nl. Ive spent a lot of this year grinding back my bankroll at the lower levels of $200nl and mainly $500nl so to end the year with a the bankroll, the P&L and the confidence to play the higher limits again, well it’s the perfect ending to 2009.

Last week was also the badbeat Christmas party. If again followed the proven Christmas party formula of lots of drink, a good curry, good company and a game of poker to make the perfect Christmas party! For me the highlight was the cash game we had later on in the night. The game wound up at 08.30am with several very drunk and very bleary eyed folk making there way to bed with empty pockets, thankfully I was just a bleary eyed drunk with full pockets! What a night! Not going to mention my call on the river with 4^th pair with a 6 kicker against a certain bluffing punkfloyd, and im certainly not going to mention one of the very last hands of the night where my 4bet got badbeat mentor Maneul to lay down KK pre flop………..no, theres no need for me to mention either of the hands, the bulging pockets said it all.

So back to the real world and Christmas, and well its been a wonderful time so far. As I get older the more I love this time of year, not going to go off on one here but being able to focus on family and friends and to see the joy that giving brings, well its is the best time of year for sure!!!! That’s without mentioning being able to drink and eat far too much and being able to justify it! So again I wish you all a very merry Christmas and heres to a wonderful 2010, may the new year bring you all you dream of.

14th December

2009-12-14T08:04:00Z

No point beating about the bust, this week as been bloody wonderful ! Firstly there’s the poker: from Monday 7^th to today ive had a $10,000 upswing. Based on the number of hands ive played im pretty happy with the figures. To add to this there seems to have been an influx of shall we say less experienced players, with one or two of them returning nice wins due to a number of world class river hits, I got the feeling there going to be sticking around for the Christmas period, bless them all!!! The real world as been a pretty enjoyable place to live this week also, this weekend I celebrated my 37^th birthday (I know, I look a good 10 years younger). For gifts I received everything a man could want: Aftershave, a cook book, money and errrr my daughter insisting that she takes me to watch Oldham Ath v Exeter City on MY birthday Saturday afternoon……………………..doesn’t get much better than that! The tics did win though and my daughter got to witness her father slightly over celebrate both goals which needless to say has brought nothing but shame on the family. To round things off on Sunday we had a family meal at one of the very few very good restaurants in the Manchester area as we celebrated my mums 60^th birthday at Nutters restaurant, basically not possible to get beef cooked any better on this earth! So all in all a bloody good week. Even in this week of highs there was still a slight plip, im currently having the garage converted into a office as I need to vacate the room upstairs in preparation for the new born next year. Saturday morning and the builders knock my Sky dish. For the past 48 hours I have had no TV signal. This may not sound much, but I promise you it is! Its like the old saying “you don’t know what you’ve got till its gone”! There was though an upside to this as I treated the family to the best DVD in our house: Portuguese pokermillion 2005………………..its a classic!!!!!

December 7th

2009-12-07T12:43:00Z

Its been a strange old start to December. The month started with a couple of coolers that quickly put me on the back foot, but this was followed by two pretty awful days of play by my good self! The fact that I played so awful is compounded by the fact that now all my “big” hands, that is any hand that goes to show down of 50bb or more, is instantly sent to twitter for those sick enough to want to see. Im sure a few eyebrows would have been raised when I stacked of pre flop with A10 (I had good reason, and was pot committed to the all in), as im sure the stacking off with AQ did ( I had good reason, and was pot committed to the all in). I Think though it’s a hand that I won that would be the biggest eyebrow raiser. I was playing HU against a super, super, super aggressive donk. In the first 10 hands we played he open shoved all in on me 2-3 times, he didn’t want to play poker he wanted to gamble, which sadly is fine by me! On the button im dealt Kc9c and raise, he 3 bets me and I call. Flop is 6c7d10s. He goes all in. I snap call. Now I can see that this looked like a truly poor call, but I was pretty sure where I was in the hand, and I had him on some rag 8 hand. With my over card, flush draw and belly buster I was sure the price was correct (still not checked on pokerstove but sure I was slight fav against the range I had him on). Truth was I was in better shape than I thought as he showed 33, the turn 6 and river 7 giving me the pot, but not they way I expected! Ive spoken to few people about the hand who see that different than me, but the truth is I trusted my “read” and against a player who was never going to let me play small pot poker I took my chance………….strangely hes not played me since! The biggest losing pot of the week was yesterday, and just writing about it makes me a little mad. On the button with 1010, serial raiser raises and is flat called by a station, I squeeze betting the pot, both players call. Flop 10c2c5d. First player checks, second player moves all in (done this ALL day!!), Obviously holding the nuts I call……………then the next player calls. First player has total air, drawing dead on a completely idiot move, second player has Kc6c, hes called a 14bb 3 bet out of position with king f***ing 6 of clubs, excuses my French but the reason for my poor language is made more understandable when I tell you this is a multi tabling reg!!!!! FFS. Needless to say his class play was rewarded with the rivered club and a 300+bb pot rightfully ships his way. Bless him. Hopefully that hand on twitter cancelled out all the “fish” talk of my previous hands! Anyway, yesterday I played great and still lost, so this just makes the poor play of the previous few days even more expensive, variance takes care of itself, sadly poo play by me is basically me flushing money down the pan! A lot of the damage was put right this morning, with another “A” game performance that this time resulted in a nice upswing, promised land is here again!!

You can follow my hands via twitter by following strummer9.

30th November

2009-11-30T10:57:00Z

Another week of steady ups and big downs, but overall im still very happy with the month so far. Its not turned into the record breaking month I was hoping for, but at the same time its been a good steady month with a good solid profit at the end of, which lets face it, is the way I wish it always was! Again this week ive played some pretty interesting hands, and then sadly ive played some pretty interesting poor hands. My favourite winning hand of the week was a three way cooler that I had the best of. On the Button dealt As8s, early position raise, two callers and me. Flop Js Qs 2s. Original raiser bets, another player calls and I push. Now to push here with the stone cold nuts may seem a little silly, surely I want to try and milk the players, especially from position? Well of course, getting full value with the nuts is a must, but the all in did have thought behind it! Firstly the original raiser was a rock with a pfr of 8% and a flop c bet of 40%, so all in all a pretty honest player but a player who I know wont fold once hes committed to a pot. The second player was a neewbie whom I had few hands on, but in the short time id played him hes shown a willingness to call of very light: so my thinking, over bet all in with the nuts and most probably catch them both. When they both call im feeling like a poker genius! When there hands are turned over its pretty clear that my take on things had little to do with the calls, first player held JJ and the second player JQ, which for him was as good as the nuts! If I have the JJ I call all day long, the JQ I can pass but at the same time I can “kind” of understand the call………..FFS HES GOT TWO PAIR!!!!!! Still, nice to see my nuts hold up and a nice pot swing my way! My favourite badbeat of the week was at the $1000nl tables on Saturday morning. For me weekend poker is either fill your boots time, or bend over and take it up the bottom time…………this hand will tell you how it went for me!! I get a seat to the left of a player playing with a vpip of 90% !!! $1000nl and we have found ourselves a live one!!! He also had that very special gift of playing every hand till the river. Im dealt 6s7s. Another “special” player (vpip 60%) raises utg, very special player calls and so do I on the button. Flop 6d 5s 2c. UTG bets, very special calls. Both players are sat with half stacks, the pot is a good size already, ive got top pair, a back door straight draw and a back door flush draw, all in all against these two a hand im feeling pretty good about. I push all in. UTG folds, very special one SNAP CALLS, let me repeat, he SNAP CALLS for his last $400 with………………..kd 4d!!!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say the 3 on the river came as no surprise! Thankfully this player was no hit and run merchant and he stayed around plenty long enough for me to claim back the money!!! Still it was a good hand!

Im going to try and get some serious hours in before the end of the year, I said a few weeks back about how other things in badbeat are keeping me busy and away from the tables, well this still holds true, but due to the real life events of the past month or so these projects got sidelined. Wanting to give my all ive decided to put them on hold till the new year so I can start afresh and thus free up sometime for me to feed my poker addiction, and hopefully end this year on the high note im so due!!!!

22nd November

2009-11-22T09:11:00Z

Issues in the real world have started to resolve themselves and I think the peace of mind is starting to filter through to my poker. Ive said it many times these last few months, and im going to say it again! My game is as good as its ever been and I think at last its starting to show online. Though the last week has been pretty swingy it as also been a good winning week, so much so that im on for my biggest winning month of the year and with Christmas fast approaching the timing couldn’t be better. Talking of timing, well that’s one of the reasons its been such a good week or so, along side playing well ive also got that very pleasing problem of good timing. One hand that shows this more than most is this one: Playing $500nl HU against one of the regs, im pretty card dead and basically getting run over in the early exchanges. I then get 44 on the button and raise, the flop is Q Q 9, I bet he raises, now the paired board is always a good spot to bluff and its also a good spot to bluff the bluff! So I re-raise, when he calls I have to be beat, that is until the 4 on the turn. The money goes all in and he shows Q8, now talking about the right move at the wrong time turning into the right time! The week though has had its moments of trouble to, in 4 hands I flopped top pair that turned into trips on the river, another problem im more than happy to deal with! Problem was that 4 times I was facing a flopped set that rivered a fullhouse, but the real problem was that 3 out of the 4 hands I KNEW I was beat due to the river bets, and each time I paid them off, the standard case of “I know im beat, but lets calls just to make sure im right……….”. As always with this game theres always room for improvement. On the live stage I was meant to be at the Vic this week, I wanted to play the £500 omaha hi/lo on Thursday but again the real world got in the way! Im still hopeful of getting down there later in the week for the £3000 main event, though I havnt got the money or the ticket to play the event yet ( anyone wanting to stake me, please free!!!!) there is a £350 super sat on Thursday that I hope I can play at the very least..............still plenty of time for me to turn this year into my year of milk and honey, im ready for the promised land!!!!!

12th November

2009-11-12T21:03:00Z

In my life Ive done many a daft thing but ive been able to put these mistakes down to being young and stupid, or the more common young, drunk and stupid……..sadly im no longer young and rarely get drunk so the standard defence no longer works. Since Monday ive been in bed with man flu, not flu, not swine flu, not Asian flu, just good old late autumn man flu. As a result ive been lying in bed feeling very sorry for myself as I sweat myself down to my lowest weight in years. It also meant that I cancelled all my mentoring sessions and went on “the sick”. I did manage to play a little poker here and there from my sick bed, but the overall result of zero was probably a fair reflection of my game. Nothing so stupid as of yet I hear you say. Well that all changed today. After another sleepless night of hot sweats and cold shivers I got out of bed for the first time in three days in a pitiful attempt to convince myself that I was in good enough shape to travel up to Blackpool and play in the £1000 GUKPT main event, the buy in was covered and the hotel was booked, all I had to do was get there. After 2-3 hours of constantly changing my mind I finally gave in to my real sickness, poker, and decided that if I could make it to Blackpool id be able to play nice and tight, bag up the chips at 02.00am tomorrow morning, get a good nights sleep at the Big blue then head of back home for more rest before returning to Blackpool on the Saturday for day two…..hmmmm ok. So I set of for Blackpool, a journey that usually takes 45 mins, but not if like me you stick to the slow lane doing an average speed of 50 mph, as the saying goes, better late in this life than early in the next. I get to the casino 2 mins before the start and collapse into my seat!!! Now I wish I could now start telling you how badly I played and how could I expect not to when not 100%, but the truth is I played pretty good, a little passive (for me) maybe, but over all I played ok……………and I say that after lasting 3 ½ hours!!!!!!!! Lets start with the first major hand, early position I limp 33, button calls big blind makes it 150, we both call. Flop 3 9 10 rainbow. Checked to me I bet, BB re-raises, button folds I call. Turn is another 10, BB again bets out, I have a think, im putting him on a solid range, either big over pair, A10 or KQ, and call. River is a sickening 9. Hes checks to me, and I tell the table in my hoarse voice I hate that card and turn over my hand, no need to bet as I really cant see him paying with hands that I beat in his range, he quickly tells me “all the cards are bad ones for you” as he flipped over 10 10! Now I like that hand! Like I said, even on my sick bed I think I was playing pretty good. Down to about 8k but very happy to still be in, I soon find my next big moment. Again in early position I find another small pocket pair, this time 22, again I limp as do 4-5 others. The flop comes 2s 3s 5c. Now obviously this is a great flop, but In a multi way limped pot my hand is not as strong as it looks, and for this reason I want to find out where I am as quickly as I can, so I bet out, and I bet out close to pot. Its folded to the button, a solid quiet player who raises it back to me, everyone else folds. Now the thing that’s got me here is that hes raised from the button, obviously hes got position on me, so would he re-raise with a hand beating me? Truth is I don’t know, and the only way to find out is to 4 bet him, which I do. He then goes into the tank for a few minutes before moving all in. After much thought I fold, the only hand im beating is a flush draw, but ive played the hand so strong I cant imagine this player making that move, ive sold him my hand, hes got to know I have a set and thus I can only see him making this move with a made straight or a set of 5s. Down to 5k, and it’s the first break. I find the player in the smoking area and he tells me he had As6s, nuts flush draw with a belly buster straight draw, he also tells me he thought I could only call him with a set of 5s………..he was right!!! Again im happy with how I played the hand, bottom line is he got his money in first, and played his hand very well in doing so. The rest of the chips just leaked away, I had a number of nice starting hands, AK, AQs etc that I played in a number of ways, but either way they never caught and I met re-raises when I tried to force a hand through. The final hand I played the blinds where 100/200 and I was down to 2100, ive only got fold or all in as a play now, so when its folded to me on the cut off and I find Q9 (id sat for the last 15-20 hands folding rags) I couldn’t get my chips in quick enough, especially as the big blind belonged to the tightest player in the casino………I think the whole table where as shocked as me as he snap called with A5 ! No miracle and I exit, again VERY early at Blackpool. Now that’s the cards part of the day out of the way, im not going to go into the details of me losing another few pounds in weight at the table as the cold sweats returned, or the cramp I kept getting in my legs due to the lack of water in my body………the bottom line is I played ok for sure, but I SHOULDN’T have been there, im ill, I was too ill to drive, I was too ill to play and my god I have far too much respect for money and the poker world to think I can afford to pay £1000 when on my sick bed an expect to make it to day 2 in a GUKPT event………..no today was without question one of the dumbest things ive done in a long time, but hey we all make mistakes! Thankfully my sickness to play poker is far stronger than my sickness to have a few drinks with good company! As im leaving the Big Blue hotel to drive home I bump into my good friends Mr & Mrs Skalie, naturally the first words out of there mouths are something along the lines of “great to see you, lets go and get drunk!” An offer I don’t think ive ever turned down from them before in my life………….a hour or so later im back home writing this, sober, shivering and more than a few pounds lighter………….over a thousand to be precise!!! Idiot.

November 9th 2009

2009-11-09T08:30:00Z

First post in two weeks, the absence of a blog being down to the fact ive nothing to write about, well not poker wise anyway. In the early hours of Sunday morning on the DreamTeam final weekend my mum got rushed into to hospital, hence why I took off from the Casino as soon as I was knocked out (Did I mention KQ v K9 from an EX player in my group?). Thankfully all is good with mum now, she under went surgery on the Friday and is now amazingly back at home, but the problems her being in hospital for two weeks caused meant that playing poker was waaaaay down the pecking order! That was corrected a little over the weekend as Ive managed a number of sessions at the 500nl tables, and all in all its been a good weekend, how nice it is to write that sentence : and all in all its been a good weekend, my being blessed is now rubbing off in my online game too!!!! Without question the best session was Saturday morning, I had a session booked with one of my group and we decided to do a session where he watched me play, 1 hour later 4 buy ins up, what a session, having hit 6 sets in that time did make the session one of the easiest to play!!!! The only really drama was losing with KK to 42 suuuuuuuuited, played from the SB naturally!!! Had another good session Sunday morning quickly winning 3 buy ins, again wasnt to much effort as a set of 10s was paid of by 43 on a 10 4 3 board and then running AA into KK. So I decided to pay into the $100k guaranteed $1000 buy in deep stack event on Betfair. Ive been playing deep stack very well last few months and with a small field of just 88 I was really looked forward to this tourney………………..10 minutes in and im out!!!!! OMG! One of the first hands I play I fire 3 bullets with ace high on a 9cJcQcKdx board and was unable to get 9J to fold, bottom two pair did look good there I must agree!!!! But its deep stack, I got tons of time! Two hands later I get Q10 in the SB, theres a standard raise, 4-5 players call and I join the party, flop: 9dJsKs, I got the stone cold nuts, I check raise, get one caller. Flop 6d, pot is already big and I get another big chunk in, river is a K, I don’t like the card but im going nowhere now and get the rest of my chips in, he slow rolls his JJ. Good night and thankyou!!!! Well at least ive got the “bad luck” out of the way before this weeks GUKPT event at Blackpool, with things in the real world settling down and the fact that overall my poker game is in real good shape im making my way over to Blackpool later this week to play the £1000 main event, I am looking forward to finishing the year on a high!!................................And finally big up to James Akenhead, short stacked he finished 9th in the WSOP main event this weekend after finding KK only to run it into AA, so sick! Still what a year, the boy is a legend, very well played sir!!!

27th October

2009-10-27T08:17:00Z

Without question the best Badbeat dreamteam event ever, and thats got nothing to do with the fact i actually made a final table! No it was just an overall great weekend, but you wouldnt expect anything else from such a fine group of people. Ive got to give a big mention to the Serbians who made the long trip over, what a wonderful bunch, i dont know what i was expecting from them but to spend a few hours in there company over a few beers, listening to there poker stories ( spoken in better English then a fair few of our own UK residents.......crawfski springs to mind) was a pleasure, and i look forward to working with them in the future. As for the poker, well from my point of view it went pretty well, if not for a truely sick beat for one of my team mates who got all the money in AA v KK in a pot where AK was folded only to see the first card K my team would have been in great shape to win it, but it wasnt to be and the honours once again went to a team containing Rich Lizard, pretty sure this is now the fourth time hes won the group event and after spending a few hours watching him patiently nuture his tiny stack up the finishing order for the ever valueble team points i can see why! Well done to all the muffcakes! On a personal note i was pretty happy with how i played, the form ive been talking about for the last 6 months or so was once again there for all to see, the diffrenece this weekend being that i only suffered two beats, AK v JQ for a smallish pot, and then my very last hand where i called all in with KQ against K9..........9 on the turn. Being chip leader after two hours and holding the lead for the next two days to the final table, something ive not done live for a good while was also very comforting! I know its "only" the dreamteam final, but its a big strong field, and at last ive finally run deep in a tourney rather than just talking about it!!! Its the Blackpool leg of the GUKPT event soon, and well id be mad not to play it, after the WSOPE event i was sure i was back in form, the DT final as confirmed this, so maybe there is still time for me this year to end the live losing streak and end the money drought............

24 October

2009-10-24T08:25:00Z

Not had too much to talk about down to the fact ive not played over the last seven days. Im more than happy with my game but the P&L doesnt reflect this and with an ever increasing workload at BB finding good times to play just isint happening, so on a break and it could be a long one. So to the weekend and back to the live arena, this time the Circus Casino at star city Birmingham, yep its that time of year again.........dream team weekend! I came down a day ealier this year, mainly to see some of the guys and girls for a glass or two of beer (hotel bar sold out of lager by 17.00!) and also to play in the £1 buy in £10 re buy event, yep big time live poker is where its at!!! Along with dreamteam regulars like ever young Rich "Lizard" Clarke (seriously this fella by my records is 54, but i swear he gets younger every time i see him, now offically looking 27), the ever pissed Gavin "gavinalways" Powell (time to stop drinking m8!!!) and of course the Guernsey invader Tim "fire doesnt knock" Falla we were joined by a couple of poker legends, Paul "actionjack" Jackson and 2009 poker legend Jamie Aikenhead, nice to see money hasnt changed these two cheapskates!!! As we all know Jamie has had the unreal year of final tabling the WSOPE main event, poker million final table and of course the WSOP main event 2009, well if you want to know how he managed this, this conversation may answer of few questions: "strum let me buy you a drink, i owe you a few", "whys that" i reply..........." for teaching me everything i know about poker", his words not mine, and the more i think about it the more agree!!!!!!! The piss taking little *&£^^%&*&!!!..................i took the drink anyway! Unfotunetly this being Star City there are no 5 star hotels so im boxed up in the rather featureless, in room diningless, bathless, souless but exspensivless Bluberry hotel, not to my liking but its got electric and running water so can really complain! So next job is to go find food (the breakfast here does not pass my test as food) and then its time to focus on the big one, the one, the only DreamTeam final!!!!!!!! The year of the strum starts here, bring it on fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!