Poker Heaven

A little cash on Full Tilt Poker

2008-12-01T10:33:00.003Z

I made a deposit into Full Tilt Poker in the middle of last week and, shockingly, I'm still in credit some 5 days later! I've been playing cash games between 50c/$1 and $2/$4 NLHE and PLO. I know those levels are hardly the stuff of nose bleeds and I really should be playing a little higher, but I was really only interested to see how the general play on the low-medium stakes is now at Full Tilt.

It's crap, in short.

If you want a soft game of Omaha then go to Full Tilt!

I took a seat in a $2/$4 PLO game with Ross Boatman. He was 3 or 4 tabling those stake, I believe and was up to $900 and $1000 on the two tables I checked. I have never played against Ross before so I was interested to see his style. We never really tangled and in the pot he took a bluff stab at I raised him out with air.

I see the appeal of Full Tilt to many players. There is an army of top drawer professionls on the site who, in turn, pull in many thousands of crap poker players - trying to take a shot.

Sorry for not updating my blog for a while. See you again in a few months ;-)

A Poker Post and Some F1

2008-07-20T23:11:00.002+01:00

I'm excited. I've got a pokery post....

....deep breath...

...After a horrible Betfair session I tried some PLO on Poker Heaven. Naturally I was shafted more times than Ferndando Torres on a sexual offenders wing. So after a reload I moved to €2/€4 NLHE. After being in for £450 I managed to get out £900 to leave me slightly ahead on the day and easily ahead on the session. It's been a while since I played 2/4 NL and it's reassuring to find that nothing changes! The scandies are still way too aggressive and easily tilted.

I caught a lot of the F1 today, in between being abused by Irish racing on Betfair. Hamilton looks really good for the title this year and I hope he does it. He is clearly the best driver out there. On the flip side of the coin Glock MUST be the worst! I haven't seen an F1 driver bin his car as often as Glock. The man drives like my wife.

The New Job

2008-07-19T20:48:00.002+01:00

I'm really enjoying my new job at The Poker Channel. The work is enjoyable and challenging and exactly what I needed. Call me a sadist, if you will, but I'm actually enjoying the commute as well. Alright, I admit, getting out of bed when there is a 6 at the start of the alarm clock isn't great but it goes some way to experiencing the sleep loss the wife is suffering due to the baby.

The train to Euston takes just under an hour. The tube (with one change) takes roughly 45 minutes. Factor in a drive to the station/back home and a 5 minute walk to the office and each trip is around 2 hours. One way! How can I possibly be enjoying that? Maybe the novelty will wear off. Then again I enjoy the peace on the train to Euston (it hasn't ever really been busy). I enjoy seeing the city gents running for tubes. A man in a bowler hat with an umbrella, running at full sprint, is just hilarious to me. I'm enjoying the exercise too. Working at home means walking from bed to a computer with the occasional business trip to the toilet. So getting to walk a few miles each day has me feeling good inside. Maybe a little knackering on the legs, though!

The work itself is great. I enjoy creating and building things from scratch. With the new site there is a blank canvas to work from. While UK PokerNews was a success is was very limited in how far I could take it. I'll be very susprised is the Poker Channel Europe isn't a market leader in the next 3 or 4 years. I'm hugely confident about the whole project.

As you can probably imagine with so much working and commuting and baby stuff going on there is little chance to do anything else. Playing poker has taken a back step. I think I'll get back into the game in a month or two as the baby settles into longer sleep patterns. I am desperate for a live game however :-)

That's all for now. Apologies for the lack of pokery content.

Frosty PokerRoom

2008-06-26T23:01:00.003+01:00

The last game I played was two days ago on PokerRoom. It was the third event of the UK PokerNews league. The league is a tasty looking promotion with $10k up for grabs, spread over the top three places.

I've given up.

I'm down in 8th or 9th and, although that might not seem far off 3rd, I'm a million miles behind in terms of points. I would have to go on an amazing run in the next six games to trouble 3rd place. Tonight's game was cancelled and I'm sure that will be very much appreciated by the top three players!

I'm not usually one for throwing in the towel but, I'm running so cold, that I swear if I went to Vegas tomorrow it'd snow on the strip!

In other news....

....Baby Sandells was born on June 18th. Little Isabel is very sweet but very tiring. Her pictures are on my Facebook pages.

It's not long until I start work for The Poker Channel and I can't wait to get started.

Good luck to Damo with his move to Manila.

That's all. Carry on.

A quickie with Tila Tequila

2008-06-10T19:03:00.003+01:00

At times she was good. At other times she hurt me. In the end we parted company richer for the experience.

Yes, I've withdrawn from Tila Poker! (what else were you thinking?)

Finally they delivered on the $50 freebie promise and that pushed my total to almost $420. From a $60 deposit and 9 days play I'm pretty happy with the total. So, after my sordid fling with Tila, where next?

UK PokerNews have just launched a great looking league with PokerRoom. I don't have a PokerRoom account and I've heard good things about it from Kev Stevens (RIP). That site will be the next download solely for the reason of the UKPN league which has a $5k first prize alongside $3k for 2nd and $2k for 3rd.

The first game is on June 17th. The second on June 19th. This represents a small problem. Child #2 is due on June 19th and I have a funny feeling Leicester Royal Infirmary won't allow me to take a laptop into the delivery suite. Of course baby could be a day late and all will be well at Chateau Sandells.

A girl is due. Maybe I'll call her Tila.

Yeah Yeah... where's my f'ing money!?

2008-06-08T08:55:00.003+01:00

I know the graph pic in the last post was crap, but as Bender might say, whatcha gonna do?

How annoyed am I that I'm STILL waiting for Tila Poker to cough up my $50 bonus? Quite. I mean, I'm not sending death threats yet but then it is Sunday, I am hungover and I had about 3 hours sleep last night. Maybe tomorrow.

I played a huge 100 hands yesterday! I can tell you're already impressed. I didn't play at all on Friday. The $60 challenge total is almost at $300. Fascinating. So, what am I going to write in a poker blog?

Ummm..

...I did my nuts on the Derby. I backed Ronaldo's goal minutes on the spread in the Portugal v Turkey game (he didn't score).

Hey! Everybody likes reading about a loss. Don't they?

I see Kev Stevens has hung up his mouse ( http://flipyouforit.blogspot.com/ ) after coming to the conclusion that online poker is disrupting his family life. So be it. I have some understanding of his situation as I spend far too long at the computer myself. It's easy to get engrossed and, before you know it, 4 hours have gone by.

I've been thinking about why online poker is so addicting. I think it boils down to getting (possible) great rewards for little effort. You can sit in your armchair and make thousands in a few hours. If you win a big MTT you feel you've won a war, single handedly, and been paid a wedge of cash for your efforts. Your efforts of clicking a mouse and scratching your balls for a few hours. Beautiful. Then there is the pain of losing. The bad beats. They suck. Like a nagging toothache. But, when the toothache is cured you feel great, alive, refreshed. Just like after a good win on the virtual felt?

Anyway, online poker is here to stay. It's just a shame when the nice guys fall by the wayside while the arseholes keep playing.

New Challenges

2008-06-06T12:56:00.003+01:00

It's been a strange 7 days for me.
Last week I started a "$60 challenge". Why $60? I've no idea to be honest. The amount was suggested to me by Kev Stevens after I was seeking answers to why I'm so crap at tournament poker recently. The idea is to play patient poker at both cash and STTs. To ignore the small stakes / buy-ins and just play my absolute bollocks off. I've passed 1000 hands and things are going pretty well. Note the Matusow blow up around 800 - 900 hands :-) - Hey, I'm not perfect!

So, I've gone back to playing poker levels circa 2003/04. Strangely I'm really enjoying it. I've no idea where the $60 is going. My heart still thumps when I'm all-in for $7! I think I'm rediscovering my love for playing online.

In other news....

....I have quit my job! I've been working for PokerNews for 4 years now and, to be honest, I've had enough. I'm not going into reasons right here, right now, as that would be wrong. Suffice to say, just like boggle eyed Ben from LOST, "I always have a plan".

I will begin a new job in July. It represents plenty of exciting challenges. One of which is a 3 day a week commute to London and back!

Resigning is a strange feeling. I've only done it once before and the whole thing left me feeling awkward and a little guilty. This time I did it by email and things were much easier!

The WSOP is underway and I really don't care. Why? because I'm here in the UK while everyone else, it seems, is lapping up the atmosphere or taking a shot at some of the events in Vegas. Bah! I'm not bitter, honest!

Home from Vegas. What now?

2008-05-11T12:38:00.003+01:00

Vegas was superb (again) for me for the third year in a row. I brought home far more dollars than I left the UK with thanks to a lucky spin on a slot machine and a little poker positive.

I arrived home just under two weeks ago to the cold and the rain of Gatwick airport. The previous 9 - 10 days was spent in the company of my old mate Danny McCarthy and the balding alcohol sponge that is Gaz Bouch. Danny is not great about flying anywhere thanks to a scary experience in bad weather a few years ago. Although he was nervous and pretty much EATING his calming medication I thought he dealt with the long flight to Vegas really well. I think the combined 22hr+ flying may have eased his flying nerves a little.

This trip was a boys holiday really. I played very little poker apart from two tournaments at Caesars and the odd cash session.

We met a lot of characters in sin city. I visited a few establishments which I had avoided in the past and really enjoyed myself when I did. The boys were wide eyed at the whole place and I always enjoy seeing the expression on the faces of Vegas virgins. Despite the fun and excess it was good to get home. I think around 8 - 10 days in Vegas is plenty long enough to enjoy yourself and not become bored. I may have discovered the perfect length of time to stay in Vegas! Of course now I'm home I want to go back again. Maybe I will in 2009 if I can keep the cold sweats at bay for another year.

So, what now? My daughter is due to be born in June. That should be an exciting and tiring time.

Currently I'm not playing poker tournaments and I'm only occasionally dipping my toe into any cash games. Playing poker has taken a back step this year. I do love the game and I always will. It's been very good to me financially and socially as I've found many new friends from playing. I'm shocked to see quite a lot of "poker players" expressing why they now dislike poker and why they don't play or rarely play these days. I think some people have short memories and are quick to slag off poker simply because their recent results have dipped. I will never be negative towards the game as I have a lot to thank it for.

If you can write a big list of why poker is crap and you're still playing it then you clearly have huge problems.

2008 is looking like a very busy year for me, work wise. I think I will start playing tournaments again at some point. Qualifiers for the Aussie Millions at the end of the year may be the point at which I get involved again.

A2 or Fold

2008-03-26T21:46:00.002Z

Is 10 handed O8B cash the dullest game in history? I don't know but it feels like it after the last hour. Maybe I'm just frustrated after getting AA2X four times in that period and getting NO action what so ever.

Where are all the O8B fish tonight? Where is A59J rainbow man? Is A48Q woman on holiday?

I'm not sure what was the more boring. The O8B cash or watching England lose in France. However, both are over. I'm $10 richer. I can now do something useful with my time. Maybe read the newspaper and wonder what I can buy with my £5 haul.

Hey! It's not a loss at least.

The fog clears

2008-03-25T17:47:00.003Z

Before the Easter weekend I made a deposit into an online poker room of €350. Why €350? I don't know. Just a randomly picked out of the air figure I guess. I'm rather proud of my haul today, 5 days later. Despite having the prospect of two weeks juggling work and a 4 year old and trips to West Mids Safari Park and every chavs favourite town, Warrington, over Easter - I managed to avoid a tilty €2/€4 NL session with the entire deposit and play sensibly.

If you've ever spoken to me at length about poker, you've probably heard me banging on about what I call "poker clarity". Poker clarity is a world where everything you play seems to make sense, where tilt doesn't exist, where you are 100% focused on the game, where losing is nothing but a minor valley in your ascent up Everest. Poker clarity is where you want to live.

Unfortunately my visits to Poker clarity are simply that. Visits. Short ones. The ideal scenario is to maintain that state of mind for each session of poker. To buy a second home in Poker clarity that I can visit at will.

Some of you might be thinking I'm simply running good. You'd be wrong. Ohh, for sure, I've had a few coin flip victories but the real reason is my standard of play right now. I'm back and it feels great! Just in time for my trip to Vegas in April too.

I've created a Vegas specific blog for the trip here: http://vivalasvegasbaby.blogspot.com/

For more detailed pokery I will still be using this blog.

WTF Have I Been Up To!?

2008-03-05T19:12:00.003Z

I appear to have neglected my blog somewhat over the winter and for that I whole heartedly apologise. No, really!

So, what's been happening at chateau Sandells?

First up the better half is pregnant with our second child. A girl is due in June all being well. This leaves me with little chance (even less than usual) of attending the WSOP this year. How can I possibly go a whole year without going to Vegas? The answer; I'm not. I'm going in April instead!

This time the MGM Grand beckons for eight days from April 19th. The trip is going to be part poker, part holiday. Stay tuned for pictures and stories in April and May.

Secondly I'm so off the game at the moment I'm on another planet. I've very much lost the feel for playing poker both online and live. I've also lost some of my passion for the game to a degree too. The result of which has meant the uninstall of PokerStars recently and very minimal cash game play. I see no reason why I should continue to play on Stars. There is an element of poker peer pressure to play there and I'm just not buying into it any more. I'm a loser on Stars in both cash and tournaments. My white flag is held high. TYVM, GG.

Where and when I play is now going to be ultra selective. Everywhere should be rewarding me for my play via rake back or a big deposit/reload bonus online. Live I want a comfortable environment without any idiots. That leaves me with few options within the UK, at least.

Results wise I have little of note to post about. Partly due to lack of play and partly due to playing like a donkey when I do play.

This post sounds pretty negative in regards to poker, I know. Clearly I am over the "newbie excitement" of the game. That probably explains my recent poor play as I have chased action far too often instead of grinding it out. So, what next? Well, I'm taking a break from it. I'm not playing when I'm simply bored an not playing when I simply want to socialise. When I'm hungry for it I'll play again. I imagine 5 minutes in Vegas will help my appetite.

AWOP - Blackpool Team Event

2007-10-14T18:43:00.000+01:00

I hate team poker.

Yep, that's right. Allow me explain.

I have played in three or four poker team games in the last year or so. On each occasion I have enjoyed playing and socialising but (and there has to be a 'but') each event is very hard to take seriously. I play poker because I'm a greedy person. I want the chips. I want to win. I want money. I know, I'm going to hell! In team events there appears little incentive to play your socks off for the following reasons:

- The prize money is split between your team. Which means you could play for 7 hours and win the tournament and walk home with nothing because your team mates all got knocked out early. Why aren't all final tablists recognised by having their buy-in refunded or returned with a small profit or even merchandise? Even if your team wins and you split the prize ten ways you'll finish up with five times your buy-in back - woohooo... online sit & go anybody?

- **Team mates can be muppets, me included! You're investing money in their ability/mood/soberness. For me that increases the luck factor in poker hugely... national lottery anyone?

- Playing team poker seems alien to me. I play to win and knock out everybody else. My wife was chuntering in my ear during one pot (as is her want) "don't knock him out, he's on our team". WHHHAAAATTT!? I won't ever soft play anybody and trying to keep team mates alive is collusion to me - although I'm sure everybody is at it during such games.

I know what you're shouting at the screen about now: "You're missing the point, you idiot!". You're probably right. I know these occasions are not your straight forward game of tournament poker and the emphasis is on fun and not profits. The thing is; winning and making profit from the game IS fun for me. I like a drink and a laugh like everybody else, don't get wrong, but I don't play poker seriously to be anyones friend and I cannot see the point in playing poker just for the hell of it.

"But you said you were going all-in every hand" - I hear you cry.

That is true. I promised to play for the team though and after I heard some **team members left after the main event, leaving us short and in no chance of catching up during the headhunter event, I thought better of it. There was also money for the individual available. I played in 5th gear throughout and won, taking ten players out for several bounty payments.

I have re-read this post and it sounds very harsh. The event was very nicely put together, good organisation, although announcements on the mic every 2 minutes were making my blood boil, and no juice added by the casino. There are plenty of positives from this type of poker. If you use poker as an excuse to get out and meet your friends then fair enough, you'll probably love team poker. If, however, you are like me and a greedy self obsessed poker player then you'll probably dislike playing with/for a bunch of others.

Team poker, tyvm, gl. I'll stick to the usual games.

Long time no blog

2007-09-18T16:08:00.000+01:00

I went to Vilnius and Warsaw at the end of August. It was my first time playing in Warsaw and I rather enjoyed it. I got up to my old tricks of leading for the first 4-5 hours then spunking my chips away with gay abandon. The 5 hour mark is my downfall. I seem to lose concentration and play far too loosely. I'm unsure how to combat this. I think next time I'll just leave the table, drink something cold and splash water on my face. I hate to think how many final tables I've lost out on due to this "5 hour itch".

There are a few live events on the horizon. Tomorrow I'll have a crack at the £300 freezeout at Broadway and on Thursday I'll play some live Omaha cash. My object is to final or win a ranking event before 2008. I've had a good year online and in backing other good players but my live tournament performances have been awful. With 3 1/2 months of 2007 to go I really don't want to complete 2007 without a result on the board. The pressure is on!

Satellites

2007-08-25T23:11:00.000+01:00

I really cannot buy a win in an online satellite. In 2005 I bubbled for the WSOP main event in a satellite on Crypto. In 2006 I reached two final tables in WSOP satellites. The trend continues this summer. In July I bubbled for the APPT Manila. Tonight I've bubbled for the Melbourne PokerNews Cup.

I don't mind losing out. Somebody has to bubble in every tournament and it's happened to me countless times online and live. What hurts is how well I'm playing up to the bubble stages. I really cannot play any better until the bubble, then inexplicably I lose concentration. I'm either too placid or too aggressive. In the APPT satellite I was too weak and paid the price. In the PokerNews Cup I was too aggressive and donked my lead away. There is a happy (winning?) medium in there somewhere I've yet to discover. If I'm going to continue trying to win satellites then I'll have to find that style soon before I go crazy.

Miles, Speeding and Horses

2007-08-16T22:57:00.000+01:00

Some of you may have read on other forums that I've got caught speeding a couple of weeks ago. I'm generally very careful in the car but this time I was troubling the sound barrier and got what I deserved. I thought an honest approach and a "you have a tough job" spin might get me off a ticket. No such luck. £60 is not the worst pot I've lost, though :-)

I'm putting in some serious miles this month. I tried to get into London to see Tony G and just spent most of my day sat on the motorway. So, I tried again the next day and managed to get to Gatwick faster than ever before. On Saturday I'm going to Ripon race course. On Tuesday I'm going to central London. Before the month is out I'll be in Vilnius and Warsaw for some pokering. What is the old saying? "Getting there is half the fun" - I beg to differ!

Why am I going to Ripon races? Well, my horse runs on Saturday for the first time. His name is The Mighty One, he is a 2yr old colt. He runs in the 2.35 and will be around 14/1. Fingers crossed for a good run. If he places I'll be very happy.

This is a very non-poker post so far. What a hypocrite I am sometimes! I don't have much poker related things to say. I've played live a couple of times, including an interesting cash game last week. 6 hours of play won me exactly £70. I still enjoyed it. I've also had some low stakes no limit sessions. I took almost $500 from Poker Heaven ring games at 50c/$1 and $1/$2 NL. I ran into a great play by one guy at 50c/$1. It went like this:

He raises to $3 utg.
It's folded to me no the BB with a monster looking 9,4suited. So I re-raised him to $11.
He called.
Flop: A,9,2
I bet out $25
He calls
Turn: 4 - bingo!
I set him all-in for $56
He insta-calls
River: X

Showdown: He has pocket Aces for the set.

That'll teach me! I loved his play though. Flat called the re-raise with Aces, slow played them and let me hang myself. Just as I was admiring him for playing that so well, he played a horrible hand like a donkey and gave it all back + his original stack.

A round of the table later I put him on the felt with Q,7 vrs his A2. Flop: A,Q,7. He would not lay it down and sent me all of his chips. Maybe it was my image that was getting paid in that hand but surely he could find a better spot that top pair, deuce kicker to get his money in against me. I did at least have two pairs a few minutes earlier!

Did you know you can check your Poker Heaven rake back online now? Check my main site for details http://www.paulsandellspoker.com

Running Hot

2007-08-09T01:28:00.000+01:00

I've nothing much to say at it's 1.30am and I'm about to go to bed. I've been playing since 7pm and I'm $1400 ahead. Mostly all cash winnings but I've had a good streak of STT results too.

I have the house to myself until Sunday and I'm wondering if the lack of distractions is focusing my game or if I'm just running like a river of lava.

It's very strange to be living alone, all be it just for four days. I have spoken maybe 150 words today to order a repeat prescription and to check the family arrived in Scotland for their little holiday. The silence has enabled me to get a truck load of work finished, although I haven't actually seen another real person all day. It must be tough to live alone full time. I know I'm generally a lucky person but sometimes things happen that make me feel just a little luckier.

Tomorrow i'll be even busier but I'll probably go out and play a live game in the evening. I much prefer live poker to online although it's less profitable for me. The human interaction is far better plus you never (or hardly ever) get morons wishing you ill health or trying to educate you in how to play.

Ranting

2007-08-07T08:39:00.000+01:00

I'm going to have a good old fashioned bloggers rant today. Everybody loves a good rant, don't they?

Experts, and I use the term loosely, are really starting to wind me up. I'm talking about micro-limit, £5 rebuy merchants who've never played a major tournament, never left the comfort of their own area, let alone experienced serious poker in a different country and never won anything of note online apart from a $50 pot at 10c/20c NL. Yes, you know who you are. You've read Sklansky and Harrington (and you might aswell quote directly from their books when you talk or post online) and you've watched poker on Challenge TV. You're top of the class when it comes to poker. You know everything. You've seen the pros play on the box and therefore you know them like a brother. Everything that happens in your local crapshoot happens in every tournament all over the world, you've cashed in your £10 freezeout there so you can cash in any tournament anywhere. You're a poker expert and you love to dispense advice on any poker subject. If anybody challenges you they are clearly moronic and should be belittled for having the cheek to suggest you're wrong. You can grind out $10 an hour on PokerStars and have been doing so for years. You have thousands of posts on 2+2. You're awesome.

I'm not talking about anybody in particular here. There are thousands of people like this all over the world. They drive me nuts because they're all the same. They think their game has no flaws and that they'll be spotted for yet another final table in a £2 rebuy in some obscure poker room and a $1,000,000 deal is only around the corner because of that. They take poker far, far too seriously for their regular game.

So, experts, today is your wake up call.

- You're not going to be gracing the EPT, WPT, WSOP, APPT, ITV, BBC, or even Channel 5. If by some miracle you win 400 satellites to gain entry into one of those you won't play a hand through fear for 3 hours and will go out when you're Aces are cracked.
- Your local casino games contain no players likely to threaten any major tournament any time soon. Players who hit their weekly £5 rebuy and have been doing so for 2 years are not progressing.
- Grinding a small profit from online poker is not a huge achievement if the profit is less than you'd get paid as a MacDonalds burger flipper or a public toilet cleaner.
- Form your opinions based on experience, not what a book or forum tells you.
- If you're serious about poker then at least try and progress to higher stakes and bigger tournaments at some stage.
- Poker is a game and games should be entertaining. If you're grinding at low limits and have been for years you're not playing, you're working.
- Your opinions on poker may sometimes encounter contradicting opinions from others. There is rarely a black and white issue with a clear right or wrong.

In short, stop the delusion. Recreational poker players (including grinders) are not experts.

(I'm not either, I should add)

Have a great day.

Please come and play for us!

2007-08-05T22:30:00.000+01:00

I played in Bearwood yesterday and managed to cash in 5th in the tourney. I'm so ashamed about the way I went out that I'm not going to post it, it really was a horrible call for all my chips. I should've gone further than 5th, though.

Before I left for the game I had a bizarre phone call from Betfair. I don't know if they are calling around all their sportsbook clients to try and get them into poker, but I took much amusement in the young lady's sales pitch. She was desperately trying to sell the WSOPE to me, bless her. If only she'd dropped a few hundred into my account to "try out the software" she may have got some long term business for her company. Of course I've tried Betfair Poker, it used to be PokerChamps, it's unique, I'll give it that but it's very player unfriendly IMHO. I'll stick to Poker Heaven for now, tyvm, gg, ul, bye.

Tomorrow I'm calling Betfair support to try and recruit their staff as Poker Heaven players.

Running hot for a week...

2007-07-29T18:34:00.000+01:00

...then I ran into an ice storm!

I'm almost at the end of my holiday in Malta. As we have a 4yr old who is in bed by 8pm and who loves to go swimming with his mother (I can't swim) I've been left with quite a lot of free time. I took the opportunity to use some of the time to try and spin up a $400 deposit I made into a site prior to the APPT satellite agony. At one stage I was nudging $2000 and considered a complete withdrawal to pocket the extra $1600. For four days worth of sporadic play I was pretty pleased with my $400 a day part-time play during my hols. I was cashing and winning STTs and HU matches quite frequently, then frosty the snowman flipped the doomswitch and it all went wrong.

Firstly I ran through around 10 STTs and HUs without cashing. No big deal, of course, but couple that cold spell with a few quad over quad incidents in Omahahahahaha and the profit is all gone.

I withdrew my remaining $500 in disgust. But hey! I managed to get a Silver Star for my efforts so that's alright.

I can understand playing on PokerStars if you're one of the high volume players. The VIP programme does have incentive if you're racking up thousands of FPPs each day. If you're an average Joe, like me, though what is the point? Fine if you want to add to your book collection then Stars has a nice choice. If you want to work your socks off for an iPod, then away you go. However, work out what you're paying in rake for these items first if the gifts are your incentive.

Once you've done that and deleted PokerStars from your machine, start enjoying the 30% rake back you get at Poker Heaven AND the huge deposit bonus AND the extra freebies and perks they throw in to the VIP players. Download from my main site : http://www.paulsandellspoker.com

Then email me from there and I'll upgrade you to the rake back list.

PokerStars has an excellent range of games, but if you're like me and raking $2000 per month, would you rather have a nice collection of autographed books or $600 in your pocket each month ($7200 per year)

Almost a Thriller in Manila

2007-07-25T21:55:00.000+01:00

I'm in Malta right now, on my hols, with the family. It's nearly as hot as Vegas here but not quite as exciting.

The day before I flew out I had a crack at the APPT Manila satellite on the starry poker room. 82 runners, 8 seats, 9th for a refund, 8th for a $60 loss. I won't go into too much detail. I played pretty well for 5 hours, folded a huge hand on the bubble when a small stack moved in, got anted down and went out with an A high push in 9th. Ohh how pleased I was with my refund as a reward. In truth I deserved nothing more. I bottled a call when I had the chance to end the game. The short stack stayed in and is now looking forward to a $2500 main event in Manila. Still, I'm in Malta! Although I didn't get here via a satellite!

Enough whinging.

Congratulations to Matt Tyler. His wife just gave birth to a baby girl. I don't usually use my blog for such messages but Matt always has a cheerful hello and a handshake for me whenever I bump into him on the UK circuit. Welcome to a world of sleepless nights, screaming, stress and dirty bottoms, Matt. It's great really.

It's not about the money...

2007-07-18T09:41:00.000+01:00

...It's all about the glory.

;-)

Bloggers with verbal diarrhea

2007-07-10T11:04:00.000+01:00

Yes, I'm one of them. Especially recently after my Vegas rants. However, I do try and post a few things of interest, rather than rubbish that everybody knows or repeating what everybody thinks. I suppose blogs are always going to be self centred trash in the main.

The point to this post is that recently I've been reading lots of poker blogs and, quite frankly, 9 times out of 10 they're garbage. Why I must inflict such pain on myself I'm not sure, I will be cutting down in future that's for certain. The worst bloggers are the "quiet men" who love to have a go at others via there blog yet face to face they're about as likely to repeat their blog posts as the Pope is to be found in bed with Paris Hilton.

With the WSOP running right now the increase in verbal diarrhea is reaching epidemic proportions. "I saw Tony G slam his chips on the table, he must be a bad man". "I saw Phil Hellmuth have a tantrum again, he is a child." and on and on and on it goes. Listen, bloggers you don't know these people. You see such a small fraction of their lives that you cannot possibly know what they are REALLY like. So stop passing blanket comments from behind your PC screens! Please :-)

I know that will fall on deaf ears, so I'll just stop reading the crap blogs for the sake of my blood pressure.

Ok, rant over.

There are some good blogs out there too. M3Boy's blog from Vegas is great stuff. He concentrated on the poker from Binions recently, sticks a few interesting photos up, runs through some important hands and issues and generally runs a good blog (when he updates it!). Kev Stevens also writes a good blog with some good points raised and opinions put across well. Luckydonut's blog is especially entertaining and one of my current favourites.

Ohh yes, one more thing before I sign off today. Never play poker when jet lagged :-(

Jager Bombs and Pit Bosses that won't let you leave

2007-07-09T14:58:00.000+01:00

I'm not a big drinker, but if you read further down this blog you'll notice I had a little session during my Vegas trip. This started sensibly enough. A few pints of Guinness, a chat and a laugh. Then things got out of hand. I remember drinking one Jager Bomb in the pub in Orleans. The Jager Miester shot is dropped in a glass of Red Bull. Before it mixes you down the entire drink. Gulp, no worries. At 1am they threw us out to close up. All the other bars in Orleans stay open 24/7. Not that we used any bars as the cocktail girls kept us well watered.

After joining a single deck blackjack game, things got loud and silly and ermm... interesting! Jagers were flying everywhere. Twins across the table joined in the action after being very unimpressed at the Aussie and Limey joining their table. They softened up though and it was party time. At about 3am, the pit boss, Jennifer I think, was singing Australian songs and trying to convince her dealer to stay on and deal for us. We offered her $50 an hour to deal and she still refused. Not a problem, Jennifer moved us to a new table. A new friend, who was driving to his job in Kansas the next morning, joined in our drinking/blackjack session.

At 5am I tried to leave, just as Jennifer came back on duty and was duly told to sit my ass down. I got a little shoulder massage for my trouble, mind. I suppose that beats a free meal comp!

I finally escaped at 6am. So drunk I could barely walk. When I think about Jager Bombs now I feel sick to the pit of my stomach.

I did enjoy that massage though.

1 cent tips and sportsbooks

2007-07-08T18:24:00.000+01:00

Orleans has a nice little area near the card room where a Subway is situated. Subway can offer reasonably healthy food so is a good option for quick lunches. The service, though, is terrible at the best of times. On a number of occasions we waited for 15 mins+ to get some food. It would've been faster to sit in a restaurant and order a full meal. Infact it WAS faster on the occasion we ate in TGI's during lunch time. Finally, on the last day at 11:45am, I decided a subway was a good meal to have before the long flight home. In disgust at the length of time it took to serve him, Damien left the ultimate insult to service; A 1 cent tip in the box near the till.

I think this is a great, silent way of expressing your disgust. I will remember it for next time.

---

Sportsbooks are in every casino in Vegas. Even Binions has four chairs stranded in the middle of the casino which face a TV. I like a bet or two and spent a few afternoons watching racing. American racing seems more predictable than UK. Certainly betting patterns give huge indications of what is going to be in with a shout. They also have greyhound racing over there. After a very good session, one afternoon, I was ahead by about $900 and fancied a little $100 punt on a dog. At the window we find the maximum bet on a dog is $50. That's £25. Wow! Did I feel like a high roller, or what!? I expected improvement at the Las Vegas Hilton but was in for a big shock. The maximum they would accept was $20 on a dog! Damien asked the Orleans sportsbook boss what would happen if we made several $50 bets with different cashiers using different people. "We'll be pissed off" was the reply.

On board with Jack Binion

2007-07-08T12:19:00.000+01:00

I thought the delays flying to Vegas were irritating. The return leg was a complete nightmare! The only saving grace for Virgin Atlantic was their on board seating arrangements. Poker legend Jack Binion was on the upper deck with his wife and several generations of the Binion clan. What a delicious coincidence, after we had such a great result at Binions Horseshoe on a few days before, to be seated next to Jack Binion on my return flight to the UK.

I had a nice chat to Jack and in that brief period of time the name of every poker playing legend under the sun ran through my head. He is a lovely man, quiet, content but retaining a twinkle in his eye when you mention "poker". Sometimes I'm a very lucky guy. I meet the most incredible people who have lead full and rich lives. Each inspire me in different ways. There are few things I will take to the grave with me. My conservation with the great man will be one.

The flight home took forever. We left the stand about 15 mins late. Then sat on the tarmac awaiting our turn on the runway for about 45 mins. The captain piped up, "I'm sorry to inform you that the wind direction has changed. This means we have to take off on a different run way. Due to the delay we have used up a good deal of our fuel supply and will have to return to the gate to refuel." This doesn't sound like a huge problem, does it? However, when the plane is refueled the engines have to be shut off. This means the aircon is off. This means in 118 degree heat we were about to be cooked for the next hour and 20 mins. Eventually, sweaty and annoyed, we got in the air.

After landing at Gatwick, only 10 hours later, it took an hour for my bag to arrive. It took me 45 mins to find my car (my fault for losing it) and an extra hour to get home due to delays on the M23, M25 and M1... pretty much every road on the way home. I was expecting a tailback to get on to my own drive. Fortunately it was clear!

These irritations were only that. Irritations of everyday life. I'll take many things from this trip, not least over $10,000 profit. The money will come and go but my brief time with Jack Binion will stay with me forever. Thanks Jack.

Las Vegas Day Last Day: Ship It!

2007-07-06T00:46:00.000+01:00

Sorry it's been a few days between posts. I haven't really had a great deal to talk about poker-wise. The last day or two has seen me play a lot more poker. The last game played was the final event of the Binions Poker Classic. A $500 freezeout with 192 runners.

My tournament was pretty eventful. I went from 10k to 30k before level two was complete, before a series of small losses and one stupid isolation raise crippled me. I was very annoyed at myself for making that error as I'd played pretty well for the first 4 - 5 hours, IMO.

However, things took a turn for the better. I staked my friend for the game and he was in good shape with 34 runners left. I left him to it as the pace slowed but informed him to kick my hotel door down if he won, no matter what the time! At 5.50am, I heard thumping, loud thumping, and in my semi-sleep state thought I'd left the TV on. It became clear what was happening though as an Aussie voice started yelling "Paul, open the bloody door you pr**k!"

The grinning face of Damien greated me with $20,000 in Binions chips! He went and beat a pretty famous Hollywood actor heads-up and came straight back here to tell me. Never have I been so pleased to be woken before 6am by a screaming Aussie, although that was the first time a screaming Aussie has ever woken me up. Our deal was 50/50. The silly bugger hadn't eaten for about 18 hours though, so before getting in a fast car back to Binions for the real money I insisted he had breakfast.

What was a "water treading" trip has turned into a huge positive. Although poker had me about $1500 ahead before last night I was slightly down overall after playing silly house games.

I have many tales to tell over the next few days. I'll spill what I can, without getting into trouble, here in my blog.

Profit: $11470

Las Vegas Day Five: Getting too old for this...

2007-07-03T00:00:00.000+01:00

...drinking malarky. Yesterday was a big one, in every respect.

It was decided at about 9.30pm that some drinks should be consumed. At 1am, they closed the "pub" bar at Orleans and threw us out on to the gaming floor. Dangerous stuff.

We played single deck blackjack until 6am. I have no idea how it happened but I seem to be $500 and the mother of all hangovers better off today. It's all a bit blurry. I remember our table being very rowdy and getting a shoulder massage from the pit boss. Apart from that all I can remember is waking up at Noon today thinking death would be a blissful mercy.

Never again. Never, ever again.

I'm slowly recovering and should be fine for the $2500 at Bellagio tomorrow.

Las Vegas Day Four: Luckbox

2007-07-02T02:36:00.000+01:00

Today I played at Luxor and Mandalay Bay. Luxor had no cash games running when we arrived at about 10am. The $1/$2 NL that followed was super-soft. The game was pretty boring, though and after 90 minutes we left. I had doubled up so I was in good spirits.

After a nasty spin at a few tables games in Mandalay I tried their $1/$2 NL there. I was pretty lucky on a few hands but, as always, players, apart from one, will remember the three lucky pots and not the 50 great plays and lay downs. The one player in question gave me several huge compliments. As he was American I'm guessing they were genuine and not sarcastic in nature, one he made as I left, so I'm sure it wasn't a case of "keep the English fish at the table".

Luckbox first:
5,2o utg cracked Aces when I rivered the straight, opponent went to jump off the roof. $500 pot
9,7o beat top pair Q with T kicker when I rivered trip nines. $300 pot
JJ beat KK when I turned the set (he played his kings like an idiot btw) $250 pot

Good stuff:
Paired board and over card on board. Called $40 on river for $150 pot (knew he was at it from body language).
Laid down QQ, JJ, TT and AK, pre-flop, in various spots and was correctly behind on each occasion.
Pushed top pair holders off pots with drawing hands on a couple of occasions after creating a big stack and playing very aggressively.

Of course I lost a few hands too. But it was a profitable afternoon.

This was a very entertaining session. I seemed to generate a lot of comments without ever opening my mouth. When I started answering back the table relaxed and starting laughing more. One of the guys I rivered even offered me a "smoke" as I won him over again with a few jokes. I declined. Only in Las Vegas, huh!?

Profit: $860 (including stake elsewhere from yesterday which ran a profit)

Bellagio $1500 tomorrow and certain action later this evening at Orleans or a strip poker room.

I can't believe I'm half way into my trip tomorrow already. I think I must be having a good time! I do feel very relaxed. My aussie mate is good company and able to hold conversation about everything. The terrorist events back home are a concern, especially when I fly back on Friday. Hopefully things will calm down in the next few days and I won't be held up at Gatwick for hours.

Las Vegas Day Three: Attack of the pwns

2007-07-01T07:09:00.000+01:00

Today has been the best day to date in terms of gambling. I'm not going to detail amounts or the games played because this is a poker blog. However, we really destroyed the sportsbook this afternoon and also had a great session on the casino floor following a rough morning.

Alright, poker. I just had two hours at $1/$2 NL. Not very long for a live game but long enough to infict delicious pain upon the most gobby of young players. For once I correctly put somebody on a hand and I stuck to my guns under incredible pressure for all my chips.

I sat with $200 and steadily built this up into $320 when this hand occured.

One from the button I have QQ.
I make it $14 to go (I know I'm getting a caller or two, it's that type of game)
I get three callers. Button, SB and BB.
Flop: 9,9,3 - two clubs.

The blinds check it to me and I bet out $30.
Button folds.
SB re-raises to $70
BB folds.
SB has been pretty loose with some players so far and pushed them around. He could easily have A9 (he's a fish) or 9T. But he looks unsettled and then makes a few classic physical tells. I think he has TT at this stage. I call.

The turn: 3 - still two clubs
He bets out $80.
I call.

The river is a 2 - three clubs on board
I hate this card and it has me second guessing my original thoughts about his hand. It takes me a LONG time to call his all-in, which has me covered.

He had the Tens. I just love poker clarity. I don't care about the pot, big as it was for the game, I'm happy to have put someone on an exact hand from their betting pattern and their body language.

I got caught up in other sick gambling pursuits today and never got around to playing a tournament. I promise I'll get one in tomorrow (Sunday) before the $1500 at Bellagio on Monday.

Awaiting the results of my stake elsewhere for exact profit figures (poker only remember) but currently:

Profit: $330

Ok, it's not huge. Stay tuned, I'm just warming up.

Profit update

2007-06-30T16:18:00.000+01:00

Profit: -$110

Lots of tournaments to choose from today. So, breakfast, then poker all day and night.

Las Vegas Day Two: Sick at Binions

2007-06-30T04:06:00.000+01:00

This morning, after breakfast, I went to Binions. Poker hits you in the face the moment you walk through the door of this historic casino. Numberous tables are set out in various areas. At 9am, however, the place was very empty apart from a couple of cash games.

I played the 10am $50 freezeout. Very soon it was apparent this was a very soft tournament. The locals were great value though and they were clearly just enjoying their morning rather than getting too serious about the game. With 21 left I took a horrible beat. I hadn't had a hand throughout the tournament and was simply pushing players around. If my opponent didn't hit one of his two outs on the turn then I double up and probably final. Such is poker.

I took a stop at the Venetian after lunch. No poker. Just a few bets in the sportsbook. I'm still getting ID'd at bars, though. I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not. Anyway, I couldn't use my comp' drinks voucher because they "won't accept foreign driving licences as ID". Which is interesting as the cocktail waitress was happy to accept it. The sportsbook staff didn't bother. I guess the barman was just protecting his own rear. I let it drop. There's little point in arguing over something I wasn't paying for.

Back at Orleans I dropped $120 in the cash game. It was hard work and I just walked away after a couple of hours. I'll finish off my room service dinner and head back down soon.

Must play a proper tournament soon, before the $1500 at Bellagio. I'm in reasonable form. C'mon Poker Gods! One time!?

Loving Vegas so much, even when losing.

Profit update later when I hear how my stake elsewhere has run.

Las Vegas Day One: Delays!

2007-06-29T15:00:00.000+01:00

The M1 and the M25 during rush hour is not my favourite place to be. Despite leaving home at 5.45am it took a full 3 hours to complete a (usually) 2 hour trip. Grrrr! Gatwick airport was packed, as usual, but boarding was very smooth except the plane had no pilot. So we waited and waited and waited some more. Eventually they dragged a pilot out of the bar and he got a warm round of applause for making the effort of getting on board. I'm writing this first paragraph at 36,000 feet because when I land in Vegas I'll probably forget about how pissed off I am at the delays.

Finally we land in Las Vegas. Great! I can get off this plane and get stuck in to the action. Immigration had others ideas and they forced everybody to stay on the plane another 20 minutes whilst a different plane boarded their passangers.

Then the delights of US immigration. Put your left thumb in, your right finger out, in out, in out shake it all about. Actually it wasn't as bad as 2006, I think they are relaxing more when it comes to non-muslim Brits.

I arrived at Orleans feeling pretty fresh. I had been drinking plenty of water on the plane and it seemed to perk me up.

The "$20 trick" at registration worked to a point. I got a standard room but a great view of the mountains and swimming pool. (pic above)

Enough waffling. Let's get down to business. I had a three hour session at $1/$2 NL here at Orleans. The table had one good player and he appeared to have $1200 in front of him. I let him have my blinds for a few rounds. Then he shipped $150 to me when I hit the nut straight with K,Jo on the turn. He checked his AQ, two pairs, on the flop and a delightful T fell. I couldn't miss early and turned $200 into almost $400. Overly confident I then did my standard move of bluffing off the money with Jack high. D'oh. So I reloaded for $300 with the intention of getting to $500 and leaving for bed (24 hours without sleep at this stage). Some small pots put me on $340. I then got a break:

I raise to $12 utg with As5s(standard for this game)

next guy calls.

It's folded around for heads-up. So I'm praying for spades.

Flop: 5,5,2

I check.

He bets $25.

I raised to $100.

He calls.

Turn: 8

I move all-in. Trying to look like I'm buying it (exactly the same bluff move I did with J high about 30 mins before for my stack)

He insta-calls and I figure he must have the other 5 or has hit the 8 for the boat.

He has JJ.

No help on the river and I'm stacking nearly $700.

My Aussie mate also walked out a winner. I staked him for this game as I will with a few others so I got a boost of $60 extra. A nice solid start. Long may it continue.

Nothing changes here. There were 4 or 5 regulars that I recognised and even I remembered some of their play. I think I'm going to have some fun here over the next week.

Profits: +$240

Playboy Sky Villa, Palms

2007-06-25T13:18:00.000+01:00

Hugh Heffner and me, we're like that *crosses fingers*. What do you mean? "yeah right" !

Anyway, I'll be over at Hugh's Sky Villa at Palms on July 5th for a clean living, quiet sort of shin dig. I imagine everybody will be sipping luke warm water, or perhaps non-alcoholic beer, whilst enjoying a frantic game or two of scrabble.

http://palmsfantasy.vegas.com/hef/hef.html

I'll try and smuggle in a camera and take a few snaps of what is sure to be a very subdued evening. That's if I bother to go, of course! it sounds boring.

:-)

Next Stop Las Vegas...

2007-06-22T17:33:00.000+01:00

...and I'm playing like a donkey! The last time I was playing this bad was in February when I won the Mansion 100k. So expect a result or two from Vegas!

This trip is not Poker Heaven sponsored so I can pretty much do what I want for 8 days. I don't intend to play poker every waking minute because I'll burn out after a few days.

This is a semi-holiday for me. How good are Poker Heaven? btw. they're letting me take a month off in July to recharge and return for the busy August, Sept, Oct, onwards schedules. I'll also be going to Malta in July for a family holiday.

I haven't felt like I need a holiday for about 5 years. Taking everything into consideration I've been working my nuts off none stop for about 2 years now, with only the odd 3 or 4 day break squeezed in. When you take a break with your toddler son it becomes a holiday for him rather than you. So, this trip will involve lots of lie ins, food, drink and relaxed poker.

I'll keep a daily blog, maybe more than daily if I'm able. Hopefully I'll get a few photos in too.

I'll be playing at the Bellagio Cup III, Binions Festival and maybe a WSOP side event although I've heard so many complaints about the WSOP (again) this year that I'm not sure I'll bother blowing a chunk of money on that one. The cash games and the Bellagio Cup are much more appealing.

Live cash poker: a simple pleasure perspective

2007-06-05T17:19:00.000+01:00

Early last month I had some horrific news. My nephew/godson was diagnosed with a stomach cancer at the ripe old age of 3! That really knocked me back and I didn't play anything for a few weeks as poker seemed so trivial. As the news sunk in I got back into the groove with a live Omaha cash game. I really wasn't at all bothered about the outcome and quickly went £500 down before recovering to a much smaller loss at about 3am!

Off to Barcelona and a few tournaments and no good despite playing really well. No mistakes, lots of good plays and lay downs and not a sniff of a final! Barca is a nice place really. I had the pleasure to talking to Tony Chapman for a while, he seems a real gentleman.

Back to the UK and a £3k gtd game in Milton Keynes last weekend. I managed to get up to my old tricks in taking a huge chip lead then blowing it by making a few silly, half-assed bluffs. So I tried the wild cash game there (AKMK) and really haven't laughed so much in my life. Imagine the scene: Drunk guy with £600 in front of him (yum), club owner drinking what looked like fairy liquid whilst wearing an Elvis wig and sunglasses, M3Boy at the table with the scent of fish blood in his nostrals and the real Elvis on the stereo.

A small profit wasn't really what I enjoyed about the game. It was just SO MUCH fun to play in such a relaxed game. Despite getting a puncture on the way to the game I had a great day out which really lifted my spirits. The profit I made was absorbed by the £170 paid for a new run flat tyre, the old one may have saved my skin as it exploded at a speed that may have been slightly above the motorway limit, officer. I'm glad I was using run flats and not standard tyres, put it that way!

Small Acorns

2007-05-06T08:37:00.000+01:00

I'm running two "small acorn" bankrolls right now. That is, starting out with small amounts and trying to run them up into big bankrolls.

#1 started with £55. I won a 6Pac STT with that for £195. I withdrew that, took the money live and ran it up to £1100 from cash games.

#2 started with $85. I've kept this online. I won a $10 Pot Limit Omaha H/L rebuy a couple of days ago for $416. I've since won a few STTs and have nudged that up to over $600.

The point to this? Well, there are a couple of reasons. Everybody starts out playing low stakes poker (if they have any sense) when learning the game. These stakes SHOULD be the easiest around, littered with the most mistakes from new players. If my wage earning world ended tomorrow then I know I can grind out a living from low-mid stakes poker. Another reason is Jesus. As in Jesus Ferguson, he of lots of hair fame. I keep reading lots of "Jesus challenge" threads. Players starting out with a dollar and trying to turn it into $1000. It's all very +EV stuff. The most you'll lose is a dollar after all. I'm too lazy to start out with $1, however, so I used whatever "back of the sofa" money I've found around various sites.

Where do the small acorns end? In mighty oaks with any luck!

Live Cash

2007-04-22T09:14:00.000+01:00

I love live cash games. There is something "old school" about the whole thing. I love playing in Bearwood too. So, combine the two and I'm pretty much a happy bunny.

I went along to Bearwood with Northampton Ben on Wednesday. John Hopkins was there and a host of regulars. It was apparent within an hour how good Hopkin's game is so I tried to avoid tangling with him post-flop. Thankfully he left pretty early with a good profit.

Ben's game impressed me. One hand in particular, where he laid down Queens after re-raising and then facing my re-raise all-in, was very good. I had Kings and pretty much advertised the fact by opening my big fat mouth. Still, I took around £105 from the pot after Carol called for the value with T8, only just missing her straight.

All in all it was good fun and relaxing. I played for 6 hours and walked away with a reasonable profit. The game ran for another day (and night)! Sick addicts :-)

Hopefully I'll get plenty more live cash action this summer, including a trip to Vegas.

Cash Poker YTD Update

2007-04-09T19:40:00.000+01:00

YTD: $11,855

So, it's April. A third of the year has gone. To make the $50k challenge I need to win $12,500 per quarter. $11,855 is not too far off and I'm quite pleased really. Unless I find more playing time, however, I'm going to really struggle as summer hits and family, the WSOP, work and everything else claim more time from me. Still, I'll grind on.

I'm very pleased to say Poker Heaven are continuing their support of me on the live poker front. I've agreed a deal until 2008. In the next eight months I'll be travelling around looking for European Poker Heaven agents. Yes, Poker Heaven wants you!

Send me an email - paul@paulsandellspoker.com - and I'll tell you more about it. Wear the shirt, be a sponsored Poker Heaven agent in your country. Live the dream? Well.... maybe!

Poker Blogs or Not!

2007-03-27T09:20:00.000+01:00

I'm going to have a little whinge at some of my fellow poker bloggers today.

I use the term "poker bloggers" loosely. That's because many poker blogs, which probably started life with the very best intentions, have simply gone off on a tangent. A whole host of subjects were posted about in the last few days. Here, poker fans, is a selection:

Bookshelves
Vinyl records
Back injuries
LOTS of Youtube movies
Being drunk
Depression

The list goes on and on. It's becoming a struggle to find poker related posts in many poker blogs. C'mon poker bloggers! stop posting about every little thing that occurs in your life and concentrate on poker. Nobody cares about your furniture. I'm not interested in your mid life crisis. Step away from the keyboard!

Alright, so that's most of the poker bloggers offended. It's about time I caught up with my playing stats. Oddly, for me at least, I've kept pretty good records so far this year. In the next post I'll have a YTD update. 3 months of the year will be over with and I'll have an idea on where I stand in terms of cracking $50k from cash in 2007. Roughly, without checking the totals, I think I'm around $10k up. That'll leave me $10k short at the end of the year. Plenty of work to do yet, then!

Sweet Stockholm Cash

2007-03-26T09:59:00.000+01:00

I am at Arlanda airport in Stockholm, waiting for my flight back to Heathrow.

I managed a whole 2 hours in yesterdays tournament. What a disaster! I have no excuses really other than being very tired after only 3 hours sleep the night before. Bad preperation and poor ABC poker will not win many tournaments.

So I went to find some food after the game. Then headed back to my hotel for some sleep. A couple of hours shut eye was just what the doctor ordered. I headed back to the casino, refreshed.

There were a series of games running at Cosmopol. The big one appeared to be the 200-400 SEK PL Omaha. That is around 15 - 30 in Sterling. Too big for me, so I tried the 20 - 20 PL Hold em game instead. After a short period I was well ahead, enough to make the trip worthwhile and enough to leave me wondering why I keep playing tournaments!

Of course, I know why I play tournaments really. I know when I prepare properly I am quite useful. Preperation is the key.

It's almost April and a whole bundle of interesting events are popping up. I'm going to have a real crack at several tournaments next month before deciding on what to do about Vegas.

Stockholm

2007-03-24T16:54:00.000Z

Am I dedicated to the cause? I think so. I'm leaving for Heathrow in a couple of hours. My flight is at 7.30am on Sunday. However, as the clocks go forward an hour at 1am for British Summer Time, it's really 6.30am. Instead of driving in the early hours I'm going to stay at a cheap Heathrow hotel for the night, tonight, so I'll get a few hours sleep at least.

I'm flying so early because I'm due to play the 2000 SEK rebuy in Stockholm at 2pm on Sunday afternoon. After landing I have 2hrs and 50 mins to get to the hotel, check in, drop the bag and then find the casino. Then register and buy-in. If the flight is on time and Swedish customs don't get frisky there should be no problems. Otherwise I'll be trying to spin up my SEK in the cash games!

I know it's been an AGE since my last post. I'm sorry. I've been so busy of late that I'm struggling to find the time to breathe. The $24k win I had has just been sitting in the bank earning the pathetic amount of interest. My bank manager has been after me since that deposit cleared. Probably desperate to sell me something! Things are starting to settle down now so I'll get some time to decide on what to do with it. I'm going to buy a new car soon (I've been intending to for about 6 months) and will probably use it to buy something better than I otherwise might've bought.

Vegas is also on my mind. I doubt I'll be playing the main event this year but I really want to get out for a few side events.

My form is quite good right now. I had an online session in Poland last week (I was in Warsaw to provide updates for PokerNews.com on the EPT). Just to unwind, I thought I'd put in a hour at 50c/$1 NL. I started at around midnight and clocked off at 4am. So much for an hour! It was just so enjoyable to play ultra aggressive poker and not worry. I was very naughty in the chat box and eventually everybody was paying me off. I left with $580 ($80 sit down). The money isn't important, I was on a high from my game.

I'm looking forward to playing a card room full of Scandinavians. I like aggressive poker as it's so much more fun that rocking up and waiting for aces. Hey, it's a rebuy, so I'll get to play for 90 minutes at least (bank roll with standing!)

April is my final agreed month with Poker Heaven on my current deal. February was very good for business, March will hopefully be the same, but nothing lasts forever. I've been sponsored/backed on and off for the best part of two years now and it's been a part of my life I will never forget. The business of poker evolves at an incredible rate, though. Lately I have been recruiting agents for Poker Heaven in various European countries, I see this as the future for my relationship with PH and possibly something I will be concentrating on for the remainder of 2007, rather than the direct marketing I have been doing.

Enough waffling, I promise more posts in the future. Time to run as I have a meeting with two old friends: the M1 and the M25. Ohh great!

At last!

2007-02-12T12:40:00.000Z

Back on December 30th last year I set myself a few challenges for 2007. One of those challenges read: "Win an online MTT - I play so few of these, this will be a big ask"

I'm delighted to say I won an online MTT last night and quite a large one too!

On one of my rare visits to a different online poker room, I played in a $100,000 guaranteed tournament.

Here is the result:

http://www.paulsandellspoker.com/24k.jpg

I play so few online tournaments these days but, if you're a regular reader of my blog, you will have noticed I've been saying for some time that a result was not too far away. Finally, after months or average results, my cards stood up when I needed them too and I got lucky just enough to win the $24,000 1st place prize.

This is my biggest win to date.

Thank you to everybody who railed me during the final. I'm sorry I did not respond to chat - as a rule I have observer chat disabled - but I really appreciate your emails, MSNs, Skypes and forum posts of support. I didn't realise so many of you were following the game.

I'm off on holiday from today. What a great start to the week!

January Review

2007-02-02T13:18:00.000Z

YTD: $2180

January is over and, to be honest, things could've been worse. I switched to a different site for a few days to refresh my play. It worked a treat and I was paid off left, right and centre.

So the YTD fell short of what I need to win over a month (to hit the annual target) by 50%. It's early days, so I'll press on and hopefully catch up as we head into spring.

Heehaaw - Donkey Angel

2007-01-25T14:28:00.000Z

YTD: $1120

I had a great idea last weekend. I'd go out to PC World in the afternoon and pick up a cable which would allow me to play poker, via my PC, on a 40inch TV. The £5 investment cost me $1,000 in the end as I played horrible poker and got what I deserved on the tables.

What a donkey!

So, I've had a little break to regroup and ask myself a series of questions.

How is it after playing for 5 years online I can allow myself to play such utterly rubbish poker from time to time? These poor sessions cost me a chunk of bank roll and knock my confidence.

The game has changed rapidly in the last year. Players are now clued up so the dead money is harder to find. Am I wasting my time fighting for the scraps or can I improve enough to catch up to the same stage I was at in 2005 and early 2006?

Have I ran out of patience with tournaments? I can play perfect poker and go deep into tournaments but lose a crucial hand and fall just short of a cash. I can play horrible poker, like many other players, and miss out on the good fortune they enjoy.

The answers I came up with?

Everybody plays horrible poker from time to time. Some admit it and some blame their opponents. The trick is to realise when your head is "not right" and stop playing. Simple really! We'll see!!

I've played badly during tournaments at times, no doubt. However, there are so many instances when I've lost coin flips or 60/40s and 70/30 hands in the last 9 months - many just a handful of places from the final, I truly believe I'm not far away from a result. I play tournaments to win and perhaps that is my failing. I'm not interested in scraping into 10th with no chips. I don't believe in 2nd. I can't change that as I want to be the best at everything I do. This might not be the correct mindset for regular tournament results but I refuse to force myself to change.

I think the patience issue is all down to preperation. Right down to arriving at a good time so I'm relaxed, eating a sensible meal before playing and preparing myself for 12 hours of play. Occasionally I've taken early knocks and let it affect my play from then on. This is amateurish and something I'm working very hard to stop.

Have a good weekend

Yo-Yo Cash Grinding

2007-01-11T20:09:00.000Z

YTD: $1808

After a couple of days off I logged into Poker Heaven and lost $400 in 10 minutes. I almost got away from the offending hand in question. 7,T in the BB was looking very nice on a 7,7,4 flop. Sadly, the big stack had 4,4 and it all went in the middle. It was poor, amateurish play really. I like to think I was just a little rusty after a couple of days of not playing.

I left my loss on the table and moved to a new one. 50 mins of aggressive stealing and nut trapping later, I was $600 to the good. +$200 for the session overall. Phew, what a tough hour that was!

D'oh! No dough in Deauville

2007-01-08T21:38:00.000Z

YTD: $1577

The EPT in Deauville has been cancelled. I'm gutted, I've been planning my trip for a few days now.

Instead, the EPT are holding a leg in Warsaw, Poland in March. The buy-in appears to be €4,000 with a 300 player capacity. I've never been to Poland so will try and work this tournament in, despite a tournament in Sweden in March! Get me Airmiles on the phone!

My yearly target needs to find $137 per day to be met. With 8 days gone I'm averaging $197, this despite a loss yesterday. A nice start but very early days.

No D'ohs in Deauville please!

2007-01-04T23:02:00.000Z

YTD: $1,487

I'm going to play in my first ever EPT this year. A bold step for someone in a poor run of tournament form.

I'd like to play in all the major poker events at some point and Deauville in February seems as good a place as any to try an EPT.

This month I'll be nipping over to Paris and also playing some UK events. Later in the year I should get over to Sweden. I'm looking forward to taking on the tough Scandies hugely! Hopefully some of my Finnish poker friends will make the trip and we can have a good few days taking on the Swedes!

YTD carries on at a steady rate. I need roughly $4,000 per month to meet my target.

1 down, 49 to go

2007-01-02T15:08:00.000Z

YTD: $1,067

It's been a good start. One step on the ladder complete, just forty nine more to go!

My last session was at just $1/$2 NLHE, about as low as I play online. I joined with half the max. buy-in, $100. I'd love to claim I outplayed everybody but that would be a lie. The deck simply hit me in the face and I caught a few lucky flops.

No complaints. Long may the luck continue!

Happy New Year - The $50k quest

2007-01-01T12:32:00.000Z

YTD: $601

Happy New Year.

I've begun my quest for $50,000 from the cash games at Poker Heaven. The truth is: I started this on Dec 30th and I'm way ahead of the 600 bucks quoted in the Year To Date, at the top of this post. However, this is the new year so the figure starts from today.

I hope you're all looking forward to 2007 and have many exciting plans for the year ahead.

A challenging 2007

2006-12-30T16:25:00.000Z

I hope you've all had a great 2006 on Poker Heaven and whilst playing on and offline in general.

It's been a very interesting time for me. I've spent the whole year as Poker Heaven's "rep" around the U.K, Europe and even during a brief trip out to Vegas. I've met so many interesting people, many of whom have become friends. I've appeared on television dozens of times.... alright, once - but it's been repeated dozens of times!!

Playing wise, I had a great start to 2006, with tournament cashes in January and March. I played some horrible poker during the middle of the year and suffered a string of poor results because of that. Towards the end of the year my game improved but my luck didn't. On the cash tables, especially online, the profits have been very regular. I've discovered poker outside of casino card rooms is incredible fun. I've discovered many people profess to being expert "pokerists" when few actually are. I've discovered $10 buy-ins are just as much fun as $10,000 buy-ins.

My job as Editor of UK Poker News takes up most of my day to day free time. It hampered my efforts to play more online.... that leads me on to the subject of this post:

If you've read my blog posts, both here and on my previous pages, you'll know I enjoy a challenge when it comes to poker. So here are my challenges/goals for 2007. Hopefully by 2008 I will be able to look back at these and check them all off the list!

- Win another live MTT (over 10 players!)
- Final in another Euro ranking event
- Win at least $50,000 from cash games online
- Win an online MTT - I play so few of these, this will be a big ask.

I hope you all have a peaceful New Year and are ready for some fun, drama and profits from the world of poker in 2007.

Aging Angel

2006-12-15T17:00:00.000Z

Your Poker Angel is 30 on Monday (18th). One step closer to the non-poker heaven!

To celebrate the milestone, I'll mostly be driving around in one of these:

Never let it be said I'm not flash.

Enjoy your weekends.

Sound of the underground

2006-12-08T16:49:00.000Z

After last weekend's near miss at The Sportsman, I was still hungry for live tournament poker this week so headed to a private club in Birmingham for a game.

How about this for a structure:

5,000 starting chips with 1 rebuy or add-on for 5,000 more.

75/150 level included on 30 min clock.

The buy-in? Just £20. I've played in €1,000 events that are less friendly than that.

Six hours later and the ten runners are down to three. Admittedly this was a pot limit game but even so, what great value for money for the smaller budget! What a lovely atmosphere too, lots of laughs and no stress. I've cashed in the two events I've played at this great place, perhaps a more laid back approach to bigger games will pay dividends.

Underground poker is great fun.

Have a good weekend.

Playing great but low on luck

2006-12-04T14:46:00.000Z

I really think I'm playing the best tournament poker I've ever played right now. Results will suggest otherwise, of course!

I headed out to Slovenia at the end of November. I never took my eye off the ball in the two events I played yet couldn't progress further than the low 30s from the 85 runners in each tournament.

After examining my play afterwards, I was struck by the small number of errors I had made. I could count one mistake from 10 hours of poker. So, although I'd flown across Europe and returned home with no results, I was very happy with how I played overall.

See my website for a full report of the Slovenia games - The flight out was... interesting! (full report will be online at some point between Dec 4 - 9)

Last Friday I caught the train down to London to play the final leg of the Paddy Power UK Tour. It was a £100 rebuy. The structure wasn't great, no 150/300 level, but the 30 min clock could've been worse I suppose.

I only took an add-on and had 6,900 chips after the break with blinds on 200/400. I was very patient and, hand on heart, have never played a better tournament in my life in a live card room.

With 12 to go, I was eliminated with QQ vs AK. 10 were paid. I had 24,000 chips at that stage with the chip leader on around 90,000. Had I doubled up there I would have backed myself.... such are the margins in tournament poker.

Earlier I knocked out Koresh, the Iranian you see on Late Night Poker repeats. He was quite short stacked, but even so, that was a little positive for me to take from the game. Infact, I knocked out a number of players, sadly they were all short stacks!

I am delighted with my play here. Poker can be a foggy old business but I felt clarity in this event. Although I'm gutted I didn't final I know if I play this well in each event it'll be a question of when rather than if.

More bubbles

2006-11-09T17:24:00.000Z

I got pretty close in Riga. I was knocked out in 10th for that deliciously painful final table bubble!

The weather is starting to get pretty cold out there now. I've no idea how those people go through winters of -20C and huge amounts of snow.

I've been playing some low stakes tournaments online and things have been going pretty well. I've reverted to a "back to basics" style of poker. It's paying off. Some players have told me I think too much, especially in the early stages of tournaments when the more ABC style of poker is in play. I totally agree and I'm working hard to improve every area of my game.

This weekend I'm off to Belgium. 4 hours crossing the channel should be.. err... interesting!

Grinding away

2006-10-22T14:49:00.000+01:00

I appear to have stopped the online rot of late. After dropping down a few stake levels I'm finding life much more comfortable. The profits are surprisingly regular and more than I would have expected earlier in the year when I was playing at higher buy-ins. The grind is not all bad.

So, I'm off to Latvia with Mrs Angel this week. Regular readers of this blog will remember I went to Riga earlier this year and suffered a horrible two outter beat just as the game was reaching the interesting stages.

I like the Baltics. The players are pretty friendly, in the main, once they get used to you. Meals and drinks are always good value and the hotels, even the better ones, are always reasonably priced and very clean.

Stay tuned for news of this tournament when I return on Oct 28th at my web site - http://www.paulsandellspoker.com

Cash or tournaments?

2006-10-08T10:02:00.000+01:00

Many players, who have been around the block once or twice, will tell you that it's tough, almost impossible, to be a successful cash game player and tournament player at the same time.

I think it's very true that both require different approaches, but I'm not so sure it's tough to be successful at both - especially if you're playing the same format, No Limit Hold'em, for example.

The basics of the game are the same. A different stance is clearly required, though. Cash games seem to inspire more aggression, you can (or should be able to!) reload after all. Tournaments, in freezeout form, offer only one chance and players are generally tighter because of that.

Then there are re-buy tournaments. Which, in many places, are akin to playing bingo during the re-buy period!

Last year I was profitable at both cash and tournaments. Infact, even into early 2006 I was running pretty well at both. Right now, I'm still picking off the cash game tables but have found the tournaments hard going.

It's hard to tell which end of the variance stick I'm being poked with. Long term, am I a profitable player at both? - in which case I'm just in a downswing for tournaments right now. Am I a profitable cash game player who just had a hot run in tournaments for a while? - in which case I should give up on tournaments and play cash only.

When I think about these questions I always fall back on the same answer. My sample size is too small. I really don't think you can judge your success in tournaments until you've played hundreds, maybe 500 or so, games. I guess it'll take several years to get a more accurate picture.

Cash game samples, on the other hand, can quickly accumulate into thousands of hours. If you play enough you can get an accurate picture of how good your cash game is after only 6 months or so. I'm happy with my overall cash performance.

I'm hoping to play 15 - 20 more live tournaments for Poker Heaven in the next 6 months. Keep reading my website and blog to see how I get on.

Tournament chills

2006-09-17T08:46:00.000+01:00

I'm in a serious cold tournament spell right now. Last weekend I ran into Aces twice in two seperate tournaments. Both times I hit a none-scary flop with my big over pair. Both times I busted out.

I really feel for the guys who play week in, week out, to earn a living. Excluding the recent TV result, it's been around 12 tournaments since my last cash. My target is to cash once in every five or six tournaments. Clearly 12 is not good enough. That said, the sample size is really too small to judge if I'm running cold or just not good enough.

I know from reading the blogs of other players, who play much more than me, that runs of 10, 20 or 30 tournaments without a result are all too common. So, I'm not really too depressed about the recent poor form. I'm not going to play anything other than my usual game. Maybe with a little luck and a following wind I'll make the money again.... one day!

Gwlad, Gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad

2006-09-05T18:45:00.000+01:00

Don't worry, I didn't collapse on to the keyboard. I'm off to Wales this weekend to take on the masters of Swansea.

"Gwlad, Gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad" comes from the Welsh national anthem. Very catchy it is too.

My last trip to Wales was to Cardiff. A friendly place, if you're Welsh. I remember ordering a sandwich and a drink at the bar pre-tournament. I then turned my back to watch the rugby on a near by screen. Within a minute both were waiting on the bar for me. Maybe they called me over for them in Welsh, or didn't say anything at all. Either way, I was impressed at the speed of service and rudeness of the staff in equal measure.

One other thing struck me on my last trip to the land of leeks and sheep. The Severn Bridge. An awe-inspiring piece of engineering. However, it's also a toll road. So, you have to pay to get into Wales but to leave, it's free! The cheek of it!

Anyway, I'm "gwlad" to be returning to Wales. I just hope no Welsh players read this before I get there.

Money for your trash

2006-08-25T17:38:00.000+01:00

It amuses me when I read poker forums and the subject turns to trash talk. The attention often shifts to the players highlighted in the media as "bad boys". Mike "the mouth", Tony G, and Hellmuth all get the usual slating. The threats, the "I wouldn't be able to stop myself hitting him" posts, etc. It's clear that the behaviour of some players goes completely over the heads of these posters.

I won't explain it here. Instead, I'll go into an experiment I've been running for the last 5 days.

I've been playing a lot of $2/$4 NLHE. Normally I will say very little at a poker table, either on-line or B&M. For the last 5 days I've turned into the type of nightmare, trash talking fool that everybody loves to hate... on purpose!

Without crossing the line from "wind up" to abusive, I've probably made more enemies at the poker table in the last 5 days than the last 5 years. The crazy and, perhaps sad, thing is this type of trash talking works! Never have I been paid off in so many pots. Players start gunning for you, calling you down with 2nd or 3rd pair. Of course, when they missed I stepped up the wind ups even further.

On Wednesday, one player who donked off $500 to me would not reload, instead he insisted I play him at $10/$20 heads-up!

Today another guy, who was actually level for the session, told me how he'd make me "eat my forearm" if I was at the same live table as him. A little harsh, I was only making donkey noises!

Ok, it's not big and it's not clever. But never, never, let anybody tell you it's a waste of time. Players cannot resist trying to bust the idiot who says "heeeehaaaaw!" when they lose a pot.

Have a good weekend.

Free Money

2006-08-20T19:19:00.000+01:00

...well kinda!

I have a $1,000 freeroll tournament on Poker Heaven, starting at 17:00GMT on Sept 3rd.

If you have a Poker Heaven account which you acquired from my website (paulsandellspoker.com) then you can join in. Just play 50 hands between now and the start date.

Ohh.. there is a $100 bounty on me too.

Hop over to http://www.paulsandellspoker.com and get your account today to take part.

The bright lights of Sheffield

2006-08-13T14:23:00.000+01:00

Enough of this boring Las Vegas talk, lets get back to the glitz and glamour of the UK poker circuit. Sheffield is the next stop on my travels.

Napoleons Casino is a very "old school" casino/card room. Dodgy table surfaces, cramp playing conditions and smoke that creates a fog thicker than a Las Vegas hamburger. It's so bad, it's good!

I feel my game is improving as this year progresses. I'm certainly due a good B&M result. I hope the lung damage I will suffer in Sheffield will be repaid by a victory.

I will be playing a lot of UK poker tournaments over the next few months. If you spot me in my Poker Heaven shirt then say hello!

Leaving Las Vegas

2006-08-06T04:19:00.000+01:00

I've been back over to The Venetian today and also dropped by Wynn. I was expecting Wynn to have a huge card room for some reason. It's pretty small really, I'd say the much less-plush Orleans has a bigger/better poker scene going. Negreanu likes it so, it must be good?

It's my last night in Vegas. Overall, apart from my WSOP, it's been a good trip. Had I just played $1/$2 NLHE at Orleans each day I'd be well ahead. One day I will learn that blackjack is for mugs if you're not a counter!

I hope I get the chance to come over here and play in the WSOP again. The tournament really owes me a good run of cards. Fingers crossed for 2007.

Back to normality from Monday. I have some tournaments lined up in the UK for August. I'm looking forward to getting up to Bolton for their festival and also returning to the fog that is Napoleons in Sheffield.

From Las Vegas to Bolton. It's not all glamour, clearly.

Out & About in Vegas

2006-08-03T08:02:00.000+01:00

It's been four years since I was last in Vegas. One of the things I like about this city is the variety you find in the hotels. Yesterday I visited The Bellagio, just prior to the $1,000 daily tournament starting. Mr Willie Tann gave me a friendly nod and I had a chat to Simon Trumper. Also trying their luck were TJ Cloutier and Iwan Jones. Not the easiest looking field, you might say!

The Bellagio is a stunning building. I will try and visit again during the cool of an evening to see the fountains. I remember them from four years ago. Amazing stuff.

I also stopped in The Venetian. Simply stunning.

And so, back to slumming it in The Orleans. The cash game was tougher today, I spent almost the entire time recouping a loss. Not fun, not fun at all, but a good lesson in patient chip building.

Mrs Angel is coming out for a break tomorrow. A few days away from poker will be welcome.

More Orleans Cash

2006-07-31T00:30:00.000+01:00

Sunday in Vegas seems like the day that everybody goes home. Every time I walk around the lobby there are people with cases checking out. Not many are looking happy. I wonder if they are sad to be leaving Vegas or sad to be leaving their money in Vegas?

Anyway, I dragged myself into the Orleans card room again today to play $1/$2 NLHE. After yesterdays brutal WSOP it's tough to get motivated. Some faces are beginning to get familiar. Two dealers from the WSOP frequent the Orleans. They are very handy and not players I like to tangle with in pots. One or two Brits are also popping up and I've enjoyed some success playing against my fellow countrymen.

After 3 hours my stomach was calling out for food so I left the table almost $300 to the good for the session. A little pain relief for my WSOP hang over.

I'm starting to wonder why I play tournaments. Sure, I get a few results but it seems my style is so more much suited to cash games.... maybe I'm just running good at cash right now and after a beating I'll change my mind!?

I have a few hours before tonights $75 tournament at Orleans. The mid-day tournament here (same buy-in) attracted a nice prizepool with $2500 to the winner. I'm going to grab a nap then try my luck, I surely can't do worse than the WSOP!

WSOP Day One

2006-07-30T00:57:00.000+01:00

Wow, it's busy here! There are seemingly more poker fans than poker players at The Rio today. If you were dubious about how popular poker is then a walk around here today will confirm everything to you.

The pic is me playing today in the WSOP main event, sadly I didn't last as long as I hoped to. I had Aces cracked twice and had to lay down a big hand (Kings) when I was clearly losing. Eventually, I was short stacked and moved with AK. I was called by A9. The Ace on the flop looked good for a double up but the 9 on the turn was simply following suit with the rest of the hands I'd played.

Sometimes, in poker, it's not your day.

I'm really enjoying Vegas. There is so much poker going on it's hard to decide where to go. I have a few days left here yet so I'm going to try and win one of the daily multi's before coming back to the UK.

Hope you're all having a good weekend.

Parties, Poker & Pasta

2006-07-28T22:03:00.000+01:00

I headed over to The Rio last night, after a mid-afternoon luncheon with some poker news types, to collect my ticket for the main event. "Busy" does not do things justice when trying to describe the poker building at The Rio.

In attendance were a variety of online poker rooms and their most attractive ladies, all attempting to give you a free calender and lure you into handing over your email address.

I register, had a drink at the bar and left. There are parties everywhere here, it's crazy. One famous poker room had two ladies painting themselves (their bodies, not each other on canvas!)in the entrance to the party lounge.

I hit the Orleans $1/$2 NLHE tables again after breakfast today. The play was tougher but I still came out ahead before lunch. I'm enjoying playing here hugely. The atmosphere is very relaxed, nobody gets upset by tiny errors, there is a lot of laughter around the tables. UK card rooms (and players) take note!

I'm tucking into my pasta lunch (very healthy!) right now before heading out to another party for journalists/media across town.

It's a hard life, you know!?

$1/$2 No Limit Hold 'Em - The Orleans

2006-07-27T21:09:00.000+01:00

I managed to get a nice breakfast at a French place here at The Orleans. Sausage and tomato omelette, toast and lots of coffee. Lovely!

So, at 8am, the itch became too tempting to scratch and I headed to the card room. Only three tables were running, two of which were $1/$2 NLHE. I bought into one table with $200 and picked up two pots in three hands. Q,Ks on hand #1 made a full house on the turn, I milked it with a small raise which was called but my river bet was too much for my Costa Rican pal. Hand #3 was pocket Aces - $50 more, thank you very much.

After 3hours and 30 mins I walked away with $435 - not bad for my first crack at the cash tables. The time flew by, I must have been having too much fun.

I'm going to get a little rest then head over to The Rio for dinner/lunch/afternoon tea at Bamboleo's. I hear the poker isn't great at The Rio despite it being the location for the WSOP - however, I may go over to Caesers Palace and check out the action there.... jet lag permitting!

It's Thursday, but not as we know it

2006-07-27T12:28:00.000+01:00

Greetings from Las Vegas.

I'm suffering the dreaded jet lag. I managed to stay awake until 7.30pm last night. That's 3.30am in old money. I've been awake since 3.20am (in new money). What day is it again?

Anyway, Las Vegas is a little warm, 38C apparently. It feels more like 48C. So, time outside is being limited to the absolute minimum. Thankfully the air con is fierce.

I had a look around The Rio last night. Eventually finding what looks like the playing area. The Orleans card room seems a little more appealing though, I think I'll be in there for a while today. I wonder if anybody will be playing in there currently, at 4.30am? Maybe I can find an extra early breakfast somewhere then check it out.

Players spotted not playing so far: Sammy Farha - chatting to a young lady at a slot machine & Ian Woodley - on his knees at the airport waiting for his suitcase.

Leaving on a jet plane

2006-07-25T11:57:00.000+01:00

...don't know when I'll be back again.

(Maybe August)

That's the problem with the WSOP, especially for foreign players. You don't want to chance fate and book a hotel for the entire length of the main event, just incase you bomb out on hand 1! Neither do you want to book just a few days and have the hassle of changing rooms OR hotels if you're running good.

I've booked to leave on a day when I'll be well in the money, if I'm still in! I figure I won't be too bothered about moving around if I'm looking at a big pay day.

There are flights to consider too. Again, if I've cashed it won't be too much hassle to book a new return flight... I hope!

Hopefully I'll be back on August 12th/13th with a shiny bracelet and a suitcase full of money. Hey, it's only an 8000/1 shot!

The Brits are in form, finalling and, in John Gale's case, winning at the WSOP. I hope some form will rub off on me.

Poker on TV

2006-07-19T14:45:00.000+01:00

Myself and a few other players from Poker Heaven just played a team Speed Poker event for television.

It was a fun day out, a great experience. Sky Sports will screen it in August. Tune in!

$20,000 Freeroll

2006-07-12T17:17:00.000+01:00

I've just noticed Poker Heaven have a $20,000 freeroll on August 13th.

All you have to do is play 50 raked hands and you can qualify via the daily satellites.

Download Poker Heaven and get registered, this is huge value!!

Good luck.

Vegas Approaching

2006-07-09T19:06:00.000+01:00

Is it really only two week + change until Vegas? I can't wait to get out there. I'm in the worst form of my poker life but there are signs things are slowly turning around.

I'm in "grind mode" until I get out to LV. You'll see me on Poker Heaven at $1/$2 - $3/$6 NLHE on a regular basis for the next few weeks. I leave on July 26th.

What I am noticing amongst many in the online poker community is a resentment to some players who are progressing in their poker careers. I'm proud to be part of Team Poker Heaven and love pulling on the black shirt for my sponsored events. Because of that I am open to judgement from all quarters, mainly from players who consider themselves better than me. I don't profess to be the best poker player in the world, I'm just good enough to make a profit and I'm lucky to have a great deal with Poker Heaven.

So, the next time you see a sponsored player, online or otherwise, cut them a little slack. They are just players trying their best like you. Envy is not a pretty thing.

Have a good week.

Goodnight Vienna

2006-06-29T19:10:00.000+01:00

Vienna was another wash out for me. Despite a good first session I had a horrible blow up in session 2 and was hailing a taxi before the sun was down.

I am stuck in a rut right now, both online and B&M. Only in the last few days have I turned things around but it's been a long old ride. I'm hoping the recent good run is the start of me being back on track.

I understand variation, that it's possible to have prolonged good runs and prolonged bad runs. With Vegas less than a month away now, it would be a very good time to hit one of the prolonged good runs!

I will be staying at the Orleans hotel from the 26th. No matter how the main event goes I am looking forward to the whole experience hugely.

Guter Tag von Österreich

2006-06-21T20:51:00.000+01:00

Is this Vienna or Vegas?

I arrived in Austria at 6pm local time and stepped into a desert like heat. After leaving London, in pretty average weather, I was welcomed with a blast furnace upon stepping off the BA Airbus at Vienna International.

"Luuuck my friend, 32 degrees!" exclaimed the taxi driver. "Luuuck" I almost replied "32lbs of weight lost in sweat on your back seat, now turn on the aircon!"

Anyway, it's hot, just incase you haven't guessed.

I'm playing in the €500 NL game here tomorrow at Concorde Card Casino. I've heard it's a smokey place to play poker. I just hope they've got aircon or I'll be forced to play in my underwear. Now that'd be a bad beat!

Irish Poker Tour - III

2006-06-05T13:08:00.000+01:00

It's the final day of the festival here in Dublin today. The €300+€30 NLHE starts at 4pm.

I'm in pain today. Your Poker Angel has frost bitten fingers, a result of playing in the €400+€40 last night. Although I progressed further than the €800 from the night before, it was a real struggle.

My lot was not a happy one when I had JJ cracked by Q4o - The gentleman with Q4o calling my big raise pre-flop and hitting trip 4s. That crippled me but a few aggressive rounds later I had half of my stack back. Then with only x6 the BB and on the last hand before dinner I moved in on the button with a raggy Ace. I was called, as you might expect, by Ace,Ace. Still, there was no need for me to rush back after the meal!

I'm currently in the coldest tournament run I've ever had. I know these things come in spells and eventually I'll hit a hot patch. So, I'll be out there again at 4pm, a new day, a new chance.

Never let anybody tell you playing poker for a living is an easy life!

Irish Poker Tour - II

2006-06-04T11:27:00.000+01:00

How can I put this?....

Last night didn't go entirely to plan.

The €800 game started 30 mins late. No big deal. I was delighted to see all the big guns were not at my table and even more delighted to see some wild play very early on.

I picked up one or two small pots early with little effort. Within 30 mins I'd split and labelled the table up into 5 very passive players who would limp and call any raises. 3 rocks who I was tempted to check for a pulse and 1 maniac.

Maniac walked first after paying off one of the passive players who rivered a flush. Sadly it wasn't long before I followed.

I picked up QQ under the gun and raised x4 (400). I was tempted to limp and hope for a raise but figured a standard approach should be enough at this stage. River flush man looked tempted to re-raise but just called. Everybody else folded.

Flop: T,9,2 rainbow.

This is a pretty good flop for me. There is no flush draw. There is a possibility of a straight draw for my opponent but I could be holding two of his outcards with the QQ. I bet 1200. He calls.

I don't like the call here but having witnessed his gambling for the flush earlier I put him on JT or AT.

Turn: 4 - making two hearts on the board.

I still feel I'm ahead and decide to reach deep and end this hand to stop him drawing or hitting two pairs. I bet 2500.

I'm stunned when my opponent raises to 10,000. I have around 60% of my stack in the middle now and I really felt he had top pair with the turn making a flush draw for him. After a moment I decide to call for the rest of my stack. He fips over a set of Tens. D'oh!

I'm usually pretty good at putting players on hands but this time I was a country mile out!

The river was no help for me. This could have been an excellent tournament with a structure that I felt really suited my game. I fell in love with two ladies very early on, a recipe for disaster.

It's the €400 event at 6pm. I intend to progress a little further in that one.

Irish Poker Tour

2006-06-03T16:42:00.000+01:00

I've been in Dublin for 24 hours now. My home until Tuesday is the City West Hotel - a country golfers hotel, very nice too.

Here, basking in the Irish sunshine, are: The Hendon Mob, Mel Judah, Padraig Parkinson, Rory Liffey... pretty much every touring European player. Also, Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry and Matthew Stevens have swapped their usual green coloured table for the blue ones in the City West Hotel convention room.

The main event is currently into day 2 as I write. In a little over an hour I take my seat in the €800+€80 event. A nice friendly structure should mean a very long tournament. Even this side event has a day 2 (tomorrow afternoon) such is the number of players here.

I hope the cards are as hot for me as the weather.

Enjoy your weekends.

Heads-up - forget about your cards

2006-05-24T12:42:00.000+01:00

I've just completed another stint of heads-up poker.

Playing from stakes $50 - $200. I managed to win 13 from 15, again! After winning 12 in a row I felt like the superman of heads-up poker. Of course, I relaxed and lost the next two before calling it a day after game 15.

This on the back of a disappointing trip to Barcelona. I wasn't there to play the WHUPC, I entered a €1000 NL game instead. After winning 12 heads-up games in a row I was rather regretting not giving the big B&M game a shot.

Heads-up poker is such a great, quick way of profiting at poker. Games rarely outlast 15 mins.

Lets say you are playing 4 $200+$20 heads-up games per hour:

4 x $220 = $880 in buy-ins.

On average you are winning 3 from 4

3 x $400 = $1200 in winnings

That's $320 per hour. If you can multi-table and win a consistent 3 from 4.... well, that's a heck of a lot of cash!

My strategy is almost exactly the same as in any standard cash game. I will always question what my opponent has. I will ask questions of my opponents by raising them in the early stages when my stack cannot be hurt too much. My own cards are secondary thoughts unless I have a very big hand and I'm considering how to get paid.

Try the heads-up games on Poker Heaven by selecting the link on the left.

Heads-up and up and up

2006-05-15T18:09:00.000+01:00

I've decided, I love heads-up poker on-line.

Of course, I love every variation of poker that I've just had a winning streak at. I've played 15 heads-up games in the last few days, winning 13 of them. I know, it's a small number and I could easily go through 13 losses in the next 15 to even things up.

Still, if you have any ideas of progressing in poker, you should try and perfect your heads-up game. If you play tournaments then you'll hope to reach the latter stages of an MTT at some stage. Heads-up practice could mean the different between 2nd and 1st and thousands, if not millions (if your at the WSOP) of Dollars.

It's quite easy to play dozens of heads-up games in a day. If you are profitable then this could mean a very good income. Although, you might find a daily heads-up grind quite.... grindy!

Poker Heaven have lots of heads-up tables. Click the link on the right and join in the fun.

Free education

2006-04-28T15:03:00.000+01:00

Why is it that more and more players are intent on educating others at the table, these days?

It seems everywhere I go, both online and live, there is some "loud mouth" who has too much to say about other peoples play.

An example:
Yesterday I'm playing in one of the $5/$10 No Limit Hold'em games on Poker Heaven. I sit down with half the maximum buy-in as few players here have the full $1,000 sit down in front of them. Quite soon it is apparent one player is very active, limping in pre-flop and betting every flop. This player outdrew a guy with pocket Queens with his King,Ten by hitting a straight. His play was pretty bad but he was quite short stacked on around $200 and a loose player like this will almost always take more chances. Pocket Queens guy, of course, flew into a rage! Delivering a tirade of abuse towards Mr Loose and then explaining why he shouldn't be in the hand.

I was gob smacked. As were a few other experienced players. Trying not to be too obvious with our motivations we (myself and two others) explained to Queens man that perhaps he would benefit more from saying nothing.

His ranting will almost certainly result in one of two things happening.

1 - Mr Loose will read his messages, be embarrased and start playing premium hands only. He will "rock up" and make it harder for players to take his, seemingly, freely available money.

2 - He will simply leave. Satisfied he has made an impact on somebody or perhaps upset that he should be on the recieving end of a verbal assault. Again taking the money away from the table.

So, I ask you readers, if you take a beat from what you consider to be a poor player, please say nothing. I know it's frustrating but you must see the bigger picture in poker, as with everything in life. In the long run you'll need players to play poorly against you. This is how you will make profits from playing poker. It's impossible for these players to not get lucky against you at some point.

Don't give out a free education. Keep your mouth shut. Step away from the keyboard!

No action when I want it. Action when I don't

2006-04-28T14:50:00.000+01:00

Vilnius was unusually summer like. The whole trip was a great experience, despite this being my 3rd time in the capital of Lithuania, apart from the poker, which I will get on to in a moment.

I've been to many parts of Northern Europe in the last few years. Both on holiday and for the more serious matter of playing poker! After recently taking a break in Iceland I had decided that nowhere on earth has more beautiful women than Reykjavik. I was wrong. Finland has the most beautiful women in the world or, at least I thought so, after visiting last December. I was wrong. Vilnius, when the sun is, has the most beautiful women in the world!

...not that I was looking you understand?

After dinner in the nearby hotel, I headed into Olympic Casino to take my seat. Disappointingly the field was pretty small. Yet, it contained a wide variety of nationalities. Some British players had made the trip alongside other Baltic state nationals.

I was surprised to find many of the Baltic players recognised me and gave me a friendly nod or a "hello". Maybe they were secretly pleased that the dead money had turned up again?

The tournament was a disaster for me. In the first two levels I had pocket Tens which picked up a small pot. I was totally card dead apart from that hand. I remained patient and told myself "It's still early, you have a lot of chips, take your time". In level three my cards improved. However, each time I made a raise with a legitimate hand everybody folded. I tried to take advantage of this by raising more than I should. Of course, each time I was "at it" I was called down. Eventually, short stacked and somewhat frustrated at my lack of luck in picking the right spots, I moved in with KT on a T high board. My opponent had flopped the straight. Taxi!

So, the poker wasn't so good, I could have remained a little more patient.

The scenery was great!

Brighton Bubble

2006-04-19T19:26:00.000+01:00

Is there a more painful experience in poker than finishing on the bubble?

Give me cracked Aces on hand 1, quads over quads, a seat next to Sweaty McArmpit, anything but the bubble!

After 5 hours down the poker mines of Rendezvous Casino in Brighton, hammering away at the £200+£20 coal face, I was out. 14th, with 12 paid. Not quite the unlucky 13th which must be even more deliciously painful, but still... so close, yet so far.

I had a very solid game, moved in for all my stack once and doubled up, knocked a few players out, etc. With 18 to go I was in 8th or 9th. I was bluffed out of a big pot with JJ by a maniac and never regained a steady foot hold after that.

I've never been knocked out this close to the money before. At this stage, in 18th, I would of backed myself to cash heavily. Another experience which I will store in the memory banks for next time.

This weekend I'm on my travels to Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Open is the venue. I'm going there to win. A cash is fine but I will not be satisfied until I have all the chips, the trophy and a roll of Litas in my pocket.

Summer Breeze, makes me feel fine

2006-04-12T13:40:00.000+01:00

... or at least it did last year, in the Rendezvous Casino Summer Breeze festival. I finalled there and walked away with 3 bags of sand + change. (£3,200)

I'm heading back down to Brighton this Easter weekend for a crack at the £200+£20 Sussex Masters. Several people have pointed out I must be crazy though.

- I'm taking a 3hr car journey on an Easter weekend. As will millions of other people.
- The weather is due to be pretty good. Meaning more millions will be on the roads.
- I'm taking the family. A 3 year old boy will soon be irritated in the traffic jams.
- The hotels put their prices up and demand you stay for min. 3 days. I'm only playing one event.

The things we do for poker huh?

I've been grinding away at the cash tables for the last week. Pot Limit Omaha and PLO H/L have been especially kind to me. If you haven't tried these variations of poker yet then Poker Heaven is a great place to start. The stakes aren't too high and the play isn't too hectic. Take a shot!

Have a great Easter.

Poker giveth and poker taketh away

2006-04-03T19:46:00.000+01:00

It's been one of those weeks at Angel Towers. Everything was running smoothly for me at my usual games, I was picking up pots, losing the odd one (of course) but generally ending sessions in profit. Same old.

Mid-way into the week I had a brainstorm. I decided to take on one of the best Omaha players in the UK in a cash game. It was an ugly, yet swift, death. I can hold my own at Omaha, even into the middle stakes I am profitable. It can't be that different at the top, can it? Well... yes. Lesson learnt and fingers burnt, I pushed on at my usual NLHE games and clawed a little back. Finally on Sunday evening about 8 hours play after my session with Mr Omaha, I'm still down (yes, 30 minutes of Omaha put me that much in the hole) but not by much.

A new week, the sun was high in the sky today (I always play better when it's sunny) I was feeling good and I steam rolled everybody in my path. I won't mention the figures but, it's been a huge turn around, for me at least.

I'm looking forward to the rest of April hugely.

Ohh... did I mention I'm going to the WSOP main event this year? If you're there, tap me on the shoulder and say hello. I'll be the one with the halo.

Have a good week.

The Coldest Thing in Latvia

2006-03-25T12:03:00.000Z

....is not the weather, despite ankle deep snow.

I arrived in Riga on Thursday, the day before the main event. Plenty of time to buy in and get comfortable. The Olympic Casino is attached to the SAS Radisson hotel, my home for the next two nights. Handy, if like me, you are not too keen on arctic weather!

We sat down for the 6pm kick off right on time. The card room is mixed in with the regular games in this rather cosy casino. Within an hour I had built my 5,000 starting stack up to 7,000 after making several bold re raises, including one with 2,4 off suit from the big blind. I knew the button was stealing, I had already donated a big blind to him on the last round. His face was rather twisted as I showed him my 2,4o.

At the first break I had 7,500 and the double chances were given out to those who had not already taken them. So, on 12,500 I was in good shape, despite only having one legitimate hand in the first two hours, an AKo which I took down with a re raise preflop. I liked my aggressive here, I was bullying with crap and getting away with it. These passive players were going to be in trouble later on as the blinds increased, or so I thought.

Into session two I was moved, much to my dismay! This table was much tougher. If I thought I was card dead earlier, I had not seen anything yet. I was blinded down to 6000 without plazing a single hand. This was the stuff of nightmares, every reasonable hand I picked up was faced with raise and re raise before it. Hands like AQ and AT, which are playable, had to be mucked. Eventually the table dropped down from 9 to 6 players and I moved up a gear, stealing and bluffing my way back to 10,000.

8 minutes before break two and after almost 4 hours of play I pick up AKo in mid position. With 1200 in blinds on the table and so close to the break, I feel happy to pick up the blinds and nothing else but, if I am called, I am not in too bad a shape. I move all in. Of course, I am called straight away by a slighly shorter stack than mine. He flips over QQ. The classic Texas Holdem coin flip situation.

A flop comes down, K,K,6

Now I am in great shape. My opponent has two outs. The turn is a rag but makes three hearts on the board. QQ guy has a heart, suddenly I am not a massive favourite anymore.

The river falls in slow motion, I am chanting in my head "small black card, small black card". I can see before it hits the felt, it is red... but it is a diamond! I am safe! wrong, the card is the Queen of diamonds, making the full house for my opponent.

On the next hand I depart after being down to only 25 percent of the big blind.

So, if anybody asks you what the coldest thing in Latvia is, you can reply "The cards dealt to an Englishman at the Latvian Poker Open".

Have a good weekend.

The French Connection

2006-03-19T15:52:00.000Z

My trip to France went very well. I managed to drag myself off from the felt a couple of times to finish 7th overall from the 97 runner field.

One or two big name Brits were trying their luck, including Roy "The Boy" Brindley and Simon "Aces" Trumper. So, it was nice to be the second highest British player in the €500 event behind Garwo Chu who was 3rd, a new player to the B&M circuit, Chu has a great game.

I drove down to the Essex coast for the Westcliffe Tournaments this weekend. What a let down! Despite the promise of a £10,000 guarantee for the shootout, only 40 players registered. 55 were required for the guarantee, so the prizepool was very small. I didn't cash here and I didn't stay around for the freezeout the following day. The lack of ranking points and knowledge of the festival has seriously hit player numbers. What a shame this is. Spielers Casino is in a very nice location and offers a dedicated card room, with 14 full sized tables. I will save my buy-in for the Luton spring festival in April.

On Thursday I am off to Riga for the Latvian Open. Thermals and big coat required.

Have a good week.

The Aviation Club de France

2006-03-12T16:11:00.000Z

I'm off on my travels to Paris this week. This will be my second trip to The Aviation Club and I'm looking forward to it greatly.

The entire casino is very elegent, very classy and very much better than you'll find in the UK. I'm expecting a tough evening in the €500 No Limit Hold 'Em. However, I'm very confident too. I've had a week of excellent online tournament results. 7 final tables from 12 tournaments to be precise. My "form" is good.

There is a great chance to grab a seat at the BPO, on The Poker Channel, via Poker Heaven coming up. Click the Poker Heaven link in the menu and check out all the details.

Win the satellite and you'll be playing alongside the likes of Devilfish, Marcel Luske and Dave Colclough on the TV.

Good luck!

Pot Limit Omaha

2006-03-04T16:01:00.000Z

I've been playing a little Omaha at Poker Heaven recently. I must say, dropping down from my usual stakes to the smaller games of PLO Hi/Lo is very relaxing, almost therapeutic.

Playing games like Omaha and Stud help blow away the cobwebs for me. They present different challenges from the day to day norm' at Hold 'Em. A few defeats, at these stakes, won't hurt my bankroll too much. Also, I'm becoming a big fan of Omaha. I've only played this variation of poker twice in a live environment, each time it was very enjoyable... maybe it was the newness? I don't know.

Finding a good Omaha freezeout is starting to become a big challenge. There is one at The Vic soon but, apart from that, they are very thin on the ground. Sure, you'll get plenty of £100 and £200 re-buys. However, I'm a freezeout man, or double chance freezeout. Maybe as the game gains more popularity, we'll start to see more live events on the PLO front.

So, if you're finding Hold 'Em is getting a little "samey" give Omaha a try. Beware, it can get a little wild!

No smoking... oh really!? Midlands Medley

2006-02-24T13:55:00.000Z

Last night I played in the £500 double chance freezeout in Walsall. Part of the Midlands Medley festival. I've never been to Walsall before, despite it having several events throughout the calender year, so I was looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about. Afterall, if you look through the results of many famous UK players, nearly all seem to have picked up a bundle in The Black Country.

They certainly know how to put on a big festival in Walsall. Almost 170 runners for this event generated a prizepool of £83,500. This attracted the likes of Lucy Rokach, Simon Trumper, Carlo Citrone, Marc Goodwin (seated on my table) and even the great Surinder Sunar turned out (probably for some match practice!)

I played a very solid game and, looking back today, would of played the same way again. I stole plenty of pots and only really lost out on one hand, pocket Tens. After 4 hours of play my demise came after the table big stack raised in mid position. I had pocket Jacks one from the button and decided that I was probably ahead. I had enough to make him fold whatever he was raising with, if he calls and shows Ax then I'll take my chances in a classic NLHE 50/50. I moved all-in for 8,600. His raise was 1,600. To my surprise/horror Mr Marc Goodwin awoke from his slumber and asked for a count on my all-in. He clearly had a hand and moved all-in himself for EXACTLY 8,600. This was a huge pot now, but it got even bigger as the early raiser called both all-ins. With around 26,000 in the middle, the cards were on their backs. I was praying they both had AK.

Early raiser: AK (best I could hope for)
Me: JJ
Goodwin: QQ (d'oh!)

A flop of rags appeared. I took comfort in that flop as it would of been almost impossible to get away from with a big over pair like Jacks. At this stage, had I not been all-in already, my chips would of been in the middle very quickly.

The turn gave the early raiser his Ace. With no help on the river I was out. Sick to have played pretty good stuff for most of the evening without any real cards, only to run into two monsters when I pick up a hand. I could have, of course, made a small re-raise with the Jacks and folded to Goodwin's all-in. Leaving myself short stacked but not quite crippled. I will stand by my play though. I put the early big stack raiser on Ax, that's what he had. I was unlucky to find Goodwin with a big pair after me in the blinds. On another night my 8,600 doubles up and things are looking healthy for the rest of the game.

Walsall have a no smoking policy in place at the poker tables. Great. So why is it my clothes smelt like Silk Cut when I arrived home and my lungs were screaming for mercy after 4 hours play? The reason is that the smoking ban only exists at the tables, not at the rail. So, seated on table 6 right by the rail, I got the full pleasure of passive smoke for most of the evening. If players want to smoke then I've no problem with that so long as it doesn't mean I have to smoke too. If Grosvenor Walsall would only extend the no smoking area another 10 feet from the tables then, despite the result, this would of been a very nice evening.

The Festival Of Poker, Brighton

2006-02-20T08:22:00.000Z

I made the 3 hour+ trip to Brighton on Saturday. Sadly, I didn't last as long in the tournament as the drive down to Sussex.

My excuses?

I almost cried off with a stomach bug but decided to go anyway on the Saturday morning. Although I was a little better by the time the event started, I was in no shape to be playing poker.

I played a very (short) unfocused game. Hands I would normally disect carefully at the table were played too quickly and not thought through. Some readers might not understand what I mean here, especially if you play online only, where decision time is in seconds. During a live event there is more time to think about the betting during a hand, how your opponents are playing, are they reacting to a previous hand, are they making continuation bets, are they clearly nervous or clearly excited... all this, and more, can be taken on board during a live game to allow you to base your decisions on the information you've gathered. This is an aspect of my game I consider to be very strong. I let this slip on Saturday and it cost me dearly.

Of course, I should never have played this event. I doubt any sportsman would of played their sport after the couple of days I'd just suffered. In future, I will not kid myself into thinking I'm well enough if I've been under the weather.

Next stop Walsall, where I WILL play my normal game and be 100% fit and focused.

Have a good week on Poker Heaven.

Sent from the Gods, so why abuse?

2006-02-12T16:54:00.000Z

I never ceases to amaze me how often poor poker players are abused by more "experienced" players on the internet. I understand how frustrating it is to be outdrawn, especially if your opponent only has 2 or 3 out cards and the defeat knocks you out of the tournament or requires you re-buy. But, please, please try and stop yourself from abusing the poor guy who beat you. Why?

1) Why give poker players worse than you an education for free? If players keep shouting (typing) abuse after he/she outdraws them, they will quickly realise they are doing something wrong. Even over the internet there can be shame, rather than shame themselves again they may improve their play. Do you want to face tougher opponents?

2) You may drive this player away from the game forever. Poker is all about odds, by having the odds in your favour, for a long enough period, you will come out ahead. You want poor players to make poor plays against you. This is how you will make money in the long run by playing poker online. Poker attracts gamblers, so let them gamble! Bite your lip, take the beats on the chin, etc. Remember when your 80% favourite is beaten, on average you'll win that hand 8 times out of 10 in future.

3) It's just rude. You were a newbie player once, you made terrible plays, chances are you were given verbal (written) abuse from somebody. It didn't feel good did it? It may have driven you to improve your game (see above). Treat others as you'd like them to treat you.

Enjoy your cards.

Greetings from the Poker Angel!

2006-01-27T10:08:00.000Z

I grant you a warm welcome to my Poker Heaven!

Poker Angel