Mindset
I played abysmally in my first outing of 2009 (edit! 2010), ending with a £458 loss in the cash game and I probably deserved a four figure loss, but a late Omaha rally in the early hours saved my pods.…
Omaha
62 posts
Just ran terribly online
Just played FT $1/$2 Round of Each and disastrously lost $1k. Nothing went right, and got in some bad spots as well as getting unlucky (which led to bad play). Highlights include: 1) Got in on the flop with nut…
Online Weekend 2 - WCOOP - $215 Omaha
I decided to play this tournament on Friday, as I hadn't had any poker action in the week, and was pleasantly surprised to find a really well structured Omaha tournament. The 5k starting stack, with blinds beginning and 10-20 and…
Gone in a Flash
I played in a £20 rebuy round of each private tournament at the Loose Cannon on Tuesday night, and things were going along nicely until I lost a big Omaha pot preflop, and that was that. My major gripe with…
The Dogs of War
In early 1994, it was fair to say Everton had completed their fall from grace. The halcyon days of the mid 80’s seemed a long time ago, and the Toffeemen were staring at the relegation trap door. At this point…
Turgid Weekend
I played online tournaments on Saturday night, with fairly disappointing results. Despite cashing three times I was left with a moderate loss for proceedings, and as seems to be the case these days, didn't make much progress in any of…
Attempted New Leaf
I played a mini session of tournaments online tonight, and in line with my last post decided to try and play with enjoyment in mind. This worked for a while, but my mood turned darker hour by hour as illustrated…
Vegas Schedule
Nearly that time of the year again, so I have put together a provisional schedule of the tournaments I will be playing in Vegas. In addition to the below, I've got a $1500 cash game budget, plus $600 set aside…
Host Selection
Following my tournament success on random sites on Saturday, I had a significant amount of money tied up all over the place, due to the idiotic 48 hours rule some sites have on deposits. Whilst bored on Sunday I decided…
Bob The Builder Homegame
It sure is nice to get out of Bobsville once in a while. I love my job as the Mayor, but it's great to get out in the country from time to time, to get some fresh air and experience…
Pac-Man
"Dot, Dot, Dot, Dot, Dot" thought Pac-man. "......oooo.....fruit" as he glided through the cherry. "Hmmm - that blue ghost Inky is getting a bit close" "Dot, Dot, Dot, Dot, Dot" "Ah-ha.......power pellet!" Inky looks down in horror as he realises…
Four on the Bounce
Last night I registered my fourth consecutive live cash game win, to further repair my ailing start to 2009. I have been playing very disciplined live cash recently and, since people are still expecting me to play pretty wild, I'm…
Decent Omaha Session
I put in a solid 5 hours at the Omaha tables on Sunday afternoon, resulting in a welcome $850 profit. I three tabled the $1/£2, and after a brisk start never looked like losing. On two of my tables I…
Trying to make do
I went to the International for a change last night, but the change of venue didn't help my poor recent form. I played the ROE £60 tournament, followed by a spot of £1/£1 cash. The evening was notable only for…
Stuck in Neutral
As so often this year, a patch of encouraging play is followed by a below par showing. I played a £1/£2 round of each cash game at LC on Tuesday night, and have only just got round to blogging it…
DTD £75 - Double Edged Sword
The final tournament of the Nottingham trip, was the £75 Sunday evening tournament with 5k in starting chips, 30 minute clock, but a slightly faster structure than the £150. I think we had about 70 runners, with a 2k first…
Thousand big blind cash pot
We have started a new Tuesday night cash game down at the Loose Cannon, with 25p/50p blinds and a £100 max sit down. The core participants at the moment are myself, Dev, The Baron and Steve, a young player who…
You are The Ref
In my childhood days I was an avid reader of "Shoot" magazine, a weekly publication which captured the magic of UK football, long before the game was ruined by the greed and self-protectionism of the ghastly Premiership. One section of…
The Deep Pocket Game?
On Friday, I received an invite to the Sporting Index poker invitational to be held at the Loose Cannon in early March. I asked if I could bring some guests, seeing as it was being held at the local card…
TAGO!
I was introduced to a new game at Loose Cannon on Tuesday night - Tago - a new card game fresh in from Italy. As you'd expect, from a game devised by the Italians it has a fair amount of…
Tonight Matthew I'm going to be..........Rafael Nadal
Saturday saw Sir Mike's home game in Kew. We had 12 runners for two tournaments - a £60 round of each, followed by an £80 deep stacked Main Event. Unfortunately for me, the high point of my night was taking…
Burning Money
In 5 of my last 6 cash sessions the format has been the same - make steady profit for the first few hours when sober, before drinking compulsively and ending up a few hundred down. For some reason my brain…
The Joy of Omaha Freeroll
It's very rare to get someone in "drawing dead" in Omaha, a phenomenon which occurs from time to time in Holdem, but the next best thing is getting your money in on a freeroll. By this I mean a situation…
International Round of Each - In Harry We Trust......
"Eez like putting a round peg in a square hole!" exclaimed my Turkish taxi driver on the way back to Brixton last night. The source of my taxi driver's consternation, was the effective deployment of Autralian luxury Harry Kewell in…
2009 Preview
I had intended 2009 to be a real make or break year on the poker front, in that I'd play in a number of EPT and WPT events as well as the WSOPE and WSOP Main Events. However, the fragile…
Quarterly Review - hmph
A pretty dire quarter comes to a close, with me registering my first losing 3 month period in over a year. $5,300 was the damage, and results in a disappointing end to a good year on the poker front. Consequently,…
Jekyll and Hyde
There is an awful duality to my cash game play these days, which needs to stamped out. On the one hand, when there are strangers on the table, I play an aggressive, yet strategic game. An analytical approach, with a…
First Visit To The International
I ventured over to Old Street last night to try out the new International Club. For those not familiar with London poker, it's basically just the old Gutshot club moved to a new location, to get it in a new…
Home Game - £30 Holdem/£10 Omaha rebuy
The afternoon tournaments saw fields of 8/9 players, and some surprisingly long heads up action at the end of each one. It looked like my day was going to be a cracker during the first hand of the £30 freezeout.…
December Slumber
The Christmas season is traditionally a slow time for live poker, and this was evidenced at Loose Cannon last night. Only 6 hardy souls made the Thursday night pilgrimage as well as myself - Jody, Dev, Uncle Paulie, The Volcano,…
Biggest Downswing So Far
Wow. I'm now on my biggest downswing of my poker career, after losing $1200 in PLO over the last 2 evenings. I've decided to blog now to put a line under it and hopefully start afresh tomorrow. Tuesday night brought…
Horrendous Online Saturday
Saturday was a complete mess on the online tournament front - I cashed once, played the FTOPs Omaha for $500, rebought seven times in the FTOPS $100 rebuy, and by the time the dust had settled I was in the…
A Different Kind of Bluff
I tried something a bit out of the box last night, which didn't work, but I hit a 4 outer on the river to save the day. I popped down to the Loose Cannon to play the £10 rebuy tournament,…
Get Cool, Be Cool, Stay Cool!
I'm not one for poker lingo, but at The Baron's impromptu home cash game last night, I lost £330 in two consecutive hands - first when someone who will remain nameless played the role of ultimate "calling station", and then…
Quarterly Review - Rudderless
I've floated along for the last three months since Vegas, with no real aims except to enjoy myself. The results have been predictably uninspired - I've won a little over $1,000 in poker related activity, whilst paying $431 in rake.…
Losing your way in Queretaro
Nowadays, Queretaro is an economic powerhouse by Latin American standards. Conveniently placed on Highway 57 and 45, it is a portal to both USA to the north and Western Mexico. Now home to multinational companies and the top Mexican universities,…
Online Omaha Sessions
I played a couple of interesting Omaha 1/2 sessions 6 handed over the weekend, on Friday night and Sunday morning, ending up $380 across the pair of 2 hour sittings. Some observations: 1) Friday night was nasty. Every time I…
Home Game - Jet Lagged
I feel totally spaced out after the mammoth home game I hosted this weekend, which has completely messed up my body clock. The tournaments started at 12pm on Saturday lunchtime, and the cash game ended at 3pm on Sunday afternoon…
Home Game Preview
It's the next instalment of my home game on Saturday, and things are being run a little different from before. This time we have a festival of poker with four tournament events and 23 runners total, and even have full…
Getting Distracted
Using my basic knowledge of military history, together with the historical documentaries that were the Indiana Jones films, it seems that key Nazi goals during the war were: (in no particular order) Invasion of Poland Genocide Opening Ark of the…
8, 21, 31, 32, 46, 47 - Gutshot Omaha
El Lotto. I've been playing it since 1994 now - one line a week. £1028 spent to date, and I think I have won £10 three times. It also seems that the lottery machine "Arthur" has it in for me.…
A Sunday Omaha Stroll
I haven't been playing much online recently, as I've started to find it a little boring without the social aspect of the live games. However, I was at a loose end for a couple of hours this Sunday morning, so…
Quarterly Review
I was bitten by a donkey on Sunday. This being a poker blog, I imagine you think I am talking about a poker analogy, but no, I was actually bitten by a real donkey. I was at a donkey sanctuary…
Returning to form at just the right time
I was nervous about my form going into Vegas - I wasn't worried about my play, just the fact that I couldn't hit a flop, and opponents would always hit the draw against me when I was ahead. Thankfully the…
3 Card Irish
Welcome to 3 card Irish, debuted at Loose Cannon last night. I've played this game before in a cash game, but never before in a tournament. The format was £20 buy in with optional rebuy/add-on. I ended up placing 3rd…
FTOPS Omaha
Just busted out of the FTOPs Omaha tournament in about 400th. A couple of interesting hands for the Omaha specialists out there to digest: I have had one rebuy and the add-on and am happily going along with a 14k…
Getting Information Too Late
Sometimes you find out about the extent of a situation just a little bit too late. This happened to me last night in a very interesting hand during the League tournament at Loose Cannon. I was up to 5k in…
Home Game IV
The latest installment of the home game provided the usual mix of alcohol, a deep stacked tournament and a hyper aggressive short handed holdem/omaha/irish cash game. In attendance were myself, Shazbo, Fluke, Maltese Mike, Sir Mike, Honest Dave, Tom, Briony,…
Provisional Vegas Schedule
Vegas looks like it's going to be brilliant this year. I'd love to be able to stay for the full 6 weeks of WSOP, but will have to make do with 10 days. All the other casinos seem to have…
0-3? Are you serious?
I got really drunk last night - I had toothache and decided to go for the white wine for medicinal purposes. Clearly this was a disaster for playing dealer's choice. I have no idea how much I lost - arrived…
FTOPS Time Again
I notice that Full Tilt has announced another installment of their excellent FTOP series, to take place in May. These tournaments cater for all the games, offer excellent structures and have huge fields. It's a little awkward timing for me…
Quarterly Review
Well, I guess to keep on top of your game you need to consistently evaluate how you've done, and set yourself goals for the future, so I thought this would be a good point to review progress. The Labour government…
Visiting The Inner Temple
Have spent the weekend working out what is going on in my head poker-wise......feel a bit refreshed. After all, if you'd given me this position at the start of January I'd have taken it with open arms. I'm really disappointed…
Irish Open Omaha - Devilfish and Micky Wernick's Bacon Roll
I expected to struggle badly in the Omaha - it was a highly competitive field of only about 120 players. It was rebuy format - 400 euro - plus an add on at the break. At my table were Devilfish…
Roll up for poker roulette!
A last minute change of plan led to us going to play in the Fitzwilliam in central Dublin, instead of playing the main event qualifier. The format was 20 euro rebuy and was dealer dealt, so plenty of play in…
The Hand of Apology
Sebastian Grosjean looks vexed. It's the Monte Carlo Masters 2006 and he's serving at 4-5 in the deciding set, and is match point down. He has already saved 3 crucial match points and has fought gamely to stay in this…
Dublin Warm Up
Not long till the Dublin trip now, so I've put together a schedule to get as much live tournament practice as possible before then: Monday 3rd: Gutshot £100 (40 runners) Tuesday 4th: BetterPoker £50 @ Loose Cannon (60 runners) Wednesday…
One of My Favourite Tells
I'm not in this hand, but it's the final table of the weekly LC league tournament. Tony raises in middle position and is called by Briony (I think). Flop Ace, x, x Tony bets the pot, about 30% of his…
How Many Real "Pros" Are There?
How big a bankroll do you need to go pro? A huge amount in my opinion. I think there are lots of young guys who set themselves up as professionals with bankrolls that are about 10% of the size required.…
Cash Game Improvement
Not much to report.................the tournament was a non-event for me. I grinded along short stacked for most of it, with few interesting hands to report. Eventually I lost the race which would have put me in the running against Professor…
Online Weekend
Had a very successful weekend online, to get the year off to a winning start. Decided to brave the Omaha cash tables for the first time and was pleasantly surprised at my standard compared to the rest of the table.…
2008 off and running
Blog is back folks. 2008 should be a promising year as a few of my non poker related issues should be resolved in the next month. My poker year will pretty much run from March 2008 to February 2009, as…