Lucks out

Two Primos, two suckouts. I played a couple of weeks ago, when Sky launched the new 8pm start time, and I lasted about 12 minutes. I was in the pot with 34 and the flop came 25Q. The turn is an ace. I bet, a guy goes allin, I call. He has a set of 2's and the river is (oh joy) a 5. Then, tonight, I call a preflop raise with 78 of hearts. The flop is 389, two hearts. Guy 1 bets, I go allin, guy 2 calls. He has 69, and the river is (guess what) the ten of clubs...

In between, I had a couple of fun nights at the Circus casino at Star City. The first night I made it past the first break, only for my 77 to be busted by 66 (on the river, natch). The second night I played in their "free" Friday night tournament and finished on the bubble, giving away the last of my chips to a drunk newbie. A couple of hands earlier she'd called a raise with QT so when this time she limped and I went all in with A4 I was surprised when she called to find she had AJ.

13th out of 137 and no payout. :(

Losing, just

Went to the Grosvenor (Walsall) tonight for the first time in a while. £15 rebuy tournament with £4000 guaranteed prize pool. Good value since the place was the quietest I've seen it: only 40-odd sat down to play, though quite a few bought in late. In the end they managed to collect about £3300 from the players.

Although I got knocked out not long after midnight - as usual I started badly but I'd settled in okay, and my short-stackedness would've ended if my 77 hadn't been crushed by 66 hitting a set on the river - I made most of my layout back on the roulette table. My little bets were the smallest of small fry compared to one guy who was putting down £5000 of chips on every spin, and seemingly taking the casino to the cleaners. He was focussing on 8, 11 and 30, and those numbers were hot.

Unbelievable

Two nights in a row I've been busted out by a raggy call. Last night 7-5 offsuit called my pair of tens and caught a straight. Tonight it was the turn of 2-3 to hit his straight, after I'd re-raised his SB raise all-in. (I was in the BB with KJ and even caught a jack on the flop!)

I'd had a few days off before that as well. I was pissed off with Sky Poker because on the lobby page for last week's Primo tournament it said 40 places were paid. I played carefully through the button and finally went out in 32nd, only to discover that they were only paying down to 30th! A nasty shock.

Anyway, at least I finished in the money tonight - just; so I'll try for a happier outcome in a day or two...

Had some fun in a Bounty Hunter tournament the other night - plenty of scalps and a couple of lucky coups. First, I found my K4 up against KK, and two fours came on the flop! Then I won with KJ against AK.

Tonight in the 5OO I blame my dinnertime beer for the fact I went all in with a straight draw when I knew the short stack probably had a full house. He didn't pass... Later on I pushed with KQ suited; 99 called, K on 4th, 9 on the river... Night night.

I'm going to pop over to Walsall now to see how they're getting on at the GUKPT. The main event starts tomorrow.

17th in the Primo

Been playing rubbish lately but couldn't resist the £15,000 kitty in tonight's £50 Primo. Survived a crazy first hour thanks in part to the lucky break I've been due: I pushed with A8, AK called and an 8 came on the flop. At the break I was in the top 20, but my stack refused to grow and by the end of the second hour I was well into grinding mode.

An example of my recent performance: I managed turn $10 on Ultimate Bet into $50, then managed to turn it into $0! That was all playing Omaha High-Low, a game that's a lot funner than Holdem but requires different hand analysis.

Variance

They always say you shouldn't play more than 10% of your bankroll at any time, and the night before last night I got a good example of why. I sat down at a 50p table with £25. I limped, two guys put in about £3 and I raised all in. The bigstack called, and won the pot with 2-8 (suited), catching a 2 on the turn.

Grinding it out

Couple of amazing hands in The Open tonight. The first one I won: I had AQ against KQ and QJ when the flop came queen high! I'd been surprised to get two callers to my all-in, but happy when I saw what they had. I tripled up and hit the top 20.

The second one left me back in the doldrums. I had 10-10 and the flop came QJ9. One guy was all-in and the other two of us just kept checking till the river came K. I bet, I was raised, I thought "No", I called, and, yes, he really did have A-10. :-(

One of my good grinding nights tonight. I was down to 8000 chips not long before the bubble so I slowed up, waited for a couple of good hands that held up, and somehow I got up to 75,000 chips and safety. Can't expect all your hands to hold up though, and I went out eventually in 20th.

By the way, the bubble is an amazing phenomenon. Players were dropping like flies; as each hand ended the number of players left in was 98, then 92, then 85, then 77, then 74, then 71, then 71, then 71, then 71... (70 places were paid.) I can't believe that everyone's paying so much attention that they all know when the bubble has arrived, but it's true.

The A Team of Tikay and Orford on the show tonight. I was surprised today to receive notification that Tikay has accepted my Facebook friend request. I made the request so long ago I'd forgotten about it!

Yoyo'd out

Tonight it was this month's big Bounty Hunter tournament and after a stressful roller-coaster ride I went out in 83rd (out of 500). Near the money but not near enough. :-)

Early on I played too many hands and was down to a third of my starting stack, but my game and my cards improved, and I was pleased with my judgment until...

Lowish-stacked in the big blind, I went all-in post-flop with 97 on a 9-high board. Bad luck to find the under-the-gun limper had A9...

Hellmuth and I

Phil Hellmuth has had so many bad results on TV, sometimes it's hard to understand how he could've won so many WSOP bracelets. His poker image is whining, not winning. So it was nice to see him playing really well for a change: it was last week's installment of Channel 4's Premier League. Phil played great, especially heads-up against JC Tran, and he really was unlucky not to win the round.

Meanwhile, I went deep in a Sky tournament for the first time for a while, coming about 15th out of a few hundred in one of the Bounty Hunters. £50 wasn't much of a return for a couple of hours' work, but I was happy to play so well.

Poker tubes

There's some great poker on YouTube. Here's some of my favourites:

Mike pwns Mike

Phil Ivey is gobsmacked

9-7 all-in and call

Cold deck

Tony G at the WPT

Yet more Tony G - I love this guy

And a sweet moment of revenge for all the Tony G haters

The latest series of Poker Den and a classic moment.

A new series of High Stakes Poker is starting soon and series 1-4 are all available.

And a bonus for darts fans...

£30K Bounty Hunter Live Blog

Not blogged on here for a while so I thought I'd get back into it with a live blog of tonight's big Sky event.

2000 starting chips, 6-handed. 610 starters. I'm on Table 16.

First hand raised in second position, BB called (seat 2). I bet the flop, he called, I bet the turn, he called, I bet the river, he folded. 7th for a few seconds!

Just got lucky. K2 suited. Flop the flush draw, turn a king, river another king. Nice pot. Up to 3200 chips. 20th.

Won another pot against the same guy (seat 1): I guess he raised preflop with an ace. No ace on flop or turn so eventually he folded.

Lost a few chips to the seat-2 guy. I raised with A9 in early position. He called. By the river the board was 56789 with three spades. he went all-in, I folded.

25 mins. Bit card-dead at the mo. Just slipped out of the top 100.

Another lucky break. I raise in SB with AJ, BB calls. Nice flop 9 10 Q. bet, call. Less-nice turn 9. Bet, call. River is a 10, which I realise could be good news. Check, check, 1200 chips for me. :-) 40th.

Still no bounties taken at our table. #2 guy (not a bad player, imo) had a bit of a car crash but he's hanging on. He's just gone all-in twice and both times some kind person (not me) has doubled him up...

35 minutes. Been moved to table 18, seat 1. Looks like there's been more action here - one guy's up to 7000 chips. First hand I limp and the flop is 777. I'm in position and take the small pot.

The chipped-up guy in seat 4 took a nice pot with a pair of twos against me and a short-stacked all-in guy. I showed weakness on the flop. Another hand soon after I showed strength and he folded. Easy game, this poker, eh.

21:45 hrs. 74th 5000 chips.

A quiet passage of play. Just min-raised UTG, called by seat 4. Flop is 2 3 4. I check, he bets 2500! A good play. Coming up to the break, I'm doing okay, 120th with 4500 chips Though that's a below average stack). No bounties though!

The break hasn't done me any good - I had to log out and had trouble logging back on! - I've slipped under 4000 chips and under 150th place. So now I need to grind a bit...

Or not... Out in 184th. Pushed from the button with a king, BB had an ace...

Good luck to the rest of you in the tourney!