TV Poker

The soup kitchen

2010-07-10T02:03:00.004+01:00

The Circus casino on a Friday night is poker's answer to the soup kitchen. The buy-in is free (okay, there is a £1 registration fee), there's a guaranteed prize pool of £1500, and everyone gets free chips (the edible kind), sandwiches and soft drinks. Can't be bad. Last time I went I was 13th, tonight I was 20th. I should go more often: I might win something!

Best hand tonight: I had 44 and the flop was A23. When one guy went all-in for 700 chips I "dwelled up" as they say, and called. A guy with AQ folded (!) and another guy called. Turn 3, river 5. Nice pot, and special prize for the guy who folded AQ for having some kind of poker sixth sense.

Lucks out

2009-11-16T00:53:00.004Z

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

2009-10-27T02:52:00.002Z

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

2009-07-17T22:48:00.003+01:00

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...

2009-06-25T21:31:00.003+01:00

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

2009-06-12T23:36:00.002+01:00

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

2009-05-29T22:28:00.002+01:00

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

2009-04-03T22:58:00.004+01:00

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

2009-03-27T22:35:00.002Z

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

2009-03-11T21:37:00.003Z

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

2009-02-27T22:24:00.003Z

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

2009-02-27T20:56:00.022Z

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!

Bounty Hunted

2008-08-18T22:05:00.005+01:00

Got my chance to go on the Bounty Hunter tonight and blew it! Maybe it's my fault - I suggested they come to me first, but what that meant was they (Michelle Orpe and Tom Sambrook) were interviewing me while I played my first few hands. Turns out that the hand they showed, I played pretty well, but within a couple of minutes I'd lost 80% of my chips. I tightened right up, hoping to survive, but finally went all-in in the small blind against my nemesis, AnneJo, in the big blind and I was gone.

Went out even quicker in Velocity - reraised all-in post-flop with three tens - the other guy had a straight...

My plan now is to take a short break (my play's been too inconsistent lately) and read a couple of books, including Super System.

Primo luck

2008-07-25T23:14:00.005+01:00

I've been playing a lot more Scrabble than poker lately, but I've only ever won £20 playing Scrabble so I've been trying to keep my hand in on the Sky Poker tables. I've made a few quid on the cash tables lately, so I had enough to have a punt on tonight's £50-buyin Primo tourney. And, thanks to a couple of enormous slices of luck (and some reasonable play most of the time), I survived into the money, coming 42nd.

Luck #1... After half-an-hour all in for 1900 with AQs, discover I'm up against AA and KK. Flop KJ3, turn 8, river T. Crazy.
Luck #2... Just before the break I'm all in for 3000 with A8, called by A9. Hit an 8 on the river...

The only hand of mine that got shown on the live TV show was the one that virtually sent me out of the tourney... Cameroony min-raised and then:

(Un)lucky 13

2008-05-29T17:33:00.003+01:00

Played moderately well in the £30 triple-chance freezeout at the Grosvenor last night. There were a couple of big hands I missed out on through being too shy to put my chips in, but after being down to 2,000 chips soon after the break, I got up to 30,000 plus and a strong position. Only 7 places paid, and I finally went out around 2.15 a.m. when my QQ was mashed by AK. (I'd carefully avoided going up against the other big stacks, but QQ was irresistible.) Oh well, 13th place.

Then, having caught the roulette bug, I put £10 down and went home with £50, mainly through betting on Odd and the ball landing on 13.

Time out

2008-05-26T21:56:00.003+01:00

After a run of losses I've taken a break except for the odd dabble. Sky Poker has been revamped and they've cut back on the expenses: no studio guests on quiet nights, and no broadcast on AtTheRaces cable channel. Tonight my pocket tens just held up and I've gone into the break in the top ten. :-)

I've been down to the Grosvenor a few times, just for fun, and got nowhere. A couple of times I was doing okay until I got rivered. Waiting around the other night, I played roulette for the first time, sprinkling my £10-worth of chips around the table. Beginners' luck: ten minutes later I had £40.

Aces up

2008-03-08T21:24:00.003Z

Aces have been holding up well for me tonight. I've caught an ace four times out of five.

Early on, re-reraised all-in with AQ after the shortstack had gone all in, there were two callers, and I was happy to see that I was the only one of the four of us with an ace. Sure enough, I hit my pair and tripled up.

But I made a stupid raise against a guy (Lucky 13 13) who obviously had an overpair, and guess what, he had an overpair. That time no ace came to my rescue.

There's a new poker analyst tonight, James Browning, who has a definite north-east twang.

Primo

2008-03-07T21:03:00.005Z

Paul, Jason, Trevor and Richard line up ahead of tonight's tourney.

I started well but I've been betting too often, whittling my stack down to 1,000 chips. Still in though! And when I get bored I can follow the live updates on the big tournament at the Vic in London.

9.47 pm update: out, A7 beating my AJ. :-(

It's been dormant for a while, but Sky have started posting to their poker blog again, and it's a good place to keep up-to-date.

AAgh

2008-03-04T22:04:00.002Z

First hand shown on the Open show tonight was Pheebs' AA being cracked by Jim-the-Tim's AK. There was a king on the flop, but one king had been mucked, so Jim was drawing to a one-outer, and hit his set on the river.

I was reminded of that hand when I went out exactly on the hour mark. I'd been bumbling along short-stacked until I trebled up with AT, but soon afterwards came the killer: the cutoff raised (with QTs), I reraised on the button all-in with AA, she called. I watched the screen from behind my hand, and sure enough, she made her flush on the river.

Boot Camp ahoy!

2008-02-29T21:11:00.004Z

Sky's Poker Boot Camp is next weekend, 8-9 March, and sounds excellent. Tickets are £250 but I'm going to put some effort into the qualifying freerolls in the next couple of days.

One of tonight's guests on the Open is John McCririck. John often goes to Vegas and he's played with the likes of Doyle Brunson and Dave Ulliott.

I'm out of the Open already... in 511th. I had 99 and the flop came 278. I bet, lillady called. 4th street was a 9 so I went all-in. Guess what she had? I think I was unlucky; what do you think??

28th

2008-02-28T23:45:00.005Z

Guests on the Open tonight were poker insiders Paul Cheung and Nick van der Weyer.

The final tablists were Shanemus, Chip 10-10, Parks, Flying High, Clinically and Gemma Mac. The game lasted longer than usual, and it was only at 11.45 that Flying High was crowned champion, winning £1287.

I came 28th on the 28th. I started card-lucky, winning 4 of the first 7 hands, but was whittled away to 1700 chips before QQ helped me triple up. Just before the break I had my first lucky break. I pushed with KQ and ran into AA (T9 came along for the ride) but a ten-high straight came on the board. After the break, my tens held up against fives but I was made to sweat: a five came on the flop and a ten on the river! Another lucky break - my AQ hitting an ace on the river - left me with 56,000 chips but then I blanked 14 hands in a row and was out. Chip 10-10 was sitting on my table, and while I was sitting on my hands he was busy stealing the blinds.

Music night

2008-02-26T21:13:00.002Z

Last night it was Ben Thingy from Curiosity KTC, tonight it's Rick Parfitt jr. and this Scottish gentleman:

Sportsnight

2008-02-24T21:21:00.005Z

Tonight's guests are Martyn Bernard and John Regis. Johnny Two Chests was a great runner and it's good to see him still looking fine and dandy at his advanced age. :-)

That's Tikay with Chris aka Rizla who won the special Boxing Day event. In addition to £1000, Chris won a poker table and chipset, and a Poker night at his home in Dagenham with Tikay as the dealer. Not bad, eh. I was wondering what went on, so it was interesting to see this feature on tonight's show.

Congratulations to Barney Senior for coming first and winning £3000. The other final tablers were: Beef Two, Lastogo, Trucker, Little Paul and Yates.

btw, Joobs says Boo!

Comedy night

2008-02-22T21:23:00.005Z

Hattie Hayridge and Mike McClean are tonight's guests on the Open. (Mike's out already.)

Meanwhile I've had a slight altercation with la3. He raised with KJ, I raised allin with AQ, he called. And lost. Having doubled me up he was steaming, and reraised me allin with K3. I had AJ, I called. And lost. Back to square one.

And now I'm out. Got switched tables and lost a race with C_Drifting.

Watch online or on Sky channel 846.

"Thank God for body brushing"

2008-02-21T23:39:00.013Z

? That's what Michelle Orpe said at this moment:

:-)

Tonight's final table: Scoobs, Logas, Bonesey, SaggT, Knocker and Jaron. Well done to Jaron for taking down the £1287 first prize.

And congratulations too to strip-poker supremo Jon Young, who came 50th, a great performance for a studio guest. I came 30th, continuing my recent improvement. I only had 8,000 chips at the break, but I succeeded in building my stack by being a bit less impatient than one or two other people on the table.

Ouch

2008-02-21T14:47:00.003Z

Wednesday nights have gone back to normal on Sky Poker: there's an Open again at 9 pm, and the WSOP satellite is now at 9.30. I entered both, crashed out of the Open, and was doing well in the satellite until I raised all-in from the SB with K9. The BB called... with K9. And caught a flush. Ouch.

I have upped my game a bit. The night before, I played one of my best ever hours of online tourney play, going into the break with 25,000 chips. Unfortunately, soon afterwards I tried to raise with 44 against AA and lost quite a few, but I still came 14th out of 670. Not bad.

Jeff Kimber wins in Walsall

2008-02-18T12:34:00.003Z

The Walsall leg of the GUKPT is over, and Jeff is a worthy winner. There was an interesting incident in a hand between D Buttar and Graham Clarkson yesterday.

Meanwhile, my resolution to work on my tourney game after my outs at Walsall, well, it's come to nowt so far. Luckily I've been well in profit on my last six cash tables, so I'm :-)

Live Action!

2008-02-15T22:18:00.013Z

Over to the Grosvenor to play in the £100 freezeout. It's day 1b of the main event, so there were some well-known faces in the room, among them Carlo Citrone, Neil Channing, Marc Goodwin, Tony Cascarino, Jen Mason and poker giant Ed Giddins, who I spotted towering over everyone else in the dinner queue.

And Maria Demetriou is there working for Blonde Poker. The atmosphere is great - literally. Even though I don't smoke I never really minded very much that pubs, etc. were smoky, but when the casino is packed like it is tonight, it's much better that smoking's no longer allowed.

Although I enjoyed my evening, I wish I'd lasted a bit longer in the tournament. I called most of my remaining chips with a straight when the other guy had caught a flush on the river. My head was telling me to fold, but I thunk and thunk and my heart overrruled.

Five minutes

2008-02-14T23:00:00.005Z

Last week went well - five good cash table profits in a row, but this week has been all in the negative till just now. It was a new £1 table; I was in for £77, another guy for £100, one for £50, plus three low-rollers. My first hand I get dealt pocket tens and raise to £5 on the BB. Low-rollers call. Low flop, I bet £20 and they're all-in. Turn and river are ace and jack but I still take the pot, so what on earth did those guys have?

Couple of hands later I have K9s and I try bluffing the £50 guy out of the pot. Doesn't work; costs me £17. Interesting psychology here. Very next hand I have AJ and I limp. J-high flop, I limp again. Next card gives a straight possibilities (57J8), I bet, he raises, I go all-in, he dwells up (good sign) and calls. River is a third club, but again, whatever he had, I won the pot. Stack up to £160 in five minutes flat and I've single-handedly emptied the table! Good for the ego...

Speaking of which, I stayed up last night to watch the Poker Den show on 5. In case you don't know, it's highlights from an all-star 24-hour non-stop £50 cash game. The main reason I watch is Tony G. I love the guy. In the first few hours he managed to turn £10,000 into £100,000...

GUKPT in town

2008-02-11T17:34:00.000Z

Today is the first day of the Walsall leg of the Grosvenor Poker Tour, and I went over this afternoon for a £50 (with rebuys) satellite into the main event. I played siht, but I was happy with my last hand. I was shortstacked in the SB with 6-8 clubs and there was lots of limping so I went all-in. One guy called with K-9 spades and I overtook him on the flop only to lose to a flush on the river.

I'm going to try and get over there again for a £100 freezeout tourney later in the week.

Ullo John, Gotta new table?

2008-02-07T20:19:00.000Z

Sky are continuing to shake up the schedules. Nowadays the Thursday Open starts an hour earlier (at 8) - and I did remember this week! - and last night was the first in a new series of WSOP satellites. I was a bit dubious at first - I'm not a big fan of satellites, but it's great value: £17 buyin with 50 guaranteed entries to the final in a couple of months' time. Whether I'd be allowed to go to Vegas for two weeks is another matter...

One of tonight's studio guests is John Tabatabai, something of a hero since his second place at the WSOPE. I was following the final table on the Web - I can't remember who was running it, but there was a brilliant live blog. And John has to count himself very unlucky not to have won. Annette Obrestad, the much-hyped Nordic teen sensation, got extremely lucky at least three times in the last hour, including right at the end.

I've survived longer than John tonight - he was all-in with pocket tens and the caller caught the ace. But it's great that he and Luke Trotman and other players come on the show.

A million aces

2008-02-04T22:22:00.000Z

...for me in tonight's Open. At least, that's what it's seemed like. My hands since 10 pm have been AQ, T2, AQ, AT, AK, A7, AJ, Q8, 63, A7, A2, K3, 54, AQ, 76, 84, AT, A8, Q8...

In the end I came 45th, and my tally of aces was that out of 95 hands, 23 had an ace in them.

Have you been Rokached?

2008-02-02T21:16:00.000Z

Last night's £30,000 Primo event attracted Lucy Rokach to the celebrity pew, and it was quite funny to discover how single-minded she is. Her mantra is "Get chips! Stick your chips in! Get chips!"

I remember Lucy from Late Night Poker--she came third in the sixth series--but I don't remember her being quite so gung-ho. To be fair, that was a real table, so that's a different game from playing tourneys online.

LNP was what turned me on to poker. I got back from Hungary in 2002 just in time to catch the last couple of series, and then watched the reruns and then along came the WPT... One of the guys at Presentable once told me that LNP wouldn't be coming back, but the new series has just started!

65th tonight in the Open. Grinding most of the time, got some great luck (rivering a straight, rivering top pair, backdooring a flush) before the luck turned... LuvAndy, who'd finally got some chips by playing really tight, raised me with 23. I had K8, so fancied my chances till the 3 on the river!

It's now 12 days that I've survived with almost zero in my SP account. In that time I've finished six times in the money in the Open. After tonight's cash my balance is £22.74! How much longer can I hold out before I have to go and get my credit card??

Poker prohibition

2008-01-30T22:33:00.000Z

Reached the break in 14th, went downstairs for a beer and then thought better of it. Why damage my chances of doing well? Coffee for me, then. Beer later, to celebrate (or drown my tears).

Good grinder sitting next to me: Dazzler. Got very short-stacked but didn't panic, and has now doubled up a couple of times and is in the money.

Had to apologise to a guy about an hour ago. We were both all-in with AJ and I rivered a flush. Not nice, especially when I didn't need the luck.

More recently, Jacklad blew up in a way that I recognise: chip leader on the table, but losing a lot of chips because of a loose call, he called off the rest of his chips very soon after.

Speaking of which, I've just gone out in 42nd. I didn't exactly blow up, but I did go all-in with 66, a guy called with A9, hit, damaged my stack and it didn't take long for the rest of it to get eroded away.

I've had an email from The Club asking me whether I'd like to ask a question on the show. A topic I thought of is when to call when someone's put you all-in, especially when playing cash tables.

Now it must be beer time...

What's worse in poker

2008-01-28T21:45:00.000Z

... than being beaten by a dominated hand? Tonight in the Bounty Hunter, for example, I'm all-in with KJ against K8 and... I'm all out. Technically that's known as variance, but I prefer the term F*******K OFF! (Nothing personal.)

I'm been suffering from a bad bout of variance the last couple of days, but to be philosophical about it, it's better to be beaten playing well than playing badly.

At least I'm still in the freeroll. My luck was better there. Fourway all-in with 44, the flop is all paint, but then... Broadway on the board! That top prize of £81 could still be mine...

Suggestion for Sky Poker: can we have higher-value freerolls? The highest freeroll buy-in is 200 player points, with a £1000 pot. How about a 500-point buy-in tourney? At the mo I've got over 3000 points burning a hole in me leotard.

(Spoke too soon: out in 14th (£2.55 and no t-shirt!) in the freeroll. I'm all-in with QQ, DangerMog has 99, which transmogrifies into 9999. Bleh.)

Update 2: Congratulations to John Ryan for winning tonight's £1750 gtd Velocity tournament. Thus he joins the elite club of studio guests who've won one of the live tournaments.

Cracking queens

2008-01-26T21:29:00.000Z

A couple of hands into tonight's Open, I had Tc8c and called a raise. The flop came 9c 4h Ac. I raise a weak bet, it's called. That's enough info for me to put him on a high pair. Next card is a blank--he checks, I bet, he calls. The river is Qc. I bet, he raises, we go all-in.

Tonight's guests on the show are two familiar faces: Phil Cooklin and Julie Holness. Familiar because of their many appearances on the Sky Poker interstitials. They're both cult figures! ANd they've both started very well tonight. As I write I'm 36th with 11k chips, so fingers crossed...

(Came 53rd.)

Never say die

2008-01-24T22:57:00.000Z

Taking £350 out of my Sky Poker account seemed to jinx me. I left £300 in, but a 10 pm tonight that was down to £3. The problem has been that although my tournament luck (or judgment?) has improved, with three money finishes in the last few days, they've been peanuts compared to the spondulicks I've been donating on the cash tables. Not wanting to reload, I've moved back down to the 50p tables and fought to get my float back in three figures.

Well, tonight after just failing to recoup my tenner in the Open, I put down my "last" £30 on a cash table. Fifteen minutes later my last £3 was in the middle with J9 and a 78A flop. My instinct was that no-one had an ace, so my draw wasn't too bad, but there were two callers. The ten came on 4th street... :-)

And guess what: 45 minutes later I was sitting there with £70. I played well, avoiding the temptation to be reckless. It would be so nice to have been down to £3 and then to build a few hundred quid out of it. I did have to close my eyes and push at one point. I had 44, the flop came Q86 but no-one bet. So I pushed, and somehow the fish who called missed everything.

The table was very fishy, which helps! Maybe I should've stayed on longer, but my luck could've changed, I know. Fish can catch! Luckily they didn't on my two double-ups. On the first one, I limped with AJ, the flop came AT9 - two diamonds - and the guy on my left called my all-in on 4th street (a 7). The river was a diamond but the guy must've had something like JT or ace-rag (or JQ?? - some people call with all kinds of mad draws).

Then the same guy called me again when I went all-in on 4th street. This time the board showed 339T, two spades. The river was a ten and my pocket kings held up. If I'm going to be generous I could put him on queens or jacks. (I was slightly worried he had 99.) But maybe he only had a flush draw!

Bonzer night

2008-01-23T22:15:00.000Z

Still in the Open as I write, an hour and a half in. And outlasted Bruno Fitoussi! He was on my table for a while, which made me instantly a bag of nerves... I could've knocked him out: I folded KJ to his all-in, and it would've been the winning hand. Soon afterwards he was moved to another table and someone else took his scalp.

Meanwhile, the other studio guest, Erkan Mustafa, is also still in. Erkan was Roland in Grange Hill, and I guess he's taking advantage of a little coaching from Bruno...

Er, now I'm out. :-) In 70th, so just in the money. And I'm sitting on Bruno's table in a two-table sit-and-go.

That's Entertainment

2008-01-21T21:57:00.000Z

An amazing hour in The Open tonight. I was going all-in far too much, my chip stack was going up and down like a yoyo, and I had pocket aces three times in twenty minutes!

Then I blew up. AJ under the gun. I had 7000 chips and it would've cost me 2000 chips to raise, so I just went all-in. Two callers! Bad news: AQ and AK. Flop 46T. Turn J! River K!!

That's TV poker.

A6

2008-01-21T00:40:00.000Z

A6 is now officially my bogey hand. Two outdraws last week, and tonight I push all-in postflop with A8, A6 calls and hits his three-outer on the turn...

Two Canadian guests on the show tonight: Wade McElwain and his rather nice gf Katherine Ryan. Hope to see her - er, I mean them - er I mean the happy couple, er - on the show again soon.

Top Ten

2008-01-20T05:00:00.000Z

Best finish in the Open for a while: went out in 9th, and went out going all-in preflop with the best hand: A6 against KT. And it was still the best hand on the turn...

One problem with my game is that I don't hammer away at weak players, and finding myself straightaway on an easy table, I tried to push a bit harder and I made a good start, betting fish out of three early pots.

Here's all the hands I played where there was a flop. I've put the time, followed by my nett winnings or loss, followed by my cards if there was a showdown:
9.02 +505
9.04 +465
9.10 +575
9.14 +200
9.18 +250
9.21 -2235
9.24 +700
9.24 -1100
9.28 +3460 (JT)
9.40 +1000
9.43 +2760 (Q8s)
9.45 +10630 (AK)
9.50 +3795 (QQ)
9.51 -750
9.55 -3000
9.56 +3132 (A8)
9.56 +6020 (AJ)
10.37 -4000
10.43 +12510 (36s)
10.51 +55575 (7Ts)
10.52 +5980 (86)
10.53 -10000
10.58 +15000
11.00 +67775 (QK)
11.05 -41700
11.14 +20000
11.23 -155417

(Of course there were also plenty of blinds I either stole or gave up.) I haven't done a detailed analysis before and it shows some interesting facts:
1. No-one saw any of my cards for the first half an hour, even though I won six pots.
2. Before the biggie, I'd only lost four major pots in over two hours of play.
3. I didn't go all-in till 9.45, and then at 10.27, 10.40, 10.51, 10.54, 11.04, 11.14, 11.22 and 11.23. I mention this because when we see the leaderboard after a few minutes several players already have 6,000 or even 9,000 chips. Best to ignore them; putting in 3,000 chips when the blinds are 15 and 30 is something pretty exceptional.
4. Remember that to get from 3,000 to 200,000 chips (enough for the final table) only needs 6 double-ups. So patience is an acceptable strategy as long as you hang on to your blinds. My success was based on winning just three hands: at 9.28, 9.45 and 10.51.
5. The second hour was pretty amazing. It looks like I was hibernating for most of it. I was pretty card-dead, but I did in fact win the blinds five times, with A2, JT, 65, 44 and K7. Meanwhile the other players were stealing a march on me chipwise and I was sliding down the leaderboard. My lucky break came when I had 63s in the big blind, the flop came 468 and I rivered another 6.

My best moment came soon after. I push all-in UTG with 7Ts and got two callers. Oops! Whew: flop 3T5, more rags after that and my 22,000 chips became 77,000. I know I left it late to make that move but I don't think I'm ever going to lose the tight side of my game. Sometimes I see situations where a looser player would push and probably get their cards through but I bottle it.

A few of the hands I was in were featured on the TV show, and between them, TK and DP said a couple of complimentary things about my play. I wonder what they would've said about my final move...

Soz m8

2008-01-18T23:50:00.000Z

Having done £70 of my last £100 on a £1 table, I put the rest down on a 50p table and pushed all-in on a flush draw. Bendog had flopped a pair of aces and called. I made my flush and he wasn't best pleased. Apologies, sir, but I feel less guilty than if I'd been a fish.

126th in the Open. Came back from having my QQ rivered but finally called all-in after the break with QJs. Which reminds me: KQ, KJ and QJ are very dangerous hands to be going all-in with. Note to self: stop doing it.

Welcome

2008-01-14T20:34:00.000Z

I'm a fan of Sky Poker. I like the speed of the tournaments (from 650 players to heads-up in under 150 minutes!). I like the live TV every evening with its fine array of commentators and guests. I like the interactivity: not only can you get your emails read out live or on "The Club", but several regular players have been invited onto the show. I was disappointed when GetMintedPoker Live stopped its live show (All hail the Axxeman!) but, technically speaking, Sky's show is a great improvement.

I guess another important reason I'm an SP fan is that I've made money: over £4,000 since I invested £140 in September. Most of that is from tourneys, but lately, as my tourney form has sagged, my cash game has improved. I was up £600 in 11 days (until I c*cked up last night and gave £150 of it back). Nothing bigtime, but :-)

Poker v Scrabble

2008-01-10T01:31:00.000Z

Because I've spent the evening playing poker, when I sat down to write a blog post about a Scrabble tourney I've just been to (as a spectator) I found myself comparing it with poker tourneys. One important difference is I don't fancy eating a dictionary, which is what most of those guys have had to do in order to play at the top level. That's one of the great things about poker: anyone with an average IQ can learn to play it well in a few hours, or at least well enough to be able to win a few cash pots or get a money finish in a tournament.

A bit of a flat evening, pokerwise. I came in the money in the Velocity, but the tourney was spoilt by a system crash at Sky which meant that most of the players (i.e. the ones playing through their TV boxes) got cut off. So coming in the money wasn't much of an achievement! (Though I did already have a healthy stack when the crash happened...) Meanwhile, even though the tourneys were continuing, it appears that the live TV show couldn't show any of the action. Not sure why not - I wouldn't have thought that the two systems were connected.

Up

2008-01-07T21:32:00.000Z

Just gone out of the Bounty Hunter. :-( Sky have increased the number of entries, up from 650 to 800, with 90 places paid and a first prize of £1584.

Happy coz I made a profit of £160 in one hour on a £1 cash table last night. This was after - as usual - losing half my stack to begin with. (I flopped a set of 2s - Geomax flopped a set of 5s.) Luckily a loose guy called p*****1972 quadrupled me up by going all-in against my pair of kings and my set of 10s, and when he left, a kid called s******ter took his seat and made a bad attempt at representing an overpair to my 88 on a 46T9J board and I took a £136 pot. Making such a good read sent me to bed a happy chappy. :-)

Bollocks

2008-01-06T20:37:00.000Z

So much for the rules of poker... Tired and on tilt (After my bad beat in The Open, I lost two big pots on two different sites when guys with A6 made reckless calls and outdrew me) I got all reckless myself and threw away over £100. So tonight I'm going to have a go in the Sunday Showdown and then call it a night. Back to work tomorrow anyway.

Watch the tourney live online here.

Poker Rules

2008-01-06T00:30:00.000Z

1. Play your game. Don't let one hand or one player throw you off.
2. Don't play tired or drunk. Etc. You need to concentrate.
3. Be patient. If you're bored, play two tables, surf the net, whatever.
4. Luck beats weakness. Did he just limp/check/call? Then bet again.
5. Don't call an all-in bet unless you're sure you're ahead!

More later. Putting them here to remind me!

Today's bad beat: The Open tonight, did something stupid to get myself low-stacked, worked my way back up to average chips. I raise all-in with two pair, guy calls hoping to catch an ace...

Idiot savant

2008-01-05T01:04:00.000Z

Last night I played for a couple of hours at Tony G's site. I put down $200 at a 10-handed table. The usual pattern ensued: lost half my chips, then eventually got up to $220. Very tired, I should've got out, but instead I somehow managed to lose the whole lot...

(I've been a big fan of Tony's ever since I saw him in the Paris WPT event on TV a couple of years ago. He still plays in some of the tourneys on his site, but not as often as he used to.)

Tonight at Sky Poker was almost a perfect night. I came 16th in The Open, then I made a profit on three cash tables, and then... Mr Stupid strikes again. I'm in profit on another table, but call all-in with a low flush. Actually I had a flush and a straight, and my hand looked so pretty I couldn't bring myself to fold it, even though if I had done I'd now be £50 richer.

So, I really am a quite-good player. I know before I throw all my chips away that that's what I'm doing. I just need to stop myself doing it!

A Night Out

2008-01-03T02:13:00.000Z

To the Grosvenor at Junction 10 for the £30 Treble-Chance Freezeout tourney. Plenty of runners and a £1000 first prize. After three hours I went out calling all-in with KQs against Ace-rag. It was half past midnight and half the field were still there, so, two hours later, I'm sure they're still playing. That's the trouble with normal tourneys - they take a long time. I don't like the two hours that are virtually wasted at the start of a rebuy tournament, and this tourney was just as bad - registration closed at 9.15 but by 11pm absolutely no-one had been knocked out. I know most people (me included) want some entertainment for their £30 but this is crazy.

Anyway, I was reasonably happy with my play. Early on a girl called Kelly won a pot with KK and the next hand I raised all-in in front of her with TT and she called. Yup, she had kings again and I used up one of my chances. Undeterred, soon after I raised with 58s, flopped the flush and showed my cards. I made the break with average chips.

Gradually things got more lively. My end of the table was quiet and full of rocks, but at the other end there was one aggressive player, who was joined by another and then another as people were moved between tables. A couple of times before the break I chickened out a bit, in situations that online I would've bet. But no damage done.

The third of the three was a very good loose player. Just after he arrived, low stacked, he pushed all-in with a gutshot, and the guy who called him wasn't best pleased when the magic card came on the river. After that Mr Loose took the table by storm - he had the gift of the gab and took full advantage. In one hand I had pocket fours and bet postflop even though I didn't connect - the girl and Mr Loose called. The I bet again and Mr Loose called again. This reminded me of a recent hand in The Open, where I'd eventually called all-in with 44 and I was right - the other guy was bluffing with an ace. But this time I just couldn't go through with it.

Anyway, I was grinding pretty well and maybe avoiding risks would've seen me into the money. Dunno. I do know that I played okay and I'm looking forward to going back soon.

A plea for more games

2007-12-30T23:56:00.000Z

Shame Sky Poker has no Omaha... Omaha HiLo is probably my favourite game - it's a bit tough on the brain sometimes but it is funner than holdem. Currently I get my fix at Party Poker. Tonight I sat down at a $1 table and turned $100 into $236 in three minutes, thanks to rivering the wheel on my first hand.

I've just had a pint of IPA but the guy who just pushed all-in with nothing, allowing me to win with just a pair of kings, what's he been drinking? Or smoking? So now I'm on over $300 should I quit, or take a chance that the table is going to carry on being this easy?

Second best of a bad bunch

2007-12-30T22:49:00.000Z

Sunday Showdown final tonight. Not much surprise that Ed Giddins outlasted Sean Boyce and Richard Orford to become the new champion, but winning by coming 282nd is probably not his proudest achievement! All three would've come higher by sitting in the green room sipping champagne.

Anyway, I shouldn't be carping, I came 283rd. (Bad beat, yada yada yada...)

Spooked

2007-12-29T22:41:00.000Z

Last thing last night I sat down for an hour at 50p table "Sandown". It was all pretty normal until suddenly things started to go weird. I flopped a straight draw (89TJ), bet, and two guys called. I made the straight on 4th street, checked, the two guys went all-in and I won a £116 pot. In the chat box someone comments "thunderous applause" and I thank them, only for another two guys to send the same comment. These guys had been quite normal for almost an hour, and now they suddenly get the macro bug, posting various other cut-and-paste comments over the next few minutes. Odd, but what spooked me was the way my cards suddenly started coming out...

Next hand, I raise with 99, and the callers all fold when I bet again on an AJ4 flop. The hand after that, I have Q9 and the flop comes KJT! And the very next hand, I get JT again and I hit the straight on 4th street.

What with getting three almost identical winning straights in four hands, and the weird insta-messaging of the other players, by now I was convinced I was actually sitting at some kind of bot table, designed to make me feel good...

Next hand? AQ. I quit after that.

Down and up again

2007-12-28T23:42:00.000Z

Primo night, and early on I flopped a king-high straight (I had T9). I raised, was reraised, and though I smelt a rat, I raised all-in. Of course the other guy had AT...

Moved on to cash, spent half an hour turning £77 into £15, then spent half an hour turning £15 into £80. Meanwhile, I'd signed up for Velocity and was chip leader, so I quit the cash and concentrated on the tourney, whose first prize is £500+. I did finish in the top thirty, but the prize for that was only £15, so maybe I shouldn't have bothered.

Tournaments are exciting though, and the Primo is down to 11 players as I write, all looking to scoop the first prize of over £7,000.

Irrelevant, repetitive and nonsensical

2007-12-21T23:24:00.000Z

On Wednesday I got an email from Blogger - they were suspending this blog while they checked it wasn't a "spam blog". They say spam blogs "can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text"...

Any road up, I didn't play in the Open yesterday, but Wednesday and tonight I came in the money, so I'm pretty happy with my tourney play - I think I'll try and hit the casino next week. But I lost twice as much as I won 'cause I lost every penny I put onto a couple of cash tables. The first time that was all my fault - bad misreads. But tonight I was unlucky - first PP called my all-in with bottom pair and caught trips. Then he called all-in and caught his straight against my two pair. So I'm smiling 'cause it was only luck that beat me.

Zzz...

2007-12-19T00:59:00.000Z

Signed up for Velocity Live, fell asleep, went out after 44 minutes. Let's see if can do better than 44 minutes when I'm awake!

The Downs and Ups

2007-12-18T02:13:00.000Z

As regulars will know, the Sky Poker platform has been a bit flaky of late, and when I lost my connection fifteen minutes into tonight's Bounty Hunter I was ready to get mad with them. Especially as I'd won seven of the first thirteen hands!

But this time it was Virgin's fault. Literally. Quite a surprise, really - I don't remember there being a break in service for several months. But still very frustrating. It was ten past ten by the time I got back online, by which time my 6,000 chips had shrivelled away to 300.

An hour later I made the decision that since I'd been playing well, I ought to sit down at a cash table for a while. I was a little bit on tilt so I sat down with £77 at a £1 table (I usually play the 20p and 50p tables) and "got busy". There were a couple of guys on the table with £150 but my first three hands were KT, AQ and KK so I was able to come out all guns blazing and quickly get myself a good table image. A few hands later I got AKs in early position and surprised myself by opting to limp. A good move - a couple of guys raised, so I raised them all-in, they folded and I took an easy £13 (nett).

Then I got 55 twice in a row. The first time the flop was Q43 so I fancied my chances, but I was pleased to only lose £5 to the guy with the Q. The second time I flopped a set and check-raised.

My next four hands were AQ, 77, J9, 99. Obviously I lost £11 with the pairs, won £20 with the ace, and won £90 with the jack. That's poker. The board was JT3JK and the guy went all-in. The way he bet, he could've had Q9, so I used the full time before calling. I wonder what he did have?? Bloody Sky Poker doesn't reveal the losing cards in that situation...

Sitting on my left at the table was an aggressive player called Godson. I think I prefer having an aggressive player on my left rather than on my right. It makes me less likely to limp or call with rubbish, but at least gives me the option to bet. Anyway, Godson went on tilt at just the right moment. A guy nicked half his stack by catching an ace on the river. So Godson went all-in with 55 on a 682 flop, and I had 99 and an easy call to win £100.

£200 up in 30 minutes - not the usual!