Jeff Kimber wins in Walsall

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!

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

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

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?

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

...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?

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??