The soup kitchen

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

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.