The Last Post...

This is the last post for the forseeable future. The reason behind this is quite simple, some people use information from this blog and forward it onto various poker sites and get me grief. Recently I mentioned how I played on a friends account and won $25,000 on pokerstars, 40/3000 if I came first it was $1,400,000 and no doubt I could have lost this money if somebody complained it was a non account holder playing. More recently I have had an email from Betfair saying that they are aware my account is being used by multiple people. Any suggestion that I cannot rake enough by myself for the aussie millions powerplay promo or need assistance to win any leaderboard is ludicrous. The simple fact is a few games were played by somebody else on my account who could not use their own Betfair account due to Betfair Poker being hacked. I will not reveal the aliases and the vast sums of money involved in the scam but needless to say surely offering players protection from hackers should be a priority. At the same time though I have often complained about people constantly using other peoples accounts to get an edge on an opponent and nothing has been done, add to that the fact I know people with 4 or more ACTIVE Betfair accounts at anyone time and this is also ignored. People will often say why do you play Betfair poker with all the grief you get, it is simple it is very easy to make decent consistent money there with the system I use.

Some jealous people say I brag too much etc and they feel this gives them the right to try and report me to poker sites for any reason whether small or large, true of false. I take down many decent scores that people are not aware of unless they are close friends. When I won $25,000 on pokerstars it would not have been public knowledge had I not posted on Betfair poker forum the day before wishing everybody luck in it and mentioning the alias I was using. I deliberately keep most aliases from the various poker sites from the public domain as you will only get jealous people creating a hard time.

For people who think I am constantly trying to make myself look good, you haven't seen anything yet. Where do I need to start? The fact that I give a % of all monthly earnings to various charities? (obviously not nowhere near the Greenstein sums of money but I am sure it does some good). Or do I mention my previous voluntary unpaid work for cancer research? Or do I mention the nights out with the likes of David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole etc etc etc. I deliberately try to wind up a few morons but what they think is a big thing is nothing in relation to some of the other stuff about me. Well you learn something new every day so now people are also aware of the fact that I have done voluntary charity work and also give a % of earnings to various charities. These are things nobody else knew about until now however now everybody does.

This blog was mainly intended for fun and the only time I was going to say exact figures won was when i hit $1,000,000. However all the stories and occasional poker advice will now end, sorry to the few people who read this blog but there really is no way I can post again as it can cost me a large amount of money and also even the charities I support would lose a few quid. The links on this blog cover a variety of poker players from addicts to professional high stake players to grinders to up and coming players, have a look at them you may like some of them. Good luck to all players on the tables and more importantly with life in general.

Finally to all the haters go and fuck yourselves, may karma bite you on the arse. You will never ever be a patch on me as a player or a human being in general.

THE END

Nandos Bitch

Very rare I will use offensive language on this blog but I have to make an exception for this slag. Yesterday was an eventful day, lets start with the Nando's bitch....

Many of you will have eaten in Nandos before, several of you will know how much I am hooked on that place! For those who have never tried it check your nearest restaurant on the homepage and check it out http://www.nandos.co.uk/ . Just make sure if the nearest one is Enfield you go to the second closest one! I was a Nandos virgin until this year, the first ever Nandos I went to was Enfield and it was amazing. I have been a regular to Nandos since, yesterday I went with my friend and his children. His son who is 18 said don't go to Enfield as the staff are rubbish and it is dirty, I had never really noticed this. I guess when something is as good as Nandos if the first one you ever go to is the worst you will still think it is good. My friend orders his food for him, his wife and daughter. Part of the order is a bowl of olives, only green ones he requests (not too difficult) and the girl gives them to him. The other till opens and I order for myself and his son, I also request a bowl of olives only green ones. The manageress who is about 25 says I can't do that. Being somewhat of a Nandos veteran and in 30+ visits this has not been a problem I think she is joking, it is soon apparent that she is serious. I would have mentioned the girl next to her didn't have a problem doing it but I did not want some funny manageress giving her a hard time. So my friend puts on the charm offensive and still she won't budge, I said to him it is just a bowl of olives better to go without than to suck up to that miserable cow. At the end of the order I ask for a beer, she asks me for i.d. I am 29 and had not had a shave for two days, is she for real or just a freak? She clearly wanted some attention from two men but I would not oblige. For the other drink she hands a glass out that was so hot I almost dropped it. I ask if she has one that is not boiling hot and she says "thats how they come". I look at her confused and say
"Sure thats how they come when you take it straight from the dishwasher instead of off the shelf, the place is empty so its not as if you dont have glasses that have not just come from the dishwasher". In all restaurants I hate to complain before I get my food incase they do something to it so I was quite restrained. I finally complete my order and go upstairs to wait for my food, thats the end of that....or is it.......

Upstairs my friend goes to get a bottle of piri piri sauce when out of nowhere psycho bitch appears, she asks him if he got the bottle from upstairs or downstairs? He replies "upstairs". If she said it to me I would have lost it, what the fuck does it matter if the bottle was from upstairs or downstairs? It is free for people to use on their food. Absolute crazy girl. I still highly recommend Nandos to all, just avoid the Enfield branch. If anyone knows the girl please tell her to go and fuck herself, she is around 25 with black hair, glasses and pretty.....pretty fucking ugly!

Also during the eventful day yesterday my friend had one of his houses raided by the police on a drugs bust. He rented it out to a chinese restaurant owner who decided there was more money in skunk than chicken fried rice and noodles! The police found 700 skunk plants in the house and barn! Also they smashed the house to bits. From doing some research online it takes around 3 months to cultivate a plant ready to use to smoke. One kilo of skunk is approximately £3500, and one fully grown plant will yield a minimum of half a kilo. So over a 3 month cycle mr Chinaman would make 700 multiplied by £3500, that is over a million pounds!

The farm is actually fenced off yet someone trespassing reported to the Norwich Constabulary smelling a skunk smell coming from the house. All very strange, how did he know what it smells like! Obviously I have never seen a skunk factory but I find it strange that someone could smell it from half a mile off! Whilst it is good the guy was busted it is not convenient for my friend who barely covered the mortgage on the place with the rent money. Now he has to pay £1500 a month on a place that the police have smashed to bits until he can fix it up and make it habitable. I think he will probably sell it now. So all people who buy to let try to have properties closer to home and regularly check up. Do not let these triad mafia people stitch you up also.

Lastly a bit of a badbeat story, on Monday I placed a few £10 bets on Tottenham to win 4-3, 3-2, 2-1. On the rare occasion I have a bet nowadays I like to go for unlikely scores as the odds are big. On Betfair I found out I could not get around 100/1 which a bookmaker would give on 4-3 but instead any non specified score was set odds of around 11/1. So basically you are backing multiple results, as expected Tottenham rubbish lost (start with Bent??? Jol is out within weeks) Now for yesterday I called a friend who has a William Hill account and asked him to put £10 on Arsenal to win 2-0 and £10 on Arsenal to win 7-0. Now being a idiot Tottenham supporter he had lost all the money in his account the night before! I did not get the bet on and Arsenal won 7-0. Almost straight away I knew what was going to happen, my friends in the pub were also laughing as they also knew. Arsenal 6-0 up with around 20 minutes left, please score two more I ask. They will definitely score one so the sooner the better, typical they miss many easy chances and then with a two minutes left they score to make it 7-0. Amazing, moral of the story is don't have any friends who support Tottenham, its clear for all to see now why they are the most hated club in the world.

The Crippled Hustler.....

When I am playing a poker tournament I generally let everyone do their own thing and don't nit pick on players errors often. Occasionally if I view something as blatant cheating I will make a complaint. Here is one such instance....

I was playing a forty runner tournament at Treasure Island in Las Vegas. On my table were a husband and wife, the wife had to be assisted into her chair from a wheelchair. She was a bit dribbly and all but seemed to know what she was doing, before long she had almost trebled her stack. Just before the break her husband busted out and within seconds she said she felt ill. She spoke to the cardroom manager and he asked us if we minded if she left? Basically we assumed he meant refund her money from the prizepool and we all said ok. Then her husband went to sit down and take her place, i said what the hell is going on here? Cardroom manager says do you object to her husband taking her place? This is Las Vegas the cardroom manager should never even have considered this option. I said of course I object he has been busted from a freezeout and can't come back in. I realised there was an outside chance she was genuinely ill and said seeing as you cant refund her entrance fee I will do so from my own pocket and she can just be anted off.

The lady after a bit of what I believed to be a bit of exaggerated dribbles and spasms decides to play on. Now several minutes after its the break, the lady had previously said she hadn't played before and was a beginner. I gave her a basic poker guide which I had picked up from the expo at the WSOP. As soon as the break was announced, she blew her cover! Her hand reached straight into her purse and she pulled out some money and asked for the add on. What novice player would be aware of an add on at the break before it was announced? Who feeling ill several minutes before would then try and purchase more chips? When she requested the add on a few of us smiled at eachother, clearly a hustle gone wrong for 'Team Cripple'.

The one other time in Las Vegas when I complained was during a small tournament at Planet Hollywood. Approximately 70 runners so it still paid a fair bit. The usual suspects animal, unstable, pirus, azimut had busted out early. Whenever my friends bust out early I will happily just throw my chips away and go to the next tournament. After all I am not in Las Vegas to play $100 tournaments, I am entering them for the social side of things. I announced to the table the group of donkeys in the corner were my friends who had already busted and I was going to either bust out or get a big stack and win. Around forty players were left when I made my first all in with a hand like T2o and everyone folded and I showed. Next I had J8s and went all in and beat AQ, then virtually every hand after I had a huge hand like AK KK AA AQ TT JJ and kept getting callers, I was now one of the chip leaders.....

Then this hand happened, utg raises and utg+1 smooth calls and I look down at QQ and move all in. It is folded to the initial raiser who asks the guy next to him if he is going to call me. I immediately objected and requested his hand to be dead, with the blinds and raiser and callers chips I was happy enough just to take the pot down there. When I complain the guy gets aggitated and starts saying I have not done anything wrong. The cardroom manager comes over and asks what was said, he immediately declares the raisers hand dead but the person after who said he was going to call did not have his hand killed. He called me with AQ and he was also on the rail. I now had plenty of chips and went on to make the final table.

Every single all in the short stack survived and before long the blinds were ridiculously high. I cannot remember my exact finish but it was around 5th after several outdraws. The one highlight of the tournament though was the lovely Kristy Arnett from cardplayer sitting next to me on the final table. Good looking and she can sure play a good game also!

So all players if ever you feel something shady has gone down on a table don't hesistate to ask for the tournament director to make a ruling. It can create a bit of a bad vibe on the table but at least you are still in the tournament and have not been cheated out of it.

I Have A Dream....

Three early nights in a row for the first time in ages. Woke up earlier than expected though today due to a dream....

What is worse than dreaming you have won the lottery then waking up realising you haven't? Dreaming you have won it twice! Just dreamt that, now I will have to do with winning two $200 heads up games? Too pissed off to put any poker stories up today.

Here is a link for Absolute Poker's admission of a security lapse, note they still water down how much money people were actually swindled for!

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/article/9959/absolute-poker-confirms-security-breach

The actual game which Absolute Poker admits was cheated is viewable at youtube. They failed to admit the 100s of thousands taken on the cash tables....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FczbS7FiWSM

Absolute Poker Scandal (update)

Bit of a crazy weekend so far and ahead so not much time to post. So here is a quick update on the absolute poker scandal...

Having initially denied any possibility to cheating being possible via seeing opponents hole cards Absolute Poker were provided with overwhelming evidence suggesting it was not only possible but in fact happening and they STILL denied it had happened. For people to be betting $20,000 on a river with a 9 hi bluff and to get called by ten high simply would not happen. Finally due to possible legal action the full truth has come out. To save me typing it all here here is a link with pretty much the full details. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21381022/

From a personal viewpoint I said this was possible several years ago, my exact words being "If people can hack into the pentagon and NASA then online poker is definitely not 100% secure". People ridiculed what I suggested was possible and I would rather have never been proven correct. Absolute Poker as a brand name surely is ruined now and will never have much traffic again at the site. The great news for all players is that surely any problems on other sites will now not be swept under the carpet as if it does come out the company will be virtually ruined.

Good luck on the tables all and rememeber, if something does not feel right do not be afraid to speak out.

FINAL STRAW....

After one bad beat too many I am finally giving up games from $300+ to $1000. With all the recent rumours about dodgy software it is only prudent for me to cap my games at $300, I shall review at the end of the week and perhaps step down to a maximum stake of $150-$200.

Fight them or join them?/ FullTiltPoker, Betfair Poker, Absolute Poker scams.

Several things happened on the tables last night which I don't approve of. They are tactics that sometimes increase profits guaranteed. However even if it is online I believe that you should still show respect to a certain extent even if you will probably never ever meet your opponent for real. Last month there was the instance of where a guy I was playing frequently every day was sat out at the start of the game, he came in some time later and I had a lot of chips of his which I passed back. He says thankyou, then the tables are reversed a few days later and does he do the same back? No he says hahaha fuck you when I request he do for me as I did for him. (glad to see he has gone from playing $200 games to $10 games now!). Now for last night....

I had a few beers watching the football, then later on I had a few in the west end of london. I forgot I had had a few beers before and when I got home I wasn't entirely sober. I logged on and played cash $2.50/$5 and quickly went from $250 to $550. The table was manic and there was a chance of a big score, then I get KK and make a big reraise called by A6o flop is 662 I go broke. Now I go on mad drunk tilt and start throwing money away, I end up losing over $2000. During this time people would make a profit then leave and come back a few minutes later buying in for less I think this is cheap and wrong. Then some people would ask me to play heads up which again I think is wrong. I really do not like when someone is playing bad on a 6 seat table and another player tries to take them away to themselves. So i say ok but 25/50 nl......

The guy sits and I buy in for $2000 and first hand I raise with A * and flop a pair, the river is A and I bet $900 pot he thinks for a while and folds. I then sit out with $450 back from my $2000, it is a shame I did not get the extra $900. Also I noticed that someone would join table from Faroe Islands and then the next person to join was also from there. The whole island has a population of just over two people so what a coincidence that was! When I view cash tables I often notice that you get groups from a certain country sat on the same table, always spaced out a few players apart. No proof but I can only suspect sometimes there is teamwork going on.

I soon get back almost all of my losses playing heads up sit n go. Then a few more unsporting things started to happen. It was around 4a.m. and the site was pretty dead, I had played a bad player around ten times and won most. Another player was clearly watching the games and as soon as they entered he would try to jump into the next game the second the fish did, a few times he got into the games before me. I was pleased to see DJPONYTALE take most of his money on heads up cash after. Now the person I was playing at one stage in a $100 game was also registered in a $300 game, I said shall I join that also and he said yes. When the game started he said I don't want to play two tables at once can we sit out on one. I explained I do not want to sit out and later when we start playing the blinds will probably be sky high. I won the $100 and said don't worry I will give it back to you after. We then finished the $300 and I played a $100 game with him and sat out so he could get the win. Here is an example of how bad he was...

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 264143035 *****
NL Texas Hold'em $300 Buy-in + $15 Entry Fee, Level:1 Blinds(10/20-
(no ante)) - Thursday, October 18, 04:06:20 GMT 2007
$300+$15 NL Holdem #1184224
Table 1 2-max (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of active players : 2
Seat 1: (alias deleted) ( 1,330 )
Seat 2: Mr Silent ( 1,670 )
Tourney Level:1 Blinds(10/20-(no ante))
Mr Silent posts small blind [10]
(alias deleted) posts big blind [20]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Mr Silent [ Ks, Ah ]
Mr Silent raises to [60]
(alias deleted) raises to [180]
Mr Silent goes all-in
Mr Silent raises to [1,670]
(alias deleted) calls [1,150]
(alias deleted) goes all-in
Returning uncalled bet [340] to Mr Silent
** Showdown **
(alias deleted) shows [ 6d, Td ]
Mr Silent shows [ Ks, Ah ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kh, Th, 6h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qs ]
** Dealing River ** [ 9c ]
** Hand Conclusion **(alias deleted) wins 2,660 from main pot with two pair, Tens and Sixes



***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 264141758 *****
NL Texas Hold'em $200 Buy-in + $8 Entry Fee, Level:1 Blinds(10/20-
(no ante)) - Thursday, October 18, 03:41:17 GMT 2007
$200+$8 NL Holdem #1184219
Table 1 2-max (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of active players : 2
Seat 1: Mr Silent ( 1,680 )
Seat 2: (alias deleted) ( 1,320 )
Tourney Level:1 Blinds(10/20-(no ante))
Mr Silent posts small blind [10]
(alias deleted) posts big blind [20]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Mr Silent [ Qc, Ad ]
Mr Silent raises to [60]
(alias deleted) raises to [100]
Mr Silent goes all-in
Mr Silent raises to [1,680]
(alias deleted) calls [1,220]
(alias deleted) goes all-in
Returning uncalled bet [360] to Mr Silent
** Showdown ** Mr Silent shows [ Qc, Ad ]
(alias deleted) shows [ Jc, 7c ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ac, Jd, 9h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Jh ]
** Hand Conclusion **
(alias deleted) wins 2,640 from main pot with three of a kind, Jacks
************ Game 264141758 ends ************

I have deleted his name as I don't want everyone getting my fish for free! Basically any raise he would reraise and would then call any all in preflop if his two cards were suited. As he won a few games he would move up in stake, after bad beating me in a $500 game leaving me low in chips he said after this I will play two $750s and then go to bed. So i play him in a $750 determined to win as he is going soon, I win and he then jumps into a $100 with someone else. Loses and quits for the night. Now obviously he was playing with my money from the previous few games and was hoping he would win the $750 to then play me again. I hated the way he lied.

So basically from one nights poker the following things happened which i disagree with:

1) Hit and run
2) Possible collusion/playing same table with two different accounts
3) Jumping in peoples rematches as you know their opponent is bad
4) Playing in a ring game and trying to take a fish away from everyone else to get heads up
5) Speaking to somebody who is polite all night, refunds you a $100 entry fee when you play more tables than you can cope with and then telling lies. Clearly hoping to win at higher stake with their money and then getting a no lose rematch before quitting for the night.

Out of the top five things the only one I will ever consider is point # 2. However I would only use this versus somebody who has done the same to me. I could never imagine the likes of other good players such as hawko/dubai/benno doing the same. Some people wish to win by any means necessary, some of the means they will use I think are a form of cheating. Each to their own I guess, just never feel obliged to refund somebody who has disconnected as there is a huge likelyhood they will not do the same for you.

On the subject of cheating following the Absolute Poker and Fulltiltpoker scams of late claims have now come up that on Betfair poker that people have software to access opponents hole cards. I do not know if there is any truth that Betfair have refunded people large sums of money. The only thing for certain is that Betfair would act with integrity similar to fulltilt and unlike Absolute Poker cheats. Funnily enough I had seen a player on the cash tables spamming with the link for a trojan virus. Here is the email I sent betfair and what happened next:

(DO not click the link)

Dear Sir/Madam

Previously I have downloaded a virus from some bastard on a betfair forum. I know you are already aware of this problem but on the poker cash tables somebody by the alias ThXena is spamming this virus. On cash table Manila if you check the chat logs you should be able to see the link for http://www.betfairreport.com/ being spammed. I noticed the person sat down with $1000, a lot of people had to buy virus removers due to the forum posts and I would like to think that these people have all funds seized. I am sure betfair will take appropriate action.

My account is then locked and I recieve the following email....


Thank you for bringing this spamming to our attention.
You mentioned in your email that you had downloaded the virus. For your security, we have temporarily suspended your account. Please change your password and run antivirus, and when the virus has been removed from your computer, let us know and we will unsuspend your account.
Please be advised that we tried to contact you by telephone regarding this on 07801499532, but the number did not seem to work.We thank you once again for your co-operation.Kind regards,


After several phone calls my account is activated again and two days later the same person is spamming the same messages still on the cash tables! So people all beware of what you recieve in your email inbox and do not download anything unless you confirm with the site first via email to the advertised email address on their homepage or via phone. There is so much money in online poker and the mafias of this world are finally taking advantage in a big way. Be very cautious. That's all for now, good luck on the tables all.....

Multi Table Success...

Online multi table tournaments (MTT) are currently an area of poker I loathe. You can play a tournament for hours then get an awful suckout just before the prize money gets big. Indeed in some of the bigger online tournaments you could be playing for anything up to twenty hours! I do not mind playing a twenty hour session online but every once in a while I like to take quick breaks. A MTT may give you a break at the end of each hour however if you are playing several tournaments at once these breaks will not all start at the same time so in effect for your session at best you can run off for a sixty second toilet break. Whatever discipline I am playing I like to stick to just one at a time. Some people may run cash and tournament tables together but you results will not be so good. Last night I played a £50 tournament but I only ended up in it by chance....

Betfair were running a cross forum poker challenge with pretty much one team from each discussion forum entering. I was registered for one of these teams and was determined to put a good effort in as I feel you must do when playing as part of a team or with someone elses money or if someone has a % in you. So to stop me straying off losing concentration in my usual games I entered Betfair's 16k guaranteed (gtd) which is the biggest daily tournament that they run. The prize money is nowhere near as much as that of sites such as Fulltiltpoker and pokerstars bigger daily tournaments but $5000+ for an entry fee of $100 is still pretty decent.

First up the cross forum challenge where I lasted a dissapointing half an hour, i make a huge check raise on the turn with the then nut straight and was called by a flush draw which hit on the river. There was quite a few chips in the middle and I was not going to fold my hand even though I knew there was a possibility that the opponent could have a flush. So sorry to the special bets forum team who all in all did not have the best of success, but like many of the other forums they all had a good time. Few quick thanks to Deejay, Mandylou (Ponte/Carl), UKgatsby for organising this event and misspoker for inviting me to play for the team. Lastly good work by Betfair and hopefully a few new faces turn up on the tables as a result of this tournament for some easy pickings in the future! Just as I was busting out the 16k gtd started and I had forgotten I had even entered it....

Within the early stages the same situation appeared to arise that had just taken me out of the previous tournament, I call a bet on the flop with an open end straight draw. If i hit one of 8 cards I will have the best possible hand on the turn, bingo it hits on the turn and I have the nuts but there is also a flush draw now out. So once again I put in a big check raise on the turn and my opponent calls. Alarm bells are ringing but the river is a safe 2 red and I push all in and am quickly called by pocket Kings for an early double up. I was finding it hard to focus and kept slipping off to play some heads up and single table tournaments at the same time. Then when it got down to the last 50 of 157 participants I won a few pots and was up to around 8th place. I then decided to step up a gear and lost a few pots mainly to a player called shaunpaul which was entirely down to my own stupidity of playing out of position. In a multi tournament it is stupidity to play hands out of position unless you are playing a rush of good hands. I have now slipped down to around 12/40 and am in no mood to continue playing the tournament.....

Then suddenly my brain activates and says why waste two hours of your time online for nothing? I take a few steps that have helped me win MTTs in the past, I turn off msn and locate some good music to listen to. I win a few points and am focussing hard when the following hand came up to boost my confidence:

NL Texas Hold'em $100 Buy-in + $9 Entry Fee,
Level:7 Blinds(100/200-25 ante) - Tuesday,October 16, 21:05:01 GMT 2007
Daily $16k GTD #106194
Table 1 9-max (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of active players : 8
Seat 1: shaunpaul ( 6,920 )
Seat 2: jaymac ( 19,354 )
Seat 3: J.R ( 6,469 )
Seat 4: The Klup ( 4,596 )
Seat 6: benjyboyblu ( 4,909 )
Seat 7: Mr Silent ( 13,755 )
Seat 8: Thrappers ( 5,300 )
Seat 9: paymybeer ( 14,448 )
Tourney Level:7 Blinds(100/200-25 ante)
shaunpaul posts small blind [100]
jaymac posts big blind [200]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Mr Silent [ 4c, 4h ]
J.R folds
The Klup folds
benjyboyblu folds
Mr Silent calls [200]
Thrappers folds
paymybeer raises to [720]
shaunpaul folds
jaymac folds
Mr Silent calls [520]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ks, 4s, 6d ]
Mr Silent checks
paymybeer bets [1,000]
Mr Silent raises to [2,800]
paymybeer raises to [4,600]
Mr Silent goes all-in
Mr Silent raises to [13,010]
paymybeer calls [8,410]
** Showdown ** Mr Silent shows [ 4c, 4h ]
paymybeer shows [ Kc, Ac ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qc ]**
Hand Conclusion **Mr Silent wins 27,960 from main pot with three of a kind, Fours ************ Game 263624516 ends ************

With 11,000 in the middle I put my last 13,000 in which is almost the same as my opponents remaining chips and I think he should be folding here. A lot of people will call here but with a healthy position in the later stages of a tournament I think that it is a standard fold here with one pair even if you have top kicker. So now I am up with the chip leaders and in cruise control. I am also moved away from my nemisis shaunpaul who has been taking every pot from me. The only way I go down now is with a big hand or a bad beat. For some reason I keep getting huge hands with other people with big stacks, I take down several huge pots in a short period when opponents check raise me all in to see to their horror me instacall.....and them either drawing dead or to miracle miracle to survive. With 16 left I am a big chip leader and the stacks on my table are as follows...

Seat 1: shaunpaul ( 44,439 )
Seat 2: Pambo ( 27,813.50 )
Seat 3: Mr Silent ( 89,410 )
Seat 4: suddes ( 17,176 )
Seat 5: evo2 ( 29,952 )
Seat 6: Blackpool07 ( 18,199 )
Seat 7: Demol ( 25,260 )
Seat 8: UncleBak ( 6,390.50 )
Tourney Level:11 Blinds(600/1,200-75 ante)

I have 75 big blinds which is huge at this stage of the tournament and playing my rush I am pretty much raising with any two pretty cards. I raise up with QT suited and Blackpool07 reraises all in. I don't have the odds to call him, however I am playing a rush and also like to demonstrate that if I raise I will call a reraise from a shorter stack. He has AK and doubles up through me, now its time for me to change gear and shut up shop for a bit. Looking back I wish I never called as Blackpool07 and ICANTPLAY who are both decent enough players were crying when I was raising their blinds. One example is it is folded to me in the small blind where I look down at AT, ICANTPLAY is sitting in the big blind with ten big blinds left. My stack is huge and in this spot it is a standard all in. I am not going to raise to 3-4 times the big blind and fold to a reraise, I am not going to limp and let him flop two pair and me top pair. How he was being sarcastic about that push all in only he can know.

I started to lose concentration a bit and again was back to some sit and gos, which I soon finished and said I may as well focus on trying to get $5000 here. I have a big chip lead and it can all be over in just over an hour. So one last hour or so of concentration and I will make more than I would from a whole day of sit and go. Then down to the last 14 i suckout badly for the first time of the tournament, the hand and an explanation follow....

Seat 1: shaunpaul ( 56,314 )
Seat 2: Pambo ( 33,063.50 )
Seat 3: Mr Silent ( 68,361 )
Seat 4: suddes ( 13,751 )
Seat 5: evo2 ( 40,127 )
Seat 6: Blackpool07 ( 21,773 )
Seat 7: Demol ( 25,250.50 )
Tourney Level:12 Blinds(800/1,600-75 ante)
shaunpaul posts small blind [800]
Pambo posts big blind [1,600]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Mr Silent [ Qc, Qs ]Mr Silent calls [1,600]
suddes folds
evo2 raises to [7,800]
Blackpool07 folds
Demol foldsshaunpaul folds
Pambo folds
Mr Silent goes all-in
Mr Silent raises to [68,286]evo2 calls [32,252]
evo2 goes all-in
Returning uncalled bet [28,234] to Mr Silent
** Showdown **
Mr Silent shows [ Qc, Qs ]
evo2 shows [ Kc, Kd ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, 9s, 8s ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qh ]
** Dealing River ** [ Jc ]
** Hand Conclusion **Mr Silent wins 83,029 from main pot with three of a kind, Queens

Now with QQ in first position I do not like to get involved with many players, I have come unstuck so many times. I do not mind limping and then if there is a raise and reraiser I will fold with my current stack. I do not feel I am folding a big hand, i will feel that I am just losing one big blind. My stack is healthy to take on the shorter stacks no matter what they do, however worst case scenario is evo2 raises and shaunpaul reraises in which case i fold. Evo2 raises and the rest fold, he has a lot of fold equity and pretty much the only hand he has here that beats me is AA/KK although I did not feel aces. Many other hands he could have are AK/AQ/QQ/JJ and by reraising all in he is absolutely certain to fold any hand other than KK/AA. Unfortunately for him he has KK and gets a bad beat, thats poker though and I am sure of two things. Firstly he was happy to get that far in this tournament as he caught a few rivers against hands such as KK himself with AJ and secondly he will call and get beaten by a lot worse than QQ on a daily basis. He is a decent guy and I wish to pay for him to enter the tournament one night soon from the lucky money! If i did not get lucky that hand I am down to 36000 chips which would still have me in around 6/14.....

But i did get lucky and now we are down to unlucky number 13 players left....unlucky for shaunpaul as I now have huge stack and position over him...

Seat 1: shaunpaul ( 55,439 )
Seat 2: Pambo ( 31,388.50 )
Seat 3: Mr Silent ( 111,263 )
Seat 4: suddes ( 13,676 )
Seat 6: Blackpool07 ( 21,698 )
Seat 7: Demol ( 25,175.50 )

I pretty much terrorise him with raises and reraises, one hand suddes benefitted with over a treble up and shaunpaul's stack was damaged with me losing one big blind on the hand after the sidepot. After a while on the final table bubble we are down to the final 9 and I am in control. I have a huge amount of confidence any final table I make, I feel that having invested so much time I have to get first. As the money jumps every position any spot but first deeply dissapoints me. When I was frequently playing tournaments on the crypto (aka corrupto/crookto) network I once went through a stage where I won 15/20 final tables no matter if i started as the big stack or short stack. The final table start is as follows.....

Seat 1: shaunpaul ( 56,639 )
Seat 2: Pambo ( 39,811.50 )
Seat 3: Mr Silent ( 110,036 )
Seat 4: suddes ( 52,153.50 )
Seat 5: nivek987 ( 21,022 )
Seat 6: ICANTPLAY ( 24,518.50 )
Seat 7: COMMANDO ( 42,366 )
Seat 8: sammylee ( 24,232.50 )
Seat 9: PAYTOSEE ( 21,721 )
Tourney Level:13 Blinds(1,000/2,000-100 ante)

Of these players I don't want to see ICANTPLAY or COMMANDO get too many chips. I do not mind shaunpaul getting a few chips as I now have position on him and pretty much have his game beat. I play a few hands and we are soon down to seven with my stack size hugely increased and one of the better players out. I decide that my stack is too big to be getting involved with the smaller stacks as any raise I make on them I have to be prepared to call their reraise all in. So i step down a gear and let them fight it out, it seems every all in and call the shorter stacks win the race and pot.

Seat 1: shaunpaul ( 40,505 )
Seat 2: Pambo ( 29,961.50 )
Seat 3: Mr Silent ( 167,804.50 )
Seat 4: suddes ( 29,626 )
Seat 5: nivek987 ( 23,716 )
Seat 7: COMMANDO ( 63,845 )
Seat 9: PAYTOSEE ( 37,042 )
Tourney Level:14 Blinds(1,500/3,000-150 ante)

Two more players are out and now the prize money jumps a bit, so I was happy to be calling shorter stacks all ins so long as I had such a huge chip advantage. The only player I was avoiding was COMMANDO as he is a pest with his reraises etc and I do not want to chip him up as I am in control..

Seat 2: Pambo ( 23,061.50 )
Seat 3: Mr Silent ( 209,059.50 )
Seat 5: nivek987 ( 28,516 )
Seat 7: COMMANDO ( 100,721 )
Seat 9: PAYTOSEE ( 31,142 )
Tourney Level:15 Blinds(2,000/4,000-200 ante)

When a short stack is all in with AK i call with QJ and hit, then I take another out in similar fashion and we are down to the last 3. Personally I wish for COMMANDO to make heads up so that I can make a deal with him and let him take first as the multi table leaderboard points would push him up a lot higher and mean nothing to me as I do not play many. First spot being worth $3000 extra at the end of the month and a top 3 finish getting into the champion of champions game which i always get into via the sit and go leaderboard anyway. Pambo has played very clever to get to the last 3 where he suddenly hits the biggest card rush since Jamie Gold won the world series main event and COMMANDO is out in third. I was in a lucky position to have a big stack and recieve so many walks, Pambo was clever enough to realise I was not going to let him steal my blinds and kept folding his small blind. I soon one heads up and I feel that Pambo's second spot was perhaps a better performance than mine as I had such chip leads and he was often the short stack from a long way out. So my £50 nets me £2400 for a game that lasts 4 hours, will I now be playing more of these tournaments? No way they give me a headache every time, still at least it was over ten hours less in duration for me than the stars 5million$ guaranteed.

Well thats my first tournament first place in a while as I do not play many, I would like to mention a few more points on tournament play but there are a few people who will read this blog who are not worthy of improving their game at my expense. Hence no hand histories when I am reraising with 37 offsuit or the hands when I create a sidepot with ten hi. (soap liked that one! soap's poker ) Good luck to all and I am going to squeeze a few hours in before the football later (as part of the aussie millions powerplay promo), and then off to central London to meet Animal and a few others who are playing in the GKUPT London tournament. I wish them all well as I do all other players who play for a living...

For the gamblers......

Most people who read this blog will be one or both of the following, a sports bettor whether small bets for fun or big bets for big wins/losses and also a bit of a know it all when it comes to sports. There is a new innotive way to test your sporting knowledge and have a bet at the same time. Basically for £10 you can enter a competition whereby you need to predict the winner of an upcoming sporting event, it covers many sports including football, tennis and rugby. Whoever is the last person still in wins, you get a wrong prediction and you are out! You can get an extra life for £2 or two extra lives for £3. I suggest people start with 3 lives for £13 unless you are Nostradamus! The link is below for this fun competion, it will only grow in size and in the future there will be some bigger prizes!

www.acepunter.com/competition

24 hours in Rhodes.....

Long version or short version, hmmm......what the hell the short version.....

A few years back I flew out to the greek island of Rhodes on a one week ticket with a friend. There is one small casino on the island and within a few hours we found our way there, between us both we lost around £15,000 that night and were broke! The next day we went to a travel agency armed with our AMEX but it was closed for the afternoon siesta, so we went to the beech for a few hours. Came back booked a brand new ticket at an inflated price and then was back in London for around 11p.m. on a Saturday night.

So in a nutshell another holiday spoilt by a degenerate gambling attack! As ever there is always a twist at the end of the story. I left my case in the car and went straight to a nightclub in the west end, before I went inside I saw a really fit girl and her mate outside. Just my luck, the not so fit girl sticks her number in my phone. On and off I end up seeing her for a few years, I would have paid another £10,000 to have come back a day later and to have never met her!

So people remember when you go on holiday, always avoid any casinos! Also never forget a credit card for any emergencies!

For one day lets make a retard feel special....

Average of 1 visit per day for builder86 the retard, lets let him seem popular for 1 day....


p.s. your comments to him don't have to be nice if you feel like myself that he is an absolute twat. Be careful tho as he is a hard as fuck derby county fc hooligan as you can see if you visit this webpage
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee46/urchinlfc/builder.jpg



(I have taken the link down, well done people for making a retard feel special. He recieved as many hits today as he has in the last two months, I hope that he will win a $5 sit and go soon so that he can once again share his poker stories with the rest of the world!)

24 Hours in Las Vegas....

At last I have time for this post! It will take me a while to type but at 5 a.m. there is not much traffic on the site I am currently playing. I could play Pokerstars for a bit but I don't want to play much as I am not feeling A1. I woke up after just two hours sleep and wasn't able to get back to sleep. Probably a result of a crazy Saturday watching England triumph in the football and the rugby matches. Don't be surprised if England throw another upset in the final against South Africa! I was recently thinking of all the places I have spent just a day in, Paris (previous blog entry on this night), greek island of Rhodes, Beruit in Lebanon, Salzburg in Austria, Munich in Germany, Havana in Cuba just misses out as it was a 48 hour stay and one of the most eventful trips 24 hours in Las Vegas.......

A few years ago when I was in the habit of spending too much time and money in exclusive London nightspots I had one night where I met a beautiful girl and a whole chain of events started. When I was younger I never ever refused a last minute invitation to go out to a club. I had a theory that if I stayed in or went to a local place with friends the odds on anything life changing happening were very slim. However if you go out to the west end such is the traffic of new people there on any given day of the week you could meet hollywood film stars, your sporting idols, supermodels, princes, princesses, oil barons, many life changing experiences are possible. This night was one of those nights, my friend invited me to got to Chinawhite at the last minute. It was a midweek night and I had been getting ready for bed when I got ready and jumped in a cab. Wednesdays at Chinawhite used to be the best night out of the week at any central London nightspot.

Arriving at the club I bypass the usual several hour long queue (which for many still ended in getting turned away!). There were several of us in the club and we immediately hit the vodka! After a while I noticed a beautiful girl, I kept noticing her everywhere. After a few vodkas I was seeing double, wait a minute it is not the vodka.....its twins! A friend of mine informed me that they were pretty much regulars on the club scene and I wondered why I had not noticed them before, it turns out they were 19 so probably had not been regulars for that long. He introduced me to one of them and I instantly hit it off with her. We spoke for around an hour and then parted our own seperate ways, during the course of the night several times I would bump into her sister and go to speak to her before realising I had the 'wrong' one. The night flew past and before I knew it I was back at home dreaming about this beauty that I had met!

Several weeks later I was again in Chinawhites when someone kicked me from behind, it was not a hard kick and I turned around to see who it was.....lo and behold it was my 'beauty'. She says 'You bastard you said we should go out last time we met yet left without taking my number'. Bingo thats a great tell on her, if she is not keen then I don't know what keen means! I swap numbers with her and then done something I rarely do, I hit the dancefloor with her. Boy she could move that sweet booty! She was bumping and grinding so much so that when I left the club my linen trousers had brown streaks down them. I said NO way this fit girl cant have fucking shit down me, it then dawned on me that when I done the obligatory sniff and could not smell anything that it was fake tan. Some of it had clearly rubbed off onto my trousers, thanks god for that!

Now where does Las Vegas fit into all of this you may ask. On the first night she had mentioned it was her birthday coming up and I had been taling about a recent trip to Las Vegas, I was drunk and did not recall saying this but on hearing she had never been to america I said "For your birthday I will take you to Las Vegas". Thankfully back then I had a pretty sweet deal with a travel agent . I rang my man up on the Monday and booked two flights to Las Vegas. Unfortunately only non direct flights were available and they still cost just over £1000 each!

A week soon passed and then I was packed and ready to go to Las Vegas, before I leave my house I ring several times and get no answer! I know she is in London as she came down the night before. I am at Victoria station thinking great what a stupid drunken idea gone wrong. Then after several more attempts I get an answer. She had been clubbing the night before and had just woken up, she was staying in central London and within thirty minutes she was ready and at Victoria Station ready to get the express train to Gatwick airport. On the train her sister was sending several texts, of the two her sister was clearly the worst one. It suddenly dawned that we had only known eachother for a few hours and were about to go on holiday together. We had instantly connected though and got on so well, yet doubts started to creep in via messages from her sister. At the airport she comes out with " I don't thing I can go through with this, what if my sister is right and you are a murderer or something". I say fair enough I don't mind if you don't want to come, we can both get back on the train now and cancel the idea. Having already been delayed by her sleeping in time was now against me. I remained cool and calm then said one way or another you have around 60 seconds now to decide as if you don't the decision will not be needed as the boarding gate will have closed! It's a yes from her, I feel better than somebody who has just been given a yes by all the judges on pop idol!

On the plane she mentions a few more negative things from seeds sown into her mind by her sister. The trip out was an absolute disaster, it was with American Airways and never again! The flights were more expensive than usual due to last minute booking and they still charged $5 for each drink! Using my usual charm I was friendly to the trolly dolly and got many drinks for free. After several hours the girl asks are we nearly there, she nearly has a heart attack when she realises the flight is longer than a flight to Spain. The poor girl has never ever been away from her sister for a few hours, they even shared the same mobile phone. So thats twenty years of almost constant manipulation by her sister. When the flight is nearly over i feign sleep much to the disappointment of the steward who thought he was on to a sure winner by giving me so much alcohol! He felt pretty gutted!

The first transfer is a nightmare, security checks took so long that the two hour gap in flights nearly was not enough to make it in time to catch the connecting flight. Then there is a delay of several hours due to bad weather. Once we have boarded the plane once again there is a delay, we are forced to sit on the plane on the runway for over FIVE HOURS! During this time we are given just one glass of water, upon request for a blanket my girl is told we do not carry blankets for every passenger look in the above locker and if one is there it is, if it isn't it isn't. Is this the worst airline of all time or what? Charge you for drinks, charge you for headphones and now this. The heavy night out before has left her feeling rough and grouchy, add to that the delays and it being that time of the month and my nightmare is clearly just beginning!

We arrive in Las Vegas after a total travel time of 23 hours. Whilst waiting for luggage she reads more texts on my phone from her sister. Her sister is telling her not to forget that the next week somebody is taking them to the Monaco Grand prix in his own private jet and how great it will be. Suddenly things take a turn for the better, a guy is holding a card with my name on. It looks like the casino has sent a limo to pick me up, obviously due to spending a lot on the tables there in the past. We get to the casino and in my room a bucket of Corona on ice is waiting for me as well as a fruit basket and a box of chocolates. The girl is impressed and I am starting to think perhaps all the hassle so far was not in vain after all....

As soon as we wake up there are plenty of texts from her sister going on about the grand prix trip. She suggests to me that we cut the trip short by a few days, this is the final straw for me. I have had 23 hours of hassle getting out to Las Vegas with her, and now this before we have started. I say sure no problem I will shorten the trip now, I pick up the phone and ring the airline and change the flights to the NEXT day! American Airlines want $150 per person to change, are they for real i scream down the phone it has taken me 23 hours to get to Las Vegas. The lady agrees to waver the charge.

Bearing in mind that if I am in Las Vegas for a week it will no doubt cost me a small fortune, added to that some limitations due to her being 20 years of age. I just don't feel she is worth all the effort anymore, she looks at me in shock. I decide to make the most of the 24 hours though, one of the casino directors who I knew said I should just send her home the next day and stay out there. I am not that evil! In the next 24 hours we hang out at the pool in Caesar's and drink some amazing cocktails, the weather is great unlike back home! Next some shopping at the forum shops, truly amazing shops! We then take a helicopter trip to the grand canyon and land there, it really was an amazing experience for both of us. To top if off for dinner I ask what she would like and she says a steak, so we go to Delmonico Steakhouse at the Venetian. At the time it was constantly being voted as one of the best restaurants in Las Vegas and definitely the best steak restaurant. I go to the reception and find that it is fully booked yet I manage to blag a table. Wow none of the reviews mentioned that just for a steak its almost $200, great food but a bit steep! O, well.

After a great 24 hours in Las Vegas it is time to leave, teary eyed she says can't we stay a bit longer? I reply no. Then for another nightmare flight home, its de ja vu with delays and ATROCIOUS customer service. On the first plane when we go to sit down I am informed that it is not my seat. I say of course it is, I show my boarding pass. I am informed that we have been seperated due to the fact that a couple with a baby needed to sit together. Surely this is not my problem and they could and should have just moved a traveller flying alone. I complain and the stewardess says "If you really want to sit together you can....but you must get off of this flight and board the next". What ridiculous customer service, I am fuming. We have delays again and it takes 24 hours to get back into London. Finally back at Gatwick we get our luggage and she wants to use a payphone to call her sister or something as my mobile battery is flat. I say platform 1 or 2 for next train to London and walk off and jump on a train that was seconds away from departing. The last time I ever saw her other than on television a few times.

I have not mentioned the girls name due to the fact that I have been hearing some stories of weird stalkers lately online. I don't mind if anyone stalks me however it is not right for somebody else to be stalked by some nutter, especially not a pretty young lady. In fact some freak called thebuilder86 asked me to post some pictures of my girlfriends on my blog earlier, clearly he either wants to just knock one out or do some stalker type actions. You would think that all the effort and money spent made the trip a total disaster, well there is one plus point to the story. It did not cost me one penny, the only time I have ever left Las Vegas without doing my nuts! On the first day I placed $100 split on numbers 20 and 21 as it was her age and her birthday. It slammed into the number 20 and I picked up $1750 covering all expenses in Las Vegas. The room was free as a comp from the casino, and as for the rip off priced flights as I mentioned I used to have a good deal with a travel agent and they did not cost me a penny. I would advise all travellers from the UK that wherever possible use an English airline and not an american to fly overseas. Even if it costs more money you will get a better service, pay for less drink and avoid the culture clash. As much as I like america and people from there some americans are simply retarded. At all costs avoid American Airlines. I often wonder what the girl is up to nowadays, I regret storming off once we arrived home and wish her well. Her mum did phone me and thank me for looking after her daughter but I never spoke to her again. She was a nice girl just I feel confused at how to cope when her twin sister was not with her.

Next blog entry is 24 hours in Rhodes.......(probably)

WRECKED....

Been a few crazy days hence lack of posts, balance is going up and down a few thousand at least twice a day also due to some crazy moods. Shall post proper entry by tomorrow, now off to play more poker with a half dead brain.

Hustle gone wrong!

They say Christmas is a time of joy, celebrations and spending time with your friends and loved ones. For all the gamblers in the world it is a time to gamble more than ever! Card games with uncles and friends, excessive bets on Kempton on boxing day! Now a friend of ours would always hustle us, he would bet us £20 on one nfl team to beat another and take the team that was a few points behind. After he won the bet he would say "The main player, the quarterback on your pick got injured just before we made the bet. Endless hustle bets, never for much money but it was annoying! Everytime a bet seemed to be too good to be true it was and somehow we always lost!

Then one Christmas my friend and I had watched the end of the world's strongest man contest and saw who won. The next day we went to a friend's to play some cards and hustler was there! On the television we noticed the world's strongest man contest was on and noticed all the contestants were the same as the day before. Obviously it was a re-run and noticing after 4 events the eventual winner was was off the top we suggested a bet with the hustler. He had the leader and we had the guy in last place who we knew was the eventual winner and he also gave us 3/1.

We then watched the rest of the contest with a smile on our face waiting for the inevitable late surge of our pick. Our hustler friend had a smile as large as ours as surely he had a sure thing. The longer the contest went the less we were smiling as our man simply wasn't catching up, then it got to the stage where with a few events left it was not even possible to win if he won every single event left. It was then that it dawned upon us that the contest we watched the day before had been the one the year before the one that we were currently betting.

So we lost the bet and had to pay up, £20 only but it was the gutting feeling that once again he had gotten one over us. It wasn't all bad however, on the card tables he was an absolute fish and would always pay us off there!

A slight change of topic, its good to see that viewers of this blog are picking up a bit. Several people have posted comments which I have withheld due to the fact they are advertising products. I am not saying it is necessarily spam, however I don't want to have anything advertised via this page. Some poker products that have been good for me I will mention such as Barry Greenstein's "Ace on the river". Truly the best poker book I have ever read.

No more table chat!!!!

A lot of people probably dont believe me/think its possible but I shall try to no longer 'speak' on online poker tables. Most things people type I have seen before and it doesn't affect me in anyway whatsoever. However over the last few weeks several things have happened which have made me decide that I really am better off not typing anything in the chat window or seeing what some people type.

I hold my hands up to the fact that when I first started playing online poker I often overstepped the line with what i said. However when I first started playing poker online I had never played live poker and wasn't so clued up with etiquette such as not mentioning folded hands etc. Also if people sucked out on me I wouldn't hesitate for a second before telling them to go and fuck themselves the lucky donkeys. I recieved several chat bans however I was never as bad as many who say things like i hope your mother dies of cancer. Surprisingly enough even tho I had cleaned my act up I have still managed to get two chat bans on betfair poker this year. The first one was for calling a player called fastfoot cheating scum. He had been blatantly cheating and even tho betfair investigated they could not prove it. The exact words of a betfair member of staff to me "You know and I know they have been cheating however unless there is 100% proof nothing can be done other than to monitor them until we have undeniable proof of wrongdoing". So naturally out of frustration at lack of protection from two cheats on the table I was playing I called one cheating scum. Fastfoot being the snake that he is naturally contacted betfair saying he felt deeply hurt at the accusation. I know that it was fastfoot as the email from betfair read an opponent you were playing has emailed in a complaint, considering the chat was from a heads up game it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out who contacted betfair.

My most recent chat ban was for saying to somebody f urself after they slow rolled me. I personally find slow rolling more offensive than any swear word. Having had previous chat bans its a pretty much instant chat ban if anyone complains. So having had chat bans and campaigning to get a chat facility back it is now ironic that I am not fussed if I never have a chat facility again.

Reason 1 is abuse by somebody who plays under the alias slickqwik on betfair. Mr Silent is not my account but a friends. He was playing a heads up game against this person when over and over he typed cunt cunt cunt cunt in the chat window with lots of other abuse. My friend John is not too fussed about name calling yet in this instance his 13 year old daughter was watching him play. The very same person is reported to have been abusing somebodies family members during a game yesterday. Another time playing a 6pak game at 2 in the afternoon the same scumbag is again typing cunt cunt etc. If you do not like somebody for winning too much money from you do you think it is acceptable for four other opponents minding their own business to be forced into reading this kind of crap? Totally cowardly and unacceptable. Naturally these people try and justify there scummy actions by making lies up and trying to falsify a justifiable reason. Other than saying the likes of "what were you thinking", "donkey" "codface" and other mild jibes I challenge anybody to recall any recent (the last 12 months) examples of me either swearing or being deeply offensive to anybody. I have been busted out of some of the biggest poker tournaments in the world to bad beats and congratulated my opponent. When I get a bad beat in a $100 sit and go and call my opponent a fish it is just a bit of fun for me, it is not like I can truly be pissed off. I play 100 games a day sometimes I have recieved and dished out every bad beat possible many times. Even things like coming 40th in the main event on fulltilt so close to a first prize of 1.4 million I accept with the thought 'thats poker'. Sure I lost a race AQ v 99 to get eliminated, but I had plenty of luck to make the last 40 of 3000 in the first place.

(I have deleted a large section of this post which covered a situation with Azimut as it is of my opinion that even tho his recent actions are those of a Grade A1 cunt he used to be a good guy, however if any more funny stuff happens I shall stick it back up without hesitation)

Also I am going to quit posting on any forums that are not poker orientated. There simply is no value getting involved in arguements with people. It has taken me too long to realise this but better late than never! I was speaking to Heffernan earlier this year and he said how he often plays with his chat box closed as does Buzzer. These two players are Hans Vogl and Thomas Bihl who have both had huge success in online poker and with live poker so any advice from either of these only a fool would ignore. Hans explained how it takes one second to close a chat window and avoid all the shit people may say. You have nothing to lose doing this and you will make more money due to lack of distractions. The only negative point is that some people who are being polite may think you are ignoring them when they say nh gg etc. This is a small price to pay i feel for avoiding so much shit.

Lastly what finally annoyed me was chat in a 9 seat sit and go earlier. We had doubled our stack up when we raise a player (callataxi) from the button with 66, he goes all in and I decide I put him on AK. With chips I often fold here, however in this case I decided we have enough chips to chance a race and take out one of the better players. The extra value of eliminating a good player could mean that a race isn't 55% v 45% but in fact around 70% to your advantage if you get them out. Two minutes after the hand was over and he hit one of the overcards I predicted he had he made a comment. Along the lines of unlike you to call there. The guy has hit to stay in the tournament and then he wants to make a comment on my play? What on earth is the reasoning behind that? He should be grateful that he doubled up and not comment on this play. You get my chips and want to throw in a rubdown also?

So thats it a new leaf is turned, definitely no poker chat online again. There simply is more to be gained by having chat muted. I will simply have to find another way to avoid boredom during games. So with one simple decision I have now eliminated having to see chat that some scum type in, avoid people creating new aliases trying to wind me up and overall will be able to pay more attention to the tables = more profit.

I would like to add the exception to the rule will be some heads up tables where I know the opponent. Some people I have played over 1000 times and I am not about to just ignore them

The next post shall be more light hearted about a hustle gone wrong!

Making good money in poker....

Basically you can choose cash tables, sit and go tournaments or multi table tournaments. I believe it is best to specialise in just one field. This doesn't by any means mean stick to just one of them, just only play a small percentage of your play on the other fields. Or if you feel you are on a bit of a bad run change discipline.

The biggest earners will always be cash table players as the stakes are highest and you get too play many more hands than any other areas of poker. Naturally the biggest cash winners will be those who play heads up, once again because they will be playing at least 5 times more hands over the same period of time that somebody will play in the ring games (6-9 seats). The downside is that if you struggle with money management you will find it difficult to succeed. One simple way to NEVER go broke on cash tables is never ever buy in with more than 5% of your bankroll, or 10% if you are a bit of a chancer. Such a simple but effective strategy yet lots of people who struggle with money management wont stick to it.

Multi table games are where people will easily get the highest returns for their investment (donation!). For example my friend qualified for a game last week for $30 where the entry fee was $2500. The final place was 40/3000 for $25000 and with a little more luck first place and $1,400,000 was possible (off the top of my head thats a return on investment of approx 46,000%). Also for those who are not good players or play for fun a multi tournament is there best chance of success. Some bad players often get lucky in these and take huge scores down. The disadvantage is if you are a fulltime poker player and rely on multi tables you may have some barren spells. One way to avoid this is to put a few hours a week aside to play another discipline to get some regular money in. Also this will boost up your rakeback for the month.

Sit and go tournaments are an area where I specialise in, 2/6/9 player games with regular/fast/super fast blind structures I feel that I am easily one of the best in the online world at. One of the reasons for this is the fact that so many people just have awful strategies in these. Many areas of the way I play are not mentioned in any book and I feel that players who follow advice from poker books on these will struggle to make much profit. For 6-9 seat games I am sure that my ROI (return on investment) is around 50%. This is an astronomically high figure and most people will be more than happy with a 20% ROI after fee paid to the poker site. The downside to these games are that most people simply don't have a good strategy and therefore unless at the highest stakes can never get a high enough ROI to make it pay playing sit and go.

Money management really is essential, if somebody has a good job and also makes good money in their spare time from poker be happy. If you feel that you will make more money by quitting work and playing poker fulltime remember there will be much more pressure involved as if you don't win you can't pay the bills. So really consider all possibilities before you take the leap. Also if you play fulltime it is a lot harder to play your best game which you will do much more if you are a recreational player. Be strict with your money or be broke. If you are losing at a game that you would usually beat the answer is not to move up in stake, but to continue playing the same game as it is just variance and all pretty much evens out long term.

That is all for now, just remember in poker money is your tool. Take good care of it and it will look after you.

My first trip to Las Vegas

My first trip to Las Vegas very nearly never happened! A few of my friends had booked up and invited me to go with them so I said sure why not, I was 22/23 at the time. The day before I was due to leave I had to go on a drive to Austria so obviously we had less than 24 hours to do the round trip. We must have left around 5a.m. on the Monday morning and arrived in Austria around 8 hours later so thats 2p.m. local time just in time before the banks closed. We would go to Salzburg as that is probably the closest place in Austria to get to, if it was the other side of Austria you could never get there in 8 hours! It may seem like 8 hours is not enough time taking into account catching a ferry also, but the distance is 600 miles and as soon as you are on the continent you drive as fast as you like. At worst they will stop you and fine you, you cant get points on your license! Hitting speeds of 130-150mph for long periods and you get there in no time!

When we get back to Calais first we had a run in with the French police about having a boot full of money which we had reciepts for luckily. Nowadays you simply cannot have large sums of money and hope to keep them if stopped by any police force in the world. Also the weather was rough so the ferry was not crossing, it soon calmed down enough and we managed to catch it and drive back to London. I arrive home at 5a.m. and have two hours to pack my case and get ready and leave for the airport. Not ideal but plenty of time. I find my suitcase and try and open it but the combination is locked, I can't remember the code and try all kinds of numbers that won't work. The clock is against me so i decide to start from 000 and work my way up, I have nearly done every combination when I lose my head. I throw the suitcase against the wall and start throwing all my clothes down the stairs. I regroup and decide to start over one last time, I had gone from 000 to 900 and felt gutted. I carried on then on the LAST combination 999 it opened, naturally that is when I remembered changing it to 999!

I catch the plane with no more setbacks and am looking forward to visiting america again (had previously been to California 3 times and New York once). I had no idea what to expect but was very excited and did not sleep on the plane. There was a connecting flight to catch which took a few more hours to catch but eventually I arrive in Las Vegas. The first thing I notice are slot machines everywhere in the airport, then when we caught a cab to the hotel I was amazed at the sheer size of everything.

I throw my case in my room then headed straight for the MGM with my friends, I had now been around 48 hours with no sleep. I see all the fancy cars you can win on the slot machines and throw $100 bill in one, I last for 8 hours with the same money. My friends had long left me when finally after around 55 hours of no sleep I felt tired. I cashed out after EIGHT hours around $100 up. Then went back to my hotel and went to sleep.

I woke up after a few hours and hit a few black jack tables and made around $2000. Then we headed for the pool where we was staying, my friends said it was an unlucky casino to gamble in and they never won there. I had $10000 for around 10 days and had already made $2000, easy money! Then I decide I will prove my friends wrong and slip off and put $100 on red. (Now this is where this blog entry gets a bit exciting!) It came on black, so i decide I can put $200 on red and win, again black. I have no money left so go up to my room and bring a few thousand back, $400 on red.,....black, $800 on red.........black, $1600 on red.....AGAIN black. I am now $3100 down and go back to my room to get MORE money, I come back down put $3200 on red and once again black comes in. I am now down $6300 and have around $6000 left for 9 days, my friends have now caught up with me and I ask one if he will loan me if i put the money on red and it doesn't come in. I say no pressure if you say no I will cut my losses. He says no problem, and i put the last $6000 on red......BLACK....

Welcome to Las Vegas, yet another moron who does all his money on the first day, $10000 down that easily. I became just another Vegas statistic! I still went on and managed to have a great trip even if it was too much gambling orientated. I wish I played poker back then! That ladies and gentlemen is the first day I ever spent in Las Vegas, 24 hours and Vegas drew the addict out of me onto the tables!

Lady Luck.....

Vegas 2006 for WSOP main event.....

We all see stories of how good looking ladies say they will bring luck, in the films how they throw the winning throw on craps or select the winning number on a roulette wheel. The reality is these women don't exist and are in fact women just working the field as every now and then they will get lucky and the dumb guy will no doubt give them a cut......or is this the reality? Read on, true story....

For those who have played in the Caesar's Palace poker room (one of the top 3 in vegas in anyone's opinion) you will know the layout. For those who don't basically the entrance is between the restrooms and Pure nightclub. You can't smoke in there so if you want a smoke people tend to go just outside entrance and if you do so at night you will mingle with people leaving and entering the night club or going to the restrooms. I was with Luke Guest (meg80) and an absolutely beautiful lady walked past on the way to the restrooms, I said hello and she carried on walking past (no surprises huh?). So I thought ok never give up, I will have a second chance in a minute! Some people say american girls like the English accent, I think often it is a case of us having chat up lines that they have not heard before! The beauty walks back past me and I say 'lovely lady, shame she is deaf', then she stops dead in her tracks and walks back towards me.......is this the time i get a slap?

No it is not! She starts talking to us, i can't remember other than Luke who else was there. She wants to learn to play poker, I say I will teach you some time and she replies 'why not now?'. So I walk into the poker room book a slot on a 1/3 nl cash table and buy in with just $200. I say to all the men who are transfixed upon this beauty do you mind if she sits with me and looks at my cards? They all reply no no of course not, I sense a chance of some easy money here! First hand I play I am in the big blind and what am i dealt, seriously what am i dealt? Yes AA, unbelievable! Now we can go hollywood here and take someone to the cleaners, wait it is being folded round the table......YES the guy on the button raises to 15 and the small blind folds. I say ALL IN, surely it has to work.....I am just a drunk trying to show off to a good looking girl. He call's bingo, come on please dont have a pair.....he has AT suited! Great double up first hand, could things get any better?? Of course they can I am with an angel sent from poker heaven by the poker gods, over the next ten hands I flop the nuts or get a monster every hand.

After around thirty minutes I have made a small fortune, half the table is covered in the players blood from my wins and the other half with drool from them! We get up and leave with a sorry to leave you guys to which they think not sorry to see you leave dude but sorry to see that fine girl leave! She refuses to take half the profits and instead says take me out to dinner in the week, better still come to my place I have a hot tub and I can cook for you and we can chill out. TRUE story, witnesses! ALthough they may think I paid her as all told she was with me exactly an hour!

So lady luck does really exist, and she is a beauty.....or was it an angel sent down from poker heaven by the poker gods!

Post for today.....

I took some pretty sick beats today in high stake heads up games, the one that was the most painful was a $1000 heads up game where I have my opponent short and he keeps hitting miracles to stay in. The hand that hurts most is where i flop middle pair he check raises all in and I call he has two under cards and a gutshot draw, so basically he has four outs twice and is 18% to hit. However I have one of his outs so he is now 13.5% to hit, and PING he hits! He then goes on to win the game, it may not seem that bad to lose one game but with my game selection it is. I play generally $50-$400 games and if I see someone who I have a huge edge over I will play up to 1500/2000. So a $1000 bad beat costs me $2000 in effect and that will be more than i make on the $50-$100 tables in several days. Luckily I have made $1500 of todays losses back in the last thirty minutes against an awful player on omaha. Funnily enough even though it is not my strongest game I have had some big winning sessions. Yesterday I was 2-10 down versus somebody on $200 nl heads up games and then I catch a fish in Omaha and beat him 8/8 for $200 a time to save the day. Well not in best of moods so I will post properly tomorrow hopefully.

Mark turns the tables on the table wanker....

Mark Whent (unstable on betfair) was playing a £20 rebuy at the gutshot club in London several weeks back. On the table was a guy in his early twenties who was acting like a bigshot proffessional. Obviously he was a regular to the club as he was the one on that table in charge of distributing the chips in the event of a rebuy. He was so arrogant and had several rebuys and made comments like I don't mind a few rebuys as I will win it or come really close to winning it anyway. He was trying amateur bullying tactics and just before the rebuy period was over he had built up to around 5 times the starting stack having made 4 rebuys.

One of the tactics the guy would do was to push his chips out in front of him before it was his turn to act in the hope that it would prevent people from raising so that he could see cheap flops/protect his blinds. Mark realised that the chips were virtually in the centre of the table and everytime it was his turn to act he would drag the chips back. The tournament was player dealt, absolute any dealer dealt game in the world your chips would have had to stay in the middle. Now Mark had enough of the guys constant bragging about how much he won etc (Mark didn't even mention his 6th place finish at the BAPT) and the pulling chips back out of the pot. So he made a plan.

The rebuy period had just ended and preflop again on the button the idiot pushed his chips near the centre when there were about five people to act before him. Two people were all in then when it was folded round to him he went to pull the chips back and Mark said 'excuse me I believe that your chips being that far forward count as a call'. He tried to argue his point and then several people agreed that it was clearly a call. So he had to call and sheepishly turned over K9 and his face went white when the other two people turned over AA and KK. He did not get a miracle and was busted.

He started complaing to Mark that he had cost him the tournament. With over fifty people left what makes him think he was a certainty to win? He doesn't even know the basic rules! Mark said you cost yourself by putting your chips in the middle of the table with K9o. The guy sheepishly walked off and then done his nuts in the slot machine! A good result for everyone except 'wanker boy'.



A late development with alleged cheating in the pokerstars $5million gtd. Basically it is alleged that the winner entered several accounts into the same tournament. Here is a link with the latest gossip....

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=gossip&Number=12334017&page=0&fpart=all

Highway to hell...

What a night/day it was. 40th spot in the biggest online tournament that there is (Pokerstars 5 million dollars guaranteed) from 3000 runners. Some people may think I should be happy with $24,733.50 however I was playing the game with a friend a bit similar to Punkfloyd (who also done great and finished 49th). My friend started the game (route666) and had to catch a flight in the morning as he had some problems to see to at his casino so he asked me to play for him if he made it past the first few hours. So the $25000 is not all for me unfortunately! Also another english person who done great was Joseph Lovelady (Dynamite321) who came 67th having won the stars million a few weeks ago. He too will no doubt be disappointed at coming so close. Winning 10-50 thousand dollars is nice but its not going to change a fulltime players life in any way. However make the final table and get from $100,000-$1,400,000 and then it is life changing.

With the big events online from what I have seen nobody ever wins without getting lucky many times, I had my fair share of good luck. I won most races I was in although when there was around 600 places left I had bad beats and cold decks with hands like KK/QQ. Just after those hands I made a bad shove all in with KJs and cracked aces but that and one other play are only ones that over 15 hours of poker I would take back. I was sat next to Greg Raymer (FossilMan) for much of the tournament and it must be said that he deserves full credit for responding to observers and players. I don't think he failed to acknowledge a single comment or question made to him.

The last few bigger online events I have played I have lost with AK v AK and then AK v KK button v big blind. I remembered this and when in the last 100 i folded AK AK QQ in a short period of time due to the way hands went. The QQ I was especially pleased with as I ended up getting all the chips of the reraiser a short while after. Some plays made by others were very bad considering the magnitude of the game, when down to the last 60 I had all other tables open and was watching out for who I thought was good and who I thought was not so good. You could see some players clearly did not want to race if they had chips where others would not fold a single pair or ace hi. Two players who are both great online players were on my last table before I busted and had chips James Campbell (jcamby33) and Matt Giannetti (hazards21) who surprisingly busted soon after finishing 22nd and 28th respectively. Both of these players consistently win huge sums in online tournaments and no doubt will win huge amounts in live tournaments in the near future. They are friends with the likes of Justin Bonomo (ZeeJustin) and Jared Hamby (thewacokidd) who in an earlier post i spoke about as great poker players who will win lots in the future.

The hand I went bust with was AQ v 99. I had around 550,000 chips and I cannot recall the blind levels as I was comatosed for the last few hours, I would guess they were 15,000/30,000 with an ante. Utg made a small raise and I went all in next to act with AQ, I had not played many hands and hoped to just take the raise and blinds although if I was called by the initial raiser I expected to be ahead or 50/50 the worst way. He called with 99 and I did not get lucky for a change! Although he had to call around 450000 for a 1,150,000 pot with just 100,000 invested he could have folded if he took all the factors into consideration such as chip stacks, tightness of my play and the fact that he was 39 spots from 1.4million. The average stack at this point was around 2 million chips and i had to think to myself if i fold here will i get another half decent hand before I am blinded out? With just over a million chips I would have been comfortable as I was playing fairly well, the guy busts me goes to just past two million chips and himself busts out a few hands later....what a waste.

Congratulations to all those who made a good cash in the tournament and I shall hopefully do better in the not so distant future. Pokerstars is easily the best online pokersite and has many great additional tournament features. The time bank is a great feature and often it helps to have several minutes to make a decision that can make or cost you a lot of money. Although the timebank feature was annoying when near the bubble we played maybe 10 hands in an hour. Lastly thanks to the many people who gave me much appreciated support, may you all go one step further than me in the future.

p.s. what a shame that several days after issuing my million dollar challenge I couldn't achieve it so soon!

Night off....

5mil gtd pokerstars, gl route666. Sat next to FossilMan!

2998 entrants just below average stack bubble just been burst 414 left. Now for some fun, last hour only ten hands played due to people running clock down every hand


now 150 left and in around 90th. first pays 1.4million dollars

57/106 now and first still pays 1.4 million dollars