Leaving Vegas

Well thats it, I'm leaving Vegas tomorrow. Been here for about 6 weeks now and that was probably 4 weeks too long. I have completely lost all desire to play poker now which isn't suprising as thats all I've been doing the last six months, building up to this trip to Vegas. To sum it up, Vegas was a disaster but it taught me a lot. At least I can say I've played in the World Series of Poker now and no doubt will do again at some point.

The last week I've not really been up to much. Shana and Adam have been nice enough to let me crash at their place and they like to sleep just as much as I do so generally don't wake up until early evening. I've been playing online a bit the last week, was up $1500 but lost all that in pretty much one hand the other night on the 5/10NL with QK against KK on a KQ4 flop. Could have got away from it but just didnt care. Played some more tonight and lost another $1000. The last hand I played I had AA all in before the flop against AK and the board ended up 10Q3J7. That pretty much sums it up. I really do not want to play this game any more.

As more and more people are playing poker nowadays, more people are trying to do it for a living yet very few ever make it. One thing I know is that you very rarely hear about the ones that don't. I have realised that it isn't the poker that I enjoy but the easy money thats available. I've had a pretty good run and have managed to get by for the last three years. So right now I guess its time to try and do something else with my life and religate the poker playing to when I'm drunk and feel like a flutter. Who knows I might even get that dreaded thing called a job. My flight back to England is in 17 hours time.

Not sure when I will update this blog next but as of now I'm on a break

Vegas Bankroll - SKINT

Staying with some friends in gangland

Checked out of Binions on Monday and now staying with Shana and Adam until my flight on the 20th (unless they kick me out before hand). The area just south of the strip isn't the nicest part of town, not that I care its free! Although the security guard recons that a person gets shot roughly once a day around here and just heard a gunshot go off litterally outside the window. Not been up to much of interest, just the usual drinking and sleeping.

Vegas bankroll $1400

I might not be doing well at poker but I'm doing great at sleeping

Last Tuesday was Adams birthday. We hung out at Mikes house with Alex and Art then ended up going on the strip until about 6am. When the others decided to head back I went and played poker at Planet Hollywood till about midday when I couldnt see straight anymore then came back and slept for the rest of the day.

Wednesday I didnt get out of bed till it was almost Thursday then decided to go to the Rio to try and enter a last chance satellite for the main event which started today. However I got as far as the Bellagio where I played poker for 6 hours and don't think I won a single hand, so decided rather than fork out a $1000 for a satellite which I probably wont win and even if I did, with my current attitude towards poker I probably wouldn't get in the money of the main event I might aswell not bother. I came back to Binions and the plan was to go to the pool on the roof because it was 115degrees outside (The all time record in Vegas is 117 degrees) so put some sun tan lotion on all ready to go, then fell asleep for 16 hours instead. Today I woke up, went to breakfast then went back to sleep for the rest of the day. Now I'm giving up on poker for the rest of the time I'm in Vegas and just accepting that I'm going to have to wait till next time to try again to win it big

Vegas bankroll - $1755

Classic Statement

Just spent 20 minutes playing in a $100 rebuy tournament at Binions and think I was first out when I check raised some guy all in with AQ on a flop AQ3 and the guy called with AK saying "I knew you had two pair". So he didnt just think I did, he knew I had two pair and he called with one pair. Great call. Absolutly brilliant play. Turn is a King. haha HAHA HAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHH well I never saw that coming. It wasn't a bad call by him, especially with it being a rebuy tournament, it was just his dumb fucking statement. I had already decided I wasn't going to rebuy if I lost my chips. "You not going to rebuy?" some dude asks me who hasn't shut up since sitting down. "No I'm too tired". What I should have said was "No sir I am not going to rebuy with you having not shut the fuck up is giving me an ear ache and this twat calling with one pair when he KNEW I had two pair. Well guess what I KNEW a king was coming as soon as I saw his hand, and I'm not going to rebuy ten times only to play all day then bust out just before the money because I've had enough of poker and thats the sort of shit thats going to happen". To be honest I didn't actually care that much because I was literally falling asleep at the table and actually do expect to get outdrawn now, it was just I didnt really understand the point in the guys statement, was he trying to justify his bad play? I don't know and I don't care.

I busted out of my last wsop event Friday after I really thought I was finally going to get somewhere this time when I made a great call quite early on against some guy who made a massive raise into a relatively small pot on a flop 810 diamonds Jack spades. I had JQ clubs and if I wanted to call it would have been for all my chips. However I had played against the guy in a previous tournament and he had made the exact same move with a draw in the other tournament. I didnt think he had an over pair and wouldnt have played a straight or set so aggressively. So you could say I KNEW he had two over cards with either a straight or flush draw which is why he was raising me so much. I called and he did have AQ o/s. See I "knew" he had nothing, didnt just think it, I knew it. Turn and river was both 8's giving me a fullhouse and put me on 12,000 chips with the blinds still only 50/100. But then I went completely card dead, saw a few flops including one hand where I had AJ on a JQ5 flop which I bet, some guy raised me with AQ then the short stack went all in with pocket fives, I folded. The turn was Queen, river Ace. Guy caught runner runner to break the short stacks set, luckily I got out of the way. Before I know it I'm back on the short stack with 3000 left on blinds 300/600 and a 50 ante, some guy limps, everyone else folds and I had JJ in the SB so I move all in, the BB folds and the guy who limped calls instantly with AA. Nicely played by him, his hand held up and I was out of my last WSOP event this year. Went and played a single table tournament at the Mirage and was getting unbelievably great cards. I even knocked some guy out first hand with my AK against his AA by catching running kings on turn and river. I came second in that and turned my $70 into a massive $180. Funny how I get great cards in the cheapest tournament I entered.

Vegas bankroll - $2035

Poker is shit

It has got to the point where I'm bored. Bored of the inevitable losing streaks in this game, bored of never making the money in tournaments, bored of constantly folding shit cards and losing with the good ones, bored of other people hitting there draws and me missing mine when I've got twice as many outs, bored of playing bad because of it and so finally bored of losing. One thing I am 100% sure of is that I couldn't make a living from this game without the internet. Its just too slow in real life and definitely isn't fun when you're not winning.

Entered the $550 deep stack tournament at the Venetian today. Where blinds start at 25/50 and you get 10,000 in chips which is a much better structure than the world series has because you actually get the chance to play poker rather than all in or all out. I started off playing solid got up to 14,000 then after the first break I get dealt pocket sevens, the only guy that calls my raise is the BB. Flop is 679, with two clubs. Couldn't have asked for better. The BB check raises me to 1600 so I make it 5000 to go. It did cross my mind that he could have 810 but what the hell could I do? Let him see a free card and draw to the flush or straight? It was just one of those things, he goes all in, I call. He has 810 and his hand holds up. After that I only have 2000 left and bust out. Then go over to the Mirage lose $400 at the 2/5NL almost instantly, when I know some guy has AA before the flop and I have 67 hearts, flop comes 48 hearts J spades and we get it all in on the flop. Turn is 8 spades. River Q spades. Obviously 12 outs isn't enough. By this point I decide to give up and come back to Binions and went swimming in the pool on the roof. Should have jumped off. (Thats a joke by the way - I'm not that down and out. Yet)

Wandered over to the Golden Nugget this evening, wasn't going to play but thought I'd amuse myself in the 1/2$NL game and was so fucking bored it was unbelievable. It wasn't because I was getting shit cards or because I was getting outdrawn but it was because I was playing bad, because I couldn't be bothered. To make it worse everyone at the table knew what they were doing, then some guy comes along and buys in for a $1000, so another guy gets $5000 out of his pocket and puts it on the table, then the original guy pulls $7000 out of his pocket and places it with his chips so hes got 8 grand. Now I'm all for more money being on the table but this is ridiculous bearing in mind the blinds are one and two dollars, usually the maximum buy in for a game like this is $200, for some reason some casino's have removed the maximum buy-in so in theory a guy could come along with a million dollars and sit down. It's just pointless. I'm not by any means saying they shouldn't have that much money on the table, infact I'd rather there be too much than not enough but I just don't see the point in sitting down at a table where even if you win every penny at the table its not going to make much difference. Plus because everyone knows what they're doing that money is never going to get into play. It was, in a nutshell, boring. I lost $150 in that game then went and put $150 on one roulette spin. Didn't win. Now I'm not playing poker until Friday when its the last wsop tournament I've entered. To be honest now I'm wishing I would have been a bit more organised, looked into how many starting chips you get and I would have just entered the main event for $10,000. For some reason I thought you'd always start with the same amount.

Vegas bankroll - a miserable $1775

I'm giving up for the millionth time

Been playing fair bit of poker over the last few days and have absolutely nothing to show for it except the memory of a few pretty mad hands. Went out of the shorthanded world series event yesterday when some absolute fuckwit announcing what a bad call hes about to make then making it anyway, with 36 suited before the flop. I turned over AJ and told him with the way I've been running lately he'll probably win. Naturally the flop comes down A66. Wish I could hit cards like that. I hung around that day and saw that the guy who knocked me out actually went on to make the money. 3 fucking 6 I mean come on.

After that went and lost some money at the cash tables then, pissed off, went and entered a $100 tournament at Caesars Palace with about 100 other people. Thought it would be good practice seeing as I have such a dire record in multi table tournaments. Thing is you have to get lucky early on because you don't get very many chips to start off with, even though this is the first year they've doubled the amount of starting chips in the wsop, so god only knows what it was like before. I did get some luck of an unusual kind in the Caesars palace tournament when I was all in on a flop of Q103 with Q5 the guy the other side of the dealer said "call" and the dealer thought he said fold so took his cards away. The guy wasn't too happy, afterwards he said that he had QJ and would have won the hand. HaHa, I thought that had to be an omen I was going to win this tournament especially after the next hand when I was in the BB and everyone folded around to the SB who looked at his cards and went all in to try and get me to fold, so I thought fuck it and told him I'm going to call without looking, which was obvious that I hadn't when I flipped over 24. Whoops. Probably should have looked. Then the guy said "You aren't going to believe what I've got" and he turned over 23 I had him dominated and my hand held up when I hit the four on the flop. Perhaps I should call without looking more often. Of course even that run of "luck" couldn't save me and I ended up busting out about 40th. Pissed off, tired, and fed up with tournaments I came back to Binions (the room here isn't as nice as the Four Queens) and slept until 5 this afternoon. Went downstairs and played some 1/2$NL. Still getting shit cards, I realised thats better than getting great cards and losing with them when some guy won over a $1000 pot (ridiculous for a 1/2$NL game) calling several raises by two people all in before the flop for $350 with 34 suited. One guy had pocket aces, the other pocket kings, and the board ended up 56786. Now thats fucking funny. The guy with 34's argument was "I wasn't exactly going to fold after I'd called the first $100 raise". The only comfort I take in that is seeing it happen to someone else for once. Better to be lucky than good

Vegas bankroll - $3100

Sometimes it just isn't meant to be and there's nothing you can do about it

I wasn't sure if I've been playing bad lately or running bad. Now I know. I simply am not lucky, so if I'm playing bad well I'm just all round fucked. It's beyond me how people make final table's in multi table tournaments, much less how the same people keep winning, and I'm not talking about just any old $10 online tournaments but the tournaments where it costs more to enter than a lot of people earn in a month. Where the best in the world are playing and yet you still see the same names at the final tables of the world series. Allen Cunningham, Humberto Brenes, Phil Hellmuth, if any of you are reading this, fill me in on your secret. I busted out of event 25 on Friday when I raised preflop with AK and the flop come down KQ6 I went all in guy called me with 10J and one of his seven outs came when the river was the nine of clubs giving him the nuts. What can you do?

Talking of how shit AK is, I entered a shorthanded $200 tournament at Binions today which they're running alongside the world series. Thought it would be good practice for the shorthanded event I'm in tomorrow. I ended up busting out with the most fucking ridiculous hand. With 234 people originally entered and 5000 starting chips, after the first break I had about 20,000 in chips with about 120 people left in and up until this point I've played as good as I can. Then of course it goes tits up, one of the first hands back the short stack moves in for his last 5000 in chips. The guy on the button with about 11,000 chips calls. I look down in the Small blind and find AceKing of spades, well I ain't folding that. So I move all in to get the button out, which he does fold. We turn over our hands and the guy all in has AQ off suit and I'm in a great spot, but because he has something like 20% chance and because its against me, I'm as good as fucked. Flop 10,Q both spades and 4 diamonds. OK so hes sucked out on me on the flop but I have a royal flush draw, the gutshot straight and the King to draw to actually making me still slightly favorite. Turn 2 clubs, river Q hearts. NNNGGGGHHHH. OK fine so I got outdrawn, it happens, although with that pot I would have been up there with the chip leaders, I still have an above average size stack. Then our table breaks up which was just as well because there was two absolute cunts sat on my right who have been moaning at the dealers (not the same dealer either, but two separate dealers who had to be replaced because the players were being fucking twats moaning about something which has nothing to do with them). The one fat prick who thinks he knows everything (except for how to go on a diet obviously), and the dickhead on my right has a problem with everything, including me at one point because my higher denomination chips were at the back of my stack and he thinks they should be at the front. Seriously, What the fuck is it to do with him? I don't know and should have probably said that but after he told me to put them at the front and I didn't, he then told the dealer (the same dealer he was telling how she should do her job five minutes earlier) to tell me. He actually told on me. What a Grade A cunt sticking his nose in everyones business because "he knows best" about everything. But anyway like I said they broke our table. So now theres about 100 players left with top 24 getting paid. As long as I dont do anything stupid (which so far I haven't) and as long as my hands hold up (which is probably asking too much) I'll make the money. The blinds are now at 400/800 I look down under the gun and AK of spades is staring back at me. Again. I really did think of folding just because I lost the last hand with it. But then I played I got it all in with the best and just got unlucky, so surely not again.... I make it 2000 to go, everyone folds which is kind of what I want to see until the Small blind re-raises to 5000. Here we fucking go. Do I fold now for fear that hes got me beat? Well I could but theres only two hands I'm really worried hes got and thats pocket Aces or pocket kings and if he has well I'll pay him off, so I go all in. Now by the look on his face I know I'm winning, he looks down realising hes pot committed and has to call, he does and flips over 79 of diamonds. I actually cant fucking believe the crazy shit some people do, but somehow I'm feeling I've already lost. Flop is 10,6 both spades and Jack of hearts. Somehow with the same hand I've picked up the nut flush draw again, a gut shot straight draw and am actually winning at this point. He has seven cards in the deck that can help him. Turn is perfect for him the 8 of clubs giving him the nut straight but still with a million billion outs surely I cant miss my flush and straight draw. River 3 of Diamonds. aNKOANGOKDNSA MDFSL;AmlkamklamML;MAOPF MOTHER FUCKER you cannot be serious. So thats AK of fucking spades taken down by AQ and 79 both times with the nut flush draw on the flop. I can't really say I'm surprised because like I said I just aint lucky. But theres nothing you can do. I'm seriously thinking though that if something doesn't happen in the next few weeks its game over on the whole poker thing. Yeah yeah I know I've said that before and its all about the long run but if I can't cash in that tournament with the hands I was dealt then I guess I've answered the question I was asking at the beginning of this entry how the fuck do you get to a final table? You get fucking lucky.

Vegas bankroll - $3030

How did people manage before air conditioning?

Man it is so fucking hot over here. Its been over 100 degrees Fahrenheit pretty much every day since I've got here and reached 111 degrees (44 degrees centigrade) today. The thing is you forget how hot it is because all the casino's are air conditioned. As soon as you set foot outside its like being inside an oven and you just want to turn around and run back inside. Maybe thats why they built Vegas in the middle of a desert to keep you inside gambling all day to avoid the heat.

Earlier in the week they moved me from the room I was staying in because it needed maintainance and so they upgraded me to a suite and I got to admit it definitely is sweet. I could definitely get used to this lifestyle. Although I suppose its not so different to how I live anyway, only here they have room service! I haven't gambled that much since my last entry, been making the most of my nice room and 30 cable channels. Becoming quite addicted to CSI. I think I've played poker twice the last few days. Only at the 1/2$NL at Binions but managed to replenish some of the bankroll. Played last night and finished about 5am this morning pretty drunk and about $600 up. I feel I should be spending more time at the Rio playing in the world series but I really cant be bothered getting the bus to the strip and then the shuttle to the Rio when I can just go next doors and play. Maybe next week I'll make more of an effort. Right I should get some sleep now because I'm playing in my second tournament tomorrow, the $2,000 No limit hold em event. Hopefully will manage to cash this time but pretty sure everyone is thinking the same thing. Also moving tomorrow from the Four Queens to Binions across the street.

Vegas bankroll - $4620

My first world series event

Uuuuuuuuuugggggghhhhhhhhhh. Well world series of poker history was made twice today, unfortunately it worked out better for Phil Hellmuth than it did for me. Whilst I played in my first ever wsop event and ended up busting out 220nd out of 1013 (only top 100 got paid though), Phil Hellmuth won his 11th bracelet in a different event putting him with the most over Johny Chan and Doyle Brunson who both have 10. I'd be happy with one at this point.

I started off really well knocking some guy out in the first few levels with AQ on a Q high flop he went all in with pocket 8's, then my cards dried up and some guy come and sat down on my left and started winning everything after being down to his last few chips. Although I'm quite pleased finishing 220nd in my first event it's kind of pointless if you don't make the money you might aswell go out first. I ended up surviving three all in's. Once I had 22 against some guys QK which somehow managed to hold up despite a AJ9 flop. Then I pushed all in again with QK after not playing a single hand for about three hours and a guy with 88 called straight away for a big portion of his chips but I managed to catch a Q on the turn. Eventually I busted out on a hand with 8000 chips and the blinds at 400/800 and a 100 ante, I got excited to see the best hand I had all day and pushed all in before the flop. The guy who was sat on my left on the big stack (actually think he was chip leader) who had been winning everything since he sat down called me with pocket nines and obviously expecting to win my third all in was asking too much. With the way I've been running recently I was surprised to have lasted that long. Of course I've been thinking about that hand all day and maybe I could have just raised and got away from it on the flop, but if I didn't do something to get chips pretty soon I'm gonna get blinded away and the dude with pocket nines probably would have re-raised me anyway.

So thats the first of my five events finished. I think I might have a week of playing some cash games. I've only played once which was on Saturday night at the Bellagio. It was packed and the list for the 2/5$NL was too long so I decided to play 15/30 limit. Did not win a single fucking hand and pissed away $400 in a couple of hours. On the plus side I reminded myself how much I fucking hate limit games. Went and won $100 back on roulette then got bored gambling.

Vegas bankroll - $3740

The calm before the storm

Since arriving in Vegas almost three days ago I haven't gambled at all, not even so much as a penny in the slot machine and I think the reason for this is because I've played so much poker in the last five months that its the last thing I want to do now. Which is fine by me because I was always planning on treating this as a holiday and been pretty busy the last few days trying to sort everything out.

After my 12 hour flight (8 to Chicago then 4 to Vegas) on Tuesday I was so tired by the time I arrived I was fast asleep by 8pm although that would have been 4am back in the UK, plus I hardly slept in the Manchester hostel the night before I flew out. So as soon as I got in to my hotel room, after taking a detour in the Taxi to some garage where I was sure he was going to mug me, I was fast asleep. I'm staying at the Four Queens for a week and was gobsmacked (haha gobsmacked) when I walked in to find a ridiculously large TV for a hotel room. Woke up Wednesday at some stupidly early hour, went and stuffed my face for breakfast at a buffet for $6 and spent the whole day running around (well walking) trying to sort out a bus pass, looking for somewhere to use the internet, and investing $120 in some Oakleys (they'd better actually help me win poker now). Also popped over to the Rio to see how the world series of Poker was going and felt similar to when I originally visited Vegas last November - overwhelmed. So many people all clambering over each other to try and find their seat and looking out for the pro's. I saw Phil Hellmuth and Erik Siedel then went and watched the final table of a Omaha event with the Devilfish, John Juanda and Humberto Brenes. After about an hour I was beginning to get a headache and decided to get out of there. I was going to enter a tournament at the Mirage but was so tired again I was fast asleep by 10pm.

Thursday was another early start because I had arranged to meet the guy off sunpoker.com at 10.30am. At 11 he was nowhere to be seen, so I went and called him and found out he had been waiting in the starbucks next door to the place I was waiting. When we finally met up he gave me the $10,000 in chips and it did cross my mind to go and cash them in. Instead I put $500 of my own money with it and entered the following events:

June 10th - event 19 $2,500 No limit hold em
June 15th - event 25 $2,000 No limit hold em
June 18th - event 30 $2,500 No limit hold em/six handed
June 21st - event 35 $1,500 No limit hold em
June 29th - event 47 $2,000 No limit hold em

Hopefully thats a wise investment of $10,500. I might enter a few other events yet, see how the money goes. Spent the next four hours by the pool at the Rio, still in no mood to gamble but definitely in the mood to do absolutely nothing by the pool and get sunburnt in the process. Later that evening I met up with Shana and Adam who I contacted through couchsurfing.com which is probably the best site ever invented for travelers. We went to a local British themed pub for a meal called the Anchor and Crown then went back to there place, a couple of their friends showed up and and we had a game of poker which I won (I think - memories a little hazy). Adam introduced me to a beer over here called the Arrogant Bastard which is 7%. Then he brought out "The double Arrogant Bastard" which is only released once a year and he had brewing in his fridge for about 4 months. That had quite a kick to it and I can still taste it this morning. Then Shana went to work (she works graveyard shift in a call centre for hookers - Only in Vegas!), Me, Adam and Alex all went to try and find somewhere to carry on drinking, had one in O'Sheas on the strip but Alex is underage (he's 20) so we were going to look for a bar off the strip but as I was beginning to feel The Arrogant Bastard take hold of my brain we decided to call it a night at 4am. I woke up at 1 this afternoon so glad to see my sleeping routine is back to normal.

So there you go three days in Vegas, no gambling, about $11,000 worse off and a hangover to show for it all. I love it.

Vegas bankroll - $4170 + $0 chips

About to leave for Vegas...

Going to get the train to Manchester in about an hours time. Been a pretty good last weekend in Bristol. Went out for Brad's birthday all day on Saturday and don't really remember much after getting down town so must have been a good night :)

Yesterday I entered the Sunday million warm up on pokerstars was doing really well until a bluff went wrong with pocket tens on an ace high board so ended up coming about 450th out of 2000 only top 270 got paid though. Then played in the freeroll on sunpoker for $4500 came 5th out of ten but only top two got paid. So hopefully now all my bad luck is out the way after having the worst poker week of my life things will go better in Vegas. Will try to update this thing as often as I can but not sure how often I'll be able to get to the internet over there.

Vegas bankroll: $5000 cash $10,000 tournament chips

Thank fuck thats over...

Finally May has ended and June has at last begun. Not that May was a bad month, well up until a week ago. The last few days have been the worst I have ever run/played at poker. I lost track of the amount of times people beat me hitting a set to crack my over pair. If I had AK on an A high flop and the other guy has nothing, not a problem, he'd just catch runner runner straight or put four of his suit on the board to give him a flush. All in with Aces against kings and the board would end up 8910JQ. Coin toss situations were, instead of 50/50, a 100% guaranteed I would somehow end up losing. I know everyone goes through these runs if you play long enough but the worst thing about it was it happened for the first time ever when I've felt like I've "had" to keep on playing to make the top 60 of the sick promo. I've been so demoralised over the last few days I havent wanted to keep any hand histories but here is a Omaha hand which just sums up my last four days. It wasn't the amount I lost in this hand but just the principle, we both go all in on turn, I have the nuts so quite frankly would have been happy to put ten times that amount in and after seeing his hand I'd put a million times the amount on the hand if I had it. Of course one of the only three cards in the pack comes out on the river to save him. Yeah I've seen worse but the way it happened just about sums it up, almost like he knew it was coming. Anyway here are the final positions for 40th-60

41st bubbleboy 66,938 $10,000 $1,000 2X($4,500 Cash) $11,900
42nd sinuhe 66,687 $10,000 $1,000 2X($4,500 Cash) $11,900
43rd goosey82 66,448 $10,000 $1,000 2X($4,500 Cash) $11,900
44th dman21 66,023 $10,000 $1,000 2X($4,500 Cash) $11,900
45th Noseyboy 65,362 $10,000 $1,000 2X($4,500 Cash) $11,900
46th Nutzee 65,167 $10,000 $1,000 2X($4,500 Cash) $11,900
47th marsipan 65,162 $10,000 $1,000 2X($4,500 Cash) $11,900
48th FiveAces 65,008 $10,000 $1,000 2X($4,500 Cash) $11,900
49th mickeyo7 64,958 $10,000 $1,000 2X($4,500 Cash) $11,900
50th liivake 64,883 $10,000 $1,000 2X($4,500 Cash) $11,900

51st maxxscam 64,826 $10,000 $500 1X($4,500 Cash) $10,950
52nd Icantplay 64,716 $10,000 $500 1X($4,500 Cash) $10,950
53rd Straggler 64,605 $10,000 $500 1X($4,500 Cash) $10,950
54th Eirik_A 64,420 $10,000 $500 1X($4,500 Cash) $10,950
55th MrKind 64,263 $10,000 $500 1X($4,500 Cash) $10,950
56th cas1no 64,239 $10,000 $500 1X($4,500 Cash) $10,950
57th sidsnot 64,217 $10,000 $500 1X($4,500 Cash) $10,950
58th lion111 64,104 $10,000 $500 1X($4,500 Cash) $10,950
59th sicklol 63,941 $10,000 $500 1X($4,500 Cash) $10,950
60th BenNao 63,926 $10,000 $500 1X($4,500 Cash) $10,950

As you can see I managed to squeeze into the top 50 (48th) which is better than I hoped for and it means that I get $10,000 to enter the touranments in Vegas with, and $1000 cash which is a result. But to be honest if I could go back in time four days and know how much I would have lost (more than what I'm getting back) trying to get into the top 60 I'd have just kept my money and ended up wherever I end up. Of course in hindsight I'd have chosen the right numbers for the lottery. Well I suppose thats the ups and downs of poker and if I want to ever make it big I'm going to have to get used to winning and losing vast sums of money, hopefully more the former and less of the latter. It's just at times like these I thank the lord for rakeback.

Sufficed to say the last thing I want to do is play poker right now so going to spend the weekend being a drunken twat then come up fresh as a daisy on Monday, ready for Vegas on Tuesday.

Pissed off

I am so fucked off with poker right now. Lost more in the last few days than you would believe by putting it all in with the best of it then some mad fucking runner runner gutshot being hit to out draw me, in fact its got to the point where I'm suprised if my hand actually holds up. I've been in this situation plenty of times and seen it all before but whats pissing me off is I cant stop now because I have to make the top 60 of this stupid fucking shit stupid promo even though I've actually lost more in the last few days than I would get for being in the top 60. Absolutly no logic in that. Afer all of this I'd better actually make the top 60 now. Worst of all I have literally been giving money away playing the stupid fucking boring limit games just because the rake is slightly more. I think the only thing more demoralising than playing limit poker is playing Bingo.

It was all going so well until a few days ago when I sat down at the 10/20£NL and this rediculous shit happened. As soon as I saw the flop I knew I was fucked because he had all of four outs. God knows how he called so fast for £800 before the flop with 810. It also agrees with what I was saying about how loose people are in the bigger games compared to the lower limits if only I could afford to play in them or just get my goddamn hands to hold up. I suppose this is a perfect example of why you dont play above your bankroll but come on running fucking tens! I will be glad when this stupid promotion is over and I can give up with this site and start playing on an american one where there arent more full time players than recreational ones.

I hate poker

Bournemouth

Just got back from Bournemouth. Spent most of the night in Jumping Jacks and ended up in the casino (Suprise, Suprise), haven't got a clue what I spent and don't want to check my bank account because don't remember much except going to the cashpoint several times and taking out £100 each time. Although quite proud that I only spent £10 in the strip club and it wasn't even on a dance, it was for a massage (without extras) which was absolutly brilliant and would have been happy to pay the woman double that. When me and Chris got back to the hotel we found out we had somehow missed Tim, Paul and Mike in a fight outside Jumping Jacks although sounded like they won.

last rush before Vegas

Been playing as much poker as I can the last few days to try and get as high up on the onesickpromo for Vegas before the promotion ends. I'm 52nd at the moment. Have had a few pretty mad hands including one where four players called $200 preflop at a 2/5$ Omaha game, obviously my AAxx didnt stand a chance, and someone took down a $800 pot with A1082 after hitting two pair 8's and 2's.

Went down town last night, come back pissed and started playing a 10/20£NL game. Bought in for £800. Doubled up almost straight away with QK on a King high flop after check raising the original raiser the minimum and he goe's all in on a total bluff with J6. Then lost a £1000 pot with QQ all in against Q9, the flop comes 992, what can you do? If theres one thing I've learnt from playing poker the last few years especially the last few months, is it can be easier to win at the higher stakes because people can generally afford to lose those sums of money. If you're sat at a 1/2NL game chances are its going to hurt those people a lot more to lose £200 than it would for someone to lose £5000 playing the 25/50£NL but I could be wrong.

Still have a fucking sore throat and had a cold the last few days. Going down Bournemouth tomorrow for a night out. Then its just over a week till I fly out to Vegas. Sweet

Hangover weekend

Not much to write about poker since my last entry. Not really getting anywhere in the last week which is OK because have had a really great month so far. Realised how much I hate limit games with this hand where I was a 98% favourite on the flop, 95% favourite after the turn and lose on the river. The exact same thing actually happened to me twice that day. The only reason I keep playing limit games is because the house takes more rake which means I get more MPP for the sunpoker promotion (www.onesickpromo.com). I've dropped down to 60th at the moment because I havent been playing that much the last few days but have until the end of May where they will be giving the top 100 people on the site money to take to Vegas.Really trying to finish in the top 60 then will be guaranteed at least $10,000 to enter tournaments with in Vegas.

Been out down town quite a bit over the weekend and hence spent the rest of it feeling shit hungover. Went out down town Friday with Andy, met him after work and started drinking at 5pm. Woke up Saturday afternoon, played poker hungover, which I wish I hadn't with hands like this and this. Sometimes you just shouldn't bother playing. I know some people lose a lot when they're pissed up but I find I lose so much more when I'm hungover. Either that or I just don't remember losing it when drunk.

Went down town again Saturday with Andy, met up with Ally and his girlfriend and ended up in a place called Mr Wolfs which was full of knobheads so left there and went to the casino with Matt and Toddy, ended up winning £200 on Blackjack before they closed at 4am. Got back at 5am, started playing poker on the 0.25/0.5£NL the 1/2£ the 2/5£ and the 10/20$ which was confusing because I was winning a hand at the 0.25/0.5£NL then losing ten times that on the 10/20 just by posting the blind. Sunday was more hungover poker.

Monday I went over Ally and Ed's flat. Me and Ally got through a bottle of Sambuca and a fair few beers, played bit of poker. Then at the last minute we decided to get a taxi down town just after destroying the living room. Ended up in Mr Wolfs again, met lots of randoms and was going to go to the strip club but it was shut so went to the casino until 6am this morning. Broke even on the Blackjack after playing for several hours but got a free breakfast out of it. Ended up waiting for McDonalds to open this morning at 6.30am where I had my first McMuffin or McBagel. I still dont get what the difference is. It's at times like this when you see everyone on there way to work and I'm still wandering around pissed up from the night before that I am so glad I don't have a job and can just go what I want when I want with no worries of what I'm doing tomorrow. I don't think you really get much more free than the lifestyle I'm living at the mo. Its living the student lifestyle without even having to worry about the studying part. Been in bed all day, watched the whole series of Max and Paddy's road to nowhere which is genius. Now I am paying for the weekend of fun with a really REALLY sore thorat.

All booked up for Vegas

The weekend down Bournmouth was a good laugh which ended up turning into one big gambling fest. Ended up playing shoot in a pub Friday night and into the early hours of Saturday morning. Saturday night went to a few bars and ended up in the casino getting creamed at the Blackjack table. At 4 in the morning I decided to cut my weekend down Bournmouth short because I had qualified for a ten seater tournament on sunpoker by playing over 15,000 hands of limit poker in April. First prize was £1000 and entry into a $3000 tournament. With a 1 in 3 chance of getting paid potentially quite big, I figured it was worth making the trip back. After waiting for about 4 hours for a train in Southampton I got home at midday and was dealt some decent cards but played them like a twat probably because I was falling asleep and I suck at limit games ended up going out first. Ahh well I'd rather try and fail than never try at all.

The weekend was the break I needed aswell because since I've come back I've started doing well again. Since coming back Sunday I'm up about a grand and feel like I'm playing well again (apart from in that tournament) because I have yet to make a monumental fuck up. Only hand worth mentioning was this one yesterday where I flop set over set and guy hit his one outer to make quads. Thats only ever happened to me once before but I can handle bad luck (up to a certain point) just as long as I'm not giving money away playing shit.

Also booked my ticket to Vegas today which feels great. After waiting for as long as possible hoping the prices would come down I realised that it works the other way, the longer you leave it the more they go up. The cheapest I could find was £550 on the internet so had a look around the travel agents and they all quoted me the same price, then I went into trailfinders where I booked my round the world ticket last year and the woman said I could get one for £373 from Manchester. At that price I'll probably be flying the plane myself but thats £200 cheaper than anywhere else. I've got to admit there's some great feeling about booking a ticket out of here. I remember when I booked the ticket last year how great it felt and this time I was walking around town with the biggest smirk on my face. There's something appealing about visiting places and never knowing whats going to happen next. If I win it big in Vegas I may very well just hit the road and not bother coming back.

The end of my good run and the end of being 22

Well I hope I'm wrong but it looks like my good run of the last few weeks is over. Came back last night from propaganda and the only tables that were on were the 25/50 or the 1/2 so I sat down at the 25/50£NL which is the highest I've ever played and is so far above my bankroll its not even funny with a minimum buy in of £1000 but I was drunk so thought fuck it. Lost £500 straight away then started playing omaha and lost $1000 playing like a complete twat so I'm not sure if my lucks ran out or I've gone back to playing shit again. Probably both. Todays been more of the same old. Just called a guy all in before the flop for $200 with QQ, he had A5, flop AA7, turn 7 and I'm drawing dead. Knew it was too good to last

I have a welcome break from poker this weekend, going down to Bournmouth with a few mates. Its also me 23rd birthday tomorrow and have to be up at 9am to have my stitches taken out so suppose I should get some sleep...

Running well at Omaha

This month so far has been the best I've had poker wise. Last month I played over 200 hours and all I had to show for it was the rakeback which was still a nice payday at the end of the month but since May has begun everything has just seemed to start falling into place and not a moment too soon either because I need the money for Vegas next month. It is funny how as soon as a new month comes around I think subconsciously I start trying to make more of an effort. Although one of the first hands I played this month my nut flush got cracked by runner runner full house, but I managed to not explode in a fit of rage this time (might have something to do with the pain I'm still in from the last time I punched the wrong thing) and managed to get all what I lost back. Then last Friday I went on a mad rush on the Omaha tables including this hand where some guy ended up putting $900 in with just four outs. My hands were holding up and I was getting lucky here and there, next thing I know because my sleep pattern was so messed up I had been awake for 36 hours and I was up about £2000 which is probably the best day I've had playing poker. Most of the money I've made this month has come from Omaha. I forget how nuts some players go playing that game but the swings are even bigger than in Hold em and it only takes a few hands to get cracked and youve lost several buy ins. Been thinking I might enter a Omaha event at the World Series next month.

Now that I've cleared both my overdrafts once again and met my target of making $5000 by the end of May I'm going to set myself a new target, which is to really try and not fuck it up by playing above what my bankroll allows me and try not to lose it all again.

Fighting with cars

I am a dickhead. Last Wednesday I went down town, had a great night out, then when I was on my way home I had the supurb drunken logic whilst running along the pavement to take a swing at one of the wing mirrors on an innocent bystanding car. What the fuck I was thinking I don't know but I got what I deserved, the mirror shattered and I looked down to find a chunk of mirror sticking out of the back of my hand and a huge gash with blood everywhere. Which is really ironic seeing as only a few days before I avoided smashing my screen up after one bad beat too many and put my fist through some plasterboard instead. You think this would have been a heads up to avoid punching things. Well sufficed to say I won't be punching anything for quite a while now because I can't even close my fist or hold anything in my right hand. I took a picture of it when I was in hospital as if the scar won't be enough to remind me. It still makes me feel queezy because I remember taking one look at it and almost throwing up. Andy rang an ambulance and I was taken to hospital at 4 in the morning. At the time I was still very drunk and didnt think much of it. It wasn't really until 2pm later that day after waiting to see a doctor for 8 hours and the alcohol beginning to wear off that I realised that maybe it wasn't quite as amusing as I first thought. Eventually when the doc got around to looking at it he said I would have to go in for an operation under a general anesthetic because I had severed a joint plus I almost passed out when he was prodding it. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything for the rest of the day and hadn't had anything since the previous night. I had never been so hungry, thirsty, bored and tired in my life. By the time I went in for the operation it was 8pm and I had been up for almost 36 hours and not ate anything in most of that time. The last thing I remember before going under was lying in the operating theatre being told to relax and think of a happy place. Within a split second I'm sat at a poker table about to make some monumental bluff with 10J for a million dollars. This is not my happy place but it felt pretty realistic. BANG I'm in a room I'd never seen before with two unfamilar faces looking down at me, feeling very sick and my hand all bandaged up. That was some very trippy shit. Apparantly the operation took an hour and they removed several splinters of glass. Spent Thursday night in hospital waking up every hour to noises of coughing and spluttering of the other five patients in my ward who were all on deaths door with a combined age that must have been in the thousands. Had to wait till about 3pm on Friday before a doctor come in and said I could go home. Thats one thing about the NHS, they are certainly never in a hurry to do anything but I cant complain because if some dickhead smashed my wing mirror I'd leave them to bleed to death in the gutter. Have spent the weekend in quite a bit of pain and playing poker with my left hand. Its actually quite difficult trying to do everything with one hand. Got no one to blame except myself though. Just remembered that I have to go back in to hospital tomorrow for hand physio. Shit, should really try to get to sleep now because this has taken me about two hours to write with one hand. Well that certainly was a night to remember anyhow and I did learn the lesson most people don't need to learn - not to pick fights with large metal objects, especially cars, because you will probably get hurt.

One very bad weekend

Urrrhhh where to start? I always have this idea in my head that weekends are supposed to be quite profitable because you get all the people coming back from the pub pissed up. I dont normally get the chance to take advantage of this because I am usually one of the drunks, however with pretty much all the money I have in my poker accounts rather than my bank account and not really having the desire to go out this weekend I thought I would stay in and try to make a bit of easy money. Which is what happened Friday night.

Then Saturday came along and I wish I had just slept straight through it. I got up about 2pm and sat down ready to clear out some fishes account. Or so I thought. Start up a couple of £1/2NL games, one of the first hands get it all in with the best hand and get rivered. Fine, I thought, I can take that like a man, that was just bad luck. Obviously didn't take it aswell as I thought because within a few minutes tried to pull of this rediculous bluff. Rather than seeing the early signs of tilt setting in and taking a break (which I don't think I have ever done) I decided to try and play through it. Almost the very next hand I hit runner runner for a full house. Great I think perfect oportunity to get back what I've just lost. Should have known the other guy had a straight flush. OK this is getting a little bit silly but I'm gonna stick it out because there are some maniacs at the table (including myself) as this next hand shows. I flop top set on an all heart board and some guy raises me all in. Fine. I call expecting to see the Ace high flush draw and am kind of shocked to see the Ace of clubs and the six of hearts. As soon as I see it I just know I'm fucked. Turn completes his flush and no paired board for me. This is one bad beat too many. My initial reaction is to smash the monitor up, but split second reasoning and not liking the idea of glass in my hand prevents me from doing that so I turn around and punch the wall putting my fist straight through the plaster board. Whoops. Not done that before and kind of shocked myself. It wasn't the fact that the guy had hit his stupid 6 high flush draw but the fact that these four hands and a few others had litterally happened within twenty minutes of starting to play and it was as much my bad play as bad luck but I fucking hate this game sometimes.






My dads reaction to the hole I put in the wall was to stick a sign above it.

That run continues all day Saturday late into the night. Generally holding the second best hand which is difficult to get away from like this one. Not to mention running into set over set, twice, where I had the lower set both times. I don't care what anyones says, it is very difficult not to lose all your money when you have 77 and the board is 1072 only to find that the other guy has 1010. Why couldnt he have 22? After Saturdays session though despite all this I was actually quite proud of not losing more given the circumstances. Also had one guy playing Saturday night who I doubled up three times calling him all in with the best hand every time and he sucked out on me every time including this pretty fucked up runner runner for a straight. It is amazing how people do manage to get this lucky and just hope that somewhere along the line I'm going to run like that. At the world series in vegas would be pretty nice.

Sunday was worse than Saturday with shit like this happening. 1010 beat by 99. I've hit that point where I seem to find myself quite often, where having 19 outs on the river isn't enough and everyones hand is holding up except mine. It is getting beyond a joke now. Tonight I did the classic "time to move up the stakes". Unsuprisingly it didn't go that well with people hitting backdoor flushes to crack my nut straight and once more I've lost almost everything. Saturday morning I had over $4000 in my account. Im down to just under $700 now. I really really piss myself off when I do this. I know I want to move up the stakes but you really do have to be properly bankrolled for it. I would have thought having done it so many times in the last 4 months of moving up, pissing it all away and having to start from scratch that I would have learnt. So I'm going to set myself a target for the rest of this month and May which is "Grind it out at the 1/2$NL and 2/4$NL and try to get to $5000 by end of May". Yeah right.

Blimey fiveaces

Another day well spent at the online poker tables (i.e sat in front of my computer) going up and down and ending up roughly even for the 12 hour session. As one person who came online tonight put it "blimey fiveaces have you been on here for the last five hours" uhh no id actually been on for about 10. Got bored of trying to grind it out so sat at the £2/5NL which my bankroll cant really justify. Playing pretty solid and managed to hit a runner runner flush. Then naturally the one hand comes along to unravel all what was going so well.

guy rivers his gutshot

Also had a bit of a dabble in 7 card stud tonight which I havent played in donkeys years. It was only a $1/2 limit game but was suprised at how many people who dont know what they're doing. I'm one of them but I know that when someones showing a pair of queens you dont call them down with ace high no matter how much you think they're bluffing which someone did to me. Perhaps I should switch games.

My first entry

Ok, so every time I start one of these things up I say that this is going to be the last one. This is the last one. I was wondering the other day just how long it is that I've been playing poker properly and I'm still not sure. It seems for ever I know that much.

I think it all started in my second year at uni which would have been late 2003 because in the first year it was all about going to the bookies and online casino's using the double up method on roulette. Which works really well up until a point where you lose it all! Although I don't have any real memories of my first hand or anything like that I do remember the first time I lost £100 I couldn't sleep thinking to myself fucking hell what have I just done that took me so fucking long to earn what have I done!?!? Then realised that if Ive lost that much then someone must have won it! So the next day I was trying to get it all back but to only find myself losing more. I remember playing with a few friends aswell in the £5 homegames and I was always first out. In fact I was probably the worst one there.

Over the years I'd like to think I've improved. At least slightly. When the end of university came around in 2005 I was much more interested in poker than in the course I was doing (which was computer science). Although I suppose I always looked at it because of the fact I was using a computer to play poker then it was sort of like studying. Well that was what I told myself anyway.

I guess the time when it dawned on me that all I wanted to do for a living was play poker was around christmas time 2005 when I came back home and went to a casino for the first time to play in a "live" poker tournament. It was quite an experience crammed in the poker room with the person who was closest to my age was at least double it. It really was the most odd group of people I'd ever seen in my life and I'm pretty sure they were all gangsters or connected all the way to the top of some mafia group. It was a £20 buy in tournament with rebuys which to everyone else that meant go nuts every hand because you can get more chips next hand. I ended up coming second in that tournament and won £500 without really trying because people were litterally giving chips away. "I have a gutshot I'm all in". "Two outs not a problem, oh it didnt come, more chips! CHIPS!" Then I went back there a few days later and came second again for another £460. At the time I was working delivering Pizza's for pizza hut and I remember thinking how long it would take me to earn £1000 in that job and the answer was way too long. I quit when I went back after christmas and haven't worked since.

When I finished university I moved back in with my parents and played poker solid for seven months where I managed to save up enough to go around the world and had one hell of a time.
When I got back in December 2006 I thought I would just move back in and do the same thing.

Well I went on the best run in the first week I got back. Moved up the stakes to the 10/20$NL made just over two grand in a week and then it all went wrong. I lost the two grand and then cleaned out just about every account I had plus maxed out quite a few overdrafts. When January came along I started going out with a girl I'd met traveling and although I don't think she ever appreciated my choosen profession I did consider seriously for the first time in two years getting a job and sorting my life out. But sufficed to say that never happened, which as a 22 year old, I cant say I was totally thrilled with the idea of settling down just yet. What did happen was I ended up pissed out of my face on her birthday and offended her entire family. Still to this day don't really know what happened but we split up and I carried on playing poker with no real motivation to sort my life out anymore. Not one to dwell on things for very long and trying to look on the bright side, at least I can now do more traveling and play shit loads more poker. So I find myself sat here four months after coming back from having the year of my life having not made hardly anything. What I have made has been spent on nights out drinking and then gambling away in the casino. Not how I had planned it all to turn out but then again I never had anything planned out which is the best way I recon.

I've learnt a lot about poker in the last few months and been on more ups and downs than I ever thought I would. Every time I recover my loses and make a fair bit of cash I move up a level and lose it all then have to move back down. A classic moment which summed up how I've been running was when I come back completely wasted some night last week, put £80 in a £1/2NL table and turned it into over a £1000 in about an hour. Probably one of the best rushes I've ever been on. Then I move up to the £2/5NL and lose it all in two hands. At the moment Im just beginning to recover from the major loses I took last month (pretty bad month all around really). Well I say start to recover I've barely made a dent in them but at least I'm not losing at the moment. I keep thinking all I need is that one big tournament win to get a decent sized bankroll up together but at the moment I'm trying to get as much together as I can for Vegas in June.

Anyhow theres my first entry. A rather lame history of my poker playing career. Now its time to play lots more poker....