Game at The Jade Rooms

The Brasso was kind enough to extend me an invitation to a little boxing day game down at the Jade Rooms in Stone to break the boredom and whilst I was feeling a little ill from the previous day's antics I thought it beats staying in on my bill for Boxing Day so decided to go along with a gent named Mark who i'd not met before and Andy D, always fun and frolics to be had with Mr Durose so I was looking forward to this.

For anyone who hasn't been to the Jade Rooms, they have a £10+£2 fairly deepstacked 2-3 table tournament strucutre with a long clock, it's a very good and friendly game with lots of faces you'd recognise from the local Stoke scene and a few you probably won't. Certainly worth checking out if you want a cheap, friendly night out with a bit O'Poker to cap it off.

So sit down and at my table with Brasso, Andy D, Sleazy Chris, Jayne Clegg and Mark who I arrived with, fairly soft table on the whole, people seeing lots of flops for the minimum on the early levels as you'd expect, so I decide to be patient and wait for something. So it goes around the table for an orbit until I get a hand with 4 limpers to my SB and I have K10 and complete and the BB checks. I flop broadway and naturally check it and wait for some action, sadly everyone checks and I'm thinking this is going to be a dead end hand, the turn brings about 2 possible flush draws now (2 spades/2clubs) so I'm hoping this will give someone something to draw to so I make a half pot bet off around 200, someone smooth calls but a young girl who i'd never played with before min-reraises! Now this is seriously golden, when you get reraised by a female player they have to be massive, so I'm hoping they've got a flush/straight draw , 2 pair or even the lower end of the straight i believe was a possibility too so I decide to not mess around with this one and put in another raise, I jam it up another 1000, the fella folds and she calls. The river brings a red low card and I put in another bet of 1500 and i'm quickly called by AKo so way way below what I had expected in terms of strength and was lucky to get paid off, just top pair and a gutter, but this girl was clearly new to it and over-valued it but it's all good and a good start.

I then proceed to get some very good cards in reasonably quick succession, I get AA twice in 3 orbits, make some large preflop raises that get some calls and I take down some chunky pots on the flop, I had a nice hand with Brasso where he has raise 3.5BB early and I call with 98s and we see a flop with one other, flop is 10,10, 6 and i'm not assigning that to either player's range, Brasso makes a C-Bet for 3/4 pot and I reraise him about 1.5 times his bet, it's so cheese but such a hard call if you've got litterally air and they both fold, all this and not having to show down at any point, so things are going really well.

Then comes the big hand that stacks me up, a couple of limpers at 75/150 and I have 10,10 and bump it up to 800, i get one call from behind and the 2 limpers come in too, never nice for such a marginal pair but the flop comes Q,10, X a lovely coordinated board for the limpers so I'm fairly sure i'll get action if I play it fast, so I lead out for 1200. The old guy who called me from behind has a good long think and then calls for about 1/2 his stack, fair enough, the rest fold. The turn comes an A, I don't really like this as KJ is such a strong possibility for a donk oldie, but he has far too few chips for me to be realistically concerned, I put him in for his last 1500 and he calls with JJ..... easy money and I'm up to around 13.5k from the 5k starting stack and looking very good. I accumulate a few more chips but then get into a hand with Jayne....

The blinds are 100/200 and the play is tightening as all the limps are slowly bleeding the donks down, Jayne limps early and I get 66, I make a sizeable raise to 1200 thinking if I can take this pot now it's absolutely fine, to my surprise I get a call from behind and Jayne calls also.... nice!

4, 6, 8 on the flop with 3 clubs, Jayne checks and I bet something like 1800, Jayne then shoves for a bit more, something like 3200, so it's an insta call even with the nasty board and she shows Jc7c for a gutter and a flush draw, flush comes on the end and i take my 1st hit of the game and down to around 12,000. I make a few chips back with some steal action and back up to around 14k for the final table.

I find myself sitting with Geoff Price 2 to my left with a monster stack, has 25k easily and I'm rubbing my hands with glee. I've come across Jeff a few times at either Stoke casino and never fails to let me know just how terrible a player he is, consistently shows he knows nothing about the game and is normally easy money, also don't happen to like the guy very much after previous a previous run-in at Grosvenor led to me nearly twatting him for his drunken and rude behaviour, a proper barrel-scraper to be honest (oooooh catty!). Amazingly the 1st hand brings mega action....

It's 4 limpers to my SB (one of them being Geoff) and I have AQ... blinds are something like 200/400 by this point so i'm realistically considering an all-in but it's just too obvious what I'm doing, my trademark shove to steal a dead-pot so I decide to try and show more strength and make a very large raise, I think I make it 2800, to my surprise and horror Jeff and someone else call from behind. I'm not liking this but we see the flop and of J,10, x and Jeff bets 2000. What a tight spot, I don't think he's strong at all, it's too fast a bet like he's decided what he is doing before the flop has even come down and i'm sure he's only doing it because it's me.... for some reason I'm only pondering fold or call here, if I shove into him and he finds a call I'm through when I'm in 2nd position in chips and very strong.... I decide to call with the intention of making a play at the turn. The turn now brings a 9 which is a welcome card for me, it gives me an open-ender to fall back on if my intended play doesn't work.... amazingly Jeff leads again this time for 3000..... it's such an inticing bet now, I have to give him reasonable credit for a hand at this point as he isn't sophisticated enough to make double/triple barrell bluffs with complete air, the action has me down to around 8k at this point and I cannot make a play at this pot as intended as he has taken the action away, so I am now priced into making a call with an open-ender also intent on stacking off if I hit an A or Q. The river is a 9, he quickly puts me all-in and i have to give it up with my remaining 5k. To my disbelief he flips over AQ and quickly gathers the pot into his filthy beer swilling hands LOL. I went very quiet for a good 30mins after that, I wasn't quite sure what happened but amazingly i have to admit that in that 1 hand I was out-played by the worst player in the game..... FUCK!

I go card dead for an couple of orbits, get as low as 4k, make a steal or 2 back up to 5.5k and then find KK in the BB after a couple of limpers, I find the resolve to not shove and make a raise to around 2200 leaving about 3.5k behind, Jayne calls but she only have 1.5k left i believe, the flop is raggy with 2 diamonds i set her in, she calls.... with a diamond draw.... oh my just what I didn't want to see, the board pairs 4's on the turn and the river brings a DIAMOND.............. but it's a 3rd 4 and I fill-up, woohoo!

I then proceed to really get into the game, I'm making steals everytime i'm in position and eventually work my stack back up to 16k, then comes the hand. Jeff limps in UTG and folds around the SB who calls, I have A9... there is a reasonable case here to raise and take it down, it's almost certainly the best hand, but Jeff is so chipped up he'll play a flop with me regardless and I really can't just shove here, there isn't enough money in the pot to justify the risk, I decide to just check and deceive the strength of the hand, if an A flops i'm not going to get credit for it..... naturally the obligitory Ace does flop, it's A, K, x. I check and Jeff makes a decent bet of around 2500 (i think the blinds are 400/800, the SB folds and I just flat call, turn is a rag and I now decide to shove, my raise is about a 1/3 bigger than the pot so it looks dodgy.... Jeff says "I'll call ya, I gotta King".... he flips K9 to my A9 and I'm absolutely fucking huge here.... he is drawing to 2 outs (that makes me a 20/1 favourite going to the river folks) and the whole table utters the immortal words " you can only win with a King"...... gasp as the river is slowly turned over and it's a big, fat, fucking black King. Somehow, I just smile, I shake Jeff's hand and look to the watchers who are proper gob-smacked and take it fairly well. 2 years ago I'd of been hurling abuse, flipping tables, bemoaning his attrocious play.... but thank fuck I know this all just part and parcel of the great game we play now and I was in an amazingly fortunate spot to take the chip-lead there but it was crueling snatched away from me LOL.

In short, Boydy then goes to chop Jeff in half but somehow manages to give it back to him and Jeff won the game..... utterly bloody terrible. Poker at Christmas? I'll have a Pot Noodle and a wank next time, kthxbye!

That may well be my last local game for sometime as I make the daunting move to London to begin my new job with PokerStars in the New Year, a memorable one indeed to go out on.

Happy New Year folks.

Love, Matt!x

04/11/08 - A Return to The Coachman's

Amazingly it's been around 3 months since I last enjoyed the confinds of the delightful Coachmakers. Starting a new job meant I seemed to be working every evening there was a game on or at best working at an ungodly hour the following day but this week I had a few days off including the Tuesday night so decided to mosey on down with John & Simon Brassington.

It was nice walking in there to be greeted by friendly faces, Kevin and Julie as usual were in attendence but I was also welcomed by a few of the locals who had gotten to know me, which was nice :-)

Squirmy did the table draw and I believe we had 18 players so 9 per table to begin with and the draw saw myself, John Brasso, Kev & Julie all draw together along with 2 friendly regulars Big Chris and Dave The Devilneck (what a character!) along with 2 younger guys who I believe were playing for the 1st time but it was a friendly enough affair. For those unfamilar with the guy its a £10 buy-in with no fee and 200 starting stacks with blinds starting at 1/2 for 15min intervals, a nicely structured friendly game, get down there and enjoy it!

The started off unsually cagey, few raises and lots of folds to the blinds. I did my usual fold fold fold for what seemed like forever, I never get hands in tournament's LOL. I think that's multitabling for ya, I seem to go hours without seeing a playable hand when back to single-table and/or live game. Eventually I found an excuse to get involved, one of the younger lads limped in from UTG and so did brasso from the middle, i was in the hijack and contemplated raising with A8o but decided to take a flop as every raise saw most folding and the blinds simply weren't worth pinching at this stage.

The flop came A, A, Q which looked too good for me, I thought I'd hit this far too hard but to my surprise the new guy lead out for a pot sized raise. I elect to smooth call in position in hope to reraise a turn bet, the turn brings an 8 so any possible concern that my kicker was weak has now gone and he continues to show strength betting 3/4 of the pot. I quickly summise that he is going to do well to get away from this but I don't want to define my head until the river and want to let him believe he is still fully in control so I again smooth call. The river brings a Q (FFS! lol), he bets the same amount as on the previous street and I simply call knowing we are splitting to save any hard work from the dealer. Bloody rivers!

Sadly that was exciting as the night got for me, as the blinds went up I made some moves at multi-limp pots to take them down and took a few small pots from position when checked around to me on the flop, I didn't get an premium hands for the evening and then overplayed the following hand against Devilneck, possibly the worst person to do this against at the table lulz.

I have a crummy 2d,4d on the button and again it's a multiway limp with blinds at 3/6 I raise it up to 25 and Devilneck is behind me in the SB and he min-reraises to 50.... I know he must have a good hand but I decide to peel off a flop knowing that if I catch i'll take his entire stack. Flop is J, 10 7 with 2 diamonds and he leads for 25 and I smooth call with a diamond draw. The turn is an off-suit 7 and he checks, I decide to try and take advantage of the scare card and bet just 35, my idea behind this is to keep the pot small and take the lead away from him. He calls.

The River is an off-suit 8, it completes alot of scary draws and I know I have to bet to try and win this... he checks to me and I bet 85 into a pot of around 215, it's enough of a bet to make him lay down any weak holding and enough for me to not over committ my stack with no hand, I'm basically trying to find a fold for the cheapest possible price here, Devil goes into the tank, puts on a fine acting job and then I hear the dreaded words "all-in". DAYUM! I've been kippered well and truly here and have to muck. I'm left with around 90 chips and I'm knocked out by Devil shortly after when I shove a Qh, 2h in late position to try and steal his BB and he finds an As Qs and to his credit deliberates over weather to call or not, he calls flops a royal flush draw and makes a broadway straight to send me out.

All in all it was nice to play again in a live environment, see some good folks and enjoy a good cheap night out. I hope to be playing again next week, work permitting of course.

Matt

A nice cashout and an important new book

Well following on from my recent blog on PLO, I had a great day on that 2nd deposit I made and resulted in cashing out $180 from my $50 deposit. As I'm not going to be able to play for a few days due to working night shifts at work I'm cashing that out but will be back for more in the next week or so.

Today I had the pleasant surprise of receiving a new book in the post "Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand At A Time". I picked up on this mentioned on a few forums and it's got rave reviews, mostly from the internet poker community as per it's author's roots.

Written by Eric 'Rizen' Lynch, Joe 'Apestyles' Van Fleet and Jon 'Pearljammer' Turner all 3 of which have made $millions from smashing online tournaments I think this could be the next "Harrington on Hold'em" but for the Internet player. I'll be sure to write a review as soon I've finished it and let you know just how good it is.


Matt

Adventures in PLO

Well after depositing $50 into Stars yesterday, I've been 2 tabling some $0.05/$0.10 PLO on 6-max and running nicely.

At the time of writing i am up to $110 and have a $32 bonus about to unlock also. I'm playing alot tigher and less agressive pre-flop but pushing my draws hard, check calling rivers with some marginal stuff that is getting through so i'm quite pleased with not only how i'm playing but also how i'm running.

I'm starting to appreciate more and more the importance of position in PLO and not just necesarily having it, but knowing how to abuse someone who has a predictable range when they are in position.

Hopefully this can continue and see how we can build on this good start!

Matt

Getting back into Online Mode...

Hi folks,

Been a while since I blogged, mainly as I hadn't the time to play of late. I changed job in August and since then things have been hectic and i've been somewhat short of change for poker. So I had my first dabble on PokerStars for a while, I had a few days off work so put in $60 to have a crack on some small stakes PLO which has usually been kind to me in the past, sadly not the case this time.

At first things went well, I grinded it up to $100+ without winning any big pots of note but then proceeded to grind down and down. I was basically losing every all-in scenario I was coming across, every time I had a monster draw I missed, everytime I had a made hand and got the money I lost so after spending a day or so sitting on a profit and then 2-3 days breaking even by the 4th-5th day I was busto. Hardly upset as it's small change and it kept me busy but was disappointing when you play reasonably well and nothing goes your way.

One thing it did teach me about my PLO style (which I often thought was solid) was that I have a tendency to bet weak hands for value far too much. Now this is a generally the hallmark of a great cash-game player in Hold'em, when you bet your waffer thin holdings for value against extremely marginal holdings, however this bites you often in PLO, betting your weak flushes/non-straights or low 2 pair combo's when people are checking down weak seems to have cost me alot during that spell, I think now is best to more often allow it to check down and if I think I'm ahead perhaps be prepared to check/call the river if someone decides top throw out a small bet.

I'm redepositing today in hope the weekend will offer some weaker opponents and perhaps earn enough money to play a Sunday Million Satellite, however if won I'll just cash that token for some much needed $'s.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends wherever you are playing and I hope everyone will join me in wishing Bernie "The Bulldog" Smith a speedy recovery after he suffered a heart attack during the weekend, you couldn't hope to meet a nicer guy at the tables and I hope he comes through OK.

Matt

Returneth to the fold

Well I am back after a little poker break. Most who know me know the score with my banning from pretty much every playable casino in the UK, so that made me turn my back on the game for a bit.

More recently got back into playing some 6 max $10 PLO on Stars, ran $30 in $200 then had to withdraw that to help back for a new laptop, sitting on $40 at the minute in Stars, just breaking even on SNGs, I think I can play SNGs pretty well but fuck me are they boring!

On a brighter note, I've discovered the pleasantries of the Coachman's Poker Game as hosted by UKPL's very own Squirmy. Members, get yourself down there, nice pub, nice people and bad poker lol, what more do you want :-)

I'll start updating this again my regularly once I've decided where I am heading with my game, either some micro cash again and/or qualifiers for EPT/APPT/LAPT events would be nice.

GG all!

Matt

Downswing, oh noes....

OK, I've a week off work and was determined to play a chunky amount of hands on $1/$2 FL this week, first session sit down and it went diasterously. It was one of those days where every big hand either didnt get paid or got busted, everytime you flopped a set they folded and everytime the river completed a draw they made it.

Long story short $175 down after around 500 hands and I'd just had enough. It was going to take either 1 miracle session or several good ones to make that back so I just decided to not put myself through the mill and just cashed out my remaining $600 on Stars and wait until I get that one out of my system. Sadly that means it could be the last blog for a little while. I've decided I'll go back to playing Donkaments to replenish the funds, live or online is just fine so that is likely all I'll play for the next couple of weeks. Such a shame as it was going so well and goldstar status wasn't too far away.

Oh well, I was running far too well for it to last.

A new Month, a new game and a new VIP status!

Well my dabble in Fixed Limit a few days ago seems to have developed into a bt of a hobbie. I was astounded by the hand selection of the majority of morons that are playing at $0.50/$1, that said it doesn't make it particulary easy, it's a mine-field at best but I saw enough to decide it was beatable. I took my $500 in Stars and took a blast, up to $600 and back down to $450 and back again, it's great when you win a few pots in a row and just as horrible when you get rivered by nasty gutshots (sadly drawing with correct odds) but its just so lovely haha!

As I played a few thousand hands I noticed my PokerStars FPP's and subsequently my VPP's sky-rocketing, but sadly only 2 days to make it to the next level before the cut off period, so I hate to get my skates on.

Last night, I played 4 tables for 5 hours straight at $0.50/$1 and then when it seemed like I might not make it I moved up to $1/$2and blasted my way to $100a nd SilverStar VIP status! YEY!

I'll likely go back to $0.5/$1 to build a roll but at least now SilverStar in the bag for a whole month I can work at getting GoldStar next month perhaps. Highlight of the night was the following hand, AKs capped preflop versus 2 other players, I flop broadway with no flush draw on the board (winner!), the flop was capped, turn and river I got 3 bets and they had 8,9 and K,9 for 2 smaller straights, 27 BB pot, love this game when it goes well haha.

Work getting in the way, but a long week ahead...

Since my last post I've been working pretty much everyday so no time to play any Poker, I hate playing after work, usually too tired to keep a clear thought process so I just tend to not bother. Today I got home, was tired but in the mood to have a little game as I now have 3 days off (w00t!) so decided to dabble in a little $0.50/$1 Fixed Limit 6-Max on stars, it's amazing what people play in these games. I played about 20 hands and up $6 and left but the taster left me wanting more.

I try again just a few minutes ago and found myself on the end of 1 or 2 disappointing rivers to cost me around $10 overall but I've seen enough to want to play it a little more anyway. My FPP's flew up too haha, 2 tabling FL WOOHOO!

Congrats to my boy, Matt Aguilera for reaching SilverStar status on Stars and for some good recent results, we'll likely be hooking up for some MTT fun this week and I will play a bit more FL, perhaps 4 table it as I could feel myself playing looser than I like on 2 just tables.

Fingers crossed for the week!

][v][

Nice day for a gamble....

Today I decided to get out of bed unusually early and get a full day of Poker in, it's not too often I feel like this so I was keen to make the most of it. I head over to Matt's as we Battleship it in a few afterdoon donkaments at around 12pm and we get involved in a little $5 buy-in $5K guarantee on Stars. Somehow out of 1300 runners me and Matt end up on the same table at the beginning but quickly went out seperate ways.

This tournament went really well, I was able to establish reads quickly on all the tables I played, played some good hands, made some inspired calls and eve got stupidly lucky on a few ocassions to set me up for a final table finish. The hand in question I shoved in a serial min-raiser with AJs, he had 50% of my chips and would have been happy for a call but shocking I got 2 calls all-in for more chips than I hand behind, even with the min-raiser called. He had J10s, the other 2 had AA and QQ but amazing I made a flush to stack 3 people and take the chip lead in the tournament.

I wasn't particularly happy with my final table play, all my moves were ill-timed and I ended up coming 7th for a $171. Overall very happy with the performance but let myself down slightly at the end. We jumped straight into the $3 rebuy which I managed to negociate fairly cheaply and got real stacked at one point but ended up losing all my chips in a terrible hand, I've raised UTG with AQs, I believe blinds were 400/800 so I make it 2400 to go with around 40K behind, I get a call from the BB, flop is A, 10, x. I want action here so I make a weak looking probe bet of 2400 again, trying to look like I've raised with JJ-KK and don't like the A, I get a call. I pick up a flush draw on the turn also so pot it this time for 8000 and he calls. The river is a harmless looking off suit 2, he checks and I bet 8000 looking to get a value call, instead he shoves for 6k more and I call, he had A2 and was happy to stack off with it and I get unlucky. That was a wrench but was very happy I convinced him that he was much stronger than he actually was the entire time.

This was about 9pm and I was too tired to play after this point. I also got some free monies thanks to the wonderful African Nations Cup, a £25 treble on Ghana, Morocco and Mali returned a nice £94 and a new pair of shoes for me :-)

Looking forward to playing again tomorrow, either online or the FO at Circus.

Bye for now.

][v][

Things have picked up slightly, love them Satellites!

Well since the last blog i played a little, made a minor cash to break the deadlock and yesterday I was too tired to play anything long-winded but did manage to play a a $39 Turbo Freezeout Satellite for the PokerStars Sunday Million. I've played these before and they are generally very soft but the blinds jump go crazy big towards the end and I just squeezed through when my entire stack was all-in the hand before and I managed to win a side pot to get half the chips back, that extrea hand saw me through, w00t! So that's $215 towards some tournaments. Will let you know how that goes.
LOL DONKAMENTS!

A few days break, nothing changes....

Well I say a break, I wouldn't call working 10 hours+ per day a break at all but its a "ceasing of poker activities". I was looking forward to today as its my day off (although i went to work for 5 hours) and play a couple of tournies, by the time the tournies came around I wasn't particularly thrilled about playing, I just feel tired and lathargic at the moment.

Alas, I played the $2 o8 MTT and the Midnight $20k on Stars, never got going in the o8 but thats not such a massive surprise, however things went interestingly well in the $20k to begin with. Although I got AK 4 times in the first 3 levels and didn't win a pot it wasn't long before I go a stack going, I fast played KK from the BB after a couple limped in, didn't bet like a maniac but managed to take a 1500 pot from A3 on a board of 3, 7,7, 8, 9 and then the very next hand got AQ in position, a guy in middle position limped so I make it 400 to go at 50/100 he calls, flop of A, 7, 8 he makes a small bet, I raise fairly big, he shoves I call, he has A9 and I'm suddenly at 7000 and looking good.

It went Pete-Tong not long after though, a persistant limper made yet another limp, I have the button and 7, 9s so I just raise it to 250 to take pot control, he calls.

Flop 3, 5, 7 . I'm liking that, I bet half the pot, he calls. 9 on the turn now removes the fear of a slow-played overpair, I bet 1100 into the 1500 or so pot, and to my surprise he shoves. Perhaps i could have contemplated what he had here instead of Snap calling as I did (this is probably my single worst attribute right now, need to slow down on deicisions) but you don't get opportunity to fold hands this big very often in such a tournament. I called he had a set of 5's and I'm left very short and bust shortyly after.

I'm not feeling good about my game at the moment at all, I have a desire to play (which I haven't had in months) but I certainly aren't getting the deck to fall for me at all at the moment, it's all very sad and very disappointing right now. I hope it turns around before I lose the enthusiasm again.

Bye for now.

][v][

Nightmare Night online

Well it's going bad, I've played 4 tournaments today and bust in record time in each, 2 x $2 Omaha o8 tournament (see below) and 2 $10 NLHE tournaments, busting on level 1 in all of them. The most recent one was the 23:30 o8 tournament which is more for fun but a final table gives a nice few $'s, then this happened after an early double up.


PokerStars (9 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)



Preflop: Hero is BB with As, Ad, Kc, Ts. SB posts a blind of 15.

UTG calls, 1 fold, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, 4 folds, BB raises, UTG calls, MP1 calls, MP2 raises, Hero calls, UTG calls, MP1 calls.



Flop: Ah, 2d, 8c (4 players)

Hero checks, UTG checks, MP1 checks, MP2 bets, BB raises, UTG folds, MP1 folds, MP2 raises, BB raises, MP2 calls.



Turn: 3h (2 players)



River: 4h (2 players)



Final Pot:



Results in white below:

Hero has As Ad Kc Ts (Low: 8, 4, 3, 2, A | High: three of a kind, aces).

MP2 has Qs 5c 4d Ac (Low: 5, 4, 3, 2, A | High: straight, five high).

Outcome: MP2 wins .


Oh well, last throw of the dice tonight is the Midnight $20K, must run better....... oh and Lee Jones......


FUCK YOU!





UPDATE 00:17 13th Jan

PokerStars Game #14513431759: Tournament #72648561, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/01/12 - 19:14:29 (ET)
Table '72648561 210' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: MattVanDam (2620 in chips)
Seat 2: boatcptn (2820 in chips)
Seat 3: Mr.Poli (4090 in chips)
Seat 4: 2ez4ac (3000 in chips)
Seat 5: freekadaweek (2770 in chips)
Seat 6: Kamor116 (2350 in chips)
Seat 7: cmonreds (1750 in chips)
Seat 8: TonyACE76 (2510 in chips)
Seat 9: dog law (5090 in chips)
Kamor116: posts small blind 10
cmonreds: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MattVanDam [Tc 8c]
TonyACE76: calls 20
dog law: folds
MattVanDam: raises 35 to 55
boatcptn: folds
Mr.Poli: folds
2ez4ac: calls 55
freekadaweek: folds
Kamor116: folds
cmonreds: calls 35
TonyACE76: calls 35
*** FLOP *** [2s 2c 3c]
cmonreds: checks
TonyACE76: checks
MattVanDam: bets 85
2ez4ac: calls 85
cmonreds: folds
TonyACE76: calls 85
*** TURN *** [2s 2c 3c] [Kh]
TonyACE76: checks
MattVanDam: bets 100
2ez4ac: folds
TonyACE76: raises 100 to 200
MattVanDam: calls 100
*** RIVER *** [2s 2c 3c Kh] [9c]
TonyACE76: bets 200
MattVanDam: raises 780 to 980
TonyACE76: raises 1190 to 2170 and is all-in
MattVanDam: calls 1190
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TonyACE76: shows [Kd Kc] (a full house, Kings full of Deuces)
MattVanDam: shows [Tc 8c] (a flush, Ten high)
TonyACE76 collected 5225 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5225 | Rake 0
Board [2s 2c 3c Kh 9c]
Seat 1: MattVanDam showed [Tc 8c] and lost with a flush, Ten high
Seat 2: boatcptn folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Mr.Poli folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: 2ez4ac folded on the Turn
Seat 5: freekadaweek (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Kamor116 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: cmonreds (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: TonyACE76 showed [Kd Kc] and won (5225) with a full house, Kings full of Deuces
Seat 9: dog law folded before Flop (didn't bet)


UPDATE 00:37

At the time of the last post I was down to $100, I've dubled through 3 times to $1700. Lee Jones, you know your plan for me. LET ME WIN!

Bad Friday

Well the start to the Poker year has gone sour. I mustered up the effort to play the £10/r at Circus and I was in the mood to play, got a decent table, I'm in position against Lester and the rest of the table is pretty soft. Sadly I'm folding all the wrong hands and playing all the wrong hands, i got through 2 rebuys fairly quickly and pretty much give up right there, I ended up limping in for 100 with 900 chips left with Ah7h, Lester is in and so is the button. Flop is As, 2h, 3h. Looks like a perfect flop. Lester checks and I check hoping that the button will lead and he does for 300, I shove for the last of my chips and he has A3 for 2 pair and I never improve. I decided to cut the fun short there and go home.

I think the problem with that particular comp is that I find it so difficult to stay out of pots as generally people are playing so much thrash I want to mix it up and get in there with them, sadly the chips and the price doesn't equate, I think I'll be missing this one for a little while. I go home somber anyhow and jump OK to Stars, play some small stakes NLHE and win buy-ins for the Nightly $20k (my favourite online MTT) and a tiny $2 Omaha 8o tournament. I bust out of both very quickly, the $20k in the very first hand with an OP v OP scenario that if I was thinking straight I could have got away from, I was oblivious to my TILT.

This is probably a good thing in a way that this happens now and not in a much bigger event later, I've not felt the sting of Stealth-Tilt for a long time, I'd like to think that Tilt barely features or affects my Poker game, tonight it did and I've learned a cheap lession really. I'm very much in the mood to play as much as possible at the moment so want to ride this wave of enthusiasm as when I'm in the mood to play I tend to play my best. I've got a Birthday Party to attend to tomorrow but will see if I can find a nice online game for the evening.

Ciao Ciao

M

Getting things started, hello 2008!

Well, back to blogging we are. For those that haven't read a blog by me before I did used to do a semi-regular blog on Myspace which followed the early days of my Poker journey including my 2006 trip to Las Vegas to play some cash games and the $1000 NLHE event at the WSOP which is still my biggest buyin event to date. You can find these old blogs at www.myspace.com/mattvandam

I think that blog will no longer be updated, the only people involved in Poker on there are scammers and bonus whores, so I'll keep it strictly based here.

I've decided to resurrect the blog for 2 reasons, 1) as a discussion medium, I may even do a video blog from time to time, 2) to track my progress as I try to get back in semi-serious poker. The first 2 years of poker went fairly well for me, I was clear winner playing mostly MTT's and had some juicy scores, the highlight of which was going to Vegas, however it seems that since then i've come across some rough times, I'll pick the ocassional cash but have only won 2 tournaments in the last year and found myself no longer enjoying the casino atmosphere and spending fewer and fewer nights in them. I had big amibitons for 2007 and none of them were realised and I'd easily put 2007 down as the worst year of both my Poker and personal life.

We hope to set things right for 2008, I've got the tournament bug back, more so online but will be playing live more frequently (especially at Dusk Til Dawn I hope and Stoke Circus) and have played enough internet hands at various levels to know how to deal with the inevitable bad beats and down swings. I've a number of Poker and life orientated goals for 2008, I'd like to win enough money to get myself clear of debt (around £6500) and get healthy, both of which would have a tremendously positive impact on my life and both are attainable with a bit of luck and hard work. I'm considering spending a period of the summer in Las Vegas, it's being calling me ever since I left and can't give in for much longer.

OK, so to results. In the past couple of weeks I've begun playing micro stakes on Poker Stars again, starting at 0.02/0.05, made $50 and moved up to $0.05/$0.10 and winning at that level too. I'm trying to keep the cash bankroll seperate from the MTT roll so I deposit £50 in there to play a $40 Satellite for the $500k Sunday Warm-Up which i won but didn't fair too well in the Warm-Up itself. I've played a few Hold'em MTT's gone deep with a couple of insignificant cashes, I've been most pleased with some of the Omaha o8 tournies I've played, as I'm still learning the game I've been playing very small MTT's and SNG's and I'm consistantly cashing, the players appear to be pretty bad in the majority so there maybe be something in this.

Will keep you posted on what's going on, I'm considering the Friday £10/r at Circus tomorrow so a report will be likely. Just on a side note, I'd like to wish Team Vegas (Kev/Jue, Rob, Dan and Chris) all the best on their break over there, I couldn't be more envious and will be keeping my fingers crossed for you all.

Ciao for now.

M