TightEnd's blog

Rabbit, Rabbit

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 18:10:38 +0000

What's the worst thing in poker?

Is it bad etiquette and bad behaviour at the table? Is it collusion online or live? Is it suffering from tilt and blowing your bankroll? Well it could of course be any or all of these things but watching TV poker recently I have found something that strikes me, in its own way, as just as bad. It’s a relatively recent invention too.

Once Around The Block

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 18:49:17 +0100

"Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well" -- Mahatma Gandhi

Basic Instinct

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 17:50:51 +0100

A really strange thing happened in my last major live tournaments. I began to completely distrust my reads, ignore my first instincts and began to feel that everyone must be 'at it'. As a result I ended up donking off chips with marginal calls of value bets and generally felt very dissatisfied that I was getting things so wrong.

Method or Madness?

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 23:10:01 +0100

In normal circumstances, having just completed a week of festival poker on my home stomping ground I would expect to give you a comprehensive account of the highs and lows of the week leading up to a glorious finale with a cash in the Main Event or, knowing me, a gallant bubble! However, my play last week alternated between the terrible and the ludicrous so I am going to spare myself, let alone you, the gory details for the time being. Suffice to say I am taking a short break. I think when you get to the stage where the left side of your brain is telling you to fold and is putting your opponent on a hand but the right side of your brain makes the call anyway and Mateyboy turns over exactly the hand you had put him on then it’s time to take stock!

Woes Of A Big Stack

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 18:24:23 +0100

A weekend or two ago I received a text message from a blondeite friend. It was after the first day of a two day festival event and it said, “I am in the final, massive chip leader. I have 140,000. Average is 50,000.” I sent a good luck message back and took the kids to the park and awaited the inevitable victory message in the evening. Imagine my surprise when at about 4.30pm the mobile phone beeped… ”Out 7th. Write an article on keeping a big stack!”

Walsall And Back

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 14:52:24 +0100

May was a great month in my regular competitions at Luton, and I cleared over £5,000 in profit from their competitions alone. Along came the Walsall festival and I decided it was time to spin up some of that profit into a week on the festival circuit. I like the Walsall casino a lot... I chopped a festival event there in February, it's only an hour and a half a way and I can look forward to staying in the 'it's not' hotel as we renamed the 'Quality' Hotel. Joined by seven or so of my Luton regular friends, a fun week was in prospect if not much sleep on the 'its not's' hard beds in their baking hot rooms.

Falling Between Two Stools

Mon, 29 May 2006 13:16:59 +0100

When I played poker as a pastime I would dabble in both tournaments and cash games, particularly live. I would bust out of a tournament and ten minutes later you would find me sitting in a Hold Em or Dealers Choice cash game, carrying on where I thought I had left off. I didn’t think any more of it, a game was a game and that was that.

It's Nice To Be In Control

Fri, 19 May 2006 15:05:38 +0100

In my twenties I lost fortunes gambling. It took a while before I sought help, via both psychotherapy and from group meetings at places like Gambler’s Anonymous to discover some of the deep rooted sources that lay behind the addiction that I had developed. Really they are too private for mentioning here, although a few close blondeites friends are in the know. I have been wanting for ages to record my thoughts on the subject of gambling addiction just in case there is anyone out there who might be struggling.

It's A Funny Old Game...

Mon, 15 May 2006 23:36:36 +0100

So there I am, bemoaning my luck and generally considering radically altering my game when suddenly it all clicks…splitting the £50 rebuy at Luton last Wednesday, winning the £20 rebuy outright last Thursday, fifth in the £100 rebuy at the first Triple Bill event on the Friday and second in the P4C at the Western on Sunday. Where all this came from I do not know but the major confrontations began to turn my way and that is of course crucial. With decent festivals coming up at the Western and Walsall within the next month I can now play those events I choose out of last weeks proceeds without dipping into a bankroll that became a little stretched during my barren month of April, where I didn’t win a bean in my live game.

Blackpool - Part II

Tue, 09 May 2006 22:50:32 +0100

On mid Wednesday afternoon, the Blackpool Grosvenor was heaving with blondeites. There I was, passing the time in another satellite, being railed by Royal Flush and The Nun whilst, setting up his pitch in the bar area, Colchester Kev was about to be joined by Mr and Mrs Dog, b4Matt and several others. I managed to lose a seesawing Heads Up battle versus a young lad in the satellite who celebrated every win (including a few monstrous outdraws) with whooping and hollering. Amusingly he celebrated victory after the turn in one hand only for me to hit my flush on the river and calmly rake in the chips. I think he was too surprised by my quiet demeanour to curse his misfortune that time. Suffice to say with total predictability given my sudden lack of form his K3 went on to triumph over my A10 and off I went to the bar to hear tales of RED DOG’s enjoyment of a trip to the cinema to see 'She’s the Man' which I saw described as every 12 year old girl’s favourite movie.

Blackpool - Part I

Mon, 08 May 2006 19:44:56 +0100

It’s a long way. It’s an especially long way if your trip to Blackpool from Bedfordshire detours via Bath on May Day Bank Holiday. However needs must.