blonde poker forum

Have been reading up on some of the diaries today and thought I would start one off.

Will it be long lasting, interesting, funny, informative? I have no idea! Lets see how it goes  ;carlocitrone;

To quote Sympathy for the Devil, Please allow me to introduce myself...

I am a 41 year old guy from the west coast of Scotland. I have been playing poker for around 11 years (7 of them full time). I consider myself a Omaha 8 player however my largest scores and highest amount of profit over the last 10 years have been on the NLHE tables. I am currently serving my last 4 weeks or so as a 'mature' student doing a BA in psychology.

If you want to know any other boring details, feel free to ask!

As to the current blog title...

There are some imaginatively titled blogs on here so I tried to be a bit more creative than writing something like 'my blog'.

Why 'heart of a lion'?

Well in my first real live game of poker (a $1500 PLO8 WSOP 2007 MTT), the poker gods decided to put Johnny Chan directly on my left and Marcel Luske 2 places to his left. It was an interesting game and I had Chan all in and covered twice, both times on the turn, both times with him needing to counterfeit me for a split pot and both times him getting said counterfeit card on the river. I didn't cash, I didn't last past day 1 and Marcel Luske bust my AAxx hand.

I did however get a real taste of playing with some of the top players and absolutely loved it! I was properly hooked on the pokerz  ;all-in; I hadn't made an idiot out of myself during my first live game, I remembered (most/some of the time) when it was my turn to act, I didn't spill my beer on the table and Marcel even commented on my play saying I had the 'Heart of a Lion' and he even sang us all a song!

Now in actuality, if I have the heart of a lion then we are talking about a rather unhealthy lion! I smoke copious amounts of cigarettes (planning to stop after uni in 4 weeks), I am 'out of shape' (planning to get into shape after uni in 4 weeks) and my blood pressure is stratospheric (yup, you guessed it, planning to live a healthier lifestyle after uni in 4 weeks).

Apart from these elements being wildly at odds with the lion analogy, I do tend to try and play with at least a little bit of a roar and bite. If a table invites me to try and run it over I like to think I can accept the invite, even if it does result in the odd moment where I am caught with my hand in the cookie jar and the only flushed thing in the vicinity are my cheeks. So I will happily accept Marcel's label, even if it is absurd in parts :)

As for the 'long and winding quest for wrist jewellery' part of the title...

Well, after playing my first WSOP event back in 2007 and being hooked on poker I have made it a personal challenge to one day win one of those shiny bracelets. I don't particularly like bracelets, don't wear jewellery, wouldn't wear the bracelet if I won it and am fully aware that 99.999% of the population wouldn't give a shit! It is a personal challenge though and I tend to get drawn to silly little challenges in life.

I do take the silly personal challenges seriously though as I am about as stubborn as they come! After some mixed success live and online over the 7 years playing full time I realised the current plan wasn't working. I was grinding for small ball returns, playing too long and getting very unhealthy. I didn't have the financial backing in real life which would allow me to reinvest my poker returns into poker. I therefore went back to education and after 4 years am just closing this chapter in my life. I am now hoping to find stable employment in the background which will allow the poker profits to grow maybe let me have at least a proper bash at winning that bracelet, you know, the one that I would never wear and nobody would give a shit about! :)

No idea how things will pan out from here! Hopefully I can crack 2 views and it won't have been a complete waste of time!

hello well you have one reader

where do you play online and/or live? i think i recognise you from Sky Poker?

In. :-)

Looking forward to reading more especially as we're the same age.

How did you find the 'mature student' life? Have you had to juggle everything with a family life or are you single making it relatively easy?

Are you going to head over to the 'Blonde will make you strong' thread in 4 weeks when your next phase kicks off?

There you go Mr B.


http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=65850.0

I was gonna join that thread at one point, but I just got too strong, fit & healthy.

Matt (EvilPie) is a good guy though, seriously. 

Like tikay, I'm too strong and healthy to bother with healthy threads, hope you survive the next 4 weeks :)

In.

FAF, we should start a 'how long will we live' thread, and just report on the terrible life decisions we make that contribute towards that, jaysus, pretty scary when you think about it   ;yippee;

Thanks TightEnd!

I started out on Pokerroom (not sure how many of you would have played there?)

I am told, although I don't remember as I didn't play poker at the time, that it used to be thee site to play on when it first came out in the early 2000's. To say 'I loved that site' wouldn't be much of an overstatement. I broke my poker cherry there, learned to play OH8, won my first live package, was a moderator on their forum, made a lot of friends both on and offline whom I still keep in touch with, had my biggest ever score via them and played lots of live stuff through them. It was a sad day when I logged in to find this image (testing if I can post pictures on here)...

(http://imageshack.com/a/img923/2300/Uow0Aa.jpg)

When they did close I played some on Pokerstars, FullTilt, Bwin, Redkings, PartyPoker and Tower Poker. You are correct that I play on Sky poker too. Although I had been a member on Sky for a while... I only started playing there properly last year when I decided to try and qualify for a WSOP event through them. I decided to stick around there though after a warm welcome from Tikay, managing to snag the live package, and realising they had a decent little OH8 community.

As to the live stuff... I am 0 from 5 @ the WSOP and would have a pretty poor return in the live games if I hadn't managed to donk a $100k score back in 2009 in a live game sponsored by Pokerroom the 'Poker Race Trophy'. The WSOP cherry is still to be broken (maybe I should be aiming to sort that before setting winning a bracelet as the goal lol).

Thanks for the warm welcome folks!

I will reply to any questions soon, have to set out for my 4th last day travelling to uni (not that I am counting or am crossing the days off in a big wall chart or anything absurd like that, honest).

Have a cracking Monday everyone!

Also good to hear from a PLO8 player, absolutely love the game.

#subscribed

Hi Matt, brilliant question!

I have a lovely partner whom half the time considers herself a 'poker widow' lol. In reality she is very understanding when I spread myself thin between studying, work, life and poker. I suppose she has to be as she is a mature student too. She is about 2/3 of the way through an astrophysics degree via the open uni and works part time in a pet store.

My first step as a mature student was when I signed up to an HNC in 'Working With Communities' at college. I was unsure what the course was about, unsure if it would be all 'young people' and didn't know if I would enjoy it or even be able to do it. I hated regular school when I was a teenager, didn't try hard and done pathetic in my school exams. I figured that the worst case scenario would be that I would get a few student loan payments and leave after a week.

I received some advice just before I started the course which helped change my mindset and probably had a big influence on how I would do. I was doing a little job for an old lady (cleaning some carpets for her) the day before I started the course. She liked to have a chat and I don't mind to chat either and am also rather fond of tea & biscuits, so we sat chatting for a little while and I told her I was about to start the course. To cut a long a story short... I done the job and was leaving and she said to me 'I hope you enjoy your college course'.

That was a simple enough sentence and yet I was taken aback! 'Enjoy the course'? I mean this was a means to an end right? I was there to gain a qualification, improve my chances of getting a solid job in the background etc etc. I wasn't going there to 'have fun'! Well it only took a minute of two for me to realise that this old lady (late 80's) had probably, intentional or otherwise, gave me some very valuable advice.

If I went and actually tried to 'enjoy' the course I might have a better outcome than I did when I was at school; I might get better results; I might mix better socially and I may actually have some fun! I mean if we walk around seeing things as a 'means to an end' and not properly appreciating the moment then there is a chance that 1 day life is cut short and we never get to that final destination where happiness is supposed to reside. I properly realised that day that I had to try and 'enjoy the journey' through life, even the parts that often seemed a bit of a chore. That little sentence completely changed my mindset and I was now thoroughly looking forward to starting life as a 'mature student'.

In the end college went great. I got thoroughly involved (even when I didn't need to be). I took on lots of extra stuff like 9 separate NHS courses on 'addictions' and passed the course with a 96% mark and collected a 'student of the year' award. It was tough going at times dealing with 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 kids, studying and work but I tried to enjoy it and this approach pulled me through.

I then decided to keep running with the 'mature student' thing and signed up for a BA in psychology. I kept the same mindset and tried to enjoy it and get involved in other stuff that would help my all round development and agreed to do 'community profiles', 'business plans' and reports for 2 separate charities on top of the studying and other stuff I was committed to. I was getting paid for this so it should help but I was stretched thin, very thin...

Uni turned out to be a bit of a let down! My college lecturers had recommended me for 2nd or 3rd year entry but without so much as an interview the uni decided I had to start in first year. There was a lot of snobbery and I found that some of the uni lecturers (especially in 1st and 2nd year) spoke to students in a manner that suggested they were not sure if we would know how to hold a pen, let alone have anything valuable to contribute. A lot of the stuff we were learning I knew before I even started at college. Being spread so thin during my college time was fine because I was enjoying it but being spread so thin while doing a lot of tedious work is a whole other matter. Then in 2nd year I found out just how bumpy life could get and how easily the house of cards could fall down. My mother and grandfather died just days apart and my gran just a few months later. Life had just become an almighty mess.

I honoured my commitments to the 2 charities and kept going with the uni course but I had somewhere lost that enjoyment along the way and am counting the minutes down until I can close the 'mature student' chapter on my life and move on to pastures new.

So I would say life as a mature student while juggling real life etc can be fun if it is approached in a positive manner and you have a stiff wind at your back. I would advise anyone setting out on this path not to spread themselves too thin though and as life is such an unpredictable beast and we really never know what is around the corner. I guess that still fits in with the old ladies advice though and just means we have to try and cherish the here and now and take enjoyment from things when we can as nothing else is guaranteed!

Ha, I think I actually lurked in that thread a while back.

I will definitely be visiting, I have some smoking to give up, weight to loss and blood pressure to reduce!

I think my pattern of weight gain/loss is in line with Tikay's judging from his blog posts. I seem to lose a few stone in the approach to summer and WSOP time and feel all positive about myself and then just put it all back on during the winter months...

Cheers celtic!

Is your username to do with the football team or the "relating to the Celts or their languages, which constitute a branch of the Indo-European family and include Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, Manx, Cornish, and several extinct pre-Roman languages such as Gaulish" thing?

I am a big celtic fan myself if we are talking football although not so good with the Gaelic speaking other thing.

Lol, I could have offered a lot to such a thread over the years!

Thanks Longines :)

Agreed, love the game too. My patience can wander at times when I only have 2 hole cards.

Definitely the football, glad you are a fan too, as I donated a whopping £16 to
You on the cash table on sky the other night. Hope it helps get you to a bracelet, don't forget me if it does :)

Do You play live still?

Didn't get to play much poker yesterday, had uni during the day and various chores to do and by the time I sat down to play in the evening my head was whizzing a bit too much. I fired up a couple of tourneys and made early exits. With my head not in the correct place I for once made a wise decision and instead of playing more just retired to bed and caught up with 'The Walking Dead' and watched some stuff on Netflix.

I did come across some very interesting 'trades-persons' yesterday!

I was walking to the chippy with a mate at lunchtime when 'out of nowhere' we were sprayed with a stinking watery liquid. Wondered if it was due to a leaky drain above or someone chucking something unpleasant out of a window. I looked around and seen some 'trades-persons' spraying a big outside wall with this stuff...

(http://imageshack.com/a/img922/9747/HwyuCA.jpg)

Apparently the "silicone micro emulsion effectively penetrates below the surface of porous materials carrying waterproofing resins deep into the pores of the substrate". Quite handy that although to be honest it didn't taste or smell overly appealing. I am also not sure what effect it will have on my mates jacket which took a moderate sprinkling of the stuff.

Then I noticed that due to the stiff breeze the 'trades-persons' were missing the wall with quite a lot of this stuff! What seemed like the majority of said liquid was being blown into the adjacent street where a brand new one of these was sitting...

(http://imageshack.com/a/img924/482/FbMAd4.png)

In fact said liquid and shiny new car were sharing one and the same path. The car was utterly drenched in the stuff, bumper, windscreen, bonnet, sunroof, the whole 9 yards. I would speculate there might be as much of the said liquid on the car as there was on the wall.

What looked like the head 'trades-person' wandered around. I thought maybe I should mention something so that evasive procedures could be taken. I don't know, maybe they might want to spray from a different angle, put a sheet up to stop the leakage or even locate the oblivious motorist and see if they were happy that their new motor had been completely varnished? If not maybe they could work towards a solution or something.

I therefore decided to politely inform the trades-person that the car was getting completely drenched in One Coat Weather Seal. She replied "Oh", "okay". Then shuffled round the corner to talk the matter over with her colleague. I was happily eating my chippy at this point and quite curious what novel solution they would come up with. About 90 seconds later the machine starts up again. The solution they had came up with... 'Just ignore it and carry on regardless'!

I am curious as to how they arrived at this conclusion. Did they decide the motorist would probably be grateful that his car was varnished? Or that it was better to make sure the car had 2 coats?

Ah nice one :)

What was your username? I probably wasn't my usual cheery self, have been experimenting on a few cash tables trying to suss out ways which might be useful to make a challenge in the Sky 'Viva Las Vegas' rake races. Cash play is probably my weakest area though so I can be a bit erratic!

I don't play much live. Have made it over the last 2 years to WSOP events and am hoping to work something similar this year. With the studies finishing I want to start playing more live though and will be disappointed if I cannot play 5+ events at next years WSOP as being able to do stuff like that is why I went back to studying and am looking for a solid job in the background.

What about yourself, do you play much live? Are you also on the west coast of Scotland? (making assumptions here based on the football). I have been told to check out 'The Genting' in Glasgow. Will probably give that a try over the next few weeks.

I've played Glasgow gentings and merchants city. Also the two casinos in Edinburgh. Never really played cash there but they get games going. Think alea in Glasgow have cash games going too. Some decent comps in Glasgow but not enough. I'm not there anymore, moved abroad, but if you're on fb there's pages on there for each casino and they advertise what's on.

I just posted this hand history elsewhere and thought I may as well post it here too. Would be interested to hear the thoughts of anyone wishing to share them :)

"This is from the VLV 2nd chance freeroll on Sunday on Sky Poker (1st place wins a £4500 WSOP package & 2nd-32nd get between £50-£500 in a rather flat payout structure)

Most definitely not intended to be a bad beat story I am long over the hand. I was just surprised that after 10 years + playing poker such an apparently straightforward hand (A suited ace on the BTN) could have me so torn as to what to do at the time.

I am also not trying to be results orientated. Yes I would probably have quickly forgotten the hand had I won, but the hand seemed interesting as we have a range of options on how to proceed.

The hand: I have A6 suited on the button 6 handed @ 500-1000 blinds. It folds around to me and I have 26k. The SB has 20k and the BB 13k. So what do we do?

The situation: I have a fairly average image as I have only joined the table 2 orbits ago. I have opened 2 pots for between 2-2.5x and the player who is in the BB has instantly 3 bet shoved on me both times. He has been active apart from that too. The SB has been playing standard ABC poker. There are 38 players left and 32 get paid.

I remember being dealt the hand and deciding to fold. I thought the player in the BB was likely to shove on any opening raise (as that is what they had been doing). I also didn't like the calling ranges I may face (especially from the SB) if I was to open shove this many chips. Due to the set-up I didn't fancy getting half my stack in with such a marginal hand, the only hands I would be 'crushing' would be <A5 but many of these would result in split pots.

After I decided this as the cards were dealt, one of the early position players tanked and during that time I decided I wasn't folding an ace on the BTN to the BB who had 3bet shipped on my opening raises twice. I mean what am I waiting for if I fold again? So I open for 2k and as expected the BB ships on me and I snap call (when I decided to play into the player preflop I was never folding preflop to them) I only opened small as I was folding or 4 betting if the SB 3 bets.

Anyways the BB has Q4, hits the Q and my stack goes into the danger zone and I don't recover. Not important and am long over the hand as mentioned but what would you do in this spot?

I know exactly what I would do now after reflecting on the hand but will keep quiet about this and see if others wish to give their thoughts."

Thanks celtic! Will check out the FB pages and give them a whirl :)

Tried the Riverboat before and sneaked ITM but the structure was so bad I would have been as well going to the local Mecca bingo hall.

I would jam or fold.- probably jam because I love it. I wouldn't want to open and call a jam with this hand even if I know I'm going to be ahead a lot of the time. nb, I know very little but I wanted to engage on your blog - its generally seen as a massive seal of approval for me to deign to get involved

I'd say you played it correctly. You induced Mr Mad to get it in bad. Irrespective of the outcome, that has to be good I'd say.

Incidentally, you might get more feedback on Poker Strategy Questions on our Poker Hand Analysis Board, here....


http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?board=24.0

I'd be very surprised if a few Serious Heads don't reply.

blonde also has a few high level 08 players, so you might try a few O8 questions, too.

I'd post on the poker hand analysis too.  I have push fold charts on my pc, but I don't have that.  I think A6 is borderline to push 20 bigs without antes. 

Suspect what you did isn't far off right depending how you read the players.  I am not sure I'd call off a jam from SB on Sky though.  3 bet ranges tend to be overtight there.  Barring the odd loon who will shove any old nonsense every tine and then spend half an hour telling you how bad you are in chat.

Suspect the big first prize means ICM isn't going to make a lot of difference. 

Anyway, post on PHA, Pleno will likely nail it.

@nirvana... Many thanks  8)

@doobs & Tikay... I will have a look around the strat threads and maybe get involved, thanks :) Will probably dig out a few more interesting hands to post though.

I posted a reply with my thoughts on the original place I posted the hand, I will add it here but hold off for a day or so in case anyone else wants to comment.

Been a bit AWOL lately due to finishing all the uni stuff up so that I am then hopefully free to concentrate on the poker exploits.

No more classes to attend and handed my last assessment in on Friday. The last assessment was on the topic on 'binge drinking' which is a little ironic as I had a bottle and a half of Bailey's to celebrate finishing it and am a little rough today lol. Just 2 exams to do now on the 18th & 19th of April and I get my BA. What I will do with it is another matter entirely. I would like to think I could then control minds like Will Ferrell's love rival in Anchorman. I think the reality will probably be nearer being able to answer the odd question with some confidence on Yahoo Answers :) Time will tell...

On the poker front it has been very much a case of 2 steps forwards 1.99 steps backwards and any advances are minimal.

Have the £435 buy in qualifier for a £4k package to play on Sky on Sunday so in with a shot at least of getting things moving. I am usually quite confident playing these things but to be honest I am not really feeling it right now. My reads are a little off, confidence below average and just not firing on all cylinders. I do like that it is 6 handed and has a decent structure so who knows, will give it a shot!

I have noticed some $160 buy in WSOP side event qualifiers on 888 for an event that takes place on 1st-4th July and the Sky package is for the dates 10th-17th so I will give both a bash over the next few weeks and if I am lucky enough to bag both of them I can just stay in Vegas and save on an extra airfare, maybe do a trip to LA in the 6 day gap. We can dream :) I also have the added bonus of having $800 worth of money off coupons for American Airlines so if I donked my way to 2 packages and had zero airfares to pay it may give the bankroll a much needed boost.

Are any of you reading this going to be heading off to play any WSOP stuff?

While I am at it, I posted this elsewhere and the more suggestions I can get on this the better so will post it here too...

"I remember Shaun Deeb doing an interview for a P5's podcast while he was playing 17 tables. My game on the other hand goes down the toilet if I am playing 2 or 3 tables and the phone rings...

I do have quite a busy house with my partner, my son, 2 dogs and 2 cats and it feels like an extreme challenge trying to concentrate at times. There always seems to be a phone ringing, dog wanting attention or someone chapping the front door to see if I would like to convert to being a Mormon or join the latest super duper electricity/gas tariff.

I do on occassion lock myself away upstairs in the bedroom and play and generally do a little better (that is the plan for tomorrow nights £4k package final). However if I am playing for 5 or 6 hours it feels a little anti-social and can be boring being locked away in another room so this is not ideal either.

So do distractions bother you? Can you offer any advice on dealing with them?"

I will cheat a little, I have 2 diaries I loosely post in and just updated the other so I will copy/paste here. Yes a bit lazy I agree...

Well it has been a week and a bit since my last post so thought I would ramble a little on here while munching my Fruit 'N' Fiber.

The studying stuff is really drawing to a close (just 2 exams next week and I am completely done with uni). My attention has therefore been turning to other stuff I haven't had adequate time for (jobs, poker, health, family).

On that note I dusted the bicycle off, blew up the tyres (yes it had been that long the tyres were flat) and went a 11 mile cycle that took in Eglinton Country Park. On one of the country lanes there were fields either side with loads of horses. I decided I would be a kind chap and stop, pick some handfuls of long grass that the horses could not reach and give them a little treat. I selected some nice juicy green handfuls of grass and wandered calmly (so as not to spook the horses) over to the fence. The horses stopped in their tracks just out of reach around 2 feet from the fence. I though, aww, they are a little timid so I leaned on the fence so I could reach over and ZAP, I duely electrocuted myself. Yes, I guess I missed those 3" by 3" 'electric fence' signs. Quite a jolt they give you! I was also at such an angle I had no choice but to grab onto it again to haul myself up. I didn't get zapped the second time thankfully (I must have broken the circuit or something). No harm done apart from looking like a proper wally and feeling like I had been properly Tango'd. The penny started to drop as to why the horses pulled up 2 feet short of the fence! Horses 1 v Me 0.

On the pokering front I played the £435 VLV semi I mentioned previously. Started off okay and got the starting 5k stack up to around 18k with average stacks around 9k. I liked my table and was getting quite into the groove. Then Mr Matt Bates was moved to my table. He also had a similar stack and were was he placed? Directly on my left! I was by no means in any comfort zone in relation to snagging a £4k package (average stacks when those are dished out would be around 50k). So I had to keep working away. Well my timing was off, I made 3 or 4 plays, 2 were I had hands and 1 or 2 were I didn't. I guess through a mixture of Matt's proficiency and board texture he got away from the couple I hit and I lost more than I should in the ones I didn't hit. At least I offloaded to Matt, he is obviously an excellent player, didn't get to go last year and he put the chips to good use and didn't look back so WP that man!

In relation to the jobs front... I haven't looked much yet as I still am at uni till next week and I am not in a massive rush. I did put some feelers out though in some poker circles as I would love to work either within the gaming sector or in Education. I had the chance of a job in London. Doing almost exactly what I would like to do and with one of the bigger gaming companies. The salary however was just a bit short of what I would need to make a relocation to London work. If it had been local or even in 'middle England' it would have been happy days indeed. The search continues!

Well the Fruit 'N' Fiber is well and truly scoffed, I am sure I have sufficiently bored anyone reading and need to go get passport photos taken so I will relent for now :)

Hope you are all doing well on and off the tables!

 Have you considered gaming opportunities in Malta ?

Actually I haven't Tony but I am not sure why to be honest. I know a could of people working in the gaming industry and are living over in Malta. That is one to ponder and look into! Thanks for the heads up. I know there also used to be a lot of opportunities in Gibraltar so I guess that may be worth considering too.

With the studies just coming to a close I am kind of ruffling around on the dark trying to figure out what comes next. It could be a case of a job in the poker industry, job in education, continuing with existing jobs I am involved with, playing poker full time, returning to study after a year break or a mix of these. Hopefully all will become clear in time, just kind of hard seeing the wood for all those darn trees which are in the road at the moment :)

I will be in Malta  :)

Until the 26th  >:(

Poker tourney? Holiday? other?

Have never been but have heard good things! And they drive on the left?

It was all down to this!

UL sir, you having a go in the other sats?

I don't doubt it Matt :D I tend not to avoid anyone on the tables because I am a stubborn so and so but I should have treaded more carefully with you. You crush the games continously, had position on me and I think only you and maybe one another had me covered. Your bet sizing in the hand you took most of my chips was spot on too! I could tell you were sizing to put me to a decision for my stack, I just wasn't sure if you were using position to play a draw well though or you had smashed the board. Almost called the river shove with pocket 5's lol. I should have either folded to the turn reraise or been calling the river TBH but we live and learn huh :)

Going to be playing oodles more NLHE on Sky and elsewhere in the coming months so hopefully we can play a few interesting pots and I can snag the odd one lol.

Almost definitely will be going out to Vegas so will probably see yourself and the Sky folks over there. I was playing a few sattys elsewhere and will more than likely play a couple on Sky but I am probably just going to focus on regular games and put any profits towards the trip. Don't see the point in overly focussing on winning packages designed to play fixed events when if you can just hopefully win a little cash in regular games you can still go out to Vegas, stay where you want and play what you want.

You can use all the money you won on UKOPS Day 1 last night for Vegas.

lol, it is a small start :)

Couldn't catch a break nearing the FT's but plenty more days to try, happy with how I was playing at least.

You giving the PLO8 UKOPS or any of the other UKOPS games a bash yourself Mr T?

We actually got a 16.50 going the other day, during the day as well!

Doubt it, I've not played a hand of poker since I had my little problem. I daresay I'll start again soon, but I doubt it will be this week.

On which note, how did you get on in the UKOPS PLO last night? (I'll set it up, you can volley it over the net).

Sounds like we are in practice for the Vegas football game that Donttelmum is organising  :D

Okay I will see if I can smash it over the net...

Whenever you are ready sir :) Hope things went well on Monday.

As for the update...

As Mr T alluded to things went rather well in the UKOPS games last night :)

I had got off to a reasonable start on Day 1 although I wasn't getting the rub of the green around FT's but still managed around £150 or so profit over the day. I felt I was playing well though so took some confidence into day 2. I was happy enough with this as I was playing a bit sloppy for a couple of weeks beforehand.

I regged for 5 of the 6 events (gave the £55r a miss as I could see this getting messy and I am only just starting to focus on the poker after the studying is drawing to a close so the bankroll still needs some TLC). I also regged for 2 of the £5.50 PLO8 BH's (later unregged for the second one of these as the NLHE, PLO and PLO8 mix was getting a little confusing).

I was firstly pleased that my confidence going into these did not seem to be misplaced as I had got a few stacks going early doors.

The UKOPS £22 event 08 was PLO which I enjoy, although would enjoy even more if there was an '8' on the end of the 'PLO'. Things started steady and I got it in 3 way with the nut straight on the flop (there were a lot of redraws out though of which I had none). The board obviously paired and I was outdrawn although took a little sidepot down so all was not lost! I realised the calling ranges in this MTT were going to be massively wide so I had to tread a bit more carefully as I didn't really want to be 'flipping' all over the place. So with adjustments made I steadily ticked over managed to take it down for around £477.

Decent start and I still had stacks in other games.

In one of the £22 NLHE BH's I was sitting on 11k with average stacks around 8k. At this point a lovely chap and top player called 'omm' was newly sat at my table. I asked how he was doing and he said 'okay, but not running great' or something to that effect. Trying to keep his chin up I said 'Hopefully things will turn soon for you mate!" (Yeah I am going to regret saying that lol). I am duly dealt QQ while I was mid typing that, I standard open raise and omm shoves, I snap call and he has AK. An ace on the river seals my fate although I am left with just over 5k and it was still nice to see omm catch a break to be honest. All is not lost then! And I am dealt KK about 2 hands later and open raise hoping to induce a shove which I duly get (not from omm this time). Up against AK again and wouldn't you know it, an ace on the river again leaves me on 233 chips... I build this up again to 4.5k then run my JQ into AQ and it is GG me although still managed £25 in bounties so a tiny profit at least.

The £55 UKOPS 12 and £5.50r UKOPS 10 were still going and I had reasonable stacks in both. I nursed a small stack into the money in the £55 and then lost with A9o v Q5s AIPF which would have gave me a pretty healthy FT stack too. So bust in 8th for around £135. The £5.50r event 10 went a bit better and I managed to take this one down too for about £944. Should be looking good on the UKOPS leaderboard now and around £1423 profit for the day so have a little spring in the step today and looking forward to the UKOPS games tonight (One of which is PLO8).

Only downside is I have to study loads for neuroscience and cognitive psychology exams in 5 & 6 days respectively (after which I am totally done with uni, woop!). Last nights adventures will make the study a little more bareable :)

Hope you are all doing good on and off the tables and thanks for reading!

Excellent work Mark.

When I posted earlier I had not realised you won a 2nd UKOPS of the night.

I'm just writing today's UKOPS Blog so I guess I'll have to try & be moderately nice to you.

Congrats mate, & maybe you can top it up by collecting a Viva Las Vegas sat in the Leaderboard thing & turn that into a package.

PS - Omm is a terrific chap, & a blonde regular.

Many thanks mate :)

Also agreed on omm although he seems to have my number, he also sent me packing in the quarter finals of Graham's heads up tourney lol.

It was all quite funny, the table took great amusement in me hoping for his luck to turn around and then promptly donating a chunk of my stack to him within a matter of seconds... He also said it should make the diary :D

Your run good continues - go check the updated Total Player Leaderboard.

Woot, nice 1! :) Cheers

Am I the only one that worries when things appear to be going 'too smoothly'? I mean I also found £7 in my pocket this morning that I didn't realise was there (hoping im not being sweetened up for something less favourable).

Wow, well played, some great results the last couple of days. Easily swap the heads up win for the UKOPS? Lol, It certainly is a great series and with the addition of the leaderboard it does make for great value.

I know a few people who will not play on Sky solely on the fact that there are no antes but I think they are missing out on a fantastic series. What's your thoughts on playing without antes? Do you make any drastic adjustments?

With all the Uni study you have left to do it might give the rest of us a shot at the top of the leaderboard.

Many thanks omm! Yes I won't grumble at the HU games lol, they were actually very good games and you played excellently and won fair and square sir!

I would obviously agree it is a fantastic series but then again I have only played this UKOPS and it is going well so far, so I am rather bias lol. I actually prefer the smaller field sizes that you get on Sky. The site I started out on (Pokerroom) had similar field sizes.

To be honest I don't mind if there are antes or not or if it is 4 cards, 2 cards, killer, PL, NL, FL or whatever. It is the same playing field for everyone and we just have to aim to adjust to whatever the setup is better than others. Sometimes we manage, sometimes we dont :)

I am still aiming to play all or almost all the rest of the games and study during the day. It is a bit of a juggling act though and I was feeling the pace tonight which I will get into after this post.

Best of luck to you on and off the tables omm, always a pleasure sharing a table with you (if not always profitable lol).

I will update each day how the UKOPS and the quest to win the 'Total Player' leaderboard goes whether it goes pear shaped or is a roaring success.

On day 1 I was feeling zoned in, as mentioned previously. Didn't cash for that much but was happy with how I was playing. Day 2 I was still feeling I was playing well and things went good on the tables. On day 3 which I have just finished I felt a bit of a train wreck to be honest. I entered all 6 games, (£22, £22, £110, £5.50, £22r & £55 buy ins). Oh and a £5.50 PLO8 Bounty Hunter. The first 4 games I played terrible, ran average or below and soon bust them all. It was looking like a bad night at the office so I fired up the £5.50 PLO8 BH and I still have the £55 turbo BH & £22 rebuy left.

I managed to win the £5.50 PLO8 BH for £77 which restored some calm to my game. I started finding some nice 3bet spots in the £22r and the £55 and what were average stacks turned into decent stacks. Maybe the night wouldn't be a bust after all!

Finished 15th in the £22rebuy which was very frustrating. I had A4o in the BB and an aggro player who had been attacking me all night raises. I flat call and the flop is 67A rainbow. Opponent fires the flop, I flat and the turn is a Q. He leads out a sizeable bet on the turn (I am not even remotely considering folding to this person and feel I am streets ahead so I flat call). The river is an 8 and he fires as expected on the tiver and I snap call. He shows 9To for a rivered gutshot. I think that pot would have put me around the top 3 in stacks but I guess that is how the cookie crumbles as they say and I still cashed for £90+.

Was just left with the £55 turbo and managed to negotiate to heads up and get to level stacks. The tiredness started to kick back in though and I lost a chunk needlessly with T6s and finished 2nd for around £610 with the bounties included. It was a bit sloppy as it was probably around £400 more for winning so I should have held it together a bit better.

Still, around £500 profit which I am very happy with and 45 more leaderpoints which should help the cause!

Hopefully I can play a bit more composed in tomorrow nights games.

Was feeling a bit flat when I posted last night due to tiredness. A good night sleep though and I am raring to get the studies done and attempt to get zoned in for day 4 of UKOPS later.

The 'Total Player' leaderboard has been updated early today, not entirely convinced it is accurate as I thought the players below me after day 2 snagged a few more points than is showing. Hopefully it is accurate though, if so, looks promising nearing the halfway stage although still work to do!

(http://imageshack.com/a/img923/7058/IcyOmA.png)

I live in Malta, if you ever consider moving here, gimme a pm and I'll help you with whatever info you need. They do drive on the left, and sometimes the right.

Anyway, got to go, going to search the island for that sneaky red dog, coming here thinking he can avoid buying me lunch  ;grr;

 ;scarymoment;  Has he gone?

Many thanks Celtic! When I get this hectic week out the way I will look into this a bit more :)

lol Red Dog :D

Day 4 UKOPS update (stolen from my other blog)...

"Finished the UKOPS stuff a little early tonight :-/

Got off to a great start and into the money in the first UKOPS event of the night. Lost a flip with 10 left that would have got me back around the average stack size and bust.

Got a couple of stacks going in the others then the my neighbours started a major domestic (as they very often do). My dogs were going mental and concentrating was rather challenging, the barny went on for at least 2 hours before they both eventually were arrested.

In the commotion my QKo in the BB found a flop of Q34 rainbow. My opponent bets big so I flat call and see a K on the turn, happy days! I lead out and my opponent reraises, I shove and he calls showing QQ, ugg! I could have used more pot control for sure but I will blame the neighbours distracting me lol.

Got a really nice stack going in the £22 rebuy and was sitting around 4th with 70 left. I miniraise open utg with 55 and it folds around to the BB who shoves. It is 1/3 of my stack to call and it is a bounty hunter so I opted for the call. He has TT, ugg. I flop the 5 though, woot! Then he turns the T, ugg again lol. Still with a healthyish stack I open 88 and a shortish stack shoves, I snap call, they show AJo and I lose the race. Then I pick up 66 and open and the same guy shoves again, once again I call and once again they have AJo and once again I lose the flip. Stack is now in critical mode but I sneek into the payouts at least. I then shove 9 BBs for the C/O with JKo and the same player again calls with A6o but I flop the J. He then rivers the A and it is GG me!

Bust everything else but only a slight loss on the night and 15 points to add to the leaderboard tally.

Will try and do better tomorrow night and hopefully the neighbours will be having a quiet night after their exploits tonight!

Thanks for reading, time for some severely needed beauty sleep..."

Enjoying these updates, we don't se many poker updates here these days, so keep them coming.

PS - Sorry to hear both your dogs were arrested.

Thanks Mr T and good news on the dog front...

They were released early for good behaviour!

(http://imageshack.com/a/img924/7176/tTMhOv.jpg)

Lastest update on the UKOPS shenanigans from my other blog...

Well day 5 of UKOPS was a disaster so this update shouldn't be too long.

Got off to a great start in event 1 of the evening collecting 3 bounties and was sitting in the top few stacks early on. I then couldn't find spots and wasn't getting cards for a long period but shuffled along until there were 32 players left with the top 18 getting paid. I think I was sitting around 19/32. I then get the QQ in the BB and it folds to the BTN who miniraises my BB, the SB flat calls and I shove. The BTN calls, the SB folds, and finally I am in a nice spot to get a stack to try and make a deep FT run. BTN has JJ I have QQ. Flop 886 rainbow, turn 9, I think we all know what is coming on the river... Yup the dreaded J and it is GG me.

I then went on to play thoroughly mediocre, be card dead and run a bit -EV too and bust everything apart from the £5.50 UKOPS BH. I actually made the payouts here but had an above average stack, with I think around 30 left, and made a needless call and lost. I won't mention the hand as there are 2 hands I want to post in the startegy forum and this is 1 of them. It was a justifiable call, would have gave me a top 3 stack and was probably technically a call. It didn't fit in with how I had been playing though and I was thoroughly disappointed in myself for making the call.

I am feeling perfectly chipper and looking forward to tonights games though. I was due a bad night and am content to have a bad night as long as I feel I have played remotely near my best. I am not so sure I did last night though.

I did play a little cash games after the UKOPS stuff the previous 2 nights and softened any loses with about £60 in cash game winnings. Even got some action on the PLO8 cash tables last night at 50p PL.

Hope everyone is enjoying the Easter holidays and good luck on the tables!

To finish on a more positive note...

That was my 10th cash in the UKOPS which I am happy with and I think the leaderboard is still going well with 2 days left so there is still a chance of the £1260 ticket.

Nice lead at the top of the leaderboard. Some nice results over ukops, gl with the rest of the series.

Really up against it with the studying but an update on the UKOPS stuff as I said I would keep doing.

Day 6 was more of the same, ran very much below EV in all the significant spots and played pretty bad too at times too. I am not overly worried about not playing at my best as I know exactly why. Every day of UKOPS has involved about 8 hours of study for my exams which are tomorrow and Wednesday and about 7 or 8 hours of poker. I severely need a couple of days off but have wanted to try and maintain my leaderboard position and feel backed into a corner with the studying. I feel the least prepared I ever have for exams for these upcoming exams so will need to get on top of it today.

A couple of the more interesting spots from yesterday...

In the UKOPS £110 main event I had a bit of a psycho table so really struggled to get involved. Still, after almost 2 hours I had managed to sneak the 10k starting stack up to around 24k with average stacks around 18k. I then get 35o in the BB and UTG+1 limps. It folds around to me and I check and we see a flop of 467 rainbow. Happy days and not a scary board, obviously we don't have our opponent on 58 (they didn't have 58). I think if I minilead at this I may get my opponent to do something stupid if they limped any big pairs so I lead for 500 and they oblige with a raise to 2k and I flat call. If I remember correctly the turn was something like a 2 (a totally dead card and it was a rainbow board. I check and opponent fires around 3k). There is a definite argument for reraising here but with such a safe board I don't want to scare my opponent off and I want to set up a potential check/bet/shove on the river to get their entire stack. River is probably the worst possible card, the 5. Giving me the idiot end of the straight although I should still be good against most of my opponents range. I check, they bet 3.5k and I sigh/call and they show 88 and have hit the gutshot.

I stayed patient though and built back to 18k+ when I lost a chunk more to the same player with my A3o finding a board of 662A7 (they had limped the 56s utg). I then shoved QKo with my remaining chips and the same player, yet again calls, this time they have AQ and there is no help.

Another game I got a stack going in was the £55 bounty hunter. @ 150-300 I get 79 hearts on the BTN and a player I have marked as a fishy miniraises, I 3 bet. I have 14k and they have 9k with average stacks around 8k. I fire the AKQ with 2 diamond flop and they call. Turn is 10 diamonds bringing loads of flush and straight draws in. They check and I check behind to see what they do the the river which was 8 clubs. They check to me again on river. I have this player marked as a fish as mentioned and they have bet when they hit so I don't feel they have anything they can call with. pot is 6k and they have 6k behind so I shove and make it all in for them to call. They call with A2o with top pair, no kicker. I have no idea what this player had me on. This was my first 3bet on them and the list of hands they are losing too is absolutely massive... If it was a major soul read then I would love to buy them a drink and pick their brains but after looking on Sharkscope and seeing their steady downward profit graph I think they just couldn't fold an ace. Oh well, notes take for next time when I will be seeking maximum value from real hands.

I am going to give the £530 and £110 buy in UKOPS a swerve tonight as my head really doesn't feel in it. I will play they other 5 events though at £55 and under.

Apologies for the downbeat tone but I did say I would update whether it was good, bad or indifferent lol.

To finish on a more positive note.. I did minicash in 2 events to add to the leaderboard score. There were some movers on the leaderboard but I think my lead will still be in the 40-50 point range going into the final night.

Also, if I can somehow figure these 2 exams out and not have to re-sit them then my time as a 'mature student' will come to an end in just over 48 hours. I cannot explain the joy I will feel if this is the case, I got so bored with the studying so long ago but have just been trying to 'see it out'. Then I can hopefully stop prattling on about boring uni stuff and get seriously torn into the poker.

Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated!

Hi mate, I found last night particularly tough, for some reason I couldn't keep my eyes open and it without doubt affected my play, I knew I should have just de registered and not played the tournaments after the main but I couldn't do it as UKOPS is quite special for me and I don't really want to miss any of it, however unless Sky shuts up shop I'm sure they will continue to put on the greats series' that they do.

I know we don't know each other and have only just "virtually" met so feel free to tell me to mind my own,  I get that you are in with a great shout of winning the leaderboard and tonight is the last night but the sentence " I feel the least prepared I have ever for exams for these upcoming exams so will need to get on top of it today" should get more attention. Just as I knew last night I shouldn't have played maybe you should consider how important passing these couple of last exams are. It might be fine and dandy to cool of tonight after studying by playing half a UKOPS schedule but it might also be an idea to miss it altogether so that you can put to bed what you have been working on the last few years.

Just playing devil's advocate, will still enjoy sharing a table with you tonight if you play.

Hey omm,

Feel free to question anything I write or don't. I know absolutely no offence is meant and none is taken mate!

I understand how it may read that way if read in a vacuum so to speak. Basically I got thoroughly bored with these studies a long time ago. I loved college but have hated uni. It has nothing to do with difficulty level as my grades are top 5-10%. I have just found the whole uni experience to be; impersonnel, a tad snobbish, poorly structured and I don't intend to work in psychology after graduating. I considered leaving altogether but as I was 2 years+ into it I thought I would just try and get on with it. My grade average also means I only need 30% to pass these exams and leave with the regular BA in psychology. Even if I fail them, it would just be a case of resitting them in June (I really don't want that though as I want to see the back of the place).

I also don't want to sound like I don't value education, because I really do! It is just the way it is done in uni. I loved my time at college and honestly feel I learned more in 1 year at college than I did in 3 years at uni. At college they had me on a teaching placement, coordinating community projects and doing all sorts of stuff. Then when I started uni the assumption of almost all (not all though thankfully) teaching staff was that they thought I may need a wee hand to tie my shoelaces.

I don't know maybe I do sound a bit brattish upon reflection, I treat everyone I encounter in real life with a high dose of respect and if I spotted someone in need, whether I knew them or not, I would be one of the first in line to help if I could. Having said that, I was a little shit in my high school days and highly rebellious. I would have been a proper pain to teach. I guess I still have a bit of that deep underneath lol. Not too much though, I still keep in touch (3 years down the road) with all the teaching staff from college.

Anyways you are still correct to an extent, to get the 30% in each I will need to know a certain level of detail. I have put a huge day studying in today and the first exam is sort of taken care of now. The one for Wednesday I have work to do on but will spend all night tomorrow brushing up on :)

Always a pleasure shaing a table with you too even if it does regularly cost me chips :D Hopefully we are both feeling it a bit more tonight and can get a little run good!

Found a compromise anyway... Instead of listening to music while I play I am listening to lectures in the background :) If I timeout at the table just give me a nudge to waken me up!

Quick little update before I get my beauty sleep.

I only intended to play the 5 tourneys tonight and was giving the £110 and £530 a miss. I had a change of heart and decided to late register the £110 as I was playing anyway. Glad I did, I bust everything else but finished 8th in the £110 for around £600 including bounties so a profit of just under £400 for the night. Would have been nice to run a little deeper but ran my 44 into TT with 15 BB's. No complaints though, had a good UKOPS with 13 cashes including 2 wins, got to play with Matt and Doobs and Tikay's mate George, aka Glencoelad a little tonight and the tables were enjoyable.

I think I have won the UKOPS leaderboard and the £1260 tourney entry. I don't see any of the people who were in contention too deep in anything but will wait for the official update tomorrow.

Well done Mark - thoroughly deserved.

https://www.skypoker.com/secure/poker/sky_lobby/poker-promotions/ukops-leaderboard

Thank you very much Mr T!

Your blogs have been superb throughout UKOPS.

Congrats, great result.

After 4 years studying the BA degree in psychology is finally completed!

Time to have a break for a bit and turn up the poker volume.

Morning all

Now that I finally have a little bit of time on my hands I am hoping to do a bit of 'poker studying'. If anyone has any tips on what to watch/read I would be grateful! I am more a video watching person than a book reader although if there is an 'amazing book' I would read it.

I used to love watching training videos on PXF from Bax, Sheets, Pearjammer, AJKhoosier etc but I don't think they do many these days and I guess there will be more relevant players to watch by now. Does anyone still use PXF? Are there better alternatives these day?

Have found a few videos by Doug Polk so far, he seems to know what he is talking about but I don't know that much about him or how well his content is recieved.

A little update as the dust settles after UKOPS and studying.

Would be really grateful for any tips from the previous post, I know between you all you have probably read every poker book, watched every training video and been active on every training site lol.

The main driver for playing almost the full UKOPS schedule was that I was playing mostly PLO8 but, after 10 years, the penny was starting to drop that my ROI wasn't much lower at NLHE than it was at PLO8 and there are just so many more NLHE MTT offerings. Also my biggest scores were from NLHE games. Didn't take me long to realise huh?...

In that vein I have continued to plod along mostly at the NLHE tables albeit not with huge volume as I am easing back into the playing sort of full time thing. It was mostly a case of one step forward and one step backward for a week, I guess 'Che-Cha'ing like this has to be expected in NLHE MTT's, especially with the larger field sizes. Last night after calling a 45k open shove from UTG+1 (6 handed) @ 1500-3000 with my 77k stack in a £33 BH with AQs and facing AKo (getting no help for a top 5 stack), I thought it was more of the same...

Was still left in the Sky 'Mini' £5.50 BH though with a 30k stack and with 1 table left I soon ran it up to 1.5million and had the chip lead with around 16 left. Then we get that AQs hand again on the BTN @ 10k-20k versus a 700k stack in the BB whom had been showing resistance. I 3x open and 'Mr BB Defender' duly 3 bet ships his 700k in, ugg! I snap call despite the previous tourney, I mean we can't be results orientated can we?! Well he shows AJo so the read is correct at least. Window card is the J, FFS here we go again... But wait a Q is also on the flop, happy days indead! That nasty little dealer person then decides it would be fitting to throw another J out on the river though so we are down to 800k. Then we lose 375 with 99 v QK AIPF and this tourney is going in the pooper too!

With a 425k stack left at 15k-30k with 10 players remaining things start to take a turn for the better though and with 'ninja mode' enabled we get back to 1.5million going into the 6 handed FT with average stacks at 900k. 'To'ing and Fro'ing ensues and with 1.2million @ 30k/60k we get 66 on the C/O. I miniopen to 120k (case for higher raise or even shipping I know but I am confident I can outplay a spewy BB who has a 900k stack). The BB calls and we see a flop of TTJ and he open leads for 120k into a 270k pot. This does not feel like a big hand to me and he leads the turn which is a 7 for 60k. The river is a 9 and he minileads for 60k again leaving 750k in the middle and him with 540k beind. I reraise shove on his 60k river bet as I feel he is blocking on river and has a hand with low showdown value which he will have trouble calling. He folds, says 'nice bluff', and calls my shove 'classless' (before he goes on to insult everyone at the table), ah the irony. Well we don't look back and manage to take it down for £445, a little confidence boost to keep me on the NLHE track and a £425+ profit for the day.

Really enjoying the NLHE and the reads seem to be crisp, hopefully it continues!

Also really hoping to up the volume in a big way at some point very soon. Quite a busy week though! Have my uncles wedding to attend on Friday. He lost his wife and childhood sweetheart (aka my aunt) who was aged just 51 to a brain tumour 3 1/2 years ago. He was one of the few people who were there to help when my mum, gran and grandfather passed on in quick succession a couple of years ago and I am happy to see him try to move on and find a little happiness, really hope it works out for him!

Well time to go and Creosote a garage as I promised to do so for someone (the things I get myself into...)

Hope you all have a cracking Wednesday!

Would really appreciate some links to the stuff mentioned in the previous post if any of you feel like sharing :)

oioi, another one who is winning Next Door.

Well done Mark, it all helps.

Cheers Mr T, nice to see the folk from across the road having some success :)

Any boxing fans on here?

Looking forward to the Joshua v Klitschko fight tomorrow. I see Joshua is the favourite and you can get 2/1 on Klitschko. I feel like the betting is overly UK influenced. I thought Klitschko would probably win the Fury rematch as he probably underestimated the 'clown' going into the fight. I would bet he was training like never before after the defeat and wanted the belts back. Also I think he respects Joshua so will have put some serious training in for this one.

I mean it must have hurt to lose his belts after having them for so long. He probably has a point to prove to himself and the boxing fans and I doubt he wants to end his career like this. I also have seen Joshua slightly troubled when fighters can land and it would be a surprise if Klitschko is not in there for quite a few rounds if not the whole 12 landing punches. 2/1 looks very generous so I may have to throw a little bet on Klitschko winning by KO.

Also as a 41 year old it would be nice to see Klitschko do it for us young early 40 yo's :)

It would be quite something if Joshua goes in there and blows Klitschko out the ring within a few rounds.

We have a Boxing Thread in the Betting & Sports section, here;

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=53758.3945

That's a link to the last page, but the thread is 260+ pages long.

Plenty of knowledgeable boxing sorts on there, but Bazzaboy & McGlashan in particular are very knowledgeable on the subject. Karabiner knows his stuff too, but he's very old so can safely be ignored.

Cheers Mr T!

Have had a right old wander around the site today and found some brilliant stuff. Found lots of good links to poker content to watch.

Also had a browse around the staking forums. I had not really been considering staking but coincedentally someone offered me staking for any higher events I wanted to play in UKOPS (I didn't take that offer) and played on my own dime. It did however plant the seed and reading the staking forum has left me intrigued. Obviously I will need to get the post count to 300+. Would be more interested in live staking but might consider doing a few online things just to build trust first if I decide to try this out.

No idea at this point what I will be playing in Vegas this year but extremely likely I will go play something. Will depend what packages (if any) I can win and how the poker goes between now and the WSOP. Next year I will be aiming to be going to Vegas and playing 10+ events so it may be more pertinent for then. In general though I would love to play twice the amount of events with 50% of myself rather than half with 100% of myself.

One to ponder and had an enjoyable few hours lurking on the forum :)

MY update from my other blog because I am feeling lazy...

Well I fully appreciate that everyone is firmly perched on the edge of their seats waiting on my next update, so who am I to deny the poker masses! (I am in a highly sarcastic mood this morning, just in case anyone thinks I am charting new levels of narcissism).

The reluctant quest to be a non-smoker

I am flirting with the idea of stopping smoking. It may be more appropriate to say I am feeling under immense pressure to stop smoking due to family and friends (with good intentions) moaning at me to stop. So... kicking and screaming like a petulant child, oh no, wait! Scratch that... As I am trying to be very sensible I oblidge and give it a go (that sarcasm again).  

I dug out the array of E-cigs I bought last week and yesterday about 1.pm I decided that rather than buy more smokes, I would fill the new E-cig with a 'nutty tobacco' flavour liquid and give it a try. I managed to convince myself until this morning that I didn't mind and it was no bother. This morning however, after a couple of hours laying dazed in bed I caved in and went and bought some real ciggies.

I think the problem is that I do love my ciggies. If these things were 'good for you' I would be considered a health freak. Obviously though, like all the other pleasurable things, bacon, chocolate, alcohol etc... They are 'bad for you'. Oh well, I did last 18 hours which is more than I have managed in the last year. Will give it a bigger try within the next few days.

Doggy Holidays

Looking forward to taking a little trip with my 2 dogs to the 'Isle of Cumbrae', either tomorrow or Friday. It would be tomorrow but my partner is under a bit of pressure at the latter stages of her Astrophysics degree and doesn't know if she will be able to take tomorrow off, either way we can go on Friday if not tomorrow.

I am not sure how this will pan out. One of the dogs (both collies) is fine as long as you continually throw balls for him, feed him, give him a postman to go crazy at or give him something to hump. The other dog is however, batsh1t crazy! He spends half his days trying to 'catch shadows' and gets so excited at a 3 minute car journey that he has to chew through a seatbelt (3 failed MOT's and a lot of replacing broken seatbelts will testify to this). Taking them on a boat and out to interact with the public for an entire day will be... rather interesting.

The pokers

Had a bad Sunday. Regged a few tourneys, bust them all and then decided to late reg the £95 buy in £4k Vegas package thingy. First hand I get AQs in the CO 6 handed @ 250-500 level with the 4k starting stack. UTG miniopens (they have 6k), I jam hoping to pick up the 1750 chips or get a quick double that puts me into the mix. The BB reshoves for 8k and the initial raiser gets out the way. BB has AKo and has no trouble holding. So that was an expensive hand.

Mixed results on other sites too but a small profit of around $80 yesterday. Also was around £30 up on Sky through PLO8 DYM's yesterday. I may have to play a few more of these, I am playing them very sporadically but cannot remember the last PLO8 DYM I didn't cash in. Only playing a few now n then but I imagine I must be on a run of at least 10+ consecutive cashes in them, not exactly sure. I am sure however that this run will end soon enough.

I am focusing some play on other sites, very temporarily, just for a change of scenery to try and bring some better focus as my game feels a little turbulent right now.

Anyways, I will leave it there for now.

Hope you are all doing well & cheers to anyone reading my drivel.

Apologies to anyone who cares for the lack of updates.

Have just been messing around here and there and making a nice steady profit although nothing of huge note. Maybe around £1k up over all sites in the last week which was welcome after a break even run the previous week.

A couple of near misses for WSOP packages, mainly in the Mayhem freeroll leaderboard on Sky which offers a package for winning. Have had 2 top 5 finishes and have been in reasonable contention going into the last days of play the last 2 weeks but not had much luck when it really mattered.

I have my biggest shots for a package this Sunday with a £1260 buy in for an £11.6k package and a £435 buy in for a £4k package. Both are on Sky and both pay 1 in 10. Even if I give myself an edge in the games it is still odds against winning a package in 1 of them. Having said that I could be sitting with 2 packages tied up on Sunday evening (would snap call getting 1 of them at the moment). Will be a nerve jangling night!

Tried to stay away from the tables and keep some real life balance yesterday and spend some quality time with my other half and our animals. Just sat out in the garden for the day with a few beers but the weather was lovely and has me really in the mood for Vegas.

Hope you are all faring well on and off the tables and hopefully the posters I have read about who are suffering from health issues are on the mend!

Some pics for anyone who cares...

(http://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2017/05/26/Meselfiea1466.jpg)

(http://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2017/05/26/20170525_141113.md.jpg)

(http://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2017/05/26/Harryball.md.jpg)

(http://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2017/05/26/kittyhiding.md.jpg)

(http://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2017/05/26/Tinysurfing.md.jpg)

(http://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2017/05/26/Tiny2.md.jpg)

I have my biggest shots for a package this Sunday with a £1260 buy in for an £11.6k package and a £435 buy in for a £4k package. Both are on Sky and both pay 1 in 10.


That's slightly inaccurate Mark, although after the last Semi-Finals, those figures may turn out to be pretty close.

BOTH Finals GUARANTEE 5 packages. Currently (before the remaining Semi-Finals) they have 41 & 37 runners respectively. So the odds are better than 1 in 10 in both of them, although the last semi-final will, obv, dilute that.

However, it is often the case the semi-finals are all "duplicates" (have won their Final seat already), so the chances are the odds will be better than 1 in 10.

Better than 1 in 10 works for me :)

P.S. Whoever wrote the promo page for the VLV sattys was using my logic and put "(1/10)" after the finals https://www.skypoker.com/secure/poker/sky_lobby/poker-promotions/viva-las-vegas-satellites-2017 (https://www.skypoker.com/secure/poker/sky_lobby/poker-promotions/viva-las-vegas-satellites-2017). At least I am not the only one working on that assumption :p

Well I believe it is 1 in 10 IF it hits 50 or more runners. Below that, it is five seats guaranteed. Same thing, different thing sorta thing.

51 entries pays better than 1 in 10?   Calling Mere for an adjudication.

Great updates. I love posts that include pics.

BTW - I think your cat is spending too much time on the phone.

Cheers red-dog!

Agreed on the cat, young ones these days, what can you do...

Been an extremely bumpy ride on the tables the last couple of weeks.

Little update after this...

Well I had my shots at the packages on Sky.

It turned out less than 1/10 won packages so I feel somewhat vindicated on that front  ;) with just over 50 runners in each those, 5 packages were awarded in each and 6th place recieved some ££'s. I may have to get Haysie's lawyer involved   ;carlocitrone;

Not particularly for personal reasons but I do like it when there are extra funds in these things when the extra money is given back as returned buy-ins. For example if it is a £400 buy in for a £4k package and there are £3,200 in 'extra funds'. It is nice when the £3200 is paid out as 8 x £400 refunds. It means more people who do not win a package feel that they had their shot but didn't really lose anything. It does also make for an interesting dynamic as you can put pressure much earlier on some players who are trying to make sure they get their buy in back.

Anyways onto the games...

The first one was the £435 buy in game with just over 50 runners and paying 5 x £4k packages and some cash for 6th.

Starting stacks were 5,000 chips and it was really plain sailing at the start. Got up to around 39k chips without much trouble. I had an easy table and I could just open lots of hands in postion and bag chips all over the place. I was feeling confident and had the chip lead. With around 15 players left I was moved tables and this really screwed things up. We were still a bit away from the packages so people were still playing a range of hands and looking to make headway. There was one stack with around 20k who was sitting relatively well in the tourney who caused a lot of trouble. They were taking ridiculous lines in loads of hands, playing very erratically, didn't really seem to understand position and were the proverbial loose cannon and taking ridiculous equity risks. I can only assume they were a smaller stakes player. I now couldn't open many pots as this player was a couple of places to my left and as I had no idea what this player was going to do. I had to watch with my stack as I was in a comfort zone and had more to lose than win at that point. I was really just hoping to stumble into a nice spot versus them and stack them which would have tied up the package. This didn't happen.

Down to around 10 players and with 28k in chips I did finally stumble onto the spot I had been looking for! I was dealt  5s  C5 in the SB and it had folded around to me. I open for around 2.5x and the BB calls. The flop is  2h 6h  5d , this was it... Time to bag a few chips and get the job done! I lead for around 2.5x again and am flat called (I think blinds were around 600-1200). I then see a Td on the turn. I was super confident that my opponent had not hit the flop. There were a few draws out now though so I bet 4800 and have about 17k behind. My opponent ships all in. I still feel good here, I mean at this stage and in this dynamic they could have been trapping with AA KK QQ JJ and now be worried about the double flush draws, they could also have a pair/draw type hand and be trying to muscle me out of a board that it looks like I may not have hit. I glance out my right eye just hoping not to see pocket tens. They had indeed turned the higher set though with pocket tens and the river brought no help. GG me.

I did hear that the player who hit the set of tens on the turn has bubbled a few of these which really did help. I obviously know how this feels so I am genuinely happy for them and hope they love their time in Vegas!

All was not lost as I had got the starting 10k stack in the £1260 main event qualifier to around 20k. Time to get busy there I guess! I found it tough to find spots in this but got up to 50k in chips and was starting to feel it. There were 10 of us left and 5 get packages and 6th gets just under £4k in cash. I then am dealt  Ahrt Ad in the BB. UTG with 20k chips open shoves and then the SB with 70k reshoves to isolate them. So this is it! I obviously know I am ahead and 1 hold here gives me around 120k chips and it would be hard not to win the package from there!

So the cards are shown and UTG has  9h 9s and the SB had reshoved with  Kc Kh. The  Ks lands right on the flop and it is GG me again.

So that left me feeling about as deflated as I ever have been while playing poker. If I had bust early I wouldn't have been too bothered but it looked nailed on I would sneak 1 package and seemed quite possible at 1 stage I could bag both. Ah well!

I was left unsure what to do with Vegas this year. I only stopped the studies a matter of weeks ago and the bankroll therefore is not bursting at the seams so it is a big layout paying for Vegas on my own dime. Especially as at the moment poker is paying for everything, rent, all other bills, etc. So to throw a Vegas trip on top at short notice is a big ask!

It won't be a big ask next year as I aim to find employment in the next few months and leave my bankroll untouched for almost a year and go play a schedule similar to the ones Tikay does, hopefully with a higher mix of WSOP events.

Well after the dust settled the next day and I had metaphorically banged my head off the wall serveral million times and replayed the hands in my head until the cusp of insanity I sucked it up and moved on. I actually didn't take it that bad, I played some cash games that night and managed to play remotely near my normal game and make a small profit.

I did decide the next day that it would be unfair to deprive the Sky folk and Vegas of my presence. I am sure they would all have been moping about and had no fun whatsoever if I had just stayed at home lol. I decided Vegas was once a year, I needed a break and some sun and so I would knuckle down and still go.

Unless I run amazing between now and the WSOP I won't have a fortune but hopefully I can secure enough funds to do some serious grinding on the cash tables and maybe fit a couple of small tourneys in.

I had $800 (£620) in money off vouchers for American Airlines so I browsed flights and found transfers from Glasgow and then direct flights to Vegas for £700 (so I only had to pay £80). A bit of a result on that front! Still hotels to sort though which is a painful expense. I used my airmiles to book my first 2 nights at The LINQ. I read a lot of reviews for a lot of reasonable priced hotels and that one seemed pretty good and also near the RIO for watching the WSOP stuff and the Venetian to visit the Sky folks and play some cash games. Still have 5 nights of hotels to sort out. Am going to see how the next week goes on the tables before deciding how much to spend on the extra 5 nights worth of hotels.

ESTA is also sorted after a small panic. I filled it all in and paid for it and the decision came back as "Pending, we could not make an immediate decision on your ESTA". I done some googling and someone suggested that when it happened to them they just refreshed the page and it was authorised. Well, after hitting f5, I was indeed authorised or authorized as they like to put it.

Shiny new passport also arrived so just have to sort those extra 5 nights at hotels out and get as much funds as possible together by the 9th of July and then it is Viva Las Vegas time again.

Thanks to my couple of readers for wading through my ramblings, hope you run golden and maybe see a few of you in Vegas (I will be the guy sleeping in the tent just outside the Venetian).

Ballys is across the road from the Linq it's not  too expensive ! - yes it's not exactly balling out of control but it's practical !
It has a free shuttle bus to the Rio and vice versa - don't try to walk it - there are no footpaths !
There's a lot of $100-$250 buy ins going on Caesars the Rio etc 4 X a day at both !! Nlhe
You can walk to the Venetian if you're reasonably fit ! But it's v hot so take a bottle of water
Mixed games finish downtown around the 30 th June
I'm here now for a week with some American friends I find I'm spending $400-$500 a day quite easily
When I return later in June with friends and the GF I budget $1 k a day
It seems to be getting more expensive these days !!

Cheers Tony.

I am not a veteran of Vegas like Tikay but have been spent quite a bit of time over there and you make some great points so thanks for that.

I have only ever walked through Ballys and it seemed quite nice but the online reviews seemed a bit mixed. I guess there are always people who will have something to complain about regardless of the hotel though. Me personally, I am a bit more easy going... As long as there people to wait on me hand and foot, champagne swimming pools and extravagant free buffets I am quite happy :)

I found out about the walk to the Rio the very hard way on a Vegas jaunt 2 years ago! I was staying at the MGM and it was nudging 120 degrees and I thought I would take a walk up to the Rio. I should have known better I had been over to Vegas a good few times before. Needless to say I found out what a long long walk that can be, especially in the heat. Even had a homeless chap on the section between Caesars and the Rio tell me he was 'Gonna shoot my punk ass'. Not entirely sure why he wanted to shoot me. He had a begging hat out with scraps of change in it. He may need to reconsider his approach if he is looking to increase his takings!

On the budget front... My last 2 trips I have came back with roughly what I went with, maybe only $100-$200 less at any rate. The prices definitely have went up though I agree. I guess the Scottish stereotype of being a tight so and so must ring true with me lol.

I think there are still the odd mixed games at the Orleans in July, sort of $80-$120 buy in MTT affairs at PLO8 and HORSE. It is slim pickings though, I will definitely aim to go earlier next year when there are more OH8 games runnings unless I finally secure a $10k main event ticket.

Thanks for the advice Tony, I will definitely look a bit more into Bally's and I hope you have a brilliant time out there!

Ellis island half a mile /a block behind Ballys ! May be cheaper . A friend from Newcastle has stayed there n said it's fine !
Further away is the south point 2/3 cash games full of old guys from noon every day shuttle to the strip aria n TI Drp offs we like it there for some peace n quiet
My Rio booking this time through trivago started as £435/$572 but 7 days of resort fees plus a $200 deposit have taken it to nearer £800 !! On my card at the moment !
So it's realistically £100 a day

Cheers for that Tony.

I will check out Ellis Island and the South Point too. While I wouldn't mind being central for obvious reasons, it wouldn't be a disaster to be off strip as I am loosely planning to hire a car, depending on the budget.

The hotel prices really do seem more expensive these days, especially with those resort fees. I remember getting rooms at the Rio for $69 a night not all that many years ago, with no hidden extras.

I will have a good look at the hotels you mentioned and some others and see how well I run over the next couple of weeks before booking. Hopeully I can bok a few wins and splurge a bit, if not my tent is in good working order :)

Thanks again for the help, very much appreciated!

Great good luck mate

Cheers mate, hope your stay over there is profitable and fun!

Finally getting the trip in order on my own dime after the disappointment of closely missing out on 2 packages.

Flights = sorted
New ESTA = Sorted
New Passport = Sorted
Hotel = sorted

In the end I booked the Rio. Couldn't be bothered reviewing accomodation online which I had never been to any more so I just booked the Rio which I have stayed at a good few times before. Not the cheapest granted but at least I know what to expect and it is rather handy for popping down to watch WSOP events (maybe playing some if I can run golden before then) and maybe playing some deepstacks/cash games. It is also near the Venetian cardroom which I like too.

If all goes well and I have any sort of budget to play with I would like to rent a car again, preferably a Mustang GT as I really enjoyed zipping around in that the last time. Anyone have any good recommendations for car rental companies? Carrental8.com seem to have good reviews online and their rates seem reasonable but not sure if there are better options out there?

Just need to get grinding a bit online and try and boost the funds so I can have a bit of freedom to play some decent games over there.

Hope you are all running great!