Broke a few of my PokerStars Records tonight

Most Chips ever... 36 million !!!!

First PokerStars Final Table

Deepest Result

All in all not a bad night. 4 or 5 tournaments. Cashed in 3 of them.

The $1 rebuy got me over $315 back. Went out in the end on a flip AQ beat my 99.

But no complaints it was fun.

Hadnt played for ages and only did so because its a Bank Holiday Monday.

Hope everyone out there doing ok.

Cheltenham Festival - Gold Cup Picks

15 Stockton Wings
17 Princeton Plains
03 At Fishers Cross
08 Sir Des Champs
21 Salsify
17 Make Your Mark
15 Alderwood

Cheltenham Festival Day 3

Stake : £7.50 (£0.50 x 15) WIN
Stake : £6.00 (£0.30 x 20) E/W
Stake : £7.50 (£0.25 x 30) E/W
Stake : £3.00 (£0.50 x 6) WIN
Stake : £1.00 (£0.50 x 2) E/W
Doubles and above

14 Mar 2013 - 2:05 Cheltenham
Shutthefrontdoor @ 7/1

14 Mar 2013 - 2:40 Cheltenham
Albertas Run @ 11/1

14 Mar 2013 - 3:20 Cheltenham
Reve De Sivola @ 5/1

14 Mar 2013 - 4:00 Cheltenham
Cantlow @ 7/1

14 Mar 2013 - 4:40 Cheltenham
Alfie Sherrin @ 10/1

14 Mar 2013 - 5:15 Cheltenham
Outlaw Pete @ 13/2

Wednesday Cheltenham Festival Picks

Didn't get online in time to put todays picks up but thats prob as well.
I am always honest so will admit to today being not very fruitful.

1:40 Rival D'Estruval (FR) 8/1        - FELL


2:05 Taquin Du Seuil (FR) 6/1         - 6th


2:40 Unioniste (FR) 5/2F                  - 4th


3:20 Sizing Europe 6/1                        - 2nd


4:00 Meister Eckhart 14/1                   - 2nd


4:40 Another Sensation (FR) 10/1 - Nowhere

Tuesdays Cheltenham Festival Selections

1:30 - 6 Jezki
2:05 - 6 Simonsig
2:40 - 9 Quantativeeasing
3:20 - 9 Zarkandar
4:00 - 4 Sizing Australia
4:40 - 4 Quevega

Multiples as stated plus Placepot / Jackpot as shown below.

Also the 1 race each day bet

6 x £1 Win Doubles

4 x 50p Win Trebles

1 x £1 E/W Accumulator

Simonsig (Arkle - Tuesday)

Sizing Europe (Queen Mother - Wednesday)

Reve De Sivola (World Hurdle - Thursday)

Sir Des Champs (Gold Cup Friday)

Good luck everyone

Cheltenham Horse Racing Festival

It's that time of year.
Don't really gamble much now but do like the big meetings.

Will be having a dabble over the four days.

Each Day will be

a 20p win Heinz (57 bets) on the first 6 races of each of the 4 days - Total £11.40 per day

a £1 Quadpot / PlacePot / Jackpot each of the days - Total £3.00 per day

a 50p e/w Yankee with one selection each day on the main race of the day - Total £11.00

Total Invested over the four days will be £68.60.

Will list selections each day. Profit, although unexpected would be nice but racing will be fab.

Good luck

Hola - Summer, Footy, Hols and Stufff

Hallo anyone still checking this blog out.
Its been a long time and its also been difficult to find the time to post never mind hit the tables.
As you will have seen from previous posts i spent my hols in Spain. I had booked in advance and was due to come back the week before the World Cup Final but with England doing crap and the chance to extend stay for next to nowt (Flight change was only £20) i thought sod it. Stay and be a true Spanish supporter on World Cup Final night.

Absolutely mental is pretty much the way to describe it. In the old town a giant screen was erected (phnarr, phnarr) near the bull ring and thousands descended to watch the game in a party atmosphere that was no doubt recreated all over Spain.

When Iniesta scored it was chaotic and the scenes around were a joy to witness. Hopefully will see it for real one day in England but i doubt it. Also whilst i was in Spain i turned 40 and we had a party in the local chinese as the majority of expats and residents joined us into the early hours of the morning.

When i got back i had my 2nd birthday celebrations as me and my mates headed down to Doncaster for the weekend. We were originally going to York but there was a big race meeting on and we couldnt get all 12 of us booked up in hotel so decided another venue. Doncaster was picked (as a lazy option purely as its the next train stop after York) and despite most people i asked saying they didnt fancy it or wouldnt go back it turned out to be a cracking weekend.

I then got back to work and get used to the rain and the cold again. One cold rainy morning and i thought sod this and booked back up to go back to Spain again so ended up going there for another couple of weeks at the end of August.

Got back again in England and for the final birthday celebrations of the year (for those that werent in Spain or Donny) we spent the Sunday before August Bank Holiday on an all day session in Low Fell and a good day was had.

Since then its been pretty much work and more work. Used up a lot of annual leave and a couple of favours so the odd weekend has been spent at work too. Also because im doing dayshift at the moment (8-4) i cant play poker still stupid o'clock and get up fresh in the morning so i neglected the old online world for a bit. I also had a few dates with an ex girlfriend so the one day i could have a lie in the next day i wasnt playing poker. But as much as shes a nice girl its not something i want to commit to long term.

Anyways why back. Well for one looking to fill some time in. The dieting went absolutely during the summer. Beer and Pizza and Steaks arent good so have rejoined WeightWatchers. This time im also doing the gym and have found this to be a useful combination as at present ive lost 32 lbs in 5 weeks. Ok lot to lose and first bit going to come off quick its a nice start.

So Gym and WW along with footy fills a bit of time in but im now only going to go out once a week max. Also learning Spanish at a college on Tuesday nights so need to have fun again that doesnt involve eating or drinking so poker is back on the agenda for those cold dark winter nights. Still not sure where to play as havent found a new spiritual home since Crypto finished.
I also have to rebuild the bankroll as it subsidised the summer. But its small stakes fun rather than living the dream so will see how it goes.

Im out the loop with recent goings on in the poker world. Does anyone still play, most colleagues or mates i talk to tend to have not bothered for a while. Is the game getting harder to beat or are people just chucking it more for there sanity. It is nice to have a break and hopefully playing fresh and for fun it will be a buzz again.

Re the Gatsby awards as said im out the loop a bit so going to have a nose around and see whats been going down and maybe post them later in the week. But for now im off to the tables to see if i can min wage for an hour or so :)

Good luck and thanks for reading and i do promise to update more now that im back.
Paul

Royal Flush

Going Up :)

Snow is falling all around us

and the country grinds to an effing stop.
God help us if we lived in Russia or Northern Canada.
Done very little as
a) work has been manic
b) been redecorating the flat

So the poker has suffered. I did play the £75 (+£7.50) game on the 4th December having qualified by winning the Jolly Miller pub league. A definate experience. Picked my football coupon and made my way to the Circus.

The other seat winner, Wayne, turned up and we thought it would be good preparation to hit the Fosters lager. We decide to split all winnings 50% each. Checking my coupon at half time and 5 of the teams are at least 2 goals up and the 6th is 0-0. (Mansfield at home to Grays) We get started on the poker and its a disappointing turn out. About 55-60 were expected but 38 was all that turned up. But Circus as ever added 500 in the pot so £3,350 to be played for.

1st hand i get 36o utg and fold . Second hand i get QQ in the Big blind.
Utg limps. Button raises , i reraise. Utg folds and button reraises.
I sit there wondering what the hell to do . Am i walking into bullets or is it an AK and im racing.
Dunno whether 2nd hand or fear of being first out so i tank and then fold. He shows 1 ace but does admit to having other.

Get JJ about 20 mins later on the button. Utg raises , next to act goes all in so i fold. Another caller and we end up with a 3 way all in (although one of them was very low) AA vs QQ vs AK
Bullets hold up but i would have hit a Jack on the turn. FML !!!!

Dunno if i pissed the poker gods off but having being dealt QQ and JJ i didnt get another pair for 3 hours. But it could have been worse. Circus regular called Joe , turns up late and buys in. He joins our table and first hand is all in. KK vs KK . 4 spades on the board give the other guy the nut flush. Sick beat and quickest exit imaginable.

Mansfield drew 0-0 (missed a pen and then in injury time smacked the bar) so worthless bit of paper rather than £400. Our table breaks and i end up on the same table as a manic gambler called Osemi (sorry if wrong) He has a monster stack and is gambling for fun.

In the space of 12 mins he busts 7 players and 3 of those were in 4 hands whilst i was sat there
74o vs AK all in pre
73o vs AQ all in pre
64o vs JJ all in pre

Totally card dead and im trapped as people are raising before me and he is reraising all in every hand. Eventually with 18 left. I Figure AQ in the cut off is ahead of his range. Unfortunately Small blind reraises all in too. Loon duly calls with trash and its my AQ vs AK vs 89
25k pot for the taking and the chance to get back in but im drawing thin
672 flop looks like giving him another lucky draw but then i hit my Queen on the turn.
King on the river kicks me out though. 5.5 hours to get halfway and my footy bet down the swannie too.

I go and have a couple of pints and come back to watch the loon knocking players out quickly. We get to the next break and then we have our final 10. My 50% of Wayne is still alive but only 9 get paid. The play is so slow as no one wants to bubble. So they suggest taking £100 off the winner to give to 10th.

That seems to loosen the action and within 10 mins of the restart there are only 8 left.
We lose a couple more players and talks of a deal start. Chip leader is reluctant to deal but he slowly blows his stack and its him that leaves next.

I look at prize pool and jot some figures down at break. Wayne and another guy are chip leaders so i suggest £590 to them two. £490 to the other three and play out for £100.
Everyone agrees to that and 2 players quickly leave. With 3 fighting it out for nearly 2 hours for the final £100 everyone is knackered by the end but 10 hours after the start its over and the Jolly Miller has been well represented again with the league winner taking it all down.
I said that i would take £290 and leave £300 to Wayne and then if he won the other £100 then only fair he kept it. Thats how it panned out.

So i didnt win anything and my football betting is cursed but swapping % 's is the dogs bollow.
Won £30 on the blackjack and nice to go home and wake up with a massive profit.
Great game and well advised for anyone local to give it a go. Circus also do a £50 first Tuesday of the month game with £500 added so get yourself along.

Because of work and decorating thats about my poker lot. Didnt even make it to the Miller for the Thursday games. Will hopefully be there Boxing day though. So thats it for now. New post in the New Year for 2009 Gatsby awards so to finish i would just like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a profitable New Year.