Bring it back...

Played a lot for me last night and really enjoyed it again. I had a cracking first hour in the 15k gtd doubling up three times with Aces but then my cards ran out and it got to a push and hope moment which saw my QJ go bust to 33. I played 3 cash games while that was on and ran up a buyin at .25/.50 which was nice. Took a break when I busted out of the tourney and watched BB (yer sad I know!) Finally around 11pm I went to bed for an early night and checked out my FT and Betfair accounts, both of which are looking like closing if I don't build them up. So I joined a $10 SNG on FT, a $2.50 SNG on Betfair and another $10 SNG on FT. Things went very smoothly for me and my big hands got paid off, I took 2nd and 3rd on FT and 1st on Betfair. Then I went to sleep, happy in the knowledge I can still play poker without feeling like a complete muppet.

On another note, it is clear to me that when I get on my holier-than-thou high horse about people playing out of their bankrolls I have a big advantage. I don't put my current online BR up here, so no-one can say aha ! Look at you Tan you donked away $1k in the last week. To correct that I'll actually put up some "scores" at the end of the next post, just so you can see how it's going.

Another post

I'm not dead ! My bankroll nearly is though. Down to just over $200 on Stars and various bits and scraps at other sites. The main problem with not playing often is there's no counter-measure to the variance of tourneys in my game. It used to be that I'd play maybe one or two tourneys a night and the rest of the time I'd grind it out at a $50NL game, which just kept things ticking over while I entered these tourneys. So the next few days I'll be multi tabling a few cash games again when I sit down and play, which should give me a nice little shot in the arm. I can't believe how little poker I've played this year compared to last, what a waste of natural talent ! I think its time to get a maid !

No time to dilly-dally

Quick update just because I haven't lately.

Still love poker, just have less and less time available for it !
Still reading blogs, though some of you have been culled (like you cared!)
Got the boat cleaned & repaired. On a health kick.
Smoking again, but not for 46 hours.

Wish I had more time, money, faith.

I'll be back to proper posts soon enough, I'm just far to busy at the moment darlings !

GG & GL

For your pleasure...

Ladies and gentlemen, back by popular demand, it's the Monkey !



He doesn't do any tricks, he just sits there feeling stupid, which is why really he should be on the blogs of the people who took chips off me. But I'm not gonna sit and and cry about it because that makes me look bitter and makes the blog kinda shit to read. If I need to make excuses (I don't) but I'll use the fact that I was also starting to go deep in the $15k gtd on Stars at the time the bloggerment began, unfortunately that didn't last either and I finished 218th out of 2,342 entries. I went out when my straight+flush draw went allin against a lower straight+flush draw and he made the J high straight flush ! The 9 of diamonds was the one card I didn't want to see hit the river ! Still pleased with the way I played though, top 10% in a big field like that is pleasing but I thought I was going to go proper deep this time.

I didn't play a huge amount last week, despite my best intentions. Couple of one table sng's on betfair got me a 2nd and 3rd place finish, so I continue to build the bankroll there. The third place came from AA beaten by 44, but the way the hand played we were both getting it in preflop 3 handed so it was one of the rarer occassions when the fall of the cards dictates whether you double up or go home. Might try to play some more this week as I'm starting to feel the game come to me again rather than me forcing it and that's usually a good sign.

"You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him learn it within himself." Galileo

Cute, isn't he ? I think I might keep him

I shoved most of my chips into bluescouse with AT when he slowplayed AQ on an A high board and then shoved 77 into SimonJJ's QQ. Short and sweet, I was completely shattered from 3 hours sleep and travelling all day after our boat back from France was delayed. I shouldn't make excuses though, I didn't care about poker last night and donked my way out for the monkey.

France was a nice trip, it was good to get a break from my island for a while and see another culture, a week was long enough with the frenchies though ! We travelled from Dinan to Caen to Rouen and then back, had some good nights out along the way in hard to find clubs and found the experience of the Normandy Landing beaches totally overwhelming and fascinating. Things I learned this week :

Book places to stay before you arrive in the town
You get a better time/value ratio if you do your research in advance so you know what you want to see
The French prepare great food and wine, but can't cook any meat for longer than "medium" by UK standards
Fois Gras is prepared in an evil and horrible way, but tastes amazing
Very few French will go out of their way to help you
If there is ever an opportunity for a roundabout, one will be created
The "Zenith/Expo" between Rouen & Paris might be a myth
Hook's probably got his driving licence off Ebay
Life is precious and too short

I'll try to play every night this week and get some recaps up so that this cheeky little monkey gets the fame and exposure he truly deserves !