Summer rebirth

I have begun again after rediscovering the poker grind and revisiting my musical tastes of old :) http://blip.fm/BeardyIan

WSOP ending already

Can you believe it today (July 3rd) event 54 'The Main Event' is starting.

Ok so there are 4 Day Ones' and a couple of day twos' but what has happened to the month of June?? - it has sped by with a bracelet a day to some new wrists and some on more experienced arms.
Scotty Nguyn - $50,000 HORSE champ.
Erik Lindgren finally gets his first,
Daniel Negreanu win his 'bracelet in 5 years bet' by winning the $2,000 Limit Holdem title.
Mike Matusow, Barry Greenstein, Kenny Tran, David Singer and Max Pescatori all winning as well.

Just like great holidays, as it winds down, you begin wondering how long to go before the next one.

Who will win the Main Event??
Sarge? No, Rosemary the telephone operator, No.......

Weekend Fun

Sorry all - its only poker related.

Cardschat (the home of poker) reached its 500,000th post - count 'em, half a million!! - and so there was a little game put together to celebrate.

Although Irexes had said 'it was written' that i would win, unfortuantely the scribes must have had trouble foreseeing things that day as i only made 5th lol.

With two very lucky hands (river hits) i managed to stay in the running most of the way.

This is coming after the Titan game in which i managed to get my first win of the quarter (at last) it was a good solid game as usual but i just happedened to get some good cards at the right time and got into HU with fairly level chips.

Cash games even went my way with some good reads on players - the first i put on A-rag, i had 88 flop brought an ace and an 8 = happy days, he donated his chips to me, i accepted.
The next was a player to my right in the SB, he raised 5BB after being fairly quiet, i defended my BB with AQc, the flop came Kc8c9c - nut flush for me, trouble for him, he obviously didnt believe i was winning as he happily donated his stack to me as well.

Weekend fun, sweet.

Coincidence?

Now a lot of people say they dont believe in coincidences' - well in that case what happened must be down to cause and effect.
For the first time in months (lots of them) i didnt play any poker yesterday, apart from a single MTT (16th from 67).
Later on feeling very tired i went to bed, and although yawning away i could not sleep, and when i did it was only for a short while.
Now today i have woken with a tired head, headache and a need for sleep.

Is this through a lack of poker....or is it a coincidence?

Vegas will have to wait for me

The Hendon Mob WSOP play-off lasted just under 3 hours im afraid to say Vegas wont have the pleasure of my company this year.

Only 1 player out in the first hour at which time i was 3rd placed.

The next hour cards where looking scarce but i manged to keep going with small raises against the smaller stacks.A big moment came when one of the favs went out QQ v AK with an A on the flop knocking him out.

So after 104 hands it happened dealt J10 on BB with one min raiser facing me (he had been raising a lot earlier so was not surprised and just called to see the flop)J,3,4 on flop i raised half the pot and he pushed all-in, this was a surprise after just a min-raise and considering i had top pair.With no straight or flush showing - i called and over came AA.
A King and Queen show their heads teasingly but the plane to Vegas had flown and i felt like i had left my luggage on board.

The two popular favs to win went out in the following two hands as well four to do battle after the 2nd break.

Shaundead won the heads-up over Mr Pactko and will be sitting down to play the main event and a big congratulations to him.
Already thinking of the next league later this year - but for now, those fish had better look out.

Roll on 2008

End of season Hendon Mob League 2007

The end of the season and 3rd position for me out of 308 runners
Not only that but now a place in the one-off game for a seat in the WSOP 2007

I also seem to a subject of betting on who's going to Vegas lol
http://www.thehendonmob.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13592

Weekend of Poker

A mixture of luck, cards and placings this weekend.

Starting with the Online Poker League, i played a table of my weakest game Limit Stud and i won :) - then after a break of a whole 15 minutes into a game with 39 other Loyallers from Cardschat for a special one-off celebration game of Hold-em (200,000 posts now on the forum).

Making the final table with a touch of luck along with the usual tightness only to fall at 7th position just 2 off the money - but the usual high standard of play and plenty of banter around.

Next day - Sunday. A Freeroll to reintroduce Costa Del Poker after a small break of a couple of months (new league starting soon, see Cardschat for details) a deep stack game but my shortest of the weekend as my AA was bust by my oppo's KK and the flop brought another K - doh i was gone.

Then game the WAPT Italian Open and having made the last two Final Tables i was aiming high again here, and after 3 hours of slow building including some luck in the later stages (best time i reckon ) i made 6th place - continuing a run of 4th, 7th now 6th hopefully lifting me up the rankings.

So Close in South America

Sunday evening was time for another WAPT Tourney - this time it was the South American Championship.

Less runners i thought this time (31) but tough competition just the same.
I managed to add a third to my starting stack early on with a couple of nice hands, followed by the usual quiet spell before a double up, pre-final table, with my favourite 10-10 combo.
The Final Table was as tough as expected - with a fair bit of tight play and the chips passed back and forwards.

The fatefull hand that saw me bubble the bubble (top5 needed - im out in 7th) dealt 98os on BB facing a min raise, i called - flop A,10,9, i place a small bet which was called, turn brought an 8, another smallish bet brought a re-raise in return at which point i push my 2 pair all in......to face a Q,J .

It was a straight...only a 8 or 9 to save me and they didnt arrive, a 7th place to follow my 4th in the last WAPT, results looking up, still like to improve though.