A couple of steps closer to the Caribbean...

… I'm sitting at the other end of the sofa!!

I'm afraid my long term in-ability to beat the SnGs on PokerStars, at any level, was just too much of an obstacle to overcome in my quest for a little winter sunshine at the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. After two more frustrating sessions my $209 (£100) budget was reduced to 50c and I have conceded defeat… Head is hanging in shame! :-(

It's not all bad news though, in an attempt to 'tilt-off' my last 50c I actually ended up with $1.59, playing 1c/2c Limit Omaha H/L. Who knows? I may get it back up to $7.50 and have one more crack at it… no wait! I have a better idea, I'll just withdraw it and buy a pint of Guinness. (hmmm, will $7.50 still be enough to get a pint??)

I don't know what it is about SnGs on Stars, I just don't seem to be able to show a profit - as is plain to see by anyone that uses sharkscope.com - yet on most other sites I have played on regularly, SnGs have always been my most reliable method of making a shilling or two… one of life's great mysteries I guess? :-)

Oh well, who cares about all that… live poker to look forward to tomorrow. It's the two day Virgin Poker Festival at the Broadway Casino, in Birmingham. I won my £105 seat in my second attempt at the $10 online satellites way back in September, with 200 runners and £5000 added by Virgin, it adds up to a nice bit of value on offer. I just hope I make it to the second day and into the money.

In search of Atlantis (Session 7)...

Well one week in and it's right back to square one! I played both the Step 3 and the Step 4 tournaments last night - dumped out of both, with no return... Go direct to Jail, do not pass Go, do not collect £200!! :-(

Played the Step 3 first, things were going quite nicely, until I pick up KK and this happens - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1711481 - Shortly after I push my last 865 chips in with AKs and run into QQ!

And then, 2nd hand of Step 4, KK again - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1711470 - The odds of me winning, as this hand progressed were as follows...

Pre-Flop 70/30
On the Flop 87/13
On the Turn 91/9

I think that classifies as a 'bad beat'.
It's a cruel, cruel game!

Going to take a day off today and go to church, in search of divine inspiration.

In search of Atlantis (Session 6)...

Played the Step 4... played like a tart!

Fought back from a really short stack to make it into the last 5. One big stack and the other 4 of us taking turns to be shorty for about 2 1/2 levels. On one of my turns as short stack I re-raise all-in with TT... big stack calls with AQ and hits a Q first card out! Back to Step 3. Bollox!

Played the Step 3, plus bought direct into a Step 2... 1st in both so another crack at Step 4, and another Step 3, tomorrow night.

Fri 16/11
- $215 Step 4 SnG - 5th Won Ticket for Step 3 ($82)
- $82 Step 3 SnG - 1st Won Ticket for Step 4 ($215)
- $27 Step 2 SnG - 1st Won Ticket for Step 3 ($82)

- Balance $119 + Step 4 Ticket ($215) + Step 3 Ticket ($82)

Theoretical Balance $416 (+$207)

In search of Atlantis (Session 5)...

Prize structure for Step 3 is...

1st & 2nd - Ticket for Step 4 ($215 SnG)
3rd, 4th & 5th - Ticket for Step 3 ($82 SnG)
6th to 9th - Put your hand in your pocket and buy buy back-in!!

so, it shouldn't be toooo difficult to at least stick at Step 3 should it? Well, just in case, I've decided to play another couple of Step 1s before attempting the Step 3... just to warm up really, you understand. :-)

Thu 15/11
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 5th, all-in PF with KK v AKo, flop TJQ! Bastards!
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 1st Won Ticket for Step 2 ($27 SnG)
- $27 Step 2 SnG - 8th... Aaarrgh!! Take deep breaths, calm...
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 3rd Won Ticket for Step 1 ($7.50 SnG)
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 4th Won $1.50
- $82 Step 3 SnG - 1st Won Ticket for Step 4 ($215) Get in there!!!

- Balance $146 + 1 x Ticket for Step 4 ($215)

Theoretical Balance $361



Early finish for tonight and attempt Step 4 tomorrow night... a $215 SnG... shit!! never played a SnG for this much before, the Step 3 one made me sweat!

In search of Atlantis (Session 4)...

After 2 days of standing still and/or going backwards, I have finally made it to Step 3... Yippee!!




Wed 14/11
- $27 Step 2 SnG - 4th Won Ticket for Step 2 ($27 SnG)
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 5th
- $27 Step 2 SnG - 2nd Won Ticket for Step 3 ($82 SnG)
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 4th Won $1.50 (or lost $6!!)

- Balance $167 + 1 x Ticket to Step 3 ($82)

Theoretical Balance $249 (+$40)

In search of Atlantis (Session 3)...

Well tonight has seen a succession of beats, of varying degrees of badness, ranging from 'coin tosses' to '1 outers' on the river. Found myself back at Step 1, a rather ignominious 9th place, then after spending $15 to buy into two of them, I eventually managed to get back to a Step 2... and stay there!

Tue 13/11
- $27 Step 2 SnG - 6th Doh!!!
- $27 Step 2 SnG - 5th Won Ticket for Step 1 ($7.50 SnG)
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 9th
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 4th Won $1.50
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 1st Won Ticket for Step 2 ($27 SnG)
- $27 Step 2 SnG - 4th Won Ticket to Step 2 ($27 SnG)

- Balance $180.50 + 1 Ticket to Step 2

Theoretical Balance $207.50 (-$1.50)

In search of Atlantis (Session 2)...

Step 2 prize structure...
1st Ticket to Step 3 ($82)
2nd Ticket to Step 3 ($82)
3rd Tickey to Step 2 ($27)
4th Ticket to Step 2 ($27)
5th Ticket to Step 1 ($7.50)
6th - 9th You lose! Thankyou and good day, Sir.

Mon 12/11
- $27 Step 2 SnG - 4th Won Ticket for Step 2 ($27 SnG)
- $27 Step 2 SnG - 4th Won Ticket for Step 2 ($27 SnG)

- Balance $194 plus 2 x Step 2 Tickets

Theoretical Balance $248 (+$39)

Step 2 again tomorrow night then!

In search of Atlantis (Session 1)...

I've noticed a couple of threads on the blondepoker forum in relation to 'Steps' Sit & Go tournaments, on PokerStars, to win seats at big buy-in live events i.e. EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Sydney. Now, I've never been a big fan of the 'Steps' concept, my dislike was based on the cash steps that started on Party Poker sometime ago. I didn't like the fact that there was no way to bail out if you find yourself out of your depth... you either win the end prize or you lose all the money [and time] that you have invested.

Some of what I've read recently (penned by people who I believe to be good players and who know what they are talking about - not you Ironside!), has prompted me to look again and I have decided to 'invest' £100 and try to win a seat at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, to be held in January, at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.


The buy-in for Step 1 is $7.50 (this is where I am going to start), Step 2 is $27 and I think Step 3 is about $80. I have always been comfortable playing $20 - $25 SnGs so I would expect to get to Step 3 with out too much trouble, but from there on in I am playing at stakes far higher than I have ever played before (for online SnGs), hopefully the majority of my opponents will be small stakes players who have also come up through the steps, but I know that a lot of people (better players and/or bigger bankrolls) will be buying in directly at the higher levels and the standard of play is bound to raise considerably as you near your goal at the end of Step 6.

The $7.50 Step 1 tournaments pay as follows -
1st Ticket for Step 2 ($27)
2nd Ticket for Step 2 ($27)
3rd Ticket for Step 1 ($7.50)
4th $1.50
5th - 9th Nowt!

So, the story so far is...

Sun 11/11/07
- deposit £100 ($209) in PokerStars
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 1st Won Ticket for Step 2 ($27 SnG)
- $7.50 Step 1 SnG - 1st Won Ticket for Step 2 ($27 SnG)

- Balance $194 plus 2 x Step 2 Tickets

Off to a good start... I'll tackle the first Step 2s this evening. I'd better get down to Boots and see if they've got any suncream left!! :-)

The weekend round-up...

Saturday, Nov 10th, APAT Regional Champs Leg 2…

With the Gala Harbourside Bristol hosting the £2500 final of the GBPT, the only other venue in the 'Western Region' was the Grovesnor Cardiff… yes, Cardiff, that's in Wales you know!!! Well there is no way that I'm paying good money to cross a bridge to go into Wales, at least not until they start charging 'them' to come into England. And so, following lengthy, high level negotiations with the APAT top brass we obtained special dispensation, from the Central Office for Special Dispensations at APAT HQ, to play leg 2 at the next closest venue to home and to be able to transfer any ranking points that we might score (ha) onto our Western Region total.

And so, it was with great excitement and eager anticipation that me and the 'Golden' one set off for the Big Smoke and our first visit to the spiritual home of UK poler - The Vic… I actually think that Rich's excitement and eager anticipation was largely down to the hope that he might catch a glimpse of Vicky Coren in the flesh. Alas, Miss Coren was not in residence, add to that the fact that, while the Vic card room was perfectly adequate, there was nothing about the place that filled either of us with any great desire to rush back… essentially just another Grosvenor casino.

The tournament started on time at 2.30pm… I was eliminated on the last hand of level one at exactly 3.00pm! That's all I have to say about that.

Rich on the other hand put in another decent performance, managing to at least stay in until it got dark, until the wheels fell off and he was bounced out in 16th place… respectable enough from a field of 71, but no money, no points, no medal, no glory!

With no comfy sofas in sight in which to relax for the afternoon I initially wander downstairs into the casino. I buy a pint of Guinness and stand and watch the action on the first craps table that I've seen in a UK casino… I think you could stand watching craps for a week and still have no idea what the hell is going on, it is a total mystery to me? The one thing that is glaringly obvious, is that in any game that has 4 members of staff running it, the house must have a huge edge… I think I'll stick to occaisionally watching in amazement. I did spend about 30 mins on a £5 minimum Blackjack table, made £50 profit and left.

Back up to the card room, Rich was still going well in the tournament so I put my name on the list for the 50p/£1 NL cash game. Just a short wait and I'm soon seated, there seemed to be a global shortage of 50p chips so the game was actually £1/£1, no problem. Well, the Vic may be the spiritual home of UK poker, but it still attracts some seriously bad players at the lower limits. :-) That said I still managed to find myself £40 down after an hour or so, anyway I top back up to the £100 max buy-in and after another couple of hours I cashed out £312 for a £170 profit.

Rich had just been knocked out of the tournament, we had drink and a bite to eat, it was a bit after 8.00pm and too early to go home so both of us go on the cash game waiting list and fairly quickly get seated… a 90 minute session sees me give about £80 back and Rich a profit of £15.

And that, as they say, was that… if you leave out the traffic jams and diversion on the way there and the fact that 3 Oxford Tube buses passed us while we waited in the cold, for an hour, for an Oxford Express bus on the way home… it was a nice day out.

BTW, 'the game' played the APAT tourney in Blackpool and finished 9th of 30.

Sunday, Nov 11th, £10 Freezeout at the Pigeons…

Such is the prestige of this bi-weekly poker extravaganza that 'the game' caught the afternoon train back from Blackpool just to be part of it! To add a bit of extra interest (not that it needs it) to the tourney, we three had a little side action… whoever knocks out Tim collects a fiver from each of the other two. What we hadn't counted on was for the first time in months the game attracted more than 9 players and went to two tables, with only Rich getting drawn on Tim's table… damn! As it happened Tim was first out but, fortunately, not falling victim to Rich.

It has also been noted that unless you are called Steve you are at a distinct dis-advantage… The first four places were filled by Steves!! Rich did manage 5th place, but then he's a STEVEnson. :-) I demand a Stewards Enquiry!!!

APAT English Amateur Poker Championships...

Well I made the 2nd day of a 2 day tournament for the first time at the weekend... before exiting in 16th place, of 201 runners, in the English Amateur Poker Championships, pocketing the princely sum of £400 for my trouble. But more importantly earning my second entry into The Hendon Mob Poker Database, catching back up with Rich and in fact just edging him on total prize money by a couple of $s. :-)

The Grosvenor Walsall was the venue for this, the first national championship event of the APAT Season 2. Such is the popularity of these tournaments that people were queuing outside more than an hour before the casino opened at 12:30, in order to get on the Reserve/Alternates list. Indeed our very own 'Golden Delicious'** was there at 11:30 and was number 6 on the list.

** We'll drop the 'Buffet Queue Kid' nickname [for now] following Rich's recent success in Slovenia and two cashes at Barrington!! :-)

As it turned out there must have been 5 people ring up to say that they couldn't make it to the casino, by the time the tournament started 'GD' was top of the list and poised, like a coiled spring, to take his place in history as the 1st Alternate to take a seat at an APAT National Championships... praying for someone to be eliminated before the end of level 2.

The Poker God smiled on 'GD' on this occasion, when the first, and the only elimination, during levels 1 and 2, happened half way through the second level and he was in... And he made it past the dinner break again!

As for the story of my tournament, there's not too much to say really. I had some big hands early and didn't get paid on many of them. I had to lay down pocket Aces on a QJx flop... a young lady had made a 3 x BB raise from early position... one Mid-Position caller, before I re-popped it from the button... the Original Raiser calls without too much thought and the MP caller folds... the OR pushes all-in on the flop... I think QQ or JJ is far more likely than any of the hands I can beat, I tell her that I have a big hand and ask politely if she'll show if I fold, to which she replies "Yes." She seems quite comfortable and in the end I make what I think is a quite easy fold... I flip over my AA and she kindly shows me JJ.

Most of the big pots I won were when I had been allowed to limp in, or call small raises, with things like suited connectors and raggy suited aces... and then got lucky when the flop hit my hand nicely... that is not to say there was no skill involved, in each case I was able to keep the strength of my hand hidden until my opponents had committed large portions (if not all) of their stack to a pot that they couldn't win! :-)

The end, when it came after about 30 minutes of play on day 2, was quite bizarre. I had started day 2 with 60,500 chips, 12th place of the 20 remaining players, the blinds were 3000/6000. After about 15 hands I had posted the binds once and stolen them once and so still had 60,500... 10 x BBs, or an M of 6.7, whichever way you look at it I need some chips soon... four of the other short stacks had already been eliminated!

Day 2, Hand 15... UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 20k... I'm UTG+2, I have 99 and decide that my 60k chips might just be enough to get everyone to fold and allow me to pick up the 29k pot... all fold to the SB, who asks for a count of my chips and then after some deliberation the SB pushes all-in (appx 150k)... "Oh dear", I think... and then the BB, who has about 50k, announces, "I have absolutely nothing, but I could get lucky and more than treble-up." And he proceeds to push his chips in the middle as well... ffs!! The OR then has his few minutes in the tank before eventually folding AKo face-up. "On their backs." announces the dealer... the SB turns over Ako... the BB has the monster 6d2d... and all of sudden my pocket 9s don't look so bad. The warm feeling that had flowed over me didn't last too long... first card on the flop is a King, closely followed by a 3 and a 5... and I'm behind and drawing to two outs... turn is a J, which is no help to anyone... and the river card is a 4, which sends me to the rail, gives the BB a straight and about 180k chips and leaves the SB looking like he's lost half a crown and found a shilling!!!

Waiting patiently for '62s boy' to call... "Do I look bovvered?"

So that's poker... the best hand of 3 going in... the worst hand of 3 at the end!

All in all another excellent APAT tournament, well done and a big thank you to the APAT team and to all the staff at the Grosvenor Walsall.

At the end of the day all my old teachers weren't far of the mark with their comments on virtually all of my school reports - 'Tries hard, could do better!"

Those nice folk at Virgin Poker...