My Cunning Plan Has...

a serious flaw!!! :-(

I missed out on about £11 of profit last night... and now, because I was playing golf and missed the tips, lost out on another £12'ish today! That first £Million is going to take a bit longer at this rate.

I Have A Cunning Plan...

This time next year I fully expect to be a miwllyanaire... unless I loose my £20 bankroll in the next few days!!

My cunning plan is to blindly follow someone else's wagering recommendations, someone I should point out, who is on a super run at the moment. I got off to a great start last night, backing Hull, £6 @ 2.38. Although I did bottle it with 90mins played, when Sheff Utd won a corner, and gave up 67p of profit by laying them off at 1.08, to ensure a profit of £7.50'ish.

So, after commission my initial £20 has increased to £27.23.

My source recomended 2pts Doncaster Rovers (v Derby) @ 2.9 for tonight... unfortunately, I didn't spot the tip until the game had started and there was no in-running market for the game. Doncaster Rovers won 2-1... Bollocks!!!

Not Really A Tip...

Merely bringing to the attention of my loyal reader, that JYS is available at a big price for this weeks Honda LPGA, in Thailand. It has to be said that she hasn't exactly hit the ground running in 2009, she missed the cut in her last event! However, 16/1 is surely too big... so I've 'lumped on' and look forward to spending the fruits of my £5 E/W investment.

Super Sunday...

Local boy comes good... I only went and followed up my morning golfing success by taking down the Pigeons game that night. Get in there!!!

And Now Some Good News...

I claimed my first podium finish in a golf tournament this morning... taking 3rd place (just 1 point behind 2nd!!) in the monthly Golf Matters competition at Witney Lakes Golf Club. :-)

I had to turn down the prize money and sponsorship offer from TaylorMade, as I don't want to give up my amatuer status!

It's 6:00 am... Sonny & Cher Are On The Radio...

And I'm still playing that fucking step 3 SnG!!!!

Phill Hellmuth - Legend In His Own Mind...

This was Phill's exit interview, after finishing 6th of 6 in Heat 7 of the Party Poker Premier League III... Yes Phill, you really out-played them!!

Groundhog Day...

I am begining to know just how Phil Connors felt during his visit to Punxsutawney, PA, in 1993!!!

I have now been playing a Step 3 SnG (on Stars) every night since Feb 2nd!! I accumulate a few chips and then get cold decked in 3rd, 4th or 5th place... rinse, repeat... when will it all end??

In other news... I went to Asper's in Northampton last Saturday night, with Rich and got drawn in the seat next to him, ffs! I finished in 12th place, waaay out of the money. More details, more eloquently put, on Rich's blog - HERE.

Oh, and my knee is feeling a bit better and I've started hitting a few balls [gingerly!]. Thanks for all the 'get well soon' cards.

Priceless...

Shock News From The Pigeons...

The 'Mob' take 1st and 2nd places!!

A couple of early accidents, agianst Tim and 'new boy' Paul, saw Little Dick down to around 3k chips early doors... but he somehow managed to shut out the voices of Gus and Annette, and with Dan Harrington's guidance managed to manouvere his way to heads-up aginst yours truly. Rich was aided somewhat by Tim, who re-shoved over Rich's pre-flop all-in with ATs... Rich had AJ, it held up, back over starting stack [just] for the first time in three tournamnts in two days, much celebration!!

We were relatively deep into the tournament (150/300) before there were any eliminations (To be fair, Steve v3 wasn't playing) and then, like buses, two come along at once! 'New boy' Paul had open limped from the CO, BTN folded, I made-up from the SB with the monster T8o and Tim checked his option... the flop came 679 rainbow... that'll do nicely... knowing that Tim is prone to make wild bluffs at pots occaisionally and having seen Paul over-vale (IMO) some hands earlier, I decide on the slow-play strategy and check the flop... check, check behind... a 6 on the turn, check, check, check.

Bugger have I left it too late to get any money in the pot? The river is a 3 and I bet 550 into a 900 pot... Tim min-raises to 1100 and Paul re-raises to 2500!! Now, the paired board is a slight concern, but I have them both covered so I decide to get one or both of them all-in... to my suprise they both insta-call... now I'm even more worried about the paired board! But all was well... Tim had 45, for a rivered 'sucker' straight and Paul had J6. My straight is good and I'm chip-leader. "Two seats on Table 1" would have been the cry; if we had more than one table!

Steve v2 (Peachey) was next to fall, I forget the actual details... he was soon followed by Joy, who was obviously feeling sorry for Rich, when she re-raised all-in with QT... Rich made a crying call and his AJ held-up. We were down to three, bubble time! Rich then removed Steve v1 from the equation when his AK improved on the flop to beat Steve's QQ.

Just two hands into the heads-up... Rich limps, I suspect there is good chance this is quite a strong hand and push with AQs... Rich beats me into the pot, but is a little less enthusiastic when the cards are turned over, he has AJo. Well, Rich had about two chips more than me, so the outcome was never in doubt really... J on the flop... The End.

APAT UK Champs - Day 1 Chips...

Today I shall mostly be playing in the APAT UK Champs, at the Grosvenor Walsall, in a drug induced daze that will probably see me playing with gay abandon... chips everywhere! I probably should point out that the drugs are painkillers and anti-inflamatorys... see, I had a slight accident during a golf lesson yesterday and somehow dislocated something in my knee - Gee, dat smarts!!

If anyone is interested, you can keep track of my dwindling chip stack. I will try and update at the end of each level, until they're all gone or the Guinness and the painkillers get the better of me.

What Made Great Britain Great...

Illustrated through Tribal Dances from around the world -

North American Indian

African Zulu

Polynesian Haka

English Morris - wtf!!!

Good Old Absolute Poker...

Will this be the start of a new era in my Poker journey...

Hi Alan,

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No Strings. No Catch. Just Cash

What you do with your free cash, is up to you: Try a tournament. Take it to the tables. It’s Your Call.

What are you waiting for? All you have to do is play.

Pimp My Blog...

As you can see... I've been busy trying to be a smartass and posh the blog up a bit. No easy job, trust me, for an ageing brain like mine!! Anyway, I had a go, and I quite like it.

On the steps front, I now have one step 3 and one step 2 ticket... I had to invest a further $15 in step 1 buy-ins to get there. I've been giving the $25NL 6-max cash a bash on Boss... same old shit* - different site!!! Somehow though I have managed to show a small, but steady profit.

Me and Dickus Minimus will be off to Walsall bright and early Saturday lunchtime, to take part in the £75 APAT UK Amatuer Poker Champs. The Grosvenor Walsall was site of my finest hour in live APAT competition... This time last year, a creditable 18th of 201, for the princely sum of £400 of your English pounds. Ah, those were the days... a pound was worth a pound and the best part of two bucks!

If any of 'The Pigeons' stalwarts are reading this, fear not... the odds are very much against Rich and/or myself still being at the final table by 6.00pm Sunday evening, we will almost certainly be back for the real poker challenge by 7.30pm.

*'Same old shit' is defined as... the usual mix [for me, anyway] of ridiculous bad-beats and idiotic attempts to bluff nits off of the nuts!

Why Do I bother...

$25NL 6-max Cash on Stars, KK OTB...

Whilst I accept that calling the Turn Check/Shove may not be the optimal play... surely I didn't deserve that???

Steps Re-Visited...

Well, I am returning to online poker with a re-newed enthusiasm... albeit with a smaller bankroll!!! :-(

I've got a few $s on Stars, with which I am going to take a stab at the 'Steps' route to fame and fortune. It took me three attempts to get past Step 1 ($7.50 SnGs)... one of those was a first hand debacle with QQ vs AA, all-in on a Q high flop with, of course, the obligatory A on the river.

Anyway... when I did eventually get to Step 2 ($27 SnG), I noticed that I already had a Step 2 ticket from a previous life... Yippee, bonus! :-) Well, that was yesterday, after four tournies this morning I now have just one Step 3 ($82 SnG) ticket. I should add this was with no further cash investment.

It is at Step 3 (and beyond) that I start to move out of my comfort zone. I am perfectly happy playing SnGs upto the $30 mark, the $25s on Blue Square a few years ago were where I played all the time and made some pretty good money... of course the game has changed a lot since then. :-(

I may save the Step 3 ticket for a day or two and try and win another 1 or 2 as back-ups... I seem be more comfortable with knowledge that if disaster strikes I don't have to go right back to the beginning immediately.

I've also got a few bob in Blue Square, which I will probably just keep for playing a few APAT events... God I hate iPoker... and yesterday I put €50 in a Boss Media skin, with 30% rakeback, I figure if Teresa can keep winning consistently on Virgin then there's a chance for me???

So, there we have it, I will try and find something of interest to update this blog with a little more frequently... if the updates don't materialize, well, you'll know it's not going too well.