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!!!

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.

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.

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!

Aspers Revisited...

Well me an' Rich went back to Aspers, Northampton, on Sunday afternoon, for their £10 + 1 re-buy + 1 re-buy/add-on. A dissappointing field of just 22 had even more dissappointing 24 re-buys/add-ons, giving a prize pool of just £460 to be split amongst the top four places.

We both made the final table... and down to the last 7, Rich pushes from the cut-off on my big-blind... the button folds quickly and the SB dwells-up... I'm hoping he is going to call / push and I could fold my AK... but alas, he folds and I make a reluctant call... Rich has AQ and about 1 chip more than me, so the outcome was never in doubt!!! And there she was, Queen straight out there on the flop!!!

Never mind Rich now has a decent stack and I've got 10% of him... he was out in 6th!!!

This is uncanny...

After spending 10 mins explaining to Steve v3 that calling all-in on the river, on a 995-J-T board, with pocket twos (even though it was the best hand!!) is not terriblely good poker... "But I've got two pairs!"... "No Steve, you have a pair of twos, the only thing you can beat is a stone cold bluff!!"

And then this happens -

http://www.apat.com/forum/index.php?topic=2500.0

- and it's seen to be 'gr8888888 poker'... I just hope Steve doesn't join APAT and read it.

Aspers Casino, Northampton, Last Night...