DAN DAN's cozy place

Virgin Poker Festival, Aspers, 2009 How Pokerbanter fared.

2009-04-06T16:31:00.001+02:00

Ok, this will be quite vague. One because most of my weekend is a blur, two because I don't remember hands two minutes after, let alone two days and three because a main event,forum challenge,STT and Terminator end up running together and it's a lot when you've had no sleep and then drove three hours home.

In the main event I decided to play very tight and started that way, playing nothing. A wee while later I get a bit bored so call a couple of hands. Either I get raised or flop brings nothing so I have a word with myself and go back to playing tight.

I then get a run of cards with AK and KQ, KQ. Each time I take the pot unseen. Tight image obviously being noticed. Gradually building a stack.

A big hand I had was with JJ. I think I raised, he reraised and I called. The flop brings K & Q and all diamonds. We both check, turn, check and a diamond on the river. I look again to see which J's I have, if anyone is ever playing me live, don't think because I look at my hand again means it's forgettable, I just have a shit memory! I have a diamond, he raises and I call. He has AA, no diamonds.

Nothing for a long while and I dwindle to 7000. 400/800 with 50 antes. Time to make a move so all-in with 66. I get a call from AK and my 66 holds up. Doubled up.

Again, nothing happens, need to learn to loosen up further in. It's just not easy.

My final hand is 77, all-in again preflop and I'm called by KK. The flop brings a 7 and a K and I'm out.

In my STT game I was doing well ish when my AA was beaten by A10 all-in getting a set! No comeback there either.

The forum challenge was a bit of a turbo and due to being so knackered I really don't remember a lot of it so the main thing is my departing hand. I went all-in with 66 and was called by 9,10h who thought, hell I'll have a gamble. There had been a lot of all-ins on my table but none from me so far. He got a straight and I went out 6th for 4 points.

In the Terminator on Sunday I was doing really well. Confidence was up and I was taking pots all over the place. Raise or fold, raise or fold.

Got a nice pot when a slow playing straight got busted on the river by my AK getting FH J's over K's.

I then get KK early, I think the blinds were still 100/50 at this point and I raised to 600. Button (I think) re raises to 1200 and I call. He had recently arrived on our table and had a lot of chips and bounties.

Flop comes 7?Q. I bet 3000 leaving me with just over 2000 I think. He moves all-in and I think about it. I think it's possible he is holding QQ but I look at all the chips I've put in and what I have left and call. I also thought he could be a gambler, what with all the bounties he has.

He has 77 and the turn and river bring nothing for me. I should have folded, I know that. 2000 chips would have been fine with the blinds so low but it just looked so little after the stack I'd had. It was funny too because I had just finished slagging off my arch enemy Paul Ross (owner of forum where I was banned) for playing nothing. I asked him if he was just there to watch the football! He said, no point playing when blinds are small and putting your game on the line. Karma.

I was actually glad I went out of that by the end of the day as I thought it was a lucky seat and yen_sid took it after I departed. And with winning hands such as K3, 42 and 53 boy was it lucky (although he says it was all position)

He finished 7th and I'm sure got much further than I could have.

It was a great weekend and a few of our players had some great results with Kristobal getting 7th in the main event £1500, TheFifeFlyer winning the STT challenge £325 +50,000 and yen_sid winning £110 for the Terminator.

We,(Pokerbanter) were 2nd in the Forum challenge and had the most wins in it with SuitedPower, rejmak and yen_sid all winning. The rest of us failed to collect enough points for us to win though.

Not bad for a wee forum like ours, considering one of those forums has 35,057 members and we have 300. Can't wait to see our results when we have that many members.
Tags:

2009-02-07T20:16:00.002+01:00

Mmmm, haven't updated for a while.

Finished 8th in the Devilfish Bounty game on Thurs night. Quite liking this tourny.

I've qualified for the Virgin Poker Festival in April, another piss up with friends, cant wait.

2008-09-28T20:26:00.002+02:00

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June's Virgin League Results

2008-07-01T21:39:00.002+02:00

So that was the first month and I was on to finish 3rd right up until the last game. I finished 6th and Phil finished 1st. If he had been 2nd then we would have split 2nd. :-(

Virgin League

2008-06-21T19:19:00.002+02:00

Well this is the first month of Virgin's new League, I pestered Joe Legge so he would have it.

So far I am doing okay. It's best 4 of 9 and I'm sitting in 5th place so far with 3 games to go.

The top two get places to a Virgin festival of their choice and 3rd is €100 and down to €5 for 8th 9th and 10th.

http://www.virgingames.com/poker/HotTournaments.aspx#ContentItem1491

The Virgin Festival (And team Daily Punt)

2008-04-30T16:49:00.005+02:00

Here is some of team TDP.

Oh dear I forgot I should update my blog with my Festival antics. Better late than never I suppose.

Okay here's my sketchy run down of my weekend.I wasn't happy at the start as a few EMS players kept letting me know they knew what I had but I steadily built up my stack regardless.

Main event highlight was calling a raise with 66 for the flop to bring a 6. Called a raise all-in and took out AA. I played reasonably well but never went massively ahead so it's always a struggle and the need to shove seems to creep up on you a lot. I remember calling a short stacked all-in with KQh but his pair held up. I eventually blinded away as I wanted to hang in there for as long as I could, after telling myself I wouldn't do that again.

In the Forum challenge I went out with AQd against 34d who got a 3 and a 4. Rej and Jez did us proud though, both winning. Ed, well he is going without privilages for quite some time to come for his first hand all-in.

We went back to the hotel at about 4am after a detour round half of Newcastle, think Ed would still have been wandering the streets if I hadn't been there. There was no naked in the corridor incidents this time round but I did have to stop him peeing in the wardrobe twice.

Day 2 had me playing in the Terminator, £30 buy-in and everyone has a bounty on their head. 150 runners and I finished 20th. I took one bounty. I was doing really well in this tourney then I made the fateful mistake of raising to steal the blinds and then seeing that UTG had already called or raised before me so he then went all-in. I had to fold as I had A4, it was quite funny because Jez thought he had seen my hand and was telling Ed I had aces. Their faces were classic when I then folded. A couple of hands later I went all-in with KJ and was called by AQ and out I went.

Meeting everyone was brilliant, I'm not going to do all the name checks, everyone I met was brand new. I drank coupious amounts of stella and was drugged all weekend on pain killers for a sore shoulder so many parts of the weekend are very sketchy.

Qualified

2008-03-23T23:14:00.002+01:00

Can't believe I haven't posted for so long. I finally qualified for the Virgin Poker Festival. Phew.

Waited till the 2nd last weekly chance. Cutting fine I'd say. We now have 6 qualifiers going from the Daily Punt and a few members going along so enough for the forum challenge. A PL pummelling I hope.

I've found a new forum which I think i'm going to like, they are LIP, Ladies in Poker but it's not just for ladies.

I played my first STT's for a while last night. Lost two, 3rd once and 2nd once so broke even. :(

2008-02-06T20:05:00.000+01:00

Have still been trying to qualify for the Virgin Festival again. I played a sat last week and won a place in the Sunday final when I finished 2nd.

I then played the Sunday final and went out in the 30's when I should have gone all-in with AQ clubs. I was raised all-in in cut off and folded not realizing I was getting quite short stacked.

About 3 hands later I went out with AJ suited against AQ.

I will continue to play the sats and hopefully get through to Sunday's again.

I still have the Daily Punt tourney to come on 18th Feb too which hopefully will give me a good chance.

ELC

2008-01-20T23:50:00.000+01:00

My new goal, to qualify for this. European Ladies Championships (Laddies)

Qualified for the Daily today but went out with AJ called by 66 and even though there was an ace on the board the other six sent me packing.

Will try again next week, or might pay more attention to the Virgin Festival, so much to do on a Sunday. :(

Back again

2008-01-15T22:09:00.000+01:00

Well the STT bit didn't last long, lost a few and didn't like writing it down so gave up on that.

I've been playing the $100k on Pokerstars and winning a wee bit there.

Next thing I'm aiming for is a seat at the next Virgin Poker Festival. The Daily Punt is having a tournament to win a seat on Monday 18th Feb at 8.30pm so why not get along there and join the forum and play too. www.thedailypunt.com/forum

Virgin are running daily sats for 1.80 euros to the weekly which can be bought into for 16 euros.

The Festival is on 12/13th April in Aspers, Newcastle. A couple of Daily Punters went to the last one in Birmingham and said it was brilliant.

STT's

2007-10-20T17:27:00.000+02:00

Okay yesterday I decided to have a go at STT's on Virgin again so I'll keep a note of how I am doing so I don't delude myself about losses.

19/10/2007 euros
Staked 11 won 35
Staked 11 won 15
Staked 11 won 0
Staked 5.50 won 7.50
Staked 5.50 won 0
Staked 5.50won 0

TOTAL
Staked 49.50 won 57.50

20/10/2007
Staked 11 won 0
Staked 3.30 won 0

TOTAL
Staked 14.30 won 0

PokerStars $100,000

2007-10-15T01:54:00.000+02:00

Well I played this for the 2nd time tonight and finished in the 1500’s for $18. I quite like this tourney actually. I had JJ four times. Twice I was raped with them making a set and getting beat.

Next two times I went all-in with them, wasn’t taking any chances.

I flopped a straight at one point. A shorter stack went all-in with what was trip 9's and then a bigger stack called my all-in with a higher straight draw that never hit.

I seem to play Pokerstars quite well, or it likes me and gives me good cards, or people are all wooses and fold to my aggressive play. Combination of all I think.

PokerStars $100,000

2007-09-20T19:01:00.000+02:00

$100,000 guaranteed, $10+$1 buy-in.

Well I played this for the first time ever on Sunday. There was a field of 17,891 which is the biggest field I have played in to date.

I don't think I had a single flush of straight throughout the whole tournament but managed to finish in 553rd for a whopping $71. LOL

I went all-in (short stacked) with A6 and was called by the BB who had AK. A6 on flop but a K on the turn and out I went.

Daily Punt Freeroll

2007-07-21T17:31:00.000+02:00

On Sunday 29th July we will be having a DAILY PUNT freeroll at 8pm on Paradise Poker.

There will be a prize pool of $200 kindly given to us by Paradise/Sporting Odds. This will be password protected and only available by PM from myself.

This freeroll is for people who are active members of the Daily Punt forum, no-one else.

There is time still to join the forum but I will only give the password to people I think are here for more than just the freeroll. It's a great forum and there are lots of great posts and posters there so not a hardship to stick around.

Best MODS around too. LOL

Daily Punt League (August)

2007-07-21T17:25:00.001+02:00

First prize this month will be a seat to the Virgin Poker Festival.

Virgin Poker has just announced that they will be hosting their first ever ‘Virgin Poker Festival’ in Birmingham, UK on 25th/26th November (venue TBA).Qualifiers will run throughout August and September on Virgin Poker

Main Event -£105 two day deep stacked main event- £5,000 added to prize pot
(plus loads of Virgin bounties including flights to Las Vegas)
Low buy-in side events with added value plus loads more TBA…

We will be playing every Monday night at 8pm $5 buy-in so why don't you visit The Daily Punt and join in.

Scottish Championships

2007-07-02T21:39:00.000+02:00

Well my weekend of poker wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I can safely say I was out of my depth but it was all an experience I suppose.

We arrived at the Gala at about 5.30pm and met up with Tikay who had already registered me, Joe Legge was there and a few people I now know from different events. Some of the people from the Champs League - Hobbo Three, Rosco pkr, Dave488, milber were there. All very nice people. Hobbo was staying at the same place as us, as he and mole were there with Virgin.

There was the usual delay that seems to happen at poker events, added with the fact that there was bedlam at the airports because of the terrorist attacks.

We kicked off just around 7pm. I was table 1 seat 9, Liam Flood was on my table. At the time I did not know he is a legend but was told this a couple of times later. Tikay informed everyone on my table that I was his wife. This had Liam asking if a move I made later I'd learned from Tikay, I told him I had taught Tikay and he said that must be why he was doing well these days.

I didn't feel at all nervous but when I lifted my chips my hands were shaking. My first bet was with 78c, the guy beside me raised on the hand before and everyone folded so I just did the same, took the blinds and was quite happy.

Now when you have one hour blinds starting at 25 - 50 the last thing you want at the start is hands, and even more so, marginal hands. Of course that's all I had to start with. AK, KQ, A10's one after another. With each one I raised, (no point looking scared early on) or I had to call someone elses decent raise. With each one I didn't hit on the flop, made a continuation bet and EVERY time got callers. Then I would end up folding. Quickly I had lost quite a lot of chips for such a slow blind structure.

There was a couple of guys on my table who played almost everything and often had nothing, of course the time I had paired the board the other guy had a straight.

On one hand that I won I made it too easy for others to call and was leaving myself open to people getting straights and flushes, this is something I was bad for doing online and had been improving on. Live I seemed to take a step backwards.

I won a good hand with the nut flush bringing me back up to almost even when we had a 10min break after two hours. We got our 6,000 chip top up at this point. A couple of guys had already had theirs on my table.

Not long before the break for food came my downfall. I had 9,10s the flop brings another two spades and a spade on the turn. I then donate half my stack to the constant caller who had A7s.

I go into the break with 3,000 chips which is 10x BB so I'm in an all-in situation for my return. At this point I go completely card dead. Now I know it's any two cards but when you are here for the experience and want to hang in there for as long as you can it's impossible to go all-in with 10,2o and trust me that was about the best my hands got.

To sum up my luck for the day when I finally got a hand worthy of anything I was on the BB, it was 10,6 and I got to see the flop. K10 rag. There is me and one other guy in the hand. Just then the other guy says that he has seen the next card due out and it gets mucked....10 My face must have shown for sure that I had a 10 as I was gutted. I checked, he raised and I fold. I end up all-in with A2 and less than 2,000 chips. I was called by a few and Liam Flood's 66 wins, it may even have improved, i don't know I just knew there was nothing for me and that was the end of my tourney.

The weekend itself was good, Joe Legge was great company, he has to be one of the nicest people I know.

Lots of drinking after busting out. And the legendary Gala Maybury burger and chips, a must for anyone visiting the casino.

Met Jezza who is great too, he started on the cash table on Saturday then decided drinking would be more fun. On the Sunday Ed and Jezza played the £150 tourney but I'll let them tell their own stories. Anything else I remember I'll add on but that's pretty much it.

I spent a lot of time touting TDP, can't stop myself.

Thank you Sporting Odds/Paradise for a great weekend anyway. Fantastic prize.

Paradise Prize choice

2007-06-11T21:58:00.000+02:00

I've decided to play in the Scottish Championships at the end of this month instead of just railing.

Can't wait, can I handle the pressure?

Paradise Poker League May

2007-06-01T22:02:00.000+02:00

Well I won the League on Paradise this month, which means I win entry to a live event with a buy-in of £1500, like the one Ed won last year. It was supposed to be the European Poker Classic in London in July but it has been cancelled.

I won two of the games in this month's league and had won overall with one game to spare, a very nice feeling indeed.

Here is the table. It was a great month for The Daily Punt members.

Daily Punt League May Winners

2007-06-01T21:47:00.000+02:00

Okay final standings,
1st - nonecks - entry into Sunday's Scottish final.
2nd - DAN DAN - $50
3rd - MickeyPaul - who has kindly agreed to split the prize with Rene and Scottie, so $16.50
4th - rene - $16.50
5th - Scottieboy - $16.50

Just to emphasise the fact that MickeyPaul was indeed 3rd.

May's Daily Punt League

2007-05-16T20:23:00.000+02:00

This month we are offering as first prize this, a seat at the final monthly satellite to win entry to:

Virgin Poker are sending players to the prestigious Scottish Poker Championships taking place 28th June to the 1st of July 2007.
The event will be held at the Maybury Casino in Edinburgh, Scotland, from the 28th June to the 1st of July 2007. The prize package is a $4,800 package including entry to the Main event £1,050 No Limit “Double Chance” freezeout on the 30th June and entry to the £550 No Limit Freezeout on the 28th June. The package includes $1,600 travel and accommodation money.

Amateur Poker Association & Tour (Scottish Leg)

2007-04-15T22:40:00.001+02:00

First of all forgive me if my write up isn't very technical, but that's cos I'm not. Ed and the girl I was sitting next to at the first table will vouch for that. (When Ed asked me at one point how many chips I had I told him 12 hundred, he said you're in serious shit then, I had 12 thousand really. )

I thought I would be nervous at first but I wasn't a bit. Got to Edinburgh at about 11.15am, dumped our stuff and headed to the bar for a Bud to settle the nerves.

Kegman &Old saint(TDP members) and their wives Sarah and Jennifer arrived around 12.30, brilliant people.

At about 1.45 Brian (Trainman Rib/MCFC) and myself went over to register and the rest followed after. Met Tikay straight in the door.

When it started I was on table 7 seat 10, next to the dealer. I liked it there, could get a good look at my cards and I didn't mind I couldn't see seat 1 and 2 as they really didn't do much when it mattered to me.

My first major hand was AA of all things. I think seat 4 raised and I re-raised. He called. Flop nothing. Again he raised and I re-raised big. He then sat and looked and looked and asked 'Do you know what I have?' I said no but I had an idea it was KK from the off as I was willing no Kings on the flop. He said 'there's only one hand beating me right now and I don't want to put my whole game on the line with the chance' and he thought I had it. He laid it down and I showed. He thanked me. I'm nice that way. Think that's when I made the leader board but not sure.

My only other major hand was KK. James Eccles (Eck on Blonde Poker)(who finished 2nd) and I left in the pot. He was raising often and bluffing a few times. The flop comes x66, there was raises and re-raises I think, turn 6 so I put in a big raise and he folds. I though afterwards I should maybe have made more from that hand but frankly I was worried about quad 6's from him as it wasn't beyond him to be playing with a 6. I've lost to quads in a live game before so am slightly wary of them. :(

We had a buffet around 9pm I think, time flies when you are playing poker. Then back to my table to begin afresh.

I was then moved 3 times in short succession which was not good and I was all-in at least 4 times. I was never called on any of them. One was after a biggish raise from a relatively short stack but he folded to me. Think I had my fav A 10 at the time.

I ended up on the table where 4 players held the bulk of the 1.3m chips and this was fast becoming known as the table of doom. Huge stack to the left of me.

I folded a lot of winning hands on that table but that's the way it goes. No way I was going all-in after a big raise with A6. A and 6 on the board by the river. Things like that. I then get a run of cards that are impossible to go all-in with like 83. So when Q 10 comes along I'm all-in, sitting on about 7000 ish at this point. Called by A Q and flop brings Q, turn nothing then river 10. wooooo
Shortly after this, sitting on 17,000 chips i go all-in on the small blind with KJ. Big blind (big stack) instantly calls with A4d and out i go.

There was an APAT blog running as the tournament was being played and MrMuzeman from the Punt was requesting chip counts and photos to keep everyone at the Punt up to date on how I was doing. Bless them. Hope I didn't let them down.
http://www.apat.com/Blog.html

I had a fantastic weekend and people like Tightend(Blonde) Tikay and Des D worked tirelessly to make it amazing for all of us.

Videos of the day now available on YouTube, 7mins in, my interview LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC4grfqMAMU

Maxim King of Poker

2007-04-12T20:58:00.000+02:00

Last night I finished 5th in the Maxim King of Poker, royal rumble. I won $50 and qualified for the final on the 29th April.

Good run up to my playing live this weekend.

APAT, Edinburgh

2007-04-05T19:47:00.000+02:00

APAT Scottish Amateur Championship
The APAT Scottish Amateur Poker Championship will take place at the Gala Maybury Casino, Edinburgh, on April 14th & 15th 2007.
Entry to the tournament has now closed. The final list of 130 players, the tournament briefing and the reserve list can be found below.
For a £75 entry fee, the winner will take the Scottish Amateur Title, Championship Cup, Gold Medal, first prize of £3000 and an expenses paid entry to a European Poker Tour event; worth approximately $8000, courtesy of tour sponsor PokerStars.com!

I will post how I get on next week then.

March DAILY PUNT League results

2007-04-05T19:38:00.000+02:00

Well in March we only had 3 games as Paradise had a problem with their cashier in week 3. I was pipped for first spot by MickeyPaul by one point. I beat Kristobal in the heads up on the last night.

It all kicks off again tonight, changed from Wednesdays to Thursdays to avoid the football.

Anyone reading this is welcome to join the Daily Punt and play, just follow the link on the right.

End of Month results cont....

2007-03-03T16:12:00.000+01:00

Our own Daily Punt League ended on Wednesday and we all had great fun. I only managed a measly 15th in the last game but then took over Ed's as he was in Goa and finished 3rd for him.

Everyone was just very glad that I didn't win the first league. :-)

Top 5 of us are all in the $2500 freeroll on Monday night so that should be fun too.

End of the Month results

2007-03-03T15:58:00.000+01:00

Well Tuesday brought the end of the month on the Paradise Poker League. I didn't make the points in the last game but managed to keep my 9th place meaning I won an extra $50 on top of my monthly winnings. Fellow Daily Punter aliensyndm finished ahead of me in 6th and kristobal and nonecks just missed the points in 21st and 22nd. Kristobal won the last game, I won one and aliensyndm won two so the Daily Punt had a very good month on this.

Week 3 DAILY PUNT LEAGUE

2007-02-23T01:09:00.000+01:00

Well this week saw myself and my other half heads up. Ed taking the spoils but I am now top of the league. If I win this month's league I will put my winnings back into next month's league. Only if more than 20 people play every week though. Mega extra value if it happens.

Week 2 table DAILY PUNT LEAGUE

2007-02-17T18:42:00.000+01:00

What a week!!!!!!!!!

2007-02-16T21:58:00.000+01:00

Well this week has been some week for me.

Firstly I started my new job as a Community Dental Nurse which basically means more money, less work but far more varied. I will be working with special needs patients. Today (Friday) I was in an operating theatre for the first time ( without being the patient that is.)

Next landmark was my first ever MTT win on Tuesday and it was no other than the Paradise Poker League. Very good players in that.

Then the very next night I won another, this time it was our Daily Punt League game against all my Punt friends. Poor Ed was put out shortly after the worst bad beat ever when his AA all-in with a A89 flop was beaten by Komps 89 flush! Komp has a few moments like that throughout the tournament so if you are new to this poker lark, fear not there is still a lot of fun to be had so why not come along and join in.

Also this week I have been made a moderator on the Daily Punt which means I do much the same as I've been doing anyway, love the forum and encourage people to join in and post as many interesting things as I can. Ok so the last bit might be a bit of a push. LOL

DAILY PUNT League

2007-02-09T18:24:00.000+01:00

We had a turnout of 21 and a great night was had by all, even Burt Saddo.

I finished 17th, started well but squandered chips and my all-in hand was 33, called by teaulc (sir_auron) with AQ and he got QQ on board.

Roll on next week.

Sporting Odds DAILY PUNT League

2007-01-28T19:27:00.000+01:00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the inaugural Sporting Odds Paradise tournament exclusively for the DAILY PUNT. So why don't you click on the Daily Punt link and join us.

We have been given $250 dollars a month from Sporting Odds and 5 entries to a $2500 freeroll.

Entry is $5 and has the standard prize structure to it. For the extra prizes it will be best 3 counting scores, this month there is 4 games in total.

Monthly Prizes
1st $125 & entry to the $2500 freeroll
2nd $62.50 & entry to the $2500 freeroll
3rd $37.50 & entry to the $2500 freeroll
4th $25 & entry to the $2500 freeroll
5th entry to the $2500 freeroll

Legs
Wednesday 7th February @ 21.00 GMT
Wednesday 14th February @ 21.00 GMT
Wednesday 21st February @ 21.00 GMT
Wednesday 28th February @ 21.00 GMT

Tournament will be called The Punt in the lobby.

Entry is open to DAILY PUNT members only.

Good luck to everyone

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2007-01-01T21:31:00.000+01:00

Sporting Odds Paradise League

2006-12-28T22:21:00.000+01:00

Well this was my first attempt at playing on Paradise since Sporting Odds moved their software there.

First impressions are good, the cards like me over there.

I played in their Paradise Poker League. This month it was played over 7 legs on a Monday and Wednesday. This was because the Boss Champions League is still running this month. Next month it will be played on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday on Paradise.

This month's was best 3 counting scores, next month will be best 5.

On my last game I finished 6th which took me up from 12th to 10th in the league, thus doubling my money.

How I went out: All-in with K 10 called by AA and JJ.

I had a nice hand earlier on when I trebled up. Went all-in with AJc and was called by the big stack and another small stack was already all-in. They had AA and 33 respectivly. I got a flush on the river

Poker League Table
Champions League Top 20 - Final
Position Nickname Points
1st Teazz 185
2nd joelegod 182
3rd FeralBeast 155
4th Telepee 152
5th TrevW 145
6th bennydoc69 144
7th rivrd 141
8th big joo 134
9th roscoPL 127
10th DANDAN23 126
11th welchy28 122
12th kejarast 120
13th PhilossifyPL 116
14th 145Robster 105
15th tel16 104
16th M-D-K 99
17th Adetrick 98
18th fivepenny 92
19th __Spacer__ 90
19th bennyboy101 90

Cincinnati's

2006-12-17T20:04:00.000+01:00

Well last night was my second visit to cincinnati's. This time it was a £10 buy-in with 3 £5 re-buys and a add on for the first hour.

We were there with Graeme (Morlspin) who was taking Ed to the Rangers/Celtic game today after he won tickets for the game on Celtic Poker. Luckily we had managed to change the tickets for Rangers end tickets as Ed is a Rangers fan.

There was only 16 people in the tourney, I'm not sure if it's because the club has been having Xmas special things on up until then so maybe some people were staying away. Anyway 16 was a great amount for me. It was all very relaxed and everyone was great. I just love the poker community, they are wonderful people.

I was sitting next to Graeme who had a great start, building his stack up quite quickly. I had a few good hands where I beat a guy called Craig every time. He had good hands too but I had hands like 33, getting 3 on the flop and hitting FH's too. I then became his nemisis and he would always say that if I was in the hand he was going to lose and if I wasn't then he would win. Respect is a cool thing.

At one point Graeme got me to put down AK suited when he had AJo.

One hand I remember was pocket pairs 7's and there was an A on the flop, I bet like I had it and won the pot, turned out I got someone to fold an A, bad kicker.

I never had a huge amount of chips at any time, Ed was up to 16,000 at one point early on but I was only ever around 7,000. I took the add-on at the break. I think most of us did.

On the final table I had Craig, my new friend on my right and the massive chip leader to my left. I built up my chips well at one point when I hit a straight on the river against AA.

Then I had a few all-ins with the chip leader that kept me alive. He was bored and wanted to play cash so he was calling what seemed to be everything.

Eventually there was a hand where one guy was all-in and I called with KK, big stack raised and I called. Flop brought an Ace and I bet like I had it, big stack raised it and I folded. He had the ace but I was still in, unfortunately with only 3,000 chips left. There was 4 of us left with 3 making the money. I was short stack.

Graeme suggested to big stack that he could strike a deal and then he could be off playing cash, he thought that was a great idea and if he got £100 the rest of us could get £78 each. He agreed and of course the rest of us jumped at it, so at 1.15am I left with £78 in my pocket.

Loving this poker melarky.

Walsall, weekend of a WAG

2006-12-02T17:29:00.000+01:00

Photos here but they don't work for me, do on other people's comps though. Must be my firewall.
http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/I.jsp?c=3oxbo47h.36orbc5p&x=0&y=-mr3jc0

The players:
Ed - hubby and poker player.
Steph - Ed's best pal and poker player.
Susan - Steph's WAG
Me - Ed's WAG

Fri 24th Nov
Weekend started with a run to the first train station by Steph's brother and his son (who screamed the whole way there), Ed looked a wee bit frazzled by the time we got there. Robbie the wee sole in question turned out to be ill and threw up everywhere when he got home.

Train to Glasgow, Susan had the biggest, pinkest, heaviest case i have ever seen. She still managed to forget a pair of jeans! Hernias all round for the blokes getting it on and off the trains.

The trip from Glasgow to Birmingham was whiled away by the consumption of lots of lager. This, added to the fact that both the guys were slightly hyper and loud led to strained relationships by the time we arrived at the Village Hotel in Walsall. So much so that I thought that Ed and Stef were going to be bunking together over the weekend! I wonder if Posh and Cheryl Tweedie have the same problems?

We met Scott and Evie (another Sporting Odds PL qualifier and his WAG) as we arrived at reception, they had flown down from Aberdeen. After freshening up Ed and I met them in the bar while Steph and Susan went for dinner.

Stupidly I moved from the drinking of lager to the drinking of vodka. A couple of hours later and I'm being escorted to my room plastered by similarly plastered Ed. We had only taken one room key so i was swiftly dumped in the dark as Ed headed back to the bar. I then had to get changed for my bed with one foot in the door to see what i was doing. (the lights go out when you remove the key!!!) Would have been quite some sight for anyone passing :-)

Sat 25th Nov
Up bright and early for breakfast, feeling okay only because I had been up at about 6am taking lots of painkillers.

We are meeting all the Sporting Odds team at 1pm in the lobby so by 11am there is plenty time for a few lagers for the boys, wee half pint for myself. Rest of Sporting Odds team turn up and introductions all round. Ed and Steph have met Joe Legge (poker manager) before and his girlfriend Sarah. There is Tony Tikay Kendall who they have met before too. He is Sporting Odds resident professional. Then there is Dan Ainsworth who works for Sporting Odds doing lots of counting, programming, technical stuff. He had bought himself into the tourney but was wearing the SpOdds team shirt.

Sarah is armed with camera (oh no, if you've seen the previous ones on SpOdds of Steph and Ed), we head off to the Boathouse in Sutton Coldfield which is in the middle of no-where. Lovely place. More beers for the Scots boys at lunch. I'm was sitting across from Tikay who is hilarious, he takes great offence to any vegetable that arrives on his plate. He even let out an involuntary cry when his dessert arrived, until he decided it looked quite erotic and wobbily, then it was ok!!!!

Back to the hotel to get ready for the tourney. Meet Scott's brother and his wife. Time for some more beer for the blokes again! We meet up in the lobby again to go over to the Grosvenor. We meet another Sporting Odds team member who wasn't at the lunch, Mark Blandford and his WAG Pat. He is the founder of Sporting Bet and he has been at the races where his horse was running. It didn't do very well in the wet.

There is a taxi and Tikay is also taking people over, for some reason Tikay ends up with a car full of ladies, he is such a charmer. We leave before the taxi yet the taxi arrives before us. Irate husbands at the door waiting for our arrival. LOL

We meet Lucy Rokach at the casino, our final team member, she won the £250 competition the night before so seems to be in fine form. The tables are announced and Ed is at Lucy's table. (OH NO!) The players head off and the rest of us start the drinking. Joe does a fantastic job all evening running back and forth checking if everyone is okay, got drinks, doing well etc. Sarah takes lots of pictures and us WAG's harrass Joe about getting a ring for his lovely girlfriend.

Steph makes periodic visits to our table giving us a run down on how he is gubbing Ash Hussein, very amusing.A friend from PL, Brian and his wife Diane arrive and join us in the drinking.First SpOdds player out is Scott, then Steph. When Ed goes out it's to Lucy, as detailed in the post below. Time for serious drinking now.

Diane goes off to play roulette and Ed keeps telling me I should give it a go but I'm not interested. Eventually at about 3am I cave and take £20 off to the roulette. Diane shows me what to do as I haven't a clue. I proceed to lose the lot. I have 50p chips and there are some crazy Welsh guys at the table with £10, £50 and £100 chips. At one point one of them puts his chips down on my 50p chip, he then picks them up and says WTF is this! I say that's my fucking 50p chip. He puts one of his chips on my forehead and asks for a number, then add 4 subtract etc till i have a number and we put our bets on that. Loses of course, never like that in the films is it? Think he lost £10k that night. Pished as a fart.

Head back to the hotel at about 4am, Tikay driving. I'm ready to keep partying but Ed is holding the wall up so off to bed.

Sun 26th Nov
Up early again for breakfast and an early lunch, Susan goes off to buy a pair of jeans. Lunch this time is Pier 39, Sutton Coldfield. Apparently when Joe Googled where to eat in Walsall, Burger King came top of the list.
This time I'm sitting next to Mark at the table and I am well impressed to find out he is one of the people with a warrant out for him in America. I told him that was cool and he laughed. He was a lovely man, as was his wife Pat. At the casino the 3 Scots are out but Mark, Dan, Tikay and Lucy are still in. Tikay just missed the money, Dan finished 18th, Mark finished 14th and Lucy who was chip leader walked away with the most money when a deal was struck with the last 5, officially she finished 3rd.

More PL friends came along to meet everyone. Sam, Andy and Big Andy. We had a great time with them too. It's great meeting these people you talk to everyday but have never seen before, other than in photos on the forum.

I loved watching the play towards the end. When it gets near the bubble everyone gets quite aggressive and personal with each other, I would not like that if i was playing but once they are in the money everyone relaxes and they are all joking with each other. By 11pm Ed was almost dead with drink, rolling eyes the lot. He was down annoying the tournament director who was the double of Antnee who won Big Brother last year! He had to put barriers up to keep Ed away from the tables. When Ed passed the barrier and tucked into the player's buffet I knew it was time to leave. Again does Posh have this problem with Becks?

Andy and Sam go home earlier. Sam is recovering from an op and it's great that she made it over to see us.
We go to say goodbye to Tikay and he offers to take us back to the hotel, what a gentleman he is. He tells me I'm cool so he's okay by me. We leave poor Big Andy there as his taxi won't be for another hour but Ed is seriously ill and needs his bed.

On the way into the hotel there is a huge girl in a yellow chair throwing up into a bucket, lovely. Susan, who is training to be a nurse is worried about her and she tells me the next morning that she did eventually go to hospital.

Mon 27th Nov
Home, much quieter journey back in the train this time. I read a WPT mag I bought in the station and sleep a wee bit. The boys have a few beers. When we reach Glasgow there is a lot of people waiting to catch the train to Kilmarnock so when it's platform is announced I'm throwing small children out of my way to get a seat! I succeed.

All in all - What a weekend.

Ed's Midlands Masters

2006-11-29T22:39:00.000+01:00

Ed's account of his tourney.

My first hand in the comp was KQ clubs, christ I thought, didn't want any playable hands for at least the first hour. So, called a very small raise and had a look at the flop, nothing at all for me, another bet and I bowed out.

Third hand was QQ, oh bloody hell!! Bet 3x the BBand had a couple of callers, flop brought a K and an A so that was the end of that.

So, played a reasonable amount of hands in the next 5 hours or so, even had the luxury of pocket Aces at one point where I ended up all in against 88 and luckily they held out.

At my high point though I was only holding just over 20k in chips so never had a chance to try some bullying.
Anyway, the wee small hours had arrived and I was feeling confident and basically just waiting for the cards. I'm on the big blind, J9 off, nothing doing until Lucy Rokach in late ish position, she chucks in 4x my blind, I thought for a bit and had a good feeling about it, coupled with the fact I convinced myself she was stealing, so I put in the extra 1.8k to call, flop 9J6, oh yess I thought to myself, Lucy throws in a pot sized bet and I decide it's time to take a stand, all in and Lucy calls, now at this stage I'm thinking maybe AJ so still got her covered. WRONG, she turns over her pocket 6's to my disgust, turn river no good and out I go.

Was a tremendous experience which I thoroughly enjoyed, never at any point did I feel intimidated. Finished 63rd so pretty much in the middle, considering it was my first big event I'm fairly happy with how it went.

Thanks to Joe and the gang, brilliant bunch of people.All the people who made the effort to come along, Brian, Diane, Andy, Sam, Big Andy.

First Ever Live Game

2006-11-05T18:10:00.000+01:00

Well went to the Cincinnati Club in Glasgow. Meant to be a £10 freezeout but it actually had one rebuy. 5000 starting chips. I did okay, didn't post or fold out of turn, pretty much managed to post the right blinds at the right time etc, all the things that had worried me.Played very tight for most of the time, allowing me to take pots in position quite easily. One hand I was chasing a straight, I really struggle to see if I have hit a straight if it is at the top end, too many smiley faces!!! Anyway I had an ace in my hand and there was one on the board too which confuses me more. I am betting with trepidation against one other guy who is acting the same, there is also a possible flush on the board so it turns out to be a split pot as we both have Ace high straight. He thought I too was worried about the flush but I wasn't I just wasn't sure if I had actually made the straight!!!!!

Everyone was really nice although there was a bit of aggro between a couple of guys on my table, was quite funny. One was drunk and the other was all everything must be done right and had the clock on the drunk one. I liked that table as they kept me right, next table was a wee bit nerdier but still all very nice. I steadily built my chip stack until after 3 hrs I had about 12,000. I'm sitting with Q9 on the button and call, flop 779, I raise, one other left, turn 9, I make a small raise again, thinking I must keep the guy in the pot and not scare him off, he puts me all-in so i figure he's got 7's full of 9's. He turns over 77. I just never saw it coming.

Betfair £2 25p MTT

2006-10-21T10:42:00.000+02:00

Well I finished 9th out of 342 so that is my best finish for a while, I decided to move away from SpOdds for a while as it is knocking my confidence a bit. I know I can do better than I seem to be doing on there and this seems to be the case, first MTT I play in I make the money.

Was down to an all-in situation with around 20 left and Morlspin was watching, he said, you'll need to pick a hand soon so I immediately go all-in with 10 6 and hit the straight, cheers G!

A hand later I'm all-in with pocket 6's to hit trips and I'm suddenly sitting 5th.

Get to the final table sitting 3rd and steal a few pots but end up all-in with AQ? or KQ, don't remember but got busted by JQ who hits runner runner.

Was pleased overall as sometimes the luck goes with you, sometimes against. Thanks G for the support.

Uncle Ed

2006-10-15T18:18:00.000+02:00

As I don't think he's going to make a blog I'll keep his info on here too. He is the money winner in the family. In September he won the Champions League on Sporting Odds and won a seat at the Midlands Masters in November, so that's a nice wee all expenses paid trip for both of us. I'll happily rail.

He has won the $4k guaranteed on Sporting Odds before. Also won Tikay's tourney. So as I said he is the poker player.

More Family

2006-10-07T12:46:00.000+02:00

MILLIE

BARNEY

My family

2006-10-07T11:56:00.000+02:00

Marcus and Amber

Ed and Amber

SpOdds $4K

2006-10-07T11:52:00.000+02:00

Finished 23rd in this, should have done sooo much better but too much vodka meant I didn't see the big stack was still in the hand when I went all-in with 55 to steal the baby stack's blind, oh well live and learn.

What it would be like to be famous

2006-10-06T22:20:00.000+02:00

Ok so posting lots of poker blogs is not for me as I'm shite at recounting hands so I'm going to pretend I'm famous for 5 mins and that people care what I have to say and can't wait to find out all they can about me!!! That would be cool. So....

SPOKERPLAY3R MAG HAS A DOUBLE PAGE ARTICLE ABOUT WORLD FAMOUS PLAYER DAN DAN

Dan Dan the Diminutive Destroyer was born Valerie Gibson, the result of too much alcohol being consumed when those dreaded English won the World Cup in 1966, shortly after that she became Diane Sheret. Her father was a showjumper and was fiercely competitive, his life revolved around horses, her mother was a teacher and her life revolved around making his as difficult as possible.

Diane's promising career as a show jumper was shortlived as basically she was terrified of leaving the ground, always a bit of a draw back.

Diane was more artistic and spent hours drawing. Living on a farm and having moved to a small town made her slightly different to her peers. ( One quality that attracted her now husband, Uncle Ed the Eliminator, in the first instance)

School was enjoyed by the young Diane and she left to train as a Beauty Therapist at college. According to her this was to become a make-up artist for the BBC where she would meet Prince Andrew and marry him (he had recently been interviewed by Selina Scott on Wogan)

At this time she was first introduced to gambling by her brother, she would play some kind of stud (she can't remember which now) at his friend's house for petrol and fag money, she always made a small profit.

The career of make-up artist never materialized and she became a curtain designer instead. She drifted away from the gambling crowd after a short relationship with one of them ended and did not return to gambling for a few years.

When she did it was to place wagers in her local pub on the domino players (she never played herself). It was here she received her other nickname Wee Fiver, given to her by the old men playing dominoes because she would always have a fiver on so and so. This again funded her travelling and drinking each weekend.

When she met Uncle Ed he was a champion pool player and there was money to be made from his pool playing too.

Another passion of Diane's has been RFC and the highlight of her Rangers experiences was meeting Graeme Souness during the pitch invasion at Aberdeen in 1987 when they clinched the first league in 9 years, she still has her piece of Pittodrie turf and seat!!!!

After many years of curtain designing Diane returned to college to train as a graphic designer only to end up a signwriter, disillusioned she changed direction to become a dental nurse and began her poker career in 2005 when Uncle Ed became obsessed with watching it on TV.

They progressed to online poker with Sporting Odds, recommended by The Mole and onwards to the Punters Lounge after banter with Telepe, Higgs23, Pocketlady and Penelopeys during a Champions League match.

It has been a roller coaster from then onwards for the pint sized star and 6 WSOP bracelets down the line she is still going strong.

We wish DAN DAN more success in the future as she is the most pleasant interviewee we have ever had here at SPOKERPLAY3R

2006-10-06T01:03:00.000+02:00

MUSE, My fave band just now, going to see them in November

Sporting Odds Champs League

2006-10-06T00:55:00.000+02:00

Well I finished 10th in this tonight which is a major achievement for me just now, getting to final tables in MTT's ( unless it's a qualifier to another MTT) seem to be elusive.

Seems the more I learn the worse I get!!!!

Anyway I went out with AA so I wouldn't have played it any other way. Galronix's 77 made a straight. That's poker.

2006-10-04T20:09:00.000+02:00

No idea what to write here, so hi anyone reading this so far.