Yesterday was the tournaments i’d been looking forward to all Month, the scoop horse events (Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven card Stud Eight or Better) and as the time approached I was running badly and in a foul mood from getting beat after beat in some warm up games.

There were 3 levels of entry and $22 – $215 and $2100 all with Guarantees of $50k, $100k and $150k respectively. I was all fired up to play the bottom 2 and was very tempted to play the bigger one, after 3 days thinking about it I decided to stick to basic bankroll principles which meant I couldn’t justify a big buy-in.

As the day went on I decided to play a satellite to the $215 as a warm up and to get my seat cheaply, all was going well then again I had a terrible beat which sent me a little insane, I then decided only to play the $22 game as things just weren’t going my way.

Here’s a hand from the satellite:
Me = macey1

PokerStars Game #44136227746: Tournament #272919276, $36+$3 USD HORSE (Hold’em Limit) – Level XI (400/800) – 2010/05/15 20:25:11 WET [2010/05/15 15:25:11 ET]
Table ‘272919276 6′ 8-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: macey1 (1846 in chips)
Seat 3: blake_le_cat (4090 in chips)
Seat 4: SenatorPhil (4764 in chips)
Seat 6: jumpinhorse (3476 in chips)
Seat 7: DanBir (1344 in chips)
Seat 8: MarMoss (1523 in chips)
MarMoss: posts small blind 200
macey1: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to macey1 [Ks Ad]
blake_le_cat: folds
SenatorPhil has timed out
SenatorPhil: folds
SenatorPhil is sitting out
jumpinhorse: folds
SenatorPhil has returned
DanBir: folds
MarMoss: raises 400 to 800
macey1: raises 400 to 1200
MarMoss: raises 323 to 1523 and is all-in
Betting is capped
macey1: calls 323
*** FLOP *** [Kd Qs 2d]
*** TURN *** [Kd Qs 2d] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Kd Qs 2d 3s] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MarMoss: shows [2s Qc] (two pair, Queens and Deuces)
macey1: shows [Ks Ad] (a pair of Kings)
MarMoss collected 3046 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3046 | Rake 0
Board [Kd Qs 2d 3s Th]
Seat 1: macey1 (big blind) showed [Ks Ad] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 3: blake_le_cat folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: SenatorPhil folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: jumpinhorse folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: DanBir (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

To cut a long story short:

There were 3821 runners in the low horse poker tournament which was by far the biggest field of players for this variant I’d faced, the usual is around 130, I knew the quality of the lower buy-in game would be quite low as a lot would simply enter because it was a “scoop game”.

In the end I finished 8th and although that’s pretty good I should have won it for sure. The last 2 hours i was sat in 1st with just over 3 million in chips and rising , 2nd place had about 1.5 million, with 14 layers left i was in total control and in no rush to risk it. When we got down to 9 players (final table is last 2 hands in a row send me spiraling out of control, both times on the river and both 2 or 3 outers.

I hung on for a while but the inevitable was on the way, short stacked i pushed on the Hold’em round with A 8 called by A J and that was that. I was absolutely gutted and I know I should have won or at least been top 3. I love playing this game and one of the reasons why i prefer limit games to no-limit games is the control you have and ability to have some damage limitation, a bit sick to have gone out through bad luck but as they say “if you did nothing wrong, there’s nothing to worry about”

Anyway that was my Saturday night from 10pm until 8.30 am, tonight is the scoop main event again with 3 levels of buyin $109 to $10900 and prize pools Gtd in the Millions. Don’t think these are for me though as i need sleep.

Major online tournaments mostly take place at www.pokerstars.com

Until the next time, good luck at the tables!!

Anyway, as we were approaching the bubble i was sat with average chips and really comfortable, played well and had a bit of luck earlier on and won a coin flip or two.

A strange hand came up and i made the call on the river after i checked the turn which was a mistake or maybe not as he may well have called that bet also. I doubt it though and it was a huge mistake not to put out a big bet on the turn, I was kind of hoping to get him to bluff on the river by checking and wasn’t worried about the flush.

The hand is below so you can see what I mean, I get dealt KK (which is always nice).

PokerStars Game #44098437388: Tournament #2010050311, $20+$2 USD Hold’em No Limit – Level XVII (600/1200) – 2010/05/15 0:11:24 WET [2010/05/14 19:11:24 ET]
Table ‘2010050311 453′ 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: kunkles21 (105416 in chips)
Seat 2: DraregNevets (31527 in chips)
Seat 3: lepin ui (71496 in chips)
Seat 4: Jason McTyre (39322 in chips)
Seat 5: doktor007 (43283 in chips)
Seat 6: Student_Eur (16147 in chips)
Seat 7: fwilliams007 (70566 in chips)
Seat 8: macey1 (43468 in chips)
Seat 9: Rizm0 (32047 in chips)
kunkles21: posts the ante 150
DraregNevets: posts the ante 150
lepin ui: posts the ante 150
Jason McTyre: posts the ante 150
doktor007: posts the ante 150
Student_Eur: posts the ante 150
fwilliams007: posts the ante 150
macey1: posts the ante 150
Rizm0: posts the ante 150
DraregNevets: posts small blind 600
lepin ui: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to macey1 [Ks Kh]
Jason McTyre: folds
doktor007: folds
Student_Eur: folds
fwilliams007: raises 1600 to 2800
macey1: raises 2000 to 4800
Rizm0: folds
kunkles21: folds
DraregNevets: folds
lepin ui: folds
fwilliams007: calls 2000
*** FLOP *** [6c 7d 3c]
fwilliams007: checks
macey1: bets 6000
fwilliams007: calls 6000
*** TURN *** [6c 7d 3c] [Qd]
fwilliams007: checks
macey1: checks
*** RIVER *** [6c 7d 3c Qd] [4d]
fwilliams007: bets 18222
macey1: calls 18222
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fwilliams007: shows [2d 3d] (a flush, Queen high)
macey1: shows [Ks Kh] (a pair of Kings)
fwilliams007 collected 61194 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 61194 | Rake 0
Board [6c 7d 3c Qd 4d]
Seat 1: kunkles21 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 2: DraregNevets (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: lepin ui (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Jason McTyre folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: doktor007 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: Student_Eur folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: fwilliams007 showed [2d 3d] and won (61194) with a flush, Queen high
Seat 8: macey1 showed [Ks Kh] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 9: Rizm0 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Piss poor poker play by me there with my pocket Kings but hey ho, wtf was the early position raise then call a re-raise (albeit a low re-raise) with 2-3 all about anyway!!

So far I’ve played 5 or 6 scoop events all at the low level of buyin and cashed twice for = not a lot, still excellent value for little outlay. The one above for example is $22 entry plus 1 re-buy/add on and the winner picks up over $66,000 so not a bad investment if you can make it all the way.

I have however done exactly what i keep telling myself not to do, playing for playings sake. I’m often losing on purpose so i can go to bed at 4am which is ridiculous, this is something I really need to work on!

Still SCOOP events left which includes plenty more Hold’em and some mixed game – if anyone hasn’t played one yet it’s worth a shot!

Anyway, the UKIPT begins in Manchester today and at the same time satellites for the Coventry leg have started on poker stars, you can qualify for the UKIPT Coventry for points, for a fiver or for just over £100, there’s something to suit everyone’s budgets.

I’ll make sre there are plenty of updates from now on and results from the UKIPT Manchester as they come in, the UK Poer Tour is later this month in Walsall along with the Club Championships on the 13th, it’s a busy, busy time for UK Poker.

I’ve been playing horse cash games online and loving it, no one even knows how to play it so all is good, lost on 2 sessions probably $150 in total but nicely in profit the rest of the time, I’m gonna try to qualify on stars for the Coventry leg and suggest if you fancy doing the same you get to work straight away, the Manchester leg was full around 10 days before the start date.

Catch ya later, back off to check all the site files and look for anything that shouldn’t be there.

January is here, and John picked the £220 2 day event at Bolton, here is how he got on:

Running good & playing good – Bingo!
John Abernethy Sponsored UK Poker Player

Having not played seriously since Leg 9 in Blackpool last year, I was a little short on table time and went into this tournament a little low on self-confidence. The original plan was satellite in to the Main Event on-line over the Xmas period. However, like all good plans my best intentions were scuppered by endless piss-ups and parties and I never once managed to log on to any poker websites. Consequently, I plumped for the £200 2-day side event .

The Main Event had commenced the day earlier so I thought the cream of that particular crop would still be embroiled in Day 2 of their tournament, thus leaving the eliminated also-rans for me to contend with.

A field of 87 eventually sat down for Day 1 and it seemed almost of them had a tale of woe about their exits the previous day. That left me in no doubt that most of them knew their stuff. Tournament regulars Andy Bradshaw and Howard Plant were holding court on their respective tables.

A starting stack of 7,500 and 40-minute blinds starting at 25/50 meant there was plenty of play for even the most frivolous of amateurs. That said, after about ½ an hour of play, I had somehow managed to spunk off 2,500 of chips and had to tighten up sharpish. My opponents included a few familiar faces – one of whom I had watched take down about £4k last time I was in Blackpool, a guy whose name escapes me that I had seen a couple of times on TV, and a truly obnoxious fella to my right who took it upon himself to systematically abuse every dealer that sat at our table. He was reading his newspaper for the first couple of hours and paying little attention to the table action unless he picked up a hand. His paper was covering his chips at one point and the dealer asked him to make sure his stack was on display – he took exception to this. Later a dealer changed another players 100 chip for four of his 25s – again he saw his arse. He justified his actions by stating he takes all manner of abuse from customers in his daily job so the dealers should be prepared to suffer likewise. What a complete arsehole! In my limited casino experience, all the dealers have been polite and efficient and always do their best. They certainly shouldn’t have to tolerate abuse from dickheads like him.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. After being card-dead for a couple of hours I was down to 5k and pick up a pair of black 4s in mid position with the blinds at 100/200. There had been no action so I pop it up to 500 and would be happy to take down the blinds there and then. It folds around to the BB and he calls. I don’t mind that – I’ve got position and you never know, I could flop a set. The flop comes A K 9 – all spades. He checks and I fire a continuation bet of 650, he calls making the pot 2400. A red 5 on the turn changes nothing and we both slow down and are happy to see a river card for free. The river brings the 8 of spades giving me a flush. A shit flush, but a flush nonetheless. I tickle the pot with a 900 bet. He raises it to 3000 and the de-ja-vu kicks in. Once again I have a decision for my tournament with an easily beatable hand. He could have called me with any pair or any half decent ace, either of which could very well have contained a spade. I tried to do what every poker bible I’ve ever read says to do – do the maths. I failed miserably due to the 10 sets of eyes burning in to me and plumped for a hero-call. Fuck it – he either has me by the balls or I virtually double up. I call and he turns over A 10, both red. I flip my flush and I’m the King Of The World!

That, as they say, was the turning point. My confidence boosted, I set about mauling the table. A raise with a suited 6 8 flops a straight and an ace on the turn guarantees I’m paid of handsomely. Later, pocket 8s flops 6 8 9. The turn brings a scary 5 but a river 9 is the bonanza card and again I fleece two players holding straights with an overbet on the river. The break comes too soon and my stack is over 20k. This put me in bully-boy territory so I was up to 30k within 30 mins of the re-start after a few enjoyable river bluffs. I saw off half of the table before we were joined by consummate professional Paul Parker and the unmistakeable Gerald David – aka Skullman. God knows what powers that skull-shaped card protector has but he started hitting 2-outers left, right and centre to decimate the table.

I found myself in a strange hand with Paul Parker when I raised from the cut-off holding AQ suited and he called. An 8-high board saw me raise to try and nick it there but he pushed his last 8k in meaning I needed to stick 5k to call. I called figuring I might have two overs or even have him dominated. He turns over pocket 9s leaving me about a 20% underdog. Not the end of the world I thought seeing as I could eliminate a player who has amassed the best part of £1m in tournament winnings. He doubled up and I take a hit but gain a reputation as a loose cannon. I used this to my advantage as players were reluctant to tangle with me. My chipstack peaked at about 50k putting me amongst the chip-leaders for the majority of the night. We played 10 levels ending at about 3am. Four hands from the end of the night I got involved in a hand with a guy who had been needling me all night saying I was lucky – which was bollocks. He just couldn’t figure me out as I hadn’t shown any cards all night. He has just doubled up giving him a stack bigger than mine and I foolishly called his all-in holding AK. Not my style to call off my money with ace high but I was getting tired and wanted to stick it to him. He had kings and the poker gods had long since retired for the evening. I busted in 21st place.

I might not have made the money this time but I gained an awful lot of self-confidence. I know for a fact that I can hold my own with these guys. I may not talk the talk, but I can definitely walk the walk. Roll on next month!

John Abernethy

Aka Rolandinho.

Out of sheer boredom last night i played 30 mins of cash and was in profit for the princely sum of $8, then i played my old faithful H.O.R.S.E tournament and got a run of the shittiest beats ever, i also tried the UKIPT satellite which is a $8.88 re-buy game (£5.50ish) which is a really poor structure, can’t complain it’s only a fiver though ehh!

So even though i only played for a short while and things ran badly, i enjoyed it and need to get back to it asap. I’ve just been so busy of late that actually playing seemed impossible, for those who know me well enough being busy isn’t top of my priorities by any means, i like to leave things until the last minuet before doing them and then do them in record breaking time. I’ve tried to change that and be a bit more organised but it’s just not for me!!!

Recently I’ve been busy with this UK Poker site and writing a few things for a magazine which has been interesting/boring, I’ve never worked for anyone else since I was 18 and now at 33 I’m not about to start answering to the man as it were, deadlines and stuff like that are of no use to me at all!

So as soon as i can i’m back off to the cash games on lucky ace poker and hitting the pokerstars tournaments pretty hard, albeit at a low buyin. Sticking to the games i know i can win is a good idea but ego might push me higher, but that’s just the way I like it anyway.

I need some live games also but luckily there’s a lot coming up as you ca see on the new tournament calendar which is almost complete, I think that is an excellent way to plan any trips but I’m biased

We should have a sponsored player report shortly from the gukpt Bolton, sponsorship deals are still in the offering and more will become available soon. Private leagues may or may not be back on the agenda, there a lot of work and so far it’s cost me around £6000 but were enjoyable. The money side of it as in costing me money isn’t a big deal, i have made a lot of money from poker over the past Years so i see it as giving something back, that’s what i tell the missus anyway!

That’s all from me, the sites about to take off properly soon with more UK Poker News, strategy, schedules and much more. Something is added everyday so there’s always something to read.

Catch ya later people!

I’m still unsure as to whether I’ll be able to make it yet or not, I’ve been pretty busy adding new information to the web site as well as going through the redesign. It’s has been worth while in my opinion, everything is beginning to look good and the wealth of information to be added is pretty staggering!

We do have one sponsored player in the Bolton leg, he is playing the £200 2 day event and you can read a full report after it’s completed, hopefully a good result which would be a huge boost to us all.

The thing is if i don’t get to Bolton, I won’t get to Manchester in February for the UKIPT as it falls on my daughters birthday which is also valentines day. Still families way more important, and poker will still be there. I was checking the schedules and if I miss February, then March would take me to London which i probably won’t go to either, it’s just too far and the costs are too high!

So that’s me so far, no idea what to play or when. It looks like I’ll be staying at home working day and night to get this web site completed, thanks for all the emails and comments about the new look by the way, very kind of you all.

This was just a quick blog update so now it’s back to adding schedules, strategy and news all about poker in the UK.

Take it easy!