GPT Leg 1 Part 1

So off i set for the inaugural GPT event to be hosted in the glamours Bolton equipped with my new laptop and a couple of films i started the 5hr Journey, my plan was to get there in time to check in have a quick rest then get to the casino for the £200+£20 The Claimer had already taken care of registering me so no panic over seats!

I got to the hotel in time although sadly the train was a bit quick so i hadn't quite finished watching Casino Royale (quite enjoyed it) when i arrived i saw Lord Wernick in the Lobby trying to check in, it turns out there had been some miscommunication and he was not due to arrive till the following day! Luckily for Mickey there was another chap named Karl who turned up and had an extra room, problem sorted! Mickey then took the 3 of us over to the casino.

We arrived at the casino to find a rather large field for this £200 event and a lot of them were friendly faces so the wait for the comp went pretty fast, it wasn't long till we were underway. 16 tables in total, and of course myself Mickey and Karl were all on the same table, other players on the table were Burnley John and Stuart Rutter, it was my first time playing the latter and he did the damage to me in a cooler of a hand. I was impressed by his play though.

Sadly for me level 2 was an impossible place to pass and i was one of the first players to bite the dust, thankfully i had 10% of the Claimer to keep me interested, i hung around for the rest of the night chatting to some players i hadn't seen for a while whilst railing The Claimer. He ended up busting in 12th when his KK failed vs KQ for a huge pot. Would have been nice to see him take the 12k for first and get me my buy ins back!


Friday was what it was all about, i met up with Paul King in the hotel and we travelled across to the casino for the main event, i was very excited about this event. I have never played a UK event with a running ante before, this is something that really hurts the nits and helps my game so i was confident going in. When i got there i met up with the usual crowd at these events made up of the on-line qualifiers from blonde poker and the blonde circuit players. I checked out the table draw and say i was playing with Stuart again, other than that the table was completely unknown to me. My first bit of good luck! already. Especially when i looked at some of the table line-ups.

I got of to a good start when i took about 2000 chips of Stuart when my SB A4 connected well on the A84A2 board vs his A7. It became clear pretty quickly that the table standard was very poor, one very old lady on hand 3 open raised to 1k on 25-50 and complained "i never get action with these" as she showed JJ........it appeared to me that the only two decent players on the table were the two on my right, Stuart two to my right and a Bad Beat Trader between us who was very tight. So i really couldn't complain with the table and this showed through the evenings play, we only played 5 levels and after 4 levels i was up to about 20k from taking small pots down, it also helped that i only lost 800 with QQ vs KK, thanks to my opponents shocking play.

Of course i couldn't go and play well all session, i knew i had to make one big mistake........it came when one of the weaker players had started motoring a bit, he had upped his aggression after winning a bit AA cracking pot with a set. I had bet him of a few pots but knew the playback was coming soon. On 150-300 Stuart open limps and i make it 1200 with AJ, mateyboy calls on the button and Stuart passes, the flop comes KQJ, we all check. The turn brings a 9, Stuart checks i think about the bet but check again, the button guy now bets 1500, Stuart passes and i call pretty quickly. The river bring a 2, i think i am ahead but don't really know how to play it, i decide to opt for a check to induce a bluff, he ends up betting 3500, quite a decent bet i end up calling and being show AT for the absolute nuts, i am still not sure about the call. In terms of the actual hand itself its ok i think, Stuart says he calls vs the guy as well, the thing is though the table was weak and there was no need to play big pots with marginal hands OOP. Tournament strategy makes this hand a pass on the turn.

Anyway it was not all a loss i was carrying an average stack into Day 2 and there were far worse situations to be in than that! The first level would also be the first level of ante's and the higher the blinds and ante's get the bigger my edge so onwards and upwards!

A mixed bag

Since i posted my intention for the year i have had mixed results, i took a trip to the Western when at Jamie's and won a little cash in the £50 Freeze, nothing special but it was a bit of fun. The better result was still to come though, when we got back i played the $5k 1am comp on Tribeca that i haven't played for ages. I was reduced to 200 chips on the first level (20-40) yet somehow managed to come back and then go on to crush the field, i was playing a super LAG style and had 50% of the chips before the final had even begun. I took it down for just short of $3k. A good result and nice to log the first victory of the year.

I returned home the next day happy that i was off the mark, i was going to play a heavy few days then go to the GPT event. I played my usual Sunday comps but also noticed a GPT $250FO sat on BSQ so thought i may as well. The comp ran golden for me, i was up to 5k pretty quickly and up to 10k way before the rest of the players. I never got myself into any trouble and found myself with a $2.5k package. Even though the later stages were plagued with my mates Steve and Jacko who were staying at the flat coming in drunk, having schooled Jungle at a few games of pool.

So not a bad start to the year just under 6k up by this point, unfortunately thats where it ended, i went on a very cold run up to the GPT, i cashed one other time for the rest of the week over 35 comps. Such is the joy of tournament poker, since getting back from the GPT i have been quite ill but have started playing again and it seems the run is set to continue. I have dropped just under 4k in tournament buyins since winning that sat which is one of my more impressive down-swings. I am confident it will improve though and if not no worry i can leave the net along next week as its the Brighton January sales festival!

I'll be posting a GPT report either later today or tomorrow aswell.

A new year a new outlook.

Last year i was happy with my performance i made 88k from 880 tournaments, $100/comp. Thats pretty good and although 880 tournaments sounds a lot it really isn't, i have started the new year on a new regime. I am play a set tournament schedule each night that improves my efficiency and hopefully my bottom line!

This approach was partially brought about by the forthcoming closure of Tribeca, i have been very reliant on Tribeca to provide my gaming, i now realise it is risky to rely entirely on 1 site. So i have spread my play more, extending too DTD, Full Tilt and Poker Stars, i may even make a return to Party.....ok maybe not.

Anyway as of this year i am following a schedule that means i start playing at 8PM each night with 4 tournaments. They are the Tribeca $20k ($19.8 rebuy) the DTD £12k (£50+£5 freeze) the Poker Stars $25k ($50+$5) and the Full Tilt $20k ($150+$13 freeze) playing just these 4 comps each day would massively increase the number from last year. I am though adding more, dependent on my state in the '8PM 4' the other comps that fit on my short-list are the $10k $69+$6 freeze on Full tilt at 9PM the £8k (£25+£2) on DTD at 9:30pm the $50+$5 freezeouts on both DTD and Stars at 10PM and the $15k ($28.35 rebuy) on Tribeca at 10:45PM

The big surprise for me is that lack of the $100+$9 on BSQ (Tribeca) at 10PM, they went and removed the guarantee on it just before Christmas and i now no longer see it warranting screen space as it takes a long time for little potential reward.

After that first wave of tournaments i have the second wave that consist of a $20 rebuy omaha and holdem comps on stars, together with the $50 freeze and $28.35 rebuy on tribeca. This month also see's the best comp of the night, the $100 Freezeout on Mansion with a $100,000 g'td pool every night! It starts at 3PM and as far i haven't seen it break 500 runners. Valoooooooo.

The question is how often am i going to play these 'full shifts' part of the enjoyment of playing poker full time is allowing yourself time of when you want, i think last year i got the balance wrong, i took far too much time off and wasted potential earnings, this year i want to really knuckle down and be more professional about it, i want to be able to purchase some property so i have another source of income, then i can sit back and let the money roll in.....well not quite.

So how often will i play this year, at the moment i have it in my head to play all the GUKPT events and each of the Brighton Festivals, that actually equates to quite a lot of festivals (10 GUKPT and i think 8 Brighton) the key here is that they are not week long excursions where i am wasting money on expenses etc, in Brighton i will be able to play online if i am knocked out early and the GUKPT are 3 day events so i will spend minimal time away and less on expenses. There is of course the need for days off to enjoy myself, at the moment i can't see myself 'working' on Tuesdays, i am having a lot of fun down in the Casino on Tuesday nights in the £20 rebuy, it might not seem like a 'night off' but it is, much enjoyment to be had. I will also take time out for little trips away, i would like to go to Vegas a couple of times this year and i would also like to head to Florida for a bit and rent a plane (i am a commercial pilot for those of you who are new to the blog) and have some fun doing that, it was the best time of my life when i was living there whilst training, even though i was a little poorer!

I know i haven't mentioned cash games yet, and that's for good reason, i am just shit at them, the sooner i convince myself of that the better, i made dust last year on them, it's just a waste of time for me, i could spend the time to get better and really learn them but i really don't see the need, i can make enough through tournaments. The one game i will be coming back too though is NLHE HU SNG's these are a great little money spinner for me and i will play these when i find myself not in a game, so before 8PM if i am up and at the PC, and then after the nights comps if i bust early.


I guess what i am saying is no more pissing about, lets earn some money!

For now though i am on a train bound for Reevio's house (Jamie-Host from Blue Square) which basically undermines all of what i just said about taking time off, still it should be fun!