a bubble burst

September is over and it was my first losing poker month since starting to keep proper track in April.

I was still holding a small monthly profit until losing on Poker 770 yesterday and, to a lesser degree, again today.

The loss for the month overall would have been a profit if I had not paid to play in the APAT tournament in Birmingham - although I only count the £75 pure entry and not the £90 hotel, £30 petrol and £120 to replace my sunglasses !

APAT Birmingham

Had a great time in Birmingham last weekend and it has taken me so long to post on here that I'm afraid I am going to cheat and the following is reconstituted from my posts on the Punters Lounge Forum ! :-

The weekend ended (strange place to start) at about 2.00am on Monday morning as Avon (the Mrs) and I stayed to the end to see the winner crowned (actually cupped and medalled) - a lad called Daniel who I think lived local to Birmingham. We enjoyed meeting all the Punters Lounge players and supporters, some for the first time, along with people from other forums / gaming rooms and I didn't see anyone playing or watching (which I did too much of on day 2) in anything but the right spirit.

We had a few M6 traffic problems going down but not too bad, compared to the traffic jam at the casino trying to sign up with membership forms from the APAT email or off the casino website - which they no longer accepted. Perhaps the one area that could be improved on. On my first table I was sat next to PL player Danarama and opposite BurnleyJoe. Don't have a great memory for hands but do remember Dan's AA getting beat by 56 (2 pair) so when I got them only a few hands later I effectively over-raised and got no calls. KK a few hands later picked up 2 or 3 more blinds and was around 11k when our table broke up and I was sent to the 'table of death' (where the first two out, and four of the first five out, had been sitting - chip leader already over 70k).

The hand that basically kept me in overnight occurred quite a bit before the 7pm break when with QQ I called PL player MoneyIvey's AK raise to 2400, only for both of us to be put all-in by the guy on my left, who had JJ. No A K or J to be seen on the board but a Q on the turn I think for good measure. That put me on 23k, dropped to 20k by the food break, and ended the day at 11pm on 22k - but happy to have survived.

Then the Sunday disaster. Straight away I am the BB for 3k and the guy in seat 2 or 3 raised about his fifth pot in a row - 4 last night and the first today - up to 7k. I hate Q suited, and don't play Q suited, there are threads on here in which I confirm I don't play Q suited - so of course I called with my Q8c ! Flop is J 8 5 with the 5 the only club. I now have middle pair which is more than I had 2 minutes ago so I announce all-in and he calls before my chips have moved ! KJos gives him top pair and although the club on the turn gives me hope the 9d river seals my fate. He did go on to finish third after being chip leader at the food break and chip leader when down to three.

I'm was annoyed with myself (and put it down to my brain still trying to get over having finished full english breakfast at 11am followed by the chinese buffet arranged by APAT at 1pm) but have still enjoyed it. Can't say the same a few hours later when I spill a whole coffee latte down me and have to go back to the car to strip and change into yesterday's clothes ! Coming to a CCTV show near you soon !

Even more annoyed when around 7pm we discover someone has picked up my glasses case and walked off with my prescription sunglasses - hope they give them a headache. Mind you they might have been after the lipsyl I also keep in there ! If you see a man wearing sunglasses, bumping into things, but with glossy lips, in the Birmingham area let me know.

Playing live is very much still a learning curve for me but I look forward to getting back on this particular horse in the PokerPlayer Grand Prix final in London on 4th October.

Refreshed

Back after three great days away at the seaside and didn't think about poker once and certainly didn't miss playing.

Played in the final PokerPlayer Grand Prix qualifier last night, finishing 99th after overplaying A 10 h so didn't add to my total points tally, other than the 5 everyone gets for turning up. Top 33 qualify for the live final and after my third place in one qualifier I am hopeful I will just scrape in. Only dropped two places to 20th after the last one so hard to think I will drop 13 places now, but it is not impossible. Suggestion was that the final was to be on 4th October, which I might not be able to make anyway due to work commitments. Although my work meeting on that morning is in Reading which is a lot closer to London than Yorkshire !

Big game this week is the APAT live tournament in Birmingham on Saturday, and hopefully Sunday ........ watch this space !

And something that won't ........

for my wife on our anniversary x

It had to end ......

First losing session on Poker 770 tonight - played six 5 seat STTs and lost three, second in two and won one (in that order !) for an overall loss of 50 cents. In the first couple of games I lost twice with AA and when my flopped full house (77 with flop 7 10 10) lost to a straight flush courtesy of runner runner I thought I was being punished for withdrawing funds earlier this evening !

Now looking forward to three days without poker as I'm off to the seaside.

First Love

The last three days were effectively spent back with my first love - racing at York for the transferred St Leger meeting (from Doncaster) on Friday and Saturday and then Sunday with our horses.

No winners at York but only had 3 bets over the two days so wasn't breaking any bank.

Assuming our mare Flo is still in foal (some indications she might not be) we have a covering fee to pay at the end of the month so I have been making withdrawals from some poker accounts (first time for a good while) which should be enough to pay half of it.

We have two yearlings entered in the sales at Newmarket at the end of October - the Tattersalls part 3 sale (Part 1 is the real big money stuff, and Part 2 prices far exceed Part 3, so we go more in hope than expectation). Flo's yearling looks more the part of the two so I would hope someone will take her on.

The other yearling was orphaned at two months which does seem to have affected her progression generally to the stage where she now frets when in a stable on her own. Not ideal for a racehorse !

That's no Lady .......

I need to offer belated congratulations to my better half - AvonGirl on most sites - for recently winning her first MTT and then coming second in the Sporting Odds monthly $2500 freeroll in reasonably quick succession. This after having played for only about 9 months.

She does have an annoying habit of showing hands unnecessarily (she will say not !) but apart from that is a solid player and probably prone to fewer mistakes than me - but I do think I am slightly the better player still (financially anyway) !

Repeat Performance

13th August : "Played in the PokerRoom / Poker Player Team Challenge on Wednesday and made my second final table in the last three tournaments, improving this time to 5th from 10th two games ago (nowhere inbetween). The winner of each tournament gets to represent PokerRoom in a live game against a team of Norwegian players - plus there is a $1000 prize fund in each qualifier (freerolls)".

Tonight : Played in the PokerRoom / Poker Player Team Challenge and made my third final table in the last four tournaments, again finishing 5th despite having been chip leader with 6 left in. Made a series of poor decisions at the end and was lucky with 88 v KK - 8 on river - to keep me in the final 30 or so, so can't really complain.

One more to go next month and then this particular gravy train reaches the end of the line !

suddenly noticed

that most of my daily titles recently have started with the letter 'S' (8 out of the last 10 including this cheat one) !

must mean something but I don't know what ...........

stunning

the song and the video (Silent All These Years by Tori Amos)

it may take a while to 'download' the first time so I recommend you let it do it and then play the whole thing through at one sitting - the only way to listen and watch it properly. I think it is worth it !

Sundays

are too busy again !

Played the Blue Square Bubble freeroll at 4pm, the $1500 freeroll on Nordicbet at 6.30pm, the Blue Square Bankroll Booster freeroll at 7.45pm, Champions League on Sporting Odds at 8pm, a freeroll qualifier to a $100k tournament on Virgin at 8pm, the V-Points freeroll on Virgin at 8.30pm and the Mansion PokerGod freeroll at 9.30pm.

It is now 10.05pm and I have been out of all of them for a while ! The only one I finished in the money in was the Bankroll Booster - $3.00 for 14th so it didn't cover the $3.30 cost of the SO game !

STTs

Played nine 5 player STTs on Poker 770 today, winning 2 and finishing second 4 times. Did better in the two this evening than the seven this afternoon so I think I will stick to evenings from now on.

Have posted previously that Saturday afternoons not usually profitable for me and was only just today (still not had a losing session on 770) and I don't know if that is because there is a better class of player at that time or I just play a looser game. Anyway it is clear I should be doing better things with my Saturday afternoons than playing poker, which is just as well because I shall be at York races next week and on the beach at Scarborough the following one !

Played my next round game in the Punters Lounge heads up tournament, winning again thanks mostly to AA, AKh and AQs in fairly quick succession, followed by a winning hand of 55 v AJ with a flop of x5J. Into the final eight, with money for the final four - which before the tournament started I pledged to donate to charity should I win any. The money is generously being put up by a member of PL so that the games are completely free.

The really big MTTs continue to be a problem at the moment as I am still playing too many hands early on - today's effort was 9166th out of 9500 approx on Bet365 !