Climbing The Ladder

I have the next two days off from work so have decided to have a go at the Ladbrokes Ladders tournaments.

They work like this; you pay $3 and enter a ten seat sit n go tournament and the first three qualify for the second round.

In round two you once again play under a ten seat table rules and the first three qualify for the third table. The person who ends up in fourth place gets the opportunity to replay that level.

The qualification to get to round four allows the first three to get through and once they win this third table they are in the final level.

In level four the pay out structure is as follows;
1st Place - $500
2nd Place - $300
3rd Place - $200

I played in a first round table last night and came 2nd (yes, yet another game where I ended up not finishing first!). I will update this entry with results of my future games. Well, I hope it is 'GAMES' and not just the next 'GAME'

Update - I lost the 2nd level game. I had J J and went in to a pot against two other players. One of the players had K K.

How Ruud

I was listening to and reading all the news today regarding Ruud Van Nistelrooy apparently upset over not being played in the Carling Cup Final yesterday here in Cardiff.

The opinion I have is this; he shouldn't have played.

Louis Saha played the earlier games in the tournament and had quite a good showing scoring the majority of the goals that led to them getting to Cardiff so it should only be fair that he took priority over the Dutchman.

It is constant in this world, not only just sport, for people to put effort in to something only for someone else to come along and take all the credit.

At least it didn't happen yesterday afternoon at the Millennium Stadium.

A Super Saturday

I am hoping for a Super Saturday after doing a super heinz on the football.

The bets are as follows;

- Chelsea and Portsmouth to have over 2.0 and 2.5 goals in a goal line bet
- Arsenal to beat Blackburn
- Newcastle United to win against Everton
- Birmingham victors over Sunderland
- Barcelona to win in their game against Real Zaragoza

The other two selections in this bet have already been played in the South American leagues. I had one winner and one loser which means I am guaranteed not to walk away with the full winnings which would have been £296.16.
As the super heinz bet consists of 120 combinations of bets I may still walk away in profit if the remaining matches work in my favour. I have staked 25p a bet so have laid out £30.

Fingers crossed.

The Breaks

Clap your hands everybody
If you got what it takes
Cause I'm Kurtis Blow and I want you to knowThat these are the breaks
Brakes on a bus brakes on a car
Breaks to make you a superstar
Breaks to win and breaks to lose
But these here breaks will rock your shoes
And these are the breaks
Break it up break it up break it up!

If your woman steps out with another man(That's the breaks that's the breaks)
And she runs off with him to Japan
And the IRS says they want to chat
And you can't explain why you claimed your cat
And Ma Bell sends you a whopping bill
With eighteen phone calls to Brazil
And you borrowed money from the mob
And yesterday you lost your job
Well, these are the breaks
Break it up, break it up, break it up

Extract from 'The Breaks' by Kurtis Blow

I played this song through my head yesterday when I was asking myself how unfortunate two specific hands I played cost me in the tournaments I had entered.

I spent the afternoon playing poker and entered a $5 touranent and in the early stages of the game I was dealt an Ace and King so thought that regardless of how many people enter the pot I would play the hand.

One person to my right went all-in and his chip count was greater than mine so I knew that if his hand was better I would be out so I decided I would take the gamble and called his bet.

His hand turns over and he has a pair of tens. At that point he was favourite with his pair by a touch of a percentage more than me as I had two overcards (cards higher in value than his).

I didn't manage to hit any pairs on the community cards so I was ejected from the tournament.

Then, an hour later, I decided to play in the Irish Open qualifier. At about the same time in the earlier tournament I was dealt a pair of fours and the person to my right made an all-in bet just like what had happened in the previous game. I had been watching this opponent more closely than any other at the table because I had noticed he entered many pots and was playing a lot of high cards and not pairs. I figured in my mind that he might have had AK and thought that I would get some retribution from the previous game and win with the hand that I had. So, going against one of my disciplines of not playing with low pairs I called. His cards were an AQ (lower than I had anticipated from him!).

He hit another ace on the flop. I bowed my head in frustration.

And these are 'The Breaks'.

Five Star

It was five years ago this morning at around 2am that I was woken up by my father to tell me that I was an uncle after my sister gave birth to her first (and after a 30 hour labour she reckons last) baby.

Josh has been a great addition to our family and I have enjoyed spending time with him and watching him learn the littlest of things.

I am taking him to town today because he wants me to buy him a Michael Schumacher steering wheel game. I look back now at when I was his age and remind myself that Luke Skywalker was one of my heroes.

I would still take Skywalker over that cheating bugger any day!!

Eh

It was just like old times this past Thursday night. Out of our minds with alcohol and trying to up the ante with each round at the bar.

But it may have been the last. For the time being at least.

The reason why we were there was for a farewell to our friend Glyn who from today is now a resident of Canada.

Glyn was one of the first people I met at high school in 1990 and we became best of friends. Then, I was moved classes and although we were friends we didn't hang out as much. That all changed in the late 90's as we found ourselves in a gang during free periods and lunch times at college.

He was also around for a majority of the parties we went to back then and it was there that some of my most fondest memories come from. The guy was the ultimate fancy dress guy!

Over the last three years I had been unable to go out partying like the good old days but on Thursday I was able to do it for one more time with one of the good guys .

Bon voyage!

The Comeback Kid

I entered the Poker Night Live tournament tonight and had a healthy lead by the first break.

In the second hour I made a few reckless mistakes and ended up right near the bottom of the remaining players.

269 people took part in tonight's game and I was almost out. I was like a deer trapped in the headlights and needed some good cards just to fight my way back.

And I did. I am now $470 richer after coming second.

Yes, I once again missed top spot but when you consider how far from being eliminated I had become then I will accept this bittersweet victory.

On The Bubble

Last night's Poker Night Live game was the hardest defeat I ever came across in a tournament.

With 350 people registered and the top 20 people leaving with a prize I ended up playing some great cards and susatined a good lead.

Until the end of the second hour, that is.

I ended up finishing 21st.

Only JoKing!

I have been burning the candle at both ends the last few days. Playing poker until almost 3am and then getting up for work at 8.30 followed by an evening nap.

I haven't done too badly for myself, mind.

On Sunday I took part in the Poker Night Live game on Bet 365 which was played live on tv on the PokerZone channel. I finished in 12th place.

Monday's game was a $5 tournament on BetFair Poker. I finished 7th and won $28 for my effort.

Last night I decided to play in a regular table game so joined a $0.05 / $0.10 no limit table and spent two hours playing. I turned $5 in to $36.

Play of the day had to be me getting dealt a Jack and a King off-suit and then thinking I would try and steal the pot by going all in preflop. The player two seats after be decided to call my $16 bet. He turned his cards over and had a pair of Jacks. At that moment I was the slight underdog but he needed a Jack for trips and I had one of them. I ended up getting my second King on the river card and, luckily for me, I won the hand.

My Valentine

I was chatting online to a friend a few weeks ago and told her that I wanted to surprise someone who meant a lot to me but had cut ties with me. Her response was 'awwww'.

The problem is the ties have been severed and I don't know how she is or where she is so had to resort to sending a virtual rose online. At least a virtual rose can't be thrown away in the rubbish!

The whole world can respond to my actions with an 'awwww' but it really doesn't matter unless the one person who I really wanted it to mean something liked it.

Don

For what seemed like forever I would be walking along the road and in the distance a nice looking car would appear in the distance and for some reason I would think it was my Uncle Don. As the car sped past me I would look at the driver and see if it really was him and it never was.

The reason why I always looked was because as the succesful businessman that my uncle was he would forever be driving the latest model of cars or jetting off to the most weird sounding places for his holidays.

As a child I wold spend most of my summer holidays at my uncle and aunt's house in West Wales and one of the things that stands out in my memory is how he let me use his computer and it was here that I developed a bit of speed when typing (ok, I am not as fast as some people but I am a lot better than I was before I went to visit that summer!)

There was also the talks we had together which, looking back, I learnt a lot from. He was really in to the motivational thinking and he tried to pass some of the things he learnt on to me.

It's been three years today since he passed away but it still doesn't stop me looking at the drivers as they pass by in the hope of seeing him again.

Crashing Out

I just crashed out of the Paddy Power Irish Open Qualifier within the first twenty minutes.

After being dealt a pair of aces I raised and had two callers. The board cards worked in their favours and I was knocked out by a straight.

Staying Power

It has been common for me over the last year of playing poker to finish in any position but first in the multi table tournaments I have entered.

In tonight's game I paid $10 to enter the qualifier for the Paddy Power Poker Irish Open Grand Final. In fact, I have tried every day since Monday to enter this final that takes place tomorrow night. I came up short in quite a few of the games but tonight was a different story.

With every $103 in the prize pool going towards entry to tomorrow's game it meant that I had to hang in until 12th place or upwards just to guarantee a seat.

2 quarters into the game I was chip leader and decided the amount of chips I had could carry me to the final table so I decided to change my game and fold every hand I had unless some decent hole cards came along.

This strategy won out as after the 13th person was knocked out I had achieved my goal for the week and won the seat.

But I didn't let up. I decided to continue playing and see how far I could go. A lot of the other players, after realising they were 'winners', decided to lose on purpose leaving me and another poker player at the table.

I thought the idea of playing latter stages of a multi table game would provide a little bit more experience for me in the hope that I could use this knowledge in future final table situations.

The result was the same as usual. I came anywhere but 1st. Second is still not too bad, though. Second in tomoorrow's game will also guarantee a ticket to the Dublin event on Easter Sunday.

But I still must strive to be number one because as the saying goes;

Second is the first loser.

LOL

I remember the first time I ever laughed at something written in a book. I was developing my reading so must have been 7 or 8. The book in question was one of the Paddington Bear novels that I had bought in a school jumble sale and the exract went something like this;

'Penny for the Guy, Mister?' Said a young boy holding out a tin of pennies to Paddington.
'Thank you,' Paddington replied as he put his hand in the tin and took a penny.

OK, in the eyes of a 27 year old I must admit that it isn't that funny but back then I thought it was hysterical.

And now twenty years later I find myself laughing at something in a book again. This time, I am laughing at the whole damn book!

I am referring to a book called The Timewaster Letters by Robin Cooper. It is a collection of letters written by Robin Cooper to numerous department stores, publishers and groups for the most ludicrous and bizarre reasons and then has the responses to these letters.

I was sitting on the bus laughing out loud to the sheer insanity of the writer and even more so of the responders who make the correspondces even more humourous. It brought tears to my eyes.

If laughter is the best medicine then this book has made me a drug addict.

29 / 34

29th out of 34 people is the position I finished in the Grand Final.

I made $15 for this place so there was a silver lining to this terrible result.

I will return!

From The Jaws Of Defeat

I was 30th going in to the final game in the BetFred Poker League. I needed to retain that position to ensure entry in to the Top 30 freeroll tonight.

My plan was to finish in the top 20 in last night's game to ensure I had a few points contributing towards my league position. I needed to hold on.

I finished fourth. This earned me an extra 26 points and thrusted me right up to 14th in the league securing my place in tonight's game.

The Bowl

The weekend has been relatively good for me on the betting front.

I made £43 from a four fold bet. I had Real Madrid to win their game in both half-time and full-time, Chuck Lidell to beat Randy Coture in the Ultimate Fighting Championship event, Feyenoord to beat Ajax and Chelsea to win against Liverpool.

I am now looking at doing some betting on the Super Bowl. I have made two picks that I would like to share;

Firstly I believe Pittsburgh will win so I have placed £10 on them to win with a four point handicap.

The second bet I have placed is on there being more points scored in the fourth quarter as compared to the remaining portions of the game. The reason why I have arrived at this conclusion is an average of 18.5 points have been scored in these quarters over the last ten years. Well worth a shot!

Saturday Night Live

After losing in the first thirty minutes in tonight's Betfred Premier League game I decided to play in the Poker Night Live television tournament on Bet365.

I ended up placed 24th out of 357 people which is not a bad position to come considering I have the BetFred League as my main priority.

I am languishing in the early thirties in the table and tomorrow night is the last game. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have to be in the top 30 to win a place in the big final on Monday night.

I need to play like I did tonight in this final game and maybe, just maybe I will get to play in the Monday game.

Chopped Souey

I was glad that Newcastle United and Graeme Souness parted company earlier today.

I have been a Magpies fan for years and the last few months under Souness' reign has been aggravating to say the very least.

My favourite managers over the last few years have been Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson. The other two managers, Kenny Dalglish and Ruud Gullit, ruined my enjoyment of the team with the way they went about with their releasing some of my favourite players and disrupting the team as a whole.

Graeme Souness has also done this. He brought in a host of players who to be quite blunt have not been worth the money. Sure, injuries have played a key role in the failure at St James' Park but there are ways around problems like that and Mr Souness didn't prove to have what it takes to handle the job when things were going badly.

Glenn Roeder and Alan Shearer are the current interim managers and that is what they will stay as both haven't got the requirements to be managers under UEFA law. This means they can only hold this position for three months. I wonder who will also be looking for work in the next three months?

I know of one guy who will be looking for work as soon as the summer is nearly over. He is 15/2 on bluesq.com to be named the next Newcastle boss and I think it is worth a little punt. All Sven has to do is stay away from fake sheiks on the Tyne in the meantime.