Another DTD final table

Before last week I'd had 4 trips to DTD and made the Final Table twice only to finish a disappointing 9th on both occasions for not much more than double my money. Better than nothing but not much reward for hours or work.

Things improved the other weekend when a last minute decision to attend the Blonde Forum Game at DTD paid dividends. The entry was only £30 but the field was reasonable and the emphasis was on good fun and banter. With about 150 runners I did my usual trick of getting off to a complete flyer and then hitting a wall around level 6/7. Many of the players were pretty tight and keen to make a game of it and so the blinds started to squeeze the average chips a little early and I managed to pick my spots and make the most of some rag cards to keep my nose ahead of the game.

As we neared the money i got very lucky with KJ vs AK when a move on the BB backfired also managed to crack Kings with pocket nines. Made the final table in reasonable shape and continued to pick my way through the field playing some half decent poker.

I ended up heads up vs Jen Mason after about 11hrs of play. Now Jen works for Blonde and was there to enjoy her self. I think the definition of enjoyment for Jen is to make a move on every pot while having red wine fed in on a IV drip, by the time we were HU she was totally plastered and jamming every other pot preflop or on the flop. It was very funny and a decent number on the rail offering encouragement mainly to Jen and a bit to myself .... well I think several drunken verses of "You'll never Wonk alone!" and "Wonking in a winter wonderland" could be classed as encouragement! :)

Jen had about a 3-1 chip advantage so i was looking for a spot to double up and take it from there.... I lost a few chips folding and finally got it in with Ad8s and was insta called by Jen with 22. 3 diamonds and a deuce on the flop made it interesting and a 4th diamond on the turn saw me dragging the pot when the board failed to pair on the end.

It wasn't long before I'd jammed with AK preflop and Jen made the call with T4os ..... wasn't so lucky this time and a 4 obliged on the river to see me out in 2nd place for just shy of £900.

Here's a pic nicked from Blonde of Jen with me to her right trying to keep a straight face!





Great fun and congrats to Jen who was unstoppable. Very happy with my live hit rate 5 trips and 3 final tables makes me think I should play live a little more maybe.

I'm not even trying to make the WSOP this yea as I'm on holiday. However I've noticed that some sites are running good value qualifiers specifically for Bloggers. Bodog is running Tuesday night online poker tournament for Bloggers earning points for a final game, may be worth a look if you are looking to maximise your chances of a Vegas trip this July.

April Review

Well dropping the stakes seemed to do ok in April, made a modest profit of about £1500, beats a kick in the nads!! Most of this came from low stakes HU games and a bit of rakeback.

Again this was playing relatively little poker. I've always been a little impatient to put too much effort into game selection but with the game getting a bit tighter over the past year or so I'm starting to give it more consideration. I days gone by mugs abounded at most levels of the game no matter which table you sat at. These days you have to work a little harder for your lunch and seek out the fish... or more importantly avoid the sharks. There are players who i'm about even money against.. especially HU and there really is no point playing them, the rake ends up killing you.

On the MTT front again i've been dabbling low stakes on Crypto Head hunters, I quite like the concept, the players are very happy to gamble against you and taking a few heads covers the buy in even if you don't cash. The only down side is that unless you take a few head along the way the final table money can be a bit of a let down.

The other night i wasn't in the mood for a 'serious session' so I took a look at Sky Poker and had a play on the Open. This is the MTT that runs on TV live while you play, it's low entry fee and a bit of a donk fest but good fun non the less, plus you get to listen to Helen C pull all the plays apart. I managed to go out just b4 the bubble and will prob have another go for the sheer entertainment value.

Toying with the idea of a trip to DTD for the Blonde Bash this weekend. See what the weather is like i think. May I'm still taking it easy on the low stakes stuff ($100 HU max i think) see how it goes.