Newcastle Trip Report

Thursday



Arrived via trian to geordie land at about 3:00pm and nipped in a taxi for the 1/4 mile walk to the Jury's inn. On arrival i was told that i needed to produce a credit card, with some money on it. I had about £500 in cash on me but that wasnt enough. Kev was running late so i had to make a decision on whether to wait for him at all or find different accomodation, as the experience was pretty embarrasing and infuriating at the same time. I decided to say bollocks to the Jury's and ring a good mate of mine up, who lives in jesmond (about 2 miles away) i taxied to his gaff and got him out for a few beers on osbourne road, After i had booked a taxi for me and kev for £30 a night (half as cheap as the fkin Jurys) at the grosvenor hotel. So i left my bags at my mates Zaki's and we went and parked our arses at the SPY bar and lethered about a gallon of ale down in no time.



Zaki recognised a few girls from uni and we joined them in their graduation celebrations, obviously intent on getting them round for the house party me and zak had cleverly invented on the spot. After we had finished at the spy bar we went to the local offy and got all the party drinks you can imagine and went back to zak's.



A few hours went by and i wasnt getting the impression i was a hit with the lasses after one labelled me weird. hmmm. So i decided to prove her right by removing all of my clothes and name myself the naked d.J while scouring my i-tunes for songs which i though were cool, obv i was the only one thinking that.



It got to 2:00am and i had a sudden thought, "where the fuck is kev" i had his room key and he hadnt replied to my messages telling him to get round for the party.



Then my phone went dead and i couldnt find my charger. I head back to the grosvenor hotel at about 4:00am and awake about 10:00am from a phone call from kev. Apparently he had to find another hotel miles out of dodge after trying to break our hotel down. Sorry mate.





Friday



Friday was a big day for me. As most people who read this blog know, i have had a terrible 2007 so far and my bankroll was so low i had to join the dtd trader scheme and grind out cash.

I wanted to perform today and over the weekend to prove i can compete on the u.k circuit successfully.



I entered the Casino at 2:00pm for a 4:00pm start and bumped into Action Jack str8 away so he could give me my Dtd shirt. Met fran, pete Linton and Nick hicks from blonde and met a slightly pissed off kev lol.



My 1st table included Steve jelinek, richard herbert, hoss panikhar, Chris Bruce, George Geary and a few faces i couldnt put a name too. I started slowly, trying to get a bit of action created with small 125-150 raises but couldnt hit and was quickly down to 7k.



Things got better after, as i held KK and raised utg, 2 callers the flop came Q77 and i fancied a check raise, 1st guy bets 200 Geary makes it 1200 and i make it 3k and both pass, with this 1st pot scooped and made a few nice floats and was up to 14k when the following han occurs. Steve jelinek who is Short raises to 800 @ 100/200 gets one caller and i make it 3200 from the bb with AK, he thinks for ages and puts his last 5k i. His JJ holds up. 14k pot ships to him and im back down to 8k.



Afew hands later however i would have my revenge on steve. Utg again i pick up AA and raise it to 800, (100-200)steve flat calls in mid-position and the flop comes K24 rainbow, and i check to steve who bets 800 which i turn into 2k, he pushes for 8k and i call, he has AK and i scoop back up to 20k and happy.



My stack manages to get to 29k at a high point before trying a float on a guy called steve craig who had a house ooops, back down to 18k, then on the last round of the day i raise the cut-off to 3600 bb 1200 and recieve the bb moving in for 5k more grrrr i obv call and he shows AQ and i miss down to 10k.



I raise next hand to 3000 midpos with 55 and a guy tanks 16k all in, i decide i think he has AQ and call to see his AJ A35 flop is good for me and after a few pots won at the death i make day two with 22,300 chips. Bring on day 2.


Saturday

64 players came back to saturday and with a 23k stack at 800/1600 i wasnt in desperation mode but a double up would not be a bad thing at all, luckily i didnt have to wait long.
Dan carter raised up on the button, maz nawab called from the sb and i completed from the bb with QK the K89 flop looked good to me until dan turned over K9 and the turn and river T , J completed my str8 with the Q. With that it was pretty much smooth sailing to the final. My favourite move of the day was calling surinder sunar with Jack-high and knocking him out.
Had a few beers with my mates and headed to bed, pleased i made the t.v table 2nd in chips with 405,000.


Sunday

Had a couple of double vodka redbulls to settle my nerves and it seemed to work as i stole blinds galore in the 1st level to increase my stack to 518k without having to show a hand. Simon zach and a shortstack were eliminated which put the field down to 7.

At this point i started to waver a little for the 1st time in the whole comp. The guy on my right mr butters, who i had sat with for 5 hours the previous day seemed to be the biggest rock on the planet. On numerous occasions on the saturday he had passed big pairs to my raises. Today, however i had the feeling he was about to use his image and loosen up a little. In the 1st level i reraised his button raise from the sb with 33 and he mucked. This time he raised from the cut-off to 37k and i knew he wasnt that strong, and that if i made him play for his stack he could not play, so i made it 137k total with 68spades from the button, back round to him. He thinks and thinks and thinks gives it the holywood, shades off standing up, i was 95% sure he was folding, until he reached for his stack and pushed them over the line, ooops, it was 39k more to me and i make the insta call. Our hero had stuck his last 139k in the middle with ATos and he held up.

Straight after that call i raised the next 3 hands and took the blinds. A few more players are lost but i wont spoil the t.v coverage too much.

When we got 3 handed i was 3nd in chips, but made a conscious decision to sacrifice 3rd and really go on a tirade of aggression. It was working until i over committed my self and ran into KK . gg me. I was gutted for the next few hours but very happy how i played on the final and i hope it comes accross well on the box.

Online

Won the $10rb on stars yesterday afternoon for $5.3k. Was extremely happy with my performance in this comp, took total command 5 handed and despite a huge beat 3 handed regained my composure to take it down. Off to luton with that mtt winnings a week on monday, but this weekend im going to york races this saturday and arctic monkeys gig on sunday if weather is good.

Id like to conclude by thatnking everyone for their overwhelming support of me in newcastle. It was really uplifting knowing everyone was rooting me on back home. Thanks guys, see ya next time.
rick

Off to Newcastle!

So this weekend the cash games will be on the back-burner for a while and my real love of the game of poker, tournaments will be at the forefront of my mind in a quest to provide my 1st elusive ranking win.

I don't play live these days as much as i used to, ive probably played 8 ranking events in total and made the cash in 3 and made a final table, so not too bad. It is no secret that i have been playing a hell of a lot differently live than online. Online, i dont mind pushing all in with complete trash pre and post flop if i read my opponent as weak, however live it feels like a long way back from newcastle. This fear/reluctance needs to be conquered now in order for me to have any realistic chances of winning this GUKPT.

My friends from home are up on saturday for a night out so if i bust out on friday i can go clubbin with the lads. Hopefully this should provide a solution to the above psychological problem.

A clam trip to newcastle isnt complete without a touch of social. Im stopping in the Jury's inn with colch-kev for thursday and Friday. There are also a few people ive never met, who will be making an appearance in geordie land, Alex Martin, Rookie itb, and a few peeps fom blonde poker will experience a first meeting with the clamster.

So im travelling up today at around 3:00pm, taking laptop to educate kev a little on music and £1/2 cash lol, will be sinking a few beers tonight while listening to the beats, just gotta avoid the house games in the casino as im on a very tight budget, and hoping that a stars cheque i banked on tuesday will clear by friday.

In this tournament im gonna try play the way i do online and i reckon with the right situations i know i can be a major force, ONE TIME!

Cash Grind Continues

10/7/07 +£423
11/7/07 -£217
12/7/07 £-600
13/7/07 -£200
14/7/07 + £720
15/7/07 +£30
16/7/07 +£550

total = +£926

So another -600 day. As M3boy allued to on the last post, £1/2 is very swingy indeed. I feel, however that i am getting more used to the level with everyday, i know more of the players trends and traits.

Im feeling confident of agood showing in newcastle on friday, im in the holiday inn with colchester kev and my mates from home are coming up on saturday for a night out, so if i dont make day two i'll be out with the lads. Obviously i want to still be in come final day.
Last twice i have played these Gukpt's ive not played my game and played far too tight, This will change on thursday.
gl all

"you don't have to swin faster than the shark, Just faster than the guy swimming next to you"

The above maxim has been Quite fitting in the infancy stage of my £1/2 trader voyage.
First day i got a new one torn, but since then i have been pleased a thow i have adapted to the new level.

On crypto there are a lot of players that know the game very well and are not very profitable to play with, but on the other hand there are an equal amount of donkeys that would not turn a profit in the 1c/2c limit games. Solution = target said donkeys and avoid the sharks.

I give each player i sit with a score out of 10, as to How they suit sitting on my table.

1= a player who i hate to have at my table, constantly snapping continuation bets
7= a player who lets me get away with murder on his blinds and calls flop folds turn a lot
10= a donkey whom i would swim the channel to play.

you can work out the inbetweens, So when i am scouting for a table i have to total the table points up and then decide if i am going to sit. Obv these figures are subject to fluctuation as many players at this level believe it or not are still learning.

so since the £-600 debacle

7/7/07 £+645
8/7/07 £-335
9/7/07 £+510

which is £+ 220 which is ok after my first day doink off.


MTTs

Played in the dtd trader freeroll on saturday night and won it, so i will be in newcastle for the gukpt on the 19th of july. Looking forward to the friday night piss up already with the lads i aint seen for a while. Should be good.

Also played the $50k on stars on Saturday and went deep before JJ v 88 AJ v QJ and QQv AT
all lost for big pots all in preflop. I couldnt survive after those.

Also cashed in the sunday $215 warm up on stars for $400 odd after running QQ into AA

Im back playing my A game and good things will hopefully be around the corner.

rick

Baptism of Fire!

Today was the 1st day of my Full Trader on DTD so i woke up nice and early and loaded a £1/2 table up, and proceeded to lose three buy ins within 4 hours. I thought i was crazy, some of these guys are fricken insane, i have played a lot higher than this level in the past and been succesful, well not losing too much.

The preflop play is so aggressive there is a re-raise at least 1/3 hands and continuation bets are getting snapped off right left and centre. I think im gonna need a new ploy if im gonna adjust to this level quicky. I was extremely card dead today and didnt hit any big hands or man made hands. I think i will have to tone down the preflop raising % quite a lot for this level and adopt a more patient approach. Maybe, on the otherhand i just had 'one of those days' i am extremely confident i can average £3-4k per month at this level so im gonna record my winnings on this blog

profit/loss £-600

Just A Little Rambling!

Since my last update i have only played one mtt which was the £25 hunt for pro's event on dtd, which proved fruitless.

Still grinding away on the dtd trader scheme, was below my target for june, finishing £2200 up for a months play on the 50p/£1 this was probably due to four cold days on the trot in which i lost my daily allocation of £300. I needed a couple of days extension to complete my poits target because of my trip to lake como and my birthday do's. I am currently waiting to be promoted to £1/2 nl which i will have a daily allowance of £600, i will probably start with one table of 50p/1 and one £1/2 just to ease myself into the new level.

On saturday six of us desended on Birmingham to Air nighclub to gods kitchen, not a very nice club but the music was good. Im not a trance man perse but like the occasional gatecrasher godskitchen gig. We stayed in the Raddison hotel (the huge new blue building) which was very nice, especially after my mate complaned about the 24 hour menu service being unavalible and be managed to get

£10 porn x1 (not me) free

£4.75 jelly beans x1 free

£15.50 english breakfast x3 free

which was good, my mate talking BS about having business acounts at the hotel could have been the reason for this.

In the next few weeks i will be looking to play a few more mtt's but will look on them as a treat or reward for a good weeks cash session. I won't be playing any mtt's if i have had a losing week at cash. Later this month i have two class events on the same day; Arctic monkeys gig in manchester or york racing trip with the pub, hmmmm,

On the wsop front it seems to be a disastourous show from the british and stories are appearing everyday of busto and early flights back home eeek.

Our freind from the other post simon young aka suffolk punch and i had a bit of bantor on the blondepoker furum the other night with him flying completely off the handle. The post i made was in jest only as everyone who knows me will testify to.

until next time

Manyana