Big Nothing
I’m gonna start off with an honest observation. Some may scoff, I mean I’m hardly running bad, but I’m sure I used to get dealt consistently better cards than those I’m having to endure over the past month or two. Perhaps more accurately, I used to get consistently better cards than the average joe. Whatever it is, I don’t seem to be getting a big stack as often as I once did. I’ll give it some more thought but for the moment ‘dealer error’ is near the top of the list.
Take this week, three shots at the Vic including the maxed out EPT with a drool inducing £500k for the winner. I eventually got a stack in the 1000NL but felt like a fish out of water in the other two which was disappointing as the winner of the latter would get £500,000.
Onto the best shot of the week then, the 1000NL freeze-out on Tuesday. I’d endured hours of dull low-stack survival but once the blinds and antes hit the 600/1200/150 level it’s amazing how quickly you can catch up with one or two well timed pushes.
Down to three shorthanded tables though I got myself into a bit of a pickle when I re-raised the opener with an A-Q. I’d put 35k in and was somewhat dismayed to then see the stack with tumbleweed blowing around it pushed into the middle from the BB. With just 25k left I couldn’t bring myself to pass and resigned myself to hunting for three outs at best; I didn’t find one though and his kings were good.
Despite one or two drinks the night before I felt good about the main event. Once again though I had to tolerate seven hours of tediousness as I struggled through to Level 7, getting very little in the way of cards and situations to work with. My position saved me in this one hand which was the biggest pot I‘d played up to that point; with 8500 I raised to 900 UTG with 10-10, a low stacked scandi along with one other called and Ross Boatman made it up from the BB. The 7,5,3 flop looked adequate and I led out for 2200, the scandi kid pushed for his last 4000 but RB then woke up and moved his big 25k stack in. I let it go, the scandi had 9-9 and RB’s set of 5’s took the pot.
My happiest memory was this little gem from the 200/400/50 level. I finally picked up an A-J UTG and pushed my last 3400 in but my heart soon sank when the other short guy pushed his last 4000 in behind me. The whole table did a double-take when he rolled over a 10-4s; he must have been eye-balling one of the waitresses as he hadn’t seen me move and thought he was the first in.
Brandishing a threatening 7k stack I treaded water for another hour until I locked horns with Ali Mallu. I opened for 1200 with K-Qs and Ali who had a huge stack, asked me how much I had left and then raised enough to put me in from the SB. I had 5300 left and eventually decided that my hand was to just too pretty to give up; I called, he rolled over a 5-7 in the same suit but flopped the 7 and I was gone.
I didn’t even feel like drinking, it was back to the hotel bed followed by the early train up to Nottingham in the morning. And very nice it is to be home again.

Consolation Prize
So Phil Ivey strolls into town for his first EPT event and manages to breeze his way through a five hundred runner field and into a heads up battle for the best part of €700,000. I’m impressed.
I got to play Day 1a of the main event and had a fairly nasty table draw, the main culprit being Jeff Lissandro who was two to my left. He proved to be a persistent pain in the ass and contrary to how I’d perceived his game from seeing him on the telly, played a lot of pots and made it awkward to tackle when out of position.
I guess I’m just a little too sensitive, but not having met him before I politely inquired:
“You did pretty well in Vegas, right?”
And all I got was a one word and grumpy reply:
“Seventeenth.”
Some days I just don’t see the point.
I didn’t feel comfortable or in the groove until the table broke about four hours later. I left with my starting stack intact and managed to get some momentum going on the new table. I hit a high of 30k, but once again it was my inability to lay two hands down that halved that stack to 15k from where I never recovered:
The first was a pair of tens. I’d raised and Les Kerrigan called from the BB. We checked the Q,Q,J flop and I called two 2k bets on the last two streets just so I could see that yes, he did have a queen.
Not long after I raised with 6-6 and got one caller. He had 10k behind and I led out for 3500 on the J,J,4 flop - he quickly pushed and after some warped mathematical computations I eventually made the call only to see two wonderful kings this time.
The drop to 15k (deservedly) coincided with a card dead drought that saw me dribble down to 8k over the next three levels when I eventually made my last unsuccessful stand on the last hand of the night.
It wasn‘t all bad though as I was more than happy to nip a second place finish in the maxed-out two sixty runner 500NL with one re-buy. I got off to a slow start and there weren’t many memorable hands, although I do recall running into quads twice but by that time I had the stack to take the strain thanks to flopping a house with 10-3 in the BB against an A-10. The majority of my re-raises got through and given the pretty quick structure I was very happy to eventually make the final with bang on average chips.
Playing to win these fast paced events really does mean that it’s thinnest of margins between success and failure; twenty seven got paid and being one of the more aggressive players I got myself into quite a few pot-stuck situations where I was lucky not to run into a big hand.
Average chips equated to just eight BB’s and barring the huge chip leader I think we were all relieved when the TD moved us back two thirty minute levels. That of course meant that an hour later, with little movement, I was back to just eight BB’s. Finally players started to bust and once we got six-handed there were two huge stacks with the rest of very vulnerable with five or six BB’s left. I managed to survive with those blinds down to the last three and with a twenty thousand jump in prize money from third to second, I was clearly very happy to observe that the other two huge stacks weren’t about to shy away from one another.
We eventually got heads-up and I had about 250k to his 1.2m. I moved-in more than him and was up to about 350k when we both got it in, me with A-7, him with K-J. He flopped the nuts with a redraw to the royal flush…I’ve been in worse spots (but not many) and when he hit the lowly nut flush on the turn it was all over.
I’m London bound on Tuesday for three freeze-outs, one of which is another shot at an EPT title; the sample size growing can only be a good thing.

Right Or Wrong Play?
Game theory isn’t my strongest suit so any feedback on my exit hand from the EPT is appreciated:
It’s Day 1a, we’ve played down from 240 to about 85 players, I’m short with 7400 and the blinds are 400/800 with a 100 ante. I’ve been looking for any spot/unopened pot for almost an hour, there have been precious few. It’s the last hand of the night, when we return on Day 2 the blinds will be 600/1200/100.
We’re seven handed, I’m one off the button, the first three players all pass and the button then passes out of turn. I push with 8c-4c but the SB calls with Ac-9c and I miss.
A number of people commented that ‘I just didn’t want to come back as a short stack on Day 2’.
I’m very happy to come back as a short stack but given a similar set of circumstances I’d have made the same play on the first hand of Day 2 so what difference does it make?

Stuck On Amber
Tuesday at the Sportsman in London was the first port of call this week for the second Grand Prix qualifier (donating a modest 300 in the cash game), then on Thursday it was over to the Broadway in Birmingham for their 500NL freeze-out. The event was juice-free with 8000 chips and a one hour clock….not bad for a mid-weeker.
The cards didn’t co-operate much though and it was a pretty frustrating evening. I could be wrong but I think I even went one whole level without playing a pot, I’m such a rock these days.
Saturday was the Blonde Bash at Walsall which was good craic and despite my best efforts in the heads-up team event (three matches/three losses) we did get to the semi’s. With drink aplenty inside me I spent the majority of a four hour session in the lively and star-studded 2-2NL cash game just trying to get even and with one hand to go I had at last achieved that goal.
Unfortunately it all went in against Simon ‘Cuddles’ Nowab on that last hand. I’d re-raised him all-in on a 6,7,9 flop for about another four hundred with 3-3 (eek) and he announced, ‘it’s a bad call, you’re in great shape, but I call’. No he didn’t have 2-2 and holding two lowly threes I knew it couldn’t be that bad a call and his up and down draw hit on the river. You can see why a seat always becomes available when I’m in the room.
I flew into Barcelona yesterday for the first EPT of the season. I had originally planned to buy-in as soon as I arrived, but now that William Hill are running EPT satellites I managed to get bought-in in advance which was just as well as it was sold out long before we landed.
A good friend called me up last week. His many romantic entanglements out of the way, we got around to discussing poker and he very kindly steered the conversation around to my game, some adjustments that had been made and whether or not they were actually working. The ability to stand back far enough from yourself, see the whole picture and isolate where some problems might lay isn’t the easiest of tasks; we all need prodding from time to time and his comments were very welcome and I hope have hit a few protruding nails on the head. We shall see.

Roll Up, Roll Up
There are 3 special tournaments this Saturday evening on William Hill with $10K plus a CPC Package added to each.
This week the site had some downtime so theyare adding $10,000 to each of three tournaments for their loyal players. They are also going to give the winner of each tournament a CPC Lite Package ($5,880 value including Return Airfare for 2 from London/Miami, All-inclusive meal package for 2, 9 nights stay, and Four $220 tournament vouchers for live Super Satellites in St Kitts).
7pm
Buyin $25+$2
MPPs earned 8/11 – 9/9 0 MPPs
8pm
Buyin $25+$2
MPPs earned 8/11 – 9/9 100 MPPs
9pm
Buyin $25+$2
MPPs earned 8/11 – 9/9 500 MPPs

Up North
I headed up to Aspers Casino in Newcastle on Tuesday for the first of four live qualifiers for the William Hill grand Prix in Cardiff next month. The place had a good vibe and was a nice change from the bland Grosvenors where we get to spend most of our time.
I’ve played a bit of cash this week, the first of which was a couple of hours at a 1-2NL table whilst the Grand Prix satellite was running and I somehow managed to donate six hundred in a frustrating couple of hours….moving onto Friday, in my living room, thinking I’d catch the closing time crowd, I managed to donate another six hundred lump on the $2-5NL tables in half that time. What really stung was that I’d been a very good boy over the previous few days, pinching a little here and there and booking a six hundred win for the week; undone in a blink. Cut to Saturday and whilst waiting for a lift home from Bolton I was in for nine hundred on the 2-2PL table but managed to book a modest profit before kicking out time; it was text book stuff, set them up by playing like a fish for 90% of the time, then use all your guile and skill (get hit by the deck big time) for the last hour to reel them into your trap.
Saturday saw myself and Tikay driving up to yet another unfamiliar venue; Bolton. We were there for a 1000NL freeze-out and just as we arrived the last 5 minute single table crapshoot was called. Not thinking I’d get a seat I agreed a 50/50 swap with Matt Tyler and when it materialised that I could squeeze into the last seat Tikay offered me the same deal. I didn’t give the matter too much thought until myself and Matt got heads-up; luckily he won, handing me over £500, £250 of which I gave to Tikay. It was only later that we (hilariously) realised that had I won I’d have had to give £500 to Matt and £500 to Tikay….not the best proposition I’ve ever faced.
I was out too early in the main event (again) after a very yoyo game. Because of my position I lost the minimum with jacks on a 5,6,9 flop when I was facing K-K and Marc Goodwin’s nut 7-8. That minor set-back aside it wasn’t long before I’d worked my stack up to 15k thanks to flopping the nuts with a suited A-K followed by a patented sick call with 6-6 vs. 5-5 on a board with just too many over cards for it to be a long term winning play.
The wheels came off though when I took on Mickey Wernick on a ten high all diamond flop. I’d limped with a 9-10 and bet 400; Mickey called and then led out for 400 when a black nine hit the turn giving me two pair. I re-raised another 1000 and he quickly made it another 4000 leaving himself with 2700 behind. I shan’t bother going into my warped reasoning in too much detail but I plucked a hand off the top of my head, perhaps an Ad,10x and could just see him passing quickly if I pushed. I pushed and he of course didn’t pass quickly but called with the nuts, Ad-Qd, and I didn’t pair up. My wings were clipped and whilst 4500 wasn’t too desperate I’d dribbled down to 3500 by the time I got it in in a race with A-K vs. 5-5 and lost.
I’ve got another Grand Prix qualifier to visit this week at the Sportsman in London on Tuesday, then there’s a 500NL at the Broadway in Birmingham on Thursday before the Blonde Bash III up at Walsall over the weekend. The second half of the year really gets underway when the third EPT season starts next week so we’re all off in search of some form in sunny Barcelona on Monday….