Saturday, September 30, 2006

6th time lucky?

The CPC was another dissapointment on Thursday night.
I won my first round very comfortably and probably too quickly as I had over an hour wait for the final table.
We were down to 5 after one hand AA beating AK on a flop including an A and a K.
We lost a fourth player after an hour, it was down to 4. One player was getting very aggressive, but also hitting lots of cards. I made a stand with KQ and got very lucky as I beat AQ.
That put me in second and right amongst it.

The short stack put his chips in and I called with AT, he had KT, but rivered a King.
We soon got down to three players. The short stack then went all in four consecutive hands and I decided to not let him do it anymore, by moving all in with A2 in the small blind, unfortunately he had A9 and doubled up.

My final hand I was in joint second place holding 32. The flop was 339 and I was already working out how to make the most of this hand and get me right back in it, he however was thinking the same because he held 3T. So out in 3rd.
Five final tables now, one 2nd, two 3rds and two 5th places. I can't get much closer without winning. Surely next time.

Today I have managed to get my seat in the £50k for Sunday and am going to address my STT record. I keep playing this thunder tournaments when I get bored, but they are really not for me. I need to concentrate on my ten seater STT's. My sharkscope stats are down over £1k at the moment, which is awful considering how good my MTT record is. I am going to address this by playing some ten seater STTs over the next week.

This weekend as usual promises a lot, two ept finals, one cpc final and two 50k (1 $,1£) and it is vital to make something from these. With four of the tournaments on Sunday, I am hoping for a Super Sunday!

Right lets sort out this sharkscope situation.

ClintonO

Thursday, September 28, 2006

AA has really gone downhill

A few more games under my belt last night, including a win in the other EPT qualifier.
I have now booked myself a seat in the final on Saturday and Sunday. Add to this the $50k added on Sunday, it could be quite a busy weekend! Especially if I can add a CPC final or two, along with the £50k!

I played the £15k for the first time in a while and I could not believe it when I went out!
I very rarely go out in the first hour, but I did last night.

I get dealt AA in position 5, I sit there hoping for a raise.
Under the Gun limps in for 50 chips, 2nd position raises to 200, 3rd position raises to 400.
I really could not have hoped for that much action, with 725 already in the pot, I put my 2000 chips in the pot.
The first two fold, but Aka_abak in third position calls my all in raise (leaves himself just 750 back, would have still had 2350 if he folded) with AJ off. Wow, christmas comes early.

The board though has other ideas. QT5 4 K. I am out to a straight. I am not going to complain, because without people like this, winning at this game would be a lot tougher. I do not know, how this was called, let alone how you reraise, a limp and a raise in first two position with AJ off.

I was expecting KK or QQ, even AA. Ah well, move on. I mean AJ off. Come on forget it! Honestly!

Tonight it is the CPC $370 double shootout, where I am going to secure my Caribbean Poker Classic seat!

ClintonO

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Back again

I have been working so much over the last week or so, that I have not had a chance to update this blog so apologies.

I played in the APAT event at the Broadway casino in Birmingham at the weekend, aside from being an absolute nightmare to get to, it was a very well run event. Well done to the APAT, a very good first effort.

I am not sure about the applauding everyone as they get knocked out, I certainly did not feel like taking a round of applause when my AK ran into TT on an AKT flop. Still more useful live experience.
The difficulty I am finding with live play is that it is so much slower than on-line, so you end up trying to do things that you probably should not.
I will definintely look at trying to play a few more of these events.

I also visited the EPT in London, what a dissapointment. My main event experience has been at the World Series and the Caribbean Poker Classic, so maybe my expectations were too high.
The event was restricted to 400 people (200 each day), but everyone was so crammed in, the 200 players were in different corners of the room, you could not watch anything and only about 5% of the whole casino was dedicated to arguably the biggest poker event in the UK. Surely there is a better venue than this.
It just looked like an annoying distraction to their casino players.
I plan to play in one of the EPT events this season, I would hope that they would be better than this.

I played on-line last night for the first time in a while, aside from a few quick thunder tournaments. I only failed to make the money or qualify in one of the five events I played in. My AQ lost to KQ (king on the river) with five left in the cpc qualifier.

Better news though in other events, I qualified for Sundays e440 final for the EPT as well as Thursdays $370 double shootout final. I also managed a cash in the 10k (first time I have played that in a month or so) although I was less than happy when 'bigozy' decided to call my all in preflop reraise with KQ when I was holding KK and lose to a flush.
Still it felt good to be playing again. (Beating Noseyboy heads up when he a 4.7kto 1.3k chip lead on me was fun!)

Tonight, I have the Poker in Goa competition on TGF Poker to play in, where I am currently lying in 4th place overall. Apart from that I will be out and about on my beloved Littlewoods site, I have the e132 EPT, $228cpc and £120 50k to qualify for, as well as getting back on the £15k scene (I have missed it!)

Thank you to all those who have emailed me, making sure I still exist! I promise to continue blogging away.

ClintonO

Monday, September 18, 2006

Close but no cigar

Well, can you come any closer than that.
Tonight is was the Cpc double shootout final.

In the first round, I had a great tussle with the legendary 007apr and managed to beat him.

I then get to heads up in the final table vs Pfitz11.
It was a fairly even affair, until one crucial hand where he hit trip jacks to beat my 2 pair.
From that moment on, I was playing catch up. With a deficit of 6k-14k. I pushed a reraise all in with 77, he turned over KQ and hit the inevitable Q.

We agreed a deal on the final table that the winner pays the 2nd £500, so that at least they got something for their efforts, but I so wish it was not me with the £500.

I have now come 2nd, 3rd and 5th twice. Surely I can't come much closer without winning the seat.
Fortunately we still have two months to go to secure the seat, but whilst my game is strong, I really need to win it now.

I will be missing out on the finals next week, due to the live APAT event, so I am going to have to make every effort to qualify for Thursdays final.

As for the rest of the weekend, I played my favourite tournament of the moment the £4k on Friday. Following my previous two finishes of 1st and 2nd. This time it was a third consecutive final table, but only 6th and £200 in the bank.
It was a cruel exit. I raise pre flop with JJ, was called by chip leader. Flop was Q92. I pushed all in after he checked and he called with KT.
He only had a King or a one of the two remaining jacks for a gutshot.
The turn was the invetiable Jack, giving me trips and him the straight. I still had 12 outs on the river for a full house and the chip lead, but it never happened.

September has been a very good month so far, I just need to keep playing my game and I am certain that more wins will come.

Take Care all
ClintonO

Friday, September 15, 2006

CPC - Can't Play Cards!

I managed my third final table last night in the CPC main event qualifier, only to lose most of my chips to a gutshot on the river, when holding a set of tens. A nine had to come up didn't it!

Nines were the unlikely number last night, as I ultimately went out in 5th place when my pocket nines failed to hold up against AJ.
So a 3rd and two 5th places so far, this is the time to secure my seat, as my game is strong.

I did manage my 14th final table appearance in the £15k last night, finishing 8th when yet again I lost a race, this time my pocket fours failed to beat AJ. Still £450 more winnings in the kitty!
I was fairly short stacked for most of the last 15 players, so making the final table was a good achievement. The pot I lost was for 60k in chips and would have put me in a great position to go on and win, but this one was not to me.

Its more of the same this weekend, I have the main EPT event final on Saturday and have work to do to get into the other EPT final, the £50k and the two CPC finals.

I will also be playing in the APAT online Series (Canadian Amateur Poker Open) on Pokerstars on Saturday night as a warm up for the Live event at the Broadway in Birmingham next weekend. This is useful event as you start with 10,000 chips and gives you more practice in playing with big amounts of chips with small blinds.

I have also now got available the Bad Beat Poker in Goa Leaderboard. I am currently sitting in 3rd place. This is a tournament that I play in each Wednesday.

Finishing Position Alias Points Record
1st bboru7 1650 1st, 7th, 36th
2nd bbsum1 1500 12th, 1st, 12th
3rd ClintonOOO 1475 25th, 20th, 1st
4th genabb44 1450 2nd, - , 7th
5th klita_rees 1300 6th, 15th, 5th
6th thekiss 1200 3rd, -, 6th
7th bubbled 1175 5th, 21st, 8th
8th chaste 1175 22nd, 3rd. 20th
9th DevilChimp 1175 63rd, 2nd, 17th
10th Str@wberry 1050 -, 11th, 3rd
11th chimpsrus 975 7th, 27th, 15th
12th B-meds-B 950 68th, 30th, 4th
13th gaffer11 950 29th, 6th, 25th
14th Rugrat9 950 9th, 8th, 32nd
15th dreamliver 925 27th, 9th, 9th
16th kingkebab1 900 61st, 5th, 27th
17th sandybane2 900 72nd, -, 2nd
18th jonniefive 795 57th, 4th, 30th
19th 57eve 700 24th, 19th, 22nd
20th Zooo__ 700 56th, 10th, 16th

This has got a number of weeks to go, but the leaderboard is a good way of focusing the mind, so I fully intend to keep playing this and what the hell ultimately win it!

ClintonO

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Back to Winning Ways

The last two days have bought 3 nice tournament wins.
Last Night it was the EPT Qualifier, meaning I am not in the 440 Euro Final on Saturday.

Tonight I won the CPC Shootout, winning a seat in tomorrow nights $370 final.
I also won the Bad Beat tournament on TGF Poker, this was week 3. Only a $100 in prizes but some good points which should be put me in a good position overall.

Also 2 heads up wins tonight after my recent failings.

No real cash winnings to boast about but some great chances to win a seat at two live events.
I want to confirm my cpc tomorrow!

ClintonO

Monday, September 11, 2006

Sick!

Tonight I am just going to rant! This is a pure bad beat entry - please do not read if it annoys you!

4k Level 3 - Holding KK - someone goes all in, I call for all my chips. He has JT.
15k Level 1 - Holding AA - someone raises, I reraise, hes all in, I call. He has AJ
2.5k Level 5 - Holding KK, one guy all in, a caller, Im all in. The other calls. A8 and 88
EPT Qual Level 2 - Holding AK, two limpers, a raise, Im all in. He has AJ
CPC 1st hand - Holding 77, I raise, 1 caller. Flop 78Q. He bets big, I call. Turn T, he bets more than pot. Im all in. He calls. He has QT

I lost every single one of these hands. 5 hands, where I am a massive favourite. If you add the 3 coin flips, I also lost. Then you will understand why at 9pm, I have withdrawn from all tournaments tonight.

What beat me.
Hand 1 - J on flop, J on river
Hand 2 - 2 hearts on flop, runner runner heart
Hand 3 - The one remaining 8 on turn
Hand 4 - 2 hearts on flop, heart on river
Hand 5 - Another T on river.

I do not know whats hit me tonight! I hope this is not the start of things to come, as im stopping now if thats the case.

I feel sick!
ClintonO

Another Heads Up Defeat

I decided last night to try and defend my £4k crown that I won last Sunday.
468 players lined up and I ultimately failed in my quest, but I did manage second place!
£700 more in the kitty, but I really wanted the honour of back to back £4ks.

It was not looking likely with just 5 players left, I had just lost a massive pot and was left with just 13030 chips. 1000 went into the ante and 12000 the big blind, so I sit there with 30 chips left!

10 mins later I have eliminated 3 players and am heads up with 300k in chips!

I started the heads up against MrDeviant (Lin or Deviant69 when he plays on Littlewoods) about 100k behind - 400k to 300k.
I reversed this trend with some constant small raising.
We then had a break and his tactics changed and he started going all in. There was one instance where I was holding 96 and the board was 359 all spades, he went all in for 300k and I decided to fold, I believed I would get a better opportunity.

A very similiar opportunity arose where I had A7 and the board was 976 all spades. I held the Ace of spades. I decided to call the all in this time and he turned over a set of 7's. I still had enough outs but it did not hit.

I was dissapointed not to win again, but when you are playing someone who moves all in frequently at some point you are going to have to take a stand, espeically when you are putting a minimum of 18k in every hand.

Two heads up situations over the weekend, which I both lost but £1400 and two seconds is not all bad.

I also managed to reach the final table of the CPC shootout for the second successive week, but this time crashed out in 5th place.
My CPC seat is getting close, I am hoping its just around the corner!

ClintonO

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Heads up Defeat

I lost my first heads up game in a long time tonight.
Usually when I reach the last two of a tournament, I managed to take down the tournament.
This was the $6k guaranteed. I basically called a coin flip and lost, when I had no need to do so.
Easy afterwards! Still £700 more in the bank.
I would have like to have added another title to my collection, but 2nd is still nice, plus I have won that one before, so I would have felt worse if I hadn't.

I have also won a seat for the EPT seat final on Sunday.

September has started well with the £4k win and now the $6k second, so the poker is definitely going well.
There are 3 $10k addeds tomorrow that are new for the schedule this week, so they will take focus tomorrow.
I am looking forward to playing in the English Amateur Poker Championship in two weeks time, plus I will also be playing another live game in October in the Bad Beat final.

All I need now, is to win an EPT or CPC event so that the live practice can come in handy!

ClintonO

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Next Live Event - English Amateur Poker Championship

I was still in 'I can't believe I have not won my CPC seat mode' last night, therefore my few performances, were fairly lacklustre.
After going out in the 15k with T8 on a T8Q flop to AQ, I knew I was destined for an unsuccessful night, so I listened to my own advice and retired early.
Something I do not do very often!

Last night, I received an email from the APAT - Amateur Poker Association & Tour, inviting me to play in their inaugural live event, the English Amateur Poker Championship.
This is taking place over the weekend of the 23rd/24th September. It is taking place at the Broadway Casino in Birmingham. So come along and cheer me on!

Ian'Niceguy77' is also taking part, so Littlewoods and crypto will at least have two representives.
If anyone else is taking part, please let me know.
With 10,000 starting chips, there should be plenty of room for manoeuvre, as I strive for my first live event win.

I am hoping I will feel more in the zone tonight, as it is important to keep playing when you are winning!

ClintonO

Monday, September 04, 2006

Sundays are totally sick!

Now this is going to seem odd, because I won £1.1k tonight, but I am totally devasted.

Today, I have had the worst run of luck, I honestly feel I could have cleaned up tonight.

First the £50k.
I have QQ mid position, guy before raises to 60, I call, next guy raises to 900!
What on earth! I decide he has not a lot. I go all in for another 1200, he calls with A5. Yes A5
He hits his Ace on the river. Sick

Next the EPT.
I have AK, I raise, get one call. Flop AK8. I bet he calls. Turn Q. I check, he bets, I reraise he is all in. He turns over KQ - river is a Q.

CPC Main Final. I get to chip leader by 10k, with 10 left. QQ loses to 99, then I have two races and lose the lot and finish 8th.

CPC Shootout. There are 3 players left, one seat for the Caribbean. I have 9000, so does one other guy. Short stack has 2000.

Now the guy on 9000 has been going all in, all over the place and doubled up twice. He even managed to split the pot with Qj against QQ.

Blinds are 200/400.
I have AJ Hearts. He is on button and goes all in. What on earth can he have. So far he has pushed with any ace or king. So I think I have him.

He turns over A3. Yes A3. So no 3 and I win a seat in the Caribbean Poker Classic.
Flop 6T3. Unbelievable. Yes I could have probably outplayed him anyway, but I read it right and got mugged. So so gutted.

Anyway I won the £4k guaranteed tonight, taking home £1.1k. I was 250k to 400k down at heads up, I got slightly in front. Raised with QJ, he called. Flop JJK, I check he goes all in!
K6 he has!
I played really well in this, as I have been recently.
I am really pleased to win this tournament, as I don't play it hardly at all, but my previous best was 2nd and it was nice to go one better.

I am off to bed, gutted but £1.1k richer.

ClintonO

Friday, September 01, 2006

A big weekend looming

Tonight saw some more steady progress made, by winning an EPT qual and the £50k qual.
This means I have two EPT finals and both the £50k and $50k to play.
If I can make the CPC final (bubbled two nights on bounce!) then that will be a clean sweep of finals this weekend.

The £15k was slightly dissapointing tonight, going out just outside the money in 45th.
I feel that my game is really strong at the moment and I hope I can take down one of the big 5 tournies this weekend.

ClintonO