Monday, October 30, 2006

Caribbean Crazy!

This week my aim is to do a feature on the different sites that are available for all of us to play this wonderful game of poker. However, I keep getting distracted!

These wonderful Caribbean Poker Classic double shootouts are the reason!
For the third successive week, I have won myself a seat! Saturday night I added another $11.3k to the bank.

I have to pinch myself as to what has been achieved in this month of October.
3 x Caribbean Poker Classic seats (2 cashed in for $22.6k)
1 x European Poker Tour Seat for Deauville.
1 x Asian Poker Tour Seat (not attending due to work commitments) - The best of luck to all my team mates who are going.

November is a key month, as I try to cash in a major event for the first time. I am really on top of my game, I just hope I can keep it going through November and have a big performance in St.Kitts.

Right onto the review of the sites!
ClintonO

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

CPC - The Final 3

I apologise for the delay in finishing this off - its been one hell of a week.

Right 3 players left - Blinds are 800/1600 - antes 200. Tjifen 73k, medicin 61k & I have 5k.

Hand 149 - (Qh6s) In the small blind - medicin folds and I have to push all in, thankfully Tjifen folds
Hand 150 - (AA) At the time I think - why couldn't I get this while I had a chance! I get Tjifen to go all in with KT and the rockets hold - I am now up to 16k.

Now that I have a few chips, its time to go up a few gears and play some power poker.
In the next 25 hands, I raise, reraise, call & then bet out, whatever I can do to accumulate chips.

By Hand 175, I have moved to 41k without a single showdown. Tjifen has 75k and medicin 24k.
Here we become heads up, Tjifen moves all in with 88, medicin calls with QJ and the snowmen hold.
Its heads up - ClintonO 40k vs Tjifen 100k
Heres the hand by hand state of play. (Blinds are up to 1200/2400 for the duration)

176 - Tj folds - 41-99
177 - (5s3d) I fold 40-100
178 - Tj rasies, (Qs2d), I fold 37-103
179 - (Key Hand). I have (AdJd) a relative monster heads up and decide to call and hope for a raise. The raise comes to 9600 - 4 x BB. This was a bigger preflop raise than normal, which suggests to me he is not holding a premium pair, as I only called. He has a hand but wants me to go away now. I am not going to get much better than this, I am a long way behind, so I am all in.
He thinks and then calls with A9. A Jack on the flop decides the issues quickly. I am now in front! 74-66

180 - Tj raises, (9c4c,) I call. Flop Kc7s3s. He bets I fold. 69-71
181 - (A7), I raise, Tj Folds. 71-69
182 - Tj Folds. 73-67
183 - (8s5h) - I fold. 71-69
184 - Tj raises, I call (Kd Jh) Flop 8c6d4s. He bets I fold. 66-74
185 - (33) I raise, Tj folds. 69-71
186 - Tj raises, (6s,9d) I fold. 66-74
187 - (Qc7c) - I call Tj checks. Flop Kc9c6s. I have the flush draw
Tj bets the flop, I call. Turn (5h) Tj bets, again I call. River 5s. I miss my flush and am left with Queen high. I am certain he has hit par of the flop, as he usually bets when he does and the fact that he has bet twice convinces me of that. He does not have a King, as he would have raised, but he probably has a 9 or a 6. A bet on the river and I am done. He bets, I fold. 59 - 81.

188 - Tj folds. 60-80
189 - (QT) I call. He checks. Flop 7T7. I bet he folds. 63-77
190 - (Key Hand 2) - I am dealt (Qd7d) the same hand that cost me two hands ago.
He puts in the minimum raise and I call. Flop 9d8s7s.
I check the flop, he does likewise. He either missed the flop or has JT. Turn (Qc) I hit 2 pair.
I check and he bets - he may have hit a queen, or if he has JT he has decided not to give me another card. I have to reraise to find out where I am. I do and he calls. This call tells me he does not have the straight, he does not have his hand yet. If he has a made straight then he does not want to risk me getting lucky and should put me all in. His call tells me I am in front.
River (4c) that helps no-one. I decide to bet big, I did this early in the game and he went into tilt mode as he thought I had bluffed him. I bet the pot and he folds. He commented in the chat box (nb) (nice bet), which I believe told me he had something maybe the queen or even AK, but he is doubtful as to me having a winning hand. I have put him in tilt mode! 78-62

The final hand
191 - (QQ) I and dealt my new favourite hand, my old nemesis - the ladies! If I have put him in tilt mode, then with any half decent hand, he will raise and I can move over the top. I call and he checks. He does not have a good hand.
Flop Kc4d2h. He bets 2.4k. He certainly does not have the King, he does not have the pair and there is no obvious flush draw. He has hit a bit of the flop, or might just be trying to take it off me. I call

Turn Kd. He bets 4.8k. I know he does not have a King, he may have a flush draw, but I would have expected a bigger bet, but he might have. I believe at this point he has a 4 or a 2, but more likley he has a four. He has bet twice now, he does not put me on a King or a pair. I call hoping to take more money on the river.

River 2c. All draws have gone. He bets 7.2k. What does this mean. Any King or 2 and I am beat. I have already ruled out a King. If he has a 2, would he have bet and not tried a check raise. I am probably likely to bet if he checks as that to me would suggest he has given up on the pot, plus I have already called two bets. He may have missed everything and is just seeing if I have missed also.

I believe that at this point, his chances of having a 4 is 70%, nothing - 20%, that winning two - 10%. I am 90% certain I am in front, I decide I am going to overbet again and then if he has the 4, there is a chance he may call as he thinks I am bluffing again.

I move all in. Here you may ask, why I risked all bar 16k of my chips, when surely he wont call with anything other than a 2. That is a valid point. I have though twice put in overbets that he has folded to. In both previous situations the next hand following a big overbet, he has been all in, once betting all in, the other calling an all in. Both times he was behind when the money went in and ending up winning.
He may also call me if he thinks I am bluffing, but as I dont put him on much, this is unlikely. What I really want here is for him to think I am bluffing, but he cant call me as he has nothing and go further into tilt mode.

He does call and I suddenly think my 10% chance I estimated, whereas badly wrong. He turns over 45. He did have the 4 and put me on a pure bluff.

I am off to St.Kitts for the 2nd consecutive year. The ladies are have come good again!
Two seats in a night - What a night.

I got this text message from the main man at Littlewoods after my EPT win - The legendary Bruce Martin.

'Well done for EPT final. Get yourself a cpc seat and that would be a fantastic night'.

I followed his orders and what a fantastic night!

ClintonO

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Stop Press - Sorry I meant 4

A few of you may remember me talking about the Dream Team competition on www.badbeat.com.

Well basically we have been playing for the last 20 weeks in online competitions, this was then followed by a live final this weekend. The chips you started with were based on your performance in the online games

Our team went to London on Saturday and duly won first prize!
The prizes 6 seats to the Betfair Asian Poker Classic in Singapore in November.

This poker lark has seriously taken off over the last week!

However in order to keep my job! I have decided to give this one a miss (It is also the week before the Caribbean Poker Classic) and let other members of the team go. I have to make do with another $3k prize money.

4 seats in a week. Simply unheard of!
CPC final 3 write up tomorrow I promise!

ClintonO

CPC stop press!

I promise I will continue my story of the cpc final tomorrow!

In the mean time, I just won another CPC seat!
Thats 3 major seats won in just one week!

This time it is no seat but $11k in cash!

Unbelievable, what a week!

ClintonO

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Best Poker day ever - The CPC

In total direct contrast to the EPT, I crawled into the final table!

With just 11 left and very short stacked I had 2.7k and AT. Blinds at 150/300 and the next nearest player on 8k. The loose margar007 raises to 1800 and I decide that now is the time to move as we are only 6 handed. He has KJ and the first card out is an Ace.

Shortly after we reach the final table.

Seat 1: Vaginal (21k)
Seat 2: danielsan (7k)
Seat 3: Margar007 (12k)
Seat 4: Tjifen (26k)
Seat 5: Blueno005 (14k)
Seat 6: medicin (12k)
Seat 7: UTOPIA (9k)
Seat 8: Cresus2 (24k)
Seat 9: DaRigger (10k)
Seat 10: ClintonO (6k)

I am firmly in 10th place! Blinds are 150/300 antes 25 and we are 3 hours 15 mins in.

Hand 5, sees me with AQ and once again Margar007 is doing the raising, this time to 1500. Once again the all-in moved is applied. Margar calls with QT. The board pairs the queens and the aces and I am up to 11k and back in the game.

The game is fairly tight as this point and we reach hand 23. Blinds 200/400 antes 50. I am on 10k and look down in the big blind with AA!
Everyone folds and I am thinking typical no action. Then DaRigger in the small blind moves all in. He turns over AJ. The board brings a Jack, but nothing more - we are down to 9 and I have 17k and am up to 5th place.

It is hand 52 before we lose any more players, blinds are now 400/800.
Margar007 goes all in preflop for 7k and has two callers.
UTOPIA moves all in for 8k on a 738 flop and is called by medicin.
Margar has AJ, UTOPIA QQ and medicin AK. Turn is a 6 river K.

By hand 53 we have
medicin 49k
Tjifen 20k
Blueno005 17k
vaginal 17k
Cresus2 16k
ClintonO 11k
danielsan 10k.

I have played stole a few pots, but also folded AJ and 88 to big reraises.

Hand 60, I have AQ and raise to 2400. Tjifen moves all in and with 8k back I cant fold now. He turns over AT and the A7786 board doubles me up to 22k.

Hand 63 Tjifen takes out Danielsan in a race AK vs 77 and hits a straight. 6 remain
Hand 69 Cresus2 takes out Blueno005 with 77 against AT after both players hit a piece of the flop 27T.
Hand 88 blinds at 600/1200. medicin takes out vaginal with AJ vs QQ. We now have 4.

I am still playing catch up. Cresus2 (49k), medicin (43k), ClintonO(25k) and Tjifen (24k), but i now have a real shout.

Its all change by Hand 103. I have K8 in SB and call the bet. Tjifen checks. Flop 8AK. I check my two pair, Tjifen who is now chip leader bets 3600. I reraise to 8400 and he quickly moves all in for 51k. I have 13k left and I am certain I am in front so I call. He had K5 and I take the pot.

Incredibly I am now in 1st place with 46k! Others 45k, 30k, 19k.

Hand 119 Tjifen takes out Cresus 2 the money goes in on the turn. Board Q43T. He holds Q5 against A4.

By time we get to hand 146,Tjifen has been bullying away and is on a massive 79k, I have 35k and medicin 26k.
I see AK. medicin min raises to 3200 and I reraise to 8000. He then moves all in. I cant fold here, I am in front or its a race. I have to go for it. He turns over AA, my heart sinks.
The board brings a T and Jack, so a queen will save me, but no.
A couple of hands later I have just 5k. I move all in on button and Tjifen with 73k folds. I move to 7k, Tjifen 72k, medicin 61k. Can you believe that in 50 hands time I will have won my seat!

The story continues tomorrow!
ClintonO

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Best Poker day ever - The EPT

Well it has finally sunk in. The Caribbean Poker Classic and the EPT French Open, both secured in one glorious Sunday night.

The amazing thing is that the two games were so entirely different. The EPT I led from fairly early right to the end, whilst the cpc, I scrapped onto the final table in last place, was well behind in the last three, in fact the first time I was in front was the hand before I won it.

I thought it might be interesting to take you through both finals and see how they were won.

EPT
We join the EPT Final with just six left. I started well in this tournament, moving slowly up from my 2500 chips to 3500 in the first level. I managed to double up when one guy got annoyed that I min raise him twice. The second time I had KK and he had 56off!
I started with a quality table including Kinghawko and ThierryH

Upon reaching the final table, I was in first or second postion and then took a nice jump when my AK beat AQ.

This is the final six
Seat 2) ClintonO 44k
Seat 4) Jeff2901 9k
Seat 5) ThierryH 19k
Seat 6) Bigadzc 19k
Seat 7) UTOPIA 16k
Seat 9) lmack85 6k

This was a great position to be in and I really did not one to blow it! I was playing fairly tight, but raising when in position.

12 hands later and we were down to 5. ThierryH takes out lmack85. I have moved up to 52k, thanks to a pair of cowboys.

Hand 30 from our starting point sees the blinds at 300/600. UTOPIA calls a 3xbb raise in the bb with J6 spades. With a flop of 3s As 9s, Christmas comes early and he manages to take Bigadzc for all his chips who was holding AQ. All the money going in on the flop.

5 hands later, we are down to 3, Thierry H takes out Jeff. I have managed to maintain my stack without getting too involved.

ClintonO 52k, ThierryH 32k, UTOPIA 29k. I know my opposition and they are top draw. Blinds are 400/800, so there is plenty of time to play. I am going to have to be at my best to win this one.

Hand 61 sees me move up to 67k, I call with 78 diamonds and get a 9 high flop, ThierryH the intial raiser overbets the pot, which usually means he has missed the flop. I have been very solid throughout and bet when I have the goods. I decide this is the time to make my move. I call his large raise. The turn brings a 5, if he checks, then I bet. He does and then folds.

By time we get to hand 83 since I started this review, I am sitting on 70k. Blinds are 600/1200, I turn over 66 in the big blind. Utopia with 13k left, min raises. I decide its an attempt at my blind and push my chips in. He calls incredibly with 89off. The flop brings a 9 giving him the pot. Did I need to be so aggressive, maybe not, but I am suprised at 89. I drop to 56k in chips, I must keep composure.

The next few hands I play KQ and A9 and end up throwing them away.

93 hands down, I have 39k, ThierryH 33k and UTOPIA 40k. My huge lead has gone, I must hold it together. To come this far and throw it away would be criminal.

Hand 95 is the one that effectively wins me the tournament.

I am in the BB with KK. UTOPIA min raises again and I call.
Flop 2d5c9d. He checks. I bet small 2400. He immediately reraises to 4800. A check raise, I am suspicious, but am not throwing my kings away at this point. I reraise to 12000. His move here is crucial. If he reraises all in, he probably has a set or Aces, as I look committed. He in fact calls.
The turn brings a 6d. The flush is a possibility. He bets 12k of his 15k. I have 27k left. I have the Kd as a small hope if he has the flush. What to do. His bet of 12k intrigues me, why leave 3k, does that mean anything, why not go all in. If I am calling 12k, I am calling 15k. This is crucial in my decision.
I have left myself a small amount behind before when I want to look very strong. Also I have bet twice on the flop, if has the flush why not check and let me bet as I am bound to do.
The final thing is last time he made a flush he bet the minimum, why bet 80% of his stack.
These 3 things lead me to believe I am in front and push in.

He turns over Ah 9s, so top pair with top kicker. He has 4 outs on the river, but that comes the 5d, making me a flush.
I have never thought so much about a pair of kings before. I could have shoved the chips in and had the same result!

The Heads up last 19 hands, out chip count had not much changed. Blinds are still 600/1200. I have TT in the big blind. He calls the big blind. I raise to 3600, he moves all in for 24480. Whats he got a big pair, he is surely calling here. He is happy to take the pot right there. Mid pair or Ace x. Thats good enough for me. He has A7. Great! He effectively has 3 outs.

8h 7h 2s. He has hit a 7. 5 outs now. Turn 4d, river 8h. Victory! I am off to the French Open in Deauville.

The CPC follows tomorrow.
ClintonO

Monday, October 16, 2006

Whats your best day in Poker?

I think I have just had mine!
The last few weeks I have complained about Sundays, well not anymore.
Tonight, I played in the EPT Final and the CPC final. The results.

I won them both!

Yes thats right blogfans, its a win in both!
I am still shaking from it all!

The EPT was incredible, I managed to get a very big lead and then found myself one of 3 players left against UTOPIA and ThierryH, two of the most feared players on the network. I managed to blow the lead and then recover to take the title.

Whilst this was still going on, I was playing the CPC Final. This time when it was down to 3 players I was in 2nd and then ran into AA with AK, which left me crippled with 4k, I somehow turned this around to eventually overturn a 30k to 110K deficit to ultimately win with, yes you guessed it pocket queens!

I will fill you in on all the details tomorrow, but what a night

Tonights winnings

1 x EPT package includes: * The €5000 buy in to the event of your choice. * €600 to stay in one of the luxurious hotels.* €1,000 straight into your LittlewoodsPoker.com account to cover travel expenses - I am probably going to pick The Scandinavian Open which is held in Copenhagen, my other option is the French Open held in Deauville.

1 x CPC package includes:
a $11,300 Package with Littlewoods which includes:$6,300 entry into the main no-limit event $5,000 for an ALL-INCLUSIVE 9-night package at the prestigious St Kitts Marriott Resort on + airfare for two from London

Got to sleep now, cant take it all in!
ClintonO

Thursday, October 12, 2006

QQ - The new lucky ladies! (part1)

So the last month has been a great one for the ladies!!!

My win percentage has dropped to 91%, 38 wins from 42, but have I maximised the amount of winnings.
According to the chips QQ has resulted in a 98944 profit (chips that is not pounds!)

So have I played them right.
Lets look at them!

This evening I am going to look at Early Position
Results Played 8 won 8.

Seat 1 - Limped x2
Seat 2 - Raised first in x3, raised initial limper, Reraised
Seat 3 - Reraised

I have raised 6 times and limped twice, so I have mixed up the bets.

Seat 1 Eg1 Level 2 of tournament Blinds 15/30

I have limped in both times from seat 1. Once it resulted in six callers and the second four callers. Potentially disastrous situations.

1) ClintonO call 30
2) folds
3) folds
4) johnts call 30
5) folds
6) Fonz23 call 30
7) hoeffi call 30
SB) Redeyeneo call 30
BB) leone1 check

Flop Th5c5h

SB) Check
BB) Check
1) ClintonO bet 90
4) johnts call 90
6) Fonz 23 Raise 270
7,SB,BB) folds
1) ClintonO Raise 1200
4) Folds
6) Fonz23 Calls 1020

ClintonO QsQh
Fonz Ts8d

Board Th5c5h3c3s


Analysis
On a T55 flop, I opened the betting with a half pot size bet to see where I am, seat 4 calls, cutoff raises x3. I am not worried about TT, as I would have expected a preflop raise, but I have definitely let in the posibility of someone having a 5 or a heart flush draw. The fact that the raise comes from the guy in the cutoff seat I believe he is less likely to have a 5. Once the blinds fold, I believe my QQ is good and am either up against a draw or top pair.

Seeing Fonz23 turn over Ts8d, I am very pleased and surprised he called his remaining 750 chips with top pair and weak kicker.
Johnnts who called my initial bet, may have had a flush draw but with two reraises, he was not going to stay in the pot.

All in all Limping from seat 1 is risky, but here the return was maximised.

Seat1 Eg2 -Level 3: Blinds 25/50

1) ClintonO calls 50
2-5) folds
6) Westee calls 50
7) Folds
8) NOLIMIT calls 50
SB) Folds
BB) Deeirun Check

Flop Tc2h3c pot 225

BB) Check
1) ClintonO bets 150
6) Westee calls 150
8,BB) Folds

Turn 3d

1) ClintonO bets 300
6) Westee raise to 600
1) ClintonO all in 1330
Westee Folds

Analysis

Four players in this one and a fairly harmless flop of T23 although it does bring a flush draw.
I bet 2/3rds the pot and get one caller, at this point he is either on a flush draw, top pair, or worst case scenario a set.
The turn brings a second 3, if he has quads - good luck to him, the only really scare is a full house with deuces in this pocket. I believe I am in front and bet again. He then puts in a min raise, this for me is an I don't believe you bet. I have 1030 left its time to push all in.
He has a call for 730 more in a pot already containing 1725 and clearly has nothing when he folds.

Could I have got more money, well I did not want to give him an opportunity to hit a flush on the river, so for me it was a good time to move.

Seat 2

Eg 1 - blinds 15/30 - Raise to 90, reraised all in by short stack 570 - call. QQ beats 88
Eg 2 - blinds 50/100 - Seat 1 raises to 400, I move all in for 2985, he calls with AKo. QQ hold up.
Eg 3- blinds 600/1200 with antes - Raise to 3600, meno moves all in for 6402. I call. QQ beats TT
Eg 4- blinds 100/200 - Seat 1 calls. I raise to 800. He calls. Flop 756 rainbow. He checks, I bet half pot and he folds
Eg 5 - blinds 150/300 with antes. I raise to 900, all fold.

So from the 5 examples, I have had only one instance where my raise was not called, giving a strong arguement for always raising QQ. One coin flip situation and two underpairs in all in situations, in the remaining example, I was probably up against A high.

Seat 3.
Eg 1 - blinds 10/20

1) Mike23079 raises to 40
3) Clinton O reraises to 160
4) PEPPS1 calls 160
6) jezmund calls 160
SB) dondawda all in 110
1) Mike calls.

Flop ThJs3h.

1) Mike23079 all in 250
3) ClintonO all in 1310
4) PEPPS1 all in 1300

dondawda 6c4c
Mike23079 qc3c
ClintonO QdQh
PEPPS1 AhKh

ThJs3h9cJc

Analysis

A crazy pot with the SB all in with nothing based on value. The UTG play was interesting, no need to play with Q3clubs, and bets out with just a match on the 3.
When I moved all in, there was a flush and straight draw so had to act now.
PEPPS1 made the correct call with two overcards, flush draw and straight draw.

All in all, I am happy with how I have played QQ from an early position. The question remaining is should I limp in from seats 1-3. I believe you have to vary your play and provided you are happy to fold them if an ace or King comes along, then it is a useful play to have in your locker.

I will continue to analysis with plays with the ladies tomorrow!

I am interested to see where I have lost and here is a quick summary

1) BB - All in preflop versus AKs
2) Late - Raised UTG limper. He calls and moves in on 933 flop. I call he turns over K6 and spikes a King on the river. Ouch!
3) Middle - Raise and button and SB calls. I bet on 578 flop and get raised - I call. Turn is K. I check and he bets 2/3rds pot. I fold
4) Middle - I reraise seat 3 - who calls. Flop 959. He check calls me, turn 6, he then check raises me and turns over KK.

Situation 1 - Fair enough - coin flip I lost
2 - bad move from Burns015 who had nothing when I was pretty much pot comitted - unlucky
3 & 4 - I definetly could have played better. I will look at these tommorrow.

I am finding this analysis very interesting! Hope it is remotely interesting for you also!

On the poker front -
Good - I won the EPT qualifier and am now in the final on Saturday.
Bad - Eliminated from the 15k near the money in the QQ versus K6 just above. (Please don't start being nasty to me again)

Until tomorrow!
ClintonO

Hand Analysis

The first of my features is going to be hand analysis, whereby I will look at my strongest hands and weakest hands.

First a quick mention of the defence of my $6k title. I made it to the final table again tonight, but two successive defeats with JJ took me out in 10th place. First against AK and then AA, despite hitting a 3rd Jack! A fair effort though I suggest!

This hand analysis is based on the last month or so and is based on win ratio.

1) QQ 93% - Would you belive it
2) AA 81%
3) AKs 76%
4) KK 71%
5) JJ 71% - probably lower after tonight!
6) TT 71%
7) AKo 71%
8) AQs 70%
9) AJs 70%
10) 99 68%
11) T7s 67%

No real surprises then, but incredibly my feared hand QQ is up at 93%. This though is fair too high for this hand, so I suggest I may well be playing it too aggressively. I have in fact won 39 times out of 42 with this hand. Losing once in the BB and twice from mid position.

I will go into more detail into each hand and try to find out where I am going right or wrong.
Of the big pairs I have had AA the least!
QQ 42
TT 42
KK 35
JJ 35
99 34
88 34
AA 13

Okay of those hands at the bottom!

1) T8s - 0%
2) 53s - 0%
3) J3s - 0%
4) T4s - 0%
5) 62s - 0%
6) 62o - 0%
7) 72o - 4%
8) t2o- 4%
9) 65o - 5%
10) q2o - 6%

The only real suprise is t8s - I have played this hand 9 times and never won with it! Sounds like a plan!

What about my win ratio from postions, when I choose to play

Middle 52% success rate
Early 50%
Late 46%
Short Handed situations 38%
BB 16%
SB 12%

As I said I will go into more detail with the hands, but there are some other interesting stats, when I play JTs I only get a 29% win rate and QJs just 21%.

The hand I play the most is Ace King off suit, 14 more times than any other cards.

I really hope this analysis can help discover some interesting stats!

But you have to wait for that for now!

ClintonO

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Time for a change

I have decided that my recent lack of posts have come about because I am getting bored about what I write about. There are too many self indulgent blogs about how unlucky someone was or another bad beat and I myself had fallen down that trap, to the point that I was boring myself.

So I have decided to have a few features towards the end of the year, amongst a track of how I am doing.

So these are what you can look forward to.

1) Hand Analysis - Top 5 hands & worst 5 hands. How many people know which hands they play better and which ones they play the worst. I will be going through my best and worst hands and work out how to improve this.

2) ClintonO on tour - I am also going to play a guest tournament across different sites and feedback on my view on the site, the tournaments and the players.

3) My STT peformance - Its simply not good enough, what am I doing wrong, what tactics can I adopt to improve this situation. I will cover Thunders, 6 seaters and 10 seaters in a quest to find a winning formula.

4) Review of things poker related - I have started reading a lot of magazines, books and websites, so I will review these and let you know what I think is good or bad value.

5) Poker Updates - No bad beat stories (well maybe just a couple!), just my learnings, what I have done wrong - more emphasis on how I can improve and help others do the same. Also why are Tuesdays and Fridays the days I win on.

My aim is to update each of these features once a week. Please keep giving your feedback on these and help me improve them.

One poker news related point though is that I won another major title last night.
I managed to win my second ever $6k (157 runner) tournament on Littlewoods yesterday (yes another Tuesday!), taking home the first prize of $2340. All very handy!
The heads up lasted just a couple of hands. My opponent kindly went all in when I was holding Q8 on a Q86 board. The turn card was an 8, which secured the title.
I don't play this tournament much at all, no more than 20 times in all, but I did manage to win it back in April and was 2nd last month. Maybe I should be playing it more.

Anway heres to more interesting blog!
ClintonO

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Sundays are totally sick part XVI

5 big tournaments today and five disasters.

The £50k was going well. I had £7k in chips, I hold AQ hearts in the big blind. Blinds just 150/300, with 25 ante.
Brille raised from the cutoff to 900. I put him on a steal and put all my chips in and represent that I don't have as strong a hand. He thinks and calls incredibly with A5, for all his chips bar 300. This would put me on over 14k and right amongst the chip leaders. The river of course is a 5.

Please keep playing like that! I will get you!

The CPC Weekly Final, saw me make my 6th final table. But no, it was not 6th time lucky. I limped in with KK under the gun and got a call and then a raise. I went all in and Steve311 calls with TT, of course the board brings a Ten. Fair play by him, but my perfect plan loses again!

The CPC Double Shootout, I got to heads up with nuts, who admittedly played well and could well win the seat, but not without my AA losing to a flush on the river.

The EPT final, I try a move calling a raise with J3. The board is 6TJ, we have four players. Two checks then the intial raiser totally overbets the pot, I think I am in front, so I put him all in. He calls with AT, got it right, unfortunately he hits an ace on the river.

Finally the $50k added. I start really well, up to 8k in chips. I raise with AQ, following an under the gun limper, he calls.
Board is AQ3 he bets, I call. Turn 5 rainbow board, he bets, I reraise he is all in with 6.5k. I call leaving me with just 1.5k. If he has a set then fair enough, he turns over (bet you cant guess) 22. The river brings a 4 and he hits a straight.

I believe I played really well tonight, but from the five big tournaments I have absolutely nothing to show for it.

I had a 4th yesterday in the £2.5k guaranteed, when my AJ on an AJ68 board loses to an all in from the 2nd chips leader, I was in front, moves with KQ. Turn is T.

Luckily nothing has been lost, but come on, a little bit of luck would not go amiss!

ClintonO