Friday, February 23, 2007

Getting back into the swing

I played two games yesterday the £12k and the Bad Beat Team Event.

I enjoyed the £12k, especially doubling up first hand 88 vs A5 on a 678A board.
I played well enough, laying down AQ twice when it recent weeks I probably would have gone bust.
I ended up in 42nd, losing two hands on the trot JJ to AK and then AK to JT, both all in preflop.
AJT flop was a bit nasty at the end. Overall I played well and felt my head was getting back into the game.

In the dream team I had my best performance of the season, finishing in 10th place, earning $60 but more importantly 1000 pts for the team.

After six weeks, we have moved up to 12th place and with two good weeks on the trot its starting to look promising.

The top 4 players in the team so far
Jamie 'FISHMAC' 2790
Clinton 'ClintonO' 2300
Martyn ' 50kinred' 1900
Desh ' INJUSTICE' 1400

Whilst I am writing I have doubled in the first hand in the £12k for the second consecutive night, lets hope it ends up better than last night! AA vs AQ.

I had a comment a few days back reference making deals on cryptologic. The few I have made have always been honoured by all players, it has to be done on trust and so far everyone has been trustworthy.
I made a deal on bluesquare a couple of weeks ago, whereby the top 7 paid £50 each to 8th place, however whilst 4 of them honoured the deal, 3 decided not to.
So all I can say is get as much information as you can from the players you are making deals with.

ClintonO

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

A week off

Well a week has passed since I played any real poker. 2 hands in my bad beat team event on Thursday and an hour and a half in the £12k last night.

I have to say I am not yet feeling the overwhelming desire to rush back into playing. Bizarrely I am feeling more tired through not playing than I am when I am putting everything in to it. With 17 days to go to Dortmund, I still feel like I need a bit longer to recharge those batteries.

I am going to play very selectively this week before hopefully wanting to step up again next.

A quick congratulations to Sun_Deshi who has taken advantage of my absence by winning the £12k and moving 5-4 up in our mini competition on that tournament.
Also to ThierryH who was winning the leaderboard competition when I checked last night.

See you all in a few days.
ClintonO

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Day 1 of break

Well Day 1 of the break did not go according to plan.

I had already qualified for the Highrollers six pac £215 entry so I had to play it.
Six pacs tournies are not my game, I am still adjusting to the amount you have to play.

This tournament was a very slow structure, allowing lots of time to play poker.
I was a shortstack throughout, but hung on in there.
All of a sudden I was on the final table. The top three get paid. I was by far the smallest stack.

I offered the table a split with 6 players left and again with 5, but they declined!

I doubled up with AQ against AJ, 55 against 22 and 33 against AJ. 4 left and I was around 3rd/4th.

My 77 then lost to AJ and one of the other guys hit a two outer to survive.
After an hour with 4 players, finally it was down to 3 players. I had won £1360.
With 3 left I was in 2nd, the short stack moved in with 83, I had t8, and the chip leader 9T. The board was 68387. I had trips, leader straight, but amazingly shortstack had a boat!

I then lost a massive pot with 3 left, QJ hearts vs AA and it left me with 551 chips against 23k and 59k. I don't know how but I managed to finish 2nd and take home £2040.

The guy who won it was called montcarlo, I don't think I have played against him before, but he played very well and totally dominated the final table. I lost with AJ against 33 for the final hand, incredibly the hand that had kept me in it before.

Right as Ross from friends so famously says 'We were on a break!'
Well breaks like these I can do with more often.

ClintonO

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Time for a little break!

The Poker Gods are not shining on me at present!

I played a number of tournaments today, where going nicely in each, got hit by a 2 or 3 outer on the river. Recently my luck has not been in, so I am going to ease up over the next week or so.

Tonight I was playing in the £40k my bogey tournament, I had already had a couple of nasty little beats, I am dealt AA in the Small Blind and two people are already all in! Christmas has come early!


dealt to ClintonO [Ac As]
mrlort: folds
Sofia1979: folds
Loverat: folds
Myggebo: raises to 1795 and is all-in
Karl25125: folds
100k: folds
Rhaegar: raises to 3395 and is all-in
ClintonO: is all-in 1765
--burakki: folds
Returned uncalled bets 1,555 to Rhaegar
----- FLOP ----- [Qd Jd 3c]
----- TURN ----- [Qd Jd 3c][6s]
----- RIVER ----- [Qd Jd 3c 6s][9d]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Rhaegar: shows [Qc Ah] (A Pair of Queens, Ace high)
ClintonO: shows [Ac As] (A Pair of Aces, Queen high)
Myggebo: shows [Tc 8c] (A Straight, Queen high)
ClintonO collected 90 from Side pot #1
Myggebo collected 5535 from Main pot


However, I refuse to moan about bad beats as they do happen.
I am though going to take a little rest from this game. My sole focus is now the EPT Dortmund. I am giving up on the Leaderboard this month and aside from the Highrollers final tomorrow night, I am going to have the week off.

My game is about preparation, I have 25 days ahead of the biggest poker game of my career to date and its time to get ready and right now that means a break.

See you in a little while
ClintonO

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Leaderboard Update

4 days in and I am sitting in 74th position with 107.95 points.
One more cash finish to record, a 25th in the £12k on Thursday.

It would have been better but my AK lost to an AJ which hit a runner runner flush after a A hit the flop.
Aside from that my MTT form has not been much kop.

I was going well in the $4k last night but my Aces were cracked by fives.
I also managed to miss out on the GUKPT in Walsall by three places again, I am destined not to qualify for that. It becomes a total crap shoot towards the end. Three times in three hands I had my chips in with the best hand but lost everytime. AQ vs KJ, AT vs QT and 99 vs AK.

I have had some success though, so its not all doom and gloom. I won a highrollers qualifier and am in Mondays £215 final. I also won the EPT Monte Carlo qualifier earlier today for tonights final.

Amazingly I have had a fair amount on the cash tables. I dont usually play on there and have been playing at fairly low levels, but have somehow managed to add £1k to my profits for February through cash tables alone. All I can say is that some people have been very generous to me.

I have just under a month to sort my MTT form out before Dortmund. Although February has been good from a profit point of view, I am not at my best and I know it. I have too much else that I am thinking about and therefore I am only playing at about 70%.
I did not have a great February last year so I need to work on why.
Looking through my records, my hot period is August to January and then go cold from February to July, so thats not good!

Time to find my MTT form, now where did I put it!

ClintonO

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Leaderboard Day 2

Day 1 was officially rubbish 9pts and joint 141st place.
Day 2 was going the same way until a final table in the $4k helped matters. Now 56 pts and 60th place.

I played in all 3 tournaments on Day 2.
The 8k was over with 15 mins. I had KK and ran into AA, fair enough it happens.
The 12k was dissapointing. I went out in 50th shortly before the points start getting interesting.
I was sat with KQ in the big blind. Mny75 was in the small blind and moved all in for a little less than what I had. He tends to play any two cards in that position, KQ is a favourite over most hands so I called. He turns over QT and of course hits the ten.

The $4k started well, KK in the first hand and I got someone to donate all their chips with second pair! I moved up steadily and a set of nines late on enabled me to be comfortable going into the last 30.
With 14 left I lost a big pot when my two pair lost to a gutshot on the river. I fought back to make the final table. With 9 left I was down to just 12k, blinds at 2k/4k and had to move from the cutoff with A8 I came up against AT and with 6799 on the board i had outs, but none of them materialised.

I will give it another go tonight, to try and get some more points on the board.

ClintonO

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Mid Month Leaderboard Day 1

Februarys Leaderboard competition is underway and all was looking positive until about ten minutes ago!

Today I managed a final table appearance, fifth in the £1.5k, which helps pay for a number of the leaderboard events. I also won the qualifier for the £12k quite comfortably.

So Event 1 Tuesday 6th February £12k 300 Entrants

A tough starting table with ThierryH, Animalgod and Stinger05 all present. I get absolutely nothing worth playing for 40 mins. Then the black aces in the big blind appear. Most fold until the loose fill_ivey calls, and animalgod in the small blind also. I raise it up and ivey comes along. A harmless looking board of K75 rainbow. I bet half the pot and get called. Turn is 3, I again lead out and he reraises for the rest of chips, he has less than me and its only another 400 to call. At this point I am not too worried. I dont think he has a set as he would have raised from the cutoff, two pair is unlikely, but possible, I have to call. He turns over 64 offsuit for the straight.

Well I have to admit I did not see that one coming!
I was left with few chips and pushed with QJ against 88, but an 8 on the flop put an end to tournament number 1. 207th place and 5 points. It can only get better!

As part of my tour at the moment, I tried a stop at Ladbrokes, what a waste of time! I entered a tournament to win a share in a racehorse. I then got a message telling me the site had packed in and no further poker would be played tonight!

Event 2 £8k 387 Players

I tried to play this far too quickly, playing many more hands than I usually do. I was making good progress until I lost half my stack calling an all in with AK and losing to 88. I regained my chip position and then managed to throw my chips away by being too aggressive with AK this time running into QQ and losing.

227th place and 2 points.
I was not happy with my game in the 8k, I was too tired to play it properly and therefore was overvaluing my high aces. I know its only day 1, but I am already not sure I have the stamina to play all the leaderboard games, I will see how I feel tomorrow.

Event 3 $4k 287 players.
Again I am playing a little too pacy, I move to 4k early doors, before falling back to 2k when I run into AA with AQ, again overplaying high Aces.
Hopefully I have now reset my image for the rest of the tournament! I actually won 8 hands on the trot at one point. I got back up to 4k and beyond. I eventually met my match when my QQ was beaten by AJ. Blinds were still only smallish, so again overplaying. I finished 103rd with 2 points. Giving me a total of 9!

I know that I am not on my game tonight, too much going on in my head to concentrate fully.
I am for some reason committing myself with almost everyhand I go in with. I would hope that tomorrow I can get back the discipline that is normally so good in my game. Just goes to show if you are not operating at your best, then there is really no point playing.

Still at least I have not done any worse in day 1 of the leaderboard in comparison to the last one!

ClintonO

Monday, February 05, 2007

Slowly coming back into form.

After a relatively quiet period of just ticking along. I can see signs that things are starting to click into shape. With the leaderboard competition starting tomorrow, I am quietly confident.
I equalled my yearly best position in the £40k with a 21st place last night and £300. Although I was in 8th place 5 minutes before I went out! I am destined never to hit that final table in this tournament.
I held AK suited on the small blind. Book from the cut-off had moved all in for half my stack. He had been raising a lot, but no-one was believing him, as he was reraised all-in every time, so he changed his tactic by pushing them all-in.
I had a decision to make, if I called and won I would be in the top 2, if I lost then I would be back in the pack. I decided that an all in move with the chips he had (28k into a 5k pot) then he was happy to take it down there and then and therefore had a mid/low pair or a high ace. As the worse I could be was 50/50 I made the call. He turned over tens and I did not improve.

A few hands later I had AK suited again, I raised from the cut off and the loose button came over the top of me. There was a short stack on another table (one more out and prizes moved from £300 to £450) with just 4k, but I had 6.4k invested of my 20k and the chance to win near enough 50k meant I went with it. Another race this time against queens. A flop with JT gave me two more outs, the turn gave me outs with the flush potential, but the river bought pain and the disappointment of going out 21st for the 2nd time in 3 weeks.

I had some success on the cash tables, I was experimenting on a low £1/£2 game and managed to win enough to pay for any entry fee I invested over the weekend.

I was running well in the DTD freeroll for a WSOP seat, down to the last two tables and I reraise all in with KQ only to be called with QT. They hit a straight! C’est la vie!

Congrats to Andy for winning the EPT Monte Carlo qualifier. Definitely need to get my act together and qualify for this one. I finished 13th in that qualifier, still not sure how someone instant called my reraise for nearly all his chips with K9, but it was too good for my 99.

I played the Mansion $100k Guaranteed over the weekend, the value there is incredible. $100 and 450 players entered. $55k overlay. This did not stop me crashing out very early though!

Despite just ticking along February has started well enough.
My priority for the week still remains with the GUKPT qualifier for Walsall (I will win this seat!), but with the Mid Month Leaderboard starting tomorrow, I have a lot to concentrate on over the next few weeks.

ClintonO

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Updated Events on Crypto

Both UK Betting and Wm Hill must have taken notice of my comment, that they had nothing going on, as they now both have promos for Feb.

UK Betting are offering £100 for 1000 MPPs generated. This is less value though than the current schemes on Inter Poker and Parbet, although if you can generated 1000MPPs fairly easily it may be worth having.

Wm Hill have followed Sun Pokers lead and are now having a similiar WSOP Promotion. Whereby their top ten MPP earners between Feb and May can win themselves money for Vegas.
If you are a big cash player and have missed out on the Sun promo, this may be worth your time.

Today I will playing the $100k on Mansion at 6pm. This will be a great value tournament with a great overlay.

This will be alongside the £12k and Monte Carlo Final on Littlewoods.

ClintonO

January Review

A good start to the year, but how did I do versus my objectives for the year!

Objective 1) Cash in major live event. Well EPT Deauville has become EPT Dortmund and this objective is still ongoing, as I have not played a major live event yet. I was hoping to get to the GUKPT in Walsall in February, but I have bubbled twice and lost with 88 tonight against A2 when ten were left and 7 seats.

Objective 2) Final Table in the £40k. I have not managed this yet but did reach 21st two weeks ago.

Objective 3 MTTS - Win 10 online tournaments in 2007 - January I recorded 2.
To cash in 20% of all tournaments played. I am currently hitting a very impressive 34% cash rate.
Make £40k in the year - January saw +£5k

Objective 3 STTS/CASH - I have hardly played any so I am not going to look at this yet.

Objective 4 Live Events.
My plan for the year is now
EPT Dortmund (replaces Deauville)
EPT Monte Carlo
GBPT Nottingham
WSOP
GUKPT Luton
EPT Barcelona
CPC
Aussie Millions.

I am trying to make the GUKPT in Walsall, but I keep falling at the final hurdle.

I have been pleased with my start to the year and the leaderboard competition was a very successful one.

February started okay tonight with a 13th place finish in the 12k, but I am ready to take on the crypto world in the leaderboard tournament starting next week.

See you all on the tables
ClintonO

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Light play ahead of new Leaderboard competition

Nothing much to report this week, I have been catching up on sleep ahead of the 20 day marathon that starts on Tuesday.

Last night I took one of four seats for the EPT final qualifier for Monte Carlo on saturday night.
I have also played a couple of the highroller qualifiers, bubbling twice, but taking home some £170 for my troubles.

Dissapointment last night in the GUKPT qualifier last night, there was 10 seats available and I was sitting comfortably in 5th with just 50 left. I got tangled up in a small blind/big blind situation where my Q9 ran into 32 on a 229Q board. Then I had a TT versus AK which I lost and then when I had a straight, the river then dealt a 2 outer to split the board. I was not happy with this performance as I felt I should have secured my seat from that position.

Also time is running out to get myself a seat (Betfair appear to have pulled their qualifiers for it)

Tonight I will be in action in the Dream Team event as well as the £12k and smaller events on Littlewoods.
I will also post a January performance update, yes we are 1 month in already!

ClintonO