Thanks

I just wanted to say thank you for the kind word that lots of people have either posted on here or who have contacted me direct.

It is nice to know that this blog was being read and helping people.

With that in mind in has caused me to rethink my decision and therefore I am considering starting it up again.

However I am going to leave in the decision in the hands of the poker gods!

I had a post on here from David who has vowed to ensure that he sends me the money from our deal at the caribbean, which is good news as I could really do with it, but as yet I have not received it.

I have decided that if I receive the money I will use this money completely as a bankroll for playing poker and therefore will continue writing. If I don't receive the money then I will not continue down this path and do something else instead.

So if it happens I look forward to seeing you soon, if not then good luck to one and all.

Regardless of what happens, have a wonderful christmas!

ClintonO

My Final Post

It is with great sadness that I have decided to end my poker blog.

The main aim of my blog has always been to help others and to give an insight into the world of poker and try to help others on this difficult path.

It seems that no matter how hard you try to help, there are plenty of anonymous people that want to shoot you down, regardless of what the circumstances or how you try to help people make a living from what is ultimately a very difficult game.

I wish all my friends in poker a very prosperous time.
I would also like to thank Mark Phillips aka _Marky_ who made a deal with me in the final event at the CPC for sticking to his word and paying me the percentage we agreed. It goes to show there is class in the poker playing world.
I hope David Lloyd the winner of the CPC shows the same class in coming forward with the 5% deal we agreed.

I have really enjoyed writing this blog as I know there are a number of people who have benefited greatly from my posts.

I apologize to Denlizliz for not posting our heads up match where he completely destroyed me, but I can't find the hand historys. If I manage to get hold of them, I will post them as a one off.

Please enjoy your poker and play within your means.

If anyone wishes to contact me for any advice or just to talk about poker then please email me on clinton.orchard@hotmail.co.uk.

I wish everyone the best of luck and I hope to see all my friends again soon.

Take care one and all
Clinton.

So that was the Caribbean

The CPC is over, forever or just another year is yet to be decided, but what a week.

So many great people and a lot of fun, but as for another cruise, thats not on my agenda.

So the rest of the week, I played the $500 and not the $1000. However I did not last long I could not lay down KK preflop and lost to AA.

The main event I did a lot better, but ended up going out in 31st place. Marky himself knocking me out calling my all in with 77, I had A8. Flop gave an Ace first card, but also a 7 and that was effectively it!

I did however do some good business, doing deals with Mark and also David Lloyd, who ended up 4th and 1st respectively. David played superbly all week and was a worthy winner.

Its a shame I could not also cash, but the small percentages in each of them, will provide some much needed funds to get the bankroll going for this attempt at playing poker. I look forward to receiving them so I can get cracking.

I have to thank Bruce at Littlewoods for again being so hospitable and also to Tony Cascarino, Michael Greco, Martin James and Dave Johnson who were great company all week, despite having to put up with me!!

I also ran a Beach Poccer tournament, which was a lot of fun, although the football section was played with the smallest goals in the world, meaning the highest scoring game was 1-0!

Photos and results will be on the website shortly.

So what have I learnt this week about poker.
Some players will play any two cards, some people are much better live than online, whilst others are much better the other way around.

Live Poker is a slow game, in the second level of the main event we played 8 hands in 45 minutes, thats not even a full orbit.

Some tables were serious, some were a fantastic laugh, but like online poker the fundamentals are still the same.

At the end of the day its about your table perception, position and your confidence levels.

So whats next for me, well I still have a lot of stuff to sort out over the next couple of months, before I can settle down full time at this game.

I still want to qualify for these big events, I love vegas to pieces, but my main aim, is to get good enough to have a good stab at the EPT Monte Carlo event. In the meantime its about earning enough money to keep myself going.

I wish everyone all the best, there were some fantastic players in the Caribbean and getting better at this game is going to be very difficult as everyone keeps improving.

All the best everyone.
ClintonO

A caribbean peformance!

Last night was the satellite for the main cpc event.

I thought I would give it a go and see what happens.

I decided that I should try and do things differently. Instead of being quiet at the table, I thought I would change my table image and get involved.
I was buying the table drinks and generally just trying to have a lot of fun whilst I was playing.

I definitely annoyed a few people! But I had decided to represent a certain image and therefore had to go along with it. So a quick apology to anyone I upset, I was just acting out a role!

So onto the game, there were 12 seats available for the main event and I am very happy to say that I managed to win my $2700 seat and $10!

The hand that set me up was when I had AK in the big blind. There was one raiser mid position, a reraise from the cutoff and I decided to push.
The original raiser folded and after a while the cutoff called with KQ. I was suprised at his hand but delighted when the board did not bring a Q.
From that moment, I just did what I needed to do to win a seat. It got a bit tense for everyone with 14 left, as the short stacks kept doubling, but eventually 12 remained and we all got seats.

So tomorrow I will be sitting down a the main event.
Its the $550 tonight, so I will playing in that one later tonight.

ClintonO

No defence of the title!

It's no back to back titles for me!

On Monday it was the $330 and $440 tournaments, the tournaments that I reached the final table in last year and won the $440. Well not this year!

I don't think I have ever played as well live as I did in the $330, moving from 3k starting stack to 11k at the end of level 3 and up to 16k at the end of level 5. I even had pocket kings and won, I think thats a new record for me at the CPC. However it all went horribly wrong with a big blind special that lost to Aces.

I was feeling good as the $440 tournament arrived later that evening. Only to find myself amongsts crypto legends as Westpark and Denlizliz.
I had a real up and down first few levels and had slipped to about 2.5k of my original 4k, when I raised with KJ. I had one caller and the board was KKA.

I was hoping to somehow to get my chips in the middle and incredibly they did. However I did not put him on KQ! and that was the end of that one!

I decided to play a sit n go, whilst I was waiting for a few other players and made a decision to play the exact opposite of how I should!
It went very wrong in the first hand after I was messing about with 95, but I decided to continue with my backwards tactics.

With just 750 chips left, I raised to 125 with 73 from 2nd position. One caller and then a raise to 375. I decided to flat call half my stack.
The flop comes 7J3 and he puts me all in. He turns over AA and the turn was then a 3 giving me a full house.
I continued this tactic, calling two short stacks all in with 46 off and knocked them both out after hitting trip fours.
I even manage to reraise all in and win with 72 against a monster 85!

I eventually came 3rd after I started playing properly, should have folded AJ preflop!

Who says there is no luck in poker!! I just have to decide whether to pursue this tactic further!

Yesterday was a non-playing day, so I spent the day in the gym and spa before having a few drinks later on.

I have not made up my mind about cruises yet, the weather is really overcast and I keep spending money! The good thing is that there are so many good people on this trip and almost everyone is here to enjoy themselves. So I will reserve my judgement for now.

Tonight it is the 2nd supersatellite, $270 entry, $100 rebuy and $100 double add-on.
Thursday is beach poccer and the $550.

I will update this again on Friday and hope that my ambition to be the number one poker player with the surname Orchard in the world has not been shattered for this year!!

ClintonO

Caribbean Poker Classic - The Cruise

Well CPC V is upon is and this is my fourth consectutive visit to the tournament.

This year it is on a cruise ship called Freedom of the Seas.

I flew out to Miami on Saturday and had a day there, half to say from what I saw I am liking Miami a lot!
Boarded the ship Sunday Afternoon - wow what a ship, absolutely incredible. There is literally everything you can think of on this ship!
Although I must say, it could be a little calmer! Either the entire ship is drunk or these seas are stormy!

The first tournament was tonight the $270 qualifier in the main event. This however was a little different to planned as they introduced rebuys for $100 and a double add-on for another $100, so it effectively might as well have been a $470 freezeout.

I dont know how many players we started with but there was 135 rebuys and 85 add ons, so I am guessing a little over a hundred.

I lasted until the end of level 6. The first 3 levels were generally very tight, most raises got through. I played a number of speculative hands, but never really made much progress, moving between 1500-3500 in chips.
I lost a few at the end of level 3 with my only pair of the day 33. Got called by T9 on a 642 board. Turn T river T. lol

So at the first break I had 2k, plus my 3k addon.

At level 4 a new player arrived on the table and bet every single hand. With blinds at 100-200, he raised to 1100, I put him all in with JT, he thought for ages and folded KJ!
Following he played every hand, which made poker a little difficult, but he only lasted 2 levels.

In level six with Antes up at 50 and blinds at 200/400 it was becoming expensive. I raised with QT in the cutoff for the short stack to move all in. I could not fold for the amount and faced AJ. However every card was 9 or under. This left me crippled and when I pushed at the first available opportunity I was called by 55 and AK and that was it.

So a slow start, but with two tournaments tomorrow, I am hoping to do a lot better.
I am blaming tonight on exhaustion and this ship!

ClintonO

Starting Over

Poker is one of things that is hard to get right.
You need to play reguarly to give you confidence in your game, yet you need confidence to play your optimum game.

Thats why when your playing well and confident, you should not stop playing!

Right now for me its about rebuilding that confidence.
Since I have started playing again, its gone ok. I played a dozen or so tournaments a couple of weeks back and won 4 of them. Now these were not big tournaments, but they helped me believe that I can still play this game.

I have played 4 small tournaments this week since leaving my job, I have had 3 FTs and bubbled in one, so I believe that the basics are there. I even won a STT! lol!

Today I am going to play some more and see what happens.
I have made one fundamental change to my game and that is to believe in myself a little more.
I have in the past been a little cautious, but one thing I have learnt during this year is that you can play everything perfectly and still end up a loser.

So there is no point being afraid to lose. I don't mean by playing recklessly or not folding when you don't have the real or implied odds to do carry on, but by backing your beliefs. I will still play my game, but I will trust my instincts a lot more and if that means going out first hand or on the bubble, then so be it.

A quick thank you already to the guys that have wished me well. I would love to catch up with you all soon, let me know how you are getting on and what you have been doing.

Right now for me, the aim is get some poker minutes in before the Caribbean, which incredibly is only 3 days away!

If you see me on the tables, don't forget to say hi!

ClintonO

A New Beginning

Well its good to be back!
I hope everyone is well and has been enjoying themselves and their poker.

I enjoyed writing my blog because I believed it helped some people and many said it was a good read.
So apologies for being away, but I am now back.

A quick explanation is in order I feel, without too much details!

I always felt 2008 was going to be the year that defined my life, I just did not realise the ramifications of it!
2008 has hit me very hard indeed, I have pretty much lost most things that mattered to me and its now time to start all over again.

But don't worry you can't keep a good guy down for too long.

The Caribbean Poker Classic is only a few days away and its time to get playing again.

I have played very little poker since the Summer, I guess I did not want to lose that from my life as well!
I remember saying to my football team, well at least I have still have my football, five minutes later I broke my foot! LOL. So you can see why I have been careful with Poker!

So for those of you going to the Caribbean, I look forward to catching up, if not I will catch you online soon.

I will be posting on here regularly now, so please check back in soon.

Take Care
ClintonO

Return Date

Clintons Cards will return again later this year.

The expected return date is Monday November 10th.

ClintonO

Day 6 - Congratulations to UriG

Once again a member of the party performs well. UriG taking home $8500 for 2nd place in the 304 runner $200 at the Orleans. Very well done indeed. They took a chop with 3 remaining.

I played in this tournament for 5 and a half hours and 8 levels. I never got a pair or an ace with a better kicker than a ten, so it was a real grind. I played well enough, fighting and scrapping for every chip I could get. With 80 players left and the blinds shooting up to 600/1200, holding 8k, I moved from the button with QT, small blind has JJ, AK4, board give me 2 more outs to the three kings, the turn was a King giving me 3 more aces as outs, but the river was another King.

I felt I played a lot better today and will have one last stab tomorrow in the $500 at Caesars. Tonight however belongs to UriG, a fantastic performance. He had just less than me with 80 left, so it just goes to show what can be done.

So far it is just me letting the side down! Tomorrow is a big day.

I would also like to say another well done to Dave 'Dog' Duncan from our Poccer Player team, who won a satellite into the main event yesterday, I wish him all the best today!

ClintonO

Day 5 - Rest Day

Day 5 was the rest day. We all went out for a big night, before that we decided that the 7 of us in the party would play in a donkament at the Monte Carlo to raise some funds for the evening.

I am very pleased to say we managed the 1-2, with Fenners and Uri taking home $1300 between them.
I once again failed miserably! Two key hands, one I raised with AJ, 1 caller. Flop AQJ.

I bet, he calls. Turn 4 I bet, he calls. River K. I put a small bet in, he goes all in. I fold and he shows 8-T for the straight.

In the next level I raise again with AJ, 1 caller behind me. Flop is KJ3, I know he does not have a king, so I check to let him bet at me, he moves all, I call. He has 88 and the turn is an 8.

Brilliant!
ClintonO

Day 4 - Congrats to Rusty

Day 4 was the $210 at Binions with just 152 players.
6k starting stack was the order of the day.

Just 3 of the party played this event and congrats goes to Rusty who made the money finishing in 14th place for $525.

I just had one of those days where nothing went right at all.
First hand Qh9h, Flop Qc9c7h. I reraise, Turn Tc, I try and take pot there - called, river Jc. I have to fold.

Second hand, KK on the button, everyone folds to me, the two on my left have not sat down yet!

The game was a funny one, average players in each pot was 6. One hand was raised 8 x the blinds and got 7 callers!

I also saw someone check down the flop when he had the stone cold nuts, incredible stuff.

I fought my way between 4-7k for most of my time in the tournament.
The hand that took most of my chips, saw me call a raise and 2 other calls wih QT in the big blind.
Flop is QT3, initial raiser pushes all in, I call he has KQ and the next card out is a K.

A days rest today as we prepare for a big July 4th party, but two more tournaments to go, to try and achieve something on this trip!

ClintonO

Vegas 08 Update Day 1-3

Vegas is surely the greatest place in the world.

I have spent 3 days here so far including the arrival day and I am absolutely exhausted.
There is simply too much that you just have to do.

No internet connection for two days has meant not being unable to update anything, but a room change has solved that one.

Having too much to do means that Poker often gets overlooked, even if that is the primary purpose of the trip.

I have played two tournaments so far, with little success.

On Day 2, I played the $340 at the Venetian, where you started with a very healthy 12k in chips and 40 mins on the clock.

738 players! took part with a prize pool of $213k!

Of our party 4 of us decided to play this event.

I decided I was not going to play my usual game to start with and just play as many pots as possible in the attempt of hitting something big. I believe I manage to miss every single flop! I ended up at the first break [end of level 3] pretty much where I started at 13k. 2 hours of play later I was just keeping up with play and had moved to 15k. No significant hands, just picking opportunties to take the blinds.

By level 8, the blinds were becoming significant, I just lost a race against a short stack, I put him all in with AK and lost to TT. This left me on 12k.

Loose guy with dodgy moustache raises to 2.5k, I see pocket tens, as he plays pretty much everything, I was prepared to put my chips in. He has about the same as me in chips. Rock women then moves all in for 9k, so I decide now I am in trouble. Moustache guy, says well QJ is a good hand for value!!! so hes all in too.

Rock turns over AQ and its TT vs AQ vs QJ

8 high non-connecting rainbow flop, K on turn, come on one time! River J. Boom! game over.
Still not sure how he called with QJ not thinking he was completely dominated, but thats poker!

Unfortunately none of my group managed to get past level 8 either and day 1 was a wash-out!

The winner got a massive $59k! A seasoned pro from Canada.

Some of the rest of our group, did bring in some cash though! Mouse finished 3rd in the $45 at O'Sheas for $245 and Fenners doubled his money in a $60 STT so it was not a total loss!


Day 3 - $235 at Caesars - Just under 600 for this one, 7.5k in chips. 50 minute levels.

5 of us played this one, despite having just 4 hours sleep!

I started fairly badly, again trying to play a few different types of hands, to not much avail.
After the first break I had slipped to 5k. The next levels saw some improvement, I had my first big hand of the week in KK and took out a short stack holding AK and shortly after took out another when he pushed all in with JJ on a K3d2d, when I was holding AdKd.
At the end of level 4, I was up to 18k and feeling good.

With blinds escalating quickly, up to 400/800, I turn over AhKh. I raise to 2.8k. Massive fish opposite me (had previously called a 1ok all in with A2 - splite pot, a 8k all in with A6 - lost and another 8k all in with KJ - beat AA, flop was KJK!] moves all in for another 7k.

I am putting half my chips on the line, I figure the worst I situation I have is two over cards and decide to make the call.
He turns over QQ, the best hand I believe he could have, hit my King, but its followed by a Queen.

I work my way back up to 13k, when I get AQ. Newish player to the table raises to 3.2k, seems steady, but 3.2k feels a bit high, so I decide he wants the pot there and then and decide to push all in.
Its about half his stack, he thinks for about 5 mins, before finally calling with JJ. A King and a ten give me a couple more outs, but I just know races are not my thing, the next two cards are no help and its another no cash for me.
UriG put in the best performance within the party finishing just outside the money in 65th, when his KK was beaten by QQ [Q on turn]

Its off to Binions today for the $210, it will be a smaller field of around 250, but today we are after a cash to boost morale in the camp!

ClintonO

A little publicity

Nothing like a little local publicity before I head over to Vegas.

This could be found on the front page of the best selling local newspaper, the St.Ives Weekly News!

Heres hoping for bigger things in the near future!

ClintonO

The POCCER PLAYERS #8 Ewan Hardie

Mr Ewan Hardie. Seen here guest appearing in Poccer 2 (Top row - 2nd) for the Angels of Helsby.

Ewan has been in the Dream Team since season 1 and was one of the players who ensured victory in the first ever event, winning a package at the Asian Poker Tour, where he finished 7th in one of the side events.

Prior to that a deep finish in the Caribbean Poker Classic in 2005, is proof of his live ability.

Ewan has since been signed up by Bad Beat as a trader and plays mostly cash games at present.

By his standards Ewan has not had the best year, with just 7 finishes in the points, including one 5th place and 5,210.

Ewan has a lot of work to do, to earn a place in the team for the live final (Top 6 players will represent the team), but it is something he is more than capable of.

ClintonO

The POCCER PLAYERS #7 Lee Hayward

Lee is the newest member of the Poccer Players. Lee is shown here checking his chip stack (3rd in the top row) at a recent Poccer event, as captain of the Bullens Bullets.

Lee only discovered Poker last year and so is learning his trade.

On the live scene, Lee has limited experience to date, although has performed exceptionally well at recent Poccer events, with two Final Tables under his belt. Online is where most of his experience has come from to date. A 3rd place in one of the Golden Cup events on Littlewoods, is his best cash to date.

Last week a deep finish in the PokerRoom ChampionChip event confirmed his talent and we hope for more big wins to come.

Lee adds a real sense of stability to the team and has the 2nd most point scoring weeks with 14. We just need to convert his deep finishes to final tables, adding a decent 8,720 points to the team to date.

ClintonO

The POCCER PLAYERS #6 Dave 'Dog' Duncan

Meet Mr Dave Duncan! Seen here top left, captaining the Angels of Helsby in a recent Poccer tournament.

Dave is in celebratory mode this week, as last Sunday, he secured his trip to the Caribbean Poker Classic, later this year.

Dave has proved his poker ability in a number of areas this year. Firstly in live events, a second place finish in Poccer 3, followed by another deep finish in Poccer 4, ensured that his team the Angels of Helsby are the only dual winners in Poccer history.

Online is where Dave makes his biggest mark at the moment, he has at least one $20k guaranteed to his name this year (alongside two 2nds, a 3rd and a 4th).
He is also a winner of the elusive £40k that I can't win!

Dave has been the most consistent Dream Team player this year, with 15 finishes in the points, 3 Final Tables, a 2nd in week 24 and 15,935 points to date.

ClintonO

The POCCER PLAYERS #5 Afzal Hussain

Unfortunately I do not have a picture for Mr Hussain.

Afzal is another of the team who managed to secure a seat in the EPT Monte Carlo earlier hits year.
He is another one of us who has not yet made a name for himself on the live scene, although he would argue that a 2nd place finish in the Dream Team final last time would prove that point.

Afzal has had a fantastic online year. He won the $20k guaranteed on Littlewoods for the 10th time in May this year for starters, but two big finishes in the two big events has made his year to date.

First up was event #19 in the Full Tilt FTOPS series, where he finished 4th in the $300k . This was followed last month by a 3rd place in the ECOOP series, event #1 $250k.

He was single handedly holding the Dream Team together in the first 6 weeks, and had over half the teams points at this stage. He has made the points 10 times, with a 2nd in the double points week and a 3rd place his best performances, giving him 15,940

ClintonO

The POCCER PLAYERS #4 Clinton Orchard

Well as this blog is about me, I should not need too many introductions.

At the moment my main focus is preparing for my trip to Vegas, where I will not be taking part in the main event, but using the money I won for the seat on other smaller events.

I have also got the Caribbean Poker Classic to look forward to in November this year, as well as the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo next year.

In the meantime, establishing Poccer is my primary concern (www.poccer.co.uk) as well as getting as high as possible in the Internet Player of the year. I only discovered this site a couple of months ago, but at the moment I have reached a high of #66 in the International ranking (non-US) and have set myself a target for the year of the top 20.

As for the Dream Team, I have started to find a bit of form of late, with a 1st in week 24 and a 3rd in a double point week, last week. I have made the points 13 times and accumulated 17,400 to date.

ClintonO

The POCCER PLAYERS #3 Martyn Bebb

Our next Poccer player is Martyn Bebb. Martyn is the one in the white top above (Picture from Poccer 4 - Bebbys Bluffers)

Another player having a great year. Martyn became Littlewoods player of the month earlier in the year, when he managed to qualify for two EPT events in a couple of weeks, earning a seat at the EPT San Remo and the EPT Monte Carlo.

Martyn has yet to make it in the live scene, but is having a fine year online. Aside from the two seats mentioned above, he also won a seat for the UKPT in Manchester, was 5th in the Littlewoods £100k and also made the final table in the Pacific Poker $147k.

Like Onny, Martyn has contributed points on 11 occasions, totalling 18,500 points. This includes winning week 6 and 2nd in week 11 and two further Final Table appearances.

ClintonO

The POCCER PLAYERS #2 MIHAY MANOLE

Meet Mihai Manole! Our 2nd member of the Poccer Players. Of anyone in the team, Mihai has had the best 12 months.

Not only has he had the honour of seeing his first ever game at the Emirates stadium to watch his beloved Arsenal, he has had the most exceptional poker year.

Mihai has always had a lot of success online, but the last year has seen the emergence of a fantastic live player.

In November, Mihai showed his live ability when finishing 2nd in the Caribbean Poker Classic, taking home $145k, but in the last 6 weeks he has really shown what he can do.

3 cashes in the Casinos Austria Poker Tour including 2 wins, one of which was the main event, in May, followed by a trip to Vegas for the WSOP, where he has already had 3 cashes.

His 5th place in event 7 $2000 NL, was the highest ever finishing position for a Romanian in a WSOP event. Perhaps more incredibly he managed to win the $20k tournament on Betfair whilst on a break from the WSOP event, which he won as part our team prize for being ahead at the Quarter 3 stage.

Mihai has not had the most consistent Dream Team year, making the points just 9 times, but has two Final Tables, both on double points weeks (2nd & 5th) giving him 19,420 points to date.

Good luck during the rest of your time in Vegas Mihai!

ClintonO

The POCCER PLAYERS #1 Jonathan McCann

Let me introduce our leading player so far this year - Mr Jonathan (Onny) McCann. (Seen here at the Poccer 2 event)

Onny has a great year this year. Aside from winning a seat to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo this year, he also managed to win the Betfair $100k guaranteed tournament.

Onny has just started to work on his live game too, with two cash finishes this year.

Firstly an 18th in the Norweigan Poker Championships followed by a 2nd place in the £300 event at the GUKPT in Newcastle.

Onny joined our dream team last year and has an added an explosive style to the team. After 9 events of season 3, Onny had not acquired a single point! But since has won 3 events (Weeks 10,20 and 25) including 2 double points wins.

In total Onny has added points to the team in 11 out of 26 weeks, but more importantly 40,270pts.

Providing we don't have a disaster and throw away our lead, Onny will be representing us at a GUKPT event in the near future (assuming he is still our leading member).

ClintonO

The POCCER PLAYERS - Dream Team

Life is just too busy!

I have totally neglected my blog of late and I do apologise for that.

I will be updating a little more frequently shortly, as my trip to Vegas is almost here! Hoorah!

I do have a number of things to update everyone on, but the first thing I have to do, is talk about the Poccer Players.

I am sure most of you are aware of the Dream Team competition, a competition that is run by BadBeat and hosted by Betfair. It is currently in its 3rd season.

Season 1 I was asked to join a team by Andy Reynolds, who is not only a fantastic poker player, but a great guy to. It was this team that enabled me to meet a number of my close poker friends.

That year we came 11th in the table, but at the live event managed to turn it around and win. Asian Poker Tour packages were given to a number of the team and cash for the rest. I could not make it due to work commitments and the small fact that I was already going to the Caribbean Poker Classic a week later.

In Season 2, I took over as team captain, we did even worse in the online events, but managed to fight our way back to 2nd overall thanks to the live event.

This season it is a much bigger event, with 6 WSOPE packages up for grabs and 33 weeks of online play.
At present we have played 25 events and are clear at the top of the leaderboard, making those WSOPE packages looking very interesting indeed.

Alongside the EPT Monte Carlo (which I will use my outstanding EPT package to attend next year) and the Aussie Millions, this is the other tournament that I wish to play in at some point in my poker life.
This is the current league table. (Sorry its small I have forgotten how to load it properly!)

You will need to click into it, to view it properly.

Basically it says we are long way clear

The Poccer Players 25,566 chips each

Puppy-Petters 17497

Dynamic Demps 15988

Chipendales 15248

Pokerchamps 14362

So far it has been an unbelievable performance by the team and I would like to pay tribute to each in turn.

Presently we have got 141,395 points.

These have been earnt as follows.

Onny87 - 40270

M.M - 19420

50kinred - 18500

ClintonO - 17400

Injustice - 15940

Whitedog - 15935

UriGeller - 8720

elvushi - 5210

Over the next couple of days, I would like everyone to get to know the Poccer players and what they have achieved so far!

ClintonO

42 working days until Vegas

Its not as if I am counting!

This year I am off to Vegas for my 4th consecutive year since starting this poker lark.

This year I am delighted to say we are joined by a number of guys who play in the poccer tournaments.
I am currently planning my itinery for the trip to ensure I play in as many tournaments that count on the poker pages database. Full details will be up shortly.

I am currently number 2 in the world for people with the surname ORCHARD, but my arch nemesis from Los Angeles has cashed again so there is more work to be done!

This is one objective I really want to win!

ClintonO

Poccer 5

Just a quick update on Poccer, which now seems to be going from strength to strength.

Poccer 5 is on the 24th May for any interested parties and is now up to 18 teams for this one, which if it stays this way will be the biggest to date.

Full details on www.poccer.co.uk

ClintonO

ClintonO on tour

I discovered an internet site recently entitled internetpokerrankings.com. This site keeps a record of all the major tournies that are held online.

For the crypto network its only includes the $20k and up until the two weeks ago it did not include the tournament held on Saturdays (1 of my wins this year!)

At the moment this is the standings for just the crypto network.


1Mhumph82 505
2WestPark 458
3DontPanic 438
4Chriss005 374
5Bigd11108 359
6Marie1965 359
7Luckylud 353
8Green 345
9pu-sdaeh 342
10Andflex 323
11rxiav 307
12JockScott 306
13logitech 297
14Goose. 286
15IAMTHERNG 279
16Niilex2 278
17The_Gimp 274
18Spongebob 269
19Ste221261 269
20FRENCH007 262
21Loverat 261
22__mac__ 249
23ClareT 241
24ClintonO 231
25Jaypee 231

They are running two leaderboards, one for the US and one for non US.

Now whilst it is too late to try and compete for this title I thought I would try my hand at a few of the tournies that counted towards the points.

To date I have played and cashed on Full Tilt, Pacific Poker and Party Poker.

Full Tilt $40k Guaranteed - 21st/332 $273.90
Pacific Poker $80k Guaranteed - 4th/539 $5,200
Party Poker Super Friday - 6th/318 $3,180.

I will from time to time continue to play in these different tournaments to see what I can achieve.
At the moment with Vegas already booked, the Caribbean Cruise won and an EPT tournament to book in, my options for my live games are incredibly limited, so I have to concentrate on winning some of the big cash prizes in the bigger games.

I will keep you informed of any progress I make in this leaderboard, but right now I am 309th in the International leaderboard. Top 100 is my target.

ClintonO

Excited to read a book!

It is not often that I think to myself, I can't wait to read this book. Well today I have an exception.

I tend to read most poker books to see if there is anything I can utilise in my game. My bible to date has always been Harrington on Holdem, followed closely after by Phil Gordons blue and green books.

I discovered whilst browsing on the latest poker books, that Dan Harrington had written two new books. Harrington on cash games.
I immediately ordered them!
I have read 1 chapter so far and have won $40! Comfortably paying for the cost of the book. Coincidence - I don't think so.

I look forward to reading the rest!

ClintonO

The Caribbean Poker Classic

The Caribbean Poker Classic is my favourite trip of the year.
I have been on the last three and get better each year.

This year they have changed the destination, its no longer a visit to St.Kitts, but a cruise around the Eastern Caribben, starting out from Miami.

Having never been on a cruise and looking at the state of the cruise ship (Freedom of the Seas) this was an absolute must qualify for me.

The very first qualifier was for six CPC lite packages from the 1000 players who were eligible to play in the monthly leaderboard tournaments.

The tournament had 489 players and was to be played as a sixpack format, certainly not my favourite type of event, but I wanted that seat.

Level 1 was a fairly quiet affair, but I managed to add 50% of my chips with AK against the AJ of Tere22041 in level 2 to move to 3000 and then double through Agentu when my KK beat AK and I was on 6745.

Level 5 I moved my stack above the 10k mark, taking out Kusken777 who pushed all in on a 9558 board with 66, I had A9.

The tournament continued to go in a postive format and I moved up to 17k in Level 8, when my open ended straight draw on flop became a straight and I knocked out Loveangel who had top pair.
On the same level I had a big decision to make. Holding QsQh with a board 6sAs4d3s9s. I have the 2nd nut flush. Crotchet moves all in with 8500 into 7200 pot. I make the call and he has A9, moving me up to 26k.

Level 11 arrived, along with a piece of good fortune, I raise from the button with A9 and Lukilapi the table leader reraised for the umpteenth time. This time with very valid reason, he had KK.
An ace arrived on the flop, I was up to 40k and now thoughts of the CPC started to materialise.

These were enhanced in Level 12, when Tere05011 moves all in for 34k from the small blind when blinds were 600/1200. I look down at AA and make the call. Tere turns over J6. A 6 is the first card out, but this did not improve. My stack is now 79k and have every chance.

We start to play 4 handed at this point, meaning you have to keep very busy to keep the stack up, whilst numbers reduce to go 6 handed again.

I break the 100k barrier in level 16 when OMGSUCK folds to my AQ on a 2476A board.
We are getting close now, when Ultgamb moves all in from the button for 28k, I have AK in the big blind and make the call. He has K7 and move to over 130k. Now it is simply a matter of keeping my stack up, not doing anything silly and taking one of the 6 seats from the 12 players left.

Seat 1: kingpkl (218727 in chips) - The chip leader
Seat 2: Donn001 (50136 in chips)
Seat 3: OMGSUCK (32574 in chips)
Seat 4: lammemik (67195 in chips)
Seat 5: Fingerama (62918 in chips)
Seat 6: ClintonO (129616 in chips)

Fingerama goes first moving all in on a 4c6h3h board. He has 9hTh for a flush draw. lammemik makes the call with 69 and holds on.

OMGSUCK goes next when his A9 loses to Donn001's AK. We are down to 4, the other table is down to 5. 9 players left, 6 seats! I have 139k.

Donn is next to go, moving all in with TT, Kingpkl makes the call with QJ and hits both.
We are down to three and the other table is down to 4. One more to go.

Seat 1: kingpkl (350072 in chips)
Seat 4: lammemik (84178 in chips)
Seat 6: ClintonO (126916 in chips)

Six hands later.

Thank you for participating in the tournament "MARCH LEADERBOARD 6851793", on Apr 5 2008 9:33PM GMT. Congratulations! You placed 1st and won a seat to "CPC Cruise Lite 6851751" and 2000.00 USD!

A sixth place in the $20k on the same night for another $1k and it was a great night!
Miami here we come!

ClintonO

2 Days Later - 2nd $20k win of the year

I have always been a firm believer that Poker is a game of confidence and when you have been successful, it makes your game so much better.

2 days after my first $20k win of the year came my second.

It started fairly usual, moving between 2500-3500 in chips in the first 4 levels. However just before the end of the first hour, I pick up 9s8c in the Big Blind.

The only action comes from the button who limps.
Flop [JsTc6s] and I have an open ended straight draw, I get to see the turn for just 200, so that is fine. The turn brings a perfect 7, although it is a 3rd spade. I decide to check to then raise when he bets and take the pot. I check, he bets 400, I raise to 1100 and interestingly he calls.

The river is a harmless 2d. I put 900 more into 2850 pot and get called. He turns over AcAs and gives me abuse for being in the pot with 98. The fact I was in the big blind and saw it for free was lost on him. Oh well I am now double my starting stack.

I move between 6&8k in chips for the next few levels. I then move tables (6360 now) and I am dealt TT in the big blind, first hand on the table. It folds to the Small blind who raises to 850 (150/300 blinds). I decide not to mess around and move all in. He has slightly more chips than 7000, but instant calls. How much trouble am I in? Not that much! He turns over AT and the board does not help him and I am up to 13k.

I make little progress between levels 7 and 11, when disaster strikes. I have 11995 in chips and am dealt JJ in mid position. I raise 3xbb to 2400 and the button reraises to 4800 (he had 10529 at the start of the hand), my warning bells are going off, min raise for half his stack. He has a big hand. That said I am such confident mood, that I convince myself my Jacks are good and move all in. He quickly calls with AA, I lose and I am left completly crippled with just 1466 chips and blinds 400/800 Antes 100. It was a disappointing end to a promising position.

I have 466 chips left after posting my big blind and have Jd 2s. There is an early raiser (2xbb) and the small blind calls, so what the hell, I move my chips in.

Flop (6d,7c,Jh). Do I have hope here? Check, Check.
Turn (6h) I might have a chance. Check, Check.
River (As) Oh god thats me out. Check, Check. Raiser has 2c2h, small blind Qc,8c. My J2 is good, Im still in, I am up to 4798 in chips.
I cant play for the next 3 hands and am already down to 4098.

I get T2 in the first unopened pot, I have to gamble, No callers, I move forward again. Phew.
I do the same with J9 with the same result. I have to keep busy. I get J9 again in the small blind. One limper, so I join in. Flop is Jack high and I move in and keep my chip count going back in the right direction.

My cards are so bad, blinds are up to 600/1200 and I am hanging on with just 6600 chips. I get 7c6c and decide that has options and its time to go for it, there is 3300 in the middle, which would add 50% to my stack.
CHWIN has other ideas thought and isolates moving all in with AcQs, it could be worse though.

Flop is Js,8h,Kd. Thats not good, Turn is 6d and all of a sudden I am survining, the river is a 9d and my chip stack has gone from 466 to 16296. This is some recovery.

However the blinds are so high, I can't slow down. I steal the blinds whereever I can.
The blinds move to 1200/2400 antes 300 as we reach the money and the final 2 tables.

I have just 11646 chips thats just 1.5 rounds, so in 5th position it is folded to me and I move with Tc8h. CHWIN who now has just less chips now makes the call. This time he turns over Ad,4h. I am very happy to see that as he is only a small favourite.

----- FLOP ----- [3d 4c 7d] Thats not good
----- TURN ----- [3d 4c 7d][8c] BINGO!
----- RIVER ----- [3d 4c 7d 8c][8d] WOW! I have had to play this way and won twice when a slight to moderate underdog. Time to use this fortune. I feel I am on a bit of a freeroll, as I already considered myself out. Now I have 26k in chips. However at this stage of the game it is still not a great stack.

We are down to just 11 players. I get Ad,Qs in the big blind. Dastinek who is the short stack on the table with 16722, raises to 9000, in other words committed. I decide though this is my best hand of the night, I am moving in. He thinks for a while and then 11th is eliminated. Now he has guaranteed final table and a bigger pay, he must call. Incredibly he folds and I have 45k.

Here is the final table.

Seat 1: Strom00 (62065 in chips)
Seat 2: __07__ (51513 in chips)
Seat 3: Jon18024 (51876 in chips)
Seat 4: Dastinek (7322 in chips)
Seat 5: kelle (47216 in chips)
Seat 6: Ultgamb (24456 in chips)
Seat 7: lemur (44064 in chips)
Seat 8: Silent33 (119824 in chips)
Seat 9: ClintonO (45532 in chips)
Seat 10: razynut (110132 in chips)

Both __07__ and Ultgamb join me again on the final table.
I am sitting in 7th place, but only two players have double my stack.

Its a fairly agressive table, razymut loses half his stack to lemur AQ to AK.
razy who is now clearly on tilt takes out the first player.

razynut: raises to 6000
Strom00: calls
6000__07__: folds
Jon18024: raises to 43076 and is all-in
Dastinek: folds
kelle: folds
Ultgamb: folds
razynut: is all-in 35968

A min raise from razy, then a call and and all in, razy must have a big hand here as he calls for all but 1108 of his stack.

Jon turns over JJ and incredibly razy has KsQs.
The flop is 2s3dJs, making it interesting for both. The river is a spade and Jons set is no good.
Ult is out in 9th when his AT loses to Lemurs TT.

I am going nowhere fast and get very short (Blinds 2000/4000 antes 500), I have enough for just 3 rounds, 30k.
On the button I get Kc7c and decide the 10000 in the middle is too tempting and push. Razy has no issues getting involved, unsuprisingly with AK. I am in all sorts of trouble here.

The board is Q37QQ, incredibly I have doubled up to 69k. I have got incredibly lucky here and know at this point I am going to win this tournament.

Strom gets very short and pushes with AT with just 7k, Lemur has 73 but with just 3k more to call, its an auto call. 2 more sevens mean Stom is out in 7th.

Lemur continues his run, when he knocks out Dastinek with KK against AQ.
I make some steady progress before 07 (Mick) doubles through Silent. Both their pairs improved to make sets on the flop and carnage obviously ensued. Mick taking a 170k pot 888 vs 444.

Silent then makes a move reraising with 22, but Kelle makes the call with AT and an Ace leaves us with 5 players.

Blinds are at 3000/6000 Antes 750
I sit in last place, but there is not too much in it and I just have this feeling its my night.

Seat 2: __07__ (156576 in chips)
Seat 5: kelle (115027 in chips)
Seat 7: lemur (141979 in chips)
Seat 9: ClintonO (74514 in chips)
Seat 10: razynut (75904 in chips)

At this point where there is actually a little room for play, see razys go all in for the 8th time in 12 hands.
He moves all in again under the gun, I turn over AK in the bigblind, thats good enough for me.
He turns over A5 and my AK holds up. I then take his remaining 11k next hand.

I am now chip leader and play very aggressively from here on in.
I move from 150k to 250k through raising and reraising without a showdown. There are big steps in the prize money and therefore I want to put them under pressure as much as possible.

Kelle takes out 07 in 4th place calling a 53k all in bet with A8, Mich has Q2.

With 3 left, I have 244k, Lemur 181k and Kelle 138k.
I make a good move on Kelle and take 50k from him.
Next hand with 300k I raise with AcJc. Lemur moves over the top for 55k more. I have to call, he turns over 88 and the first card out is an Ace.

Heads Up it is 378k to 186k in my favour.

Hand 1 (6h,8s) I see the flop. ATQ, not much good for me!
Hand 2 (Qs,7s) I check his limp. Flop is Jd,Ad,6d. I decide to bet, he calls. Turn is 2h, I decide to fire another bet, he folds.
Hand 3 (Th,5d) I fold to a raise.
Hand 4 (8h,4h) I fold to a raise.
Hand 5 (Kh,3d) I fold to a raise.
Hand 6 (Ks,9h) I call his raise. Board comes 34J6T. As he has not bet since preflop, I fire a bet and he folds.
Hand 7 (Jc,8d) I raise, he folds.
Hand 8 (6c,8d) He folds
Hand 9 (Ad,7h) I raise, he folds.
Hand 10 (Qh, 2d) He raises, I fold.
Hand 11 (6c,6s) I raise, he moves all in. I think for a what seems an age. If I call and lose I will be 363k to 201k behind. It feels like a race and the way my luck is in tonight, I don't think I can lose. I call.

Flop (Jh,Qh,3c) He has 4 more outs with any ten.
Turn 2d
River 4s. My 2nd win in a couple of nights.

In this game, I certainly got very lucky once with K7 beating AK.
On two other occasions I was behind but hit.
However when you are down to 466 chips, you are going to need a lot of fortune.

I was really pleased with the way I battled back and obviously happy with a second $6k in a few days.

ClintonO

First $20k win of the year

29th March 2008.


I sit down for the $20k, buoyed by last nights 2nd place in the $4.5k.
First two levels are uneventful, my chips have fallen from 3000 to 2446.

Level 3 I get JsTs, I try a limp after an early limper. Its raised to 300, two other callers, I get odds of calling 250 with a pot already containing over 1k. I decide to call.


Flop 6TT - Bingo.
Dogman003: checks
ClintonO: checks
redmundir: checks
Johnd1801: checks
Action please!
----- TURN ----- [6h Tc Th][Ac]
Dogman003: checks
ClintonO: checks
redmundir: bets 500
Johnd1801: calls 500
Dogman003: calls 500 (Thats so much better!)
I get one caller and I move to 5356 in chips.


Level 7 is next significant hand, I have 4981 in chips.
dealt to ClintonO [Ah Ad] Bullets! 1st time of the night
I get one caller and the flop comes.
----- FLOP ----- [Jh 5s As]
ClintonO: checks
rl1986: checks
----- TURN ----- [Jh 5s As][Ac]
ClintonO: checks (oh my god, quads how the hell do I get action!)
rl1986: bets 1200
ClintonO: raises to 4081 and is all-in
rl1986: calls 2881 ( I guess that answers my question!)
----- RIVER ----- [Jh 5s As Ac][8d]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
ClintonO: shows [Ah Ad] (Four of a kind, Aces, Jack high)
rl1986: shows [7s Ks] (A Pair of Aces, King high)
ClintonO collected 10262 from Main pot


I get to the bubble (21 players) with just 7000, but get to the final 2 tables with 18000 without showing a hand!


With 20 players left I get dealt 99 and end up all against A2 and move up to 28k. I win a couple of nice pots and get to the final table with 46k.

Seat 1: Player010 (57588 in chips)
Seat 2: stagman (26936 in chips)
Seat 3: GumBallR (7861 in chips)
Seat 4: ClintonO (45988 in chips)
Seat 5: Folder (130632 in chips)
Seat 6: Allinnet (134643 in chips)
Seat 7: Homerindo (63658 in chips)
Seat 8: Ultgamb (42678 in chips)
Seat 9: __07__ (18146 in chips)
Seat 10: Fullbak (89870 in chips)


6th place as I enter the final table. I get 99 first hand and end up losing 8k with them.

Mick (__07__) goes in the first few hands, I knock out Stagman in 9th, Gumball follows shortly after in 8th and Fullbak who was so strong finishing in 7th. Player010 goes out the hand after Fullbak and very suddenly we have 5 players.


With 5 left Folder and Allinet have run into a big lead and I sit in last place.
Blinds (3000/6000) Antes 750
Seat 4: ClintonO (45722 in chips)
Seat 5: Folder (181886 in chips)
Seat 6: Allinnet (242898 in chips)
Seat 7: Homerindo (83696 in chips)
Seat 8: Ultgamb (63798 in chips)


I get very lucky against Folder when my AT splits with AQ, that piece of fortune inspires me onwards.

I find AJ in the Big Blind and Homer pushes. He has AT and my hand holds up to move to 126k and I have a real chance now, we have 4 left.

Next up I have JTclubs, get to see a flop and its 8h2cQc. I bet out and Ultgamb moves all in. I am very comitted. He has 83, but the turn brings a crucial club and its down to 3.


Seat 4: ClintonO (224341 in chips)
Seat 5: Folder (199761 in chips)
Seat 6: Allinnet (193898 in chips)
The stacks fluctuate a fair bit until this hand, my favourite of the tournie, if it did not happen to be against Mr Stuart Wardale, a very nice guy!

dealt to ClintonO [6c 8h]
Allinnet: folds
ClintonO: raises to 24000 (lets try something)
Folder: calls 16000
----- FLOP ----- [5s 7h 9c] (nice!)
ClintonO: checks
Folder: bets 166761 and is all-in (THANK YOU!)
ClintonO: is all-in 147341
Returned uncalled bets 19,420 to Folder
-----TURN ----- [5s 7h 9c][5d]
----- RIVER ----- [5s 7h 9c 5d][9h]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Folder: shows [7c Kc] (Two Pairs, Nines and Sevens, King high)
ClintonO: shows [6c 8h] (A Straight, Nine high)
ClintonO collected 345682 from Main pot


Heads Up its 342k plays 276k. Blinds 4000/8000
Hand 1 (Ad,Qc) - he calls, I raise to 32k he folds
Hand 2 (8c,9d) - I call, he raises to 32k. I fold
Hand 3 (Jd,3s) - We see a flop, JA2, he bets 16k, I call and its checked down, me winning 50k pot.
Hand 4 (Qc,4c) - I call, he raises. Hes not allowing me to limp in.
Hand 5 (6c,2d) - He raises, I fold.
Hand 6 (5h,3h) - I raise, he reraises. I fold
Hand 7 (7s,5h) - He raises, I fold.
Hand 8 (8h,9s) - I limp in and see a flop. JcQc4. He checks and then calls my 8k bet. Turn 5d. This time he check raises me. I call. Turn 6h. He puts a big bet in , I believe he has a missed flush, but I fold. Im now 266-352 behind and being outplayed.
Hand 9 (Ah,3d) - I call his raise, we end up splitting pot as he has A4
Hand 10 (9d,5h) - Missed flop and fold.
Hand 11 (7s, 4c) - He folds.
Hand 12 (Ad,Jh) - I decide its time for the limp with good hand. I limp, he raises to 32k. I reraise to 88k, which to my suprise he calls. Flop (2d,Kh,Kc). He checks flop, I decide to push all in. He thinks, but folds. Im 350-267 in front.
Hand 13 (As,8h) - I see flop ,but he bets out and takes it.
Hand 14 (2h,4d) - Nothing doing here.
Hand 15 (Th,9h) - He folds
Hand 16 (Kc,Jh) - I raise, he folds.
Hand 17 (Kh,Qh) - I call his raise, he bets out on Ace high flop, I fold.
Hand 18 (8h,8d) - I raise x3. He calls. Flop 933, I bet out he folds.
Hand 19 (Ad,Kc) - a nice run of cards here, he raises, I reraise, he folds. 371-246
Hand 20 (5s,4s) - He raises, I fold.
Hand 21 (9h,5h) - Miss flop completely.
Hand 22 (Kh,5s) - I fold to a raise.
Hand 23 (8s,8c) - He folds
Hand 24 (Ac,2s) - I raise, he folds.
Hand 25 (Jd,9s) - I missed straight draw.
Hand 26 (Jc,4d) - I get caught bluffing and he takes 50k pot.
Hand 27 (Tc,6c) - I call a raise and lose to A8. I am now behind 299-318
Hand 28 (Ks,4s) - I have to fold, not really happy way this is turning out, but still every chance.
Blinds 6000/12000 Antes 1500
Hand 29 (Kc,6c) - I missed flop, but bet out, he folds.
Hand 30 (Jh,6s) - I fold to a raise.
Hand 31 (Qd,3h) - I fold to a raise.
Hand 32 (Js,Td) - He folds to my raise.
Hand 33 (9c,3d) - Nothing for me here.
Hand 34 (4h,6s) - Or again. Now way behind 263-354.
Hand 35 (Ts, 2s) - I check his limp. Flop 4d,Kd,Ad. I attempt a steal, bet 12000, he calls. Turn 4h. I will have another go 24000, he calls again. River 5h. Only chance to win is bet again. Complete bluff 60000. He folds. Sighs of relief on my part.
Hand 36 (Ah,Qs) - Back in front, I raise, he folds.
Hand 37 (Ac,Kd) - I reraise, he folds.
Hand 38 (Qh,Td) - I raise to keep pressure on, he folds.
Hand 39 (Qh,7c) - I take a breath and fold to a raise 354-264.
Hand 40 (Ah,Tc) - I raise, he moves all in. He has never made this move before, I think he just wants me out of there. It has been a tough heads up, I have had to make big bluffs to stay in it. I think I am in front I make the call.

He turns over Jc,9h. Board - 7c,Qs,4c,5s,Td. I win the game.

I was not overthrilled by my heads up play in this one, I felt I struggled, however, I played a solid game, including getting chips at an important time on the bubble.
This win would give me confidence. So much so that I won the tournament a couple of days later.

ClintonO

The night after NPC's

£500 had disappeared in a couple of minutes, so it was time to get it back.

I was really disappointed with the changes in the tournament that was made and by time I got back home I was annoyed with myself.

I got home at 9.50pm and got straight into the $4.5k on Littlewoods, 3 hours later, I had finished 2nd and won £550. Why do I bother with live tournaments I ask myself, stick to what I know best!

24 hours later, I was firmly of that opinion!

ClintonO

National Poker Championships

Stanleys decided to hold the National Poker Champioships at the end of March, it was held across three venues - Southend, Manchester and Nottingham.

With Poccer being held in the Midlands for season 1, I decided that Nottingham would be the best place to start our live events.

It was a £500 entry and I took part alongside two players representing Poccer, Robbie Jones, Poccer 4 winner and Ian Overson, Poccer online winner.

I had only previously played an APAT event in this country, it was Robbies first real live experience outside Poccer, whilst Ian had also played the APAT and the Virgin Poker Festival.

Unfortunately the numbers in Nottingham were a lot lower than the other two festivals. So we ended up with just 93 players and a £50k prizepool.

The organisers informed us that they were going to play down to the final table on the Friday and come back on Sunday, this was fine by me, as I was making the 4 hour round trip to Nottingham each day. Also Saturday was a difficult day for me to play due to family commitments, so I was pleased that this was the case.

The day started with 10,000 chips and I started well and soon moved to 14,000. Two hours in, they announced they were going to put Saturday back on and play down to 50. This caused me major issues with organisation for Saturday, so I was not best pleased.
10 minutes later I was out!

First up I had QQ I raised and got reraised. Flop was ten high, all the chips went in and I was up against JJ, unfortunately the turn was a J and I was reduced by 8k.
The next hand I had 55 and raised with one caller. Flop 57J. I thought it was christmas, but so did the other guy holding 77!

So only 2 and a half hours into the tournament I was out.
Lessons learnt, whenever I play in a live event, dedicate the time to play it. Stay overnight. Forget about everything else going in your life, as you can't play your best.

Both Robbie and Ian did better than me (Not suprising!) However both players did not make Day 2, Robbie lost with AA to KK, K on river. Ian lost to an open ended straight draw. So our first venture and nobody made it back to Day 2.

We must do better!

ClintonO

Time for an update - POCCER

Well, this is truly the longest I have left my blog unattended.
It has been an extremely busy time where lots has happened.

So without further ado, heres whats been happening in my poker world.


Quick Summary

Took a few weeks off Poker early March after playing so much in February to win EPT seat.

After that, I ran Poccer 4, played in National Poker Championships, 2nd in $4.5k gtd after being knocked out of NPC's. Won the $20k GTD the next night, won the $20k again 2 days later, won the first seat available for the Caribbean Poker Cruise. In fact I won $16k in just over a week and a caribbean cruise, now thats not bad!



So, Poccer first.

I held the fourth Poccer event during March and I was absolutely delighted with the way it went. We had a record 17 teams take part in a truly great tournament.

Incredibly we had our Poccer 3 winners win again - The Angels of Helsby.

This event is really starting to take off now, which I am really pleased about, as I have put a huge amount of time and effort into getting this off the ground.

http://www.poccer.co.uk/



We have our next event on May 24th in Birmingham, so if anyone wants to get involved please let me know. It will be a great day out for all involved!


Due to the numbers I was able to put the Poccer 4 winner into a live tournament. Robbie Jones was the winner and he play in the National Poker Championships in Nottingham.


Joining him was Ian Overson, Ian won the online poker series we ran on Littlewoods poker.


If anyone is interested in getting involved in our online series to qualify for UK events, then the next series, starts Monday 14th April on Littlewoods Poker.

ClintonO

Best possible cure

So Saturday I am in need of break and Sunday I win my biggest tournament of the year! Go Figure.
Before I get on to that, a few things to catch up on.

Poccer 4 - SOLD OUT! Fantastic news, 18 Teams its going to be a lot of fun. The online tournaments are picking up as well, 19 players took part this week, currently Ian Overson is leading the way with 4 rounds to go. The poccer website will be updated shortly.

Next up the BadBeat dream team. The last two years, I have entered a team in the contest with some great poccer players. Year 1 we won and won packages to the Asian Poker Tour, last year we were 2nd. Well year 3 is underway, 10 weeks in fact. After 9 weeks we were doing quite well, in 8th place in the table. Well this Monday what an effort, an awesome team performance.

This is the latest situation.

The Poccer Players take a massive lead in Dream Team 3
This week was a massive week for The Poccer Players, with Onny87 getting his FIRST points for the team, but those points being a 1st place and 15,000 points his team aren't complaining. They also managed 2nd with RiggedElvis for 10,000 points, 5th by M.M for 4,500 points and 18th by UriGeller for 1,600 points, a spoonbending team total of 31,100 points taking them to a massive 51,360 team points, 18,000 ahead of 2nd spot!!

1st The Poccer Players 51360
2nd Team Pokerchamps 33470
3rd The Lost Boys 32610
4th DynamicDemps 31440
5th The Crushed Nutz 27330

EPT Leaderboard. With just 3 days to go, I am over 1000 pts clear, so I am hoping to be celebrating this achievement at the weekend. I am exhausted from playing this much!

However the main achievement, well Saturday I was playing and not having any luck coupled with the fact I was playing badly. The one bright spark was I the Vegas Vacation qualifier. It was a $60 entry, which I managed to finish in the top two of, to qualify for Sundays $530 final.

Sunday came and I was bruised and battered from playing football, so playing poker was the last thing I wanted to do. At 3 mins to six, the vegas vacation still only had 16 entries, two short of the required, so I was happy to take the $530. However a late surge saw it reach 19 and we were away.

Basically there is one prize in the vegas vacation, $12k in cash and a hotel in the Rio, however aim 1 is to get to the final ten. Littlewoods kindly provide you with your money back if you make the final ten, so lets play tight and secure this first.

The tournament did not start well and 2500 chips soon became less than 2000. Then KQ appears in level 3, flop J9T. Bingo. Logitech bets 300 in to a 200 pot. So I have to call. Turn is a harmless 3, and logitech moves all in, I have to call. Unfortunately for him he has a set of 9s. An ace on the river and I am above 4000 and safe for the final table.

I make it to the final table without much fluctuation from 4000. With 8 left WestPark (Mihai) is a clear chip leader with 14k and the rest are between 2k and 8k.

I then get QQ and find myself in a race situation all in against Logitech (again) with AK. A very low board of 46743, moves me on to 9k and 2nd place of 7 remaining (all my chips coming from logitech!)

WestPark continued his completed domination of the final table and we are down to 3 players.
Seat 5: WestPark (31675 in chips)
Seat 6: ClintonO (8595 in chips)
Seat 9: kashen (7230 in chips)

After plenty of ups and downs (chips varied between 5k and 13k), we are down to two players.

I have 12495, WestPark 35005.
I am heads up for $12k and a hotel in Vegas in an event where I have done just enough to hang
in there. Its time for the best part of my game to kick in, but there is a lot to be doneBlinds

300/600 ante 75
Hand 1 (4s,7s) fold to a 3xbb raise.
Hand 2 (5s,6h) not a hand to get involved with yet, I fold
Hand 3 (8d,7s) He folds. No action yet.
Hand 4 (Js,6s) I call, we get a flop. Jd,2d,4d. Top pair but plenty of diamonds. He leads out with 600, I call. Turn 5s, he checks, thats enough for me, I bet 1200 and take the pot.
Hand 5 (3s,7c) He raises I fold.
Hand 6 (2h,5c) I see a flop, but 7,6,Q is no good for 25.
Hand 7 (8s, 2h) He folds. I wonder whether I will get a hand.
Hand 8 (7c,6c) I raise and take the blind.
Hand 9 (4c,6s) He raises, nothing to play with here. I fold
Hand 10 (Kh,Qs) A hand, I raise, take blinds
Hand 11 (7d,2c) He folds and its very tight as the feeling out process takes place!
Hand 12 (6c,6s) I min raise and get called. Flop 4,9,9. A nice flop for me. I bet and take the chips.
Hand 13 (Ts,8h) He folds
Hand 14 (4h,4c) I see the flop. 5,9,9 good enough for me, I bet and take the pot. I feel he has been quite tame so far, so think that I will need to take him on soon as he may get frustrated.
Hand 15 (8c,5h) He raises, this is not the hand.
Hand 16 (As,9d) I raise and take blinds
Hand 17 (8h,4c) He raises I fold, its all very tight and Im 3k better off.
Hand 18 (2s,3h) I decide to see a flop. 7Q2. I bet and take the pot.
Hand 19 (8d,3s) These hands are dire, he raises I fold.
Hand 20 (Qd,2h) A picture card, I call as Im being allowed to see flops. 295. I bet and get pot.
Hand 21 (4d,6d) He folds.
Hand 22 (Kd,Qs) I raise and take blinds. This is not making great reading, but its a very tactical game. Being behind I cant afford to make a mistake.
Hand 23 (6c,4s) I fold to a raise.
Hand 24 (6s,Kd) Another picture card, so I min raise and get called. Flop 3s,9d,4c. He checks, lets see the turn. Turn Td. He bets a small bet of 600, thats seems weak, I raise and take the pot.
Hand 25 (7d,3h) He folds. Im up to 18k.
Hand 26 (7d,Th) I call. 9h,Td,4h. Top pair, he checks, I bet and he reraises. Interesting. His first reraise and a check raise at that. I call and see the turn. Turn As. I don't think this helps him, there was no raise preflop. He bets another 2400. This is tough one, I call. River 8d. He puts a big bet of 7200, this call is worth $12k in real cash to me. I have second pair, thats it. What does he have, what did the min raise mean. I am not sure and am not going to risk $12k here. This is a hard fold.
Hand 27 (Qh,7d) I have to step up my game, he raises, there will be a better opportunity.
Hand 28 (Ac,8c) Get with it, come on, I raise he folds.
Hand 29 (2c,5s) I get a free flop, 8d,Qd,6d. I fold to a bet.
Hand 30 (Ad,7d) I raise, take pot.
Hand 31 (Kh,8c) He raises x3. I call. I need to get busy. Flop Kc,Ac,3c. I check, he bets just 600, that was weak before, I believe it is again, I reraise and take the pot. Thats better.
Hand 32 (Qc,8h) Feeling better, I call. He raises, is this a reaction, I am starting to feel more confident about this game. Flop Ad,7s,8s. Ok I am still interested. He bets 1800, a stronger bet, but still less than half pot. Thats enough encouragement to call. Turn 2d. He checks, that means no ace in my book, I check and see what develops. River 8d, bingo 3 8s, flush is out there, but he does not have it. He checks. I bet 3000, he moves all in. Into the think tank.... I have trip 8s heads up, he does not have a flush. Its a huge overbet from him, I only have 8k back, in all honesty its an easy call. He turns over QT and nothing.
Hand 33 (As,8d) I am 30k to 17k in front, this is now strongly in my favour. He folds.

Hand 34 (As,9h) One of my favourite hands, I raise. He reraises to 4800. What is this, a reaction to losing the lead, I have got to keep the pressure on. I move all in. He does not take too long to call. He turns over TT. I just have a feeling this is my night. Flop 9d, 8d, Ac. Its all over! Turn Jd. I quickly check for diamonds, no one has diamonds, but he has 10 outs. Come on deucy weucy. Incredibly it is 2d.

Its all over, I have won the first Vegas Vacation package. $12k and a room a the rio. I am already planning to be in Vegas at this time, I had booked a room at the Wynn. I would rather stay there after already staying in the Rio twice, but there are great rooms, so I am not complaining in the slightest!

After a month of non-stop playing, I really have had enough of poker for a while. My game has undoubtedly suffered from playing too many games, but when I look back on the month from a short term perspective, assuming I hang on for the EPT seat. I will be up £10k, have an EPT seat for San Remo and a hotel room in Vegas. That is not bad at all for a months work. I just hope it has not affected my game in the long run.

Good Luck all

ClintonO

In need of a break!

Apologies once again for lack of posts, I have had a very busy month with work, sorting out Poccer 4 and playing poker amongst other things!

Poccer 4 is sold out, which is great news and I am making the final preparations with that. This will be our biggest tournament todate.

I have also entered myself in the Genting Stanley National Poker Championships starting March 28th and will be there along with the winner of Poccer 4 and the winner of the Poccer online series on Littlewoods, so it suddenly feels like it is taking off.

Pokerwise I have made a bit of profit, but below target at just over £1k. However the big aim has been to win an EPT seat for San Remo from the tournament leaderboard. With just 7 days to go, I am in a great position to win this, which would give me a €5k seat, as well as €5k cash, which would most definitely sort out my profit target for February.

Further updates to follow.
ClintonO

Poccer 4

Sorry for the lack of updates, but have been very busy organising Poccer 4.

Currently it looks like we will be at our maximum numbers, which is fantastic news, there is still time to get involved but do it quick!

We had our first online Poccer event yesterday, as we prepare to give more live poker events to our players. Congratulation to Ian Overson who won the first one and takes an early lead in the quest to represent Poccer at the National Poker Championships.

As for me I have been playing as much as I can, I have still yet to win one of the big tournaments, but have managed to pick up a couple of wins in the small guaranteed tournaments.

These don't count towards my tally, but it feels great to be winning again. 10 additional final tables have contributed towards a total of 27 for the year and February is in small profit for the moment.

At present I am starting to plan my live poker calendar for the year. As soon as I have the details I will let you know.

Good Luck All
ClintonO

January Review

So what has 2008 bought on the poker front.

From a profit point a view a decent start, the books close at +£1500 for January, below my monthly target but a healthy start nonetheless.
The profits have mainly come from my dabbles on the cash tables which has suprised me.
My tournament play has produced a profit but nothing too significant.

No wins - very dissapointing
Final Tables - 18, surpassing by a long way my expectations. The $4.5k was as expected the best tournament for me, with 6 final tables. Although my best finishing position was 2nd in the £2.5k HH.

The $4.5k made me in excess of £500 for the month and a 106% return on investment
% cashes for the month was 25.98% and final tables was 13.39%.

I finished in 54th position in the tournament leaderboard, which qualifies me for the all important $25k tournament next Saturday.

Poccer is moving forwards nicely and Poccer 4 should be a fantastic tournament.
The online poccer tournaments are about to start in the next week, but its not too late to get involved.

All the best
ClintonO

The Last Week

Thankfully my form has improved over the last week as January was starting to look like a poor start to the year.

Presently I am going to mile off my previous two Januarys. I am still after that elusive first win to really kick off 2008. I managed a total of 15 final tables to date, which has suprised even me, but whereas last year I would have won 3 of those 15, to date I have yet to win one.

I have finally managed my first final table of the $13k event this year, which means the only tournament that I am not in profit for this year is the main one the $20k. I will have one more attempt over the weekend probably tonight to address this.

I did come close to winning the 4.5k this week, with 5 left, me and one other player had 90% of the chips.
I pick up KK, raise and he promptly puts me all in. I am pretty much guaranteed to come at least 2nd if I fold, but I am playing to win and call. He turns over AK and I go out in 5th. There is always an ace on the flop when you have KK!

I have not had to delve into my winnings for month too much so far and I have managed to keep them at the £1k mark, short of target, short of previous years, but still in profit.

I made the EPT final last week and ended up going out in 6th place, but I will shortly be benefiting from our Poccer & Littlewoods promotion, as anyone who makes the final table and does not win, gets another chance! It may not be this weeks final, but certainly the following week if it is not.

Poccer 4 planning is well underway, 10 teams have come forward so far, including all 3 previous winners, this promises to be a great event and hopefully we will get a few more teams over the coming weeks.
I did a podcast for Poccer on Wednesday, so I will let you know when that can be downloaded.
Also I have put together a couple of online Poccer tournaments, with some nice prizes, so if you want to get involved, have a look at www.poccer.co.uk

Cheers
ClintonO

January Slowdown

A dissapointing couple of results recently.

Sunday ended abruptly, I played in a couple of games, went out quite quickly and decided enough was enough. The £40k, the weeks richest tournament on the site was the start of the downfall, I had reraised a raiser with AK hearts. The player next to me called. Ultimately I hit my flush, but the player next to me won with a full house, he had called my reraise with 75!

After losing with TT to 66 and then flopping a full house and losing to quads, it was time to stop.

Monday was better, but not good enough, I added one more final table to the tally, by finishing 8th in the $5k Headhunter, taking me to 7 final tables to date.

Most of Tuesday/Wednesday was spent organising Poccer 4, which I am delighted to say will be held at the Birmingham Broadway on Saturday 15th March.
Anyone interested in playing, please let me know, it will be a fantastic day out.

Tuesday was one bad beat after another, I won't bore you with the details, but it was enough to put me off playing yesterday!

Halfway through January and its a mixed view on performance to date.
I have declared profit of £1k, but am likely to have to reinvest some of this over the next week, so there is definitely room for improvement.

My final table count has been impressive with 7 to date, although failure to win one is dissapointing.

Room for improvement has to be in the biggest two tournaments on Littlewoods the $20k and $13k, whilst I have some cashes, I have yet to make a final table and this where I start making an impact on my profit targets.

I have also been less pleased with my qualification attempts for live events, I have played a few of these recently and not have qualified for the finals.

In other news I have been asked to take part in a pod cast for Littlewoods, which will be taking place next week, so that is something to look forward to.

I will be playing this evening and try to improve results from the last few days.

ClintonO

Poccer 4 - Registration Open

Saturday 15th March - Birmingham

The date for Poccer 4 has been confirmed and will be held in Birmingham on Saturday 15th March.
This will be a fantastic day for all involved, so why not give it a go.

www.poccer.co.uk has all the details.

ClintonO

Final Table madness

Its five final tables in five nights now and six for the year, but still no win to speak of.

Last night it was the £2k for the second consecutive night and this time a 3rd place finish. I got my chips in with KQ but ran into AQ. I could have held on for 2nd but I wanted to push for the win.

I also made the money in the $20k last night, but ran into Aces and that was the end of that.

It feels like the same old story most nights this week, so the blog is probably getting boring. A few tournaments, a few hours of griding, a final table and an a small amount of profit.

I need to get a good finish in one of the bigger events to kick start my profit quest for the year.

Reviewing my figures, % tournaments cashed has fallen slightly to 29%, but % final tables is now in double figures. Despite one night out of the money the $4.5k is still number one on my tournament favourites. I am currently at number 30 in the monthly leaderboard. I am really pleased with this, getting any higher will prove difficult.

A few congratulations are in order, firstly Fenners_1 who is a regular poccer attendee and part of the Poccer gang off to Vegas at the end of June, won two tournaments last night, the $1.5k and then the £1.5k later on. Nice work.

Congratulations once again to Mr Mihai Manole for taking down thw $20k a couple of nights ago and also Kai (aka Menace) for making his first $20k final table.

Good work all round guys.

I will be playing my first £40k of the year tonight, so I am hoping for a big performance.

ClintonO

Another Final Table

I might have to change my aim for final tables this year, with my 4th consecutive night reaching a final table and 5 out of the last 6.

This time it was the £2k, but a dissapointingly only finishing in 9th place. It was a night that promised a lot. AA losing to QQ just before the money in the $20k, and JJ to 77 in the favourite $4.5k. I made the money in the $4.5k for the 5th time in 7 appearances this year, making it clearly my most profitable tournament.

I am currently grinding my way through these tournaments making little but steady progress.
A third of the way through the month and I am about where I want to be.

I have moved up to 41st place in the MTT leaderboard on Crypto for the month and for a part time player that is quite pleasing. I need to ensure I finish in the top 400 to get in the $25k tournie at the start of February and at this stage I really should not struggle to achieve that.

I also find myself moving up the Headhunter leaderboard and now have a rating of 23, probably my highest ever, with 104 all-time kills.

I am still lacking a big prize for the year however, I have not reached the final table in the two biggest tournaments on Littlewoods yet this year, this is something I aim to improve shortly.

ClintonO

Poccer Promotions

Just a quick post on what we are doing through Poccer from an on-line perspective.

There has never been a better time to join the growing poccer community and joining our on-line partners at Littlewoods poker. Simply download Littlewoods software from the following link (or let me know your account details) and you will be able to benefit from the following fantastic promotions.


Littlewoods Poker

• Poccer Heads up Challenge : We want to find out who is the ultimate heads up player in the poccer community. Starting in February. 1st Prize Apple I-pod Nano
• Bubble Trouble : If you play any MTT guaranteed tournament during the weekend and go out one before the money, we will refund your entry fee.
• Poccer Players Club : Who is the best MTT player in our community, well prove its you and we will enter you in some live tournaments. Starting in February, win your way into some of the following tournaments. National Poker Championships, the GUKPT, APAT events amongst others.
• EPT : Win an EPT seat and we will give you a free GUKPT seat for the Manchester tournament in April.
• Second Chances : Make the final table of the weekly EPT final tables on Saturday evenings and do not win a seat, well we will put you in the next weeks final for free.

If you want to join in, please drop me a line.

ClintonO

Poccer 4 update

The announcement for the official launch of Poccer 4 has been delayed by a couple of days.
I have been having difficulties finding venues willing to supply dealers for the tables.

Part of the overall poccer experience and the ultimate lads day out is the knowledge for players that they will not have to self deal and relax and concentrate on the game.

I am confident I will be able to resolve this situation over the weekend and announce details for the rest of season 1 at the same time early next week.

ClintonO

Make that 4 final tables in 5 days

Another steady night this evening.
Narrowly missing out on the final tables in the $13k (JJ to QJ) and the $2.5k (KQ to 33 on a K5Q5 board), I managed to make it 3rd time lucky in the worlds greatest tournament the $4.5k.

To add to my 4th and 6th in that tournament in the last week comes a 5th place tonight. I was short stacked with 5 left pushed with K9 on the small blind. BB calls having QQ and KK the previous two hands with JJ. AK9 flop was nice, J on the turn was game over.

Another £100 is taken out and added to the profit for the month, which is now moving along quite nicely.
Almost half my profits have come from the $4.5k tournament and my % Final Tables is now up to 10%.

Long may it continue!
ClintonO

3 final tables in 4 days

Last night I saw my biggest individual tournament payout of the year (£379.33) and narrowly missed out on my first win of the year when I finished 2nd in the £2.5k headhunter.

I did not have much of a chance heads up as I was 220k to 30k behind. I managed one double up and got to 70k but when A8 split with A5 I new it was going to be tough. I eventually went out when pushing with an ace, but lost to a higher kicker.

The vast majority of the winnings reamins in my poker account, but have taken enough out to get my profit up to £1k for the year.

I am still not playing at my best and making mistakes, so I am happy to be getting some good results. I will continue to work on my game and address some of the issues.

I am hoping to finalise the Poccer 4 event tonight, so full details will be up shortly.

Good Luck
ClintonO

January 08 Week 1 Report

After 4 nights of tournament play and a few more hours on the cash table, January has started well.

Suprisingly I have made a great start to the year on the cash tables and just a respectable start to my tournament game. I know one night in particular I was playing tournaments and I was not in the right frame of mind, a sure fire way not to win.

My target for each month is £3k and one week into January, I am just short of £1k in profit, so that appears to be nicely on schedule.

My approximate hourly earnings ratio is £38.29 at the moment.

From a MTT point of view, I have a 32% cash rate at present (i.e finishing in the money 1 of every 3 tournaments) which I think is respectable, but I do believe I can push this higher.

My target was 52 final tables for the year, I managed 2 in week 1. A good effort.
Once again it the $4.5k that is my top tournament.

To date
Played 4
Cashed 3 (3 in succession)
Final Tables 2 (4th and 6th)
Avg Finishing Position 16th
Outlay £110
Returns £444.
Profit £334
ROI 303%
% cash 75%
% Final Table 50%

As yet I do not think I am playing at my best, I have made a number of mistakes. On the final table last night where I finished 6th. I had JJ in the Big Blind, on a King high flop, I knew I was beat, I told myself I was going to fold and yet I still pressed call! I lost to KJ and became short stacked and went out, when I really should have finished in the top 3.

I have a couple of posts one on bankroll on one a general piece of advice, so as promised anything I can do to help I will.

CCC wrote 'Enjoyed your blog. I just wanted some advice on playing the game and maximising any profit I may make. How often do you play? Just MTT's? Do you stick to the same tournies each week? I fin my main problem is doing well in the MTT's but then blowing it all on cash.

Well firstly I think you know your own issue, if your doing well in MTTs and losing in cash, then stick to MTT's it will be more profitable for you in the long run.

The reason I play a little more cash is to try and improve my game, it will not be as profitable for me over an extended period as MTTs are where my main skills are.

The difficulty is with MTT's is that you can go a long period without winning and therefore it can be a drain on your resources.

As to frequency, I played 4 nights out of 7 in the first week, that is probably about average, MTT's mainly. I dabble with cash and STT's but my record is not as good, particularly STT's which need some work.

As to the tournaments, in depends on what I am doing, usually I can't sit down to play before 8 and therefore the tournaments I play are dictated by that.

My good friend Joe asks
All good stuff mate...I was wondering if you could discuss bankroll management at some point...for instance..How much money did you start playing with?..How did you choose what games to play in?....How much were you prepared to lose?..How long before you won?..When you win, how much do you withdrawl?..

Some great questions Joe, will try to answer them all.

How much money did I start with?

When I started I did not know what I was doing let alone bankroll management. I played a couple of games and took out money when I won and put some more in when I needed to. Now I have a seperate bank account for Poker. I keep around 2-3 nights play in my poker account and about £2k in the bank which I break into should I need to.

How did I choose what to play in?

I had no clue to start with, I played in a few 10 seater STTs and found I was doing ok in them, not so good these days though! I started playing a couple of cheap MTTs, before winning a STT to qualify for the WSOP tournament. I was actually playing in a freeroll at the same time I won my WSOP seat in 2005, which was the same one you won yours in.

I learnt a lot from the guys at Littlewoods and what events they had. I would play in the £10k and £15k when I got back, although they were a lot cheaper then at £11 and £33 respectively, but even then I would qualify for them.

How much was I prepared to lose?

Fortunately I have never got myself into position of losing regularly. I had learnt a lot from the stock exchange and how you should never chase losses. I know its hard but when things are not going well and you are losing and you are not at your optimum, you have to stop. There is always another day and another game of poker.

How long before I won?

After my Vegas trip, I kept detailed records of my play from August 05.

In the 15k I had at least once nice result a month.
Sep - 4th £1125
Oct - 3rd £1500
Nov - 3rd £1500
Dec - 1st £4200

I was very fortunate that I was able to learn the game quite quickly, win some good money and most importantly continue to improve.

When I do win, I tend to take out most of the money, I allow a little more in my poker account (4-5 days cover) and then put some in the bank and also make sure I spend some of it, that way it feels more real.

Of late I have a started putting a percentage of wins into a Vegas fund, so that when I get to Vegas everything will already be paid for.

I hope that some of this is interesting, please feel free to drop me a line about any aspect of the game that I may be able to help with.

Take Care
ClintonO

2008 2 playing days in.

Well 2 days into playing in 2008 and it has been a steady start.

One final table so far - 4th in my favourite $4.5k
Two consecutive cashes in the $20k, an 11th and 12th and a cash in the $13k.

I have withdrawn £200 from those performances to get my profit for the year into postive territory!

ClintonO

2008 The Objectives

Here I am on day 4 of 2008 and I am still debating what my realistic aims for 2008 should be.
I have a feeling this posting might end up being a brain dump, so apologies if I go off on tangents!

Last year whilst I met the basic fundamentals of my objectives, I got far too carried away into trying to get to play in many live events. I have a full time job, which unless something major happens, I am simply not going to be able to play in many live events. So this year you won't see a long long list of ideal events, it will be case of seeing how it goes.

So what do I want out of poker in 2008. To be honest I can't really expect much more than I am getting at the moment. I will not be able to play any more frequently, or devote any more time, so realistically it is going to have to be something similar to last year.
The difficulty then comes if its not challenging then you lose interest or do not perform to your best.

The question remains how big a part do I want poker to become in my life. Right now there is no more space left for it to take up, so to do more, something has to give, at the moment there is nothing I wish to sacrifice for it, so it must remain to be a profitable sideline.

I then ask myself will I enjoy the results of my efforts, will it be challenging enough for me, am I going to have the desire to see it through. At the end of 2008, would I be happy with the same as last year.

I have questioned since I have been playing, what elements do I enjoy.
Winning, is the main one of course, I am very competitive by nature, winning is a big deal.
Money, I can never see a time where the value of money makes little difference to my decisions, in the £40k last year, with 5 left, I played for the top 2 as opposed to out and out first. Looking back I do not think I would do this differently if played over, the differences in money were too large.
Improving. I love to get better at something. Maximising the return from each winning hand and minimising the losses really matter.
Learning from mistakes, making a mistake is often a good thing, because it gives you a learning situation.
Teaching. A strange one this, but I love the fact that I have been able to help many people improve their game and seeing their results improve, gives me great satisfaction.
Friendship. I have met a number of great people through this game and I hope to continue to do so.
Bad Beats. What I hear you say! Well without them the game would be dull and predictable. It is a game of skill, but nothing is certain in life, so it should not be in poker. You can make all the right moves and still something goes wrong. Whilst I don't want too many bad beats, I would not do without them.

In summary to that there is still enough that I enjoy from this game to play at the levels I do, as long as I keep challenging myself and my game is progressing then I am going to be satisfied with a similiar level of return for effort.

I knew it was going to be long post!

So where does that leave me with objectives.

1) To be the top career earning live player with the surname Orchard!

What on earth is this, I hear you say.
Well its a lot more difficult than you might think!
Right now David Orchard from Los Angeles is in front with $29,949. He has had a great year with 7 live cashes. I am sitting $11,000 behind, so a lot of work to do.

2) Live Events

I am not going to go overboard this year.
I am going to Las Vegas during the World Series, so I will have a going at qualifying, but I will be playing most of the time I am there.
The Caribbean Poker Classic, wherever this ends up being, this is an event that is simply above everything else, so this is a must.

Everything else becomes a bonus.
GUKPT - I realistically have to play in one of these this year. I still find that I could never voluntarily pay £1k for a poker tournament, so I will have to win my seat, but I do need to play in one of these.

EPT - Ideally San Remo sounds like fun. I was 3rd in a qualifier a couple of weeks ago with the winner off to the EPT, I qualified for Dortmund in 2007. It is not within my ability to qualify for one of these.

Aussie Millions - I have never been to Australia and would love to go. I don't have time to go to this event, so probably won't even bother trying, but it is still something I would like to do.

3) Total Profit.
£32k in 2006, £33k in 2007, well my target for 2008 is a small increase £36,000. Working out at £3k a month. A very challenging target based on playing a similar amount to last year.

4) Tournament Wins.
It was 11 last year (13 if you include my 2 live wins, 1 CPC and 1 in vegas). I will keep this target to online wins and aim for 12, 1 a month.

5) Final Tables.
A real tough one this, I am going for 52. 1 a week.

I am also going to set some targets of % time cashed and some smaller targets, but I will post these when I have thought about them more.
Also I will have some aims for Poccer over the next few days.

ClintonO