Thanks for all the support

Cheers to all the well wishers and messages of support I have had since going out of the main event.

You will be pleased to know that I did not mope around and instead went out to the bluff magazine party and partied the night away!

I will continue to keep a record of my events out here and will update you all on events that are going on. I intend to play a few more events.

On reflection yesterday, I could not have played any better, so I have to take comfort in the fact that it was just not my day.

Favourite moment of the day for me was that there were people complaining about the all-in chip and then on the next hand a relatively short stacked guy (but he had lots of $25 chips) pushed all his chips into the middle and they went everywhere, nobody knew how many chips he had. Then they tried to sort out the mess and it took them nearly 20 mins! Very amusing!

One thing I noticed yesterday, was just how many people limp in with hands such as AK and QQ.
Also one guy limped in with Aces after three people had already limped in. There is generally a lot of differences. Any checked flop is treated with caution and only once in 8 hours, did it fold around to the big blind!

Right I am off to lunch with poker pro Tony Chessa and I will keep updating the blog!

ClintonO

The Dream is over!

I am not destined to do well in this event and I am even more gutted than last year.

With only two premium pairs and four aces in the entire eight hours, I had to work really hard.

I reraised a limp and raise with KQ and both folded and stole two blinds in the first 30 mins and moved up to 9.5k.

The next hour proved uneventful and my stack had dwindled slightly to 8750.

Then with twenty minutes to go in level 4, I get dealt pocket 8s in mid position. I raise to 700 (blinds 100/200 and antes 25 (250)). The big blind calls. Flop 986, my second set of eights of the day. Big Blind checks and I bet at the pot. I bet another 700 and he moves all in for his last 4000. I have to call. He turns over 77. The turn is a T and river a 4. Sick!

On the last hand of level 4 on the BB I have AK hearts. Only my fourth ace in 8 hours, 4 limpers means my move has to be all in. The Chip leader with 35k calls with KQ. Cards 4h2h7cQs6d. I thought for a brief second the red six was a heart but alas it was not to be.

Could I have played any better - I don't think so. I did not get the cards, I laid down two big hands when it was right to do so. I lost two hands when a big favourite.

I really enjoyed the experience, I feel I have improved so much since last year, but you have to have luck at this game and as usual it deserted me.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey so far, it has really been appreciated. I vow to improve and continue playing, but right now I need a drink.

A couple of people have asked me about the seat and how I qualified for the event, the answer is with a bit of help from the guys at Littlewoods. They have helped me so much with my poker career to date and I am extremely grateful to them for that.

Cheers all
ClintonO

WSOP Live Update!

Its 3 levels in and six hours of poker later and am sitting with just over 7k in chips.

A fairly uneventful level 1 saw me end up on 9600, I had QQ under the gun fairly early but no-one was interested.

Level 2 I made some nice progress moving up to near 12000, without much in the way of hands, I had KK under the gun but everyone folded. My main earner was hitting a set of 6s.

Level 3 was a disaster, but I am pleased to still be in the tournament. I entered a raised pot with 88 and saw a flop of Q83. I was checked raised by seat two, who had already had Aces 3 times and Kings twice, I called the raise, but got out after a bet on the turn. They turned over pocket queens and I was very relieved.

I moved tables and soon found AQ, I raised the chip leader in the big blind, who called the raise. He bet the AT4 flop and I called. The turn was a Q leaving a flush draw and possible straight. I moved in with a bet of 3/4 the pot to which he immediately went all in. I was left for a decision for my tournament and I threw them away, he showed me pocket tens and again a good decision was made.

I am probably playing a little too tight, but I have only had two aces in 6 hours and one KK and one QQ, so I know I am due some hands.

The blinds have just gone to 100/200 with an ante of 25.
I will maintain a fairly tight approach to level 4 and see what happens, if I have not made any significant progress at this point, it will be time to step my game and see what happens.

Anyway wish me luck, I am going back in!
ClintonO

Useful Live Experience

I finished 24th in a field of 125 last night in the $200 event, when my Two pair lost to a straight. QT vs AJ.
It was a good experience and I felt very comfortable at the table that I was playing on. I never hit any cards in the 3 and a half hours I played, I hit a pair of 7s and AQ, but that was my lot.

Starting with 1000 chips, I never really got a stack of chips together, I reached 1800, but was a low stack through most the tournament. Prizes were top 18, but it was playing live again that I needed to do and will have helped me more than a money finish.

In the meantime the main event is going crazy, they played 15 +hours on Day1, getting down to 782 players. However, people are still being allowed to register and they were running qualifiers all night. I think they are trying to get to 10000 people. I think getting through day 1 has just got even tougher, it was 2000 down to 800, by my day, it could well me 2500 or even higher down to 800.

It is a much needed rest day for me today, before the main event.
I have to say, I am feeling a lot more confident about my game from playing last night, although some people, should not be allowed to play the game.

One guy on my table last night, lasted 4 hands, calling off his last 500 chips after all cards were dealt with just queen high!
I also had the guy next to me who folded with an open ended straight draw after the turn when he had just 125 with 1500 in the pot. He said he would only go out of the tournament on a real hand! (He went out next hand with JJ to K8 - so I guess he got his wish!)

Have a good day!
ClintonO

WSOP Madness

This event is truly spectactular.
A new world record was set today with the number of entrants currently at 8532. There are rumours that there may well be alternates, i.e people starting with 10,000 chips as soon as people have gone out.

It there are so many people needing the toilet, so the players are having breaks at different times! Half the players go on break and as they return the others go on break!

There is one new edition this year, the all in button, rather than shoving all your chips in the middle when you want to commit your whole stack, you just put one chip in!
I think it is a good idea, but gone are the exaggerated big pushes of chips into the middle.

It is really tough trying to keep up with what is going on. I know that one player only lasted 7 mins, that is $1428 per minute!
Also my friend Tony Chessa has started well and has moved up to $17000.

With the sheer numbers of players playing, I really don't know how long each day will last, the last count I got after between levels 2 and 3 is that 338 players had been eliminated.

I will keep you updated.
I on the other had have found a small tournament to play in tonight, its only a $200 entry and with only 1000 chips (blinds 30 mins levels starts at 25/25) so will be a quick affair, but I will be grateful of the live practice.

ClintonO

The Winning Seat

Registration has been completed this morning and the winning seat is

Day 3 Table 183 Seat 8!

I will be there from 8pm GMT Sunday!

ClintonO

Day 1 - It was supposed to be a day of rest, but what can you do!.

A welcome party at 8pm (free bar) thanks to cryptologic and of course Littlewoods, followed by an invitation to party on the roof! These poker people want me!

Attached above is an image from the roof at the rio! Apologies for any blurring, but an unlimited amount of beers later, what can you do! Just to clarify this is the roof and 51st floor of the Rio Grande!

I have meet up with lots of people tonight, including the legendary Kinghawko! So relieved I am not playing until Sunday. The player count has gone through the roof, already 6900 have registered and rumours are that we may hit 10,000 people. I have heard that it may be capped at 8800, but whatever happens it will be the biggest event in the world!

Not a big day planned tomorrow, but I will try to get in my first live game since st.kitts.

Laters!
ClintonO

Vegas!

Yes I have made it!

Wait there is more good news, I have been moved to day 1C of the main event, so I can relax until Sunday, which to be honest is great news!

Of the Littlewoods guys, only Poker Tony Chessa is now playing on Day 1.
I will keep you updated throughout my stay. Right now its time for a 2 hour power nap!

All the best
ClintonO

You can't deny the Henry factor!

Well I am off in 20 mins, still doing my packing!
I had to put an update on Henry in!

My one and only game since he is back, the £15k, my first final table for 2 weeks. 5th place £900, okay a coin flip didn't go my way at a crucial time, 55 losing to K9, but there is no denying the Henry factor!

Confidence is back, its up for grabs now!

See you in Vegas
ClintonO

Henry's Back!

With just over 24 hours to go , things were looking a little desperate. Now I am not talking about my poker form - which is just rubbish! (Losing last night with JJ on a KJJ flop, was the pick of them!)
I am talking about my cat - Henry!
He went missing last Monday and I had not seen him until this morning, Rachael (my wife) had almost given up on him and her optimism for Vegas was fading fast!

When I look back on the last week, it all makes sense, my computer blew up, losing all my notes, records etc, I missed out on playing for a number of days and since then I have not won a single tournament, MTT or STT, in fact I was scared to play a heads up!

As the great Sherlock Holmes once said 'When you have removed all outcomes until just one remains, that, however unlikely is the cause of the event'. Well that's it I have been rubbish at poker, because my cat was missing, which caused such negative vibes that everything went wrong!

Now my confidence is fully restored and my run of bad luck is now over! (Clutching at straws - maybe - but I'm feeling good!)

As for the WSOP, I am confirmed for Day 1A, no time for practice, its straight in at the deep end.
As for numbers 6500 were in as of Monday, so it is still possible the 8000 will be hit.

Okay Day 1 objectives
1) Enjoy it - I was far too nervous last year, this is the WSOP - It doesn't get any better!
2) Be one of the 800 survivors from Day 1. I have not yet survived a whole day in the main tournament, going out right at the end in both that I have played in so far.
3) Double chip count from 10k to 20k.

That's in plain and simple. I will settle for objectives 1 and 2, as I just don't want that world has ended feeling after day 1 of my 15 days!.

It looks like all the Littlewoods boys will be playing on day 1A.
I am really looking forward to meeting up with good friend Tony Chessa, despite chatting a few times I have not seen him since St.Kitts.

Today, I finally managed to speak to Leonarch! He has been trying to call me for ages (I wasn't ignoring you - honest) and it just goes to show how wrong you can be about someone! I thought he was a nice guy, but in fact he is a really nice guy! Thanks for the good luck message!

Loads of people have been texting and emailing your best wishes for which I am truely apprecitive of.

I even had the Cambridge Evening News on yesterday wishing me good luck! They also told me two other people had qualified from the region! So my mission has to be to beat them. I can't lose my local legend status!

I feel like I am representing a whole host of people, who for whatever reason cannot make this years event.

I hope you can live the experience through me and this blog and that we will experience more highs than lows and most importantly, it is not all over after day1.

Anyway, nice one Henry!
ClintonO

Introducing TheDeacon

This young man qualified for the 2005 wsop on the same table as me with Betfair.

I managed to persuade him to join us at Littlewoods and like myself is now playing in his second consecutive WSOP.

Here he is....

1) Crypto Alias ............TheDeacon
2) Site you play on ........ Littlewoods
3) Real Name ....... Joseph Amatuzzi but you can me Joe
4) Age ................... 45
5) Playing Style...... Varied to suit table
6) Profession ...... Bathrrom Fitter
7) How long have you been playing poker ..... 6 years
8) What got you started .... The desire to retire early
9) What is your Poker claim to fame winning WSOP main event seats 2 years in a row..one from a $10 satellite, this year cost 100 My Poker points in a Littlewoods satellite & over the years I have also won a few handfuls of MTT tournaments at various sites, winning a 15k MTT followed by a 10k MTT the next night was a good week for me"....
10) Favourite Poker Moment winning this years entry to WSOP main event.. I was heads up for over and hour before i finally won.
11) What are your Poker Ambitions................ I would like to win a couple big professional tournaments then turn professional....
12) Where are we most likely to find you .. drinking beer beside a swimming pool or on a beach when Im not if front of my computer playing poker.
13) What is your favourite move check-raise
14) How do we beat you .... pray ( after all I am TheDeacon)
15) Live or Online live
16) AK or QQ AK
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto I fear no one at the poker table
18) One lesson you would give to new players ..... play tight and only play in loose games for small stakes 25/50 pence/cents untill you start winning alot.
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in WSOP 2007
20) What is the one thing you would improve about Crypto ... more real money free rolls..... for players who go broke and need to try to rebuild a bank roll and to encourage new players....
21) Anything else you want to tell us ....... What else would you like to know?

22) What are your expectations for the 2006 WSOP. I am going to win
23) Have you got a game plan for the main event yes, tight,then loose, then tight/loose.

Thank you - A very confident Joe!

ClintonO

Introducing deviant69

Next up in Team Littlewoods is deviant69 our US qualifier.

1) Crypto Alias deviant69
2) Site you play on littlewoods
3) Real NameLin-Chuan Lee
4) Age 34
5) Playing Style tight aggresive
6) Profession data analyst, pizza maker
7) How long have you been playing poker 20 yrs
8) What got you started playing with friends in high school
9) What is your Poker claim to fame THIS!!!!
10) Favourite Poker Moment when I slow played my QQ to win this final hand oftourney for this seat
11) What are your Poker Ambitionsinstead of working in office, "work" will be computeron beach in Rio or cafe in Europe
12) Where are we most likely to find you at the bar
13) What is your favourite move still trying to fgure this one out
14) How do we beat you get lucky
15) Live or Online online all the way
16) AK or QQ ep QQ, lp AK
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto nothing
18) One lesson you would give to new players stop chasing
19) Which tournament would you most like to play> in WSOP of course!
20) What is the one thing you would improve about Crypto more advertising targeted at newbies
21) Anything else you want to tell us Sites need to get their govts to pressure US to allowsitesto operate freely.
22) What are your expectations for the 2006 WSOP.Have fun. Hope for a little luck and ....
23) Have you got a game plan for the main eventTo be honest, not really.

Thank you Lin

ClintonO

Introducing Animal

I met Animal in St.Kitts where he took the place by a storm. A nice cash finish in the main event and qualifying with me to represent Littlewoods in the Crypto Team Challenge.

He has since played the EPT in Deauville and can be considered a little bit useful!

Mr Animal!

When will we see a "Introducing ClintonO" post , i know youve probably answered half of it in your blog already but surely there are other requests for you to answer the same questions in a summary :))


1) Animal
2) Littlewoods/Betfair mainly + various others
3) Robert "Animal" Price :)
4) 29
5) Very Variable
6) Professional Poker Player
7) Since Feb 2004
8) Always been a gambler and mate suggested i should give it a go, 3 months later on after worrying it could become another bad addiction i downloaded and the journey began
9) I guess im best known for finishing 13th/252 in the 2005 Carribean Poker Classic
10) No doubts here. Finishing 5th/1727 in the Oct 2005 million $ guaranteed on Party on a Saturday night. Had subbed for $70 and received my highest payout of $51,810. Also the night before i had won my seat to the CPC but was being investigated for possible collusion so when i played the Party game my head was all over the place. Crypto agreed their software was to blame for the CPC satellite and on the monday or tuesday after a surreal weekend i had a place at the CPC confirmed.
11) To carry on making ample money to avoid going back to an office job. To get deep into another big live event. Sponsorship at some point would be nice if i can get some proven results. To lose some of the 1 stone ive put on in the year ive been full time in poker. :((
12) Crypto 10k , 15k or similar.
13) Lately i seem to like a resteal with crap (wont be surprised if i go out of the WSOP on one of these !)
14) Getting lucky or big cards usually.
15) Online
16) QQ always go with the stats favourite
17) Sorry but i'll cop out of this one, if i make the final table i always believe i will win so try to never fear any player at the table.
18) Only play premium cards at 10 handed tables and only play at a stake you can afford to lose but also one that the money means something to you.
19) The WSOP main event but if you ask me again in 3 weeks this will probably change
20) One thing, there are several things :). I guess at the moment it would be the observer chat, everyone wants it back but crypto dont seem to like listening to their customers.
21) Catch me at my blog http://pokeranimal.blogspot.com/ . Apologies for any swearing i haven't held back lately on the rough beats.
22) To make the cash if i play my "A" game
23) That would be telling :) I actually have several but i will only decide how im playing when i see how everyone else plays at my table.
Would be nice to not draw day 1A (as i'll be tired) and i would like a table that doesnt split all day so i really get to know other players habits.

Thanks Robert!
I will see you at the airport!

ClintonO

We are almost there!

Its less than 36 hours until the flight to Vegas and its starting to get a little exciting.

The early rumours are that I have drawn day one of the main event. Flying Thursday, playing Friday! So much for the warm up game.

I have not played live since bubbling in St.Kitts and I am certain I have used up all my bad luck!.

I thought it would be nice to introduce team Littlewoods to the world and who I am going to be spending the next couple of weeks with.

So lets meet them!
ClintonO

Introducing Macaroon

Surely one of the nicest guys you will ever meet on the tables and someone is who is getting better at a rapid rate of knots.

Give it up everyone - its Macaroon.

1) Crypto Alias Macaroon
2) Site you play on Littlewoods
3) Real Name Robert Campbell (Mac)
4) Age 63
5) Playing Style Very conservative most of the time (AKA Dan Harrington)
6) Profession Journalist sort of retired
7) How long have you been playing poker 1 year
8) What got you started ClintonO
9) What is your Poker claim to fame Best result probably 10th in 15k
10) Favourite Poker Moment Knocking ClintonO out of LOQ qualifier (went all-in on a flush draw - stupid call really because I guessed Clinton had a great hand, but I got the flush)
11) What are your Poker Ambitions To make a modest living wage
12) Where are we most likely to find you Playing MTT satellites
13) What is your favourite move Checking when holding the nuts then calling an all-in
14) How do we beat you Wait until the river to get a full house when I've got the nut flush (It's happened so many times)
15) Live or Online Played live only 3 times but prefer it to online
16) AK or QQ QQ every time. Have seen AK go down too many times - it produces irrational exhuberance
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto A table of complete unknowns. I get much better results against better players. The best I have seen include 007apr, ClintonO, ThierryH, Leonarch, CRACKHEAD, Noseboy, Honeybear, Dewi_cool (there are 2 Dewi Cools) 18) One lesson you would give to new players - Be patient and read Harrington
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in WSOP at the rio.
20) What is the one thing you would improve about Crypto Its the tendency to give the worst hand the board cards it needs to win; and its tendency to give several pairs in the same deal.
21) Anything else you want to tell us Have never played cash tables, only tourneys, but after Noseyboys comments I will try it.

Thank you Mac
ClintonO

Introducing Menace

One of the most underrated players on the site.
Please meet Mr Kai from Norway - he is near LEGEND status.

1) Crypto Alias - Menace
2) Site you play on - LittleWoods
3) Real Name - Kai Nesbakken
4) Age - 34
5) Playing Style - Tight
6) Profession - Software developer
7) How long have you been playing poker - Online for about a year now
8) What got you started - You!
9) What is your Poker claim to fame - None so far, I'm afraid. Working on that
10) Favourite Poker Moment - Must be whenever I finish a tournament ahead of
ClintonO. I'm pretty sure it has happened once or twice
11) What are your Poker Ambitions - For the time being I'm just playing for fun,
but some day it would be nice to play this game for a living. Seems like the
perfect life for a lazy b... like myself.
12) Where are we most likely to find you - At home playing smallish STT's and
the occational MTT
13) What is your favourite move - Reaching across the table to collect my
opponent's chips
14)How do we beat you - Confuse me. Some days that's very easy, some days it's
not
15)LiveLive or Online - Online. My kind of live tournaments tends to involve
way to many beers... lol
16)AK or QQ - QQ
17)What would be your most feared final table on Crypto - I don't really know
that many players, but ClintonO will be on it. Also very impressed with
ThierryH, a great player who will get even better
18)One lesson you would give to new players - Do your homework. Don't play a
whole bunch of freerolls if you're planning to learn poker. Do some reading,
watch the good players and pay to play. You'll have to pay to get
information in this game, so you'd better get used to it. Doing your
homework will reduce the cost, though.
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in - WSOP
20) What is the one thing you would improve about Crypto - It's getting better,
but I still miss the player search
21) Anything else you want to tell us - Be lucky. Just not when you're up
against me.

Thanks Kai

ClintonO

Introducing Dumbsmuck

Here is a treat for you all.
One of the inspirations behind me starting this game, in that he was the only player that I knew who played the game.

Not a big player on Crypto but here is anyway - Dumbsmuck!

1) Crypto Alias - Dumbsmuck/sharkbait
2) Site you play on - Littlewoods/Betfair/VC
3) Real Name - Paul Barrington-Light
4) Age - 33
5) Playing Style - Adaptive
6) Profession - Quantity Surveyor
7) How long have you been playing poker - 3 years
8) What got you started - Late night poker - what a show
9) What is your Poker claim to fame - 6th in $1m gauranteed on Party Poker after playing for 6 months - won $48k, won the £10k guaranteed on crypto at 2nd attempt
10) Favourite Poker Moment - Clinton O qualifying for WSOP 2005
11) What are your Poker Ambitions - To become a better live player and feature in main live events (and win them)
12) Where are we most likely to find you - I play on VC alot under the name arniejokin - the same name I use on PP - I find crypto to be a bit slower.
13) What is your favourite move - Confusing my opponent.
14) How do we beat you - call me whatever you have, PLEASE!
15) Live or Online - Online right now, soon to be a live monster!
16) AK or QQ - QQ please, AK misses so often on flop (apart from when I have QQ)
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto - 5 of me and 5 ClintonO's
18) One lesson you would give to new players - don't play rag aces out of position.
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in - WSOP 2007, couldn't do this year due to other commitments
20) What is the one thing you would improve about Crypto - the speed, cut down time allowed for action to 15 seconds and give one 30 second allowance to each player in a STT or MTT.
21) Anything else you want to tell us - I was chipleader with 12 to go in the inaugural £100k on crypto and ended up 12th - NEVER believe you have won it until the money is in your hands - I lost the lot in 2 hands to the same player and got a small payout instead of a huge one. Also - change you playing style according to the table you are on.

Thank you kind sir, come back to Crypto soon!
ClintonO

Introducing Leonarch

One of the greats of the crypto world joins us now, a coin flip away from joining us in the World Series. Mr Leon!

1) Crypto Alias Leonarch
2) Site you play on Will Hill
3) Real Name Leon Arghyrou (R-G-ROO) Greek btw
4) Age 41
5) Playing Style Greek Orthadox
6) Profession BarrowBoy
7) How long have you been playing poker 1 year (hold Em) 31 years poker (all forms)
8) What got you started My Dad (God Bless his soul)
9) What is your Poker claim to fame Nothing much, suppose winning 15k?
10) Favourite Poker Moment Has to be the 15k win
11) What are your Poker Ambitions To win back the 40k I lost last year on the cash tables learning the game of Hold Em lol
12) Where are we most likely to find you Tourneys
13) What is your favourite move The Moonwalk
14) How do we beat you Call my big bets
15) Live or Online Online.. although I love playing live, but find the Gutshot to far.
16) AK or QQ depends on flop
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto TH (the man), ClintonO (of course) Tiddles( always does me)SUN_DESHI (what an improvement)! Oranges is a gr8 player too, 007APR (but I'll kick ur sry ass real soon) The Cheese is good too, Daes265 (Nahcwoot saying) Andy1965 and last would be Homer2004, but he has dissapeard, anyone know where he went?
18) One lesson you would give to new players STAY AWAY FROM THE CASH GAMES!! (online)
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in 50K never seem to tho. CPC which I would like to go to this year.
20) What is the one thing you would improve about Crypto More big tourneys at other times apart from 8pm-10:15pm something like the 50k more often.
21) Anything else you want to tell us Yes, I would like to say that there are so many great players that it’s a pleasure to play against them, also I have made so many friends through online poker and that I hope to meet up with some of you real soon, I couldn't go to Vegas this year as my girl is getting Christened in Norway in August...But for all of you that have got seats.. I wish you the best of luck.. You as well --00-- hope you do something with my seat lol... Clinton keep the gr8 blog going m8.

What a great guy!
ClintonO

Apologies

First of all sorry for the delay in the posts.
My Vaio blew up last week, preventing me from posting and even playing poker!

I am playing in the World Series in 3 days and I am more out of practice than at any time in the last year!

Anyway, lets get cracking with the interviews

ClintonO

Introducing ThierryH

A real coup this one. He is without doubt on everyones top player list.
Fresh from winning 2 wsop seats on Saturday.
Here he is Mr ThierryH.

1) Crypto Alias ThierryH
2) Site you play on SunPoker
3) Real Name Mihai Manole
4) Age 24
5) Playing Style Aggressive most of the time
6) Profession Student
7) How long have you been playing poker 2 years
8) What got you started The beauty of the game and the money that can be won playing
9) What is your Poker claim to fame Winning 2 WSOP packages in one day
10) Favourite Poker Moment Winning the last hand of a tournament
11) What are your Poker Ambitions Win as much money as I can online and to qualify for all major live tournaments
12) Where are we most likely to find you In sixpaks and every major mtt tourney on the site.
13) What is your favourite move All in when I think I have the best hand and getcalled.
14) How do we beat you Getting very lucky. Joking!
15) Live or Online Online
16) AK or QQ QQ - I prefer 56% instead of 43%
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto noseyboy, ClintonO, 007apr, ariston, kinghawko,kpnuts,xcuseme,SUN_DESHI,Leonarch
18) One lesson you would give to new players Don't quit playing, even if at the begining youwill have a hard time.
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in Don't know yet, I will try it all!
20) What is the one thing you would improve about Crypto Player Search
21) Anything else you want to tell us Thierry Henry - The Legend Continues

Thank you Mihai, I know you had to cut back from playing eight tables at once, to just seven in order to do this!

ClintonO

Introducing --00--

The mysterious --00-- is next on my list of interviewees.

I am still waiting to find out if I can use their real name!

1) Crypto Alias ---00--- (resemblance of my specs!)
2) Site you play on Littlewoods / Sun
3) Real Name (Name Hidden)
4) Age 36
5) Playing Style Adaptive
6) Profession Poker Player
7) How long have you been playing poker 20 Years
8) What got you started Dad!
9) What is your Poker claim to fame Final table WSOP Main Event 2006!!! (Well here's hoping lol)
10) Favourite Poker Moment knocking Stephen Hendry out of a Tourney in Dundee
11) What are your Poker Ambitions To play with and beat the best of the best of the best SIR!
12) Where are we most likely to find you £15k + £50k MTT's + NL Ring Games + S+G's
13) What is your favourite move Moving a step closer to Pole Position (-;
14) How do we beat you You don't if I have anything to do with it lol
15) Live or Online Love live but have to play Online due to location
16) AK or QQ AK
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto Can't have fear but certainly feel work cut out with this lot (in no particular order)- ThierryH, 007apr, SUN_DESHI, Noseyboy, Leonarch, Animal, Azimut, ClintonO
18) One lesson you would give to new players Be honest and discipline yourself - You don't have to win today - you just have to win
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in Montecarlo Millions would be nice lol
20) What is the one thing you would improve about Crypto Give us MPP's for tourney entries and allow AA to win more than 16% of the time
21) Anything else you want to tell us Your born skint, you die skint, everything in between is just fluctuation (-;

Thank you so much.
A few names are appearing a lot now! Do you agree, please let me know!

ClintonO

Introducing Alfi17032

One of my favourite players on the site and all round nice guy. Mr Alfi17032

1) Crypto Alias ALFI17032
2) Site you play on WILLIAM HILL
3) Real Name ALFIE BALDWIN
4) Age 25
5) Playing Style SOLID, AGGRESSIVE, IF SOMEWHAT UNORTHODOX

6) Profession MAC OPERATOR
7) How long have you been playing poker 18 MONTHS
8) What got you started LATE NIGHT POKER-GREAT SHOW
9) What is your Poker claim to fame GETTING KNOCKED OUT OF TOURNAMENT BY PHIL GORDON @ THE SUMMER SERIES 2005, THE PALMS, VEGAS.

10) Favourite Poker Moment WINNING THE 15K NIGHT BEFORE I WENT FLEW OUT TO VEGAS LAST MAY, MARVELLOUS!

11) What are your Poker Ambitions TO BECOME A REGULAR ON THE EPT
12) Where are we most likely to find you @ THE GUTSHOT-CARDROOM -CLERKENWELL RD
13) What is your favourite move RE-RAISE, IT SCARES PEOPLE!
14) How do we beat you WAIT FOR ME TO BLOW UP, IT HAS BEEN KNOWN
15) Live or Online THERE REALLY IS NOTHING LIKE LIVE POKER
16) AK or QQ QQ EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK - UNMADE HAND v MADE HAND
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto CLINTON O- HES THE MOST CONSISTANT PLAYER I NOW
18) One lesson you would give to new players PATIENCE AND DISCIPLINE
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in 15 K @ 8.00
20) What is the one thing you would improve about Crypto EITHER BRING BACK OR FIX THE CHAT FEATURE- ITS A BIG LET DOWN
21) Anything else you want to tell us BE LUCKY.

Thank you Alfie, especially for the compliment!

ClintonO

Introducing Noseyboy

Ladies and Gents,
We have a real treat here, one of the sites top players - Mr Noseyboy.

1) Crypto Alias - Noseyboy
2) Site you play on - Sunpoker
3) Real Name Matt Osborne
4) Age - 32
5) Playing Style - selectively aggresive
6) Profession - sparky / poker
7) How long have you been playing poker - 4 years
8) What got you started - TV on Late night poker
9) What is your Poker claim to fame - Qualified for last 2 CPCs (11th in 2004), paid off mortgage with 2nd place in 1/2 million mtt on Crypto $45k, & sponsored by Sunpoker

10) Favourite Poker Moment - Knocking out phil laak in $500 mtt in CPC 2005, & going on to win, after crashing out of main event on day1 with pocket 10s v pocket 9s..board was 789 6 8..ill never forget the see-saw hand.

11) What are your Poker Ambitions - To play proffesionally making enough to live on, eventually moving to vegas.

12) Where are we most likely to find you - In front of my two 24" screens at home in essex.
13) What is your favourite move - fearless all in stealing... (silly question to ask me) or check raising all in on a big draw. (Someone will explain the theory of small pot poker to me oneday, so far ive yet to use it...!!)

14) How do we beat you - Play back at me if you get the chance or wait for a big hand and catch me on a steal...

15) Live or Online - Online for profits.. live for enjoyment
16) AK or QQ - QQ all day long
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto - I think fear only comes when your afraid to lose and im now numb to that pain so i wouldnt say i fear any particualar players, although knowing over 1000 players were watching the H/up of the 1/2 million i should have feared reraising all in with q3 os in the 2nd hand for 2 million chips... but i didnt.

17b) Come on whose your top 5 players? Sooo hard to pick out of the 1000s of players.. but heres Noseyboys MTT Internet top 5 and im not even going to be big headed and include myself despite the 6 x 15k wins and the 1/2 million 2nd... although surelt i should be in there somewhere.. ;)
1. ThierryH (not only a solid player but very lucky to.. deadly combination)
2. Azimut (solid player..very hard to beat)
3. $Mate1 (Mtt satellite king..)
4. KingHawko (solid player, hard to knock off his perch)
5. Dubai (usually turns it up for the big events)

18) One lesson you would give to new players - Learn to play cash tables as soon as possible as this is where you make money (for me this is limit cash mainly 10/20 and 20/40) and a rakeback deal is an absolute must, as this will save you thousands over the course of a year.
Tournaments are ok for fun and the occasional big win but very hard to make constant money & become frustrating on bad runs (for instance last year i made the FT of the 15k 6 nights in a row cashing £7k+. The next month i didnt cash in the top 30 once and bust £1500 on entry fees.

19) Which tournament would you most like to play in - The whole WSOP festival one year when i can fund a 2 month stay in vegas

20) What is the one thing you would improve about Crypto - Improve their marketing to bring more players in on cash tables and increase prize pools in tournaments. On the scale of things they are a small fish in a very big sea and seem to make little effort to grow in size and i think this is one of their downfalls. Minor improvements to sites could include rebuy torurnaments, and those that use Ecash find an alternative accounting company (chocolate fireguards come to mind).....

21) Anything else you want to tell us - I have a moto that has served me well overall and it is " Never be afraid to lose to win" & finally about my new site http://www.rakeaddicts.com/ worth a look for that rakeback deal.
"If you cant be good be lucky".. see you all at the tables.

Thank you kind sir! And you managed to plug your site as well!

Cheers
ClintonO

Introducing Sun_Deshi

Fresh from winning his wsop seat on Sunday, here is Mr Sun_Deshi

1) Crypto Name - too many to name, Sun_Deshi is the most famous one
2) Site Playing on - All of them! Mainly Sun and Betfair
3) Real Name - Afzal Hussain
4) Age - 31
5) How would you describe your playing style - Tight Aggressive, and totally crazy when I have a big stack
6) What is your profession- IT Engineer
7) How long have you been playing Poker - Since December 05
8) How did you get started in this great game - Sunday Poker sessions with friend, kept walkin away £15 £20 richer
9) What is your claim to fame in Poker - Dont really have one, Not sure if wins in 10k, 15k, and wsop seat count (They Count! - ClintonO)
10) Favourite Poker Moment - Deffo the WSOP seat win
11) What are you ambitions in Poker - WSOP champion. What else ?
12) Where are we most likely to find you - At home playing on Crypto
13) What is your favourite move - Calling an allin when you have the stone cold nuts
14) How do we beat you - You need to be one lucky feck.
15) Do you prefer to play live or online - Online
16) AK or QQ - QQ (Those that say AK are mugs, cos its 48% v 52%)
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto - 007apr, ThierryH, ClintonO Noseyboy, Leonarch, --00--, laz, MrTurn3
18) One lesson that you would give to new players - AK (or Anna Kournakova Hand) always looks good rarely wins much
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in - WSOP and EPT Monte Carlo
20) What is the one thing you would improve about crypto - The RNG (Random Number Generator). Too many underdog hands win too often
21) Anything else you want to tell us - ClintonO is a true Legend.

That is so nice of you! Thank you.
Mr Afzal Hussain everybody!

Cheers
ClintonO

Congrats Team Mates!

Well I can't win for Toffee, but my BadBeat Team Mates are on fire.

Mihay (ThierryH) won two WSOP seats on Saturday
Afzal (Deshi) won his WSOP seat today
Kev (Azimut) won another WSOP seat yesterday
Ewan (strokeit) won the $25k added tonight - $8k+
Andy (007apr) won the Highrollers in the week - £3k+

Congratulations guys - you are all LEGENDS.

Now can I please win something (just got knocked out of the £50k in 83rd! AJ to 99 with an ace on the flop!)

Maybe the WSOP has my name on it! LOL

ClintonO

Introducing niceguy77

Next up on our interviews is Northampton based niceguy77.
Heres what he has to say!

1) Crypto Name - niceguy77
2) Site Playing on - Littlewoods
3) Real Name - Ian Overson
4) Age - 29
5) How would you describe your playing style - Conservative
6) What is your profession- Category Manager
7) How long have you been playing Poker - 12 months
8) How did you get started in this great game - CLINTON ORCHARD!!!!!!!!
9) What is your claim to fame in Poker - Was Raceclubs poker champion, beating ClintonO heads up at the end
10) Favourite Poker Moment - Watching ClintonO qualify for his first WSOP last year after only playing for a couple of months - his pocket 9's just holding up when he was on the bubble then someone going out the very next hand.
11) What are you ambitions in Poker - To play in large live event
12) Where are we most likely to find you - Golf course or at home.
12a) In the poker room! - I will be playing £10 - £20 STT's, High rollers MTT's and Carrib Qualies
13) What is your favourite move - Rope-a-dope
14) How do we beat you - Bully Bully Bully!
15) Do you prefer to play live or online - Live (although not played much)
16) AK or QQ - AK - hate those ladies.
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto - I dont fear anyone - I respect plenty
17b) Well who in your opinion are the sites best players - ThierryH, ClintonO, BestMate$ and Menace, also Leonarch he is quality too.
18) One lesson that you would give to new players - Be patient and read a good system such as Dan Harrington
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in - WSOP
20) What is the one thing you would improve about crypto - Introduce STT step competitions similar in style to the MTT highrollers with cash and UK based tourney buy ins as prizes
21) Anything else you want to tell us - I'm 30 next year and getting married!

Thank you and what a niceguy!

Good Luck and see you on the tables
ClintonO

Introducing 007apr!

The first of my interviews is with Crypto Legend 007apr
Winner of two WSOP 2006 seats and recently the High Roller tournament here he is!

1) Crypto Name - 007apr
2) Site Playing on - Littlewoods
3) Real Name - Andy Reynolds
4) Age - 36
5) How would you describe your playing style - Various
6) What is your profession- Professional Poker Player
7) How long have you been playing Poker - 3 years
8) How did you get started in this great game - A friend got me started
9) What is your claim to fame in Poker - None as yet, but was 22nd in the Caribbean Poker Classic 2005
10) Favourite Poker Moment - The CPC
11) What are you ambitions in Poker - To Keep Winning
12) Where are we most likely to find you - Playing Sixpacs
13) What is your favourite move - Overbet a monster after flop to induce call or re-raise, if re-raised just flat call then check, 100% you get all his chips then.
14) How do we beat you - LOL!
15) Do you prefer to play live or online - Online
16) AK or QQ - QQ - ladies love 007 :)
17) What would be your most feared final table on Crypto- LOL
17b) Well who in your opinion are the sites best players - madturk1, jet70, NightmarE, babitiger
18) One lesson that you would give to new players - Patience
19) Which tournament would you most like to play in - CPC
20) What is the one thing you would improve about crypto - Allow observer chat
21) Anything else you want to tell us - We are all Worms, but i do believe that i am a glow-worm

Um, thanks for that!

So there you have it that is 007apr, if you have any further questions for Andy, please let me know!

Cheers
ClintonO

Is my account Jinxed!

I got someone to play a few tournaments for me from my account yesterday as I was out.

Their view - your account is cursed mate!
Today with AA losing to AK and then flopping a straight, calling an all in and being knocked out to a Full house.

I might try playing my wifes account and see what happens!

Anyway I have started the interviews and will post them now! Enjoy

ClintonO

Happy Birthday to Me!

33 today! Happy Birthday to Me!
What better way to celebrate than everyone allowing me to win tonight!

I apologise for not updating my blog in the last week, I have really busy and not had much time for poker.

I managed 13th in the 15k on Friday and another cash finish on Tuesday, which were the only two days I played the tournament this week.

I failed miserably in the world series qualifier on Sunday, someone was telling me repeatedly that they had me beat, but I refused to believe them!

It is last chance saloon this week. 5 games on Saturday and 1 on Sunday, you will find me in all of them! I am sure the amount of games I have played I could have bought a seat twice over! What the hell, I am winning one this weekend! So it does not matter!

Its two weeks until Vegas, I cannot wait. I will be on-line whilst I am there, so I will be updating regularly. Please login and follow the progress.

I have been thinking how to make my blog different to being just another poker blog and have been trying to think about how I can improve it.

The site I am playing on is Littlewoods, who used Cryptologic and on this site we have some fantastic players. So why don't we meet them?

I have decided to have a feature on the best players from the site. We can also look to have a vote to see who everyone thinks is the best. Maybe we can run a tournament to actually find out. (Proposals to Crypto are in!)

Right I am off to find some players to interview, if you want to appear on my blog, let me know. Or if you have a top 5 players on the site, lets hear from you and I will get on to them about appearing.

Right time to raise a glass, Happy Birthday Me and Good Luck to one and all
ClintonO

Objectives for July

July completes my first full year of keeping records, which I started after my trip to the WSOP last year.
I am really pleased I have done this, as it allows me justify playing the game so much!

Anyway July is all about the trip to Vegas, but I still have the odd objective.

1) Last chance to qualify.
There is simply no better opportunity to pre qualify than this Sunday. It is a ten seater tournament, defeat is not an option. It quite simply about time I made it happen.

There is a further opportunity the following sunday, in a 10 seats guarranteed, but I am not even thinking about that one!

2) Get ready for Vegas.
I have had a successful few weeks and the current thinking is to relax a little and slowly build myself up ready to hit Vegas in top form.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to play less, but concentrate on fine tuning my skills, working my way through some FL cash tables/STTs and finally the few days before back on the MTTs.

3) Final Tables - I would like to make 2 final tables over the next couple of weeks, just as a confidence boost. A nice easy objective which will help with the spending money.

4) Cash in Vegas - Okay this will transcend August, but that is my overall aim, whilst I am there to make the money!

I would also like to avoid flopping full houses and losing - 3 already in July is not much fun!
Last night in the £15k - holding 33. Flop 553. Small blind bets, position 3 all in, position 7 all in. I have to call. They have 54 and 56. Next two cards KK! Out again.

I got an email last night after I raised all in with AA and was called by 95 and found a flop containing two 9s to be disadvantageous.
It said ' Sorry about the call with your Aces, you have been playing a bit looser over the last six weeks, had the chips to call and wanted to take the chance on taking out one of the better players'

Obviously losing with AA to 95 preflop for your tournament is harsh, but a loosening up in my game has been detected! My plan of action has hopefully worked, lowerings peoples requirements to call me, so that I can profit in the future!
Although if they are going to call my Aces with 95 and win, I think I would rather every one just fold!

Good Luck All
ClintonO

Review of June

June had its moments, winning the £2.5k guaranteed was a key highlight.

As for the objectives.
1) Win a WSOP Seat, well this has not happened, but I am going anyway! There was never any chance of me missing out on this one!

2) £50k. I still can get to grips with this tournament! It always goes wrong. Would love to sort it out, but I am playing it as I write this and lose half my stack to a flush on river! Typical

3) £2k profit - YES - job done, a cracking month on the profit stakes. £2.4k against the target of £2k

4) Sharkscope - Just failed, tried to make $1k, but I ended up at plus $900. Will continue to work at it this month.

5) 15k - I did not play it much this month, but 18th was the best I could manage.

6) Bad Beat Team - 3 of us are clear of the rest and there is less than 100 points between the top 3, but despite being best performer 3 out of 4 times, I am just in 3rd.

7) WSOP Tour - I never had a chance to play in this, so this went out the window.

Only 1 objective met, so it looks dissapointing, but the cash earnt, ultimately makes it successful.

I have decided to change my 30 day objective, I set a few days ago. 4 great consecutive days was the perfect start, however I feel that I have been playing too much recently and am in need of a small break before Vegas.
Over the next two weeks I am going to reduce my play, before having a solid week of practice before going off to Vegas, where my objective will be to make the money in the one of the WSOP events.

I will post Julys objectives soon.
ClintonO

Late Push to hit more objectives

After another successful day, I am on the verge of achieving two objectives for the month.

Just one STT today a £50 ten seater which I duly won, has moved my sharkscope stats up to $877, just $123 short of the monthly target. (I even avoided playing any six pacs!)

I am hopeful I can achieve this tomorrow on the last day of the month.
My quest for profit continues and I avoided all qualifiers tonight! I had two in the money finishes in MTTS and alongside my STT win, it has provided me with another £400 in the kitty.
Day 3 of the 30 day £5k challenge leaves me at just under £1100 and well on target.

This has also pushed me past my monthly figure of £2k and with just one day to come and tournaments already paid for, then this is a success.

I am really pleased with the way I am playing and will keep striving to improve results.

ClintonO

STOP PRESS! - WSOP ODDS

Well would you believe it! My current form has filtered its way over to Vegas and they are running scared!

Blue Square are running a book on the event, to reach the final table. I am currently available at 250-1 alongside two of the previous four winners! (Chris Moneymaker, Robert Varkonyi).

I am certain this price won't last long, so make sure you get on quick!!

http://www.bluesq.com/bet?action=go_oc_grp&type_id=921&oc_grp_id=12590

Now it really is getting exciting!
ClintonO

It's all about profit!

That is my new motto for the next 30 days! (Mon 26th June - Wed 26th July)

I have set myself a target of £5k, which would be a monthly best to achieve over the next 30 days, so that I can play in some tournaments in Vegas. It is also tougher still in that I can only play a maximum of 22 days.

The £2k target for June, is about the only one of my objectives that I am looking likely to achieve (+£1.9k) with two days to go.

Out goes the LOQ qualifiers, they are simply not driving the numbers needed to generate a seat. The CPC can wait until I get back from Vegas. I will continue with the WSOP qualifiers, but these will be the only ones until August.

Two days in and am nicely on my way at +£700. (Please let it continue!)
Plans for the week are to play Cash MTT's, STT's and FL Holdem (which I am really improving at)

On Sunday it is the $50k added, which should hopefully result in a nice pay day. I have also been invited into a STT for a seat in the World Series, realistically this is my last chance and I am absolutely going to guarantee I make it.

I will be playing as much as possible over the next 7 days, as I have a lot of events I have to attend during July.

My game is going well and I want as much time as possible on the tables in preparation for Vegas!

Getting quite excited about Vegas now!
ClintonO

Fed up getting close!

It all looked so promising!

I won the $140 WSOP qualifier this afternoon as well as the £12 £50k qualifier.

So it was the $1000 WSOP final at 6pm, the $250 CPC at 6.30pm and the £50k at 8pm.
It was all going very well, at 8.30 I was 4th with 11 left in WSOP and 7th with 15 left in the CPC!

The £50k was a distraction and I did not last long. 55 on a 5QQA7 board, was not good enough to beat AQ.

In the CPC I raised two limpers with AJ diamonds, a Queen high board with two diamonds, gave me reason to bet out, I got reraised all in and with 3k left to win 12k I went with it. I was up against KQ and got no help, I went out in 11th

The WSOP I was dissapointed, Very dissapointed. I had 7k left with 11 players left. The action was fast and furious. I was waiting to get to the final table. I raised on the button with AQ and was put all in for my tournament, I decided to fold and wait for a better opportunity, as I did not fancy a race.
I then had KQ and got reraised twice, again I had to fold.

I had lost half my stack by time we got to the final table. I battled on, but went out in 8th as my KQ failed against a pair of Jacks.

With 3 seats available tonight, I am not going to get much closer.
I am left feeling dissapointment again. Should I have accepted that race for my tournament. Win I would have had 15k and be in a position to go and win, lose and I was out.
Such a tough call.

No more games tonight! Reflection time!
See you in the week!
ClintonO

Looking like another solid month

I think the key to becoming a decent poker player is consistency. 11 months since the wsop 2005 and I have made a profit in each of them.

I have a couple of final table finishes this week, which has moved my monthly bankroll above the £1k mark. I have a little way to go to reach the £2k target, but there is still time to achieve this.

Todays its the Caribbean final Qualifier for me so far, I will try to get into a few others.
There is also a $50k added competition next Sunday for earning 500 player points, this is definitely worth getting in, so you may see me in some Fixed Limit games over the next few days.

ClintonO

Running out of Time!

I know I am running out of time for my WSOP seat, because the Carribean Qualifiers have started!

I have had some decent results in the last few days, but nothing to write home about.

The £2.5k event has become my new favourite after winning it on Friday, I came 7th (£100) yesterday and 3rd (£250) today, although I really should have won, 88 losing to A4 and then KJ with a KJ on the flop losing to a set of treys!

The WSOP finals were again a little lacking, 6th in the LOQ on Saturday and a dissapointing effort in the WSOP final when my AK got unstuck against JJ.

The Littlewoods qualifiers have finished, so its down to the finals on Sundays now, as the LOQ is not getting enough players. Realistically I have about 4 more chances for the WSOP, about time I took one I think!

I played in a CPC qualifier event today and won that to book my place in the CPC final on Sunday, would be cool to get my seat in the CPC before the WSOP!!!!

I have lost in the 15k for two consecutive nights after flopping a set! Tonight, with a reduced field, I was looking good. 66 with a K6J flop and two players going all in. A8 and KJ, turn Q, river T. Ouch!

My Sharkscope stats are improving steadily and my bankroll for the month is a declared £850 at the moment, with some left in the account to pay for qualifiers. This situation has improved over the last few days. A good job too because I want spending money for Vegas.

Thanks to the comments made by everyone reading the blog.
Coming up tomorrow is the WSOP $140 event, which I qualified for on Sunday. This one I want to win.

Catch you all later
ClintonO

Happy Days are here again

After celebrating my anniversary of Poker it was back to winning last night.

Also once again it was a Friday night, where I was successful, maybe I should stick to Tuesdays and Fridays from now on! Also reading my own tips helped me!

I played in four tournaments in total.
I was very dissapointed in the Littlewoods tournament. Holding TT on a KK3T board, I got put all in. No brainer! He turned over KJ and hit a 3 on the river. C'est la vie!

Anyway enough of the morbid stuff, I had a great night. First up it was the £2.5k guaranteed. I opened my game up a little with great results. I started well and soon got into a chip lead.

With 25 left I managed to go from first to last back to first in 6 hands! Rollercoaster stuff. I really enjoyed this tournament and felt that I was going to win for quite some time, even when I became the short stack with just 3 left. I was very happy to win this tournament (£750) as there is no better feeling! (119 players)

I also decided to play the £10k, which is a tournament I don't usually play, but happily I made my fourth ever final table. Ultimately I went out in 6th. (£500) Got too involved in a three way pot. AJ vs KJ vs TT. A Jack helped my cause but a Ten certainly did not. It was dissapointing not to win, but it was good overall performance.

£1250 on the night, all reserved for Vegas spending money. Lets have more days like this please!

ClintonO

Happy Anniversary

Well would you believe it, I am celebrating my official 1 year anniversary for playing poker this month. It has been a rollercoaster ride.

I would like to thank everybody who has supported me during this time and helped me along the way. I have a great time learning this game and look forward to what I can achieve in year 2. Here are my highlights for year 1 and my top 15 lessons learnt.

Highlights
2 qualifiers for Live Events won - WSOP 2005 and Caribbean Poker Classic 2005
3 significant tournament Wins - 2 x £15k, 1 x£6k
£20k profit
Established as a good player on the crypto network.
Making many new friends as a result.
Playing against one of the top ten money earners in the world (twice) - Men the Master.
Appearing in 6 regional newspapers, 3 editions of full house, 2 radio interviews and numerous Web site appearances.
Meeting a wonderful team of people at Littlewoods Poker, who I am indebted to, for encouraging my desire to be successful at this wonderful game.

So what have I learnt in this time, a whole heap of stuff. I have decided to share with you my top 15 guidelines to be successful at this game (in no particular order)

1) Discipline - If you are going to play, be in the right frame of mind. Drunk, tired, on tilt, kids screaming at you in the background, just does not work.
Stop, recouperate and carry on.
Lesson 1 - If your head is not on the game - its money down the drain.

2) Gears - You need more than one. Patience works and is a key skill, but you have to know when to change gear. As your blinds increase, so should your level of involvement.
You have to be able to move up and down gears dependant on what the table is up to, how many chips you have and your relative position in the tournament, but the worst thing to do is let your stack be blinded away.
My early failings were due to not kicking on a gear.
Lesson 2 - If your not prepared to move up a gear, your stack will soon dissapear.

3) Don't chase losses. - You will end up accumulating more. This game is addictive, but if your losing, the temptation is to try to win it all back immediately. This can prove disastrous! See Point 1.
Lesson 3 - If your losing money fast - Take a break, until Tilt mode is in the past.

4) Set Targets/Keep Records - How are you really doing at this game. You are more likely to be successful if you give yourself something to aim for. Also you find out what you are good at.
95%+ of my winnings comes from MTT's. I am better at 10 seaters than 6 seaters.
I am better on Tuesday's (shattered from Football for two days) and Friday's (start of the weekend). You should also find out if their as a time of day that you get better results.

Lesson 4 - Keep a note of whats going on - It will help you identify whats going wrong.

5) Deal with the Lows - Don't whinge - It gets to you. Poker is a game of skill and over the long run my results have hopefully proved that, but often luck is the deciding factor.
Its more important that you played it right, if you did, great - the fact that you lost is irrelevant, next time you will win. Live and Online are no different in the fact that they can be cruel.

Playing live, I got knocked out of the World Series by a 2 outer, the only time I have Aces live I lost to a set of seven's. I have flopped a set of Kings twice and lost both times. I have never to this day won a coin flip.
Playing Online, I have had as many badbeats as I have had days playing poker. I once lost with QQ, 23 times in succession! Its part of the game.

Its more important that you analyze your game, for where you went wrong and adjust it.

Lesson 5 - When you suffer another bad beat, put it behind you quickly or it will lead to Defeat.

6) Dealing with the highs - When you are hot, you are hot. A win gives you confidence and this game is all about confidence. As a result you tend to go on a good run. You believe in yourself and you are playing with less fear. This can be a great time, to accumulate a bank roll.
A word of warning though, even though you are playing well, you are not unbeatable!

Lesson 6 - When results are going your way, confidence is high - you must play, play, play!

7) Understand whats involved - If you are going to play a game, make sure you know whats involved. If the £15k is starting at 8pm, you have to be prepared to be playing this game for 4-5 hours, if you are not, then why are you playing in the first place.

Lesson 7 - If you are not prepared to put in the time, dont play, stay offline.

8) Dan Harrington's books - The Poker Bible. Read them. Read them again.

Lesson 8 - If results are not going to plan, look no further than Action Dan.

9) Know your players - Make notes, learn what they do, how do they react to certain situations. One thing is for certain, the best players are watching you.

Lesson 9 - Learn how other players play, make good notes and they will pay.

10) Know the Odds - How likely is it you will make your flush draw, how many outs have I got in a certain situation. Do I have the pot odds to call this bet. How much do I need to bet, to take away the odds to call.

Lesson 10 - Learn off by heart the poker odds, this will help you become a poker god

11) Enjoy It - If you don't enjoy the game, don't play it. You get far better results doing something you enjoy. Take Ronaldinho for example! If you are putting too much pressure on for results, you won't get them.

Lesson 11 - If this game is getting you stressed, it is something that has to be addressed.

12) Fewer games better ROI - This is one where I don't always listen to my own advice. I so want to win, that I end up in too many tournaments at once. I have much better results when I play less games at a time. You end up only playing the cards and they are just one part of the game.

Lesson 12 - If you play to win - playing too many games is a cardinal sin.

13) Practice - This game you can never stop learning. People are taking up this game all the time and getting better. The average player is so much better than they were a year ago.

Lesson 13 - If you are not improving - I guarantee you will start losing.

14) Table Image - Be aware of what it is, I was quoted on one site, as the best multi tournament player on the site. Somebody else came back with - He has less moves than Christopher Reeve! To most players I am considered a rock. It therefore means I am going to be at my most productive when I am playing opposite to this.

Lesson 14 - Be conscious of what table image you set, then play the opposite for maximum effect.

15) Don't be afraid to play your game - Too many times I have tightened up due to the importance of the game, rather because it is the right thing to do. You have to play your game no matter what the stakes. Obviously you have to adjust to the table you playing, but don't suddenly start calling with your raising hands.

Lesson 15 - When you are playing higher level games, it is crucial you play the same.

I hope that this is useful to someone!
I have really enjoyed my first year and hope for more successes in year 2.

Good Luck Everyone.
ClintonO

June Update

I have been neglecting my blog, due to the World Cup!
I have decided to change this with immediate effect!

So how has June gone so far.

Objective 1) World Series seat. This situation is getting particulary desperate now. The diary for June/July is so full that I don't know how many more chances I will get before I leave for Vegas.
I have made two finals this month and have finished 4th and 6th, just short of where I needed to be.
I won the LOQ daily again last night for a place in the LOQ final on Saturday. I am also determined to play in the World Series final on Sunday, as it is a year to the day that this whole crazy adventure began, when I won my World Series seat last year. That will be four finals this month, which is just one behind my target with a week to go.

2) 50k - Make the money. Two attempts so far and no money finishes. I have been fortunate to qualify for this £120 tournament at a cost of no more than £12 so far.
Last weekend I lost to a one outer on the river, which was kind of a setback!
Holding QQ on a 2Q77 board, I was feeling quite confident. I get two all ins before me, one holding AA the other AK and the nut flush.
It is an absolute monster pot, only one card will destroy me the Ace of Clubs. No guesses required as to what the last card was then! That hurt!

3) £2k profit. I have made steady progress this month, but I have not yet committed any winnings to the official profit column as I have put some aside for more tournaments later in the month. I am certain it will be an 11th consecutive month of profit, but I am not certain about the £2k target.

4) Sharkscope - +$1k. Good progress has been made on this objective. My current stats show +$522, so I am half way to reaching my target. I have switched between 10 seaters and 6 seaters this month. I am clearly better at 10 seaters but it is finding the time to play them, that stops me playing more.
An interesting stat for me is my record in the more expensive games. Generally the more expensive the better the result! My ROI on £50 games is in excess of 50%, whereas at the £20,£30 level is only break even. My conclusion is that at the higher level there are better players and therefore at the lower levels, the players just don't understand what they are doing and that is how they are beating me! LOL! What do I know!

5) Final Table of the £15k. I have only played this tournament six times this month and I have had two top twenty finishes but not the final table. I would like to win this tournament again!

6) Bad Beat - Despite my teams poor performances, I have slipped to 3rd place. My team are fantastic and in any other competition, they will win. We are jinxed in this one!

7) WSOP Tour on Bad Beat - Two weeks down, not doing brilliantly! The first week got cancelled and week two I hit a set of 8's on an 893 flop but lost to a set of 9's. Don't mention losing with AT on an ATT flop to KK either.

Good Luck All
ClintonO

Small Progress Made

This weekend has seen a few good results, although nothing spectactular.

I made another final table in the £2k today finishing 4th for £200, but connection problems robbed me of most of my chips!

A top twenty finish in the £2.5k, but disappointment in the £50k. I qualified for it by winning a 10 seater qualifier earlier.

I had moved to 6k in chips at the break, but was card dead for most of the 2nd hour. I eventually got AQ in the Small Blind, but ran into AK in the Big Blind!

The LOQ was another close run thing, although I ended up in 6th place, not good enough for a nice pay day.

I tried to get in the World Series final today, but with 8 left in the qualifier (3 seats) I was in 4th place and found KK. I got reraised all in by AK and they hit an Ace.

Its back on the quest for World Series seats next week. Vegas is getting closer and I still don't have a seat!

ClintonO

Why do I slow play!

You have the hand, why give a free card!
39 left in the £15k KK on a queen high flop and I check. The inevitable A appears and I go out to A3! Idiot!!

Still a great lesson learnt. However it has been a good day. Before this huge error!! (okay we all make mistakes!) I had played in 4 mtts and made the final table in all of them!

3 £2ks and the £4k guaranteed! 6th in the £4k and 3rd, 7th and 8th in the others. About £500 in total. (Still annoyed about £15k!)

I tried to play some more Stts today, but failed drastically! All were six seaters and I was placed in only one of six. I played a £50 stt ten seater and won that, so as much as six seaters are quick and fun, they are simply not productive, time to give them up and concentrate on Mtts and ten seaters.
If you see me in a six seater that is not a MTT or a qualifier, have a word with me!

Its the LOQ final tomorrow, I just hope there will be enough entrants for a World Series place, although I am doubtful because of the World Cup.

See you there
ClintonO

Robbed!

I am pleased to say, I am definitely on the road to recovery. Four tournaments last night and I did well in 3.

First up was the Littlewoods Player Points, with 30 in the field. It is another winner takes all competition, with the winner taking a seat in the WSOP 10 stt on the 18th June. I worked my way up to chip leader with 6 left after entering the final table in 10th place. By the time I had got to heads up, I had fallen a little behind, but within 6k of the other guy.
Gradually I worked my way up to go in front and felt comfortable that I would win.
However disaster strikes!

At this point my 3 other tournaments had started, I get AA in the big blind in the 15k and am about to call an all in raise by a short stacked, when my screen changes and I call an all in raise in the Littlewoods tournament with Q8! Not suprisingly I lost and it was game over.

I had previoulsy warned myself about playing mutltiple games - Will have to learn the hard way.

In the 15k, I finished 18th out of 267 (£150). Here I was happy with another money finish.

The big dissapointment was the Highrollers six pac final. I won a seat in this £300 tournament the day before. Top 3 got paid, 3rd alone was worth £1.6k, you guessed it I was 4th!

This tournament really could have been my 4th big cash tournament win. We were down to four players and I had 4 key hands over a 20 minute period.

1) I call a 4xBB raise with KT hearts in the BB for 1600 (I have about 14k). Flop comes down 477 with two hearts. I bet the pot 3200, the other guy who has almost the same amount of chips, reraises to 6400. I decide to call. Leaving me with 6k. The turn is a Ten and I push all in. He calls me with 9T. The river is an ace and we split the pot.

2) The guy in fourth is getting short, I have 99 in the small blind, push all in and am called with AQ and he hits.

3) I am not involved with this hand, I folded UTG, on the button the small blind pushes his remaining 3.2k into the middle. The small blind calls, the Big Blind goes all in for 20k. Short Stack turns over KQ spades, BB Aces. Surely now I am in the money. Flop has an ace and one spade, but runner runner spades, save the short stack.

4) I am the short stack and reraise the aggressive previous short stack all in with pocket 4s. He calls for 90% of his chips with AT. The flop is 567, turn a 7. The river yes it was an ace!

Out in 4th, £0! Good experience, but ultimately bubbled again! So so close - Robbed in fact!

It could have been a fantastic night, but I am pleased that I have so quickly recovered from my low of Sunday and look forward to the Dream Team game tonight, as well as the LOQ final on Saturday.

At this point I would like to say hello to Kai, who logs in most nights to watch me play from his home in Norway. Thanks for your support mate! Also his game is improving no end, so watch out for Menace at the tables!

With the World cup starting I am going to have a little going at some predictions each day, to see if I have any luck in this area. Please see the link across for my daily tips. Please feel free to share yours.

See you on the tables tonight
ClintonO

How to use a blog!

Well there I was wondering if anyone ever read my blog, as I never got any comments.

Well I won't if I don't set it up properly!! I stumbled across a page today with 17 comments waiting to published!! So now that I have found it, they will be published.

Thanks for the feedback, it is great to hear everyone's view. Keep them coming. I really appreciate it.
For those who have commented on mistakes I have made in their opinion, then that is great as it helps me to see things from a different perspective. I have only been playing for a year and learning so much - so thank you! The odd nice comment is also welcome!

Some interesting comments about my friend Tony Chessa. Seems like you have got some convincing to do sir!!

On the tables I have to say that Leonarch is in the form of his life at the moment, keep it up mate. Also Sun_Deshi, two top three finishes in the £15k in the last week, fantastic stuff.

Well after my resigination from the game on Sunday, I did make a brief appearance on Monday. Finishing 16th in the $6k guaranteed, ran into AK when getting short stacked. It however was a cash finish, which always helps with confidence.

Reinvigorated I took to the tables again last night. I played in four tournaments.
One was the $6k, in which I made a great recovery from being almost out, but reraised all in with KK and got called by A6 and both an Ace and a six appeared!

I played the £10k and whilst I never really managed to get going, I still finished in 35th place (£35) going out with KJ to A8 - nobody hit anything.

Two other games were more encouring - I played the six pack highroller qualifier for a place in the £300 final tonight and am happy to say I won one of the two seats available. This was a really enjoyable game, where I was first or second chip leader for most of the tournament.

The other one I played was the 36 runner LOQ qualifier for a place in Saturday's final, with one place available. I won this competition for 3rd time in 5 appearances! This time though with more people than I had played against previously.
This was an enjoyable win, as the players who play in this tournament each night are of a great quality. When it was down to three, I knocked out Brandon_99 a good friend on the tables and an excellent player. He did not approve of my calling his KQ all in with Ace rag!
However this was his umpteenth all in move, since taking a nasty bad beat on the river against 'claw' and sometimes we have to make a stand. Sorry buddy.

The heads up was a very close affair throughout, we started almost equal, I was about 29k to 25k in front. We changed leaderships many times, before my JT beat his Q8. With the flop bringing a ten and an eight.

This has presented me with another Vegas qualifying situation on Saturday. I am not even daring to think about winning my seat, but that won't stop me from trying!

See you all soon
Keep the comments coming
ClintonO

Absolutely Gutted

The dream is over!

I don't know if I have ever felt this bad since been knocked out of the WSOP 2005 main event.
Those amazing people at Littlewoods put me in a STT tournament for a place at the World Series.

Incredibly when the cards were in the air, we only had 7 players and 5 mins later we were down to 5.

The game was relentless in its pace, every pot raised. My set of 7s lost to a four diamond board with a 9 flush.
I battled and battled doing whatever I could.
My first hand of the night arrive JJ. However there was a raise and then a reraise before me. I folded and they had AK and KQ and would have trebled up.

I raised with nothing at every opportunity to keep me in the game, until I eventually found a hand AA. I get called by the other short stack who has kh6h. The flop has a king and two more hearts. Another heart on turn. I held the Ace of hearts, but the river was a blank.

I am just not sure how to pick myself up from this. This was easily my best chance to qualify.

I am tempted to stop now and call it a day.
I am reminded I can't win every game and how much I have achieved in a year, but how how low do I feel right now.

Whilst I am trying to pick myself up from the floor, I would like to congratulate Joseph 'TheDeacon' who won his seat in the main event today.

He qualified in the same tournament as me last year and after he won today, I thought history would repeat itself. I converted Joseph to Littlewoods last year and look forward to seeing him in Las Vegas. Well done sir!

I have many new friends playing in the main event this year and it will be great to see them all in action.

I need some time to recover from this one. See you soon

ClintonO

June Objectives

Here are my Targets for June, in order of importance.

1) Secure WSOP Seat - I am running out of time! It's still the priority, I will play every game I can to try and make it. It looks like there are ten opportunities again this month. Making 5 would be a good achievement. From which I hope to put one to good use.

2) £50k. Four tournaments this month. One of the them I will make the money, as I did not manage it during May

3) £2k profit. I am making more of an effort to make money this month. It can not be purely about that as the World Series qualification will drain funds, but this is a good target.

4) Sharkscope Stats. Following two successful months, I aim to add $1k to my profit total. I would like to officially be a shark, but I have much work to do!

5) £15k. This takes a bit of a back seat this month, but I would still like to achieve a final table.

6) Dream Team. I would like to be the teams best player at the end of the month. Very tough objective. Requires a couple of final table appearances. Current Standings
FFS4LIFE - 1750
ClintonO - 1000
D1ce - 720
F.U.ASOL - 530
007apr - 100
strokeit - 40
azimut - 0
Meg80 - 0

7) Win the WSOP tour for June/July. Impossible objective, but there are six tournaments to go at and why not go for it.

I may add to these as I go along, but that is enough for now.
Heres to a succesful June
ClintonO

May Review

May has been a good month, my game has improved and at I times I have played some quality poker.
On occasions I have played too aggressively and on others too passively. It is about striking the right balance and being able to change gears dependant on the situation.
There is also much to be said about not playing when tired or distracted or playing too many games at once.
There is no point sitting down at a MTT if you are not prepared to see it through to the end. Also when you are playing too many games, you can only play the cards not the table, which severely limits your potential.

So how did I do versus my monthly objectives.

1) Secure World Series Seat - FAIL - I surpassed my target of reaching 5 of the 10 available WSOP finals by reaching 6 finals. I also reached four final tables, but did not get the job done. I have however bought my flight to Vegas from the months winnings and have my hotel sorted at the Rio. So effectively I am two thirds of the way there! Just the seat to go then.

2) Money finish in the £50k - FAIL - I was only able to play in three tournaments this month, but did not achieve my objective. This is an important target going forward, as I have never reached the final table in this event.

3) Final Table finish in the £15k - PASSED x2 - I achieved this twice, with a 6th and 10th place finish. Well Played me!!!

4) Make a monthly profit - PASSED - This month I secured £1800 in profit, much more than I anticipated and I am very pleased with the result. I did not expect this as my main aim was for the WSOP, so this is a very good result. Taking earnings since August up to the £20k mark.

5) Profitable Sharkscope stats - PASSED -I started the month $450 in negative and finished $20 in the positive. Another objective passed.

6) Dream Team final table - ONGOING - After 3 weeks of the tournament, our team (which contains some fantastic players) are currently languishing in 19th out of 32. On a personal level I am quite happy as I have been our best performer for 2 of the 3 weeks, I also have accumulated the 2nd most points of the team.

7) Bet Direct $250k money finish - FAILED - Played badly and ran into trouble.

8) Arsenal winning the Champions League - FAILED! - Well I did my bit, I got to Paris and watched the game, but it was not to be.

I am happy with this months achievements and feel I am on the verge of something. There is a real trade off between making money and trying to qualify for the WSOP and I am yet to work out the best plan of action.

I am happy to go to Vegas and play in some of the World Series events, but there is nothing like the main event itself. I would also like to prove that I can make some substantial money at this game.
I also find it difficult to play all the games I want to play!

My weekly schedule for June looks like this!

Littlewoods games are 7.30pm weeks 1&3 and 10.30pm weeks 2&4
Mon 7.30pm - LW PP, 8pm - 15k, 9pm - WSOP $25, 10.15 pm - LOQ $15
Tue 7.30pm - LW PP, 8pm - 15k, 9pm - WSOP $25, 9 pm - LOQ $75 10.15 pm - LOQ $15
Wed 7.30pm - LW PP, 7.30pm - Bad Beat Tour, 8pm - 15k, 9pm - WSOP $25, 9.45 pm - WSOP $140 10.15 pm - LOQ $15
Thurs 7.30pm - LW PP, 7.30pm - Dream Team Event, 8pm - 15k, 9pm - WSOP $25, 10.15 pm - LOQ $15
Fri 7.30pm - LW PP, 8pm - 15k, 9pm - WSOP $25, 9 pm - LOQ $75 10.15 pm - LOQ $15
Sat 8pm - 15k, 9pm - LOQ final 9pm - WSOP $25, 9.45 pm - WSOP $140
Sun 6pm - World Series Final, 8pm - £50k.

When you put this alongside earning player points, playing qualifiers, the occasional 10k or $6k game plus single table events, it amounts to over 30 hours per week, often on multiple tables!
No wonder I am struggling to keep a balance between making money and qualifying.

I think this month some of the MTT's might take a back seat, in order to play more STT and WSOP qualifiers.

I will post my objectives shortly
All the best
ClintonO

Final Table Blues

A solid performance in the 15k tonight. I was winning the tournament right the way from 200 people to the last 20! However it all went wrong and I finished 10th (£250).

Positives played some great stuff tonight, did not really put a foot wrong.
Negatives not making more money, but made the right decisions.

3 key pots on the night.
1st - Sitting in the big blind with 49, two limpers, I check. Flop 449! Guy UTG goes all in. I thought about and decided to call! Guess what I lost to AT! Turn A River A.

2nd - UTG with 99, limp in for 400, UB4MATT raises to 1200, five others call, I call also.
Flop 589. UB4MATT all in for 8k, next guy all in for 10k, next guy all in for 8k. I obviously call. We have an overpair, a flush draw, a set of 8's and my set of 9's. They hold up and I get 40k in chips

3rd - Final Hand. SuzItal, knows I am a solid player, already said I fold to you when on the blinds and I showed AK. They raise to 7200 3xBB. I hold AQ and go all in for 42k. (Pot is 12300) Happy to take pot there and then. They are holding 50k, so its for their tournament. Calls with 77. Hits two more 7's - game over. Admits it was a crazy call and ends up going out in 5th.

I could of raised less in hindsight, but did not want to let them in. Plus they knew I am solid, so I am happy with my decision.

Monthly profit is just shy of £2k, very impressed with that as not playing for money this month. My first years profits have surpassed £20k!
I made my 2nd final table of the 15k this month and my 11th in total.

I have also booked my flights for Vegas, so whatever happens I will be there.
Well done to Mr Tony Chessa, another tournament win, this time in Barcelona. The boy is on fire.

See you soon
ClintonO

Never Going to Happen

There comes a point when you realise that something you want is never going to happen!

I have been trying for this World Series seat for a couple of months now and whilst I keep getting close, I have always maintained that I will eventually make it. However something happened to me in the final on Sunday, that makes me wonder is this not meant to be!

I am sitting in the top four in the event, I hold 44. My favourite hand! The flop comes down 433. Christmas. Incredibly I get someone to put all their chips in at this point. Not surprising though when they are holding 33!
With most of my chips gone, I move in with AJ preflop and lose to KQ, I then put my remainder in with KQ and lose to A8.

I have had too many bad beats in these qualifiers to make me realise, it is not supposed to happen!

I however will got give up and will be going to Las Vegas anyway as last year was the best holiday I have ever had. I will play in some of the smaller competitions to increase my experience. I still have to remember I have been playing this game for less than a year.

I am not going to give up though, as the true competitive nature I have inside me, will not let me. There is still plenty of time to make it and I will not give up whilst there is a glimmer of hope.

I played in the $25 wsop qualifier last night and won that to proceed to the $140 event on Wednesday. I also played in the 448 runner £10k event and finished 16th (£112) I had 46k in chips and AcKc, but lost to QQ, taking out most of my stack.

My main hope for Vegas has to be through the Littlewoods Player Points competition. There are five more qualifiers this week for the final. Winning one of those is my target this week.

I will publish my views of the month later this week. In the meantime.
Good Luck at the tables
ClintonO

Super Sunday?

I have had a couple of days off this week, the less I play the better my game seems to be.

I played in the Team Event on Thursday, for the second week running I was best performer, but failed to reach my objective of a final table finish.

Tonight was all about the LOQ. 25 runners and one world series seat. Unfortunately it was not the night for me, as I ended up in 13th. SB vs BB battle I had KQ he had 77, nothing helped me.

The competition produced a great heads up between ---00--- (Littlewoods) and Leonarch. Both players I have played against many times. It came down to 66 vs AK for a seat! with 66 winning.

I thought this weekend was the one for me and played in the late World Series qualifier. I am happy to say I finished in the top six and have secured my seat in the 6pm final tomorrow. I also won a 29 runner tournament to qualify for tomorrows £50k also.

So one more attempt tomorrow, lets hope its a Super Sunday.

ClintonO

Another Chance!

Tonight I thought it was going to be back to the good ole days of disastrous luck.

In the £15k I ran into Aces twice.
I played the £10k for the first time this month and was going nicely. I called an all in raise of 6k with my remaining £5k with JJ, as I knew the player goes all in with mid pairs, usually regardless of blinds. True to form he had 99, but a 9 hit the flop.

In the $5k again I was going nicely, when AA appears, I am put all in, I obviously call. He has JJ, Flop is A78, nice! Turn 10, River 9, he has a straight! Unreal.

So it was down to the LOQ qualifier. I won this tournament the last time I played it on Tuesday before the Paris trip.
I played some great poker and ended up heads up with DaVinch, a player I have played against many times.

I was a big chip leader to start with 26k vs 11k. However to start with Luck was very much on his side.
All in with AQ against A4. We split the pot. The second time he needed an ace on the river to survive. An Ace came.
By time the third beat came, I thought I was not destined to win. I have AK on an A82 flop, he has 47. Turn 4, River 4! OMG this is not my night.

So I decided to play some rubbish cards and to my amazement it was all change. I went in with T3 (very short stacked) against AJ and the cards came 44466. Then the next hand I hit a 9 on the river to make a straight and finally my Jacks beat his Kings. To make it 3-3 in bad beats! 6 hands later, I had all the chips when my favourite hand 44 beat his J9.

It was a very enjoyable heads up which lasted for 84 hands and 30 mins. What a game! Thats two LOQ qualifiers I have won on the trot and for once luck evened itself over a short period of time!

Roll on Saturday, I want this World Series seat.
ClintonO

The week of Football!

The last week has been dominated by football. On Wednesday it was the Champions league final in Paris, which was a great experience, but not quite the result. Twice I have watched Arsenal in Paris, two finals against two spanish teams, both times 2-1 defeats! Still Mr Henry is staying which gives us all a lot of hope.

Yesterday it was my own cup final for the team I player manage. After 11 years of management and at the 3rd time of asking we finally won the cup and in some style! Houghton 8-0 Southoe.
So nursing a bit of a hangover today!

Right back to poker.
I returned on Thursday and played in my team competition through Badbeat. I played quite well and finished the highest of my team, but ultimately went out in 21st when an 8 hit on the river. I was pleased with the performance, but felt I should have gone on to make the final table.
Friday saw me regain my Sharkscope stats, I am now $3 in profit! Don't know whether to play any more this month, to avoid failing a monthly objective!!

Saturday was a big night. The LOQ final. 22 runners, so there was the one all important place in the World Series up for grabs. As I was playing well I was as confident as I had been in a long time. With just six players left, I took the chip lead.

The very next hand I was dealt AcKc and got some action. I was on 15k in chips and was up against the 3rd placed guy who had around 11k, The guy bet hard into an interesting looking 7hTh7c flop, I decided he did not have the goods and put him all in. I was wrong he had AhTd The turn card was beautiful the Kh. I was about to move in too a big lead with over 50% of the chips in play.
The river was a fourth heart giving him the Flush.

Two hands later I put my remaining 4k in the middle with another AK and was called by KQ. Along came a Queen and it was all over. From 1st to out in 3 hands, from being in front with 6 left. It was very dissapointing result, but I had again played well to get in that position.

This week I will continue my quest for the WSOP, starting with the qualifiers tonight.

ClintonO

A New me!

Time for one game before my flight to Paris.

I pick the 28 runner LOQ qualifier. 1st Place and a seat in the LOQ final on Saturday.

This gives me two more chances for that Las Vegas seat, Saturday night in the LOQ and the Littlewoods 10 seater tournament on Sunday.

Back to loving this game! Objective 1 is around the corner!

ClintonO

Knowledge is Power

In my first game after a real learning experience this weekend, I produce my 3rd best performance of the year in the £15k and achieve Objective 3 of making a final table in this tournament.

All this despite problems with my computer, meaning I was out of action for 15 mins, losing over 10k in chips.

I finished in 6th place with £785 when my KQ ran into QQ and there was no King to help me.
I was very pleased with this, I had no idea where I was in the tournament from about 9pm, as my computer would not let me see the lobby. I could not play in any other games as a result, so for the first time in ages I concentrated on just one game - the way forward perhaps?

I will take £500 for the bankroll, which moves the monthly total to £1.2k, this is particuarly pleasing, as this month is not about profit, but about getting that elusive seat.

I hope that the lessons learnt over the last few days, have given me a few more tricks at the table and that my competitors will have to reevaluate their views on me.

In the meantime a great result and I look forward to posting again, hopefully when Arsenal are crowned champions of Europe.

Cheers
ClintonO

Back to School!

It has been an interesting weekend. I feel that I have learnt many lessons over the last few days.

This is why this game is so special, you have to keep learning, because everyone else is learning about you.

Friday was a decent night, my second consecutive money finish in the £15k, 25th place.

Saturday was the $250k tournament and after a decent start it went sadly wrong. Firstly I got too cute with Tens and lost to AK. He put in a heavy raise prelop, which put me off AK. After two kings on the flop, I thought he had missed. When he bet out I assumed he had missed, but a call of my reraise told me otherwise!

The big lesson for Saturday was limping can be very dangerous. A lot of the pros live by the saying pump it or dump it. I limped in with a hand instead of raising and the big blind holding 73, enjoyed the 7J3 flop more than I did! If it ain't good enough to raise it ain't worth playing - another popular saying and one I will pay more credence to in the future.

Sunday was the big night, the WSOP qualifier. This was the one. The first hour was spectactular I moved from 2500 to 6500 and was leading the tournament.
Then I get KK, I put a normal raise in, we get a call and a big all in. I have to call. He turns over 44! Christmas! 67AJ is the first four cards. Boom! river is a 4! Ouch.

I have to regroup and to my credit did so. By time we got to the final table I was in 5th, with the top two going to Vegas. At which point I did not get even a marginal hand for an hour. By time I get a hand in KQ, my chips are getting low and I am called by 66 and go out in 8th.

The lessons here, you can't always wait for a hand, you are playing the players, if they are constantly stealing - reraise them, put the pressure back on. You are never guaranteed to get cards.
Also play your normal game, when the stakes are high it is easier said than done, but I so want to win my seat, that I tighten up more so than usual. From now on, I play my normal game in all tournaments.

The £50k gave me another lesson. Even when you get a hand, you can never be certain. With only 75 left in the tournament and prizes for top 50. It was looking good when I got Aces in the small blind.
Fourth position calls, button raises 5xBB. I go all in for another 3000 chips. A nice pot to take down.
BB goes all in and button calls! Its a monster theres almost 20k out there.
Button has KcQc, BB JJ.
Flop Kd7sQd. Disaster, in a whole heap of trouble now. The turn is 7d. Get in. A higher two pairs! River is a harmless looking 5d. But wait four diamonds on the board, my Aces are black and BB Jacks are red, gutted I am out to a flush! Theres no guarantees in poker!

Plenty of lessons learnt!
I will not be playing much this week because of the Champions League final. Come on the Arsenal! I will play in the 15k on Monday and return on Thursday. I am also having a week off WSOP Qualifiers.
Confidence is a little dented, after discovering I still have so much to learn, but I am ready to take the tables with a little more knowledge and perhaps some more flair!

Good Luck All
ClintonO