Round & Round

I seem to be going round in circles at the moment whenever I get chance to play poker! Firstly I managed to dump back half of my cash game winnings from the last post in less than an hour in my most recent visit to the Fitzwilliam. Part of the Omaha swings I suppose but there was one horrible horrible play by someone at the table which cost me dearly. Of course most of the time he acts like an ameoba I make a huge profit /'sigh'.

Online I managed a fourth in a $36 freezeout on Paddy Power and a mixture of bubbles and such in Stars two table STT's. Last night I played 3 MTT's on Paddy Power, the first a €24 freezeout I was out first hand! The other two, the $7.5k Gtd & $4k Gtd I went deep without cashing. In the 7.5k I was in the top 10 with 54 left when I picked up QQ and raised to 2400 from mid position. The tournie chip leader was big blind and called the extra 1600. The flop came 2 3 5 all hearts, I have no heart. He checks to me and I bet out 3200 leaving 13,000 behind. He decides to raise to 9600. This is a player I have seen at final tables and I know he is capable of putting me to the test with nothing. If I fold I have 13k with blinds at 400/800 if I get the rest of my chips in, most likely being ahead then I have nearer 40k and 2nd position in the tournament with just over 50 left. Trusting my feelings I push and make him a bigger chip leader when he calls with KQ of hearts!!!

The last tournament I was like a yo-yo moving between 2k & 6k until there were 32 left of the 139 starters. Blinds are still 200/400 and I have AJ of hearts in early position. It is a pretty passive table by Paddy Power standards so I raise to 1200 and get 3 callers which is not ideal. However it puts 5k in the pot in total and the flop is Jack high with two hearts which is nearly the best I can hope for. The big blind moves in for more than me, there is no way I can fold and I think I am ahead of him anyway. What I dont like is one the other players behing me calling also. Well I had outs and more than the odds to try and hit them. The Big blind had 8 10 for a pair of eights. The other caller had 88 for trips. Thats life.

In other news we will be at Barcalona and London to cover the EPT events. Well Tom is 100% going to Barca, flights & such booked. I will be there as long as I can get some cover for my shops & poker tournaments.

Stay Lucky

Mike