Bonjour Mon Ami!

I said this was going to be a very busy year with many changes and so it will be!

The first big change to my life is that I got engaged at Christmas to my girlfriend.

So raise a glass ...



... and join me in a drink to celebrate the great news!

The second big thing happened last weekend.

We have been making frequent visits to france over the past year and these haven't just been holidays. Finally, after months of negotiating and paperwork we are the proud owners of a village property in South West France.



Whats more this isn't just a holiday home ... its going to be permanant!!!

I am really looking forwards to trying a new life there, but have still not yet got the crucial things in place ... i.e. BROADBAND!!!

I also hope that the new gambling laws that the French keep tabling will not get through, otherwise I may be constrained to using just French poker sites. I am sure even then though there will be ways and means.

Luckily I am still managing to play a bit of poker and will give an update on how that is going for the start of the year in my next post.

I hope my new Nationality will not put you valuable readers off, and don't worry, my posts will not be written in French from now on. In fact my French is far from good at the moment.

I will however see if I can check the live poker scene out at sometime in the second half of this year.

So please still keep reading.

For now I'll just say ...

Until Next Time!!

Keep it Tight!

Excitement for the year ahead!

So 2009 is gone and 2010 is here.

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I have put a summary graph of last years poker performance below.

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Thankfully I managed to turn a small profit. However looking back I really did mess about at the small buy in levels ... possibly too much time. As I mentioned before I have tweaked my game a lot and I think I am a far more rounded player with many more facets to my game ... so perhaps this time hasn't been completely wasted.

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I have noticed a trend though over the last 3 years that my profits have been dropping so either I am playing differently or the online world has become a much tougher place to play.

In 2007 I made about $3.5 K profit, 2008 I made $2K profit and this year only $1.3k profit.

So any new years resolutions? Not really, nothing more than I have got to try and play higher.

I am taking half of my profit back to spend so at least I can show something for my hard work. This leaves me a playing pot of about $600. So I am going to use the "20th of my bank roll buy in method" for all games in the hope that I will slowly climb the levels.

In addition I have now found a rakeback that I can achieve so we will see if that small drip feed of "bonus" will aid me in climbing the buy ins.

Away from the poker table 2010 is going to bring many changes but I should still find time to play enough of this game that I love.

All that remains now is to wish everyone good luck for 2010, and heres looking to a prosperous future.

Until Next Time

Keep it Tight!

Merry Christmas Everybody ....

.... and have a happy and prosperous new year.

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Lets hope 2010 brings many more new players to the online felt and that the poker sites continue to do an astounding job of giving us new and varied poker offerings.

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2009 was all about learning and relearning at the lower stakes and my game has transformed dramatically in my mind from what it was.

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Last night I played at the GALA in Leicester in their cash game and came out £180 in profit.

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There were two hands of note.

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The first I was holding 8c8s and hit my set on the flop that had 2 diamonds with the pot at £10. I bet out £8 and got two calls. Just like online and on demand the diamond hits the turn. I check as first to act and the guy to my left bets £20 into a pot of £34. The player to his left calls and I call hoping for the board to pair. The river brings an Ah. I again check and the guy to my left bets £26. The third guy calls and I have a decision. Now I am confident the third guy didn't have the flush otherwise surely he will raise, but I was worried about the guy to my left as his bet looked like a value bet (if a little weak) or a blocker bet with a medium hand like 2 pair. Anyway I thought and thought and then called feeling that he wasn't that strong and sure enough he was betting with a pair and I took down the pot (the third guy thought the last Ah was actually a diamond so he thought he had a flush).

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In the second hand I held JJ on the button. Now this was a heavily calling table and the pot already had 3 players (pot £3) and no matter how big a raise I knew they were all going to call. I just put in a small raise of £6 just to let them know I have something ... and as predicted the blinds folded and the first 3 callers all called. The flop came down two hearts with a J on it. I get checked to and bet £20 into the £24 pot. All 3 call again and the turn comes a heart. It then goes check, check and the guy to my right goes all in for £50. Now he hasn't hardly bet a hand (called lots but not bet many). I start to think and then realise its an easy fold. He gets one caller and he shows the flush. The board doesn't pair and I get away with a £26 loss.

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So a nice way to finish 2010. A live cash game profit and not making any wrong decisions. Roll on 2010.

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So until next time.

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Keep it Tight!

November Roundup

I haven't got to play too much during November ... been trying to have a month of early nights to catch up on much needed rest.

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However the rest must be doing me good because I have had some reasonable results.

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I only got to play 34 SnG's ranging from $2.5 - $10 buy ins but managed to cash in 28 of them (ROI of 63.5%).

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I played 6 Multi Tables and cashed in 2 having an 18th out of 221 players and a 38th out of 323 players.

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Unfortunately December looks to be equally as hectic as last month so there may not be much to post here as my playing time is reduced.

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In short I would now put rest before poker, because even though I have played less I have had consistently better results and earn't more profit.

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Give it a try!

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Until Next Time

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Keep it Tight!

Playing too fast?

Listening to a Full Tilt podcast the other day got me thinking about my game again.

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Now I like to think of myself as a tight player who plays aggressive in most of the pots I enter.

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However I believe I may be playing too fast and aggressive when I hit a hand ... most of the time.

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Now everyone can slow play when they make a monster but can they slow play when hitting a hand ... say top pair top kicker for instance?

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Well the obvious answer is it depends on the opponent, past hand history, whether we are heads up and our own image ... etc, etc.

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However my personal answer is I don't believe I am playing slow enough at the right times.

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If you watch Phil Helmuth he looks like he makes alot of trap plays. However in reality I think he has a true angle on where his opponent is in the hand and he takes a few extra cards to get some more chips in the pot.

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Obviously he gets caught sometimes ... and I think this is why we see him get frustrated "Once in a While". But the truth is those extra chips ... especially in a tournament ... can mean the difference between winning and losing.

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So ... some key thoughts for my own game ...

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Don't chase people away so quickly when I hit my hand ...

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Try to improve my hand reading abilities ...

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Don't be afraid to let the hand go if I think the opponent has overtaken my hand ...

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and try to make a few extra chips.

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Until Next Time

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Keep it Tight!

Little things please little minds ...

... and with something as little as this I am not sure it will please anybody but me!

Thats right it is my sharkscope graph for my Pacific account ... what did you think I was talking about?

This all started from a dinky $20 I had in the account a few months back that I have now micro-SnG-ground out to a reasonable little balance.

My stats look quite pretty too ....

And the little icing on the cake ....

When I find a SnG tournament that shows up as neutral on the Sharkscope Tournament Selector and then join, the status changes from neutral to one of these ....

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Yep I am a one shark player on Pacific ...

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Maybe not big stakes but still a small shark ...

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He He!

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Until Next Time

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Keep it Tight!

Pokerstars UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT)

This looks quite interesting! Could this be a challenger to the GUKPT I wonder?

With buy ins from £500 - £2000 (or qualify on line) I am looking forwards to seeing how many runners there will be and what sort of total prize fund amounts will be up for grabs.

Will the major UK Pro's be attending?

I would think with the backing of Pokerstars this could be a very well run set of smaller buy in events.

I am going to have a look at the qualifying schedule and give a couple of the sub sats a go.

For now here is the expected tour dates.

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Until Next Time

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Keep it Tight!