Blog Title: a year in the life

december 28th

It was about 10am when I got woken up by British Airways on this gloomy Sunday morning. "We've found a flight for you this evening Sir". Fantastic. The next thing I knew, I was giving my bank card details over from memory, such is one of the advantages of online poker (or should I say disadvantages from countless depositing).

I rewoke at 2pm and spent the next 10mins packing, and then the next hour looking for my blackberry. Around 4.30pm, I gave my friend a call asking him what he was up to. "Just chilling", he said. "Ah. In that case, can you take me to the airport?" "Erm.... when?" "Well... now? "My plane's in 2 hours..."

He came round in 20mins and we headed to Terminal 5. What a legend. The thought did cross my mind that I'd probably miss my flight if there was any traffic but thankfully the roads were all clear.

Meanwhile, a good contact of mine had sorted me out with an upgrade for the flight. I was handing in my boarding pass for scanning when there was a beeping alert. The attendant smiled: "you obviously know someone..." Hell yeah! Comfortable leg room awaited! My friend managed to sort me out with only 5 hours notice on a Sunday. Good skills.

And so began my holiday in Cape Town brought forward 4 weeks. It certainly beat New Year's Eve in London, that's for sure! My girlfriend and her best friend headed downtown for this street party down Long Street. I couldn't believe I'd bought a round of 2 vodka redbulls plus a bottle of champagne - and I still got change from a tenner!! Amazing night!

So, I'm off for 3 weeks. Lots of things to mention but will save that for next time...

Happy holidays. I'm off to the beach.

$30+3 stt in 100 hands.

So someone found my $100K post useful so thought I'd do a $30STT one. I find these tournaments pretty easy (touch wood). I don't want to dig too much of a hole here. I'd say I'm fairly competant at these games and hopefully this post will give you some insight into how I play these games. Feel free to pick holes of course but my aim is help anyone who may struggle in these tournaments. It's fairly low stakes as well but 1st isn't too bad at $150. (2nd is $90, 3rd is $60)

So here goes. I've registered on pokerroom. I always play tight at the start and loosen up when the blinds are more meaningful. It's very important to analyse the 'flow' of the game and see if anyone's tilting at any given point.

Here goes...

---25/50---

My starting stack is 1500.

#4 910dd. MP. Call. I'll play tight but blinds are so minimal so will see what the flop brings. SB bets 50. BB calls. I'm in late position. Board QA10. Check check check. Turn is 10. Check check. I bet 140. SB calls as he's mega short stacked from the first few hands with J6 and misses. Stack is 1600

#6 A4hh UTG+1. I limp. Dealer limps. 5 in the pot. Board is Jd9c7d. Checks round. Turn is J. BB bets. I fold.

---30/60---

#7 QKdd. I love this hand so I limp because there hasn't really been any pre-flop raises since I sat down. Very passive table. Button bets 180. I call looking to hit a flush or straight really. Board is Qc7h9s. I check it to see what he's gonna do. He checks. I'm out of position so I like to keep the pot small. Turn is 7s. I bet 180. Button (big stack with 2800) reraises to 600. I don't understand this. He's played it very strange as he should be betting that flop with that texture with any type of hand really. The fact that he's reraised when the board has paired means he didn't slowplay a set on the flop. So what does he have? Again, I'd expect him to raise even with bottom pair on the flop so don't put him on trips plus I don't expect him to raise pre-flop with A7 for a start. So possibly 1010 / 88 or a total bluff (maybe with AK/AJ/A10?.... I reraise all in as I figure I'm ahead here and he insta calls with AKhh. Very strange call! River is a blank and I double up to 3,145. A great start to the tournament 7 hands in!

#11 Q9 LP - 2 limpers ahead of me. May call this sometimes but I'm folding here.

#12 Q9 LP. No limpers. I enter the pot with a raise of 135 with Q9. Button reraises to 475. I fold. I bet less than 2.5 BB which should be enough to get a feel on this tight table so lost the minimum. I'm betting this hand as got a bigger stack than everyone else.

#17 K8hh on the SB. Everyone folds to me so I limp. BB is big stack so I'm wary. He checks. Board is 4s10s2d. I check. He bets 50. I fold.

#18 84 on the button. Fold.

#19 AK on the cutoff. One limper. I raise to 190. Button (big stack) calls. Orginal limper folds. Board is Qd4d8h. I check. He checks. I want to keep the pot small as he is the only one that could stack me on the whole table. Turn is Ad. I'm not scared of the flush as he'd bet the draw so I bet 350. He insta folds. My stack is 3,225.

---50/100--- (8 left)

#22 A5 UTG+1. Fold.

#23 A8hh UTG. Fold.

#24 26dd on BB. Cutoff limps. SB calls. I check. Flop is Ks8h7h. SB bets 200. Easy fold.

#25 K9 on SB. Everyone folds so I call. BB (on 2,500 so good stack) checks. Flop comes 9c5hAh. I bet 125 as you'd think he might raise pf with an A. I figure if he doesn't have the A, then he'll fold anyway. I'm probably ahead but I don't want to get into a big pot with him. I'm out of position. I'm happy to end it here with my mid pair big kicker... he folds. Stack is 3,255. Still 8 left, would have hoped more people would have bust out by now as it's been running now 31mins.

Stacks are 3.2K, 2.2K, 1.2K, 1.2K, 7, 9, 3.1K and 2.1K going clockwise starting from me.

#27 A7cc. MP has min raised. I fold. I'm MP2 here and don't know what cutoff and button will do. Wait for a better spot even though he raised so little.

---75/150---

#32 69 on the BB. UTG has raised 525. I fold.

#35 109 off. Cut off. I bet 350. Haven't played a hand in a while so decent image. SB and BB folds. Stack is 3,255.

Right, play is turning into quite pre-flop based now.

#38. KK on the BB. Lovely. Everyone folds. SB bets 375 into me. I slow play and just call. He probably hasn't got that much. It helps being a big stack here. He only has 1.4K. He bets 300 on 10 8 5 flop. I reraise 900 and he folds. You'd figure if he had A10 or maybe A8, he may have pushed here.

#39 A9 on the SB. Button bets 525. Now I've just taken 40% of his stack with the previous hand so he could be tilting here and just using standard button raise. Blinds are getting sizeable. BB has around 2.1K which isn't enough to bust me if he wakes up with a monster. I have 3.8K and button has 1.4K so if I'm wrong, it's not the end of the world. I push all in. BB folds. Button calls with QK. Flop comes A96 and turn and river blank... stack is now 5.3K.

If I was him, I'd be really wary of this particular hand as people around the table are thinking that I may be on tilt here from the previous hand). That's exactly why, if say, I was MP, I may be tempted to fold KJcc for example, when it got to these stages as you have much less fold equity. So, in this case, knowing I don't want to get reraised out of the pot, or in fact, pot commit myself, I would just push all in. I may still have called with A9ss but may have folded A8/A7/other hands that would have been ahead.

--100/200--- (5 left)

#45 A4 on the button. SB has 3.4K and BB 980. So I bet 525. They fold.

#48 104ss on BB. Cutoff has just limped. Flop comes Ks6cAs. I bet 225. He calls. Very small. Turn 6h. Check check. River is 7s for the flush. Pot is 950 so I bet 325 thinking I will fold if reraised. This is a blocking bet as the fact he's limped, he could have AA or KK which would make sense for him to check the river. This is the first time he's limped in about 20mins so bit unpredictable. I'm wary as well of this hand throughout as I'm out of position. He ends up folding and I'm up to 5.7K. Maybe he had QQ and was trying to check it down...

#53 Q8 on the BB. SB bets 500. This is the first time this has happened so I fold and build my image and relationship with him.

#54 AQ. I go all in. BB has 1.7K and insta calls with Q7. Strange. I dominate him and up to 8.2K.

#55 A2 on the button. I go all in again. SB has 1.8K. BB has 2.7K. 4 left. It's time to use my position to bully.

#56 810 on SB. I go all in against BB who has 1.8K. and he calls with AK. I'm down to 6.3K but still the chip leader.

---150/300---

#61 57hh UTG. I bet 625. Everyone folds.

No flops at the moment. It's turning into a pure preflop game. I need to keep the 2 small stacks in and play them off each other whilst skimming the chips off all three players...ideally.

#68 KJ on the button. I bet 650. SB (jui) moves all in. I fold. He now has 5.7K to my 5.6K.

#71 K9 on SB. I limp. I'm not sure what my relationship is between me and the BB. He bets 600 so I fold.

#72. 65. I bet 725 on the button. SB and BB folds.

#74. 87ss on BB. SB folds.

#75 22 on the SB. Fold. BB is on the big stack. I want to avoid confrontation with him. It's very annoying he's on my left.

#78 QQ in the BB. Jui bets 1000. short stack calls (for a piddly 285 as the last hand nearly wiped him out) so I go all in. Jui folds and we're down to 3 as they hold up. Stack is 6.5K. Jui is on 5.9K. Yer is 1.9K. If it was AA, I'd call to disguise the strength of my hand especially out of position but QQ, I prefer to push.

big pot between the others

---200/400---

#80 87cc. Bet 815 on the button. Folds.

#81 8K on SB. Fold.

#83. A9ss on the button. Bet 850. Folds.

#84 9Jdd on SB. They've both limped. I check. Flop comes A2J. Check. I bet 425. Button calls. He may be slow playing a monster here so I check. He checks. Hmmm. River is 2. Weak ace probably. I check again. He has QQ. That makes sense. Certainly the limp pre-flop is a dead giveaway to a strong hand at these stages by the way he's been playing.

#89 67cc. Bet 825 on the button and BB pushes. I fold. I'm only risking 2.15 BB for a chance to win so I'm losing the minimum with these types of plays. My stack is 6K ish so I can afford it at this stage. You need to be aggressive at these later levels anyway...

#92 58cc on the button. I bet 850. Folds.

#93 KQ on BB. SB pushes. I may be ahead here but I can't call. Not for 3.5K. I fold. Even if I'm ahead, I'm not a big favourite. Either 40/60 or 60/40 likely.

#95 9cQh. I bet 888. Flop comes Kh3h9h. So pair and second but flush. I may be pushing here but SB goes all in and BB calls so really have to fold. They have QK and KJ. Shame as the flush would have come and would have won the whole thing!

#97 A10 so I push in the SB. BB calls with 36. My hand holds and we're headsup.

---300/600---

#98 - JKcc - I bet 1610. He moves all in. I call. Blinds are too big to wait for a better hand. He calls with K7. Good spot for me to get up to 9Kish vs 6Kish. But a 7 comes on the flop and I'm out. I've won $90 for my efforts.

So there you have it. I was hoping I'd win it since it's my first STT post in this format but a second place cash ain't too bad. To be honest, I think I actually missed a bunch of stuff as it was bloody hard to type this entry and play the STT at the same time - so much going on!! Anyways, hope someone out there found it useful.

bad curry.

A bit about the weekend. On Friday night, I was absolutely bloody knackered from the Xmas party and then hitting the Empire on Thursday night so vowed to go back early. Instead I ended up in the pub fairly intoxicated. Hung out with two guys which I've got to know over the past month or so but are temps. Their contract came to end that week and I was pretty gutted they were going. It's real sad actually because it feels like so many people are leaving. This one department at work is losing 50% of its staff and I'm devastated because they are all my good friends. When I first started, they were the first people I really met and so used to have lunch together all the time. Good times.

So anyways I got back about 11pm and went via Spice Fusion on Wandsworth Road. I was starving and felt like a curry. I get into the takeaway and specifically ask if they do free delivery. He says yes but only for £10 order. Fine by me. I'll order some sides to make it up to a tenner. I just want to order and continue my journey home. So he takes my payment and then asks me to wait. I decline. I just ask for it to be delivered to my home which is only 5mins away anyway. I don't want to stand here. I'm just so tired.

He then goes on to say: 'Look, just wait, it's fine. It will only be 5-10 minutes."

I reply: "It doesn't matter. I just need to get back home. Just deliver it there."

"Look I've made it so you're food is getting cooked first so you can just wait". For fuck sake. He's telling me to wait now as if I'm making a big deal about it. I want to go home but he's being such a nob. He then says that it will be half an hour if I go because they have a delivery in Sloane Square. I don't give a shit! I just want to go home and relax, not stand in this bloody shitshow of a takeaway. Half hour is fine.

He insists and which point, I think about kicking off but I've paid now and I don't want them spitting in my food.

They then proceed to give me the bag after 10minutes and I'm still absolutely fuming. He then starts it up again. I can't believe it. What a nob. Something along the lines of: "You don't have to give me attitude because it only took 5 minutes you see."

I've got the food now and with that statement, he's now really pissed me off. "Listen mate. I asked you specifically if you did free delivery which you confirmed and as soon as you take payment from me, you change your mind. It's an absolute disgrace. You're false advertising. That's illegal. I top up my order so it's above £10 and yet you then deny me your service. It's a fucking joke."

He starts ranting about how he doesn't want my business now. I eventually leave after we've shouted at each other for 5 minutes and I've called him a fucking idiot. I was a bit drunk to be fair but even looking back with my sober mind, he pissed me off so fucking much. So don't go there people of London.

Saturday, I played some online cash and lost $1000. So annoying. I think I tilted a bit and it was mostly on 0.50/$1 headsup. I then went into town to have dinner with some mates and then off to The International in the evening for the £100 tournament.

I was pretty disappointed with the place to be honest. It's so dark and dingy in there. I busted out fairly early after misreading this guy. Played some cash and made around £500 on £1/£1 PL. Caught a lift with some guys I know from the poker scene down to the Empire and played £1/£2 NL there. Made a couple of hundred and then had this hand which absolutely fucked me over. Basically after a big reraise preflop, I elect to call AA on the button confident reraiser would shove on the flop. Flop comes Q high and he bets, I shove and he's got QQ for around £500+ pot. Horrible.

It was so disappointing because it was one of the juiciest tables I've ever played on. I was just getting NO cards whatsoever and even developed a bit of a tight image from constant folding (a rarity). Some donk was calling allins for £100 with K10 and A4. George, manical was raising every hand with junk like 94off. It was absolutely incredible and I got nothing. I eventually bust out when I shoved, reraised on As7s6h flop with 95ss and get called by 710off. Marvellous. It was a coin flip and I missed. Such a shame. There was so much money in that game and it just didn't quite go my way. If that AA had worked out, I would have around £1000 in front of me giving me so much more flexibility. I'm sure I could have spun it up to at least £1500. Just wasn't my day.

I'm combining my online and live bankroll cause it's getting hard to keep track and from now, will just refer to my pokercharts account. So below is slightly adjusted as I'm just gonna take December's earning. The below figure would probably be a few hundred dollars higher if I take into account money made since I started posting my bankroll.

December earnings: $4,936

$100K guaranteed.

I'm in exactly the same tournament I was came 4th in last Sunday and have elected to give it another go. I thought I'd start posting some live updates on here so I can analyse my hands afterwards...plus if anyone has any comments. It's a double freezeout and I've already topped up, largely influenced by a conversation with Karl on MSN but also because I've reached the first break with zero big hands. I think I've only played two hands actually and those didn't even make the flop. I'm currently 281st out of 573 players. Total entrants was 757. My stack is 4,440 and average is 4,900. Blinds 75/150. Good luck to me!

Here goes.....
#70 (75/150). I haven't played a hand in ages so have a fairly tight image. I have J8off on the button and it's folded round to me. SB is 'away' so I raise to 380. BB folds. (stack is 4,440)

#74 (75/150). I have 44 in MP. I fold. BB is shortstacked (6 BBs) as well so he may push and don't want a 50/50.

#78 (75/150). AQcc in the BB. UTG+1 has limped. MP has limped. Short stack pushes all in in the cutoff. I think I'm ahead. UTG is short stacked as well so if he does have a monster (which I don't read him for, then it's not the end of the world. Not too worried about MP who's just limped.) I push. Everyone folds. He has AQhh and we split pot.

#79. 107off. I call in the SB. BB is still away and UTG has just limped. Check check on ace high flop so I bet the turn when 3 clubs come and he folds.

#84. (100/200) J9cc in MP. I love this hand but fold again as SB and BB are short and may push...

#97 (100/200) JJ under the gun - urgh! I raise 450. MP calls. Flop comes 77J. awesome! he bets 755. I ponder and call. (4) Check, check, (K) check, check. I win. Stack is now 6,233. He had 99. I don't think I would have got any more money out of him.

#101. Raise 525 from the cutouff with J8 off. (button is still away) Everyone folds.

#102. UTG (stack is 3,500) raises 500 and I have AQ off in MP. I fold. Prefer to wait for a better spot than this hand which could get me into alot of trouble.

#103. Bet 500 from LP with 10Qdd. Everyone folds.

#108. 65hh in SB. UTG has limped. I call. Flop 23Kr. I check. UTG pushes. So I fold.

#109 (150/300). 99 on the button. I bet 650. Both fold.

#110. 22 on the cutoff. MP raises 3xBB so I fold.

I'm on 6,733. Average is 7,864. I'm #192 out of 357.

#117 JQcc. Limp. I check in BB. MP bets 600 into 750. Flop is Jd2c6d. I check. Turn is 2. Check, check. River is A. I check. He bets 1800. Bugger.

#118. MP (10K) raises 900 and I have AQcc on SB. I call beacuse I don't think he'd raise 3BBs if he was that strong. Flop is a blank so I check. He goes all in. I fold. Stack is 4,933.

Blinds are 200/400 so getting a bit short here....

I was playing a $30STT alongside this and I've just won that so now I can concentrate even more.

I'm on 4533. Average is 9327. At this point, I'm looking for reraise spots and good hands.

#128. 510off on the button. (200/400). I make it 875. They're both short and been playing hardly any hands. SB goes all in. I have to fold. Stack is 3,458. Now looking for spots to push.

#134. Blinds are going up to 300/600 in 1 min and I'm UTG+1. I get dealt 4Q. Marvellous. Fold.

#135. Q2. Fold. Hopefully I'll be BB before the blinds go up....but...nope.

#136.(400/800) A7off on BB. MP limps and LP shoves for 2,776,. I fold. Would have been up against 88 which held on the flop.

---second break and it's been a pretty shitty tournament so far. I've had no hands and hardly played a flop. I'm on 2,858. Average is 11,553. Largest is 52,582. I'm #235 out of 243. Top 90 is paid. Need to get some chips after the break.

#137. SB with 102cc. Have to fold to an MP raise. Stack is 2,558. I need to push before this orbit is up whether I've got a good hand or not.

#139. 77 in the cutoff. MP big stack just limps. Dangerous but this is a spot i have to take. I push knowing I'll get a call. Button goes all in which gives me protection and original raiser folds. HE flips AQ and I'm 50/50. Good spot! It holds and I'm on 6,616. I'm 168/211.

---moved tables. I have a 32K and 47K stack to my right and a 23K stack to my left. Eurgh! Eveyrone else has a similar stack size.

#145. QK in MP. Hmmmm.....I shove. I'm still fairly short stacked and need to win at least one per orbit. Everyone folds.

#146. 33 this time and shove again for 7,516. Everyone folds. I'm on 8,416. (average is 13,968)

#152. Q10off on the button. Folded round so I shove. SB and BB folds. Stack back up to 8,716.

#153. Q10off again on the cutoff. I shove. Button, SB & BB fold. Stack is 9,916. The table hasn't seen a flop in ages, everyone is mostly playing pre-flop. (average is 16K)

----(400/800)-----

#158. A5hh UTG. Fold.

#159 Massive pot between two big stacks and now have a 57K stack to my left. Bugger.

#162. A8 on the button. I don't like it but I push. SB immediately reraises. He has A10. Urgh! Split pot.

#163. Next hand I have AQhh. MP bets 2.5BB and I go all in. Insta call by SB. Uh-oh. MP folds and SB has AQoff. Flop comes 2 hearts setting me up for a 18K flop if I can hit......no good but take the split pot. I'm on 10,516 (ave=17K) as made a bit from the blinds and initial raise.

#169. A7ss UTG. Fold.

----500/1000---

#170. 29 on BB. Fold after a raise.

#171. 910 on SB. BB is huge stack and not sure what I'll do here. LP goes all in which makes my decision easier. Stack is 9,016.

#172. K4 on the button. I'm ready to shove here...but MP goes all in so I fold. Need to win a hand this orbit...

#173. 65 in the cutoff. Again, may shove here but MP goes all in. I fold.

#174. A3 in cutoff +1. I fold. BB had 2K stack and a hand that can easily be dominated. Cutoff bumps it up 2500 so he was probably calling...

#175. A4. Fold to a raise. Three hands till the BB and once they're gone I'm down to 7,500. Blinds go up to 600/1200 in 9 mins.

#178. A4 UTG. Bugger. I have to fold and take the blind hit. Would have been up against AQ.

#179. J9cc on the BB. Good hand for shoving. Bad for calling. I fold.

#180. A7 on the SB. Stack is 7,516. Miraculously it folds round to me so I shove. Big stack calls with JK off. Flop comes K high and I'm out.

Well I was kind of hoping I'd get some play out of this tournament but it was fairly uneventful. I came 136th out of 757.

monday's profit.

It was bound to happen. Those ugly situations that rear their ugly head once every year and a half or so. Set over set. Loose lady on the button pops it up 4xBB on the button and I call with 99. Flop comes Qc9c4d. Turns out she had QQ. And it went check, bet, raise, all in, call for around £400 pot. What can you do? It's a cooler.

I didn't tilt after that but was card dead for the next couple of hours which probably did slightly and lost an unnecessary £150. Still, I've had the big cash from the tourney and the £300 from Tuesday. Things are still rosy but I should have exercised the £300 stop-loss. That was a mistake and I need to focus every ounce of energy in managing my roll effectively. Now is not the time to be complacent just because I've won a bunch recently. I will not let that be my downfall.

rationalize this.

I had dinner with a good friend last night in a place called Cafe Vergnano 1882 on Southbank. They do the best coffee in London and we've been going there for years. Recently they opened it up to serve food as well which was exciting but it if I'm honest, it's been nothing but disappointing everytime I've eaten there. I'm gutted because I want to rave about every aspect of this place to friends but now I can't.

Don't get me wrong, the food isn't bad but we ordered a dish last night that really pissed me off. It was called 'Cheese Platter' and cost £6.50 which is fucking expensive as it is. It turned up and all I saw were a pile of 8 crackers and grapes. The cheese was so scarce that it was completely hidden under the 5x5cm cracker. In fact, once we had unearthed this pathetic amount and placed on top of the wafers, it only covered around 2 crackers max.

Now that is a fucking joke. It was like WW2 rations! I hardly ever complain about food but had to call over the waitress and ask if there was some kind of mistake. She just stared at me blankly and walked off. Oh well. Stick to the coffee.

Good session after dinner last night for a couple of hours and made another few hundred....

Online bankroll: +$7,177
Live progress: +£57 (+£320)

the magic number.

Played a practically flawless game last night. One hand however really fucked me over and if it hadn't been for a cruel river card, I'd have taken down a huge £1,000 pot. It went a little like this....tight guy raises £7 pf, on the button, SB calls. I have 55 on the BB. I call. 3 other callers.

Flop comes a beautiful J52 rainbow. I mean you can't get more perfect than that. Tight raiser will have a fairly narrow range of hands so I'm golden. I check it round and he bets £14. SB calls. I call the ultra safe flop. Everyone else folds. Pot is £90 ish. Turn comes J. Bingo.

SB checks. Here we will find out. He bets a whopping £50 as he proudly places a stack of chips across the line. SB folds. This is so perfect. I'm clearly ahead and I put him on AJ, KJ, QJ, 10J. He's actually been playing very tight so it's more like AJ/KJ. I decide to reraise here as he'll call a bet with his high kicker. I reraise up to £140. (My stack was around the £600 mark so plenty to play with). He has about £400 there. He calls. Pot is £370.

I've got him. All I need is for a safe card to come up and I'm pushing all in confident he will call. I'm thinking:"3....3....3....3....3" .......2! Arghhhhh!! Board is J52J2. I check. He bets a measly £75 and I insta fold in disgrace. He flips over JK for the higher house and runner, runner. Man, that sucked sooo bad. Still a successful night (+£573) albeit missed out on around £600.

In other news, I'm so much happier at work at the moment and the days are flying by. I'm working on new acts, some development, and two superstars. I feel so much more motivated because I've got decent work to do. Before, things were a bit slow as didn't have a full roster to work with. In terms of new music, I'm absolutely in love with Ladyhawke - My Delirium. What an awesome track. Also was listening to a cool band recommended to me which are pretty new but awesome potential.

www.myspace.com/ladyhawkerock
www.myspace.com/francisandthelights

cash injection.

So close! I very nearly won the $100K guaranteed tournament last night on PR. I made a mistake. The button min-raised and knew he was weak so I pushed over the top with A4dd. BB woke up with JJ. I’d been playing extremely tight when folded round so usually gave up my SB to him. He’d have to have a very good hand and even JJ, in my opinion is a bit of tough call yet he insta-called. Button only had A6 so he folded.

In retrospect, I shouldn’t have gone all in as it was too dangerous. Just pop it up again. I had enough chips and as soon as I moved all in, I cursed myself before the BB had even called. I was 2nd in chips (although 2nd/3rd/4th were all very close). A first place finish would have been a very cool $25,250 which would have made my bank account look like a lush bed of perfectly formed red roses. Instead, I got bust out – a J on the flop so I’m settling for daisies.

Still, can’t complain - daisies are cool. With the strength of the dollar, it is my biggest session win of the year standing at $6,471 (£4,288) coming 4th out of 688 runners ($100 buyin double freezeout – I only bought in once). My others were the 2nd in Gutshot Masters (£3,500) and a good Gutshot cash game (£2,750). The good thing about this is that even though I missed out on the top 3, I learnt a ton about the game which will put me in good stead for other higher stakes tournaments which I’ll look to play a bit more.

One hand I remember I got super lucky in. Was in the money at this point and wanted to isolate a small stack who had gone all. I was in late position with A10, however, after pushing (I had below average stack), the button woke up with AKss and insta-called. Original raiser had Q8. Flop comes K106. Turn 8. Yikes. I’m busto….and then…river….10! Oh that was sick for a triple up. Well, you do need to get lucky in these tournaments, plus my AA and KK did get shafted when all in pre-flop against 99 and 33. (They both hit a set).

Played some cash alongside the tourney but didn't go as well as planned. Had a pretty massive pot with one hand when I had it all in against 3 people with KK. One folded and one called with QQ. Q on the river....

Online bankroll: +$7,177 (+$5,588)
Live progress: -£800

better than britney.

Thursday night was a pretty drunken affair again having met up with my uni mates. One of them is married and it was so good seeing her without her husband for once. I think whenever we've met up collectively, she's always brought him even though he'll have absolutely no idea what we're going on about when we reminisce and take the piss out of each other.

Drinks flowed and the fact I had to do a big presentation tomorrow was in the back of my mind. Rob was very confident that he'd help me out when we got back to the flat. Instead he passed out and I was left to write everything out by myself not entirely sober. The following day after not much sleep and a very fragile stomach, I had to present with a pretty awful hangover. All the other presentations probably clocked in at around 10minutes....I think I only managed 3.

When the course finished, there was this awful atmosphere at work. I'm not entirely sure of the extent of the changes but some restructuring is happening in the office and it was pretty grim. A few departments are getting reinterviewed again and no one was in the mood by the end of the day. I think I seem safe but you can never be too sure.

So made it to the weekend! Just hooked up with Mark that night and shot some pool. Played a bit today. Came 12th/108 in a $20 shorthanded tourney and played some cash. I watched a bunch of films - The 11th Hour (not bad), Sideways (loved it) and Elizabethtown (Panerai nod, ok-ish film, wicked soundtrack).

Also, of course X Factor although it all felt a bit anti-climactic. Alexandra really annoys me for some reason, I think it's always at the point she's weeping and her lips starts quivering like a washing machine. I'm sure she's lovely though.

That Beyonce performance was absolute amazing. She's got this incredible smile when she sings. I met her once as helped organise a party for her. She's a cutie. Real small though and so shy! She always goes on about her two personas and certainly when she's not on stage, she's quiet as a mouse. She just stands there, smiles and looks beautiful. Great party though with this huge ice sculpture immaculately carved out in the Destiny Child logo.

Online bankroll: +$1,589 (+$469)
Live progress: -£800

christmas is here.

I went to my first Christmas drinks last night which was pretty fun. This company took us out - one of them dressed up as Bad Santa, the other as Rudolph and then a sexy Mrs Clause (at least she thought she was). All drinks on the house which was nice and then supplying decent champagne which gets a tick (Taittinger). We all got presents. I got a Rudolph G string which I'll be suprising Mel with later. Nicky got a edible bra made of gummy bears. Eve from digital got a 'spit or swallow' wheel of fortune. Drinks flowed. I got more and more drunk and sauntered off home eventually.

Played very briefly when back at the flat and came 18/180 in a shorthanded tourney. I really like that format. For a start, it's what I'm used to plus it goes real quick so may be investing in some of those in the future. Made a bit on the cash alongside it as well. Still sticking to the .50/$1 tables. Really enjoying the 4-man on there. I don't really have to think that much when playing so is nowhere near as stressful. Just all about positional and solid, aggressive play.

Online bankroll: +$1,117 (+$111)
Live progress: -£800 (-£350)

nearly balancing.

Online bankroll: +$1,006 (+$373)
Live progress: -£800 (-£350)

Poor table selection at the Empire and was on the fence as to whether I should move or not. Definitely should have as it became a bit too gambly with alot more regulars than fish. Made a mistake with this hand: I call £10 pf with JQss. 3 runners. Flop comes Q83r. I check wanting to reraise and it checks round. Turn is 9. I bet. MP calls. Button folds. River comes K. No flush. I should have block bet here but weakly checked and he shoved all in for £127 into £90 pot. I eventually called and he predictably had 10J. He had a tight image and that was a mistake.

Online was alot easier and spun up +$373 on $0.50/$1 in around 2 hours. Great hand came when I was patiently waiting to take this one guy out who was getting annoyed at my aggressive play. I had called his pf raise with 4,4, finally hit a set on the flop and relentlessly bet out big on each street. He called me all the way down to the river with just JJ on the Q high board for $260 pot.

homework.

Sometimes my dreams really confuse me. For example, back at Uni, I used to have drinks on a Friday night, fall asleep in the early hours in a drunken haze and dream about the night before. It was very confusing working out which was which because alot of the time, my subconscious wasn't that surreal. It would just be me having a conversation with my flat mate or some guy pulling some girl I knew. Strange!

Anyways I mention this as I had a dream this morning about my iPhone alarm. I dreamt that when I set my alarm, I have to slide the touch screen to cancel or tap the middle to snooze, which in fact when fully awake, I have realised that's completely bollocks. Thus I turned my alarm off by mistake in my half awake state and overslept. Utterly perplexing.

On to the homegame, I got off, predictably to a bad start and before I knew it, I was in for £200! Marvellous.

Hands: (25p/50p blinds)

BK bets £2.50 UTG+2. 3 callers. then the button calls. Then the SB calls. (around £13 in the pot) I move all for £33 with K7 on the BB. Button calls with AQ which holds and I lose the £70ish pot.

Sam (on tilt has been donking off chips left, right and centre). I call his UTG £2.50 raise. 3 callers. I call on button with A9off. Flop comes K93. He bets £10 into £12. Everyone folds. I call. Turn 4. He bets £10. I call. River Q. He bets £10. I call. He has K7 and takes the £70ish pot.

BK (playing very aggressive in and out of position) limps. Reed bets £2.50. I call on the button with 35ss. Jonny SB calls. BK reraises to £11.50. Reed calls. I call with position and £35ish in the pot. Jonny folds. Flop comes 234 rainbow. BK bets £25. Reed folds. I go all in for £33 more ish. He insta-calls with AK and turn, river come blank, blank. I take the £120ish pot.

UTG+1bets £3.50. Two callers. I have 25dd on SB and fold. BB calls. Flop comes A34 rainbow and everyone starts betting like crazy swelling the pot up to around £100. That was a bad beat!

Limping all round so I limp with 106hh in the cutoff. Button folds. Sam, SB completes after sighing. He obviously has a shit hand but priced in. Flop comes Jh8h7c for flush and gutshot draw. Sam immediately bets out £4. Folds round. I call putting him J2 or some shit like that. Turn comes 3d. Sam bets £6. I call. River comes Kh. Sam checks. I bet £35 and he calls with...J2. I show the flush and I take the £80ish pot.

All in all, I made my £200 back and steamed on to finish around £330 with the biggest stack of the match. There was some miscounting in the 'bank' however so I only got £310 which was annoying. Still +£110 is good for me at the moment and boosts the confidence.

Online bankroll: +$633 (+$470)
Live progress: -£450 (+£110)

And finally:

I love the White Lies video that I've just seen. Wicked visuals. They will be huge in 2009. Check it out here:

http://www.myspace.com/whitelies

n-puppy.

It was a very sad day on saturday as I wished my girlfriend goodbye as she jetted off to South Africa to spend time with family and friends. I won't see her till January which seems so far away. A part of me knows it will go so quickly but it felt so strange knowing we'd be apart for so long. I have to say I did feel quite empty on Saturday night.

I was talking to N-dog on MSN and mentioned I missed her. He fiercely responded with "blog about it instead of all your usual 'I'm the man' bollocks!!" What the fuck are you going on about?? This is the guy who is a self-confessed emotional retard and just because he's now fallen in love, he's turned into this big sentimental pussycat! So, having spent years in an emotionless void, he seems to be making up for lost time now spending all his hours catching up with Sex & The City episodes, reading Cosmo and of course gushing about his girl. Ha ha.

Anyways, I've just been at the dentist so heading into work. There was an email about an unscheduled company meeting put in at 3pm. Now that worries me. Because I'm thinking this whole Woolies thing has fucked the whole music industry and I'm wondering if they're going to make additional structural changes.

Finally, as Mel headed off to Cape Town, I knew it was time to step up the gas a bit and increase the stakes which was always my plan for December. I really like the idea of 'the rules' so wanted to keep low. I deposited another $100 just to give me a bit of buffer and played some 0.25/0.50. I know. Big balls. Anyways, after some unsuccessful tourneys, I concentrated on one 4 man cash game. I bought in for $50 and eventually cashed out $650ish. Not bad making 13 buyins and good for the confidence. I like to think I crushed that game.

With this slightly healthier roll, I'm gonna stick to .50/1 or under as I'm very serious about managing my bankroll properly.

Christmas home game tonight at BKs and will try to make a good amount there by concentrating fiercely!

Never ever tilt.

Online bankroll: +$633
Live progress: -£560

make me better.

food.

I had lunch with a girl called Carly yesterday. She works here and have always got on with her. Even though we've always chatted in the corridor, this was the first time. I always try to have lunch with as many people as possible just to get to know people a bit more than just standard business stuff. Anyways, within five minutes of meeting, I start off the conversation about how hungry I am. She's hungry as well. She starts to go on about how she loves food so much. But it hadn't always been that way. The next thing I know she's telling me about an eating disorder she had when she was in her teens.

I'm amazed about how much she's opening up to me. She's completely blase about it which really throws me. She doesn't seem to have any problem discussing it. She's smiling as she talks. I could have been anyone. She told me how it lasted four years and her parents never noticed as she was always wearing baggy clothes. All she did everyday was suck on icecubes and obsessively exercise. She'd swim every morning, then go to the gym. She took up smoking just to supress her appetite. Then she got real sick.

They took her to the doctors. They told she would die in less than a month if she didn't start eating. So they put her on this really strict regime where they monitored her food intake. They'd weigh her every week and she'd hide stones in her pocket to disguise her weight. They eventually found out and were even more strict in their monitoring.

Slowly she got better and now she's fully recovered. She's a completely normal size and looks real healthy. It was just such a shock to suddenly hear all this stuff out of the blue. I was completely stunned she was telling me, and then this led to a real fascination. I mean it was amazing that she doesn't seem at all bothered about this blip in her past as if it was an ex boyfriend or even just talking about a summer holiday she'd had as a kid. I was curious if anything had triggered this but she said nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She didn't know why it had started or how it had got out of control.

When I asked her if she's now completely comfortable with herself, she said very honestly, "Yeah I am, I mean, I love eating, I could never go back there. But I don't think it ever fully leaves you. I mean every girl is conscious of their figure." I nodded.

She continued, "I miss being fit though. I don't do any exercise now so I'm really unhealthy. And the thing is, I'm really scared to go back to the gym in case it triggers something within me and suddenly I become obsessive".

It was really harrowing hearing her speak so honestly. I felt like I was in a Louis Theroux documentary or something. Even though she was happily smiling away when she was recounting the story, I still found it quite upsetting thinking about a little teenage girl going through that hell. Anyways, I'm just glad she's fully recovered and healthy. She's now super confident. Plus she doesn't wear baggy clothes anymore so she's telling the truth. Good on her.

It makes me fucking sick that there are all these pro-anorexia sites out there. I'm mean, it's so disturbing. Everyone has the right to be any size they want.

My girlfriend sometimes skips lunch. Don't worry, she's not sick or anything but sometimes, she'll be too busy with work. But whenever she tells me that, I get so angry because you're messing with your body and metabolism. You'll get ill/tired more often because you're not looking after yourself. Health is so important and everyone should eat three meals a day! I get really wound up and make her promise me she always takes the time to eat well. Anyways, you all should do the same!

those media whores.

The media game was well attended last night so we had two tables of 9. The blinds were crazy fast as usual despite the starting stack. Second hand in, I played this hand.

Sonny raises 150 UTG and I call with KJ late position. It's headsup. Stacks are 3000 each. Flop comes 6s7d9c. He bets 100 into 375. I know he's weak but don't want to take it away from him on the flop. I've been revising and the turn is a much safer place to do little steals as odds are narrowed considerably for those who are chasing. Turn comes a harmless 2. He bets 200. Now I think he's got something, but not much so I elect to call to steal on the river thinking, he might donk off his stack with 9,10 or A9 if I push in this situation. River comes and board reads 6s7d9c2d3d.

He bets a small 250 at which point, I think I can move him off the hand as there's straight/flush/two pair/set potential, so I ponder and reraise another 800. He calls and he has a set of 2s. Didn't see that one coming.

After that, it quietened down until I found JJ on the BB (blinds 100/200. Stack is 1800). UTG had limped. UTG+2 had limped. UTG+3 now min raises to 400. Bugger. He hasn't played a hand all night but before he put the money in, he literally had his hair in his hands, looking like he was facing such a difficult decision. He just didn't strike me as an actor. I go for the squeeze and he 'eventually' calls with KK. I still don't think he was acting. I think he honestly didn't know what to do. Anyways, I flopped a set but then get a cruel runner runner straight. Ah well.

Next buyin and some hands later, I start making some money. I squeezed with 29dd and got lucky. BB called with J5. Board comes 7764....2. And I get a small double up. This then helps my image and proceed to go all in with 99, AJ and A2 just stealing. Need to make some chips.

I then go all in with some guy who's been itching to call me. I have KQ and he flips KJ for big 16,000 pot and to crown a new chip leader. (psycho!). Flop 4437....7. Split. Very next hand I push all in again with AQss for 9,000 (blinds are 300/600, ave stack is around 6,000). He calls with A8 and my hand holds. Few more hands and I'm way in front with around 18,000.

Table breaks and it's to the final. First hand, I bet 3000 (blinds = 400/800) with A6ss UTG+2. This was a mistake really as I should have settled in to the table. Short stack goes in for 5500 so have to call and he's got AA. Still chip leader with around 16,000 chips.

Fold a bunch and then I'm on the SB with AQss. I raise to 3300 just looking to steal and ready to call a reraise but I just get a call from the BB (his stack is 10,000). Flop comes As10h9c. Pot is big enough so I push all in just wanting to take it down there and then. The motherfucker then takes an age to call, eventually pushes his chips in and says 'you've probably got me beat'... I'm thinking: great, he's got something like A8 and I've just got to last two cards for a big stack. The fucker turns over two pair!! What a slow roll! Everyone on the table starts saying stuff to the guy like 'nice hand' and 'you played that well' - are you fucking kidding me?! He calls nearly a third of his stack with 910off and they're congratulating him?! How exactly did he play that well?! He didn't do anything except get fucking lucky! AND he has the audacity to slow roll!

Next hand, I look down at AJ and figure it's a good time to push with 6,000 stack. UTG has limped so I go for a squeeze. Everyone folds and he announces: "I better have a look at what I've got then". A good sign. He then proceeds to call and shows 1010. Yeah yeah. Another slowroll! Come on! What the hell is going on? He hits a set on the board. I'm fuming!

I leave in absolute disgust.

Online bankroll: $77
Live progress: -£560

jingle bells.

Not much to report poker-wise from the weekend. Played a bit last night but wasn't getting much luck so lost around $30 in tourney entries. Feels good actually because even though I lost a bit, in reality, it's absolute peanuts so I feel like I'm breaking even (online I'm talking!).

Because I'm following the rules, I'm taking everything easy. In my head, I'll step on the gas when I'm running good. For now, I'm coasting and minimizing my losses. It's great and feel comfortable.

When I do finally put my head down however, I'm gonna be looking to crush these games. I've been analysing my play in the meantime and I think a bad habit I've slipped into is playing too loose out of position. I think you can get away with some of these plays in live games when table conditions are optimum but certainly online, it's a waste of time and largely unprofitable.

The media game is tonight. It's the last one before Christmas so there's a bigger starting stack and £30 double freezeout instead of a £20 rebuy. It will still probably end up a crapshoot but I will try my absolute hardest because I know half of them don't know what they're doing. BK ('I'm never playing in that game again') will be in attendance as well. I can't wait. Update tomorrow.

Other than that, I went to see Photographer Of The Year exhibition over the weekend in Natural History Museum which was incredible. Amazing shots. Makes me excited to have my SLR which I'll take to S.A.

Also did a bit of ice-skating as per the Christmas tradition which was fun. The first time I went skating was taking some girl out on a date a few years ago. I thought it'd be romantic, holding hands, skating around except I was so shit... and I mean SO shit that I just kept falling over, over and over again so I ended up looking like an absolute idiot. Plus it fucking hurt dude! So that was a bad idea.

Also finally, N-dog, asked me to post a review up of the iPhone. It's great. I can't believe how good it is. The apps are amazing. The maps feature is incredible. It honestly is very impressive and the best phone you can buy out there. There are some bad bits however....

- you can't manage your music from multiple iTunes libraries whereas you can with regular iPods. This is so annoying as this means you can only sync from one computer and half of my stuff is at work, half at home.

- email isn't as good as BlackBerry.

- you can't use mp3s from your music collection as ringtones. you have to buy them separately. rubbish.

- no video camera.

- when you save images from email, they're all pixelated

- facebook app doesn't give you alerts when you have new messages etc. as it does with the blackberry app. annoying.

- battery life is pretty bad.

But other than that, it's a great bit of kit.

Finally, I've just seen Ben Grundy's last post and those are some sick stats! Fuck me.

on the brink.

I've been breaking no rules but online wasn't as successful the other day and dropped some dollar. Had some success in the 5-man shorthanded tournaments (won 2, lost 1) but not much luck in the 10-man STTs which was my downfall plus headsup was breaking even (and the rake was killing me). Dropped to around the $90 mark where was reverting to $5 games as per the rules and spun up to $105 mark. I'm happy that no rules were broken. It's the silver lining. Still, I need to do some proper concentrating to get this roll nice and fat...and I know that I can do it.

The Empire last night on the other hand was more messy and lost two buyins. The first one went like this. First the background, the guy to my right (Jack) was a gambler. First hand he overbets the pot on the flop and shows J2off or something on a K95 board. Another few hands and a similar situation with 34 on a KK10J board. I start speaking to him - "nice play". He shrugs his shoulder: "yeah...but it doesn't always work like that. I've lost a thousand quid in the last couple of days playing just like that". He seems genuine and I believe him. So on to the big hand. I bet £10 preflop MP with AKoff. No callers apart from Jack in early pos. Flop comes Ac3c4h. He bets £25 into £12. Bugger. I've got a bad feeling about this. Bluff twice. Always have it on the third. But was he that disciplined? He could easily have a draw, lower ace or...gulp...two pair/set. And the fact he's overbet it, makes it tricky to play.

I decide to reraise. I make it £100. Which was a mistake. I should have just called and tried to keep the pot small. Or even better, maybe raised it to £52 just to see what he will do. No, should have just called. That in itself shows enough strength to make him think about what to do on the turn IF he has nothing. Instead, he's now insta moved all in and I had to call really for another £80. He turns over A3 so I have 6 outs on the turn, 9 outs on the river. No luck and I curse myself for getting embroiled in the confrontation. I was thinking, I wish you hadn't told me you lost £1000. He was absolutely truthful about that but it very unprofessionally skewed my judgement.

I bought in again and a huge pot developed between the two of us again. Here's what happened. We'd been playing a couple of hours and he's completely changed his style, hardly playing any hands - very ABC, tight aggressive. I wasn't tilting. Not playing many hands. Everything had calmed down.

I raise MP to £17 with K10ss. No callers apart from him in early position. Flop comes Qd7d3s. He checks. I want to take it down and apart from the draw, it's a safe flop. So I bet £30. (shoulda checked. Maybe I was tilting a little bit) He calls. Turn comes 9s. He checks. I bet £42 as I now have a flush/straight draw/overcard. He calls. Hmmm....I put him on QJ/QK/low diamond draw/low spade draw? River comes Jd. Board reads Qd7d3s9sJd.

I have the nut straight but there's a flush on the board. He checks. I can't understand this check. It was beautiful thinking about it but it gave me the signal that he had, maybe two pair? So I decided to bet £45 as a value bet. He ponders and raises up to £150. I feel sick. Fuck! I have to call thinking that it's obvious I don't have the flush so he might be trying to represent with some sick bluff. I called and he turns over K2dd. He completely and utterly outplayed me. I can't remember being absolutely outplayed like that in years - check raised on the river! I'm serious. I felt... I can't quite think of the word....but part way between impressed, surprised and disgusted.

So in light of this, I'm making some formal live rules which have to be adhered to at all times. Before I just concentrated on online. And the rule is simple. My stoploss for live is £300. No more. If I lose this in a live cash game, then I go home. No excuses. I can't move down limits as you do online so it will just have to be this simple mechanic.

My girlfriend is going to see her family in South Africa for Christmas which means I'll have alot of time on my hands. This could potentially be a disaster and I think the next couple of months will either make me....or break me. I'm confident that once I put my head down and improve my work ethic, things will start spinning up. If they don't... well...I know what my New Year's Resolution will be and my poker career, including this blog...may well come to an end.

I know that sounds doom and gloom, but I have to face facts here and review all my stats. I just checked pokercharts and I'm still positive +$27,254.03 lifetime but it seems like a lifetime ago where I was making decent money on the tables. Poker is a business and you have to be ruthless. If I'm not performing, then the business has to be shut down. You can't keep in denial. The overheads are just too high.

Online bankroll: $105
Live progress: -£500

poo dance.

After my last post, I headed to Ally Pally (shit venue) to see Sigur Ros (great band). They know how to put on a show. They drizzled water in front of themselves and projected images on to the spray to create this amazing effect. Incredible! Still the venue let them down, Ally Pally is just a fucking shit hole. I wanted to throw up when I found out they were playing there as knew it would ruin it. Hardly compares to Somerset House where I saw them a couple of years back in the summer evening sunset. Man, that was awesome.

Then out for drinks on Friday and Saturday. Watched the rugby with my girlfriend (who's South African) and a bunch of other guys from Cape Town. Man it was just embarassing. How the hell did England get so bad at sport?

Saturday night ended up in a club called Sway. My God. That place is a dump. When we headed on the dancefloor, it smelt of shit! And I don't mean vomit, BO and stale beer. Not even fart. I mean actual poo. Like someone had diarrhoea in the corner and it was seeping on to the main floor. Heard rumours toilets were broken. I just wanted to get out as soon as possible. It was horrible. Awful place.

Only managed a few games of poker over the weekend. I won 3, lost 1 headsup match and came 3rd in an STT. I was absolutely card dead in the STT and hardly anyone was dropping with the increasing blinds so was a bit of a crapshoot by the end. Still, at least in the money. Gonna head down to the Empire tomorrow for the first time in ages so hopefully will try and spin some money up there.

Online bankroll: $175
Live progress: +£100

the result.

Well, something good has finally happened and I've been offered a fantastic position in the company that will be brilliant for my career. It's a great step and everything is going swimmingly again. I'll get to work on superstar acts and have massive budgets. They could have told me before announcing it to the whole label but that's another story.

The GM pulled me aside to congratulate me and said I was a 'model' of where they want the rest of my level to be at....which was nice. The press officer just walked past congratulating me and saying it had made her day. My boss just shook my hand and said it's an amazing step for me. The radio guy just gave me a hug. Things feel good....there's only one tiny tiny tiny part of me that's pissed off....that I found out in a bloody meeting with everyone else despite being subjected to three weeks of hellish anxiety! I mean... I felt like a rabbit in the headlights, a rabbit that's supposed to smile but instead felt bloody uncomfortable.

I'm sure that feeling will subside soon and I'll get on with being excited. I thought it was just me but when after the announcement, the GM pulled me aside, he apologised profusely....and that kind of made it better.

At least it's all sorted now and I've got a job through this economic downturn. Hooray.

a good quashing.

BK's home game was lively and eventful as always with a good turnaround of people. My plan to stick to £100 was quickly quashed and found myself cursing for not playing tighter. There is money to be made! After another couple more rebuys, I found myself down £220. Not a good place to be. I was down to my last £30 and had a double up to £60. At this point, it was getting real late, 1.30am and we were down to 3 handed. Then Jonny decided to leave which left BK's monster stack against mine. We thought we'd play headsup for a bit.

I have to say I've been playing headsup practically constantly all week so was confident of my ability but then again BK is a very tricky player so could have gone either way. Had a good flop early on with AQ. I've reraised preflop and flops come QQ3. We check it all the way down to the river. Out of position I check again and BK puts in an overbet which I reraise. He immediately mucks. Another key hand, 50p/£1 - BK on the button bets £3, I reraise to £31 trying to take the pot there and then with A9. He dwells and calls so obviously some kind of low connector. Flop comes 9d7d2c. I bet £25, he goes all in and I snap call. He shows 9Jcc and turn and river blanks out.

Then after announcing last 5 hands, on the very first one, I look down at J7ss and raise to £3 on the button. He reraises to £8. I call. I deal the flop and it comes As10s4s. Bingo. He bets £5. I reraise to £12. He reraises to £27. I insta go all in and after a lengthy dwell, he calls with the A. Turn and river blank and I complete a big £320 upswing. It helped that I did the very same play with Kd on a 3 diamond board a few hands earlier which he called and won (albeit a much smaller pot).

Also just to mention quite an amusing hand when we were 4 handed with BK, JD and Barry. Barry's dealing. He's dealt the flop and the turn and all of a sudden after a series of reraises from JD. They're all in. The board is 8563. Barry flips over QQ and JD has 56 for two pair. The river comes an A and JD takes the pot. All of a sudden, I've just realised something's gone wrong.

As I turn the board cards over, I realise two of the cards are a different colour to the rest of the pack! You see we'd been using two different coloured packs all night to speed up shuffling and whilst I dealt the burn and river....and I'm not even the dealer in this hand!

So all of a sudden Barry has another shot as the original pack is produced. I'm laughing my head of (because I'm not in the hand) and JD is shaking his head furiously just knowing he's gonna get felted now. The tension! Brian is finding it hilarious as well and Barry's got another shot! So Barry (the original dealer) deals the river.....it's a......... 2! Booo...and JD hands still holds up... sounds awful but was kind of hoping for a bad beat there just so it make this story even more amusing.

I still don't know what's happening with work and I feel drained. I just wish they'd work out what's happening so I can get on and be happy again. At the moment, I'm in limbo hell. I have another meeting with HR (third one in a row). Hopefully some answers this time...

Online bankroll: $141
Live progress: +£100

oh dat rocks.

I still don't know what's happening at work. HR have assured me I have 'nothing to worry about' but I still want to know conclusively. I have another meeting today at 5pm.

Speaking of meetings, I had a great one this morning with Jeff Buckley's ex-manager and instead of talking about current projects, we just talked about Jeff for half and hour. He's got this unreleased concert he's going to send me which was the only one Jeff mixed himself and approved for release. He's got the DAT at home. Incredible!

And finally, I've just bought an iPhone to see what all the fuss is about. Needed a new one. They tried to sell me insurance with - £210 over 18 months. I didn't know what to do so I flipped a coin and consequently didn't take it. Half an hour later, I get a call from the company offering me the same insurance for £105. Cheeky beggars. I told them I'd think about it.

high stakes baby.

I tried some cash for the first time since this challenge began and had a pretty poor time dropping around $80. One beautiful hand came when I had 88 flopping KK8. I get called big on the flop by A10. Turn, river, A, K for the higher full house. To be honest, I was a bit tired so wasn't concentrating too much. Still the most important thing is that even though I lost the money, I broke no rules. This bankroll management lark is EASY....lol....yeah....right. Still a way to go before I can honestly say I've mastered this skill.

So I stopped at $100 and reverted back to the $5 STTs which seem to be more profitable these days. I just played a bunch of headsup tournaments and won 8, lost 3 so at least on the up again. Will aim to play some more $10STTs now to spin up to $250 mark and then dabble in cash again. Aim is to get up to $1000 in 20 days time.

Home game at BKs on Tuesday. My Live Bankroll is completely separate of course in my head, I'm thinking £500 for now. I'm going to concentrate completely and utterly and there is absolutely no way I'm dropping £400 again...hopefully.

Online bankroll: $141

just quickly.

Didn't make it to The Empire on Thursday night but just played a bunch of headsup tournaments and two STTs. Headsup I won most, lost a few. Busted out of one STT and came 1st in the other.

Online bankroll: $171.50

bleurghh.

Just seen HR sitting down in a meeting room with the MD and the GM. I wish they'd bloody tell me what's going on. It's been two and a half weeks and still no news. I emailed HR this morning to ask for a meeting and haven't heard back. My boss asked if I'd heard anything to which I told him I hadn't. He said to me it doesn't appear that he'll be here much longer. He said I seemed to be handling everything really well.... I guess so. Just been keeping to myself.

I'm still in limbo and I'm going through a range of emotions. I didn't care yesterday or the day before but today, someone is having a birthday at the other end of the floor. People are laughing, and joking, music is playing pretty loudly but I'm not in the mood because I'm bitter that all those guys are having fun and I'm not. I'm not having fun because I want to know what the hell is going on.

I drag myself from my desk to have a look who's celebrating and it's some new guy in International. I steal a bit of chocolate cake and Nicky comes up to me giving me a hug. We arrange to have a drink tonight...but I'm so bloody bored of being grumpy and I'll just end up moaning. I want to shake out of this mood and yet, right this instant, it's consuming me. I'll be fine later. Just seeing those guys in the meeting room made me anxious. I just want to know what's happening. So I feel.....bleurgghhhhh.