A Quick Round Up . . .

. . . From the past month, that was November . . .

From when I started typing the title to this post the entire theme tune to Rawhide has been running on loop in my head, lol whip crack and all . . .

"Move 'em on, head 'em up, Head 'em up, move 'em out, Move 'em on, head 'em out Rawhide! Set 'em out, ride 'em in Ride 'em in, let 'em out, Cut 'em out, ride 'em in Raaaaaaaawhide. "

And a line for Joppa . . .

"Though they're disapprovin', Keep them DOGGIES movin' Rawhide! Don't try to understand 'em, Just rope and throw and grab 'em, Soon we'll be living high and wide. "


Random . . . yet true, unlike Mik's, your thumb and nose are the same size crap, although you are right mate I couldn't kiss my elbow, gave it a good frenchie though!!!

A quick round up, as so much has happened I could bore the pants off even the most patient reader. (I'll beat you to it, "Like I always do anyway")


GUKPT: Grovsenor United Kingdom Poker Tour - Blackpool, or in my case the OTBMUKPT, Opportunity To Burn Money UKPT. I played the £150 2 day event, Played solid nit day one and slid into day two, happy slightly below average and at ease with my play. I drew table 2 same as last year at same event and remarkably the same seat as last year to, same beer stain and all. 4 players of my original tarb made day two out 45 of 230ish orig runners showing I think the strength of the table. (Obv I just ran good as is well documented thanks Rubbish) The level of play was of a much higher standard than the usual Blackpool donk/call fests that I'm used to playing. Following the table redraw, I didn't last long day two, when after 30 mins, a rather loud older fella from darn sarth who knows Akenhead and J.P don't cha know (J.P's the best you know not Jimmy Akenhead!) raised to 5.2k from the Cut off 600/1200/100. I look down in SB with AKs and shove my 17k stack, folds back to gobby who can't wait to get his remaining 16k in the pot with AQo (Bossa would have found the fold and quite rightly so.) Obv 3rd card on flops the dirty biatch (More annoyingly the old twat proudly shouts "There it is!" as it lands as if he had no doubt in his mind, that he was taking the pot down) a J on the turn added four outs to my meagre chances and a fat brick on the river saw me eliminated. "GG don't let the door hit you on your way out!" TWO BIG mistakes during this hand, One: Standing up as soon as I got the call, thus attracting the attention of Nuts poker T.V. who were streaming live to the tinternet via AWOP, so witnessed my horrible beat. Two: Shaking Jimmy's mates hand after he knocked me out!! Dave "NoCash", sent a commiserating text to me before I'd even left the venue (I didn't hang around!) as he'd just watched it live on AWOP. To be honest it made me feel alot better and for that, a big thanks mate. Even so for 50c NO I won't lick your ball sack, please stop asking me.


Ironically it was the first time all tourney I had been called when I had shoved, so obv I'm never going to hold. I want to play more of these in the future and my mate S who came to this and my second tourney of the week the £100 Fri night F/O, is of the same mind. So 2010, we are increasing the volume and playing more GUKPT's and similar events around the North of the country. Getting involved with AWOP's also on the agenda as it has been highly recommended by Dave and also a guy I met on day 1 called Rick, who sat to my left most of the first day and turned out to be a new memblay of RtR and a top bloke to boot, what are the chances, small world!! I think a move along these lines will drastically elevate my game.


The £100 f/o on the Fri night, was a bit of a wash out, but the night itself was fantastic. My girlfriend came to rail and upon arrival, we walked into the bar to get a bevy only to find ourselves stood by Marc Goodwin, this started a night of boring the missus with all the various pro's I recognised, best bit Mickey Wernick walking past and warmly shaking my hand and speaking to me as if we were old pals, which was nice. I saw him at the RtR trip to Notts earlier in the year but didn't converse with him (That I can remember! I was a touch fucked!). So I assume he was just being friendly!! Her sis was there for a works night out and her dad came later to play the cash games so a family outing ha ha. My mate S met me there prior and also P the regular host of my Thurs home game was having a family meal there for his birthday and I know them all and used to date his hot older sister, so it made for quite a boisterous occasion. To top it all my old work lot were there on a stag do, of one of the newer lads at my old place, so it was quite an evening.


I bust just after first break of the £100 crapshoot. The standard of play was mixed. As you had your reg circuit pro's who'd either busted that day or had played the day befores ME and were just playing retarded shit or bust pokes, your standard old nits and your young LAG's. I played a bit nitty at first to get a feel for the table, with my gf looking on it wasn't difficult as my cards were pure trash, which had pretty much been my run for the week from the £150, to the pub pokes Tues (Came 5/17 somehow, bubbled the cash though!) and home game Thurs (-£7), during all these games I saw two, TWO, premiums both in the £150 day one, QQ which I won with pre, following a nice three bet from me and AA also winning pre and taking the blinds. NICE!!! So my average hand for the week was 104o basically. So after starting with a 5k stack in the £100 and me looking like a total rock, noob, a situ arose where basically most of the tarb limped on my blind at 100/200, how very dare they, I looked down at the mighty 94 sooooooooooot . . . and slid out a healthy pot + 200 raise. To take down a meaty 1.4k+ pot. It says it all; I'm in level 3 before I remember a significant hand. Following that I started picking up some better yet still marginal holdings. A young tour player who to be grudgingly fair was very good, if a bit up his own arse, was 3 to my right and open raising alot of pots and C Betting and floating, before stealing the turn with abandon, against my hapless opponents. It was weird I was sat there watching it happen and knew what he was about, yet oddly, felt powerless to stop him. He limped MP (For maybe the 2nd time all tourney the first being my above BB hand) I called in the CO with K10s SB made up, BB checked flop KK4, checks to him he fires 600 into the 800 pot. I have been Hollywooding every hand I was involved in all game and he's stole several of my blinds. So I sat looking at him thinking, looking puzzled, etc, called, blinds fold. He checks in the dark, turn 5 all four suits out, I Hollywood it again before betting 1300. He quickly calls. River 9, he bets a quick 2.5k, nice play and I think for awhile basically deciding to call, re-raise min or shove. At this stage if I call I have 3.7k left and playable stack still, plus I get to expose what I suspect is a classic play/semi bluff by him. So I call (To nitty??) and he tries to muck before I have even shown but I insist on seeing the hand he reluctantly shows 33, I show my K10 and he starts spewing quietly to himself and glaring at me. To be honest I think it was a bit of an act on his part. Apart from those two hands and the odd three bet pre. My most significant hand bar my exit was 105 soooooot just before the break (Diamonds) in the BB I have around 9k avg 7.5k a 3.1k shorty limps on Button SB calls I check flop Ad6c3d checked to button who bets 2/3 pot SB folds, I pause and call thinking he's betting that flop no matter what turn 10h!! Suddenly bringing my hand to life. I consider betting but check expecting a blast which I had already decided to call. He does blast for his remaining 2k I call to be facing A4o. ONE TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME . . . my kazzzillion outs fail to materialise and I'm cut down to 5.5kish. (In hindsight not such a great play!) I can't get anything going and shortly after break I'm down to a push fold stack with the blinds and ante's biting, I get AQs in the cut off shove get an insta re-raise to isolate me from the button UT OH!! On our backs we go and I'm facing KK, the flop kills me with a Cowboy to set him nicely, gg me.


So off I wander to lick my wounds and grab a beer. I had spotted Michael Grecco earlier chatting to Tony Cascarino and as I walked into the bar he was sat nattering to other players. Now when I first met my girlie her favourite actors were Vin Diesel and a certain Michael Grecco. He was on a par with Brad Pitt in her eyes!! She was sat with her sis right by him and hadn't noticed!! LMAO so I pointed him out, she was so excited it made me laugh like a little kid seeing a paedo in a Mickey outfit at Disneyland for the first time. Anyways, her and her sis were too shy to ask for a pic but had moved to look at him from a far as were half the ladies of the bar. In the end my girl’s dad stopped him on the way to a cash game and asks if he minded getting a pic with her. So we walk over she breaks into a scamper and jumps on him giving him a massive hug, lol. He looked a bit shocked, but laughed it off. I shook his hand introduced myself took a couple of pics of them. She then starts asking when he's going back to acting, to which he explained he was financially far more successful pokering. Fair play, I ended up having a fifteen min chat with him regarding poker, as she looked on star struck, he was such a sound bloke, totally down to earth yet at ease with the attention he was attracting. I'm not sure how he did but had made day two in the ME at that point, so was quite positive about his chances. Other notable spots, Dave "el Blondie" Colclough, played the £100 event and was on my mates tarb, John Kalmar and other half, Rick Wild (Former Laddies annual MTT leaderboard champ) and someone I got to know on laddies when a regular MTT'r, Paul Jackson. I noticed other names on cash game lists also. We railed the £1000NL cash game and the action was sick, one guy had a mountain of chips infront of him and loads of notes!! To be honest it was a fantastic atmosphere and a great night the poker almost seemed secondary, yet that was why we were there.


As we left I was rueing my bad run all week, cold decks, bad beats and said to the missus, "you can guarantee that this cold run I'm going through will even out, probably in some mincey/soft $5 or $10 game online" . . . .






To be concluded . . .