Nothing momentous in the tournies this weekend except a couple of cashes and a very big stack in the $300fo that was built through other peoples bad play and lost through five consecutive allins that went the wrong way. I did however run very well in the sngs, scoring a 412 in one leaderboard, meaning i ran at about 100% and setting up nicely for the next weeks challenge too. I had flu last week and didnt play much, but have got a bit of TD and NLH cash (which i have barely played recently) in. Im still going through Danny Ashmans NL book and am looking forward to a copy of CTS's ebook, so maybe they can reinvigorate me. I did play a bit the week before, starting at $3/6 (which the new £ to $ conversion rate make about the same as $4/8 a couple months back) but losing every all-in is very discouraging, and the games seem to be increasingly dry at the higher limits. Maybe i will have to start playing at the vic more at this rate! Or start sports betting - Liverpool are now 5.6 to win the premiership (4.6-1) after drawing with West Ham and going a point ahead of Chelsea. Even without Torres until just before Xmas, Im seriously considering betting a large chunk...

Being ill has given me the chance to catch up on some TV though. Ive watched a ton of One Tree Hill whilst playing on weekends which i now have a grudging admiration for even though i always though it was a little hokey. They have done an impressive job of balancing the basketball/jock side with arty/music/literary side. I also caught up with Smallville as Lex is such a great character (similarly in Paradise Lost the devil is the interesting one) and Spooks/MI5 which non-brits may enjoy and i think is awesome for anyone living in London or interested in the intelligence world. Im looking forward to getting the box set of The Wire to rewatch and seeing entourage from the start. I dont know what it is with British TV, but there is a distinct lack of cutting edge drama, and all the US shows seem to appear on minor networks.

Not much to say about the tournies this week except that I played well and didnt run very well, but won the losses back elsewhere. I also played the Barry Greenstein Masterclass and bubbled. It wasnt much of a masterclass since the whole thing a bit of a crapshoot that was over in about 90 minutes and Barry said about 3 things throughout, but he was chipleader HU and so it will probably make good replay viewing. I got stuck in one massive Stud pot with a flush draw that missed and couldnt make a hand in TD to save my life and that was that! On a more positive note however Badugi on Stars seems to be taking off (I even won a $50 sng the other day!!!) so if they can add weekend tournies in that and TD (which is missing for some reason) I will be very happy.

I am trying to keep busy with stuff in the daytimes since there is not much to do now its winter (although I am solving this by getting up mid afternoon!) and will be doing some last minute editing on Danny Ashman's Secrets of Short Handed NLH this week and next. Im also considering doing a second book at some point since the first has gone so well (soon available in the PokerStars VIP store if you havent got one yet...). Someone i know bought a house in Vegas so I may go out there for a bit, although i dont travel much nowadays due to health problems that make it difficult. Its not so bad though as Ive realised that I have everything i need here and there isnt much point going away for the weather as it still gets dark early in most places (unless you can do 20hrs on a plane to Oz). So basically Im gonna hunker down, play some poker, watch some films, go clubbing occasionally for a while and see what happens. Hibernation ftw...

Im loving the new saturday schedule but i still seem to be stuck in repeat mode of losing at both tournes and sitngos on that day. On saturday i think i played 8 mtts, going out in the $200 PLO with 72% equity all-in three ways, losing AK v AQ in the $300, and a couple other flips. Again i came close in the $200 5 card draw, but petered out at the end and nothing went right in the $500 HU or $300 6 max. I did however final table in the $200 PLO8 for about 4k which at least more than paid for everything (and had a win at triple draw), although ironically i was barely paying attention to it as everything else had finished and i had someone come round. Today i played the warm-up and 100r to no avail but did well in the sngs to end up a bit too. Im getting on a winter sleep schedule now so hope to put in lots more hours and see some results.

The book seems to be doing well, with mostly positive comments and a couple dissenting ones, although in these cases no-one seems quite able to spell out what they think is missing from it and its kinda hard to prove a negative on my part. I guess all i can say is that i have managed to consistently beat $200+ sngs for years and that i have tried to put most of the ideas involved in this into the 60000 or so words that the book comprises with relevant examples and other information (and that I and the publisher are very happy with the result). Beyond this anyone wanting to succeed is still going to have to put the hard work of playing thousands of games and applying ICM calculators and their own brains to each individual situation that comes up which they are unsure about. There is no 'magic bullet' folks!

I just saw Recount, which is the dramatised account of the 2000 Florida electoral debacle that saw GWB steal his way into the White House. It was on TV about a month ago here, but I didnt really feel like watching it until everything was over. Then i watched some of the election night footage back from last week, as if it were possible to just fast forward through everything inbetween. Hopefully the next eight years can be compensation and then some for the insult and injury of the last eight...

So the SNG book is out in the UK and hopefully in the States very soon but i just wanted to make CR members/blog readers aware that there will be some promos coming up in the next month or two with CardRunners, TheHendonmob.com. Poker Player mag and possibly others giving copies away or running competitions. Watch dem sitez!

I played 10 tournies on saturday and cashed in 2 for another lacklustre week. Im sure i used to run better in these things when i was completely clueless! It is a great schedule though - almost like a mini WSOP every saturday, except you only have to devote 8-10 hrs to it. Playing live that would be about 2-3 weeks, the thought of which fills me with abject terror. Didnt play anything on sunday due to a fireworks display and pub tour. FTOPS 274 starts sometime this week, so i hope to get a few of the events from that in too over coming weekends.

EDIT - just recieved word from the publisher that the book has arrived in the States and that there have been over 2000 preorders/uk sales already - which is apparently pretty good!

Went 0 for 7 in the Saturday tournaments this week on bad beats and lost flips and didnt play on sunday. The best (?) run i had was in the 300 but i went out just before the bubble, losing AK v AA, then AA v TT, then AJ vs AA. Fortunately however i managed to win in some cash games including one session of 30/60 triple draw where i netted 4-5k. Ive been working on the TD game quite a bit recently and feel like im very sharp there and have worked a few kinks out. I saw a bit of my first TD vid too, which didnt really work too well, so maybe ill make some more and try to do a bit better ;-)

Nothing much to report since the live tournies ended in London... have been playing a lot of PLO at 3/6 and 5/10, with occasional 10/20 and 25/50 thrown in. Also got copies of the book through! It should be available on Amazon.co.uk soon and on Amazon.com in a couple weeks. Its funny that i wrote it 6-12 months ago and its only appearing now as it all feels like ancient history...!

Managed to break the final table drought coming an uneventful 8th in the 100r yesterday. Stars have a new weekend schedule that even makes a mtt grinch like me excited so i expect to be playing them 1-2 days a week over the winter and mixing in sngs where possible too. My schedule will look something like the following, with the later events getting thrown in as i move onto American time for the winter. Hopefully they will add 2-7 FL triple draw and badugi at some point too!

Sat

5.30pm - 200 PLO; 6pm - 300 FO; 6.30pm - 200 PL 5 Card Draw; 7pm -100r; 7pm - 200 PLO (FTP); 7.45pm - 200 PLO8; 8pm - 300 6 max (FTP); 8.45pm - 200 FLH; 9.30pm - 200 8 game

Sun

5.45pm - 200 Warmup; 6.45pm - 200 Razz; 7pm -100r; 7pm - 240 Brawl (FTP) ; 8pm - 150 (FTP); 8.15pm - 200 NL single draw; 9pm - 150r (FTP); 9.30pm - 200 Sunday mill; 10.15pm - 200 Mixed Holdem; 10.15pm - 200 HU; 10.30pm - Sunday 500; 11pm - 500 (FTP); 11.30pm - 200 2nd chance; 12.30am - 100r; 12.45pm - 200 HORSE

Ive been pretty much obsessed with PLO for the last couple weeks and havent played anything else... it really is a fun, exhilerating and complex game (or a stupid, frustrating and high variance one depending on how you are running.) Ive manly been playing 3/6 and 5/10 where i dont really care about flipping for stacks every 5 minutes and taking shots at 10/20 and 25/50 when there are good games. I think Ive been running bad in general 60/40 type all-in spots but fortunately people are happy to put the money in worse often enough that Im still doing OK. I hope to experience the much taked of but elusive PLO heater at some point. Couple of fun hands below...

I also played some live poker last week, by accident of course. Typically I always have two working laptops so that there is a <1% chance of ever being without the internet (which i know from growing up without is living in the dark ages), however one died last month from general misteatment and the other was not doing so well so i ordered 2 new ones, which were due in on Friday. Naturally the second died at around midday on Friday and i was like haha im so super organized ill be back up in no-time, until Business Post called to inform me they had been sent to Aberdeen by accident and would be delayed till Saturday. However the sun was shining so i got a nice walk along the Thames in followed by a trip to the first day of the WSOPE where i played a boring bit of NL cash and a crappy crapshooty live satellite having fortunately missed the opportunity to spunk £1500 in the first bracelet event. I was going to play the HORSE at one point too, but a hangover and it only having 60 runners when i called on Mon lunchtime made me reconsider. As you can see I am not down with the church of the spinup and think bracelets are for girls...

60% equity 3 ways...

PokerStars Game #20684855841: Omaha Pot Limit ($3/$6) - 2008/09/25 13:42:11 ET
Table 'Aegle II' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Fibear ($805.60 in chips)
Seat 3: Omus7 ($157.70 in chips)
Seat 4: ugribugri ($788.15 in chips)
Seat 5: Skjerv¸y ($729.95 in chips)
Seat 6: Jackal69 ($674.30 in chips)
Jackal69: posts small blind $3
Fibear: posts big blind $6
kipa58: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jackal69 [Ac Ah 7d 8d]
Omus7: folds
ugribugri: raises $12 to $18
Skjerv¸y: folds
Jackal69: calls $15
Fibear: raises $54 to $72
ugribugri: calls $54
Jackal69: raises $216 to $288
Fibear: raises $517.60 to $805.60 and is all-in
ugribugri: calls $716.15 and is all-in
Jackal69: calls $386.30 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($17.45) returned to Fibear
*** FLOP *** [9d 8c Tc]
*** TURN *** [9d 8c Tc] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [9d 8c Tc Ad] [4s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Fibear: shows [Kd Qh Kc Qs] (a pair of Kings)
ugribugri: shows [Ts Ks Kh Jh] (a pair of Kings)
Fibear collected $113.85 from side pot
ugribugri collected $113.85 from side pot
Jackal69: shows [Ac Ah 7d 8d] (three of a kind, Aces)
Jackal69 collected $2020.90 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2250.60 Main pot $2020.90. Side pot $227.70. | Rake $2
Board [9d 8c Tc Ad 4s]
Seat 1: Fibear (big blind) showed [Kd Qh Kc Qs] and won ($113.85) with a pair of Kings
Seat 3: Omus7 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: ugribugri showed [Ts Ks Kh Jh] and won ($113.85) with a pair of Kings
Seat 5: Skjerv¸y (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Jackal69 (small blind) showed [Ac Ah 7d 8d] and won ($2020.90) with three of a kind, Aces

39 outs baby!

PokerStars Game #20693287140: Omaha Pot Limit ($25/$50) - 2008/09/25 19:19:13 ET
Table 'Ida' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Jackal69 ($4150 in chips)
Seat 2: ktrieu ($8963 in chips)
Seat 3: spence79 ($2376 in chips)
Seat 5: arbianight ($4850 in chips)
Seat 6: Menace_star ($7037 in chips)
ktrieu: posts small blind $25
spence79: posts big blind $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jackal69 [Qh 8h Js Jc]
arbianight: raises $50 to $100
Menace_star: calls $100
Jackal69: calls $100
ktrieu: folds
spence79: calls $50
*** FLOP *** [3d Jh 6c]
spence79: checks
arbianight: bets $300
Sirens joins the table at seat #4
Menace_star: folds
Jackal69: calls $300
spence79: folds
*** TURN *** [3d Jh 6c] [Kc]
arbianight: checks
Jackal69: bets $1000
arbianight: raises $3023 to $4023
Jackal69: calls $2750 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($273) returned to arbianight
*** RIVER *** [3d Jh 6c Kc] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
arbianight: shows [6s 6h As 7d] (a full house, Sixes full of Kings)
Jackal69: shows [Qh 8h Js Jc] (a full house, Jacks full of Kings)
Jackal69 collected $8523 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $8525 | Rake $2
Board [3d Jh 6c Kc Kh]
Seat 1: Jackal69 (button) showed [Qh 8h Js Jc] and won ($8523) with a full house, Jacks full of Kings
Seat 2: ktrieu (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: spence79 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: arbianight showed [6s 6h As 7d] and lost with a full house, Sixes full of Kings
Seat 6: Menace_star folded on the Flop

This week i have been making a concerted effort to play lots of PLO and its gone pretty well and been fun too - its a much more subtle and action filled game than NLH and although there are lots of unavoidable high variance spots as long as you are well rolled and dont care too much about losing a bunch of close all-ins (like in sngs) you can play a very aggressive positional game and basically just crush souls. I started out at 2/4 and 3/6 and am now focusing on 3/6 and 5/10... the mid limits are very soft and easy to beat with lots of loose passive players and its somewhat reminicent of Party Poker NL games circa 2005/6 in terms of the evolution of the game. However lots of excellent NL players have made the transition and play 5/10 to 25/50 so those games will certainly be tougher so im not sure how high i wil be able to get without a ton of work. If youre interested in the game i really recommend the recent Byrstmar/Peachy 3 part series which is probably the best PLO video ever made.

WCOOP starts today but I am not playing as the $200 event wont finish till tomorrow afternoon and PL Draw is a silly game that kept me up till 6am last year at which point i was happy to bust even though we were in the top 100. I may play tomorrow (LHE and TD), depending on how i feel since ive also got flu at the moment, but Stars have cancelled a bunch of the regular events (like the 100r) which i wanted to play alongside and kept all the small event levels at 30 mins so i dont know whats gonna happen really. At least the 2 day events stop at 12hrs so I would only have to play until 9.30am the next day!

Booked my obligatory 12th place in the Saturday 100r, but since i was about last in chips from 60 players and probably set the record for longest time spent as the short stack i guess i cant complain. Also cashed in 300fo and 240 FTP knockout but didnt get far afterwards. Busted the PLO 200, the Sunday Warmup and the Sunday 100r where i lost with JJ v TT and then AA vQQ after the flop. Gonna have to see how the WCOOP structures, which are still being decided, look before i decide what to bother playing as some of them are a joke... its not often that you see poker players actively complaining about tournament structures being too slow!

Also looking forward to Stars rolling out the new 8 game mix tables and Badugi - the former should be awesome and although it will probably take them forever to get out decent stakes there when they do it will be super cool as i think i play most things there ok, even if i cant win a pot at PLO or TD. Everytime i decide to play some cash PLO I seem to insta-lose 5 buyins on 60-40 shots and then i just say FK PLO! and go do something else... its like im one of those people who just ran terrible at poker when they tried to learn and never got anywhere and gave up, but ive seen lots of the CR PLO vids so now i just need to learn to run good. TD is similar, except i play it more - its really a horrible game to play on its own as the edges are so small and it basically comes down to who draws best most of the time, evidenced by the number of terrible players who seem to play it constantly... today i made 3 no 1s - one pat utg which won the blinds, one where the bb drew 3 and folded and one in a multiway pot where i was like hahah gotcha buddy until the last round was capped and i knew already it was split.

Book proofs go back to the publisher tomorrow... Im generally a perfectionist in most things and there will no doubt be a few corrections missed but overall reading it back im starting to think that its looking prittay good. OK thats it for now, off to watch Takeshi Kitanos Hana-Bi, later.