Last time I blogged was before Paris, before Tel Aviv, before a week in hospital - in a classroom, it's all good - and March has been by far and away the busiest month ever for me.

So let's start at the beginning. I met Supersnort, who was significantly quieter than I expected (I'm continually surprised when people in real life turn out to behave differently from their internet persona - how weird!). He's got an interesting table manner - basically, he doesn't talk unless someone talks to him, and despite his interesting gangly teen rocker appearance, manages to stay underneath everyone's radar. His hair is pretty long (and unwashed, I think, in quite a while), and that works better than any sunglasses, hat or hoodie - he just sweeps his hair across his brow, so that he can see out, but no-one can see his facial expression.

He refused to take part in any of the poker discussion, which in my opinion is to his detriment, as he seems to play a pretty solid, tight-aggressive game and understand poker to some extent. There was lots of good poker discussion through the week - the other three of us all had some decent level of experience and skill and were very forthright in our views. For the most part we agreed but there were some sticking points, mostly about preflop style.

In general, Paris was quite stressful, turbulent, emotional, etc. I had several large lapses in discipline, including my first ever occurrence of dealer abuse. I was hovering just above a thin film of permatilt all week, which I fell through a couple of times when put in high pressure situations - and the Frenchies love to stick you right in them. They're not afraid to use the rules to their advantage - I guess that's a polite way of saying 'they enjoy slowrolling', and that really gets my back up. In any case, after a few beats, slowrolls, and stroppy waiters, everyone limps on my big blind in a a‚¬2/4 PLO game. As I'm looking at my cards - A K A K - the dealer just deals out the flop. There's probably something wrong if this doesn't annoy you - but I screamed and shouted at the dealer. For the most part, the dealers in the Aviation were top-notch, really well-trained and courteous, and this guy had made a small mistake, but I really let him have it. The flop came out all s, I bet about half the pot, everyone folded, and I showed my cards and got even angrier as I flipped my hand, presumably in search of sympathy. The next day I apologised to the dealer in question and felt quite bad, but I've (in theory) massively improved my self-control in the last few years, so this was quite a disappointment. I also loudly called someone a donk after he raised pre from UTG in a tournament and called my reraise with QJo, no then failed to fold on an AQT board - I had JJ no . Turns out a few frenchies speak english and understand 'donk'.

I entirely failed to bink any tournaments, coming 19th in one a‚¬500 tournament with top 18 paying - again, very disappointing given I played quite well throughout. The French are generally pretty damn bad at poker, and I'm formulating a plan to commute there from London every once in a while. My thoughts are that it won't be particularly expensive, and with the Eurostar, I can travel over for a decent-sized tournament every once in a while, in the afternoon, for an 8PM start, and if I bust, play cash until a mid-morning train back. If you also live in london and are interested, get in touch.

Cash was pretty fun. The more live PLO I play, the fewer decisions I find that are tough - though lots are still interesting. I'm still relatively bad at NLHE, though I know the fundamentals and play a reasonably solid game. I dropped a decent amount playing a‚¬5/10 PLO, made most of it back at a‚¬2/4, and ran massively hot (and played pretty well) at a‚¬5/5 NLHE, where I spent most of my time. My best session was on the wednesday night - I sat in with the minimum, a‚¬250, as I normally do - with a view to reassessing usually after an hour or so - but this time I had a‚¬3300 in front of me an hour later, only having shown down five hands. The first was QQ all-in on a J98 flush draw flop, three-way, holding against JQ and KQ - the guy with KQ thinking he had a flush draw but his cards were both black on the heart draw board, which amused me. I then opened from early position with 56, got a small reraise from late position and an overcall from the button, so with something like 5-1 odds I had to call, despite both other players being quite short. The flop was 478, which I sorta liked, so checked to the raiser, who went all-in. The coldcaller dwelled up for a while and was obviously a little worried about me, so I tried to give off my best impression of someone who was going to pass instantly and had no interest in this flop. He seemed to believe me and shoved all-in over the top, I turbocalled and tabled as the turn and river blanked and I binked the pot.

The next big coup was an elaborate, fancy-play-ridden multi street bluff against what looked like a resident pro. I'd played with him a little in a tournament and he was quite tight and straightforward, but it really looked to me like he was bluffing occasionally, in good spots - in general, I afforded him a decent amount of respect, and it looked like he was returning the favour, but he must have been on a little bit of tilt, as he reraised me a couple of times in a row. The first time I just folded as I had A9o and no-one else was in the pot, but the second time I had QJ and there was another coldcaller in the middle, and felt that I could play reasonably well on a lot of flops, and even though I didn't really have a clear idea of his range, we were something like 250BBs deep, and I had good relative position. The flop came down T74 rainbow (with one heart), I check, first to speak, the original raiser bet something like a‚¬100 into a‚¬180. I decided right there that he was capable of c-betting this flop with a bunch of ace and maybe even king-high hands and that I could push him off those, and if he had actually flopped a pair, he would find it difficult to call with all this money left to play. If he had an overpair I should be able to push him off on the turn or river, and if worst comes to worst, I still have a three-straight, a three-flush, and two possibly live overcards, so I made it a‚¬300. He thought for a short time and called. The turn paired the T, which I thought was a great card for me, so I bet a‚¬550 - perhaps a little big, but I just wanted him off the pot there and then. He called, I just couldn't put him on a ten. The river was an 8, but by this point I felt his range was narrowed to KK or AA, maaaaybe QQ. I only had a‚¬400 left at this point, with the pot standing at a‚¬1800. At this point, shoving makes me look like a massive genius when he folds, and enforces the image of a bluffy spewtard when he calls, which he should do - how bad is it to put that much money into the pot and then fold getting 5.5-1? I mucked my hand when he folded and immediately wondered just how lucky I got, though as played, I still feel the river shove was right - it's the rest of the hand that is probably marginal/spewy, mostly my bet-size on the turn, but there were at least semi-solid reasons for everything I did.

The reverse situation came up less than a round later. The same guy opened UTG and got three callers, and the earlier-mentioned fish who thought he had a flush draw with KQ made it a‚¬120. I find pocket jacks in the big blind and decide to overcall, though I could happily have 4-bet then and there as I felt I was well ahead of everyone's range. In retrospect it probably should have been a 4-bet but that wouldn't have won me as much money . Everyone behind me calls, so we've got a good a‚¬700 in the pot before the flop, which comes out KK8 rainbow. With six of us in there I figure someone's got a king so check it, probably intending to pass to any bet, really - if they have an eight and are value-bluffing, I don't really mind that much. Everyone checks, though, and the T on the turn puts out a flush draw. I'm too much of a pussy to bet like a man and only make it a‚¬200, original opener calls, everyone else folds. The river is some low blank and he shoves his last a‚¬350 into the a‚¬1100 pot and I delight the table by turbocalling and instatabling. He shakes his head, gets a little annoyed by the speed with which I called, and mucks his hand.

We came back on the thursday with the intention of playing the rest of the festival at the gutshot/international, but again, none of us binked - twelve tournaments blanked between Joe and I over seven frustrating days, and I lost a bit at the cash, but it was mostly uneventful.

We did get this fantastic picture on the eurostar back.



That's it for now - I'm going to split March up into a couple more blog posts, I think. I've an article to finish writing before I can spare any more time - part of the purpose of this particular post is to get me back into the swing of writing.

I'd desperately welcome some form of comment from holdem players on my play - specifically live, full ring players than six-max online.

I couldn't say when my next videos will be made, I'm behind on what I promised, but would expect at least to get two more uploaded by the end of April.

Wazz