Last night was the £30(+3) shoot-out tourny. I've only played this once before and which after several house of play I managed to win through a tough, tight table to reach the final, where I went out first. This time there were 37 players so we had 5 tables of 6 and one of 7, I took my seat and found Economics kid, Mo, unknown player (later found out he was Vic regular), Port Tabot man, and the young "mouse" rock. A pretty tough table. As it was short handed I droped my usual tigh play and started raising with much weeker holdings than usual (particuly from the button). I was playing and my chip stack went up but very slowly, first out was Mo so I was no long chip leader (that was PT man, which he never relinquished whilst I was there). After a couple of levels I had AKs on the button, there was raise UTG I called and the blinds folded. An A came down on the flop, he checked, so did I, a blank on the turn, he checked, I bet minium, he called, then the river naother blank, he raised I rasied 500, he rerasied to 1,500 so put him all-in for his last 800, he had Q high, nicely played.

The next hand I look down to see AA, the table had not been responding too well to raises (or perhaps well, they were folding allot) so I call, eveyone folds to the BB, the flop comes down 5,6,9 he checks, I bet min he calls. the turn comes a 4, he bets I raise a 1,000 he calls (oops) then a 3 hits the turn he bets 600 I figure I'm beat be call because I'm getting about 8:1 and he has a straight. I loose a large chunk. I duck and dive for a bit but the first hand after the break, I have 2,000 chips, the blinds are 200,400 and it folds around to me with J,10 I raise all-in Econ boy calls with Q,8 the flop comes Q,8,A (oh well at least I have a gut-shot) J,10 hit two pair and I'm still out, oh well, maybe next time. Perhaps I need to go abck to my tight game, I'll try that next week.

Its Wednesday so it beginers ngiht, my favorate. Many of the regulars complain about this night but it has been my most successfull night, keep it tight and often its enough to see you through. On this night we had 70 runner, I took my place at the table to find a nice little collection of new faces, a couple of regular but crap players, so I thought nice and easy but then Martin's wife sits down, closly followed by Jane. This woman can hit the the side side of a dinky van from 50 feet but fortunalty for the table its wasn't to be her night, although she did donate a number of buy-ins to the pot.

During the rebuy I played fairly well getting my money in on big draws and when I though I was in front, by the end of rebuy period I had about 4,000 in chips and only rebought once and did an add-on. As the freeze-out part went I had a poor run of cards until I hit middle pair with only the button left in the pot, there is about 4,000 in the middle when he raises it on the turn. I have a Q kicker (the board is 10,J,9 and rag on the turn), he arrived at the table with very few chips and witha bit of luck and aggressive play he buils a stack about the same size as mine, the 2,000 bet basicly puts me in for most of my chips. I recon he's making a move so I call, he flips 10 rag, I take the pot.

Latter I'm the SB, one caller, I have J,2 so I call for value (I'm getting 6:1) and the BB rasies the min, the caller calls again and whilst I'm out of position I'm getting 7:1 on my money so I call. The flop comes K,Q,10 giving me a straight draw up and down, I go all-in for 5,500 hoping to take the pot there. The BB thinks for all of a second and calls, the caller folds, the BB flips A,Q for a middle pair, I fail to hit A or 9 and I'm out.

Should I have put myself all-in with nothing but a draw? With hindsight the answer is no but that's easy to say after the event. The guy on the BB had been calling alot, allthough in fairness not with complete garbbage, although he did call a large bet with A,K after nothing on the flop. He had been raising as well as calling, the range of hands he had was probly quite large, anything from a pair to any ace. As there was no ace on the board, he would have had to have had a K in his hand to call a bet of this size (or so I thought) . I think this was a move better suited to another night and I should have layed my hand down to the enevitable raise, I think a call even for value would have wrong (which he would have likely given me) as it would have left me short stacked. I should have left it alone when the original raise was made preflop, pot odds plays should be left to cash games and the rebuy period not the freeze-out stage.

Recently I had a run of good results, whilst I've not come first or seond I've made the final table on no less than 6 out of the last 7 occasions as a result I thought I'd break my own rules and play in Monday's NLH £10 rebuy tourny. I did well during the rebuys, only getting an add-on and no rebuys and at the break I had 10,000 chips (ave about 4,000). Not long after we restarted I was moved, on the second hand I was the BB and the player to the left limped in (a baby faced young fella), I had J9o. When the flop came down I hit top pair I bet 1,000 into a 900 pot, he called everyone else folded. I checked the turn, he went all-in for about 3,000 I called he turned over JQ, I lost. I never recovered form this and whislt I ducked and dived for a bit I couldn't find any cards to make a stand with and eventually got blinded away.

Then On Tuesday I played in the £10 rebuy PLH, I was the feild was small (37) I was draw on a table with some good solid players (bald Alan, Doc' son, Doc, Ebber Vale Mike) and a big fella (copper?) who plays a far amount but is not very good. I found it hard going, had 5 rebuys before the second level, eventually I found 8,8 I raised, got a couple of callers, A, K, 8 hit the flop, I went all-in for the rest of my chips, got a caller, another 8 hit the board I was up to about 3,000. I kept hold of those chip and had an add-on. After the break my bad run of cards continued, I was witteled down to about a 1,200 I was on teh BB with Q,2o a couple of players limped I checked (should I have raised, probly still would have been called). Everyone checked the flop, a Q hit the turn so I chucked in my last and the cooper called, he had A,4 he needed a 2 (straight) or A and hit a 2 on the river. 7 outs what was he thinking.

Whilst I had a poor run of cards it dosen't really matter what you have its how you used them. I thought my playing had improved and it probly has but not as much as I thought. I need to stick to the lower buy-ins as I promised myself to build a bank roll big enough to learn in the £10 game.

I've been playing live poker now for about a year, desiding to try out my local casino after playing for a couple of years online and occasionally with friends. At first it was a bit intimidating but I finished second in my second live tourny and that gave me the encouragment (and bankroll) to carry on. It took some getting used to the Pot Limit betting as I was used to No Limit play, now I prefer Pot Limit to "all-in" No Limit.

I want to use this blog as a way of recording my tournament play to hopefully improve my game.