Stoke

So, we set off for stoke at 6pm to make sure we got to the 8.45 cut off in time as last time traffic was very slow.

I got there and precided to watch Brent and Gibbo blow £52.50 and £40 respectively on blackjack, casino games have never tempted me. As EVERYONE always ends up playing til the death and cashing out for zip.

Anyway, we got there at around 8ish and met up with Daniel (Kinboshi) from BlondePoker, He was a generally nice guy and took away from the stereotype scouser in my mind. He had some interesting thoughts and is going to Copenhagen next week, so i wish him the best of luck. The screens flashed up with the seat numbers, and it turned out that neither Me, Brent, Rich, Gibbo or Daniel were on the same table of the 6 tables.

I got to table 6 seat 7 and played pretty tight to begin, mainly because the cards were dictating the way i could play, managed to find a 3c 4c after about 35mins and limped, most pots on this table were played for a 7-8 X BB raise, but this pot wasnt for once, about 6 limpers saw the Ac 5h Qc flop, I bet out 400 and get an insta call behind me, and the drunken button calls. The turn comes the Jc and i bet out 600, again and insta call behind me, and the button now folds. The river comes the Qs and i decide to bet 1000 as i think he must have A8 or something and this is probably the most he'd pay me off, turns out he called with AT and i took down a good size pot, taking my 8000 starting stack to around 10,000.

Then i just went dead, i couldn't catch ANYTHING finally a limp with Ah6h in LP allowed me to turn aces up and win a pot vs 88.

I got to the break with 9125, not too bad from the first period. I was hoping my table would be broke up soon so i could move onto a table full of loads of passive fish that we saw last time we came. Then my dream came true and i got moved to Brents table, the table of passivity, limp, limp, limp all over the shop.

As soon as i got here, i turned it on and managed to double my stack without showing a hand, pots got so big as at the 300/600 level with 5-6 limpers. Instantly betting 800-1200 on the flop usually takes it down. At this point i was up to 16,000, then Brent got moved and it all went south.

A poorly played, unobservant hand by me arose leading me to lose 4000:

LP raises to 1600
ME (SB) calls (Ac Th)
BB calls

FLOP - Ks Jd 4h

ME checks
BB checks
LP checks

At this point i know a bet on the turn will take it when looking at the LP raiser, but unfortunately i did not look at the BB and im sure i could've picked up something as he was a player i refer to as 'Tell City'.

ME bets out 2500
BB raises all in for 6500
LP folds
ME folds

This hand was very poorly played on my part but most times on this table, it would pick up the 4800 in the pot.

Soon after i bust out still being aggresive with an Ah Jh and making to 2200 of my 8000 stack, the next guy moves in and its folded back to me, i thought for a while, not wether i was ahead obviously, but whether he had 99 or 1010, something i am willing to gamble against, i called with my remaining 5200 and he turned over AdKd, I lost, and i deserved to, really bad play at the end of the tournament but i'm feeling good about my game.

Now i want to leave the most interesting hand, for me til last. I limp with KTos and the flop comes J J T, the BB bets out 600, and its folded to me, i decide to both try find out where i am, and look like i have a strong hand so i min raise to 1200. It gets folded back to him, and he makes it 2200 (1600 more) Now if he had a J here, this is exactly what he would do, so i insta folded. He then turned up K7os and commented that id been playing everyhand and outaggressing everyone, and obv he didnt want to be pushed around. I have developed my game to know pretty much what people have bye there betting patterns, BUT now its time to work out whether people actually have the goods they are representing. I'm not talking about obv bluffs when i can re-raise in an instant, but re-re raise bluffs when they have played it like a monster. I should have took the time to stare down this player, and i think i could have worked it out. Thats an aspect of my live game i need to sort out.

I was happy to see Brent go on and take down £80 for 6th place. He played a fantastic game and i managed to rail him for most of his game when i had bust.

Anyway a £25 loss for the day, but could be worse after watching Gibbo do about £80 off at BlackJack.

My live winnings this year (4 torns) now total £284, with £294 profit in Tournys and a £10 loss in a quick cash session.

I thoroughly enjoyed our 2nd trip to stoke, and would return in a minute. Players are treated fantastically and valets are round every 10 minutes offering the complimentary soft drinks which make the £5 buy-in fee well worth the money.

Not much to report online today, i will do an update after a few days playing $0.25/$0.50 HU cash on DTD and some $0.25/$0.50 and $0.50/$1.00 6 handed cash on stars.

I have the start of the league of Leeds Grosvenor coming up tonight (£10 double chance 5000 pts) where first in the league recieves a trip for 2 to monte carlo...