$209 Paddy Power Poker UK Poker Tour

Just got back from the Birmingham leg of the Paddy Power Poker UK Poker Tour at Broadway Casino.

Didn't play too well, partly because I was involved in a 3-car accident on the way to Birmingham. A donk ran into the back of me when stationary at a traffic light queue and I got squeezed with the car in front. Not great!

I just about made it to the casino on time but things got from bad to worse as I was dealt crap all night with Lucy Rokach four to my right. She tripled up early after she made a button raise with 88 after an open raise and a cold-call - both called and she was up against 55 and AK. I passed an Ace-rag but another A flopped but she hit an 8 on the river to survive. Up to the first break the only pair I got was JJ and a couple of rag aces.

Short stacked the first spot where I could have made a move was with K7s in mid postion but I waited until UTG with QTo. Lucy Rokach isolated me with 99 but luckily I hit a T on the turn to double up.

Got moved to a new table and Lucy Rokach followed and this time she was immediately to my left. With blinds 300/600, someone in mid position raised to 2000. I had TT on the button and should have gone all-in, instead I passed and Lucy Rokach in the small blind re-raised all-in to just over 7,100. Original raiser passed. One orbit later and I found myself in the small blind with T8o against Lucy Rokach. Again, I should have pushed but folded. Next hand I went all-in with 2s2 on the button and Lucy Rokach isolated me with As9o from the small blind, hitting a 9 on the turn and the nut flush on the river.

Managed to drive back home safely at least, but I found out that the damage to my car was worse than I thought and my neck feels a bit stiff.

Result:

Stop number three on our whirlwind tour of the UK saw Birmingham's glamorous Broadway Casino bursting at the seams.

125 players started with 4,000 chips and play continued until 5am. As the sun began to rise it was PPP online qualifier Chris Carr who was celebrating a £5,400 payday along with a prestigious UKPT title.

Carr, from Wirral, adapted his online skills to defeat Joe Koumi (aka 'Chicken Joe') heads up in what was his first ever live tournament! Chicken Joe had probably been the strongest player at the final table until the batteries died on his ipod - it was all downhill after that!

BugsysClub October Skill League #1

Currently second with 10 days to go in the October BugsysClub Skill League. In the last 5 days I have closed the gap to owenmoney from 113 points to just over 5 points.

October Skill League Table

DaMatrix joins Team Full Tilt

DAMATRIX

• Nicknamed "DaMatrix".
• Member of BugsysClub Wall of Fame.
• Winner of the 2005 Maxim King of Poker.

DaMatrix does not play online exclusively at Full Tilt Poker.

Mansion $109 Aussie Millions Final

Finished in the bubble in Mansion's $109 Aussie Millions Final after qualifying via a sat. I let myself get blinded out after making a bad decision close to the final two tables. Had I not made the error I would have been 2nd chip leader with less than 30 left. C'est la vie.

19th/128, 18 paid

How to get busted holding the nuts...

Game: Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
Level XVII: 3,000/6,000 Blinds (1,000 Minimum Chip)
Average Stack: 39,714.28 (2,000 starting chips)
Remaining Players: 7 (35 started)
Seat 1 : DaMatrix starts with 1,000
Seat 2 : elblop starts with 9,000
Seat 4 : lilzhitt starts with 76,000
Seat 5 : neilsiv starts with 11,000
Seat 6 : Al_E_Gator starts with 39,000
Seat 7 : sparky6 starts with 53,000
Seat 8 : EnricoMartini starts with 96,000
Seat 7 : sparky6 has the dealer button
***DEALING HOLE CARDS***
DaMatrix dealt down 4c 2s Ah 3h
EnricoMartini posts the small blind 3,000
DaMatrix posts the big blind 1,000 and is all-in
elblop folds
lilzhitt calls 6,000
neilsiv folds
Al_E_Gator folds
sparky6 folds
EnricoMartini calls 3,000
***DEALING FLOP*** [ 6d 9c 4s ]
EnricoMartini checks
lilzhitt bets 6,000
EnricoMartini calls 6,000
***DEALING TURN*** [ Td ]
EnricoMartini checks
lilzhitt bets 6,000
EnricoMartini calls 6,000
***DEALING RIVER*** [ 8h ]
EnricoMartini checks
lilzhitt checks
EnricoMartini cards were As 2c 2h 5s
DaMatrix cards were 2s 3h Ah 4c
lilzhitt cards were 8c Kd Kh 8d
lilzhitt wins high 17,000 with three of a kind, eights
EnricoMartini wins low 17,000 with an eight low
lilzhitt wins high 2,000 with three of a kind, eights
EnricoMartini wins low 1,000 with an eight low
DaMatrix wins low 0 with an eight low

DaMatrix has left the table
DaMatrix finishes in 7th place

***SUMMARY***
Hand Ended: Tuesday October 10th 6:56:20 PM CDT 2006
Total Pot: 37,000
Board: [ 6d 9c 4s Td 8h ]
Seat 1 : DaMatrix (big blind) lost 1,000, showed hand [ 2s 3h Ah 4c ]
Seat 2 : elblop did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 4 : lilzhitt bet 18,000, won 19,000, net +1,000, showed hand [ 8c Kd Kh 8d ]
Seat 5 : neilsiv did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 6 : Al_E_Gator did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 7 : sparky6 (button) did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 8 : EnricoMartini (small blind) bet 18,000, won 18,000, net 0, showed hand [ As 2c 2h 5s ]

TonyG #3

Also, read the story of Shawn Marion - The Matrix.

Nordic Bet $240 Baltic Tour Final

I qualified via a sat and was up against 58 other players fighting for ten $2,200 Baltic Tour packages to Estonia.

Things were going ok, I doubled up via AA v KK (I saw this scenario 3 times during this one tourney!). Then lost a bit with A7 v J9 and KQ v 33 before overplaying A9s v TT in a battle of the blinds from the SB against Mullah. That cost me the seat really and Mullah ended up qualifying.

Oh well, I think Estonia would have been cold in November anyway! brrrrrrrrrrrr

Another disappointing result

Betfair S&G Challenge Performance Graph

DaMatrix Betfair s&g Graph

$8,000 BAD BEAT

Playing for a Betfair Asian Poker Tour package, I hit a streak of 4 wins in a row in NLHE thunder sixpaks.

4-a-row then.....

I called Betfair to see if Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo STTs were part of the promotion. They confirmed and so I played one, luckily getting to head-up but building a 8783 to 1217 chip advantage when:

Game #2503304083: Omaha H/L PL (500/1000) - 2006/10/01 - 17:05:59 (GMT)
Table "STT 3567577 - 1" Seat 9 is the button.
Seat 3: DaMatrix (8783 in chips)
Seat 9: Shampoo (1217 in chips)
Shampoo: posts small blind 500
DaMatrix: posts big blind 1000
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to DaMatrix [Ts 3h Ah 2h]
Shampoo: raises to 1217 and is all-in
DaMatrix: calls 217
----- FLOP ----- [Jc Jh Th]

----- TURN ----- [Jc Jh Th][As]

----- RIVER ----- [Jc Jh Th As][9c]

----- SHOW DOWN -----
Shampoo: shows [4s 8s 6d Qc] (HI:A Straight, Queen high)
DaMatrix: shows [Ts 3h Ah 2h] (HI:Two Pairs, Aces and Jacks, Ten high)
Shampoo collects 2434 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot 2434 Main pot 2434 Rake 0
Board [Jc Jh Th As 9c]
Seat 3: DaMatrix (big blind) showed [Ts 3h Ah 2h] and lost
Seat 9: Shampoo (small blind) showed [4s 8s 6d Qc] and won (2434) with HI:A Straight, Queen high

Shampoo doubles with a 3-outer then I get rags and end up losing the match! My bubble count this year has cost me over $40,000 now.

Owen's Money

The September Skill League at Bugsy's Club was won by owenmoney with a skill rating of 1943.47. Second was knoemp with 1922.72 and I was third with 1902.70. Last was ASG with a score of 1381.49!

I could have won the league if I tried, after all I scored 1961.63 in August, but I had other things on my plate and this month I didn't play as much as I needed to - partly because I wasn't on form.

September: Final Top 10

Overall though, not a bad September since I had my second most profitable month of the year on all poker.