Is this a poker blog or a footy tip line?

Well the only time I seem to post is when I have the footy tips and they are probably wasted as no one hardly reads this any more. Hey their loss is your gain as they have missed some fantastic footy tips recently. This week I hope for more of the same:

1 Sunderland v Derby (Backing Sunderland @ 1.72)
2 Wolves v Preston (Backing Wolves @ 1.74)
3 Sheff Wed v Colchester (Backing Sheff Wed @ 1.91)
4 Ipswich v Barnsley (Backing Ipswich @ 1.62)
5 Hull v Cardiff (Backing Hull @ 2.14)

as a multiple (at 19.87) and singles, plus Rochdale at 1.93 just as a single. Get on early before the price crashes!

As for the poker (i suppose I better mention it in this poker blog), I am a bit frustrated with my Internet connection as its not very good with betfair, so I am playing on full tilt a lot - results wise - I am pretty much dead even having played a few stt's and some 90 runner sit n gos that pay out 18 places. I really want to win one of these soon.

He's Back, He Playing Poker, He's Winning and yeah your value footy bets are back!

All back in and settled, still got two weeks off work yet, and then only back in for a couple of weeks before xmas. Happy days.

Poker is going well, last night finished third in one of Betfairs $5 Rebuys for $357 after having final tabled (6th) in a $1.5k gtd, $15 buck entry for around $100. The rebuy game took ages and finished about 3 o'clock this morning so I am well knackered.

I have however managed to pick out my value footy bets for the weekend. As some of the regular readers know I have a certain amount of success picking out teams whose odds look bigger than they should. Here are this weekends picks:

1 Arsenal v Wigan (Backing Arsenal @ 1.19)
2 Rotherham v Shrewsbury (Backing Rotherham @ 2.05)
3 MK Dons v Chesterfield (Backing MK Dons @ 1.87)
4 Macclesfield v Dag and Red (Backing Macclesfield @ 1.87)

I know some will see 1.2 as not exactly value but there is no way on this earth that Arsenal can lose this. Famous last words! Rotherham are at the top of the form charts in League Two against and ordinary Shrewsbury team means I couldnt beleive it when I saw it at 2.05. The other two games consist of god home teams against less good away teams so 1.87 represents a good price for these. I have backed the 4 as singles to varying stakes and also rolled them up as an 8.49 acca. Good luck, get on before the prices crash.

Thoughts Turn to Home

3 Weeks to push. Looking so much to getting back and spending some time with the family (and, ahem, playing some poker).

I have luckily got about three weeks off work when I get back so can combine the two no problems, but I am certainly looking to distil the time playing poker and use the old adage "quality not quantity". Before I came out here and when I was back for a week I definately lost focus and just played for the sake of it because I knew I was going to be without for a while, I still managed a few cashes but also wasted some buys ins when I was not mentally right to play. Once back and settled I am definately going to come up with some sort of plan of action for my play. Cash games do not interest me in the slightest, and I still a mix of STTs and MTTs, so will base it around that. I also need to distil the sites I play on and consoldiate the bankroll. I currently have about 23 accounts up and running (and funded) and need to look to get them down to about 4 or 5 I guess. Betfair, Sun, Pokerstars, Mansion and Full Tilt I think. The first two are the ones I get rakeback on and I enjoy the games on all five. I guess I also need to step up the buy in levels I play at. With a couple of thousand bucks in the accounts I guess playing 10 buck STTs and 2 and 5 buck MTTs is a little below what I should be playing at.

All comments welcome on the above, and any ideas are also welcome.

Beginners Luck

Playing with the lads we have taught to play out here and got it pretty spot on till this happened. 3 players left out of 6. Marginal chip leader, dealt KK on the button, so I raised to 750 (blinds 100/200. SB fold but BB reraises to 1500. He had been playng any ace all night so reraised all in (I him covered by about 800 chips), he insta calls for the game and flips over QsJc. "What the fuck?" "I thought you were bluffing". I did try to explain that in the very small chance that I was bluffing, he still wasn't going to be a massive favourite to win, but he couldnt quite grasp it. Needless to say he flopped the staright draw which hit on the river. I went out shortly after when flopping a straight flush draw, all the chips were in but missed. Ahh well.

One Off Footy Bets

Some of the more regular readers will have seen I got some decent footy tips in last season. I Dont get to gamble (due to internet restrictions) while I am in Iraq so I have been looking forward to sticking a couple of quid on the following:

Man U @ 1.23
Ipswich @ 2.1
Carlisle @ 2.14
Northampton @ 2.16
Rotherham @ 1.86
Rochdale @ 1.97

Good value prices as always (event he Man U one I reckon). Get on if you have time!

A Week at Home

Back for a weeks R&R. Its good to be back in the UK apart from the cold! A bright morning this morning reminds me why I love England, I could almost walk around in shirt sleeves. Once this weeks over I have to go back for about 5 weeks so it wont be too long, thankfully.

I brought my digi camera back and dowloaded a few pics, there are a few more on the PC at work which I will being back, but I like this one, which shows me and Mitch playing extreme poker outside our accomodation late one night. Mitch had to play with a head torch, and me with a little pocket one. Note the quiet player in the third seat at the back.



The sandwich won by the way, after a long heads up battle.

More IPT Woes

Another $25 tourney, this time a 9 seater, this time out in ninth. After one spin of the table I got KK in mid position, so I raised it up, and was reraised by the button, which was called by the BB. Alllllll Innnnn, button flips over AK and the BB turns over QQ. Q on the flop, A on the turn (to lose the side pot) and its over again. Perhaps I'll wait till i get home.

SNAP IS THE CHAMP

Not much else to do apart from congratulate Snap, BFWCOP III champion!!!

Well done pal, you deserve it.

Found my Level

Played a five player $10 stt. 3 rank amatuers and one experienced player. Me and the other guy who plays managed to work our way through the outdraws to go headsup. Eventually we got them all in with JJ (me) against KQ and its over for the first win on the IPT. +$25 for the night. Running total -$25 tournaments same for cash.

Come on the flashmob. If someone can update Raisetheriver.com that would be handy.

IPT Woes

Played again on Sunday night and lost. Never got going in the tournament game and took some beats in the cash game after building a decent stack quickly. The cash game was Dealers choice, 2, 3 or 4 cards. Managed to lose most of my stack on the Omaha hands when a couple of lads who had played it before decided their two pair was food enough against my flopped straights to catch their Full Houses, same situation twice, both times leaving me low on chips. Will continue to play as there is definite potential in the game. But at the moment its a losing one. So -$25 in the Tourney and -$80 in the Cash. Running total -$50 and -$69. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Good luck to all flashmobbers at BFWCOP this coming weekend.

A Poker Game at Last

Finally found some lads that play poker over here. Went down on Sunday night for a $25 freezeout and then a cash game. Was happy with the way I was playing and trundling along with 4 left (out of 8, only 2 paid), when I got a AA on the button, happy days as they say out here. UTG calls. I raise 3 x bb, SB folds, BB calls, and does the limper. Flop comes Q T 3 rainbow, and its checked to me. Substantial bet from me sees BB call, and original limper fold. Flop comes A of spades, showing two spades. He checks I go all in. He umms and ahhhs for a while then calls for all but a couple of hundred chips, and flips over T2 of spades. Of course I deal myself the spade that I dont want and I am out. Marsalaama Mutherfucker.

I played in a cash game after for a while (.25/.50 blinds), bought in for $60 and left with $71 after an hour or so. Play was average at best and I should have walked away with a bit more but tried to get clever with a muppet and lost about 18 bucks on one hand towards the end.

These guys play regularly and I will mostly be playing as much as I can with them from now on, so could be profitable. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Iraqi Poker Tour (IPT) Progress so far.

Tournaments -$25
Cash +$11


Ciao for now.

Every get the feeling you aint welcome?

The locals aint happy.

Its still a massive big bag of wank here and cant wait to leave. Miss the family, miss peace and quiet, miss POKER!

Thanks to gats for the illustrious award in the monthly post, although I wouuld rather have got a poker award.

Hope you are all having a fab time in the uk.

Laters

Its Shit

I thought that watching the news was bad, but its far worse when you are here. They dont report half of it!

Further updates to follow.

Blog Suspended

I am away for a few months with work, therefore this blog is suspended until probably about mid November, by which time we will have had a flashmob victory in the bfwcop III, hopefully.

If I get t'internet access while I am away I will try and post up so photos, and keep a few updates going.

Those of you who know where I am going, don't mention it directly on here for obvious reasons, and for those who don't know, well either ask one of the others or mind your own business.

Good Luck and...

COME ON TEAM FLASHMOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Edit: Weather forecast thing added over on the right, but basically its gonna be fecking hot!

Saturday Headhunters

Rather than take on the tough(er) competition of daytime betfair players I thought I would play a few of the Crypto Headhunter tournaments. I like the format although I am not sure it suits my style of play. I think you have to get a stack early on and then bully opponents by going all in against them - not my style, but lets see how I get on.

1114 Game - £5 - Steady start up a couple of hundred. Dealt AQ, put in a standard raise and get one caller. Flop is A Q 7, two spades - I raise a decent amount caller reraises all in. Now I am thinking if they have AA or QQ then fair enough but more likely AK through to AT and decide its worth the risk. Oppo flips over K4 spades,turn is a blank but the river is a spade and its all over. No Heads

1214 Game - £2 - Good start, two early heads and up to about 4k. Bloody Thunderstorm means I lose the broadband for about 45 minutes. Got back in and had just finished just inside the money, plus the two heads from earlier.

1314 Game - £5 - Also affect by the loss of broadband cos of the thunder, having onlyplayed a couple of hands before losing connection. Got back in with only 800 or so left, waited for a suited ace but no luck. No Heads.

1414 Game - £10 - No good, no hands to speak of for the first 45 mins or so, then managed to get my all in with AK called by QQ. No Heads.

Top Tune

Not much of a music buff but I have just downloaded the Kings of Leon "Fans" and cant get the tune out of my head. Have a listen, top track it is.

Back on the poker after a couple of nights on the piss, and a home game last night. Very tired but have managed tocash in each of the STTs I have played tonight. I am not going to donkof a load this weekend like I did last week.

The spacebar is playing up onmy laptop so if any of my posts look a bit odd (more than usual) the thats why.

Tripled up plus a little bit in the home game which was a laugh, but didnt finish till 2 this morning, so work has been a drag today.

4 weeks to my trip to the sun, cant wait...

Good luck at the tables this weekend.

Having a 'Mare

Some of the more regular readers will realise I only usually blog when I'm winning but tonight I have been compelled to post over what has happened to me tonight. I have got the chips in when in front on so many occasions and have got done by some very bizarre outdraws to say the least. Here are just a few that I could find in the hand histories:


***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 217401385 *****
NL Texas Hold'em $25 Buy-in + $2.50 Entry Fee, Level:2 Blinds(15/30-(no ante)) - Saturday, June 09, 19:11:13 GMT 2007
$25+$2.50 NL Holdem #852140
Table 1 9-max (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of active players : 8
Seat 1: num nutz ( 225 )
Seat 2: HAWAII HANK ( 210 )
Seat 3: numer0ne ( 2,630 )
Seat 4: storken ( 2,660 )
Seat 5: ajcairns ( 3,180 )
Seat 6: James333 ( 1,425 )
Seat 7: Bulllts ( 380 )
Seat 9: El Willo ( 2,790 )
Tourney Level:2 Blinds(15/30-(no ante))
numer0ne posts small blind [15]
storken posts big blind [30]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ajcairns [ As, 9d ]
ajcairns calls [30]
James333 folds
Bulllts folds
El Willo folds
num nutz folds
HAWAII HANK goes all-in
HAWAII HANK raises to [210]
numer0ne folds
storken folds
ajcairns calls [180]
** Showdown **
HAWAII HANK shows [ Kd, Jd ]
ajcairns shows [ As, 9d ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Th, Tc, 3h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5d ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ks ]
** Hand Conclusion **
HAWAII HANK wins 465 from main pot with two pair, Kings and Tens
************ Game 217401385 ends ************

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 217404676 *****
NL Texas Hold'em $25 Buy-in + $2.50 Entry Fee, Level:4 Blinds(50/100-(no ante)) - Saturday, June 09, 19:22:30 GMT 2007
$25+$2.50 NL Holdem #852140
Table 1 9-max (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 2: HAWAII HANK ( 805 )
Seat 3: numer0ne ( 1,250 )
Seat 4: storken ( 3,595 )
Seat 5: ajcairns ( 2,820 )
Seat 6: James333 ( 1,675 )
Seat 9: El Willo ( 3,355 )
Tourney Level:4 Blinds(50/100-(no ante))
storken posts small blind [50]
ajcairns posts big blind [100]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ajcairns [ Kh, Kd ]
James333 raises to [270]
El Willo folds
HAWAII HANK folds
numer0ne folds
storken folds
ajcairns calls [170]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8d, 9s, Tc ]
ajcairns bets [360]
James333 raises to [900]
ajcairns goes all-in
ajcairns raises to [2,550]
James333 calls [505]
James333 goes all-in
Returning uncalled bet [1,145] to ajcairns
** Showdown **
ajcairns shows [ Kh, Kd ]
James333 shows [ Qd, Qc ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Jc ]
** Hand Conclusion **
James333 wins 3,400 from main pot with a straight, Queen to Eight
************ Game 217404676 ends ************

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 217422043 *****
NL Texas Hold'em $25 Buy-in + $2.50 Entry Fee, Level:4 Blinds(50/100-(no ante)) - Saturday, June 09, 20:18:30 GMT 2007
$25+$2.50 NL Holdem #852287
Table 1 9-max (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of active players : 8
Seat 1: ajcairns ( 3,085 )
Seat 2: num nutz ( 1,607 )
Seat 3: redroc ( 895 )
Seat 5: Chopper D ( 1,480 )
Seat 6: Twakers ( 858 )
Seat 7: chubbyche ( 1,285 )
Seat 8: thebfg ( 3,800 )
Seat 9: zippoATM ( 490 )
Tourney Level:4 Blinds(50/100-(no ante))
Twakers posts small blind [50]
chubbyche posts big blind [100]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ajcairns [ Qd, Qc ]
thebfg folds
zippoATM folds
ajcairns raises to [270]
num nutz folds
redroc folds
Chopper D folds
Twakers goes all-in
Twakers raises to [858]
chubbyche folds
ajcairns calls [588]
** Showdown **
ajcairns shows [ Qd, Qc ]
Twakers shows [ Ks, Qh ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6d, 5s, 3s ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6s ]
** Dealing River ** [ As ]
** Hand Conclusion **
Twakers wins 1,816 from main pot with a Flush
************ Game 217422043 ends ************

and my particular favourite to finish me off:

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 217429947 *****
NL Texas Hold'em $25 Buy-in + $2.50 Entry Fee, Level:6 Blinds(100/200-(no ante)) - Saturday, June 09, 20:35:25 GMT 2007
$25+$2.50 NL Holdem #852287
Table 1 9-max (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of active players : 5
Seat 1: ajcairns ( 2,453 )
Seat 2: num nutz ( 2,257 )
Seat 3: redroc ( 4,280 )
Seat 7: chubbyche ( 685 )
Seat 8: thebfg ( 3,825 )
Tourney Level:6 Blinds(100/200-(no ante))
num nutz posts small blind [100]
redroc posts big blind [200]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ajcairns [ Kd, Ks ]
chubbyche folds
thebfg raises to [700]
ajcairns goes all-in
ajcairns raises to [2,453]
num nutz folds
redroc folds
thebfg calls [1,753]
** Showdown **
ajcairns shows [ Kd, Ks ]
thebfg shows [ Kh, Tc ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3c, 6d, 9c ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qc ]
** Hand Conclusion **
thebfg wins 5,206 from main pot with a Flush
************ Game 217429947 ends ************

I think the RNG on betfair is having one so I am steering clear for the night.

Maxim King of Poker

http://www.kingofpoker2007.com/

This is where we separate the Kings from the Jokers… At the end of each month, the Grand Final will see 100 qualifiers from the eight tournaments brave the battlefield of the Betfair Poker tables. One will stand triumphant and deservedly earn the title of MAXIM King of Poker along with a massive $1,500 pay day. Could that person be you?


YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Tuning In For A Footy Tip?

Easy pick surely, Southampton and Bristol Rovers. I'm on the double at 4.8 on Betfair. Get On the double and both singles (just in case) at 2.2+

Hey, over 4000 hits on the blog, nice one readers.

Betfair Bonuses and the Footy Tip of the Week

But not for me. I have been doing okay on STTs and the odd MTT on Betfair turning in a decent profit over the month (+£185 for the month overall), but soon as a bit of value comes around I am unable to get anywhere. Last night was the first of their Multi MTT games where there are 3 MTTs on the go at once, all with $2k to the prize pool. I the left the missis in control for the first hour as I had to pick one of my lads up from footy training. I was still in (just) all three when I got back, but soon busted out one of them while double a couple of times in the other. Lack of patience all round meant that I didnt stick around much longer in either of the other two and I was back to the STT trail to restore the balance to the starting point. They have a similar game on at the moment and as we speak I am doing okay in two of them after busting out one very easy, very early. We shall see. UPDATE, shite again.

As for the footy bet this week its a tricky one, many teams dont have anything to play for and can go either way, playing without fear and not giving a toss. I like to go for teams that still have something to play for (avoiding the drop, get in the play offs) and so Wolves away to Leicester at 2.16 looks like value to me. GET ON.