RedPoker by Scott"ShaaBoom" Boyle

The Unluckiest Ever !!!

2009-11-12T13:14:00.002Z

I saw this post on the 2 plus 2 forum and thoght it was good enough to share;

So many points ring true and especially to the major donks at the table "complaining with their selective memories"

Enjoy.

"This empty feeling. This pain. Why Betfair, why? I have to be the unluckiest player in the world!" Anyone else familiar with these emotions? No? I didn't think so. I'm probably the only one. I remember reading an article once about how we always think that we ended up choosing the wrong line in store, or the wrong lane in traffic. I have saved a quote in my mind going something like: "I always pick the wrong line! The guy who enters a line behind me always gets to the register before I do." But when we get into a line that moves quick and smooth, we don't remember because there's nothing to complain about.It's just what's supposed to happen. But everytime the line moves a bit slower, and the old lady infront of us can't find her money, we remember. "..that #@$"#%$ old "£$#"¤% lady!"

If you already get my point, the rest of this post is probably irrelevant. But to the ones who are not quite there yet, help yourselves.If we compare the example above to poker, it’s somewhat similar (besides that in poker you have two cards in your hand and yadeyadeyade…). We remember the times we lose with AA vs. KK, KK vs. QQ, QQ vs. JJ, some of us even remember the times when we lose with QQ vs. AK. But what about the times we hit our flush in a 4-way pot, and we scoop in a 400bb pot? Or the times we flop a set, and we get paid by TPWK? Or even the times when we suck out on the river by hitting a backdoor flush (which we didn't even notice) with KK vs. a flopped set? We forget those situations. It's just suppose to happen.

Selective memories makes us think that we run bad. To take another example. You are standing in front of a locked door. You have two keys in your hand. You know that one of the two keys is one to unlock the door. It’s really cold, maybe even freezing, rainy and windy (in other words: typical Faroese weather). You are shivering, so it’s not easy to control the key into the lock. You put one of the keys into the lock, but what happens? Of course, the lock doesn’t turn!

And you start cursing and swearing, why this always happens to you. If you on the other hand had chosen the key which unlocked the door first, “well… that was just the way it’s supposed to be”, and we don’t think more about it. When we win a flip, we don't remember, but every time we lose a flip we curse and complain (and most importantly, don't forget). It’s like our brain is systemized to protect our egoism. To protect all the flaws and mistakes we make. I’m a huge Manchester United supporter, and I was really angry about some of the decisions the referee made in the weekend-game against Chelsea, especially when he awarded Ashley Cole the free-kick which lead to the goal. (In my eyes) it was perfectly clean tackle by Darren Fletcher. I talked to some of my friends who are Chelsea supporters, and they thought I was crazy; they even thought that Darren Fletcher should have had the red card. This is probably not the best example in the world, but I think it shows, how our brain (miss)leads us into thinking, what is best for us is also right. Let’s say the referee awarded the free-kick, and they didn’t score. It would be like flopping a set, your opponent turns a flush, and we hit a boat on river.

“What? That’s just supposed to happen...”Poker is a very simple game. It's basically a deck of random cards with random numbers and colors. Any card can fall at any time. I'm not saying that poker is all about luck, not at all. But even the best hand in poker is only a 4-1 favorite against pocket deuces. Put it this way. If you take a bag of balls, put 80 red ones and 20 blue ones in it. If you were to pick one of the balls without looking, you'd pick a red one most of the time, but definetly not every time.

That's also why the best poker players win in the long run, they get it in with the most red balls to choose from when it really matters, but sometimes your opponent picks the blue ball. I have played poker seriously for something like four years, and it has taught me quite a lot about gambling, and about life in general. Especially how simpleminded and self centered we are as human beings. Most (read: ALL!) poker players think they are better than they actually are. It's human nature.

I used to play the NL500 and (seldom) NL1000 games on betfair. I used to do really well, and of course I thought I was one of (if not THE) best player at these stakes. I made a living, and a damn good one as well. Now when I think back, I probably made more money than lawyers and doctors do (note: I was a schoolboy(!)). For some reason I stopped playing poker (I blame the pursuit of becoming a professional football player, but nevertheless I stopped), and when I look back at that time, I’m thinking: Was I really that good, or were the other just bad? and the more I think, the likelier the latter becomes.

Even though I was winning and winning big, I only remember how I kept complaining to my friends about how unlucky I was, and posting hands on msn showing pots where I lost with AA v KK. I seriously thought I was the most unlucky person in the world. Nobody else had ever experienced this in the same way as me. I basically thought that it was practically theorically (blablacally) impossible to lose with the best hand. And when it happened, I used to educate like *biib* on the chat. Swearing and cursing (and giving free lessons). But when I sucked out, I didn't think much about it. "That's just the way it's supposed to be". I said "ul", and I couldn't understand why this guy kept complaining. "What was there to complain about anyways?"Being out of the game for nearly two years has seriously damaged my bankroll, and I had to ask one of my close friends for help. Since I hadn't been playing for some time, I had to prove my worth. So we came to the conclusion that he send me money to play NL100, and we split the winnings 50/50. If we both were happy after three weeks, we could make another deal. I was really excited, and wasn’t thinking much about the (low) stakes. I just wanted to play. And I must say, I was really surprised by the level of competition, and how aggressive these players were. And three weeks later, we had a look, and we were both happy. So we continued our deal, but this time it was suppose to last two weeks, and if I did well, I got to play NL200.

The last two weeks seemed like two years, but again I didn’t run into any downswings, and consistently kept making money daily, and by the end of the two weeks, I’d made enough money to play NL200 with my own bankroll. I thanked my friend for believing in me, but I thought it was time for me to play with my own money. I have played NL200 for (exactly) 20 days, and it’s been good. In fact, so good that I’ve made a reasonable bankroll to try out NL500. So yesterday I decided to take a stab at it. Finally back to NL500! I’d been looking forward to this day for eight weeks(/years!)! I decided to play 6 tables. I sat down, and I recognize some players, and others were just total strangers. The very first hand I decide to really get involved with is JJ, I raise the normal pot size raise, get raised, and we end up all in. The opponent has 66. “I’m thinking to myself: “JACKPOT!”” – but… I lost. And I could hear betfair whisper in my ear: “Welcome back Tórður, welcome back!”

After playing for 316 minutes straight, I found myself $2.876,44 down (my EV was +$1.942,02). And the normal thoughts start spinning in my head, “I have to be the most unlucky person in the world?”, “Why couldn’t this have happened on NL200?”, “I’ll just withdraw all my money, and never play poker again!”. And of course I couldn’t sleep. Not because of the amount I’ve lost, but because of the self-pitying. The “I’m-so-unlucky-bu-hu-hu-!”-feeling. The normal “empty” feeling which is so hard to explain.In the heat of the moment, I gave the possibility of withdrawing all the money some seriously consideration, but after I’ve gathered my thoughts today, and sitting here looking at my bankroll – it’s okay. It’s not in danger. Yes, I’ve just lost nearly $3.000. Yes, it was only in 4 hours. Yes, I have to play NL200 again. Yes, it’s going to take some weeks or even months before I get to play NL500. But the fact is that I’ve still made more money than most working people would in eight weeks (considering taxes). Maybe human nature is playing tricks on me, but I know I beat the NL500 level by a decent amount of bb/100, but I just have to wait until it’s my turn. If I’m good enough, it will be my turn.Now I sit here and I’m thinking, “what’s the point of the post/article?”. And to be honest, I don’t really know.

It’s probably most of all because I don’t have the desire to play after yesterday’s results. I guess writing is a good way to express your thoughts. But hopefully it can help us to analyze our situation. Stop complaining about losses. Stop considering ourselves as Mr. Unlucky. There are bigger things happening outside the tables, and outside our tiny little brain. Appreciate the things you have. I have great girlfriend, great family, great friends, great social life. I’m alive and I’m healthy. And if I can make money on poker, it’s just a big, big bonus! Poker is much, but it’s not everything. Don’t let it affect your life away from the tables. Besides, in the long run I am paid hourly, and not if I win $2.000 today, and lose $3.000 tomorrow.That’s all for now. I’ll see you at the NL200 tables (unless some high roller reads this and wants to stake me. In that case, PM )

Over 'n out,Viva la Føroyar !

Duffs 10K Gtd Report

2009-11-04T17:16:00.001Z

Well I went to Duffs on Saturday after spending Friday with my daughter and family, I went to see Peter Pan at the theatre which was really enjoyable it is quite amazing how talented some young people are.

So after spending the night in Portsmouth it was just a short trip to the club.

On arriving Tony and the team had decked out the club in a Halloween theme and I have to say that it looked well. I was greeted by Carl's Mrs Mandy who is always very friendly and hospitable. The event had 30 runners so there was a big overlay to say the least, I have to say I was somewhat staggered by that especially with all the marketing that Tony and his team had done. I was also surprised that the only people that attended from the forum was myself, Penno and Doobs.

I swapped a % with Doobs before the tournament and he was at my opening table.

At my table I had an old guy calling any two cards and calling down pretty much anything, a kid to my right with ginger hair who thought that he was the next "big thing" and after four flushing a guy who bet every street hard thought that he was "world class". Doobs was steadily increasing his stack whilst I was just playing super tight I don't think I played one hand for the first two levels. So my image was pretty much there which was part of the strategy and would help in the later stages. When I mean that I didn't get a hand believe me my range is pretty wide to enter pots so no Pocket pairs, not even suited connectors NADA. Oh sorry there was one hand where I had a battle of the blinds with the old guy and had 88 I called him down to the turn knowing that I was ahead only for him to show me the rivered set of 7's which I put him on.

The pot was relatively small and when the old guy turned over his rivered set I mucked only for the ginger kid with a teddy bear hoodie to ask to see my cards when it was pretty obvious what I had. I remained disciplined though and just turned them over without any aggro but perhaps one day he will find someone a little less accommodating.

Finally in level 4 I raise the button the first time I have opened a pot and the guy in the Big Blind goes mad and tells me to "back off and stay away from my big blind". I really didn't know how to take this as he is either thick as shit due to his observation skills or he is a complete prick. I would most likely go with the former. I was actually praying for a hand on the next lap so that I could open again however Doobs took care of him and knocked him out.

We then had a big stack replace him and he was very active, however Doobs was generally picking bits and pieces off him. I was now playing about 9k and it was folded around to me on the button and I raised with ACE 3s to 2k blinds 200 400 and the Big Blind set me in. After a bit of time I decided to pass and the guy told me later he had a big ace so was the correct fold. My exit hand came against the same guy as I was just looking for a spot. He raised UTG and I was in the small blind with Ace Rag and felt that it was time to shove needless to say on this occasion he actually did have a hand 10 10 and with no help I was a goner.

Needless to say the same move was carried out by Carl ( mandylou) a short time later and he trippled up with A5 vs AK and KK, actually he quadrupled up as the original caller of his shove passed his AQ. Carl along with Doobs both spiked their one outer Ace and carl hitting his 5 on the river. Just goes to show you that no matter how bad a shape you think you are in there is always a chance.

I had a % in Doobs and he had a big stack which seemed to be getting diminished somewhat as he is what I would call an active player and likes to get in marginal situations but seems to play them well. Doobs is a decent fella however as with any tournament he starts off really quietly and then seems to get louder and louder as the blinds increase. I don't know if he has an inbuilt poker system that is programmed within him but his laugh also gets louder as well. Anyway I stayed and railed him and he was very short and had to open jam but was pretty much getting muck every hand so he went in blind UTG and the BB called with his Ace rag to find Doobs live with 4 7 which he hit.

Soon after Doobs was off to the final table and with his short stack was pushing quite a bit and getting through it paid top 5 so with 3 knocked out the table decided to take £200 off the top and give that to the bubble. Doobs then pushed UTG and the BB who didnt have that many chips deliberated how much to call and with two other short stacks made what I thought was extremely marginal call with QJ. Doobs had AJ and the guy hit a broadway straight on the flop so it was goodnight. I really didn't like the call but perhaps I am just saying that based on the result. Doobs then very kindly gave me a lift home and I was absolutely knackered and so was Doobs as he was pulled over by the police and breathalised for driving with no lights on !!!! LOL...

So that was my time at Duffs which was greatly enjoyed although without drinking was a very long day if anyone hasn't been I strongly advise you pay a visit. I still haven't had a drink for over 6 months now and I am just about sticking with it with numerous temptations that are put my way. Finally the jackpots on Sunpoker are now standing at 195k for the $50 and 100k for the $25 and if anyone needs an account with a good rate please drop me a line. ( e mail at the top).

Cheers all.

Shaa

Quick Update - Shit or Bust

2009-10-26T12:29:00.002Z

Well it was bust :-(

Can't be bothered boring you with the details of how unlucky I was etc etc.

I am defo going to stick to poker for now as I now have a fresh lease of life.

I shall be playing at Duffs on saturday in his 10k gtd so hoping for a cash there.

Details can be found here;

http://www.duffsfullhouse.co.uk/

I shall put together a report on my return.

Cheers all.

Shaa

Update 80p to 8k Challenge

2009-10-16T20:54:00.002Z

Cricket: £4.46 Rugby Union: £0.97 Soccer: £22.66 Total P&L: £28.09

Total available: £49.44

I got very lucky in this match

Soccer / Hungary U20 v Costa Rica U20 : Match Odds 16-Oct-09 16:00 16-Oct-09 17:53 8.29

I had laid Costa Rica and they scored with 10 mins left so I would have taken a big hit so I said feck it and laid them again.

Ok so Saturday will be a big day however if I can get my exit points correct and also scalp the markets effectively I shall aim for £100.

Good Luck all.

Results as promised On New Challenge

2009-10-15T17:07:00.003Z

Soccer / USA v Costa Rica : Match Odds

15-Oct-09 01:05

15-Oct-09 03:01

2.44

Soccer / Uruguay v Argentina : Over/Under 2.5 goals

14-Oct-09 23:00

15-Oct-09 01:05

1.26

Soccer / Uruguay v Argentina : Match Odds

14-Oct-09 23:00

15-Oct-09 01:04

2.60

Soccer / Uruguay v Argentina : Half Time

14-Oct-09 23:00

14-Oct-09 23:52

0.72

Soccer / Peru v Bolivia : Over/Under 2.5 goals

14-Oct-09 21:00

14-Oct-09 22:57

0.42

Soccer / England v Belarus : Over/Under 3.5 Goals

14-Oct-09 20:00

14-Oct-09 21:49

0.24

Soccer / Czech Republic v Northern Ireland : Over/Under 1.5 Goals

14-Oct-09 19:30

14-Oct-09 21:28

0.76

Soccer / Poland v Slovakia : Match Odds

14-Oct-09 19:30

14-Oct-09 21:26

-0.45

Soccer / Switzerland v Israel : Match Odds

14-Oct-09 19:00

14-Oct-09 21:09

0.45

Soccer / Rep of Ireland v Montenegro : Over/Under 1.5 Goals

14-Oct-09 19:00

14-Oct-09 20:57

0.22

Soccer / Poland v Slovakia : Half Time

14-Oct-09 19:30

14-Oct-09 20:18

0.31

Soccer / Switzerland v Israel : Half Time

14-Oct-09 19:00

14-Oct-09 19:47

0.29

Soccer / Greece v Luxembourg : Over/Under 1.5 Goals

14-Oct-09 19:00

14-Oct-09 19:34

0.43

Soccer / Azerbaijan v Russia : Over/Under 2.5 goals

14-Oct-09 17:00

14-Oct-09 19:00

0.52

Soc

The Draw	1.27	2.00	Lay	14-Oct-09 18:14	2.00
*Average odds: On Off				Back subtotal:	0.00
				Lay subtotal:	2.00
				Market subtotal:	2.00
				Commission @ 4.5%:	0.09
				Net Market Total:	1.91

cer / Kazakhstan v Croatia : Match Odds

	2009-10-14 18:23	9181443649	2009-10-14 18:14	Fixtures 14 October Kazakhstan v Croatia / Match Odds / The Draw Lay		1.27	2.00	Won		2.00	2.80
	2009-10-14 17:35	3853388	2009-10-14 17:35	71350 Rake Back Oct P1 (RBK1)		-	-	-		0.80	0.80

So as you can see from the above it was actually rakeback where I think I played one game of poker last month.

Latest Update

I am still going and last night after circuit training and running around a gym like a madman I traded the following;

Snooker
Showing 1 - 3 of 3 markets
Market
Start time
Settled date
Profit/loss (£)
Snooker / Higgins v Hendry : Match Odds
15-Oct-09 20:40
15-Oct-09 22:57
1.91
Snooker / Frame Betting : Frame 05
15-Oct-09 20:40
15-Oct-09 22:44
0.23
Snooker / Frame Betting : Frame 04
Market
Start time
Settled date
Profit/loss (£)
Cricket / Bangalore v Victoria : Match Odds
15-Oct-09 15:30
15-Oct-09 18:21
2.25
Soccer / England U16 v Wales U16 : Match Odds
15-Oct-09 19:40
15-Oct-09 21:18
2.94
15-Oct-09 20:40
15-Oct-09 22:31
1.10

So the balance is currently;
Total available: £21.35
So fropm 80p to £21.35 in a couple of days aint too bad so I will need to really go for it this weekend and to coin a phrase Shit or Bust. I won't be playing any horse markets ever I have discipline installed now in regards to this as this used to be a massive leak.
My main aim is to hit £250 by the end of the month and once I do that will withdraw £200 for my daughters birthday. I know that some people might think I am being "overconfident" with just £20 but I have done this on many an occasion.
If that target is reached then I will try and spin it up to 8k ( why the hell not).

Ok that is all for now.

Cheers,

Shaa

14-Oct-09 16:30

14-Oct-09 18:23

1.91

Apologies new challenge !! 80p to 8k !

2009-10-15T11:07:00.004Z

I know that I said I would update my blog on a regular basis and I am now going to keep to this whilst I try out a new challenge.

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Betfair 80p to 8k challenge.

I logged into my betfair account yesterday and mysteriously found 80p in it.

Anyway I decided to have a small blast at spinning it up and laid the draw in the Croatia game and boooooom it came in. So I traded a few other matches and needless to say I got them right and will post my results later so that you don't think I am telling porkies ;-)

Just before I went to bed I laid Costa Rica against the USA and checked the result this morning to find that they were 2-0 up at half time and drew 2-2. Phew !!! I also had unders in the argentina game along with laying Uruguay. It is amasing how much you can get involved in with a small amount.

I haven't been able to check my account yet but I think it currently stands around the £12 mark but will update this tomorrow.

So that is it for now apart from I am still off the booze - 6 months now and just recently completed the palace to palace bike ride along with the London triahlon a few months back.

One other thing that I shall be doing is playing in Duffs sat to his halloween event on Sunpoker which starts at 8pm tonight. There is a gtd seat and if Duffs and Penno aree playing extra added value.

Cheers all,

Shaa

Hello Everyone

2009-09-11T08:13:00.002Z

Well seeing as Highstacks has decided to bring back his blog I might as well follow suit.

I shall try and keep this updated as much as possible probably twice a week and try not to spam too much :-)

So what's been happening? well I am currently not playing poker at the moment as I have lots of other things on. To be honest I have quite enjoyed the break.

Anyway that is all for now but shall keep the updates as detailed below.

On a final note if anyone is interested in a £2000 Live Freeroll ( well £3 admin fee) on Saturday it starts at 14.00 hrs at Duffs Full House in Waterlooville. So if you are around that area pop along you will not be disappointed.

The website address is www.duffsfullhouse.co.uk

Ok have a good weekend everyone,

Cheers,

Scotty

New Promo on I poker !!! and other stuff.

2009-01-25T15:54:00.002Z

Well since my last post I have been cashing on a regular basis in the Mtts but no big cashes as yet. Last week I finished 22nd in the 250k on the big slick ( I poker) and I have qualified for that tonight for $50 !!

The other thing is that I am also running good in terms of % swaps and had 20% in my mate Joffy who finished 3rd in the 50k.

From next month I poker are running a fantastic promotion please contact me if you wish to open an account with superb VIP loyalty bonuses.

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11 ‐ 15 $5,000.00
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Stakes
Winner Players in Hand Split
Fixed NL/PL
Micro $0.02/$0.04 ‐ $0.10/$0.20 $0.01/$0.02 ‐ $0.05/$0.10 $65.00 $65.00

Low $0.25/$0.50 ‐ $1/$2 $0.10/$0.20 ‐ $0.50‐$1.00 $250.00 $250.00

Med $2/$4 ‐ $5/$10 $1/$2 ‐ $2/$4 $1,000.00 $1,000.00

High $10/$20 and up $3/$6 and up $3,000.00 $3,000.00

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3. Winner of “Golden Hands” will take a sum of money as per the above table.

4. All participants of “Golden Hands” will split an amount as per the above table. The winner will
also split this amount.

5. Players must be dealt cards on the hand in order to be eligible for the bonus. Players sitting out
will not be eligible. Players passing on blinds will not be eligible as well.
6. The hand ID’s are determined by the number assigned to them by our system, as they appear on
the table (on the top‐left corner).
7. Tournament hands do not participate in this promotion (they are assigned different hand ID’s).
8. Winning hands will be published by our cardrooms and their affiliates. Players who do not agree to this will not be entitled to the prizes.

9. If a winning hand has two winners or more, they will divide the sum of the winner bonus and the participating players’ bonus. For example: 5 players in micro table, winner takes $65.
Participating players split $65 ($13 each). Two winners will take $45.5 each ‐ ($65+$13+$13)/2.

10. Winners of the “Platinum” and “Black” Hands will receive a bonus as detailed above, in addition to the Golden Hand bonus.

11. Only golden hands that reached the “showdown” will be eligible to win the “Platinum” and
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Sunday $250,000 Guaranteed events during February, will win a token to the $2,500,000
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Terms & Conditions:
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2. Tokens are non‐refundable, non transferable, and cannot be converted to cash.
3. Players who will win a token to the $2,500,000 Guaranteed will be automatically registered by
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4. Players who will win a token to the $2,500,000 Guaranteed freeroll, will be automatically
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5. iPoker will not compensate for any token that wasn’t used in practice by the winning player

Close but no cigar and a promotion starting next month !

2009-01-21T14:05:00.002Z

I played last night in the Irish Open sat last night on the I poker Network ( Big Slick). There were 237 runners and the prize pool was as two seats then there was some prize money feeding down to 5th place.

Anyway with 4 left we were all evenly stacked and I was in the BB with A 10 off. The player UTG opened the pot for 24k blinds 4k 8k I was playing 130k and he was the same so I decided to shove as he had passed an alleged monster earlier so it was totally player dependent. He snap called with 88 and won the race. At the time I was a little miffed at his call but I suppose we all feel that way whenever you lose a race.

Moving forward I really am enjoying the network now and tonight shall be playing;

50k rebuy

35k rebuy and add on (( only $10 so shall play for a laugh))

The 20k rebuy and add on $100

and the 20k rebuy $30

So that is just tonight and I have said in other posts as a multi player the site is first rate. Whats on Betfair tonight? LOL.

See you at the tables guys,

Shaa

Innocent until proven guilty ! ( claims of sabotage)

2009-01-09T15:01:00.003Z

Well I have been blamed for Sabotageing duffs blog and putting a picture of myself on there with the words that I am duffs hero etc. I cannot believe this claim made by Mr Duffield and I shall be contacting my lawyer forthwith ( or Jm Henson from the Betfair Poker forum). :-)

duffspoker.blogspot.com

Well at least there is a nice pic on there.

Anyway that is enough of my ramblings I am off to the Big Slick Poker club in Purley tonight to give away some of my hard earned dosh.

I will try and report anything interesting next week.

Good Luck at the tables.

Shaa

Happy New Year everyone !

2009-01-07T10:07:00.003Z

New Beginnings

So the new year is upon us and one of my new year resolutions was to bring this blog back to life and then outline my future goals and aims for the forthcoming year.

Anyway as you can see from my banners etc which I made sure were quite small and unnoticeable to the untrained eye, that I am now associated with the BIG Slick Poker Club. I have had a long standing relationship with the Big Slick initially writing articles for them and attending various tournaments etc.

The Big Slick as a site as well as business has certainly grown and there is now 4 poker clubs in the UK alone as well as the one in Croydon. Therefore with this business continually growing it is a great pleasure to be associated with this particular brand. As you are aware I was a big fan of Betfair in the early days however a lot of the old school have now left Ruru, Ben Fried, Estelle etc. I think the only two left in the building is Bruce Stubbs and the cleaner Mandylou.

Anyway it is now onto pastures new and I have been playing on the big slick for over 3 months now ( this is an I Poker Skin) and with the loyalty bonuses that I have recieved every month on top of the traffic and games selection I was crazy to stay at Betfair. I suppose there is a very fine line between loyality and stupidity.

Ok well that is a quick overview of the site and during my ramblings throughout the year I shall not doubt highlight and comment on certain value etc, for instance at the moment the fort knox jackpot sit and go's win 6 in a row is standing at $120k.

Finally if anyone wants a great deal on this network please do not hesitate to contact me.

Cheers,

Scotty.

Hello is there anybody out there?

2008-10-21T11:38:00.003Z

Well I thought that I might bring this blog back to life !!!!!

So what's happening everyone?

Well first of one of my good friends Mr Smyth is now minted and I am grinding like a mad man....

Another good friend of mine Tony Duffield recently got a great deal on a skin on I Poker which I shall post about at a later date.

Anyway I hope everyone is well and lets get writing again !!!

Shaa

Sponsoring the Builder and Ben at the GSWCOP

2007-08-21T14:22:00.000Z

Well Dubai, Ariston and myself have clubbed together to send Builder and Ben (sunday 8pm) to play in the Gutshot world series starting this weekend.

If you don't know who builder is well he is a little bit of a gobshite but a likeable one, his tournament report will probably be worth more than the entry fee alone :-) I really do want him to use his "Die in a greasefire" catchphrase as I am sure that would go down a treat :-)

Good luck all.

Shaa

Funny Old Game !

2007-08-09T13:35:00.000Z

Well I have certainly stepped it up in my Shaaboom account recently.

I decided to venture into the old stt's and six pac's after not having a great night on the sports.

I played 6 won 1 2nd in 5............... These were all turbos ! which seems to be the only thing going at the moment.

Cash

I have now played over 1000 hands at $2 $5 and the inevitable happened yesterday when I lost a buy in when raising it to $20 pre flop and recieving two callers. The flop of 6 7 9 was a little scary (rainbow) and when my continuation bet was reraised all the money went in and the villain had 67 no help and $500 down the drain.

Tounament $4500

The good thing about the cash session is that I logged out immediately and decided to take the little bit of tilt out on a tournament instead (( something I normally do)). Anyway to cut a long story short I won it pocketing $2430.

So all in all what turning out to be a bad day ended up being profitable in the main.

Good luck,

Shaa

Another quick nifty

2007-08-07T18:02:00.000Z

Another 50 hands at $2 $5 tonight.

2007-08-0719:01

Poker RoomCash-In : Microscopium

307.12

2007-08-0718:21
Poker RoomBuy-In : Microscopium
-
-
-
(123.37)

2007-08-0718:20
Poker RoomBuy-In : Microscopium
-
-
-
(123.37)

Profit £50.00 (approx) :-)

Quick update

2007-08-07T16:55:00.000Z

I played another 200 hands yesterday although I multi tabled.

Here is the results

Poker RoomBuy-In : Nitrogen 12....-
(246.43

Poker RoomCash-In : Nitrogen 12
-
-
-

322.67

Profit £76.24

2007-08-0618:15
Poker RoomBuy-In : Microscopium
(123.21)

2007-08-0618:15
Poker RoomBuy-In : Microscopium

(123.21)

2007-08-0619:56
Poker RoomCash-In : Microscopium
-
-
-

339.55s

Profit £93.13

So that is 500 hands played so far this month so well on track and to date without putting the mockers on it all profitable sessions.

Good luck at the tables,

Shaa

Spudy vs Shaa Challenge and the cash tables

2007-08-06T08:47:00.000Z

Spudy has volunteered to take part in an exhibition boxing match at the Big Slick.

Any money raised shall be donated to charity.

I have started to play $2 $5 cash seriously now but I am only playing one table at a time. My aim is to rake 2000 hands this month and then progress to two tables etc etc... To date I have found the standard to be average and I have had three sessions whereby I played 100 hands in each. My aim this month in playing cash is to make £1000. I know that thsi might be a small amount to some however that is my minimum objective/goal.

This is my results to date.

2007-08-0521:06
2007-08-0521:06
Poker RoomBuy-In : Nitrogen 07 (122.79)

1,783.35
2007-08-0521:05
66367397
Poker RoomBuy-In : Nitrogen 07 (122.79)

2007-08-0522:52
Poker RoomCash-In : Nitrogen 07 370.36

Profit £124.78

2007-08-0419:21
Poker RoomCash-In : Nitrogen 03 354.96

2007-08-0418:23
Poker RoomBuy-In : Nitrogen 03 (245.58)

Profit £109.38

2007-08-0222:06
Poker RoomCash-In : Microscopium 217.65
2007-08-0220:35

2007-08-0220:35
Poker RoomBuy-In : Microscopium (123.10)

Profit £94.55

Total profit from the 1st of August £328.71.

Total hands played 354.

Target Number 3 reached !

2007-08-01T16:14:00.000Z

Ok I went and weighed in today and I have lost 1 stone in 4 weeks!!

It was been quite tough with a complete revamp of my diet and more importantly eating correctly. Furthermore I think that all of my boxing sessions have contributed to this and I really need to get ready now to get back in the ring properly as sparing is not enough !

If there any volunteers out there please drop me a line.

Shaa

Mansion rebuy !

2007-07-30T23:44:00.000Z

I thought that there would be a bigger prize pool for this and more runners but it just ended up being a 10k tourney really.

I finished 6th with a cruel outdraw for a monster pot.

JJ VS A5 Yes thats right ACE 5 !!!

The flop

3d 6h 9d turn broght another diamond and he had none so a 2c filled his straight on the river lol...........

Ah well you gotta laugh.

Shaa

Quick update.

2007-07-30T15:39:00.000Z

Well I have nearly reached my other goal for July and that was;

NO DRINK !

Good lord it has been hard at times and apologies to anyone out there who I have had a go at lol.

There was an incident last night whereby a player claimed that I slowrolled him LOL. This individual shall remain nameless but it is about time he got off his high fucking horse and stopped blaming others for his shit play.

Furthermore I also had someone else watching this and thought that the comment was absolute shite ! I was short stacked in the 50k and with the blinds 100 200 I called a raise with 9d 10d and the flop came 10 10 7 I checked the raiser checked and the unnamed player bets the pot. I reraise leaving myself 400 chips behind, the raiser folds and the unnamed player then uses all of his time allocation to reraise me all in. I call instantly and then the clown comments "Any reason for the slowroll?" What fucking slowroll? He had 66 by the way and missed his loads of outs !!!

So instead of saying NH I fucked up there by the crap play I made he decides to blame something else anything. I know he thinks "YOU SLOWROLLED ME!" Take away the fact that I knew I was beat and blame something else. Then when I get on MSN he doesnt even apologise.

Grow up you clown I expect it from idiots but not from people who claim to be friends in Poker.

Shaa

Target reached !! £500 - £5000 in less than a month!

2007-07-17T11:34:00.001Z

Well I finally reached my target well in advance of the end date.

The final bet being soccer where I layed UCD last night away to Shamrock Rovers.

So the question is? What have I learnt from this experience?

1. Stop laying horses

2. Do my trading with a level head (( I haven't had a drink in three weeks remember)).

3. Always green out on a market no matter what !! The -500 I have on the football sunday for instance was just down to laziness.

4. Stick to the sports that you know !!!!!!!!!!!!!

5. Do not lay a specific bet for more than 50% of your bank lol.

6. Keep cool after a loosing lay. I can honestly say that when I see a red figure of - £2k or whtever it doesn't faze me I shall simply win it back.

So some important points of reference and for some of you traders out there pretty much sucking eggs exercise.

Poker

I made the final table on Sunday in the 16k on Betfair finishing 5th.

I was also playing the 50k along with this and with 23 left I had 25k(( Above average)) and the following hand came up;

BLINDS 400 800 Folded around to the chip leader in the C/O and he raises to 4K and he has a stack of 75k.

Your move..... You have AK in the BB folded to you.

Well the majority of players would simply jam here in this spot. Apart from those on the Betfair forum who are now seemingly having a contest for the most outrageous fold. Like folding KK to a min raise? I really am starting to get fed up of the stupidity hence my current frustration in some my posts recently.

I jammed.

Anyway apart from that minor gripe here is the major one he called with KQ !

Flop 10 J 6 rainbow

Oh dear you know what happened on the turn yes it is a blank followed by a big fat ace on the river. Now let me explain I couldn't care less about the bad beat etc and to be honest I would rather make love to Highstack than post my hand history's on the Betfair forum. Furthermore I have played so much Poker in the last 4 years to know that this is just standard. It was a sick call the player Jimbob then went on to win the tournament no doubt sucking out on a few others along the way. :-)

The point that I am trying to make is not to get angry, I mean what is the point in mentally torturing oneself it is all about getting even. I now have extensive notes on the player in question and he is now $15k better off so what does he care but the next time we meet I shall exact my revenge on the table after watching his play.

Don't get angry get even.

Shaa

Nearly there and Congrats Deejay !

2007-07-15T11:54:00.000Z

Poker

Well I havent played that much this weekend probably about 7 hours all cash on Mansio $2 $4 and $4 $8.

I had some good sessions and some not so good ending +400 up.

A big congrats to my friend Deejay who finished in the top 100 at the WSOP for $85k.

Sports

Well I am nearly there after a fantastic day yesterday.

Boxing: GBP399.09 Golf: GBP150.54 Soccer: GBP366.40 Tennis: GBP64.65

Total P&L: GBP948.25

So my overall Balance is
£4563 + £4063

Cheers,

Shaa

Here are some of my bets from yesterday.

Profit/loss (£)
Boxing / Skelton v Sprott : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 23:13
131.70
Boxing / Limond v Khan : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 22:01
164.96
Boxing / Cook v Luevano : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 20:54
102.43

Profit/loss (£)
Soccer / China v Iran : Match Odds
15-Jul-07 13:09
145.49
Soccer / Spain U20 v Czech Rep U20 : Match Odds
15-Jul-07 02:35
42.46
Soccer / Uruguay v Mexico : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 23:56
127.38
Soccer / Gremio v Palmeiras : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 21:58
42.46
Soccer / Austria U20 v USA U20 : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 21:05
152.47
Soccer / Austria Vienna v LASK Linz : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 20:21
103.45
Soccer / W Bremen v Basel : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 19:49
-551.85
Soccer / Schalke v Middlesbrough : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 18:53
98.43
Soccer / Trelleborgs v GAIS : Over/Under 2.5 goals
14-Jul-07 16:52
52.69
Soccer / Trelleborgs v GAIS : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 16:52
40.19
Soccer / Indonesia v Saudi Arabia : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 15:28
97.46
Soccer / Malaysia v Uzbekistan : Match Odds
14-Jul-07 13:12
161.26

Doing a Highstack !!!

2007-07-13T08:15:00.000Z

SPORTS

Why is it sometimes you never seem to learn? I mean I wrote previously about my exploits on the horses and getting hammered every time. So I had a week off and my Sports bank had increased rapidly, all is going well and I can see the finish line in regards to my challenge.

£500 to £5000 in a month if anyone has forgotten :-)

So what do I decide to do? Last night whilst playing poker I lay a couple of horses?!? and the outcome?

Horse Racing: -GBP274.26

The good thing is that I have now stopped during the day so I know that I shall stop long term as it is a massive - ev.

However the massive + ev for me is the footy and yesterday I made;

Soccer: GBP847.71

I did however take a knock in the Rugby league where I expected Leeds to win but backed them +14.5 at 1.23........ They got stuffed.

Market
Settled date
Profit/loss (£)
Rugby League / Wigan v Leeds : Leeds +14.5pts
12-Jul-07 21:32
-150.33
Rugby League / Wigan v Leeds : Match Odds
12-Jul-07 21:30
37.31

So my overall P & L for yesterday was;

Horse Racing: -GBP274.26 Rugby League: -GBP113.02 Soccer: GBP847.71 Total P&L: GBP460.43

My Sports balance now stands at £3615 + £3165

Poker

I played on Betfair last night and got absolutely donked to say the least.

In the 16k I had a stack of 8k average around 5k and I had a player called Fishmac to my right.

There had been a bit of history between us when folded to him on the small blind he raises to x ( anyway all the money went in) he had me covered so it was for the chip lead. I had Kings and he had 10's pretty standard set up in a blind war except I was out when he hit the set stright off the bat.

The standard in the 16k is truly woeful and he gave the usual "I can't fold tens routine?" The majority couldn't fold paper. They see a pocket pair and jam.

I havea couple of other bad beats but I can't be arsed telling them as they are standard and quite simply boring.

So on that note as Poker Queen would say;

Toodle dips !! (( I think)).

Shaa

A Pleasing Day at the office.

2007-07-12T09:01:00.000Z

Hello all,

Well lets kick off with the sports from yesterday.

Sports

Soccer: GBP770.77 Tennis: GBP52.55 Volleyball: GBP117.73

Overall a great day in regards to the above.

Profit/loss (£)
Soccer / Mexico v Argentina : Match Odds
12-Jul-07 03:49
43.42
Soccer / Sturm Graz v Austria Vienna : Match Odds
11-Jul-07 20:21
129.31
Soccer / Kalmar FF v Hammarby : Over/Under 2.5 goals
11-Jul-07 19:57
20.42
Soccer / Kalmar FF v Hammarby : Correct Score
11-Jul-07 19:57
0.64
Soccer / Kalmar FF v Hammarby : Match Odds
11-Jul-07 19:57
-4.55
Soccer / South Korea v Saudi Arabia : Over/Under 2.5 goals
11-Jul-07 15:55
41.20
Soccer / South Korea v Saudi Arabia : Half Time/Full time
11-Jul-07 15:54
21.23
Soccer / Iran v Uzbekistan : Total Goals
11-Jul-07 13:12
168.22
Soccer / Iran v Uzbekistan : Match Odds
11-Jul-07 13:10
214.15
Soccer / Uruguay v Brazil : Total Goals
11-Jul-07 03:55
23.84
Soccer / Uruguay v Brazil : Half Time/Full time
11-Jul-07 03:54
24.12
Soccer / Uruguay v Brazil : Correct Score
11-Jul-07 03:54
14.47
Soccer / Uruguay v Brazil : Match Odds
11-Jul-07 03:53
74.30

I ended up not getting too involved with the Argentina match as I did not want to scupper all of the profit that I had made during that day. Please note that I have also placed a big bet on Brian as advised yesterday with a view to trade at lower than 2.0.........

I suppose the only shock in the above is the volleyball looooooooooooool, it was the France vs Poland game and Poland were huge fav's in running at traded as low as 1.19 when they went 1 set up. Anyway France then went 2 1 up (( first to three)) and I decided to lay them. Anyway the Poles came good in the end, cream always rises and all that !! :-)

My Current Sports Balance available. (( with a couple of other bets in the pipeline)) is £3155.45 which is a profit of £2655.45 so far. I really wish that the footy season started a bit earlier so that I could get to my target of £5k in the month.

Poker

Well I would like to first of all apologise to all those freerollers that I slated the other week :-)

I am officially a freeroll whore and I am proud of it :-)

$250,000 WSOPE FREEROLL GIVEAWAY
In the biggest ever series of promotions on Betfair Poker, we'll be giving away a jaw-dropping $1.5 million in WSOP Europe packages and prize money this summer!
To kick off this massive prize haul in style, we're delighted to introduce what is already set to become THE free online event of the summer - the huge Betfair Poker $250,000 WSOPE Freeroll Giveaway.
Between now and 2nd September, both our current players and new players alike will be able to qualify for the Freeroll Grand Final via three FREE routes which are highlighted below.
The Grand Final, on 2nd September will then be fought out until there are TEN players left and will each win a $23,000 package to play in the WSOPE Main Event. We'll even be throwing in a further $20,000 of prize money for those who just miss out.

So there were 1277 runners for this and 9 seats available which I won one of them :-) It was a nightmare to say the least but was over in two hours lol.

I also played the 16k and $500 shootout on Betfair last night and I won the latter and the $3500 first prize. So all in all a very good night.

Finally Duff's got heads up in the WSOPE Main qualifier which I played and swapped a perecentage with Duff's before the tournament. He got heads up and was level in chips so I suggested that he cut a deal for 2nd as first prize was $23k and 2nd nothing. Unfortunately he came 2nd but got a deal of £2k and 20% of Majee at the event, which equates to 4k so well done.

Ok that is enough of my ramblings.

Good Luck,

Shaa

Good Start to the day !!

2007-07-11T13:33:00.000Z

Sports Betting

Soccer / Iran v Uzbekistan : Total Goals
11-Jul-07 13:12
168.22
Soccer / Iran v Uzbekistan : Match Odds
11-Jul-07 13:10
214.15

I had also layed S Korea HT FT Half time score 0 - 0

Finally on the specials betting for Big Brother I have backed Brian heavy to win the show @ 3.15. I already placed a wager on him early on at 8.0........

So all aboard the Brian express.

My selection tonight has to be Argentina in the semi's however as always I shall play safe with a lay of Mexico at 6.8 for £100.

Good Luck,

Shaa

Slowly Does it....

2007-07-11T09:27:00.000Z

I got involved in the Copa America last night laying Uruguay in 90 mins and backing + 1 goal or more.

Soccer: GBP136.73 Total P&L: GBP136.73

Sports Balance £2361.73 + £1861.73

I also have a green book on the Montanes Andrev tennis match with +58 on each side. However this match is still to be finished today.

So I am now grinding my way up there.

Poker

I played $2 $4 and $4 $8 on Mansion last night and finished + $140 which I used to play the 100k but played like a complete donkey as I just wasn't motivated. I decided to play fast and very loose and needless to say busted in the 3rd level. It was one of those I am out to get chips early or busto strategy's, and unfortunately for me it was the latter.

WSOP

Good luck to two friends of mine out in the WSOP who have made it to day three.

David Barriclough and Dave Wells. Unfortunately they are English Emma :-) PokerQ's friend.

Anyway both great lads and I wish them well.

Good luck all.

Shaa

2007-07-10T13:22:00.000Z

Well Hello there !!

This post has to be short and sweet.

£2255 + £1755 for the month.

I have been quite busy this weekend but still traded the tennis.

I took a complete hammering on Henin but recovered well with Federer.

Poker

Unfortunately Grazza didn't fair too well at the WSOP but he will come good soon.

I played $1 $2 on Mansion(( usually play $2 $4 or $4 $8)) over the weekend as per my friend Mike does on a regular basis on another site. Link here and shall soon be added to the blog http://smartpoker.blogspot.com/

I multi tabled and bought in for $140 on each table. Needless to say after 1 hour I left all three tables $600 up which is pretty mental for $1 $2. In simple terms the games were very sodt and now I can understand why Mike earns so much at this level and doesn't move up even though he has the proven abilty to play at the highest level.

Good Luck,

Shaa

Top Betfair Finisher at WSOP and other stuff

2007-07-06T10:09:00.000Z

Poker

Betfair WSOP Best Finisher

Well the WSOP is just about to get underway and there is an interesting market formed on Betfair with the best finisher. You can back the likes of Dubai, Ben Grundy, Deejay etc but my selection has to be;

Graeme Newman (Grazza) 36.75 £50.00 £1,787.32

Graeme is a superb player and I fully expect him to put a great showing at this years event.

Good luck out there mate and to loads of the other Betfair players.

I played a bit of $2 $5 cash HU and $10 $20 ending $588 +

Sports

A great night on the football and I am just disappointe that I had restricted stakes ;-( due to the challenge.

Soccer: GBP705.52

So my account balance is now

£2155 + £1655 for the month.

Good luck all.

Shaa

Ps I made a few comments on Bluescouses blog I really like the fella as he comes accross a decent lad. I am only trying to get him to wake up as I don't want to see him fail.

Starting to click. Still no horses

2007-07-05T23:00:00.000Z

My P&L for today

Darts: GBP146.18 Soccer: GBP387.41

I also have two bets running in the USA game.

Fixtures 05 July / Colombia v USA / Match Odds
USA
Lay
05-Jul-0723:59
10
117.00 9.98
05-Jul-07 23:59
O
Fixtures 05 July / Colombia v USA / Half Time/Full time
USA/USA
Lay

05-Jul-0723:26
6
122.00

Current Balance £1900 and hopefully collcting from the two above.

Good Luck all

Shaa

SHE Woman is humbled !

2007-07-04T10:43:00.000Z

Sports

Well She woman Mauressmo let me down yesterday on the tennis.

I also have a bet running in the Nadal match which still hasnt been completed (( started Friday lol ))

However good news in that I layed Bolivia last night in the Copa America.

Bolivia 4.80 255.00 Lay :-) They were down to 10 men and scored in the last few minutes !!

At this time of writing I shall lay England @ 1.4 in the cricket with a view to trade.

My Approximate balance is at £1256

Poker

I was playing $4 $8 cash and $2 $4 on Mansion last night and ended up approximately $400. I also had the 16k on Betfair running in the background where I was the chip leader with approx 20k with 25 left. The problem is that these tourneys really do become a crap shoot and it doesnt matter how many chips you have accumlated early. If you hit a rush of cards at the later stages it is yours along with a few well timed moves :-) I cashed and burned in 13th open pushing on the button with Q9 in a unraised pot and only 8bb's left. The bb woke up with AK. Standard.

Good luck everyone.

Shaa

Note:

One last point I haven't touched any Horses and staying well clear. (that doesn't sound right).

NEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGH MORE !!!

2007-07-03T09:55:00.000Z

That's it no more horse racing for me.

Horse Racing: -GBP611.02

At the start of this challenge I was primarily documenting it to not show "Wow look at me I can make money at sports aren't I great !! " It was more of trying to realise what my strengths and weaknesses were in regards to all sports betting markets. The strange thing is that I already knew where my leaks were but I just carried on regardless but I needed confirmation.

This challenge has made me aware and also you !! were it is going wrong !! I feel by writing about this that it is effectively reconfirming the facts that I was already aware of but now it is time to do something about it. I am very serious about doing this on a full time basis and if this is the case then it is time to get things into proper perspective and treating it like a business. The other point is that I have always treated this like a hobby and in effect even though I am fully aware of bankroll management etc I don't give a damn as my trading gambling reflects the type of person I am. ALL or nothing. I shall need to change this attitude as well.

So where am I going with all of this? Well putting it simply I shall no longer include horse racing ever in my sports. The reasons are plentiful !! I just caught up with the feeling that it was easy money ((three years)) and laying 20/1 shots for £20 here and there is the road to the poor house. The basic principle is there for all to learn and I certainly have done, if you don't know a market and you have no edge stay well clear.

I think the reason why I started laying horses is the same as any other gambler who started out backing them when you were 16. YOU ALWAYS LOST. The strange thing is that I generally was a favorite backer but did I ever lay them NO? Why because I thought they would win? even though I was a loser backing them for over 13 years? Strange eh? So I decided to try and do the easy option lay 12/1 + shots. Don't get me wrong I had some very good months where I would never lay a winner and would be + £1000 up on the month then BANG two come in a couple of days and all profit is wiped out. I know some of you shall say why don't you use a points/stakers system and my answer to that is I couldn't be arsed.

Thank you Andy (( Callataxi)) for your comments on my thread on the Betfair forum I really have truly listened. I shall now only play markets were I know I have an edge and continue to build my roll based on these.

Please note that my balance is now standing at

Total available: £1,442.56

This was after backing the Argies last night and a successful day in the tennis.

Well done Serenna !!!

Good luck all.

Shaa

Betfair Passport Win and a great recovery on the Sports!

2007-07-02T08:16:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

Poker

Well first things first.......... I was able to take down the Betfair Poker Passport last night winning a 3K package. I don't know what the score is in regards to these as I will probably just save it up and try and get another. I suppose the other alternative is to play in one of the GPT events in London, I am still awaiting confirmation about the threedom pass that I won in Cork so I shall standby in regards to the passport. A big thanks to Carl (Mandylou) who kept me awake during the later stages of the event.

Sports Betting

After a substantial loss on the rugby, I kept my cool but the Copa America has now started to bear fruit after the outrageous start of the tournament.

I started off with a + £200 win on Uruguay on Saturday.

Then yesterday I had a big bet on Brazil which again helped out the balance, along with a lay of Scotland U20 and Ecuador. I alos layed S Khan at 4.4 in the golf and backed Lewis for a podium finish I just had a feeling that the ferraris would come good.
.
Ecuador
*
9.08
203.00
Lay

My P & l for yesterday was as follows;

Cricket: GBP117.97 Golf: GBP202.86 Motor Sport: GBP110.82 Soccer: GBP490.80 Total P&L: GBP922.45

So a complete turnaround from Saturdays debacle and I am firmly back on track.

My Balance is now standing at £1897.04

So it is on to the tennis today and hopefully building that roll even further.

*** I have not had a drink of alcohol for over a week now and I was at the Gym for two 3 hour sessions including an hours boxing ***** Watch out Barry "The House" Craig I am coming to get you!

Good luck everyone.

Shaa

OOOP's I did it again!

2007-07-01T09:28:00.000Z

Well played Australia you ***** ! First win since 2004.........

Only kidding GG WP.

Launched a mini comeback last night I smashed into Uruguay.

Bolivia
*
6.57
112.00
Lay

112.00
The Draw
6.40
123.00
Lay
30-Jun-07 22:24
123.00
*Average odds: On Off

Along with a few horses layed I ended up;

Total available: £974.59

Motor Racing.

I shall back Lewis for Podium.

Golf

I shall lay S KHAN

Good luck all.

Get on New Zealand

2007-06-30T10:26:00.000Z

I fancy the All Blacks strongly today.

Layed Aussies @ 7.8 for £122

7.83
£122.00
£122.00
£833.20
Bet matched: 11:26 30-Jun-07

Apologies for the spelling mistakes in previous post as I am in a rush.

Good luck.

Back on Track

2007-06-30T10:19:00.000Z

Total available: £1,571.00 + £1071

The big win came on the tennis when I had layed Gonzalez at 1.06/1.07 for a small loss of £45.99. He was a break ahead in the final set ad then I eturned home to hear about the new Serbian sensation.... LOOOOOOL

GG WP UL Gonzo and thank you.

I also played the wsope qualifier last night and I was knocked out by my mate The House with 99 VS ak Standard.

Good luck all.

Shaa

About Time !

2007-06-29T08:17:00.000Z

Finally I get one right in the Copa Ameriaca.

Soccer / Argentina v USA : Match Odds
29-Jun-07 03:41
200.35

Account Balance is now Total available: £1,054.41 + 554.41

I shall be really going for it this weekend as I am now off the drink until 1st of August.

I got weighed yesterday for my challenge to lose a stone in a month and I am currently.

5 ft 7in 14st `10

I believe that I can do both my challenges although in the Sports I need a big weekend !

The rest of my time shall be spent in the gym and also boxing which I started again two months ago. I really love the sport and it certainly is the hardest training I have ever done. Why is it all so easy when you are 14 eh?

Good Luck all.

Shaa

SHIT or near Busto

2007-06-28T15:29:00.000Z

I haven't had a chance to do any Tennis today or Horse racing therefore it is back to the Copa America.

Oh my lord you must be thinking !! well that is what I was anyway :-)

I am going virtually ALL in on the Argentina win.

Good luck.

Shaa

Ps..... Surely it can't be three nights on the trot?

One step forward and two steps back !

2007-06-28T07:55:00.000Z

Good grief !

It certainly is soda law when you advise that your best market is football and then you get shafted two nights in a row. I had a good day recovering losses from the previous nights Peru disaster with both Tennis and Horse racing.

Horse Racing: GBP113.61 Tennis: GBP104.80

So after a good day I decide to get involved in the Copa America again.

My analysis was as follows in regards to the match, there was no Kaka or Ronaldinho but they did have Anderson and Robinho playing therefore although I kind of fancied them for the win against Mexico I still thought that it could possibly be a draw taking into consideration lasts nights results.

So I decided to go with a lay of Mexico at 7/1.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM Total P&L: -GBP490.00

What a disaster ! I wasn't going to get involved, the warning signs were there but I decide to go against my instinct.

Ah well.

Day 7 Sports Challenge £855.47 + £355.47

I really need to bounce back today.

Finally I have ditched my PLO challenge however I will be using the SHAABOOM account for Poker.

Good luck all.

Shaa

Just take the punches !!

2007-06-27T08:15:00.000Z

I suppose you just have to take the punches and accept taht these things happen sometimes !

After a successful day on the horses, tennis and cricket I decide to get involved with the Copa America and quite simply Peru did me in the Poo Poo.

So my P & l for yesterday;

Cricket: GBP113.45 Horse Racing: GBP87.91 Soccer: -GBP349.74 Tennis: GBP39.47 Total P&L: -GBP108.91

Day 6

Sports Balance £1131.06 + 631.06

At least that haven't been big losses as such and I have still more than doubled my bank in less than 7 days so onward and upwards as they say.

Good luck everyone,

Shaa

Horses for Courses and finding your leaks

2007-06-26T07:42:00.000Z

Well I have had a losing day in my challenge however I did recover well.

Included in my list of bets of a negative nature was a lay of two horses detailed below;

Horse Racing / Wind 25th Jun : 6f Hcap
25-Jun-07 19:44
-147.91
11.59
Horse Racing / Wind 25th Jun : 6f Mdn Stks
25-Jun-07 19:15
-411.00

However even with these two losses detailed above I was able to grind my way out with a - £263.72 from the horses which I think is a serious leak in my sports betting. I cannot seem to stop thinking that this is indeed easy money and continue to lay horses effectively blind to be honest. I also do most races during the day and evenings and usually make it only one selection per race. I must admit that I purely do it out of boredom in work so I perhaps need to review this especially if I am going to take this up full time !!

I would like to know if there are any horse racing layers out there willing to share information ?!? or are all horse racing layers mugs? :-)

I did well in the football again last night which is my biggest earner, I think I am up + 10,000 in football this year but - 5,000 from horse racing.

Soccer / Bohemians v Waterford : Over/Under 2.5 goals
25-Jun-07 21:56
18.29
Soccer / Bohemians v Waterford : Match Odds
25-Jun-07 21:52
103.01
Soccer / Lyn v Rosenborg : Over/Under 2.5 goals
25-Jun-07 19:40
24.34

Finally the tennis has started which gives me a great opportunity to trade which I shall take full advantage of. In the Henman vs Safin match I have a green book with £50 on each side so that is to be concluded today. I did have the book at £100 each side but got greedy especially when it looked like safin was going to take the final set.

Anyway that is enough of my ramblings and good luck to everyone.

Horse Racing: -GBP263.72 Soccer: GBP145.64 Tennis: GBP22.00 Total P&L: -GBP96.08

Day 5

Total available: £1,239.97 -------- + 739.97

1 bet that I shall be lumping on today shall be Nadal to beat Fish.

Shaa

Duffs Report and Challenge Update

2007-06-25T13:57:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

Ok first things first my sports betting challenge.

Day 4 £1,336.05 + £836.05

Golf: GBP182.78 Horse Racing: -GBP7.37 Soccer: GBP119.78 Total P&L: GBP295.19

I layed a few horses on the Friday but it was a losing day approx - £50 I din't do anything on the saturday however I had a decent day yesterday. I backed Fasth in the golf and layed Rose in running when he got off to a good start at 16/1.

I also had some bets on the Norweigen footy including a bet on Lliestrom against Start which duly obliged.

I didn't have amy PLO sessions so that bank stays the same.

So accompanied along with my challenge to get to 5k by the 1st of June from £500 I have done a prop bet with my friend that we are to lose a stone in weight by that date. We haven't decided on the prize as yet but I shall keep you posted.

I am also a bit undecided about the WSOPE qualifiers which are currently running on Betfair and as I want to take my PLO challenge seriously I need an account to play on without messing up figures etc. I might just keep my sports betting challenge going on the Shaa account and ditch the PLO one and try and use Shaaboom again for the qualifiers. I shall decide on Wednesday.

Duffs Report

I went out on the Friday night and got completely smashed and needless to say I was a little worse for wear when I arrived to duffs house on the Saturday. It was also one of those situations that it didn't matter how much you drank I was never going to get pissed never mind even tipsy :-)

It was great to meet up with everyone again and it was an absolutely great evening and a big thanks to Duffs and his Mrs. The draw was made and I was on table two where I suggested to move to the outside tables as Mandylou was taking up half the room. I had the pleasure of Highstack, Mavis, Canaryboy ((who needs to learn to shuffle :-) )) and HWB. I knew from the start that I wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind to play and it was also going to be one of those nights when you flop a decent hand and someone else simply has better.

There isn't really much you can do given those situations and then you have the other end of the spectrum where Highstack would call a raise with Q3 and flop a flush :-) There was one hand between my self and Stacks to which I was happy with;

The blinds were 100 200.

I called with 10d 9d

There was a raise to 600

Two callers including myself and stackers.

Flop Kd 2d 8d

Highstack bet 1000 and I decided to just smooth call in this spot to try and milk him :-)

Turn was a King

Highstack now bet out 1500 and I again called.

The river was a Jack and I checked and he checked behind with the nut flush.

I think a lot of people were suprised how I didn't go broke with that hand but that was the problem that evening I had so many other situations were I should have done.

I then decided to jam with all of my 2400 chips with AC 7C and I was looked up by HWB with AK in the BB needless to say I flopped the flush. So I got lucky I then called a few raises in position and then finally got caught bluffing and it was GG WP GN.

Finally I played a STT with Tank, Queenoffe, Dave, Variance, Tiogerwing (great lad), Shrub and a couple of others. It was great craic until Tank left three handed and told me to take over. Needless to say I won it for him and he told em to keep the cash. I decided to hold on to it for him and give it to him online as I felt that he would end up throwing on the horse in the back garden even though it was not really a horse but Sunday 8 pm NEEEEEEEEEEEEIGH.

Good luck,

Shaa

Day 2 Sports and PLO Challenge

2007-06-22T09:54:00.000Z

Good morning everyone,

Day 2 of the challenge.PLO. Balance now Total available: £147.78 +47.78

This was after a rebuy in 4 minutes good lord this game is crazy. I rebought and left with another winning session I am really enjoying it though and have a good feel for the game already. I shall try and build up to £200 and then move up to 50c $1 or $1 $2.

2007-06-2120:18 Poker RoomCash-In : Loire 05 - - - 26.02 147.78
19:13 Poker RoomBuy-In : Loire 05 - - - (9.69) 121.76 19:09
Poker RoomBuy-In : Loire 05 - - - (12.56) 131.45

Sports Betting Challenge

Well this was full of ups and downs. I backed yeats heavily for a place at 1.26 however then lost all of this by laying that bl00dy jock horse which duly won at 50/1. :-(I had luckily only laid it for £3 along with a few others.

I rebuilt with a series of lays for £5 and £10 to finish the day up.In the tennis I backed she woman maursemo along with Lubo, and finally the football I layed Verona and backed under 2.5 and 3.5 in the Italy vs Portugal game which ended 0 0.So another very good day and my balance is now standing at;

Day 2 Total available: £1,155.55 +£655.55

Horse Racing: GBP104.87 Soccer: GBP133.11 Tennis: GBP96.80 Total P&L: GBP334.78

So I am well on target so far, unfortunately I shall not be able to do anything today and tomorrow as I am away to Duff’s but I might jump on to do the final of the under 21’s.Finally I also went into a bookies for the first time in ages to place a bet in the last, and when I was a mug punter I used to always go with the selection in the racing post. They tipped up Hernon Bay and I put my £10 each way on along with £20 each way on Frankie and it came in at 20/1 with Frankie 2nd. I quickly scarpered especially when there was the local tramp shouting on the cartoon racing and licking his lips at my wedge.

Good luck everyone.Shaa

Sports challenge as well as PLO

2007-06-21T09:51:00.000Z

Well I have decided to start a sports challenge as well where I shall try and turn £500 into £5k by the 1st of August 2007. I know that it shall take a lot of work however I am willing to give it a real go.

Ok had my first taste of PLO.I played the 25c 50c table and good lord there was action Anyway I more or less increased my buy in by 5 ;-)

$25 to $115 appox2007-06-2019:45 Poker RoomCash-In : Cumulus - - - 56.55

2007-06-2019:08 62216918 2007-06-2019:08

Poker RoomBuy-In : Cumulus - - - (12.54) So PLO challenge is up to £144.01.Good start now back to the books

On the sports front I had a good start increasing my bank to £820.77.

Here is my P&L

21 Jun 09:12
Horse Racing: GBP78.73 Soccer: GBP173.38 Tennis: GBP68.66 Total P&L: GBP320.77

I am thinking of trying to keep grinding my sports out and then lumping on something like Federer for Wimbledon. If I can reach 2k I might just bang it on him although it would tie up a lot of the bank?In regards to the PLO well as you know it is just a bit of fun but that is perhaps the key to the challenge as it has been fun.

I have to say that the standard wass generally awful at 25c 50c level with players going all in with small pocket pairs pre flop. I mean I only learnt the hand standards yesterday I truly believe that this game shall help improve my overall skill level as a player.

The only thing that is evident that there seems to be a lot of holdem players who do not understand the difference between Omaha and effectively holdem. For eg; they shall play hands like AQ88 --- two great starting hands in holdem but in Omaha ?!? well not so.I want to be a poker player at all disciplines not just someone who can play holdem (( limit and no limit)).

I see players at the WSOP playing in a variation of games and although I am very successful at what I do (( qualified for 9 packages on line to various main events)) I wish to branch out more hence the reason for tackling PLO. I think that I shall keep this little challenge going for at least 6 months and hopefully by that stage I should be playing $2 $5 after learning my trade at the lower levels.

Finally in regards to the sports yes that would be a standard day for me. I backed Tursenov (sp) to beat Timothy in the tennis, had a few lays in the horseys and finally my main bread earner the football was the U21's last night. I wish to keep this thread going so I can keep a proper check on everything as I blew a lot on the cricket backing the draw at the start of the week and I do feel that this shall motivate me to do better.

Good luck all.

Shaa

Pot Limit Omaha challenge.

2007-06-20T07:35:00.000Z

Shaa is taking a break after his cork exploits. But Shaaboom is back!PLO. cash.I need something to kickstart my love for the game.

Since returning from Cork I have found it difficult to try and motivate myself as I have had the normal issues with playing online tournaments. You know the usual nonsense you get deep in a tourney you are in 2nd place you jam the Big stack who is not even in the pot calls with AQ etc for nearly all their stack?!?

I have to honestly say that the only way to play tournaments on Betfair is ABC, you cannot nake moves as they shall simply look you up. (( this is at all standards)).Anyway my new quest is Pot Limit Omaha.I shall start off with a bank of £100 and try and do a Bluescouse.

In turn I shall try and update this thread on a regular basis.Finally I need to learn how to play the game properly. Anyone got any recommendations for books etc or articles?

Cheers

Irish Poker Classic Part 2

2007-06-12T14:17:00.000Z

Ok so where was I? On to day 2 at the Irish Poker Classic. I felt that I was certainly playing well and returned with a stack of 37k for day 2 when the average was around 25k. I was also pleased to note that my 3 % swaps were all still in as well.

There were not too many hands to note when steadily increasing my stack from 37k to 100k, it was just one of those days when you called a pot sized river bet with middle pair and it was good. Furthermore I chopped off a few raises sometimes I had a hand and on other occasions I didn't a lot of my play was simply situational and given my feel for the player in general. I simply did not get involved in a race for my chips apart from the instance in day 1 which was the hand that gave me the boost that I needed. I simply moved up and down gears to a point that I felt that noone had a read on me, I was enjoying playing both post and pre flop and showing no hands whatsoever.

At the end of day 2 I had 170,000 and I was chip leader with 13 left there was also a nice little bonus from our from Betfair that if I made the final table I would be eligable to return to the event for the next three years. So with this in mind I decided to get more aggressive instead of doing the normal thing and tightening up and the other players were aware of this. After a few take downs I reached the final table with 210k and I was sitting in 2nd place now.

At the final table we had a decent group of players including Ken Doherty who I must advise was an absolute quality fella. He is totally down to earth and certainly knows how to play the game. I did run a bluff at him which I fortunately got through. The blinds were 5,000 10,000 with a running ante. I called on the button with KQ sb folded and Ken checked his option the flop came Ad 3h 3c Ken checked and I bet 10k which he called.

So I had represented the ace pre flop which he duly called so what the hell was he holding a three maybe? The turn brought 7d and it went check check. Finally on the river it brought a 3d.

So the board now read ;

Ad 3h 3c 7d 3d

Ken now checked to me. I decided there and then that I was going to bet this out. Well I had set up the play with representing the ace on the flop. So I put out 40k which was half of my remaining stack.

Option is now passed to Ken who enquires " Do you have the flush?"

to which I respond "Who me ?" " No I don't have the flush" Anyway Ken folds and I am elated and as I was dying to show someone apart from the table as I did not want to upset Ken as I had a very good relationship with him. Unfortunately I couldn't do this lololololol.......... I did Ken the next day what I had to which he duly laughed and took it in good spirit.

So we went on a break and there were 5 players remaining and my stack was around average but I was getting somewhat frustrated with a certain Paul Lecky :-) absolute gent by the way. But he kept taking advantage of my limping into his big blind. Paul also is the master of speech play and I thought Ariston was good :-) this would be a hell of a showdown if these two fellas started. I went away during the dinner break and had a shower and came back totally focused ready to play my A game to which I duly did. There was also another player at my table called Slyvester a frankie detorri lookalike who also had a big gob. We got involved in a few verbals two tables out and it was the same on the final table. To be honest I actually quite liked the fella he certainly had balls to back up the big gob :-) Eventually after a few battles we were down to three players and on a break.

The chipleader had approx 850,000 I had 320,000 and the irish frankie detorri had about 150,000 with the blinds 10,000 20,000. At this point after speaking to Ariston we proposed a deal three handed were the chip leader got 45k I locked in 2nd place with 32k and frankie got 25k and we played for 6kand the trophy. I generally then just opened my game up and decided to pretty much jam every hand and I found it quite laughable that on antes up they said that Slyvester then showed me who the daddy was loooooool. The guy got aces, AJ, and Kings in successive hands after that and I was more than pleased then that I had locked up 2nd.

I got knocked out in 3rd place open pushing with 10d 9d and even though I hit a ten on the flop the chip leader who looked me up had KQ duly hit his king on the turn and that was me gone with a brick on the river. Slyvester actually went on to win the tournament and I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to him as I said earlier he is a good fella.

To conclude it was a great tourney which was run well by Betfair and a big thanks to David and his staff. Furthermore the staff at the Macau club were excellent as well.

So where do I go now? back home to the land of the living until the next event I qualify for.

Cheers for reading.

Shaa

Irish Poker Classic Part 1

2007-06-11T14:31:00.000Z

Sorry for my late post however I have been quite simply up to my eyes since my return.
So the Irish Poker Classic, as you read from my previous entry I did not even want to attend the event, however after being persuaded by Russ "Arsiton" Cawley and Simon (Dangero) who were both a great help to me I decided to make my way accross the water.
I looked up the internet for flights and ended up being quoted £900 return !! well it was a bank holiday but I got two flights booked through two different air lines at a cost of £300. Marty Smyth also phoned me and offered to buy my ticket and I was seriously tempted but I thought that there was some kind of fate involved with me qualifying on the Wednesday.

The other problem that I was going to have was that I was not arriving until 18.45 and the tournament started at 18.00, but was this a blessing in disguise? I finally got to the venue at 19.45 hours after being driven around Cork by a woman taxi driver not having a clue where she was going.

On arrival David the Betfair Ireland Team manager ushered me towards my table and I sat down with not too many chips taken from my stack. I found the table to be full of quite a lot of calling stations but a couple of aggressive young lads who seemed to be taking advantage of punishing the limpers. After a few orbits I found my stack down to about 6,500 (( started with 10,000)).

There was one particualr hand which actually got me going ;

I am playing 6,200

Blinds 100 200 There are five limpers and I look down at AK in the bb. The sb completes and I decide to try and take the pot down with a raise of 1200. The UTG jams all his chips in the middle and the action is folded back round to me.

At this point I go into the tank as well as trying to put this player on a hand I reflect on the fact that I have only been at the felt for approximately 45 mins after travelling 5/6 hours do I really want to put my tourney life on the line with AK. In normal circumstances no but something told me to just go for it as I also read the player for 99 10 10 jj or qq.

Call..... I am here to win I mutter and this is my opportunity for a stack.

He flips over QQ.

The first card out the door is a king and he doesn't improve so I am now up to approximately 14k and feeling rather better, but what a bloddy decision to make so early. So that set the tone for the rest of the tournament Aggressive poker is winning poker.

I played well the rest of the day and when I had the nuts I was over betting and getting callers all of the show. I finally finished the day on 37k which was more than average and just shy of the target that I had set myself for day 1.

I shall post Part 2 tomorrow..... moving day !!

Irish Poker Classic

2007-05-31T15:31:00.000Z

Well I am off to Cork tomorrow to play this event as I won a sat last night.

It has been a bit of a nightmare to organise this to be honest, however I am looking forward to catch up with some old friends like KP, Ariston, Marty and Simon. I am sure there will be loads of others there like Scott Gray and Dave O'Callaghan etc to name a few.

Anyway it all happened last night whilst I was playing some stt's and six pac's on Betfair, I noticed the sat only had 9 runners so I decided to give it a go as there was a little bit of value. I had it running in the background and to be honest wasn't really paying too much attention until we were four handed. I decided from the offset that I would be uber tight and then when the blinds were reasonable become a push bot which is effectively what happened.

To cut a long story short I ended heads up with a player called Paulo'c.

PaulO'c had 15,500 to my paultry 5500

Blinds 150 300

I then realised that the event was on Friday so I offered him a chop as there was prize for 2nd, which was £200 and 20% of him in the main event which he declined?!?

I explained to him that all I needed was 1 double up and we were level but he still didn't see the value. I thought the prize was just $1300 but Ariston called me to tell me that I was playing for a lot more with this in mind I said feck it lets battle. Thank you Russ by the way.

So I doubled up and we both had 11k

Then I hit a straight on the turn of a

7c 9h As 5c board with 68 which he paid me off with about 5k on the river which was a blank.

He now had 5k to my 15k so I offered him the same deal as I requested which he turned down again and the final hand was when I had QQ vs his Q7 on a 7 high flop.

So there you are I am off to Cork and I shall write about my tourney on my return.

Good Luck all.

Shaa

Time to step up my Cash play

2007-05-22T12:21:00.000Z

Well as mainly tournament player I have decided that I am now going to start concentrating on cash games as many of my good friends have been urging me to do so.

I have mainly played 2 5 on Betfair and have started to play their $10 $20 game as well as the $4 $8 on Mansion which I have found somewhat fishy to say the least.

I shall also try and post some hand historys however here of the hands that I played recently on Mansion;

HAND HISTORY DETAILS***** Hand History for Game 23921734 *****
$4/$8 Hold'emHand start time: 2007-05-22 12:16:45
Seat 3 is the buttonTotal number of players: 9Seat 1: letham(758.82)Seat 2: PARD(567.00)Seat 3: NORTE(1,492.01)Seat 4: NoComments(1,830.75)Seat 5: Yonky(1,112.00)Seat 6: SHAABOOM(775.50)Seat 7: zxas(502.50)Seat 8: LostLuckyr(797.00)Seat 9: namee(573.25)

Current Number of Players: 9namee start position:

573.25LostLuckyr start position:
797.00zxas start position:
502.50SHAABOOM start position:
775.50Yonky start position:
1,112.00NoComments start position:
1,830.75NORTE start position:
1,492.01PARD start position:
567.00letham start position:
758.82Yonky posts small blind
(4)SHAABOOM posts big blind (8)SHAABOOM is dealt down [Ac Ah]zxas foldsLostLuckyr foldsnamee raises to (16)letham foldsNORTE calls (16)Yonky foldsSHAABOOM raises to (68)namee foldsNORTE calls (68)

flop: [7h 2h Kh]

SHAABOOM bets (153)

NORTE raises to (1424.01)

and is all-inSHAABOOM calls (707.50) and is all-inNORTE is refunded (716.51)turn: [Jd]river: [6s]

SHAABOOM shows [Ac Ah] for a pair of acesNORTE mucksSHAABOOM wins (1568)rake is (3)

So today has been a good day I have now cashed out of mansion for $1544 after buying in for $260 and I also was $400 up on Betfair (cash tables).

I am now off to grind out some stt's and six pac's, finally there is a great promotion on at Mansion poker this week with super sats instead of the 100k.

Good luck everyone.

Shaa

Finding out the correct style for you !

2007-05-15T10:32:00.000Z

I noticed this article the other day and saved it on my pc (I think from Alex Martin's blog), it certainly made great reading.

Often hear the argument over whether it is best to buy in for the max buyin or less in a no-limit hold’em game.

I am a huge proponent of buying in for the maximum amount allowed. I feel that it gives you the advantage at the table and allows you to play a wider range of styles. You can successfully use different types of (creative, tricky) plays because of the amount of chips in front of you. I do not believe that the converse is true. If you are playing a stack that is shorter than maximum amount allowed, it is no longer be profitable to play a loose aggressive style (LAG).I believe that both tight aggressive (TAG) and LAG are both winning strategies in no-limit hold’em.

However, given the choice between the two, I believe a LAG style is more profitable.One of the most important concepts of a LAG style is utilizing implied odds. Implied odds are the odds you are getting because when you make your hand your opponent will pay you off (on future bets). An example of this is that you have 5s6s and the board is 4s7sQd. If you believe your opponent has a very strong hand such as AQ, AA, KK or a set and you and your opponent both have the max buyin, you are getting very good implied odds. If you make your hand, you will likely win all of your opponent’s chips. Implied odds relay heavily on the caliber of player you are playing. There are players at 5/10 NL who I know won’t pay me off and I will rarely draw on them. Even if I make my hand, my payoff is minimal and therefore in the long run it is not profitable to play my draws. However, the vast majority of players are not that way.

It can often be very profitable to invest a small portion of your stack on the flop or turn with the anticipation of winning a monster pot after you make your hand.Implied odds are very important to consider when deciding if your draw is worth playing, but other factors must be considered as well. For instance, say you have 66 and you raised to $35 preflop. Your opponent then re-raised to $135. You both have $1000 starting the hand. I would likely fold my hand here even though the correct odds are apparently there. I am 7:1 to hit my set, and if I do I am likely, but not certain, to win his entire stack. I have to call $100 more to win $1000. I am seemingly getting 10:1 implied odds. In this situation, a lot of people would call and look for their set based on the calculations I made above. I would not often make that call.

You must consider the times that your opponent does not lose his entire stack. If your opponent has AK and the board comes 1065, you won’t be winning his stack. Also there are times when your opponent will have KK or QQ and an ace will flop. This will kill the action even when you do hit your set. I would want both of us to have $1400 stacks or so before I call $100 preflop. That will enable me to get a better price on my call. When playing a LAG style, implied odds should be a crucial aspect of your decision making process.

However, if you buy in for ½ of the max buyin, the value of suited connectors and small/medium pairs decreases drastically because you are not able to get the correct implied odds these hands require to be played profitably. If you still wish to only buy in for half of the max buy-in or less, you should change your strategy and become a TAG player. You shouldn’t be raising or playing suited connectors, small pairs, or any marginal hands. When you do enter a pot you should bet very aggressively.I play a loose aggressive style of poker.

I strongly believe that this is the most profitable way to play no-limit hold’em. I strongly encourage other players to buy in for the maximum amount allowed if they wish to use this strategy. If you aren’t comfortable buying in for a large amount in a game, either move down a level or buy-in for half of the max buy-in. However, if you buy in for less than the max, make sure you make the necessary adjustments in your play.

And breath. Good though !

I shall be playing the Play your cards right promotion on Betfair again tonight and I had a good enough run last night on the $200 six pac's and $100 stt's, the traffic certainly seems to be improving but thankfully the standard hasn't.

One football bet for this evening shall be a lay of Sothampton to qualify for the championship final.

Good Luck all.

Shaa

Unexpected Bonus !

2007-05-10T11:06:00.000Z

Play your cards Right Results

Pos.
Prize
04/05/07 (avg.pos)
08/05/07 (avg.pos)
15/05/07 (avg.pos)
22/05/07 (avg.pos)
29/05/07 (avg.pos)
1
$450
Bmartinus (28.33)
MasterZ (17.00)
2
$250
pokerarb (31.00)
sibo09 (20.67)
3
$150
palser(32.00)
suddes(22.33)
4
$100
blupunter (32.33)
Shaa(31.00

Only $100 but I was happy with the consistancy of my three tournaments especially with the size of the fields.

I was out with a good friend of mine last night who has stupidly advised me that his second name is milly. Ok it is really miller but he is now known as milly vinilli and the surprising thing it actually suits him :-) and he really loves to be called it when talking to the other species.

Good luck everyone.

Bank Holiday Weekend

2007-05-09T09:28:00.000Z

I headed off to Ireland on Thursday to see the folks with my daughter Shannon (hence Shaaboom) and we did all the usual stuff like going to the zoo etc. On the Saturday Marty Smyth had a barbeque but I was not able to make it only the drinks afterwards as I had a pressing engagement with Charlie and the chocolate factory.

I headed out at 11 pm with my cousin and then we made our way over to Marty's via a local pub where I had a crash course on the old Pinot gratio. Although I had also consumed about two bottles earlier in the evening along with a few cheeky vodkas. When we arrived at Marty's I was a little worse for wear and decided to lay Osacar De La Hoya for £1000 on Betfair as everyone else had backed him and the draw.

It wasn't until the next morning that I had realised this !! and the fact that I only arrived home at 5.30 in the morning I also didn't even watch the fight. I awoke the next moring to find that my mother had decided that it would be a great idea to put my jeans that I had on the previous night into the washing machine along with all of the contents !! So this was not exactly the best start to my day accompanied with my hangover. Furthermore we were meeting Marty at the golf club for some lunch and I could hardly even see in front of me nevermind eat lunch. Anyway I got through the day with a few moans and groans and arrived back home yesterday not exactly refreshed.

I decided to play the Betfair play your cards right by accident where I came;

31st out of 288

39th out of 233

and finally 27th out of 180 Ithink the overall figures are approximates.

I was really unlucky in the final one as I had my aces beaten by queens for a monster stack which would have given me the chip lead.

I also played a qualifier on mansion poker earlier in the day for the 100k as I was only logging in to check my account, I saw a qualifier starting and said why not. Anyway to cut a long story short I qualified for this and had it running in the background with the other 3 tourneys. After a slow start I picked up after level 5 and saw that Grazza was leading the tourney with 100 left I was in approximately 7th so I set my sights on passing him :-)

With 16 left I got lucky with 88 vs KK

And I then had JJ in the BB and a notorious thief decided to go for a button raise I came OTT and he called surprisingly with KK. This then left me with 120,000 but I was kicking myself as there was no need to get too agressive there.

I finished in 9th for I think $1300 but was a bit gutted.

My exit hand;

I was playing 97,000 and there was a short stack there with only 20,000 so I could have waited but when the blinds are 6,000 12,000 and the average is 200,000 and it is passed to you in the cut off it is kind of difficult to let it go especially when I had the blinds pass me twice. I found Ace 6 off and decided it was time to move and shoved the lot in only for the Big Blind to look me up for half his stack with King 10 off? Of course he hits his King and it is goodnight. A little disappointed but the guy who called was a complete donk and I should have chosen perhaps a better spot.

Ok that is enough of my ramblings for now.

Good Luck everyone.

Scotty

Quick update

2007-04-30T15:46:00.001Z

I haven't been playing all that much recently as I am trying to find some new challenges and have also been really busy at work. However I did play the 100k on mansion for the first time the other night and finished 50th. I have to say that I really enjoyed it although it was on a little bit too late for my liking.

Anyway looking forward I shall be playing the;

GOLDEN CUP SERIES OF POKER
Littlewoods Poker has now introduced the GCSOP … The Golden Cup Series Of Poker.
From June 4 th through 10 th we will offer 7 large GTD tournaments totaling £500,000 in Guarantees , with six weeks of qualifiers into the events!

http://www.littlewoodspoker.com/online-poker/promotions/gcsop.htm

I shall be saving up all my playing time for this.

I am off to Ireland on Thursday with my daughter and return next week so again no poker, I hope to come back refreshed and ready to hit the tables.

Well it was just a quick update and I wish everyone well.

Cheers,

Shaa

Irish Open Part 2 Congratulations Marty Smyth and The Tiger Tooth!

2007-04-18T07:55:00.000Z

So where was I ? Oh yes I busted out at the end of day1 however I still had a small interest in both Marty pictured above with myself and Barry. I was also advised that Simon (dangero had made it to day 2 as well so all was fine). Anyway I decided that I would meet up with Kinghawko on the saturday for a few drinks and I knew that this was going to be trouble.

The funny thing was that people kept saying to me in passing "OI Shaa Hawk is looking for you!" I know I just spoke to him on the phone ffs. I wondered if Hawk had a "I AM LOOKING FOR SHAA" t shirt on? So we decided to head out for a few drinks down town.

After a few swift ones Hawko said that he was not happy with his hair and needed to "get some curlers?" I really didn't know what he meant? He also said that he can't go out without his lucky thong? so could we go back and change. Of course I said no bother so we headed back got changed hit the town got smashed, chatted up some mingers, fell out with each other, made up, had a cuddle and returned in an awful state the usual !!. In the mean time I was recieving texts from Marty who was advising that he was short stacked and in serious trouble.

I decided on my return to the hotel that it was a great idea to go round to Marty's room at 5.30 in the morning for a coaching session? erm yeah great idea that!! especially with Karen in bed. Anyway I still tried to put some sort of sentence together and happy with my "chat" off I went to my room. Thank the Lord I am sure Marty was saying to himself!

The following morning I had a severe hang over and it doesn't get any better when you have your mother waving a Tiger tooth in your face!! "Give this to Marty for Good Luck!! " "Tell him to put it on his chip's so I can see it on TV", "Yeah ok mum whatever" was my reply as I got a pillow and stuck it over my head.

In the meantime there was around 30 left in the main event and Marty was below average so I made my way down to watch. On arrival I saw Marty's fan club and told them about the ridiculous Tiger tooth that my mother had left for Marty. "Where is it?" enquired Karen "Up in my room somewhere! " was my reply. "You need to go and get it" as if the fan club spoke in unision. "Really?" I commented trying not to go back to my room. "YEEEEEEEESSSSS" Ok then off to get the Tiger tooth it is then.

Whilst on my way back to my room I of course questioned the relevance of this Tiger tooth and in fact started to curse inwardly "fecking tiger tooth" this lead to even more insane cursing when searching my room that hadn't been cleaned in a few days. Could I find this bloody Tiger tooth?? I searched under the beds, under the sheets, in the toilet, down the toilet everywhere you could imagine!. I was now breaking into a cold sweat and had room service knocking on my door and my phone was going off, I must remain focused and thing this bloody tiger tooth I told myself. After searching my room for approximately half an hour if by magic after pulling back one of the sheets it popped into my hand. The relief was uneal I would have put it in the context of scoring a goal for my beloved Leeds Utd to keep them up this season. No hold on Scott lets not get carried away, and hold on for a second this does not even look like a Tiger Tooth more like a sea shell !!

I then decided to text Marty to advise him that the Tiger tooth was on it's way and as you can see from the expression above!! I think he thought I was still pissed as he was oblivious to all of this!! On arrival and handing it over to him he said lets give it a go!! Needless to say Marty kept his head whilst others around kept loosing theirs. The Tiger tooth seemed to be doing a great job as Marty kept creeping up the leaderboard!! it wasn't his great play of course It was the Tooth !! :-)

Something that was a little scarey was that at the final table with had the Wolf !! (Roland De Wolf), and Brian "Foxy" O' Keefe, but only a select few knew that Marty "The Tiger" Smyth was lurking beneath the willows.

Slowly players kept dropping until he were left with two The Wolf and The Tiger. It was a great battle and I have known Roland for quite a few years now, but I was obviously cheering on my friend and the tooth. There was one specific hand that was memorable when they got it all in Marty holding 22 and Roland 33 and a 2 came on the turn ! Marty's face when Roland called was a picture Not the 2's again!! He did the same thing in the Poker Million on sky which he regretted after against Mel Judah's JJ, but lets be honest here he spiked the deuce here because of the tooth nothing else !! :-)

After that hand Roland pulled it back until they got it all in with Marty holding JQ to Rolands J4 and with no 4 on the flop and consequently me not having a voice any longer that was that! We have a winner ladies and gentleman Marty Smyth IRISH OPEN CHAMPION 2007. and the tiger tooth!!

I asked if I could get my % in a cheque like that unfortunately it was declined !!

Finally my mother is now cliaming 10% of Marty's winnings and has set up a stall in Belfast selling Tiger teeth if you are interested? :-) Also Marty has recieved an offer from Frosties Poker !! and on that note I shall say au Revoir.

THERE AINT NO PARTY LIKE A MARTY PARTY !! -------- cannot disclose the details of this.

Shaa

Irish Open Part 1

2007-04-11T08:46:00.000Z

Well what a weekend this ended up being?

I had a change of plan initially and headed off to Dublin instead of Tipperary on the Thursday as Air Lengis had made a complete mess up with my flights. Needless to say it got worse as the flight that I was due to get was delayed for 2 and half hours !!! Anyway as I was sitting in the lounge I decided to head off for a quick ciggy as I was seriously bored. The thing that I did not realise was that I had to go through arrivals again and through the check in taking off my shoes and emptying my pockets etc !!! what a nightmare.

Anyway whilst sitting in the delightful smoking room and checking the board on a regular basis I noticed that my flight was still showing delayed to 15.45 . I headed off to get my flight at 15.00 hrs to find that the technical problem had been fixed and the flight boarded?!? Needless to say they did not update their boards they just made an announcement within the departure gate. So I was now on standby and seriously on Tilt !!! I finally got on the 19.30 and arrived in Dublin at near on 21.00 seriously wrecked !!

I contacted my friend Marty Smyth (Irish Open Champion 2007) :-) to say that I was running late and that I was going to retire to my bed early after all the mayhem that had engulfed my day. I was staying at another hotel on the Thursday but I was booked in to stay at the Burlington for the rest of the week.

I went over to the Burlington the following morning to see Marty and Karen and headed off to the gym for a bit of preparation. Of course I asked Marty if he wished to accompany me however with an iced cool Guinness in his hand I was not somewhat surprised that he declined my offer.

On returning from the Gym Marty and I made our way to the venue itself which I was told had a waiting list of over 100 players !!!! So this was going to be one of the biggest tournaments in Europe to date. Whilst out having a ciggerette I also bumped into Simon (( Dangero)) and swapped a small percentage with him along with already swapping a percentage with Marty :-)

The Main Event

I decided from the offset that due to the structure that I was going to play this hard and fast and try and get a big stack early.

This was accomplished with some ease at the end of level 5 when I had around 28k obviously things were falling in to place when you limp on the button with 45d and the comes flop 44j and then a 5 hits the turn and someone then leads into you. I also had AA and the flop came down a76 rainbow. Again I have the someone leading out :-) happy days !!

I then made my first mistake of sorts...........

I called a raise in the BB with Ah 5h from the C/O with 2 other callers.

Playing 28k the blinds were 200 400 he raised to 1200

The flop came

Kh 2h 4d

In this spot I was going to semi bluff and jam after the raiser had lead out at the pot !! So it is checked to him and he moved all in for another 9k.

The other two callers decide to fold and the option is with me.

Now I must admit that on many occasions I would simply fold this hand and the villian in this case had taken my play away from me.

However after much deliberation I decided that I wanted to gamble and try and accumulate a big stack as the hand would then propel me to 40k+ and I would be in great shape. If I called and missed I would still have average chips.

Furthermore I had a gutshot straight draw along with my flush draw and I put the villian on AK and with this I would be approximately a 45% shot in winning the hand.

I called and he flipped over Ad 9c

Oh my good god !!

I was actually now favorite to win the hand !!

Unfortunately no heart arrived and a 9 of spades hit the river for good measure.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I took a bit of a hit and then I get 10 10 in the SB

The button raises to 1200 I call the BB jams for another 9k and I am left with another situation.

Again I decide to stick to my game plan ------ call he flips over AK misses and I propel back up.

I reach the dinner break with about 25k.

After the dinner break I simply did not play well....... It was one of those times when you raised or made a continuation bet someone moved OTT or when you checked it down you find the person catches up on the river.

One hand for example was after raising pre against John Cabbage I fired out my continuation bet with nada and he called. I again decided to fire and he then jammed of course I had nada.

Directly after that hand I got AQ on the button two callers blinds 300 600 and I raise to 2700 and there is one caller. I miss completely and decide this time to check it down which the caller was happy to do. When a 6 arrives on the river he checks I check he flips over 67. ?????

So as you can see when everything is going well for you and you have momentum this game is soooo easy !! but then again it can swing the other way.

Finally I went out with AQ vs KK I jammed on the SB with 9k with 1 caller and the BB woke up with Kings.

So that was my tourney report.

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow.

Shaa

Irish Open

2007-04-03T13:37:00.000Z

I am off tomorrow to play in the Irish open and all I can say is that I am currently running good.

I have final tabled on various sites in the past week, 2nd in the 16k on Thursday and also won the $1800 guaranteed on Betfair a couple of times in the past week.

Furthermore most of my roll is now on Betfair and I have been playing mainly $10 $20 limit and $25 $50 on occasion as I have been previously doing on crapto.

I shall be heading down to see my brother and family in Tipperary before the event and I have to say that I am pleased as I am just off the phone to Marty Smyth who arrives tomorrow and I don't think my liver could withstand the test :-)

So onwards and upwards good luck everyone.

Shaa

Ps I am currently 350/1 fill your clogs.

ABSOLUTE DISGRACE

2007-03-23T10:44:00.000Z

Well a somewhat appropiate title one would think eh?

This title relates specifically to the organisers of the Northern Ireland Poker Championships and the police state alternatively known as the free state?!?

So where am I going with this ? I shall tell you approximately a few hundred miles and a combination of planes trains and automobiles.

Let me give you a little background, I don't know if I mentioned last week but the venue for the Northern Ireland Poker championships had changed to the Republic of Ireland. I created two seperate threads on the Betfair forum raising concerns about the venue and I was assured that this was not changing !

The organisers of this event the JPC changed the event to the Republic of Ireland becuse of the political issues in the North. So they decided to do this 1 week before the event and therefore all players who had booked flights and arranged accomadation would be unable to make changes. I had to cancel my hotel room and advise friends and family that the venue has been relocated to which they also follow suit as so to speak. Anyway I was then in contact with Betfair and their representative who I must say was helpful, as much as to say that a representative picked me up from the station.

The main reason why I travelled to Northern Ireland was to see my folks, my father has not been well recently so I wanted to spend some time with him. (( he was going to travel to the game in Northern Ireland but not in the South)). I decided that I would still attend the event as I was flying over on the Thursday and I could at least spend a day with my family before heading off for a 2 1/2 hour train journey to Drogehda. I was also in contact with a representative from Betfair and JPC trying to negotiate some form of compensation for all the hassle that I was experiencing. Well approximately 12 phone calls later I recieved nothing and these calls probably cost more than the room itself.

I headed off to Drogehda on the Friday by myself as my father was sick on the morning and my mother obviously stayed with him. Unfortunately due to the change of venue a week before hand none of my other family members would be able to make it, however I knew that my extended family would be in attendance Master KP nooooooooots and Martin Smyth. I negotiated my train journey to the South of Ireland and was picked up at the train station and brought to the City West Hotel. The hotel was a very nice venue (well it was brand new) and I saw some usual faces proping up the bar namely KP, Martin and Bifta.

After a brief catch up I went to draw my seat and all seemed perfectly reasonable to say the least like any other event. There were satelites running for the main event however Kp mentioned that there might only be 70 runners and when the JPC guaranteed 100k they were obviously short. At the time I thought to myself well at least the players are getting their value after all of the bollox that had accompanied this event from the start.

I then saw Dave Masters a great fella who I met in Singapore who said that the event might be cancelled, WHAT THE FUCK !!!! Is this some kind of sick joke?

1. I have travelled from London booked two days off leave.
2. The venue was changed 1 week beforehand and effectively I had to cancel all prior arrangements.
3. I sought assurances from the start regarding the venue if I would have been given some kind of small idea that this would have been a problem I would not have booked my flights etc.
4. All my expenses taxis, trains flights accomadation and other costs would essentially be picked up by who? me? There were players from all over who had travelled to this event further than I did, so do you just write it down to a bad experience?!?

The organisers of the event then called a meeting to advise the players that the police had arrived and said that they would question their license if they carried on with the event.

So the event was CANCELLED.

I was absolutely livid what a complete waste of time, effort, and money they are a bunch of useless bafoons. Why didn't they seek assurances from the local polioce before advising people to travel? Were they so shortsighted to the point that they did not realise they this would be a local event only? Did they think that people would be travelling outside of Ireland?

The organisers then offered everyone £100 and if they booked out of their hotel they would not have to pay? What an absolute joke. The Betfair representative called a meeting with the polayers who qualified via satelites and direct buy in and he told us to try and claim for everything which is essentially what I have done. I recieved an offer from Betfair who were not the organisers of 200 euros which did not even cover my taxi costs. So who's responsibilty is it then ????????? who should I be claiming my expenses from? The JPC have not even updated their site with some form of apology or anything? So I forwarded my mail to Betfair so that they could liase on my behalf.

FINAL THOUGHT

DO NOT EVER PLAY POKER IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND EVER !!!!!!!!

Good luck all.

Indian Contact Centres

2007-03-12T16:17:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

I have been back recently playing on Betfair and trying the leaderboard in the $50 + six pac's etc, done ok to be fair and I am currently in the top 10 at the moment. However I have decided to give the multis a rest at the moment to keep myself fresh for Northern Ireland. (( played a couple)).

I also got a new phone from 3 a month and a half ago and it has been a nightmare to say the least. What was a simple request to have my old number transfered over has ended up being the biggest load of bollocks you could ever wish for.

The following happened;

1. I contacted 3 with my puck code and they said that this would actioned with 7 days.

2. After the 7 days elapsed I contacted them to which they said they were awaiting feedback. I get some useless fool who claims to be a Manager arguing down the telephone with me shouting "LET ME COMPLETE MYSELF MR BOOOIL" I told him that there was no need to talk dirty but I think it went over his head?!? no pun intended.

3. Three weeks later and 12 phone calls where I have the unfortunate experience of talking to a bunch of baffoons it still has not been actioned. I even know the numbers that I need to select through the initial stages and select these even before the options are given. 1 3 3 4 1 to be precise.

4. Finally one of the bafoons mentions orange?!? WTF my old network is T Mobile ?? even though I explained this on 28 occasions (approximately). Oh that must your fault then Mr BOOOOIL? What?!?

5. They then decide to disconnect the number I am using on their network and tell me that they are awaiting T Mobile to release my number ? So that means that I phone out with my old number people see this try and call me back to get my t mobile answer machine. Seriously you couldn't make this up?

6. After a month and a half they finally get my number transfered and instead of a customary call I have to phone them to get a code and the fact that this had been ready for a week.

This had seriously sent me on Tilt for a month so I stayed away from the tables, and they even had the cheek to call me the other day and ask what my experience has been like with my Network "Amasing" was my somewhat ironic reply.

Ok good luck and that is the end of my ramblings.

I am off to Northern Ireland on Thursday for a tourney and as ever shall file my tournament report.

Cheers,

Scotty

Big Slick report £300 Freezeout

2007-02-27T11:07:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

I have covered a lot of the hands on the Betfair poker forum that I got involved in so shall take the easy option and copy and paste my comments due to general laziness.

The tournament had 90 runners with 5k added and I did a deal with Duff's before the event because he gave me a lift and I felt sorry for him :-) ((only kidding)). The main event had a starting stack 10k 40 minute clock so lots of play, it was great to see all the regulars down there again.

So onto the tournament itself I had a rather rockish table apart from the player to my left who was involved in virtually every pot. I can't recall his name but a really likeable fella who simply came to enjoy himself and mix it up. I also had David Cheung on the button when it was my BB and this was someone to which I had seen won a few tournaments down at the Big Slick so I was interested to see his play early doors.

I was somewhat shocked though that when David was opening a pot his customary raise was 10 x bb and when he recieved a caller he would take this as an offence. Once the action was checked to him he then would put in 3/4 of his stack irrespective of the texture of the flop and he achieved to make people fold every time. I was just waiting to trap at the first opportunity but unfortunately when the big hands came we were not involved against each other. I must say however David seemed a really nice guy his play was unorthodox to say the least but effective all the same.

These are the hands that I got involved with and the general outcome ;

Hand 1 Blinds 200 400

You are dealt AC QC

You are playing 17k

You make a raise UTG to 2k called by UTG + 1 and the button. The BB jams for 15k action to you?The BB is a very loose and would shove with any pp and I mean any!!I decided to throw away the AQ as I put the BB on 22+ and also I had two players still to act in the hand 1 TAG and 1 CS (both had similar stacks. )

Furrthermore AQ is the most overplayed hand in poker and I am not going broke on that hand ever.The outcomeThe CS folded and the TAG thought for an age before calling with AKh.The lag had JJ ?!?Of course the board brought three clubs no king or ace and the maniac takes it with JJ.What do you think of his play there?

Hand 2

Early stages of the tournament.Blinds 50 100

You are playing 12,000 You are dealt AK UTG and you make a raise of 300, a fairly LAG player makes a rr to 2k.Folded to you? Your option?

Call fold raise?

In this situation I folded face up (for image purposes) and also the fact that there is no reason to get involved in a massive pot with AK early at this stage. It was a deep stacked tourney with plenty of time do there was going to be better spots. The table was shocked although I gave the LAG a warning that if it was level 4 plus he was all in. He had QQ and said that he would have called.

Hand 3

You are playing 13k and are dealt 10 10 UTG.Blinds 800 1600Average stack 19k.Your option?

Automatic Jam and unfortunately my exit hand when the SB called with AK and hit a king on the river. I finished in around 20th position and played my A game thoughout I also layed down AK pre to two massive reraises to find them turning over big PP, so I was really happy with my play in general.

THE CRAZIEST HAND I HAVE EVER SEEN

Another hand worth a mention which was simply unbelieveable and this has been taken from Duf'fs report although I was watching at the time.

Then I saw the most bizarre thing ever - basically I had raised preflop and was called by the BB. I had A3 and the flop was K24 rainbow - I bet about 4k and was called.

Next card was a blank but I bet out another 8k and was called - river was a blank as well so fired in another 10k and was called. I felt sure he was weak and wasnt going to call but flipped over my ace high and he promptly mucked his cards.

Really couldnt beleive that he was calling with less than Ace high - someone then said wtf were you playing with I want to see the cards and grabbed the cards which the dealer had gathered to the muck and flipped them over - turns out he had a K (top pair) but thought I had a pair of aces - to say I was gobsmacked was an understatement - so I was then in a healty position with all the gifted free chips.

Absolutely unreal but true...............

Good luck at the tables.

Shaa

Big Slick Tomorrow £300 Freezeout £5000 added

2007-02-23T16:22:00.000Z

Just a quick post to advise that I shall be playing The Big Slick tournament on Saturday which always proves good value especially with 5k added. I shall as ever write a report on my exploits on Monday.

I am currently running well at the moment and have made several final tables on various sites, however no big cash as yet. It shall be to bed early tonight however I have to go to the cinema with the Mrs to watch a girly movie, (amasing how they work this and it is my choice apparently). Furthermore I shall not play any poker during the day before the event and get myself down the Gym.

Good luck all and have a nice weekend.

Cheers

What a game !! And Kissing Lesbians in the frame!

2007-02-12T09:00:00.000Z

Ireland vs France............. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Well after spending the weekend with my daughter I eventually got home after 2 buses, 3 trains, and a flying taxi. The british transport system really is so fooked up and yes I was only travelling down south approx 80 miles. I should have just got a taxi stright back. The one point of note was taking my daughter swimming on Saturday in the local "bath", where I had the delights of watching two women openly getting it on in the pool. I honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry but I still couldn't help having a little look, of course with the customary "Oh yes that is revolting!! " comment to passers by.

It really is strange the way that the male mind set works !!!, for anyone out there that is a father you know what I mean. You become somewhat moralistic and have such high values when accompanied by ones children, well at least I do. I started taking the moral high ground with the fact that they seemed to have four children with them and surely this isn't right? However the flip side to that coin is if I was in male company then it would have possibly been fine as we would swot away the irrelevance for our own sick needs? Or is this just me? Ah well how fickle the mind set of a male can be.

Anyway enough of my RobSherwoodisms :-) as already advised I spent the whole weekend with my daughter but got back for the 16k and 50k on Betfair. In the 16k I went out with a strange hand against a player called golface12`1211 or ace121122 something like that. Anyway I actually had him down on my notes as a good player solid as he seemed to always be thereabouts in tourneys.

So I am on the button with 9d 10d blinds 100 200

folded to me and I raise 3 1/4 BB THE bb ace or whatever he is called minimum reraises back.

I call

FLOP 8s 10s 4d

He checks I betthe pot he smooth calls.

Warning the clown has AK alert !!!

TURN 6d

I decide there are no more free cards and jam the turn, and he calls with AK........ River Ace....

I know before anyone asks we had even stacks he had about 2000 left behind and he was not getting the odds to make the call funnily enough !! (( noi shit sherlock!!)) So why do players continue to play hands like this ?? You know what who gives a fuck !! He is a donk who got lucky so move on and move out !!!!

The reason for my new found don't give a crap attitude is that I have been 5 tabling on crapto for 5/6 hours a day and if you see the beats then if there wasn't any it would be rather boring. Enjoy your beats, laugh at your beats, play musical tunes with your beats !! and love your beats!! Ok Ok enough now !!! You see what it can do to you !! LOL...

I only played one other tourney last night and that was the 50k also on Betfair where I finished 11th, god I hate that when you get so close especially when the 1st place is $15k, anyway pretty straight forward exit.

Folded to me and playing a stack of 20,000 blinds 1,000 2,000 with a running ante.

11 left

Average stack is 34,000 so I need to get a move on.... I jammed with AQ to run into JJ in the BB, no help and it is goodnight from me. I also had my old mate Buzzer to my right which was fun to say the least especially when he tried to raise :-)

Anyway that is it for now...

Good luck at the tables.

Shaa

Schedule of Tournaments

2007-02-06T11:17:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

Not a lot has happened recently in regards to big results as such, however I have made a few final tables but unfortunately I ran into monsters. The one tournament that did hurt however was the sat to the Northern Ireland Open where I was heads up along with a 4/1 chiplead but when your opponent gets JJ, QQ, AA and KK in succession and you find 99, 66, and 77 etc it is impossible to not go broke. At least I have 10 per cent in my opponent at the event in a deal that we made heads up.

Anyway with this in mind I have decided to buy in direct for the Northern Ireland event instead of paying out $150 per sat. I also recieved a call from my good friend Hawko who was asking if I was playing in the Irish Open in April, I have checked my schedule and programmed this in. The Irish Open should be a fantastic tourney and with the likes of KP, Kieran, Dave O' Callaghan, Dubai, Dpommo and Hawko to name but a few attending the craic should be fantastic to say the least.

So this is my schedule in the forthcoming couple of months as I said in my previous post that I needed to concentrate more in getting out there !!

Big Slick

MAIN 2-DAY EVENT - £330 FREEZEOUT with £5000 ADDED PRIZE MONEY

£330 No Limit Texas Hold'em FreezeoutSaturday February 24th - Start Time: 7.00pmFinal: 3.00pm Sunday 25th120 Seats available

Northern Ireland Poker Championship Schedule
Thursday March 15th – 8pm
Charity Special - £100 Double Chance, £2000 GUARANTEED
Friday March 16th – 7pm
MAIN EVENT in association with Betfair Poker - Day 1
£1000 + £100 NL Freezeout

Irish Open

Fri
6th Apr
Main Event No Limit Holdem Freezeout€2million Guaranteed
€3,300
€200
4pm
Registration closes at 2pm
Sat
7th Apr
Main Event Day 2

Finally I shall be heading off to Barcelona to celebrate my birthday at the end of the month and combined with the hours spent online I have quite a busy few months ahead of me.

Good Luck at the tables,

Scott

Big Slick £300 Freezeout

2007-01-28T13:10:00.000Z

Well it just didn't happen.

I made my way down to the club at 7.30pm even though it was due to start at 7.00pm, however as with these types of tourneys they never start on time. I phoned Dpommo just in case and he advised they were still milling around and there was no sign as yet of the game starting.

On arrival I see Dpommo and Ben (Sunday 8pm) at the bottom of the steps, of course Dpommo looking his normal dapper self, and Ben wearing a T shirt ?!? in this weather HOLEY MOLEY. But I suppose that is Ben.

So onto the tourney itself 10,000 starting stack ,the blinds were 25 50 and a 40 minute clock. I drew seat 9 on which is usually the final table so the signs were good as this was my favorite seat and well the table speaks for itself. The first hand that I get involved with is JJ I raise to 225 UTG +1 and I have two callers ;

Flop 8c 5c Kd

The Big Blind bets the pot and I decide to fold however he recieves a call from the button.

Turn J............ grrrrrrrrrr Don't you just hate that when that happens.

Lots of action and there is approx now 5k in the middle.

The river brought another 5 on the board and there is a 2k bet and a call.

I know a lot of you shall remember that I always try to forget about a hand once it's gone, however that was really hard to swallow especially when the player makes the correct call with KQc against the other players busted fush draw.

I obviously feel that it is an opportunity missed should I have called the the pot bet? I move on and pick up a few pots and have built my stack up to 13k by the end of level 2.

I am now dealt AK in the cut off and decide to raise to 675 blinds 100 200 and I have a reraise from the Sb to 1600 he is only playing 4k so I decide to jam and he calls with errrm AA. The flop comes;

J Q 9 so I am looking for a ten but it fails to deliver with two bricks on the turn and river.

I am now down to 7.5k however the blinds were still only 100 /200, and I am always a believer in taking risks in tourneys to try and get a stack early.

The next hand of note was KK this time the UTG bets 450 pre I raise to 900 and the bb calls along with the initial raiser.

Flop Kc Qc Ac

I decide to lead out for 1.5K and the bb calls UTG folds.

Turn a brick 2d

He checks and I bet 1.5k he calls again after a long dwell.

I know at this stage I am well ahead so praying that no club arrives as I have two red kings the river brings the 7h.

I bet out 2k and he makes a crying call with trip queens, I am somewhat baffled as I know that I would have jammed in his position.

So I have finally got a bit of a stack, however with a combination of poor plays on my part and effectively missing every draw on the planet I find myself with 6k at the end of level 5. Well I did 4k on a 9 high board with JJ and the villian had AA (of course).

I also call a raise with AK in the bb and the flop comes a miserable 223 the raiser bets and I fold. I decide to try and make a move with 3c 5c on the button and this also fails to materialise when my continuation bet is raised with a flop of 10 10 6 (no clubs).

My final stand came with the monster that was A8c and when it was folded to me in the Cut off I jammed with 2.6k only to be called by the BB with 66.

The first card out the door is an 8.

Flop 8 7 A

Happy days oh I forgot to add that this was Perry the luckiest player that I have ever played against in my life. So when a 9 hit the turn I knew it was goodnight as of course the good old 5 made him his runner runner straight.

I have to say overall I was pleased with my play although I really need to start playing more of these tourneys. It was great to see a lot of the regulars down at the Big Slick again and the staff were excellent as per norm. A special thanks to Tony Hakki the tourney director down there as he is a complete gent. Finally there shall be a £300 freezeout at the end of Febuary with £5000 added so I shall definately be playing in that.

Good luck everyone.

Shaa

BIG SLICK Saturday and article !!

2007-01-23T17:52:00.001Z

Hello everyone,

I have not been playing too much lately apart from last night where I decided to play Noseyboy's WSOP Tourney and finished 2nd collecting some good points for a final seat.

On the article scene however I have been a lot busier and recently had my singapore exploits published in Flushed magazine. Furthermore I have also written an article for http://bigslick.co.uk/ on Poker Etiquette.

Finally I shall be playing the £300 freezeout on Saturday at The Big Slick and will report my expolits as per norm. I must stress that there is serious value at this event and it also has a great structure being a two day event.

Ok good luck everyone,

Shaa

35K betfair and 12K on Sun Poker

2007-01-15T09:11:00.000Z

First of all anyone looking to recieve Rakeback cash and tourneys can click on the links on my blog and hey presto..........

Right first things first I would like to say thanks to the comments made from Gats and Stevie and others privately regarding my full time adventure. To be honest I was somewhat pissed off last week but everything is fine now.........

So what about the Poker then?> Well I was out on Friday night with the Mrs so a no go there... On Saturday I played the 12k on Sun Poker (( crypto skin)) and finished in the top 20 I shall not disclose my position so that people are not aware of my user name. I even had the pleasure of playing against ARMIN1956 now playing under retard and commented that Shaa said he was crap... :-) He went into a tirade saying that Shaa is finished etc etc I agreed with him and he said thanks and even called me mate afterwards. The guy is a Grade 1 retard at least he realises it.

On Sunday I spent the afternoon with the other half and whilst doing so my lay of Newcastle was not soooo good. There is nothing worse than firing up the bbc website to see if your bet is good.... That ginger tosser Nicky Butt GOD I HATE HIM.........

So in the evening I was logged in to play the 35K and 15k and the 40k on crypto........

In the 35k I built my stack up nicely with small pot poker and playing a stack of 7k I recieve AA in the cut off. There is a raise UTG + 1 and a call so I reraise the pot and the UTG +1 calls ((he is playing approx the same stack)) whilst the other player folds.

Flop K 6 4 I lead out and the player reraises, I effectively reraise back and before we know it all the money is in the middle...........

He flips over AK.......... would you seriously want to go broke with that??

Needless to say he doesn't when a King comes on the turn and just to finish things off nicely a King on the river........... LOOOOOOOOOOOOL................

So that was the 35K, in the 15k I simply did not play well enough and after being down to 4 x bb I jammed with AK to be called by AJ and with a beautiful Jack on the flop it was GG WP see you later Gimp.

Meanwhile in the 40k on Sun Poker I was just cruising along building up my stack gradually when I called a raise with 6d 7d........

The Flop came an enticing........... 4d Jh 3d..........

Needless to say all the money went in and with my huge draw the AA of my opponent held up.. I then Jammed with 99 one orbit later to find KK waiting for me in the BB...........

So that was my uneventful weekend of poker.......

Gooid luck everyone.......

Shaa

Nightmare Set of Footy Results And Good Luck Penno !

2007-01-11T10:58:00.000Z

Ok first things first the challenge currently sits at ÃÂ£155.56........ Arsenal's hammering of Liverpool certainly did not help and I have lost a little momentum. Thank god I left the Chelsea game alone last night !!!!

I shall be leaving the challenge alone now for at least a week or so and try and to reengage my focus. It is time to be true to oneself and try and get back to what one does best winning fecking multi's and channeling all of my energy into that!!

It is hard enough at the moment trying to hold down a job, play poker, be successful at sports betting, be in a relationship, fire fight an old relationship, and share accomadation. My fecking energy is being sapped from every corner and I really need to try and gain some focus.

I have noticed that little things are really starting to irritate me like work colleagues and their habits etc... There is one particular person in work who screams on the phone like a fecking banchee !!! Furthermore there are people currently above me who are completely and utterly clueless and only got into there positions because they simply lied.

Anyway enough of my ramblings I would like to wish my good friend Penno all the best on his adventures to Thailand and Austrailia. Penno has been a great friend to me over the past couple of years and he certainly has his life in the right focus. So where am I going with this well I am also getting somewhat "twitchy" and I am considering packing in my job as well and perhaps doing something that I would enjoy ie Poker Full Time. I remember Buzzer a couple of years back questioning why I didnt go full time? and he couldnt understand that I would want to work in a full time 9 - 5 job. I had my reasons at the time; security, companionship, routine, goals etc etc but at the moment these reasons are starting to erode somewhat.

To conclude sorry about my ramblings but I just needed to let off a bit of steam. So tonight it is back to the 10k and 15k on Betfair and I shall also be playing on Crypto where I have a couple of accounts to play the stt's and six pac's.

Good Luck everyone.

Challenge goes on...

2007-01-08T09:26:00.000Z

Well I am still running in my challenge but just about to be honest...

I was with the better half on Friday night and all day Saturday do unable to do any bets or poker, so a nice rest and recharging the batteries. Anyway on the sunday I logged on and the Man Utd game was in play and they were 1 - 0 up so I put the lot on them to win and I turned off the tv and computer as I was going out with the Mrs for some sunday dinner.

On arriving at the pub I looked up at the screen showing the match to see a scoreline of 1 -1 and 87 mins played. To be honest my heart sank and we then made our way into the resturant where we had a lovely meal but I couldn't believe that Villa had equalised so I sat there thinking ah well I could always start another challenge, but then I said no I was only going to try this once and not end up like those fellas on the footy forum chasing the 1 goal challenges.

Anyway I returned home and fired up the computer to find that OLE had scored in injury time.... Get in.... It was one of those moments when you had lost your wallett only to find it sitting in the dogs dinner bowl. :-) after a few drinks the previous night...

So my balance was over £250 and with a few trading opportunities on the footy and the NFL my balance today stood at Total available: £333.50....

Even with the balance I had also played about 6 stt's at $25 and $10 respectably...

I really cannot play the $10 stt's anymore the standard is just too bad and soul destroying furthermore I laways hear comments of "The standard is not much different between $10 and $100 " well let me tell you something that is tripe... Even playing the $25 stt's is killing me BUT I shall perseverre.

As previously advised my thread shall be running on the Betfair forum and my target this week shall be get my balance to £750.

Good luck all.....

Update on the £20,000 challenge !!

2007-01-04T10:28:00.000Z

Account Balance : £157.84

Well I started off with £21 two days ago and now I have £157.84 which I am extremely pleased with. I have not reloaded at all and I really am enjoying the challenge...... Although the majority of my profit has come via sports betting I have also played nearly 10 stt's and Heads up matches as well... Not bad for 2 days and £20 !!

I feel that the main reason for the enjoyment is based on the fact that I have started to grind and respect money again. I remember the other month logging on to a $10 heads up match by accident and then saying feck that I am not playing that !! So I then sat out the whole game as there was no way I was playing at that level. Now taht to me is sad as feck and I know a lot of players who would be the same.

So I made a decision to try and start respecting money again and try to build a bankroll like Jesus Ferguson. I have to say that so far it has been invigorating and some of these guys at the $5 ands $10 stts have a bit of game. Although I did get donked last night AA vs 77 and KK vs 22 looooooooooool.... But hey thats poker baby.

I am focused and have never put so much energy into completing a challenge !!!

All the best Shaa

Happy New Year........ and the £20 to £20,000 challenge!!

2007-01-03T11:29:00.000Z

I would like to wish all you a happy new year and I suppose this is my opportunity to set some goals etc a bit like some others. So here goes...

1. To win Qualify for 4 main events this year.

2. Win a big tournament with over a £3000 buy in.

3. To win the 10k and 15k on Betfair at least 4 times and the 35k twice.

4. To start playing cash mainly PLO as I am getting a little bored with Holdem.

5. To complete my £20 - £20,000 challenge.

Point 5 is the really interesting one............

Whilst away in Ireland I read about Jesus Ferguson creating challenges for himself and as I only do this for a hobby remember I thought that it would be interesting to give it a go .

So I checked my Shaaboom account on Betfair which I hadnt used in ages and found £21.04 so I thought ok lets give it a go !!! I have started a thread on the Betfair Poker forum and I shall post all of my bets and results on there as I try to achieve my target via Poker and Sports Betting.

Please note that at the close of play last night the balance stood at £106.50 so all in all a very good start. I shall not be applying any form of stop loss or in turn bankroll management until the later stages of the challenge as it is important taht I make big gains early !!!

So let the games begin !!

I shall try and keep you posted and if not just check the threads with regards to my progress.

Good Luck everyone !!

Christmas Eve..... Stayed in Won the 10k

2006-12-25T15:32:00.000Z

Happy Christmas everyone....

I decided to stay in on christmas eve and pocketed the 3k first prize on Betfair...

When I was down to the final 9 I was playing well and had a lot of confidence.

Furthermore I had also just lost a bet on Indy in the NFL so it made me more determined than ever.

I am off to Ireland tomorrow so shall not be playing for the next 4 days.

Good luck to everyone.

Shaa

Happy Christmas.............

2006-12-21T09:05:00.000Z

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy REDDDDDD christmas and a happy New Year.

I went down to see Marty on Friday night after being at the theatre with the Mrs. I recieved a text to say that he was knocked out in 6th place with the good old Aces versus Jacks.... A Jack of course had to come on the flop.

I met up with Marty and Barry in the Ladbrokes casino in the Big Smoke and needless to say everyone was wrecked none more so than my other half. Needless to say it was a great night I also had a chat with Mel Judah regarding his Semi heat and asked how to play someone who moves All in every pot? I also said that I thought that the young greek player had put him on tilt to which he totally denied... Believe me I can smell the Tilt Monster never mind see him and Mel you were turning into the Tilt Monster believe me. I must say what a great guy he is, always ready to listen and give solid advice... an all round nice guy.

I also got an opportunity to talk to that big Jesse May and told him to stop calling people from the places that they live. I really feckin hate that to be honest... GOOOOOOOOOO BELLLLFAAAAAAAST..... That was one the many references he made to Marty in his heat. Anyway he did chuckle but hey I suppose that is all part of the party trick although I did look down to see if his side kick Paddy was tickling his balls?

On a poker front all has been quiet, to be perfectly honest with you I really can't be arsed at the moment. Although I know that my results have been very good over the last couple of months I am struggling to get motivated to sit at the computer for over 4 hours at a time. I would much rather be out socialising with my friends and having a laugh and after all it is Christmas. This is not to say that I have fallen out of love with the game it ios just that I need a small break.

So I am out this evening however I might be around at the weekend to play a few games and if I see you at the tables make sure you say Hello....

Good Luck everyone...

SHAA Wins the $10k

2006-12-14T09:19:00.000Z

I won the $10k last night on Betfair and pocketed $3k for my troubles but I am still running bad :-(

Don't laugh I am serious by the way !! especially when I am a 87% favorite going to the river in the 15k and get donked !! Anyway time to focus on the positives and rejoice on my victory last night !!

Good Luck Marty tonight !!!

Scotty

Good Luck Marty in The Poker Million

2006-12-13T19:14:00.000Z

I am unable to get down tomorrow night due to work ! to watch Marty in his heat in the final 12 of the Poker Million. Marty and I went to the same school and have known each other for many years so it was a bit of shock when I first bumped into him again at the Dublin Paddy Poker Event.

The picture above is of Marty, myself and of course Barry and I would like to wish him all the best tomorrow night and I hopefully I shall be down on the Friday to cheer him on. He is known as one of the best cash players on Ladbrokes and is currently 8/1 to win the event which is live on Sky Sports... my advice is fill your boots !!!!!!!!

DONKED AGAIN

2006-12-12T00:05:00.001Z

Final 13 in the 10k I have AQc in the BB Lukiladi who I know is agressive raises I push (I have him covered) he calls with AJ Ace on the flop and a lovely jack on the turn no help..................

Who says this game is enjoyable?

I am now running like a robin reliant with puncture !

All the best........

DONKED AGAIN

2006-12-12T00:05:00.000Z

DONK OF THE YEAR !!!!!!

2006-12-11T22:49:00.000Z

Yes I know its early but RENEKNUDSEN you are the winner hands down...

I was playing the 15k tonight and plodding along with 16k and I am in 5th place with 19 remaining top 18 get paid.......... So at this stage I play agressively as per norm...

Blinds are 1200 600 with an ante..

UTG raises to 4k he is playing 20k and in 2nd/3rd place I find AK in the C/O so I reraise all in...

The donk decides to call with

KING JACK !!!!! WTF???

FLOP AQK OK no 10 please turn 10 tell you what lets really piss you off and put another one of those down there ......... river 10........

So that is that all I can say is that the amount of idiots playing this tournament defies belief...........

KING JACK? he must have been jacking off when he called.

DONK !

Rant over.

Had a lovely weekend by the way.

Cheers,

Shaa

Holiday away from Poker

2006-12-08T09:24:00.000Z

I had a small break from poker last night as Barry played the Reindeer challenge in my place, as I had to go to the cinema with the Mrs.

The film was The Holiday ! and I was warned that this was a girly movie !! but my reward would be worthwhile ! So we get the premier seats ( 1 pound extra) :-) and on arrival it looked like I was attending The Epsom Lesbian Society meeting as there wasn't a bloke in sight. Furthermore before I sat down there was a big grizzly woman sitting in front of me, you know the type your chair squeeks and she cocks her head round with a grizzly stare.

I had a quick look around the cinema to see if there was any fellas at all, yes there is one over there !! until she gets up ! Anyway the film itself was very good actually but the most annoying aspect of it was the constant giggling from the ladies at really pathetic things like Cameron Diaz bumps her head or falls over ! They would quite literally be all pissing themselves with laughter, and at one stage I decided to join in with the laughter but not being aware exactly what I was laughing at?

I would recommend this film and give it 7/10 *albeit that is only if you watch it under duress.*

Rake back at Full Tilt

I shall be adding a banner for rakeback and bonus on Full Tilt by next week and all you need to do is the same as all of the other banners, click on them download the software and open an account and you shall recieve the rake and bonus !

If you have any queries please contact me at sctt_byl@yahoo.co.uk

Ok that is all from me and I hope that you all have a good weekend.

Cheers

Ace Queen What a Bitch !

2006-12-07T10:53:00.000Z

Well I played a lot yesterday as I was off work and took full advantage of the 50% rakeback on the stt's and six pac's on Betfair Poker. I started at 10 am and finished last night at 11 pm so a 13 hour session and I have to say that I was pleased with the amount of traffic on the site especially in the $100 and $150 six pac's. I have heard a lot of people complaining about the traffic but it was certainly busy enough yesterday.

I had a good session on the six pac's playing 34 winning 9 and 2nd in 12 and 13 unplaced.

I also gave a few of the multis a go as well playing the $1750 guaranteed at 2 pm and running well with 12k in chips and chip leader until this hand developed.

I am in the BB with AQc UTG +2 goes all in, Blinds 150 300 he is all in for 2K.

I decide that I shall have a go at him, however the only player that is chipped up (10 k) at the table calls from the cut off.

I call...... Flop Ah 2d 6s

The problem that I have is that the player has only moved to the table. But needless to say I decide to fire out a pot sized bet 6K and he calls ?!? Shit !!!

Turn 7

Ok I say to myself I should slow down, then I think no lets put him to the test so I put him all in and he calls with ;

A7

No miracle and I am crippled but I suppose you don't really expect players at that level to understand the concept of a kicker.

Anyway I continue playing my six pac's and then enter the 15k where I run well for a couple of levels and then I get AJ in the BB folded to the SB who raises to 250 blinds 50 100. I call flop

7 9 2 Rainbow

I fire out 500 he calls

Turn 10

I decide to have another pop at this so 800 this time he calls?

River 5

I jam he calls with AQ

I know I fired three times at it but please do me a favour what a complete and utter donk or was he? This is the beauty of poker and the fact that there is a thin line between genius and madness. So I am severely crippled and go out soon after.

In the 10k I started well again building up my stack until I had A6s and the flop brought two spades.

Qs 9s 3h

There are four players in the pot and first to act puts out a pot sized bet called by two others I decide to jam with my semi bluff and I get a caller with the monster that is;

Q 2 ???

I miss and the donk picks up the pot, seriously the standard is just god damn awful but I really didnt need to commit but I was happy enough with my move.

I am now on 95 chips and rebuild back up to 2700 at the break.

Then I find AKc in the BB and there is a raise and the button calls and I jam the raiser folds but the button calls he has the monster AJ ----- FIRST CARD OUT THE DOOR JACK ! no help and its goodnight from me.

In the meantime I am also playing the $1750 guaranteed not paying too much attention to this until I am Heads up loooooooooool I still picked up 2nd place for my non effort.

I am off to the cinema tonight to watch a girly movie as I have a deal with the Mrs :-) so I wont be playing tonight. Then on Friday I am out for the christmas party eating parsnip soup and wishing there was arsnic in it.

Ok Cheers for reading and good luck at the tables REDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Still Running Good

2006-12-05T23:55:00.000Z

Just finished the 15k on Betfair and finished 3rd for $1785.............

I wish that I was running better in the stt's and six pac's though as I was getting seriously getting chimped all day long.

Typical example ;

I have kj blinds 100 200 I am in the BB............. 4 Handed I call a 2x bb raise.

Flop j34

I bet out raiser moves all in........ with ? I call

He has AQ Ace on the river you couldnt make it up..........

The standard in the $150 six pac's is simply disgusting.......

Good luck everyone

Casino Royale

2006-12-01T15:41:00.000Z

No poker last night as I made my way out to the cinema with a friend to watch the new Bond Movie ( there is nothing else on at the moment). I have to say that it was average but I certainly would not consider giving it another viewing when it is released on DVD.

I would give it 6/10

But I have never been a big fan of Bond anyway !

I hope you all have a great weekend, I shall be out with my daughter all day Saturday and then back home on Sunday to tackle the 35K and Aussie Million satelite.

Cheers

Tuesday 28th 15K Betfair

2006-11-29T09:55:00.000Z

With just 110 runners or so I came 2nd and picked up $3000.

I decided to give it a bash as my old friend Duffs came 2nd the previous night and I was playing a few stt's and six pac's where you get 50% of your fees back and your rake.

I know a lot of people have been complaining about the traffic on the stt's and six pacs but I don't understand as I played about 12 yesterday from 6pm onwards. It was nice to see that normal service was resumed with Buzzer outdrawing me on the river and that clueless clown Terrence turning up.

Ok Cheers for reading....

Shaa

Singapore Main Event

2006-11-28T10:16:00.000Z

The Night before

Well I wanted to get away from the hotel bar and make sure that I was fresh for the main event, so I got an invitation by the tv crew to go to the night Safari ! So I rounded up a few of the guys The Duffs, Barry, Ruru and nearly even talked Hawko into going.

This is something that I always do before a big event as I refuse to drink to excess the night before. The night Safari was absolutely first class and the person doing the tour was a complete nutter. The crew whilst filming had Ruru and I doing our own commentary which if it is shown I think you will find hilarious, the film crew were litterally wetting themselves. The picture above is RURU, Barry and yours truly which was taken after the safari in a local bar. If you look closely you can see Barry is very excited to be with myself and RURU.

The Main Event

What a roller coaster ride this was !!

We started off with 10,000 chips and there was one hand which I played like a complete donk when I recieved AKd in the BB.

Blinds 50 100

Folded to the button who calls SB folds and I make it 375 to go.

The button calls

Flop 899 rainbow

I bet 700 he calls

Turn King

Ok I have now hit so I bet out 1000 he makes it 2000

I call

River q Now I check thinking that he has KQ ---- he bets 2000 I call and he shows 10 9

Great start ---- on reflection this is an awful play although the King had to arrive on the turn :-(

I would appreciate any comments on this hand.

So I have donked off over half my stack and then get busy for the next couple of orbits and rebuild back up to 7K.

The table is broken and I sit down and survey my new amigos..........

The other player I recognise is David Callaghan....... not O' Callaghan

So a few orbits pass and I am in the Cut off with two black kings. Blinds 100 200 and David Callaghan UTG raises to 600 folded to me and I make it 1600 he reraises I shove he calls and flips over AA........ feckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

No help and I am down to 500 chips at this stage the tv crew turn up (( perfect timing )) and ask about my demise to which I then say tongue in cheek " I shall be chip leader by the end of the day" Of course this brings much laughter so they decide to hand around to film my exit. One player even says I will give you 25,000 /1, so I put a pound on for a laugh.

However their initial laughter soon turned to bamboozlement as I doubled up 4 times and suddenly I had 2700 chips at the break. Every time I doubled I would accompany this with "What price am I now?" all in good jest of course, but he was starting to look concerned. When I went on my break I was full of confidence honestly, as you know when you have one of those tournaments when you are mentally out then battle back. I spoke to Dave Masters at the break and he said to play the stack the same as I was in one of the side events (smaller starting stack) for anyone who doesnt know.

So I return from the break to be told that we were being moved to the TV table and I got miked up, so when there was a raise I would accompany it with a reraise all in, sometimes I did have the goods :-) The table was very wary of me now as I was essentially on a freeroll and was in suicide bomber mode as I was willing to try and take a few with me. Futhermore my stack then grew to 7 K and I was seriously playing out of my skin.

The hand of fate.

Playing 7k

Blinds 150 300

I call a raise from UTG + 1 of 900 with A5d in mid position

Heads up

Flop

Ah 5h 9h

He bets 1200 I decide to Jam and he calls instantly (( shit im in trouble here !!! ))

I immediately say to him to you have the flush? No he says " A heart?" No he says

He flips over AQ off suit WTF?

What a chance to double up

On the flop I am 68.59% to win Him 24.85% tie 6%

The turn brings the 8c

So I am now begging for the board not to pair or bring a queen on the river.

On the turn I am now 80% to his 20%

I now shout out "ONE TIME !!!" ((Buzzer special))

River 9 --------- So he wins the pot with aces and 9's with the bigger kicker !!!

That was a kick in the balls I certainly did not need as if I had doubled up there god knows how focussed I would have been. 14k from 500 chips we were only in the early levels, the table was wary of my aggressive style and if I got any monsters then who knows.... All ifs, buts, and maybes !!

I refused to stay around the hotel that evening and headed out with Ewan, Kev and Manuel and hit a few bars. There was no way that I was hanging around the hotel to listen to numerous bad beat stories as I had one of my own and I had told everyone mine LOOOOOOOOOL.... When we went out we made a pact that we could not talk about poker and the first person that did had to buy a round of drinks. Needless to say there was no poker talk as they are all such tight gits !!

Cheers for reading,

Shaa (( scotty))

Newsflash !! SHAA runs Good

2006-11-27T09:22:00.000Z

We are sorry to interupt Shaa's Singapore exploits with excellent News !!

I finished 2nd last night in the 35k on Betfair and picked up $7000 which was a welcome addition to my bank roll.

I havent played many multis on the new Betfair site and played my first one on Wednesday where I finished 6th in the 15k picking up $900 I think. This was hugely disappointing as I built up a good chip lead and only had one player who was willing to play back at me with ATC namely Doobs who went on to win it needless to say.

Aussie Qualifier

So I sat down last night and started with the Aussie qualifier and this proved to be excellent value with 45 players and 2 seats up for grabs. I reached the final table in about 5th place and just under average chips, but I was feeling ultra confident and knew that if I had the rub of the green I should be able to pick up a seat.

Sadly this did not happen as with 5 left I find two black tens in the BB six left;

utg 20,000 makes it 4000 blinds are 800 1600 I have 14,000

I decided to jam ((well it is a no brainer really))

He calls and flips over AK. Well he hits an ace straight off the bat and its a goodnight from me.

If I win that race I have the chip lead and I really can't see me failing from there. Always next week :-)

Betfair 35k

Whilst playing the Aussie qualifier I had the 35k running in the background this was my first time playing this tournament and I nearly choked on my soup when I noticed we had a 5000 starting stack. Again this proved to be excellent value with approximately 120 runners and $10k for the winner. At the first break I had about 6.5k and by the 2nd break 8k and this was without showing a hand just ticking along waiting for those blinds to increase.

The blinds were 600 1200 when I started to get busy and I then ran my stack up to 20 k when I find KK utg.

I raise to 4000

The Button moves all in for 13,000 and the SB shoves all in as well for 10,000

Absolute monster pot and of course I call.

Button AA Singapore all over again sigh !!

SB AQ Well it was Powerpat ?!? I must be ahead he was thinking !!

me KK

I suppose that you are thinking that I spiked a king well I didnt and lost the pot and went to 22nd place with 23 remaining (( 18 get paid)) the next hand I find 10 J in the BB and announce to the table that I am all in irrespective of what is dealt.

It is folded around to the SB who raises and I jam he calls and flips over 66 I hit two pair and I am back in it. As far as I am concerned you can shove the $420 to finish in the top 18 I am going all out to win it not limp into the money.

So the bubble is burst and we are down to 18 and I have approx 25k, blinds have risen to 2k 4k and it is time to get ultra busy !! So with Barry (( The House )) on msn typing in raise em up that is exactly what I did however it was certainly controlled aggression as I knew who the table nut cases were.

Anyway I reach the final table in about 7th place and I check the payout structure and survey the stacks at the table. I sat back for an orbit and then went to work and picked up a few uncontested pots. My stack then reached approx 160 K after a few knock outs and I play an interesting hand.

The bb is all in ((only had 14k )) 6 left.

blinds are 8 k 16k and I find 7s 9s on the button folded to me and I call as I sensed a little value and hoped that the SB Dangeroo would check it down.

Flop 10 8 2 rainbow I spade

Check Check

Turn 5

sb now bets 16k So I call with my up and down stright draw.

River 6 no flush possible.

Bingo !! The sb bets 16k I raise to 40k he calls and at the same time can't believe my hand !!

He claimed to have two pair which I believe !

I now have a big chip lead and find AQ one of the shorties moves all in for 70k and I call he had a small PP and it held so a small dent to my stack, although I needed to carry on with the momentum.

I didnt get really involved thereafter and we were down to the final three however I lost a bit of my stack with players playing back at me.

Biggirl then knocks out T Woods and we are heads up.

$10k for 1st and 7k for 2nd

Big Girl 450,000 Me 150,000

I decided from the start that I was going to play this like a maniac and that I did with Big Girl doubling me up instantly.

After a few more hands there was only 50k or so in it and then with the blinds 10,000 20,000 I have J6 in the BB. Opponet makes it 40k and I decide to jam even before the cards were dealt. He calls and flips over KJ Shit !! The flop came jack high so even if I called instead of pushing I would have found it difficult to perhaps fold the hand.

So all in all I was happy with my play and feel that I am starting the find The Zone again.

Cheers for reading !!

Singapore Day 3

2006-11-24T15:05:00.000Z

Off to the Races

The picture above was taken the night before where in a somewhat bizarre club they had these horses, Barry (The House) Craig and I couldnt resist. Needless to say he was trying to cheat by holding me back.

I was supposed to play in the $150 No limit event at 1 pm but couldnt get out of my bed due to previous nights activities and promptly arose at 5pm after getting in at 7am. So I decided that I would play the $300 limit event at 7 pm instead which gave me ample time to get ready.

Singapore $300 Limit event

I have never in my life felt so ill and to accompany this prepared to play an event but I got my sorry ass up to the table all the same to find the beautiful Liz Lieu sitting beside me http://www.lizlieu.net/blue/ This did have an obvious effect as I suddenly perked up a bit but she was then moved shortly after !! Unbumbleleaveable !

Anyway I suppose it was a blessing in disguise but her body double Colchester Kev took her seat soon after, and fortunately was not that much of a distraction. The game itself proved to be somewhat of a yo yo event for me as during the first two levels I peaked to around 6k before finally dropping to 400 chips. Penno was in the same event and I swapped a % with him and when he got knocked out that was when I only had 400 chips and felt I would be out soon after and to wait for me but he said he needed to go to the bar !!!

Well once Penno left I hit a rush and won every pot on offer and consequently doubled up four times and then with 12 left I was chip leader and had a commanding lead. (( funny old game this)). So I reached the final Table in about 3rd place and felt very comfortable and then I had the worst run of cards you could ever have. Obviously limit is a totally different beast and you do require the goods and there were plenty of calling stations at the table so it was difficult to bluff or take anything down pre flop.

With the cards drying up and a couple of awful fishing expeditions by my opponents I finished 6th which was somewhat disappointing to say the least. Result Below;

Results:1st – Jonas Bergstrom - $8,900 (Sweden)2nd – Rehne Pedersen - $4,450 (Denmark)3rd – Simone Rossi - $3,400 (Italy)4th – John King - $2,620 (UK)5th – Peter Gunnarson - $2,090 (Sweden)6th – Scott Boyle - $1,570 (Ireland)7th – Matthew Osbourne - $1,310 (UK)8th – Amiv Yousefy - $1,050 (Sweden)9th – Jari Kylmala - $800 (Finland)

So that was Day 3 in Singapore as it was 3 am by the time that I busted out and I headed straight to bed.

I shall conclude on Monday the rest of the trip and a report on the main event which is not one to be missed !!

Have a good weekend !!

Shaa

Singapore Day 2

2006-11-23T09:35:00.000Z

Well after the previous nights excursions I made my way down to the bar nursing a severe hangover.

I sat looking out onto Orchard Road feeling sorry for oneself until I heard a familar voice from the past with a South African accent, it was the one and only Snowball " Shaa my old mucker how are yeee?" Snowball is a great character and someone who I got to know very well at St Martaen in the Caribbean. Anyway he had just arrived and several drinks later the TV crew turned up and did some filming where Snowball gave his story about the Flaming Concorde.

The Flaming Concorde.

It goes something like this;

Snowball arrives in the pub and identifys his target preferably female I might add, he then challenges the bar that he can put his penis in the ladies mouth and light a match with this!! ((yes you are reading correctly))

So he then puts some sambuca (apologise for any spelling errors) in the ladies mouth gets the big fella semi hard and places a match in between the head !!! Furthermore he then lights the ladies mouth places his penis in and lights the match and ladies and gents we have the flaming concorde !!!!

Needless to say Snowball became somewhat of a legend in Cape Town and he hasn't done it for many a year although he has promised me that it might be coming back for one last swan song !!!

Welcome Party

That night was the Welcome party so I had a few more drinks before attacking the free drink on offer upstairs. So I quickly dashed up to my room for a quick shower and made my way down to be greeted by RURU ----------- Jesus !!! I also saw a few more familar faces like Barretta and his lovely wife, Willie Tann and his adoreable wife Sally, Kinghawko, Buzzer, Rob Sherwood, Wonky Jim, High Stackarooney, Grazza and many others. It was great as it honestly had a certain feel it although Snowball decided to bring an apron which had a massive cock attached when you lifted it !! Ben Fried the Head of Betfair Poker nearly had a heart attack especially with all the press there meanwhile Ruru had a great time with it.

Well after numerous free drinks and Singapore Slings we all headed down town again and painted the town REEEEEEEEED !!!!

Cheers for reading further update tomorrow.

Shaa

Singapore Day 1

2006-11-22T10:08:00.000Z

I shall try and update this on a daily basis as I had made notes whilst in Singapore.

Sorry for any delays.

Day 1

I got on a flight at 9 pm with Penno and Mr and Mrs Duffs.

Duffs brought his cards and we played for a few hours and I unfortunately lost $100 to Duffs and the worst result of my life EVER $60 to Penno.

The flight took 12 hours but I got my head down for approx 8 hours so on arrival I felt pretty good to be honest and just before landing The Duffs had lost their passports. Of course Penno and I gave them all the support they needed telling them that at least the aircraft would turn around immediately and that we would look after the executive suite that Duffs had got upgraded to. (( You should have seen Duffs face deserves him right though after the stick he had been giving myself and Penno about his upgrade)). Duffs finally found the passports after a panic and all was well.

We arrived at approx 8 pm and we jumped in a taxi to the hotel wow this place was fantastic. I checked in and decided to jump in the lift get upstairs and get a shower and straight to the bar for drinks !!! The porter brought up my bags ands then informed me that my friends had lost their passports in the reception area THE DUFFS. Holey Moley !!!!

So I head straight to the bar and the first person I see is that clown KP Nuts :-) Ken Powell although he was not wearing that ridiculous hat !! also with Ken was Manuel from France who plays under Isobel F (( more about manuel later !! )) and Marty from Belfast who plays as Beyond Help and is an old friend of mine from Belfast. Finally with Marty was Barry Craig ((The House)) also from Belfast and needless to say one of nicest fellas I have met in Poker to date.

We all had a few drinks and then decided to play spoof for the bill, this is a game whereby all the players get three coins then take turns to guess the total, the one who gets it correct is elminated and so on and so forth. Needless to say the three Belfast amigos were in the bottom three however I luckily dodged out in 3rd and Barry and Marty tossed for the bill $750 ouch !! WP Barry at least you won something :-)

Finally we got a cab downtown and went to a few local establishments and had a great night out to say the least.

More to follow tomorrow. Hopefully with pictures !!

Hanging With Triple Cheese Burger Duffs !!

2006-11-09T09:31:00.000Z

Ok first things first check out this deal with Betfair.

Remember just click on the link at the top of the blog and set up an account you shall recieve the following;

Please can you notify all of your players and it can be used in conjunction with the $600 sign up bonus for any new players.

Enjoy Singapore !
50% Sit & Go Promotion
Until December 31st 2006 Betfair Poker will be refunding 50% of your Sit & Go tournament fees back into your account – that means as a rakeback player through Raketherake.com you can earn up to a massive 65% rakeback on all Sit & Go tournaments as you will continue to receive your standard rakeback on the other 50% of the fee!

BF1000 $1000 Sign Up bonus
On top of the 50% Sit & Go fee promotion Betfair Poker are also offering all new players an exclusive $1000 sign up bonus for all Raketherake.com players in November.
Sign up using the promotional code BFP600
Receive a bonus of up to $600* based on the number of Betfair Points generated
Bonus is effective from your first hand played
First hand must be played within 30 days of registration to qualify
Bonus is valid for 60 days only
Bonus is paid every Wednesday for Betfair Points generated in the previous week i.e. Player will receive $10 if they generate 400 Betfair Points
Payments are made in increments of $10

Wednesday 8th November

I went to the Big Slick and met up with RURU, Duffs and Penno and also a mate of ours Jay.

Anyway it was fantastic to see RU and we agreed not to discuss the new site, I am sure you shall appreciate it is not something that he needs right now and he is fully aware of what improvements need to be made. Anyway I shall leave that to all the clowns Singapore who shall no doubt constantly remind him.

I played the £10 rebuy and to be honest nothing really happened.

Apart from Penno won it !!! My Protege is doing well !!!! :-)

RED

There was one comedy moment at the club which has a roulette machine and I decided to get Ruru and stick the lot on REDDDDDDDDDD.

Anyway it came in 17 black !!!! FFS.............

But the machine started the credit at an alarming rate ????

"What the feck is going on here " says Ruru the wee red faced Irishman.

Oh my god !! I only went and stuck the lot on the lineabove RED !!!

"Well at least thats one benefit for having chubby fingers SHAA" said the wee woman.

Ok guys and girls I am off to singapore and I shall write up reports on all of my events either there or when I return.

Good luck

Shaa

Get On !!!!!! That 80/1 Nag !!

2006-11-07T09:40:00.000Z

BETFAIR BAPT

Well I am currently trading at 80/1 on Betfair at the moment for the BAPT.

80.00
£39

£5
100.00

£40
110.00

£10
150.00

I have had a little spluttering of bets placed on me at the above odds by some loyal supporters. All I will say is that I shall be giving this tournament 100% and then some, I havent played much recently so I feel refreshed.

Furthermore I will also not be drinking during or the night before the main event as this is my ultimate goal.

I will also be playing the following events in Singapore;

Mon 13
Nolimit Hold'em
1pm
$150(+20)

Limit Hold'em
7pm
$300(+30)

Tue 14
Nolimit Hold'em
1pm
$300(+30)

Wed 15
Main Event DAY 1
1pm
$ 5000
Thu 16
Main Event DAY 2
1pm

Nolimit Hold'em
4pm
$500(+50)

Roll on Friday !!

Scott

Get that Sling nearly time to Sing !!

2006-11-06T12:13:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

Well it is nearly time for the good old Singapore Sling !!!

I haven't played much Poker recently for a number of reasons but mainly because I wanted to spend some quality time with the other half.

Betfair went live with their new site at the start of the month and it certainly needs some changes. As I said in my comments previously they shall have some "teething" problems but I have every faith that they shall listen to their customers and the site shall grow just like the exchange to a leader in the industry. Please note that I fully understand everyones frustrations and I do feel that there could have been a little more input from all users. Anyway what is done is done, and we need to move forward and with Betfair having control of their own software I can only see the huge positive regarding this.

Whilst the initial issues are being sorted out I shall be playing Sun Poker as well as Betfair and if you require rakeback from them I shall have a link posted at the top midweek whereby you recieve the following;

Details for your players below....
RAKEBACK: 30% > $1-$2,499 / 32.5% > $2,500-$9,999 / 35% > $10,000+
Rake $200 per month and gain free entry into our private monthly $3500 freeroll tournament
Rake $300 per month and qualify to play in our £30+£3 WSOP 2006/07 monthly league game towards next years Grand final where one player will receive a $10,000 seat to the wsop in vegas

Again if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me sctt_byl@yahoo.co.uk

So myself, Penno, ((pictured above shades making yet another raise)) Duffs and Johnny fly out to singapore on Friday at 9pm and I am meeting up with Ruru midweek for a training session on the DRINK !! as he has been out of practice since being deported to Malta. (( Watch out Nick for the Maltese Lira )).

There is a problem with Johnny though that he is currently in bed with a sore back therefore I have asked the forum the following question;

SHAABOOM
06 Nov 11:59
To play the BAPT from a single bed?A friend of mine is currently off work with a bad back and he is in the main event.It looks like both Penno and I will need to push him around in Singapore so would it be possible for him to play from his bed? It is only a single bed and would any players out there be annoyed sitting beside him?Cheers.

I think this is a reasonable question as he seriously might have to and with all the gimmicks and bollocks that was paraded at the WSOP then why not?? Stick a Green Bay Packers cheese head on him, throw him into his single bed, wheel him down, and Lets play Poker baby !!

I shall wait for Betfairs formal reply regarding this but I am not too hopeful as apparently his feet are even smelier than mine !!

Finally many thanks to Gatsby for my award last month !! and to all those that have been requesting links I shall definately get this sorted next week !!

Shaa

RED !!

Bigus Slickus and the Bad Beat Maximus !

2006-10-27T09:47:00.000Z

Hello everyone, Sorry I have been really busy this week hence the late update on the weekend festivities.

Big Slick Friday

I went down to play the £10 rebuy to be honest I felt like giving it a miss as I had to be in Canary Wharf the next day but I didn’t want to let Steve (Penno) down as he gets overly excited about such an event. I draw my seat say Hello to the usual suspects (( yes they are a band in the lobby)) and get ready to play.

At my table the only person that I know well is Jack a local lad who thinks he is a lot better than he is, I think he cashed in the £300 freeze out and since then has thought himself to be some sort of "Pro". I have probably played more hands in a week than he has in his life but although there seems to be no harm in him and he seems pleasant enough he needs to brush up on his Poker Etiquette if he is ever going to think of playing the circuit.

Note: I also had the pleasure of Gary another local player who knows one of my friends David Pomroy (Gary is going out with the sister of David’s girlfriend). Gary is at the opposite end of the spectrum very pleasant, nice guy to talk to, and willing to engage in conversation which is of interest. Top bloke in my opinion.

Anyway during the rebuy period I surprisingly decided to play tight, I know a lot of you will laugh but my style is tight aggressive and believe me if I didn’t get muck well they were going in. One hand that was of note during that period wet as follows;

Blinds 100 200 I am playing a 2200 stack.

We have three limpers and I am on the button with 7S 9S I call The sb makes up and the BB checks.

Flop 10S Jh 8h

Wow now that is what a call a flop apart from the flush draw. UTG +1 Bets 400 action is folded to me and of course I smooth call just praying for no heart so I can jam the turn.

Turn 4c UTG +1 checks I Jam he calls with a flush draw misses and we are off and running.

Unfortunately that was not the case as I then had a few coin tosses with my stack and lost so I had to take a rebuy and as I was in the BB I advised the table that I was all in Blind. There were five limpers who knew it was going to cost 2000 to play and they were all happy to come along for the ride. So without looking at my cards the board read;

Ac 10h 5d Ks 7d ------------ No chance surely with that amount of limpers however whilst two players were celebrating their chop with a King, I told them that I hadn’t looked and flipped over A6 Happy days!!

After the rebuy period I got lucky when I Jammed with AQ after a raise from a fairly loose player he flipped over AK, and although I picked up a spade draw going to the river I also picked up a queen as well. I didn't say sorry and all that because I wasn’t, I certainly didn’t celebrate either just sat down and got on with my game. I got lucky big deal if you saw how many donks like James316 and Heffernan do to me online well you get used to it.

I then hung around picking up the occasional pot whilst there was a 75 year old by the name of Joe who was killing the table and running all over it. He was taking all of the young guns to school showing the occasional bluff and simply being unplayable. It was quite simply the best Poker I have seen played at the Big Slick ever!

I got to the final table with a short stack and was sat beside Joe who now seemed to have his whole family behind him now. So with the blinds 1000 2000 and playing 22,000 I shoved with 44 and got it through, also AK at the same time a few players had been knocked out. The 1st prize pool for this £10 rebuy was £1450 Very good considering I had made only one rebuy. We made it down to three and Joe was still there and I offered a deal whereby the 3rd place would get £100 but the chip leader said "No" however he was pleased that he agreed soon after as he went out in third. So I had a huge chip lead on Joe and we decided to chop it up and give £160 to the dealers. Note: Very well played Joe it was an absolute pleasure to play with you as you were a complete gent! Steve was overjoyed with my win as he had a 20% stake and the only time we have swapped a % down there. TYPICAL!!! :-)

Bad Beat Final

I had to be there for 2 o'clock on the Saturday and my alarm went off at 12.30 SHIT !!!!! So I bombed in the shower and got on the 12.58 to London Waterloo. As expected the tourney did not start on time and when approaching the Poker Bunker I saw my team looking fit and mean ! Deejay with his customary big smile, Ariston milling around talking nonsense to anyone who wishes to listen :-) and George from Rainbow (Mandylou) with his not so big smile. Anyway it was great to see all the lads and catch up ! Then were a few tales from the previous evening and Deejay seemed to have become Dubai's agent as he kept going on about what a fantastic singer he was !!! (Apparently he does a first class Elvis).

I made my way into the venue to be greeted by Ollie Scott from Betfair and Ruru's body double Kate !! The Poker bunker seemed a decent enough place and it was great to see a lot of familiar faces, namely The Hunnies, Dealem, Poker Queen, Strokeit, Meg80, etc etc...

In the tournament itself I started off with 12,000 chips and I picked this up to 20,000 after the first few levels. After that I then went completely card dead and any raise that I made I had some donk push in on me. I anteloued until down to the final 5 tables where I got moved to a table with two of my team mates Ariston and George from Rainbow. Ariston was up to his usual antics and being table captain moving in blind UTG, pushing people of pots etc and he seemed to have a big stack.

I then advised Ariston that there was also a prize pool after he again pushed his stack in pre flop out of turn. He then decided to take his stack back but the player UTG had moved all in so this led to a little bit of a kiss and cuddle and the tournament director was called. The UTG player had Arsiton covered and remember they both had huge stacks!!

After much deliberation and the villain throwing all of his toys out of his pram and crying for Argentina, that the action would stand so the cards were flipped.

Ariston KQ remember he was blind.

Villain AQ remember he was fighting for this (( jeez ))

Flop came King high turn a brick River an ace.

The Villain pushes the sky and lets out a huge whooooop and comments "JUSTICE !" and then says sorry when shaking Arsons hand. (( strange eh !! )) Ariston then said that he was a cock and the guy went mental again, I thought at one stage Ariston was going to give him the "Are you American ??" speech which I heard in St Martaen 2005 but he only gave a small snippet !! Thank Goodness :-)

So I look behind me to see Dave (Dubai) the Elvis impersonator with Miss Q and he seemed in fine form and ready to have a few beers. I threw my small stack into the pot and headed to the bar where I had a chat with Dubai and catched up. We then milled around playing the odd Stt where Dubai said Im all in on the first hand and he had a caller, the villain 77 Dubai only pocket rockets , however a 7 on the flop did not help !!

Meanwhile George from rainbow((mandylou)) was heads up later in a £20 stt and apparently it took nearly 4 hours to complete as they both kept passing their button. ;-) ((so tight )).... In the meantime I was receiving some fantastic cuddles from Lisa who is a good mate but boy does she like to cuddle. We then decided to go to the Karaoke bar that was frequented the previous evening where Deejay did a fantastic Yellow Submarine, however on our arrival it was closed !!

So at 12.30 we are running around Liverpool Street looking for a bar and we finally find one called Spitz, bit of dive to be honest but hey it sold DRINK ! Dubai and I ordered a jug of Pimms and I asked for an umbrella and the bar man actually gave me a proper umbrella!!!! I stuck this in my drink anyway and downed the Pimms in no time!!

The bar closed at approximately 1 am and some of the YOOFS were thinking of going clubbing but I decided to go back to the Hotel with the Golden Oldies have a few drinks and then off to bed. :-)

The weekend was superb and it was great to catch up with so many great friends and winning the tourney on the Friday was a good start!!

REMEMBER PAINT THE TOWN REDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Cheers

Shaa

Footnote :--------- ((boom boom)) Ariston was parading around the room the next morning with one shoe on and cursing needless to say George from Rainbow had packed his other shoe in his case and was just arriving in Pontefract !!! LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

New Betfair Site and Bad Beat Final

2006-10-20T10:01:00.000Z

Well it is the weekend nearly !! only a couple of hours to go !

I suppose the majority of you are aware that Betfair shall be launching their new site at the end of the month please see the following link for details and a quote from yours truly. I don't understand what that fella Buzzer is going on about?

http://www3.betfairpoker.com/newsandviews/article/itemId/i65769849/index.html

Furthermore I have also had a few requests regarding the rakeback scheme, if you are an existing customer you shall need to set up a new account. Just click on the Betfair link (top of the page) and this shall redirect you to http://www3.betfairpoker.com/?rfr=2757 and then you download the software and you now have 30% rake back and a deal from Betfair were you can get the bonus as well.

Anyway back to the weekend I am off to the Big Slick tonight with Penno and Johnny is unable to make it, as it is his birthday so he is having a nice quiet night in with his other half Duffs. (nearly as much in love as Ariston and Highstack on the poker forum) :-)

I shall be playing in the Bad Beat final on Saturday and our team starts off with a reasonable amount of chips and in around 9th place overall.

The Motley Crew is as follows;

Russ " loads of cashes" Cawley (Ariston)
David "Gramps" Wells (deejay)
Carl "George from rainbow" Toon (mandylou)
And Finally Scott "zippy" Boyle

Other team members unable to make it are;

Dave "This tourney is crap and they are all useless" Shallow (Dubai)
Mark "I love Buzzer so much I have a tattoo of him on my bum"Hawkins (Kinghawko) bit long that one :-)

To be honest I really fancy our chances on saturday to win this as I feel that we have a very strong team available and the right mixture and blend. (reading a cook book at the moment by the way).

I shall as ever post the mysterious happenings from both events over the weekend and I am sure there shall be a few drinks on the saturday and a tale to tell or two.

Have a cracking weekend everyone.

And Remember

DONT LOSE YOUR HEAD STICK THE WHOLE LOT ON RED ! (or white).

Shaa

The Betfair Flashmob ! and Caption time!

2006-10-18T08:48:00.000Z

Ladies and gentlemen The Shaaboom in box was absolutely full this morning and although a lot of people identified the "wee woman" RURU with his pink toe nails you must have forgotten about me wearing those pink shoes but we had one winner ! who is

BARRY FROM BRIGHTON

Congratulations Barry who wins a "I want to be in the flashmob t shirt ! " which leads me on to my next topic.

THE FLASHMOB ON THE BETFAIR POKER FORUM

Well I decided yesterday to enquire on the Betfair forum about the Flashmob who are regular posters on the forum and actually a great bunch of guys. However I honestly do feel that they have now turned into a mob who would kill you as soon as look at you :-)

Just so that you can get an understanding of the mafia these were some of the comments that I recieved after questioning the existance of such a group! Let me introduce you to some of the characters !

Here is my take on the BETFAIR FLASHMAFIA ! (already posted on the forum)

Doob 17 Oct 21:50

What is the point of Shaaboom ((Doob is the hitman ! ))

Mr Snap 17 Oct 21:52

none doob none ((Snap is the muscle))

dibble 17 Oct 21:33

nice fishing shaa - must've got most of the flashmob here

oh, blx. Me too now ((Mr Nice Guy))

steviep 17 Oct 21:34

shaabooom will show us how its done on sunday ((The Enforcer))

ukgatsby. 17 Oct 16:51

Flashmob is great
but after winning it 2 weeks on the trot i would say that ((The Driver))
ukgatsby.blogspot.com

Ruru 17 Oct 13:05

You have a funny mushroom for breakfast this morning Shaa? ((The Bitch))

REEEEEEEEEEED

D Daye 18 Oct 01:17

It's just a mob of flash people who decided to take over the forum
((Some drunkard)) who I dont think is a member but seemed to just drop in by accident and shout DRINK !

ajcairns 17 Oct 20:11

Think. The big fu cking picture ((The Boss))

So here is a fuller picture of these characters and here is my reply.

SHAABOOM 18 Oct 09:34

Thank you very much for all of your kind comments.

I was under the impression that the flashmob was a group of players that played small stakes and got the odd free gift from Betfair? However it seems that a lot of the "mob" have let this go to their heads as they find solice in being in a group and picking on individuals. They are in fact THE MAFIA of the Betfair forum and I shall now refer to them as THE BETFAIR FLASHMAFIA.

Look at AJ cairns for example the so called God father of the Mob he is even shouting like that Tony Soprano now! and the whole you join you belong you die we killl you stuff is somewhat concerning. These guys and girls are seriously dangerous.

Then we have the hitmen of the mob ready to wade in when a question is asked Doob the enforcer grabs you by the gonads and asks what is the point of you eh punk eh?? backed up by another undesireable snap shouting "I beat you in an stt once so take that!" Now that hurt more than the doobs gonad crunching !

We then move on to the other mobsters Mr Nice Guy Dibble well he is the classic gangster lures you into a false sense of security with all his friendliness and then "bang" you are in the sea with a concerete slab !!!

Stevie 1 p another mobster who would kill you if you even thought about overcharging him for his magners. There was a tale once that he smashed a plate over someones head because they charged him £3 for a bottle of magners. Needless to say that there was still salad on the plate you know the customary plate filling nonsense well Stevie picked it up and shoved the whole lot down and said "I HATE ONIONS".....

The lady.... well they have also decided to balance the books by encouraging a Mrs Dests into the fold perhaps to try and kerb those bad boys Snap and Doob and to keep them in check. Mrs Dests appears to be a high flier though and is rumoured to have made captain already.

The mob also have their "driver" Gatsby from the a little village in ther North of England called Newcastle or something? Anyway this fella is probably in the same bracket as the dibster another Mr Nice Guy unless he sees queenhawko of course he loving neighbour ! On hearing the mackem accent this sends the Gats into an absolute maniac who could simply crush a grape with one finger and he has had witnesses apparently to this end.

So that is ther flashmob dont let these guys fool you ! They are dangerous, do not underestimate them as you might end up sleeping with the fishes !!!

Shaa

Ps.. Sunday night you said yes?

Anyway that is the Betfair mafia there are few others who lurk in the back ground but I know that they are probably the brains behind this and the afore mentioned members are the "front men".

I didnt play any poker last night as I was at the cinema with a friend :-) which was an excellent evening on the whole. So thank you all for reading and remember

DONT LOSE YOUR HEAD STICK THE LOT ON RED !

Scotty

Caption Time !!!! and Betfair Casino

2006-10-17T09:09:00.000Z

Ok it is time to guess the players !!!

The one on the left has just had his toe nails painted pink and the other is sporting a lovely pair of shoes.

PRIZES !!!

Betfair Casino

I see that Betfair have launched there casino and I certainly shall not be partaking in this venture as I find it disgusting to stick the lot on errrrmmm white??

Poker

I played around 12 six pac's and stt's last night and I firmly believe that people misconstrue "luck". Some people think that it is essentially beating someone when you are slightly behind for eg on a 60 40 shot, but the real "luck" is when you have AA and your opponent has KK etc.... Needless to say I ran KK into AA on three occasions last night and I feel I have been struck down with the Tushywonks ! (see Tosh's blog for details)....

Cheers,

Shaa

Weekend Madness !

2006-10-16T16:06:00.000Z

FRIDAY the 13th

Well on Friday I headed over to the Big Slick for a rebuy comp with my partner in crime Penno who was looking somewhat scary (but it was Friday the 13th) so I thought he had put in some effort. I must say that I don't really like the rebuys and certainly prefer a good structured freezeout. It was great to see all of the usual suspects and I did about 6 or 7 rebuys as I was primarily there to GUMBBBLE ..... When we finally made the break and finished the absolute bedlam and madness that constitutes a rebuy I had around 5000 chips.

On returning from the break I decided that my strategy would be somewhat lose so any unraised pot I voiced the customary "Raise",needless to say that this did not last long as I had one player on my table who simply would not let my 92 off pick up an uncontested pot :-( I eventually went out pushing with Q8 of hearts in yet another you guessed it uncontested pot but my nemesis called with 66 and his hand held.

However Mr Penno was on another table compiling another monster stack, I really don't understand the difference and more importantly the confidence that he has playing live compared to online. He really is an altogether different type of beast when playing live needless to say he got to yet another final table and finished in a respectable 4th. I know there are people that shall point out that he was first out in Betfair Forum game and I have a theory that once he sees the Betfair Poker logo it sends him into a state of despair and he in effect becomes an absolute wreck.

Whilst Penno was navigating his final table I decided to play a little bit of cash and turned a paltry some of Â£80 into Â£280 before spunking it all on an ill timed bluff. WP GG NH TY...........

Saturda14thth Betfairs BAPT madness.

With so many promotions going on with the BAPT madness it would be rude to miss out so I spent the whole day playing six pac's and stt's trying the old 4 in a row carrot. Unfortunately I only won 2 in a row however I know there a couple of people who were able to achieve this so well done to all.

Note : I would also like to put on record my congratulations to rake2win who criticizeded during the week. I have to say that he played the game well on thleaderboardsds and well done.

I also playing 5 hours of cash on saturday to try and qualify for thfreerollll and I have to say that it was like watching paint dry and some of thmoronicns on $1 $2 are well quite laughable. Anyway I ended about $200 up after 5 hours but had plenty of six pacs and stt's running at the same time.

Sunday the 15th

I went out for the day with a friend and enjoyed a couple bottles of wine and a very nice afternoon and then logged on to be greeted by rather pleasant armin1956 who along with his illerate comments is quite amusing for all of 2 minutes. The really amusing thing is that he thinks that I am Buzzers brother?? and therefore for that alone the new redpoker CHIMP OF THE WEEK goes to ;

ARMIN1956 -------------------------------------- CHIMP OF THE WEEK.

Also on sunday I was able to complete my 5 hours cash and qualify for the freeroll to which I hear that Mandylou on the Betfair poker forum always gets before anyone else. SO if you are looking for a freeroll password you know who to call MANDYLOU !

Remember to stick the lot on REDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.

Ladies and Gents We are getting closer to Singapore!! Ruru is getting excited !!

2006-10-10T08:40:00.000Z

The thing about this picture is the expressions of the others witnessing the RURU pole dance.....

REDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

ps Yes and that is me by the way helping a mate out so he didnt look like a complete chimp :-)

Rake Back on Betfair and $300 bonus

2006-10-09T14:56:00.000Z

Rake Back on Betfair

Click on the link above or use this link http://www3.betfairpoker.com/?rfr=2757 and you'll recieve rake back on Betfair Poker.

Sign Up Bonus

The bonus will be paid every Wednesday and is effective from first hand played

Sign up using the promotional code MPP300
Receive a bonus of up to $300* based on the number of MPP’s (My Poker Points) generated
Bonus is effective from your first hand played
Bonus is valid for 30 days only
Bonus is paid for first 1500 MPP’s generated
Bonus is paid every Wednesday for MPP’s generated in the previous week i.e. Player will receive $10 if they generate 50 MPP’s
Bonus is valid until 11.59pm (BST) on the 30th October 2006

Absolutely Shattered !

2006-10-09T08:24:00.000Z

I apologize for the lack of updates... However I was somewhat busy last week !

On Thursday I had the TV crew round to do some filming with all of the usual "jazz" however I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I was obviously somewhat apprehensive at the start letting people effectively intrude into ones life, however I suppose I need to start making decisions with regards to my future goals, ambitions and general career path and I think this shall help.

It was the usual questions "What are your ambitions", "Is Poker Gambling?" "Will you ever turn Pro?" "Is Buzzer really that big in real life?" etc etc. Anyway after 2 hours of questions and the crew disappearing, I must say what a great bunch of lads they all are, my housemate comes back and interviews me for another 2 hours!! Holey Moley !! (( to be fair he had a few beers and he was only trying to be friendly)).

On Friday the crew came to my workplace and interviewed a few colleagues and then that evening came out with the SHAABOOM team to COSTA DEL Sutton. I had a few issues trying to get a venue for a Friday night but eventually I was able to use my charm on the lovely Aga at the Treasury. I won't go into any more details about the night lets just say it was REDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD and everyone had a great time !

Saturday was the day for the Â£300 freezeout at The Big Slick and needless to say I did not have the best preparation especially when I retired to my pit at 6 am, however it wasn't to start until 7.00 pm, so I had time to try and recover. I don't know about any of you other over 30's but these bones simply do not recover as easy as they used to and after waking up at 12.00 I felt well somewhat jaded. However, when you have consumed 2 bottles of champers, 15 pints of lager, and approx 8 vodka and red bulls what do you expect! Oh and that reminds me I must replace my housemates baileys which I drank on return to the house ! DRINK !

Big Slick Report

Ok so on to the evening a friend of mine gave me a lift over as both Johnny and Steve ((pennick)) were playing golf and unfortunately couldn't make it, and on route I sank a bottle of Lucoazde and tried to convince myself I was on top of the world NOT ! On arrival I was greeted by the man himself Albert "Denmark" Chandra who in my eyes is an absolute star, I have so much time for Albert and he really does make me laugh!

So onto the main event itself there seemed to be quite a low turn out compared to the previous event but this could have coincided with the Gutshot holding a festival of some sort? I went over and drew my seat where I got trap 10 which is actually my favorite seat I looked around my table and saw a few donators but a few players as well with the likes of Gavin "Casper" just acrosss from me. Anyway I settle down order a red bull get a bit of banter going for Tony to then approach me and tell me I am moving?? Fantastic !

At my new table I knew a few faces including a player to which I had not seen down The Big Slick before, however I had played against him in St Kitts last year and I think his name was Paul. The structure of the tournament was excellent with 40 minute levels, so plenty of time to play with however at my new table there were two players busted already ? !? There was one hand where the player called for all of his chips with ACE HIGH needless to say his call was not good on a board of 6d 8d 5h Jd 3h. I couldn't believe my eyes when the opponent flipped the nut flush hence the push you really couldn't make it up. I commented to Martin "why on earth do I not get donations like that? "

The first hand that I got involved with was AJ to which later you will find out was a popular hand that evening. At the 50-100 level, two players limped to me and I raised to 500 - and got one caller from a player to which I had no information on.
There was no 1150 in the pot as the sb had folded and flop came came down K94 two hearts and it was checked to me so with no hearts in my hand I checked behind. The turn was a queen and again it went check check, and finally a brick on the river were yet again it was checked to me, well there is no way I am going to let this go so I fire out a pot sized bet and he folds.

NOTE :Perhaps I should have fired earlier to save a bit of time.

So after a few orbits I then look down to find QQ and decide to raise 550 (UTG +1)and I get a call from the sb the flop came ace high and that was the end of the hand, especially when the villian led out with his ACE 6 off. The same opponent was involved in massive pot a few hands later where he called an all in with a flush draw going to the river, needless to say he hit, and at the same time my jaw hit the floor. Honestly if you are anyway half decent you need to get down the big slick for these freezeouts the standard is somewhat refreshing !

The last hand that I played just before my table got broke was certainly of interest. I looked down at two black tens and I decided to limp blinds 100 200, however the button makes it 1000 to go and the sb calls so the action is passed to me. At this stage I considered moving over the top and asked how many chips he had left behind to which he answered 3000 but with the SB in there I decided to smooth call and see what the flop had to offer. The flop brought 853 rainbow and the small blind checked I fired 2500 and the initial raiser pushed in, and the sb folded. I thought I was going to be in a world of pain but not when he flip over 10 8 of Clubs but as per usual it couldn't be easy and he picked up a flush draw on the turn but a blank on the river made a heart beat a little slower.

I was now on a healthy 16,000 and my table got broke up and I then decided to bluff off a large piece of my stack with the following hand. I was in the BB and UTG made it 600 to go blinds at 100 200 I decide to call with 78d and the flop comes K74 one diamond, so I check and the raiser bets 500. I decide that I shall smooth call and try and hit my kicker or 7 and if Idon't I shall take it away on the river as I had him on AK. The turn brought 5 and a flush draw and the initial raiser again bets 500 so I felt compelled to again call where the river brought the 3c. So the board was K7453 with 3 clubs so I thought that this was the perfect board to execute my move and fired out 3000. The raiser went into the tank for absolutely ages and eventually called after the waitress enquired if he wanted a steak sandwich or baguette ! (of course his AK was good).

I won with A10 vs AK against Tonys wife were again I was pot stuck the blinds 150 300 we are six handed, action folded to me I raise to 1200 on the button Aisha pushes for 3200 in the sb and its unfortunately an automatic call. The ten came on the turn and I now had about 12,000 again. Unfortunately I then preceded to lose a few coin tosses with AJ vs 1010 and AQ vs 99 and then with only 4000 left the blinds 200 400 I Jammed with AJ and was called by AJ, however he was soooooted with diamonds and when the flop brings three of those beauties its time to leave!

I would like to say thank you to The Big Slick again for their hospitality as yet again it was first class, and I have made a deal with myself that there shall be no more drink before an event of this nature again.

Good luck everyone and remember to stick the lot on REDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.

Scotty

Stt/Six Pac Leaderboards and the Film Crew !

2006-10-05T08:21:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

Right just one shameful plug for today !! There is a link at the top of this page to Betfair and if you go through this I can guarantee 30 per cent rake back on all cash and tournament fees.

Ok lets make it two !! There is a freezeout at the Big slick Croydon on Saturday 300 freezeout and excellent structure http://www.bigslick.co.uk/ for details. I shall be there on Saturday and shall write a report on the Monday.

So Betfair Poker
are currently doing the following promotion ;

Promotion 1 - LEADERBOARD LOCO

Hopefully you’re familiar with our leaderboards by now and we hope you’ll agree with us that they’re quite simply the best poker leaderboards on the internet.

The player leading each one of the 12 leaderboards at midnight (UK Time) on Sunday 15th October will WIN a full BAPT package!

I have to say that this is a cracking deal and even though I was somewhat disappointed with my finishes last month 6th in High Stakes and 20th in Mid to High Stakes I shall try to top the leaderboard ((hopefully)).

The only problem is the amount of donks that play the High stakes six pacs I mean seriously I appreciate that your requirements need to loosen up but some of the plays are simply disgusting.

Anyway I have a film crew coming round today to ask a few questions and then they shall be coming into my workplace and finally going out for a few DRINKS ! I am really glad that they were not with me last Friday as I seriously painted the town REDDDDDDDD.

Finally many thanks to UK Gatsby, Redcar and Tushy Baby for their kind words.

Cheers

Shaa ((Scotty))

Welcome To Red Poker

2006-10-02T13:36:00.000Z

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

I have been saying for a long time now that this is something that I needed to start so finally here it is.

Ok, a little bit about myself, I am 33 originally from Belfast but currently live in London. Poker is a great passion of mine and I have qualified for numerous main events through Betfair Poker namely the Caribbean in St Kitts and St Marten, Deuville, Barcelona, Monte Carlo and finally I have just qualified for Singapore.

I currently write poker articles for the Big Slick Club in Purley and I shall be appearing on a documentary which shall be screened on Channel 4 and E4 in the not too distant future.

I hope to keep this blog interesting for all my readers and heres to a successful journey !

Scotty