A new direction

Hello again and guess what?I am on night shift AGAIN!!!! lol,but not to worry as I have started a new tactic to build a bankroll on Pokerstars.It's these double or nothing SnG's where 10 players sit at one table and the last 5 remaining get back double their buy in.It's as boring as hell and ABC poker is the way to do it,but I feel I can show a profit playing,so I will spend the majority of my time online playing in these.

I am also thinking about joining a casino in Edinburgh shortly and playing in some low buy-in MTT's there but that is something for the future.Good luck all and I hope to see you at the tables.

Full Tilt Rank: 176,390 of 773,344

Pokerstars Rank: 229,330 of 931,821

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hello again folks. Just a short post today as I am so tired (I am doing seven night shifts on the trot at work) and also I haven't really played much online.When I do want a game tho I seem to find myself at Carbon Poker.The traffic numbers aren't huge there but at the lower stakes I play at I can hold my own and seem to be doing well there just now.I like the STT's they hold and played only one today and if you click on the square above in the middle of the page you can see how I got on. I will try and play one of these a day this week and hope the bankroll keeps improving.Good luck all and hope to see you at the tables.

Another cash

I haven't played since my last post below,and as I am not working till tomorrow night I thought I would see if any low stakes MTT's were about to start on Carbon Poker.Nothing caught my eye so then I checked out Sky poker as I have an account there also.The Open £5000 GTD was about to start,and as I have never played this tourney before I thought I would give it a try. 580 runners with the top 60 being paid,and I finished 30th for a nice profit! The blinds are 7mins and the players here seem to be a bit more loose than I am used to at the usual places I play,so I reckoned my best tactic would be play tight and try and steal the odd blind.It obviously worked as players dropped out like flies,but I am not complaining of course.
That is 2 MTT's this week and 2 cashes which is nice,and I hope this form continues.Maybe the 2-3 week break I gave myself from playing online has done me better than I first thought.
Good luck all and hope to see you at the tables.

So close..........but still pleased!

I am sorry that I haven't updated my blog for a while,but to tell the truth,I just haven't been playing very much at all.I have been too busy and have got more important things going on in my life right now (but thats another story).

I played my first MTT in weeks tonight ,AND I FINISHED 2nd!!!!!!!!! I really am chuffed with this result because at one stage in the tourney I was in last place with around 40 players left with 300 chips.But it just goes to show what can happen if you keep plugging away.Maybe I needed a break from poker as it was getting to the stage where I was ignoring other more important things in life and I have vowed to not let it take me over like that again.My poker ambition is still to win a MTT,and I really thought tonight was gonna be my time,but I am still pleased with a second place.Good luck all and I hope to see you at the tables.

FTP Rank: 171,572 of 737,449

Pokerstars Rank: 219,448 of 886,756

I'm back at last

Sorry about the lack of updates recently but to tell the truth I haven't been playing a whole lot of online poker recently,and when I have I have been getting nowhere! I don't know if it has been me being unlucky or just playing poorly but my bankroll has been going southward and when that happens you just can't face updating the blog...........BUT,today might just be the turning point as I won a SNG which proves to me I can still do it when I put my mind to it.I have also won a seat in the $200k GTD tourney on Pokerstars on Sunday night and am looking forward to playing the event.I have only played in this tourney once before and cashed that time (played mega tight) so maybe will do the same tactics this time around.I will post how I get on anyway.Good luck all and hope to see you at the tables.

Pokerstars Rank: 189,019 of 791,460

Full Tilt Rank: 160,436 of 657,037

Changing Tactics

Hi all.What has happened to the weather? I know I live in Scotland,but even for up here,it's crap! Never mind tho cos the online poker is going ok.I played in the Brit Bloggerment on Pokerstars last night and finished ITM in 3rd for a small profit. But what pleases me more is that I consider the players that play this tourney every week to all be better players than me.

I mentioned in the last post that I had bought the new Gus Hansen book'Every hand revealed',and very interesting it is too.I have taken alot of what he says in the book onboard and tried to bring it into my game because I knew myself for the last wee while that I was playing WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY too tight,so heres hoping that looking to play this great game from a different angle is going to keep my BR going upwards. Gonna go now as I have a million things to do.GL all and hope to see you at the tables.

I'm back and ITM!

Hi all,sorry about the lack of updates recently but I have been away on my holidays.Alot of you won't know that I am a biker (have been since I was 17) and when I am not working or have my son staying over for the weekend,I strap the tent and sleeping bag on my bike and head off for a motorbike rally where loads of heavy rock music and plenty of beer is guaranteed.Well every year in July (the third weekend to be exact) the biggest bike rally in Europe takes place at Faro in Portugal,and seeing as I have always wanted to go,and the fact that I am 40 in a couple of months,I thought I would treat myself. And what a fantastic time we had,30 degrees heat,24hr bars,rocking music and partying with at least 50,000 other bikers.Superb.

Onto the poker because this is a poker blog after all,and I played my first MTT for over a week last night on Full Tilt and did OK. 56th out of nearly 900 runners.I pushed my AQ when low on chips into AK (as always) and didn't improve.I was pleased to cash though and any profit will always please me.

I have just bought the new Gus Hansen book where he won Aussie Millions and explains all his plays in winning the tourney,hopefully I can pick up a few tips from it.Good luck all and hope to see you at the tables.

Full Tilt Rank: 153,960 of 567,574

Pokerstars Rank: 177,645 of 682,327

Slipped disk? Slipped bankroll!

Hi again.I am writing this blog entry today lying flat on my back in bed as I have back pain that is just to sore to put into words! I suffer from this about once a year and it usually lasts about a week.I really should goto the doctor about it,but you know how it is,'if I keep taking painkillers it will go away' is the mentallity of most men.I hope it eases a bit for tomorrow as I have an overtime shift and could do with the extra money it will bring.

Onto the poker, and things haven't been going too well,but I am not too downhearted,as even the best players get downswings and know if I keep plugging away I can turn it round. I have opened an account at Carbon Poker and look forward to playing there.Gonna go now as my back is playing up again.Good luck all and hope to see you at the tables.

Full Tilt Poker OPR Rank: 64,086 of 272,571

PokerStars OPR Rank: 144,537 of 505,180

Ready to hit those tables again

Hi,have returned from my holidays after a great two weeks.Took the bike to Ireland for a biker rally on the first week which was great,then last weekend I was in North Yorkshire for another rally which was attended by 10,000+ bikers all having a great time partying.I don't know how sleeping in a tent,drinking FAR too much and listening to as much Heavy Metal as possible can be so relaxing,but it works for me.I am now relaxed,batteries recharged and ready to hit those SnG and MTT tables BIG TIME! I am night shift at work this week and even that ain't bothering me lol.Have played in three or four SnG's since returning with a little success and have came up with a poker goal.I only play at Pokerstars and Full Tilt these days and have about $100 in each account,and my goal is that I will never deposit again!

Another new feature of this blog is that I will update my ranking for these two sites from Officialpokerrankings.com (a link is on the right) and hopefully my ranking will go upward as well through time.Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables.

Full Tilt Poker OPR Rank: 60,970 of 272,703

PokerStars OPR Rank: 145,286 of 504,395

A 4th place and going on me hols!

I have sorted out my computer problems and binned Norton Anti-virus (good riddance,your product will NEVER f*ck my computer up again!) Again I have ran close in the $3, 90 runner SNG on Full Tilt,this time finishing 4th. Getting to the final table is always good,even more so when the other players are knocking each other out quick style.It can only be a matter of time before I win one of these things,and when I do I will be getting pissed to celebrate lol. This will be my last update for a week as on Wednesday I am going across to Ireland on my motorbike for a biker rally and also do a bit of touring.A few days away from the virtual tables will be nice too,and I just hope when I return that my bit of a hot streak continues.Good luck all and I hope to see you soon at the tables.

MSOP is my WSOP!

Bloody Norton Anti-virus! For the second time in a year this crap excuse of a product is playing havoc with my computer and will not allow me to connect to Pokerstars. And because this crap product comes with my ISP (BT) it looks like I am stuck with it because it is proving to be a real pain in the arse to delete. And if you want to see customer service at it's very WORST,try phoning BT when you have a problem,hopeless doesn't even start to explain how badly they treat their customers. 'Have you tried switching it off ,then switching it back on again' (I kid you not).Then they wonder why after waiting 40mins to speak to someone and they hit you with that pish,why you start foaming at the mouth and turn into a screaming maniac!

At least I can still log into Full Tilt where last night I qualified for the MSOP Event #15 which starts later tonight and at the time of typing this post the prize pool stands at $40k. Qualifying for this was an event in itself, a $3 STT with 9 runners,1st and 2nd qualified and 3rd got the $3 entry fee back.I entered four times and came third four times lol,and by this time I was starting to take it personal and wasn't gonna give up until I had qualified,and qualify I did at the fifth time of asking.It will be nice to play in a tourney with big money up for grabs and I only hope I do well. Good luck all and I hope to see you at the tables.

Moving on up!

After two or three days of relative calm on the poker front which involved a few $2 STT's, some of which I won ,some of which I lost,and I was starting to feel that this was not the way to build a bankroll,but then BOOOOOOOM,I entered the Pokerstars $4 entry 180 runner SNG and had my best online result yet! More of that later,but I also tried two new poker experiences yesterday with different success.The first involved playing more than one table at a once (well it was two tables to be exact) but it didn't go too well! How some of the bloggers I read and respect can multi-table like they do is beyond me,but it just goes to show how good they are at poker.Think I will stick to playing one table at a time and learn to walk before trying the 100 metres sprint lol.
The second new poker experience I had yesterday was playing live for the first time,and I am pleased to say it went quite well. I was surfing online and came across a live pub poker league which I was surprised to see is played about six nights a week in various pubs in Dunfermline,Falkirk,Stirling and Edinburgh. So I signed up online and went to Jokers bar in Dunfermline and entered the tourney.I was as nervous as hell but the guys there seemed okay and once things got under way I was fine.I ended up ninth out of twenty three runners and finished with 500 odd points which is a good start to the June leaderboard.I think I will go again tonight to the next leg (again in Dunfermline) and try and make another poker goal by making the monthly regional final.
Back to my online success last night and I think I may go up a level to the $4-$5 buy-in.I know one good cash doesn't make me a great player all of a sudden,but I feel I was holding my own rather well last night. Another thing which is pleasing is seeing my sharkscope graph heading northward,and long may it continue. Enough of my ramblings,thanks for stopping by,good luck and hope to see you at the tables.

King hell..............

I played in a 50 FPP $2k guaranteed tourney last night on Pokerstars, 2333 runners in which I ended up ITM in 149th. I was over 2hrs in and got dealt KK. Now a couple of months ago I would of pushed all-in with this hand preflop,but nowadays I am a bit more cautious,so when it was folded round to me I thought i would min raise,see the flop,and as long as an Ace doesn't hit the flop or three of the same suit,I would then probably push them all into the middle. Only one caller to my raise and a flop of 10,5,2 rainbow.I push all-in and he calls.Of course he has 10,10 and out I go. I am still pleased to have finished so high though and make a profit,which will buy some more entries into tourneys.If I keep plugging away I know I will crack one of these MTT's.Good luck and I hope to see you at the tables.

Mr happy,thats me haha.Last night I entered the Britbloggerment tourney which is over on Pokerstars on a Sunday night at 9pm,and I finished in third spot and doubled my buy-in which is always good of course for the old bankroll.But it's not so much the money I won which has chuffed me but more the fact that I haven't been playing poker very long and the majority of the people that enter are poker players I respect and read their blogs.I would say that the players are all more experienced and better players than me but it just goes to show what is possible if you start believing in yourself a little.Okay enough of the bragging from me,good luck and hope to see you at the tables.

Just count to 10 and keep calm!

Calm waters,that's how I would explain my bankrolls just now on Pokerstars and Full Tilt.I have been playing $2 STT's on both sites and while I have had a bit of success,it's hard to be consistent and hit the money spots game after game and build that BR up,but overall I am feeling good about my play and feel I am getting better as a player.
The screenshot above is typical of what I seem to be up against,a $3 MTT on FT,about 120 runners and an hour in,35 players left in and top 15 getting paid.I am short stacked and really need to double up when I get KK.The A9 goes all-in pre flop and gets called by the big stack,I have no option and push,I knew I would be up against at least one ace,and if I could avoid that bullet then there was a fair chance I would treble up and at least make the money spots.Oh joy when it looks like my kings are going to hold up then BANG,what a river! And I am out.I have scrubbed the names of the other players involved to protect the identity of the guilty lol. Things like this just make me even MORE determined to take down a MTT,and I will keep going until I do.Anyway hope to see you at the tables and good luck all.

Soooooo Close...............

Please just let me take down a MTT tourney,even if it is just a 45 man SNG job like the one I have just finished 3rd in. Although to be honest it is a miracle I lasted so long in this tourney,after being short stacked for the majority of the event,even when making the final table I was 8th of 9,but what I am getting better at is choosing the right moment to push (as opposed to a few months ago when I would of pushed with any old cack I was holding.) But this new way I am learning to play has it's own drawbacks,i.e when down to the last 4 or 5 players I play too tight,but I vow I will loosen up the next time I run deep and won't get blinded away. Also why is it when in early position for example after getting dealt 10 J and you think about getting involved in the hand,but then decide against it does the flop then land 10 10 J,AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH,anyway nevermind,cos I am gonna take a 1st prize online if it's the last thing I do.Good luck all and hope to see you at the tables.

In the money spots again!

Another final table and another 6th place finish,which I am very pleased about.It still remains one of my poker ambitions to win an online MTT,which I feel must come at some time.I only played one tourney last night as things are mental workwise.I work 12hr shifts and am in the middle of eight shifts on the trot! I leave my flat for work at 5-45am and don't get home till 8pm,by the time I make myself something to eat and sit down to relax,it's time to think about going to bed because I am so knackered.So the fact I can still get a game in on the virtual tables is a wonder in itself,never mind finishing 6th when my brain just wants to sleep! If I could get a couple of days rest it would do wonders for my game.Anyway gonna have a bath then hit the sack before that sodding alarm clock goes off at 5-20am AGAIN! Good luck all and I hope to see you at the tables.

Thank you poker gods!

At last! I only played one MTT last night,but I made the money.I have been playing over at http://fulltiltpoker.com alot more than usual recently and saw this $2 MTT that was about to start with only a hundred or so people signed up.I thought I may as well give it a go.I'm glad I did as I finished 6th,and well chuffed I am with that finish too.I was starting to get a bit worried as it seemed so long ago that I made the money spots in an MTT,and was starting to doubt my ability as a poker player (even at these micro levels that I play at),but this has gave me a new confidence in my game and I can't wait to experience another final table.I know that the prize money that I won is peanuts compared to all the other poker blogs out there that talk about winning hundreds or thousands of $'s a night,but we have all got to start somewhere,and the prize money I did win allows me to enter a few more tourneys.The next week for me is all work,work,work so I won't get alot of poker in,maybe just a few STT's,but hopefully the bankroll will continue going upwards.Good luck and I hope to see you at the tables.

WHO LEFT THAT LAPTOP THERE?

Had a bit of bad luck this morning,woke up with a raging hangover as I went out drinking all day yesterday,and promptly stood on my laptop which was lying on the floor,destroying the screen.This made me feel ten times worse than I already did.I took said laptop to City Computers in Dunfermline who replaced the screen,and on the same day,so now my hangover is gone and my laptop is as good as new,it's as if nothing has happened,well apart from my wallet being a bit lighter.On to the poker and not alot to report,I keep on running into monster hands when getting low on chips and need to double up.Gonna try an MTT tonight (can't remember the last time i cashed in one of these,never mind win one.) The STT's haven't been going too well either the last couple of days,but I will keep plodding on as my luck must change soon.Hope to see you at the tables and good luck.

Poker is like a box of snakes and ladders!

Up and down,that's what my poker game is like right now,but as long as there are SOME up's,well,hey I cannot complain. Tonight I tried to satellite my way into the Pokerstars $100k Sunday tourney,but I fell just short.I might have one more try as I really wanna play this tourney as the money up for grabs is unreal compared to the games I play.

I fancied a change tonight and fired up Full Tilt Poker where I have a very small amount in my account,was in the lobby trying to decide if I should play a STT or a MTT when I spotted a little heads up 4 player tourney.As I played alot of small stakes heads up when I first started to play poker last year,I thought I would give it a go.I beat my first opponent without much problems,but the game for the winner takes all prize was a different story.I went into an early chip lead quite early on and was feeling confident,but then went totally card dead,a constant stream of hands of 5 2, 7 3, 8 2 ,4 2,etc etc but you have got to try and stay positive and at the same time be a little aggresive too.The final hand was one I nearly folded,opponent was down to 500 odd chips and he pushed all-in (something he hardly did all match).I knew he had a biggie,I had 55,and called,he showed AQ,but my fives held up and now I have a few more small tourney buy-ins which is always good.I have a couple of days off from work now so I hope to get quite a bit of poker playing done.Good luck all and I hope to see you at the tables.

Maybe one day!

I played in my first MTT in about a week tonight over on VC Poker,the $6k guaranteed freezout,1610 runners with the top 200 being payed.I was pretty much card dead all tourney and was running low on chips with just short of 400 players left in.I was in BB and looked down to see Q5,with only one limper,the flop comes down Q 6 2,my heart lifts and I push all-in thinking that if I double up here I can at least make the money spots.I get called and what does he show, (you know what's coming here don't you).Yep, you got it,Q9.Of course I don't improve and go out.I know my kicker wasn't up to much but I was half hoping he missed the flop and then folded.Oh well there will always be another tourney,and I can always keep at the SNG's on Pokerstars and keep my roll going in the right direction.

I never had time to enter the $100k Sunday sat that I mentioned in my last post,hopefully I will find the time this week and win a seat.Thanks for reading and good luck all at the tables.

On a roll

Haven't managed to play much poker in the last couple of days,just three $1 STT SNG's on Pokerstars,but I won all three .I know that 1st place doesn't pay alot but it is still profit,and no matter what stakes or level you play at it is always nice to see your bankroll rise.These Sit and Go's at Pokerstars at these stakes really should be called Sit and Wait's as all you need to do is wait on premium hands being dealt to you and then hope you connect with the flop,then try and extract as many chips as you can from the players left in.I quite often see players going all in after the flop,getting called,then showing something like A7 and they haven't even connected with anything,then they are praying for the Ace on the turn or river.I shouldn't complain though because it makes it easier to win these things.I might try and enter the $2.20 satellite on Pokerstars for the weekly $100k Sunday tournament,I will update on how I get on with it.Going to keep playing the $1 STT as well and try and build the bankroll.Good luck all and maybe see you at the tables.

Hello and welcome

Hi there,welcome to my little piece of the web.
I only started playing poker last year,and just love it.I am a small stakes player (very small) and play 50% SNG's and 50% low buy in MTT's.
I have got to the stage where although I love playing online poker (mostly on Pokerstars) I realised that it was about time I joined the world of blogging.
I dont claim to be a poker expert,and am doing this for fun.If anyone wants to put a link for my blog on theirs feel free.

Told you that I am a small stakes player,good luck all and hope to see you at the tables.