Ups and Downs...

Since I withdrew my $3,000 and spunked the rest on a it of a downswing I had about a week break from playing online, then on Tuesday last week I had a little flutter. I stuck $100 and lost it running an Ace high flush into a straight flush. Reloaded for another $100 and got it in with the nut straight against a flush draw which got there. FML. $100 more! This time it was a cold deck as I had the shit side of a set over set. $100 more goes on!

I grind and grind, get a few spots and my hands finally hold up and I'm sitting on $900. Now on Sunday I have over $3,000 in my account again and things are looking good. I'm playing well (I think) and my big hands seem to be holding well. I've found a site that I like where I feel the standard is poor (PokerStars). I'm playing anywhere between $1/$2 and $5/$10 always sitting on the 20BB - 50BB tables if I can since I'm not massively rolled yet and these tables are less aggressive and therefore less swingy. Plus a lot of people don't understand how to play short-stacked PLO.

Last night, I played in the FTOPS Event #8 $500 + $35 PLO 6-Max $350,000 Guaranteed. I wasn't involved too much in the early stages, getting my stack up to 6,500 at one point (starting from 6,000) but it slowly wore down to 5,800 or so when this spot happened on just the third level in.

Full Tilt Poker Game #22904763562: FTOPS Event #8 (167284224), Table 3 - 30/60 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 14:38:03 ET - 2010/08/07
Seat 1: 0vash0rk (6,070)
Seat 2: Hippicrit (9,150)
Seat 3: Dave Colclough (5,130)
Seat 4: potamophob1a (5,860)
Seat 5: CellarEndorphin (10,398)
Seat 6: ronnyr37617 (2,100)
CellarEndorphin posts the small blind of 30
ronnyr37617 posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to potamophob1a [Kh 9h 7d Kd]
0vash0rk raises to 210
Hippicrit folds
Dave Colclough folds
potamophob1a raises to 720
CellarEndorphin folds
ronnyr37617 folds
0vash0rk calls 510
*** FLOP *** [Ks 7c 2c]
0vash0rk checks
potamophob1a has 15 seconds left to act
potamophob1a bets 1,160
0vash0rk raises to 5,010
potamophob1a raises to 5,140, and is all in
0vash0rk calls 130
0vash0rk shows [As Ts Ac 4s]
potamophob1a shows [Kh 9h 7d Kd]
*** TURN *** [Ks 7c 2c] [6h]
*** RIVER *** [Ks 7c 2c 6h] [Ad]
0vash0rk shows three of a kind, Aces
potamophob1a shows three of a kind, Kings
0vash0rk wins the pot (11,810) with three of a kind, Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 11,810 | Rake 0
Board: [Ks 7c 2c 6h Ad]
Seat 1: 0vash0rk showed [As Ts Ac 4s] and won (11,810) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 2: Hippicrit didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Dave Colclough didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: potamophob1a (button) showed [Kh 9h 7d Kd] and lost with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 5: CellarEndorphin (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: ronnyr37617 (big blind) folded before the flop

Needless to say, I went on super monkey tilt. I got my money in as an 84.39% favourite in a tournament with a life changing first prize ($80,000) and couldn't hold as my opponent spiked an Ace. I was livid. I tried to stop playing but then my girlfriend had to go out and I was left alone and ended up going back online, I knew I was tilting so I was careful. Instead of playing cash, I registered for a few lower staked NLHE tournaments on PokerStars, the buy-ins totalled around $60.

I played these super aggressively, like a massive maniac, got up to the chip lead in two of them and started to detilt thinking I might actually go all the way here. I was wrong. Out of one with QQ vs AT, spikes two Aces. Out of the other one with AK vs AQ, binks the Q on the river. FML. I sat down at a $2/$4 PLO table and when I got my QQxx in on a Q-8-3 rainbow board against 88xx I thought things were changing.

The backdoor straight my opponent made changed my opinion on that.

So I lost around $800 in tournament buy-ins and cash games yesterday and did not feel happy. I chilled with my girlfriend and ate my way through a load of junk food to make myself feel better. I'm like a 16 year old girl getting over a break-up, but I gotta say the pizza, Pringles and Ben & Jerry's did the trick. I went to bed thinking about the tournament and thinking about what could have been.

I woke up this morning and had a cheeky thirty minute session. I'm (kinda) pleased to say my run bad only lasted for the biggest tournament I've played in as this morning in my short session I won over $1,200 playing four tables of $2/$4 PLO. My hands just held up and in one pot I got super lucky when I three-bet in position with double suited Kings and got called in two spots. On a raggedy 7-3-2 rainbow flop a short stack shoved in, I shoved over the top with a larger stack still behind hoping to fold him out and get it heads-up. He called me and had some filth in his hand which had connected (T-3-7-K, wtf?!).

A backdoor flush was good enough for me to take down the $700 pot. SHIP SHIP SHIP!

Other Random Musings
Our baby kittens have grown loads since my last photos, they're now walking and climbing. You sit down with them on your lap and within minutes they'll be climbing all over your head. It's great to see them growing like this.

I keep missing WWE Raw on a Thursday night and it's really bugging me. Smackdown really isn't anywhere near as good, the storylines are just not as well written. At the moment the NEXUS vs WWE/Cena storyline is really good, and I love seeing a Brit representing in WWE. Wade Barratt has the makings of a real superstar in the wrestling industry.

Watched the Alexander-Kotelnik fight this morning and gotta say I had it a lot closer than the judges did at ringside. I scored the fight 115-113 to Alexander but a few of the rounds were so close. Considering everyone was calling him the next big thing I'm not impressed. However, one dodgy performance isn't enough to discount him, not after the Witter and Urango fight. But he's got a lot of work to do, he isn't anywhere near ready for Timothy Bradley or Amir Khan, the two best 140lbs fighters in the world.

I need a two bedroom place, if the poker keeps going well then I'll be getting one in October when our contract here is up. I won't be paying for it with poker money, it'll be paid for by work money, but the poker money will go towards other living expenses (food, bills, etc). The first step towards playing for a living.

I really need to start watching some PokerXFactor videos and improve my MTT game.

Finally, crazy, insanely, mad props to Sam "The Squid" Grafton. An old poker buddy who is one of the most talented players I've ever had the fortune to meet, I always knew he'd make the big time when he used to consistently catch me bluffing in the £1/£1 NLHE cash game and make the most insane calls. The guy has an incredible ability to read the game and has been making a living crushing online MTTs since December, however he is slowly making his way to the big time with a few decent results at live tournaments.

Then on Wednesday he really made a massive score when he finished third in FTOPS Event #1 and took home $81,000. The sick thing was that he had both of two players left heads-up all-in preflop for their tournament lives with just two outs to hit holding overpairs and both of them binked. He should've had the whooping six-figure $164,000 first prize.

Without doubt he'll get there sooner rather than later and I would advise all of you to watch out for him on the tournament scene in the future. I expect him to do really well at WSOP next year and I wouldn't be surprised if we see him final tabling at WSOPE event in September.

Sam Grafton, you are different gravy, sir.