Blog #13 - 500 not out!!

Definately thought that was a much better title than 'Blog #13 - Unlucky for some!!!'...not that I'm superstitious or anything! Touch wood! 

So why 500 not out?

Well an aptly named blog in recognition of my 500 tweets, to my steady build up of followers, which is now standing at 51; where the hell did you come from??...NO, stay, don't go now, it's just about to get really interesting!

This goes alongside my 13 blogs, which according to the blog stats has achieved 665 views so far...Yep, I'm as amazed as you!!

Oh and of course my three published articles on my Grassroots journey, both online and in the local Sussex press (100,000+ combined circulation).


And why all of this social media and publication activity...yes, of course you know, the Ladbrokes Poker Grassroots promotion (aka #LPGR2012). The final date and venue for this great promotion has been announced, where remember the winner will get £10k sponsorship from Ladbrokes. So my hope is for Ladbrokes Poker to value my contributions to promoting Ladbrokes Poker and all the great work they do, including their Grassroots promotion and to be awarded one of teh two cherished Wildcards. If that happens then you'll be able to rail me (cheer me on) at the Palm Beach Casino in Mayfair in their £1k event on 1st October...

But first we must wait to see how Ian / ElJudge does in his event at The Fox on 8th Sept, who is the last to play in teh 'semi-final' round. I haven't really changed my view since blog #11, it really is a very close run competition and am so intrigued to hear the outcome of Ladbrokes' deliberations when the time comes. Ian's been off ill over the past month or so and was light on #LPGR2012 interactions but is back with avengence. Off posting pics of himself visiting Ladbrokes outlets in a five day road trip and then some really neat #LPGR2012 badges.

Must admit I'm not sure how the roadtrip will help FTW, (my opinion and NOT a slate on Ian!) but have to say the badges look great...though obviously not as good as anything I've done cos we wouldn't want to jeopardise 'my' wildcard place now, would we! :-)

Oh, and even with all my social media activity, had to google (is that a verb now?) what FTW meant (it was in one of Ian's tweets) ...oh dear, I really am old!! FTW = For The Win apparently! Well that was my education for teh day!

Meanwhile Jon / NZ_Donkey, another wildcard hopeful has made the leaderboard in the Ladbrokes Poker Social Series after winning it last month, which I have to say is quite impressive. I'm just hoping that with the school holidays coming to an end I'll be able to participate in them again when Sundays' will be back to teh kids finishing their assignments or homework rather than us being out and about or having friends/family over...oh what a social butterfly!

If you follow @Ladbrokes_Poker on twitter or on facebook then you'll get notified of these events, which are generally free or no more than $1 to enter and you can have a go yourself, which is a great way to hone your poker skills at low cost. 

I would also like to say a big thanks to Ladbrokes for continuing to run their online Grassroots event for the initial 40 qualifiers, putting into teh pot £200 to tempt players and keep the grassroots spirit going. Good job Ladbrokes! 

Oh and thanks to another of their great promotions; their 50-a-day give-away' promotion, where I opted in and was then lucky enough to be randomly selected for some Laddies goodies, and chose this top...great quality and looks great...shame about teh 'model' hey! Once more Ladbrokes Poker proving they are the best!

Another good event that Ladbrokes Poker run, which I really like having started playing it is their €12.5k gt'd event, with €16.5 buy-ins and add-ons. It starts at 19:30, has a good online structure in my opinion and gets around 350 entrants, normally paying 30 places. It seems to have a solid player base with generally 'good' play and if you make the final table, which would be around 01:30 then you're in for anything from €250 to €4000, which I think is very good value. So far I've cashed in 2 out of 6 attempts, both on the final table, so I may be a bit biased but I think it really is a good event and is worth trying.

So what else? Well, my blog title does suggest I do more than play poker...so...I recently joined Virgin Active along with my family on a joint mission to get fit, well actually not necessarily to get fit, but to try and lose weight, or at least maintain the bulk of weight we do have - but definately not to add to our bulk! Have to say, so far so good, 9lbs down, BUT 27lbs to go, well that or I need to grow about 2 feet!!

So, I'm trying to go three times a week and so far my regime is:

• 7 minutes on rowing machine
• 60 sit ups on teh power plate (basically a massive vibrating floor that you exercise on)
• 13 minutes attempting to run on teh treadmill (THIS NEARLY KILLS ME and IS DEFINATELY UNLUCKY FOR ME!!)
• 3 * 30 repetitions on some ads and chest weights
• 7 minutes on the cross trainer
• Followed by a few lengths of their pool and of course the steam room or sauna.

And yes, believe it or not I am enjoying it...no, really! And nothing to do with the views either...!!

Other than that work (which has been a bit of a nightmare recently so I won't bore you with that) and our quest for a dog continues. A while ago we had researched, googled, emailed for weeks and eventually decided that a Eurasier is the dog our family wants, so we contacted some UK breeders a while ago. After a couple of unsuccessful mating attempts we're hoping a trip one of teh bitches took to Germany to get 'mated' went well; so maybe the patter of tiny paws beckons...

...which grows into one of these gorgeous creature...

Anyway, now a tense week and a bit waiting for Ian to play the final live Grassroots event and then anticipation of the Ladbrokes wildcard announcements. So keep your fingers crossed for me... (oh what a nice tie in to the start of this blog) and WILDCARD I HOPE YOU COME HOME TO ME!

Next blog will include updates on Ladbrokes' selection for teh final four in Grassroots and of course my thoughts on their selections, as well as thoughts on teh Grassroots promotion generally and what I think went well and what I think could be improved upon for 2013...

Blog #12 - It happens live too!

Well the time came for me to play in my Ladbrokes Poker Grassroots tournament to try and secure a cash place to take me through to the final four.

Originally I had planned to play at The Fox in their £25k g'td Main Event on 4th August, but due to Olympic events they chose to move that to the 11th August. Unfortunately I just couldn't make that date as my wife was in Scotland and more importantly I had tickets to the Olympic Men's football finals with my son. And I have to say there were an awful lot of disgruntled Brazilians there whose Green Wigs definately didn't run good for them as they lost 2:1 to Mexico. But great atmosphere and we stayed for teh medal ceremony (pic below) which was good to see.

Anyway, after lots of searching for tournaments, I decided that I would try my luck at Mint Casino in South Kensington in their £500 high roller event, which Rodders was also playing at. Seems that most entrants had qualified online and had travelled from as far away as Poland & Ireland (okay, not so far) to play. The smallest casino & poker room I've been in yet, with space for seven tables max, although when a spectator sat on one and it fell apart that took the table count down, so lucky it wasn't full capacity! Thanks again to Jalvinator who again turned up to show his support...another grassrooter for life!!

Turns out the infamous Sam Holden was playing too, although from teh pictures below you'll see a slightly different persona being portrayed between us. Note to self: DO NOT look so bloomin miserable!! Blame it on a recent run of naff cards!! Though doesn't teh T-shirt look good?

Started off slowly as always but increased chip stack and then had one of those 'what if hands'early position with Ks9s, which is one of my favoured hands I know I shouldn't play but often do. Anyway I folded as was early position, but, if I had played...well, I won't go into detail, but so think the extra 20k+ chips would have helped!

And then card dead...for seemingly ever!! Nothing higher than a Q, no connected cards, no high or medium mid pairs and only small 44 highest pair and always in earliest position...and with tables playing loose i didn't fancy trying a bluff as everything was getting called bar an all in.

So play continued...my stack being killed by the naff cards/position, the blinds (600/1200) and antes (150) then fold, fold, fold through from early to small blind who raised me on Big Blind. Now teh small blind was playing and hitting everything...literally and had a whole heap of chips. So I thanked my lucky starts when I looked down to see AA!! Double up time I was thinking and back in teh game! Anyway, I shove all in and teh SB calls, barely making a visible dent in his stack. Heads up and I sling over my two Aces and teh SB turns over 44. Encouragement from other players at the table looking to see me take some of teh chip leaders chips away from him. Even then, with his recent form of hitting everything, I still thought 'double up time'. But NOOOOOOO...IT HAPPENS LIVE TOO!! 4 on teh flop, groans from the other players at the table, big sheepish grin from teh SB and with no Ace on the turn or river that was that! Tournament over for me!!

Just goes to show that those bad beats happen in live play too and not just online, when the poker host gets slated by the digruntled player...it is NOt the site or teh software...it is just the way the cards are dealt...not that that is any comfort at all!

While I was at the Olympic Football Final 3 other playes were trying their luck at The Fox, but none ran good and all failed to cash. So that just leaves Ian/ElJudge to play, with teh state of play as follows:

Grassroots Qualifiers	Stage 3 Qualifiers	Profile	Blog
1	Lifeisalaugh	£1,600.00	Profile	Blog
2	TheSwede1970	£0.00	Profile	Blog
3	palser	£0.00	Profile	Blog
4	_Baby_Face_	£0.00	Profile	Blog
5	NZ_donkey	£0.00	Profile	Blog
6	rodders77	£0.00	Profile	Blog
7	_Mr_G_	£0.00	Profile	Blog
8	ElJudge	TBC	Profile	Blog

So congrats to Al/Lifeisalaugh who is through to teh final for sure!

If ElJudge cashes that will make teh Wildcard choices even more difficult with only two places up for grabs, so it is with anticipation that we wait to see how he does and then the baited breath as Ladbrokes debate and consider who is worthy of the wildcard places...be that two or three of them.

Just hoping that my regular blogging, tweeting, facebook updates, and these three published articles:
are enough to warrant a wildcard...

Civil Service Sports Association - for their 130,000+ members - article link HERE.

Rake the Rake online poker promotion website - article link HERE.

And this one which was also published online as well as in local Sussex press:

Blog #11 - Stat Attack - destined for 2nd!!

Okay, if you've been following my blog then you've heard my journey, how it started, the trials and tribulations, the high and the lows, and where I'm at now...one stage away from the final!! Oh and if you've just 'found' my blog then you don't know what you've been missing...so start from teh beginning!!

So in this installment I've decided to weigh up the competition and give you my thoughts on who'll make it through to teh final four and who I think will win! I say 'the competition', but this has to be one of teh most supportive and friendly competitions I've ever entered!! From day one there has never been any ego-boasting, no 'putting down', just friendly banter and at the live games an awful lot of advice, support and genuine good wishes!! Poker players, Ladbrokes and Grassroots all have done themselves proud in representing the game, the sponsors and ourselves...well done all!!

Anyway, so who's left and what are my thought on them, including me? As per teh idea of grassroots, I've looked at poker playing, tournament winnings (according to 'Sharkscope'...so take with large pinch of salt as doesn't include cash games and only looked at MicroGaming network), blogging, tweeting and other social media and the promotion of Ladbrokes. And please, to my dear readers and fellow Grassrooters, this is meant to be my honest view on what I've read, seen and heard, not a put down - so please take it in teh spirit that I've written it...if any of it causes offense, it really wasn't meant to...sorry!!!

So in no particular order:

Lifeisalaugh: aka "GreenArmy", well according the the GUKPT commentator!
Bit of a dark horse, with social flair hiding a solid and poker strategy. Already cashed a decent amount in a tough Stage 3 event, showing great patience and unlucky on the hands taht led to his demise, so will be even unluckier not to make the final four through poker. Didn't cash in earlier grassroots rounds but his profile shows experience of playing in big events and some previous mid-size cashes so not perhaps it was just a matter of time before cashing as he proved. Has the bonus of a number of videos and the 'legendary' Green Wig as well as banter to help on the wildcard side should that become an unlucky option. Only one blog to date though some video updates instead, but have to say, for someone new to playing live, as simple as it was I found his blog really helpful...thank you Alan!! Definite for teh final one way or another!

TheSwede1970:
The furthest afield player in teh Grassroots competition. I've not seen (either live or via live video stream) Richard play, but his regular tweets on poker game progress suggests he plays mid-stakes MTTs on regular basis, with reasonable success and also won through to big live events too, with the biggest cash amount of teh final 8. He also seems a genuinely nice bloke! Blogs and tweets show solid poker play and in my mind is perhaps the one to beat. Up to Stage 2 he had teh highest cash amount. Not sure if he's done enough on the wildcard front to make teh final four if he fails to make the cash in Stage 3.

Palser:
Failed to cash in earlier Grassroots round, but early blogging, tweeting and banter at teh freeroll tables have stood Gary in good stead in progressing via wildcards! Seems to have lots going on in his life with work, house moves and decorating and this may be putting poker on teh back burner for now, but from his profile it seems he certainly has a flair for the game and is showing the biggest profit according to SharkScope. Was extremely unlucky to get knocked out of his Stage 2 game at 'the Vic' when up and coming poker wanna be 'Mr G''s QQ busted his 99s. Rumours have it that he will be seen at the Vic on 4th August for stage 3 in Grasskirt and hawian shirt...but not convinced this will be enough to secure a wildcard to teh final if he fails to cash.

_Baby_Face_:
Keeping a low profile due to work commitments (tut tut!), and mainly plays cash so limited SharkScope stats. Profile doesn't show any previous big wins or live events but played a good game at The Vic and a genuinely nice guy with potential for teh game...true grassroots potential perhaps? However, really needs to cash as can't see wildcard going his way to get to final four.

NZ_donkey:Mainly plays cash on line, and as he showed at the Vic after getting knocked out of teh tournament, seems to play it well after bringing home a profit. Perhaps more Jon's game than MTT? Joins in with banter and seems a good guy, good support. Love his Donk-O-Meter in his blogs, which are a good read! Hasn't cashed yet but who knows. One to watch maybe?

Rodders77:
The only player to have cashed in both teh first and second stages of Grassroots, at two different venues no less, so that would suggest that Rod knows what he is doing, albeit using his actor skills to blag the opposition...but all part of teh game! Writes really good quality blogs, so a possible wilcard option but maybe not regularly enough - I think he needs to cash and might well do that at the Palm Beach Casino again, where two Grassrooters have played and both cashed. Only met Rod briefly at The Fox because he was playing through to teh final table whilst I had been knocked out, so not much more to add...although this time next year, who knows...he might be a millionaire if his cashing continues...

ElJudge:
Ian seems to have a nice fun outlook on life, based solely on tweets, blogs and banter, which is good enough for me as I haven't met him. Obviously has a passion for poker with a recent trip to Vegas and cashed in Stage 1. Regular good quality blogs for his trip to Vegas and regularly joining in with teh banter and tweets. So Vegas trip means used to playing live and not phased by it, and so perhaps another one to watch.

_Mr_G_:
WOW...this guy is awesome!!! Plays poker and cashes, knocking out Neil Channing in teh process on teh bubble, blogs like a blogger should, tweets like a sparrow, fashion design...AMAZING! MUST be one for the Wildcard!! Oh, oops...that's me, ok, honest appraisal coming up:
WOW...this guy is awesome!!! Plays poker and cashes, knocking out Neil Channing in teh process on teh bubble, blogs like a blogger should, tweets like a sparrow, fashion design...AMAZING! MUST be one for the Wildcard!!...No Seriously here we go!

From all teh stats result Mr G is destined for 2nd place!
2nd oldest player after Alan.
2nd highest SharkScope rating after Gary (ok, joint 2nd with Richard)(don't forget that large pinch of salt!)
2nd highest Stage 2 cash amount
2nd highest number of followers on Twitter (them following me)
2nd highest number of following on Twitter (me following them)
2nd highest profit according to SharkScope after Gary (don't forget that large pinch of salt...again!)

And then teh proper analysis. Not phased by playing live despite mainly playing low stake MTT online. Sharkscope stats suggest inconsistent game, although recent 'poker studying' due to Grassroots may have refocused his play. Regular good quality blogs and tweets and has tried some 'alternative' promotion options. One to consider for the wildcard option if he fails to cash. ;-)

Summary - Final four:
This is a TOUGH choice...even hypothetically!!

 
If I were a betting man (ha ha) my money would be on Rodders and/or TheSwede1970 to cash, which would make it close for teh two poker places out of three! BUT, Lifeisalaugh has already cashed and so I think he will be in teh final with £1600. My gut feeling is that the Swedish poker is a tough nut to crack with a likely big field and as much as it would be great to see Richard over here, and I hope I don't jinx you, I think Rod may make it three cashes out of three and beat you to it Richard. My take (despite never having been there) being that the Palm Beach might be a softer game and easier to get in teh money with a smaller field than a Swedish tournament - in fact why didn't I decide to play there!!! Doh!! Good choice Rod! Stuart...what a plonker!

For the two wildcards I would say it is between very close between ElJudge, NZ_Donkey and _Mr_G_ but if pushed I would say ELJudge and _Mr_G_ , although I couldn't really say why if I'm honest...apart from _Mr_G_ who has been so professional and just AWESOME!!!! ;-)

 

Summary - The Winner!!
Well, in all honesty, I really do not think that there is anyone who stands out above the rest Poker wise, and so if teh winner of the £10k sponsorship deal is the player who lasts the longest in teh chosen tournament, I really do think it is anyones. The best man on teh night will win, not necessarily teh best outright overall poker player...

To be brutally honest, I think the whole Grassroots promotion by Ladbrokes has been a great opportunity and the final four are all worthy winners!! Well done Ladbrokes for running such a great event. I personally think that all Grassrooters, especially teh final four, who ever they may be, will have done Ladbrokes ever so proud. In fact I'd go so far as to say that it wouldn't surpise me if Ladbrokes decided that for teh professional way they've conducted themselves whilst promoting Ladbrokes so well that the three losing finalists were all presented with £3k sponsorship deal (a monthly £300 sponsored game at The Vic or other regional venues in our Ladbrokes merchandise (and Green Wigs if applicable!) would do wonders for promoting Ladbrokes wouldn't it?! Isn't that a small price to pay for the worthy and professional promotion of Ladbrokes and the Grassroots scheme until the 2013 promotion begins?

Oh and like you need to ask...of course I'm going  to say that I think _Mr_G_ will win...who enters a competition and doesn't think they can win it. As my daughter said when she read the part about the stats: "1st the Worst, 2nd teh Best...that's you Daddy...you're the best, 3rd the one with the hairy chest!!" Oh to be so young and naive hey...but I'm right with her on this one...I am the Daddy...go Mr G!!

Blog #10 - So what then??

Well, I've finally come down from teh elation of cashing in for over £1500 in only my 2nd live poker club tournament. So what have I been up to since?

Firstly, getting back to teh day job, and sharing my tales of poker stardom (ok, not quite WSOP but it is my equivalent!) and teh Grassroots promotion with anyone who'd listen. Even my work colleagues...which out of interest I had to fill in a '2nd Employment/Activity Interest' form for approval in order to take part in Grassroots, due to 'sponsorship' and possible publicity and extra income. No, for real! Oh how teh civil service love their forms!

Secondly, putting my new found wealth to good use! So the local eateries profit has soared whilst Mrs G's cookery skills have been put on hold. We are also pleased to see our kids restaurant skills have improved from a few years back when:

At 9 years old, my daughter, when asked if what she ordered might be too big for her replied:

"I might look like an angel but I eat like a truck driver"

Or when my then 10 year old son, when asked by the waitress how he'd like his steak cooked replied:

"Yes, I'd like it cooked...thank you"

We also spent a weekend celebrating a friends birthday, which included Longleat Safari Park, and actually managed to see the monkeys doing what everyone wants to see...wrecking cars. Unfortunately our friends car was one of the many cars they decided to try to pull apart, though we found it soooo funny!

The only downside was missing the Grassroots Freeroll which Ladbrokes Poker had once again generously arranged, so it was a shame to miss out on teh banter, discussions on wildcards and tweets, but can't play poker all teh time...can I?

And , yes, of course some money banked to keep Mrs G happy!

I've also been keeping an eye on teh WSOP and following some of our English talent! Watched the video stream of Neil Channing getting through to teh final table and then losing his AJ to 44 to miss out on the win and perhaps as importantly for a poker pro the elusive bracelet...but guessing the $406k helped soften the blow, eventually! And then of course $1m drop...and a cool $10m for 2nd; $18m for 1st and as importantly over $5m for charity!

Finally, the names for teh final 8 Grassrooters were revealed at the beginning of the month. Four of us had cashed so knew we were through, but congrats to teh lucky chosen four for getting through. Next steps for us all were finding a £500 game for our Round 3 game, which has been harder than you might think.

Only two £500 games in teh UK in July, one in Plymouth and one in Bolton, both starting on a Friday over 3 days. The 3 days were fine but taking a work day off at relatively short notice was a big problem for me, but thankfully Ladbrokes understood teh predicament and allowed us to enter the £400 event at The Fox on 4th August, extending teh deadline slightly, so 5 of us have chosen that as 'our event' so we're all looking forward to that; the catching up with each other as well as the actual poker. GO TEAM LADBROKES! GO TEAM GRASSROOTS!

Alan (aka Lifeisalaugh, aka 'Green Army' (for his Grassroots wig not because a Plymouth supporter!)) picked the £500 GUKPT Deep stack event in Plymouth and was a joy to watch on the GUKPT's live stream over teh weekend. At the final table he was very unlucky to be hit hard when his QQ was rivered against AQ with an 'A' and then going out short-stacked soon after. But he did Ladbrokes, Grassroots and most importantly himself proud!!! Well Done!!

Richard, TheSwede1970 is playing in his home land of Sweden on 27th July so although a competitor for one of teh last four places, and despite being the man who on paper i think is favourite, I do wish him well!

What else? Well teh only other news is that I've decided (ok and negotiated with Mrs G!!) to speculative to accumulate and fullfill a long time wish of playing a live and reasonably high stakes (for me) Omaha game. So off to The Vic i will go to their London Poker Championships on 25th july to take part in their £200 PL Omaha game, for my first live Omaha game. And all thanks to Ladbrokes and Grassroots, who without the opportunity I wouldn't have won the money to treat myself to this kind of live buy-in! Thank you!

So not much poker to update you with on this blog...but #11 will give you my thoughts and 'heavily researched statistical analysis' on my remaining 'challengers' in teh Grassroots race for teh £10k sponsorship deal!

IMPORTANT!
Oh and finally...offering 5% of any of my #LPGR2012 Stage 3 winnings if you follow and retweet my offer of 5% and then send me a funny poker tweet, with the 5% going to teh single funniest tweet i get! @_Mr_G_ is who you need to follow! With a likely 1st prize of over £12k it could be a good 2 minutes well spent to follow and tweet me. Although if not in teh money then 5% of nothing...erm, well hopefully you can do the maths!!

Blog #9 - Winner, winner, Chicken for...erm, breakfast??

WOW...so chuffed!! No, I can't draw this one out - straight to the point! In only my 2nd proper live tournament I played the £300 freezeout at 'The Vic' and cashed in 4th place for a fantastic £1560!! Ooh yes!! Thanks you Ladbrokes for the opportunity and for teh buy-in and thank you fellow Grassroot players for teh support!!!

So now the long version of my exploits!

I set off to work around 8am, with my 'poker outfit' packed and did my rare commute into London for a hard days graft...I would tell you what i do, but then I'd have to kill you...yep, you guessed it, civil servant. Then I left work around 5:45 after changing into my less formal and hopefully lucky poker attire, including 'THE T-shirt' and headed off to 'The Vic' full of anticipation...oh and full of coffee and red bull too!

I meet fellow grassrooter whyi in reception and after registering for teh £300 game we had a drink and a chat in the bar, soon to be joined by other grassroot players. Must admit i think that helped to calm the nerves and was good to have some banter about how we had all got through to this stage and a feeling of 'Team Ladbrokes' rather than competitors and egos. Only disappointment was no Ladbrokes poker representatives, but I understand that The Vic has a strict 'No cameras and no filming' policy which would have prevented any filming so understandable. Seems they are very aware of that policy too, as before i knew it, having raised by phone to take a picture of the card area for a 'tweet', the barman in a polite but very firm way told me to put it away...which explains the lack of my tweet picture updates...well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Anyway, before we knew it, the caller announced it was time for players to take their seats and so we wished each other good luck and found our places...and it was time to see if i could put all my 'studying' to good use.

Unfortunately (or should that be fortunately) the next 6 hours for me were generally quite uneventful...no big hands, no big wins and no big losses. At the first break i had increased my chip stack from teh starting 10k to 16k and was pretty much running average. That was teh situation at every single break up until teh reaching the final table, where i found myself within 1k of teh average chipstack each time.

Having said that i came across Palser, a fellow grassrooter, who went all in with a dwindling chipstack, and finding QQ i had to call and knocked him out...sorry, but had to be done. 

At each break it seemed one or two more grassroot players had been knocked out, except for Baby Face...sorry, we did say our first names, but terrible with real names!!

So, 5 or 6 plus hours later myself and Baby Face found ourselves on teh final table of 10, which from the 56 runners The Vic was only paying to 7...oh dear. During table talk the grassroots promotion came up and what it involved and how fortunate we were and one of teh players on teh final table did try and strike a deal with everyone to take a slice off of teh prize fund to guarantee each place some money, even if only a £10 so that we would secure some cash to top the stage 3 poker winnings. However, a certain Neil Channing said 'no' and so that was that...which at the end of teh day is fair enough and certainly no hard feelings.

Slowly we got down to teh bubble and Neil Channing (who I found to be quite entertaining with his table talk) after losing a hand and a stack of chips went all in (42os...not for teh 1st time either) with his remaining chips. The blinds were 4k/8k and i was in teh big blind so SB called and i matched the all in holding K8 os, which was only around 9k more i think and we checked down to the end, where i won with a pair of 8s (hit on teh turn) and hurray...I WAS IN THE MONEY!

So a quick hand shake and congraulations with baby face and some cheers from whyi and Alvin who had both stayed to watch and support us (MANY THANKS GUYS!!) and teh game carried on.

Eventually babyface was knocked out in 5th place and with a smallish stack on teh SB, the 1st position had raised around 19k so i went all in with KQos (holding less than 10bb...still at 4k/8k) and found myself called against A6os. Thinking back that probably wasn't a good move as a raise, even with only players probably indicated at least Ax and so my hand was slight underdog...but hindsight is such a wonderful thing isn't it? Anyway, hit a K on the flop but then an A came on teh turn and that was the end of me...

...well the end in that game anyway, but i think the start of grassroots stage 3 as i think i have secured my place in teh next £500 round with my poker play rather than having to hope for a 'social media' wildcard.

SOOOOOOOOO PLEASED & EXCITED!!

And after grabbing a train with babyface from Victoria towards Brighton, where i came off at Gatwick, I rolled home at 6:30am and managed to wake up my son creeping up the stairs...he asked how i had done, so i showed him my wad of newly acquired £50s and his whoop woke the rest of teh family up...and their whoops probably woke next door too!!

And then to get the notice from Ladbrokes later that morning saying that we could keep 100% of our winnings...well, needless to say that after a long daytime sleep we celebrated most of teh weekend!!

Thank you again Ladbrokes and hope both the poker and teh social media side are doing you proud!

Can't wait for teh next game...though don't get ahead of yourself Mr G...you're not a poker pro...YET!!!

Blog #8 - Relighting my fire!

Well, over the last week I've soaked up more poker advice, from poker forums (thanks to those on two plus two) to poker books and some podcasts too. I also, tuned in to watch the live video stream at The Fox for their £25k weekend event and found AceFather / Hazzy in seat number 4 and seemingly picking up where I left off with a distinct lack of playable cards 99% of the time! Hard luck but very jealous that you've picked up a WSOP ticket...well done!

And guess what, following all of that I think I may have rekindled the spark...or is it just coincidence?

When I first started playing online poker all those years ago I played the same types of multiple table tournaments (MTTs) that I do now, at teh same stakes, and month after month found myself making a comfortable profit, especially considering the relatively low level I was playing at.

Then over the last couple of years I had found that my profit was very inconsistent and unfortunately found myself having to top up my online poker account every two or three months with another £100 or so to cover my games.

Looking back now, I'm fairly sure that I was no longer playing poker for the thrill and to win but it had turned into a basic hobby to replace watching crap TV in teh evenings. I've never really been one for TV really, bar a few select programmes (which i know others view as crap as well) it is just a background noise, but with a youngish family you do find the evenings turning into sessions in front of 'teh box' rather than going out and about socialising as you might do as a child free couple. And sure, the wins were nice, but they were more a relief at knowing they would cover my poker entries for teh next few weeks, rather than wins that were perhaps showing development of my poker skills and stepping up to higher levels.Anyway, where was I? Yes, having done lost of recent Poker 'revision', in fact, almost going back to basics, I really do feel that I have rekindled that spark and am again playing poker to win and develop and profit NOT as a hobby. Sure, I know it is early days...it may well just be coincidence on timing, but the way I feel when playing poker recently seems different; more focused, more aware and for now anyway, more profitable!! Something that I think I can genuinely thank the Grassroots promotion by Ladbrokes for, as it has cretainly renewed by interest. Significantly increasing my online balance within a week, through multiple wins (as opposed to one big one off win) whilst playing the same low stake $10 MTTs surely is a good sign...isn't it, or am i just on a lucky streak!!

However, and a big BUT, my winning ways seems to be coming in everything apart from the main poker game of Texas Hold'em!! Thankfully Ladbrokes  have a great range of poker variations, scheduled at good times, with nice guarentees for teh amount of entries, which certainly keeps me a loyal client. This week's winnings include a couple of 1st places in 7 Card Stud & 1 in Razz and a nice handful of other final table top 5 finishes in Omaha and Bounty tournaments as well as some 2nd & 3rd places in Stud and Razz. And currently 14th in Ladbrokes' Poker Social Series leaderboard. BUT not even close in any standard Hold'em Games!!!!

None of this bodes well for tonight's trip to 'The Vic', where I will ply my new found passion in an attempt to get through to teh next round of the Ladbrokes Poker's Grassroots promotion - playing Texas Hold'em...oh dear!

However, always one who looks for the positive, so I really am looking forward to the tomorrow night's challenge and meeting up with other Grassroots Players, who although I'm up against them I do wish them good luck too! Just not if heads up against me! Not sure if Ladbrokes and their film crew will be on-site too...but I'll be teh one in my infamous T-shirt, which I hope will be luckier than the last time Iwore it...finishing 13th, unlucky for me!

Signing off for now...and hoping my next blog will be one citing success!!! Having said that, I am also a realist as well as an optimist!!! So, failing that I'll be expanding on my blog stats...429 page views, viewed as far away as Spain and USA with 19% of views via an iPhone...I really don't understand any of the other stats so that is actually it...oops!!

But hey Ladbrokes...surely if i don't cash then all of the blogging, tweets, facebook updates and don't forget 'THE' T-shirt is worth a wildcard through to stage 3 isn't it?

Blog #7 - Annie Duke's tips

Friday 1st June, and i was back in London for a 3 hour meeting; grrr the pain of a commute into London Victoria which is so different to my normal routine of a simple commuting downstairs to log-in as I'm a home based worker! I know, very lucky!!

However, the end of teh meeting and teh commute back home was made instantly better by looking at my phone when the meeting had finished and seeing missed calls and a voice message...knowing Ladbrokes were due to notify #LPGR2012 players for round 2 i was full of anticipation. So I returned teh call, spoke to a guy called Arran and he confirmed what I'd been hoping for - round 2 beckons! Big smile and well chuffed! So then I broke the news to family, friends and followers via facebook and twitter and was greeted with lots of 'well dones' and 'good lucks'. Thanks for all teh support!

However, no poker for a few days as out celebrating a friends birthday, then recovering, then jubilee party bbq (mainly dry...weather not alcohol), then recovering, and off to relatives, but driving so hope to get back online to play some more poker. Well actually to see if i can put Annie Duke's Poker Single ebook "The Middle Zone" to good use, as I've just finished it. A good read indeed for such a small pricetag. 

A very nice concept of offering advice on an individual area of poker in one concise bookette, rather than being part of a huge volume, that may get under read or overlooked amongst all teh other information. This is the first one, hopefully there will be more and it covered an area I have struggled consistently with in my game and depsite trying different strategies, none seemed to work well. The advice presented was very readable, easy to take in, made sense and you could see how you could put it into practise. Well done Annie and co-writer John Vorhaus, look forward to teh next one. Actually, having seen Annie Duke on teh Apprentice and being robbed of the title in my opinion, I have become somewhat of a fan and am fully expecting to have the kids get me 'Decide to play great poker' for Father's Day...sure beats novelty socks and chocolate by a mile!!

Other good reads are actually from blogs of other #LPGR2012 competitors. Rodders77's account of his win in round 1 was a good read and interesting...a bit of competition for the wildcard through to round 3 maybe. And I have liked Hazzy's/AceFather's updates of his recent exploits, with 5 figure wins -  seemingly on a regular enough basis to make that transition to a pro. He's my bet for teh final anyway!

So teh next decision is where to play my £300 game, seems to be a choice of two venues. It's either Fox Poker Club in a £25k 2 day event, where looking at previous events there are likely to be 110-120 entries, which pays 12 places. Alternatively it is the The Vic's £15k evening event, where after phoning them up they think they'll have around 60+ entries, which would pay down to about 10. The feedback seems to be that the Fox's structure is more suited (slower and bigger starting stack - 20,000 chips and 45 min blinds) to teh 'novice', compared with The Vic's structure (10,000 chips and 30 min blinds). But the Fox's freezeout is actually not a freezeout in my book as you can re-enter, whereas The Vic's is a pure freezeout! However, surely I have more chance with significantly less competitors at The Vic? 60 entries pays 10 compared with 120 entries pays 12?

So, my choice keeps drifting between the two, however, I think I'll be going for the ... erm, in the middle zone, trying to take myself out of that awful place!  Ok have made my mind up...

...will let you know in my next blog!!