3 Degenerates In A Car To Coventry

As many of you know I'm recently back from playing the £550 main event of the Pokerstars UKIPT Coventry Event. I drove down with the Wu and my brother Blair. We left Dundee early hours of Thursday morning and didn't hit any traffic until just before the M6toll, the journey was fine, listened to pokercast episodes and some good music. Blair and Colin had some power naps, and I think I only fell asleep at the wheel once or twice.

We arrived at our hotel in Coventry shattered, thankfully they got our room ready and let us check in early. I think sprawling out on the leather couches near reception somehow speeds up hotel staff! :D

The hotel was really good for the money, £44 or something for the room. Nice and clean, great shower/bathroom, TV etc. Also there was a big pool, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi etc. We were told it was £5 for duration of the stay for unlimited use, but it turned out to be free when we got there! Was great to unwind and relax for a few days.

Blair and Colin were playing later that day which was Thursday Day 1a, unfortunately Colin bust out shortly after the dinner break. His QQ screwed by AK, he was also in a 60k pot previously where his AA vs AK ended in a chop with both players making broadway! So he does run like us sometimes :P

Blair made Day 2 on the Saturday, which was a good showing in his first really big deepstacked tourney.

I played Day 1B on the Friday, I spent most of Thursday sleeping, eating and sitting around the hotel (just like back at home!)

I built my stack up without showing down a hand for maybe 3 levels, i had 38k, There are two hands I am going to talk about, first one is so................

Blinds 150-300 with an ante of 25, under the gun raiser makes it 1100, he gets one caller. Im on the button with AK, guy before me makes it 3200. My play in my opinion and giving my thought process was muck or raise, I don't like to muck AK in this spot, so I raise. I make it 6400 to go. My thought process is initial raiser had a big stack 80k+ and has shown a wide range, he got one caller, so I'm thinking the guy that has re-raised before me could have anything from 88 through to AK.

So I've made it 6400, and it goes back to the initial raiser, 5 seconds of thought and he announces "All in" (with 3 players including me the 4-better! to go after him) He has like 80k, so it is an overbet to say the least!! :D

Original caller folds, and the original 3-better folds. I know I'm folding my AK here, I still have 33k left after making it 6400 (BLINDS ARE ONLY 150-300 REMEMBER :D)

So i say "Show if i fold ?" and he says "maybe" So i say, "well I fold anyway, nice bet!"

He shows QQ and is happy with his play and says "i have the hand, i don't want to see a flop"

I say to the guy next to me "I'd be more worried about someone snapping me with aces or kings"

That was the last hand before the break and 2 guys came up to me saying "how could he play QQ like that etc, its insane, he only gets snapped if crushed, 3 players to act etc"

In summation, although the buy in is £550, there are a lot of qualifiers etc. Some of the play for a deepstack game was bad! And shows that there is actually value in these games, A LOT OF VALUE IN THEM.

So my bust out hand..............

The QQ donk makes it 1100 with blinds now at 200-400 with 50 ante. He gets two callers, I'm in the small blind with QJ and so i call the 900. BB calls and flop comes 10-9-2 (two clubs). The online reporting of the hand says it was checked around, I really can't remember in the haze, but I thought original raiser c-bets the flop. But it's kind of irrelevant!!!!

Anyway, the turn brings King of Spades, giving me the nut straight. I lead out 2k into like 6.5-7k. Big Blind folds, original raiser min raises to 4k. Other two fold.

Pot is now like 10-11k. The guy is a donk, and i figure, I'm getting paid here by a set, two pair, or even the nut flush draw, and if he is drawing, then he is gonna pay for it.........

So rather than make it 9k or something, i do a Hollywood and shove for my last 19k more. He insta calls me..............

I figure it's a chop and he has QJ, because literally NO THOUGHT!

Carla Goddard who does the pokerstars reporting says "Chop pot? both got queen jack???"

I say "I've got the nuts up to now!"

The guys face looks white and probably didn't even see the straight, he had a set of 10s! He was probably so wrapped up in that!

Pot is around 52-54k,...........................RIVER pairs the board, with a 9!

Pretty sick, by no means a really bad beat, I'm only 77% going to the river :P. Just feel it a little more, when it's a £500 buy in game, you have drove down from Dundee and the average at the time was only 24k! and first place in the tourney is £47k :P etc :D

So that was me out...........

Blair returned for day 2 with 130+ players, there were 45 places paid 45th paying £850, and Blair bust out 52nd when he had to shove AJ short stacked and someone woke up with AQ.

I wound him up the whole drive back about playing 14hrs to shove that shit! But it was a friendly needle, and he played well and outlasted the Wu and me, and did good, next time! ;)

We took a leisurely drive home, we stopped off a few times and randomly decided to stop off in Blackpool because we were in the mood of fish and chips! We had some fresh oysters, then found a wee sit in chipper, had fish and chips, mushy peas etc and life was good again :D

The trip was such good fun, we had great laughs in the hotel mucking about. I scared Blair twice, and I'm talking big frights! But I wont embarrass him here :P Safe to say, my planning and lengths I go to for scaring people in a hotel straight out of the shining, ARE ADVANCED :D!

None of us showed anywhere near a profit on the trip and our bankrolls showed a minus, but speaking for myself, Colin and Blair, our "liferolls" showed a positive. It was a great trip, lots of laughs and good times, and at the end of the day, your liferoll is more important than your bankroll ;)

REMEMBER THAT ;)

Good Luck

Barry xxx

Easter Festival and a future special guest :D

I've not blogged in over a month, been busy playing poker and spending time on other stuff in my life!

Some updates....I came back from vegas with a nice addition to the bankroll, I continued to do well...highlights included 4 way deal in the last monthly £100 game (good for £700) and I got super lucky against LW and a random guy in a £500 pot in a cash game. Long story short, I have KK vs LW's AA and random guys JJ, all in pre. I bink a King on the turn and scoop. Stevie Mc was dealing, I gave him a lift home (for free :P) for his good dealing!

Things turned a bit sour after this, some stuff outside of poker put me a bit on life tilt and it seemed to spookilly slip into my results. I wasn't playing badly, and wasn't tilting......but a downswing seemed to correlate perfectly with other shit that was happening. As a result, I let Dr Chalmers out of the other side of my brain and let him loose. He preceded to blow too much money on the Cheltenham festival (Kauto star, I hope you are dog food and glue by now!)

I also experienced some garbage in cash games, flush against flush, top two crushed by gutterball turn, and two outered on the river.

Top two against bottom set in a tourney also, forgot about that one......NH Don ;) xx

I managed to stop the rot and took a break.......

I played all the Easter tournaments..quick recap..........

£200 Main event......Played my ass off, starting stack 15k, i was never above 23k for the entire tourney, 57 runners, and I somehow managed to get to 15th, I went out when I got it all in with two 10's against Cush's QQ (Cush went onto chop the tourney as one of the bigger money winners and got £2.5k, gg and well played)

£100 Event..... Again, I grinded this tournament, I can honestly say I have never played a short stack as well as I did in the £200 game and the £100 game. I just looked for good spots to make a move in, I was extremely patient. Although I was usually working with a stack of around 12-15bb for most of the levels, I never felt under pressure or forced to make a move.

I made the final table and went in as one of (if not the shortest stack, with like 24k) I then went on a tear up and ran good, my 9-10 beating 99, picked up QQ and then started to pick up blinds with timed shoves.

I managed to get my 24k up to around 140k in chips.........Then carnage!

Blinds 3k-6k, 6 handed, it is folded to me on the button, I pick up AK, i make it 15k to go, sb (aggressive player :P) goes all in pretty much instantly. Back to me and I instacall, he has A3, so I'm 76% :D..........................

Flop, 2........5.........4, and I'm dead to 3 outs for a chop! Brick,,,,and Brick......

I have him covered just, pot was like $220k+ was around half the chips in play, and was effectively the tournament.

I had around 30k left......I managed to grind that up and take out K-Walls AA shove on the button to my BB, i called with Q10 (as i had him covered and 5th paid £370) i hit a straight.

The hand i went out on was also sick, i limp sb with 24diamonds against Jamie (jambizzle-mynizzle-ishoveA3izzle-igettheremynizzle-coziflop-the-wheelizzle-u-gezzile??) He checks, flop 4-7-4. I think B.I.N.G.O, B.I.N.G.O his name is Bobby BINGO......turn is a 6. We get it all in and he has J4.....Goodnight Vienna and GingerToys out in 5th.............

£50 game was a non event, I ship in top pair (Ace) against a habitual gala ban'ee (not GSA or Drummy!) He calls with middle pair J and 9 kicker. He rivers a 9 and im out.

Great games and great structures, credit goes to the gala staff etc, Mr Myles obviously cares about poker (and it shows) Also, Fidel Samstro seems to be enjoying the role of cardroom supervisor, think both of them can make it still be number 1 for poker in Dundee. (If Mr Myles reads this, please feel free to put a few thousand fortune points on my card, a brothers gotta eat :P)

So that was then and this is now................................

I'm off to Coventry for the main event of the UKIPT sponsored by Pokerstars, I was only going to be playing the side events, but have decided to sell % shares in myself so I can play the £550 main event with the orient express Colin WU and my brother Blair (who qualified on pokerstars) Thanks to the guys who bought a stake in me, I can only promise to play well and hope to go deep. I would like nothing better than to come home handing out packets of cash ;)

I will be tweeting updates (see my twitter feed at side of this blog @ http://gingertoys.blogspot.com or on the http://www.pokerindundee.com site where my twitter feed is also shown, or find me on twitter GINGERTOYS and add me there!!.............Or just leave it and ask me how I did next time you see me :D

Now for a special announcement, Martin @ pokerindundee has been wanting to get the Wu on board with twitter feeds for when he plays tourneys etc, but this isn't an option just now..........................SO......................................................

Since I have some time on my hands, and Colin is fast building a reputation as a great poker player, I am going to do a full interview with Haito "Colin" Wu :D

I am going to sit down with the Wu, and go into lots, u name it, and it will be discussed :D

Colin is a good friend, but I'm going to try and be like the Paxman of poker :P I'll ask him lots of in depth questions. Effectively, I will act as the mediator to stream colins thoughts and views on poker to the Dundee poker community :D

Colin has a lot he wants to share and say, but with English not being his first language,,,he doesn't want to sit doing a blog for pokerindundee.com!

So I suggested this way, I interview him and then type it all out and blog it.

I will probably do it in a few parts, because One I'm Lazy! and two ! I want to do it right :D

I want to treat it like a magazine interview, and for someone with his record in GUKPT's, GCBPT and other side events and cash games, (FOR THE NUMBER HE HAS PLAYED, in fact FOR ANYONE TO HAVE THIS RECENT RECORD) I can't believe he is not sponsored/backed YET.

I will look do sit down with him sometime when we get back from Coventry :D

Colin is a busy dad and I like to sleep past 3pm, so we will have to work out a gap in our schedules :D

BUT I WILL GET THIS DONE, I'm sure everyone can learn something from him, and even for my own poker education, it will be worth it.

Good Luck us in Coventry.

And good luck to anyone who reads this.

Barry xxx

Las Vegas...The land of good times, £66 notes, broken dreams and $5 lobster! :D

Home for a week :D

I made it back alive from my first trip in vegas :D It's such an amazing place, I stayed at the Bellagio and it is one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in (between that and the Langham Place Hotel in Hong Kong) maybe Bellagio just wins because of so much gambling on your doorstep! :D

As it was my first time there, I wanted to see a few of the sites etc. I was also there for M.A.G.I.C clothing exhibition (a show which involves tons of clothing brands/vendors displaying their lines for coming seasons)

I arrived in Vegas on the Monday night, I got a stretch limo straight to the Bellagio, this cost $55 and was worth it for a bit of opening night nonsense!

After checking into the Bellagio I had a quick shower, got changed and headed downt to the card room on site. I played $1-$2, I sat down with $200, and in a couple of hours play managed to cash out at $897!

I am not really going to go into tons of hands, but I will mention a few later on and some comments on the poker there.

The next day I went to the M.A.G.I.C clothing show and that was good fun, lots of freebies etc (all poker players love comps :D) I also spent most of that day walking from Mandalay Bay (where the exhibition was held) right down the strip and to familiarize myself with the layout etc!!

I'll get all the non-poker stuff out the way now!!

I went to see Penn & Teller's show at the Rio, it was really good, some of the tricks were amazing and the on stage banter etc was really good with lots of audience participation. After bribing the ticket guy we got two seats 5 rows from the front for only $45 each!! We were originally quoted $96 each!!! Everywhere I was in vegas, it became apparent that if u tip the right person, u can get lots of stuff done :D

I had lots of nice food in tons of nice restaurants, the restaurants particularly in the Bellagio were really good, notably Olives and Prime. I didn't just eat in the fancy restaurants, I did rough it sometimes $6 burger at binions was a particular local delicacy. I also ate some new orleans street food from a small independent woman selling shrimp with hot sauce and home made coleslaw (beats dundee street food of donner chips + cheese!!)

I also roughed it a bit, I went down to old vegas, freemont street etc. I went into Binions, the home of the WSOP and it still has something about it, a certain charm or nostalgic value. However, it is sad to see all the binons tables and chairs in the poker room through the back, totally empty. The hall of fame is a bit of a disappointment as well! Just pictures on a wall :D I expected that, but surely they can do a bit of merchandising there or some stories and nicer art work on the wall!!

I did well with the binions comp sheet when joining their club! They matched my blackjack bet, and i ran my $10 plus there $10 up to $100 and cashed out! weeeeeeeeee. I also did the really tourist thing and got my picture taken with the $1million they have on a table in the casino, all for free!! It really was like the stories I'd heard of downtown vegas :D

POKER WISE..........

As I said I did really well first night I played cash, and the times I played cash after that (i only played cash at the Bellagio) I was told that this is usually the case, u play where u stay etc. In my opinion the games at the Bellagio were so soft, it was literally like an ATM. Some of the play was crazy.

Example 1....I limp $2 utg with QQ, aggressive Vietnamese female (20's) makes it $26. Going on her previous hands and play, I put her on AK, AQ MAXIMUM HERE, she has been showing bluffs, and trash talking! Really strange to see a female play like this :D So it comes back to me, I flat call the $24 more (my stack is around $311 here) Flop comes J-5-7, I check (with intention to check raise obv) she bets out $40, I make it $40 with $80. She thinks for a bit, then goes ALL IN. I'm playing like $160-$180 more (can't remember exact) and I think it through, if she has JJ then good luck to her, totally eliminated KK and AA from her range (just a few factors, way she was acting pre-flop etc and previous stuff) Dont think she has set of 5's or 7's.

So I'm thinking it's JJ, AJ, KJ, or Ak-AQ. I call, she shows AQ high! Turn and river brick out, and i scoop $600+ pot.

Example 2.......Last hand I played in vegas was weirdly enough my favourite hand (63!) I get dealt 63hearts UTG + 1, I make it $6, one caller in cut off and bb calls. Flop comes 3-3-A rainbow, bb bets out $15, i flat call, guy in cut off flat calls, turn Q. BB bets $45, i raise now to $95(putting one of them on some sort of raggy ace and other guy on under pair) guy in cut off folds, bb calls. River J, bb checks to me, now im thinking he wouldn't check 3 there because of the way he played previously (he was a moron, jamming all in for $100 pre-flop when $6 in pot etc!!LOL) So i bet $95 on river, he thinks for like 3 seconds then calls.............HE TURNS OVER 77!!!! That is just free money, just utter garbage LOL. So again i scooped in a great pot there.

All in all the level of play I saw in the Bellagio was really soft, I maybe landed lucky at tables with fishy tourists with too much money!! But from my experiences you could grind out sizeable profits at the $1-$2 game, playing on autopilot!!!

Tournament wise, I only played one tournament the entire time, I didn't fancy spending 12hrs out of a day when I was only there for 7 days!! However, the venetian deepstack series (part of pokerstars north american poker tour) was on. I signed up for the $350 deepstack event $12k starting stack, 40min clock. 513 players!!!$148,513k prizepool with $34k for 1st place!!

I finished 46th out of 513, and as a result got my debut on the Hendon mob :P http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=100086

It was nice to cash in a tourney in vegas, but the way I went out was brutal. Blinds were 3k-6k with ante of 500 (i think!) I pick up KK early position, make it $15k, guy in small blind goes all in, comes back to me, I call (he has me covered, i Have around $82k) He turns over QQ

RIVER Q :( SICKNESS ENSUES :D..........................

$170k pot with blinds at 3-6k, i'm not saying i would have won it, but I would have fancied myself to get much, much deeper. I'm due such a big pay off in a big tournament, twice when deep in big events I've had over pair against under pair and someone has hit their 2 outer. So gonna save mine holding for an even bigger event :P

Saying that, if I wont the $34k it would have been a while before anyone in Dundee saw me LOL I think i'd probably be like Stu Ungar and found dead in a room somewhere!!! It's that sort of place :D

On the Friday night before I left I decided to go out and get deliberately hammered! The night started with me drinking 7 mojitos before i left the hotel!! And they free pour there, so god knows how much rum that was! My friend then decided to call it an early night (next day he told me because he didn't want to be part of my forthcoming mayhem!!! CHEERS MATE :D)

So i jumped in a taxi and went down to the venetian, all I remember from that is getting even more drunk in a bar inside the venetian,..........sitting drinking and talking with joe hachem and victor ramdin!!





Then i hit an outside open air bar somewhere between venetian and bellagio, i was drinking some mad punch thing that they poured into a big plastic cup, ($40 for a large quantity of it!!).......Talking with hispanic drug dealers (interesting guys!)....Then I remember being really sick in a toilet.......discussing economics and economic pricing theory with a total weirdo!!! Then that's it, the night ends! Woke up next day, THANK GOD IN MY HOTEL ROOM. Cannot remember going back to hotel, how i got there, how i got passed security (as u have to show room card to gain access to elevators in bellagio). I hope I was well behaved and my name is not mud there!! There weren't any funny looks the next day, and nothing was mentioned at checkout!! LOL :D

Although, if there were any murders, thefts, criminal damage etc on that Friday night. Suspect probably was described as a sexy bastard with ginger hair LOL ahahahhahahahhahaahhaha
All in all vegas was absolutely amazing, say what you want about America. The level of service, food etc All top class, we get so screwed in this country and put up with substandard levels in all those areas.

Also, the American people are so hungry for success and want to better themselves. Just look in ANY newsagent there, magazine titles such as "entrepreneur magazine" "success magazine" "fast company" "Home business magazine etc

What do we have in the uk, "Hello" "Zoo" "Nutz" and that sort of bullshit!! :D

I'm not saying they are the master race, but for people who want to do well and live a great life and become successful. America appears the place to be, it is encouraged and applauded, not derided and ridiculed or frowned upon (like most people in the UK do!!) :D

I love Las Vegas, and I'll be back :D

Fishing (literally) and Viva Las Vegas

Not played a great deal of late, played two cash sessions and posted small profits both times. Played the £100 monthly game at the Gala, was part of the famous "Dundee chop" 10 way chop for £400 each, me having 11bb, a temperature and feeling dizzy and thinking of it as an extra $600 for Vegas, made me do it!! :P I did say no to a £300 each chop when asked, as that was just too bad :D hahaha

Me and Colin (aka the £300-£1k buy in mtt specialist!!!) decided to go fishing!! I'm not a huge fan of fisherman, but I get the whole relaxation, patience aspect (harder to accept when it's freezing!) When me and the Wu went down to London for WSOPE etc, he mentioned he used to go fishing back home in China all the time, and that he would like to go in Scotland.

My little brother (Bradley, the non-poker playing one) is an avid angler, he has represented Scotland at fly fishing, and has won countless fishing competitions etc. So I told Colin, and he was dying to get out sometime.

I was going to consult Dundee's biggest expert on fishing (Martin Smith) but decided against it.

So I managed to get out my bed before 1pm and we set it up, me, Colin, Bradley and his friend. Fishing is like tournament poker, ur waiting around for lots of the time and not really seeing any action!

It was near the end and we were close to packing up, then we got a bite on one of the roads. We let Colin do the honours and he reeled in a MONSTER sea trout!

Colin had a great time and he exchanged numbers with Brad, I think they are going to go out fishing again and Colin is away to buy all the gear! Who knows, the Wu might retire from poker and just spend his days fishing!

So that was my bit of fresh air for the week!

VEGAS BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next Monday I am away to Las Vegas, it will be my first time in Vegas and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm staying at the Bellagio (obligatory brag picture above :P).

I've heard lots about how good the games are etc, and I am really looking forward to playing some poker. HOWEVER, I have promised myself to not turn it into total poker and nothing else.

As it's my first time there, I want to go see a few shows, see some other sights (maybe go out to the grand canyon) and try and have a bit of a holiday. (so just poker 19hrs a day then :P)

I don't have any major poker goals for the trip, just..... I would like to come back with more money than I left with, and definitely do better than Martin on his last trip!

Tournament wise, I am going to play one of the $340 buy in deepstack games at the Venetian, so looking forward to a proper deepstack game, and have heard these games get quite big prize pools, so looking forward to that.

Apart from this, I will be playing mainly cash games $1-$2 NL and $2-$4, or $2-$5 depending on game, mood, roll etc.

I would like to write a big list of goals etc, but it's my first time and I want to see Vegas, get drunk, have a good time, play some poker.

Who knows, I might roll up and take a shot against Doyle and Co in bobbys room ;)

Good Luck me!

Play Well

Barry xxx

2010, nearly a month gone already!!

This is my first blog since 31st December 2009..

So far, 2010 has involved staying up until 5 or 6 am and sleeping until 2-4pm in the afternoon. It's been fun for a while, but starting to become annoying! It's difficult to get things done that actually involve going out of the house during the day!!!

But, I have been more productive in the first 25 days of January 2010, than the whole of December and November last year, so what works etc etc....

Poker wise I have not been playing much at all. Live, I have played 4 tournaments at Gala (chopped one, bricked the other 3), I have also played only two cash sessions, but showing a profit in both of them. (please note cash profits were boosted this month by owning Mr Smith at flips, :P)

I have deliberately not been playing as much poker as I have been concentrating on other money making activities, of which I'm not gonna bore my readership with! (just wheeling and dealing and trying to make an honest crust)

Another reason why not playing as many poker hours as previous is I am getting ready for Las Vegas, I leave 3 weeks today. It will be my first time in Vegas and I'm staying at the Bellagio, so looking forward to not only plenty of fun and swings at the cash tables, but also lots of good food, drink and actually try see a bit of Vegas!!

I should play the £100 monthly game first Sunday of February, as this usually generates a nice prize pool and could provide me with extra dollars to gamble in Vegas!

So that's about it just now, next few weeks will involve more of the same, keep up my good efforts outside of poker, pop in for the odd cash game or tourney, and BUY AS MANY DOLLARS AS I CAN :D

Not sure if will blog much in Vegas, I actually want to spend my time doing stuff in the real world there!! But may post the odd tweet, so if u remotely care, follow me on twitter! If you are a true friend, u will be hearing from me on the phone after every pot won or outdraw anyway!! :P

When I get back from Vegas (hopefully with an increased net worth!) I will evaluate and see what I want to do with the rest of 2010.

Cheers

Barry

P.S Don't Flip with the Toys, (ask Martin "Channing" Smith)

Last Blog of the Year

Not blogged in nearly a month, so may as well do a quick one now!

I started keeping records way back in May! last 7 months have flown in. Im so happy I did this, I can see in black and white that I have made a profit in both live tourneys and live cash games since records began.

Recently, started playing some live tourneys again at local casino, played 3 this week, results 6th/48 (money bubble), 6th/25th(deal bubble) 10th/57 (final table bubble cos someone made a donkey call)!! I don't really care too much, as I am playing well and getting to final tables and putting myself in good situations, also Im willing to go bust on the bubble in a trade off to chip up and make a better score.

Live cash was good this week, played slightly tipsy and posted a profit after 3 consecutive losing sessions! (SO TIPSY POKER FTW!)

2009 was a good year, playing the £1k WSOPE event in London and cash games at the vic! many highs, 24th in the Sunday Warmup, 5th in the $50kGTD, good live cash results and even better live tourney results.

There were no lows really, well my QQ crushed by JJ down to like 11 players in GUKPT £300 game in Aberdeen, for pot that would have made me chip leader. :P Sure there were many more, but I see it all as learning and try and take positives from it (no matter how far way they seem at the time!!!!!!)

2010 should be a great year, I'm going to vegas in February, staying at the Bellagio! So that should involve plenty of fun and games.

In 2010 please can i have.....

My first 10k cash in a tourney (highest so far is 6k)(online or live, not fussy :P)

Continued Improvement in cash game, starting $500 separate in an online site (AND THOU SHALT OBEY BR MANAGEMENT)

Play £1k WSOPE event again in September

Play Scottish leg of Pokerstars new UK tour

Play Inaugural Dundee G casino Summer series GUKPT event

Finally,,,,,,,,,Not to neglect the rest of my interests and indeed life for the sake of poker :D (well not all the time!)

Hope everyone has a good new year, if I'm at your table in 2010 please give me your money :D

Gingertoys xxx

Can't have all your eggs in one basket!

Just a quick update blog, I have slowly been easing my way back into the local live poker scene. As far as tournaments go, I have played 2 in 2 months, 13th in one, and did a deal in the other one. Played some cash games, I have had mixed results! I have been playing far too much 6-max online, and live full ring feels like a long drawn out affair. I have did well at online cash over the last month or so, but some of my live cash results have been down to errors on my part, the rest is just variance.

I enjoy live cash much more than online. As a result, I'm going to make a few adjustments, try a few different things and try and play more of the local live cash games.

Away from poker, I am back into the financial trading/spreadbetting on everything from share prices/commoditie prices and foreign currencies. I am mainly trading forex, namely the US$.

It's amazing the cross overs between trading and poker, if you want to really get anywhere, it's all discipline, money management and controlling yourself.

I used to trade a lot, and was succesful, once I got into poker I kind of drifted away from it, but the two sort of come together in so many aspects.

It's kind of weird, a few years ago I was into trading and didn't even play poker. Now I'm so glad I eventually started playing poker, as I say it has taught me so much about myself and the disciplines learned/learning/acquiring! are appropriate for my trading exploits aswell.

I did after all obtain a first class honours degree in economics, and even when I was studying for my degree, I alaways so it as learning stuff that I would use to work for myself and make money in the markets etc.

My long term plan is to play poker, live cash, live tourneys and the same online. However, I definitely am putting more hours into trading, the scope is so much bigger.

Ideally, I see myself in 10 years, just playing the markets and playing big live poker tourneys and cash games. Beach house somewhere, couple of million in the bank, you get the idea ;)

It's taken a few years, but I am so glad I did finish my degree, I am so glad I found poker, and I am so glad I am starting to find my way onto steps of a ladder I want to climb again.

Meanwhile, I should be playing the £100 game this Sunday in the Dundee gala, should win it :P

Good Luck

Barry x x