Well it's taken me a while to get around to adding a new post. Now lets see what I have been up to since the last time I was here.

I am mainly playing cash tables but still dable in the odd freeroll and PL tourney. I managed to win the safety net two nights in a row and also win the 50 up club on one of the nights. I finished 2nd in the PL Titan tourney, winning one of the rounds. I qualified for the Best of British weekly final but wasn't able to play due to a holiday. On Sunday I won the WSOP freeroll on Poker Satellites for a place in the final which should only have 40 people in.

I still play the odd STT but I find it a bit slow sometimes and prefer to play the cash tables as you can play a larger range of hands depending on your opponent. In STTs you have to size up your opponents quite quickly and you require a bit of luck, especially when you get to the business end and the blinds are getting quite large.

My tournament play seems to have improved and I have become more patient earlier on and more aggressive near the bubble or with the big stack. I may venture into some bigger buy in tourneys to try and net some bigger prizes.

I'll try and make more of an effort to post here at least once a month. Not sure how much poker I will play this month as I have just bought a Wii and I'm having a wild time diving around the living room playing tennis and getting knackered flinging my arms around trying to knock out an opponent in the virtual boxing ring. At least on there my AA wont get cracked by 63os.

Still playing cash tables but after a very hot streak things have gone cold. I have spent the last 8 or 9 days working hard just to break even every night.

I am playing on Paradise Poker to earn the bonus that was given for swapping from SO. The standard of play there is very mixed. Sat on the 10c/25c tables with a couple of very tidy players and the rest made up of people who play any 2 cards and refuse to put down any rag Ace . I know these are the sort of players that you want on your table but at the moment they are hitting everything and I'm delighted to hit bottom pair!

I have got my money in ahead a few times and got outdrawn. The worst was when I raised 6x BB under the gun with AK only to be called by the BB. The flop came K 7 3. I raised with a pot sized bet and got called. The turn came as a 3. Another raise gets called and I have no idea where I am. I check the river and so does he. He turn over 5 3 os!!!! Why the hell did he call the initial raise and then the follow up when he had bottom pair and then only check with trips on the river. If he put me on trip Ks or 7s he shouldn't have called to start with. You can't play these muppets. It p*ss*s me off sometimes.

Played in the 50up club on Sporting Odds tonight. Only playing to earn the freeroll entry.

I managed to get to the final table with 9 left and had this little beauty of a hand.

***** Hand 470970472 *****
1200.00/2400.00 Texas Hold'em (No Limit) - 26 November 2006 22:41:15
The 50 Up Club (Real/Tournament)
Seat 1: Mclaren198 (14177.00)
Seat 2: pokerapa (33734.00)
Seat 3: Seth Cowen (10912.00)
Seat 4: altrix (2375.00)
Seat 6: spannerj (9870.00)
Seat 7: pichka (1080.00)
Seat 8: denko12 (7520.00)
Seat 9: mester31 (3472.00)
Seat 10: Jozeph (2860.00)
denko12 post BB 2400.00
** Deal **
Mclaren198 [N/A, N/A]
pokerapa [N/A, N/A]
Seth Cowen [N/A, N/A]
altrix [N/A, N/A]
spannerj [Js, Jh]
pichka [N/A, N/A]
denko12 [N/A, N/A]
mester31 [N/A, N/A]
Jozeph [N/A, N/A]
*** Bet Round 1 ***
mester31 Call 2400.00
Jozeph All-in 2860.00
Mclaren198 Fold
pokerapa Fold
Seth Cowen Call 2860.00
altrix All-in 2375.00
spannerj Call 2860.00
denko12 Call 2860.00
mester31 Call 2860.00
*** Flop(Board): *** : [Jd, 6d, 6c]
*** Bet Round 2 ***
denko12 Check
mester31 Check
Seth Cowen Check
spannerj All-in 7010.00
denko12 Fold
mester31 All-in 612.00
Seth Cowen Fold
*** Turn(Board): *** : [Jd, 6d, 6c, Jc]
*** River(Board): *** : [Jd, 6d, 6c, Jc, Ac]
*** Showdown *** : Rake: 0.00 Total Pot: 18979.00
altrix [10d, Kd] Pair of sixes Win:0.00
spannerj [Js, Jh] Four of a kind, jacks Win:18979.00
pichka [Qh, Kh] Pair of sixes Win:0.00
mester31 [Kc, Ad] Pair of sixes Win:0.00
Jozeph [Qd, Qs] Two pair queens and sixes Win:0.00

Got my freeroll place in one hit!

Well that month seems to have flown by.

Lets see, what have I been up to on the tables?

I have decided to stick to cash tables as I seem to have the right game for cash and usually end up in profit at the end of a session.

I downloaded poker office and that has been a godsend for tracking my play and keeping accurate stats for myself and my opponents. It has made a BIG difference and I would recommend it to anyone.

I play the stakes according to my bankroll on each site rather than my overall bankroll. I'm earning a bonus on Betfred at the moment and initially deposited £50 so am playing the 10c/20c tables. I am now up to £120 and will probably move to 25c/50c soon to speed up the bonus process.

On Sporting Odds I have been playing mainly $10 STTs and my last 10 showed 3 wins 3 seconds and 2 thirds for a pretty good return. I also had a second in a $20 STT which my first go at that level.

I haven't played many MTT lately but I did try out the Punter Lounge focus game on Friday. $5 buy in on Titan. I managed 15th out of 483 which was quite good for $23. I just get annoyed as I was going well and twice I raised with good hands only to run into Aces. I didn't bet into them but when the blinds are as big as they were thats a huge chunk of your stack.

Well I haven't posted for a little while so I thought I'd give a little run down on what I've been up to.

I have mainly been a bonus whore this week. Sporting Index have started doing poker so as a regular punter there I am entitled to a $150 bonus after earning 5000 action points. Although it isn't actually clear how you earn an action point I have managed to earn them all in less than a week with a small profit of about $20. Yippee. Free money!

Playing all those cash tables has made an impact on my tourney play. I don't seem to be as tight and as a result my last few goes at the Champions League have resulted in fairly early exits. A bit gutting considering I won one of the earlier rounds which has put me in a good position in the league table. A good night that one as I also won the 50up club to earn my place in the $2500 freeroll at the begining of next month.

Right lets see what I can do tonight. Another go at the League. I really could do with a good placing to ensure a decent league finish.

I haven't played a huge amount the last couple of days but I do seem to have ended the bad STT run.

I have managed 2 firsts a second and a third in my last four STTs. Its all good!. I have also made a few dollars on the cash tables at Poker 770 which is keeping the bankroll ticking along nicely.

I played in the Sporting Odds Champions League tonight and managed to get 17th. My JJ was rivered by AQ to go out but the hand before I had busted AK with 5 7 so I can't complain too much.

I was meant to be playing the $2500 50 up club freeroll tonight but it was cancelled which is a bit annoying as I rearranged a night out to play it. I bet its rescheduled to a night that I cant make now.

A quiet night of poker tonight.

My bad run in STTs continued with a 7th place in a $3 10 seater. My QQ met KK early on which I never recovered from.

I played the 5c/10c tables on SO just to get the 50 hands needed for the 50 up club. Came out about 20c up. LOL. I made the final table and even better than that won my place in the 2.5k. Ended up finishing 2nd for $19.50. Not bad for a freebie. Bit gutted I didn't win. It had got to the point where the blinds were so big it was shove every hand and I was 2:1 up in chips. My J 10 hit top pair but his 7 10 flopped a straight. All over next hand when my 22 failed to hold up against AJ. Still I'm happy with that. I had over $300 in last months freeroll.

I didn't get much chance to play last night but I did win about $30 on Poker770 at the cash tables. I normally make money at that site but my bad run has seen me take a hit there as well so hopefully that little win will see the tables turn.

No MTTs tonight so I just played 5 STTs.

I'm on a really bad run at the moment and my spreadsheet shows that I haven't even been in the money for the last 12 games. It's not even like I'm missing out on the bubble, I'm going out in 6th, 7th and 8th. Awful just awful.

I don't think I am doing anything any different. I was doing really well at these and have got good stats and a healthy bank roll. All of a sudden it just aint happening. I'm getting a few bad beats but you always get those. Tonight I had KK twice only to see rag aces who really shouldn't have called hitting an A on the river. That really sucks when you are having a bad run.

The cards dont help. I seriously think in all the hands I played tonight the only pairs I got dealt were the two KK that both lost. I did manage to survive an all in where I hit a lucky gutshot on the river but apart from that I'm not hitting the flop at all.

Oh well. I think I'll keep plugging away and hope the luck changes soon, before the bankroll runs out at least!

edit to add:

Just thought I'd play a $3 HU to try and get some confidence back. After about 10 mins with stacks even I got dealt QQ. I raised 4x BB and he goes All In. I call and he shows AQ. First 4 cards all low and then the river........you guessed it.......that sodding ace again. I hate this game.