my first weekly blog (BLOG NO 1)

Well here it is my first weekly blog . This is going to be a regular feature of mine, weekly updates containing my thoughts amd thinkings in the crazy world of poker, trading ,sports betting and the likes. Hopefully I will get as much benifit from it as you will.



I have set aside £10,000 in real money which is called my blog bankroll and as some sort of perverse social experiment am going to share it with you (litterally). The sum of money is real it exists and is seperated from any other money I have. I have had this idea for a while now after being inspired by my good m8 domonic kay whose blog i enjoy and look forward to reading.



Thought I would do a quick summary of the year so far.



Firstly Teeside & n/cle my weekly poker tournaments, my bread & butter. I have for the last several years made a good income locally but to be honest this year has been so disapointing and frustrating. If you received money for 10th to 15th place i would be sat typing this in florida rather than the chilly north east, unbeleviable the ammount of " just outside the money finishes i have had". Fortunately they have not been the result of bad play but just situatiions outside of my control. I noticed after my blackpool success late last year every one wanted to take out "the guy who had been on the telly" it was if i was sitting with a big target on my head. This is out of my control but it does not help that it seems to be repeated on satalite tv every bloody week. I had a long discussion with steve holden about this in luton a couple of weeks ago and it is happening to him at his local (walsall) , guess it goes with the terrotory. The other thing i,ve noticed is the ammount of 60/40 situations i have lost this year, too many to count & always at crucial stages of comps that is the frustrating thing this year, however to grasp something positive from these situations it does tell me i am doing the right thing ,playing the right way and as poker is a long term game it will in time balance itself out.



More positavely is i am still ahead (just) this year locally so hopefully i can turn it around by the end of the year.



Secondly onto the travels, away, great start at brighton way back in jan, sponsored into the main event i came a creditable 27th for a £1800 pay day. I also won the £200.00 f/out for a £ 6400 payday a fantastic start. Since brighton i have been to Edinburgh, bristol, luton, manchester, walsall & nottingham all with no major cashes, altho i did receive a minor cash in one of the side events in manchester. Luckily i have been sponsored in our satalited in to alot of the main events so the exspensis have been kept to the bare minimum. A few good hold em cash games on my travels have helped with the costs so really no concerns and well happy with the way things are progressing nationally. One of the by products of winning at brighton was a seat in the grosvenor tournaments of champions to be held in december so something free to look forward to.



Online has been good. For those of you who are not aware i am given a bankroll from mansion who basically pay me to play. Without going into to much details this has proved a steady income over the last 8 months. A large cash in mansions big monthly 750k guarenteed was a fantastic bonus first place "get in". Credit must go to my good m8 michael jackson from spenny who made all the crucial decisions at the right time. Without him it would of defo been a different result. Mick is a great online player and it is down to him that the income has been steady cheers m8. I feel it is only a matter of time before we crack that sunday $150k guarenteed. So in summary online a well positive situation and very well rewarding financially.







So now for last week with our £ 10,000 bankroll i played two comps this week live both at teeside. Thurs £10.00 rebuy & Fridays £ 10.00 rebuy. A tenth place finish on thurs with no rebuys or add ons resulted in £40.00 profit. Fridays comp bought a deep finish but I lost a 70/30 to finish out of the money but with again no add ons or rebuys the profit from teeside comps was £20.00. However in teeside a little hold em cash game has sprung up in the last couple of weeks. I have been watching it and it seemed the sort of game i would thrive in. Hold em competition players playing a cash game equals one thing for me profit. There are not alot of competition players who cant play hold em cash games well, but i know i can, so took part thurs & friday. Thurs was a cool £510.00 profit and friday a little less at £380.00 but for a total of 7 hours play a very good return of investment. I do not wish to come across depremental to some of the players in the hold em game but intend to be honest with the blog so no offence.
On sunday i tok the last minute decision to travel the 40 odd miles upto newcastle for there £50.00 maximum 2 rebuys. I have not played this comp as much as I would of liked this year but feel it is one of the better comps in the north east. I was expecting a 60 runner field esspecially as it was a bank hol weekend. A very dis apointing field of 42 runners attended but even more disapointing was the number of rebuys/top up,s 12!!!!! very disapointing indeed. Throughout the comp i struggled to amass any sort of decent chips & was always struggling under average chips. A very needed double up with my pocket tens holding up against sunderlands mr angry. Unfortunatly it caused mr angry to tilt push on the next hand with k7! off suit where he walked into the big blind,s pocket jacks. Exit mr angry & most people were aware that he was out, total un-neccasary play as he was just below average. The double up tho welcome still meant a long struggle and as we approached the last 14 i had visions of "he we go again". But a change of fortune and managed to limp into the final as lowest chips. With only 2 moves available to me ll in or pass i pushed with a4 against the very tight chip leader who called holding pocket twos,s. A two on the flop sent me to the rails out in 8th place for a £140.00 prize equating to a £40.00 profit.
On the way home i was diverted of the a19 by the police as a man was attempting to jump from the a19 road bridge into the river wear, sincerley hope it ws not mr angry, come on m8 it was AK versus 10,s u were behind.



I ve just started in a round about fashion trading via betfair, it is a exploritry journey for me as i am just finding my feet. I am certainly in no way qualified to speak on this subject but as i am involved with others there will be certainly very little written if anything on this subject. With the british weather there were very little horse trading opportunities in fact i only worked 5 hours this week which returned a profit of £35.00. This is something i will be progress on a as & when basis but hopefully will form a large part of my monthly/ annual income.







Lastly this week saturday in fact i placed a £100.00 bet on betfair on ncle versus bolton which returned a cool £ 116.00 profit, As those who know me ,no i have a rule about not betting on football until at least late sep but the opportunity was there for the taking thank god for owen given & betfair. the odds offered were totally wrong or right from my point of view.. A little less than i would normally wager but the form is not out there to study yet,







so totalling the profit from all aspects this week my blog bankroll has moved from £10,000 upto £1164,00 a good weeks work with a profit of £1164.00



I hope you have enjoyed this blog and would welcome any comments or good or bad



l8