poker & he credit crunch (BLOG NUMBER 2)

Monday the 25th Aug took the decision to play the £20.00 re buy at gala teeside. Monday has always had approx 40 - 60 runners but numbers have been down recently. Talking to some friends at Newcastle yesterday they told me numbers are down there too. Wondering if the credit crunch has started to affect poker? A very disappointing 32 entrants most using the recent alternates rule to turn up late meant after re buy,s a first prize of £900.00. What was nice , was , to see Ian Bryson out of his Grosvenor suit paying a visit. He did not play the comp stating something about value or he did'nt fancy the opposition ! .




After a 5 hour slog managed to make the final with slightly less than average chips. With only 7 prizes play was tight . Did not get into many battles , always trying to preserve my stack for a possible battle nearer to first prize. With 5 players left I was faced with what would of been a "all in situ" for me holding pocket tens after a under the gun raise. Normally i would of pushed ,ll in in his situation but felt patience was a better stick to use, the raiser showed AQ. Two players dropped in quick succession leaving 3 payers left. With 220,000 chips in play & me holding only 24k & blinds of 1500/3000 a deal was offered. The two chipped up players taking £550.00 each and me taking £470.00. The deal was too good to turn down obviously or i would not of taken it especially as the next prize was £240.00 and looked like it had my name written all over it. Many discussions have been banded about regarding deals my view point is if it,s a good deal for me i will take it if not " no deal"



Anyway after entry/re buy costs which totalled £40.00 a profit of £430.00 was secured. This worked out at £70.00 per hour!!!



Looking back through previous years results for a Monday which has always been a £20.00 re buy the numbers & obviously the pot size have declined. There could be a few factors, we now have 15 min,s less re buy period, more players prefer the Tue,s freeze-out as apposed to a re buy & the credit crunch. If you entered the four weekly comps at teeside the cost would be £100.00 per week without a re buy. Not a lot of people can afford that amount on a regular basis, especially if they are not hitting. The school summer hols are nearly over maybe numbers will pick up.



Played again Friday in the £10.00 re buy "all in fest".This comp is not for the fainthearted or the purests among you as it can become a all in comp, but for value it,s second to none in the north east. WITH A PRIZE POOL OF NEARLY 5K produced from approx 90 runners it is excellent value for money. This comp has took a bit of stick on the n/cle poker forum but after the re buy period it becomes nearly normal poker. First prize of £1700 & second just over a £1000 it is the largest prize pool in the north east. My fun did'nt last long 7 re buys later i was out, ah well there,s always next week.







Spotted a good football bet midweek . Atl madrid v fc shalke at odds of 1.98 on betfair. Madrid needing a goal after losing the first leg 1-0 my thinking was a good chance of a home win. so punted £250.00 which returned a profit of £245.00, that was my only bet this week.







Betfair trading was suspended this week and probally nextweek due to the unavailability of some others involved.







Played the hold em cash game this week which was'nt as juicy as previous weeks but recovered Fridays buy ins plus a small £40.00 profit.







I was speaking to Paul bracken this week. Paul as you may not be aware of was the winner at Blackpool year when i came second, and deservedly so. Paul is primarily a cash game player & living in London he has the pick of the cream. Well Paul played two sessions this week and won in both of em for a handsome profit. A few years ago i used to go to London for a long weekend to play cash & squeezed a canny profit ,that may be on the cards again.



If the money is not in n/cle or teeside i may have to travel again. I have found a juicy £50.00 re buy on a Mon, wed & Fri. in S tockport It only has 70 runners and generates a 14k pot regularly. Another casino is opening in Leeds soon so will keep a eye on what poker they do.



I was going to go to stockport this Monday but the GUKPT is on in Bolton No mater what i am unable to play the main event this week so i am going to travel down for Mon & Tue,s comps . The events are £200.00 & £300.00 freeze-outs so read next weeks blog to find out what happens.







From next week I am going to add some tips or story,s from the poker world in the UK. Just little snippets and unusual things that happens, did not have time this week.







So over to our bankroll, last week it finished at £11,164.00 from a starting point of £10,000. With poker comps profits totalling £280.00 cash games £120.00.

and one football bet showing a profit of £245.00 our bankroll has increased to £11,809.00



Next week is going to be a £600.00 in entry fee,s week so lets hope we can get a hit in Bolton.





Lastly thanks for all the positive comments, any are welcome even negative ones. Any questions topics you would like to see discussed please use the comments section of this blog.





Thanks and good luck all.