GUKPT Manchester Main Event report

Ok the big day had arrived, and I made my way to Manchester for the GUKPT Leg 4 Main Event. It promised to be a reasonable pot and with 123 runners on day 1a, which historically has less runners than Day 1b, the prize pool was already sitting in excess of $350k, and was expected to approach $500k, with many registrations still to be taken for Day 1b.

I sat at my table and surveyed the scene. Seat 1 Unknown, Seat 2 Tony Caygill, a player from up my way, solid enough player, Seat 3 Caroline Cove, a lovely girl but she can talk for England, note to self to use i-pod should the talking get too much, Seat 4 Jeff Kimber, winner of World Heads up champs in 2007 and Tournament earnings in excess of $1m, beware, Seat 5 Simon Wolf Unknown, Seat 6 Chris Brammer Unkown, Seat 7 George McDonald fellow Scot and solid player, Seat 8 Maurice McCarthy Unkown, Seat 9 Me. Not too bad a table and fairly happy with it. Early on Brammer and McDonald emerge as the table aggressors and I am just looking to catch them with a big hand. I get a few small pairs but each time flop comes AKQ so have to let them go. Wolf knocks out McCarthy early on after seeing a 7 4 2 flop Wolf with 777 and McCarthy with underset 222, sicko.

Still early I get AQ in early pos and decide to limp in, folds to Jeff Kimber in BB who raises up to 150 (Blinds 25/50) both Wolf and Brammer call, so i decide to see a flop. The flop comes 2sQh4s, wolf checks, brammer raises to 300, this could be the hand i was looking for to get some chips, but with such a draw dangerous board i decide to see a turn card and call, Kimber calls, I know i am ahead of them both, then Wolf bangs in a reraise to 1400. Now I dont have a clue where I am and decide to let it go. Next level I get 10 10 and put in a raise Caroline calls from button. Flop comes an uninviting 2JQ, i bet she flats, I have her on J, Turn A. I decide she doesnt like this and look to check raise, but she checks behind, river is J. I put out a stopper bet which she quickly reraises, confirming my J theory, I let it go.

Table gets split and i get moved briefly onto another table, only hand of note, guy raises, I get JJ on button and reraise, he reluctantly folds showing AQ.

This table gets split and i get moved again. New table players of note Seat 3 James browning, many cashes and Poker broadcasting groundbreaker having hosted PNL in UK, Seat 5 Me, Seat 6 Andreas Hoivold, Former EPT winner and $1.5m+ in tournament winnings, Seat 8 Tim Flanders, $300k+ tournament winnings, Seat 9 Lynne Beaumont, one of leading UK Women players with $100k+ winnings. This table has a much better feel to it, and there are some big pots being played out. Hoivold knocks out an opponent after getting it in preflop with AK vs KK, Andreas hits A on river to knock out opponent, maybe thats how you win EPT titles?! No major hands of note until nearly end of level 3, when I get KK, I put in a raise to 525 and get 2 callers, Tim Flanders on button and the BB. First card out is Ac, and having put Tim on an A decide i am finished with hand, except the next 2 cards are 9c 5c and I have Kc. Anyway I check, Tim bets i call, we both check blank on turn, and river comes another A, maybe I was wrong and he didnt have A after all, so I bet and he flat calls with AK. 3 cards in deck and he hits 2 of them, sigh. This leaves me pretty short and I limp my way to the dinner break with only 1875 in chips. With blinds 150/300, I know i need to pick up a hand pretty quick after the break. I let one set of blinds pass me and next round it folds to me in SB, I look at first card which is an A and push, Hoivold in BB, says I dont need to look and calls. I tell him i only saw A so he turns over his first card to show Ad and 2nd card 9d, jeez i think, but my 2nd card is K!!! To the flop which comes a very scary 10d8s7d, but the turn and river are blank and i double up. I steal a couple of blinds and manage to get a push through with 77 and get my stack back up to above 4k. I know one double up and I am back in the race. Unfortunately it was not to be, as I find JJ in the cutoff, I put in a big raise only for the BB to wake up with KK, and with no help from the board I hit the rail.

So many thanks to my backers, I know i didnt manage a return on this occasion, but with a bit better luck, i.e. KK holding against AK, things could have been so so different, but then thats poker.

Shares Selling Fast

24 shares left, so get your skates on if you want a piece of the action.

Own a Share of GiMac in the GUKPT

Hi all

Ok it's here, a chance to own a share of me in the UK's leading poker tour the GUKPT (www.grosvenorukpokertour.com)

The Event: GUKPT Main Event
Date: 23-26th April 2009
Venue: Grosvenor Casino Manchester, UK
Prize Fund: $500k Estimated
1st Prize: $175,000 Estimated

Shares available: 72 x $25 shares
Profit Distribution: 50% to Shareholders (Example: If I win outright and get estimated $175k, each $25 share would be paid approx $1215)

Please note that any profit distribution will take into account any final table deals.

How to buy: Go to http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58351905825# join the group and post how many shares you would like. Payment details will be posted once sold out, but will be via Poker Stars, Full Tilt or moneybookers.com

Any questions please feel free to ask.

Ezekiel 25:17 (Abridged version).

Ezekiel 25:17 (Abridged version).

"The path of the righteous poker player is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil donkeys. Blessed is he who, in the name of made hands and continuation bets, bets out at the weak through the turn and the river, for he is truly Sklansky's keeper and the finder of bust flush draws. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to cheat and outdraw my brothers. And you will know my name is GiMac when I lay the stone cold nuts upon you."

Amen.

WBCOOP Round 1

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Won a seat to the final of WBCOOP, whch is next Sunday.

Come on!!! :-)

WBCOOP

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 037534

Variance vs Luck

Ok so we all hear about variance, and how better players will come out ahead "in the long run".

So just exactly how long does it take? Some say 1000 MTT's, or some say 2 million hands.

Unfortunately, imho, they are all wrong!!!!

Statistically, for variance to even itself out, it takes INFINITY or as long as two things keep happening. One, your heart beats and two, your bankroll doesn't go bust.

So next time someone says "I'd rather be the better player." just tell them to shove it.

Me?

I'd rather be lucky than good.

Hi all.

Its been a while since my last post and firstly I want to apologise. Its been pretty hectic setting up my new business, especially in the current economic climate, but there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

Due to work I havent played much live poker but I did go to Brighton to play for Scotland in the European Team Poker Champs, so will post a report on that very soon, and had a few new online activities which I will divulge shortly.

So once again sorry for the delay but from now on you should get some more regular news.

Be lucky cos, as I always say, I'd rather be lucky than good.

Good day on PKR but got robbed.

Being running well again on PKR and today managed 3 x top 4 finishes for a net of $420.

But every silver lining has a cloud and in the $2k gtd short handed tournie managed to get my short stack to 3 handed and scraped my way up to just about equal chips with the other 2 players. Then this happens.

SB vs BB

SB raises, I call in BB with 78

Flop a beautiful 7 8 8

He bets, I call

Turn 10

He bets, I raise, he calls

River 10

He bets which he has done with A on double paired board a few times, so i push all in and he calls with K 10

runner runner 1.68% bad beat.

OUCH!!!!

Bankroll Management Update

End of week 2.

Ok haven't managed to play too much this week cos of work, again, but here's an update. Betfair was going well and had roll up to $180, but went on a bad run and ended up marginally up on week, so switched to Mansion and rolled that up to $140. No play Grandslam.

Mansion

$2.82 up to $140

Betfair

$3.99 up to $135

Grandslam

$2 up to $25

Onwards and upwards!!!

3rd win in 4 days

Now officially on a roll. Just took down the $25 Omaha MTT on PKR. :-)

Wins are just like Buses!!!!

Went to Newcastle to play in the Poker Player Magazine Player Champs with the promise of a GUKPT seat as added value. Whilst I was happy with the way I played, I wasn't impressed with the structure which was hyper aggresive meaning I became a victim of it in 20th place of 100. To show you how aggresive the structure was they managed to get through a field of 100 players within 10 hours of play with a 5000 starting stack and 25 minute clock. Savage, and I will not be attending any of these events again.

However, on the bright side, I stayed behind to socialise with the guys from The Newcastle Poker Forum and they talked me into staying and playing the £10+£10+£10 game that was on that evening in the Grosvenor Newcastle. How glad I was that they did. I managed to reach the final, and eventhough I was short stacked, I had a good run of cards and managed to take it down for $800. Sweet.

Bankroll Management Update

End of week 1.

Ok haven't managed to play too much this week cos of work, but here's an update.

Mansion

$2.82 up to $98

Betfair

$3.99 up to $130

Grandslam

$2 up to $25


So far so good.

GiMac Wins the $2k gtd on PKR

Friday night managed to finish 1st in the $2k gtd beating 138 to win 1k. :-)

Reminder

Don't forget, if you join PKR through the above banner link you will get a 100% match bonus of up to $2000 not only that but it's one of the easiest deposit bonuses to achieve ever!!!

Experiment Update

Didn't manage to play too much today but here is an experiment update.

Betfair
End of day balance
Day 3 $101

Mansion
End of Day Balance
Day 3 $110

Small profits but a continuous upwards trend. I'm now over half way to getting to play at the next level. Come on!!!

Bankroll Experiment

Ok I have devised a bankroll management experiment.

I'm running it on Mansion and Betfair, basically because I haven't played there for ages and they had very small balances in accounts (Mansion $2.84, Betfair $3.99).

There are rules to the experiment as follows.

1. Start at 10c/20c
2. Not allowed to move to next level until have 1000xBB i.e. 10c/20c need $200
3. If bankroll falls below 500xBB then must move back down level
4. Ring Games only

I may add some more as I go along but that's basically it.

I started on Saturday night and progress so far is:

Mansion
End of Day Balance
Day 1 $33
Day 2 $80

Betfair
End of day balance
Day 1 $57
Day 2 $78

So not a bad start, but let's see how far I can take it.

GiMac bounces back from bad beat!!!

Well there i was donked out of the Sunday Million after outlasting half the field (5832rd of 14181) by a fish who 2 outed me on the river. I shouldn't play anymore tonight I thought, but the $50k was just starting. Oh what the hell!!!

4 hours odd later and I finish 33rd of 1404 for $631.80 (although $50k gtd prize pool was actually $140k) a nice wee cash to give me a weekend of MTT profit.

Apologies

Firstly apologies to those of you who have asked for me not updating this for a couple of weeks, it's just ben manic. Here's a little something I made earlier to keep you going until I get some time.

Ezekiel 25:17 (Abridged version).

"The path of the righteous poker player is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil donkeys. Blessed is he who, in the name of made hands and continuation bets, bets out at the weak through the turn and the river, for he is truly Sklansky's keeper and the finder of bust flush draws. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to cheat and outdraw my brothers. And you will know my name is GiMac when I lay the stone cold nuts upon you."

Amen.

Asian Poker Tour - Manila

Well great journey out here with Singapore Airlines. The flight left Manchester at 10am and was only about one third full, so we all had 3 seats each, so very comfortable and relaxing 13 hour flight to Singapore. A 3 hour stop in Singapore and we were on our way to Manila. 3hrs30minutes later we arrive in Manila at 1.15pm local time, 32 degrees celsuis (90f+) with 80% humidity. It's sticky!!!

Our transfer transport is late, but gives us a chance to stretch our legs and smoke some cigarettes. Anyway the minibus turns up and we load up. The drive from the airport to the Hotel is an experience and a half, with initially 5 lanes of traffic, somehow they have managed to squeeze 7 lines of vehicles over the 5 lanes, chopping and changing lanes left right and centre, horns blaring, lots of construction work going on, with a new airport due to open next year they are busy upgrading all the surrounding road network and the famous Philipino Aluminium buses.

We arrive at the Dusit Thani hotel where we are staying and the poker is being played there too, very handy. We check in and head straight for the poker room. Several cash games are in full swing and it becomes apparent that there is plenty of action on every table. I give the young lady 10,000 pesos ($250) to buy into the 100/200 NLH game. I manage to double up without even playing a hand, when a guy comes back from the cash desk and hands me 20,000 pesos in chips. Result!!!!! The game itself is pretty uneventful and I'm pretty tired, so after 3 or 4 hours I grab a couple of the guys we are with and head into town........to be continued........