I understand though how a lot of Ladies can get alot of satisfaction out of playing these events, and they are great for the less experienced and the more intimidated by the loud booming guys usually found in casino tournaments.  I have found my problem now – I just have problems reading women at the table.  They perplex me and give me earache.  I am just far used to reading men and frankly, they are just easier table mates!  So it comes as no surprise to report that I lasted no longer than 2 hours and I tried really hard, I really did.

The best news I have heard this week is that Full Tilt have sponsored me to play in the much anticipated $5,000 English Poker Open at my local Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham!  It is awesome news and am really excited by the line up, prize pool and competition that are coming over.  I’m sure there will be a few extra big names coming last minute too before they hit London for the WSOPE & EPT. 

The locals are buzzing at the thought of seeing the likes of Phil Helmuth and Doyle Brunson in Nottingham.  I hope as many name players as possible come to support this event and show the big guns what an awesome venue Dusk Till Dawn is and that poker is not just all about London – the Midlands can rock too!! 

So I’ll start with the Sky Poker Tour Grand Final in June that I was so looking forward too – I believe my 10k stack lasted a grand total of 43 minutes. I told myself on my way to DTD to play steady and not to bluff inexperienced players etc etc.  Of course I couldn’t help but try and assert myself as the table captain. After doing in half my stack, I called a raise from a serial raiser and C better with A3 suited.  With a flop of A 2 5 and 1 heart, we both managed to get in all our chips and was amazed to see my oppo turn over 10h 6h.  By the time I had computed that a swift double up was coming my way, 2 hearts hit the turn and river and I was heading for the car park with my head spinning lol. 

July and August have been non starters for me live tournament wise.  I just cant get past level 4 for some reason, I don’t feel like I am playing badly, just not winning those crucial flips or even the 70 / 30’s for that matter!  I don’t worry though, I know things can change quickly and then you think poker is an absolute piece of cake and you are a genius at it.

August has been pretty good for me in online huge runner donkfests.  I try not to play them on a regular basis because going through 2k – 3k runner fields can be brain screwing at times, but on the flip side of that I mostly enjoy them as a blow out.  Last week I came 5th in a 60k GTD for $3,800 then 9th in another for $1,000.  The week before I finalled 3 times in an Omaha $10 rebuy in a row and lost heads up in one of them but a nice couple in K in those too.  It’s all setting me up nicely for a good bankroll to take to Vegas in November for some of the Venetian Deepstack festival!

I’m so so so pleased for James Akenhead making the November 9 in the WSOP.  It is an awesome achievment, if not a little sureal, particularly since being runner up in a massive field last year in Event2 and losing in ridiculous fashion after owning Grant Hinkle heads up.  I can’t wait to rail the final table and the freaky dynamic of having Phil Ivey in the mix too.  I’m not just saying this because James is a mate, but I seriously think he can do something massive here, shortstack or not - no pressure luv!!

I have been invited for the second year running as a guest by Boyle Poker to the International Poker Open in Dublin in October.  It was a great event last year, not only for the very affordable $200, 1,300 runner main event but all the side events that were expertly  run and the european carnival like atmosphere.  It has to be seen to be believed, honestly a great fun and light hearted poker weekend.  Get yourselves there if you can.

Lastly on a rare staking outing for me, I was reading a page on facebook on buying a share of Paul Zimbler in the Poker Million.  I quite fancied a couple of % and clicked on the link to sort it out.  Duely the link didn’t work for some reason so I decided to do it later on in the day.  I forgot, and of course Paul goes and makes the Semi Final in October – well done Paul, GG me!!

I hope I take to this blogging lark as I am very grateful that the On the Rail guys have asked me to contribute. This is my first attempt although I have wanted to start a blog for a while now; I never really plucked up the courage in fear of being inconsistent in my ramblings. So I’ll dually begin with the recent filming of the Women’s World Open III:

So I found out at the end of May that my heat was billed as the toughest out of the 6 heats. There was a recent Dortmund EPT winner in Sandra Naujoks and hyper aggressive May Maceiras whom I thought shone in her display in the same tournament last year. I would much rather have a heat full of decent players than unknown/inexperienced players that I need time to work out first.

Luckily for me though I got off to a good start due to one of the qualifiers on my right calling off a fair percentage of her stack with 2^nd pair and a flush draw. It didn’t seem long at all until with 4 players left i had half the chips in play, which is nose bleed territory for me in these events. I do have a rather good record in these 6 seater, fast paced affairs. Out of 5 events, I have played 10 tables, coming 1^st in 4, 2^nd in 3 and every time by sticking to the same SNG formula and never really getting busy until at least 3 handed. This time I had chips and didn’t know what to do with them, so I proceeded to donk them away after losing 100k out of my 300k stack in a classic AK v QQ race. Now 4 handed I am shortest stack in push mode, so shove my A6 into 10’s, bink the Ace and I’m away again! I really enjoyed my heat and the rollercoaster ride I took. The heads up with Lisa Edwards didn’t take too long thanks a lucky situation where I make a standard button raise with 56, Lisa smooth calls with AK (which I do 99% of the time) and I got rewarded with a fabulous 55x flop. It went check , check – Queen on the turn, I check raise Lisa a small amount and she went into the tank. I really had hoped she connected with the Queen but instead had AK, didn’t believe me and went all in which I obviously called and won the heat.

I just wished the final went as well. Unfortunately, this time 7 handed but with the same 21 hands per level structure and same chips – it was a crap shoot in no time at all. I was card dead apart from strangely getting Kings twice on the button when it passed round to me, raised on both occasions and blinds pass both times. Every other button move I made with trash, I got snap raised and soul read lol. In the end 5^th place and $8,000 is better than a smash in the face with a blunt instrument but you know poker players. A strange breed who usually feel devastated when they win money!! This was no exception, with Vegas coming up I have to admit that $50,000 was very mouth watering indeed. I don’t want to sound bitter and twisted because I am truly happy for the winner Aisling Collins, who had to do it the hard way by winning the runners up heat to get to the final and then trampled over everyone in the final to take a deserved victory.

Well I guess I’ll stop here because its 3am and I have another tournament in the morning. This time it’s the SKY Poker UK Tour Grand Final at Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham. Not only am I am on home turf – but I also won the first leg of this tour last year which was also at Dusk Till Dawn (pattern forming here? Hope so). It will be a great weekend as it’s already sold out of its 270 player cap and a prize pool now stands at £54,000. Not half bad free rolling at a shot of £17k to the winner! Trip report on its way if I stay sober….