Nevertheless, after considerable early spring cleaning (and banning all comments) hopefully we can get the site back on track. Thanks for your continued support.

Then came Poker, or more importantly Texas Holdem Poker, made famous by a bunch of Texas card players in the sixties and since grown into one of the largest card phenomena ever witnessed. Poker is absolutely the new black, it is uber cool with many of the world’s leading celebrities racing to have their name associated with it. Just a quick flick through the TV channels these days and you can not escape from poker, and of course there is the fabled World Series of Poker, the Holy Grail and Mecca all rolled into one for every single player.

So with all of this new found popularity, with so many TV programmes dedicated to poker, and magazine and book shelves filled up with quality material written by the leading minds on poker, when are people going to learn that this game is all about position!?

Perhaps I should not get so worked up about this, after all the more people who struggle with the subtle tactics and strategies required for winning consistently at Texas Holdem, the better it is for everyone else, right? I mean, if they can not be bothered to read all of the available information about why position is so important, why should we bother? We should just be happy there is another fish at the table!

It’s true, we should not reward laziness with advice and help. However, I liken this to a friendly game of football. Granted the stakes are not so high, but when you see a player struggling, you help them, offer them some advice, ultimately showing them a way to enjoy, love and appreciate the game as much as you. I’m calling on all home players to do the same thing with their poker buddies who have not quite grasped the nuances of playing position. Help them to grow their respect for the game. Of course, don’t attempt to try this one in your local casino, the sharks won’t appreciate you teaching their lunch how to swim!

This muppet below has left over 100 comments in the last few days… keep it up buddy… they’ll just get deleted. Your host has also been informed.

Author : Bonifacius (IP: 38.96.1.97 , 38.96.1.97)
E-mail : bfc@ergussumatrras.com
URI : http://xxx.ergussumatrras.com
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Dealt AA in mid position, they put in a small raise. All players fold except the big blind who pays to see the flop. Flop comes A35 rainbow, AA has obviously hit a set and is feeling confident, yet is facing a bet of £60 from the BB. Player calls the bet, hoping to extract as much as possible from the hand, putting the BB on trip 5’s at his strongest.

The turn card was a 2, BB bet the pot, which at this stage was £190. Our player went all in which was an extra £10 on top.

Early joy turned to pain as the BB turned over his 64 suited to show his nut flush.

Leave your comments on how you would have played this hand.

Representing the Noise were, The Bandit, Raiser, The Roar and me (One Ace). With 44 runners, my target was a spot on the final table, once there anything could happen. I felt confident, one of us would reach the last 9 and secretly hoped I would be carrying the flag….

For some of us, the tournie was a long one, for Raiser, unfortunately not. Caught in the middle of a hand that would cause debate for the rest of the evening (even people not in the tournie heard and spoke about this one), Raiser had all of his chips in, in a three way showdown during the very first hand of the event. Raiser showed KK, player B had 99 and the inevitable AA was shown by the third player. AA held, Raiser was out. My starting table saw 4 people knocked out by the same player in the first 20 hands or so, with an amazing chip lead, it was a magnificent effort by the player not to reach the final table!

The Bandit found himself on the same table as an inspired Roar. Using his famous wit and charm, The Roar quickly positioned himself as the dominant player on his table, his coffee housing and talk kept the rest of his table second guessing the man from “berk - shire”, as the player to his left so eliquently put it. Eventually a hand between The Roar and The Bandit played out, Bandit held the dreaded KK against the Roar’s AQ, the flop included an A and a Q, so although not out, The Bandit was hurt and limping, it would not be long until some one put him out of his misery.

All of this time, the only flops that I had seen were the free ones when I was on big blind. For over 2 hours, I did not get a hand, not even a sniff of a hand, it felt like one of the Newbury Poker Cup games, but instead of taking a risk on a lesser hand, I decided to hold tight and wait. With only 900 of my original 2000 chips left and the blinds at 100/200, I was delighted to find 99 in late position. I was all in and the rest of the table folded so quickly, I wondered why I had not mixed my game up a bit more. I stole a couple more pots this way, then looked down to see that I had been dealt KK, the best hand I had had all night. I was UTG so I put in a minimum raise, 2 other players and the BB played. I was thinking that I wished I had raised more now, especially when an A came out on the board. Fortunately, this was followed by a K and a 3. I checked my set in first position, one player bet, one called and so did I. I was confident I was in the lead, plus there was no flush draw. A 2nd 3 came on the turn, I now had a full house, again I check, players bet and call, and I reraise the minimum, one folds the other calls. The river was the 4th K, so I now had a quads, however only 600 in chips left, I was convinced I’d get a call and went all in, the other player immediately folded. The very next hand, my table folded, so I was to join the same table as The Roar.

This table was completely different to the last one I played on, for one there was a lot more chips. I’d managed to sneak back up to around 2,000 yet I was well behind everyone else. Also, this table talked a lot more, it was friendly and everyone got on. Not my ideal table to play good poker as I prefer not to be distracted, I know from experience that if I start engaging in table talk, I tend to loosen up my play a little more, I also feel that I lose my edge against the other players. That said, I’m glad that not everyone is like me, or else it would be a very boring night out! The Roar and the man from Essex kept everyone entertained, despite the Essex Man’s profuse love of Phil hellmuth…strange that one.

My tournie ended on the bubble, there were payouts for the first 9, I limped out in 10th. No fireworks for me, the cards went cold, the big pots I entered I did not win (AKs V AQo, result split pot!), I was being eaten by the antes which were 600/1200 by now, on a table of 6, you really need to get on your bike to grow the chip stack. Eventually, I had to make a stand when on SM, all in against BB and the inevitable call. I had K8 against his 33, I hit a K on the flop, yet crashed and burned when a 3rd three came on the river.

The Roar was waving the flag for the Newbury Noise, he was on the final table and in a good position to take one of the bigger prizes. Half the table seemed to be short stacked, the other half seemed to be content to sneak up the cash positions everytime a player went out. The Roar seized on this and it was not long before he was facing down two other players to see who was good for bronze, silver and gold. A deal was offered, the Roar declined, he was playing for the glory at this stage. Yet despite his honourable intentions, he was unfortunate to go out against a weaker starting hand in third position.

Good work The Roar, hope the experience helps you to climb the Newbury Poker Cup leaderboard.

The truth about Per Kroldrup

Apparently Moyes signed Kroldrup without going to
see him himself, took the advice of a european scout
working for the club. A £5.1 million bid was lodged
and Udinese the Italian club who Kroldrup was
playing for couldn’t believe their luck and
immediately accepted Everton’s bid.

Only after the player was signed and all the
neccessary paperwork had been completed, and the
player himself had completed his first training
session with his new team mates did Moyes begin to
smell a rat.

Moyes was apparently totally unimpressed with what
he had seen and it was only then after he made
enquiries with the scout that it dawned on him.
Everton had signed the WRONG player!!!

The player the scout had watched had been Kroldrup’s
centre-back partner!

This was why the Everton bid was immediately
successful and they (Udinese)were it has been
reported, totally amazed with the size of the bid.

So, Moyes now had a problem, he had a centre-back he
knew was not good enough for the Premiership, he
also needed to off-load him and get back if possible
the club’s £5.1 million.

How was he going to do this without losing face with
the Everton fans. The first thing he did was report
to the press that Kroldrup was injured, he did in
fact have a slight injury but not enough to keep him
out for 3 months ,which is what happened.

Eventually through pressure from local phone-ins,
fan groups and local and national press asking
questions about this £5.1 million invisible man, and
also because of the club’s injury list, Weir was
injured etc, he eventually had to play him against
Villa at Villa Park.

It was there that David Moyes worst fears were
realised, Kroldrup had a stinker, was out of his
depth and Moyes knew it.

The problem now was that other managers had now seen
Kroldrup’s non-performance so there was no chance of
them getting back their £5.1 million- and he knew
it.

It has been recently reported that Florentina have
put in a bid for £3.6 million, my source tells me
that is in fact bull, they have offered Everton 1
million Euros- which is approximately £700,000.

An agreement has been reached with Florentina to
release to the media that the figure is £3.6
million, mainly, to save face at Everton Football
Club.

So, there you have it, mismanagement on a grand
scale which goes to show how EFC went from being
called the Mersey Millionaires in the sixty’s to the
total shambles which the club is today.

Moyes apparently blames Chief Executive Wyness, he
blames the european scout, others within the club
blame Chairman Bill Kenwright.

As Iceman, River and the Bandit were licking their wounds, the rest of the table concentrated on closing the gap at the top.

Unfortunately, there were not counting on “Treacle Power”. Gunner, playing only his 3rd game of the tour, literally blew the table apart with his amazing calls, constant pressure on the other players and the occasional bit of help on the river. With no answer to this style of play, he carved through the field beating the Saint in heads up.

The latest league standings are below -

Iceman - 37
One Ace - 33
The Saint - 32
Unibomber - 30
River Lambert - 28
The Bandit - 27
Gunner - 23
The Fox - 20
Porridge - 18
Raiser - 15
The Roar - 9
The Coot - 9
Bomber - 7
Beaveheart - 4
Ten Pence - 2

Any suggestions for the next game, let me know.

Just shy of 3,000 people played in this event. Many of whom were looking for a quick double up, so for the first 30-45 minutes there were chips all over the place. I decided I wanted to make a good fist of this tournie, the blind structure was great with increases every 20 minutes, so there was plenty of time to play, my strategy was not to put any of my chips at risk and only play strong starting cards.

The tournie seemed to fly by, I was never in a strong chip position, yet was never really at risk, I was just hanging around on or just above the chip average. I had one scare towards the end of the second break, I picked up QQ and ended up with about 75% of my chips in preflop against a maniac player. I should have known better, he was destined to win, he did. His AK hitting the flush on the river, this player had about half an hour of amazing luck and at one stage was the clear chip leader. I was glad to see him busted out about an hour later.

Interestingly, one of the most important hands for me was one that I was not involved with, however I think it led to my downfall. I was in small blind with a pair of 5’s, a hand which I’m usually happy to limp in with and hope to catch a set. By the time the play got back round to me, I would have had to pay 45,000 to see the flop. My chip stack was 100,000, I thought paying 45% of my stack, in a weak position, with a weak pocket pair and against 3 other players was not good, there had to be something better out there. Of course, the inevitable 5 came on the flop. The players continued to bet, making this pot the largest so far of the tournie. The turn came and I would have made the full house, the pot was won with 2 pairs. The pot was 370,000, a very strong position with around 50 players to go.

That was it for me. Although I was not involved in the hand, it was a very important one. Our table changed slightly and I was once again strugling with the cards, happy to steal the occasional blinds which were worth 10k a time. Eventually I had to make a stand, the chip leader was on my left and raising every pot, so when I looked down at A8 I was happy to call his double the blind bet from my BB position. The flop was a typical online flop, A 8 4, all spades. I’d hit two pair, however was worried about the flush draw. In my mind I had already decided that the chip leader was going to bet no matter what, which he did, although strangly he went all in. He more than covered my 90,000. I thought for a long time. Surely he had not flopped a flush. Eventually I called, hoping my two pair was enough, alas no. The chip leader had J3 spades, flopped a flush and I was unable to make the full house. Ending the tournie in 20th place and $350.

I think they do the UK freeroll, quite regularly. It is definitely worth a look, if you can dodge the early bullets and get a bit of luck, you’re in with a chance of making the money, which is the top 200. Anyway, if you see me betting big or calling bets with pocket 5’s, you’ll at least know why. I was happy to fold the dreaded 1010 on two occasions, both times they were the worst pair and would have lost.

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Very tight for 2nd place.

Iceman - 34 Points
One Ace - 26 Points
River Card - 26 Points
Bandit - 26 Points
Nelly - 25 Points
The Saint - 24 Points
The Fox - 20 Points
Bernard - 18 Points
Raiser - 15 Points
Gunner - 13 Points
The Coot - 9 Points
Bomber - 7 Points
The Roar - 3 Points
Ten Pence - 2 Points