The Thursday Curse is BACK!!!

And it's worse than ever, as it involves that big gilled, bottom feeding bum bandit, THE ROCK!

Things were looking good, when the Donk flops a 10 with a King kicker but my Queens hold, felting the muppet. I guess I curse myself by trash talking old Coconut head...

He then proceeds to bust me in three consecutive hands, and I mean literally, one hand after the other.

Short on chips, I put the Rock all-in with four to the nut flush draw, but I fail to hit so double him up.

In the very next hand, we both call a pot-sized pre-flop raise, and we both hit the flop scaring off the pre-flop raiser. I hit a King with a Queen kicker, but the Rock hits a set of 3s. 

In the very next hand (after pulling some cash from my pocket) I look down at pocket Kings and limp in. The Rock raises the pot and it feels like Christmas so I re-raise and tell the pillock to re-raise me for the rest of my chips, which he duly obliges considering he's sitting on pocket Aces. UN-FKIN-BELIEVABLE!!!

I wish the table the season's good cheer, with some choice ye olde english cussing... and storm from the premises, and home, in time for peak time television.

Bah Humbug...

2009 is the year when I aim to make the Rock actually cry at the table... and maybe even wee himself a little bit... it's my new year's resolution...

FHP ONLINE LEAGUE - HEAT TWO REPORT

Cat Thrash is looking unstoppable, as he captures two for two, and just like in Heat One, he has to defeat a pro heads-up to take down the win.

The Re-buy period is fairly grim for me, despite starting out fairly well, aided by Quad Queens early, and then pocket Queens, which scoop me a big pot when I check to the player in position who had flopped top pair (Jack) with an Ace kicker... she pushed them all-in and I insta-call.

Things get depressing, as people (myself included) insist on giving Rocky chips, the spanner.

Just before the first break, I'm just ahead of the average chip stack, so of course I shell out for the Add-on.

I make a semi-bluff half an hour into the freezeout period with four to the nut flush on the flop and get two players to fold, scooping in a nice pot.

I desperately need a double-up and I pretty much get one, when I flop a set of 4s in position and Doughel bets into me on every street... I push on the river and she/he folds.

A beautiful thing happens as we get towards the final table. The Rock flops two pair, but luckily for us, the1cardinal had flopped the nut straight... unfortunately, Rock has a handful of chips left so we have to put up with his whining for another 2 minutes... until he pushes with the premium hand, Jack, 7 off...

I'm out 12th, when I push with Ace, 8 suited and run straight into doughel's pocket Queens.

The final table showdown is a little hazy as the cash game was full and I was running hot.

SakaiSalmon is out 10th, although I didn't get to see the hand. I have a feeling over the series, this won't be the only time the Salmon makes a final table appearance.

Kpswbc is out 9th when vflkngip isolates him with Pocket Queens, and Kp can't catch an Ace.

Feigos is next when she makes a semi-bluff with Ace, 5 - unfortunately, alanjsy is sitting on Trip Jacks.

Smallyboyyepyep is next and doughel is on the points bubble when she flops a Jack, but the Cat Thrash was slow-playing Queens.

The final five goes as follows:

alanjsy - 1 Point

Vflkngip - 2 Points

Beastnog - 3 Points

DizzzyRascal - 4 Points

Cat Thrash - 5 Points

Will anyone catch the Cat Fiddler? Will the Beast's consistent top 5 finishes secure him a prize? Will Rocky stop being a big gilled, bottom feeding eggplant?

Logon to Heat Three in January to find out!!!

NO ONLINE TOURNAMENT FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS - AS THEY FALL ON CHRISTMAS EVE AND NEW YEAR'S EVE.

THE 2008 PPPO BRACELET WINNER IS...

Sweeney Todd - AKA Dave Elliott 

Despite a disappointing turn-out for the inaugural Planet Pool Freezeout, we had a day of fantastic poker with the obligatory bad beats, monster hands, bluffs, gaffs and fuckwittery.

Dave played a blinder in a back and forth heads-up against Phil Da Silva, who hit the final table with a massive chip lead after his pocket 10s became a set, cracking pocket Kings and pocket Aces no less (unlucky Scotty, who was holding the Rockets!)

Dave finally won the lion's share of the prizepool (should cover the crimbo presents easily!) the sparkly Poker Championship bracelet and earned 5 points on the FHP Leaderboard (Dave shoots-up to 2nd Place after this win behind myself and Craig Hartley).

The 5 players to hit the cash were as follows:

1ST - Dave Elliott

2ND - Phil Da Silva

3RD - Will Picot

4TH - Soxy

5TH - Charles Butler

In case you are wondering, I hit the final table but left the tournament in 10th place when I am crippled by The Gay Blade when his Queens are tripped with the first card on the flop, thus making my Ace, Queen look pretty washed-up!

Phil then takes me out when I push my tiny stack with 8, 9 suited. He called with 10, 9. I am looking good on the flop with a straight and flush draw but manage to miss EVERYTHING!

Big thank you to Dan for flying over from Guernsey for his first live tournament and he should be proud of himself hitting the final table.

Look out for the Freezeout Schedule at Planet Pool in 2009, we will be running regular tournaments on Saturday afternoons and early evenings.

jT...

GO DAVE!!!

FHP Online League - HEAT ONE REPORT...

Heat One was always going to be interesting. Who would take the early lead on the leaderboard? How would the Jersey crew fare against not one, but two sharks patrolling the tables in the form of Uncover Pros, Chris 'Soxy' Sokrati and Conor Tate?

Conor is a highly respected tournament pro and in 2008 cashed in the Irish Open Main Event and Three of the WSOP Bracelet Events. He is ranked number 2 on the Northern Ireland All-time Money List and has earned nearly $1,000,000 in tournament earnings... piece of cake, then!

Generous to a fault, both Soxy and Conor pledged to donate their winnings to next week's prizepool if either of them came 1st or 2nd and also offered a bounty prize of a free buy-in to next week's tournament for the player or players that knocked them out of the tournament.

I was on fire, and went a whole 36 minutes before winning a meaningful pot! I managed to go bust twice in that time... legend.

With about 15 minutes to go before the end of the Re-buys, I make a loose call with King, 4 suited and catch trip 4s for a nice pot.

With 2 minutes to go I win a massive pot when Captainvice refuses to believe that I had a King in the hole when a Cowboy came out on the flop and calls my All-in with his pocket Jacks.

jsyvixen went on a bullying spree and dominated the table for the first hour or so... even the Beast got an arse kicking from Mrs. Soxy!

I eliminate MROTheAnteChrist when he pushes with King, 4 suited and my pocket 8s hold. Captainvice is next to go, when I isolate him with my Ace, 8 and it looks like I may be in trouble when he flips over pocket Kings! Luckily for me, I flop an Ace and send the smut captain home.

BEATABLOCK joins our table and goes on a bullying spree with his chip lead. Raise, Re-Raise, Re-Re-Raise! But the BLOCK has a bad run and his chip stack is up and down like a yo-yo. In the meantime, jsyvixen and the Beast have moved ahead in chips.

I pick-up pocket Jacks but no-one wants to play, and I have to fold 4s pre-flop against a raise and re-raise.

Just when it looks like Beast is going to finally kill off BEATABLOCK after humping him left right and centre in lots of small and medium sized pots, the BLOCK calls the Beast's all-in with pocket Queens and the ladies convert into a flush, pumping the Beast's 10s... but this is merely a flesh wound to the Beast's stack.

As if the table weren't fed-up enough of being jsyvixen's bitch for 2 hours, Soxy joins the table and we enter what I like to refer to as the 'black period' as I am raised and re-raised by Soxy and his missus for a sustained period... lovely.

I make a move with Ace, 2 suited and walk into BEATABLOCK's pocket 10s. I flop four to the flush and turn the nuts for a nice double-up.

My pocket Kings eliminate doughel with her 9s and I become the chip leader as we approach the final table. Soon after jsyvixen takes out BEATABLOCK.

The Beast doubles through jsyvixen when he turns a flush, cracking the lady's pocket Aces!

I finally get tired of Soxy's raising and make a desperation Re-raise with Ace, 5 suited. Soxy goes into the tank, wishes me good luck and calls with his ducks. An Ace comes out on the flop, making my stack healthy again.

The vixen had been grinding away, building her chip stack back up but I finally caught her when she pushed with Ace, 9 and I insta-called with Ace, King taking her out of the tournament.

At last, we have our final table and dauntingly, it's full of pros and the bloody Pomme 2008 Tournament Champ in the form of Cat Thrash.

Don't tell anyone, but in the very first hand on the final table, the player under the gun pushes and I fold pocket Jacks in the next seat with six players to act... they all fold and I punch myself in the face for folding. Shhhhhhhh.

We get some Pro on Pro violence, when Conor's own Jacks (Why did I fold mine!!!) stay ahead of Soxy's Ace, King all the way and Sealey even rivers a flush. We now have a major chip leader and NOT the person we want with chips!

Conor let's Shaken007 bluff off all of his chips and smooth calls him out of the tournament with pocket Queens.

Soxy pushes with Queen, 7 and Cat Thrash calls with Jack, 10 suited. Sox has to sweat his lead until the flop, when three clubs come straight out for the flush, and put the Cat in great shape chip-wise and of course, earns himself free entry into next week's tournament by eliminating a Pro!

wtfdonklolgg is next, when Conor flops a set against his big slick, we're now down to the 5 players who will earn points for the leaderboard.

The Beast is hurt, when Daynesy rivers a straight against his pocket 8s, and that must explain his Rocky-like (well, they are related) donk call against my shitty Ace. He hits a Jack on the flop and ends my tournament life... stupid, baldy, suckout, FIEND!!!

So I earn one point... dancer!

The Beast is out next when his pocket 5s go behind when Cat Thrash flops a Queen with Ace, Queen and converts it into a nut flush on the river. 2 points for the Beastnog.

Daynesy10 was always behind by a curly hair with his Ace, 6 against Cat Thrash's Ace, 7. They both hit their Ace on the flop, and only having to dodge a 6, the Cat Thrasher hits his 7 for two-pair just to teach the youngster a lesson.

We now have a mouthwatering heads-up showdown between Pro, Conor Tate, and professional cat fiddler, Cat Thrash...

Everyone is watching the match and for a while it goes back and forth. With a flop of 8, 9, 6 the Thrasher makes a semi-bluff with his open ended straight (holding Jack, 10). Conor thinks for a few ticks and makes an amazing call with Ace, King. The turn is a blank, but the river gives the Cat a 10 and it's all over!

Cat Thrash is our Champ!

The final points go as follows:

Cat Thrash - 5 Points

Conor Tate - 4 Points

Daynesy10 - 3 Points

Beastnog - 2 Points

AnteherojT - 1 Point

MASSIVE thanks again to Conor for his generosity, next week's tourney has $480 in the pot before anyone even registers!!!

Bring it on...

The Beast Who Stole Xmas...

Congratulations to The Beast for winning the Pomme Xmas Tournament. He took home the impressive trophy, not to mention the lion's share of the £6000 pot!

Cat Thrasher was runner-up and secured his place as the overall tournament champion at the Pomme. The guy ALWAYS seems to be sitting on the final table!

It was actually the Beast who eliminated me from the final table in 10th place. Ace, King proved to be a dog for me TWICE in the big game.

The first time it pumped me, I was chipleader on my table just before the break and flopped a King on a relatively harmless board... except for the fact my opponent was sat on pocket Kings!

Still in good shape after the break (40,000 chips) I went card dead for an hour or so and skulked onto the final table as the shortstack (£32,000) with monster blinds of 4000/8000.

I pushed with King, Queen suited and picked-up the blinds so at least I could wait for a good hand for another 10 hands or so.

I looked down at Big Slick and decided it was another pushing hand in my chip situation (and chose to ignore how it had taken a slice from me earlier in the tournament). One of the chipleaders, ClaireBear, raised it up to pretty much all my chips and then The Beast came over the top. I was happy to be in a situation where I could trebble-up so pushed them all in. I was even happy with their hands - ClaireBear had Ace, Queen and The Beast had pocket 10s.

I'd make that move a thousand times against those hands, but I couldn't find an Ace or a King so the 10s held and put the Beasty Boy in a healthy chip position.

My one consolation is that I eliminated Rocky earlier in the tournament, who pushed all his chips in with pocket Kings, the Donk... and of course the Cowboys were no match for my Jacks, especially when the set came on the flop! Ouch, sorry Rocky! They are called Hooks for a reason you big gilled, bottom feeder! Of course I am kidding, that was very unlucky and everyone at the table felt genuince sadness at the loss of such a poker personality from the tournament. That beat was bad for The Rock, but consider BeataBlock for a moment... his Kings were cracked by the Beast's pocket 9s, when the Grinch flopped QUADS!!! YEOWCH!!!

My new favorite seat in the cash game is seat one... you get the button when the game kicks off and the dealer insisted on dealing me pocket Aces twice and pocket Kings twice, so at least I ended the day 300% up!

More details coming on the FHP Online League at Uncover Poker today...

PLUS the WINTER SERIES dates have been confirmed and I will be releasing details of that league shortly too...

AnteVirusjT

Ante Virus Reports on the Inaugural FHP Online Tourney @ Uncover Poker

I'd been looking forward to seeing this come to fruition since my first meeting with Soxy when we talked about the possibility of running an FHP tournament online at Uncover Poker. We all play online and we all know what it's like to play against a field of over a thousand, faceless names trying their best to felt us.

But the premise of this tournament was something new altogether... playing against people we see in live games every week either down the Pomme or at the Tipsy Toad FHP tournaments in Jersey.

39 players registered and the virtual cards were in the air at 8pm on the dot. We'd set the format at 8 players per table and it was great trying to work out who was who. Of course we all hopped to the other tables in-between hands to wish everyone luck and hurl abuse at Rocky, the plum... but it was all good fun and the banter was what made it such a great night.

I had to wait 10 minutes before being dealt a playable hand, and I call a small raise from the small blind with Ace, 7. I flop a 7, which is top pair and bet the pot. Everyone folds.

I'm card dead for 15 minutes and more out of boredom than any real optimism, I call a raise with King, 10. We all play like gimps, checking the flop and turn. A 10 hits the river and Shaker007 pops a bet of 500. I call and beat his Queen, 10.

About half-way through the Re-buy period, I know it's Christmas when I catch pocket Aces. I raise it-up to three times the blind and get re-raised by Shaker007. Oh happy days. Shaker is all-in for about a third of my chips and Ash also calls, who has a few thousand left behind, so I raise him all-in. He calls. Ash is sitting on Ace, 9 suited and Shaker007 is on Queens and he flops a set... BASTARD! But at least I limit my loss by taking the rest of Ash's chips. I'm a few hundred down.

Two hands later, I get pocket Kings, raise it up and Feigos calls me. The flop is 2d, 10d, Ah and Feigos pops a big bet and I know I have to walk away from the Cowboys. I'm beginning to dislike playing pre-flop big pairs!

That is until I get another pair of Aces in the hole! I pop the pot and get two callers. I don't like the two 9s on the flop, but fire again and they both fold. 

I think we only lost a couple of players before the first break, and after the Re-buys and all the Add-ons, the pot had swelled from $780 to over $1500!

Post Re-buys, the play tightened up and as people got eliminated, players were moved around and again, it was great fun working out who you were playing against and throwing some 'tude as necessary... obviously giving Rocky a hard time too, wherever he was sitting.

For two hours or so, we jostle for position and a couple of monster chip stacks emerge in the form of HubOfLogic, Cat Thrasher and Leigos. Unfortunately for me, I'm sat with two of them... I river a Queen high flush and call a big bet from Hub, who flips over the King high flush, taking a quarter of my chip stack to add to his substantial lead!

As more players are eliminated, we find ourselves 5 handed, and I am sat with Rocky and three of the chip leaders. Meanwhile, Soxy (DizzzyRascal) had gone from the short stack to climb the ranks like King Kong up the Empire State Building to sit in the top ten chip leaders!

The hand that takes us to the final table is a monster showdown between two of the chip leaders, HubOfLogic and Feigos. Feigos is in the small blind and limps in. The flop comes 8, 8, King and Hub pushes all his chips in. Feigos insta-calls with pocket 10s and Hub's Ace, Queen bluff sends him to the rail.

And so we have our final table! 

Yours truly (AnteHerojT) 

Rocky

Feigos

Cat Thrasher

Slowman

DizzzyRascal (FIX!!!)

Doughel

MikeOxbigg81

Guess who goes out first? Yep, this muppet. I'm in push or fold mode anyway as one of the short stacks and wake-up with pocket 10s. Great timing for Slowman to get Kings! I leave in a huff, insult Rocky one more time and then head to the FHP cash table, keeping a keen eye on how the rest of the final table plays out.

The order of the next few eliminations may be a bit ropey as Beast was playing all aggressive on the cash table.

Rocky is unlucky when his Ace, King (in the short stack) is called by Mike (with the chip lead) holding Ace, Jack and spikes a Jack on the turn.

The chips are starting to spread out evenly and it looks like we could be in for a long game. I can't remember who bubbles, although I know it was Leigos or Mike, but anyway, we are soon down to the final four with DizzzyRascal, doughel, Slowman and Cat Thrasher. Mike is busted when he catches a pocket pair, only for Slowman to catch a better pair and if that wasn't bad enough, he flops a set just to show off!

Dizzzy pushes with Ace, Jack and is called by doughel with King, Jack. It's looking good for Soxy until a King comes out on the flop.

Three-handed.  Almost immediately, Cat Thrasher is all-in with Cowboys, alas doughel (turns out to be the hel rather than the doug - Helen that is) has the rockets.

Slowman flops bottom pair with four to a Queen high flush, but Helen's luck is running good... she flopped the nut flush. Slowman makes the semi-bluff by pushing them all-in and Helen licks her lips and flips over the winning hand.

HELEN IS THE CHAMP!!!

The FHP Cash Table ran on until the wee hours and I think it is safe to say that a great night was had by all.

My unreserved thanks to all of you who tuned-in (yes I know you don't tune a laptop, but you know what I mean), to Soxy for all the effort he put into promoting and setting-up the game, and to Uncover Poker for hosting a fantastic night and for coping with a flood of new users.

SAME TIME NEXT WEEK FOLKS... for the first heat in the new online league... structure and VERY interesting prizes to be confirmed soon... Soxy's brain is whirling away as I type to make the first place prize for the top of the leaderboard a cracker... think all expenses trip to a UK £1000 live tournament!

CHECK OUT the screenshots from the last few hands in the posts below...

jT

The Final Table

CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION

I had some work to do as one of the short stacks, and was happy to push them in with pocket 10s. Unluckily for me, Slowman was sitting on Cowboys! I was live to the river with a potential gutshot, but couldn't fill up so was out 8th!

Heads-Up

Three-handed, Cat Thrasher is delighted to find pocket Kings, and pushes them all-in pre-flop... Unfortunately, Helen was sitting on pocket rockets.

Now with the chip lead, Helen only has to get past Slowman to take down the tournament.

Final Hand

Well, it didn't take long. After hitting the flop and with a Queen high flush draw, Slowman pushes them all-in, slap bang into Helen's Nut Flush!!!

Game over, doughel is the winner of the inaugural FHP Online Tournament.

Planet Pool Poker Open 2008

SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER 2008 - 12pm

PLANET POOL POKER OPEN (PPPO)

A very exciting bracelet event for tournament poker players in Jersey.

£200 + £10 Buy-In

FREEZEOUT

1 HOUR BLIND LEVELS (Starting level 50/100)

STARTING STACKS - 20,000 CHIPS

STRICTLY LIMITED TO 40 PLAYERS

DAY ONE - PLAY DOWN TO THE FINAL TABLE (9 PLAYERS)
DAY TWO - FINALISTS PLAY FOR THE £8000 AND THE PPPO BRACELET

REGISTRATION: 12PM SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER
FINAL TABLE: 12PM SUNDAY 14 DECEMBER

BAR AND BAR FOOD AVAILABLE ON BOTH DAYS

RUN BY FHP IN ASSOCIATION WITH LEIGH RUDERHAM & SPONSORED BY PLANET POOL

EMAIL ME TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE...

jT

We have our final table...

The ten players gunning for the £1000 jackpot on Friday are as follows:

1. Jason Harrison

2. Ashton De Carteret

3. Alan Beadle

4. Craig Hartley

5. Craig Le Gallais

6. Ewan Le Marquand

7. Michael Le Guillou

8. Dave Elliot

9. Kevin Hodkinson

10. Nick Caunce

Congratulations gentlemen!

The rest of us will be collecting scalps in the BOUNTY HUNTER TOURNAMENT!

See you on Friday...

jT

Happy Sunday at The Pomme...

The £30 + £30 tournament was going well for me. I hit the final table with 30,000 chips and unusually, the whole table (albeit some begrudgingly) decided to chop the £3000+ pot between all 10 players, so it was £300 in the bag and we played on for the points and the remaining £120.

Of course we all played differently when the money was all but gone, and I called two all-ins with 5, 6 suited to hit two pair and take down the pot. I then pushed again with Ace, 8 and rivered a full house making me 2nd in chips. I was keen to improve on my previous 5th place finishes and this boat put me into at least 4th place, so I was happy.

Eventually, I find myself heads-up with the chip lead and we agree to chop the remaining £120 too. I then bluff off most of my chips and go all-in blind to a (not surprisingly) 2nd place finish... my best placing yet, although I accept that if we hadn't chopped the money with 10 players left, I probably wouldn't have made it so deep... I certainly wouldn't have pushed with 5, 6 suited!

Onto the cash game, I'm steaming (and felted) pretty early on when I'm re-raised after popping the pot with pocket Jacks. A third player calls (unbelievably bad call) for all his chips with Queen, 9 suited and flops his Queen. The Re-Raiser had Ace, 10 off but fails to find his Ace from Space! The winner loves being Suited and Booted my boy (apparently)!

I re-load and get my revenge on the very same player when he bets at me all the way to the river with his Ace, Queen only to run into my Ace, King (an Ace came on the flop and the board paired on the river). Shame.

I'm card dead for three hours, missing nut flush draws and open-ended straight draws but I'm happy with a HUGE laydown I make pre-flop. I very rarely lay down Ace, King pre-flop but the other player just seemed so strong and I felt he must have been holding pocket Kings or Aces. I popped the pot and he re-raises me for £120+. I hate throwing away £50 when I'm holding Big Slick, especially when a player throws another £100 into the pot. I ask him "Are those Aces or Kings?" and he says "Aces". I tell him I believe him and show my Ace, King as it hits the muck. He is gracious enough to show the table his pocket Aces.

I'm card dead for another hour and we hit the final three hands of the night. The first hand is my Big Blind and as per the rest of the night, it's a raggedy piece of crap and I fold.

Penultimate hand and I'm dealt pocket 10s. A few callers limp in and then Shaky pops the pot. I call and we're heads-up. The flop is a peach, 9, 10, 3 rainbow and I check my trips. Shaky bets the pot again and I Hollywood the call. He even comments on my Bond-esque acting skills! The turn is a 6, still a rainbow board, so nothing is beating my set. I check again and amazingly, Shaky pops the pot for £300+, which puts me all-in. I can't call quick enough and show my trips and he turns over Ace, Queen - drawing dead.

Beautiful...

Up £1000 on the day give or take a few quid.

Friday is HEAT 5 of the FHP Autumn Series and the week after that, it's the £1000 final table and more interestingly, The BOUNTY HUNTER TOURNAMENT... see below.

jT

BOUNTY HUNTER TOURNAMENT

Click on the banner below:

Are you good enough?

November 28 - 7PM SHARP!!!

Big Pomme Cash...

Luck isn't about hitting big hands... we all get big hands.

Real luck is hitting big hands when other players are hitting monsters too, only not as strong as yours.

I went out of the tournament on Sunday one before the final table. I thought that was unlucky.

The first hand I play in the cash game I get Ace, 6 suited and flop top pair (6) and four to the flush.

A guy bets, I call and another player calls. The turn is a blank for me. The original bettor puts all his chips in and I call, as does the other player. The bettor flopped two pair and the other player in the hand was chasing the flush, so clearly he was drawing dead. I hit my Ace on the river for a stronger two pair and trebble-up... nice one.

I then take Scallops chips when my King, 10 hits a 10 on the flop and the nut flush draw. I don't like the Ace, but I don't think Scallop has it so I call his all-in. He turns over pocket 9s and I river the straight.

I then have an insane run hitting full house after full house. I felted The Beast when I rivered a house beating his own weaker house. That's the real luck, he knew he was beat but it's one of those hands you can't lay down.

I'm then in a monster pot with another player. I raise it up with pocket Queens and get three callers. I flop a house when Q, 6, 6 comes out on the board. I check, another player checks and someone takes a stab for £40. The player to my right raises to £100 and I call. The original bettor folds as does the other original caller. The turn is a blank and the guy bets another £200. I call. On the river, it's a blank for both of the flush draws on the board and the player bets £200. I raise £400 and he calls with his trip 6s. MASSIVE POT.

And my luck goes on and on and on. In another big pot, a player flops a King with his Ace, King and pushes all his chips in. I call with pocket Kings!!! 

I cash in £1550 up on my £150 original buy-in.

Not bad...

jT

Another Uncover Poker final table... and IT'S NEARLY HERE!!!

I still haven't beaten a 3rd place finish at UP, but last night I managed to scoop just over $400 for 6th place in a $10,000 Re-Buy tournament. I was chip leader for the bulk of the latter stages when I got pocket Aces three times during one blind level and they paid twice and stole the blinds the other time! I then got really lucky with pocket Kings and was sat on about 25% of the chips in play as we hit the final table. 

I then saw the eventual winner win a MASSIVE pot with his own Cowboys to sit on over a million chips! 

I got unlucky as the final table battled it out, losing a couple of races where I was ahead. 

Below is my final hand and I can't complain, I was behind going in but when I hit my King the guy was dead to an Ace, and yep, the frickin' river!!! I will be buying one of our 'F***in River' FHP t-shirts and wearing it proudly!

So, I push my 65K into the middle and the chip leader isolates me by raising and flips over Ace, Queen. I hit my King on the Flop... I don't like the 10 on the turn as a Jack will give me two pair but will fill his Straight so I'm chanting 'No Ace, No Jack' and BAM... on the River. Out with $420.

I WILL WIN one of these things this month...

FRIDAY 28 NOVEMBER

Yesssss... it's the £1000 final table of the FHP Autumn Series, but what will the rest of us do whilst the ten finalists battle it out?

The FHP BOUNTY HUNTER that's what...

£0 Buy-in... You pay the player who busts you £25. You can then re-load for £5 during the first 90 minutes.

Starting stacks 2000 chips.

AWESOME!!!

HEAT 4 - RESULTS

Above: The final four players of Heat 4 (Dave Elliott, Michael Le Guillou, Kevin Hodkinson & Richard Hansford) came top in a record field of 50 players and chopped a record pot (£1530). 

The final positions were:

1st - Dave Elliott

2nd - Kevin Hodkinson

3rd - Michael Le Guillou

4th - Richard Hansford

The Autumn Series Leaderboard looks as follows:

Jason Harrison - 27 Points

Ashton De Carteret - 22 Points

Craig Hartley - 19 Points

Alan Beadle - 12 Points

Michael Le Guillou - 12 Points

Dave Elliott - 10 Points

Kevin Hodkinson - 9 Points

Jamie Sullivan - 8 Points

Alan Cadoret - 8 Points

Seb Perez - 8 Points

The top seven players above are guaranteed to make the £1000 final table at the end of the month and those with 8 Points and the rest of the players with less than 8 points on the board have it all to play for at HEAT 5 in a fortnight!

HEAT 5 - FRIDAY 21st NOVEMBER

£1000 FINAL TABLE & BOUNTY HUNTER TOURNAMENT - FRIDAY 28th NOVEMBER

jT

3rd Place in the UP $6000 Tourney...

I didn't beat my last online final table finishing position (3rd) but I did improve on my return... last time I finished 3rd, I scooped $400, this time it was closer to $700... nice one! That's two top three finishes in a month.

I'm actually starting to enjoy online play, especially tournaments and I seem to be getting deep each night and hitting the money (usually for small amounts unfortunately) but I am also finding myself chip leader or in the top ten at the mid-way point in tournaments, which is good for my confidence. I've definitely adapted my play for tournaments and seem to be able to maintain my discipline for long periods of time, which is hard for me with the attention span of a mollusk! I'm hoping it's only a matter of time before I win one and when I do, I'll go on to try the bigger buy-ins (at the moment I am sticking to $5 and $10 tourneys although even these can get expensive if it's a $35,000 Re-Buy structure).

GREAT NEWS FOR FHP MEMBERS & PLAYERS!!!

In the next few weeks, we will be launching online tournaments for FHP players at Uncover Poker. This is going to be awesome as you will be playing against people you see at the Tipsy Toad from week to week AND if it is a success, we will be adding money to the prize pools, regardless of the number of players, but as our membership is over 16o at the moment, I'm confident this is going to be awesome. We're also looking into replicating our Bounty Hunter structure online (No buy-in but you pay the player who eliminates you £25). That one may be a bit harder but we are looking into it!

I'm also keen to work out a way for live players at the Tipsy Toad to win buy-ins to online tournaments and vice versa... WATCH THIS SPACE!

Also, fishhookpoker.com should be live in the next few weeks too, which means you can logon to see your player profile, how many points you have in the leagues, chat to other FHP members in the discussion forum and find the latest FHP news, offers and all things poker-related. 

jT

The Vic... and 5th Place seems to be a trend!

I love business trips to London and that's for one reason and one reason only... The Vic.

The Vic is the mecca for poker in London, even with swanky new casinos popping-up all over the place like the Empire, the Vic is still considered home for players like Neil Channing, Vicky Coren and the Hendon Mob.

The Vic is usually pretty good to me in the cash games, in fact I had my first £1000 win at The Vic.

Last Tuesday, I couldn't check-in to my hotel quick enough so I could jump straight into a cab and head off to the Vic. I got there just after 7pm and found the poker room buzzing and long waiting lists on most of the tables.

As I had time to kill, I signed-up for a Quadruple Qualifier Touranament for the GUKPT events later this month. The Buy-In was £120 and the winner won four seats to the main Hold-Em events in the GUKPT hosted at the Vic, including the 3000 main event. Seemed like good value to me, so I registered and sat down with my 1500 chips. By the end of the re-buy period, I was sat on 4000 chips and feeling good about my play. I stole a few pots and won a big showdown with trip Queens.

In the first hand of the freezeout stage, I flop top pair with a pretty good kicker and get flat called all the way to the river, even after making it pretty expensive to come with me. The guy had flopped middle pair and rivered two pair... I was gutted. I was left with about 700 chips and pushed with Ace, 7 suited. The same player called me, this time with pocket Jacks and I couldn't find an Ace or flush, so was eliminated. The guy went on to win the whole thing, which is amazing considering his play.

The good news is, I got to play some cash from about 9pm onwards. One of the great things about the Vic, is that it is situated in an Arabic Quarter of London and the Arabs are ultra aggressive and seem to take a re-raise as a personal insult and will often push all their chips in with nothing, seemingly to prove a point. They seem to prefer to lose all their chips than fold. Happy days!

I sit down at a £1/£3 table (£200 min) with the minimum £200 and am very pleased to look down at pocket Aces. I raise it up to £12 and get three callers. The flop is a peach - Ace, 9, 9. So I flop a full house and short of someone holding miracle quads, I'm looking good!

I check, and the player to my left checks, the next player bets £50 and I flat call, making it look like I am on a draw (two hearts on the board). The other two players fold and the turn is a blank. I check and the guy throws out £100. I flat call again, but make it look like I really don't want to call!

The river is another blank (If I was chasing hearts) and I quickly throw out the rest of my chips. He insta-calls with Ace, King and I show my rockets.

I run good for about an hour, hitting straights, flushes, two-pair and another full house, and run my £200 up to about £900.

I then go card dead for hours and lose a couple of hundred. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I cash-in about £500 up, which is good enough for me!

Outside the Vic, a snow storm is raging, which is kinda odd for October!

POMME TOURNAMENTS

I've finished 5th in the last two Pomme tournaments in a row... which is cool, but annoying at the same time (I wanna win one!)

Last week, the £30 + £30, 5th place finish earned me £160 and this week, the £50 + £50 generated £500, which ain't bad. It would have been £225 but we chopped when we got down to the last 5 players.

I started off okay, but went bust just before the re-buys ended when I got two callers pre-flop with my pocket Kings. I was looking good after the flop when no Aces came out but the turn put three diamonds out there and a player was sitting on the nuts with Ace, Jack of diamonds... Nice hand.

So £100 for a re-buy and the add-on and I'm sitting on the minimum chip stack for the freezeout period. I sit tight for an hour and players are being eliminated left, right and centre and before long we're down to two tables. I steal some dead money, as I have just enough chips to put the blinds off from calling with raggedy hands.

We're down to the final table and it's push or fold time. I get lucky a few times and steal some blinds and then get called in a key hand with Ace, 9. The player had 7, 8 suited and I turn an ace to double-up.

We're all playing mega tight and it's taking a fricking age to get rid of the short stacks. Catthrasher has a nice trebble-up to take the chip lead and sends two players home. We agree a prize for 6th and 7th place, so players are pushing with weak hands and before we knew it, we were down to 5 players.

The chip leader suggests a chop of £500 for four of us, with him taking £1000 and a play-off for the remaining £900 and the points. Happy days!

I take the money, and find Ace, 5 suited under the gun. I push my 40,000 in and get two callers, one with pocket 8s and one with Ace, 9 suited... Bye bye!

The 8s hold and take out me and the other player.

After 5 hours of poker, my cash game sucks and I push all my chips in after a flop gives me an open-ended straight and four to a flush. One player had a better flush draw and another had two-pair, which improves to a boat on the river.

I'm looking forward to the FHP game on Friday, new WPT tables, tournament software back in action and plenty of chips on the tables!!!

WATCH THIS SPACE...

We'll be hosting ONLINE TOURNAMENTS for FHP members at UNCOVER POKER later this month - more details coming soon...

And I've seen the mock-ups for the FHP clothing line and they look AMAZING!!! We're not talking simply a few poker t-shirts here, we're talking a top quality brand here, with Ts, shirts, hoodies, caps, longsleeves and much, much more... you will likey a lotty!!!

jT

Leaderboard Update...

Judge Dreadlock is unstoppable!!!

See below for the results following HEAT 3 of the AUTUMN SERIES.

MEMBERS > Book your seat for HEAT 4 now. 

FRIDAY 7 NOVEMBER

REGISTRATION: 6:30PM

CARDS IN THE AIR AT 7:30PM SHARP.

jT Gets Deep Online... and a new name!

I joined Soxy's Uncover Poker last night and it's been good to me so far.

I recommend it to anyone who plays online.

I made it to the final table in the $2500 re-buy tournament tonight, and ended up finishing 3rd... scooping nearly $400.

Click on the image above to see my final hand. I'm in the small blind with King, 10 and I'm second in chips... the chipleader is the big blind so I raise it up and he flat calls. I flop top pair and check, he makes a minimum raise so I push all-in for the chiplead... and he smooth calls with pocket Aces!!!

Sneaky bastard!

Ah well, he made it to the top three for a reason.

Nice one.

jT

Oh, and if you're wondering why I am AnteHerojT on UP, it's because some GIMPOID has already stolen AnteVirusjT.

FHP MEGA POKER TABLE SALE!!!

We have some amazing professional poker tables in-stock.

These are Deluxe Weber Tables with casino-quality felt (scotchguarded), they seat 10 players comfortably and include ten drink holders (big enough for pint glasses). They are perfect for home games if you have the room, or for pubs and clubs that want to offer action.

RRP is £399 and the freight is usually £100+

We're offering these for £275 DELIVERED to any address in Jersey!

We have blue, green and red felt.

And for the poker fan who hasn't quite got the room for such a sturdy table, we have some classic WPT tables with folding legs in blue or red felt. They seat 8 players comfortably and feature top quality felt for smooth dealing and for pulling in all those chips!

These usually RRP for anything up to £299 and shipping is usually £75+ to Jersey.

We are offering these for £199 DELIVERED to anywhere in Jersey!

Email justin@fishhookpoker.com for more info...

jT

AUTUMN SERIES - HEAT TWO RESULTS

Click on the leaderboard to see a larger version.

44 players contested the £1400 pot and congratulations to Craig Hartley, who won the heat.

Ashton has been playing a solid game too and has taken the runner-up slot in both heats so far - putting him  at the top of the leaderboard!

I thought Jason was going to dominate this one as he built up a chip lead in the later stages but was sucked-out by Lisa on the final table for a big chunk of his chips when Lisa spiked her gut shot straight.

I made it to the final table with an above average stack but started to bleed chips and needed to double-up or steal some dead money. I made a move into the chip leader, which is never a good idea at the best of times, and he happened to be holding Ace, King suited at the time! I finished in 7th place... no money but at least I have some points on the board.

It was a good heat and I had to turn seven players away as we were so busy - so members, GET YOUR NAMES DOWN EARLY!

Only members can reserve a seat from now on, the rest is first come first served and the buy-in for non-members in £20 + £4 rather than the member rate of £20 + £2.

jT

AUTUMN SERIES HEAT TWO - THIS FRIDAY!!!

Aces a Curse at the Pomme...

I was involved in the sickest hand ever yesterday in the cash game at the Pomme.

I was sat at a crazy table, lots of loose play and nobody particularly worried about pushing all their chips into the middle.

I'm dealt pocket Aces (both red) and decide to limp in as I am sure that someone is going to raise it-up. Sure enough, someone makes it £10 to go. Someone re-raises to £30 and two people call before me. I announce a raise and throw my £30 in. The pot is £156 and I push all my chips in. Players fold around the table but I get a caller. Now, I didn't realize someone was still in the hand so I flip my cards over, showing my Aces. I'm gutted as I do myself out of another potential caller. The player thinks about it and calls, flipping over 4, 6 suited, even though he SAW I WAS HOLDING ACES!!!

The other player was holding Ace, King. Anyway, the lunatic flops a 6 and rivers another one for trips and I lose a £700 pot.

Within 20 minutes, the same player is involved in another massive pot. He is raised on the flop, which doesn't look particularly dangerous and then is put all-in on the turn. He calls, and flips over his own pair of aces. His aggressive opponent shows an open-ended straight and sure enough, he hits his straight on the river, taking all the chips.

Wow, solid poker...

7th Place Finish in the Big Game...

It was the Big Game on Sunday at the Pomme... £260 buy-in and about £7500 in the pot. Starting stacks were 20,000 chips.

I drew a tough table with some solid tournament players but got some pretty good hands early.

I flopped trip 4s in the big blind and checked around to an aggressive, experienced player who bet out 4000. I made it 10,000 and he folded.

I then called a small pre-flop raise with pocket 2s and flopped a set. The Beast bet out and I raised it up. Fold.

I find King, Queen in the big blind and find myself heads-up with an aggressive, young player. The flop comes 3, 3, 3. I bet out and he flat calls. The turn is a 6. I bet again and he flat calls again. The river is another blank and I fire a third bet and the kid pushes all-in. I fold and he shows a bluff with something like 7, 8.

The same player who made the above bluff, loses most of his chips (and some of mine he bluffed off me) in a big hand and is left the short stack - and I find another pair of 2s in the hole in the next hand. It's folded around to me in the small blind and the kid in the big blind. I raise it up and he flat calls. I put him all-in blind before the flop is dealt and hit another set of 2s! He calls as he is pot committed and is drawing dead, so he is eliminated.

Another small stack gets unlucky when I raise it with Ace, Queen suited and he has Ace, King. I get my straight on the river eliminating another player.

The table is broken-up and we're down to the final 20 players or so. I spend 4 or 5 hours floating between 30,000 and 40,000 chips, never really hitting a big hand but managing to stay above the average chip stack.

The blinds and antes mean that every pot is worth winning and I pick-up some dead money with all-in moves.

After about 6-7 hours, I'm on the final table (10 players) and sitting on around 25,000 chips. I'm in all or nothing mode and push in with Ace, Queen and get no callers and then pocket 7s and get no callers.

2 players are eliminated over the next hour and we hit the dinner break. I'm not the short stack, but I'm only sitting on about 35,000 chips (about 15 big blinds) and I'm waiting for my spots to see if I can double-up or at least wait it out to make the money (only the top 6 get paid).

A pro gets eliminated when his pocket 9s are crushed by pocket Jacks and there's only 7 left... one more player out and at least I get my buy-in back after 8 hours of poker! I regret my 'wait it out' strategy, folding when players are all-in, only to hit my hands on the flop and see worse hands winning huge pots. The blinds and antes are eating away at me and I need a hand to move all-in with.

My King, Jack runs into pocket Queens and I can't find another Cowboy so go out on the bubble.

My head is banging after 8 straight hours of concentration but I sit down at the cash game with £140 anyway. Twenty minutes later, I'm sitting on £1300! 8 HOURS FOR NOTHING AND I MAKE A GRAND IN 20 MINUTES!!! that's poker!

I push all my chips in with Ace, King suited when the flop gives me four to the nut flush. It was pure gamble but it paid off when I get two callers, one who had flopped the straight and the other with a big pocket pair. My third heart comes with the next card and I pull-in £600.

A few minutes later, I look down at pocket Kings. The flop brings no scary Aces, no straights and no flushes. Two players go all-in and I raise it-up £100 and get called. The turn is another King but puts a flush draw out there. I push all my chips in and the other guy folds. My trip Kings win the lot and I am now sitting on £1300 chips.

Not a bad day after all, although I was really hoping to hit the top three in the tournament. Ah well.

jT

FHP BOUNTY HUNTER TOURNEY... COMING SOON!!!

HEAT ONE...

32 players turned-up, which is great for a Thursday night, and contested a £930 pot (even after the £200 was held aside for the final table in November).

The first ten players to put points on the leaderboard towards that £1000 table are:

Jason Harrison - 10 points

Ashton De Carteret - 9 points

Jamie Sullivan - 8 points

Stefan Craven - 7 points

Nick Boyd - 6 points

Glen Le Moignan - 5 points

Michael Le Guillou - 4 points

Alan Beadle - 3 points

Mike Mulhern - 2 points

Craig Hartley - 1 point

Well done, gentlemen!

I didn't get the cards at all in Heat One, and even during the re-buys when I could push with pairs or big Aces, I'd get called by worse hands and still lose. I was out two levels after the re-buy period when my suited Ace, King got called by King, Jack off and 7, 8, 9, 10 came out on the board to bust me.

We fired up a cash game, and the Market Shark had an incredible run of luck, winning the biggest pots of the night from waaaaaaaay behind. He called my Ace, King with Ace, 9 and spiked a 9 on the river. Then up against Cowboys O'Brien, who had flopped two pair, the Shark calls with the nut flush draw only to get runner, runner two pair (no flush!) It was insane...

Great night and can't wait until the next heat.

I made a bad call in terms of a decision I made at one of the tables (as tournament director) at the expense of the Klansman. The Klansman was all-in and a player flipped over his cards not realizing that someone else was still in the hand. The third player folded and I let the player's call stand... unfortunately for the Klansman, his opponent's pocket Kings won him the pot and eliminated the Klansman from the tournament.

I later learned that the player holding the pocket Kings had not verbally stated his decision to call when he showed his hand. Had I known that at the time, his hand would have been dead when he flipped it over. 

Soz, Klansman, we'll sort something out...

jT

HEAT ONE - TOMORROW NIGHT!!!

Tomorrow night is the first heat in the FHP Autumn Series... I can't wait!

Over 30 players have registered and I'm keen to see how the adapted structure works - optional £10 add-on at the end of the re-buy period.

We also agreed an Xmas special for a Saturday or Sunday in December.

The game will be a 'Bounty Tournament' - this means there is no buy-in, that's right, £0 to enter - you simply pay the player who eliminates you £25.

You can then re-buy for £5 (which goes into the pot) and of course, hope you don't have to pay another £25 for getting felted, although half the fun is collecting some bounties yourself.

This promises to be an insane tournament and I love it!

The ultimate winner will take down 60% of the re-buy pot in addition to collected bounties.

Insane Online Hands...

I'm not a huge fan of online poker, but sometimes when I get the itch, I have to play a few games if I can't get out to a live game.

Both of the hands below, happened in the same game. 

Nice flop in the big blind!!!

Above is a tasty straight flush if it isn't clear.

Please, please, please be chasing the flush!!!

Alas, he folded to my bet on the river. I was holding Ace, Queen and the board reads Ace, Ace, 2, 8, Queen (three hearts).

Despite dominating and picking up hands like the above, the gimp's pocket 3s crack my Kings when he sucks out a 3-high flush.

jT - still hating online poker!

FHP AUTUMN SERIES 2008

HEAT 1 - THURSDAY 25 SEPTEMBER

HEAT 2 - FRIDAY 10 OCTOBER

HEAT 3 - FRIDAY 24 OCTOBER

HEAT 4 - FRIDAY 7 NOVEMBER

HEAT 5 - FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER

£1000 FINAL TABLE - FRIDAY 28 NOVEMBER

Each heat is a £20 + £2 buy-in tournament with £10 re-buys in the first hour and an optional £10 add-on at the end of the re-buy period.

As the series is a league, cash AND points are up for grabs at each heat with the top ten players on the leaderboard at the end of the series, playing the £1000 final table. A £600+ pot will be played for at each heat.

Nice cash at the Pomme... and the Fish Hook Autumn Series is HERE!!!

After three hours of rags and disciplined folding, I found myself down from my starting stack of £158, to about £56. I was deciding whether or not to re-load for another £200 if I went bust or just go home, when I found pocket 9s. I push all-in and they hold against Ace, Queen suited.

The last Sunday of the month is no-limit at the Pomme, which can be fun... or expensive! Usually the cash games are pot-limit, which usually sees better poker but can be frustrating when you have great starting hands and can't shake the speculative players with pot-sized bets. To be honest, I like pot-limit cash games and prefer no-limit for the tournaments, but you can't beat the adrenaline rush of no-limit cash games.

A player experienced some serious bad luck after turning the nut straight and pushing all-in. He got two callers, one with a flush draw and one with trip 9s. The case 9 hit on the river for Quads and he was felted. He came back shortly after with some more cash only to find himself all-in against the same player with a paired  ace on the flop and a Queen kicker. His opponent had an ace too but only with 10 kicker. The turn was a blank but the river a 10, busting him again and he left understandably disgusted with the poker Gods for cursing him.

I grinded it out, back-up to my starting stack and find Ace, 10 suited. I flop a 10, which is top pair and the other player in the hand bets £30. I push all my chips in and he calls and flips over pocket Queens. I am dominated but hopeful for an Ace. Another 10 hits on the turn and another 10 on the river for Quads! The second player of the evening is felted and leaves cursing the game we love to hate at times.

I have about £350 in chips and limp in with Jack, 6 suited. The flop comes Jack, 6, 5 rainbow. The first to act bets £13 and the six players around the table call one by one except the guy two to my right who raises another £20 on top of the £13. The player to my right calls and I push all £350 into the middle. Everyone folds around to the re-raiser, who fishes for information and eventually calls. The next player calls all-in, although he only has about £100 left. There's over £800 in the pot and I'm pleased to see the first caller with a 6 and a 5 for a weaker two-pair and the small stack has an open ended straight draw. My two pair holds and I scoop in a massive pot and easily the biggest of the night on our table.

I win a couple more pots with some small pocket pairs and end up cashing-in for £930. Not bad!

FISH HOOK POKER AUTUMN SERIES 2008

The Autumn Series is booked at the Tipsy Toad Townhouse and Heat 1 is Thursday, 25th September - Cards will be in the air at 7:30pm.

Each heat is a £20 + £2 tournament with 20 minute blinds, starting stacks of 3000 chips and £10 re-buys in the first hour and an optional add-on at the end of the re-buy period.

The series is a league of poker, and cash and points are up for grabs at each heat. £200 will be held from each heat's prize pool and the top ten players on the leaderboard at the end of the series will play on the £1000 final table. So, at each heat, players will be playing for a £600 pot and a shot at a further £1000 in November.

See you at the tables...

jT

The 2008 Mourant Charity Poker Series Champion is...

Me!

That's all...

Just kidding. 

Congratulations to Stuart Rowsell for finishing as runner-up.

Stuart picked-up his silver medal, a digital camera and we did a deal on the Widescreen TV too (I took the cash).

Congratulations are also due to James Schwarz who finished third, picking-up an iPod Nano and the bronze medal.

Before the final table kicked-off, I presented Garret 'Cowboys' O'Brien with his Player of the Year trophy.

The game started off pretty tight, I think we only got through four or five hands at the starting blind level. We started with 10,000 chips and unlike the heats, it was a freeze-out, so no re-buys, which is why everyone  was playing so rock-ish. 

Lawrence took the early chip lead and I gave him a few thousand when I flopped four to a flush with Ace, Jack of clubs. The fifth club never came for me.

Soon after, I slow-played pocket Queens only to flop trips. With two hearts on the board, I made a pretty tasty bet and only had one caller - Stuart Rowsell. Another heart hit on the turn and he bet out half his chip stack. I hated that bet and threw my Queens away. The table seemed surprised at the laydown but Stuart showed his flush after my fold. I was now down to half my starting stack... not a great start!

Richard was the first casualty from the final table on a completely sick hand. James Schwarz raised it up, Richard pushed all-in and Chris The Fish called! James also called and Rich turns over pocket Kings. James AND The Fish both have pocket Aces!!! Unbelievable, and they end up splitting Richard's chips between them as he fails to find his third King.

Jason Derrien is out next, I can't remember my hand but it's a low pair and they hold, taking him out and putting me back to my starting stack of 10,000.

Martin Le Guillou is out next, courtesy of The Fish, whose two-pair cracks Martin's pocket Aces.

The Fish's luck doesn't last long though, when his two pair (one pair is on the board) is cracked by Garret's pocket Cowboys... Jesus, he certainly earned his nickname! At this stage, Garret is a massive chip leader.

Jonathan Queree is out next, the short stack for most of the night, when he plays Ace, Jack and is up against Ace, Queen or Ace, King.

Stewart Daynes is next and we now have two players with massive stacks against the rest of us. Garret and Stuart Rowsell. My stack has dwindled again and I need a double-up if I am going to get a stab at finishing in the top three.

I get Ace, 9 and push all-in and Lawrence is the only caller. He flips over pocket Jacks and I'm in another race! I flop an Ace and take Renzo out and find myself in the final four.

Shortly after, I double-up into Garret when my pocket 8s hold against his Ace, something.

The chips are fairly spread out amongst the remaining four players, although James is starting to bleed chips a little. James puts me to a hard decision when I flop top pair (Queens) with a King kicker. I bet and he comes over the top all-in. I think I'm behind and throw them away. Soon after, he makes a big bet but gets called and he shows a bluff so I beat myself up a little over my earlier fold. He is now down to a few blinds in chips.

I get dealt pocket Aces. Beautiful! I push all-in and Garret is the only caller. I am slightly ahead in chips but only by a little. Now there is history here, as in the last heat I was all-in with pocket rockets against Garret's pocket Kings, and he made a straight when 9, 10, Jack, Queen came out on the board. Garret went on to win that heat.

This time, he flips over Ace, King. A King comes out on the flop and for a moment I am sure another bloody King is going to come. But it doesn't and my Aces hold. I am now chip leader and in the top three. I also win the Bounty Prize for taking the Player of the Year out of the final.

I try and take James out twice, but he doubles-up both times. Eventually, Stuart takes him out and we are heads-up. We strike a deal on the prizes and agree that he will take both prizes and I will take both cash prizes, whatever the outcome.

I make a bluff that costs me most of my chips, only to catch a straight draw that never completes, so lose half my chips. I then get them back when my pocket 8s hold again! At this stage, with the blinds so high, it's pretty much push or fold from both of us. I am more aggressive and build a healthy chip lead.

I push in with Ace, 9 and Stuart calls with King, Queen. He hits a Queen on the flop and it looks like we are going to be even in chips again. The turn is a blank and I spike my Ace on the river, taking down the title, WOOHOO!!!

It's been an awesome series and it feels great to win it. 

I think it was a tough final table and any one of the players deserved to win it.

Final Results:

1ST - Justin 'AnteVirus' Thorne

2ND - Stuart Rowsell

3RD - James Schwarz

4TH - Garret 'Cowboys' O'Brien

5TH - Lawrence 'Renzo' Hansford

6TH - Stewart 'Dark Horse' Daynes

7TH - Jonathan Queree

8TH - Chris 'The Fish' Shield

9TH - Martin Le Guillou

10TH - Jason Derrien

11TH - Richard 'BT' Hansford

In the £20 re-buy tournament, we had our first female winner when Lisa Feighan took down the top spot. Well done Lisa!

The final table looked like this:

1ST - Lisa Feighan

2ND - Martin Le Guillou (proving his final table seat was no fluke!)

3RD - Lloyd Dean

4TH - Nick Caunce

5TH - Tony Hearne

6TH - Mike Ovens

7TH - Steven Howard

8TH - Chas Saunders

9TH - Keilah Lewis

10TH - Kirsten Morel

Record Breaking Pots & We Have Our Final Table For The Mourant Series

Even with Kermit and Renzo being pussies (shame on you both, may you never see pocket rockets again), we still had a record turn out for the home game at Casa Fish. 

Three newbies in the form of Cowboys O'Brien, Dark Horse Daynes and Jakey, joined myself, The Fish, Ian, Poker Princess, BT and Scrooge McDuck for some massive pots.

Previously in home games, the largest pot was £140, taken down by myself at Kermit's Birthday Bash, but last night saw £130 in the first game and £140 in the second game. Nice one.

The first game was pretty lively, and I lost a chunk of my chips in the first few hands when my pocket  Jacks are crushed by the Fish's Ace, Rag (Ace on the flop). I doubled-up soon after though, when I called a pre-flop raise from the Dark Horse, only to flop a tasty straight with a raggedy 5, 7 with a flop of 6, 9, 8. Dark Horse bets and I push all-in. He calls eventually and flips over pocket Aces. Another 9 hits, which means he could fill a house with another 9 or an Ace but my straight holds.

At the end of the re-buy period, three players are all-in, BT, Jake and Dark Horse (I think). BT and Jake just want to go bust so they can re-load with a full stack but Dark Horse has a nice hand with pocket Queens. BT's 7, 3 off-suit, turns a sick straight, giving him a HUGE chip stack and leaving the Dark Horse very jaded about pocket face cards!

I get to the final four, with Cowboys in the lead and myself, BT and Scrooge about even in chips. I get Ace, King suited (clubs) under the gun so push all-in. The only caller is Scrooge, with Queen, 8 suited (diamonds). I'm looking good, Scrooge is about a 2-1 dog to lose (my hand will win 64% of the time) but when the flop springs two more diamonds, I find myself the 3-1 dog (Scrooge's hand  will win 84% of the time in this situation) and he hits on the river taking me out and giving him the chip lead. I steam like a motherfecker, appalled at his pre-flop call with Queen, 8 but that's poker.

BT is taken out soon after and Cowboys and Scrooge chop the pot £65 each way.

I'm still steaming over my Ace, King being dogged so play tight aggressive in the second game and start sucking up chips. The Dark Horse flops a straight but I flop a better straight, so I double-up early.

I then keep hitting hands and soon I own about two thirds of the chips in play and call the short stacks all-in moves. I take the Fish out when he pushes all-in on a draw, I had paired a deuce and it held. Jake was way ahead on a board that gave me a possible straight on the flop and I risk all my chips and river a King. I take Jake out later on with second pair.

I trap Ian beautifully when I call his pre-flop raise with King, 10 suited. I flop a King and check... he pushes all-in and I insta-call. He turns over pocket Queens so my Kings take him out. I take Scrooge out soon after and I'm left heads-up with the Dark Horse.

While we are playing, BT and Scrooge go heads-up for the final seat at the Mourant Charity Series Final Table. Their match lasts three hands! BT flops top pair and Scrooge middle pair. BT's 10 holds so he is our 10th finalist for the 22 August!

When Dark Horse and I start I have a 10-1 chip lead. He doubles-up pretty quickly and moves in again a few minutes later with Queen, 4. I call with Ace, 9 and pair my Ace on the flop. He rivers a straight and we are pretty much even in chips.

I try and avoid pre-flop all-ins as I know I can trap him after the flop. I get King, 8 in the big blind and the flop is King, 8, 7. The turn is a blank and the river another 8, giving me my full house. I push all-in and he calls with a King. So I take down the biggest pot.

Welcome to the game boys, see you next week!

jT

MOURANT CHARITY SERIES - WE HAVE OUR FINAL TABLE... ALMOST!

Last night was the best poker yet at the Charity Series and we have an interesting turn of events based on the various outcomes.

Before I get into the detail of the results and how they impact on the final table, I just want to thank everybody who has taken part in the series, we managed to raise £2500 for Cancer Research Jersey, Jersey Headway and Jersey Hospice, which is fantastic!

I also want to remind everyone to fill out the membership forms for Fish Hook Poker, so we can continue to run tournaments in the future. We already have 25 members! Click HERE to download the application form and anybody who has taken part in the Charity Series can join for FREE.

We have some exciting events planned at the club, including a £20 buy-in Autumn Series of Poker, and a WSOP 2009 All Expenses Paid Package Series! Anyway, if you join the club, you'll find out all about it and how to logon to the new Website where all tournament results are stored against the members' profiles. Plus you have to see the swanky new membership cards to believe them!

Anyway, onto Heat 5 of the Mourant Charity Poker Series.

Least interesting for anyone other than myself (and maybe the other 10 finalists), is that I have made it to the final table on August 22... by the skin of my teeth, but I'll get to that later.

Congratulations to Garret O'Brien, who played some amazing poker to win Heat 5 and with his other two final table appearances (and 10 bubble points) he is officially The Mourant Charity Poker Series Player of the Year.

I'll be presenting Garret his trophy in August. This means that anyone who takes Garret out of the final, wins a terminator bounty prize. Of course, if Garret wins the finals, he takes down the main prize (Widescreen TV) AND keeps the bounty prize!

Garret grinded it out against Stewart Daynes who also played some patient and sophisticated poker. Stewart is also on the final table with his 10 points for second place. Barry Cameron was unlucky to finish 3rd, as he was the chip leader by some way for most of the heat. Scrooge (his Fish Hook nickname of course) was like a chip hoover early on in the heat and was building a great wall of China out of chips!

The final table of Heat 5 was interesting, as Martin Le Guillou did just enough to move ahead of his buddy, Jason Derrien, for winning Player of the Year. Jason had 5 bubble points and Martin picked-up 3 additional points for finishing 8th in Heat 5, putting him one point ahead with 6 bubble points! The only person who could knock him off the top spot... was Garret. And of course, Garret pulled it off, his 10 bubble points putting him in the top spot.

Another interesting outcome is that we actually have three players on the leaderboard, tied for the 10th seat at the final table, so we need BT Hansford, Tony Two-Cards and Scrooge McDuck to slug it out in an eliminator to see who makes it to the final table (before August 22)... so you've all been given one more chance, lads!

Now onto my second chance as it were. Heat 5 was important for me as I was in a race against Garret and Peter Quenault for the 11th seat at the final table, as we were all tied on 10 bubble points. Basically, the player who finished deepest, was going to win that seat. I either needed to finish deeper than the other two, or have them finish in the top three for me to win it. Of course I wanted to win the whole heat and was in good shape to do so, but I'd take the seat however I could win it.

Obviously, Garret won the heat so was no longer in the race for bubble points and unfortunately for Peter, he just didn't get the cards last night and went out pretty soon after the re-buys ended. So that's it, I beat one of the guys in the race and the other won the whole damn thing so I snaked the 11th seat! See you at the final table Gentlemen!

I was happy with my play last night and was in the top five chip leaders for most of the freeze-out period. The hand that took me out would have made me chip leader and started for me with Pocket Aces... I'll get to that hand!

My luck was shocking in the first hour, I burned through about four or five re-buys, I had Ace, Queen beat by Jack, Queen (Jack on the River), pocket 7s ran into pocket Queens, and when I rivered two-pair, someone had a better two-pair! I nearly cried into my scampi and chips!

But then I started hitting. Another pocket 7s turned into a flush (I was the only one holding a Heart), a King, rag held as top pair and I turned a beautiful flush with straight flush possibilities that won me a huge pot against the guy's paired Queen (top pair unluckily for the Market Shark - gotta love these club nicknames!)

When the re-buys ended, I was sat on over 20,000 chips (we started as always with 3000). My table broke-up and I joined Garret's table with about 20 players left in the field. Garret and I were about even and we grinded away at our table to become the chip leaders. We saw Peter get eliminated so there was a good chance we had both made it to the final table in August anyway on bubble points, but we both wanted to finish deep.

With about 12 or 13 players left, spitting distance from the final 10 of the heat, I was sat on 33,000 chips and Garret had about 30,000 chips. We'd been avoiding each other really, apart from one big hand when my paired King won me a few of his chips. I look down at pocket Aces.

With a few thousand in blinds already in the pot, I push them all-in and the only caller is Garret. Now I know he's playing Ace, King at the very least as he wouldn't be risking his chips with anything less as I am the only player who can take him out. He flips over pocket Kings!

The flop is Queen, 10, 9. The turn is a rag, and the River is a Jack, giving Garret an outside straight. He cracked my Aces! And I'm left with one blind. I push them in on the next face card and get taken out by bottom pair. Bollocks!

I said to Garret, "You better win the whole thing, as then I'm guaranteed a seat at the final!" and he didn't let me down. Fair play, that's poker and nobody it walking away from Pocket Kings. Garret is a gentleman and an excellent poker player so if I'm getting spiked, it couldn't happen against a nicer guy.

Aces in the hole proved to be no good all night - after my exit, they were cracked another couple of times by two pair and flushes. Down to the final 6, and Garret gets pocket Kings AGAIN, and they pay, AGAIN, earning him the nickname 'Cowboys' at Fish Hook Poker.

In fact, the only time pocket Aces held was when, yep, you guessed it, Garret 'Cowboys' O'Brien was holding them!

The Final Table - August 22 - Tipsy Toad Townhouse

Garret O'Brien

Martin Le Guillou
Jason Derrien
Stuart Rowsell
Jonathan Queree
Stewart Daynes
Lawrence Hansford (Renzo - Fish Hook Crew)
Chris Shield (The Fish - Fish Hook Crew)
James Shwarz
Richard Hansford, Tony Reed or Barry Cameron (To be contested and all three are Fish Hook Crew!)
Justin Thorne (AnteVirus - Fish Hook Crew)

That's a pretty sick final table, folks, we have some maniacs, some tight aggressive players and one or two fish!

I love it. I love poker, and last night everyone got to play in a competitive heat with some sick calls, bad beats and great moves... that's why we love it, folks.

jT

The 'Thursday Curse!'

I finally broke the 'Thursday Curse' last night.

In all the cash games I have played at the Pomme, I have NEVER won on a Thursday night! And I mean never.

Sundays, I've hit a grand three times, but I've been 'felted' every time on a Thursday. And it's exactly the same faces, the same format and as far as I know, I'm playing my same game.

Anyway, last night I finished 'up'. It would have been substantially 'up' too, but I lost a big pot when I flopped a low flush with straight flush possibilities. I was holding 5, 3 of Diamonds and limped-in. Three diamonds hit the flop including a 6 and a 4.

A guy smooth called my bets all the way to the river and when no more diamonds hit on the turn and river I figured I was good, even though I had missed my straight flush - he had the nut flush and one of the cards I needed for my straight flush (the 7, I think). Ah well.

So how much did I finish up? £3.

Yep, I was in for £300, and went down to about £100 at one point, but cashed-in for the princely sum of £303.

It's not the amount that matters though, it's that I've finally crushed this curse.

A guy hit a Royal Flush too, which was sweet to see, especially as I wasn't in the pot! That's two in two months now!

jT

In the cash, and last chance saloon!

Had a miserable time at Heat 4 of the Mourant Charity Series - was chip leader at my table before the re-buys finished, shed my chips when a guy called my pocket pair with Queen, 10 (for his tournament life no less) and hit his 10 on the river. Short-stacked, I was looking good to trebble-up with trip Kings - I was all-in after the turn and got two callers. One guy had two-pair so he couldn't catch me but the other guy risked all his chips to hit a flush... and hit, taking me and the two-pair caller out of the tournament.

Next week is the final heat and I need to finish in the top ten to secure a place at the final table in August. If I win this heat, I win player of the year but I'd be happy just placing high to get a shot at the championship.

Tournaments aren't all doom and gloom though, I finished 2nd last week in the Fish Hook Poker £20 buy-in tournament and took home £200. Should have won it but was running out of time and patience.

Also hit my biggest cash game net win on Sunday at the Pomme when I cashed £1100 - I was in for £140.

The cards were insane - in three hours we counted 16 Full Houses, 2 Straight Flushes and Quad Kings. And it seemed to be one guy who kept hitting. He was at least £800 up at one point but left with nothing at 12:30.

I hit a couple of full houses, a nut straight and had better cards in two massive pots. In the last hand of the night I get AK and flop a King. There's already £260 in the main pot and then a guy with Pocket Jacks chases me to the river for another £400. Nice!

Fish Hook Poker is now a formalised Club, with articles, membership cards and an incredible website for members... Watch This Space!

jT

Mourant Charity Poker Series - Final Two Heats!

Things are hotting up as participants jostle to hit the final table on August 22.

Apart from competing to win the inaugural championship trophy AND the Player of the Year award, the prizes have now been confirmed for the top three finishers:

1. 37" LCD Widescreen TV
2. Digital Camera
3. iPod Nano

As things stand, with two heats still to go, the following players are pretty much guaranteed to make the final table:

• Martin Le Guillou - 20 Points
  
• Jason Derrien - 20 Points
  
• Jonathan Queree - 15 Points
  
• Renzo Hansford (Fishhook Player!) - 10 Points
  
• The Fish (Fishhook Player!) - 10 Points
  

In pole position for Player of the Year is Martin Le Guillou, with 4 bubble points in addition to his 20 points on the leaderboard. He either needs to hit another final table to extend his lead (or of course place in the top three to be clear leader) or he needs anyone with 5 or more bubble points NOT to win a heat, as he will be pipped on bubble points.

Almost tasting the final table but still with things to do with 5 points each are:

• Tony Reed (Fishhook Player!)
  
• James Shwarz
  

The final two heats (the next one is June 27) will see four more players win their way onto the final table, we then have a bubble point seat for the player with the most final table appearances.

At the moment, John Pendergast, Garret O'Brien and yours truly, are tied with 10 bubble points for two final table appearances each, out of the three heats already played. 

I'd prefer to win my way to the final table, but a backdoor ticket for consistency will do me!

I've been happy with my play so far, although I should have won heat 3 easily as I was chip leader for almost three hours. When the tables started breaking-up and the re-buy period had ended, I was sat on over 60,000 chips (starting stacks were only 3000!)

I was still chip leader with only half the field left and then shed most of my stack chasing a nut flush that never hit. I also need to remember that at these games, you ALWAYS get called... absolutely no point attempting a bluff if you are anything other than heads-up and even then, 9 times out of ten, the guy will call with bottom pair no matter how big you make it to call.

One consolation is that I hit my first ever Royal Flush (live or online) and trebbled-up to give myself a second chance at winning the heat. In the very next hand I was dealt pocket 10s and pushed all-in, hoping to win back a very healthy chip stack. Of course a player called with Ace, King and hit a King on the flop kicking my ass out of the heat.

So, I have two heats left to either place in the top three - a win puts me in the lead for Player of the Year with 10 bubble points, or I skulk into the final via the 11th seat by hitting another final table (assuming Garret and John do not of course!)

The play has been pretty good, and there are some familiar faces on the final tables, although only three players on the leaderboard have hit a final table twice. Of course there is plenty of bad play, especially during the re-buy period, but then that's how some players manage to start the freezeout period with tens of thousands of chips!

I'm very happy that three of the fishhook crew are heading for the final table and I hope a few more will make it in the final two heats.

The biggest threat to my final table appearance, is Garret & John, I don't need them to finish ahead of me in the top ten at either heat. Of course anyone with 5 or more bubble points already is also a threat as they could get a high finish (6th or better) and I crash out of the next two heats, putting them ahead of me.

There's a home game tomorrow night at the Fish's place and a cool one on Sunday at Renzo & BTs...

jT