Royal Flush Crowns a Tough Session at The Vic...

I thought I was finally going to crack my winning streak at the Vic after three hours of being cold decked.

I was £550 down after Aces-up was cracked three times, once by a set of 8s, once by a flush and once by a gutshot straight on the river. Trip Aces were cracked by a full house (I was holding Ace, King) and then pocket Kings ran into pocket Aces for a £600 pot. 

I was about ready to go home when Lord Whipp turned up. It would be rude to skulk off so I grinded it out and then proceeded to hit a run from heaven. I hit straights, flushes and picked-up pocket face cards one after the other. My hands were so strong when challenged, I managed to get through monstrous bluffs, including a beauty with 7, 2 (the name of Gary's club no less). 

Then it happened (for the second time in my entire poker life). I was dealt 10, Jack of diamonds. Someone popped a raise of three times the big blind and three other players came into the hand. The flop threw out the King and Queen of diamonds. The bettor made a pot-sized bet and only I remained. The turn was a blank but I threw in a defensive bet and the other player flat called. The Ace of diamonds hit on the river and my opponent threw £20 into the pot. I hesitated for a bit and then re-raised another £50 (the pot was over £200 now). The other player went into the tank before calling and I asked the dealer if there was a jackpot for a Royal Flush before flipping them over.

Gary and I annoyed the hell out of the table for a few hours, squeezing most players out of every pot we played. We would showdown with strong hands and show bluffs against each other. Gary bluffed me out of a big pot in our last hand of the night, I hit a Jack on the flop holding Ace, Jack and Gary bet on the turn when a King hit. I called chasing the nut flush but the river was a blank for me and Gary threw in £100. I folded and he showed 4 high! We laughed and the other players looked on bemused.

Ended the night with £650 in the bag and two hours sleep before my conference kicked-off!

I love the Vic.

Oh, and Bepe (Michael Greco) made the final table of the £120 Re-buy tournament that was running.

FHP WINTER SERIES - HEAT ONE

Considering it is January, when everyone is skint, and the fact that HEAT ONE seemed to fall a week before everyone gets paid... it was fantastic to have a field of 38 playing down for the £1620 pot.

The fact that Re-buys are now £20 instead of £10, certainly didn't slow players down during the Re-buy period and with the Addons, over 50 Re-buys pumped money into the pot.

I had to re-load four times after gambling in three or four-way pots for value, including a piss take call with 7, 2 suited (the worst hand in poker no less) only to run into pocket Aces! I actually hit on the flop, and came close to cracking the bullets.

I trebbled-up just before the end of the Re-buy period when my Queen, 10 became a full house.

Soxy and John Pendergast on my table were the chip leaders by some way before we merged for the final table.

The first ten players to put points on the leaderboard towards the £1000 final table were:

Anthony Greig - 10 Points

Soxy - 9 Points

Peter Baines - 8 Points

Helen Prentice - 7 Points

Craig Festou - 6 Points

John Pendergast - 5 Points

AnteVirusjT - 4 Points

Will Picot - 3 Points

Danny Paxton - 2 Points

Kevin Hodkinson - 1 Points

The top three finishers also picked-up FHP Points towards the Player of the Year award (members see the Website for details).

See you all on Friday 6th Feb for HEAT TWO!

jT

FHP ONLINE - HEAT 5

A couple of new players made an impact in last night's heat. PokerZonts built up a mountain of chips by the time he hit the final table. Budgie33 also built up a healthy stack in his first FHP tournament, Quad 4s helping him on his way!

In the very first hand of the night, my pocket 10s are up against the Beast's pocket Kings and PokerZonts Q,9 suited. I flop a set but Beastnog turns his own set of cowboys, sitting him on close to 10K within 60 seconds of the tournament starting.

I like PokerZonts, not only did he give Rocky abuse all night, he also bust him from the tournament... that practically makes us brothers!

The top five finishers were:

1st - SmalleyBoyYepYep
2Nd - Budgie33
3RD - The1Cardinal
4TH - Beastnog
5TH - PokerZonts

The Cardinal's and The Beast's consistency (both have hit the top five spots THREE times out of five games!) means they are hot on the heels of Cat Thrash but with 7 Heats to go, it is still wide open for anyone to take the top spot.

The current leaderboard looks as follows:

CatThrash - 12 Points
Beastnog - 7 Points
The1Cardinal - 7 Points
KLF147 - 6 Points
Rowlesie - 5 Points
P2PBSH - 5 Points
SmalleyBoyYepYep - 5 Points
DizzzyRascal - 4 Points
Conor Tate - 4 Points
TeddMouve - 4 Points
Budgie33 - 4 Points

Well done Roger!

It seems the Pomme lads' tournament skills are equally effective online, with at least 7 out of the top 11 coming from the Jersey Poker Club hunting grounds.

I go out early when I lock horns with another short stack who out-races my Ace, 10 suited with King, Jack off... hitting trip Fishhooks (Jacks) just to show me how to do it. Nothing hurts more than getting railed by a set of your own brand!

Don't forget it is HEAT ONE of the FHP WINTER SERIES tomorrow night (Friday) and cards fly at 7pm Sharp!

WSOP 2009 SATELLITES

Every fortnight (numbers allowing), FHP will be running £100 satellites to win a package to the World Series of Poker 2009 Main Event!

Winners of each satellite will win a seat to the final table, the winner of which, will win their Main Event entry fee ($10,000) PLUS flights and accommodation in Vegas!

Each satellite will be a LIVE SNG structure with escalating blinds (20 mins) and starting stacks of 10,000 chips.

A minimum of 10 players is needed for each satellite.

Dates TBC soon...

FHP ONLINE - HEAT 4

Another new player takes the top spot and Cat Thrash extends his lead further...

The final five putting points on the leaderboard were as follows:

1st - P2PBSH

2ND - KLF147

3RD - The1Cardinal

4TH - CatThrash

5TH - JerseyRock (say it ain't so, not this donk!)

After 4 heats, the leaderboard looks as follows:

CatThrash - 12 Points

KLF147 - 6 Points

Beastnog - 5 Points

Rowlesie - 5 Points

P2PBSH - 5 Points

DizzzyRascal - 4 Points

Conor Tate - 4 Points

TeddMouve - 4 Points

The1Cardinal - 4 Points

With 8 Heats still to play, it is still anybody's game. Remember, 20% of the prizepool is kept back to pay out to the top three on the leaderboard at the end of the series and 80% is up for grabs at each heat along with the league points. The FHP Online tournaments are open to any poker players in Jersey, just download the Uncover Poker software using the button to the right on this blog, and let me know your nickname so I can make sure your profile is granted access to the FHP tournaments and cash game table.

HEAT 5 is this coming Wednesday.

Also, see below for the WINTER SERIES dates at the Townhouse...

FHP WINTER SERIES - HEAT ONE COMING UP!

HEAT ONE - FRIDAY 23 JANUARY

TIPSY TOAD TOWNHOUSE

REGISTRATION: 6:30pm

CARDS IN THE AIR: 7:00pm SHARP!

£20 + £2 Buy-in with £20 Re-buys in the first hour and £20 optional Add-on at first break.

2000 starting chips.

First two blind levels 30 mins each, then 20 mins thereafter.

£200 will be held back for the £1000 final table in March, the rest of the pot is paid out to the winners on the night. The top ten finishers pick-up league points.

At the end of the series (5 Heats) the top ten players on the leaderboard play for the £1000. We will multiply their league points x 1000 to calculate their starting stacks.

FHP ONLINE - HEAT 3

Three new players signed-up for the tournament on Wednesday and managed to take 1st, 2nd and 3rd place!

Congratulations to the top five who managed to get points on the leaderboard. The final five finished as follows:

1st - Rowlesie

2nd - Teddmouve

3rd - Grouville

4th - KLF147

5th - The1Cardinal

With 9 heats to go, the top five on the leaderboard are as follows:

Cat Thrash - 10 points

Beastnog - 5 Points

Rowlesie - 5 Points

DizzzyRascal - 4 Points

Conor Tate - 4 Points

Teddmouve - 4 Points

PLENTY of time to win some heats and get to the top of the board.

At each heat, we pay out 80% of the prizepool to the winners on the night (top three if the field is less than 25 and top 5 if the field is over 25). The 20% held back at each heat will be paid out to the top three finishers of the overall leaderboard at the end of the series.

We were going to send the top finisher to a £1000 buy-in live tournament, but decided to simply pay out the cash (£1500 or so depending on the rake collected) so the winner can still play a big tournament or alternatively, go on holiday or hit the shops... it's down to the winner.

2nd and 3rd place finishers will get a token to play in an ECOOP event.

See you all online for HEAT 4 (Wednesday 8pm).