XMAS £3000 GUARANTEED DEEPSTACK!

Whoop whoop!

The Xmas £150 DEEPSTACK FREEZEOUT is next Sunday (13th) at 3pm.

18 players have already won their seats and with the money added from Uncover Poker, we already have over £3000 in the prizepool... awesome.

Poker has been a mixed bag for me this month. I have just moved house and so money is tighter that usual so I am trying to be disciplined with my bankroll management.

Lord Whipp and I were in Bulgaria earlier in the month and we found a sick game in a casino in Sofia - dealer's choice, either NLH 10/20 or Pot Limit Omaha 5/10. Luckily I won the night before in London at the Vic because I lost about 2 large. Whippet smashed the table up hitting straight flushes and quads... the local mafia were NOT happy!

The night before the Pomme's big one (£300 Freezeout) I got hammered on wine and JD whilst playing in the £50 Deepstack at Planet Pool and somehow I managed to win it.

The next day I was very, very rough but managed to hold on until 11th place before my AK got buggered by the Beast's JJ, which turned into a lovely full house for him.

Oh well, won my seat into the £3000 on Sunday. I held a healthy chip lead for most of the night, especially when Dougie picked a spot to bluff off all his chips when I was sat on Quads... oops!

See you at the tables...

DEEPSTACK

£20 RE-BUY TOURNAMENT tomorrow night (Friday) at 7pm as per normal. It will be a straight pay out to the top 5 players (no league, no seats for deepstack, just pure CASH!)

Satellites for the next Deepstack event will start NEXT Friday. See side panel >>>>

Sunday saw 35 players competing for nearly £6000 in prize money, which is awesome!

Congratulations to Dougie Prentice for taking down first place. Dougie dominated my table from the start and took me out before the dinner break! I remember buying a bottle of wine and then playing a sick form of Chinese Pkr with Lord Whipp for hours where up to 4 cards were wild! I don't remember if I won or lost at Chinese and I don't remember how I got home! Awesome...

Dougie's new favourite hand has to be pocket 7s! He eliminated me and took a slug out of Dean's chipstack when his 77 hit a set on the flop making it hard for me to improve with AK suited and forcing Deano to fold his QQ (great laydown and what looked like a harmless flop).

Later on Dougie eliminates another player when his 77 hits QUADS!

Nice to see Dougie last longer that his better half for a change... he he he, only kidding, Doug.

Anyway, see you at the tables on Friday...

THE DEEPSTACK ON SUNDAY

OPEN TO EVERYONE

£150 BUY-IN

DEEPSTACK FREEZEOUT

20,000 STARTING CHIPS - 20 MINUTE BLINDS

REGISTRATION FROM 3:30PM

CARDS IN THE AIR @ 4PM SHARP

DINNER BREAK @ 6PM - £10 FOR 3 COURSE MEAL AND FREE WINE COURTESY OF LORD WHIPP

Oh alright... here it is!

DANNY 'MAN JUICE' POKER LOBSTER PAXTON!

LEGEND!

THE DEEPSTACK IS HERE!

Yep,

£150 BUY-IN (or win your seat this Friday)

£3000 Guaranteed Prizepool.

20,000 starting chips

20 minute blinds

No bingo

Plenty of play...

SUNDAY @ 4PM

Registration from 3:30PM

14 players have already won their seat at one of the Friday Satellites (see side panel >>>>)

This Friday is your last chance to win a seat for as little as £20 (um... well, it is possible!)

Everybody is welcome to simply buy-in on the day - let's make this a big one.

Full menu and the Club 72 Massage Girls on-site to ease the tension (especially if you have Lord Whipp on your table!)

Whoop Whoop!

Oh, and be sure to check out the Poker Lobster on my FACEBOOK page.

WHOOP WHOOP VEGAS & THE FIRST DEEPSTACK SATELLITE

WHOOP WHOOP!

Congratulations to Lord Whipp for winning the $5000 Vegas Package, and to Alan Mason for securing his buy-in to the same WSOP BRACELET EVENT!

The final table was awesome and we even had a Royal Flush to crown the event!

Gary played really well, and leveraged his loose table image to really take advantage of the other finalists. Usually a maniac, he trapped, he made amazing laydowns (some that would have hit quads!) and even laid down trip Kings in the Royal Flush hand mentioned above.

Full respect! Let's hope he loosens up again for the Friday night re-buy tournies!

My final table was a nightmare, I was the shortstack before the dinner break when my trip Aces with a Queen was cracked by Gordon's Ace, 6 off - he hit a house when I hit my Trips! I lost 100K in that hand, and from there was just looking for spots to get all my chips in. I chopped with Gordon when my Ace, Jack and his Ace, 7 hit a two-pair board and was then dominated when Ricky's Ace, Queen crushed my King, Queen.

Nigel was unlucky against Alan and Gary when they got down to three handed, as it looked like Alan's tournament was over a few times but he just seemed impossible to eliminate.

All the major hands are on the twitter page as they happened.

MONTHLY DEEPSTACK SATELLITE

The first £20 Re-buy Satellite to the monthly deepstack was awesome last night, with a 1st place prize of £500 + Seat to the deepstack, 2nd place of £280 + Seat, 3rd place of £140 + Seat and 4th and 5th both winning seats.

Don't forget, we will run these every Friday, and if you have already won a seat, you can take the £150 in cash.

The main event is on Sunday 1 November @ 4pm and Uncover Poker is adding £500 to the Prizepool!

Assuming 20 people win seats at the satellites (of course a few may hit the top five a few times) there should be £3500+ in the prizepool. You are welcome to buy-in on the 1st for £150 if you can't make the satellites.

The FHP ONLINE TOURNIES are also great fun on Wednesday nights at 8pm, and congratulations to ROCK and ALANJSY for winning the first two over the last fortnight.

See you at the tables...

jT

THE FINAL 10 PLAYING FOR THE $5000

Ricky had a dream result tonight with his win, managing to bump Nick out of the leaderboard and overtake Danny, who is now the short stack!

It's a great result and Nick was waiting around patiently waiting to see if Ricky would get the required 5th place finish... Ricky smashed past 5th and ended up beating Dougie heads-up to pick-up 10 points.

I had a nightmare tourney going out 2nd from last, denying me a straight 20 final table appearances across the 20 heats. Oh well, I am still chip leader at the final table on Sunday, but I was hoping to get a 100% top ten finish across the series.

The chip stacks on Sunday look as follows:

JT - 120,000

Nigel - 99,000

Alan Mason - 92,000

Gordon Troy - 89,000

Garret - 87,000

Gary - 65,000

Ewan - 51,000

Soxy - 45,000

Ricky - 41,000

Danny - 38,000

Good luck everyone, and God help Vegas when we visit next year!

FHP ONLINE TOURNAMENTS ARE BACK!!!

WEDNESDAY @ 8PM

UNCOVER POKER

JERSEY PLAYERS ONLY

$20 Re-buy tournament

Download the UNCOVER software by clicking on the icon in the side panel >>>>>>>>

Twitter

Well it had to happen... you can now follow my poker exploits on TWITTER:

Sometimes I will 'twitter' as I am playing tournaments and will also put the latest news and schedules up there.

http://twitter.com/fishhookpoker

MONTHLY £150 DEEPSTACK WITH £500 ADDED

SUNDAY 1ST NOVEMBER @ 5PM

£150 DEEPSTACK FREEZEOUT with £500 ADDED TO THE PRIZEPOOL

20,000 chips

20 minute blinds starting at 25/50

Starting Friday 9 October, we will be running weekly £20 re-buy satellites to win cash and seats for the monthly DEEPSTACK FREEZEOUT or you can simply buy in on the day for £150.

Prizepools at the satellites will vary depending on the number of players but a typical payout will look as follows:

1ST PLACE - £400 + SEAT FOR MONTHLY DEEPSTACK

2ND PLACE - £200 + SEAT FOR MONTHLY DEEPSTACK

3RD PLACE - £100 + SEAT FOR MONTHLY DEEPSTACK

4TH PLACE - SEAT FOR MONTHLY DEEPSTACK

5TH PLACE - SEAT FOR MONTHLY DEEPSTACK

The 5 seats for the MONTHLY DEEPSTACK will be funded first and then the remaining cash will be split between the top three finishers at each satellite.

The MAIN EVENT prizepool each month will be over £3500 so take part in the satellites and win your seats!!!

FULL SCHEDULE FOR MONTH:

FRIDAY 9 OCTOBER - £20 RE-BUY SATELLITE - 7PM

FRIDAY 16 OCTOBER - £20 RE-BUY SATELLITE - 7PM

FRIDAY 23 OCTOBER - £20 RE-BUY SATELLITE - 7PM

FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER - £20 RE-BUY SATELLITE - 7PM

SUNDAY 1 NOVEMBER - MAIN EVENT - £150 DEEPSTACK FREEZEOUT - 5PM

So after this Sunday, we will only play a tournament Sundays ONCE PER MONTH and that will be for the DEEPSTACK FREEZEOUTS.

We are looking to put on another night for tournaments and will update you all soon.

jT

2 HEATS TO GO!!!

The WSOP LEAGUE is getting very competitive, with quite a few players in with a shot at the last few places. Someone seems to get bumped off the top ten at each heat as players lurking just below the top ten slip ahead after picking up a few points.

Good win for Garret tonight, who is climbing the leaderboard again. I managed to pick-up another 7 points going out 4th when Garret's Ace, 10 hit a set to kill my pocket 7s.

Three straight flushes came out on the tables tonight and I witnessed a small pocket pair hit a set on the flop only for the bigger pocket pair to river a bigger set at least twice!

If tonight's final table had been online, you would swear it was a fix!

This is how the leaderboard currently stands along with the players just out of sight who could still feasibly enter the top ten with a win or consistent final table appearances at the final 2 heats:

Justin Thorne - 117,000

Nigel Holliday - 87,000

Alan Mason - 85,000

Gordon Troy - 81,000

Garret O'Brien - 78,000

Gary Whipp - 65,000

Soxy - 40,000

Ewan Le Marquand - 38,000

Nick Atkins - 29,000

Danny Paxton - 29,000

And catching-up:

Ricky Weir - 23,000

Phil Da Silva - 21,000

Mick Le Noury - 21,000

Charlie du Feu - 21,000

Craig Hartley - 15,000

Dougie - 15,000

Kev Hodkinson - 14,000

Nelio - 13,000

Kleber - 12,000

Good luck on Sunday at HEAT 19!!!

Booyah!!!

Big hand in tonight's WSOP LEAGUE...

I pick-up the gutshot straight flush draw on the flop and bet it. Nick calls and another club on the turn feels good for me. Nick bets and I shove all-in. Nick calls and I know he has a better flush. And sure enough he does, so I am dead to the 9 of clubs on the river for the straight flush and BOOM! Nail it...

Went on to win too, so not a bad night.

Intense few weeks of poker!

Last weekend was awesome in terms of poker.

Friday night was a WSOP league, and I won the heat picking up 10 points for the leaderboard.

Saturday was Planet Pool's Quarterly Big One, £160 Freezeout and I won my seat for £15 at one of the Satellites Ady runs in the build-up. It was an awesome day of poker, with 30,000 starting chips, low blind levels and about 40 runners so £5000 in the pot!

Unfortunately I went out somewhere in the middle, but great news for the Club72 crew with Soxy winning the tournament, Garret coming second and Nigel just creeping into the cash at 6th place... well done lads!

Sunday was also good as it was the SUMMER SERIES £1000 final table and congratulations to Helen for seeing me off in 4th place, Soxy off in 3rd and her hubby, Dougie in 2nd!

We have 4 heats left for the WSOP $5000 package table, one tomorrow at 5pm, one on Friday, one on the Sunday and then the following Friday and that is it! We will have our 10 players ready to get it on for the Vegas trip.

I extended my lead last night to 100,000 starting chips but the players at the top of the pack aren't that far behind me.

Phil Da Silva is holding onto the 10th seat with 21 points, but 4 heats is plenty of time for the players just outside the leaderboard to catch-up.

The following could slip ahead for one of the final seats:

Ricky - 19 Points

Nick Atkins - 19 Points

Charlie - 17 Points

Craig Hartley - 16 Points

Dougie - 15 Points

Kev Hodkinson - 15 Points

Nelio - 11 Points

Any one of the above could catch a win or hit final tables in the next 4 heats to crash into the leaderboard...

Remember, the next heat is TOMORROW (Sunday) at 5pm.

SUMMER SERIES FINAL TABLE AND CHIP COUNTS...

After tonight's heat, 10 points is no good!

The £1000 final table next Sunday at 5pm looks as follows:

Dougie Prentice - 28,000 Chips

Gary Whipp - 21,000 Chips

Nelio - 18,000 Chips

Ewan - 17,000 Chips

Soxy - 16,000 Chips

Charlie du Feu - 15,000 Chips

Justin Thorne - 14,000 Chips

Helen Prentice - 12,000 Chips

Kleber - 12,000 Chips

Nigel Holliday - 11,000 Chips

If anyone can't make it, please let me know asap.

jT

WSOP LEAGUE

Nine tournaments left for the WSOP LEAGUE, with HEAT 12 taking place tomorrow at 5pm.

Dunno if you're reading this Nigel, but I've just slipped into the lead by a smidge with my 3rd place finish last night.

I went out when I pushed with Queen, 10 and Gordon called with 5, 6 "Just for fun" and hit a full house.

People seem to do strange things in Re-buy tournaments. I shoved all-in with Pocket Kings after seeing a flop of 6, Jack, Queen (two hearts). Leigh thought I was at it and called the 5000 or so with 6, 7 and hit a 7 on the river. Ah well.

Actually, the Ruderhams looked like they were going to be slugging it out for the top spot as they both hit the final table (Simon and Leigh that is) with healthy chip stacks. Poker can be a cruel master though, and Simon had Ace, Queen followed by pocket Kings crushed to go out 8th and Leigh's luck also turned when he ran into back to back monsters, including Soxy's Aces when Sox shoved blind as a short stack!

At one stage when I was down to the final three, I picked-up Aces in the small blind and shoved them all-in. God knows what Gordon could possibly fold when he's calling me shortly after with 6, 7 but fold he did.

The toughest decision I had all night was when we were down to 4 players and I'm in the small blind with Ace, 10. The flop is Ace, King, 8 rainbow. I check and Garret shoves. This is what I wanted him to do but for some reason I can't call and I fold after tanking for a few minutes. He shows Ace, 3. He goes out a hand or two later with the same move, but Phil Evans finds the guts (not to mention the chip stack!) to call with a paired Ace and takes him out.

Not sure I can play on Sunday although I will be there to set up, but at least nobody can take my lead from me... at least until Nigel gets back!

jT

WSOP LEAGUE UPDATE

Well, Friday was interesting. We are nearly half-way there through the WSOP LEAGUE for the $5000 package and things are getting competitive.

Congratulations to Nelio for picking-up his first league win in what can only be described as a rampage of luck, and a strategy of calling with pretty much any two cards! Our table could hear the groans from Nelio's table as we slowly ground down towards the final ten. The 'Mediterranean Machete' eliminated one player after the other with rags, hitting two pair every time against pocket face cards or over cards. I dealt for the final 3 and feel for Danny who shoved 60,000 or so with pocket 10s, only for Nelio to insta-call with Jack, 3 suited and of course he turned the flush... wow, I hope he bought some lottery tickets yesterday!

I went out 6th with Ace, 10 on the button. I shoved and the small blind re-raised to isolate me with pocket 6s. I was happy to see a 10 on the flop... not so happy to see a 6 on the river, especially as it was his only out as the other 6 was folded pre-flop.

Anyway, despite Nelio's insult to 'poker nature', not much has changed at the top of the league although Danny Paxton has entered the top ten, knocking Soxy off the leaderboard!

Remember, at the end of the 20 HEATS, the top ten players in the league will fight it out in a FREEZEOUT for the $5000 VEGAS PACKAGE! We will multiply their points by 1000 to define everyone's starting stacks.

Nigel is still racing ahead and has built up a healthy lead just in time for going on holiday for a couple of weeks. I am hot on his heels and with three heats taking place whilst he is away, I may just catch him!

Just for info, only two players have managed to hit the final table in every single heat for the WSOP package. Nigel and yours truly.

Of course the difference is, Nigel tends to win them, I just turn up for support!

The leaderboards for the leagues are always in the side panel >>>>>

But it currently looks like this:

Nigel Holliday - 57,000

Justin Thorne - 41,000

Alan Mason - 34,000

Garret O'Brien - 33,000

Gary Whipp - 29,000

Gordon Troy - 29,000

Ewan Le Marquand - 18,000

Charlie du Feu - 17,000

Craig Hartley - 16,000

Danny Paxton - 16,000

Oh, and of course, Friday was also pretty good because we had the CLUB72 MASSAGE GIRLS in the house, dishing out massages at the poker tables for £1 per minute... I think I had three, and managed to spend more money on that than poker!

Also (FINALY!) turned around my losing streak in the cash game, turning £100 into £600 at closing time... and managed to squeeze in one more massage from Chloe he he he!

See you at the tables...

jT

Sometimes Poker Sucks...

Tonight was one of those nights.

I picked up some points so can't complain but when it mattered, i.e. when I was all-in, I just got dicked every time.

I turn the nut flush and check, Garret shoves with trips, I snap him off and the board pairs on the river.

I hit a KK9 board with KJ in the hole and Nigel is holding AK.

I shove with pocket Jacks on a 10, 9, 7 board and get called by 10, 8 and of course I hit my set on the river giving Ricky a straight.

Finally, I shove with two pair on the flop and Nigel rivers the nut flush.

Fuck you very much poker Gods...

I move to joint 3rd place for the WSOP final table with 14 Heats left... Nigel is way out front and should have done enough to secure his place and Garret isn't that far behind.

I need to pick up some points on Friday for the SUMMER SERIES as I missed HEAT TWO.

jT

LEAGUES

Hmmm...

So Nigel won ANOTHER one on Friday...

Will our interim champ, Kev Hodkinson come back out of the mists to defend his title? Kev is the undisputed FREEZEOUT KING, winning an incredible 4 in a row, back when the fields were 30+ and now Nigel has emerged from nowhere as King of the league format.

I've seen Nigel sit for hours waiting patiently for the right spot to pick-up chips and before you know it, he's back from the short stack and winning a tournament...

He's top of the league chasing the $5000 package to next year's World Series of Poker and has already picked-up enough points to guarantee a seat at the SUMMER SERIES £1000 final table.

With three heats left (out of 5) Nigel is joined by Lord Whipp, Dougie and Ewan as guaranteed finalists for the £1000.

See the league tables in the side panel >>>

If you haven't played in the WSOP LEAGUE yet, you are crazy...

The league is running over 20 tournaments (HEAT 4 is today at 5pm) and at each event, the top ten players pick-up league points - 10 points for 1st place down to 1 point for 10th - not to mention 90% or so of the cash prizepool at each event.

At the end of the 20 tournaments, the top ten players on the leaderboard will play a freezeout to win a $5000 package to next year's WSOP. So that's the $1500 entry into the WSOP Bracelet Event of the winner's choice, flights to Vegas and Hotel... maybe even a few strippers!

The starting stacks for the final ten will depend on their points... 1 point = 1000 chips.

Sundays are awesome for the regulars as the small field means you only have to turn up to win a point! Friday players need to start defending their points if they want a serious shot at that $5000 package.

Anyway, today we are piloting TWO TOURNAMENTS on a Sunday.

That means if you can't make the 5pm WSOP LEAGUE TOURNAMENT, you can rock up for the 8pm £20 Re-buy Tournament!

Next Sunday will be the regular WSOP LEAGUE at 5pm followed by a £50 FREEZEOUT at 8pm.

See you at the tables...

jT

2 TOURNAMENTS ON SUNDAYS

Yep,

If 5pm is too early for you, or you bust out of the Pomme madness before the final table, come and get your tournament fix at 8pm at CLUB 72.

We'll keep running the 5pm WSOP LEAGUE HEATS for the regulars and then at 8pm we'll start a freezeout or re-buy tournament with 20 minute blinds.

This week we will run a £20 re-buy tournament Sunday night from 8pm. Registration is from 5pm.

If you want to play cash, we'll run a table as soon as enough players are ready.

The schedule is in the side panel >>>>

jT

LEADERBOARDS

The current standings on the leaderboards for the SUMMER SERIES and the WSOP PACKAGE LEAGUE are now in the side-panel under the tournament schedule >>>>>>>

SUMMER SERIES - HEAT ONE

The first ten players to get points on the leaderboard for the FHP SUMMER SERIES are as follows:

Gary Whipp - 10 Points

Scallop - 9 Points

Dougie - 8 Points

Klebare - 7 Points

Mick Le Noury - 6 Points

AnteVirus - 5 Points

Soxy - 4 Points

CatThrasher - 3 Points

Phil Da Silva - 2 Points

Nigel Holliday - 1 Point

On Sunday, we have our first heat for the WSOP PACKAGE LEAGUE!

£40 Re-buys, with the top ten finishers picking up points towards the final table for the $5000 Vegas Package at next year's World Series of Poker!

Nice one...

AnteVirusjT

SPRING SERIES CHAMP & SUMMER SCHEDULE

NIGEL HOLLIDAY is the FHP SPRING SERIES CHAMPION!!!

Well done, Nigel.

Nigel bust onto the scene part-way through the Spring Series, recorded a few final table appearances and actually started out the £1000 final table as one of the short stacks with only 9000 chips.

Fair play, he's a player to watch out for and is clearly dangerous even without a lot of chips... take heed!

FHP SUMMER SERIES IS HERE!!!

Yep, no hanging around, this Friday is HEAT ONE of the FHP SUMMER SERIES from 7pm.

Every other Friday will be one of the FIVE heats in our regular £20 re-buy format with £1000 final table.

See the side panel for schedule >>>>

WORLD SERIES OF POKER BRACELET LEAGUE

Fancy playing for a WSOP bracelet in one of the side events at 2010's World Series of Poker?

Every other Friday and Every Sunday we will be running heats for one lucky Club 72 member to win a $5000 package, which includes tournament entry to the $1500 event of the winner's choice plus flights and hotels in Vegas!!!

The Friday tournaments will be £20 re-buy and the Sunday tournaments £40 re-buy. We will hold back £250 from each tournament and pay the rest out on the night. The top 4-5 players at each heat will take down the prizepool and the top ten finishers will earn league points.

After 20 tournaments, the top ten players in the league will fight it out for the $5000 package and like the FHP Series, will start with chip stacks depending upon their points.

See the side panel for full schedule >>>>

See you at the tables...

jT

FHP SPRING SERIES - FINALS

We'll be running two six seater tables for the final, and when three players are gone, we will combine to one table of 9.

The final chip counts are as follows:

Will Picot - 28,000 chips

Danny Evans - 18,000 chips

Jason Harrison - 17,000 chips

Soxy - 15,000 chips

Justin Thorne - 13,000 chips

Phil Da Silva - 13,000 chips

Craig Le B - 12,000 chips

Pikey Chris - 10,000 chips

Dean-O - 9000 chips

Paul Gay - 9000 chips

Nigel Holiday - 9000 chips

Charlie du Feu - 9000 chips

We'll draw our seats when everyone arrives.

For the rest of you, we'll run a £20 re-buy tournament as per normal.

See you at the tables...

jT

FHP SPRING SERIES - FINAL TABLE

The following players have secured their seats for Friday's £1000 final table:

Will Picot - 28,000 chips

Danny Evans - 18,000 chips

Jason Harrison - 17,000 chips

Soxy - 15,000 chips

Justin Thorne - 13,000 chips

Phil Da Silva - 13,000 chips

Craig Le Boutillier - 12,000 chips

Pikey Chris - 10,000 chips

And the following players are tied with 9 points and need to play an eliminator for the final two seats:

Paul Gay

Charlie Du Feu

Nigel Holiday

Dean-O

The eliminator will be a straightforward sit 'n go, 2000 chips, 15 minute blinds and will take place this Sunday at 8pm.

We are also running a £20 Re-Buy tournament on Sunday at 5pm and the winner will win a 'WILDCARD' to the £1000 final table... which will become a £1200 final table! If a player who is already on the final table wins Sunday's tournament, they will get an extra 10,000 starting chips.

See ya Sunday!

AnteVirusjT

FHP SPRING SERIES UPDATE

HEAT 4

I am delighted to announce that the winner of HEAT 4...

... was me!

27 players battled it out for the £1800 prizepool and a seat at the £1000 final table.

During the re-buy period, I picked-up pocket Jacks and shoved. I wasn't happy with three callers, although I was ahead. However, against Ace, Jack in one player's hands, King, Queen in another's, and a rag Ace, I had a few cards to avoid! A Jack on the turn made my night and put me 4 times the average chip stack.

I held onto my chip lead until the final table and after the chips went back and forth for a bit, I finally got heads-up against the Salmon with a 2-1 chip lead.

This is how the final table panned out:

1st - AnteVirus

2nd - Salmon

3rd - Luke

4th - Nigel Holiday

5th - Brad

6th - Soxy

7th - JP

8th - Tam

9th - Jay

10th - Joe

So, with one heat left (see side panel for date >>> ) the final table is shaping up as follows:

Will Picot - 28,000 chips

Danny Evans - 18,000 chips

Jason Harrison - 17,000 chips

AnteVirus - 13,000 chips

Craig Le B - 12,000 chips

Soxy - 10,000 chips

Dean - 9000 chips

Salmon - 9000 chips

So there are still two spots left for the winner and runner-up of the final heat, although someone with points on the board could also qualify and knock people with 9 points off the table.

jT

Black Belt Poker Bootcamp

I was hoping to have some photos from my weekend at the Loose Cannon Club, but poker players tend to keep themselves busy and there's been no sign of any... anywhere!

What was it?

Black Belt Poker is a new company and the brainchild of Pros Neil 'Bad Beat' Channing and Nik Persaud.

Essentially, BBP is going to be a skin on the iPoker network (same as Soxy's Uncover Poker) but they have created an ingenious sponsorship program, or 'grading' as they like to call it... hence the 'black belt' in the naming convention... you work through from white belt up to black belt and your level dictates what staking you get as a sponsored pro. The premise is a creative way to package up a rake deal, although blue belts and brown belts also get a monthly live tournament bankroll.

Above: Neil Channing

They also want BBP to become the facebook for poker players; an online community and social network for discussing poker theory and how to make a living from the game.

To help launch the company, they set-up the first BBP Boot Camp. £700 got you two days of poker workshop and entry into a live poker tournament to win a WSOP package worth £5000.

So what was it like? Awesome...

Neil managed to bring in Phil Laak as guest speaker but over the two days we had a number of pros talking through some high level concepts and I particularly enjoyed Neil's insights into being a live cash game player.

Phil would show one of his High Stakes Poker or Poker After Dark hands, against players such as Tom Dwan, Patrick Antonious and Doyle Brunson, and then talk through what he was thinking and why he did what he did, which was really interesting.

We would have a presentation or talk through a hand as a group, then sit down at a poker table with either Nik, Phil or Neil and actually play some hands, talking through how the hands were played and trying to work out what hands everyone had.

It was excellent and is the first workshop I have attended and I will definitely attend others in the future.

I would say about 25 people turned up but with all the pros and black belt poker people (everyone from the web designer to the software developer were there!) we had about 35 for the WSOP package tournament on the Saturday night. Usually, I would like a field that size for a £5000 first prize! Unfortunately, all the pros, including Phil Laak, Channing, Nik Persaud and Nick Wealthall also played, and made it clear they were playing to win... oh dear!

As an aside, since coming back from the boot camp, I've realised three or four of the other attendees are writers/editors for the major poker magazines, so if I was hoping for a weak field, I was sorely disappointed.

We started with 10,000 chips and 2o minute blinds and I became chip leader pretty early on when I picked-up Aces. I pretty much felted a guy who had flopped top pair.

I had an insane run, picking up hand after hand and even when people folded to me pre-flop, I would show at least Ace, Queen. I exploited my image and picked up some nice pots with bluffs quite a few times.

We started losing players and I was still leading in chips. I picked-up pocket 10s on the button and watched everyone fold round to me after the player under the gun raised it-up. I put him all-in and he snapped me off with pocket Queens. I was a bit gutted, as it dented my stack but I was still well ahead of the average chip stack, but no longer the chip leader.

Laak joined our table and I folded my big blind when he shoved all his chips in on the button. I had a weak Ace and thought about calling him considering the talk we had had earlier about playing position... I showed my Ace, and he kindly showed me his... I think he had my 2 beat!

That was the only hand I played against Laak at that table. He was moved on shortly after.

I hit the nut flush against the editor of Poker Player Magazine and dented his stack considerably, he had hit a King, holding Ace, King and I played my draw quite sneaky, betting before I hit and checking when I did. I was hoping for a re-raise when I bet on the river but he was too wise and reluctantly called.

We went down to two tables and people were starting to drop like flies as the blinds were so high. I was moved and had Channing to my immediate right, and Laak two spots to my left. I cursed my 'good' luck at that table draw!

Luckily for everyone, Neil and Phil were short stacked and it was fun watching them trying to bust each other. We had about half an hour of shoving pre-flop between the two and when they were called, they tended to get lucky... until a guy, who was a good guy and whom plays at the Dusk Til Dawn club regularly, bust them both and won both bounty prizes!

My chip stack had taken a battering and I needed to hit something or pick up some blinds if I was going to have a chance to win the thing. I made a move with 6, 7 suited and unfortunately for me, the big blind had picked-up pocket Queens. I hit trips on the flop and bust the unfortunate owner of the ladies. I was back in business and shortly after that filthy suck-out, I found myself on the final table against 8 other players.

Only three of the final 9 players (including myself) were not employees or linked to Black Belt Poker in some way. The strongest player by far, and to my immediate right, was pro Nick Wealthall.

He was also about 2nd in chips at the table and I was short stacked again, so was prepared to be raised pretty much regardless of what two cards he had in his hands.

I picked-up a few pots when I shoved pre-flop and was then doubled-up when the big blind (who was also chip leader by some way) called my Ace, Queen with Ace, 7.

We got down to 5 handed, and I was the last non black belt poker player left in the tournament. I picked some spots to pick up the blinds, which were considerable at that stage and then looked down to find pocket Jacks. I figured it was a good time to pick up some more blinds... and I was right, except that the big blind happened to have Queens...

So that was that, I was 5th in the big tournament and at about 3am on Sunday morning I found my way to my hotel and sulked for about 4 hours. To be fair, I was lucky to have made it to the final table anyway with my 6, 7 hitting trips but still, it's almost worse when you are 4 players away from winning a big one.

Snoopy went on to win, which is very cool, as he is a sound bloke and put the boot camp together. I also spent much of the camp hanging with his dad, who is a pretty good player himself and nice bloke... I actually bust Snoops Senior in the tournament with a dirty button raise that hit a straight... the shame!

Anyway, did I think it was good value? Absolutely. Would I go again? Definitely. Am I still steaming about the pocket fish hooks? What do you think?

jT

FHP SPRING SERIES UPDATE

After 3 heats, the leaderboard looks as follows:

Will Picot - 28,000 chips

Danny Evans - 18,000 chips

Jason Harrison - 15,000 chips

Craig Le B - 12,000 chips

Dean - 9000 chips

There are still two heats to go (THIS FRIDAY IS HEAT 4!) to earn 9 points to guarantee a seat at the £1000 final table.

See the side panel for tournament schedule >>>>>

jT

Action at the cash tables...

Well, since recovering from my visit to the hospital with some serious gastritis, I've been playing poker full time.

I am looking for a job, but there isn't much around for me in my chosen field... shame.

The action at the cash tables has been pretty sick and I have managed to make a decent profit over the last two weeks.

Danny Paxton has been on fire recently at the cash tables and on Friday he just couldn't miss, hitting straight flushes, quads and full houses like they are common occurrences. In one hand, Phil Da Silva tried trapping Danny with Pocket Kings, but Danny had flopped quad 10s!

On Tuesday, I popped in for an hour before heading off to the flicks to watch Wolverine and when I came back to the club at about 12:30am, Lord Whipp was sitting on quite literally thousands of chips! It's the most I have seen anyone cashing-in at the local £2/£4 game!

Anyway, last Friday was HEAT ONE of the FHP SPRING SERIES and so far, the leaderboard looks like this:

Jason Harrison - 10 points

Will Picot - 9 points

Craig Le Boutillier - 8 points

Tania - 7 points

Warren - 6 points

Phil Da Silva - 5 points

Alan Mason - 4 points

Ashton - 3 points

Brad - 2 points

Gaz Campbell - 1 point

For the tournament schedule, see the side panel >>>>>>>>>>>

I am looking forward to attending the BLACK BELT POKER BOOT CAMP in London in a few weeks time. Two days of intensive poker workshops with Irish Open Champion and Vic regular, Neil Channing, and Poker after Dark nut job, Phil Laak!

Neil is probably my favourite UK player and I loved Phil's show with Antonio Esfandiari, I BET YOU... plus I always enjoy watching the duos antics on televised poker, so should be a blast learning from these two for a few days.

The camp is limited to 50 attendees and the highlight is a tournament on Saturday night to win a $5000 package to the World Series of Poker, including flights to Vegas, accommodation and entry into the $1500 tournament of the winner's choice... for me that would be either the Pot Limited Omaha or NLH tournament... BRING IT ON!

Not to mention some cash games in the Vic on the Friday and Sunday night, I am looking forward to it!

At the end of the month I have my trip to Turks and Caicos, where I hope to cover the cost of the trip at the cash tables...

jT

Quick Summary!

Biggest cash ever last week (£1605)

Smashed the French up in Dinard (€1100)

Quit my job

Got engaged

Went to hospital on Tuesday morning after passing out with Gastritus (spelling?)

£20 Re-Buy tournament Friday night

£50 with £50 Add-on or Re-buy (only one per player) Sunday

PLEASE COMPLETE OUR PLAYERS' SURVEY

CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE SURVEY

Cya

jT

Leagues and stuff...

I've been running bad in the cash game at 72, but pretty good in the tournaments.

I usually win 2 out of 3 times playing cash on average, and pull-in a 30% return over the long term. Of course sometimes I can win 4 or 5 in a row, which is great, but I've been beaten up lately and have had 4 losing cash games on the bounce over the last few weeks. Last night looked as if I was going to hit 5 ducks in a row but I hit a set of 8s at just the right time and ended up cashing in over £1000 at the end of the night... phew!

I was also 3rd in the £20 Re-buy tournament, which is actually a bit disappointing as I was chip leader for the majority of the tournament. I never really picked-up a hand once the blinds were 1000/2000 and when I made a move, I usually walked into a hand that was worth calling with... and they usually won!

Ah well, I hope that is my luck changing for the better again and I can win a few more pots in the coming weeks.

I have some International action coming up - next week I am testing out the new poker room at the Dinard Casino in France and then at the end of May, I am off to Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean to play at the Player's Club, made famous for hosting the WPT Caribbean Classic last season... can't wait for that one!

I'm also looking forward to the FHP & CLUB 72 POKER CRUISE, which is looking like it will take place on 14 JUNE. £330 Buy-In to get a crack at the £10,000 prizepool. We'll set sail around 4pm and play it down then come back to eat dinner in the Club Restaurant to present the prizes. We will be running £20 Re-Buy Satellites every other Friday to win seats onto the cruise, so check back here for dates if £330 is a bit steep.

The team FHP ONLINE SERIES also starts next wednesday so let me know your team name and the nickname of the 3 players in the team... email me if you have any questions about how it works or check out the blog entry below.

Here's where we are with the FHP LEAGUE and the CLUB 72 SUNDAY LEAGUE:

FHP LEAGUE

Justin Thorne - 25 points

Craig Hartley - 14 points

Dave Elliott - 13 points

Glyn Ruthers - 13 points

Stuart Rowsell - 11 points

Kevin Hodkinson - 11 points

Soxy - 9 points

CLUB 72 SUNDAY LEAGUE

Kevin Hodkinson - 43 points

Soxy - 27 points

Karl Le Fevre - 20 points

Nick Atkins - 20 points

Danny Paxton - 20 points

Charles Butler - 19 points

Beast - 17 points

Andy McKnight - 17 points

Ewan Le Marquand - 16 points

Craig Hartley - 15 points

And I thought it would be interesting to post the CLUB 72 & FHP ALL-TIME MONEY LIST (AS AT END OF MARCH) based purely on TOURNAMENT cashes:

Kevin Hodkinson - £3750

Craig Hartley - £2277

Soxy - £2225

Justin Thorne - £1760

Ashton De Carteret - £1280

Ewan Le Marquand - £1275

Dave Elliott - £1225

(you have to break £1000 to make the list)

SUNDAY'S TOURNAMENT IS A £50 FREEZEOUT (WITH ONE OPTIONAL ADD-ON AT THE FIRST BREAK)

KICK OFF AT 5PM

FHP WINTER SERIES CHAMP...

Is me.

Top three finishers at the £1000 final table last night:

1st - AnteVirusjT

2nd - Glyn

3rd - Soxy

It was pretty close between the final three, and Glyn had made an incredible come-back as he was put all-in at one point with only 4000 chips and made an incredible call with a paired 3 on a board with a Jack, King and an Ace!

He then doubled-up and eventually took Soxy out and had me at a 5-1 chip disadvantage at one point but I got lucky a few times and then sat on over 100,000 in chips when pocket 7s held-up in a race.

Nice to win one.

SUNDAY'S FREEZEOUT IS £200 DOUBLE CHANCE...

Kick off is at 5pm - see you there

jT

FHP ONLINE TEAM LEAGUE

Next Wednesday, we will be launching the new FHP ONLINE TEAM LEAGUE at Uncover Pkr.

The league will take place over 12 heats and will culminate in a live multi-table tournament at Club 72.

This is how it works:

Each team will be made-up of three team members. At each heat, the team members will take part in a standard online $20 re-buy tournament (the same as the recent FHP ONLINE LEAGUE) against all the individuals in the other teams. The top ten finishers at each tournament will receive league points. After each heat, points will be recorded against each individual and more importantly, will be attributed to the team.

At the end of the 12 heats, your team score will be multiplied by 1000 and in the live tournament final, this number will be each team member's starting stack.

Example after 12 heats: T

eam Name: Pkr Brats

Player one - 12 points
Player two - 20 points
Player three - 8 points

Team score - 40 points

All three players in Team Pkr Brats, will start the grand final with 40,000 chips.

Whilst the aim over the online heats is to accumulate points to give your team an advantage at the live final, the final tournament is every man (or woman) for themselves! The winner of the live final will earn a package to a European live tournament (flights, hotel and £1000+ tournament entry). But here is the team twist - whilst only the winner will take part in the European tournament, the other two team mates will receive 25% each of anything the player wins should they cash. He/she keeps 50% of tournament winnings.

We will hold back 20% from each heat prizepool to fund the grand prize, the rest of the prizepool will be paid out on the night to the top three or four finishers, depending on how many entrants we have.

This is what you need to do:

Put your team together, give yourselves a name, make sure you are all committed to playing at each heat to earn some points, and then email me with your team details so I can put you in the database. If you want to take part, but don't know three people who currently play at UC, just email me to let me know, and I will put teams together made-up of the lone wolves... in fact, that will be your team name!

If you would like to take part but have not yet registered for UC, download the software and register (see right hand panel on this blog).

If you have any questions, you know where I am or call Soxy. This is going to be awesome!!!

THIS WEEK:

Note, there is NO ONLINE TOURNAMENT TONIGHT.

FRIDAY is going to be the FHP WINTER SERIES FINAL TABLE and cash game when enough players are ready... if you are not taking part in the final but want to play cash, get there at about 8pm..

SUNDAY - The Big Quarterly £200 Freezeout from 5pm!

See you at the tables...

jT

PS - News about the 2009 FHP & CLUB 72 PKR CRUISE CHAMPIONSHIP - COMING SOON!!!

FHP WINTER SERIES FINAL TABLE...

9 Places are confirmed and their starting stacks will be:

Gary Whipp - 30,000 chips

Soxy - 23,000 chips

Phil Evans - 21,000 chips

Justin Thorne - 20,000 chips

John Pendergast - 14,000 chips

Anthony Greig - 13,000 chips

Craig Le Gallais - 12,000 chips

Danny Evans - 10,000 chips

Danny Patrick - 10,000 chips

The final seat will be taken by one of the players with 9 points (9000 chips) and will be decided on Sunday at a 5 handed sit n go.

The following will play off for the final seat:

Ady Bougourd

Glyn Ruthers

Leo McCarthy

Helen Prentice

Craig Le Boutillier

The decider will take place as soon as a table is free on Sunday, and you are all ready. If you do not turn up on Sunday, you forfeit your chance to win the final seat.

You will start with 2000 chips, and 15 minute blinds (25/50 starting level)

At the £1000 final table next Friday, there will be no chops... 1st place wins £750 and 2nd place wins £250.

SUNDAY FREEZEOUT

Remember, Sunday's £100 Freezeout starts at 6PM and not the usual 5PM as it is Mother's Day.

See you Sunday!

jT

THE FHP ONLINE CHAMP IS...

CatThrash.

No surprises there then!

Congratulations CatThrash!

The top ten finishers over 12 heats (including those tied for points) were:

1. CatThrash

2. Soxy

3. SmallyBoyYepYep

4. AnteHerojT

5. The1Cardinal

6. Rowlesie

6. Grouville

7. dbspurs

8. Beastnog

8. BearsBest1

9. KLF147

9. Teddmouve

9. BEATABLOCK

10. P2PBSH

10. Slowman180

10. AlanJsy

Well done everyone!

Let's hope CatThrash, Soxy and SmallyBoy do not form a team for the upcoming FHP ONLINE TEAM LEAGUE!!!

CLUB 72 FREEZEOUT LEAGUE UPDATE

Kevin Hodkinson - 43 Points

Karl Le Fevre - 20 Points

Nick Atkins - 20 Points

Charles Butler - 19 Points

Soxy - 19 Points

Beast - 17 Points

Andrew McKnight - 17 Points

Ewan Le Marquand - 15 Points

Dave Nuth - 12 Points

Danny Paxton - 11 Points

FHP WINTER SERIES (LAST HEAT THIS FRIDAY!)

With one heat to go, the final table (including current starting chip stacks) looks like this:

1. Soxy - 23,000

2. Gary Whipp - 22,000

3. Phil Evans - 21,000

4. Justin Thorne - 17,000

5. Anthony Greig - 13,000

6. Craig Le Gallais - 12,000

And in the relegation zone, needing points to guarantee a place on the final table:

Ady Bougourd - 9 Points

Glyn Ruthers - 9 Points

Helen Prentice - 9 Points

Craig Le Boutillier - 9 Points

Anyone can win Friday's heat and a seat at the final table (10 Points for a win).

THIS WEEK'S FREEZEOUT (SUNDAY)

£100 DOUBLE CHANCE FREEZEOUT

This time, if you don't use your free re-load before the first break, you can take it as an Addon!

Lots of action and should be a big pot!

See you at the tables...

jT

LEAGUE UPDATES

FHP WINTER SERIES

Soxy - 23 Points

Lord Whipp - 22 Points

Phil Evans - 21 Points

AnteVirus - 17 Points

Anthony Greig - 13 Points

Craig Le Gallais - 12 Points

Ady Bougourd - 9 Points

Glyn Ruthers - 9 Points

Helen Prentice - 9 Points

Craig Le Boutillier - 9 Points

FHP ONLINE LEAGUE

CatThrash - 20 Points

DizzzyRascal - 14 Points

SmallyBoyYepYep - 13 Points

AnteHerojT - 12 Points

The1Cardinal - 11 Points

Rowlesie - 9 Points

Grouville - 9 Points

CLUB 72 SUNDAY FREEZEOUT LEAGUE

Kev 'The Hammer' Hodkinson - 40 Points

Ewan Le Marquand - 15 Points

Charles Butler - 12 Points

Dave Nuth - 12 Points

Beast - 12 Points

Andrew McKnight - 10 Points

Next Week is the FINAL HEAT for the FHP ONLINE LEAGUE!

Details of our new TEAM LEAGUE ONLINE SERIES coming soon...

SUNDAY'S FREEZEOUT is £50 + £5

AnteVirusjT

Someone, for the love of God... smash the damn buddha!

Kevin 'The Horror' Hodkinson has, incredibly, won his fourth tournament in a row!

A regular feature now, is his 'lucky' little buddha, if you see him rubbing its tummy when you are in a hand with him... be worried.

Last night he was down to about 1300 chips and was all but dead but he managed to double-up, then again, then again... and it just didn't stop!

I was determined to take him out when my Ace, 9 hit a flop of 5, 5, 9. I checked, hoping he would bluff his remaining chips but he checked too. I checked the turn and he shoved and I snapped him off. Of course he flopped Quads, with pocket 5s!

I don't think anyone has won 4 back to back tournaments over here, at the Pomme or elsewhere.

Heads-up, Kev's opponent was seasoned Pro, Soxy, and even he couldn't cope with the buddha!

Full league updates in a few days...

jT

HEADS-UP CHAMPIONSHIPS - FRIDAY 7PM

I am really looking forward to Friday's Heads-up Tournament.

If 24 or more register to take part, there will be three elimination rounds, where only ONE player progresses to the next round from each match. During the elimination rounds (Round One, Round Two and the Quarter Finals) a single match will determine who progresses.

In the semi finals, the two winners will go through to the finals to play a 'best of 3' match to decide upon first and second place and the two runners-up from the semis will play a 'best of 3' match to decide 3rd and 4th place!

As we potentially have 16 matches in round one, we will be kicking off at 7PM SHARP! So be there as soon as possible as we are taking a MAXIMUM of 32 players.

The Buy-in is £75 + £5

In each round, starting stacks will be 10,000 chips.

There will be four, 20 minute blind levels.

50/100
100/200
250/500
500/1000

Upon registration, you will draw your seat and if less than 32 players register, up to 8 players could receive a bye for round one, but EVERY player will face an opponent in round 2 and in the quarter finals.

Most players will need to get past 3 opponents to hit the money... easy, right?

We shall see!

See you at CLUB 72 on Friday from 6:20PM for registration!

Sunday's Freezeout is £75 + £5 with cards in the air at 5PM SHARP!

As always, cash games will be running as soon as enough players are ready.

jT

LEAGUE UPDATES...

Continuing his phenomenal run, Kev Hodkinson won his third Freezeout in a row on Sunday!

The Sunday Tournament League now looks like this:

Kev Hodkinson - 30 Points

Charles Butler - 12 Points

Beast - 12 Points

Craig Hartley - 9 Points

Leigh Ruderham - 9 Points

Kevin Kelly - 9 Points

Rock - 8 Points

Eddie Stuart - 8 Points

Dave Nuth - 8 Points

The league runs until the end of June and the top three receive a payout from the club. 

If the winner of the July - December league is different from the Jan - June league, they will play a heads-up match to determine the 2009 Club 72 Champion!

FHP WINTER SERIES

Ante Virus - 17 Points

Soxy - 16 Points

Phil Evans - 15 Points

Anthony Greig - 13 Points

Gary Whipp - 12 Points

Craig Le Gallais - 12 Points

Ady Bougourd - 9 Points

Glyn Ruthers - 9 Points

There are still two heats to come to get points on the board for the £1000 final table on 27 March.

First place guarantees a place at the final table.

FHP ONLINE LEAGUE

CatThrash - 19 Points

SmallyBoyYepYep - 10 Points

The1Cardinal - 10 Points

Rowlesie - 9 Points

Grouville - 9 Point

Soxy - 9 Points

dbspurs - 8 Points

With three heats to go and 15 points still up for grabs, CatThrash can still be caught by players snapping at his heels, and it is still possible for someone to enter the leaderboard and climb into the top three.

THE MAIN MAN...

Kev Hodkinson won his second CLUB 72 FREEZEOUT in a row, putting him at the top of the leaderboard.

The top ten finishers on Sunday were as follows:

1st - Kevin Hodkinson

2nd - Charles Butler

3rd - Eddie Stuart

4th - Glyn Ruthers

5th - Rock

6th - Paul Dingle

7th - Andrew McKnight

8th - Craig Le Boutillier

9th - Danny Paxton

10th - Ben Holt

Two weeks into the 6 month league and the leaderboard is looking like this:

Kevin Hodkinson - 20 Points

Charles Butler - 10 Points

Craig Hartley - 9 Points

Leigh Ruderham - 8 Points

Rock - 8 Points

Eddie Stuart - 8 Points

Not only has Kev won two in a row, he also eliminated me from both tournaments!

Last week his Ace, Queen dominated my Ace, Rag and this week my King, Queen failed to find a pair, whilst his pocket 5s (or 4s, can't remember) found 4 cards to hit a straight on the turn!

Maybe I will win a hand against Kev next week?

The tourney held no joy for me but the cash game didn't let me down. Pocket Aces held twice, once against the Dragon when he hit top pair on the flop and then against SmallyBoy when we both hit the Clubs Flush but I was holding two black Aces.

In the last hand of the night, we saw the sickest call the club is ever likely to see. Gary builds a big pot with Rock all-in blind and Kev along for the ride. On the flop, Kev makes a big move with what turns out to be 5, 3 on a King, 7, rag board... so 5 high! And Gary calls with... 6, 3!!! An Ace comes on the Turn, and it turns out that Rock is sitting on Ace, 10 and wins the main pot, but the river is a blank for the 5 and 6 high and Gary takes down about £400 from the side pot...

Kev will be having nightmares about that hand for a while...

See you Sunday for the DOUBLE CHANCE FREEZEOUT!

BREAKING NEWS FOR FHP!

I am delighted to confirm that FHP has officially merged with the CLUB 72 CARDROOM.

The rest of the WINTER SERIES will take place at CLUB 72 and NOT the Tipsy Toad Townhouse.

For those of you who haven't been to CLUB 72 yet, you are in for a treat. State of the art tables, 52" Widescreen up on the wall for the FHP Tournament Software, waitress service, excellent menu and all in a permanent cardroom that is only ever a cardroom!

Come and check it out.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are running a £50 + £5 Freezeout at 5pm. Registration is from 4:30pm and at the first break, we are laying on another FREE BUFFET.

See you at the tables...

jT

PS Congrats to Phil Da Silva for winning last night's £20 RB Tournament!

£20 RE-BUY TOURNAMENT @ CLUB 72

FRIDAY 13 - 7:30PM

£20 + £2 Buy-in with £20 Re-buys in the first hour.

Optional Addon at the first break

2000 starting chips, re-buys available if your stack is 2000 or below.

100% of prizepool paid out on the night as this is not part of the FHP WINTER SERIES.

Registration is from 7pm

FREE MEAL for all cash game players off the CLUB 72 CARDROOM MENU

FHP ONLINE - HEAT 8

22 players logged-on last night for the FHP $20 Re-Buy tournament at Uncover Poker.

Things haven't changed much at the top of the leaderboard, but the following took down the points:

1st - Slowman180
2nd - Dbspurs
3rd - AlanJsy
4th - AnteHerojT
5th - Grouville

CatThrash is still at the top of the league, with SmalleyBoyYepYep hot on his heels.

There are still 4 Heats to go, which means the £1000+ first place prize is still anybody's.

When the FHP LEAGUE finishes at the end of March, we will be running Soxy's brainchild, which is an intriguing TEAM LEAGUE... Watch this space...

jT

PS - I'm not angry that Slowman's Ace, 8 off beat my pocket 9s - I'm just gutted that he got four cards to make his 8-high straight to do so! I hate poker...

CLUB 72

35 players turned out for the inaugural CLUB 72 FREEZEOUT, contesting a £2600 pot!

The first 10 players to put points on the leaderboard are as follows:

Kevin Hodkinson - 10 Points

Craig Hartley - 9 Points

Leigh Ruderham - 8 Points

Beast - 7 Points

Dave Belo - 6 Points

Nick Atkins - 5 Points

Dave Elliott - 4 Points

Alex Harrison - 3 Points

Rock - 2 Points

Charles Butler - 1 Point

Well done, lads... obviously I am disappointed that the Squid Bellend, Rock, managed to donk any points, but you can't beat lucky, blind stupidity!

THE LEAGUE

CLUB 72 will be holding a FREEZEOUT every Sunday (This Sunday is a £50 + £5 Freezeout) and in addition to the prizepools, players are playing to get points on the leaderboard. We will be paying out EVERY SIX MONTHS to the top three on the leaderboard. Prizes will depend on the action over each six month period.

BRING IT ON!

ACTION THIS WEEK - >

WEDNESDAY NIGHT 8PM - FHP ONLINE @ UNCOVER POKER

FRIDAY NIGHT 7:30PM - CASH GAME AT CLUB 72

SUNDAY EVENING 5PM - £50 + £5 FREEZEOUT AND CASH GAMES WHEN A TABLE IS FREE

See you at the tables...

LEAGUE UPDATES

FHP ONLINE

Top five finishers at HEAT SEVEN:

1st - Grouville

2nd - Beatablock

3rd - DizzzyRascal

4th - CatThrash

5th - Rocky

Hmmm, this means CatThrash has extended his lead. The leaderboard with 5 HEATS still to go:

CatThrash - 14 Points

SmallyBoyYepYep - 10 Points

Rowlesie - 9 Points

Grouville - 8 Points

Beastnog - 7 Points

DizzzyRascal - 7 Points

The1Cardinal - 7 Points

FHP WINTER SERIES

Lord Whipp's aggressive and unpredictable play paid off last night... and pocket Aces on the final table put him in a good spot to take down HEAT TWO. Ady Bougourd was always a threat in the heads-up but the Whippet took it down in the end when his Ace, 5 hit a three outer to crack Ady's Big Slick (Ace, King).

1st - Gary Whipp

2nd - Ady Bougourd

3rd - AnteVirusjT

4th - Richard Hansford

5th - Craig Le Gallais

6th - Phil Evans

7th - Lawrence Hansford

8th - John Pendergast

9th - Lenny

10th - Barney Travis

My 3rd place finish puts me at the top of the leaderboard after two HEATS and should guarantee me a place at the final table in March.

Don't forget that in this league, the top ten players on the leaderboard at the end of the series play down for the £1000 and their starting stacks depend upon their points at the end of the series... i.e. we multiply each player's points by 1000 to dictate their starting stacks.

This is how the leaderboard is looking after TWO HEATS:

AnteVirus - 12 Points

Tony G (Anthony Greig) - 10 Points

Gary Whipp - 10 Points

Ady Bougourd - 9 Points

Soxy - 9 Points

Peter Baines - 8 Points

John Pendergast - 8 Points

Helen Prentice - 7 Points

Richard Hansford - 7 Points

I got lucky a few times to hit the top three but of course, was also pumped in a few hands. Ghost called a pre-flop raise and a call, with King, 7 to spike trip 7s on the flop, beating my pocket 9s. I was tilting for a while and pushed with a weak Ace, and was duly doubled-up by the big stack who called with King, 8 suited.

I was short-stacked again with 20 players left in the game and picked-up Ace, 9 suited in mid-position. The chip leader bet, was flat-called, so I shoved the lot in. The chipleader raised to try and isolate me but misunderstanding the raise, the original flat-caller was all-in. My Ace, 9 was up against King, 9 and a weak Queen! I hit a 9 and took the main pot and the chip leader also shed most of his chips to the guy who called by mistake with the King, 9... Oops!

I then got REALLY lucky on the final table when I shoved with pocket 8s, running into Richard's pocket Kings. I rivered another 8 and was looking healthy again.

In the final three, I was short-stacked by some way and Gary and Ady pretty much put me all-in every hand. Ady started putting me all-in blind every hand and I was obliged to finally call with Ace, 9 (again!) Ady flips over King, 10 suited. I was happy to flop an Ace, not so happy to see a 10 on the turn, and gutted to see another 10 on the river!

Evenly stacked, Ady and Gary went back and forth a few times, before Gary is looking dominated with Ace, 5 against Ady's Ace, King... A five on the flop takes down HEAT TWO for Lord Whipp.

FHP FREEZEOUT AT CLUB 72 (£75 + £5)

Tomorrow is the launch of the FHP FREEZEOUTS at the amazing new card room at CLUB 72. 

Registration is at 4:30pm with cards in the air at 5pm SHARP!

Free buffet for all players, waitress service at the tables, neck, shoulders and back massage at the tables (£1 per minute) and a solid tournament structure (30 min blinds, 10,000 starting chips) and of course, the FHP tournament software running on the BIG SCREEN.

Not to be missed by any serious, local poker players.

AnteVirusjT

FHP ONLINE LEAGUE - HEAT SIX

We're now half-way through the online league and the race for the £1000+ prize is getting competitive. Heat Six has made the leaderboard VERY interesting with Cat Thrash only 3 points ahead of his nearest rival.

Unfortunately, I was traveling back from my Vic session in London, so missed Heat Six but I got home just in time to watch the final table.

This is how Heat Six finished:

1st - SmallyBoyYepYep (two in a row!)

2nd - Rowlesie

3rd - BearsBest1

4th - Teddmouve

5th - Alanjsy

I saw the bubble hand just before we got down to the final table and Rowlesie looked like he was in trouble all-in with pocket Queens against DizzzyRascal's pocket Cowboys. A Queen on the river eliminated one player, crippled the Rascal and put Rowlesie on over 30,000 chips!

With six heats left and a possible 30 points for someone, it is still anybody's game but this is how the leaderboard is looking:

Cat Thrash - 12 Points

Smallyboyyepyep - 10 Points

Rowlesie - 9 Points

Beastnog - 7 Points

The1Cardinal - 7 Points

KLF147 - 6 Points

Teddmouve - 6 Points

P2PBSH - 5 Points

DizzzyRascal - 4 Points

ConorTate - 4 Points

Budgie33 - 4 Points

HEAT SEVEN is this Wednesday at the usual time (8pm).

Don't forget that HEAT TWO of the FHP WINTER SERIES is this Friday at the TOWNHOUSE. Registration is from 6:30pm and cards are in the air at 7pm SHARP!

See you at the tables...

jT

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).

Philosophy and Poker

Tolstoy wrote that in a contest of cunning, the peasant consistently defeats the intellectual, and he was right. Not because the peasant is smarter but because he doesn't have the self-doubt and the second thoughts and all the other mind tricks that make the intellectual out-think himself.

Caine Black Knife - Matthew Stover

And that's why Donks will continue to call your perfect bluff when they hold bottom pair against a board with straights and flushes all over it, and also why you will continue to lay down pocket Queens pre-flop only to find the gimp had pushed with Ace, 4 off.

Just remember, in the long run you WILL make money off peasants.

Ah... 2009... a new year, I can wipe the slate clean. For the record, I finished 2008 £4K up, despite a bad run in December. Let's see what 2009 holds. 

Of course we will try and make FHP even better, with tournament leagues at the Townhouse, Freezeouts at Planet Pool, and online leagues at Uncover Poker.

I'll also be playing regular cash games at the Pomme (and the odd tournament) and as much as possible at the Vic and further overseas. I fancy Turks and Caicos or Aruba for some summer poker... we shall see.

PS you only get Tolstoy poker analogies at FHP... we're frackin clever, see.

Ante Virus

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!