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 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

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.

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 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 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.