Neither my Mansion $100k or my WSOP attempts are going too well. First night in the $100k, I was going ok and couldn't get matey to fold his A9 on a queen high board and he rivered a 9 and last night, I was out playing football till 8:30 so I missed the first half hour and didn't really settle into it. Anyway, I ended up defending my BB with 64s against KK and well, you can guess who won!

WSOP, just been knocked out of a $2 rebuy sat by someone chasing the flush which he hit. and I've had a bash at a double shootout a couple of nights ago. I'm not geared up for double shootouts where people play with rubbish. I think I'm going to try the $33 rebuy sats for now and see how I get on.

One problem I'm having is that I'm playing a lot of cash to try and make the Mansion $100k's next week and I play cash completely different from tournaments and I'm not adjusting back to tourney play. Must try harder tonight and hopefully get a result.

I'm having a great day! Last night I earned another 8000 fpps from a Stars satellite and this morning I've found out that I've qualified for the Mansion $100k every night this week!

Not only that, but my mobile is due for renewal and I've managed to get the new K800i for £30 per year! Yes, per year!

Wooo, happy as Larry at the moment (assuming Larry is still happy!)

Usual visit to the Western Club was in order last night. I'm quite enjoying going down there at the moment. Made the final again but went out in 10th so only got my money back. Only had 5k in chips so when it folded to me I stuck it in with pocket 7's but ran into AK who hit on the flop. Key hand for the night was thus:

I'm in the SB for 600. We haven't seen a flop for ages, it's been two, probably 3 rounds of the table (7 handed) folds to 4th to act who just calls for 1200. Folds to me and I call the BB with KT, BB checks. Flop came 6 K Q and I've bet out 2500. BB folds and the caller preflop raises another 2500. I've got 5600 left after putting the 2.5k in and he's got about the same amount of chips as me before the raise that he stuck in. I really didn't know where I was at here. Calling preflop was strange and he had been talking about seeing a flop a couple of hands before. I ended up folding, mainly because of his call preflop and not raise so perhaps he had KQ or KJ. After I folded, I showed the hand, he paused and a couple of seconds later said we'd have split the pot.

Been thinking about this and thought it was a strange thing to say. I'm either thinking he was beating me (due to the call) or I was winning and perhaps he had QJ or maybe JT. Betting the straight draw is a possibility I suppose. Anyway, managed to get aces in the BB when I only had 1000 left and managed to double up which just got me through to the final.

I was fortunate (unfortunate) enough to have a guy that is a dealer from the Gutshot on my table at the start. It reminded me of being on Simon Nowab's table at the blonde bash but with a bit less talking! He was relentless, moving all in without looking, large raises and stuff. Managed to get lucky a bit but then lost all his chips in an equally cavalier manner. Good fun to have him on the table and he was a nice guy, certainly an experience.

Great night again, roll on next Thursday.

Made my first final table in a live event last night! Quite pleased to say that I came 6th out of 65 runners in the £20 double chance at the Western Club. I still think I'm struggling getting chips in the middle section of the tournament though and when it comes to bubble time, I'm still short stacked and am only pushing in when I need to. I need to be making a move prior to this but I'm not sure at what point yet. The only real hand that I'm not sure about was an incident when I was in the BB (3000 of my 12000 chips) and it's folded to the button and he moves all in. He has me well covered but I'm looking at pocket 9's. He's not been overly aggressive prior to now and has folded from the button in this situation before so I'm thinking he's got something. He has shown cards before after moving all in with pocket 5's so any pocket pair is possible as is AT or better - this is the range that I think he's moving in with and not wanting to risk everything on what could be a coin flip, I folded, he showed pocket 7's. The only other moment that I regretted was when I was utg with Kd 8d and I had about 3xBB. I was so tempted to push it in with these cards, but folded for something better (I think the 9's were the next hand actually) but nearly cried as two kings appeared on the flop!

Anyway, not to worry and I made the final table, 2nd short stack but a couple of early all in's left me moving up the money and then I caught a flush to double up but was always in danger. Final hand came with Ad 8d and I pushed again (blinds of 3k/6k me on 16k) and was called by A7 and a 7 came on the turn. Not fussed about that as I certainly had my fair share of draws early on, especially when I beat pocket aces with KQ as I flopped a straight.

Fairly pleased overall and took £65 for my troubles. Could use some sleep now though, 2:30am is a bit late for a work night!

only just made it! With the CL moving in every hand with over 30k in chips, it was hard to pick the odd blind up here and there. A slight misread on the spaces didn't help, there was actually 9 not 10. When I was sat in 6th and the 11th person went out, I was a bit surprised to see someone else join the table. Anyway, couple of hands later, I'm 10th out of 10 but luckily for me, someone went in with pocket queens but they weren't a match for K6 when two 6's appeared on the flop - I'd be gutted, but thankfully, I don't need to be and I'm 7000fpps up.

I've pretty much cut right back on poker recently. So far this month, I've only earned 53vpp on Stars and by the same time last month, I was nearly on Silver already. No real reason for cutting back except that I just haven't really had time, but when I have played, I've enjoyed it a lot more.

I visited the Western Club again last Thursday and played not too bad again but went out in 12th! I'm destined to be the bubble boy (or there abouts) I seem to do ok at the start when the blinds are cheap but during the middle stages I just don't change gears until it's critical to do so. I'm going again this week and will try and work on this. I guess I could go out earlier but then like wise, I may make the final table. I'm yet to get QQ, KK or AA there yet so perhaps this is my week for a decent few hands.

Been playing Omaha a bit more. I quite like Omaha and am going to try and play some more this month and may give the cash games a go. I seem to cash fairly frequently in the tourneys so it's worth a bash on the cash games I suppose.

Hopefully I'm going to earn another 8000 fpps tonight. I'm currently 5th out of 13 in a 1000fpp sat to the Monte Carlo EPT but I'll cash the points in if I make it - 10 get the seat to the next level so I should be ok.....fingers crossed.

It was almost not a great night. I decided that I needed to leave at 7pm to get to The Western Club in time to register for the 8:30 tourney so I grabbed my ID, some cd's for the car, wallet, directions, keys and then Heather decided she wanted to see the moon so I pushed what I could in my pockets, and went outside for a second. Said goodbye and left. I'd got to the end of the street before I'd realised I'd left my wallet at home! Anyway, two minutes later and I was away again.

I managed to hit traffic going into London on the M4 for a few miles and was sure I was going to miss registration. I did toy with the idea of turning off at Heathrow and grabbing a flight to Vegas but perhaps I wasn't quite ready for that yet, besides, the missus wouldn't have been overly impressed with me.

Managed to find the place ok, joined the club and made my way to registration without any more problems. I was a bit early and watched some guys playing a cash game of what I think was some kind of hi/lo game with cards everywhere. They moved on to HORSE and some weird Dealers Choice stuff before long but it was interesting watching even if I didn't know what they were playing!

Anyway, five minutes later and we we're ready to play with 61 runners.

I managed to get a few playable hands in the first hour and also managed to grab a few chips. One hand I limped in with KQ from late position with about 5 callers. I nearly wet myself when the flop came K7K and called a 500 bet from someone opposite me. Guy to my left also called and the rest folded. Turn brought another 7 and we all checked. The river brought another 7. Matey1 bet 500, I raised to 1000, guy to my left called and Matey1 folded. Sadly it was a shared pot but still a nice pot to get some of. Managed to be on about average on the 2nd break.

The second hour I managed to knock a couple of short stacks out. One with pocket 7's against his pocket 3's and another with AK against his A9 and I picked up a blind or two. I did lose a few chips raising from the button with A4s only to be called by the SB (who was quite agressive but solid and not in a crazy way). Anyway, I bet 500 on the flop, he called, I checked the turn, he bet and I had to fold. At the second break I was on about 5k so probably not too far off average.

After this, I really didn't get much. I was moved tables a couple of times and was pretty short stacked for the rest of my tournament. I managed to stick my chips in a couple of times, once with AK and once with JJ but didn't get any callers with either. 9 people were due to go to the final table and get paid, but when there were 12 left, someone suggested they move it to 10 and give a small saver back to the 10th man to which everyone agreed. The 12th man left and at this stage I was really in trouble. With blinds of 1000/2000 and me only on 5000, I pushed it in with pocket 6's and was called by the BB as it was only another 3000 out of his 20k to call. He showed QJ and hit the queen on the flop (dealt by me!) and that was that - bubbled again!

Shame to go out on the bubble, that's twice I've done that now. I've played live 4 times now, the first did nothing special. The second, came 4th out of 10, then at the Blonde Bash, I came about 23rd out of 140ish, then last night, came 11th out of 61. I know I'm yet to make the money, but overall, I think I've put up a decent show of myself so far. I seem to be able to grab a few chips early doors but then something changes and I don't accumulate them quickly enough to keep up. I think last night I just didn't get any cards I felt comfortable with making a raise with after the first couple of hours but I'm not sure it's just that. It's something I have to work on.

Anyway, I had a great night. Everyone was friendly enough and it was nice to be in a proper card place rather than a casino. I think I could become a Thursday regular if the Other Half doesn't mind too much. It's a bit of a hike to get there but to be honest, I was glad it was on the way back - it was good to have half an hour or so to think about my game and calm down a bit.

Next time, I'm determined to finish in the money!

Came 5th in the Omaha for $84. Bit disapointed with my exit hand but pleased enough with 5th.