May be next time?

May be next time?

Another month drifts by and at least a few things to write about although find it very difficult these days to motivate myself to actually blog stuff. Must be turning into an old git!!!
Still playing very very limited pokers but did play couple of decent games over last few weeks. Take in the Friday night £100 game as part of the Gala May Festival weekend and travel down to Stockton. Attraction was the £10k guaranteed pot on 80 runners so obv very disappointed when the pot falls short with only 72 runners. Pretty tough starting table tbh with some very capable locals but chip along nicely until last hand before 1st break when shortie on the button ships his stack in looking for dup or a re entry and I make the call from BB with 77 v his Q8 off. He obv smashes the flop and turn and takes away my profitable chips of the 1st 2 hours.
After the break I go through 2 horrible levels and start to dribble chips in my attempt to stay in touch with my stack as the turbo element of comp starts to kick in. Eventually with about 30 players left Im shoving my last 12 bigs in with 66 from the cut off and the BB wakes up with 10s.
Driving back home I decide to make a short detour to Genting in town and play a couple of hours cash. Place is pretty busy when I arrive and although the one main cash table is full and a table Id of liked to have been sat at it but its not long before they open table 2 and some good characters sit down for a lively and interesting 1st hour. Im playing atc early doors but soon drop a buy in as lose with 3 sets an obv lower end house I shud fold and a flush over flush. Decide to top up to a max Im going to lose for the night but it aint long before I lose another decent pot leaving me very short and pick up 10 10 which gets one Chinese guy Ill play atc as well to come along. He calls my raise and Ive already decided Im jamming any flop which comes Jack high. He snap calls but I turn a set and he angrly folds his hand after obv hitting his Jack. Being in a bit of a naughty mood now and wanting to try and chip up or bust I seem to upset this Chinese lad when I 3 bet him twice which deffo is building up for car crash hand to happen. Eventually when pretty low again I limp early position with 77 and with a few others coming along the Chinese lad does his statuatory button raise and I put my last £38 into the pot which he angrily tank calls. Dealer puts 4 over cards down so Im looking pretty sick so after bit of joke with him about this the Chinese lad gets very very annoyed demanding I show my cards. I tell him one pair but he starts being really nasty to me so I give him some verbals back thrown in with a few cocks and swear words about him being a prick for the small pot antics hes displaying and put my 77 on the table. He proceeds to slam his AJ on the table calling me a fish etc as I retaliate with a few choice words as I leave the table waving my goodbyes. Fun and games but hey ho.


Next stop and game is the Genting Poker Series Leg being held at Edinburgh which Ive been looking forward to for ages. Get qualified pretty cheap enough online and travel up with fellow Dobba Xenocode who also gets in cheap. A lot of lads travelling up from Newcastle and I also see a lot of old faces from a few years back in Kev Bloor, John Loopster Littler and Dom Kay which is always nice as you do tend to lose touch.
Very good starting table taking everything into consideration which consists of a lady qualifier, couple of Balla internet wiz kids, guy I know from Newcastle, couple of local Jocks who were good crack and the well known Karl Morenholz from the famous Hit Squad. With an hour clock and 25k stack its not a sprint but as norm some people still think it is in their attempt to accumulate quick chips. Get to the break having not played many hands mainly because I had pretty much garbage and catch the convo from the 2 balla internet lads near the bar of them liking the table because all the good players are to their left and all the nits are sitting to their right. Im in their nit category which is always my aim and shortly after the break I have a fun hand where I raise 44 mid pos and find one caller. Flop comes AQQ and after caller checks he folds to my c bet and balla lad asks to see one card. Tell him to pick one and he turns over the 4 clubs and we get a convo of can I be moved into your other group of players please from your convo break which he at least found very amusing.

Works out well for me later on as Im 3 bet twice by these lads but unfortunately for them Im holding big hands and they fold to my 4 bets. Big problem I find these days is my concentration and stamina which is obviously age related so decide to have a few drinks to help me enjoy the grind more. Deffo works and makes the time pass better. We get table broken and I get moved to a totally different dynamic table and also some very nice stacks sitting around it. By now Im totally settled in with a few pints under my belt and pick up nice pots and spots to keep my stack moving along on a fairly tough table. Eventually we end the day and Im bagging 95k which is above average and Im coming back for day 2 in a healthy position.


Healthy was not how I returned as despite all good intentions me and Gaz were sidetracked by the bad influences of a few other NPF lads and we end up playing a few table games and a few more drinks we stagger outside and its daylight. Feeling proppa rough when we unbag for day 2 but very happy with my table and my position on table. Once again chip along nicely before I get my big double up.
Folded round to blind on blind and guy limps in and I raise holding Ace 9 which he snap calls. Flop comes AK9 with 2 hearts, he checks I bet and he calls. Turn brings the pay day card of 9s and he surprisingly leads strong. Happy days and after few moans about catching another 9 I make the sigh call. River rag and he announces those lovely words of ALL IN and tables Ace 4. TYVM gg wpul. Im now very comfy and very much starting to enjoy myself despite my body still suffering from the hangover shakes.
Next table break and getting to the meaty end of day 2 now I get moved onto table 2. Some very nice stacks here but also some very nice players. Within the next hour Ive got Barney Boatman as my cut off, Paul Jackson as my button, aggro Chinese lad on my right and Joe Beevers on my left so very interesting spot.

Some great table banter flowing especially from Paul Jackson and Barney Boatman as they proceeded to establish the old men always have it mentality to the others at the table. Down to the bubble of 43 players and quickest bubble ever lasts one hand as JJ runs into KK on other table. I then loose Joe Beevers on my left in massive pot to aggro Chinese lad when Joes top pair flush draw combo of K9ss is outkicked by Ace 9.
Despite the quality of the table Id been very comfy despite couple of raise folds Id had to make but then couple of mistakes which eventually I think cost me. Id 3 bet this Scottish guy at bot end of table who had earlier 3 bet me off hand and when I raise 55 to his BB I had big feeling he would jam atc and had made my mind up to call if he did. He duly obliged and bottled the call when I got the count and folded but was gutted when he proudly flips over 85 off!!!


I then flat 99 in position to aggro Scotch lad which was big mistake and we see flop of 10c3c7s. He c bets and I 3 bet to 52k. He insta jams on me and Im convinced hes playing the flush draw with something like A8 KJ type of hands but I fold again and he shows me the 8c sighhhhhhhh.
I then pick up KK utg and find a caller from the sb of Paul Jackson. The A 10 6 flop is all over his calling range but cbet his check which he quickly calls. Turn brings Q which gives me hope and I decide to still bet his check which he insta flats again. Know Im beat now unless I pick up the miracle card but rag river sees us check check it and he flips over Ace 10 for flopped top top. Puts me shortish now but try to not let the hand effect me when few hands later Paul Jackson raises into my sb and I jam AQ which he snaps JJ. I flop the Q to hold and get back to just over 20 bigs.
Exit hand isn’t far away when down to 3 tables and early position raise is flatted by Chinese guy on my right and I decide AQ is good enough in this spot unless initial raiser has a monsta my jam should get through. The raiser snap calls and Chinese guy folds as expected and Im up against AK. Flop smacks me in the face with AQ10 for happy days but its short lived as dealer puts K there on turn and Im out in 19th for £865. Very fine lines in these and my mistakes were deffo punished hard but overall quite happy with how I played.
End up watching a lot of final table on the Sunday on live stream and delighted that Paul Jackson finished top 2 as he seemed a quality bloke and his play on the final table was some the best poker Ive ever watched with hardly a wrong decision made and some superb folds and calls in really tough spots for huge pots.
Superbly ran tournament by Genting and superb venue. The efforts Genting are putting into poker within the UK is nothing short of amazing and is now being widely recognised by so many and hopefully they are getting the rewards back they rightly deserve for their efforts. Got £200 out of me on Black Jack and roulette anyway so its deffo working!!!!



Next stop is Vegas and fly out 11th June taking in 5 lovely Seniors Events and kick off my games on the 12th June with a £1000 Binnions event which Stumpy and my room mate are also playing. Full Trett poker brother Mark & Dan also hitting the bright lights as well with us, should be fun!!!!


Staking moving into the last month for the 5 lads left with some decent results from most of them although been a long haul for all of them and proves how tough it really is to make any money these days in these games. Efforts of all have been top notch though and wont be long before we see the final results.


Finally outside of Poker the next couple of weeks will see a big change at the Collins household as my son Scott takes the big step of moving out of the comforts of the family household and setting up his own place. Nice place hes moving into at the other end of the same estate and Im sure the move will see a big change in his way he handles his life and another big step in growing up although Ill now need to find a new gardener to cut the lawns, an extra job in the tea time walking of the dog and fuck knows what will happen if the TV goes wrong as I don’t even know how to work the remote!!! Im sure it’s the right move for him although I also know it will effect my Mrs more than she realises even though shes got a new couple of settees out of it.

Reet that’s it for this month and next month is hopefully full of Vegas run good news and that big pay day us poker players dream of.

Be lucky!!