Viva Espana!!!

Viva Espana!!!

Find it gets harder and harder to blog these days for whatever reason. Think all bloggers go through it and especially poker players.

Seems to me the poker scene is at a strange time at this moment although it may just be me. Totally restricting my playing with online virtually non existent and live play mainly been for social meets although I have been trying to be more selective with certain games. Been trying to schedule a range of better value and bigger buy in games of which theres plenty around with casinos bending over backwards to get players through their doors but when the game arrives its getting too often I seem to find something else to do instead of playing that poker game. One game I did get my eye on was a leg of the Spanish Poker Tour organised by SuperEuropoker being held in Mallorca over a period which landed on my birthday so after suggesting to my Mrs we needed a quick weeks break to the sun to chill and relax and celebrate my birthday we arrived in Mallorca at one of our favourite hotels situated in our favourite area of Mallorca called Puerto Portals.

Absolutely love the village where the hotel is situated and after doing alot of searching a few years ago to buy property in Mallorca which we decided against due to various reasons we still have not altered our opinion that this area would be the only area we could possibly buy anything.


Casino where the tournie was being played is on the other side of Magaluff so decided as we had a car and after being advised it was a little bit off the beaten track by a local resisdent then I took a run over there to check the place out. Absolute doddle to find and at a maximum was only a 10/15 min drive there from our location in Portals. OK sorted so relax and chill around the hotel pool, the local village restaurants and a couple of the local pubs. One of my best mates from Lancs has had family connections here for years and they have a couple of apartments in Portals and we had arranged to meet up with his mother who was over for a long weeked to celebrate her birthday on the 23rd which is the day before mine. What a lady she is and you will simply not meet a 74 year old like this who looks absolutely amazing for her age and has the attitude and live life to the full attitude that puts many younger people to absolute shame. Shes an absolute pleasure to be in the company of and all you do is have a laugh every minute with her. This was doubled up by her being with her best mate who is as equally amazing for her age loaded with an absolutely amazing past book of interesting and amazing stories from her very full and action packed life.
Decide to play Day 1A so drive over in plenty of time to register and get there to find the place very much alive with plenty of people there. After being directed where to register and pay and placing my money down Im told sorry Sir we are full!!!! or as the lady said in her spanish accent "we are Foooool sir!!!!" Fuck I think and after registering for Day 1B and leaving to go back to my hotel to meet up with the Mrs a great piece of fortune took place. We go down to the local pub in the village of which I know the owner due to my mate introducing me when he moved to the island from his village in Lancs and meet up with my mates mother who has just arrived with her friend. She informs us we have been invited upto Steves barbecue at his hillside villa which is on that night. Omg what a night we had with an absolute superb location and hospitality and great company and stories flowed all night. This was all topped off with myself my wife and my mates mother and friend finishing it off down on the Marina watching the rich n famous ( was told Frank Lampard was around but never saw him) drinking a bottle of Cava totally pissed and the people around us all giggling and listening in to the amazing tales these 2 drunken mature women were coming out with from their very coloured and amazing pasts. Super night!!!

Eventually I get my arse on a seat to play some poker when I take my place the following night and day1B of the tournament at what I can only describe from a venue and organisation point of view as simply amazing. The room we were playing in was amazing and set out superb. Stage area with updaters and TV coverage and tables layed out that created a great atmosphere and plenty of space and very very professionally presented. Tables decked out in high quality glass and cutlery and draped in white linen for the latter dinner that was provided were behind the poker area and when the dinner buffett was presented I was nothing short of gob smacked to be honest. Amazing display and choice of food superbly presented like a Kings banquet.
The amazing dinner buffett


Got off to a good steady start and Im not going to bore you all with hand to hand stuff but quickly moved my chips well above chip average and maintained it during the early levels until our table broke shortly after dinner. I was sat next to a very nice Spanish guy on my left who I even shared my dinner with and although he spoke very little English he came across as a very nice guy although he did seem very very nervous at the table and had made soem very dubious plays and had got lucky twice with KJ sucking out on AA at the river when it was pretty obvious his top pair Jack was never in front yet still wanted to get all his chips in with it and was well covered on the 1st occassion. This guy eventually went onto win the tournie for just under 30k Euro.
Eventual winner

Suppose you gotta have luck like that to take something like this down and good luck to him as like I have said he seemed a very nice genuine bloke. One of the players at my 1st table impressed me very much and I was involved in a few very interesting pots with him which I really enjoyed and came out good with although the guy was to be the one who eventually took me out later on.
Table move and bad table with me in bad position to some really big stacks and I was glad to see that table broke up after losing a chunk of my chips with some badly timed moves and a couple of bad decisions.
My 3rd and last table

Table 3 and I get seated with the impressive player from my 1st table sat on my right and although he didnt have a huge stack he was constantly adding to his stack on a graduale build and seemd very comfortable and where he was at in every hand he played. My above average stack went to below average stack with another couple of mistakes involving bad re raises which I was forced to fold by people moving all in over the top of me and I found myself getting closer to dangerous waters after being so comfy for alot of the tournie. I get double up when blind on blind and yet another raise from this Demitri guy to my right I shove with QJ and after a long tank me makes the call and tables J10!!! Jack on the flop and no 10 sees me back comfy again. I lose a pot when guy gets there on river when up n down and then exit just short of making day 2 with another bad mistake. With 21 left and play stopping when we get to 18 players (we are over 8 hours in)I raise utg with 10 10 but in error I throw 2 x 5k chips onto table with 2 x 1k chips meaning to make it 4k yet table 12k. Its folded all the way around to the BB Demitri who throws his all in chip into middle and I basically feel committed now to the hand although feel I called far too quickly and really do know Im behind with my holdings. He tables KK and no miracle for me although a JQ flop did give me hope. Go out in 21st place and drive back to hotel very disappointed with alot of my latter and important decisions as I really should of at least cashed in this.
Great tournament tbh and superbly ran and presented. Anyone get a chance to play one of these then do it as I guarantee youll really enjoy it and be impressed.

Demitri collecting and stacking up my chips I donated to him

End of the holiday is topped off as we celebrate our birthdays on a beach side restaurant with a few of my mates mothers friends and we sat and got pissed with good food and great company and topped off a great weeks break and re charge of my batteries.
Only downside was the "Sleazzy" Jet cattle truck flight back home which was both uncomfortable but delayed and full of fkn Magaluff charvers intent on upsetting each other Hey ho you cant have it all I suppose.

Till next time stay lucky and be happy!!!!!!!!

Some players simply dont play fair!!!!

Some players simply dont play fair!!!!

Alreet Stumpy here,

2-7-10 £10 rebuy 2k g

A new game at the G you get 1k chips unlimited rebuys 2k gteed and only 35 runners so an overlay of £600 I never got going and got it in with 2nd pair v roscopikos top trips and I was out early.
Joined the cash table and this hand occurred,utg raises to £3 blinds 25p-50p 2 callers so I call on the button with j10 off, flop 89 q rainbow,utg bets £6 1 caller so I call turn 3s putting 2 spades on board, utg bets £8 andrizu ships for £15 I call then utg ships for £19 more I call and turn over my straight ,utg has qq andrizu has fd they both brick the river and I win,I start talking to the geek and when I look back hes shipped the pot to qq man I say whoah I won with the straight, the dealer has the 5 community cards in his hand so he places back on table and sees i have won with the straight and asks the qq man to pass the chips back but he refuses, i say you knew you had lost why accept the chips he says yeah I knew but there over the line now so tough, he asks for a ruling and after a while looking at the cameras they rule in my favour but he still wont give the chips back, so they bar him and escort him out but let him take my money.

I was fuming but the manager says I will probably get it back but will have to go to higher management. I got it back the next week so thanks to varzee and all the rest of the staff involved a thread was put up on the npf about what happened click here to see what peoples thoughts on it. Play fair ya cunt

4-7-10 circus £20-£20 2k g for 50 runners.

This was a real struggle totally card dead won a few pots by isolating a serial limper then c-betting any flop got down to 2 tables when chinese guy ships from sb im bb with a-3 we both had about 12bbs so called and he had k7 no help for him and im now back in it,i get a nice rush of cards and move up to 50k with out showing a hand, make the ft with 50k win a couple of hands until down to 4 players we take £300 each and play on for another £200 I get hup and we split it so eventually make £400.

9-7-10 £10 rebuy 2k g

Even less runners than last week 25 runners so an overlay of over 1k wow, got to the ft but went out in 6th for zero as only 4 payed

10-7-10 £200 f/o g club game 35 runners

Met teamdobb at the bar and he gets the coronas in we end up drinking all day and im well served by the ft couple of hands I remember getting there with was trip 2s v mulhuzz and 1010 v hamids aq only got 20k so not much play for me but raise and commit but I sat patient and never got 1 hand worst ft ive ever played eventually shipping 97 utg called off mulhuzzs 1010 and a lad called boris jj, who is the spitting double of the bloke off the barclaycard ad when he runs and runs.I move on to the cash table which was a bad idea and played bad untill I reraised utg raiser with aa who flatted for £5 with 95 flop 998 and I lose ,ended off £100 down.

13-7-10 circus £20+£20 2k g 50 runners

I had 23k at the break and cruising until i get kk utg i raise to 1100 donkey reraises to 3.5k then dan trett flats with only 7k back now this is screaming out aa but I just couldnt fold kk and go allin donkey calls 99 and dan calls aa. Donkey hits 9 on the river and dan wins small side pot. A couple of hands later I raise the button with a7 bb calls flop a10 9 i cbet and bb makes small reraise which tbh if I hadnt lost with kk i would of folded but tilted off my last 7k and called he shows a10 and im out. Played cash while waiting for mrs stumpy and won a £130 while mrs stumpy does a 4 way chop for £350 so not a bad night after all.

Online only played 140 sngos since I come back from vegas which is partly due to played more live and also been back to work. Stats are 140 ave prof +4 ave stake $19 roi 24% +$624 just need to put the effort in and play a lot more. mtts played 20 had 2 deep runs in the 42k g on tilt but finished 50ish and 36th out of 3k runners for -$19, also been playing on betfair ft a couple of mtts but finished 7th and 8th for peanuts but enjoyed the smaller fields but ob money not as good.

keep on smiling Stumpy.

Tickets, Passport, Money & ?

Tickets, Passport, Money & ?

Recovered now from Vegas and its amazing how as ya get older the longer it takes to recover from jet lag stuff. Seems Ive spent last couple of weeks trying to keep my eyes open and get my sleep patterns back to normal. As you know from last post I wrote about my son Scott taking down a Binnions Classic but what I just found out was some bad news as well!!!! Taught my kids when going away to have ya main 3 things ya need and repeat them to yourself before leaving. Tickets, Passport & Money. With these 3 things ya sorted no matter what ya leave behind but I need to add another thing now to our Scotts list. Tickets, passport, Money and any Poker Trophy you may win !!!!!!!!! He only went and left his glass trophy memento in his hotel room and despite being in contact with the Aria it hasnt been handed in by housekeeping and seems its lost for good now.



A few S2C Binnions Classic Videos

Zero stuff online and totally not interested tbh with it and locally on the live scene played the Circus £50, £500 added on Tuesday and despite a good table which included Dan Trett and a good start getting nice double up with QQ v JJ getting it in on a Q 9 10 flop that makes quads on the river I bust out in somewhat disappointing circumstances when in a 4 way limped pot I find AKss in BB and make it 1200 on 150/300. Fold to sb who has just arrived at table with big stack who as expected knowing him makes the call. A sweet looking K44 flop and I just call 2k flop and turn bet but river Q gets a 10k bet dropped in by sb. After big tank and knowing player well I make the call due to him being well known for bully and mad bets but Im shown 45 for his set and Im crippled. Bad bad call from my point of view but went with how I felt which was badly wrong. Ship my last few chips next orbit utg to try n get max value and Im delat 10 7. Player mid makes it 3k saying "Ill give you some protection" which it did and he flips KJ. Flop of KK10 didnt help much lol and turn of other K firmly nailed my coffin lid.



Give the Friday G game a miss as Im playing the Saturday G Championship of GUKPT and it proved unreal value with a £1000 overlay on their £2k guaranteed prize which is unbelievable to be honest. Take my seat in the G £200 on Saturday and find myself sat next to Dan Trett of Full Tilt fame again and boy oh boy didnt he look dapper in his new Full Trett white crisp shirt, smart grey trousers and shoes straight out of a top Las Vegas boutique and dressed to impress even in a nightclub like "Pure" ON CLOSER INSPECTION AT THE BREAK HIS SHOES WERE BOUGHT AT NO OTHER PLACE THAN TOPSHOP!!!!!
The Top Shop Shoes proof

Me & Dan Trett compare shoes!!!


Good crack as normal was Dan but cards and his moves certainly didnt flow for him and he seemd to be very very loose and caught too often with several of his moves. I was very very active and doing Ok but then got far to greedy in 2 hands. Flop top 2 in one and let guy get there with his flush then flop nut straight 3 way and once again initial raiser gets there with flush of 78hh on a AQJ board leading all the way. I eventually bust on my BB when guy raises from co and I ship about 9/10 bbs with AKhh for initial raiser to call with not that much more behind holding the mighty JQ off. Obv binks his Q and Im out too early for my liking.
Well done to Mulhuzz who went on the get 2nd place form our table and eventual winner was also from our original table.

Ive had a few beers and decide to play the 8.00 triple chance for £20 quid and have a good laugh with Junior Bomber from the Sensations. Crazy table and full of jokes n wind ups but run bad twice losing 2 big hands to leave me on my last 3k. 2nd loss was talking guy to get it all in holding JJ aipf v my KK which he does but then turns the case Jack to cripple me. Go on mad ship over many raises then and win a few flips and Im back in it. Eventually on a yo yo final table I take Bomber out shipping my similar sized stack into his BB with A2 and he snaps me with AJ obv. I luckbox my 2 and tell him Ill win now. An hour later and I take it down all for a poor £180 from small field but nowt better than getting another win under ya belt.
4 prizes were being paid and its amazing how despo some people are. 180. 135, 95 & 45 were the payouts and 5 handed the low stack was trying to negotiate another prize. He then comes out with the amazing crack of " Come on man be fair even a tenner will do me" Unreal unreal.
Big tip here for the G Casino in Newcatle for their poker room,,,,,,,,,,,, GET YA FOOKING AIR CON SORTED OUT. It was like playing in a sauna and so so so uncomfortable.


Big well done to a guy we met in Vegas in several of the comps we played in Mark McCluskey as hes just returned and took down the Coral Masters in Liverpool which us Newcastle lads seem to do well in. I checked out his Hendon Stats and wow very very impressive CV matey. Big well done to you.


Finally decided I need another quick holiday so myself and the Mrs have booked a nice relaxing weeks holiday in a lovely hotel weve been to before in Portals Nous in Mallorca. One week of catching some sun and relaxing will do me fine flying out the 20th July till the 27th July..................... oh and just by coincidence theres a 500 euro Poker comp at the Gran Casino Mallorca during our time there. How fortunate looooooool .
Mallorca Poker

So that was Vegas

So that was Vegas

Alreet Stumpy here,

Landed into Vegas on the Monday afternoon and as it taxied round I couldnt believe how close the airport was to the strip which looked ok through the day but it wasnt till the night time it was lit up in all its glory.

The first night just enjoyed a few drinks and a meal.

Day 2- Played the 1pm Aria game $175 buyin, really good structure and got to the final table but was short and pushed allin with A4 got called off JJ no help and out in 9th no cash.

Played 1-2 PLO in the Aria and made $80 then went back to the Nugget and played 1-2 and won $220.

Day 3- $1500 WSOP- arrived at the Rio a bit late and was in the que to buyin, when I asked a guy if you could use your card to buyin, no cash only FFS had to walk for miles to find a ATM then card wouldnt work. I ended off having to pay at the cage to use my card, eventually buying in 1 hour late then was told all entries after 1pm wont start till 2pm when blinds will be 75-150 and starting stack was 4.5k.

I finally start playing and maintain my stack with a few raises getting through then moved tables a couple of big stacks on it.

First hand I pick up is 10-10 I raise and get shipped on, no way i can fold so make the call V QQ, 1st card 10 and I get lucky double up. Then in big blind AK button shoves allin, I call v A3, hit K and now up to 18k. Seat 3 makes it 1900 bigstack seat 6 flats, folds to me and I tank ship allin for a call off bigstack as after watching him play he could only flat with AQ or AJ. Seat 3 tanks for ages and I actually fall asleep till my neighbour nudges me saying hes called, I flip my cards over just as the dealer does the flop Q 1st card and he has AQ shame as there was 450ish left, 243 payed and this was 31k pot when av was 18k. Thanks to DC and juicy oranges who came over to rail and took me for a drink to get over the disappointment.

Day 4- + $160

Day 5- Played the Golden Nugget PLO 8 MTT but missed two massive draws and went out early. MTT -$235 Cash - $450.

One cash hand I had trip4 check raised to $120 on flop then $270 allin on turn and he called with a flush draw and he hit flush on river.

Day 6- cash +$530

Day 7- Binnions $210 out earlyish after a couple of coolers. Ac5c flop A8c3c woman bets strong into it I call turn Jh she pots it again call river 5 I bet into her and she flats with 88 LOL she said she was worried I had AA. I pushed allin over raiser with 88 but ran into KK behind me and out.

Alot of the NPFs played this so we hit the bar and decided on a Tapas place in the Plaza which was recommended and it was superb.We got back to Binions and railed Scott Collins to victory for just under 5k and a nice trophy,I was over the moon for Scott who does a lot of work for the forum even though he has become a bit disinterested in poker.

Day 8- Played ceasers palace $225 great structure and place to play, I was going ok till 50 left out of 200 i get KK button my room mate Gaz Walker raises to 5k german woman min raises to 10k I shove Gaz folds AQ german woman calls with A10 and A first card FFS.

Day 9 Golden Nugget $235 another great structure and a decent 78 runners,I got upto 5ok without any showdowns or hassle. Then I raise with Ad3d 1 caller flop 8d9Jd I cbet and he calls turn 4d i check and he goes allin I make the easy call hes drawing dead with A10. Then this guy Poker Monkey gets moved to my table hes been making a lot of noise and straight away he upsets the table by calling 1 players wife a cocaine snorting tramp and another he calls a clown, he gets a warning off the TD which calms him down a bit. I reraise an Irish fella ive met before in Aspers and he says he cant fold he shows A10 I have AsKs flop comes 7s6s3 turn 8, at this point Monkey is doing a running commentary saying he needs 9 or 10 now, the river is a 9 but of spades to give me the nutflush, I hardly move a muscle as Monkey is going nuts until I say nutflush, wow you are my hero so cool, a few hands later I raise after looking at 1 A Monkey ships for 50k more, im like FFS until I look at other card A, he has Aj and I take him out. We move to final table im second in chips, with 140k first hand I play on final table is JJ I raise get flatted flop is 983 I cbet guy ships on me but I cant fold he shows AA, well played him. from then on I try to pick a spot but couldnt get my chips in until 7 left I ship A3 and get called off AK and im out 7th for $726. I played really well but was so disappointed with the end result.

Day 10- Played the Golden nugget again same MTT $235 but to be honest I couldnt get into it after the disappointment of night before. I went onto the cash tables and won $465.

Over all it was a great holiday with a little bit of luck could have cashed big but wasnt to be, pleased to be up $1k on cash only playing 5 sessions. Had a great laugh with CardGuard our designated driver, his side kick Stevie Sensation and my room mate Gaz walker who were all stopping in the Golden Nugget then had a couple of good nights when also joined by Looseman Mugpunt, knerrad, Willy, Teamdobb and Scott.

Funnys from the holiday

,

1- Sir Cardguards driving on the first day when he was really tired nearly hitting a parked car, hitting the kerb and going through 2 red lights.

2- Walking through a shopping precinct when a strange man walks up to sensh shakes his hand then rubs his arse Sensh was furious and was adamant he was trying to pick his pocket the trouble was he had no back pockets.

3- Adam who come on the same flight as Gaz was sitting on my cash table when guy sits down and loses two buyins in 2 hands, Adam says to guy its not your lucky day mate, guy says thanks for that CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!!!.

4- When deciding about where to eat Sensh said he doesnt like buffets as the service is shit.

5- On the Aria cash table gaz was ordering a mohito everytime she brought his drink he had about 7 in an hour i was trying vain to keep up in coronas but failed.

6- In ceasers palace MTT an old guy said it was time to eat his candy bar and then procceded to take a flickknife out of his pocket just to open his candy bar the whole table was gobsmacked. The old guy says dont worry I dont use it on players unless they give me a bad beat.

Sat 26th June just back from vegas and I had £300 GUKPT seat that i had won, got a decent first table with 2cats and Dan trett among the ones i knew, was doing ok until seat 3 makes it 900 blinds 150-300 im on the button with kk so flat for two reasons seat 3 has 6k so I want him to commit on the flop also hopefully someone in blinds decides to squeeze big blind asks seat 3 how much he has then says allin I have 10k so after seat 3 folds I make the easy call big blind has AQ and the A hits the flop and im out. Mrs Stumpy ended up 13th just missing out on the money in her biggest buyin toourny yet, not a bad effort.

Keep on smiling

Stumpy.