Yup

Haven't posted for a week or two, too busy I guess, I was also pretty ill and constipated until last night, which I dare say didn't help (Everything is flowing well again now, thanks for asking).

The big news, for me at least, is that I am now the editor for UK Pokernews. Most people probably assumed I was doing that anyway, as I was writing pretty much their entire content, but it now gives me a chance to do a lot more behind the scenes kind of stuff and promote the website a lot more. I'm still a freelancer, its not going to be my one and only writing gig, but it will take up the majority of my non playing time.

Speaking of Pokernews, I am totally addicted to ChipMeUp their new staking site. Its a very easy to use, very transparent staking website that reminds me of Ebay (sort of). I'm a bit of a fish when it comes to staking but it doesn't stop me and I cant resist sending players little $3 stakes here and there every day. I'll probably have a crack at getting staked myself into something or other, not for my own benefit but maybe as a Pokernews promo thingimebob.

Nearly there with the Pokerstars SuperNova challenge, just a few thousand points to go this week. I started the month with a huge downswing, then enjoyed an extended period of running like god and now its gone the other way again. Such is the nature of SNGs but it sucks being forced to put in the hours this week when I'd love to be taking a few days off from playing.

Blue Square and 888.com have put the first $40,000 No Limit market up for the WSOP. The odds, I think, are really generous and seem to be assuming a 300+ field. Ivey is at 33/1 which I kind of think is generous, off the top of my head I have gone for:

Jimmy Fricke - 81/1
Carlos Mortenson - 66/1
Justin Bonomo - 81/1
Sorel Mizzi - 81/1
Shaun Deeb - 101/1
Jason Mercier - 81/1
Gavin Griffin - 81/1

Will elaborate on that later, I'm now off the hopefully watch the Blades lose the richest game in football.

Stars UK Promo

Had a lovely bank holiday with the mutt, we took him up to Kings Lynn (where my missus is from) and took him on the beach, which was a joy to watch, not so much of a joy to clean his sand beard later though. He was a little angel all weekend, apart from a bout of diarrhoea at 4 in the morning on Saturday, which was a blessing in disguise as that was just the right time for me to watch Ricky Hatton get put on his arse. What a shocker that was, not the result, just the manner of it, I know concede that PacMan is the best in the world right now.

Although I started my new tenure at Stars by running like crap, I now have to stick with them because of this fantastic and frankly unfair promotion for UK players. Just 7,500 VPPs and I get another 80,000 on my way to SuperNova, if I get 18,000 in the month I will be automatically a SuperNova – not bad for one month’s play all year. I’m going the SNG route and originally my plan was to be playing the 6 max $109s this month, but this changes things slightly and I have started by 6 tabling the $40-$60 games 6 max and 9 max, gonna experiment with more tables at one time and also perhaps with the Steps games as well. I can find my niche next month when I am a SuperNova and all the yanks who cant do this promo hate me. Only 17,500 VPPs to go!

Wasted two hours of my life waiting to be a guest on the Poker Show, which never happened. I got a call from Jesse May as soon as the show ended apologising saying I was the first ever guest to get bumped from the show, which is a dubious honour but I’ll take it. The plan is for me to be on next week now as I’m watching the Champions League now instead (priorities). I also need to catch up racking up these VPPs as I have already missed 5 days in May and I am off to London on Thursday.

That blooooooody dog

That bloody dog is proving a real handful at the moment. He managed to escape our garden yesterday, he burrowed under a fence and slowly chipped at the bottom of it to get underneath it. Its not the most pleasant experience to have a stranger knock on your door holding your puppy in her arms saying she found him stood in the middle of the road. A fully reccy on the secureness of my garden is on the plate on Monday when I get back from bank holiday duties.

Off to London next week for a day to attend the BlackBelt Poker Workshop. Only as an observer, I will be interviewing a bunch of the players and seeing how things are ran down there. Usually you have to go searching for interviews with players but its nice to have about 50 of the buggers approaching me instead. It will be nice to go to London, haven't been for a long time and, as much as I love that little dog and how happy he is making me and the missus, it will nice to be away from the smell of dog for a day.

This SNG downswing ain't pretty, its about 25 buy-ins now. Thank god I still haven't started on the $100+ games yet (Monday was the plan). A 25 buy-in swing at SNGs is not particularly bad (I imagine even more common at 6 max games, which I play) and if there is one saving grace, the games seem softer than what I remember. Assuming I am still playing them in the next few months, I think a nice achievable aim would be to make a (any) Sharkscope Leader Board (Back in the day I peaked at 3rd overall profit and 5th average profit in the $100-$300 6 max games leader boards) and to at least once make a Battle of the Planets and SNG Madness leader board.

I cannot believe that Ricky Hatton is 2-1 on Betfair. He is nowhere near that big an underdog, I don't even think he is an underdog, he is slightly better than evens in my opinion. I have to go to Kings Lynn with the dog and the missus this weekend, which means I cant watch it here with my old man, which is a shame because its such an interesting and potentially very exciting fight. I just think the HitMan will be too big, to strong and too fast (He isnt faster than Pacman, but he is faster than Pacman is used to) for Manny.