Never let someone see your cards!

I went back yesterday for the 25 pound freeze out tournament and this time they managed to get 43 runners so the prize pool was pretty decent. I wanted to get first prize and i was so close to getting it.

I saw made in china again and we were all like yer see you on the final table but he got knocked out 2nd hand.He said it was because he couldn't concentrate as he was a designated dealer, but there wasn't really much thinking as it was an all in pre flop move he got knocked out with. To be fair he did have a hand pair of tens and got called by Ace king, you know how the story goes.

I Did ok, i knocked 7 people out so i got 35 pound in bounties and came 3rd. I'm not sure if what i did was a mistake but i asked a few people and they said it was correct. Ill give you more details about that and why you shouldn't let people see your cards in a minute.

In the beginning i was quite a big stack and had everyone under my control since they were all tighties, but then this crazy guy sat down. He had to put 300 in the pot for being late and called another 200, the pot was big with 2 others in there so i limped with 3h 4h. The flop was 10 s 5h and 6h. The first 2 checked and so i raised 1000 to take the pot there and then. The crazy guy who probably thought it was a re buy tourney called and the others folded. I figured he was a total donk so i wasn't worried. 9h came on the turn so i immediately pushed all in for his 1000 more which he snap called. The guy had Ah and 2c. I think it was because he wore a strong red t-shirt and had a lucky charm sitting on the table that gave him enough luck to hit his HEART giving him the nut flush. After that he was pushing and calling with king high on the turn card and hitting his high card. Fortunately he got knocked out before the blinds got to big and i became the bully once again.

On the final table i managed to knock 3 people out pretty quickly leaving the table with 6 people left. 5 people got paid and there was a small stack which had 2000 left and the blinds were 4000. This Small stack had the guy ill call Lloyd Mullaney behind it. He looked and sounded like him only difference being he had a shaved head. The guy got so lucky he kept wining all the all ins and got louder each time, it was so irritating. The last guy went out and 2 more followed pretty quickly leaving me big stack on the table with the other 2.

This is where i am not sure if i should have done what i did. I had over 60000 chips and i was small blind. The blinds were 4000 8000 and the dealer folded. The big blind was Lloyd Mullaney and he started playing tight, he still had 21000 on top and the other guy only had around 15000 and was big blind next so i pushed all in for the steal with queen 7 suited. To my surprise he snap called even though he always folded to me so i was thinking he had a monster. But in fact he had king 4 of suit. I realised he had looked at Rachel the whole time who was behind me. He picked up the fact she was looking at my cards when i had aces and she was saying 'why did you go all in pre flop, you should of just limped' She managed to see my cards and showed total weakness which he picked up on and obviously thought i had a lot worse. I wasn't in too bad a shape but nothing came on the board and he won with king high. I looked at Rachel to say don't look but she didn't understand and she looked again but this time it was a lot worse.

I was now dealer button and i was going to push with q2 suited. I didn't think Lloyd Mullaney will call me which he didn't as he just doubled up and thought its worth heads up with big blind who could have anything and id only lose about 15 if he won. As i was in motion going all in Rachel said 'don't do it' He snap called to no surprise with king 2 of suit and won again with king high. I cant say that he definitely would of folded but Lloyd Mullaney could have easily called as well making the odds worse. What rachel did without thinking was pretty silly,even though she didn't mean anything bad she was a big factor in me getting called both times. So don't let people see your cards! your not being mean your being clever. you may be able to hold a good poker face but your friend may not.

After all that i went all in with 5 6 of suit and hit 2 pairs but Lloyd Mullaney hit a bigger 2 pairs and i was out at third.

I question the play that i did when i was the dominant stack but i think i was right in doing it. The differences between 1st 2nd and 3rd prize was 100 each level so it was worth it for Lloyd Mullaney to fold. Next time id just make sure no one is looking at my cards!

ILL GET IT NEXT TIME!

Poker at the Empire

Rachel has already started one of her jobs so she was hard at work and urging me on to go out and look for work. I have honestly given out so many CV's online and in stores but i have had no reply from any of them. I don't see it as being unworthy because I'm far from it but i see it as destiny telling me I'm worth more. I looked destiny in the face and said 'look here i know im destined to be great and do great things but right now im in a pickle and i need to earn just a bit for now and pick up full speed after im in a comfortable position' I shit you not as soon as i had stopped talking to myself a flyer floated across my feet. As i picked it up i could here eye of the tiger playing from a phone ringing, It was information on the new tournament schedule at the empire casino. There was a 25 pound freeze out happening in 10 minutes and i was 5 minutes walk from the casino. As it just so happened i had 30 pounds on me i was going to use for a haircut and a bit of food. I thought about it and 5 pound of the buy in was going to go towards the bounty which is pretty nice so i started to make my way.

As i entered i felt at ease knowing this was where i belonged and not an office, but i realised if i was going to be on the cash tables across the room or enter the £250 tournaments id need to get a job to fund my bank roll or win a couple of the 20 pound rebuy tournaments. Anyway there was 23 runners so the pot was £460. Not too bad hopefully meant i could get in the money no problem even though 3 people got paid but i would aim for 1st or 2nd as 3rd would get £60 max.

As we all sat down with one person in the dealer seat my memories of having to shuffle ourselves all came rushing back to me. I have had the luxury in macau of having a dealer even for small tournaments. The reason it was so devastating was because i am terrible at shuffling. Yes i know i am trying to play poker pro and i cant shuffle, laugh it up. As soon as i started to attempt a shuffle the guy in the dealer seat requested if he could shuffle and deal the whole game to speed things up. Luckily for me or shall i say for them everyone agreed.

People in the early stages were going crazy, i assumed it was in attempt to take the bounty each time. One person called a pre flop raise of 350 when blinds were 25 50. We started of with 2500 chips so they had around that amount. the Flop was Ace d 7s 9s. The guy who raised pre flop pushes all in and the other guy ill call made in china ( as he always tried to act fake) snap calls. The guy who pushed had king 10 flush draw and made in china had king jack off suit lol. Made in china won and he kept saying well i was trying to bluff.

Any way i managed to make made in china fold when i needed him to even though he called everyone else and miraculously won every time like when he had ace 3 and called ace king all in pre flop and hit a 3. It was highly amusing.

I got lucky a few times but otherwise i was playing a good game and threw tells around which put me in control. For instance one hand a small stack went all in for 1200 when blinds were 150 300 and i could see 2 people between looked like they were itching to call. I wanted the bounty and i didn't want to go up against the other two with my pair of 3's so i simply fiddled with my chips and they folded. I was up against 7 10 and hit a set and won. Another time i lucked out was on the final table, i was on the button and i had 2nd largest stack and the largest stack was on the big blind for 1000. One person called in mid position with a fairly small stack and i wanted to get him all in with my pair of 10's. I pushed all in thinking everyone will fold with a chance to get the caller in but the Big stack snap called. I knew i was in big trouble but he gave no indication before that of having a big hand, as he didn't look at his cards before i made my move. Of course he shows aces but i caught a bit of luck and HIT a 10. The guy was pissssseeeeeedddd but he held it all in probably knowing i didn't really do anything wrong.

After that i was massive stack. I lost 2 all ins trying to get the small stack out who had no more then a big blind but it didn't really do much to my stack. The final table lasted ages and the other tournament was going to start, so after the 5th guy went out made in china who had the smallest stack asked to split four ways. It was quite an amusing game and i didn't think it was much of a difference so i agreed. I kinda regretted it though after realising it was a hundred less, but that was if i definitely took 1st place but in poker anything can happen.

I'm not going to write much about this but that night i went to the pub game for a 10 pound rebuy and i got taken out by super donks. I should have stayed away but i didn't! basically i had a flush on the turn, king high. The guy only had 700 in the pot but i knew he had a ace of spades so he needed one more spade so i pushed all in for 3600 more. He was the only donk with a little knowledge and said there is no value to call this but I CALL. And of course he hits a damn spade! I think I'm going to stay away from blackjack poker!

Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger...

eye of the tiger songs | music videos | lyrics

Happy St Pastricks day

Every weekend me, Rachel and Super geek Steven vu go to London for dim sum. We also usually get our money back on our secret machine which is code name Bishi Bashi. There is actually a game called bishi bashi so don't run off to one of those machines because its not that one. It's basically a gambling game we discovered which is skill based. It was our secret machine and before i went to macau we used to always jackpot it after dim sum. Unfortunately last Tuesday we lost 30 pounds on it but we thought it might be because it was a Tuesday. So today we went knowing strongly it should jackpot this time.

We were so eager this time we wanted to play before dim sum unlike the usual dim sum first then Bishi Bashi. We made our way to the machine all hyped up and ready to rumble but as we turned the corner we began to clench our teeth as a young couple had their dirty hands all over our machine. They were young and looked pretty stupid and had no skills compared to my tiger like reactions. We watched cursing them every time they bashed our bishi that we claimed way before they did. I began to relax because i realised i was right and they continuously made mistakes. They kept launching the money into the machine so i didn't worry so much. But to my amazement they actually completed the first round. It was quite a high prize but nothing really compared to what it would show if it was going to jackpot. The next round started and halfway through the timer they already made 2 mistakes, there should of been no way that they could of completed that round. To my amazement again ! they finished that round and i wanted to rip their heads off as the prize went halfway to the jackpot which showed it was going to definitely jackpot. Like the amateurs they were they collected.



I had hope as they left the machine but Steven asked them how they did and they said they actually go the jackpot 2 hours prior. This really twisted my balls up into a state but i remained calm and tried a few pounds in the machine. Of course there was no sign of it getting the jackpot again so we left.


We checked the poker room in empire as well for any tournaments but there wasn't any until 7.30 so we passed on that.


We noticed there was green all over London and after a little pondering we realised it was St Patricks day. We thought we'd get into the festive moment and get some funny hats and drink Guinness. I don't really drink beer at all but i did just because it was St Patricks day and everyone was doing it including 14 year old kids. We joined the festivities in Trafalgar square where they had a stage set up and tried joining in some dancing. We were completely lost Steven even managed to spill drink all over someone but luckily they were too drunk to care. He also had a fear of wearing his green on the bus or train like a little poom poom. He seriously made a really good leprechaun i think he should grow a beard dye it ginger and always wear a green hat. It would be epic.


We had some fun and took leave so we could try to set up a poker game at my house tonight. So far no luck because everyone seems to be on the lash.

Home sweet home

As tough as i try to make myself out to be, i am always going to be one of them boys with a soft spot for home. Now everything has been done to a level in macau i can come back home to sort things out down that end. I want to get high on refreshing air, feel the cold drips of rain trickle down my face as i run for shelter, ride the dirty transport and eat the food fit for royalty FISH AND CHIPS.

I should be back in macau hopefully pretty soon at least 100 k US richer since ill be back for the poker camp me, Mr Black and Jade will be doing but until then i am going to scrape for whatever i can get down here. I decided i will work as many jobs as i can down here to get some money together. I also plan to get some new songs done but i need to start networking down here again from scratch.

GOOD news though i found out i am free from my contract and i was actually free since July 2008. Reason why its such good news is because i thought i had another year on the contract because the thief wouldn't legally cut me off with intentions to give me trouble. The thief is Stevie eagle e. So i am free to work with who ever i want and do what ever i want. The guy is a joke he doesn't even know this. The lawyer who went over the contract actually asked if a primary school kid wrote it because it was so badly written.

Any way, the poker scene has improved in UK even more which is cool. They have a casino poker room now which is open 24 hours. They have tournaments EVERY day. I actually entered a 50 pound satellite which i won. It was for the festival main event which was a 1000 pound buy in. It would of been great to win it but an IDIOT who actually paid 1000 bust me on my first hand when i was dealt aces with 5 6!!!!!

This is how it went down. Bare in mind we had 15000 chips and blinds started at 25 50. I was under the gun so i didn't want to scare any one away so i raised to 150. I got 3 callers then the big blind raised to 1000 !!! i thought this guy must have pair 10's to kings or ace king so i tried my luck and raised it to 2000. The 3 folded and he called. The flop was 3 king 7 rainbow. I wanted to trap him hoping he didn't hit a set and checked. He bet 1000 i raised to 2000 and he called. The next card was an ace giving me a set, so i checked again as he looked eager to bet. He bet 1000 again so i raised to 2000 He re raises me another 2000 so i go all in and he turbo calls me. I expected to see either ace king or trip kings, he shows 5 6 off suit and i am happy but thinking what the hell is this guy doing. But you know how it goes....... a 4 comes straight down on the river giving he a straight. INSANE! i tried to keep calm since it was my first day back in 6 months and I'm basically a new face so i didn't want to make a scene. But you should of seen the faces of everyone on the table. Flabbergasted lol. Well ya win some you lose some!

The way i got my buy in though was my first game back at a pub game. My friend said they started hosting games on Thursdays and i should come down check it out. It was a 10 pound rebuy a real homey type of game. I thought id make a statement saying I'm back from Asia and I'm cooler so i wore my funky sunglasses. Steven being the upfront wan*er he is shouted in the middle of the street 'you look like a cock with them, cant believe you wore them in public,' so the only quick reply i had was 'well I'm a pro poker player and these are a strong asset'. At that moment i realised there would be pressure on me to win this game since i have been claiming i have gone pro since my bad experience in the music business. I thought if i lost this it would make me seem I'm a joke. Even though i could of lost a number of ways which would of just been bad old luck. I tried to keep in mind a chapter in one of Doyle's books about pride, that i didn't have to act like a cowboy to prove i am a great player and keep making big bluffs. I did make big bluffs but rarely which was when i found the right opportunity. Luckily i didn't lose and it was a good game. And my glasses did actually work phycologically but for me they almost cost me a lot of chips since i could hardly see anything as the pub had quite dark lighting.

So for now i will be doing 'real' work and entering as many tournaments as i can to keep me top notch.

What to do

Well the pokerstars lounge has been closed for almost 2 weeks now and so i haven't played any tournaments in that time either. Its been boring but i have still kept myself busy with other things.

I have been working on video intros and the Got Rice Website. I can upload one of the videos but the Website is far from complete.

Its been raining like I'm back in England these last 2 days which sucks so i haven't even been able to play some basketball either. Last weekend at fashion club i did some mc'ing which was cool. It was a nurse night and there were a lot of nurses! Ive never wanted a check up so bad in my life! lol. The people who party here are cool, they are fun and arnt stuck up and the guys don't come out just to pick a fight.

Man am i craving for some fish and chipssss.....

Everything out here is funky its great. Even the drinks and food are funky. I mean there is a place where you eat out of a toilet while sitting on one its crazzyyy. You can check that out on www.youtube.com/concepttv

Been trying to get a photoshoot sorted out for the Got Rice crew stuff this weekend in hong kong. Its so long just to do a simple task. I just wish people wouldn't say they can do things if they cant will save a lot of time.

The popcorn in hong kong cinemas are so buff. I dunno what it is but its different and i don't usually like popcorn in cinemas. I feel like watching a film so i can buy the popcorn. I used to watch films in UK so often because I'm a film fanatic. Even if a film is rubbish, like the worst film evveerrr, if i have started to watch it i always have to finish it. I NEED to know what happens. Leaving in the middle is like stopping a guy just before hes about to POP. I would rather piss my pants then go to the toilet during the film in a cinema seriously!. I think the only time I've ever missed part of a film was when i was 15 or something, i cant remember exactly and i went to the cinema to watch castaway with my friends and i fell asleep. I had just done a lan party marathon which was a week of non stop gaming in an Internet cafe NO SLEEP. But to be fair i fell asleep during the trailers so i didn't even start the film. I probably would of stayed awake if i did.

Well anyway I'm gonna be off to sleep now........Gnittteee