Well it's about time I posted an entry for 2010 so here goes....

Jan was a fun month which saw me return to tournaments after taking a break in December (although I did manage a disappointing 12th place finish in the Ipoker $2500 event at the start of the month). January started off with a last minute trip to the Bahamas for the PCA (Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure) at the Atlantis. After numerous efforts of failing to win a package online, I decided to just pack my bags and get on the plane. Luckily when I arrived, I managed to win 2 seats into the main and win a lil bit online as well. The main event was fun and I had a good Day 1 playing a lot of interesting pots generally bashing up the table. I had Ivey at my table for most of the day and he was in the mood to play every pot, so I had to be ready to fight for every chip. It was really good seeing the master at work and putting him to the test a few times. As much as I tried to stay out of his way, I couldn't help myself when it came to bluffing him out of a pot with nothing but Queen high. I managed to end the day 1 on just under 100k.

Unfortunately Day 2 didn't go as well as I would have liked because I couldnt win my really important races or win when I had my opponent dominated.
I ended up bubbling at the beginning of Day 3 in a pot that would have put me back to average  (all in with KK vs J10 on a 10 high flop).

The only consolation was that I had swapped a nice piece with Praz who was massive chip leader at the time. Me and Javed had a good sweat over the next few days and watched on as Praz finished a disappointing but respectable 18th. I also min cashed a $1k event, losing a 70/30 whilst short stacked. It was a fun trip overall, although it wasn't as hot as we would have liked it.
We spent the last days trying to work out the best way to get to Australia in time for the Aussie Millions, but as we couldn't find a route from Nassau which took less than 30hrs, we ended up in Sunny Deauville for the French leg of the EPT. This is one of my favourite stops on the EPT simply because the amount of value in tournaments. Unfortunately I lost a race after the dinner break on Day 1 (JJ v AK) to get back to average so this time it was all up to Javed to get us out of it! Unfortunately he ran KK into AA for a chip lead pot with 42 left . I think my next stop should be the NAPT in Vegas and if that goes well, the LAPC in LA!!!

P.S. Tune into Sky Sports on Friday the 4th of December from 7pm as James Akenhead plays the Final of the Poker Million...Hopefully he can chalk up an impressive victory to round off an incredible year!

After the Main Event I had a day off and then jumped straight back into action trying to win a satellite seat into the World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup $15k Event. I luckbox a seat in a super sat for $1k and have to play the main event in 3 hours after being up for 36 hours. This event has a 90 minute clock, 60k starting stack and 300 of the toughest players in the world!

My Day 1 table was relatively easy but as the field consolidated the tables seemed to get tougher and tougher. I literally played ABC poker all day making no real moves at any pots to get through day 1 on 50k. As I was soooo tired and the stacks were so deep I didn't want to make any mistakes so I just played like a nit. Day 2 was a little more eventful with some really tough tables including Allen Cunningham, Michael Mizrachi, Alexandre Gomes and loads of other top pro's. I was relatively card dead all day so had to play quite tight and get max value out of anything that resembled a playable hand. I managed to grind my way through to Day 3 with 63k in chips when the average was like 160k. My Day 3 start table was pretty solid as I recognised most of the players at the table and had Elky directly to my left. Unfortunately day 3 didn't last too long and I busted in 86th place, out of the money running my 99 into QQ pre-flop, for a pot that would put me back in the game. I never really managed to build a decent stack in this tournament but the super slow structure gave me every chance to go deep if I could hit a decent run!

I've been really busy since the Main Event started either playing, railing, partying or being hung-over so have struggled to find time to update the blog. I made it to Day 4 of the Main Event and looked really good for a deep run with 400k in chips at 3000/6000 (1000), but it wasn't to be this year :(

Day 2 was really swingy for me starting out with 44k, running it up to 80k then down the 15k then back up to 94k to end the day. My table draw was good as I only recognised 1 team Pokerstars Pro, who was dispatched of pretty quickly. I ran up my stack without any showdowns initially, just picking up lots of small pots with well timed bluffs. Then I managed to bluff off 50% of my stack and tilted off some more to go into the dinner break with 18k. The dinner break came at a good time as it allowed me to re-group and re-think my strategy going back with 22 big blinds. The 300/600 (75) level was pretty brutal for my style as I kept trying to put pressure on my opponents by representing the nuts, only to keep running into the nuts! After the dinner break I squeezed my stack up to 30k and got lucky to double up by cracking Aces. I won most of the pots I entered for the rest of the day and was lucky to make it through the day with 94k.

A few of us went along to Heff's Suite in the Fantasy Tower in Palms where PKR were hosting a pre-main event party. The suite is pretty sick with an infinity pool spilling over the edge of the 55th floor! We also partied it up at Lavo at the Pallazo and Tao at the Venetian. I actually missed the Bluff party at Sapphires which I was really looking forward to but I had to put in some work that night.

I'm going to play Day 1a of the Main Event today and hopefully I can continue to run good this week and get 1 cash for the series (Eastgate style)! Well I better hit the gym now and get some breakfast so I can be at peak performance levels. I will try and update after each day of the main while it's fresh in my mind. Wish me luck!

I've been in Vegas for about a month now and think I could get used to living out here. I've been beating the 5/10 and 10/20 cash games down at the Bellagio and Rio for small chunks this week and got completely out of the 20k hole that I managed to create through tournaments. I've also been doing well in the $525 sit and go's down at the Rio and cleaning up on most of the side bets I put out. Still can't cash in a live tournament though>Y$?J£{":!£<

I moved into a new apartment this week at the Meridian Resort which is really nice and spacious with most of the things I need in 1 spot. I've also had a few big nights out this week at Tao and LAX and obv a few trips to Sapphires. We went to a party at Neil Channing and the Blackbelt crews MTV cribs style mansion a little out of town. Somehow I managed to lose $1400 in side bets in a $100 sit and go! My living expenses just skyrocketed as I just had to drop $3k on emergency dental work. Who would have thought that McDonalds pancake syrup could cause so much pain?!?!? I can only function now after taking about 10 different pills but can't drink anymore...sigh! These pills have me all messed up in the head at the moment but I never want to experience that pancake pain again. The party is over for now and hopefully I will be back to normal and out of pain by the start of the Main Event!