Congrats and Update

Before I write anything, just let me say congratulations to a good friend of mine Francis from Birmingham. He called me Saturday night and informed me he was chipleader with ten left in an MTT on Betfair. I downloaded Betfair and hopped on to wacth. Well 146 players, $10 buy-in, Frannie takes first place for $450. And just to prove it was no fluke, he came 2nd in a 2500 player freeroll the following day when his JJ lost to A9 heads up. Just to put this in perspective, he has only been playing for about a year, so he is getting better very quickly.

Now on to me.

Well this weekend the future inlaws came to Glasgow and I didnt get much poker played. I was tiling the bathroom and kitchen as well as going to dinners and concerts. They are really nice people and her dad was teaching me a lot about DIY (do it yourself) so it was ok.

I played a little cash the last few days, breaking about even. Here are some of the more interesting hands, let me know what you think.

Hand 1 - I have J9 diamonds in middle position and I call the $1. The button then makes it $4 and I call. The flop comes 997 with two hearts. I check, he bets $9, I min raise to $18, he calls. The turn is the K of hearts, and I bet the pot and he folds. In hindsight, I should have came out betting the flop I think. Thoughts?

Hand 2 - I have AQ hearts in middle position and I raise to $6. The cutoff calls (one before the button) and the small blind calls. The flop comes out TJK rainbow giving me the nuts. I bet $8 into a $20 pot to fake a continuation bet. The cut off calls, the small blind raises making it another $34 to play. Now I thought I was up against either a set and a set, a set and two pair, two pair and AK. I knew that pairing the board was disaster so I figured that if I was going to go broke, better to go broke in a pot getting 3-1 on my money rather than 2-1. I called the $34. The other guy took ages but folded. The turn was a 5. Now with $111 in the pot, I go all in for $50 or so. He calls. The river was a beautiful 2 and he flips KJ for two pair. The cutoff then said he had AK. That was a nice pot.

(You all may be thinking how could I break even with hands like those?...read on)

Hand 3 - I have 55 in the SB and after a few limpers I complete and see a flop of 573. I check, UTG bets out the pot, folded to me, I min raise he reraises, I call. Turn is a 3. I check, he bets the pot, I go all in, he calls. River is an ace. He flips over....77 for better full house. Nothing I could do, just unlucky, cannot get away from middle set.

I am going to play some 45 player turbos tonight I think. Have had some success with them recently and they ar filled with weak players.

Heres to hoping.