Online Wins/Live Wins in Aug/Sep

A few live cashes and a few online games not previously reported saw a return of

Live: £220
Online: $415

Punterslounge.com WSOP at DTD

Over 60 members and friends turned up at Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club in Nottingham for the 1st annual Punterslounge.com World Series of Poker

A great time was had by all and the winners were as follows:

Omaha
1st Place...Brian Martin,

Holdem
1st Place....Andy Fenwick

Well done lads

A full write up will appear later as will a magazine article in Flush Magazine

Dusk Till Dawn 26th Sept £85 freezeout win

Entry: £75
Game: Hold Em
Registration: £10
Limit: No Limit
Starting Chips: 4000
Type: Freezeout
Total Entries: 61
Total Prizepool: £4,575

PLACE PLAYER PRIZE
1 Graeme Morl £1,693
2 James Ballantyne £1,052
3 Matt Russell £686
4 Steven Frew £412
5 Chris Ellinas £320
6 James Welch £229
7 Alan Steer £183

Dont remember much as i was steaming drunk by the end, but i dominated the heads up and the guy dealt when i was 3-1 chip leader.

Thoroughly enjoyed myself and would recommend DTD to everyone!

Brendan Hartnett R.I.P

For any of the APAT'ers amongst us who may not have heard the sad news, Brendan Harnett has passed away this week.

Ive copied a post from the APAT forum: It's with a sad heart that I write this to tell everyone that Brendan passed away yesterday.He became ill on Sunday, was admitted to Hospital, but died suddenly.

A true gentleman, always played with a smile on his face - win or lose.He will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him, and no one else embodied the APAT spirit as well as Brendan.

RIP Brendan

Pokerplayer Championships Brighton Event

I was up to 38k when i made the final table with blinds of 3k/6k

My demise came after a guy had pushed all in on my BB when i had A9 and i decided to fold, only for him to the exact same thing on my SB when i had KJ....i called this time after putting him on a much bigger range of hands than anything that premium! His QQ held up but luckilly i had him covered and im down to 2k

I wait for a full round til my BB and decide to go blind and only look once they other guys had acted and shown on the river...2 callers and im up against A8 and 34 who had hit the 3.....i get a come on, turn them over by the TD and everyone stands around to see if im in or out......1st card turned over an Ace.....a few oohs and arghhhs and then i whip over the 2nd one.....an Ace!!!! Cheers, photos and laughter later I get up to 6K and can now fold the SB lol

It all folds round to me in the SB and i go blind again for the bb to get a free shot at me....he turns over K9o and i think i have to be behind so i turn em over and i have KJ again lol....im now up to 12k and laughing my arse off with loads of the rail having a ball!

3 hands later it gets folded round to me and i look down and see AJ spades and decide to push, SB fold and BB makes up the extra 4k and turns over 69o.... 6 on the flop and im gone, but won £180 and had a laugh all the same

Scottish Championships Result

Had one of the best poker experiences of my life this weekend and never once felt out of my depth, I played well and was only once behind when i made a call, which cost me a few chips after the cock called with A6 lol

Had Charalambos Xanthos http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=247 of late night poker fame on my table for 1st 3 hrs and took him out when he tried to make a play on me twice. 1st time i held 44 and on a flop of 246 i bet out, he insta pushed and i called, he had 55 and missed and he doubled me up.....3 hands later i get AKclubs and i pump it up the table raise of 4x the bb....he re-raises me and i call for an extra 4xbb...flop brings J7J and i know if i check he pushes and i cant call.....so i bet 10k into a 10k pot and he pushes for 16k total.....i have to call and he turns over Q10.......i look at him and he has the cheek to say....how did u call? lol

Before the A6 incident which cost me 24k i was sitting nicely on 55k with 2 hrs of play remaining and if my QQ had held up id have been massive chip leader with everything to play for, but, i made my target of reaching day 2 comfortably and I was playing well so I have no arguments!

Gaz explained the final hand which was a gutter.....Blinds 600/1200 ante 100Me UTG+2 on 25kHim UTG+3 on 62kI raise to 4100 with KQ and he calls, table foldsFlop was 382 and i check (any bet here he probably calls or re-raises and i lose half my stack was my reasoning), he also checksTurn was 10 and again i decide to check for same reasonsRiver brought the King which i was happy with as there was now 10700 in the pot so i make it 6k to play he anounces all in and im thinking that if he had AA , AK , KK he would have re-raised me preflop to protect his hand and thus I make the call.....he has AK clubs and im gone in 14th.

5 short of the money
73 runners with 9 getting paid from 1500 up to 28500 for winner

PL Scottish Championships win!

This was the tourney that I had my number 1 game in play for, im getting good starting hands, hitting the flop and my hands are holding up, its a great feeling when you know your doing well and with a £1300 package up for grabs for the winner, I had to win!

The final hand was a crazy call by me, but i felt that Brian(mcfc/wasp) would be prepared to make moves early and try to dominate the heads up, that if i kept folding raggy aces heads up, he'd destroy me.

He pushes at quite low blind levels so i decide to call as i have chips behind me (15k in play, i have 9k) I have A4 suited and im thinking......whats he got......he turns over A2offsuit.....so i turn away and expect the chop chop to happen.....well i spike a 4 on the turn to take down the victory and im chuffed!!

Im now going to Edinburgh on 30th August to play my biggest buy in yet....the £1060 Scottish Championships held at the Gala Maybury in Edinburgh.....wish me luck!

August Misery

I just cant do a thing right at the moment, im playing well, certainly reading players better than i ever have, and im getting frustrated.......going in ahead and being outdrawn or playing my hands too softly and allowing players in at a cheap price....change of tactics in order i feel and im going back to basics for a while!

14 tourneys, 1 cash, 1 win.....sick!!!!

£205 win in the grosvenor £25 freezeout

Sunday 10 August 2008£25 FreezeoutEntries: 23Prize Pool: £575
Place Name Prize
1 Graeme Morl £205
2Billy Hunnam £130
3 Dawn Wills £85
4 David Jonathan Garside £65
5 Mustapha Sliem £50
6 Garry Wilson snr £40

Blackpool APAT Team Challenge

Not much to say about this one, as I played well but come up against a few monsters after hitting the flop and ended up busting out in a massive pot to the eventual winner Mary Martin whos KJ destroyed my AK on a King high flop.

Team Punterslounge ended up mid way down the table after a great 11th by Ross Wakenshaw, but we need to get some team tactics in order before our next challenge!

Planet Hollywood $80 live event

Its July 4th, my final night in Vegas, and instead of lining the neon signed streets to watch the Independance Day firework shows, Im sat in a poker room, drunk and waiting for the $80 freezeout to start.

We had been on the drink most of the day and after a few games of beerpong, meeting up with the majority of Puntersloungers over in Vegas and sinking 1 or 2 too many beers im in the mood for a game of poker, so off we stumble (its 7pm lol) to Planet Hollywood at the south end of the strip. My game in Vegas this year has been good, just a lack of luck prevented me from making some great money in the tourneys id played in, fingers crossed for my last vegas game!

We end up just missing the start of the tourney and have to come in as alternates, and find that they create a new table for us, and im sat next to 4 of my good friends, which is never good cos you hope that we'll all meet at the final table instead, but im getting such good cards and i have to play to break my cashing jinx!

AA (3 times) KK (twice) QQ (4 times) and AK( too many to count) ensured i would get to the final table and make some well earned money!.....unfortunately taking 4 of my mates out along the way!

The majority of the tourney is a blur for me as we continued drinking on through the levels, however when i made the money, i let out a big cheer and had my mates in stitches cos i was over the bloody moon and making a tit out of myself lol.

We get 3 out and im sat with a mexican dude who dosent speak much english and James Eccles a scotchman who dosent speak much english either hahaha, who i know from back on the UK scene. I have 75% of the chips in play and its getting late....i cant be bothered to play it out and offer the deal to the other two lads as we approach a 20min break. They both agree and we all go home with $800...10x our buy in!

Then it sinks in......ive won in vegas and unfortunately i have to go home tomorrow!!!! noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Apat Regional Champion!!

Had it confirmed on the http://www.apat.com/ website that I have won the Northern Regional rankings with 31 points in 5 games.

I win a seat at the World Amateur Championships at the Grosvenor Victoria on 31st Aug to compete against the 3 other regional champions and 200 other entrants. Best of luck all

How i got on in WSOP Event 52

Hi all

Firstly, thanks for having faith in me and buying some shares, it means a lot to me that people will gamble their hard earned income on an idiot like me!

I lasted just over 3 hrs in my event, after being sat on a table with a WPT circuit winner (no idea of his name), a Bracelet Winner (william mckinnie) and a 2x 2008 wsop final tableist (larry wright) so i knew my chances of bossing a table of very experienced players was doomed.
3 hands in i pick up AJ in mid position and with the rest of the table folding i make a standard 3x bb raise, to be called by the wpt circuit winner. Flop of J 8 4 and he checks to me, i then fire off 1200 into a 1000 pot leaving myself 1500 behind. he insta re-raises me all in and i have a decision. But what makes it worse, is it came str8 into my head that i was playing with other players money and how could i explain that i went out after only 3 hands. I reluctantly fold and he turns over a bluff...AK and i have to rebuild.

I do well over the next few hours and build my stack from 1500 to 6.2k and am feeling comfortable. The 5th hand after the break i pick up 10 10 in my BB. all fold to the button who raises me to 2k, which is a massive overbet. I sense his weakness and re-raise all in, he takes an age, and eventually calls.

I have 1010 and he calls with 8 8.....a smile creeps on my face and im thinking of how i can comfortably play the next few hours with no problems!
However the gods again shat on me from a great height, and not even bothering with the good old river shafting, they give it the 1st card instead, a flop of 8 J A And im drawing slim. I forget the turn and the river cards now as i never hit the 10 and no str8 for me so im gone, gutted and cursing my bad luck.

Ill be there again next year tho, and hopefully do people proud!

Thanks again all

Graeme

Aspers Win Night Before Vegas!

Its 7pm and we have 12hrs til we leave for vegas, im not packed, im feeling like shite and the last thing i want to do is play poker, well....thats til i get a phonecall from Geordigaz inviting me to play at aspers. I think for a few mins, and say nah, i need to pack and we wont have time....

Well 10 mins later were in the car and on our way up haha!!!

I end up dealing for 2 hrs and deal quads over a fh, a str8 flush 1 outer and then get myself up to 16k, which I keep and take with me to the final table which began just after 1am....feck i still aint packed my case and we need to be at airport at 6.15am!!

The final table begins with blinds at 2k/4k and i have 16k in chips, and immediately ask for a deal so the 9th and 10th players get £100 each for their troubles, this is agreed and its time to push with any picture card. I get some luck and get a walk in the BB so am up to 18k and fold my way around til my 2nd bb, which i look down and see i AJ hearts, bingo!! Im all in i announce to 1 caller, who calls my 16k bet, he then turns over KQ....I hit an Ace and double up to just over 34k!!! whoo hoooo

Well in almost no time at all were down to 5 players and im still the massive short stack and we have only 4hrs to be at the airport haha. So again i try and make a deal, now at this point, a 5 way deal would have meant around £650 each, which was a little under 2nd place, to which the 3 big chip leaders all said no....cant blame them but come on, guarantee of £650 for a £20 stake or maybe go home with £260?? easy one in my eyes but hey, each to their own!

Well lady luck shone on me and in turn i take out the remaining 4 players 1 by 1 starting with the big stacks who look decidedly sick at losing out on a bigger pay day!! Always deal ladies, always deal!....Heads up was the easiest heads up ive ever had....the kid didnt make a single bet against me, until the end where i had the str8 and he had called my re-raise all in with.....AK.....nowt!!

£1100 win and just under 2hrs til checkin haha

Fri, 27 Jun 2008
£20 No Limit Texas Holdem Freezeout Entries: 169 Prize Pool: £3380

1 G Morl £1160
2 C McGarr £680
3 A Young £340
4 C Simpson £270
5 J Harmer £240
6 J Gargan £200
7 S Reavley £170
8 A Carling £140
9 C Holmes £100
10 A Leung £80

June Winnings

$55

$23 ............................................$33

$22...................................................$21

Poker Player Championships Bolton 2008

Last Saturday saw the 1st Pokerplayer magazine Championships held at the Grosvenor Casino in Bolton. The event was a £50+4 freezeout capped at 100 players with a 5000 chip starting stack and 20 min blinds.

The prizepool which at £5000 isnt to be sniffed at also had the added value of a £1050 seat at a GUKPT Event next along with a seat at a 10 man final table for a £3000 package to the GUKPT Main Event in London.

The event started around 10 mins late at 2.10pm with all 100 players seated and in good spirits and it wasnt long before we heard the familiar cry of "man down ". 1st player gone after 2 hands, he travelled from london so it was one hell of a journey for just over 5 minutes of poker!

I was stuck on the outer tables for the majority of the game and was constantly being moved which made it very hard to get a feel for the players on the table, so I had to play gut instinct poker for the 1st time in a while and i felt back to the old Morls, fearless and not bothered what happened! Out of the 10 tables in play, I had been on 8 of them by the time we made the final table.

The bubble took an age to burst, over 40 mins and with the majority not having more than 10x the big blind it seemed that it was push or fold. One hand that stands out for me is the guy who was all in blind on his BB, getting called off 4 players (excellent tactics to remove a player) anyway, all it did was quad him up haha! one player had made 2 pair, one had a set and when he turned his cards over, he showed the flush.....and I alwys thought that just happened on the internet!

Well he may have had the luck there, but a few hands later he couldn't survive any longer, he picked up 99 and was all in, with an insta-call by the bigstack who showed JJ, they held up and we had all reached the final table of 9 and the money positions.

After a short break to allow the final table to be set up we sat down and re-started the level, which was a good thing, as with 27k to my name and blinds of 3000/6000 it was time to let lady luck take over. Well she was havin non of it, I won my blinds and watched a player bust before me, only to get nothing for the next 12 hands and find myself clinging on hoping for a hand or for another player to bust. I pick up K10 off-suit UTG+1 and decide this is it. Im all in I announce, the big stack to my left thinks hard as do a few others, with sighs coming from around the table I assume im beat. The big stack calls and the rest decide to get out the way. The T.D asks for them on their backs and we turn em over, im praying for 2 live cards, but it wasnt to be. I turn over K10 and he shows A10, im dominated! The flop brings a curious QQJ giving me the up and down but with two blanks to come im gone, 8th place and £180.

The remaining players played on and when down to the final 4, they decided to deal for the money and play on for the added seat, with the winner R Sudworth walking off with the Trophy, Cash and a £1050 seat to the GUKPT, well done mate, you played a blinder!

Although the blind structure was a little crazy towards the end, the tournament has to be hailed as a complete success, with 100 players, a small buy in and good banter, i'd advise anyone thinking of playing one of the series to come along and join in the fun.

Full results

Sat, 07 Jun 2008

Poker Player Magazine 2008 Championships £50 No Limit Texas Holdem Freezeout Entries: 100 Prize Pool: £5000

1 R Sudworth (GUKPT seat +) £1700
2 S Holden £950
3 M Kay £700
4 P Knoxx-Roberts £500
5 M Coleman £350
6 S Waddington £280
7 S Coope £220
8 G Morl £180
9 A Yates £120

Punterslounge.com May Live Event Win

Saturday May 31st saw the 2nd Annual PL Barries Poker Event in Birmingham which attracted over 30 members into the £10 no limit holdem tournament.

All started well for me , vodka and cokes slipping down nicely, banter flowing and getting good cards, i managed to trebble my stack in the early phases and just went from strength to strength. 6 hours later its heads up Vs Heniek, a player we all respect and a player we know can mix it up with the best of us.

Heads up lasted for less than 5 hands tho, I had a 2-1 chip lead when my 23o destroyed his pocket Queens. With no raise from Heniek, i was given a free flop which came down 8 2 J. Heniek bet, i re-raised and Heniek instapushed! oops i thought after calling and he showed his monster......that was until the turn brought me the 2......tripped up and winner once more of the PL Barries do! 2 years running now!

and £110 for my troubles!

Another great night ensued and lots of drunken PLers made their way back to the hotel, with the last of us rolling back home at 6.30am!! Hammered but happy!

Final May Wins

$16.50

$19 win ..........................................$47 win

$40 win......................................$38 win

A few more wins for May!

1st for $40.................................$1st for $40

€22/$34 seat................................ 3rd for $18

$500 ticket ...............................1st for $40

Winnings for 2008 so far

$7217 ish

E-sport Poker League Winnings

Hello graeme,

Congratulation for the successful participation at the 2nd season of the eSport-Poker league

You and your team became 5th place at the 1st league. There for you have won with your team $760 prize money.

We wish you and your team lots of fun and success at the eSport-Poker league.Your eSport-Poker team.

WSOP Super Sat Entry

After finishing 5th in the Punterslounge.com WSOP sat league i won a €27.50 seat in the daily satellite, which i managed to win, getting some amazing cards along the way!

Entry to the the main satellite is €275 so hopefully a main event seat for me if i play!

Virgin Festival 3 in Nottingham at Dusk til Dawn

Qualified for the next Virgin Festival at Dusk Til Dawn in June, however with me travelling to vegas for the WSOP the same weekend, i cannot play. Virgin have been great as usual and have transfered my seat to another player and i have been given the cash off that player for the seat.

Total win $240

More May Wins total $781

$55............................................... $121

$40................................................ $60

$15.............................................. $25

$400 ..........................................$65

Enjoying a great month this month, and especially as its so close to the WSOP as well!

Apat Edinburgh Trip Report

Ok....it all went pear shaped from the moment i got on the train to Edinburgh!!

Well i didnt get on the train to Edinburgh as it happens, i got on the one to London!! EEK!! Just as the doors shut and i emerge from the trains toilets i realise were going the wrong way, and then i make my discovery, its the London train leaving late....bollox!!!

I get the next available train from Durham and eventually get to Edinburgh about 2 hrs later than planned....and ive missed my 1st three hands of the tourney. Not to worry it seems cos im doing well and by the 1st break, im up to 21k and chip leader. This is easy it seems!

Well my bad day was gonna get worse, a few bad plays and a few bad beats and im gone even before the 2nd break.....wish id stayed in bed

Collected my silver medal off Des and then decided not to stay over and just get the hell out of Scotland however there was no trains after 7pm (I think Scotland must be a 3rd world country or something). So i decide to get the Megabus....ffs! 3 hrs later i arrive in Newcastle just as the pubs were kicking out, mental people everywhere, no public transport and thank the lord my mate was awake to pick me up!

Apat organised another great tourney, shame the gods decided to piss on me before it started!

See ya in Dublin haha!

My First Royal!!

3 Years of solid poker playing and finally ive hit my 1st royal flush....i lost the heads up tho lol

Pokerstars $100k gtd $10+1 entry Cash

Played the Pokerstars $100k gtd on sunday and managed to work my way through a field of over 22000 runners to finish in 787th.....now normally id not brag about being 787th in an online event but i played pretty well and even layed down some monsters....10 10 twice and QQ in the later stages. However what was even more special about this was that after 1 min and 45 secs of this tourney starting, i was down to 60 chips.......yes thats right 60 chips!!

Well i managed to wait til my bb and quad up to 280 and then the next two hands i quadded up again....and again!!! wowsers, pushing is easier than playing it seems! At the break i was up to 7.5k and laughing.

Anyway, if anyones not tried playing this grind then i suggest you all do, its a good laugh and lasts for ages, and even tho the money isnt great til the final table, its a good test of stamina at the very least!

A few more cashes

$54 $108


$31 from omaha haha $30



$10 $22

More April Wins

$47.70





$44



$54

Helskini win

Well from a small acorn (€2 sat) its now matured into a healthy cash tree! I won the 2nd Sat to the Helsinki Open final on Boss media. But im going to be away this weekend so ive decided to cash it in for a €215 win in tourney tokens. Cant grumble!!

100 MTT WINS!!!!!

Well after much goading and many 2nd place finishes i eventually get my 100th win. It was the saturday of the Calzaghe vs Hopkins fight and im determined to play as many MTTs as i can to win my 100th.....no sleep for me it seemed til i entered the €2 rebuy Helsinki Daily!

WON IT .....HAHAHAHAHAHA WHOOOO HOOOOOOO....sorry haha!

Virgin Poker Festival Aspers Newcastle

Well i lasted 80 mins in this one!

My AA raise, reraise and all in beaten by 99........9 High flop and im gone! Wont bother with much else haha.

So on i go to the STT Champions heats, where i manage to win 3 STT's and finish 2nd in another 2 of them, and make the final 20 which continues on the sunday.

Im playing well, picking up cards and make some ballsy moves and end up on the final table with over 50% of the chips in play, i decide to slow it down, which was to my downfall as i let other people into the game, and eventually finished 2nd when the blinds were too high to play to be honest and i walked away over £500 up for the day!!

Well done to JAG from EMS who beat me heads up

WSOP 2008, $1500 Bracelet Event Share Deal

Ok, i wanna attempt a WSOP Staking, Im looking to get $1500 (£750) to play in a bracelet event in Vegas.

Im offering a 1% share in me for the $1500 event at £7.50 each, you can buy as many as you want up to a maximum of 100 shares.

Ill be giving back 80% of any winnings from this event to my shareholders so if you bought 50% of my shares for £375 you would then get back 40% of anything that i win.

Thanks for reading and fingers crossed i win! The payment button is on the right hand side in my sidebar, once you have purchased ill post your name and % in my blog!

The event ill be playing will be one from the following:

Thu, Jun 19th No-Limit Hold'em (Event 36) Freezeout Structure Sheet $1,500

Sat, Jun 21st No-Limit Hold'em (Event 39) Freezeout Structure Sheet $1,500

Ill need to sell out all my shares in order to play, so come one guys n gals, anyone up for it? If i havent sold out 1 week before i travel, ill pay the cash back to you all in full before i go.

Click the Buy Now button in the sidebar to purchase

Aspers Tuesdays £5 rebuy

Yesterday at Aspers they were offering a very good deal.

Simply turn up and the give you a free poker set...... so i went along for a look!

The set was ok, 50 chips, dealer button and 2 packs of cards, ok for nowt i suppose, and then i saw another deal, have a meal in Freya's restaurant and geta a fortune cookie and win a prize. I have a steak and win £5 bargain, half price meal!

Then comes the poker, £5 rebuy with a £2 reg fee, well we have 2 dealers to share between 101 runners and i end up on a table of 5 new player, 2 of which speak very little english...we self deal for a round and im fed up, i decide to take control and deal for the table, where a nice bloke bought me a drink for doing it and the table was finally getting some hands in!

I never pick up a hand all night and after £30 i bust out when my A4o is busted by 45 spades all in pre-flop and they hit a flush lol

Good laugh tho and lots of friendly banter!

APAT Regional Leg 4

This weekend i played in the APAT regional Leg 4 in the Grosvenor Casino Newcastle, its a £20 freezeout and often attracts less than 20 players, with the top 3 getting medals, and top 10% get seats to the National final around 4 weeks later.

Today i had 3 objectives!
1. Make the points (top 10)
2. Beat Gordon MacArthur (gimac) who was Regional points leader after 3 legs
3. Get to heads up and at least win some money and a seat in Edinburgh

Well 15 players showed up for the 2.30pm start (60min alternates) and i managed to make the final table pretty easilly, with a few decent shoves to steal the blinds, not any hands of note in the 1st 2.5 hours! 1st objective reached tho, so onto number 2

Objective 2, knock Gordon MacArthur out early!! After being a short stack (again) for most of the final table, Gordon finally went all in with a raggy Ace, i called and 1 other did too, i had KJ and i was fortunate to flop my K and take a decent pot and cement my number 2 objective, Gordon had gone in 6th, which meant I had to win to take the lead, or 2nd to draw level

With 4 players left, im sat as the short stack, and need a double up pretty quickly, as although the blinds were pretty low still, they were hitting us very fast! I find myself with KQ hearts and i see a cheap flop, which brings 3d 10h Jh.....an open ended strait flush draw....1 bet and i push all in, 1 caller and the bettor folds... he shows AJ And i turn over my KQh. The turn is almost the card of my dreams , its the 9h....another strait flush to the king, but no royal yet for me!

I get heads up after Jo blinds out with no hands to call Ross who was constantly all in, i didnt need to get involved as i was 3/1 chip leader and only top 2 got paid/seats. Well it turned into an all in fest and i lost 4 big 50/50 shots and went home after doing a chop

I won £75, a seat in the Edinburgh National, A silver medal, 8 ranking points and now the Joint leadership of the Regional Rankings in the UK.

Leg 5 is in May....watch this space

Prague Poker Palooza Write Up

A POKER DIARY, BY GRAEME MORL AGED 28 1/2

Monday 24th March

Set off from Newcastle International with my bags packed, my head full of hope and my mate Gary for company for 8 nights in the new party capital of europe Prague. We get there and by god its freezing, thats the last time i ever complain about the weather in Newcastle, -3 and its only 9pm!! We get checked into our hotel which is suprisingly decent and head off to meet the others from the Punters Lounge for a few beers, Pilsner Urquell.....lovely!

Tuesday 25th March

Its 3pm, we have just surfaced from our slumber and its time to get sorted for the 1st event, the €110 NLHE at the Spearmint Casino in Prague, which has been taken over for the week by VC poker. On arrival we are swiftly checked in and shown through into a nice upmarket but small casino, were given a glass of champagne, some nibbles and then we notice how many tables there are.....6! Before travelling to Prague, we were promised between 60 and 100 runners for the events, now we find its a maximum of 54 per event, which leaves the people who have travelled hundreds of miles a little bemused, the prizepools back home are more inviting than this!

The event starts and were all sitting nicely at the 1st break, then disaster hits us, 5 out of the 6 of us out before the final 2 tables. I had the best finish from the PL crew in 19th, when my K10 offsuit was destroyed by J10 offsuit, flop brings Q92 rainbow, the turn is 3 hearts and then the sucker punch, anything but a K or an 8 im praying, sods law has it and my King pairs the board, giving him the strait, nightmare end to a good days poker. We still have 1 player left tho, Amy Young, yes thats right, the Editors Mrs..........shes destroying all comers, taking down big pots and lands on the final table! Whoooo Hoooo we have a casher at last as Amy finishes 6th winning around £180 and the bragging rights in the Young household for months to come haha.

Wednesday 26th March

Today sees a step up in class, the €275 freezeout which brought a number of new faces into the casino, amongst others Dan Carter (UK Pro and recently 12th in EPT Dortmund) and even he cant beleive the event is 54 max!

Once again the poker starts and were having a good go at this one, 2 tables left and still 2 of us in, Ross Wakenshaw and Myself, we have a chance! I get a slice of luck when my 10's hold up against A9o to eliminate a player and im back in the hunt after being shortstack for quite some time, theres now 10 left and its looking good for a Brit to cash!

Im sat with 22k, Ross is sat with 25k and were in the top 6 chip wise, playing great poker, my reads are perfect and its all looking rosey! Thats until lady luck decides that the Brits aint getting anything, Im the next one out when my sweet all in from the SB with AJo gets called for 12xBB by a player with A8 clubs, im openly smiling and hoping for yet another hold up by the better hand but alas its not to be, two clubs on the flop, one on the turn and my dream is ended, Im sat there bemused, almost motionless, I cant beleive a guy with almost the same amount of chips has called me with that, gutting to say the least. I know my time is up when i hear from the rafters, Morls, you donk!

Ross follows next, with what can only be called the worst play of the tourney, the other table is now being broken and moved across for the start of the Final Table, so Ross sitting in good position pushes all in for 25k with pocket 2's hoping for a blinds steal of 4500 and give him almost 30k for the final 9. Its all looking good, fold, fold fold, etc until the BB, not wanting to give up 3000 chips calls, we wait in hope that its a race, we were right, then our jaws dropped in sheer disbeleif, the call was made with 10 8 offsuit, everyone is looking at each other with wry smiles, hoping that the 22 holds up, it dosen't and a very annoyed Ross has fallen in 9th. We do our best to console him, but what can you say. Alcohol helps a little and we all go out on the town knowing we have a day off tomorrow.

Thursday 27th March

Today sees the $25k student poker/vc qualifier championships, which one of our mates Dan Sims has qualified for after winning a seat via the online satellites. We let him play and concentrate on his own and we hit the town. Its just before midnight and I get a text, "morls, im on final table" . Well we couldnt miss this could we, so like drunken lunatics we race across prague to the casino to catch his final hand, will we get any luck this week? Dan pushes all in and is called instantly, the cards are on their backs and we see Dan punch the air, get in......he has AK vs AQ, what a great chance!!! The flop then sticks 2 fingers up to Dan by putting a Queen on the board and thats it, another good performance shot down in flames by lady luck herself.

Friday 28th March

This is the big one, the $550 main event, my mate Gary has flown home, im on my own and im listening to some tunes on my Ipod, im in the zone, I cant feel any better than I do about my game than I do right now and im hoping that some luck will grace me and I can take home some cash from the week. However, its not meant to be, im sat in the SB with JJ and make a 3xbb raise, 2 callers, the flop is a dream 10 high and as im first to act i fire out a pot sized 2k bet, hoping to take it down there and then, nope, 1 caller and I put him on AK or A10 instantly, a 7 on the turn keeps me thinking im ahead, and i make a massive bet 4500 which was my downfall, he then comes over the top and announces all in, I look down and see that I only have 2k left from my original 10k and have to call. He flips over QQ and im done for, i shake everyones hands, wish them luck and procede upstairs to the bar where i make use of the free beer.

The rest of the PL guys drop over the space of the next 3 hours until we have 1 left, Joe Geraghty, who has been on the drink all night and all day, is steaming and playing poker perfectly (we have no idea how either!) He gets to the final 4 and with the astronomical blinds compared to stacks , he pushes with A5 and get caled by AK and QQ, flop comes 5 8 A K 7, and Joe has gone, excellent perfomance and £3600 better off! Not only that, his performance in this event also places him 3rd in the leaderboard for another £1000, not bad at all!

I wanna end this by saying thanks to all the guys n gals we went over to prague with, your all cracking people and i couldnt have had a better time with anyone else. Good luck to you all and may lady luck smile on us all next time!

Morls

March Results

Sorry all, been very busy of late, just gonna tally up my winnings then do a report on Prague!

= Online wins of $221

+ PL Live win of $150

+ Live Cash for $160

Total for month of $531