Back Home and On the Road

Oct. 19, 2011

I got the chance to mellow out a bit after the wsop. I needed that coz I ran so bad and nothing was going for me.

I was really homesick towards the end of the series. When things are not going for you in poker and you are a long long way from home, all I think about is going home and re charging and picking up my appetite for my next trip.

I never thought about leaving Vegas before the main event but in hindsight I wish I did. I got some horrendous beats even though I was playing my A game. Coming into the last 2 events before the main I must be honest I played really bad. It's tough; your mind must be fresh and your body.

When I finally got home it felt great.

Back home I get spoilt rotten by my mum, my house is spotless - she does everything!'

I get up and can already smell the cooking; we all get together about 3.30. The restaurant is only about a 2 minute walk from the house. We eat everything; It can be a traditional English diner, cannelloni, pastas, everything.  Three courses a day with the family, and my brothers bring their children round. It's amazing, we are all so close.

Being around the table together we all talk about everything; the poker, the properties, and the restaurant.

I don't need to worry about the businesses when I'm away playing poker, my brothers get on with that. Once I have settled in I help out at the restaurant and my bros take time off.  I still work in the restaurant, but I don't know if I do much! Sometimes when we're short staffed I have to pull my finger out and start frying and serving but I'm not afraid to do that, I still have my feet on the ground.

I have been enjoying the WSOPE out here in Cannes, playing well and feeling good. I plan to travel home shortly before heading out to San Remo which should be fun. I have a good record in the EPT's and San Remo is a great place to visit. I had a shot at this event last year and got deep, that's what you have to do, keep putting yourself in these positions and hanging in there, anything can happen in that case when the blinds get big. You just have to put yourself in that position, things can turn so fast in poker.

The fields are full of good players now, when I first started it wasn't like that. Everyone knows what they're doing. If you find one or two soft spots you're lucky. I never underestimate anyone at the table; I don't think you should ever do that. Out here there are just so many good players.

I wouldn't say poker's gotten tougher since Black Friday, but you can see some of these online players have come out of their shell a bit, that said I've seen them make some mistakes, like over-playing hands they shouldn't. They don't understand the live game as much.

One example on the final table I played, the winner made a horrendous mistake. We had a mad Italian on our table, an older guy who was opening to 40k when the blinds were still 3-6 k. But he did this every time he had a big hand, he would always make this raise with aces, kings for the last few days. You needed a superior hand to take him on, that's all you could do.

So on the final table this guy opened to 60k on the button and John Eames in the bb who only had like 12-13 bb's left moved in with AQ hearts so there was nothing he could do, he had to shove there. Again the Italian called and had aces. A few hands later when we're 5 handed it gets folded round to the Italian in the sb who makes it like 60k again, when he's playing about 220k behind. The Australian kid in the bb has 400k+. This kid announces all in and I'm thinking wow he must have him here, it can only be a monster hand even though it's blind on blind. We have all been seeing how this Italian plays when he makes these big open raises. The Italian snap calls with Kings and the kid turn's over KQ off.

I nearly fell off my chair. It's a big mistake to make in that spot even though it may be standard online, that was just awful. When you're playing live you're not just clicking buttons, tells, hand readings etc, all have so much to do with the game.

I use them a lot, it's a big part of my game and my live tells and chat at the table really help my game. The other day in the PLO event I was using my chat a lot to tilt a few players. It helped me accumulate a really big stack and it's a huge part of my game. Some of the good players will never fall for this, though, so maybe I'll have to pull a few more tricks out of my sleeve going forward.

Heres a pic of some of the boys in our house in Canne playing a homegame. The line up; Myself, Toby Lewis, John Hewitt, Ben Vinson, Jesse May and Josh Green. Ben won it, good for him he played well. :)