I'm not asking for much

I'm not asking to get lucky, I don't need luck only to avoid other people getting it. I played the £25 fo at DTD last night and at approaching 1am through a field of 150+ runners we were down to the last two tables. I had a reasonable 40k portion of the 474k chips in play and the blinds were 1k/2k with a running ante of 200. I was in the sb and the button moves allin for just under 8k and I look down to see 99 and its a no brainer really, however his JT is a monster when the J hits the flop 1st card. Next time round the utg, who hasn't played a hand since I sat down, moves allin for 16k and the rest of the table folds to me. At this point I still have 31k and look down to see TT, decide he has AK or AQ and its another race for half my stack this time, but I will still have 16k if I lose which is still playable. So I call and when he flips over K4 suited I'm in even better shape than I thought until the dealer puts a king on the flop - ffs!

The blinds go up to 1500/3000 with a running ante of 300 which means there is 7200 a round to steal, but with everyone moving in before me and every time my 1st card is a 3 I'm soon down to a pittance of 9k with three of it in the bb. The K4 guy moves in from early and it's folded to me and when I look at my cards it's 34 off, but so what I'm 6/4 I reckon and cant pass. Luckily I spike a 3 against his AT and he looks aggrieved - how quickly they forget. After telling him he owed me that one I steal the next one with an allin move pre when its folded to me and pick up the 7.2k uncontested and now have just over 20k. This gets blinded back to 12.5k and when its folded to me pre and I have KQ its a no brainer for me to shove. The blinds wake up with AK and JJ and even after picking up some hope on the turn when with 4 hearts on board I have the heart draw and can still hit a Q; but of course I miss!!!

Out 15th for money back plus a tenner.

I never put a foot wrong and played well with confidence and feel that should the best hand ever stand up in a pot when I've put all my money in with it, then I may win a tournament at DTD.

It wasn't to be.....but just for a moment I thought it was.

Well if the timeline run had continued into Friday then with the bets that went on out of Thursday's amazing returns would have nearly paid off the mortgage. Unfortunately it was not to be but it still turned out to be an amazing week for my sportsbook, which has increased seven fold from the previous week. I even managed to pull in a treble on the weekends football with the mighty Hull beating WBA and also Blackpool v Palace and Barnsley v Bristol both ending in draws; the worst odds of these three being the Hull win @ 21/10 - hmmm nice!

The red & white wizards also managed to get back to winning ways and move further up the championship table consolidating their position in the play-off places and hopefully it won't stop there.

Well I'm taking the day off tomorrow to spend some of my winnings taking the family to Blackpool, so watch out Townsend the Cullumbine's are coming to town!!!

Hose me Down...I'm on FIRE !!!

I am in uncharted territory and to be honest I'm frickin' loving it! Gids is most definitely a LEG-END with the tips he has passed me this week. It started on Tuesday when he passed me a tip for 2 horses and said he was having £20 singles and a £10 double. Now, taking historical records into account I remembered his tips from the past about steering jobs where he had lumped and then you didn't see him for days and was worried about his welfare. So with this in mind there was no way I was putting £50 on a horse and had conservative £5 singles and a £5 double. Anyway to my amazement they both came in, so when the following morning he came back with another tip, just one horse this time, I was straight on it with £25. Then just before the off I stuck another £25 on and it duly romped home. This was now 3/3 and I was really starting to pay attention and was waiting in anticipation for the following days tip.

This was now yesterday and when the tip came through it was another 2 horses, one at Carlisle in the afternoon and one at Great Leighs in the night meeting. This time I did have two £20 singles and a £10 double and it seemed like I'd been waiting for days when it came to 3.45pm and they were off. Unbelievably it was rode like a dream and came like a train to win @ 4/1 - hmmmm nice!!!! Now the wait for the 6.50pm @ GL seemed like an absolute age. I flicked ATR on at home just in time for the off and it was twitchy bum TV, it only went and won by a nose in a photo finish - GET IN!!!

Also in the afternoon I had had a cheeky little acca on the 2 nags and Udinese to beat Spurs (Cos' frankly we could put together a work team to beat them at the moment) and also Galatasaray to beat Olympiakos - DOUBLE GET IN!!!

For the grande finale' I had also had Ronnie O'Sullivan to beat Steve Davis 6-0 in the Premier League snooker after a nod from thegame (Another LEG-END!), at a ridiculous price, what were the bookies thinking?

What an amazing day, cant wait for today's bets - Surely 6/6 is an impossibility - OR IS IT????

Tune in next time to find out.....

Divine Intervention

I am convinced that Soton' had divine intervention on Tuesday night to stop the ball going in their net. The red & white wizards totally battered there goal for 40 mins of the 2nd half with corners approaching double figures and at least a dozen scoring opportunities. The only answer is that the aptly named Saints had help from above.

Or could it just be that Super Danny Webber is in reality the worst player ever to wear a blades shirt, nay the worst player in the world ever! However, it appears Kevin Blackwell is watching a different game as his post match comments held only praise for Super Dan.

Maybe it's just me - errr NO he is really SHIT!

This week has continued to see an ever increasing sportsbook balance, mainly due to the horses and some nice tips from gids. TOP BANANA!

All my football bets still seemed to be cursed by last minute up-fucks. Last night was no exception, although I was concerned when I placed the bet that Liverpool would spoil my coupon. I had won a nice wedge on a horse tip from gids but had also included this horse in a cheeky little acca with Chelsea, Liverpool and Barcelona; and of course the scousers let me down.

Last night saw my return to DTD after a break last week to watch England stuff the Belarus. I made it there at 1 minute past eight and got seated just after the start. It was not going to be an improvement on my previous visits' 6th place however, mainly due to the fact I was out after 20 mins - Doh! AhQs in early so I flat call and after a raise from mid I call and the flop comes J72 all hearts. I check and he bets 300 which I call and bingo the turn is another heart giving me the dogs nads. I check again and he bets 700 this time and after a bit of Hollywood I'm allin for 2200. After much deliberation he talks himself into about having pot odds and calls and shows JJ, of course the rivers pairs the board with another duck and I'm gone.

After a £100 disaster session at £1/£2 cash which ended with me allin on a 9 high flop for £24 with 79 into a £12 pot and called by KQ, who said if I have 2 overs I have to call - hmmmm, hits a K on the turn of course, I leave that cash table. At this point I'm thinking it's not happening 2nite and consider leaving but instead I put my name down for a 50p/£1 cash table and when they open a 6 seat I'm in like Flynn. After 3 gruelling hours I manage to recover £90 and leave at 1am to get home for 2am, so not a total disaster.

I will try again next week...

could I be on a roll?

As my good friend Mr Townsend mentioned in his blog I did manage to wipeout a field of over 200 and take the Ladbrokes Crapshoot crown on Tuesday night. I owe this all to two people, firstly thegame for reminding me it was about to start, enabling me to sign in and secondly to Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot for inspiring me with his absolutely awesome display in the pokermillion. The fish was true class, highly entertaining and it made it one of the most enjoyable tv poker heats I've seen for a while.

The day after my crapshoot win I managed to back five winners on the horses, finishing a nice wedge up.

Could I be on a roll?

I hope so!!!

Stop Press - Madmac Reaches Final Table....

No need to rub your eyes, it's true!

I went down to DTD on Wednesday night for the £25 NLHfo and in a field of 161 runners, managed to finish a respectable 6th for £181. Not a great payday but it's my first final table at DTD and my first anywhere for a long time. Just when I was beginning to doubt my ability and thinking of giving it a rest, along comes a result which restores a little confidence.

A double up the second hand in when I flop a set with my snowmen on a K85 board against AA helped to kickstart my stack. I was generally pleased with my play, making some moves and some sensible laydowns. I do feel I overplayed 99 in early position late in the tournament which could have cost me my final table place, but managed to lay it down after committing 15k of my 34k stack to the pot. The blinds were 800/1600 and I made it 5k from early and got 1 caller in mid and when I checked the A87 flop he checked behind me. The turn was a 6 which gives me an open ended draw and having this disease where I can't check twice I bet 10k and he reraised allin for another 19k and after much deliberation I passed and he showed an ace. On reflection I think a flat call pre with the 99 would have been better but no doubt he would have raised and then I have another decision....blah blah blah comments please?

I was totally card dead on the final table and when someone is always raising before you and you don't have a big enough stack to re-pop, there is nothing you can do. I think this made me go to sleep but there was still no excuse for clamming up I was just weak and very disappointed with myself. This guy has just reraised allin with AJ and doubled up and it was my BB next hand and he was in the small blind. Now hands in poker are like buses, you get fuck all for ages then 2 come at once. So when he asks me how much I've got and he says 'I'll put you allin' I'm thinking his second bus has come right after his AJ and I clam up and pass my A7 off. Then when he goes allin from the button next hand I pass A3 off I have basically rolled over so they can tickle my belly and they know it.

However I am aware that I've made a mistake and that they think I'm tighter than a gnat's ass stretched over an oil drum, so the first time they fold to me and I push with T6 off, they fold faster than a cat can lick it's ass. My exit hand is when I push from the sb with after they all fold to me with K5 off and with the blinds at 3k/6k with a running ante of 600 the bb calls my allin of 24k more with 53 suited. The flop comes 664 and already I can see it coming. The turn is a K which I don't need but it removes his 3 preflop outs and surprise surprise a 7 hits the river!!!

On reflection I should never have passed up the aces in the blinds with my relatively short stack, but final table is final table, lets hope the worm has turned.

Feel free to comment.