MetalWolf

Glasgow Day 1BI didn’t play poker on day 1B. I never do. One thing I love about poker packages is the opportunity to travel to places I’ve never been and enjoy some time away from the tables.I only slept a few hours before I was up and making my way towards a ‘Subway’ breakfast. Trying to order here was the first time this trip I’d had problems communicating. My Black Country accent proving incompatible with the strong Glaswegian accent from the girl behind the counter. Instead of a ‘foot long sub of the day’ and coffee I ended up with a six inch ‘pizza sub’ and a lemon Fanta. Upon finishing this I went on a mission to discover if the Scottish really do ‘like a drink’. I considered that there must be some very interesting and unusual bars around Glasgow just waiting for me to have a drink in them. I wasn’t disappointed. From whiskey bars to real ale bars there were some really great places to go with my favourite probably being the Rock Café, if only for its smart layout, ACDC memorabilia and pretty display of lights and guitars. I didn’t find Glasgow particularly expensive (certainly not like Brighton!) and I was able to enjoy most places without wincing when a bar maid told me the price. I settled in a bar called The Raven to watch France vs Argentina in what proved to be an excellent match for the neutral to enjoy before moving to a Revolution Bar for the 2nd match. It was here I found out why Glasgow was so rough… and it came in the form of hen parties! I know a lot of people on Unibet won’t necessarily know what one of them is because they only seem to exist in this hellish form within the UK, but it is a group of women celebrating one getting married by going out to be as loud and drunk as possible. The male equivalent (stag do) is usually a lot more gentlemanly occasion where we sip fine wines and take in a countries classical culture :Cheeky: On this occasion there were FOUR different hen parties in the one bar. Recipe for disaster. In short, a bride had a glass thrown at her, a member of security staff was punched and there were wobbly bits all over the place being pushed and shoved from pillar to post. It was at this time I realised I was the only male customer in the bar and rather than turn into prey myself I decided I should probably leave and make my way back towards the hotel. I found another bar local to my bed that showed the game without incident before I grabbed a buffet dinner and a few bottles of energy drink for the upcoming day. 10.30pm I was in bed by. Earliest Saturday night for me for a while but sleep was nearly impossible with various chanting, shouting and general drinking going on outside my bedroom window up until around 4.30am. Poker was not due to recommence until 2pm though so I managed to get enough to feel alert, hangover free and ready to crush the next day…

@Psycho79 Hi mate and thanks for the input! Always welcome on the blog and love to hear your views. Sorry like I said I had forgot aspects of the hand including you leading the turn but my thought process on the river remains the same. I remember now feeling at the time like the turn bet was a blocker designed for you to see a cheap river rather than lead me into value calling. I felt like there was still plenty of chance I could take it away should I feel like the river didn’t help you or even potentially if you think it helped me. The river then didn’t worry me and I felt like it changed nothing so I stick with my original thinking that you busted a draw as I think you check everything else except a set or 2 pair which I had already ruled out. I’m not saying it’s a good call as there is a very small % of times I’m going to be ahead against your ranges. I’m not saying I played it well. But you know my style is ‘play with your heart on your sleeve’ and ‘when you know you just know’. No such thing in my poker book as a bad call at showdown if you show the winning hand 😃

Glasgow day 1a It didn’t take long to realise that overall this was a very weak table with questionable calls, raises and folds coming all over the shop. I felt like by playing ABC I would be able to consistently accumulate chips but as I learned a bit more about each player it became clear where I could get a bit out of line and exploit the situations. Early on I raised K3 sooooted in hearts (looked so nice) in the cut off to be called from the big blind and managed to extract a surprising amount from a calling station on a K high board. He did not look happy when I flipped my hand over but perhaps it was more so because he felt he could of took me off it – certainly at other Unibet events I have felt a lot more pressure more often in these kind of scenarios than I got here. Before the 2nd break though I had ran into what I call ‘an invincible’. An invincible is someone that you come across in a poker tournament that cannot lose, specifically against you. Usually a bad player that is on a personal hot streak against seemingly only you. Whatever hand they play and in whatever scenario they find a way to get there and what is usually more frustrating is they often donk your chips straight away to someone else on the table. Seat one became this player for me and in 4 hands against him I lost all 4 when ahead pre, and took a 60k stack down to 25k. I can’t say that I played any of the hands perfect and by the 3rd time I was definitely over cautious but at the time any two and any draw seemed fine for him. The biggest pot he won off me was with 6 3 having called a raise from cut off. After he called the gutshot flop of A 2 5 I ended up cautiously checking the turn and calling off a small river bet with AQ after the 4 hit. I could not say with certainty that barrelling the turn would have won me the pot. Perhaps I cut my inevitable losses instead by not playing optimally. Suffice to say this player did not last much longer. The one player I was avoiding getting into pots with was @Psycho79. I did not want to get involved with competent players when I felt there was so much dead money on the table and folded a much stronger range pre against him than I did against others. Despite this it would be Psycho that put me to my first big decision of the night and I’m sure he will forgive me if I don’t remember the exact cards that fell but the story kind of went like this. I raised A10 from early and he called me from big. The flop was something like 9 8 2. He checked, I bet and was called. Turn was a 5. Check check. The river paired the board and he bet 12.5k. I know it was 12.5k because it was exactly half my chips. Something I took into consideration when making my decision. It didn’t feel like I was behind but it would of looked pretty stupid to the rest of table to call half my stack off on Ace high. I thought about it. Why did he bet, and why specifically 12.5k which was half my stack? The bet was nearly as big as the pot. It looked like a bet designed to not look weird in comparison to the pot, potentially polarizing, but to make sure I could not call and be wrong. But then why would he want me to call, what does he think I have? I look like I have exactly what I actually do have, which is A high and I wouldn’t realistically call half my stack on A high, would I? He knows I have ace high and a ‘please call me bet’ probably looked more like 7-8k and I could get away calling it. But 12.5k I couldn’t afford to be wrong given blinds were up to 800 at this point I think. So actually he doesn’t want me to call? All this swayed me towards me thinking he had specifically counted my chips and made a bet that looked reasonable but actually psychologically was forcing me to fold. Given that I certainly know Psycho can think this deep I made the call settling on a busted range of 10J, JQ, 710, Q10, 67, 610. He mucked and the table seemed impressed. I commented that ‘We play far too much together Michal’. He smiled and it’s always one of the things I love to see in poker. A nice guy trying to outplay his opponent, but whatever happens playing with a smile. That hand put me back in the game and from then on my stack grew and grew. By this point a player directly to my left was calling or 3 betting me nearly every hand I played. I started to grow concerned that he thought I was a fish and was targeting me. In the end he was another opponent that I ended calling a big ace high hand against to take down a nice pot. I knocked him out not long after when he shoved KQ and I woke up with KK in the big blind. Accumulating chips became very easy using a float flop, bet turn technique that was working perfectly against a loose passive table and by the penultimate level I was up to around 320k. I was so tired at this point and I made a big mistake. I jokingly said ‘nothing silly now just want to take a healthy stack through to day 2’. I then proceeded to be bullied by the naturally stronger field at this time of night who knew I had completely tightened up. There was still time for me to lose quite a lot of chips on a pocket pair that went wrong but not as many chips as chip leader of the table who clashed in one of the last hands of the night with 2nd chip leader. He ended up losing around 400k in chips moving all in on the turn with just a flush draw against a flopped set to the player who would start day 2 a mighty chip leader with around 900k and ultimately go to the final table. I would end the night on 250k with the blinds going upto 6k. I was happy with that and happy with my overall play even though tiredness set in at the end and I gave a bit away. I was very much looking forward to sleep, having a day off, watching the football with a few beers and seeing what else Glasgow had to offer.

Unibet UK Tour Glasgow – Setting the scene The day started full of optimism at 5.45 am. It wasn’t my optimism but the optimism of the little one who had obviously heard my alarm going off and assumed he would start the day getting chocolate for breakfast (he has such a way with me). Sadly, for him, Daddy was in no mood and promptly pressed the snooze button. Sleep had not come easy the night before and I wasn’t too confident I could even make it to the end of Day 1 without snoring during the latter levels let alone take any chips through with me. My taxi was booked for 6.45 to go to Wolverhampton train station for a 7.37 train. I finally got up at 6.05 and started throwing things into a bag seeing as I had neglected to do the packing the night before. After downing some quick energy drinks and saying all my goodbyes I waited outside for the taxi, which at 7am had still not turned up. I rang the driver who told me he was on Quarry road waiting for me. I do not live on Quarry road but seeing as the word Tudor and Quarry are spelt much the same and sound very much the same I can see how the driver would have got this mixed up. Of course he tried to blame me but I showed him the booking on an app which produced my address clear as day. An annoying start to the day indeed but at least he got me there on time even if he did have to take a shortcut across a few pavements. I had never been to Glasgow. I had never played poker in Scotland. My aim, as always, was to go there and enjoy myself and getting paid anything was a bonus. This time, though, I was determined more than usual to add a Scottish flag to my Hendon Mob database at the first time of asking. The train journey added to my annoyance. It was full of young adults going to the Transit Music Festival on the same weekend in Glasgow. There was lots of early morning drinking and obscenities. Something I more than accustomed to following football like I do but I asked myself ‘Do I really look like that to other people’. Now was not the time for reflective moments and I put my head in my ‘Halo’ book and ignored it as much as I could, which became almost impossible when I heard the words ‘I can’t wait to see Jessie J she is easily one of the most talented individuals there’… on a lineup that includes Stereophonics, Liam Gallagher and the Killers. Not particularly my cup of tea but I respect what they have done for music at least. I tried hard to continue reading about the Master Chiefs exploits… I arrived at 11.15 but couldn’t check into my hotel until 2pm and so I headed straight to the pub to grab an early pint and get my bearings of the alien city I found myself in. The stories people told me and the image I had in my head of Glasgow was that it was extremely rough and I should be careful, but this is not the first impression I got. Either way, I thought it was a good idea to chill with a beer and Google Maps to make sure I was accustomed to where everything was. Best pubs, best kebab house etc. You know, the essentials. I checked into my brothel, I mean hotel, at 2pm. It was on a busy road of nice bars and eateries but stood out by looking a bit seedy. It was modest, to say the least. I had an en-suite (which to be fair was actually really nice) but the rest left a lot to be desired. Ground floor (didn’t like that). Tv didn’t work, some lights didn’t work and I was maybe an inch too big for the bed, but the bed was at least very comfy. I got myself sorted quickly and made the 1.5 mile walk to the casino where we were due to begin play at 5. Those of you that have read through this blog will probably notice I like a beer (only cryptic references I know). So what better way to make me play worse and fall asleep early than to start with a lager! I went to the pub next door as I was about an hour early before grabbing another one in the casino as I met faces new and old from the community. Actually, beer is a pivotal part of my overall strategy at live events without giving to much away but either way I am always there to enjoy myself first! It was great to meet @MoreTBC and catch up with other forum favorites like @Psycho79 (seems not all the pros were out in Vegas ;) lol) and by this time we were about ready to play as the obligatory rush towards the screens came when everyone’s seats were announced. Table 2 seat 6. An obvious sign for the average hand I would be dealt… No bounties on my table. Good. Anyone that has been a victim of my questionable play in bounties on Unibet will know it gives me more of a chance when there isn’t one to try and donk out! There was a very familiar face in @Psycho79 two to my right who was already greedily eyeing up all the chips he was going to steal from my blind, but other than that I did not recognize anyone from the table and database searches didn’t reveal anything to be worried about. A few words from Simon followed by the iconic phrase ‘Shuffle up and deal’ meant the clock was officially ticking. Good luck me.

So was Glasgow a success? Day by day blog coming soon! :Smile:

I've been too quiet for too long so it's time for a post. Just a quick stats update really. Took a profit hit but that's understandable seeing as I didn't manage to cash any of the final events in the UOS. I will wait for the points reset on Unibet before getting serious again and after all that UOS grind it's been nice to take a few breaks and enjoy the sun. Can't wait for Glasgow later on this week. I will be playing day 1a so feel free to say hello and I'll get back to writing more interesting stuff very soon! Total games played: 2134 ITM: 631 / 29.57% Total buyin: €16,006.85 Total Cashes: €17,479.89 Profit: €1473.04 ROI: 9.20% Tournament wins: 24 1x NLH Deep Space 2x NLH Deep Crazy Moon 4x NLH Fireball 4x PLO Fireball 1x PLO Singularity 3x NLH Wormhole 3x NLH Shooting Star 2x PLO Shooting Star 3x Unibet Online Series Nano Event 1x Betting Freeroll Titles: 1 Q1 2018 Nano Leaderboard Champion

Nice one mate! Suits you! 😀 I've been hiding from responding on this forum the last few days. 8 hours+ of poker a day 2 weeks straight really takes it out of a guy and I felt like a vampire when I went outside and saw the sun. Will do a full recap and reflection on the UOS in the coming days. I had to settle for 32nd in the overall leaderboard in the end after coming 9th on UOS1. Today I am very much looking forward to some beers, the World Cup and having some absolute chill. Thanks @Sect7G for being such a good sport and great competition throughout. Really enjoyed the series and the nano especially where we were both on the final two tables. I look forward to future banter! Well done to @GR1ZZL3R on his deep runs and thanks for your contributions to this blog and special thanks for you railing me! Congrats to @KostenBerg and his leaderboard finish. Immense throughout and well done to all other winners and players I've spoken to throughout. And @DaVitsche for his excellentand hilarious streams!!

Gutted again last night when a final table in the high event was cruelly taken away in a big 3 way allin with 14 left. Me JJ, against 66 and AQ. I hit my J but unfortunatley the AQ rivered the gutshot to crush my realistic chances of a high leaderboard finish. I did make the final table in a low. Came 4th when calling allin AK to 88 and missing. No worries. Going in to the final day I have a lot of thoughts about myself over the series and how I've played which I will share after it's finished. I know I shouldn't beat myself up too much. I managed to win two events, probably going to finish in the money on all leaderboards and make a good go at defending my nano title. For now thoughts are about what lies ahead today. An expensive day in store so lets hope for some run good and a damn big finish!!! Leaderboard: Nano - 6th Low - 85th High - 51st Overall - 42nd

Just busted a nano in 26th. Called allin from small with AA and J8 flops trips. Also had 2 splits with AA in that nano and went out a low allin pre with it. My last 22 AA hands allin pre have been busted 17 times. What a time to go on a run like that.... Looks like the guys around me on the nano board have done well. Will take a titanic effort this weekend (and some luck) to retain it.

Thanks man! 😃 Anyone that has been on my table in the first three UOS must be thinking the pressure has already got to me... went out all three very early lol Appreciate the words though thank you! I love competition and I love the banter of challenges but ultimately I just want to learn, grow as a player and help others in the game. Best of luck!

Quick leaderboard update! Nano: 3rd (all set up for the big finish!!) Low: 136 (Eurghhhhh....) High: 69 (Very disappointed) Overall: 51 (Also disappointed) Only one thing for it. Gonna have to win the main event. Watch this space!

@GamesDeanThanks mate you too! I have certainly ran a lot worse in this series than I did in the last one but no excuses, I've played pretty awful for a lot of it, too. Was so annoyed with myself for the schoolboy errors I made to bust the high last night 3 off the money. Should of been able to cruise into the pay slots and bottled it. I do seem to have a lot more luck in Nano's typically than high, though. It's the lows I seem to have the big problem with and I realllllllllly can't put my finger on why. It was my worst leaderboard in the last series and I'm not even in the top 100 this series! Going to have to do some proper study on it because clearly I am doing something wrong in these games and I just don't get it. Won my second event on the series last night, another nano and still only 7th on the nano board. The 6 above must be doing immense seeing as I've actually won 2 events! Orrrrr just goes to show how poor I have been otherwise. Slight confidence boost though as I was very happy with how I closed out the final table last night after coming to it 6th in chips and being a massive underdogin terms of stack with 4 left. Best of luck today!

Gonna start playing in a sec drunk as a skunk because it seemed that’s what everyone else who played against me last night was, and it worked! Good luck all. ps.... don’t call me PPs..... don’t raise me

Typical the biggest night of the series so far would be the worst for me. Played awful and out every event already. Roll on tomorrow...

I was getting worried that this series was going to be a complete bust. But then I won a nano event yesterday to start climbing the leaderboard and tonight this happened. I'm actually pretty gutted. I made a few mistakes towards the end and should of done things a bit different with 6 left. But it has at least give me a big confidence boost that sometimes I do actually know what I'm doing... lol And now the series is finally in profit!! So I am going to do a stat update now it looks better 😛 Leaderboard: High 41th, Low 111th(?!), Nano 6th, Overall 31st..... Nowhere near happy with these positions. Lots of work to be done. BIG DAY TOMORROW TO GET THE LEADERBOARD ON TRACK!! Total games played: 1930 ITM: 566 / 29.33% Total buyin: €13,859.50 Total Cashes: €15,638.43 Profit: €1778.93 ROI: 12.84% Tournament wins: 22 1x NLH Deep Space 2x NLH Deep Crazy Moon 4x NLH Fireball 4x PLO Fireball 1x PLO Singularity 3x NLH Wormhole 3x NLH Shooting Star 1x PLO Shooting Star 2x Unibet Online Series Nano Event 1x Betting Freeroll Titles: 1 Q1 2018 Nano Leaderboard Champion

Did you get 4th @Sect7G? Nice result mate was opening to rail but had finished by the time I noticed the post.

Cheers mate. Yeah there was two players on our table I was willing to call a lot looser against as I figured I had the stronger post flop play. I made some mistakes for sure but happy with overall performance. Nice one on the main leaderboard! It's the low I'm doing the worst on, which was the same as last time too. I have a theory that the low events are the strongest fields as they will have larger numbers of above average players and bigger player pools whereas the high is a mixture of good players and sat winners where you can still pick good spots more often, and smaller fields.

Well, I seem to have given myself a chance of defending my Nano title by winning one of the events last night! Thanks to @GR1ZZL3R and anyone else that was railing. I have settled in 6th on the Nano leaderboard and still lots of work to be done. Unofrtunately other than that Nano win I have only had one other cash in a high event so overall this series is costing a lot of money and the Nano win did nothing to replenish that bit of bankroll! Not to be deterred though I am already in all the sats today to try and cover the next few very expensive days (must admit that €50 rebuy looks out of my league at the moment...) Just have to see how it goes and take each day as it comes. My ego didn't really allow me to have such a terrible start to the series but I am still determined to do all I can to chase that overall leaderboard of which I currently sit 31st on. Will do a full update of yearly stats at some point today when the tables quieten down. Good luck today all.

@Sect7G Haha unlucky mate. You did take me out of a Supernova sat earlier so it's 1-1 😏 Im having a disaster series so far and today alone I'm down quite a lot which this nano isn't going to sort out.... but I need to take it down now!!

@GR1ZZL3RNice one mate and I certainly will keep it up! Glad to see you still giving it a go and I look forward to seeing you in Manchester. I havent got a seat for that one yet but I have already booked a hotel so will be there one way or another!

@GR1ZZL3R Sect7G is right. It is very difficult and no one should put themselves through the stress of it where unnecessary. Playing with a bad frame of mind or a tired mind only leads to failure and that is not why we play poker. Ultimately we play poker to enjoy it and taking losses within our limits is all part of the fun and the success of having a good time whilst doing it. If it’s not fun take a break and come back fresh. Having been pro, semi pro and now more just a reg who likes to try and punch above his weight I wouldn’t recommend the lifestyle to anyone, however I’ve seen something different from Unibet I haven’t seen for years from a poker site. Their player interaction, live streams, ambassadors and willingness to help is second to none and I love being a part of that. It’s infectious and my ambition is to get myself a quality twitch stream by the end of the year and do more for the community of poker and it’s recs. I want to help people in poker. @Sect7G Bubbled one of the nanos And snuck inside the cash in one of the highs last night so I’m moving in the right direction at least! The beats were no less cruel but I feel a bit better about my overall performance last night. Slowly climbing up the overall board to around 66th but think I almost still languishing around 100th in the nano :waterfall: good luck today guys!

I was waiting for something good to happen before updating this blog but three days into the series and it has been nothing short of a disaster! No cashes in any of the UOS. And hanging around 110th on every leaderboard. Slightly worried about bankroll as didn’t expect such a hit early on and have been burning through sat tickets far quicker than I can achieve them. I thought things had changed when I made a good and brave call in a massive pot on Dara ‘Doke’ in the high last night and seemed to be cruising towards the final only for a cruel runner runner to counterfeit my pair and leave me crippled. In fact, runner runner counterfeits have been a theme for me this series already. Unfortunately no, I did not win that SN sat. I was massive lead with 3 left and then I got unlucky in a big 3 way allin and couldn’t recover. For 5 days now I have had nothing but the stupidest bad beats on record with the odd outdraw thrown in to keep me sane but I am going over hand history this morning to make sure I am not doing anything too wrong. Really disappointed with how things have gone so far but was watching Ian simpsons stream last night to see him enduring the same and remembering it happens to all of us. So today I am again focused and looking forward to what tonight brings. ironically my electric shaver broke yesterday. I think the poker Gods are trying to tell me something. good luck guys!

@GR1ZZL3R Thanks but I didn’t make the most of it so giving you the chance to catch up :happy: ran awful last night.

“Your arrogance blinds you” 😏 Minor setback. That’s all it is. Waiting until tomorrow to smash it.

@GR1ZZL3R love it. That’s the pose I’m doing if I lose to increase my manliness. It will have to be a bike chain around my neck though as I suspect my nano winnings won’t cover a gold one... Off to Manchester today to see some bloke called head shearer... or Ed Sheeran or something like that. Not quite the Metallica type I would usually listen to I’m led to believe. The missus seems keen though. I’m sure it’ll sound good when mixed with a bit of bourbon.