The Worst Winner

I've realised that I have now been playing poker for 20 years!  How do you go about recapping twenty years of poker? Well, let's start with some cold hard facts:  Wins vs Losses: The blue line is cold harsh money spent on poker versus money back into my bank account. Orange line includes the less tangible value of live packages won. The graph paints a pretty accurate picture of my poker "career"; after a few losing years, I started studying, got to grips with the game and have been in profit ever since. After those initial losing years, I was very proud to become a winning player. Year after year, it was a huge source of pride to know I was beating the game but as time moved on, I became frustrated. Was I really beating the game? It didn't feel like it. The angle on that blue line is dissapointmentingly shallow. Introducing bankroll management helped transform me from a losing player to a winning one but I have felt trapped at the  lower stakes. I have tried takin...

Unlike last year, I didn't have any grand plans for this year's World Championship Of Online Poker Badugi (WCOOB). I've had a series of health issues this year, which ultimately don't appear to be too serious but, perhaps then more so mentality than physically, I've just been trying to survive 2025. With that said, this year's WCOOB boasts double the days of badugi, with three buyin levels of limit badugi events on the 9th and pot limit events on the 30th. Sky's The Limit The limit event buyins were $22, $109 and $1050, and I should have played the $22 but as ever my ambition exceeds my bankroll so I signed up for a satellite to the $109.  Just the TWO WCOOP champions and one SCOOP winner to contend with. Despite the COOP badge ridden tables, I fared well. I played and I ran well, all the way to the final table. The bubble was a bit cagey, as you'd expect but I emerged victorious! The momentum did not carry through to the $109 event itself though. It su...

The newest stop on the Irish Poker Tour is... Glasgow? Perhaps my geography isn't as good as it once was. Or perhaps they've just taken a leaf out of the EPT's book and added a glamorous overseas locale to the tour. Either way, I'm here for it. With a week of tournaments to choose from, me and some friends settled on Friday for a big day of poker, with the option to carry on into the weekend depending on our potential successes. For many many years, I longed for some live omaha tournaments and would bang on about it no end but they have always been few and far between. So while there's a fair old range of tournaments on offer, I felt obliged to take part in the omaha events.  Alas, the Omaha Championship is a £500 buyin and that goes well beyond my bankroll, so my first taste of the Irish Poker Tour was to be the £70 PLO satellite.  Obligatory chipstack photo showing THE WORST designed chips I've ever seen. "The Monster" design looks like they've b...

Oh my sweet valentine Do you think you'll have the time To spend an evening with me? And I can tell by your glances You think that there are chances You will be appeasing me … soon afterwards we drop onto our comfy little couch And have a drink or two. And then I go and spoil it all By playing something stupid like, badugi I can see it in your eyes That you despise the same old cries You heard the night before And though it's just a game to you For me it's true And never seemed so right before … I practice every day To find some clever lines to play To make our dreams come true But then you think you'll wait Until the evening gets late And I'm alone with you ... The time seems right, it's time to make a move  But you go red, and oh you see through me Because I go and spoil it all By playing somethin' stupid like, badugi ... The time seems right, it's time to make a move  But you go red, and oh you see through me Because I go and spoil it all By playing s...