Ok so I don’t keep this blog updated regularly enough.  I guess it’s a combination of being way too busy, and finding my life way too uninteresting to write about.  I know many think that travelling the world covering poker tournaments is an exciting and glamorous job, and no doubt that it is to a point, but I guess there’s only so many poker parties you can attend and so many bad beats you can write about before it loses its interest.  Perhaps that’s a bit of burn out talking.

Some of the best poker blogs out there aren’t so much about what the writer is doing, but what they are thinking.  I’ve received some good feedback recently about some of my articles in the PokerNews magazine so it’s inspired me a little to continue with those sorts of pieces.  I think of them as common sense strategy and thoughts on the trends in the game.  Just stuff that might be new to beginners and experienced players might forget about or overlook.

So hopefully my updates will be a little more frequent because of this, and I can share more of my thoughts and less of my bad beats!

So it’s been a while since I posted.  I really need to get into the habit of posting shorter posts, more frequently, so that blogging doesn’t become such a big effort.  Unfortunately my time is usually pretty limited which makes regular updates difficult.So to summarize the last few months…- Ran bad at Aussie Millions- Ran bad at ANZPT Adelaide- Ran good in Rush Poker, then ran bad twice as hardThe Aussie Millions was particularly disappointing as I only played two events and bombed out very early in both.  In both tournaments I had ace-king and flopped top pair only to run into a set, and the structure made it hard to justify a fold.We then headed over to Adelaide, and once again had a great time over there, but poker-wise things were again pretty brutal.  I was keen to play the Main Event, but after failing to satellite online, I took two shots in the live satellites.  In the first satellite I was crippled early when I had KK vs AA vs AA.  What are you guys doing getting your money in with no outs?!?  Somehow I survived and fought hard to get back into it, only to die in about 12th place with 6 or 7 seats up for grabs.A day or two later, satellite number two started well with set over set going my way, but I slowly slipped back and when down to 9BBs I shoved A8 from the SB, only for the BB to wake up with AA.  Again out in 13th with 6 or 7 seats up for grabs.  Awesome.February was just one of those months where not much went right.So I was very glad to move into March and see my luck change.  The doom switch was turned off on Rush Poker and I smashed them for a week.  Things went my way on Mondays also with a couple of deep runs, final tables and a few four-figure scores.A week later and Rush Poker restored me to my default doom setting and I crashed and burned in spectacular fashion.  I ran severely below EV and the Rush format is not a good one when you’re tilting.So where next?  Well I’ve always wanted to move over to Heads-Up poker and an opportunity came along that sounded too good to refuse.  I’ve never taken HU seriously, but I’ve wanted to work on that part of my game for a number of reasons.  A lot of the higher level pros seem to all play HU regularly, it’s good to improve the aggression factor, and it’s also a vital element to improve in my tournament game.  With the guidance and support of a high-stakes HU specialist I’m finding the games extremely soft on some of the other smaller sites.  Things are looking promising and I’m hoping to step up in levels, plug my leaks and really improve my game.The Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series kicks off today and I’m disappointed to not be there as it’s my favourite tournament series.  The low buy-ins and deep structure suit me perfectly.  At first I planned to be there for all the events, but now I’m unsure if I’ll get there at all.  With a wedding coming up in early April, it’s hard to justify another trip to Melbourne when we have so much on our plate at the moment.  I’ll probably end up just staying at home to grind and work before the wedding and a nice month-long honeymoon in Bali and Thailand!  I can’t wait! Hopefully I’ll be able to post a few more regular updates from the beaches in Thailand!

Well here it is, my top five most memorable moments of 2008. You can read this article at PokerNetwork:

From The Den: My Top 10 Most Memorable Moments of 2008 – Part 2

It’s good to be home. I arrived back safe and sound after a decent flight. The flu that I picked up on the final days in Vegas has been a bitch to shake. I’m not normally one to get ill so it’s been strange that it’s taken more than a week to shake this one off. I’ve spent my time back home catching up with mates, family, TV and AFL. I’ve also been playing as much online poker as possible. Having watched so much poker for the last seven weeks just makes me want to hit the felt and play. I’ve played well and ran well so it’s been a useful week or two. I’ve played some at NoIQPoker, Full Tilt, PokerStars and Ladbrokes. I took advantage of PokerStars current 2x Reload Bonus and have run pretty well. I always found PokerStars to be one of the tougher online sites to play at, so anytime I can clear a bonus and turn out a profit as well I am happy with. I’ve been 8-tabling to try and clear it as painlessly as possible. I am also trying out Ladbrokes so that I can qualify for PokerNetwork‘s exclusive $20,000 cash freerolls. So far so good. Ladbrokes is on the Prima network and there seems to be plenty of juicy fish. It reminds me of the old days at Party Poker where you’d look to find the good players amongst the fish, instead of the other way around. It’s also compatible with PokerTracker which helps.

Also I demolished Tim online last night, in a series of 7 matches. We played all the HORSE rotations and added NLHE and PLO to the mix. We started with NLHE and Razz. Tim had the better of me in NLHE…I mean how can I overcome his skillful all-in shove with J3 against my AK for the board to bring him a full house. What a waste of time. I creamed him in Razz and Stud Hi-Lo, but he has an edge on me on Omaha and squared it up at 2-2 with a Omaha Hi-Lo win. We then played Stud and PLO, and I fluked an upset PLO win after Tim rivered the second nuts against my made nuts on the turn. Sweet. I was then freerolling on Stud, but Tim got lucky to square it up once again. We went to the decider, Limit Holdem, and I think I have an edge here over the NL guru. I pounded on him relentlessly and came away with a hard fought 4-3 victory. This was good fun and I like the format so I think there will be a rematch very soon!

It’s been a good break, but not long enough! I’m about to get back on a plane and head over to Melbourne for the Victorian Championships. This is one of my favourite series, as ALL of the events are excellent. They are in the right price bracket for most players, but offer something for tight budgets as well as the high rollers. One of the more interesting proposed events is the State of Origin Challenge. Six players from each of the six states battle it out in six sit and gos, scoring points for their team. The six winners play on the final table, and the state with the most points takes home the cash. Tasmania doesn’t have a huge list of well known poker players, so looks like I may get a gig. Stay tuned.

Either way, I plan to play as many of the smaller events that we are not covering for the live reporting as possible. After Melbourne, I’ll have another week off before heading over to Macau to cover the APT and APPT events for PokerNews.

No rest for the wicked!

Thanks for the memories…

From the Save The Tasmanian Devil website:

In May 2008, the Tasmanian devil was listed as “Endangered” under Tasmania’s Threatened Species Protection Act 1995.

“The upgrading in status from vulnerable to endangered, recommended to me by the Scientific Advisory Committee, reflect the reductions in the devil population, resulting from Devil Facial Tumour Disease,” said David Llewellyn, the Tasmanian minister for Primary Industries and Water.

“It reminds us all that there are no quick and easy solutions in our conservation effort.”

Sightings of the devil have declined by 64% over the past decade and, as at May 2008, Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) is found across more than 60% of Tasmania.

“The change in the devil’s status reflects the real possibility that this iconic species could face extinction in the wild within 20 years,” Mr Llewellyn said.