HH Glory + HG Round Up

First of all what a great 24 hrs of Poker i've just had.
First off an early bath in the 11.00pm $5k GTD (crypto).
Onto Betfair and again an early exit in EWS.
Back to Hills for the £10 HH 00.14am and the 00.30am $1300 GTD $10 entry.

Played very well in both, got outdrawn a few times in HH but had a massive one go in my favour when i pushed with A8 for my tourny life, got called by AK, A on the flop, 8 on river phew !!!

Made FT in both and got HU in HH v guy who had given me a bit of grief earlier for pushing 5 hands in row. He said i was tilting but i actually had 5 small pps in a row.
Then i got dealt AA --

Game #6935648774: Head Hunter £10 (ID7063901) £10+£1 - Hold'em NL (1200/2400) - 2008/04/29 - 03:07:22 (UK)Table "7063901 - 1" Seat 3 is the button.
Seat 3: Neil15043 (89414 in chips)
Seat 5: Minky1001 (78586 in chips)
Neil15043: posts the ante 300
Minky1001: posts the ante 300
Neil15043: posts small blind 1200
Minky1001: posts big blind 2400
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Neil15043 [Ac Ah]
Neil15043: calls 1200
Minky1001: checks
----- FLOP ----- [2c Td Kd]
Minky1001: checks
Neil15043: bets 9600
Minky1001: raises to 19200
Neil15043: raises to 86714 and is all-in
Minky1001: is all-in 56686
Returned uncalled bets 10,828 to Neil15043
----- TURN ----- [2c Td Kd][9d]
----- RIVER ----- [2c Td Kd 9d][6s]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Neil15043: shows [Ac Ah] (A Pair of Aces, King high)
Minky1001: shows [Tc 8h] (A Pair of Tens, King high)
Neil15043 collected 157172 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot 157172 Main pot 157172 Rake 0Board [2c Td Kd 9d 6s]
Seat 3: Neil15043 (small blind) showed [Ac Ah] and won (157172) with A Pair of Aces, King high
Seat 5: Minky1001 (big blind) showed [Tc 8h] and lost with A Pair of Tens, King high

Take it down :D
11 Heads and 1st place for £290

In the $1300 GTD i finish in 4th for $98.

Off work today so i decided to enter the Betfair 2.15pm $2000 GTD - $30 entry 69 runners
Won a Big 8,000 pot early with the nut flush and i was sitting pretty throughout.
With 15 left i was in a pot for 25k (with the eventual winner) i push with JJ he calls with AK
K on the river to cripple me :(
Manage a double up and back in the game.
Took ages from 10 to 9 before we finally got to the FT.
I had average stack and tried to choose my moments carefully.
We were down to 5 got KQs on button push with my remaining 10k insta call with AA (great timing) and i am gone.
$165 a good return though :)

5 MTTs, 1 win and 2 FTs very happy :)

Onto the Dogs and first of all i went to see my new puppy on Sat 19th.
We went to the kennels of Rachael and Graham, they are a lovely couple.
After a long chat (seemed like we had known them ages) and a coffee they brought two puppies into the conservatory, mine and Gordons who has also purchased one.
They are beautiful, mine, a black dog with 4 white feet and a white chest named Dan.
Gordans is fawn with black and white face and feet named Lachlen.
They were running around and playing and just being puppies :)
Loads of fuss and photos, then back inside for another drink and chat before off home.

Hall Greens latest and Final action of the month -

Friday 18th (night)
Lucy (2/13) 3rd in A4

Sat 19th
Lulu (2/13) 3rd in A5
Teddy (1/18) 4th in A4

Tues 22nd
Marvin (4/19) 5th in A2
Final of the Blue Riband and Farloe Reason was a good winner
Broadacres Rocco deserves a mention £££££ :)

Weds 23rd
Tom (3/14) WON A2@2/1 in a good time.

Shelley graded on after her trial
Polar graded on and will be having his first race soon
Lucy had a six bend trial and is now graded on for both distances

Friday 25th (what a strange day)
Betty (3/8) 6th in A4 KO'd at first bend
Lulu (3/14) WON A5@5/2 good effort ran on well
Teddy (1/19) 3rd in A4, only beaten a SHD
Marvin (4/20) 6th in 645 Hcap, KO'd 6th bend, very unlucky

Sat 26th
Fivo (2/13) 3rd in A2
Tom (3/15) 5th in A1

Tues 29th
Shelley (0/6) 4th in A7 on comeback from season
Teddy (2/20) WON 645Hcap@11/4
Betty trialled before racing, should have graded

A very good couple of days on Poker and at HG :)

April 6/34
Year 24/151

Monthly stats and comments to follow

Thx and GL
Neil

HG Catch Up + I Got A Puppy

Latest results from my second home ;)

Sat 5th
Tom (1/10) 4th A3
Russ (1/14) 5th A1

Tues 8th
Marvin (4/18) 6th A2
Teddy (1/16) 2nd A3

Weds 9th
Lulu (2/12) 6th A5

Fri 11th
Betty (2/6) 6th A5
Tom (2/11) WON A3@7/2

Sat 12th
Teddy (1/17) 4th A3
Russ (1/15) 6th A1
Fivo (2/12) 5th A2

Sunday 13th
Hall Green had its Pre Derby Sales Auction, some nice lots were their with some tidy prices as well. Mr Rea did a grand job as Auctioneer and i feel he deserves a mention.
Good Luck with all your new Purchases.

Tues 15th
Lucy (2/12) 4th A4
Tom (2/12) 3rd A2

Weds 16th
Betty (3/7) WON A5@3/1

Fri 18th (morning Bags)
Tom (2/13) 3rd A2

Marvin has had a retrial and should be out again soon.
Shelley has had a couple of trials after season, but needs another (or two)

My brother (Paul) and i have a new arrival, Elite Jordan (Polar) came across from the emerald isle on 2nd April. He has had 2 trials so far and hopefully he has only one more to go to make the card.

Finally i had another Birthday on the 15th and what a lovely surprise present Michelle got me.
A nine week old puppy by HONDO BLACK x DROOPYS NATALIE.
Will see him for the first time Tomorrow and i am dead excited.

Lucy runs tonight.

April 3/21
Year 21/138

There you go, caught up again ;)

The Second City Derby takes place on Sunday and both of us have plenty to play for.
Chelsea beating Everton last night may open the door for us into Europe, if we beat the Blues we then travel to Goodison next week for a massive game.
The Blues need a win to help in their Relegation dog fight.
Lets have a good game and let the best team win ;)

The Scottish National tomorrow and lets try and do better in this than the Grand National.
I know its got top weight but i really fancy Halcon Genelardais to run a Big Big race !!!!!!

Thx and GL
Neil

Grand National Thoughts

Tomorrow is our busiest day of the year by far, all those once a year punters asking the same old questions but its a great day and usually flies by. Lets hope for a trouble free day ;)

The race itself is as competitive as ever and with the bottom weight carrying 10 stone 7 lbs, only 19lbs covers the whole field which has to be a first. I will highlight a few contenders.

Cloudy Lane has a Favs chance but at around 6/1 i will not be interested.
Comply Or Die i feel will struggle to get round and i think he will be Pulled Up.
Slim Pickings, out of all the horses to finish the course last year i feel he will come out best of them and run into a place again.
Simon was going well last year when falling and although he has a different jockey (possible upgrade for me) i think if the ground doesn't dry up to much he has a major chance (On at 20/1 e/w in December)
Bewleys Berry has similar claims to Simon and must be on anyones shortlist granted a clear round.
Butlers Cabin has AP aboard but i am not sure if he has fallen out with the game.
Hedgehunter will jump round but at his age with a big weight cant see him winning (6-12 place finish for me)
Knowhere is an interesting contender, he beat Our Vic easily in Jan and that form is solid now, could go well at a price.
Iron Man (ran in Gold Cup) is the biggest longshot in the race if you fancy a speculative punt.

Others that interest me if they are still intact with their jockeys at halfway would be Snowy Morning, Mr Pointment, Dun Doire (given too much to do in 2007), D'argent, Turko, Black Apalachi and Backbeat.

My prediction for the race is ..............................

1 Simon
2 Knowhere
3 Slim Pickings
4 Bewleys Berry

probably way off the mark but GL with your picks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Early runners at Hall Green in April as follows -

Weds 2nd
Tom (1/9) 3rd in A3
Lucy (2/11) 2nd in A4

On Thurs Shelley had a sprint Trial, 480m next week

Friday 4th (Today)
Lulu (2/11) WON A6@4/1 , the rest did her a power of good :)
Betty (2/5) 5th in A5
Fivo (2/11) 6th in A2, a bumpy ride for him
Marvin (4/17) 4th in A2
Teddy (1/15) 5th in S3, slightly disappointing

April 1/7
year 19/124

Tom and Russ out Saturday :)

Thx and GL
Neil

March Dog Round Up

Six wins in March from 47 runners, break down as follows

Belle (1/13) ran well in A6 without winning before breaking into season (22nd March)
Betty (2/4) Great start to her career winning at A7 and A6 level :)
Fivo (2/10) Got his deserved win in A3 on final run of a busy month (7 runs)
Janey (3/9) Won an A4 from 4 runs, marked Awk again :( , a decent record this year but we have retired her due to her antics rather than wait for the dreaded DQ.
Lucy (2/10) 3 runs at A4 level since her injury without winning.
Lulu (1/10) Struggled this month and given a rest after she had 11 runs in 7 weeks.
Marvin (4/16) Still running well and Won an A2 from 5 starts at a very good level.
Russ (1/13) 4 runs in A1 and 4 seconds, unfortunate not to win but running at the top of his game.
Teddy (1/14) No wins but running well and finished 3rd in a 670m Open at HG.
Tom (1/8) Broke his duck when winning an A4 on his 7th start, ul latest.

Shelley will be having a trial soon after having her seasonal rest.

Our March Dog Of The Month -- Betty

March 6/47
Year 18/117

April kicks off with Tom and Lucy running on Weds Bags and we may have another arrival very soon ;)

Thx and GL
Neil

Quick HG Update

I will do the March Stats later but heres the last update for runners this month.

Tuesday
Teddy (1/13) Ran 3rd in the 670m Open, Well pleased with his first attempt in OR company only beaten just over 2 lengths.

Wednesday
Marvin (4/16) 6th in A1, High enough in the grades at present.
Lucy (2/10) 4th in A4
Fivo (1/9) 5th in A2

Friday
Betty (2/4) Hatrick denied when 3rd in A5, stayed on well.
Tom (1/8) 6th in A3, got badly bumped when moving into 2nd.
Teddy (1/14) 3rd in A3, stayed on well, had a tough week.

Saturday
Fivo (2/10) WON A3@3/1 Downgrade done the trick :)
Russ (1/13) 2nd again in A1, sigh

1 win from 9 runners this week.

March 6/47
Year 18/117

Thx and GL
Neil

Betty At The Double !!!!!!

Our fortunes down at Hall Green took a turn for the better this week where we had 4 wins :)
Baggies Betty has her career up and running winning on her 2nd + 3rd starts, Tom also got his 1st win on the board for us on his 7th start and Janey wins again but is also marked Awk again !!!!!
Latest runners -

Weds 19th
Lulu (1/10) 5th A6, ran very flat, hopefully a little break for her.
Betty (1/2) WON A7@7/2 on only her second start.
Tom (0/6) 3rd A3, better run, not bumped about.

Friday 21st
Belle (1/13) 6th in A6, poor run, came in season next day.
Fivo (1/8) 2nd in A2
Janey (3/9) WON A4@4/1 but marked Awk again,to retrial :(
Lucy (2/9) 4th in A4

Saturday 22nd
Betty (2/3) WON A6@2/1 two in a row for the youngster :)
Tom (1/7) WON A4@7/2 First win for us :)
Teddy (1/12) 2nd in S3, ran very well in first attempt at trip.
Marvin (4/15) 5th in S3 (same race as Teddy) got outpaced early.
Russ (1/12) 2nd in A1, Fantastic effort again recording another PB.

March 5/38
Year 17/108

Teddy is our only runner on Tues in a 670m Open.

Happy Easter to you all
Neil

Cheltenham Comments + HG Latest

Well what a week that was.
The Festival kicked off on Tuesday with the Supreme Nov Hurdle, 8/1 the Field, probably the most open betting heat in the Festivals History. I went for Mccoy who was on Binocular and i thought i was off to a winning start. They travelled well all through the race but after the last Captain Cee Bee (Mccoys cast off) wore them down to take the Opener in style.
After race 1 we knew that the ground was Soft and not what we had been told by Mr Claisse !!!!
The Arkle up next and Tidal Bay was a very impressive winner of a substandard renewal.
Champion Hurdle, and who would have thought it that the Irish wouldn't make the first 3 home !!
Katchit the 5yo bravely held off Osano to take the honours with Punjabi taking 3rd. A few valid excuses from the irish who will be back stronger than ever next year.
Onto the Handicaps with An Accordian, Garde Champetre and Crack Away Jack landing the spoils, the latter foiling Ashkazar in his quest to claim the Bonus from the previous Saturdays Imperial Cup.

Wednesday arrived and so did the High Winds. Cheltenham Abandoned. Called off around 8.30am. Around Midday the schedule for the remainder of the meeting came out, 10 races on Thursday and 9 on Friday. That meant the two best racing days EVER.

Thursday, winds had gone, racing was on for Bumper 10 race card.
The Four Miler started preceedings and Old Benny outstayed Over The Creek :(
SA Chase up next and we have our first winning FAV at the meeting where Albertas Run ran out a good winner.
Finger OnThe Pulse held the late challenge of the Queens Barber Shop in the Jewson Hcap.

Next was the Performance of the meeting. Master Minded, a 5yo blew the opposition away in The Champion Chase, sauntering home 19l clear of previous Champion Vor Por Estudes. At 5yo one wonders how many more Champion Chases he can win ?

Our Vic led from piller to Post in the Ryanair Chase for an easy success and boosted my flagging funds ;)
The World Hurdle up next and the amazing Inglis Drever arrives late on the scene to take the race for the Third time. He is the First Horse to record a Treble in this Grade 1 race.
Mister McGoldrick rolled back the years when routing his field in the RP Plate. His winning SP of 66/1 would be the biggest of the week.
Bally Fitz for Twiston-Davies took the Pertemps Final from Staying Chaser Miko De Beauchene.
High Chimes landed a competitive renewal of the Kim Muir from the fast finishing Openide.
Willie Mullins again landed the Bumper this time with Cousin Vinny who i think will be a very good winner of this race (some of them dont train on). Zaarito is better than his running here and was given an indifferent ride !!!!!

Friday was the day we had been waiting for. The Gold Cup match between Champion Kauto Star and The Pretender Denman. Before that though we had 5 races to get through. We had a new race this year. The first running of the Mares only event went to Whiteoak at 20/1. She travelled really well during the race and held off the late challenge of Refinement by a SH HD.
Fiveforthree stayed on strongly for Ruby Walsh as they took a strong renewal in the Ballymore Hurdle. There will be winners aplenty come out of this race and many will go Novice Chasing next season.
Naiad De Misselot came out best from Kicks For Free in a driving finish to the Coral Cup by a nose. Junior faded into 3rd and was matched for Thousands on Betfair at very short prices after leading at the last, Ouch.
The Triumph Hurdle looked a match pre race and thats how it turned out where Celestial Halo made all of the running to beat Fav Franchoek fairly comfortably.
Alan King's Nenuphar Collonges took the 3 mile Nov Hurdle from Liskennett and The Tother One who gave Sam Thomas a few steering problems going to the last. Will be interesting to see when the winner goes back over fences.

Onto the eagerly awaited Gold Cup. Kauto Star v Denman.
Kauto Star went off a shade of odds on and powerhouse Denman was a 9/4 shot.
Confidence had come for the reigning Champion but both horses looked a picture.
Paul Nicholls' other horse Neptune Collonges made the early running with Denman just behind and Kauto tracking him. With a circuit to go Denman takes up the running and Kauto gets in close to one. Away from the stands Denman leads form Neptune and Kauto with Halcon Genelardais,Exotic Dancer and Afistfullofdollars in behind. As Denman and Sam Thomas keep up the relentless gallop Kauto Star brushes through a couple more fences and you can sense he may be in trouble. Top of the hill and Denman is asked to quicken, Neptune Collonges still in second tries to follow and Ruby starts rowing away on Kauto Star, there is no initial response and Ruby gives him a crack. Denman rounds the home turn with a big lead and Kauto starts to run on, into second past Neptune he looks dangerous for a while but Denman puts it to bed with a good jump at the last and sails up the hill for a 7l victory. Kauto Star plugs on for second just holding off a resurgent Neptune Collonges close home for a memorable 1-2-3 for Paul Nicholls. Denman wins and in some style. Halcon Genelardais runs on from way back and is beaten only 16l at the line (remarkable because with 3 to jump he was well adrift).
Now my take on the race and having backed Denman is that there was not much left in the tank, where as Kauto Star didnt jump at his best and the ground softer than ideal for him .
Neptune Collonges ran with great credit and gives Nicholls a head ache where to campaign him from now on. Halcon Genelardais on this run will be hard to beat over extreme distances with his abundance in stamina.
We eagerly await the next installment and on quicker ground who knows, but on this day Denman was a worthy winner.

The foxhunters went to Amicelli, Tiger Cry a good winner of the Grand Annual and Silver Jaro took the finale The County Hurdle beating Psycho on whom Carberry over did the waiting tactics.

I showed a slight loss on the week. Tuesdays selections ran ok with a couple of places.
Thursday a small bet on Old Benny, a nice one on Our Vic and doubled up with Inglis Drever for a nice return.
Friday, small bet on Amicello (thanks to my work colleague) and with Denman doing the business in the Gold Cup i almost clawed it all back.

No winners this week at HG - recap

Weds
Fivo (1/6) 3rd in A2
Belle (1/12) 2nd in A6
Teddy (1/11) 4th in A3
Tom (0/5) 5th in A3

On Thursday Betty trialed back on after being made to retrial

Friday
Janey (2/8) 5th in A4
Lulu (1/9) 5th in A6
Lucy (2/8) 3rd in A4

Saturday
Russ (1/11) 2nd in A1 in his fastest time ever !!!!!
Marvin (4/14) 5th in A1
Fivo (1/7) 5th in A2
Teddy had a 6 bend trial before racing and went nicely

March 1/26
Year 13/96

Hopefully a winner wont be too far away. Next runners on Weds Bags are Lulu, Betty and Tom.

Only a couple of games of Poker lately and nothing to write home about, hope to be on the tables later tonight.

Thx and GL
Neil