INTO THE BLACK.

Absolute Bet: Last week $527; Current $642 (+115)
Poker Stars: Last month $144; Current $168 (+24)

Total = $810 (+139)

Betfair: Current £200

Profit on the month = + $139

Profit on the year = + $60

B&M money = £60 (+ £14)

I've managed to turn round my bad start to the year and get the bankroll heading north again. I worked out what the main leak in my game was - it turned out that I was making too many negative equity ICM decisions. Once I had identified this my results improved quickly. I've also played the $1200 guaranteed $11 tournament on Absolute three times. I fancy this one, as it starts at 7.30 and usually has fewer than 200 runners - so if you run deep there is a realistic chance of getting to bed at a reasonable time. Close to the money on two occasions, but no cigar so far. One of them was an exit in the first ten minutes - amazing for me. I ended up all in with AK of diamonds on a board of Ah 6d 4d...Turn Jh...River 8d. He had 5d7d for the straight flush...SIGH.

I've put a couple of hundred from the B&M money into Betfair so that I can play some of the APAT games. I had set it aside for entries to the live games but sadly none of them are anywhere near the north west of England - Aberdeen, Swansea, Dublin and Luton don't cut it for me I'm afraid. The next local one is the team tourney I played in last month, which will be held in Bolton in January next year. It seems a long way off. There is a one day event at Dusk to Dawn in Nottingham in the summer which I might try to get to - Nottingham is doable in a day. Meantime I'm going to have a punt at some of the online APAT games, which is why I put a wedge into Betfair. Horrible software though.

Games at the Cricket Club continue to make a small but steady profit. The scene has settled down into a regular 12 - 16 players. There are about 4 of us who play a tight/aggressive game, a similar number of weak/tights and the rest are serious loose/aggressives. They tend to dominate early on with one or two usually eliminating a couple of their number and getting big stacks they try to boss the table with. Most weeks the game comes down to two or three TAG's hunting down a LAG and usually the TAG's win, which is why playing poker is clearly a game of skill. :-)