Poker news updates since September 2005.

5th of December, 2005 - Poker tournament success, in my case, appears similar to buses, none for ages and then many at the same time. I made a third straight final table of a $250 multi-table on Paradise Poker, that's 3/3 in 3 days! The new cool, calm and conservative approach seems to be paving the way to these final tables. Maintaining this tight style may have been more effective on this occasion, when we short-handed it was aggression overkill that lead to getting knocked out in 3rd place. Rarely do I play online tournaments due to the volatile variance, however I'm enjoying riding this wave and will continue to do so until the rush ends.

4th of December, 2005 - My multi-table tournament slump has finally ended! After what seems years in the tournament bubble wilderness I finally pulled off a win, a small tournament victory, but a victory nonetheless. Being only the second time I've played on Paradise Poker, it seems their tournament structure suits my pre-flop orientated style of play. First place only paid $6,000 but winning a poker tournament is far more pleasing than making that money in bread and butter cash games. Surely it's a matter of time before I make a huge score.

3rd of December, 2005 - I downloaded Paradise Poker today and played a $200 multi-table tournament. Aesthetically the site is not great, very bland, but overall it seems professional. In the tournament I finished on the bubble, it was one of those tournaments where every time you have a decent hand another player has a better one. Surprisingly the standard of play was poor, especially in the early stages, which contradicted all the reviews that I've read. Profit is the name of the game though, hopefully I can win one of Paradise's big tournaments on the weekend.

27th of November, 2005 - I'm not quite the stereotypical professional poker player, preferring online poker to live games, but I braved the elements and played the £1500 Midlands Masters tournament in Walsall on Saturday. This was my first return to live poker since the awesome European Poker Tour Barcelona trip. Even though it was financially unsuccessful, it's widened my eyes and gained valuable experience towards the ultimate goal of becoming a better poker player.

21st of November, 2005 - This week I've been venturing to new online poker rooms, just to break the routine and freshen things up. I checked out Full Tilt Poker first, nice looking website, good interface but unfortunately hideous table graphics. I understand that online poker should be fun, however the legal age to play is 18 or 21 not 6, Full Tilt is just too childish to play sensibly. I cancelled plans to play the Northern Lights poker tournament, for motivational and safety reasons, meaning I couldn't be bothered to drive for 4 hours and the odds were high that my reckless motorway driving would either kill myself or someone else, 120 mph minimum in heavy fog was not a good idea. The Midland Masters poker tournaments are in the next few days, the £750 and £1500 double chance tournaments are appealing. The problem is that UK poker rooms have small capacities and the tournaments are usually fully booked well in advance, in this case the Walsall Casino has 150 seats. It's not a good sign when they don't answer the phone.

14th of November, 2005 - I will be heading to Blackpool this week to play in the Northern Lights poker tournament,
£1000 buy-in No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament with 160 maximum players. Blackpool is marketed as the UK's version of Las Vegas, just on a smaller scale. I've never been to either places, it should be a new experience and taster for my future trips to Las Vegas.

9th of November, 2005 - I have a few Party Poker no deposit bonuses available this month, these are snapped up extremely quickly, so if you're one of the minority who've never played at PartyPoker.com before, send me an email and I'll hook you up with $50.

2nd of November, 2005 - The Masters Classic in Amsterdam is drawing near, it's unlikely that I'll play. I mean, what is there to do in Amsterdam? Also, my mind has encapsulated live tournaments as just vacations, which is not very good for profits. I'm pretty content playing online cash games as it is, so unless I have a spontaneous moment of clarity (compulsive addiction dressed up) I doubt I'll make the trip. They really need to shake up the European poker schedule, the next month would make any poker pro want to take up knitting.

30th of October, 2005 - VentureAce.com has undergone a mini-facelift, give your opinion of the new design. The tournament journal has been updated, it now includes an account of my first final table at a live tournament, read about the Paris Open of Poker main event.

16th of October, 2005 - I've added a new section to the site, check out poker pros profiles that I've faced at the poker table.

5th of October, 2005 - I wasn't feeling the European Poker Tour London event for some obscure reason, last time I was scheduled to play in London was the day of the first terrorist attack but I'll put my absence down to the weather instead (that last sentence brought back memories of handing in school homework, always an excuse). A bizarre fact, all but one of my live tournament escapades have been abroad. What does that tell you? That UK poker players are superior of course.

24th of September, 2005 - Returned from the European Poker Tour Barcelona event empty handed. It's not all bad news though, my Swedish friend Anton Bergstroem finished 6th, picking up 70,000. All in a days work for the cash game killer. Next stop is the European Poker Tour event in London.

That's as far back as the news updates go. Where do you want to go? Return to the homepage which starts the story of my professional poker career, check out these online poker bonuses or view the entire site content?