Didn't last very long in this tournament. Just after the break I got short stacked and pushed preflop for 3500 (300/600) with 77. Got called by 44. Flop came 10JQ. The turn was the 2 and the river was the 8. Yes, I was beaten by a 4 high flush on the river. Nice!

MATCHDAY 12/08/07 GAME 1

Manchester United had an uncomfortable start to the season as the champions were outsmarted tactically by Reading.

Worryingly, United also had to withdraw Wayne Rooney at the interval when the England striker fractured his foot after a challenge by Michael Duberry.

For the last 17 minutes Reading were a man short after substitute Dave Kitson was sent off seconds after coming on.

The closest United came to scoring was in the first half when Ryan Giggs hit the post with a finely executed volley.

Sir Alex Ferguson may have spent £50m over the summer on strengthening his squad, yet the United manager was reduced to deploying substitute John O'Shea as a makeshift centre-forward in the second half.

O'Shea did not disgrace himself as a striker but he was no replacement for Rooney.

In last season's opening fixture of the season, United were four goals up against Fulham after only 19 minutes.

Reading proved altogether less charitable opponents, with their manager Steve Coppell deploying man-markers to pay close attention to Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Coppell's strategic thinking worked a treat in the opening half and United only once seriously tested Marcus Hahnemann.

That was early on when the American had to come out quickly to snaffle the ball from Rooney after the England striker picked up Michael Carrick's pass.

Hahnemann had a busier time of it in the second half, saving well from O'Shea, Carrick, Ronaldo and Paul Scholes.

Those saves from Carrick, Ronaldo and Scholes came in the final minutes as United piled forward in search of the winner.

Even when Giggs hit the post with that first-half volley the Reading goalkeeper looked well enough positioned to stop the ball going into the net.

Rooney was injured when he managed to get in front of Duberry, falling awkwardly after going close with a first-time effort.

The United striker hobbled on until the interval but failed to re-emerge after half-time.

It was later confirmed the England striker had suffered a hairline fracture of his left foot, an injury that will rule him out of the Euro 2008 qualifiers with Israel and Russia in September.

If Reading's defensive organisation was exemplary, their attacking efforts were less eye-catching, with Edwin van der Sar spending most of the opening 45 minutes as a virtual spectator.

Indeed, Reading were so preoccupied with defence it was hard to remember them creating a single meaningful chance.

Rooney's injury allowed the Old Trafford crowd to glimpse the first of Ferguson's close-season signings in Premier League action, with Nani brought on to deputise for the England international.

The United debutant almost broke the deadlock with a beautifully struck shot that went narrowly wide.

Kitson came on for Kevin Doyle only to be sent off within a minute of his introduction for a dangerous tackle on Patrice Evra.

# Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson:

The loss of Wayne Rooney was obvious.

"If he'd been on the pitch I think we'd have won the match.

"In the second half, chances started to come. We had some good chances and we just didn't take them."

# Reading manager Steve Coppell:

"I want people to think we're more than just a defensive side.

"But your season-long dreams can be shattered very quickly here.

I'd have loved to have gone 4-4-2 and seen what happened but we'd have got hammered."

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Brown (Fletcher 77), Ferdinand, Vidic, Silvestre (O'Shea 57), Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Evra, Giggs, Rooney (Nani 46).
Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Pique.

Reading: Hahnemann, De la Cruz, Ingimarsson, Duberry, Shorey, Murty, Ki-Hyeon (Oster 57), Harper, Gunnarsson, Hunt (Bikey 87), Doyle (Kitson 72).
Subs Not Used: Federici, Cisse.

Sent Off: Kitson (73).

Booked: Ki-Hyeon, Oster.

Att: 75,655.

Ref: Robert Styles (Hampshire).

Source: BBC Sport Website.

Here is a couple of videos I found on You Tube for Gummy Bears.

The first is the short version and the second is the 3+ minute version (in German). Enjoy!

Sorry for posting this entry almost a week after the event but I have been feeling lazy!

A fairly uneventful tournament, never really got any big hands just kinda survived through the whole tournament. The only hand that sticks out in my my mind is this one.... Carl, after loosing most of his stack playing like, well, Carl! goes all in UTG+1 for 2500. I am in the big blind with KQ. Mid position says "sorry buddy, I gotta call you". Instantly I know he has Aces. The binds are 300/600 and I have about 14,000 in chips, it is another 1900 to me so I decide to see a flop and gamble a little! Also I think that it may get checked down so I would get to see all 5 cards and maybe get lucky. Well lucky I got because the flop came Q Q Q, I flop quads!. I check and the Aces looks at me all smug and says ALL IN! I beat him into the pot with my chips and turn over my cards. A look of horror shows on his face and I actually thought he was going to be sick!

Nothing really happens for the rest of the tournament and I actually finish 6th which paid $940. Not bad, I had 2 rebuys and the add on so the tournament cost me $300 so I made a profit of $640.

I start day 2 with 58,400 in chips and there are 39 players left. 27 players get paid but I am not there to get 'paid' I am there to make a pay!

I intended to play as I had done the previous day, with aggression. The first hand of the day I raised in the cut off to 5200 (800/1600/300) with A2 offsuit in an unopened pot. The small blind calls and we see the flop. Q 5 6 rainbow. SB checks and I check. 2 on the turn and SB checks again. I bet out 7000 and he folds AK face up. 45 minutes later we are down to 27 players and we break down to 3 tables. It is a redraw so everybody is given a new seating assignment. I draw T2 S10.

2 rounds pass by and I am relaxing and getting to know my new players on my new table. I have been blinded down to 48,000. I am in the BB on level 12 (1200/2400/400) and I look down to see KQ. UTG+1 makes it 7500 to play and the cutoff and the button both smooth call. Its another 5100 to me and there is already 27300 in the pot. I am getting about 5.1-1 for my money so I call. The flop comes down KQ10. I flop top 2 but there is an obvious flush draw and straight draw on the board. I wanted to take this this pot down right here. I didn't want to risk a check raise in case there was no bet on the flop. I instantly went all in for my remaining 40,000. The original raiser thought for about 3 minutes and eventually folded. The cut off folded quickly and the button started thinking. Another 3 minutes passed and at this point I know I am good and want the call. He eventually folds AQ and the original raiser said he had the same hand. I am now up to about 75,000.

An hour passes and we are down to 18 players and in the next money level. The tables are redrawn again and I am in T1 S4. We are now guaranteed $3,000 but its not enough!

I am hovering around the same stack for the next 20 minutes when I hear an all-in on the next table. Amin is all in with 10 10 against AK. He is good to the river when a red ace hits the river to knock him out in 15th place. I have 67,000 in chips at this point. A few minutes later I pick up 55 in the SB and there is a raise UTG+2 to 9,000 (1500/3000/500). I call in the SB and the BB calls too. The flop come 5 10 Q. I check and the BB checks. The raiser bets 18,000 and I go all in for 40,000 more. BB fold and the raiser calls. He doesn't improve with his KQ and I double up.

At the dinner break we are told by the tournament staff that they are showcasing the final table in the poker room. There were 13 players left at the break but instead of coming back up to the tournament area after the break, they bag our chips and inform us we will continue in the poker room after the break. This is so we don't have to move when we loose 3 more players (9 handed final).

After the dinner break I have about 170,000 in chips and I am feeling great. Then it happened. I went card dead! We got down to the final table after about 40 more minutes of play and I had lost about 50,000 in blinds and antes. I started the final table with 120,000 in chips. I drew Seat 2. The average chip stack on the final table was 230,000. I was way short. It took 3 hours to loose the first player at the final table and I had dwindled down to 55,000 in chips. I had not seen a better hand than 10 7 off suit. It was the worst I'd ever seen. I found A9 UTG and pushed for 55,000 (4000/8000/2000) and was called by 77. I spiked an ace on the river and was up to 140,000. I stole a couple of blinds and went up to 170,000. Another player got knocked out an we were at 7. I dwindled again down to 90,000 with the blinds and antes being so high the chip stacks were fluctuating like crazy. I find 88 and go all in and I am called by A 10. He doesn't improve and I am back up to close to 200,000. Another player gets knocked out and we are down to 6.

Another 10 hands pass by and I have not played a hand. I am back down to about 143,000. I find QQ UTG and push. The chip leader calls me with 66 and I double up to 310,000. It is now costing about 48,000 a round. About 20 minutes later, in the 21st hour of play, the chip leader proposes a deal. A 6 way split according to chip count. I decided that if I was only going to get a couple of thousand more than I was guaranteed, I would play it out. It turned out that I was getting double what I was guaranteed so I took the deal. Below is the chip counts and the actual payouts along with the amount paid out according to the deal. The first column shows the chip counts for the 6 remaining players from the chip leader to the short stack (me!). The 2nd column shows the posted payout and the 3rd column shows what we got in the deal.

538,000 $56,596 $32,373
474,000 $33,292 $29,611
327,000 $21,640 $23,267
297,000 $15,647 $21,973
287,000 $11,819 $21,541
237,000 $ 9,155 $19,383

Needless to say, I took the deal and a healthy $19,383 payday!