ALL THE Aces

WIN-VITATIONS

Get ready to swoop like a beady-eyed seagull zeroing in on a kid’s 99 flake ice cream, as the Rendezvous Casino in Brighton plays host once more to the ‘Unibet UK Poker Tour’. The £220 buy-in weekend-long event promises to pay out at least £40,000 in prize money! Meanwhile, for daylight haters, stop-ins, and anyone living an insufferable distance from the South Coast, there’s plenty of online action as Sky Poker unleashes its ‘UK Online Poker Series XX’. The 20th incarnation of UKOPS runs until Fireworks Day and guarantees a sparkling £375,000 across its 54 events! Surely you won’t be leaving all that cash – money that could be bulging YOUR bank roll, bank account, wallet, or purse – for some ne’er-do-well to slip in and take instead? Perish the thought!

POKER CLINIC

Q: Down to last 150 players with 100 getting paid, I had just 9 BBs left and shoved AK suited only to run it into pocket Queens and lose. Any other way to play it? A: There’s always another way to play it -- in retrospect! But short stacked, as you were, with the cash still 50 places away, you were unlikely to land a better hand than a wet Big Slick and had to get your chips in. It didn't pan out this time, but these are the risks you take when you let yourself get short stacked. Review your play and see where you should have been making big moves earlier to keep your stack healthy and in contention.