The field of 250 was split into two day ones , i drew the second , this meant i could follow the first day and see what i should aim for, eg i saw that at the dinner break the average was 8500 and at the end of the day around 25,000.

I didn't think that with 6000 chips , one hour levels and blinds of 25 50 there was any chance i would be all in on the first hand i played but it nearly happened !

FP raised to 150 and after one caller i called on the button with A3 of clubs , flop looked pretty good for me A 4 3 with two hearts and one club , FP bet 300 , as he was betting into two players i had to credit him for having an A rather than just representing it so when the next player raised to 800 i had a tough decision.

I'm sitting there with two pair , i am sure FP has no better than AK so i have him beat but it is possible the other player has flopped a set of 4's , this is one of the first hands , i have no idea how these guys play but i decided it was possible they both had AK so called to see what the FP would do when normally i may raise in this spot if i had more information on their styles , the FP now made it 2000 , with the action that had taken place i was certain he didn't have AA , more likely AK that wanted to get it heads up or get rid of any draws , the next player just flat called , i was sure now he either also had AK or maybe A4s , i decided to call in position and see what the turn brought , if a second club fell to give me the nut flush draw i would have been prepared to move in. The turn was an offsuit 8 , now the FP moved in and the next player called , remember this was my first hand on the first round , my gut feeling was i definitely had the FP beat but could be looking at a higher two pair , i passed .

The FP turned up AQ and the other player had A3s for the same hand as me .

We now had a table bully with 14,000 chips , i was down to 4000 but was focused and made some good reads , one hand i limped with 88 , after 3 callers the chip leader raised 500 into a 250 pot , we all passed and he showed KK , then i limped with AQ there was one caller then a raise , i passed but the limper called , flop was A T 4 , the raiser bet and i was pleased to see him flash AK.

The last hand i played in level 1 was ATs on the button to a minimum raise , the flop was T 8 4 , SB checked , the raiser bet 500 , i called as something told me i may need to improve or turn a bluffing card , the SB also called , turn was a 7 and now both checked to me , now i was sure the raiser had an over pair but was scared of the straight , i also checked , river was a 3 , now the SB bet 800 , after a think the raiser called , i said " i have you on QQ " and passed , the SB showed KTs and the raiser had QQ ! I was down to 2275 but with blinds of 50 100 i was convinced i could fight back as i was definitely focused with a good feel for the game.

This could be the start i thought as i raised with KK and got two callers , flop was A 4 5 and after a 300 bet and 600 raise i passed , turn was a 3 and both players went all in , one had AQ the other AK .

Things were starting to look desperate , i was down to 1100 when i picked up KJs in an unraised pot and the flop was 9 T Q , i check called a 300 bet then on the turn i moved in and was called by his J9 , i won the next hand with AQ then with a bit of over confidence i bluffed on the river with 3 diamonds on board with the bare K , i was called by a player with 44 an underpair to the board , i must have a tell !

Later however the same player won me a nice pot when he slow played a big hand , after 3 limpers he called , i made up the BB with K8s and now the BB moved in for his last 750 , i was sure i was no worse than even money and intended to call , all passed to the 44 player who flat called , i also called , flop was A 4 2 and i was done with the hand , we checked it to the river and i caught a K but was sure that wouldn't be enough , the BB shrugged stood up resigned to leaving and flipped up 77 , i turned over my K8 and to my surprise the other player flipped up JJ , boy was i glad he played them that tight .I was back up to 4200 .

Then came a hand i could have gone broke on , in the SB i had TT and called after the chip leader limped hoping he would double me up , flop was perfect 3 5 7 , i bet 300 and got two callers , turn was another 7 i didn't like , i checked , the chip leader overbet 2000 , i passed and he showed K7 , now our table was broken and i find myself with Marsha Waggoner and John Kabbaj two to my left .

The first hand i flopped trips with A8s on a flop of 8 8 2 , i flat called a bet but when he checked and i bet the turn got no more , however i was now up to 5100 and was sure i could make the dinner break with more than the 8500 target , fate was to deal a different ending .

Blinds were 75 150 , i raised to 425 and got one caller , flop was 7 9 T rainbow , i bet 1400 , now the other player started to think and as he counted his chips i could see him counting mine , this is a tell that he is likely to be raising , after a minute or two i knew his hand so when he finally said " all in " i said " i'm going to call , you have QQ and i'm winning at the moment with top set "

He had me covered by 200 , the pot was 10,425 and if i won i would have been in great shape , i showed my TT and he turned over QQ , the turn was an 8 and the river a J to make him a staright to the Queen ouch !

At the hotel when i was checking out a player who had been on the table came up to me and said he had had a great time and the highlight of his trip was that he had been on the table when i had told the other player he had QQ and the look on the guys face , i said it's one thing to know what your opponent has but you still have to beat it . Then after thanking him for the compliment i explained how i knew he had QQ and of course i will tell you too.

When i originally raised the caller momentarily considered raising but chose to call , once i bet the flop if he had an underpair it would have been a quick pass , the same with AK/Q , if he had 88 he would have called with the straight draw , JJ he would have raised quicker with the over pair and gutshot straight draw , KK or AA he would have reraised preflop ( we were second and third to act so he had the rest of the table behind him ) so i put him on QQ , nothing to it really lol.

I am very happy with my play here , it has been the best all round poker trip i have had as far as venue , organisation , weather and cameraderie between players , i played three events made one final and captained the UK Betting team to win the Poker Room Pride event , next i am off to the Helsinki Freezeout , after basking in 30+ i will be inside most of the time as it will be -10 , it is my last event of the year and is the venue where in 1999 i won my first ever ranking event , it is also where in 2001 i was awarded the inaugrual Poker Performance of the Year , i am only playing three events all different , Pot Limit Omaha , Limit Seven Card Stud and the main event No Limit Hold-em , my goal is to make at least one final , i hope you enjoyed the diaries from St Kitts and look forward to writing about my success in Helsinki .