One thing I decided on early on in August was that I’d finish all bets and disclose my balance at exactly 11:59 on the 31st of the month. I’m currently still playing poker (and have been since 8pm tonight) and will update this post in 7 minutes time. Drum role please….

Update @ 00:00 – Sorry Sean, I had to have some fun there and play a few minds games. My balance is €49.95, so I’m declaring you the winner alright

If anyone has actually bothered to tune in tonight our posts might look a bit messy as in fair play we both wanted to post around/before 12 o’clock so that there’s no sneaky bets going in after midnight. Sean made the mistake of posting his balance at around 11pm so this gave me the opportunity to try and psyche him out with a few comments. To be honest, I was pushing in and around the €50 mark at the time and I was 99% sure he’d take the bait. Very sorry Sean, but I did have great fun tonight doing this and it would have been a very low blow if I’d bypassed you this way. You did mention mind game in your profile page at the beginning of the month so I thought I’d oblige. I was trying a Keane/Viera tunnel incident and it didn’t work for me. I came close though, but I’m glad you’ve stayed above the €50 mark and are the rightful winner. Congratulations!

Right, on to my bets for today. I nearly wasn’t going to bet at all today as I just couldn’t see anything that interested me. Like Sean, I thought Newcastle would win but I wasn’t prepared to risk my balance. I was so happy to reach the €50 mark this month that there was no way I was blowing it (unfortunately, I had a bit of trouble with the dollar/euro conversion at the betfair poker tables tonight while rushing to post at the last minute and I’ve come up 5 cents short I can live with that though). I had a 68 cent bet on a horse that Frankie Detorri was on earlier. Totally uneducated guesswork that didn’t pay off (as I said I didn’t see anything I fancied and I was only gambling here). This left my balance at exactly €50 and I nearly left it at that!

I then spent the rest of my day on the Betfair poker tables but couldn’t really make a move. I blew €1.95 on a $2.50+$0.25 NL Hold’em game which left me below the €50 mark and I wasn’t happy with myself. I said earlier in the month that I wouldn’t play another cash poker game but I figured it was a low risk strategy that ‘might’ get me close to Sean’s starting balance. He said earlier himself that it was hard to find bets today, so I was figuring he wouldn’t get too far past his starting balance today. The cash game worked out not too bad for me and I did hover around the €52 mark for a while at about 10.30pm tonight. I played right up to 23.58 though and here’s the screenshot to prove it.

You’ll also notice that I’ve sat through 232 hands at this stage (I’m a lightweight, so I’m shattered now). I never really took any massive risks at the poker table tonight although I was prepared to go all in with Ace/King, KK or AA to try and hit around the €55 mark (I didn’t get the cards though). I just never felt it today, and I suppose I should have ensured that I bypassed Sean with my Treble yesterday (that was a bit of an oversight).

Sean is the deserved winner! He really went for it all month long. I have been more cautious and I’m not afraid to admit; if I’d gone ahead I’d probably have stopped betting until Sean caught up. The key thing for me was to make profit and keep my discipline. I’ll not say I didn’t try to win it today but I just wasn’t prepared to risk my bankroll on the last day. Sean was, and proved it right up to the very last seconds, so you have to admire him.

I know he really wanted to win and it was mean of me to taunt him with false claims of victory but that’s sport for you! Well done Sean and let the games begin for September again!