Golf anyone?

It seems I’m getting increasingly interested in the world of professional poker players these days. I think it’s mainly because I spend so much time in poker forums and talking to other players and I pick up most of the gossip that’s going round in those circles.

My latest obsession was been the interesting ‘Golf Hustle’ story involving Ram Vaswani and Phil Ivey, two very respected pros. Lots of other players have been drafted into the debate including Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein.

The debate centers around a series of games of golf in which Ivey, Ram and a few others played for money. The other games seem to be irrelevant but the issue rests on the last game they played, one in which it was said Ivey didn’t give enough information about the improvement in the standard of his play.

These are lots of different accounts of what happened, the most recent of which is Ram’s, which has been posted on the Hendon Mob website. It’s a shame that it seems to have blown up in the way that it has, and it might stop Ivey getting a game in the future!

As for my own poker it’s been a great run since my last post. I have been grinding out a solid earn rate at 5/10 FL and even felt comfortable enough to jump into a few 6-max games. This level seems much more beatable the more I play it. It appears the jump from 3/6 wasn’t as big as I had initially expected, the style of play is much different in some respects, but I haven’t found it too hard to adjust to.

I have also had some decent tournie success, taking 2nd place in the $35k on Stars on Monday night for over $5k, and making the final two tables in the $25k, only to go out on a 60/40. The $35k FT went so fast, the player I got heads up with had busted the players in 3rd and 4th place, giving him a 6:1 chip lead. There was still a little room to play but unfortunately I ended up busting with 66 vs T9.

I feel like my short handed and bubble play in tournies is really getting there now. I do seem to bust on the bubble a lot more often, but when I don’t I have usually amassed a decent stack and look in good shape to go deep. I’m also really enjoying the new 3k starting stacks in the guaranteed tournies on Stars. I just feel like it gives you a little more room to play early on, and makes a big difference in the middle part of the tournie as stacks are much deeper, enabling you to make more plays post flop, and giving you more options where stealing/re-stealing is concerned.