I fly out to Vegas on Sunday and have been preparing by playing LOADS of online donkaments and playing live as much as I can.
I have put in a couple of decent live runs with a 3rd and a 4th in the last two weeks. It's been a pain to find tournies locally with semi-deep structures, as most casinos and card rooms in my area favour low buy-in rebuys with really bad blind structures and/or level times.
I feel great about my game as the WSOP approaches and I'm really looking forward to it now. I'll be playing in some different events since I changed my travel dates, so I'll keep those updated here.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Friday, June 08, 2007
Dublin Trip Report
I arrived at the airport on Saturday morning around two hours early for my flight. Normally this should have been plenty of time to check in, get through security and get myself something to eat before boarding the plane. Given that it's only an hour long flight from London, I hate the fact that the whole process typically takes over 4 hours.
The queue for security is absolutely huge. I join the end of the line and I estimate that there were probably around 2,000 people in front of me. The worst thing was that it wasn't even moving. After about an hour and a half I have moved all of 100 metres. At this point I know there is no way I'm going to make my flight. Lots of people around me are in a similar situation. I get talking to a couple in front of me who are off on a honeymoon to Barbados. 'Great start to our marriage' the guy told me in a downbeat tone. 'We only booked the Saturday morning flight so we could spend an extra two days out there' their flight leaves about 10 minutes before mine.
I'm starting to feel really bad for this couple, as a friend of mine sees me as he's walking past. 'Hello mate, how are you?' I let him know I'm a little bored of waiting in line and ask if it's always like this at the weekend. 'We have extra security down on the runways today, so we have much less staff working in normal security, the queue from here is about 2 hours, when is your flight?' 10 minutes later I'm upstairs at a different (and almost empty) security gate where I'm whisked through quickly and find myself airside. 'I definitely owe you a beer' I tell my friend. He tells me it's not big deal and I quickly let him know about the couple standing in line in front of me. I still have no idea if they made it.
I make my flight with little time to spare and board the plane to find I'm the last person on. I have no idea how all those people made it on time. I fail to believe that they all turned up 4 hours early to make the flight. I arrive at Dublin airport and meet Matt (Suited Jock) who I'll be sharing a room with. He's been waiting at the airport for a few hours now so I apologise as my flight was a little late meaning he had to wait even longer. He flashes me a genuine smile 'No worries'.
We jump in a cab to our hotel and I think about cracking a joke about his sexuality being in question at ITH and our sleeping arrangements that night. Given that this is only the second time we have met, I decide to pass. We arrive at the hotel which is surprisingly nice for what we paid. We can't check in yet so we drop off our bags and head out to the card club where the event is being played.
Before long I'm sitting at my table and the first hand is being dealt. I planned to play reasonably loose and aggressive early on and take it from there. I make a strong start and work my way up to 13,000 from a 10k starting stack. Some of the players on my table are really bad. We have two super nit types who don't seem to want to play at all, a couple of guys who call like every two hands and maybe 1 or 2 okayish players who seem aggressive and semi-decent post flop.
I really enjoy making moves in live tournaments that you would never make online. It folds to me in the CO and I raise to 3x with 56s. It folds to the BB who had played maybe one hand in the first 4-5 orbits who makes the call. The flop comes A49 rainbow and the BB checks. I bet out and he thinks a while before calling. There is something about the way he acted in addition to his image that made me make the following play on the turn. The dealer flips an irrelevant 2 and the BB bets out for 1/2 of the pot, looking agonised as he does so. I think for a while and put in a substantial re-raise and he auto folds, flashing an Ace. I can see a couple of the other players on the table making a mental note of the hand and I throw my cards into the muck.
Next orbit I make a mistake by getting a bit deep into a hand during a blind battle and end up having to show 78 on an ATK95 board. My next two raises first in are met by heavy re-raises and I'm forced to tighten up a bit for a few orbits.
In the last level before the break I feel like I have a great table. We still have a couple of really, really tight players who have played maybe 2-3 hands in the first 3 levels, one of which is the BB from the hand above. I lose half my stack when I flop top two pair from the BB in an unraised pot versus a flopped set and make the first break with 5k in chips. I manage to find Matt who also has just over 5k in chips at the break. Neither of us have seen any hands and as play resumes 10 minutes later I hope at least one of us can double up soon.
I have an M of 10 so I'm not desperate but I want to start making a move while I still have chips. First hand back after the break it folds to me in LP and I automatically make a standard raise into the tight blinds on my left. I'm absolutely furious with myself as soon as I realise I haven't looked at my cards. Both cards are still quite obviously in their dealt position and the BB thinks for a while trying an amateur stare down in the process. He eventually folds and I don't look at my cards.
At this point I decide to really take advantage of my table still being quite tight. There are two players who have been very active at the table, and between the three of us we take most of the blinds during the first level. I also place a few re-raises against the other two, one of which I have to fold when villain comes over the top when I'm holding JTs.
I'm back up to about 12k when one of the tight players flat calls in MP. I raise in LP with AsQd and Mr Nit calls. The flop comes A56 and he checks. I bet out and he pushes for about 9k. I think for a while about making the call. I really don't want to go broke with top pair against someone I know has such a small range for this type of move. He's played very few hands, and the hands he has played he's never shown any aggression like this, let alone a check/push. It's possible he's starting to think he has to make a move, but I can't give that idea enough credit to call. If I fold I still have enough chips for a little play. I fold and push my cards over by mistake, I think MP thought I showed my hand intentionally because he looked up and flipped AKs.
I slowly build my stack back up and take a 3 way pot with 99 on a low board. One hand where there were like 3-4 limpers I make a big raise with 89s on the button and it folds round. I see very few hands but manage to steal once or twice an orbit and make the break with 19k, a little above average.
I find Matt and we decide to skip the buffet, which already has a long queue, and look for somewhere else to eat. We are both determined not to eat another Burger King since we ate there at lunch, but after a short walk and no restaurants it's our only real option. We both decide to mix it up and have chicken instead of beef. Crazy stuff.
Matt is up to 23k and we talk about the next stage of the tournie. We are both in good shape now, after being short at the last break. I make it back to my table just in time for the first hand and sit down to commence battle. The next two levels are pretty easy for me, I bust Nit #1 when he pushes his short stack into my 99 with A7 and bust Nit #2 when he limps A9 in LP and calls my push with TT. Both hands hold and I keep afloat for a while picking my spots at a much more aggressive table. Matthew comes and sits behind me, He's busted after taking a coinflip.
The blinds start to get high a couple of levels after the dinner break and I'm starting to get short after backing down to a couple of re-raises. I hold AK on the button and it folds to the CO who thinks for agggesss and finally makes a raise of 6x the BB or something similarly large. I shove for the rest of my stack, the blinds fold and he calls with JJ. No help on the board and I lose my first and only race of the tournament.
We go back to the hotel, get changed and head out into Dublin. Temple Bar is absolutely heaving for the bank holiday weekend. If you ever find yourself in Dublin you absolutely have to visit this area in the evening, you won't regret it. After a long hunt for an ATM we finally make it into a bar and Matt has what he confesses to be only his second ever pint of Guinness.
After a while we head back to the card club. They stopped play at 1:30 am and we arrived just after to find the cash games in full swing. We had heard from the night before that the cash games were pretty lively, so we both sit down at a pot limit game (quite common in the UK) about 3 hands in I have AA in LP with a few limpers. I bet the pot and get two calls. The flop comes 379 and Matt bets out, the player to my right folds and I bet the pot again. I think it took us a few shouts of 'pot' to get our money it but when we do Matt looks up to me and says 'Set'.
No help on the turn or river and I need to get some more chips to sit back in.
I'm not really a massive fan of live cash games, but this one was very soft and Matt was taking full advantage. I made the money back from my earlier stackage and we call it a night. Matt is up a little over two buy-ins from a pretty short cash session.
We come back the next day with the intention of playing some more cash games but there are none. The final two tables of the event have been set up and all eyes are on the action. After a while someone sets up a SNG and we go upstairs to play where we can still hear the commentary from the main tournie.
It's a very social game and since one of the players is dealing we play 11 handed. Most of the players seem to know each other but I don't reconise anyone other than Matt and one of the nits I busted from tournie. He played much, much looser and much better than the day before. He would have gotten much further if he played this way all the time. I win a few decent pots and get HU as a 2:1 chip dog. I'm normally pretty bad HU but my opponent was worse. He hardly ever raised from the button and almost never called a raise after limping. We get it all in on a QTT board when I have Q9, he flips 55 and I hold to take it down.
The timing was perfect for me as I had to leave for the airport about 10 mins later. I go upstairs to wish Matt well in the freezeout he's waiting for and he wishes me good luck in Vegas. It's been a nice warm up but I didn't really see too much action. I had no really interesting hands and nothing that really made me think too much. I didn't see AA-JJ the whole tournie, made a few standard calls/pushes but nothing really stood out. I'm happy with how I played and feel pretty confident now in the run up to Vegas.
If I had won that flip I would have been in good shape with about 40 players left and a real shot at going deep. I can't ask for much more than that really. Lets hope I saved all my luck for the WSOP
Since this is pretty long the following is for the tl;dr crowd:
- Airports are fun.
- I meet SJ and don't make jokes about him being gay
- My table is full of bad players
- They take lots of my chips
- I get revenge by busting them
- AK < JJ
- Temple Bar is awesome
- Matt cracks my AA in a PL cash game with 77
- I win the worlds first 11 person SNG
The queue for security is absolutely huge. I join the end of the line and I estimate that there were probably around 2,000 people in front of me. The worst thing was that it wasn't even moving. After about an hour and a half I have moved all of 100 metres. At this point I know there is no way I'm going to make my flight. Lots of people around me are in a similar situation. I get talking to a couple in front of me who are off on a honeymoon to Barbados. 'Great start to our marriage' the guy told me in a downbeat tone. 'We only booked the Saturday morning flight so we could spend an extra two days out there' their flight leaves about 10 minutes before mine.
I'm starting to feel really bad for this couple, as a friend of mine sees me as he's walking past. 'Hello mate, how are you?' I let him know I'm a little bored of waiting in line and ask if it's always like this at the weekend. 'We have extra security down on the runways today, so we have much less staff working in normal security, the queue from here is about 2 hours, when is your flight?' 10 minutes later I'm upstairs at a different (and almost empty) security gate where I'm whisked through quickly and find myself airside. 'I definitely owe you a beer' I tell my friend. He tells me it's not big deal and I quickly let him know about the couple standing in line in front of me. I still have no idea if they made it.
I make my flight with little time to spare and board the plane to find I'm the last person on. I have no idea how all those people made it on time. I fail to believe that they all turned up 4 hours early to make the flight. I arrive at Dublin airport and meet Matt (Suited Jock) who I'll be sharing a room with. He's been waiting at the airport for a few hours now so I apologise as my flight was a little late meaning he had to wait even longer. He flashes me a genuine smile 'No worries'.
We jump in a cab to our hotel and I think about cracking a joke about his sexuality being in question at ITH and our sleeping arrangements that night. Given that this is only the second time we have met, I decide to pass. We arrive at the hotel which is surprisingly nice for what we paid. We can't check in yet so we drop off our bags and head out to the card club where the event is being played.
Before long I'm sitting at my table and the first hand is being dealt. I planned to play reasonably loose and aggressive early on and take it from there. I make a strong start and work my way up to 13,000 from a 10k starting stack. Some of the players on my table are really bad. We have two super nit types who don't seem to want to play at all, a couple of guys who call like every two hands and maybe 1 or 2 okayish players who seem aggressive and semi-decent post flop.
I really enjoy making moves in live tournaments that you would never make online. It folds to me in the CO and I raise to 3x with 56s. It folds to the BB who had played maybe one hand in the first 4-5 orbits who makes the call. The flop comes A49 rainbow and the BB checks. I bet out and he thinks a while before calling. There is something about the way he acted in addition to his image that made me make the following play on the turn. The dealer flips an irrelevant 2 and the BB bets out for 1/2 of the pot, looking agonised as he does so. I think for a while and put in a substantial re-raise and he auto folds, flashing an Ace. I can see a couple of the other players on the table making a mental note of the hand and I throw my cards into the muck.
Next orbit I make a mistake by getting a bit deep into a hand during a blind battle and end up having to show 78 on an ATK95 board. My next two raises first in are met by heavy re-raises and I'm forced to tighten up a bit for a few orbits.
In the last level before the break I feel like I have a great table. We still have a couple of really, really tight players who have played maybe 2-3 hands in the first 3 levels, one of which is the BB from the hand above. I lose half my stack when I flop top two pair from the BB in an unraised pot versus a flopped set and make the first break with 5k in chips. I manage to find Matt who also has just over 5k in chips at the break. Neither of us have seen any hands and as play resumes 10 minutes later I hope at least one of us can double up soon.
I have an M of 10 so I'm not desperate but I want to start making a move while I still have chips. First hand back after the break it folds to me in LP and I automatically make a standard raise into the tight blinds on my left. I'm absolutely furious with myself as soon as I realise I haven't looked at my cards. Both cards are still quite obviously in their dealt position and the BB thinks for a while trying an amateur stare down in the process. He eventually folds and I don't look at my cards.
At this point I decide to really take advantage of my table still being quite tight. There are two players who have been very active at the table, and between the three of us we take most of the blinds during the first level. I also place a few re-raises against the other two, one of which I have to fold when villain comes over the top when I'm holding JTs.
I'm back up to about 12k when one of the tight players flat calls in MP. I raise in LP with AsQd and Mr Nit calls. The flop comes A56 and he checks. I bet out and he pushes for about 9k. I think for a while about making the call. I really don't want to go broke with top pair against someone I know has such a small range for this type of move. He's played very few hands, and the hands he has played he's never shown any aggression like this, let alone a check/push. It's possible he's starting to think he has to make a move, but I can't give that idea enough credit to call. If I fold I still have enough chips for a little play. I fold and push my cards over by mistake, I think MP thought I showed my hand intentionally because he looked up and flipped AKs.
I slowly build my stack back up and take a 3 way pot with 99 on a low board. One hand where there were like 3-4 limpers I make a big raise with 89s on the button and it folds round. I see very few hands but manage to steal once or twice an orbit and make the break with 19k, a little above average.
I find Matt and we decide to skip the buffet, which already has a long queue, and look for somewhere else to eat. We are both determined not to eat another Burger King since we ate there at lunch, but after a short walk and no restaurants it's our only real option. We both decide to mix it up and have chicken instead of beef. Crazy stuff.
Matt is up to 23k and we talk about the next stage of the tournie. We are both in good shape now, after being short at the last break. I make it back to my table just in time for the first hand and sit down to commence battle. The next two levels are pretty easy for me, I bust Nit #1 when he pushes his short stack into my 99 with A7 and bust Nit #2 when he limps A9 in LP and calls my push with TT. Both hands hold and I keep afloat for a while picking my spots at a much more aggressive table. Matthew comes and sits behind me, He's busted after taking a coinflip.
The blinds start to get high a couple of levels after the dinner break and I'm starting to get short after backing down to a couple of re-raises. I hold AK on the button and it folds to the CO who thinks for agggesss and finally makes a raise of 6x the BB or something similarly large. I shove for the rest of my stack, the blinds fold and he calls with JJ. No help on the board and I lose my first and only race of the tournament.
We go back to the hotel, get changed and head out into Dublin. Temple Bar is absolutely heaving for the bank holiday weekend. If you ever find yourself in Dublin you absolutely have to visit this area in the evening, you won't regret it. After a long hunt for an ATM we finally make it into a bar and Matt has what he confesses to be only his second ever pint of Guinness.
After a while we head back to the card club. They stopped play at 1:30 am and we arrived just after to find the cash games in full swing. We had heard from the night before that the cash games were pretty lively, so we both sit down at a pot limit game (quite common in the UK) about 3 hands in I have AA in LP with a few limpers. I bet the pot and get two calls. The flop comes 379 and Matt bets out, the player to my right folds and I bet the pot again. I think it took us a few shouts of 'pot' to get our money it but when we do Matt looks up to me and says 'Set'.
No help on the turn or river and I need to get some more chips to sit back in.
I'm not really a massive fan of live cash games, but this one was very soft and Matt was taking full advantage. I made the money back from my earlier stackage and we call it a night. Matt is up a little over two buy-ins from a pretty short cash session.
We come back the next day with the intention of playing some more cash games but there are none. The final two tables of the event have been set up and all eyes are on the action. After a while someone sets up a SNG and we go upstairs to play where we can still hear the commentary from the main tournie.
It's a very social game and since one of the players is dealing we play 11 handed. Most of the players seem to know each other but I don't reconise anyone other than Matt and one of the nits I busted from tournie. He played much, much looser and much better than the day before. He would have gotten much further if he played this way all the time. I win a few decent pots and get HU as a 2:1 chip dog. I'm normally pretty bad HU but my opponent was worse. He hardly ever raised from the button and almost never called a raise after limping. We get it all in on a QTT board when I have Q9, he flips 55 and I hold to take it down.
The timing was perfect for me as I had to leave for the airport about 10 mins later. I go upstairs to wish Matt well in the freezeout he's waiting for and he wishes me good luck in Vegas. It's been a nice warm up but I didn't really see too much action. I had no really interesting hands and nothing that really made me think too much. I didn't see AA-JJ the whole tournie, made a few standard calls/pushes but nothing really stood out. I'm happy with how I played and feel pretty confident now in the run up to Vegas.
If I had won that flip I would have been in good shape with about 40 players left and a real shot at going deep. I can't ask for much more than that really. Lets hope I saved all my luck for the WSOP
Since this is pretty long the following is for the tl;dr crowd:
- Airports are fun.
- I meet SJ and don't make jokes about him being gay
- My table is full of bad players
- They take lots of my chips
- I get revenge by busting them
- AK < JJ
- Temple Bar is awesome
- Matt cracks my AA in a PL cash game with 77
- I win the worlds first 11 person SNG
Monday, June 04, 2007
WSOP Main Event Seat #2
Last weekend I won my second WSOP Main Event seat of the year as the ITH peoples champion. I was down to 500 chips at one point early on, but managed to get a little lucky and battled my way back to win the seat.
This means I can now use the remaining cash from my first seat (which Stars has given me already) to play in some preliminary events. I’m also still able to wear Stars gear so I get to pick up my $1k sponsorship money when I arrive in Vegas. Looking at the events available while I’m out there the following events are the ones I intend to play:
Event #47 - 06/29/07 - $2000 - No-Limit Hold’em
Event #49 - 06/30/07 - $1500 - No-Limit Hold’em
Event #53 - 07/03/07 - $1500 - Limit Hold’em Shootout
Event #55 - 07/06/07 - $10,000 - World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em
Clearly if I’m still in on day two of event 47 I won’t be playing event 49. I might also play the $1k SHOE event if I manage to win a sat. I have been playing quite a few mixed games recently and feel that once you take Razz out of the equation I have a decent shot.
I have just got back from Dublin where I played the Irish APAT event. I went out a couple of levels after the dinner break after the CO pushed JJ and I called on the button with AKs with no help from the board. I’ll probably write up a trip report today or tomorrow so I’ll post it here as soon as it’s done.
This means I can now use the remaining cash from my first seat (which Stars has given me already) to play in some preliminary events. I’m also still able to wear Stars gear so I get to pick up my $1k sponsorship money when I arrive in Vegas. Looking at the events available while I’m out there the following events are the ones I intend to play:
Event #47 - 06/29/07 - $2000 - No-Limit Hold’em
Event #49 - 06/30/07 - $1500 - No-Limit Hold’em
Event #53 - 07/03/07 - $1500 - Limit Hold’em Shootout
Event #55 - 07/06/07 - $10,000 - World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em
Clearly if I’m still in on day two of event 47 I won’t be playing event 49. I might also play the $1k SHOE event if I manage to win a sat. I have been playing quite a few mixed games recently and feel that once you take Razz out of the equation I have a decent shot.
I have just got back from Dublin where I played the Irish APAT event. I went out a couple of levels after the dinner break after the CO pushed JJ and I called on the button with AKs with no help from the board. I’ll probably write up a trip report today or tomorrow so I’ll post it here as soon as it’s done.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Sunday Blues
I’m starting to build up the same love/hate relationship with the Sunday tournies that many other tournament players share. The first tournie I busted in last night was the Stars Million. It’s almost standard for me to bubble this tournie, and last night didn’t disappoint. Nearly 6k runners, 810 places pay and I end up busting in 816th.
I also played in FTOPS event #3 at Full Tilt. The $322 buy-in event drew nearly 3,000 entries and generated a prizepool close to that of the old Sunday Millions. I got pretty close to the money in this too, finishing just inside the top 500 when 410 paid. The structure at FT is great though, enabling me to take a couple of nasty beats (JJ < TT and AK < AJ) early on and still build a decent stack with relatively low blinds after the second break.
In slightly more positive news I have now finalised my plans for Vegas this year. I’m flying out from London on the 26th June, which should allow me to take in a couple of preliminary events and spend a bit more time playing in other tournaments and even attend a 4th July BBQ!
I still have a return flight booked for the 12th July, but I may change that now depending on whether or not I play the ME. Stars has now deposited the $10k ME buy-in to all qualifiers accounts, which means we can potentially decide to keep the money. It’s a tough decision to make, and I was much happier when I didn’t have a choice to make. I was really looking forward to playing but I’ll just have to see how I feel when I’m in Vegas.
I also played in FTOPS event #3 at Full Tilt. The $322 buy-in event drew nearly 3,000 entries and generated a prizepool close to that of the old Sunday Millions. I got pretty close to the money in this too, finishing just inside the top 500 when 410 paid. The structure at FT is great though, enabling me to take a couple of nasty beats (JJ < TT and AK < AJ) early on and still build a decent stack with relatively low blinds after the second break.
In slightly more positive news I have now finalised my plans for Vegas this year. I’m flying out from London on the 26th June, which should allow me to take in a couple of preliminary events and spend a bit more time playing in other tournaments and even attend a 4th July BBQ!
I still have a return flight booked for the 12th July, but I may change that now depending on whether or not I play the ME. Stars has now deposited the $10k ME buy-in to all qualifiers accounts, which means we can potentially decide to keep the money. It’s a tough decision to make, and I was much happier when I didn’t have a choice to make. I was really looking forward to playing but I’ll just have to see how I feel when I’m in Vegas.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Nice Weather > Poker
Things have been a bit slow on the poker front for me lately, largely due to the awesome weather we are experiencing here in the UK at the moment. On Friday I managed to make the FT of a small $10 tournament at Stars with nearly 700 runners, I ended up losing a flip heads up for over 70% of the chips in play and took 2nd place for around $1k.
I also had a great run during the week making the FT of a live $200 Freezeout. When we were down to six players the chip leader had around half the chips in play and was doing a good job of playing the big stack. I was raising every hand he wasn’t involved in, and ended in my pushing 4 hands in a row with 5 left before being called when I had AA.
A dream situation saw me up against AK, villain promptly rivered a straight to cripple me and I busted a few hands later for just over $2200.
I have also read recently about the WSOP Main Event structure change. It seems they have taken a note out of Pokerstars book and doubled the starting chip stacks to 20,000, but doubling the blinds at the same time, meaning the changes will make absolutely no difference. It looks like they have decided to double the starting stacks in the rest of the events without changing the blinds, which will probably make the prelim events a little better, giving people more room to play early on. I guess they wanted to make this a blanket change for the whole series, but didn’t want a 45 day Main event. It should make for an impressive looking FT chip count though!
I also had a great run during the week making the FT of a live $200 Freezeout. When we were down to six players the chip leader had around half the chips in play and was doing a good job of playing the big stack. I was raising every hand he wasn’t involved in, and ended in my pushing 4 hands in a row with 5 left before being called when I had AA.
A dream situation saw me up against AK, villain promptly rivered a straight to cripple me and I busted a few hands later for just over $2200.
I have also read recently about the WSOP Main Event structure change. It seems they have taken a note out of Pokerstars book and doubled the starting chip stacks to 20,000, but doubling the blinds at the same time, meaning the changes will make absolutely no difference. It looks like they have decided to double the starting stacks in the rest of the events without changing the blinds, which will probably make the prelim events a little better, giving people more room to play early on. I guess they wanted to make this a blanket change for the whole series, but didn’t want a 45 day Main event. It should make for an impressive looking FT chip count though!
Friday, March 23, 2007
5th Place
Two final tables in two days, one live and one online, and I finished 5th in both. I think it has to be possibly the most frustrating place to finish. Wednesday night I played in a local rebuy with just over 100 runners. I was sitting at a little under average after the 1st break when everyone tightened up and went into freezeout mode.
I managed to take advantage of quite a passive table and picked up a few pots early on that allowed me to take a nasty KK vs QQ beat and come through with something resembling a stack. I got back to about average after winning a flip with 4 tables left and pretty much maintained my stack until the final two tables. When we got down to 5 handed on both tables I was 8/10 and maybe had a couple of orbits to double if I was going to stay in contention. At this point someone proposed an utterly ridiculous 10 way chop and although most people didn’t go for it, 3 of the 5 players on my table agreed.
Needless to say I went hyper-aggro and eventually ended up busting the guy in 10th to make it in the money and to the final table sitting 2nd in chips. Due to the nature of the blind structure and the number of chips in play the final table went pretty quick. I was chip leader for all of a few hands, and I think the 4 players who went out before me did so within the first 15 hands of the final table starting.
Five handed I had to back down in a few pots and eventually ended up pushing AK from the SB and getting called by AQ. Flop brings a Q and I’m already half way to the cashier.
Not an amazing performance but it was nice to get 7 or so hours of live tournament poker in. The luckbox who knocked me out went on to win the tournie and didn’t even tip the waitress who had been working on her own and serving him all night.
My other final table came in the Stars $15k last night. I was so tired from the night before that I was convinced I must have made at least some mistakes late on. In reading the HH today I can’t see anything too bad, but I have definitely seen a couple of spots where I probably didn’t extract as many chips from my opponents as I could have which is something I really need to work on. Overall I was happy with my play and it’s a great feeling to make the FT of a tournie with over 2,000 runners and turn a 1.5k stating stack into nearly a million chips.
Nothing else to report except that I have already made tentative plans for Vegas. At the moment I plan to be there from the 5th July (the WSOP ME starts on the 6th) until the 12th, unless of course I manage to go on a sick run and make day 5, at which point I’ll be extending my stay!
I managed to take advantage of quite a passive table and picked up a few pots early on that allowed me to take a nasty KK vs QQ beat and come through with something resembling a stack. I got back to about average after winning a flip with 4 tables left and pretty much maintained my stack until the final two tables. When we got down to 5 handed on both tables I was 8/10 and maybe had a couple of orbits to double if I was going to stay in contention. At this point someone proposed an utterly ridiculous 10 way chop and although most people didn’t go for it, 3 of the 5 players on my table agreed.
Needless to say I went hyper-aggro and eventually ended up busting the guy in 10th to make it in the money and to the final table sitting 2nd in chips. Due to the nature of the blind structure and the number of chips in play the final table went pretty quick. I was chip leader for all of a few hands, and I think the 4 players who went out before me did so within the first 15 hands of the final table starting.
Five handed I had to back down in a few pots and eventually ended up pushing AK from the SB and getting called by AQ. Flop brings a Q and I’m already half way to the cashier.
Not an amazing performance but it was nice to get 7 or so hours of live tournament poker in. The luckbox who knocked me out went on to win the tournie and didn’t even tip the waitress who had been working on her own and serving him all night.
My other final table came in the Stars $15k last night. I was so tired from the night before that I was convinced I must have made at least some mistakes late on. In reading the HH today I can’t see anything too bad, but I have definitely seen a couple of spots where I probably didn’t extract as many chips from my opponents as I could have which is something I really need to work on. Overall I was happy with my play and it’s a great feeling to make the FT of a tournie with over 2,000 runners and turn a 1.5k stating stack into nearly a million chips.
Nothing else to report except that I have already made tentative plans for Vegas. At the moment I plan to be there from the 5th July (the WSOP ME starts on the 6th) until the 12th, unless of course I manage to go on a sick run and make day 5, at which point I’ll be extending my stay!
Friday, March 16, 2007
NO TEN! NO TEN!
I won a WSOP Main Event seat on Pokerstars on Tuesday night. I qualified through a $160 Double Shootout satellite which paid just one $12,000 package.
Prior to playing the DS qualifier I had been having a rough time in the smaller satellites trying to build up my W$ bankroll. Playing the $16 DS’s to the $650 satellite I had made 4 final tables and finished 4th in one that offered 2 seats (when 3rd and 4th paid out just $72) and finished 2nd in two others when just one seat was offered, picking up the $72 both times.
The breakthrough finally came when I won two tournies to the $650 in two days. One was through a $24 6-max Double Shootout, and the other from a $27 rebuy. I unregistered I planned to play a couple of the $160’s with the W$ and play the smaller sats again when my W$ roll got low. The tournie I won the seat in was my first shot!
I felt comfortable at both of my tables, and didn’t have to wait too long after winning my first one for the final table to start. I picked up a few nice pots when we were 6 or 7 handed, and just went from there. Heads up was a little nerve racking, $12,000 for first place and just $160 (buy-in back) for second.
It was all over in a few hands. I had a 2k chip lead and found myself facing a standard raise with AKo, I re-raised, My opponent pushed and I called. He flipped TT and a K came on the flop, I got all excited and started shouting ‘NO TEN, NO TEN’ Needless to say it didn’t come!
The chat box in the tournie window went crazy and all my IM/IRC windows lit up. It felt a little unreal for a few seconds, but in sunk in pretty fast, I was off to Vegas to play in the biggest poker tournament in the world.
I expect I’ll be posting my thoughts about the WSOP and the Main Event here over the next couple of months, and I still have to figure out what I’m going to do with my left over W$. It’s possible I might play some more satellites and try to build up enough to play some prelim events. If I’m going to make the 10 hour trip to Vegas, I may as well make the most of it!
Prior to playing the DS qualifier I had been having a rough time in the smaller satellites trying to build up my W$ bankroll. Playing the $16 DS’s to the $650 satellite I had made 4 final tables and finished 4th in one that offered 2 seats (when 3rd and 4th paid out just $72) and finished 2nd in two others when just one seat was offered, picking up the $72 both times.
The breakthrough finally came when I won two tournies to the $650 in two days. One was through a $24 6-max Double Shootout, and the other from a $27 rebuy. I unregistered I planned to play a couple of the $160’s with the W$ and play the smaller sats again when my W$ roll got low. The tournie I won the seat in was my first shot!
I felt comfortable at both of my tables, and didn’t have to wait too long after winning my first one for the final table to start. I picked up a few nice pots when we were 6 or 7 handed, and just went from there. Heads up was a little nerve racking, $12,000 for first place and just $160 (buy-in back) for second.
It was all over in a few hands. I had a 2k chip lead and found myself facing a standard raise with AKo, I re-raised, My opponent pushed and I called. He flipped TT and a K came on the flop, I got all excited and started shouting ‘NO TEN, NO TEN’ Needless to say it didn’t come!
The chat box in the tournie window went crazy and all my IM/IRC windows lit up. It felt a little unreal for a few seconds, but in sunk in pretty fast, I was off to Vegas to play in the biggest poker tournament in the world.
I expect I’ll be posting my thoughts about the WSOP and the Main Event here over the next couple of months, and I still have to figure out what I’m going to do with my left over W$. It’s possible I might play some more satellites and try to build up enough to play some prelim events. If I’m going to make the 10 hour trip to Vegas, I may as well make the most of it!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Update Time
January and February are busy months for me so I have neglected the blog a little, but things are calming down now so I should be able to post more often. 2007 has been good to me so far, bringing 3 live final tables, finishing 2nd twice and 9th on the third occasion. I was happy with my play in all three tournies and feel really good about my live game at the moment. It still has so much room for improvement, but at least I’m moving in the right direction.
I also made the final 2 tables of a festival event with a much higher buy-in than I would normally play. I still felt like I had an edge on all the tables I played on and busted in 12th after loosing my only coinflip of the tournament.
Online poker has been good to me too, making 2 final tables at Full Tilt in the $3k guaranteed (2/380) and the $9k guaranteed (3/680) and my forays into $100 NL 6-max have been going well, starting to see more typical BB/100 rates with something that’s starting to resemble a decent sample size.
Hopefully I’ll now have more time to play and I’ll be back here making random observations about all things poker related.
I also made the final 2 tables of a festival event with a much higher buy-in than I would normally play. I still felt like I had an edge on all the tables I played on and busted in 12th after loosing my only coinflip of the tournament.
Online poker has been good to me too, making 2 final tables at Full Tilt in the $3k guaranteed (2/380) and the $9k guaranteed (3/680) and my forays into $100 NL 6-max have been going well, starting to see more typical BB/100 rates with something that’s starting to resemble a decent sample size.
Hopefully I’ll now have more time to play and I’ll be back here making random observations about all things poker related.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
WPT Win For Hachem
Well I said I was prepared to be proved wrong, and I was. Joe Hachem has become only the fourth person in history to win both a WSOP Main Event bracelet and a WPT title.
The Bellagio must have been absolutely electric. I do wonder if those same ‘AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE’ railbirds were there again.
It’s a shame these two didn’t meet heads up, for that would have surely made for some entertaining viewing. Negreanu busted in 3rd, a cash that saw him gain the title of biggest WPT all-time money winner.
Hachem overcame a small chip lead to take the title. For most people now surely he has proved that he has the talent and skill required to play at this level, unlike some others who may have not received much respect since WSOP Main Event wins…
This is a quote on the PokerStars website from one of the final 27 players due to play the final of the ‘Moneymaker Millionaire’ in the Bahamas this January:
[i]Leonard "malibu44" Lawrence
Quote: "Chris has just shown that anyone, no matter how much or little skill you have, can win a poker tournament. The reason it has been such a big success over the past few years, is because anyone, and I mean anyone can just walk into a poker tournament, go on a nice run of cards and walk away a millionaire."[/i]
What makes me laugh is that this got up on the website without anyone questioning what was said about someone they are clearly paying plenty of money to promote the site for them. This is on top of the fact that the actual tournament this guy is potentially going to take home a nice payday from is named after the player he’s giving such a generous opinion of.
The Bellagio must have been absolutely electric. I do wonder if those same ‘AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE’ railbirds were there again.
It’s a shame these two didn’t meet heads up, for that would have surely made for some entertaining viewing. Negreanu busted in 3rd, a cash that saw him gain the title of biggest WPT all-time money winner.
Hachem overcame a small chip lead to take the title. For most people now surely he has proved that he has the talent and skill required to play at this level, unlike some others who may have not received much respect since WSOP Main Event wins…
This is a quote on the PokerStars website from one of the final 27 players due to play the final of the ‘Moneymaker Millionaire’ in the Bahamas this January:
[i]Leonard "malibu44" Lawrence
Quote: "Chris has just shown that anyone, no matter how much or little skill you have, can win a poker tournament. The reason it has been such a big success over the past few years, is because anyone, and I mean anyone can just walk into a poker tournament, go on a nice run of cards and walk away a millionaire."[/i]
What makes me laugh is that this got up on the website without anyone questioning what was said about someone they are clearly paying plenty of money to promote the site for them. This is on top of the fact that the actual tournament this guy is potentially going to take home a nice payday from is named after the player he’s giving such a generous opinion of.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Joe Hachem makes WPT final table
It seems Hachem isn’t another one hit WSOP Main event wonder. He’s at the final table of the 2006 Five Diamond World Poker Classic championship event. Daniel Negreanu has also made the cut. Not surprisingly in this age of ever more popular live events the final table is going to be televised. It should be a good show as these two and the other players battle it out for the a WPT title.
I always though that Hachem was a great player, but he’s also entertaining and throughly marketable. Pokerstars did a good job on getting hold of him. I think Negreanu has the slight edge here and if you add his stack I don't see how he doesn't take it down. I'm prepared to be proved wrong though.
Negreanu has a slight chip lead over Mads Anderson and has Hatchem outchipped nealry 2:1. I think there is destined to be plenty of action on this 6 handed final table, I’m just gutted I won’t get to see it live…
I always though that Hachem was a great player, but he’s also entertaining and throughly marketable. Pokerstars did a good job on getting hold of him. I think Negreanu has the slight edge here and if you add his stack I don't see how he doesn't take it down. I'm prepared to be proved wrong though.
Negreanu has a slight chip lead over Mads Anderson and has Hatchem outchipped nealry 2:1. I think there is destined to be plenty of action on this 6 handed final table, I’m just gutted I won’t get to see it live…
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Nothing Much To Report
It has been quite quiet for me over the last few weeks. I have been short of time to play but have been playing lots of $100 NL 6-max in an attempt to hit goldstar for the first time. I'm pretty close with 5 days left so hopefully I'll scrape through.
I'm starting to get excited about the APAT even next weekend now. I can't wait to play some real poker even though I haven't played many tournies recently. Hopefully I should get some practice in this week before I fly up to Newcastle on Saturday.
It's starting to look like my Oz trip in March may not be happening. It was almost a certainty a couple of month ago but now it's about 50/50. The good news is that if I don't end up going I'll have enough holiday time left to go to Vegas in the summer! I honestly can't decide which one I want more...
I'm starting to get excited about the APAT even next weekend now. I can't wait to play some real poker even though I haven't played many tournies recently. Hopefully I should get some practice in this week before I fly up to Newcastle on Saturday.
It's starting to look like my Oz trip in March may not be happening. It was almost a certainty a couple of month ago but now it's about 50/50. The good news is that if I don't end up going I'll have enough holiday time left to go to Vegas in the summer! I honestly can't decide which one I want more...
Friday, November 10, 2006
APAT
At the weekend I managed to get myself a seat at the UK Amateur Poker Championship which is being held at The Aspers Casino in Newcastle at the start of December. It’s Part of the APAT (Amateur Poker Association & Tour) which has already staged one event so far this year in Birmingham.
The idea behind the APAT is to give amateur players the chance to play a deep stacked live tournament for a nominal buy-in, and bring players away from the shot stack rebuy tournaments which are typically offered in casinos. Most of the live games I play follow a structure of a 800 starting chip rebuy tournament where the blinds reach 200/400 after an hour and a half. It’s a brutal structure and the rebuy period is typically (for me anyway) an expensive one.
Other than that it’s just excuse to go on a night out in Newcastle, which I hear can be a gloriously messy affair, and meet a few players from ITH who are also attending the event. There is a WSOP package up for grabs for the two day event. A field of just 210 runners should make for some interesting and creative play and if I get knocked out early I have a few people to rail.
I’m really looking forward to it now. I hope this will be the first of many trips to live events outside of my normal haunts. Reports from the previous event in Birmingham suggest that there aren’t really any bad players and that the field is generally quite good. Hopefully it will give me some valuable experience of more structured live play, which will help if I ever decide to frequent the WSOP or any EPT events.
The idea behind the APAT is to give amateur players the chance to play a deep stacked live tournament for a nominal buy-in, and bring players away from the shot stack rebuy tournaments which are typically offered in casinos. Most of the live games I play follow a structure of a 800 starting chip rebuy tournament where the blinds reach 200/400 after an hour and a half. It’s a brutal structure and the rebuy period is typically (for me anyway) an expensive one.
Other than that it’s just excuse to go on a night out in Newcastle, which I hear can be a gloriously messy affair, and meet a few players from ITH who are also attending the event. There is a WSOP package up for grabs for the two day event. A field of just 210 runners should make for some interesting and creative play and if I get knocked out early I have a few people to rail.
I’m really looking forward to it now. I hope this will be the first of many trips to live events outside of my normal haunts. Reports from the previous event in Birmingham suggest that there aren’t really any bad players and that the field is generally quite good. Hopefully it will give me some valuable experience of more structured live play, which will help if I ever decide to frequent the WSOP or any EPT events.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Sometimes 90% isn’t enough
Ironic after my odds based last post but unfortunately if you’re a 90% favourite to win a hand on the turn, it means you have to loose 10% of the time. I just wish it didn’t happen to me in the Million last night. We were down to just over 1500 runners from a stunning 6.6k entrants. If I had won the hand I would have had an above average stack and cruising towards the money. Who knows what could have been.
It’s fair enough to say that the odds will even out over time, but that situation might not present itself enough for it to ever even out. In a ring game, if you get stacked with AA you know that over the long term the money will be coming back to you. However if you loose HU on the FT of the Million for the difference between 180k and 95k it’s unlikely that even a very large amount of poker will ever make that back.
Also from tonight I’m thinking maybe I need to mix it up a little more and get myself to a stack where I can take a hit or two, leading to a more aggressive ‘bust early or go deep’ strategy. I do tend to play pretty much ABC tournament poker with a few other bits thrown in every now and again. I think the change would probably make me think a bit more about my game, so I’m going to look over my hand history from tonight and see where I could have mixed it up a little more and see if I can start to apply that elsewhere.
It’s fair enough to say that the odds will even out over time, but that situation might not present itself enough for it to ever even out. In a ring game, if you get stacked with AA you know that over the long term the money will be coming back to you. However if you loose HU on the FT of the Million for the difference between 180k and 95k it’s unlikely that even a very large amount of poker will ever make that back.
Also from tonight I’m thinking maybe I need to mix it up a little more and get myself to a stack where I can take a hit or two, leading to a more aggressive ‘bust early or go deep’ strategy. I do tend to play pretty much ABC tournament poker with a few other bits thrown in every now and again. I think the change would probably make me think a bit more about my game, so I’m going to look over my hand history from tonight and see where I could have mixed it up a little more and see if I can start to apply that elsewhere.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Odds Are A Funny Thing
Odds are a funny thing. I have never really thought about them other than in maths class before I started playing poker. The only other things I really dealt with that involved odds was the occasional bet on the Grand National, or a night at the track. Clearly in these situations no bookmaker is stupid enough to give you 6-1 on an event that has a 3-1 chance of happening and of course the odds aren't fixed like they are in poker.
Saturday night defied all odds for me. I went out for a friends birthday and quite randomly ended up in a casino at 6 am playing a £100 Pot Limit game. It was a very lively and social game. Most of the other players knew each other and had busted from a tournie that finished earlier that night. I was a) Drunk and b) Very tired. My friend and I had the first train to catch in about an hour so it seemed like a good idea to stay somewhere that was warm and still serving alcohol.
After being at the table for about 20 minutes a new player sat down. The guy on his right asked how he got on in a tournament on Monday night. It seems they were both at the same final table and one busted and left before the other. This is where the conversation got interesting:
' I won, Nice birthday present for me too'
'Really?'
'Yeah, well I did have a massive chip lead when you left'
'No I mean it was really your birthday? Same day as mine!'
'Yeah it was, well happy birthday for Monday'
At this point the guy on their left looks up at me and my friend, we are mid hand and I initially thought he was mocking their excitement, I was about to be shocked however…
'Are you guys shitting me? It's my birthday on the 9th too!'
Everyone laughs. It's all completely true, we're all waiting while the driving licenses come out when we add to the odds of the situation, all three of them are called Jamie. So here we have three guys, all sitting next to each other, all called Jamie and all born on the same dates in 1977, 1984 and 1985 and somehow got to the subject of birthdays all within about 2 minutes. A few of us take pictures of the three of them holding ID and T9o in their hands and agree to e-mail them.
'What are the odds of that happening' I hear a few people ask over the next few hands.
Another 10 mins in the guy to the left of the three Jamie's said something along the lines of 'I'll have to be a mind reader if I wan't to beat these 3 guys' If I wasn't tired and had somewhere else to go I would have definitely left the table after this happened:
He's dealing and off the back of his comment Says 'Ace Ace King' before he lays down the flop. I'm at the other end of the table and don't see the cards for all the people going crazy. I don't even need to guess what just happened.
Next hand he decides to try again, a little more random call: 'Jack Seven Five' I'm closer to the flop this time and absolutely amazed to see it fall in that order. He gets the flop wrong next hand but calls the 5d on the turn. Two players got up and left even though the player calling the cards wasn't involved in any of the hands.
'If he was cheating why would he do that?' Someone asks.
"I don't care' Says one of the departing players 'I just spent 2 hours building this stack to £400, I don't want to play at this table with someone who calls two flops, in order, two hands in a row. What are the odds of that happening?'
It's nearly 7am, nobody works it out. My question is: What are the odds of 3 people called Jamie all sitting on the same table next to each other AND having the same birthday AND the player to their right calling two flops in order, in a row?
My guess would be QUITE BIG. So next time someone next hits a miricale 1 outer on the river to stack me, I won't be surprised!
Saturday night defied all odds for me. I went out for a friends birthday and quite randomly ended up in a casino at 6 am playing a £100 Pot Limit game. It was a very lively and social game. Most of the other players knew each other and had busted from a tournie that finished earlier that night. I was a) Drunk and b) Very tired. My friend and I had the first train to catch in about an hour so it seemed like a good idea to stay somewhere that was warm and still serving alcohol.
After being at the table for about 20 minutes a new player sat down. The guy on his right asked how he got on in a tournament on Monday night. It seems they were both at the same final table and one busted and left before the other. This is where the conversation got interesting:
' I won, Nice birthday present for me too'
'Really?'
'Yeah, well I did have a massive chip lead when you left'
'No I mean it was really your birthday? Same day as mine!'
'Yeah it was, well happy birthday for Monday'
At this point the guy on their left looks up at me and my friend, we are mid hand and I initially thought he was mocking their excitement, I was about to be shocked however…
'Are you guys shitting me? It's my birthday on the 9th too!'
Everyone laughs. It's all completely true, we're all waiting while the driving licenses come out when we add to the odds of the situation, all three of them are called Jamie. So here we have three guys, all sitting next to each other, all called Jamie and all born on the same dates in 1977, 1984 and 1985 and somehow got to the subject of birthdays all within about 2 minutes. A few of us take pictures of the three of them holding ID and T9o in their hands and agree to e-mail them.
'What are the odds of that happening' I hear a few people ask over the next few hands.
Another 10 mins in the guy to the left of the three Jamie's said something along the lines of 'I'll have to be a mind reader if I wan't to beat these 3 guys' If I wasn't tired and had somewhere else to go I would have definitely left the table after this happened:
He's dealing and off the back of his comment Says 'Ace Ace King' before he lays down the flop. I'm at the other end of the table and don't see the cards for all the people going crazy. I don't even need to guess what just happened.
Next hand he decides to try again, a little more random call: 'Jack Seven Five' I'm closer to the flop this time and absolutely amazed to see it fall in that order. He gets the flop wrong next hand but calls the 5d on the turn. Two players got up and left even though the player calling the cards wasn't involved in any of the hands.
'If he was cheating why would he do that?' Someone asks.
"I don't care' Says one of the departing players 'I just spent 2 hours building this stack to £400, I don't want to play at this table with someone who calls two flops, in order, two hands in a row. What are the odds of that happening?'
It's nearly 7am, nobody works it out. My question is: What are the odds of 3 people called Jamie all sitting on the same table next to each other AND having the same birthday AND the player to their right calling two flops in order, in a row?
My guess would be QUITE BIG. So next time someone next hits a miricale 1 outer on the river to stack me, I won't be surprised!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Stars Is Here To Stay
It looks like Pokerstars is here to stay. They have released a statement on their website saying that they don’t believe the changes in legislation have any effect on online poker and that it’s business as usual.
This is great news for nearly all poker players. They’ll have a fantastic option as far as which networks they play on and I can’t see how Stars doesn’t become the #1 poker site now in terms of traffic.
It should be interesting over the coming months to see what happens. Hopefully more traffic doesn’t have a negative effect on their industry leading customer support, and allows them to continue to develop new tournament ideas and extend their guaranteed tournaments.
This is great news for nearly all poker players. They’ll have a fantastic option as far as which networks they play on and I can’t see how Stars doesn’t become the #1 poker site now in terms of traffic.
It should be interesting over the coming months to see what happens. Hopefully more traffic doesn’t have a negative effect on their industry leading customer support, and allows them to continue to develop new tournament ideas and extend their guaranteed tournaments.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Party + Stars Million
Nasty run for me today in the two big Sunday tournies. I busted just after the 1st break in the Party Million after pushing top 2 pair on the turn with a rainbow and uncoordinated board. It was a massive pot as 3 of us saw the flop after a I stuck in a healty raise. My opponent had top pair top kicker and rivered his second pair. If I won that hand I would have been up to about 2k above average stack, and in pretty good shape on a decent table.
Less than half an hour later I busted from the Stars Million. I was down to a fairly short stack and ended up all-in with AK. The SB flips AT and I smile all the way to the river where he hits his ten.
Not a great performance, but not much I could do with both of my KO hands. I got my chips in with the best hand both times, and both times were my first showdowns. I had a great table at Stars too so I feel like I could have made a good run in either tournie had I won one of those hands. But like they say:
That’s Poker!
Less than half an hour later I busted from the Stars Million. I was down to a fairly short stack and ended up all-in with AK. The SB flips AT and I smile all the way to the river where he hits his ten.
Not a great performance, but not much I could do with both of my KO hands. I got my chips in with the best hand both times, and both times were my first showdowns. I had a great table at Stars too so I feel like I could have made a good run in either tournie had I won one of those hands. But like they say:
That’s Poker!
Saturday, October 07, 2006
A Day In The Sats
I spent most of today playing satellites to the Sunday Million on stars. I ended up with $645 in entries. I'll use $215 in Sunday and I paid just under $200 to get them so I'll have just over $200 spare which I'll probably use for my tournaments this week.
One Double Shootout win (standard these days) and two from the $11R which is a bit of a crapshoot, but has been the main source of qualification for me in the past.
To prove my point today I qualified with less than 10% of the BB! I was also due to post the BB next hand, so I probably would have collected $33, (a massive $2 profit, I was in for $31) instead of the $215 entry. I didn't even have enough chips to post two antes either.
A classic late stage scenario occurred too. In the final hand of the tournament I was UTG with AA. Someone was all-in on one of the other tables and the SB was all-in on mine. If both of those players lost the hands they were in I would qualify, if not I was all-in in the BB and given that I was the smallest stack, and that we were hand-for-hand (lowest stack gets the lowest position if two players get KO in the same hand), if I lost the hand I would have been out on the bubble. I time out and a big stack in MP pushes. Everyone else folds and MP flips JJ Vs the SB's random junk hand.
MP hit a J on the turn meaning I would have been out, and even though two other players also busted in the same hand, my stack when I busted would have cost me the seat.
So I'm in the Party and Stars Millions on Sunday. It's the first time I have played both at the same time so I hope I can concentrate AND keep an eye on IRC. I'm being staked half my Stars entry by ITH forum members so I hope I make them proud! I also have a stake in the other players playing in our massive chop so I'm sure at least a few of us will make the FT.
Should make the final table negotiations interesting!
One Double Shootout win (standard these days) and two from the $11R which is a bit of a crapshoot, but has been the main source of qualification for me in the past.
To prove my point today I qualified with less than 10% of the BB! I was also due to post the BB next hand, so I probably would have collected $33, (a massive $2 profit, I was in for $31) instead of the $215 entry. I didn't even have enough chips to post two antes either.
A classic late stage scenario occurred too. In the final hand of the tournament I was UTG with AA. Someone was all-in on one of the other tables and the SB was all-in on mine. If both of those players lost the hands they were in I would qualify, if not I was all-in in the BB and given that I was the smallest stack, and that we were hand-for-hand (lowest stack gets the lowest position if two players get KO in the same hand), if I lost the hand I would have been out on the bubble. I time out and a big stack in MP pushes. Everyone else folds and MP flips JJ Vs the SB's random junk hand.
MP hit a J on the turn meaning I would have been out, and even though two other players also busted in the same hand, my stack when I busted would have cost me the seat.
So I'm in the Party and Stars Millions on Sunday. It's the first time I have played both at the same time so I hope I can concentrate AND keep an eye on IRC. I'm being staked half my Stars entry by ITH forum members so I hope I make them proud! I also have a stake in the other players playing in our massive chop so I'm sure at least a few of us will make the FT.
Should make the final table negotiations interesting!
Legal Issues
There has been extensive discussion in the last few days about how the possible changes in US laws will effect poker players in the US. I can fully relate to how terribly frustrating it must be to consider the fact that you may not be able to play poker online anymore. The majority of the people I play poker with and lots of the community at ITH are American, which means the game I love to play will probably be a completely different one if/when the sites I play at decide to start banning US players.
This has already happened at one of the sites I play at, but hasn't had any massive effect. I think it's possible there are less bonus chasers at William Hill now, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. However my main poker education is taking place at pokerstars at the moment, and although they haven't come out with a definitive statement either way at the moment, I think it's likely that they will have to go along the same lines as party and restrict US players. This would have a massive effect on the traffic the site experiences. I often play at times when there are upwards of 80,000 players online and if you assume 80% of the players are based in the US, you can expect that number to drop to around 16,000. You would also probably have to expect a further fallout of players due to their normal games not being available due to lack of players, or not being as profitable as games they may be able to find elsewhere. There are of course differences between Party and Stars, Stars is a private firm and has nearly always been a step ahead of the game. I don't expect that they'll give in as easily as Party have, but any company willing to release a statement that knocks a few Billion Dollars of it's share value doesn't do so lightly.
There is talk that they are cooperating for the time being because they may be trying to get on the good side of the law to enable them to take advantage of some long shot loophole at a later stage. I think this is certainly a possibility, I still find it so hard to believe that any company would simply roll over and say 'Well we can't do that anymore, never mind'. There is also speculation that they will be focusing their attentions on the Asian market as a replacement, but why not fight for the US players and double your profits?
Some of my main attractions to online poker will be taken away if all this comes into effect. I won't be able to play in a $3 rebuy tournament with a 30k prizepool. The possibility of them offering a guaranteed WSOP main event seat in a $33 tournament wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't be able to waste a week trying to qualify for the Sunday million, because they simply couldn't offer such a large guaranteed prizepool without loosing a serious amount of money.
But I can't really complain. At least I can play at all. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't play online. I'd probably try to play more live poker, but it's just not the same. Something evil inside me likes the feeling of winning $1000 in a tournie at 3 am while sitting in my living room in my underwear. I would probably only be able to play once a fortnight with less players, no game variety and of course driving 30 minutes to get busted in the first hand is much more frustrating when you can't just open another game.
This has already happened at one of the sites I play at, but hasn't had any massive effect. I think it's possible there are less bonus chasers at William Hill now, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. However my main poker education is taking place at pokerstars at the moment, and although they haven't come out with a definitive statement either way at the moment, I think it's likely that they will have to go along the same lines as party and restrict US players. This would have a massive effect on the traffic the site experiences. I often play at times when there are upwards of 80,000 players online and if you assume 80% of the players are based in the US, you can expect that number to drop to around 16,000. You would also probably have to expect a further fallout of players due to their normal games not being available due to lack of players, or not being as profitable as games they may be able to find elsewhere. There are of course differences between Party and Stars, Stars is a private firm and has nearly always been a step ahead of the game. I don't expect that they'll give in as easily as Party have, but any company willing to release a statement that knocks a few Billion Dollars of it's share value doesn't do so lightly.
There is talk that they are cooperating for the time being because they may be trying to get on the good side of the law to enable them to take advantage of some long shot loophole at a later stage. I think this is certainly a possibility, I still find it so hard to believe that any company would simply roll over and say 'Well we can't do that anymore, never mind'. There is also speculation that they will be focusing their attentions on the Asian market as a replacement, but why not fight for the US players and double your profits?
Some of my main attractions to online poker will be taken away if all this comes into effect. I won't be able to play in a $3 rebuy tournament with a 30k prizepool. The possibility of them offering a guaranteed WSOP main event seat in a $33 tournament wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't be able to waste a week trying to qualify for the Sunday million, because they simply couldn't offer such a large guaranteed prizepool without loosing a serious amount of money.
But I can't really complain. At least I can play at all. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't play online. I'd probably try to play more live poker, but it's just not the same. Something evil inside me likes the feeling of winning $1000 in a tournie at 3 am while sitting in my living room in my underwear. I would probably only be able to play once a fortnight with less players, no game variety and of course driving 30 minutes to get busted in the first hand is much more frustrating when you can't just open another game.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Double Shootout King
I Honestly think I might have to start calling this the Double Shootout Blog. I think I have probably played about 6 or 7 DS in my short poker career, and I have won the seat in 4. I know that’s a small sample size but it’s harder than it looks to win 2 SNG’s back-to-back.
I have about 500 $10 and £10 SNG’s under my belt from back when I started playing. I had a decent ROI and built the bankroll to start playing Limit FR. Maybe it’s my familiarity with the quality of players at this buy-in level added to my more recent experience in higher limit tournaments that gives me an edge.
The one I won today was an $11 6-Max sat to a $280 tournament. Strangely the player HU on the 1st table was much better than the one on the second. At the start of the second table I was lucky to build up to 4.5k early as I took a brutal all-in beating 4 handed, when my AA was cracked by AK. I ran the stats through the ITH hand calculator and I’m a shade under 93% to win the hand! He had a 3.5k stack as second chip leader and put me down to 1000 chips at 50/100. Climbed back and eventually busted my AK friend to play HU with even stacks.
He was pretty poor Heads-Up. He folded in the SB more times then I care to remember, and was calling and min-raising the rest of the time, no match for my super aggressive donkified HU style.
So I’m in the $280 100 seats Guaranteed to the WCOOP Main event. The buy-in to the ME is $2600 so IF by some miracle I do mange to qualify I’ll have a bit of a bankroll dilemma. I made a decision a while ago to always play in tournaments I qualify for but to date my biggest buy-in has been $530. This is in a different league, I guess I’ll have to worry about it when I win the seat!
I have about 500 $10 and £10 SNG’s under my belt from back when I started playing. I had a decent ROI and built the bankroll to start playing Limit FR. Maybe it’s my familiarity with the quality of players at this buy-in level added to my more recent experience in higher limit tournaments that gives me an edge.
The one I won today was an $11 6-Max sat to a $280 tournament. Strangely the player HU on the 1st table was much better than the one on the second. At the start of the second table I was lucky to build up to 4.5k early as I took a brutal all-in beating 4 handed, when my AA was cracked by AK. I ran the stats through the ITH hand calculator and I’m a shade under 93% to win the hand! He had a 3.5k stack as second chip leader and put me down to 1000 chips at 50/100. Climbed back and eventually busted my AK friend to play HU with even stacks.
He was pretty poor Heads-Up. He folded in the SB more times then I care to remember, and was calling and min-raising the rest of the time, no match for my super aggressive donkified HU style.
So I’m in the $280 100 seats Guaranteed to the WCOOP Main event. The buy-in to the ME is $2600 so IF by some miracle I do mange to qualify I’ll have a bit of a bankroll dilemma. I made a decision a while ago to always play in tournaments I qualify for but to date my biggest buy-in has been $530. This is in a different league, I guess I’ll have to worry about it when I win the seat!
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