KK Holds

Date: Tue, Dec 29, 2009

I was on an annual festive pub crawl that we do each year between Christmas and New Year yesterday and one of the games we played was a blind hand of poker where the winner took all the stakes and had to nominate someone to drink a forfeit drink with the proceeds.

We dealt out 9 hands and I got KK. I was explaining that it was pretty unlikely I hold given that 9 hands would see a showdown. Two other players also had a King and there was only one ace out and some nice looking suited connectors. To my complete surprise I actually hold and take down the hand.

Frustratingly I have been grinding tournies today to try to ensure a top 2,000 TLB score for the Stars Passport promo this month and have been dealt KK 11 times. Guess how many won a pot at showdown?

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Stars Auto Add-On

Date: Sat, Dec 12, 2009

There is nothing more annoying than when you are playing 8+ tables, one of them pops up and you realise you forgot to add on during the break. This has happened to me more times than I care remember.

At looooong last Stars has added a feature that enables you to check an auto add on box to ensure you'll never miss an add on again. A nice little surprise while playing the $55 rebuy tonight. I'm not sure why it's taken quite so long to add this feature, but to be honest, I don't really care now.

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Big Swings

Date: Thu, Dec 10, 2009

I have been running pretty badly through most of 2009, but somehow I feel a bit better after reading about some of the swings at the nosebleeds.

It looks like Brian Townsend lost around $1.6m to Isildur1 (running really bad) in less than 9k hands of HU. That set the scene for what is the biggest winning day in online history, with Brian Hastings winning more than $4m from Isildur1 (who also ran terrible).

Obviously these guys are beyond good and probably more dedicated to learning the game than just about anyone out there. However, the sheer amount of money involved in these swings is crazy. I really hope the action continues at these stakes as Isildur1 has been very interesting to watch.

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Learning To Win Flips

Date: Fri, Dec 4, 2009

Clearly I won a few to get to these positions, but that doesn't make me feel any better.

From the last 2 weeks:

$55 Stars - 16/2100
$11r Stars - 22/2500
$75 FTP - 7/780
$33 Stars 500 Max - 6/450
$16 Stars Turbo - 20/1600

Most of these were for decent stacks too. I haven't won a tournie with > 500 players this year and I'd really like to take one down before Christmas.

I think part of the problem is all the huge fields online these days. My average field size this year is 1900, so the variance I encounter is bound to be huge. I should probably mix in some slightly higher buy-in tournies with smaller fields, but I just can't resist a field of 2k terrible players and the prospect of a five figure payday for 1st.

Volume is an issue too. I haven't had the chance to play anywhere as much as I would have liked this year, and there really isn't that much action at the times I want to play outside of my regular tournies.

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Funny Vegas Story

Date: Wed, Dec 2, 2009

You know that strange little exchange when someone asks you for the time:

Them: Excuse me, do you have the time?

You: Sure *checks watch* it's half past

Them: Half past?

At this point it becomes apparent that they don't know what hour it is and you'll let them know.

Today a friend told me what can only be described at the Vegas version of this story.

He's standing in the Bellagio lobby and a well dressed, tired looking man in his 40's walks over and asks for the time. My friend looks down at his watch and informs the gentleman that it's 6 o'clock.

The man responds 'Erm, 6 o'clock in the morning?'

It was 6pm. I'm not sure what's worse, the fact that he didn't know if it was evening or morning, or that he guessed and got it wrong.

I can't wait to go back to Vegas. Unfortunately I have five long months to wait until I'll next be in town.

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WSOP Stories

Date: Wed, Jul 8, 2009

With the WSOP Main Event well under way I thought I'd share some of my favourite stories so far:

Phil Hellmuth's Entrance was pretty ridiculus. He's going to have to die soon because there is no way he can keep topping this year after year. I'd like to put him in touch with Naseem Hamed about using a magic carpet to get him to his seat next year.

Everyone winning multiple bracelets (Ivey, Parker, Lisandro (3!) and Mueller) is also something I'm a big fan of. I know the some of the fields for this win weren't that big, but I think it goes some way to showing that poker is a game of skill, and not a complete lottery.

Ivey winning his bracelet prop bet. You guys were mental to bet against him when he's motivated. I wonder if he'll get action next year?

Tales of terrible play. People checking the nuts behind (a few of these) and a couple where people were confused (sometimes in epic pots) when the chips get pulled their way when they hold 88 on a 855 board vs 85 or similar. Poker is alive and well in 2009, even in $10,000 buy-in events...

WSOP Standings on the official site. You mean the USA are winning the most events with the most cashes in a 'world series' held in America with fields populated by 90% Americans? Wow.

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WSOP 2009

Date: Wed, May 27, 2009

It's finally that time of year again and in the Rio, Las Vegas, several thousand miles away from where I'm sitting, a bunch of casino employees are rifling chips and playing the first event of 2009 World Series of Poker.

Unfortunately work has been far too busy of late for me to get much poker in, but the first event of the WSOP always gets me excited.

It seems like some poker players arrivals were delayed somewhat today by the presence of one of the most famous airplanes in the world. It would appear that Barack Obama landed at McCarren airport today just in time for the first event of the WSOP.

Although I'd love to think he's here for tomorrows $40k NLHE event, it looks like he's in town on a bit of a fundraising mission for upcoming Democratic campaigns.

He may also drop by to see Oscar Goodman, the Mayor of Las Vegas after some comments he made about Vegas (and bankers):

"You can't get corporate jets. You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime. There's got to be some accountability and some responsibility.”

Somewhat ironic then that he should jet into Vegas on Air Force One, fully funded by the taxpayer of course, after making this comment. I'm sure I'm not the first (and certainly won't be the last) to point that out. To be perfectly fair to Obama, of whom I am a huge fan, how the hell else are you going to get to a city in the middle of the desert?

There is also news he's meeting with WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and a number of pros, which can only mean good things for the world of poker.

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April Update

Date: Tue, Apr 21, 2009

It’s been a funny few weeks since my last post. I really enjoyed playing in the SCOOP at PokerStars and managed to play 15 or 16 events in total. Although I think the mix of events they offered was good, I think they could have tried to space the game types out more evenly. There were a few periods of 2-3 days during the series where there were no events I wanted to play.

The event I was really looking forward to was the $22 rebuy towards the end of the series. Coincidentally this was my best result, finishing 24th from over 9,500 runners. Overall I made a profit of $1,690 for the entire series after cashing in 3 events. That’s not too bad, but playing in these events did take me away from my normal cash games, where I would, on average, make more over the period.

I still seem to have a real issue with closing tournaments though. The SCOOP finish was pretty frustrating, but here is a selection of deep runs from my last 6 weeks:

24/9,500 (Stars $22 rebuy)
16/3,250 (Stars $55)
19/4,290 (Stars $55)
8/850 (FTP $75)
14/2,250 (FTP $26)
12/910 (FTP $26)

The $75 FTP tournie was the only one I managed to final table, going in 2/9 in chips. I lost half my stack with QQ < AK then, rather amusingly, busted when I shoved AK into QQ.

When I start to get deep my absolute priority is the win, so these finishes aren’t the result of careful tight play folding my way up the payscales. I don’t think I’m going too far in the opposite direction either. I do increase the aggression as stacks get smaller relative to the blinds and I certainly seek to exploit players who seem to tighten up, especially when we are nearing a big pay jump.

Maybe it’s just the variance I need to overcome. In the above finishes there is one flush < flush, two flips, one AK < KJ, one AQ < AK and one hand where I flopped top two vs a flush draw and he hit for my bustout hands.

No really spewy hands, and I was only short when I busted in one of these too, so I would have had a decent stack in any of the rest had I won my bustout hand, and of course would have been sailing far closer to the win.

I just need to keep grinding and getting deep and I'll take something down eventually...

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Improved WSOP Structure

Date: Tue, Mar 10, 2009

“It’s a tough economy, so we wanted to make sure our poker players were getting the most value,”

If that's what it takes to get more starting chips and extra levels at the WSOP this year then I'm all for it.

It looks like the $1500 events will be starting with $4500 chips now, as supposed to $3000. I think the added levels will have the biggest impact though. If they add a 75/150 level the early stages of the smaller events will allow for a lot more play, especially when players are starting with an extra 1500 chips. As the events get deeper there should be more chips in play, which can only be good news. I'm sure they will still be a bit of a crapshoot, but it's a step in the right direction. It remains to be seen how much longer it will take to finish he events however, those going deep in weekend $1500 event are probably in for some long hours at the tables.

The Main Event will start with 30,000 chips this year instead of the 20k stacks players have started with for the lest few years. I'm sure this is partly because they need to have a consistent dollar value (3x) for tournament chips (otherwise you could potentially take chips from an event where you get more for your buy-in) but should also have some interesting implications for what is already a deep starting stack.

It should make it even funnier when people stack off with top pair on the flop this year. With 300 BB's that's going to take some doing.

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I suck at closing

Date: Thu, Feb 26, 2009

Some tournie finishes from the last 3 days:

29th/1800 in the $55 $80k at Stars
18th/600 in the $55 $20k at FTP
22nd/2200 in the $11 rebuy $70k at Stars

Then the last 3 days in the same tournie - the $26 $27.5k at FTP:

27th
16th
33rd

All in fields of aound 1500. Fun times.

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I suck at closing

Date: Thu, Feb 26, 2009

Some tournie finishes from the last 3 days:

29th/1800 in the $55 $80k at Stars
18th/600 in the $55 $20k at FTP
22nd/2200 in the $11 rebuy $70k at Stars

Then the last 3 days in the same tournie - the $26 $27.5k at FTP:

27th
16th
33rd

All in fields of aound 1500. Fun times.

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Running Good

Date: Thu, Feb 12, 2009

I think it's fair to say I run somewhat badly after this hand from tonights $80k on Stars:

PokerStars Game #24868753242: Tournament #139354490, $50+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (150/300) - 2009/02/12 17:01:39 ET
Table '139354490 132' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: ZAR84 (2085 in chips)
Seat 2: uvw03191155 (6028 in chips)
Seat 3: Hikkespett (3317 in chips)
Seat 4: Shotgun747 (14651 in chips)
Seat 5: .xXmagnetXx. (24909 in chips)
Seat 6: SirSmokey33 (23430 in chips)
Seat 7: Für Elise (16955 in chips)
Seat 8: arestone (6846 in chips)
Seat 9: Icemen85 (14294 in chips)
ZAR84: posts the ante 25
uvw03191155: posts the ante 25
Hikkespett: posts the ante 25
Shotgun747: posts the ante 25
.xXmagnetXx.: posts the ante 25
SirSmokey33: posts the ante 25
Für Elise: posts the ante 25
arestone: posts the ante 25
Icemen85: posts the ante 25
Hikkespett: posts small blind 150
Shotgun747: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to arestone [Jd Jc]
.xXmagnetXx.: folds
SirSmokey33: folds
Für Elise: folds
arestone: raises 600 to 900
Icemen85: folds
ZAR84: folds
uvw03191155: calls 900
Hikkespett: folds
Shotgun747: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ts Jh 7s]
arestone: bets 2500
uvw03191155: raises 2603 to 5103 and is all-in
arestone: calls 2603
*** TURN *** [Ts Jh 7s] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [Ts Jh 7s Js] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
arestone: shows [Jd Jc] (four of a kind, Jacks)
uvw03191155: shows [Ks Qs] (a Royal Flush)
uvw03191155 collected 12681 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 12681 | Rake 0
Board [Ts Jh 7s Js As]
Seat 1: ZAR84 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: uvw03191155 (button) showed [Ks Qs] and won (12681) with a Royal Flush
Seat 3: Hikkespett (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Shotgun747 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: .xXmagnetXx. folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: SirSmokey33 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Für Elise folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: arestone showed [Jd Jc] and lost with four of a kind, Jacks
Seat 9: Icemen85 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

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Running Good

Date: Thu, Feb 12, 2009

I think it's fair to say I run somewhat badly after this hand from tonights $80k on Stars:

PokerStars Game #24868753242: Tournament #139354490, $50+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (150/300) - 2009/02/12 17:01:39 ET
Table '139354490 132' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: ZAR84 (2085 in chips)
Seat 2: uvw03191155 (6028 in chips)
Seat 3: Hikkespett (3317 in chips)
Seat 4: Shotgun747 (14651 in chips)
Seat 5: .xXmagnetXx. (24909 in chips)
Seat 6: SirSmokey33 (23430 in chips)
Seat 7: Für Elise (16955 in chips)
Seat 8: arestone (6846 in chips)
Seat 9: Icemen85 (14294 in chips)
ZAR84: posts the ante 25
uvw03191155: posts the ante 25
Hikkespett: posts the ante 25
Shotgun747: posts the ante 25
.xXmagnetXx.: posts the ante 25
SirSmokey33: posts the ante 25
Für Elise: posts the ante 25
arestone: posts the ante 25
Icemen85: posts the ante 25
Hikkespett: posts small blind 150
Shotgun747: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to arestone [Jd Jc]
.xXmagnetXx.: folds
SirSmokey33: folds
Für Elise: folds
arestone: raises 600 to 900
Icemen85: folds
ZAR84: folds
uvw03191155: calls 900
Hikkespett: folds
Shotgun747: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ts Jh 7s]
arestone: bets 2500
uvw03191155: raises 2603 to 5103 and is all-in
arestone: calls 2603
*** TURN *** [Ts Jh 7s] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [Ts Jh 7s Js] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
arestone: shows [Jd Jc] (four of a kind, Jacks)
uvw03191155: shows [Ks Qs] (a Royal Flush)
uvw03191155 collected 12681 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 12681 | Rake 0
Board [Ts Jh 7s Js As]
Seat 1: ZAR84 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: uvw03191155 (button) showed [Ks Qs] and won (12681) with a Royal Flush
Seat 3: Hikkespett (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Shotgun747 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: .xXmagnetXx. folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: SirSmokey33 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Für Elise folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: arestone showed [Jd Jc] and lost with four of a kind, Jacks
Seat 9: Icemen85 folded before Flop (didn't bet)