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Tick, Tock

Date: Wed, Feb 20, 2008 Professional

Cape Town, February 2003. It's the opening game of the cricket world cup - hosts South Africa are chasing a West Indies target of 287 and are in deep trouble. The South African top order are back in the pavillion, and the hopes of the host nation rest squarely on the shoulders of Lance Klusener, the big hitting all rounder who excelled in the 1999 edition of the tournament, but who has since been in and out of the side. The West Indians are aware that the sands of time are against the hosts, and have almost their entire team placed on the boundaries. Boundaries are required to reach the target, and singles simply won't do. Klusener makes a great fist of it, but eventually tries to knock the skin off the ball, mistimes it and it is pouched by Hooper in the deep. Game over.

This is a poker blog right? It is indeed - I think a good analogy can be made between the heads up session at the end of a multi table tournament and the closing stages of a one day cricket match. In this example, the balls remaining are the blinds, forcing the short stacked South Africa to act. West Indies are the big stack, quietly biding their time, making it hard for the South Africans to make significant inroads by manning the boundaries and not worrying about singles.

It was the latest instalment of the League at the Loose Cannon on Tuesday night. The tournament had a distinctly lop-sided feel to it. Tony, a very agressive player, was playing well and knocking people out left, right and centre. The Volcano overplayed pocket Jacks, Dan pushed into Tony with AQ and lost a race, and Fluke's push with Ace rag when short stacked found Tony waking up with Kings behind him. Almost all the action passed me by, but I found myself heads up with Tony with only 6k in chips to Tony's 44k.

At this point Tony should have strangled the life out of the game, and allowed the ever increasing blinds to push me into a rash decision (as South Africa were forced to do in the cricket). However, Tony is an extremely agressive player, and doesn't have a gear downchange. As a result I won a key hand when we both had pocket pairs (my 77 against Tony's 22) and then Tony ran a succession of sizeable river bluffs which enabled me to claw my way back into contention when I called with middle or top pair.

Finally I seized the momentum and found myself in the dominant position of a three to one chip lead, with bigger blinds to boot. I took my foot off the gas at this point, allowing Tony's agression to take the pots when I had a mediocre holding, but waiting for my chance to end the game. I didn't want to let him back in unnessarily and hoped his aggression would eventually turn into frustration at the wrong time.

Eventually the chance came.

Tony raised double my big blind. I called with 4h6h (I'd rather make the call in this spot than with a hand that can be dominated like K9, for example).

Flop 2, 5, 9 (2 diamonds)

Check Check

Turn 3 spades making my straight

Check Check

River 9 diamonds

Tony pushes for his last 8k. The river is a horrible card - completes flush and (admittedly unlikely given the betting) full house. However, Tony has been so agressive throughout the tournament that he is just a likely to be representing the flush here, so I call and win the tournament for £375 and some valuable league points.

If the West Indians had crowded fielders around Klusener's bat in the cricket, I wonder if the outcome would have been different?

A £148 win in the cash game completed a good night. I'm having a week off now, so my next game will be Tuesday for the League. I feel like a recharge of the batteries, because the next month is likely to be 3 nights a week of poker, as I build up to the Irish Open.

Until then friends......


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 4,396
Live Holdem (International) 0
Live Omaha (Local) 120
Live Omaha (International) 0
Online Holdem 52,262
Online Omaha 910
Rake (623)
Total 57,065

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The Perils Of Not Playing ABC

Date: Mon, Feb 18, 2008 Professional

This won't take long - Gutshot monday £100 freezeout.

First level, blinds 25-50, starting stack 5000

UTG raises to 250. I flat call with AA. 2 other callers including blinds........pot 1000

Flop K, 2, 3 (2 spades)

Checked to me - there are too many people in the pot to slowplay, so I bet 1000 with my disguised pocket rockets. Blinds fold, but the UTG raises to 2500. In his mind I can't have AK, AA, KK or QQ right? Harrington's books would never advocate such a play, notwithstanding the fact that the aforementioned books would be quite happy to call with KQ in this spot.

I push, and the UTG dwells up and finally calls with...........JJ (no spades). Well played sir. And of course he 2 outers me and I'm first man out.

Unfortunately, my game in the early levels is based around deception and post flop play, so I'm always going to be vulnerable to 10% suck outs like this. Still, I'd rather it happens now, than at the Irish Open or at WSOP.

Good luck to Jody, The Volcano and the Good Doctor who are still manning the fort.

At least I get some much needed sleep :) Laters..........P&L published after the league tomorrow.

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Fire verses Ice

Date: Sun, Feb 17, 2008 Professional

If you have to play like God to go deep in a large 10 seater MTT, then you need to play like the Devil to do the same in the 6 seater equivilant. Oddly, although the rules are the same, the reduced number of players changes the game significantly. It's like fire and ice. The 10 seater game rewards solid technicians of the game, with a good understanding of odds and who possess an abundance of patience. The 6 seater rewards the gamblers, who employ brute agression and deception. I can picture a 10 seat game going on upstairs between the Lord and 9 angels, on a pristine white table (Gabriel has just folded his UTG raise with pocket 8s to a re-raise). Meanwhile down in Hades on a chaffed black marble table, a demon is contemplating defending his big blind with 68 suited to an early position raise and a min re-raise from Lucifer. I digress........welcome to FTOPS online event #15 - short handed no limited holdem.



I registered for this event from work in the afternoon, knowing that I would be at least 30 minutes late for the 7pm start. Since I thought it was a ten seater NL/Omaha "round of each" event, I thought this wouldn't hamper my chances. Of course, I was somewhat deflated when I logged on at 7:45 to realise it was a short handed event, and due to the fact you pay almost double the blinds as a full table, my stack was down to 2200 from a 3000 start. Great! Nevertheless, I recovered from this rocky start to finish 2nd out of 1,891 runners and take down USD 48,000 for my biggest single poker score of my career so far. In the 8 hours of play, there were probably many memorable hands I have forgotton, but I've put down some highlights below.



Hand1

I raise mid position with 57 off. Big blind defends.
Flop 2, A, K
Big blind leads for the pot, I raise 3 times his bet and he folds.



Hand2

Very next hand I raise early position with 88. Small blind calls (same guy from Hand1)
Flop A, 8, 3
Small blind leads, I raise 3 times his bet, he pushes and I instacall with the set and he has nothing, doubling me up.



Hand3

I call a raise in the big blind with J9 clubs.
Flop Kc, Qc, 2h
I check, he bets, I raise 3 times his bet, he calls
Turn 10 Diamonds completing my straight.
I bet (I don't want the flush to come now really) he pushes and I call
I pray he doesn't show AJ for the bigger straight but he has the nut flush draw and misses.
Hmmm - I'm lucky I turned my straight instead of my flush there :)



There is now a whole hour sequence where I run good, hitting 2 pair and sets and getting paid off. I get into first place and stay there for another hour or so. I then dip to 20th and then come back up to the top 5, when I get moved to a new table and I'm directly to the right 0f Canada's Marcel Bedard, who has had a fair bit of WPT success. We are both big stacked compared to the table, and the blind battles between us are ultra aggressive - similar to when myself and Tom sit next to each other at the Loose Cannon.



Hand4

Folded round to me and I raise Bedard's big blind with AKo. Called
Flop 2, 5, 9
I continuation bet and it's called
Turn 10
Check Check
River Q
I check, Bedard bets and I re-raise the size of the pot.
Bedard thinks and then calls me with the lone pair of 5s. I got owned on that one.



Hand5

Bedard has 200k, I have 240k
Folded round to us and I raise with AJ diamonds
Bedard calls - pot is about 19k
Flop 5, 6, 9 with 2 diamonds
Check. Bedard bets 15k I call (its not so much about the odds - from our previous battles, Ace high may be good here). Pot is 49k
Turn is J spades - a great card for me, as I have TPTK and the nut flush draw.
Bedard bets 30k, I re-raise to 90k and Bedard calls.
Turn is an offfsuit 7, I check and Bedard pushes for his last 90k. I actually give strong consideration to folding here. Do I really want to come this far and call it all on top pair? The key factor is the nature of our previous encounters, so I call, pray and he only has 33 so I am up to 440k and leading the tournament again.



Hand6

I raise with AsQs, called by big blind - pot is 24k
Flop Jd, 10s, 2d
He checks, I bet 20k and its called
Turn is 5h
Check, Check
River is 7c
I check, he pushes for 80k into the 64k pot.
No hand makes sense here. If he had 2 pair or a set he'd have pushed on the flop probably when I bet, because the pot size would increase his stack nearly 50%, and he'd be worried about the flush draw. On the river, the flush draw has missed, as well as the open ended straight draw if he had Q9. I don't think he overpushes here with a pair because he had the chance to check it down, and he only gets called if he is behind (in his eyes). I call and win the 224k pot with Ace high :)



We are now approaching final table, and I have a tough time of it. With 2 tables, left the table I am on has 4 of the top 5 on it, so we are all worried about busting each other as the prize jumps are huge from here on in. I am convinced this is where the other big stack gave himself a real boost in terms of winning the tournament, because he was going potty on the other table, bullying the smaller stacks every hand. Anyway, we make it to the final table and I am in 3rd spot.



Hand7

I raise 48k with KQ (blinds 6/12 with antes)
Called by big blind
Flop 2, 5, 7
Check, Check
Turn 10
Big blind bets 60k, I re-raise to 180k (I think he is stealing) but he calls
River Q
Check Check and I win (I get a lot of grief from the rail for this hand)



Hand8

4 left. A raise and a call and I call in the big blind with Q9 (pot is 170k)
Flop Q, 10, 9
I check, big stack bets the pot and the small stack pushed for 400k.
I call as does the big stack. The big blind has AQ, the small stack has KJ for the flopped straight
Turn 2
River 9

Honest Dave loves this hand - the house was always on its way eh?

I am chip leader with 3 left, but now have the table reputation of village idiot after the last 2 hands.



Hand9

I am big blind, there is a raise UTG and the small blind calls to make pot 300k (we are playing stacks of 700k to 2.5m). I have 47off and raise to 600k. UTG raiser folds so the squeeze should work but the original called pushes for 1.8m more and I have to fold. The small blind slow playing a monster there I think - either that or thinks I am some kind of donkey, who re-raises big with 47off. ;)



The smaller stack gets eliminated and I unfortunately am ouchipped about 6-1 heads up and also go card dead. I am eliminated when down to 400k when I push over a raise with JQ and he has KQ. A great win, online tournies are such hard work mentally, but well worth it when you get the big score.



I will have to get out of the manic short handed mentality in time for the return to the relatively serene 10 seater tables at Gutshot on Monday. Back to the fundamentals, after an enjoyable adrenaline fuelled Friday night. Fire verses Ice.



PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 3,700
Live Holdem (International) 0
Live Omaha (Local) 120
Live Omaha (International) 0
Online Holdem 52,262
Online Omaha 910
Rake (593)
Total 56,400

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How many real "Pros" are there?

Date: Fri, Feb 15, 2008 Professional

How big a bankroll do you need to go pro? A huge amount in my opinion. I think there are lots of young guys who set themselves up as professionals with bankrolls which are about 10% of the size required. I played with a 22 year old guy at the Irish Open last year, who had "turned pro" after coming 10th in the Pokertars Sunday Million one week. He wasn't particularly strong either, splashing around in the cash game losing about 2k while I was there. In my opinion, he's not a pro, he's just someone who won a bit of money in an online tournament and has a lot of spare time due to the fact he doesn't have a job. I imagine he won't be in Dublin next month, 12 months down the line. So, let's consider the factors if I were to turn professional:

1) Duration
I'd need a bankroll deep enough to give me a 3 year shot at the big time. If I am not winning after 3 years, then it's probably not going to happen. If I only have the bankroll for 1 or 2 years, then I don't think I will truely know if I could have cracked it - tournament poker variance is just too high. I am sure there are plenty of top rank pros who have had significant losing years.

2) High Buy-in Tournaments
I'd need to play a lot of these. One good finish would set me up for the year (potentially for the decade) and this is where the true exposure is, if I want to secure other income sources like sponsorship. I've created a USD 261,000 a year schedule which would put me on the road for 27 weeks of the year on the tour.

In Europe, EPTs in Barcelona, Baden, Prague, Dortmond and Warsaw. Add the Irish Open, EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, 5 UK Poker Tour Events and the UKPT Grand Final. And of course the WSOP Europe in London.

In America Borgata, Foxwoods, Niagara Falls and Los Angeles. I'd also want to play the Bellagio 5 diamond.

WSOP - of course the main event, and I'd also want a USD 60,000 budget each year to play the bracelet events, including the 10k heads up and 10k Omaha championship events.

From the rest of the world I'd also want entries for Aussie Millions, China Open and the EPT Carribean Adventure.

3) Salary
I'd need to draw a guaranteed salary, to pay mortgages, bills, maintenance, school fees etc. Let's say 100k-120k USD a year. This is important, as you can leave your bankroll exclusively for poker - you should be able to make better playing decisions without worrying if you can pay the next bill.

4) Travel/Hotels
These are clearly going to be significant over the year. I've budgeted for USD 40,000 a year, but even this might not be enough.

5) Alternative Poker Bankroll
On top of the high buy-in tournaments, I'd also need funds to play cash, online, side events and local tournaments. I'd perhaps give myself a 2,000 USD weekly budget for cash on the weeks when I am not on the road, so 46,000 USD a year. A relatively small online budget of 24,000 USD a year should suffice. I'd also want to play side games at the large tournaments - for example the LA Classic is underway at the moment and they had a huge range of warm up tournaments. Some tournaments have no warm ups however (like some of the EPT) so the average might be 2,000 USD for every major tournament played, so 54,000 USD a year. Finally, I'd want a budget of 9,200 USD to play local London tournaments while I am not away, to enable me to keep in touch with the good folks of the Loose Cannon.

6) Exit Strategy
If it all goes belly up, I'd need to get my career back on track, so I'd need a buffer fund for the end of the 3 year period to make sure I wasn't rushed into taking a job that didn't suit me. Call this 48,000 USD.

So what does this add up to for a 3 year shot at it?.....................................USD 1,638,000. You can probably reduce this slightly due the interest I'd recieve on the capital, particularly in the first year. Let's call it 1.5million USD, so 750k GBP.

Is it acheivable? Well, unlikely, it has to be said. 3 options I guess:

A) Win it
Ah-ha the easy option! Win the Irish Open or go deep in 2 WSOP events and its done. I'll be playing some more big tournaments in 2009, so you never know - a series of decent cash finishes over a 2/3 year period could do the trick.

B) Save it
A no-go really. By the time I could put this money together (if at all) I'd be well into my 40's and a punishing schedule full of trips abroad needs to be done by someone in their 30s or younger in my opinion. The older you are, the more experienced you get, but fatigue is going to become too much of a factor. Add the fact that if it went wrong, it would be much easier to get back into work at the age of 38 than at 48 due to the ageist society we live in.

C) Get Backers
An interesting one. I have a modest amount of backing for 2008 (I'm giving up about 25% of my equity in all tournaments), but it's one thing asking someone to put in 5k for a year and quite another tieing them in for 3 years and in such a big project. After all, an investment of 15,000 USD would only get them 1% of the action.

I've been thinking about whether it's possible to use the hedge fund model for poker. In this case investors could come and go (within reason) and be paid a return on performance in the period less a performace fee of 20% for the "investment advisor". This is an interesting concept because at any given time, the 15k USD investor might have perhaps 30% of my equity for a given tournament period (eg WSOP), but they are free to withdraw with a 3 month notice period. I'd always want to make sure that I had 50% of my own equity at any one time. There are also huge issues of trust here as well, because how would someone know whether I'd won 10k in a cash game in Vegas and not pocketed it. I don't think "poker funds" would fall under the umrella of FSA regulation!

Is it all a pipe dream? Probably, but I'll be interested to see how thing develop over the next two years.

In terms of last night, it was very uneventful. I was card dead all tournament (league night) and had to push with 9 players left with 8 2. Got called by A 7 so it wasn't a disaster but I missed anyway. The legendary retired pro Sonny brushed off the cobwebs and won his first tournament since New Labour came to power. (Only joking Sonny - I know you do well at the Vic and Luton when you play your A-Game)

We had a very entertaining Omaha cash game afterwards with Honest Dave, myself, Volcano, Sir Mike and Hugh all in action. I picked up £60 on that so nearly flat for the night.

Next week it's Gutshot and Loose Cannon on Monday and Tuesday, and then a break for a few days.

Updated table below (Fluke - I have fixed the formulas for you ;))


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 3,700
Live Holdem (International) 0
Live Omaha (Local) 120
Live Omaha (International) 0
Online Holdem 4,462
Online Omaha 910
Rake (568)
Total 8,624


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Tyre Degradation in Melbourne

Date: Thu, Feb 14, 2008 Professional

Readers you will be shocked to learn that a couple of years back I once lost 74k GBP in 36 hours on a Formula One spread bet. Yes, that's 74 with three zeros on the end. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button had a dynamite car, which was robust and with the most powerful engine on the F1 grid (The RA806). The Honda behaved as if crafted by nature in the windtunnel (believe me I know) and was set to dominate Ferrari, BMW and McLaren. However, the car had so much excessive downforce when it made its debut in Melbourne, that the tyres were ground to rubber slush in the Australian sun. After Button and Barrichello suffered the infuriation of driving a rocket car without traction (which is an impossible task), the quotes plummeted and I took my loss as Tokyo issued the P45s.

Last night felt worse than Melbourne. I played like an utter drunk donkey, losing £500. I ran a succession of elaborate bluffs against Maltese Mike, Fluke and Honest Dave. I was called down numerous times with middle pair or worse. The new player Devon must have thought I was a total fish. Incidently, wasn't Devon the guy who owned Knight Industries in the Hasselhoff classic?

http://www.statesidestills.com/prodimages/19781l.jpg

I hate playing like this - if you play tight it's pretty easy to be ABC even when you are drunk, but if you play loose there is such a fine line between playing inspired and being a total donkey. When you are playing like a maniac at least you get paid off with the big hands, but even that didn't help - Knight Industries flopped a set on me and then pushed and I called with Aces in a £400 pot. Sigh.

It's not the money - I just hate myself when I play badly.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 4,850
Live Holdem (International) 0
Live Omaha (Local) 0
Live Omaha (International) 0
Online Holdem 4,462
Online Omaha 910
Rake (554)
Total 8,668

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A New Favourite Hand

Date: Tue, Feb 12, 2008 Professional

I think I played my new favourite poker hand ever last night. It's Hand 3 below.

It was my second trip to the Gutshot for the £100 Monday night game, this time along with the Volcano and Honest Dave. There were 36 runners and I placed 2nd, good for £860 and I think I'll be making this a weekly game. I'm also told the £75 Wednesday tournament has around 60 runners so that might be worth a visit as well. The standard was mediocre, yet a little mouthy, so I just kept myself to myself in the early stages.

I had Gutshot Adi direct to my right, which isn't great because he is an agressive player and also extemely loud. Personally I don't mind the banter, but if you are not confident in your ability, or a beginner, it would be very intimidating, and because of this I think he is bad for the game. He does it to get an edge - some of the players on my table were clearly uncomfortable with it last night. Anyway.........

5000 chips, 25 minute clock

HAND1
Folded round to me in the small blind and I flat call Adi's big blind with AQ. (It's going to be our first tangle, so I want him to feel he can bully me). However with 100 chips in the pot, Adi raises to 1050 which is absolutely ridiculous. He clearly doesn't realise how strong my hand is, and goads me and starts kissing his biceps. I confess to be close to tilt pushing here but I fold. He has QQ.

HAND2
I limp pass 44 in mid position to a raise and re-raise. Adi also passes and then informs the table that we are all weak donkeys, and the reason he passed was it was senseless for him to take a risk on such an easy table.

HAND3
I limp for 100 in early position, Adi raises to 500 and gets a caller from across the table. I re-raise to 1500 and Adi goes into a huge speech. "Look at this guy - the problem is that he looks happy with his hand, but the problem is that donkeys will do this with A10, and think they have made a good move. Donkeys don't understand what they are holding so how am I supposed to get a read?"

Adi eventually calls and the other guy calls. Flop comes K high. Adi pushes with JJ and I instacall and stack him with my pocket Aces. Upto 10k in chips.

Not much else before the break, but I sneak up to 12k in chips.

HAND4
I raise to 1200 with AK. Big blind calls.

Flop 2, 4, 9 (2 clubs)

He check calls my bet of 1200

Turn 4

Check Check

River K (but bringing the club flush)

He bets 3600. This is the same guy who had previously flushed out on Honest Dave's set so I am wary he has flushed again. I tank, and eventually figure the bet is too big if he had made the flush. I call and he mucks.

HAND5
Folded to me in the big blind and I check my 10 6.

Flop 6, 2, 7 (2 spades)

My bet of 1200 is called

Turn 9 (no spade)

Check Check

River K (no spade)

He bets 2400. I only have the 6, but there are a whole host of draws that just missed, and given people's tendancies to polarise their river betting (i.e. they either have the nuts or zero) I call. He mucks.

HAND6
Folded to me on the button and I raise to 4000 with 3 6. The lady in the small blind calls and we see a fold of J, 9, 8. She bets 4000 and I fold. She shows the Jack and says "you try to steal - I re-steal". Hmmm - not sure flat calling a raise and then betting out with top pair really consitutes a "re-steal", but never mind.

HAND7
Folded round to button who raises to 3600. I raise to 11000 with 7 8. Everyone folds. Now that's a resteal ;)

HAND8
Early raiser to 4000 which is flat called. I push for 19k in the big blind with QQ and take it down.

I eventually get to the final table of nine with about 26k in chips. The final table is mostly played pre-flop so not too much of interest to report. Only one interesting hand.

HAND9
Folded round to the small blind who completes to 4000. I check with 22. As soon as I do it, I think I should have raised but anyway.........

Flop 2, 2, 3

Ah-ha - quads! Just as I am thinking how to get money out of this, the small blind goes into overdrive.

He bets 3000 - I call

Turn Ace

He bets 4000 - I call

River Q

He bets 5000 - I push and he folds.

No more interesting hands - as I said, the final table is all pre-flop. I am the short stack when we are down to 3 handed, but get lucky when the two big stacks get KK and JJ against each other, and we are heads up.

I am outchipped 7-1 so need to get busy. The end comes when I push on the river following a missed open-ended straight draw, and he calls me with a low pair. All in all, a solid performance - I'll certainly be going back and may try the Wednesday game as well.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 4,850
Live Holdem (Internataional) 0
Live Omaha (Local) 0
Live Omaha (International) 0
Online Holdem 4,462
Online Omaha 910
Rake (554)
Total 9,668


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The Magic Final Hand

Date: Fri, Feb 8, 2008 Professional

Normally, during the last few cash game hands of the night people play hands they shouldn't, hoping for a last shot of adrenaline before home time. I've tried to avoid this trap as it has cost me in the past, but last night saw a genuinely monster final hand for me.

More of that in a moment, but in summary another good night to report. 4th in the League tournament cashed me for £235, and put me up to 2nd place just 10 points behind Tom. The cash game was a rollercoaster, going £225 down before fighting back to even, and ending up £400 for the game. The tournament was not particularly interesting, I played hands when I had to, and played agressively on the bubble. I was never really in a position to win the tournament as two people were pretty stacked, so I was pleased enough with 4th spot and ten points.

And so to the final cash hand of the night. I am dealt Q5 on the big blind. Folded round to the small blinds who completes the pot to £2.

Flop Q, 5, Q

Wow - I have the nuts, but the pot is small, so I guess I won't get paid.

I bet £4
Raised to £14
I re-raise to £40
Re-raised to £140

Hmm - He must have the Queen then. I hope he has pocket 5's, because he would be drawing stone dead. I imagine he has Q10, Q9 something like that from the betting and I'm pretty sure he won't lay this down.

I push for £350 and it's instacalled.

He has Q2, so can't win. He can split the pot if the turn and river pair higher than a 5, but its a bad call from him. The miracle doesn't happen for him and I scoop a near £700 pot. What a way to end the night.

Updated results:


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 3,320
Live Holdem (Internataional) 0
Live Omaha (Local) 0
Live Omaha (International) 0
Online Holdem 4,237
Online Omaha 910
Rake (533)
Total 7,934

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City 100, Episode 4

Date: Thu, Feb 7, 2008 Professional

Another London blogger once wrote that he would "never go out of a tournament holding 7 2". Well folks, I clocked up my third career 7 2 exit offence last night, and it was still the correct play I think. It's City 100 time again, and I broke my duck in this event placing 4th for £400. I was sat next to my man Tony from the PMU event for almost the entire tournament, and he eventually took it down, so congratulations to him. Hours of play, so I'll summarize the key hands below:

4500 chips, 25 minute clock, 40 runners

Hand1
Folded round to the small blind who limps. I am in the big blind with AK and raise to 200. Small blind re-raises to 400 (hmm). I call
Flop 6, 7, 8
Small blind leads for 500. I think I can get him off a lot of hands here, so re-raise to 1500. He pushes and I fold. Awful start, awfully played. The risk/reward just wasn't there to justify the 1500 re-raise.

I poke around with 2.5k in chips for about 90 mins. A classic character arrives at the table. I have only ever seen 2 people play poker more intensely. He takes ages over decisions, rarely makes eye contact and when bet at stares at the felt and nods to himself while whispering. I am scared - whilst harmless looking, he is menacing in a serial killer type way.

And then:

Hand2
I push in early position for 3k with 88 (blinds 150-300). Folded round to serial killer who insta-calls with QQ. An 8 pops out first and I double up. Serial Killer looks at the felt and rocks in his chair in silence. I can feel his icy stare on me for another orbit as the game goes on. Nonetheless I am back in the game (and thankfully still alive in more ways than one!).

At this point, a huge stack with about 50k joins the table and begins to splash about. I mean, he is in every pot, calls in the big blind to most action and raises every 3rd hand. He's spraying chips left and right when there wasn't much need - to put it in perspective the average chip stack was probably about 8/9k at the time. Time to tighen up, as this guy could bust me as I won't have a chance of putting him on a hand. I don't play a hand for 3 orbits and then catch his 2000 chip raise with a push when holding JJ, which just about keeps my head above water.

Hand3
I have been card dead, and am down to 7k in chips after posting my blind of 800. It is raised in early position by a player who has been pretty active. However, he only raises to 2000, and with antes in there as well and already 800 invested, I decide to call with 7 8.

Flop 5,6,8

The raiser pushes, which either means he's got an overpair, or has AK. This flop is great for me - even if he has an overpair I have 11 outs twice, which puts me at over 40%, so its an easy call. He in fact has AJ and doubles me up to 14k.

Hand4
Folded to me on the button, and I raise 4 times the blind with KK (this is my standard raise with the antes). I'm called by Costa Del Alan (a former spanish nightclub owner).

Flop Q, 6, 2 rainbow.

I put Costa Del Alan all in for his last 2k which he understandable calls with AQ and I'm up to about 22k. Perfect flop for me really - looks good for Alan, and no draws.

Hand5
The loose big stack raises my big blind. I defend with KJ off.

Flop 5, K, 8 (2 clubs)

Check, check

Turn 2

I bet out 3k into a 6k pot which is called

River is the flush card. Now, if I check this I think the big stack will steal it away - I have about 14k left to his 30k. I decide to bet 4k into a 12k pot, to make it look like I have the flush. He can only come over the top with the flush and, if he does, I can fold and still have a playable 10k stack. Once he pauses for a long time I know I am probably good - he eventually calls and mucks. For the first time in the tournament, I am now a big stack.


Final Table
I'm sitting about 3rd in the running as the final table kicks off, behind big Mark and Serial Killer -I am raising with a pretty wide range due to the significant pots, but I run into 2 problems. Firstly, Tony is directly to my left and keeps waking up with monsters and re-raising me (I think he had big hands most of the time but perhaps I was just re-stolen from). Secondly, Sonny is a few more seats round and he plays a wide variety of hands. That said, with a bottle of champagne bounty on his head, he was playing more circumspect than usual, as Houghton had one eye on him, and one eye on the LC expense account.

Hand 6
Briony min-raises in early positon. I look down at JJ on the button. I don't like this particularly - the min raise means she either has a monster, or something very marginal. If I re-raise I either get put all in or I don't get paid. I flat call in position.

Flop 2, A, 5

Briony checks as do I

Turn 9

Briony checks again. Hmm - to check twice on that board she's either got a set of Aces, or is afraid of it. I bet 3k and take the hand down.

Hand 7
I'm not in this hand, but I like the way it played out. Tony raises UTG with QJ, and is flat called by blond haired guy with AK, Sonny with 77 and Big Mark with an unknown hand. Its a big big pot.

Flop Q, K, Q

Mark checks, and Tony now bets at it. I really like this play, as second to act would normally check here to induce a bet. Blondie thinks for a while and then goes over the top and is called and drawing thin. Interesting to note that if Tony had checked, Blondie would have bet and then when Tony went over the top would have had room to fold, so leading with the big hand earned money there.

We are down to 4 handed - myself and Big Mark short stacked, Tony and Serial Killer (who turned out to be a nice guy, once he had loosened up a bit so I hope no offence caused!) the big stacks.

The blinds are coming round so fast and I keep getting chopped off at the knees. I raise with 4 5, re-raised by Tony. I raise with AJ, all in by Tony. I raise with 10 2, re-raised by Tony. I've basically short stacked myself by being too agressive with a monster stack sitting to my left. I am down to 10k in chips, blinds are 800/1600 with antes of 200.

EXIT HAND
I'm under the gun - this is the last time anyone will fold to a push once the big blind comes through me, so its a case of hope for a hand in the next 4 hands, or push with anything. I decide to push before I look - 7 2. Great! In it goes and I'm insta-called by Tony (who else?) with pocket 10s and I'm done. Still don't regret the decision, but should have tightened up earlier on the final table.

It's the league tonight.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 2,190
Live Holdem (Internataional) 0
Live Omaha (Local) 0
Live Omaha (International) 0
Online Holdem 4,237
Online Omaha 910
Rake (467)
Total 6,870


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The Real World Poker Tour

Date: Tue, Feb 5, 2008 Professional

The WPT is not the World Poker Tour. The Americans just got in there first, splattered some events round the states that would allow them to gamble, dumped one in France, strapped Mike Sexton in a chair smiling, and there it is.

All sounds very similar to the baseball world series - 29 clubs in America and ONE from Canada. Neither the Cubans nor the Japanese get to play, but yep , it's still the "world" series.

Unfortunately for the Americans, unlike baseball/NFL/basketball where the rest of the world is hopeless, poker is now a global game in every sense. The Scandanavians have long been renowned for their prowess on the felt, and I have a feeling that the Russians may become a new force judging on their results over the last 9 months.

Some people feel poker has reached saturation point, and that the "Moneymaker effect" is over. Whilst I feel this is true to an extent, I think poker will evolve again into a more co-ordinated structure. At the moment we have WPT and EPT - fine. We also have the Aussie Millions and the Carribean adventures - all good. However, do we really need separate associations for Asian Pacific with a separate Australian Grand Final (APAT). Do we need the National Poker League big buy in tournaments (NPL). Do we need both and Irish Open and an EPT Dublin event? The Ladbrokes Poker Million with it's crazy buy-in? Probably not.

Eventually players and the watching public will tire of all the overlapping events and lose interest. When you watch poker on late night TV these days, unless it is one of the majors, you never know the buy-in, the money at stake or the purpose of the tournament. I was watching the "Mansion Poker Dome Challenge" the other day - what is that about? No recognisable players, mediocre standard, music in the background, flashing lights - it made no sense at all. You will never turn on Sky Sports to see Roger Federer playing in the "Ronsil Tennis Grandstand Challenge", but TV companies seem convinced that viewers would like to see a random tournament with undefined paramaters, or even worse, Phil Taylor and Peter Manley poking around with small pocket pairs on the "Darts Celebrity Poker Challenge". I believe this will all change in the future.

On a separate rant, I can't stand the way every poker show (even WSOP/EPT) insists on giving a refresher on hand rankings and betting rounds before every show. When I watch the football, I don't get Andy Gray explaining that if the fella up front puts the ball between the posts then the team will get a point for it. Poker is popular enough now to dispense with that. By all means discuss the more advanced points, and players' motivations for their actions, but don't treat the audience like idiots.

So where do I see it going? I don't think eliteism is the way forward, as part of the magic of the game is that you could get to sit down with Phil Ivey and play in a major tournament. I do think however, that poker should come under one code and event scheduling should be better organised. 4 tournaments should sit above all others, and be regarded as grand slam events.

A shedule like the below would work I think:


January Australasian Malaysia, Korea
February Australasian Australia (Grandslam)
March EuroLeg1 Austria, Russia
April EuroLeg2 Poland, Czech Rep
May Carribean Bahamas, St Kitts
June WSOP Bracelet Events
July WSOP MainEvent (Grandslam)
August EuroLeg2 Spain, UK, Denmark
Sept EuroLeg2 Monaco (Grandslam)
Oct North America Leg1 Atlantic City, Niagara Falls, Foxwoods
Nov North America Leg2 Tunica, LA
Dec North America Leg3 Bellagio 5 Diamond (Grandslam)

If this was implemented, I could see another increase in poker interest throughout the world. I believe there is a space in the market for a live poker channel. Live poker broadcasts are rare, because broadcasters are of the opinion that people want to see "action hands". This is true to an extent, but the bottom line is that you simply can't understand players motivations for playing some hands if you haven't seen the other action. Has the guy had his blinds repeatedly picked on? Has the raiser been raising every pot and it's a perfect opportunity for a re-steal? You can make people look pretty idiotic just by showing a few of the hands they play.

An example of this occurred on the final table of the 2007 WSOP Main Event. Eventual champion Jerry Yang is in the small blind and raises to 1 million with A9. Lee Watkinson in the big blind pushes with A7 for another 9 million (not an unreasonable play because Yang's range is so big here, and Watkinson sees this as an easy way to increase his stake 15%). Yang calls which looks diabolical in most circumtances (ignore the fact he is huge favourite here). However, because we haven't seen these guys match up in the blinds before, we simply don't know if Watkinson has been raising Yang's limps/raises all night from the big blind. If he has, then the call with A9 doesn't look so bad. You just don't know, because you are only seeing the hands when a player is knocked out.

A footnote to this hand, is that it is the funniest moment in poker history. Once the call is made, what can only be described as a "pray-off" ensues. I've attached it below - its starts at about 1:30.

Watkinson's Misses (pre-flop):
"Lord, no weapon yielded against him shall prosper"

Yang (pre-flop):
"Please father in heaven in Jesus Christ's name let me win this hand"

Watkinson's Misses (flop):
"Make Lee a believer father"

Yang (flop)
"Give me purpose today Lord"

Commentator (turn)
"I don't know who the Lord is listening to, but Watkinson needs a 7 or he's done"

GENIUS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjFeOBRmiA0

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Cash Game Improvement

Date: Fri, Feb 1, 2008 Professional

Not much to report.................the tournament was a non-event for me. I grinded along short stacked for most of it, with few interesting hands to report. Eventually I lost the race which would have put me in the running against Professor Geoff - my 77 against A10. Geoff had already raised 30% of his stack on a similar stack to myself when I pushed, so was pretty much pot committed.

The cash game was a revelation however. I played my new style which I've been thinking about over the last week or so. It yielded a £350 profit - and this after blowing £260 on two hands when I didn't re-raise pre-flop with KK. It doesn't seem the KK strategy is working - I am giving myself reverse implied odds it seems, because I find it hard to get away from the hand.

Tom, in my opinion the best cash player at LC, didn't play because he won the league tournament. I'm looking forward to seeing how my new style measures up against him on the cash table next week.

As always, I am loathe to talk about specific cash hands.

Updated performance below - January has been a good start to the campaign:


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 1,490
Live Holdem (Internataional) 0
Live Omaha (Local) 0
Live Omaha (International) 0
Online Holdem 4,237
Online Omaha 910
Rake (447)
Total 6,190

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Discussion Hand 2 - "Multi-Million Dollar Laydown" - Arieh v Murphy 2004

Date: Thu, Jan 31, 2008 Professional

Background
We have 16 players remaining in the WSOP 2004 Main Event. On the feature table John Murphy is about to put Josh Arieh to a huge decision. Arieh, by this stage, had already forged a successful poker career, including a 1999 Limit Holdem bracelet and several WPT and WSOP final table appearances. Murphy is a WSOP rookie who has played fearlessly all tournament. Notably, he overslept the previous day when one of the chipleaders, and his vacation in the Land of Nod cost him USD 160k if you convert chips to dollars.

At present Murphy has 1.8m in chips, placing him 4th in chips. The Atlantan Arieh has almost 3 million and is in 2nd, some way behind Greg Raymer.

Blinds are 20k/40k with a 5k ante. Murphy is in the cutoff, Arieh is on the button.

Pre-Flop - Murphy perspective
The action is folded round to Murphy in the cutoff who looks down at pocket 2s. There is 100k in the pot already, so Murphy is entitled to raise here with many cards, and the pocket pair makes this play even more valid. He raises to 40k however, just double the big blind. This is a mistake in my opinion as few flops will look good with his holding, so I would be tempted to make it 4 times the blind, due to the 40k in antes in the middle. Otherwise the blinds are getting huge odds to call here.

Pre-Flop - Arieh perspective
Arieh is clearly not entralled with his hand - K4 hearts. He does have position on Murphy, but with the two blinds to act after him this is a marginal call at best. Poor decision in my opinion, but Arieh makes the call.

Flop - 6c 2h jh

Post-Flop - Murphy perspective
Bingo. Murphy didn't want a call but now he has flopped a set. Some players would check here, but perhaps slightly concerned about the 2 hearts on the board, Murphy elects to lead for 150k. This is a good bet - he has taken away the flush draw odds if Arieh holds the hearts, and has disguised his set by betting strong. If Arieh has a hand like AJ for example, he might come over the top here and Murphy would be in a great position.

Post-Flop - Arieh perspective
So we are playing K4 suited and have flopped 2 of our suit. We couldn't really have wanted much more here. However, Arieh gets caught up in the moment and does not think the odds through. Murphy's bet has given Arieh about 2.2-1 on the pot, and Arieh needs 2.8-1 to justify a call with the certainty of seeing two more cards. Add to the fact Murphy is likely to fire again on the turn and he can't really justify this call. The only reasoning which could be offered is that he has implied odds if he hits the heart on the turn, and because both players are deep-stacked, this could be significant. However, balance this with the fact Arieh is not even drawing to the nut flush and this argument struggles to hold water.

Turn - Queen diamonds

Post-Turn - Murphy perspective
This is a good card for Murphy. The heart hasn't arrived, and unless he faces the nightmare of set over set, he is likely to be good. He bets 300k about 60% of the pot, which again seems sensible as there is only one more card to come which reduces the drawing odds.

Post-Turn - Arieh perspective
A brick on the turn for Arieh. Unless he thinks that his King high is good, he needs to determine the pot odds again to fish for another heart. The pot is offering him 2.6-1. His odds of hitting the heart are only about 18% and, even then, he can't know that this will be good anyway. As a result, mathematically, this is another bad call from Arieh, unless he plans to take it away on the river with an elaborate bluff.

Action River - Queen Hearts

Post-River - Murphy perspective
On the face of it this is a great result. The 2nd Queen completes the full house. Not only that, it completes a flush draw and also an AQ/KQ type hand if Arieh had put Murphy on a bluffing continuation bet on the flop, both of which Murphy can beat. If Arieh has set over set Murphy was destined to go bust anyway, and the only other hand which he loses to which makes sense with the betting is QJ. (Preflop call in late position, calling with top pair, flat calling with top 2 pair).

He has to assume he is ahead here - Arieh has played this hand pretty passively, so he could easily be hunting for the flush and now he has it. The question is - what to bet? The pot stands at 1.08m, Murphy has 1.34m, Arieh has about 2.5m. I'd keep the betting consistent with the rest of the hand here and bet about 600k. This will get called if Arieh has the flush - if Arieh goes over the top then it's a tricky decision, but would be very hard to fold.

Murphy decides to overbet and push. It's not a bad play if he puts Arieh on a strong flush- the overbet clearly looks weaker than the smaller bet - but with so much money on the line, and with a call making such a huge difference to Arieh's tournament standing, I feel that this bet lets him get away. Still a good pot for Murphy, but I can't help feel he could have got more here.

The other alternative, the check, would have been too risky in terms of lack of payoff if Arieh had a hand like a weak flush.

Post-River - Arieh perspective
The final card looks great but the paired board will immediately strike caution into a player of Arieh's calibre. Fortunately he has position on Murphy so can assess his options. Muprhy stuns him by going all in for 1.4m and it's now a huge dilemna. If he calls and loses he drops from 2.5m (even after the money gone into this pot) to a little over a million. If he folds here he is still comfortably in second place, but if he calls and loses he is down to about 10th so it's a massive decision.

He has to ask questions - "what has Murphy been betting with?" and more importantly "what am I beating?". Clearly he is worried about the house with the paired board, but also the nut flush as well. It's extremely unlikely Murphy would do this will a queen in his hand (and no house) due to the flushing board (i.e. he'd only get called if behind). When Arieh pieces it together I think he believes the only thing he can beat which would induce a river bet like this is a stone cold bluff.

Arieh has seen Murphy show down strong hands before, and decides it's not worth the chip stack hammering which would occur if he has got this one wrong. A great fold, but understandable in the circumstances.

Jimbo's Summary
This hand has gone down in the annuls of poker history as one of the greatest folds ever. However, when the hand is picked apart, Arieh, until the "wonder fold", plays it pretty badly on every street. Murphy's overbet on the river is risky given the strength of his hand and unfortunately doesn't come off. It would probably have worked against a shorter stacked opponent - we must bear in mind Arieh wasn't pot comitted in this hand.

A vital fold for Arieh - as he went on to finish 3rd behind David Williams and Greg Raymer for his biggest career payday. Link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1hZUNbXmZU&feature=related

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Discussion Hand 1 - "Pricing Yourself In" - Zilem v Pham 2005

Date: Wed, Jan 30, 2008 Professional

Ok, first in a new series of posts where I will talk through eventful hands from previous years, and give my views of the hand from the players' perspective. I'll also attach the relevant youtube clip so feel free to add your own views.

Background
It's the WSOP Circuit Event in Bally's - Main Event Day 3. We are down to 17 players. Sitting on 157k in 3rd place in chips is Kido Pham - a relative newcomer who has been playing with controlled agression all tournament. Right behind him in 4th position is another newcomer, Ricky Zilem, on 148k in chips. Zilem has been lucky on several occasions, and has earned himself the nickname "River Ricky" during the course of the tournament. Pham is sitting directly to the right of Zilem, so this is a good spot for Ricky, as Pham has been giving headaches to the players to his right all tournament with his agressive play. Blinds are 1000/2000 ante 300.

PreFlop - Kido Pham Perspective
He's feeling good, hitting flops and his unpredictable play makes it hard for opponents to put him on hands. Kido has a nice stack of nearly 80 big blinds, so no need to do anything reckless. That said, it has been folded round to him in late position, so he now has a wide range to steal the pot (bear in mind with the antes we now have 5,700 so worth having). As a result, Kido puts in a standard 7,000 raise with 2,6 Hearts. This is fine - if he gets any action he can release with only a small dent to his stack, and the odds are he picks up the pot. The only point that works against him here, is his loose image so he one of the players behind him is more likely to come over the top, particularly Scotty Nguyen who is relatively short stacked on 37k in chips. Of course he has no hand, so will have to fold if this happens.

PreFlop - Ricky Zilem Perspective
Zilem looks down at QQ and considers his options. It's been folded round to an agressive player who has raised. It is 99% likely that QQ is good here, but Zilem elects to call. His reasoning is that Pham is likely to fire at most flops here, so Zilem should be able to pick up more chips using this strategy and check-raising most flops. Also he has position on Pham here, so can take down the pot if Pham does stall on the flop, as long as there are no scare cards (i.e. Ace/King). I like this strategy early in a tournament, but my critisism here is that Zilem is 4th in chips - does he really want to run the risk of being outflopped against one of the few stacks bigger than himself? Added to this the agressive nature of Pham's play, and Zilem is likely to have some tough questions to answer post flop, unless he hits the set.

Personally I would elect for a re-raise to 22k here and take it from there. At least Pham's hand will be defined, and if we do have to let the ladies go pre/post flop we are still in a great position with 115k in chips. Bear in mind, with Pham's raise there is over 12k in the pot which would increase Zilem's stack by 10%.

PreFlop - Scotty Nguyen Perspective
Scotty has A6 hearts (clearly bad news for Pham's already dubious chances). He only has 37k in chips so it's probably a push or fold decision here, and given the fact he could be dominated by AK etc, he wisely folds. Might has been a different decision if it was only Kido in the pot, but with Zilem keeping him honest, Nguyen decides to let it go and wait for a better spot.

FLOP - 10 diamonds, Jack hearts, 4 hearts
Pham checks

Initial PostFlop - Ricky Zilem Perspective
Ricky will be suspicious of the Pham check, given how agressive he is, but elects to bet 20k with his overpair. I like this bet - it prices out the flush draw and is certain to define Zilem's hand. In most situations this will take the hand down, and will does not give a free card to a hand which contains a King or an Ace.

Postflop - Kido Pham Perspective
Pham knows he is losing the hand - the key questions are: How far behind am I? Can I get Zilem to fold a better hand?

In terms of how far behind he is, if he is to continue with this hand he is not afraid of the overpair or unsuitedAJ/A10. He knows to win, he needs to hit the flush anyway, so the hand that terrifies him is AK hearts or even worse A10/AJ hearts. Against the AK, he is drawing to a 2 or a 6. Against the paired higher heart combination he needs runner runner. Bear in mind no-one knows the hand Nguyen folded.

Can he get Zilem to fold a better hand? Well, he has seen Zilem call down people with just gutshot draws (and hit) so I'm not sure how likely Zilem is to fold, given that he has shown an interest in the hand. In this spot I'd fold - I attempted to steal the blinds and have flopped a draw. However, my opponent has made sizeable bet and priced me off the draw so I'll concede and remain with my sizeable stack.

Pham elects to semi-bluff and check-raises to 60k in chips. In my opinion, this is the second best option behind folding - the call is a money loser, as you don't have the odds to hit the heart on the turn and Zilem is sure to fire again on a non-heart. At least with this play, Pham generates significant fold potential for his opponent. That said - he has now committed 40% of his chips on a very marginal hand, and will be virtually risking his tournament life on a draw if Zilem sticks with him.

Postflop - Alarm Bells for Zilem
Zilem has 117k left and the pot stands at about 100k. Against many players, you might be tempted to let this one go - you could be against a bigger overpair, 2 pair, a set. However, Zilem has seen Pham play agressively in numerous other spots and elects to push all-in for his tournament life. I agree with him.

Postflop - Maths time for Pham
Regardless of whether his play earlier in the hand was correct, Pham now needs to evaluate the situation. There is no more betting to come from Zilem. Would he have pushed with a bigger heart draw? Unlikely in my opinion. Would he have pushed with a made hand like AJ with a nut heart redraw? Unlikely - the hand is simply too strong. It certainly looks like a made hand that Zilem is protecting - AJ, J10, JK, A10 or an overpair (although Kido will be probably put him on AJ due to the flat call on the flop). If he has J10 then Pham is 29% to win the hand, but for the purposes of calculation Kido will probably put him on AJ. If this stands true Kido is 35% to win the hand, pretty close to the actually 32% he has against he QQ with a backdoor flush draw for Zillon (note that the TV shows 27% but this is factoring in Nguyen's folded hearts which Pham cannot possibly know).

So:
Pot = 217k
To call = 77k
Odds Offered by Pot = 2.82-1
Odds of winning (exclude Nguyen's hand) = 68/32 = 2.125-1

As a result - the call is the correct decision, assuming Kido has read Zilem's hand correctly.

Outcome - Turn 3 - Diamonds, River - King Hearts

Pham draws out, and Zilem, virtually in tears at this point, is eliminated in 17th place.

Jimbo's Summary

Pham got himself into a real mess with this hand. However, once he had gone down the agressive route, the maths determined he had to call off virtually his whole stack on a draw. He took A LOT of critisism for this hand - but for me the only move which was over-agressive was the check-raise. However, whilst not a bet I would make, it was not incorrect if he put Zilem on a different hand.

Zilem makes a mistake in not re-raising preflop against an agressive player, in my opinion, given the relative chips stacks, and the pair's lofty position in the tournament.

YouTube Clip of the hand is below - feel free to add your own arguments in the comments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN4tXDvGlMQ
















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ARAG Merchants - Gutshot Monday

Date: Tue, Jan 29, 2008 Professional

I decided to expand my horizons and take in the £100 forty runner tournament at the Gutshot on Monday. A generous 5,000 in chips and 25 minute clock allowed for plenty of play. Having not been to the Farringdon venue for 18 months I was slightly worried that I'd be faced with an army of hoodie and ipod wearing youngsters, calling a ruling every 15 mins.

I was pleasantly surprised however - my table was friendly and had plenty of banter. Perhaps the fact it was dealer dealt led to less of the usual disagreements. I was also surprised at the standard of play, which was, on average, significantly below the standard of Loose Cannon. There were a few strong players for sure, and one tournament is too small a sample, but I think this could be a tournament worth playing on a weekly basis going forward. I have put in some hands below to illustrate this, but bear in mind I saw numerous other incidents of people playing Ace rag for a LOT of chips:

HAND1
Early position limper for 50, guy to my right raise to 225.
I flat call with red Kings. One other caller
Flop Q, J, 4 rainbow
Raiser bets 450, I re-raise to 1500. The other guy in the pot calls. However, he wasn't happy to do this, because he acted out of turn in calling the 450, and then thought he was obliged to call my re-raise which he wasn't.
Turn bricks, I push and take the huge early pot down.

HAND2
5 limpers at 100 - I call with KJ spades on the button
Flop J, 10, 7 rainbow
Early position limper bets 400, I re-raise to 1200 to see where I am. (We both have 10k in chips)
First raiser insta-folds AJ face up saying I must have the straight.
OK - lets think this one through
If I had the straight I'd flat call on a rainbow board.
If I had a big pair I'd raise the limpers out acting on the button
The only hand he can be worried about is J10 or 77 I think. Surprised he didn't give this more thought.

HAND3
I am on 15k now and cruising after picking up a few more pots by stabbing at the pot with middle pair. First setback arrives. Small stack pushes for 1,500. I look down at JJ. I am worried only about the 6k stack small blind, because the big blind is short as well. I push, as he can only call me with 3 hands and of course he has QQ. Cold decked there - down to 9k.

HAND4
Early position raiser to 700 (blinds 100-200). I ask him how much he has behind (3.5k). I flat call with QQ.
Flop J, 2, 4
He pushes - its a huge overbet.
I am concerned, because he knew I was strong pre-flop after my question and still pushed. I call after 2 mins and he shows AJ.
I win, and am then accused of slow-rolling. What?? Yep - QQ is always the stone cold nuts on that flop right?

HAND5
I wasn't in this hand but badly played by 2 players. 7 limpers.
Flop 10, 7, 2 (2 hearts)
2400 in the pot perhaps.
First guy bets 3600.
Second guy goes all in for 6000
3rd guy goes all in for 7000
First guy calls all in
1st guy A6 hearts. 2nd guy (QJ hearts). 3rd guy 1010 for a set (didn't raise with 6 limpers - very passive but paid off)
The set holds

HAND6
I am back up to 11k in chips. I raise in early position with black Kings to 1800.
Guy in middle position pushes for 9k.
I call and he has A3 offsuit.
Ace on the river of course and I exit soon afterwards.
Sitting on a 9k stack and push it all in with Arag is pretty nonsensical, but I guess you want people to make these plays and you should be up in the long run.

Next: Aiming for more league points on LC Thursday.


PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem (Local) 890
Live Holdem (Internataional) 0
Live Omaha (Local) 0
Live Omaha (International) 0
Online Holdem 4,237
Online Omaha 910
Rake (381)
Total 5,656

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Thongs, Tattoos and Jumbo Blinds

Date: Mon, Jan 28, 2008 Professional

"That's Wrong!" exclaimed Danny who was opposite to me on my second table.

"Eh?"

Danny motioned for me to turn around. I did and the site that greeted me was quite disturbing - a huge argument had broken out on table 2 about where the button should be, following the arrival of new players. One of the argument participants, a lady of larger physique, was leaning over the table to make her point. In the gap between her short top and hipster jeans was revealed a thong complete with elaborate tattoo. The thong was must have been pretty close to drawing blood or snapping, I'm not sure which, but it was a horrific sight. I'm not sure why people do this to themselves. Now I'm the first to admit I'm probably two stone over my ideal weight. However, I do not run around town wearing a half length vest top, as displayed with some aplomb by Carl Weathers, during the beach love-in between Apollo and Rocky in Rocky III (http://static.flickr.com/56/162294130_95867564c9_o.jpg).

"For Faacks sake, we're wasting time" screamed the lady.

"You're wrong luv" said one of her opponents jutted a finger in her general direction.

The wise old owl Hougton rolled his eyes and wandered over to dissipitate the row.

Welcome to the poker meetup monthly £30 tournament. Do be fair all the players can't be tainted with the same brush as this - most of the players were a pleasure to play with, and above average players to boot.

5,000 chips to start and 30 minute clock allowed for some latitude. I got up to double stack by the first break, flopping a straight when I got priced in to Q9 pre-flop, and also the following hand:

One limper for 100, I look down at KK and raise to 400. Only the limper calls.

Flop 2, 7, J.

Check, Check (for disguise)

Turn 10

He bets 600. I check raise to 2000 which he calls

River 10

He checks, I play it safe as I'm worried about the 2nd 10 and take down the pot.

The tournament continues along for another 3 hours or so, and then the whole dynamic of the tournament changes. Antes kick in, and suddenly there is very little play left. Any raise needs to be 4 times the big blind to cover the antes, yet for 80% of the players, this raise will commit 40% of their stack. As a result the game becomes a game of maths. If no-one has entered the pot before me, and I'm in mid position or better it becomes an insta shove with anything, and hope that if you get called you still have a 40% chance of winning. A few other players have the same idea however, so the spots available to do this are scarce. Some player don't pick up on this changing dynamic however, and sit tight, letting themselves be blinded down to 2 big blinds in some cases.

The bottom line was that poker had gone out of the tournament, and it became a mathematical exercise in how to protect your chip position the best.

Hand histories are not particularly interesting here, but I won 52 v K10, K9 v AQ, A6 v QQ and 58 v KJ. Note that in each situation (apart from QQ) I was 40% to win, and was actually happy when they turned over their cards. A few people thought I was a donkey I am sure, but this tournament structure called for this approach, and if people want to call for their tournament lives with KJ that is their business. Add the fact that I am picking up 20% of my stack every time I wasn't called and it was a sound strategy. One interesting footnote was the fact I doubled the same player up FIVE times during the course of the tournament! This totalled about 70k in chips in total, and given there were only 650k in chips in the whole tournament is a pretty amazing feat.

We got a little play back 2 tables out, as we generated big stacks. My key hand was:

Holding KJ Spades in the big blind. I get a raiser. Normally I chuck here, but he had only raised twice the blind. Due to this bet size I assume Aces/Kings so am ready to let it go if I don't flop a monster.

Flop K high with 2 spades.

He puts me all in. I think I'm behind either to monster or he has me outkicked, but I call with the draw to back me up, and the fact that this is pot is massive if I hit the spade.

He has K7 however, so he only has the two non-spade 7s to hit and he misses.

The final table was a complete crapshoot. I am 3rd in chips with 110k, but a standard raise would be 40k which would commit me. The smaller stacks are in push or fold mode. I end up 4th in the end, running AJ into AK short handed. £385 not a bad return on £30, but it was a very long day.

On the downside I toasted USD 960 on the Sunday tournaments last night. Played badly in some and was outdrawn in others. The worst was in the UB main sunday event. All in preflop between me (2nd in chips) and the guy in the big blind (4th in chips). KK v QQ and it's of course a Q on the river. I bust out soon after on monster tilt and win USD600 when I'd have been chip leader with 60 left when the winner gets USD 75,000. :(

Gutshot tonight.......................time to hoodie up.

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