Italian Vegas

During my lunch break on July 29, 2009, I was goofing around on the internet and decided to check my Facebook account. I noted that I received a message post from Eveliene Dullaart, from the Bicycle Free Online Casino. She was inviting me to attend the Bike’s silver anniversary celebration and grand opening of its newly remodeled Event Center and to play in the Legends of Poker Celebrity Invitational & Media charity poker freeroll.

I accepted her invitation, jumped out of my chair and headed straight to the Bike. The charity poker event started at 3:00 but I wasn’t able to hit the road until 2:15 – which was cutting it close since I was traveling from my office in Newport Beach to Bell Gardens (just off the I-710 near the 105 freeway interchange). I arrived just 10 minutes before free online game time, and lucky for me they were running behind schedule. I checked in right afterJamie Gold and poker novice-in-training, Jayde Nichole (the 2008 Playboy Playmate of the Year). I found myself sitting with them at Table 9, Jayde was immediately to my left in seat 8 and Jamie was assigned to Seat 1. Next the the lovely Jayde, I look like a washed-up old lady!!!

Also in attendance were notable poker pros Annie Duke and Van Nguyen (aka Mrs. Master) as well as well known celebs., J.K. Simmons, Camryn Manheim, Ken Davitian, Joseph Reitman (Annie Duke’s man), and Christina Lindley. While not necessarily celebrities, the very well liked amateur poker player Scott Diamond was playing for his charity Fallen Heroes and the ever popular poker writer/photographer/blogger Stephen Hall (http://www.pokergossip.com/) was seated directly across from me in seat 3. Both Scott and Stephen made great showings. Scott came in fourth in the winner-take-all event, but no worries, Jamie Gold agreed to add Fallen Heroes to the Jamie Gold Foundation!

I played well, but was pretty card dead. I was stuck at around 5K in chips and the 20 minute levels were not condusive to a short stack. I managed to knock out one celebrity, but then got chipped down as the blinds went up. It was difficult to play a larger range of hands because there were a few amatures at the table that pretty much played any two cards – regardless of the raise or board. I tried to make a few moves when the table appeared distracted but got caught one time when Jayde pushed all-in behind me for just 200 more (my bet was already 600). She was talking to Jamie right after the break and I was certain she was just going to throw it away because she had not been watching the action. Nope, she picked up J/10 suited, and with only 800 chips and the blinds at 200, what would you do? Of course, even on a move – I can’t get away from my hand for just 200 more. She flopped a Jack and pulled in the pot – Darn it! The blinds were at 300/150+50 when I picked up A/Q. Of course I pushed – of course I ran into pocket Kings! Does my Ace hit? Nope – - no “one time” Ace for me, just bricks. Jayde managed to survive an hour longer and made it to the final three tables. I’m happy that she had a great experience for her first live tournament. Good for her!

There was a comedian named Reggie who was not much of a poker player, but liked to play the virtual game. He was in Seat 5 at my table and I swear he must have keistered a horseshoe because he played almost every hand and if he didn’t hit the flop, he sure caught up on the turn and river (including hitting a straight flush – which is a rare hand to catch). It was Calling-Station Reggie who single handedly knocked out the majority of the players at Table 9, including Jamie Gold, and found himself at the final table seated to the right of Annie Duke. While many poker players say they would rather be lucky than good, it would take all the luck in the world to get past Annie Duke’s monster poker skills. Needless to say, Annie took it down and earned $2K for her charity, Ante Up for Africa.

After the event, I wandered off to the main floor and found Johan playing satellites. He chopped two satellites which was enough to buy into the inaugural $100K Guarantee event and have some change left over for me to play a satellite. I played the last satellite of the night and played absolutely solid. I paced myself well, chipped up nicely, then took down the chip leader in two monster hands. In the end, I agreed to chopped half and half when it got to heads-up, which puts me in for the $300K event scheduled for August 1-3, 2009.

Johan played Event #3 all night and made it to Day 2, he even caught his first tournament Royal Flush at level 6 for a double up. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the last level of Day 1, he got into a big hand when he limped under the gun with A♥Q♥ then called the small blind’s all-in squeeze play. The small blind (who appeared to be short-stacked) turned over pocket 6s. He expressed his disappointment that he was called by Johan’s huge overcards, then nearly had a heart attack when the flop came K♥J♥#. How many outs is that? A bizzillion? In this time of recession, half the deck was gainfully employed by Johan’s hand. However, this would not be an “unfortunately” story if there was good news. The board went runner-runner fives (totally heartless), and that was that. The worst part of it all was that the Small Blind looked short stacked and before calling the all-in, Johan asked for a chip count. The inexperienced dealer (just out of dealer school) counted out the chips then announced that it was 16K to call the all-in. Johan had over 40K and had put the small blind on a small pair, the call was a no brainer. After the hand, the dealer recounted the chips. She then told Johan he owed the small blind 26K. I can sum in up what happened next in one word, “FLOOR!“

After about 15 minutes of arguing with the Floorman, the ruling was that the dealer was suspended but an all-in is an all-in, the chips were in the pot and the small blind gets the pot – - period. After Johan surrendered over half his chips he promptly went card dead until the end of the night. He said he almost threw up when he bagged his last four chips at the end of the night. With the blinds at 3000/1500+500, Johan will have to return for Day 2 (his 35th birthday no less) with 12K in chips. But, I’m hopeful that the Poker Gods will grant Johan the gift of good hands that hold up for his birthday. If anybody can take 4-chips and a chair to the final table, it’s Johan.

Although it wasn’t a perfect day, I am so thankful for the great day it was. I had a wonderful time and poker was fun for the first time in a long while. I look forward to many more days like that.

HEM Database Graph (since going pro)

Last 2 Months Graph

Gay inspirational pic, check! Competitive rate, check! Ability to teach you to CRUSH 50nl to 200nl, mega-check!

My virtual game and mindset are in great shape right now and I’d really like to teach some new students the arts of crushing online poker! I figure the best way to gain attention as a coach is to post recent results and recommendations from students/friends. So here you go…

July has been a bit grim pokerwise. I’m pretty much even for the month, having been down about £200,000 at one point. I’ve been running terribly in $40,000+ pots, which are obviously crucial when you mainly play 25/50 50/100 stakes.

August will be a slow month as well as i’m having a few weeks off. Then it will be full steam ahead into EPTs and the WSOPE…. bring them on!

Also please don’t message me in the comments offering advertising or anything rubbish like that….

So I played that WSOP freeroll tournament yesterday and went ‘deep’. I finished 20th for the $5500 package. I had a really comfortable stack at 30bbs but I ended up getting AKo in against a guy who had me covered. I think our table was 6 handed and I had been really aggressive against this guy because he was stealing a lot (he was probably the only guy I noticed playing well at the table). It was folded to him on the button and he raised. I 3-bet him from the SB for like the 4th time in an hour and he shoved QQ. I pretty much snapped him with my AK and lost the race. The pot wouldve put me in great position (like 2nd or 3rd) but it just wasn’t meant to me. I think the hand basically played itself and I have no regrets.

Now apparently I can use the $5500 for the online world championship of poker (WCOOP), which would be nice to get free entry to the $5200 main event.

But I think I want to use it on a trip and live tournament, because thats so much more fun. Anyone have suggestions? I can’t decide what to do or where to go.

Anyhow, back to the grind I go.

Some great poker videos out at the moment. Phil Galfond has put out a 2-tabling Railheaven series on Bluefire and DC are rightly giving NoahSD a ton of airtime. Reall tempted to renew CR too as they’re putting out a bunch of DogIsHead. Studytown for me.

When I got back from Russia I felt really excited about getting back into poker and put in some great sessions, including an $11k day(ding!). I moved over to my Aunt’s house where I’m at just now, house sitting here for a few weeks while they’re all on holiday. Since then I’ve been pretty unhappy with my work-rate and play. I’ve played something ridic like 6k hands this month, and 1k of them was in a 4-tabling HU match vs a friend. Granted I was away for a couple of weeks but it’s still not enough. I really need to sort my shit out here and get my head in the game online, will start hitting the gym next week, hopefully that will help.

Thanks to everyone for responses to the previous travelling post. There has been some progress and I’m talking to a couple of players just now about setting up a house in Melbourne, Australia. Still in the early stages but I think it’s really promising. The weather, location and time-zones for poker make it an awesome winter destination. It’s possible to catch some APPT from there too, and the Aussie Millions is in January.

EDIT: Decided to remove a bunch of vent hands that were pretty dull.

Played a session just now that really frustrated me. For the first time in a while I feel like I played a few hands badly due to a lack of focus and concentration. I was working on some stuff while 2-tabling, not cool. I really played them like a TAGfish, without putting enough thought into them and quit out really annoyed at myself.

If you’ve not already, check out the 2M2MM trailers… looks sweet. Although Whitelime kind of looks like a serial killer in real life.

Well I’m back settled in Vancouver.
Bought some stuff for my grindroom (new 24″ monitor and speakers) so I can put in some volume the next 2 and half months. Then back to toronto for a friend’s wedding.

Now I’m just looking for a bike or something to get back in shape. 6 weeks of doing nothing but playing poker, eating out, and drinking beer took its toll on me. Hopefully I can get back into a good routine quickly.

Sunday is that million dollar freeroll on pokerstars that I qualified for. I’ve already ‘won’ a $5k package but hopefully I get lucky and can eek out some more value. Only 124 people get to play so I do have a decent shot. Here’s the payout structure.

124th to 28th – $5000
18th – 27th – $5500
….
13th to 15th – $7000
10th to 12th – $8500
9 – $10,000
8 – $12,500
7 – $15,000
6 – $18,000
5 – $22,500
4 – $30,000
3 – $40,000
2 – $50,000
1 – $60,000

If I can’t take it down, I hope one of my WSOP roommates do. GoMukYaSelf and justforfunds both qualified as well, so best of luck to them.

So anyways it starts sunday july 26th@ 17:00ET, feel free to sweat me and root me on!

Hey

Am coming to the end of the busiest week ever i think!

Tuesday was my sisters graduation which was pretty cool. Both her and her bf are doctors now, scary! the family came up tho and we had a party in our garden afterwards that was pretty cool. in the evening went to jeals 21st thing in his garden with hannah for a bit which was nice, his mum did a sick hog roast and there was a crazy 10p 20p cash online game that saw wins of £200 and losses of £300 for some, loool!

Wednesday we got the new house keys (!) where me owe and jeal are living next year,which obviously meant a busy day. am really pleased with it, its gradually getting how i want it to be too.

Thursday was my graduation! Will post pics on fbook soon, was a really good day. didnt fall over on the stage which was handy, and was nice to see some friends again. again the family came up and we had a chinese in the evening which was good, then i was in bed at 10pm as i was ridic tired.

Today has been manic, got to the bank about 10, they wouldnt help me with my isa (wtf) so im taking all my money out of halifax and putting it in lloyds tsb, who actually are nice to me. then bought a new tv for the house (42″ plasma, ship) and had to get back for lunch as the sky man was coming to fit the full works package. got the 360 up and running too which is handy. then spent 2 hours on the phone with sky and bt trying to sort out broadband, has gone from 3-4 days, to 1 week, to 2 weeks, to 21-24 days ffs. writing a big letter to sky as theyve really done us over, i am a bit anal and have a call log of who i spoke to, what they said and when so will hopefully get some compensation for it.

This evening i sat down to play as hadn’t played for a couple of days. won about 100 euros in sweden and felt i was playing really good. decided i would play 20 virtual online gamess of 20 euro headsup non turbo, and got off to a flyer winning 9 and losing 1. However, in the next 10 virtual games i lost 7! Was pretty standard, had a few sick coolers and then some hands like me 3 betting QQ pre then letting them stack off with middle pair on flop, followed by them 5 outering me on turn/river. I guess you cant win all your 80:20s! Also ran QQ into KK at 50 100 which sucked.

So after rake finished 40 euros up (but played a 10e comp) so balance on 750euros. Will hopefully rake 400-500-600 euros this month too, the plan is to have the balance at a minimum of 1k at the start of august when rb comes in. 1.1k is better, and 1.2k good, with anything above being awesome.

Played a really decent reg called S@mS@m too who i beat, had to play a different style ofc, but was doing things like CRAI on the turn of a AQ56 board after he limp called a raise pre knowing he was floating the flop with such a wise range and would find it had to call without 2 pair +, somehting im obv not doing vs fishy players!

Anyhoo, i think thats everything….not playing as many mtts as im focussing so much on hu, but really feel my virtual game is improving.

Off to lounge in front of big new telly with beer and pretzels…ahh.

Gl all,

Adam

On Wednesday, July 8, 2009, I noticed that my left eye seemed a bit irritated. By Thursday, my eye was fully inflamed and I had to call-in sick. I went to the Doctor, who gave me some eye drops and sent me home to rest. Instead, Johan and I headed straight to The Bike’s Nooner ($40 Buy-in) tourney, a pleasant little daily tournament that attracts at least 200 players on average. Johan got knocked out early, and I managed to make it to the final table, placing 10th out of 203 players.

The following day (Friday), my eye had not improved so I took another sick day – - having made plans to pay with Jena Delk on Team Bullet Proof at the WSOP Dream Team Event scheduled for July 12-13, 2009 – - it was very important that I get better. So, I chose to relax by playing another Nooner. I chipped up well the entire day, and by the time they announced that we were in the money, I was about average in chips among those last three tables. However, I was not feeling well by that time. I had developed a headache and my focus was at a minimum. A bit dazed, I looked down at pocket 6s on the button and thought it was just me and the blinds. I pushed for the steal . . . and after the blinds folded I was feeling like it was a good move, until the dealer tapped the felt in front of Seat 1, who (unbeknownst to me) had limped into the pot and had me covered by just 2K in chips. At first I wasn’t worried because up until that point I had only played about 4 hands at that table – - all of which I had won, and the weakest hand I had showed was A/Q off suit. Unfortunately, after Seat 1 thought about it for half a minute, he looked across at me (I was in Seat 4) and said, “Ok, I’ll gamble – - Call!” He turned over pocket 9s and I bowed my head in defeat as I turned over my sixes. Needless to say he, and the rest of the table were shocked – - the player to my left stating that he had put me on Jacks. I wished he had whispered that over to Seat 1 before he called! Well, the nines held and I was out 27th place – which paid just a little more than my original buy-in.

Johan and I wandered over to the cafe, and discussed what the weekend virtual online games plan should be over a quick bite to eat. While in the cafe, I got a call from my friend Frankie O’Dell who had flown in from Vegas the day before. He had just won a satellite and told me he was sitting at a table on the main poker floor. We went over to say hi and Frankie encouraged me to play a satellite to get a seat to the NLH $150,000 Guarantee taking place that weekend at The Bike. He handed me a yellow $25 poker chip and said to take it as my lucky chip. I took $40 from my winnings and Frankie’s lucky chip and bought into a $60 satellite, using the $5 chip the dealer gave me as change for my card protector. After getting pocket Jacks busted (back-to-back) by the only other female player at the table, who caught Aces and A/K, I was left with only one green $500 chip by the end of the second level, just as the blinds went up to 100/50. I picked my spots carefully, made a few moves and my hands held up. Before long I had taken out the player that beat me when I was holding those Jacks. I played my heart out and made it to the final three: me, Seat 10 and Seat 1.

Seat 1 tried to make a deal that, while 1st place would get the buy-in for the tournament, 2nd would get $140 and 3rd would be guaranteed his/her money back. I agreed, but Seat 10 was absolutely against it because he said he had taken his last $60 to play a satellite and was hell bent on getting into the Guarantee . . . yeah, yeah, I know! Finally, Seat 1 got so aggravated by Seat 10′s stubbornness (I was the short stack, and after having watched me fight back from Level 2 with just a chip and a chair, Seat 1 thought I deserved to at least make my money back – believing I was about to bust) that he made a mistake and called Seat 10′s all-in pre-flop. It was Ace/rag against Q/10 and Seat 10 won with Ace high. Although Seat 1 busted, the Poker Gods will shine on him in his next tournament, I’m sure. In the end, I made a deal with Seat 10, and we chopped the winnings. It wasn’t until he had his chips in hand, and the rail birds explained the earlier deal that Seat 10 realized the error of his ways. I sold the tournament chips that I had one for the cash equivalent and Johan and I returned home. Seat 10 played Day 1a of the Guarantee that night.

I woke up early on Saturday, my left eye was still swollen, I had a mild headache and a stiff neck. I was supposed to drive to Vegas that morning to meet up with Jena for the Dream Team Poker (“DTP”) tournament on Sunday, but instead, I had to cancel and let her find a replacement. Playing silly little Nooners is one thing, going up against some of the best players in poker, in a huge event like the DTP was completely different. Based on my close calls the day before, I knew I simply did not have the focus to play the DTP event. It broke my heart to have to cancel, but whether I played or did not play – if I was not going to bring my A-game online, I would be letting Team Bullet Proof down, no matter what.

After discussing it with Johan, I returned to The Bike on Saturday, this time by myself because Johan stayed home to watch the kids. My commute to The Bike was horrible! Traffic was bumper-to-bumper on almost every freeway I took, and the 710 on ramp was closed at the 91. After taking several alternate routes, what should have been a 40 minute drive, turned out to be an hour and a half trek through the streets of Los Angeles. By the time I got to The Bike, my head was throbbing. Rather than buying-in immediately, I moseyed around the casino and said hi to all of my friends. Several friends commented that, while they were happy to see me, I didn’t look my best and asked if I was doing alright. I told them I was okay, and sat down to play a quick satellite. Although I amassed chips early, I was knocked out in the 3rd level when I picked up Jacks (Yes! Jacks) on the button in Seat 10. I re-raised with half my chips against a 4-bet by an aggressive player in Seat 7, but Seat 5 (who had limped under-the-gun) pushed. I thought about it, and I KNEW I should have laid down those stupid Jacks, but instead I called. He turned over Kings and I knew I was done. ARG! What a cooler. I was again left with a chip (this time it was only 25) and a chair, and managed to get back up to 700 in chips, but was knocked out when I flopped Aces up with A/7 but was counterfeited on the river when my opponent holding A/10 caught another 10.

After that, both Frankie and my friend, Jack Boghossian, advised against me playing the tournament. They both thought it simply wasn’t my day. It is one thing to be card dead, it is an entirely different thing to catch big hands that prove to be the second best hand over, and over, and over again. Either way, it is as sign of a bad day. In addition, they could tell that I was not playing my A-online game. Me, call that all-in with Jacks? No, that is not my style – - I play better than that. They were right – it was time to go home. Driving home, I realized that my stiff neck had become so painful that I couldn’t turn my head left or right and my headache had developed into a migraine – it is a wonder how I even made it home without crashing. While not all poker players are friendly, I certainly am proud of the few friends I have made at the tables and believe that I even when I run bad, I am lucky for the people I have had the privileged to meet.

Johan and I went to Hollywood Park Free Online Casino yesterday, Wednesday, July 15, 2009 and I managed to loose pocket Kings (♦/♥) in my first big-blind (after 5 hands into the tourney) to a Donkey. The hand went down like this: I popped it up to 350 pre-flop (50/25 binds with 5 limpers), then I bet 1K on the 5♥, 3♥, 9♥ flop and when my opponent reluctantly called I put him on A♥/K. I hammered 2K on the Q♣ turn, and I watched him pick up enough chips to put me all in, but after some thought he just called. Well, I lost when the 7♥ hit the river – and he showed Ace♥/8♠. I had a monster pair, with the 2nd nut flush, with only 1700 in chips left by the river. I check called his 1500 bet. (Yes, I could have laid it down – but think about it . . . can YOU lay that down for just 1500 into an 8K pot?) It was ok though, my read was right – he only had one heart and no pair, and I’m proud of myself for playing him the way I did – he just got lucky. However, I’m not going to let this drag on into some long boring tale of bad beats and tragedy. No, no, no – after all I did cash back to back earlier in my story.

So, continuing with my the HPC tourney story, when I busted out a few hands later, Johan had just a little over 2K in chips (starting chips were 5K). He then went on a sick heater, and was the tournament chip leader within 20-minutes. Johan knocked people out left and right, including that A/8 Donkey, and managed to remain the chip leader for the remainder of the tournament. It cost $80 to play the event, and Johan cashed $1000 for first place. He played his A-free online game and was completely unstoppable. I am so happy for him – - believing himself to be the Bad-Beat King (on the loosing end) he finally got a reprieve from the Poker Gods and was able to show off his amazing talents.

The last seven days have been one crazy ride, full of ups and downs – - but one hell of a week to remember. And, now that by left eye is better – - you all better watch out for me. I’m brining my A-Game to the table!

Cross-posted in 2p2 travel thread.

Gonna kind of hunt around for a week or so and if I can’t find something that works out will try setting up a house somewhere via 2p2.

So I’m in Edinburgh for the next month, but come mid-August I’ll have no long-term place to stay. Really just posting here to put my shit out there and see if anyone is in a similar situation, has something available, has some advice, etc.

Ty ?

My shortlist of good places to live Sept-Nov based on climate/fun are currently…

• Seoul (South Korea) ~ APPT in Sept
• Metro Manila (Phillipines) ~ APPT in Nov
• Melbourne (Australia)
• Sao Paulo (Brazil)
• Buenos Aires (Argentina)
• San Sebastian (Spain)
• California or NYC (USA)

Any ideas, toss them over. I’d be happy to stay anywhere with friendly/fun poker ppl.

I’m looking to set up something cool for Sept/Oct/Nov, would like to share a house/apartment with other poker players. Kind of like the 3 months in Thailand earlier this year, but somewhere else. Preferably not a cold country.

Had one ridic night of drinking kicked off with awesome Cuban style Fajitas and pints of Mojito at Club Che, then some wierd ex-pat bar with awesome live music which was full of stunning Russian women… that all turned out to be hookers (we think). A taxi ride from some drunk Russian later ended up having to get out after he almost knocked over some guy on the street. The dude lived, and showed us to an unlimited vodka club (for £6 entry lol) where things got ridic messy and ended up with one of my mates going back to our hostel wasted and pissing off everyone in our dorm… while another mate passed out and had to spend a night in a Russian hospital. Ended up getting in the ambulance there and a couple of us sorted things out and crashed in the hospital til the morning. Waking up sleeping on some consultation table in wet clothes after 4 hours sleep in a 70’s Russian hospital ftl.

Speaking of Lenin we also visited Lenin’s Tomb at the Kremlin and saw his preserved mummified body. Pretty surreal, one of the creepiest things I’ve seen. There were a ton of super serious Russian guards surrounding the tomb keeping everyone moving past the body silently. One of them tapped my arm and told me to take my hands out my pockets, pretty hardcore.

We missed our sleeper train to Moscow by 1 minute! Actually saw the train pull away from the platform as we sprinted for it. Spent a little too much time drinking at an awesome nuclear bunker themed bar called Lenin. Sweet.

Ate at a Russian sushi place in Moscow on our late night which was fantastic. 2nd best sushi I’ve ever had (to Vegas).

Some random Russia related stuff…

Poker related stuff to come soon, I’m sure…

I feel like grinding, but got a ton of stuff to sort out. I’m moving to my aunt’s this weekend to house-sit for her for a few weeks, that should be cool. Then after that I’ve not got flat sorted out in Edinburgh, so hopefully something will come up or might head back to to Asia or to South America or something to live for a while.

Russian history is crazy awesome, read the history stuff in the guide books we had but will need to grab some more in depth books to read. The revolutions in the 1900s in particular are really interesting, it’s incredible the way it’s changed over the last 100 years.

Saw some Da Vinci paintings at The Hermitage which was cool, place was insanely huge… pity we didn’t have a lot of time in it after queuing for over 2 and a half hours!

Managed to get home without a mullet, shellsuit or Russian wife!

Oh, and the Moscow Cat Theatre is in motherfucking NY, not Moscow! Guess I’ll need to hit up NY pretty soon.

Pics from my facebook