Italian Vegas

Ych i remember when (midnight UK time), i could just fire up my accounts on various sites and be playing 2/3 virtual games within a few minutes. It seems 50/100 100/200 PLO, has less and less players, and even those who are about are just nits who sit around for a few people, who they deem super fishy.

The one thing i have never done in poker is permanently quit a player who wants to play me Heads Up. I guess that’s why it’s so tilting to sometimes see 4/5 people that i’d happily play, and they just sit out and say No Thanks… right now there is one person sitting on Betfair at 50 100 (who doesn’t play anyone) and not one person on Full Tilt. I can’t even be bothered to sit down, as i often have to wait hours for a virtual game.

Surely anonymous tables, where you can just choose a name before you sit down could create action for regulars.

Rant Over…

I’ve been doing good since i got back apart from that. Up $100k ish on Betfair and level on Full Tilt. This pot against Gus earlier was fun…..

Looking forward to breaking the online grind to play the WSOPE, EPT and some of the WCOOP events. Its cool to be able to play 7/8 big tournaments without having to travel.

14-18th Oct
New Zealand for APPT Auckland

Flight are booked for my pre-xmas trip, leave in 2 weeks. Super excited! The itinerary is…

13th Sept
** Tokyo -> Sydney -> Melbourne **

8th Sept
** Edinburgh -> London -> Tokyo **

14 freaking hour non-stop flight. Spend some time on the west coast, hopefully catch LA, SF, Southern Cali and Noel!

Do some xmas shopping in NY, eat all the amazing food people keep banging on about, fulfil my life purpose of seeing the Moscow Cat Theatre.

27th Sept – 5th Oct
Pokernews Cup Melbourne

13th Dec
** Melbourne -> Los Angeles **

20th Dec
** San Fran(?) -> New York **

I feel really lucky to be able to go on a trip like this… always wanted to go to Tokyo and NY. Def gonna make the most of it and do as much as possible. If you’re around at any of the places we’re going let me know and we can grab some beers.

Eat sushi, ride the bullet train, see some Sumo wrestling, get owned at streetfighter by 8 year olds.

Stuck quite a bit at poker this month, 5 days to un-busto my month… big shift for me tonight and got a VIP Aruba freeroll… one time? Gogogogo!

1-6th Dec
APPT Sydney

Living in Melbourne with Dodgy/Pureklas for 3 months, need to start looking at houses this week.

Get back home 1pm on xmas eve, win!

23rd Dec
** NY -> London -> Edinburgh **

Seems ages since i last played… well three weeks is a pretty long break. I’m to to concentrate on playing mainly Full Tilt, and maybe stop being a nit and have a bash at the 200/400 and 300/600 online games that have been going if i run ok at the medium stakes.

September/October also has a bunch of live tournaments that i’m going to play, so hopefully i’ll update the old blog a bit more often!

Just got sent a link to an article about me in Inside Poker

Also, another student shoutout… check out Scott’s blog, DoggyStylePoker!

I’ve hardly got any poker in so far this month due to a lot going on – but I have done 6-7 coaching sessions. Tried to post a HM graph but it’s not running as my internet here is broken, doh. I did unbusto the month (was down $7k now up $1k or something) so hopefully I can keep the upward trend and run up some profits.

Been busy a lot over the last 4-5 days; friend’s wedding, festival night out’age, then down visiting family in Manchester. Managed to catch a lift up to Edinburgh tomorrow which is sweet even sweeter have shipped a room at a friends flat for the next couple of weeks.

So the plan is… back up to Edinburgh, move stuff over to new place, book Aus, last 2 weeks of the Edinburgh Festival party’age and lots of griiiind!

Just got done watch the premiere of 2M2MM, it’s real good imo… really looking forward to the rest. Krantz and co do a great job of showing all sides of the high-stakes internet poker pro lifestyle. I think it’d be pretty interesting viewing for non-poker players too. You can watch the whole first episode on Pokertube.

Johan and I had planned to grind out the weekend at the felt because my Aunt had made arrangements to pick up my two littlest ones (“Double Trouble”) for a sleepover with my youngest cousin. We thought it would be a kid-free weekend, but that was not quite how it worked out. Johan’s little boy (“Lil-G”) unexpectedly came over for a Saturday night sleep over so we decided to just hang around the house. We watched Inkheart on DVD, played video virtual online gamess on the XBox 360 and lounged around the house. Eventually, we all fell asleep together, watching TV.

On Sunday morning, Double Trouble came home and Lil-G had to go back to his mother. Double Trouble spend the day coming and going in and out to play with their friends, and Johan and I spend the day taking turns playing Fallout-3, The Vault in the comfort of our room. Well actually, Johan played while I navigated him through the quests and complained about the way he played. He turned the controller over to me a few times and I showed him what for! Ha-ha. Although I had never played any of the Fallout virtual games before, I’m an Elder Scrolls nut, and Fallout-3 plays very similar (but not quite as good) as Elder Scrolls, IV Oblivion.

During the weekend, I think I checked my Facebook one time on Saturday morning, and did not look twice at a computer after that. I did a little light cleaning, but nothing substantial and washed just one load of laundry. I spent the entire weekend in comfy sweats and remained as brain-dead as I could possibly allow myself to be.

With the exception of the occasional pillow fight over Johan’s free online game playing abilities (or lack thereof), and the need to crawl out of bed for food and sustenance, I enjoyed a much needed weekend of doing nothing.

things are going pretty good.

having a pretty great summer cash wise, and now I just qualified for the $5200 WCOOP main event on stars.

pretty sweet. i might sell some action (like 1k or 2k) to guarantee myself some profit on the whole thing.

not too much else going on. heading back to toronto in a few weeks to see family and watch one of my best friends get married. should be great.

all for now, take care all

Turn: ($285, 2 players)
Hero checks, PHILHELLMUTH bets $285, Hero calls $285

PHILHELLMUTH: wow
SPIRIT ROCK wins ($185.00 chips).
PHILHELLMUTH: sick ****** ace
PHILHELLMUTH: especially against crazy guy loike U

Hero wins $4,752 ( won +$2,417 )
PHILHELLMUTH lost -$2,335

$25/$50 No Limit Holdem
Converted at weaktight.com

Flop: ($285, 2 players)
Hero checks, PHILHELLMUTH checks

River: ($855, 2 players)
Hero checks, PHILHELLMUTH bets $650, Hero raises to $1,950, PHILHELLMUTH calls $1,300

Stacks:

Pre-flop: ($75, 6 players) Hero is BB

3 folds, PHILHELLMUTH raises to $100, 1 fold, Hero calls $50

Final Pot: $4,755
PHILHELLMUTH shows:
Hero shows:

This is my favourite hand of poker I’ve played in my life. There were a few others from the session but this one stands out the most. Surely it doesn’t get any better than value check/raising Phil Hellmuth on the river? Oh baby!

Life is good

At the new seven-deuce tables on Cereus…

Kicked off the month with 2 really shitty sessions, running terribly in soft high-stakes virtual games and dropping ~$11k in like 2 hours play across 2 days. Didn’t really feel much like playing after that and took a break for a while.

Not taking any more applications for new students. I’ve started work with 4 guys which is going great, still in early stages but looking forward to seeing them move up stakes and crush!

Until then I’m currently flat-less which is kind of weird. It’s grind time up north at the mo, just got set up at my Dad’s where I’ll be for a few days. There’s nothing to do in this town (Auchtermuchty) so I’ll finally get back to playing some poker. Put in a session tonight at lower-stakes finishing up around $1.3k. Actually, we do have a sweet electronic drum kit/guitars setup up here, so will be fun to get down to some much needed practise and do some jamming.

Gonna go watch new Entourage and sleep. Oh and I know I’m like a month late to the party but The Hangover is freaking awesome.

Headed back to Edinburgh this weekend for a wedding and more festival fun. The Edinburgh festival totally rocks, loads of great outdoor beergarden venues, tons of live comedy, and clubs have late licenses ’til 6am. Win! Headed down to Manchester on Sunday to catch up with my Mum and family for bit and will come back up for the end of the festival before heading to Aus.

Martin(Dodgyken) and Chris(Pureklas) came up to Edinburgh for a few days to hang out and chat about plans to go to Australia next month. If all goes to plan we’re looking to head over to Melbourne early September and set up house there for the winter. I’ve been to Melbourne before and absolutely love it, so I’m psyched about going back to live for a while, it’s an awesome city. Been checking out flights, thinking about buying a round the world ticket but got until my new passport arrives to decide.

OMG really? Again! Can you believe it.

I played the Second Chance NLH tournament on August 8, 2009 at the Bike. About the 5th hand in, I pick up pocket Aces in suicide position. With the blinds at only 50/25, I figured I’ll take my chances and make it 350 to go because there had only been one limper and just 4 more people were left behind me. As I suspected, an agressive cash player who was on the button made it 1K more. Ahhh, I think to myself, a taker. . .excellent! By that time, I had already peeled off about 500 in chips of him because he had pretty much played every pot, and I believe he was steaming after I took his small blind and big blind after he called two of my pre-flop raises back to back but missed on the flop. It was time to isolate and relieve the table of this wild card. With 6K in chips, I shoved all-in; and as expected he called. He showed King-Jack of diamonds but I had the Ace of diamonds. The flop came King high with two hearts and one diamond on board; and I was only worried about him hitting another King or catching a Jack.

Now, 99.9% I want a donkey to call off all his chips with K♦J♦ against my Aces. But the dealer had different ideas and put up running diamonds. Diamonds are not always a girl’s best friend and I subsequently lost my most of my chips to that idiot. Down to 700, I figured it was still early and reverted to ABC poker. I’m used to being in tourneys with 1500 in chips and 20 minute blinds, so it was not that big-a-deal…other than the fact that I was steaming from the bad beat.

I pick up a couple of ladies right as the blinds got to 100/50 and the whole table limped for a family pot. I had to figure there was an Ace or two out there, so I too limped. The flop came 7-3-3, with two clubs on board. The table check around to me and I shoved. The cut-off almost called with a pair of sevens, but (unfortunately) took strong consideration of my limp and folded. KJ-Donkey, again on the button, called. He showed A♠3♠, and because he is the donkey who doubled through me and was sitting on 12K in chips, I knew he would have called my all-in pre-flop with any two cards. This hand could go no other way. Of course, I reminded him that I had the Queen of clubs. He thought it was inconsequential until the dealer put up running clubs. I won the pot with a Queen high flush. Clearly, turn about is fair play.

Within 10 minutes the Donkey had lost all of my chips to the two tightest players at the table, in back to back hands. First, he defended his small blind with some stupid hand and lost half the chips on a missed straight draw; then he managing to get his Kings cracked by the big blind who had 8/9 off suit and flopped 2-pair. KJ-Donkey didn’t know one had to announce a raise when tossing in a single chip pre-flop and it cost him the rest of his stack. KJ-Donkey then proceeded to berate the dealer for his Kings getting cracked and was escorted out of the tournament room.

I knew I had very little chance of getting my chips back once KJ-Donkey pissed them away so I had to turn my focus elsewhere. I knocked out two short-stacks before the table was broken, but had my work cut out for me when I was seated at the “Table of Death” with only 4K in chips. I called it the Table of Death because there was a knock out about every other hand and half the players at the table had already tripled up and were seriously deep-stacked. I played my heart out and because I was moved to Table 1, I figured I was seated at the final table so I worked hard on my table presence.

However, just as I had managed to break the 10K chip mark, they moved me on my big blind. Ugh! The blinds were at 800/400 and I had 12K in chips at a new table with no presence. I was somewhat comforted by the fact that I knew two players at the table who knew my online game. They would not try to crack me before the money and they knew I played strong enough to only play me if they thought I was behind. Unfortunately, there were 4 short-stacks at the table and the deep-stacks were on the attack. I had to be patent and wait for a hand – but I was totally card dead. The tourney paid 18 places, and even though I took down two pots, by the time the blinds were at 1600/800, I was down to my last 4K in chips and sitting on the big blind. I ask the table for a walk so that I didn’t have to go out on the bubble and the entire table folded around to the small blind. He looked at his cards and said, “I put you all in.” He was a grumpy old codger who moonlighted as the timekeeper, dealer whipper, and table policeman (you know the type).

I looked down at A♥9♥ and figured I had little other choice. Yeah, I could have folded, but then what? What if I have to fold my small blind? I would not even have a complete bet left and I would get ante’d down before the blind came around again. I called. The old goat turned over A♣Q♦ and I was knocked out in 20th place. That dirty rat bastard. I don’t know a gentleman on this planet that would not have folded that hand simply because it was a limp pot, let alone that I had specifically asked for a walk and the table had folded around. Folding there was the gentlemanly thing to do…right? Well, the board came all low and black. No making the money for me, not even my buy-in back. With my knock out they made the deal to take the buy-in amount off of First Place to pay 19th and I walked away the Bubble Girl.

If only my Aces had not been cracked I would have gotten deep because I played my best poker that day. I caught very little hands but that didn’t matter. I won all but two hands that I played, the pocket Aces and the A♥9♥. My reads were dead-on and I knew what other players were holding before I even looked at my own hole cards. I even saved a friend from busting out earlier than he did after he bet half his chips with A-10 off, then was re-raised all-in by the player to his immediate left (he would have lost to a set of Kings – with only a 10 on board). I survived each and every all-in and made amazing folds pre-flop that would have cost me my tournament life, just to get knock out on the bubble by an old heartless goat.

One time Poker Gods, just one time… give me cards that I can work with, have my hands hold-up and allow the Donkeys to go out like they should. If my Aces had held, I know I would have taken that tournament all the way. It’s days like Saturday that make me want to quit, and it’s days like Saturday that make me more determined to prove to the world that I can play this virtual online games.

I’ll blog about my recent Vegas trip on here if it’s OK with y’all (I say like anyone actually still reads this)

I arrived in Sin City last Thursday night after three long, exhausting sightseeing days in New York so was quite happy to follow through with my family-friendly-holiday plan of relaxing by the pool with a selection of poker and golf magazines for the first couple of days. It wasn’t until Sunday morning that I decided to sit at a poker table.

On walking back to our room after breakfast, I overheard a dealer explain the rules / betting for $3/$6 Limit Hold’Em. I wandered closer to the rail to take notes (peeking over shoulders was easy as Seats 1 and 8 were empty); there were two loud-ish women in Seats 2 and 3 who seemed to be conferring with each other (showing each other the hands they were folding etc.) and generally ruling the table chat. The two guys behind them were giving them and their bets too much respect (serial limp > folders). Two European gents in Seats 6 and 7 looked to be involved in every hand and constantly asking / being corrected about their bet sizing, and the older Asian man in Seat 9 seemed to be raising on every flop regardless of how many people were in the pot and taking a large majority of them down with ease. Seat 1 was starting to look very attractive …

And it was! I don’t normally play Limit virtual online gamess but at 3/6, this just looked too good to miss. Within 30 mins (about 15 hands), I had spun $100 up to $232 and had almost single handedly taken out the two European guys and had seriously dented the stack of the Asian guy to my right by playing ultra-aggressive with complete air on all dry boards. Early on with 77 I was raising the arse out of the pot when I hit trips but only won around $30. The chat was friendly so I showed – and I’m sure this turned out to my best decision yet. My biggest wins were with AQo, AKs and 44, none of which hit in any way but which I bet to the hilt on each street, just as I had with the 7s. It was a strangely awesome feeling to get such bets through. Being so used to No Limit I was betting and raising rivers thinking that these guys HAD to call $6 more (surely they’re priced in) … but luckily for me, they were quite happy to fold top pair, weak kickers / 2nd top pair type hands to my relentless re-raises.

After almost two hours, still hovering around the $230 mark, I went on a run of coolers against a couple of the new faces at the table – I flopped top 2 pair v flopped trips, turned a straight only to be beaten by a rivered 8 high flush (seriously!) and ran a Q high flush into a nut flush during a pretty bad period of tilt. All of these took care of the $130-odd profit quicker than I had made it. When Julia and Scott arrived on the rail I was happy to go with them to the Games Arcade having had my first ‘poker fix’ of the holiday.

My second venture to the tables was to play the 7pm $150 Bounty Game at Treasure Island as recommended by The Duke. I arrived to see three cash-virtual online games tables up and running and around 6 others loitering, registering / waiting for the tourney to start. Or so I assumed. The ‘tourney’ ran with only 7 (yeah, seven) players. Needless to say I was less than impressed. On AllVegasPoker.com they state that this free online game attracts an average of 35 players and with it being a Sunday night, I expected it to get fairly close to that – the cardroom manager appeared to too. I didn’t particularly want to be pulling a late-nighter but I didn’t want to be home before 11pm either. With a fair mix of standards but with 5 ‘regulars’, I had a loose idiot regular to my left in Seat 7, a regular who called all Seat 7′s donkiness in Seat 1 knowing that K high was good enough 80% of the time, two tight aggressive players in seats 2 and 3, and two floaters / calling stations in Seats 4 and 5.

Predictably Seat 7 left us first after limping into a pot from UTG holding J2s. His stack of 15BBs goes in on the J high flop and Seat 4 holding JKo calls to rake them in. I couldn’t get going and finished in 5th after having only seen around a dozen flops in total. Overall I was disappointed to find myself in a $150 SnG – not even a full one at that.

On Tuesday I met up with Kenny at the cardroom at MGM for a walk down to Caesars for their Noon, $85 + $15 online game. With only a dozen or so players in the room at 11:30, we decided to walk the extra in the 116degree sunshine to The Venetian which we both knew to be busier and more popular. Their Noon, $150, $7k starting stack fre online game ran with 71 players, with Kenny and I going out within 10 mins of each other (me first around 40th during Level 6). Neither of us could get it going, my best hand in the first three levels being A8o. Kenny got AKo on his first hand and “absolute shite” from then on.

My table was rife with older generation ‘regulars’ and drunk holiday-maker Americans who clearly hadn’t played much before their trip. With the loose idiots on my left I took the tight trappy approach and against the limp>foldy Americans on my right I stepped up the aggression. In one hand early on, having flopped the nut flush with K9s on the button and with 6 players having limped into the pot, I called the 3/4 pot bet of the 60+yo lady in middle position. BB also called (check>called). A brick on the turn, BB checks, Mrs Doubtfire bets out 800 (around half-pot this time), I re-raise to 1800, BB folds and she calls the 1000 more. River bricks again and she checks it to me. If she has a hand worth calling me with on the flop, she’s surely gonna call around 2200 more but, feeling as transparent as I was, I tried to give the impression I was uncomfortable pushing my 2.5k value bet over the line. She insta-calls and looks genuinely surprised that her 95spades has been beaten, saying, “I thought you just had an Ace”. Cue a few funny looks and sly sniggering. Cue my disbelief that $150 tourneys in The Venetian are really attracting players who limp and are willing to go (nearly) broke with 95s.

After a few failed steal attempts with TJo, KJo and 55 from late positions – having folded to All-In shoves from the two players to my immediate left – my exit hand was with around 5k and blinds at 200/400/25 – a pretty standard JJ v KK.

On the way home I get to thinking; although NY and Vegas was an enjoyable enough family holiday, I would really only look forward to returning to Vegas if it was for a poker holiday first and foremost. There are so many things that are good and bad about Vegas and it’s mainly because everything is taken to the extreme. It sounds weird I know, but it’s great that it’s a busy place but it’s just bonkers busy at weekends. The strip is 11 lanes wide but the traffic is stand-still at the weekends. Free Online Casins are great but the constant ding-dinging of slot machines drive me daft pretty quickly. The heat is great (116degrees is actually surprisingly bearable / enjoyable / theraputic even) but … well, it’s still 116!

I arrived back home on Thursday morning with a couple of work issues to sort out and to a day or two of jet-lag. I had suspected I was over it but a sleepless night last night and still being wide awake at 22:30 tonight might prove me wrong.

More than ever, I’m really looking forward to the four days of Poker at DTD at the end of August.