My coming events in summer and early fall

It's some time since the last update so here comes a little wrap up and a list of my coming events for the next months.

Hadn't played much since Salzburg but last weekend I went back to Ceska Kubice in the Czech Republic. The Casino Savoy now has a weekly €50+7 DeepStack tournament. Well, personally I wouldn't call it "DeepStack" as it has a PF=12.56. But still for that buy-in it is a very good structure (and has a lot of weak players).

I started off very well by doubling up with AA vs. QQ but again lacked playable cards in the middle section of the tournament. Finally my chips went in with JJ and I was called by A9c on a two clubs flop. Of course a club hit on the river. :-(

So I went on with my cashgame experiment and again left with a nice €186 win at €1/2 after 4 hours. Most remarkable hands: Getting QQ and KK in a row and hitting my set both times on the turn. Got a decent payout on both hands. Another huge hand was QQ vs TT with Full House over Full House.

Looks like I'm still running better in cash then in tournaments. But I love playing tournaments so much more. Let's see how this develops in the future...

On July 18th I will travel to the Czech Republic again. The Kings Pokerroom in Rozvadov now offers a PF=18.67 two-day DeepStack event. Again this is a weekly tournament during the summer.

Mid of August I finally will be able to play the Pokertour.at again (LM Kärnten). Had to miss some events due to other appointments. End of August will see a trip to Nottingham for the APAT World Amateur Poker Championship at the Dusk Till Dawn. The Pokertour.at has a close stop in early September in Innsbruck. Of course a thing I don't want to miss.

And then there is October and I am really happy that this years International Poker Open in Dublin doesn't conflict with my other appointments. Was really sad that I had to miss this great event last year. I was able to catch a flight for this with Ryanair from Memmingen for just €18! Adding another €40 for the train ticket makes it still less than €60 for a return flight to Dublin. Wow! I expect my gas bill to Rozvadov next week will be about the same amount ;-)

It's a kind of tradition that the german speaking people who travel to the IPO make a little meet-up on the day before the event. So if you play that event too please let me know and we try to organise something.

So as you can see there is a lot of poker planned already. And there are several other plans that are not fixed at this time. I will let you know a soon as I know more ;-)

Promise that the next blog entry will be much more interesting ... just trying to keep the tension up with that one. Next destination: Rozvadov, Czech Republic and another one of the deepstacks I love so much!

Nice cash in Salzburg (but not in the tournament)

As we danced a Boogie-Woogie competition on Saturday near Salzburg this was a good opportunity for a visit to the Concord Card Casino in Salzburg. Unfortunately the summer took a break and it was a horrible weekend in regards of the weather with a lot of rain.

My tournament started very good. Special thanks to two awful players who donated most of their stacks to me. During the first two 25 min. levels I went from a 5k startingstack to 11k. But in level 3 (50/100) this hand broke my tournament:

I got AA in early position and raised it to 250. This was my standard raise and I had shown a lot of decent hands already with that raise during that tournament. Three callers. The flop came 5-2-7 with two hearts. The pot was 1k and I bet 700. First player folded. Second went all-in for 5,700 and third one called all-in for 2,800.

Uuups, that wasn't like expected. I had already seen a lot weired play at this table. But 5,700 at this level into a 1,700 pot was a huge overbet and usually desigend to take the pot down right now. What could he have? Most probably a big pair. Flushdraw was possible but for some reason I gave the flushdraw to the smaller stack. I ruled out a set as I don't think he would have played it that way. Maybe the smaller stack could have the set but I was of course focused on the bigger stack here anyway.

It was a borderline decision for me. In a deep-stack my aces may have gone into the muck as I wouldn't have been interested in a gamble in that early stage. In this format, with 25 min. levels and the next blinds being 100/200 (25) and 200/400 (50) there was no way I discard this hand on that flop.

But the showdown was a desaster: The smaller stack showed 48s for a baby-flushdraw (as expected) while the big stack showed a surprising 52s for two pair. That indeed was the only hand I really had feared in that setup. No help and I was down to 5.5k. Didn't get many cards in the next level and went out in level 5 with TT versus QQ.

Shortly after my exit they opened a new €1/2 NL casgame table and I decided to jump into that game. As always patience pays off in a cash game. The table had 3 decent players and 3 who splashed around with chips. They loved to do straddles and showing big bluffs. Unfortunately I didn't get the right cards for a long time and my stacked dipped heavily. But finally I started to hit and it was amazing that even after I had shown several times that I have a hand when I play it strong I got customers all the time. Left the game after 4 hours with a €322 net-win. So far I am up in 4 of my 6 sessions I played since I started playing live cashgame again.

Not sure what and how much I can play in June and July but I have fixed plans for the Pokertour.at in Kärnten and the APAT - World Amateur Poker Championship in Nottingham in August.

Back home again

So I am back home from Vegas and it's time to look back. As always going to Vegas is very nice and being there during WSOP is even nicer. This time it was a special experience as media access allowed to do and see a lot more then the usual visitor. It was also nice to meet some people in person like BJNemeth (@BJNemeth), Joe Seebok (@joesebok) and many others. It was also nice to meet Jessica Welman (@jesswelman) from PocketFives Live again.

But the face of Las Vegas is changing. I'm a child of "Disneyland for adults". When I came to Vegas first the Bellagio, NYNY, Venetian and Excalibur had just opened. It was the time of the "Themed Hotels". I have spoken to people who knew Las Vegas before that times and they told me that they got tears in their eyes when places like the Sands and Dunes were imploded. At this time I couldn't understand why they didn't like the new Las Vegas.

Now I start to understand ... because as always Las Vegas is inventing itself again in very short time. The time of the themed resorts is long over. Old icons like the Stardust have followed the Sands and Dunes. Now it's the time of the glass palaces.

The Wynn & Encore started this trend. The Palazzo was the last place not following this trend (but I assume mainly because it wouldn't have fit to the Venetian otherwise). And now there is city center. A huge monster of several casinos with no real identity. City center doesn't look like Vegas - it could be anywere in any big city of the United States.

And that's the worst part. This wonderful clear line of casinos on the strip that you could see upon landing (or from far away) is now gone. Several condo builings at or near the strip make it even worse. Now I am the one to be sad about the new Las Vegas and I start to understand how the old-timers must have felt. It's like they start to take "my" Vegas away from me. And also it will take a few more years it's just a matter of time and those places that made it "my" Las Vegas will start to vanish...

Not that I don't like Las Vegas anymore. It's still a great place but some of the buzz I always felt during my stays is just gone. But for everyone comes once a day were he becomes the old-timer. And in Las Vegas this will usually happen sooner than later...

As you have read in my last entries I wasn't successfull in tournaments - again! I can't blame it to bad beats in general. The first time I was perfectly outplayed. At least two times it was my own fault ... and yes, I somewhat missed the lucky end on important occasions. On the other hand I was running very good in cash games. I hadn't played cash games for a long time now and it was a great learning experience. I still make mistakes here that I shouldn't do but it seems I found a good mix between my own style of play (action oriented) and the needed patience. I will try to keep up with the cash games but will do so very carefully for now.

Another thing I wished I had done different would have been to take a few days more and use those for resting in between. Especially after this horrible last Venetian tournament I would have loved to have the opportunity for just taking a day off.

Anyway, I am back home and next play will be on Friday at the CCC in Salzburg. No deepstack of course but still an o.k. structure.

My last big tournament in Vegas is over with no cash again

So that's it. No more of the big ones (two day events) as I have to leave on Sunday. As intended I played the Caesars and I am happy with my choice ... even without a cash. At least it was a decent ending for a tournament week.

Even after changing the structures a little and getting rid of the main-event seat the Caesars struggles in numbers of participants. 154 showed up that day and made it 18 paid spots. Still a nice 9k payday for first place. In general I like their payout structure more. 18th place here got around $700 while the Venetian just paid $450 (a next to nothing win).

As always this week I was running hot early with great cards but then struggled again for some time. But this time I hit really hard two times in the middle of the tournament and made my way up to 46k. One was a KJ that I had raised and got a reraise from my neighbor. He did this quite often so I decided to call here and see the flop. Flop comes J-J-x and the hand cost him almost all of his stack with pocket kings. The next one was really nasty. I made a raise with 23s and got one caller. Flop come 2-3-8 and the pot starts to grow. I assume that he has a pocket pair Ten to Queen. Turn is a 7. Don't think that hit him. River is another 7. Damn, my great two pair are counterfeit and I am most probably behind. Let it go or push it? My remaining stack was still big enough to push and the pot was already huge ... so I pushed and continued to make an impression that I have a monster. He finally folded ... phew!

Some time later I was involved in a big pot were my flush didn't materialize and I had to let my hand go on the river. Down to 33k. Overplayed that hand somewhat. But still over the average of 25k.

Blinds were now at 400/800 (100) and I got some hands but missed every flop. Down to 23k but still o.k. Then I received AK in MP. Guy in early position makes a huge overbet to 4k and I assume he has either AK or a middle pair. So I try to get him off his hand by pushing all-in for my remaining 23k. Taking down a 6,200 chips pot would have been more then fine for me here.

Then something strange happens. He looks at his cards and almost mucks them as the next dealer approaches the table. So he asks the current dealer "you are leaving now? Then I call because you have given me good cards so far". Indeed he got good hands from that dealer as he came short at the table and had been doubled up at least twice since then. So he calls with 66 for his remaining 18k and doubles up again. :-(

Now I have just 4,500 left and find a decent spot to get them in with J9o. I get callers and a shot to qadruple up but fail to hit the board. Out in 70th after 6 hours of play. Had a real shot to make it here but there wasn't too much I could have done different. Not the best game I ever played but very decent.

Later that night I went back to the MGM for some cash game and made another nices win. Could have been even more if my straight wouldn't have been run into a baby flush.

So for today there's most probably no more tournaments. I checked the regular events and their structures aren't good but the payouts are even worse. Most have a fee of 25-35%! So I most probably play a little more cashgame and check out the action at the WSOP again for the last time.

My most ugly day in tournament poker this week

The Venetian tournament again started very well for me but then turned into my most ugly tournament experience I ever had. But in the beginning I was absolutely owning the table.

First hand AK on the button, raising, it's folded and I show that I am not stealing. From the next 30 hands I play about 20 (all with decent hands) and win 16 ... mostly the blinds but some small pots too. The table starts to hate me. Finally we go to a showdown and my opponent falls almost from his chair as he sees that I checked the nutflush with a double pair on the board. He couldn't understand but I earned a lot respect from some other players. Which saved me from starting them picking on me harder.

During the first two levels my stack went from 15k to 22k and I even was the guy who now was defining the standard betsize ;-) Then again one hand pushed me back down. But this time it wasn't a bad played hand but rather a bit unfortunate gathering. With Q9s I hit a set on a 99x board. I was ahead at that time but a Ten on the Turn turned the worse kicker into a Full House. Good thing I didn't push here to much ... that hand could have been even more expensive. In a weired Déjà-vu I saw Matusow's exit from the 2008 WSOP Main-Event later that evening again. His AJ vs A9 almost developed the same way but cost him the whole tournament.

From there it was an up and down. Down to almost 5k and recovery to 18k. The on to a new table. But before that I had my first ugly experience of the tournament. There was a raise from EP and then an all-in for about 8k from the short-stack next to me. This happend just shortly after I made my way back up to 18k and I had lost big with QQ vs AA not long ago against a n "any-two-can be raised" jerk. Again I found QQ and thought for a long time. With action pending behind me (one hasn't acted so far and the original raiser) I decided to let my Q's go. this time The other guy then pushed all-in and the original raiser folded. Guess what: 78s vs. AK ... and a Queen hits on the flop. That would have been a huge pot!

Looking back I think that was a borderline decision and I most probably should have went all-in against the all-in player to isolate. Not sure if the other guy would have called then with his AK (I had him slightly covered).

The new table was very entertaining but the blinds started to hurt my 18k stack now. Finally I got my money in with KK vs. AK and made it up to 30k. Then an even worse situation came up: I have TT and make a standard raise from the small blind. Big blind calls. The Flop is Q-8-3. I check and the other guy checks too. Turn is a 5. I check again almost being sure he will now make a bet to take the pot down. He bets 3k into a 6k pot. Blinds at this time were 500/1.000 (100). I don't think he is very strong here and make a re-raise to 10k. He asks what I have left and makes it 30k to put me all-in. Wow! I so much wanted to call him but I finally let my hand go. He takes the pot and showes JT for complete air!

I I had called that would have been a pot of 70k total ... but even now hours and a whole night later I can't find a good reason that would have satisfied a call here. Of course I would have been sitting on a huge stack then but this isn't poker anymore. That's rolling dice then. I think my re-raise for one third of my stack (with a pocket pair) was a decent move. But re-raising with nothing for half of his stack is just crazy. The worst thing is that I would have played a super-strong hand (like a set) the same way and he would have fallen into that trap (which he will most probably against somebody else).

The Queen was a very unfortunate hit on the flop here. As this was a battle of the blinds he still could have had many other parts of the board (e.g. set with a low pair). But even being sure I did the right thing it is still so devastating to know that I was fallen into his trap and passed on the biggest tournament pot of this week.

My stack went downhill to 11k and my money went in with KK again. Guess who called? The guy who had trapped me. Guess what he had? AK. Guess what happened? An Ace hit on the turn. Out in 239th of 660 after almost 6 hours of play.

I then decided to alter my plans and not play the Venetian on Friday. Although I love to play there and they have great tournaments I really need a change of venue. So I play the Caesars Mega-Stack instead today. In addition that one has a little smaller buy-in then todays event at the Venetian. And I definately didn't feel for investing into my biggest tournament of the week at the moment. The prize pool will be lower as they get only around 200 players but thy skipped the main-event seat - so the prize pool is all cash now.

But I am in Vegas and I am here to play poker. So for the evening I went to the new "M" Hotel & Casino. This one just opened in March and is the southern most strip casino. It's about 3 miles south of my hotel but (as well as my hotel) still located on Las Vegas Blvd. aka "The Strip". It's a nice little casino with a small but wonderfull pokerroom. Played there for about 2.5 hours and went home with another nice win. Not as big as the day before but still worth the time invested.

So now it's time for my last big tournament of the trip. To be honest I am already biased to go back to the Venetian. Poker players are crazy, aren't they? But I will stay with my decision here. At least I don't have to regret anything if this doesn't go the right way - but I would bugg myself if I go to the Venetian and something weired happens today.

So wish me luck ... this is my last chance for a big win and a possible extension of my trip ;-)

Fun and dissapointment in Vegas

Sorry that this will be only a short update with no pictures. Internet is down at the whole property I am staying in. So I am now at Starbucks to make some updates before heading to the Venetian again.

Yesterdays tournament started on a table with a broken autoshuffler. But the Venetian staff was fast to re-seat us inside the poker room. Unfortunately this meant that the table would be broken first. This turned out to be a very unlucky happening as we had a real "donator" at our table. I was able to abuse this "ATM" two times myself and was on a good run when the table was broken. At the new table I could continue for a while and reached my highpoint of 22k. Startingstack was 15k. At this time close to 500 people had bought into the tournament.

Unfortunately from then nothing worked right anymore and my stack went down to 16k again (not losing a big hand or making huge mistakes but losing a good number of small hands). Nothing to worry about at 100/200 (25). The thing to worry about is the fact that again I played one hand very badly. My JJ ran into two pair of a shortstack (AT). As the final money went in on the river I think even against the shorty there was still a way to let this hand go either on the turn or the river (and save some important chips).

With the increased blinds and my smaller stack I now entered push-and-fold time. Pushed two times with no customers and then went on a one level (40 min.) dry run. I hadn't played a single hand for a whole level (!) when I finally got AJ of clubs. There was an UTG raise to 2k with blinds now 300/600 (50). I pushed for 7,200 total in LP and he almost immediately called. What the hell did he think I might have? At least he thought that KQ (clubs too!) was good here. He had a healthy but not huge stack. So why risk a quarter of it on anything that is a coinflip at best?

Anyway, I was delighted to be faced with a 40:60 setup. The flop came AKx putting me ahead even more at 80:20 ... until another King hit the turn :-(( The Jack on the river was meaningless.

Out somewere around 350th place after 4 hours. Spotted Roy von der Locht (a player from Munich) at one of the tables and said hello. At this time he had a 33k stack so hopefully he made it deep into the tournament. Other notables: Tiffany Michelle (still in after busting out of the WSOP Shootout early) and former World Champion Jerry Yang. Yang had a fast exit and it was reported that he played like crazy: raising every hand, pumping his stack up to 30k, down to 20k, up again and then blowing it all away by calling an all-in with Ace-high (that all happend during the first two levels). At least he made someone very happy at his table ;-)

I was very dissapointed the way my exit went. I don't mind to bust the way I did on Monday ... but this was cruel! So I went to the "Tacone Grill" at the Planet Hollywood and eat some delicious 4-chese quesadillas. After that I felt much better ;-)

Just to find the next dissapointment. PH used to have very good low buy-in tournaments and a nice poker-room. Both is gone now. The room is now cramped on the other end of the floor between some slot machines and the decent tournament structure of the past is gone too.

Over to the HardRock Casino that also got some good reports in the past. And yes, they have a good structured low buy-in tournament (6k chips and 30 min. levels) and a nice room. But again this one has two downsides: It seems that with the age of 42 I am getting to old for the loud rock music that is played in the casino (including the poker room). Other may like it but for me it is just annyoing and causes me headache after some time. But I know that I am not their preferred customer anyway as they try to cater for the under 30 crowd. But the worst thing is that regulars get 500 additional chips per hour of live play (up to 2k). That puts every visitor into a bad position. No play for me here.

Dissapointed with the options to play a smaller tournament but wanting to play a little that evening I decided to give cash game another chance again and hit the MGM poker-room. This was a long and interesting evening. It lasted over 5 hours with a lot of ups and downs but at the end I went out ahead with exactly the amount to buy-in for todays tournament at the Venetian :-)

An older guy at hour table who obviously thought from himself as "the-guy-who-invented-poker" was a real ATM for most of us. Especially after a female gave him a cruel bad beat. Nobody felt sorry for him as he had bad-beaten everyone at the table already before. But after that he really went on tilt and drowned several grand in a short time.

In the biggest hand of the day I could hit him very hard: as often it was only called around (he was the most aggressive anyway) and I called with K6o on the button to see a flop. Don't tell me that this is a bad play ... if you played there for five hours already you would have made it that way too ;-)

The flop comes K-6-3 with two diamonds. It was checked around to me, I bet my two pair and everybody except "Mr. Poker" (as usual) went out of the way. The turn was an Ace. Didn't like that card too much but didn't give him an Ace as he most probably would have raised with it pre-flop. He checked, I bet and then hell break loose. He re-raised me and I assumed now that he was on a flush-draw. I took him all-in and he called quickly. River was a diamond and I felt doomed. But I wasn't ... he had hit two pair either with K3. Ship It!

On of the most remarkable laydowns I saw at that table was from a middle aged asian lady. On a 6-8-9 flop she flashed AA to me and mucked after her bet got a raise and re-raise. She was dead right as she was up against a set of 8s and another set of 9s!

So I went over to the Venetian to buy into todays event with my fresh money and went back to the hotel for some sleep.

A Day at the Rio

Yesterday I didn't play a tournament but took my day to follow the action at the Rio. Obviously I choose a very interesting day with several german players, Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke and some real drama.

If you like to read about it you can find the whole article (unfortunately available only in german) with some pictures here at Pokerfirma.de.

For those who can't read german her are at least some nice pictures from yesterday:

WSOP Reporter BJNemeth (@BJNemeth) capturing the Bracelet.
His georgeous pictures can be found here!

Daniel (@RealKidPoker) at the Omaha H/L.
Figuring out if he got the High, Low or the whole enchilada

Joe Sebok (@joesebok), Amanda Leatherman (@MandaLeatherman)
and the Pokerroad-Team who provide us Pokerroad-Nation

And finally: The hallway...

... and the Amazon Room waiting for the players

I'm now heading to the Venetian were my next Deepstack Event will take place at noon (9pm CET). As always you can follow the action on Twitter and buy some shares on ChipMeUp until the start of the event.

My first Venetian DSE and stories from the Rio

I was in a good mood entering the Venetian and got a very good start: Tight table and decent cards in the beginning including AA, KK, QQ and a set of sixes. During the first level (50/100) I was able to pump my stack from 12k to 13k already.

Then during Level 2 (75/150) I made a horribly bad play. I had hit my straight but the board showed a possible flush too when my opponent made a 6,000 chips bet into a 3,000 chips pot on the river. This smelled so wrong. Why would he bet so high if he had hit his flush? Did he really want to chase me away? I finally called and it cost me half of my stack as he indeed had the nut-flush.

The call was a huge mistake on my part (regardless if I was ahead or not). At this stage of the tournament there was no need to play a hand as big as that with anything less then the nuts.

Down to 7k I tried to calm down and decided that I still had way enough chips for playing good poker. And that's what I did. My stack went up to 9k very soon.

In the meantime a "famous guy" came to our table: You may remember the guy who was sitting there in his under-shirt while hitting a Royal Flush at the 2008 Main-Event? Well he still looked the same and I really hoped it wasn't the same undershirt anymore :-/

But to be honest, I liked this guy. He was a very bad poker player but nice at the table. Courtesy to him I made it back to 15k (and he soon left after that) in a hand that he played absoluty awful. Any decent player would have been able to get me off that hand and scoop the pot.

From there I made it to my highest point of 18k when we reached the blinds and antes. With about 3,5 hours of play the level was now at 200/400 (25) when the final hand appeared.

The setup: An asian guy - very aggressive. Had played several pots with him and lost most. Think that he was a good bluffer but didn't had the hand to proof so far. An older Lady - decent player. Had accumulated many chips since she came on our table (and busted one guy). And me of course - the victim.

Asian guy raises to 1,275 from UTG. I find AKo in MP and decide just to call his raise. Split decision here. In many cases I would re-raise with the antes already kicked in but I wanted to see a flop before inversting more (and tried to avoid him re-raising me pre-flop). The Lady just called from the blinds.

Flop comes K-7-5 and the Lady checks. So most probably she had missed the flop completely. Asian guy bets out 3k (as expected). I didn't give him AA here. Maybe AK too or a high pair. Maybe he has just nothing. So a re-raise may take down the pot directly. I make it 11k and the Lady ... calls! What? That was very surprising as I didn't had her on the radar at all anymore. At least for the Asian my plan had worked. He folded. Now I was in deep trouble. With over 25k in the pot and less then 5k behind I was committed anyway to go all-in on the turn. Turn was a 5. She checks again and I go all-in. She calls and I know I am doomed: The Lady shows 77 for a flopped set and turned full house. No help on the river and I am out in the high 600s of 840 players.

Wow, that was a perfect play on her part. Obviously she knew that those two aggressive players will battle on the flop and she could sit back and enjoy. Of course I was unhappy to leave the tournament but I prefer to bust like that against an opponent who played it well rather then against a luckbox.

I don't know if this play has a name but I would call it "reverse sandwich". By just checking the turn and knowing the Asian will bet out anyway she put me in a real bad position. Had she raised I never would have re-raised. I may have called but there was a slight possibility I would have at least survived the hand. She had shown "weakness" and I fell into her trap.

Over to the Rio to check out the action there. Right in time to see Jeff Lissandro winning his bracelet in the Stud-Game. Then looking for Cort in the 2,5k six-handend event (as I have 1% on him). He had little over average and was sitting at the table with Eric Froehlich and later the former Main-Event winner Jerry Yang.

A good number of german speaking players reached the end of Day 1 in this one: Daniel Zink, Lennart Konst, Johannes Strassmann, Thorsten Schuler, Claudio Rinaldi, Hanno Offen and Rob Sterken. But at the top of the list and second in chipcount there was Nasr El Nasr (7th EPT - Prague).

Over to the Omaha High-Low which had at least one poker star on any table. Annie Duke, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Phil Gordon and many others. Even Phil Hellmuth who made it deep into the event but again missed a good result in a non-hold'em event.

And finally there was the final table of the 5k-No-Limit with the german Fabian Quoss. Fabian went in as the chipleader and rolled over the final table. One of his victims was Ivan Demidov's girl friend Lika Gerasimova. Then he went into the heads-up with a 4:1 chiplead against Brian Lemke. And Brian was the only one to stopp him. He shortened the difference piece by piece and finally turned it around and took down the bracelet. Still a great success for Fabian Quoss who earned $427,911 for his efforts.



So today I wont play a big tournament. Maybe a smaller one but mainly will check out how the action evolves in the Rio.

WSOP 2009 - First day in Vegas

So I finally arrived after 18 hours of travel. It started 6:50am in the morning with a semi-cooler as KLM couldn't find my booking for some reason. Now I understand why the online check-in didn't work. But they were very friendly and helpful and finally managed to get everything straight.

The stop in Amsterdam was rather short and I was able to sleep most of the 8-hour flight time as I had enough legspace with a free seat next to me. I wasn't to happy to fly via Detroit. I went through Detroit some years ago and I remember it as a very ugly airport. So I was really surprised that all is very modern and nice her now. And the way through Immigration was the fastest I ever had ... only took me 15 minutes (including the usual "pick-up your luggage and release it again" process). Never seen an "Indoor-Tram" at an airport. But here they have it.

The plane from Detroit to Las Vegas was very crowded but even those 4 hours were over sometime and I finally reached Sin City. At this time (4pm local time) I felt very awake and refreshed.

So I went to the Rio first to pick up my media badge (as you only get this until 7pm) and then checked into my hotel. Some unpacking and then over to the Venetian to buy-in for Monday's Deepstack event and having a first look at the tournament area. They have indeed addded a lot of tables and they now reach far into the casino floor. Very noisy environment.

At this time I felt a little tired for the first time but went back to the Rio for some pictures. Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) was at the final table (and heads-up at this time) in Event #14 ($2,500 Six-handed Limit Hold'em). He went into the heads-up as the favorite but unfortunately had a bad run there and ended up to miss his next bracelet. Congratulations to Brock Parker but I was rooting for Daniel and feel very sorry for him.

Took some more photos at the Ladies event. Many had already left but Maria Ho (@MariaHo) was still in and managed to end the day around average. At the 5k No-Limit I got a shot of Erik Seidel (@Erik_Seidel) who shortly after busted in 22nd place for a $21,026 win. David Pham ended the day second in chips and returns tomorrow for the final 17 of 655 players.

Although I would have enjoyed to stay longer my body then told me that it was time for rest. I managed to get back to my hotel without falling asleep early and the rested for 8 hours straight.

Now it's time for me to pick up some breakfast and prepare for my event today. Seems that I don't have internet access at the Venetian but at least will be able to twitter my results via SMS.

Excitement is growing

Finally I am on vacation. And the excitement is growing. I am following the WSOP online and enjoyed Twitter, PokerRoad Nation, the live stream and many other options to stay up-to-date with the action. Without question Twitter totally changed the way the WSOP is covered. Beside the usual (good) coverage from PokerNews there's now a lot of "noise" that will give you an up-to-the-minute impression of what's going on inside and outside the Amazon-Room.

I will have another Boogie-Woogie competition near Passau on Saturday. My trip then starts early Sunday morning via Amsterdam and Detroit to end in Vegas about 18 hours later. Of course I will try to update my blog on a frequent base (hopefully daily) but if I have enough wireless coverage I will tweet from my whole trip on a regular base.

Due to the current attendence numbers I decided to skip the Caesars Mega-Stacks (only around 200 players) and play the Venetian DeepStacks (700+ players). If you want to have some action there are still shares available at ChipMeUp! To make the whole thing even more exciting I have a 1% share in Cort's play at the $2,500 6-max (event #19) and a 5% swap with another player in Mondays Venetian DSE event.

That's it for now. Expect my next blog entry coming directly from Sin City :-)

Structure comparison of Vegas summer tournaments

Some may know that I am a big fan of Snyders' Patience Factor as it is a very good tool to compare the quality of tournament structures. But I am aware that this tool only gives "correct" results for the early stages of a tournament. In general this is a minor problem as the later stages reflect the earlier stages anyway.

But you have to be more careful with your results in deepstacks tournaments and/or those that differ significantly in how flat or steep the blindlevels are. Which is definately the case in the summer Vegas events.

So for my upcoming tournaments in Vegas I added two columns to Snyders' PF-Calculator to get the numbers for Harrington's M=20 and M=10. While Snyder uses the blind-off time for his calculations I now use the starting stack for my considerations. The basic idea is to say "if I can maintain my startingstack how long will I be in the comfortzone and when will I reach push-and-fold mode". This defines the critical area of the tournament and usually the one were bust outs start to come faster (before slowing down again).

In addition I then checked the jumps needed to maintain M=20. Usually you should expect to increase your stack (at least that is the goal of a tournament). So with lower jumps from level to level this goal can be achieved much easier then with big jumps. Again you can find a critical area with a lot of busts combined with those big jumps as the majority can't keep up with the pace of the blinds. For my calculations I only look at the values after M=20 has reached the startingstack as it is usual and neglectible that there are up to 100% jumps in the very early stages.

While this method is not so intuitive like calculating the PF it may help to define the overall quality. So let's have a look at the Vegas events in June:

I looked always at the lowest buy-In events which is the $340 for Venetian and Caesars, $235 for the Golden Nugget.

Venetian DSE III (12,000 startchips & 40 min. levels)
PF=23.23
M=20 reached at level 4
M=10 reached at level 6

Blind-Off Time (Snyder) = 289.20 min.
Critical time frame = 160 – 240 min.
Critical jumpfactor = 75% to level 4 & 63.64% to level 6 (160 min. & 240 min.)

Remark: The blind jumps at the DSE are surprisingly wild. Between 33-50% in the early stages and then 75% and 63% during the critical time frame. From there they almost never go above 39% and even go as low as 11%.


Caesars Mega-Stacks (15,000 startchips & 50 min. levels)
PF=28.22
M=20 reached at level 3
M=10 reached at level 5

Blind-Off Time (Snyder) = 318.75 min.
Critical time frame = 150 – 250 min.
Critical jumpfactor = 55.56% to level 8 (420 min.)

Remark: The Mega-Stacks never jump more then 55% (even with the antes kicking in) and stay quite constant. Jumps in later stages go as low as 29%


Golden Nugget Grand Series (12,000 startchips & 40 min. levels)
PF=27.17
M=20 reached at level 5
M=10 reached at level 7

Blind-Off Time (Snyder) = 312.73 min.
Critical time frame = 200 – 280 min.
Critical jumpfactor = 55.56% to level 6 & to level 8 (240 min. & 320 min.)

Remark: Although not counting this for the evaluation it should be noted that there is a 133% jump to level 4 (just before the critical time is reached)! Later stages show everything from 15% to 71% in a wild mix.


Conclusion
Taking all into account it looks like the Venetian is slightly ahead in terms of structure this year. With critical time frame and critical jumpfactor almost identical you have to survice just one steep cliff (lasting 1h 20min). From there it's an much easier sail then.

For Caesars you have to survive another critical time after 240 min and even from there have to deal with higher jumps then the Venetian in general.

The Nugget has the weirdest structure of all. With the critical time frame and the critical jumpfactor overlapping there is a extended critical period from 200 min. till 320 min (2h!). The big jump before that isn't helpful either.

Any feedback on this approach is welcome. I also posted this on 2+2 in the "structure comparison" thread (page 2) if you prefer to respond there.

Addition (on May 25th, 00:47am):
Thanks to "dcarp" for making me aware of an important fact by sending me a private note on 2+2.

I talked about the difference in the jumps from level to level which are 11-39% (Venetian) and 29-55% (Caesars) as shown above. Please don't forget that this accumulates over a longer time. So with the Venetian having overall slower jumps Caesars starts to run away much faster the longer the tournament lasts.

E.g. during level 13 a M=20 is 162k @ Venetian but a whooping 420k @ Caesars. After re-reading my posting I think "...and even from there have to deal with higher jumps then the Venetian in general" doesn't emphasize this fact enough.

But then, I still think that the early stages are very important. If you have to get lucky early to reach the later stages I never call a tournament deepstack. To close out the luck factor you need a sufficient amount of time to accumulate chips. What I tried was to extent the reach of the PF (which doesn't go very deep into a tournament) to a somewhat thorough consideration.

Sometimes you just can't win

Went to the Masters Warmup tournament at the Oceanscard Casino near Passau. Not too bad of a structure with 10k chips and 30 min. levels. Unfortunately they still have the awful jump from 100/200 to 200/400(25) ... hope they fix this some day to make it a real good tournament. 38 players created a prizepool of €3,800 awarding six paid spots with about 1.2k for the winner.

This was a strange tournament for me. I got a lot of playable cards but beside AK two times there were no premium hands during the first levels. My highest pair was a pair of 8's. I connected to the flop sometimes but never good enough to face a strong competition. So my stack went back and forth between 8k and 13k for a long time. Already in the awful 200/400(25) level I managed to get a break. Raised it to 1,000 with KK and got an all-in from a guy with 12k. Of course he could have had aces but based on his previous plays I estimated that he was trying to protect a vulnerable hand. So I called and he showed AKo. No further help for him and I was up to 24k.

From there I took down some nice pots and peeked at 32k. In the following two levels I was rather card dead so my stack went down to 24k. Still nothing to panic about. Average at this time was 20k. Then during the 800/1,600(200) level I picked up QQ and was faced with a 9k all-in from a short-stack. Of course I called and was delighted to see his TT ... until another Ten hit on the river. Down to 16k. Now it was time to panic. No, not really ;-) But this was a real cooler. Still managed to bring my stack back to 24k again.

Finally I received AA in first position. Raised it to 4k and got a re-raise all-in from the button who had about the same amount of chips then me (24k). Of course I called and he showed QQ. Nice! Until a Queen appeared on the flop. Out in 18th position instead of being among the chipleaders with 52k. What the hell do people think I may have when I raise from UTG? Sure he couldn't re-raise with a 24k stack but he also should have put into account that I may have a real strong hand. To be honest, I loved his call ;-) only didn't like the result.

As said in the title "sometimes you just can't win". Today I played a good game with no major mistakes. There was nothing I could have made different to alter the outcome. Still it was a good training for Vegas and I am more and more comfortable with the way I play. My current style allows for a lot of play with less risk even when I don't get premium cards. Can you believe that none of my pairs improved to a set on that day? In addition this style allows to trap people easily. Unfortunately traps can fire back some times.

Most probably this was my last live game before Vegas ... just 16 more days. Starting to get excited. Don't forget that there are still shares available on Chip Me Up. Altered my plans a little. Now the final schedule includes tournaments at Caesars, Venetian and Golden Nugget.

Although I love the Caesars poker room I don't play the Mega-Stacks exclusively this year for some reasons: First is the fact that I don't like that Harrahs takes away 10k from the prizepool for a main-event seat. I would prefer that this money is distributed between those ITM. Second is that the Venetian really has improved their structure in the middle stages. It's time to test them again. In addition I found it somewhat exhausting to go to the same place over and over every day during last years trip. A change of venue is always refreshing. I also added the Golden Nugget as they offer a very good structure in relation to the buy-in.

Playing at the Golden Nugget is somewhat like coming back home for me. The Golden Nugget was the place were I played my first ever hand of poker in 2004. Being a cardcounter at that time I never expected that the game of Poker could influence my live so much. Now I only need a major cash in Las Vegas. I had some nice final tables and cashes in other places but in Vegas I still miss a big hit. Maybe this year! ;-)

Some random stuff

Not much has happend in the last weeks so this is just a little wrap up and some funny stuff to read.

Of course I now get more and more excited about my upcoming Vegas trip. All is set and booked. The plans for my tournaments are made and staking offers are set up on CmU ;-))

In addition I am now officially approved to get media credentials for the WSOP during my stay. Not sure what kind of stories I will/can deliver but I try to do my best to find some good stuff. This will be especially interesting for my readers who can read german as I will write some stuff for Pokerfirma.de.

Last night I really owned our homegame. Took out the first guy after three hands and then all of the others except of two. Of course I won that tournament ;-) Sure it's helpful to get good hands and in addition hit on the flop heavily. In the second tournament my cards weren't that good anymore but still good enough to make second here. Nice addition to my Vegas bankroll ... thanks guys!

You may remember that I talked about Twitter and twittering poker pros not long ago. Twitter still rocks and more and more join Twitterverse. One of the newest additions is @DocPoker (Michael Keiner) who hasn't twittered yet but will do during the WSOP.

Like a funny Twitter story? O.K here it is! This one has happend just a few minutes ago between @allenkessler (Allen Kessler) who is playing in a tournament and @savagepoker (Matt Savage) who is the tournament director in that event:

@allenkessler on Thu 14 May 23:53
What was @savagepoker thinking when he scheduled both 8 or better tourneys on the same day a few hours apart?

@savagepoker on Fri 15 May 00:07
@allenkessler I was hoping you bust out so you can play them both!

shortly after:

@allenkessler on Fri 15 May 00:24
@savagepoker why are tourneys set up to give more play in nolimit than limit events...

@savagepoker on Fri 15 May 00:30
@allenkessler why don't you walk 50 feet over here and ask me :-)

@allenkessler on Fri 15 May 00:33
@savagepoker afraid to miss a hand

...this is more entertaining then any live reporting can be! Unfortunately the twitter rules at the WSOP are more strict but you can still expect many interesting and funny stories in the Twitterverse during the WSOP.

WSOP Media Conference Call Breakdown

With just 4 weeks to go until the start of the 2009 WSOP there was the annual media conference held by Jeffrey Pollack, Seth Plansky, Jack Effel and one guy from ESPN. Beside a lot of already known stuff (for those who read the news) there were still some interesting and new announcements:

The capacity of tables has been expanded again. The total is now at 306 tables. Again the majority of these will be in the Amazon-Room. In addition Harrahs is now using the full Brasilia-Room (95 tables) and the Miranda-Room with 56 tables.

Sit&Go's are now moved to Brasilia and there will be up to 48 tables for SnG's starting at $120. Cash game capacity has been expanded by 10 to 75 tables total.

For the $1,000 event Harrahs expects something between 5,000 to 6,000 players. In general it was said the the pre-registration numbers are up from last year. So this is a first indicator that we might get a real good number of participants again.

As already made public players get now 3x the buy-in as their starting-stack. This is valid for all events including the main-event and the 50K H.O.R.S.E. Harrahs also tries to improve the payout structure but this is not completely finalized yet. But there will be still least 10% in the money with a minimum payout between 1.75-2x of the buy-in.

The Champions Invitational (of former main-event winners) will be held on May 31st and June 1st. The winner will receive the newly created Binion Cup ... which will be presented by Jack Binion himself. No decision yet if this is a one time event or will be part of future WSOP years.

Regarding the TOC (Tournament of Champions) that was canceled by Harrahs some years ago there will be an announcement for a new kind of "All-Star-Event" quite soon.

To honor the bracelet winners better then in the last years there will be now a bracelet ceremony in the Amazon-Room at 2pm on every day.

As already known the delayed final table is back and will be held from Nov. 7th to 10th at the Penn & Teller Theater. Some more informations about the particular timetable will be released once the WSOP has been started.

The announcement of the TV coverage feels a bit like a dissapointment. While the general number of hours remains the same the selection is somewhat poor. Only the Champions Invitational, the 40K event, Ante-Up for Africa and the Main-Event will be televised. Seems that ESPN goes the save route to ensure to have televised events with a lot of "known names". In light of the improved structure this may be a short-sighted decision as we may see the Pro's rising again this year...

The good news on the other hand is that live streaming (via ESPN360 and other sources) will be back. No more details yet and most probably not free of charge.

Another point that may raise eyebrows is the way the WSOP handles penalties. Keeping a detailed log about all penalties given to certain players is a very good thing (and allows for escalating penalties). The new "one hand penalty" is good too. Before there was either a warning or a "one round penalty" but nothing in between. But saying that a Pro (who should know better) may be punished different then a first-timer sounds somewhat strange. In an example Jack Effel said that "acting out-of-turn by a first timer maybe worth just a warning while a pro or regular WSOP player may receive a one hand penalty". While I can see the idea behind it, it opens the door for a huge grey area and many people who may feel getting treated worse then others.

Rooms are still available at the Rio and current rates are told to be between $69 midweek and $109 on weekends. But due to the weak economy cheap rooms can be found everywere in Las Vegas!

And of course the "Twitternation" has reached the WSOP. There will be an official Twitter account (@WSOPliveupdates) reporting from the felt as well as @JeffreyPollack himself (who stopped blogging and is now twittering). But the device rules for the WSOP are still remaining. Therefore absolutely no twittering is allowed while at the table!

Hope you enjoyed that little breakdown from the media conference and see you in Vegas in about 4 weeks.

In Memory of Frankie Manning

This is one of the seldom times were I write about something that isn't related to the game of poker at all. Some of you may know that I have another passion: dancing ... in particular the Lindy Hop (a swing dance from the 30's and 40's).

Today is a sad day because the idol of all swing dancers around the world Frank Manning died this morning at the age of almost 95.



For those who don't have an idea how Frankie danced ... just look here:


He's the guy from the last couple (at 1:22 min) ... scene from "Hellzapoppin"


It was in 1992 at the famous dancecamp in Herraeng (Sweden) were I met Frankie for the first time. Beside the wonderful music he was for sure the main reason that I fell in love with the Lindy Hop. I had never before met a guy who still was sooo young at the age of 78. One of the happiest people I ever met. It seemed that he enjoyed and loved every minute of his life. From there I had the pleasure to meet him and learn from him several times over the next years.

We all knew that this day would come someday but it's still so unbelievable that he won't be around anymore. I will miss his happy smile when he danced and his laughter when he told us stories from his early years. I think I must have heard some of those for at least ten times ... but I enjoyed them every time again.

I was in Herraeng again the year before he got his artifical hip. He hardly could walk ... but he still could dance almost like before. And then he came back the very next year ... one year older but looking at least 2 years younger ... still dancing, dancing, dancing!

It was that time when it felt like he would never leave us. He got 85, 90 and he still danced and teached everywere around the world. It was in 2006 when I met him for the last time. It was so great to have him back at the Boogie-Baeren Whitsun Camp in Germany after so many years. So great to see that already the next generation (many people who never met him before) felt the same fascination that I had felt when I met him for the first time. When we said goodbye in that year I didn't know that it was the last time that I would ever meet him.


This is how he danced in 2006 at the age of 92

I believe that leaving this place isn't the end of it. And I am sure that his special spirit will leave a mark at his next destination too. And for us he left a big legacy. He never wanted to be famous. All he wanted to do was dancing. But his love for the dance "infected" more then one generation of swing dancers. Frankie has left the dancefloor forever but the dance will stay. Isn't that one of the greatest things somebody can leave behind when he finally he has to go?

And from now one every swing dance danced anywere in the world is a memory of the great and wonderful Frankie Manning!

WSOP 2009 ... I will be back to Vegas in June!

I had to solve some things in advance but now the trip is finally booked. I will be in Vegas from June 7th to June 14th. And I got a real bargain as I found a flight from Munich to Vegas for just €409. The lowest price I was able to get for years. It's not a short trip as it takes 18 hours via Amsterdam and Detroit but this price is worth the slight detour.

I also got a good rate for my hotel room. I had booked a non-pre-paid rate early enough which was a good idea. Now the same room would be $20 more per day. I will stay at the same place then 2008 again (the Grandview) as I liked the huge suite-like design of the room. It's a bit outside, south of the airport and close to the new M resort. But this doesn't feel like a downside to me. Driving back and forth often helps to clear the mind.

Most probably I won't play a WSOP event (also the improved structures look very good) because it's still not really my buy-in range. But again the Venetian DeepStacks and the Caesars Mega-Stacks are running. The detailed plan for the Venetian is already published. In addition I saw some non official plans for the Mega-Stacks and it seems that they match the buy-ins of the Venetian for the same days. So at the end it will be a decision of personal choice (I like the room at Ceasars more) and structures (which are not out in detail yet). In addition there is a series at the Golden Nugget with buy-ins as low as $240 (Venetian & Caesars start at $340). Even the series at Binions is back. The buy-ins are even lower then the Nugget but it doesn't look like Binions structures meet my requirements.

Of course I will sell some of my action at ChipMeUp. So far I have put in four events of the "Mega-Stack Series".



So it's just 52 days from now until I will be back to Vegas. And in case I hit big I reserved myself another week of vacation ... so I might be even able to extend my trip. I'm really looking forward to this as this will be again my personal poker highlight of the year.

SCOOP Main-Event (Low) on PokerStars

That was a strange tournament. In the first hour I got 4xJJ, 2xQQ, 1xKK and several other pocket pairs. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make money on those hands. They even cost me like the QQ that ran into KK. So I went down to 8,000 (from the 10k startstack). But finally AT was a winning hand. Hit two pair on the flop and was faced with an all-in. That guy had played this hand very strong but had tried to push people off the hand very often too. So I decided that two pair could have been good here and called. He showed AQ and I doubled up to 19k.

Then I went into a dry run but finally managed to get up to 22k again. My highest point was reached at 30k but at this time the average was also now close to 27k.

Then I played my final hand: I had raised to 1,500 pre-flop with Ax-suited and two others called. Blinds had been 300/600 (75). The flop came Q-5-x with two hearts. I bet 3,500 into a 6,000 pot and the small-stack goes all-in for 11k total. I assumed he had hit something but the pot was now 20,500 and I had to pay "just" 7,500 more. If I lose I would have had still close to 20k.

Unfortunately there was a player behind. So calling wasn't an option. I either had to fold or go all-in to isolate the short-stack. The other player had only little more then me so I decided to force him for an almost tournament-life-threatning decision. Unfortunately he had called immediately and as the cards were opened I knew why: The Shorty had 55 for a set and the other player had QQ for the higher set. Wow, that wasn't what I had expected. I still had outs. But none came and I was out in 7,138th position of 18,747 (with 3,150 getting paid).

I don't think it was a mistake trying to isolate. With anything less then the top set the 3rd player would have had a hard time. My fault was to bet the flop with my draw. If I had just checked it here I still could have called a reasonable bet but easily would have been able to fold against an all-in of 11k into a 6k pot.

Of course if I had hit my flush I would have had now 70k in chips but was it really worth the risk? That's exactly the problem I have with pot-odds and outs in tournament poker. There are times when a play might be mathematically correct but it can cripple you too much or even cost your tournament life. And then you may lose a good position in a tournament. This was for sure the case here. I wasn't in a hurry to push things. And here it seems that I pushed too hard.

Easter Special Poker Tournament at Casino Savoy (Czech Republic)

Once again I drove up to Česká Kubice for a very good structured tournament at Casino Savoy (organized and held by pokerandmind.com). Just recently the pokerroom was moved into a separate area. Although it's a bit cramped with 6 tables in there its a very nice location with it's own bar and service (and restrooms not far away). The whole style of the room is somewhat countryside-like. You may like it or not ... I must admit I do.

With 6 tables available they had split the event into two starting days. Unfortunately Easter doesn't seem to be the best choice for an event like that and the good weather wasn't helpful either. But they still got 42+35 participants creating a good prizepool of €18,000.

With 12,000 startchips and slow 30 minute blinds there was again room for lots of play. The PF=22.82 is lower than in the Pokertour event last week but anything over 20 can always be considered as a good structured tournament.

Unfortunately it wasn't my day and the hands I received would have been good enough to bust in three tournaments in a row. First hand in the tournament I raise ATs in late position and get a re-raise from the big blind. Easy fold ... he shows KK. Second hand in the tournament I get AKo (Ace is a club). This hand goes till the river on a Jc-9c-3c-8h-Tc board. I had raised pre-flop and bet the flop. We checked the turn and the other guy then bet the river. This guy was either a complete donk or...! I smelled a rat and just called. He showed me then KQ of clubs for straight flush. I know a lot of people that would have been busted in that hand. He was shocked to see that I just called his bet with the "not-so-nuts-nut-flush" ;-)

I continued to get decent cards but wasn't able to profit much from them. A little later I got KK in middle position. There was a raise in front from a guy who earlier rivered me with K3o (hitting a 3 on the flop while I hit my Ten with AT and paying all streets until he finally hit his King). I called the raise and another player called the raise too. Flop came A-K-x. The original raiser bet 3k (which was a reasonable bet). As he had only 3k left behind and there was a flushdraw on the board I went all-in for 11k to shoot-out the other player. That guy thought for a long time and finally folded (later telling he had AQ). The raiser called and guess what he had? AA for the higher set!

Down to 4k and then made my way up to 21k again due to two dumb plays of players that thought they were smarter then they are. But the blinds already had been costly now and I went down to 13k again when we reached two tables. There I found AK on the button. Everybody folded to me and I raised to 2,000 with blinds 400/800 (75). The big blind put me all-in with a 15k bet and I decided to call. There are a lot of circumstances were I could discard AK. But 600/1,200 (100) blinds were close around and this move could have easily been an attempt to get me off the hand (he had about 45k total). Unfortunately it wasn't ... as he had AA. Flop got me some outs but none appeared on turn and river. Went out 18th of 35.

Must admit I wasn't to unhappy. The way this whole tournament went I could have easily been out after 30 minutes. That I lasted that long showed that even with bad cards and bad beats you can survive longer then you might think if you do it the right way.

The tournament didn't went much better for Thomas and Silke from minraser.me so we sat down and had some nice talks about our last tournaments for a few hours before I drove back home.

Will play the low leg of the SCOOP main-event. You can follow me on twitter (@ShadowBJ21) if you like ... and of course there are still some shares available on ChipMeUp ;-))

Another final table and a lesson about the context of information

I made it again! The fith time I played the Pokertour.at series and the third time I made a final table here. Went into Day two as 10th in chips out of 20. So there was no need to rush things but also no reason to fold my way into the money. Lot's of options available.

Quite early I got a huge present. Finding AA in middle position there was a raise to 6,000 at the 1,000/2,000 (200) level. I reraised to 20,000 and it was folded to the raiser. He thought for a long time and finally went all-in (he had about 5k more then me). I called in a split-second and he asked surprised "so strong?" showing AK. He later told me that he would have folded this against many other players but not me ... because he had seen some weired moves from me last year at our final table in Linz. Funny that he can remember my moves but forgot the context they were played in. If he did, he would have known that I was dead serious about my hand. I doubled up to around 100k and he went out one hand later out of the money.

From there it was an easy sail to the final table keeping my stack between 100k and 150k. Still avoided the coinflips and played good textured boards very strong. Unfortunately I went into a dry run of cards at the final table. I was still able to make some moves but never really came across the 150k border.

At the end we reached the 5,000/10,000 (1,000) level with six players left. My stack was down to 85,000 chips and the blinds came around again. Still no good cards so I tried a move with a suited one gapper and ironically ran into aces of Peter Hoellhuber again. The same kind of exit against the same player then at the final table in Linz. History repeating ;-)

But I learned another lesson about the context of information and how it can hurt if you miss the context. The other players later told me that they didn't put me on a big hand because it was the first time I went all-in directly but had always only raised to 20K or 25k before. Good observation ... but they missed the fact that this was with blinds of 4,000/8,000 and/or a stack of more then 100k. It didn't matter against the aces here but could have hurt me against other hands as my opponents made wrong assumptions because they were ommiting the right context.

So 6th place paid €1,055 plus a €220 ticket to the final in Vienna in December. Overall I am very satisfied with my performance in these two days. Great poker with only one single lucky strike. Next stop ... not sure yet. Will let you know soon.

Survived Day 1 at the Pokertour in St. Pölten

After making the final table at this series two times last year I had high hopes for this event ... but still experience a huge downswing im my general game. And down was exactly how it started. At the beginning nothing seemed to work right and my stack went down to about 6k (from 10k start). Nothing to worry to much with 45 minute blinds at 100/200 in the second level. But not how it was supposed to be ;-)

Finally I turned it around when I got a huge payoff with Quad 5's versus a Full House. Up to 12k and even 15k somewhat later. Then I got the opportunity to force an all-in from a smaller stack while I was holding Pocket Aces. Flop was J-Q-x. Turn was blank. All the money went in on the turn and he showed KQ for just one pair! He had called my big bets on flop and turn with that? He must have smelled that something was coming! A King on the river smashed me down to short-stack-land.

What followed then were the best two hours of poker I have ever played in my life so far. I manged to convert my short-stack into a medium stack and controlled the whole table from there. Within those two hours my stack went from 4,500 to 25,000 by winning a lot of small pots but not a single big pot. Can you imagine how the action was at the table? "Terror-Shadow" was on the run ;-)

Unfortunately I gave up control by overplaying an OESD and destroying my good chipposition. Back into short-stack-land ... but not by a bad beat. Just by one single bad play. I then got my daily share of luck as my desperate 57s advanced to trip 5's and survived against KK.

From there I started to regain control again. After a table change I was able to bust a shortstack and cripple another one. Now we are talking about big pots as we are now in the 800/1,600 (200) blindlevel. At the end of the day there were 20 left out of 87 starters. The final table of nine will be paid. I am sitting now at 47,500 chips (avg. 43k) and reside in 10th position in the chipcount. My table draw for tomorrow isn't too bad.

The biggest stack has 77k and the smallest has 7k. There's so much that can happen when play restarts at 5pm CET. None of the 20 is guaranteed to make the money at this time.

SCOOP Event #1 and Live Poker this weekend

Originally I hadn't planned to play the $5+0.50 6-max rebuy SCOOP event at PokerStars as I wasn't willing to throw out a lot of money. for rebuys in a donkament. But a closer look at the structure showed that there was no need for a huge number of rebuys. They offered 2,500 startchips and a 3,500 add-on with a slow 15 min. blind-structure.

So I took an immediate rebuy at the start and played with 5K chips. Two double ups against the same player brought me up to 17k. First AA vs. KTs and then KK vs. 55. After a table change I went up to 24k with a Full House over a straight. A five hit on the river and made me the house and him the straight.

So I spent a total of $15.50 (including the add-on) and made it up to 29.5k chips after the first hour. Largest at this time was around 180k. Total number of entrants was 27,134.

After the rebuy hour I got a hard time. Missed the nut-flush draw against shorties two times and ran into KK of a shorty ... being behind with JJ. But thanks to a stack that was really big in comparison to the blinds I wasn't out already but now somewhat crippled.

With 14,000 chips left (blinds 150/300 ante 40) I overplayed my final hand again in some way. I hit an Ace with AT on a A-J-4 board. Bet and was re-raised for my remaining 11k chips. His all-in looked suspicious to me and I put him on a move to get me off the hand. Bad read as he showed AK. Out in 9,113th out of 27,134 (with 5,400 getting paid).

Beside the last hand this was quite a good tournament and felt much better then the bad beats I received since February in a big way. Too bad I missed both of the nut-flush draws. That was a real cooler for the game. But in general I liked my mix of small-ball play and selective agression I showed in the game.

Hopefully I can continue with that on the weekend. The CCC in St. Pölten, Austria is host of the second Pokertour.at event in 2009. 45 min. levels and 10K startchips will again make a good tournament. So I am really looking forward to this one. In case I miss day two I will be back home to play the low leg of the two day SCOOP event (#8).

For the Pokertour.at and the SCOOP tournaments there are still some shares available on Chip Me Up.

Poker Players fall in love with Twitter

Have you heard of twitter so far? Well, if you read my blog frequently you my have seen the little box in the right column. Occasionally this box moves into one of my posts to live update my tournament play.

Twitter allows you to shout out whatever you like (as long as it is shorter then 140 characters) to the whole world or answer to other peoples shouts. Hopefully you find people that get interested in your shouts and follow you on a frequent base. Of course it helps a lot if you frequently talk about something specific and interesting. Hard to keep peoples attention if you only twitter about ordinary days happenings (e.g. having breakfast, going to work, going to bed). On the other hand doing something like living the life of a professional poker player seems to be far from ordinary.

While for some time poker players seemed to ignore all this technical stuff this has changed recently. The number of known players that have their own blog or can be found at Facebook is getting bigger and bigger.

The newest toy is definately Twitter. Just recently a list of Pros who use Twitter was posted at the Poker 2.0 blog. You can find names like Phil Hellmuth, Liz Lieu, Annette Obrestad, Annie Duke, Tiffany Michelle, Joe Sebok and many others on the list. In addition there are several reporters (like BJNemeth) and organisations (Pokernews, WPT etc.) twittering around.

So beside useful and fast informations about the pokerworld and current tournaments you can find a good number of hilarious stories which are just fun to follow. Recently during the WPT Bay 101 tournament Joe Sebook tried to convince Amanda Leatherman to appear naked in front of the final table. The online negotiations went as high as 50K for that. Obviously it didn't happen ... but you never can be sure with Joe Sebok involved ;-)

So grab a twitter account and start to find people to follow. And if you get too many to follow grab a tool like TweetDeck and group them for better visability.

My pokerlife is not as interesting as the life of the pros but you may follow me on twitter too if you like: @ShadowBJ21.

Still walking through "Bad Beat Valley"

After a very successful last quarter in 2008 I went into a big downswing in 2009. After almost bubbling two times in Dublin in early February I now can't get any decent results anymore. I know I am guilty of what can be described as the "Matusow Blow-up" e.g. ruining a good game with one awful decision two times. But beside that I play a very good game that is only stopped by bad beats.

And yesterday wasn't any better. Originally I had planned to attend the PokerNews Cup in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria. Unfortunately the side-events have a ugly structure which is worse of what can be found daily around in the Salzburg area. Therefore I decided to boykott this event and play the "Tandem-Tournament" at the Poker-Club in Salzburg. It's a real shame that somebody like Pokernews (who should know better) is willing to offer crapshot events. The onyl one with a decent structure is the main-event.

For the tandem tournament at the Poker-Club you have to team-up with a partner. Each team member plays in his own tournament and the results are combined. Half of the prizepool is distrubuted on the single result and the other half on the team result. The structure is generous: 20,000 starting-chips and 30 minute levels. 5x times more chips then in the Poker-News Cup opening event and 20% longer blindlevels!

Until the first break I was able to maintain my stack at around 20k. Most remarkable hand was a turned straight-flush with 68s that unfortunately didn't pay many chips. During the 200/400 (50) level the following hand occured: The player in first position raised to 900. I re-raised to 3,000 with AA from second position. A player in MP called and the original raiser called too.

Flop comes 2-3-5. Not a bad flop for Aces. First position checks and I bet 6,000 into a 10k pot. MP folds and first position calls. Wow! Pot is now around 22k. Turn is a 6. What can he have that beats me? A4? Raising from EP and calling a re-raise. Unlikely. A set of 2s, 3s or 5s? Possible but still overpaid. KK or QQ? Again possible but overplayed (he invested 20% of his stack by calling my pre-flop re-raise).

So what to do now? I could check but this didn't make much sense here. He had only 7k left (and I had 10k). So I would assume he would bet the river anyway and I wouldn't fold here. So I bet all-in and he immediately called showing me 44 for a turned straight.

Wow! Calling my re-raise with 44 was already a loose call ... but then calling my bet on the flop on just a draw ... I'm speecheless. Now down to 2,5k and busted shortly after. Poker can be a cruel game.

So what are my next plans? In early April there is the Pokertour.at event in St. Pölten followed by some SCOOP online events at PokerStars. Shortly after the Pokertour stopps in Linz again. Of course I plan to make it to the WSOP again mainly targeting the Venetian DeepStacks and (if offered again) the Caesars Mega-Stacks. Trying to add a lower buy-in WSOP event too. In late August I will be back at my favorite Pokerrrom: The Dusk Till Dawn is place of the WCOAP World Amateur Championship Main Event (organized by the APAT). Thanks to Des Duffy (MD of the APAT) for helping me with my troubles during the sign-up process!

There are several other events of interest (some interfering with each other). Depending on my success or lack of that I decide what I will play. E.g. there is the Shortstack Championship in early June in Dublin as well as some other well structured events everywere.

If you want to have a share in my action then I suggest you to visit "Chip Me Up". I told you about this page in a former post and I used it as well as buyer and seller so far. Transactions can be done easily and its's fun to have people invest in you as well as to find the right people to invest in. So if you want to try your luck ... this is my plan of offered shares so far (more added later):

The 2009 WSOP structures are just "WOW"!

Harrahs and the WSOP are often beaten for just being interested in milking players. You all may remember the discussions about the delayed final table and many other "highlights" (cards, tent etc).

But it seems this time they really got the best of it. They upped the starting stack again by 50% and added some additional levels. For example the $1,500 events now get 4,500 chips and have an added 75/150 level as well as another level at 1,200/2,400(300).

So how much does this change the structure? If I haven't miscalculated it (and I checked twice) the 1,500-Events now have a Patience-Factor PF=27.94. Not only are they now in direct competition to the well designed deep-stacks at Ceasars and Venetian. It's also double to what it was last year (PF=15). Away from a crappy structure back to a real championships event. Expect a lot of Qualifiers and first timers overplay their stacks in the beginning. Also there's still luck involved we might see again the rise of the pros in all the WSOP events.

But the new $1,000 event is now the big crapshot with "only" 3,000 chips? You will be surprised: For this event they brought back the 25/25 entry level which translates to an amazing PF=28.77.

The $2,500 six-handed offers a whooping PF=41.66

I still can't believe the numbers ... but others came up with the same results. Congrats to Harrahs and all that made this possible. This can become the best WSOP ever!

The Cooler of the Month

I don't post hand histories quite often ... especially not when they contain bad beats. Usually no reason to complain. If you play enough poker you receive bad beats and you give them. But that one is really the "Cooler of the Month".

It happened in a $1.11 rebuy satellite for the $109 Low SCOOP Main-Event. I was below average at the end of the rebuy period but managed to make my way up to over 60k then. At this time this was 22nd position with about 80 of 363 left. 14 tickets + a $97.07 cash prize were awarded.

Flopping a flush with an open-ended straight flush draw, betting every street and get beaten by runner-runner deuces for a full house by somebody who calls down the board with just a pair of 77s.

Sometimes poker can be a cruel game :-(

An answer, a bad beat, a sick limit game and flying with Niki Lauda

Little did I know how interesting and long that day would be after I woke up at 11am in the morning. Started very relaxed and finally decided to take the convinient route and play the €30+5 bounty at the Montesino.

The tournament started o.k. and I won some small pots. We had started with 4,000 chips and the levels lasted 20 minutes. During the 50/100 level the following hand happened: I got dealt 99, raised and got a customer. Flop was Jh-9s-2s. Didn't wanted to chase my customer away so I checked. He bet 500 and I check-raised to 1.5k. He thought for some time and finally went all-in. I called immediately and he showed Js8s ... telling me he had to do it because there are so many outs. Yep, and of course he hit the flush on the river. I had a few chips left which went in on A8 and I was out after less than an hour.

So I got the answer if I played it correctly yesterday in a similar situation. And I know I played it correct today too. No reason to run into a better set or a lucky hand yesterday with such a deepstack. No reason to back-off here today. Double or out with that kind of structure.

I took my €20 voucher for the limit cash-game (which was given to the first 20 out of the tournament) and played some 2/4 limit. Ah, its's been at least two or three years that I hadn't played limit poker. Took me some time to get warm with the game but then it took of ... arrgh down! In just one hour two straights got rivered by flushes. Another straight got rivered by a full house and two pair got rivered by a straight. While I lost big pots in big hands others won big pots with marginal hands (one pair, ace high). Seems I got bad beaten again.

Time for a break and something to eat. Went back to the game and jumped into the sickest and most hilarious limit game I ever played in my life. It was already a nice and loose round when two elder guys from Vienna entered the game. Imagine them as a friendly version of Waldorf & Stettler from the Muppet show. But it became even better. After some time Nushin (one of the Montesino poker dealers) entered the game. She owned the table from the first second. Not neccesarily because she won so much. In fact she got very unlucky some times. But her charm together with the "Waldorf & Stettler show" made it one of the most entertaining poker games I ever played in. If you want to play with Nushin - she's one of the bounty-girls at the Montesino bounty-tournament on Feb. 25th. But beware ... her war name at the tournament is "Man Eater" ;-))

But it was still a poker game ... a very loose poker game. There was almost no folding before the flop and quite a good number of hands that got capped pre-flop. Almost no pot was below €60 at the showdown. And believe me there was a showdown! The whole game lasted more than 6 hours and I went straight back into my hotel packing and leaving to the airport ... together with a nice €178 win :-))

So I entered the flyniki plane at 6am in the morning and big surprise: There was former Formula 1 world champion Niki Lauda standing together with the stewardesses. I already knew that he likes to fly the planes from his own airline from time to time. But it was kind of funny to be now able to say that "Niki Lauda himself flew me back to Munich". A nice ending for a very unusual and interesting Sunday.

Deepstack at the Montesino

This tournament started with a tough laydown. Early in level 2 (50/100) I flopped a set of sixes on a 6-T-2 flop. I had already raised pre-flop and now checked to the guy next to me. He makes it 500 and I check-raise him to 1,500. He then re-raises me to 3,000. What? I decide to see the turn with the intention to slow down. A Queen on the turn and I check. He now goes all-in for 10k which basically puts me all-in too.

Can you lay down a set here? To be honest if you had asked me that question in the past the answer would have been "No way! If you go broke on a set than it shall be." I'm not sure anymore if you can be that extreme. You have to recall the action that happend.

I was in the small-blind and he was in the big blind. If he just put me on a pre-flop steal move (which doesn't make sense in that level anyway) he most probably would re-raise me pre-flop. He then re-raises my check-raise (which already showed strength). But he does it only with a minimum re-raise. He must consider that he most probably doesn't make me fold that way. The only thing that didn't fit into the picture was the all-in which was still a bit too high for a 6,5k pot. Another factor is that I had absolut no read on this guy at this time.

There's no solution for this riddle. I never found out what he had as I open folded my set (again creating a nice discussion). He either had the set of Tens or way overplayed AA or KK. Another possibility could be QQ (overplaying on the flop but hitting the turn). He showed little reaction but from the little I got I tend think that I was right. He more looked impressed then releived about my fold. I later saw him luring an opponent into a big put with the nut-straight.

If this was a low-stack tournament I would have called instantly as you can't pass on those opportunities. But we were at the start of level 2 in a 15k, 40 min. tournament and even after giving up my hand I still had about 10k left. There's aboslutely no need to go broke with middle-set if there is a slight chance you're beat. The funny thing is that my open-fold labled me as a rock and for some time I was able to take down a lot of pots on the flop by showing the right aggression. Even more funny those who cried out loudest that they never would have been able to fold this hand were gone latest after level 4 (with hands like TPTK vs. small set etc.).

My time came when I got paid-off big with a well disguised set. Hit my set on the flop but the board again was dangerous. Blank on the turn and check-check. I now prayed for the board to pair and exactly that happend. He bet, I raised him and he called :-)

Somewhat later I took down another big pot with a straight that I already had hit on the flop. Up to 27k at this time. Unfortunately I had to give back a bunch again when I hit my TPTP on the flop but my opponent hit his TPTK on the turn. That hand was kind of nasty and the way it went I could have either lost a lot more if I bet the river or take it down (as the board looked dangerous for my opponent too).

So the most time of the next levels I bounced between 17k and 24k. But finally my stack slowly went down to 12k while the blinds went up to 600/1,200 (75). In the meantime I had to change the table and was faced with an all-big-stack table. I survived three all-ins. With two of them I just picked up the blinds and antes (and a small bet). With the third one I was extremely lucky: I had AQ and was called by AK. Ouch! Flop is J-J-2. Turn: 2. River: J. Split-Pot :-)

Finally my remaining money went in with AT and I got a customer with QQ. The flop was extremely good for me wit 7-8-9. I now was about 44% to stay in the tournament. But no help on turn and river. Out on 77th position of 142 players.

The deepstack at the Montesino is a very good tournament. Not only does it have a very good structure that allows for a lot of play but it also has a lot of players in it that don't know how to move a big stack. Not neccesarily bad players in general but open raises with 400 during the 25/50 level or 4,000 at the 400/800 (50) level are just ridicoulous ... and a waste of important chips if you are running a marathon instead of a sprint. The dealers are slightly better then in the past but still lack somewhat in quality and speed (compared to the CCC). Having a decent hotel (Roomz) around the corner is very nice and convenient. The Montesino offered a small selection of food for the players in the event which was nice too.

Haven't decided yet if I play the Montesino €30+5 Bounty Freezeout or the $20+4 Freezeout at the CCC (which has a slightly better structure) tonight.

No FTOPS cash this time

Arrived in Vienna and played the 6-handed FTOPS event #20. Had to sit in the lobby of my hotel as the WLAN reception in my room was very bad. Why the hell did I even bother to ask them before if there's good reception in the room? :-(

Ran o.k. in the beginning but during the second hour I shifted a little downwards. And finally got all my chips involved in a hand. That final hand was somewhat tricky as I had hit a pair of Jacks on a J-Q-K-x-x board with AJ. I had it played like a straight all the way and finally was all-in on the river. I was sure that he didn't made the straight and didn't hit the King either. Most probably the Queen with a good kicker. So trying to buy the big pot was a decent option.

My opponent thought for a long time but finally decided that it was o.k. to call for half his stack with middle pair and ace kicker. Well, it was obviously ... but still amazing how much risk people take by calling those dangerous boards. At least he didn't insta-call.

So I went out in 1,422nd position of 2,360 after about 100 minutes. Still like the way I played here in general so not much to moan about ... except bad opponents ;-))

At least I now get enough sleep before the Deepstack at the Montesino which will kick off in 18 hours.

Still running that last hand through my head

Sitting at Starbucks at foggy Dublin Airport and for the whole night and the whole morning I can't get this dammned exit hand out of my head. Did I made a mistake here that cost me my tournament or did I do it right?

Well, I finally came to the conclusion that the answer is yes and no! ;-)

If I played this hand a thousand times it was a crucial mistake not to take the free card he offered me by checking his hand. Why? By betting here I usually want to aquire one of two goals: either make him fold or gain information. But knowing that he is a gambler I should have known that my percentage to make him fold had been reduced drastically compared to other opponents. On the other hand a bet or an all-in from him doesn't really gain me information. It could either be a hand or a total bluff. So the money invested was invested on the wrong spot. Therefore generaly I played this hand wrong against this specific opponent.

But ... if I had played it correctly and checked ... the Jack on the turn would have then created the same outcome. If he checked again I then had bet and of course called his all-in (I doubt he had folded). If he bet I would have pushed against him (and again he wouldn't have folded). So in that specific hand I was doomed from the moment I played it.

There was only one way to avoid this desaster: Not playing this hand at all. But being on the button with AJ and everybody had folded to me in a seven-handed game this wasn't an option ... not with still 5 players left to the money.

Lesson learned but somewhat relieved that my "mistake" wasn't deceicive for the outcome of the tournament. Hopefully I can now get this hand to a rest and look forward as I gained so much positive from this weekend for future tournaments.

Only 15th place ... very dissapointing

What a start of Day 2: First hand 88, a raise in front, I go all-in and get a call from KQ. Up to 25k. Next hand TT, picking up the blinds and antes with another all-in and up to 30k. Next hand TT again, shortstack goes all-in to my right with 10k. I go all-in, everybody folds. He shows AA. Flop comes T-7-7, Turn is blank, River an Ace :-(
Back down to 20k.

Make it up to 30k later on and finally get 77 in early position. Make a raise get a caller. Flop comes 7-2-x. I check, he bets and I go all-in. He thinks for some time and then decide that he wants to gamble. He shows J2. A Jack on the turn but no further help. Up to 70k (that't the stack on the photo btw.). Blinds already at 1,500/3,000 (300).

Now I make two crucial mistakes. Again I'm involved in a hand with Mr. Gambler. I raise with AKo and he goes all-in for about 45k. I decide to open fold and I'm now obviously tagged as very tight. Allows for some nice steals but Mr. Gambler still doesn't care. I raise with JJ, he calls. Flop comes 7-7-A. I bet and he goes all-in. I decide to fold (not showing this time) and he shows 55 and I am back down to 55kl

Looking back I would says in both cases a call of his all-in would have been o.k. Both had been borderline but would have been o.k. against this player. Unfortunately I choose the wrong spot: Again I rased with AJ from the button and he called. I'm sure he would have re-raised me with a reasonable hand. So the flop of 4-6-K doesn't look too bad. He checks, I bet and he goes all-in. I am sure he doesn't have the King and tries to get me from the hand. I hadn't too much left but still fold equity. I decided to take a stand. Unfortunately he had called my raise with 46o. Unbelievable. Turn was a Jack and every Ace, Jack or King would have made me the higher two pair. Still 16% ... but no help this time. I was out on a very dissapointing 15th place.

Decided to play todays side-event but better would have backed-off. Got the worst possible table with the worst possible players (with one exception). They raised and re-raised with every garbagge. If I only would have hit my hand strong at least one or two times I definately would have been the dominating chipleader there. Finally with the blinds 150/300 (25) and 5,500 left I got dealt Q9d in MP. I just called (a raise would have called or re-raised anyway). A raise from the SB, fold to me and I call as I am sure he doesn't have a big hand. Flop comes A-x-x with two diamonds. He bets, I raise all-in and of course he calls with A4. No diamond on turn or river and I'm out in 57th of 84.

Looking back I have to ask myself if I should have played the first event slower after I got back to an average stack. My answer to this is no. I didn't get my big stack by playing slow. I lost a good bunch of my stack because I slowed down. At the end I just choose the wrong spot for taking a stand. This can be improved ;-)

At least I beat out 69 others in that event and had to be lucky only one single time in the whole tournament (when my T8 hit against JJ yesterday). I made my way up to average from being the second shortest stack on my very own. So still dissapointed about my finish but happy with the way I played on the most part.

Will be flying back home tomorrow. Have to work Tuesday till Friday. On Friday evening I am flying to Vienna. Playing the FTOPS Shorthanded in the evening in my hotel room and then the Montesino Deepstack on Saturday (and hopefully Sunday). But no Poker from Monday till Thursday. I think I need to recover a little from this weekend.

EDPC Side-Event, Day 2

Day 2 is less then 2 hours away. Not revealing much secrets I I say that I will most probably act very soon. If I'm out early today I will play tonights side event (6pm GMT/7pm CET). If it is a longer fight I might skip that one. There's nothing worse then entering a big tournament after you got busted from another big one just shortly before.

The good news for today is the seat-selection. I am in seat 9 ... in general I hate this seat but if they keep with their usual procedure then I start today on the button! :-) The bad news is that the SB and the BB have 41k and 73k respectively. At least that gives me the maximum options to act. Having no fold equity left there isn't much of a difference if I move in with 11.4k or 10k.

Here are the chips counts and seat selections for today:

1 Cat O'Neil 42000
2 John Farley 38700
3 Vincent Burke 121500
4 Tom Cunningham 69400
5 Colin Stuttard 66800
6 Richie Lawley 46500
7 Jude Duffy 106400
8 Jordan Van Gestel 18900
9 John Clancy 12400

1 Lenoir Pierre 41800
2 Thang Nguyen 73600
3 Nicky Power 69600
4 Rob Taylor 34000
5 Karen Muir 14400
6 Ciaran Burke 37300
7 Cormack McGinty 20500
8 Eamonn O Reilly 12200
9 Harald Gaerttner 11400