Preparing for the WSOP

Preparation for the WSOP is running well. After falling short with the preliminary seat but getting more than $400 for second place a few days ago I now made another good result in the Pacific $10,000 guaranteed.

The tournament started with 623 players and I was able to build a nice stack quite fast. Unfortunatly the cards went cold quite soon and I barely made it into the money (almost short-stacked). After the bubble burst it went better again and I received several good hands in a row and was able to bust some smaller stacks. I was chipleader for some time but again the cards went ice cold. Being in the money with lot's of really short stacks around I decided not to gamble (with bad cards) and fell in hibernation ;-)

Unfortunately the cold deck stayed cold even after we reached the final table. Fortunately the big stacks made a good job and busted several people. I stole some blinds and took down some smaller pots but finally I was pot committed with 22. The chipleader called and made his straight with a 56o. Out on 6th place with $400 added to the bankroll.

Originally I had planned to play tonights qualification for a preliminary seat on UltimateBet once again (I missed my wake-up call the night before and therefore missed the tournament). But after 4 hours of great poker I decided to call it a night.

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I hardly can wait

Eight more days until our trips starts ... and I'm so excited.

WSOP kicks-off today and it looks like they are breaking records again. The "$500 Casino Employee No-Limit Event" was capped at 1,100 (compared to about 660 last year) and the first public event #2 ($1,500 NL) sold out monday morning at 2,288 available seats (208 tables x 11 players) and is now taking up to 500 alternates. Last year was sold out too and had 2,305 players (including 105 alternates).

As it will take some time until I can give you on-site reports I suggest to check this blog (and some nice pictures): Poker Prof's Blog.

And of course you shouldn't miss the reports and pictures from Jan and Katja!

Live coverage from cardplayer.com is great as long as you use Internet Explorer instead of Firefox.

And something special can be found here: Daniel Negreanu's Video Blog.
BTW, Daniel is currently heads-up with Mike Sexton in the Tournament of Champions for the 1 Million Dollar first prize (Last years winner Mike Matusow came in third).

Source: cardplayer.com



Remark at 2:24pm MEZ: Daniel and Mike are now playing heads-up for almost 6 hours ... and their chip stacks are almost even.

It's over! After almost 7 hours of heads-up play and a final table that lastet 16 hours Mike Sexton wins the $1,000,000 first prize. Both deserved to win but personally I'm happy for Mike. I think after co-hosting the WPT for such a long time lot's of people questioned his abillity of being a good poker player.

Now they can clean the TV-table for event #2 which starts in less than 6 hours. It will be interesting to see if Mike and Daniel will pass on this event... ;-))

And one last comment on the TOC winner: Mike Sexton announced that half of his win will be donated to a charity! Wow!

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Sooooo close

So I played the $50+5 qualifier at UltimateBet that gives a $2,000 WSOP seat and $1,000 in cash. I took some sleep before to be fresh for the 2:45am start.

I must say this is definitely the best tournament (especially for a qualifier) that I ever saw. Fifteen minutes blinds and the blinds increase very slowly. During the first hour the 1,200 starting stack is worth 20BB's or more and even in level 5 it would still be around 15 BB.
That's one of the reasons this tournament took 3,5h with 79 participants.

I haven't played at UB for some time and I was really surprised. In my memory the majority there played very tight. But this tournament had lots of calling stations. No bluffing possible and I was lucky that my bluffs yielded results due to the fact that I hit at least something. Three clubs on the board or an ace on the board means nothing to them. What the hell is a "scary board" ;-))
The upside of getting caught bluffing was that I could take advantage of my loose "luckbox" image and got paid of with obvious full houses and straights several times as nobody could believe that I changed my style very fast. And I got really good cards for some time. It was like everytime I bet I hit at least something. In the whole tournament I got AA for three times(!) and they never got cracked and paid off big everytime.

Until shortly before we reached the final table I was usually Top5. Then I got a bad hit and went back to average stack but manged to reach the final 10 and pumped up my stack again and was chipleader for some time. The FT was awful tight and it took ages to eliminate the first players.
Then this hand came across: I was in the big blind with 3,4 and it was folded around and the SB just called. The flop came 5,6,7 ... yeah! He bet, I called. Two blanks on the turn and the river. SB bet every round and I called it. Can you imagine: two people flopping a straight in the same round? Unfortunately he was holding 8,9 ... ouch!
This left me super-short-stacked with 5 players and 4 got paid. Gee, should I become the bubble-boy after such a great tournament? The very next hand I got AJ and decided that it was time for a decision. Went all-in, got callers, flop was AJx and I was back in the game. Finally the bubble bursts and I will get at least $195 but it comes better: I bust the next player and one more is busted by the chipleader.

We're heads-up and I will get at least $475 and now have a shot to the big prize. Unfortunately my opponent has about 70,000 while I have around 24,000. I manage to reach 36,000 but finally I got busted: In the SB I check with 85 and the flop comes 85x with two clubs and a heart. We bet and raise. The turn brings another club and my opponent raises. That's bad, really bad ... if I fold here I have barely 16,000 left so I'm pot-commited here. I am not sure if if he made his flush but I have to call anyway (with 4 outs left for a full house). No help on the river and he has the flush with the AK of clubs. I think I should have gone all-in after the flop but I am sure he would have called anyway.

Now I know how it feels to win money and feel like a loser. I never was that close! Looking back at the nine satellites I played I was ITM two times (the other was a 4th from 89 at FullTilt). Due to todays win I am up in winnings trying to qualify for the WSOP which is a good thing. Therefore I allow myself another shot at UB next week (because I still will be up even if I don't cash there).

So to answer the question: After I slept for another two hours (before I went to work) I decided to feel like a winner. I had a good tournament and I made money. That's all that counts at the moment.

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WSOP just days away

In a few days the WSOP kicks off and that's what thousands of people would love to bring back home:

Ask them what they would do if they have to choose between the money and the braclet - most would decide for the braclet. Not because it's so nice ... but even winning a single braclet (even in a preliminary event) and you still join a very exclusive club. And winning a braclet as a non-american will allow you to earn lots of money afterwards.

Congratulations to all the germans that already won their entry to one of the events. Especially 50outs will have have a great time for sure: Jan won his main-event entry just days ago and Katja will be sponsored by PokerStars for all televised events.

I'm still trying to get a cheap seat for one of the preliminaries. As you may remember I was so close on FullTilt :-( Looks like I have one more shot online (most probably this night or tomorrow night). If I don't make it I will try to qualify at the Rio. Still hope that event #17 won't be sold-out in advance. Otherwise I have to try event #18. But this will be harder as the buy-in is $2,000 instead of $1,000. Unfortunately event #17 is in fact televised (so I'm almost sure it will sell out).

Our vacation starts in 6 days and we will reach Vegas 3 days later (staying for a week). I will play lot's of tournaments beside the satellites (most probably Aladdin, Paris or MGM) but if you're there at the same time and like to meet - just let me know.

If you stay at home but like to get updates about the WSOP I suggest to look at cardplayer.com. They are the official media source and did a great job last year. Unfortunately they decided for a new website design just days ago and that new design is still buggy. I really hope they get it fixed. Otherwise you may look at pokerpages.com instead.

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Mistakes! Mistakes!

Haven't played good in the monthly poker-tester tournament. Well, I played good for most of the time (at least I could play the game the way I like to play) but I made two crucial mistakes that cost me big portions of my stack.

In both cases I knew I was behind but wasn't able to lay down my hand. It's that crucial mistake were an ace comes up or you know that you're behind with your Ax because you most probably have the worse kicker.
Two of those mistakes (even one) can ruin a good game and I can't complain that I only placed 17th of 33.

Agression is a fine thing and it definitely fits my style but there are times were you just have to lay down your hand even if you pushed it hard. The money invested in that pot is already gone ... but sometimes it helps to save for better times.

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Placed 575th at PokerStars World Blogger Championship

Hell, 2247 players and I got the tightest table of the tournament. We almost had no showdowns and went with more or less of our original stacks (2,000) into the break. At this time the average was about 3,000 and the chipleader like 12,000 (if I remember it correctly).

It was fun to have fuel55 at my table. He has a nice blog and is also an active supporter of the WPA. We had some head-to-head which I mostly won (without a showdown) but later I lost a medium pot to him. So I think he got it all back ;-) He seems to be a real good player (and I was happy that he was to my right) but went out at 717th position. Think he had the same problem than me - not much to play with...

At my first all-in I was able to crack AA with KQ as the flop came KxQ.
My later all-ins were folded around until we reached the 25 ante (and 150/300 blinds). I got AJs and the player to my right went all-in. Usually I would fold here (especially against a big stack) ... but he was that type of guy who goes all-in with crap. And I was sure that he hadn't much here. I was right with him as he showed T4. Unfortunatly another one called all-in with AA and busted both of us.

I was sure that my short-stack (around 1,600 at that time) wouldn't allow me to sneak into the 50 winners but I would have hoped to make it past the 500 mark. But it was fun anyway and I have to thank PokerStars for making this event possible.

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KK is only second best ... but AA isn't save, too

You have read my "KK is only second best" below?

O.K. - here is a follow up:
This time I was the guy with the aces. It was raised to me pre-flop 4xBB's from EP and I re-raised him (in LP if I remember it correctly) about 3 times his bet. He went all-in and I called immediatly (again I was short some chips against the other guy).

As expected he showed AK and I felt like a nice double up will come around that would get me well above average (and most probably into the money) ... but no! There was still the flop to come and it came K7K...what?!
Instead of doubling up, I was sent to the rail.

Do I have to complain? No!
This happens and I still know my "lessons learned" from BJ: There aren't bad beats there's just a nasty beast called "standard deviation" (with the nickname "bad beat" of course). I played it correctly and doing it over and over again I will win this situation far more often than I lose it...so get me AA vs. AK again ;-))

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Poker and Business

I'm really surprised. I just added myself to openBC.com (which is a business network) and was amazed to see how many business people state that one of their interests is poker. Lot's of them even in leading positions. Nothing about the stigma of "gambling". It's a fashion sport similar to golf. I really like that!

And I like the quote from Lyle Berman that I found over there in the poker group:
"Poker is like business. You gather information, make decisions, and reap success or failure based on those decisions. The only difference is that in poker, you see your results right away, whereas in business, it may take you years to see the results."

And one more from Mike Sexton:
"Successful businesspeople are used to the decision-making process. They like to be tested mentally even during their entertainment time. In poker they need to be competitive, they have to want to achieve, and it´s all about being blessed with a desire to be the best."

So true...

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