I moved my blog to a new home. Your browser should automatically take you there in 5 seconds. If it doesn't please go to http://www.fifthstreet.biz/ Fifthstreet Blog: 2007

50k guaranteed, Kings Casino Rozvadov, Czech Republic

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Happy New Year to all of you

I wish you all a happy new year and may the poker gods be kind to you (as long as you're not at my table of course).

Hope you all had a good time at X-mas. I had visited my family and the family of my girlfriend and we had a wonderful time. My girlfriend gave me a big surprise with her christmas present. You may remember that she doesn't like poker at all and isn't happy about me playing poker. But here present was a very nice high quality poker set! And she also told me that I should teach her how to play poker. I don't think she will ever go out to a tournament with me but it's nice to see that she has some more interest in what I do than she had before.

So what are my plans for 2008? I will go to Vienna on the first weekend in January and play the Deep Stack tournament at the Concord Card Casino.

I'm now 90% sure that I won't make it to Lotusphere this year. That means that I won't make it to Tunica or the Bahamas too. Instead I plan to play up to three tournaments during the "Poker Winter Challenge" in Seefeld, Austria. Additionally I'm still planing for the "European Deepstack Poker Championship" in Ireland in early February. I will decide this most probably after Seefeld and see if there are still seats available then. Next on my list are some of CAPT-Events (a new series in several austrian cities).

Of course I will try to qualify for a WSOP event and regardless of a qualification try to make it to Vegas during the WSOP for at least one week. Beside that I have several dates in my calendar wich are options. Those include several events in Austria and possible WSOPC locations.

Oh, and there's one event that I will try to make possible regardless of the actual date: The IPO (most probably in Dublin again)!

But the most important plan for 2008: Make money with poker, as much as possible!

Looking back, how was 2007 for me? Well, it could have been better. I had some serious downswings. My time in Vegas during the WSOP was mixed as I made it to the money several times in smaller events but missed cashes in the bigger events (Venetian, Binions). Of course the year had a nice ending with my 9th place in Bregenz (and a second entry into the Hendon Mob Database). And even the Poker Olymp II showed me that I'm on the right track (although I missed cashes there). Overall it was an interesting year but moneywise (including expenses) it could have been better. So there's room for improvement in 2008!

Another note: My computer problems are almost solved. I transferred my domain and my email is working again. Only my homepage isn't working correctly at the moment. But it's accessible at http://www.shadowbj21.com

Read more...

Monday, December 17, 2007

Computer Problems (almost no poker content)

During my stay in Schenefeld my mail- and webserver crashed. I went into a dispute with my provider as there had been many problems before and they don't seem to care much about it. This time it was even worse as due to some mail-forwarding from my current project the emails went into a loop and I had to deal with a real huge number of trash mails.

I finally decided that this situation is absolute unaccaptable and quit the service with them. Unfortunately the domain transfer will take some time. So don't wonder that my homepage fifthstreet.biz isn't currently reachable (at least not at this address). But I created a workaround and you can use this link to Shadow's homepage.

I had to change my email too. You can find the correct one on the left. If you have sent me an email to my fifthstreet address between last Thursday and today please resend it to the new address as I most probably haven't received it.

I'm really happy that my blog is hosted externally and is not affected at all by this problems.

While having some time before my flight back to Munich I planned my next tournament and it looks like I will make it to the monthly deepstack at the Concord Card Casino in Vienna on January 5th. Still hoping for going to Tunica or Bahamas in mid January but if not I will play two or three events in Seefeld during the "Poker Winter Challenge".

And don't forget the last tournament of the poker-tester series at PokerStars tonight. If you're one the leaderboard it's your last chance to qualify for the big finale!

Read more...

Friday, December 14, 2007

Poker Olymp Open II - Event #2 [PF=21.45]

Todays tournament started simillar then yesterday ... going south. But on my second table things went much better and I was able to recover from less than 4,000 back to the 8,000 starting stack. And till the dinner break I made it to 11,000 with blinds going up to 200/400 after the break.

After the break I could continue with my run and went up to 21,000 without showing many of my cards. A little later Andreas Krause came to the table and I had a "Deja Vu". Andreas just called from EP, I raised from MP with QQ, everybody folded and Andreas went all-in for about 7,000. I thought for a long time and finally called just to see him holding Aces again (the hand was an exact replay of Bregenz). Therefore his Aces held like in Bregenz and I was down to 11,000 chips.

A little later I raised JJ and got an all-in from a calling station. Tough decision as this guy had called a lot, folded often on the flop against bets but never went all-in before. So I was sure he had some kind of a hand. The question was if he was just tired of getting pushed off his hands or had a real monster. Even worse he had only little less chips than me. I finally called and was relieved to see him holding AJ. I busted him and was back to 21,000.

Shortly before the next 5 min. break I raised 88 and got a call form an aggressive player in the blinds. Flop was K-T-6, he checked and I bet three quarter of the pot. He went all-in and I let my eights go (he showed pocket aces). Down to 15,000 again I was able to pick up two nice pots a little later. First I re-raised Andreas with KK after he had made an oversized raise. He thought for a long time and finally folded. Simillar situation with Gerhard Schiesser from the "Munich Poker School". In this case I wished he would have called as he was way behind with 99 against my Jacks.

But again the 400/800 level was my final destination. Shortly before the ende of the level I got Jacks again and Frank Debus (who was the commanding chipleader with about 50,000 chips) made an oversized raise to 4,000. I was sure he was protecting a vulnerable hand. Most probably a medium pair or AK. As I discounted AA or KK from the list I was favorite against any pair except QQ. And with AK or AQ it was a coinflip. Do I want to take a coinflip here? Well, with 34 players left and only 10 getting into the money it was still a long way to go. We had played 6 hours so far and I expected another 4-5 hours till the final table. So I decided to take my chances here and re-raised him to 12,000 being well aware that I have to go all-in for my remaining 6,000 if he doesn't fold. Of course he went all-in, I called and he showed AKc. No King, No Ace but two clubs on the flop and another club on the river. Out on 34th of 88. But in comparison to yesterday I have no problems with my exit. It may sound too aggressive for many of you but I rather take my chances in that phase of the tournament than getting blinded down and forced to play minor cards shortly before the bubble.

As a summary I can say that enjoyed the last three tournaments very much. Of course cashing in Bregenz was great but even without a cash both games in Schenefeld had been a great experience and I don't want to miss a minute of them!

Read more...

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Poker Olymp Open II - Event #1 [PF=12.77]

There is a difference between cheap and very cheap. I had been flying with Air Berlin (or former dba) quite often and was always satisfied with their service although the tickets were cheap. But this time I used Germanwings for my flight to Hamburg for the Poker Olymp Open II. This was a horrible experience: No quick check-in terminal, no seat assignments, even softdrinks are charged and the cabin crew wasn't very qualified. At least not worth saving a total of €30 for the trip.

I hadn't slept very long the night before so I was happy that my room at the Hotel Klövensteen in Schenefeld was ready when a arrived at noon. Went to bed till 5pm, took a shower and went to the tournament refreshed and awake. Due to the EPT in Prag several of the usual guests weren't present. But it was still an interesting field of 96 players including Thang Duc Nguyen, Marten Jensen, Max Bracht, Robbie Quo, Bobby G, Frank Blümlein, Soraya Homam, Michelle Lam and Alexander Jung. Jan (50outs) von Halle managed to find 33 players for a €50 last-longer bet ... so chances are quite high that the winner of the event will also win an additional €1,650. Action started very fast as usual in Schenefeld and we lost already 10 players during the first two levels.

On my table I had Tony Vardjavand (organiser of the event) and Mickey Finn (runner-up from the german championship). I got some good cards from the start but couldn't connect with the flop and had to fold most of them. Therefore my stack shrinked down to about 3,500 (from 6,000). But from there I was able to build my stack up to almost 8,000 (being just a little below average) till the start of the dinner-break.

The buffet at the italian restaurant was as good as always and we started into the next round 45 minutes later. In the next level I picked up several blinds and won some hands so my stack increased to 11,500 chips. But that was not enough to slow down as the average was already over 13,000. The blinds had reached 400/800. About half into that level I had my key hand. With QJd on the button there was a raise to 2,300 from MP. The guy had raised three or four of the last hands (no showdown) and had showed a stone cold bluff to Tony some rounds before. So I decided to call his raise and see the flop. The flop was a great straight-draw for me with T-T-K. The guy then bet out 2,000 and I was sure he would have checked a monster like a full house. Maybe a Ten or a pair like QQ, JJ or even 99. Here I made a cruical mistake by just calling instead of pushing. With at least eight outs for the straight I decided that I got the right price for a call. But what I overlooked was the fold equity. Had I pushed here he would had to decide if he calls another 7,000 more. But due to my call we saw a 4 on the turn and he bet another 2,000. With only 6,500 left and almost 10,000 in the pot calling wasn't an option anymore. I could either fold or push. But now I offered him good enough pot odds to call my all-in. He called and showed me the worst possible hand: AA. That reduced me to just four outs. That was my second mistake ... not considering the option that he holds at least one Ace (like AT).

It's one of those hands you wish you hadn't played them as soon as they are over. Running into Aces was just bad luck. But playing the hand badly was a mistake. I don't know if it would have been possible to push this guy from the hand with an all-in on the flop but it would have been the right aggression factor in that stage of the tournament. Just calling was way too passive here. Out on 41st of 96 after 4.5 hours.

Tomorrows tournament offers 8,000 chips and 40 minute blindlevels instead of 30 minutes. This increases the PF from 12.77 to a whooping 21.45. That's what I really call a deep-stack tournament. Hopefully I will make better key decisions tomorrow.

Read more...

Monday, December 10, 2007

How much are 10 minutes worth?

Weired title, isn't it? But I will explain it in a minute.

I'm still looking if I can make it to Lotusphere in Orlando and the tournaments Tunica (or the Bahamas) in January. Therefore I am still following all the information around. Johnny Grooms the TD for the WPO events at the Gold Strike has published the structure of the lower buy-in events ($300 / $500) and I tested them with the PF-Formula. The $300 events have a slow structure giving them a PF of 11.92 with 40 min. levels and 2,500 chips. The $500 events have the same structure but 50. min levels ... now we are back to the title of the post ;-) ... and I was really surprised to see the PF change to a whooping 15.82! Just ten minutes more per level change it from a good to a very good structure.

I now looked at the WSOP-C events that will run at the same time in Tunica. They haven't published their structure yet but most probably it's the same as in other WSOP-C events. Harrah's gives you more chips but has a different structure that earns the $300 events only a PF of 8.61. So the WPO structure is way superior here. In the $500 events Harrah's offers some more chips and extends the levels from 45 to 60 minutes. But still the PF of 14.52 is lower than at the WPO.

Kudos to Johnny Grooms for creating a competitive structure for the January event in Tunica. If I make it to Tunica I will of course play the WPO events instead of the WSOP-C events as they get you more play for your money.

Unfortunately the WPS at the Bahamas doesn't seem to be interested in players that ask about the structure. I emailed them two times but never got a response. So even if the weather in January is much nicer at the Bahamas than in Tunica it looks like Tunica is the better choice in terms of tournament quality.

Read more...

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

A Final Table in Bregenz [PF=11.27]

My day started not very good as I woke up with a headache. But after a good breakfast I felt better and started my trip to Bregenz for the €500 Event of the Christmas Poker Championship. I checked into the Mercure which is convieniently located directly next to the Casino. They also offer a special rate including a late breakfast for poker players.

The tournament had a total of 143 players, including Katja Thater, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Jan Heitman, George Danzer, Andreas Krause, Horst Koch, Siggi Stockinger and many others. But on my starting table I found only people I've never seen before. The table was quite aggressive. Especially a swiss player to my left who raised a lot of hands and hit some lucky flops. Unfortunately I was more than card dead during the first levels and could only pick up some blinds and small pots. During the third level Jan Heitmann came to our table but was severly shortstacked and unfortunately was eliminated soon after.

With blinds 400/800 I was severly shortstacked too with only 3,600 chips left (of a 5,000 starting stack). With the blinds two rounds ahead I found 6c7c and decided to go all-in regardless of the action in front of me. One player in front made just a minimum raise, I pushed and the aggressive swiss player to my left called my all-in. All other folded and the original raiser called too. I hit a 7 on the flop, the other two checked it to the turn were the swiss player made a bet and caused the other one to fold. He showed AQ for a straight draw but didn't hit on the river. With 12,000 chips I was back in the game.

A little later Sebastian Ruthenberg came to our table and unpacked the luckbox when he was all-in with suited facecards in a three way all-in. He was behind the other two but managed to hit his flush bringing him up to over 30,000 chips. Too bad that this table was broken a few minutes later.

I got my new place at a table with Horst Koch and Andreas Krause sitting next to each other. Sebastian got a place next to Katja on another Table. After some time I found 66 in middle position and raised it to 2,500. This was a dangerous play as I had only 9,000 left at this time but decided to take one shot at the big pot. Andreas called from the big blind and I found a dream flop: 2-6-A with two hearts. Andreas checked and I decided for another bet (no all-in). Andreas went all-in (with a bigger stack) and I called in a second. His AJ of hearts wasn't good enough and I raked in a huge pot. Unfortunately a little later he got his revenge when my QQ lost against his AA. Again shortstacked I was able to double up two times shortly after (99 becoming a set and a pair of KK vs. AQ) and was back to an average stack. From there I was able to maintain my stack at about average with some "good" moves. Unfortunately Katja and Sebastian didn't made it into the money but Katja's seat was a lucky seat for me. I took her place next to Sebastian after our table broke ... and made it down to the final table from there.

I was second to last in chips (31,500 with 3000/6000 blinds and 500 ante) at the start of the final table. The ultra-shortstack went out on 10th place and I decided just to wait for a good hand to push. I found this good hand when I was in the big blind for the first time (JJ) and had an all-in of a medium stack in front of me. Well, what else should I wait for? I called he showed AKo and hit a King on the flop. Out on 9th place after almost 9 hours for €1,360 and still happy (well somewhat). In addition to the prize money I will most probably get a second entry into the Hendon-Mob Database in a few days and I was featured in a nice article at IntelliPoker (german only).

Read more...

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

My plans for December

This December I will play at least two big tournaments. The first one is the €500 Freezeout in Bregenz on December 04th (Christmas Poker Championship). I'm really looking forward to this one as I always loved to play in Bregenz but wasn't able to play there for a long time now.

The second one is also a location I really like to play: Schenefeld will be the place of the Poker Olymp Open II and I am registered for the €600+50 Freezeout on December 13th.

Unfortunately my plans about going to Tunica again (WSOP Circuit) in conjunction with the Lotusphere in Orlando in January are on hold now. My current IT-project has changed dramatically. Therefore I either won't be able to afford travelling in January or won't have the time to do so (but earn some good money instead). Most probably those plans are on hold till mid December - making it a last minute decision for my travel plans.

Talking about Lotusphere ... you may remember that I discovered Second Life this January due to "Virtual Lotusphere". I didn't do much in SL since then but started to explore it again recently. I bought a nice piece of land (with great sunsets) and built a Skybox 500 feet above. So if you like to talk to me about poker you can meet me in SL too. You can find my home here: Shadow's Place. To enter my Skybox you need a special invitation. Just leave me an IM to join my group and I will give you a teleport up there. BTW - I tried to establish a poker-group in SL. But SL is very strict. They not only dissallowed any gambling (due to the US law), they also delete groups containing the word "poker". So I now created a group called "Shadow's Friends".

Read more...

Monday, November 19, 2007

Two more tournaments and no cash

On Saturday I played both of the tournaments at the poker-club. The first one ($10 Rebuy) was fairly small with just 20 players. I managed to become the chipleader at the end of the rebuy period (taking one rebuy and the add-on). Unfortunately I wasn't able to keep up with pace of the blinds and I went out in 10th position with three places paid.

Before the evening tournament (the $50 freezeout) I played an hour of 1/2 PL and again had this "out-of-turn-checking" guy at my table. While I was able to pump up my initial €100 buy-in to about €160 at my peak I finally lost a big pot to this guy.

With KK in the blinds I announced pot for a maximum raise. I got two callers including my nemesis (who had originally called from UTG). Flop was 469 with two spades. I bet about three quarters of the pot, one player folded but Mr. "I-have-to-pay-this" called again. Turn was a J of hearts and I bet another three quarters just to be called again. River was a four of spades. That wasn't good. But I had only a small portion of my stack left and was committed anyway. So I went all-in, got a quick call and was showed 78 of spades.

While it makes some sense tho call my bet here on the flop with a big draw I don't get it that he was involved in the hand at all (after I bet maximum before the flop), still stick to his hand on the turn and wasn't afraid of his opponent holding a bigger flush. Playing any two suited or any facecards and calling them down for the lucky hit later cost him his tournament life in the freezeout.

But there is another interesting story about this guy. We were involved in another hand during the cash game were I was holding top pair with ace kicker on a Kd-6h-Td-9d board. He had only called my bets till the 9 of diamonds on the turn. But as he bet the turn I was smelling a rat here and folded. He then showed QJ of diamonds for a straight flush. While the straight-flush gave him an additional €100 bonus from the house, betting the turn was the most silly thing he could have done. He had the nuts anyway but if an ace of diamonds would have hit on the river he would have gotten the big jackpot for a royal flush wich was I think about 20 times what he got for his straight-flush.

The €50 freezeout went quite good for me in the beginning and I brought my initial stack from 8,000 to 12,000. Unfortunately I made a critical mistake by overplaying a hand that I could have avoided. That hand brought me down to 8,000 again and out of the comfort zone with blinds at 200/400. Somehow I managed to stick in the game (even busting some shortstacks) and made it to the final table. Still shortstacked I was in survivale-mode but was able to bust another small-stack buying me another round of playing time.

Finally the moment of truth came with AJs in the big blind. A little earlier (with two tables left) the chipleader (about 5 times of the average) came to our table. Obviously this guy wasn't only lucky to get that much chips. He was indeed a fairly good player who also knew how to bully the table with his stack. While I avoided confrontations with this guy as good as possible, I was faced with a big bet from him (that would have made me pot comitted) while I was holding AT in the big blind. I was quite sure that he didn't have a monster here but it just wasn't the time and the place for someting that was a 50/50 chance at best. So I open folded my AT after I had taken a good amount of time. Now, at the final table it was us two again. As said before I had AJs this time and had 18,600 left (including my big blind of 4,000). I prayed for no raise in front of me but that was exactly what the chipleader did. He made it 16,000 and I had again a tough decision. We were 7 players left. 6th gets a bubble-ticket worth €50 and 5th place gets €92. I was on life support with a good hand anyway but what made it an easy all-in for me was that I felt that something wasn't right with the picture. Something told me that this was a clear steal. I wen't all-in and I could see from his face that I caught him here. Of course he had to pay the remaining 2,500 and showed T8 for two live cards. Flop was 972 for a perfect straight draw for him. Turn was another 9 and the river paired his hand with an 8. Oh, no! Out on 7th of 32 players.

On my way back home I decided that some changes in my play are required. In general I am fairly satisfied but I have one big loophole as I usually lose connection to the average or big stacks somewere in the middle stages of a tournament. Analyzing my play I came up with some reasons for that. These changes will most probably result in either earlier exits somwere in the middle stages of the tournaments or getting me bigger stacks going into the last tables. And, no ... I won't tell you which changes these are. You have to find out on your own ;-)

Read more...

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Three mistakes cost me a big pot

Tonight I played at the Poker-Club in Salzburg again. They just flatened their tournament structure a little more (adding two levels in the middle of the tournament). This change makes the already quite good tournaments of the Poker-Club even better. The Patience Factor for the €100 tournament on Friday is now PF=13.74 (a 10% increase in game quality). This is now definately one of the best tournaments available between Salzburg and Munich (usually averaging about 50 players).

But due to the wheather conditions and another tournament happening in Salzburg at the same time it was only 34 players today. And the new structure didn't help me to make the final table. With blinds at 700/1,500 I had increased my 10,000 starting stack to almost 30,000. But the blinds and some unconnected flops had cut it down to 20,000 again when I was involved in an 11,000 chips all-in hand holding the nut-flush draw. With my AQs I had 15 outs (a pair would have been enough here too) but none of my outs fell on the river. I went all-in with AJo in the very next hand for my remaining 9,000 chips and was up against the pocket aces of the big blind. Went out 15th of 34.

After my tournament had ended I played some €1/2 Pot-Limit. I was still ahead after little more than 4 hours but the last hand I played really mad me mad. In this hand three mistakes cost me a pot worth at least €80.

The Situation: I was holding 66 in MP at a shorthanded table and raised to €7. Two callers. One on my left and one on my right. I can't recall the flop completely but it wasn't a very good flop for pocket sixes.

1st mistake: The player in front of me checked and before I was able to check, the player behind me announced "check" verbally. He was advised by the dealer that he had acted out of turn. Up to this point no big thing. I then checked and now this guy said: "Oh, if you both check ... I have to bet". What the hell!!!!

2nd mistake: I told the dealer that he verbally already decleared check and that he can't change this now. It doesn't matter if it was intentionally or not. But by checking out of turn he was able to "test" reactions and adapt then. This can't be done. In this case I think he has to stick to his original intention. But the dealer refused by telling me that as it wasn't his turn at that time the announcement wasn't valid.

3rd mistake: This was my mistake because I let it go here and didn't insist in calling the floor. Usually the dealer should have called the floor ... but as he didn't do so and continued with the game it would have been my right to call for a ruling.

To add insult to injury a third six fell on the turn. Well, I only invested €7 in that hand (the pot became big after I folded) but I'm still unhappy how the situation developed.

I talked to the floor after the hand and he told me that he will remind the dealers not to decide on their own when a floor ruling is needed. But of course there was nothing else he could do. We agreed that for a proper ruling in that case he should have been present at the time the situation happend.

Tell me what you think the floor would have decided if he was called at the right time! We will never know for sure but I'm interested to hear other peoples opinions.

While I often find it annoying that people call the floor for whatever reason everybody should still remember that he has the right to call for a floor decision. And even if the decision goes against you ... at least you know that somebody who is in charge made a final decision.

Read more...

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Huge start but no cash at FTOPS VI - Event #1

Tonight I played the first FTOPS event at Full Tilt (6-handed NL, $750,000 guaranteed) and started with a huge run. In the first half hour I received KK and JJ two times and QQ one time as well as some other good startinghands. With the first KK in the 3rd hand of the game I doubled up as a maniac decided that KTo is a good hand for a raising war against an EP raiser. He was wrong ;-) The other premium hands paid off too and after that first half hour I had pushed my 3,000 chips starting stack to 9,000 being in the top 20 of the 3,676 inital starters. At the first break I was still in the top 100.

Unfortunately the streak stopped completely and I was reduced to several steals (which worked well due to my stacksize). I was also sitting on the slowest table of the tournament as we had a staller who waited for the 15-second time-out EVERY time he folded his hand. At the second break I had still a healthy stack but the dynamics at the table had changed. First two middle stacks went into a fight resulting in an elimination and the winner becoming a big stack too. After another elimination an even bigger stack came to our table and was seated next to me on my left. This reduced the so far profitable stealing opportunities.

Shortly before the third break I became shortstacked and waited for the right opportunity. That opportunity came with 55 in MP and a standard raise to 1,200 in front. I went in for 5,800 just to see another all-in behind me. The inital raiser folded and I was up against QQ. The flop brought a 5 and made me a set ... YES! But the river was a Queen ... OH NO! and I was out at 731st position of 3,676 with 439 making the money.

At least I outlasted all but one of the Full Tilt Pros (includig Andy Bloch, Eddy Scharf, Huck Seed, Erik Lindgren Rafe Furst and several others) as well as Annette_15. To bad there's no bounty for that ;-)

Read more...

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

I lasted longer than expected ... but not long enough

That was a weired start. First there was a rumor around that they go back to level 4 blinds (200/400) but then it was decided that this was unfair against the bigstacks. So instead they skipped tomorrow and play would go down to the winner today. Tough decision but with three bigstacks (74K, 45K, 30K) and more than 60 players close to average or below I would have preferred to step down with the blinds to make it a better tournament.

With my 5,800 chips I was around 60th position of 70 but a single double up would have brought me close to average and at 24th position.

Well, it wasn't meant to be so I had to deal with the 400/800 blinds. My moment came when an EP player raised all-in for his remaining 2,000 chips. I found AQ and called his bet. The big blind called too. Flop was Kxx and we checked. Turn was an Ace and he checked again. I went all-in for my remaining 3,000 and he folded. The all-in player showed JT. He was down to 3 outs for a straight and of course hit his Q on the river.

I managed to come back to 5,000 just to be down to 3,800 again due to the blinds. Just before the blinds arrived again I went all-in with K9 and was called by the same guy. This time I was behind against his AT but caught a lucky 9 on the river. Up to 7,600 I went into my final hand: EP raised to 3,000 (blinds 750/1,500) and I found KK in MP. I went all-in without hesitation being sure that he will call the remaing 4,600. He did and showed 77. Tough decision for him. If he puts me on two overcards calling is borderline. If he puts me on a bigger pair calling isn't correct. At this table I got two pots uncontested with an all-in and folded every other hand for almost half an hour. I think calling was incorrect here for him but I was more than happy about his call ... until a 7 hit on the turn. Out in 43rd position after a total combined playing time of little over 4 hours.

So in the past days my last hand in a tournament was KK two out of four times. Both times I was ahead when the money went in (and got sucked out).

Read more...

Survived Day 1 of the BPC ... barely

Originally the tournament was supposed to have 240 qualifiers on two starting days. But it turned out that a huge number of qualifiers decided for whatever reason not to show up for the final. While I don't get it that people pay €35 to play a qualifier and then decide not to play ... it wasn't bad for the rest of us as the value of our ticket increased now from €208 to €322.

With 155 players the Bavarian Players Cup had only one starting day but still pays 30 spots and a total of €50.000. The main part of the tournament was set up in the "Casineum" which is some kind of an event center at the Casino Innsbruck. As 12 tables filled the room completely they also used the 5 tables in the main poker-room. Unfortunatly I drew a seat out there. Not only was there no screen with the tournament information but it was also clear that these are the tables to break first.

Our table was very passive and we lost only one player till the table was broken after about 2 hours. I was so card dead that 7-9 looked like a monster to me. I maintained my stack but the blinds took their tribute. At the end of day one I had 5,800 chips (just 800 more than the startstack). And I never was beyond 8,500 today. I had only two real good hands: QQ and AKo. I had to play the first one very aggressively as I had 5(!) limpers in front of me. All of them folded. And I was shortstacked with AK and went all-in directly to pick up the blinds and the bets of two limpers.

With blinds starting at 400/800 on day two I am supposed to act soon. Either double up or it will be a very short day. The chipleaders have between 30,000 - 45,000 so they aren't away to far and the average is around 10,000. It will be interesting to see how fast people will bust tomorrow.

Talking about busting ... during the next to last level (300/600) they announced that the last level will be 300/600 again (instead of 400/800) as we lost players too fast. I had no objections to that and except for one or two big stacks none of the others had problems with that too, I assume. While I usually don't like changes in an official plan I think every change that is player friendly and allows more poker play is a good change. Too bad they didn't think about that earlier. I ran the Numbers through my Patience-Factor Calculator and the additional level changed it from 9.22 to 10.05. This shows how even a single added level can improve the PF at a factor of 9%. BUT, if they kept the original structure and would have raised the blindlevels to 45 minutes they would have reached a whooping PF of 15.0. Which would have created a great tournament structure.

Read more...

Monday, November 05, 2007

Just arrived in Innsbruck for the BPC

I just arrived in my hotel in Innsbruck and have some time left before I have to go the the Casino for the BPC registration and seat-assignment.

So how was my weekend? The short version: Not so good!

It started quite good as the rental car I got for my trip was much better then the VW Golf I had booked. For the same price I got an Alfa Spider Convertible. While it defininately wasn't the weather for driving topless it was still a nice day to drive with that type of car. So this was the fun part of my weekend.

My first tournament (the €30 freezeout) was quite uneventfull. I played only a few hands because of the lack of opportunities. But those I played payed off and I managed to make it to the last 11 of 34. Unfortunately I became the final table bubble-boy. Shortstacked and with the blinds two rounds away I decided that any pair is good for a push with no raising action in front of me. I got my pair ... but it was a low pair (2-2). I pushed and one player behind me called and had me slightly covered. He showed 7-7, no help and I was out. Still not sure what some people think. Of course 7-7 is a good hand to raise all-in but it isn't a good one to call an all-in (especially against an obviously tight opponent). I could have understand his action also with a big stack. But risking almost all of his tournament life here is very brave. But who am I to complain? He went to the final table ... I didn't :-(

The evening freezeout was a €100 double-chance. So you start with 5,000 chips and either re-buy once for 5,000 or wait for the add-on after one hour and receive another 8,000 chips. In that kind of tournament I prefer to maintain my stack till the add-on and start with real poker after that. And the good structure offered here allows to do that easily. Unfortunately I never really came ahead. My high point was around 18,000 chips (still a healthy stack in that structure after 2.5 hours). It was at that time when Michael (a good player from Munich) came to our table with 19,000 chips. He knows some of my playing style and saw me aggressively play (and win) hands two times at that particular table before this hand happend: I received QQ in MP and made a standard raise (which was 1,800 at that time). It was folded to him and he pushed all-in. It would have been possible to call this against a lot of players in this tournament. But not against Michael. I open folded my QQ getting some "wow's" from the other players and a reaction from Michael that confirmed me that I was behind here. He later told me that he had Kings (and I have no reason to doubt this). With the blinds going on and only small pots to win for me I was at 17,000 an hour later. With blinds now at 900/1,800 my stack wasn't healthy anymore. In that situation AKs is a monster hand. Even with a single raise in front. Again I went into a "fight" with Michael who made a standard raise to 5,400 from MP. I was almost sure that he wouldn't fold to my all-in because with 13,000 chips left after his raise he was almost pot-comitted. Maybe I wasn't thinking about that fact enough. But on the other hand the blinds were close to coming again and the next level wasn't far away. I pushed, he called ... and had Kings again. One of the only two hands I didn't wanted to see. A heart on the flop and another on the turn gave me a flushdraw and some hope. But no help on the river and I went out on 21st position of 44. At least this time somebody who understands the game got my chips (and hopefully used them well). I decided to call it a night and skip the cashgames.

Last night was the Sunday Million at PokerStars and I was happy to be able to play it again after a long time. But shortly before the start (and too late for a decision to unregister) my computer made some problems (showing 100% load on the CPU). I restarted my machine and still had the same problems. So I had to play in a very hostile environment. It's tough to raise when it always takes several seconds to mark the amount and punch in the number. Of course it took another few seconds before I could push the button then! I maintained my stack of 10,000 chips until 10 minutes before the first break when I got Kings. With blinds 150/300 I raised to 900 and got one caller. Flop came 972 rainbow. I bet 1,100 and he re-raised to 2,500. I ws sure that I still was ahead and pushed all-in for my remaining 8,000. He called and showed T9o for a pair of Nines and a crappy kicker. What the hell did he think I would raise and bet here? But again who am I to complain? He received a Ten on the turn, won the pot ... and I was out in 5,208th position of 6,398.

Read more...

Friday, November 02, 2007

It's been a long time...

...since I made my last post.

But you didn't miss anything. I was quite busy with a new project in my main profession as an IT consultant and didn't play much poker at all since I came back from the IPO in Dublin.

But there will be much poker play in the next days! Today I am going to Salzburg playing the double in the Poker-Club. They now offer two tournaments on Friday (€30 Freezeout at 2pm and a €100 Freezeout at 8pm) and I will play them both.

On Sunday I most probably play the Sunday Million on PokerStars and from Monday to Wednesday I will travel to Innsbruck for the Bavarian-Players-Cup Final.

So stay tuned for more to come in the next days!

Read more...

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Cheering for Martin Weber

The second day of the IPO started about an hour late at the Jackpot Club. The Jackpot Club is an awful choice for a final day of an event like that. The Club is located in a small street south of the city center. It's very small and crampy. So they had to split the field and one half of the players had to play at the Colossus Club next door. Not much room for the spectators in both rooms and after some time they didn't allow any spectators at all till the last two tables. Hopefully they get sorted these problems for next year as this was beside, some minor things, a really great event in general. If they do it again I will be back for sure!

Martin Weber, the last standing from the german poker players, was in very good condition. Beside a small downswing in the beginning his stack went up and up till 1 Million chips. He finally reached the final table and busted one player immediately there. But with over 2 Million chips and six players left he ran into a real bad beat as his AQ lost against K5 with a five on the river which bought him back down to 1.2 Million chips.

A little later the remaining six decided for a deal und split the money according to the chipcount. They were quite equal in chips so they all received something between 10K and 15K Euros. They played out the winner title and €1,200 separately after the deal. Therefore Martin got a little over €10.000,- in prize money due to his chipcount. Big Payday and congratulations. That was a long day for all of them (over 14 hours of play) but at the end you saw a lot of tired but happy faces. Great Job from Stephen McLean and his team! Although I didn't make it to day two I can say that this was one the best tournaments I've ever played in. Ireland has shown Europe how a huge but affordable poker tournament can be offered without taking the skill out of the game of poker.

Back row:
second from the left - Martin Weber
second from the right - Colin King (Winner)

Read more...

Saturday, October 06, 2007

My IPO lasted only 6 hours

I woke up well refreshed and felt very good in the morning. A nice breakfast and a 15 minute walk to the bus in the fresh but sunny air was a good preparation for the upcoming tournament. I was there early to take some pictures and enjoyed the atmosphere as the people arrived. With all the empty tables (and later full tables) in the hall it was some kind of WSOP feeling here.

Stephen McLean and his crew did a great job to make this a wonderful tournament with a €134,000 prize-pool. But as expected several people showed up asking if they can still get in paying cash. But Stephen was very clear in the past that only online registered people will play. So he turned them all down. It was amazing how "prepared" several people had been for this. There was a french guy at my table (he's part of some hands below) who didn't have a place to stay for tonight. And he wasn't willing to pay more than €30-40 per night. Good luck! And there was a guy from Portugal that came here without having a confirmation that he was signed in. Very brave guy. But in general there were a lot of happy faces when the tournament started about 20 minutes past noon.




I had a decent start and was able to get my stack from the 10,000 starting chips to 13,000 during the first levels. I didn't play a lot of hands but those I played paid at least something. The most remarkable hand was a limped 78s that made two pair on the flop and improved to a full house on the river. But two pair would have been enough anyway to take that one down.

Somewhat later I got my first beat. I just checked AJ in the big blind and the flop came J-J-5 with two diamonds. To get out a possible flushdraw I decided to bet here. Everybody folded except a french player who raised to double my bet. I called. Turn was a 4, no diamond. I bet half the pot and he called. River was a Ten, again no diamond. No flush and no straight possible. I bet out again and he called ... showing TT for a rivered full house vs. my set of Jacks. Down to 8,000 chips. But still enough chips for decent play. Somewhat later I limped with T9 of spades and the flop came 8 of spades, Jack of spades and a Ten of diamonds. What a flop. I had Top pair crappy kicker and an open ended straight flush draw. And again I was in a betting war with the french guy. Fortunately I had the better end this time. No, I didn't made the flush or the straight but a ten on the river made me a set. Although he folded to my river bet I was back to 12,000 chips.

After our table broke I took down a nice pot with 99 vs. 88 when a 9 showed up on the flop. At the dinner break I was up to 15,900.

After the dinner break I didn't get much to play. With blinds 300/600 in level 7 I raised AQs to 1,800 from UTG. It was folded to the BB who went all in for about 15,000. No way I could call this. Down to 13,600. In the very next hand I received KK in the big blind. MP raised to 1,800 and the same guy from the hand before went all-in from the SB with about 16,000. I had seen the middle position guy raise several types of hands this way so this just meant that he had some kind of hand. And I had him covered (he had only about 6,000 chips left). As I was sure that the all-in raiser didn't have Aces here the only possible action was to call his all-in. There was no way I would fold my Kings here (although I didn't liked the fact that I had to risk my tournament life here). The original raiser went into the tank and finally folded JJ face up. The all-in guy said "bad time for a move" and showed TT. Well, it was the right time ... for him. A Ten on the flop ended a wonderful tournament and I was out in 792nd position of 1072 players after around 6 hours.

This is definately one of the worst ways a tournament like that can end. I will go back later for some cash game and to get more informations about the action as I will write a german report which can be found her at IntelliPoker.

Read more...

Friday, October 05, 2007

Dublin and the IPO - the day before

My trip to Ireland was somewhat rough but I finally made it. First thing was that the trains in Germany are on strike this Friday. Therefore the schedule was reduced to one train every hour (instead of every 20 minutes) and I had to go to the airport much earlier than planned. Good thing: there's a Starbucks that just recently opened at the Munich airport. So I got breakfast there. I told you before that I'm a Starbucks addict!

Du to the fact that I was flying on Delta freemiles I had to fly with Air France via Paris. The original connecting time was 85 minutes. But our flight was late due to heavy traffic and the timeframe was reduced to 55 minutes. Connecting in Paris is awful but with less than an hour it's a nightmare. To make things worse the police stopped our bus from the plane to the gate because they were looking for somebody. So we had to present our passports before they let us go. Still enough time ... until you reach security. The security people in Paris are definately the slowest working people I've ever seen in my life. A turtle is "road runner" compared to those people.

But finally I made it to my flight at the latest possible time and had a good flight to Dublin. Before we landed in Dublin we flew over the city and thanks to a window seat I had a wonderful view upon the city center and the highlands in the back. The weather is very nice. Sunny and about 17 degrees celsius. My hotel room is wonderful. It's a nice old building with high ceilings and a good quality standard. And the Jackpot Club is just around the corner. I really hope I make it to day 2 to play there!

Before I met with some of the other german and austrian players I made a short tour through the city center and some of the older streets (e.g. Fleet Street where a lot of traditional pubs are located). Finally we met at Cassidy's and had a nice evening and some good poker stories to tell. Some of the guys decided to check out the €50 deep-stack tournament at the Jackpot Club but I decided to go back to the hotel writing my blog entry and going to bed early.

Tournament starts at noon but I try to be there early to get some of the action and shoot some pictures when 1,100 people arrive for the biggest tournament that ever happend in Europe.

Read more...

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Vienna - No Happy End

Today was the last day of my trip to Austria and it got as worse as it could be. You like to hear some examples? AK pairs the King on the turn but is up against AA. Pocket KK loses due to an Ace on the Flop. Making a move ... up against QQ. This list could be continued forever. I was on the wrong end every time a hand was important. And to add insult to injury I got the best starting hands since the last seven days. But this cost me a lot of chips in the 10+5 rebuy tournament and resultet in an early exit at the end of the rebuy time. And it was very expensive in the cashgame. There was nothing I could do. This day was definately jinxed.

I know that this is normal variance ... but hey, who said that negative variance has to happen on the last day of a great week of Poker?

Anyway, tormorrow I will be back home and sort out some things before I start to the IPO in Dublin. So far they have 843 participants (9 from Germany, 2 from Austria and 5 from Switzerland) and the record for the biggest european tournament will be broken when the tournament starts.

Read more...

Monday, October 01, 2007

A Tale of Justice

Our dance competition in Stockerau was much fun but our own results could have been better. The german team in general had a quite good night as we got two couples to the finals placing 2nd and 6th.

I'm still in Austria because I extended my stay and played another €20+5 tournament at the Poker Royale. I lost a big pot in the beginning when I missed a huge draw and was down from 8,000 to about 6,500 after just a few hands. I wasn't able to play a single hand till level 4. With blinds 250/500 I found AKs in LP. It was raised to 1,000 with another caller. I went all with my remaining 5,000 and was called by both players. And finally my AK nemesis became a winner. I flopped the nut flush against JJ and KQ and more than trippled up to 17,000 chips.

After the break I raised TT in MP and got called from Mr. Crazy (He had just busted a player before the break when he went all-in with 68 vs. AQ and caught 6's on flop and turn). The flop came T67. I checked my set, expecting him to bet but he just checked. Turn was an 8. I bet 2,000 into a 4,000 pot and he raised it to 4,000. I made it 8,000 and he called. River was a 4 and I put him all-in for just a few more chips. He called and a set wasn't good enough here as he had called my initial raise with 45 off-suit.

Down to less then 7,000 my stack was reduced more and more by the blinds and I finally went all-in with Q6 for just 4,000 and got called by AJ. No help and out on 86th of 136 after around two hours.

Justice - Part I
I wasn't involved in that but liked it nevertheless. Shortly before I busted there was a hand between Mr. Crazy-Chipleader and another big stack. Guess what? ... Mr. Crazy flopped a set of 3's but had to pay off his opponent who went all-in on the river after he rivered a straight with 46. Back to medium-stack for Mr. Crazy. That must have hurt ... I know for sure that this hurts ;-)

Justice - Part II
This time I was involved. I was playing at the €1/1 cashgame for a few minutes as to my delight Mr. Crazy (who just had busted from the tournament too) joined the game. The funny part of the following two hours was that he made money from the others by playing crazy and being a luckbox but transfered a good chunck of his winnings to me. I can't go into details for obvious reasons but I was controlling him from the beginning and obviously he never understood completely what happend to him. Unfortunately he left after about two hours and the table eventually broke. As I had already trippled my buy-in I called it a night.

I ran the TT hand from the tournament through my head several times and decided that I was somewhat unlucky here. There's always risk involved if you slowplay a hand. But slowplaying a set of Tens isn't a huge mistake on that kind of a flop. Should I have expected that my opponent was holding 45 (or maybe T9) on a 678 board? I knew that this guy had a wide range of hands but calling a pre-flop raise with that hand was nothing I expected even from that guy. Well, at least until that moment.

In general it was a good night. I made a nice win and played way better at the cashgames than two nights before. I was able to control a crazy player and take advantage of him at the right time without getting into risk & gamble mode. Looks like I feel more and more comfortable with the cashgames (at least live).

Read more...

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Poker Royale Casino - Night of the busted draws

This was a strange night. As expected the €20+5 tournament had a huge number of mainly unexperienced players that tried their luck before tomorrows team challenge. Unfortunately I couldn't take advantage of that and busted 109th of 281. As the days before I lost my AK's but this night I also lost my important flushdraws. The final hand in the tournament went like that: A MP raiser made it 5,000 to go (750/1500, ante 150) and I went all-in with KJ of diamond (10,500 chips) from the big blind. Of course I was called from the raiser with KQ off-suit. Two diamonds on the flop but no further help.

During the cashgame I met Bernd from Salzburg. A guy I know from the Xing poker-forum. It was nice to chat with him while we played the €1/1 NL game. Unfortunately I couldn't win anything here, too. The end came really cruel as it involved AK and a flushdraw as well: EP raised to €4, one caller and I re-raised to €12 from the button with AK of hearts. Both called. Pot now €38. Flop comes 4-6-4 with two hearts. EP bets $20, the other guy folds and I call immediately for my remaining $24. No wonder that he pays the remaining $4 and shows 88 for two pair. Any heart, any Ace or any King will give me a €86 pot (I bought in for €100). No heart, no Ace and no King ... good night!

But to be fair: While I played a good game in the tournament I didn't play well in the cashgame tonight. I played some hands I should have stayed away from. I played the last hand correctly but I may have gotten much more respect with my re-raise and therefore might have been able to take down the pot early. But even if not, it's no excuse for not playing my A-game!

Read more...

Friday, September 28, 2007

Wiener Neustadt - the Poker Royale Card Casino

About 50 km south of Vienna is the location of the Austria's newest cardroom. And if you liked the Concord ... then you will love the Poker Royale Card Casino. Located in an industrial area it doesn't look very appealing from the outside. But once you've passed the door there's only one word to describe it: Wow! 60 Tables in a spacious and nice atmosphere. It's that kind of room were you feel comfortable from the beginning. They also have a nice restaurant with quite good food (including a €9.90 buffet). Beside cash games and their daily tournaments they offer a variation of Sit'n'Gos the whole evening.

Tonight I played the €30+5 tournament. A total of 123 players showed up. One thing I really like is that they play the tournament 9-handed. But the chip values are somewhat unusual. You start with 8,000 and 50/50 blinds. The start stack consists of chips with values of 50, 250 and 1,000. As always the 50's confuse me somewhat in the beginning but you get used to it. Blindlvels of 25 minutes create a decent structure [PF=6.99].

Not many hands to play for me and I found myself shortstacked in the 4th level. A lucky 4 hit the felt with my all-in with A4 vs. AJ. From there I had a great run that pushed my stack from 5,000 to almost 40,000 till the end of that level. That made me the chipleader at our table fo some time. Unfortunately after a table broke I got the tournament chip leader with about 60,000 chips seated left of me. With about 32,000 chips left I had not much to play for the next two levels as he not only answered every action with huge aggression but also was a big luckbox. Short after level 7 had started I finally received a hand. Usually JJ would have been a hand to push with 26,000 chips left and 1,000/2,000 (250 ante). But being UTG and having a very thight image I decided for a raise to 5,000. Mr. Chipleader called and everybody else folded. I was willing to push on the flop regardless of the texture (except if an Ace showed up). The K-K-8 flop wasn't exactly what I liked here. But as he had just called pre-flop I was sure that he most probably wasn't playing a big pocket pair. Most probably Ax or a low pair. Therefore the flop should scare him as well. I pushed ... he instantly called and showed the only hand that scared me on that flop: AK for a flopped set. My tournament life was reduced to two outs. But neither of the Jacks appeared and I was out on 25th of 123 after 4 hours (12 getting paid). Looks like AK is my nemesis this week as I lost a big pot holding AK yesterday and lost my tournament against AK yesterday too.

After a short break I sat down at a cash game table. They have €1/1 NL game (buy-in €20-100) wich is quite interesting. Due to the flat blind structure you get a lot of post-flop play especially playing short-handed to less than full-ring. So if you are a good post-flop player this game offers some great opportunities to outplay your opponents. My impression from the first day is that you find less maniacs at the Royale. So the play in general (tournaments and cash game) is a little more passive but most people lack in post-flop knowledge (pot-size manipulation etc.). I played the €1/1 game for about 2 hours and was able to triple my initial €50 buy-in.

The Royale reccomends some hotels at their website and I decided for the Orange Wings. It's a simple but clean hotel that costs €46 / night plus €7 for the breakfast. If you mention the Royale upon your reservation you get a 15% discount. With free W-LAN this hotel room is all I need for a good poker trip and is another advantage of the Royale over his opponent in Vienna. The hotel is located in an industrial area. By car it's just a few minutes to the Royale. Without a car you can take the bus or a 20 minute hike.

I decided to stay another night in Wiener Neustadt and skipped the Austrian Classics event (€80 w/rb) at the Concord in favor of the €20+5 at the Royale. As they have a team tournament on Saturday/Sunday I expect a good field tonight.

Read more...

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Vienna - the Concord Card Casino

I accompanied my girlfriend on a business trip yesterday - therefore my way to Vienna was somewhat unusual. First we drove from Munich to Karlsruhe and then went on to Zurich. Today I flew from Zurich to Vienna while she went back to Munich. She will meet me in Vienna three days later for our dance competition in Stockerau.

Tonight I played the €10+3 Rebuy tournament at the concord [PF=8.12]. A total of 161 players created a €5,800 prizepool. I had a great start and doubled up with a boat right on the first hand. About 15 minutes later I got KK and got paid very well against a player holding AQ. Unfortunately that were all my playable hands for the next 75 minutes. I was absolutely card dead till the next to last hand of the rebuy period. In that hand I received AK in LP and reraised a MP raiser. He called and the flop was something like 8-6-3 with two clubs. I made a pot size bet and he went all-in for his remaing chips (I had him covered). I assumed that he hit something (maybe A8) and decided that I didn't have enough outs for a call here. After I had folded he showed me QQ. Too bad. If I assumed a pocket pair here a call would have been correct. I took the add-on but even with that I had to go into the freezout time with a medicore stack.

I caught some good hands right after the break and was able to add a little to my stack. But the blinds and antes started to eat away my chips. I slightly recovered with some nice blind steals but was moved into the blinds two times due to the table break order. Finally I went all-in with K8s (9,000 chips with 500/1,000 blinds and 100 ante) but got called by AK. No help and out on 57th (with 18 places getting paid). In general there was not much I could have done different in that tournament. Of course the AK vs. QQ hand was a key situation as it involved a huge pot. But based on my informations I did the right thing. So I'm still fine with the laydown.

Before I went back to my hotel I sat down at a €1/2 NL cash game and had a good run there. I almost doubled my buy-in due to some weired plays of my opponents but the table went down two 6 players after about 90 minutes. As I wasn't in the right mood for short-handed play I called it a night and went home with a nice win.

Tomorrow I will travel down to Wiener Neustadt (about 50km) to visit the Poker Royal Casino for the first time and play some more poker of course.

REMARK: Last call for the International Poker Open. Registration closes Sunday at midnight. So far 457 players from all around Europe are registered. Rooms in Dublin are already rare (not mainly because of the IPO but some other events). But there are still some left for around €109 per night. Ask Stephen for detailed informations on special room deals. Also some cheap alternatives (hostels) should be still available.

Read more...

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Bavarian Players Cup ... finally!

Today I took another shot at the Bavarian Players Cup qualifier at the "Schrannenhalle" to qualify for the grand finale in Innsbruck (Austria) were they play for a total prizepool of €50,000. This was the second to last qualifier but I knew that it would be definately my last one (being in Vienna on the last available date). I had tried it 4 times so far. I missed a ticket by just two or three places twice and went out somewere in the middle the other two times.

This time the mainflight wasn't any better. We had a "Jamie Gold"-Wannabe at our table. Well almost, as he wasn't that good in table talk. But he played Jamie's style by playing every possible crap and hitting flops (or rivers) in a miracioulous way almost every time. So after one hour (2 levels) we had lost about 10 people on this table alone and he was up to around 50,000 chips which meant that he had now 10 times his starting chips. I had played one of my tightest games ever (mainly because I was card dead) and was able to play a total of three hands and pick up some chips without showdown in these hands during the first three levels. Finaly shortly before the 4th level (and before getting into dangerzone) I got 44 on the button and made a standard raise. Of course Mr. "Wannabe" called as well as another player. The pot had already 5,000 chips at that time. Flop was low cards but no other 4. No flushdraw, no straightdraw. It was checked around. Turn was a Q and it was checked again. River was a 6 (and paired the board) and Mr. "Wannabe" was betting 1,000 (obviously trying to buy this pot cheaply). The other player folded and I quickly went all-in with my remaining 4,500. He hard a hard time thinking if he should call or not as he put me on Kings here (mainly due to my tight image). Of course I was sure that I was beaten if he called, so I prayed for a fold. Finally he said "I think you have Kings but I have to call". It turned out that he had QJ for a pair of Queens and I was out of the tournament around 90th of 145.

Some of the people around estimated that this guy would easily get one of the four tickets as he had "full control over the other players and the table". But I said that I'm sure he wont't even make the final table. I was right. He wasn't able to change gears and went out around 15th place. That's what I call justice!

But it gets even better: The time I went out I was one of the last to get a seat in the consolation round. That one is basically a freeroll for the first 66 that busted out of the mainflight. You get less chips and the blindlevels are faster. But what makes this one really tough is that it's more or less a "winner-takes it all" format. Places two to four get a free start (worth €35) for the next qualifier but only the winner gets the ticket for Innsbruck. I had a good start and was able to double my chips from 2,500 to 5,000 during the first level. From there I never looked back until the final table. I was chipleader for most of the time with around 20,000 chips during the middle stage of the tournament (about 24 left). At that time I realized that I am on the way to take this thing down. And I would be very dissapointed if a fail here. Unfortunately I couldn't make it past those 20,000 chips (no cards). But at least I was able to keep that level.

As we reached the final ten, I was second in chips with another guy very close. We lost the next six players quite fast but I wasn't able to get much of that pie. So at the end we had four people with quite simmilar chipcounts. It was time for a move and I used the right spots pumping up my chipcount to 40,000. Took out 4th place wit AT vs. AJ when I flopped a Ten (sometimes you need to be lucky). This was one of only two times were I was behind in an all-in race situation for the whole tournament. With 80,000 chips I was now the bully but I failed in a steal attempt from the small blind. He found AQ and I was in bad shape with A6 here. No help and he knocked my stack down to 50,000. But I got my revenge quite fast and that time I was ahead. Up to over 100,000 I had more than 2/3 of the chips entering heads-up play. I almost got my opponent down with AJ vs. 87 but he spiked an 8 on the flop and we were almost equal again. The very next hand I got KK in the small blind. I decided to go for full risk and set a trap by just calling his big blind. I had either pushed/raised or folded so far. And like expected ... he sensed weakness in the call and went all-in. I called immediately and his J8 was way behind. He found some outs with a J on the flop but no more help and I won the tournament and my ticket for Innsbruck.

So what did I win here? It's the entry for a €50,000 tournament with 240 participants (only qualifiers, no direct buy-in). That makes the ticket worth around €208. I tried to qualify for 5 times (but one try was for free) so I spent €140 on that. Well, €68 is still a nice overlay here. The tournament will be held in the Casino in Innsbruck. It will be a three day event with two heats of 120 players in each heat. They play down to 40 each day. The final day will the be the combined field of 80 players. It will be the same deepstack structure as in the mainflight qualifiers, so it's a decent structure to play. The payout schedule is good too. They pay 30 places with €375 as lowest payout and €13,500 for first place.

In general I'm sure this will be a great tournament. But there are two things that I'm not happy about. First the time schedule: You have to be there one day before the first heat to draw for your heat. That means basically you have to be in Innsbruck from Sunday evening till late Wednesday night (if you make it that far). Of course the casino offers a good selection of cash games but it isn't that great for those who just want to play the tournament. The second one is worse: After they had played about 2/3 of their qualifiers they sent around an email saying everybody who qualified has to pay a €35 fee to secure the qualified seat. While in general nothing is wrong with a €208+35 buy-in it's somewhat smelly that they never mentioned this upfront. Things like that leave a bad taste, especially nowadays after the "Asch" desaster.

Anyway, this will be a great tournament and I'm looking forward to this. It looks like the coming months will have some great poker. First Vienna as a warm-up, then Dublin in early October and Innsbruck in early November.

And if you wonder why I'm coming back from a tournament late in the night and sit down at my computer at 5 o'clock in the morning to write this blog entry ... I'm so exited that I can't sleep. Sounds weired, I know. I only won a €208 entry, nothing more. But winning this out of 66 players (basically on my last opportunity) makes me feel so great at the moment.

Read more...

Monday, September 17, 2007

Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad is the youngest bracelet winner ever

Congratulations to Annette_15 for winning the WSOP Europe Mainevent and becoming the youngest bracelet winner ever at the age of almost 19 years. The £1 Mio. (approx. $2Mio) she gets for first place is her biggest payday so far and is also the biggest single win ever made by a female at a WSOP bracelet event (Annie Duke won once $2 Mio. at the Tournament of Champions). But the bracelet proofs that she is not only one of the best online players but can compete live too. Of course 362 entrants wasn't that much but the quality of those was tremendous. And Annette Obrestad wasn't shy to compete with those big names. Therefore she eliminated several big name pros's herself including Jennifer Harman and Annie Duke. PokerNews interviewed her shortly after her win. I most like her last answer to the question "what is more enjoyable live play or online" when she says with a smile and without hesitation "live now". I'm sure this won't be the last time we will see her at a final table in a live tournament!


Video found at PokerNews.com

Read more...

Saturday, September 15, 2007

WCOOP - Event #1 (Hold'em NL, 6 max.)

I thought for a long time if I really want to play this event but finally decided to give it a try and see if it works as well as in the last days.

A total of 4,610 entrants created a prizepool of $922,000 (well over the 400K guarantee).

I wasn't getting too many playable hands throughout the tournament but those I played paid off well in the beginning. Unfortunately in the third hour I was forced to fold several good starting hands due to missed flops. Fortunately a flopped Full House (99 on a 9JJ board) gave me back some chips. With a below average but still decent stack I went into the next next phase of the tournament.

The play became more intense now as we were down to 1.155 players at this time (with 534 getting paid at least $368).

This hour was a real roller-coster ride for me. Starting after the break with 7,595 chips it went all the way down to 3,000. At one point (with still around 6,000 chips and blinds 100/200) I forced myself to fold pocket Jacks to an all-in raise. Being shortstacked I would have called in a second but with a stack still far from danger-zone I wasn't willing to risk more than one third of my chips on that hand and gave up my small blind here. It was a tough decision as I had seen this guy playing some weired hands. On the flipside it was the first time I saw him going all-in pre-flop.

At the time I was down to my lowpoint I got somewhat lucky to double up when I was behind in a 45/55 race. From there I was able to rebuild my stack to about somewhat over 7,000 (150/300 blinds with 20 ante) due to good positional play on a quite tight table.

But finally my raise to 900 with AQ got called. Flop came three low cards (2 hearts). My opponent checked, I bet 1,300 and he raised it to 3,600. I was sure that he was on a draw and had nothing so far. So I went all-in with my remaining chips (about 5,800). He called, being on a flush draw, with Th 9h. Turn was blank but the river brought the infamous heart that ended my tournament in 768th position after little over 4 hours.

Of course, I could have saved those 5,800 chips for a better opportunity. But being just minutes away from the 200/400 blindlevel I decided to take my chances here. Looking back I must say that I made a crucial mistake in that hand. It would have been much better to go all-in directly after his check on the turn. Facing a bet of 5,800 may have prevented him from calling. Betting 1,300 into a pot of 1,950 obviously didn't make it. On the other hand raising all-in for another 2,200 after his check-raise into a pot of 6,850 clearly doesn't have much fold equity. Calling my raise from the BB with that hand was marginal. Check-raising my bet on the flop with a weak draw was a huge mistake, but calling my all-in wasn't. Although I was very dissapointed to leave the tournament this way I can't blame it on a bad beat here. I tried to take my chances but blew it myself by being not aggressive enough. Of course I was considering the check being a trap but pushing or a check/fold would have been the right option here. Betting was clearly the worst possibility to use. That's one of the reasons I hate those "little over danger-zone" stacks. You have to much for push or fold mode and to little to put pressure on people at later streets.

At least I survived most from the Team PokerStars: Greg Raymer (4,022th), Isabell Mercier (3,933th), Bill Chen (3,245th), Daniel Negreanu (1,779th) and Joe Hachem (1,595th).

The next one I would be interested is Event #13 (PL Hold'em) next saturday. As I don't want to fork over $530 directly I will try get a seat via one of the $53+5 satellites

Read more...

  ©Template by Dicas Blogger.