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

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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).

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