Nice cash in Salzburg (but not in the tournament)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Back home again

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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My most ugly day in tournament poker this week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Fun and dissapointment in Vegas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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A Day at the Rio

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

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

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

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

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

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

And finally: The hallway...

... and the Amazon Room waiting for the players

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

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My first Venetian DSE and stories from the Rio

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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WSOP 2009 - First day in Vegas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Excitement is growing

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

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

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

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

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