You have to see this hand ... unbelievable!

I am not very often posting hand histories in that blog and I don't like to moan about a bad beat but this one is really sick:

And right in the next hand against the same opponent:

I'm still speechless...! Well, not really. I am well aware that I am currently in a real "bad streak". I don't get any hands either live or online and if I get one it doesn't connect in any way. Oh, and in case it connects I am rivered for sure.

I know this can happen and I know this can last longer than one might think. I had this during my Black Jack times too (and not only once). It seems that the bad luck follows you everywere. Change the Casino - doesn't matter. Change the city - doesn't matter. Change the country - doesn't help either. These are the worst times a Poker or Black Jack player can have. But standing on the very dark side of variance doesn't last forever. It's just hard to stand up long enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This tournament (only a $3 rebuy on Stars with a 90K prizepool) seemed like that light. In fact I got not many but some very interesting hands and options to make it to a quite decent chip position (around 779th of 2,936 left from the 8,873 total). Still a long way to go but this finally felt like a tournament were you can achieve something ... until those two hands. That's what hurts most: show you the light and then brutally switch it off. Seems I have to wander a little longer in the darkness of negative variance.

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Freerolling into December

A lot has happened in the last few days in poker so it's definately time for a new blog entry. Let's start with my personal things:

Went back to Kufstein again and went card dead in the tournament again. There was only one remarkable hand: A pair of 3's that improved to quads right on the flop. I didn't get a big payoff in the tournament but one beside the table! The Poker Royale in Kufstein is having a big €200+20 Deepstack Event on Dec. 19th/20th and currently quads or better get you a draw on the lucky wheel. You can win satellite entries und up to an entry to the event itself. Guess what ... I hit the main prize. So on two weekends in December I will play two deepstack tournaments for free: First the Pokertour.at finale in Vienna (at the CCC Prater) on Dec. 5th and then the Poker-Kings Mainevent in Kufstein two weeks later.

On the other hand cashgame is still running rough for me. After losing a big pot last week with a set vs. a guy who couldn't be departed from two pair (that improved to a full house on the river) I had two similar occurences this time: KQ hit a set of Queens on the flop and my opponent pays all streets down two the river just to hit another eight to his two pockets and make the full house. A little later A9 hit a set of 9's and it was paid all the way down until he hit his gutshot straight on the river. Of course all those hands involved big pots. Hard to be ahead if you lose those hands.

Anyway it's part of the game of poker and after reviewing the ESPN broadcast of the final table I again realized how lucky (or unlucky) some players had been there. Just two decisions (Ivey's JJ vs. Saout's 77 and one hand were Begleiter mucked the winner after a river bet) could have had changed the whole outcome of the final table. But again poker is so much easier with visible hole-cards ;-)

BTW, I really like how Ivey looks back at his infamous mucking of the winning flush on Day 8. Of course it was a mistake but he's still not regreting anything after he made it to the final table. He just says that "all things would have changed and nobody can tell if for better or worse". I love this attitude! You don't know what he's talking about? Then you should definately google the phrase "butterfly effect".

The WSOP is just over and there is already big news again: Jeffrey Pollack is leaving his position as the WSOP commissioner. That's really sad to hear. In his 4.5 years on board he truly became the public face of the WSOP and turned many things to the better. The WSOP wouldn't be so strong and popular as it is today without him. It will be hard to fill his shoes here. Especially as he always was a great middleman between the players and the "greedy" corporation. Rumors are that Mitch Garber will take this position in the future and I really doubt that he is that player friendly. But it's to early to say anyway.

Below there are Parts I-III of Jeffrey's exit interview he had with WickedChopsPoker. At the beginning he doesn't deny a rumor that the huge Pavillion (were the interview is held) maybe the new main space for the WSOP. That would mean on the other hand that at least for 2010 the WSOP wouldn't move to the Caesars as expected. As always the WSOP is over but the tension for the next WSOP is already rising.

Part I

Part II

Part III

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Some thoughts about the 2009 WSOP Final Table

Spoiler Alert! - Don't read if you are waiting for the ESPN broadcast!

Again I spent the whole night to follow the Final Table audio broadcast and I don't regret any minute. Not as exciting as the 2005 Final Table with Hachem, Black, Matusow but still very interesting.

I feel very sorry for Phil Ivey and his bad beat. It would have been much fun to see him playing a big stack at the Final Table. This year obviously was the year of the bad beats. One of the toughest was the exit of my personal favorite Kevin Schaffel on 8th place (AA vs. KK with Kings improving to Quads). After seeing his exit interview I am even more sorry that he had to go so fast ... this guy would have been a great ambassodor for poker because he has just the right perspective about the game! Still happy that he was my number one pick.

From what I saw during the Final Table Steven Begleiter had improved his game a lot. Another guy I would have loved to see ending in a better position. Jeff Shulmann played a good game too but although he somewhat apologized for his bad comments I am relieved that he didn't win the bracelet.

So it's now Cada vs. Moon and you get the impression that the luckiest players made it into the heads-up. Both obviously didn't show the best poker play in the universe but nobody should call them donks. Nobody who survived over 6,500 opponents should be called a donk. But I have to retract my previous support for Moon. After getting to know more about him I think he wouldn't be great for poker. Not only will he most probably never be back on the big poker stages but he although showed some very bad moves. As said before Cada was very lucky too but I would say he's definately the more skilled player and can be marketed much better.

I will be routing for Cada on Monday and hoping for a long and exiting heads-up (but honestly I doubt it will take very long).

Can't wait to see the ESPN broadcast. Even after knowing the results this will be fun to watch.

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