My Main Event

I'm out.

Funny day of poker, for the majority of it i was in complete control and totally comfortable, then the last 2 hours was a total grind.

When i sat down at the table i recognised one face and quickly realised i was sitting opposite Minh Ly, who appeared in high stakes poker. I couldn't remember much about his game, but someting told me he was pretty tight in that game. Of course he could play totally differently in a tournament, but i figured i would be careful when playing pots against him.

Within the first 30mins, it became apparant that the majority of the table were pretty weak. From my left:

• Old guy who bluffed heavily and badly post flop, but played passively preflop

• American in his 30s who mini raised and check/mini raised a lot with marginal hands "to see where he was"
• American in his 30s who appeared pretty solid, but in a passive way
• Young American who was raising junk in every seat and trying to "play poker" but who wasn't willing to fire more than one bullet after he missed, rendering his style useless.
• Minh Ly - played a lot of hands, and played them all very passively, he check folded when he missed every single time.
• American in his 30s who appeared quite solid, then showed down K4 having limped in mid, he then later proved his donkeyness by calling a 3 bet out of position with T5s and getting it all in preflop for 200 bbs with TT.
• Exceptionally corpulent American fellow in his late 20s who called far too many raises in and out of position, and loved a hero call on the river.
• 50 year old American who limped in with a lot of junk, never raised and called down with marginal hands, overvalued massively - inexperienced in live play.

So yeah... i was pretty pleased with my draw.

At the first break i was down to 15k having lost a few chips trying to setmine, then trying to outplay the loose player who had flopped trips - whoops. This didn't concern me too much as the chips were all still at the table and i figured i could get them back easily enough.

At the 2nd break i had chipped up to 24k without a showdown. In this time i did get a few hands, but also managed to make well timed continuation bets on favourable boards for me. Shortly after the 2nd break i raised to 1600 with AA in the sb after two limpers for 300, and the old guy in the bb shoved for 6.5k, i called he sighed and tabled 44, flopped a gutshot draw and got there on the turn.

Down to 20k, i managed to catch some cards, 3bet squeeze pre a few time and grind my way to 34k at the dinner break - good job.

At the break i spoke to quite a few ppl and a lot of them were saying how they were looking to hang on until day 2. This really wasn't my intention, and i have a plethora of reasons for this, the main ones being:

1. Other people will be playing tight to hang in - exploit them
2. As the tournament progresses the dead money will drop away, i want to get the easy chips now before someone better than them gets them.
3. I'm playing to win, and an effective tourny strategy is not to play to cash, then to shoot for the final table.

After dinner it proved to be tough for me, and i found people hitting some hands vs me, and come the next break i was at 29k - far from the end of the world though.

Just before the final level my table broke and i was moved to a truely horrible seat. I had 3 tight, bad english guys to my right and 4 foreign loose aggro guys with chips to my left. So when i opened light they could 3 bet me, and the guys to my right weren't opening light so i couldn't 3 bet them as effectively.

My stack dwindled a little but i found myself on 27k when i saw a spot to pull a move.

The chip leader raised 3x to 1200 @ 200/400/50 in early (position meant nothing to his range), 40 yr old american who had splashed around a bit called, english guy called. I really felt like it was a good spot to pick up some chips, and despite looking down at J2o i bumped it to 5.5k. Oh god... American guy called.

At this point it is tricky, as i have created a 12k pot and I have 22k back, i have total air and I'm out of position - it's just ugly. I thought he could have a mid pair and was just seeing the flop, so i was prepared to fire again.

Flop J 6 8 rainbow. Oh god....

I just flopped top pair, but i know I'm still bluffing.

I led out for 6k and he instantly moved in. I knew, i just knew that he wasn't bluffing. I really thought he had a set, and even if he didn't, i felt his range was 66/88/JJ+,AJ, which I'm absolutely crushed against. The pot was offering me a great price, but that's irrelevant if you're drawing near dead. After 2mins of pulling my hair out i eventually folded asking him if he had a set and he showed KK.

I blinded down a little then picked up KQhh in late position. I had 13k, an m of 13 with the blinds and antes. The chip leader limpe din UTG - he hadn't limped much. It was folded to me. I think i perhaps made an error here, i limped behind. It is tricky, if i had raised i would have made it 1400 from 400 probably, but creates a pot of 3850 going to the flop with me having 11.5k back. If i miss, which i will do most of the time, i surely have to c-bet most boards, and if he plays back that is say another 2k of my stack invested so I'm down to 9.5k, ie losing 1/5 of my stack. But limping creates other problems....

The sb folded and the bb checked.

Flop 2d 6c Kd

BB leads for 1.6k.... utg folds. Ok what's my play??

I called to control the pot and to disguise my hand a little, i'm representing a draw here or maybe a hand like 67s or 77/88.

Turn 8h

He fires 4k - oh oh, can i fold here? I felt i could, i really did, but it was a tough spot. Because of my smooth call on the flop he could fire another bullet here to chase out the draw, or even on the draw himself. I felt he could have dd or KJ/KT as i had underrepped my hand thus far. At that point i felt there was enoguh in the pot, so shoved for just over 6k more.

He thought for 20 seconds, asked how much it was, then called and tabled 22 for the flopped set! I definitely could have folded, but I'm not sure if i should, although his turn bet was very strong.

GG me 15mins before the end of day 1c.

I hastily left the pokerroom, headed back to the Manadalay where i discovered my friends were at the Rio waiting for me... So after a quick turnaround i headed back and drowned my sorrows until 6am.

There's always next year!

Tomorrow Team Pokerroom have organised a golf excursion, which will be a timely break from Vegas and all things poker! (who am i kidding, I'm going golfing with 70 poker players, i wonder what the no. 1 subject of conversation will be?!)

Until next time,

Neil.

Next stop main event

This morning i rose at the early hour of 12pm and we made a group decision to head to the Venetian to show the girls the sites of Vegas including the gondola ride and of course the forum shops in Caesars.

Having jumped in the taxi at 1.30 and instructed the taxi driver to head to the Venetian, i received a text message from a good friend telling me he was at the ESPN featured table sat next to Erik Lindgren and that he had just doubled. At that point i made the executive decision that we were heading to the Rio to soak up the atmosphere.

On arrival we realised that despite him being sat 10 yards away we couldn't really see anything, so after we head for lunch it was only myself who returned to cheer on my Italian friend.

He doubled early, but a few hours after i left i got the text saying he had busted running AK into 44 on a AA4 flop (he thinks he should have folded) then KK into AA the very next hand.

I headed back to the Rio to eventually register for the main event. As planned i will be taking my seat tomorrow (saturday), although i did have another conundrum when i approached the desk.

"Which day do you want to register sir?"
"Err... isn't sunday sold out?"
"Oh yes it is, but i have been told it will reopen"
"Ok, so why are you asking me which day if only one is available?" - i didn't say this part as I'm sure it would have sounded rather rude...

At this point i got confirmation that sunday would reopen tomorrow night, i backed away from the counter, then realised i really didn't want to go on the word of the cashier, and i just wanted to get going.

"Saturday is fine" i said as i approached the kiosk.

And that was that, gg $10k and I'm in the main event!

With it being the 4th of July there was a concert and fireworks, and team PR made the trip down to the "beach" for a fun show, although few knew who the band were... The fireworks were great, until the final song "Born in the USA" launched into the remix after the first few bars - when i say the remix i'm actually attempting humour as the CD was skipping. Considering they must have spent thousands on the fireworks it was particularly funny that they couldn't fix the CD and for 2 minutes it continued to skip.

It is now approaching midnight, and with play beginning in 12 hours it's now time to rest, but as i type i have 4 friends in the room sipping wine from the bottle and planning a night out... hard to resist, but all i need to remember is that i just stumped up $10k to play in a poker tourny, and if i turned up hungover or even drunk it would be retarded.

Let's hope they don't make too much noise when they roll in in the early hours.

Hopefully my next entry will be one of joy. Neilmc is on 36k after the first day, and we have a bit of a sidebet on, so if you hear about me 4 bet bluffing with 2 minutes to go and going out to AA with 72o - that's why....

Main event experiences

As you'll be aware, yesterday was day 1a of the main event. I headed over to the Rio shortly before play commenced with my friend Neilmc who was playing. Any attempt to watch the play was completely futile, as he was placed as far away from the rail as possible. So instead i took a stroll round the room looking for other team pr members, pros, celebrities, and just to generally soak up the atmosphere.

The buzz around the place was really quite special, and to be honest more so than i thought. Having played in two of the warm up events i figured that it wouldn't be much different - there were actually less people playing yesterday than in the two events i played.

An hour before the dinner break, the buzz had worn off, but i wanted to hang around to see how the team was doing, so headed up to the Pokerroom suite, where snacks and drinks were laid on. I met a few guys who i've only ever bumped in to online - Wieringen, Billy Billiard, and we had a good laugh being entertained by David of PR Promotional fame's stories - the content of which differed dramatically minute by minute.

When i eventually left the Rio and headed back to the Mandalay, i was kind of at a loose end. I still hadn't decided which day i would be playing the main event. Originally i wanted to play on Sunday, but due to all the independance day activities it is sold out - so i had a coinflip between friday and saturday.

Prons and cons were drawn up, but i still couldn't decide.

Friday pros: If i bust early there's the party to go to.
I won't have to worry about taking it easy on the Friday night before Saturday
It has been playing on my mind that i need to sort it out asap.

Friday cons: I might miss the party
My friend thinks it may be unlucky for a Brit to play on Independance day..

Saturday pros: Americans will be hungover and play poorly
I can go to the party

Saturday cons: I'd have to have an early night on the friday and miss the party.

Still unable to decide i pulled out the trusty coin, it told me i should play on Saturday, and who am i to go against the coin? Saturday it is!

My two Californian friends from University arrived yesterday for the weekend (Heidi and Dominique), so last night was spent getting them acclimatised to Vegas. We played penny slots, while constantly ordering drinks, trying to win a BMW, then after Heidi demanded we play the game "with the spinning ball on the wheel", we headed over to the roulette table.

Dominique by this stage had a perma grin on her face due to umpteen Gin and tonics, while Heidi was still rather compos mentis, and was intrigued to know what on earth we were betting on. - The answer to that as far as myself and Neilmc were concerned was just the opposite of whatever the beej bet on, as he claims he is the unluckiest man alive. I ran unbelievably well and trebled my initial buy in. If i can run as well as that in the main event, it's all over!

Gl to the team starting today, hopefully i can take advantage of those drunk americans tomorrow!

Main event experiences

As you'll be aware, yesterday was day 1a of the main event. I headed over to the Rio shortly before play commenced with my friend Neilmc who was playing. Any attempt to watch the play was completely futile, as he was placed as far away from the rail as possible. So instead i took a stroll round the room looking for other team pr members, pros, celebrities, and just to generally soak up the atmosphere.

The buzz around the place was really quite special, and to be honest more so than i thought. Having played in two of the warm up events i figured that it wouldn't be much different - there were actually less people playing yesterday than in the two events i played.

An hour before the dinner break, the buzz had worn off, but i wanted to hang around to see how the team was doing, so headed up to the Pokerroom suite, where snacks and drinks were laid on. I met a few guys who i've only ever bumped in to online - Wieringen, Billy Billiard, and we had a good laugh being entertained by David of PR Promotional fame's stories - the content of which differed dramatically minute by minute.

When i eventually left the Rio and headed back to the Mandalay, i was kind of at a loose end. I still hadn't decided which day i would be playing the main event. Originally i wanted to play on Sunday, but due to all the independance day activities it is sold out - so i had a coinflip between friday and saturday.

Prons and cons were drawn up, but i still couldn't decide.

Friday pros: If i bust early there's the party to go to.
I won't have to worry about taking it easy on the Friday night before Saturday
It has been playing on my mind that i need to sort it out asap.

Friday cons: I might miss the party
My friend thinks it may be unlucky for a Brit to play on Independance day..

Saturday pros: Americans will be hungover and play poorly
I can go to the party

Saturday cons: I'd have to have an early night on the friday and miss the party.

Still unable to decide i pulled out the trusty coin, it told me i should play on Saturday, and who am i to go against the coin? Saturday it is!

My two Californian friends from University arrived yesterday for the weekend (Heidi and Dominique), so last night was spent getting them acclimatised to Vegas. We played penny slots, while constantly ordering drinks, trying to win a BMW, then after Heidi demanded we play the game "with the spinning ball on the wheel", we headed over to the roulette table.

Dominique by this stage had a perma grin on her face due to umpteen Gin and tonics, while Heidi was still rather compus mentus, and was intriguied to know what on earth we were betting on. - The answer to that as far as myself and Neilmc were concerned was just the opposite of whatever the beej bet on. I ran unbelievably well and trebled my initial buy in. If i can run as well as that in the main event, it's all over!

Gl to the team starting today, hopefully i can take advantage of those drunk americans tomorrow!

Welcome Party

Wednesday night arrived quickly and the excitment in our camp built as we looked forward to meeting with the rest of the team. When we arrived in the conference room to pick up our PR goodies the place was filled with players from all around the globe laughing and joking with each other in a plethora of different languages.

First up was a photo shoot with all the players, which took a lot less time than it could have done considering the single photographer was dealing with 70 jetlagged poker players. After that the fun began with a buffet being laid on and the first entertainment of the night was in the form of two belly dancers (that's if you don't count Kristian's (PR VIP manager) welcoming speech).

Free food and a free bar was laid on, and the majority of the players didn't need asked twice to leave their seats. My only grumble was that the bar was ill equipped - i mean there were no mint leaves so there were no mojitos to be had!

Marilyn Monroe and Elvis made special appearances and there was an artist on hand for caricatures and even a palm reader - although she claimed i wasn't a gambler, so after that i was a little unsure to believe a word she said!

A few of us managed to keep the jetlag at bay and made it to an in house bar, where instead of drinking and dancing i managed to become in a heated debate with David from PR over how to manage my finances in and out of poker. As i told him today, i was definitely right, even though i have no clue what i was saying.

The fact that i can't remember the conversation, should probably show why playing poker when the bar closed was not a good idea, but decisions like that are far easier to make when sober. I hit the cash tables and an hour later i had doubled my buy in and even at that point i couldn't recall how i had done it. Definitely -ev, but who cares - i won!

Unfortunately all that drinking put paid to the Hoover Damn trip for me the next day, but who really wants to see a big block of concrete anyway, although apparantly they claim that the engineering is similar to that of the pyramids in Egypt.... i think an American may have made that one up!

Ok, next entry I'll include some more poker chat, as mundane as it is, but I've had a few good cash hands in the last week - a stark contrast to my tournament form!

Vegas baby!

Having been in America for over two weeks now, you would think i would have had time for a blog entry.... If i was to say i haven't had time i would obviously be lying, but i have hardly spent a moment resting - ok I'm lying again.

Myself, Neilmc and the beej arrived in Vegas a little earlier than planned and checked into the Rio on Wednesday afternoon, a full 5 days ahead of the rest of the team. The plan was to play in 3 preliminary wsop events - the 2k on the friday, the 1.5k on the saturday and the final 1.5k on the monday. Two out of three isn't bad right?

Our debut in the wsop didn't exactly go as planned. Neil got it in with 2nd set (the 2nd nuts) on the turn and was called by a gutshot draw which duly hit on the river. I had a similar experience in that i couldn't do anything about my exit. I shoved AKs after a limper for 300 and the sb woke up with AA, and unbelievably he held - so rigged.

That night saw us out in the voodoo lounge in the rio - an open aired club. 5am arrived and we still weren't in our beds and the 1.5k event at midday was looking doubtful. "Of course we'll be playing" we kept uttering. I say uttering, i should probably add an "s" and a "t" to the beginning of that word and it would be remarkably more accurate of our state at that moment. 10+ mojitos, 4 hours sleep and 12 hours of poker don't really mix, so when we woke at 11.30, we made the executive decision to give the $1.5k a miss - "It's a crapshoot anyway" was the (still half drunken) consensus.

Saturday and sunday rolled by quickly and we were refocused for Monday's $1.5k event. This time it was Neilmc who busted when running inferior hands into superior ones, losing a couple of 70/30s to bust. I on the other hand had an interesting hand, which i definitely could have played differently, and certainly played one of the streets badly (although it didn't matter).

At 100/200/25 i had 4.8k and opened in 2nd position with JJ to 600. The chip leader who had been in every hand called and the button called.

Flop 2c Ad Tc

Ok, i'm done with the hand, i check, then they both check behind... interesting. At this point i really don't think either of them has the ace, especially the button, as I was sure with the T on the board and the two clubs he would bet an ace. I didn't think the chip leader had it either, as it had been his style to lead at these type of hands.

Turn 6d

I check and the leader fires 1.7k, button folds. I decided at this point i was good, and if i wasn't, gg. If i shove he can only call with an ace, so I felt there was no value in doing so. Sure there are now two flush draws out there, but you can't be afraid of that, he can only have one of them max and more likely neither. I felt if i called here, i could check the river and call an all in when/if it came.

I called leaving back about 2.5k, which may sound strange, but i really thought he was full of it and this was the way to get max value.

River Js

Ok... i have to confess that this threw me, i should have stuck to my guns and checked, but i didn't and moved in, he snapped called and tabled KQ for the nuts - whoops! However, my read was right and had it not been for that river i would have doubled.

The next night saw the arrival of the team, and the first party of the trip followed the next evening - and some party it was.... (to be continued)

Decision made!

As from mid September this year, myself and Neilmc will be based out of Mount Maunganui, New Zealand for 6-8months.

Working 9-5.... going to be a shock to the system, but we feel it will:

a) Increase our MTT volume
b) Increase our winnings
c) Live a more normal life, working normal hours.
d) Be in a warm climate during the British Winter
e) Have a great time.

We're planning on renting a 3 bedroom apartment on the beach and living like kings... it is going to be EPIC.

Cashgame challenge and Metagames.

Yeah I've been off poker again.... in the words of Neilmc I'm a "Part-timer".

May has been a very busy month socially for me, and at the weekend i was in St Andrews again - this time for a stag do. Good fun was had by all, although it was quite a tame affair, no nakedness (strippers or lampposts) and generally no stag baiting, other than the consuming of a dirty pint.

On the poker front, i have a new goal:

Myself, Neilmc and the beej have decided to have a little competition with the cash games. We've all started with $2k, playing 1/2NL, and when we reach milestones the other two have to purchase a prize for the winner.

$3k - fancy meal in Vegas
$5k - round of golf at a prestigious course
$10k - set of golf clubs
$25k - charity game of football at our team's ground
$50k - Day driving a F1 car
$100k - entry into a big live event.
$1m - trip into space.

Of course, I'm aiming to be at the $1m mark by the end of the year....

I started on our challenge yesterday. I only played a 90minute session, but four tabled, 1/2NL - all full rings.

I got off to a flyer and was up $340. There were a couple of interesting hands and hands that i definitely could have played better.

One that i still don't agree with my friends on unfolded like this:

I opened the button for $7 with 56dd, i had $200.
BB calls, with $150 total.

Flop 7d 8d Ac

I have an open ended straight flush draw. I am never folding on this flop.

He checked, i bet $12, if he had raised, i re-raise - if he calls I'm most likely racing, even versus a set I'm in decent enough shape and i don't see him calling much lighter at this stage, and if he does, I'm favourite.

He called my $12.

Turn Th

He checked - at this point i felt a check behind was probably best with my huge draw, i don't want him raising me at this point, and if he calls, i have built a big pot, and may feel inclined to bluff the river if i missed. I checked.

River Kd

Ok i hit my flush, but i hardly have the nuts. The ace of diamonds is still out there, he could still feasibly have hit the ace on the flop, with Axdd and rivered the nuts.

He led for $25 into a $39 pot, he had $117 back.

I saw this as a clear raise. I think I'm losing a ton of value at this level against a player who most likely isn't very good. The question as i see it is "how much do i raise?"

Do i make it $75, so it is $50 for him to call, or do i jam?

Well i figured if i made it $75 he would call with 2p+, and if i jammed he would call with a similar range - so i jammed. He thought for a while and folded.

I showed this hand to a few ppl, and a couple of them said they flat call the river, because only a bigger flush can call my shove. I think this is utter rubbish. One of my friends elaborated a little to say that against a good player he would flat call, and against a total idiot he would shove. I still wasn't happy with this answer. I found it too basic, why would a good player only call with a bigger flush? Would that not make him pretty exploitable (for a short time at least).

Say for example that i knew i was up against a "good" player in this example. Well a good player would surely value bet this river with two pair or a set - assuming they felt i had a hand to call a bet with. If they thought i didn't they could check and let me bluff.

My point is that when they bet the river, they will have: a) a bigger flush b) a set c) two pair d) a decent ace and expect to get looked up by worse e) air/missed straight draw.

If i shove 100% of the time in this spot, and we assume the villain is a "good player" and will only call with a flush, we can take advantage of them in a huge way. I can profitably shove 100% of my range, knowing that i will only get called by a small portion of his range. (It can be noted at this point that if we know he will only call with a flush, i should shove all my range but low diamonds, this could be overcomplicated further to include top set and the like, as if we think we will only be called by a flush we turn top set into a bluff, so a line has to be drawn somewhere, but you get the idea).

It gets a little tricky after you do it once, because it changes the dynamics - the metagame changes. Players have more information to make decisions.

For example - say the exact same occurrence happened 30minutes later - would the hand go the same way? Would my shove only get called by a bigger flush then? Perhaps, but i would expect a good player to adapt to the situation. The trick is knowing when they are ready to adapt and getting one step ahead of them. This is something that i am working on at the moment, and i think it is a leak in many a winning player's game. They often use their own thought processes and their own ranges to assess another player's holding.

Let me elaborate. Say you are playing a shorthanded cash game and you are raising 25% of hands (reasonable laggy shorthanded range). And you are playing against an unknown opponent, who you figure as kind of abc weak/tight. You raise the button, he folds in the bb. Next 5 orbits you raise on the button 4 times, and he folds each time. Then you open the button with 77, he 3bets you. You think this guy is tight, but then the thought drops into your head "wait a minute, he has to know that I've been opening 1/4 of hands and i have been pounding his bb, therefore he probably has got a little impatient and is fighting back, i have a hand way ahead of my range, I'll show him - all in!". It's at that point he snap calls and shows AA. Now, while this line of thought works against semi known foes, you have to be careful when to use it. It is important to be aware of your image, but it is even more important to know who is actually paying attention, and furthermore who will adapt to it. Is he typing in the chat box? Is he playing more than one game? Is he a regular at this level? All of these things and more contribute to your decision making process.

I will try and use the above in my low flush example.

The guy was only playing one table
He was sitting with $150 (ie had either bought in short or hadn't reloaded when he lost a hand)
He called my raise in the bb (not necessarily a bad idea, but in general you should try to limit the number of pots you place oop, as it is generally just spew)

These things suggest to me that he probably isn't very experienced, and certainly isn't a shark.

At the lower levels, players fall in love with their hands. "OMG i can't believe he just rivered me, OMG, but i have to call, i flopped a set!" I felt his calling of a shove range and his calling of $50 more range were pretty similar, so i shoved...

Now if i had him pegged as a regular who was playing multiple tables, i may have flat called - the reason being I'm new to these parts and he won't have any history with me, so metagame isn't a factor, but then again, i may have shoved.

Uggghghghh such metagames. He knows that you know, therefore you should... but when he knows that you know, that he knows... it goes full circle. The crux of the matter is that you need to be able to pinpoint where your opponent is in the cycle, and also what his likely range is, and compute this into your action. Of course this is much more difficult in practice, and can lead to over complicating things.

What's that saying again? KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!

Poker poker blah de blah

I've had an incredible amount of non poker related stuff going on this month, which has really hampered my playing hours, but i have managed to put in three days in a row - woohoo!

Sunday was an interesting one. I made it deep in a lot of the majors, but ended up cashing only twice, and for rather paltry sums considering the level of buy ins i was playing. I ended up being about $1.3k down, which while is perfectly fine with my bankroll, it is pretty annoying considering i had been on a few day losing streak already this month.

Myself and a friend have an arrangement at the moment that any tourny over $100 we swap 25% with each other. Well on sunday he suggested me up it to 33.33% for the majors. I agreed, and it was one of the best poker decision I've made in a while. Mr_Noisy went on to win the Dise major for 25k euros ($38k) which earned me a nice little $12.6k.

Yesterday was another "so near but yet so far" kind of day. I ended up final tabling three tournies, all on ongame, and only making $3k.

9th in the 50 rebuy was the sickening one. With 13 left, the button moved all in on my bb i snapped QQ he showed AK and hit, had i held i would have had a third of the chips in play with 12 left...

The interesting thing about that is that my QQ against his range there plays ridiculously well, so i was unlucky to be only 55% vs his AK. Damn flippaments.

I came 4th in the 12k, nothing really to say about that one, and i also came 2nd in the Turbo shorthanded $100 for $2.5k or so.

I really love that shorthanded turbo, if i make it deep into the tourny i really feel i have a massive edge. That may sound strange given i would normally complain about crapshooty tournaments taking away from my edge, but because the blinds are so big i find an edge from elsewhere.

These tournaments are all about assigning pushing and calling ranges of your opponents and making the correct shove/fold or call. The edge is there to be seen when at the final table you have players folding with over 2/3 of their stack in blind.

I got to the final table of the same tourny tonight, with a little bit of luck along the way, but as soon as i got there i knew i had a huge chance to win it. I just had to hope no one woke up with a monster behind me when i pushed, because i knew i wouldn't get looked up with a hand like K8 even if they did have 1/3 of their stack in blind.

As it happened i managed to bully my way to heads up, then it was all over when he shoved his QT into my AK and failed to outrun me. Ship the $4.4k!

I'm off for 5days or so from tomorrow - champions league final, then the (anti) climax to the SPL. Friday sees another trip to St Andrews for a mate's stag do, then my sister is coming to visit on the Sunday for a couple of days - bus busy busy.

A week of debauchery and a return to the grind

Until today i had been away from online poker for a week.

Thursday night was the start of the binge with Neilmc and the beej arriving in Edinburgh. We went out for a bite to eat before watching Rangers trounce Fiorentina on penalties in the Uefa Cup semi, I was subsequently chucked out of a club at 2.45am having consumed the bars entire supply of red bull that was making their cheap vodka palatable.

I recall attempting a stealth mission to get back in, which failed, but considering the place shut at 3, it really wasn't worth it.

Friday night saw myself and a few boys (including the beej, neilmc and micky d10) make a trip to St Andrews for more debauchery. It was the annual football club ball on the saturday night and the annual poker society tourny on the saturday/sunday afternoon - perfect.

Friday night ended similarly to Thursday night, which really didn't bode well for the poker the next day. But did introduce what was to be the word of the weekend - "Murder". None of us were directly (or indirectly for that matter) involved in any homicide of any kind, but having heard the word used in place of "terrible" a few times in the past we adopted it as our inappropriate word of the weekend. Think Taggart "there's been a mirdur" and that closely resembles what we were saying - add a cockney twist to that and a little bit of confusion in your voice and you've pretty much got Neilmc's accent.

My tournament was rather short, and i played only a few hands (it was mirdur).

The major hand was as follows:

Belgian guy who could play a bit raised the button to 400, i made it 1.2k in the sb with ATo with 12k back, he called with 8k back.

Flop 3 J T two diamonds.

I led for 1.6k and he called.

At this point I think he is either floating me or is drawing. I think he raises with a big piece of the flop as it is rather draw heavy and i've shown strength twice.

Turn is a brick and i elect to check to allow him to bluff. He fires 2.5k, i think for a while and decided that he wasn't drawing as he would check the turn, and that he was on air, so i called to let him hang himself on the river.

River Ac

I checked, he shoved... i time-banked, now going back over the hand and started to doubt my thought he wasn't drawing on the flop/turn. I decided the way i had played it i had set up a bluff, so i couldn't fold when i rivered two pair, i called and he sheepishly tables QK for the nuts apologising profusely.

I asked if if he would have shoved if he missed and he said he would have done, so i guess that vindicates my play a little, but i wasn't entirely happy with it - but to be honest i didn't really care.

I then shoved AKs a while later and couldn't outrun 77.

Incidentally Micky d10 came 2nd the next day.

The evening approached and having donned kilts or dinner jackets we attempted to ruffle some feathers at the ball, it proved to be a disappointingly tame one. although Neilmc and i tried to liven it up a bit with some sidebets.

We each bought £20 worth of raffle tickets and had money on the other person winning, he won the raffle, i won the side bet - ship it!

After that it was the player of the year awards. Considering we didn't know the players this made it rather difficult, but we settled for surnames from A-L, M-Z. People were looking at us rather bizarrely when we were on our knees as the women's 2nd team most improved player was announced.

Shortly after the awards, desert was served which this year was apple crumble. The tradition at football club balls has always been to eat your desert without your hands, but apparently our table were the only ones who had heard of this tradition. Neilmc laid Puggy as evens favourite but then refused to take Puggy's bet of £100 (yes i am referring to myself in third person).

I took it down anyway, and the lack of any bet didn't take anything away from me despite my tongue having swelled to twice its orginal size.

The boat races followed the speeches - pint downing competitions vs the current students. I tried to set up a book declaring our alumni team the favourites, but again struggled to find action. We won at a canter, adding more fuel to the rumour that the old days were better - there was a lot of looking through rose tinted glasses over the weekend.

Sunday saw another ball, and another chance to show the town what it was missing, and again it was a rather dull affair. We arrived just before the raffle and were disgusted to find out that they had run out of raffle tickets! Who runs out of raffle tickets? Surely that's something you buy more of as they cost nothing and retail for a million times their value.

No raffle tickets denied us the chance of making more ridiculous sidebets. The raffle included a signed Barcelona shirt and ball, and when we saw two girls take both prizes we were appropriately disgusted (sexist often?). The girl who won the ball claimed she wouldn't sell it for £500, so we approached the girl who won the shirt, who agreed to sell the shirt to Neilmc for £150 - his first bid. She later said she would have accepted £100. She needs to learn how to value raise, and Neilmc's pot control was definitely questioned.

The after party events included two St Andrews allies dancing on the table, but that was as rogue as it got. Although there was much hilarity at one ally's attempt at chatting up a girl with the line "So er... do you want to go for a walk on the beach". When she said it was a little far, he didn't give up, instead asking for clarification if she had knocked him back or if indeed the beach was too far to walk. Unfortunately for me, sorry i mean him, the clarification never came.

Monday we stayed and played a £5 rebuy with the students who i think were a little appalled by us moving all in pre blind for the first few hands, and unrivaled nittiness was shown when they refused to call said blind all ins with hands as strong as AQ.

"I can't call with AQ with him behind" As the two guys all in exposed 42o and 97s. AQ boy wasn't done yet "See that's 4 live cards, i'm hardly even favourite. Of course he would have flopped broadway and his head was in his hands. Wp sir, gg.

Only 13 runners, 4 of the 4 allies made the final, i busted in 6th, the beej in 3rd and Neilmc in 2nd. As a side note the winner was a guy who i backed in the annual event on the Saturday - i guess i chose the wrong tourny - damn coinflips.

It was homeward bound for me on the Tuesday, but the beej and Neilmc joined me for one last day. We managed to arrange a golf game with the long lost member of the alliance - Mark "thehills1" Hillson. He's a little better at golf than he is at poker which he proved when carding a 64, which could easily have been a 59 after he birdied the first 3.

Much of the chat on the golf course centred on the beej's conquests over the weekend. He had been claiming 3 in 3, but when pushed it emerged that he had merely kissed 2 girls, one of them on two days. Of course they were both absolute stunners. None of us saw the first one, although i have it on good authority that she was indeed female and the white stick she was carrying belonged not to her but the fluorescent jacket covered Labrador following her around.

The binge wasn't to be finished there, we headed out on the town that night for one last hurrah, but having sat in the corner of particularly quiet club for 3 hours drinking cans of red stripe (from glasses of course) and talking about football, we retired back to casa Puggy.

I really wasn't in any state to be playing poker yesterday, so took another day off planning on blitzing it today.

Blitz it i did, although in the 15 tournies i played i managed only a solitary cash. Not bad though when you win said tourny for $4k.

I have really felt i have been getting on top of my game recently, and i know there ar still areas which require a lot of improvement. I am 8 tabling max at the moment, and i would say that my performance is dipping severely when i go from 7 to 8, so I'm definitely not ready to up that just yet.

I have been looking to replace some tournies in my schedule though with some bigger ones. Until today i had only played the Ongame 50r once as i have a problem with the structure, and I'm a bankroll nit, but i really should be in it every day, so now will be.

Only 6 weeks until our American trip, so I'm looking at putting in a lot of volume between now and then. It's very easy not to bother playing some days, and to take lots of time off for holidays when you play poker for a living, but i believe to be truly successful you need to be putting in the hours. I've had a weeks holiday, now it is time to get back to the grind - and crush!

Puggy.

To infinity and beyond

For the last year I’ve been talking with a friend of mine about leaving the UK for the winter – jetting off somewhere considerably warmer and setting up base there for 6 months or so playing poker.

Until the last couple of months it has been nothing more than a pipe dream – there was quite a lot of red tape, and even in the areas where no red tape existed – ie neither of us have any family commitments, our prospective leaving date was so far away that anything could happen to throw a spanner in the works.

Where to?

Originally it was all about Australia. At first we figured Melbourne – Crown Casino, great city, option to live by the beach. But then that changed to Byron Bay, and then to Sydney, where we figured we’d have more options and would enjoy a warmer climate even in the autumn months.

Of course it would be too easy if we stopped at Sydney – that just wouldn’t be right, I mean there are hundreds of other countries and thousands of other cities where we could call home for 6 months – why not consider them all??

One of the main things we have to consider is the time zone of a country. One of our primary reasons for moving is so that we can play a full day of MTTs during normal working hours so that we can lead as normal a lifestyle as possible as a professional gambler. Ideally we’d like somewhere with a time zone 6-7 hours behind GMT, allowing us to begin our current 5pm schedule at 10 or 11 in the morning.

Latin America started to emerge as a strong favourite. Learning Spanish being a strong pull, and it’s relatively cheap living costs. For all of 3 days it was all about Costa Rica. Unfortunately that hit a snag fairly early when we found that the possibility of finding a reliable net connection there was about as strong as finding a sober man in a strip club.

Before we ruled out Costa Rica, a ski resort in Canada was still being considered – which hardly fits the bill as being somewhere warmer than the UK, but I think we can forgive a ski resort for being a little chilly. I say we could forgive it, but it was my reluctance to move away from a cold and wet climate to a colder one that saw us ditch Canada fairly quickly.

Cancun, Mexico was and still is (to an extent) being considered, but at this point another country has appeared as a new front runner: New Zealand.

Tauranga is the fastest growing city in New Zealand, and has some beautiful suburbs including Mount Maunganui, which boasts pristine beach fronts and scenic mountains on the front of its tourist brochures. It has a time zone in the winter that will allow us to play a largely European MTT schedule from 7 or 8 in the morning each day and has a climate that doesn’t fluctuate too much from season to season.

Planning this trip is incredibly exciting, and really helps motivate myself for what can sometimes be the grind of MTT poker. I don’t need reminding that I have a lifestyle to die for because of this game. Sure I don’t interact face to face with people on a daily basis, but the freedoms this job gives me are endless, and wherever we eventually end up, I’m sure we’ll have a ball.

On target a third into the year

Many would argue that making profit projections as a MTT player is pointless due to the extreme amount of variance involved, but at the start of this year, i did it anyway.

Having upped my volume considerably i was aiming for a yearly profit of $200k. I'm pleased to note that after the first 4 months of the year I'm on track.

Another goal was to reach no. 1 for Ongame on OPR - mission accomplished. For the last couple of weeks i have been switching back and forth from no. 1 to no. 2.

I definitely need new goals.

I have mentioned a few times the difference in playing cash games to tournaments. The different mentality you need to be able to succeed. I'm happy to report that i can see a time not in the too distant future where i may be playing cash games almost exclusively.

I've been dabbling in 200NL over the last few days, and it is scarily beatable. I've been 4 tabling, and getting bored, but i want to put in at least 30 hours playing 4 tables before i up it.

Ok, new goals:

By June 14th (going on holiday that day) I want to have upped my average accumulative daily buy ins to $2k.

And i want to be 8 tabling 1/2 on my days off for 2-4 hours.

Yup, those goals should keep me going.

I'm off for a few days now, Fiorentina vs Rangers tomorrow, then off to St Andrews for a boozy weekend on Friday - back on Monday i guess, but may start back again on Tuesday.

Neil.

Where I'm at.

Over the last couple of months i have moved to increase the volume of online MTTs i play quite considerably.

In doing so i have found myself gravitating away from Ongame a little as on the whole their structures are a little too quick, and there are better and equally as soft games to be found elsewhere.

I've upped my daily volume to about 12 tournies on average, with an average buy in of about $110. I have always aimed for an ROI of 100%, but appreciate that in moving up stakes a little and playing more tournies at once this will not be easily attainable. However, even if it drops as low as 50%, I'm still looking at making $130-$150k this calendar year, so i would suggest a goal of $200k is reasonable.

I am still enjoying my new schedule, and i haven't yet begun to feel like it is a grind yet, which can only help my bottom line, but having said that - it is never enough.

I feel like there's so much more money out there to be won, the last couple of days I've been railing a friend of mine playing 5/10 NL, and he's been crushing. I have another guy on messenger who has made $400k the last two years and is aiming to double that this year, 8 tabling 3/6.

Their successes make me jealous - which is a little ridiculous considering my projections from MTTs. But i guess that's just the nature of my character. I really want to get in to these cash games, but i also know that if i want to be successful i have to bide my time. I don't want to jump into cash games and lose my hard earned money before I'm ready. I've flirted with cash games in the past, and always after good starts i have hit a wall. I've never lost a fortune, merely one or two buy ins playing nothing higher than 2/4 (and usually lower). But there is still something about cash games that scares me.

I could write off any of these losses as variance, and I'm sure that is true to some extent, but i think there is a problem with my mentality that needs fixed before i can make a real run at the games. Even if i were to attribute it totally to variance, I still wouldn't be ready to jump in, as i want to start at 2/4 and while my roll is big enough if i were an experienced player, I'd like to secure my MTT roll and have an exclusively cash roll.

My problems with cash games are complex and a lot of these problems stem from similar mental issues.

1) I can't stomach losing a couple of buy ins

- whereas i don't mind losing a grand a day in MTTs.

2) There is no end in sight.

- someone was talking about a cash game session recently, and the answer they got was that in cash games it is all one big session.

In MTTs the end point is rather obvious, there is more than one aspect of an MTT that shows that: Blinds go up, players get knocked out and can't get back, there are prizes for the top finishers, with 1st getting the lion's share.

This is all very obvious, but it is a huge thing for me. Whenever i enter a tournament, my goal is clear - to win it.

When i sit at a cash table, there is no obvious goal. I don't believe in setting monetary goals like aiming to make 1 buy in etc, because you cannot control this, and you may end up forcing the action to try and reach your goal. And if you reach your goal quickly, then often it is because of factors like the standard of your opposition and you should really hang around instead of leaving - now what's your goal?

Cash games to me, just seem like so much more of a grind, because the only thing that matters is your bottom line.

After a day of tournaments, i can look at my bottom line, but understand it can mean little due to the tremendous amount of variance involved in MTT poker. But there is more to it. How many final tables did i make? Did i win a tourny? Both of these things add to the enjoyment factor so much, and just make my day easier.

The answer is pretty obvious - I need to learn how to enjoy cash games more, so that i can avoid blowing up in them. The method however, is a little trickier.

Pokah Profile

I began playing poker in February 2005, I bled hundreds of dollars in cash games before I discovered tournaments existed. With the guidance of the Godfather I read numerous books to improve my tournament play.

By Summer 2005, I was a winning player - albeit only slightly.
By Winter 2005, I was making enough to consider quitting my job.
By Spring 2006 I decided I was good enough to go pro.

- I wasn’t.

I had no idea what it took. I didn’t have the game, and I certainly didn’t have the attitude.

Spring 2006 saw me make my inaugural annual Vegas trip with the Godfather. Partly by osmosis, and largely through Mr Brunson’s Super System I began to piece things together.

By Summer 2006 I was a Grand Prix Champion, I “owned” Pokerroom and I was a very proud Ace of Ace Champion. But I was far from the complete player. The St Andrews Mob was born, the Godfather was proud.

By Winter 2006/2007 I understood what it took to succeed in the game, there was no eureka moment in regard to strategies, it was more a realisation of the commitment needed. Playing a game for a living is a risky business, and if the American Safe Port Act taught us anything, it is that the game we love - while old in its origins, is far from stable. At any point, my government could choose to tax my income, and while it is unlikely that they would follow their American friends and attempt to ban the game, other like minded governments may follow Uncle Sam’s lead, and attempt to drive our beloved game underground. Even if politicians were to keep their noses out, it may be the case that in two years time, NLHE is no longer a beatable game. Somehow, all the losing players may have realised that Online Poker while being cruel is not rigged and they are in fact just automated teller machines there for the sole purpose to pad the winning players’ wallets. Or maybe a new fad will come along, one where people can slake their gambling thirst in a more fulfilling manner – perhaps they will be able to interact in a greater way than sitting behind a computer screen for hours while still satisfying their brain’s search for that dopamine hit.

While the above suggestions are perhaps a little farfetched, they are far from being impossible. My point is vaguely related to these examples – we don’t know what the future holds. In two years time for one reason or another, I may not be able to make enough money at this game any longer. If that day ever comes, I want to look back at my time as a poker pro safe in the knowledge that while still having a life, I extracted as much money out of this game as possible, and have some money to build a future.

This understanding motivated me to continue to be a student of the game, and to put in more regular hours.

By Summer 2007 – I had taken my game to a new level, and was grinding a good profit from the game.

What is in store for me this Winter? I aim to continue to put in the hours whilst not forgetting that I have yet to make it. I still have a long way to go, sure I’m a good player, sure I make a decent living out of it, but that is not enough. I want to be great, do I need to be the best? No, but it wouldn’t hurt.