World Series of Poker catch-up

I know the November Nine is underway as we speak but I'm doing my best to stay off Twitter and Poker News so I don't hear what happens. I don't have Foxtel which shows the World Series in Australia and have been so busy of late that I hadn't been watching online.

I had a poker weekend, without actually playing that much. I started watching the Main Event on youtube on Friday and pretty spent all weekend catching up on the action. I also had my first "poker wedding" on Saturday. No, not a poker themed wedding, but two poker friends that got married, so the only other people I knew at the wedding were also poker players/friends.

Anyway, as for the Main Event, I'm now half-way through Day 7 so I'm not far from the end. I'm not sure if I should be surprised but the first few days was so focussed on the big name live pros in the field. Despite being a chipleader on day 4, Tony "Bond18" Dunst only got a brief mention in the coverage and wasn't sighted until day 5. Nick "MI_Turtle" Rainey also came in to the coverage on day 5 sitting at one of the feature tables. I didn't realise Christian Harder was still in the tournament as I swear he was first sighted late in day 5 or early in day 6.

Its fair to say that Tony Dunst stole the show over the last few days. Not so much for his play, but for his trademark suit, cool demeanor and his working of the room (read: the ladies near his rail). Bond's charming style won over Norman Chad and Lon McEachern and after his performance on the coverage, it was no surprise that he was picked to be the new correspondent for the WPT. Unfortunately Dunst couldn't make it to the November Nine, but he'll be seeing plenty of face time on poker TV from now on.

I'm off to Longreach (outback Australia) on Wednesday so it could be possible to miss the Main Event winner, if so I can watch it without knowing the result when I get back on Saturday. Let's see how it goes.

Update

I didn't do much blogging over the last week or two because work had been so flat out and I had been focussing on getting back in the gym.

Anyway, on to some of the things I haven't yet talked about. One night last week I tried to focus on the 180 man games. Probably my weakest game of all that I've played so far is the $2.20 180 game with about a -15% ROI (according to SharkScope). Usually I mix these in when I'm playing 45 man games so my thought was that if I just played these I might do better rather than playing different game speeds all at once. It didn't go well and I played 14 of these games and cashed none of them. Sure, its a very small sample and the variance in these are so high that I'm sure this is standard, but it was frustrating all the same.

In other news, the APL Poker Classic was held in Melbourne last weekend and a number of my friends were playing in it. One of my friends David posted on Facebook that he had made it in to the money which started at the top 100 (600 starters). I didn't see any further updates and figured he had just min-cashed until just before I went to bed he posted that he finished 4th winning $35K and a spot on Team APL for the World Series of Poker (valued at $15K). So today a few of us had a BBQ in New Farm park to celebrate his win and hear some of the stories. He basically put his success down to a good run of cards at the right time and not getting any bad beats.

After my failure in the 180's the previous week I decided to just focus on the 45 man games. At the moment I'm concentrating on the $6.50 buy-ins but using the $3.25's as a warm-up to get my head in the game. I hadn't been running that well during the week and my bankroll was down under $850 a few times. The last 2 days have been better tho as I won a $6.50 game and today a $3.25 one. The latter was satisfying as I came back from a very short-stack after I walked in to someone slow-playing aces and I had pocket tens. From there I clawed my way back and actually started heads-up ahead and won when my ace 8 held up after the big blind re-raised all-in with king queen off. I finished tonight cashing 3 out of the 4 tournaments I played before dinner and the 4th one I bubbled. It wasn't anything too exciting tho as I had two 6th places and a 3rd.

The bankroll is now back up to US$980 so hopefully tomorrow night I can push through the $1000 mark again and head onwards and upwards.

World Series of Poker - November nine set!

This (below) just in from PokerNews, the November Nine are set and Phil Ivey has made it in as second short-stack!

Live Reporting | 2009 World Series of Poker | Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em | PokerNews.com

Meet Your November Nine

What a day of poker! If you asked anyone in the media when we got here this morning if we thought the tournament would be down to its final nine players -- the November Nine -- before 11pm, we would have laughed and challenged you to put your whole bankroll on it. Yet here we are, just shy of 11pm, with the final nine players bagging and tagging for the night.

But that's getting slightly ahead of the action. We started today at noon with 27 players. Leo Margets, the sole woman in the field, was the first elimination just twenty minutes into the day. That seemed to set the tone for play, as players got their chips into the middle with glee. Before we finished the first level of play, three more players were eliminated, including the good-for-television Antonio Esfandiari.

All through the day, players continued to be eliminated at a rapid pace. We thought there would be mini-bubbles at 19 left, 16 left, and 13 left. In fact there were no such bubbles.

The big stacks did their jobs today, as Darvin Moon, Steven Begleiter and Billy Kopp all applied relentless pressure on the short stacks. It was unfortunate for Kopp that he ran a small flush into a bigger flush and went busto in 12th place, a classic elimination that is sure to haunt Kopp for a long time.

Of course there's one other player whom everyone was watching today. Some consider him to be the greatest player in the world; all were hoping he'd make the final table. Phil Ivey started off trending dangerously downwards, but he seemed to recognize what many other players did not -- the stacks were still relatively deep and the levels were still two-hours long. No need to panic. Ivey didn't panic, and as a result he secured a spot in the November Nine.

When Jordan Smith said "Good night, Moon" and exited in tenth place, the November Nine were determined. Here they are!

Seat 1: Darvin Moon
Seat 2: James Akenhead
Seat 3: Phil Ivey
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter
Seat 6: Eric Buchman
Seat 7: Joe Cada
Seat 8: Antoine Saout
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman

Moon will be the chip leader for the next four months.

Many will argue that this is the most talented Main Event final table to have been assembled in years. They'll have almost four months to argue back and forth over which player they think has the best shot. The final table festivities will take place from November 7 - 10.

It has been our great pleasure to be your source of live updates during the 2009 WSOP. We hope you'll join us throughout the rest of the year as we cover major poker tournaments around the globe. Please stop back in November for what is sure to be an exciting conclusion to the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event.

World Series of Poker update

Day 6 at the World Series of Poker was rough for many of the players I was following.

First elimination was Joe Hachem. He couldn't get anything going on day 5 or 6 and ended up pushing all-in short-stacked with jack 9 suited. Joe was called by pocket 4's but his hand didn't improve and he finished 103rd.

Kenny Tran was struggling near the bottom stacks, doubling up occasionally but not staying far enough ahead of the blinds. He pushed with a suited ace, got called by pocket 8's, didn't improve and bust out in 86th place.

Also hitting the rail on day 6 were one-time chip monster Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier in 122nd, one-time chip leader Matt Affleck in 81st and last year's champ Peter Eastgate in 78th.

The story of the day was the rise and rise of Phil Ivey. He had sat in the middle of the pack for much of the tournament but by the end of day 6 he was in 3rd and looking very dangerous. Midway through day 7 he's still cruising along in 2nd place and the field has narrowed to just 29 players left in action.

Phil Ivey, the man to watch

World Series of Poker update

We're now midway through day 5 in the World Series of Poker and with 232 players remaining out of the 6494 starters, one of Assassinato's mates Matt Affleck currently leads the field.

The poker community would love for one of the big name pros to take down the Main Event and this year there are a number still in contention. Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier has been at the top of the leader board for the last few days and is currently in the top 20 while my boys Joe Hachem and Kenny Tran aren't far behind. Phil Ivey is also roughly midfield and has plenty of time to make a move.

From last year's Main Event, Dennis Phillips and defending champion Peter Eastgate are both still well in the hunt.

PokerStars update

After my 3 day break from poker I jumped back in to the action on Monday night. It started well enough, min-cashing my first 45 man tournament but things got ugly as I then failed to cash 13 tournaments in a row before again min-cashing a 90 man tournament to end the night. I don't think I was playing badly as I made it down to the final 2 tables on 9 of those 13 tournaments but couldn't win hands at the right time to get me on to final tables and in the money.

Tuesday went a lot better. After the disappointment the night before I was focussed and crushed early, cashing 3 of the first 4 tournaments including a win a 3rd and a 5th (all 45 man tournaments). I trailed off a bit but still had another 2nd a 5th (45 mans) and a min cash in a 90 man. So the results from Tuesday (6 cashes from 18 games) made up for the losses of the night before.

Last night I planned to play a little in the afternoon and then watch some DVD's (Seven Pounds and Role Models) later in the night. I forgot that poker is on OneHD on a Wednesday night so the DVD's would have to wait. Unfortunately, the poker turned out to be a replay of the PCA that I had seen a few weeks earlier ... but I of course still watched it.

The night started well with a 5th in a 45 man before a stretch of 6 non-cashes. After some dinner I cranked it up a level tho and cashed 5 of the last 8 tournaments including a win in a 90 man and three 4ths. I was pleased that I had two good finishes in the 90 man tournaments because it had been a week or so since I had a top 3 finish in those so to finish with a win was nice.

The win was a hard-fought one. I was struggling for chips with about 30 to go and would have been close to the bottom of the chip-count. I pushed all-in twice with pocket 3's, once out-running ace queen and another time getting called by a big blind short-stack with 3 8 suited. After getting to a comfortable stack I then started to actually get hands and come final table was well placed.

Final table started a bit rocky when my ace jack couldn't hold up against a short-stack all-in of ace 2 suited and another caller with queen jack off. A 2 hit the flop and it was good enough to win. The same short-stack later pushed all-in from the button 5 handed, the small blind big stack then re-raised strongly and I loved it because I had aces! As I was re-raising my wireless internet connection dropped out so I was frantically trying to reconnect. Thankfully I managed to, button turns over king ten off, small blind has kings and my aces held up to take down a massive pot.

3 handed I raised solidly from the button with pocket queens, I get re-raised all-in by a shorter-stack who has ace 9 off ... 9 on the flop, ace on the turn ... groan. I exacted some revenge shortly after taking him out and getting to heads up with a slight lead. The other person took down a few early pots but the turning point would be when they min-raised from the small blind and I called with king 2 off. Flop comes king 9 9 with two spades which I didn't really think much of. First to act I checked, assuming my king was good, he bets, I re-raise strongly and he calls all-in. He turns over 5 6 of spades so I'm sweating no more spades and thankfully I take it down. He's almost out so I re-raise with ace 3 suited, he turns over ace queen but I flop a flush and its over.

I thought the king ten button, kings small blind, aces big blind seemed cold short-handed on the final table but I just across this from the World Series:

McKusick Gains Heat From a Cold Deck

There's was a ton of commotion over at table 72 in the orange section just a brief moment ago. We turned to the table to see three players all in. One player held and another player held . Both were terribly dominated by the third player's .

The board ran out , to give the player holding the the nut flush. That player was Ken McKusick out of Baltimore, Maryland and he now has nearly 120,000 chips.

To make things even more interesting, two players in the hand held jacks and another player held pocket sevens. Cold deck much?

Solid lay-down from the pocket jacks. You'd be pretty unhappy if you were the guy with the aces ... "but I have trips!!"

Bankroll now just under US$400 and I'm already just one win short of my goal of 4 tournament wins for the month.

Top 2009 WSOP Performances

I came across this great summary on PokerNews this morning about the top performances so far from the World Series of Poker. Not surprisingly "Aussie" Jeff Lisandro (pictured below) leads the way with his ridiculously good form this series with 3 final tables which he converted in to 3 bracelets.

Once day 2b finishes this afternoon, I'll update you on the Main Event.

The PokerNews Top 10: Top 2009 WSOP Performances | PokerNews.com

It has been a summer full of amazing individual achievement at the World Series of Poker, with no less than four players winning multiple bracelets, and several others with five or more cashes and several deep runs. With only the Main Event to go, it’s a good time to look back and consider the top ten performances from this summer. It should be noted that the following list does not strictly mirror the points model employed by the WSOP to determine its player of the year, although many of the names on this list appear at the top of the POY list as well. Nor does the list rate players strictly according to the number of cashes a player has accumulated or total winnings earned, but rather the overall consistency of a player’s achievements at this year’s WSOP, with added weight given to those who managed to realize the goal of every poker player who enters a WSOP event by capturing the bracelet.

10. Barry Greenstein -- 7 cashes, 2 final tables, total winnings $161,243; Daniel Negreanu, 8 cashes, 2 final tables, total winnings $331,860

Both Greenstein and Negreanu came up short this summer in their quests for bracelets, but both once again ably proved themselves as belonging among poker’s elite. Greenstein’s seven cashes came in a variety of games (limit hold’em, mixed hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, seven-card stud hi-low 8-or-better, H.O.R.S.E., no-limit 2-7 draw lowball). The California resident made two final tables this year, finishing ninth in the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha event (No. 40) and fifth in the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No-Limit) event (No. 47).

Negreanu’s eight cashes also came in many different varieties of poker (limit hold’em, mixed hold’em, PLO/PLH, seven-card stud, seven-card stud hi-low 8-or-better, Omaha hi-low 8-or-better, 2-7 triple draw). Toronto’s most famous poker player managed a fourth-place finish in the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better event (No. 18) and had a near miss by finishing runner-up in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event (No. 14).

9. John Juanda -- 4 cashes, 4 final tables, total winnings $170,745

The 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event winner had a stellar 2009 WSOP, making no less than four final tables. Born in Indonesia and now residing in California, Juanda finished fifth in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event (No. 16), fourth in the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball event (No. 23), ninth in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event (No. 30), and fourth in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Limit event (No. 55).

8. Steve Sung -- 2 cashes, 2 final tables, 1 bracelet, total winnings $883,380

Sung earned his first ever WSOP bracelet in the so-called “Stimulus Special” $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event (No. 4) during the first week of the series. That meant he bested the largest field in any event this summer -- 6,012 -- outside of the Main Event itself. The native of South Korea, who now makes his home in California, followed up on his Event No. 4 victory with an impressive third-place finish in the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw event (No. 23).

7. James Van Alstyne -- 3 cashes, 3 final tables, 1 bracelet, total winnings $519,080

Van Alstyne’s summer just kept getting better as it went along, with three final tables all in mixed-game events. Born in Georgia and currently residing in Las Vegas, Van Alstyne finished sixth in the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event (No. 12) in which players play eight different games (the H.O.R.S.E. games, plus 2-7 triple draw, pot-limit Omaha, and no-limit hold’em). Then he finished as the runner-up in the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event (No. 21). Finally he broke through and won Event No. 31, the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event, thus capping off a remarkable WSOP.

6. Greg “FBT” Mueller -- 3 cashes, 3 final tables, 2 bracelets, total winnings $709,635

After taking seventh in the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud event (No. 6), Mueller came back two weeks later to win another of the $10,000 World Championship events, the Limit Hold’em event (No. 33). Then the one-time professional hockey player from Vancouver turned around and became the fourth player this summer to win multiple bracelets when he took another limit hold’em event, the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout (No. 50).

5. Ville Wahlbeck -- 6 cashes, 4 final tables, 1 bracelet, total winnings $1,082,176

Not only did all of Wahlbeck’s cashes this year come from deep runs, but five of the six came in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship events, the only exception being his 12th place finish in the $2,500 Razz event (No. 44). During the first week of the Series, the Finnish pro took third in the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud event (No. 6), first in the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event (No. 12), and 13th in the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better event (No. 18). He then nearly won the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball event (No. 23), finishing runner-up. Wahlbeck then capped off his WSOP with a sixth place in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event (No. 49).

4. Brock Parker -- 4 cashes, 2 final tables, 2 bracelets, total winnings $806,870

Along with Wahlbeck, Parker was the talk of the WSOP in the early going after he became the first player this summer to win two bracelets. In fact, the Maryland native’s victories came in two consecutive events, as Parker entered the second the day after winning the first. Both were also in short-handed events, the first in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event (No. 14), and the second in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event (No. 19). Parker would additionally cash in Events 29 and 50, both also hold’em events.

3. Phil Ivey -- 5 cashes, 3 final tables, 2 bracelets, total winnings $356,994

Ivey added to his already formidable stature in the poker world by capturing two more bracelets this summer, bringing his overall total to seven. Ivey won the $2,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball event (No. 8), then also landed the $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better mixed event (No. 25). The native of California and New Jersey resident would additionally final table the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout (No. 41), as well as cash in another hold’em event (No. 13) and a pot-limit Omaha event (No. 30).

2. Vitaly Lunkin -- 4 cashes, 3 final tables, 1 bracelet, total winnings $2,696,385

Lunkin ends the summer as the highest earner over the first 56 events -- by a long shot -- having started off the Series in grand fashion by winning the prestigious $40,000 buy-in 40th Annual No-Limit Hold’em event (No. 4). After scoring a modest cash in the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event (No. 12), the Russian would come close to winning a second bracelet on two more occasions, finishing runner-up in Event No. 40, the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha event, then taking fourth in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event (No. 49) after having had a sizable lead at the final table.

1. Jeffrey Lisandro -- 6 cashes, 3 final tables, 3 bracelets, total winnings $807,521

Lisandro tied an all-time WSOP record this summer by winning three bracelets, taking down the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event (No. 16), the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better event (No. 37), and the $2,500 Razz event (No. 44). The native of Australia who now makes Italy his home just missed another final table, finishing ninth in the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud event (No. 6), and additionally cashed in a pot-limit Omaha event (No. 35) and a pot-limit Omaha hi-low event (No. 27).

3 days ... no poker

I just posted on my FaceBook profile that I haven't played poker for 3 days ... not surprisingly, within minutes a number of my friends came back wondering if I was sick, my internet was broken or just general shock. Yes, it has been a while since I've had a few days off from playing.

So what's been going on? Well, just had stuff on, just haven't been on my laptop, just had other things to do.

Friday afternoon I left work a little early as one of my best friends had invited for dinner and a night at the Broncos. I hadn't seen him for a while so it was good to catch up with him as well as a number of other friends that came to the game. After the NZ Warriors scored an early try to shock the crowd and of course the Broncos, Brisbane fought their way back in to the game and rolled over the top of the Warriors in the second half. Beers before the game, beer during dinner, beer during the game and I ended up crashing the night at Steve's place.

The next day started with a casual chat with Steve and his wife before Steve showed off his ever-improving culinary skills with the chef-standard omelette. That afternoon I went to the start of an old friend's bucks party which was barefoot bowling at Moorooka (where I used to live). It was a beautiful afternoon and perfect for lawn bowls and a couple of beers. The form on the greens was rather inconsistent to say the least, but I did have my moments. That night I went to the parents for dinner and as always mum cooked up a feast! Bowls was supposed to include a BBQ lunch but it didn't happen so by the time I got to the parents I was STARVING. Mum delivered the goods with a malaysian curry buffet and I'm pretty sure I had thirds. After that settled there were some home-made chocolate brownies straight from the oven ... mmmmmmm.

Sunday morning is always a leisurely affair at the folks place. Sleep in, have breakfast and enjoy hours of Foxtel programming. Simpsons, Sex & The City and plenty of property/renovation shows. After lunch I eventually hit the road, did some grocery shopping, got to the gym and then had dinner. Still ... no poker played.

When I finally did get online tonight, I of course caught up on goings on at the World Series of Poker. In the final event before the Main Event, one of Assassinato's friends, Faraz Jaka came 3rd in the $5K 6-handed no-limit hold'em picking himself up a cool $400K prize money. I'm sure he's disappointed not to have won but its a great result in a field of 928 players. Good going Faraz!

The Main Event itself got underway yesterday and day 1b finished today. With almost 1000 players starting both days its very hard to find out how players you follow got on. It'll be easier to figure out who's in and who's out when we get to day 2 and 3.

Anyway, I promise there will be more poker talk next post ...

The Brisbane Broncos in their Lance Armstrong inspired yellow jerseys

World Series of Poker update

Its been a week or so since I've updated this blog but seeing as tho only a few people read it at the moment, I don't feel quite so bad. Like my poker game, this blog is a work in progress so its early days.

As mentioned in a previous update, I've really taken an interest in the early events of this year's World Series of Poker. As I have only played no-limit and limit hold'em, I don't fully understand what's going on in games like omaha and razz but I'm getting an idea.

Since I've been playing more online poker recently and checking out blogs and forums, I'm tracking other players not just your big names (Negreanu, Ivey, Hellmuth, etc). Not that any of the bloggers I follow (Bond 18, Assassinato, etc) have had any great results as yet but there's still time and of course the main event yet to come.

Over the last week, the main stories have been about the double-bracelet wins by Brock Parker, Phil Ivey and then (Aussie) Jeff Lisandro. Here's the current Player of the Year Standings:

Player of the Year Standings

View All-Time WSOP Player Stats

Name	WSOP POY Points	Bracelets	Cashed	2009 WSOP Earnings
Jeffrey Lisandro	255 pts	2	5	$619,131
Ville Wahlbeck	255 pts	1	4	$849,785
Phil Ivey	225 pts	2	4	$340,255
John Brock Parker	220 pts	2	5	$802,514
James Van Alstyne	220 pts	1	3	$519,080
Roland De Wolfe	195 pts	1	5	$410,063
Angel Guillen	180 pts	1	3	$846,238
Pete Vilandos	175 pts	1	2	$1,080,538
Daniel Negreanu	165 pts	0	5	$316,190
Daniel Alaei	165 pts	1	3	$587,102

As we speak, I'm following the live updates on Poker News as Phil Ivey goes for his 3rd bracelet of the series in event 41, the $5000 no-limit hold'em shootout. I didn't know what a shootout event was before this series and for those who don't, you have to win your table to make it through to the next round where you have to do the same thing again. When it gets down to the final few in the tournament they play 6-handed.

Phil Ivey has just been knocked out in 8th place so he will have to wait a while longer for another bracelet. The points will certainly help in the Player of the Year race tho.

PokerStars update

With so many pro poker players in Vegas at the moment for the early events of the World Series of Poker, most of the poker blogs are relatively quiet at the moment. There is essentially a new event starting every day so that doesn't give them much time to sit in front of the laptop and update the world about what's going on.

I haven't been playing as much as usual in the last week or so. I really need to get moving with a few business things so this will be my focus over the next few weeks. Saying that tho, I played cash games at PokerStars for a few hours on Saturday and decided to play some tournaments last night. The work will have to wait until this weekend.

Last night I felt I was playing really well. I didn't play too many games, just ten and I final tabled 3 of them. It could've actually been more but there were the usual suck-outs along the way.

Kings losing to king queen suited when they chased down the flush to the river. That was bad ... and there were others, but the worst was an unraised pot where I have king five suited in the big blind. Board comes 5, 6, 5 ... lovely! Small blind checks, I check, early position bets min and both blinds call. Next card out is a queen, small blind checks, I check, early position bets min, small blind calls. I decide its time to get some more out of this pot so I raise a couple of times the min blind, nothing excessive. Early position then shoves massively all-in, small blind umms and ahhs and calls and I reshove over the top and small blind still calls. What do they have you wonder? Early position turns over queen ten off, small blind turns over ace 6 off ... I'm in shock that either of them are still in the pot but know they're both drawing very thin (queen or a six). And the river ... a six of course ...

As mentioned tho, I made three final tables finishing 3rd, 4th and a 6th. So a profitable night and good for the stats but nothing too exciting.

My real concern at the moment is my horrible performances in anything other than the $1 90 man games. Every time I play the $2 90 man non-turbo tournament or even the $2 180 man turbo, I'm doing no good at all. Compared with my success rates at the $1 game, the next level up is a real struggle right now. I don't think its any tougher, I'm just running bad. Sure, I don't play as many of those tournaments as I do the $1 games but in the last 2 weeks I have essentially not cashed ANY of them and bubbling the money twice is as good as it gets. Over the next week or two I will be playing more of these tournaments and hopefully this trend will not continue!

Anyway, bankroll is now at $363 ... yes, I'm plateauing at the moment.

World Series of Poker update

In previous years I really haven't taken much notice in the early events of the World Series of Poker. This year tho I've been following on Poker News and the official World Series of Poker website.

Today I also watched a bit of the live coverage from ESPN and Bluff TV. Coverage today was the final table of the $5000 no-limit hold-em event.

Of note from the first few events is how the cream of the poker world is already rising to the top:

• Phil Ivey has already picked up his first bracelet (event # 8, $2500 no-limit deuce-to-seven lowball), cashed another time and is 3rd in the Player of the Year standings
• Daniel Negreanu has a 2nd placed finish (event #14, $2500 6-handed limit hold-em), two other cashes and is 7th in the standings
• "Aussie" Jeff Lisandro won event # 16: $1500 seven card stud

Phil Ivey wins WSOP bracelet #6

World Series of Poker

With the 2009 World Series of Poker getting underway last week, I came across the article below that covers the history of the event. Its a good recap of some of the highlights for those that haven't done their homework.

I've been following the updates for the last few days on Poker News's Live reporting pages. The highlight so far was former main event champion, Greg Raymer's (pictured right) 3rd place finish in event # 2, the $40,000 no-limit tournament. It would have been great to see him take the title but it was not to be.

Click on the title below to read the full story.

40 years of the WSOP: The new millenium

By Shari Geller

With the World Series of Poker approaching its 40th anniversary in just days, PokerListings has been looking back in a series of articles at how the event has evolved. This fifth and final part looks at the new millenium.

Back in 1991, Jack Binion was asked to look into the future and see where the WSOP might go.

Jack had no way of knowing how the WSOP would explode in popularity, bringing thousands to his casino in search of fame and fortune and said he expected a slow, steady 10 to 15 percent growth rate.

Pro updates

Just a quick post to give you some updates from a few of my stories last week.

Firstly, Alex Fitzgerald (AKA Assassinato) finished 7th in the EPT San Remo. The PokerStars blog had a live feed of the final table but I was at home on a wireless plug-in modem so it wasn't practical to watch much of it. I kept up to date on the blog and the key hand that ended it for Alex was when he re-raised all-in on someone with ace king. The original raiser called turning over pocket jacks and Alex's hand didn't improve. His stack was crippled and he was out shortly after. While disappointed he didn't last longer on the final table, he did walk away with 171,000 euros.

I hoped Alex might give more of a breakdown of the tournament on his blog but I think he's happy to just be home catching up on everyday life. Here is the main post he wrote about the final table achievement and the payday and here's an article that mentions him in the top 10 online players to watch at the World Series of Poker (if he actually goes).

Elsewhere, I had hoped Joe Hachem might get deep at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo but unfortunately he was out in day 3. Annette Obrestad however made it to the final two tables finishing in 13th place and picking up 77,000 euros for her efforts.

Pieter de Korver took out the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, not Joe or Annette as I had hoped

World Series of Poker Satellite - Tweed Heads

For the last few months my APL region has been offering tickets to a World Series of Poker satellite in Tweed Heads. Our regional tournament, otherwise known as Lucky 13 is held monthly and the top 5 finishers each get a ticket to the Tweed game. I haven't been playing enough to make it in to the Lucky 13 games so didn't get a ticket. A few good friends did so I thought I'd go down and support them plus get some video footage of the tournament.

After staying at a friend's place the night before I timed my drive down to Tweed pretty well and arrived just as the tournament was about to start. It turns out tho that since a few ticket winners didn't show up their ticket could be re-sold so I had the option to buy in and play rather than just spectating. Knowing that my game is suited to these large player tournaments, I thought why not and took the opportunity.

I had to wait until after the first set of blinds before I could sit down so entered the tournament with blinds at 25/50 (for some reason they started at 25/25). Second hand I get pocket kings ... nice. I think and then raise to 250 (5 times the blind), quick call next to me, call behind him and two others ... wow 5 times obviously wasn't enough. First card out is of course the ace and I know my kings are no good anymore. Two checks in front of me, I don't both with a continuation and then the guy next to me bets and is called. Player one shows ace -9 off but is beaten by ace-jack suited which had a better two pair.

I win a few hands hitting straights and get a good idea of the style of play from the rest of my table. At the first break, 2 hours in, I'm just under 13K in chips, starting stack was 10K. Most of our region were roughly around the same counts, two were up to around 18K and unfortunately our state champ, Paul McGougan was struggling after a bad beat at just 2K.

Not too much of interest in the next section other than our table getting split and winning a few hands to get to 24K. By this stage we've lost a number of players from our group but a few are still doing well. Knowing the blinds are going up to 1K/2K, its this section of the tournament where you lost most of the players and also where you need to chip up so you don't get blinded out.

Early after the break, under the gun raises to 4K and I've got pocket aces. I think for a little while whether to re-raise or push all-in and decide to just shove. Everyone else folds except the original raiser who is really taking his time. He shows his cards to the player next to him and then shows me ... queen-jack of hearts ... to which I reply "is that all ... can't lay that down??" He eventually chooses to take the race and thankfully loses. A few hands later, I'm up to about 50K in chips and well placed. A small stack pushes all-in for his final 12K, I look and have pocket queens ... do I push all-in over the top or just call? I push but get insta-called by someone next to me with about 30K in chips. Small stack turns over pocket 8's, I turn over the queens, guy behind me turns over pocket kings which take down the lot. I go from 50 back to 20 in one hand and am hurting.

By the next break I've survived a couple of all-ins and am up to 35K with the blinds about to go to 5K/10K and only 4 tables left in play. I fold the first couple of hands and then am big blind and get dealt ace-7 of spades. One of the mega stacks at my table calls as does the small blind ... I think about pushing but don't. The board comes 5 of spades, ten of diamonds, ten of spades ... small blind bets 15K and I groan. I would've pushed if he hadn't bet and if I call or push now its not like he can fold and I'm drawing for my tournament. After a minute or so I fold, gutted and the other pre-flop caller does the same. Small blind shows me 2, 3 of spades and I realise what a terrible mistake I made in that position. Next hand I get dealt pocket 3's ... everyone else folds and its just me and a big stack in big blind. I think about pushing but for some (stupid) reason I just fold and hope for a better moment. Yes ... I'm not sure what I was thinking either.

I end up pushing with ace-8 off for my final 20K, everyone else folds to the big blind who says "it'll be ugly if it wins, but I'll call to try and take out a player" ... thanks for that and he turns over king-7 off and proceeds to hit trip kings. Goooone

I'm very disappointed with the decisions I made after the final break. I needed to chip up and quickly but didn't switch to a more aggressive style of play. That's a big mistake for that stage in the tournament and hopefully I'll learn from that for next time. It was a good day tho and I was glad to make it as far as I did, I just would've liked to of course gone even further. Congratulations to Brendan (one of the good players from our region) who made it to 15th. He was very patient down the stretch but couldn't get a hand and essentially got blinded out.

Ratings up for World Series of Poker

Following on from my last post about the World Series of Poker, here's an article about the television ratings for the changed format. Click on the title below to read the full story.

ESPN: Ratings up for World Series of Poker finale - International Herald Tribune

LAS VEGAS: Television ratings for this week's World Series of Poker final table were up about 50 percent from its broadcast last year, in part, because the show aired the same day play finished instead of months later, ESPN and tournament officials said Thursday.

The World Series of Poker said the number of viewers who watched 22-year-old Peter Eastgate win the main event and its $9.15 million prize was higher than the cable network's average for regular season major league baseball and NBA games last season.

ESPN says roughly 1.9 million households tuned in to watch the final table, compared with 1.25 million households in 2007.

The show's ratings were 18 percent higher than in 2003, when Chris Moneymaker won the tournament, World Series of Poker organizers said. Many poker followers point to Moneymaker's win as an amateur in the tournament as the beginning of a boom for the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament. Participation in the event grew from then until 2006, but declined in 2007.

Peter Eastgate Becomes Youngest-ever ME Winner

I got together with a few friends from APL on Sunday to watch the final table of this year's World Series of Poker. I had only watched a couple of the early episodes but the preview show was quite thorough so I didn't feel like I've missed too much of the action. I'm sure I'll watch the rest of the lead-up in the next few days.

The final table package that ESPN put together was very entertaining. Congratulations to Peter Eastgate on his win and becoming the youngest player ever to win the title. He had a good run on the final table with a numbers of players trying to bluff him off strong hands at the wrong time and quickly took them out.

The set up of the final table in the Penn & Teller Theatre made for an awesome atmosphere with fans going nuts for the players they were supporting. It was no surprise to see Michael Buffer come out to introduce the heads-up battle ... lllllllllllet's get ready to rumble!!

Below is one of the articles about the win ... click on the title for the rest of the story.

2008 WSOP Main Event Day 9: Peter Eastgate Becomes Youngest-ever ME Winner | Poker News

After nearly four months of waiting, the final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event concluded last night in a battle of rising poker superstars. 27-year-old Ivan Demidov had already locked up the title of biggest Russian money winner in WSOP history, and was looking to become the first Russian Main Event champ after his third-place finish in the WSOP Europe Main Event in September. Peter Eastgate was looking to be the first Danish Main Event champ, and also had his sights set on the title of youngest Main Event champion ever, a title held by Phil Hellmuth for nearly twenty years. After a grueling back-and-forth, heads-up battle on the stage at the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio, Eastgate took the title in one last confrontation of big hands to lay claim to the bracelet and the $9,152,416 top prize.

World Series of Poker 2008

I don't have Foxtel (yet) so I was catching up on the World Series coverage on youtube last night. You may have seen this already but I thought it was worth posting.

So you're in the World Series of Poker and you hit quad aces on the river. You value bet, get raised and push all-in over the top begging to get called and paid. Then insta-call and ...



TOUGH way to be sent packing!

Poker credentials

So when all the poker books recommend that you play a strong, aggressive game ... how does a tight, conservative player fair in the world of free poker? Well, my game seems to be best suited to deep stack tournaments rather than small stack, quick blinds.

Your normal APL game is small stack, quick blinds, loose players, etc ... so I don't win too many actual games (I've won twice so far, both in the last few months). I do well, I regularly get on final tables and have a strong average (points) but I tend to place rather than take out the win.

Online free events are TOUGH. The play is erratic to say the least and you come up against all types of players and all different skill (or lack there of) levels.

My best performances in APL have been:

1. In a joint regional tournament (a few months ago) of about 150 players, I made final table with not too many chips and finished 8th.

2. I finished top two in a Lucky 13 regional tournament of about 65 players. I was just about out half-way through the tournament but rode a HOT streak of cards that chipped me up massively. In the space of 30 minutes I saw pocket 7's, pocket queens, pocket jacks, pocket aces and pocket kings and won with them all. Finishing top 2 won me a trip to Sydney including flights, accommodation and buy-in to play in an APL Pro Open (cash tournament).

3. Two quarters ago I won the Shafston venue which meant I had the most points over a 3 month period. I won a trophy and qualified for my first State tournament.

4. Yesterday I played in my second State tournament and out of 500 players finished 15th which won me $500. More about this in my next post.

Now, in online freeroll tournaments (on PokerStars), my best performances so far are:

1. I finished top 50 in a qualifying event (out of around 5000 players) that put me through to a World Series of Poker satellite. Competing against 14,000 other players I was very unlucky to get knocked out around 650th (the other guy was way behind when he called a second re-raise on the turn and he hit one of only 3 outs on the river).

2. I finished top 50 in a qualifying event (out of around 3000 players) which put me through to a satellite for an APPT event in Macau. There were more than 2500 players in the satellite and the top 100 would be paid (only $5 it turns out) ... I finished 70th.