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Bus Pass
2008-04-17 13:46:00
I had my first live tournament win since the Irish Open last night. Only a £30 tournament, so £190 for first, but it was nice to get back in the winners' enclosure after a barren month or so on the live scene.Both the hand that kick started my tournament, and the hand that won me the heads up, involved me holding the mighty hole cards of T6 offsuit. I was hoping to find a fancy nickname for this starting hand, but it doesn't seem to have one yet. The best I could come up with was 6T = 60 = old age freedom pass on the London Underground. So Bus Pass it is then.Anyhow - on to the key hands of the evening:Hand1I raise to 150 with KhKd in early position (sometimes I get cute here with a limp, but the table was playing pretty loosely so there wasn't much point).One customer (Mitch) and we go to the flop:Ks, 9d, 8dI bet 300 and am called by Mitch.Turn is Ace clubsI risk a check, because I want him to think I am scared of the bullet, and he is an agressive player. However, he checks b...

Refusing to do a "Moya"
2008-04-15 16:18:00
Whilst having my tooth extracted on Saturday, I was mulling over the content of Fluke's recent blog post, where he talks about the striking difference between tournament play and cash play (http://extremepoker.co.uk/). He, in fact, suffers from the opposite problem that I have in that he has great patience, tenacity and reading abilities in cash games, but perhaps doesn't change gears quick enough and suffers from lack of agression in the tournament arena. Of course, he doesn't suffer from the significant blow outs on the cash tables I have, due to impatience/excess aggression/drunkeness/all of the above.I am starting to wonder, whether tournament and cash games are in fact completely different disciplines, and whether it is possible to be truely strong in both arenas. There are numerous professional players who follow the tournament circuit, expecting to make most of their money from the cash tables. There are similarly many successful pro tournament players, who squander fortun...

The Mistresses Of The River
2008-04-14 12:35:00
Sometimes, people get on runs of form where they always seem to hit their draws. On Saturday night, at Jody's home game in Cheltenham, it was the turn of Shazbo and Debbie to experience this wonderful phenomenon, predictably against their respective other halves. We played a £100 tournament, with 10k starting chips and a 30 minute blind. There were only 7 runners (myself, Shazbo, Jody, Debbie, Hugh, Sir Mike and Debbie's brother Pete), but it was a good number for the circular table we were playing on. I explained to Hugh, who was unfamiliar with deep stack play, that he should be cautious and that there was a lot of play with the 30 minute clock. Anyway - THIRD hand.I limp for 50 with Js10sDebbie and Shazbo call. Jody pumps it up to 200, which is called by myself and DebbieFlop Jd, 3s, Jc Jody leads for 300. I raise to 1000. Jody reraises to 3000. Now against any other player on the table I pass, but it's Jody who can be a bit loose at times. At the time, I justifed m...
More About: River

Cheating Ducks
2008-04-11 15:00:00
I remember the first time a girl cheated on me. I was 7 years old and had been sitting next to a girl in class for 3 days in a row, during the heady summer of 1982. (I think her name was something really bizarre - Ribeena(?)). Anyhow - I was quite smitten and remember feeling at the time that "this was it". Unfortunately, I was off sick on the Thursday and, when I returned to school the following day, Ribeena had taken up classroom residence with Liam, the trendy guy with the Shakin' Stevens haircut. My conservative bowl cut was no match, and I was consigned to the scrap heap by Ribeena. I was devastated.Last night - these old wounds were re-opened as I was cheated on by my special hand - pocket twos.Many players have small pocket pairs that they consider lucky. Mine are pocket 2s. Whereas the chances of hitting a set on the flop are about 17% with a normal pair, it seems this percentage is closer to 60% with pocket ducks in my hand. The downside of playing these "lucky" cards, is ...
More About: Cheating

0-3? Are you serious?
2008-04-10 10:22:00
I got really drunk last night - I had toothache and decided to go for the white wine for medicinal purposes. Clearly this was a disaster for playing dealer's choice. I have no idea how much I lost - arrived with £400 - had £14.25 in my wallet this morning. Bought 3/4(?) bottles of wine and got a cab home. I'll call it £300. I am going to have to stop playing live cash for a while, as it's simply not working. I win online when I can multi-table, but I simply don't have the patience at the moment for a live cash game.Some hazy recollections:1) I don't enjoy stud or razz2) I like irish holdem3) I still like Omaha and Omaha84) 2-7 triple draw is a good game but 5 card draw isn't5) I play speed holdem like a total idiotSo a disasterous night, which couldn't get much worse. But it did. I popped on the TV when I got home to notice that the eleven care-in-the-community patients currently rehabilitating in Watford's 1st XI managed to lose 0-3 at home to Barnsley.FFS. A chance to g...

FTOPS Time Again
2008-04-09 15:26:00
I notice that Full Tilt has announced another installment of their excellent FTOP series, to take place in May. These tournaments cater for all the games, offer excellent structures and have huge fields. It's a little awkward timing for me this time around, because it clashes with my stay in GeordieLand for the UKPT, but I think I'll be able to squeeze in the following events. I'll try and play them on their own, and do full reports which I don't normally do for online tournaments:9 May: $200 Pot Limit Holdem10 May: $500 Pot Limit Omaha - Short Handed (6 seater Omaha = carnage :))13 May: $200 No Limit Holdem with Rebuys16 May: $200 No Limit HoldemI doubt I'll play the main event, because it's a Sunday night and is sure to finish at a nightmare time on Monday morning, which is no good for us Britains. It would be great if a European site finally motivated itself to do a proper online series, with a wide range of events. We live in hope.In other news, I signed up for t...
More About: Time

Scissor, Paper, Stone
2008-04-09 10:52:00
It's been a great performance. I have gone deep in the Scissor, Paper , Stone 110k USD guaranteed tournament, sponsored by MansionPoker.com. There are 23 gladiators left, and my next clash is with the Italian in seat 3. If I can win this clash, I can smell a big return. Sweat drips of my forehead as I elect for trusty paper, and prepare to go into battle. The Italian stares me down, and I pray to see the clenched fist of rock. No! He has gone against his previous form and produced the deadly scissors, and my dreams are over for another evening as I finish in 23rd place.As you can guess, the structure of the Mansion Poker tournament I played in yesterday was a bit of a joke. 100 USD buy in (with rebuys), and 110k guaranteed, looked a tournament worth playing, so I joined 560 others in the pursuit of the 38k first prize. I eased up to 6k at the break without rebuys and after a few hours was hovering in about 40th place. Then, the hand that shot me up the leaderboard.I am pla...

Following Ebbo's Wisdom
2008-04-07 11:43:00
It's a new week, and I'm about to go and sign up for the gym. Hopefully I can make it there 3 times a week, either at lunchtimes or first thing in the morning. Besides being worried about my general lack of fitness, I've found myself becoming very lethargic when I am playing poker recently and trying to force action, particularly in cash games. The snooker entertainer Peter Ebdon, swam and ran daily, which allowed him to have legendary long term concentration at the table. In one match in 2005 he spent 8 minutes compiling a break of 12, and 3 minutes over one shot. I don't think Ronnie O'Sullivan has ever recovered from this mental torture. Hopefully, a few visits to the gym will improve my concentration levels at the tables, and maybe solve the mental fatigue issue I've been experiencing in multi day tournaments.I got the online cash challenge underway this weekend. I took my original bankroll from 1k USD upto 1,150 in an hour or so. Nothing spectacular, although it w...
More About: Wisdom

Quick Update
2008-04-04 15:21:00
A totally uneventful time last night. 24 runners in the league, and I think I busted about 15th place. I knocked someone out when I played AA pretty trickily from the BB, but apart from that I didn't play many hands and then the blinds caught up with me. Ended up pushing pocket 4s into pocket 9s to depart.I also lost £120 on the cash game, although my stack was going up and down like a yo-yo. We had a couple of Norwegians on the table, as well as Sonny, which made for a good agressive game. Unfortunately I lost a £350ish pot, when my 2nd pair on the river gave the other punter his gutshot straight, and he check-pushed for £80ish on the end. If it hadn't have been for that hand it would have been a successful night, as my game was working pretty well by the end. I had very few strong starting hands (can't remember a pocket pair above 4s) in 4 hours, but I hit the flop pretty hard a few times.PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008Live Holdem (Local) 3,184Live Holdem (International) (9,0...
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Getting a kicking from AQ
2008-04-03 10:09:00
One of my drinking buddies from my youth was a guy known as "Hard Man Dennis". An interesting night was normally in store, in and around Watford/London, with Dennis in tow. He was an intimidating presence to have in your drinking group, but invariably any trouble he got you out of, was trouble he had instigated in the first place. If Dennis was a poker player, he'd never fold. If he raised with AQ and someone went over the top, he'd be all in irrespective of the odds. Flash back to New Year's Eve 1997, and Hard Man Dennis is seething. Myself, Dennis and Big Nick are stumbling around at 2am after a night out in Fulham, and Dennis is mentally unstable on 3 fronts. He's drunk, his subtle attempts at pulling the ladies have come up dry and on top of that, he realises that "some f*cker" has stolen his jacket.There are 3 skinheads standing next to a bus on the other side of the road and, before I can stop him, Dennis has started the verbals. (Dennis raises the pot with AQ)Sudde...
More About: Kicking

Quarterly Review
2008-04-01 11:06:00
Well, I guess to keep on top of your game you need to consistently evaluate how you've done, and set yourself goals for the future, so I thought this would be a good point to review progress. The Labour government would be proud of my box ticking and target setting, rather than getting on with actually playing. There is a job in Town Hall for me some day.Review (Jan-Mar)1) London Tournaments (7/10 Rating)A little under 4k USD profit for the quarter - pretty steady stuff and I'm happy with that. I'm well placed in the WSOP league at the LC, so should start the May final with a decent stack. I've found the Gutshot relatively straightforward to play on my 6 visits there, cashing 3 times and since they get bigger fields that makes for decent paydays. I also broke my City100 barren run during the period, although the monthly BetterPoker 60 runner event continues to deliver outdraws and I have never cashed in that. I gather the Loose Cannon regulars ruled the roost in that one...

Visiting The Inner Temple
2008-03-30 22:38:00
Have spent the weekend working out what is going on in my head poker-wise......feel a bit refreshed. After all, if you'd given me this position at the start of January I'd have taken it with open arms. I'm really disappointed that I feel stale after just 3 months of playing a couple of times a week, but I think I've got a different mindset on it now. I feel that since I am only playing a couple of times a year in big tournaments, I am at the mercy of poker variance as far as those go. The bottom line is I played well in the Irish Open, and if Kabbaj doesn't hit the set I move up into the top ten and would have been in command of my table. If I get to play the few big tournies I have planned, and still come out ahead at the end of the year overall, I have had a year of free holidays and big tournament experience which I can build on the following year.I think I'm going to start a 1k to 100k online challenge to try and keep me fresh (cash games only). I also think I'm rea...
More About: Temple

Burnt Out
2008-03-28 11:03:00
I feel so jaded. A disappointing night to say the least - I will be taking it easy for the next few weeks to recharge the batteries.I played like a mug on the final table of last night's tournament, coming 6th after arriving as chip leader. I then burnt £500 in the cash game - losing a £300 pot with AQ v KQ all in blind on the flop and then another £200 pot with 2 pair verses top pair. :(PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008Live Holdem (Local) 3,744Live Holdem (International) (9,076)Live Omaha (Local) (30)Live Omaha (International) (1,215)Online Holdem 69,030Online Omaha 630Rake (1,601)61,482

Irish Open Omaha - Devilfish and Micky Wernick's Bacon Roll
2008-03-25 18:30:00
I expected to struggle badly in the Omaha - it was a highly competitive field of only about 120 players. It was rebuy format - 400 euro - plus an add on at the break.At my table were Devilfish and Micky Wernick, plus a couple of guys they knew, so clearly this was going to be tough. The play was agressive, but I was pleasantly surprised to get to the break without a rebuy with 12k in chips (from starting stack of 3k), so with the top up I would start the freezout with 16k, which was plenty to work with.The average age of the tournament must have been 40, as opposed to 25 in the Holdem events. The action was fast and furious - the table next door had Andy Black and Bruno Fitoussi on it, and all ten players agreed to go all-in blind on the first hand! Devilfish was providing a mix of self promotion, witty table banter and some frankly lewd comments, which we could have done without. His tennis elbow story isn't going to make it onto this blog. His girlfriend arrived on the scene...
More About: Open , Roll , Irish , Bacon

Irish Open Holdem Side Events
2008-03-25 18:15:00
I played both the 1500 Euro freezeout and the 300 Euro scalp side tournaments while I was in Dublin.I shouldn't have played in the 1500 event - I had been knocked out of the Main Event literally 15 minutes before it started, and was tired and frustrated. This was not a good frame of mind to be playing a deep stacked tournament, where patience is key. I lost about 3k in chips trying to bluff Praz Bansai off a hand on a low board where he held pocket Kings. He had been playing a lot of hands early on, but unfortunately I picked a spot where he had a hand which was tough to put down. He reluctantly called my re-raise on the turn, and I thought briefly of shoving on the river for my last 4k, but instead just tabled my losing AK. Praz was a nice guy though, and good table company.I then get a little short stacked and I am now on the small blind. I complete with 9s10d, but an agressive scandi reraises to 600. I should fold here but I'm knackered and flat call. Flop comes 9 high....
More About: Events , Open , Irish , Side , Holdem

Irish Open Main Event Day 2 - Chip Burning
2008-03-24 18:36:00
Day 2 of the Main Event was a total disaster. Truth be told, I was pretty exhausted after my marathon session on Day1b and was pretty fatigued going into Day 2. I started with 60k in chips and my table looked good for me - John Kabajj sat on 35k, one other guy played 30k and the rest were short stacks fighting for their lives with 10k-16k. That said, one of the short stacks was the dangerous Graeme Newman (Grazza to Betfair users), a friend of mine, and winner of the online version of the Ladbrokes poker million event a couple of years back.So all I had to do was stay away from Kabajj and pick off the short stacks...................well that was the plan. I have played the hand below over in my head a hundred times, and have come to the conclusion it's pretty hard to get away from given the action.About third hand of the day (blinds 300-600 with a running 50 ante):Kabajj raises in early posiiton to 1800. I re-raise to 6k with QQ.Folds to Kabajj who calls.Flop 2d, 6d, 10sChecked ...
More About: Open , Irish , Burning

Irish Open Main Event Day 1 - Pocket Rockets, Slowrolls and Scalps
2008-03-23 13:46:00
Day 1 of the Main Event was a great success. I finished the day with 60k in chips, in 5th position for day 1B and in 12th spot overall. I found the standard of play pretty mediocre - some good players, some loose players, but generally most players were pretty straightforward to read. Hand summaries below:In the early 2 levels, I built myself up to 13k with standard plays - seeing cheap flops with my mediocre holdings, and winning pots when I hit or picking up pots if no-one seemed to want to bet at it. Blinds are now 75-150.Hand1I hold JQoff in the big blind. Guy in mid position puts it up to 400. He's probably one of the stronger players at the table and I flat call.Flop 2, 3, 10 all spades.Since this guy is a good player I decide that this is a good spot for a bluff. He bets 500 and I flat call.Turn 6 diamondsI check call his 700 bet. Now the key to this bluff is that I may have a spade in my hand (I can't remember) but if I check my hand then it gives away the fact that I am s...
More About: Open , Irish , Pocket

Irish Open Again
2008-03-22 22:11:00
I'm going to have to update the full tournament report when I get home I think, as this diabolical internet connection just deleted my lengthy Day1 post. Typical of today.As many of you will know I busted in 140th in the main event after losing a 75k pot early on day2. Details of the hand are on the Paddy Power blog, but I'll do full report when I return.
More About: Open , Irish

Irish Open Update
2008-03-22 04:23:00
Finished day 1 with 60k in chips. I'm probably in the top ten, certainly in the top twenty, so it will be an interesting day 2. Average is about 27k so I'm in good shape. I've played solid and have busted a few big scalps including Bruno Fitossi and Tony Phillips. I'll do a full review when I am less knackered. I also gave one of the biggest slow rolls in poker history, but it was an honest mistake so don't believe the bad press if it comes up on the forums..............
More About: Open , Update , Irish

Roll up for poker roulette!
2008-03-20 18:17:00
A last minute change of plan led to us going to play in the Fitzwilliam in central Dublin, instead of playing the main event qualifier. The format was 20 euro rebuy and was dealer dealt, so plenty of play in it. However, the players seemed to have some interesting thoughts on hand values - anything with paint on is massive for these guys, and if you have KQ, KJ or JQ you have the nuts pre-flop. The game was hard to play, because the players would re-raise pre-flop with KJ, so it was tough to know where you stood. Two interesting incidents. Firstly a guy next to me raises to 800 and the big blind goes all in for 2800. He says "I know this is a bad call, but I call" showing pocket 5s. The guy shows QJ and the guy with pocket 5s says "I knew it was a bad call". I say "surely you'd call if you knew his hole cards?" and he replies "I don't think so" :)The second incident involves Shazbo pushing with pocket 9s for 3000 chips, and the guy next to act calls with KQ. He is devastate...
More About: Poker , Roll

Arrived in Dublin
2008-03-18 20:55:00
Well, we've arrived at the CityWest outside of Dublin . It's a huge mansion out in the hills and is a great venue, a big improvement on the Burlington, where the Irish Open was held last year. As usual, the event attracts numerous young Scandanavians and Americans, who are not yet of sufficient vintage to be allowed to play in Nevada. As I write this in the conservatory, there are 3 young american internet geeks playing 2/5 on Stars. I assume they have had considerable success to have justified funding this trip out of their bankrolls. The poker room itself is huge, with huge gaps between the tables, allowing the players to compete in comfort. To get a better feel for the room myself and Shazbo are going to play in the super satellite starting tomorrow. It's a 300 Euro rebuy, but I am only planning on one buy-in to get a quick feel of the room. I imagine I'll be out pretty quickly, especially as there is only 2k in starting chips and I won't be taking the 3k add-on. Good...

Cash Game Anticlimax
2008-03-14 11:47:00
I had pencilled in the Thursday cash game at Loose Cannon for a few weeks as my big cash session of the month. Unfortunately, it was a huge let down - I was card dead (not a single pocket pair in 3 hours and AK once) and played pretty poorly on top, chasing too many draws and by the end playing poor quality hands out of frustration. I am quite happy playing low suited gappers, but when you get a continual stream of total trash hands like K2, Q3, J5 it gets a bit disheartening. I'll have to make sure I don't suffer from the same indiscipline in my next cash session as I ended this one £300 down.Fortunately, my tournament play continues to go well, and I placed 3rd in the league event for £270 so not too much damage done. Out of the 6 tournaments I have played in the "pre-Dublin period", I have achieved the goal of 2 cashes, with still one more tournament to come, so it's gone okay I think. I've gone deep in a couple of the other tournaments as well so I feel reasonably well pre...
More About: Game , Cash

Empire - A Few Hands
2008-03-11 14:26:00
There certainly were a few odd hands at the Empire £200 tournament on Monday night. The table was fairly agressive, but some of the players were gamblers, or wanted to raise just for the sake of raising. After all, they have all heard "aggressive poker is winning poker", but you need to be selective:Hand1Min-raise under the gun to 200. Folded round to me in the small blind and I have QQ. Min-raises under the gun normally mean a monster from an ABC player, but I haven't played with this guy before, so I am unsure. I decide to flat call here because I can stack him anyway with the right flop. BB also calls.Flop 6, 10, 2 rainbowI bet 600, BB folds but the UTG min raiser flat calls. Very nervous about Aces now.Turn is a KingCheck CheckRiver is a 3He bets 1875 into the 1800 pot. To call will cripple me so I decide to let it go, as I am still in good shape. He has 4,7 lol! I misread that one. Well played by him I guess......but from watching his play later in the tournament b...
More About: Hands

Declining Standards Of The Empire
2008-03-10 23:58:00
Admiral Ozzel had just taking his Stardestroyer out of hyperspace just above the ice planet of Hoth. The mighty Empire have tracked the rebels down to this freezing outpost, and are preparing to deliver the killer blow to the upstarts. However, Ozzel has approached too close to the planet's surface and set off the Rebel's early warning system. The theatre shield has been activated, precluding any bombardment.Lord Vader is on the blower wanting an update"Admiral, why are the Rebels aware of our approach?""I thought surprise was the best option Lord Vader" replies Ozzel, confidentlyCaptain Piett shuffles nervously from foot to foot, examining the crease on his battleship grey uniform, hoping he won't have to participate in this inquest."You are as clumsy as you are stupid""Captain Piett""Yes my Lord"At this point Ozzel gasps for breath, asphyxiated and shortly executed on the spot"You are in command now Admiral Piett"For all his flaws, it has to be conceded that Vader ran a pretty ...
More About: Standards , The Empire

TAGing with the LAGs
2008-03-09 21:47:00
In poker, it is imperative to alter your playing style according to various factors in the particular game you are playing. In tournaments these are the blind levels, your stack size, opponent's stack size, payout structure and the players themselves. In a cash game, it is mostly dependant on the opposing players - stack sizes have an influence when calling certain draws, but not to the same degree as tournaments.On Friday night I found myself sitting at a cash game at the Loose Cannon which was, shall we say, "active". Most of the players with big stacks were partial to raises and re-raises pre flop and there was plenty of action on the flop. Players several times showed down 2nd pair after heavy betting. 2 of the players had become so agressive, that they developed from being dangerous loose players to simply the table soft spots. There was one strong agressive player with a big stack, but the other solid players seemed to have pretty small stacks, so there was no implied o...

The Real World Poker Tour
2008-02-05 12:58:00
The WPT is not the World Poker Tour . The Americans just got in there first, splattered some events round the states that would allow them to gamble, dumped one in France, strapped Mike Sexton in a chair smiling, and there it is.All sounds very similar to the baseball world series - 29 clubs in America and ONE from Canada. Neither the Cubans nor the Japanese get to play, but yep , it's still the "world" series.Unfortunately for the Americans, unlike baseball/NFL/basketball where the rest of the world is hopeless, poker is now a global game in every sense. The Scandanavians have long been renowned for their prowess on the felt, and I have a feeling that the Russians may become a new force judging on their results over the last 9 months.Some people feel poker has reached saturation point, and that the "Moneymaker effect" is over. Whilst I feel this is true to an extent, I think poker will evolve again into a more co-ordinated structure. At the moment we have WPT and EPT - fine. We als...
More About: Real , The Real World

Cash Game Improvement
2008-02-01 10:34:00
Not much to report.................the tournament was a non-event for me. I grinded along short stacked for most of it, with few interesting hands to report. Eventually I lost the race which would have put me in the running against Professor Geoff - my 77 against A10. Geoff had already raised 30% of his stack on a similar stack to myself when I pushed, so was pretty much pot committed.The cash game was a revelation however. I played my new style which I've been thinking about over the last week or so. It yielded a £350 profit - and this after blowing £260 on two hands when I didn't re-raise pre-flop with KK. It doesn't seem the KK strategy is working - I am giving myself reverse implied odds it seems, because I find it hard to get away from the hand.Tom, in my opinion the best cash player at LC, didn't play because he won the league tournament. I'm looking forward to seeing how my new style measures up against him on the cash table next week.As always, I am loathe to t...
More About: Game , Cash , Improvement

Discussion Hand 2 - "Multi-Million Dollar Laydown" - Arieh v Murphy 2004
2008-01-31 14:11:00
BackgroundWe have 16 players remaining in the WSOP 2004 Main Event. On the feature table John Murphy is about to put Josh Arieh to a huge decision. Arieh, by this stage, had already forged a successful poker career, including a 1999 Limit Holdem bracelet and several WPT and WSOP final table appearances. Murphy is a WSOP rookie who has played fearlessly all tournament. Notably, he overslept the previous day when one of the chipleaders, and his vacation in the Land of Nod cost him USD 160k if you convert chips to dollars. At present Murphy has 1.8m in chips, placing him 4th in chips. The Atlantan Arieh has almost 3 million and is in 2nd, some way behind Greg Raymer.Blinds are 20k/40k with a 5k ante. Murphy is in the cutoff, Arieh is on the button.Pre-Flop - Murphy perspectiveThe action is folded round to Murphy in the cutoff who looks down at pocket 2s. There is 100k in the pot already, so Murphy is entitled to raise here with many cards, and the pocket pair makes this play e...
More About: Dollar , Multi , Hand , Discussion

Discussion Hand 1 - "Pricing Yourself In" - Zilem v Pham 2005
2008-01-30 11:35:00
Ok, first in a new series of posts where I will talk through eventful hands from previous years, and give my views of the hand from the players' perspective. I'll also attach the relevant youtube clip so feel free to add your own views.BackgroundIt's the WSOP Circuit Event in Bally's - Main Event Day 3. We are down to 17 players. Sitting on 157k in 3rd place in chips is Kido Pham - a relative newcomer who has been playing with controlled agression all tournament. Right behind him in 4th position is another newcomer, Ricky Zilem, on 148k in chips. Zilem has been lucky on several occasions, and has earned himself the nickname "River Ricky" during the course of the tournament. Pham is sitting directly to the right of Zilem, so this is a good spot for Ricky, as Pham has been giving headaches to the players to his right all tournament with his agressive play. Blinds are 1000/2000 ante 300.PreFlop - Kido Pham PerspectiveHe's feeling good, hitting flops and his unpredictable pl...
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ARAG Merchants - Gutshot Monday
2008-01-29 14:22:00
I decided to expand my horizons and take in the £100 forty runner tournament at the Gutshot on Monday . A generous 5,000 in chips and 25 minute clock allowed for plenty of play. Having not been to the Farringdon venue for 18 months I was slightly worried that I'd be faced with an army of hoodie and ipod wearing youngsters, calling a ruling every 15 mins.I was pleasantly surprised however - my table was friendly and had plenty of banter. Perhaps the fact it was dealer dealt led to less of the usual disagreements. I was also surprised at the standard of play, which was, on average, significantly below the standard of Loose Cannon. There were a few strong players for sure, and one tournament is too small a sample, but I think this could be a tournament worth playing on a weekly basis going forward. I have put in some hands below to illustrate this, but bear in mind I saw numerous other incidents of people playing Ace rag for a LOT of chips:HAND1Early position limper for 50, guy to my ...
More About: Merchants