The Coach speaks...

Radio Silence

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:38:46 +0000

Apologies are in order for the lack of recent updates.

A better writer and probably a better poker player than I once called poker "A hard way to make an easy living".

Boy, was he was right!

I was so buoyant after the near miss at the WSOPE, I felt the big score was just around the corner. Tristan had promised dinner at the Chef’s table at Petrus when one of Team Withnail hit a final table and I had allowed myself a long perusal of the online menu. That was Bad karma for sure.

In the three events since, I’ve suffered more pain than an unwanted ginger stepson.

No-one likes a badbeat moaner, and indeed not all my misery was down to misfortune. In Amsterdam, I badly misplayed a hand against two aggressive young Scandis. Fight fire with fire! I wilted under their aggression and went out with a whimper.

I can't take any blame for my demise at the WPT Bellagio. I played some great stuff, changing gears and picking my spots beautifully. Then three bad beats (2 two outers and a three outer) in quick succession sent me scuttling to the rail. I should have been chip leader half way through day 3. Instead I was ensconced in the bar with Withnail and the Novice, licking our collective wounds.

Australia was a fantastic trip. Cricket at the SCG, Racing at Caulfield and Tennis at Flinders Park. The sightseeing was fantastic, the poker a nightmare. I’d hardly got comfortable in my seat before I’d parlayed my 20,000 starting stack into 90k in chips. The average was showing at 25k. I could go to my room and have a kip, have a relaxing massage (if only Mr Channing would let someone else use one of the girls!) or have a nice swim in the Crown's beautiful pool. But no. I eschewed this choice, decided to try and win the tournament during level 5 and literally gave my chips away. It was embarrassing, distressing and disappointing.

I've had a couple of weeks to dwell on all this and I'm coming back determined to put the record straight. Those Uruguayans don't know what's about to hit them!

The Coach

The Chance of a Lifetime: WSOPE Main Event

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:16:01 +0000

A couple of weeks later and already it's a blur. A collage of flops, bluffs, value bets and squeeze plays. One pot has seamlessly merged into another. All I can say with certainty is that I had a ball and I'm still devastated that it all finished so soon.

I woke on the Friday morning feeling feverish and off my food. If I was a horse they would’ve shot me, at the very least I would’ve got a vet’s certificate to avoid the major race I was entered for at the weekend, but I resisted the temptation to call in sick to Withnail and sucked it up and caught the train south to cheer on Tristan and Vicky on their day 1. I arrived shortly after dinner and they were already struggling and moaning heartily about the strength and awkwardness of the opposition. I took my leave because I was still feeling a bit dicky and wanted a good night's sleep.

I woke up feeling a touch better, but my mood wasn't improved by finding my two teammates were busted late on.

On arriving at the Empire I was pleasantly surprised by my table draw. Everywhere I looked there were big names, I felt I should have bought my autograph book. But my table was decent. Sure Scott Fischman and Ross Boatman were there but they were safely on my right so I called the tune whenever we played a pot together. Full Tilt big noise Howard Lederer was on my immediate left but he showed himself not to be a threat. It's hard to ante yourself away with 30,000 chips, but that's pretty much what Howard did. He can be at my table any day he likes.

I don't intend to give a hand by hand account of my run. First I would be typing for about a week and second through the fog of illness I was still suffering from I can barely remember many.

So in ultimate stripped down fashion here’s how my tournament went.

Day 1. Held more hands than a faith healer. Flopped 4 sets, held AA four times and made a variety of flushes, straights and two pairs. On a more active table I would’ve ended as chip leader, but against these more conservative guys I finished with 72k.

Day 2. I played the best poker I've played in years. I drew a seat with the day 1 chip leader on my immediate left. But despite not finding any decent cards (well, I did flop one set, but the board showed up with 4 diamonds and 4 running cards so my hands were tied) I ducked and dived and chopped away while avoiding major trouble and ended the day with 121k.

Day 3. Yet again I drew a huge chip stack to my left. This time Devilfish. He avoided confrontation with me early and I played super aggressive and doubled my stack without showing a hand. Eventually the 'Fish had enough and decided to play a big pot with me. Unfortunately for him I had a nut straight and he was bluffing. From there on I was on cruise control (to be honest I had a lot of good hands - busted two guys including one of Withnail’s future guests with AA v 88) and made my way serenely into the money with 36 left holding 330k.

Day 4. Feature table time. Teddy Sheringham has never been my favourite footballer, but a surreal moment occurred when he offered his hand and asked "Are you the Camel? Pleased to meet you, my name is Teddy". As though anyone of my age wouldn't know who he was?!?!? The day couldn't have started better. I flopped a set against Teddy (no need for formalities, we're mates now!) and won a nice pot. Then I doubled up against internet phenom Christian Harder with AA v QQ. The day was going swimmingly until we got down to the redraw with 18 left. I had 850k and was in 4th spot in the whole tournament when I drew a seat next to monster chip leader Jason Mercier. Monster is an apt description because that’s how he played. Every time I opened a pot he reraised me. He basically ate my stack. I was below average when I finally found the first premium hand in what seemed like weeks, AK. I raise and for once Mercier left me alone. Instead it was young British player Praz Bansi who re-popped me. I had no choice but to shove and he made an easy call with 99. A race. A coinflip. Possibly the biggest in my life. Worth about £200,000 in equity. That's a really nice house where I live ooop north. Could I win it? Could I fuck. The board ran out free of any pictures and I was done. 11th for a payday just over £50,000. Still a nice chunk of change!

Mixed emotions for me. I was proud of performing well against possibly the toughest field ever assembled for a poker tournament but disappointed my run finished just before the final table.

I’ll save the stories of ESPN chair arguments, telling Daniel Negreanu exactly what I think of him and the Empire running out of loo paper at exactly the wrong moment for another day!

See you in Amsterdam
The Coach

Heads you win, Tails I lose...

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:00:03 +0100

I was disappointed with my performances for Withnail's Poker School in August.

Playing poker with other people's money brings a pressure all of its own. Your backers are investing their cash in your talents and relying on you to make them a profit.

My record being backed is better than playing with my own cash (ask Withnail if he had a share in me when I scored my biggest ever win!) but I was nervous that I hadn't shown much in my first few performances for WPS and eager to put that right.

So, it was pleasing that the next leg of the tour was where I’m most comfortable - in my comfortably padded chair in my office sitting in front of a computer screen playing many of the events at the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP).

Since the birth of my son Jake, about 95%+ of my poker has been played online. I make a few forays into the live game when I see value offered (WSOP, MCOP and a few EPT events) but mostly these days I play on Pokerstars.

I know many of the players pretty well and feel there is a lot of value to be had by playing the tournaments there. Also, I'm comfortable with the software and the structure of the tournaments.

All in all I was pretty confident of a decent showing.. here's how it went:

Sept 9 $520 No Limit Triple Shootout. To win this tournament you basically had to win three 10-handed sit and goes. SNGs are not my strongest form of poker and I was handed a tight, aggressive opening table where at least seven of the players played perfect SNG poker. I crashed and burned pretty early finishing 557th of 1000.

Sept 11 $215 No Limit + Rebuys. I managed to survive with only three rebuys. A great result! I manoeuvred my way through over half the field before I called a raise with AsQs. When the flop came all low cards with two spades I reraised all-in. He dwelt and called with pocket tens. With two overcards and a flush draw I have 15 outs and I'm a 60:40 to win. But no-one told the random number generator that and two hopeless blanks later I was out.

Sept 12 $320 No Limit Turbo. A great tournament. Ten minute levels suit my aggressive play and I soon built a decent stack. I went card dead in the middle stages of the event and when I tried raising with air I was called down. My last move was fine. An aggressive player raised in late position and a good, thinking player reraised from the button. With QQ in the big blind it was an easy shove. Unfortunately the button had Aces...

Sept 13 $520 Heads Up Matchplay. Heads up poker is my specialty. Over the last three years,I’ve played nearly 20,000 matches on Pokerstars. You can check out my record by entering my username "The Camel" into sharkscope.com. I’m quite proud of it. This must have been my best chance of scooping a WCOOP bracelet as I had a huge edge over the field. Pokerstars adding $1/4million to the prize pool only sweetened the deal.

I received a bye in the first round, which was nice, but the slow structure meant I had to wait nearly two hours to play my first match, which was annoying. But when I finally got to play, my opponent was incredibly weak. I brushed him off easily picking off bluffs which he should never have made and value betting liberally.

Indeed this strategy worked well throughout my first three matches. The Sharkscope graphs of my opponents usually resembled ski slopes.

But in the fifth round I faced a pretty good player. Jorj95 is one of the biggest winners on Stars. We sparred around a bit and he had a small chip lead when he three-bet me out of position for the umpteenth time. I decided to see a flop with Qc8c. The flop of Qd3h2d seemed good, but he immediately responded to it by shoving all-in. Wow! I couldn't reliably put him on a hand. A medium pair? A flush draw? I really didn't know. So I called. He had a horrible hand. 4d5d. He was a clear favourite but somehow I dodged the outs leaving with over 98% of the chips. Then the horror show began. He won pot after pot. He couldn't stop winning. Sometimes I was favourite and sometimes he was. But whatever, he won the pot. He’d recovered to hold 55% of the chips when he called my shove with A8 while I held pocket tens. I was a 60:40 favourite, but sometimes you are just destined to lose and an ugly ace flopped and I was out. I was devastated. I collected $2,000 for coming 88th but that was only tiny compensation.

Sept 13 $215 No Limit Hold’em. I remember virtually nothing of this tournament. I finished 4823rd of 9795 so that says it all really.

Sept 13 $1050 No Limit Hold’em. This was my best performance of the series and the one I’ll have nightmares about for months to come. I was on the top of my game throughout and my tables were soft. Whenever I faced a decent player I had position. I dominated for many hours on end. I didn't see that many decent hands or good situations, I just played good, aggressive poker. Then, after about ten hours of play, I finally found AA on the button. A very aggressive player raised and I simply called, hoping he would hang himself on the flop. However, surprisingly the big blind shoved all-in for a massive overraise. When the raiser passed I snapcalledfistpumped. If my hand held I would have a top five chip stack and a five figure payday in prospect. Oh, what’s this? He flopped a flush. Fuck. I was gutted. I still had an average chip stack, but I was exhausted. And my momentum was gone. When a loose-goose raised 15 minutes later I three-bet him with TT. He insta shoved and I called. He showed the powerhouse of AJ. The deck was to kick me in the bollocks one last time when he flopped a house. I was pig sick. 312th for $1830 was zero consolation.

Sept 14 $320 No Limit Double Chance. Another day. Another deep run. Another disappointment. My memory of this tournament has largely been obliterated. All I can remember is one guy showing up with AA and KK when I had the square root of fuck all. I finished 234th for $750.

Sept 20 $215 No Limit and $5200 No limit Main Event. I went deep in one of these, and hardly won a hand in the other. Unfortunately it was the smaller event with nearly 10,000 runners in which I came 111th for $1380. The main event was a washout. I never had more than my starting stack and the whole thing fizzled out quicker than a bbq on a wet September afternoon.

All in all a frustrating series of events. I had plenty of chances of making a major score and failed miserably to convert. Still, maybe I can go deep in the WSOPE...

The Coach

Poker: A Fickle Mistress

Fri, 4 Sep 2009 23:06:19 +0100

If there’s one thing that unites poker players it’s the ability to moan and whine about their fortune. You’d think Joe Hachem, who won the WSOP main event in 2005 would be pretty happy with his lot. He’s a multi-millionaire who flies around the world first class playing poker tournaments with his sponsor’s coin. But no, he complains about his poor luck at every turn.
 So, please excuse me while I vent a little. I'll be over the chagrin once I've expressed it and be back to the normal placid, even tempered poker player I usually am.
 BUGGER MY LUCK! 
I arrived at my table in great mood. I felt well rested, refreshed and ready to run deep in this latest stop of the GUKPT. My table wasn't great, but considerably better than the one at Luton. My old friend Neil "Bad Beat" Channing (I've known him over 30 years - we went to school together) was three to my left and the rest of the table was an assortment of competent but not great players and a couple of rocks. (I've noticed bookmakers are often rocks. I wonder why this is? Probably they know better than most the dangers inherent in gambling!)
 Play began warily. Only one player, a young guy who seemed to be in awe of Mr Channing (who isn't?) was keen to put any chips into the pot. Possibly he wanted to impress Neil (who doesn't?).
 It was he I wanted to target in a pot, I felt I could trap him and double up if I ever got dealt a monster.
My chance came late in level 2. With blinds of 50-100 Mr loosegoose made it 325 to play. From the sb I squeezed a lovely a pair of red kings. The bb gave a tell that indicated he was going to fold so I merely called. And we saw the flop of Td 7d 2d two handed. I checked, hoping to checkraise with my overpair and flush draw if he bet. But alas he checked behind. The turn was an offsuit nine. The board felt safe at the moment, but I couldn't afford to give him another free card so I bet 500. He called. Hmmmm. What could he have? A pair and a flush draw maybe. If he had the bare ace of diamonds he would surely have bet the flop. Likewise if he had a set. It was tough to put him on a hand. I intended to take him to valuetown whatever the river brought, I was so confident I had the best hand. The river was Ks giving me top set. Lovely! So now with my value bet of 750 I was internally begging for a call. He called and showed down QJ with no diamonds. He made a truly horrible call on the turn and was rewarded with a miracle river card and then didn't make a raise. He managed to make so many mistakes in the hand yet still hurt me by taking 20% of my stack. 
Half-way through the next level (75-150) I opened utg for 400 with 7d8d. I like to open with a wide variety of hands when the table is playing snugly. It makes your hand difficult to read while if I’m called I feel confident I can narrow my opponent’s hand to a very small range. I got three callers, including both blinds, so I had position on all bar one player. The flop was apparently beautiful for me. Td 7s 2d giving me second pair and flush draw. After both blinds checked I bet 900 (about 3/4 of the pot). Now a very tight player made it 2500 to play with about 2500 behind. I like my hand. I am clear favourite over a bigger flush draw, an over pair or top pair. I'm only in trouble against a set, which seemed unlikely given the size of his raise. I didn't have much fold equity but I think this is a clear shove, so that's what I did. He shook his head sadly and called. He had AdJd. I don't remember the last time I hit a flush in a big tournament, but unfortunately I did here with the Kd arriving on the river, meaning I lost the pot to his nut flush despite being a 55% favourite.
 I played a short stack for two or three levels until I finally found the boots (AA) utg at 150-300 level. As the table had become more active in the previous 30 minutes I decided merely to call and hope to get a reraise in against a big stack. It rapidly descended into a callingfest with more limpers than an amputees 100m race. We saw the flop seven handed! It appeared Qs Th 8c. I didn't like it much but I felt dutibound to bet 800 but after Neil called, Mr Loosegoose made it 2500. When Martin Cavanagh (a very solid player with whom I have a lot of history) made it 5500 to play, it was clear my boots were absolutely no good. So I folded. Loosegoose shipped it in and Martin snapcalledfistpumped with J9 for the nuts. Loosegoose was unlucky to have a set of 8's which didn't turn into a full house. I wasn't too annoyed until Neil told me he had AK. If either he or I had fast played our hands we would have driven out the other two hands and I would have doubled up.
 Sigh.
 Well, now my tournament life was on life support with only 3500 chips. I shoved a couple of times to keep approx 10 big blinds in my stack when my final chance to double up appeared. The cutoff opened to 1000 (200-400) when I woke up with a suited AK in the big blind. I shoved of course only to be met by a quick call. He had QQ which held rather easily. 
For the first time in the poker tour I felt totally satisfied with the way I played. Most poker players suffer mental anguish when they play badly. Not me. I hate it when I play my best and fates conspire against me to lose. At least I’ve found some form in time for the World Championship of Online poker at Pokerstars. Bring it on. I can hardly wait. 
What I learned I've never played poker in Cardiff before. I will return. The players are congenial and interesting to talk to but certainly not fearsome. They should all be wearing fur hats as the mode of play tends to be tricky and trapping - not the naked aggression seen in London and on the internet.
 Oh, and if you are staying in Cardiff choose the St Davids Hotel and Spa. It s like a poor man's Burj Al Arab, only at 5% of the cost. Highly recommended!

The Coach

Playing badly, running worse...

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:55:28 +0100

The most underrated factor in being successful in a poker tournament is your table draw. When I made the last 100 of the WSOP main event in 2008 I didn't face a decent player with position on me until day 5. For the Luton leg of the GUKPT (the first stop of Withnail's Poker Tour) I was given a horror draw. The poker equivalent of being drawn in stall 15 for a 5f sprint at the Roodeye (Chester’s famous ever-turning racecourse). Immediately to my left were (in order), successful tour pro Nik Persaud and then two internet phenom's Tom "hitthehole" Middleton and Javed Abrahams.   Ceding position to good players in virtually every pot you enter (obviously when you have the button you have position on the whole field, but unfortunately that only happens once a round) means they have a lot more information than you when making their decisions. If you miss a flop and check they can bet with nothing and take the pot. They have the advantage of picking up any tells you give them. They can open the betting if they have a strong hand, or keep the pot small if they are weak or drawing. Basically position is the most important factor in Texas Hold’em tournaments. And these three guys would have position on me almost every pot we played.
Not that I gave them the chance to use it. I busted from this event in 80 minutes flat, not even half way through level two! I was dealt a series of great starting hands and failed to win any pots with them. KK and QQ were sunk by ghastly looking ace-high flops and strong betting action from other players. Then a couple of AK were put between my sweaty palms. The flops bore no relation to my holdings. I managed to lose nearly half my starting 10,000 chips with these disasters but worse was to come.
With blinds of 50-100 I opened the pot for 300 in second position with QQ. A player who had not played a pot yet (ie as tight as a duck's arse!) immediately reraised to 900. I wasn't folding, but committing to the pot against this guy could easily be a huge mistake. I simply called leaving myself about 4800. A flop of JT8 looked good but when I checked, the rock bet 1000. My gutshot draw with an overpair was more than enough to call, but I was pretty sure he had a big hand so I just called to see the turn. A harmless 2 saw him setting me all in. His play screamed strength and although I had only 3800 left I reluctantly let my hand go.
The decision seemed to be a good one when I picked up aces under the gun the very next hand. I merely called the 100 big blind, hoping someone would raise and I could shovel my remaining stack in with high hopes of a double up. However, everyone was cagey, five others limped in and we saw a flop of QJ5 six-handed. The blinds checked to me and I made a vain attempt to protect my hand by betting 600. Only one of the blinds called me. The turn saw a 9 peel off and the caller checking to me again. I didn't particularly like my position but there was to be no backing down and I bet 1200 only to see my opponent set me all in. I didn't have enough to fold this time and wasn't overly surprised to see him turn over KT for the nuts.
A disappointing start for sure, but I don't think I could have done much differently and it wasn't to be my day.  I could definitely have done a lot differently as Withnail's Tour hit the Macau Club, Cork.   Happily settled in the beautiful Hayfield Manor hotel, I arrived at the tournament ready to put the Luton disappointment behind me. My table draw this time was perfect. The only decent player was safely to my right and the rest of my tablemates were a gorgeous mixture of lunatics, calling stations and novices.
The structure of this event was good. 20,000 starting chips and 75 minute blind levels. This was almost the perfect spot. It should have been a simple matter of taking the weaker players to valuetown when I had a hand and waiting for the crazies to bluff their chips to me. It started well. By the dinner break I had 45k when the average was 25k, mainly due to picking up aces when a lady couldn't fold Q5 (?!) on a queen high flop. I just kept on betting and her miracle 5 failed to appear. But after dinner it all went wrong. Possibly I played too many hands. I was a little over eager to play pots with the "eggs" and entered pots with weak holdings or without premium position. I doubled up a short stack with 99 v QQ and then butchered a pot where I turned two pair and let a guy river a bigger two pair. It still makes me shiver how badly I played that one! I limped to the end of play with roughly my starting stack and a shedload of disappointment.   Day 2 started brightly. I made a couple of resteal shoves (re-raising all-in after someone else had opened) and boosted my stack to 25k. Then came the dénouement. I raised on the button with AJ and the big stack at the table re-raised me from the big blind. I made a pretty standard shove all-in for 3x his re-raise and he went into the tank. I got to the stage where I was willing him to call because a hand which had me dominated would surely have called already. Eventually, after five minutes, he said "I guess I have to call." and nodded when he saw my hand. Then he turned over AA!!!! It was the first time I've been slowrolled like that for years and I can't deny being slightly annoyed. I didn't think they bred them that way in the Emerald Isle!
What we learned:
First, if you are forced to stay in Luton, the Hilton Gardens Hotel is great value. Newly refurbished and about £40 a night it is excellent. And the Hayfield Manor in Cork is a great hotel too, serving the best breakfasts I’ve ever eaten.
As far as poker is concerned, the key to my lack of progress in Cork was a lack of patience. I wanted to get the bad players chips too much too soon. When a structure is so good you really don't have to force the running. Relax, take your time and the chips will eventually find their way into your stack! Cardiff next and then term time will start in earnest. I have some surprises in store for my new students!
The Coach