Withnail’s Blog

...You haven’t got a chance!

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:24:16 +0100

Just a couple of hours before we land at Gatwick from Las Vegas. It’s been an eventful visit but ultimately fruitless. Ten days in Vegas again culminated in three way disappointment in the Main Event. All three of us made it to Day 2 but I was the sole survivor to Day 3. And the money wasn’t until the end of Day 4!

Only 198 signed up, well below last year. It was easily the toughest tournament I’ve played (eclipsing the WSOPE in October) despite the 100,000 chip starting stack, the 90 minute levels and the fact that we only played five levels a day. The standard was high from the outset. No soft spots on ANY table! The Coach and DC complained in every break about how tough their tables were. DC had Scotty Nyguen and Prahlad Friedman, The Coach had various internet luminaries whose names were unfamiliar to both DC and me.

Things started relatively well for me. I quietly built my chips to around 130k. But in level 4, I ran into trouble when I raised in early position with AJ offsuit (ace of diamonds) and was called in a couple of spots, including the button who was a loud Arabic guy who had played a lot of pots and shown a few bluffs. I led out on the Axx (two diamonds) flop and only he ‘flat-called’. Having a player flat call behind you (ie he acts after you in the order of betting) is always dangerous because the better players will often just call with a very strong hand to try and deceive you further down the road. The REALLY good players sometimes do this with nothing because they know you will think they might have a big hand. A third possibility was that he called with a draw (probably to a flush). Mindful of all of this, I wasn’t delighted to see a third diamond but I still needed to bet to try and keep control of the hand. Now he re-raised to 20k, not a good sign. The pros like to bluff on the turn because there is only one card to come and opponents are less likely to have favourable odds if they’re drawing. I decided to call to see what he did on the river and just in case another diamond came to give me the nuts. It didn’t so I checked (I might have done even if it had!). Now I got the full treatment, “how much do you have left…” etc etc, and HE SET ME IN! I didn’t expect that and was thrown by it. I was even more thrown when he showed me a pair of tens after I mucked. Doh!.

I came back for Day 2 with around 80k, well below average but fine considering how small the blinds were. The rules let you buy in during the first eight levels which meant until half way though Day 2. By then the entries were up to 198 as a steady stream of pros appeared for last minute entries. It was annoying that they could buy-in and get 100k in chips when I had less than that!

Day 2 started like a dream for me. I doubled up early when I flopped a straight flush draw with 9T clubs against KK and made a straight. Then, a few more juicy hands later and I was sitting proudly on a stack of 250k, nearly double the average!

But by the close of the buy-in period my relatively easy Day 2 table had become a nightmare. I’d joked on Twitter that John Duthie on the table next to me had an easy time of it with Phil Ivey and Hassan Habib on his right and Billy Baxter and Daniel Negreanu on his left. They broke this table and Phil Ivey and Hassan Habib drew the seats on my table which was now the table from hell (we also had David Chiu and Tony Cousineau).

I lost a biggish pot to HH (who came second in this event a few years back) when my AK flopped a flush draw and I called to miss the river and lost to his small pair. After that I slipped and slid down to 123k when average was up to nearly 200k. Unfortunately both The Coach and DC had exited quietly during the day. No doubt they will tell their own stories!

On Day 3 I was luckier with the table draw. No really big stacks or well known faces. I looked everyone up on the Hendon Mob player database (standard practice these days) and found out that a few of them could either play or, like me, had got lucky a few times in big comps. The most interesting player at the table was Cliff Josephy, aka JonnyBax, a well know online pro who is now a legendary staker of top internet players! I tangled in a couple of pots with him early on but nothing too drastic. My first biggish pot was with the “internet kid” in seat 9. He didn’t seem to know JB so he couldn’t be any good. He raised in early position (he did this a lot) and I was the lone caller on the button with 55. The flop of 934 looked pretty good for my hand so I figured I could at least “peel one off”. He led out, as always, and I called again. An innocuous looking 4 came on the turn and he checked. Maybe I could take this pot away from him with a decent bet if he only has overcards? I bet 15k and annoyingly he called. Even more annoyingly he led out for 25k on the river which was a 6. I should certainly fold to this river bet but I greedily called to see him whip over 64 for a full house. What do I know?

Foolishly I let this hand linger in my head for the rest of the day which wasn’t that much longer. With 15 minutes to go before the end of the day The Internet Kid raised again in early position and was called in three spots including the small blind. I look down to see A6 offsuit. Not a great hand at all. However, the situation looked juicy. 30k of “dead money” in the pot (I had 110k), an early position raiser with a very wide range of potential hands and three weak looking limpers behind him…hmmm, how could I resist? In a $50 online comp I wouldn’t even think about it, it would be second nature to push all-in in this spot. But in the WPT Final? I should at least give it some thought (and then fold!!) but I didn’t. I instinctively pushed in my 105k expecting them all to fold which they did apart from the rather suave looking Frenchman on the button. He had only marginally more chips than I had and it would effectively mean he would be all-in too. But he would need a massive hand to call; at least JJ or AK and he would have re-raised on the button with those hands, no? Eventually, after the world’s longest “dwell-up” during which I tried my darnedest to look upbeat and confident, he called with AQ. At the time I thought he was an idiot to call with this but now I sense that it was a well thought out and clever call for all his chips and that I was in denial. I might have had AK which must have been his biggest worry, but I didn’t. An A came on the flop but so did a Q and that was that.

At least I got to play with Phil Ivey.

Withnail

Throw yourself into the road, darling...

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:02:09 +0000

It’s the day before the Main Event. I’ve been in Vegas five days and am feeling great. I’ve even been to the gym a couple of times although there is something galling about coughing up $25 for 45 minutes of self torture.

I’ve been warming up in the $10/20 no limit cash games but these have done me few favours. The game profile is constantly changing; sometimes slow and tight when packed with ‘old style’ pros and sometimes fast and loose when the tourists come in or a few $25/50 players stop by while waiting for a seat. As ever, I’ve been winning a lot of small pots but losing the big confrontations. I lost three $5k+ pots. My AA lost to a 5-outer on the river (he set me in with QJ on a Q high board), my KK vs AKs was all in pre-flop and he made a house and my up and down straight flush draw lost to the flopped set that made a house on the turn. Rough translation: B****KS!Nevertheless, I’m only a couple of $k down so it feels like a win.

I did manage to make the final table in the 150 runner $500 warm up event on Thursday. For a $500 comp it was a hell of a line-up at the Final! The Coach was also there, Annette Obrestad, Toto Leonidas and some well known locals. I was hoping to pocket the $21k first prize (or at least split it with Keith) but my TT ran into Annette’s AA in the big blind. $800 felt a bit thin. Keith fared little better, claiming 7th spot for $1,100. Still…wet faces and slapped fish n’all’that.

It seems the turnout for the Main Event will be disappointing. In 2007 Carlos Mortensen overcame a field of 639 for nearly $4m! (That year this chap:

got to the final table. Anyone know who he is?).

This year the spread betting line (the number of entries that people were betting over or under) was around 230 - disappointingly low. But during the week something happened to change the picture. The Volcanic eruption at Eyjafjallajökull had grounded all air traffic over the Atlantic. Europeans who might be travelling over to play, or Yanks travelling back from Europe, wouldn’t make it. I managed to get a couple of side bets with the $10/20 players that there would be fewer than 230 entries. Not enough to dent the Main Event entry fee but enough to claw back some of my cash game losses!

On the eve of the tournament I hooked up with The Coach, our Guest Dave Colclough and world famous Hendon Mobster Joe Beevers for an evening of gambling. Joe taught us how to play Pai Gow, a simplified version of Chinese Poker. Swiftly on to the craps table, the cocaine of the casino. I love craps but I have a strict rule of only playing in Vegas. The poker world is littered with stories of great players who’ve won millions at poker and “done the lot” on the craps tables. I have no intention of adding my name to this list!

I’m thrilled that DC has agreed to play for us in the WPT final, the biggest buy-in tournament of the year. A mere glance at his record tells you why he is one of the most respected players in the game. He is that rare breed of player who has cracked both tournament and cash poker, remaining at the top of the ladder by adapting his game to a changing poker world. However a “superbowl” result has so far eluded him. Could this be the one?

Withnail

Getting closer...

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 23:02:20 +0000

We’ve just boarded our flight back to Madrid. There was a slight mix up when the cab driver took us to the wrong airport and didn’t seem that keen to drive all the way to Montevideo when he realised. But a few US$ seemed to cheer him up.

For future visitors to Uruguay, I would suggest not travelling by road if you are of a nervous disposition. Even the short journey to La Mantra from our hotel was more exciting than necessary. The Coach, a nervous passenger at the best of times, lost a few kilos sweating there and back twice a day!

During the last couple of days of our trip the talk was about the Chile Earthquake which apparently woke a few people up in the early hours of Thursday. It didn’t wake me up! In fact I’d only just gone to bed after making my first final table online for (it seems) months. I’d sparked up a few online tournaments on Pokerstars (our ubiquitous hosts in Uruguay) to try and “get off tilt”, or to cool off after getting knocked out of the main event! I managed two money finishes out of three and one final table, but of course I couldn’t win the inevitable massive pot against the 2nd chip leader (for 75% of the chips in play) with JJ vs AK – so I pocketed $900 for 5th instead of $5k for 1st.

It turned out to be an omen. The next day the three musketeers went off to play the $1,000 “repechage” tournament. As The Coach and Neil went out early again, I was struggling. Until I hit a vein of sudden and unexpected form that is! I made a set of fours on the button and played it as slow as can be to triple up my original stack of 8k to over 20k. Soon after I turned K7 hearts into the nut flush on the river (also had two pairs on the turn?!) and was up to 40k and flying. Before you could say “Withnail’s Poker School” my 40k was nearly 80k with the average only 25k. I hadn’t felt like this since day 2 in Amsterdam.

It was almost a relief to return to normality when my AJ on a J high board lost to a straight on the river, AK lost to AQ and AQ lost to A4.

Another downer saw me moved from my easy table (despite the badbeats) to a much tougher one with lots of bigger stacks and scarier looking players. So it proved, as I was eventually all in with KJ hearts against A8 (a brave call from the big blind). A beautiful J on the flop saved my bacon and I was back up to nearly average!

Before I knew it I was on the bubble (one off the money). I’d already been notching it up a bit as we approached the money and a few players were looking a bit nervous. I wanted to get stealing with one to go but unfortunately the German kid on my right was getting in the way. HE was raising every hand (which was my intention). I had to make do with three betting him from time to time to increase my stack to give myself a chance when we came back for Day 2. Once in the money and on my way home for some much needed sleep, I shared a taxi with my new German friend Jorg. He was a thoroughly entertaining chap, despite his youthful 21 years. For some reason he found himself dropped out of college and living in Buenos Aires. I’d been warned to watch out for secretive Germans who had moved down to these parts but he was too young to be a World War II criminal.

The next day was the most enjoyable of the trip, but also the most frustrating. I played pretty well to reach the final, as well as getting lucky in a big pot against a super-aggressive Norwegian with A7 diamonds against AA (I flopped a flush). Without any real cards I managed to get up to 150k from my start-of-day 65k. But down to eight players I didn’t see another hand or another opportunity to get involved. It was frustrating. First was $31,000 and 8th was only $3,500. I needed to get busy! The first opportunity I got was 88 in second position. The blinds were big and my stack was short so folding to the re-raise wasn’t an option. The AK he turned over was not a surprise. You can guess the rest! So I pocketed $5k instead of $31k...could be worse I suppose.

We finished our stay in Punte del Este with a memorable meal in what we were told was the best steak house in town (although that was by a friend of the owner). We’d gone there the previous day to try and get some dinner but discovered it didn’t even open until 8pm! We sat down for dinner about 10pm and the place was busy. By the time we left (half midnight or so) there was an hour’s queue for a table!

Back home for Cheltenham and next stop Bellagios!

Withnail

“Bastard must have died!”

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:39:19 +0000

I can hardly bring myself to write this but I’m embarrassed to report that we struck out 0/3 yesterday (again). I’m sure The Coach and Neil will report their own sob stories in their own words, but here’s mine.

My tournament was really about one hand. I’d started well and had a great table. Easily the softest table I’ve had since August. Not a pro in sight and at least three if not four real eggs (normally you offer up a prayer of thanks for just one!). The only player I had to be wary of was a young Argentinian two to my left, a bad position for me as I prefer to have good players on my right so I can see what they are doing before it’s my turn to act, but you can’t have everything. He was wearing huge aviator sunglasses like Tom Cruise in Top Gun. He got the better of me in a couple of early pots but generally the first few rounds were plain sailing. I picked up JJ in early position in level 2 and raised with a couple of callers. The flop was J54 so I checked. The next guy put in a bet of around 500 (with about 850 already in the pot). The other caller folded and I flat called hoping to allow him to bet again on the turn. A beautiful red ace appeared on the turn, the perfect card for me as I figured he might have AQ or even AK. I checked again and he led for around 1,500. I raised to 5,000 and he quickly called. The river was a 7 making no difference to anything as I saw it. I had to make what the pros call a “value bet” on the river. This is when you think you have the best hand and you want your opponent to call. The trick it to work out what they have and then to bet as much as you think they will call. I figured this guy for a big ace so I could bet quite a bet and expect a call. I bet 6,000 but unfortunately he folded - too much maybe.

We’d been discussing value bets the day before. Poker has changed considerably since I started playing and one of the things that’s changed is people’s willingness to call you down with weaker holdings. This is because now people realise that there is lots of bluffing going on, especially on the river. The effect of this is that river bets have increased in size. Whereas ten years ago I might have bet 2,500 on the end to try and induce a call, these days I would expect people to call the 6,000. I think I made a mistake here though by giving this guy too much credit. I should have bet less.

Anyhow, I was up to 30,000 from my original starting stack of 20k. My objective for the day was to double up to 40,000 which would put me in excellent shape for Day 2. But after the JJ hand I didn’t have another opportunity to get involved until level 6, nearly four hours later. By then I was pulling my hair out in frustration. I’d blinded down to around 25k, still healthy, when I was dealt A7 in the big blind. Tom Cruise had raised in early position, which he did a lot, and the lady in seat six had called, which she also did a lot. She had (no doubt deliberately) donned an extremely revealing and tight top and was spilling out of it which was a bit off-putting but I was maintaining my composure like a true pro. I called in the BB and was delighted with the 7 high flop (with 2 hearts). I led out, a standard play to get information from the original raiser (Tom Cruise). He just called, as did the Tank Top. A beautiful black ace appeared on the turn. Now I was hoping that one of them had called to hit the ace and would be drawing thin against my top Two Pairs. I led out for a pot size bet, around 7k. Tom Cruise pushed in immediately for around another 10k and TT folded quickly. I didn’t have much thinking to do. Even if he has me beat I am committed to call the extra 10k. I was almost certain he had something like AK or AQ possibly with a heart draw. I flipped my A7 and he reluctantly revealed his AQ hearts, he had 12 outs or roughly 22% chance to win. Of course the 2 hearts came down and he jumped up and down and cheered – classy! I was gutted, gutted, gutted. I was left with 2,500 or so and I chucked it in next hand with 87s and doubled up. A round later and I was back up to over 10k. Maybe a recovery was on the cards. I was put back in my box when I called out of the BB with A6 clubs against the guy who had folded to my jacks earlier. Since then he hadn’t missed a flop and raised every other hand. The flop came 962 with two clubs. I couldn’t have wished for more and I decided to go for a double up and checked in order to check raise. He obliged with the bet and I raised all in to find he had 9T offsuit. Of course I missed everything and was down and out.

I went off to the bar to swap sob stories with The Coach.

Withnail

“Why can't I have an audition?”

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:10:48 +0000

We’ve arrived in Punta del Este full of optimism after two dismal showings in Vegas and Australia. Although the LAPT event in Uruguay is the smallest tournament we’re playing with a buy-in of only $3,500 and an expected field of around 300, it should also be the easiest to win as not many top pros will make the long trip when there are other major tournaments nearer home. At least that’s the plan!

I’ve done a little research into Uruguay. Before the trip, the only thing I knew about the country was that they won the inaugural World Cup in 1930 (and won it again in 1950). If you can believe Wiki it’s one of the most affluent countries in South America and the least corrupt. This came as good news, my only other experience of Latin America being Mexico City where all the shops have armed guards outside! Over half the country’s three million people live in the capital Montevideo and the main economic activity is agriculture. When you fly over you can see why. It’s green and flat with lots of rivers!

The last week has been fraught as Pokerstars, the online poker site that organises the LAPT (as well as the European Poker tour, the Asian Poker tour and now the newly established North American Poker tour) insist we buy-in in advance through them. This involves wiring money to their German bank account which means going to the bank with all the related hassle. When I went to wire the money from my branch of Lloyds TSB they asked me what it was for. Of course, with my background I’m aware of the increasingly rigorous money laundering regulations imposed on the banks but it still irks me that they want to know what I’m doing with my own money (well, Withnail’s money!). Nevertheless I answered like a good boy and told them that it was to buy in to a poker tournament. “Can you prove that?” they asked. “WHAT?” Because the amount was over £10,000 they required documentary evidence. I went ballistic. The banking system’s gone nuts but that’s another story. The upshot was that I could buy in for only two of us and we were travelling 7,000 miles in the hope that we could find a hotel room for The Coach and persuade Pokerstars to allow our third team member to buy in directly.

So it’s a relief to be knocking back a couple of beers on the eve of the tournament with three of us housed for the week and safely bought in! We’re sat outside by the pool despite the most impressive torrential rain I’ve ever seen. The barman tells us this is why the steak tastes so good in Uruguay, because it rains so much.

The Coach is in confident mood and eager to avenge his disappointments in Bellagio’s and the Aussie Millions. He was going really well in both before hitting a brick wall. And there’s nothing he likes better than a soft field.

I’m pleased that my good friend Neil Channing has agreed to come down to Uruguay. I’ve known Neil for nearly 15 years and no-one has experienced more of a rollercoaster ride than the true gambler’s life that he’s led since leaving school. I first met him in one of the troughs. At his peak he owned a string of bookmakers’ pitches spread across the country’s top racecourses. He was the bookies’ bookie and was mates with Victor Chandler and Barry Dennis (if you see Neil ask him his Barry Dennis story). He was full of legendary stories of triumphs and disasters. Unfortunately the disasters triumphed and he was forced to sell his pitches at fire-sale prices (the advent of Betfair had dramatically reduced their value) to pay off his debts. He had to start all over again and after a couple of years Neil had reinvented himself as a professional poker player. I think he learned about discipline from his years as an on-course bookie and this provided him with a firm grounding in his new trade. He’s now one of the UK’s most successful pros and is one of the few players to succeed consistently in both forms of the game (tournaments and cash). He has most recently set up his own business, Blackbeltpoker.com. If you want to play online it’s a great place to start as they offer training and friendly blogs with lots of advice.

One of the great things about travelling with Neil is that no effort is required. You can just sit and download. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything he takes an interest in and you can just start him off and listen to him for hours. It’s great!

Let’s hope we can get three of us through to Day 2.

Withnail

“We’ve come on holiday by mistake!” - Part 2

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 15:16:38 +0000

I’ve been a regular and frequent transatlantic flier for many years, but this is the first time I ever used a laptop on a plane!

However two hours to run to Singapore from Melbourne have prompted me to reflect on my eight days at the Aussie Millions. I played in five tournaments and have nothing to show for it. Worse, I never got a look in. I won one and a half pots in four hours in the HORSE (HORSE is a mixed game tournament comprising Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, Seven Card Stud and Seven Stud Hi/Lo). The A$1,000 rebuy cost me seven rebuys, two initial, two on the last hand of the rebuys when my QQ was cracked by AK and three add-ons, only for my KK on the button to run into AA.

I started well in the main event and had a great table with three easy spots on my right and 1995 World Champ Dan Harrington on my left (a top geezer! Check out his interview on Boylesports poker blog). I had increased my starting stack of 20k by 50% with little or no risk when one of the easy spots got busted by Action Dan (Harrington’s ironic nickname). He was replaced by a young French guy (YFG) with around 25k and I licked my lips as the French have a certain reputation. He duly obliged by raising every other pot and reraising/three betting liberally. This was good for me because I could sit tight and wait for an opportunity rather than having to make the action to get chips. Just before the dinner break my opportunity came. YFG raised in second position and the Irish guy between us called his raise. I looked down at 44. I call to try and “flop a set” (ie to hit another 4 on the flop) and win a big pot against the aggressive YFG. Everyone else folds and Glory Be! the flop comes down a beautiful K94 all different suits. Now I’m hoping he has AA or AK and I can either “stack him” (win all his chips) or at least get a big bunch of them. He bets out 1,500 the Irishman folds and I raise to around 4,500. I’m hoping this will put him off the scent as I would probably just call with 99 or 44. Without much thought he makes it around 12k to go. Now I think I’ve got him. He can’t fold now so I push all my chips in. Unfortunately, it was only when he nearly beat me into the pot that it occurred to me that he might have KK….surely not? I wait three months to flop a set in a tournament and then I flop the underset to someone who’s raising every pot… painful. The very next hand I found TT and shoved my remaining 4k or so into the pot, a big overbet. I was nearly sick on the table when Seat 1 called with Aces. I was halfway to the roof to find a good jumping spot when the flop came T high and they called me back… phew. A few hands later I was on the button and found JQ clubs…I was on a rush. I raised and the very aggressive Greek chap who had just arrived at our table reraised me all in. I called and managed to outdraw his A9 to get back up to 16k. Dinner would taste better!!

But that was it. After dinner I was card dead and with the blinds starting to get meaningful and the antes kicking in I dwindled back down to a stack size where I needed to double up or get out. The poker gods chose the latter.

The Coach and I played the team event on the Wednesday (which gives you a clue as to his fate because that was Day 2 of the main event). I hadn’t played a team event before. You had to take it in turns to play levels. My contribution was to play ZERO pots in the two levels I sat down for. In the 30 or so hands I was dealt at least half of them had a 2 and half the others had a 3. AGGGHHH!

Surely things would change in the $1k Freeze out on the Thursday? Unfortunately not. Again I failed to win a single hand in four hours of poker. The final blow was being called by a nutter with a mountain of chips on a KJ8 board after I’d raised in early position having barely put a chip in the pot for an hour. His calling monster? - 82. Unfortunately it was winning and held up.

I spent the not inconsiderable downtime between tournaments watching the pros show down Aces and Kings with wanton regularity and flop sets for fun. They made flushes after reraising all-in on semi bluffs and spiked two pairs when up against aces. Perhaps this is why they’re pros. I think I’ll just grate my fingers in February instead of playing poker tournaments… it’ll be less painful.

Withnail

“We’ve come on holiday by mistake!”

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 11:06:54 +0000

I’m sipping my latte on the balcony as the day warms up here in Nowheresville on the border between New South Wales and Victoria.

The Coach advised that one of the keys to a good performance in the Aussie Millions is to acclimatize well ahead of the event. So just like the Olympic athletes like to go to Mexico a few weeks ahead of the Olympics, we’ve come down under to adjust the sleep patterns and get used to the pace of life.

And what a place! We’ve fallen in love with it. We’re now on the last leg, a drive along the coast roads from Sydney to Melbourne. No doubt real writers would have lots of flowery words and metaphors to describe it. All I can say is that it’s very cool (and the flowers are pretty too). Miles of deserted beaches with fluffy white sand that massages your feet when you walk along. Crashing waves. Spectacular mountains just in the distance. It’s as though someone took all the best bits from other places (sand from Bahamas, mountains from Colorado, waves from South Africa) and put them here. So where are all the hotel resorts and boardwalks? If there are any we haven’t found them. Just a few small towns with normal people.

After nearly three weeks in Oz I’ve made a few Holmesian deductions (or are they observations?) about Australians:

First, they are very friendly. A shock to an uptight, self-righteous Pom like me. The grumpy ones are usually recent immigrants from Britain.

Second, no-one is wrapped up in political correctness BS. Everyone seems at ease with their own views about things. It’s funny how saying it how it is now sounds racistsexistageist.

I’ve also noticed (impossible not to if you drive here) that they can’t drive. How can they be so good at every sport the World ever invented and not be able to drive a car? The roads are lined with signs saying things like “Do not overtake unless it is safe to do so”. Well thanks for the useful advice!

We are on the last leg of our journey and I am now feeling well and truly acclimatized. Melbourne here we come! I’m excited but I will be sorry to see the WAKs go home

Withnail

What Can I say?

Sat, 9 Jan 2010 22:44:54 +0000

This site has been quiet for the last couple of months. Actually it’s been even quieter than that. Silent you might say, or whisper.

I’m embarrassed and sorry for the radio silence. I wanted to write excitedly in November about going deep in the Masterclassics. Halfway through day two I was one of the chip leaders, I was flying and had convinced myself I was playing really well. I had $$$ signs in my eyes but then.....

This was the start of my “anti-rush” with around 70,000 chips (starting with 12k and average of 35k). I barely won a hand for the rest of the tournament. I struggled into Day 3, then struggled into the money. All the spots I chose to try and break free of my card dead shackles backfired. It was no fun at all. I tried to play like a lion but every time I roared it came out as a bleat. I made the money therefore in two of the three tournaments we played in Amsterdam but “min-cashed” in both. In the other I lost with AA vs KT and QQ vs JJ - both huge pots. It’s a good job my room was only on the first floor!

Then in December we were in Vegas for the $15,000 World Poker Tour event. 350 top quality runners. My first table saw me sandwiched between Josh Arieh and Antonio Esfandiari which I can only describe as a learning experience. Of course my AK ran into KK on a K high flop against a guy who was playing every hand....f****** marvellous!

That was standard, as the internet eggheads would say. But much harder to take was the Coach’s similar plight to mine in Amsterdam. One of the chip leaders half way through day two he went totally card dead and ran into cooler after cooler (a cooler is a hand that plays itself when you are second best). He scraped into Day 3 with low chips but more sub-zero conditions were to follow. After he’d made a fantastic call with a pair of threes against two overcards to an all-in push after the flop only to see the Ace arrive on the river, his AK failed to beat AQ (again!). He went AWOL for a couple of hours and I was concerned. Fortunately he resurfaced and we went for a blow-off on the craps table and the high stakes roulette!!

After two more near-misses I’ve struggled to raise the motivation to put finger to keyboard to tell anyone who might be listening quite how SHITE I feel about the whole thing. Near misses are becoming increasingly hard to take.

Anyhow, Christmas with the family and New Year in Sydney have recharged the optimism batteries and I’m raring to go again. In two weeks time we’ll be in Melbourne for the Aussie Millions, one of the Majors. I’ve just read Gus Hansen’s book “Every Hand Revealed”, undoubtedly THE best poker book I have ever read. It’s all about how he won the Aussie Millions in 2007. If Gus can do it, should be a stroll in the park for me :)

Withnail

Masterclassics of Poker, Main Event Day 1

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 22:06:58 +0000

“I do. I invented it in Camberwell and it looks like a carrot?”

The Masterclassics of Poker is my favourite tournament after the World Series of Poker. I’ve made my annual November pilgrimage to the Holland Casino in Amsterdam since 2002. I would’ve gone in 2001 but the nasty terrorists changed my plans.

I well remember my first effort. I was sat next to the infamous Tony G:

(http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=267)

He was quickly installed as Arsehole no.1 in my all time list. If he was in the pot (which was most of them) he criticized everyone else’s play whether he won or not. If you lost a pot to him you got a full run down on how badly you played each street and if you carried on like that you would be destitute before you knew it. If you won the pot he would yell and scream like a three year old (of course I now know what that really means!). He threw his cards at the dealer as well as verbally abusing him. By the time the next hand was dealt it was all forgotten (at least by him). He was ready to turn his abuse to the next customer with total objectivity and clear-headedness. I haven’t come across him much since but he is now one of the most feared and respected tournament professionals world-wide. By all accounts he still has the emotional responses of a child.

He knocked me out that year and I got the FULL rubdown. I had re-raised one of his over-frequent pre-flop raises with AQ and flopped an Ace. He check raised me all in and made two pairs on the river. Marvellous. It turns out that I played the whole thing all wrong. Thanks Mr G.

Since then I’ve fared better in the MCOP making the money three times including two final tables (2nd in 2004 and 3rd in 2007). The Coach has also done well with three final tables and a 4th in 2006.

Such previous form had us all feeling uber-confident ahead of the off on an unseasonably sunny Tuesday in Amsterdam. Over a pre-tournament game of pool with The Coach and my Guest Andy Ward we discussed strategy. It was one of those dodgy tables in the back of a dark and smoky coffee shop where the roll seems to change every time you play a shot. A few other groups were sitting around smoking the hugest spliffs I’ve ever seen whilst not saying much to each other, just nodding and raising the odd eyebrow. Spandau Ballet’s Gold was blasting out of the oversized music system. The Coach was sprawled across the table stretching to cue for his shot into the near corner pocket. It was game ball… then a surreal moment. As the music built up to the climax in the song where the Frères Kemp blurt out “GOLD!”, The Coach leapt in the air, cue/mike aloft à la Freddie Mercury and yelled “GOLD!”. You had to be there really.

Day 1 went like a dream for me. I had a fairly innocuous first table and steadily accumulated. I sat next to the talkative Peter Roche, a likeable Irishman with mad undertones. I used to know him ten years ago when I was playing regularly in the Aviation Club de France in Paris where he was a regular in the cash games. He reminded me of one the best poker stories. It involved some friends of mine, too much drink and a MASSIVE pot in the big Paris cash game. But I’ll leave that for another time! Also at my table was Juha Helppi, the super cool and normally super aggressive Finn. But he was very quiet.

When I moved tables I had already doubled up to 25,000 without getting involved in any big hands. My new table was very friendly. On my left was a crazy Dutchman who, although apparently lacking tournament experience, had amassed plenty of chips. He kept getting lucky and raking in huge pots. On his left was….no-one. A stack with no owner. A no show. I don’t think I’ve EVER played with a no show before. On the ownerless stack’s immediate left was Rolf Slotboom, a “celebrity” Dutch player who’s written books and been on TV but I’m not sure he’s ever won anything. He might be the Dutch “Roy Brindley!”. I’ve played with him before and as a result know two things about him. First, he’s the tightest player in the universe. And second, he was excruciatingly slow. He makes out he has AQ every hand and is making a great fold to an early raiser. Dull, dull, dull!

Nevertheless, despite playing about three hands an hour, I continued to accumulate chips without taking too many risks. At the end of Level 6 (around 1.30am) we “bagged up” and I headed for some much needed shuteye with 43,000 chips for Day 2. The crazy Dutchman was one of the overnight chipleaders as, unusually, was Withnail Sr with over 50k. The Coach reported in that he had 25,000 but unfortunately Andy was out fairly early…f****** donkament!

Withnail

"Who says it’s a Camberwell Carrot?”

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:54:35 +0000

Masterclassics of Poker, Holland Casino Amsterdam

As I sit down to review my week in Amsterdam it all seems a bit of a blur. I don’t suppose I’m the first to say that!

We arrived on Sunday morning, early! It seemed even earlier because the previous two days had involved Withnail’s Home Game on the Friday (an entertaining evening!) and some serious golf with Paul Spillane and Julian Gardner on the Saturday at The Grove. Although I lost the money, I might just have persuaded Julian to play as a Guest for WPS, a serious coup!

So I wasn’t 100% as I struggled out of bed in time to catch the 07.25 from Heathrow to Amsterdam on Sunday. What does the 0 stand for? There wasn’t enough coffee in the World to cheer me up.

Things didn’t improve when we arrived as the hotel wouldn’t give us rooms until 2pm, the starting time of the €500 buy-in warm up tournament. I was hoping to check in early and get some sleep but instead we went for more breakfast. Breakfast in Amsterdam probably isn’t the best preparation for a poker tournament!

A few hours later and things were no better. I had just changed tables for the second time. I was down to 1,100 of my 3,000 starting stack and I was yet to check in to my hotel.

30 minutes later and life was beautiful as I wandered back to the Holland Casino having just left my bags in my brand spanking new room. Inside my chip-leading stack of 35,000 was waiting for me to go back and raise every pot and cruise to the final table. I had gone from 1,100 to 35,000 in three hands, one after the other! It was the biggest rush I’ve ever experienced (at least at poker!). Average was 7k. There is no better feeling than being a HUGE chip leader at the table.

When I got back they were breaking the table again! There was some amusement in the fact that I needed two bags to carry my chips across to my new seat. Then it took me the best part of a round of the table to stack up my chips. Cool!

I should have just cruised into the money as a big stack and then thought about the final table but I played badly for the rest of the evening and into the night. I think I tried to win the two day tournament on Day 1 - always a stupid move. Having had five times the average with 150 left I was a short stack approaching the bubble. But I didn’t want to come back the next day without a decent shot of winning, so I found a last opportunity to be aggressive before the flop. My 86 was no match for TT. The return of the €500 buy-in for my trouble hardly seemed worth it.

Withnail

The Big One & I (Part 2)

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 10:03:51 +0000

I have a couple of days rest before I am back for Day 2b. In the cab to the Rio, I’m nervous. I’ve checked out the players I was drawn with on The Hendon Mob database and there are no frightening faces. However the other players turn out to be irrelevant as my day is all about two hands which play themselves, one at the very beginning of the day and one at the very end.
The first is my first Under the Gun hand (when I’m first to act) and I’m dealt JJ. Standard procedure is to take a deep breath and raise (which I do). A Vietnamese guy two seats to my left just calls behind but the guy after him immediately goes all in for his last 8K (both Vietnam and I have around 60K). I’m sure I have the All-in dominated but I have to worry about Vietnam behind me. Would he limp in (just call) behind me with AA, KK or QQ? Certainly not with KK or QQ but just maybe AA. I would really like to push all-in to stop him drawing to AK or AQ. I can’t risk it so I just call the 7K raise. I nearly throw up when Vietnam pushes all-in behind and I’m forced to fold leaving 8K in the pot without seeing the flop. Imagine how I feel when a J falls on the flop and another on the river! I would have won a 130k pot when the average stack was only 50k. I would have had more than twice the next guy at the table, I would have, I would have. Poker is the ultimate game of “I would haves…”! To add insult to injury the tournament sponsor, Jack’s Jerky, is offering a year’s supply of beef jerky to anyone showing four jacks. (I have no idea how much a year’s supply of beef jerky is!)
The second hand comes right at the end of the day. I must have folded 120 hands in a row and am chewing my fingers with frustration. I’ve been blinded down to 35k after eight hours of garbage. Vietnam has dominated the table and plays fast and loose (exactly the right strategy with a big stack against tight, weak players). Then I hit the nuts on the flop. It’s 4-way action (four callers before the flop) including Vietnam, and I’m in the small blind. I have 5-7 hearts. The flop comes 4-6-8, three different suits. The poker gods have rewarded my patience. I check with three players behind, the Big Blind bets 3k (into the 6k pot) and the other two call behind. The perfect scenario. I raise to 12k and am delighted when the original better sets me all in. I call like a shot and am mentally stacking the chips as he turns over 6-8 for top two. I’m around 80% to win. Then bam! 6 on the turn and I’m dead.
I’m in a bubble for the next 24 hours. I always am after getting knocked out, whatever stage I reach. It’s a horrible, lonely “what if”, Alice in Wonderland world. But it’s over soon enough. It’s a lot less painful to be knocked out with an outdraw than by making a mistake. I decamp to the cash games, plumped up by those who have, like me, taken early baths from the Big One.
Fourteen days after the rush of flying into Vegas, I have to endure the comedown of packing up my gear, removing what’s left from the safe and riding back to McCarran International. It feels like there’s a rain cloud above the taxi. It’s a long 358 days until next year’s Big One. Between now and then, I will be playing for Withnailspokerschool.com.
Withnail

The Big One & I (Part 1)

Tue, 3 Nov 2009 23:37:06 +0000

Arriving in Las Vegas is one of life’s unique pleasures. I’ve been there maybe thirty times but the arrival experience never disappoints. Tony Holden's description of arriving in Vegas inspired my original curiosity to make the 6,000 mile, 12 hour flight to the Desert Disneyland for grown-ups. After a minor encounter with the real World at immigration and the cab ride to the hotel, the Vegas experience kicks in as soon as you step into your hotel. The noise doesn't stop until you are back in the plane on the way home. Ching ching ching. The continuous melody of chirping slot machines. Tens or maybe hundreds of thousands of them covering vast football fields of casino floors (and bars, bowling alleys and even the airport!). They all make the same noise – ching ching ching.
I make my way through the throng towards the elevators and then up to the 34th floor. I’m pleased to have a golf course view rather then the much vaunted (and more expensive) Strip view. I throw my bags over by the bed, put my cash in the safe and head downstairs to renew my acquaintance with the Wynn card room.
Over the years, I’ve learnt a few important (and expensive) lessons. As a result I’ve set myself some rules:
1.                  Don’t be hasty when you arrive. Jet lag and tiredness (as well as over-excitement) take a couple of days to get over. So play lower stake games at the start of the trip
2.                  Don’t play too long. Plan your sessions. Decide how long you’re going to play and then get up whether you’re winning or losing
3.                  Get the gambling out of your system by playing smaller stakes to start
4.                  Sleep as much as possible
5.                  Get the Vegas rituals out of the way. Mine is the annual shopping trip. The challenge is to buy a year’s supply of clothes for less than $200. It’s actually pretty easy.
I’ve been following the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on all the poker websites for the past few weeks and there have been some great results for the Brits. John Duthie (the brains behind the European Poker tour) came 2nd in the $10,000 World Heads up Championship taking $386,636 and John Kabbaj, one of the best European players in both cash and tournament formats, won the $10,000 World Championship Pot Limit Omaha bracelet for $633,335. This is probably the best result for a Brit in the history of the WSOP.
I first played the WSOP Main Event (referred to as “The Big One”) in 2002. That year, at the end of Day 3, with only a few to go before the money, I was sitting next to well known poker author David Sklansky. He was talking about how the Internet would completely change the face of Poker. I didn’t agree with him at the time which just shows how wrong I can be. The WSOP began in 1970 when the world’s (or rather America’s) top players voted for who they considered to be the best. Johnny Moss was unanimously elected Champ. In 1971 he underlined this by winning the first actual WSOP Main Event, beating five other players for the title. The Big One hasn’t looked back. In 1991, Brad Daugherty became the first WSOP millionaire when first prize reached a cool $1 million. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker changed the landscape again when, after winning a $39 satellite on Pokerstars.com to win his entry, he pocketed $2,500,000 and poker was changed forever. Clearly the internet WAS invented for poker players as Sklansky predicted! In 2005, the year that the WSOP moved from its ancestral home in Binion’s Horseshoe to the Rio to accommodate the higher numbers, Jamie Gold set the high water mark and won a record $12 million first prize when nearly 8,800 entrants paid $10K each to play. Over 50% of them won their seats online.
On Sunday (Day 1c of the Main Event) I take my place in the Amazon room in the Rio Convention Centre. It’s hard to describe the atmosphere at the start of The Big One. There are 1,600 players at 160 tables all riffling their chips. A cheer greets the traditional cry of “Shuffle Up and Deal!”, poker’s equivalent of the Ref’s whistle to start the match. Then an almost monastic hush descends for the rest of the day punctuated with cries of anguish as players are knocked out by unhelpful River cards.
Day 1c is good to me. I’m at a relatively soft table and know three of the other players. Another stroke of luck is being dealt 7-2 offsuit in my first hand. Phew! Easy fold. I continue to be dealt garbage for the first two hours, no bad thing as it gives me time to settle down and control my nerves. The rest of the day is slow and steady. I play tight, aggressive poker showing down very few hands. I make a couple of mistakes which cost me a few chips but end the day with 59,525 (from a starting stack of 30,000). A perfect start!
Withnail

The K Club and other animals

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:51:55 +0100

I’ve just spent the weekend in Dublin at the Boylesports International Poker Open (IPO for short), a tournament organized by my previous guest and good friend Paul Spillane (Mr Irish Poker). It’s a unique tournament and one of the most enjoyable events I’ve been to for a long time, even though my result was disappointing!

The idea is to offer the experience of playing a major event, like the World Series, but for an affordable price, a $250 buy-in. The event was sold out weeks in advance with over 1,400 entries. First prize was a very respectable $77,000.

I barely won a pot in the four hours I played in the tournament but it was still fun. The field was a mixture of crazy beginners and small stakes grafters taking it VERY seriously, with the odd “Face” thrown in. As well as adding money to the prize pool, Boyles had placed a number of ‘bounty’ players in the event, who were identified by wearing Sunderland shirts (Boyles sponsor Sunderland and the biggest cheer of the day was when the Tournament Director announced that a Balloon had scored the winner for Sunderland vs Liverpool!). If you knock out a ‘bounty’ you win a prize, that sort of thing. As the proud wearer of such a shirt, I regret that I was less than gracious when I finally shovelled my last 2,000 chips (started with 10k) with A7 diamonds and was called in the Small Blind by….AA obviously. I must learn to get knocked out more graciously as it’s going to happen a lot .

There was a great buzz throughout the Regency Hotel all weekend. The bar was busy with the Irish, French and British deputations all mixing freely. It was great to catch up with some friendly faces: The Coach, Andy Ward, The Paperboy, Julian G, the effervescent Paul Parker.

I managed to nick a few Euros in the cash games and Final-tabled in the Omaha comp for a stunning €300, although I didn’t cover myself in glory when my A775 double suited couldn’t beat A234 clubs! I adjourned to the bar to spend my winnings to find Rory Liffey conducting a straw poll to discover if the assembled audience would rather give up sex or poker. Hmmm. If that were the choice poker would be wiped out within a generation.

A superb weekend was topped off with the Boyle Cup. An Ireland vs England two day golf match played at the K Club. There was a lot more money gambled on the golf than on the weekend’s poker! The Irish were chirping overnight with a 2-0 victory in the fourballs but The Brits came back by winning the first three singles the next day. It came down to my match vs Nicky Power. I was one down with one to play knowing that a half would secure a British victory. It was a par five and both of us were looking at our third shot, middle of the fairway, 100 yards to the pin, water all round the green and a 30mph wind blowing across the hole. I wish I could say I nailed it within 5 feet, but I put it in the water and the rest is history. The rematch is in March. Can’t wait!

And what a fantastic place the K Club is.

Withnail

"...there is no true beauty without decay." - Uncle Monty

Fri, 2 Oct 2009 01:55:47 +0100

It’s easy to watch poker when you have no financial interest in the outcome. It’s like football. When it’s your team playing, the final whistle can’t come quick enough and you just don’t care if it’s route one. Only the result matters.

There were 36 left in the Main Event overnight, all thinking about the £801,000 on offer for first place. I imagine they had also given a thought to the £500k for second and the £350k for third. It’s impossible not to. What if, what if? In fact, you think about it LESS when you are playing rather than watching. At the table you are just focussed on doing the right thing at the right time. Playing each hand. Effecting your strategy. Getting to the money, getting to the final. Only then do you start to think about the value of your equity and how to maximise it.

But on the rail, all I could think about was “eight hundred grand!!!!”. I tried not to but I couldn’t help it.

By the time I got to The Empire, they were down to three tables (27 players) and The Coach was up to nearly 600k. When he saw me he came over to tell me that he had AA v QQ allin before the flop. It had been on the TV table too! I was glad that I’d been 100ft underground at the time. Coach had been moved since then as the players redraw for seats whenever a table is broken when they are “in the money”. He was now the chip leader at the table with over 600k and seemed very comfortable. None of the “faces” was at his table but I recognised a few of the players. Chris Bjorin was on his left. Chris has been one of the most consistent winners in big tournaments and big cash games for many years. On his right was Jason Mercier, a young kid who had reportedly won millions playing online cash games aswell as the millions he had won in major poker tournaments; or as Pokernews.com described him: “one four-bet-shoving-snap-calling-lol-donkaments Internet whiz kid”. I thought that was Andy Ward.

The Coach was playing well and raising a lot pre-flop to win lots of blinds. As I went from table to table there were very few flops being dealt on any of them. Eventually they got down to 18 players and redrew again. As Coach went off for a bathroom break I counted his chips. 720,000. Average was 550k so he was in great shape. The only bad news was that the monster chip leader and super-aggressive player Jason Mercier was now sat on his left, which would make life more difficult.

As the players sat down again and the dealers shuffled, Coach was nowhere to be seen. I ran down to the bathroom to find him drying his hands in a fluster. It seemed that he had been caught out by the lack of loo paper. Fortunately the ESPN crew had heard his lack of appreciation for the Empire staff through the microphone he was still wearing because he was on the TV table again. Someone from the ESPN soundcrew had gone down to help him out! He only missed one hand.

The last two tables were incredibly tense. The big money was now in sight. Representatives of the online poker sites were trying to sell their logos to players that were not already signed up. The Coach and I had agreed not to discuss this with them unless he got to the Final when it would be worth a lot more money. Play was slow going and hard to watch as there were now big crowds gathered round the tables.

Whether it was the incident in the break or the fact that Jason Mercier was raising every pot, The Coach was now finding it harder going and his chip stack was dribbling down. Knock-outs were excruciatingly few and far between. Every time there was an all-in announced and the TV cameras crowded round as the dealer waited for them to give the ok to deal the rest of the hand, the all-in man seemed to survive. But they did come, Doyle Brunson, Teddy Sheringham, Tony Cousineau.

With 11 players left, Jason Mercier had well over 3 million chips, 30% of the total. This was making it almost impossible for Coach to get into a pot. At the break we had a chat and agreed that it would be better to be aggressive and try and double up before the Final rather than to creep in with low chips. Better to live one day as a lion than a lifetime as a lamb. Who did say that? A lamb probably.

Virtually the first hand after the break and it was suddenly all over. Coach’s AK couldn’t hit the flop against Praz Bansi’s 99. At least the chips went to a Brit I suppose. Keith was extremely gracious in defeat and seemed to take it well. But I know for certain that he was crying inside. Only the winner is happy after a poker tournament. Everyone else is left wondering “what if”. He tried to smile whilst the comely Kara Scott did the post match interview (she’s a pretty mean player too) and then went to get the money. It’s always tempting to ask for cash, but he got a boring old cheque whilst I lined up the beers.

There is nothing quite like the emotion of going deep in a poker tournament but not quite getting there. It is such a long journey and such an abrupt ending. After four twelve hour days, The chips go in, the cards are flipped over and the dealer deals the board. You are in a brief world of “outs” and probabilities. And then suddenly you are dead or alive. It’s like Schrodinger’s Cat.

Next stop Amsterdam.

Withnail

Free to those who can afford it, very expensive to those who can't.

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:56:06 +0100

We had our first crack at a really big score last week. It was a thrilling ride.

After the disappointment of myself and Vicky going out right at the end of Day 1a, it was a huge relief to see The Coach bring back a healthy stack for the Monday, Day 2 of the WSOPE. The usual 12pm start had been pushed back to accommodate those players who were stymied by Yom Kippur. Apparently God does not like to see Poker played on holy days. Fair enough!

The Coach came back with just under 90,000 chips and the average was 60k, so he was in good shape. He texted me to say he had a good table and was making hay. Then a few minutes later that he had busted Eric Seidel and was over 100k.

I watched the coverage on Pokernews.com. It wasn’t that good but The Empire casino was a terrible venue for “railbirds” so it was better than nothing. There were still 150 players left from the original 336 so there was a long way to go but I still dreaded hearing my phone vibrate every time a text came through. I assumed the worst every time but there was only one text over the four days of poker that had bad news and it was the next one I got:

“jst lost hlf my stk with QQ v AK. K on flop. Dwn to 50”

The rest of the day went something like this:

“jst won nce pot. Back ovr 60”

“dnt win a pot in last level. Dwndld dwn to 35k. raised wth aq spades. Flopped flsh drw. Got it allin v 77. Rvr spade!”

“last level today. 100k”

And on that note I jumped in a cab to man the bar as The Coach “bagged up”. 80 or so players would be coming back the next day (Day 3) to play down to the money spots. 36 players would be paid and The Coach would start with 110k, pretty much average.

I was playing golf on the Tuesday. We teed off at 11.51, just before play started at 12pm. I kept my phone in my pocket and prayed it wouldn’t go off too soon. Clearly being on edge is good for my game and I played a blinder, but my mind was elsewhered. This is as much as I got:

On the ninth green “good 1st lvl. Up to 160k. devilfish avoiding me!”

On the tenth tee “jst won huge pot v devilfish. Over 300 now!”

On seventeenth green (in one!) “on feature tbl. 50 left”

Then, at dinner: “280k at dinner; dribbled dwn. Nvr saw a hnd that lvl. Onward and upward!”

And on my way to the Empire “Jst bstd Julian AA v 88. 400 now”

Baby doll! (sorry Julian). Now he should be in the frame for a money finish. I put my foot down. I wanted to be there for the bubble, the point when there is only one to go before the money. It would be incredibly tense and the difference between 37th and 36th was worth £21,000.

When I got there, there were 39 left. 3 to go. Keith was in good shape with around 600k. On his right was Daniel Negreanu:

(http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=181)

one of the most successful and well-known poker players in the World. Lots of people have different opinions about Daniel but he strikes me as a thoroughly nice bloke and there is no doubt he is a genius level player. A few years ago when they opened the Wynn, to gain publicity Steve Wynn staked him to challenge anyone at the game of their choice heads-up for $500,000 each. The winner to get $1,000,000. I watched him every day and I never saw him lose (although I’m told he did lose some). It was fantastic to watch!

On his left was Men Nguyen, or Men the Master. This is his track record:

http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=184

Supposedly Men has a chequered past but you can’t argue with that record! Despite being about 3ft tall (he has a habit of wearing 8 inch platform shoes to make him look 4 ft tall), he is a giant in the game.

Opposite him was Steve Zolotow, another huge winner on the US tour. On the other tables were Doyle Brunson, Ram Vaswani, James Akenhead, Antoine Soaut, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot, John Kabbaj, AND Teddy Sherringham!

“Teddy Teddy ship us yer chips!”

When we got to the bubble time slowed to half pace. They played “hand for hand” which means that each table only started dealing the next hand when all the other tables had finished the previous hand. It is to stop the short stacks taking an age to make every decision in order to play fewer hands. The last five tables were all over the casino so none could see what was happening on the others. I tried to keep an eye on the short stacks to report back to The Coach. Eventually I reported that Doyle Brunson was all in with 77 v AA. He reported it to the table and the rumour spread round the room. Embarrassingly for me, it wasn’t Doyle who was all-in. Doyle wasn’t even in the hand. He had just stood up for a stretch and was sitting back down to count his chips for Day 4 because the guy next to him was stacking the pot he had just won with trip 7s. The bubble boy was getting up and leaving at the other end of the table. I avoided Doyle’s eye-contact so he couldn’t work out it was me that had announced his death to the room.

Keith counted his chips and we retired to the Bar and had a few beers with some of the reporters and players. Despite the release of tension from the bubble bursting, there was still an overhang from the magnitude of what the players were coming back for the next day. Life changing money!

Withnail

Much more of this and I'm going to apply for Meals on Wheels!

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:52:34 +0100

Monday morning after Days 1 A and B of the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event and again I’m torn between hope and despair. I was knocked out on Saturday night about 20 minutes before the end of the day’s play. I’d had a rollercoaster day but was struggling with about 15,000 chips, half my original stack. The average was creeping towards 60k meaning that nearly half the field was out. It was the strongest line up I’d ever seen in a poker tournament. Everywhere you looked there was a famous name: Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth (more to come on him!), Mike Matusow, Eric Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Allen Cunningham…unbelieveable! It was a “Who’s Who of Poker”. Then there was me of course, bringing down the average! I admit to being slightly overawed at the start. I vaguely recognized a few players at my first table from the EPT tournaments on TV. But the ESPN cameras focused mainly on another player who I didn’t recognize at all, an older guy in a baseball cap and dark glasses who was with his Dad. Eventually I worked out it was Steven Begleiter, one of this year’s “November Nine”. Lucky bastard!

My tournament started and finished with TT.

In my final hand I was in late position and was looking at an early position raise and another caller in front of me. The Original Raiser was a young kid who was very aggressive, and the caller had called because he could have anything. The blinds were 250/500 with a running ante of 25, the raise was 1,400 so there was already about 4k in the pot. It was a perfect spot to squeeze even if I didn’t have a hand. I looked down at my second TT of the day. My options were to re-raise to 4k or so and expect to see a flop in position against one or two callers; or to push all-in and hope to take the pot. All-in is easily the most conservative option here and my game plan was safety first, so I shoved. The Young Gun thought for a good three or four minutes and reluctantly called with KJ diamonds….marvellous. The river obliged with a J.

Several hours earlier, my day had started just as badly when, in level 3 with the blinds at a paltry 150/300, I found my first TT of the day on the button. A young American had raised in early position. He had played very solidly so far so he probably had either a high pair or AK/AQ. I needed to know which so I reraised a small amount on the button. He flat called which honed my radar towards AQ or a medium pair (which is what I was hoping for). The QQT flop could not have been more perfect if he had AQ. He checked, adding to my read that he had AQ. Now I needed to disguise my hand. If I checked behind it would look very strange. If I had AK or AA/KK (the hands I was representing with my reraise before the flop) then I would bet. I would only check with a huge hand (QQ, AQ or TT). So I needed to bet to make it look like I didn’t have it. Make sense?

I bet 2k into the 3k pot. He flat called, again confirming that he had AQ. So I was mortified to see the A on the turn. I felt a bit sick. My certain early double up had gone down the tubes. Nooooo! He checked (obviously) and I checked resignedly behind him sure I was beat. The only question was whether I would call his river bet, which turned out to be one 5k red chip. I knew I should fold but I couldn’t. I was down to under 20k already. I had slid down a huge ladder. I felt like a popped balloon!

Eventually, I found the Boots (AA) and got it all in against Poker’s latest superstar, Tom Dwann (known as Durr, his online soubriquet) who had AQ. But that was the last time I had any chips in the pot until my TT went down in flames. It was disappointing to be knocked out without any kind of chance. Even worse when, as I was packing up my stuff and walking away from the table, I saw Vicky was also all in. I peered over to see she was ahead with AK and a King high board. Phew! Unfortunately I failed to notice that the dealer was in the process of dealing the river. The guy in seat 4 leaped up in delight.

But The Coach had a different story. He couldn’t miss all day and ended Day 1 with roughly 90k, triple his original stack. Come on The Coach!

Before you go, check out Phil Helmuth’s arrival at the WSOPE:

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/photo-gallery/?t=122&e=465&p=10

Withnail

Accident Blackspot?

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:47:26 +0100

As I sit down to sum up our efforts in the WCOOP over the past two weeks I’m pulled in two emotional directions:

On the downside, I’m deflated with disappointment at our results. Between the three of us we’ve invested $29,000 in tournament entries playing in 18 tournaments. Our “takings” (total prizes won) were $9,226 with around $7,000 coming back to shareholders, a net loss of $22,000. Painful! I feel ashamed.

On the upside, we had some exciting moments and opportunities to go deep in tournaments with a lot of money at the Final Tables. Despite a poor start (when his KK was beaten by Humberto Brenes’ AT on the river), Miros was going well in the Main Event with 80,000 with the average at 40k when he flopped a King high club flush and got it all in against AA (with A clubs) who proceeded to hit the turn and the river to make a full house! Then he had another chap all-in with AJ vs A9 and lost when the 9 came. Both big odds against for huge pots. I’m sure he’ll report on that himself in more fruitful language

The Coach went deep in two tournaments, coming 45th in a 2500 runner field in the $300 Double Chance and then 111th of 9,200 in the final $200 event but ran into brick walls in both. He cashed in four out of six events played but unfortunately not the Main Event where he never had a look in. Again, I’m sure he’ll report on it himself!

For me, only two cashes in seven events was a disappointment. I messed up a couple of the others when in good position. My deepest effort was a great chance to win big in the $300 Double Chance but I messed that up too. I’m getting myself into good positions and not capitalizing . I’m the Ian Bell of poker, The Shermanator!

I can’t say I’m sorry to see the back of WCOOP though. It’s been a lonely “up all night” existence; listening to the local restaurants close up as the last (and mostly drunk) customers go home; seeing the programmes change from late night TV to early morning breakfast TV; hearing the morning papers arrive at the newsagents. Drinking a LOT of coffee…

Looking forward to getting back round a real poker table at the World Series of Poker Main Event (WSOPE).

Withnail

Drifting into the arena of the unwell

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:39:17 +0100

It’s Saturday morning, although the concept of weekends is beginning to elude me.

So far, the WCOOP has not been a personal success. I’ve had a couple of money finishes. A minimum cash early on and $1,850 in the $300 Hold’em on Tuesday. But it’s been a catalogue of “nearlies”.

I’ve already mentioned the pain of my exit from the $300 Hold’em. I was in terrific shape with 100 runners left (out of 2,500 entries). I was chip leader with 500k (original chips of 5k). Losing a few small pots set me back to 325k with 45 left, still above average. On the button with 4T diamonds I continued to be aggressive to try and steal the blinds. The tight player in the SB called my raise and then check called the whole way with AQ (on a Q high flop). Fair enough! And that was me. Will that teach me a lesson? I hope so!

More frustration in the $500 rebuy on Thursday. A slow start saw me in for $2,000 (an immediate rebuy, a second and then an add-on). However I then cruised up to 100,000 chips, above average for the money. With only a few to go before the cash, I managed to get it all in with JJ on a 578 flop with two diamonds. He called my re-re-raise all-in (not unreasonably as he is a slight favourite) hitting two pairs on the turn and the flush on the river.

The WCOOP can be rather lonely and depressing. Starting times are chosen to accommodate US players (even if they are playing illegally) so it is 9.30pm here usually. The money starts somewhere between 4 am and 6am - they are just finishing off last night’s $500 as I’m writing this (11.30 am), after starting at 9.30 pm last night. Playing through the night can be surreal. TOH is pleased with the cups of tea arriving at 7am (although there have been only two so far!).

I’ve been sweating Miros fervently - fun but nerve wracking! His chips move around quickly and he must be a nightmare opponent. He’s had a few near misses too and must be due!

The Coach has had a more successful run and has cashed in three tournaments accounting for most of our winnings.

With only the Main Event left we’re behind. We’ve spent $12,000 on the events, returning a slightly disappointing $7,700. I hope we can turn a profit on Sunday with $15k at risk between the three of us. Two cashes would ensure another breakeven month for Team Withnail!

Withnail

Odds’n’Sods

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:52:32 +0100

Wednesday morning in Primrose Hill. It has been peeing down for the last 24 hours and there is a river flowing past our front door. Good weather for online poker players!

We are well into the WCOOP so I thought I would round up how we have been doing.

So far I have only played 4 tournaments. The first three are hardly worth mentioning as I was barely involved. The $500 heads-up tournament was particularly frustrating. I had a bye in the first round which meant that I only had to win two games to get into the money. But I lost to a weak player who never missed a flop in two hours. Doh!

Last night we all played in the $300 “double chance” no limit holdem. There were 2,500 runners.

The first thing to mention was that the “double chance” was different to other DCs I have played. You were only allowed to take the second lot of chips (which you had to pay for) if you were down to zero. I started well and doubled up easily. I went to take my rebuy at the break but I couldn’t. Note to self, read the effing rules before you start!

Having started with 5,000, I got up to 500,000 chips at one stage but I ran out of luck with 5 tables left at 8.30am, cashing for a disappointing $1,850 (first was $130k). It didn’t seem much for all that effort

Both The Coach and Lord Miros also managed small cashes and much more sensible bedtimes. All in all a good night for Withnail’s Poker School taking $2,300 between us! It’s also The Coach’s third cash in three comps. Impressive stuff.

It gets a bit more serious later in the week. The $5,000 Main Event is on Sunday. Feel free to tune in to watch us from the rail at Pokerstars.com!

Withnail

Four floors up on the Charing Cross Road...

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:37:05 +0100

It's taken me a few days to put finger to keyboard after last week's final in Cardiff. I was disappointed to get knocked out sixth. But looking back I don't think I would have done anything differently. It was just one of those days.   I was surprised by the "razzamatazz" before the final started. I like to arrive at the casino only a few minutes before the off so I don’t have to hang around waiting to start. But when I got there (at 1.58 for the 2pm start), there were interviews and photoshoots and introductions and all sorts. Cards were finally in the air around 3pm. I raised the first hand ... I was out by the dinner break. It was a series of disasters.
First I was dealt QQ in middle position. We’d hardly seen a flop in three rounds. I raised and the very tight Ladbrokes internet qualifier called in the big blind. My antennae were up. I knew he had a big hand but the raggedy flop looked innocuous enough and he checked. I bet the pot and he called. For some reason the 10 on the turn screamed at me. He checked again. I should have bet again but I checked and another 10 came on the river. This time he confidently bet out 25k. I knew I was beaten but I couldn't fold for 25k. He flipped over his 1010 for quad tens. Ouch. But I could have lost a lot more chips in the pot so I should have been thanking my lucky stars.

Having started second in chips with 175k, I was down to 130k without blinking. I was determined to remain aggressive at what was a surprisingly quiet final table. I raised with A10 on the button and Scally (Jon Kalmar) called in the BB. Scally is a well known UK pro from Manchester who made the final table of the World Series two years ago scooping $1.25million. He was also now huge chip leader having doubled through Karl Marhenholz. He seemed to have been sitting behind me for three days and called a lot in the BB when I raised. He could have anything! The flop came AAx. He checked and I bet about half the pot trying to make out that I would have done this whatever came. He made a loose looking call. Another low card on the turn and he checked again. This time I tried to get tricky. I checked behind him to try and make him bluff the river. A blank looking card came and this time he bet out. Perfect. My trap had worked. I re-raised all in. He mulled it over for a few seconds. I must be winning. Please call! He did and flipped over.....A10. Split pot.

A few rounds later it was folded round to my button and I looked down at 33. A blind stealing hand if ever there was one. I raised and Karl went all-in for around 50k from the small blind. It was around 38k to me after I’d already put in 11k for the original raise. Karl could have pulled that move with a wide range of hands and the only thing I’m really worried about is a pair (other than 22). I think it's an easy call. If I win the 50/50 "race" then I’m back second in chips. If I lose I still have a short stack to play. His A9 paired the turn and I was in trouble.

I went all-in a few times and got up to 60k when my last hand played itself out. The Norwegian raider, Andeas Hoivold raised in first position and I called on the button with KJ. I was looking to go all-in on any non-Ace flop, a strategy known as "stop'n'go". The flop came KK5. A lifeline! Andreas bet out and I gave it a bit of Hollywood before pushing all-in. He called immediately and flipped KQ. I was "kickered".

Maybe next time.

Withnail