High Stakes Poker Clubs
July 31, 2009
For the last few days I have been working on a directory of all cardrooms in the country, including spielers, casino’s and private members clubs. There are a vast number of poker clubs catering for the very low stakes up to the nose bleed stakes that you read about in poker magazines. In the poker community, you hear the same names crop up and everyone is familiar with those people (either by name or on sight) as they can usually be found playing the circuit throughout the year.
What intrigued me, are the private invitational clubs associated with the rich and famous that wish to remain anonymous. Very similar to the pre 1969 gaming law era, when the likes of Aspinall, Lord Lucan and Billy Hill would be having high roller evenings for Royalty, Members of Parliament, Judges, Head of States etc. One such club has chauffeur driven cars pick you up, drive you to the club (which looks like a stately home ) where an escort will lead you to the library where the plush tables would be set up, with the finest of everything. The lowest stake competition is a £2,500 rebuy, and I would hate to hazard a guess as to the stakes played for in the cash games. Nicknamed the Toff’s game, they prefer the exclusiveness of Mayfair rather than the tackiness of Vegas.
I would love to go and have a peek at this game, but the catch is that it is invitational only. I wonder if they need dealers?
It’s Nothing Personal
July 31, 2009
Badbeaters please read!
Now this is a topic that’s been done to death on every poker forum there is. Before I start just let me say that I truly know how a bad beat feels. I’ve been the one who’s embarrassed when I dish them out. I know the sheer gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, jaw-tightening pain that receiving one brings. I’ve lost a number of significant pots to two outer hands that, at the time, felt worse than being told by your dad that he’s changing his name to Susan and moving to Thailand with his new special friend Pedro.
So we’ve established that bad beats hurt, ok?
The thing is; if you take beats as a personal insult then you need a bit of time alone to think about things. If you want a game where skill is the ultimate winner then you need to take up chess. The game of poker is one where skill should prevail in the long term but in the short term, luck is a major, major factor. It is precisely this element of luck that keeps the fish coming back, and it is this element of luck that gives you that butterfly feeling when you’re all-in on the flop and you know that you’ve got five or six outs to dodge. Luck is a cruel mistress, but you can’t deny the ‘edge of a cliff’ high that it brings. Without luck and probability, we would have no discussion of equity, or pot odds, of range and expectation. Without luck, there would be no way of turning a game of gin rummy into one where nuclear physicists can do battle with street hardened gamblers on an even footing.
Poker is a game of many components; mathematical ability, psychology, emotional control and logic, to name but a few. Each component has its own merits and each have a varied level of importance dependant upon which situation you are in.
Now when we put the game of poker into its simplest form, the aim of the game is to get your opponent to put their money into the pot at a point at which they have less chance of winning the pot than you do. Once their money is in the pot, then it’s over to our old friend variance, and it is variance that is the reason that our opponent might take that specific pot in the short term so that they’ll keep coming back and back so that our skill will be shown in the long term.
Now the point of all of this is my complete and utter disbelief at how poker players, time, and time, and time again fail to disregard the need for short term variance in the need to keep poker alive. Players usually fall into one of two groups. Those who treat an opponent who dishes out a beat on them as some kind of leper-ridden vermin, and those, who constantly go on about how good somewhere is because, ‘the poker is a good standard’, there are no fish etc. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not interested in a two hour crapshoot in a £3 pub league myself, but even if I were to play in it, I’d understand what I was getting myself into and would be able to deal with the consequences in a rational manner.
In my opinion, the two most important skills that a poker player can possess is total objectivity when assessing their own game, i.e. total self-awareness, closely followed by a true appreciation of variance and the management of the emotion that it brings. As I’ve said, I know that bad beats hurt, I know that you want to set fire to the person who just called your all-in on the flop then proceeded to hit a runner-runner seven high flush, but it really isn’t their fault, they’re just worse than you and you should be happy with this fact, you really should.
I would like to add a disclaimer here; a fish who tries to make some ridiculous claim to defend their play and thus make you look like the lesser player, does deserve a Glasgow kiss, so you have my blessing in dishing one out should the situation arise. In the meantime though, smile, shake your head, keep your cool, and get your revenge in the cash game .
Pokers Super Sunday
July 31, 2009
This weekend is fast approaching, and if you have £150 burning a hole in your pocket this weekend and you fancy a game of poker, where do you take it? 3 major cardrooms are battling it out to extract that £150 off you. Hopefully this post will give you an idea of the best place to play that suits your game.
The three venues that are all holding the same competition, on the same day are as follows;
Stoke Circus (3rd Anniversary) adding £3k
Dusk Till Dawn (£20k Guaranteed)
Luton G (GUKPT side event)
Stoke and Dusk Till Dawn are both No Limit Hold’em, whilst Luton is Pot Limit Hold’em.
There is definite value in Stoke as they are ADDING £3000
There is also potential value at Dusk Till Dawn as they are guaranteeing £20,000 (previous events have just scraped the guarantee, but with 2 other similar events on the same day I personally think that they will have to add some dosh here).
Luton’s £150 is a pot limit comp, and traditionally the GUKPT side events average 100 runners, but will the pot limit be an attraction or a disaster?
Lets start off with Stokes Anniversary; they have 10,000 chips, 30 minute clock starting at 3pm with 75/150 and 150/300 levels included. Dealer Dealt. Will go on till very late, so if you are working Monday morning be prepared to be knackered 
£15 Juice.
Dusk Till Dawn; 6,000 chips 30 minute clock starting at 3pm with 75/150 and 150/300 levels included. Dealer Dealt. Finishes before 2am usually £18 Juice.
Luton G; 6,000 chips 30 minute clock starting at 6pm with no 75/150 level but it has a 150/300 and no running antes, as it is Pot Limit. Dealer Dealt. Another late one if they get high numbers, but if you are there for the festival it wont matter. £15 Juice.
I hope that you find this informative if you were undecided, and best of luck wherever you decide to play. A report will be written on all 3 on Monday, and ukpokerinfo will be reporting live from Stoke Circus.
Is Luck a Factor?
July 30, 2009
Is luck a factor?
Although 98% of the world’s worst poker players blame luck for their results as opposed to their own incompetence, the more I’ve started playing a good mix of live and online poker, the more I believe that when someone tells you what a bad streak they’re on, they might not always be full of shit.
Now don’t get me wrong, when people make claims like ‘the two’s are out tonight’ they will 9/10 times be semi-retarded cretins, but on the flip side, if it does appear that the two’s are out quite a lot, then often it can be you’re playing with a table of people who shuffle like Jeremy Beadle. Sometimes, the moron will have a point.
The real point though, is the level of importance you place on variation in your poker results. Now that I’ve played approximately 50k hands online, I can fully understand what running hot, and running bad feel like. Having spoken to a number of professional online players, it appears that the ‘industry standard, sample size for variation is 100k hands, and it’s only after 500k that a real picture can be formed. It is usual that serious players use these numbers as standard for statistical analysis, which, generally, is why a lot of players dismiss the latest online phenomenon to hit the nosebleeds, because a 10k hand heater at these stakes can make an average player with a bit of gamble appear to be the new Patrik Antonius.
So when I talk about such enormous sample sizes and try to put them into the perspective of the live arena, I think that at times, when Joe the plank in my local freezeout complains about the run he’s on, I don’t always dismiss him as the spunk bucket that I would have maybe twelve months ago. You see, given that our local game only gets through a handful of hands an hour, and I compare that to the number of hands I get through four tabling six-max. I can understand why a cooler, that I could play through in a night or week online, would take me a year to play through live….. and maybe…. sometimes…… the moaners might just have a point?
Rounders Sequel?
July 30, 2009
The most influential poker movie of recent times, may be seeing the return of Matt Damon as the rounder Mike McDermott. David Levian and Brian Koppleman ( the writers of Rounders and Oceans 13) have indicated that a return of the popular characters may be on the cards with a possible addition of Leonardo Di Caprio adding to the cast.
The cast have all shown an interest in doing a follow up and the director (John Dahl) stated that “he would sure love to do it”. The writers have just been waiting for the idea for the sequel and have now said that is has slapped them in the face, but the relationship with the original Rounders may be circumstantial at best, as the sequel is rumoured to be all about online casino’s and poker.
Levian said
We did just set up a project centering on the world of offshore online casinos with Leonardo attached. It’s a little ways down the road, but we’ve started researching.
It’s a great world. Some of the countries where online casinos are based are like the new version of the Wild West, and with so much money on the line there is lots of drama attached.
Personally I am waiting with bated breath on this one, just out of curiosity really as I can’t think of anything more boring than watching a film about online poker? Unless it delves into the shady world of superusers, back door accounts, and rigging etc. If they go down this route I just hope they make it believable and realistic, and do some proper research with the people already accused, maybe chuck in an official from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission too.
Free Poker Money!
July 30, 2009
I knew that would get your attention, this is actually a long and boring article about reverse implied odds in pot limit Omaha eight or better, Nah, not really.
There are plenty of way’s to get a bankroll started if your just starting out in the game or have just gone bust. You can grind free roll’s, MTT’s or the new free to enter 10cent to the winner sit and go’s, although this is going to take a hell of a long time to grind out a workable bankroll.
If you haven’t played on a site for a while, log on to check your balance, Partypoker and UlitimateBet often deposit money in my account to act as an incentive to return to their site after long periods of absence.
There are some great site’s offering free bankroll’s, the bankroll mob is a favourite of mine. There are lots of poker groups on face book and MySpace that will offer free money on new poker skins, and the really big poker website’s like Pokernews, twoplustwo and pocketfives often have free money incentives, no deposit offers open to players.
So if you have just bust your account then don’t despair and revel in the challenge of rebuilding your roll from scratch with somebody else’s money!
Gala Coral in Financial Difficulty
July 29, 2009
Although we have just seen the third leg of the Coral Gala Poker Masters Tour, it is rumoured that all is not well with the company.
The Gala Casino Poker Tour was abruptly ended last year, with speculation that it was financially unsound to host. Its sister company and online bookmakers/poker site Coral seemed to bail the tour out and it was renamed a number of titles (I am still unsure which one is official?)the British Masters Poker Tour sponsored by Coral, Gala Casino’s British Masters Poker Tour, Coral Gala’s British Masters Poker Tour, or just simply Coral British Masters Poker Tour? ……….anyway.
Two years ago there was a cost cutting exercise at Gala casinos across the country, and all AGM’s were made redundant, and a couple of casinos went by the wayside.
Now, The Royal Bank of Scotland has proposed/suggested that the company needs to act to avoid defaulting on money loaned. Gala Coral is currently believed to be in restructuring talks, as deadlines are approaching for them to pay back £80million by September this year, with a further £150million in 2010.
A spokesman for Gala Coral said to the Obsever newspaper;
We are not looking to sell off assets or break up the group. We have £200m on the balance sheet and we are not seeking an equity injection
RBS have apparently dismissed these claims, and are believed to have already approached possible buyers of a broken up group, including online gaming, bingo, casino’s and betting shops.
Life Is On the Wire
July 29, 2009
I was reading the blog of popular UK circuit pro Steve Holden and was saddened to read he was having a bit of a poker meltdown. A balance in life is difficult to achieve at the best of times and managing our love for the game of poker with our responsibilities to those that matter the most, family and friends, adds another complication to an already tricky equation.
I have/do still suffer problem’s with the poker/work/family balance of my life, writing for this website and playing and learning about the game as much as possible whilst holding down a full time job is going to stretch anyone. My dream has always been to provide for my family from poker by either writing or playing the game, so this has driven me to work hard at both my writing and my poker.
The time required to improve in both poker and writing lead to inevitable family complications and some time ago things came to a bit of a head and I was forced to ask myself the question, can I be both a great poker player/writer and a great husband and father? And the answer was No, No I can’t.
The day I finally realised the cold hard truth that I was not going to be the next online superstar was a bit like that sad grey day in my youth when I finally realised I was never going to play football for England (Ok, not exactly my youth as I was 34 when it finally dawned). This moment of enlightenment came shortly after I joined a poker training site and spent many hours watching high stakes heads up videos. To say I was totally blown away at the skill and depth of thinking required to dominate at the highest levels would be an underestimate, I was shocked at the gulf in ability.
Like almost all low/mid stakes players I had grossly underestimated the skill levels required to win at the highest limits. Suddenly through my exposure to the thought processes of the best players via these training videos I realised that the hours of dedicated playing and learning time required to reach the ability level to make money at these stakes would not be attainable without sacrificing more time with my family than I could or should be prepared to give up.
It became obvious to me the dizzy heights of the online game are for the young, unattached and uninhibited, a middle aged father is never going to make it he just has too little time and energy to devote.
So where does that leave us middle aged poker fanatics? If we can’t reach the highest levels without neglecting our families why carry on playing at all? Well it’s not all doom and gloom, if you love poker as much as I do then this desire is just never going away, so stopping playing would only ever be a temporary solution as at some point I’m always coming back to the game, always.
We need to find the correct balance and if we always put our family and friends first and everything else second then we can’t go too far wrong. We might never make millions a year playing online but we can all make that one big score though, so personally I’m playing a lot more satellites these day’s to bigger events and actually using the entries rather than cashing in the value.
Learning should be its own reward and bettering ourselves as players should be our primary motivation. To this end I have tried to squeeze a few extra minutes here of there out of the day, I’ve started to burn my poker training video’s to DVD and put them on before I go to bed, this way I spend the evening with the wife rather than sat in front of the PC. And I keep a stack of poker literature in the toilet so I can use those few spare minutes a day to catch up on my poker reading!
I hope you find your balance and can take from poker what you need and not give more than you should.
Stoke Circus Anniversary Cup Update
July 29, 2009
The Circus Casino in Stoke On Trent is hosting its 3rd Anniversary Cup this coming Sunday August 2nd.
The poker tournament has been held for the last 2 years here and has always been very well supported by poker players from all over the country.
Amateurs and professionals alike sit side by side and slug it out in an epic battle to reach the final table – and with £3000 added to the prize pool this is going to be a huge event once more.
Speaking to the staff last week, they said that they were expecting over 200 players to take their seats. With the buy-in set at £150.00, the anticipated prize pool should be in the region of £25,000- £30,000.
In addition to the prize pool , the event is also being fed live to the internet via the UKPI site, exclusively. Our team will be there on the day to bring you the very best of the action as it happens on the tables.
So, if you are thinking of attending the event this weekend, tell all your friends and family to log on to ukpokerinfo, get them involved and interact with the staff and the players on the day.
Blackpool Paris Casino Inferno
July 28, 2009
Yet another fire at a Blackpool Casino!!
The Grand Hotel was last night caught in a serious fire, 100 firefighters were called to the blaze at 9:50 pm last night. Poker players, casino staff and members were evacuated from the Paris for safety reasons. However it is clear that the Paris has sustained serious damage.
Taken from aworldofpoker.com a player who was evacuated stated:
I’ve just got back – its absolute chaos!
Paris is DEFINITELY finished – it is really burning now. We were just getting to the end of the rebuy period when the alarm went off…….. Shaf immediately berates the dealer and tells him to get on with it. By this time it was getting smoky and we all evacuated. When we got outside it was obvious it was a lot more serious than we first thought.
Biggest problem for the players is not getting re-buys back………. its our cars! Most of the keys are inside the building and even though I’ve got my keys its impossible to get anywhere near it as the whole street is sectioned off. The police woman said ‘The building is starting to collapse and a decision will be made shortly as to whether to move all the cars off the street. Big problems for some people who have come from a distance away (Preston, Southport, Manchester etc)
24th-28th July Results Round-up
July 28, 2009
London Poker Circuit Super Stack Series
Disappointing 31 runners, although notables included James Akenhead and the Boatman brothers where amongst the few.
1st Nick Jenkins £10,000
2nd James Mitchell £5750
3rd Ross Boatman £3500
4th Nicos Loannou £2500
5th Paul Murrell £1500
Mark Trett wins British Masters Poker Tour Teeside
108 runner’s, A special mention to UKPI member NOCASH who cashed in 10th spot losing a race to eventual winner Mark Trett, Well played Dave!
1st Mark Trett £12,650
2nd Dom Mahoney £10,000
3rd David Swan £10,000
4th James Gray £9,000
5th Dave Maudlin £3,400
6th Lee Danaher £2,500
7th David Hudson £1,850
8th Jimmy McColloch £1,400
9th Ash Hussein £1,150
Poker in the Park Speakers Announced
July 28, 2009
Starting Thursday the 13th August and concluding on Friday the 14th Poker in the park has secured some of the worlds top players to provide the general public with hours of instruction for FREE!
The event, which is held at Leicester Square in London, looks to have secured online phenomenon Annette Obrestad and 2007 main event champion Jamie Gold amongst a raft of other top poker names to lecture the great unwashed.
Event organiser, Michael Caselli, said “The line-up we have at Poker in the Park is the kind of line-up you’d expect to see at one of the world’s major tournaments. If you wanted to pay these players individually to teach you how to play poker you’d spend over £100,000! At Poker in the Park you can learn from the best of the best for FREE”.
Full Event Schedule
Thursday, August 13th
17.15 Jamie Gold
18.00 Peter Eastgate
18.45 Annette Obrestad (TBC)
19.30 Nik Persaud
20.15 Neil Channing
Friday, August 14th
12.30 Jamie Gold
13.15 Alex Rousso
14.00 Nik Wealthall
14.45 TBC
15.30 Liv Boeree
16.15 Tony Cascarino
17.00 Michael Greco
17.45 Paul Jackson
18.30 John Tabatabai
19.15 Marc Goodwin
20.00 Ian Frazer
20.45 Jamie Gold
Guy Laliberté’s Pocket Rockets
July 27, 2009
Cirque du Soleil founder and high stakes poker player Guy Laliberté is rumoured to be taking his “A” game to Outer Space! Laliberté (estimated worth $2.5bill) is believed to have forked out a whopping $35,000,000 for a trip to the International Space Station as part of a Space Tourism program. The trip is rumoured to take place on 30th September aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft which will be launched from Kazakhstan, The trip will be 9 days long, and in that time he intends to teach his crew a few card tricks.
He is also a founder of “The One Drop Foundation” which is an organization that tries to improve water conservation, and is said to be holding a press conference in August with them to unveil his “themes and objectives” of his space mission?
Asked what he is looking forward to the most, Laliberté said ;
enjoying looking at planet Earth and space
I am sure there are a few poker stars thinking that he could invest that $35mill a little better for them, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am sure they will be wishing for his quick, safe return
Pitbull Bites Poker Player
July 27, 2009
The apparently British owned online poker room Pitbullpoker.com has come under intense scrutiny by the ever vigilant eye’s of the twoplustwo community in this thread (here) following a number of allegations of cheating on the site.
Dimensus Ltd the parent company of Pitbull was dissolved on March 10, 2009 leaving actual ownership of the online entity unclear. Pitbull has previously claimed to be a UK Company but hold’s no UK gaming licence, The UK gaming commission are aware and apparently are investigating.
There have been a number of separate allegations that Pitbull poker is cheating its customers through the ability to see hole cards, some allegations coming from highly respected members of the online poker community. Further suspicions have arisen following the surprising refusal by Pitbull to provide players with hand histories in a usable format and by the removal from July 24, 2009, onwards of players ability to view hand histories online, it still remain to be seen if this is a permanent or temporary removal.
A number of other clues lead to some dubious links to the site, wsop.com a site owned by Federico Schiavio, a former high level IT employee of Binions and a site embroiled in legal action by Harrah’s is used to market for Pitbull poker and shares a server with a number of grey market businesses selling pherehormone and steroid cream products.
Overall nothing has been proven yet, but personally I’d think long and hard before trusting these people with my money.
Going Live!
July 27, 2009
Making the transition to live poker is becoming an increasingly common requirement for players who have fallen in love with the game online and now wish to experience the thrill of live poker.
Even with all this assistance I received from the forum regulars of UKPOKER INFO I did still manage to make an embarrassing string bet and a few other minor faux pas. So I thought it worthwhile asking some experienced players, dealers and tournament directors what mistakes they see most commonly from new players. If you’re a new player reading this please don’t get too concerned, this articles purpose is to smooth your path as much as possible not scare you away from the tables! Remember most people find there first time playing live very enjoyable, that’s why they keep returning to the felt!
Pre-Tournament Preparation
If possible make a visit to the casino/cardroom prior to your first live game. It’s much easier to visit a place for a second time than the first and this will alleviate additional stress. If it’s not feasible to make a visit prior to your first game then contact the casino/card room to find out their opening times and arrive as early as possible to get your bearings and make your self feel comfortable in the environment.
Make sure you arrive in plenty of time to complete the paperwork required to gain access to the card room and you also have all required proof of identity.
Ensure you know the dress code of the casino/cardroom and are not breaking the rules. Some casino’s will deny access to people wearing trainer’s, denim or collarless shirts if your not sure then call the casino or check their website.
Once you enter the casino locate the card room and approach a member of staff about registration. Once you have paid you will receive a receipt, hold on to this as it may be required latter to prove purchase or gain entry to the buffet if one is provided.
Prior to the start of the tournament a table draw will be made, this will be displayed on the screen of the card room. Locate you name and find your table in good time. A ticket will be placed in front of your chip stack, this may be required latter to receive additional chips in a double chance or allow you to purchase an add on if the competition allows.
Mistakes Commonly Made By New Players
Playing out of turn, you might think the player next to you is about to fold but if you show clear intention of walking away from the table/ showing no interest in playing this pot he might then change his mind and you have affected the course of the hand. Show respect to other players by giving no clear indication of you intentions until the action is on you.
On occasion most players have let there concentration drift and have had to be nudged back to reality. One instance is usually laughed of and will cause you slight embarrassment, if it becomes a regular occurrence it will soon become an extreme annoyance to the other players, so please pay attention!
Showing clear signs of annoyance when a flop comes that would have hit your hand. An obvious example the flop come’s A55 and a player not involved groans or shakes his head. This will directly affect the play of the hand as players will assume one less 5 is in play.
String betting is a common mistake among new players; a string bet is when you move your chips into the pot in two motions. An example would be to cut out the amount to call the current bet and push these chips over the line then go back for more chips to make an additional raise. If you do this the dealer will deem it a call and your second bet will be voided, avoid this situation by vocalizing all bets.
Make it clear what your intended action is by vocalizing it to the dealer and other players before you begin moving chips, this should avoid any embarrassing string bet situations. When vocalizing your bet make it as clear as possible, so if you wish to raise to 1,200 in total say ‘raise to 1,200 total’. If you just state raise 1,200 This will be taken as additional to the previous bet, so if the action is in folded to you with the big blind at 300 stating ‘raise 1,200’ could be construed as a bet of 1,500. Make it clear what you intended action is.
Accidentally calling a bet with an oversize chip when they intended to make a raise, an example would be at 25/50 a player in front bets 100 and a new player throws in a 1,000 chip into the pot. This would be deemed a call, avoid this by vocalizing you action, state ‘I raise to 1,000 in total’ then put your chip in the pot.
These actions might seem quite obviously incorrect but many players say the have seen new players do these and they are commonly cited as a cause of frustration.
Stating the cards they have passed.
Showing other players there cards.
Commentary to the table or their neighbors about the action.
Questioning others play openly at the table.
Taking too long to make every single decision, fellow players will understand if you take extended time on crucial decisions but taking two minutes to flat call every time you’re in the small blind is annoying and holds up the game.
Thanks to all the guy’s on the forum who helped compile this list.
Is There Poker Outside of London?
July 26, 2009
This weekend saw the relaunched London Poker Circuit (The Superstack Series), Teessides leg of the Coral Poker Masters, Walsall’s infamous £200 DC comp, and the Face to Face Festival in Brighton.
Effectively this has spread the regular festival goers over four venues, but the real surprise is that the London Poker Circuit, picked this weekend to hold it’s relaunch (after suffering from poor attendances in the couple of previous events). Sometimes I think that Londoners do not recognize that poker exists outside of the big smoke. Admittedly, out of all these competitions the best structure and value for money was the LPC event, especially as they have listened to the players that have played previous events and made some major changes. 20,000 chips on an hour clock with ALL festival levels included. Unfortunately this £750 event only attracted 31 players, which is a great shame, as the organizers have worked their socks off, and listened to the players. They had a great amount of interest in this game, but when poker players do the usual thing and ask “how many runners are registered”, when the numbers are low they search for the fields, leaving the LPC event baron.
On the other hand I am watching the live feed of CBPMT from Teesside, and they are down to 4 players from 108, many well known circuit players playing in this one. Strange thing is with the amount of chips in play, although the average stack is 20 X the BB it looks to be one move poker, I know which event I would prefer to play in.
It will be good to see what happens next Sunday, as the battle of the £150 competition goes head to head between Stokes Anniversary Comp at the Circus with £3000 added, and DTD’s £20k guaranteed. Can’t make my mind up which venue will offer the best value here?
King Kev Rocks the Grosvenor.
July 26, 2009
The first 727 at the Grosvenor Casino in Stoke on Trent was won by none other than our very own forum member Kev Bloor.
54 runners turned out for the event that had a pot of £1620 waiting for who ever made it through to the final table. 12k starting stack with a 30 minute blind structure and no anti meant this was going to be a good night of poker for everyone.
A steady start to the game, relatively tight all round and no casualties for the first hour. Bunny was unlucky running his trip 6s into a full house on the flop, the turn and river didnt help him, and his stack was crippled. A brave fight back was halted when he ran 8-9 hearts in late position into the big blind who found A-A , and bunny was gone.
Peskie went out in 31st place after being constantly drowned on the river ,plus getting bombarded by Rage everytime he saw the blind.
By 00.30 we were down to 21 players, 5 1/2 hours into the game and just under half the field remained. The chip counts at this time saw :-
Table 3, Dekka ( suck my fruit ) Litherland leading the table with 55,400 chips folled by Rage on 46,000 , and Dave Lines on 41,000.
Table 2, Mikhail Kierejewski 55,100 , Andy Rutter 51,000 , Norma Clay 42,000.
Table 1, Richard Boot 40,000 , Kev Bloor 29,000.
So it was tight for overall chip lead between Derek Litherland and Mikhail Kierejewski as just 300 chips separated them.
01.00 level 10 begins, an average stack of 31k blinds were 800-1600, i just had a chat with Kev Bloor who said that 2 hours ago he had 30k and he has been more or less card dead. With his stack at 29k though he still managed a smile as he was 2nd in chips on his table.
Action on table 3 as Rage raises 5k, everyone folds except Derek Litherland, who re-raises all in! Rage is bemused, he thinks for an eternity and then folds showing Q-Q , ” good fold” says Litherland who shows the table K-K. Wow, everyone gasps and cant believe what they just witnessed.
01.30 Mikhail takes out Irishman Ward, Ward pushed all in with A-9, only to see Mikhail table A-K . No help on the board for Ward and we are down to 2 tables .
A chip count for final 2 tables shows that on:-
Table 3,
Derek Litherland has 54,800
Dave Lines 49,500
Paul Clegg 50,100
Mark ( Rage) Brassington 43,000.
Table 1
Mikhail Kierejewski 90,000
Richard Boot 45,000
Norma Clay 42,500
Andy Rutter 40,000
Kev Bloor 37,600.
Table 3 has Dave Johnson all in, a call from Rage for just over 20k see`s Johnson show K-Q, Rage shows A-K, a dead flop , Q on the turn and a blank on the river and Johnson doubles through to 42,300, Rage however is now down 16k.
WOW Table 1 has Richard Boot all in , Mikhail has re-raised all in , and Norma Clay has pushed also!! 3 WAY… Boot has QQ, Mikhail has KK, Clay has A-Q, this is a monster pot, i cant count the chips in the middle!!!
FLOP A-J-8
TURN J
RIVER 6
Norma Clay has just tripled her stack in an amazing stroke of luck that saw Boot get the boot from the table and Clay sitting pretty with 69k.
While all this was going on, Dave ( The Bear ) Palin has just been eliminated on the other table with 8-8 vs A-A from Dave Lines.
Chris (Ernie) Lowe was eliminated when he ran A-10 into A-A , its going mad!! Nothing happens for 1/2 an hour then it all happens at once.
Its half past 2, and we are down to 13 players Kev bloor is still hanging in there on 26k, but after a bit of nice table play increases to 40k in the space of 3 hands.
02.40 , Dave lines has just raised 12k, Dave Johnson re-raises all in from the big blind , the anguish on Lines face is plain to see, as he gingerly folds and Johnson shows QQ.
02.42 Mick Jagger all in on table 2 with A-Q, a call from Kev Bloor with A-K , the flop , 7-Q-8, turn 7, river 8! Jagger doubles through and Kev has got just 12k left and need oxygen. This is crackers, hand after hand the short stacks are doubling up when going in from behind.
Dave Lines has just lost a monster pot against the Rage , Lines had A-10 on an A high flop , while Rage had A-A,
Dave Taylor doubles up to 50k off Dave lines again, who has seen his 72k stack diminish down to a mere 5,200.
The very next hand sees Lines all in again, ( the wheels have really fallen off ) as Taylor calls and takes the remaning 5k from lines, and sadly ,after playing a really good game Lines goes out in 12th place.
ITS BUBBLE TIME!!!!
A quick chip count as it is now 3.30, ( and im knackered )
Table 2
Mikhail 80,000
Jagger 62,000
Clay 32,600
Table 3
Clegg 75,000
Litherland 72,000
Rage 62,000
Taylor 61,000 .
Kev Bloor has seen his 12k short stack slowly increase to approx 33k, and when he pushes all in at 03.40 Rob Bailey calls.
Bloor shows A-10 spades, Bailey K-Q clubs,
10-4-6-10-4 on the board and Bloor hits a full house, with the blinds and Baileys chips this puts Bloor on 90k, amazing how just 10 minutes ago he only had 12k !!!
Literally 2 minutes later Bloor pushes all in agian, this time Andy Rutter calls. Bloor A-Q , Rutter K-Q
A-A-9-4-6, Bloor has just smashed his table to pieces in a 15 minute poker polverising!!!
FINAL – TABLE.
10 minute fag break for the 9 that are left, a quick coffee, and a chance to catch my breath.
I take a moment to chat to Dave Johnson who we dont see a great deal of really, and its no wonder, he travells from Northampton every saturday just to play the game at the Grosvenor in Stoke!! now thats dedication.
Seating plan
1 Kev Bloor
2 Mark ( Rage) Brassington
3 Derek ( Suck my fruit) Litherland
4 Mikhail Kierejewski
5 Dave Johnson
6 Mick Jagger
7 Dave Taylor
8 Norma Clay
9 Paul Clegg
Shuffle up and deal.
Straight away you can feel the tension on the table, and for a full spin the blinds are safely gathered in, UNTIL…….
Rage in seat 2 is on the big blind Bloor is on the small, everyone folds round to the small blind, Bloor who has amassed 148k in just over half an hour announces all in! Rage thinks for a moment “call”
Bloor A-3 Rage 8-8
4-10-A-J-7 , Bloor has just taken out the Rage and adds even more chips to his mini mountain.
Average stack is 72k at this point ,and it is 04.15. Paul Clegg is all in now with 7-7, Jagger calls with K-K , a king on the flop gives Jagger trips and a nice double up and puts Clegg on 4k. The very next hand we lose Clegg as he has less than the big blind , Taylor pairs his jack in the big blind and its curtains for Clegg.
One hand later Litherland is all in, ( this is insane) Johnson calls the all in, Kev Bloor re-raises all in. What??? 3 way again?
Litherland A-K
Johnson K-J
Bloor K-Q
The board shows,,,,,, 2-9-Q- 6- J
Kev Bloor has just taken out another 2 players , leaving 5 on the table , and 4 of them look terrified.
Bloor now has infront of him 300k+ almost half the chips in play!
And he didnt stop there, the next hand has Jagger all in with 6-6 only to see Bloor call with 7-7
A-5-J-A-Q ,
And Bloor smashes another one to the rail leaving 4 players and 3 of them need clean underwear.
Unreal, this guy is assasinating the whole final table, and sits behind a 436 stack , no, Mountain.
Shortly afterwards Clay announces all in with 8-8 , to which Mikhail calls this time with A-K,
A-K-4 -J-8, after flopping 2 pair and looking certain to knock out Clay, Mikhail see`s the 8 on the river that gives Clay trips and a double up to 58k.
Its all going on here ,
A chip check has Mikhail on 60k approx, Taylor on 90k , Clay 58k, and Bloor a staggering 450k !!!
The next victim came in the following hand and was Mikhail, who pushed all in on Bloors big blind with A-K, Bloor automatically calls with 5-3.
5-J-4-8-2, and they are down to 3.
Bloor can hardly see his cards for his chips, Clay then pushes all in with 9-10, Bloor calls with K-Q spades ,
4-4-4 9-8 , eh? Bloor lost a hand? oh yes he did and doubles Clay up to 100k.
Wow this has been amazing,
Clay is all in with Q-J, Taylor calls with 10-8,
3-7-9-2-J, and a cruel way for Norma Clay to exit the building after playing an amazing game , but i think the £190 3rd prize will soften the blow a little.
HEADS UP
A bit of argy bargy early on between the 2 remaining players , they were like 2 lions trying to show who was the more dominant. First Taylor would raise 20k , then Bloor would re-raise and a battle of whits ensued.
It wasnt long however before Taylor pushed all in pre flop, Bloor instantly called .
Taylor 5-5
Bloor A-J
The tension was amazing as this came :-
4-9-9 - A-J, it was all over Bloor had just more or less demolished the final table with a show of amazing poker.
Take my hat off to the man who was 2nd though , a very worthy 2nd place and £350 in his pocket, but the winner and a very deserved one too and with £600 to add to his bank account is Mr Kev Bloor.
What a fantastic night, and it was announced at the end of the tournament that this event would feature in the cardroom schedule every month from now on, with £300 added prize money, and dealer dealt.
Many thanks to Matt the Monk, the TD for the night who helped me no-end when things got a bit tasty with 2 tables left, to all the dealers and valets for making this a thoroughly enjoyable event.
UKPOKERINFO Exclusive – Russ Bansen – Every Hand Is Revealed. Part 3
July 26, 2009
Russ concludes his master class on “Sit N Go” strategy as he show’s us how a real pro closes out the final stages of a tournament, so fill your knowledge hole with the tactic’s of a master.
Introduction
Putting your opponent on a hand and then never wavering or stopping to reconsider that range no matter what action you face is a difficult skill to master. Closing a tournament out requires this kind of thinking and a refusal to accept the possibility our opponent s are capable of changing there tactics. A quick review of the chips counts
Me 5,880
JammyJen 5,020
Oreoboy 3,600.
To battle..
HUP Primer
Chip update
Me 7,560 chips
JammyJen 5,940 chips
HUP poker is all about aggression and steam rolling your opponent, you might have heard of the Nash equilibrium tables? (see below) Well this table tells you the mathematical likely hood of holding the best hand against a random hand draw.
This table is clearly designed for pussies and has too many numbers to be of use to anyone, so I have modified it and all you have to know is if your hand is blue or green you can shove or call.
Well I hope you can take away some kind of primitive understanding of the workings of an online poker masters mind. I’ve held nothing back and have revealed the winning formula that has seen me dominate the $5 and $10 on Stars, good luck at the tables, Russ Bansen.
What is With The Attitude?
July 25, 2009
What’s with the attitude?
I was recently playing in a great cash game with some friends. It was about 02.30am, we’d been playing since about 9.00pm and we’re playing a £1/£1 cash game, with stacks ranging from £50-£300 and ability ranging from, ‘good’ to ‘moronic’. We were all drunk, we were having a laugh and it was one of those games that you wish every poker game was like (obviously I was winning ).
Next thing, I know, two 19 year old lads turned up out of nowhere, one chubby and very friendly, one well built, wearing a baseball jersey and a scowl. So we invite them to play and chubby declines on the basis that he hasn’t got a clue what we’re doing and scowly says he’ll play in twenty minutes or so once he’s ‘sussed us all out’. I swear that’s what he said. 20 then 40, then 60 minutes go by and scowley has neither joined the game nor smiled. Taking pity on him, I offered him £50 from my own pocket to play with as I thought he was actually short of money and afraid to admit it. He declined without so much as a thank you and proceeded to sit there trying to look both cool & hard for the next half hour.
Now let’s be clear here, I proclaim to be neither hard nor cool but in the end, after a shirty response to a simple question I lost my temper and gave the young man the dressing down of his life, much to his fat friend’s amusement and his own embarrassment. The thing that I reflect upon when I try to see the situation through his eyes and understand if I did anything wrong, was ‘what was he trying to achieve’?
I’ve noticed from recent posts on the ukpokerinfo forum that more and more; there are people playing live games up and down the country, in games you would think to be cordial, with arrogance that is befitting of a premiership footballer in a Bentley showroom.
I just can’t see what is going through these people’s heads when they act in the way that they do. Do they actually thing that somehow, by being as big a prick as they can be, that other people will somehow think that is cool, and in some way respect or like them? Do they think that they are intimidating and will therefore gain an edge on the other players? Or did the school bully bum them at boarding school?
Wherever I am and whatever I do I try to both enjoy other people’s company and try to ensure that they enjoy mine. If you’re one of those people who try and impress others by acting in a way that makes their evening less enjoyable then please go and take a running fucking jump, you are not wanted!
Adam loses his fight.
July 25, 2009
In January of this year, the guys in this poker forum held a charity poker team event at the Grosvenor Casino in Stoke on Trent.
The main reason for holding the event was to raise funds for a very poorly young lad by the name of Adam Sandells. Adams uncle, Paul Sandells is very well known within the poker community, and i think everyone will agree that we had a terrific day with loads of laughs and giggles, a real good party atmosphere.
Even Paul ( Action ) Jackson turned out to lend his support to our fund-raising efforts.
Sadly, Adam passed away on Thursday morning, the Neuroblastoma cancer that he suffered from finally took his young life.
We would like to take the opportuniy to extend our deepest sympathy to Adams family.
The money that was raised was very much appreciated by the Sandells family and went on to make Adams last few months a little more comfortable.
Thank you all.
Please continue to support by sending any donations to The Neuroblastoma Society.