2k limit

So i woke up in time to play the 2k limit event. Ive always
enjoyed playing limit tournaments for some reason. Generally
you cant go bust in one hand ! And you get to play some flops,
which i like to do. The latter stages of a NL can be very, pre-flop.

To start off with things didnt go that great, and i was almost
out, but my aces held up and i managed to survive. From
there things went my way, connecting with flops , and i was
up to almost 20k. Then of course it went pear shapes for
a bit and i was down to 10k. Then a key hand came up where
a late position guy raised, i re-raised with Askd, and he 4 bet
me. The flop came j-2s-4s. He bet i called. Turn came a 7,
he bet and i called. Then the river came the Js. I checked
and he bet virtually putting me all in. I thought for a while
and called, he showed a-5, bang ! I was back in it. Ended
the day on about 22k. I was playing a mixed bag of hands,
even tho ppl were tightening up, I prolly coulda played a few
hands better.

Day 2 64ppl left, 45 ppl get money. I got off to a good start
just playing solid hands, and catching a few breaks, and
i was up to 50k (avg 42) with 40 left and in the money !
Then the Key hand comes up. I 3 bet with 9s he 4 bets.
The flop comes 8h-6-5. He bets i call. Turn comes a 9h,
he bets i raise he calls. River comes a black king, he
checks and i bet, and he calls. Do u have a str8t he says?
I say no, he shows Ks :(( Set over set argh ! 70k
pot slides his way.

Then i raise with Ad-4d, early position, same guy calls
me , flop comes 5d-4c-3d. Im all in he has 10s. And my
17 outs dont materialise, and just like that out in 36th.

$5500 for 36th, which for some reason they dont
tax me, great break ! Which was also good, considering
we went out after the tournament after day 1 and played
some crappy craps.

I picked up the full tilt book the previous night, and
read the limit section, which surprisingly was very
informative !

hot tip buy : Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide

Anyway getting closer !

Poker is a 100% luck and a 100% skill

Thats right theres 200% in poker, and most of its bs. Theres
so many jokers winning tournaments, cashing deep in events.
I figure it may as well be me ! Unfortunately theres not
many good events on at the moment. May be i should
play tomorrows limit. I played some interesting online
tourneys today. If you are playing like the maniac on the table,
remember people wont fold much to you. Which is obvious,
tho usually i play solid so i forgot, stupid!

Vegas newly born child , vegas ...

the tide is turning

Ive managed to switch the online drought, and in the
space of a few tourneys , im back to square (online)

I final tabled the $109 rebuy ($950), 55th in the stars
million ($3700) and 1st in Stars 100k (25k).

Went out last night and got too drunk, which made
playign the tourneys today tuff, but what the heck !
Ended up in some dodgy pool hall near the ariport,
drinks at the bellagio, trying to walk across a fountain
at caesars and then playing craps at casino royale at 7am.
Oh and we got into a food fight at the mirage, well it
was really just a friendly fight, when a guy frisbeed
a pancake from the next table to ours. My friend
took a bite out of it, then i frisbeed it long, hit a girl
in the head 5-10m away. She looked around in confusion,
and the staff came in and confiscated the remaining
frisbees/pancakes.

Now to try and win some live events !

Vegas little infant , vegas ...

Spirit breaking

So i decided to play the 2k pl. Which suits my game , nice
slow structure, no antes. I catch a break early having AA
against QQ, and end up running my starting stack
from 4k to 16k , playing really good. I mean im not making
crazy bluffs, but just picking up small pots here and there,
choosing spots carefully. Anyway its all too painful, I get
blinded down a bit, even tho i raise virtually at every opportunity,
9-8 suited etc. And then i hit some good cards, and make some good
plays and im up to 35k (around average). Then a few minutes
later, there are about 60 or so ppl left, im 2nd in chips on the
table. So im looking at making the money, and then keep the
roll going! Suddenly i look down at Kings , and 30 seconds
later the chip leader has all my chips, as were both all in preflop,
and of course he has Aces. Another kick in the pants, lucky i
was wearing cricket box. Anyway as far as poker goes, its a
bit like scarface , with all the bullet holes !

The weather is still hot, the poker is still cold , but there
is more to life than poker, except when ur in vegas in the wsop.

Apparently the forecast for cheetas - is for scattered panties,
and partly covered dancers (thats a quote from the add)

Howard hughs

may be i can spend a week like howard hughs living in a room,
and never leaving, i wonder what thats like. Didnt someone prop
bet a guy that he couldnt live in a bathroom for a month ! Also
why did howard hughs start pissing in jars. Couldnt he have
got a room with an attached bathroom. I guess its a good way
to come up with movie scripts.

new day new event same result

today was the $1500NL event. I got there with a positive
outlook knowing the poker gods, were eating peanuts
and mocking me. But i was in the waiting lounge, on my
way to something better happening.

When things arent quite going your way, sometimes you
change your game, become more defensive, play scared
etc. etc. or get impatient. i think ive been ok

These events are a bit tricky coz u dont get many chips.
Anyway i started off good picking up pots with nothing
and running my chips up from 3k close to 5k. Making
good bluffs and playing the ppl. Then i raise a limper
with KK the flop comes AQQ, he is short stacked, i bet
he pushes all in and i fold Still get my chips up to 4k.
Post a few blinds (100-300), and my stack is 3300, when i pick
up QQ in early position . The guy (new2 table) under the gun makes
a small raise. After assessing all my options i decide
pushing all in is the best move to isolate against him. He
calls instantly with Aces, and thats it, fking fk it.

Played some online tourneys, which went pear shaped.
Running total somewhere around now -75k. Good news,
is i can play that jackpot game. And the jackpot is greater
than my current deficit ! weeeee

tomorrow is the 2k pl event, gluck me.

Is this the sexiest women on earth ?

A friend sent me this link , with the above claim :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1G-3laJJP0&mode=related&search=

Anyway i clicked on it and it was this french news reader,
whose unbelievably good looking and has the sexy french accent,
but ultimately its just a series of her reading the news
with some stupid background music.

My french friend attracted by the sounds of french speaking,
came over to take a look, and was like oh yeh thats
the newsreader melissa ....

2 thoughts came to mind, one who cuts musical montages,
and it seems like the equivalent of someone on youtube
watching a montage of sandra sully clips, and saying how
hot is she ! With obviously no knowledge of what shes saying.

Asshole week

So my friend whose staying with me did an asshole test, but
its in french, and he claims that he was only a 19% asshole.
Frankly i think its closer to 90%. But who knows what 90% is
in french.

In the morning i wake up around 12, the heads up tournament
starts around 12. I figure i could go down and register, but then
i was going to play some games online which I can remote desktop
into. But that doesnt work ...
So i decide what the hell may be ill go and play the heads up
event. Then my friend, says why are you going to go down there?
Youve got no chance. Save the 5k. B "ill be down there in an hour
and ull be left with 3 chips"

I dawdle a bit longer, go down anyway, and may be luckily im too
late to register.

But im thinking may be i should spend a week in vegas being an
asshole.

Imaginary conversations from incidents ive had with ppl who ive run into

1) I see a lady reading a book sitting on the edge of a wishing well fountain.
I have a strong urge to push her in.
rk "sorry i didnt know you were only suppose to throw coins in"

2) Im eating a crepe , the guy is coming around cleaning up. like macdonalds
Your suppose to throw your rubbish in the bin. I leave the rubbish on the table. He
looks at me.

rk "may be if you provided forking forks that werent plastic, so you could
cut the crepes, id throw my rubbish away"
him "sorry sir, thats not my department"
rk "hey i always tip, perhaps if u save 1c out of each tip, you could provide real cutlery"
him "we dont get those tips"
rk "perhaps youd get a tip, if everyone didnt have to do your job"
him "your an asshole"
rk "at least my name tag doesnt say fking douchebag"

he rechecks his name tag i leave

3) i forget my room key card, and have to line up to get another one

hotel clerk "mr nathan this is the 5th room key card we've issued"
rk "im staying here for 6 weeks , get fking use to it"

4) i get into the lift , and the lady and i press the button at the same time,
it turns out we are pressing the same floor, she looks across at smile
(thats a funny coincidence)

rk "theres only 12 floors on this lift, its not that much of a fking coincidence,
and frankly its not a useful coincidince as your old and ugly"

life as an asshole, may be may be not...

razzzz

So after bombing out of the 3k NL event i decided to play the $1500
razz event. Quickly the NL event started off ok, as in the first 30
minutes i didnt bust ! Then a key hand develops. Blinds 50-100,
early pos raiser to 350, and 3 callers. I have AK in the small make it
1950 (out of 6k). And the first person folds, the 2nd callers, calls ?
Now this person has commited 40% of their stack. Flop comes
k-j-2. I pretty much put the person all in who goes all in , with
Js, so ghey ! Down to under 1000 chips i get back to 4k, with
my new table having hellmuth and devilfish. I decide to re-raise
a button raise who looks weak, with KQs, who calls with decent
odds with a7 , and i dont hit.

So off to play the razz. The first few levels of a limit event
are slow torture. But i learn as i go along, that playing
speculative hands against even the donkeys is not
that profitable. So i ran my 3k stack to 6200 by the end
of the day, slightly under average.

Day 2 i busted a short stacked todd brunson, before
all my good hands ended up in smoke, as is the case with
razz ! 6-4-2, 6-4-3, razzed out. Busted out in 70th,
which was very disapointing.

Anyway whats good in vegas. The crepes , nutella crepes.

Horses for Courses

After getting so close in the FT qualifier to play the 50k horse. Naturally I assumed i could play horse (wat do they say "assumptions are the mother of all fuckups")

So i entered the 5k horse event against some of the best players in the world and a few

randoms. At dinner i was up to 15k , up 50% of starting stack in limit is pretty good!

However after dinner it all went pear shaped, 4 card flushes

with low draws in studd didnt come thru, trips lost to str8ts

etc etc. And perhaps there were a couple of spots where i didnt need

to gamble, but it was disapointing after what i thought was going

to be my day. In the end i busted just before the day ended, even

tho most of the ppl still remained. An aussie still is in, after being

short stacked, and has made a good comeback so may be i could have hung

around and waited and waited , tho frankly i doubt it . At least i got

to play against Doyle, even if he schooled me in one pot.

Yep, maximum !

What in Vegas costs a $100 a minute and lasts 15 minutes ?

Interesting question ? Youd hope after spending that kind
of money youd be reasonably satisfied. However unfortunately
the answer is the $1500 plo event.

So early on i limp on with a speculative hand , against a big
blind not sitting in. 3 others limp in. I have A-9-10-2 suited.
Ok thats a bit junky, but thats the how i play PLO... badly !
Well not that bad usually. Anyway flop comes Kc-j-8c I have the
nut flush draw + str8 draw (7 or Q for the nuts). I bet the pot
the guy raises me. After thought i consider him to have JJ
or 88 or may be may be a wrap draw. I re-push representing
KK , he thinks and goes if you have KK you have me beaten then calls.
The board pairs on the turn and im out. Whoops, oh well,
tomorrow is the horse. At least im not playing scared, im hoping
the limit will limit the damange. And may be there are things in
vegas at a $100/min that are better value?

Are you black or white ?

Some ppl know I like to bring up the fact im "black" as
to why I cant swim well and when Im on a rant how
the racial minorities need to group together to fight
the white opression. Of course im not really serious, but
ppl often say, "your not even black!"

Well today whilst playing blackjack at Paris, there
were 2 african american women playing and a younger
african american female dealer. Even tho i was wearing
a hat, after a while of playing they
thought i was african american or a mixture , 1/2 black 1/2 other.
Then i said i was sri lankan in origin, and they were like
oh, we were only talking to you because they thought
I was "african american" . Then they started laughing, I didnt
get it. So may be im not black, but i can be confused for one ,
or perhaps im just confused.

Also my accent apparently is english, must be the "posh"
adelaide accent. No one assumes im aussie, i dont look
aussie, i dont speak aussie according to the americans.
Some quasi looking black english speaking person. Freak !

Very nice , how much ?

According on how to fit into the vegas scene and not to act
like a dork there are some fundamental rules according to
the style show:

1. Dont say "vegas baby, vegas ..." This phrase was popularised
in the movie swingers. I prolly dont say this when im vegas,
but when talking to people before coming here, i can think
of at least a couple of times i slipped it into conversation, but
i was being funny !

2. Dont wear sunglasses in a club ! Unless ur blind apparently
wearing sunglasses in a club is not cool. Hmm im sure it was
cool in adelaide in London when i did it , perhaps not...

3. Girls in vegas are not either strippers or hookers. So when
they walk past, saying "very nniiice, how much" , probably is
inappropriate. But may or may not be funny.

Tho prolly the funniest comment of the day came from benjo,
on the female poker players. "would you rather sleep with
kathy liebert or antonius". He rationalised patrick
anotinus has more money, weird , who things along those
lines...

Extremes - plus or minus 45

As the weather is starting to heat up , my poker results
are turning ice cold. In fact I think there is an inverse
relationsip. Currently the weather is more than 40 degrees, and the poker
losses have slipped below 40k. Oh well wat can you do ? Get a new job ? haha

Todays event was the 5k NL. All the good players were playing,
and my table was pretty good considering, as only Nam Le was there,
and also some other guy who plays 100-200NL tho I didnt know
who he was. I started off trying to see some cheap flops and connect,
but everything missed. When I bet someone would call with a gutshot
and outdraw me. Gradually my chips almost 1/2ved. I managed
to win a pot finally with a5 under the gun flopping 2 pair, and later
a donkey pushed all in over the top short stacked with AQ against my
AA and i was back in it up to 11k . (starting 10k).

Then tuan le, got moved to my table, with a lot of chips.
He was playing quite a few hands, and was pushing ppl
around. I didnt get anything, and a raise with 3-4s didnt end up to good,
as i bet a 10-10-9 flop and got re-raised. I had aroudn 8k when the following
hand came up just before the 2nd break. Tuan limped in, somone else called,
I called with 3-4 spades on the button, and the blinds came in. The Flop
came J-6s-2s. He bet 800 in about 1200pot, I could have called here, but
he would bet a range of hands that he would prolly fold here if i raised, plus
i had a big draw, and i could push out the other players. I made it 2400, and
he called quickly. The turn came a red 4. Giving me a pair. I put him on something
like j10 , qj or may me a big flush draw like k-10spades. He checked and I pushed
my remaining 5k chips in. I figured I would do this with a set or KJ, and he would
fold a medium j or prolly a higher flush draw. Tho even if he called with the flush draw,
I had now turned a pair so i would be ahead. If i check he may bet big with
a missed flush draw on the river, and I wouldnt know where I was. He thought
about it for a while and ended up calling with j10. I had 17 outs , of course
it came a blank. I was happy with the way i played that hand the rest of it.
I was a bit disapointed he called with j10 there, coz my image had been
tight, and I had only showed Aces and barely played that much. If i had a better
jack he was drawing almost dead.

Oh well, i hope it doesnt get much hotter.

Other stuff in vegas

Seinfeld moment, was in the open air carpark at the rio looking for
our friends car. There were 4 of us, wondering around, but
we didnt end up splitting up. I actually needed to go to
the toilet, and I didnt have my public urination pass ! Luckily
we did find the car within 10minutes.

Walking around vegas, you get lots of mexicans handing out
cards for "girls". Interestingly they guarantee the girl to your
room in 20 minutes ? Are these girls just driving / being driven
around in cars waiting for a call ? Surely the petrol costs would
blow the margins. Tho i guess nothing in vegas is really much
further than 20 minutes away, still it takes me 20 minutes
to walk from my room to the next casino along. Perhaps
they are on roller skates, is it like pizza hut, not here in 20minutes
and its free?

Phil hellmuth won bracelet no. 11, I think I can play his style, that
means i should be able to at least win one.

I was listening to my french roomates ipod during the last event.
Its interesting to listen to someone elses taste in music , tho there
was a lot of overlap on my ipod. Except the french music and the
heavier stuff. He did have motivational tracks on there, tho i chose
to skip over them, may be next time ill try and listen to one. Then
he had some hanibal audio book thing, listening to hanibal stories
isnt ideal when someone on ur poker table is tilting you...

2500NL event no x

So i played in the 2500 NL , with expectations of doing well, and feeling
like I was playing well. And frankly I thought I played really good,
not pushing all in or risking my chips, and without really ever backing
down either. I unfortunately got my good
cards in the first hour, where i picked up a few hundred chips, where
they would have been priceless at the end. From my starting stack
I still managed to work it up to near 15k (avg 18k) after the dinner
break, with 250 ppl left of 1000. Then I picked up the worst run
of cards, after folding an AQ preflop to a re-raise. I couldnt event get
a suited connector to try and steal the blinds :( Finally with 160ppl
left I was forced with a8 to go all in, and ak called me, and that was
it ! 1 race , and cya later. I guess i can be happy with the way I
played, but busting out after everyone else around me was getting
lucky and doing crazy things just hurt. Lee Watkinson, said to
Michael Binger, whats a PHD physicist doing wasting their time
playing poker ? The only positive about all this, is Im starting to
think of some of the movie ideas I would want to do.

Internet Sunday !

At least when your in the US, internet poker sunday falls on a sunday,
and not at 2am in the morning. The 2 big tourneys of note were:
FT horse qualifier (1k) for a 52k horse seat and the Sunday Million.
Down to the last 200 in the sunday million AA got cracked by 99,
and I ended up busting out in about 120th when AJs got beaten by
99 :(

Disapointing but not as bad as the horse, down to 4 ! Not all in once,
and chip leader at one stage 4 handed. Played 1 or 2 pots of stud
badly, but still doing good, then lost a race and then ran out of cards
and luck. So painful, nothing for 4th, a 52k swing and perhaps the
most disapointment ive felt after playing an online game.

My view on poker is changing ...

chinatown

In the space of a few days, Ive not only been to a show,
but got in a car and for a drive in vegas, with someone
who is not a taxi drive and didnt go to a casino or shopping
centre. Although it felt like we were driving for a lot longer,
it turns out we pretty much went in a circle due to the highway
set up, and we were pretty much next to the rio still but in
chinatown. Had some vietnamese and bubble tea Went out
with some media guys, apparently poker media covering
is as to playing poker as masturbation is to sex.

$1500 NL event - Saturday

Event 5 for me. The $1500 event, I get off to a good
start after picking up 2-2 on 10-2-10 board against someones
a-10. Up to 5k, drop down to a bit over 4k, when i call the
cut offs raise on the button with 10-8 of hearts. The big
blind calls, and the flop comes 10s-7h-4h. The preflop
raise bets out i come over the top, and after much thought
he pushes all in. I call having covered by a few chips. He
flips over QQ(no hearts). I have 14 outs , and the turn
comes a 9 giving 20 outs, but nothing comes. From 300chips
back to 1500 when i make a move against a guy who has been
limping in late position with junk, this time he has a-10 and
calls, i suck out then he re-sucks out and thats it , adios!

So whats the deal with ...

Friday night went and saw a show in vegas ! Finally after my
3rd visit to vegas i did "something". Tho as Seinfeld pointed
out, ppl like to feel that they are doing something , so they go
out. I wonder tho now thats hes older he has some of the old
man qualities of complaining, tho he always had that, but he
still seems to have the little kid qualities of being excited about
candy etc still. Caesar's coloseum was the venue, which of course
looked like nothing like the coloseum, but still was impressive.
It was handy spending a week in vegas beforehand, so I was in
tune with some of the jokes he was talking about. Of course there
was a quick shot at paris hilton, and he said now she knows what
its like to spend some time in the hilton now, except she doesnt even
have to pay $160 a night. Then there was this commercial on
tv for a viagra like drug, and it said if your erection lasts more
than 4 hours please contact a doctor ! I was thinking the same,
who is going to wait 4 hours before picking up the phone ?

Also are bathrooms in public places made up of the most sound reflective
materials. During a poker tournament, u inevitably spend time
in bathroom stalls next to people seeing their feet under the
dividing wall, making strange unsettlting noises. Ive taken to
keeping my bose headphones on. Thats what bose should be advertising,
who cares about noise cancelling in planes ! Seinfeld said since toilets
were stalls, why didnt they make it like horse stalls, and have the heads
sticking out the top as well .

gold jerry, gold ...

Quick day 2

Well after making it to day 2, I had a small chip stack, and
after pushing all in once early and picking up the blinds,
i bought one more lap of the table. Unfortunately the
blinds went up, and A-3 suited in medium-early position
was good enuff to make a move. Pocket Ks on the button,
strangely enuff decided to move all in as well. And although
the 2nd card of the deck was an Ace, the 3rd card was a king,
allowing for the shortest celebration possible. The board
paired on the turn giving me 2 Aces to hit on the river, which
didnt come. So after cashing for 4k, i then found out i was
taxed 30%, what a kick in the pants! I might be able
to get it back one day, however. I need to consider
getting another nationality passport so i can avoid this
stupidness. Perhaps Tunisia..

Had some drinks after and played some blackjack which
seems to be more profitable.

Today (fridaY), i decided to take the day off, and play some
online cash games (25-50NL), which are tax free. Unfortunately
I was better off sleeping in and lost 10k. I played one
or two hands badly, but other than that I played pretty good.
Lost a 7k pot with Ks to AK, and didnt hit a set etc
and had Qs against set etc.

And lost some money playing Omaha online as well, but
definately on the end of some not so good luck.

Tonight is Seinfeld (stand up show) at Caesars, and tomorrow
is the $1500 NL event , which is a bit of a crapshoot.

On a side note, quite a few poker players seem to have attention
deficit disorder. Is ADD contagious ?

3 strikes and your out !

After my first 3 WSOP events, and no cashes, things were looking
a little bit sketchy, also considering 2 of them were on the expensive
side.

Tho lucky number 4, the 2k NL event ! I have managed to make it
to day 2, unfortunately short stacked on 14k with blinds on 1-2k.
The frustrating thing, being about 20 or 30 spots before the money,
I was cruising along with close to 60k (average less than 40), and although
I had an agressive player on my left, I wasnt getting into much trouble.

Then a key pot arose where I called a raise with KJs from the big blind.
The flop came q-j-9 and I called his smallish bet. The turn Q, went check
check, and on the river a blank, he thought about it and bet about 11k into
a 20k pot. I didnt think he had AQ, and AK was a possibility as was 10s,
I had ruled out a big pocket pair. So in the end i called and he turned over
9-9 for a full house. From there I got re-raised a few times, and ended
the day alive, with 125 left and with a WSOP cash.

Earlier in the day i got to play with hellmuth for a few hours. I managed
to beat him out of a few pots which got him talking, one hand i slow played
AA against him, although I didnt show. He got a bit annoyed as he usually
does, but he shook everyones hands, and now after being short
he has a ton of chips. I wouldnt mind a another match against him, I think I
have him worked out :)

I prolly would have been disapointed with my day if I had just been
on low stack all day, but to get some chips and some momentum, was
encouraging even if I couldnt maintain it. Day 2 kicks off in about 30mins
or so, with the same starting table and a need to push in early!

Rebuys !

Ok today was the rebuy event, $1k a rebuy, and if you wanted
to do all necessary rebuys and addons (double), it would cost
4k. Due to losing a few races AK v QQ and another one, I ended
up spending 6k and ended up on 12k in chips which was ahead
of average after the break.

Daniel Negrenu missed being moved to my table by one, which
was a big disapointment. As most people know, in rebuy tournaments
he spends a lot of money, last year he spent 47k ! This year he
seemed more subdued.

After a good start everything that went wrong post flop seemed
to. Id raise with KQ the blind would call with 8-4, and flop came
Q-8-4. Then id raise with Qs and it would come K high, and
theyd re-raise me all in. Then perhaps i made a mistake when
I pushed with 7s against a guy on 8-4-2 flop, not putting on
an overpair, but he had 2s. Somehow i survived a few races,
and held around 10k, till there were 160 out of 850 ppl left.
Money started at 81, but I needed chips ! With blinds 400-800
my AQ ran into AK and the youngest bracelet winner ended
up knocking me out near 11pm. I guess I was pretty happy
how i played pre-flop, just post-flop wasnt the best :( Anyway
no money, but more encouraging. Tho encouraging pays
shit.

At least Benjo, the French frog came along. We had a few
beers after , got IDd at the paigow table at ballys. Where
they dont accept foreign drivers licences. Had another
beer went and at least managed to pkay some pai gow,
which is similar to chinese poker, but of course the casino
always wins ...

Don't cry for me Argentina !

A quick note: the general vibe sometimes of this blog may seem
negative, after all Im the recipient of so many bad beats !
But like the news theres no news like bad news, so why
not focus on the negatives , unless there are big positives !
Which there are really none, but doesnt mean there arent
any good things going on (like.. tumbleweed blows across the
screen....) Anyway just in case people were feeling sympathetic
to my "plight" after a few bad tournaments, Id like to reassure
everyone thats is all ok ! Tho if you were rushing over to vegas
don't let me stop you !! Lets face it Im in Vegas, and I can pretty
much do what i want when i want. And I can go for swims in
hot(35+) weather [ahead of europe and australia] and in
a non crocodile infested body of water [ahead of south america
and africa !]

So to allay your fears , im ok , drink some beers :)

I walked past shannon elizabeth again today, she still hasnt forgiven me
for the Melbourne incident, that or she doesnt remember me, take
your pick !

Limiting the damage , event 6 !

So in a bid to limit my early bad run in tournaments, I thought
Id be able to minimise the damage by playing event 6, the $1500
limit tournament. After all in limit you cant really lose all your
chips in the first hand ! Id have to be able to get a few hours of
good tournament play in.

I get off to a steady start, tho after making a couple of marginal
calls, and having someone turn a gutshot straight against my top
pair my chips start to slip below par. Then a key pot develops
against a shorter stack. I have q10 suited in the small blind,
against the aggressive short stack's raise. I call and the big
blind calls. The flop comes k-10-3, i bet , the bb fold and the
preflop raiser raises. The turn comes a Q. Im confident that
he didnt have a King on the flop, or much of it all , I bet and
he goes all in for his last few chips. He flips over j-9 and im in
trouble ! No river house, and im in big trouble. I manage
to push someone out of a pot with Js on an Ace high board,
to steal a couple of chips. Then 2 hands later I have Ks,
I 3 bet it and the guy to my left 4 bets it. I know he doesnt
have aces so im feeling good. Tho the flop comes Q high all
spades, i check call down worried that he has QQ, and
sure enuff he has 3 Qs :( Great read but not much you can do, with
Kings there. Few hands later its all over, and my 2nd wsop event is in the bin.

I play the FT 1K tourney and stars tourneys, more bad beats,
and by 8pm there is no more poker to play. Luckily i managed
to fit a swim in the middle of the day, so it wasnt a total loss !

Tomorrow $1k rebuy event ?! After a week , I hope something
turns around soon. 6 weeks of this could be testing.

Alternative ways to make money, play chinese poker, blackjack,
keno or golf course hustling !

Tomorrow my Frenchy friend comes over to stay, he should at
least provide some comedy.

Daniel Negreanu is laying the odds of 5 to 1 that he will win a
WSOP event this year. He is playing quite a few events, but those
are very juicy odds.

Paris

Yep you can walk a 100m in vegas and end up in a new
city, or at least a new hotel. Due to not being organised I
have to spend one night in Paris (the hotel), which comes
along with a mini-eiffel tower (50% replica) and fake sky.

Think about getting a crepe, its an hour long line to get
a frigging crepe. Americans can be annoying sometimes but
ill give them the fact their perseverant. Funny that a french
style casino would be popular in the US tho, didnt they rename
french fries to freedom fries due to their contempt for the french.
I guess vegas is truly a level playing field , if your hotel has bright
lights , slot machines, we the people wont discrimate, that or the
US are hyporictical, noooo that couldnt be.

So i play the big sunday online tourneys, come out slighlty down,
but feel an onset of poker form. The final hand of the full tilt
tourney was goofy. I raise with a9s (to 3600 leaving 33k left),
guy calls on the button. Flop comes 3-6-9 (rainbow) I check
feeling he would come over the top with a lot of hands here,
if i led out and bet and willing to let a free card come and play the pot small.
So he just pushes all in 38k , im worried about 10s here but i figure
hes got a 9 or a str8t draw or something??? I call, he has KK,
hmm that was a bit stoopid.

Tomorrow is the limit tourney, im pretty keen to start playing
some wsop events, i think i have this poker thing a bit more
sussed. 2 rules to "THINK" about whilst playing

1 - put your opponent on a hand or range of hands
2 - give your opponent a decision ?!
(ala rounders -" the key to NL holdem is to put your opponent
to a decision for all their chips, give or take a few" )

Sometimes I should think more, anyway, ive decided im smarter
than these ppl therefore i should be winning !
(work in progress, being smarter and the winning)

I may step outside for a swim, ring up the concierge
doh its 8pm and the pool closes, cmon
its 35 degrees outside perfect for an evening swim, ah well fk it
ill fill up the tub with water and go for a swim in there. Safer for
a black person anyway ..

aurevoir

WSOP downtime Hotel uptime

So i travel half-way around the world and decide that I cant
be bothered lining up with these crazy americans and
conclude I am better off playing poker in my room than
play at the Rio. Then i remember the bellagio are
running tournaments, so I ring them up and ask when and
what time their tournaments are on ? The lady on the phone
kindly tells me they wont be starting for a week or so. Grayte,
so i head down there anyway to get lunch, and guess what,
theres a $1000 tournament on now ! Incompetence is a growing
disease, at least say "you" are not sure instead of giving a definitive
answer that is 100% incorrect. Luckily I can still register for
the $1,000 tournament. The bellagio poker staff are all top
notch, and the food as usual is fantastic. What is great is that
in my 15 minutes break i can get BBQ duck and poker rice, go
to the toilet and still have time to spare.

So far my strategy of eating and playing hasnt quite worked out
as planned. Recommendation , dont order buffalo wings and pizza
while playing a WSOP event, you just dont have enuff sourviettes
to not make a mess. But the main reason why I did this the day
before , was because Gus Hansen was in the line ahead of me, and
he ordered the same thing. So if its good enuff for gus its good enuff
for moi. Anyway the bellagio food is neat and easy to eat.

So im doing pretty decent, even after AA gets cracked by the village
idiots A6. Then i decide to raise to 600. with j-10. I had about
6k b4 the start of the hand. But wait the dealer who was on speed,
yelled all in b4 so loudly i blocked it out. Turns out under the gun
went all in for 2100. woops, now im getting 2 to 1 to call . So
I decide to call. Everyone folds to the small blind who pushes
all in. I figure he has a monster and fold , so stupid my me to get
myself in the spot. He has AA, phew, but the flop is 10-4-10, woops.
Then my chips yo-yo around till i get busted out.

I go back to the hotel watch a few more movies, so far have watched,
ghost rider (yawn), stomp the yard (some amazing dancing) and blades
of glory ( will ferrell makes me laugh , so stupid but funny)

Event 1

The mixed $5K NL / Limit event. Harrahs organistion was
once again complete shambles, what were they doing in their
year off preparing this event ? Who knows ? Apart from
all the lines to register, they brought in new playing cards,
that were impossible to read. Especially 6s and 9s.

All around me people were misreading the board, luckily
I didnt make that mistake. Mainly coz my cards were so
crap and i couldnt really get anything going. During the limit
levels the one where i was worried most about, I didnt
lose many chips to the very last hand where i had Qs against
AK and lost most of my remaining chips. Rest of the NL
section consisted of me raising missing flops betting sometimes
and getting raised out of it post flop. With the best hand
being 99 followed by 55 no ak or aq in 5 hours of poker.

One interesting hand was where i limped on the button with
56 clubs. The pot was 5 handed. Lee Markholt on my right
bet 350 into 750 pot, i made it a 1000 on 10c 7c 6d. The
turn came a blank. At this point i wasnt a 100% sure whether
he had 8-9 or just some other draw. I checked and the river
came an Ace which i perhaps could have bluffed. He turned
over 10-8 and perhaps I shoulda bet one of the streets.
Tho i had 14 outs against his hand which i would have bet
if i improved.

Anyway Barry greenstein rocked up 4 hours late, then
proceeded to finish the day in a strong position, perhaps
I should adopt that strategy as well.

Queues

Like any good theme park, and lets face it vegas is just another
theme park, but aimed primarily at the pudgy 40 year old american
white male, there will be queues.

First queue for the day, "the bank". Not really that exciting but
when u have to take out 20k to pay for upcoming tournaments,
some strange feeling always hits you. 20k is a lot of money!
So its important not to flick through the bills and get too attached
with it and re-enact the scene from indecent proposal lying on the
bed rolling around in money, coz the money comes in and goes
straight out. At least the taxi driver waited for me at the bank,
and didtn even keep the meter running, i gave him a good tip at least.
I am actually in favour of the tipping system , customer service seems
pretty good in Vegas, and may be they are friendly people, but people
try.

2nd queue "WSOP registration" - Unfortunately incompetence is
never that far away when Harrahs are in charge. The room for the
tournament is not ready despite being 1 day to go, which also means
that the usual registration desk is not ready. To their credit the room
actually looks pretty good this year. However the line up to register
although not that long, took some 2 hours. The guy ahead of me lined
up for 2.5 hours only to find that they wouldnt give him the seat unless
he was paying for it, he actually had already paid but that was bad luck.
Some guy discovered a new "bubble" the printer bubble. That is
when its you turn to pick up the ticket, the printer conveniently dies.
Unfortunately it is the only printer that can print these special tickets,
and it requires 2 tech guys. The good news is that we are told that
it is a "priority 1" problem. Tho no one can be too sure if priority one
is the highest or lowest rating. Finally get my ticket, table 72 seat 6 !
I saw Allen Cunningham join the queue as i was at the front, for someone
who had about 4-5 million in winnings last year, you thing Full Tilt the
sponsors would sort out this sh*t for him, but hey he seems like a nice
guy, not wanting superstar attention.

Queue 3 - Hotel accomodation - I was suppose to get the players rates
for the hotel anyway after an hour of being sent from one desk to another
I finally managed to get this one sorted out.

Queue 4 - Yep there was a line up for "noodles" - my regular eating
spot at the Bellagio, but the upside of eating for one is you jump the
queue pretty quickly !

Queue 5 - Luckily this was a quick one, took me a few minutes to
get onto an online game, where i could lose my money on limit holdem.
Tho i feel i have a strategy for the limit section of tomorrows tourney,
dont play it. I did play some no limit, which at least i won a nice pot
b4 bed.

NL hand - question is did i bet too small on the end ? prolly coulda
pushed all in. In my favour there was a hand before where i bet
the flop and turn against this guy , and I had nothing

rkruok [$2,825]
VodooWizar [$10,105]

Dealt to rkruok [9d Td]
bluepitcole: folds
rkruok: raises $100 to $150
VoodooWizard: calls $150
Grimstarr: folds
IfIHadItAll: folds
*** FLOP *** [7c Tc Th]
rkruok: bets $250
VoodooWizard: calls $250
*** TURN *** [7c Tc Th] [Qs]
rkruok: bets $500
VoodooWizard: calls $500
*** RIVER *** [7c Tc Th Qs] [4d]
rkruok: bets $1100
VoodooWizard: calls $1100
*** SHOW DOWN ***
rkruok: shows [9d Td] (three of a kind)

VoodooWizard: folds [KcQd]

good end to a rather strange day !