Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - Scott Ian
It’s September and summer is “officially” over, the kids (if I had kids) are back at school and we’re on a fast train to Xmas, with one really nice stop on the way…Aruba.
I can’t believe it’s that time of year already. Twenty-five days until I’m in Aruba for UB’s tourney of tourneys. This is the big one my friends and it’s not to be missed.
This is going to be my third time in Aruba and I am looking forward to this trip even more than the previous two. It definitely doesn’t get old. It’s the one place I can play poker and relax at the same time. The poker environment in Aruba is as intense as anywhere but it’s much more kickback at the same time. I can only guess it’s the sea, the sun, the air, and the DRINKS! Can I get a bucket of Balashi’s over here right now?? If this is going to be your first time to Aruba, Balashi is the local beer and it’s good. There’s my tip of the week.
My first trip to Aruba was in 2007. I won my seat after winning the VH1 Rock & Roll Poker Tourney. I had just started playing poker seriously at the time and I have to admit I was really intimidated about Aruba. I had no idea what it was going to be like. It was also going to be my first big live tourney!! I was going there without knowing anyone except Phil Hellmuth Jr who I had met for five minutes. My fiancé Pearl and I got there and were immediately welcomed by Jo Priam and all of the UB pro’s, management and staff into the family. It’s that kind of atmosphere. UB really goes out of its way to make everyone feel like a part of the team in Aruba. You’ll see. There’s a reason for such strong brand loyalty and it all stems from how cool everyone that works for UB is. This may sound kiss-assy but it’s true. The hospitality provided for all is five-star.
We became fast friends with Phil and Debo and Poker Ho and Shawn Rice and Annie and her man Joe and Hollywood Dave and Wisco and Jim “Krazy Kanuck” Worth and Robert Williamson III etc etc. I got to play a lot of poker and even got some lessons from these masters while having a blast every night. It was a great way to go to poker school.
My first big tourney started OK and about half way through level three I ended up getting all my money in post flop with a set of J’s on a Q high board. Poker Ho was standing across the table from me and saw me shove and gave me a “You got the nuts?” kind of look. I raised my brows back at him thinking I was about to double up when the caller turned over his pair of Q’s and I was done. Oops. My first tourney and I’m out set over set. I wasn’t bummed at all; at that point in my poker career there was no way I could’ve folded. These days my Spider-Sense would’ve been going off like a fire alarm and I’d make an amazing lay down. At least in my dreams that’s what happens.
So I bust out on day one and I’ve got a week in paradise. That’s what’s great about Aruba. And, there’s so much poker going on non-stop that you’ll never be looking for a game. Last year I was heading to Aruba a different poker player. UB had signed me and I’d had a year of lessons and tourneys and thousands of hands played. I also knew everyone going in so it was basically going to be a poker vacation with my friends. Once again the whole operation was first class. I have to mention Matt Savage and his crew as well because he is a huge part of making this a great event. Matt’s tournament philosophy is to give the players great value for their money and this structure provides that.
I made it to day three last year and was grinding towards the bubble. I was short stacked about twenty-five from the money when I shoved UTG with KK. The BB talked and talked for three minutes and he finally calls with AJ. I was hoping to take the blinds and antes and keep grinding but a double up would’ve gotten me past the bubble for sure.
He flops and A and the turn and river show me no love at all and I am out. I couldn’t believe it. I had never made it to a day three before and I just couldn’t accept that I was done after all that work. I was going to win it; I couldn’t be out. I got up quickly and headed out of the room. I dimly remember Debo saying something to me from his table as I descended into a darkness that I was not familiar with. The walk back to my room took five minutes and by the time I got there I didn’t know what to do with myself. Pearl was in the room and she asked me what happened and I couldn’t even speak. I was sitting there with my head in my hands in disbelief that someone pulled the emergency brake and my tourney was over. Pearl told me she’d be down by the pool and to come meet her and the rest of our friends down there when I was ready. She’d also never seen me like this and decided it was probably best to get out of the way. It was the weirdest feeling, my sane brain was saying “dude, calm down it’s just a game and you’ll get’em next time” and my insane poker brain was saying “SCOTT SMASH AJ, SCOTT DESTROY YOU AAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Interesting conversation my brain was having with itself. After a half an hour of trying to calm down crazy Scott-Hulk I got off my sorry ass and found Pearl at the pool. I grabbed a lounge chair, set it down in the shallow end of the pool, was handed a GIANT Pina Colada by Victor Bigio and I let Aruba wash the insanity away. And it did! Twenty minutes later my anger had melted away and it was all fun the rest of the trip. That’s Aruba.
Year three coming up, see you there my friends.
Cheers,
Scott
Tags: Annie Duke, Aruba, Debo, Hollywood Dave, Jo Priam, Krazy Kanuck, Matt Savage, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Play Poker, Robert Williamson III, ShawnRice, ub, Wisco
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Saturday, September 5, 2009 - Brandon Cantu
I touched on my recent online play in my previous blog. The last week, I was able to fit in some play online at UltimateBet.com. However, I spent the majority of my week by going back home and catching up with old friends. This week marks my 10 Year high school class reunion. It is also the weekend of my annual high school 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Although I do make it a point to go back home and hangout with my good friends who still live there, this week will be filled with many old friends who have moved to other states, other countries and rarely get a chance to hangout and go out with.
Monday: I headed from Las Vegas to Oregon, catching a flight and anxious to get back and see everyone. I will be staying with my good friend, Tony Eggertson throughout the week. Tony and I have been friends forever and we stay at each other’s place whenever we come in and out of town.
Tuesday: I got up decently early and went shopping most of the day, had lunch as Tony and I met up with our friend, Jake. At around 7:00 pm, we all headed out to dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. After dining and chatting about who was going to be coming to town over some drinks, we headed to a local home game and played some friendly poker. 5 AM came fast, us guys headed to a breakfast spot and then headed home.
Wednesday: With the previous last night/early morning, we ended up sleeping till about 2 PM. I wanted to make sure I spent some quality time with my grandparents, so I headed over to meet with my Grandpa and met him at his local hangout, Jolly’s. My Grandfather introduced me to cards and instilled a bit of gamble in me at an early age. I have discussed this in past interviews and/or articles – Grandpa introduced poker to me and we continue to play games and gamble a little bit when we get together. At Jolly’s, I proceeded to drop about a $500.00 dollar loss in pull-tabs. I just could not hit anything. Grandpa couldn’t either. It was fun though spending time with him. After, I went back to Tony’s and played online for a while on UltimateBet.com. Later that evening, we headed over to Chevy’s for a light dinner and some margaritas. Since the guys and I had a pretty late night the previous day, we decided to get back early, stay in, hit the couch, watch Braveheart and sip on a few drinks.
Thursday: We woke up and relaxed throughout the day. We got the social bug around late afternoon and we decided we needed to head out. Tony and I met up with some friends from High School at a restaurant called Oba’s, which is one of the better restaurants in Portland. We ordered their staple entree – Prime Rib. After a solid dinner, we moved along to a bar/lounge called Departure. It was a perfect night and elected to go outside and drink, relax and tell stories about the old days. We were starting to get text messages about more and more people starting to get into town for the reunion.
Friday: One of the biggest days of the year for me and one of the best as well – the annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament. My team consisted of my friends Sean, Kevin and myself. I felt we had one of the best chances to win this tournament. 6 teams, 18 total players. Last year, and as we continue to get older and older, we had some injuries (broken arm in one instance) and I hoped our team would withstand all adversity, go without the need of a substitute or be forced to play shorthanded. Format is to play to 30 points each game with 6 total games to the finals. Due to some weather issues, we were forced to consider some potential changes but everything worked out fine. After battling through the field, my team came away with the championship and the trophy. This next year, I will be able to let everyone know who the champion is and rub it in their faces. I love this tournament! Looking back over the tournament field, it is truly amazing to see everyone who was able to make it. We had friends fly in from New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Virginia, Wyoming to name a few states as well as from as far as Columbia and Taiwan. Great group of friends, so nice to see them. That night we hit the town hard with all the boys. We made the rounds throughout the bars and ended up at one of the larger clubs. The night couldn’t be finished without crushing some Taco Bell at 4 am.
Saturday: I tried to sleep in as late as I possibly could as today is the official 10 Year High School Reunion. Before everyone met up over at Tony’s to have a drink or two and wait for our entire group, I moved in slow-motion, recovery mode. Once we had our collective group of Tony, Jake, Will, Dave and the rest, we headed over to Edgefield where our reunion was taking place at a resort (old workers camp reconstructed into a resort) – hotel, conference rooms, bars, restaurants, etc. Seeing everyone from high school is an experience, which I am sure many can relate to. It was a great time and after getting all the guys to fly in from around the world for the basketball tournament and then this, I knew the night could get out of hand. I was having an amazing week. Typical of our group of guys, we had decided to throw an after party at the resort. We rented out an entire floor with about 10 rooms, bought beer, wine, liquor, had some food brought it and partied until the early morning.
Sunday: On very little sleep, some of the guys and I met up for breakfast. It would be some time before I see a few of them again, so we chatted about the week and nights and replayed the stories and laughed and laughed. After some goodbyes, the remaining headed back over to Tony’s, where we watched some movies and just had a lazy day.
Looking back over the last week and taking in the events, I can say it was an amazing week. I am fortunate to have a great group of friends, some of which I get to see quite frequently. Others, not so much. Therefore, continuing the tradition of our 3-on-3 tournament is a great event for us. The reunion was interesting, of course, but it was essentially a continuation of the basketball tournament and the party continued to go day and night. Also, I was able to fit in a few playing sessions online on UltimateBet.com, jump into a home game for fun and try to get some work in between all the dinners, drinks and catching up with old friends. I am now back in Vegas gearing up for a few weeks on the road. I have London, Amsterdam, UltimateBet’s Aruba tournament all coming up in September and October.
Good luck to everyone who is playing on the road. I hope to see you in Aruba. Travel safe.
Brandon Cantu
Tags: Amsterdam, Aruba, las vegas, London, New York, Online Poker, Play Poker, San Francisco, Seattle, Ultimabet, Virginia, Wyoming
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Saturday, September 5, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth
A few years ago I was playing in the Bicycle Club’s Legends of Poker $300 buy-in (with multiple re-buys) no limit hold’em event. Things were going along just fine and I was feeling pretty confident. I had just finished second to Daniel Negreanu in the $1,000 buy-in seven-card stud event and I was starting this day with a big stack of chips. To top it off, I really liked the lineup at my table. I knew what the players were doing. There were even a couple of traditionally wild players who I thought, with patience, I good chance of busting. With the blinds at $50-$100, I made it $300 to go with A-A in first position (I hate limping with aces in early position!). Jack Fox, who I normally think of as a semi-wild player, was really toned down and playing strong poker when he called my $300 bet. (Not that I think Jack’s semi-wild style is bad, it is just a dangerous way to play the game!) After Jack called the $300 raise, one of the truly wild players decided to just call my raise with 7-7 in the small blind. This was totally unexpected and out of character for this player! I had seen him re-raise with pairs all day long. I even planned on busting him while he was making one of these moves! When it was his turn to act, I could see he was contemplating making a re-raise, but for some reason he merely called the $300 bet pre-flop. If he had re-raised me pre-flop, I would have busted him. I felt like that what was supposed to happen! Anyway, the flop came down Q-Q-J and the Wild One checked. Now I quickly checked for two reasons. First I had a bad feeling that Jack had a queen and, second, I wanted to try to trap Jack and the Wild One. So much for the best-laid plans of mice and men! Jack checked behind me and the next card off was a 10, making Jack a full house! Now Wild One and I checked and Jack bet out $900. Wild One folded and I quickly called. I was a little concerned but I had seen Jack bluff a lot in the past few years. The last card was a 2, and I checked again and watched Jack moved all-in for about $1700. Now I said to myself, “Hmmm…what could he have? He could have a busted flush draw, and now he’s trying to bluff me. He could have just overplayed a pair of jacks like J-K or J-A. It’s Jack Fox, and maybe he just has 5d-6d or something similar and he’s just trying to outplay me.” I have seen him do some pretty crazy things! I actually thought that he might have 8d-9d or some crazy straight like that! But I set this hand up for him to bluff me by checking aces to him three times, so I better carry through on my plan and call him down.” So I called and left myself with only $700 in chips.
I played my last $700 really hard, but I couldn’t overcome losing all of those chips with the aces. Right after I called Jack, he said, “What a bad call you made against me on the end!” Well, I certainly don’t mind my call against Jack in this hand, which he played perfectly. He didn’t re-raise me before the flop or bet on the flop (if he bets the flop, then I would have probably raised him and won this pot!) I guess I need to re-examine my opinion on Jack being a semi-wild player! The question I’ve asked myself since though is, “Did I misplay this hand?” Upon further reflection, I believe that the answer is yes, I did misplay this hand. Why didn’t I just bet the flop? There was $1,000 sitting out there and Jack would have folded and maybe Wild One would have moved in on me! Perhaps I would have doubled up instead of going nearly broke! Why check the flop and let a straight card come out there for free? Why risk $2650 after the 10 came off? I think that I was also a little bit unlucky that Wild One didn’t re-raise me before the flop, but perhaps I gave something away about the strength of my hand. There are times that I play hands to trap people and sometimes it pays off, and sometimes it doesn’t. Anyway, Jack Fox went on to win the tournament, and Eric Holum finished second! It must have been a nice ride home for Jack and Eric Holum, who drove down from Reno just for this one event. With about $75,000 in winnings sitting between them in the car, right next to those first and second place trophies, I’m sure they thought the trip was worth it!
Tags: Daniel Negreanu, Eric Holum, Jack Fox, Legends of Poker, Phil Hellmuth, Play Poker, Poker Tips
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Thursday, September 3, 2009 - Bryan Devonshire
So turns out Newton or Galileo or whoever way smarter than I said, “Objects at rest stay at rest, objects in motion stay in motion,” was on to something. Today is day 43 that I’ve been away from home on this Great Ride of a motorcycle trip, and for the last seventeen of them the I’ve remained in Cornelius, NC. A bit lazy I admit. But I’ve finally rustled up the motivation to get going again, I’m headed down to Myrtle Beach, SC today, then around the Florida peninsula to Key West, back along the Gulf Coast all the way to Dallas, north to Colorado, and back to Vegas.
I’ve played a lot of poker in the last couple of weeks. I was super disappointed in my result in LA, yet looking back I really don’t see anything I should have done differently. The rest of the last week has been much the same, I feel like I’m playing really well yet running quite poorly. Last night six of us shot a video for PokerVT. Daniel Negreanu, Jon Ettinger, Jon Turner, Josh Norris, and Jason Summerville and I played a 1-2 NLHE 6max game for 2 hours while all independently filming live while talking our way through the hands. I think that it’s going to end up coming out really well. I lost about $200, only playing one big pot where I got all the money in pre with AA v. Daniel’s QQ and he played the flop way better than I flopping a queen.
Also last night I was playing 10-20 Stud8 on Ultimate Bet for a while and busted this guy with a short stack. He had $38 to start the hand, we were five handed, a 6 brought it in, he was showing an ace and completed to $10, and I was next with (K2)K. Normally a very crappy situation in stud8, cause they either have split aces, three to a low, or are on a steal due to the weak board between him and the bring-in. Anyways, since he only had $38 it wasn’t much of a decision, get it in. I do, he actually has split aces, but I play fifth street good and made kings and deuces, he never improved. That launched the most amazing rant ever against me. I had no respect, ruined the game, ruined online poker, etc, because it was obvious that he had aces. He wanted me to apologize, still not sure what for, and the “sad part” was that I “STILL THINK [I] WON”. He said it like a zillion times. I actually gave him a logical response first, saying that it wasn’t much of a decision since he only had two big bets, then I somewhat sarcastically talked about my two pair beat his one pair, but much like a crazy emotional woman logic was lost this dude, so all I could do was encourage him. Tell me more? Yeah? How so? It was amazing, honestly the best berating I have ever been given. He never did reload sadly.
Because of so much poker this week I haven’t done anything too exciting. Got home on Thursday, lazy on Friday, Lake on Saturday, poker on Sunday, played a couple hours in a worse than expected home game Monday afternoon then played online Monday night, and then Tuesday I played tennis with Court, got beat twenty-four games in a row, but had fun lol. I was about as good as possible with that record, and even made it to advantage me once. Came home, played online, slept, laundry now, and ready to go. People wonder why I don’t like playing online. It sucks the life out of you that’s why. So I’m ready to get back on the road, but since it is the WCOOP coming up and I do still do this for a living I’ll probably be stopping a bit early along the way and playing donkaments.
Less poker, more life imo. I’m off to do just that.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Tags: Daniel Negreanu, Jason Summerville, Jon Ettinger, Jon Turner, Josh Norris, Online Poker, Play Poker, Poker Poker Poker, Poker VT, Ultimate Bet, WCOOP
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Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - CMO
Ultimate Bet now offers a low $10 first time deposit, which we will match by 111% with the deposit code UBBLOG111.
I’m excited to be able to relay this HUGE news to the Ultimate Bet community. For the first time ever, we’ve lowered our first time minimum deposit amount to a measly $10! What does this mean? If you’ve never before enjoyed online poker with Ultimate Bet, or you’re currently using your UB account for play money games, you’ve just been given an incredible incentive to sign up and start playing real money online poker! The previous first time deposit minimum of $50 was already considered low, and now you can start playing for %20 of that. There is no easier or more affordable way to start building your poker empire than by depositing 10 BUCKS with Ultimate Bet. As well, when make your first deposit, we’ll match it by 111% (up to $1100) in bonus dollars. To take advantage of this great offer, simply enter first time deposit bonus code UBBLOG111.
See you at the tables!
CMO
Tags: $10 minimum deposit, bonus code, first time deposit, first time deposit bonus code, first time deposit minimum, low deposit minimum, Play Poker, real money poker games
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Sunday, December 28, 2008 - P0ker H0
Around the Holidays each year, Phil comes back to his hometown of Madison, WI. His family still lives here so he frequently visits. After all the Holiday stuff is done, He rounds up all the old guys and we get a game going. Most of the time we hold it at a good friend of Phil’s, Jon Green’s house, but due to the fact one of the players in this years game owns 2 of the nicest strip clubs in Wisconsin, we are going to move it there instead:) I mean if playing with Phil isnt enough, we get to have strippers massaging and bartending for us.
The game is 5-5 pot limit holdem and what a game it is. The players range from 27 to 70, and great to inexperienced. Im not kidding when I say you could write a movie about everysingle person in this game. Some would be more interesting than others, but Ebert and Ropert would give at least 2 thumbs up for anyone. From “Jimmy Pizza” to “Jimmy Duece”. From “Bald Headed Gary” to Concrete Larry”. From “Ladies and Gentlemen Mr. Jon Green” to “Ladies and Gentlemen the Great P0ker H0″, the list goes on and on. Wayne “Tilly” Tyler, Tim Belstner, Paul Clements are a few others to name. These people have been playing in this home game since Phil won his first bracelet. The youngest player that plays in our game is Mike “Wisco” Murray. He has really come along way since I have met him, and im proud to say he definitely deserves to play in this game.
Every year there is a hand that is unforgettable, and im sure this year will be no different. To prove to you im not lying, read this hand from last year.
In this game it is typical to straddle and in this hand it was straddled 3 times. Phil is first to act and bumps it up large. it fold around to the button. We will refer to the Button player as “SpaMan”. SpaMan reraises and Phil calls. Its only these 2 in the hand and the pot has around 900 in it before the flop comes out. 962 FLOP. BAMMMMMM!!! Spaman flips over his hand. he has J9. but wait? you are asking why he flipped over his hand on the flop? Well in this game it is common for people to try and outplay phil just to say they did it. Anyway, Phil bets the pot knowing this guy has top pair. Spaman thinks and calls. now there is 3kish in the pot and now the board is 962K. Phil checks, and spaman bets out 2600. Phil reraises 4kish, and this is where the fun begins. Spaman really thinks he has the best hand and is talking trash to phil the whole time telling him hes gonna beat him in a hand with his cards exposed. Well, Spaman calls the turn bet. WOW. Now there is 10k plus in the pot. the river comes an absolute blank. I believe it was 962K3. Phil leads out for 8kish and Spaman folds? Phil shows a complete bluff and the place goes nuts.
So many things are crazy about this hand. If Spaman thought he was good on the turn, why not think hes good on the river. Whats amazing on phils end is he knows this guy has 2nd pair and bad kicker, and because he check raised the turn, he could have a king. Phil basically found a way to represent the only card that Spaman would be afraid of. But than you can go back to if he thought he was good on turn, why not river. Its a crazy hand, and was a 17kish pot on a complete bluff if a 5-5 pl holdem game. Just crazy. Phil was just hoping Spaman couldnt possibly think he was bluffing if he could see his cards, and Spaman was thinking this is what phil was thinking. Called him down on every street, and folded the river? It made no sense, but was one of the craziest hands ive seen.
I will try to find a better hand this year, but it will be tough:)
Happy Holidays Everyone
P0ker H0
Tags: Hand of the Year, happy holidays, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Play Poker, Poker Strategy
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