Saturday, October 31, 2009 - Debo34
I say that because at the moment I’m writing this it is 28 degrees outside my front door. Fall is turning to winter in a hurry around here. We have already had snow twice this year. We got 8 inches in a day while I was away in Aruba. Last year the snowfall came 5 or 6 weeks late and it really hurt the economy in my area. The central Oregon area is dependent on tourism because of the local ski resort. When there isn’t good snow, all the local businesses suffer, especially the hotels and restaurants. So although it seems very cold at the moment, it’s actually a very good sign. I can’t wait for there to be enough to get my snowmobile out again.
So what’s in store for me in the late fall/ early winter? The ducks have 3 more home games. This week is a big one. The 5th ranked USC Trojans are in town the face off with the 10th ranked Oregon Ducks. It should be crazy game since it is a night game on Halloween. Besides that I plan on getting back into playing a ton of poker. The winter months have always treated me well playing online. I think It’s because I totally engross myself in it, and have the least amount of distractions during this part of the year. I know something that has been hurting my game as of late is not maintaining a schedule. I plan on getting back on a set schedule and sticking to it. I am going to try to get to 1 more live event before the year is up and I am leaning towards the circuit events in Tahoe.
Other than that not much is going on with me. I am fully recovered from the wonderful Aruba trip and glad to be back home. Bring on the snow!
Debo
Tags: Aruba, halloween, Poker Poker Poker
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Thursday, September 17, 2009 - Bryan Devonshire
I cannot believe how much it has rained in the south. They tell me that it’s not normal, but ever since I arrived in Charlotte back on day 25 it’s rained waaaaaay more than it hasn’t.
Florida was one big long series of thundershowers, which I can understand: tropical climate, this time of year, etc. But damnit, Saturday morning at 2am I was passed out in my tent, comfortably naked in my sleeping bag, and it started raining. I was prepared enough to have the fly ready to go since it was still Florida and likely to rain at any time, but I still had to run around naked waterproofing my stuff. I really hope somebody was watching because it had to be hilarious. Semi-out of shape white dude with really tan arms, legs, and face scrambling around a tent naked in the rain trying to set up a fly and stash gear underneath it in record time. I did pretty well though, and actually enjoyed camping in the rain, until the next morning when it was time to wake up (because I couldn’t sleep anymore) and my boots got left out. I packed in the rain, a party came in as I was leaving at 9am, and they said there was no rain the whole way down (from Georgia) until they hit Panama City.
Fine, I’m about 4 hours from New Orleans, hopefully as I head that way the rain will lapse. It didn’t. In fact, after Pensacola, it just got worse. So bad that by the time I was on the east side of Mobile Bay I couldn’t take it anymore and had to quit. I parked in downtown Mobile, found me a Holiday Inn, checked in, and took apart everything I had because it was soaked. The poor maid must have been like, wtf, how is there sand and pine needles in the bathroom?
I played the HORSEament online, took 50th/1000 or so, annoying after a 48th in the 8-game, same field earlier in the week, both in which I had huge stacks and ran terribad at the end. I went out in downtown Mobile, had a great time, and experienced my second encounter with “membership” bars in my life. The first came in Utah one summer when I broke down on my way to guide a river trip in Cali; apparently to drink at a bar you have to be a member. Odd. In Mobile it’s that way for many of them after 2am, all I had to do was fill out some card and I was in the club. Dumb legislation.
Was gonna leave Sunday morning, get to New Orleans, then play online. Nope. Up too late the night before. The group of peeps that I met the night before invited me to go sailing, I’m like it’s supposed to rain, they didn’t care, I was insanely tempted to go since I miss sailing a ton (I dabbled with the USC sailing team in college, declining a spot on the roster to work with Jr. High kids at a church instead). But since it’s the middle of the WCOOPs I decided I needed to work, and it looked like a good decision when I ran the entire day with a top 100 stack in the WCOOP $1k. I made it to day 2 slightly below average after losing QQ to 99 on a Q9x flop for a huge stack. I swear I’m cursed at poker; I’ve run significantly below expectation in key deep spots lifetime, and I believe that our lives are too short to truly ever reach the long term. I mean, how often will I get it in set over set deep in the money in a $3m guarantee tourney? I can think of one time this year. I lost.
Whatever, I can’t complain, I did finish 2nd in my first ever WSOP event, this game is just brutal sometimes. However I may be cursed at poker I more than make up for in life. So Monday morning I had the same plan, get to New Orleans, and I woke up to sideways rain on the window. Nope, staying in Mobile another night. I ran errands after the rain broke, got all fired up to play online, and lasted 4 hands. Four. I open AQ, an 18 bb stack shoves, I call, lose to 99. 3 hands later in my SB it folds to me, I have 15bb’s, jam 44, lose to QQ in the big. So frustrating.
I chilled out that night, hanging at the local pizza and beer place I found Saturday night, talking with a gay dude named Dick about fly fishing in the Gulf. There’s a neat vibe in Mobile that I thoroughly enjoyed, and it marked the third city that I spent more than 2 nights in.
Tuesday I woke up eager to get going, and it was still pouring rain. My gear had dried out enough that I said, eff it, I’m going, wrapped trash bags around everything, and after about an hour of packing and prep, literally 3 minutes before I left as I was bungee cording my bags to the bike, the clouds broke and it was clear skies all the way to New Orleans. I still wore my rain pants cause there was enough water on the ground, and did drive through one thunderstorm but it was short enough that I didn’t even bother stopping to put on my jacket. Sigh.
Got to New Orleans, checked in at the Frenchman Hotel, waked down Bourbon street, wasn’t really impressed, actually walked back to play the $1k online, busted and lost playing cash games, walked back to Bourbon street, started drinking, still wasn’t impressed, walked back to the locals neighborhood where I was at, enjoyed this bar called Molly’s cause there were people there that I could talk to, and then went to sleep.
The most consistently enjoyable part of this trip for me has been meeting people along the way. I’ve encountered so many interesting people and enjoyed so many awesome person’s company that I’ve had a wonderful time traveling over 8500 miles of this continent in the past 56 days. Thank you everybody for being good people.
Woke up to blue skies with one thunderhead to the east, no prob, packed up, left, and began hauling ass. I wanted to get as close to Dallas as possible and knew that I had a legit shot at getting all the way there. I hit rain south of Shreveport, stopped to put on the rain gear, and after the thunderstorm when I stopped for gas I was expecting to take it off. It looked like there may be another cell ahead, so I kept the gear on. Sadly I wouldn’t take the gear off for the rest of the way, over 250 miles of constant rain, and once again all of my gear is soaked. I kept thinking that the rain would break and I could de-gear, I never needed to stop to put trash bags over my luggage… and I was wrong. Damn you one thousand miles of gulf coast and your lack of hurricane raininess. Y’all say this is abnormal, I want to know where the hurricane is so at least I could say I rode through that. Nope. I just rode through the rainy south.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Tags: Poker Poker Poker, USC, WCOOP, WSOP
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Saturday, August 22, 2009 - Brandon Cantu
The past few days I have been looking at my schedule for the upcoming months. I will be traveling quite a bit and look forward to seeing as much of the world as much as possible each year. Traveling has becoming one of my favorite past times and has become a traditional post World Series of Poker activity.
Last year, immediately after the WSOP, I traveled to Costa Rica and Nicaragua with my agent and good friend, Matt Palmer. As I have previously mentioned, I have stayed in Vegas since the WSOP lounging at home, playing a ton on UltimateBet.com and just relaxing. However, I now have the itch to get on some planes, play some poker and visit some destination spots.
Looking ahead in August, I will be heading to the World Poker Tour’s “Legends of Poker” at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California on August 22nd. After winning my second WSOP bracelet this year, I wouldn’t mind making a strong run at another WPT victory. My stay in California will be about a week.
After the Bike tournament, I return to Vegas to quickly repack for the next stop, which is Portland, OR, for my 10 Year Class Reunion. Though I get back regularly with all the boys and old friends; 3-on-3 basketball tournaments, Holiday parties, some NBA games, etc., I look forward to seeing classmates who I have lost ties with. All in all, it will be good to be back in my hometown. Portland weather is perfect this time of year and will be an added bonus to reconnecting with old friends.
After a week or so back home, I will again return to Las Vegas planning to play online before heading out to London for the WSOP Europe. Two of my good hometown friends, Tony and Dave traveled with me last year. We were able to travel Europe a bit after the WSOPE and this year should be quite similar. This year I plan on traveling to Amsterdam, a destination I look forward to exploring for a few days I have free time. This year I will be traveling with poker player and friend, Allie Prescott. He and I both traveled to Venice for the WPT event and are going to continue our adventures post WSOPE.
Once the European travels are done, I will be flying directly to UltimateBet.com’s Aruba Classic, October 3rd – 10th. I am very excited for this tournament. Not only because Aruba is beautiful and that I will have friends attending, but that I am a sponsored UltimateBet Pro. It almost feels like it will be a “home game” for me. It will be nice to see some of the UB staff I met at the WSOP this summer, as well as play and visit with all the other UB Pros.
I feel lucky to have the opportunity to see so much of the world. Safe travels to everyone else that is also making the rounds the next few months. Good luck.
Brandon Cantu
Tags: Amsterdam, aruba classic, Bicycle Casino, Brandon Cantu, Bycicle Casino, Costa Rica, Legends of Poker, Matt Palmer, NBA, Nicaragua, Poker Poker Poker, ub, Vegas, WPT, WSOP, WSOPE
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Saturday, August 22, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth
Here we go again, one more time I have a ton of chips ($512,000) in the Taj Mahal’s US Poker Open Championship event; this time in year 2003. Major déja vu here, because I had over 50% of the chips in 1997 with three players left, however, I couldn’t close the deal then vs. Ken “Skyhawk” Flaton and Surrindar Sunar.
In fact, in 1997 with $900,000 in chips in play, we had Skyhawk down to $17,000 in chips and all-in with 10-8 vs. my A-2. Skyhawk ended up winning that small pot, and then he came all the way back to win that tournament.
Now, in 2003, I’m at full power (“full power” is the phrase I use to describe my “A game” to the boys), and ready to win this thing. With Toto Leonidas in seat one, Erik Seidel in seat two, and me in seat three, it’s also feeling eerily similar to the $3,000 WSOP no limit Hold’em event in May, where Erik was also in seat two, and I was in seat three. I won that one!
With five players left, Toto opens for $35,000 upfront, and I decide to make it $95,000 more or $130,000 total with my A-K. Toto studies awhile, and then moves all-in for $355,000 more. Immediately, I eliminate A-Q and A-J from the possible hands he could have. I decide that there is no way that Toto would risk fifth place with a weak hand, and therefore I fold my A-K.
I fold it face-up, and now Toto says, “Whew,” and shows me A-Q. I am stunned that he would risk fifth place with one of the worst no limit hands out there. I mutter to myself, “What is this guy doing?” Then I remember some of the really weak hands that he played against me in the past. Toto can be a maniac player (“maniac” means someone who moves in weak a lot—being a maniac isn’t a bad thing to be a lot of times), and I had forgotten that—my mistake.
Even still, I don’t mind this lay down, because I know Toto will give me all of his chips in the next hour or two while making another reckless play. One hour later we are three handed when Toto opens for $55,000 on the button. I look down at Q-Q in the big blind, and decide very quickly to just call. A quick call shows that I’m trying to pretend that I’m strong—I’m selling weakness here.
Perhaps I should have raised him right here right now, and maybe, he moves all-in on me with his Q-J off suit and I bust him—this is the kind of 20-20 hindsight we use when we lose a key pot! In any case, the flop comes down 8h-7s-2h, and I check. Toto bets $70,000, and now I put him on a very weak hand: in my mind, I put him on K-J off suit. So I just call the $70,000.
A lot of players would have just raised Toto here, but I had a sense that Toto was ready to give me all of his chips with nothing, so I just called him. Now the problem card hits, a king comes on fourth street. I check, and now Toto studies for a long time, and bets $200,000. It has happened just like I knew it would, Toto cannot let go of a hand, now I get to bust him—he has Q-J, and I have Q-Q, it’s over for Toto!
Except, I keep thinking of the K-J hand that I put him on in my mind…If he does have a king, then I’m dead. I pride myself on making great reads. I had been making great reads all throughout the three day long tournament, but now I study awhile. I have a sense of dread that I’m supposed to call this hand, but on the other hand, I feel that Toto will give me all of his chips in a better situation soon, if I just wait for it. I fold!
Looking back, I know Toto would bet any pair, including 5-5, 6-6, sevens, eights, 9-9, 10-10, and J-J. I fold face-up, showing the Q-Q, and now Toto shows me Q-J off suit. “OK,” I tell myself, “100% Toto will give me his chips if I just hang in there and remain strong emotionally. Don’t start fretting about a bad lay down, just wait and Toto will move all-in weak one more time.”
30 minutes later, I’m still in there, and lord help them if I get my chips doubled up, because now I have both their plays dialed in, I’m locked, loaded and ready to fire. Now Toto opens on the button for $55,000 and I call him with Q-J off suit in the big blind. The flop is Q-8-7, and I check; Toto shuffles his chips, makes a lot of awkward motions, and finally says, “I’m all-in.”
What? There is only $120,000 in the pot, and he has bet my last $236,000. What the heck is going on here? I know Toto, and I consider all the possibilities: he might have K-Q (this is the only hand I’m worried about): but Toto never bets big with his big hands, he always tries to milk them. Thus, he can’t have a big pair, A-Q or even K-Q; in my mind, he must have A-8.
Toto is starting to look very, very weak as I study him—I think he knows that I have a Q by now, and I think he knows I’m going to call him. He looks like a man that wishes he could take his money back, but now he is committed. Finally, I say, “I call,” and push all of my chips into the middle of the pot. This is the first time all tournament that I am all-in, which is remarkable, and a real source of pride for me.
The crowd cheers wildly as I call, and Toto flips up A-7! Now I smile and think, “Nice call Phil; it looks like Toto will be short on chips if he loses this pot.” Now the cameras are adjusted, the hands announced to the standing room only crowd, and the first card is dealt; it is a 6. OK, the last card is a mere formality now. No way is Toto hitting an A or a 7 here and now—I’m an 8 to 1 favorite at this point.
However, incredibly, the last card is a 7, and the final evidence that I lost the hand, is that Toto is screaming very loudly, “Yes!” And pumping his fists in triumph—I think to myself, “You’re actually proud of that XX##@@ play!” Immediately, I find myself falling backward like someone punched me, and I take four steps back, and literally flop on my backside—on the “payoff stage”–and lie there motionless staring up at nothing, muttering to myself.
Of course, when it hit ESPN in 2004, it did make for very good, dramatic TV! In any case, somehow, someway, I can’t console myself. I walk around, muttering to myself, while they call me to the stage to pay me my $116,000 for third; I’m feeling like I just lost $270,000 (first place was $388,000). I stew, I mutter, I cannot believe Toto got away with it! I’m pissed, I’m sad, I’m inconsolable for awhile. Finally, after making a dramatic jackass of myself, I gather myself and try to recover what little dignity I have left.
Do I deserve to lose to a guy that tried to give me all of his chips three times? What does deserving have to do with it anyway? For that matter, do I deserve to have the ability to make any final table in any tournament on any given day?
I begin to feel guilty that I’m so upset, and acting badly, when deep-down I know I’m blessed as much as anyone. Later that night I finally realize that I am truly blessed, period. It is OK to be bummed out, but I need to control myself much better when I get unlucky in a big hand!
I do like Toto (he’s a really nice guy) and Erik (Erik’s been a great guy for fifteen years), and congrats to them both. Besides, so what if Toto hit a card on me, I should have called him with my Q-Q, and had over one million in chips. If I make that great call, then I believe I would have won. The Q-Q is just another hand I’ll torture myself over for the next ten years…
Tags: Poker Championship, Poker Poker Poker, USPC, WSOP
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Friday, August 21, 2009 - Michaelbinger
Hi all! I’m in LA for a few days playing live poker for the first time in a month… Good to get back into it after a much needed respite! I played the 1k HORSE tourney at the Bicycle Casino on Tuesday. Was doing well until I got set under set in the hold ‘em round to lose more than half my stack. Then got all in with a pat 6-5-4-3-A in Razz on 5th street against someone with 2-K showing… He caught perfect perfect to bust me. But all is good… I ended up winning 2nd place money in a PLO cash game at the Commerce that night. Today I’m playing my favorite game: no-limit 2-7 single draw. It’s a big game with $200-400 blinds and an ante of $100 per person. So far so good I’m up a decent amount. Oh I almost forgot yesterday I had an awesome day… a great lunch with some friends followed by wine and games by the pool. I walked into the Commerce at 8pm and immediately ran into some friends heading out to dinner at this great Italian restaurant (Mozza). Had an amazing 4 hour dinner. Basically spent the entire day eating good food, drinking good wine, and hanging with good people. Hard to beat that! Saturday I’m playing the $10k WPT Legends tourney at the Bike… Wish me luck! Michael Binger
Tags: Bicycle Casino, Michael Binger, Poker Poker Poker, WPT, WPT Legends
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Monday, August 17, 2009 - Bryan Devonshire
My name is Bryan Devonshire, aka “Devo”, simply for the reason that Coach could say, “Damnit Devo!” and, “Devonshire!” in the same number of syllables. He was a fan of fitting colorful metaphors into sentences, and a four syllable last name just wouldn’t cut it. Since then it’s stuck.
Many of y’all probably haven’t heard of me simply because my exposure to the main stream has been minimal. I’ve played on one TV table, the 2008 Reno WPT in which I finished 2nd, drawing out my heads up battle vs. Lee Markholt for two glorious hands in which I folded my button in the first and then got it in on the turn stone dead in the 2nd. At least I bet/shoved the turn eh? LOL.
I’ve been blogging for a long time. I started a personal blog in 2004 to connect with the students I was working with at Gateway Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, CO. That was the last “real” job that I ever had, working part time and supplementing my income by spending enough time on Party Poker that I was able to collect some of the free money being given away. I moved from Colorado Springs to Minnesota to get married, that lasted 8 months, and at the tail end of that I went to Las Vegas for the 2006 WSOP.
My start in poker came years before though sometime around the period in my life when girls became interesting. My dad ran a home game for as long as I can remember, standard kitchen table nickel-dime-quarter games with friends and family. Baseball, Dr. Pepper, Criss-Cross, and Eight and Twenty-Eight were family favorites. My grandfather retired in Carson City, NV, and my dad loved the gamble, so I was around casinos usually about four times a year. Circus Circus was my Disneyland.
Shortly after turning 18 I wandered into San Manuel Indian Casino and Bingo Hall, played 1-5 no ante Stud, won $65 and thought I was the best. Made a trip to Pechanga back when they were in the tent (this is 1999), played 1-5 Stud8, won with a strategy of playing any two of three good cards = good starting hand, and then played Caribbean Stud where I said, “It’s weird that they pay more for a flush than a straight, since a straight beats a flush.”
I then started college at the University of Southern California as an Architecture major. I also discovered Planet Poker, bonus whoring, and Fake Surf. I hit many online casinos for the deposit bonus, bet the pass and don’t pass, meet required bets, then withdrawal. I walked into the Commerce for the first time in 2000 as a 19 year old, and spend a lot of time climbing the latter to 15-30 limit hold’em where I usually lost it all. I started keeping records somewhere in 2001, and after turning 21 and finally getting carded, I won 2 tourneys and made one final table in the same weekend. I won the Hustler morning $30 rebuy, where I thought the rebuy period was a game seeing who could spend the least, loaded my surfboard onto my 1995 Honda Civic, and drove up the coast. I played in a tourney on Saturday at Chumash Casino in Santa Barbara, a $1k guarantee, and at that final table they gave the 10 of us $100 in red chips. One $5 blind I think. You could quit the tourney and cash in your chips any time you had the smallest stack. I think I cashed out for like $95. Then came home and won the Hustler tourney again on Sunday. T’was fun.
I dropped out of college December 2002, not for poker, but to pursue a career in the wilderness industry. In the summer of 1999, 2000, and 2002 I worked at a camp called Forest Home in So Cal and loved it. I also worked with Bel Air Presbyterian Church which had a whitewater rafting program that I was trained in, the company that trained me I ended up working for (Whitewater Voyages), and that led me to Peak 3 Outfitters, now out of business, that offered me a full time position as an “Adventure Guide” with the intention of me starting a whitewater program and them teaching me everything else. I was trained in Wilderness First Aid, how to guide Climbing, Mountain Biking, Caving, High and Low Ropes, all season Mountaineering, and Lumberjacking. Unfortunately that summer I spent more time cutting down trees, chopping wood, and getting addicted to Skoal than I did guiding and ended up leaving the company at the end of my first season.
Jobless I started playing online, and by the time I won my first $10 online donkament in November 2003 I had pretty much given up looking for a job. Then I went broke in January because it turns out that $1k wasn’t enough of a bankroll to 4 table 3-6 limit hold’em, got a job as an armed security guard in Colorado Springs which turned out to save my life, because my guiding buddies climbed a peak that March that I couldn’t go on because of said job. On the descent they triggered an avalanche which killed my friend Kyle who was in the lead, right where I would have been had I been there also. I rustled enough money to get a roll going by April 2004, started the job at Gateway in May (they paid $900/month), and made ends meet through poker along the way.
In the spring of 2005 I worked as a prop(ositional) player at Buffalo Bill’s in Cripple Creek, CO where I was paid $10/hr plus benefits to play 2-5 spread limit hold’em on my own money 40hrs a week. Over four months I beat the game for $17/hr in addition to wage, quit to guide the Kern river in Cali in 2005 before moving to Minnesota, and after that self-induced train wreck I found myself at the 2006 WSOP to play tourneys.
I had been playing 15-30 LHE regularly in Minnesota and built myself a decent little roll which skyrocketed in event #1, the $500 employees event. I used my valid Colorado gaming license to enter and two days later took 2nd in my 1st WSOP event ever for $66k. I then promptly lost $40k back over the course of the summer, flew back to MN to sign papers, pack, and leave, and wanted to live with my brother Jared. He wanted to get out of So Cal, I wanted to get back west, we wanted to be in warm near water, were thinking Laughlin, and ended up in Henderson as close to Lake Mead as we could get. I crushed limit hold’em games around town fall of 2006, took 2nd in best all around at the Canterbury Fall Classic, and then won a $300 tourney over Jon Turner by sucking out on his aces at Commerce in November. I was playing 100-200 LHE at this point and winning, but decided that I was going to play every event in the December Bellagio tourneys and lost most of my strong roll again.
Then in April 2007 while playing 15-30 LHE at the Wynn, I spied a juicy 100-200 mix game that I told my buddy about, he put me in the game within 15 mins of his arrival, and the biggest fish in the game eventually ended up giving me a shot at playing satellites into the WPT $25k. In the 1st, a $3k sit-n-go, I busted within ten minutes. I’m sure he was like, “WTF?!?” But, on the 2nd, I got heads up with Kevin Song with a 3-2 chip lead, then negotiated a deal where my backer gave Kevin some dollars and we took the seat. I eventually finished a gross 64th place for $46k after a sick orbit of poker. We stayed together through the WSOP, I took another 2nd in event 9, $1500 Omaha 8, losing to Alex Kravchenko in very disappointing fashion. I deserved that one. By the time the main rolled around he had lost all the money I had won for him by playing big PLO, and since a crazy chick threatened to kill me I skipped the 2007 main and took it on the lam.
I dilapidated the roll again by November 2007 by playing too many big online tourneys, signed with my current backers, had a 50k and a 20k online score in Feb 2008, the 2nd in Reno for 271k, then 12th in the $25k for 131k, and then took a motorcycle trip to Vancouver, BC for the launch of WPT Canada. I won the first event on my own wasted on Sleaman’s Honey Brown, a $500 tourney for 53k Canadian, which was good news because when I brought it back to the Bellagio then they gave me more American money than I gave them Canadian.
Since then I don’t have much to brag about poker wise, as if I really had much to brag about in the first place, but good news/bad news for me I’ve always kind of put poker 2nd to life. I have loved poker for the freedom that it’s given me to go and experience the world at the pace that I would prefer to, and it’s allowed me to make more money than any other menial job that I could have pulled off in the last dozen years. I really didn’t accept poker as a long term thing until last year, as the fluctuation and stress is significantly underrated to those who don’t do this full time. The ability to generate passive income through poker with the various things I have been involved in has been a blessing, and I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to travel, the opportunity to play on the world’s stage, and the community of friends I’ve met along the way.
I’ll be firing a unique blog here every week, I hope you enjoy it. You can reach me at maverickusc@gmail.com or playing on Ultimate Bet as BRYAN_DEVO.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Tags: Bryan Devonshire, omaha, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, Presbyterian Church, ub, WPT
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Saturday, August 15, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth
My favorite drinking establishment in Vienna is the famous Schweitzer Haus, which serves an incredible Budweiser Beer, but nothing like the Bud that we drink over here in the states. When you’re done at the Schweitzer Haus (they close at 11:00 PM), then head on over to Nacht Sicht, where they have three different dancing rooms to choose from. Of course the Poker EM is held in Baden, which is about twenty minutes south of Vienna, in the palatial Casinos Austria.
Now to business: with three qualifying events, where 24 people advance to the main event from each qualifying event, you will find things work a little bit differently in the Poker EM. Each qualifying event starts with a sold out 456 players. It costs $300 to enter, $300 to re-buy and $300 to add on each day.
You are handed your seat assignment ticket, one re-buy ticket and one add on ticket, but here’s the catch: you can only use your add on ticket if you still have chips left at the end of the re-buy period. So, if you go broke before the re-buy period ends, then you are out of the qualifying event right then!
Thus I believe that the best advice I can give anyone is to make the end of the re-buy period, even if you have to throw away ‘rolled up’ aces [(A,A), A], which is the best possible starting hand in Seven Card Stud! After all, to win a pot with A,A-A right before the re-buy period ends is helpful, but to go broke right before the re-buy period ends is absolutely unacceptable. Therefore muck the A, A-A if your short on chips before the add on period ends!
In 2000, I actually ‘anted off’ without even looking at my hole cards – because I was short on chips right before the re-buy period ended – when I ‘qualified’ for the Championship event. Again, make sure at all costs, that you make the end of the re-buy period, so that you can add-on!
The second interesting thing about the Poker EM is that they play down to six tables, and then you play down to the final four players at each of those final six tables, and that group (of 24 players) ‘qualifies’ for the Championship event. Last year, two people from my table ‘qualified’ with only a few chips! So when you make the final six tables with a lot of chips, avoid playing big pots, just make sure that you make the ‘final four’ players at your table to qualify for the Championship event.
When you make it down to the final six tables with a short or medium stack, make sure that you keep a close eye on the amount of chips that your opponents at your table have. You may need to throw away a strong hand because you can see that some of your opponents are extra short on chips. After all, it doesn’t matter how many chips that you end up with, it only matters that you make the final four at your table and move on (everyone starts with the same number of chips in the ‘Championship’).
Throughout the tournament, I like to start with strong hands only, like big pairs or three big flush cards. I have noticed that a lot of people at the Poker EM are recreational players that play a lot of really weak hands. This means that; on one hand you will take some really bad beats, but on the other hand you will win some really big pots.
The antes tend to be bigger then we are used to in the USA (or anywhere in the world for that matter!), so that winning an ante means something. If you have the opportunity to ‘steal’ an ante, then go for it. However, stealing too many antes is hazardous to your tournament health.
One last tip: I had good luck playing my drawing hands very aggressively. If I knew that I had to call a bet from my opponent, then I would just raise and put myself into the lead in case the other guy was drawing as well. I always recommend aggressive play in poker tournaments.
The Poker EM is a really beautiful poker tournament with all of its pageantry and flair. The 72 finalists are introduced to the whole casino one at a time, and the flags for their different countries are held aloft proudly during those introductions. The final table is surrounded by hundreds of people and broadcast live on the Internet in audio and video. The money is brought out on a silver platter in plastic packages. And the Champagne flows freely after the event ends!
The trophy is beautiful, and winning the Poker EM was the highlight of my year in 2000 (especially after finishing ninth in the Poker EM in 1999!).
Tags: Austria, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, Poker Tips, poker tournaments, Vienna
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Thursday, August 6, 2009 - Debo34
With Aruba less than 2 months away I figured I would write once a week about my favorite Aruba moments. I should be able to get 8 or so of them in before Aruba sneaks up on us. So here goes… These will be in no particular order.
Aruba moment # 1 - It was February 2003 and I had been playing on Ultimate Bet for the better part of 6 weeks so of course I thought I was a pro. I logged in to play on a Saturday morning and decided to try a satellite for entry into the $109 Aruba tournament that was taking place later that afternoon. I ended up getting into the $109 Aruba and what happened after I believe changed my life forever. 52 people signed up that day for what was a winner take all trip to Aruba to play in the Aruba poker classic. The crazy thing about this tournament was that I never really had any chips until the end. When we hit the final table I was 9th out of 10 in chips. When we were 5 handed I was 5th in chips. There was a player controlling all the action, his screen name was Stoner. What I later found out was that stoner, was David Plastic, a well established poker pro. David continued knocking everyone else out until he ended up heads up with me. He had around a 88k to 12k chip advantage on me. I remember being pretty nervous that I was so close to winning this, yet 2nd place was 0. In the middle of David running me over like he did everyone else that day, something crazy happened, I started making hands.
I started to get back into it, when I turned a flush against top pair top kicker and doubled up. I now had the chip lead!! I still remember to this day the butterflies I had. I had never played in a poker tournament higher that 20$ and now I’m heads up with a chance to go to Aruba and play in a 5k event. I believe it was 2 hands later that I found myself flopping bottom 2 pair vs. a flush draw. I remember when the chips went in telling my wife that if my hand holds we go to Aruba. David had a flush draw and when the river was dealt I opened my eyes to see the pot going to me. I couldn’t believe it.
I really believe that had I not won that trip and tasted success I may not be writing this today. It’s funny how certain moments can change big parts of our lives.
In kind of a funny side note to this story. During the opening party I was standing there when a guy came up to me and looked at my nametag and said.. ” oh you’re debo34. I’m Stoner and you’re the reason I am buying into this tournament.” He then told me how lucky I had gotten in which I couldn’t disagree at all. Everything that had to go right for me to win, went right on that day. David and I are good friends now and still joke about that moment.
I really hope to see you all in Aruba
Good Luck,
Debo
Tags: Aruba, Debo34, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, ub
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009 - HollywoodDave
Is that all you got, UB?? Last week, I sent out an email challenging all our Legends and Icons to try and take me down in a special VIP tourney. To entice you further, UB threw in a $4k prizepool for the final table. And if THAT wasn’t enough, they put a $400 tourney dollar bounty on my head, just to make sure that I’d get called down every time I decided to put money in the middle. So…. what happened???!
I won the damn thing, that’s what! You put up a helluva fight, but at the end of the day, I guess I’ll just have to spend all this 1st place freeroll money myself. Play some tournaments with the TD’s. And try and figure out the next challenge I’ll issue, since this one clearly didn’t go your way. Maybe a blackjack tournament for some more cash? Hmmm…. I’ll figure it out and get back to ya. In the meantime… thanks for the money, boys! lol
In other news, Aruba is right around the corner and I am knee-deep in figuring out travel plans… most importantly, where I’m gonna stay while spending 2 weeks in the sun. Yeah, i know the official poker events only last a week, but HD ain’t goin all the way to Aruba without spending some serious time maxin’ and relaxin’…
Usually the Radisson treats us all so well, but the past year or 2 I’ve found some awesome deals online renting people’s timeshare suites in the adjacent highrises. Last year, for instance, I found a sick one bedroom suite at the Occidental (next door to the Radisson) with 2 gorgeous ocean-front balcony views for about a grand a week. Not bad, plenty of room to stretch out and party, and still close enough for me to walk to my poker seating assignment within 5 minutes!
This time around I think the party’s gonna be bigger and badder than ever — its UB’s tenth anniversary, bitches! And that means pulling out all the stops, so I am on the hunt for a serious party suite. Hellmuth may have Radisson penthouse locked up, but HD is gonna need someplace swank for the afterhours HORSE games that I have planned… be on the lookout!
OK rockstars, i’m out. And if anyone has any good ideas for yet ANOTHER VIP tourney, let me know. Nothing I’d love more than to pwn you all the next time, too…
-hd.
Tags: Aruba, Hollywood Dave, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, ub, VIP
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Tuesday, July 21, 2009 - Michaelbinger
I am enjoying some much needed down time after an exciting but exhausting WSOP. Actually it was more exhausting than anything else…. I had 5 cashes but no final tables, which is where the real money is at.
For now I am playing racketball, swimming, hiking, and just really unwinding. Going to LA in a few days to see my Mom and grandparents and then I’m off to Guyana with Victor Ramdin and company to do some volunteer work in health clinics there… identifying and treating children with heart problems. It will be great to get out and do something completely different and outside the poker world. Plus it’s a great cause and we also get to do some excursions into the rain forest!
Oh yes, and congrats to my brother Nick Binger who won the Venetian Deep Stack championship event this week for 377k!!!
I just finished up a session on UltimateBet.com and am heading to the gym now…
Look for my website michaelbinger.com to be up and running soon!
best of luck!
Michael Binger
Tags: Michael Binger, Poker Poker Poker, ub, WSOP
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