Thursday, August 20, 2009 - Liv Boeree
So as you may have guessed from the title, I’m in Macau. The reason why I flew 12 hours from home is because I got invited to come play the Asian Poker Tour, a $4400 or so buy in (it’s actually like a million Hong Kong Dollars which sounds way more impressive). It’s a pretty cool event, with loads of side events and some fairly crazy cash action from what I hear. On the first day I arrived was the “Celebrity” event which was a charity freeroll for various Asian actors and models which they asked me to play and it was pretty fun to play, particularly when a number of people played their hands literally face up and a couple of people had literally never played before. I somehow ended up tenth which was the trophy bubble, typical! Otherwise, I’ve been mainly wandering around Macau getting lost. The city is really cool, it’s basically a more densely built, more humid version of Las Vegas, just with a lot of Cantonese (maybe?) writing everywhere. I mean, even the hotels are the same. There’s the mini-Wynn, a Venetian, MGM Grand and it looks like they are building a more impressive 60 floor version of Caesar’s Palace. The food however, is erm, horrid. Now I’m really not one to complain about food, I am literally a walking dustbin and will eat anything and everything, however the food I’ve sampled here so far really sucks. Someone ordered the “brisket”, which was obviously a massive -EV decision as any kind of meat dish of unspecified animal in China is never wise, but damn this stuff was awful. It was literally a brown, jellified goo that I can’t imagine any animal being made up of. At best we believe it was pulped slug and tasted in that ballpark too, so that’s where my money lies.
Tags: Asian Poker Tour, Caesars, Macau, MGM, Venetian, Wynn
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Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - HollywoodDave
Well my peeps, another week, another FT, baybee! I went down to the Hard Rock here in Vegas (haven’t really left since the WSOP ended lol) the other day to play in the first event of their new Megastack series. Its the first time they’ve put on an official series of events (as opposed to running just dailies etc) so I figured it would be off the radar a bit and ripe with donkalicious rockers ready to be taken down by yours truly. And it did not disappoint!
The field had a couple scattered semi-pros but for the most part these guys loved to drink & wear their tells on their sleeve. There were only about 100 people total playing this inaugural event, and before i knew it i was super deep and approaching the money bubble. What was really awesome as well was the structure of this tourney was really well thought out — usually in the deepstack events at the Venetian or Caesars or whatever, despite how many chips you start with, two or 3 hours in the structure starts skipping crucial levels that make the majority of the field suddenly shortstacked, no matter how many chips in front of them. Not so here at the Hard Rock — even though it took more than 12 hours to go from 100 to the money, i never felt as if the structure skimped on any necessary levels, which made for a lot of great play.
I ran pretty good, picking up big hands often enough — and more importantly, getting paid off on them as well — til inevitably I got my JJ cracked by 77 about 5 people from the money. I still made it to the FT ok but never could recover… it was one of those pots that woulda made me the mega chip leader or crippled, and of course it all came down to the fucking 7 on the river. It was a shame, because I really felt like I was the best player in the field at that point, at even shortstacked at the final table had a lot of confidence that i could still win by picking the right spots and getting the money in good.
Alas it wasn’t to be, and 7th is all I could pull. I ran into too many bigger hands when I had decent ones, and was too short to capitalize on my monsters. All in all, it was good to be back in live action, since one of the last live events I played was one of the Bellagio Cup event last month where I also final tabled (6th in that one). A good vote of confidence if nothing else!
Other than that, just been playing a lot online at UB and looking forward to Aruba. I’ve got that sick suite hooked up at the Occidental next door to the Radisson, and am planning to stay for a full week AFTER the poker party leaves the island… can’t wait! Also my pilot is now officially done & we are shopping international networks til October, then pitching domestically all fall after that. So HD will be back on air soon, bitches!
Alright, rock on, I’m out –
-hd.
Tags: Aruba, Bellagio, Caesars, Hard Rock, Hollywood Dave, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, ub, Vegas, Venetian, WSOP
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Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - Tiffany M
Hey UB Peeps! I’m up to my eyeballs in poker, neon lights, hot weather and
daily trips to The Rio. The 2009 World Series of Poker is in full swing.
I’ve only played one WSOP tournament, the $1,000 NL Event #4 and today will
be my second shot at WSOP glory in the $1500 NL Event.
I didn’t have any tournaments at the Rio yesterday so I popped over to the
Venetian for their $550 Deepstack tournament and made it deep in the
tournament. Just a note for any of you coming out to Vegas, Caesars Palace
and The Venetian are both running Deepstack tournaments with big fields and
great structures so if you’re looking to play but can’t afford the WSOP
buy-ins I’d definitely suggest checking out those tournies.
It’s very cool being a part of UB’s team this year and I have a good feeling
that our pros will REPRESENT for the black and yellow 
Annie Duke and
Liv Boeree have already cashed in tournaments…. which means that I’m
pulling up the rear for the UB ladies. I’d better run and get to work, I’ve
got catching up to do!
xx
Tiffany Michelle
www.tiffanymichelle.com
Tags: Annie Duke, Ceasars Palace, Liv Boeree, Rio, Tiffany M, ub, Vegas, Venetian, WSOP
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Saturday, May 30, 2009 - Debo34
Tomorrow I will be heading to Vegas for the World Series of Poker. I’ve decided to drive this year since I will be there for the better part of 7 weeks. The drive will take me about 12 hours which I’m sure will royally suck, but it will be nice to have my car there and not have to rent one like years past. It will also be nice to pack my car full of whatever I want to bring that I couldn’t take on an airplane. My car will be jammed full of important stuff like my pillow, X-Box, extra monitors, DVD’s and anything else I can fit in there to make my 7 week stay as comfortable as possible.
So this year will be a lot like last year. I’m sharing the same 8 bedroom house with the same group of guys. I’m looking forward to getting down there and settling in. The first event I plan on playing is the $1500 pot limit Omaha on Monday. Last year I bubbled this event taking 74th with 72 spots being paid. I am excited to play this event, since I feel like my PLO game is far better than it was a year ago. After this event I’m going to play it by ear. I still need to win my main event seat as well. Last year I won it in the very first $500 super I played so I feel confident that I will be playing the main event for the 5th year in a row.
The WSOP is an exciting time of the year, but it can also be a very expensive time as well. Every year I set aside a certain amount to play series events and this year is no different. I see people lose their entire bankroll chasing the dream every year. That’s the nice thing about this time of the year in Vegas. There are smaller tournaments all over the place including The Venetian, and Caesars which can help you build and stretch your WSOP bankroll. If things aren’t going great at the series I will step back and play a few of these tournaments to try get the bankroll built back up. I wish I had the type of bankroll that allowed me to play every series event I wanted, but I’m not willing to drop 100k on the series and damage my bankroll. I will just keep on doing what I do, playing small ball while taking a few cracks at some bigger events. It’s what I’ve done for 7 years so I’m comfortable with it. Maybe someday I will find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that will allow me to play more big events, but if not I’ll be content and happy doing what I do. Playing a game that I love for a living isn’t so bad.
So my WSOP predictions are…Yes of course I’m a UB homer, but I think it’s going to be a big year for the Black n Gold.
Phil wins #12 , then a week later pulls in #13.
Annie wins the 50k HORSE event.
Team UB makes a total of 8 final tables and pulls in 4 bracelets total.
My good friend and roommate Pat Poels wins his 3rd bracelet. Yeah he has 2 and nobody has ever heard of him, but he’s the real deal.
One of my other roommates wins a bracelet.
I make my first WSOP final table.
Someone wearing the UB logo wins the main event. (bout time)
Good luck to everyone at the series.
Debo
Tags: Annie Duke, Ceasar's, omaha, Phil Hellmuth, ub, Vegas, Venetian, WSOP
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009 - Miss C
Hey Guys,
I cannot believe that I will be in Vegas in less that 2 weeks. I am so looking forward to catching up with everyone again. As I will be there for 8 weeks I am going to get into the Vegas spirit. The Vegas spirit to me (aside from all the cocktails) would be to see some shows.
MGM Grand has Fleetwood Mac, David Copperfield, KA Cirque du Soleil, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood.
Mandalay Bay has The Lion King, UFC, Il Divo, Keith Urban and Pat Benatar.
Caesars Palace has Elton John and Bette Middler
Bellagio has “O” Cirque du Soleil
Venetian has Phantom, Wayne Brady
Mirage has Jay Leno, Love Cirque du Soleil, Ray Romano & Brad Garrett
Palms has Cheech & Chong, The Offspring, Duran Duran, New Kids on the Block
There quite a few options and I am sure there will be a few more hidden gems that I haven’t discovered. On one of my last trips to Vegas I got taken to see Air Supply (I would have had to be taken!), Hootie and the Blowfish (they were great) and Brooks & Dunn (not a country girl, but had an awesome time and was pleasantly surprised). Make the time to see a show, it is a great Vegas experience.
Another Vegas experience that you have to do is go to a Vegas club, words do not describe it. My birthday falls during the WSOP and I am thinking I will start off having beverages at Fix at Bellagio, they do the best passionfruit mojitos and then move to Pure and get a cabana outside
I love having choices and this is definitely the town to offer plenty.
See you there and the countdown has begun.
Cheers,
Miss C
Tags: Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Cirque du Soleil, Fix, Mandalay Bay, MGM, MGM Grand, Mirage, Palms, Vegas, Venetian, WSOP
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Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - HollywoodDave
Thaaaaaat’s right! A few days ago yours truly took down my very first WSOP Circuit event, baybee! Along with the official WSOP ring comes a bundle of cash and yet another first place notch on my growing list of poker creds… after years in the blackjack trenches, its nice to continue the conquests on the poker felt.
For some reason, I’ve always done well at Caesar’s. Don’t know why — have yet to cash in a Venetian deepstack event, but seem to do well in most every tourney I play at Caesar’s. Last year i went deep in 2 events there, so to finally win one feels awesome! Its been awhile since I’ve won a live tourney (too much time cleaning up online!) but I def have been playing more live lately to get ready for this year’s WSOP (which starts in only like 4 weeks!)
Sooooo….here are all the gritty details from my win! After buying in at Hellmuth Time (read: last possible second before they closed registration 2 hours in lol), I proceeded to ship away 60% of my chipstack in the first 2 hands, going from 6k to 2400! Both times I ended up with open-ended straight draws in multi-way pots that I had odds to stay in, but none of the draws hit and I ended up just blowing chips unnecessarily. We’ve all been there — just cheap enough to stay in the pot over, but not something you feel good about!
From there I just locked it down and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Til I found the double up with pocket Jacks that got me close to being healthy again. And so on — all the way to the dinner break, playing super tight and waiting for those few key hands to keep me floating right around chip average. At dinner I knew with the blinds going up as quickly as they were, even having chip av was not going to cut it soon, so I was gonna have to make some higher variance plays after the break to take a shot at pulling in some chips. The good news here was that my super tight image was starting to pay off, as I could now steal with impunity 
Well, I didn’t have to wait long. First hand back from dinner, my QQ cracked 99 and I was off and running. The next hand my JJ took down some blinds. And a few hands later my KK took care of more bizness! But the big coup came when my QQ cracked KK in a monster pot not too long later, sending me near the top of the chipleader pile, where I stayed for pretty much the rest of the tourney.
Patience was a huge watchword for me this tourney — first, without many chips it helped me wait for those key double up hands. And 2nd, when I DID have chips, the patience to keep from doubling anybody ELSE up! What surprised me was how often i was actually FOLDING my marginal hands in late position (as opposed to constantly attacking the blinds) — playing in so many aggro online tourneys has def made me much more aggressive in this arena, but folding as often as I did in that position meant that when I DID raise to steal, my marginal hands were given tons more respect.
Eventually I worked my way to 3 players left, once of them Paul ‘Eskimo’ Clark. I was pretty much tied for the lead with the other player (Jack Andelman), but with Eskimo not too far behind and the blinds pretty much out of control, we decided to save 15k apiece and play for the ring and the remaining 8k. 5 minutes later, I was kinda regretting the decision as I had over half the chips in play!!! But then in standard poker fashion, Eskimo ran a badly timed bluff into Jack’s KK and suddenly my 1.2 million chips were being challenged by Jack’s 1 million chipstack. Normally I love to fight all the way to the end, but with the blinds so high (20k/60k with a 5k ante) we both had less than 20 BB and that took most of the play outta the game. So I locked in the win, the ring, and we chopped up the rest of the money right then and there. Not bad for 2 day’s work!!
Of course there’s been plenty of celebrating the past few days, but now its all about gearing up for the real thing: the WSOP! What a nice way to warm-up, but I am more than ready for the real thing….
rock on –
-hd.
Tags: blackjack, Caesars Palace, Hellmuth, Venetian, WSOP
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