So lazy with the blog but lots to update

So i should have updated my blog a long time before now, but I'm super lazy so will now have to briefly recap most of whats happened in the last 2 weeks of so as its pretty much a blur to me right now.

I have played quite a few tournaments with a small cash in the $2.5k 6 handed and a deep run in the $2k Pot limit holdem event, eventually busting 21st for $5.5k ish. I got pretty unlucky on day 2 after building my 65k stack up to around 100k with no showdowns in the first hour. With blinds at 1k/2k it all went pete tong, firstly clonie gowen opens in the cut-off and I re-pot from the BB with AK, she goes all in and I have an obligatory call, but brick vs her JJ to fall back to 60k instead of being at 150k and one of the chip leaders. A few hands later I find AA and raise UTG+1 and lee watkinson calls from the BB. He then check raises all in on a 532 flop for around 40k total, I snap call and he flips 57, turn 4, river...............6, yawn. That pot would put me back over 100k but instead I'm nursing a shortstack. Just on a side note, pokernews are absolutely useless they claimed I paid off watkinson on the river even though it was clear my AA had been outdrawn, talk about putting me on life tilt. They have yet to report a hand correctly on anyone in our house and we are considering wearing t-shirts in the main event that just say FUCK POKERNEWS on the front. Anyway back to the tournament I get 30k in AQ vs A9 and chop to tilt me more before eventually re-shoving 88 with 14 BB's to find the original raiser with JJ and no miracles for me. The race against clonie gowen was pretty crucial as it gives me around a 160k stack with 40 ppl left, some guy made the final with 110k, sigh.

Next event was the $1k rebuy, the less said about this the better. I spent a total of $10k and didn't get a stack, losing 3 preflop all in flips in the rebuy period and a few other bullshit pots along the way. After the rebuy period I busted in under 1 hr, getting all in with A9cc on a K34 cc board vs 25 spades, he binks the off suit 6 on the turn and I'm on suicide watch, lol.

The next day saw my favourite event of the WSOP, $5k 6 handed NLH. I finalled this event 2 years ago when i was pretty inexperienced and not half the player I consider myself to be now. I got a good start in this event running up my 10k starting stack to 40k+ before the antes kicked in and 55k at the dinner break. I made 2 pretty big river bluffs in this period that both got through, and also made a big overbet on the river with the nuts and got paid off so my timing was immaculate so far.

The rest of day 1 was pretty smooth sailing, picking off shortstacks and putting pressure on the medium stacks steadily building my own stack t0 167k and finishing 8/96 going into day 2. My table draw for day 2 wasn't ideal with Keith 'The Camel' Hawkins on my immediate left i knew he wouldn't allow me to take liberties so I decided not to force any issues early doors. I never really had any big showdowns but was playing great poker and constantly chipping up reaching a peak of 535k stack, and being 3/25. The the wheels came off slightly, losing AT vs 88 to a 12 BB stack and then bluffing off 140k, oops. This put me firmly back in the pack with around 300k and a new table. First pot i played on the new table, I open ATo for 21k (4k/8k) and sam trickett, a v.good young player form the UK, defends from the BB. the flop is T45 and sam check calls 30k and the turn repeats the 4, sam checks again and i decide to check behind for a variety of reasons. I was very confident i had the best hand I checking behind would get me max value from worse Tx hands on the river or sam could make a bluff with a missed 67, or pay me off with any 5 or 66-99 if he thinks im bluffing. The river is a 9 but sam now leads for 20k, i deliberate raising for value but don't think he would pay me off with worse and could have a boat/quads already. I call and he flips T9 for rivered 2 pair, sigh. I get some chips back from sam when he bets the turn with a flush draw and bluffs the river when 1 to the straight comes, i have the straight tho and he insta-passes to my raise.

Down to 18 and the tables are re-drawn, I have 360k stack with the blinds at 5k/10k so am comfortable but no real room for crazy moves. The 3rd hand of the new table alex jacob opens for 25k on the button playing a 240k stack, i make it 85k from the BB with AK ready to insta-call a shove from him, he thinks for about 20secs and says all in, I call and he flips the mighty 33 and holds, sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Blinds go to 6k/12k and my 120k stack is in trouble, I find AK and got no action on my shove. next orbit I find AT and shove again this time im met by an instant all in from Leo kam in the very next seat so i know im in 3 outer territory, sure enough he has KK but I spike an A on the river, :-) The next hand I play, Alex jacob opens to 35k and i make it 100k on the button with AQs and 180k behind and happy to get in vs jacob. Then sam cold 4 bets from the BB, jacob insta passes and I cry a little and eventually fold, ugh. I blind down to 140k again before shoving KJ and getting called by A9, I don't manage to hit and bust 15th for $31'700.

I thought I played great throughout just wasn't meant to be, 2 decent bracelet opportunities passed me by in the space of 1 week, not easy to swallow but ill have a break now and come back for the main event as well as another $2.5k at the venetian just before.

Non-poker wise, plenty of drinking has been done resulting in a few messy nights out. the first was when the girls in our House booked a massive party limo thing to take us round Vegas for 4 hours while we all got smashed in the back. Saw the bellagio fountain show as well as some of the old town and a great night was had by all. The next was a farewell night for the 4 friends we had staying with us, me dave and stevie agreed to pick up the bill for everybody and make it special. We went for dinner at craftseak in the MGM where everyone had japanese 'wagyu' steak, google it, and its just amazing. After that we moved onto the voodoo lounge at the rio with a quick stop off at NY NY to ride the roller coaster. We had a VIP table in the voodoo lounge with bottle service and the Dom Perignon did flow. The whole night cost close to $5k for 8 people, weeeeeeeeee.

Thats about all for now, will be playing a little online between now and the main event so will probably do a quick update about how that goes.

WSOP $5kNLH and $2.5k venetian

The $5k was a pretty tough tournament, I got put in some really tough spots early and my table gradually became more difficult as the day progressed. During the first 4 hours the following players were moved to my table : Andy Bloch, Jonathan Little, Men the master, Humberto Brenes and a hyper aggressive Scandinavian player I had played in a previous event. In this event my 10k starting stack peaked at around 15k when the blinds hit the 150/300-25 mark. I make my standard open to 800 in late position with JJ and Men the master moves in for 5k total from the SB giving me the classic line 'all you can eat baby'. Its a routine call for me as I crush his range but he has woke up with QQ and I'm down to 10k. I am a mere spectator for the rest of this level and the majority of the 200/400-50 level until my exit hand occurs. Hyper aggressive scandie opens from the Hi-jack and the button flat calls, I squeeze 20 BB's with A9s from the SB but run into QQ again, no suck out for me left me still in search of my first dinner break of Vegas 2008.

A day off and then to the venetian for the $2500 event which had $20k starting stacks and a 1hr clock, :-) I was up n down a fair amount quite early busting chad 'lilholdem' batista with KK vs JJ to reach 30k pretty early but then slumped back down to 15k after raising K6hh and flopping Kxx two hearts versus AK and I bricked. Over the next few hours my stack dwindled down towards the danger zone. I got a timely double up when i raised KQ from the button and the BB defended and then check raised all in with middle pair on Kxx board, :-). After that I started building my stack without needing to showdown hands which is how i prefer to do things. The next big confrontation is where I get lucky with QQ vs KK for around half my stack but a pretty big pot in relation to the blinds and finish the day with about 220k blinds resuming at 3000/6000 - 1000.

I started off pretty badly on day 2 spewing off some chips and having 100k when the bubble burst and blinds about to go to 4000/8000 - 1k. We were down to 2 tables pretty quickly and I found a timely double once again with AQ vs AJ just before the killer blind level of 6k/12k - 2k started. Before I knew it they were drawing seats for the final and I had 20 BB's and realistic shot at the $190k first prize. Unfortunately that wasn't to be though as I lost a 500k pot race almost straight away after re-shoving 88 on a LP raiser and he called with AK, QQ4K2 board sealed my fate to a 9th place finish and a $12k score. Not too bad but I am of course left wondering what could have been.

Have a few more tournaments to update on and will get round to it over the next few days, chow for now,

Pab

Live Poker, meh

So I have played 3 WSOP events over the last few days but unfortunately have come up blank in all 3. The first event I played was the $2k NLH event, after an early setback I started to build chips and found myself at around 14k on the 2nd break and firmly in control of my table. Then a series of hands sent me crashing to the rail, I raised K9 and got flat called by a fairly short stack, the flop is 9 5 2 rainbow and he jams on my c-bet. I'm not thrilled but have to call and he tables 2 5 suited, nice call pre sir. A few orbits later I raise KQ blind on blind and have to call the shove from the BB who has AJ and holds. After this I move tables and play my first pot raising with 44 and getting called out the BB, The flop comes 345 and he check raises all in over my bet creating a 20k pot after Ive called, BB 300. He tables 57 and duly hits a 6 on the river to leave me with dust. I short stack for a while but jam A4 on the button into 66 and don't get there, meh.

My next event was the $1.5k short handed that went pretty badly tbh, starting with 60 BB's is pretty tough and i could win a pot, flopped 2 pair getting counterfeited, top pair getting out kicked, and finally 2 pair going down to a flush draw to send me home a little over 1 hour into the tournament. The only thing that cheered me up was arriving back to the house to see allinstevie already home after busting in 4 hands, lol weeeeeeeeeeeeee.

My next event was the 2.5k NLH event which had the largest starting stack to date, 100 BB's :-). I dint utilise this though and played pretty poorly in the first level dropping from 5k down to 2.8k as the blinds went up to 50/100. Then an odd situation came up where i opened AKs to 300 and it folded to the BB who is a good player from 2+2 and he thinks for a while, assesses my stack and eventually puts me all in. In my opinion his range is pretty polarised to TT, JJ, maybe QQ but its obvious we are flipping. I decide to take the race and brick against his JJ, sigh.

Online has been ok, not really put in a lot of volume but managed to pick up a 3rd place in the nightly 100k on stars for around $11.5k but I blew up 3 handed with the chip lead and squandered the chance to take it down. I played a half session of the Sunday online tournaments but soon regretted it and unregistered halfway through the session and started drinking instead. I had decided against playing the $1k venetian deep-stacked event that day as well, a mistake I wont make again this trip, fuck Sundays IMO.

Sunday night was Stevie's birthday and drinking in the house turned into an excursion the strip where more drinking ensued. Shots were flowing and a good time was had by all and we somehow ended up playing 1/2nl in Planet Hollywood until 10 am. Most of the hands are a blur but I owe Stevie $1k, lol. A McDonald's breakfast and a taxi home lead to us jumping in the pool on arrival back to the house before crashing out and making Monday a complete write off.

I played a full schedule today and was really struggling but then started to gain momentum in the ladbrokes daddy tournament. I really abused the bubble and used my stack to perfection from 2 tables out going into the final chip leader even after losing a pretty big race just before that. I sat back for a lot of the final and then opened up again 6 handed. I got lucky 3 handed with TT vs AA but spiked a ten and found myself heads up. After a bit of back n forth I eventually came out on top and pocketed a nice $18k for my troubles and some padding to the Vegas bankroll. For those that don't know the tournament is named after the previous weeks winner so good luck to everyone next week playing in badpab2's whose the daddy tournament. :-)

That's about all for now, its 10pm Vegas time and will be heading to bed shortly in preparation for the $5k NLH WSOP event tomorrow. I also intend to play a $2.5k event at the venetian on Friday unless I'm in the final of the 5k, lol. Hopefully I will make my first dinner break of Vegas 2008 in one of these tournaments.

Warning, Long post!

So where to begin, a lot has happened over the last week and will try to remember as much of it as possible, but my memory isn't great at the best of times so ill see what happens, maybe a few edits/additions to this post over the next few days.

Our final night in Sydney was a quiet one as we were hungover from the day before, watching Leeds lose to Doncaster in the playoff final at 3am. Leeds is my team and always will be but Doncaster is my home town. They have had a remarkable run the last 5 years from the conference and don't begrudge them promotion one little bit, just hurts that it was at the expense of Leeds :-(

Went to the cinema to see the new Indiana Jones movie and oh my word it is quite honestly one of the worst films Ive ever seen. I wont spoil it for those that haven't seen it was truly ridiculous in my opinion. The next day saw us head off to Vegas, business class all the way I took full advantage of the the free alcohol available in the lounge before each flight and duly passed out for the duration.

The house in Vegas surpassed all expectations and is just amazing. I think we have made the right choice over a hotel. I have put all my pictures on facebook and will put a few here on here:






The first day we met up with moorman and allinstevie who arrived the day before and ended up having a pretty serious drinking session that night that ran through until 8am. Moorman then decides that sleep is for the weak and is gonna start playing tournaments again. Dave then bets him that he wont win a tournament with 100+ runners and $4k for 1st place. Moorman is still pissed so takes the bet getting LOL odds of 2-1 for $1k. I pass out on the sofa in the room he is playing randomly waking up and dishing out abuse to a weary moorman. allinstevie then goes to the shop and buys the biggest can pf energy drink ever that is a mix a loads of shit and had a hazardous warning on the label :


Moorman made 4 finals over the course of the day and lost HU in a $20 f/o that had 1284 runners when he had the guy all in 99 vs A9 for the win and the guy made quads, lol. Not phased he ploughed on and made the final of a $30r on full tilt before realising that 1st place was $14 short to meet the criteria of the bet. He played a complete schedule but didn't manage to ship a tournament losing $1k on the bet as well as the will to live. Even though he had been awake for 36hrs I still got owned on the pool table shortly after the final bust out, sigh.

The next day saw me play a half session again in tournaments and pull another blank leading to constant ribbing from moorman and stevie that I hadn't cashed in Vegas, sigh. At the end of the session we all ended up in the games room playing pool/drinking when moorman and stevie got into a argument about who gets to sit on the comfy office chair. see pic


Stevie was obviously not pleased that moorman shotgunned the chair and I suggested a HU SnG to decide who gets the chair then the other guy can reclaim it by shipping an online tournament. I dealt the SnG and was privy to all the folded cards and its safe to say NO-ONE runs as good as moorman and he ends up winning the tournament and initial rights to the chair in a cooler of a final hand. Pic of the champ with the winning hand :


The next day saw me make an impression on the online tournaments taking down a $163 f/o on F.tilt for $11500 ish as well as coming 3rd in the stars $100r for $7800, ship it! No-one else did anything significant so things obviously moved to the games room for drinking/pool/gambling. Dave was at the Rio playing live cash so me, moor and stevie played a tournament on moormans account while drinking/ playing pool. It was winner stays on at pool with the other guy taking control of the tournament. It was the $77 6 max on stars and we built a big stack pretty early but the JD and coke was flowing and we became more aggressive in the chat telling everyone to have it in the eye before we shoved on them. The 'In your eye' shout became the theme of the evening and got put in the chatbox too many times to recall. Somehow moorman shipped the tournament to many shouts of 'give him the pile', 'right in his eye'. As a result the 4 of us here have all changed our location on stars to 'In your eye' lol.

Today I woke up really tired and really hungover due to the previous nights 'In your eye' antics and embarked on the gruelling Sunday schedule. Absolutely nothing went right for me all day with a few minor cashes including the late 100r stars but eventually fizzled out into nothing. Stevie was deep in the ECOOP main event and the stars million at the same time eventually finishing around 15th in both. He busted within 5 mins of each other in both tournaments bringing the evening to a disappointing conclusion.

As far as live poker goes I have yet to play but we are all planning to play the $2k NLH hold em event on Wednesday and take it from there. A couple of us were contemplating the $1k rebuy on Tuesday but we are struggling to get our hands on cash out here at the moment but have a few things in the pipeline. That's about all for now, sorry for the long post and ill try to update more frequently and keep the entries more manageable.

Pab

ps, In your eye everybody, :-)