Achsoooooooo

I've been home for almost 2 weeks now and have been really getting my grind on. Over 33k hands in 12 days is a lot for me and though the results were looking gorgeous in the beginning, things have gone downhill these past couple days. I am in the process of reading Tommy Angelo's book "Elements of Poker" right now and there's a great little tidbit I'd like to share:

Running Good and Running Bad
"The Professional does not run good or bad. He does not pleasure himself or torture himself with arbitrary time frames and accounting. He just plays."

We spend so much useless focusing on stupid short term results it's really sick. I am much less results-oriented than most of my friends, but at the end of the day it really does not matter if you're running good or bad or mediocre or whatever. Though it's sooooo much easier said than done, I still wish I could just forget about the small sessions and focus more on the big scheme of things.

Anyway, UPS finally delivered my 30" monitor last week and though it not cost-effective at all to buy it in the States (shipping was ridiculous), I got it hooked up and now my setup looks like this:
I can fit 9 BossMedia tables on it with a little overlap or 6 tables cleanly with no overlap. I still have one of my Samsung 204b monitors hooked up as a side monitor as well. Optimally I'd like to hook up my other 204b on the other side to create symmetrical perfection but I have no more video outputs in my computer. Would a new graphics card do the trick? Suggestions anyone?

I've also been experimenting with some smaller sites recently, mainly Betfair and Poker Trillion. The action is good, though I somehow managed to drop over $30k playing NL5k heads up against someone from Israel these past 2 days at Trillion. A big chunk was from a 400bb KK vs AA AIPF pot which was unfortunate but I really feel that I have a big edge so hopefully he will continue to play me and let me win some back. It's really lame, though, because every time he gets up on me he "disconnects" and doesn't come back. He's never disconnected during a hand so far, it's always been inbetween hands and always been when he's up. Coinkadink?

CelebPoker has invited me to London on Thursday for some go-karting and to go to the Kylie Minogue concert at the O2 arena. Though London sucks imo, I'm really looking forward to going over for 3 days of fun. It'll be a nice break from the tables and I really enjoy the people who work for Celeb (no they didn't pay me to say this!).

Vegas Pics, Part 2

ballin' in the Hummer limo

Flixx and Nik

Schnib and Strassmann

vodka cranberry anyone?

Sonja and I at the bracelet party

Popebirdie! nice glasses

notice the chest damage

man down!

seriously, how can the house not be a mess when we buy so much crap?

my messy room

nas-dog and lips at the body english

microphone/headphone/eyepatch

Back Home

After being gone for 6 weeks, it feels really good to be back home in Berlin. My own bed has never felt so good to sleep in! My body is kinda drained from all the partying and the general lack of sleep over the course of the trip.

The last days of Vegas weren't all that terribly exciting. I made a little bit of money playing $1k table tennis matches with Nico (Hans posted a video of a couple matches at YouTube for anyone who is interested, though it really only gets funny Nico when Nico tilt-chucks his paddle into the wall after losing)

Other than that there was surprisingly little gambling at the house. Not one (again, not even one) chinese poker session was played throughout the whole trip. We made two trips to the gun range (pics to come soon) and that was a blast to fire handguns and automatic weapons, as it's something I had never done before. Chris and I never continued our €5k challenge (it's still 4-3) for him but I'm sure we'll get that taken care of this week or next.

I'll post the second and final round of pictures in the next few days, which hopefully won't attract too many flamers as opposed to Hans' latest entry at Overcards. Though I don't really want to get involved in any sort of discussion, I will say that with 19 people in the house, it's really inevitable that the place gets dirty. Considering that most of our food was delivered, the trash really starts to pile up. When the "cleaning crew" (usually just 1 guy) comes for 2 hours on Tuesday and 2 hours on Friday, it's no wonder the place is not going to be spic and span. Luckily I didn't take many pics of the house so that shouldn't be an issue. Peace!

WSOP Main Event Day 5

My prayers were answered with an early double up. An old guy limped UTG and I shipped it in from the SB with AKo. He thought for a while and made the call with QQ, but I obv won the flip when an ace showed up as the door card.

Now loaded with fresh ammunition (400k+) I raised K5s from the hijack to 30k with blinds of 6k/12k/2k. Jeremiah Smith had me covered and called from the cutoff. We saw a flop of Qh5h5d and I fired a 40k contibet, which he instantly turned into a 140k raise. I shipped it in, he called with AQs and I dodged his 2 outs.

After a few blind steals I broke the psychological barrier of 1 million in chips! Then Phil Hellmuth was placed directly to my left and things went downhill. It started with a button raise (40k) of mine with AQ which he called with 33 from the SB. The flop was 953 and it went check check. The turn was an ace and he check min-raised my 63k bet, which I called. He fired another 200k on the 9 river and I made the crying call only to be shown the full house.

With just 200k left I finally found a nice shoving spot from the button with A2o. The BB made the call with Q9s but bricked the 5 community cards so I doubled up to 400k. A few rounds later I was chipped down to 320k when I shoved K9o from the button again. The SB woke up with AQo and for reasons I can't explain I somehow managed to not hit a King or Nine :(

Still, I'm happy with 99th place and the $51k ain't too shabby either. There's always next year. Thanks for all the support!

Days 3 +4 fast recap

Day 3:
I went into Day 3 with 147k and ended it with 439k. Right off the bat I lost around 30% of my stack, but then doubled up when someone tried bluffing me on a K43A2 board. I had AK and he had 66, so that was a nice present.

After accumulating a few more chips with a flush draw and overcards vs top pair situation, I then got it all-in preflop with AA vs KK in a 170k pot. My opponent turned a King and doubled through me, whoops.

Fast forward a couple levels and we're at the bubble. 675 players left with 666 getting paid we start hand-for-hand play. I have 200k. UTG (has me covered) raises to 9k, a player in MP (200k) calls and I call the 6k more in the BB with 22. The flop is Kh Jd 2h. I check, UTG checks and MP bets 12k. I checkraise to 38k, he thinks for a bit and makes it 90k. I shove and he makes the call with JJ. I am getting out of my chair as the dealer binks the other remaining deuce in the deck on the turn. All I'm thinking now is "No jack, no jack" and indeed, I dodge the last jack!

After some bubble bullying I had around 560k chips but then doubled up Allen Cunningham with JJ vs QQ all-in preflop, leaving myself 439k to end the day.

Day 4:
There was a crazy 3betting Russian aggro-monkey at my first table and I really sensed the fireworks waiting to happen. Luckily for him our table was broken pretty early on :)

The only player I initially recognized at my new table was Jeff Madsen. I'm not sure why but in the 3.5 levels we played I never could get anything going. Most my raises were being 3bet, my contibets were getting called and I was just slowly bleeding away my stack. As a result, I now only have 235k going into Day 5.

With blinds of 5k/10k/1k I'm in pretty tough shape but certainly not to be counted out yet. The plan is to get an early double up tomorrow and insta-kickstart myself back into the flow of the tournament. I wish I could write more but I'm going to prioritize sleep instead! Thanks for all the good luck wishes I've been getting, I really appreciate the support!

WSOP Main Event Day 2a

I had an incredibly lucky table draw for Day 2. To my immediate right was Tim "Tmay420" West and to my immediate left was Kevin "kice32" Iacofano, but other than that I didn't recognize a single player. The play was very loose throughout the day and it really didn't surprise me that the three of us made it through all 5 levels of play as the lone survivors of the table.

Of all the live tables I've ever played at, I've never seen so much 3betting as I did yesterday. 4bets were quite scarce, but 3betting was completely out of control. Not surprisingly, 3 of my first 4 openraises were then 3bet into me and each time I had to fold. Also, I got the sour end of a blind battle with Tim after he opened the SB and I defended Q8s. He check called a T52 rainbow flop and the turn paired the 5, which I then fired again because I think his hand range contains a ton of hands that can't stand 3 barrels of pressure. He called again and when he donked into a rivered King I changed my plan and cut my losses. He later told me he had KK.

I had now lost 30% of my stack and was down to around 40k when I raised 96s from MP. The BB, a guy who had a huge card rush in the first level, defended. The flop came down 9s6c4d, schwoops. He check called the flop, check called the Ts turn and check called the Qs river. Though the board kind of went to crap, I still felt like I could get decent value out of my hand since he had displayed the desire to make light calls in earlier play.

That catapulted me back to 60k when the following hand went down: Blinds 400/800/100. I raise Th9h to 2100 from the CO and Andre Boyer defends his BB. He had been played hyperaggressive which isn't bad, but he had chosen some poor spots to do so imo. Anyway, I flop the effective nuts: 8cJhKh. He check calls my standard 2600 cont-bet and the turn blanks out a 2d. He checks again and I opt to fire another bullet, though taking the free card certainly would also be a viable option. I fire 5200 and he tanks for a solid minute before throwing 20k in the middle.

At this point I am hating myself for not taking the free card. I count out my chips and had 50k left, meaning his 15k raise + 35k still to work with. I thought it through and decided that it was possible he could just be tugging, plus it was really hard to put him on a hand that would justify that play other than 88. I stick it all-in, he gets an oscar for his Hollywood performance and finally folds.

A few rounds later (stack ~100k) we are at 500/1k/100, I pick up AA and raise to 2700 from MP. The button calls and the BB squeezes to 8400. He has me slightly covered and I go for a smallish 4bet to 20k. The button folds as expected and the BB folds as well, schade :(

We now enter the final level of the day, 600/1200/200. At this point stealing is sooooooo incredibly profitable, as each pot is 3600 by default. As an added bonus, the floorman comes over and tells us to rack up our chips, we are the new TV table! The "star" of the table was Jason Young, the recent $1500 WSOP shootout bracelet winner. Unfortunately we would only be featured for the final level of the day and I'm not sure if any of the hands will make it to TV, because nothing too interesting happened.

There was one hand with 2mins left to play where I raised AKo UTG to 3200 and Jason 3bet me to 9k from the cutoff. We were each 130k+ deep, so a 4bet would make the hand very awkward for me. He insisted I fold, assuring me he would show me his hand and he seemed very sincere about it. Still, I made the call and we saw a flop of Ac6h7h. The action went check/check and the turn was a Qs. I fired 13k and he looked disgusted before folding KK face-up. I showed him my hand because at this point it didn't matter anyway and that pretty much concluded the action for the night.

I'm going into Day 3 tomorrow with 147,300 chips.

WSOP Main Event Day 1b

Like everyone else in the Main Event, I began the day with 20k in chips. I didn't recognize anyone at my table, but later learned that the player to my right was Keith "The Camel" Hawkins. I chipped up early and the table dynamics became quite clear: Keith and I were doing the raising and betting, everyone else was doing the checking, calling and folding.

There was one lady at the table who was too funny for words. She thought that a bet of 600 was the solution to all problems at the poker table. I'm not kidding when I say that her open-raise was 600 (blinds 50/100), her 3bet size was 600 (raise from 275 to 600) and her bets on the flop, turn and river were also respectively 600 each! As you can probably imagine, it didn't take her too long to bust out, I did the honors with QQ on a KcTs9s flop against her AK for her last 3.8k in chips. A jack on the river sealed her fate.

Loaded with around 30k in ammunition, Keith raised from EP to 600 at blinds 100/200. He had me covered and I made the call with 22. Everyone folded and the flop came down 7c 8c 2h giving me bottom set. He surprisingly checked and I fired 1k, which he very quickly called. The turn was the 10d. He checked again and I fired 2400, which he once again called quickly. The river was the 3c, completing the flush. However, it was not very relevant because I think he is almost always contbetting that flop with a flush draw, so I opt for a value bet of 5k even which he SNAPS. To my surprise, he reveals 96o for the straight and I lose almost 30% of my stack.

The very next hand I raise 88 and flop a set against someone else, allowing me to win back approx. 5k in chips. The next orbit Keith raises from the same position again and I know his range is so incredibly wide not only because of his showdown beforehand, but also because the guy in the BB is probably the tightest player to ever have played the Main Event. He literally never played a hand, constantly complained about the crap the dealer dealt to him and almost had a heart attack when we had to play 7-handed for a couple minutes while we waited for new players. He called the floor over at least 4 times to remind them to send someone over ASAP.

Anyway, new blinds are 150/300 and Keith raises to 800 and this time I elect to 3bet to 2500 with JTo. He calls and we see a flop of Js4d2d. He checks and I check it back for deception as well as the fact that I don't want to be pushed off my hand quite yet. The turn is the Jc and he check/calls my 3300 bet. The river is a Qs, he checks and I go for a 7100 value bet, which should confuse him beause my line looks a little strange. He makes the call and instamucks when I show him my hand, later on he told me he had 66.

With the final break about to begin, an old man (stack ~16k) raised UTG+1 to 1200 and I found AQs in MP. I made the call and we saw a flop of As9h7h. This old man hated me because I had already 4bet him twice, only with kings and once with T9s, though neither went to showdown. Still, I had the feeling that he was not in the mood to be giving me any more chips. He bet 2k and I made the call. The turn was the Kh and he announces "All-in" for 12.7k (double the pot-size). This was now a pretty difficult decision. I tanked for about 3 minutes and after some chit-chat I finally made the call. He showed JhJd, I dodged his 11 outs and sent him packing.

The last level consisted of me moving to a new table, making a bad fold against an unkown that should have sent him to the rail and then losing a few chips in the final hands because I thought people would just want to get through the day without much confrontation. Still, I ended the day with 66,350 chips so all is well for now. Play continues on Tuesday and I'm ready to get back in the zone.

Vegas Pics, Part 1

Rockstar, the instruments have been sitting around ever since

View from the Pure night club

Sutti, Daniel, Matthias

Sonja + Seri

girls we met at the club

in the gabbana

Seb teaching Ferguson how to play Stud Hi/Lo

Sieg!

A vegetarian grilling meat, kind of ironic

Our first house barbeque

at the Tao Beach

Come on! Go Nico!

Wendy and Seb

Schnib, Rifter and I think Heiko just hit my head trying to give me the bunny ears

Instant classic

I still have pics to post from the bracelet party, the villa and other random adventures, I'll probably upload them at the end of the trip.