Starting to see more familiar faces around here now, Laurence Gosney, Vicky Coren, Willy Tan, Paul Testud to name a few. Last night history was made, Jonny Chan won his 10th WSOP Bracelet when he beat Phil Unibomber Laak is the $2,500 PL Hold'em final.
Day-16 - 26th June - 10 Bracelets For Mr Chan
Day-15 - 25th June - A Very Good Book
It's the $5000 Omaha Buy-In today (and double top up!) today, everyone is talking about the real cost of this tournament and general consensus is that it will cost between $15,000 and $25,000 even for the averagely cautious player.
Day-14 - 24th June - $2,500 PLH - My Demons
This was my sixth event at the WSOP event and my overall best performance so far until I managed to spunk my chips away (as Thewy would say). I played for 9 hours and went out 60th out of 400. I had been in great shape all day, I had 20,000 chips when the average was 5,000. Today saw the best aspects of my game, and also the worst. Here's a few hands I played that demonstrate this:
Day-13 - 23rd June - Missed Opportunities & Bad Play
I was having a great dream about building my own casino on the strip and was just at the part when I was asking Celine Deon to cut the ribbon at the grand opening, when I was awoken by a knock at the door at 11.45am (I was playing at 12pm). It was the three musketeers, Grumps, Chubbs and CK wanting to change some euros for dollars. I had slept sweetly for 14 hours and in 5 seconds transformed from Las Vegas Casino Baron back to me, not so bad though, cause I'm playing No Limit Hold'em at the WSOP today! When I arrived at my table I only recognised Bruno Fitoussi 3 to my right which meant that I was going to have my blinds put under pressure all afternoon. Today was a day of missed opportunities for me, I ended up going out 500th out of 1,056 runners but I felt I should have won a lot more chips and been in much better shape. As usual in my journal, here are a few key hands I played (or misplayed!):
Day-12 - 22nd June - Going Downtown
I first came to Vegas when I was 22, 11 years ago, I spent the first 9 years visiting this fantastic place twice a year to play Blackjack, until the Poker Bug bit me 2 years ago.
Day-11 - 21st June - $1,500 No Limit - Timing Is Everything
The WSOP kept registrations open for 45 minutes after the start of the tourney, as they wanted the field to reach the magic 2000 entry figure. The atmosphere was the best so far in my opinion, I think this was because the arena was actually full and there were crowds of onlookers asking for the stars autographs and trying to catch a glimpse of their idol playing a pot. Phil Helmuth was generating most interest and the railbirds were 5 people thick just to see the 9 times WSOP bracelet in action. Poker is going to be massive in the UK in 3 years time, without a doubt. I arrived at my table to find no name players on it and the table was very tight except for 2 players, one of them called every single raise with any 2 cards - he was out within 15 minutes. By the first break we had lost over 500 players and I was heading the same wayI had only played 5 pots, including the blinds and anted down to 1000 chips from 1500, my best hand had been AT. Sometimes you just get a cold deck and miss every flop and there is nothing you can do about it (I will play more cards than the average person so a cold deck for me is a freezing deck for most players). The blinds were at 50-100 so I was in poor shape, with only 1 move left - All-In. I decided to wait for one of the looser players on the table to raise and re-raise all-in with a hand that I was confident that I was at least 60-40 ahead with. This way I could get some chips if he passed or I was odds on to double if he called me. Some players I speak to define a trouble stack at 4 times to big blind (theory being that you have one decent raise left), but I feel that I have a trouble stack at 10 times the BB,, one Re-Raise left, as with 4 times the BB, the Big Blind nearly has pot odds to call you with any 2 cards unless you have a high pocket pair - also there is normally some clever dick that likes knocking people out with 73 off suit when it you can't damage his stack. Anyway, my opportunity arrived shortly:
Day-10 - Tuesday 21st June
Not a huge amount to report today. The $5000 PL is down to 3 tables, with Devilfish and Steve Liu both still in. Steve has a mountain of chips and looks set to reach the final following the form of his poker partner CT Law.
Day 9 - 20th June - $5,000 PLH - You Can't Bluff A Bluffer
Sat down to a tough table today, but only 240 runners, I had Daniel Negraneau to my right on the BB this time, and Daniel Alyai on my SB. The conversation on the table was about the number of entries in the main event, Negraneau said there was only 2600 confirmed even though the rumour mill is saying a full house - better get your ticket now! This was the TV table again and there was a microphone handing above the table and cameras from every angle. On hand 3 Negraneau slow played aces (he actually moaned to me when he was re-raised pre-flop with them as I had limped with 3s4s, something that wouldn't go down too well in the UK) and took down a massive pot. He moved all-in on the river and the guy passed QQ on a TJ46 board - great pass. I was wondering how Negraneau had managed to get all his chips in the middle with a 25-25 blind structure until the next hand when I got involved!
Day 8 - 19th June - Tho Odd Couple Had Landed + CK
Got a text message from the no.2 heads-up player in the world, Chubby Nowab announcing his, Colchester Kev, and Burnley John's arrival in Vegas at about 4pm.
Day 7 - 18th June - Exercising My Demons
No poker till Monday for me as its all non-hold'em stuff today and tomorrow. I used my last pair of boxer shorts this morning so took a trip to Caesar's Palace Forum shops to re-stock.