blonde poker forum

 :hello:

Play has started on time

Okay, let's do this by quadrants.

For some reason, there always seem to be few 'name' players in the bottom left hand quadrant - maybe coincidence, who knows.

Anyway, players spotted in this section include:

Sverre Sundbo
Vicky Coren
Kerry Taylor
Anders Berg
Joe Beevers
Paul Parker
Phil Gordon
Isabelle Mercier (I think)

Spotted in the bottom right quadrant:

Trevor Reardon
Simon Trumper
Kevin Moore
Brian Wilson
Harry Demetriou
Phil Laak
Mark Seif
Dale
Julian Thew
Anontio Esfandiari
Jennifer Harman

And, making his presence felt on the the TV table, Ben Grundy.

Just spoke to Simon Trumper who seems confident, and most importantly perhaps, comfortable with his table. All pretty soft apparantly, except for the guy to his right, but Simon is using this to his advantage.

Simon even used his skill of detecting tells to take a hand of the only decent player on his table.

Simon limped with 6-7 and missed the flop completely - everyone checked.

The turn brought a 7, and three clubs.

Mateyboy to his right looked at his cards (checking to see if he had a club according to Trumper) and then bet out. Simon called, intending to bet the river if Mateyboy missed.

The river was a blank, and MB made what Simon described as a hesitant bet. Simon therefore stuck in a raise (thinking MB had a bigger pair). MB folded and Simon took the pot.

He appears to be in very good spirits indeed.

He informed me that he spoke to Peter Costa and they agreed that the best strategy was to keep the pots small and try to outplay their opponents. Of course, with big pots, comes the bigger influence of luck. I think I'd have to agree with this approach. Unless you hit a monster, keep the pots small and build your stack gradually.

And in quadrant 3 we have:

Matt 'Matt674' Doyle
Steve Vladar
Dan Samson
Steve Jelinek
Greg Raymer
Lee CLifford
Paul Barker
Bruno Fitoussi
Liz Lieu (sp?)

The final quadrant at the top right was rising for a break when I approached, but I did managed to spot TJ Cloutier, Daniel Negreanu, Neil Channing, and David O'Callaghan.

Talking of Irishman David O'Callaghan, he's down to 6.5k after flopping a set of Queens.

He raised preflop, found two callers.

Flop came Queen high with two diamonds.

MB bet 250, Dave made it 1,000 and MB called.

A third diamon fell on the turn, both checked, but David faced a value bet on the river with King and Ten of diamonds that he eventually paid off.

Day 1b chip counts:

Hossein Tagh Avi -- 229,125
Wesley Wilburn -- 122,200
Alex Minislow -- 94,350
Cory Butler -- 90,250
Edward Brogdon -- 90,200
Laro Bonding -- 88,600
Adam Sweet -- 86,250
Theo Tran -- 82,950
Magnus Petersson -- 82,575
David Chiu -- 78,225

Others:

Allen Cunningham -- 77,625
Akshay 'ActionAxe' Kumar -- 70,125
Andrew 'AndrewT' Tracey -- 53,425
Mickey Appleman -- 39,250
Men Nguyen -- 36,100
Micahel Greco -- 35,025
Kevin Daly -- 34,775
Jeff Madsen -- 33,300
Humberto Brenes -- 29,175
Ken 'KPNuts' Powell -- 28,850
John Exley -- 27,32
Annie Duke -- 26,725
Mike Caro -- 22,925
Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson -- 20,200

1a & 1b combined chipcounts:

Hossein Tagh Avi -- 229,125
Fran Cipriano -- 123,200
Wesley Wilburn -- 122,200
Ken Jacobs -- 119,106
Paul McCaffrey -- 110,650
John Kincaid -- 107,500
Joe Fuhriman -- 98,250
George Lopez -- 98,125
Alex Minislow -- 94,350
Mike Erstling -- 94,075
Sean Le -- 94,050
Paul Kitsos -- 92,850
WeiKai Chang -- 92,575
Cory Butler -- 90,250
Edward Brogdon -- 90,200
Laro Bonding -- 88,600
Adam Sweet -- 86,250
Paramjit Gill -- 85,650
Mark Vos -- 85,375
Jeffrey Lisandro -- 85,025

It looks as though Sam Farha left us before the break.

I am reliably informed that he ran a turned full house (set of nines on the flop) into quad sixes.

It appears as though Liz Lieu is also OUT.

TJ Cloutier is up to around the 20k mark after cracking Aces twice with K-K, and then again with Q-Q

Dale -- 13,925
Antonio Esfandiari -- 7,425
Harry Demetriou -- 9,575
Trevor Reardon -- 9,500
Bhupinder Kohli -- 9,375
Phil Laak -- 3,725
Brian Wilson -- 9,375
Nick Gibson -- 8,150
Simon Trumper -- 5,275

Brian Wilson pushes all his chips in after flopping a Browadway straight.

Opponent had the same hand.

Split pot.

Just caught Nick Gibson check raising (initial raise was 600) Mateyboy to 2,000

Mateyboy folded on a 2s Kh 2c board and Nick too the pot.

Dan Samson -- 9,875
Stuart Nash -- 8,600
Steve Jelinek -- 9,000
Dubai -- 9,650
Greg Raymer -- 5,700
John Gale -- 10,600
Lee Clifford -- 8,250
Paul Barker -- 10,900
Matt Doyle -- 7,770

Phil Gordon -- 4,775
Joe Beevers -- 21,450
Chad Brown -- 23,500
Vicky Coren -- 4,300
Kerry Taylor -- 9,175
Paul Parker -- 7,900

Phil Laak has just doubled up.

A-K vs Q-Q

He's still got less than his starting stack though.

Henning Granstad -- 15,500
Rolf Woods -- 21,500
Frodo Frageli -- 6,000
Hans Talstad -- 34,000
David Chavda -- 10,000
TJ Cloutier -- 25,225
Jennifer Tilly -- 6,275
Neil Channing -- 11,500
Daniel Negreanu -- 16,800
David Callaghan -- 5,875

One of the chip leaders is Norwegian Hans Talstad

To say he's had his fair share of good fortune would be a slight understatement.

First of all he flops a full house with A-7 on an A-7-7 board. Mateyboy with Q-Q moves all-in (?!)

Then he forces a guy with A-Q to fold the same hand as him on an A-rag-rag-rag-Q board

Finally, he busts Pocket Queens when his T-9 on a Ten high flop turns another Ten.

Ash Hussain -- 2,700
Phil Cooklin -- 11,725
Mrs Marty Wilson -- 12,500
Radu Buton -- OUT
Chris Moorman -- 13,000

Trevor Reardon is facing a 1.5k bet on a board of 2s 7d 4h 8h with about 1.5-2k in the pot.

After a lenghty dwell, he opts for the fold.

His chips were mixed up, so it was tricky to see how many he had and I didn't want to ask due to him losing a pot so recently.

I think he has around 6k though.

Brian Wilson is on 15k and looking at ease.

He also told me that, contrary to CardPlayer having him at 12k at one point, Dave did actually exit this years WSOP beforehand with a K-K vs A-Q accident.

David 'Bazzaboy' Barrie-- 19,850

Cloutier, Negreanu and Beevers still up there with 20k plus.

Just to let you know how it's going down at Negreanu's table.

He's pretty much playing every hand, and his table seems incredibly meek.

except for this one guy, who is doing the extreme with the view that 'If I don't play any flops with him I can't be outplayed'. A Kill Phil strategy I suppose. I don't get it personally, but this is what happened.

Daniel raised from Trap 2 for 500 (blinds 100/200) Mateyboy on the button moves all-in for 7.5k (!!)

Guess what, Daniel folded. Could be a frustrating day if every does that and Daniel doesn't pick up any hands.

Anyhow, he's doing well with 22,900

Neil Channing is currently on 12,475

On his table, two guys managed to get their chips in with J-T and J-Q

The board was 9-Q-3-8-T

split pot

German update now:

George 'The Panzer' Danzer (Barcelona EPT semi-finalist) is on 16,500

Meanwhile, Jan Heitman (runner up to John Kabbaj at the Vic) is OUT after calling a seven k river bet with a eight set of eights, only to find his opponent sitting there with a rivered flush.

Sitting just two seats away from one another are Phil Cooklin (regular Luton player - TightEnd should know him well) and MAd Marty Wilson's half (apologies, not sure of the forename).

Anyhow, the former has 11,325 and the latter has 12,250

Jennifer Harman survives after moving her shortstack all-in against Mateyboy.

Both players turned over Pocket Jacks.

Jennifer Tilly is OUT

Well, it looks like Jennifer Harman is gone. She was down to less than 2k anyhow.

Anotnio Esfandiari is struggling with just 3,575

Brian Wilson limps under the gun with 7-4 off.

Mateyboy raises to 850, Brian and the big blind call.

Flop = A-7-2

Original raiser sticks in 3k, the big blind folds, and Brian calls.

Both check the raggy turn.

But The Rookie takes it down with a 3.2k bet when the River brings a blank.

Apparantly, Mateyboy had Pocket Kings.

The Rookie is up to 20k

"I was down to 5,200 and am now back up to 11,000," says Simon Trumper.

Flop = 5s Kd Jd

Simon bets 800, takes the pot and shows the King of clubs.

"Make that 12,000," he adds

Last years final tabler, Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow, has been eliminated from the feature table.

Matusow called all-in with a set of sevens on a flop of two diamonds.

Mateyboy rivered a flush and took the pot with Kd Jd

Viet Van -- 22,360
Chris Moorman -- 17,000
John Gale -- 17,400
Bruno Fitoussi -- 14,150
Paul Parker -- 10,500
Reyaaz Mulla -- 18,000
Josh Arieh -- 14,500

Lee Clifford raises 600 from the button. The blinds fold.

He's now on 13,100

Antonio Esfandiari is OUT.

I've been told he had pocket nines, not sure what he ran into though.

Dubai is OUT.

Neil Channing -- 13,950
Mads Anderson -- 4,100
Ash Hussain -- OUT
Phil Cooklin -- 11,325
Daniel Negreanu -- 40,300
John Gale -- 25,000
Nick Gibson -- 22,000

------------------------------- Dinner Break -------------------------------

See you in 90 minutes time.

Kerry Taylor is OUT

All-in preflop for his last 2.5k against two Americans, one of which is pictured below (foreground)

Flop = 2s 8h 5d

The player pictured bet 2k, opponent called.

Turn = Tc

The player pictured bet 3k and took the pot with Pocket Tens.

A disappointed Kerry Taylor flipped over Pocket Jacks.

blondeite Dale clashes with Mark Seif.

Board = 9h 3c Ahrt 7c Tc

Dale bets out 2.2k on the River.

Mark Seif makes a brisk call with Td 8d

He got rid of them quickly, but I think Dale had K-9 (definitely a King)

On taking the pot, Seif comments, "desperate people do desperate things" - which  considered to be a bit of an uncalled for rubdown.

Dale is down to 12,050

Brian Wilson -- 18,800
David Barry -- 19,000
Simon Trumper -- 14,200
Roy Rees -- 10,000
Ben Grundy -- 18,325
George Danzer -- 33,850
Nick Gibson -- 21,000

Bruno Fitoussi is OUT.

How about some danish counts?

Jan V -- 40k
Mads Andersen (Copenhagen EPT winner) -- 11k
Christian Gruntvig (Paris WPT) -- 4k

Henning Granstad -- 8,100
Daniel Negreanu -- 45,200
Neil Channing -- 19,500
David Chavda -- 25,000
Phil Cooklin -- 3,225
John Gale -- 27,500
Steve Dannenmann -- 21,100

TJ Cloutier is OUT.

William Thorson is your current chip leader 77,500

Nick Gibson's tablemate Ben 'Milkybarkid' Grundy says it's all about the slow patient wait as people seem "keen to pay you off if you hit."  He added, "I've given myself some rules today."  Things like, "No playing A10 or worse."  It looks like he needs to restrict himself to halt the looseness spawned from boredom/frustration.  That's where the two-hour levels come in - there's no need to succumb to such things when you can legitimately use the Force of Patience.  He's on 20,000.

Average Stack = 15,478

Greg Raymer -- 11,00
Dan Samson -- 3,300
Nick Gibson -- 18,000
Mads Andersen -- 11,100
Mark Seif -- 5,675
Phil Laak -- 13,200
Lee Clifford -- 13,475
Josh Ariah -- 19,175
Paul Parker -- 6,200
Paul Barker -- 7,925
Joe Beevers -- 29,200
Stuart Nash -- 8,825

Brian Wilson is down to 10k after paying off Jacks with Tens.

"I thought I'd gamble with him," commented a dejected 'Rookie'

correction - Paul Parker has 6,200

Simon Trumper -- 9,200
David Barry -- 31,475

Phil Laak calls an early position raise from the big blind. Flop comes 4-2-A (two diamonds). MB bets 3.5k, Laak folds. Down to 10,875.

Dale raises to 1.5k from the button. Limper Mark Seif dwells before folding. Up to 13,200

About turn for Nick Gibson - well, just some slight damage, actually - just saw him playing a button-holding Matey on a board of 2c 6d Aspades 6h.  Check, Matey bets what looks like a couple of thousand.  Call from Nick. 
River: 4h   Nick checks, Matey moves in for his last 5,550 exactly (pot size around 4k).  A quick call from Nick.

Matey shows the clearly unexpected 6c 7c, and Nick mucks - he's down to around 17,000.

Neil 'Bad Beat' Channing is currently on 8,775

He retold a hand in which he called a button raise from the blind with Q-J suited.

The three players involved checked the J-J-9 flop.

Mateyboy in earliy (ish) position bets 1.3k on the Ten turn and the button (original raiser) makes it 4k.

Neil decides to fold his trip Jacks, the button shows K-Q for the straight.

Other counts from people I didn't notice the first time round (check the brutal honesty - my eyes aren't what they used to be):

David Lloyd      8,000
Richard Gryko   24,200

It looks as though Paul Parker is OUT.

Last year's runner-up Steve Dannenmann has been eliminated from the comp.

J-J v K-K

I don't know about Mateyboy, Kev, but I remember somewhere back in the mists of time someone asked for a Chris Moorman update:

Saw him in the break (which I was actually using to collar players ;)     )
He said he'd been playing against John Gale a good bit - which resulted in a loss, a tilt, and a win, like this:
He held 8c 8s, and raised (he raises a lot, by the way).  John Gale called.  Flop:  4 5 6, which Chris quite liked, but he check-called John's bet.  The turn brought a Jack, and this time John bet bigger, while Chris made what he called "a stubborn call, figuring the bigger bet meant he may have hit the Jack."
River:  Ace, which slowed John down with his J9.

Result:  A tilted Moorman, who raised even more.  Then another pair of Eights came his way, and John Gale called his inevitable raise.
Flop: 4c 3c 3s  Chris bet out three quarters of the pot, John called.
Turn:  Ts   Again, Chris bet and got called.
River:  Ks  Now Chris checked, and got a chunky 3,600 bet from John.  Not scared of the backdoored flush, he called, and was rewarded by seeing John's losing busted flush draw - Ac 6c.

He's on around 18k.

Bhups Kohli is playing today - after his success in previous events it bodes well for his rocky style this early on in the Big One... he's created a nice solid image for himself over the last six hours, and built up to 30k while doing so.

He said that earlier, "everyone was after the table maniac's chips." 
"So who got them?" I asked.
"I did!"
And how did it happen?  Well, apparently a raising-happy guy made it 250 to go (blinds 25/50) - the same raise he'd made when he'd found legitimately huge hands in the past.  Bhups had Qd Qh and decided to "call, and if no Queen on the flop, get out of the way." He'd already open-folded pocket Queens preflop before, so I believe this was his intention.  The big blind (chip leader) also called, and the flop came:  Qh 9h Jc.

ProbableAcesMatey bet out 1,000, and not liking the chip leader being in there with those draws, Bhups raised another 3k.  The chip leader got out of the way, and Matey went for it- all in with Ac Ad.

Greg Raymer -- 3,925
Josh Arieh -- 17,000
Dale -- 42,000
Stuart Nash -- 15,950
Mark Seif -- 7,325
Brian Wilson -- 14,000
William Thorson -- 92,000
Neil Channing -- 11,325
Simon Trumper -- 6,000
David Barry -- 58,700
Phil Cooklin -- 2,925
Nick Gibson -- 11,100
Ben Grundy -- 12,300
Bhupinder Kohli -- 28,625
Daniel Negreanu -- 42,800
George Danzer -- 41,300
John Gale -- 34,975
Joe Beevers -- 31,800
Lacey Jones -- 4,150
David Chavda -- 25,350
Dan Samson -- 7,000

If you're wondering what happened to Nick Gibson's stack, it was sliced in half when he checked top pair A-K on an Ace-rag-6 flop, thereby allowing 6-7 on the button to catch up when the Turn brought a 6.

Quote from Nick: "I haven't learnt my lesson from last year"

Chris Moorman is OUT.

He raised with A-J in early position only to find two callers, one of whom was nicely chipped up.

Chris bet 2.4k on the A-Q-2 flop, Mateyboy called.

Jack hit the turn and Chris check raised all-in only to find his oppoent sitting there with Pocket Deuces.

Simon Trumper doubled up his shortstack when he moved all-in with Pocket Nines.

"I hope we're racing," said Simon to his opponent.

To his delight, Mateyboy flipped a lowly Pocket Fives and Simon's hand stood up.

Dan Samson has been up and down like a yo yo.

From 27k to 1k, and now back up to 7k.

"I never tilt," he cliams.

Bhups also told me about his recent "Christmas present" - wildly deciding to go out on a limb and raise to 600 with Aspades Qs when a perpetual limper limped one time too many, he found the button calling instead.  But he flopped the nut flush, which was nice.
He bet it out (I like that) and ButtonMatey raised.  Now crossing his fingers that the button had called with some speculative smaller spades, he called, and at this point I can't read my notes, or remember exactly what he told me, but he'd got so much of his stack in by the turn, that he bet the river all-in blind.
ButtonMatey called with Js 8s and a solid 30k is being maintained.

Tablemates Ben Grundy and Nick Gibson, who both gave little shakes of the head when their stack was peered at.
MilkybarKid:  9,150 at last count
Nick:    13,500
Rolf Woods    10,500
Neil Channing  11,200
Tim Anders     35,000
Stuart Nash    38,000
Richard Gryko  120,000
George Danzer  70,000