In for £10 please, where do I send money?  Cheers

PM sent.

£10 sent, Ref: WRJ23, Thanks

In for £10 please, where do I send money?  Cheers

Captain – Phil Hellmuth
ITM more than 5 times – Taylor Paur
Brits – Max Silver
WSOP POTY – Daniel Negreanu
High Stakes – Vanessa Selbst
Main Event Champions – Phil Hellmuth
Euro –Manig Loeser
Wildcard 1 –  Erik Seidel
Wildcard 2 – Calvin Anderson

The first 1,000 seats won in these online satellites will receive a $25,000 Golden Chip and any player who reaches the final table using their Golden Chip seat will receive a $25,000 cash bonus in addition to their tournament winnings.

I'm aware of the Golden Chips but they don't really give you motivation to accumulate seats, ie. although it is nice to have a Golden Chip on Day 2, you have to final table the tournament for it to be worth anything.  Personally, it doesn't give me motivation to accumulate seats, whereas last year there were a number of people chasing the UKIPT seats, all the results of which were updated daily on the website and they became very competitive (in a friendly way of course!).

What I'm asking is whether they are doing something like this again as I enjoyed the banter when playing, and I liked the idea of having something specific to aim for (ie 10 seats).  I would personally play a lot more sats now, rather than leaving it until nearer to the event if there were a promotion of this sort again.  I think it increased numbers in the sats too.

Does anyone know if DTD are doing/will be doing any promo's for the Grand Prix sats, (like last year with the UKIPT seat offer)?  I assume they probably will be at some point to help to hit the 10,000 entry target.

From a personal point of view, I took part in that offer and found myself playing religiously pretty much every night for a few weeks.  Although I don't intend to do it to that level again, it would be great to have some sort of motivation and competition to accumulate seats this early.

My preference for the Grand Prix is merge stacks for Day 2.  They used to do this a couple of years ago, and it was great for people with multiple seats, but probably not for those with only one bullet.  I think this was discussed some time ago on the forum and most disagreed with the merge stacks.  My opinion is that it would give more motivation to win more seats via the sats knowing that they're not going to waste if you make Day 2 with a big stack early on.  I know you can play again and take highest through, but in my opinion this changes the way the game is played, not just for the individual but for everyone on a table with somebody who has made Day 2.

Anyway, I think the Grand Prix has been great over the last few years and look forward to playing again. I think it's amazing that DTD have guaranteed 10,000 entries and hope that they smash the target.

Cheers,

Will

I am expecting to arrive late for the first Day 1 tomorrow, hopefully by about 130 ish.  If I register with a token online now, will my chips be placed on the table from the start and be blinded away? 

Well done Yeahman!  At last!

Will! read your blonde inbox u fish! i sent you message

Ha, I saw the message, it won't let me reply though for some reason!  Don't know why!

Well done Yeahman!  At last!

Well done Vinod by the way, n good luck to the last few!

23WRJ23   why are still playing ?

Was only playing to pass the time and I enjoy it tbh!  Also rather than railing 1mbue, I'd rather play.  I've given up now tho with 1mbue in the race, not gonna play any more, cos the last thing I need to be is on a FT with her for her seat.  If I busted her on the bubble, she'd bust me up bad n probably wouldn't talk 2 me for a month, so I'm not gonna put myself in that situation! ha

Just found this thread, Well done Set! These games are getting too much of a part of my every day life which isn't good!!  I'm very jealous ur on 10! Just hope I don't suffer from withdrawal if (and hopefully 'when') I get to ten! ha! All the best anyway, 23WRJ23 Will

took ya time getting on here Will lol. you got another last night WD, you do have to put some sick hours in to gather these chips ill agree its consuming 90% of my time. cya on there 2nite no doubt

I think posting on here was a good omen!  What a relief, I'm glad it's over!  Best of luck to you Ross, I'm sure it won't be long til u finish it off. Here's sending you the run good I had the last 2 nights, I don't need it any more! Look forward to hopefully meeting everyone in real life at the Grand Prix next month! Gonna miss the banter from playing but not the games!  Good luck to everyone else too, especially Aero, and of course 1mbue!

Just found this thread, Well done Set! These games are getting too much of a part of my every day life which isn't good!!  I'm very jealous ur on 10! Just hope I don't suffer from withdrawal if (and hopefully 'when') I get to ten! ha! All the best anyway, 23WRJ23 Will

     Welcome to Blonde. This is a first time for all of us. I very rarely feel equipped or confident enough to post on this part of the site but hey,here goes for what it's worth. You are  probably already aware of this but part of the issue here was caused way before you sat down. Never go to a casino abroad without your passport no matter what you have been told the night before. Your biggest live comp and you miss a whole heap of information gathering time and suddenly find yourself in a great spot but no information on how the table has been playing,the previous actions of the villain etc etc etc. This has put you at a huge disadvantage. One of the issues I always have with PHA is that no one hand takes part in isolation but is one hand in a sequence of hands involving history,moods,position and the emotional states of the players concerned. A cold analysis of a 'spot' in isolation of context is always slightly flawed in my humble opinion. Your late arrival put you in a huge information disadvantage in this situation.
      Taking all of that into account I would have  raised to 8,000 and then been prepared to re.evaluate if she shoved. It puts you in a horrible spot but KK is just to good to fold to the first bit of pressure. However I stick to the view that the hand was lost when you left your passport behind. That's not a criticism by the way,just the fact that you missed out on getting information which would have helped your decision making.
      If you call her all in and she has AA you can go to the bar and bore everyone with your bad luck coupled with the ' I knew she had aces,don't know why I called speech' or even better at the first break say how lucky you were to get it all in behind  but hit a two outer on the river. Simon Deadman and Mitch Johnson have copies of that speech if you want to ask them.
       
       

Thanks for your comment Ian.  I agree with the your comment that I lost the hand when I left my passport behind, lack of info etc.  The fact I folded this hand pre was mainly due to the fact it was so early, and for me, a big tournament I'd built myself up for for weeks.  I think what I was really asking here was 'is it acceptable to fold KK here being so early, and being so deep, bearing in mind there should be so many more spots later on'.  I'm sure the answer is 'no' and agree with what other people have said, ie. mainly, 'get it in, and if she's got AA, 'that's poker'.

One point though, by making it 8000 and re-evaluating, what am I really re-evaluating?  Am I just over min-raising to fold a shove, or just over min-raising to take down/for value expecting a shove (against a random player)?  I'd say I'm doing it to call a shove, and as bad as it may be, I didn't want to put myself in that situation so early! So weak, I know! 

I'll have to compare notes with Simon and Mitch, plenty of times I've been that guy at the bar telling my bad beat stories, much worse than KK vs AA pre though I'm sure!!

Hi Will welcome to blonde, and thanks for playing the Online cash games

I know what you are saying about wanting to play for longer, not get knocked out early but next time, or after a bit more experience, you are at least 5 betting, and probably shoving?

If she has Aces..gg, gl and hit that King

Thanks TightEnd, online cash games are really good, hope they go from strength to strength, I'll keep playing them, (especially with the great promotions ur putting on the moment!)

I agree with ur last comment completely. I think it was the fact it was so early that made m play it so badly!

Having played in this tournament you would be horrifically wrong to fold vs 99.6% of the field. Vs a random asian lady it is hard to say. I would call in your spot. I would be comfortable backing my judgement. I think you should have perhaps just 5b gone with it. People were crazy in this field especially.

I couldn't agree more with that statement.  In fact, if the 4 bet was made by a Spanish player, or anyone who looked remotely Spanish (!!), Id've felt a hell of a lot more comfortable playing the hand more aggressively/not so badly and weakly!  I've played in Casino Marbella quite a few times, and I think against the average Spanish opponent there, a 5 bet shove would've been snapped by about 66+/A9+!!  Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but not far off! 

For me it was the lack of information, the fact I'd gone to Spain to play and didn't want to bust so early, and be subject to a suck out even when I get it in 70%+ ahead.  My game plan prior to the tournament was to hopefully play smallish pots (pretty nitty I admit), preferably in position, grind it out slowly, picking my spots when I think I'm good.  I suppose this hand coming up so early, and the fact I was just trying to get used to the table was unfortunate, and I should have had the balls to get it in! 

I also had a hand in my head, which I'd randomly been talking to a friend of mine about the night before the tournament, where a friend of mine in the first hand in a £500 buy in picked up AA, n it all went in pre against KK, (he won the pot), and maybe (definitely) that clouded my decision wrongly!

I know the fold is awful in long term poker terms, I agree that getting it in with KK pre is almost always +EV, and I don't think I'll do it again no matter how far I've travelled to play!