Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Laxie]

Within 5 minutes, we'd moved on to discussing some little issues that have risen in the past between Matchroom & blonde, & they were soon sorted. We swapped e-Mail addy's, & I think I may have his babies.

My kids are sat here asking what's so funny because I was laughing so loud....

Really do enjoy reading your diary Tikay!!!

[tikay]

Also spotted was Shannon Elizabeth, who made few friends today,

Oooh, can we have more info on this? I read tales of her being some kind of bitch out in Vegas and in Australia, so a London hattrick would complete the set.

I actually find this all a mite odd. She's a PokerStars "Poker Ambassador" or somesuch, & 'Stars are generallty pretty cute when it comes to whom they retain  - Joe Hachem & Greg Raymer both being sponsor's dreams in the manner they conduct themselves. Maybe they've adopted a new policy, because I found the signing of Mr Negranau a bit odd too.

I don't actually know her credentials, I believe she's an actress. She sure impressed the Aussies with her demeanour at the Crown Casino from what I gather.

"......Talk about embarrassing. Shannon Elizabeth, D-list celebrity and self-proclaimed "professional poker player",......

[tikay]

Within 5 minutes, we'd moved on to discussing some little issues that have risen in the past between Matchroom & blonde, & they were soon sorted. We swapped e-Mail addy's, & I think I may have his babies.

My kids are sat here asking what's so funny because I was laughing so loud....

Really do enjoy reading your diary Tikay!!!

He's a very nice Man I tell ya. I'm a little too old to be choosy, so it's him or a mobile crane.

[tikay]

Had the dubious pleasure of sitting to the immediate left of Surundar Sunar this evening in the Luton GUKPT, & I've only shared a table with him twice before. Mightily impressive.

He basically suffocated me, I have a playing style which depends on picking up cheap, uncontested pots, & he cut the supply line of those, incessently Raising hand after hand. I eventually took a pot or two off him, player v player rather than hand v hand, (I had Position) but he's way too good for me.

He has lovely tempo, & never does anything quickly. Whilst on the dwell, he fiddles with his stack un-nervingly, ready, it seems, to re-pop the pot. No emotion, no tells, just sits quietly, menacingly, head bowed, cap pulled down over eyes, shirt immaculately ironed, & the re-raise seems to be his MO.

He doubled up early in breathtaking fashion, I can't make either of these plays.

Mr A N Other & Surindar both limp & see this flop.

 

There now follows a series of Min Raises & Re-Raises. Blinds are 25-50, & this Event cost a grand to enter, remember.

Eventually, with 3k left, Surinder gives it the dwell & chip fiddle, before confidently pushing all-in. 20k in this Pot, blinds 25-50. The TV Cameras all rush to tableside, peeps surround the table, this is huge v huger. Set over set, & I'm thinking, "I pass middle set here". He gets called, drama, lights, "ACTION". On their backs.

I'm mildly shocked to see Surinder's holding - 

But not half as surprised as we all were to see Mr Other's monster.

 

[AdamG]

well, obviously an amateur chip dumping on a legend pro! lol

surinder is awesome player, and can mix and change whenever he wants to...including stepping into 5th gear from 1st lol ....  although he seems calm , collected, calculated, u never expect him to do so much damage!

[tikay]

The Luton GUKPT was £1,000 to enter.

I've already explained one hand, all-in on the flop at 25-50 with two pair v top pair.

I also saw this......

It's  against 

The board comes......

 

Offsuit man makes it 4k, nut-flush mans moves all-in, for 8k more, offsuit man calls immediately. Eh?

I really struggle to understand these plays, especially in a £1k Tourney.

My exit was straightforward, I'm BB, a Raise UTG, called in FOUR spots, & as I've been wounded & am down to 7k, I push with Jacks. There may be a monster lurking amongst all those limpers, but we shall see, & indeed 9-9, QQ & AA were all lying in wait for me, no complaints there. But I'd donked off 10k of my 17k a bit earlier in somewhat odd fashion.

Surinder had once again Raised, & I'd callled on the Button, I think I may be able to nick this later, but I assume we'll be heads-up. Wrong, the SB calls too, & this causes a chain-reaction, & we see the flop 5 handed, bugger. My hand is pretty, (as in pretty awful) but that's not the point.

This flop arrives.

 

And everyone checks round to me! Well, how would YOU read this? There's a possible straight, & a flush draw, plus 2 paint cards, a Raisers flop if ever I saw one. And they all check? Even Mr Sunar! What's your thinkng here? 5 handed, well, even if you've flopped the nut straight, surely we are looking at betting to protect against the flush draw, or maybe someone with a monster, a set maybe, is looking to check-raise. So I bet out. SB calls again, everyone else goes away.

Turn.....

 

Bingo, the flush has come, he could have the nut flush, which he'd check, but he has to be worried now if I bet, with that straight & flush both showing. He checks again, I sense he is weak & bet again. A quick call by him now, which really surprises me.

River is a blank. He must bet now if he has this flush, he checks, & I can't help myself, I fire again.

Now he gives a huge dwell, then makes the call. Oh dear..... My hand is genuinely muckable, but I think it's bad manners to sling them in the muck, so I reluctantly turn them, red-faced. And he shows  , for second pair.

Great call, awful call, terrible bluff? Well, it's going down as "unforced error", because it was either a bad bluff by me, or I misjudged the guy, & should have known he would not Pass if he had any part of it. And that's why I doubt my ability to play these biggies, because in his shoes, I just can't make that call.

And I read yesterday of The Camel's awesome call with 3-3 to a big River bet. I can't make that, either, or the K-5 v K-T all-in jobbie in Level One.

Eye-catching stuff, & it was a very long drive home tonight.

But while penning this, I've turned $600 into $2,000 at $3-$6 Omaha. Makes me think, really, I've done a grand down in Luton, plus 4 hours of driving, & in half an hour, not even concentrating, I've won over half of it back, Online, at a game I am a long way from being decent at, just by nut-peddling.

[tikay]

well, obviously an amateur chip dumping on a legend pro! lol

surinder is awesome player, and can mix and change whenever he wants to...including stepping into 5th gear from 1st lol ....  although he seems calm , collected, calculated, u never expect him to do so much damage!

Agre, he's just amazing. And lovely table presence, he's a joy to watch, if not ro play against.

I think I'll have his babies, too.

[AdamG]

well, obviously an amateur chip dumping on a legend pro! lol

surinder is awesome player, and can mix and change whenever he wants to...including stepping into 5th gear from 1st lol ....  although he seems calm , collected, calculated, u never expect him to do so much damage!

Agre, he's just amazing. And lovely table presence, he's a joy to watch, if not ro play against.

I think I'll have his babies, too.

great player indeed and u learn so much from his play, no need ta rush, take ur time, dwell, play with chips, dont give reads, mix it up, change things u do, just WIN THE SUNAR WAY!

[byronkincaid]

Also spotted was Shannon Elizabeth, who made few friends today,

Oooh, can we have more info on this? I read tales of her being some kind of bitch out in Vegas and in Australia, so a London hattrick would complete the set.

I actually find this all a mite odd. She's a PokerStars "Poker Ambassador" or somesuch, & 'Stars are generallty pretty cute when it comes to whom they retain  - Joe Hachem & Greg Raymer both being sponsor's dreams in the manner they conduct themselves. Maybe they've adopted a new policy, because I found the signing of Mr Negranau a bit odd too.

I don't actually know her credentials, I believe she's an actress. She sure impressed the Aussies with her demeanour at the Crown Casino from what I gather.

"......Talk about embarrassing. Shannon Elizabeth, D-list celebrity and self-proclaimed "professional poker player",......

they sponsor humberto "slowroll and stick a plastic shark in your face" brenes, rain "scream like a girl and do a robot dance" khan, noah "multi accounter" boeken and victor "LOL worst cash game player in the world" ramdin

i think there's probably a great chance of me joining the team if only I can get to a final table and become byron " sucks out and then moons at the camera" kincaid

[RED-DOG]

Enough with the having of peoples babies already! I often read this during breakfast.

The thought of you in those stirrup's....... *Shudder*

[Karabiner]

Also spotted was Shannon Elizabeth, who made few friends today,

Oooh, can we have more info on this? I read tales of her being some kind of bitch out in Vegas and in Australia, so a London hattrick would complete the set.

I actually find this all a mite odd. She's a PokerStars "Poker Ambassador" or somesuch, & 'Stars are generallty pretty cute when it comes to whom they retain  - Joe Hachem & Greg Raymer both being sponsor's dreams in the manner they conduct themselves. Maybe they've adopted a new policy, because I found the signing of Mr Negranau a bit odd too.

I don't actually know her credentials, I believe she's an actress. She sure impressed the Aussies with her demeanour at the Crown Casino from what I gather.

"......Talk about embarrassing. Shannon Elizabeth, D-list celebrity and self-proclaimed "professional poker player",......

they sponsor humberto "slowroll and stick a plastic shark in your face" brenes, rain "scream like a girl and do a robot dance" khan, noah "multi accounter" boeken and victor "LOL worst cash game player in the world" ramdin

i think there's probably a great chance of me joining the team if only I can get to a final table and become byron " sucks out and then moons at the camera" kincaid

That's a great idea Byron, but not a pretty picture 

[tikay]

I forgot to mention, the guy who busted me yesterday was Matt Myford, an old mate. I introduced Matt to poker in my golfing days, Matt was (still is, I think) the Pro at Ormonde Fields Golf Club at the time I was Captain. As Captain, I paired him in many comps, & he was an awesome golfer. On the driving range, he could cut & fade shots to order - one-handed! When pro's hit a golf ball, they always get it right in the sweet spot, & it makes that lovely sound.

He knew I played a bit of poker, so he started going to Gala Notts with me, & he became very good. Then he started playing Online, & he won the Laddies $250 Freeze many times.

I gather he is now a Bad-Beat Trader, so his game must be pretty tidy.

He had Aces several times last night. He lost with them to 6-8, & went on the tear, won with them again against me, then had them again later I note from the Live Update.

He's a nice-looking lad, with sticky-up hair, Bongo style.

So Day 2 will include a few Notts boys - Matt Myford, Jamie Moult, Chris Bruice, &, I hope but can't remember, Nick Hicks.

Good luck to them all.

[tikay]

A strange Postscript to my piece on Surinder, who I've admired since I first saw him on Late Night Poker. I like these quiet guys, sort of sinister & menacing, & he, to me, epitomised a poker player, & what's more, behaved like a gent. When I began playing against him, the awe increased, I don't do hero-worship of poker players, but he just seemed ultra-cool to me, & I'd love to handle myself the way he does. Not many could have handled the Tony G onslaught in Paris half as well as he did. Proper man.

But I got a text today, from a very prominent blonde, who was surprised at my admiration for Mr Sunar. He said that Surinder was a total (censored!), & was known to be extremely rude to Dealers. Well, that was a shock to me, as I've never seen it, though I've only shared a table with him a handful of times. I rarely (ever!) play WPT's & such like, & I don't recall seeeing him in too many £150 Freezes at Luton or Sheffield, which is where I have to ply my trade. To be fair, I've seen him a little "tired & distressed" off the table once or twice, & folks can get obnoxious with a few bevvies inside them, but my comments were restricted to his on-table demeanour, & if we are gonna talk "off-table", that's a whole different thing.

But an incident went off yesterday which ANY player would have had the right to get arsey about, & he was polite to a fault throughout, though it was clear by his body-language that he was not a happy bunny.

He made a Raise, Sunar-style, slowly & deliberately. He announced "Raise", then sat stock still, did nothing, put no chips in, you could almost herar his mind ticking. Everyone is watching, baited breath, "how much?" we are all thinking. This is Sunar style, very, very, deliberate.

He's riffling his chips, moving the stcks around, piling up different sized piles, we are all watching intently, what stack will he put in?, he's changing them constantly.

Eventually, he picks up a single stack of 400 chips, (blinds were 50-100) but there were 8 x 25 & 2 x 100, with the 100's on top. So, 10 chips in all. he picks up this sinngle stack, & very deliberately places it on the table, inside the "line", but without ever releasing his hold of the stacvk, he then cuts the stack into two, 4 x 25 for the call, & 4 x 25 + 2 x 100 for the Raise. He never released hold of them at any time, & he put the whgole 400 down in one movement, then just cut them.

The dealer is a lovely kid, but fairly new - let's not knock her, mistakes happen - but she says "that's a string bet, it's just a call". "No it's not" says SS. "Sorry, it's a string bet, it's a call". "I think I know what a string bet is, this was not a string bet" responds our man. "Floor" is called by the Dealer, & over comes the Floorman, a very experienced & good bloke. It was not explained to him clearly, & on what he's heard, he rules "it's a call".

Many players would go off on one at that Ruling, but he just accepted it, without a murmer. So if he's been rude to Dealers in the past, fair enough, but yesterday he had every excuse to get arsey, & he never did.

Maybe I've just seen him on his good days, & in fact he's not the man I thought he was, but for now, I'll judge him on what I've seen with my own eyes.

[snoopy1239]

Surely if he announced "Raise" then it's a raise, whatever he did with his chips, hands, etc. Was this not related to the TD?

[tikay]

Surely if he announced "Raise" then it's a raise, whatever he did with his chips, hands, etc. Was this not related to the TD?

Everything was related to the TD, but you know how daft it gets when the Floor is summoned, The Dealer,  Floor, player & 4 others all try to talk at the same time, progressively louder & louder, in such circumstances, clear communication is not easy.

Yogi, in his Blackpool days, used to make eveyone keep quiet, not speak until asked, & his Rulings were, as a result, usually spot on. Mr Kremser does the same, "ONE AT A TIME PLEASE" sorta thing.

Mistakes happen, it's not a problem, but that was not the point, which was that SS took the bad Ruling quietly & stoically.