Pimp my buddies

2. August 2005 | Category: 50outs

First I have to pimp my friends Bedros and Tony for totally running over the poker trophy in Velden (Austria). Tony “Professor Tony” won the No Limit Holdem Masters for a whopping 41,000 euros and then as if that was not enough Bedros won the limit 7 card stud trophy for 50,000 euros !!! Absolutly amazing and I congratulate both of you! Maybe we get our local PLHE game running again with all this fresh money 😉 Both guys are years-long regulars in our local game and high-stakes experienced. Tony is a serious student of the game and strong competition in every holdem game while Bedros is the ultimate stud tournament cracker in the last 4 years, having won almost anything available (I myself have been beaten by him in second place a few times).

I admit I have no clue how he does it as he is all-in in early stages many times with hopeless hands but he survives with a deadly safety and his confidience is unmatched. Again, congratulations! If you like to read more about the event read the above report at pokerpages or go and read german poker pro Michael Keiner’s report about it (german).

In one of our local casinos they started to spread 5/10 limit holdem since a few weeks on request from a few internet players wanting to try out “the real thing”. Hearing about it and going there was a non-brainer for Katja and in the two session she spent there so far she won 50 and 80 big bets… nice! Every buck counts in this after-wsop-lick-our-wounds time. These “internet guys” are actually quite nice. They have a german spoken forum, found under www.cardcore.net which is just starting up but holds some nice reads already.

Katja critized me about not writing enough about her successes here. Yeah, she’s right, I forgot to mention her success at the last NLHE tournament in Casino Schenefeld, where she made the final table and some nice pricemoney but due to losses in the PLHE cash game it was just a break even weekend (for her, I lost my ass of online like usual) and therefore maybe it does not got the attention from me like it has deserved (it’s all about the money, isn’t it?). I apologize! Katja is the greatest female player I know and I say along with Chip Jett about his wife Carina: “I try to loose less than she win’s and in good month’s I suceed”. Amen.

I myself play online these days only and try to adjust my game, therefore I can be found in all kind of low-limits from $1/2 to $15/30 on party and stars. I try out a few different strategies and don’t like to do this in $30/60 or higher. I played $30/60 for two days at stars, got my ass handed to me with a nice run of ridicolous beats and backed of.

Talking about beats, what about this? I played the sundays $700,000 guaranteed tournament at pokerstars with a buyin of $500+30 like 1,800 other players did. It went so lala until I got moved to a table with one of the chip leaders who played every hand. He already busted 3 players when his A9 held up against QQ, his AK held up against QQ and his 33 held up against AK. I made a big laydown against him when I had KK on a A78 flop and he re-raised me all-in. Somewhat later I found TT in the BB (100), a MP players raised to 300 and mr. chipleader called like always when not raising. I thought about my options, the initial raiser was unknown to me. Having about 1,800 in chips i decided to move-in and to my delight the raiser folded. This would be no story here had mr. chipleader not called the hand and showed ducks, a pair of deuces. The flop was safe, the turn was safe but the river brought the deuce and my tourney was over. Another brick in the wall.

I did also play partypokers’s million guaranteed on saturday for $600+40 buyin like 2,200 more players. I got a pretty good start when I had AA in LP, limped only and the blinds stayed in. The flop came a fantastic 6-A-6. I checked, both blinds checked also. Turn was Q and the small blind betted out like 60. BB folded and I played hollywood and thought about 60 seconds before raising to 150 which was supposed to look like a “test-the-water-raise” with one ace against a open pair. He called. On the river he played 300, I moved in after some hollywood-like hesitation and he called, showing J6. I doubled up in the first level! In the second level I made bad mistake by limping in EP with KJo, hitting my K on a K78 flop but had to lay it down to a big re-raise on the turn which was a 9. 800 chips I wasted with that hand. Play continued for hours then without any real hand or good situation for me until only 580 players were remaining when I moved in with TT, got called by AKo and survived until the river which was a king. Good thing only that I had won the buyin for this tournament playing $1/2 and $3/6 in the afternoon trying out some new moves…

I wonder when it gets time for me to win a high-buyin tournament or at least place in the top 3. I feel pretty good about my game (still) but can’t get out of the black hole I falled into some months ago. If I re-read all those beats from Tunica, Bellagio, WSOP, Online etc. I truly expect to have an “EV-pool” of about 70% or higher. I mean the long-range have to set in somewhere, havn’t it? I do suckout on others, yes, but I am way to seldom in spots to do it, mostly only when I get on tilt (very seldom) or I badly misread my opponent/the situation (sometimes) or I just gamble (seldom in high-buyin events as I want to win one, damnit).

Being back from the WSOP now almost four weeks I must say that I recovered from the experience 100% (not financially, this will take a little more time, lol). I managed to put myself in an optimistic, learn-adjust-win mindframe and I found fun playing again. I am not sure about any bigger live events in the near future (PokerEM in Baden/Austria, world biggest 7stud event, would be next followed by Bellagio’s Fiesta al lago IV/Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship (WPT) in early October) but we will not stay away forever, that’s for sure.