Archive for January, 2010

Yep, the dates are in for the Hog Roast trip to Vegas for the 2010 WSOP – I’ll be there from June 10-21, so a slightly shorter trip than usual due to arrangements to watch the World Cup. I will be in the States for the England v USA game tho, which should prove to be a most entertaining day

Anyway, the shorter trip does mean no WSOP KCL (NL 2-7 single-draw), which is a bit of a shame. And the England game clashes with a $1000 NLH too, but there is a $1500 NLH during the trip and I’ll be playing that.

Other than that I’ll be looking to play in a few Mega-Stack events at Caesars as usual and the odd Deepstack at The Venetian. I’m hoping that the Golden Nugget have another really good schedule for their Grand Series of Poker events, which last year included a TDL event which was great fun.

I’ll acually be in Vegas in mid-March for work, but I doubt I’ll get to play much then. Well, maybe one or two…

This one is from my friend Bearded Mike, (see Blogroll).  His ’signature hand’ is 74, tho I can’t remember the suits.  Anyway, this is how to make a million bucks by playing it, courtesy of Tom Dwan…

The Rendezvous Casino at Brighton Marina has a very good new weekly schedule of events.  I lost interest in the weekly schedule becuase I really hate self-dealing at tournaments, but the really good news here is that The Rendezvous tournaments will all be dealer-dealt, even the £10-rebuys.  That’s good news indeed, and I’ll be looking to get down then and play my schedule allows, the more play I get, the more zoned-in I will be when Vegas comes around.

Here it is:

Monday: £30-£30-£40 / 2000 stack / 3000 for £30 rebuy, 5000 for £40 add-on
Tuesday: £20-rebuys / 1500 stack / 4000 for £40 add-on
Thursday: £50-single-rebuy / 5000 stack
Friday: £10-rebuys / 1000 stack / 3000 for £20 add-on
Friday: £40-freeze / 10k stack
Sunday: £20-rebuys, £5 bounty / 1500 stack / 4000 for £40 add-on
First Saturday of each month: £100 freeze / 10k stack

My only criticism is the small starting stacks, particularly in the small rebuys.  However, I do like the £100 freezeout and the Thursday event, and I’ll try to play when I can.

Well done to the Rendezvous for getting dealers.

Played the £200 freezeout in the January Sales Festival at The Rendezvous in Brighton on Friday.  I was determined to be disciplined and focussed, and pretty much stick to my usual gameplan.  This deserted me before Xmas, where I got sucked into the low-blind limping mentality, which is not me at all.

Anyway, I was certainly tight and disciplined, but to be honest, anyone would have been with the cards I had – I wasn’t card-dead, I was card-extinct!  No complaints tho, that’s how it goes.

Anyway, the structure had us starting with 6000 chips, with 30 minute blinds and ante’s from level 5.  In level 1 I had KK and JJ and won small pots, reaching a height of 7.5k and those were the only hands I played in the first 3 levels. At the break I had 5.5k, the next level being 150-300, and I was happy that “the play would start now”.  I hadn’t donked off a load of chips, I had a good image, and I was ready to go.

Sadly, I couldn’t play a hand in level 4.  I had a succession of 6-9, Q-2 etc.  The ’standard’ bet to open a pot on this table was 4-5x, which also meant I had no real fold-equity to bluff with, but even then, generally a raise was followed by a re-raise, so basically I had no cards and no position.

In level 5, with 3600 chips and blinds at 150-300-25, I got AQ and KQ and again, took the blinds with no action, and after that the only decision I had to make was when to shove.  Obviously when I did shove, I lost

So, basically a bit of a non-event in as much as all my plays were auto-plays, I had no decisions to make and nothing I could get involved with once the tournament reached the stage where play was very much required.

Still, for what it’s worth, I felt focussed and confident, and am looking forward to getting another opportunity to play.