KEVIN O'LEARY POKER Poker Player Kevin O'Leary
  • Home
  • ABOUT THIS SITE
    • ABOUT ME
    • MY RESULTS & HISTORY
    • LIVE OR ONLINE POKER?
    • MINDSET, GOALS, THE FUTURE
  • GET INVOLVED
    • SHARE PRICES & INFO
    • UNDERSTANDING STAKING
    • TOURNAMENT COACHING
    • THE LEGAL STUFF
  • TOURNAMENT UPDATES
    • UPDATES
    • ARCHIVE UPDATES
    • FAQ's
    • GALLERY
  • CONTACT

epilogue-summer 2017

20/7/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
My thoughts on the trip (finally!)

​I can be (maybe too) honest about stuff, but there it is. In this spirit, off we go...


In a rather uncommon display of time (mis) management, I actually started typing this post way back whilst I was sitting on the tarmac at McCarran on board VS044, awaiting takeoff for my return to London. Leaving Las Vegas prior to the WSOP main event always feels very odd to me. I think I've only done it like, three times in the last 11 years or so, as I normally played in the WSOP main event. However, if nothing else, I'm certainly a man of my word. Work commitments, budgetary considerations, and the life experience not to turn a bad trip into a horrific one were all factors in the decision. Over the years, I've seen guys hanging on by their fingernails trying to do something...anything, that might get their numbers back in the plus column for a trip. Satellites, sports betting, table games, playing way too high in cash, inventing a convincing sob story to tell the backers... it all goes on behind the smoke and mirrors of poker, and will for years to come.
Picture
​Whilst life-wise I'm admittedly  something of a disaster over the last few years, I'm as always very honest, matter of fact and chilled about the poker aspects of it. Getting upset or crying when you don't win is just a waste of both time and energy. Sure, if you consistently play terribly and dump money in poker then it pretty quickly becomes apparent, people stop investing, you find yourself broke, and obviously it all needs to be addressed. However if you're generally doing the right things and getting it in good more often that you're getting it in bad, then you've a much better life expectancy in the game than most folk, and far more chance of pinging something meaningful when things finally decide to run more favourably for you. That's really the key thing. Maybe the only thing if you're ever going to be successful. Anyway, what do I bloody well know?
 
Of course some young hot shot with a big mouth or enormous breasts (or occasionally an enormous mouth and big breasts) will sometimes pop up on a TV poker table with a sponsorship patch and their 15 minutes of fame, but time's shown that most of these either fade away when the money dries up, or get dropped like a stone once the novelty factor becomes irritating enough to warrant finally saying goodbye. Don't get me wrong, good luck to them. I don't begrudge anyone taking what's dangled in their face, but time has shown us that most flavours of the month turn sour in the end, either with the public, or with the people controlling the budget. When they show no regard at all for the people around them who have paid a buy in with their own money is I guess where I take exception to some of these people acting like gibbering idiots. Good, solid players with results, track records, and some regard for the ethics of the game and not being a dick to others are always the easy ones to spot, even if these days they are still the exception rather than the rule. Most of these types of players are happy to fly under the radar anyway. We all know people from both extremes of the game I'm sure. Some people don't understand that you can take the game seriously and still have a good time at the table without pissing off half the room.
Picture
I've had a fair amount of feedback the last few weeks on the trip. Most of it as always positive or constructive. If some didn't agree with all decisions I made regarding certain hands or strategies, at the least they were savvy enough to generally understand why I did certain things when I did them. This is no bad thing. I get a good amount of messages from people who have invested, and also from people who simply read the site, and like to be more immersed in what's happening.

I've been a bit lax with doing this epilogue post after shipping out following the Wynn main. This piece started in the USA, and never actually got finished until now! Apologies for that. I had a number of loose ends to tie up during my final few days in town, and upon returning to the UK, I went straight back to work the following day. Odd that after almost two years back in the rat race, doing that still always feels totally alien to me. However, I got on with it and after some sporadic sleep patterns (weird that I always slept better when my body clock was all over the place due to poker), I'm now largely back in the swing of things and plotting my next moves. Just to be unconventional as always, I can honestly say that results or not, I came away from this trip feeling more positive about things than ever before. Figure that one out!

I'm lucky to have some very good and supportive friends, in amongst some of the horrific life-choices I've made in the last 10 years or so!  This doesn't even involve money, just that in a world where my experiences means I firmly believe that most people just suck (don't even get me started on the poker people!) I've gotten lucky with a select few, and they are greatly encouraging to know, and fun to spend time around. On this trip I did manage the occasional bit of R & R away from the poker, and the ones here I caught up with were, as always great to see and good for the soul in the form of chats, laughs, shared experiences, and all around good times. A special mention must go to my Las Vegas pal Gary, who was kind enough to give me a place to stay in his home whilst I was here, and to his two amazing dogs, who were a massive source of comfort and good energy whenever I was lucky enough to grab some down time here away from the tables. He even managed to round up some pals for a little surprise party for me, for which I was grateful and genuinely touched. I have a pretty good radar for weeding out shitty people I encounter (OK if they have a pretty smile and a nice butt my radar goes all to shit but let's get past that), but I truly do value the good people I meet along the way, and Gary is one of them. I am very moved by the kindness shown, even if it was normally peppered with sarcasm. I wouldn't have it any other way, as you all know.
Picture
​Had it been possible, I'd have quite happily stayed out in Las Vegas for another 4-5 weeks or so and just continued playing. The only reason this didn't happen is because I have a job, and telling your boss that you've just decided to take a two month extended vacation instead of a three week one pretty much guarantees you likely won't have the same job when you return home, sympathetic and understanding employers or not. The Venetian still had a ton of great events to come, and the less than stellar nature of our Summer junket not withstanding, I was generally very happy with how I was playing, and also proved to myself I was still very tuned in to what was going on around me. Of course all the poker people reading know that you can feel 100% on top of your game, and still hit the crossbar in tournaments 20, 50, even 100 times in a row. You either choose to embrace and accept this, or tie yourself up in knots wringing your hands and bleating about how unfair it all is on you. A couple of pals of mine hit very respectable five figure scores, one of them pretty much as soon as he landed in his first event! Not to take a thing away from these guys (they're both very capable players) but sometimes the planets do just have to line up for you and if you're ALSO playing well and have a prevailing wind, then suddenly you can be quids in, and the whole complexion of the trip is totally different. If it doesn't happen you regroup and just get ready for the next one, or you let it eat you alive. I'll leave you to work out which is the better approach.
Picture
I've talked before about how some people still seem to think poker is a lot tougher now, and how it's been almost "solved" by the smart kids with their VPIP's, slide rules, stack to pot ratios, and sample sizes. I still largely disagree with this (sure, I'm in the minority but what's new?), and if the Summer trip showed me anything, it's that I feel the standard in general in tournaments has actually gotten worse again. by which I mean to say that people are thinking much less, and just acting based on whatever they believe their (frequently flawed) maths tells them they should do. Someone the other day actually said to me "I only had 12 big blinds so obviously I had to get it in"' I still completely disagree with this strategy (although of course as we know, I can quite happily get in 22 bigs with something very sketchy indeed, but that's another story). At the end of the day, we're both out of the event, so who's to say that maybe I'm not wrong?

The standard in the slightly bigger buy-in events wasn't in any way tougher. Maybe with the poker economy, people are nowadays just as likely to flick it all in during a $1600 event as in a $400 one. I saw more than enough play to convince me very firmly that there's still great value in these things, even with increased juice, and the eagerness of casinos to have flatter payout structures, meaning more people will often at least get their money back, and thus come back another time to pay a hefty reg fee.
​
Picture
I​'ve pretty much already made the promise to myself that I'm playing the main event next year whatever happens. There's simply too much value in that one tournament not to be in it if you're serious about poker. I haven't played it on either this trip or the one last summer, purely as with a very limited window of working holiday time (oxymoron alert), I couldn't in all conscience put all (or most) of my eggs in one basket and end up playing say just one to five events including the main. Irrespective of the results. it's just not a fair shake to either myself or to investors (unless of course you end up winning the damn thing). However, the value in the main is still as massive as always, and I won't lie, the part of the trip that stung the most this year was flying home just as some of my friends were flying out to Las Vegas to buy in and play it. Ho hum. Them's the breaks of choosing to work for the man. I had a cry and got back to reality. Though I have a lot less freedom to play poker nowadays, playing full time again is something that really does not appeal to me any more. It's not a great life, even when you win.

I've got an awful lot of options going onward. The job still pays the bills. The real life-stuff for me is (very slowly) becoming less stressful and cluttered, and for the first time in quite a while I'm starting to make some positive plans for the future in my personal (non poker) life. It's just possible there may be some kind of a life-shift coming in the next 12 months or so, though currently I'm not totally sure what that will be! I have several directions in which to go luckily, and to be completely honest, whilst this is a good and exciting thing, I'm not about to blunder haphazardly into a totally new and unknown life without making some plans or doing a decent bit of research. I do know that whichever way the road goes, some poker will certainly be a factor of it, so you'll of course be among the first to hear about any new developments. Now don't you all feel special? :)
Picture
1 Comment

wynn classic $1600 main event day 1c

6/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
On-site internet issues mean it takes me a while to get up and running here. Luckily the second hand of the tournament, I get KK, and the board runs out 8QQA8... not sure it could have got much uglier. I release kings and lose a few hundred on the river. Screen shows 480 players so far today and we've lost three of them already in the first 30 minutes. I make no judgements at this point.

A heated argument breaks out on the next table about the betting line. Is it a betting line? What happens if you bring chips across the betting line and then bring some back? Etc, etc. An guy on my table and a couple of others now decide to join in, with one saying "well, this isn't how we do it in Austria!". I politely point out that we are in fact, not in Austria, so it's all OK then. I also ask if maybe life would a bit easier if people just verbalised the amount of their bet, or said "call/raise" etc, and maybe if that happened then there would be no room for ambiguity. The girl at the table actually laughed out loud when I said this, and the guys who were picking the rules to pieces all looked like I'd just peed in their coffee or something. Honestly, poker players can be such babies. If they simply bothered to look at the Wynn/TDA rules they might not need to argue endlessly like a bunch of 5 year olds.

​Level 2 and I'm on 23K from my 25K start stack. Screen shows 477/498 players today. The Mediterranean guy on my left is babbling in another language incessantly and telling everyone how he's $50K up and wins everything at the Venetian. I bite my lip. He just crippled a guy by calling a preflop raise with 73 offsuit and rivering a full house. 
Back from the first break. i rushed away from the tournament area and still caught some drone explaining to his buddy "so I bet 600 preflop, he calls, flop 889, I lead out, he raises,etc... Get me out of here!

I dropped to 18K with pairs and big suited aces, all of which managed to miss everything. Just won a small pot and am back to 21K again. Happy to try to conserve chips as much as i can this early as I'm hoping the king of the 73's is hopefully my ticket to a decent stack.

Serious internet issues in the room today, very unusually for the Wynn. It's maybe because there are like, 529+ people trying to access it. However it does mean my updates are really sporadic, sorry, I'm doing my best!
Picture
Approaching the end of level 4 and the next break and I'm still around 21K. The annoying Mediterranean guy has unusually sent me into headphone mode, since his jabbering is neither entertaining nor amusing. I'm all for table talk as you know, but not when it just pisses people off, that's just not very cool. 

He vanishes for a good hour leaving his ill gotten gains on the table to be anted away. That's not ideal, he needs to be here if he's going to double me up.
Apologies for the huge lag in the updates. The internet here has been dire today. I made the dinner break with 17,500 and we're now back. I've dropped a bit after raising the irritating guy's big blind when I had AQ, he puts in a suspiciously small raise and I muck. He shows me AA. Marvellous timing. Down to 13K.

It's been a tough day. Plenty of chips on the table to be had, but I've not had a sniff. I tossed QQ earlier at 150/300 when I made it 1100 to play and the other guy in the pot then decided that making it 9K preflop was the answer. Maybe that's the time to pt your tournament on the line, but it isn't mine that early.



Sigh...down to 11K after seeing two flops that turned to ash.


Maybe patience is a virtue after all.I'll ask one of the good players.


I raise with 10 10 at 75/250/500. I'm lucky enough to get three callers. I do say that personally I prefer playing this 6-way, but still...


Flop A 10 A. OK, that's lovely but making some money would be better. Hopefully we find someone with an ace who doesn't have a ten with it. Everyone checks.


Turn card is the case 10. OK, now I feel extra confident. Quads will do that to a guy. All check again.


River is a nothing card, and we check to the button. I feel he wants to bet, so I sandbag it. He cuts out 4000 and I raise him all-in for another 6500 or so. He snap calls, thinking we chop and tables AQ for Aces full of 10's asking if I have aces full too. I tell him it's a bit better, and bounce back up to a much needed 23K as we approach level 8.


Still alternates coming in thick and fast. Screen shows 477/726 at the moment. One guy who was always going to implode just busted with AJ offsuit vs 55 all-in preflop. Oh well, maybe he'll re-enter.


20K as we hit 75/300/600. More expensive for sure but nowhere near panic stations. This is certainly the table on which to get paid if you have a decent hand, so let's see what happens.


Holy crap...Kevin actually got lucky in a big hand for once!


I raise, with 5d 5c in mid position, and it gets repopped on the button by a guy who has consistently been calling my bets or reraising me. I'm not folding so I call the 3200 and see the flop.


It comes 3d 4d 8d. I actually don't mind this flop as I might be ahead, and also have some possibilities. He bets out for 4500, and now i have a decision. I have around 15K here and might be soon back to where i was if i keep calling raises and then folding any flop I don't hit. I decide he doesn't have an overpair and decide to shove to get him off whatever scabby ace he has. If I'm wrong, then if he doesn't have a diamond it's an equally tough call for him. I shove and wait.


He calls quickly and flips over AA with the Ad. Shit, about the worst possible result for me.


The 5s on the turn appears like a magical vision from the poker fairy which has been bitch slapping me for the last two and a half weeks. No horrors on the river and I catapult to 39K on a fluke. The guy is trying to call his pal over to look, and does everything but take a picture of the hand to Instagram it. I say nothing at all and just stack the chips. A lot of people are not only bad losers but also bad winners and I never want to be a part of that club. I just take the money. To his credit, he's obviously not happy about the suckout, but he gets over it quickly and says nothing. If I'd flatted his bet I get lucky on the turn anyway with the same end result most likely.

Wi-Fi in here is still horrific. I've been joined by Shaggy, who was on my WSOP shootout table a few weeks back. He's in a better mood today, and is still a nice guy despite me busting him when last we met.

​Just reached the fourth break of the day. I'm on a tad under 40K, which is lovely.


Picture
As we approach level 10 and 100/500/1000 I'm on around 36K. play has slowed down a fair bit and whilst there's a chance for one of the short stacks to spazz out, things seem a bit more sensible now. Alternates are STILL being seated (meaning they smashed the $1 million guarantee in one flight alone not even needing all three of them. Screen says 459/900 players currently left.

The guy I got lucky against with 55 vs AA is short. He jams with KJ and is called by AJ. He bemoans he's not even live when an ace flops. He then catches tow Kings to suck out and be back in business. Shortly after he finds JJ vs 77, and is suddenly healthy again.

I, on the other hand, just managed to run my QQ into a button shove with J3. Unfortunately I can't get my hand to beat his, when I reshove to isolate and be heads up, he instantly flops two pair, wins and I'm down to 12K. Stupid game this.

Quads again for our intrepid hero. This time I flop quad 6's in a 4 wasy pot. We end up heads up, and I get back up to 30K again. This feels like a comedy show. QQ can't beat J3, and I get quads twice lol.

Midway in level 10 and we just lost Shaggy. He ran KK into AA, and untypically for this table, the worst hand couldn't win. Now showing 390/900 with just over two levels to go today.

​Break at end of level 10. I'm on 23K. We return at 200/600/1200.
Back from the break. Made a quick video during the intermission which should be visible above now.

Chips escalate and fall pretty quickly now. Back up to 26K after my flush draw Jd10d rivers a jack to make two pair. Not the prettiest, but I'll take it.


Back to 35K with a well timed steal. Blinds 200/600/1200 and 342 remain.

Just lost a chunky pot with JJ when I raised and got action from two players. Flop of 778, and they go at it. I step aside and A7 wins the pot. Down to 24K again.

I find JJ yet again and raise to 3500 out of my now 22K stack. The guy whose Aces I cracked is in the big blind. He thinks, and then jams.

I don't have to play this, but am now one of the "in danger" stacks at the table again and we are just about to hit 200/800/1600 and 4200 per round. I decide now is the time and call and gamble. He turns over QQ and it runs out with no help. I'm eliminated after 12 and 1/2 hours of fun and games for zip again. Exit Kevin, good luck all...

Will write more in due course, but for now, I'm just going home to sleep. Thank you and goodnight!
0 Comments

wsop #66 $1500 nlh

5/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
It feels like I took about a fortnight off from poker, and not simply 2-3 days. I feel very good for having had the break. I've caught up with some friends, been to what might be the world's biggest gymnasium, ran some errands, managed to attend a pool party for about an hour, then looked after the dogs whilst they had to endure the trauma of the 4th July fireworks. I watched "The Godfather", possibly for the 200th time, and cooked some dinner for a pal. A most agreeable evening, and now we're swinging for another cash on what's been a pretty lean trip to date.

First table and we are playing 5 handed. It quickly fills up and I've played with a few of these faces in the past. The screen shows almost 1,100 players so far, and I'm plotting up in Kevlar today hoping the Italian who just raised with 10d2s is going to get me up to 20K nice and early on.

Said Italian has been here for less than one orbit and he has reduced his 7,500 starting stack to 2K like it's a requirement or something. He just bet 2K on the river leaving 2K behind, and the other player jammed. He instantly mucked. I do so love the WSOP.

​I've lost two small pots to my neighbour who seems handy enough. 7K currently.

​It's only near the end of level one and already there have been quite a few big pots on this table, mostly won without showdown. The aforementioned Italian is the big blind when I am the button, and I'm already feeling like he's got an itchy trigger finger and is preparing to jam so he can bust out and go to play something else. Maybe a chance to trap beckons.

Lol I wish sometimes I wasn't so tuned in. Italian immediately gets a full double up after jamming his monster QJ offsuit all-in preflop, and shredding a female player's 77. I'm certainly going to play cagey on here for the time being as it looks like it could be more fireworks than yesterday's celebrations based on the last ten minutes.

Approaching the end of the first two hours, and my WSOP hoodoo appears to be continuing. My AJ just lost to KQ on a Jack high flop when the opponent called with air when I fired at it, and caught a King on the turn. Not ideal but I'm still playing fairly small-pot poker unlike a lot of others on here, so am now on 5K.
​
Picture
Well, I guess there are only so many times I can do everything right and still get shafted before I finally crack up and just take up basket weaving or something...

Just prior to the end of the level, I look down at two black fours. A couple of limpers at 50/100 so I make it 325 to put the squeeze on. Two callers.

Flop comes 10s 4h 2h. Lovely. Both players check to me. 

It's a sort of drawy board but I know at this point I'm good and want to make it expensive, so I fire 1500, leaving about 3300 behind. Chubby Asian kid tanks for about two minutes and announces all-in. Other player folds.

"Well" I say as I call, "I guess if you have a set of tens you're just going to have to show them to me".

He turns over Qh 10h, for top pair and a heart third nut flush draw. If you can't get all the marbles in with this in level 2 of the WSOP then there's something wrong in the world.

Immediate 3h on the turn to give him his flush, and he slams the table and exclaims "YES!" I always like it when that happens.

I politely tell him the celebration might be premature as we still have a card to come. Of course, the river is the Qc and a brick for me, and that's another event in the rubbish bin. I wish everyone good luck and leave. Even the crazy Italian would have beaten me in a last longer bet, so I guess the only thing to do is smile.

It's a good job I have a strong constitution for this kind of thing. I think all I can do is keep getting people to commit their money when they're behind. I guess I just have to win the Wynn main event now then.



0 Comments

system going well-send more money!!!

2/7/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
Christ, at least in the good old days, they'd buy you dinner or flowers first!


The potted version for those who aren't fans of reading loads of poker updates and hand histories is that in general on the trip we've played for long periods, gone deep into events, then crashed out at the point where it really matters, where either we needed to win a flip, or just not get woefully unlucky. Lots of concentration and effort for a smack in the chops basically.

I'm probably supposed to insert a self pitying ramble here..."I've done mostly everything right/woe is me/why is life so bloody unfair?/terrible players get lucky/etc/etc/etc".

Sod all that. 90% of people who walk into a poker room have a pretty terrible ethic regarding the game, and in particular to when they lose at it. I got hardened back in the Dark Ages to the cold facts about playing anything with an element of both skill and luck, and am well accustomed to burning hours of both time and money for little or no reward. When the planets line up and you're the golden boy it's great and life is easy, but when it isn't your day/week/month/whatever...guess what? Suck it up buttercup. No one's ever said to me "guess what, you played great and had the best of it most of the time but just got the shaft. Here, have the chips back!". Poker ain't the place to go if you're looking for sympathy. Luckily I never look for it. So we just grit our teeth and keep going.

I could say it's been pretty brutal, but the truth is it's been pretty standard. Shit happens. Mentally I'm fine (a few exes might disagree with that statement), but I now find I only have two events left on my schedule for this trip during my final week here. There is a $1500 WSOP on 5th July, and also the $1600 Wynn $1 million guaranteed main event around the same time. It's easy to unregister from either one or both of these and just play a bunch of smaller stuff, but the truth is, we came here to go for a big score, and both of these are ideal. I could play $300 or $500 events every day, but realistically you are going for the win only in those, and even then the money would not be what we're shooting at. Equally as said before, though I can, I'm not going to go and play a Venetian nightly or something, maybe cash in it and then say "oh, sorry guys, you weren't in this one". I've seen all kinds of scumbag moves over the years, and I really think if you don't have a decent reputation with that kind of stuff, then seriously, what's the point? Luckily, pretty much all the investors either understand poker, or know me personally, or both.


I think staying balanced and focused is important, and as such a few days off and preparation is never a bad thing, so I'll keep the ship on the agreed course and play both of the aforementioned. These two events will take me slightly over the original $15K budget in which people have invested, but I'll cover this extra myself and we'll call it even. For now, I'll rest up, exercise, enjoy the upcoming 4th July celebrations with a few friend, and see if I can find a way to get QQ to beat 55 in the final onslaught.
1 Comment

    Archives

    August 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014

    RSS Feed

    DSE FALL 2016

    Trials and Tribulations

Proudly powered by Weebly