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sushi samba - the palazzo

14/11/2017

It sounds like it could be a new poker tournament format, but in fact it's one of my loves in life which many of you know...food. I always try to visit new and interesting places to dine when I travel, and Sushi Samba was always on the "to do" list. At the risk of sounding like a poor man's Jay Rayner, read on.

I've always been more a fan of Sashimi (simply raw fish) than actual Sushi (raw fish rolled in rice with other ingredients), but am always up for trying new things, as many an ex will attest. In the higher end places of course it's almost expected for food and service to be of the best quality, and whilst I'd argue that from a food standard, the US and UK are certainly on a par with one another, I think on balance over time, I have to concede that Americans in general offer a better dining experience, a higher lever of customer service, and take more pride in having a good reputation for their brand. That's not to say the English don't, it's just noticeable to me that these guys go the extra mile. I visit in the evening during a busy service having booked previously.

The restaurant is buzzing, the atmosphere is warm and upbeat with music and decor. I'd say with my funny English accent it'd be hard work having a long conversation here over dinner, but we came to eat, not to talk anyway. So...now, onto the food!

A small bite of a scallop appetiser to get me going, along with a Lychee cooler to drink. Appetiser was just a bite, sweet and crisp, and the cocktail was a nice mix of coconut, Lychee, Vodka and Vanilla. Derek Trotter would be proud of me.

Duck breast with Sansho pepper vinaigrette, mushroom Tobanyaki, and a poached egg. I'm happy with duck being served pink, and it was a nice mix of taste and texture, with the broth and the mushrooms. The egg added richness. If I'm honest, this dish could have been a meal all by itself, but I had starved myself, so pressed onwards.

Tempura shrimp with dips. Batter light and crisp, shrimp not overcooked, and dips an interesting slant on the normal soy or sweet chilli.

Tuna Sashimi with a REALLY sharp (but delicious) Granny Smith apple puree and jalapeno. I love Sashimi, but of course it has to be done right, and this was great.

The food was superb, and exceeded my expectations. I tried to go for a mix of different things in my selections. Everything was stylishly presented, and cooked (or prepared if raw!) with every attention to detail. My server and all staff I encountered were very laid back and helpful.

I want to thank the lovely Meagan from Orange Brands Management (the company that oversees operations for Sushi Samba) for our communication, and also Michael and Yasbert (restaurant manager and bar manager respectively at the Las Vegas location). My encounters with all were above and beyond helpful and professional, and from the minimal commercial catering experience I've had, I know that dealing with customers, and keeping things ticking over when super busy is not an easy ask. Whilst the people who know me are aware I can be super critical of both food and eateries, my visit to Sushi Samba passed with flying colours, and I'll certainly be returning there soon.

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$600 NLH Double Stack $150K GTD Day 2

13/11/2017

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Updates from noon.

Off we go, with a tricky big stack to my left, and Ryan LaPlante to my right. A couple of short stacks also on the table, but for now we'll just see how it unfolds. I win a small early pot, and we are already on 48 players from a total of 342 starters. I'm on 280K at 500/2500/5000.

Ryan gets the mother of all Christmas presents from a kid with about 200K. He raises with 54, flops a 445 boat, and the kid calls on in on the river when he makes a flush! Amazing stuff.

40 players left. 4 off the money. Ryan is running good and has busted a few players. Another O'Leary joins the table, safety in numbers. I'm on about 260K still, which is now average chips at 1K/3K6K.

Back down to 200K. Really interesting hand came up, which I can't go into detail about now. I'll explain later. 38 players remaining. Suffice to say I'm probably the only person in the room who would have done what I did.

On the bubble now, and I've sneaked back up to 245K again.

In the money. Took a fair bit of time. 250K. Everyone's guaranteed something, but I haven't to this point paid much attention to what it is, it diverts focus. Screen says $1,221, so at least we have our first cash of the trip. Let's try to run it up to something better. Still a long way to go.

One for all the experts out there. You're going to love this!

Back from the break and I've been utterly card dead. It felt a bit for a while like the vultures were circling. I've been playing conservatively, but only because to me with 31 players left we're still not near the business end of the tournament yet. I can outplay the weaker stacks even with garbage hands, but against the bigger stacks I don't want to be bleeding off chips trying to hit miracle flops. The way I am playing right now is certainly different to the rest of the table. I have seen 99, AQ and 10 10 all get over 300K stacks in preflop, and all bust. I just see no need for it. I guess everyone is different.

My website is again misbehaving and failing to post some stuff...apologies. Hopefully will sort itself out soon.

Now 27 players remain, and we've had a table redraw. Most of my starting table are on the new one, in the same seat order. Ryan is on my right again, which is perfect.

I've missed a bunch of flops and now my 210K is looking more like 100K. At 2K/6K/12K this isn't good, and a bunch of people will no doubt be saying that i should have taken my chances with the KK. I shouldn't, so let's move on.

I need to find a spot now, and Ah Qd when it's folded round looks like the one. In it goes. I jam, and the big blind decides that AK is a good call. With his stack he's probably right. Over we go, and I run out a flush with the Ah. It's nice to get lucky sometimes.

There are times I fold with big hands (we've covered that), and also there are times I shove with lesser, or even crappy ones. My defining moment just appeared when I look down at two red jacks. One player makes it 35K to go and a second player flats the 35. I now jam, and one calls with AK. My JJ holds and I'm up to 330K and healthy again. Maybe patience does pay off.

Better now. 715K at 2K/8K/16K. The boy learned how to get some value.

I limp with QQ. The table looks at me and I say "a lot of old guys do that". A bunch of people call the limp, then a 100K stack jams, and I repop it with my queens. A player behind me also calls with a short stack and when we go over it's A 10 and A 3 (yep) versus me.

I flop a queen to immediately ease the pressure, and bust one and cripple another. Now we have chips with which to play. 21 players left and average is 488K.

19 left, next break and I'm on just under 800K. Picking off small pots vs Ryan who is still stealing a lot, which doesn't concern me right now. As I said to someone earlier, my style of tournament poker is a bit like Patrick Swayze in Road House.

"Be nice. Until it's time to not be nice".

If that makes any sense.

I kind of feel like this is how my chip stacks should look more often. A lot of people confuse playing tight with playing solid, and Ryan I believe has me pegged as a pretty tight player now, so in the interests of keeping things quirky, I make it 85K from under the gun on his big blind with 6 high, and then show it to him.

We've been at 19 players for a very long time now. There's a small money jump from 19 to 18, but that really doesn't concern me. The game ebbs and flows, and I pretty much keep my stack around the 800K mark. This is all situational stuff now, where to a lot of people will smash out when they really shouldn't, and others will catapult up to a huge stack with dogshit hands. The trick in my book is to be aware of what's going on and then act accordingly.

830K for our hero with 16 players left. Average is 603K. Blinds 4K/12K/24K. Here we go......

Just in case anyone was curious, this is what 1.2 million chips looks like.

13 players left. blinds 4K/12K/24K.

Level 25, blinds 5K/15K/30K and I've mostly avoided things since my last big confrontation. I gambled with two red Aces (must be nice) and found myself up against 6c 5c for about 200K. He flopped a flush draw, and then turned a five for more outs! Amazingly, I fade the world, and bust another one.

One guy on my new table is shall we say...a trifle Asperger's or something. He sits stoically behind mirrored shades, and whatever the decision when it's up to him, he always takes a minimum of 90 seconds to do anything, even if it's an obvious fold. The rest of the table is incredibly irritated by what seems an overly silly tactic, possibly designed to get people on tilt. It seems horribly inconsiderate, but who knows what goes on inside some people's heads. It doesn't affect me at all, and I don't complain about it. I Just let people do what they like however retarded it seems. Poker is full of weird people with weird habits, that's for sure. I'm just interested in trying to win the damn thing.

10 left. Final table. Guaranteed $2,940 and I have 950,000 chips, which is about the average stack. Let's do it.

A bit of early moving and shaking from a few faces, but the 30 min dinner break arrives, and I pack up and leave for some poker free time and a bite. Back soon.

Back from the break.

And out first hand in 10th.

I look down at Kc Ks under the gun. I limp as there is pretty much always a raise. This time no-one decides to raise, and the button and the blinds call, making a pot of around 110K.

Flop comes 9c 10c Jc. Good for me whatever anyone has unless they flopped the nut flush. WE check to the button, who bets 125K. The other two fold, and I jam for 900K. He dwells and looks like he doesn't like it. The asks for a count, and calls.

He turns over J9 offsuit, for top and bottom two pair. The pot is around 2 million to make me chip leader. I can make the Holy grail with the Qc for a straight flush. Failing that, a non pairing club, or a queen, or a King wins me the pot. Also a ten, or a running pair to make me Kings up. Despite how it looks, I'm actually almost a 60% favourite to win in this spot.

He immediately catches a 9 to make a full house, leaving me one out. I don't hit it.

That was that. 10th for $2,940. Not ideal but I don't mind playing a pot like that when I'm making the action, have pure nut outs, and I've put someone else to a what I think is a hard decision. Earlier I was very passive but this was the time to get busy, I got busy, and it didn't go my way. Simple as that. I'm already over it. Sorry to those who hoped for better things.

Onto the next one. Thanks for the messages and the sweat.

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$600 NLH Double stack $150K GTD day 1B

12/11/2017

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Well, I'm persistent, you've got to give me that.

Currently in the all too familiar position of feeling like I'm playing great, but can't close anything out. Call me misguided. Call me determined. Call me Mary-Lou if it makes you feel better. Back in the trenches at noon.

My 30K starting stack gets into action on hand 1. A raise with AJ and an unsmiling station gives me a spin. I flop a Broadway gutshot draw, get there immediately on the turn, and build my initial 30K into 42K without even breaking a sweat. Hopefully a harbinger of more good things to come. He looks a tad green around the gills, and is now even less likely to crack a smile today. Ho hum.

89/93 so far and we're on level 3. Young Dan Bland sits on my right, a UK based player who is a regular here. Nice kid. We chew the fat.

Back from the break and I manage to have a few small disasters. I play Jd 10d and the board runs out J2926. KK played it cute, but the a beard with 42 played it even cuter and cost myself and Dan both a decent chunk. A while later I get 555 cracked by a flush and see my 41K now looking more like 18K. That wasn't part of the plan today.

Later still in level 5, I raise a woman who I know as a very tight player. I have 5d 3d and when the board reads 4 6 8 2 on the turn she looks like a good value spot. I check, she bets 4K, and I ship. She calls and tables 57 for the nuts. Shit. Good read Kevin. I Casually say to the dealer "seven for a chop please". She duly obliges with immediate service as the 7-ball hits, so I use up one of my nine lives, and we all have a good laugh about it. Well. Most of us do anyway.

Level 6. 50/200/400 and 121/150 currently playing. The table dynamic has shifted since an older (71) Indian guy sat down. Nice fella and pretty damn aggressive. people seem to be playing a lot trickier now. I've ran it back up to 33K again, so have come off the gas a little bit for now.

Just lost another with 10 10 vs KK. No fireworks. Back to 25K. 121/162 left and for now it's still just shelling peas. Blinds are 75/250/500 so no need to go ballistic right now. No one on this table is giving it away, so I'd rather not be the one who does, making it a far more position and hand driven game.

Ugh. Just lost a 13K pot with A5 on an A25 flop. QQ got stubborn and rivered a queen. Sounds dumb now, but I knew it too, I simply talked myself into calling, which wasn't great on my part. 13K.

Dropped to 9K when I set mined a few times and got a big fat doughnut for my trouble. Decided that it might be time to shoot for the double up, when I looked down at AK, and there was a raise to 1600 at 75/300/600. Suddenly the guy two to my right makes it 4500, and my 9K has a decision. I size him up, and tank the lot in the middle. The original raiser folds, and the second player winces, instead of snap calling.

"Shall I tell you what you have?" I jovially ask. He smiles and nods.

"You have AQ" I tell him. "It's no good".

He looks genuinely pained at this, and then...calls, flipping over AQ. I get a 2 person round of applause. No miracles and I am back up to 23K, and have some ammo with which to get busy again.

Good times for our hero. I call a small raise from the 42 guy from earlier. I have Kd 2d so am likely in superb shape. We get another caller, and see a flop of...

5d 6d 8d. Yahtzee. Captain 42 makes it 4500 and I pop it to 10K. He jams once the other player folds, and I snap call. If he has the nut flush he's just going to have to show it to me.

Nope. He has the 9d 10h. Gutshot straight draw with the miracle 7d for hope for a straight flush and the Holy City to ruin my day.

Seven on the turn. Spades luckily so he has a straight but still only one out. He doesn't hit it. Kevin's back to 42K again after a few levels in the desert. 107/189 left and we are at 100/400/800.

End of level 9 dinner break. 55K. Perfect.

Back from dinner, and now 98/200 remain. I raise with 99, and get the same 2 people who keep calling me in position. Flop 10 J K. Just about the worst possible flop for me. I fold to a 5K bet and move along. I hit a mishap a little later, when I Raise with Ad Qd, get one caller, flop the nut flush draw, and it bricks out. He wins with 99, and I drop down to 40K.

Level 10. Back to 43K with a little judicious larceny. 91/200 remain and we're at 100/500/1000.

Lost two biggish hands in a row when I get AK twice. First one misses everything, the second catches an Ace but loses to two pair. Down to 19K and not loving life. Feels like history might be repeating itself again.

I get a second wind when I call a raise with 7h 6h, and the flop comes 779. I decide it's now or never and ship into two people following a lead-out bet and a call. Original bettor folds, and the older Indian guy calls me with 10 10. I hold and am back to 55K again. 84/200 left.

97K. My Indian nemesis takes a stand with me and turns over 10 10. I table KK and it's good. I bust him and have a nice workable stack. Let's see if we can run it into day 2 chips and not implode. It would be nice!

Back from the break, and in the interests of trying to spin up a meaningful stack, I turn my 100K into 190K. I flop a set of 10's on a 10 J Q board and flat two big bets. The river pairs the Queen, and I now reshove to the river bet. The guy with K9 offsuit had flopped a King high straight, and looks tortured, but simply can't find the fold and I bust him. Happy days.

Looks like lemming time is upon us at level 14 with 54 left and blinds at 400/1200/2400. I drop to a still healthy 175K, but the cute girl Lisa on my right busts when she shoves her last 23K with AK and is called by a kid with 9s 10s. He rivers her and she gets up and wordlessly leaves. There should be some kind of law related to busting sexy girls out of poker tournaments. I have no doubt she'll be replaced by a 250 lb and far less amicable Mexican guy.

I was close. He was more like 190lb.

I've done very little in the last level or so but maintain my stack at around 170K. Still nicely above average. Barry Shulman joins my table. He's been on my left or right in just about every event since I arrived in town this trip, however this time he has a decent stack, and is using it to bash people around. A few casualties, several in ugly fashion, and we make the level 14 break with 42 players left. We return at 500/1500/3000, and average is now 142K.

Back from the next break, and immediately Barry, who has being pretty aggro since joining us, murders a 150K stack by 4-bet jamming preflop with 10 10. he gets called by JJ (neither of which plays I like very much at 1500/3000 if I'm honest). He is crippled down to 30K, and looks ready to blow.

The table's now gone beserk, and almost every hand results in an all-in. I'm treading carefully. This is the stage where someone who isn't ever going to win the tournament can destroy your chances of winning it. Choose your moments and pick your battles.

I nearly become a victim of my own prophecy when I raise with AQ and have to call a shorter stack's shove. I don't like calling and it's 35K or so total, but in this spot and with my chips I can't fold. he tables J 10 offsuit, we both miss everything and I bust him. A few other well timed stabs, and I'm on 205K.

Barry has bludgeoned his way back up to around 90K again and is still ready to pop. He'll either bust shortly, or take someone out with a huge shove and be back to where he was. this is the bit where situational awareness comes into it. Yes, AJ suited and 33 are pretty hands, but not pretty enough to commit 11 hours and 3/4 of your stack with. A lot of guys right now are shipping it in with far, far worse, which is fundamentally where I completely disagree with the way a lot of people play tournament poker. Still, what do I know?

Last level of the day. I have 285K. In the zone on a pretty tough table. Chipping up gently. Average is 171K, and we're at 500/2000/4000.

Well...what a shocker. 12 hours of ducking and diving. Our intrepid hero finally makes a day 2 with 260,000 chips.

It was a tough last few levels. Barry's chips were up and down like Tower Bridge. Last hand of the night he shoved his A6 into AK. He caught a Six to wreck the poor woman's day and finish up on 140K or so. One nice kid who plays OK but pretty standard internet button clicking poker made a huge mistake at the end of the night. He thought he was putting in his small blind for the next hand as everyone had folded so threw in some chips, only to find he now had to call the all-in bet he had failed to spot in the current hand. He was forced to make the call, and turned over his 24, and the all-in who had AA sent him home for the night. An ugly way to bust out, but not a mistake he'll likely make again in the future. I made the odd move near the end,and defended a few times but mainly I just let people kill one another, as that's what they seemed determined to do. I'm generally happy with how proceedings went. We restart at noon tomorrow with 54 players left, 36 getting paid, and $40K up top for the victor. I'm in the top 30% of the chip stacks, but years of experience has taught me that coming back doesn't mean too much, and it can be as volatile as hell with all the short stacks on a suicide mission. It's what happens as day 2 unfolds that really matters, and how you can adapt to it. Wish me luck, and a good night's sleep.

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Groundhog day/$600 NLH Double Stack $150K gtd day 1a

11/11/2017

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That's a bit like how it's feeling at the moment. Turn up, play, get the shaft. Rinse. Repeat. Do the same the following day. And the next. And the one after that. Etc.

Tongue is firmly in cheek, don't sweat it. Some of what I write is purely my thinking that the site needs content, and like it or not, when the primary topic of the updates is event after event after event, it's hard to make each update unique, so you take the lemons life throws at you and try to spin them into a pithy paragraph. I have precious little room for self pity in poker. It's the annoying younger brother to bad-beat stories, and quite honestly, nobody cares. Really. Even if they pretend to. So suck it up buttercup, and get onto the next one, or find something else to do with your days. A large part of poker, and especially tournament poker, is about getting your dominating hands and huge stacks destroyed at the worst possible time. Make peace with this, and you'll sleep far better at night when it happens, which it inevitably will. Of course, Stuey Ungar notably once said "show me a good loser, and I'll still show you a loser". Wise words.

So. Back for even more fun and merriment today for the $600 DSE double stack. A two flight event. I'm in the current spot of feeling like I'm playing just fine, better than fine in fact, but needing the rub of the green at the key moment. That's likely what the rest of the field also think, so I'm far from special. Suit up, and let's go round again. Updates from noon.

I appear to be seated next to Barry Shulman in every tournament this trip. We get on well enough nowadays and I generally know where I am with him, so it's all good. No early fireworks for me at least, and I'm still on the 30K start stack as we hit level 2.

Apologies to the five people and a cat following the updates. The site just went down as I needed to update some domain settings. Timing is everything. Hopefully it's all better now. If not should be up and running very shortly again.

A very cute and friendly Canadian girl arrives and sits on my lap. Sorry, I mean, on my right. She lasts exactly two hands as she gets the lot in with QQ preflop, and a beard with JJ simply can't fold for 30K. Immediate Jack on the flop, and he busts her. She leaves without saying a word, clearly disgusted at the call. Welcome to the Venetian. It was only all-in preflop at 75/150.

Valuetown. I just punted Kc Jc hard on a Ks Js 3h flop. 5d on the turn, and the opponent jams when the 2h falls on the river. I'm not folding. He flips over K2. He was drawing dead and luckily for me he got there. Our hero is up to 61K as we near the close of level 4.

86K. The boy done good.

I saw a flop with Ah 6h, which came down Kh Qh 10d. I like this a lot. I fire 4k, and get THREE callers! Holy crap. The 6s falls on the turn giving me a pair, but no improvement. I fire 5K, and now one player drops out, leaving Barry, and the guy who weakly called with the JJ vs the Canadian woman earlier. I need a heart or a Jack for the nuts on the end.

The river is the 8d. Oh crap. It's a big pot, and I feel like after the effort I've put in it really belongs to me. I jam the lot in.

I know Barry can be flaky. He can certainly afford the buy-ins (x 100) but he also doesn't like giving it away once he might be beat on the river. He has around 18K left, and shuffles about, but finally folds. The other guy is quite weak, and I'm far more worried about him calling. Bluffing against players who have trouble folding is rarely a good move. He could call with two pair in this spot (which would almost always be wrong but that's people for you), but my huge bet here gives him a tough decision as he also has an awful lot of chips (around 60K). This is my main basis for the bet I made. He finally folds, and I show the table my pair of sixes with busted draws for advertising value and on we go with a very healthy stack for this stage.

Level 5, and we're motoring along nicely. I'm pushing back a fair bit but also protecting my stack and avoiding bleeding off chips needlessly. The more aggressive stuff comes later. There's a good mix on the table. A few experienced faces, some weak calling stations, and a few ABC rocks. A nice overall balance and I'm hoping this table doesn't break as I have the measure of it. 83/109 remain currently.

Another player busts, and Dan Heimiller gets moved to my table. He's a good player, a bracelet winner, very tricky, aggressive and astute. He immediately gets a run of hands, coupled with two or three absolute Christmas presents from other players. The final hand before the break at level 6 he flops a set, and gets paid on the turn by TWO players who have two pair. He catapults up to over 150K..must be nice. I could REALLY do without him on the table with a lot of chips. The only saving grace being he's on my right so I have some pot control. I'm on a lower but still respectable 88K as we hit the 10 minute break.

Level 7 and little has changed,. The table has filled up with new faces. Barry, Dan, and the guy who busted the Canadian girl with the JJ are all still here, and the pace is a bit more sedate. 82/124.

Lost one when I tried outplaying the Chinese kid on my left. I missed my draw on the river but couldn't pull the trigger, and he won with ace high. I'm pretty sure he was calling unless I moved him in, and that was hard to do with five high. Down to 75K. Average is 47K as we go to 75/300/600.

Another hit when my 10 10 loses to a woman who can't fold K7 suited and then turns a King. 60K. Ugh. Keep the momentum going. Upwards again hopefully.

Back to 75K again when I get creative with 23 and make a straight. Poor kid looks like someone just took away his candy. It's rarely personal with me, but he looks decidedly pissed..

31K. Just lost a pot to the weak JJ player. Unfortunately when i flopped two overs and a flush draw, he flopped a set, and I couldn't get there. Sigh. Still in the hunt as we approach the dinner break, albeit with less chips.

Back up to 53K when I snap-hero call a kid's 18K river bet with KQ with a Queen on board. He's a capable player, but my QQ is good and I scoop a nice pot to get back into shape with 30 minutes for some food.

Back from my Indochine Chicken and shrimp, and Pineapple/Basil Mojito on the break. I quickly chip up to 67K when I flop trips, and take more from the stack of the kid I beat with the 23 earlier. Quite honestly I think his head went after that. He busts pretty horribly afterwards when he shoves KK, and a woman at the table CALLS 25K or so preflop...with... Jh 7h. She makes an ugly flush and sends him spinning out. I have no idea what the thought process was there...it was a huge chunk of her stack but she decided J7 was the hand to call with. I move to a new table. 67/142 left and we are at 100/500/1000.

I take a hit when my JJ is no good versus a board full of overcards, and I drop back down to 50K again.

48K as we hit level 12. I'm tuned in and playing well, but can't seem to find the defining hand to get back into shape with.

I lied. Boom. 100K my QQ vs AK. I call the preflop raise, and jam when he bets on a 446 flop. He calls around 35K more with AK anyway!!! I hate the call, and have a flutter when a paint card appears on 4th street. However it's an innocuous Jack, and the river is a brick. Still, it was a nasty moment. 53/142 left.

96K with 49 left. Average is 87K.

Yet another table move, with a hyper aggressive kid on my left with a big stack. Time to tread carefully. 47 players remaining. We are approaching another 10 minute break.

And....13 levels into today, we bust. The jury may well be out on the hand, and I wouldn't fib about what happened on the updates. I'm confident enough in my own game to do what I just did, and I think I played the hand OK from start to finish. It just didn't work, and I found a guy that wasn't capable of putting his hand down. It ended up as about a 220K pot. As i say, some may disagree.

One guy raises in early position to 5200. The guy behind him shuffles around and makes it 12K. He has a big pair. It's written all over his face. I have Ad 3d and I call the 12K leaving around 95K behind. I think with a favourable flop this is the way to have a great day 2 stack. With my chips at the moment, I'm OK but will be below average unless I build by the end of play, another 3 levels or so. The original raiser folds, and the flop comes out 345 rainbow. This is in my mind actually a good flop for me. The (in my opinion) overpair bets 15K, and I call, hoping for a scary card on the turn. The turn is a 6. A great card for me, now putting 4 to a straight out on board. He now clearly doesn't like the board and checks. I calmly bet 20K. He thinks for a while, and then reluctantly calls.

The river is a 9. No help for me, but he has no idea where he is in the hand now, and I've structured my bets so I can drop the hammer at the end. He meekly checks. I slowly move all-in for around 60K more, and he looks genuinely pained. To call now is around 3/4 of his stack. He asks for a count, cuts out his chips, puts them back, looks like he's trying to find a fold as there's a ton of ways his hand can't win based on the betting pattern. Occasionally I'd say something, but this time I don't want to give him any reason to call so I stay silent. He thinks for a good 5 minutes, then reluctantly calls.

I table my hand, and as most do in these spots, he screws up his face and tries to analyse what I just turned over. It's all-in and a call so the hands must all be shown anyway, so I speed up the process by saying to him "your overpair wins...kings or queens".

Then he turns over Kings which wins on a 34569 board. That's my lot.

There will undoubtedly be a few folk reading who won't like the way I played it, and even a few who will tell me it was played wrong on my part. Most know me, and also know I'm my own strongest critic. I can only say you had to be there. I'm guessing a lot of these guys also haven't got my record playing tournaments, so even though the hand lost, I'm still OK with the move, even if ultimately I ended up being called by someone who couldn't find a fold on a super scary board. This isn't arrogance on my part, it's just confidence in my own ability. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but you deserve more kudos for making the effort and creating the action than for simply trying to hang around and hoping you get a succession of amazing payoffs. You can always look at it another way, and say he had the best hand, and made a good call. That works too. It's all subjective stuff. I'm already over it. But I really do feel like I'm playing right in the zone at the moment, but just can't get across the line. End of day 1A... try again in the A.M.

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$400 NLH Monster Stack $40K gtd

10/11/2017

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The battle of good against evil continues today!

Feeling oddly chipper despite the violation I've thus far endured in the last week. Today's event sees a start stack of 35K, so I'd imagine it's pretty hard to spack that lot off in level one.

Clearly I'm wrong. One a 567 flop one guy decides that his 45 is easily the best hand and worth shovelling the whole lot in. The other player with 66 decided to give him a spin and looked crestfallen when the 3 for a straight immediately hit. Justice was served however when the 3 paired on the river, leaving the 45 departing the table and scratching his head at how unlucky he was.

A healthy 157 players so far. Pretty sure the guarantee for this will get smashed to bits. I've won and lost a few small pots,and my stack is pretty much where it started right now.

Level 4, and I just took my first decent hit of the day. I was wondering what was taking so long. Flopped top 2 with Kc10c, bet every street and woman who has played precisely zero hands so far wants to flat every bet and then fire 5K on the river when the board runs out K 10 Q J 8. Vomit. Take the pot darling. 28K.

23K pops back to 28K when I fire a heavy flop bet versus a big stack when an ace appears. he looks pained and gives it up. I had 5s6s but am getting tired of calling and folding so a gear change was in order.

Another vacant seat is filled. this time with an Arabic guy with whom I've played a fair bit. He's an absolute nutcase, not terribly nice, and can get it in with one pair very easily. Just what we need here. Calling stations and maniacs. And me, sitting right in the bloody middle.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Poker is zero fun when you're continually on the back foot. If you are just calling and folding, and watching your stack whittle away then it's a pretty dire way to spend a day. Last few tournaments here have felt a lot like that, and some of the play I've seen here, combined with the line-up, dictates I need to maybe mix things up a fair bit more, as it's currently going the same way as in the last few events. I'm not even remotely tilted, but am getting decidedly irked with it, and I've had enough so think it's time to switch gears.

I'd love to claim my revised attitude is responsible for the above chip stack, but in fact it was nothing more complex to finding KK and shipping. I get called by AK of spades preflop, and he flops a flush draw, but no ace. Shit, I foresee a painful exit. Ever the optimist, me. There's no ace or spades and I river the case King to bounce back to a far happier 41K. Not the way I was quite expecting to chip back up, but screw it, I'll take it.

level 8 and up to 48K after stealing a few. Happy poker.

Next break and I'm on an acceptable 44K. 168/220 remain with more people buying in all the time.

Updates been slow, I've ordered Chicken Jambalaya, despite rarely eating food at the poker table, and the upward chip progress has been good. I must be on around 90K now thanks to some well times stealing, and pair vs smaller pair action. Finally things seem to be running OK for me.

I'll post this snap while the going is good. I'm playing nice and solid, and have run it up to around 125K. 122/244 left, and the average is approx 70K, so I'm running well now. More of the same to come hopefully if we can maintain momentum.

An interesting hand just came up, but a little bit of history is needed first so I'll explain.

The Arabic guy I mentioned earlier and I had a few words a while ago. Nothing outlandishly hostile, but the upshot of the end of the conversation was that he quite arrogantly said to me "if you had won even 5% of the amount I've won playing poker tournaments, you'd be in good shape".

Bless. I didn't have the heart to tell him. Plus I'm never going to be a dick. So I smiled and just let it go.

He's pretty uber-aggressive at the table, which I knew already, but I'm not sweating it in the slightest. His stack goes up and down, up and down, he shows quite a few scabby hands that win, until finally...

It's 400/1200/2400. He raises yet again, and I feel he's just bullying the blinds. I look down at 6s 3s and decide to call the 6K bet in position. I'm just going to outplay this guy, this hand. They should use that line in a movie. Oh, wait.

Flop comes 773 with one spade. He bets 10K and I call.

The turn is the Ks. I have 7's and 3's with a flush draw. He jams for nearly 40K.

I think for 5 seconds, and call. He flips over 9h 10d. An outdraw now would be pretty disgusting for me. River is a brick, and I bust him. The table looks awestruck at the call, but to be honest even without the backup of the flush draw, I felt like the 3 was winning, and I was right. He packs up his toys and leaves without a word. Of course, the temptation is there to make some smart comment, but I say nothing. I talk a lot at the table, and I don't take crap from anyone, but I'm not going to be that guy, even if he did just get owned.

Dinner break, and I'm on 170K with 94 players left from 244, and average chips at 83K.

Well, my vomit-inducing week just gets better and better. I just played a pot to be huge chip leader in the tournament, for approximately 400K. I'm typing this as I'm leaving the room, so you work out how it went.

I look down at KK and find a raise before me to 6K at 500/1500/3000. I repop it to 10K, and the guy behind me, who previously just busted someone in a big pot by getting his 80K all-in with AQ on a queen high flop decides to make it 30K. He doesn't have aces, so I can either play it cute, or just get it in and get him to badly overplay his hand. I opt for the latter. Some hands you can get tied up in knots with if you don't just play them for maximum value, and this is a hand with which to simply get paid off by a lesser one. I move all in for approx 180K, a huge overbet. He calls immediately like there's never any other option, and flips over AK. Marvellous.

Blank, blank, blank, blank...Ace. Well I never wanted to be chip leader anyway. I wish everyone good luck, and leave.

My buddy Dan walks over and says "I never saw the way the action went, but clearly that was disgusting". I can do little but agree.

Leaving the building. Sometimes I wonder if having a cast iron constitution at the table is a blessing or a curse. Either way there's little to say about it, so I say very little. Let's see what fun tomorrow brings. It's great to be me folks.

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$600 NLH Superstack (1 day event)

8/11/2017

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Tomorrow's attempt to break through the pain barrier! More to follow.

Bright and breezy start on table 30, with Barry Shulman directly on my right, and the nice guy in sunglasses from the $400 yesterday who was seeing every flop under the sun and walking on water. When I busted yesterday he still had a mountain of chips, but clearly not the gears to take them into the second day's play. Quelle surprise.

Only 54 players presently, and I'm still on 20K starting chips as we hit level 2. Though like all these events this is a re-entry, for a one dayer I'm not going to be firing another $600 shell which I think would be far better used in the bigger guarantee multiple flight tournaments. That's my take anyway.

My buddy in the shades just ruined someone's day by hammering all the way with an idiot end straight draw and getting there for another 15K onto his stack. It stank the place out, but I'd far rather he had the chips than the other guy.
He just won another with AA vs 99 for around 60K. Of cpourse, I'm a big advocate that when people pay to enter a tournament they can do whatever they like, but it must still be lovely to play with such reckless abandon, and also to have people gift you their whole stack like that!

First break, and still on 20K. Along we plod.

Down to 17K, then up to 23K when I isolate a short stack all-in with AK vs 10 10 and catch a king. The calling station was in there too, and almost called my all-in isolation shove, but thought better of it. The way he's running even though I caught the King I'm not sure I wanted his action.

Barry just busted vs and English guy when his AK lost to A7 on and A7Q flop and it all went in. The kind of volatile stuff I like to try to avoid if possible. I'd rather chip away slowly if I have the stack to do it.

level 6 already (30 min levels), and 62/80 currently remain with people still buying in. My stack's going up 5K, down 5K, but so far I'm tuned in and avoiding any bloodshed.

Of course, I spoke too soon. My QQ just got crucified by A2 when he missed the flop and called a 3K bet anyway. Nice pain. 12K.

English guy just won a 90K pot all in preflop with AA vs KK. I seem to be getting very adept in the updates at explaining how everyone else is winning huge pots either with dogshit, or one pair. I'm pretty sure at some point in life I'm supposed to get a couple of these? Right now it's not looking that way.

New guy just sat at the table, and first hand at 75/300/600 he gets 20K all-in preflop with 10 10 and gets called by AQ. Ace on the river and he busts. Seriously... what the fuck is going on???

Still languishing on around 9K as we near the end of level 8, and the end of re-entries. As said I'm not wasting another bullet on this anyway, but it'd be nice to find something with which to get even a little busy. I keep seeing 30K, 40K,75K post whizzing all around me but haven't even had a sniff of something with which to get involved, barring the QQ which if I was laggier would likely have just busted me out. Tempting to just play like a spanner like half the table, but I'll keep screwed down and remember I'm 100% doing the right thing. 51/87 remain.

My good friend with the sunglasses just blew his brains out, along with his 50K stack, by shoving the river on a 9 10 6 7 10 board. He tables QJ, for absolutely nothing, and was called by... A8 for a straight on a paired board. I really am playing poker in some kind of alternate universe I think.

Demoralising stuff. My 444 flop just turned to ashes when 67 rivered a straight. 5K. Even for someone disciplined this is getting tough.

Re-entries done. 50/96 is the final number and 12 get paid. It's not going to be an easy climb back, that's for sure.

I'm now sub 5K and badly need a spot. I find it and get called in two placess when I shove my King as I'm in the blinds in two hands. I get called by KJ who outkicks me, and QJ, who likely misread his cards or something. The KJ makes a straight and I'm done. What a less than fun experience today was! Exit Kevin.

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$400 DSE Superstack $100K guaranteed day 1B

8/11/2017

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I seem to be becoming a specialist in playing for 8 or 9 hours and then busting out in a monster pot. That's not ideal poker. Still, we're only 3 events into the trip, and I'm feeling frisky, so maybe today is time to turn things round a bit.

Frisky is right. I play 77 cute vs A 10 on an A 10 7 flop, and 18K becomes 26K. The start of better things one hopes.

23K at start of level 3. Playing quite a lot of pots in position and feeling uncharacteristically good right now. 151/171 currently playing.

A kind of weird table so far, with a pretty high number of casualties. I've dropped back to 20k but am not overly fussed. All the right people (and by that I mean the people most likely to spanner them all off again later) are winning hands, which is good news if you can stick around. One guy is happy to call 2K preflop with QJ offsuit, and will go all the way if either card hits. Don't fail me now!

Level 5 and we're at 50/150/300. The line up has become a bit more formidable now, though two spots at the table still represent pretty good value, even though they've locked up a bit more now. I'm on around 14K and haven't been connecting with anything since the initial levels so have also backed off a bit. This is now not the table to see lots of flops, which is a shame, as earlier it was quite lucrative to do so. 171/227.

My KK just got shredded on a 3457 board. A7 decided it was worth the 1700 price of admission preflop. Ugh. 9K. Grit. Teeth.

For better or worse, I think I've certainly read a different manual from some of these guys when it comes to tournaments. One guy just scooped a 50K pot when his opponent bet 2500 on a J73 flop, he raised to 10,500 or so, and the original bettor shipped all-in with QQ. This guy can't ever envisage folding his AJ offsuit, and rivers another Jack. Of course, this stuff happens in poker day in and day out, but we're at 50/150/300! The QQ actually played well considering, as he realised he was ahead and forced the issue, but the weak AJ was incapable of passing, and that my friends is how dreams are crushed and tournaments are won. Ugly.com.

For me, it's been uneventful since the early levels. Now in conservation mode until one of these balloon-heads can commit suicide for me and get me back over 20K again.

Bleeding to death! I think literally bleeding to death might be more fun. If this keeps up, I may have to find out.

Well, patience was finally rewarded. I waited for QQ, found them, and the small blind had KK. Exit Kevin. Am firing another bullet based on the guarantee and the numbers in this, so restarting with a full stack on a new table just as we hit the second break, and 75/200/400.155/265 remain.

75/300/600 now at level 8, and I've crept up to 21K from the re-entry 18K. Very quiet table, one nice guy has a lot of chips and I am discussing with him the best strategy by which to get most of them into my stack. Depending on the response you can quickly gauge, for want of a better word, whether someone is an asshole at the table or not. He isn't. And tables like this are always better to play on. The one behind me had two floor calls in as many minutes with players bickering with themselves and the dealer. Some people seem to thrive on it.

Back to 15K after I flop two pair and get counterfeited. I get off cheap I think. On we go.144/282 remain.

Another table break as we hit level 9 and 100/400/800. As I sit down two guys get 15K each in preflop. One has KJ offsuit, the other has A4 offsuit. I feel like the subtle approach isn't going to cut it here somehow.

Well, I said subtle wasn't going to work, so we tried direct. Look where that got me. I'm never one of those "let's take a picture of the hand" people, but in the interests of clarity and site content, I thought I'd oblige. Yours truly is the hand on the right. I came second, which is small consolation for another six plus hours of fun!

That's a 50K+ pot I won't be winning today then. Sigh. $600 1 day event tomorrow. Home. Boil my head. try to work out who I've upset in a previous life :)

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$400 DSE Superstack $100k GTD Day 1A

7/11/2017

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Already bought in for this to avoid the morning scrums of people buying in. Kicks off at noon, so off to hit a bucket of gold balls in the meantime, and get some sunshine before venturing into a freezing cold poker room hopefully for the whole day. More to come later!

A quiet beginning with little to say other than the standard "nice table, a few good natured guys, etc,etc" so we'll skip past all that and get straight to level 3. The only things of note so far to raise a smile are firstly bumping into my good buddy Dan Goldman who is also playing, always a pleasure. Secondly the floor ask over the PA system "Barry Shulman, if you're in the room, please raise your hand. Someone is looking for you". Some wag on another table calls out "Yeah, the IRS".

Well, it made two of us laugh anyway.

I ran the starting 18K stack up to 21K, then foolishly found KK and ran it into 92 on a 9 high flop. he turned a 2, and my stack became about 8K lighter once the dust had cleared. Could have been worse. Now on 14K as we hit the first break.

Haven't seen anything so far today but not overly fussed, if that doesn't sound unduly cavalier. One guy on the table just flopped a gutshot straight draw (9 high) and blew his brains out by shoving 15K into QQ who had no plans whatsoever to fold. Christmas for someone. If this doesn't go my way I could fire another shell (was discussing with a pal earlier), but I'd rather start fresh on 1B than be on 18K and in for $800 when other players are now on 65K. It just upsets the dynamic, however well you feel you're playing. Hopefully it's not an issue we need to address if I can actually pick up a hand.

Young unshaven kid came to the table in his hoodie and headphones. He says very little, but waits about three orbits, and bluffs off his stack with King high on the river to a guy who makes a good call with 77. No Christmas presents like that for yours truly. I've bolted down at 50/150/300 as I think I'll get paid anyway if I punt my 11,500 off. 129/180 remain right now.

Patience being a virtue and all that.. we waited it out and shipped KK. 56 offsuit decides to try to send me spinning out. Luckily I flop a King, as he makes trip sixes, but it's no good so I'm back to starting stack again and still campaigning as we hit level 6, and 50/200/400. Go the English/Irish.

Nice healthy spoonful of pain for our hero. I slowplay QQ on a J8J flop, and get the same 56 guy to shove with 4s4c. I snap call and he makes a runner-runner club flush with the 4c. He fist pumps the air, exclaims "yes!" and then proceeds to tell me he deserved to win because he gambled earlier with the 56 against me. I agree with him. It's far simpler to do that. Back down to 11K again.

The 56/44 guy is absolutely walking on water. He just called 9k preflop with KJ and busted someone (blinds are now 75/250/500 at level 7). Earlier he also had 10 9 vs 33 on a 10 8 8 3 board and rivered a 10 to make a bigger boat. He then lectured the 33 on how badly he played his hand (he played it just fine). Some people really have no clue. Hopefully I'll still be here when he stops walking on water, but it's getting tougher as i dip below 10K.

Well, it's been a grind with around 4 playable hands all day, but do-or-die time approacheth. 96/203 remain and we're on level 8 at 75/300/600. I find 10 10 and jam, only to get snap called by a big stack with.... A 5 offsuit. This could be ugliness personified.

The board comes down Q Q J 3..... I'm fully expecting a Jack for maximum sadism.

The river is a 6, and I double back to a not ideal but still alive 14K. average chips is 39K!

Posting more to keep myself occupied than anything else right now. It's level 10 in a few minutes, and I've stayed alive pretty much solely by willpower, stealing occasionally with a shove, then slowly spiralling back down as I repeatedly have to fold unsuited 7-gappers. No complaints, but it ain't sexy poker having to simply exist and wait for the exit or double up hand. Splashing about in lots of pots is far more fun, but you need chips for that. Let's just hope the discipline eventually pays off.

Dinner break approaches, and the table has some new faces. One of whom is a hooded Asian kid with questionable facial hair, and a tendency to raise every other hand. Irritating, but it'll keep.

30 min dinner break. registration has just ended (!!!) and I'm on 8K. We return at 100/500/1000. For the first time ever, I find myself glad the break is only 30 minutes.

Level 11 after the break and I repop 99 and tell him he likely has 88 or 77. He flips over 77 and my nines are good. Luckily he didn't have 88 as two of them flopped and I'd have been toast. Up to 24K.

44k. I raised with Js 10s and caught a big combo draw (flush and straight) versus AJ offsuit. I get there on the river with Broadway to get back to a playable stack for the first time today as we hit 200/800/1600, with 55/216 remaining.

To complicate matters I appear to have lost my cellphone, which is all kinds of bad news. I will have to hope it turns up with security, and have had a brief look (it isn't here) but need to keep playing in this, especially as I've ground for so long and it finally seems to have paid off.

Cellphone emergency averted, a little faith in the basic goodness of humankind is restored, with one less thing for me to worry about. In the tournament, I've bobbed and weaved all day, mainly grinding the short stack, when the inevitable car crash now comes up. I have 9d7d on a 2d 3d 7h flop. In a 3 way pot with heavy action, there's a 3 way all-in for a pot that is well in the region of 140k...perfect day 2 chips and all that. Over we go.
Me: 7d 9d
Villain 1: 6d 8d
Villain 2: Ad 4d

Oh my God. This clearly isn't going to end well.

The board runs out with no diamonds, and I beat Villain 1 who makes 66, but lose to Villain 1 who makes a straight when a 5 falls. He covers both of us (he had nut diamonds also), and that's my night, out in 45th of 208. Ground like a bastard for 9 hours to get to the spot that matters, to get blasted out of the water. What sobering stuff this game is. Only the one bullet, and a wasted day. Back for 1B tomorrow. Home to sleep and forget the majority of the day, and come out swinging at noon on Wednesday.

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A day Of Detox

6/11/2017

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This one maybe falls partly under the umbrella of "some more stuff I was going to say but was too much for a single post earlier". It's 6 a.m and I'm happy to type, so let's have at it.

Yesterday was another long session. Eight hours plus grinding along in the Venetian chasing a decent score. Like a lot of these poker ventures, it ended in matchsticks, which is commonplace if you play plenty of poker. So, you wish everyone good luck and continue onward to the next one, which in my case is the $400 Superstack on Tuesday. Maybe the fact that I'm no longer 23 years old (yes, really) takes it's toll on the mind and body a bit more nowadays, but I find that wheras a lot of people (still) arrive in Las Vegas, and simply go hammer and tongs at playing as much poker as possible 24/7, I like to space things out if I can, which is why I kind of plan my schedule accordingly. I feel you play far better, focus, and have a better shot at doing well if you look after yourself a bit, which is always a plus. You only need to look around in most poker rooms even these days and see the unshaven tubs of lard buying and ordering pizza at 11a.m to know that not everyone shares this ideal or has any interest at all in their personal well being. And that's just the women.

I'm by no means a poster-boy for healthy, but a few years back, I noticed that more and more people seemed to be dropping dead all around me. A lot of them weren't looking after themselves. Not "a little bit", I mean...not "at all". As a lot of you know I love to cook, so avoiding a junk food diet wasn't really a problem for me. I generally eat whatever I like, but am just sensible about it and don't simply pig out every meal. I've always been a runner (or is that a runner, runner) to some degree, so a few times a year I will enter a half marathon. The times are not going to shatter any records, but I'm going faster than the people who are sitting on the couch eating a burger and chips and doing nothing.

The pic above is not me by the way and never was!!! The one below is.

It's worth me taking a moment in this post to draw attention to just a couple of good and inspirational friends. My pal Jimi, with whom I occasionally run, is always a positive force. We've known one another way back since the good old days of £5 rebuy poker tournaments in Russell Square ("Chips Roy!"). We often meet, shoot the breeze, motivate one another when it's cold and horrible outside, and after 5 minutes of warming up, both are instantly glad we've made the effort to get out the door and run for 45 minutes to an hour from time to time. Incidentally Jimi has a young business doing fun casino events. He is very good at what he does, has been in the game as long as i have, and like many things, he approaches it with a high level of professionalism, so I'm posting a link here if you'd like to see what he does and if it might be of use to you if you need something similar for an event, large or small (UK based).

http://www.nomadic-events.co.uk/

Secondly, I discovered golf. Yes. That stupid game with the little white ball and the daft pullovers. Something I seriously would have avoided like the plague a few years ago, mainly based on stereotypes of stuffy club committees, and people telling you which shoes you can't walk on which area with etc. Add to that the fact that I was pretty hopeless at the game when I started, and I was as surprised as anyone to find I enjoyed it once I began playing. The parallels with stuff like poker, snooker, and pool are pretty easy to see. Once your technique improves, you become more proficient, and enjoy the pastime a lot more. If you apply yourself, you're already up on a lot of people, who don't like to actually make the effort. Combine that with the fact it's good exercise (you can walk easily 6-7 miles on a golf course...or 8-10 if you play horribly), and also that it's a great release from other life-crap (it's stressful if you choose to get stressed by it), and it makes for a good pastime when not working, pokering, etc. Well, it works for me anyway. I even snagged a cheap set of very nice clubs in Las Vegas this trip so I don't need to lug sporting goods back and forth across the Atlantic. In the UK I have some good pals with whom I often meet and hack and swish around the countryside. With the onset of Autumn and winter this may happen less, but that's what driving ranges were built for.

I've certainly a ways to go when it comes to golfing ability, but most importantly I enjoy it, and (I think) am steadily improving as I go along. There's a LOT to learn. Luckily in Las Vegas there are around 40 or so superb golf courses here, so there's no shortage of places in which to play if you get some time off. I should mention, another good pal I met originally via poker in the UK is Gary Clements. Luckily he is also a PGA pro, a coach, and one of the nicest people you' could meet, in or out of poker. He has helped me with my game (often with a healthy dose of sarcasm but I give as good as I get!). He can tear his hair out when he gets outdrawn at a poker table, but is the opposite when it comes to his area of expertise. If you need lessons or tips, I would say he's the man, as he knows his stuff inside out, and is incredibly easy to talk to when discussing the game. Mention my name, and the price of any lessons will likely double. Link below.

http://garyclementsgolf.co.uk

Another journey on which I embarked a while ago was the Ketogenic diet. Whilst there's a ton of literature about this online, essentially you cut right down (pretty much totally) on carbs, and instead eat high fat, and some protein in your daily diet, to put your body into "Ketosis", where instead of getting all your energy from carbs, your body feeds on it's own stored fat resources instead, which also leads to weight loss. Sounds scary, and it's a chemical balancing act, but in measured doses I'd recommend it, firstly for weight loss, but secondly to bust the myth about all fats being terrible for you that we've been fed all our lives. They aren't. Before I started being more aware of my lifestyle, I was 5' 10" and weighed around 13 stone (182 lbs). Once I started running, dieting, golfing and generally thinking a bit more, I went right down to 10.5 stone (147 lbs). I'm maybe 1/4 of a stone heavier now, but I'm in Las Vegas, and still well below the bar. When you look round and see so many obese people, you decide if you'd like to be one of them or not. I chose not to be. It's as tough as you make it, and whilst I'll never be a monk, because I like potatoes, pasta, bread, booze, biscuits etc way to much to ever totally give them up, taking stock occasionally and doing stuff to maintain yourself a bit has to be a good thing. Links below for the curious.

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb

https://blog.kettleandfire.com/starting-a-ketogenic-diet/

I guess whatever it might be...running, diet, swimming, yoga, hitting golf balls, cycling... just do what you can. It's not like any of us are going to get out alive anyway.

OK...minimal poker content in here today. Don't worry, I'm back at it all over again tomorrow, hopefully refreshed and rested as I'm going to try to practice what I preach and get onto some of the above today. Just to close what is hopefully a positive post all things considered, watch the vid below. It might make you smile, make you think just a little bit, or maybe inspire a change. If nothing resonates, then I wish you luck with life...you're going to need it!

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$300 NLH Rebuy (one day event)

5/11/2017

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Today's nooner will be as listed above. My primary focus for the DSE generally is the multiple flight tournaments, and some of the bigger events, the next one being the $400 Superstack on Tuesday with $100K guaranteed and two start days. However I took yesterday off, played some golf and chilled out, so I don't wish to turn a poker trip into a holiday with too many days away from the table. There's always going to be a bit of room for down-time and this was originally on the schedule, so I'll give this a go at it and see how it unfolds. After Tuesday the schedule becomes a bit more full on for me, but I think this will be pretty well attended for a one dayer, so we'll try to spin up to something workable. More to come at noon.

Currently 63 players bought in, and it could be a volatile affair. You start with 12K in chips, but can rebuy IMMEDIATELY, or anytime you fall below the starting stack. I thought I'd capitalise on that, but I'm not planning on throwing $600 at this before I even play a hand. Chug along and see what happens. Cancel that. I didn't realise this wasn't the UK, and the way they do it here, is that the ENTRY is $300, and then rebuys are $100. Far more player friendly, so I peel off a Benjamin, and we continue on around a 25K stack.

Fast and furious. Not that dumb movie with a succession of balding over the hill actors. I just saw a flop of 10c 10h 8c. Three people shovelled in 20k or so apiece. One has AA one has JJ and one has 5c4c. Of course we're expecting the 54 to smash the others to bits, but AA holds and JJ gets the side pot. The 54 says "oh well, it's a rebuy event". Of course it is son, you'll be alright.

Level 4 already (30 minute levels), and little has happened. The guys at my end of the table are nice and chatty. One pencil-neck at the other end appears to have no sense of humour whatsoever, has already called a clock on one player who had a tough decision (he wasn't even in the hand), and likes to keep asking what the bet is, or how much people are playing. If he removed the massive headphones he's sporting it might be easier for him to keep track, but still, I'm playing nice.

Level 5, and still bang on the 25K average stack. Another 3 levels of madness, and presently first is approx $9,500 right now but that will be on the up as the numbers increase. Plod plod plod and let the lemmings do their thing.

Not much content in the video aside from my fizzog sorry. It gave me something to do on the 10 minute break and I wanted to make sure my website software was still behaving itself anyway. Truth is, the shells have been largely whizzing around overhead and I've not seen any heavy action. I've crept up to around 31K, and the average is 36K with 91/102 players. Shortly hitting level 7, which is 75/300/600.

Level 8, and I'm around 35K. The woman next to me though pleasant, has come off second best in quite a few hands and is venting and complaining about it to the nearest person..i.e-me. All good. She's just about ready to pop though. She finds AA and shovels it in and is promptly busted by 54 offsut. She leaves mumbling. The joys of tournament poker. 22 minutes before the rebuys end, and then we can play properly...

Made the break with 31K and promptly got moved tables, which I could have done without. Buy-in wise, I spent the bare minimum of $300+$100, so it's a pretty cheap date either way. I'm now sat to the right of a tetchy guy who has around 200K, who I'm reasonably sure hates my guts based on past experience. Ho hum. It takes all sorts, and clearly you can't please everyone. I'll live. On we go, and 86/113 remain and blind-wise we're at 200/600/1200.

Boom. My patience got rewarded. 10 10 on a 10 A J flop gets me up to a healthier 47K when AK gets married into the flop. My neighbour just punted off 45K of his stack with ace high on a 7 7 9 flop, and incredibly was still live versus JJ when it all went in. No cigar however. 70/113 remain.

Level 11 nears, and I've whittled back down to 38K after missing a lot of flops. Two guys on the table are comparing life bad-beat stories...who has had cancer, who got robbed, who lost everything, who's girlfriend cheated on them with their best friend...the list goes on. The massage girl and I are exchanging looks of both horror and mirth in equal doses. I feel like taking my own life right now just to get a break from it. 58 players remain, and 12 get paid.

Happy days are here again. I flop a set, find a non-believer, and value town him to catapult up to 103K. Nicely above the 95k average at last on level 12 as we hit 400/1200/2400 with 42 players remaining. Cute dealer arrives and we make silly jokes together whilst she very professionally runs the game. I'm still a huge flirt, though luckily most take it for what it is. Occasionally I find a hatchet-faced unsmiling one but this isn't the case tonight. Always time for cute smiling girls in life. What an old smoothie I am (cough)

Dinner break approaches. For some obscure reason they have decided a 30 minute dinner break is a good idea, so in 9 minutes I may be walking briskly in the direction of the Grand Lux Cafe. Dipped to around 90K now, but that's fine.

Back from break, and just lost 24k when I flopped two pair and got counterfeited. It could have been worse, but I managed to exercise a little pot control to stem the bloodflow.

An older guy who's had a bad run against me on this table makes a stand when i make it 9k with K10 and shoves for 25K total. The normal me is pretty disciplined about finding a fold here, but I feel i'm pretty live, and this is borne out when I call and he flips A9 offsuit. I hit a King in the window and bust him, getting myself back to 80K or so.

Standard raise is now 9-12K, and I call with Ac Jc, and am pretty happy with a 3 way pot and a flop of 10c Qc 4h. I'll take an overcard and a straight flush draw all day in these things. The pot is around 45K and one player bets out for 12K so I ship all to take it there or be drawing live against whatever he's going with. I don't like flatting it here as I'm too shallow behind (maybe another 55K or so) and can't call to heavy action on the turn if he fires again. The other player gets out of the way, and the bettor calls. He flips over QQ for top set. Shit.

Of course I'm not overjoyed to see the set. This was a fairly weak-tight player, and if I've made any mistake I'd say it's playing the hand at all. Basically go all the way with it, or not put a shilling in the pot to begin with. I'd go on the side of saying it's perfectly playable at this point. The average stack is more like 150K and I started the hand with around 79K which is getting into shove territory . The cool young kids nowadays wouldn't fold AJ suited preflop it you put a gun to their heads and showed them QQ as well. Maybe that's why I've generally won more money than them. Anyway, here we are and we now need to hit a King or a non pairing club to scoop and be in with a real shot to close it out with 30 players left and only 12 getting paid (another factor in my shove).

These are the last two cards dealt on the board for our hero:

As you might guess, neither of these is ideal, and I bust in 30th after another 8 hour stint. No sob stories, it's what happens in tournaments. At least I went out swinging and making the action, which is far preferable to the slow death of the $1100.

Scrub it, and onto the next. Likely the Superstack day after tomorrow. Gives me a day to work out if I should be throwing AJ suited away preflop or when I flop the world. I'm thinking not, irrespective of the outcome.

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