July Poker News

July 14th, 2006 - I played my first World Series of Poker event, the $2,500 Short-handed No Limit Hold'em. 72 places paid and I finished.... 73rd. Yep, the bubble boy. Fortunately I received most of the buy-in back, as 70-74 placed finishers split the $8,500 four ways.

It was the most eventful tournament I've ever played, the action was crazy, as were some of the antics displayed at the table, watch out for a complete trip report in a few weeks!

July 10th, 2006 - Stepping out of McCarran airport I was hit by the sheer intensity of the Las Vegas heat, literally like walking in to a brick wall. After a 10 and half hour flight from London Gatwick I was feeling a little tired, so naturally I registered for a $1000+30 satellite at the Rio. Actually, make that the Rio Convention Centre, an equivalent walking distance in the UK is something like London to Manchester. On a positive note, the suite at the Rio is excellent!

The satellite - After 2 orbits I managed to get all-in pre-flop with Ace King against pocket Aces. The young guy even told me he had Aces, not figuratively, but his bet screamed AA. Put that one down to ring rust, first hand of live action I've played for a few months. I'm going to catch some much needed rest and then hit the tables again tonight. More updates to come (*unless I get drunk, then you probably won't hear from me for the next 2 weeks!)

July 4th, 2006 - The 2006 World Series of Poker has arrived! Big bucks and bracelets are up for grabs over the next 6 weeks. I'm flying to Las Vegas on July 10th, intending to play my first WSOP event ever, the $2000 Pot Limit Hold'em tournament on the 11th. If everything goes to plan, I will be playing the following events:

11-Jul-06 | Pot-Limit Hold'em (2 day event) $2,000.00
13-Jul-06 | No-Limit Hold'em- Short handed 6/table (3 day event) $2,500.00
16-Jul-06 | No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (3 day event) $2,000.00
19-Jul-06 | Pot-Limit Hold'em (2 day event) $2,500.00
22-Jul-06 | Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $5,000.00
25-Jul-06 | No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $1,500.00

Here's the Full 2006 WSOP Schedule.

When it comes to poker, nothing ever goes to plan, so I'll probably play a few other events. One tournament I will not be playing is the WSOP Main Event. My record in tournaments with more than 1000 entrants is abysmal, and as the Rio is expecting 6000+ entries, regardless of the gigantic prize pool, it's a no-brainer.

The big event of last weekend was the $1000 buy-in, PokerStars $1 Million guaranteed tournament. The turn out was decent with 1,300 players entering. My tournament started off in great fashion, I doubled up early after flopping a flush versus 2 pair and gradually built my stack up to around T11,000 from T3,000 after approx. 2 hours. Then it went down hill, my pocket Queens were no match for pocket Kings all-in pre-flop versus a short stacked player. Then, prepare yourself, you are about to view one of the ugliest hands in the history of poker. After that awful sequence of bets, I waited patiently for cards that never arrived and eventually got knocked out by the huge stack's Jack 9 versus my (not so) Big Slick.