E-WSOP

The last day in Vegas

My last day in Vegas was incredible. Along with the bwin players I went to the Red Rock Casino. First we took the players and their guests to a huge suite in which they could hang out, watch tv, eat, drink, rest etc during the day. After that we headed to the casino for a private poker tournament. It was a lot of fun but I busted out quite early. I totally blame it on the $320 tournament ticket bounty I had on me, because everybody wanted to bust me! When I finally moved in with pocket nines I got called by three other players, one of them holding 83!

After the tournament I followed the players to the pool area. There we had our own cabanas with drinks and food. As usual it was a clear blue sky and at least 35 degrease Celsius. You could also tell why the Red Rock pool is so popular; their waitresses were even hotter. I’ve actually learned that some casinos hire their staff not as waitresses but as models. I’m not sure if I like the moral of it or not but since it’s Vegas I’m not surprised.

After spending one last hour working on my tan we brought the players to the bowling lanes. We had a VIP room with four bowling boxes with 2 lanes on each, a buffet and an open bar. It was a lot of fun although I seemed to have left my bowling skills at home.

After three or four hours we went back outside to watch the fireworks. The pool area was crowded and even though I think fireworks are for kids I have to say I enjoyed it. What’s the 4th of July without fireworks?! Right!?

My plane left 09 the day after and I had as much as an half hour of sleep. Normally I have big problems falling asleep on airplanes or in cars but this time it was a piece of cake!

On the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam I had three kids screaming like crazy, the pilots actually came back and argued with the mother to leave the plane. After a one hour delay we finally took off. With a couple of ear plugs and a comfortable seat I actually manage to sleep four or five hours.

Now I’m back in Sweden and already longing for my next trip to Las Vegas. See you next year!

The best day in Vegas

A couple of days ago I moved in to the Wynn hotel/casino to join the bwin crew. I am working as sort of a host for the bwin players that had qualified on bwin.com and won a package to Vegas and the WSOP. Last night we had a welcome dinner and party. It was a lot of fun and the players seemed to really enjoy it. Also, I met Zlatan Ibrahimovic in our hotel. He is a really nice guy and his wife took a picture of us. Unfortunately it still doesn’t work to upload pictures here, but I’m working on it!

Today we went all the way out to the dessert! It was time to ride the Dune Buggys!
I had only two hours of sleep in me but I didn’t feel tired at all as the adrenalin was pumping thru my veins. The Dune Buggy event was a success and I as well as the players really enjoyed riding in the dessert. For more info and pictures please check out the bwin poker blog.

After that I went to the MGM to see UFC 116 with Erik. I have to say that we caught one of the best UFC events in a long time. The fights were awesome and I enjoyed every second of it. We had bought ourselves binoculars so we had an amazing view of all the action. Between fights we looked for celebrities at ringside and Zlatan was there amongst others.

Now I’m back at the hotel feeling really tired. I’m gonna get some sleep because tomorrow we’ll be celebrating the 4th of july, which is also my last day in Vegas.

New York New York!

Last night I took a walk with Erik along the strip. The thing I enjoyed the most was the Rollercoaster at the New York, New York Casino. The casino is built as a copy of famous buildings from New York, such as Empire States building and the Statue of Liberty. The rollercoaster starts inside of the casino and goes all around the building/buildings.

It was fun going with Erik since he is really afraid of heights and the first stage of the Rollercoaster is a really long climbing section straight up to the Vegas sky. After that it’s all downhill and everything is happening really fast. There were two loops, one regular and one twister. I wish the ride was more than one lap but for 15 dollars it was still worth it.

Today we went to the stratosphere tower. I heard it is the highest building west of Mississippi! On top of the entire thing they have a number of carousels. If Eric was afraid of the Rollercoaster at New York, New York he was now shaking and almost crying

We paid about 20 dollars each to get a ticket to the tower view and the “big shot”. The big shot was a shoot up carousel on top of the tower. It didn’t actually take you that much higher but the sensational feeling of almost flying still made it a fun ride. Erik barely made it up to the ride but I must say I am really impressed with how he is overcoming his fears.

After the thrilling ride we ate dinner at the “Top of the world” restaurant inside the tower. The floor was slowly turning and it gave us a chance to see the view from every angle. The service was great as well as the food. For about 30-40 dollars each including tip, it was well worth it.

I finally found a table full of fish!

Today we went back to Mirage to play some more poker. I sat down at a $1-2 Texas Hold’em game but quickly realized that I was sitting with a bunch of guys who all knew each other. They didn’t play badly either so I saw no option but to request a new seat at another table. It didn’t take long before I had a new seat, and this time the table was full of bad players!

Finally I’d found a good table to play at, all I needed now was some good cards. Unfortunately I had to wait for at least an hour before I could play a hand. I got a few semi good hands that I played, like QJ, Ax but other than that it was a lot of super bad hands. But that’s okay in a sense because you don’t have to make any hard decisions. The big downside of it, besides not making any money is that you establish such a tight image that it’s hard to get any action when you finally pick up a hand.

After two hours I was down about 50 dollars. I noticed some players where a bit deep so I re-bought up to 250 dollars. I picked up A4 suited on the cut off. Everyone folded to me and I made a raise to 8 dollars, the player in the big blind called me. The flopp was AA9, a beautiful flop for me of course!

The player in the big blind was an old man that recently lost all his chips and now played on tilt. He checked and I bet about 12 dollars. He called and the turn was a deuce. He checked once again and I decided to go for a different line than bet-bet-bet. I had him on a nine, a pocket pair or maybe even king high. I didn’t think he was very likely to call me on all three streets since I had such a tight image. If I checked behind on the turn (which I did) it would look like I tried to steal to pot on the flop but now had given up. Also this player might spew/bluff the river.

The river was another blank and the player bet 15 dollars. I reraised to 50 dollars and he called me only to much his hand. Perhaps I could have made it more, just to make it look more like a bluff. Perhaps I should have bet all three streets but I was quite happy with taking down this pot anyways.

I won a couple of more pots later on but didn’t get many playable hands overall. I won about 100 dollars for the night at least.

Tomorrow we’re gonna check out David Copperfield and our plans for the rest of the weekend is to party and lay by the pool.

Poker Tournament at MGM

This will be a short recap of the last three days (day 5-7). Since Monday we have been partying a lot and last night (Wednesday) we went to MGM Grand to play a poker tournament. It was a $80 buy in tournament and since it was so cheap I decided to play as well. When we got there it didn’t take long before we realized that only 27 people would participate in the tournament. We were also disappointed with the structure of it and such poker tournaments. We got a starting stack of 3000 and the blinds started at 25-50 with 20 minute levels. A very quick tournament, which means less skill advantage…

Me and Erik sat next to each other and to our left there were to really bad players. After a while when I had about starting stack and the blinds were 100-200 I picked up AT in late position. One player limped so I tried to isolate him and made a raise to 250. One of the fishes in the blinds called and everybody else folded. The flop was K93 with a flush draw. The fish checked and I made a bet of about 400, he called. The turn was another nine and the fish checked again. I didn’t think I could push him of a hand now and I didn’t have a lot of chips left, also I could still have the best hand, so I checked behind. The river was a blank and we both checked. He showed AJ off suit which had my AT beaten. I got a bit angry inside because his call on the flop was so bad. Quickly the blinds got higher and I had to push KJ with about 5 big blinds left, a player called with KK and I was out. Erik also busted out minutes later. He flopped trips and got the money in against an overpair. Unfortunately the 2 outer hit the river and very tilted Erik was out.

We won’t be playing that tournament again!

We also bought ticket to UFC 116 which I am really looking forward to!

Later,

Josef

Cash Game at Mirage

Today we went to the Mirage Casino. I played $1-2 cash game for a couple of hours. Early on I picked up AK in the small blind, the player UTG limped in another player raised and I called as well as the limper. The flop was KK8, a dream flop for me!

I checked, the player UTG checked and the pre flop raised bet about half pot. I just called planning to check raise the turn, the other player folded. The turn was a nine and I checked raised and got reraised all in. I instantly called and the other player showed KQ. I had him crushed!

Unfortunately the river was another eight and we chopped the pot, but that’s poker.

After a while the action died so I felt it was time to leave. Erik had played a sit’n go tournament and busted out. He was a bit tilted and was complaining about the structure of the tournament. A lot of tournaments in the casinos as way to fast and you start with not enough chips.

I haven’t been to the Venetian yet but I know they have deep stack tournaments this time a year.

Once again we went back to the hotel for some online poker before bedtime.

/ Josef

The WSOP $1000 NL Texas Holdem event

Today Erik played event nr 36 in the WSOP. It’s a $1000 No Limit Texas Holdem 2 day event. Still jet lagged we woke up after only 3-4 hours of sleep. Not the best preparation for this important day but what can you do?

We got breakfast went to the gym and then it was off to Rio. I felt really nervous even though I wasn’t playing myself. We walked around in the poker room before Erik finally sat down at his table. Early on he picked up a smaller pot and managed to steal some blinds. After an hour he got moved to another table. This was when his luck turned.

After missing a couple of flops with decent hands Erik was down to 1800 in chips (starting stack 3000). The blinds were at 25/50 and Erik picked up aces in the small blind. The player under the gun limps in and a player in late position makes a raise to 350. At this point Erik has two choices, raise all in or smooth call. Considering the fact the he had a very tight image at the table Erik felt that it was too unlikely that he would be called lightly if he pushed all in. With only 1800 behind he also needed all the chips he could get. So his plan was to smooth call and then check raise all in on any flop.

I think both plays are okay, considering his tight image I would also lean towards smooth calling. If he would have had a looser image so that lower pocket pairs and AJ+ would call a push I think that would have been the best option. In this case the raise from the player in late position was also quite big, which meant that a continuation bet from that player could tie him to the pot.

The player under the gun also called, which was okay for Erik since it added an extra 300 to the pot. At this point he could take that risk considering the possible benefits.

The flop was Q73 with a diamond draw. This was a perfect flop for Erik who checked as well did the played under the gun. The pre flop raises bet 650 into a pot of 1050, Erik pushed all in but when the player under the gun quickly moved in Erik knew he was in trouble.

The pre flop raiser also considered a call but folded eventually. He must have had something like AQ. Erik showed his aces and the other played flashed his deuces for a flopped set. Neither the turn or river was an ace; Erik was out of the tournament after just a couple of hours.

Afterwards Erik was blaming himself for not pushing all in pre flop but after a while he came to the conclusion that his play probably was the best one and that it was worth risking giving the other player a chance to hit his set.

Tilted we went back to the Flamingo pool.

Poker at Mirage

After another workout and lying by the pool I and Erik went to Mirage to play some poker. Mirage is a bit bigger and nicer than Flamingo, besides their big casino and pool they have plenty of restaurants and you can also do some shopping there. At the moment they are also doing the “Love” Beatles show, but today we had nothing but poker on our minds.

Unfortunately I didn’t get more than 4 hours of sleep last night so I was really tired when I sat down at a $1-2 cash game. Erik bought in to a $115 poker tournament in which I staked him for 10 percent. I was a bit disappointed to see that the table was full of nits and I was pretty much card dead for two hours before I left the table. With no fish and the tight image I had after only playing 3-4 hands it wasn’t worth it anymore. I thought about sitting down at another table but I was too tired. I lost $35, and won only one of the four hands I played.

I went over to see how Erik was doing and he really liked the tournament because it was full of people who didn’t know what they were doing. I decided the leave him there and go back to the hotel room to get some rest. Back at the hotel I played some online SNG’s earning my $35 back

Erik came back at 04.00 and woke me up saying that he just won $1200 in the tournament. They made a deal when it was three players left after playing for about 7-8 hours. Now we really need to get some sleep because tomorrow Erik is playing the $1000 NL Texas Holdem WSOP event.

Goodnight!

Ps. I have problem uploading images at the moment. I will fix it soon but until then you can find pictures at my personal blog personal blog

First time in Vegas

02.00 am.

I just arrived to the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, very tired after a long journey. Let me tell you, flying from Sweden to Vegas is very tough. The trip here took about 20 hours and both flights were delayed. This is the first time in Vegas for me as well for my buddy Erik, and it’s a dream coming true for both of us.  I’ve played poker for about two years as a hobby while Erik plays poker for a living. I play cash games while Erik plays Sit’n Go tournaments. Erik has actually planned to play the WSOP event nr 36, $1000 NLH on June 19^th. I will only play $1-2 cash games and perhaps some smaller tournaments at the casinos.

The Flamingo seems like a decent hotel. It is pretty old looking but has got a big pool and a couple of nice restaurants. We stay in one of the cheaper rooms and pay about $80 per night.

First of all we need to get some sleep, which could be hard since we are very jet lagged.

Goodnight!

13.00 pm

I and Erik woke up at 07.00 which wasn’t a surprise but a disappointment since we’re still very tired. We decided to go for a workout in the gym but first got a breakfast; classic American with scrambled eggs, bacon and toast of course!

The gym was nice and we bought a five day pass. I’m looking forward to coming home in a better shape than when I left. Now we are back in the hotel room and will soon head down to the pool.

22.00 pm

After spending a couple of hours at the pool me and Erik went to Rio Hotel where the WSOP takes place. Erik needed to sign up for his tournament so I tagged along. When we got there it was like poker heaven. I walked around railing the games and I saw pretty much every poker celebrity I know. There was Tom Dwan, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Ferguson, Eli Elezra, Eric Siedel, John Juanda, Jason Mercier, Phil Laak and last but not least Phil Ivey. He played 2 tournaments at once, I have no clue how he managed that but he is amongst the leader in both of them at this point.

Now we are back in the hotel once again and we will probably play some online poker and then go to sleep.

I’ll be back with more shortly!

/ Josef