Day 2 is about to begin in half an hour or so (2pm Danish time).

About 160 players left, and I've got 15,700 chips with the blinds starting at 400-800 (with antes of 100).  So there's going to be over 2,000 chips in every pot before any bets are made.  I'm not completely desperate, so I can wait a short while to make my moves.  Can't wait too long though, as I don't want to get blinded away so much that my stack is so small that doubling up won't do me any real good.

Wish me luck…

(more…)

My first experience of a major tournament like this, and it didn't go too badly (although it was harder for Michelle watching than it was for me playing, especially when I pushed all-in, but more about that later).

Play was scheduled to start at 2pm, and  this was preceeded by a mad scramble of players trying to see the table they had been drawn.  I was drawn on Table 13, a table (like most of them here) full of professional players, the ones I knew I'd seen play on TV.

Here was the lineup on Table 13:

1. Clint Brotherton
2. Frode Fagerli
3. Martin Cedercrantz
4. Daniel Phillips
5. John Persson
6. Christian Togsverd
7. Christian Grundtvig
8. Emile Petit
9. Tuncay Ozel
10. Uffe Holm

Soon after 2pm, it got underway, and I was hoping for a decent hand early on to settle me in and relax me a bit.  Didn't have to wait long, as the second hand I was dealt was .  I raised, and got one caller in the Big Blind.

The flop was an interesting one:

I thought I was almost certainly ahead, and checked the flop, which he then bet into and I raised him and he folded quickly.

That made me feel relaxed, and I settled back during the early stages and tried to work out how everyone else at the table had come to play.

I didn't have to wait long.  The Scandanavians are mad!  Hardly any pots weren't raised pre-flop, often by a player in early position.  Raises and re-raises were the order of the day - and often with not a great deal in terms of starting hands.  This wasn't going to be a game for the weak-hearted. (more…)

For those that are interested, here's the structure for the first day of the EPT Copenhagen:

So nine hours of play will determine who goes on to Day 2.  Starting stacks will be 10,000 chips.  So plenty of time to play it carefully early doors and not have to worry about folding lots of hands, and I can wait for decent hands, or opportunities to play fairly decent hands from good position.

It all kicks off at 2pm Danish time, so that'll be an hour earlier over in Blighty. 

We'll see how it goes…

Starts on Wednesday, with the 400-strong field being split into Day 1a and Day 1b.

Fortunately, I'm playing on the first of these on the Wednesday - so I won't have to sit around on the Wednesday anxiously waiting to get going.  If (when) I get through the first day, I'll be able to relax and watch Day 1b without having to worry about playing in my first major event.  If the worst happens, and I crash out on Day 1, at least I'll be able to chill out and enjoy the rest of the week in Copenhagen.

Just seen that I've been listed with odds against me; 300/1 to win it, and 40/1 to reach the final table.  Nice to be amongst the names listed, rather than being anonymous with the rest of the field.

You can see my odds here

Here are some of the odds for some of the 'more' well-known players:

Marcel Luske is the bookie's favourite at 66/1. TJ Cloutier, Dave Colclough, Tony G, Marc Goodwin, and Gus Hansen are all at 100/1, whilst Andrew Black, Juha Helppi, Johnny Lodden, Tom McEvoy and Micky Wernick are at 150/1.

Further down the list are the likes of Noah Boaken, Roy 'The Boy' Brindley and Isabelle Mercier at 200/1.  

It's gonna be fun! 

Part of a discussion on a thread on the Blonde Poker Forum about how to play small poket pairs in a NL cash game brought some excellent advice from professional Rob Yong - who is also the founder of the Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club.  When Rob offers his advice, I tend to listen.  He knows his stuff.  Incidentally, there are quite a few other very good players on the Blonde forum and I'm certainly learning a lot on there.  By the way, Rob finished 6th in the EPT Dublin event winning €88,690 - and was probably disappointed with that.

Anyway, back to Rob's advice.  I was going to reword it, but as Bertrand Russell put so well:

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.

Here's Rob's thoughts on those troublesome hands:

"The other reason limping is preferable is so you can disguise your hand when you have AA and KK. If players know you limp in early position with small pairs and suit connectors you may pick up a raise or even re-raise with AA and KK pre - flop (if you have initially limped).

I never raise in seat 1 or 2 (this is asking to get busted by a speculative late poistion caller), but limping in early position is a strong play as long as you never pass if raised, that is weak.  Basically, you can limp in any position as long as you limp with big hands aswell.  I also pass small pairs in SB or BB in a heads-up pot v late position raiser, call versus a big hand (UTG / seat 2 raise) for implied odds.

There are not usually any implied odds calling with 66 v a button raise. Small pairs are drawing hands, keep the pot small as poss until you hit. plus you want SB and BB in pot so they can hit 2 pair v your set.

Also would consider any pair less than QQ a SMALL PAIR in cash games, unless you hit a set with JJ you are going to lose some big pots committing your chips on low flops v sets and 2 pair etc. "

It's certainly made me reassess the way I play them.  It's always worth bearing in mind the level Rob plays at though.  A raise UTG at the levels he plays will probably indicate a very strong hand.  That's not always the case with the fish at the levels I play at!

I've promised to buy Rob a beer in Copenhagen for giving me permission to use his advice on here.  But thinking about it, maybe he should be paying…

Nottingham could soon be host to the Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club - and it's going to be big - in every sense of the word.

Rob Yong is the brains behind the Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club. His vision is for a dedicated poker club that can host large poker events with the ability to accomodate large numbers of players.

It will be the premier poker club in the UK, and his plans go further than that.  In an interview he outlined some of his ideas:

This is not a "money making" venture, so we are not concerned with competing with other card rooms. We will create a club that has the capacity to hold tournaments with 500+ runners, we will focus more on freezouts than buy-ins and we will have a set of rules that will be enforced without exception.

The club will be dedicated to poker and all decisions will be made for the benefit of the poker players, even down to the menu in the restaurant. This club will suit the serious poker player but all bankrolls will be catered for, even if this means running the club at a financial loss. The club will also generate money for my charity through employee donations (it will employ 60 people) and tourney prize pools.

That sounds pretty impressive to me. 

I wish him all the best with it, and hope it's an unqualified success.  You can read all about Rob's plans on a thread on the Blonde Poker forum.  

I reckon I might be there a fair bit…

(Edit Feb 2008:  Dusk Till Dawn is well and truly open and now a regular weekend haunt for me)

It's 9:25 on Sunday evening.  I'm about to play in the PokerStars Sunday Million event - an online event with a total prize fund of over $1,000,000. Entry is $215, but I got a seat via a $3 rebuy satellite (so it only cost me $9 to enter).

With over 6,000 playing this Sunday, the first prize is a cool $183,000+.  Fortunately, the event pays down to 900th place, and a more meagre $200.

I will post an inline commentary, which might be amusing after the event…

Wish me luck.