2010.02.23 08:22:27

BluffMag

Report by: Matthew Beckett, Ace High Poker

The past weekend's Royal Swazi Rumble was a watershed moment in African poker, which will hopefully be described as the South African equivalent of the “Moneymaker Effect”. The largest field in Africa for 2010 descended on the ensconced country of Swaziland to take part in the fourth edition of the Royal Swazi Rumble, proudly hosted by Ace High Poker, to tough it out for a prize pool of R1 million. Described by many players as the premier tournament in Southern Africa, the weekend produced some of the most memorable moments in African poker history.

On a warm Friday afternoon, 112 Players excitedly poured into the Royal Swazi Spa and Hotel, eager to get down to the business end of the weekend. A couple of the early birds were sitting outside by the pool and hot tub, sipping on the Royal Swazi's speciality cocktails, and all around, laughter and joking could be heard as players and old acquaintances regaled past poker battles between each other. As the dust settled and the sun went down, a palpable silence fell over the hotel as the players became more and more anxious about the forthcoming tournament. At precisely 8:00 after the welcome from hotel management and Ace High Poker, the words “shuffle up and deal” were uttered, and the players knuckled down to the felt and started playing some serious poker. The first evening’s play could only be described as a slaughter, with 21 of the starting 112 players knocked out before the end of the evening's play. Among those 21 were some of South Africa’s most notable tournament players.

Saturday's pace was steadier, with players falling out at regular intervals throughout the day. This also included some of the big names in South African poker, who lost out to a few of the tournament big stacks. A final break for a delicious dinner was the last stop before the field was whittled down to the final table of nine players.

On Sunday morning, when play started up again, there were only two people who were ever really competing for first place. Herman van Staaden, and seasoned WSOP player Warren Zackey. Many players tried to stand up to the two chip leaders, but were brushed aside mercilessly, with Zackey and van Staaden regularly adding chips to their already gigantic stacks.

Among the players at the final table were a number of new faces, such as Robbie Sham, Agostino Gaglio, Brian McLean, Herman van Staaden, Paul van der Westhuizen, Hugh van der Westhuizen and Francis Moodley. The seasoned pros at the table were past winner Gareth Kalil – who had fought his way back from as little as 10,000 chips at one point (when the blinds were 10000/20000) and Warren Zackey, who started the final table as second chip leader.

As mentioned earlier, it seemed like a surefire battle between Warren Zackey and Herman van Staaden for who would take the honours. But for a brief moment, Paul van der Westhuizen came within a whisker of being up there after a notable hand, where Paul had J 10 and Francis had 10 5. The flop came 3 4 6 all spades, and the turn brought a 10 to pair both players up. Francis moved all in and was instantly called by Paul. The river brought no help to either player and Paul briefly moved to within 50,000 chips of Warren. However this boost was short lived as, with three players remaining, Paul moved all in with A J for 700,000 chips, with blinds at 10000/20000. He was instantly called by Warren who flipped over pocket Aces. The flop brought a Jack, but unfortunately the turn and river didn't bring any reprieve for Paul, who left R150,000 richer but a bit disappointed nonetheless. For his first tournament of over 20 players, this was quite a showing, so you can be sure he’ll be back next time to try and better this result!

This left Warren Zackey and Herman fighting it out for the R300,000 first prize and the and the trophy, generously sponsored by local firm Ngwenya Glass. After about 10-15 hands Warren managed to get Herman to push all his chips in the middle with 5 5. Warren turned over his pocket jacks, and a flop of J 10 A all but sealed the victory for Warren. With nothing falling for Herman,

What will hopefully make this weekend the tipping point in South African poker is the success of Herman van Staaden who, back in January won on a promotional freeroll tournament in Pretoria, hosted by TUKS FM and Pokerpros, to secure a seat into the Royal Swazi Rumble tournament. One week before the tournament Herman phoned the offices of Ace High and said that due to circumstances beyond his control he may not be able to make it to Swaziland, but he dutifully shuffled a couple of things around and managed to make it, after borrowing money just to get down to Swaziland. For large parts of the weekend he went unnoticed, quietly sitting at his table playing his cards and feeling slightly intimidated in his first major live tournament. In fact he’s only been playing poker for 4 months. But by the end of the second day when there were nine people remaining, Herman was at the front of the pack – sitting pretty with 1 million chips, or almost 1/3 of the chips in play.

After the hard fought final table, when Herman was presented with his winner’s cheque, he walked outside, phoned his mother and when he got off of the phone broke down in the middle of the hotel reception. This is the story of someone who went from being an unheard of student, to an inspiration to many new and aspiring poker players out there. He beat out some of the best local players, like Jay Sookoo, Ryan Dreyer, Dave Rosenthal, Bennie Lingenfelder, in the largest tournament in Southern Africa this year.

The Second Chance tournament attracted 100 players, and with a prize pool of R200,000 offered up a lifeline to those players who had been eliminated from the main event. The final two brought a Swazi local up against one of the better known South African players – Zlatko Dobronic. After a tense heads up battle, the players agreed to split the remaining prize money, and play one hand for the title and trophy. Neil Butler the local Swazi player took the 2nd Chance tournament and a nice payout for first place!

All-in-all it was an excellent tournament, organised by Ace High Poker and hosted by the Royal Swazi Spa. The casino staff were friendly and excellent and the pool was always a welcome blessing after a long hard day on the poker floor. This is truly a tournament that sets the bar for poker in South Africa.

Royal Swazi Rumble results

2010.02.22 08:44:24

BluffMag

We here at BLUFF are getting ready for this weekend's action... Stay tuned for regular updates over the course of this weekend!

Tournament Blog
The Royal Swazi Rumble tournament is on it's way with 112 players seated which will make the prize pool just over 1 million. Currently there are three big names out of the tournament already, Mike Gossayn, Ivan Mitev and Max Satriana which makes it anyone's game... Stay tuned for further updates. May the best poker player win...WATCH THIS SPACE!!!

Tournament Blog
Player’s views on the Royal Swazi Rumble Tournament:

Clinton Nourse:

I have a good feeling about this tournament. It is a nice tournament with a good blind structure. There is a pretty strong field at the moment…. I am sitting at a nice table where there are a couple of decent player’s seated with me.

Bennie Lingerfelder:

My hopes are high although there is a very competitive field out there. So I am hoping for the best, I will just take the tournament as it comes.

Nicholas Zakhem:

I feel like I may do well in this tournament if I play my cards right…. Therefore, I am going to play very conservatively. On my table there is already one player out. I must admit, I have not been getting good cards but I am hanging in there. I am sure I will progress.

First Hand that was Knocked Out:

*Mike Glossayn*

I was on the BB. Pieter Taljaard raised under the gun and I called with JQ suited… the flop came Queen of spades, 10 of hearts and 5 of diamonds. I bet, he re-raised, I called. The turn came 8 of diamonds.... I raised and Pieter pushed all in where I called because I put him on AK pre-flop; he turned over AQ and the river came 5 of hearts knocking me out.

First break for the first evening chips stacks are as follows:

1. Warren Zackey- 78 100
2. Mark Andrews – 71 500
3. Pietera Taljaard – 64 100
4. Sonja Booysens - 63 100

Currently the blinds are at 200/400.

The average stack is 30 000

Chips in play is 3,360, 000

2009.07.06 07:36:01

Poker Pro Guest

Arrival to 22 June.

Well I arrived on Friday after the longest day of my life....After caddying for Rhino on Thursday at the British Amateur and him losing at the 18th, close but no cigar....nevertheless a superb performance to end in top 16 from 288 starters, we got back to the house, packed, had dinner and made plans to travel to London a few hours later. I ended up only getting 90 minutes sleep before we left at 3:30 am, and managed to sleep another hour or so in the car on the way to Heathrow. From there I caught a shuttle to Gatwick and boarded for Vegas at 11am UK time. Premium Economy isn’t 1st class, but it's sure better than economy. Landed in Vegas at 14:30, that’s a three and a half hour flight... um no was actually an 11 hour flight. Well I slept like 4 hours on the plane. The view over Greenland was something to behold absolutely incredible! Eventually got to bed at about 11pm Vegas Time.

Saturday 20 June - On Saturday Jonathan, Ryan and I headed to the Rio to go play some satellites and even though the satellites weren’t that tough we still didn’t manage to cash in any of the 3 each we played. The jetlag also didn’t help my energy levels so we went back to hotel and caught up on some more sleep as we had a 6am tee off time on Sunday morning.

Sunday 21 June ...Ryan and I were up at 5am to meet Sandy and Johan Gaybba for a round of golf on Father’s Day. Last year I brought my clubs, but didn’t manage to play even one round so I was determined to do better this time. We had a good game on a fairly easy course, after the course I had played on in Southport, UK any course is easy. I managed to score 40+34 on a Par 71 layout.
When we got back to the hotel I decided to try win a seat for the Main Event on Full Tilt Poker whilst watching the US Open Golf 3rd and 4th round unfold. I managed to find QQ in cut-off vs. an early shove with 99, only for BB to wake up with AA....sigh.

I did well in some PLO cash games online after that at least.

After dinner, the crew headed for a night out on the town. XS is the club at Encore and looks very similar to Tryst, but the outside area is the same as the pool area in the day so the dress code is very relaxed as there are people partying and even swimming in the pool. Before XS we warmed up with some free drinks whilst playing Switch Blackjack which was lots of fun. We all actually made a small profit believe it or not. Well XS went a bit pear-shaped and by the time we got back to the room the golf was starting in New York 5am Vegas time. Needless to say I only got to bed after the golf was done. I’ve never been a big Mickelson fan, but I must say I felt really bad for him this time; he really does deserve to win one. Lucas Glover was a worthy champion though.

Monday 22 June... Well as you can imagine I only woke up late Monday afternoon feeling very tender so room service was the order of the day. It was the perfect cure and I felt much better afterwards. An early night was in order as I was playing the $10k Pot Limit Holdem WSOP event the next day at midday.

$10 000 Pot Limit Holdem World Championships.

Tuesday 23 June... I really wanted to play this event as I had cashed in the 2k Pot Limit Holdem last year and felt I had an edge in that field, but couldn’t play the same event this year because they rescheduled that event to the beginning of the WSOP and I obviously wasn’t here yet.
Eventually after a few of my buddies showed enough interest to buy shares in me, I decided to pony up for the event as the structure looked very decent with a deep stacked start.
As I sat down I immediately realized after a few hands even though I didn’t play any of them that this was going to be tough table. I drew seat 4 on table 29, due to late registrations, we started 6 handed.

In seat 1 was Thomas Wahlroos and in seat 3 was Isaac Haxton. During the first level Thomas was being fairly aggressive so when I picked up KdKc in position I decided I wasn’t going to reraise and getting him to fold preflop, instead call and try getting a few more bets out of him on later streets. The SB completed and the flop came AhQh4h, Thomas fired a bet and I immediately just gave up the hand. In level 2 it was folded to the blinds Haxton completed and I checked my 34s. The flop came down 3d3h2s, we both checked. Turn was 9d, Isaac bet and I value raised and he called. River 2d. He checked and I bet 1025 into 1400 pot then he reraised to 4k, after some consideration, I didn’t see it correct to reraise again as he probably couldn’t call and if he could I was beat. I called and he showed kd7d for the rivered flush.

After the first 2 levels I was just below starting stack, after calling a few raises and missing the boards. Level 3 was an absolute nightmare as I found decent hands to see flops with and never connected with the boards and couldn’t find any good bluffing spots. When I did connect with the board it was with QhJh on a Qs8s3s board, where I called one bet on the flop and folded to a big bet on the turn. During level 3 Brandon Adams moved into seat 5. I raised with ATos and AJ and got 3 bet and 4 bet both times so they were easy folds.

At the end of level 3 I was down to 18k and our table was broken. My new table wasn’t any easier I drew seat 9. Seat 1 was Mark Teltscher, seat 2 Bill Edler, seat 5 Gavin Smith, seat 7 Isaac Baron aka westmenloAA an online phenom, seat 8 Lee Markholdt. The only hand I picked up of any significance was AsQs in the sb to a raise and a call. I decided just to call, but in hindsight I should have reraised and tried to take down the pot preflop, instead the flop came 7d3h2d and I just check folded. I then found KhQh in cutoff and it was folded to me, the button repopped and the sb flat called and I folded. Then seat 8 raised in hijack, I called with KsJs in cutoff and the sb called. The flop came down 2s4s2c, hijack bet 3200 and I moved in for 5600, sb folded and Lee called with 8s9s....Great you would think, Turn 8c, River 2d and I was gone.

24 June to 28 June.

Wednesday 24 June... The current Vegas crew. Ryan Dreyer, Ryan Brauer, Jonthan Woolley, Marco Farrel and myself went to In&Out for some genuine American fast food lunch and then some indoor Go Carting apparently around the corner from In&Out. It was so hot we walked 1 block and then got a cab for the next 2 blocks. We did 3 races of 18 laps each. Marco killed us on the first 2 races and gave us a half lap start in the last race. I probably could a won the first race but crashed whilst in the lead in about lap 14 with Marco on my tail. Nonetheless we were betting of course on who would win, who would get fastest lap each race etc. After finishing third and third, it was very close between myself, Rhino and Jono who would finish second overall.
I was notorious for driving okes off the course... our competitive spirit doesn’t seem to stay on the poker table or the golf course.

I crashed again and finished 3rd again but got a small consolation for getting the fastest lap in the last race and the fastest overall. Marco scooped most of the cash even though he finished 4th in race 5. FBT won race 5 and was convinced it was all about the cars we got and that's why he did so badly in the first 2 races...

After race 1 though I already knew I was gonna be super stiff the next day.

When we got back to the Wynn we proceeded to play 5 man Chinese poker, 1 player sitting out each hand. We played for 13 HOURS!!!! I did the bombs, sigh. Rhino “I run so bad” couldn’t miss a hand and made quads like 4 times with 2 straight flushes.

Thursday 25 June... After sleeping most of the day I headed off to the Rio to play some more satellites. I chopped in one and should’ve chopped another one, but got knocked out third because they offered me a bad deal 3 handed when I felt I had an edge over them and wasn’t far behind in chips. Alas, I lost a race and got nothing.

Friday 26 June... Friday night Rhino and myself met up with his friend Sean who hosted us in the UK...such a legend. He booked a table for us and his mates at Tabu Nightclub in the MGM. We had an absolute ball, Rhino left a little early so he could play the 1500 at the RIO the next day...alas it was sold out. Lol. Afterwards in my drunken state, I decided I wanted to play some small stakes poker at the MGM. I got stacked in about 45minutes after running trips into a full house. The rugby was about to start so I headed back to the hotel so I could watch in my room, but I promptly passed out.

Saturday 27 June... Plenty saffers arrived over the past few days. I was supposed to meet Sean and his mates at the pool at the MGM on Saturday, but couldn’t get out of bed. Late afternoon I went to the Rio to check on Ryan and play another satellite or two. I found him grinding because the tourney was full. I didn’t feel like I was playing my best and we were planning another night out with Sean and the boys. Once we got back had some dinner and got ready, we waited for Sean forever...they couldn’t make it out after the day at the pool...so Rhino and I went for some drinks at Blush in the Wynn.

Sunday 28 June... I woke up early on Sunday for the end of the month online tourneys, I didn’t feature at all but found a juicy PLO game on 'sands and played really solid PLO and got paid handsomely on my good hands. After that I went and played a cash session at the Wynn. I gave one stiff beat and ran KK into AA to break square after 6 hours of play. I then met up with the boys in a bungalow at XS nightclub’s Sunday night pool party. It is really sick, the weekend was taking its toll on me though.

29 June to 2 July.

Monday 29 June... I headed off to the Rio to go play some more satellites only to find that the queue was so long due to the $1500 NL holdem event running the same day that they had reduced the number of satellite tables. The Wynn room was also pretty full so I went and played some cash at the Venetian. I played pretty solid and made a small profit in a 4 hour session. I went for dinner with Peter Igo and found Rhino and Jono at the Grand Lux Cafe. Went to settle the room bill with Rhino as Wendy had arrived and decided I wasn’t going to go back downstairs to play more live. I thought I would update my blog rather when suddenly a big game popped up on Piggs. 200/400 PLH. The game was firing and I was playing very snug and managed to build a nice big stack. I then got real lucky with QQ vs AA for a big pot even though I figure I was getting all the cash anyway if I just called the reraise preflop, but had decided to put the other player all-in as he was down quite a bit and felt his range was much looser than normal. I got off the table with a substantial profit and thought the game would die to be honest. I had run out of cigarettes and thought I would take a break and get back on the table in an hour or so with a fresh stack.
Two hours later I got back on the table 8am Vegas time. I played till about 1pm and left with a small loss after being down quite a bit in the second session.

Tuesday 30 June... After a few hours sleep and renewed confidence in my holdem game I headed to the Rio to go play a sat and check up on the safffers playing at the Rio. I found a very weak 1k sat and felt I was finding form until I lost a critical pot with AsKs vs 99 all-in preflop for 26k with only 50k in play when we were down to 5 handed.

Wednesday 1 July... I headed to the Bellagio for the first event of the Bellagio Cup V, $540 NLH. I felt I was playing really good and made a great call with 88 on a Q2QQ7 board after the flop was checked I bet the turn and got raised, I called and check called a decent bet on the river, after staring down the opponent I picked up a tell on the player and called to see him table AK. During Level 3 I was pretty card dead and fell below average stack again. When I found my nemisis hand in Vegas AsJs. A solid player raised to 1300 at 200/400 with a 50 ante. Generally I wouldn’t reraise this player here put he had started to get active in late position. So I over shoved all-in for 10450. He promptly called with QQ and busted me. I was very irritated with myself as I still had room to reraise and fold preflop.

Thursday 2 July... After having a very rocky online PLO session I headed off to the Rio to sweat Robert Kay in the $5k NLH 6 handed event where he was down to the last 24 in a field of 928 with the chip lead! $1 Million 1st prize. He eventually finished a very creditable 7th for just over $100K. Probably the best international performance by a South African, since Ray’s 3rd place in the Main Event a few years ago. Well done Robert!

2009.07.06 07:12:33

Poker Pro Guest

Sunday 5 July Through day one and all partied out!

So I'm a little bit fragile after a massive party with the boys (and girls) at Pure nightclub @ Caesars on 4th July! This update will be brief due to the nature of my hanging! Just finished watching Roger win #15! Supreme fight by Roddick and as much as i love roger, i think part of me wanted Andy to win it! Nonetheless, a massive result for Roger, many thought after last year's result and the way he was being beaten on hard courts earlier this year that he would never get to Pete's record, never mind pass it!

Last night was a great jol, and a much needed session of letting my hair down after a tough day 1 at WSOP... It's the first time in my 3 attempts that I have made it thru day one of the main event, and feel pretty chuffed about it! I went through a Rocky patch after the dinner break where I dropped as low as 10,800 odd and had to fight back to finish the day on 32,175 chips. Our table was kind've timid, with one Lebanese guy providing the majority of the action.

I had an interesting hand with him where I eventually laid down AK to an all in on the river where I knew i had him beat on a 8 6 3 5 4 board, and just didn't have the balls to put my tourney life on the line with just Ace King high, and he showed A9 for the pure triple barrel bluff! I was pretty upset I folded the river for 15k into 42k pot, which would've moved me to 57k and chip leader on my table... oh well, i suppose the enormity of the occasion made it tough for me to call so i just gave up the pot when in the bottom of my heart i KNEW i was good!

Anyway after that i was fairly ROCKKKKY and dropped a few more chips down to just under 11k before staging a fight back to over the starting stack at the end of play. I'm a bit bleak I didn't manage to make more of my table considering that although I was seated with Burt Boutin, Alan Smurfitt and Pam Brunson (doyle's daughter) it wasn't the hardest table i've ever been at and would've dearly liked to have picked up a few more chips, but I suppose beggars can't be chosers and all I wanted to do was break the day 1 curse, and if u offered me 32k end of day 1 when I was down to 10k I would've ripped your arm off in the process!

Think it's time to climb back into bed and sleep off the rest of this hangover... last night was July 4th celebration at PURE and I think our squad of Rob, Lauren, Ollie, Shuff, Gary, Danny and Lee Ann did South Africa proud and flew our flag high representing our country's talent for alcohol consumption! Thanks to Rob for taking us all out in celebration of his sick result in the $5,000 6 handed NLHE event, it was a great night and I'm feeling the effects of it right now!

Good luck to the rest of the Saffers playing today (1C) and tomorrow (1D), so far 7/8 boys have gone through lets hope the ratio stays the same and we get 15-20 guys through to day 2!!!

Friday 3 July Main Event begins

Weekend again, sorry for lack of updates, but really nothing worth writing about this week except for Rob Kay's awesome result in the $5,000 6 handed No Limit Hold'em event that finished yesterday! 7th place and $100,000 is a ridiculous result in a field that is notoriously one of the tougher in any event in the WSOP, with hundreds of the best short handed players from the internet gathered! A truly special result from Rob who always seems to come to Vegas and play one or two events per year and do well in at least one of them!

This weekend sees the start of the Main Event of the WSOP, the real reason we are all here! As much as people downplay the importance of this event (and i am probably guilty of this as well) it really is the one single event that everyone wants to do well in every year. To some people, cashing in this event is enough, to others nothing short of a final table will suffice, to me... uhhh DAY 2 PLEASE!

Play has already started an hour ago for all those playing Day1A and I really wish all the saffers the best. Not exactly sure which boys decided to play 1A, but to Rhino, Nic Sissou and Kyri Patsalos good luck and hopefully we are having breakfast together on day 2A...

I'm playing day 1B on the fourth of July! An interesting decision some might say, but in these tough times, where winning a decent pot seems to be an impossible achievement for me, I have decided to draw on my form from July 4th 2007, the date of my Bellagio win two years back, to hopefully break the curse of this town... I will hopefully have some positive news to post back on this blog in a couple of days!

Off the topic for now, its good to see the Springboks "experimenting" with their side for the third test, bringing in many of the more deserved players in for the final test! Kirchner and Olivier will prove to many that they deserved to start the series, not be in the stands or even left at home!

Off to go get some lunch and just chill for the afternoon taking in as much rest as possible before the big day tomorrow...
Let's hope the cards are on my side for a change and I can break my duck in WSOP!

Cheers
Ryan Brauer

2009.07.06 06:50:07

Ryan

So my first WSOP 2009 event was the 7 Stud hi low 8 or better $1500 event. I was feeling quite good for this event, as this is the game I first learned as far as poker is concerned. I cashed in this event last year at the WSOP and was feeling good for it. However, after 4 hours, it was quite clear that this wasn’t going to be a great success for me. When I missed a hand where I had 4 diamonds under 7 high, I thought I couldn’t lose the hand... I mean any low card would give me a straight or low and any diamond would give me a flush....brick brick brick, saw me do a big portion of my stack and I never really recovered. I was eventually busted in about the 6^th level.

The next day I played in a 1500 no limit WSOP event. I started feeling great. Played really solid. At first break I had just more than starting stack which was 4500. At the end of the second break, 4 levels, I had around 13,000. Cruising. At the end of the 3^rd break, I had 16,000 still in great shape and playing superbly. Then in the 8^th level, a very active player opened the pot for 1100. Another very aggressive player re-raised to 4500. I look down to find QQ. After going into the tank and deciding that the re-raiser’s range is much bigger than AA and KK, I decide to put my whole stack in. It was 4500 out of my 15600 to call. I don’t feel like I can flat call there. I either have to move in or fold. So after going with my read on the 2 active players in the hand I moved in and of course, the original raiser has KK and the re- raiser has AA. LOL and they say it only happens online. Unfortunately, no queen for me, aces wins the hands and eliminates myself and the other player in the hand. I felt like I played well and didn’t walk away feeling down. I felt good about my play and a good warm up for the main event which was my next tournament.

I decided to play day 1A of the main event. The main event is always a grind, particularly day 1. The blinds are very small in relation to your starting stack of 30,000 and making big moves or stealing pots is hardly worth it until the last level of day 1. It is pretty much a grinding day, where you wanna survive with more chips than you started with and don’t do anything silly. The blind levels are 2 hours each so there is plenty of time and lots of folding to be done. At the end of Level 1, I had 30,775, at the end of level 2, I had 31,675, in level 3 I lost a big pot of 17,000 when I had KK and another player found a 6 on the turn to hit a set of sixes. I lost the minimum in this hand. I managed to finish the level on 33,000. Level 4 was a grind. I didn’t play a single hand for the first hour and then played a few hands towards the end of the level, to finish on 37,875 for the day.

So, I have survived Day 1 of the main event, and now I have 3 days off till I play Day 2A on the 7^th of July. 

Ciao for now Rhino

2009.06.30 09:11:12

Poker Pro Guest

Friday 26 June Weekend Dawns in Vegas... and the end of a legend!

Not much poker news of late... Yesterday the crew headed out to In N Out Burger for lunch before we hit Fast Lap for Go Karting... A few bets were placed on individual races and the overall winner of the series, which Marco Farrell took down without much challenge. In the three races I finished a dismal 5th (out of 5) in the first two before a miraculous victory in the 5th race. I think I managed to find the best of the cars in the final race, its performance was far superior to my first two. Having 20kg weight disadvatange against Marco and Jono was not easy to overcome and I had planned on using that as my major excuse until my final victory proved that the major factor in these races was the luck of picking a good car. Shuffle definitely was the most destructive driver as he clearly believes it's way too easy to smash your opponent off the track rather than using good driving to pass them! It was a good fun afternoon, but the after effects of severe stiffness in the arms, as well as mild whiplash makes you wonder about the price to pay for good harmless fun!

After our overly energetic afternoon we settled into the lounge next to the Sports Bar at the Wynn to play some Chinese poker... I managed to pick up $540 in a 9 hour session before calling it a night at 3.30am only to find out today that the rest of the boys played on until 9am (clinical insanity if u ask me)...

Today has been by far my laziest day of the trip, sleeping until about 5pm (I think the jetlag kicked in 10 days into the trip) and then ordering room service, playing a bit of online poker, and finishing the third Spud book by John van der Ruit! It's really a good series of novels by the writer and is definitely a must read if you went to a school like Michaelhouse, especially as a boarder.

Speaking of Michaelhouse, yesterday was quite a shocking day in hearing the news of Michael Jackson's death. Say what you want about the man, his music was iconic, and will live on forever... So much controversy surrounded the man over the past decade and it's quite sad to hear it being rehashed all over the media, but the tributes that have been pouring out all around the US are really quite powerful! Hopefully he will just be remembered for the music he produced, and being perhaps the biggest pop icon ever!

As for poker, there haven't been many events that I have been too keen to play, but Sunday is the $3,000 Triple Chance Hold'em event, in which you get 3 stacks of 3,000 chips and you get to play them when you want... You can take all 3 stacks at the start and play it as a 9,000 chip freezeout or take one stack of 3,000 and play a very loose gambling approach and just rebuy if you lose that stack. Not 100% sure which I will use, but it will sure be a different type of tourney to the norm.

Gonna probably head out now for a few friday night drinks with some of the boys before heading off to the British Pub near the airport to watch the Bokke against the Lions...

That's if for now, will post more interesting news when I get back online...

RYAN BRAUER

2009.06.30 09:06:26

Poker Pro Guest

Tues 23 June, Event 45 $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em World Championships

Not much poker news this weekend, played in the $1,000 Deepstack Extravaganza at Venetian. Wasn't in best of mood after the Bokke played so terribly against the Lions and had my Aces snapped my KJcc all in preflop...

Anyway, since then, have watched a lot of the US Open, felt bad for Phil choking at the end, 5 second places in the US Open is insane, and especially this one when his wife is about to undergo treatment for her breast cancer!

Went out on Sunday night to XS at Encore. On Sundays the entire club actually happens at the pool and surrounding areas, was good fun, and had a touch too much to drink but definitely didn't go as BIG as the rest of the boys...

Tomorrow is the $10k buy in Pot Limit event which I am very excited for, a much deeper starting stack of 30,000 should allow me for plenty of time before the pressure kicks in and I should have a while to pick up some hands!

Say some prayers and hold thumbs that I pick up some cards and maybe even suck out on some people every now and then, and hopefully the event can turn out to be profitable and exciting at the same time!

That's it for now, need some rest before a salmon bagel breakfast and plenty of time on the tables, a full day, hopefully!

Kicked some Rhino/Jono/Marco butt in Chinese poker tonight, picked up a $400 win, and did some mad shopping today buying 4 pairs of shoes and a few hoodies and pants...

Love from Vegas...

RYAN BRAUER

2009.06.26 07:02:02

Ryan

Howdy! I know it's been a while since I updated my blog. Life has been pretty hectic. I am finally in Las Vegas and hee-haw, it’s World Series of Poker time!

Before I got to Vegas, I had a lot of stuff to take care of, which left me with very little time for anything. Since my trip overseas involved me being away for a month, I had to ensure that all my work was caught up and ahead before I left. Luckily, after working 'til 4am a few nights in a row the week before I left, I managed to get it all done before starting what I call my dream trip.

My dream trip involved going to the UK to play in the British Amateur Golf Tournament and then travelling from there directly to the USA for WSOP. The first part of the trip was an amazing experience. After arriving just 2 days before the event and feeling rather unprepared for links golf, I shot 77 in the first round of the 36 hole qualifying, where 288 players competed for 64 spots in the matchplay. My disappointing 77 left me way back and it looked like it was going to be a short trip to the UK. However, I managed to shoot 70 in the 2nd round and just snuck into the top 64 for the Matchplay. Although my game wasn’t as good as I had hoped, I managed to grind out wins in the first 2 matchplay rounds, eliminating the field down to 32 players. In the 3rd round I came up against Nigel Edwards who is a 4-time Walker Cup player. After a very intense match, I managed to finally win on the 20th hole. In the round of 16, I again had a very intense match. I eventually lost 1 down to a young player named Stiggy Hodgson. It was a great match, and although I would have liked to win, I am not disappointed with my overall performance and making it to the final 16.

I arrived in Las Vegas on Sunday, feeling rather worn out from playing 9 rounds in 6 days at the British Amateur. I have played in 3 single table satellites since I arrived. A $175 buy in, in which I didn’t do so well. I then won the other 2 that I played in. After a few deals and splits etc, those yielded a nice profit of about $3200, which is a great start to getting the full main event buy in of $10,000.
I play in my first event on Saturday and I am looking forward to it, as I feel like I am playing well and not making too many mistakes. I will keep you all posted as to my progress.

Cheers for now,

Rhino

2009.06.23 10:13:38

Poker Pro Guest

Not much news, sorry I haven't updates in the past day or so, the $2,000 NL event was painfully boring due to the lack of hands I was getting! Its all good though, I'm playing fine and hoping the form improves...

Jonathan Woolley aka driver played well enough and unfortunately got very unlucky later on, on his way to a cash in the Venetian $525 Pot Limit Omaha tourney. He finished 26th out of roughly 250 players and had big hands bust twice when he was a favourite when the money went in! 

As for the rugby, I have no comment on the pathetic Peter De Villiers... How do u pick 5 injured out of touch rugby players in a test match, and then make even worse decisions when it comes to using the players off the bench!!! Not even going to get into it, we need to shake things up a bit! 

Anyway, I'm off to play more satellites and single table tourneys at the Rio before teeing off at 6.05am with Sandy, Johan (chopps777) and Shuffle...

Well done to Bafana to making the semis, they have surpassed their goal and may they go on to beat Brazil 6-0.......................... in the world jukskei championships!

Will update proposed tourneys, I think I will play in the Caesars Deepstack or Venetian Deepstack event tomoro as the structure is so much better than the smaller buy in events at the WSOP...

Still thinking about the playing in $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event on Tuesday, will make up my mind soon...

Later,

Ryan Brauer

2009.06.20 11:37:06

Poker Pro Guest

In the quest of Jewelry- Part 1

Jarred Solomon wrote on June 6, 2009 at 2:38pm

Hey everyone, 

It's been a while since I kept this group/blog updated. But if there was ever an excuse to start, I dont think you get better than The WSOP. The reason my updates are at times sporadic, is because it can really be disheartening when things don't go your way. I build up these huge expectations and often don't reach them. It feels like I individually disappoint every single person that follows me and my progress. It can be very hard, especially for someone as competitive and passionate as myself. But at the end of the day, the messages, together with the compliments and unconditional support make it so worth while when success is achieved.

Soooo, here we are, in Vegas, about 7 days into the series. Basically, like Australia (except on a MUCH bigger scale) there will be a host of events leading up to the main event. These will comprise of different games, entrants and buy ins and will run for 5 weeks. I have not decided exactly which events I'm going to play, but have a rough idea. I'm hoping to play close on 15 events, but it will depend on my backer, my bankroll and my endurance. Some kids dream of being astronauts, while others dream of being singers or actresses. I, on the other hand, have dreamt of winning a world series bracelet since I was 14. It would mean EVERYTHING to me, and although it's a ridiculously long shot, that's the stuff dreams are made of right?

So far I have played 2 events. My first was a $1500 no limit hold em event. They got something like 2800 people. It was like 4 days ago, so I barely remember any of the hands I played. I guess this is kind of convenient as I did play rather poorly. I got my 4500 starting stack up to 9000. But I shortly proceeded to donate, once by calling a raise with K 2 of diamonds out the bb. The flop came came K 8 4, with 1 diamond. I check called, and led the turn when the 10 of diamonds hit. I got smooth called and wasn't quite sure where I was at in the hand. The river brought a black Q and I bet 1500 into a 6000 pot, and got raised to 4000. The only hand that made sense was KQ, I folded, but what a badly played hand of poker. So I was down to about 5000.

Next hand, this guy raises in late position and I rr the button with J 7. He thinks forever and calls. The flop comes K Q 3, he checks, and I bet 2100, leaving myself 1200 behind. He puts me all in and I fold. But here's where things get sickening. The very next hand I pick up KK and get all in against the same dude with 88. He turns an 8 and I river a K to get me to 3100. The hand immediately after that, I pick up AA, raise it and get 2 callers. The flop comes 10 7 2 and I get it in vs 88 again. I hold and the next thing I'm back to just over 8000. I wish I could just stick to playing proper starting hands!!!!! I don't think there's anything wrong with being jammy, and making moves, but I over did it this tournament. Just before the end of day 1, I raised 4 5 hh from late position, and got called in 2 spots. The flop came J 6 2 with 2 spades, I bet and got called by the big stack at our table. The turn was a 5, and I bet again, leaving myself 2300 behind. He thought forever, and I actually thought he was going to fold. He eventually called, I missed my miracle river, and gave up the pot. He showed J 10. Couple hands later I got JJ, raised to 2000, leaving myself 800, and this moron calls me with K 10 diamonds. The flop comes Q 10 8 with 2 diamonds, and he rivers a third one to knock me out the tournament just before the end of day's play.

A couple days later, I played a $2500 event that comprised of half Omaha, half hold em. As most of you know I did really nicely, and more importantly I played so well, finishing 24th! I will do a full report on the event in the next couple days. Just a little story before I end off...so after I bust from the tournament, I tell Larry we going to Tao nightclub to celebrate. We drank like champions and got ridiculously drunk! Afterwards we stumbled into the casino, and proceeded to find a game of spanish 21 (a variation of blackjack). I was on my phone as I was placing my bet, and this really gimpy dealer tells me I'm not allowed to use my phone at the table. So, I take 2 steps back and ask him if that's ok. He says it is, but removes my bet as I start speaking on the phone. Getting bullied by a pale, spectacle-wearing dealer just didn't sit well with me. I lost it, started screaming and shouting like a lunatic. So this dealer calls the pit boss who subsequently asks me to leave the casino. Needless to say I didn't take too kindly to this either. It wasn't long after I'd told him I was going to shag his wife and the dealer's kids, that we were being chased out of the Venetian casino by a renta-cop with his flashlight to boot. We walked home along the strip singing Liverpool songs at the top of our voices. You know that you have a serious problem when the crack heads and street whores start looking at you funny!

I hope you are all well...

JS

What happens in Vegas....

Jarred Solomon wrote on April 19, 2009 at 7:48am

Firstly hello everyone, I hope you all had a good Pesach and festive Easter. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update all of you, but with good reason. As most of you know I came to Vegas to play the WPT grand final, a $25 500 buy in event, featuring probably the best structure in the world, along with some of the biggest names in the game. And like Australia and WSOP Europe, I planned to play the first day. Ummm the only problem is the first day is taking place as I write this.

I came here with enough cash to buy in directly. If things went pear shaped, I also brought enough money on my credit cards as a back up plan. Lastly, I sold off 25% of myself in the WPT event and the EPT finale in Monte Carlo, and this money I'm being given while I'm out here. Hmmm so why am I not playing?

As I got here, I immediately got my feet wet, playing 2 big buy in events at the Bellagio. It's kind of scary though. I always kid around that the poker industry hasn't been affected by the recession, and although there used to be an element of truth to it, the Bellagio Cup tournaments are testament to the fact that there isn't an industry out there that's immune to the current economic situation. Last year these tourneys used to get over 150 people without fail, one of the first tournaments I played was a $5000 event that got 27 people. 

After my first 2 weeks out here I'd burned through most of the dollars I'd brought. I'd played about 5 tourneys without cashing, dined at some of the finest restaraunts in Vegas, had a couple crazy parties and did my fair share in the pits (which irritates me more than the guys that try clean your windows when the robots turning green). Basically I dug myself into a hole. But I really wasn't worried, with a week to go, and 2 tournament festivals running at the same time, I was sure I could catch a $25000 score in time to buy in to the main event. 

In the week leading up to today I played a tournament every day. Building a stack in almost every one, but I kept giving away chips way too easily! In a $550 6 max event I played at Caesars, I turned my 8000 starting stack to 100 000 and never cashed. I hit such sick cards early on and never took advantage. I donked away all my chips after floating a 4 4 8 board with QJ. I caught a J on the turn and went with it. The guy had KK and took half my stack. From the 266 man field I finished in the high forties, I got it all in with Q 9 against AA and the board ran Q 10 9 turn 2 river 10, it was a big pot! Pretty gross.. But after this tournament, I was more sure of my short handed abilities than ever before. I was mixing it up with some good players.

All in all I had played about 10 tournaments, the majority of which were small buy in events. With no cashes to speak of, I'm sure many of you are wondering how I've been funding this and my lifestyle. Well basically there's a $2/$5 game that runs at the Wynn. I've made such good money there, and it's been the only thing sustaining me, even though it was never going to be enough to get me into the main event. I have an interesting strategy with these games. I play really wild, taking the players out of their comfort zone. Sometimes my ridiculous calls, and crazy draws will simply bust players, but more often the players will simply get up and cash out, or simply move tables. Either way, when I get these games short handed, I am absolutely devastating. It's proven to be the most lucrative way for me to make money out here.

So yesterday, I had $9 000 to my name, but no tournament entry. So I ventured to the Bellagio and entered a $2600 sattelite, which featured some decent players. They got 254 people and landed up giving away 24 seats. We started with 10 000 chips, and after 11 hours of play, I knocked out the bubble person to win my seat. This brings me close on square for the trip, which is a relieving feeling after being worried on several occasions that I wasn't going to play. I start tomorrow(day 2) at 12:00, and am ridiculously excited!

Some other news and stories. I've done some awesome things this trip. I went on a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon and Hoover dam. It was sooo cool, and I've decided that one day I need to buy my own a helicopter hahaha... I also went to see Penn and Teller. They're 2 comedians/magicians/interpreters/illusionists and are absolutely incredible. Some of their tricks I still can't stop thinking about. I've been trying to stay in decent shape out here. Gyming like 5 times a week and eating healthily (for being overseas that is). Oh and I'm staying at the Encore, which is probably one of the best hotels I've stayed at. The beds and linen were custom made for the hotel, and are so comfortable, sometimes you just want to sleep all day, and the rest of the time you just do sleep all day. I went on a couple rides as well, they were fun, but once off experiences. I leave for Monte Carlo on the 25th which I'm excited for, but otherwise there's not much to speak of. I'm starting to miss my family and friends quite a bit, so will definately start staying in better contact. I have a toy pom that lives with my parents that will literally shag anything from my brothers foot, to a teddy bear. Apparently he got my little 8 month old puppy pregnant. It's not good for the dog, but the thought of my father tilting at my hormone infested pomeranian had me in hysterics for a good couple days.

In general I've been playing really well out here. I've picked up one or two things, like I always do in vVgas and can't wait to try them when I start playing online again. One of them is betting amounts. I definately bet too small sometimes, so I'm trying to bet heavier more often, and it seems to be working out well.

I'm going to get some sleep. Hopefully I will be able to update you guys because I dont think poker news are covering it. I'm trying to post some videos on here, if that works out I will start recording updates on my cam corder. I hope you are all well...

WSOP

Jarred Solomon wrote on April 21, 2009 at 7:41am

I've been dreading writing this. I played one of the worst tournaments I've ever played, and I'm embarrassed to tell you about some of the hands I played. In a nutshell, I got off to a shocking start, and played my C game. Now in the smaller buy in tourneys like the ones at the Vanetian or Caesars, that usually enough to get you in with a shot, but my C game against these guys was never going to be enough. 

At my table I had Scotty Nguyen to my direct left, and Shannon Shorr four to my right. Early on I pick up Q 10 in the sb and call the 300 raise after 5 other callers. The board comes Q 9 5 with 2 diamonds. I checked, and the original raiser bet 1000 which got 2 callers, I raised it to 5500 as a semi-bluff, but got sc by the original bettor. The turn brought a J and I bet 14000. I don't actually know why I bet so much, but I guess it was out of pure desperation to take the pot down. He called me, and I gave up the river. He showed AQ to take it down. From then on I was continuously chasing, playing raggy hands to try win big pots. These guys absolutely punished me.

I got pretty stiff as well. I had been reraising the guy to my right all with standard rr hands, in standard spots. I eventually picked up AA and rr him again. He called, and the flop came Q J 10. Both checked. Turn brought a 7 and he bet hard, I smooth called. The river was a J, he checked and I bet 30% of the pot. Pathetic, yes i know! But I was in such a shocking state of mind. I got called by 8 9... Chasing in a slow structure tournament, detrimental! Another key hand, I raised from early, got a caller and flopped a set of 10's on a 9 10 J board. I bet hard and got sc. The turn was a K, I checked and the guy bet 85% of the biggish pot. I made a loose call in the hopes of fulling up and winning a big pot. Again, chasing mentality. The river bricked and I check folded...so weak!!!!!!!!! My busting hand, I raise from early with AQ ss, and the player straight behind me doesn't see my raise, and he proceeds to try make the standard 3xthe blind raise. The dealer alerts him and he flat calls. The bb completes, and the flop comes 10 7 5 with a couple diam. I c bet and get sc by the guy behind me. The turn brought a Q, I bet, he put me all in and I went with it without much thought. He showed 5 7ss. I missed the river, and was out so early.. I felt sick!

A huge factor in my dissappointment is that this amazing experience, which I'd been looking forward to for the last 3 months, was limited. Sure, there will be another tournament, and another opportunity, but there are only a handful of tournaments a year that involve such a high standard of play that it actually becomes like a "course in poker". And well, I basically skipped class (some things never change).

I'm sorry if this was boring, but I can't explain what a sour mood I'm in. So where to from here? I'm going to try grind out a bit of money in some cash games, so I can at least afford food in Monte Carlo. I leave for France in 6 days. I'd really like to make amends with a good result out there, and I'm finally going to be able to gauge which is tougher, because like this tournament featured the best in America, Monte Carlo is going to feature the best of Europe.

Until then...