WSOPE Ends As Million, Monaco Beckon
September 19, 2007
Congratulations to Annette ‘Annette_15′ Obrestad for winning the WSOPE Main Event. I have been hearing a lot of great things about her and am very happy to see her take down this prestigious event. She beat 362 of the world’s best players, and she is only 19. This is great for poker and Annette proved that she is one of the best tournament players in the world.
My last two days in the main event did not go as planned. I feel like every poker player in the world when I say, ‘I can’t win a race’. The last two days I did not win any coin flips, especially the last few hours of Day Three.
Near the end of Day Three, after the dinner break, I went from chip-leader to a little below average. On one of the last hands of the night, Matthew McCullough raised to 22,000 and I re-raised to 60,000 with AK. He really should have folded his 44 since he still had 50,000 chips left, but he went all in and I called and we were off to the races. I did not hit and I was down to 200,000. Winning those races is so important that deep into the tournament. Instead of being top five in chips I was in the middle of the pack going into Day Four.
I busted out in 29th place very early in Day Four. My final hand I was able to get my money in as a small favorite, but my pair did not hold up. It went like this. Gus Hansen raised to 18,000 and I moved all in from the button for 178,000. Magnus Persson came over the top in the big blind for 238,000.
Gus went into the tank for a few minutes and I did not feel so good about my threes at this point. Mr. Hansen finally folded and Persson turned over AK off suit. He flopped a K and I did not hit my two outer. As always it is very disappointing to go out so deep in these tournaments.
In the five biggest pots I played in this tournament, I did not win one. One of them was a hand that I did not play well, where I thought my opponent was making a move and he had the nut straight and I was drawing dead going into the river. The other hands were hands where I was a favorite or in a coin flip. You have no chance of winning if you cannot get a little lucky and win the flips.
One of the biggest pots for me in the tournament was against good friend Daniel Negreneau. With blinds 1,200-2,400 he raised to 5,000 when I was in the small blind. I re-raised to 18,000 with AA and he called. There were 40,000 in the pot and Daniel had 92,000 left. The flop came 2 4 5. I led out for 31,000 and he raised all in. He had 5-3 for a pair and a straight draw and I had AA, which was the best hand because I had blockers. Unfortunately I caught an A on the river and that gave Daniel a straight and a very large pot. I was not the only one who lost to Daniel with AA, Gus also lost a big pot with rockets.
Overall the WSOPE was a great time and I will definitely be back next year. The Empire Casino did a great job hosting the event. I had a great feeling that I was going to win this tournament, I gave myself a chance and my tournament game is coming on strong. I am looking forward to the upcoming EPTs
Next I am playing in The Million Dollar Cash Game, it is considered Europe’s most prestigious high stakes poker event that will be made into a TV series that is scheduled to broadcast on Sky Sports in January 2008. This should be a lot of fun. Some of the players scheduled to play are Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Tony G, Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel, Marc Goodwin, Howard Lederer, Allen Cunningham and John Juanda. Blinds are $300-$600 with $100 ante and the minimum buy-in is $100,000 with no max. The nice thing about this cash game that is different from other cash games is that you can use money from your online account to buy in.
After the Cash Game I will have a few days off and on Friday will take a quick trip to Monte Carlo looking for a place to live. I will still spend a few months a year in Vegas for WPT and WSOP events, but will soon call Monte Carlo home.
I have been playing online and it has been a rollercoaster ride. I am usually very good about keeping a level head, but tournaments can make my head spin. I have been chip leader of quite a few big tournaments this past year with 20-30 players left and cannot seem to take down a title. I will just have to wait for the EPT London to try and win my next tournament.
My family and the nanny just got into London from Israel. We are going to enjoy London as a family for a few days.
Good luck at the tables
Patrik
Saving The Best For Last At WSOPE
September 17, 2007
The WSOPE has been going great and, luckily, I have saved the best for last. All of the tournaments have been run very well and I really like the new structures. One thing they do here is spread out the players to three different casinos. Imagine only having one Day One at the WSOP in Las Vegas, instead of dragging on Day One for four days.
The HORSE event was first and looked like a great chance to win a bracelet since the field is so small. However, it is a super tough field. I had Phil Gordon, Howard Lederer, and Jeff Lisandro at my starting table. I felt that I played well, but just could not catch any cards. In limit games, it is very tough to bluff.
My starting table for the PLO event was the toughest starting table I have ever had to play. Kenny Tran, Devilfish, Juha Hellpi, Mark Vos, Robert Mizrachi, and a super tough young Swedish kid. The end result was the same as the HORSE – I just did not hit enough hands and was not able to make a run.
Unfortunately, even though I didn’t get the result I wanted, I lasted long enough in the PLO to miss the Ultimate Fighting Championship 75 event here in London. I was really looking forward to watching it live but had to settle for ordering it online and watching it on my laptop.
My tournament game feels like it is peaking at the right time and I have had a gut feeling the past few days that I was due for a big result. The first two days of the Main Event have been almost perfect and I will try my best to keep it going on Day Three.
Day One did not start well, but got better. I was playing very tight the first five hours and not catching any cards. I was down to 8,000 from the starting 20,000. I finally looked down at KJ of spades and called a raise. The flop came J high with two spades, I had top pair and a flush draw. All of the money went in on the flop and I hit a J on the turn and a spade on the river. This turned out to be the turning point.
I had 24,000 when I was able to make a very good read on a player who obviously wanted to gamble. He was low on chips and we were coming up on the dinner break. His body language and attitude were telling me he wanted to get his chips in as soon as possible.
With blinds of 100-200 I raised utg with 77, he raised to 7450. I took a long time and finally decided to call, since I knew there was a big chance I was in better shape than a coin flip. He had A2 and I was in great shape, but he spiked an A on the turn. I was down to 17,500 instead of 32,500.
These are the times in tournaments where it is very easy to go on a little tilt and usually bust out quite quickly. Luckily for me, it was dinner break and I had time to cool down and regain focus.
At the dinner break I had a good feeling that the rest of the night was going to be good. I built my stack to 76,000 with only two showdowns. I was very happy with my performance after the dinner break; I don’t think I could have played any better. I did not have any cards, but was able to pick up a lot of pots without showdown and build a stack.
At the end of Day Two I was still the chip-leader for my heat. We were down to 84 players and I was in second place behind my good friend Gus Hansen. My starting table on Saturday included Gus and Daniel Negreanu. You can bet there were a lot of interesting hands with Gus and me at the same table. I can’t tell you about them now but you can follow the play on PokerNews.com.
Wish me luck and hopefully I can keep up my great play.
Patrik
Leaving Pain in Spain, EPT Moves to London
September 4, 2007
On the flight to Spain, I was very focused and ready for the upcoming EPT Barcelona. I have not played a lot of tournaments this year, but I am very excited for all the EPTs this fall. Not only are EPTs my favorite tournaments, but also Barcelona is one of my favorite cities. Maya, Mila, and our nanny/chef, all came along for the trip so there were no excuses not to perform well. I could use an airline sponsor since my entourage is growing and I have spent over $40,000 on airline tickets in the last month.
After we arrived I found out I was scheduled to play on Day Two. That was great news as it gave me an extra day to get used to the time change. My mom, dad and sister all flew in before the tournament and I got to spend some quality time with them. It has been a long time since I have been back to Finland and it was really nice seeing my family.
Day One was very good. I managed to stay out of big pots and slowly accumulate chips. When play was done for the day I was in sixteenth place. The European circuit is very different from the WPTs in America. The average age of the players in Europe is a lot younger, which is probably why they are twice as aggressive. Also the structures are very good in EPTs; they add a few levels that really allow for a lot of play on Day One.
The worst bad beat of the tournament for me came the morning before Day Two. I woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and a terrible sore throat. My throat hurt so much I could not get back to sleep. I took enough painkillers to numb the pain, but I was in bad shape. I was not in the mood to grind all day and was willing to gamble a little more than usual.
I eventually busted out on Day Two with pocket deuces. The blinds were 500-1k when the cutoff raised to 3,200 and I was on the button with 41,000. The SB and BB were both very tight, so I figured the cutoff was raising a large range of hands. I decided to push all in thinking that the raiser would fold pocket pairs 33-99. If he had AA-TT he is going to call and there is nothing I can do. He woke up with QQ and I could not catch a miracle deuce.
It was very disappointing to get sick and to get knocked out so early. I would have liked to play small-pot poker and try not to put my chips at risk with a coin flip if I could avoid it. But sometimes things like this happen and you have to adapt as best you can. I will have to wait until EPT London for another shot at my second EPT title.
I have been putting some good hours playing online and doing well. I have also been enjoying spending a lot of time with my girls Maya and Mila, we have been going to the beaches and relaxing and enjoying a little vacation.
A few days ago, Maya, David Williams and his girlfriend, Noah Boeken, and I took a 30-minute cab ride to a very nice beach outside of Barcelona. Noah Boeken is one of my best friends on the circuit and it is a lot of fun seeing a lot of my old European friends.
My Mom, Dad, and Sister have all really enjoyed seeing Mila for the first time, and Mila is loving the attention as usual.
I leave for London tomorrow and will attend a WSOPE launch party tomorrow night. The next day I start playing HORSE, which I’m really looking forward to.
I’m hoping for some good results there, but whatever happens I’m going to an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event at the O2 Arena on the evening of the 8th. I love watching this type of fighting. It’s tough, no-excuses combat that reminds me in some ways of heads-up poker – fortune often favors the brave.
Good luck.
Patrik
Mixed Fortunes Online; Barcelona Beckons
August 27, 2007
I finally got back to playing online this week and my results have been up and down. I have played everything from Razz to NL and even some HORSE. I have been playing $100-200 and $200-400 NL, $200-$400 PLO, Limit Hold ‘em, and HORSE. The Limit Hold ‘em a few days ago was a roller coaster ride. My stack went from 20k to over 100k, back down to 20k and then up again.
I played earlier this week with the new rising star of Internet poker, ‘KaiBuxxe’.
Last week in London I met ‘KaiBuxxe’, he really does exist. Contrary to what everyone has been telling me, he is beatable, at least in Chinese poker. I won 11k in a short session with Roland de Wolfe, Ilari aka ‘Zigmund’, and ‘KaiBuxxe’ playing $500 per point. Pretty impressive that he is only 19 and beating the online games for so much already. It will be fun battling him at PLO online.
David Benyamine has been doing well the past week and it’s great to see. A lot of people were counting him out, but I have always believed he is a great player. When he is hot, there is no one better than David. He can play for 20 hours straight online; he has the best poker stamina of any poker player I know. When the games are good at the Bellagio, David can put in marathon sessions, sometimes lasting three days.
I started yoga this week to try and make my back more flexible. I have been in the gym a lot and got to play tennis twice. I want to get my back as healthy as possible before I leave for Europe on Sunday. I am really looking forward to Barcelona, it is a beautiful city and my room at the beautiful Hotel Arts has a spectacular view of the sea.
There is a million dollar cash game in London after the WSOPE. I will be playing alongside Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusaw, etc. I really enjoy the cash games on TV and have had good results so far. Make sure to check out the videos on my website from previous cash games.
Good luck and I will write from Barcelona. I am scheduled to play on day two and will have updates on my website.
Thanks,
Patrik
ps. In Denmark they have already set the betting lines on my tennis match with Gus Hansen. Right now we are trying to decide what surface to play on, my personal favorite is clay. But we would also like to play the match during the big ATP event here in Las Vegas in early March, which is on hard courts.
Big win in London - and an online review
August 20, 2007
On my flight into London from Rome, I was really looking forward to getting back to what I do best, playing poker. I had just spent eight days in Italy without placing one bet, which could be a record for me. On all my previous visits to London it has been raining and I have just never had any fun. I was hoping that this trip would be different.
After landing at Heathrow I caught a cab and headed for my hotel, the Montague at the Gardens. I had a nice room and unpacked my things and headed to dinner with my agent. We had a great meal with Liz Lieu and Shannon Elizabeth, two of the nicest girls in poker.
The next morning, I was more than ready to play some poker. The game was to be played at the TV studio with blinds of $100-200 with a $25 ante. The minimum buy-in was $25,000 and the max buy-in was $50,000 so it was going to be some deep stack poker, my favorite!
Once the cards got underway, I found my groove. I was playing a lot looser and more aggressive than normal. I was going to mix it up for awhile and apply the pressure.
We were playing six handed most of the day and sometimes four and five handed. I ended up a winner the first day. There were quite a few big pots and a couple of huge bluffs. I was fortunate enough to win the largest pot of the three days.
The game was full of good players and two online qualifiers who rotated in and out throughout the day. Tony G was also in the game. His behavior has sometimes been a little over the top, but I think he is a very intelligent player and businessman. He has always been nice to me and we get along quite well.
My very good friend Ilari “Zimund” Sahamies, Martin de Knijff, Juha Helppi, Jan Sorenson, Tobias Person, former CEO of 24 Hour Poker Per Hildebrand, and Rene Mouritsen were in the game. Rene finished second in this year’s $10,000 PLO when I got third place at the WSOP.
It was a lot of fun to play with old friends from Europe, especially Ilari, one of the funniest poker players I know. He pulled out a couple of moves; if you have heard about his recent play in the Bellagio “Big Game” he is never afraid to put his money in the pot.
He managed to play very well against me, and he got me at least one time to lay the best hand down on the river. Tony G immediately said, “show a bluff, it’s good for the game,” and Ilari showed the table the bluff while he raked in a nice-sized pot.
As I promised, I am going to review a hand I played online against ‘sbrugby’ a few months ago. A little background first. Before this session, we almost never played HU NL Hold ‘em for more than 30 or 40 minutes at a time. We were finally playing for a while and I was up two buy-ins when this hand developed.
I started the hand with $212,033 and he had $99,297. Brian was on the button and made his standard raise to $1,800, I re-raised out of position to $5,400 with the 5 6 of clubs, he put in another raise to $16,200. I felt very strong that he did not have a monster hand like AA or KK. I decided to call and see if I hit any piece of the flop. I was also ready to try to bluff him out of the pot.
The flop came 3c 8h 6s. I obviously liked the flop since I hit a pair with two backdoor draws. I checked with the intention of check raising all in if he bet. Even if he had AA or KK I had a backdoor straight and flush draw and five outs to hit two pair or trips, and if he had two big cards I was ahead.
He bet $18,800 into the pot and I came over the top all in and he called with – I could barely believe it – 8 9 off suit. So he raised me pre-flop to $16,200 with 8 9 off suit and I called with 5 6 suited. It is pretty funny we managed to get over $30,000 in preflop with nothing better than 9 high. I just caught enough of the flop to keep me in and caught my flush to take a nice pot of $198,593.
I’ve just got home to Vegas, and am enjoying some time with my family. It was the first time being away from my daughter and it’s amazing how much she has grown in the past few weeks.
It is going to be a short stay at home before I head back to Europe for the EPT Barcelona and the EWSOP, both of which are going to be a lot of fun and hopefully very profitable! My whole family is coming with me to Europe, including our amazing nanny, who has turned out to be an incredible chef.
Even my mother and sister are coming to visit from Finland to see our baby Mila for the first time, so it will be a family affair.
Good luck at the tables.
Patrik
Time Out in Italy
August 11, 2007
Sorry for not writing sooner, but I have been vacationing on the beaches of Gaeta, a little town 90 kilometers north of Napoli. Marco Traniello and Jennifer Harman invited me to visit them in Marco’s hometown. Marco has been telling me how beautiful Gaeta is and I have not been disappointed.
My life has been very exciting and stressful the past few months and a little rest and relaxation is exactly what I needed. My back has been very bad lately and it’s finally starting to feel better. I got to play a little tennis yesterday, which is the first time I have played in a few weeks.
Many of you might know that Gus Hansen and I have a big tennis match coming up in near future. I will write more about that soon. But it should be a great event and everyone is invited.
Now, a little poker insight into what I believe running bad, really is. In the past when players or friends would tell me about ‘running bad’, I used to chuckle inside and think, there is no such thing as running bad. Especially when they would tell me they were running bad for six months or even one year.
What running bad really is, is getting unlucky and playing poorly. I was very fortunate to run good for almost three years. The last three months have not been my most profitable, but I am excited and ready to finish the year strong, live and online.
I have not had this long of a break from online poker since I first started playing. It has been almost a month since I played last. I have spent the last week wiring money to a few different sites and getting my accounts ready for action. I have heard that there are some new players crushing the games and the action is crazier than ever. I cannot wait to be back in the mix.
In my next blog I am going to review an interesting hand from my online play and discuss how and why I played the hand the way I did. The first one is going to be a huge $300-$600 NL hand against SBRugby. We managed to get $30,000 in preflop in what turns out to be over a $200,000 pot.
Good luck at the tables and next stop is the ‘Cash Game’ in London.
$25,000 Poker Million VI
August 5, 2007
I was very excited after seeing my table draw for my first heat. The only players I recognized were Phil “The Unabomber” Laak and Howard “The Professor” Lederer. The other three players were unknown and my chances were looking good. But in fact, it turned out to be the toughest table in the tournament. I can’t tell you the results yet as they are going to be on TV later this year, but I can tell you it was hard work!
I did not realize how amazing this tournament really was until I arrived. There were a total of 72 players each buying in for $25,000. Then the tournament sponsor added $500,000 to the purse. It would be so nice if this became standard in poker tournaments. I cannot wait for next year’s event.
I spent the past few days hanging out in London, then tomorrow I head to Italy for a little vacation where I am going to visit good friends Marco Traniello and Jennifer Harman. Italy is my favorite place to visit and should be a great place to rest and relax before the ‘Cash Game’ in London on the 14th.
My agent Stephen lives here in London, so today I had five interviews with European Poker magazines and one photo shoot. I have been in a lot of meetings and talking about some exciting possibilities for the future. My good friend Liz Lieu was also here playing the tournament and it was nice seeing her for the first time in a long time.
The new season of High Stakes Poker on GSN is coming out on TV soon. I am involved in a couple huge pots. One is an absolute sick hand where we get it all in on the flop for over $500,000. You will have to wait and see it on TV to see the final result.
I enjoy the TV cash games and think they are great for the avid poker player and fans. I watch a lot of clips of various games on You Tube. The one we are shooting on the 14th is a special for Scandinavian players. It will be fun to see some old friends and new faces. The minimum buy in is $25,000 and the max is $50,000. There is a $25 ante and the blinds are $100-$200. My friend Ilari aka “Zigmund” will be playing, and so there will be some gambling going on. I will buy in for the max and hopefully finish a winner in the game.
I got a new laptop and am going to start grinding online, since I have a lot of free time the next few weeks. Some of my best months of playing came when I was all alone in hotels. There are no distractions and I can really focus on the games. I am going to start playing on some of the European sites, since I am not in the States. If things get worse with online gaming, I am thinking of moving my family to Monte Carlo. Great for taxes and they have one of the most beautiful tennis centers in the world.
Will write from Italy.
Patrik