I just want to follow up on the $1M no-eat-meat-bet between Ivey and Tom 'durr' Dwan that I mentioned in a previous post.
Ivey lasted three weeks before buying out of the bet. Allegedly, he was at a restaurant with some friends. At one point, Ivey had a piece of chicken in his hand and at that point he knew he couldn't win the bet. He called up Tom Dwan and asked if he could buy his way out of the bet. After a bit of negotiation they agree to a prize of $150k.
These guys just have too much money!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
durr Bluffs Ivey in Huge Pot
In the latest episode of High Stakes Poker, Tom 'durr' Dwan bluffs Phil Ivey out of a huge pot. See the hand in the video below:
The hand basically goes like this: Another player, Phil Laak, raises first in to 3.5k. He gets three callers including Ivey with the A6 of diamonds. Now it's Dwan's turn in the BB. He looks down at 89 of spades. He now has three options; Call, fold or re-raise. Folding is out of the question because of the good odds he's getting. The way the game has been played so far is that it has been quite loose, meaning that people have called with a lot of questionable hands. So, the only player at the table Dwan really has to worry about pre-flop is the initial raiser, Laak. By making a 'squeeze play' - re-raising the initial raiser and all the callers, he gets Laak and everybody else to fold their hands. Only Ivey calls because they both have around 750k before the hand giving him huge 'implied odds' if he hits his hand.
The flop comes TQK with two diamonds giving Ivey a huge draw. He has the nut (best hand possible) flush draw plus a gutshot straight draw. Furthermore, he has the ace high which also MIGHT be good against Dwan who's recognized as one of the most aggressive players in the world. Dwan leads out 45k into a 70k pot with his crap hand. This is just a standard play when you make a squeeze before the flop! Ivey just calls. Maybe he could have raised to take the pot down right there. He could easily have called with hands like AK, KQ, KJ, KTs preflop and Dwan knows that too. So unless Dwan has the absolute nuts, he really can't re-raise Ivey on that flop.
On a complete blank turn, Dwan bets 123k into 162. Ivey, again, just calls. He must figure that if he hits one of his draws, he can get Dwan to pay him off. Otherwise, he doesn't have the odds to continue with his draw. But maybe Ivey puts Dwan on the exact type of hand he actually has - a bluff. Dwan could have squeezed preflop with air to steal the pot right there and followed it up with a continuation bet to try to steal it again on that scary flop. Now he fires one more time in case that Ivey was floating him (calling the flop with a bad hand to steal the pot on the turn).
The river is a blank 6. Although it gives Ivey a pair of sixes, the card changes nothing. If Ivey was ahead/behind on the turn, he still is on the river. Dwan fires the third bullet of 268k into 408k. This is a really gutsy play! The only hand Dwan can get Ivey to lay down is a combo-draw (which he has). As I said, Ivey could have played the hand like that with any two pair and a lot of top pair combinations. So, when Dwan makes that kind of bet, he 'polarizes his range of hands' meaning that either he has the nuts or he's bluffing. He is not valuebetting any one pair or maybe even two pairs on this board because the board is so scary and they have so deep stacks.
That is also why Ivey thinks for so long about calling with just ace high. It's not an easy call at all and I would probably have folded too. But when you think about it, this might have been the time to make a hero call (huge call with bad hand to beat a bluff).
But that's just my 50 cents. I mean, who am I to question a man who has more than 12 million dollars in career winnings in live tournaments and who has won more than 15 million in online cash games since 2007!
On a side note, in a previous episode of the show, Dwan and Ivey made a one million dollar bet. Dwan bet Ivey to become a vegetarian for a year! So if Ivey eats "anything that moves", he has to pay Dwan a million but if he sticks to his promise, he gets a cool million from Dwan! These guys just have way to much money on their hands!
I wouldn't eat anything for a year if I got a million dollars to do it :P
The hand basically goes like this: Another player, Phil Laak, raises first in to 3.5k. He gets three callers including Ivey with the A6 of diamonds. Now it's Dwan's turn in the BB. He looks down at 89 of spades. He now has three options; Call, fold or re-raise. Folding is out of the question because of the good odds he's getting. The way the game has been played so far is that it has been quite loose, meaning that people have called with a lot of questionable hands. So, the only player at the table Dwan really has to worry about pre-flop is the initial raiser, Laak. By making a 'squeeze play' - re-raising the initial raiser and all the callers, he gets Laak and everybody else to fold their hands. Only Ivey calls because they both have around 750k before the hand giving him huge 'implied odds' if he hits his hand.
The flop comes TQK with two diamonds giving Ivey a huge draw. He has the nut (best hand possible) flush draw plus a gutshot straight draw. Furthermore, he has the ace high which also MIGHT be good against Dwan who's recognized as one of the most aggressive players in the world. Dwan leads out 45k into a 70k pot with his crap hand. This is just a standard play when you make a squeeze before the flop! Ivey just calls. Maybe he could have raised to take the pot down right there. He could easily have called with hands like AK, KQ, KJ, KTs preflop and Dwan knows that too. So unless Dwan has the absolute nuts, he really can't re-raise Ivey on that flop.
On a complete blank turn, Dwan bets 123k into 162. Ivey, again, just calls. He must figure that if he hits one of his draws, he can get Dwan to pay him off. Otherwise, he doesn't have the odds to continue with his draw. But maybe Ivey puts Dwan on the exact type of hand he actually has - a bluff. Dwan could have squeezed preflop with air to steal the pot right there and followed it up with a continuation bet to try to steal it again on that scary flop. Now he fires one more time in case that Ivey was floating him (calling the flop with a bad hand to steal the pot on the turn).
The river is a blank 6. Although it gives Ivey a pair of sixes, the card changes nothing. If Ivey was ahead/behind on the turn, he still is on the river. Dwan fires the third bullet of 268k into 408k. This is a really gutsy play! The only hand Dwan can get Ivey to lay down is a combo-draw (which he has). As I said, Ivey could have played the hand like that with any two pair and a lot of top pair combinations. So, when Dwan makes that kind of bet, he 'polarizes his range of hands' meaning that either he has the nuts or he's bluffing. He is not valuebetting any one pair or maybe even two pairs on this board because the board is so scary and they have so deep stacks.
That is also why Ivey thinks for so long about calling with just ace high. It's not an easy call at all and I would probably have folded too. But when you think about it, this might have been the time to make a hero call (huge call with bad hand to beat a bluff).
But that's just my 50 cents. I mean, who am I to question a man who has more than 12 million dollars in career winnings in live tournaments and who has won more than 15 million in online cash games since 2007!
On a side note, in a previous episode of the show, Dwan and Ivey made a one million dollar bet. Dwan bet Ivey to become a vegetarian for a year! So if Ivey eats "anything that moves", he has to pay Dwan a million but if he sticks to his promise, he gets a cool million from Dwan! These guys just have way to much money on their hands!
I wouldn't eat anything for a year if I got a million dollars to do it :P
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Atlantic City
I haven't told you guys that I went to Atlantic City recently. This is just an exert from a blog entry on my other blog about the whole trip. This post will only hold the part about poker. We stayed at the Taj Mahal.
(...)After a great dinner, me and Hugo went to the ATM to get some cash and then signed up at the poker room. On the way there we had to walk through the whole casino and it was just huge! According to the website, there are over 3,000 slot machines and more than 210 table games (roulette, blackjack etc.) and 70 poker tables - can't wait to go to Vegas where the casinos are even bigger!
(...)After a great dinner, me and Hugo went to the ATM to get some cash and then signed up at the poker room. On the way there we had to walk through the whole casino and it was just huge! According to the website, there are over 3,000 slot machines and more than 210 table games (roulette, blackjack etc.) and 70 poker tables - can't wait to go to Vegas where the casinos are even bigger!
By the way, this is what two (wannabe) high stakes poker players look like :)
Poker
The lowest stakes was $1/$2 with a minimum buy in of $60 and a max of 300$. Beforehand, I had decided that I wouldn't lose more than 3 buy ins of what I normally play online = 600$ total. So, I found a table and sat down with 300$. Unfortunately, I didn't get the same table as Hugo but at least we could see each other and sometimes we would walk over and ask how the other was doing.
I started out folding a lot because I wanted to see how the table dynamic was and I didn't get any good cards anyways, so I really couldn't do anything else. However, the bad cards continued so I figured I would try to steal some blinds. The first time, this guy, lets call him Mr. Aggressive, re-raises me and I had to fold. A couple of hands later he just calls my raise and check-raises me on the flop where I have to fold. He shows me a total bluff. 15 mins later he does the same and later he does it again. Still, I wasn't getting any cards whatsoever, so I really couldn't do nothing.
Actually, I can sum up all my good hands from the +4 hours of play right here: 2xKK, 1xAQo, 1xKQo and 1x88 - that was it! I had no other pocket pairs all night, no good aces, no suited connectors - NOTHING!
Back to the story... After losing with some bad hands and bad bluffs, I was down to about 150$. Finally, I got my first real hand - a pair of kings. The short story is that I get my last 150$ all-in against another guy with QQ and doubles up to 300$.
Later I get KQo in the BB. Mr. Aggressive now tries to steal my blind again and I just call. Flop comes Qxx and I check-call his bet. Turn and river are blank and I decided to call him down after he had been bluffing all night long. Unfortunately he woke up with AQ this time and he won my stack of 300$ from me on that hand. Maybe I should have folded since he hadn't bluffed that big before. I think we had played about 3 hours at that time.
Anyway, I buy in for another 100$ and after literally folding all hands except a couple of blinds for a whole hour, I get kings in early position. I raise it big but somehow I get no respect and five people call me. Flop comes 235 rainbow. Since I'm first to act, I just check because I want to trap Mr. A somehow. As I predicted he takes a stab at the pot and I just call. I don't raise because he will only call me with something that has me beat already. The turn opens up for a flush draw but is otherwise blank and I check to him again. He puts me all-in. I really had a tough decision but I was short stacked. Preflop, he could have called with 22, 33, 55, 66-TT, suited aces and suited connectors. So either he had a hand or either he was bluffing or semi-bluffing. I ended up calling after a minute or so and he showed me A4, which means he had flopped a straight on me :(
I decided to call it a night at the poker tables because the deck was so cold. I really should have quit earlier but what can you do when it's the first time at a casino.
Friday, February 26, 2010
You Can't Win Them All...
As I wrote in an earlier post, the former world champion, Peter Eastgate, played a good tournament. However, he experienced a bit of a cooler when he flopped a set (3 of a kind) and his opponent made a straight on the turn to knock Eastgate out of the tournament in 23rd place. He won 80.000DKR (about $15,000). The first prize of 3.6M DKR was won by a Swedish guy called Anton Wigg.
I have to say that Peter Eastgate keeps on impressing me. A lot of world champions we never hear from again but Eastgate's results speaks for themselves! In January 2010 he came in 9th at the EPT Deauville ($100k), France. In October 09 he came in second at the EPT London ($843k) and in January 09 he won the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure worth $343k. But of course the WSOP Main Event victory where he won $9.1M remains his biggest win!
You can check out his impressive record here
I have to say that Peter Eastgate keeps on impressing me. A lot of world champions we never hear from again but Eastgate's results speaks for themselves! In January 2010 he came in 9th at the EPT Deauville ($100k), France. In October 09 he came in second at the EPT London ($843k) and in January 09 he won the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure worth $343k. But of course the WSOP Main Event victory where he won $9.1M remains his biggest win!
You can check out his impressive record here
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Isildur1 On Another Rollercoaster Ride
This is the fantastic story about a poker player who plays on Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt is known for its nosebleed cash games. Before the financial crisis, there was a lot of action on the $500/$1000 tables. This meant that a couple of times a day, someone would win a hand worth more than $500k. However, the action slowly died out on the higher levels.
All of a sudden, in November 2009, this kid shows up under the nickname Isildur1. In less than two weeks he wins close to 5 million dollars - 4 of them he won off Tom 'durr' Dwan. The funny thing is that no-one really knows who he is. There are rumors about him being 18 year old Viktor Blom from Sweden but it has never been confirmed.
After winning 5 million dollars, everybody in the poker community was really amazed by this new player. Unluckily for him, he also tasted what it feels like to be on a loosing streak! In less than 24 hours, one day in December, he lost 4 million dollars to another young gun, Brian Hastings. Throughout December, Isildur1 lost all of his winnings plus another two million dollars! One day he just disappeared. He wasn't seen at the tables in all of January, so everybody thought he would never come back. Below you can see a graph of his results.
Isildur1's Career Timeline
Before Isildur1, the biggest online pot had been $700k for more than a year. During November and December that record got beaten more than ten times! Today, the record for the biggest online pot is 1,3 million dollars, in which Isildur1 was the loser.
So it was a bit of a surprise, when he went back to the tables a few days ago! He started out like in November - he won $900k the first day. But yesterday and today he has lost approx. the same amount. So, I think he is break-even for the year.
But it is going to be very interesting to follow this mystery kid!
All of a sudden, in November 2009, this kid shows up under the nickname Isildur1. In less than two weeks he wins close to 5 million dollars - 4 of them he won off Tom 'durr' Dwan. The funny thing is that no-one really knows who he is. There are rumors about him being 18 year old Viktor Blom from Sweden but it has never been confirmed.
After winning 5 million dollars, everybody in the poker community was really amazed by this new player. Unluckily for him, he also tasted what it feels like to be on a loosing streak! In less than 24 hours, one day in December, he lost 4 million dollars to another young gun, Brian Hastings. Throughout December, Isildur1 lost all of his winnings plus another two million dollars! One day he just disappeared. He wasn't seen at the tables in all of January, so everybody thought he would never come back. Below you can see a graph of his results.
Isildur1's Career Timeline
Before Isildur1, the biggest online pot had been $700k for more than a year. During November and December that record got beaten more than ten times! Today, the record for the biggest online pot is 1,3 million dollars, in which Isildur1 was the loser.
So it was a bit of a surprise, when he went back to the tables a few days ago! He started out like in November - he won $900k the first day. But yesterday and today he has lost approx. the same amount. So, I think he is break-even for the year.
But it is going to be very interesting to follow this mystery kid!
Eastgate Doing Good At The EPT Copenhagen
The 2008 World Champion, Peter Eastgate, is trying to make another deep run in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The tournament is part of the European Poker Tour and is by many considered to have the toughest field on the circuit except from the season finale in Monaco. This is because there are a lot of Scandinavian players and they are usually known to be very aggressive in their style of play.
Last years winner, however, came out of the US but this year it seems that the financial situation has made most people stay on the other side of the Atlantic.
The tournament is still only at day 2, so the money has not been reached yet. The prize pool is about $3M and with a first place prize of about $700k, I sure would not mind if we had a little Danish success! :D
Last years winner, however, came out of the US but this year it seems that the financial situation has made most people stay on the other side of the Atlantic.
The tournament is still only at day 2, so the money has not been reached yet. The prize pool is about $3M and with a first place prize of about $700k, I sure would not mind if we had a little Danish success! :D
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
High Stakes Poker
Finally, this year's season of the televised cash game poker show, High Stakes Poker, aired last Sunday on GSN. This year's first episode featured one of the most impressive line-ups ever seen in televised poker.
Line-up:- Phil Ivey (Photo), US
- Gus Hansen, DK
- Dario Minieri, IT
- Antonio Esfandiari, US
- Andreas Høivold, NO
- Phil Hellmuth, US
- Tom 'durrrr' Dwan, US
- Daniel Negreanu, CA
- Gus Hansen, DK
- Dario Minieri, IT
- Antonio Esfandiari, US
- Andreas Høivold, NO
- Phil Hellmuth, US
- Tom 'durrrr' Dwan, US
- Daniel Negreanu, CA
This season, the minimum buy-in is $200k but Ivey and Dwan both elected to buy-in for a cool half a million. Already in the first episode, one of the players loses his buy-in and quits the game - this is highly unusual as poker players most often carry around huge ego's. However, you will have to watch the show (see below) to find out who has a blow-up!
If you don't know what the difference between cash game poker and tournament poker is, here's a quick intro; first of all, in a tournament there is a fixed buy-in - you pay e.g. $100 and you get 10,000 tournament chips (= so the maximum amount you can lose is those $100). In cash game, on the other hand, you buy-in with your own money and you can quit or bring more money to the table anytime you want.
Cash game poker's biggest advantage is that the format makes the game more interesting to watch because the players have more room to play good poker. When you see the final table of a tournament, the players usually only have 6-20 big blinds (BB) left because the blinds increase over time. This way, the most common phrase you will here is "I'm all in!" - it sounds cool but it really takes out the skill element of poker.
In cash games, the blinds stays the same all the time. On HSP the blinds are $400/$800 so all the players start out with at least 250 BB's. The deep stacks are way better for televised poker since the decisions become much harder and the bluffing element becomes more important.
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