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So, I took a deep breath and signed up this morning, especially when I learned that there were so far only 130+ players signed up, and with a prize pool guaranteed at $1,000,000 it was really a no-brainer.
When the smoked lifted and registration was closed, I think we had hit 220+ players, but still a solid overlay of more than $200,000 that Pokerstars would have to swallow. I feel sorry for them that they gambled so high, but on the other hand, I think they have enough money already :o)
The game. 10,000 in chips and a decent structure, one-hour levels. I was seated at table 2, which I believed was a sign that my table would not be broken up first like in May when y table 40 was the first to be sent all over the room. I was right - we were the second table to be broken, and I LIKED my table, aaarrggh. Check this one out, we lost our first player at he second (SECOND!!!) hand of the tournament, when the donk could not get rid of KK when reraised on the urn by a player who had hit his set on the flop.
I won a few hands pre-flop, a few hands on he flop, one hand on the turn and one hand on the river during he first two levels without ever showing my cards. I liked that, tight table, a few inexperienced online grinders, no scary players. I also lost a couple of pots against a Finnish player to my left, who seemed to be the first to start playing back at me. Still, when we went on the first break I had 10,575, more or less average.
A few hands into the third hour I had had to lay down to a reraise on the flop (to my Finnish "friend"), and then they broke up our table. I was reseated to table 9, seat 1 fro where Mister Costa Rican poker Max Stern had just busted Argentinian Leo Fernandez (incidentally an old backgammon buddy). My new table was a lot tougher than he first one, a lot of raises, reraises and playing back at the bettors.
I won a decent pot from the guy in seat 8 when I hit trip queens on the flop and trapped him, so I was more or less even when the key hand happened. Blinds were $100-200, my stack at 9,000. I pick up
 
UTG. Normally I don't play this hand at a full table, but I though I would try to limp this time. So I did and everybody folded to the SB who completed and Abraham Rosenkrantz in the BB checked.
The flop was
  
SB checked, Abraham in the BB bet $200. I have two overcards and I know Abraham like to bet and get involved so I decide to call. Back to the SB who folds, and then the dealer made a short almost unnoticeable pause, which for some reason makes Abraham make a small almost invisible movement with his cards which made me believe that he was folding to what he though was a raise from me. He realized (I think) that he was just called and covered his cards. My guts said he had a weak holding, and I laughed at him when the
came on the turn and I befriended him with a "I'll take you out of your misery, Abe!" when he checked and I bet $600. I was quite surprised when he reraised me to $1,800!!? I he really knocked me over with that bet, and I could not figure out what he was holding. Did he have 10 5, 10 6? Was he on a flush or straight draw or both? My guts told me he was on some sort of semi or clean bluff, but how could he have mustered that the way the hand had played so far? This is where I really failed today, my biggest error: I did not reraise him. What a sucker, I had this strong feeling he was bluffing and the the rear view mirror it all seems so clear,but I started eeing ghosts, so Imjst called his raise. The river was
probably one the few cards I really did not like to see. Now Abraham lead out with $3,000 which (I had $7,000 left), and I pondered for a while but in the end I could not find the call with just top pair and so many possibilities for both straights and two pairs out there. I folded and he turned over
to show me the bluff. That one hurt.
A few hands later they broke my table up again, and I was seated in an even worse position at table 23 with 4 big stacks ($18,000-30,000+) and with my $7,000+ I looked like a dwarf.
Now the blinds at $100-200 with a $25 ante. I sit out for about 8 hands when I pick up
on the button. UTG raises to $600, two callers on the way to me, I thought it a great spot to call with good value. Blinds fold, the pot is at $2,925 now. The flop comes
  
The preflop raise bets out $2,000 and I have about $6,000- left, so when the other two callers fold I decide that this is the hand I need to double up on (after all he should fold AK, right?) and I move all-in. He calls pretty quickly with aces, no spade, so I am looking good before the last two cards. Alas, no jack, no ten and no spade so goodbye Henrik and this awful acidous and revolting feeling in the stomach when you get up from the chair and bid the $1,000,000 prize pool a definite farewell. |
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Posted by Henrik Bodholdt at
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Hey poker freaks,
I just gotta write it down so I don't scream all over Potrero, so you gotta listen to this hard luck story:
Today's $215 qualifyer to he LAPT had 27 players, one seat guaranteed plus costs worth a total of $6,000.
Short version:
I reach the final table, there is only one prize, the winner takes it all, zilch for second place. After more than 5 hours of play and after taking out a couple of pros, among others Karlo Lopez, I end heads-up with me in the chip lead 88,000+ vs. 47,000+. The guy has been an erratic player with huge all-in raises throughout the final table, - I decide to stick to smallball as I think I am the better player (don't we all?!). I build my lead to $104,000/31,000, then he wins a big pot and we are back to even. Again I build back to $104,000/31,000, fall back a little when this hand comes:
I am in the BB with $99,714 he is the SB with $35,286. I am holding
he calls the $600, I check. The flop comes
  
and gives me an open-ended straight draw. Since he has been reluctant to call my flop bets I lead out with a pot sized bet, which he calls. OK, let's see the turn:
I check, he checks. The river is
sweeeeeeeeeett, my straight hit and no checking this time. I bet $3,000, he reraises to $12,000, and I go all-in after a moment of thought as I could ONLY lose to A 10 - which he of course showed down to bring us back to almost even again with him in the lead.
From there I did not hit a single flop 30 hands in a row and I got cut down to small size. I managed to double up once with QQ vs. AK, and in the final hand my JJ got beat by his K7o.
This game is *sick*.......... |
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Posted by Henrik Bodholdt at
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398 players set a new record for a prize pool on Costa Rican soil, almost a million dollars total. I headed for San Jose Thursday morning early, but of course - today of all days - a major part of the only road connecting Guanacaste and the Central Valley had washed away near Miramar and only one baaad lane was passable, creating huge lineups of miles and miles of cars and 18-wheelers, DAMN! I arrived at the hotel in the last minute before kick-off and got seated at table 40 out of 40 tables total!
Good table I thought. I was in seat 5, seat 1 had a complete newcomer of live poker, goofed off a chunk of chips to me and others, could not stack them, never knew how to bet the right amount etc. etc., in other words: Lost without a mousepad! Seat 2 was better, seasoned amateur, seat 3 a tight German who later revealed himself as a raving lunatic, seat 4 another young internet qualifier, sweating with nervousness. Seat 6 a loose calling station, but with moments of great aggression. Seat 7 the same type, very loose calls preflop. Seat 8 and 9 pretty tight, seat 10 the Brazillian Pokerstars Pro Andre Akkari.
 Got off to a quiet start. Seat 9 had had some unfortunate hands and was clearly frustrated. In one hand he had raised in early position preflop to 150. One caller in seat 1, I was on the button with
 
and decided to call.
The flop came
Seat 9 lead out with 300, seat 1 folded, I did the Hollywood thing and called reluctantly.
Turn came
Another bet from seat 9, this time 600. Again I gave it some time, call.
The river brought
This time seat 9 just checked. I bet $1,500, hoping to be able to milk him a little and he called, muck! My guess is he was holding AK.
My stack grew to more than $13,000 (started with $10,000), but later I bluffed some of it off to Andre Akkari (he called me with second pair on the river, darn it) and then our table was broken. I was moved to Table 3, seat 3 which was two seats to the left of my fellow countryman Ole Busborg Jensen, and two seats to the right of Victor Ramdin.
 Since I goofed off a few thousands to Akkari I had been on a card drought, nothing, nada nichego, zip zilch zero!! With the blinds growing and my stack dwindling it became quite frustrating. My new table was more loose than the first one. Ole was sitting very tight, seat 2 was a maniac with very loose raises, Victor too was struggling with a low stack and no cards. Finally I found
in mid position, my first action in 45 minutes. I raised 3 times the BB, then the SB came over the top with a huge reraise, had to muck.
Half an hour later, blinds are 75-150. Ole raises in mid position to $400, our loose mate in seat 2 reraises to $1,400, and I am looking down on
 
My stack is at $8,000 approximately so if I decide to raise I have to push it. So I did, Victor goes in the tank!! Finally mucks, Ole squirms in his seat and eventually mucks, and now the squeezeplay is complete, seat 2's hand hits the muck too.
A couple of rounds later I get a couple more hands under the belt and finally hit average again at around 13,000 when we go on break.
Back from the break we now hit level 5, blinds 100-200, ante 25. A young fellow from Long Island opens in early position with $800. It is folded to me, I am holding
I decide to call, everyone else folds. The flop comes
He leads out with $1,400, I decide to re-raise, make it $4,000. Afterwards I thought my raise was a little too big. If his bet was indeed a probe bet, he would probably have let it go against a smaller raise, but as it were he decided to push all-in and he had me covered. I think he must have had a set, kings, aces or perhaps the nut flush draw, I mucked and shrunk to below $8,000 again.
Another wave of drought hit my hands and my stack slowly dwindled to just above $6,000 With blinds now at $150-300, ante $25 I had to get lucky soon. Mr. Maniac to my right kept raising and stealing and I was just waiting for an opportunity to punish and get lucky, I needed to make a stand and stop him or my tournament would be over soon. Finally he is doing another preflop raise to $800 on the button, I am in the SB with
good enough to make a stand I thought. To make sure he knew he would be playing for my entire stack I reraised him to $3,000. He thought about it, then pushed all-in. Now I had to call, even if I was dominated - the price was good enough, he flipped over
I got no help from the board and it was all over.....
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Posted by Henrik Bodholdt at
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It has been a while since my last entry to this poker blog, but that's simply because I have not been involved in any bigger events since the WSOP 2007. Not that I haven't played poker, as a matter of fact the action in Tamarindo has been both fun and plenty!
At the end of 2007 I was close to repeating and defending my Tamarindo Poker Tour Championship. Down to the final three players against the 2005 TPT Champion Diego and the 2007 Moneymker Raul I was in the chiplead, but alas no luck this time. I did win the inaugural title Player of the Year, so it was still a pretty good season.
This year I have been busy setting up my new club in Tamarindo and it is finally open! A great place for social activities, ocean-view, huge pool w/jacuzzi, separate lounge and bar and then a perfect setup in the card room, designed for tournaments and games. I have included my entire library of DVDs and books, my cigar humidor with my own brand, a wine chiller for the members, big flat screen TVs for sports, shows and music. The opening was delayed a number of times due to unfortunate circumstances. The gravest one was the death of my dear sister Helle. She was ill for many years, suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, but now she has peace, God bless her soul.
Before opening my club I made "homecoming" appearance as Tournament Director of the Nordic Open, now a part of the World Series of Backgammon. An amazing experience, ridiculously hard work as always but also fun to be a part of. the TV crew and the entire production was definitely a challenge to work with, but everybody was nice and wanted to make it a succes, and thus it went on to be exactly that! The shows should air on ESPN and Eurosport (later joost.com) some time in June. The photo is from the award ceremony immediately after Szymann had won. Eric Guedj of Partouchegammon.com is congratulating, Gus and I applauding.
This photo was from my first monthly freeroll for the members at the 3 Kings Social Club. Luckily I won it myself, a good sign before the LAPT. Tonight the club is opening the weekly action with the regular Wednesday night Club Ranking tournament (www.3kingsclub.com) and tomorrow I am off to San Jose, stay tuned for news on this page.
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Posted by Henrik Bodholdt at
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So,
back from dinner break, 503 players are left from the 1,037 who played in day 2a.
The blinds were now $1,000-2,000 with a $300 ante, I am sitting with 66,300.
We are less than one round of hands into the forth level of the day. An Argentinian guy in 3rd seat from the BB raises to 6,000. I look down on Jd 10d and decide this would be an excellent call as my Latin friend has been one of my victims post flop a number of times. The button folds, the SB (Alex Melnikow, the bully) calls, the BB folds.
Flop comes Q98 rainbow (SWEEEEEETTTTTT!!!), I flopped the nut straight, now it is all about milking it. check, I bet 10,000 into the $22,700 pot to see where I stand and hopefully get Melnikow to make a move. He just calls, Argentina folds. The turn brings a 6. Melnikow checks. I see no danger and no reason to show strength so I check. Another nine comes on the river, and Melnikow immediately announces all-in. I instantly call expecting to see his two pair or trip nines, but he flips over 96 for a runner-runner full house.
Is anybody else sick out there? Let's all puke together now! |
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Posted by Henrik Bodholdt at
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hey,
started off well today, when I 40 minutes into the day managed to double through the big stack with a full house aganst his top 2 pair. His own fault, gave me a free card on the turn so I could river him :o)
The WPT winner Jose Rosenkrantz was short stacked in seat 7 all day, and when he finally got a caller to his all-in, the caller sucked out on the river and sent Jose home to Costa Rica.
Was cruising between 75,000 and 107,000 for the next couple of hours, but then I got hit bad by kings against my queens, which chipped me down to 50,000
Then the guys kept growing to my left, huge stacks who are now sitting with 300,000+ each, I wittled further down to less than 30,000 with the blinds at 800-1,600 and 200 ante, uuggghhhh....
I got a walk on the big blind once, I flipped over my cards: Aces!! FUUUUUCKKK!! Happened to mee last year, too!
Finally I got the chance to punish the bully (Alex Melnikow) in seat 7, and he grew a bit too cocky when I opened on the button to 4,500, SB folded and he announced all-in, which meant another 25,000 from me. Yippeee, I called with AQ and we both hit the flop, but my hand held up.
I won one more hand before the dinner break and I am sitting with 66,300. Average is 110,000+ so I have some catching up to do.
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Posted by Henrik Bodholdt at
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First some numbers:
6,358 players entered the 2007 WSOP Main Event, creating a prizepool of $59,784,954. 621 places will be paid, and each player who cashes will be guaranteed at least $20,320. First place will win $8,250,000.
2,415 fewer players entered the Main Event in 2007 than in 2006, but this year's number is 739 higher than when Joe Hachem won it all in 2005.
I just got back from a great relaxing day filled with fun, fish and wakeboarding on Lake Mead. My friend Tom Robinson has lived in Vegas for 20 years and one of his businesses has been entertainment boating on the lake so today I joined Lars Bonding, Christian "Tox" Togsverd and Claus Cato - and Tom of course.
First thing I did whe we arrived at the marina was drop my favorite $200 BMW sunglasses in the water!! I was so baffled over the hundreds of humongous carps fighting for the pop corn Lars was feeding them with that the glasses slid out of my shirt into the water before I could catch them, damn! Now I will have to find another set of (good!) glasses before tomorrow's action.
The temperature of the water was perfect, we hung out and swam, the three of them had a blast on both the wake board and the bouncing pillow Tom would drag after the boat, challenging the riders of this water rodeo.
For lunch we stopped as close to the Hoover Dam as we could get. You used to be able to get a lot closer, but since 9/11 the safety precautions have increased and I do admit it would be a devastating disaster to have a suicide bomber in a speedboat attack the dam, no matter how huge and solid it is.
Notice the color differences in the layers of the surrounding rock? That is how much the water level of the lake has decreased over the last decade or so. Las Vegas drinking water and irrigation, plus consumers in parts of California are basically sucking the Colorado River dry. It is only a question of time before the lake will dry out, unless it starts snowing 10 times more in the Rockies than the level of the past many million years.
Tomorrow Tuesday is my big day at day 2a - wish me luck and incredible insight! |
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Posted by Henrik Bodholdt at
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Yesterday was as tough as it was last year - the day after day 1. Tired, sleepy, worn. All I could think of was getting nutrition, carbs, vitamins, minerals for my brain and body - to reload. I slept until 11 a.m., then went for a trip to the strip, had lunch at "Sensi", fantastic shrimp risotto with a glass of wine, followed by espresso and armagnac in the cigar bar, completely blank in the brain and just hanging.
The pleasant difference was that I had no pains or twisted neck, this time I came prepared for the lousy chairs and long hours. At Brookstone I had invested in a weird looking "donut" cushion and it worked great, elevating me a bit and giving me support throughout the session.
At night I again went to sleep early, the bed is great so nevermind the less-than-spectacular hotel, it is still a killer deal, wireless internet, close to the Rio.
The Main Event is now on its third day 1. We were 1,287 players Friday, there were 1,545 yesterday and today looks to be a little bigger than that, so the total this year will probably end up close to 6,000 players.
Judging by the amount of on-line qualifiers most oberservers thought we would get closer to last year's 8,773 but here is he catch: Pokerstars qualifiers got their $12,000 WSOP packages credited as cash to their account, so they could choose between going or cashing, and surely a lot of them have chosen the cash.
If the UIGEA does not get lifted and/or Harrah's will not force the poker sites to make the players actually play the tournament in the future, we might have seen the biggest event ever last year.
Today I signed up at a much recommended $200 tournament at Caesar's. Good structure with 40 minute levels, but I didn't realize the juice was a whopping 17.5% (!!!) until I had already signed up. Luckily only the winners get screwed and I lost quickly so who cares! I will definitely go back to the Wynn next time I want to play one of these tournaments, the structure is better, levels longer, the rake 9% and the chairs comfier.
I checked out my table for Tuesday - on www.pokerpages.com you can see the seating for day 2 plus your opponents' chip counts. Bad news is that the big stack at the table is to my immediate left, good news is that he only has 107,000, and the rest of the table has either the same or fewer chips than me, so I am happy and confident of my chances to advance to day 3 and get closer to the money.
Tomorrow I might go on a trip to Lake Mead and get some sun, or just hang out at the pool, go to the gym, do some shopping and read in my newly acquired poker books. |
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Posted by Henrik Bodholdt at
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hey friends,
It's 4.30 in the morning and I am alive in the tournament. My stack is $52,500 with an average among the remaining players of appr. $57,000.
My table got tougher and tougher all through the evening and into the wee hours, as tables were broken up and bigger stacks were moved to our table.
My survival came off a couple of the weaker players at the table, and especially thanks to Tonya who dealt me the 6 on the river to give the straight I needed the only time I was all-in.
Too tired to write more now but hey: I got Spiderman's signature on the TPT championship cap :o) |
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Posted by Henrik Bodholdt at
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Hey out there,
tough table with Alan Kessler (The Queens and Jokers should know him from the UPC tapes) in seat 1 and another pro (Danny) in seat 2. Luckily I am in seat 3 :o).
I started off well in 1st level and managed to win a nice pot against the aforementioned when they both called my raise pre-flop AND my bet on the flop. When I hit my trip aces on the turn we all checked, then I re-raised Danny out after the blank on the river had given me the nut hand. I thought Danny had caught trips too but alas....
In level two I made a couple of loose calls and lost them both, some unfortunate hands brought me down to 12,750, but I managed to claw my way back to 19,000 - we started with 20,000.
Just before dinner break I again took a big pot from Alan Kessler, to which he replied "I just cant beat you" - that is a nice feeling to have before we get back to the game at 9 pm
I am at 30,050 |
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Posted by Henrik Bodholdt at
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