I've been learning and playing poker for just over 6 months and although I think I have got better each month I still cannot justify entering the main event of the EPT costing nearly 20,000 dollars.
But I can justify spending some of my bankroll flying my brother and myself to Monte Carlo for 2-3 days to watch the main event closing stages and enter the 500 euro event on the last day of the tournament. This would allow us to hang out in the players lounge and meet some pros, drink some beers, enjoy the sunny South of France (compared to rainy England) and still be able to wear the EPT hat with some authenticity - we WERE there after all.
So off we went. When we arrived in the Bay Hotel and resort casino on Weds April 16th at about 2pm, the main event was down to 5 tables. We watched the main table for a while just in time to see Joe Hachem, Freddy Deeb and others talking some poker talk and generally having fun. We watched for a while and got the layout of the poker room down ready for our event the next day. I found out one of the guys I have been railing regularly online trying to learn from was there in person and still in - westmenlo77 (Isaac Barron). Immediately I decided he was favourite to win in my mind and I watched him play for a bit including taking a big pot from Joe Hachem. I spoke to some of Isaacs friends who told me he had come 11th in San Remo a week or so earlier. There were a bunch of French guys noisily backing their runner so I setup a last longer bet for 500 euros between the French guys and Isaacs mates - I knew this was easy money for his mates!!
Am I the only guy who is slightly embarrassed when meeting players you have been railing and trying to learn off for several months. I feel like a closeted stalker and think introducing myself would be weird!! However during one break I did at least manage to wish Isaac good luck and he said thanks - made me think he was just a regular nice guy (like me) who is bloody good at poker (unlike me....yet).
We left for the day and when we came back the next day they were down to 10 players and Isaac was still there - great job!! My brother and I registered for our tourney and it was down to business. I got up to 7000 chips about 45 mins into the tournament when my AK became 3 aces. Then I slowly donkeyed off most of my chips on several hands where I hesitated and a really aggressive player kept putting me under pressure. One hand I had 99 and the flop was 10-10-2. I bet 60% of pot to find out where I was and he called. On the turn (an 8) I checked and he checked - here I was thinking I could just check it down and win or lose a smallish pot. The river was a K and he bet into me - I folded. I had a couple of similar hands and all of a sudden I only had 3000 left and the blinds were getting up there. I got A-10 suited and a flop of A-9-9 giving me top pair and 3 cards of a flush. I raised and got called. The turn came and was a low card giving me 4 cards to the flush. With my top pair and overcard and flush draw I pushed in my remaining 2200 chips and lost to pocket aces that were slow-played.
A-10 suited is my bogey hand!! It is the same hand I went out of Aussie millions with.I was about 90th out of 204 players. My brother did better and came about 40th going out with pocket 9s (we had lengthy discussions about if he should have picked that spot as he was getting close to the money but also only had an M of 3-4). In the players lounge I watched the final table and Isaac was getting closer and closer. I saw Chris Moneymaker come in and play table football (foos-ball) and Greg Rahmer but still feeling like a stalker I did not say hi. My brother has no such concerns and had a great chat with Vanessa Rousso who was on the final table of the 2000 euro side event - she actually offered him and me some free personal coaching as we turned up for her players tactics talk and were the only people there but she had to cancel. She is not only a very good poker player but from the few mins we chatted seems like a lovely person.
After I got knocked out of the tourney I used most of the rest of my euros to enter a 200 stt (sng). It paid 1st and 2nd and as I have been winning or getting in the money in most of the single table SNGs I have entered recently I figured I would win the 1400 main prize, enter a 1000 stt, win the 7000 main prize and still go home profitable. In fact I thought, why did I not just bring money to enter the stt's - I could make more money quickly at these with a higher probability of winning. Also in Monte Carlo I assumed there would be some soft players (amongst all the pros). So I played well until the last 3 (the money bubble). Player 1 (SB) had 8k, Player 2 (BB) had 2.1k and I have 4.0k. I get A-7offsuit and raise all-in. The SB folds and the BB tanks for a while before calling and turning over 5-3 unsuited. No cards hit until the river which was a 3. I shipped my chips. I keep thinking I should have folded this hand and let the big stack in the SB take the short stack out......but I didn't and its too late now. The next hand I (now the short stack) go all in with K-J suited and the big stack calls with A-K - I lose, come third and miss the money. And I do not have enough Euros on me to enter another stt. And as silly as it seems, there is no ATM in the poker casino!!
I watch the other SNGs for a bit and the remaining players in the 500 euro tourney. I think I see Annete_15 go out of the 500 tourney and then I see TIMEX (Mike McDonald) playing a 2000 euro tourney with a bunch of foreigners who clearly have no idea who he is. I am thinking he must be making loads of money in the stts but did not stay around long enough to see him win. I saw TIMEX play in Australia where he cashed in 3 of the events and he is another very good player (esp as hes only about 19 yrs old!!).
After my brother got knocked out of the 500 and we both had one last look at the final table of the main event (Isaac is looking good - I still think he will win) we left hoping to catch the last bus in Monaco back to the train station (which we missed) and the last train back to Nice where we are staying (which we just made after a long walk through the grand prix streets of Monte Carlo).
So thats it. I lost 500+50 euros in the side event, the 500+50 euros I staked my brother and 200+20 euros in the stt. But I never really expected to win - not yet. This trip to the south of France and Monte Carlo was an experience that I was happy to pay for. But in the back of my mind (and prob. my brothers who has never played in a big event like this) I am thinking 'but what if I am good enough to win, what if I did make the money like I did in Aussie, how far away am I from being able to enter a main event, what if I had won that stt and got enough prize money to cover our costs, what if.........
Friday, April 25, 2008
European Tour - UK Casinos
The casinos in the UK are MUCH smaller than anything you will find in America. Typically 10 slot machines, 1 or 2 blackjack or 3 card poker tables and 1 or 2 roulette tables and a bar. Some casinos have space for poker tournaments for 30-50 people. This was the case with Stanleys casino in Portsmouth which has small re-buy tournaments 3 or 4 nights a week. I believe there a bigger casinos in London and some other cities but the smaller casinos seem to be the norm.
I enjoy rebuy tournaments but only after the rebuy period is over. Every casino has their share of loose aggressive maniacs in a rebuy who go all in every hand and pride themselves on having rebought more than any other player. I like to pick my spots and play premium cards hoping to double up once ot twice against this player. Sometimes though they just get lucky and your AA, AK, KK, QQ etc. get beaten on 10-3o. What can you do - just play on through the pain and rebuy as necessary.
I convinced my brothers to join me in the casino tournaments instead of their pub league games a couple of time. The allure of playing for real money and me offering to stake them worked. However it just meant I lost 3 times as much money. I think playing in the free league poker encourages bad decisions on marginal hands - there is no cost to going out of the tournament so why not all-in with 7-7 pre-flop in the 4th hand of a tournament. My brothers and I have had several discussions re this type of play which they like to make. At least in a rebuy you can just buy back in - especially if it is someone elses money...... To be fair, we all limited ourselves to 3 buy-ins and one brother finished 6th in one tournament meaning we broke even on the costs - well done bro.
Things I did not like - the poker tables are small round tables holding 8 players each (unlike the 9 or 10 player American style tables). The casino did not provide dealers which meant each player took turns to deal. The floor person seemed inexperienced and mainly there to give out more chips for people who wanted to rebuy. Several times I saw people miscounting chips (sometimes less, sometimes more) but because almost everyone splashed the pot for every bet and threw their raise directly in the middle you could not really complain or prove the bet was not what they said. Often burn cards were thrown in with muck cards and several times people looked at your cards without your permission (always accidental...!!). Frequent rabbit-hunting was going on with dealers dealing the board to completion even if action was over on the flop. The dealers were in charge of the hand but often the stronger-personality regulars would dictate what would happen on the table with multiple players hands/fingers going in the middle to tidy the chips, the cards or whatever. In all this confusion I am sure cheaters can and do flourish. In one hand the dealer had folded during the first round of betting. We were on the second round of betting and one player went out of turn. Before you could blink the dealer grabbed all the players cards from the table and declared a misdeal. This was NOT the house rules - just something he decided needed to be done but he was so quick to grab and muck the players cards it could not be undone. I had aces and was raising (and no it was not me who went out of turn)!! Unbelievable - I almost got in a fight over that one!! In my opinion this was blatant cheating.
However it was not all bad - the social side was again great with many regulars cracking jokes. The personal insults, innuendos etc. thrown around players is more intense with no dealer present which I found oddly amusing. It always seemed likely a fight would break out but unlike California no guns would be involved :-) But in all the time in the UK I did not see a poker-related fight so for all the intensity I guess common decency prevailed. I liked being able to order a pint while I was playing and the casino did throw in a buffet as part of the entry fee to the tournament. Some regulars had great stories and often could recommend other places to play cash games.
Strangely it seems the pub poker league and the casino/club cash games are entirely separate worlds. Few players cross-over as far as I can tell. The casino players are more like American players in the card rooms - they know they are playing for money and are serious about trying to win. They also tend to know where another tournament will be starting soon for more money. The pub league players are having fun and arguably in the more enjoyable night out. It is a mixed bunch with husband/wives, father-sons etc. and is a fairly cheap night out.
I enjoy rebuy tournaments but only after the rebuy period is over. Every casino has their share of loose aggressive maniacs in a rebuy who go all in every hand and pride themselves on having rebought more than any other player. I like to pick my spots and play premium cards hoping to double up once ot twice against this player. Sometimes though they just get lucky and your AA, AK, KK, QQ etc. get beaten on 10-3o. What can you do - just play on through the pain and rebuy as necessary.
I convinced my brothers to join me in the casino tournaments instead of their pub league games a couple of time. The allure of playing for real money and me offering to stake them worked. However it just meant I lost 3 times as much money. I think playing in the free league poker encourages bad decisions on marginal hands - there is no cost to going out of the tournament so why not all-in with 7-7 pre-flop in the 4th hand of a tournament. My brothers and I have had several discussions re this type of play which they like to make. At least in a rebuy you can just buy back in - especially if it is someone elses money...... To be fair, we all limited ourselves to 3 buy-ins and one brother finished 6th in one tournament meaning we broke even on the costs - well done bro.
Things I did not like - the poker tables are small round tables holding 8 players each (unlike the 9 or 10 player American style tables). The casino did not provide dealers which meant each player took turns to deal. The floor person seemed inexperienced and mainly there to give out more chips for people who wanted to rebuy. Several times I saw people miscounting chips (sometimes less, sometimes more) but because almost everyone splashed the pot for every bet and threw their raise directly in the middle you could not really complain or prove the bet was not what they said. Often burn cards were thrown in with muck cards and several times people looked at your cards without your permission (always accidental...!!). Frequent rabbit-hunting was going on with dealers dealing the board to completion even if action was over on the flop. The dealers were in charge of the hand but often the stronger-personality regulars would dictate what would happen on the table with multiple players hands/fingers going in the middle to tidy the chips, the cards or whatever. In all this confusion I am sure cheaters can and do flourish. In one hand the dealer had folded during the first round of betting. We were on the second round of betting and one player went out of turn. Before you could blink the dealer grabbed all the players cards from the table and declared a misdeal. This was NOT the house rules - just something he decided needed to be done but he was so quick to grab and muck the players cards it could not be undone. I had aces and was raising (and no it was not me who went out of turn)!! Unbelievable - I almost got in a fight over that one!! In my opinion this was blatant cheating.
However it was not all bad - the social side was again great with many regulars cracking jokes. The personal insults, innuendos etc. thrown around players is more intense with no dealer present which I found oddly amusing. It always seemed likely a fight would break out but unlike California no guns would be involved :-) But in all the time in the UK I did not see a poker-related fight so for all the intensity I guess common decency prevailed. I liked being able to order a pint while I was playing and the casino did throw in a buffet as part of the entry fee to the tournament. Some regulars had great stories and often could recommend other places to play cash games.
Strangely it seems the pub poker league and the casino/club cash games are entirely separate worlds. Few players cross-over as far as I can tell. The casino players are more like American players in the card rooms - they know they are playing for money and are serious about trying to win. They also tend to know where another tournament will be starting soon for more money. The pub league players are having fun and arguably in the more enjoyable night out. It is a mixed bunch with husband/wives, father-sons etc. and is a fairly cheap night out.
European Tour - UK pub league
So one day after arriving I am at a Royal British Legion Club in Hampshire playing poker in the Live Pub Poker League. The concept is simple - you sign up online with your name and email address and then attend one of several games they host each night at various pubs. You play for points instead of cash and periodically the players with the most points play in regional and grand finals where they can win big prizes.
With me only being here a month my points were irrelevant and I wondered if I could motivate myself to play poker without any money at stake. Surprisingly the answer is a resounding yes.
First the social side is great. Everyone at each location seems to play there most weeks so they all know each other, crack jokes, buy each other drinks and generally have a great time. Everyone was really welcoming to me and I enjoyed this atmosphere. The quality of the poker was mixed with some soft players likely influenced by their pints of beer and some very strong players - normally the same bunch of strong players make the final tables in each location and get the most points. Also as a bonus the players knocked out of the official game often play low stakes cash games on the side - winning these games can cover your costs for the night!!
The purpose of the league is to bring customers into the pubs and clubs on quiet nights (the pub pays the league a hosting fee). Therefore on Friday night and Saturday night there is no game but normally this is offset by at least one of the regulars hosting home cash games (completely legal in the UK). These tend to be 5-10 pounds per game with 20 players or so - enough to enjoy winning a little spending money but not enough to feel too upset if you lose.
I have played at about 5 different locations in the 2 weeks I have been in England so far and enjoyed the company of the different regulars at each place. Could this pub league concept work in America. I am not sure - the culture of the bars over there makes me think it would not. Especially as the card rooms and Indian casinos would compete and offer real money games. However my opinion is based on my time in California where there are many places to play - maybe in other states the league would work very well.
I am still here for another week or so - hopefully I will continue to enjoy playing lots of poker in these games, even without having money at stake!!
With me only being here a month my points were irrelevant and I wondered if I could motivate myself to play poker without any money at stake. Surprisingly the answer is a resounding yes.
First the social side is great. Everyone at each location seems to play there most weeks so they all know each other, crack jokes, buy each other drinks and generally have a great time. Everyone was really welcoming to me and I enjoyed this atmosphere. The quality of the poker was mixed with some soft players likely influenced by their pints of beer and some very strong players - normally the same bunch of strong players make the final tables in each location and get the most points. Also as a bonus the players knocked out of the official game often play low stakes cash games on the side - winning these games can cover your costs for the night!!
The purpose of the league is to bring customers into the pubs and clubs on quiet nights (the pub pays the league a hosting fee). Therefore on Friday night and Saturday night there is no game but normally this is offset by at least one of the regulars hosting home cash games (completely legal in the UK). These tend to be 5-10 pounds per game with 20 players or so - enough to enjoy winning a little spending money but not enough to feel too upset if you lose.
I have played at about 5 different locations in the 2 weeks I have been in England so far and enjoyed the company of the different regulars at each place. Could this pub league concept work in America. I am not sure - the culture of the bars over there makes me think it would not. Especially as the card rooms and Indian casinos would compete and offer real money games. However my opinion is based on my time in California where there are many places to play - maybe in other states the league would work very well.
I am still here for another week or so - hopefully I will continue to enjoy playing lots of poker in these games, even without having money at stake!!
European trip - April 2008
My brothers have been inviting me back to England to play some poker with them in their pub league for some time. I finally decided to go over there for April. I will play in the UK games and then go to Monte Carlo to catch an event in the EPT grand final.
I will post blog entries of my experience.
I will post blog entries of my experience.
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