5:00am here in Vegas and I just logged off PokerStars after an 80 hand session. I
No, not platinum blonde, although I did get a haircut recently and got my highlights redone. I
Day four and I was cruising with the chip lead. Early on the day disaster hit: A young internet play goes all in for 250k from early position and Ryan Daut makes it 500k. I picked up KK on the button and shove. First guy has KJ, Ryan… AA. That cost me a huge pot and forced me to adjust my strategy as I was now below the average. I stayed steady until my final hand. Everyone folded to an aggressive player on the button who makes it 90k. The blinds are 15k-30k with a 4k ante so I need to call 60k with Ac 4h. I could also shove, but with about 900k that seemed excessive and I don’t mind playing flops out of position. I’m more confident than the average player out of position I would imagine. The flop comes Ah Jh 8h giving me top pair and a flush draw. I check to the button and he bets 100k. His range here is as wide as it gets. He’d likely make this bet with any hand he raised with. I’m not only a big favorite to have the best hand on the flop, but even if I don’t, the only way I could be in bad shape were if he flopped a flush, or had an ace with a bigger heart. That’s extremely unlikely. I move all in for 700k more putting the pressure on him. If he has an A-10, or A-Q with no heart I think he’d consider folding. Actually I’m sure of that because he considered folding A-8! I firmly believe that my last hand was a worse cooler than the AA vs. KK hand, seriously. As it turned out I could hit a Jack to split and a heart to win, but nothing hit- and I hit the rail. I just played arguably the best tournament I’ve ever played outside of the Championship Poker at the Plaza event in 2004. I’ve brought my game to a whole new level the past few months and I’m excited about playing more events in 08′. In the meantime, I’m going to relax at home till the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure on January 3rd. It’s a tournament that will be chalk full of amazing young players and I feel as ready as I’ve ever been. I’ve focused more on tell reading recently and I got loads and loads of new stuff I’ve picked up on player tendencies. As it turns out, the tells are most prevalent in online players! I can’t share obviously, but I will be looking for “it” in every tournament I play now. What’s most interesting is that the tell I’ve picked is one that I’ve caught myself doing in the past and because of that, I KNOW what it means. This week I’ll be back to working on more PokerVT stuff and also resting my back a bit. The chiropractor I went to yesterday informed that it’s definitely a ripped muscle in the back and the scar just needs some time to heal. He said it could take anywhere from four days to three weeks. In the meantime, as much as I hate it, I am going to have to refrain from using my new simulator until my wound heals. I can still chip and putt though!!! For Christmas I’m hoping to have my family, Mike and Ornella, fly out to Vegas. My mother would put on one of her monster feasts and my extended family would also be there. Speaking of “extended family,” yesterday after being eliminated I went to the chiropractor, got a haircut (finally), and then went to an awesome Thai restaurant for Jamie’s 7th birthday! Happy Birthday Jamie!!! No one was happy to see my there, but I was really happy that I could make it. Not happy that I got knocked obviously, but those types of things are really important to me. Jamie is my good friend Sam’s daughter and there were lots of friends and family at the party. After the party we went to Ted’s house for a little while to shoot some pool and hang out. Ted just had a baby too, really cute kid. She makes this face that Ted makes when he is arguing about how many strokes he should be giving me on the golf course. He crinkles his face, “Three a Side??? No way!!!” It should be a good holiday season and I have a full plate with family and friends along with finishing the book in time for the WSOP, getting PokerVT stuff done, and also sharpening my game online at Stars. Speaking of which, I’m headed there now… ]]>
seat 2: Paul Kraus 190,000
seat 3: Vivek Rajkumar 429,000
seat 4: David Ulliott 240,000
seat 5: Bill Kontaratos 1,119,000
seat 6: Daniel Shiff 424,000
seat 7: Kenneth Rosen 702,000
seat 8: David Baker 352,000
seat 9: Daniel Donati 340,000
GL Daniel!!
3:50 EST – “At 740k now after a couple failed blind steals. Haven’t had a hand yet but haven’t played many”
3:59 EST – “just bluffed Devilfish and told him I had QQ. I had 85 he folded top pair I raised with 8s 5s and got 3 calls. Flop 10 7 7 two spades. I bet fish folded 9 10”
4:25 EST – “Crazy turn of events. Flop J 8 5 guy bets 40k I call with J 10. Turn 10 he bets 80k I raisr 200k more he calls. River A he bets 200k I call. He shows KQ”
4:26 EST – “I’m down to 210k next hand AA all in vs KQ win”
4:27 EST – “450k”
4:42 EST – “Back to 623k just played QQ well I think. Kid raised to 36k from EP I call sb with QQ bb calls. Flop 997 two spades. I check call 65k. Turn Js I bet 90k. I didn’t have the spade. Kid folds 10s 10d. I had him beat but he had 15 outs I don’t want him to have. It’s the safe way to play the hand but that’s what you need to do in tournaments.”
5:01 EST – “36 left redraw. Gus Hansen Devilfish Huck Seed”
5:24 EST – “Sitting on 575k now”
5:42 EST – “Over 1.1 mill now. I raised to 38k with 88. Aggressive kid makes it 140k I call. Flop 10 8 4 he goes all in for 407k I call. He has AK turn J river 2”
5:51 EST – “1.45 mill now. Busted a guy with KQ vs A10. He was short”
5:52 EST – “Michael Thuritz joined the table”
6:18 EST – “1.6 mill. Used my knowledge against Joran Rich. He made it 46k I call with 8 10 hearts. Flop Kc Jc 4d. He bets 80k I make it 220k he folds”
6:34 EST – “1.577 Mill at the break”
6:55 EST – “1.8 now and cruising at a soft table. Raymond Davis and Todd Brunson”
7:15 EST – “Over 2 mill”
7:17 EST – “Just played AK beatifully. Flop A 7 4 turn 6. Guy had 67 and I didn’t lose any money on turn or river”
7:45 EST – “2.25 mill”
8:02 EST – “I’m playing sicker than ever. Abusing peoples pot flop bluffs with bluff raises and check raises. I have tells on all of the internet kids and when I see weakness I pounce hard”
8:06 EST – “2.7 now after a great value bet vs Raymond Davis”
8:19 EST – “2.725 end of level. We play down to 18 then done for the day”
8:27 EST – “Arguably playing the best poker I’ve ever come close to playing. Putting in hours online has helped me immensely in terms of exploiting the younger guys”
8:41 EST – “Got caught on a bluff by Raymond. He’s nuts lol”
9:10 EST – “2.3 now lost a few small pots with no betting”
One More Player To Go
With 19 players left in the field, play will continue until one more player is eliminated.
9:24 EST – “Just had AA but no action and I slowplayed it too”
9:39 EST – “2.279 mill end of day at 18 players”
Play resumes tom at 3:00 EST.
The one hand that was most interesting to me was the QQ hand I played on the 9-9-7 board. It’s a testament to how the small ball approach can help you avoid dangerously marginal situations. I think most players would have made the decision to play a bigger pot in this hand and possibly won more than I did, but the key difference is that I minimized my risk of ruin.
Totally unrelated to that, and this may seem odd, but after having played so much at PokerStars this month online, being able to see people has enhanced my people reading ability immensely. It’s like, not only can I focus on betting patterns and such, there are all these other little things I can pick up on to make better decisions. Stuff you might neglect to realize unless you have been without it for some time.
There are lots of great players remaining, most notably for me being my buddy Erick Lindgren who historically has caused me lots of problems. I’m really not sure how I’ll handle him if we meet, but one thing is for sure, my focus will be intense and I’ll be trusting my instincts.
My routine has been different during this event than it’s normally been. In fact, the night before day one I was out with my buddies having a few drinks which breaks two of my rules. Then going into day two I had a party at my house with my good buddies from LA and Toronto. It was a cool vibe, guys playing backgammon, pool, golf on the simulator, Golden Tee, etc. They let me get to bed at about 2:00am which has been standard for me.
Wake up at about 10:30am as the dogs hear my mother pull in with food for me for the day. She’s there every morning and waits for me to get up. Shower, throw a hat on, and leave the house at 11:30am which gives me plenty of time.
Then every break I pretty much do the exact same thing. I sign a few autographs and take some pictures then I head to the little boy’s room. From there, rather than go back to the hectic tournament area I have a semi-secret telephone area that’s always empty. I go there every break… and pray.
No, not like Jerry Yang praying for his hand to hold up, but other things. For example, I may pray for anything from focus, energy and strength to get me through the day. I may pray for some of the people I’m playing with or my family and friends. I pray that I’ll behave in such a way that God would approve of. I pray to never lose sight of the importance of treating all of the people there watching with respect, even when they sometimes are a little bit intrusive.
I pray that whatever happens that God has a plan for me- win or lose. It ends up being a long conversation that crosses over many things going on in my life. It’s a 15 minute break which leaves me a good 7 minutes to myself so I figure, who better to spend it with than God?
It grounds me, humbles me, and makes me feel lucky and grateful for all the wonderful things I have in my life. It’s something I do every year at the Bellagio in December… Which begs the question, why don’t I do that all the time? Hey, there’s an idea!
Funny story from the other day when I was in there: I was in the middle of praying when a security guard tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Sir, there is no sleeping in this area. You are going to have to move.”
I was like, “Dude, I’m not sleeping, I’m praying!” He looked perplexed and was like, “Oh in that case, pray on.” It was just such a weird encounter, guess you had to be there, lol.
Time to watch Survivor and get some zzz’s. No golf tonight, my back is in a lot of pain and as much as I want to play it’s just too stupid of me and I have to stop *sigh*]]>
As I said, it’s going to have to be a short blog tonight as I need to get some zzz’s. There is more to share from the day but I need to sleep. If you want to rail me again tomorrow you can check out my text updates in the General Forum at www.fullcontactpoker.com. Or, as I mentioned previously, if you want a run down of my day 3 you can check that same place for my text updates from today. Good night all…
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3:27 EST – “John Gale is the only pro on my table. Table has a lot of chips too. Good spot for me”
3:52 EST – “Just got bluffed. A guy limps next player makes it 4k I call with 10 10. Flop 8 9 2 guy bets 5k I call. Turn 7 check check. River Ace guy bets 8k I fold. He shows 44. I have 27k now”
4:06 EST – “Back to 36700. Picked off a continuation bet bluff and pulled a re-bluff on the river”
4:17 EST – “At 41k now. Just won a small one with AQ in a checked down hand”
4:31 EST – “Rivered again by Gale. Flop 8 6 3 I had 34 and called. Turn Q he bet I call. River Ace check check he shows A5 off. Back to 32800”
4:52 EST – “40900 end of level”
5:38 EST – “44400 now. Having the lowest fluctuation tournament you can have and I like it”
5:47 EST – “Double up to 88k… Details coming”
5:52 EST – “I call 4k raise with 10s js bb also called. Flop J z 3 two spades. Checked to me I bet 6k. Bb makes it 12k I go all in for 25500 more. He has 77. Turn 5 riverKs.
6:17 EST – “Hit the 100k mark”
6:26 EST – “Robert Mizrachi just showed up on my left. He just got here today. He has the flu. I like him but I hope he goes broke fast! I don’t want to get sick”
6:30 EST – “Just lost 12k with AQ vs 67 off all in preflop”
6:35 EST – “90900 after level 7”
6:55 EST – “Back to 105k after a good value bet on the river with a pretty weak hand. Got called for 7k by a worse hand”
7:01 EST – “Down to 80k after losing with QQ vs KK”
7:16 EST – “Two great calls in a row has me up to 121k. First hand. Called Gales 8500 river bet with 44. Second bust Mizrachi with A10 after he moved in with KJ. Robert had the flu which mader it an easy call- flu equity”
7:25 EST – “164k now AK outran 99 all in pre”
7:49 EST – “258k now…Details coming”
7:51 EST – “I raise to 2800 with Qc 10c lady makes it 10k from sb I call. Flop J 9 8 she bets 12k I make it 32k she calls. Turn K she bets 40k I put her all in. She folded leaving herself with just 20k? Speculation is Ak or AA”
8:13 EST – “Same guy who beat my AQ with 67 just beat my AK with A7 allin preflop for 12k”
8:20 EST – “242600 at the end of level 8”
9:03 EST – “290k Krablar just busted AA”
9:05 EST – “Riased to 3600 with Kh 3h. Button and bb call. Flop Kc jh 9h. I bet 7k button raises I go all in he calls with AhAs. Turn jh river 6d”
9:23 EST – “Up to 350k hitting loads of flops with pair and flush draw type hands. Called raise pre with K10 spades from sb bb called also. Flop KJ4 two spades. I check BB bets 4k I make it 12 he makes it 34k and I move in. He instamucks”
9:42 EST – “My table is sick. Two hands in a row I see the tightest player at the table get all in as a monster fav. He should get NO action but lost both times. AA vs AK”
9:58 EST – “I have been moved. New table: Alex Kravchenko Joe Cavello Men Nguyen and Nam Le”
10:00 EST – “Two internet kids here too”
10:06 EST – “339500 end of level one level left”
10:27 EST – “Interesting pot at new table. I raise to 5k with 99 chick in BB thinks forever and fakes a reraise. She calls. Flop QQ8 she bets 12k. I don’t believe her and decide to move her in for her last 50k. She folds”
10:50 EST – “Just lost a monster to a ship it holla bolla guy”
10:52 EST – “I raised cutoff with AJ buton internet guy called. Big blind internet kid made it 23k. I thought he was making a move so I moved him in. He called with QQ. Flop was A Q 2 so I would have lost some money either way”
10:53 EST – “Down to 258k”
11:52 EST – “Night is over. 265700”
So that’s essentially what you’ll get in the forum tomorrow if you are interested in railing. You won’t get updates like that anywhere else obviously.
One hand in particular I wanted to talk about before bed and getting some rest. It’s the one hand where I got my money in bad after making an overly aggressive play on a bad read.
I was playing with the original founders of the “Ship It Holla Bollas.” For those that have no clue, don’t worry, I didn’t either until recently. A group of internet guys who have a faux crew and just like to have fun with it. So anyway, with blinds at 1k-2k I make it 5k from the cut off with AJ. The first Holla Bolla calls me on the button and the other Bolla is in the big blind. He thinks for a bit and makes it 23k total.
I just didn’t believe him and thought he was trying a squeeze play since it looked like a good spot to pick up some decent chips with little risk. I didn’t know much about the kid outside of the fact that he plays online and seemed to play a lot of pots thus far.
I decided to move him all essentially, making it 50k more. He went all in for another 20k which I obviously had to call. He showed QQ and the flop was A… then Q 2. Oh well.
The thing is, this is precisely the kind of play that I never make but I’ve added a few new wrinkles to my game for a couple reasons. The main reason is that I think I’m just playing better overall, but the second reason is that I’ve shared so much of my approach to the game that any perceptive player should have an idea what I’m trying to do. The beautiful thing about poker is that when your opponents over compensate one way, that allows you to make some other types of creative plays. I obviously wish I didn’t choose the AJ hand to make a variation play, but looking at the bigger picture, I went with my gut on that hand and that’s a positive.
What I decide to do tomorrow will depend on who’s at my table. I had my chips up to 360k before that hand and ended the day with 265,700 which is still in the top 15. I’m not really concerned with where I rank in chips, especially because there is so much play in this tournament that even the below average stacks can still play poker. When I won this tournament a couple years ago I came into the final 33 in 31st place but was never worried. Or maybe that was last year when I came third, either way I got the chip lead in that tournament when it counted.
On the day I hit so many sick flops. Straights, pair and flush draws, straight flush draws with trips, etc. It was unreal. When I hit those kind of gambling type flops I usually do quite well. I’m looking forward to getting three handed with E-DOG and Ivey and then playing for the whole thing at my house on my new golf simulator.
Speaking of which (now would be the time to stop reading if you are looking for more poker content), I rushed home to try it out and it’s so sick! My back was an absolute mess when I got home but that didn’t stop me. Because of my back, though, I couldn’t hit the ball the way I wanted to, but I still played Pebble Beach from the up tees and shot 100. After that I practiced and was just amazed how accurate this thing is? There is one club in the bag that I KNOW exactly how far I hit it- my 60 degree wedge goes 60 yards on the dot. I hit about 10 balls and guess what my average distance was? Between 56-63 yards, landing exactly on 60 yards! This thing is too much fun but I didn’t want to overdo it.
So, I went downstairs and got an ice pack from the freezer, and put it on my back and ribs for 20 minutes or so. It actually feels much better after icing it.
Ok, enough about that, nobody cares, lol, I know, but what can I say, I’m obsessed and I just got the coolest toy imaginable!
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Charity Event, Busses, Trucks & Automobiles, Agnon Prince of Warriors, and Staged television that looks real:
Saturday’s charity tournament was a blast! Todd Brunson won the VIP event (and $39,000), and gave some back. Pretty sweet Todd, come out and support charity, get a double tax write off, and still make a pile of money! Todd is rich and so he’s expected to do these kinds of things because, frankly, being rich means that you are more important and special than the average person. Hey, I didn’t make the rules, but they suit me just fine! I, of course, am very rich and take private jets and limos regularly because that’s what us rich people do!!
We raised about $120,000 for the “Fallen Officers Foundation,” and I view that as a failure. I mean, seriously, when “I” show up to a charity event I always expect them to raise at least eleventy billion dollars otherwise I consider it a failure. I mean, do these people know who I am?? I can freakin’ dogde bullets and would also win every single poker tournament in the world if… well (fine print- luck weren’t involved).
On Sunday some rich people let me use their jet to LA, and I invited other rich and famous people to fly with me. Then, right before we took off from my own private airport with sponsored by “Pro Player in accordance with PH industries.”I called LA Laker’s owner Jerry Buss (I have him on speed dial and was actually personally responsible for the Shaquille O’Neal trade) and told him I was going to sit in his box for the Laker’s game vs. Orlando. Jerry offered me four front row seats in his box and when I didn’t ask for any more seats he made my day when he told me how proud he was of me for not imposing. Both Jerry and his partner Frank Mariani made a point of telling me that they were proud of me. Thanks guys, you made my day! The box is the second best place to watch after the floor seats. But it may be better, as the box has a full bar, a chef, celebs (NFL Legend Eric Dickerson was there). I’m currently working on a project that will blow that all away, though, it’s called the “PH” arena and we’ll be hosting the next 10 SuperBowls, and the World Series of Basesball will also take place after I win by 12th bracelet in the main event of the World Series of Poker. Not only that, we’ll have special nights for the fans:
PH Bobble Head Night
PH Dunk the Donkey Night
PH Dance off Competition- Beat PH (impossible) and you win an entry into the WSOP)
PH Kiss the Bracelet Night ($42 extra cover charge)
PH DVD giveaway
PH Poster Nght (for an extra $347 you get an 8 by 10 of me shirtless with my famous teenie, weenie nipples on display)
Afterwards we went to the exclusive (you can only get in with a pass, which is exclusive to either really, really cool celebrities like me or rich people we should all bow down to) “Chairman’s Club” which is located right next to the locker room. I have seen the biggest stars in the world down there in past trips (stars in their own right, but nothing comparible to how HUGE I am of course). Scott, his girlfriend Pearl Aday, and a friend joined me for the Laker’s game. Speaking of which, the new band “Pearl” has an EP at iTunes that rocks!!!! Pearl is the lead singer and Scott plays the guitar-I will meet the rest of the band tonight, they have told me that their goal in life was to someday be in the presence of greatness and I felt like I’d be the guy to help, I mean, who else, right? I stayed at my favorite hotel, the Loew’s in Santa Monica. For those that don’t know, that hotel is super duper expensive and normal people can’t stay there, only REALLY rich people or famous people like me can stay there.
I was so far behind on sleep that I slept 13 hours Sunday night (rich people have the luxury of sleeping as long as they want because we are all so fabulous), grabbed a workout (to help show off my perky nipples by the pool), and then went over to Agnon’s LA house for some Dom Perignon. For those that don’t understand the significance of this Dom Perignon is what people of “status” or “celebrity” drink. It’s also what exotic dancers drink when they marry up and switch from “white zin” to that, “fancy, schmancy wine with bubbles and —-.”
Hanging out with him and his wife Amanda is just too much fun. They’re amazing people (they are rich of course). On one hand they’re world famous, and on the other hand they’re down to earth in the important ways.
They let the gardeners ACTUALLY come INSIDE the house on hot days for lemonade. Can you imagine the kind of sould these people must have to take it upon themselves to mingle with the “common folk” on such an intamite level. I was so impressed! I made sure to call my maid and say thank you, this year you’ll be getting a special gift for Christmas, a FREE case of ProPlayer energy drink along with a picture of ME, your favorite person in the world. I think they are going to love me even more than they already do. Yeah right, as if that was possible, LOL. They pray to me every night as is in our special PH prayer room!. Thank you PH for being born… thank you PH for dodging bullets… thank you PH for having such beatiful nipples!
I look up to Agnon, like I look up to Duvie Westcott of the Columbus BlueJackets.: I mean, here are two guys that have conquered the world, but seem to know who they are and where they’re from. Mad respect to them both for their accomplishments, but even more for the people that they are. Westcott invented the one handed back handed slapshot from the point, patended the play, and then sold the rights to Alexei Kovalev and Jaromir Jagr for $500 million. What a genius!
Agnon owned a show called “Malcolm in the Middle.” Personally I always felt like it would have had more appeal if he changed the name to something like, “PH in the middle of his 11 gold bracelets.” Nonetheless, he made well with it profitting billions. Again, had he went with the appropriate title he likely could have done much better, but that’s another story.
As for Duvie Westcott, on Monday night I took a limo (that shouldn’t surprise you by now but I’ll be sure to remind you every single time I choose a limo as my form of transportation) from Agon’s to Pechanga in Temecula to shoot the “Best damn poker Show.” When they orginally decided to air the show without me I sued them and won. I mean, how can you have a best damned poker show without THE poker ICON. Yes, ICON, that’s actually what people call me now. I originated the nickname to replace brat and I think it’s really starting to stick.
Monday night through Thursday we shot non-stop, and it will be a hit! Annie and I screaming at each other, arguing with each other, etc. I was right 112% of the time, but I of course, am a poker ICON so it would be foolish to argue with me!
The one thing that I’m most proud of from the three days was when I approached some of the disgruntled players that didn’t make the cut on the show. I simply wanted them to know that it wasn’t my decision to do some of the stuff that we did. And I wanted to shake their hands and apologize for my part in it. What I ran into was a few of them screaming at me, and a lot of anger. Instead of being a coward, I faced it straight on. I listened patiently to the screaming, because they were right! 100% right, and their anger was justified. I talked it through with them all, and even though they were still a little steamed up, everyone shook my hand, and everyone even told me how much they respected me.
We originally planned on giving them all a lot of airtime, but in the end it just made no sense to have them on television instead of me at any point. So rather than air the pieces that they shot, we’ll instead be airing some mood music and a collage of pictures. All of those pictures, of course, are of me, but I think the producers all agreed that pictures of my nipples would get much better rating than… well, frankly, the SuperBowl. You might think that’s a stretch, but trust me, I’m a pretty big deal.
In being the good will ambassador that I am, I gave them all of my shirts, hats, books, and DVD’s that I wanted to bring home with me to put in my personal shrine to me. I faced them head on, with respect, and acknowledged that they were right. I had one of my multi-brazillion dollar companies put $500 a piece into their accounts, I gave them all the swag I had with me, I bought four bottles of Dom out of my own pocket, and I turned a negative into a positive. I earned all of their respect, and that’s good enough for me. That’s just the PH way, what can I say, it’s good to be me!
Lastly, I want to apologize to all those people who lead sucky lives and could never be me. It’s tough, I know, but trust me, it ain’t easy being this cool!!!
(if you didn’t understand this joke, please visit www.philhellmuth.com and read his latest blog entry and it should all make sense to you 🙂
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