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Good Thing in Poker: There's Always Tomorrow

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:25:25 +0100

Hello gentle people. Let's pick it up where I left you: with my 13th-place finish in the Festa al Lago $5,000 event at Bellagio.

There was not a lot of time to grieve about the disappointment of the $5,000 event, because there was another big event I was really looking forward to: the $15k Festa al Lago main event.

I wanted to win this event so bad that I wasn't playing my best game. In fact, I was disgusted by my own play: I was limping when I should have been raising, I was calling when I should have been folding. So I busted out on Day 1.

There is absolutely nothing or nobody other than myself to blame for this poor performance in the Festa al Lago main event. I just think I focused too much on winning, while I should have been focusing on just playing my A game.

But the good thing in poker is: There is always tomorrow.

At Caesars Palace the annual Caesars Classic was being held, so I decided to have a look and see if there were any events to my liking. To my surprise, there was a Heads-Up event. I consider myself a not too bad heads-up player, so I coughed up the $1,000 buy-in along with 127 others.

Again, this field of players was packed with pros as well - I saw almost all the players that busted out at the Bellagio playing this event :-).

There were two matches per table, so the dealers took seat three and seat eight. The players in one match took seats one and four and the players in the other took seats seven and 10.

I played my first match against an unknown player - I assumed it was an amateur player, because nobody knew him. That first match was not very special - I just won well before the others had finished, so I had some time to relax.

Round 1 had started at 12 o'clock, and round 2 would start at 3 o'clock. So that gave me sufficient time to wander a bit and grab a bite and be on time for my next match.

In my next round I saw the guy that just played Jeff Madsen, so apparently he busted him. The tournament was reasonably deep-stacked (we started with 100 big blinds and 30-minute levels), so it wasn't a crapshoot or anything.

I knew my next opponent could play a fair deal of cards or just have a sick run of cards, so I approached with caution. As we started our match he was talking and chatting that he liked playing so much etc. etc. (By the way, his name was Daniel Pentelute).

Early on in the match I took a small chip lead. Pretty soon he raised from the button, I reraised, he shoved and I had the easiest call possible: I held pocket aces.

The board brought no help to my opponent, so I eliminated him and secured my position in the last 32 players. (Last 32 players were in the money.)

So I was guaranteed a payout. I finished my match within the hour, and the next match would not start before 6 p.m. Luckily I knew of a friend who had a room there. He was kind enough to lend me his room, so I could kick my legs up and watch some TV and rest a bit.

In my next match I had to play Luke Staudenmaier (third-place finisher in the Bellagio Cup WPT, held earlier this year). This match was set to be my toughest match of the day so far.

At the $200/$400 blind level though, Luke got a bit impatient and started pushing his hands. I just remained calm and picked my spots carefully.

When he had $4,000 in chips left he moved in and I made the call with A 8; Luke held Q-8 and caught a queen on the flop, so he doubled up. I still had a chip lead over him, so there was no reason to start panicking yet.

Soon thereafter I made top pair on a board with two hearts when Luke moved all-in on me. I figured him to be on a flush draw and I was right. He got no help and I progressed to the "Sweet 16."

My next match was against a gentleman named Gerhard Scheiber. I had watched him play because in my match against Luke we had sat at the same table as him.

I noticed that he was pushing pretty liberally, and I decided to take advantage of that as soon as I could. That worked like a charm - I eliminated him in about 15 minutes.

The next few matches, the "Elite 8," would be played the next day (Oct. 25). I will tell about the conclusion of this whole adventure in my next blog, so I leave you with a cliffhanger here :-P.

Take care ...

-- Steve Wong

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WPT Festa al Lago: Just Cruel

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:20:10 +0100

Hello there! As many of you know: Festa al Lago is/was in town baby ... and so far I've played in three tournaments.

The first was a No-Limit Hold'em event with a buy-in of $2,000 on Oct. 2. In that particular event I was playing pretty good.

Just two minutes before the third break there were 27 players left and I got reseated and was in the big blind. The big stack made it 2.5BB to go; I peeked at my hole cards and saw K-J, so I called.

The flop came 8-9-T; the turn brought a beautiful queen, so I made the nut straight and I decided to check just one more time, to lure him in.

As I expected, he made a bet and I obviously reraised. He reraised all-in and of course I insta-called. I had the nut straight - he showed a straight flush draw.

The river gave my opponent an awful straight flush.

So as you can imagine: I felt pretty sick, but neither I or my opponent did anything wrong. I cannot control the cards, so I guess this was just one of those beats you have to suffer every once in a while - not much you can do about it. But that was the end of my $2,000 event.

For one reason or another the fields of the Festa al Lago events are rather small. The prize pools get stuck at around $250,000. I think the global credit crisis is starting to hit Vegas as well (also, a lot of players are in London or Aruba), so every morning I head out for the Bellagio to check the field in that day's event and decide whether I should play it or not.

A few days after the $2,000 event, on Oct. 4, I decided to play the $3,000 event. This event was packed with pros, even though just 85 players bothered to show up. I played not too bad and was able to make it to the final table. The lineup was just cruel:

Jonathan Little $51,500 (WPT Player of the Year)
Thien Nguyen $43,000
John Gale $299,000 (WPT winner and recently won the Bellagio Cup)
Alex Golshanara $11,000
Al Adler $26,000
Alec Torelli $149,000 (runner-up in WSOP heads-up tourney; player from Calif.)
Yours truly $73,000
Amnon Filippi $99,500 (another very good tournament player)
John Phan $13,000 (double bracelet winner at WSOP 2008, and WPT Bicycle 2008 winner)

Soon after John Phan got eliminated in ninth place, I had about $55,000 left in chips and was in the big blind. Nguyen raised three times the size of the big blind and I pushed all-in with A K. Nguyen goes in the tank and eventually makes the call with TT.

The flop gives me a beautiful-looking ace, but unfortunately Nguyen catches a T on the turn.

Since that event I haven't played a lot, because the fields failed to improve in size, partly due to the tournaments held elsewhere (London and Canada). So I waited till Oct. 16 to play the $5,000 event (in which I am/was still the defending champ).

When the registration closed there were 105 players. This event was filled with pros again. I looked around and saw at each table at least seven familiar faces.

My table wasn't too bad; I sat next to James Woods and we had a very pleasant chat. I asked him about my favorite movie, Casino (what else? ;) ) - how long it took to get it all on camera.

It took months and months, while modern productions take just a few weeks. I really enjoyed talking to him. He is such a nice guy and he actually knows how to play poker (so he is not your average celebrity player).

When we reached the last 34 players I had about $90,000 in chips, which was at that point about twice as much as the average chip stack. (We started with $15,000 in chips.) So I was in fairly good shape, but I got a run of cold cards I haven't seen in a long time.

When I reached the last 18, my stack had dwindled to about $40,000, which was way below average. So I had to make a move fast. When there were just 13 players left, I found Q K in the cut-off, so I pushed all-in, because the blinds were $1,500/$3,000 and I could well use those chips.

But I got called by a player who held pocket eights. I didn't mind playing a coin-flip situation at this point, because if I would make it to the final table I would definitely need some ammo. But I got no help from the board whatsoever, so I was eliminated.

The remaining players were practically all very well-known, good players ... David "The Dragon" Pham, Alex Jacob and Jeff Madsen, just to mention a few.

I am happy with the way I am playing. All I need now is a lucky break, but since I cannot control luck, I just remain focused on the parts of poker that I can control, such as concentration, good health and a quick mind, and will just wait till my luck changes.

I'll let you know how I finished in the $15k main event next time.

--Steve Wong

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Don't Be the Table Professor

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:40:20 +0100

In the next few months there aren't a lot of tournaments left for me. Just two actually: the event that stole my heart the minute I set foot in Vegas, Festa al Lago, and the Five Diamond - both at Bellagio.

Festa al Lago (Italian for Party at the Lake) will be held Oct. 1-25 - check the Bellagio Web site for the complete schedule.

In Season 5 of the World Poker Tour, I managed to win the No-Limit Hold'em $5,000 buy-in event, and two weeks later I finished runner-up behind Andreas Walnum in the main event.

I tend to do well in tournaments held at Bellagio for some reason. I guess I just feel at home there (can you really blame me for that? :-) ).

I really could use a nice result by now. I was very disappointed by my performance at this year's WSOP, so maybe the Festa al Lago's main event has my name on it.

Last year they skipped it because the room was under construction, so I am really looking forward to it.

But the main thing I want to talk about is the following: since there are not a whole lot of tournaments left for me, I want to start focusing on online poker a little bit more again.

You probably know that in the past I played a lot of online poker tournaments with decent results. My biggest achievement online was being on top of the tournament leaderboard on PokerStars three weeks in a row (without a Sunday main event win).

I also did it a few weeks before that, so Teecoy and I are still tied with a record four leaderboard wins each. So, reason enough to start taking up my old game.

I also enjoy the fact that online poker can be played from my comfortable seat at home, so a few weeks back I started playing some little tournaments to get back into the groove.

I started with a few low-buy-in rebuy tournaments, and the first thing that got my attention was that all the "rebuy monsters" were gone.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term "rebuy monster," I will explain: it's someone who does double rebuys and during the rebuy period is all-in virtually every hand. They keep pushing and shoving until they have around $25k in chips.

I asked around and it turns out that when I was away from the virtual felt, the "whiz kids" basically made their life miserable by continuously whining and complaining. They (the monsters) were just fed up with it and tightened up their game.

That is just bad business. And that's what I want to talk about: Don't be the table professor. Don't be the judge of other people's play. Maybe they are playing a whole different game than you.

Maybe they are just plain stupid and it would be foolish to scare away the fish, wouldn't it?

There is actually a nice little story about this: I read it in a book written by Doyle Brunson (can't remember the title). He once played in a game where there was a very bad player (a doctor) at the table, as well as a few seasoned pros.

After a big pot in which the doctor made several big mistakes, one of the pros started needling him and calling him a fool for his play (the pro actually won the pot, so there was no need to kick the doctor when he was down).

Minutes after that happened, that same pro fell from his seat, yelling and screaming "I'm having a heart attack!" over and over again. The doctor calmly got up from his seat and helped the man.

Later it turned out that the pro didn't have a heart attack at all - just heartburn. The doctor could have said, "Who's the fool now? You can't even tell heartburn from a heart attack," of course, but he didn't.

And neither should you. Just let everybody play his own game and respect every single player at the table. As long as they (the bad players) have money, it is in your best interest to keep them at the table.

And if they suck out on you, just remember: that's why they still want to play against better opponents. They might suck out.

But in the long run, you will grind them down.

Take care for now,

--Steve Wong

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Automated Tables: Huge Upside for Players

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:09:34 +0100

Hey to all. Fully automated poker tables are a new trend I'd like to talk about. A company called PokerTek constructs the tables, which I mentioned in one of my previous blogs.

I once played them in Macau. Now PokerTek applied for a license in Nevada and were granted permission to operate a field trial in a Las Vegas casino - a real coup, because although the company had already installed its tables elsewhere, Vegas is of course the most important place to be.

Excalibur's poker room - previously really one of the smallest, least important cardrooms in Vegas - will install 12 automated poker tables with the "PokerPro" brand.

The tables are the first online/brick-and-mortar combo in the poker world.

They combine the best of live and online poker. You get to see your opponents: do their hands shake? Are they nervous? Are they bluffing? And on the other hand you have lightning-fast deals, pots are awarded instantly, etc. etc.

In the past when there was a dispute a floor manager had to make a ruling. If you disagreed with that ruling, you had the option (only in bigger games) of contacting Gaming Control, who in turn made the decision.

In the process, the game would be dead for about half an hour or so while everyone waited for Gaming Control officials to arrive. But with these new technologies it is very easy to "rewind" the action on the table and review the situation.

These tables also offer the option of playing multiple variants. The standard games available are Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi, Omaha Hi-Lo and Seven-Card Stud. All are available in No-Limit, Pot-Limit, Spread-Limit and of course Fixed-Limit.

As you can imagine not all dealers are trained to deal all of these games, so the tables offer a lot more flexibility to a poker room. They will also likely attract new players who've never played poker before, because newbies will view them as being akin to slot machines.

As you can imagine, that might improve profitability for all of you card sharks ;-)

Some other cool features are easy kill pots and rabbit hunting (when you fold on the turn you can now find out if you would have hit your flush if you called that big bet). Straddles are also possible, as well as blind chops.

But one of the most important draws for players is that the tables eliminate the need to tip. It may sound harsh for dealers, but if you keep track of how much you tip dealers on a given night, you can see that tips seriously cut into your win rate in the long run.

These tables promise up to 50% more hands in No-Limit and no less than 100% more hands in games like Pot-Limit Omaha, compared to traditional poker tables.

I have my doubts about these figures - I think rates like that could only be achieved if all the players were familiar with these new tables and their functions.

In any event, there's a huge upside for casinos, not just for players. You don't need a whole army of dealers, chip runners, etc. All you need is one or two managers who know how to handle a PC and you're pretty much done.

You might need an extra cashier, where you can buy credits for your player card. (You just pay the cashier the money and he or she credits it to your card.)

Now for a bit of Q&A.

Steve, this sounds like one big ad - do you work for them?

No, I don't. But I do encourage this whole development. Of course there is also a downside.

It takes away a lot of the game - there are no more chip tricks (which wasn't my biggest asset anyway, so I don't care much about it :) ), and far less "Hollywood" at the tables due to the limited timebanks.

And it just isn't the same without green felt, 52 cards and a bunch of chips. So it will probably never replace poker as we know it, but it is a good addition if you ask me.

But what happens when this thing crashes?

If you have the same PC as I have, you might be wondering: What if the PC crashes? Well, the main server of these tables saves and makes backups all the time.

As a matter of fact, I witnessed one of these crashes while playing in Macau. All you need to do is sit down at the next PokerPro table and simply insert your player card. The old table can easily be transferred to another table by the click of a mouse.

The ones who will get hurt by these tables are of course the dealers and other poker room staff; they will be made redundant by these new machines.

And what to think of the cocktail waitresses? How on earth do you tip them with digital money? It is just a fact that you give bigger tips when you pay in chips as opposed to cash.

The poker room will become less important for them to service, so if you are one of those players who mainly visits the tables for a laugh and some free drinks, you might be looking for greener pastures.

I will have a look for myself to see if these tables are "hot or not" enough for Vegas soon. Of course I will let you know what my findings are.

The grand opening of the poker room is on Sept. 11. Right now they're conducting a trial run to see if there are any bugs/errors in the system.

I'll keep you posted ;)

Regards,

-- Steve Wong

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The End of My WSOP: Nothing but Early Exits

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:50:11 +0100

Hello there. First of all, I owe all of you an explanation regarding my lack of blog entries. During the World Series of Poker I needed all my time and focus to be sure I gave it my best shot.

Unfortunately things went from bad to worse. I never had the feeling I was even close to a final table, let alone a bracelet. Then directly after the WSOP I felt I needed to clear my head and take a break and go on holiday.

The day I returned from my short break I got sick and that took me another two weeks to recover from. That is basically the reason for the lack of regular blogs.

I first want to tell all of you how the last part of my WSOP adventures ended: nothing but early exits. I only managed to make it to the dinner break in the Deuce-to-Seven tournament.

I played a lot of relatively "small" buy-in Hold'em tournaments and to be honest, I don't really like them. Besides, I consider the skill factor in games other than No-Limit Hold'em much greater - or at least my edge is probably bigger in those games.

Like I told you in my previous blog, though, there is no longer a battle to become the first-ever Dutch bracelet winner. Rob Hollink won the $10k Limit Hold'em Championship event (congrats again Rob!!!) and that took away some pressure.

This may sound strange, but the Main Event is (in my opinion) the only event with a structure that is WSOP-worthy. Levels last long enough, intervals are very well calculated, etc. etc. My WSOP Main Event, though, ended on Day 2.

I moved in on the turn with K-8, holding a flush draw plus an inside straight draw to go with it. I was called by A-Q offsuit (neither of us paired; he basically called my considerably big raise with just ace-high), so I had a ton of outs: any of the three eights, three kings, plus four gut-shot cards and the flush outs.

That makes 18 outs in total, but unfortunately for me, a blank came on the river and I was eliminated.

The only thing that leaves a good memory of this past WSOP is that my buddy Scotty Nguyen took the title, bracelet and the money in the $50k H.O.R.S.E. Championship Event. He also was the first winner of the Chip Reese trophy.

This trophy is 21 inches tall, weighs no less than 60 pounds and has two parts. The bottom is a solid marble base where the name of the winner is inscribed. The top section consists of the five cards (A7744) that Chip held when he won the first $50k H.O.R.S.E. event.

The trophy also features an engraved quote from Chip: "Standing the test of time."

As you can imagine, I was not happy this year with the turn of events, so for next year I am planning on playing just a few carefully selected events.

So no more $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em events next year. I will focus on the big-buy-in ($5,000 or more) tournaments. I will also make sure that I check the blind structures of each and every tournament.

For example, the structure of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event is a whole lot better than the $10k buy-in Pot-Limit Hold'em event. So that is what I am focusing on next year.

Regards,

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

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My 2008 WSOP So Far

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:51:09 +0100

We just passed the imaginary equator that splits the WSOP in two. I thought it would be nice to give a small heads-up on how I am doing.

Well, not too good actually: In none of the daytime tournaments was I able to make it even to the dinner break.

In one tournament I actually did make the break, but that tournament started later in the day. Fact is that I just can't get in "the groove."

I am not trying to find excuses or anything, but there is another factor that is not helping: The WSOP nowadays is mainly about making money (for Harrah's). Player's interests are not exactly their No. 1 priority.

In the $10K buy-in Pot-Limit Hold'em event, we started with blinds at $100/$200 (which worked out to be 100 big blinds). That is not as deep-stacked as you might expect for a $10k buy-in Championship event.

The Stud $10k buy-in event was even worse: starting blinds were $200/$400.

All in all, there is not a whole lot of play left. I haven't even mentioned the $1,500 buy-in events; they start with $3,000 in chips and blinds of $25/$50.

By basically downgrading these events into more or less "crapshoots," they make sure that 75 to 80% of entrants can play a new event the very next day (more players = more rake, etc. etc.).

A couple of days ago a fellow Dutchman, Marcel Luske, made it to a final table while we were both trying to win the first Dutch bracelet (never in the history of the WSOP had a Dutchie won a bracelet ... ).

Even though I was in the running too, I nevertheless was rooting for Marcel - I really wanted him to win that bracelet - but unfortunately he ended third. At times he held the chip lead, but due to the insane structure and such enormous blinds he couldn't push through.

But a good thing finally happened: the first Dutch WSOP bracelet was won by Rob Hollink. Congrats Rob!!! Now the pressure is all off :D and the chase is off.

I am now mainly focusing on the higher-buy-in tournaments, especially the "odd" events, such as Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better, 2-7 Lowball and maybe the $5k buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Texas Hold'em.

I will certainly not play the lower-buy-in No-Limit events.

Regards,

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

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Egg-Shaped Losers Driving Women from Poker

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:14:44 +0100

Ever wondered why there are still relatively few women on the poker circuit? Well, I think I found out this week. I was playing at the Rio when I witnessed the following scene:

A Humpty Dumpty-shaped man in his 60s with short gray hair (but hey, he was trying to look good, 'cause he was wearing a tight Ed Hardy shirt) was playing in a tournament. The moment he busted, he felt it appropriate to give his phone number to one of the (female) players at the table.

She was absolutely flabbergasted by this "indecent proposal." The worst part of it all was that he was proudly sporting a wedding ring. I just don't understand these people.

Why can't you just treat female poker players as your peers?

There is no reason to think that a good-looking female poker player in her 20s is interested in any way in an old, egg-shaped, ugly man.

Another (kind of old) guy was talking to a female player at our table who was clearly not interested in any conversation with that man. She stated loud and clear that she was happily engaged and her whole body language just screamed "End of conversation ..."

But the man kept trying to be funny and witty. Two days later the same guy approached our table again and started another conversation with the same woman.

"Hey honey, I've been looking for you for days ... What I actually wanted to ask was: Are you still engaged?"

The pure stupidity of that man made me so mad I couldn't even remember being that angry. That is just not a question you ask a woman.

I was raised with the sense that you need to treat women with respect. Especially in the game of poker (which is said to be a gentleman's game) you need to be respectful to your opponents, man or woman.

The "young kids" are also drooling at every woman who walks by. From the youngsters I can more or less understand such behavior - all they see all day is a computer screen, so they are easily distracted and just don't know any better.

But the older men should know how to behave in female company.

So poker players: please let's behave like civilized people and give women at the tables the respect they deserve and treat them as our peers.

More women will feel comfortable at the tables and will join us.

Regards,

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

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WPT Championship Part 2: Soul-Reading Kid Poker

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:51:18 +0100

Just to freshen up your (and obviously my own ;) ) mind: I was telling you about my run at the $25,000 buy-in WPT Championship at the Bellagio.

As you probably still know, I was faced with an extremely difficult table, but nevertheless I was still able to gather some chips. Along the way I busted Tony Ma out of the tournament, when he made the nut straight on the turn, I made the nut flush, the money went in there and then and Ma was drawing dead.

At the end of Day 2, I was 12th in chips (Robert Mizrachi was leading the pack with $523,200; I had $306,600).

Day 3 began with yet another table of "new" faces. I found Daniel Negreanu at my table (Seat 3). I had never played for that long with Negreanu in a No-Limit game. (We did play some Limit games for days.)

At a certain point during play we are both in a hand and when the flop comes, Daniel check-raises. I think about the whole hand and say to him, "Your king-jack is good," and I fold my own hand.

Daniel is surprised; he looks at me and shows the table king-jack. We had some fun about it and in the meantime I made a deal with him: during our whole poker career we will have to show our hand to the other guy when the other guy "guesses" our hand exactly (not down to suits, and we must be heads-up in the pot).

I was able to hold my own and steal some chips here and there. I was also able to bust a short stack; that gave me enough chips to move to a healthy chip stack.

My starting stack for Day 4 was $662,000.

Day 4 began pretty successfully for me. I was able to expand my tower of terror to a massive $900,000 ... until I found QQ and got it all in against A-K and lost that coin flip - which cost me more than half my stack. The hand just after those queens I wanted to take a chance and make a stand.

David Tran made it $50,000 to go, I was in the cut-off and flat-called with 9 8. The flop came Q 9 2, Tran checked to me and I moved all-in for $300,000 to pick up the blinds and antes plus David's investment, because I was pretty sure he held ace-king.

Unfortunately for me he didn't have ace-king, he had pocket kings and obviously snap-called. Turn came 7 and the river brought a no-good 5; I was eliminated in 31st place.

Although I was disappointed that I was not able to make it to the final table, I was happy that I improved from last year's top 10% finish.

Just days after that, there was another circus in town: the WSOP Circuit event at Caesars Palace ($5,000 buy-in). Out of all WSOP Circuit events this event has the best field, because everybody just finished the WPT Championship.

I decided I wanted to play that one as well, so I once again tried to win my seat in one of the satellites. Again, that plan worked out well.

On Day 1 everything worked according to plan and I ended the day with $64,000 in chips (starting chip stack was $10,000). On Day 2 I was placed at the same table as Danny Wong (we are not related; Wong is a very common name in China, it is basically the Chinese equivalent of "Smith"or "Jones").

During that day I made a very nice hand: I held 7 8 when the flop came 9 6 T, so I flopped the nuts :) and I had an open-ended straight flush draw to go with it.

On the turn I hit my straight flush when it showed J. Unfortunately for Bill Edler (who is a Full Tilt pro) that jack gave him a king-high straight. Since he was pretty low on chips there was no way he could fold after he led out for $10,500, and I put him to a decision for all of his remaining chips.

So he called and was immediately drawing dead. (River came a meaningless 5.)

Not long after that hand, I got in a hand with Allen Cunningham; I am still wondering why he played that hand the way he did.

Allen opened for $12,500 (blinds were $2k/$4k with $500 ante) in the cut-off. I was in the small blind with J J and pushed for $69,500 more.

After quite some time Allen decides to call with K Q and spikes a king right there on the flop, eliminating me in 24th place. I really have my doubts about Allen's play, but we planned dinner again soon, so I will ask him what went through his head there. Allen went on to win the tournament so he buys :D.

Right after I won the satellite for the WPT championship I went to pick up my new car. For me, being Dutch, it is a rather strange experience to be able to get a "customized" license plate. In Holland you are just issued a plate number and that's it.

So since I was living in the States I always wanted to have my own license plate: "S18." All I needed more was a car that was worthy of carrying such a cool license plate. I was ecstatic to see how my new car looked with my own license plate.

I think the result is pretty cool :-).

For now I am getting ready for the WSOP... my first event will be the $10,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Hold'em event.

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

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WPT Championship Part 1: Something to Prove

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:52:31 +0100

When it comes to pure poker skill, at the top of the heap of all tournaments is probably the $25,000 WPT World Championship held at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Last year I ended 62nd out of 639 runners and I really wanted to see if I could beat that top 10% finish in one of the toughest fields ever. I had nobody but myself to blame for my exit, so I was eager to show myself that I had improved my game.

I was looking forward to it all year and I just couldn't wait to play it. For this year I even prepared better than last year, both mentally and physically.

But first things first - $25,000 is a lot of money, so I first wanted to try to play a satellite and win my entry that way. If that didn't work out, I could always do a direct buy-in.

So I entered a satellite. The first couple of levels were pretty easy, but when the blinds get higher it becomes a struggle to stay on the average chip count. You have to start making moves - in a satellite, it's not a matter of gathering the most chips, it's just a question of not busting out, so the mission is pretty simple: stay alive.

When the seats are awarded it doesn't matter whether you have one chip or a tower of terror, since the payout is flat. (Every remaining player gets the same payout: a seat for the main event.)

For me it wasn't just about getting my ticket cheap; it was also a perfect way to get in shape for the real thing, because while there are some weaker players trying their luck, most of the pros play these satellites too. $25,000 is a lot of money for everyone.

I was lucky enough to win two coin flips at crucial moments, so I was able to win a ticket in the super-satellite. I was very happy with that result; it showed me that my game was sharp and that I was ready to play the big one.

In the meantime I played a $2,000 side event and amassed $43,000 chips, having started with $4,000. By the time we got to Level 6, in the process I got doubled by Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott and later I busted him.

While he is known for his trash-talk and criticizing your play, he had to admit that I outplayed him in that hand. That is good for your ego, I can tell you.

I had my whole table covered and was cruising, but all of a sudden the chip leader of the tournament gets placed at my table. From his whole act and appearance, I noticed that this player was not that experienced. I figured that could work to my advantage.

In the third hand we played with him at the table I am in the small blind. The blinds are $300/$600 and the rock at the table raises it up to $1,700. The big stack flat-calls. I look down at my cards and see QQ.

I decide to reraise to $7,000 total. The rock folds and the chip leader calls. The flop comes T 8 3. I bet about the size of the pot. The chip leader thinks for a while and goes all-in.

I can't imagine that a board of T-8-3 helps him - I think the best he can have is a flush draw - and so I decide to call all-in. When he flips his cards up he shows A 6, so I'm in pretty good shape to win the hand and continue with a monster stack.

But fate decides otherwise: he hits the flush on the turn and I am out.

Just seconds after that he busts another poor guy: he called an all-in with K Q versus a pair, and wins that hand too. But as you see more with these overaggressive players, they never hold their chips for long. He was out just 90 minutes or so after he busted me.

But that hand really made me sick. Of course you want people to stick their money in with a clearly inferior hand to yours, and of course I know that I win this hand about two out of every three times, but I was just disappointed that this time was not one of those ;-).

The very next day I initially planned to play the $2,500 buy-in event, but I was so sick from that hand I thought a day off would be better and that I would just play the next day. That day, though, there was a senior event, so that was a no-go. Well, no worries; just another day off.

When I returned the next day it turned out to be the day of the Ladies Event :-). So I played a one-table SNG for a seat in the $5,000 tournament.

In the fifth hand we play I'm dealt pocket aces; I manage to get it in on the flop and lose again from Ax suited that makes a flush. Once more I was so disappointed that I didn't play again so I could prepare myself for the $25,000 event.

On Day 1 of the actual Championship, I was faced with some tough competition: Gavin Smith, Tim Phan and Ted Forrest were some of the opponents on my table. On the up side, it was set up in the Fontana Bar, which I like, because it is a bit separated from the crowd and all the action.

I ended the day with 64,600 in chips.

Day 2 started for me with a re-seat to the main poker pit, and what a re-seat it was...

My table (with Layne Flack already eliminated earlier from the same table):

Seat 3: Me
Seat 4: Marco Traniello
Seat 5: Mimi Tran
Seat 6: Rhynie Campbell
Seat 7: Kathy Liebert
Seat 8: Hoyt Corkins
Seat 9: Jon Friedberg
Seat 10: Billy Baxter

Toughest table of the day? A lot of people seemed to think so.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I'll detail how I fared at that table of doom.

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

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My Thoughts on Postponing the WSOP Final Table

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:05:45 +0100

First of all, let's get the facts right. This year Harrah's Entertainment Inc. has changed the WSOP Main Event schedule as follows:

Instead of playing over two weeks in July (starting with Day 1a on July 3 and ending at Day 7 on July 14), those who make the final table will be asked to come back and finish during two days in November (November 9-10).

Harrah's stated reason for this is: "This will allow the final table to be shown on Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN and give the broadcaster time to generate publicity that will maximize the audience."

According to Harrah's this will benefit the players, because of both the additional coverage and because players will have more time to "shop around" for sponsors.

To be honest I don't think this makes any sense at all. This changes the whole dynamic of final-table play. During those months you can completely change your style of play in order to tailor it to the exact composition of the final table.

For example: If, let's say, some construction worker from Iowa (who won his entry online) is getting lucky for a few days and is catching cards like a madman and makes it to the final table, he now has plenty of time to hire a seasoned pro for xx% of his winnings to give him some extra training that will surely improve his skills.

He may then end up higher on the money ladder than he normally would have. And his skill level will be completely different than it was when the final table should have been played in July.

There is also a psychological factor: you can easily hire a mental coach to help make you as well-prepared as possible for the final table, while normally the final-table play is just a matter of not giving up and absolute determination to win.

The winner is usually not the best player based on pure poker skill, but the player who is able to stay focused longer than the others. Of course you are very nervous when you make it to a final table of the WSOP, but so are the others.

He or she who can control those nerves best will have the best shot at winning. This important part of the game is now almost eliminated for commercial reasons.

Then there are other factors that need to be considered:

How about collusion? I can imagine that when that same construction worker from Iowa is reasonably short on chips the other, perhaps more experienced, players now agree to leave each other alone in their attempts to bust the poor short stack.

In a regular tournament structure this can also happen, but in those cases it's out of "mutual understanding," and not because those plans have been discussed over the last couple of months.

Whether it really happens or not is in my opinion not relevant; it could happen, and that's more than enough reason to not postpone the final table.

Collusion is one thing, but how about just cold-blooded cheating? I mean: Of course you can work out a whole plan full of signs and tells with your buddy, but what are the odds you two both end up on the same table at any stage of the tournament, let alone on the final table?

Now you have almost three months to work out a whole scheme. Again: I don't think it will really happen, but it could. The new schedule is at least potentially damaging to the integrity of the game.

The whole idea is so absurd, how would the fans react if the final quarter of the Super Bowl played out two months later, just to build up the suspense?

Is it all bad?

Well, there are a couple of ways that players and the poker community at large may benefit.

The most obvious, of course, is that final-table players have plenty of time to find the best sponsor deals and to do interviews, workshops, etc. Due to the whole media circus around the WSOP, a lot of people will be interested in poker (again) and it will definitely bring new players to the (virtual) tables.

This whole structure will also be very interesting for non-poker related businesses, which will potentially result in more sponsorships, which in turn will generate more media attention for poker. The sport will become more and more professional.

But isn't that just the beauty of poker? Poker is more or less the only sport where prize money is generated by the players themselves. That makes poker the sport that it is.

When you bust out of a tournament, you are not only no longer contending for the prize money, you also lost your buy-in. So losing hurts. And that is the whole principle of the game, the reason why bluffing makes sense: If you call and lose, it hurts.

So altogether I really think this is a bad idea, seriously damaging the heart and soul (and integrity) of the game for commercial reasons.

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

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My Killer Poker Tip: Learn More Games

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:45:08 +0100

Hey there. It's very hard to come up with a new subject every other week, but here's something I'm always asked: What's the "secret" to winning tournament poker?

To be honest: There is no secret. (Or at least not that I am aware of :P)

I just play poker. To be honest: I've never even read a poker book. So I'm afraid I can't be of much help if you ask me for the "killer tip."

Of course I will not leave you empty-handed. My advice is as simple as it is effective: try to focus on other games apart from your main game.

90% of all players play mainly No-Limit Texas Hold'em. (Especially on the Internet, where the bulk of the games are NLHE short-handed ring games nowadays.)

You may wonder why you should even bother trying a game in which you are not as skilled as your regular game. It probably seems like a waste of time.

There are a few reasons that justify the effort, though:

Playing a different game improves your overall "card sense."
Since a lot of people focus solely on NLHE, you might find games that are much easier to beat.
NLHE is the most popular game at the moment, but times will change. NLHE wasn't always the most popular game. It's hard to imagine, but there was a time when Five-Card Draw was the most popular game. After that, Seven-Card Stud became the flavor of the month for most players. So when times change, you'll be prepared.
You don't have to let go of "juicy" games anymore in games you don't really master.

Where to start? A good start would be mixed games.

In live games the players often decide what games are played together. On the Internet you often don't have that choice, so you just have to play whatever is on offer. That means H.O.R.S.E. is the ideal game for you if you are looking for some diversification.

For those who don't know what H.O.R.S.E. is, I will go through its components quickly. I'll assume everybody knows the basic rules. (In case you need to refresh your memory, please click here to browse through the beginner section for the game of your choice.)

H.O.R.S.E. stands for Hold'em, Omaha Eight-or-Better, Razz, Stud and Stud Eight-or-Better.

All games are played Limit structure, so that basically means for all games more or less the same rules apply: Tightness and aggression are key in H.O.R.S.E.

Hold'em

In Hold'em you just play ABC poker. The better your position is, the more hands you can play. When you decide to play, you come in for a raise or not at all.

Omaha Eight-or-Better

This is the game in which players make the most errors. You have to make sure you always draw to the nuts. (Especially on low draws, errors are easily made.) A good starting hand should contain at least A-2xx (a suited hand is always better than a nonsuited hand.)

As a rule of thumb: a hand containing three wheel cards (A, 2, 3, 4 & 5) is worth raising. Of course the lower the hand, the better it is. Especially a suited ace (for example: A 2) is valuable, because you have a good shot at both the high and the low.

Razz

Razz is one of the easiest games as far as rules are concerned. Just make the lowest poker hand out of seven cards. (Straights and flushes do not count against you.) The only piece of advice I can give is: do not pay too much attention to your down cards.

If your down cards are KK and your up cards are, for example, A-4-5, and your opponents' board doesn't look too promising, just raise.

Stud

The best piece of advice I can give is: remember all dead cards and consider raising when you have the highest door card showing.

Stud Eight-or-Better

This game is, strategy-wise, more or less equal to Omaha Eight-or-Better. The biggest pots are won by "scooping" pots (when you win the high and low in a pot). So you should concentrate on starting hands that have potential in both high and low. Any hand containing three wheel cards (preferably with a suited ace) is an excellent starting hand.

With these basic tips you should be able to hold your own in low-limit H.O.R.S.E. cash games. If you feel that one or more of your games needs improvement, you should start playing cash games in that exact variant until you feel comfortable in it. (My sponsor's room, Pacific Poker, is an excellent choice, if I do say so myself!)

Of course you can start at the lowest possible stakes so no serious harm is done during the learning process. Don't expect miracles to happen; you will have to take some time to become accustomed to the nuances of each game. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Regards,

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

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The Players I Respect Most

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:23:56 +0100

In this blog I want to talk about the players I respect for one reason or another. Of course many, many players have influenced my game, but there are a few I want to highlight.

(If you're not mentioned it doesn't mean I don't respect you; you're just not in my top four. :-) )

First of all: My cousin Steven "Lucky" Liu. I've written about Steve in my previous blogs. He taught me the basics and the more advanced theories, so if I owe any player anything...

Another player I highly respect is Erik Seidel. He's a tremendous all-around player who has mastered every game.

The variety of bracelets he's won says it all: Texas Hold'em Fixed Limit, Texas Hold'em No-Limit, Omaha Split, 2-7 Draw, Pot-Limit Omaha, 2-7 Lowball and many, many other tournament wins.

He never gets "in love" with a hand - he folds whenever he feels he is beat. That is a quality not many players have. What I like most about him is the fact that despite his success he is still very down-to-earth and a nice person.

If you ask me, it is not a matter of if but when he will pass Phil Hellmuth in the bracelet race.

I also would like to mention Allen Cunningham. He's a very well-rounded player too and has also won bracelets in multiple disciplines. He's one of the players with the most card sense in the world.

Only five players managed to collect four bracelets before turning 30: Phil Ivey, Layne Flack, Phil Hellmuth, Stuey Ungar and Allen Cunningham.

The first time I really saw how good he actually was was when I played with him at the $1,000 re-buy final table during the WSOP in 2006. I ended up in fourth place; Allen would win the event.

Four months later at the Bellagio Festa al Lago side event, I saw him flop a set on a straight board. The pot had been raised pre-flop, and I think the board was something like A-4-2. Allen was holding 2-2.

When he got re-raised all-in he thought for a really long time and eventually made the (crying) call.

The mere fact he even took the time to think about this hand displays a lot of his class. We played many hands together and I must say it is almost scary to see somebody play that flawlessly.

I remember a hand he played at the final table of 2006's WSOP Main Event, where the board showed 9-9-8-5-A. Allen and Jamie Gold both showed a 9 on the river, but Jamie's ten kicker beat Allen's seven kicker.

Ninety-nine per cent of all players would have gone broke in that hand - not Cunningham. Like Erik, he too is a very admirable and friendly person.

The last player I'd like to mention is Scotty Nguyen. Since he's so well-known I probably don't need to discuss his poker talent. I think his stats say it all.

I especially like Scotty for the way he pleases his fans and the way he works the cameras: wherever there is Scotty, there are cameras. He truly is a fun person to watch and away from the table he is a very nice guy.

That's all for now; thank you for reading my blog again.

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

P.S. In case you have specific subjects you want me to write about, please let me know...

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How I Started Playing Poker

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:34:54 +0100

In a recent conversation with my sponsor, 888.com, they asked how I got my start in poker. While telling my story, I realized it might be interesting for my loyal blog readers too.

It all started with my cousin Steve "Lucky" Liu, who lives in the U.K.

Our fathers came here from Hong Kong in the early '60s. My father choose Holland as his new home and Lucky's dad stayed in the U.K. (Lucky's mother is my father's younger sister; that's how we're related.) When I was a kid I sometimes spent my holidays with Lucky in the U.K.

We were in contact, but not on a daily basis, until one day in 1998 when he suddenly called me: "Hey Steve! I'm in the Netherlands tomorrow." Which was obviously a big surprise for me.

Of course I picked him up from the airport. He came over with a whole bunch of friends. While we were having dinner I asked him the reason for his visit, and he told me he was here to play poker at the Master Classics of Poker.

I had never heard of Hold'em poker before and wasn't really interested at the time. After a couple of days he won the main event: a tournament with a 5,000 Dutch guilder buy-in (roughly equivalent to $3,500), one of the biggest in Europe at the time.

I was shocked he could have won so much money playing a GAME.

In 2000 Lucky returned and again won the same event for a neat $134,000. Two years later he returned again and finished second in the €500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha event. (The guilder was replaced by the euro in 2002.)

I occasionally played table games in those days. When Lucky saw me playing table games he said to me, "Why are you throwing away all that money? If you quit playing table games, I will teach you how to play poker."

So in 2003 I downloaded one of the first online rooms and started playing for play money. I played whenever I had some spare time.

One of my funny hands from those days: I held a pair of fours and the board showed 7788K and I went berserk, because I didn't understand the concept of a counterfeited pair.

In desperation I made an international phone call to Lucky to tell him the software was rigged. He laughed for about 10 minutes and explained to me what the actual problem was.

The problem with me being "play-money broke" was in the early days of online poker you had to send an e-mail for some more play money; there was no auto-refill button or anything like that.

In the summer of 2003 I opened an account at PokerStars, which was one of the first sites to spread multi-table tournaments. In that same year I went to visit Lucky in the U.K. for a few months and to attend a poker bootcamp.

I had some basic card sense from Five-Card Draw and Seven-Card Stud, but in these months Lucky really showed me the ins and outs of all the popular poker variants.

After two months I went back home to the Netherlands. I played the Master Classics myself and I immediately finished 13th in the Limit Hold'em event. That was the moment I knew this was more than just a game.

In 2004 I started playing more seriously online, for real money: 25¢/50¢ Limit Hold'em and small-buy-in tournaments. Bit by bit I transformed into a tournament player.

That year I won my first WSOP entry. That was the first time I ever set foot in Vegas. I knew it wouldn't be my last time there. Weeks after I returned I won a big "Sunday event" on a very popular room and I won the TLB as well.

In October of that same year I won the TLB of that site three times in a row without winning the big Sunday event. Only two players in the history of online poker have won the TLB three consecutive times: Teecoy and "S18" (yours truly).

Late in 2004 and throughout 2005 I played a lot of tournaments, with great results. I once won a $10 re-buy tournament three times in one day on the same site; every tournament had at least 500 players and the largest even over 1,000.

There were weeks when I won $100 re-buys and $150 freezeouts plus 15 or 20 smaller tournaments. So I must have been doing something right. I enjoyed the game immensely. I just loved it - even when I lost.

But not until 2006 did I start to go pro. That year I got close in a WPT tournament and won a side event at the Bellagio.

I could never have imagined I was going to "play" to make ends meet. I do realize I'm living a dream, but I hope the dream doesn't end for a while at least.

There are a lot of tournaments on my wish list. I hope I'm fortunate enough to win a bracelet this year.

-- Steve (SteveWong@888.com)

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Traveling Around the Globe Part 3

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:55:00 +0100

Last time, I was on the verge of leaving Australia to head to Macau via Hong Kong.

As I mentioned, I always book flexible return tickets so I was able to leave Australia ASAP once I busted out of the Aussie Millions (disappointing myself, all of you out there and my loyal sponsor, 888.com).

I wanted to make the best possible use of my time, so I decided there was no point wandering around the casino in Melbourne. Instead I planned to see more of Hong Kong and Macau.

I arrived early the next morning in Hong Kong and had to wait a couple of hours before the ferry took off to Macau. As you can see, the ferries are pretty modern.

If ever you go to Macau, I certainly recommend booking "superclass." A single ticket is around $40. Personally I don't fly business class or anything because I think the tickets are heavily overpriced, but for this relatively small amount of money I decided to just give it a try and travel "high-class."

The ferry trip to Macau takes about 50 minutes on the "turbo hydrojets," as they call the red ferries there. I stayed in the Star World hotel and casino. (Interesting factoid: although the hotel has just been finished, it's scheduled to be demolished in 2011, because there were rumors about bribery during the construction process and the owners are not 100% happy with the materials used.)

After I arrived at the hotel, I crashed for a little nap. My friends booked this hotel for me, because at Star World they have four PokerPro tables (fully automated poker tables). These tables had a 5% rake capped at $100 HKD ($12.80 USD) but they raked anyway, so flop or no flop, they don't really care.

When playing $25/$50 you can imagine that at the end of the night there's only one winner: the house.

I met John Hoang there, who was waiting at one of the tables for some action. I joined him, and soon other players joined as well. We had lots of fun. These tables could really become the future, but first they have to change the rake, because in the current situation nobody but the house wins.

For 50 years Stanley Ho basically owned the monopoly on casinos in Macau. One of his first casinos was the Lisboa. Since 1999, though, when the Republic of China reassumed control of Hong Kong, this casino's been little more than a faded reminder of past glories.

Nowadays multinationals like the Venetian and the Wynn have permeated the market, so the casinos in Macau are bigger, better and more luxurious.

These companies have made a tremendous effort to build copies of some Vegas hotels: The Wynn and the Venetian are basically replicated 1:1

The next day I went down to the Venetian. I was astonished by the number of table games: 700+, which is more than any Las Vegas casino.

Nonetheless, I decided I had seen more than enough casinos for a while, so I figured it was time to explore more of China. I went to Zhu Hai, which is very close to Macau, but you need to apply for a visa anyway. Fortunately I was able to lay my hands on a three-day visa.

Once I arrived there I went to my hotel: the Grand Bay View. This hotel was very nice. Just take a look at the toilet. I spent another few days in China, mostly occupying myself with buying useless stuff that will probably fall apart within a week or so.

But at least I didn't pay much for it. Let's say it was a calculated risk :-).

So much for the ninth leg of my trip that led me through Newcastle-Galway-Newcastle-Amsterdam-Hong Kong-Melbourne-Hong Kong-Macau-Zhu Hai-Macau-Hong Kong-Amsterdam-Vegas. Needless to say I accumulated enough frequent flyer miles to fly around the world a couple of times :-).

For now I am preparing for a tournament at the Wynn and after that, the Shooting Star WPT in San Jose.

Take care for now...

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

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Traveling Around the Globe Part 2

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:11:09 +0100

Last time I promised to tell more about my trip that led me through three continents. In this blog, I'll detail my journey to Australia and Asia for my sponsor 888.com.

After I returned to the Netherlands from Newcastle, I decided to take a rest for a couple of days so I would be in the best possible shape to go halfway across the world.

I flew from Amsterdam to Hong Kong, a flight that takes 12 hours. I chose to go via Hong Kong because flying directly from Amsterdam to Australia is too exhausting. It's 12 hours to Asia, then you need to wait five or six hours for your nine-hour connecting flight, so as you can imagine that can never be healthy.

Being a poker player I strongly believe in the concept of "a healthy mind in a healthy body," so I decided to go to Hong Kong and stick around for a day and a half just to have a look around. I stayed in the luxurious Harbour View Metropolis hotel in Hong Kong.

As you can see in the picture I had a hot-tub-like thing in my garden. The funny thing wasn't that this hotel had a garden, but that I stayed on the 10th floor - this was the first garden on the 10th floor I ever saw :-)

So that was rather special. I dropped my suitcases and got out and just walked around and I forgot about what I was going to see: huge crowds everywhere... just unbelievable. (The last time I was in Hong Kong was in 2005.)

I did some shopping, then returned to my hotel and rested for a while before going out again for some more shopping. I went to bed early that evening and spent most of the next day shopping and just walking around downtown. I had to leave at 7 p.m. for my next destination: Down Under, where I landed around 8 a.m. the next morning.

It was pretty early when I arrived at my hotel, so you probably already guessed: my room wasn't ready yet. (Note: When you arrive in Australia, be prepared for a long wait when you get your luggage and want to clear customs. Why? They scan every bag/suitcase. Why? It's a continent/island on its own and they wanna keep all fruit/meat diseases out. If you're unlucky, a two-and-a-half hour wait is not unusual.)

I knew Mike Matusow also stayed in this hotel so I asked for his room number and gave him a call to find out what he was doing. He told me he was playing Chinese Poker and asked if I wanted to join. Since I had nothing else to do I decided to sit down and play with him and the others: Jeff Madsen, Greg Mueller and Brandon Cantu.

When my room was ready I dropped my bags and went to play some cash games. To my big surprise, I ran into two friends I know, Marco and Johan, from a big Dutch poker community, Pokerinfo. Johan won his seat for the Aussie Millions online and Marco (Dr. Flugel) was there to play a satellite.

They both played the satellite and after a couple of hours they came back to my table to tell me they'd both won a seat in the main event. So everybody was in a pretty good mood. We had a couple of drinks and made plans for the next day, deciding to rent a car and take a look at the "Great Ocean Road," which is known for its scenic views of the Australian coastline.

Johan drove the car, Marco did the navigation and I did the coaching from the back seat :-). Marco had a roadmap, but he isn't exactly a living "TomTom." I would rather say "DumbDumb."

If you put those two guys in a car you get a pretty good impression of Dumb and Dumber. I just couldn't stop laughing. The lack of Marco's navigation skills forced us to find a mall and buy a TomTom.

Even with the electronic navigation, we never made it to the Great Ocean Road. Instead we ended up in some small village near the coast, so we parked the car and went for a walk on the beach. On the way back we had some dinner; it was great fun.

When we were back in the casino (Crown Hotel and Casino in Melbourne), Johan wanted me to play him heads-up on one of the electronic poker tables. I agreed and we decided to play a best-of-five. After three games it was decided: I won :-)

The next day we wanted to go to the zoo, because I always wanted to see a koala. And what better place to do so than Australia? Unfortunately we weren't allowed to touch the koalas, so we went to the aqua-zoo.

Well, that was a huge disappointment. They make you pay another $25 AUD to see some fish, when I can see fish for free at the tables in any casino around the world (Hell, if I'm lucky they pay me instead of the other way around :-)).

The next day, Jan. 16, we all had to play our first day, flight 1c. Again I busted pretty soon. I got low-stacked pretty early and when I found QQ in the small blind and everybody folded to me I made a raise.

The big blind re-raised me, I decided to raise him back one more time and he called. The flop came 3-5-8, I bet out again, he moved in and I thought for quite some time before finally calling. I couldn't get away anymore. The pot was too big (and I saw him overplay eights and nines).

My opponent flopped a set of threes. In normal circumstances I would have folded my hand, but for some reason I didn't. So I was out on Day 1. I decided to use my option of changing my flight (I always book tickets with flexible departure dates).

I busted around 7 p.m. and changed my flight to 12:15 a.m., so I had exactly five hours to check out from the hotel and get myself to the airport for my trip to Hong Kong & Macau.

Marco ended up cashing. I was happy for him because it was the first time he played a high-buy-in main event.

That's it for my trip to Australia; next time I'll tell a little more about Hong Kong and Macau (Vegas of the East).

Thanks for reading and take care,

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

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Traveling Around the Globe Part 1

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:04:54 +0100

In the next couple of updates here on my PL.com blog I'll fill you in on what I've been up to the last couple of weeks: traveling around the globe.

I went from Holland to Newcastle, to Galway, back to Newcastle, back to Holland again, on to Hong Kong, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Macao, Hong Kong and all the way back to Holland again. But first things first: from Holland to Newcastle.

Since there's no direct connection from Amsterdam to Galway I had to make a switch somewhere, so I decided to stop over in Newcastle where I had business to do anyway. My cousin needed help with his computers, so I bought all kind of supplies here in the Netherlands such as a video card and hard disks.

The next day we flew to Galway. Galway is not the biggest of airports, so we had to board at one of the smaller gates at the Newcastle airport. When I saw the plane I had my doubts whether to go or not.

With another 15 brave ones we decided to take a chance and boarded. To the surprise of most, we landed safely in Galway Airport.

In Galway we stayed in the Radisson SAS hotel where the tournament was held, which was pretty convenient. Minutes after I got my door key I ran into some people from Veronica, a Dutch media outlet. They wanted to do several interviews with me, so we did a couple of them.

One of the interviews took place in the restaurant where, after a while, we found out that both the chefs were Dutch, so they joined the conversation and we had a nice chat and some good laughs.

Great Media Exposure But to No Avail

When my tournament (the Irish Poker Championships) started, I was placed directly at the televised table. Among the other players on that table were Bruno Fitoussi, Mike Sexton and Maud Mulder (a Veronica anchor).

Unfortunately I could not do any serious damage and had to leave on Day 1. I was already pretty low in stack when I made my nut flush at the river; I couldn't get away anymore.

The card that made my nut flush paired the board, and my opponent had already flopped trips, so he had me beat with a small full house. Hometown player Jude Ainsworth won the event and took home €180,000 for his effort. (Click here for more info)

Post-Tournament Chilling

Since there are only two flights a week out of Galway I had to stick around, so I decided to play the €800 buy-in tournament the next day. I ended up 18th or 19th - while I had a decent stack, I took some major risks.

I wanted to win the tournament there and then, so I got involved in three coin flips and lost all three of them.

I felt like I needed to rest and chill out a bit, so I took it easy and went to the sauna. I decided not to play in the €500 buy-in event the next day. My cousin (Steven "Lucky" Liu), who came with me from Newcastle on this trip, did pretty good by chopping three-way in that tournament for just over €10k.

The last day we wandered around Galway, had a few drinks, played some pool and left for the airport. We went back to Newcastle where I had some unfinished computer fixing and upgrading to do, but I managed to fix and upgrade all six (!!!) of them.

The next day I headed eastward again (I would go a lot more eastward in the coming days :-) ) to the Netherlands.

In the next update I will tell you about my trip to Hong Kong and Melbourne - the latter for the Aussie Millions.

--Steve Wong

More blogs from Steve Wong:

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Short-Handed Shootout at U.K. Poker Open

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:34:46 +0100

I was excited to play the 888.com U.K. Poker Open, because of the unique setup: short-handed shootouts, where only the winner of each table proceeds to the final.

I think the aggression you need for playing short-handed makes me extremely well-suited to this type of play.

Earlier this year I made it to the final table of another short-handed event, where I got eliminated by Hoyt Corkins in a way that still makes me sick when I think about it: I was on the small blind with A-K; Hoyt makes it 32K to go from the button.

I was sick and tired of his aggression, so this was the perfect moment to make a stand and show the rest of the table I am not to be messed with. I pushed all-in for a good 500K more. Hoyt thought for a couple of minutes and decided to make the call with just 9-9, but the turn and river brought no A or K.

If I had taken that pot down I would have left Hoyt crippled to just a couple of chips and would've had my first bracelet within my sights, but fate decided otherwise. I still feel Hoyt made an error there jeopardizing his whole tournament with just a wired pair of nines.

The U.K. Poker Open was held in a strange setting: a television studio near London - Maidstone, to be exact, which is about 30 miles southeast of London. 888.com let me stay at the beautiful Marriott Hotel in Maidstone, where a shuttle service to the studio made sure we could move around quickly.

There are pros and cons to playing in a TV studio. On the one hand you can fully focus on playing poker, since there is no yelling and screaming by the crowd. On the other hand the cheers of the crowd can really help you "get in the zone."

The funny thing was that it was commented on for television while we played, so altogether it was a whole new experience. I'm glad that 888.com gave me the opportunity to play in this unique format.

The 888.com U.K. Poker Open was played as a shorthanded shootout with an interesting field: good online players, mixed with live tournament players and celebrities. Only the first player of each table proceeded to the final. The runner-up of each table got a second chance in a turbo shootout in which the winner could fight his way back into the tournament.

I was seated at an interesting table:

Rumit Samaiya (he had a familiar face and when I said I knew him, he replied: "Yes we played the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam a couple of years ago, when you just started playing poker, and now you are a poker celeb.")
Rob Key
Myself
Christian Zetzsche
Stefan Ronnlund

The players in the other heats can be best viewed here.

The structure was well-thought-out: the blinds were not time-bound, but hand-bound, and levels increased every 21 hands. With 100,000 in chips, we were reasonably deep-stacked.

I busted Katharine Hartree. I held Q-K off-suit on the button and I made a raise and Katharine re-raised all in from the small blind. She hardly played a hand so I thought my hand was toast, but I had to make the call anyway because I was priced in.

To my surprise she showed J-9 and I won non-improved with K high.

At that point we were three-handed with Rumit and Zetzsche. Rumit busted Rob Key and Stefan Ronnlund, so he was chip leader, with Zetzsche the short stack. Zetzsche moved all-in on Rumit with top two; Rumit made the call because he flopped bottom two pair. That got Rumit a little steaming. He lost all his chips eventually to Zetzsche, so Zetzsche was my opponent in the heads-up battle.

I think Zetzsche feared my play a little, because he didn't want to play flops with me, while I wanted to see a lot of flops, because I thought I could outplay him. We had been playing for quite some time when I found 6-7 off-suit and moved in, but Zetzshe found K-5 and called. I didn't improve, so K-5 won the pot and Christian Zetzsche ended up as the winner of this table.

I got a second chance in the turbo shootout. I had to battle it out with:

James Leebody
Eddie Hearn (who replaced Jamie Gold, who canceled just before the event started. The funny thing was, his father, Barry Hearn, was also at this table)
Barry Hearn
James Edwards
Ryan Fronda

Since this was a turbo tournament (blinds increased every seven hands instead of every 21 hands), I had to make moves. Everybody folded to my small blind and with A-7 I thought an all-in move was appropriate; however, my opponent in the big blind picked up A-Q. I remained unimproved again and had to leave.

I am very happy for the opportunity 888.com gave me to play in this tournament; it was an interesting format and I hope to be back next year.

I also woud like to congratulate Andrew Feldman for winning this event.

Now that this tournament was over for me, I had to repack my stuff because the Masters Classic was about to begin. After the Masters I will play The Irish Open and then on to the other side of the globe: the Aussie Millions.

I hope I can do some serious damage Down Under...

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