Main Event Madness

WSOP blog

by ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann

Well, that’s all she wrote, people. Sure, over the next few days another cadre of poker superstars will begin to fill the litany of gambling lore as the WSOP Main Event comes closer and closer to its conclusion. This year, for the first time, there will be a 4 month break before the final table is played out while America (and the world) comes to know 9 new faces. But unfortunately, yours truly won’t be one of them. Time to pack up and go home — nothing to see here, people!

Oh, i tried. Valiantly. Day 1d was a slow but steady battle uphill, as i turned my 20,000 starting chips into 51,000 glorious shots at the title. But it was not to be, as the last level saw my 2 pairs of Jacks cracked (once by A5 and another improbably by a more than dominated J9 offsuit), as well as a badly timed AK and AQ go down in flames. I finished the day with 4150 chips — yes, you read that correctly. 8 big blinds going into the Day 2b 250/500 blind level. Fuck me.

The last 20 minutes of day 1 i tried like hell to find any ace, any pair, any 2 face cards to ship my money in on — i’d be damned if i had to wait 3 days to come back to 10 minutes of play on day 2. But it was not to be, and i found myself folding every variation of 96off i could find until play ended for the day and i found myself bagging my measly 7 chips — 4 1k chips, a $100, and 2 $25s. Sick.

Chip average going into Day 2b was about 44,000, so i knew i was a long shot at best. But lo and behold, fast forward 4 hours later, and yours truly is sitting on nearly 80,000 in chips!! Hell yeah, bitches! What can i say — KJ, 9T, and 33 were good to me (and what choice did i have — i only had AA twice in 2 days and got no action on both, and besides the 2 cracked Jacks, had NO other big pairs the entire tournament), providing key double/triple ups and the perfect moments. To be honest, i played some of my best poker that day, never once giving up or throwing my dwindling stack in with any two cards. This was the Main Event, baby, and true champions do not fucking give up!

That is, until my table starting filling up with a series of sick hyperaggressive European internet donks. Give me a break — these guys seemed so amazingly eager to get their entire stacks working with 5 high all too often. Despite doubling thru elkY several times, he eventually caught lightning in a bottle to take me out QQ over 99 in the last hour of play for the day. Yup, despite turning 4k into 80k, i was out at the hands of a guy who insisted on playing 86, 35, and the like to huge bets and raises preflop and even AFTER the flop despite completely MISSING the board and relying solely on sick turn/river raises and an arrogant belief that he could outplay the devil no matter what he held. The sad truth is, despite doubling me over over and over, it actually took him getting a real hand to take me out…

Another strange point to my Day 2b was that my longtime Girl Friday, Tiffany Michelle (of Pokernews fame) was moved to my table early on. Of all the gin joints, she got moved to my table! Strange to play against someone who knows every poker move you make, and whose very poker thoughts i can read as plain as day. We stayed away from each other for the most part (sorry i had to 3bet you with that AKsooooooted hunny) but hey, at the end of the day she was still there and i wasn’t. All i have to say is, now that she’s in the money — that 3% trade never looked so good! Goooooo HotChipz!

So, what now? Where to go from here? World Series Europe again? Back to Aruba? I guess. But I’d be lying if i didn’t say that this tournament — the main event — holds a special place in my heart, in the heart of all poker players who have played it. And despite making the top 20% of the field, i know that I’m just not gonna be happy til i have a really deep cash in this thing. All the other wins are nice, but this is really the one that counts. Ah shit, who am i kidding — i’m not gonna be able to rest til i’ve gone and won the whole damn thing. It’s true. Sure, its the sickest longshot under the sun, but you know what? I’m good enough….I’m smart enough…and dammit, people like me!

Rock on, bitches –

-hd.

badboy of blackjack online!

www.HollywoodDave.com

Internet Donks Rule No Limit Holdem

WSOP blog

by ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann

Ugh. I feel so dirty right now. After doing so well (for the most part, anyway) with mixed games over the past 2 weeks, I returned this weekend to the cold embrace of no limit holdem, playing the $1500 event yesterday & the $3000 event today. One word: annoying.

First off, the $1500 events here are a total crapshoot. 3000 starting chips is already a challenge, but going from 25/50, 50/100 and then 100/200 blinds (skipping 75/150) makes it that much harder. Bottom line is, you need cards early, and you need those cards to hold up. My big problem yesterday was that the 3 big hands I actually had (AK suited, KJ suited, and 99) all ran into AA, AA, and a flush, respectively. Obviously I got away from them as cheaply as possible, but with only 3000 chips to play with, its awful hard to define your hand while not crippling yourself in the process.

Anyway, the big struggle came today in the $3000 buy in. Starting with 6000 chips was definately nice, and I quickly realized the optimal strategy to use at my table. Since about half of the other players were hyperaggressive internet donks (for whom the term ‘folding equity’ is a way of life), all i had to do was sit back, check big hands & let them pay me off. Which happened beautifully for nearly 6 hours…

It was sick, watching these guys 4bet each other with A9 and TQ in a bizarre attempt to re-re-steal pots from one another. Hevad Khan was at my table and fluctuated between 3000 and 13000 chips about 4 times, not to mention the 3 or 4 other players for whom it seemed letting a hand go by without raising was a sin greater than life itself. The funny thing is, these guys kept trying to bluff me off hands despite the fact that I was one of the more solid players at the table — i can’t tell you how many times I called a raise, then checkraised the flop on these guys (their hands almost always instamucked). Obviously I started loosening up a bit as the blinds got larger, but for the most part I more than doubled my stack on simply getting paid off by the wild tendencies of my tablemates.

That is, until I got fucking crippled by some old man. Khan raised from mid-position, targeting my big blind (as usual) and everyone folded to the old dude in the small blind, who made the call (about 1000 at 150/300 blinds and a 25 ante). I looked down at AQ, and with 2500 already in the pot, I pushed for about 7500. It was an overbet, but with Khan at about 9000, I didn’t want to give him a chance to try to push me off the hand like he was fond to do. He instamucked, but then the old guy to my right, who had started the hand with 6000 and only had 1000 invested in the pot, somehow found a way to call off his entire stack with 44!!

Well, you know what happened next, I blanked and dude who made just about the worst call I’ve seen all series doubles through with fours to cripple me to 2500 in 150/300 blinds and about 14k chip average. Needless to say I maintained for as long as I could, but with the blinds going up again to 200/400, I pushed in late position with A8 and got called by JQ to find a Q on the flop. Do not pass go, do not collect a bracelet.

So…that was my fun weekend. I think next up is more no limit torture, but then later this week is (thank god) some stud and then some more omaha hi-lo. I love no limit, but the swings can seriously suck! Rock on –

-hd.

badboy of blackjack online!

www.HollywoodDave.com

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Omaha cash! HORSE crash!

WSOP blog

by ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann

Well its been one helluva rollercoaster this week for me at the Rio. After coming just shy of the money in last week’s $1500 Omaha hi-lo, I finally popped my WSOP cash cherry by finishing 26th in the $2000 Omaha hi-lo! Which of course was followed by a spectacular bustout in record time in the $3000 HORSE tourney….ah, poker gods, why are you so fickle?

First to the good stuff: Omaha, baby! Just like in the first tourney i played, i quickly established myself as the chip leader at my table on day 1 and remained there for a good 6 hours, just cleaning up on the inexperience of most of the competition. To be honest, I was really surprised by how weak the field here was; most of the 5/10 games online are harder to crack than this WSOP field of Omaha hopefuls.

But of course in typical fashion i ended up in serious trouble at the end of day 1, plummeting to 2100 chips by the last level of the day after spending the whole day flirting with the 10k mark. I basically doubled up every single shortstack at the table in one amazing hand after another where no matter how dominating a hand i got all their money in against, they always managed to draw out. But i held on and, with barely 20 minute to go in day 1, finally had a few solid hands actually hold up (imagine that) and rode the express elevator up to 19k in chips (chip average under 13k) to end the day.

Day 2 was even more of a whirlwind. Barely an hour into the action, i had taken my 19k stack and upgraded all the way to over 48k!! it was truly amazing, and despite obviously going on a rush of strong cards, most of the $$$ came not from having such great hands, but the incredibly soft field that insisted on paying me off with severely marginal holdings nearly every time. My day 2 table was even looser than day 1…pretty sick. But of course playing such loose players meant that eventually they’d draw out and draw out they did, knocking me back to 30k and then i went card dead for the rest of the day….

Even though my 30k was pretty far ahead of chip average, without playing many hands i didn’t accumulate much the rest of the day & eventually the field caught up and passed me. And of course the loose donkeys who had so generously built me up finally busted (for the most part) and were replaced by better and better players. By the time the money bubble burst, there was hardly a loose chip on the table & i was stuck nursing the same 19k stack i had come into the day with.

I gotta say, despite not really being able to take much credit for getting paid off so many times earlier in the tourney, i’m really proud of how i played my short stack late in day 2. For about 4 hours i somehow managed to squeeze every last drop of +EV out of my ridiculously short stack, refusing to bust and picking the perfect spots to jump in and stay alive amidst the very solid remaining players in the field. I used every trick in the book to maneuver myself from 60th place all the way down to 3 tables, busting in 26th only after i got my money all in 2 spectacular hands in a row where i was such a sick monster favorite to scoop & ended up getting quartered/scooped myself. I’m not one for bad beat stories but check out these last 2 hands & you’ll know why i was so disappointed to go out in such a dirty fashion after playing so well for so long:

Riding 21k in 2k/4k blinds, i raised an UTG caller to 8k with AA35 double suited (hearts/diamonds) and got a late position caller & the original UTG player as well. 3 way action saw the flop: 26Q, 2 diamonds. UTG player bet, i raised, late position folded, and UTG reraised so i could go all in heads up. He flips up A346 rainbow, so my aces are already gin & he’ll need to a pull a miracle here just to avoid getting quartered for half the low — not to mention my sick AA high with nut flush draw and gutshot straight draw. Well of course he rivers the miracle 5 to give him the straight, no diamonds hit for my flush, and suddenly I’M the one quartered all the fuck the way down to 9k.

The next hand is even sicker. Now i’m UTG and i pop it up to 8k with AKQ4, and get all in vs the BB (the former UTG caller who just quartered me). He flips up A58K an i flop an incredible 944!!!! it looks like a virtual lock for a double up until he goes perfect perfect 3-4 to make the wheel with his A5, cracking my flopped set and sending me to the rail. A really, really dirty end to an incredible battle. And did i mention the dude who sucked out in both hands went on to win the bracelet?!? Nice guy, good player, but god damn, man!

So…..i took a day off, did some yoga, and got ready for the $3000 HORSE yesterday. Well, lets just say that I didn’t think it was even POSSIBLE to bust out of a limit event before the first break…but now i know differently. Remember all the big hands i told you i got paid off on in Omaha? Well, i swear to god i had no less than a dozen big hands in HORSE & i lost EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Not only that, but in the split games i didn’t even pull off one chop — got scooped every time. I’m talking aces and kings cracked in holdem, strong highs/lows in Omaha cracked by nut/nut, 6 lows in razz cracked by the wheel, top pairs/flushes/straights in stud cracked by boats & bigger flushes/straights….the list goes on and on. In fact, in the hour and 48 minutes it took to play my 6k stack down to 0, i only won a single pot for about 2 bets. Never won another pot the whole time, not even the blinds. Absolutely horrifying.

So, the lesson this week is: poker giveth, and poker taketh away. Needless to say, my next event isn’t til Saturday’s $1500 so i got the hell outta vegas for 48 hours. Yup, that’s right, i came all the way back to LA just to sit in this coffeeshop and write this blog. Then i’m gonna turn around tomorrow and go back. Gotta stay spontaneous, baby!

Alright bitches, i’m out –

-hd.

badboy of blackjack online!

www.HollywoodDave.com

Quiet before the storm

WSOP blog

by ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann

So it’s official: one week in, and the 2008 WSOP is in full swing. What started as a mad dash has settled into the quiet, determined early stages of a long marathon. The media machine is up and running, with chip counters and bloggers patrolling the aisles for every possible snippet of information to report back to the world outside these packed walls. From my perch up here in the press section of the Amazon room, all i can see is an ocean of hopeful faces and the ever-present sound of chips being shuffled. Strange to think that out of this mess of sweat, focus and sheer desperation will emerge 55 heroes brandishing shiny new wrist jewelry. And one bracelet to rule them all.

My own 2-day journey in the first Omaha 8/b event was cut short on Wednesday just shy of the money, when my AA2J couldn’t pull out against a dominated AK23. Even though i went into Day 2 a few thousand ahead of chip average, the high blinds relative to those chip stacks still meant one or two bad hands spelled certain doom. And that’s exactly what happened — although it seemed like i couldn’t lose a pot for 6 hours on Day 1, i just couldn’t seem to win one on day 2. And in true Hollywood Dave style, I couldn’t resist busting out without leaving just a little angst behind:

Some newbie had gone all in on a marginal hand some hour or so earlier and ending up scooping a monster 4-way pot to send him from outhouse to penthouse. Impressive, exhilarating, and right on time for this poor schmo — but the guy just wouldn’t shut up about the hand for the next half hour. Some guys do drugs to get high, others skydive, but you could tell this guy’s high was to suck out in large pots. His whole demeanor changed, and after awhile of him verbally re-playing the hand, one or two of the players who had lost chips to him in that hand basically told him to chill out. So of course I chimed in as well, told him he reminded me of a crackhead who just got his fix, etc etc. All in good fun, of course. Until I busted. Then he wanted to be the big man who made the comment about karma on my way out. “Keep thinking you’re a genius,” I shot back, “You’re the only one who does.”

Petty? Maybe. But with the sea of degeneracy floating around the Rio right now, hardly a drop in the bucket. I’ve always thought that there are a lot of sick people in poker, and just because some of them hit a big score or 2 to justify their addiction (or sucked out on a key pot, in this guy’s case), doesn’t mean they’re any less sick. And what good is covering all the highs and lows of the sport if we don’t stop to acknowledge some of those low spots along the way?

Anyway, I’m off to get drunk and go bowling. Tomorrow is the shotgun wedding of one of my knocked-up friends at a classic Vegas ‘Elvis Chapel’ of love. And then Sunday is my glorious return to the felt, with the $2000 Omaha 8/b event. We’re talking serious money time here, people. I’m geared up, dialed in, and ready to rock. Bring on the World Series, in all its glorious degeneracy.

And i’ll try to be on my best behavior this time — but no promises.

-hd.

Hollywood Dave makes Omaha Day 2!

WSOP blog

by ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann

June 4th, 2008

Well it looks like my World Series is off to a great start — after winning nearly every tournament I played last year but failing to make a single day 2 in the 25+ WSOP ‘07 events I played, I finally got the monkey off my back tonite by making Day 2 of the first WSOP ‘08 event I played this year! So tomorrow I go into day 2 with just over chip average in Event #6, Omaha 8/b…

I’ve been pretty psyched for this particular event for a long time, since over the past 6 months or so I’ve spent 6+ days a week playing Omaha 8/b online, and not too long ago i took 3rd in an oe/b event at the Bike. So rather than starting this year’s WSOP with just another no limit holdem event, i wanted to kick things off in something that I feel like I have a much bigger edge in.

Don’t get me wrong, I love nlh tournies. But let’s face it, the ‘average’ player there is actually pretty decent. Not so in Omaha hi-lo — for some reason, most people just don’t get the subtle differences between Omaha hi and hi-lo. Which means that while I know i’m not the BEST player out there, i sure as shit have a monster edge over the majority of players who just don’t get the strategy differences.

Probably the biggest difference i notice is that people LOVE to raise with all high/all low hands, especially from early position. Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely a time and place for that, but as a general rule of thumb you’re just not gonna accumulate many chips if you insist on isolating yourself in a pot with a hand that has much smaller scoop potential. If you’re playing for half the pot, then make sure that half is as big as possible, right?

anyway, we’ll see what happens tomorrow. Even though i’m sitting at 14k in chips (12k chip average), the blinds are going up to 600/1200 so i’m not far off from being in trouble. Today was a rollercoaster — i was the chipleader of my table from about 20 minutes in until over 6 hours later — but after a couple big stacks moved to my table & outdrew me in a few key pots, I was on life support for a hot minute. Luckily in the last hour of play I was able to scoop a few big pots (from some players who were obviously getting tired and chasing bad draws) and actually take out a couple short stacks, including one guy who was actually one of the big stacks an hour earlier who kept fucking with me. Karma, baby…

alright, i gotta crash. Obv getting a massage tomorrow before we start, those Amazon room chairs are anything but comfortable. Rock on & more later –

-hd.

badboy of blackjack online

www.HollywoodDave.com

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This is Hollywood Dave

Hollywood Dave is a character… This guy has made a living as a successful PROFESSIONAL gambler! He’s also been kicked out of a few casinos but that comes with the sport.

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