The Roller Coaster

Had an awesome month in May, working every single day and now enjoying a quieter time in June. I say working but it didn’t feel like that.

Most days I was broadcasting including a lot of live stuff like this.

Live TV (I know this was a web show- but there’s less and less difference) is like being on a roller coaster. As they count down to it ‘being live’ it’s like that bit when the roller coaster chugs up the hill to the first drop and it stops being exciting and that bit of your brain that looks after your survival screams at you ‘what are we doing here!!!!’
Then you go ‘live’ and it’s the best thing in the world – exciting, organic, fun; it’s one of my favourite things to do ‘work or not’

The NBA playoffs have just finished and I can get back to some kind of normal sleep pattern. I have rotating obsessions in life and this is my latest. I’ve always loved American sport but am late to basketball. It’s been a great playoffs and a fitting end to the narrative of the season which was the league’s best player Lebron James moving to Miami to create a ‘super team’.

They lost in the finals last night pleasing a lot of ‘neutrals’ and making this premature pre-season victory party (having won nothing) even more hilariously lame than it was at the time.

The finals were a victory for teamwork over individual talent – that said Dirk Nowitzki was outstanding… not only his level of execution but his grace under pressure. He is officially my favourite German (the list now runs 1. Dirk 2. Steffi Graf 3. Boris Becker pre restaurant toilet conception 4. Mr Mercedes and Mr Benz).

It’s UKIPT Newcastle. Sadly we’re not filming it but the cool thing is that means I can play the event; first time I’ll be able to play a UKIPT – should be a lot of fun. I’m going to do a video diary while there so check it out.

UKIPT Manchester final table where Nick Wealthall is undoubtedly hiding in the background looking up NBA scores

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Great minds, big decisions as Canberra hosts ANZPT

June is traditionally the time of the year for poker players to travel. For many Aussies, it’s the time to escape the winter chill, jet set to the other side of the world and step out into the scorching heat of the Nevada desert for the World Series of Poker. The incredible heat rising from the tarmac will almost knock you off your feet.

We had the similar sensation this week. Feeling a little sleepy as we stepped off our early-morning flight to Canberra, we were quickly awoken by the blistering chill that smacked us in the face. Of course, Tasmanians are used to a little coolness in the air, but we certainly didn’t argue when forced to carpool for a taxi – we assumed the airport staff had seen one too many frozen visitors standing in line.

So here we are in the nation’s capital, and excited to be here for the $2,200 PokerStars.net ANZPT Canberra event. It’s the fifth stop of Season 3 of the tour which has already seen huge events in Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Canberra is not your traditional tourist destination. In fact, until two days ago, it was the only state or territory capital in the country that I had yet to visit. Despite not having the profile of the bigger cities, it’s the home of the country’s important decision makers and is our nation’s capital. How it became our capital is a story in itself.

Canberra is unique in that it is a planned city – designed back in 1908 as a compromise to settle the age-old argument between Sydney and Melbourne. Designed by American architect Walter Burley Griffin, the interesting geometric features and alignment towards key landmarks, highlight a city which is heavily influenced by its parklands and natural vegetation.

Despite the number of politicians, Canberra does offer visitors a pleasant experience (and we’re not talking porn or fireworks) with several unique attractions. Canberra has shed its suburbian tag and come of age as a vibrant city with some great restaurants, nightspots and popular tourist attractions such as the National War Museum, National Gallery and Parliament House.

It should provide an enlightening experience for those who have qualified online on PokerStars, made the short trip from Melbourne or Sydney, or ventured from further afield to Casino Canberra this week for the ANZPT Canberra Main Event.

Some of those certain to be here are those in contention for the ANZ Player of the Year awards. With another cash on the Gold Coast, Jesse McKenzie hangs onto the lead but our current top ten is loaded with ANZPT champions and even an Aussie Millions winner.

ANZ Player of the Year leaderboard
1st Jesse McKenzie 143.90
2nd Oliver Grujic 130.45
3rd Danny Chevalier 128.60
4th Octavian Voegele 112.45
5th Leo Boxell 107.85
6th Ricky Kroesen 104.55
7th Peter Matusik 97.75
8th Sebastian Pagana 96.95
9th David Gorr 90.95
10th Grant Levy 89.50

With approximately $80,000 in sponsorship prizes up for grabs, this is a race that once again looks like it will go right down to the wire.

Last year, the cream rose to the top in Canberra as the experienced Jason Gray overcame a field of 181 players to take the title and $95,930 in prize money. Hopefully we can push those numbers once again to set up an exciting four days of poker.

Stay locked into the PokerStars Blog as we are given the important task of documenting Australian history as it unfolds. Great minds will come together, a few petty arguments will surface, before eventually the big decisions will be made. They may not change your taxes, make your broadband faster or stop carbon omissions, but they will decide upon something of even greater importance – who will become our newest champion of Australian poker. Opening statements will be delivered at 12:15pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (GMT+10). We hope you will join us then!

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Great minds, big decisions as Canberra hosts ANZPT

June is traditionally the time of the year for poker players to travel. For many Aussies, it’s the time to escape the winter chill, jet set to the other side of the world and step out into the scorching heat of the Nevada desert for the World Series of Poker. The incredible heat rising from the tarmac will almost knock you off your feet.

We had the similar sensation this week. Feeling a little sleepy as we stepped off our early-morning flight to Canberra, we were quickly awoken by the blistering chill that smacked us in the face. Of course, Tasmanians are used to a little coolness in the air, but we certainly didn’t argue when forced to carpool for a taxi – we assumed the airport staff had seen one too many frozen visitors standing in line.

So here we are in the nation’s capital, and excited to be here for the $2,200 PokerStars.net ANZPT Canberra event. It’s the fifth stop of Season 3 of the tour which has already seen huge events in Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Canberra is not your traditional tourist destination. In fact, until two days ago, it was the only state or territory capital in the country that I had yet to visit. Despite not having the profile of the bigger cities, it’s the home of the country’s important decision makers and is our nation’s capital. How it became our capital is a story in itself.

Canberra is unique in that it is a planned city – designed back in 1908 as a compromise to settle the age-old argument between Sydney and Melbourne. Designed by American architect Walter Burley Griffin, the interesting geometric features and alignment towards key landmarks, highlight a city which is heavily influenced by its parklands and natural vegetation.

Despite the number of politicians, Canberra does offer visitors a pleasant experience (and we’re not talking porn or fireworks) with several unique attractions. Canberra has shed its suburbian tag and come of age as a vibrant city with some great restaurants, nightspots and popular tourist attractions such as the National War Museum, National Gallery and Parliament House.

It should provide an enlightening experience for those who have qualified online on PokerStars, made the short trip from Melbourne or Sydney, or ventured from further afield to Casino Canberra this week for the ANZPT Canberra Main Event.

Some of those certain to be here are those in contention for the ANZ Player of the Year awards. With another cash on the Gold Coast, Jesse McKenzie hangs onto the lead but our current top ten is loaded with ANZPT champions and even an Aussie Millions winner.

ANZ Player of the Year leaderboard
1st Jesse McKenzie 143.90
2nd Oliver Grujic 130.45
3rd Danny Chevalier 128.60
4th Octavian Voegele 112.45
5th Leo Boxell 107.85
6th Ricky Kroesen 104.55
7th Peter Matusik 97.75
8th Sebastian Pagana 96.95
9th David Gorr 90.95
10th Grant Levy 89.50

With approximately $80,000 in sponsorship prizes up for grabs, this is a race that once again looks like it will go right down to the wire.

Last year, the cream rose to the top in Canberra as the experienced Jason Gray overcame a field of 181 players to take the title and $95,930 in prize money. Hopefully we can push those numbers once again to set up an exciting four days of poker.

Stay locked into the PokerStars Blog as we are given the important task of documenting Australian history as it unfolds. Great minds will come together, a few petty arguments will surface, before eventually the big decisions will be made. They may not change your taxes, make your broadband faster or stop carbon omissions, but they will decide upon something of even greater importance – who will become our newest champion of Australian poker. Opening statements will be delivered at 12:15pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (GMT+10). We hope you will join us then!

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2011 WSOP Day 8 – The Marked Cards Conspiracy and Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next To

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

I discovered the controversy via BJ Nemeth’s tweet when he posted a photo of the back of the Four of Spades. I was surprised to see a printing error by Bicycle, a reputable playing card manufacturer for over 125 years. Printing cards became a boom in the post-Civil War era, just around the time the earliest ancestors of poker became popular among soldiers on both sides of the war. The first deck of cards I ever had as a kid was a battered blue deck of Bicycle cards, and I learned by Go Fish and Crazy Eights on that very deck.

Photo courtesy of BJ Nemeth
When I moved to Las Vegas, Flipchip asked me if I played Omaha 8. He wanted to warn me that some of the older players often marked low cards, including Aces in O8′s instance. I never played Stud 8 or Omaha 8 in casinos so I never had to worry about being hustled by card markers with extra long fingernails. Over the last decade, I played in card rooms, casinos, and home games across the country (and even a few overseas) and I’ve often encountered less than pristine decks. Were some of those cards marked? Probably. Did I care? Not one bit. If I played hold’em and suspected cards were particularly worn out and marked, I’d use one or both of my palms and fingers as a card capper so no one could see the back of my cards.

Every day, the floor staff removes/replaces sketchy cards out of decks, but a marked cards controversy pops up once a year at the WSOP. Here are a few notable ones….

- During the inaugural HORSE event in 2006, Andy Bloch tore up a damaged/worn card in protest because he was irked Harrah’s didn’t supply the tournament with a new batch of cards, and instead used the cards that had been in circulation the entire WSOP.

- In 2007, the WSOP signed a deal with a new card company — except the cards were so horrendously designed, it was difficult to determine the 6s from the 9s. A group of pros (Daniel Negreau, Johnny Fucking Chan, and Mike Matusow) complained about the cards and they were instantly removed from play as KEM cards were introduced as a suitable replacement.

- I love talking to dealers about how each event is progressing. A couple of them tipped me off to some shenanigans in the 50K HORSE event (I can’t recall the year and I’m too lazy to look it up… 2008 or 09?) when a not-so-well-known Full Tilt red pro was admonished for marking cards.

Marking cards is old, old, old school angle shooting and something you’d hear about during the heyday of crooked games at the end of the19th century, when card players had to watch their backs and not get swindled on riverboats or in frontier saloons.

In the instance, you have to assume Bicycle has slightly lower standards from what they used to be. Souvenir deck of cards don’t have to be up to snuff, but anything used at the WSOP, especially at the final table, has to live up to the highest standards. On Day 8, Bicycle failed. Miserably.

In what appeared to be one of the more bizarre rulings at the WSOP, the final table was switched from the featured TV table on the Mothership stage and moved to an outer table. Why? The blemishes on the cards (every Four of Spades and the majority of lower spades) were only visibly on the TV stage due to the extreme lighting and usage of purple/red hues which made the blemish jump out at Jon “PearlJammer” Turner. He called the floor the moment he noticed the slight discrepancy. Alternate decks were inspected and more problems were discovered. The quick solution was to move the final table away from the Mothership and onto an outer table with less intense and diffused light. The marked cards were unrecognizable to the players, so play continued.

Anyway, Jon Turner began Day 3 of the massive 4,000+ field in the Donkament as the chip leader. He advanced to the final table with the lead, but had slipped to third in chips with five to go when play was suspended. You have to assume by the time the final table resumes, new decks will used.

* * *
Links…

By the way, for a quick overview of Day 8 highlights, head over to RISE Poker to read my Day 8 recap and figure out why the hell Ricky Fohrenbach is wearing a pink wife-beater.

Also, within an hour of each other, I read two great pieces about the Full Tilt payment fiasco. Check out F-Train’s About That River in Egypt and Kim’s Full Tilt Last Out.

Also, don’t forget about Wicked Chops Poker’s More Girls on the Rail.

* * *
Last 5 Pros…

Yes, it’s back by popular demand. Enjoy…

The Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next To….
1. Andrew Robl
2. Eric Buchman
3. Alex Kravchenko
4. Jim Meehan
5. Burt Boutin

That’s it for now. Don’t forget to follow @taopauly on Twitter for daily updates from the floor of the WSOP. Also, if you’re new to the Tao of Poker and like what you’ve read, then I encourage you to support independent writers and buy my book Lost Vegas: The Redneck Riviera, Existentialist Conversations with Strippers, and the World Series of Poker.

Support indie writers by buying Pauly’s book Lost Vegas.

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MPC Red Dragon Main Event Day 3: Level 21 (blinds 10,000-20,000, ante 2,000)

5:40pm: Ten-minute break

5:25pm: Yue Xu eliminated in 8th place

Yue Xu opened to 60,000 and action folded around to Jessica Ngu in the blinds who three-bet an additional 110,000. Xu made the call and they saw a flop of [ah][kc][7c].
Ngu checked to Xu who moved all in, but Ngu snap-called!

It wasn’t jack-high this time as Ngu had trapped on the flop with [ad][kh] for top two pair to leave Xu in trouble with his [ac][ts].

The [jc] turn was the ultimate sweat card as Xu picked up straight and flush draws but they all missed on the [9s] river. Xu departs in 8th place for HK$116,200 in prize money as Ngu is now back on track with 1.1 million chips.

Yue Xu eliminated in 8th place

5:10pm: Yong Kin eliminated in 9th place

Kwan Mah opened with a raise to 60,000 which was called by Yue Xu before Yong Kin put on the squeeze by moving all in for an additional 300,000 on the button. It wasn’t enough to deter Mah, who gave some thought before moving all in to force a fold from Xu.

Mah: [7c][7d]
Kin: [qh][ts]

Kin was making a move but he was probably happy enough to find himself in a race situation. Needing a queen or ten to stay alive the flop was a dry [4s][8c][2s] before it was all over on the [7h] turn. Mah made a set of sevens to leave Kin drawing dead before the [jh] river card.

Kin takes home HK$91,600 for 9th place as Mah, who had lost some chips to Haifeng Xue, moves back up to 1.35 million.

Yong Kin eliminated in 9th place

5:00pm: What the….?

After taking down the first pot of the final table, Jessica Ngu’s confidence was up, but she quickly came down to Earth with a thud in a bizarre situation against Kwan Mah.

Four players paid 48,000 to see a [5c][9h][2c] flop and everyone checked to see the [5d] hit the turn. Again action checked to Mah on the button who bet 120,000. Ngu snap-called from the small blind as the two other players got out of the way.

The river was the [7s] and Ngu checked to Mah who fumbled with his chips, knocking them over as he struggled with a cup of tea in his other hand. He decided instead to verbalize a bet of 200,000, which Ngu again insta-called.

Mah sighed and opened [as][qc] for just ace-high as Ngu slammed [jh][td] down on table proudly. Wait…jack-high? What had just happened here?

“I thought he mucked!” defended Ngu. Hmmm. Our best guess is that it was a cover for a misread hand and Ngu actually thought she held jack-nine for top pair rather than jack-ten. That’s just our guess, and it’s happened to the best of them, but whatever the reason, the massive pot was sent to Mah in one of the strangest pots we’ve seen at a final table.

Mah is up to 1.3 million with Ngu back down to 550,000.

Kwan Mah and Jessica Ngu get the final table started in bizarre fashion

4:40pm: Final Table Lineup

Here’s the final table lineup for the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event and their approximate chip counts:

Seat 1: Yue Xu – 660,000
Seat 2: Yong Kin – 700,000
Seat 3: Justin Chan – 385,000
Seat 4: Conrad Coetzer – 825,000
Seat 5: Tim Luk – 400,000
Seat 6: Kwan Mah – 860,000
Seat 7: Jessica Ngu – 600,000
Seat 8: Matthew Chan – 890,000
Seat 9: Haifeng Xue – 1,274,000

The clock has been wound back to the start of Level 21, with the blinds at 10,000-20,000 with a 2,000 ante to satisfy the 35BB average stack requirement.

After posing for a few photos the players have taken their seats and the cards are back in the air.

4:20pm: Mamoru Takahashi eliminated in 10th place

Haifeng Xue had turned up the pressure since the break, displaying a lot of aggression with several all-in bets. It allowed him to move into the chip lead, before he once again shoved all in following the opening 62,000-chip raise from Mamoru Takahashi.

Takahashi thought for a moment and called off his last 235,000 chips with [ad][qd] as Xue tabled [jc][jh]. The board ran out [4c][7h][6s][th][5h] to leave the jacks in front and eliminate the last Japanese hope in 10th place for HK$76,000 in prize money.

The clock will be paused as the players redraw for the final table.

Mamoru Takahashi eliminated in 10th place

4:00pm: Play resumes

The final ten are back on two tables of five, with one more elimination required until we reach our official final table.

The chips are relatively evenly spread with Conrad Coetzer, Haifeng Xue and Kwan Mah our chip leaders.

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2011 WSOP – Day 4: Jake Cody’s Emos, Hooligans, and Hat Tricks

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

I sat in the mostly empty media room, which is not my usual spot because I prefer to work in the pressbox on the floor of the Amazon Ballroom. The media room is sorta like the library because it’s much quieter than being on the floor, where all the action is, but I had too much work to catch up on and too many distractions in the pressbox.

I retreated to the media room and one by one, as random colleagues passed me and made some sort of snarky comment about me sweating a big bet — because why would I be inside the media room unless I wanted to watch a sporting event big screen TV? Over the first week of the WSOP, the TV had been tuned to French Open tennis, the Stanley Cup Finals, and the NBA Finals. Last year at this time, the TV would have shown World Cup soccer games.

I sat in the media room and pecked away at my laptop, while my friends shot me strange and judgmental glances when they noticed women’s softball flickering on the big screen.

“I got money on Alabama,” I blurted out.

I thought my bluff was obvious because anyone who bets on women sports is a total degen, especially college softball. Alas, my reputation proceeds me; I’m someone who will bet on (almost) everything. If you sincerely doubt that assertion, well then, I’m willing to bet money on it.

But one thing is for sure, ever since I arrived in Las Vegas, I spent more time starring at the big board in the sportsbook than at the poker table. At the point of the sporting season, both the NHL and NBA are in their respective final championships. I had props on both the Vancouver Canucks (hockey) and Dallas Mavericks (basketball). One was heavy chalk and the other was an value dog.

I rarely bet on hockey, but I’ve been dabbling in goal totals during the playoffs. I turned a profit betting on the OVER in the last Vancouver series, but in the finals against Boston, I bet the UNDER in game one. Talk about free money — the line was 5.5 — and Vancouver skated to a 1-0 victory with a goal in the final minute of regulation to seal the victory.

Without Phil Ivey betting on NBA games, which had become the story in previous WSOPs, I never got a chance to write a flowery post on the genius of Ivey the sportsbettor, and instead wrote a few pieces on Ivey the litigant. I guess I had to rely on my own deviant sportsbetting to make up for the lack of Ivey/hoops content.

I shit the bed on Game 1. That’s all you need to know, but I made an adjustment for Game 2 and went with my gut and made a +175 moneyline bet on the Mavs, which took balls especially with the game in Miami. The practical side of me also bet the Mavs getting 4.5 points. As the game reached the middle of the 4th quarter, it appeared both beats were toast with the Mavs down 15. Slightly tilted and steaming, I left the Amazon Ballroom and took a walk into the casino in search of something to eat. I ended up at the sportsbook deli. Upon my arrival, I could hear raucous screaming. I glanced at the score — the Mavs were only down 4 points. What the fuck? They unleashed a comeback, one of the most impressive in NBA final history, after Miami went inexcusably cold. The Mavs eventually tied the game and then Dirk took matters into his own hands.

The end of the game was as memorable and exhilarating as I’ve seen in some time. The Mavs prevailed and the anti-Heat sentiment ran rampant in the sportsbook. Pandemonium broke out in the sportsbook. I’ve never seen so many happy bettors. I tweet’d that I sucked out with a two-outer and you all know how much that feels when you get lucky at the poker tables, so multiply that feeling by a couple hundred giddy bettors.

One guy was so pumped about the Mavs comeback and subsequent victory that he ran around the sportsbook chanting Salt-N-Peppa’s anthem Push It.

“Push it good!” he screamed. “Push it real good!”

That’s the kind of absurd behavior you only see in Las Vegas. Any other place on the planet, you’d get locked up for public intoxication or dragged off to a mental institution for singing Salt-N-Peppa songs in public.

* * *

Speaking of rowdy and public intoxication, the Brits invaded the final table of the WSOP once again. The first half of the 2010 WSOP belong to the Brits and some of that run good continued with Jake Cody’s appearance at the final table of the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship.

Cody bested a field of 128 players and won $882K for first place, a hefty chunk of the $3 million prize pool. He advanced all the way to the Final Four and only Gus Hansen stood in his way of making a final table. Hansen was on fire in heads-up tournaments. He had won a bracelet in the $10K HU event at 2010 WSOP-E. Entering the Final Four, the Great Dane had a 12 match heads-up winning streak. Hansen seemed unbeatable… until Jake Cody took a seat across from him.

The British contingency is small, but loud and rowdy. It was almost watching an English Premier league match with lots of soccer chants. They even chanted the name of the head of security Tony, who had tossed a couple of their drunk asses out of the Amazon Ballroom during different final tables in 2010. Alas, what we heard in the Hansen match was just a preview of what was to come.

Gus Hansen was dismantled by Cody and Hansen’s winning streak was stopped dead in its tracks at 12. Cody advanced, much to the delight of his mates on the rail.

The finals were set between Yevgeniy “JovialGent” Timoshenko and Jake Cody. One kid was a baby-faced online phenom, while the other could pass for the emo kid in high school cafeteria who smoked clove cigarettes.

The Brits were out in force and the later it got, more and more alcohol seeped deep into their bloodstream. The chants got louder, rowdier, raunchier, and occurred at a much higher frequency. After a while, organized chants fell to the wayside and Cody’s supporters blurted out random things. Ironically Cody is probably the exact opposite of his boisterous rail — if anything he’s genial, laconic, and rather soft spoken.

“I try to tune them out,” he later explained.

Luckily one of my colleagues, Homer, is British and he acted as a translator for the bulk of the North American media.

He explained some of the chants Cody’s supporters unleashed, “Barmy Army is the official name of England cricket supporters club and their signature chant.”

Timoshenko’s supporters tried to rally with their own chants, but they were obviously not as organized as the Brits. In fact, the Brits were out-snarked the Yanks and took a few shots below the belt when they taunt Americans who got their money stuck in Full Tilt.

When the Yanks attempted a chant of “No Bracelet! No World Cup!”, the Brits counterattacked with “We cashed out from Full Tilt!!”

What a fucking brilliant way to tilt the rail.

Although Cody did his best to tune out the boisterous rail, Timoshenko noted, “I’ve been to soccer matches less rowdy than this.”

Then again, most European matches prohibit the sales of liquor. If booze sales get banned at the final table in future events, you can blame Cody’s mates for that drastic measure.

But at the least, the Amazon Ballroom came alive on Friday night capping a week of utter weirdness at the 2011 WSOP. Another young Brit made a final table and won a bracelet.

Meanwhile, Jake Cody joined an elite club of only three members — Poker’s Triple Crown — which includes a WSOP bracelet and victories on both the WPT (London) and EPT (Daueville). The other two members? Roland de Wolfe and Gavin Griffin.

Photo courtesy of WSOP.com.

Support indie writers by buying Pauly’s book Lost Vegas.

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MPC Red Dragon Main Event Day 2: Level 18 (blinds 5,000-10,000, ante 500)

7:40pm: Day 2 brought to an abrupt end – 23 survive!

With 24:38 showing on the tournament clock, Danny McDonagh announced for each table to finish the hand they were on and that’s it! The 23 remaining players looked around at each other in confusion, but yes, it’s true. They are all safely through to Day 3 of the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event.

It was announced that the players will be returning in the same seats that they finished the day, with a redraw once we reach the final two tables tomorrow.

Leading the way will be Justin Chan, who had a day out, despite a late hit, to bag up close to 800,000 for our end-of-day chip lead.

We’ll have confirmation of the chip counts and a complete wrap of the day’s action for you shortly. Meanwhile for those in the Macau region, get yourself down to the Grand Lisboa Casino for tonight’s High Rollers event which kicks off at 8:10pm local time. Already there are over 30 confirmed registrations with hopes for a field close to 50 players.

7:35pm: Tan out

Ivan Tan has been sent crashing to the rail in unfortunate fashion as Gabor Peteri caught a two-outer to stay alive. Peteri had shoved with pocket fives and Tan made the call in the big blind with pocket tens, only to see a five find its way onto the flop. Tan was crippled and eliminated moments later.

7:20pm: Chan drowns slowly on the river

Justin Chan and Haifeng Xue are two players who like to take their time, so when the two tangled in a big pot it took a long time to reach a conclusion, but it was worth the wait.

Chan started things off with a raise to 23,000 which was matched by Xue on the button. They saw a flop of [ad][8h][4c] and Chan’s continuation bet of 35,000 was called by Xue. The turn brought the [td] and Chan checked to Xue who slid out 40,000. Chan took his time before making the call as the [2d] was the river card.

Chan checked again to Xue who broke three stacks of 20k away from his stack and slid them one by one into the middle. Unfortunately with no verbal announcement, his actions were ruled as a string bet, and the bet stood at 20,000. It was back on Chan now who thought for a long time. Facing such a small bet, it appeared his only decisions were raise or call, as there was too much in the middle to fold pretty much anything.

Eventually Chan came out raising as he made it 50,000 to go. Chan has showed down strong cards all day, and a river check-raise is supreme strength but Xue quickly called.
Chan showed [ac][kh] for top pair, top kicker, but he’d been rivered as Xue tabled [ah][2h]. Chan drops to 780,000 with Xue up to 420,000.

7:00pm: Play resumes

26 players are still in contention for the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event title with Justin Chan a red-hot favourite after that ridiculously big pot at the end of the last level. He has 1,000,000 chips which is more than double his nearest rival.

The whisper is that we might only be playing for another level or so before we wrap things up for the day. By that stage we should be down to two tables and getting close to the final table.

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MPC Red Dragon Main Event Day 2: Level 18 (blinds 5,000-10,000, ante 500)

7:40pm: Day 2 brought to an abrupt end – 23 survive!

With 24:38 showing on the tournament clock, Danny McDonagh announced for each table to finish the hand they were on and that’s it! The 23 remaining players looked around at each other in confusion, but yes, it’s true. They are all safely through to Day 3 of the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event.

It was announced that the players will be returning in the same seats that they finished the day, with a redraw once we reach the final two tables tomorrow.

Leading the way will be Justin Chan, who had a day out, despite a late hit, to bag up close to 800,000 for our end-of-day chip lead.

We’ll have confirmation of the chip counts and a complete wrap of the day’s action for you shortly. Meanwhile for those in the Macau region, get yourself down to the Grand Lisboa Casino for tonight’s High Rollers event which kicks off at 8:10pm local time. Already there are over 30 confirmed registrations with hopes for a field close to 50 players.

7:35pm: Tan out

Ivan Tan has been sent crashing to the rail in unfortunate fashion as Gabor Peteri caught a two-outer to stay alive. Peteri had shoved with pocket fives and Tan made the call in the big blind with pocket tens, only to see a five find its way onto the flop. Tan was crippled and eliminated moments later.

7:20pm: Chan drowns slowly on the river

Justin Chan and Haifeng Xue are two players who like to take their time, so when the two tangled in a big pot it took a long time to reach a conclusion, but it was worth the wait.

Chan started things off with a raise to 23,000 which was matched by Xue on the button. They saw a flop of [ad][8h][4c] and Chan’s continuation bet of 35,000 was called by Xue. The turn brought the [td] and Chan checked to Xue who slid out 40,000. Chan took his time before making the call as the [2d] was the river card.

Chan checked again to Xue who broke three stacks of 20k away from his stack and slid them one by one into the middle. Unfortunately with no verbal announcement, his actions were ruled as a string bet, and the bet stood at 20,000. It was back on Chan now who thought for a long time. Facing such a small bet, it appeared his only decisions were raise or call, as there was too much in the middle to fold pretty much anything.

Eventually Chan came out raising as he made it 50,000 to go. Chan has showed down strong cards all day, and a river check-raise is supreme strength but Xue quickly called.
Chan showed [ac][kh] for top pair, top kicker, but he’d been rivered as Xue tabled [ah][2h]. Chan drops to 780,000 with Xue up to 420,000.

7:00pm: Play resumes

26 players are still in contention for the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event title with Justin Chan a red-hot favourite after that ridiculously big pot at the end of the last level. He has 1,000,000 chips which is more than double his nearest rival.

The whisper is that we might only be playing for another level or so before we wrap things up for the day. By that stage we should be down to two tables and getting close to the final table.

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MPC Red Dragon Main Event Day 2: Levels 11 – 13 (blinds 1,200-2,400, ante 300)

2:30pm: Ten-minute break

2:20pm: A couple more eliminations

We’ve had a couple more eliminations just prior to the break as the players steamroll their way towards the money stage of this tournament.

Asuza Maeda moved all in for his last 10,000 holding [kc][6h] but was called by the player in the big blind holding [ah][7h]. The board ran out [ac][8s][tc][2d][4c] to pair up the ace and eliminate the Japanese player from the tournament.

He was soon followed by overnight chip leader Victor Chong. It just hasn’t been a good day for Chong as he’s slipped slowly down the chip counts, before his short stack was in the middle with a less than impressive [3d][4d]. He had live cards against Justin Chan’s [8d][5d] and was jumping up and down in his chair when he caught a pair on the turn on the [qd][tc][ts][3c] board. He was so excited that he didn’t even notice the [qs] river which counterfeited his pair and left Chan’s lowly eight-kicker to be enough to take the pot. Chong is out as Chan is now up to 170,000.

2:00pm: Creative straight shoots Korea into the lead

We have a new chip leader in town and it’s Korean Baek Seung Heon.

It was a strange hand that we caught from the turn, but it was recalled to us that, preflop, there was a raise and then a re-raise from Seung Heon, but a short-stack in the small blind moved all in. Both players called to see a flop of [4c][7s][4d].

Both live players checked before the [5h] hit the turn. It was checked to Seung Heon and he bet 17,300 which was matched as the [3s] landed on the river. Again it was checked to Seung Heon and he tossed out 21,500 in a sidewards direction due to the sheer size of the main and side pots that were consuming most of the table.

His opponent smiled before defiantly making the call. Seung Heon showed [as][6s] for a creative straight, much to the disgust of his two opponents as they both mucked.

Seung Heon took several minutes to stack his new empire as he now sits with 275,000 chips.

Baek Seung Heon storms into the lead with some creativity and a handy river

1:40pm: Seet can’t sell the story

Nathanael Seet has taken a hit to now be left with under half of his overnight chip stack. Seet has raised preflop and found one caller on the button to see a flop of [3h][9h][7s].

Seet followed up with a continuation bet of 7,200 which was quickly called by his opponent as the [8c] hit the turn. Seet took his time before checking it over to his opponent who also tapped the table as the [9d] paired the board on the river.

Seet deliberated for a long time before deciding 11,000 was the right amount, but it was quickly matched by his opponent. Seet showed [4s][3s] for a pair of threes but his opponent had made a great call with [6d][6c] for fourth pair to the board.

Seet drops to 40,000.

1:25pm: Chua slips

Charles Chua has slipped back into the pack after losing a small pot. We arrived to see a flop of [ac][7h][kc]. Chua leading out for 11,500 which was called before Chua checked the [qd] turn. His opponent shrugged and bet 21,000 which brought and insta-fold from Chua as his opponent flashed [ah][kh].

Chua is back down to where he started the day with around 120,000 chips.

1:15pm: Young-shin Im joins the rail

It hasn’t been a good day for our high profile players as Young-shin Im is the latest casualty from this afternoon’s action.

As recalled to us by the man responsible, Chin Ting Huay, Im had opened to 6,000 from middle position and Huay made the call in the small blind to see a flop of [t][q][a]. Huay led out for 6,000 before Im moved all in. Huay made the call with [a][k] to have Im’s [a][7] in trouble.

The turn and river bricked out to eliminate the APPT Cebu champion from the event and throw the Asia Player of the Year race wide open!

Young-shin Im won’t be able to add to her Asia Player of the Year ranking here at the MPC Red Dragon

12:55pm: McLean crashes

Edmund Lee has shot to the top of the chip count leaderboard after eliminating 2010 APPT Sydney runner-up Ben McLean.

We arrived following the carnage but Lee explained to us that he’d bet 20,000 on the turn before McLean shoved all in. The board read [8c][as][qs][8s] and Lee was happy to call with [qs][qh] for a full house as McLean had got a little aggressive with his [ac][jc].

The river was the [kc] and after a count down of the two big stacks, Lee just had McLean covered to send him to the rail. Meanwhile Lee is now up to 175,000 chips.

12:40pm: Huang hung

The stars are falling as another Team PokerStars Pro has been derailed. This time it was Bryan Huang who couldn’t find a double up of his short stack.

A failed steal attempt from Huang on the button saw his [tc][6s] run into an opponent’s [as][kc]. When the board bricked out [2h][5d][jc][qd][8d] Huang was without a pair and was sent home.

Bryan Huang is the latest to be sent to the rail

12:25pm: Wu silenced

While Brian McAllister was making farmyard noises, Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Wu was making a silent exit from the Red Dragon Main Event.

The table recalled to us that Wu was first crippled after three-bet shoved with king-five but ran into his opponent’s pocket kings. That left Wu short and he committed his final chips with ace-nine to be racing against pocket fours. The board ran out [6d][2h][2s][3h][qc] to see Wu as our first high-profile elimination of the day.

Raymond Wu has been eliminated from the Red Dragon Main Event

12:20pm: McAllister makes some noise

“Eight! YESSSSS!” cried Brian McAllister before giving off a high pitched screech that resembled a piglet being picked up for the first time. It grabbed everyone’s attention and we rushed over to find McAllister had got unlucky with his [jc][js] before catching a tournament-saving river.

His opponent held [ts][td] and had flopped a set on the [tc][7h][9s] flop, but the [qs] turn and [8s] river gave McAllister a straight for a handy double up. He’s up to 60,000.

12:15pm: A little breathing room

Play has kicked off with the remaining twenty minutes of level 11, and then we’ll be switching to one hour levels which should give our players a little more game time.

12:10pm: It’s go time for Day 2

Welcome back to the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino in Macau for our continued coverage of the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event. Over two opening flights our field of 447 has been whittled down to just 143 who will return to the PokerStars Macau Poker Room to sort out the contenders from the pretenders.

At this stage we’re not sure how long we’re expecting to play today (we get paid just to show up) but best guess is that we’ll play down to close to the final table which may take somewhere around 9-10 hours of play.

Leading the way is Day 1b chip leader Victor Chong, with Kiwi Jeremy McDonald and “Mr. Macau” Charles Chua sitting close behind. However there are plenty of sharks lurking in these waters with Nathanael Seet, Andrew Scott, Ben McLean, Justin Chan, Ian Sang Song, Brice Renaud, Victor Chen, APPT Cebu champ Young-shin Im, PokerStars Team Online Pro Yu-Reng Peng and PokerStars Team Asia Pros Bryan Huang, Celina Lin and Raymond Wu all still in contention for the Red Dragon title.

The players have found their way to their seats as Danny McDonagh handed the microphone to “Mr. Macau” Charles Chua to give the instructions to shuffle up and deal as Day 2 is underway!

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Kunal Chandra wins Event 3 at Macau Poker Cup

Kunal Chandra won HKD $69,600 and becomes the first player from India to win a Macau Poker Cup numbered event as he beat the 217-player field in Event 3: Deepstack.

The Deepstack event was the 3rd of 8 Official Asia Player of the Year events at the Macau Poker Cup (MPC) which runs from May 28 through to June 5 and is hosted by PokerStars Macau at Casino Grand Lisboa

A day after the PokerStars Macau announced the APPT Macau dates for Season 5 another strong field of 164 players came out for Event 4: $5,000 KO Bounty. 19 players will make the money and advance to Wednesday’s Day 2.

At midnight the players are on Level 8 and there are 60 runners remaining including Asia Player of the Year (APOY) no. 5 ranked Brice Renaud, no. 19 Sparrow Cheung, no. 21 Amirali Etemadsaeid — who won Event 1, no. 22 Alexandre Chieng, and 2009 Macau Poker Cup Championship winner Devan Tang.

Besides the HKD $138,000 first prize the KO Bounty winner will receive 1,200 APOY points and that could be huge for some of the remaining names in the field.

25 players began Day 2 of Event 3 and Chandra seemed determined to grow his chip stack at every opportunity. By the time he was heads up against Hong Kong’s Hiu Man Ng, Chandra had a massive 9-to-1 chip lead.

On the final hand, Chandra moved all-in preflop with T5 and Ng made the call with A2. The board ran K-K-K-5-7 to give Chandra a full house for the win.

Kunal Chandra

Shashank Rathi is the first India player to win an APOY event but Chandra is the first to do so at the Macau Poker Cup. The win gives Chandra 769 APOY points and moves him into 28th on the leaderboard.

The Red Dragon $3,000,000 Guarantee main event apears to be headed towards another big week with already 55 PokerStars online qualifiers — an MPC record. The Red Dragon takes place from June 2 to June 5. Players can still qualify for the Red Dragon live at PokerStars Macau.

The next MPC tournament is the $4,000 Teams Event which takes place on Wednesday at 2:10 PM (HKT).

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