London Recap

London calling - Sept 4-12

I stayed at the Savoy Hotel in London for about ten days and loved the hotel and the city. One night I was on the BBC at 6:30 pm, and that was supposed to be some kind of a big deal, as the BBC doesn't do poker. Another day, Devilfish and I did a press conference for the WSOPE (World Series of Poker Europe) entitled "Who will be the King of Europe" and I told Fish that I was already king of the world! One of my favorite days was when we rented out a double decker bus with 12 models…See my article below!

London Calling

When it was announced that the WSOPE (World Series of Poker Europe) would be giving away three official WSOP bracelets, there was a mad scramble amongst virtually every great poker player to clear their schedule from September 4-16. And with only one notable exception, the top 30 poker players in the world made it to the WSOPE here in London. After all, it was the first time that a bracelet was given away outside of Las Vegas. And who wanted to miss that party?

On September tenth I rolled into the Empire Casino at Leicester Square, and began my quest to win. Being that this event was so important, I decided to rent a red double decker bus-open on top-and have a quick tour of London before I began my play. Of course, the bus had my picture on all four sides (press stunt), a DJ up top, a camera crew up top, some members of press in the bus, and twelve beautiful models along for the ride. We stopped by the "Eye of London," Big Ben, the statue of Lord Nelson (he was a lady's man), and the palace along the way. I can honestly say that I arrived at the Empire Casino in an awesome mood--I mean being escorted around town on my own bus with music and so much beauty…nice!

I began my day on the TV table, and was joined there by a great European player named Thor Hanson. Despite being friends, Hanson and I started jawing at each other. I said, "You'd better watch yourself, no limit Hold'em is my game." Hanson said, "Have you ever beat me in a big pot in the last 15 years." I said, "Not yet, but since you brought it up, today will be the day. You know that you're supposed to fear me at least a little bit." Hanson said, "I don't fear you." I said, "You should." About seven hours into the day, after I had a few glasses of Château Y Quiem at dinner, I started playing super aggressive poker. The night began to go like this: Hanson raised it up, I reraised it with 9-4 off suit, Hanson folded: Hanson raised it up, then showed me the 8-4 off suit: we kept raising and reraising with abandon, except that I never actually showed my bluffs. Finally, with blinds at $300-$600 and a $100 a man ante, I opened for $2,000 with 8-5 off suit, and Hanson called in the big blind with 9-9. The flop was 5-5-7, Hanson checked, I bet $2,000, Hanson quickly made it $5,000 and I quickly made it $10,000 to go. As Hanson called the bet I lied when I told him, "I cannot beat your pair of nines." The turn card was a seven (7-7-5-5) and we both checked. On the river a ten hit, Hanson bet out $3,000, and I merely called. I took down the big pot.

Let's take a closer look at this hand. First of all, I don't usually raise it up with 8-5, but I was trying to steal the antes and blinds, and the rest of the table feared me right then and was letting me take down that $1,800 in antes and blinds pretty much at will. Four nice moves like that, and I picked up $7,200, so I kept my foot on the accelerator for two hours straight. I probably picked up $26,000 in risk free chips in those two hours. Hanson's call with 9-9 was OK. Perhaps a reraise would have been better. After all I was raising a lot of pots, and presumably I didn't have a strong hand; thus a reraise would make me fold my hand most of the time. I like Hanson's check on the flop. With this check he gives me an opportunity to bluff more money into him. I like Hanson's raise on the flop as well as it gives me a chance to fold right then and there. I love my reraise on the flop, especially because I acted so quickly. I was trying to show weakness by acting so quickly, and I think that it worked. I was also pleased that I made a comment about Hanson having pocket nines, which were in fact his exact hole cards! The seven was a bad card for my hand as it slowed me down a bit and cost me the chance to win $15,000 more from Hanson. I don't mind us both checking of the turn like we did. I love Hanson's bet out on the river. It was a defensive bet, and made it tough for me to raise it up unless I actually had a seven in my hand. My call on the end was fine, but I probably should have raised it up about $4,000 or so. I called the $3,000 on the end too quickly, and I believe that if I had a studied for a moment longer, then I would have raised it up a little bit. I went on to finish day one in third chip position with $82,000 in chips. Of course I'm here to win, anything else is disappointing, although $1 million for second wouldn't be too bad!

To hear about my Aruba trip click here