Jake Cody Welcome Party

There is a line in Rounders that goes 'If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.'  I'm grateful that the table I am sat on is for dinner and not poker as myself and Jamie 'JJBird22' Birdsey would be flipping a coin to find out who the sucker is.  The rest of the long table in Wahaca, Covent Garden, is occupied by seven players who could collectively inspire dread into any reg on PKR.  Brothermuzone, WongaMan, Rhymenoceros, James666, Kickoff, MrStarch and dappadan.  Wahaca is a bright and friendly place serving Mexican food.  You can either pick lots of smaller dishes or one large one.  Clearly there are lots of taco and burritto options etc.  There is also tequila, luckily there is only one round of these consumed with people aware that there is a free bar to be abused later on.  I enjoy a very nice grilled mullet, that is a fish and not the hairstyle for the Mcdonald's eaters reading this .

I am freerolling on dinner having dived into the Fox Club for an hour before hand.  I made a quick £44 that would have been even better if my flopped straight had not been cracked by an overpair runner runnering a flush.  Other than a Genting Poker sign on the TV screen behind the main desk there are no real visible changes yet.

The party in honour of Jake Cody joining Team PKR Pro is at Albannach in Trafalger Square.  It is a nice spot.  Upstairs is a restaurant and downstairs an exclusive lounge with lots of nice seating areas.  Loads of PKR Diamond members are present, plenty of PKR staff and all the Team Pro members playing the GUKPT Final.  Also a lot of poker players and friends of Jake Cody.  I recognised Matt Perrins, David Vamplew and Nik Persaud amongst others.
 
Music for the evening is provided by 'DJ Pimpsoul' and there is an amusing interlude provided in the form of some spectacular  break dancing by a group called 'The Scarecrows'.  The Albannach specialises in whiskey and has an incredible selection of single malts from around the world.  As a whiskey fan this a great choice of venue, more PKR events here please.

Beyne was delayed in arriving after lighting up a cigarette on a train platform.  I am concerned that Brighton is not equipped to handle his level of degeneracy and expect to hear he has bankrupted the local casinos at some point during 2012.  I have to apologise to zomgchipriffle for failing to recognise him initially.  I have a bad memory for faces at the best of times.  Having met him properly twice now I think I should be able to remember him next time.  I'm sure donating some more cash his way on the $1/2 tables will likely reinforce it...

It sounds like there are some exciting software upgrades due during 2012 that will likely revolutionise the PKR poker experience and confirm the site as the market leader in innovation.  A much richer social networking experience is one of the main planks of this.  As has already been mentioned on the site, most excitingly of all, is detachable PKR table windows and a separate menu system.  This should be a significant improvement that will pretty much kill any anti-PKR sentiment from those who currently do not get along with the software or who were disappointed by Version 2.0.  It should improve play for both casual players and serious grinders.  The suggestion is we will see this sooner rather than later in 2012, although clearly any more country specific site builds might slow things up.

I have to leave a little early to catch the last tube, not fancying an expensive taxi to Paddington on my own.  Typically I end up just missing the train I wanted and have to sit at the station for an hour.  The highlight of the journey back was particularly hideous.  Right before Reading a gentleman decided that walking to a carriage with a toilet was too much effort and began liberally vomiting in the train doorway.  This set off some sort of smell induced drunken chain reaction with another two passengers following suit.  Lovely. 

My next post will be a review of my November play.

Fear and Loathing in Locke Vegas 2010: Part 3

This series of blogs first appeared on the PKR Forum in June and July 2010.  I won a WSOP Experience Package worth $4,000 through a PKR Road To Vegas Tournament League that ran for several months.  Most players are referred to by their PKR user names. 

Part 3

'It won't be long before they tear us to shreds.'

The PKR welcome party is at the Deuce Lounge, one of the many separated areas on the main floor of the Aria. The PKR staff posse are all present as are some of the qualifiers. More turn up as the evening wears on but not everyone makes it due to flights and other annoyances. Everyone is is in good spirits. Most of the staff have already been out for a few days or more.  For the most part they actually got a few days off of work to do this rather rather than spend these hard days by the poolside Cabana on the blag.  PKR_Jake, the VIP Manager, doesn't seem to have had more than one hours sleep a night for about a week. This is never a good sign. Beyne has been on psycho blackjack swings all week. Reports have him from anything to up $50k to down $100k in the space of the same evening. Bellagio comp room buddy James666 shakes his head whenever the subject comes up. Suddenly at 24 James is looking like the sensible and mature one on Team PKR Pro - how on earth did that happen? PKR_Jake is having his own table games rollercoaster and from here on in I think should be known as Mini-Beyne.

PKR Welcome Party

Jabba explains PKR V2.0 has been delayed by a few weeks and assures me fun and exciting ideas are coming soon for the tournament section, subject to 'patent approval'. Being starving myself and Jabba order some snack food from the menu. You know you are in VIP land when 4 mouthfuls of food set sets you back $20. Also at some point during the evening a smart toilet attendant appears as happens at some posher clubs in Britain. Some things I don't mind tipping for, but seriously, don't expect a dollar when I am perfectly capable of reaching for the paper towels all on my own TYVM. This is probably a recurring theme from our VIP week. I'm sure these places have staff that are used to big tippers in their VIP areas, I bet none of them counted on stingy tight ass poker players.

Beyne and Danski

At about midnight I put in a couple of hours at the 1-3 NL cash tables before heading off to bed. Reported sightings place some of the more hardcore members of the staff heading back out of the Aria at 5am in the morning having already been out to a club inbetween. Hardcore degens.

I wake up after 4 hours in bed once again. Still, I need to get to the Rio to preregister before the event so this is not a bad thing. I stuff myself silly at the gorgeous Aria buffet so I will not need to eat for a while once the nerves kick in. The buffet is just awesome, stuff from all over the world, lots of things that just do not belong on a help yourself line. I get a taxi to the Rio. As I walk from the main casino through to the convention centre it slowly becomes more WSOP orientated. Giant banners of past players of the year fill the hallway. After registering I dawdle around. At the moment barring a few cash tables the two halls are empty. Tables are everywhere. The scale is immense but not as intimidating as I expected. I sit in the Poker Food Hall with DWH103and another qualifier  With 20 minutes to go the nerves start kicking in. At this point I just want to start playing. Not playing is now worse than playing could ever be. I pace around for the last ten minutes and find my chair.

WSOP at the Rio

 I don't recognise anyone at my starting table. With my fairly deep knowledge of poker this is a good sign. After the immortal 'Shuffle Up and deal' I am suddenly playing in the WSOP... /OMG. First hand I am in the big blind. A few players limp in and I look down to see K 9o. I check the option and am rewarded with a K 9 3 rainbow flop. I check, as does everyone else. I bet small on the turn and everyone folds. I have won the first hand, not a big pot, but it makes me feel better. I pick up and lose a few small standard pots but am glad to see I am fast picking up a strong read of the table. In the first big hand on the table I put both guys on their exact hands. There is such a thing though as concentrating too hard however as my first key hand showed. This is probably the most embarrassing hand of poker I have ever played. A guy raises in late position who has been more active than most and I look down to see 10 6 of clubs. I decide to flat call and screw with him a little if the opportunity presents. The flop comes low with 2 spades. He fires a standard small continuation bet. I decide as a lot of hands he has here will be two big overs to try and raise him out. If he jams I know he has the big overpair. If he calls I know he has a likely weak overpair and I can then check the turn and try and represent the spade draw if it lands on the river or bet it if the spade hits the turn. He calls and the turn is a brick. He checks, I check. The river is not a spade. He checks again though... suddenly I feel like bluffing again may take the pot anyway. I fire out a decent bet into the pot. He calls pretty quickly and I just want to muck my 10 high. As experience has taught me that weird things happen in poker I show my cards face up after looking like I want to muck them. When the dealer says flush I almost fall out of my seat. I have been so intensely concentrating on my bluff line that I clean failed to notice that I had runner runnered a club flush. The other guy is of course disgusted that his pocket 10s (exactly the sort of hand I put him on after he just called the raise!) have been beaten by some donk who doesn't even know when he has a flush. This table image would have been perfect for exploitation though sadly they break this rather soft starting table just fifteen minutes later.

My 2nd table seems okay to start with and I am up 1K on my 3k starting stack after close to 2 hours. After the 2nd level we break. The trick to finding a toilet during a WSOP break is to start walking to the far end of the Rio as fast as possible. The queues are actually bearable down the far end. I run across a few people for a quick update but it is straight back into action. No PKR staff are anywhere to be seen after the particularly heavy night they had.  In quick succession the 3 guys at my new table I marked as idiots bust out... none of them throwing chips my way. In the most annoying fashion possible each is replaced by an obvious online Pro. To my left sits down a Russian guy, not one of the top tier of superstars, but some one who I recognise. He strikes up a conversation with the guy to my right who he knows about how well all the guys he is staking (thousands of dollars worth) have done during the last couple of weeks. He knows the guy to my right because he is being staked by Timoshenko.  I buckle my seat belt and  prepare to dig in. I of course go card dead at this point and get played back at constantly in the sort of ugly spots you just can't do a lot about. After 3 and a half blind levels I am down to 1.8k from the 3k starting stack and take a stand with pocket 6s against an obvious big ace. He turns over A Q and the flop of course drops A Q x on me. You have to win flips to win bracelets and I haven't in this one. I spend the next few hours catching up with who is in and who is out. I spotted Gavin Griffin and Kara Scott playing but then in quick succession saw most of the rest of the poker world. Moneymaker, Dennis Phillips. Going into the other room were some sick tables, especially in the $25K six max event. At one table is Greenstein, Seidel and Sam Trickett. On the next one over Phil Ivey is drawing a huge rail as always. At a feature table is John Juanda, and at the main flashy TV table sits John Duthie. Elswhere is Juha Hellpi, Barney Boatman, Vanessa Rousso and on and on it gos.

TV feature table

 At this point Pirate Nation arrives having only just got into Vegas. We head back to the Aria and hit the NL tables. I have an annoying session where I can't win a flip. Despite that I am only down about $100 dollars. I spot a super soft table nearby and ask to go on the waiting list. As this happens I see a player get up and Japete gets the seat before I get a chance, damn you Spaniard! I wait 90 minutes dying a slow death at my nitty table watching the drunks dumping their their cash off left right and centre. When a seat finally opens the game has broken up within 10 minutes. FML. I think about sleep, it now being about 1am but instead take a seat at the $4/8 limit game where PKR_Danski, PKR_Jake, PKR_Scott and PKR_Harry are engaged in psychotic action with an uber-donk and a couple of spewtards. 4 or 5 players are regularly seeing the 5 bet cap putting $100 dollars into most pots preflop. As a guy who plays a lot of $3/6 and $5/10 limit the scale of the action is mind blowing. Being rivered in a $300 pot at $4/8 limit is just not an average occurrence. Sick beats go down left right and centre. Insults and banter fly. A really nice guy joins the table who claimed to be 54 but looked about 35. The PKR posse took to calling him Peter Pan for the rest of the night, when Dan wasn't calling him his 'Dawg' in a really bad American accent. The game broke at about 6am in the morning by which point Danski was pre tipping every dealer and taking the piss out of their names ('Ping' being the favourite) and tipping everyone at the table each time he won. Somehow I ended up stuck about $200 dollars despite being the least drunk whilst Scott and Harry walked off with about $600 a piece.

Fixed Limit degeneracy

Stay tuned for the truth about Waswheelchairgate, which PKR Pro spent the morning in a Las Vegas jail drunk tank and more exciting adventures!