Just a couple of months left…

In like half a year, things are going to change a lot for me. As I’m only 22 and still studying, I’m living with my parents. Some time ago, as all good Belgians do, they decided to build a house. They’re in there early 50’s and since they had not built a house, they found that the clock was ticking and it was time to do so.

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Mixed games

This post is meant as a reflection on a mixed game we played last weekend. The mixed contained the following games in this order: No Limit Hold’em, Limit Stud, No Limit 2-7 Single Draw, Limit Omaha 8, Pot Limit Omaha and finally Limit Stud 8. I’m a huge fan of playing mixed cash games; the different games require you to use different skills for each game. Combining these skills and putting them into good use is necessary for every player to be able to win in any mixed game.

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A lot of poker in the near future!

This morning I was thinking about what different pokerstuff is coming up in the near future. And I’m amazed at what I’ve already planned. It’s going to be very busy, but I like it!

Poker After Sun
A new concept launched by Michiel Maes. Usually it goes on on a wednesdayevening and we just play games we haven’t played before. Games like Greek Hold’em, Stud 10,… Maybe I’ll participate tomorrow. We’ll see.

Home Series Of Poker
The next HSOP-event is scheduled for this weekend. On saturday we’re going to play the Omaha Eight or Better-event. I really want to win this one. Limit Omaha 8 is one of my favourite games and a win would really satisfy me! My toughest competitor no doubt will be Michiel Maes. He has the most experience in playing Omaha 8.

Mickey C Poker.be battles it out!
Last year Thomas Vanbrabant and myself played a best out of three Heads-Up match. We would each pick three games and would play them Heads-Up against each other in a tournament setting. I lost last year, Thomas took the first 2 matches down. But this year I was looking for revenge. We will rotate six different games in this order: 2-7 Triple Draw, Razz, Hold’em, Stud, Omaha 8 and Omaha. All games will be played limit. Last weekend we played the first match, and I took it down! So one more win and I kicked his ass ;-).

Cashgames
Not to forget, our two weekly cashgames with the regulars! I really like the mixed games we’ve been playing so far. Next week we’ll be playing the standard No Limit Hold’em cashgame. Most of the time everybody shows up for No Limit Hold’em. And we usually have the same 6 players for the other games. A bit disappointing but you can’t force someone to play a mixed games against you.

TPC VII
TPC is coming up again! Already the seventh edition of this event. This edition takes place on the 17th of May in JH Togenblik. (You can subscribe on http://poker.togenblik.be) I’m charging up again for this edition. Last edition I didn’t play my best game and now I’m hoping to have enough mental focus to go deep once again and maybe capture the titel! An a sidenote: my brother Jasper has taken an interest in poker! He’s even going to play in the next TPC tournament. I really like that he has taken an interest in poker. At first he was a bit aversive against the game, but now he’s coming round. Maybe I’ll coach him a bit before the event :-). I think coaching him would be very fun. He’s a smart guy, good at math,… So I don’t think it will form a problem. Maybe he’ll finish deep :-).

WSOP-bet
Our WSOP-bet is becoming an annual tradition. The bet is divided into two different parts. First of all you pick out 10 pokerpro’s that make up your cash-team. You have the right to pick one team-captain: your favourite pro, nobody else may choose this pro. (For me that’s of course Scotty Nguyen.) You win this part of the bet when your team captures the most amount of cash in the entire WSOP. Last year I won this part of the bet due to Scotty’s win in the 50k HORSE. The second part of the bet consist of a team of 5 pokerpro’s (one is your captain and 4 others). If you have the pro who finishes the deepest in the Main Event of the WSOP you win this part of the bet. Last year Stijn Heyens won this part of the bet when Mike Matusow outlasted all of our pro’s. I already made up my mind for my cash-team for this year. I have a few returning names but some new blood has been added. Some pro’s may be a wild guess but we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m not really sure about my Main Event team. I have some names already figured out but others I’m still contemplating. I have a little time left. (Our teams have to be in on the 1st of May.)

See ya guys later!

Mickey C

Namur Poker Classics: Runner runner gets me bald!

Yesterday Stijn Heyens, Jonas Drieghe and I played in the €60 NL Hold’em Freeze-out tournament at the Namur Poker Classics. First of all I would like to say that it was really fun. We got there pretty early and just before we got our seating-tickets a NL Hold’em cashgame started. People were playing for blinds €2/€2 or €2/€4. There were some guys who bought in for only €50. We were a bit dazzled by that. How could you buy in for such a small amount. Jonas and Stijn decided if they got knocked out of the tournament early they would go and play in those cashgames.

When we finally got our seating-tickets we got to our tables and found that we weren’t sitting that much apart. I could easily see Stijn and Jonas from where I was sitting. So I could check up on them once and a while. We started the tournament with 11 players per table. Which in my opinion is way too much. I was going in LDP-mode at once (Lock Down Poker). You really needed a good starting-hand before you could play a pot. I found out that the player who finished third the day before was sitting a few seats to my left, really a good player. I saw him make some moves, and he seemed a solid tigh agressive player. One to keep an eye on! And a bit later the winner from the day before came to sit at my immediate left, so really a good table for me :-)!

I started out by probing my table a bit, finding some soft spots I could try and pick on. I really played a standard-game where I only played like the top ten hands of Phil Hellmuth. I grinded out a nice stack of about 8000 (we started out with 5000). But by that time the blinds were already 300/600. So I had a bit of breathing room but not that much! I picked up AKos under the gun. I raised it up too 1550 and got reraised by the player sitting two seats to my left. It folded around to me and I decided to push my 8k into the middle hoping for a coinflip or better. The guy turned over AhJh. So I was in great shape to double up to about 17k, flop came 4sKc8d. So no flushdraw for the guy and a King for me. Great flop! He was down to runner runner to stay alive and knock me out! Turn came the 10s. That card really made my stomach twist. Of course on the river came the Q of hearts to knock me out of the tournament. But on the brightside I’m happy with my level of play! I now know I can play with these guys and that the level of play isn’t that hard to overcome. I played a solid game and I got unlucky, runner runner is just something that you can’t help!

Stijn and especially Jonas also got unlucky and busted a while before me. Stijn coinflipped for his tournament with pocket tens against AKos. The ace on the flopped knocked him out. Jonas got all his money in on the turn with top set (queens) only to get called by pocket 8’s and the guy rivered a straight against him! I ran the odds for both Jonas hand and my hand. We were both a 90,7% favourite to win the hand on the turn, and we both got rivered by a stupid straight. Ah well that’s poker!

I was the last of our team to get knocked out, but I didn’t cash. So I had to live up to my end of the deal. Stijn and Jonas were allowed to shave my head bald! And so they did yesterday! Below you can see the endresult! But it was well worth the €30 I got for it (and the experience of playing in a live tournament at a casino), no regrets at all!

Mickey C

Getting ready for Namur Poker Classics!

This sunday three of our regulars are going to play in the €60 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout Tournament at the Namur Poker Classics. I’m going down there together with Stijn Heyens (www.madmanpoker.be) and Jonas Drieghe (www.socialgeek.be). I already told you they are staking me for half the buy in of the tournament, so I only have to pay €30 myself. Although they made me promise that if I didn’t cash in the tournament they were going to shave my head bald, and if I made money half of my winnings were going to be split amongst Stijn and Jonas. I thought about it and found it a fair deal. I don’t mind loosing my hair.

So this week I’m going to prepare for a deep run in the €60 NLHE-event. I’m picking up Harrington on Hold’em again, a book I read just before entering our third TPC-tournament, in which I finished 4th (my deepest run ever at the TPC tournaments). That’s been a while now and refreshing the knowledge in that book is going to help me for sure!

I just took a look at the structure of the tournament and it looks like quiet a good structure, although it isn’t going to be a slow tournament!

25 – 50 Ante : 0
50 – 100 Ante : 0
100 – 200 Ante : 0
150 – 300 Ante : 0
200 – 400 Ante : 0
300 – 600 Ante : 0
400 – 800 Ante : 0
600 – 1.200 Ante : 0
800 – 1.600 Ante : 0
1.000 – 2.000 Ante : 200
1.500 – 3.000 Ante : 200
2.000 – 4.000 Ante : 400
3.000 – 6.000 Ante : 500
4.000 – 8.000 Ante : 1.000
6.000 – 12.000 Ante : 1.000
8.000 – 16.000 Ante : 1500
10.000 – 20.000 Ante : 2000
15.000 – 30.000 Ante : 3000
20.000 – 40.000 Ante : 4000
30.000 – 60.000 Ante : 5000

We start out with 5000 chips, so in the beginning you have a lot of room to manoeuver. With a 100 big blinds you can make up an early mistake! I couldn’t find any pay-out structure for the event but I assume it’s going to be the top 10% of the field. That’s a standard pay out for a tournament. So I’m gonna have to finish in the top 16 to win some money and to win my bet with Stijn and Jonas! I’m not sure what my strategy for sunday is going to be, I think I’m gonna just see what happens and maybe put in a few tactics I picked up from Harrington on Hold’em. We’ll see what happens! And I hope I will return from the Namur Poker Classics with my hair and a nice bit of pocketchange :-).

Watch out for my report on monday and wish me luck!

Mickey C