WCP 2005: England Qualifier #1

WCP 2005.

The first 50 FPP England Team qualifier kicked off today with 171 playes taking part in the heads up shootout for a place on the team.

Because of the "odd" number of entrants a couple of people got byes into round 2. I was one of them, but I don't think it was that big of an advantage since a there were a few auto players about in round 1.

I went through the players who entered to see if I recognised anyone, and sure enough noticed a few Bugsys Club players. Noticeably Clay Knight and Fads. Had a feeling I would get Clay Knight as my first opponent. I was close - got Fads instead!

Since my player name is different on PokerStars I had the advantage of knowing him to be a pretty solid player (so I decided to keep him in the dark about my real identity lol). I don't think he knew what hit him at the start as I won pot after pot - I suspect he probably underestimated his opponent. Hehe.

Anyway, we had a great match. I had it under control for the most part, apart from a few dodgy all ins/calls after somebody was shouting in my ear, "All-in!!", "He's Bluffing!" and "Call Him!!". These resulted in a few respites for poor little Fads ;)

Soon, I wore him back down to a short stack. Around this time, Clay Knight comes to the table to wish Fads good luck and it is here that I decide to tell them that I am DaMatrix! Shortly after, when Fads went all-in (with 66) preflop I decided to call with A8s, two hearts on the flop but no further improvement saw Fads double up once again.

The match was now evenly balanced with that piece of information I decided to disclose. Fads started playing more confidently and for the first time wore my stack down, with the blinds now higher - I was pretty sure I was dead meat!

Made a stand to double up and got lucky for the first time this year. Won a few more chips and I was right back in it when I flopped a straight and Fads two pair.

The key hand occured when the chip distribution was about 55% to Fads and 45% to me. Fads raised preflop and I reraised all in. It was the first time I had shown this much strength preflop so was very surprised that Fads decided to call with K9o. I turned over TT and the board turned over a King! lol.

Oh well, my bad luck continues when it matters...

Fads easily won Round 3 with pocket Aces but came unstuck against the mighty(?) "whitehot" (who seems to have a drawing of Vicky Coren as their image) in Round 4 who was spurred on by Purr of Aces (England's captain). Whitehot was subsequently knocked out by spikel.

Quarter Finals

nighthawk39 v Honeymonster
kenedy v stevestar
g@v 999 v slick_dunc
spikel v BumDeal

Semi-Finals

spikel v kenedy

nighthawk39 v slick_dunc

Final

kenedy v nighthawk39

After over 7 hours, the winner is kenedy!!!

Call of the Week: DaMatrix (87%)

This week, I decide to award the C.O.W. award to myself for failing to fold the best hand when, inevitably, I would lose. Very, very stupid:

Event Name: WSOP Spring Warm-Up Round 2 (#1398715)MNHB
Event Started: Sunday February 27th
Event Type: BugsysClub Real Money Tournament
Game: No Limit Hold 'em
Level XI: 100 Ante 400/800 Blinds (100 Minimum Chip)
Average Stack: 19,078.94 (10,000 starting chips)
Remaining Players: 76 (145 started)

Seat 1 : Shadowfax starts with 20,400
Seat 2 : top_dog starts with 21,200
Seat 3 : maverick364 starts with 31,500
Seat 4 : FigmentAP starts with 12,100
Seat 5 : pocket2s starts with 18,800
Seat 6 : lukeforprez9 starts with 7,700
Seat 7 : Gazzer starts with 32,900
Seat 8 : FredoniaKid3 starts with 11,700
Seat 9 : DaMatrix starts with 13,100
Seat 6 : lukeforprez9 has the dealer button

***DEALING HOLE CARDS***
DaMatrix dealt down Qc Qd
Shadowfax posts the ante 100
top_dog posts the ante 100
maverick364 posts the ante 100
FigmentAP posts the ante 100
pocket2s posts the ante 100
lukeforprez9 posts the ante 100
Gazzer posts the ante 100
FredoniaKid3 posts the ante 100
DaMatrix posts the ante 100
Gazzer posts the small blind 400
FredoniaKid3 posts the big blind 800
DaMatrix raises 2,900 to 3,700
Shadowfax folds
top_dog folds
maverick364 calls 3,700 [c.o.w.]
FigmentAP folds
pocket2s folds
lukeforprez9 folds
Gazzer folds
FredoniaKid3 folds

***DEALING FLOP*** [ 2h Kd Kc ]

DaMatrix bets 2,000
maverick364 raises 13,500 to 15,500
DaMatrix calls 7,300 and is all-in [C.O.W.] = 52[c.o.w.]
maverick364 takes back 6,200

maverick364 cards were As Tc (13%)
DaMatrix cards were Qc Qd (87%)

***DEALING TURN*** [ Ad ]

***DEALING RIVER*** [ Ts ]

maverick364 wins 28,100 with two pair, aces and kings
DaMatrix has left the table DaMatrix finishes in 76th place

***SUMMARY***
Total Pot: 28,100
Board: [ 2h Kd Kc Ad Ts ]
Seat 1 : Shadowfax lost 100, folded pre-flop
Seat 2 : top_dog lost 100, folded pre-flop
Seat 3 : maverick364 bet 13,100, won 28,100, net +15,000, showed hand [ As Tc ]
Seat 4 : FigmentAP lost 100, folded pre-flop
Seat 5 : pocket2s lost 100, folded pre-flop
Seat 6 : lukeforprez9 (button) lost 100, folded pre-flop
Seat 7 : Gazzer (small blind) lost 500, folded pre-flop
Seat 8 : FredoniaKid3 (big blind) lost 900, folded pre-flop
Seat 9 : DaMatrix lost 13,100, showed hand [ Qc Qd ]

Cannot complain really. I put maverick364 on PP less than QQ/Ax (not AK/AQ). So, on the flop I bet small because I am not really worried about the turn. Wasn't expecting a reraise at all - so I was very happy to call feeling sure I was ahead.

-------------------------

Been having a little bad run in NL holdem 'em tournaments, forget about winning my share of 50-50s, I cannot win when a 70% or 90% favourite.

Bored of holdem in general, I have been playing a bit of PLO8B (Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo) ring at various sites and I am actually enjoying it. Some people with whom I have played O8B might find that surprising ;)

EPT E-WSOP Trial Freeroll

EWSOP Freeroll Results.

Finished 3rd out of 724 in the Sporting Bet/Odds EWSOP Freeroll.

The Parrot and Kidis played extremely well. At the end of the day though, The Parrot's luck ran out (saw him win a lot of 50-50s on the way to the last 3). He won one against me when he called my all-in preflop with 88 when we were down to 8 players and I had the slightly bigger stack - the board didn't help my AK. That left me very short stacked and so I did very well to battle back and finish 3rd. I went out when I flopped two pair and The Parrot an unlikely flush.

Good luck to Kidis.

Hendon Mob League

League Game 1.

Played in the first Hendon Mob League game at Stan's Poker yesterday. Got knocked out in 41st place out of 76. Pretty bad - raised UTG with JJ, everybody folded to the BB who set me all in. I call. BB turns over ATs!
A ten on the river gives the luckbox trips and I am out.

Maybe I'll do better next month. ;)

Call of the Week: cotton999@Bugsys (6%)

Game: No Limit Hold 'em
Event Started: Tuesday February 8th 7:30:00 AM CST 2005
Level IV: 75/150 Blinds (25 Minimum Chip)
Average Stack: 11,739.13 (10,000 starting chips)
Remaining Players: 23 (27 started)
Seat 1 : money_handla starts with 9,400
Seat 2 : mcw starts with 11,375
Seat 4 : DaMatrix starts with 6,950
Seat 5 : cotton999 starts with 14,275
Seat 6 : CoffeeMate starts with 12,675
Seat 7 : nain2000 starts with 9,400
Seat 8 : ujio starts with 11,100
Seat 9 : MrTricky starts with 6,550
Seat 2 : mcw has the dealer button

***DEALING HOLE CARDS***
DaMatrix dealt down Js Ac

DaMatrix posts the small blind 75
cotton999 posts the big blind 150
CoffeeMate folds
nain2000 folds
ujio folds
MrTricky folds
money_handla folds
mcw folds
DaMatrix calls 75
cotton999 raises 300 to 450
DaMatrix calls 300

***DEALING FLOP*** [ 3d 3s Ah ]
DaMatrix checks
cotton999 bets 150
DaMatrix calls 150

***DEALING TURN*** [ 3c ]
DaMatrix checks
cotton999 bets 1,200
DaMatrix raises 5,150 to 6,350 and is all-in
cotton999 calls 5,150

DaMatrix cards were Js Ac (94%)
cotton999 cards were Qd Qc (6%)

***DEALING RIVER*** [ Qs ]

cotton999 wins 13,900 with a full house, queens full of threes
DaMatrix has left the table DaMatrix finishes in 23rd place

***SUMMARY***
Hand Ended: Tuesday February 8th 7:57:39 AM CST 2005
Total Pot: 13,900Board: [ 3d 3s Ah 3c Qs ]
Seat 1 : money_handla did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 2 : mcw (button) did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 4 : DaMatrix (small blind) lost 6,950, showed hand [ Js Ac ]
Seat 5 : cotton999 (big blind) bet 6,950, won 13,900, net +6,950, showed hand [ Qd Qc ]
Seat 6 : CoffeeMate did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 7 : nain2000 did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 8 : ujio did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 9 : MrTricky did not bet, folded pre-flop

A Tale of Two Sevenths

Been playing a lot at PokerRoom/Hollywood Poker recently and I've participated in a few "freerolls".

Finished just outside the top 10% in the two Gutshot Qualifiers for the Party Poker Million at Coral/Eurobet Poker that I played in - not very good considering only first place paid.

Finished 16/2200 in the first PokerRoom freeroll I had played in a while.

Today, I was playing in two "freerolls" at the same time - and finished 7th in both!

Qualified for Bugsy's Wall of Fame tournament by winning Al's Smash & Grab League and also for PokerRoom's Player Points Major Freeroll with $6k added by accumulating the 500 player points required to play in it.

One of the key hands at the PokerRoom tourney was when I picked up two Red Arrows UTG and limped in. It's always nice when somebody decides to go all-in:


Bad timing.

After that hand, I was in a good position to make the final table. I did and finished 7th out of 767 players. Losing with JJ from the SB after going all-in against a "steal-raise" from the button by a player holding AQo. ColinB won $1,200 for first place. Not bad.


Waynewoodaldo.

Meanwhile, I was playing the Wall of Fame tourney simultaneously. Most of my cards were off suit rags less than ten and so I was pleased to finish 7th. There is nothing worse than finishing last in that tourney even though 2nd pays zero too. Wayneroonaldo picked up the wooden spoon when his KJo ran into AKs(above).

I noticed freck716 playing quite aggressively and her win was richly deserved, especially after coming second in the January Mini League photo finish after having led for nearly the entire month.


Wall of Fame Result.

Well done frexie!

NEW Competition: Win $20!

In this month's competition you have to guess who the poker player in the picture is.

Once again, the first Bugsys Club player to leave a comment (no registration required - just click on "Post Anonymously" when u get to the post a comment page) on this post with the correct guess will have $10.50 transferred to their account to use for a heads up against me for a chance to win $20.

Good luck!


Guess Who?

Terms and conditions:

1. This comp is open to all Bugsys Club players. One guess per player.
2. Player must be the first eligible to leave a comment with the correct guess on this post signed with their Bugsys Club Player nickname.
3. Player must agree to play a $10+$0.50 heads up match against me.
4. Before the heads up I will transfer $10.50 to the Player to use as buy-in for the heads up match.
5. Instructions form part of the terms and conditions.
6. The winner agrees to participate in any publicity associated with the promotion arranged by DaMatrix Ltd.
7. DaMatrix's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

February Poker Babe

February Poker Babe.

Is there a better way to start the month off than with a sight for sore poker eyes?

I don't think so!

Visit Cali es Cali to get an eyeful.

January Round Up

Yesterday was an intense day of poker at Bugsys club as the January Poker Leagues came to a close. Kopperud won the main Bugsy League with 17,292.50 points, failing to beat the record held my WSOPstar2b at 17,719.

My prediction to win the Mini League, freck716, was pipped to the finishing line by mass2500. Congrats to both. Yours truely (holder of the Mini League record at 11,146 and 3 time winner) stormed from 20th to finish 11th.

I won Al's Smash 'n' Grab League on my first attempt, setting a new record of 31,576 points to break the previous record of 31,331.50 held by jsniv85.

Below is the final top 10 positions for the January Smash 'n' Grab League.


January 2005 Smash 'n' Grab Top 10.

February looks set to be another exiting month. Even though DaMatrix will not be going for any Leagues at Bugsys, I will still be playing a fair bit of poker, focusing on quality rather than quantity.

Stay Connected to DaMatrix for more news, reviews, COWs and of course: poker babes!