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Maxim King of Poker 2005

• Preface
• Report

Maxim King of Poker: Report

What a buzz! I just won my first live tourney to become the first ever Maxim King of Poker! I haven't got a clue where to start, but if you've read the Preface, you may know that I wasn't expecting to play...

I had tried to qualify for the final for about 4 months on Maxim's skin of VC Poker and my brother was lucky enough to qualify before me. Lucky because he's a fish! When it got to the actual day of the tournament I had still not received any confirmation that I would be able to play.

A surprising last minute turn of events, a couple of no shows, and I was given the go ahead to play. Destiny?

My brother, Gattopardo, was drawn on Mel Lofthouse's table. He deviated from my advise a little bit by playing more marginal hands than instructed but nobody could fault him when he busted out with AA to J3 that flopped trips.


Gattopardo, ?? and Mel Lofthouse.

This was my night though. I was in the zone and played almost perfect poker. Folding A9s shorthanded to a hunch that was proved right when AT won the pot, folding AQs to an open raise from the table chip leader short handed, calling an all in flop bet with ace high on a read that my opponent was semi bluffing, value betting the calling stations, winning 50/50s against smaller stacks, winning with Aces, stealing from the button and semi bluffing.

My opponents were getting DaMatrixed and I am not exaggerating! From the 63 players that started I got to the final table with about twice the average stack size. I tried to open deal negotations since it was a winner take all final (a package worth well over £10,000) but nobody was interested. I wasn't that worried and tightend up even more waiting for the short stacks to get knocked out so that deal making would be easier.

Before I knew it, we were down to 3 players and managed to seal a deal of winner paying £1k to both runner-up and third place finisher. The chip leader agreed after some resistance. With the tournament directors increasing the blinds more rapidly to ensure a timely finish it had become a crap shoot and I felt that hedging was required as there was not much room to outplay my opponents.

Nevertheless, after Mick Helliet was knocked out in 3rd place, I felt I had a great chance to win the tournament against my somewhat inexperienced opponent, "Dan Arama", who had a bigger stack. He showed me a stone cold bluff with 42 when the board was a three flush and I had checked out of position. Soon, again, when I checked out of position acting first on the flop he went all in.

So when I checked K2o in the BB after Dan Arama had limped in on the button and I flopped trips you know what was coming... I checked and waited for him to go all-in. To my surprise he checked and the turn was a queen. I was 99% sure that if I checked he would go all-in and sure enough he did! I called and my trips beat his pair of queens. For me, that was the hand of the tournament.

Kings were, fittingly, the theme of this King of Poker final. With huge blinds of 7k and 15k with 1k antes and me having started the hand before posting blinds with a 83k versus Dan Arama's 77k, when I looked down to find KQo my only move was to go all-in. As soon as Dan said call I knew I was behind probably to an ace - it was worse, he flipped over QQ!

I felt a King would come though, it was that kind of night where I couldn't put a foot wrong. After 3 blanks on the flop, the turn was a King and I was crowned the King of Poker!!!


Nikki Sanderson ready to crown DaMatrix aka DaGodfather.

What did I win?

1. £5,000 Cash (£3,000 after deal)

2. A £5,000 seat at the VC poker cup

3. A trip to the US to attend a Maxim US party

4. VIP entry to a Maxim UK party

5. A trip to a Maxim girl shoot

6. A digital camera

7. Poker game set

8. EA game

9. £20 HMV voucher

10. King of shaves gift set

11. Free case of beer

12. Maxim & Inside Edge subscription

Saturday Summary

Played in Hollywood Poker's $22 + $2 WSOP Celebrity Shootout that commenced Saturday 7pm BST. I used player points to buy-in, so essentially this was a freeroll for me.

674 players started. Nearly out half way through when my 88 all-in was called by A9s. 9 on the turn but a Jack on the river gave me a straight. There were $100 bounties on the celebs taking part. I only came across one at my table during the tourney, Noah Emmerich, but didn't knock him out. Vince Van Patten and James Woods were also playing but they didn't get very far. Eventually I finished just out of the money but inside the top 100.

Bob Goen outlasted all the celebs taking part and for his achievement he won a WSOP seat. The winner of the tournament, Emir1982, also got a WSOP seat on top of the $2.7k for 1st place.

In the Bet365 Poker's $5K freeroll I finished 4089/4189 when my AA got cracked by A7s.

Finished in the money, 3/9, in Clay Knight's Festival Event 2, stud hi/lo.

Finally, 5/140 in Bugsys Club WSOP Round 2, just missing out on a Round 3 Ticket :(


Round 2 Results

Maxim King of Poker: Preface

I will be going to the Maxim (in association with VC Poker) King of Poker Tournament Final on Wednesday 22nd June 2005 at Pacha, London. But guess what? I won't be going to play - I'll be cheering my brother aka Gattopardo ("The Leopard").

After getting coached by yours truly, DaMatrix, his super-aggressive style has led to some impressive results. None more so than beating 170 other players in a weekly final to qualify for the KOP Final.

I'm still trying to find out if I qualified as one of the monthly movers. In March, when I attempted to be, I placed (top 27) in 31/54 tournaments with fields of 100-200, winning 2 of them. Didn't do so well in the Weekly finals during that month because I was playing aggressive to go for the win and gain a seat in the final - didn't know that the points system was biased towards doing well in these. Despite sending various email to try and find out the scoring algorithm I never got a reply...

What's at stake in the final:

GRAND FINAL PRIZE
• 2005 VC POKER CUP
• SPENDING MONEY - A £5,000 cash bonus
• MAXIM SHOOT - A trip to a Maxim girl shoot
• MAXIM PARTY - VIP entry to a Maxim UK party and Maxim US party, including all flights and accommodation.

Look out for the Maxim King of Poker Trip Report...

Q9s

Game: No Limit Hold 'em
Stakes: $0.50/$1 Blinds ($0.25 Minimum Chip)

Seat 1 : DaMatrix starts with $318.50
Seat 2 : paul69 starts with $35
Seat 3 : Mongo starts with $76.50
Seat 4 : HOLDEEEZ starts with $223.75
Seat 5 : GARYaus starts with $94.50
Seat 6 : Gianfry starts with $0
Seat 7 : Sugarkings starts with $12
Seat 8 : andy p starts with $162.25
Seat 9 : emc2cronic starts with $43.50
Seat 10 : puppyfoot starts with $88.25
Seat 2 : paul69 has the dealer button
Mongo posts the small blind $0.50
HOLDEEEZ posts the big blind $1

***DEALING HOLE CARDS***
DaMatrix dealt down Ts Td

GARYaus calls $1
Sugarkings folds
andy p raises $3.50 to $4.50
emc2cronic folds
puppyfoot folds
DaMatrix folds
paul69 raises $3.50 to $8
Mongo folds
HOLDEEEZ folds
GARYaus calls $7
andy p calls $3.50

***DEALING FLOP*** [ 9d Th 9h ]

GARYaus bets $25.50
andy p raises $128.75 to $154.25 and is all-in
paul69 calls $27 and is all-in
GARYaus calls $61 and is all-in
andy p takes back $67.75

***DEALING TURN*** [ Qh ]


***DEALING RIVER***[ Qs ]

andy p cards were Kh Ks
paul69 cards were Kc Kd
GARYaus cards were 9c Qc

GARYaus wins $119 with a full house, queens full of nines
GARYaus wins $103.50 with a full house, queens full of nines

andy p: lol q9
DaMatrix: wow had TT

***SUMMARY***
Hand Ended: Monday June 13th 7:27:28 AM CDT 2005
Total Pot: $222.50 ($3 rake)
Board: [ 9d Th 9h Qh Qs ]

Seat 1 : DaMatrix did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 2 : paul69 (button) lost $35, showed hand [ Kc Kd ]
Seat 3 : Mongo (small blind) lost $0.50, folded pre-flop
Seat 4 : HOLDEEEZ (big blind) lost $1, folded pre-flop
Seat 5 : GARYaus bet $94.50, won $222.50, net +$128, showed hand [ 9c Qc ]
Seat 6 : Gianfry did not bet
Seat 7 : Sugarkings did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 8 : andy p lost $94.50, showed hand [ Kh Ks ]
Seat 9 : emc2cronic did not bet, folded pre-flop
Seat 10 : puppyfoot did not bet, folded pre-flop

PokerRoom $300 + $20 WSOP Qualifier

I qualified for the PokerRoom $300+$20 WSOP qualifier by placing in 1 out of 2 Stage 1 WSOP qualifiers ($6) and then placing in the subsequent $44 Stage 2 Qualifier on my 1st attempt. So for $12 I had a decent shot (45/1) at qualifying for this years WSOP main event with Team PokerRoom on a package worth $13,500.

The tournament started at 11pm Saturday, but finished well into Sunday, 4am BST. 265 players entered, for a total prizepool of $79,500 - 1st to 5th: WSOP seats.

Starting chips were 2500. For the first 30 minutes I miss every flop and I am down to 2150. Couple of trash hands later and after UTG limps, I limp in the CO with 66 flopping a set. UTG bets the K high 2-flush flop and I reraise. He calls. Turn is blank. Check, pot bet (all-in), call. My set beats his pair of kings and I have doubled up.

Just before the 1st break and the blinds still relatively low, I am in EP2 with 77. UTG does a min raise and straightaway I put him on AA/KK because up to now he had been playing the best poker IMO at the table. Despite this something tells me to call, but in the end I decide to muck with 8 people yet to act. Flop is 97X all diamonds. BB check raises UTG all-in who calls with, surprise surprise: KK. No more diamonds and the cowboys hold up - I would have won a big pot there!

BREAK 1 STATS:

54th out of 207 remaining of 265. Me: 3.9k, Av: 3.2k, CL: 8.2K.

Get no hands again for the next 30 minutes, then make a stand by calling the Button's second consecutive all-in on my BB with 77. He shows KQs, but my pair hit a set on the flop and I win. That was it for that hour, no cards, guy on my right constantly raising and showing down big hands.

BREAK 2 STATS:

75th out of 90 remaining of 265. Me: 3.3k, Av: 7.3k, CL: 31K.

I'd been at the same table since the start and seen AA, KK and QQ left, right and in front of me. But somehow, they had avoided me for over 2 hours! I felt that they would me mine soon, especially since my best hands had been going up progressively: 77/88/99/JJ...

Alas, I only pick up AQ and go all-in, nobody calls. Good cos I didn't fancy a race. One orbit later and I get 33 in MP3. Desperate and knowing that I am taking a big risk with 4 people left to act I go all-in trying to win 900 with my 3k. Cut-Off isolates me and I am left hoping for a race situation. Unfortunately, he turns over 88 and I finish disappointed after 2 and a half hours - especially since QQ, KK and AA were waiting for me just around the corner!


Results.

PokerRoom WSOP Package Winners: croywhale, dogg30, georgivt, jamie0331 and minjita.

****

Played in the Noble Poker $52 + $5 WSOP qualifier after at 2am BST. It started with only 155 players but it was a winner take all: a WSOP Package. The late starting time, faster structure, worse players, ZERO hands and blogging the Virgin and PokerRoom games, meant that I was hardly going to win. Finished 54th/155. Down to 16 after less than 2hrs, the eventual Noble Poker WSOP Package Winner was FuzzyBear40.

Congrats to all the winners!!!

Virgin Poker: £4K Added

Got an email from Virgin Poker telling me about this £4K added tourney. Buy-in £40 + £4.

Now, I know I suggested uninstalling Virgin Poker (wish I did; read my Review: Virgin Games Poker) - but being such a nice guy I decided to give them another shot, but only because 120-ish players would begin and top 20 paid.

The actual buy-in was not even £44 as advertised, but £35+£3.5! Virgin Poker need to sort themselves out.

The Tournament:

122 Started, top 20 paid, £8,270 prize pool, £2,439.66 for 1st place.

I began 3 to the right of londonpokergirl aka Mel Lofthouse The general standard of play at the table was about average if not poor. I was seeing as many cheap flops as possible. From the starting 2,000 chips I was down to 1,700 when I limped again. I had 66 in early position, quite a few other limpers and I flop a set. I led out knowing at least one of them would call me or even raise me. I get one caller, turn makes the board kind of scary but, nevertheless, I bet about 3/4 of the pot. My opponent calls again. River pairs the board, so I lead out with a decent bet with my full house. He doubles my bet, so I know he's got at least trips if not the possible str8. I reraise my remaining few chips all in, he calls and doubles me up with his rivered trips.

So far so good, I've got over 3,300 chips and I'm in a top 20 chip position. With the blinds at 50/100, there's an early position raiser that makes it 350, one caller (EggMaster) and then I reraise half my stack with KK. The initial raiser folds, but the cold caller calls yet again leaving himself with 3 BBs! I know I have him crushed especially with a J high board. He checks with his remaining few chips and I bet him all in. He calls and shows A6! Turn BLANK. River ACE!

Shortly after, I get booted from the software by a "Virgin Upgrader Error". I log in and then 2 minutes later the same thing happens and I have to restart the software probably missing pocket Aces in the meantime. WTF is that error all about? It's not the first time it has occured - read the Review: Virgin Games Poker. I'm pretty sure it someone at Virgin Poker pressing a button and ejecting me from their stupid poker room.

Level goes up and I'm down to 6BBs when I pick up 44 on the button. Open raise 3xBB but the SB goes all in, I call and his ATo beats my PP. Chip and a chair. Forced all in by the BB with A2 which turns into a full house by the river - wish I had chips because the SB had AK...

Next hand, I get AT in the SB and I push my short stack all-in 4 handed but get beat by JTs which flops a flush. I finish a lowly 71/122.

The winner was trojan1 (£2.4k) who beat Offthehook (£1.3k).


Results.

Will not be returning to Virgin Poker even if they added a million. £4k? Bah! The only thing I'd play on there is freerolls...lol

Party Poker WSOP New Player Freeroll

Party Poker are hosting a WSOP New Player Freeroll on June 12, 14:15 EST (7:15pm BST).

New players need to make their first real money deposit before Sunday June 12th, 12:00 EST (5pm BST) to be able to register before the freeroll deadline at 14:05 EST (7:05pm BST).

Register by going to:

>Party Poker>Tournaments>Special>ID 360304.

Top 3 places win a WSOP package worth $13,500. Less than 300 registered so far. Good luck.

Prima $200 Freeroll

Results.

Played a handfull of 5,000+ runner freerolls lately to test out different strategies. Placed in the top 50 a couple of times and today I actually won one and had to come out of my little blogging break to tell you about it!

I got to the last 100 without too much trouble and was patiently waiting for a good spot. Finally, UTG and very short stacked I picked up QQ and tripled up. Then AA, JJ and QQ all in a row, winning every pot at showdown. This propelled me to the top 20 rank.

Maintained my stack til it actually got to the last 2/3 tables. Got KK in early position and raised half my stack enough to put the BB almost all in. He goes all in and turns over AA but luckily I hit a K on the flop.

This gave me a final table stack where I'd never witnessed so many bad beats, out draws and flukes. I benefited when I rased the BB from the SB with A5 and he put me all in with A6. I had to call but managed to flop trips.

My final table strategy was to keep my stack size level til 4/3 handed and then outplay my opponents. I got to the 3 handed stage at quite a big disadvantage with only 800k chips and the other 2 players at about 2 million each.

Won a few small pots, other guy got knocked out and was heads up with a 3:1 disadvantage which I almost reversed when I won a big pot by bluffing the river with 8 high.

From here I wasn't gonna waste any time and put him all in with QJ he called with A rag and doubled up. Finally, I got 33, raised and he went all in with overcards, I flopped a set and it was all over!

Whoever wins this year's WSOP main event will have to be very lucky.

*****

Later that day I also finished 2/255 in the Stan James Poker Freeroll Grand Prix. The prize for 1st place was a $2,500 home entertainment system. Congrats to BlindBurt who played great at the final table building a big stack and beating me easily heads-up with his 10:1 chip advantage.

Finally, just now, I finished 7/255 at Poker Host to qualify for their WPT Weekly Final Freeroll.

June Poker Car

Just won a big poker tournament?

Pick up a Ferrari 360 Spider for the summer at just over £100,000.


Top Gear Gallery: Ferrari 360 Spider