Genting Poker Series Newcastle

There were two main reasons why I was really looking forward to the Leg 2 of the Genting Poker Series 2013.

Genting Casino Newcastle

Firstly I had never been to Newcastle before & was keen to cross another location of my UK City list.

Secondly, following my success & 8th place finish in the GPS Birmingham, I was eager & highly motivated to top this up by at least a couple of spots (perhaps this was a bit of a stretch, but hey ho, it’s all about a positive & winning mindset right:)

After a smooth 2 hour & 49 minute trip on the train & a prompt check in at the hotel, I had just enough time to nip out & have a little wonder around the beautiful Grainger Town (which is a historic part of the Newcastle) before heading to the Genting casino to do some work:)

I started my GPS weekend by playing in the Button Poker side event. In essence this game works just like a normal NL Holdem Tournament & the only difference is that when a player wins a pot, he/she gets to keep the button & subsequently is the last person to act in a following hand, till someone else takes the button.

I think it’s one of the most fun & entertaining tournament structures I played in. Players become very defensive and are unwilling to let their button go once they acquire it. As a result the play for majority of the participants becomes very loose aggressive with the very wide range of hands!

Anyhow, I managed to final table the button poker event, but my joy was short lived when I got it all in pre with 10,10 v A,Q of Amy Trodd and couldn’t hold. Amy was unstoppable that night- played really well & with some luck on her side too it’s no surprise she went on to win it!

GPS Main event Day 1

Despite not cashing I had a great night & treated the game as a good warm up for the Main Event the following day.

After a good night’s sleep, a cup of yummy Latte in the morning & a lucky outfit sorted and I was feeling great heading back to the Genting casino to play day 1c.

I assumed my starting table, which included a couple of familiar faces & mainly local lads, to be rather soft and I was right. One hour in and I’ve increased my 25k starting stack to 30k without getting down to any showdowns:)

The table dynamics were straightforward & steady and we had some good banter going on and no-one was getting much out of hand.

This was until one of the busted player’s seats was swiftly taken by Albert Sapiano. I believe Albert to be one of the most unpredictable players in poker – he plays any two, so in any given hand he could have the nuts or be bluffing his life away with complete air.

As Albert was sitting two to my right and I had a position on him, I was happy to get involved in a few pots with him:

I raised UTG2 with QQ. I received 2 calls including Albert in the BB. The flop brought 6,6,6 and only Albert check called my bet. Turn was a 2 & we both checked. River was a 9 and Albert overbet the pot x2. I folded.

Albert Sapiano

I couldn’t see him doing this with a showdown value hand. Hence a 6 or a complete air made the most sense.

He knew at that point that I had one of the premium hands so bluffing in this spot would be pretty crazy & definitely a losing play in the long run, plus I’ve noticed previously that he seemed to have a tendency to overbet the pot when he had a very good hand. I just went with my read when making a fold & he proudly showed me 7,6 for a winning hand!;)

Fortunately not long after Albert & I played HU again and this time I won a decent pot when calling his bluff off on the river. We were even!:)

I was ticking along okay & steadily accumulating chips before  abruptly getting a brutal beat for an exit. Here’s a bad beat story for you- I’ll keep it short I promise!

I got it all in on a 7,4,2 rainbow flop with a set of 7s for an over 60k pot (blinds 150/75) and couldn’t hold versus pocket 8s. Sigh!

I was obviously going to re-enter but needed some time away from the tables to refocus first. Fresh air & some chocolates helped a lot & I was back to the poker room with a winning mindset again!

To make it even better, I got a seat 7 on a table 7, a lucky combination of double 7s, which were surely not going to disappoint me!?

The rest of the evening went to plan & I finished day 1 on 50k, which was around 30bb going into day 2. I was happy with that & very much looking forward to next day to hopefully making back to back final tables:)

GPS Day 2

Day 2 went off to an excellent start. I was happy with my seat draw & managed to win a race – JJ v AK – to double up early doors.

Unfortunately, not long after I got moved to a new table & had one of the chip leaders sitting two to my right, as well as another couple of players, who were pretty chipped up, to my immediate left. Not the best spot!

With blinds going up & no premium hands to be found I was playing on my image, and made a couple of timely 3bets & some steals in position to keep me going.

I was down to around 17bb when approaching the bubble and I found myself in a position where I couldn’t do much but wait for someone to bust before I made a move with my stack of course unless I found AA or KK in my hand. It’s a frustrating place to be, but you like to think you’ll pick up a hand, and I simply didn’t.

I think it was one of the longest bubbles ever, short stacks kept on doubling up and players who were getting it in behind, sucking out.

This was very frustrating, as I had no other option but just fold away. I’d never advocate doing this as a general rule as you are playing for the final table, but as you get shorter the cycle perpetuates itself downwards. Finally after nearly two levels of hand-for-hand play we were in the money and down to 42 players! weeee!

I was happy and hoping for some kind of hand with a decent equity to get the remaining of my stack in the middle. 3,9….hmmm…10,2…..7,2 nooooooooo!…..this was not going to plan!

Ellie Biessek

In the end I picked up 7,9 utg but for some reason unknown I decided against it. Looking back, I think it was a definite mistake and I should have shipped my stack in regardless as I only had 6bb & I was going to be all in next hand anyway.

It was out of character for me and a lapse of concentration which does happen to all players at points in a long tourney.

As it happened I was lucky to pick up A,8 in the big blind next but unfortunate to run into Aces of Jeff Kimber for an exit. (40th/400)

I was happy with my performance & another GPS cash on the bounce, and although I made a couple of mistakes and questionable plays I do feel that overall I played well & I’m learning something new every time I play:)

Huge congrats to Ellie Biessek – the eventual GPS Newcastle winner – for such an amazing achievement & a win of £38,750! It is lovely seeing a female poker player picking up this trophy for once!

GPS Leg 3 in Sheffield next. Hope to see you there!

From The Bahamas to Birmingham

It’s been a great 2013 so far!

I started my new poker year by playing the Genting Big Game at the Mint casino & making the final table. After chopping the same tourney heads up in December, I was feeling confident and with alittle luck on my side I knew I could do well again.

Unfortunately it was not meant to be! I ended up finishing in 9th when getting it all in with QQ v A,9 and not being able to fade an ace.

I still made some money that night, as me and Joe Beevers swapped a piece of each other with 2 tables left and he went on to finish in 5th for £9k.

Well played Joe and thanks again for my new handbag money:)

Next for me was a trip to Bahamas for the PCA adventure, where I played in the $1,000 Ladies event.

This tournament attracted 66 runners, including a few very well known names; such as Jan Combes who has won the EPT Ladies Event in 2011 and finished fourth in the EPT Grand Final Ladies Event in 2012 & Fatima Moreira de Melo of Team PokerStars.
My starting table was fast and furiuous and after losing a couple of key pots early doors I  never really recovered. I shipped the remaining of my stack in with Q,10s on the 10 high flop and unfortunately got called by K,10 for an exit. Sigh!

Although the tournament didn’t go to plan, I had a blast exploring the Atlantis Resort & enjoying the Caribbean sun for the next couple of days. I spent majority of the time in a water park; trying out various slides & scenic river rides as well as testing out traditional Pina Coladas:) Who cares about day 2 when you can have this instead!?

My hometown – Silute!

I was taking in every sun ray I could as 48 hours I knew I was going to be in Lithuania, where the winter temperature at the time was reaching -13!

I love winter back home! My hometown was gorgeous in white and it was great being able to play with my nieces outside the house and build a snowman.

I also had a few fun trips snow sliding and driving on frozen river ice with my family & friends.

After 16 days in Lithuania with no poker, I was very much looking forward to going back and getting involved in the first leg of the Genting Poker Series 2013.

The GPS main event attracted a record field of 590 players, which created a sweet prizepool of £236,000 & nearly £60k for the winner.

I started my GPS adventure on Thursday by playing in the Button Poker side event. It was not only a good opportunity for me to catch up with some friends at the tables but also to put in some live poker practice before the main event the following day.

After busting with AA in the later stages of the game, I ended chatting to the Main Event Travel team & helping them out with the wine:))

Genting Club Star City

Few hours later and I was back to the Star City to play in the £440 buy-in Main Event.

A fantastic structure was in place with a 25k starting stack and 1 hour clock – which  allowed even the most conservative player an opportunity to make day 2.

I had a rollecoaster day, where I peaked at 60k (avg stack at that point being 35k) and was down to 10k before baging & tagging a disappointing 26k for day 2:(

With 193 players coming back for day 2 and me being placed in the bottom 5 – it was not looking too optimistic!

I had 16bb & a dream! My strategy included looking for some decent re-shoving spots in order to keep on going and waiting for a double up opportunity.

Chaz Chattha

Having Chaz Chattha seated 2 to my left was not ideal for this, but at least there were a couple of unknown players, which seemed to be folding a lot – so I targeted them instead.

I built my stack to 100k (half average at that point) before looking down and finding AA in my hand. I raised and then got it all in on the 8h,7h,3c flop v Jh,10h and held.

From there on I never looked back and ended the day on 500k, which was around average with 23 players left.

I recall not being able to fall asleep for ages that night as I was too excited about the next day & getting so close to the final table. It seemed that 4 hours sleep was as much as I was going to get and after a cup of tea and some good music to properly wake me up, I was heading back to Star City full of excitement:)

I had a terrible start & was down to 10 bigs, when my KK got cracked by 4,5s! I raised pre & bet the pot on the J,6,7 flop. We both checked the turn n then I paid of a bet on the river.

Genting Poker Series Final Table

I couldn’t have done anything differently in that hand, and I’m happy I didn’t go broke there & had an opportunity to build my stack up afterwards.

I was down to 6bb before trippling up with KQ v QJ and another hand I was not shown. Then not long after I shipped again with JJ and got paid by A,3 to get back in the game.

From there on, I was grinding a short stack for a few levels and never seemed to get back to the average stack, before making it to the final 9.

It was a strong final table with some very experienced & capable players still in; eventual winner of the first GPS main event of 2013  – Julian Thew, Hendon Mobster – Ross Boatman, poker veteran – Barry Neville & the previous Monte Carlo at DTD winner – Alex Goulder.

I was definitely going to need some luck to spin my short stack up! Unfortunately my run-good never showed up and after re-stealing in some good spots with marginal hands, I was finally caught out by aces of Ross Boatman when shoving pre was a no-brainer.

I was really happy to finish 8th, but understandably disappointed not to hit a really big payday. Still 7k for a weekends work has been the ideal start to the new year and I’m looking forward to what promises to be an exciting March of poker in London.

Hello 2013

First of all Happy New Year to one and all! I hope you had a fantastic night.

Due to a couple of people being ill & last minute changes in plans, we ended up having a mini house party at our place & seeing in 2013 surrounded by some of my closest friends & family.

With the girls on New Years Eve x

Joint efforts combined, it ended being a superb night; my friend Kady was in charge of the best Cosmopolitans in London.

My other half John was chef for the night preparing divine canapes, whilst my other close friend Rada was responsible for dessert & brought over the cutest cupcakes for the guests.

I was in charge of the music, and yes I admit it included Gangnam style;)

The party seemed to be the perfect ending to yet another good year in poker & my life in general;)

I have been feeling happy, positive & at the same time impatiently looking forward to next year’s adventures, starting with the PCA Bahamas!

December 2012 has been an especially great month for me and apart from chopping heads up in the Genting Poker  Big Game & winning a Women’s PokerStars Caribbean Package (worth $3,200) for $16, I did an interview for the biggest selling lifestyle magazine in Lithuania, called “Panele” and I was also approached & filmed  for a Lithuanian TV show. Can it get any better!??

Filming time!

For those of you, who are interested in reading the article; it should be out in the next few days in January’s issue and I will provide a link to it as soon as it’s available.

Unfortunately, it’s going to be in Lithuanian, but my English readers are welcome to view for the pics;)

I was a little nervous about being filmed for a documentary as this meant having a camera crew following me round London for a day & creating lots of attention as well as being asked lots of random questions by a reporter on the spot & not always being able to come up with a suitable/fun answer!

Another minor problem I experienced, was forgetting some words in Lithuanian & including English terms as a result…not least because some poker words don’t even exist in my mother tongue!

The premise for the TV programme is covering success stories and lifestyles of Lithuanian individuals with various talents who are living abroad.

It made me feel a bit sheepish, as I’m not sure I am successful or even as talented as some others they may feature on this show, I am only doing something I enjoy and what makes me happy regardless of what it brings me.

Anyhow, back to poker.

I am starting my live poker adventure of 2013 by heading to Nottingham this Saturday to play the famous DTD 300, which is a £336 buy-in NL Hold’em.

This tournament not only has a 150k guaranteed prize pool but a slow & deep structure too, which I feel is most suitable to my playing style. (30k chips and 40 min clock)

By the way, if you are planning to play DTD 300 and have an active account on http://www.gentingpoker.com you can win a GPS 2013 Leg 1 seat for free (worth £430).

Requirements:

1. Have an active account on Genting Poker room.

2. Come and see me on the day to say hi & to collect the Genting badge to be worn throughout.

3. Simply be the longest lasting Genting Poker player left in the tournament!

Then, there is the Genting Poker Big Game on 7th January at the Cromwell Mint Casino, which will have a whooping £6,000 added to the Prizepool!

Just like the last month, I’ll be down for the satellite on the day at 4pm first. (£110+10 turbo freezeout, 6k stack, 15 min clock)

And then, I’ll be off to the Caribbean on Wednesday to play in my first PCA event ever! Bring on the Bahamas, for once getting knocked out of a tournament won’t be that bad!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Just a quick message to wish all my friends, followers and fans a very special Christmas and to thank you all for your support throughout the year. I hope you have a wonderful day and may this Christmas bring you all the joy and happiness in the world! x

Christmas special Big Game, lucky noodles & 14k profit:)

After a very unsuccessful poker weekend in Sheffield, where for the very first time in the GPS 2012- I didn’t make day 2 in the Main Event & bricked all the side events, I was putting my hopes towards the Genting Poker Big Game to finish my year in style.

Bar area at the Genting Club Sheffield

Despite not cashing, I had a truly great time in Sheffield.

I was enjoying the lush surroundings & cocktails of the newly opened Genting club whilst catching up with friends.

Also, I was making the most of the club’s superb location and doing some shopping for Christmas gifts, but as usual ended up shopping for myself!

Once back in London, I had a week to re-focus and prepare for the Christmas special Big Game. I was very excited about this as I was host to an event which was raising money for charity.

Half of tournament registration fees (£40 pp) + Christmas presents donated by players were going to be delivered to Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, because of such a great cause I was eager to do my upmost to promote this event and attract as many players as possible.

Here’s a big thank you to everyone who made it to the Big Game and helped us to raise a healthy £2,000 for the charity:))

With Michael Caselli (Bluff Europe), Santa Charlotte & Barny Boatman of the ‘Hendon Mob’

December’s Big Game attracted 45 runners including 4 satellite winners earlier that day.

I nearly qualified myself for the second month in a row before my AA were cracked by 10,10 on a 4,6,6 board!

Anyhow, with a  £1,000 bounty on my head  it would have been rude not to play the main event and I was really enjoying the game and my starting table.

There was a feeling of early Christmas spirit in the Fox, with mince pies being offered to the players and Charlotte  making her Santa appearance;)

I had a good start too and increased my starting stack of 18k to 30k after only 4 levels in. I had Charles Chatta to my left which is always dangerous, but I was winning majority of my chips without going to showdowns.

Good job too as I was flipping terribly against Charles, but fortunately wasn’t dented too severely…yet.

Somehow having a bounty on my head had worked pretty well for me, I kept on accumulating chips towards the final table where I was sitting on the 3rd biggest stack;)

There were only 5 places paid and with a few short/medium stacks there was still lots of work to be done!

Two hands in and I opened on the button with AQ suited. Just to see my nemesis of the night – Charles Chatta – deciding it was the right spot to defend his blind and re-shoving over the top for 40% of my stack. I couldn’t call quick enough of course but unfortunately was no good versus his A,8 off. Grrrrr…

Luxury Harrods Christmas hamper + Liv Boeree:)

I made a couple of tight (but worked out to be right) folds before getting it all in for my tournament life with QQ with 7 players remaining.

I was racing versus Ac Kc. The first card on the flop was a King followed by J & 10. I gulped… but the turn brought a 9 and I couldn’t believe my luck! weeeee!

I was the chip leader on the bubble!  I think it was only fair if I was going to bully a little until it burst.

Guy Bowles ended up being unlucky one to bust in 6th but lucky enough to be walking away with a luxury Harrods hamper worth £350!

I think the biggest highlight of the day for me so far was having good friends Barny Boatman & Lee Taylor making the money too.

We had dinner together prior the Big Game, just round the corner from the Fox Poker club, in a Vietnamese Restaurant and joked later making the final table must have been down to the lucky noodles!

Victor Ilyukhin 3rd place finisher

With Barny busting in 4th there was a very long & intense battle between three of us – me, Lee Taylor & Victor Ilyukhin.

Victor was seated to my right and with his uber-aggressive playing style & decent live poker experience- he was always going to be a tough opponent.

He was shipping more or less every time from the small blind and I was just waiting for a decent calling hand to catch him out. I won an important hand with A,2 suited v his 8,10 and then took the majority of his stack with QQ v A,5.

The very next hand Victor pushed remaining of his chips in the middle with K,J and had to settle for a 3rd place when Lee has called him with K,Q.

It was 7.30 in the morning and we were finally heads up and it was Lee & me!

We had a very similar amounts in chips and being  good mates  it was a no brainer to chop the prize pool two ways – £14,000 each & play to defend my bounty, although I thought that Lee has deserved it anyway, being the last man standing.

With the winner Lee Taylor

Only 10 minutes in the heads up fight & Lee has claimed his victory & the bounty when his flopped top pair held versus my second pair & a double gutshot.

It was a good ending to a good night/morning and I was off to jump on a tube home (who needs rush hour traffic!).

I felt just like any ordinary person going to work, apart from being £14k richer and having not slept for 24 hours:)

The joys of being a poker player!!

Xmas Genting Big Game

Super excited about tonight! The Genting Poker Big Game for December is finally here!

And there are only a few superb reasons why you should get invloved:

1. In order to go in line with early Festive celebrations, Genting is donatining half of Reg Fees to the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.

2. Christmas Party with Charlie in her Santa outfit

3. £1000 The Genting Poker Series Package BOUNTY on MY head:-)

4. PLUS! Harrods Christmas Hamper

And is £1100 is a little too steep for you, there is a LIVE £110+£10 TURBO QUALIFIER today at 3:30pm, which I will be playing too!

Look forward to seeing you all there !

P.S. If you are coming along, please bring a little something to be passed on to the kids at the Ormond Street as a Christmas present. Thank you soooo much in advance!

Daiva x

Holiday + Genting Poker Big Game

With a devil built for Diwali celebrations

It’s my first blog I wrote from abroad. I hope you like it!

I am sitting in the lobby of Marriott resort & spa, facing beautiful views over Indian ocean & thinking I’m running pretty good right now;)

I am on holiday in India and we decided to spend the first 6 days in sunny Goa. We have been enjoying it’s beautiful beaches as well as fun preparations for Diwali celebrations;  these included local people gathering in front of the paper mache Devils displayed round the region before burning them all at 5am.

Weirdly the music of choice for dancing in front of the devils as tall as 7 metres was not something from Bollywood, but good old house music!

A couple of nights after Diwali we decided to check out the local casinos.  Goa has 12 floating casinos which are located on big river boats on the Mandovi river.

Each of them have a shuttle boat which takes you to the main ‘casino’. Of course there was no poker, so I had to make do with 3-card poker. The fun is taken away somewhat when you can’t bluff your hand….

Genting Poker Big Game

This talk of poker segues nicely to just over a couple of weeks ago and my last live poker game. I’d swung by the Fox Club on Monday as they run a qualifier to the Big Game.

The UK’s most popular monthly high stakes tournament has recently moved to the Fox Poker Club from its previous home- The Palm Beach Casino in Mayfair.

This one day event can offer a prize of up to £30k for the winner, so well worth trying to get involved! There are £25 qualifiers running on GentingPoker every Wednesday and a monthly £110 live satellite on the day of the Big Game, which I played just before my hols.

There were nearly 4 seats generated for the November game and I was happy to bag one of those with a little money added after a 4 way split of the cash.

I was thinking of earning some extra ‘spa cash’ for Goa but the Indian Poker Gods can be just as mean as the rest!

There was quality throughout the field as always including Joe Beevers, Jerome Bradpiece, Mickey Petersen and the eventual winner of the November Big Game- Luke Schwartz.

Even the PokerStars crew were in the house, who were following Mickey Petersen in action  for a poker documentary.  I wonder if I have made TV?;)

Also there was a friendly regular – Paul Seaton – the brains of PokerDeck who was providing all updates on the Big Game. It was a great atmosphere in the club all around and I was feeling comfortable.

On a feature table

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the best start and only a few hands into the game I lost half of my starting stack (18k) with a set versus rivered straight.

I was happy to build back up to over 20k and was focused on continuing to build a stack as only 5 places were paying, so you would need chips and some run good too!

With around 24 players left I was on around 24k when the following hand unfolded- I was on the big blind when the button opened for 3k. I had picked up AQ suited so was planning on coming back over the top.

Before this however, Jerome Bradpiece ( fresh from his fantastic WPT success) in the small blind re-shipped for 30k.

I thought it highly unlikely he is doing this with a monster and knew his range could be pretty wide for a re-ship here. I decided that the worse case scenario it would be a race, or I could be in even better shape, so I made the call.

After the button raiser got out of the way, Jerome flipped over KJ off so I was pretty happy. The flop was a blank and the turn ok too. The river brought a queen, but made the straight with 9,10 on the board already, grrrr!

Christmas Special – Genting Poker Grand Final

It wasn’t to be on this occasion, but I’m very excited about the Big Game coming up on the 3rd of December- it should be a Christmas cracker so to speak.

This is going to be part of the week long Genting Poker Series Grand Final Festival which also includes a £5k High Roller and the £1500 GPS Main Event.

Genting are kindly donating half the registration fees to Great Ormond Street so it is a chance to play in a star studded field and help a worthwhile charity.

If all this wasn’t enough to whet your appetite for the Big Game, then the fact there will be a bounty on the head of Gary Oakes ( Head of Genting Poker) of a £1,000 package to a leg of the Genting Poker Series 2013 and a luxury Christmas hamper too should help tempt you down;)

It is going to be a fantastic event and I really can’t wait to participate in it. Hope to see you there x

About The Event
Monday 3^rd December 7pm

·         £1000+£80* No Limit Hold’em Freezeout

·         15,000 chips and 30 minute clock

·         Hosted at the Fox Poker Club, Shaftesbury Avenue

Satellite will run on Monday 3rd December 3.30pm at the Fox

English Poker Open

The English Poker Open was going to be the biggest buy in tournament (£2000+180) in my professional poker career so far.

I was extremely excited about the potential to win a fantastic pay out and trophy but at the same time I was a little impatient to get playing  with so many world class poker players, if only so I could relax a little and play away those pre-game nerves.

EPO Welcome Party the night before was a great opportunity to meet my competition and have a little fun before a hard day’s work;)

It was held at HMS President -the same venue as the British Poker Awards- just on the other side of the boat and super convenient when skipping between parties:))

I had a great night socialising & making new friends whilst taking advantage of free champagne & tasty seafood canapes. Despite all fun I made an effort to get home just before midnight, so I could have enough rest and beauty sleep before the big day the following morning;)

I was wide awake at 9am next morning and didn’t like it! I never get up before 12pm unless I put my alarm on, so being up so early meant only one thing for me – excitement:)) Oh, well, at least I had enough time to get ready!

I made it to the Fox before time and very quickly realised that EPO day 1a was going to attract the toughest field of the two days. To name only a few- James Akenhead, Praz Bansi, Chris Bjorin, Neil Channing, Sam Trickett, Toby Lewis, Craig McCorkell and the previous EPO winner –  Fabian Quoss were there ready to battle.

I also felt a little under the weather ( I hadn’t had That much champagne), and I decided to go with my gut feeling and play day 1b instead. It also gave the advantage of watching unknown players on the live stream and the chance to get an overall feeling for the tournament before playing.

Suriner Sunar – finished 3rd for £35,880

I woke up Wednesday morning feeling confident and ready to go and was hoping for a good seat draw whilst making my way to the Fox Poker Club.

My starting table was as good as it gets in a £2000 buy in tourney and included a good mix of recreational players and some serious pros; Ian Woodley, Simon Deadman, Dani Sauva, Andy Efstathiou, Simon Trumper and Surinder Sunar seated to my immediate left – which was not ideal but manageable;)

A couple of orbits in and I won my first decent pot with the nut flush v second best and was starting to get a little momentum going. I took my time to profile the players and was happy with my individual strategies applied to them.

It was all going well and after two levels in I have increased my starting stack of 25k to 31k. I was pretty happy with my starting table as nobody was playing out of line and deep structure in place (1 hour clock) ensured that there was lots of play and opportunity to wait for some favourable spots.

I was ticking along nicely by picking up some small pots and made it to the dinner break with well above average stack.

A mini walk in Soho, some Vietnamese and a tasty glass of wine was a nice way to spend the break and I was all refreshed and ready to battle further on the feature table next.

On the feature table!

Once I have been moved to a new table, everything started going wrong!

I lost my first chunk of chips when 4betting light against a frequent raiser and having to fold to a shove all in (guy happened to have AA of course!).

Then I had another nightmare pot, where I folded a set of Aces on a A,3,4,5,6 board when Simon Deadman overbet- shoved the pot on the river. I was pretty confident about the strength of my hand till that moment, as by shoving on the river he is very much polarising his range – either straight or bluff.  It left me with an agonising decision.

Although I know Simon is capable of bluffing in that spot, I didn’t feel he was doing it then. I was watching him play all day and he wasn’t playing his usual loose aggressive style and was  rather cautious with his chips.

Also watching him whilst seeking for some live tells, he came across very confident whilst waiting for my decision. Based on this and that fact that I still had a decent stack if I mucked my cards, -I folded.

It happened to be the wrong decision, as Simon had a set of 5s. I was talking to him later and he said that he totally miscounted my stack, he thought I had much less and was already committed to the pot, hence that’s why he shoved the river. He’d put me on AK and was hoping for a call- no wonder he looked confident.

In retrospect I should have called, even without the benefit of hindsight. Unfortunately in tournaments you don’t always make the exact right decisions, especially when you have a particular gut feeling one way. I’ll be on the other side of a correct fold in the future I’m sure, but a good learning process none the less.

I was still in ok shape with 17k and an average of 28k, but wasn’t having much luck with the premium starting hands or hitting some flops when required.

I had to fold the river with top pair 99 when Roberto Romanello made his up and down straight and shoved on my river bet. I finally got a break though when somewhat lower with  a double up versus Roberto and this put a  smile back on my face;)

I made it through to day 2 as a shortie -with 15bb and in need of one double up to have any chance of a  deep run. Unfortunately it was not meant to be as unbelievably, given the table dynamics and my short stack, I did not get any action with my AK, KK and then lost the required flip with 88 v  the AK of Paul Jackson.

Overall I was happy with my play, apart from the AA hand which is just another one of those things as you continue to strive to improve your game.

I certainly felt confident in the company of EPT winners on my table and as always came away with valuable experience. There are fine margins between  good poker players and great ones, and it is those margins I’m continually looking to find.  On to the next one… 🙂

The British Poker Awards

I haven’t participated in any kind of awards ceremony before, I was very much looking forward to experiencing what it’s like walking down a red carpet, rubbing shoulders with (poker) stars and listening to ‘amazing’ “thank you” speeches:)

I was supporting Genting of course and I was very proud to be a part of the company & it’s team which has been nominated in a number of significant categories:

1. Best UK Poker Tournament (Genting Poker Series @ Fox Poker Club)

2. Best Card Room Restaurant ( Palm Beach Casino)

3. Best Card Room Bar (Palm Beach Casino)

4. Biggest Contribution to Growing & Promoting Poker (Gary Oakes & Kevin Proctor)

Perhaps the most anticipated & talked about category of the British Poker Awards 2012, was the newly introduced – “The Biggest Contributor to Growing & Promoting Poker” award and I was really hoping we could pick this one up.

with Gary Oakes

Gary Oakes is a top chap and  he is one of the hardest working, devoted and nicest guys in the Poker industry.

He has been doing his upmost over the last year to promote tournament poker and to create great value & superb experience games to the players.

This has been done via introduction of the Genting Poker Series & improving the facilities of a number of Genting Clubs as well as joining forces with the Hendon Mob Forum.

I really felt he deserved winning this award the most!

Anyway, back to the ceremony:)

So hair, make-up and the evening dress sorted and I was heading to the prestigious yacht H.M.S. President moored on the North bank of the River Thames.

The venue itself and the views from the boat were spectacular. We were lucky with the weather too; it was a sunny day and perfect for pre-ceremony drinks & canapes on the deck. I think the biggest surprise of the night, at least for me, was a live entertainment by the Palm Beach band!

The Palm Beach Band in action;)

The group was made of the Palm Beach Poker Club room manager, card room supervisor and two waitresses – who could have know about this awesome hidden talent!

They were great and provided an extra level of entertainment.

A few drinks & songs later we were heading downstairs to one of the conference rooms to find out the winners of the British Poker Awards 2012.

It was a good start for us when Genting’s partner in poker Hendon Mob picked up the first award of the night for the “Best Poker Forum”. Barny Boatman was the one to claim the trophy and seemed very proud & grateful! WD HM!

The “Best Card Room Bar” nomination came next and we were cheering loud for the Palm Beach Casino, who were announced as the winners. Without being biased, I honestly can’t think of a more stunning casino bar in the UK, where you can have amazing cocktails 24/7 served by friendly & gorgeous waitresses:) This is a fact!

Palm Beach Casino Bar

Sam Trickett was the star of the night. He picked up a well deserved 3 awards – best cash games player, best tournament player & player of the year.

There is no doubt he had a tremendous 12 months, winning over $10mil & doing the UK poker community proud.

Hopefully he can add a WSOP bracelet to his winnings next.

I was holding my breath when the winner of the “Biggest Contribution to Growing & Promoting Poker” was read….Gary was sitting next to me and he was not moving either…one time!!?

It was not meant to be this year. Kirsty Thompson (known as the mother of UKIPT) came on the top. I am very happy for Kirsty and I think she has done a splendid job in terms of UKIPT’s success.

However, I was very much gutted for Genting and its team to have not won more:(

Hey ho, there is always next year and I’m sure that this has given us even more motivation and determination to do better. I am confident that the Genting Poker Series is going to go from strength to strength and are going to seriously challenge it’s competition.

Once the awards ceremony was over, we were off to the party room to celebrate the winners. It was a very well organised & fun event and a big thank you goes to the Bluff Europe crew for making this event a huge success.

Me?!:)

I took advantage of the free bar and subsequently enjoying meeting new interesting people and catching up with the old mates. I even had the pleasure of getting a caricature done.

I’ll let you be the judge of whether this looks like me.

They had a great Dj too and there was a huge dance floor to take care of, so as you can guess, I spend most of the night dancing away.

I eventually dragged myself home to get some kip, with the English Poker Open starting the next couple of days- but that is another blog coming soon….

Daiva x

Genting Poker Series Leg 4 Stoke

So far the Genting Poker Series 2012 has been going from strength to strength and the £400+£30 Main Event has proved to be one of the best poker tournaments in the UK attracting not only local stars such as James Akenhead & Paul Jackson but players from all over the Europe.

James Akenhead

I was extremely happy to find that there were 4 Lithuanian poker players making their way to Genting Club in Stoke too!

A juicy final prizepool of £192,800 with over 40k for the winner for 3 day’s  work meant that both amateur and professional poker players had flocked in droves to the Potteries.

My plan for this was pretty simple. I was going to arrive in Stoke on Thursday and play £109 side event as a warm up ( which I busted halfway) before entering the Main Event day 1b on Friday.

Having ran the last couple of weeks +EV even outside poker ( including when my Olympic Tickets for Basketball turned out to be for a Lithuanian v Algeria game:) I was hoping to continue my run good on table 10 – seat 3.

The most recognisable players on my starting table included a professional poker player – Charalambos Xanthos, better known as “Bambos” and the local hero – Yucel Eminoglu “Mad Turk”, who ended up winning the tournament.

I had a decent start and after two levels I had increased my 25k starting stack to  40k with no showdowns but one gutsy 6-bet:) I was feeling confident!

I used my first break to meet & greet the 4 fellow Lithuanian players and have a good laugh whilst talking poker.

The club was buzzing with excitement and anticipation and with the big screens showing Olympic games, we have decided to get our competitive juices flowing even faster by arranging a last longest bet between us.

At my starting table

I was back to my starting table not only more refreshed but determined to win this event!

Jessica Ennis had destroyed the field in the Pentathlon field, and I had around 350 left to hurdle in my own quest for gold.

I was hovering around the 35-40k before we lost a few players and Ben Jackson was seated to my immediate left.

Although we represent the same team and are both Genting sponsored players, it didn’t take us long to get involved in a huge pot, where I lost nearly half of my stack when hitting top 2pair v Ben’s flopped set.

Immediately after I lost another small pot when missing all my draws and went down to my tournament lowest – 14k. I have to admit that at that point, things were not looking up!

Luckily dinner time was approaching and I was due much needed break.

We joined forces with my good mates Lee Atherton, Lee Taylor, Ellie Biessek + Lithuanian team and ended up dinning in the Italian Restaurant just round the corner. Some tasty pasta carbonara & a glass of wine sorted me out just right and I was back to my table still full of confidence.

A little bit of yo-yo and aggression and I was back to a healthy 40k before being moved to the feature table:)

It was all going well and I was steadily increasing my stack whilst looking for opportunities to see cheap flops and take down uncontested pots post flop. I even won my first showdown of the day when getting it all in with AK v shortie’s QQ.

Up & Down

It was approaching the last level of the night and I was up to 60k, when I raised on the button once again with pocket 10s. BB looked at his hand quickly re-shoved all in for 25BB – which was for around half my stack.

It was a pretty standard play by my opponent and a call from me considering the dynamics of the table and the stage of the tournament.

My opponent showed Q6 and was good when rivered a Q and I was back to grinding mode once again for the last hour. Sigh…

It wasn’t easy but I ended up making it through to day 2 with a little below the average stack and was looking forward to another day of poker.

Saturday saw 147 players making it back to the Genting Club to battle further. 42 got paid, but most importantly, only one was guaranteed the trophy +glory + 40k! I was hoping it was going to be me:)

I had a decent table draw and was looking forward to winning some pots. The premium hands never came, so I had to be creative. I managed to grind up to 110k (Avg 150k) with 80 players left, before doubling up when 4-betting all in with 33 and winning v AQ.

At that point I was in a pretty decent position approaching the bubble and was eager to use my new found stack to make even more chips.

Day 2

No such luck tho! Shortly after the 33 hand I was moved to a new table and lost half of my stack to Ross Boatman, with set over set! Double sigh!

I was back to grinding again and with the tournament chip leader & probably one of the most dangerous players left – Steve Warburton – to my right, it was never going to be easy. My strategy was all about playing well and picking the right players.

I was back to average with 53 players left. I was almost smoothly into the money, although I regret losing 25% of my stack with medium pocket pair when fighting back v table captain on my new table – Simon Deadman- just right on the bubble. Oh well, good lesson I guess.

I ended up busting in 32nd when losing a big flip with AQ v Simon’s JJ. Was gutted not to go deeper but still very happy with my overall performance, considering how many time I had to built back with no premium hands or easy double ups.

As always in a deep field tournament, you need to survive the beats and win the flips to make the final table.

It was a fantastic atmosphere in the club, and although it was nearly midnight, the place was buzzing with poker players. I ended up having a few glasses of wine and catching up with everyone as well as railing a Lithuanian player  – Marius Usas, who ended up chopping the £55 GPS side event.

And despite the eating and drinking being the antithesis of athletics, everyone was really into Team GBs awesome night at the Olympic stadium.

Ross Boatman – Stoke Anniversary Cup Winner

Sunday was another day and we were back to the casino for the famous Stoke Anniversary Cup, which has 6k added to the prizepool!

It was another extremely well attended tournament, which created £64k prize pool and provided 3 trophies up for grabs!

Not bad for a £150 buy in on a Sunday! I’d cashed in this last year, and was looking forward to trying to go deep again.

Unfortunately I didn’t go far in this tournament and after a few key pots didn’t land my way, I had my coat on and was heading back to London hoping to make the 100m.

Despite this I had an amazing weekend in Stoke. Met some great people and had an opportunity to catch up with some old poker buddies & happy to add yet another cash to my Hendon Mob player profile.

A huge thank you to all the GPS Leg4 organisers and contributors & congratulations on the success of another great event! The next GPS leg is Online, 30th September and I look forward to seeing you all at the tables:)