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JANUARY Vol 104 £2.95
2013
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Review of the year!
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01/14 CONTENTS
THis month… www.pokerplayer.co.uk
What a year!
THE PLAYERS editor Ross Jarvis pokerplayer@plyp.co.uk
2013 is in the bag and what a great year for poker it has been. At the tables we’ve seen the second coming of Daniel Negreanu as the best tournament player in the world and a new world champion in Ryan Riess who isn’t afraid to speak his mind and ruffle a few feathers. It’s been just as eventful behind the scenes too, with America creeping back into the online scene and the spectacular International Stadiums Poker Tour event beating all the odds just to take place. All of these stories feature in our inaugural awards issue, but which were deemed good enough to take home one of the coveted trophies? Turn to p20 to find out! One man who has won plenty of awards in the past is Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, and I was surprised to see the UK legend was a more humble, mature ‘Fish than I last met years ago. You can meet him Editor Ross ion on p30. act in vis Jar It’s been a historic year at PokerPlayer too, as we celebrated our 100th issue and a seventh year as the UK’s biggest-selling poker magazine. It’s been a blast as Editor and I can assure you we will be taking things to a whole new level in 2014! Stay tuned for more details on that and thank you from everyone at PokerPlayer for your continued support. All that’s left is to wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and, most importantly, lots of run good in 2014!
editorial director Dave Woods dave.woods@plyp.co.uk art director Marc Southey Production editor Scott Skinner Online editor Nick Pryce THE hustlers Roberto Romanello, Karl Mahrenholz, Matthew Doran, Sam Grafton, CardRunners.com, Jamie Burland, Patrick Leonard, Steve Hill, Simon Hemsworth, Julian Rogers, Doug Hull Advertising
Tim Farthing 020 7092 6955 07939 106213 tim.farthing@plyp.co.uk Subscriptions
Ross Jarvis editor
Contact: 0870 444 8634 subscribe.pokerplayermagazine.co.uk people like you Publishing
Dave woods editorial director
Nick PRYCE online editor
marc southey art director
Becoming the new Online Editor for PokerPlayer has capped off a great 2013 for me after another solid winning year at the tables. My New Year plans are to add to that profit in between providing you guys at home with an ever improving PokerPlayer.co.uk site. We’re working hard on it and I hope it’s as fun to read as it is to write!
So another year is over and, while I may not be able to retire with my poker winnings just yet, I do feel as though my game has come on leaps and bounds in 2013. It’s hard not to though when we feature so many brilliant players in the magazine. 2013 has been the year of Daniel Negreanu for me – I wonder who will step up in 2014 to take his crown?
Publisher Tim Farthing executive publisher Bill Rusling
It’s been a cracking 2013 for poker and after binking a trophy at the PPUKT in Leeds I decided it was time to test my game against the best. So, I took on PokerSnowie, the AI coaching tool that even Jungleman struggled to beat. Let’s just say it didn’t go so well. It’s taught me that I’ve still got a lot to learn if I want to win any more trophies!
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4 POKERPLAYER www.gambleaware.co.uk
editorial director Dave Woods Printed by headley Distribution by Seymour Distribution 020 7396 8000 POKERPLAYER is published monthly by People Like You Publishing (Gibraltar) Ltd, 3.3 Waterport Place, 2 Europort Avenue Gibraltar. Entire contents © People Like You Publishing (Gibraltar) Ltd.
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contents 8 poker news All the action from the GUKPT Grand Final
20
Who’ll be the winners and losers at the PokerPlayer Awards 2013
10 poker in the uk Karl Mahrenholz picks out UK poker’s brightest moments of 2013
48 tough spots Simon Hemsworth on the toughest spots that crop up in online MTTs
14 best of the web The top videos, blogs and forum posts this month
50 six in the city The ultimate guide to playing in live six-max tournaments
16 PPUKT GRand final The Vic was a fitting venue for the Grand Final of the UK’s best low-stakes tour
52 Your call A tough decision from a recent UKIPT main event. Can you get it right to win the prize?
20 The Pokerplayer awards 2013 The inaugural PokerPlayer awards looks back on an incredible year of poker
52 the daily grind Sam Grafton almost does the double at the GUKPT
COVER: LINDA DOUNG
26 sofia Lövgren The first lady of Team PKR on her burgeoning career
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30 devil knows best The inimitable Devilfish on his life, career and recent return to form
54 in the tank Roberto Romanello solves your poker dilemmas 56 Any given sunday Jamie Burland on why some tourneys don’t take off
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Devilfish is back and means business
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40 find your target Find out how to crush live cash games in this extract from Doug Hull’s book Poker Plays You Can Use 44 cardrunners: the perfect three-bet Matt Doran explains his four rules to successful three-bet bluffing preflop
12 UKIPT Nottingham Online stars flock to Dusk Till Dawn’s first-ever six-max UKIPT main event
34 How I Won: Daniel Negreanu Kid Poker relives winning the 2013 WSOP AsiaPacific main event
Strategy
Identify your cash game target
57 gpi rankings The best players in the world this month
ONLINE Check out our new-look website www.pokerplayer.co.uk
see page 19 for more details January 2014 POKERPLAYER 5
SHUFFLE NEWS
VIEWS
GOSSIP
A grand old time
Allen battled back from eight big blinds to win
The GUKPT season ends in style as a huge field battles in the grand final After seven seasons in the spotlight, the UK’s first major poker tour is still going strong. The Grand Final of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour attracted a very healthy 294 players (including 32 re-entries) to the Grosvenor Victoria casino in late November to play for a £587,300 prize pool. After some disappointing numbers this season the GUKPT has rebounded in season seven with excellent field sizes here, in Manchester and at the Goliath in Coventry, which attracted 1,822 players. Clearly, the GUKPT name is still a drawing card, especially when it hits the big cities. They don’t get any bigger than London and the Grand Final though, which has a higher £2,000+£125 buy-in than the rest of the tour. Great players including Mike Ellis, Fabian Quoss and Sam Grafton have won it and, with 13 players returning for the final day, a major story was developing…
Fried squid PokerPlayer columnist Sam ‘TheSquid’ Grafton was the defending
r: Cockney chee Would you Adam and Eve it?
champion from 2012 and, remarkably, the chip leader with two tables remaining. Unfortunately the lovable MTT specialist Grafton endured a nightmare day – see p52 for more details – and was eliminated in 11th place when his pocket Kings were busted by Matt Davenport’s A-T. After Grafton left with his £7,400 consolation prize the battle for the title was well and truly on. Kevin Allen was one who looked unlikely to end up a winner. At the start of the day Allen had just eight big blinds but a series of double-ups got the East Londoner back in the game. And, in yet another example of the importance of a chip and a chair Allen soon found himself three-handed with Rudolf Fourie and the ultra-aggressive Matt Davenport. After one more double Allen was now chip leader and ousted Davenport in third when his A♥-K♥ held up versus 9♦-7♥. All the momentum was with Allen and, after a heads-up match that he dominated, all the chips went in with Allen holding K♦-Q♦ against Fourie’s J♠-8♠. The 5♦-7♠-9♠4♣-3♥ board gave Allen £158,700 and the 2013 GUKPT Grand Final title. Allen has had a great year with this win and a £120k win at Dusk Till Dawn’s Monte Carlo tournament in April. It’s always great to see one of the good guys winning, and the re-emergence of the GUKPT as a real force in UK poker can only be a good thing too. With the UKIPT continuing to push boundaries (see p12), world class venues such as Aspers and Dusk Till Dawn doing a great job and much more, it’s clear UK poker is in a healthy position heading into 2014.
GUKPT Grand Final
Buy-in: £2,000 + £125 Prizepool: £587,300 Entries: 294 (including re-entries)
FINAL TABLE 1. Kevin Allen £158,700 2. Rudolf Fourie £105,800 3. Matthew Davenport £70,600 4. Ben Jackson £41,200 5. Scott Margereson £31,700 6. Richard Kellett £25,900 7. Thomas Bichon £20,000 8. William Kassouf £15,600 9. Pratik Ghatge £11,100
The NUTS
The PPUKT returns!
20 14
The best low-stakes tour in the UK will be making a grand return in 2014 The dust has barely settled on the PPUKT Grand Final (see p16) and we are already excitedly planning the 2014 PokerPlayer UK Tour. The good news is that next year’s edition looks set to be better than ever. We will have bigger prizes, more events, exciting ways to satellite in and some brand new locations to make sure that nobody has to miss out. Stay tuned next month for full details in PokerPlayer!
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Bye bye Europe The WSOPE goes on a one-year hiatus The WSOP has announced that, starting in 2014, the World Series of Poker Europe will only run once every two years, rotating with its Australasian equivalent, the WSOP Asia-Pacific. The second WSOP APAC will start in October 2014 in Melbourne, with ten bracelet events. The 2013 WSOPE drew disappointing numbers and many players were unhappy with the quiet Enghien-les-Bains venue, which is on the outskirts of Paris. So far no details have been released for the 2015 WSOPE.
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Can’t Mizzi this one PartyPoker Premier League VII winner Canadian pro Sorel Mizzi has won the latest season of popular TV show PartyPoker Premier League. The event is an invite-only series of sit-and-gos with a $125k buy-in. The players with the most points from the heats progress to the final table, where Mizzi defeated players such as Vanessa Selbst, Jonathan Duhamel and Antonio Esfandiari to claim the prestigious title. The event will be televised in the UK in 2014.
3
Join us in 2014 at the PokerPlayer UK Tou r
King of my own castle The latest Black Belt Poker Live event has a very familiar winner
Black Belt Poker founder Neil Channing took food from his own family this month by winning the site’s latest live event in Newcastle. The UK poker legend outlasted 65 runners in the £200 tournament to take home the £3,600 first prize and once more prove his black belt credentials.
5
Channing cheer: What a belter!
Super Stars Celebrate Christmas in style on Pokerstars PokerStars were in the giving spirit this Christmas with their December Festival, a series of MTTs with $27 million in total to be won. The craziest event of the month was a special Sunday Million on December 8, with a guaranteed $5m prizepool! An incredible 26,925 runners bought in for $215 and, after fifteen hours of play, Irish pro Shaun ‘sincinaty118’ Hegarty won it for $422k, to ensure a very happy Christmas for the Hegarty family.
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January 2014 POKERPLAYER 9
THE Grand Final
The final chapter London’s Vic casino was a fitting host for the PPUKT Grand Final – and it lived up to expectations. Julian Rogers reports…
A
fter criss-crossing England and Wales, the PokerPlayer UK Tour touched down at Edgware Road’s iconic Vic casino for the eagerly anticipated Grand Final and two days of deepstacked poker. A superb turnout of 177 players (including re-entries) ponied up the £165 buy-in, creating a meaty prize pool of £26,550 and the best part of eight large ones up top. Bring it on! Before kickoff, anticipation hung in the air of the spacious card room as players patiently waited for the clock to strike 2pm. Team PokerPlayer was ensconced in the bar, where relaxed editorial director Dave Woods was demolishing a plateful of eggs Benedict. ‘It’s the fuel of champions,’ the Leeds PPUKT champion confidently
16 POKERPLAYER www.gambleaware.co.uk
declared. Nearby, publisher Tim Farthing was busy running through his obligatory warm-up routine: Amstel to lips. Swig, repeat. His odds of winning this were lengthening with every gulp.
Double death With starting stacks of 10k and 40-minute levels, there was no need for players to make any rash moves. However, a gung-ho Farthing inexplicably blew all his chips in double-quick fashion, which meant he had to traipse to the in-house cash machine to withdraw another £165. While Farthing may lack in
skill and experience, he is world class when it comes to enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Dave Woods was ignoring one of poker’s ten commandments: ‘Thou shalt not slow play flopped trip Kings.’ Unfortunately for PokerPlayer’s head honcho, the table bully ended up rivering a full house, decimating our man’s stack. Then with just 10BBs remaining, Woods peered down at 8-8 and slid his puny stack across the line. Frustratingly, his two snowmen melted into mush when his opponent’s Q-4 hit an unlikely runnerrunner flush. Shucks! Across the room, editor Ross Jarvis wore the steely glare
Woods’s snowmen melted into mush when his opponent’s Q-4 hit a runnerrunner flush
www.pokerplayer.co.uk
ing The last ten stand al table fin the for e par pre
The dapper Henry Nowakowsky put the hoodie generation to shame
You can’t beat the sight of a healthy sta ck
of a man determined to make amends for a string of forgettable PPUKT outings this season. And after getting off to a solid start, he was able to use his studious reads gathered on his opponents to claw in some juicy pots with a combination of big hands and ballsy bluffs. He even managed to KO ex-PokerPlayer editor and pal Mark Stuart. Farthing, on the other hand, was perpetually nursing a short stack. That was until the inevitable happened – he busted out for the second time. But even though he’d burned through £330 in one short afternoon, he cheerfully dived into a £1/£2 cash game and found himself flanked by two card sharks holding £3,000 between them. You had to admire his heart.
Mark Gray, darted into the poker room to discover his 22k stack had dwindled to 17k
Editor Jarvis was still running hot and mercilessly piling on the pressure against his opponents whenever he detected weakness. When play was finally halted for the day, he was the runaway chip leader with a towering stack of 184k. Could he…?
Bubble bobble Day 2 saw the remaining 24 – including father and son duo Tony and Carl Clifton – continue play in the smart VIP poker room. However, Mark Gray, who misjudged the time it would take to reach the casino by bus, darted into the poker room huffing and puffing to discover his 22k stack had dwindled to 17k. Time to get busy. As the bubble loomed there was tangible tension in the air, and Jarvis was bossing his table. Exploiting the pressure of the £332 bubble, he was picking up blinds with little resistance. ‘I was playing tons more hands than anyone else and nobody was playing back at me,’ he later revealed. Ruben Rubio eventually crashed out on the bubble, followed by a number of participants in rapid succession. We had our final ten.
Jarvis was all smiles in the early stages of Day One
Victor Crespin began the final table as chip leader with 289k, followed by Isaac Wiafe with 285k and our very own Jarvis who added 32k to his 260k stack in the first hand by sending short-stacked Clifton Snr. to the rail. Also among the line-up was Brighton PPUKT finalist Jerome Ho and old school pro Henry Nowakowsky – sporting a blazer and tie – who finished seventh at the 2001 WSOP Main Event! It didn’t take long to lose Damon Davey and Paul Edgington, leaving us with seven contenders. Play continued and Ho later scooped a mammoth 488k pot when his A-K hit the nut flush against Crespin’s A-Q. Crespin’s stack was further eroded when his K-9 shove was called and beaten by Nowakowsky’s A-9. And following a momentary double up courtesy of Jarvis, Crispin was dispatched by Gray, who was ominously shaping up as a serious threat after his public transport tribulations. A card-dead Jarvis sustained a couple of significant dents to his stack, and his luck was out when he jammed for 13BBs with K-Q and was called by Wiafe with A-Q. Alas, the A-Q prevailed and within the blink of an eye, a downbeat Jarvis was out. Next to fall was Nowakowsky, who lost a flip with K-Q against the 8-8 of the gregarious Gokhan Ozbek. However, Ozbek then donated a
January 2014 POKERPLAYER 17
DEAL pokerplayer awards
Player of the year 5
Ryan Riess
Whatever you think of Ryan Riess as a player or a personality, there can be no doubting that winning the WSOP Main Event is still the greatest achievement any poker player can do. ‘The Beast’ fully deserved his $8.3 million win too, playing great poker on the November Nine final table and schooling Jay Farber heads-up. Almost as many headlines were created by his postmatch claim to be, ‘the best player in the world’ as the bracelet win itself. Outspoken pros such as Scott Seiver immediately attacked Riess on Twitter for his claim but, whether he’s right or wrong, PokerPlayer would much rather see a world champion with a bit of swagger than another mute like Jerry Yang or Peter Eastgate. For that reason alone, we hope Riess is not a one hit wonder and stays on the scene to deliver more pipe bombs in the future.
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Philipp Gruissem
The major tours have continued to introduce more super high rollers this year, and they’ve been dominated by Germans. Ole Schemion, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Fabian Quoss and Tobias Reinkemeier have all had great success but the one that stands out is Philipp Gruissem. The 26-year-old has won over $4.6m in live tourneys this year, including a bracelet win in the WSOP APAC $50k high roller and back-to-back victories in two WPT Alpha8 events, each for over $1m. Despite the small fields, these events are filled with world class players. Gruissem will surely be one of the favourites for the $1m Big One for One Drop in 2014.
3
Matt Ashton
The 25-year-old UK pro took this summer’s WSOP by storm, cashing four times in Vegas, all of them final tables, including a runner-up finish to Mike Matusow in a $5k Seven-card Stud event. After buying in to the $50k Poker Player Championship in cash (without a backer) it was clear that the mixed game specialist hadn’t exactly come from nowhere. A big winner online, Ashton incredibly went on to win the Poker Players Championship for $1.77m, beating a tough final table. The bracelet win looked sure to secure him the WSOP Player of the Year title too, until this man came along…
2
World Champ, yes. But best in the world? Riess certainly thinks so
22 POKERPLAYER www.gambleaware.co.uk
Daniel Negreanu
Kid Poker has had a lot of great years in the game but perhaps none better than 2013. First he won the inaugural WSOP APAC main event in Melbourne for over $1m (see p34 for more), before a fourth place finish in the EPT Grand Final main event in one of the most star-studded finals the tour has ever seen. A disappointing summer followed but then came Negreanu’s coup de grace, winning the final event of the Paris WSOPE, the €25k high roller, to snatch the WSOP Player of the Year title from Ashton and win €725k. It was an Oscar-winning performance from a player that openly embraces the spotlight.
www.pokerplayer.co.uk
AND THE WINNER IS….
1
Niklas Heinecker!
Who? Why isn’t Negreanu winning?? Are you mad!? Now, Niklas Heinecker might not be a recognisable name or face to casual poker fans yet but trust us, he soon will be after the stellar year the German has posted in 2013. Across high stakes online cash games and live tournaments Heinecker has won over $10m in the past twelve months, a phenomenal sum that beats out even Main Event champ Ryan Riess’s annual winnings. Heinecker’s major live score was when he won the HK $1m entry GuangDong Asia Millions event in June for $4.45m. However, it’s his consistent online cash game success that has really caught the eye. As of late December Heinecker, playing as ‘ragen70’, is up just under $6m, nearly $3m more than the next contender, Ben Tollerene. To combine incredible live and online results within one year, across both cash games and tournaments, is the true mark of a poker superstar. He may not be as flashy as Negreanu or have a bracelet as blingy as Riess, but when it comes to pure substance Niklas Heinecker is the only possible choice for the 2013 PokerPlayer Player of the Year award.
UK player of the year 3
Kevin Allen
2
Sam Trickett
Family man Kevin Allen has been grinding it out on the UK circuit and in Las Vegas since 2008, but this was his breakthrough year. Allen beat out 504 players to win Dusk Till Dawn’s Monte Carlo tournament in April for £120,000 before bettering that result with a brilliant win in the GUKPT Grand Final at the Vic (see p8) for £158,700.
Considering he won $2.4 million in tournaments it seems strange to say that it has not been the best year for Trickett in recent memory. Despite a disappointing WSOP, where he only cashed once, a $2m victory at the Aussie Millions super high roller and runner-up finish in the Party Poker Premier League kept Trickett’s clock ticking over nicely though. Trickett continues to be the only UK player regularly mixing it up in the biggest live cash games in the world and, with national newspapers writing stories on him and Dusk Till Dawn naming their VIP room in his honour, it’s undisputable that Trickett is the face of UK poker.
excelled in Heinecker has naments cash and tour d live both online an
Heinecker has won over $10m in twelve months, a phenomenal sum
AND THE AWARD GOES TO… Chris Moorman!
1
In an industry that spits up and chews out stars on a regular basis, the longevity of Chris Moorman in the online tournament world is truly remarkable. Since 2006 Moorman has been regarded as one of the best tournament players in the world and this year he reached a unique milestone, becoming the first player to ever win $10m in online MTTs. In November he also recaptured the PocketFives crown as the leading online tournament player in the world, a status that he still holds today.
January 2014 POKERPLAYER 23
DEAL sofia lövgren
but it was actually a big help when I converted to playing live tournaments because it had taught me how to be patient. For the last two years though, I have only played six-max online and at stakes up to $5/$10. PKR made you a Team Pro in 2010. How did that come about as it was still very early in your poker career? When PKR first contacted me I had been playing full time for around one and a half years. I did a few interviews for their magazine Stacked and once they offered me the pro contract I jumped at the chance. I hadn’t even thought about playing in live tournaments before that and I’d never played in Sweden. I had no idea what to expect but it was all very exciting and everyone was so kind when they welcomed me to the team. I was expecting to get a lot of criticism [because I was so new to poker] but everyone in the PKR community is so nice that I didn’t really get any. You’ve always been very media friendly and posed in a lot of photoshoots and been keen to do interviews. Is this a side of the sponsorship that you really enjoy? Yeah, I think it’s really fun. I can’t guarantee to make the cash in every tournament I play due to variance, but I can always guarantee to try to do my best to be a good ambassador for them.
Ian Payne
The talented Swede adds a touch of glamour to the game
28 POKERPLAYER www.gambleaware.co.uk
e Playing th rs in best playe is] the the world [ best way to a improve as player
You’re now playing lots of big live tournaments like EPT main events and high rollers. How are you finding the transition from online poker? I’ve played so much more online but my live game is developing all the time. Also, it’s really nice when you play big tournaments and play against the best players in the world. I think that’s the best way to improve as a poker player. At the recent EPT London £10,000 high roller you were the chip leader late on and eventually finished 16th for £21k. How was that whole experience for you? It was very exciting, the best players in the world are there and you have big starting stacks so there is more room to play and be patient. [The other players knew I hadn’t played a high roller before so] I was expecting them to run over me and play against me more than they did. I felt like I managed at times to play at the same level. I was
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Lövgren in lights Cash game pro Sofia Lövgren talks a good game but can she play well too? Judge for yourself with these videos showcasing her skills 1 Live and in person Sofia stars in this $5/$10 TV cash game featuring EPT champ Vladimir ‘Beyne’ Geshkenbein and PokerPlayer strategy writer Simon Hemsworth WATCH IT! www.tinyurl.com/Sofiacashgame
2 License to own In this hand from a $1/$2 cash game session on PKR.com Sofia displays her excellent hand reading skills WATCH IT! www.tinyurl.com/SofiaonPKR
playing very aggressively but to be honest I thought it was going to be tougher! Did you play any interesting hands? I had a great start in the tournament – very early on I raised with A♠-J♠ and a businessman called. There were two spades, I bet and he called. The turn brought my flush, I bet again and he raised. He’d made the same raise before when he had it so I knew he wasn’t bluffing this time and expected him to have a flush too. I just called and check-raised all-in on the river. He called and then there was a lot of swearing! He said he had a flush too but didn’t show his cards. I also made a very badly timed all-in bluff versus top set! I think I’ll skip that move next time… Which players in the tournament really impressed you? Philipp Gruissem. I was very impressed with his game, but he is crazy! It’s a totally crazy
, I love PKR y they are m ily poker fam it’s and I think be normal to ur loyal to yo family style where he can lose his whole stack and a few minutes later he is chip leader. So where did it all go wrong? Well, I was the chip leader and [the only other female player] Carla Sabini opened. I had pocket Queens but she was folding to three-bets a lot so I decided to just call with my Queens, hoping other people would squeeze. It was a Ten-high flop with two hearts and I check-raised her and we got all the money in. She had A♥-7♥ and hit the
Lövgren was the first female player to become a Team PKR Pro
flush on the river. Maybe I should have played it a different way and secured a final table, but without the river I would have been a huge chip leader going into the final. I was knocked out the next hand. You’ve been very loyal to PKR and have been with them for nearly four years. You’re bound to get offers from bigger sites in the future so what do you think will happen? I love PKR, they are my poker family and I think it’s normal to be loyal to your family. What are your ambitions for 2014? I want to continue to play cash games online and travel around and play live tournaments. Right now I’m living a dream to travel around the world and play poker, it’s what I love. So I hope to continue as long as possible doing that. Me and my boyfriend [fellow poker pro] Luca Moschitta are moving to Malta too. It’s a great place to invest in with a nice climate PP and nice people. It’ll be fun!
January 2014 POKERPLAYER 29
DEAL Daniel negreanu
HOW I WON... Negreanu brought his bracelet haul to five in Australia
The 2013 WSOP Asia-Pacific main event by Daniel Negreanu Daniel Negreanu tells Julian Rogers how he ended his barren WSOP run, and lit the fuse on a sparkling year
U
One thing that makes the WSOP special is you get all the best players there. If you keep having events outside of one place that will cease to be true 34 POKERPLAYER www.gambleaware.co.uk
ntil April of this year, Daniel Negreanu had endured five years of agonising WSOP near misses since scooping his fourth bracelet in a £2,000 limit hold’em event back in 2008. The frustrating wait for that elusive number five was beginning to grind the 39-year-old down. However, bracelets are a bit like buses because in the space of six months Kid Poker has managed to snag not one, but two coveted pieces of lavish wrist wear. The famine has turned into a feast. Most poker mere mortals would be happy with four WSOP crowns. In fact, they’d be ecstatic. Negreanu, however, is a ‘driven human being’ and another title was firmly in his sights as he jetted out for the inaugural WSOP Asia-Pacific main event in Australia, which would award the first ever bracelet in the Southern Hemisphere. Making use of his famous small-ball style and speech play skills the Canuck blasted his way past 400 runners to bag $1 million and a fifth bracelet. The long-overdue achievement put him in the same company as John Juanda, Allen Cunningham, Scotty Nguyen and Stu Ungar. That was until he took down his sixth title in the WSOPE High Roller in Paris in October, which also landed him his second WSOP Player of the Year title. Here’s how he overcame his WSOP drought – and why he’s still a match for any of today’s gung-ho young pros…
Marks, set, GO Daniel Negreanu: I love Australia so as soon as I heard the WSOP was going there I
jumped at the chance of chasing a bracelet and starting off the Player of the Year race there. There’s a lot of debate about whether we are diluting the WSOP bracelets, however we are at a place now where we have a spring, summer and a fall. I think it’s important to not stretch further than that. We have five events in Australia and seven in Paris and that’s about as far as you want to go with it. One thing that makes the WSOP special is you get all the best players there. If you keep having events that are outside of one place then that will cease to be true. Australia is a little bit of a throwback. In the US we are used to a certain calibre of tournament and it’s a little weaker than that, so this was a good value competition. I played the mixed-game tournament and came fourth, which helped build my confidence going into the main event.
Great expectations I was feeling great at the time – flying high and very confident. I had just finished an emotional intelligence course, which really got me in touch with being perceptive of others. But, of course, I put pressure on myself for every event that I play. I even put pressure on myself when I’m at the gym, learning Spanish or reading a book. I’m a driven human being and I want to excel at everything I do. I wouldn’t play poker if I didn’t think I could be one of the best. Day 1 is the most mentally tough for me and I just try not to go broke. I don’t
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I’m a driven human being and I want to excel at everything I do. I wouldn’t play poker if I didn’t think I could be one of the best
January 2014 POKERPLAYER 35
STRATEGY book extract
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Identify your target! Find out how to crush live cash games in this exclusive extract from Doug Hull’s new book Poker Plays You Can Use It’s crucial in poker to play the player. Most poker players make systematic, predictable errors that can be exploited by those who are paying attention and are willing to pull the trigger when needed. One of the concepts that changed how I think about poker is that not all bluffs need to tell a story. I am not always representing something specific when I bet. I am betting because the Villain’s range is weak and I think he will fold often enough for it to be profitable. Many Villains are not thinking beyond their own cards. Other times you are representing a hand to a thinking opponent, and then that story needs to be coherent. Another concept that changed how I think about poker is that just because you likely have the best hand on the flop, it does not follow that you should start to build a pot. Some hands are destined to be bluff catchers by the river and should be played as such. You need to protect your stack, not your hand. I’m going to show you two examples from live cash game poker that illustrate how to bluff or get value purely from playing the player.
Bluffing an aggressive LAG
Just because you likely have the best hand on the flop, it does not follow that you should build a pot
Game: $2/$5 at Foxwoods Casino Your hand: A♣-Q♣ Difficulty level: ★ Action: A LAG internet kid raises under the gun to $25. We call with A♣-Q♣. While he never said a word at the table, this player was generally ticking off the table by listening to loud music through his headphones, constantly threebetting preflop and giving off an arrogant vibe. I had seen him opening pretty light, even UTG with hands like K-J and A-5 suited. This player was opening many pots for a raise, and betting so often that he must frequently have a weak hand. Because of this, we are ahead of his
range, even his UTG opening range. We might even have him dominated with a better Ace. Lots of frustrated opponents would be tempted to raise here to stand up to the bully. We are ahead, so we should raise. Right? No. Resist this temptation. Although we have position and the chance to isolate, we should just call instead. We do this because we know something about his hand, but all he will know about ours is that we choose to play. Good LAGs know they have a weak range, so when people stand up to them they are safe to fold. Good LAGs can thrive because their opponents do not hide information well. Betting into the LAG when you have a hand tells him he should fold. When people passively call January 2014 POKERPLAYER 41
STRATEGY book extract
them, they are more in the dark. When faced with this passivity they tend to bet predictably. Their victims fold often enough that the strategy works. When we give minimal information by calling, we start creating an information deficit. His predictable error is that he tends to barrel into opponents, trying to get them to fold. If we hit top pair top kicker or an Ace we can profitably call down three streets. We know the error he tends to make and we want to set up situations where he is likely to make that error.
Raisey daisy The board: T♠-6♥-2♣ Pot size: $57 Action: LAG internet kid bets $50. We raise to $200 with A-Q. LAG internet kid folds and we win the pot. Since we believe the Villain bets nearly 100% of his range here, his bet does not carry any information. If we just fold, that plays into his game plan. He bets so often because most flops miss most hands. When ABC players miss, they fold to his bet. On the rare occasion that his opponents hit a flop, he can just fold to aggression. He wins enough small pots to make this strategy profitable. We are not going to fold, yet all we have is a bluff catcher. We cannot call with the hopes of catching a pair or folding to a bet on the turn. If we want this pot, we might have to fight for it. That often means bluffing when the showdown value of our Ace high is not going to be enough so we should raise. Think to ourselves, 'What would a typical bad recreational player do here with a great hand like a set?' They would do exactly the wrong thing and stand up to the bully, giving him the information he needs to make a good fold. So that is what we do: raise it up. We threaten a second barrel of the bluff with a turn shove. We can also think from the LAG’s perspective. When he gets raised big like this what does he think we have? People very rarely make cold bluffs like this, and there are no big draws to be betting out with. Sets and big over pairs are the most likely holdings. This also uses a concept known as leverage. When a bet on one
street implies an even bigger bet on the next street, you get to threaten the all-in amount while only risking the smaller amount. He open folded A♥-T♥.
How we folded out a monster As he folded, he said, 'I do not want to stack off with just top pair to your set.' Notice he specifically says he does not want to stack off. He thought we were going to shove the turn. We got $565 worth of fold-equity while only risking $200. That is leverage in action. Notice also the bet sizing. We made a strong bet. I see many people bluff at the pot for too small amounts because they are afraid to risk more than that. The problem is the smaller raise is not very effective, so it loses money because it will get called too often. The smaller amount is actually the riskier bluff. I was surprised to see he was so strong there. I would not have tried to take him off that kind of hand had I known. Playing backwards worked well, he put me on exactly the hand I was hoping he would. LAGs have come to learn that kind of resistance is a big hand, so I used that to my advantage. Notice that we switched gears. We started slowplaying preflop. Normally this is bad, but against a LAG, this play works well. When we missed the flop we needed to switch gears. We started bluffing when we had nothing even though the original plan was to call if we connected with the flop. This might seem like a shocking move, firing in a $200 bet with nothing. But this is not reckless aggression – it is calculated. Look at how we folded out a hand that really hit this board. As far as flopping a pair goes, this was a perfect board for his A-T suited. Even so, he found a fold because this move looked so strong. Every other time this has been done to him, he was against a better hand. We are mimicking the play of ABC players that hit a big hand to get a fold when we want one. This play was specific for this kind of loose aggressive player. He is smart enough to read hands and thinks that players only play back at him when they hit. Doing this to a nit would be a very bad plan.
Firing in a $200 bet with nothing is not reckless aggression – it is calculated
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The importance of listening Game: $2/$5 at Playground Poker Club Your hand: J♥-J♣ Difficulty level: ★★★ Action: A bad, recreational player limps in the hijack and we raise to $25 with J-J. The hijack calls. The flop is T♠-Q♠-3♦. The hijack checks and I check back. People often ironically say poker players never lie, but that is a lie. During a hand, they almost always tell the truth. At worst, they tell you something misleading but true. I managed to get full value for this hand because the player told me what cards he held on the turn. Everything goes according to plan preflop; I have position on a recreational player with a healthy pocket pair. The T♠-Q♠-3♦ is not a great board to continuation bet though. I do not have very good equity when called, and this board hits a lot of his check-calling range. If I am called, I am likely to have to shut down on the turn. When that happens, I would open myself up to a river bluff from all the missed draws.
Turning point The board: T♠-Q♠-3♦-J♦ Pot size: $57 Action: The hijack checks and we bet $50 with our set of Jacks. The hijack tanks for a while and eventually calls. I likely have the best hand here, but the board is super draw heavy. There are lots of pair plus draws, backdoor and front door flushes. I am really hoping for the proverbial Deuce of Stars to come out on the river. These worries were entirely relieved when the Villain tank calls saying, 'I have two pair, I cannot fold.' It has been my experience that after the hand is over, I do not trust a lot of what people have to say about their hand. The pressure is off, and they have time to think about how they would like to manipulate you. However, as counter-intuitive as it might seem, people tell you the truth when they speak about their hand during the
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He slid his remaining stack to me, put on his coat and walked away before I revealed my hand
hand. The reason is that they think that no one will believe them if they tell the truth, they cannot think of a plausible lie that quickly, and they just do not like to lie. The more specific their statement, the more truthful it is. 'I have a hand,' does not mean much. 'I have a big draw,' is likely true. 'I have a set,' is very likely true. The Villain here was very plausible with two pair. This made me feel much better when the worst card in the deck fell….
Searching for thin value The board: T♠-Q♠-3♦-J♦-A♠ Pot size: $157 Action: The hijack checks. I think
for a while and bet $150, enough to put the hijack all-in. He calls, mucks and I win the big pot. Just about the worst card in the deck comes out here. Normally, I would consider just checking it back since there is no room for a bet-fold. However, when he had told me that he had two pair, I had already decided to ship if I managed to fade the two remaining Queens. When the Villain checked, I announced, 'all-in'. He gently slid his remaining stack to me, put on his coat and walked away before I revealed my hand. The dealer just shrugged, mucked his hand and shipped me the pot. He told the PP truth – he could not fold!
WIN! Three copies of Poker Plays You Can Use Simply answer this question: What is the high-stakes room in the Bellagio casino called? a) Billy’s room b) Bobby’s room c) Bungle’s room Send your answers to pokerplayer@plyp.co.uk by January 10. The editor’s decision is final.
January 2014 POKERPLAYER 43
Hilly The Fish’s
UK Tour Pt II
Return of t h e m a c k e r e l!
res a lost Our man Hilly endu Keynes weekend in Milton
Leg 3: o MK, n i s a C e h T ynes M i lt o n K e The great Xscape : Las Vegas eat your heart out
Steve ‘HillyTheFish’ Hill takes it to the Home Counties…
F
ollowing an opening brace of London-centric installments, word comes from above to take the tour to the provinces, spreading the love to the poker heartland that makes up our readership – on my own time. Consulting my glamorous schedule of non-league football and toilet gigs, it transpires that the inestimable Half Man Half Biscuit are playing on a Friday night in Northampton, whereas the mighty Chester FC are involved in FA Trophy action at home the following day. Making the bold decision to forgo the football, a cross-reference of Saturday poker tournaments in the local area throws up a 3pm freezeout at the newly opened ‘Super Casino’ in nearby Milton Keynes. And via a slice of serendipity, the Boss Dave Woods and his brother are in town to watch a resurgent Coventry City take on MK Dons, with
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the timing enabling them to come down to the casino, buy me a drink, take the photos, play a bit of cash and cheer me to victory… Ten minutes before the tournament begins I am 30 miles away eating a pie. A powerhouse performance from Half Man, accompanied by much Danish lager and second hand arse gas, has left The Fish feeling less than chipper. On a theoretical list of things I would rather be doing, playing cards with strangers is several places below lying down in a darkened room. All is not lost however, as with a two-hour late registration in place, my tardiness is as much by accident as design. And as my driver quite rightly points out, ‘A man of your stature should keep them waiting.’ They – whoever they are – are kept waiting further as I
negotiate the vagaries of MK’s so-called Xscape complex, a joyless dome full of consumerism that I would be more than happy to ‘Xscape’ from. A provincial shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon with a hangover provides a pointed reminder as to why I generally spend my weekends up to my nuts in sport, either televised or in a bleak Northern outpost. Amid the happy shoppers and early revellers, there are signs for the casino, which I follow methodically as my destiny draws closer, resolutely non-tempted by teeming fast food outlets, chain boozers and tinsel-ridden tat.
As my driver quite rightly points out, ‘A man of your stature should keep them waiting’
Self harm Strolling in with a nod to the bouncer, it’s not immediately obvious that I am in allegedly the biggest ‘Super Casino’ outside London. In Vegas
s some EPL Hilly watche ze of tears ha a through
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Tale of the tape Steve ‘HillyTheFish’ Hill is travelling the UK to take YOU all on, but how is he doing?
Played: 3 Cashed: 0 Total profit/loss: -£105 The sign that will haunt Hilly’s dreams
ins efully jo Hilly gle craze e lfi e the s
At least he didn’t go home empt y handed
calls puts me in a sticky situation, but a flop of J-9-3 (two diamonds) would appear to be relatively safe and I bet it accordingly, which in a flurry of action somehow results in a raise and an all-in. It’s a nauseating series of events and time seems to slow down as I am caught in the headlights. I’m not worried about the short stack all-in – he’s almost visibly flushing – it’s the greasy-haired motherfu♣♠ker with the s♣♠t-eating grin that concerns me. He looks supremely confident, and every fibre of my being screams danger. But sometimes you do things just to hurt yourself, and perhaps I want it too much. I just want to drive the fu♠♣er out and take my chances with the perceived flusher. After a short period of blind panic, I remotely hear myself announcing ‘all-in’ as I shove the best part of 20,000 chips over the line. The instant he calls I know I am beaten and he gleefully announces, ‘I’ve got top two’ and flips over J-9 of clubs. I possibly ask him what the f♣♠k he thinks he’s playing at, and he mutters something about being priced in. I show my Queens, and the short stack shows A-9 of diamonds, which gets there with a King of diamonds on the turn, leaving my tournament life hanging by a thread. A brick confirms my departure, and I put my coat on barely five minutes after taking it off.
Every fibre of my being screams danger. But sometimes you do things just to hurt yourself
terms, it’s an outhouse, but it is admittedly in better repair than many of the bespoke poker clubs I have had the dubious pleasure of visiting over the years. The poker room is lurking at the back, and my first thought is that I’ve got the date wrong, as it is deserted apart from a couple of tables in the corner. It turns out that they are the tournament, so I hand over £35 quid and squeeze into a seat. It’s a Double Chance affair, so I arrogantly insist on all my chips up front, the argument being that I know what I’m doing so I should maximise my potential return. That’s the theory anyway… Joining late already feels like a mistake, as I have no time to familiarise myself with the surroundings and immediately feel out of my comfort zone. Folding T-3 in midposition is a solid start, and there may have even been another hand before it happens. It, initially, is pocket Queens behind three limpers. With the big blind at 150, I consider a raise to 625 to be enough to drive out all but the keenest of gamblers. Wrong. Three
Poundland The next two hours are a blur of depression and regret, drinking alone like
Fish rating: 10 (out of 10) Alex Higgins at The Crucible. It’s almost a physical pain, exacerbated as news of Chester’s FA Trophy exit filters through. Woods resolutely refuses to appear or answer his phone, and I watch an entire Premiership match in mute despair. There is of course still the reader offer to settle, and eventually a fresh-faced chap approaches me at the bar. I give him the familiar, ‘yes, it’s me’ look and wait for the secret code, at which point he hands over a free £5 slots voucher and informs me that I left it on the counter when I signed up for membership. It’s a moment of Partridge-esque tragi-comedy that almost lightens my mood. I’m still in need of two positives, however, and having been reunited with my voucher, I may as well use it. I aimlessly pump a baffling fruit machine before cashing out for a solitary pound coin. Woods isn’t coming, and I am reduced to taking a series of abysmal stealth selfies to accompany these words. After a final furtive hateful look round the poker room, I head for the mean streets of Bucks. On the way out I stick a fiver on red. It comes PP in. Winning.
Next issue Join the Fish in Birmingham for a £25 freezeout at Star City Where: Genting Club Star City, B’ham When: Sat Jan 11, 9pm The first reader to show HillyTheFish a copy of PokerPlayer and say the code, ‘I suport Chester FC too’ will bag a free year’s subscription to PokerPlayer magazine!
January 2014 POKERPLAYER 61
all-in exclusive news
Got a stor Email Muck y? Rak pokerplayer@er: plyp.co.uk POKER NEWS AND GOSSIP FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Bilz ‘n’ thrills and bellyaches
Poker bear Dan Bilzerian made the news as the gutter press got wind of his eye (and trouser) popping Instagram account. Navy seal turned multi-millionaire hedonist, Bilz posts pictures documenting a life that makes Hugh Hefner look like the Archbishop of Canterbury. Bilz's life seems one big blancmange of girls, guns, gambling and getting wasted. All this makes him either a grade-A baller or utter ball sack – or both. To be fair, his Instagram is gripping viewing – if you can see the screen through a veil of jealous tears. In one post, Big Bad Bilz wrote that a friend surprised him with a seal. And so the beardy playboy naturally got a topless beauty to pose with it. The last time a seal saw a pair of breasts that impressive he was still married to Heidi Klum. But the high life has taken its toll on Bilzerian’s body – he suffered a double heart attack at 25 before suffering a pulmonary embolism in 2011. Let’s hope he can remain healthy – if only so hairy-palmed poker players can continue to live vicariously though his Instagram.
TOP PAIR: Bilz limps after flopping heart draw
Fester’s fortunes l Another playboy living the life in Vegas is ex-Everton hardman and Uncle Fester lookalike, Thomas Gravesen. The Danish slaphead is now reported to be worth over £80m and living in Sin City with a blonde bombshell. The former Real Madrid chopper passed up the usual post-football career paths of management, sh♠te punditry and chronic appearances on A Question of Sport to plough his money into several businesses – a wise decision. The ‘blonde bombshell’ is the Czech-born model Kamila Persse. Old cue ball head is reported to be keen on poker, roulette and blackjack and plans to spend his days gambling. That is until the high-stakes vultures get their teeth into you, Grave digger: Grav. All the best baldie. Beauty and the beast
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Star Geek
He is turning his back on StarCraft to embrace a new kind of geekdom
StarCraft sensation Lim Yo-Hwan is following in the footsteps of ElkY and taking up poker. MTV recently named the 33-year-old South Korean one of ‘The 10 Most Influential Video Gamers of All Time.’ But he is turning his back on StarCraft to embrace a different kind of geekdom. Lim is clearly sick of marshalling alien armies (or whatever they do) and fancies a crack at the big time. He is dating Korean actress Kim Ka-Yeon whose biggest hit is the intriguingly titled Fantastic Parasuicides. The couple are dubbed the Korean Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher due to an eight-year age gap. Well, we wish them better luck than they had. PP