Yes, I am still alive and the blog of course isn’t closed … but there wasn’t a lot to report recently.

I am still taking time-off from poker as we spend much time practicing for our last competition season in Boogie Woogie main class. Unfortunately - after practicing the whole winter and early spring - things didn’t turn out as expected so far. We missed our first competition in Finland (World Masters) due to my partners flight back from Canada being delayed. Our second competion (Northern German Championship) was also a no-show as I injured my extensor tendon on the left thumb just four days before the competition. Finally our third try - the World Masters in Slovenia - resulted in our first appearance in this season. But it seemed we lost our rhythm (with just one week of practice after the break) and we didn’t made a good result (40th out of 52). Hopefully things will run better in Austria (Langenzersdorf) next weekend.

As I see tournament poker as a kind of sport it also means for me you have to practice or at least have current live experience to get good results in bigger tournaments. As this isn’t the case so far in 2012 I decided to skip Las Vegas and the Venetian Deepstack this summer too. We will still have a nice vacation coming up that will lead us to Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and New York but (except for a small side trip to Atlantic City) there will be no poker during that trip.

So, “nothing to report” isn’t correct at all but there’s not much in terms of stuff that might be really interesting for my readers. I hope to come up with some more interesting stuff from other areas in the near future.

Although I love this event I have to back-off from this for 2012. It breaks my heart but sometimes there is only one choice and you can only do one thing or the other.

As I said in a former post - if you want to be successfull you have to devote enough time into it. In this case Poker has lost the race and I decided that something else (more about that in a future post) became more important to me at this time.

Going to Dublin would have meant to have fun at Poker …. but giving away that important time would have been a thing for me to regret in the near future.

Beside my absence I still reccommend this event to everybody who has an interest in good poker tournaments. This is by far one of the best structured events. Organisation is great and Dublin is wonderful place at every time of the year.

If you go there “enjoy your time” and say hello to my good friends Michael Lacey, Brian Lannon and Hanns-Peter Jacobi.

Even knowing that I made the right decision …  I will for sure shed a tear in early February realizing that I miss a great time!

This was definately one of my best years in poker ever. It all started somewere early this year in Kufstein. After a long, long time not achieving much in tournaments I finally cashed and final tabled several tournaments at the Poker Royale in a row. Shotly after, a visit in Rozvadov brought another cash and another final table.

That money was used to enter the D4 Deepstack at the Montesino in Vienna. I hadn’t cashed at any D4 event before but was close once - missing the bubble by 5 spots. This time I hit it and it was enough pocket money for the tournaments I wanted to play at the Venetian in Las Vegas this summer.

The Venetian Deepstacks - another great tournament series were I never had cashed before. Until this year!

Reaching a 14th place out of over 600 players I would definatley call this one of my greatest successes in poker so far. Not only did the win pay for the rest of our vacation but it was still enough to play some more nice events through the fall and still be sure to not going red for tournament results in 2011.

Unfortunately my run was almost over after Vegas. I had another minor cash in Coventry but that was it for this years tournament success.

In my last one - the 6max at the Montesino - I could have played somewhat better but I was also a bit unlucky too. Same was valid in my last side-event there. A bad beat on a 4-outer hit me heavily. Instead of going from chipleader to super-chipleader (and almost sure in the money) I was crippled and out somewhat later.

But that’s part of the game and it would be dishonest not to admit that I had my fair share of luck in those tournaments were I cashed!

Pokerwise it was a great year that ended in the black. Beside the result itself there were so many other things that I just loved. Making those Vegas videoblogs was fun, meeting Annie Duke and Phil Gordon in person was very enjoyable, meeting some new and old friends is good anyway and so much more.

But all this won’t change what I wrote in my last post. Poker will definately not have that much space in my life in 2012 than in the past. It’s a hobby … an enjoyable hobby that (despite other hobbies) can make you some money if you do it right but nothing more than that (at least fo me).

I leave the “becoming rich and famous” stories to those like Pius Heinz who like to devote the needed time to this game. Those are the players that really deserve it. As with every hobby/sport you can only become top of the pack if you do it at least 110% … if not, than you better be aware that your success will be limited.

Fortunately there’s still so much happening in my life that I won’tbe bored anyway. So stay tuned for 2012 … :-)

I am really surprised about myself as I would have called myself a die hard poker fan for a long time. But interests seem to shift a bit. I still love the game, I still will play it and I still will try to be in Vegas during WSOP each summer if possible … but it doesn’t feel so important anymore to me right now.

There are some challenges coming up in different areas but I can’t talk about either of them right now … cheesy, I know ;-) But those challenges not only take a huge amount of time away from the game of poker but also get my brain moving much more than any poker game could do.

So I still will enjoy the coming days in Vienna and the wonderful 6-max game a lot … of course I will tweet and blog about it as promised. But in general those who are here just for the poker content might expect a lot less posts about the game in the near future.

If you are interested in some of the other aspects of my live you might still enjoy this blog a lot. Especially when I will be able to talk about those things that I can’t talk about right now ;-)

After skipping Vegas and the WSOP in 2010 I am happy to come back again this year!

The WSOP has already started and on July 4th I will arrive in Las Vegas, too. I won’t play a WSOP event and unfortunately I was refused media credentials this year for very strange reasons. But there’s so much to do in Vegas anyway during that time of the year. Of course I will play two of the Venetian Deepstacks and add some smaller events if they fit to my time table. Top tournaments on my list are Hard Rock, Aria and Wynn.

In addition to my tournaments I hope to find some time for cashgames … especially at the MGM (which is my favorite place for cash games). Expect also some interesting pictures from the new city-center resorts and the WSOP itself. Not having media credentials doesn’t mean I won’t be able to take pictures!

A good friend helped me with my room this year … and it will be the Mandaly Bay. I haven’t stayed at the Mandalay Bay for some years … but I always enjoyed the times I stayed there! So I’m absolutely looking forward to my stay this year.

Unfortunately I will be in Vegas only for a single week … but it won’t be the end of the trip. I will pick up my girlfriend in Denver and we add three more weeks of vacation that will lead us to Yellowstone, Seattle and Vancouver too. So if your interest is not limited to Poker stay tuned for some more interesting stuff during the rest of July.

But until the start of the trip there will be another Boogie-Woogie Worldcup in Winterthur and our huge Boogie-Baers Whitsun-Camp in Landsberg.

Great times! :-)

I definately would have loved to play somewhat longer on that final day but I knew anyway that my options were very limited due to the fact that I was in 25th position of the 25 players left. My stack of 167k was a dwarf against the one from the chipleader Richard Toth who had packed around 3 Million Chips yesterday night.

On the other hand with blinds at 12k/24k (4k) a single double up would have brought the stack back to around 400k. But it wasn’t meant to be. First bad beat of the day: I was starting with the big blind. Of course I got 84o in that first hand. For a short time I was thinking about pushing anyway but with a UTG raise from a decent player I decided to let my blinds go one time. Especially as a player in middle position went all-in. UTG called with QQ and the all-in pusher built himself a 9-high straight with A8 to win the pot. Did I tell you I folded 84o? :-(

Second hand I got KK in the small-blind. Of course everyone folded and even the guy who lost with his Q’s wasn’t enough on tilt to call me here. Third hand (don’t ask me … just not good enough to defend the button). And in the last hand I found Q8s. It was folded to me. I push and the small blind wakes up with QQ. Please don’t say anything about “good timing” ;-) Two hearts on the flop gave me some life but finally no further help and everything was over on 23rd place.

But I must admit I wasn’t too depressed about my exit. Of course I was aiming for the big money as everyone else did. But I was also happy about cashing this great event for the first time. Now I am waiting for my new Hendon Mob entry to appear ;-)

That’s it for now from the “Austrian Deepstack Pokerchampionships” at the Montesino in Vienna. Sitting here at a late time breakfast at the Montesino and it seems that everyone is on his way home already. Back to usiness-as-usual for teh Montesino after a really great tournament weekend.

Those who can read german language can also find an article about the event at Pokerfirma.de

Not sure about my next poker event so far. There’s some dance competitions coming up and of course there’s Vegas in July. So I can’t tell exactly at this time what I will play next. But as soon as I know I will tell you for sure. Have a good time!

That was a very hard day for me. A day that started quite good but at the end became a long and grueling fight. As said in my last post I had a good table draw. At the start of the tournament I also got the button so everything looked well for Day 2.

And indeed it contimued this way. We lost one player per minute in the first time of the tournament. While the player count dropped to 185 my stack increased to 185k chips ;-) No huge pots (at least in relation to the blinds) but a steady increase. And for several hours I could keep my M=20 ratio and stay above average. With 105 players left I reached my high point at this time of 209k and the world looked very bright to me.

But as always, after sunshine there are some clouds looming somewere. First I started to miss my flops and then I became totally card dead for several hours. Being down to 130k with blinds already at 5k/10k (1k) wasn’t what I really wanted shortly before the money bubble. I can’t tell how many times I went all-in and prayed for not being called while my hands were only marginally playable at best. But I was able to survive until I finally got a decent hand … and got business too! With QQ in late position I was delighted to see an early position raise. My all-in was answered with a call and I won my coinflip against AK. Back up to 295k. Still trailing the average but at least some space to breath.

Unfortunately the dry run continued. At the dinnerbreak and with seven spots to the money I was down to 221k again. With blinds now at 8k/16k (2k) I was still on life support. Another pot with AK brought me back up to 280k and with two to the money it was now time enough to fold my way into the money. No Aces or Kings that would have given me a tough option, just cards easy to fold at that time of the tournament.

It was a nerve wrecking time not only for me but for many others. Playing so long and maybe leaving without nothing is something nobody likes. And some players overdid it e.g. by blaming the dealer for their bad run in a way that wasn’t appropriate. But the Montesino floor showed that they really know their job! They handled every situation very well and even don’t hesitated to give a time penalty in the crucial phase of the tournament. I really wish all tournaments would have such well working floor!

And finally the bubble bursted and I made my first ever cash in that tournament series. You can’t imagine how important this cash is for me. It was back in early 2009 when I blew a cash at the €300 side-event of that series at the Red Cow in Dublin when my downswing began. Not that it’s really connected in any way … but I missed a cash here because of mistakes I wouldn’t do today anymore. And at the same time ran into a more than 18 months dry run missing cashes an all important tournaments that I played. This was even harder as I came from highfly were I cashed (and final tabled) every big tournament I played between mid 2008 and early 2009. So yes … I am oficially happy!!!

Winning €1,000 is nice but we all wanted more now. A little while later we reached the second price stage with 36 left but it was “only” a €180 prize jump. So the goal was to reach at least 27th place for a €1,570 payout. Tough job with a stack that didn’t came forward. Everytime I got some chips the blinds ate them again very fast.

With 30 left I was forced to change the table. My first thought was “oh no … not yet” but beside the fact that our table broke shortly after anyway it was the best thing that could have happend for me. First hand I got AJs and went all-in even before I was seated completely. I must have shocked all the big stacks at this table as everyone folded instantly ;-) A few hands later another all-in and stealing the blinds (and yes, that one was definately a steal) was enough to make it past the next price jump.

My night ended with 169k in chips … officially the smallest stack on the leaderboard of the last 25. Of course I would love to make it to the last 18 and a €2k+ payout but now I don’t have to lose anything … but win everything. So I expect a maybe short but still nice day in Vienna at the Montesino!

Reached my first goal of the the tournament and made it into Day 2! I wished for some more chips but with 102,900 I am still little over average and not too far away from my all-time high. If the number of 208 remaining players is correct then we have some kind of a funny number game: A total of 416 players (both days combined) started to make the prizepool €208,000. Now we have exactly half of the field advancing to the next day. Therefore every players worth is now €1,000 on average. And the average chipcount at 1pm will be exactly 100,000.

With blinds starting at 1,000/2,000 (200) today everybody with an average stack still has a M=20 available. So I hope for a long and interesting day.

It has been a long day yesterday already … and of course an interesting one too. I was seated on table 16 which (if you know the layout of the Montesino) was definately a table to break somewhat that day. The average raise was 2.5 at my table and it wasn’t checked around much preflop. So the table qualified as very active but not too aggressive. As usual my stack dropped down to about 40k within the first 2 hours. But then a monster pot developed much to my surprise.

With KK in middle position I decided to just call a raise from the UTG raiser. So did several others. But then the button re-raised. That created an interesting situation. Of course I could have re-re-raised again. But then I easily could have been faced with an all-in and a tough decision if my KK is really good. So I again just called and we were down from 6 players in the hand to still 3 players. The flop was good for me with low cards (but a possible flush draw). The original raiser checked and now it was my turn to take the action with a bet of 60% of the pot. The re-raiser called and the other player folded. The turn made me a set but with the flushdraw still around I bet again and was called again. Now I started to get a bit nervous but still sure being ahead. No flush on the flop, I bet again and now he folded. With funny rumors around that I might have hit my set with the final Jack on the river I decided to show one time to make clear that my hand was indeed much stronger (which definately helped me at some later hands). A 25k pot went into my direction and I was up to 65k.

Only about 2 levels later I had KK again. The hand started in a similar way: I raised, several callers and one re-raise. But this time I changed my action to re-raise the guy. Everyone folded, he thought for some time and then open folded AK. Another risk-free pot of 16k was shipped and I was now up to 76k.

A funny hand happend some time later. Well, funny for me … I think my opponent would rather call it “cruel”: I was “in the mood” to call a standard raise from a shortstack with K3s while holding the button and hit the second-nut flush directly on the flop. He moved all-in, I called and he went out with KQ and a pair of Queens. Back to 74k as I was already back down to 60k at that time.

Then our table broke as expected and I not only got my hated seat 1 but also was moved to a table with a lot of very big stacks. So I took my time to observe the table and played only a small selection of hands for the first orbits. In the next time I won some and lost some but finally went comfortable with my table and my seating position.

Shortly before the dinner break I then got my “better-be-lucky-hand-of-the-day”. With 77 we were heads up on a board of 8-2-5-9 with two clubs. I had put my opponent on a flushdraw and lead out with a 7k bet (after the flop was checked) … again about 60% of the pot. He felt very uncomfortable but finally went all-in for a total of 17k. I felt uncomfortable too but decided to call here and was a bit surprised about the 89o he showed. I was right that he wasn’t happy about his hand (and he was surprised to see me behind) but if it was his goal to force me out of this hand he definately has to work on his act! But none of us had enough time to think about that very long as the dealer immediatly slammed a “lucky seven” on the table for my rivered set!

Well, I know that there’s always “some” luck involved in that game … and I had my fair share of bad luck too. So I don’t excuse for being lucky but in situations like that I still feel sorry for the other guy and the way his tournament ends. I wouldn’t have been out if I lost that hand but down to around 40k … instead I was now at my new high of 94k.

After the break I busted the next player. And this time with a reasonable hand! My pair of 8′s improved to a set on the flop and I was able to trick my opponent (who had hit his top pair) into an all-in. Up to 134k. This should have been my highest point for the day. For the next few levels nothing worked out anymore and cards got worse and worse. At the end of level 10 I bagged 102,900 chips. Less then I had in Dublin but still a good amount to start the second day with.

Day two starts today at 1 pm.

Update: Just got a look at todays table draw and I got a very nice table (35-5): Only three players have bigger stacks then me but those stacks aren’t significantly higher. Biggest is 139k. The other six are below 90k with one even below 27k.

Mike, Brian and D4Events are back to Vienna with their Monster Deepstack Tournament! After I had a good run in Dublin (but no cash) I am really looking forward to this one. While my first deepstack in Namur last year was a big dissapointment both the Vienna event and the Dublin event in February saw me making a Day 2. So it looks like I am starting to feel comfortable with the structures. And the structures are absolutely amazing: 50,000 startchips and 60 min levels. I don’t know any tournament so far (especially in that pricerange) that offers similar structures.

I arrived early in Vienna yesterday due to the fact that this was the only cheap flight available so I had some free time (I had decided fo a Day 1B start on Friday). Therefore I was delighted to see that my Fitness-Club chain has some locations in Vienna too. A nice two hour workout was a good preparation for the coming days that should be very long … hopefully ;-)

So beside checking the atmosphere and taking some photos at the Montesino it was a very easy going day for me. At the evening I went to the Concord Card Casino to play their €25 “Deep&Fast” as a warm-up. I was running o.k. but without many really good cards. With about 90 of 204 left I started to fell slowly behind the average. At this time a hand came up that most probably would have been my entry ticket to the money spots. At this time I had around 50k chips and a guy in middle position made it 12k (with blinds 1,000/2,000 [300]). A very interesting overraise and I decided to call from the button for a “stop-or-go” play with 44. The small blind called too and the big blind went all-in for 9k more. The original raiser called and it was up to me now.

To be honest 21k (almost half of my stack) wasn’t what I wanted to invest in a hand like 44. But with a pot of almost 70k already it was hard to lay down the hand here. I could have pushed but doubted that I could make anybody fold here. So me and the small blind just called. The flop was a desaster: 6-8-K. The small blind checked and now the original raiser went all-in for little more than my own stack.

Tough decision. But with a texture like this you have to give him some credit for a hit. And if he had hit I was down two just 2 outs. To make it worse, the small blind was still in the hand too. Although he had checked, there was no guarantee that he didn’t had hit any part of the flop. On the other hand the pot was now close to 100k. Whoever takes this pot has a very good position in the game.

I finally decided that I had enough chips left to come back to almost average with just one double-up and I opted out of the pot (so did the small blind). Can you imagine our shock as we had to see that neither of the other two had hit anything so far? It was AQ (all-in player) vs. QJ! The board blanked for them and the all-in player doubled up. The board wouldn’t have blanked for those who opted out of the pot. The small blind would have hit a 10 for a pair on the river and I would have hit a set with another 4 on the turn. Ouch!

I re-played this hand several times in my head but at the end decided that I should have slapped myself into the face if I stayed in the hand to win the pot! I would have been lucky but it wouldn’t have been the right decision. Calling the overaise for a “stop-or-go” play was o.k. in that phase of the tournament with my stack, calling the additional 9k was definately borderline (but still an option in a fast 15 min. level tournament). But sticking to the hand and risking my tournament life wouldn’t haven been right in regards of the texture of the flop and the flow of the action in that hand.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to double up anymore and went out in 69th position (with 21 paid) and called it a night.

Now enjoying breakfast at the Montesino (very good and much cheaper as in my hotel next door), writing this blog and preparing for the start of the “Austrian Deepstack Poker Championships” 2011.