Tzen1 – PokerStars Team: Online

It’s Monday the 6th of June and I wake up at 05:15 and know it’s that time again, Vegas baby! My girlfriend brings me to the airport after picking up my best buddy, Robbertjan(RJ). A 15min delay and we only have 2 hours, hmmm let’s just wait and see but that doesn’t look to good. The plane is half empty and we both have 2 seats for ourselves, not bad at all for this 11 hour flight to Houston. The Captain tells us that we will arrive early on schedule despite the 15 minute delay, maybe we are not running that bad after all. Too bad we don’t have the normal 200+ movies to pick from, we probably ended up in one of the older planes of the Continental fleet, instead of watching movies I’m reading a book, now that’s something new!

The landing is pretty bumpy but we arrive early on schedule so it should be no problem to make our connecting flight but first we have to go through customs. You never know how long the row is at customs and this time we have to wait over an hour till we finally can get our fingerprints and photo taken. Luckily there is still plenty of time left and we know for sure we are not going to miss the flight so everything looks good to make it early to Las Vegas! Suddenly it starts raining really hard, the whole runway is flooded and we’ve already boarded the plane and have to wait a bit before we can take off. With a 30min delay we finally take off and Vegas is getting really close now. Monday, the 6th of June at 17:30 we land at McCarran International Airport. We are back, back in Vegas the town we both love so much!

It’s my 9th trip to Las Vegas and I will never forget any one of them. The Bellagio is the hotel we love the most and that’s where we are staying again this year. I won’t say it’s the best hotel there is, it’s a matter of taste but for me the Bellagio has everything I need. The hotel rooms are okay (I’ve seen better), the pool is really relaxed, the casino is just how I like it, buzzing and crowded with people during the evening. Most people don’t like the poker pit since it’s really messy and noisy but I just love it. I’ll have to love it anyways, because it’s the only place in Vegas where they still have decent Limit Hold’em Cashgame action 🙁

After we land I find my bag already going round on the baggage carousel, RJ’s bag is nowhere to be found. We hear his naming getting called by the speaker and unfortunately his bag didn’t make the flight (strange cause mine did). Oh well, they’ll bring it to the Bellagio a couple of hours later, nothing we can do really. We check-in and take a shower, we have diner at Cafe Bellagio and we decide to go over to see the Cosmopolitan and Aria, two of the newest casinos in Las Vegas. We are really just killing time since we try to go to bed as late as possible to beat the jetlag. So far that’s what worked every year and it seems to be working fine this year as well. It’s 21:30 and we are both really tired, time to go to bed. RJ promises not to wake me up before 07:00, yeah right, RJ always wakes up early.

Tuesday, the 7th of June and at after waking up several times already I really can’t sleep any longer at 06:30. RJ is already behind the laptop, watching the stock market as always. Downstairs we pick up his bag, since it didn’t arrive before we went to bed the day before. After putting on some short pants we can go for some breakfast. The closest Subway is a 10min walk to the always lovely O’Sheas Casino. O’Sheas smells like beer 24/7 and has 6 tables of beer pong! Tummies are filled and we go over to the Forum Shops to buy an adapter for my Laptop. It’s 09:00 and I walk thru the front door of the Forum Shops and see 15 girls all dressed up on the escalator waiving to the camera. They have to do it over and over again, they go up and down the escalator and keep waving and smiling to the camera, I didn’t mind of course 😉 Girls in dresses and high heels, I really can’t get enough of it. I do know that’s not nice to say since I have a girlfriend but I just can’t lie about it. Vegas is the best spot on earth to enjoy the view of beautiful women. Too bad for all your readers that I didn’t have my phone with me to take some pictures 🙁

It’s 10:00 and we are back at the Bellagio. It’s pool time! I actually didn’t think we could enjoy the pool this year, since in June it can be really hot already. Vegas still is a city in the middle of the desert so during summer it’s often way too hot to be in the open sun. Luckily at the moment it’s not too hot to enjoy the pool. I get my book and go downstairs, the pool is as lovely as always. We don’t want to stay to long in the sun for the first day, just to be sure not to get sunburned. Every 20 minutes or so I jump into to water to cool my body, I read some and then repeat the same thing till 12:30. Now that’s how I want to start my day, every day!

13:00 and we go downstairs again and hit the poker tables. They’ve changed the buy-in structures since the beginning of this year. They normally offered 8/16, 15/30, 30/60 but nowadays they offer 10/20, 20/40, 40/80. I normally played 15/30 but was already considering playing 30/60 this year so 20/40 it is. We both put our names on the list and we are lucky, a new table will start. We prefer to play on the same table since it’s more fun but also because we can comment on each other’s game (of course not during the session, but after). We always try to sit on opposite sides to minimize the amount of times we are in the same hand but if it happens RJ knows that he always beats me Heads-Up anyway 😉 The second hand that is dealt I get KK, 5 bets (cap) go in pre-flop. On a Kxx board I play my kings pretty fast, 3-betting them. On the Q river I can tell by my opponents face (a she) that she has trips. I of course bet as planned anyway, she raises and I happily 3-bet the nuts, a nice start of the day! I’ve missed the interaction in live games, seeing people’s faces, watching how some people take beats or just chatting to people you don’t know which sometimes turn out to be pretty good conversations.

After winning that hand I lose about every hand I play. To RJ basically the same happens and I think after 1,5/2 hours we are both down about $800-$1.000. The game isn’t that soft actually, plenty of okay/good regulars which you can already notice by the fact that they don’t chop the blinds. Luckily I win some back and we get some fresh blood at the table. I get my groove going and without premiums I manage to flop decent, play aggressive and just crush the table for a couple of hours. I’m already happy that I’m back to break-even but I’m not finished yet. Poker is easy when you are winning but I’m playing some decent poker by isolating the fish and try to go for the easy money. Of course I just always have it when they go to showdown and I’m 2/3 barreling as aggressor with nothing every time they fold. I love variance coming my way and around 17:30 I’m up about $1k. RJ is still doing pretty bad but the table got even worse. We both win some (more) money and at 19:30 I decide to quit for the day. Up $1.350, playing 6,5 hours of live poker without missing a single hand. RJ manages to get back from -$1.600 to break-even, so he is pretty happy with the end result as well.

It was a good idea to play some hands today already, just so we are used to playing live again. It’s something we’ve both always did so it’s nothing new but you have to adjust your game a bit since it just plays different compared to online. The last 3/4 hours I really crushed the table and I had a really good image something that really helps my style of play, I can only hope I do as good tomorrow! We decide to try out Musashi for some great Teppanyaki, the place was pretty empty (which normally isn’t the case) but as we got seated next to two other poker players we had plenty conversation during our diner. It’s now time to go to bed since it’s 01:00 and we are both getting pretty tired. Waking up around 09:00 would be nice but I could always take an afternoon nap if needed. Our tournament starts at 17:00 and we are both really looking forward to it. After reading many people’s tweets I can say I do not feel tired, I do not feel jetlagged, I don’t feel sick and I don’t have a cold. I’ll just have to crush “Mount Variance” the coming 3 days so I can take that bracelet home, no excuses!

I had planned some fun things to do in April which were great but April also took some unexpected turns. I’ll talk more about poker related things later on in this blog but I would like to start where I left off the last time.

On what we now call Black Friday, I left for Valkenburg for a weekend with the guys. The weather was beautiful and we already arrived in Valkenburg early in the afternoon. I was drinking a couple of beers together with friends and during the evening I heard the news about Black Friday. Sure this wasn’t good news but at that moment there wasn’t much I could do. I kept checking twitter for updates but the party was on and I didn’t want to miss it. Some of the guys did the smart thing and didn’t go out in town during the evening, 5 people were not that smart and after drinking for 12 hours non-stop we got home around 03:00, sleeping around 04:00 and waking up at 08:00.

Saturday, it was time to cycle the Amstel Gold Race. No headache (yet) so that was good news, most others were feeling not that bad either and the weather was perfect again. I wasn’t to afraid since I had cycled the 100km Amstel Gold Race last year and only did 65km this year, but for some it was the first time and with the amount of beers we had the night before it didn’t get easier for them. One already had a flat tire before we even reached the start but still all signs indicated that this would be a fantastic day. The first 15km were pretty smooth but at that moment my hangover kicked in, fun times 🙂 I wanted to do everything you can’t really do when you are on a bike but it cleared after 30/45 minutes or so and at that moment the finale started. Some of my friends had even never cycled 65km flat, so after 40/45 km they could feel the kilometers in their legs. The wachelderberg then the fromberg, over to the long sibbergrubbe and down to the start of the Cauberg. 12 friends and hundreds op people were standing on the Cauberg to cheer for us, some made it pretty easy, others worked their asses off and unfortunately some didn’t make it to the top on their bike but the beer at the end of the day made it all up! A weekend away with friends is fun but doing something like this during the weekend makes it even more special. Next year I won’t drink on the Friday as I’m planning to do the 150km like I mentioned in my previous blog. I hope some of my friends will join me for the 150km but we already booked our stay for next year, so for sure we will head over there again and have some fun!

I’m the big guy in the Blue/Yellow/White shirt 🙂

When I got home I read all I could find about Black Friday. I feel really sorry for all those Americans who earn(ed) a living playing poker. It must feel pretty strange losing your job in this way and I’m not sure what I would do if I were in your shoes. For me moving out of the country would be a huge step, I don’t even want to move out of my town! I just hope it will all clear sooner then later but I can’t really comment on that part as I have no clue if that is even possible. There is of course also impact on my own poker career and at the moment I’m still not sure if it’s for the better or worse. The volume in FR LHE games is down, as Limit is a game played by a lot of Americans. Since I was away for two weeks in April and had planned to play a lot during the last two weeks of April I didn’t had many VPPs yet this month. Because of the decrease in volume I’m now already sure I’m not going to make the 50.000 VPPs this month which I need to retain my SNE status. My FPP Multiplier will go from *5 to *3,5 which is a pity. On the other hand most of the better Limit players were Americans. I can notice the difference, the games itself play a lot softer. Because of this I have even moved up back again to $15/$30 and won $1.500 in only 12.000 hands. I will probably have to adjust my playing hours because I normally grind most of my hours at night. There is now more traffic in Limit games during the day and most people would see this as a good thing being European. I actually liked the fact I played at nights, since during the day I could enjoy the weather or take a ride on my bike. Also during the day I can get distracted really easy by doing some fun stuff with friends while during the night I could grind non-stop since everybody else was sleeping anyway.

The most important thing for those people who can still play is to adept to the new situation and look for new opportunities. I might try the 6max LHE tables which still show plenty of volume during European hours but last Sunday I added some tourneys next to my cashgames. I played 10 tourneys and 1 small Sunday Million Qualifier. I busted the $11 Turbo pretty quick and couldn’t win with AK vs KQ in The Big $109. I then shipped the SM ticket and then busted The Big $11 as a shorty with KK vs T8. I couldn’t win the flip in the Turbo Takedown and the Sunday Storm didn’t like me either. I was doing pretty good in the Sunday Warm-up and actually cashed it for the first time ever! Yeah that sounds really bad but I can’t change the fact I never did any good in both the Warm-up and Million. I then finished the Warm-up with JJ vs AK in 223rd just before blinding out in The Big $55. I still really don’t know how that happened as I was playing really focused. I was already playing it for 3,5 hours and 1/5 of the field had already busted but somehow I didn’t notice I was short and blinded out. I was however at that time still going strong in the first tournaments I started which was The Big $22 and the $22, 15k GTD. I busted the Sunday Million in a blind battle in which I called with AT vs Q6 and then busted The Big $22 after I reshipped A9o as shorty. The 22nd place was close, but not close enough of course. Still I had one bullet left in which I reached the final table as shorty. I made a couple of really good plays, was lucky in winning the flips and really got lucky when I won with A2 vs AQ with 3 left. I lost the HU to by far the best player at the FT so I was really happy with the result, finishing 2nd and winning $3.500.

I might keep mixing in these kind of tourneys with my Limit Cashgames. I’m not sure what I prefer but since last Sunday went really well it obviously got my attention. I’m aware of the sick swings in MTT’s but it’s also a good preparation for the SCOOP. The SCOOP will still be held but the start times has changed to a more European friendly time. In case you didn’t notice it might be a good idea to check out the SCOOP Schedule:

Since the start times has changed I probably play as many tournaments in which I know how the game works. Not the High buy-ins unfortunately as those are way above my tourney skill level. PokerStars created some nice SCOOP promo’s which I would recommended to utilise 🙂 The first one is the 50% deposit bonus with a max bonus of $200 (so you have to deposit $400) and the second promo is “The Big xxx”. There are now 4 tourneys called The Big xxx, the $22, $109, $11 and $55. If you play any of the new guaranteed tournaments at least three times before May 7 you’ll be credited with a free SCOOP ticket for an event of the same value.

Next to that for the Dutch among us there is also a VPP Challenge. I was planning to set a goal of getting at least top 5 but since the volume in my games has dropped a lot I’m not sure if I can still commit to that. I think everybody is impacted in one way and I will play a lot in May for sure so I’m curious where I will end up. Since I was posting banners anyway you can click the banner below for more information, I’m currently ranked 7th 🙂

The fact I’m sure I lose my SNE Status, the decrease in LHE tables and the fact I can’t play at night any longer for sure doesn’t help my own volume but also the beautiful weather has had some impact 🙂 I was at the beach all Friday long till 22:00 and played some poker afterward. Saturday I was at the beach again and organised a BBQ with 25 friends, a perfect day at the beach! Sunday I stayed inside watching Luik – Bastenaken – Luik (Liège – Bastogne – Liège) and managed to do good in the tourneys which I already wrote about and win $1.300 at the cashgames. Yesterday I went for a 80km bike ride with the guys and had a BBQ at my girlfriends parents afterward so I skipped my Monday session. Tonight it’s time to play again and I hope to play another session on Thursday as tomorrow I have to go to Brussels for my work. If the weather continues like this I will for sure try to enjoy it, as it often are the most fun days of the year. As soon as the weather turns around I will grind my ass of again until it’s time to go to Las Vegas again 🙂

Last week I also did an interview with Remko Rinkema from Pokernews.nl . I was really happy with the outcome and in case you are Dutch (or want to use google translate) you can read it here.

So last weekend it was finally time again for some Live poker. The last time was at the Bahamas and it’s something I love to do so I was really looking forward to the weekend.

I was driving to Venlo with a buddy (Mick) of mine and we had some issues getting to the hotel. The hotel was at the edge of the forest and we were at the other edge. Google Maps tried to point us via various ways but most were not really suitable for a car. In stead of bringing a 4*4 I brought a Ford Fiesta so these roads were not really an option but after 10 minutes we figured out that we had included “walking” on Google Maps. Unchecking that option helped a lot and the hotel, De Bovenste Molen, was a nice and relaxing place to stay.

The casino in Venlo wasn’t really in the center of town, it was in the middle of the industrial area. We took a cab so we had the option to drink a beer after we busted (or won) the tournament. The €300 Freezout started at 16:00 and after some chit-chat with familiar people it was time to play. When I sat down I noticed I was sitting on the same table as Stijn, someone who I’ve met at the WSOP in 2009. At least I could root for somebody else when I was not in the hand. I never really managed to get something going and after the diner break I lost most chips to Joep van de Bijgaart, fellow PokerStars Pro, who got moved to our table. After that hand I only had a couple of chips left, I did manage to triple up before busting the next hand. Nothing really special so it was time to rail my buddy. He busted in 28th place, 16 got paid (out of 150) so that wasn’t really a good result either.

Now when talking to people everybody seemed to really dislike Venlo itself. There was nothing to do and most people were either playing cashgames or went directly to the hotel. My buddy and I knew some pub owners in Helmond which was nearby enough to head over there. On the way over we paid 2 guys €50 to drop us off, which seemed cheaper then taking a cab. From 23:00 till 02:30 we made sure we kept hydrating ourselves and at least we had a fun night out in a place I had never been to. The cab back was €115 so the deal we made with the two guys was pretty good 🙂 I woke up without a headache the next day which was a nice surprise and we chilled a bit outside in the sun since the €1.000 freezout started at 16:00 as well. I would rather start a little earlier and play some extra levels but at least it was a 2-Day event.

I started out losing 5k pretty early which was half of what we started with. There wasn’t really much I could do about those hands but I still was happy to get moved to another table as the gameflow wasn’t really going my way. My buddy was sitting on that table as well and some other people who like to chit-chat while playing so it was a bit more fun. Also I managed to win some pots and since the structure was a bit deeper then the €300 there was plenty of room left to play after the diner break. The table then broke, I moved back to my old table but rather quick I got moved again and was sitting next to Joep again. At that moment a lot of people had a shove stack so there wasn’t a lot of post-flop play left. I won some, lost some, shoved 3 times to pick up the blinds and when I shoved the 4th time with AK I lost vs 99. My buddy was still in so I was supporting him which ment bringing him enough beer. After he reached the last 27 players the tournament was stopped and we had a couple of beers in the Casino.

When arriving in the hotel we all still wanted to play some cards so we convinced the concierge to give us a deck of cards and we were allowed to sit in one of the conference rooms. Since the Hotel Bar was closed most of us went over to their hotel room to trash the mini-bar. Everybody had 2 bottle’s of beer, 2 small bottle’s of Bacardi, Whiskey, Jenever and maybe some other stuff as well. We decided to play a Sit & Go but only then found out we of course didn’t had any chips. One guy had an idea and after 3 minutes he came back with sweeteners, sugar and milk. So we divided those among the 6 of us and played some poker, it went like this: I raise your 2 sweeteners, with 1 sugar and a milk…. We had a good laugh, played some “slowroll” Omaha Flips after the Sit & Go and went to bed around 06:00.

Next morning when we checked out the lady asked if Mick had used something out of the mini-bar. When he replied: “Everything but the red wine” she was pretty confused 🙂 Mick had to play again at 17:00 but since some friends would pick him up to drive to Austria I didn’t need to stay around. Sure I wanted to see him winning the tournament but it would also be possible that I had waited all day and then he bust in the first hand so I drove home and watched him live on the internet, since Pokercity.nl did live coverage of the tournament. He busted in 10th place, winning €3.375, first price was $42.000 so unfortunate but still some extra money in his pockets. It was a fun weekend for sure and would love to do it more often but I won’t be able to play any other Holland Casino Series before I go to the WSOP. The MCOP in Amsterdam is for sure on my list as well.