Henrik's blog

best backgammon tournament coverage ever

Henrik Bodholdt — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:34:00 GMT

better late than never I guess you could say. Andy Bell and his crew were never famous for their expedience or precision, but tenacity is also a virtue and I guess that is what finally made the tapes from the Nordic Open World Series of Backgammon 2008 appear online, here they are:

1st show:
http://vimeo.com/10307151

2nd show (you may spot a bald head about 10 minutes in and at the end of the show):
http://vimeo.com/10303853

3rd show
http://vimeo.com/10287279

LAPT Playa Conchal

Henrik Bodholdt — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:06:00 GMT

Quick news flash before day 2 begins:

I take my hat off and bow to the organizers - a field of 259 was a lot more than I would have bet on, and also a decent amount of interesting profiles. I saw David Plastik, said hi to my old buddy Paul Magriel, Leo Fernandez and his companion Veronica - now PokerStars Pros - were there, along with all the Breneses and the Latin American Stars pros.

The winner of the LAPT in Chile was seated to my immediate left, another excellent player to his left, and then Arturo Morales in seat 8 - I was in seat 4. I was struggling all day mostly under average. With about 1,5 hours before day 1 finished I was at 37,000 but I finished the day in $24,700 with average around $43,000, so it'd be great to double within the first two hours of play, blinds will begin at $500-1,000/100 ante. A couple of bigger stacks - but no monsters of bully-size - at my new table, but also 3-4 of my own size, so it could have been a lot worse.

wish me luck!

a chip and a chair - living the dream!

Henrik Bodholdt — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:50:00 GMT

Before I start telling you all about the events at the Final Table I'd like to share a couple of memorable moments from day 1.

Buy-in $500, Starting stack $10,000, blinds beginning at $25-50, levels of 40 minutes. I started at table 8 seat 5, to the very right of Gustavo Echeverri whom I have had the pleasure of playing with a number of times in Guanacaste, but never in San Jose. Gustavo is an experienced and tricky player with a lot of moves up his sleeve, so I was not too pleased with the draw. The rest of the table was a mix of weaker spots and a couple of really good and agressive players.

Before I could get really comfortable and build my stack Gustavo was out as the first victim (big bluff called down on the river) and I was moved to a table with late entries. One of them was Karlo "El Mago" Lopez, an established PokerStars pro who happens to be an amazing magician too. What Karlo did not know was that I had had a clash with him online a year ago in a satellite tournament where he had been a little bit offensive and I had had to dosomething about it. That was the satellite where I was a huge favorite heads-up (Karlo busted in 4th place) but lost a $6,000 seat and was left with nothing, you can find that story elsewhere in this blog.

However, it was another player who got involved in a key hand against me. Jorge - a local San Jose player and a very likeable one I might add - had experienced a horrible bad beat against me in the Super Satellite for the Main Event. When we were down to 14 players and 11 would qualify, he and I went all-in preflop. I had Kings and was the chip leader, he had aces and was short-stacked but was now looking to double up and virtually qualify. The King on the river sealed his fate, he ran out of the room with tears in his eyes. Now he was sitting in seat 7, I was in seat 1. My stack was about average, his a little shorter. Blinds were $75-150, in 2nd position I pick up

If there is one thing I have learned from playing in San Jose is that you don't slow-play aces, you WILL get action. So I raised to $450, a Dominican player in seat 3 calls and so did Jorge in the blind. Flop falls



I made a continuation bet of $1,200, Dominican folds, Jorge calls. hmmm... flush draw? weak king? The turn brings a beauty:

OK, if there is a time to slowplay it is now, the ace has got to hurt Jorge and his feelings about the hand, check-check, hope he will catch something on the river:

Should be the moneymaker, and if it isn't I would never have been able to get his chips anyway, so I bet $2,000, he goes all-in with Flash Gorden speed, and I call. Jorge moans and groans. He had flopped the full house with K4 (that'll teach you not to play trash!!!) and was trapping me all the way, and now I had definitively and permanently become his evil spirit!

Chipped up to around $30,000 now and cruising, our table is broken and I am moved to table 5, seat 2

Seat 1 is a tight-weak Mexican of Chinese descent, seat 3 a nice but too talkative lady from Chile, seat 5 a North American girl with a crush on face cards regardless of value, seat 6 a solid Tico, seat 7 empty, seat 8 a robust young Mexican Peter Lego Fursund look-alike (for the Danish backgammon players out there), seat 9 a bluff-loving young Guatemalteco. As it turns out this becomes my seat for the rest of the day, other players come and go.

First big event at table 5 was the arrival of Don Luis Milanes. A living legend in the casino community, Don Luis is a soft-spoken gentleman of impressive dimensions. Years back he lost heads-up against Jose Rosenkrantz in Season 1 of the World Poker Tour at the only event in Costa Rica. Don Luis was the owner of the Casino Europa, but shortly after he disappeared from the surface of the earth, allegedly with hundreds of millions of dollars of investor money. 5 years later - last year in November - he suddenly reappears in San Jose, supposedly straightens everything out with whom he needs to and shows up at the PokerStars LAPT event, limo, chauffeur, bodyguard and all. Since then he has been everpresent and repossessed the Casino, and now he was sitting down at my table. He unloads 2 racks on to the felt, a total of $90,000, the overwhelming tournament chip leader.

He starts bullying right away, plays every hand, agression with turbo and afterburner. Mostly he will raise, sometimes limp. In a hand of the latter category he limps in mid position, it is folded to the blinds. In the SB I am looking at

and decide to call, expecting the Chilean Lady in the Big Blnd to check as she had done all day. Sure enough she taps the table.

Flop comes



SWEEEEEETTTTT!!!!! Keep cool, slowplay, action from Milanes is guaranteed! I check, and now Mrs. Chile bets the pot (around $1,200), Luis Milanes re-pops her to the size of her stack ($12,000), I move all-in for about $27,000 and they both call.

Chilean lady flips over

  Don Luis is gambling with

the board bricks out, lady goes home to Santiago and I am the new chip leader with a chip count of $68,725!

It is a long night, I am projecting we will finish day 1 after 4 a.m., I maintain my patient attitude, charge the blinds when I find it opportune and otherwise just try to find good spots. Once I get in real trouble and lose a big chunk against Guatemala. He had raised an uncontested pot from the button (again!) and I decided to make a stand in the BB, but alas - this time he had aces and could not be bluffed off the hand and I drop to around $30,000 i chips.

A player from the Dominican Republic has taken seat 3 now, and for some reason he is convinced that I am on a stealing mission every time I am in a hand. In a crucial hand everybody folds to me in the SB, and I think about raising. He has me outchipped by 2:1, and I am worried he will reraise me if I go at it. I do however like my K9o heads-up, so I make it as simple as I can - All-in! He is literally fuming now, and he snap-calls with A7o!!! Wow, I am in danger of extinction now, but the 9 on the turn saves me and relocates half the Dominican stack to the Tico-Vikingo in seat 2!

The official payout rewards the top 8 finishers, the Final Table on day 2 will have 9 players. It is now after 4 a.m. and we are playing 5-handed at 2 tables. During a break I suggest to TD Mario Zeledon that we take money from top 2 and give to places 9 and 10 so they will not have fought this long and gruelling night for nothing, and so it is. We finally lose another player, bag the chips and I drive home while the sun is rising.

Day 2 - Final Table

What I did not realize before the final table began was that I was actually the big stack! Not by much, the second biggest was Karlo Lopez to my right with around $90,000, and from there it went gradually down to $35,000 for the young crowd favorite Uri Rosenkrantz, son of Abraham, one of the PokerHispano owners.

Blinds were $1,200-$2,400 with a $200 ante, meaning there were $5,400 in the middle at the start of every hand and that the average stack had only 13 M. Quite normal for a Final Table, but it also meant you could not just sit there and wait for a premium hand. So I didn't. I took down the blinds and antes of the very first hand with a mid position raise (KJs) and my stack grew from $101,500 to $106,700 just like that!.

After that first hand I faded out of the picture for a while. The rest of the table picked up the action, a lot of raising and moves were made. The blinds grew to $1,500-3,000 with a $300 ante, we lost the first player at the hands of Karlo and he took a solid chip lead, not really what I liked to see but luckily I was to his immediate left in seat 5 and would have position on him for the rest of the tournament.

Young Uri had an amazing run with pocket kings twice and had taken 2nd position knocking out Guatemala on the way. All of a sudden I had a mediocre stack which had dropped to around $60,000 after a couple of unfortunate flops. Meanwhile blinds were up again, now $2,000-4,000 with $300 ante, Mexico in seat 9 has the SB, Rosenkrantz in the BB seat 1. Seat 2 - a chubby tight-weak gentleman from Panama with a love for salsa music on the iPod says raise, then throws his card toward the muck!? The dealer caught the cards on the way and called the floor. It was ruled that the raise would stand and seat 2 posted 8 yellow chips for the min-raise. Folded to the button - me! - and I decide to take advantage of the situation by re-raising to $21,000 and steal at broad daylight like a deer in headlights etc.etc. That was too much for my Dominican friend in seat 8 (the one who called my all-in with A7o on day 1) and he moves all-in!! Everybody folds to me, and now all of a sudden my 78o ain't looking to cool anymore. However, it was only another $28,000 to call, and with the probability that my friend was holding less than premium cards hovering around 75-85% I decide to call. He flips over QQ and I get no help from the dealer from here. From chip leader to short stack on the Final table, I am left with around $20,000 in chips.

But that was not the end of my troubles, far from. I steal the blinds and antes a couple of times moving all-in and surviving when nobody calls me. Then a crucial hand comes, I am in the BB again, now it is folded to seat 2, who announces all-in! He's got a stack similar to mine, pretty short so I know his shoving requirements are "flexible", Karlo folds in the SB and I have AJs so I call. Seat 2 has AQ and I am dominated. The board bricks out, I stand up as the dealer is counting out the stacks, I shake everybody's hands, they say nice things about my play, I am thinking "damn! another 7th place finish (WPS 2006)" when the dealer announces I still have chips left!! Hey, how much? $300!!!! Next hand I will post my ante of exactly $300 and not be able to post my small blind!! My stack now contains 0.0484% of the entire amount of chips on the table - let's just agree I need to get lucky now! The famous chip-and-a-chair story gets retold and I am getting encouraging remarks from everybody, laughs all around as we all await my exit in the next hand.

The action is folded around to young Uri in seat 1. He chooses to raise the pot!! Everybody folds including Karlo, who is shaking his head in disbelief. Uri turns over A9d, I am holding 4h3d, not the greatest hand ever, but at least I have live cards. The board runs out another ace and my tournament life seems as fragile as a candle light in a hurricane, but then a fourth heart comes on the river and I make my flush!! Up to $2,100!!! Everybody criticizes Uri for not limping and Karlo says it could be a very costly mistake. He had folded the ace of hearts so had Uri not raised the pot I would have been out. Ever heard of the theory that a flutter of a butterfly's wing in China can create a storm in the Carribbean? Sometimes the most tiny differences can have a huge impact.

We go on break, the $100 chips are raced out, back at the table my stack amounts to a whopping ante of $500 and half a small blind, we're at the $3,000-6,000 level now. For some obscure reason I choose to fold holding 52o, saying goodbye to 25% of my stack! Not wanting to repeat that mistake again I call all-in holding K3o in the next hand, two more players in the hand, can I only hit the flop! No such luck, the flop comes AJ842, Mexico flips 10 7, Karlo Q9 and my king high wins - all of a sudden I have more than $8,000!

Very next hand I am looking at A2o and I move all-in. I get two callers, they both check it down, one of them had made a pair of jacks, but it was no match for my turned set of deuces, ship it!!!

Now everybody was quiet at the table, fear in their eyes, and I was having a ball. There is really nothing better than having faced certain death just to survive, it's like being in a free-roll!

Next time I raised I did not have to push all-in and I took down the blinds and antes. I had decent cards, but most importantly nobody else had anything. Then I lost one pot and got knocked down again to push-and-pray status.

It is folded around to me on the button, and I am looking at a pretty hand:

My stack is at roughly $38,000 so I move all-in, expecting to pick up the blinds and antes ($12,500). The young Panamanian in seat 6 quickly calls and the BB folds. Uh-oh....

Panama reveals his ugly

and we see the flop:



hey, there is hope, now I have 5 outs!

The turn is

but thank God for inventing the river card:

another miracle has ocurred, Panama is down to desperation size and I am back as a force to be reckoned with!!

Next player out is in fact young Panama. He waited until he and I were in the blinds, and I put him all-in with AJ I don't remember his holdings, but he called and lost. We all moved up in equity now.

Over the course of the following 30 minutes we lost both Mexico and the other Panamanian. I was back as big stack at the table and the rest were in disbelief. Karlo was second in chips now. He and I had joked about ending heads-up, and now it actually seemed likely to happen. Then comes the biggest pot of the tournament so far - blinds are now at $4,000-8,000, ante $500. Karlo raises UTG to $21,000. I am looking at

Four-handed, I have position on Karlo, I have a hand with tons of potential so why postpone the duel? I call. The blinds both fold, we have $56,000 in the pot. The flop comes



not bad - sure there's an ugly ace, but I have middle pair with a good kicker and a backdoor flush draw on top of the backdoor straight draw! If Karlo does not have an ace,he's gotta be disgusted. Karlo in fact checks, I bet $32,000. Karlo checkraises me to $64,000, something that for some gutfelt reason seemed like an artificial move not backed up by reality. He has now around $55,000 behind. I know if I had hit the flop and would check-raise my opponent, I would go all-in Or if I really wanted to bluff I would also go all-in. Funky. I call. The turn comes

Now Karlo checks. Hmm. A lot of stuff in poker is technical, pot odds and shit, but sometimes you just gotta trust your instincts. Since I had Karlo covered substantially (about $70,000 more than him) I see no other move - all-in! Karlo dives into the tank, and I just sit head in hand and wait. He starts talking about how bad the 10 was for his hand, that I had called with A 10. A few minutes go by before he finally folds and I drag in the monster pot. At the table he said he had AK and I expressed my admiration for him that he did not go broke with that hand, that many chips in the pot and that I had hit 2 pairs on the turn.

Karlo is next guy out, we are now down to 3 players. Uri Rosenkrantz, the Dominican gentleman and myself. I have about half the chips in play, the gentleman in 2nd position and Uri in 3rd. Play goes back and forth, but the big action happens without me being involved. Soon they are both all-in preflop, The gentleman had made a weak call on Uri's push and he slides down to third position. Then they have another all-in, Uri has AQ and hits a set on the turn and he is celebrating just as a fourth diamond lands on the river to complete his opponent's flush. Uri is crippled again and steaming. Very next hand he goes all-in with 10 4 in the SB, I call wih J 10 in the bigblind and take him out of his misery.

Heads-up!! I have the chip lead, the blinds are now at $5,000-10,000, $1,000 ante. I was really happy to get this particular opponent as he in my opinion was the weakest of the lot. Over-playing his cards most of the time, making horrible calls, something that is really devastating for your chances against a better player determined to control pot sizes and be patient.

He actually took over the chip lead after the first 10 hands. We were at around $350,000-270,000 in his favor when the following hand played out. I am holding

on the button, I raise to $25,000, he calls. The flop comes



He checks, I bet $35,000, he moves all-in. I would be worried about this had it happened with 80% of the players I know, but in this case it was an easy call with top pair next bext kicker. Sure enough he flips over 8h 10d and no help for him from here, I gain a huge chip lead. Very next hand:

He completes in the SB, I check. The flop comes



This time I bet $15,000, he goes all-in, I call. He is holding 57o for the inside straight draw but another 3 on the turn fills my boat, the river changes nothing and I am the winner of the trophy, $9,170 in cash and a great come-back story firm enough to last much longer than a lot of my friends and family probably would wish.

After the photo shoot and the nice cheque we went to the Fiesta Casino in Alajuela where Poker Hispano had organized a very nice and generous award ceremony. Karlo made a great magic performance on the stage in front of a packed Saturday night fun-loving party crowd.Marian was pulled up on stage to assist him in one of the tricks, and it all ended with a public prize award ceremony where I received the trophy, and after me the winner of the main event Mr. Ingino from Panama who took down a field of 111 and a first prize of more than $50,000. At the party Karlo approached me and said (referring to the big hand I won against him) "I had K 9, what did you really have?" We both laughed and I returned the favor. It was a great pleasure to get to know and play you, Karlo, hope to see you soon again at the LAPT.

The only thing I could wish for now would that this event would have counted for the Guanacaste Player of the Year - I calculated the points I would have made, and it amounts to around 24,000, enough to distance Jeff Herrman by more than 10,000 GPOY points!!

Making the Final Table

Henrik Bodholdt — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:51:00 GMT

really short here just before I need to leave for the Herradura. Yesterday's $500 event attracted a field of 62, 8 places get paid and today we're playing the Final Table of 9 at 3 p.m.

My stack is at $101,500, average around $69,000. There might be a live update on PokerHispano....

You'll get the longer story when this is all over.

Aces now!!!

a walk in the desert

Henrik Bodholdt — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:56:00 GMT

My mouth is full of sand from a long walk in Sahara during day 1 of the Main Event. Trash cards after trash cards. I won the very first hand of the tournament after flopping two pairs, but it was literally hours before I won my next hand fair and square. My stack size kept shrinking as the blinds grew, and way into level 5 I finally saw a pair of jacks, reraised the guy in the cut-off and increased my stack from 8,000 to 10,000, while the average was now at around $22,000

Around the room the action was relentless and players had chips handed to them by one stupid macho play after he other, it was all about being in the right spot at the right time, and I was never there. On the contrary my table was dominated by morons and idiots with an impressive lack of both ethics and social skills. It created an urge in me to rob them of their entire chip stock, but alas - I came way too short.

Down to $6,900 I am on the button in seat 6. The guy in seat 4 goes all-in for $4,000, and I look down on

Easy all-in, the rock in the SB gets out of the way, but Humberto Brenes (who I have to add does not belong to the category I described above, he had joined the table 20 minutes prior to this hand) who was just as desperate and shortstacked as me and seat 4 - also pushes all-in!!

Seat 4 shows

and Humberto moans when he flips over

The flop comes



and I take out seat 4 while Humberto is left with just $850.

Back in business I can finally breathe again and I am ready to take on my table and chip up. A lot of players have now left for other tables, we are down to roughyl 60 players out of the 111 starting, the average is now at $30,000. My table is playing 7-handed for a while.

Just four hands later I am UTG, the action has been quiet and I decide to put my chips to work with a small preflop raise holding

Blinds are $300-600 with a $50 ante, so the initial pot has a nice chunk of chips to be picked up. Everybody folds to my $1,800 raise until we get to the BB (observations skills prevailing, I have played close to zero hands, and the only one I showed down ws the QQ). Steven hmpson in the BB calls me, and we are ready for the flop:



Steven checks, and I get ready to take down the pot, continuing with the best hand. My stack is now at around $17,000, while Steven has around $12,000. I throw out a brown $5,000 chip, but now Steven moves all-in. Time to go in the tank. I have played Steven quite a bit, and latest in the super satellite, so I am confident that if he had a flush draw he would have moved on the flop. If he had flopped a set of jacks I think he would have reraised preflop. I am thinking he is either holding the nuts with Q 10, or more likely two pairs with probably A J. His all-in reraise was so small that he was dying to get my call, and the pot odds were definitely tempting. I end up saying goodbye way too soon to my newly acquired chips with a well-timed fold when Steven flips over

"great fold" he complemented my play, a poor consolation prize.....

Three hands later I on the button again, an it is folded to me. I am holding

Humberto is forced all-in in the BB with a meager $450 (blinds meanwhile have incresed to $400-800, $100 ante) and I am very fond of this particular hand as it sent me to the WSOP Main Event back in 2007, so I call. SB calls too, we are 3-way, "The Shark" all-in, and we also have a side pot.

Flop comes



Pretty nice! Small Blind checks, I bet $800 - he calls! Now I just hope I can get all his chips as he obviously like the flop. The turn is

Not a good card for me if he is holding face cards or 23 for that matter. SB checks again, I too check ready to act on the river. The river is

SB checks again, and I of course bet again, but he starts whining about me playing an ace, so he folds his pocket tens face up!!
I take out Humberto and win a small but nice pot.

Soon our table gets broken up and I am moved to table 3 seat 9, next to Thomas Koo in seat 8 and Karlo Lopez in seat 7. I get to raise to $2,200 preflop once with 88, only to get reraised on the button for another $6,500 by a gentleman whom I played in the Super Satellite. Solid player, easy fold. I am moved again to table 5, this one dominated by medium to big sized stacks, I am definitely the smallest with $13,000, the average is now up to more than $30,000.

I watch the action for a couple of rounds not getting anything. Miguel in seat 8 and a Venezuelan macho-loose caller go at it a couple of times, Miguel loses a chunk. In the last crucial hand of the night Miguel throws in a $2,500 bet (blinds $500-1,000, $100 ante) in mid position, loose Venezuelan dude calls on the button. I am in the BB with K8s, and I have reached the point where I can't take it anymore, I need to o something now before they run me over. I think that if Miguel folds I will take down the pot and almost double my stack, so I ove all-in to squeeze! Alas, Miguel insta-calls and I am in big doodoo when his pocket aces are revealed.

ah well, tonight it is time for the $500 event!

Poker Hispano Tour

Henrik Bodholdt — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:05:00 GMT

Las Vegas and the WSOP is far behind us already, August and September belog to the past, now it's October, raining and another month of concentrated Costa Rican poker action has begun.

The crew and owners behind the first Spanish poker magazine PokerHispano took over management of the poker room at the Ramada Inn Herradura earlier in 2009. You will recognize many of the names, i.e. WPT winner Jose Rosenkrantz, his brother Abraham and Alex Brenes. Backed up and supported by the large majority of pros and celebrities in Costa Rica and with their excellent network throughout the Hispanic poker communities they have created THE place to play poker with action every day of the week.

Now they have introduced the Poker Hispano Tour. In an attempt to improve the efforts of LAPT and the World Poker Showdown and make it even more attractive to players, the stacks are deeper than ever before, and the tournament management is the best in the country, run by Fernando Obando and his team.

A big handlful of Guanacaste players made it to San Jose for the first two tournaments this week, i.e. a friendly $50 warm-up tournament (nobody cashed, Julian won the lastlonger bet) and Tuesday a $300 buy-in event. In the latter Tyler and I were the only Guanacas alive at the final stages, but while I busted in 13th place (95 players total) Tyler made the 10th place and cashed.

Last night it was time for the last Super Satellite leading up to the main event, and despite the organizers had it scheduled to 9 p.m. (and thus we would be playing until the wee hours) I decided to give it a shot. I'll make a long story short: In a field of 104 players there were 10 $1,500 seats and a $880 credit for the 11th finisher. At 4.45 in the morning I was chip leader and the 12th place finisher had just been busted. Everybody's eyes were puffy and we could hardly talk, so we decided that every body chip in to fill up to 11 full seats, and I decided I did not want to be the asshole of the bunch despite my 99,9% chance of qualifying so I also coughed up and I could drive home while the sun was rising.

Ready now to do the right thing, stay alive on day 1 (3 days total), hopefully double my stack during the day and be ready to go in agression mode on day 2. $150,000 is the guaranteed prize pool, it'll be bigger if we get more than 100 players, but I doubt we'll exceed that number in these days of cash crisis.

wanna know more? www.pokerhispano.com

Latest update on Michele's debut

Henrik Bodholdt — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:38:00 GMT

Just received an e-mail from Michele. He busted three hours into day 2, short-stacked and looking for an option to double up. He found his moment holding

in the small blind. Nobody raised pre-flop so he got a cheap look at the flop:

Unfortunately his top pair never improved so it was the end for Michele in this year's version of the main event.

Bittersweet goodbye

Henrik Bodholdt — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:57:00 GMT

My Vegas trip is coming to an end. I just got back tomy hotel suite at the Rio, enjoying a cold beer before bedtime and thinking of today's events.

So, we were down to 35 players, 27 would walk home with money in their pocket, the best and luckiest of us all would cash a nice $81,000!

The 3rd hand of the day I am UTG. Blinds are $1,200-2,400, $300 ante, I raise to $7,000. A shorter stack to my immediate left reraises all-in for $38,000+, everyone folds to me and I obviously call with y pocket kings! He flips over 10 10, nohelp for him on the board, and I am almost at average - YES!! Just the start I needed.

From there I go up and down a bit, down again to $80,000, a big squeeze-play sends me back ovr the $100,000 mark, but we are still not on the bubble, the game is slow! Finally somebody busts and we re-draw for the last three tables.

I win some bi juicy pots with agressive play pre-flop, I squeeze some of the pros a couple of times and I build my stack to $326,000 when we are 17 players left, average at $226,000. I am feeling more and more confident and positive. I hit a bit of a card drought, and slowly fall to around $280,000.

When we come back from dinner break I am in the big blind. I have two big stacks to my right, those are the ones I plan to double up through! In the first hand it is folded to Canadian Paul in the SB. He completes, I check with 98o. A Q 2 on the flop, he bets I fold.

2nd hand it is again folded around to Paul. Blinds are $5,000-10,000,$1,000 ante. Paul raises on the button to $36,000. I look down and see

I shove for my entire stack, but the calm voice from the big blind is everything but soothing when he announces "I call".

Canadian Paul folds, and the Big Blind reveals his ugly

I am crushed and he doubles up through me, I am left with less than 1 big blind, and two hands later I am out in 14th place of the 272 player field.

Looking back on the week, my stats are nothing to be ashamed of. I have played 6 tournaments, cashed in 4 of them. In two of them I have chopped for first place heads-up and 3-way, and I have made it deep into the money in 2 out of 4 deep-stack tournaments with plenty of world class players around me.

Gotta start packing now, anxious to go home to Marian and the new 3 Kings Social Club. Looking forward to creating a great place to play with lots of value and action for my members.

hasta la proxima!

Another deep run at the Venetian

Henrik Bodholdt — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:46:00 GMT

It ended up being the Venetian's Deep Stack Extravaganza again, their 4th of July $1,080 buy-in tournament, starting stack $15,000, levels of 60 minutes, starting blinds $50-100. Mike decided it was bad equity so he opted for the limit hold'em grind, and when I left him he was doing well and winning big.

My first table was a fine mix of good players and really soft spots, I was lucky enough to get a lot of the easy chips and most of the day I was at double average - until the dinner break.

After dinner it seemed like the cream had surfaced and it was no longer that easy to pick a victim at the table. A LOT of contested pots and agressive play. My second table was not that good for me, even though I was at $128,000 at one point when the average was around $40,000. I lost a big pot just before the table broke up again, but I was at $100,000 and doing well. Then I unfortunately doubled up a short stack and fell to $77,000, Later the same guy opened the pot in 2nd posiion. The blinds were $1,000-2,000 now with $300 ante. It was folded to the button where I was holding

I call, the blinds fold.

Flop comes

He checks, I check to trap.

The turn is

He checks, I bet $11,000, he goes all-in for a total of $30,000+, and I can't fold in that spot, I quickly call.

He flips over

and I am in deep doodoo, until the ace on the river came and the guy exploded out of the poker room!.

Phew, cruising again, we are now down to 55 players. Top27 get paid, minimum $1,300, 1st place pays $81,000, and I have $125,000+ with the average around $75,000.

A few rounds later, 2nd position raises to $6,000, a small stack goes all-in on the button for $35,000+, I go all-in over the top with pocket Kings, 1st raiser folds short stack flips over aces, aaaaarrrghhh. No help for me on the board and I drop to $80,000 again.

I lose a couple of pots with AKs and pocket 7s, and I am down to less than $50,000, but at least I won the last hand of the night with pocket 6s to end the day at $67,000.

Sunday at 4 p.m. we play again. We are 35 players left, average is around $117,000. I need to double up soon to stand a chance, plan B is to squeeze myself into the money, it'd be nice to leave Las Vegas with cashes in 4 out of 6 played tournaments.

cross your fingers.....

Hold'em Heaven at Harrah's - and Michele on fumes

Henrik Bodholdt — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:11:00 GMT

Let's take Michele first - he has done well by surviving day 1 and will continue the fight for the championship! However, he is down to $6,150 in chips and will need to double up a couple of times to stand a chance in the long run. I hope to get a more detailed interview from Michele Saturday.

Meanwhile I decided to give it another go at Harrah's - after all I won it the other night, so the mojo should be alright and my confidence in my game has rarely been higher.

Wednesday we were 80 players total, today Friday we reached 90. This time however, I came off to a very dry start, saw hardly any cards at all the first 4 levels before the break. After the break I managed to double up once with AJ vs. 88, and later once more when I trapped with AK, and another player decided to try a squeeze with AJ. All of a sudden I was above average again and doing well. They broke up our table about 2 hours into the tournament and I was seated in seat 7 at a much tougher table han the first one. My first hand UTG was QQ, (blinds $1,000-2.000 my stack at $28,000) I raised to $8,000, I had a caller from a huge stack in seat 9, then seat 10 went all-in! Fold around to me. Hard decision I think, and since I did not know the players and yet and my tournament life as at stake I decided to let it go. Seat 9 also let go, and the Italian player in seat 10 showed QQ - we had the same hand!!!

Next hand I showed to the table was KK in an all-in situation where I busted a player, so my image was good and solid, and at the later stages I got a lot of respect from the table and managaed to steal quite a number of blinds and antes.

It's late - or early if you will - and I will make it short: I made it to the final table as the big stack and managed to build it even more until I sat on $350,000 of the $900,000 in play. 6-handed I first lose an all-in with KK vs. A6s, then my AK can't win vs. AJ, and when a strong agressive French player in seat begins to play back at me I lose a chunk of chips. When the forth place finisher is out the three of us were at $240,000/$330,000/$330,000 and we decide to chop the pot 3-way, still a nice chunk of cash with a little more than $2,500 to each of us, not bad for a $150 investment, eh?

Saturday I will most probably play either at the Golden Nugget or Venetian, both places have a $1,000 2-day event. Mike will be joining me and change from the $4-8 game he has been grinding succesfully over the last days.

Goodnight!

WSOP Main Event day 1a - Michele in action

Henrik Bodholdt — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:52:00 GMT

Michele looked fit and redy to play. Butterflies in the tummy I think, but his wife is on ringside to support him, and she has made sure he holds on to the cross she gave him today. "He does not respect the Lord enough" she told me as we gave him the last wave and encouraging words of advice.

Next door to the playing rooms the Poker Palooza show has opened its doors. It began yesterday and despite the name change it's all the same mix of crap and goodies for poker players.

I picked up the cards for the TPT and the new club, saw the people I had appointments with, ran into the defending World Champ who was suffering from a severe hang-over from the Drunk Danes game at the Venetian the night before, and bought a few things here and there.

In the afternoon Greg Raymer gave a free seminar for the visitors, Joe Hachem and a lot of other big names ran around and had their photos taken with everybody who wanted it.

Later in the day I tried the Mandalay cash game. As promised the table was super-soft, most of them limpers and calling stations, but nontheless I was down more than $200 before I finally managed to double up through my neighbor who caught the nut flush on the river while I had slow-played a flopped set of queens which filled up with the very same river card - thank you 6 of spades!!

Later the fish swam out of the tank and let some young sharks in, I left the table with a decent plus and went home to crash.

Tonight I might try the Harrah's tournament again, and tomorrow I am eye-balling the Main Event at the Golden Nugget's Grand Series of Poker, we'll see.

poker in Vegas - July 1st

Henrik Bodholdt — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:46:00 GMT

I am wiped out, tired and card drunk from a long night at the tables. I had decided on an easy-going day after the long haul at the Venetian yesterday.

Today took off when I met with Michele and his wofe to sign him up for the Main Event. We met for a cup of coffee at Starbuck's and continued to the registration desk and the cashier with the $10,000 in bills from Banco Nacional. Michele was awarded a seat at table 39 i Blue Amazon, seat 6 - a good spot for the spectators, and I hope I will be able to give updates during the Friday the 3rd.

While Michele took off to play at the Venetian in the afternoon, I took a ride with Jeff in his rental car to go shopping (don't tell Marian, shhhh!!). We were back in the afternoon, I had lunch and took a nap, and later I went to the Bellagio while Jeff went to Harrah;s to sign up for the 8 p.m. tournament.

I joined him just half an hour before tournament start and paid the $150 entry fee. The total number of players added up to 80, a decent stack size with $10,000 and blinds of $25/50 to begin with. 20 minute levels, though, but this is also the maximum you can expect from e one-nighter, so no complaints here.

Jeff was busted about 2 hours into the tourney, while I had a good run and a table where I think I had a pretty picture of the player types, and I was able to adjust to them accordingly.

I made a lot of solid agressive plays, one or two good laydowns and the couple of suckouts you have to make i order to win a tournament like this - so I did! When we reached the final table I was third in chips, but I played my way to the chip lead. When we were 3-way I had the double amount of chips of the other 2 players, so when one of them took out the other we were as even in chips as you can get, so we decided to chop the pot of aound $6,000 - a nice payday finally!!

Tomorrow Thursday is the first day of the Poker Palooza, the usual poker show with tons of offers and free stuff. Jeff is headed back to Costa Rica, but I will hook up with Diego and check out the action , and probably later on try the cash game at Mandalay Bay which so far has proven profitable to Diego by a juicy margin.

Updates coming....

Event 54 - Julian cashes!! + Deep Stack Voodoo at the Venetian

Henrik Bodholdt — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:21:00 GMT

Event #54
As a regular reader of this blog you will know that Mike was MIA last night, but we finally got some life signs from him today. Here is what he wrote:

"I ran into AA again with KK. Took half my stack when I built up to 22,000.

final two hands went like this. Blinds are 400-800 100 ante...... guy to my right raises to 2,200. I move all-in in the cutoff with AK off for 13,000. Big blind calls me for 12,200, original raiser folds. JJ in the big blind. I lose.

800 left, next hand. folds to me and I have AJ, I call for the 700 I have left....big blind is the only player in against me, he has wired 3s. Flop comes 3 10 10"

Julian continued today on day 2 of the $1,500 bracelet event #54, with about 2/3 of the average stack. He played himself deep into the money, but unfortunately not all the way to the bigger pay-outs. Nonetheless Julian finished in 156th place of the 2,800 field and doubled his investment - he should be proud of his accomplishment as the first Guanacaste player to cash in the WSOP 2009, congrats big guy!

Main Event
Michele and his wife arrived today, they ran into me while I was playing at the Venetian (I wonder what authentic Italians think of that place...) and we will be signing him up Tuesday morning. Michele expects to play day 1A on July the 3rd, I will of course follow the action and keep you all updated on this blog.

Deep Stack Extravaganza at the Venetian
This tournament series has become extremely popular and well attended by pros and amateurs alike. The casino has enlarged their poker capacity, and today's $340 buy-in tournament attracted more than 950 players! Compare that to the similarly structured tourney at Caesar's which had 279 entries. Actually Caesar's tournament has more chips and longer levels, and start at a level lower in the blinds, but with the number of players at the Venetian they would not be able to finish the event in 2 days if they were to keep a structure like that. Still, plenty of chips and room for plays and maneuvres.

Both Diego, Jeff and I signed up, confirmed the now almost obligatory last-longer side bet and agreed on a small hedge. My table 35 is good enough, 2 or 3 very solid and tight players, plus a small handful calling stations, but nothing ridiculous. At the first break after two levels I connect with Jeff on the phone, but he is already out! 2 minutes later I run into Diego, also on his way home - WHAT!!? As the lone musceteer - but at least $40 richer - I sit down again and start building my stack. I make it all the way to $18,000 (starting stack $12,000) before I lose a smaller pot - when my table is broken into the 6th level (blinds $300-600, ante $50). I am moved a few tables down the line, and from being the chip leader at my table I become the small fish in the big pond with 4 of the stacks at the table larger than mine. I am UTG in the 1st hand and have to fold both my hands in the BB and SB. When I get the button my stack is at roughly $15,000. Everybody folds to me and I look down on

I raise to $2,000, and the SB immediately goes all-in over the top of me with a stack similar to my own. Now the audience has to know a couple of things: 1. I know the guy - a Venezuelan "loco" I know from both San Jose and Panama City, super and overly agressive and the thing that makes him tick is getting away with big bluffs - a classic latino macho donkey (with all due respect) 2. He does not remember me 3. I ain't folding this baby.

So I call, and to no surprise of mine he flips over

The "Doyle Brunson" hand proves it's magic by flopping two pairs and I am knocked down to $475, less than one big blind!!

I fold the following hand to the sounds of the moaning and groaning from the players around the table, but I laugh and give the dude a fist for good sportsmanship, ready to tighten the straps on my 3 Kings nylon bag and head home to Rio. In the next hand I get

- perfect hand!! I push my massive stack towards the middle, and now my brilliant Venezuelan friend decides to move all-in and leave thousands of $$ of dead money in the pot for me should I win the hand. Of coruse I do, his A 8 o ws no mach for my powerhouse when a 6 came on the turn - now I am at $2,200!! A couple of hands later I push again, twolimpers fold, my South American benefactor calls with 10 7, and my K J holds up - now I am at almost $6,000!!!! I will spare you the details of the next couple of hands, but within my first 20 minutes at the new table I build my stack back up to where I was and more - I doubled up with aces vs. A 10, and with my beautiful loose image I later doubled up again with KK vs. JJ. When my 2nd table broke I was the chip leader and the bully, my Venezuelan friend was on his way to the airport and my stack was at a very healthy $57,000! (average $24,000)

I find my new table, ready to conquer new territory. A real cooler when I sit down and see that the guy to my left has $125,000, his table mate, a cute Chinese poker dealer from upper state New York has $70,000. hmmmm.... not what I had hoped for, now I had to sit down and wait for opportunities while getting reads on my table and try not to tangle too much or too loosely with the big stacks to my left.

Slowly but surely I get the picture at the table. I am in seat 1 with around $60,000. In seat is a young dude who talks too much, a lot of chips arrive and leave his stack. In seat 3 and even more loose player who I see win and loose around $85,000 over the next 2 rounds of hands. In seat 4 the chinese poker dealer, seemingly very tight and knows how to play back at seat 2 and 3 when in position. She basically takes $100,000+ from both of them while I am there, without ever showing a card. In seat 5 Mr. congeniality who nevertheless hates seat 3 and loudly expresses his discontent when the young players gets away with plays seat 5 don't like. Of course he himself does nothing about it, in fact I see him lay down 4 pre-flop raises when other players put him to the test with all-in moves and large re-raises. Seats 6-7 are tight players, a new older gentleman arrives to seat 8 and plays surprisingly agressive. The first times he does that everybody backs down, but then we get the picture and I give him a hard tme when I push all-in against his position raises, he folds both times and I build my stack.

The field is now narrowing but our table has a lot of chips in play, and nobody is leaving anytime soon. At dinner break we are down to 170 out of the 950 starting, payout begins at 71. We play 1 level after the dinner break, and I take out seat 2 with A 10 suited against his 10 8 suited. I hit the $100,000 mark, average is around $75,000.

Blinds increase to $1,200-2,400, $300 ante. I lose a couple of steal attempts and a knocked down to average again, when a crucial comes up:

A young tight "idiot from Northern Europe"-type player in seat 10 who still overplays his cards open the pot in 2nd position to $6,400. He's got $50,000+ behind, I look down on

to his immediate left. I re-raise him to $25,000. Everyone else folds to him, he thinks about it for a long time and I am happy, confident I am way ahead. He finally decides to call. The flop comes



Seat 10 moves all-in immediately and I snap-call faster than you can say "suck-out!"

His pocket jacks are joined by the nasty

on the turn, so instead of me cruising towards the money and perhaps a realistic chance at the 1st prize a $100,000+ I am now sitting with $15,000 left in front of me and a nauseating feeling to my stomach. A fucking 2-outer with 2 cards to come, I was nailing the last nail in his coffin when the corps jumped out like a jack-in-a-box!!

I managed to steal the blinds and antes once, but the second time I moved all-in the Chinese dealer in seat 4 woke up with cowboys and this time they held up. Out on 137th place.

Still, I have been playing some of my best poker here in Vegas, I have run deep in all tournaments, I am just missing the last bit of luck to make my first big live score.

stay tuned

Event #54 - end of day 1

Henrik Bodholdt — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:26:00 GMT

Just like the case was for the Guana Guys in event #51, we only have one player left in the field - we think! Tyler is out, and we could not find Mike anywhere at the end of the day, but so far is only MIA until further notice.

Julian is ready to rumble on day 2. Was doing well sitting at around $40,000 when a hyper-agressive player flopped two pair with 53 while Julian had made top pair with his signature hand - the A 10. That took half of his chips, but he is sitting at $20,200 before action begins on day 2. Average is around 33,000 with about 380 players left, 297 of them will be paid.

On another note I followed the last stages of the Final Table of event #51 - an old acquaintance from my backgammon days in Europe emerged as the bracelet winner: German Carsten Joh, a professional backgammon and poker player residing in Spain. He was the coolest, most calm and collected, and I know he is tough as titanium and cold as steel. His young opponent heads-up cracked under the pressure - you could tell from miles away who would win that battle!

Tuesday I will make another attempt to get a phone number and then I will head for the Venetian and their Deep Stack Extravaganza, a structure and tournament format much like the Mega Stack at Caesar's. Diego will probably be joining me.

2nd update Event #54

Henrik Bodholdt — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:47:00 GMT

We've had one more unfortunate casualty since last update - Diego went out when his top pair top kicker lost to a flopped set...

We all just had a great burger dinner, exchanged stories, advice, jokes etc. at the Sports Deli, and the guys are already back in action, now hitting level 7. Blinds will be $200-400, $50 ante, and the chip counts are

Tyler - $17,300 (aces vs. 10s, flop comes 10 (!) - x - A(!!))
Julian - $22,000 (kicking ASS!!)
Mike - $15,625 (lost a large pot with Kings vs. Aces)

In other words, they are all above average and doing great, I'll try to get an update later tonight, if not then check the update tomorrow morning.

Monday's Mega Stack Climax

Henrik Bodholdt — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:25:00 GMT

Back at day 2 for Caesar's Megastack Series, I checked out the chip count sheet for the remaining 27 players. I was in 25th spot with a meager $69,000 starting in the small blind, chip leader was at $616,000 at another table.

My table blew up from the get-go. First hand we saw AA dobling up, secnd hand we saw the same player crippled with 77 vs. QQ, 3rd hand he was out. The player in seat 8 suggested a bet on how many players we would have left in the tourney by the end of the ccurrent level with 43 minutes remaining, and I took the over 16, he took the under. I joked about slowing down the action, but when he pushed in the 6th hand and I looked down on American Airlines I saw no need to take it easy, and it got even better when a 3rd short stack pushed with us - and my aces held up!! From zero to hero, I was now at $215,000 and cruisin'!

A few minutes later we redrew for the final 20 players and I was seated at a chip heavy table with three guys bigger than myself, among them the chip leader. The atmosphere was great, a lot of laughs as players were squatted left and right. I took out a young Swede with a short stack, which boosted me to $320,000 taking third position at the table. "Roethlisberger" in seat 6 and "Donkey" in seat 3 were bigger with $600,000+ and $500,000+.

Blinds now $8,000-16,000, ante $2,000. $40,000 in the pot to begin with. We were now guaranteed $1,218 in payout, but no really incline in prizes before top 5, which meant there was no reason to fold your way to the Final Table, a lot of pushing and gambling was bound to happen.

Now "Donkey" in 2nd position raises to $44,000, everybody folds to me in the SB, I am holding

My stack is at $302,000, I re-raise to $150,000, basically telling "Donkey" I am pot comitted. He shoves and I call, a little bit surprised to see him flipping over

It was either the chip lead or the heavy walk to the cashier, so I can't say I am entirely unhappy about the scenario, however the board gave me no help and I walked away in 15th place.

I might not be the gambler he is, and maybe he would only have folded to an all-in from me. I might have over-estimated his observation skills, but I know he was keeping a keen eye on my stack, we had talked about it he and I at the break. Now I am frustrated over losing the hand this way, and maybe I should have shoved instead of getting cute and require more finesse from my opponent, but I seriously thought he would get the hint and be able to fold a small or medium pair, after all 9's are really not that good a hand when you know you will be playing for $300,000+ instead of just taking the blinds and antes.

something to think about....

WSOP Event #54 update - chip counts after level 4

4 Guana Guys and Diego Quesada playing today - and they are doing relatively well, with one exception: Jeff got his aces cracked by KQ - 2 pairs on the flop completed by a king on the river to fill up.

Julian took most of Mark Seif's chips and is now at $11,000, Tyler is at average $7,000, Mike at a nice $17,000 and Diego just around $10,000. I'll get a new update after the dinner break.

Back in the line of fire

Henrik Bodholdt — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:12:19 GMT

Kevin busted as no. 304 in event #51, just 7 places before the money, aaarrrgh! His pocket jacks did not hold up, so the sad status is that none of our six players made it to the stage where it got really interesting. Hopefully that wil change today when Mike Schaefer, Tyler, Jeff and Julian are pressing the RESET button in event #54 starting at noon. Also Diego Quesada who came to town Sunday evening will be playing, let's wish them all good luck!

Yesterday Jeff and I trickled down to Caesar's to play their Megastack tournament. En excellent structure (a LOT better than the WSOP) with $15,000 to begin with, blinds start at $25-50, levels of 50 minutes. I played this event once last year myself and came 12th out of 500+ players, paying for my entrire Vegas trip back then, so I returned to the scene of the crime with happy memories.

This year the buy-in is $340, we had 279 entries. Unfortunately Jeff never caught pace and exited a few hours into the tournament. I managed to stay at average most of the long afternoon, but after the dinner break I started growing my stack and when we were down to 40 players (27 places get paid) I was in the top5 and cruising. Then a table change, two other big stacks on my left impeded my freedom to make moves, and I lost 4-5 hands significant hands in a row - making good laydowns at least - and I was knocked down to below average again.

Lat table move of the day when we hit 30 players, I was now down to $114,000, average at $130,000+, blinds now $4,000-8,000, $1,000 ante. We would play down to the final 27, hand-for-hand when at 28. When we were down to 29 I pick up

in the cutoff seat. I have a smaller stack on the button to my left, the SB is a big stack while the BB is probably the smallest stack at the table at around $50,000+ while I have around $100,000.

I push my stack, and Einstein decided that

would be his choice of hand to risk his tournament life. Naturally he filled out his inside straight on the turn, leaving me - ME!! - on life support as the shortest stack. Volcano, explosion, eruption, foamy stuff coming out of my mouth.....

Anyways, I actually managed to get a walk in my BB once, and when somebody else at another table stood up and walked away I realized I had miraculously made the money and will be playing day 2 today at 2 p.m. holding $69,000 in chips with an average of $155,000. Minimum pay is $812, $16,000 for the winner.

Updates coming later today

Battle of the blinds - busted by Big Stack

Henrik Bodholdt — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 06:43:00 GMT

So, back from dinner break I get AKs in the very first hand, I open the pot woth a raise to $1,200 (blinds $200-400, ante $50) only to be greeted by an all-in from a small stack of $3,600. I called and made full house on the turn, back to almost average!!

My new table got broken up again, and I was moved for the second time tonight. I played myself up to almost $20,000, then down again to $10,000 tangling with the big stack to my right, who was not only on a rush, but also extremely active.

Everybody folds to me on the button, and I raise to $2,000 (blinds now $300-600, $75 ante). SB folds, while Big Blind completely buys my weak hollywood acting and reraises me all-in.I call immediately of course, and he flips over 10 5 o - SWEET!! Up to $22,000 and above average again!!

Meanwhile the big stack in seat 1 has grown to $50,000+ and keeps bullying the table. We're 45 minutes from the end of the day, and we're down to 550 players, 298 get paid. Everybody folds to him in the SB, he calls, I check with K9 resisting the urge to raise him. Flop comes AKJ. He leads out with $2,000 I raise him to $5,000, he calls rather quickly, haven't yet seen him fold to a raised bet on the flop. The turn is the deuce of diamonds, he checks. There is now $12,000 in the pot, and I have about $13,000 behid, so I go all-in, convinced I have the best hand.He snap-calls with pocket aces and I am drawing dead, nice play Sir, good luck and good night!!

Kevin was still in when I left, but nursing an extremely short stack, let's hope at least one of us will make it to day 2 and the money!!

Event #51 - Dinner Break Status

Henrik Bodholdt — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:23:00 GMT

Mike did not register for the event, so it ended up being Jeff, Kevin, Julian, Tyler, Harry and myself.

Jeff and I could follow each other in the Amazn room as we were just a few tables apart. After the first 2 levels Jeff was more or less even, while I was down to $2,700 (start stack $4,500). Third and forth level however, were a lot kinder to me, especially one big hand helped:

I am holding

in the SB. The big stack at the tabe limps from the cutoff, I complete while the BB checks.

The flop comes

Pretty sweet, eh?

everybody checks.

The turn brings

check-check-check

The river comes

Now I bet $300 int the $450 pot. BB folds, big stack raises to $750.

I am sure he either has a flush or a full house, so I puch all-in, and after a coupleof minutes of twisting in his seat he calls with pocket 5's for the smaller full house.

That brought me up to $13,000. Later I hit $15,000, was at $14,450 at the 2nd break.

The last 2 levels have been hard o me though. First I double up a small stack on a 762 flop, I had pocket jacks but he had hit a set, down to $11,000. Since then have been card dead, and I am currentlu at $7,625. The same is Kevin who is the only other left from our Guana Guys group. We've decided to chop the last-longer prize pool, so cough up the rest of you!

Hopefully we'll be able to double up soon to stand a fair chance of advancing in the tournament. Blinds will now be $200-400 with a $50 ante, so we need to push soon. 1,030 players left of the 2,800 starting at noon, top 280 pays. More than $600,000 for the winner, but we're not among the favorites right now - that will hopefully change!!

stay tuned

Warming up - getting a FIX!

Henrik Bodholdt — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:47:00 GMT

So far it's been a decent start on my Vegas trip, and one of the better ones socially for sure. Thursday's flight from San Jose to Houston went smooth, and when I lined up to go through immigration I spotted Hugh, Tyler and Brandon in the line for US citizen's, they had arrived from Liberia at the same time!

We hooked up at Pappadeaux's for great seafood chowders, bisques and beer, and the first ray of luck shone through when I caught a standby seat on the afternoon plane with the guys - instead of having to wait more than 6 hours for the evening connection I had originally booked.

Checked in to my suite at the Rio, great bed, spacious room. Hooked up to the internet right away to Skype with Marian and got updated on "stuff". I took advantage of the relatively quiet evening at the WSOP and got registered for the Saturday event #51

Friday it was about shopping - getting some practical stuff like batteries and a US phone number (of which I did not get the latter), get some much needed sleep etc. I took a half hour by the pool, got a haircut and a shave, read up on some poker literature and followed the developing story on Michael Jackson's tragic death.

Jeff - who is staying 3 floors above me at the Rio - and I went to play some friendly stakes cash game at Bally's in the late afternoon. He had already been in the line of fire at a tournament at Harrah's and had come in 5th to cash a $400 profit, a good start! At Bally's we were seated at different tables, and while Jeff scored a massive profit of $7!! I had to record a $89 loss on my score sheet. I only won one hand the entire session, and every time I had an ace with a face card, someone woke up to my left with either KK or AA!

We upped and left and walked over to the Bellagio to meet the other Guana guys at Fix. Tyler had reserved a table which was more than filled up when everybody showed up for a great dinner with awesome food and beer, lots of laughs and a last-longer bet between the players in event #51: Julian, Tyler, Harry, Kevin, Jeff, myself and maybe Mike Schaefer - he is still not sure whether he is playing or not.

WSOP 2009 has had a good start, with or without big results in the tournaments. We've got a great group of Guana Guys and I look forward to enjoying their company over the next days...

Rounded off the evening at the cash game in Rio's poker room, won a few good hands and left when the table got a lot tougher around 11 p.m. - and when I realized the rake was a whopping 10%, capped at $5 - a far cry from Bally's 5% capped at $4!

I will try to get you all updated some time Friday evening at the dinner break.