Cyprus
Having not been abroad since WPT Dublin in Janurary, May was coming up so decided it was about time I returned to the foreign donkament trail. I texted my usual poker trip companion Will (BrotherMuzone) Xenophanes Ranulf Dorey and we decided to go 'somewhere' in a two week gap in May. I checked the Hendon Mob for tournaments and found all sorts of random tours in random places. It's actually pretty cool that there is poker going on all over the place pretty much all the time and is a great excuse to travel to places you might not normally visit. We eventually decided on North Cyprus for the 'Mediterranean Poker Cup'. The main event of $3.3k was a good size and there were also some decent side events.
Travelling there was a bit of a pain. The flight took four hours from London to southern side of Cyprus and then an hours taxi to the Northern, Turkish region. We eventually got down to playing some poker the next day and soon realised the action there was pretty incredible. The place is filled with Russians who have a lot of money in Cyprus. Although there were a handful of decent younger Russians most of them were there for a good time. Mixed with them were some locals which was also a good sight as the Greek/Cypriots were never regarded as the finest players. I did not recognise a single well known pro except Michael Mizrachi and it seemed like he'd been paid to go as he donked off his chips in swift fashion.
The hotel where the festival was held was all inclusive and it didn't seem to matter that we weren't actually staying there when it came to free stuff. On the first night we tried to pay for a beer but it caused such a kerfuffle that we didn't bother in the future and just accepted they wanted us to have everything for free! As well as this in the poker room there was a buffet available all day where you could get sandwiches or kebabs made for you as well as a free bar.
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| The dessert section of the buffet. This is the only photo I took in Cyprus so clearly it fascinated me the most. |
Unfortunately the main event didn't go very well for me. There was a comical hand where a player did a fake misclick where he pretended to accidentally make a massive raise while holding aces. I held kings so that worked out well for him. I felt incredibly frustrated throughout the whole tournament because of how bad the players were and how I couldn't get anything going. I don't think this frustration affected my play too much but it certainly didn't help. I busted to a flip after bleeding down to a short stack which seems to be my standard way of exiting tournaments. Oh well. Will made it to day 2 but couldn't spin up a short stack. We both plan to return to that region to play poker as it could be a big cash cow. The cash games looked incredible. The only downside is that it's too damn hot out there in the summer.
Stag do and wedding
Another entirely non poker related event I had recently was my mate Steve's stag do and wedding. This was my first ever stag do and one thing I've realised is that they are a lot of fun, unless you are the stag. We ended up going to the stag do capital of the the UK, if not the world, Newcastle. It was a lot of fun and great to catch up with some old Haywards Heath College mates as well as meet some new ones. The wedding was lovely too.
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| Steve's first outfit |
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| Most of the stag do chaps at the wedding. I did not do any cocaine that night. |
Dubrovnik
I managed to win my way into the EUREKA!!!! poker tour event in Dubrovnik, Croatia which was a 1.1k euro event sponsored by some poker site that is apparently doing well at the moment. Will accompanied me as usual and although the flights were a little pricey at short notice it only took a couple of hours to get there. I didn't know much about Dubrovnik prior to going but it seemed like a beautiful place, with very pleasant 20 degree sunshine this time of year.
The hotel seemed very nice although there were a couple of problems with our room. Firstly there was just one massive bed and a sofa. Obviously I won the flip to get the bed so Will has the sofa the first night. Also the bathroom had a strange setup where when you take a shower you are in full view of the rest of the room. Perhaps Croatians are very liberated when it comes to washing but I didn't particularly want to see my pal showering or vice-versa. We swapped rooms the next day and had a couple of nice beds but the same bathroom situation. Oh well, not the end of the world. The new room came with a much better view though.
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| Odd Bathroom |
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| Balcony and view |
The following day we sat down to play the main event and although no where near as soft as Cyprus, the tournament was still good value and fun too. A few levels in I ended up getting in 75bb or so with J-J which I'm not sure was good but whatever, he had A-K and I held. I didn't win the flip, I held okay? I was going along nicely until I doubled a short-stack with TT < KK and soon after the following hand occurred:
Everyone folds to the HJ who raises a standard amount. This player has been more on the tight side but raising enough in late position that it wasn't always the nuts. I flat K-Qo because we are deep enough and I felt I had a significant edge post-flop and the players behind weren't very squeezy. Obviously then the button squeezes! Both blinds fold and HJ folds and I decide to call figuring K-Q plays well enough vs his squeezing range with the deep stacks.
The flop comes A-Q-4 and I check call a small bet of about 1/3 to 1/2 pot. The turn is a J and it goes check check. The river is a 6 and I check and he bets 5.2k into about 14k. I raise to 15k and he taaaaank calls to show A-K.
I think my play isn't terrible, but I think it is bad overall. The player in question was a geeky, young looking German and he figured out what I was doing. And in hindsight I should have realised he would do this. Although when doing it I thought I could rep A-Q as well as K-J he would probably expect me to 3-bet the weaker HJ player with A-Q. Will made the point that I could have mashed the river for pot or more which frankly, didn't even enter my head at the time. This certainly would have been the most optimal line where the German's range is capped and I can very feasibly have the nuts. I didn't win a pot after this and eventually busted to 9-9 to K-K.
I side events were pretty lousy, just small buyin turbos of which I played two with no success. The cash games were quite juicy though so I played some 1/2 and 2/5 euro and won small in both sessions. The only downside was that they allow smoking at the tables. Living in the UK where all indoor public smoking is strictly banned it just seems absolutely ridiculous that people be allowed to smoke when playing poker in a small space and in such close proximity. It's a shame for us non-smokers because it makes playing so much less enjoyable and my clothes would stink the next day.
Although the poker was a bit disappointing I really liked Dubrovnik and would certainly go back. Will and I even got a chance to do some touristy and stuff and walk around some of the ancient walls and go up the cable car. Here's the view from up there:
Southend-on-sea
Last weekend I attended a PKR social event in Southend which is a great chance to put faces to some familiar online names from the community. PKR really does have an incredible community of people that have become great friends because of poker. As someone who mostly hangs out with professionals or at 'serious' events where people are playing more to win than to have fun an event like this is such a relief. It reminds you of how you used to feel about the game when you first started and how you should probably still treat it now.
The weekend was a great laugh. Aided by copious amounts of booze and poker everyone seemed to be having a great time. I highly recommend anyone on PKR to attend an event like this in the future. There is an event in Leeds in August which unfortunately I can't attend as I will be at UKIPT Galway. A few pics:
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| Me and the main man Drewy who did a great job or organising the event. |
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| Crazy golf on the Saturday with James666 and KKowboy here. I came 3rd for £30 which is my biggest score in any kind of tournament this year! |
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| Wobblebottom! (shortly after limping) |
Ok, I think that's about enough of an update. This weekend I have the Poker Player Tour event in Brighton so that's a good chance to go back to the homeland and donk around at the pokers. Poker Player is the magazine I write strategy articles for so look out for them if you feel like doing so. I am also off to Vegas this Thursday for a short six-day trip where I will play a couple of WSOP events and hopefully not die from the heat. That's all for now!
Edit: Sorry if any of the pics are upside-down but I had terrible trouble getting them to comply when adding them and can't go back and try now for the sake of my sanity. Tip: turn your monitor upside-down.
