Poker advice and news from Dave Colcough of Bet365 Poker
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Poker Diary with Dave Colclough at 2004 WSOP
Written by: Dave Colclough (2004-05-21 19:25:18)
Day 1- 22/4/04
So here I am at the 2004 World Series of Poker. Binion's Horseshoe has been
taken over by new owners... at long last. That is not the most obvious change
that greeted me though. America has gone Poker mad, mad, mad. An astonishing 343
have just paid an amazing $25,000 to play the main event at the Bellagio.
And yesterday I walked into Binions satellite area and couldn't believe my eyes.
Last year there would have been maybe 3 or 4 tables running. This year there were
23 or 24 tables buzzing with excitement. Hordes and hordes of new players.
god bless America, god bless the WPT on the discovery channel, and god bless
Chris Moneymaker. This is Poker heaven !
I managed to win a seat for the $2000 No Limit Hold em
event in a one table satellite. I got lucky when I slow played pocket Kings
catching both blinds who both flopped top pair. As an added bonus, I was given
a poker lesson by a very attractive young lady with a large bosom. She
explained how dangerous it was not to raise with Kings before the flop.
Bless her ! Anyway I tripled thru and managed to outlast the rest to gain
a seat in the NLH event for a paltry $230.
Day 2- 23/4/04 - $2,000 No Limit Hold'em
Wow. Big Deal. So it only cost me $230. I only lasted 28 minutes !
Some players were still signed up and hadn't even sat down... and I was walking out.
Yet again, an internet player got me. For years now
there has been a standard way of playing. The blinds are 25, 25 and players
would raise between 75 and 125 to try and get a little action. My exit was
typical of how things have changed recently. I am on the big blind. There is
50 in the middle, and the internet player opens for 450 ! I have 1400 chips
left an AK in the hole. Everyone else has passed, so I position all my chips
in the middle. And so does the original raiser with his pair of jacks. The
flop is low and I skulk out the door... In the past this would have been a
300 dollar pot at his largest. Welcome to the future… or should I say the present !
One advantage of getting knocked out early, is that
the failures can play in the Super Satellite at 3pm. And boy did I get lucky.
I got personal when someone raised my big blind for the third time in a row.
I called with 3,4 of clubs, intending to bluff the flop. The flop came, and
hold on a sec, I can't possibly bet this. A,2,5. The other player bluffed
again, and I called (after a small think of course). Then the poor guy turned
a 7 to match his pocket pair. And we proceeded to re-raise until all our
chips were heaped in the middle. We turned over the cards, he fell of his
chair, the river didn't pair, and I coasted into a $10,000 seat for the big one.
Not a bad start at all.
Day 3- 24/4/04 – $1,500 Limit 7 Card Stud
I love playing 7 Card Stud. I don't know why. God only knows why,
but I do. I did considerably better than yesterday's tournament, lasting
almost 3 times as long. Another embarrassing episode in my 7 card career.
How on earth did I win 7 Card Stud comps in the early 90s? I'm buggered if
I can remember how? Off to the 3pm super sat I go...
And ran very close again. The last 6 players remaining
get seats…I finish 7th. Ouch.
One thing I have worked out. These super satellites are
going to provide about 700 entrants to the big one at this rate. There is also
a claim that 700 players will qualify thru the internet. Will we reach 2000
players for the big one?
Day 6- 27/4/04 – $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em
Ok today I was determined to make a little more effort. Pot Limit Hold'em.
The British game. But what an opening table, Barney, Huck Seed, Scotty Nguyen
and Johnny Chan. Doh!
As it happens it was Johnny who got me started. I
raised his BB (for the third time) with pocket nines. The flop was Q92 and
I checked even though I was last to act. The turn was another Queen and I
bet weak. He called and we saw a Jack on the river. He led out betting 500 on,
what I assumed was a stone cold bluff. But I raised him 500 anyway, and he
promptly went all-in with another raise. I showed my 9s and the two times
world champ exited stage left… And my ego is now as big as my mate Phil's.
I built big chips in this event and almost made the
dinner break. But then the Lizard got me. Tony Bloom and I were the two chip
leaders at our table, and as we are great friends, it was unlikely that we
would clash. That is until we picked up a couple of monster hands. His J K
suited was way to strong for my 72 off-suit… and off he went to the final
table while I played the 7.45 super satellite (without any success this time).
Day 7- 28/4/04 – $1,000 No Limit Hold'em
Wow. Over 600 runners for a 1000 NLH with rebuys. Somehow Daniel Negranau
manages to rebuy 26 times. The competition has cost him a paltry $27,000 in
entry fees ! I start well, get a few chips, and don't need to top up as I have
5000. Unfortunately, the field soon passes me by. I hang on with a short stack
for hours, until Mike Laing arrives at the table drunk with huge chips. He
bluffs me out of his first hand and shows me 6 3…and then doubles me up twice
and gives his whole mountain away to the rest of the table in less than 60 minutes.
god bless Jack Daniels.
I get well into the money until one of those hands
arrives. The flop read QsJd10s. I had raised on the button with J9 spades.
The big blind had called with Q10. Needless to say the felt nearly caught
fire as we both tried to get all our chips in the middle as quick as possible.
My 17 outs didn't materialise and I was eliminated in 15th place at 3.20 in the
morning, 3 minutes before the end of the days play… just in time to be able to
play the following days Pot Limit Omaha event.
Day 8- 29/4/04 – $2000 Pot Limit Omaha
Pot Limit Omaha, and what a breeze. Every time I take on Aces, I crack
them. Lady Luck was with me all day. I was never all-in, hardly ever put half
my stack in the middle and never had one pressure crucial hand. I love Omaha.
Finished the day with second largest chip stack behind the magnificent Robert Williamson.
Day 9- 30/4/04 – $2000 Pot Limit Omaha Final
The PLO Final was being televised by ESPN, so the day started with an ESPN
interview and surprisingly it went well. For a change the interviewer
seemed to understand poker. This is America. Everyone understands poker.
The final was one of my biggest poker disappointments.
I couldn't pick up a hand that even I would play. And I play more than most.
I finally found 7,10JQ double suited on my big blind and re-raised Robert
Williamson's raise. He would probably drop Kings and many other hands in this
situation, but of course Robert had Aces. I made a flush but this was no match
for Robert's four aces. Fourth and $45,000 isn't bad, but still I'm sad.
Day 10- 1/5/04
One of those strange 'it's a small world' coincidences happened again today.
I sat down in the Super Sat. and the geezer next to me sits down and stares me
out. 'I've got the same surname as you' in a New York accent. 'I've seen you on
Late Nite Poker !'. He rolls over his players card and it says Sean Colclough.
(My daughter's name is Sian and everyone insists on mis-pronouncing her name as Sean).
He is the only Colclough in the New York telephone directory, and of course he
qualifies for a seat in the big one. And everyone is asking me have I got a younger
brother...
Day 11- 2/5/04 - $2,000 Limit Hold'em
I lasted a long way down the field and went out around 45th, but for no return.
The highlight of the day was sitting next to my mate Phil though. And unsurprisingly
enough, it didn't take long for sparks to fly. I am assured, on good authority,
that he is a great guy away from the table, and have no reason to disbelieve this.
At the table though, he just loves to try and belittle everyone. Speech play goes
in America and it can add to the fun, and the spectacle from a TV point of view.
But for some reason Phil insists on talking down to all the players, telling them
they are idiots playing a certain way. Surprise, surprise, this has a habit of
happening after he loses a pot of course. Eventually I couldn't listen to him any
more. After making derogatory comments about the dealer for the second hand in a row,
I tried to explain that the dealer had no control over what appears on the flop.
(and none of us would want to play in a game where they had !). As usual my timing
was off, and Phil blew his top. The self proclaimed best player in the world,
was now proclaiming to the whole room that he was more of a man than I'll ever
be, and that goading someone after losing a pot was totally un-excusable. And
I hadn't even realised I was goading him. Well I was speechless (honest guv,
I was lost for words). This was one of those times when American and English
were completely different languages again. I honestly had no idea what planet
he was coming from. There are definitely some major cultural differences here.
I went to bed on a little bit of a downer for the first time since I arrived.
Day 12- 3/5/04 - $2,000 Limit Hold'em Final
My close friend and fellow Stokie, Paul Maxfield, somehow made the final
of the Limit Hold'em. This was the first time Mad Max had played a Limit Hold'em
competition. So it was quite a stunning performance. (He also knocked my mate Phil
out in the later stages of yesterday evening). Paul had only $7000 in chips with the
Big Blind of 3000 just two hands away. Somehow he survived through to a very
creditable 4th place. And everyone still thinks he can't play...
The big white board now reads 520 paid entries for the
big one. It's looking like 2000 runners!
Day 13- 4/5/04 - $5,000 No Limit Hold'em
Well I spent the whole day in the big event looking for a hand. Eight
hours of survival and the biggest pair that I held was jacks…and they lost !
So I wandered over to the Super Satellite, paid my 200 dollar entry, and
promptly picked up Kings three times in the first 20 minutes. Oh my, how the
poker gods laughed.
Then the geezer next to me asks me “what's spiderman play like ?”
Now is he about to tell me a joke ? No. Don't think so. “Toby. Whats he play
like ?”. “Coby ?” “No, Toby. You were sat next to him in the 5000 event.
The actor who plays spiderman.” “What the young kid who doesn't even look
old enough to be in the casino ?” “That's the one.” Geez. I guess I am getting old.
Somehow I manage to make good use of the chips I gained
from the Kings, and qualify for another seat in the Super Sat.. Which means
I get paid $10,000 in poker chips this time… I guess I'll let the poker gods
have their little joke at my expense. They ain't so bad.
And now there are 614 paid up entries for the big one.
It surely is going to be the biggest tournament in history.
Day 14- 5/5/04
My girlfriend, Rhowena, has arrived and I take a day off. Just to prove
to myself that I am not addicted…Sick. But not addicted. So after sampling
the best salad in the world at Hugo's, we wander down to the Freemont Cinema
to see Kill Bill 2. Her choice, not mine. But at least it's a change from
Peter Pan... And of course it happened. There was a trailer for the new
Spiderman movie. And I was staring at the face I had been chatting about
poker to, for eight hours the previous day... Another it's a small world experience.
Day 16- 7/5/04 – Limit Hold'em shootout
240 players in the shootout, which meant 24 tables. They paid 24 places
which meant you had to win your table to get in the money, and of course I
finished second on my table. No reward for that day's hard labour.
I also bashed away at another super satellite
before finding Kings and running into Aces with them. By my calculations
I have Kings v Aces only 4 or 5 times a year and will win with them once.
So in a way I'm lucky it only happened in a super satellite. Well that's
one way of looking at it anyway. Nevertheless, I have that slight worry
that one of those little hiccup bad runs, is in progress.
Day 17- 8/5/04 – No Limit Hold'em shootout
400 Players in the shootout, which meant 40 tables in the same format.
You have to win the table to make the money. I had quite an easy table and
was chip leader with about 65% with 3 players left. Then I tangled with an
old adversary, Billy Duarte. I lost 5 consecutive hands to him. 4 of which
he was all-in, and 4 of which I was a big favourite in. Ouch. Now I am a little worried.
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