Tony G. Poker Blog

The big game was on today and it was a long day. This is the European version of High Stakes Poker. The minimum buy-in is 100k with blinds of $300-$600 and the ante is $100. The boys that did turn up were Howard Lederer, Gus Hansen, Mike the Mouth AKA Mike Matusow, Erik Seidel, and Phil Ivey - to name a few.

To start with, I was chatting about stuff with Howard and I think we made up and put the bad stuff in Paris behind us. I respect Howard with what he has done with FullTilt Poker. The site is huge now and he has done a lot of the work.

The game we are playing is 8 handed with some subs. I started out in the top 8 along with Ivey, Mike, and Howard. Gus was a starter but he said he missed the bus so he turned up late and had to wait on the sidelines.

The very first pot, I was in the big blind and Howard attacked me. I found J-9 suited. Wow! I will defend with that hand. Howard made it 2000, I called for another 1400, and the flop was 10-8-2 with two clubs. I checked, Howard bet 3000, and I called. The turn was a blank, he bet 4000 and I called. The river was the Q of clubs. I made the straight and the flush was possible. I felt Howard had nothing so I checked but then he checked as well. I took a pot from him right away and I was pumped up

Later on I got involved with Jennifer Harman on a flop of 2-3-J. She was the small blind and I was the big blind. I had 2-3 but she had J-3. I managed to take control of the pot by reraising her on the flop and then checking the river - this saved me huge money and I lost only 25k in this pot while I could have went broke.

So after this hand not much happened and I took a break and left the game and Gus jumped in in my place. I came back in 2 hours and had 70k left of my 100k original. Then I got very aggressive and started running the table with my chit chat etc., it was fun. I got involved with Erik Seidel. I found A-J on the button, everyone folded to me. I raised to 2000, Erik called, the flop was A-8-9 all spades. I had the J of spades so I checked to conceal my hand. The turn was the 2 of hearts. I bet 2000, he called. The river was a J for top two. I now bet way more then the pot. I bet 12,000. He made the call; I sold him the bluff and showed him the big hand. After that he was crushed and I let him and everyone know.

At the end of the day Ivey just pipped me for the trophy. He won 104k and I won 84k and was second biggest winner. The big loser was Mike the Mouth; he lost 200k. I had one big pot with him and me where I made a full and he made a bad call on the river. It was fun and I love beating up the Mouth. I did not get involved with Ivey at all - I respect his game.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 4:43 am and is filed under Tournaments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.