Poker Articles

The following is an update provided by PocketFiver Neil "Puggy82" Stewart, as he and his friends compete in the 2009 WSOP.

TheVisionary, mathclub and myself have all made the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas to join the thousands in their quest for a World Series of Poker bracelet. Our plans vary a little in that The Visionary and I are planning on playing 10-15 events and will be here for the entire series, Shaun (mathclub) on the other hand is still pondering his plans and will likely be here for three weeks or so. Our trip to Vegas from New Zealand actually started about a month ago now, and it's been a trip that's not been short of stories.

After stopping off in the UK for a few days, the three of us jumped on a plane to Venice for the WPT. The tournament was fantastically organized, but unfortunately none of us cashed. I say none of us cashed, but Shawn decided he was going to launch a new career of following poker players around the world and cashing-in on prop bets. His main source of income in his new job came in the middle of a 12 hour binge, long after we'd all been knocked out of the tournament. The challenge was to jump off a nearby bridge into a filthy Venice canal. After a lot of banter and bartering over who was covering legal and medical costs, mathclub stepped up and hurled himself into the canal earning himself €500 and eternal infamy amongst the bwin qualifiers. Figures are now being considered as to how much he'll need to be paid to repeat this feat in the Venetian Casino.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPv0YX4aerw

We've rented a villa out here for the duration of the series, which is a marked improvement on last year's accommodation of a hotel room for three long weeks. We have four permanent residents with other friends dropping in for a few days here and there. A guest this week set the bar high for crazy stunts when he attempted to climb a 50-foot palm tree on the strip outside Margaritaville, by the time he'd climbed 20 feet up, a massive crowd had gathered, but alas he didn't make it to the top, he may have failed in the bet, but Trevor “Billybillard” Neufeld did succeed in entertaining more than just a few drunk poker players.

So far we've played in two events, the $1k and the $1.5k and despite amassing chips early, neither of us has come close to cashing. Our live experience is pretty limited, theVisionary (pictured at left) and I played in 3 WSOP events last year, the Aussie millions this year and the Venice WPT, but haven't managed a cash yet between us. Obviously this sample size is very small, but it is important to realize that playing live is not the same as playing online, there are subtle differences that you need to adapt to.

In my experience, online players can be quick to shrug off the differences in live and online play, and while of course it is ultimately the same game there are plays that are optimal online that are far from optimal live. Take for example open shipping 15-20bbs. While it would still be +ev to do this in a live game it may not be optimal. For example, if you open 2.5x and the 50 year old guy on the button who hasn't played a hand in 34 orbits re-raises you, you can fold and wait for a better spot, while some 21 year old online pro may have just jammed their AJo and chalked up their exit as “standard”.

Another part of the live game that we online players often dismiss is live tells. Sure the movies overrate live tells, but the fact is that this information is still available and we would be foolish not to use it. Many of us spend hours a week working on our games, studying hand histories, watching training site videos, but how many of us have done any more than merely read a Mike Caro book? I am making it my goal over this year's WSOP to study body language harder than ever before.

I haven't set myself a WSOP schedule this year, and when I do it will be a very loose schedule. As excited as I am right now about the series, I really don't know how I'll be feeling if in 2 weeks time I've played in 6 or 7 events and I have yet to cash. This of course is very possible, and despite me knowing that this would be no little short of par for the course, I can't predict my state of mind. If I don't feel like playing, I simply won't play. Sitting for 12 hours playing one game can be tiring work, and if you're not enjoying it, it really is a grind - especially when you know you could be playing online instead getting in twice as much volume as a $1,500 WSOP event.

A subject that is often broached on the forums is “Is live play actually worth it?” and often when answered simply in monetary terms the answer is no, but there is so much more to live poker than your expected Return on Investment. With the World Series come bracelets, notoriety and general good times. I've met dozens of people through playing live that would have simply remained a screen name had I not traveled to these events. I really don't think you can quantify the utility you can gain from playing live that isn't possible online.

Our next tournament is Event 19, the Shorthanded NLHE $2500 on Monday, and we'll play most of the other NLHE events, climaxing of course with the main event. Fingers crossed we can travel back to New Zealand with an inflated bank balance and maybe, just maybe, a bracelet or two in our luggage!

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PocketFives.com wishes Puggy82, mathclub, TheVisionary, and all PocketFivers the best of luck at this year's World Series of Poker!  Be sure to check out PocketFivesLive.com for live WSOP coverage of your favorite online poker superstars!

Recent Scores for Puggy82

$125,000.00

$1500 buy-in, $2,500,000 Guaranteed on TitanPoker. 03/08/2009, 5 place for 125,000.00

$117,574.05

$350 buy-in, The ChampionChip Final on PokerRoom. 10/05/2008, 1 place for 117,574.05

$9,300.00

$120 buy-in, $30,000 KO Guarantee on FullTiltPoker. 03/17/2009, 1 place for 9,300.00

New Zealand Top 10 PLB for Online Poker Tournaments