Errol Potok's Poker Blog » Poker Results

Running Bad at Cash Games during North American Poker Championship (WPT)

Errol — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:40:36 +0000

So I was playing $5/$10 nl during the week of the WPT (at fallsview Casino Resort) as these were the smallest games that were offered. The action was really soft as a lot of tourists and 5/5 and 2/5 regulars were forced to play much above their bankrolls and skill level. I expected to make a few buyins each day during the time I was there.

I have had some bad streaks over my poker career and this was one of them. Every time I got my money in (and all the money got in) when I was 70% favourite (or better) to win the hand I would somehow end up losing. I can remember 4 or 5 hands where I got my money in with 2 pair or better vs very marginal hands where I would end up losing. And these were certainly not setup hands. Example 78 suited and the board comes k78 rainbow and I get my money in against a k6 off. K hits turn and guy scoops 900 pot. In that situation the guy thought he was committed as there was 175 in preflop and original raiser put in 130 on the flop which he called and I check raised the flop to put him all in. I also recall about 4 or 5 times where I got all my money in when I had two pair or better vs a naked flush draw or a pair and a flush draw. I lost every single situation. Don’t get me wrong I definitely want to get my money in when I am such a heavy favourite. In poker you certainly don’t want to wait to see a card that will hurt your action or better your opponent’s hand. Unless you are playing deep stack poker (which I wasn’t for the most part) most players who wait to see if a blank comes on the turn are generally playing with scared money.

On top of running bad I also got setup horribly. Within a 24 hour period I lost two stacks with set over set. One hand there was a raise under the gun and a call in mid position. I had 22 and called on the button. The board came 2J7 rainbow and the guy UTG (initial raiser) lead out. The mid position called and I raised. Both players called and the turn was an A. No flush draw was on board. Everyone checked to me and I bet pot. UTG folded and mid position raised me. I reraised all in and he called with JJ. This is what we call a cold deck. The same thing happened the next day with 44 vs 77. When board came 4710 turn A. All the money got in by the turn. I also ran into a set when I had top 2 pair and a back door flush redraw on the turn. AQ Spades vs 99. Flop AQ9. 7 spades hit the turn. I reraised the player preflop. By the turn all the money got in.

What can I say about this whole experience? Sick runs like this generally happen very rarely. However I can’t really complain as this is the nature of the business. For about 4 days I felt like I was in Mike Matasau’s shoes. I am taking a few days off of poker and then hitting up Vegas for a week where I will probably play a few tournaments at Caesars. Caesars Palace is having its ‘Mega Stack’ Poker Tournaments during the month of October. Action should be good.

Oh yah I forgot to mention that Glen Witmer took down the world poker tour event in Niagara and a cool 1.2 million. I have played with Glen before in Niagara. Glen resides in Waterloo, Ontario Canada. Glen is a really nice guy and it was a pleasure to see him win.

Cheers,

Errol

Vegas 2008 WSOP Recap

Errol — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:21:38 +0000

In Vegas I mainly played cash games at the RIO, Venetian and the Wynn. Yah Yah I should be playing tournaments but I am mainly a cash game player. In total the 2008 wsop had a total prize pool of over 180 million. However we will have to wait for a 2008 main event champ. While in Vegas I played with a bunch of known poker faces and known sports personalities. My most memorable night was sitting down at a 2/5 nl game at the Palms with Adam Morrison from the Charlotte Bobcats and Ron Artest from the Sacramento Kings.

The following are a few pictures that I took during the main event at the WSOP.

Gus Hansen at 2008 WSOP

Dan Harrington at 2008 wsop

Vanessa Russo at 2008 wsop

Picture of Featured Table at wsop main event 2008

Lee Watkinson at 2008 wsop

Kristy Gazes at 2008 wsop

Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott at 2008 wsop

I hope you enjoyed these pics.

Now that I am finally back in Toronto I will be taking some time off from playing live poker and focus on online play.

Cheers,

Errol

7 days in Vegas at the 2008 World Series of Poker

Errol — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:34:48 +0000

So I got into Vegas on the 3rd and have been playing mainly cash games at the Rio and Wynn. The Rio cash games in the tournament hall are mostly uncapped however there is a cap at 2/5 (500 buyin). The most action game that I saw was the 25/25 plo (pot limit Omaha) game. I have mostly been playing 5/10 nl. One hand cost me a few k however this has been a profitable trip so far. The hand was played at a 5/10 nl game at the Wynn where I had a pretty tight aggressive image. It was 4 limped around to me on the button and I raised it to 45 with 5d6d. Flop came 2h 4d ks. (5 people in the hand) First guy made it 25 to go and 2 guy called. I thought I spotted weakness and continuation raised them to 200 total as there was 225 in the pot preflop. First guy called and others folded. Money card hit the turn 3d. He led out for 300 i re-raised to 900. He pushed for 2200 total and I snap called. River hit 2h and he showed 44. That’s poker however considering he had 9 outs to win the hand as he was holding the 2d.

Later on in the week I played some 2/5 with 5 deep stacked players. One of them included the ever so animated Alan Boston (7 Card Stud player). I recognized him from being on poker after dark. What a table this was. Alan probably went through a few buyins (unwilling to lay his hand down after missing many draws).

He told me that he would be disappointed if he didn’t make the 7 card stud 10k buy in. I saw him at the Rio during the event and he said he was playing solid however was card dead for most of the event. He also mentioned that he got into an accident with his Ferrari before the event started. I made a few buyins at the cash game with Boston and got some great insight into the world of sports betting. Alan told the table to put money on game 1 of the nba finals and the series. So I took his advice and bet the Celtics for both bets. So far I already cashed in on game 1 and am waiting to cash my 1.7 to 1 ticket if the Celtics when the series.

Cheers,

Errol