Andreas Hoivold says...

Hoivold in Vegas - So far, so bad

Sunday 6 Jul 2008

1st – 2nd of July 2008

It has been a boring WSOP so far for me. I have not been playing up to my best, and the fluent game has been more or less absent. Why? There are probably several reasons.

The most important reason is the factor that I have hardly had any sleep here! I am tired in the evening, but have still problems with the daily rhythm and am awake at 04:00 am or earlier nearly every day. Not good when you have to play poker.

The results so far show that sleep, or the lack of it, is a very important reason. I am starting very well in each tournament, but the I drop out when there is 20 -30 percent of the players left; normally after 7 – 10 hours. I feel I am extremely tired when some time has passed in the tournaments and this leads to less that optimal play.

In addition do I get more or less middling cards. Except in the shootout tournament, where my cards were excellent, but unfortunately that tournament is fixed limit and you quite often get left out by the board when you have a good starting hand.

Is there anything I can do to change the matters? Probably! But I am not sure how. It is of course necessary to get more sleep. There are a few days until I have to play in the Main Event, so I have not quit hoping yet.

I am not sure if I need to change something with my play. There always are thing that needs changing, but I am not sure what. Perhaps I need to play harder? Play a higher risk game? But it is a tournament after all, and there are limits for how much I can risk. I have to admit that I do not want to leave the tournament early, just because i wanted to risk more without a back-up plan. My aim remains to play safe, so perhaps a bit of aggressive play is needed.

How am I going to play in the Main Event? As always, check how the other players do. If the table is tight, I'll play active, and if the table is loose I'll play tight, at least at the start. Except for that I do not plan anything else, mostly because the starting table is determine a lot, and you cannot plan very much before you have checked out you opponents.

One thing is sure: I am ready for a good result, and expects high standard of play from myself!

Andreas Hoivold. Ladbrokes-sponsored player.