Jon Kalmar says...

Viva Las Vegas!

Tuesday 15 Apr 2008

***Important Warning***
I am a poker player, and like all players we only notice our bad luck. I reserve the right to moan even when I have nothing to moan about. This is also an English trait so is made doubley-bad, plus moaning is a little hobby of mine!

Tuesday

The events schedule is pretty busy over the next few weeks. There are EPT events in San Remo and Monte Carlo. The WPT is on at Foxwoods, and the 2nd biggest event of the year the Ballagio Five Star starts on April 2nd. Hoping that many of the big names are making their way to the EPT’s, the Five Stars looks like easy pickings in the early weeks. The main event starts on April 19th, but there are many build-up tournaments leading up to it, varying in price from $2,000 to $5,000, with the added bonus of Joe Calzaghe fighting in Vegas on the 19th!

This is a 3 week trip in total, and I’m spending the first 2 weeks off the strip in Nick "Gwibbo" Gibson's Vegas house. It's where I spent last year's World Series, away from the hustle and bustle of the casinos. I hoping to concentrate purely on poker without the distractions of what Vegas has to offer. Kila will be joining me on the 13th when I will move to the MGM Grand and the holiday part will begin. Until then I intend to play serious poker.

I played a $440 satellite to win a seat to tomorrows $2000 only to get the bubble and a little cash in which I broke even. Today was a quiet day, my first tournament is tomorrow.

Wednesday

One thing I have realised is that being here on my own and playing nothing but poker (and occasional table games) is that I have little else to talk about. I guess that the entries for the next few days will consist mainly on how I did. Boring I know; hopefully something interesting may crop up as the week goes on. My first tournament starts today. All events are NL hold'em and the 1st is a $2,000 buy-in. Things start well until I fail to pick up any hands of note. Without doing much wrong or even getting involved I find myself short-stacked. However patience has a bonus, as the field is down to less that 50 and with 18 getting paid I need only a double-up or two and the day may not be wasted after all.

After a break the hand I’d been waiting for arrives and pockets aces double me up. They are closely followed by K-K and I’m now in with a shout. Still below average, I have around 22k but with only 34 players left.

Blinds are at 300 /600, and I now get A-J in second position and decide to open up for 2,000. The big stack to my left calls and so does the big blind. The flop comes 4-7-J with two spades. I bet out 6,000 and get re-raised by big stack. The big blinds does the usual Hollywood dwell and passes. I know Mr Big Stack is a little 'jiggy' (he has played J-2 of diamonds under the gun early) and decided he could make the same move with J-Q, J-K or maybe a flush draw. I decided to push and was less-than-thrilled to see him holding a set of 7’s. Dang, can’t remember the last time I’ve hit a set.

I pondered on whether to play cash but instead decided to play a little Pai Gow. $1,200 bucks without winning a hand later, and it was time to drive back to the house. Hmmmm, this trip could have started better....

Thursday

The great thing about how this trip has started is things can’t go much worse. However this is something I have said before and I'm often amazed how wrong I can be. Trust me, things can always get worse!

Today’s event was the $2,500 and a smaller field of around 148 were in attendance. I started well, and had double the starting stack before the end of level 1. Then I finally pick up a real hand (Q-Q) only to run into A-K. A king on turn meant I was now down to about 4,000, and today was turning into another bleak one. I decided not to give up and sat with incredible patience for the next 2 hours stealing the blinds when possible.

A-A came to my rescue but I was still struggling to get into the game. Thankfully the table was broken, and the move was just what I needed. After a successive of double-ups with A-A again and Q-Q, I was now amongst the chip leaders and had made the money. The next 2 levels were a rollercoaster: every raise I made seemed to run into a monster hand, but despite this I maintained a stack of around 74k to take into tomorrow's final (just below the average).

Not tired enough for bed, I decided to try and recoup my loses on Pai Gow. After another quick $600 bucks lost without a winning hand I decided to have an early night and get ready for tomorrow.

Friday

A few brits have arrived today, including the Devilfish, Ian Woodley and John Lloyd. All were playing the $3,000 event when I arrived. The final included amongst others Eric Baldwin, David Levi, Shannon Shorr and Francois Safieddine - so much for easy pickings!

I had got in the action earlier than planned when under the gun raised to 8,000 with the blinds on 1,500/3,000. One caller and it teased me into the pot with 9-6 of clubs. The board arrived 10-8-5 with 2 clubs and I knew I was likely to be pushing on this board. I checked as did the initial raiser. The next guy bet 1,0000 and I decided to push. Oops! I got called by A-T. Ok I just need to hit one of my 13 outs and things are good. A 9 on the turn and a 6 on the river gave me the win I needed, albeit not in the manner I’d expected. Now 2nd in chips I tried to attack the table again, but have no joy. After being constantly re-raised, I decided to sit back I wait to see what unravelled.

Six-handed I get Q-Q and am doubled up by the Eric Baldwin’s T-T. Soon after my A-A knocks out Peter Neff, and with David Levi falling soon after we are down to three, and this feels like my event.

The short stack moves all-in on the small blind for 100k and with A-T suited in the big blind and 260k in chips I think its worth a call. Over he flips 6-6 and makes quads by the turn! The river gives me a teasing ace and now I’m the short stack. D'OH!!!!!

My next big blind I find A-K and after the small blind makes it up I raise 15k more. He calls and the board comes an unappealing 2-4-5. He bets and I decide enough’s enough. This guy had bet every flop and pushed the remainder of my chips in. He called and showed 7-3. A harmless 4 hit’s the turn but a nasty aces finds the river and again another victory escapes me. Oh well.

$36,000 takes away the pain of the 1st two days, but I feel I should have nearly $90,000 more for my troubles, and a seat for the main event already locked up. However, I feel confident for the $5,000 tomorrow! now.

I go to the Wynn and Join Ian and John for a little cash action and managed to win a nice 2k in the 5/10 game. The games value soon disappeared and we decided to grab some food.

After dinner in the Bellagio we stopped back in the card room and found a $540 single table satellite was running for tomorrow's $5,000 and all decided to sit in. After being convinced to take out 3 last-longer bets, things were not looking good after seeing all three double up within the 1st three rounds, whilst I was down to 2,000.

However nothing is certain in this game, and before I know it one guy has taken them all out for me and we are 3-way with Ian Woodly! The guy had around 75% of the chips in play, Ian around 20% and me 5%. My pleas for a deal were falling on deaf ears!

But the sickness of this game is second-to-none, and by miracles 15 minutes later all 3 of us had around the same, and we eventually took $1,700 each. I was tempted to play on just out of spite, but I was tired and could tell the guy who had all the chips may struggle to live with himself should he not take something from it.

Saturday

With it being the weekend and Vegas’ busiest time I was surprised to only see around 100 runners for the $5,000 event. And more horrifying was there were very few fish swimming around the green baize!

Despite this I started well, and with a 10k starting stack, had amassed 25k by the first break, and was confident a another result was coming my way. Not long after the break I called a raise with 9-7 of hearts and the board showed Q-K-T. I had position and checked the flop. A four on the turn, and it was checked round again. A harmless 2 hit the river and it was checked round to me. I thought briefly about betting out but it seemed pointless as it would be an obvious bluff easily called by somebody’s under pair. I decided just to muck my cards and was horrified to see 5-6 and 6-7 turned over by my opponents and the 7 high take down a nice 2.5k pot. "NOOOOOOOOOO gimme my cards back," I wailed, much to the amusement of the rest of the table. Lesson learned: never, ever muck your cards out of turn!

This started a succession of disasters when my Q-Q ran into K-K, and several small pairs I limped with failing to hit. I was out before the end of the level.

I hate playing cash straight after being knocked from a tournament, but the action looked good and it was far too early to go home. I put my name down for the $10/$20 NL cash, and decided to get some Special fried rice for lunch from Noodles restaurant while I moved up the queuw. As luck would have it, the place is right next to the Pai Gow tables and I was able to play while waiting for my food.

Again failing to win even one single hand, I took solace in the fact that, though $1,620 might seem expensive for special fried rice it was particularly good!

I eventually joined the cash tables and things started well, picking up K-K very early on, only to get cracked by a runner runner straight. And things failed to improve. Starting hands were not a problem: I had A-A, three times, K-K twice move and Q-Q, T-T, A-K and any other premium hands you care mention; getting them to hold up was just not part of the story. After losing another $1,000 on with trip kings to a flopped full house I decided to cut my losses at $5,400 and blow $600 bucks on craps. $2,600 and 20 minutes later It was time for bed. I think I will spend Sunday in bed, and skip the casinos entirely! As for any forms of table games I think I will be taking at least a week off from them...

Jonathan "Skalie" Kalmar, 5th placed finisher, WSOP 2007 Main Event.