World Series of Poker Africa.

The highest staked sports event on the planet found its way to the continent of Africa, infact right on our doorstep - Emerald resort and casino. However, despite not having entrants and prize money to the quantity Europe and the US attract it was still a very successful tournament. Having a living legend of the Scotty “The Prince” Nguyen as the host.
The series ran from the February 21 - 26. All building up to the main event! To my complete satisfaction a local took the crown Joe-boy Rahme, Well done! I watched the final hand and once Rahme won the entire arena erupted, South Africa has become very passionate about poker.

Despite the first prize only being $158 595 (R1.197mil), it is a very big win for the tight knit poker community of South Africa. The final table was filled with South African players from all over the country two from Cape Town: Brad Flynn and Mark Mulhall; the majority of the table was made up of Jo-burgers.

Joe-boy's acceptance speech mentioned alot of promise in South African poker and our participation on the world stage. Unfortunately I missed the few Satellites hosted in Cape Town, really wish more Satellites would come down south.

WBCOOP 2012

Over the past few months I started to really use my twitter getting involved and updated by my companies and sites in my country (South Africa) and worldwide. Last night I came across this PokerStars event -World Blogger Championship of Online Poker and thought I have to enter. I have been blogging about poker for the past 7months and have attract hundreds of viewer -blogging about everything from poker news to tips and strategies I have researched and tried throughout my poker career.

If I won the $5000 prize I would be quite well off in my currency and be able to do quite a bit. The first thing I will have to do however is pay my University fees as I am a hard working economics major.The rest of the money will be used for my pilgramage to Las Vegas, my girlfriend and I have been saving up for the trip this would really kick start the trip.

I have been playing on PokerStars since I was 18, thats 4years, it would be a great experience to even get to play in the WBCOOP events scheduled from 23 Feb - 4 Mar.

Check out http://www.pokerstars.com/blog_tournament/ for more details on the WBCOOP!

Ivey back in the winners circle!!!

Well done to Phil Ivey, 2011 was a year of drama for his career hanging up his tournament playing boots and now his back stronger than ever. Ivey returned to action in November at the APPT Macau despite not cashing he put in a good performance. This month is looking bright for his 2012 season. First, he placed 12th in the Main Event of the Aussie Million and then a few days later went on to claim his highest purse in his career of $2,000,000 in the Super High Roller event, 2012 Aussie Millions $250,000 Super High Roller.

The event attracted 16 players with only 3 cashing out, the 3rd place claimed $800,000 - not bad considering. Among the entrants were Erik Siedel, Sam Trickett, Tom Dwan, Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, John Juanda and Sorel Mizzi, including several other businessmen.

Among the stars taking part in the event were last year's champion Erik Seidel, last year's runner-up Sam Trickett, Tom Dwan, Jason Mercier, John Juanda and Sorel Mizzi. In addition, the event had a handful of businessmen on the felt, including Richard Yong, Paul Phua and Winfred Yu

Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2012/01/xxx-wins-2012-aussie-millions-250-000-super-high-roller-11904.htm

--> these are all very big names in the poker world, proving the field to be tough. Play came down to an intense heads up battle between Ivey and Gus Hansen. Gus is considered a formidable heads up opponent.

Ivey vs Gus

Well done to Phil Ivey!!



Aussie Million's million dollar cash game

I wish my home cash game could be so high staked that we have to round amounts off to the nearest thousand!

After elimination from the 10K tournament a couple of the high stake players decided to have a cash game which resulted in some serious cash outs!

Jsaon Mercier

Jason Mercier was again a big winner cashing out $423,100 while Daniel Negreanu cashed out $250,000. Tom Dwan left with roughly what he sat down with, while Patrik Antonius cashed out $156,100 as Sam Trickett finished as top dog with $558,300.
 

The game got so big it needed to move into the Mahogany Room! Along with TV crews....

Here are a couple names that were seated at the table:

Patrik Antonius

Seat

Player Buy-In

1.Sam Trickett           $340,000

2.Kwan Yong             $280,000

3.Daniel Negreanu      $187,000

4.empty

5.Elton Tsang            $205,000

6.Patrik Antonius       $185,000

7.Daniel Cates          $170,000

8.Jason Mercier        $292,000

Update on Aussie Millions Main Event



Phil Ivey





Only 12 players remain in this million dollar event, including past winner Lee Nelson and the infamous Phil Ivey...



Table Seat Name Chip Count
31 1 Daniel Idema 1,840,000
31 2 Lee Nelson 1,651,000
31 3 Oliver Speidel 809,000
31 4 Karim Jomeen 2,063,000
31 5 Bjorn Li 2,471,000
31 6 Mile Krstanoski 755,000
       
32 1 Janis Lesinskis 1,501,000
32 2 Mohamad Kowssarie 2,230,000
32 3 Phil Ivey 699,000
32 4 Yann Dion 2,670,000
32 5 Patrick Heary 1,565,000
32 6 Kenneth Wong 1,498,000


Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-aussie-millions/aussie-millions-main-event/

Yann Dion currently has the chip lead with 2,670,000 chips, whilst in contrast Phil Ivey is short stack at the end of day 4 with 699,000. Fingers crossed that Ivey can grind his way back up the leader board. The main event attracted a total of 659 with a prize pool of $659,000. (First Prize is AU$1,600,000)

Top Chip Counts

1	Yann Dion		2,670,000
2	Bjorn Li		2,471,000
3	Mohamad Kowssarie		2,230,000
4	Karim Jomeen		2,063,000
5	Daniel Idema		1,840,000
6	Lee Nelson		1,651,000
7	Patrick Healy		1,565,000
8	Janis Lesinskis		1,501,000
9	Kenneth Wong		1,498,000
10	Oliver Speidel		809,000

Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-aussie-millions/aussie-millions-main-event/payouts.htm



Top Chip Counts

1 Yann Dion   2,670,000



Yann Dion



2 Bjorn Li   2,471,000

3 Mohamad Kowssarie   2,230,000

4 Karim Jomeen   2,063,000

5 Daniel Idema   1,840,000

6 Lee Nelson   1,651,000

7 Patrick Healy   1,565,000

8 Janis Lesinskis   1,501,000

9 Kenneth Wong   1,498,000

10 Oliver Speidel   809,000

Aussie Millions 2012

The start of the poker year opens with Aussie Millions at Crown Casino, Melbourne. I was really hoping to make the trip but that didn't materialise (hopefully next year). This is the biggest series in the southern hemisphere and attracts players from all around the world. I think the most talked about entrant was the return of Phil Ivey, said to be the Tiger Woods of poker. It is a relief to see his name in poker headlines for actually playing in a tournament and not for the past years drama regarding Fulltilt poker!

Currently the main event #8, day 1d is Live. It is the final of the starting day and consists of 7 levels. Already in the field are seasoned professionals: Phil Ivey, Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem and Erik Siedel. Ivey got off to a great start and snatched an early chiplead, this is great news as having in back on top as that places pressure on the rest of the field.

Phil Ivey, Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem, Erik Seidel, Nam Le and Daniel Alaei

Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2012/01/2012-aussie-millions-day-13-breadsell-wins-chinese-poker-11868.htm

Ivey and Negreanu

There are plenty non-poker celebrities involved in this tournament. Yesterday I came across a tweet by Australian Cricketer Shane Warne: "My aces got cracked by Phil Ivey's 8 6 of hearts - both all in... Bang - horror I should have folded.."
I will try stay as up-to-date with the latest outcomes in Melbourne.
>> Good luck to Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu.

Busy week!!

Been at the poker table so much over the past week that I struggled to find time to post.
It felt like a months worth of poker though, because I experienced so much over the past week, both the highs and lows of the game (came out with decent profit).
Last Thursday was the first of the trilogy -  started the night off getting disgusting cards 8.2 off, 7.2 off, for the first hour or so i grinded it out winning the few hands I did get involved in, patiently awaiting my "Premium Card Run". It came soon enough, because I was so quiet in the beginning it allowed me to keep a tighter style and letting loose occasionally to snatch up the pot with a bluff.
The next Monday, I arranged a session earlier than normal in the week because I'm going on a little vacation with my girlfriend. This was the most frustrating of nights, card dead and unlike the previous session the cards never lightened up for the most part. However there were two 'highlight hands': Middle position AsKs. I preflop and get re-popped by two players; Smelt trouble and folded! The players had a showdown with AA and QQ. I was glad I got out of the way. Another highlight hand was with a board A 4 8 4 J. Showdown on the river saw QUAD 4s vs Bullets [AA]. I thought the Quad 4s played the hand brilliantly and got maximum out of it. I also hit quad Aces on the flop earlier in the night but didn't make much on the hand because nobody hit the board hard enough to pay my quads off. For the rest of the night I busted out on flush draws, got rivered a few times, still cashed but not enough to cover my buy ins. Very disappointed and determined to recover from the dismal performance.
Yesterday afternoon, the boys called an afternoon gathering, we sat on the balcony soaking in the outdoors while we played some serious poker. I started off like house on fire. Literally! Got about 5 full houses in the first hour, and unlike the previous session i was hitting my flush draws. Having established a substantial chip lead early on allowed me to call medium size bets to see a turn card and hit a runner on the river. The poker gods were watching over me - there were times i made a loose call and miracle hit a 2 outer on the river. I crashed out 3 of the 7 players, until we were 4 handed (one more KO till we called it a day). Then a wild unnecessary bluff got me trapped against the 2nd high stack this damaged not only damaged my chips, but my pride and momentum as well. I allowed it to affect me so much that I just tightened my game up so much which rationed my hands and the amount of pots I found myself involved in.

>> The moral of this entire story is that sometimes a slow and steady start is better than an initial quick burst. In day 3 even though i had the majority of the chips it was unnecessary for me to bluff hands, especially with the cards I was getting, I SAW TOO MANY FLOPS. When you experience day 2, don't let it damage your confidence and morale there is no need to reassess your entire style, even the best of pros are card dead and are challenge to win pots.
It is very important to remember that the actual aim of this game is GET MAXIMUM OUT OF WINS, AND KEEP LOSES TO MINIMUM! That's the only way to come out on top!