Dutch Open 2011

This year Holland Casino changed the registry procedure of the Dutch Open tournament. Only the top 50 players of the HC ranking are allowed to buy in directly. Other players had to win their seats through satellites. So the field was combined by very strong and weak players.

106 male and 7 female would fight for the title: Dutch Poker Champion 2011

I was lucky to start the tournament at a quite soft table. Only Fatima (Moreiro de Melo) and Mart de Gier who were sitting on the left of me gave me few hard times.

The startstack was 15.000, which created a much better structure than the usual HC Main event startstack of 10.000. The levels were 40 min, 50 min after dinner break and 60 min on day 2.

During the first 3 levels I didn't play big pots, so my stack stayed around 15.000. After the 1st break I won a 4-way pot with topset which I hitted on the turn. Too bad my opponent didn't paid the turn and my stack increased to 20k. After a few hands my table was broken up and I was seated at another soft table.

Everything went fine. Even my pockets kings got paid all in by a shortstack and my stack hitted 25k. All my 3-bets had not been callled and my stack stayed around 20k without a showdown. But when 39 players were left in the tournament I found pocket JJ on the Cut Off and open raised with it to 2.5k (blinds 600-1200). Freerk 3-betted to 6k on the Button and the blinds folded their cards. I anounced to be all in for 20.5k and Freerk instant called with AJo. As I was happy to see his AJo so I was dissapointed to see the flop AA9..drawing dead!!! 39th place!

Despite the suck out I really enjoyed the tournament. Most of the players know each other, so there was a lot of chit chat at the tables. Everybody looked happy and enjoyed his/her time at the tournament. It was well organised by Holland Casino.

The only thing that I missed were my team mates of Poker 770. But our whole team will be present at the Master Classics @ Amsterdam.

BSOP October 2011

Finally the day had come that I walked into the Breda Holland Casino again for my first tournament of the series a 550 Freeze-Out. I followed the directions to the pokerroom upstairs. The pretty and cosy room was filled with 150 players, came from all across the country. With a startstack of 8.000 points and 30-minutes levels the tournament was still quite a crapshoot. Unfortunately lady luck was not with me and I was busted soon in this tournament. After busting I joined the cashgames, which were very good. I made a decent profit.

Next day I played one of my least favorite tournaments: 330 Bounty (25%). I've never collected any bounties in a live bounty tournament before. But in this was I even succeeded to collect 3 bounties. Too bad my pocket kings could not hold against A9. After that I was busted after losing a 3 times average pot with 99

My last tournament of the BSOP was the Main event. My Poker 770 BE-NL team members (Benjamin, Jamel, Anthony and Mustie) also joined me in this event. The startstack was 10.000 with 40-minutes levels. I had a very good start and built up my stack to 15.000 after 3 levels. I was lucky to be seated at a soft table. There were two aggressive players (Jorrit van Wijk and Patrick Renkers) on my left side. But they didn't make it tough for me, since I was not involved in many pots with them. There was such a big calling station at our table who played almost every hand. After the first break I lost a few big pots against him by missing big draws. I had to lay down my middle set on a 7643 board against him as well. Soon my stack was dropped to 5.000 when I found pocket kings. I was so happy that Jorrit 3-betted my and called my all in, but unfortunately outdrawn me with his AJs.

So that was the story of my life :)

My next event will be the Dutch Open @ Rotterdam on the 27th of Octobre. I'm really looking forward for it. Many well-known players will be present: Lex Veldhuis, Marcel Luske, Noah Boeken, Ruben Visser, Jasper Wetermans, Rolf Slotboom and so on.....

Paris Jackson

Now something off-poker: Today I bumped onto a picture of Michael Jackson's daughter Paris.

She is really cute and has such a gorgeous face. Her eyes remind me of the Afghan girl. She has already been noticed by some biggest modeling agencies. Definitely model material!

Breda Series of Poker

From tomorrow on I will play some live tournaments in Breda. The first one will be a 550 Freeze Out with 150 entrants. I'm so excited. Hopefully I will book some results in this series.

My Poker 770 Team NL-BE members (Jamel, Mustie, Benjamin and Xavier) will join me in the Main Event on Saturday. This will be our debut as Team NL-BE in the Netherlands.