Just today German site PokerOlymp.de published an interview with me about why I stopped working for IntelliPoker and what I think about the current situation. There have been numerous interview requests during recents months but I needed to wait until everything is settled.

The following is a quick and rough translation from German to English:

Jan von Halle finally speaks – The PokerOlymp Exclusive Interview

It’s official: Jan von Halle is no longer responsible for IntelliPoker. Regarding the reasons, rumors and speculations have been circulating for a some time now. In our exclusive interview, Jan von Halle speaks for the first time about the factors that lead to his parting from IntelliPoker.

Jan von Halle founded IntelliPoker.com two years ago with the help of PokerStars and the website has since been attracting an increasing number of users. Prominent writers and in-depth articles on poker have been the trademark of “Intelli” as the page is called in the poker community.

PokerOlymp: Why did you part with IntelliPoker?

I started with the idea to build up a complete online poker portal consisting of the equal components poker school, poker community and poker news. Various promotions like WSOP, PCA and Westspiel-Poker-Tour seats as well as the connection to the PokerStars FPP program should lead to increasing popularity and motivate visitors to switch from their favorite websites to IntelliPoker. At first everything went well and PokerStars and I strived for our mutual goal. IntelliPoker achieved a fantastic success in terms of members, traffic and other key figures.

In spring 2008, a discussion about the future strategic orientation of the site started with PokerStars. This led to the fact that IP was from now on only allowed to feature news related to PokerStars, foreign tournaments, players and sites were all of a sudden taboo for us. I tried to fight with tooth and nails for my intended news policy but I couldn’t prevail. Apart from that, the development and expansion of the website went on, for example the launch of the website in additional languages.

In fall 2008, the next point of discussion occurred: PokerStars had concerns about the (complete and ready) English version of IP because very many PokerStars players would have been attracted and the cost would have been considerable (e.g. the rewards for having successfully completed the quizzes).

Suddenly, a new investment reluctance was perceptible. Therefore the question occurred whether my ambitions were still compatible with those of PokerStars. After intensive discussions, the answer was found in the beginning of 2009: No.

PokerOlymp: When did you decide to leave IntelliPoker?

End of January 2009. After the aforementioned discussions, PokerStars opted for a change in strategy that would redefine the product. It was obvious that I wouldn’t follow this path because I felt it was fundamentally wrong. Thus, PokerStars decided to determine our cooperation.

But I would like to emphasize that this separation took place without the least breach of friendly feeling on either side. I don’t accuse PokerStars of anything; it is their right to decide what to do with their money. In case of a doubt, PokerStars is wiser than I am – you don’t build up such a successful business without coming to the right long-term decisions.

Conversely, there are no allegations against me. The only reasons for separation are different objectives and my refusal to support the new product strategy.

PokerOlymp: How did you personally experience the partly negative coverage in the media and the comments in various forums?

Well, first I have built up quite a tolerance and I can bear criticism. Second, times of uncertainty are always good opportunities for jealous people and minions who come crawling out of their holes. What I had planned and started affected many people, directly and indirectly, and not only in a positive sense. If I had been able to implement my ideas, websites like PokerOlymp.de would have been attacked directly and it certainly would have been much harder for them to maintain their offerings.

In fact, I was a little shocked about the reactions of some “friends” and acquaintances. The wildest rumors have been spread. However, I have also received encouragement, sometimes from quite unexpected sides.

PokerOlymp: How do you assess the current situation and the future of IntelliPoker?

I was well aware that the change in strategy planned by PokerStars would entail a restricted range of content, fewer promotions and associated bonus payouts as well as a reduction of operating costs through staff savings and other measures. Examples are the already initiated staff reductions and the fact that the large office IP moved in no more than a few months ago in 2008 (with all moving and installation costs being explicitly authorized by PokerStars) will soon be abandoned. These examples show why I was not willing to follow them on their new way. Regarding content, I was always ambitioned to expand the content beyond beginners and to add content for advanced players of all game variants because I believe that would have a positive effect on their play and thus on PokerStars. But apparently the idea has now become a distant prospect.

IntelliPoker has often been criticized for being a platform only for beginners and therefore for being a kind of “fish farm”. I had not intended for this to happen. For 2009 I had scheduled serious work to be done to provide content for advanced players.

My opinion is obvious and clear: PokerStars has missed the opportunity to dominate the online information services market after dominating the online poker market and to leave their competitors in the dust. Even the name “IntelliPoker” would have only been an intermediate step towards a large online community under the umbrella of PokerStars.com. Why should users separately visit Pokernews to get updated on the latest poker news, watch EPT live broadcasts on PokerStars.tv, visit 2+2 or PokerStrategy for good poker discussions and PokerOlymp for the best German news?

I any case, the current situation at PokerStars with many separate offers (pokerstars.com, ept.com, pokerstars.tv, intellipoker.com, pokertoday.com etc.) doesn’t seem satisfactory to me. Too much is handled separately and too much work is done twice.

Interestingly, my non-business, private opinion differs from my last statement: The world of poker has become much more interesting and colorful through the many independent and largely self-financed offers. The scenario I recommended and pursued would have clearly been to the disadvantage of those who do not play at PokerStars, who want to retrieve information about what is going on outside the PokerStars universe, or who have a critical attitude towards the site.

PokerOlymp: What do you think about the allegations of various websites that money has been wasted at IntelliPoker? Which of the allegations disturbed you most?

Well, I was disturbed that there are such allegations at all but actually I was not really surprised. My product strategy was ambitious and time was short. I want to treat my employees and subcontractors the same way I want to be treated. I made high demands on my employees and their time and commitment which should be compensated for by providing a positive working atmosphere and a reasonable payment.

You should know that it’s by far not as easy as it seems, according to the motto: “Here are the millions, now do as you please”. PokerStars has sophisticated and detailed requirements for setting up budgets and forecasts, and everything must be presented and approved accordingly.

Two of the much discussed examples: a pool table in the office and a physiotherapist who gives a back and shoulder massage to all employees once per week for 20 minutes each. Both have lead to discussions and irritations (and thus may have been politically questionable). Still, I don’t really understand the uproar: Who still thinks that you have to sit alone in your room and that communication between colleagues is unnecessary and that work should be exclusive subject of every conversation is living in the working environment of yesterday. And to keep employees, who voluntarily work 12 or 14 hours per day and often spend their weekends in the office (or the media rooms during tournaments), in good health with the aid of a physiotherapist is both adequately and wisely invested money. My take.

I’m more disappointed about the 2 to 3 people who spread false and outrageous stories to pursue their own interests. Fortunately and thanks to my good relationship with the top management of PokerStars no harm was done, but time will tell whether the people mentioned have done themselves a disservice in the long term.

PokerOlymp: Who will take over the management at IntelliPoker?

Ultimately PokerStars. When I used to lead the company my decisions were subject to approval by PokerStars, but after that me and my team and I developed and implemented everything autonomously. PokerStars will be much more directly involved in the future.

PokerOlymp: What impact does your parting with IntelliPoker have on your wife Katja Thater? Will she continue to play for PokerStars?

This topic has also been subject to many wild speculations. This was worsened because Katja neither played the EPT Deauville nor the EPT Copenhagen. The background was that Katja was, as already agreed upon in 2008, not sponsored for these two tournaments. Additionally, Katja was actually not invited to attend the TV cashgame “German High Rollers”, probably because of her aversion to No-Limit Hold’em. Regarding cashgame, Katja plays almost exclusively Pot-Limit Omaha, Limit Hold’em and Mixed Games.

Katja’s contract was recently renewed for another year. This should stop all further speculations.

PokerOlymp: What future plans do you have? Will you work as a consultant at IntelliPoker, will you manage another poker website or will you concentrate on playing poker?

At the moment I concentrate on playing poker. I want to improve my game and try to catch up on the state of the art. I also try to find answers to various questions concerning game strategy, bankroll management, tournament selection and so on.

That sounds strange for someone who has just built up a poker school for over 2 years. Indeed, the business side caused so much work that I had very little contact with the actual poker content. For example, I almost never participated in the trainings on IntelliPoker, except when it came to technical reviews and analyses.

My time as a consultant at IP is already over, after the decision in late January I was still present for a few weeks to pass on my knowledge. Only 4 weeks are left before the WSOP will start and meanwhile some minor tournaments will take place, like the PokerOlymp Open, in which I will of course be taking part (Katja cannot come, she will play the RPT in Moscow).

There are several ideas and also a few requests with which I will deal after the WSOP. Until then, I suppose I am, so to speak, on “vacation”. So, if you have something for me …

PokerOlymp: You achieved excellent results at last year’s WSOP. What are your plans for the WSOP 2009?

This year, I would like to keep it flexible. All I can say now is that Katja and I will leave for Vegas on May 28. I will probably play many of the smaller and medium-sized events and I will try to qualify for the 10,000 events via satellites. I am much more optimistic than last year, I improved my NL play and I try to practice H.O.R.S.E. and 8-game regularly.

Katja has already won a WSOP qualifier for the main event (but would play that tournament anyway) and I will also try to win one or more packages online, which I would use for the various 10k events.

This year I won’t have last year’s stress. I won’t try to play as much poker as I can in a short period of time and I will be much more relaxed. The “Luckbox” villa will be our accommodation during the WSOP and we’re looking forward to a fun time with many good and nice players.

I was already prewarned that this year’s money game in the Villa could be “The Settlers of Catan”, which I’ve never played before – let’s see if in the end I will be able to remember what a Royal Flush is …

PokerOlymp: Will you participate in the H.O.R.S.E. event once again?

Most likely I won’t take part in the 50k. Last year I had a deal with myself, because I absolutely wanted to play this tournament once in my life: If my balance was positive at the start of the tournament for the entire WSOP, I would play. This was the case after my four cashes and so I bought in which, unfortunately, made my balance negative.

This year will be similar, but with the modification that a somehow positive balance won’t be enough. The complete buy-in will already have to be won. However, I will take part in the $2,500 satellites, and thus try to win a seat.

PokerOlymp: Will you revive your 50outs.com blog?

I’ve been thinking about that. On one hand I would like to write again, as I will travel a lot and I think I there’s a lot to report and to share, on the other hand I wonder who should still be interested in all that. As a poker player, I am one out of many, not the best, not the most successful and certainly not the best writer, especially in English. In addition, a poker blog appears to be rather out-of-fashion (especially after my time with IntelliPoker).

I will definitly write so-called micro-blogs as Twitter updates (www.twitter.com/50outs), which can also be viewed on my website www.50outs.com and on Facebook.

PokerOlymp: Thank you for the interview.

That’s it.

Update: just this morning I won my WSOP-package on PokerStars. I played a bunch of step1 tournaments (about 30) to try out my multi-tabling capabilties with about 10 open each time. From there I somehow managed to win only 1 step4 ticket (yeah, I know…) and used that to play the step4A exit to the $650 qualifier. In those weekly qualifiers I somehow have good success, from about 10 I played (lifetime) I won a package about 6 times. Obv variance is my bitch in those.

Anyway, after Katja won her package three weeks ago now I got mine. We did a small celebration dance at 3am here, considering my dancing skills, if we would start doing those in life-tournaments after winning key hands, we’d be world famous in no time :D. Will play some more qualifieres and steps, every package stands for playing another of those 10k championship events now.

With that, bye for now.

How do you change this when the whole office staff on many days orders not one time pizza for lunch but another round, for dinner? For me, there’s only one answer: make a bet. A big bet. Having a perfect history of winning every single weight bet I entered so far (about some I blogged here and the money I won from guys like Steffen, Frank or Norman was very sweat) I figure myself to be a favorite – same as when I sit down on any poker table btw :D.

So, I looked for a mighty opponent during the last months and now I found even two – Andre Herzog and Klaus "B@nd!t" Hausmann. Both have agreed on a weightbet with me yesterday. Here’s the deal:

• The bet has started on October 26th 2007 and goes until May 30th 2008 (so just until the WSOP starts)
• I have a bet with Andre and Klaus but they don’t have one with each other (those chickens)
• We are comparing the percentage of the loss from the initial weight
• Each percent has defined value, so the bigger the gap, the more one wins
• Each particpant has the right to ask once a month about the opponents weight and he must give a true answer  
• There is a buyout option each month; this start cheap but gets more expensive with each month
• The values for Andre: EUR 100 as base value for the first percent, multiplying for each point. So, lets say by the end of the bet I have lost 24% of my inital weight, Andre has lost 11%, the difference being 13%. In this case Andre has to pay me EUR 9100 (first percent=100, second percent=200, third percent=300, 4th=400, 500+600,700,800,900,1000,1100,1200,1300). They buyout option follows the same system, base value EUR 1000. So, Andre could buy himself out of this mess in November for 1000, in December for 2000, in January for 3000, in February for 4000, in March for 5000 and in April for 6000. The last buyout chance is April 30th.
• The base values for Klaus are EUR 50 per percent and 500 per month, so half of the bet with Andre.
• No surgery allowed
• There are no exceptions – even a heartattack would mean continue or buyout (and pay).

The starting weights:

• Andre: 144.9 kg 
• Klaus: 165,0 kg
• Jan: 114 vs. Klaus and 113,6 vs Andre

On a funny sidenote, the weight from Klaus is a guess. My scale ends at 150, Klaus ends at 165. He convinced me that the scale was "showing something this morning" but the final pizza we ordered for lunch must have been to much, the scale showed "overloaded" lol.

My thoughts regarding this bet: I will win it, by far, lossing about 25% of weight overall. I will be behind both opponents at one point, probably by end of this year. But ovcerall I believe Klaus will take the buyout option, probably after 3-4 month when it is still relativly chep to get out and Andre will give me a hard fight, not taking any options but being behind at the end by 5-6%.

Any poker? Yeah… when I play online I usually get my owned, in the limits 50/100 and above you really need a good game and playing while working is a bad idea. Live poker is almost non-existing for me, with the exception of the EPT Baden, where I played all three big tournaments (without any success). I played 40+ hours in the lovely PLO sidegames but thats it. Next stop? PCA in January, I won’t go to Dublin, Prag or the German Championships :(. Spending a week in Las Vegas in December for the Bellagio Series sounds promising but I doubt I can make it there. Katja of course goes to all of those events and some more, Monday she leaves to EPT Dublin.

So, at least until the Carribean Adventure in January this will probably be more of "whats the hell made me make this damn bet" kind of blog than a poker blog.

Overall there showed about 180 players up that day, bringing the total amount of players in this event to 535 with a pricepool of over 5 million and a first price of 1,3 million. Looking around, I saw a lot of good and well-known players, a tough field altoghter. These are players I remember and knewed: Erica Schoenberg, Steve Danneman, Patrik Antonious, Clonie Gowen, Anna Wroblinski, Johan Storakers, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmth, Layne Flack, Allan Kessler, David Pham, Phil Laak, John Pham, Bill Gazes, Nam Le, Michael Binger, tex Barch, David Benjamine, David Chiu, Thomas Keller, Jamie Gold, Keena James, Ralph Perry, Ross Boatman, Amir Vahedi, David Williams, Nick Shulman, Marcel Luske, Marco Traniello, George Danzer, Florian Langmann, Paul Testud, Bob Stupack, Erik seidel, Ralph Perry, John Hennigan, Joe Seebook.

This list does not include all those unknown (to me) high stakes cash games players from the Bellagio, a lot of european players and some more. Considering my personal experience on each nine handed table have been one weak spot (on my table that would have been probably me have there not been one total monkey). I started playing tight. Only 10 minutes into the tounament the young guy to me left was already all-in (20k start chips, blinds at 50/100) – on a bluff of course. One of the other scandis called him with an overpair on a super dangerous looking board, won, shrugged, explained that he would only call this special player and doubled up early. The scandi was quickly replaced by a abc playing guy who was defitily more easy to play with. After the first break I still had 20k in chips and the expanded our table to 10 handed – the new seat not being played. I knew it right away, it had to be Phil Hellmuth (only other guy still missing was Phil Ivey). Phil arrived after about 3,5 hours in a golden race driver suit that looked so fking bad that I had to really laugh over it. This was the only to smile as I had just lost :As:Ac vs. :Ah:7h in a big pot for 14k total. I had no conversation with Phil and played no hand against him, he overall played only like 90 minutes before busting out.

One word about the WPT Bellagio management: this is the way to run poker tournaments. Besides the beautyful fontana room, the big tables, comfortable chairs, perfect dealers and floor persons they treat you right. Example? In the afternoon I got hungry and ordered some food (yes, at the table, from a menu that is a mile long and includes about everything the hotel room service has to offer). Food came quick, the waitress searched and found a chair for me to put the food on and when I asked how much I need to pay she explained: "Oh no, that’s complementary". What?? I was stunned. The food was also very very delicious and this is just an example of how good it is over there compared to Harrah’s with their rip-off policy. Not to mention, everybody playing the tournament was invited to visit the famous Bellagio buffet after the tournament – with a guest, for free.

Ok back to play. The structure for the day was play 5 levels, 90 minutes each, with 15 minutes breaks in between. No dinner break but being finished at about 8:30 p.m., also a very good thing, gives you some time on the day. I was already short as explained after losing AA and doubbled up with :Ax:Kx vs :Ax:Qx in level 3 and had like 16,000 chips then. The things got rough: I had pocket :5c:5d with a :5h on the board – and folded on the turn! How right I was I saw when when the other two guys had a better set and a straight flush draw (the set won). Shortyl later I lost another pot when I had :Js:2s in the big blind, saw a free flop with :As:Jh:3d, it was checked 5-way and the turn brought the :Jd. I made good sized bet, all folded except the asian guy who was playing solid poker. The river blanked and I betted like 4,000 with 8,000 left behind. Now, he raised me by 5,000. Oh that sucks. After some deliberation I folded, showing the J. One guy from Kuba could not believe it. The asian guy nodded to me. I was down to like 8,000 and right after I posted the small blind in the next hand our table broke and I was moved to a new table, diretly into the big blind (400m 50 ante) again. Argghh. George Danzer was on my table as well as Joe Seebook. In my very first hand George raised, I pushed from the BB with pocket :7x:7x and George folded. Soon after I raised in MP with :Jh:Jd and George pushed all-in from the BB with :Tx:Tx, being shortstacked also. I called and won. Now I was back to like 20,000.

I extended this to like 36,000 (average) until 15 minutes before the day was about to end. I lost aces twice and A-K vs. A-A on an A high board during those last 15 minutes and was down to 2,800 chips. I pushed all-in blind 3 times and nobody called, so I finished the day with 5,500 in chips – average is about 50,000! Some work to do I would say….

I was in bad mood for like 30 minutes but then we went over to the house of the hochgepokert team and had a nice BBQ along with good "pool action" there. Thanks very much buddies!

The event started good for me, I increased my stack to about 26,000 from the initial 20k without any showdown. I had not any good or known player on my table except young Jonas Molander from Sweden. I knew Jonas from the EPT tour and watched his style. He is a very good player, not as agressive as other scandinavians but also not afraid to put in big bluffs. Anyway, Jonas and I saw not one single turn card together during the 10+ hours we have been sitting togehter and I guess it is fair to say that we avoided each other, well, maybe it was only me avoiding him and him not catching any cards when I was in the hand.  At the end of the first level (levels are two hours) when half the players have already stood up to leave for the break I received :As:Ac in late position and was called by the player in the big blind. Of course, I lost the hand and a huge pot because he did not believe me anything, called all my bets on the :Js:Qc:3h :2c :7d board and raised me on the river. I made a crying call into the gigantic pot and got shown :7x:7x. Uff, Now I was short with like 14k or so and that changed my tournament play dramaticlly. I was thankfull for the break as I was really on tilt after this hand. That not even changed during the next 1-2 hours in the next level when visions of "revenge" and "outplaying this guy" bothered my mind. Actually I did nothing like that but I took the beat not as well as I could have or should have.

Very carefully I rebuild my stack to like 22,000 when I received :Qh:Qd UTG, made a raise to 1,400 on 200/400 blinds, no ante, and got reraised by a tight lady in the big blind, but only by 1,000. The raise was strange and I even thought about her throwing in the wrong chips. After looking at her I put her on AK or AQ and made a re-raise to 5,000 total, ready to give it up if she re-reraises. She only called, but quick, confiming my thought she had a hand like A-K. Now, the lady had like 45,000 chips as she had busted another player shortly before, so she got me covered by far. The flop comes :Kd:Th:4h and she checks. Without any hesitation I made a bet of 5,500.

This is the hand where I had pocket queens

The lady asked me how much exactly I have left and anocuned "I am all-in". Wow. This could only mean two things now: either she is outplaying me, acknowleding the fact that I made a bet that leaves me enough chips if I fold or she has a hand. Like :Ax:Kx. When thinking about the situation (and I did think long, like 3-4 minutes) suddenly the thought of her having :Ax:Ax flashed my mind. Nothing against ladies in poker (lol Katja) but many of them have a, let’s say diferent,  playing style. Now I saw that min-reraising preflop in a different light. When looking at her she showed no sign of being nervous. Finally I thought the chance of her having me beat is too high and the value of surving is too big, so I folded, under pain.

There I was, down to 10k in chips after about 3 hours into the tournament. Now, from about 3 p.m. until 11 p.m. that did not change. I was absolutly card dead and could only manage to keep my chip stack by well placed raises or re-raises which have been bluffs in 100% of the cases. There have not even been semi-bluffs with hands like suited 89. My best hand in this time was :4c:4s on the button which I raised, got called by the BB (yes, the player who had beaten my AA earlier on) and on a checked through board I managed to beat his :As:Js. Katja stopped by from time to time reporting about her rollercoaster ride from "all the chips" to "almost no chips" several times (she lost two brutal hands in one level, both times with pocket QQ when the money went in she was a huge favorite). 

Inbetween we went to the dinner break with Andreas Krause, Michael Dombrowsky from our news team and a guy from texas with is wife. We had lots of fun there.

At 11 p.m. I was picked up as the player in the BB and got moved to a different table, right next to my old table. Now I was starting all over, knowing nothing about my opponents, which all had me covered by far. I had 12,000 chips at this time. Right in the first hand I got :Ad:7c and the player in the cutoff raised to 2,000 which I called. Flop was :Ax:Tx:8x and I bet out 3,000. The guy raised me to 6,000. Hmmmm. I looked at him, he looked like not feeling comfortable so followed my instincts and called. The turn brought the :9x and with my top pair and OESD I went all-in right away for about 8,000. Imagine my horror when the guy insta-called me – I was sure to be shown a hand such as AQ now and be way behind. To my delight he showed :Qc:Th for middle pair and a gutshot. The river blanked and I doubled up to over 25,000 in chips! Right after that I manged to steal a few blinds and was at almost 30,000 suddenly with the average being at like 38,000.

Finally, I made my "bustout" mistake. I flat called a raise to 2,200 from the player UTG who had shown some marginals hands already with me holding :9d:9h. The flop was :4d:5d:6h and he bet like 4,000 which I raised to 10,000 with my overpair. He thougt for a little while and then pushed all-in having me covered by far (with over 100k in chips). Somehow the fact that he had so many chips made me suspicious and I thought about an overly agressive push with just overcards (well, good example of wishful thinking). I called for all my chips, got shown :Ah:Ad, received no help on the turn and river and was out at exactly midnight.

I went to Katja, told her that I was out and about to go back into the hotel. She said I should wait, she is about to push also with just 11,000 chips left. I strolled around for like 5 minutes but then thought that this is bad policy, wait for your wife to bustout of the tournament, went back to her and told I will leave which I did. Being back in the hotel room about 10 minutes later first thing I saw on the internet: Katja Thater eleminated. Before even able to scroll down and read about the details I heard her opening the hotel room door. The busted out 2 hands after I left her with :Jx:Tx on the button but the small blind found :Ax:Jx and won.

What now? Katja has media work to do and our kids will arrive today here in Vegas so we will probably to a week of vacations now. And should we be hot for some tournament action, there is a 10k buyin WPT event starting in the Bellagio by tomorrow ;)

Congratulations again to Katja for winning the $1,500 Razz event here at the WSOP and getting the conveted gold bracelet. I was really proud for her and I think the did an awesome job in this tournament. She played 3 days for a total of 38 playing hours (including breaks) to finally win the thing vs. tough competition. Alone on the final table have been lot#s of bracelets:  Mark Vos, O’Neil Longson and Men "the Master" Nguyen have 13 between them. O’Neil have won this event already before  and is by many considered one of the top lowball players and had he had a demanding chiplead going to the final table. Anyway, nobody could stop Katja on that day. She played focused and aggresive. In two instances she played even to agressive in my book and I was a little scared that she can’t change gears back when needed. But no problem, she slowed down as needed. I railbirded her for much of day 2 and 3 and was very pleased with the way she played. The very same is true for the Ladies Event where Katja got 5th from almost 1,300 ladies where she played very good for long hours (but then failed to continue doing so in the last hour of the tournament).

Now Katja has a WSOP bracelet, something some people especially in the german community seem to be having a problem with. For some of those, let me clarify a few things: of course the bracelet means a whole lot to Katja – businesswise. It confirms her play, is a good marketing tool and proves some success. Now, both Katja and I are the first to admit that just winning a tournament (even a star studded, complicated game, long hours tournament like this) means nothing by itself. Everybody can. It is the consistancy that separates the successfull from the losing players. In this sense this win and the bracelet itself does not mean much for Katja. Winning there or betting busted on the bubble is not really a difference if you are comfortable with the way you played and handled the situation. The rest is just that – variance.

Katja gave a lot of interviews right after her win, the most watched the one on PokerNews and here on IntelliPoker. The english community on 2+2 took it quite well while the german communites are backbiting about her arroganz. I think they want her to say "This is a dream coming true, I won this not alone for me but for my country, god and everybody who has ever posted in a forum". Nothing of this is true. It was not her big dream to win it, it was a professional goal. She did not won it for Germany or God as none of those has ever paided her bills. And for the people in the forums – well, some of them should be aware that sometimes in the poker world the anonomity is broken and people will meet each other face to face. We’ll see what they say then.

I mean, seriously, what some online players might not be aware about: playing live poker for a living requires a certain attitude. While online you don’t see the emotions of your opponents live you are directly confrontated with them. Alone outplaying that poor guy with the desperate face and his very last money on the table just another time requires not only the skill to do so but also the will and "killer-instinct" to do so. Your embaras you opponents, make them leave the the table or reload in front of a full audience. Young players like Sebastian (miami) know what I am talking about as this has be subject of numerous discussions between us – in fact that is one thing very difficult to learn and handle about live poker. I believe this is the reason why so few woman play live poker (successfully) – this mentality is not for everyone and obvious not for many woman. If you look at womans like Jenifer Haarman or Cyndie Violette at the poker table you look into mercyless eyes. 

Regarding my own play there is not much to add – I was the first one out of the $3,000 limit holdem event, I did not survice the first round of the heads-up event where I played vs. Lee Watkinson, a very nice guy. After like 90 minutes of play I called a raise with :6d:5d and saw a flop of :6s:6c:5s – flopped boat! Some chips went in on the flop and turn, when a :Qh appeard on the river all the money went in but Lee had :Qs:Qc and won. Yesterday we liked to play the Omaha H/L event but we got "stucked" and could not make in time. As we are leaving home on Sunday we wont play any more tournaments before coming back on July 5th, where Katja playes the "Ante up for Africa" event and we play our first day of the main event on "Day 1C".

The Bellagio is running it’s "Bellagio cup" series right now and I decided to go there, they had scheduled a $5,000 event for this saturday. I bought myself in and was trying to take my seat at 1 p.m. when I got informed that it has been re-scheduled to 2 p.m. so I went to local "Noodles" and had a fantastic lunch there. When I got back shortly before 2 I was informed by the waiting dealers that I am probably "on the final table already" as there have been only 8 entries so far. When the tourney finally started it have been 23 and it filled up to 37 over the course of the following 3 hours (they allowed for such late entries). I was playing good and builded a stack before I ran into a draw holding top two and the draw arrived so I was below average after 4 hours of play (60 minutes levels). With 15 players left (5 in the money) I found :Ks:Kc under the gun, raised and was called by Paul Testud only – the flop looked harmless with :7c:7h:3s so I went all-in but he smiled and called, opening pocket :7s:7d for flopped quads. The field in this tournament was strong as one can expect, on my first table have been Josh Arie, Roland de Wolfe and Michael "TheGrinder" – TheGrinder impressed me the most of all, I had never really played with the guy before and he was strong force on the table. He has fantastic reads, plays fearless and reckless and did build a large stack which eventually vanished when he got very unlucky in three hands in a row (in two he got the money in as a large favorite, in one he flopped two pair with a straiht draw vs. bottom set). I never thought much of the guy so far but honestly he impressed me and showed me there is a whole different, advanced level of play to reach. Thanks for the lesson.

When we have been talking to a dealer, the dealer explained something like "I am more a player than a dealer" and continued with "I have won a bracelet on my own already" – and true it was, the guy won the $2000 limit holdem event in 2003 for $450,000. Wow impressive! Must be shame for the guy dealing to all the clueless people there day-in and day-out. But thats the Bellagio – the best of everything. 

My WSOP appreances on Sunday and Monday ($3,000 NLH and today’s $2,500 6max NLH) have been short, I played not even two hours in each of those. My play was not perfect for whatever reason and I in at least one case I made a huge mistake. Bahhh.

Yesterday I went to the Bellagio to play some cash games and got a seat in a 300/600 seven card stud game which has been build around Morad from Afgahnistan – the guy is an action player, he played in Hamburg very often with me - the guy actually won a bracelet in the 2002′ $5,000 Stud event! Also there was Theo Jorgensen from Denmark, winner of the European Stud Championship, a old time stud pro from NYC whom I know for years and one of the best stud players in the world (in my view), a black guy named Walter Davis who helped me to improve my game over the years – not intenal of course, just watching and playing him made my play 5 levels better. The other 3 players were unknown to me. So not an easy task and I had not expected to play that high I had only like 18k on me, 30 big bets – in a stud game (stud has one more betting round) . So I was shortstacked but anyway, I killed the game. In about 3 hours of play I almost trippled my stack, leaving Theo and others clueless (he stood up in frustration after a while, he also lost aces full to a straigh flush in a huge pot vs one of the guys). The only player I could not win against was Morad, who rivered my two times, otherwise I would have scored 50k. 

So, here in Las Vegas things are going well for Katja and me – Katja is now playing her day 2 in the Razz event, she is 14th in chips with 122 players left. I have no idea why she likes this game so much but she is very good in it. I hope she makes it to the money or even the final table. Probably she will not look this relaxed now while playing:

Tomorrow I will make a WSOP pause – there is only a $1,500 event which will be huge so I go and play a $5,000 event at the Bellagio cup. 

I finished this big tournament in 25th place for a $20,040 payout. My 4th cash in this years WSOP. Pretty good. Actually pretty damn good.

Of course, I survived to actually reach the money spots today by a lucky catch, what else? We re-started today with 85 players, 63 in the money. It was all clear that I could not just relax and fold myself into the money (which I would have done actually if possible). Right after 10 minutes I was on the button, it got folded to me and I shoved all-in for 30,000 holding :Ac:9h. Neverwin called immediatly, tex Barch folded. Uhhhh I was in bad shape as Dustin had the :Ax:Qx. But dont worry, I made a flush around my :9h and doubled up to over 70,000 chips.

Like 15 minutes later I was in the big blind and had :Ad:Jd, it got folded to the small blind, David "The Dragon" Pham. He just limped, calling the required 1,500. I raised another 12,000, he counted his stack and re-raised all-in! I had him covered by 8,000 at that time. I went into the tank and finally called – he showed :Ah:2c! The board was safe for me and I was suddenly at 130,000, well above average! I have no idea what his thinking was here, I guess he though he might get me off a hand like KQ or KJ.

The rest is over 4 hours of playing without any playable hand. I doubled up one more time when I was already short with :Ah:Qd vs. the big blind which called me with :7c:8c but that only gave me chips to reach a few higher paid spots. I was never in any position to really attack the tournament. Finally, with 3 tables left I made a all-in steal bet on the button with :Kd:9d but Kathy Liebert called in the small blind with :Ac:5s and made a straight. No more suckout for me.

Overall that was the luckiest tournament in my whole lifetime. Still, I report here only about the lucky spots I found – there have been numerous great plays and good decisions by me throughout the tournament that helped me stay alive and be in the poisition to get lucky. I played mostly very good in this one. Toni Varjawand survived me to finish in 16th place – congratulations Toni!

Pros I played today:

Allan Cunningham (we talked a little about the AQ vs AK hand)
T.J. Cloutier
Kathy Liebert
Jan Soerensen 
Michael Mrzichachi

Tomorrow both Katja and I will play the $2,000 NLH event, if this is over for us before 5 p.m. we play the $5,000 HORSE.

I just came back grom another 14 days of tournament poker. Today I played event #22, the $5,000 NLH. 650 or so players entered, right now 85 are left, including me. 63 will be paid ($10,400), the winner will receive almost $800,000. My chances right now are not so good, I sit on 35,400 chips with 1500/3000 blinds and an average stack of about 80,000 chips but I will not easily give up.

These are some of the players I played against today:

Alleily (known from High Stakes Poker) (out)
Chris "Jesus" Fergusen (out)
David "The Dragon" Pham (on my right)
Tex Barch (on my left+1 with 260,000 chips)
Three 2+2er, all playing very good (2 out)
Scotty Nguyen (out)
David Benjamin (on my table now)
Dustin "Neverwin" Woolfe (on my left with 190,000)

You see, I am not in an easy spot. Also, I am embarresed. Despite my goal to play perfect poker today I managed to get my money in 7 times (!) with the worst hand. In 5 of those pots I sucked out, the other two have been the biggest pots in the whole tournamnet that far (so tex Barch as example was all-in vs. me in a 150k pot, he had a set vs. my nut flush draw with overcards). The suckouts have been really embarresing – I survived :Ks:Qd vs :Ax:Ax, :Ac:7c vs. :Kx:Kx, :Ad:Qd vs. :As:Ks on a flop with two spades and no :Qx and :7x:7x vs. :9x:9x. I was down to 800 chips early in the tournament when I flopped the flush with a straight flush redraw but my opponent had the straight flush! I gambled it up and was 15 minutes later back on 30,000 (10k starting chips).

Vs. Tex Barch I had the :Ad:9d and raised, he called me with :5s:5c. Flop was with one diamond and a :5x. He called a bet from me. The turn brought annother diamond and gave me the nut flush draw which I decided to bet agressvly. He moved in on me. The pot had already 70,000 in there and it was annother 30,000 to call, which I did :( – no luck there, he won, I was down to like 10,000.

Tomorrow I will continue at 2 p.m. on my thougest poker table so far. My goal is to make it to the money and then gamble it up.

The $2500 NLH event was no difference, I lasted not even 2 hours, when I had the nuts I got no action and when I was behind I gave action. Bad combination.

Katja in the Ladies Championship, Day 1

Katja did a lot better. I was railbirding her $1,000 NLH Ladies Championship event day #2 from the beginning at 2 p.m. There were 65 ladies left and Katja had more than average chips. I have to give my greatest compliments to Katja here; she was the most professional, most cool woman in the whole field. Her fearless reraises of Vanessa Selbst, who was the chipleader at the time have been deadly. Katja reraised Vanessa four times in 60 minutes and Vanessa had to give it up each time to the point where Vanessa loudly complained and anncounced moving all-in blind on Katja’s next reraise and – boom! – Katja reraised again and Vanessa gave it up one more time. Sounds easy and funny but to actually do it even if your hand is worth it takes a lot of nerves. There were 100’s of spectators and lot of media people around.

Without ever being in danger Katja came down to the last 10 players, the real final table, when the first critical situation arised. Katja had 340,000 in chips, on the button. UTG player, with as many chips as her, made a large bet, like 50,000 with blinds at 6/12k. It was folded to Katja. I knew imeediatly from watching that Katja had picked up a big hand. She asked for a count of the raisers chips and thought about the situation for like 4 minutes. Finally, she gave the hand up. I told the specators around me that she must have had :Qx:Qx – no other hand would take her so long in that spot. Shortly after Katja came over and told me that was exactly what she had there.

Day 2, last 10 ladies – the one in the seat #3 did not make it

Not long afterwards a lady busted and Katja made her first WSOP final table! Congratulations! It took me 7 hours standing on the rail, sweating with every hand, so see her achiving her greatest success so far. I mean there have been almost 1,300 ladies in this event and playing through this minefield is a serious task. She is about 4th in chips now but with all womans being close. 

Aftert the day we discussed with Vanessa Selbst about the QQ hand – Vanessa said she would have called there, seeing a flop and playing the hand in position then. I disagree – a) only calling here is weak, those ladies have all kinds of strange ideas, UTG raise could have been done with any kind of hand (although not very likely) so she has to raise here to see where she is at in the hand and b) the value of reaching the final table itself is higher than those of possible more chips. Most likely she would have won the pot before the flop, adding "just" 70,000 chips to her stack of about 340k already – not that big a difference. I would say the chance of getting her opponents full stack is about equal as losing her full stack. If she gets a call or a reraise the best she can hope for is being a slight favorite vs. A-K. Overall, I fully agree with the decision there. Well done.

The final table will start today at 2 p.m. – I skipped all of todays events to be able to railbird her again.

Ahh, and congratulations to Phil Hellmuth Jr. for winning his 11th bracelet – truly impressive.