Everest Bandits

Before I review last night’s online action, a word on Everest Poker. I signed up for this supposedly reputable European site on Monday night, with the aim of playing on there on Tuesday. Having set up my account and deposited $500, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail at lunchtime on Tuesday, informing me that my account had been suspended for my own protection, due to unusual activity. No worries, I’ll just call them up. Unbelievably, Everest Poker DO NOT have a telephone contact number. Ok - I’ll e-mail them. Oops - no e-mail address. Great. So basically I’ve deposited $500 to an entity which has suspended my account, but I have no way of contacting them.

Eventually, I get to the bottom of the issue by using their “user-friendly”, online form and find out I need to provide them with a multitude of information. They need photo id, photocopy of credit card, credit card statement, as well as some other form I need to fill out. On the positive side, at least they drew the line at asking for a photo of my Johnson.

However, what happens if I send this off and then they don’t respond, or there is a problem? Again I have no way of contacting them to resolve it. For Everest not to provide a contact telephone number is a disgrace, and bordering on fraud in my opinion. For any readers considering opening an account at a new site - I’d recommend staying away from Everest.

Anyhow onto last night’s unsuccessful action. I built up decent stacks in both the Betfair $150 and the Full Tilt $150, but bust myself out being too aggressive. I guess I’ll try to play a bit tighter in the middle stages of play tonight, when I give it another go.

Full Tilt 17.5k Guaranteed
This tournament was going reasonably - after the break I was in the middle of the pack with 6k after gradually doubling my starting stack. Blinds are up to 160-320 and I am in the big blind. The button pots it up to 1120 with 3k behind. I sense a steal so I put him all in with AJ and he decides to call off his whole stack with QT and wins :( I am down to about 1.8k and really struggling, when I jam over an early raiser with AQ, but he as AA and I’m toast.

Betfair - 16k Guaranteed
Well I made a right mess of this one. 2.5k starting stack, and a generous blind structure gives room for manoeuvre. I am upto 4.5k when this happens half an hour after the break. UTG raises to 300 (blinds 50-100) and i call with 88 next to act. No other customers and the flop comes down J♣ 7♦ 7♣ which isn’t too bad for my hand. He bets 700, which I read as a standard continuation bet. I raise to 2100 which he ponders for a while. Eventually he shoves for my last 2000 or so (it’s most of his chips as well). I now think there is enough chance he has A♣K♣ to justify a call here, so I do, but get shown KJ and am drawing very thin. I overcooked this hand way too much. Should have just tried to hit a set and quit the hand, or perhaps re-raised preflop. My flop re-raise was poor, as I ended up committing myself. I guess there is also an argument for passing as well - my chip stack is healthy, and will find better spots than a mid pair, second to act facing an UTG raise.

Pokerstars - 80k Guaranteed
I made a questionable pass in this one in one of the first few hands. UTG raiser to 80, I flat call with AK, as I want to disguise my hand and the 80 isn’t worth taking. SB makes it 360 and then UTG makes it 1080. UTG must have AA or KK I guess, so I pass having only invested 80 in the pot. SB shoves and is insta-called. What do our fearless punters have? SB has JJ while UTG has AQ(!?). Perhaps I should just bung them in with AK here in an online tournament and take my chances for a treble up - you simply can’t trust some people online to actually have what they are indicating and thus fold AK or QQ pre-flop. Anyway, the dunce with AQ would have won the pot even if I was in there so no harm done.

For the remainder of this tournament, I just hung around like a bad smell. My stack never moved outside the bands of 2k and 4k and I was there for a good 2.5 hours. Predictably the blinds caught up with me and I shoved KT in an unopened pot in mid position and the BB has AK and I’m done, well short of the money.

Full Tilt - 50k Guaranteed
This tournament was my best showing last night (although that is not saying much). 3k starting stack with about 350 runners, was the format. I had a tough first table, including the world number one online player Moorman, although I had position on him. Our only encounter was straightforward for me, as I flopped top set and managed to coax a few chips out of him. I built my stack up to a peak of 13k - flopping 2 pair and then leading out with the betting, which induced one opponent to shove with TPTK and I held. I also made a very marginal call with QJ against a re-stealer but it held against his 104off (I could easily spare the chips to call this one).

Next to arrive at the table was “El Blondie” Dave Colclough, who I have played with a couple of times on the professional circuit. We had a quick reminisce about my record of being the player who drank the most alcohol ever during an EPT Main Event. This record still stands I am told, despite the best efforts of one of the locals in EPT Dortmund. The write up on that tournament is under EPT Warsaw in the 2007 archive, if anyone wants to re-live that glorious showing.

Anyhow, Dave busted to a bad beat before my own exit hand occurred: I was playing about 11k after getting re-raised a few times, when I found the monster that is J8off in the small blind. At this stage there are about 90 players remaining, 37 get paid and I am sitting in about 40th spot. It is folded round to me and I raise to 900 (blinds 150-300 with a running ante). The BB, who just covers me, re-raises to 2700. This is pretty common online, and his range could still be pretty wide, as he knows my opening range is massive in the SB, in an unopened pot. I decide to represent AA by shoving for 8k more, because I still have plenty of fold equity. Anyhow, after I represented AA my opponent promptly calls with…AA. Well played Jimbo. The flop is a disaster for him, coming 8,9,10, but consecutive bricks give him the deserved huge pot and I am out.

Clearly I overcooked the aggression on several occasions last night, so hopefully I can work on that tonight. My early play seems pretty strong at the moment, and I have little trouble building up decent stacks. I guess I’ll try and tighten up after the first 2 hours of play tonight. It would be nice to get a confidence boost ahead of my marathon session on Saturday night.