Ladbrokes Poker

The day started with a huge field of 752 players. I was really ready to play and I so much looked forward to playing. I started on a really good table with a lot of limpers and a couple of calling stations. It was mostly Irish players and only one other Nordic player, a Swede with nick “Polarbear” on Ladbrokes Poker. I was not going to bluff much at this table. That was for sure! But I was going to see quite a few flops since I felt my post flop game was better than average on this table.

>> Check the latest videos from Irish Poker Festival and all action updates

I played well from the start, and I got a lot of good cards as well. I wish poker always was as easy as this. I got a lot of medium and low pocket pairs. Normally they are quite hard to play, but I played them quite carefully and risked little.
On level 2 (25/50) I got a pair of 3’s. I limped in as the second player and the big blind, a female player that was the most aggressive player at the table, raised to 350. Normally I would have folded at this point since 300 more is way too much to hit a two outer. But I knew that I could get paid very well if I hit, so I ended up calling. The flop was the very beautiful A-K-3. She bet 550, which I only flat called planning to raise on the turn. The turn was a ten. Not a bad card, but it could be a bit dangerous. She now bet another 550. I raised to 1550 and she called. On the river, an eight, she checked. I bet out 2800. She took some time but ended up calling in the end. When I showed here my hand she only showed an ace. A very nice pot for me and a very good start as well.

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I lost a few pots after this one. Among them a hand with pocket jacks against 2-3 off suit! On a 10-6-4 board I was called only for a five to come giving the opponent a straight. I also had to fold 9’s on a low flop once. This time the opponent showed pocket queens, so it was a good fold.
On level 4 (50/100) I was on the cut off with an absent big blind. I raised to 300 with 8-5 offsuit and got called from the button and the small blind. The flop was K-8-4. It was check to me and I bet out 600. The button folded and the Swede in the small blind raised to 1200. At this point I felt weakness from him. I put him on K-J or maybe K-10. I thought I could take the pot by reraising here, but why reraise now if I can wait a bit and take down a bigger pot? So I called with plans of stealing the pot on any turn card. The turn was a queen. The Swede bet out 1500. I followed my plan and raised to 4100. He folded quite fast. Well played, Andreas!

Soon after this hand it was dinner break. I had 38.550 in chips and was really happy about that. I had dinner with fellow Norwegian Tobias Holmeide and tournament specialist James Browning from UK. We talked about a lot on things, including the very bad tax system in Norway for poker players. Both Tobias and James had come back from a rough start to now be well above average. Just as expected from these two players that really are among the better players down here.
Very soon after the dinner break my table was broken. I didn’t like this, of course, but that is a part of playing tournament poker. My new table was a harder one. And I got no cards at all. It took one full hour before I won my first pot! And another 40 minutes before I won the next. I was bleeding!

I ended up bluffing away 12k in one bad played pot, and nothing seemed to go my way. Poker was not as fun anymore.

I had about 20k left in my stack when it was 15 minutes left of the day. The blind was 200/400 with 25 in running ante. The cut off, a new guy at the table, raised to 1000. I had 9-8 of spades and wanted to win the pot. He could very easily just try to steal the pot. So I raised to 2800. He called. The flop was K-K-Q, with to spades. He checked. I would bet out here nine out of ten times, but I suddenly felt some strength from the other guy. I don’t know why, but I ended up checking behind. The next card was the seven of spades. Nice one! He checked again and I bet out 5000. He raised to 15000 and I moved all-in. He showed aces with the ace of spades. I asked if he did call my all-in before I showed my cards. He didn’t realize that the 15000 bet was not enough to put me all-in. He of course called. The river card was a king. His full house crushed my flush and I was out of the tournament. Damn it, I hate to bust on the last level!

Author: Ladbrokes Poker Pro - Andreas Hoivold, Saturday 3 Oct 2009

The day after the fun night we had before i would like to mention a nice call in the nation against nation tournament in Killarney yesterday. We were heads up and had about 50k each (he covered me slightly). I had the big blind of 3k and my opponent limped in from the small blind (which is pretty unusual).

>> Check the latest videos from Irish Poker Festival and all action updates

Now two hands before he had done exactly the same but then I had pushed all in pre-flop (with rubbish) and he folded. This time I had Kd-3c off and decided to check the big blind. The flop came Ks-Qc-5c. I checked and he checked behind. Turn came 10c and I bet out 4k, my opponent raised to 12k. Now I had a real decision. I thought he might be on some sort of flush draw and I wanted to re-raise him but the stack-sizes felt a bit awkward here. I also had outs with my 3 of clubs if he had me beat. So, I called and the river came a blank 6x. I checked and he made an overbet all-in for about 36k. I could really only see J-9 that beat me at this point, since he would bet a flush draw on the flop and he would raise A-J, K-K, Q-Q and 10-10 preflop. This was my info at the moment and if you only can see one hand that beats you its usually correct to call. Also the overbet was a bit supicious, right?

Anyway, I told him that I could only see one hand that beat and said that I probably have to call. Then he wanted to flip his hand over and asked the dealer if "I probably have to call" was binding, lol. That really screwed with my head and I had to re-think the situation. After ages I decided to call and he showed 9-9. You might think that if he flat calls preflop with nines he could also do it with A-J+ and that is the case but the given info at the moment pointed to the contrary. He did it to trap me where as I excluded that he had that in his play book.
I am through day 1 with 29 125 chips and now I am going to bed. See you!
Author: Ladbrokes Poker Pro – Jonas Danielsson, AKA Nebuchad, Saturday 3 Oct 2009

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So, there were just two players left in the international invitational game arranged as a prelude to the Ladbrokes.com Irish Poker Festival. With Ireland already out of the running it was left to the English team represented by bbmoney and the Nordics represented by Nebuchad to fight it out heads up for the €1800 and more importantly the bragging rights and pride in the picturesque Irish town.

>> See the latest videos from Irish Poker Festival and all action updates at: Day2

With the chips stacks marginally in favour of bbmoney the crucial hand was played out in front of may spectators that had gathered to see the climax of a fun night's poker. Following bbmoney's limp in the SB the flop of Ks Qc 5c was checked by both players. The turn was 10c and Nebuchad bet 4k only to be re-raised to 12k by the Englishman.

After a short pause the Swede called still looking perplexed. The blank 6x on the river was met with another check from the Swede. bbmoney then pushed all in for his remaing 35k+ stack and the decision and pressure was firmly on Swede's shoulders. Following a long pause and much table talk Nebuchad called.

The players flipped the cards with Nebuchad first showing Kd 3c for top pair and bbmoney showing pocket 99s. The hand crippled the England team and the game was soon up - as in the very next hand the Nordics claimed victory. Noisy celebration followed but above all mutual respect was on show as all the players shook hands and applauded what was a suitable start to what is the friendliest of poker festivals.

The crucial call will be debated for days to come and I am sure we have not heard the last of it until the teams get it on at the next Ladbrokes event.

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Following last year’s phenominal turnout another 752 players turned out in the hope of capturing the first prize of €100,000.

Players from all parts of the globe including Bulgaria, Poland and Latvia joined the masses from the UK and the Nordics hoping to emulate 2008 champion Jimmy McSweeney’s dream win.

>> See the latest videos from Irish Poker Festival and all action updates at: Day2

The day’s play was proceeded with the usual introductions, rules and well wishes.

In addition, Ladbrokes announced the 4th Poker Cruise scheduled for January 2011. Further details on how to qualify for this much anticipated event will be available shortly, here: http://bit.ly/PokerCruiseIV

Back to the tournament and the play was understandably slow and cagey with the opening blind level of 25/25. All the more incredible was that it took one player all of 8 minutes to lose his 15,000 starting stack. The call from the floor was met with gasps of amazement from the rest of the players and the watching public. Notable players to exit during the evening included Martin Stalros and Julian Gardner. By the time play finished at around 1am there were still 462 players still in with a chance of winning. The average stack is now 28,000 and the players will come back today at 1pm for Day 2.

Here are some chip counts from the first day:
• new1home – 4000
• biglad – 11000
• Radfar – 20000
• T8MML – 22000
• banksoir – 25000
• skalie – 37000
• __db__ – 45000
• RIVERMAID – 67000

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The Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival 2009 got underway in Killarney last night.

See the latest video from Irish Poker Festival: http://bit.ly/3wiKQG , btw. In vids you will find pass to > Watch&Win! €225 added tournament http://bit.ly/KillarneyWatchWin

The traditional super satellite set proceedings in full flow with 182 players trying to capture a seat to today's €250,000 main event. Many of the Laddies regulars were in attendance with some already having secured their seats through online qualification. However, many viewed this as an opportunity to cash in on another seat or maybe even reward a friend or relative with one of the sought after tickets. Play commenced at 7.45pm and players were still seen buying in after the first few levels - an indication for the thirst for poker amongst the Ladbrokes Online Poker community as well as the many locals who were trying their luck. The extraordinary number attempting to win a seat meant that there were a total of 37 main event seats up for grabs following the rebuy and add on stages of the satellite. Play ended well past 1am with a deal eventually being done amongst the final 40 players. Laddies tournament regulars Our-Peg and Icepack were among those fortunate enough to win a seat.

Whilst the serious business of the super satellite was unfolding there was an element of real fun taking place on the main stage. An invitational challenge between the Nordics, England and Ireland in the form of a team event stimulated much interest amongst the spectators. Captains Roy "ROYTHEBOY" Brindley, Martin "Michelin" Stalros and Jon "skalie" Kalmar led their teams of 6 in a 3 table shoot out under the lights of the INEC. ROYTHEBOY was the first player sent to the bar in what was proving to be a war of pride and bragging rights. All the players contributed €100 to the prize pool meaning an €1800 windfall for the winning team. The format was a shootout with 2 players progressing from each table. By the time of the final table nothing could split the teams with each having 2 players through. In a nervy and tense final table, the 2 Irishman fell in 5th and 6th places meaning it was a straight fight between England and the Nordics. England were represented by Alexdb and BBMoney whilst the Nordics had Nebuchad and Michelin battling for glory. The drinks flowed and the players were becoming ever more serious in trying to secure bragging rights for the weekend. Out in 4th was Alexdb, he was closely followed by Nordic captain Michelin. What followed was a sensational few minutes of poker and theatre as BBmoney and Nebuchad produced a fantastic climax. To find out who came out on top and claimed glory visit us again here tomorrow along with a review of the first day's play in the main event.

Watch & Win - €225 added tournament promotion >> http://bit.ly/KillarneyWatchWin

See Ladbrokes Poker on Twitter and on Facebook >> http://poker.ladbrokes.com/en/facebook-twitter

Last year's event - Irish Poker Festival 2008 >> http://poker.ladbrokes.com/en/poker-events/irish-p oker-festival

Watch the space, as we will post here daily updates from Irish Poker Festival.

Anyway, have a great weekend and see you at poker tables.

Not made it to Vegas this year? Fear not, Ladbrokes Poker have some exciting action in store for you from the comfort of your own computer. Not only can you keep up with the latest action as it happens but you can take part in our fantastic promotion ‘Vegas Dreamers’ between 1st – 5th July, where there are 100’s of fantastic prizes to win and all for FREE!

Keep upto date with the latest happenings from WSOP 2009 with Ladbrokes Poker! We'll be sending daily updates from Las Vegas in the form of Blogs, Videos, Pod casts & write-ups from our very own sponsored pro's & our Ladbrokes players!

Day 1

he Ladbrokes Vegas Dream winners are expected to arrive en mass today (Sunday 28th). A few have already arrived and are doing their best to acclimatize. On his arrival, Michelin decided to skip check in and head straight to the cash tables followed by a few hours at Caesars top nightclub, Pure. Needless to say he was less than coherent the following day.

The Ladbrokes office is now operational and all eyes are on the first event, which happens to be the legendary Welcome Party at the Voodoo Lounge. The guest list includes all the Ladbrokes Vegas Dream winners as well as a host of other familiar poker faces from around the world.

The first of the Ladbrokes Vegas Dream Satellites will take place at the Rio Hotel & Casino on Tuesday 30th June. This is a $1060 tournament exclusive only to Ladbrokes players.

We have an online tournament to coincide with our WSOP journey, but you have to watch the videos or read the write up for the special passwords. Vegas Dreamers promotion.

Day 2

The day began with possibly the earliest start since Ladbrokes started taking players to the World Series of Poker. Why? The VIP Golf trip demanded a 6am meet up and naturally a couple of our more illustrious players were found wanting with the somewhat alien alarm call. Players teed off at the superb Rio Secco Golf Club in temperatures close to 100 degrees. Laddies regulars banksoir, Yogi147 and bigchin showed some class on the fairways and flashes of brilliance on the greens in what turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable days play in testing conditions. The round ended with much needed refreshments at the 19th hole!

The evening saw the now legendary Ladbrokes Poker Welcome Party take place at the Rio's Voodoo Lounge. The Ladbrokes players indulged in the free bar and took time to meet some of their online foes for the very first time. For many though, the welcome party is a chance to catch up with poker playing friends who they had met through various Ladbrokes poker events.

Sponsored pro's spotted enjoying themselves were Skalie and Nebuchad. One famous face was certainly letting his hair down and that was none other than Laddies favourite Steve 'Fivek' Davis. The nugget, as he is known on the snooker circuit, was seen drinking cocktails whilst also twittering - his new found interest. You can follow Steve Davis on twitter using his username fiveknuckle.

Other familiar faces included Norman Pace, Shane Lynch and one of the UK's latest bracelet winners JP Kelly. All were partying well into the night.

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