JAMES HAS MADE IT
By Sunny Chattha
Kicks off in less than 2 hours, Karl said he will be doing updates from his twitter thingy, the link is
http://twitter.com/Karl_Mahrenholz
I'll try do some here aswell every now and then
Let's do this
By Sunny Chattha
I'm sure you were all following the sporadic live updates we were doing, we will try and do them tommorrow again so tune in - 8pm UK time - 12pm Vegas time
It has been a great day, James headed back very short lying in around 45th out of the 63 or so remaining but he has managed to chip up to over 8.5mill and is sitting in around 11th of the 27 players remaining. The crucial pot came right at the beginning of the day when James was moved to the feature table. Esfandiari opened from MP to 150k at 30k/60/5k and James shoved from button for 1.5mill total, a guy behind then declared all in aswell and he had James covered, we gave each other the glance like oh ffs this is it, we're in trouble but the guy had AK vs James 99 - the board came the most beautiful ever - 9 high and with the other guy drawing dead. After that the chips went up and down a little but once James got to 5mill, it has been plain sailing.
27 remain, $350k+ already in the bag, here is James table draw:
(Table 1)
Seat 1: Jesse Haabak - 2,750,000
Seat 2: Ian Tavelli - 4,385,000
Seat 3: James Calderaro - 6,475,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Tamayo - 3,300,000
Seat 5: Warren Zackey - 5,485,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman - 10,005,000
Seat 7: Leo Margets - 1,530,000
Seat 8: Tommy Vedes - 5,070,000
Seat 9: James Akenhead - 8,615,000
Also good luck to Praz, Javed Abrahams, Andrew Seden and Martins Adeniya who have progressed to Day 2 of the WPT Bellagio $15k event.
29 left, 90 min break
jaymo 7.5mill (official count)
i'm going back to condo aint slept in 4 days
leave you in capable hands of twitter bok
Got my phone charged and will be posting updates from my twitter at
http://twitter.com/Karl_Mahrenholz
antonio like 200k james like 590k
james really has like 6.6mill
i think they skip dinner break to lose 2 more
15mins left on clock
james has been predicting his end of day chip counts every since day 1, he has got it pretty close everyday except yesterday he said like 4mill but finished on 1.5m
today he says 6,660,000
if he does he is officially son of satan
(read previous blogs to see why 666 is his number)
karl stop posting how much money hes guaranteed leave the calculator in your pocket your % is secure ffs
till dinner break, need to lose 7 more till end of day
6mill, few value raises to nick the blinds
dinner break in 36mins, play resumes 90 mins after that so like 20:30 vegas time and 04:30 uk time (omg u degens)
quiet last hour
just now
geezer says 175k
jaymo says call
k97 guy says 250k
sickdog says 525k
guy says pass
I say weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
chips say 5.4mill
the beer is flowing which can only mean one thing, chaz is here
The phone battery is really low so gonna stop updates so James can use phone to spk to friends and fam
Keep checking back, might get it charged
Thx for support
Real comedy moment some guy was asleep on rail and 6 cameras zoomed in on him whole rail went mental to wake him up and he didn't realize everyone was cheering him, looked buzzing
Whole room burst out laughing, ivey didn't blink
James 4.6mill
Just raised twice and cbet flops
Got em through
He always has it guys, don't believe the rumours;)
Raise 160k James calls so does blind
King high checks round
Turn 300k sickdog stab takes it
This iPhone battery is getting low hopefully James charger is in car
James 170k all fold
4 mill
Nut nut baby, nut nut
seat 9 160k
James call button
A86
Guy 250k James call
Turn 8 guy 400k James call
River 8 guy all in James immediate fold
just heard 2 familiar names have gone 50 left
Magician just won a pot off katchalov
Good ol jeff Duvall doing well on side table 5 mill I think
Hearing a lot of weeees from rail
The other Brit looks distraught
I'm sure he's thinking why's everyone told me this akenhead never has it?
His rep def got him that gift of a double
James just nicked blinds up to 4.2mill
The rail is huge and Channing just turned up can't lose now
Someone just went out 53 left
The table has livened up
All in from chaz suckout guy
He gets it through
30/60k/5k
James 2mill
Lost that pot just before break said was so close to folding
James has just 3bet
Other Brit from uk I believe adam York
He calls 400k
Check from brit on kj4
James bets half pot
All in call
James nuts
Ship 4 mill weeeee
Guy had aj gogogo
[ X ] it's quite hard updating from a cracked iPhone
James just called a raise pre but let it go on k89
3.3mill
Praz fck bellagio come here now txt James US fone my battery gone
James chilling got that look
The guy that got chaz on his left he has promised to get him out
Omg abs chilling
Magician donk getting pwn3d hard
James just raised 97 nutjob from yesterday calls but passes on flop
Great start to the day
They play to 27 however long it takes
59 left James 3.5m
James doubles fkn ship it
99 vs ak nine on flop
Ship ship ship espn just got me going mental
Praz chaz come rio now gonna be big day
Weeeeeee
first time ive done this live on a fone but ill try my best
Friedman just busted 64th so they are all guaranteed $100k plus
James just got moved to main feature table
1.6m
By Sunny Chattha
Firstly a huge well done to Karl who played amazingly for 6 long days but busted earlier today. He did'nt seem at any danger throughout the whole tourney, and I don't think he was all in once until his exit hand. Our Vegas trip has been extended as James goes onto Day 7 of the Main Event. In just under 6 hours he will rejoin 63 other players in a bid to play down to to final 27 players who will come back on Day 8 to play down to be the ''November 9''
James table is as follows:
(Table 1)
Seat 1: Steven Begleiter - 6,315,000
Seat 2: Craig Boyd - 650,000
Seat 3: Ryan Fair - 2,940,000
Seat 4: Ian Tavelli - 1,985,000
Seat 5: James Akenhead - 1,655,000
Seat 6: Hung Pham - 1,006,000
Seat 7: Mark Ader - 1,610,000
Seat 8: Waren Zackey - 1,400,000
Seat 9: Adam York - 3,515,000
Karl went out in 114th place, leaving James to fly the flag on day 7. Currently on 1.65m chips with 63 people remaining
Playing down to 27 tomorrow
A quick update, they have just started level 3 of day 5 and 241 remain from the 410+ that started today and 6400+ that started last week. James has just taken the chip lead and is the first person to reach the 3 million mark. Karl is still fighting away on a 700k+ stack. Blinds are 5000/10000(1k). The dinner break is in a couple of hours and then they are playing a further 2 x 2 hour levels after that. I'll try keep everyone updated before dinner but am going to the Rio after that so check out www.pokernews.com for updates.
Another good day for the squad. James has finished with nearly 1.6million in chips and Karl on around 700k with the average at around 550k. There is approx 400 players left from the 6400 that started which means everyone is in the money now. Congrats and good luck to everyone else that cashed or is still in.
James spent most of the day at the top of the leader board in the Amazon room and finished on 790k, with the average at 240k. Karl also made it through on 222k. Chaz was eliminated earlier in the day in a 3x average pot, all in on the turn against a pair and flush draw which got there on the river :(
150 to go before the money....run good tomorrow please
Going into day 3, our remaining stacks are as below:
James: 240k
Chaz: 115k
Karl: 95k
The average has got to be somewhere close to 95k. Blinds will be 600/1200 with 200 ante when we go back tomorrow
I should have a day 1 and 2 report up sometime soon...
By Sunny Chattha
I haven't played anything for the last week, been stressed and trying to avoid poker - running bad and doing chunks usually does that. I'm glad I took a week off, I feel ready and refreshed again and hopefully can do something in the last 2-3 weeks here.
Went to rail Chaz today at the final table of Venetian $330 NLHE, the field attracted a whopping 915+ players and Chaz came 2nd for a ''official'' cash of around $39k but it was a bit less than that due to some deal making at the final. Still a great result for a $300 outlay, I may have to play a few of them.
The last week has mainly been spent sleeping, eating and watching TV. I don't think Karl and Praz have done too much either, sounds like they've been relaxing and going out etc. Praz played the WSOP Event 45 $10k PLHE (which John Kabbaj just won) but no good.
There's a $3k NLHE and a $1.5k NLHE coming up at the WSOP which I think all of us will be playing on the weekend, its the last few comps of the series so please run good one time. Next week is the start of the WSOP main event, so we'll also be playing a few sats for that. The Bellagio Cup WPT festival also starts next week but it is expected to get really small fields and little value so they will probably be avoided. I only want to be playing and concentrating on one tournament from the 3rd-15th July and that is the WSOP Main Event. (edit: did'nt play the main event, lol)
By Sunny Chattha
Sorry for lack of updates, internet is down and nothing much to report on. Noone has played much in the last week, Karl took down a Omaha comp at the Venetian for like $25k and Praz went pretty deep in a WSOP event (19th) but thats about it, Take care.
By Karl Mahrenholz
I've been making friends at the tables and getting on the wrong end of some interesting rulings during our second week at the WSOP. I've written a blog over on the TGF Blog for anyone who wants to take a look
By Sunny Chattha
Just looking back at the 8 WSOP events I have played I see I have made it too level 6-9 in all of them, but still no cash! It’s good to know I’m accumulating chips and making it deep but still haven’t made a day 2. I could have probably folded into the money in 4-5 of those events but that’s not how I roll lol. Today definitely proved that when 400/2600 remained in WSOP Event 28 $1.5k NLHE and I was holding a 51k stack at 400/800/75. Me and my opponent managed to both get into a 105k pot after a series of raises with me eventually making the final all in move. Everyone was shocked when he called and saw his cards, but they were even more shocked when they saw mine (none of us had a pair) One time can’t I win a 40/60 to come back too day 2 top 5 in chips! I played really good today and got to 51k without much effort, i'm sure a very deep run is just around the corner.
Praz played WSOP Event 29 $10k NLHE Heads Up but lost in his first round match. Chaz played the Venetian $550 NLHE but got a sick cold deck deep in the comp KK vs. AA for a monster pot. Karl took the day off and will be playing WSOP Event 30 $2.5k PLO tomorrow. Congrats to our friends Andrew Seden and Michael Greco who finished 18th and 3rd respectively in the $1.5k comp from the other day (the one I self destructed in) amazing results, hopefully there is much more to come from the Brits.
By Sunny Chattha
The fire alarm just went off and now I cant go back to sleep. Marvellous. It’s like 7am here and everyone’s asleep.
Big congrats to our friend JP Kelly who took down the bracelet in WSOP Event 20 $1.5k PLHE. I first played with him three years ago when I was a newcomer to the game and he had already established himself as UK’s top young gun. I remember me, him, Chaz and Mickey Wernick were 4 handed in a UK main event, I raised with 1010 and he shoved on me but I really didn’t want to double him up as he was a menace with chips. Now obviously it would be a snap call but I used to be a huge nit back then. I did call and he sheepishly turned over 97off. I told Praz back then that this kid was a bit special (in a good way obv)
I got moved to his table in this WSOP event and he had quite a nice stack of like 17k (average was like 7k) but he lost a few when his 99 went up against KK. He dribbled down to around 4k, looked a bit steamed up and couldn't get anything through but I came to the rescue. I potted the button at 150/300 with K7cc and JP repotted all in from the BB for an extra 2.5k or so and I called. His A10o held to take him to over 8k. A few hands later he got another full double up when his 77 held against AQ. It’s so sick how he was nearly dead and buried but came back to win the bracelet, I wish I had swapped a piece with him ffs!
Me, Karl and Praz played WSOP Event 24 $1.5k NLHE yesterday. It was probably the sickest tournament I have ever played. We started with 4.5k chips and around 2500 runners. I had around 10k at the first break winning some easy chips from some bad players. When we returned I won a nice race to take me to around 15k and then I won a nice pot when I flopped top pair and a flush draw and got it all in on the flop. This was followed by a good call with 89cc on a 10c5c2s9dQs when I reduced a guys hand too either KJcc for a rivered straight or AJcc for ace high. Luckily his body language suggested he had the latter. I was sitting on a very healthy 34k going into the second break and was in top 3 chips out of 1500 remaining. I was playing very well and felt in total control, you know when your reads are so crisp and everything you do is just perfect. That’s where it all went wrong.
I raised in late position too 600 (100/200/25) with A10o and the Internet kid I played with the other day ‘’Gbecks’’ 3-bet to 1800, I set him for his final 7k and he snap called with AK. That took me down to 26k but I was still in great shape. I was playing very aggressively and raising a lot of pots and was back up to 30k pretty quick, no one really wanted to tango. I opened with KK to 900 (150/300/25) UTG and a guy in the SB basically raised all in for 15k (put in like 70% of his stack) with 99. The first card was a nine and I blew up. I didn’t say anything or react but I could feel my head had gone. There was a raise from early position to 900 and a caller and I found AQ in the big blind, I made it 3k to go, the original raiser folded but the other guy now called the extra 2.1k and left himself 5.8k behind. I set him in on the 7 high board and he called pretty sharpishly with 88. I ended on 7k just before the dinner break. Luckily JP’s final table was going on so I went with 20+ Brit’s to watch that. That was fun. After the dinner break I think I lasted like 30 mins where I shoved a 5k stack at 200/400(50) with KJdd but got looked up by KQo finishing around 600th/2500. Puke.
Praz busted out early but Karl has finished the day on a whopping 98k to put him in the top 20 of the 270 remaining. I see Greco, Moorman, Powell, Horner, Feldman, Seden and Kimber are also still in the mix. Good luck to all of them (sorry if I missed anyone out)
Today will mostly be spent singing ‘’God save the queen’’ at the Rio, nipping Channing for some money he owes me and trying to find a way for my two black king’s to hold on this trip (lost like 5 HUGE pots with them). (edit: done none of that, slept all day, 6pm now). 7 WSOP comps, 1 Bellagio, nil day two’s and nil cashes, something’s gonna change. I hope.
By Sunny Chattha
Me and Karl played WSOP Event 22 $1.5k NLHE Shootout today. In this format you start with a table of 10 players and play till there is one left, then the winners of all the tables come back tomorrow. I was hoping for a soft first table but got the complete opposite. I didn’t recognize anyone on the table at first but after a few minutes of chatting it became clear there was some good players. I had online whiz kids Garrett ‘’Gbecks‘’ Beckman, Jeff ‘’yellowsub‘’ Williams, Mike ‘’goleafsgoeh’’ Leah, recent bracelet winner Kevin ‘’Stamdogg’’ Stammen, Kenna James and another 3 good solid players whose names I didn’t catch. I got off to a good start when I knocked out Kenna James KQ vs. J10 for a small pot, everyone played tight for a bit but it took off after the first break.
I busted Leah when he shoved on a nine high flop with A9 whilst I was holding QQ. I was opening a lot and then raised 66 on the button to 525 (100/200) and Stammen shoved all in for 2900 more. I called and was shown 88 (puke) but got there to take a chip lead of around 12k with 7 left. Williams went next when he lost a race to Beckman. One of the good players (I think his name is Jeremiah, I saw him playing at Bellagio last month) then opened to 900 at 150/300(25) and I set him in for his final 5k with AKss, he called with 1010 and won the race. Another player busted then I got lucky when I shoved 3k on the button with K5 and got looked up by A6. My exit hand came with 4 left, when the aggro European raised to 800 from the small blind and I defended Q10 in the big. I moved in for 5k more on the Q75 board after he bet 1.5k and got looked up by Q7. GG.
I saw Karl at the first break when most tables were still 7+ handed but his only had 4 remaining. He had the chiplead of 19k of the 45k total but I haven’t seen him since. Hopefully he has progressed to the next stage. Well done to all the Brit’s that have done well this week, and good luck to JP Kelly in the PLHE. He was on my table yesterday and had a big stack, and I believe he is still in with 30/650 left and holding a top 5 chiplead. gogogo.
Away from poker, I think the rest of the guys have gone to do a bit of shooting themselves. They’ve been talking about going to the Vegas shooting range for 3 years now and I think they have actually finally gone.
By Sunny Chattha
Quick update from the last few days. Nothing much to report to be honest. Me and Praz played WSOP Event 15 $5k NLHE on Saturday but we both busted just before the dinner break. The last couple of days have been bad beat central for all of us but I won‘t go into much detail. Praz and James entered WSOP Event 19 $2.5 NLHE 6-MAX, they had 70k and 25k respectively (25k average) at the dinner break with 300/1000 remaining but busted near the end of day 1. Me and Karl had a go at Bellagio $1k NLHE and were both in very good shape with 25/75 remaining but exited soon after. Today I played WSOP Event 20 $1.5k PLHE, I don’t know what it is about pot limit but I always bring my best game, unfortunately I wasn’t able to follow on from my deep run from last year in this same event. I busted with 100/650 left just short of the money. James and Chaz played the Bellagio $1k NLHE but more bad beats there. Hopefully our luck changes this week as we all have busy schedules.
Away from poker, I’ve just put loads of clothes in the dishwasher, cutlery in the tumble dryer, set the washing machine on self clean and put some underwear in the oven, well something like that. Good night.
By Sunny Chattha
A rather shit day actually, woke up at 11am ready to go and cheer on Praz meanwhilst the water at our apartments wasn’t working so we all had to go there without a wash. Not a great start. Bryn Kenny busted out 8th and that meant the remaining 7 players joined together on the ESPN feature table for the final. It was nice to be back there exactly a year after James had graced its presence, but this time we was hoping to capture the crown. Unfortunately it didn’t happen today as Praz busted 7th when his A10 ran into AJ. I’m sure we will be there again very soon. A very big well done to the other Brit’s who had great results today including Peter Gould who finished 3rd in the same event as Praz and then Paul Parker and Ben Grundy who also made final tables elsewhere. ‘’God save the queen’’ won’t be playing in the Amazon room later on today but I’m sure it will be played at least once before the series is said and done.
Just got back from a nice birthday meal we had for James (6th of the 6th at 6pm obv) in some curry gaff near the strip, around 10 of them have gone for a mad night of drinking and partying and probably won’t be back till like 11am. They’re not playing anything tomorrow but I will be taking a shot at WSOP Event 15 $5k NLHE. The starting stacks are bigger (15k) but the field will obviously be a lot tougher. I handled myself very well in the $25k WPT at Bellagio last month so I’m sure I will be ok here. I’m due to win 6 or 7 coin flips anytime soon. Good night and Happy Birthday James, try and wake up before I make the final table ffs.
By Sunny Chattha
So Praz has made the final 8 of WSOP Event 9 $1.5k NLHE 6-MAX. Approx 1500 runners entered this comp which started on Wednesday. James also entered this event but exited day 1. Karl gave WSOP Event 10 $2.5k PLHE/PLO a go on the same day but no luck for him. Around 18 players remain in that event out of approx 450 starters. There is a strong British showing in that with Ben Grundy, Paul Parker, John Kabbaj and Surinder Sunar still remaining!
I played WSOP Event 11 $2k NLHE today along with James, Karl and approx 1800 other hopefuls. I got of to a great start turning my 6k starting stack to 15k very quickly. I then shoved on the turn with Q10dd with a board of KhJs3d9s and got snap called by Jc9c and held to take me over 27k and top 10 in chips. I had a nightmare level 6 (150/300/25) where I lost 6 consecutive races within a space of 45 mins against shorter stacks. I held AK three times and a pair the other three but couldn't’t get the coin to land on my side. I came back after the dinner break with a deflated stack of 7.5k at 200/400/50 and around 450 players remaining (180 paid) but got of to a bad start again losing a race with 66 vs. a short stacks AJhh (he flopped the royal flush) my remaining 4k got shoved in with 99 but ran into JJ and QQ. Karl and James busted earlier in the day.
The rest of the day was spent railing Praz in the 6-MAX and the other Brit’s in the PLHE/PLO. We eventually left the Rio around 3am. It’s a very big day tomorrow for the Brit’s as there is two very strong chances of bracelets so good luck to everyone going back. We was all going to play WSOP Event 13 $2.5k NLHE today but decided to unregister to give our support to Praz and the boys. Tournaments come along all the time but it’s not every day one of your best mates is fighting to become the first Brit to win two bracelets and cement their place in poker history as one of the greatest.
By Sunny Chattha
That was what the first prize read for WSOP Event 7 $1.5k NLHE. Surely James would be in contention for that prize? (read his previous blogs about 666) All 5 of us entered this tournament along with approx 2900 other hopefuls. Praz got off to a flier building his 4.5k stack to a healthy 15k+ before the first break but he was out shortly after when he got into a 40k+ pot at 75/150 when his KhKc went up against KsKd and AsAd, the Jh9h10h flop bought some hope but the turn and river bought some bricks. Karl went out early and that left me, Chaz and Mr. 666 flying the flag.
We all went into level 7 200/400(50) with similar stacks of around 12k when the average was 16k or so. I opened JJ in MP to 1100 and was called by the small blind, and the big blind decided to squeeze to 4200. I moved in and got called by AQ and held for a nice 26k+ pot. The following hand a tight passive player made a big raise to 1750 from UTG and while I was stacking my newly acclaimed chips I looked down to see KK. I was going to flat call but knew this type of player would just check pass AK/AQ etc if the board bricked so I made it 5100 to go, he moved in for 17k total and I called. He tabled AK, which wasn’t looking to good for him on the J37 board but the turn and river bought a Q and a 10 giving him the 35k+ pot.
We all met up at the last break of the day and we were all still battling with 10-15BB. There was only 450 players left at this point and 300 would make the money. Me and James busted early in level 9 (400/800/75) after he lost a race and I ran into KK. Chaz finished the day on a average stack of around 38k after making a great call with Q10 on AQ39A at the end of the day for his tournament life against the biggest rock in Nevada. He has just gone back for day 2, I think 330 remain of the initial 2900 and they are nearly in the money. Blinds start of today at 600/1200(100?) so 38k is more than enough for Chaz.
I think Praz, Karl and James have gone to play WSOP Event 9 $1.5k NLHE 6-Max today, so hopefully they can do something in that. Away from poker I think I have bought and activated 15+ US cell phones for various people, If I go busto from poker I’m sure I would be great as a concierge service for the Brit’s.
