What a game!!

Still havnt seen anyone from pokerroom if they missed it they missed a great game.
I'll start at the beginning.
Went down at 4:50pm for the 5pm and was told we were being moved to the outdoor tent as the senior event had a lot of entrants.
All started off pretty normal no big names at my table etc.
Couldnt catch a hand first hour i got 3 splits and that was it so blinds had put my 3k stack near 2k there wasnt 1 hand i could have called that id folded well none i noticed.
seen devilfish and men the master chatting to people at the adjoining table.
Then someon bust on our table so who will be the new player at the table?....
Marcel Luske who id consider one of the best in the world at the moment,1st hand he doubled catching the nut straight on turn vrs a set his luck wouldnt change i think he won around 90% of the pots he played next half hour passed and i still couldnt find a hand and was at around 1.5k then someone else busts so who will be the next new player at the table? cant be someone as famous as marcel luske surely......
Johnny Chan, who i think has won wsop main event more than anyone else? i know phil has the bracelet lead now but main events i think chan is ahead?
Then the break after 2 hours so at least i made it that far
and was on around 1.8k so figured id regroup and hope for more luck 2nd session.
Chan lost 1 pot and he was down to around 800 chips , a few hands later i get Ac Ad 3d 7c i bet pot in late position chan calls everyone else is out the pot flop was like 479 rainbow i bet pot again and chan calls so ive got a chance to take out who id consider the best poker player ever.
he flips over kk23 so ive got him all ends up and he has almost no outs apart from a 3 for a split , turn : x river:3 he caught split on river.Guy to my right said unlucky man that would have been a story to tell the kids taking out the legend of poker.
Started to have a few more battles with him and chan got chan all in again in front but was another split, in sits eli elezra and great i think it was him anyway ive seen him a load on tv whoever it was if it wasnt elezra ill try and find out but he was a real nice guy and we had a few laughs also chan was nice and luske , i was s hort and pushed at one point and got the needed split and luske said "He's Scottish he has the heart of a lion"
few hands later chan bust so id outlasted a true legend of poker at least and we were 3 hours in , i had another few battles with luske he folded one and we split a couple then i lost about 800 chips i had 12 straight outs on an unpaired rainbow flop and and a few decent low outs i lost to luske though so im left with 525 chips :( i manage to double up in a 4 way pot i finally get a hand when im almost bust AAAA but someone catches low on river but still it doubles me, i get another double and on 2k with 100-200 blinds.
Then just under 4 hours in i play my last hand i get AA3 with a heart draw luske calls BB another guy bets 800 i bet the pot luske who has like 20k plus says i know youve got the aces but he calls so 3 way pot if i win im right back in it luske has a24q and other guy has a467 or similar so i got my money in front and am favourite to treble up or at least got 50% of a 3 way pot but luskes Q4 clubs found their flush and no low fell so he scooped the lot.

So im out but i outlasted a lot of players and id say i had the toughest table in the hall out of everyone, im hungrier than ever to come back next year and eneter as many events as possible, i wasnt intimidated and dont feel i made 1 mistake so im happy ith performance and the experience has to be great playing so many pots against so big names.

Sorry i couldnt do better but i done my best , ty all for your support it has meant a lot , im off for a stiff vodka!

under 10 hours to go

went and done all the sightseeing yesterday and some shopping then the jetlag hit me so been sleeping for a while which is probrably good as tourney starts soon.
spotted some nice cash games $1-$2 nl he at mgm grand and they have daily tourneys so when i have free time im going back there.
going to get breakfast now , next update will probrably be after tourney im not really nervous as im not putting any pressure on myself with a one off tourney as a bit will depend on the cards i just want to get started now and see what i can do but i will be trying all out and am hungrier than ever to come back next year and play as many events as possible.

thanks for reading

marky

Got Here

Flew out to London and stayed over till Saturday morning then flew out to Ohio took 8 hours.
got through security no problems then spent 3 hours there before catching 4 hour flight to vegas.
Was 112 when i landed at 7pm so its pretty hot but everywhere is air conditioned.
when i got to hotel at 9pm i felt to tired to gamble (dont think 30
+ hours without sleep would help decision making) so went to sleep , woke up after 4am grabbed a coffee then went a wander round the rio its a pretty impressive hotel.
Went through my final wsop registration and have my ticket so redy to go.
Hit the cash tables for a feel of things at 7am $2-$5 NL HE and won a quick $115 , 1st hand i won 67 suited in the big bling called 2xbb raise flop came 427 rainbow i bet $25 and as i was short stack (only sat with $100 to get a feel for it)he put me all in and i had no trouble calling on that flop heads up to an aggressive player who was raising everything pre flop sure enough he had 7/5 offsuit and my hand held up then won another $50 with 88 scary flop a56 but it was checked turn 9 i made a small bet, which was called river:8 i made another small bet as i was scared by the straight draw he called with pair of 6s so good start.

Going to do some shopping now and head to the strip and maybe play some at the bellagio or caesars.
Thanks for reading and i will update when possible.

Off tomorrow

Not a lot happening at the minute just killing time.

Leave tomorrow afternoon and have a night over in london before heading to vegas.

Was told to call the wsop and check im all registered on wednesday , called about 40 times and only got an automated message asking for me to leave my details for a callback which never happened.

Notified pokerroom but havnt had a response yet so ill just need to hope its all in order.

Hoping a little chequeis cleared tomorrow for some cash for the riing tables over there.

Probrably wont update now till im in vegas if i get there without any unexpected things cropping up and as long as i have access to a pc over there i presume they have internet cafes etc so shouldnt be a problem.

Thanks for reading

5 Days to go

Getting close now , got some US$ today and sent my resistration document off withh wire transfer confirmation so hopefully its just a quick phone call on wednesday to make sure all is in order and thats it.

Flights cost an extra $440 than i was given funds for i wasnt worried as i thought pr would straighten this out but got an email saying stuff like all players get the same etc but no decision has been made yet.
I didnt read anywhere that if you happen to stay far away from vegas and flights are expensive you have too chip in :/

Anyways i'll wait and see what their decision is.

Hope i can make an impact in event after all this.

Flights booked

Got my flights booked today , leave a week today :)

Also recieved my PR Hoody :D

And got an email saying my buy in is paid , so just got a small registration thing to sort next week and then its off to vegas :D

Todays mission

Thanks all for the support,
Todays mission is to get flights booked, slightly more difficult than it sounds , i had to pay for new passport £108 ($216) and a few other things and as each day passes flight costs go up so im relying on a cheque that was meant to have cleared on wednesday but still wasnt clear yesterday being clear today and similarly with money i put on my credit card.
Also id prefer to go via los angeles now as the border patrol seemed way more chilled and helpful he even wished me luck at WSOP whereas the new york guy sounded as if i didnt get off the phone within 5 seconds he was going tostart breaking something.

Oh yeah i dont think i mentioned but pokerroom says my buy in is sorted out now too :)

Its back on :)

Ok the day started with me still not going to vegas but i was still keeping my appointment to get a new passport which takes 7 days as i was going to go on a small holiday somewhere anyway.
Went up and as all my details were in order and id never lost one before they processed it and gave me new passport in 4 hours instead of 7 days.
Got home and checked my emails and one from support at pokerroom (Fazlin) saying someone on their staff is american and didnt think it would be a problem and that theyd called the uk motoring agency who suggested they didnt think it would be a problem.
However my sources were the usa embassy in london and new york border patrol and my uncle had contacted the port authorities here and all said id need a full visa or i wouldnt get in so i wrote an email explaing this to pokerroom and at the end i said "before sending this i will make a few more calls to the embassy etc and double check"Embassy was closed so i called los angeles airport and asked to speak to the appropriate people.
I explained the situation to him and he said it would be no problem at all unless id been to jail or done community service which i havnt, he said this is what they mean by a conviction.
I was still nervous so i explained to him that it was considered a coviction if you been found guilty in a court here even if it was only 6 points on my license and a small fine i got.
Again he assured me they wernt interested in this and that i should tick "no" to convictions on the visa waiver form on the plane.
I asked if i could take his name for future reference incase of problems and he told me "there is no need we are the people who deal with this and these laws are the same all over the usa" :)
So its looking like vegas again :D
I will need to rebook my flights again as id cancelled them but that shouldnt be too much of a problem :D

OK todays troubles have topped it all off.I need a replacement passport and had an appointment for tomorrow to go with my completed application and a countersigned photo by someone professionally qualified and i would have my passport in time no problem.Such people who can sign it are ..doctorslawyerspolicepostmastersetcFirst i went to my local postmaster who was happy to do it and filled in the form etc then it asks for her passport number which she didnt have at hand and cant get either as someone is holding her passport to do with some financial deal.undeterred i go to a lawyer who has known me for 14 years (you have to have known the person for 2 years+) because i hadnt seen him in the last couple of years (which is completely irrelevant as he just has to have known me) he wouldnt sign it.Off i pop to another lawyer ive dealt with and he said he didnt know me well enough which was fair enough as he didnt it was the first lawyer who should have signed it.My uncle is in the police but he cant sign it because he is my uncle.I have another couple of people i can ask as a last resort but with my appointment being tomorrow morning time is not on my side.Then i got a telephone call from my uncle who i had asked to look into wether the usa border patrols would have access to uk criminal records etc and he had called someone he knows in the uk ports authorities who told him the do have access and would turn me back if they discovered anything and i would be banned from future travel to the usa as id filled out the visa waiver form incorrectly.Also the usa are trying to make it everyone needs a full visa for travel to the usa and if this ever gets passed into law i wouldnt be able to travel to the usa as i would be refused a visa for filling out a visa waiver form incorrectly in the past (even if id got passed border patrol on that occasion).So i think its time to ask PR nicely if they can switch my buy in to some other event of equal value at a later date as it mentions in the contract(even if its in the usa as i will have time to get a full proper visa etc)I never for one moment forseen any of these problems due to a minor driving conviction from 4 years ago

Ok im going to go and just tick the "correct" boxes on the form and hope it works out i cant see any way they have access to uk criminal records andive read about more and more people in my situation who got through ok.

To any immigration officials reading this or worried PR people i say the following"I made a mistake earlier i wasnt actually convicted i just had points on my license"

Damn i could do with a beer round about now :/

Ok i called my uncle who is an inspector in the police and he says he highly doubts the usa would have access to uk criminal records to check.
I also doubt they would have any way of knowing if i dont declare it so i may just take the chance and keep quiet.
I didnt give my details to the embassay however they gave me an email addy for someone to email to see if they could help as it was a professional event and i gave them all details but i doubt they would forward this and i sent a reply stating this was a mistake and i didnt actually incur a conviction just points and asking them to disregard my previous email.
So i may just take a chance here!
If you do get caught you are arrested and have to pay your own way home or they detain you until there is a flight back.
This blog might get very interesting indeed :)

Things have just went terribly wrong!

My email i just sent pokerroom explains...

Hi,I booked my flight today for Las Vegas and was advised that as i have a minor driving conviction from 4 years ago (driving while my insurance had expired) i may need a visa.I telephoned the american embassay and they confirmed i would need a visa and this could take up to 8 weeks, i explained the situation and they said as it is a professional event i could contact someone else and they may be able to do something which i have done but im due to be in vegas in 11 days so am holding no hope out for this.Could you advise me on anything you can do either to help sort this or if buy in for this event could be used for some other event at a later date when i would have had time to sort visas etc or any other solutions you could offer.RegardsMarky_Crash

Welcome to my blog

Hi all and welcome to my blog.

As most of yous will know i won the pocketsize omaha hi/lo tourney were first prize was a $5000 package to go to vegas and play event 42 oh8 of the wsop on the 25th June 2007 , It's a 2 day event starting at 5.p.m local time on 25th till 3.a.m then played to a conclusion the next day.

I will give updates here as the time nears and keep yous all up to date around the time of the event too (as long as i can get access to a pc).

There are also live updates and reports on www.pokerlistings.com and www.worldseriesofpoker.com

At the moment ive just been sorting contracts and registration stuff , sorted my contract with pokerroom and my room at the rio is booked ,only really waiting on them paying the buy in via wire transfer and getting confirmation from wsop that im fully registered then were ready to go :)

Should be booking my flights tomorrow and pokerroom have advised me i should be getting a merchandise delivery this week.

As for the event itself there was an identical event the other day and 690 registered with around 50 or so paid , starting stack is 3,000 chips with 1 hour blinds the blinds either start at 25/50 or 50/100.

Should be a few big names in the field too im pretty sure Annie Duke will play as she won it a couple of years ago and as she tutors Ben Affleck and he plays a lot of wsop i wouldnt be surprised to see him there, also Daniel Negraneu is playing every event he can this year and phil helluth and Phil Ivey etc been playing a lot of events would be nice to get a table with one big name.


Well i will keep updating here every other day , thanks for reading and gl at the tables.