Yorky Pud

It is not everyday that someone travels across the country to visit some friends and finishes up winning over $1,600,000 in a poker tournament but that is exactly what has just happened to Gregory Brooks. Just hours ago Mr Brooks beat a star-studded final table to become the 2011 WPT LA Poker Classic Champion, the first time he has ever entered a World Poker Tour event!

Brooks, who is known as “MYNAMEIZGREG” in online poker circles, is a cash game specialist by trade but has been taking some time from the game in order to reconnect with family and friends and take a break from the stresses of high stakes poker. The 23-year old from New Jersey was visiting friends in California when he decided to enter the $10,000 LA Poker Classic on a whim and it is a decision that has seen him add $1,654,120 to his bankroll.

The poker media and fans of the game were making a big fuss about the strength of the final table before the tournament resumed and rightly so as between the six players they had won more than $22,000,000 between them in live and online poker tournaments. The majority of the prying eyes were on Carlos Mortensen and his attempts to become the first-ever four-time WPT title winner and those who were not rooting for the Spaniard were wondering if Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar could match his 48-hand demolition of the final table that he managed when he won the 2010 Borgata Open. But nobody had really mentioned Brooks.

However that all changed on just the third hand of proceeding after a massive 5,225,000 pot was created and won by Brooks. Rajkumar opened the betting with a raise to 125,000 from under the gun, Brooks three-bet to 315,000 from the cutoff and Steve “gboro780” Gross put in a further raise to 655,000. With the action back on Rajkumar he quickly moved all in and after around 30 seconds Brooks called off his remaining chips. Despite having more than half of his stack in the middle of the table, Gross mucked his hand leaving Rajkumar's queens to try and out run the red aces of Brooks. They did not as the final board read Ts-9h-2d-5s-Jh and the tournament had a new chip leader.

Brooks stayed up there at the top of the chip counts all day long, I say all day but the final table only took six hours from start to finish. On hand #31 of the final table Darryll Fish was eliminated at the hands of Mortensen, the latter raising preflop from the cutoff and then calling Fish's all in three bet with queens. Fish needed plenty of help for his QsTs but it failed to arrive and he became the first casualty of the day.

A short stacked Gross was the next casualty, albeit 19 hands later. Down to less than seven big blinds, Gross moved all in from the button with JsTs and found a caller in the shape of Rajkumar in the big blind, who was holding Ac3s. The Kd-Ks-9h flop was no help to either player and when the turn and river were the 7s and 4c respectively, Rajkumar's ace-kicker came into play and resigned Gross to a fifth place finish, worth $304,000.

Gross' exit spark a flurry of eliminations and four hands later Amirr Lehavot was heading for the rather rowdy rail. On a flop reading Jc-9s-6d, Lehavot decided that his KsQh for a gutshot straight draw and two overcards was strong enough to call Rajkumar's check-raise all in, though he was quite wrong as “Psyduck” was sat there with QcQd. No miracle turn or river and Lehavot exited stage left to pick up $421,680.

The on hand 61 Mortensen's dreams of making history were shattered. With blinds now 40,000/80,000/10,000a, the Spaniard raised from the button to 200,000 with KsJd and both Rajkumar in the small blind and Brooks in the big blind made the call. The Jc-5c-3d flop gave Mortensen top pair and when Rajkumar checked and Brooks bet 380,000, Mortensen raised to 800,000, forcing Rajkumar out of the pot. Brooks was going nowhere though and he announced he was all in, Mortensen wasted no time in calling and revelaed his hand, which was actually trailing to the 6c4c of Brooks, though the latter would need to hit one of his plethora of outs to win the pot. The 5d on the turn was not one of them but he Tc on the river was and Mortensen slid away wondering what could have been though I am sure the $640,680 for coming third will help soften the blow and help him sleep!

Brooks held a 14,450,000 to 5,980,000 chip lead over his talented opponent and five hands into the heads up section of the tournament Rajkumar doubled up to massively close the gap. His pocket eights somehow stayed ahead on a Qd-Js-7s-5d board against Brooks' KsTs but Brooks never looked flustered and continued to apply constant pressure to his opponent and he eventually broke him on the 96th hand of the final table.

The blinds were now 75,000/150,000 and Brooks got things under way with a raise to 325,000, a raise that Rajkumar decide to just flat-call. The dealer put out the 7d-3s-2h flop, Rajkumar checked and Brooks made a 400,000 continuation bet. Rajkumar then moved all-in for 3,500,000, a move he had continually pulled during the final table which is maybe why Brooks did not believe him and called with his 8s7c. Top pair was good enough as it was beating the JhTh of the man all in and when the 2d arrived on the turn and the As peeled off on the river it was game over for Rajkumar and celebration time for Brooks.

The World Poker Tour is staying in California, though moving to San Jose, for the upcoming Bay 101 Shooting Star event that starts on march 14. It then jets off to Vienna on March 25 before heading to Bratislava on the 30th of March.

Final table payouts

1.) Gregory Brooks - $1,654,120
2.) Vivek Rajkumar - $908,730
3.) Carlos Mortensen - $640,680
4.) Amir Lehavot - $421,680
5.) Steve Gross - $304,000
6.) Darryll Fish - $235,350

Welcome back gentle reader, I said reader and not readers as there is probably only one of you who will read this, hello mum! Seriously though this penultimate entry will look at how tilt manifests itself into a physical form in way way or another. Whilst I am personally not qualified to go deep into the psychology of these things I have suffered from tilt related problems in the past so I can at least give you my side of the story.

One of the most common ways tilt shows its ugly little head is through increased aggression, though strangely enough I do not think I have ever gone nuts because of tilt but I have seen it in action and you will have too. How many times have you seen someone suffer a bad beat and then go on to open-shove the next five or so hands? Or how often do you see someone slip into the depths of tilt and then come out raising and re-raising everyone at the table. I guess I'm not an aggressive person so this particular tilt trait does not come out at the tables.

The two forms of tilt I suffered from were more passive. I don't know if they have an official name, maybe Jared Tendler can tell us when he stops by at the end of the series, but I can describe them to you anyway. I am going to Christen one of the “CGAF Tilt” because when it takes over me I simply couldn't give a f$&k! This type of tilt still threatens to creep into my game on an almost weekly basis and generally sees me not care about calling off my stack despite everything pointing to the fact I am beaten and usually happens when I have been losing. It's as if my subconscious says to me “you have lost $150, what's $200” and I go along with it! I actually had to force myself to log off the other week when I was $250 or so down because I could see myself donking off my entire profit for the month and probably more besides. It's strange because its almost sado-masacistic  in that I am punishing myself, weird!

The second form of tilt I used to encounter frequently will also have a real technical name but I'll call it the “grass is greener” form of tilt. This little monster used to see me stop playing six-max Hold'em and jump into pot limit Omaha games, or begin playing MTTs and only cash in two from my first 50 and start playing SNG instead. The other way it manifests itself in me would be to withdraw my bankroll and move to another site to play instead, despite the fact I know that no site is **** and that there was no way I was going to give up playing so all it did was prevent me from playing for a day or two until the money hit my bank account or online e-wallet.

I'm sure I have other forms of tilt, or have had other forms of tilt in my game but the last two paragraphs are the ones that I have struggled with, and still continue to have battles with to this day. I'd be interested to know how you tilt or have tilted in the past.

Next up will be how I have overcome the vast majority of my tilt issues and how I recognise the signs that the tilt monster is coming to steal my bankroll!

One of the most overused terms or phrases in poker has to be “sick,” which incidentally does not mean a person or situation is ill, in fact it is quite the opposite, sicker is better by all accounts. Although it is massively overused, the term sick does apply to the final table that has been assembled at the Commerce Casino for the 2011 WPT LA Poker Classic. It is that sick that there is vomit everywhere, maybe I have taken the sick theme too far now, sorry.

The final table of six has won a massive $13,691,935 between them from live poker tournaments and almost $9,000,000 from online poker tournaments! Sick, there I go again. Leading the way is two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Carlos Mortensen who will return to his seat armed with 5,235,000 chips and the knowledge that if he win he will break the record for most WPT titles won with four.

He is closely followed by another man who also has a World Poker Tour title to his name, Vivek Rajkumar, who won the Borgata Poker Open last year and is better known in online poker circles as “Psyduck.” The remaining four players are predominately online pros and have all made their first WPT final tablet. Amir “AmirSF” Lehavot (4,115,000 chips), Gregory “MYNAMEIZGREG” Brooks (2,300,000), Darryll “Dfish” Fish (2,275,000) and Steve “gboro780” Gross (1,320,000) are all fantastic players, especially Gross who is probably the best online tournament player of all time and has close to $6,000,000 in online winnings.

It is not just the final table that needs to see a doctor but the entire field was pretty poorly too! The bubble burst on Day 3 and saw Hoyt Corkins' queens lose to Mike Sowers' kings and in the final 18 players there were the likes of Shannon Shorr, November Nine member Jason Senti, matt “ADZ124” Marafioti, Kathy Liebert and Allen Cunningham. I feel like I am name dropping more than Phil Hellmuth's Twitter account!

When play resumes later today the blinds will be 25,000/50,000/5,000a and each player will walk away with at least $235,350, though the winner may need a wheelbarrow to take home their $1,654,120

The 28 days that make up February have been and gone and my first month of playing NL50 is completed. I am pleased to report a pretty good winning month but one that could have been much better had it not been for my all in EV been all over the place, the fact I played under the influence a couple of times and my last 5,800 hands being breakeven!

As we poker players measure out success with money I'll get that bit out of the way. I won $423.74 at the tables from 9,203 hands and earned $224.61 from bonuses and the like, meaning I finished in the black to the tune of $648.35, not a bad result in anyone's book. My winrate, for anyone who is interested, was a sinister looking 6.66bb/100, which again is pretty good for my first month at these stakes, but should be higher in my opinion and it would have been if my hands held up preflop as my all-in EV adjusted statistic tells me that my playing profit in the long run would be $653.53, but I am trying to get away from the EV stat as it messes with your head and can mask poor play IMO.

My biggest winning session of the month topped the scales at $280.55 whilst at the other end of the spectrum I lost $257.07. In fact I had seven sessions where I lost three figures, which sounds awful if you think of it in terms of money but in reality it is only a couple of buyins, again I am still trying to get the monetary value of my chips out of my head whilst I am playing and so far I think I am doing pretty well on that front.

Overall I am pretty happy with my play this month though I have found a couple of areas that I need to work on during March. Firstly I need to double barrel more often and I need to ramp up the aggression on the river too because I am not only missing out on some value I am also losing a showdown to some hands that I could push out by making a bet. Don't get me wrong I'm not going to start betting every river like a nut job but I will be firing more barrels from now on so be warned!

As mentioned, the last 5,800 or so hands saw me essentially breakeven and although some of it was down to the dreaded variance catching up with me, some of it was down to my own play. I remember a number of occasions where I didn't trust my instincts or my read and ended up either folding when I should have continued and vice versa. I think this was down to me subconsciously thinking I was going to lose and again this is something that I need to work on. Some of my reads have been spot on this month and I need to focus on that fact.

My main observations of the stakes so far are that the majority of the regulars have solid preflop games but most are quite spewy post flop and more than beatable. Another is there are plenty of short-stacking f$%&*rs to contend with, presumably because of the increased bonus benefits but again every single one of these is awful. Overall, these stakes ate just a more expensive version of what I was playing previously!

Goals for March are to play around 15,000 hands (I'm still only playing two tables), to look at my balance only once or twice per week, try to avoid the all-in ev stat, trust my instincts and reads and be more aggressive on later streets. Secretly I would love to have a $1,000+ month but I no longer set money related goals, but it would be nice wouldn't it?

As always, thanks for reading and best of luck at the tables!

The Copenhagen stop of the European Poker Tour is widely regarded as the toughest of the Main Events on the EPT circuit due to the high concentration of Scandinavian players taking part. Winning any EPT gives a player massive bragging rights but taking one down in Denmark's capital city carries extra kudos. Last year it was Swedish pro Anton Wigg who held the winner's trophy aloft, this year I was his fellow countryman, Michael Tureniec who emerged victorious after five gruelling days of highly aggressive and entertaining poker.

The 448 entrants had been whittled down to the final table of eight and they gathered in the ballroom of the luxurious Radisson Blue Scandinavia each guaranteed to take home at least DKK296,400 or around £33,770 in real money! The first player to pick up his winnings was live veteran Juha Helppi who last just three hands at the final table. With blinds at 15,000/30,000/3,000a he saw British pro John Eames open from the cutoff with a raise to 63,000. Helppi, in the small blind, three-bet to 190,000 and in a flurry of activity Eames four-bet then called Helppi's shove. The Brit held KhKd (he doubled up on the first hand with pocket kings also!) which was way in front of Helppi's pocket queens. The board ran out Ks-2d-Jd-7h-Qc and the Finn became the first casualty of the final table.

Ten hands later and seven became six as the short stacked Andrea Dalle Molle open-shoved for the fourth consecutive hand but this time he found a caller in the shape of Eames. Dalle Molle turned over QcJc, way behind the third pair of kings held by Eames! The 5d-4h-8d-Js-7s board brought no drama and Dalle Molle headed off to collect DKK450,000 whilst Eames stacked up even more chips and tried to hide his embarrassed smile.

Another hour passed before the table lost another player and when it did it was Mudasser Khan, the only Dane left in the tournament, who was heading for the rail. Tureniec had lost a few pots and found himself in the bottom three chip counts for the first time in the tournament so when he looked down at 5c5d in late position he decided to open-shove. It looked as if his move was going to pick up the blinds and antes but Khan, who had hardly played a hand, chose AcJs to call with and it was off to the races again. The Kd-9c-Tc opened up all sorts of possibilities for Khan but none arrived as the turn and river came down the Kh and 7h respectively and Khan was eliminated in sixth place, worth DKK600,000.

Next to bust out was Nikolas Liakos who saw Tureniec open to 85,000, Per Linde call on the button and he opted to move all in for around 1,100,000 holding As8c. Tureniec tanked and when he came out of the tank he called, Linde quickly folded and it was another race as Tureniec held 7h7s. The five community cards read Kh-Qd-3c-9d-Ks and Liakos was awarded DKK750,000 for his efforts over the week.

Kevin Iacofano became the first Danish Kroner millionaire when he called off his stack on a rather innocuous looking board reading Tc-Ts-7h-5h-2d. The action was bet-call, bet call and then Tureniec shoved the river and was eventually called by Iacofano who held Ac7s. He looked disgusted with himself as his Swedish opponent flipped over Th8s for trip tens and the win.

They played three handed for more than two hours before Eames' luck finally ran out. With blinds at 30,000/60,000/5,000a Tureniec opened the betting with a raise to 125,000 and when Linde folded Eames moved all in for what turned out to be 1,965,000. He cannot have been happy when Tureniec snap-called him and turned over AhQd, much better than the KcJc of Eames. It looked as if the golden horseshoe that was firmly lodged where the sun doesn't shine had once again helped Eames as the flop came down 5h-9s-Kh. But the Poker Gods can giveth and taketh away very quickly and they put the Ac down on the turn. The 7d sealed the deal for Tureniec and he entered heads up with a 9,510,000 to 3,885,000 chip lead over Linde.

The two Swedes battled for three and a half hours before the match came to an end. Tureniec opened to 225,000, Linde made it 600,000 to play before Tureniec moved all in and was snapped off by the man recently voted the best live player from the Nordic countries. Linde's 7h7d held a narrow advantage over the AsJc of Tureniec and the pocket pair stayed ahead as the flop came down 2c-3d-5c. However, the Jd on the turn put the ball firmly back in Tureniec's court and when the 4c on the river completed an unnecessary straight for Tureniec it was game over and Linde had to settle for the DKK2,450,000 runners-up prize.

Tureniec's win takes his lifetime winnings from live tournaments to $2,589,226 and he should be present at the next EPT stop which takes place between March 20-25 at EPT Snowfest.

Just weeks after the sad news that Chad Brown had undergone surgery to remove a 10lb tumour from his abdomen one of the true legends of the game has revealed he has also recently had an operation to remove a tumour, though this one was found in his arm.

Doyle Brunson keeps a blog on the Card Player site and it was on here that he informed his fans of his recent surgical procedure. The 77-year old explained how is dermatologist phoned him up one morning a couple of weeks ago and told Brunson that he had found a melanoma in his left arm that would require urgent attention. Brunson then booked himself into the M.D Anderson cancer hospital in Houston, Texas, where he had been a patient almost 50 years ago.

Late in 1962, doctors discovered a tumour in Brunson's neck and when they operated to remove it they found the cancer had spread and declared the cancer terminal, giving him between three and six months to live. Miraculously, when Brunson went for a further check-up doctors could find no trace of the cancer, calling it “spontaneous remission” and it was this miracle that sparked Brunson's strong Christian faith.

The 10-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner spent two days undergoing various tests at the state of the art hospital before having a three-hour operation that has left him with a large scar. Brunson was his usual jovial self and even managed to crack a joke saying, “I have an eight inch scar where they excised flesh. I'm afraid Cameron Diaz won't make any more movies with me now.”

Brunson returned to his Las Vegas home after just one day recovery time but he still had to wait another week to find out if the cancer had spread, one of the major problems with cancer. Thankfully Brunson received another phonecall explaining how the pathology report on the three lymph nodes removed at the time of his operation had come back negative and all that was required of him now was to recuperate and have another check-up in around six months. The man known as “Texas Dolly” was obviously delighted to hear the news but was also philosophical too, telling his fans, “Something like this helps get your priorities straight. Someone caught a two outer at the river against you? Big deal, just be thankful if you have your health.”

Many people in the industry have questioned Brunson's ability to keep playing poker at the highest level, mainly due to his age, and this latest setback will add more fuel to the rumours that he is about to retire from the game. He was due to appear on the PokerStars Big Game and at the NBC Heads Up Poker Championship but he has officially pulled out of these until he has fully recovered. “Winning bracelets and poker tournaments aren't as important to me as they were a few weeks ago,” stated Brunson.

Everyone at Betfair, myself included, would like to wish Mr Brunson a speedy recovery back to full health.

Anthony Michael Carleo faces up to 35 years imprisonment if he is found guilty of the armed robbery charges he faces in relation to the $1,500,000 theft from the Bellagio casino back in the early hours of December 14. The possibility of such a long custodial sentence will have shocked Carleo as he told his arresting officer that he believed the most he could be charged with would be possession of stolen property.

Carleo was arrested last month, ironically in a Bellagio hotel room he was being comped for as a high roller, after he sold a number of $25,000 chips to an undercover police officer, Michael Gennaro, at a discounted price. Gennaro revealed that he had met with Carleo on five separate occasions and bought a total of 14 $25,000 chips for prices ranging between $7,000 and $10,000. Gennaro also revealed that he pretended to Carleo that he was bringing his New York based gang to Las Vegas and asked the defendant if he wanted to join them to rob the Bellagio, to which Carleo laughed as he replied, “I already did!”

Twenty-nine year old Carleo heard these allegations at a preliminary hearing  on Wednesday which was held to see if Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman had enough evidence to take the case to a criminal trial. A number of testimonies from casino employees were heard including that of Floor Supervisor Don Crosby who recounted the series of events that results in a the suspect allegedly making off with $1,500,000 in casino chips. Crosby's presence in the robbery could add extra jail time to any sentence given to Carleo as Las vegas law allows for enhancements to be placed on charges if a victim is over the age of 60. Crosby recently celebrated his 72nd birthday.

Zimmerman not only decided there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial but actually added new charges for Carleo to face. At a yet undetermined date, Carleo faces three counts of armed robbery (including the aforementioned enhancement), two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of burglary and one of carry a concealed weapon. As mentioned, the maximum jail term for the armed robbery charge alone is 35 years.

The court heard how at the time of his arrest Carleo was in the middle of a self-confessed drug and gambling binge that was rapidly spiralling out of control. He revelaed that he was a regular user of cocaine and the opium like prescription drug OxyContin. Carleo confessed to Gennaro during one of their five meetings that he had lost more than $300,000 at the Bellagio, including $70,000 on New Year's Eve alone, something his defence attorney William Terry wants to be taken into account if and when he client is charged.

He pushed Zimmerman to put up a reasonable bail amount but upon hearing all the testimonies and taking into consideration Carleo's drug problems and the fact officers found a handgun and plans of money locations at the Caesar's Palace casino in Carleo's room when he was arrested, she set the bail at $1,000,000. In addition to the huge bail sum, she added that should Carleo manage to post bail that he would be immediately placed under house arrest.

The case continues

The 2011 NBC Heads Up Poker Championship takes place between Thursday 3 March and Sunday 6 March at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada and will see a mixture of 64 poker players and celebrities take to the felt in a series of one-on-one matches in an attempt to scoop the $750,000 on offer for first place.

This will be the seventh edition of this invite-only event, which is quite an achievement for a tournament that was only conceived in order to fill the gap in the television listing left by the 2004-2005 NHL Lockout. The format has remained the same since the first airing back in 2005, which means whichever player wins six heads-up matches will walk away with the title and the lion's share of the prize money. The only alteration to the Championships is this year the organisers have increased the buy-in amount from $20,000 to $25,000 meaning the winner now takes home $750,000, an extra $250,000 on previous years, and the runner-up walks away with $300,000, up $50,000 on former years.

As you would expect some of the so-called big names will be in attendance with the likes of Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu all taking to the felt. They will be joined by the World Series of Poker Main Event Champion, Jonathan Duhamel and the reigning WSOPE Main Event winner, James Bord whilst Peter Eastgate is also listed as an entrant after coming out of retirement last week.

One notable absentee from the list is Chad Brown who is recovering from major surgery to remove a 10lb tumour from his abdomen. Brown finished as a runner-up to Paul Wasicka back in 2007. Although Brown will not be competing his wife, Vanessa Rousso will be present and looking to improve on her runner-up finish in 2009 where she beat Doyle Brunson, Ivey, Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier before losing two-nil to Huck Seed in the final match.

Amongst the well-known poker players there are also a number of celebrities including Don Cheadle, Jason Alexander, Gabe Kaplan and the former Dallas Cowboys running back, Emmitt Smith, who is making his first appearance in this event. They will be joined by two unknown qualifiers, Melburn Whitmire and Justin Young, though th elatter is reported to be a very talented player indeed. For the full player listing please check out the official press release here.

It seems the fashionable trend in poker at the moment involved uprooting major festivals and find them a new home. There have been rumours the World Series of Poker will be moving from the Rio sooner rather than later, thr World Series of Poker is now going to be held in France and now the European Poker Tour's crowning jewel, the Grand Final, will be leaving Monte Carlo and heading for Madrid.

Monte Carlo has been the home of the €10,600 EPT Grand Final for the past six seasons but just before the start of Day 1a of EPT Copenhagen it was revealed that this would no longer be the case and that the Casino Gran Madrid would be the new venue for Season 7 flagship event, which will run between May 7-12th. Although Monte Carlo was extremely popular with the players and all who were involved with the event, there was not one person who had not complained about the ridiculous prices charged in the principality, with some reporting the cost of a glass of beer being €40 and even bottles of water being upwards of €15. The costs to the sponsors and the media coverage will have run into hundreds of thousands of Euros.

The EPT CEO John Duthie opted to not mention the cost of running the Grand Final in Monte Carlo as a reason for switching to Madrid, instead he issued a press release that said, “We wanted somewhere new, dynamic, and inspiring and knew that Madrid would tick all the boxes for the travelling poker player, regardless of age or desires. The same familiar team will be running the event and the schedule will, I am sure, provide something for everyone.”

Having the Grand Final in Madrid is expected to bring in an extra €10,000,000 to the local economy as thousands of affluent young men and women descend on it for a week of poker. The Mayor of Madrid, Carlos Galbeño acknowledged this in his statement to the poker community saying, “The fact that the Casino Gran Madrid Torrelodones has been chosen to host the Grand Final of the seventh season of the European Poker Tour is great news for the Madrid community. However, it is especially important for our town, because not only will the event have a huge economic impact, it will also allow us to project our city as a prime tourist spot in Europe.”

A representative for PokerStars, the sponsor of the EPT, posted in a thread on the Two Plus two forums that highlighted a number of reasons Madrid was given the nod over Monte Carlo. They included the fact in Monte Carlo there are no cash games allowed and only Hold'em may be played, the fact the Monte Carlo is not in the EU so many were left with large tax bills after making it to the money something that will not be the case in Madrid and they even mentioned the infamous €30 cheeseburger as another reason!

At least year's Grand Final, Lebanese professional poker player Nicolas Chouity beat a field of 848 players to claim the title and the €1,700,000 first place prize, eventually edging out Austria's Josef Kinlger heads-up. If the figures being banded around at the moment are accurate then the Grand Final Main Event could see at least 1,000 entrants meaning the prizepool would be a staggering €10,000,000!

To go through and list every single reason why a poker player might go on tilt might take literally forever due to the sheer number of factors that one would have to take into consideration. With that in mind I thought it would be best to list a few situations that have caused yours truly to fall into the clutches of the dreaded tilt monster.

The most common facet of poker that used to cause me to go on tilt, or at least begin the slippery slope towards it, was the dreaded bad beat. We have all been there, looking on course to book a nice winning session at the cash tables only for some complete numptey to hit his two outer on the river to stack you. I believe this is what the excellent Jared Tendler refers to as “Injustice Tilt” because you feel as if an injustice has been done to you as it was your right to win the pot.

That is your first mistake. Unless you are a 100% lock to win a hand then you have no right to the pot because 1% occurrences can and do happen (once every 100 times usually, sorry for being sarcastic) This problem is also magnified by the fact most poker players tend to forget the times they had variance working for them in a good way, instead they attribute the fact they won a hand to good play not variance so when something negative happens it seems much worse to them and that the whole poker world is against them.

Another cause of Pudding tilt, but one I have gotten over almost 100% now, was simply running badly. As I am quite a low volume player compared to many running bad seems to last longer than say it would a 10-12 tabling grinder. The latter may get through a sticky spell of 3,000 in a single day where as it could take me 5-10 days depending on when I get to play. This prolonged period of running bad can begin to make you feel disillusioned with the game as you are constantly folding bad hands, missing flops and losing to flush-chasing morons all the time! This used to me down the path of “passive tilt” which will be discussed in a later piece but I have almost overcome this horrible demon basically by realising that you have to take the rough with the smooth and you have to realise that poker, cash games especially, are just one long session that never end. I try to imagine that in my lifetime I will play millions of hands so being card dead or having a bad spell of 2,000 is quite literally a drop in the ocean.

The third and final cause for me going on tilt, and again something I have learned to control, was when I made a mistake. I hate losing but accept it as part of the game, but I used to go nuts if I lost due to a mistake made by myself as I could have prevented it. The worst time for this was when I would say to myself that “they have the flush” but then still call anyway. WTF! How many of you are sat nodding now? This used to send me over the edge until I read “every Hand Revealed” by Gus Hansen, the book that documented every hand he played during his Aussie Millions Main Event win back in 2007. Although I can't remember the exact wording or what page it was on Hansen basically said in poker you have to accept that on occasions you are going to make decisions that are completely wrong and you will make plenty of them. By realising we work with incomplete information so our decisions are going to be clouded somewhat you quickly stop beating yourself up over making mistakes you make. As long as at the time there was a legitimate reason for your play then accept it and move on.