I have just won a $12,500 package to play in the WPT Cyprus Classic Sept. 6th-9th

If you look deep into the FCP forum archives you will see that in April 2007 I qualified for the WPT Paris Grand Prix ... unfortunately the French government caused problems and the WPT cancelled the event.

FullTiltPoker forced me ... really twisted my arm to take the $16,000 in cash.

Friday I won a 17-player $20 ReBuy (total cost $40) to win a $322 entry to the WPT Cyprus Qualifier today, Saturday July 25th.

I sit into this $322 WPT Qualifier and recognize waaaaaaay too many names and Gold Jerseys but get to work

Half way through I put on the rail Martin Klaeser and since he is a FullTiltPoker "Red Pro" ... I get a cool T-Shirt and $200.

I manage to make the final table in very good shape. Luckily, Shaun Deeb (tedsfishfry) is to my right (Whew!) but I was avoiding him like the plague anyways .

Long story made short ... I won the package. and (no surprise) Shaun Deeb won the other. To say I am deliriously happy is an understatement.

I know this sounds (it is ) like a brag post, but the point is the following:

I could not have won this package without the brilliant poker commentary I read on a regular basis on FullContactPoker. Thanks Guys !!

If you guys want, I will post daily updates when I am in Cyprus ... ... hoping it is more than one post!

sweet give them hell man good luck

Smiley faces give me a headache!

But congrats! Pretty awesome!

And yes...post updates!

Congrats!!! Now become the 2nd FCPer to take down a WPT event!!

Sounds awesome! Good luck in Cyprus and I look forward to the final table rail thread.

Likewise. It could've been written without them. I would be excited too, GL

I hope you're a dude. Actually I hope you're a chick based on your emoticons.


My point is, I'm pretty sure they don't chicks play poker in Cyprus.

I love your use of smilies.

gl

Congrats. Always amazing to win the satellite AND actually seal the deal in the big qualifier.


Also, paging Harry Demitriou (or however you spell it). I am pretty sure he was adamant last year that the WPT is in the wrong to hold an event on North Cyprus because it is a military dictatorship that displaced Cyprots. Something like that. So be careful in North Cyprus. Might be a rough place.

Also, win big.

Congratulations, Yves.

In your post, you sound humble and surprised that you won the spot.

You can play and you've proven it. All of the other "names" that you've just mentioned are just people and they get two hole cards just like you.

Be confident, and do well in the main event.

I hope for your sake that there are a lot of Greek and Turkish players in the tourney. I've been playing some online games in Turkish Lira recently and other than being called an iddiott Canadian and a Malaka I've enjoyed it.

Am a "dude" and as for the smilies ... it's a sickness

Thanks for the support, I appreciate it.

play money games right?

wtg. gl and tid


Have fun

Question: when you are playing at the same table with some of these guys that have already made names for themselves , do you find yourself playing different. tighter. that sort of thing,

i treat everyone the same but they are all no names , if fluff was at my table i am sure it would change the way i play , daniel at my table , wow , not sure i could handle that.

gl in cyprus

Congrats! Good luck, and make sure to ride a ferry when you are there: http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-79653.html

Also, I'm not saying you shouldn't go, but can you unregister for the event, take the money and just play in a different WPT if you wanted to?

Nice

Good Luck

Take it the F down

Congrats!

I get a lot of flack from my poker friends for my desire to have very tough poker players in my tournaments. I want to improve my play, and that is not going to happen playing the living dead ... I get to play THOSE guys qualifying for this $322 entry fee event.

I was playing my cards and position while keeping my eye on the name players ... they can do anything.

I rarely bluff and I also have this nifty 5-acre parcel of land in Florida I am willing to sell you for really very little

In this tournament, playing too loose is a death warrant unless you can let go of a lot of hands. There were a lot of Gold Jerseys playing (FTOPS winners ...) but no surprise the better players were the chip leaders ... and I respect pyramids of chips, no matter who is behind them ... Shaun Deeb or some random caffeinated squirrel

I won $200 + what-I-guess-will-be a nifty T-shirt for beating a "red Pro" from FullTiltPoker, a player named Martin Klaeser not by respecting him, but by having a better hand. I min raised to look like I was trying to force him off the hand, he went all in ... unfortunately for Mr. Klaeser I had a boat ... I admit to being overly proud of that hand . That is my first "red Pro" shirt

As for 'tedsfishfry' which I believe is Shaun Deeb, I was avoiding him like the plague. That said, when we were both on the final table, I got lucky and had him on my right. Position has become an important part of my game the more I listen to the videos on www.PokerVT.com. When I did raise Shaun Deebs blind ... and you HAVE to when you are down to four then three handed ... I ALWAYS had a hand ... that guy plays scary.

The last time I won a WPT Qualifier (April 2007 which was cancelled by the WPT ) There were some really good players there, but nothing like this one ... this was a God-damned monster show but I play my cards and try not to make mistakes.

They are going to reraise you and sometimes they have air, but sooner or later they can also make a mistake. Meanwhile ... I fold to reraises. The flip side of that is I bagged a number of players that reraised my AA and ended up on the rail

To answer your question how I play when name players are there: "I find myself playing carefully and well but not sacrificing aggression dictated by your hand." That means if you have KJ UTg ... most of the time you dump it because if this type of player even starts to suspect that you are slinging inferior hands, you ARE getting raised and sooner or later get Kvorked.

Hope this helps

^^^Def BKiCe in 3 yrs

lol


congrats OP. hope u tid

Thought Fluff opened a second account by the OP....


Seeing that's not the case...I'm under the belief that smilies will make you a winning player!







Only a matter of time now!! Oh, and big congrats to you! Now win it.

Seeing that Fluff is easily a better poker player than I am, thanks for the compliment (one smilie ... What can I say ... I use them as punctuation!) Do they make you a better player? No. I believe that you can have fun playing poker and being alive at a table is a good thing.

I have played hundreds of hours with guys sporting the hang-dog, bury-me-I-am-dead kind of poker face and I respect that way to play. I am not a fan of the Botox school of poker and I usually settle into a comfortable poker demeanour, friendly and stable. The important thing is not to make any behaviour changes in the middle of any bog hand.

That said enough good players have told me that I should take the WPT Cyprus a little more seriously and avoid talking like the plague. Should be easy ... I can't speak Turkish (there's another one!)

Thanks for the encouragement.

Important recent development: PartyGaming has bought the World Poker Tour.

This *may* cause a problem with my recent win of a seat in the WPT Cyprus Classic comining up in a week because I cannot see FullTiltPoker (or any online site for that matter ... ) feeding players into the WPT when it is owned by a competitor.

I wrote a piece on this in my poker Blog should anyone want to cure their insomnia ...

I am going to be royally pissed if FullTiltPoker backs out, even though I understand completely why they would. For one thing, all the scheduled FullTilt Pros scheduled to go there will certainly not go. Although that sounds good, from my point of view I would rather they did play.

When I made that statement to a good poker friend of mine, he finished my sentence with:

"... but that's because you're insane. Travelling from the west coast of Canada to London to Istanbul to Ercan and not playing the likes of Allen Cunningham and company is a dream come true with close to a million dollars in first place. Be happy."

So I am happy ... sort of ...

I intend to play my very best.

That;s gotta be one long days flying.

LOL nh sir

Really? Do you normally go into a session intending to play your worse?


Anyway, GL!!!!!

y2:

jimmy likes elaine imo

GL soon. Hope you run like an Ethiopian chicken!!!

>$50>bankwire>WPT>

Tell me about it! Vancouver - London is a solid eight hours. London - Istanbul - Ercan is going to weigh in at seven hours. Add the hour to get from Ercan Airport to the Merit Crystal Cove Casino is about an hour ... well ... since I have always wanted to visit Windsor Castle, I think a day or so stopover in London is a good idea.

It is a premium resort, so it is going to be very enjoyable. I just set up my twitter [flintsword] so updates are easier for my friends as the tournament progresses.

I'll settle for making good decisions, winning a lot of "thin bets" (a la Ethiopian chicken ), and having a lot of fun. I am in the "Turkish Republic of Cyprus" now, at the Merit Crystal Cove Casino & Hotel and it is is "T" minus two days before the $10,000 main event tournament here at WPT central. A little jet-lagged, but the place is stuffed with loud New Jersey internet weasels, and the calm FullTilt Pros ... an interesting contrast.

Thanks for the encouragement!

I am in Cyprus, too jet-lagged to get this cryptic note but now that I am here in the "Turkish Republic of Cyprus" in the blazing heat, heading off to the pool, it is sinking in. Last night I met a few people at the bar and they are playing in the tournament series here. One guy is a regular player here at the poker club, and asked me where I was from. I said "Canada, Vancouver on the Pacific coast".

He remarked, "Long way to buy in for a WPT Event, couldn't you go to Las Vegas?" ( He is English, forgive the slow speech ... hehehe). I answered, well, I qualified in through FullTiltPoker.

Well, I might as well have said that I hit an old lady over the head with a pipe, stole her purse, and used the money to get in ... the look on these guys faces ... .

So they hide their distain behind questions about money ... when I told them that it cost me $102 to qualify for the $322 tournament and that I bagged a FullTilt Red Pro for $200 so in reality I was being paid $98 to play in the $10K main event at the WPT here in Cyprus ... I was firmly categorized as some sort of internet luckbox .

I was being polite, too tired to really want to put up a fight. A friend drops into the conversation, and two English snide remarks later rolls into the "live is best, internet is weak" guy with a well-timed "Good luck to you sir in a 92 player $32 internet tournament with Shaun Deeb and mostly pros.

At this point, I needed to get some rest. Vancouver - San Francisco - London - Istanbul - Ercan had taken its toll.

Guys like that don't bother me at all. I am still looking forward to the tournament, I know I will still get two cards like everyone else, and I am sure I will play each hand in a serious way.

With a little help from the Poker Goddess at a few critical points ... it will be a great tournament.

FullTiltPoker has a "must play" condition to winning the WPT Cyprus Qualifier. Win twice and of course you get the second $12,500

I have nothing against $12,500 in cash, but the reason I decided to play in the sub-qualifiers was to play. It was a bit of a shock to qualify so easily despite such a tough field. I have a good job and love to play poker, so under the heading "you only live once, but if you work it right, ... once is enough ..." ... ... I-am-playing!

In April 2007 I won the WPT Paris Grand Prix Qualifier, a $16,000 package because the buyin was 10,000 Euros and the travel was also part of the deal. The WPT actually withdrew from that event due to the fact the French government was putting some pressure on internet qualification. FullTiltPoker twisted my arm ... I mean they almost broke it !! ... to take the $16,000 in cash. and my poker bankroll took a big step up.

That ferry ride sounds great ... I will check it out. Very impressed with the way you pull these news articles out of thin air like that ... almost as impressed as the skater photo

Thanks for the Congrats!

Gl!

Here is a quick update

I played in Day 1a and survived. This place is GD beautiful, food is great, rooms super, and the players list is sick, just sick. Check out www.pokernews.com for details of each day. The guys at pokernews were kind enough to put a profile piece on me in the Day 1a reporting.

I get an interview only if I bust a name pro ... yes, thanks a lot guys .

Day 1b had the second flight of players duke it out. Howard Lederer, John Juanda, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, Erik Seidel and Erick Lindgren were just some of the top poker players in that day.

In two hours day 2 starts, with the survivors of day 1a joining the survivors of day 1b. Here are the stats:

Day 1a: Started with 91 players, finished with 63 players. Chip leader was John Tabatabai with some 178,275 chips. I have 25,950 … not great but not out.

Day 1b: Started with 90 players, finished with 62 players. Chip leader was Phil Gordon with some 157,000 chips.

I have my seating assignments for today:

1. Antonio Esfandiari <-- The Poker Goddess obv has a sense of humour.
2. Aleh Plauski
3. Suzie Lederer
4. Iannis Petri
5. Danny Jo Georges
6. Yves Farges <-- I have a very good table position considering.
7. Benny Chen
8. Ralph Porter
9. Allen Cunningham <-- Yes folks, “the” Allen Cunningham, in the world’s top ten.

I am not short-stacked, but clearly I will have to make a stand and soon to get my chip stack up to 100,000, so the first order of business will be to find the right premium hand and the right time to double up to about 50,000. After that I pretty well have to operate on the idea that every cycle I will have to get the blinds one way or another.

In Day one having Antonio Esfandiari on my right was a nightmare , turning me into a folding machine for eight hours. After talking it over with some of the players it was pretty clear that I was intimidated by Antonio. In every pot that I was involved with Antonio, I ended up winning the pot with the best hand or he folded when I clearly had the best hand.

The first pot we tangled in and the most fun was when I called on of his numerous hands with 77 and we were heads up. The flop comes K 6 2 rainbow. Antonio fires off a continuation bet roughly the size of the pot. He had been raising so many hands he could have absolutely anything and I had just about had enough, so I called mainly because if he had a king, his bet would be smaller to get some money into the pot.

The turn was a 7 (***grin***) and again Antonio puts in a bet for roughly a third of the pot. Again with no str8 on the board I put him on 54 or garbage. Considering the fact he had been raising with absolute crap for two hours, it was more likely garbage that probably hit the 6 or the 2. I flat call.

The river is the Q so no str8, no flush, and I have trips. There’s 10,000 in the pot and at that time I had 21,000 left. Antonio checks and I take my time thinking, because I want Antonio to call my bet. Finally I toss in 5,000 which causes Antonio to take his time as well. He asks me a random question, to which I give him my best “I am such a fish” smile.

Antonio calls, I show my set of sevens, and Antonio slides his cards face down into the muck. I file the way I tossed that 5,000 bet for future use, and a good thing too. I would later bet 5,000 on the river against Antonion is exactly the same way with a really weak hand and he would fold.

After six hours of play I am (again) sick of the Magician raising over and over again, causing me to fold and letting the blinds and antes eat away at my stack. I have Kh 9h which considering Antonio’s range is probably better than his raising hand. A few hands ago he won a pot raising 84o in early position so I feel could try and win another hand given my tight table image.

The flop comes 7 6 5 rainbow. Again Antonio Esfandiari fires in a pot-sized bet which tells me that he wants me out and that he does not have 98. I consider the fact that I am probably drawing to ten clean outs, since any K, 9, or 8 gives me probably the best hand, but admittedly a nine would be dangerous if he has an 8.

Hossanah! The turn is an 8 so I have the str8. Antonio checks, I bet about half the pot, and he calls.

The river is a ten, so only J 9 beats me. Again Antonio checks and I bet out 4,000 into a 12,000 pot, but he folds … I suspect it was an easy fold because he had absolutely nothing.

Day 1a was a tough tough day. Ironically, Antonio is at my table again today in Day 2. Just to make sure the day is interesting, so is Allen Cunningham, one of the top ten players on the planet. Looking forward to playing tough poker since clearly today … there will be blood.

Shower, lunch, and for desert I am planning on one of the players at my table

Awesome.

FYP

QFT.

This has to stop.

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Hadn't checked your Twitter today but checked it many times yesterday. Short stack ninja this thang and GL!!!

Don't worry about your stack compared to ave. just compare it to the blinds. 30bbs+ is always solid. 20-25 is tougher to play.

Also don't worry about stealing the blinds. Just play your hands and spots as they come. Also I've played with Antonio. He was a nice guy when he was at my table but we played some cash games before hand. Chat it up with him, when your not in hands and enjoy the experience. Say hi to the pros and ask them for advice on breaks and stuff.

Gl on Day 2!

(Table 9)
Seat 1: Antonio Esfandiari - 119900
Seat 2: Aleh Plauski - 77675
Seat 3: Suzie Lederer - 25500
Seat 4: Iannis Petri - 42525
Seat 5: Dany Joe Georges - 53000
Seat 6: Yves Farges - 25950
Seat 7: Benny Chen - 16075
Seat 8: Rep Porter - 65925
Seat 9: Allen Cunningham - 77650

Best of luck to you, sir!