I requested Day 1D as my start day. (There will be 4 day one's and 2 day two's.)
It will be a few days B4 they get back to me with details and my day assignment.
In any case I now have just over six weeks to get my game in shape. I'll play some amateur Poker tonight and some Charity Tournaments on Friday and Saturday. Both events are pretty good at keeping me thinking about Poker, gives me lots of practise in reading Hands and People, and when I win - gives me some extra confidence that "I still have it". (You know that I know I still do.)
Here's a review of my Montreal Open tourney that led to the WSOP.
Canadian Amateur Poker Tour , At the Montreal Open
Le Windsor Ballroom
March 13 -17, 2010
Le Windsor, Montreal
The following articles were written, as a Summary of the Montréal Open Poker Tournament for the Canadian Amateur Poker Tour Website.
The Montreal Open - Day 1
By Kevin Healy, “PokerPilot”
Kelly.
Here are my thoughts on how you should play tomorrow – for what it’s worth. I finished Saturday night in
the top 100. It was a long gruelling game, for me. Hope to see you all on Tuesday night. I bagged 26,500 chips for Tuesday night when the chip average of the 100 (Actually 98 in our case) was about 30,500.
I found the competition to be good to very good. My table of 10, which didn't break until the rebuy period was over, had 1 calling station, 1 Maniac, who was also drunk, 5 very solid players and a couple who were a little loose when out of Position. I did not have to rebuy, but many players did immediately to get to 6000
chips. You could buy right away at 3,000 chips or less by paying an extra $125.
I played a very, very tight game. I only played in Position (BB, SB, BTN, CO and very occasionally I’d play
CO+1). Because you only have 3000 chips, you can not chase flushes and straights. If I didn't have a made hand on the flop I abandoned ship. Remember that chips in Tournament Play are very valuable, do not spew them away.
When compared to a regular CAPT bar event, the blind structure advances a little slower, but you have fewer chips. It favours skill over luck, so don't be drawing for gutshots or flushes on the river! Tight is right and play position - fold most Ax, don't take small pairs like 88’s – 22’s beyond the flop unless you hit the flop hard. Once the rebuys were over, the add-on became available. For $125 I took the 6000 Chips, as did most everyone, giving me a total of about about 11,500 chips.
The real game now begins. No more rebuys or add-ons. Lose your chips and you are out! Very quickly it was fold, fold, fold, etc and the play became Blind on Blind. A two or three bet would generally win the Pot. Everybody really tightened up. So there was a chance to steal here and there in the middle part. There was very little post flop play. People with a lack of patience who played A-7s found lots of trouble when the flop was not favourable.
It took a long time to go from 346 Players (Our count) to 200 Players - about 2 hrs. It then took another 1 1/2 hrs to get to about 125 Players. At this stage all short stacks were looking to survive - a big stack could push them around pretty easily. I watch KK's fold so he could get a shot at the top 100 with about 3,000 chips. He made it!!
I watched Howard Lederer bust as well as Andy Bloch. Gavin Smith on the table next to me had a stack size like mine and made the top 100. The Pros were good for Photos and autographs, if you wanted one.
That’s all for Day 1, hope to
see you for Day 2.
P.S.
Bars: Try a great Irish Pub - Mcleans. When you leave the Poker site (Le Windsor) turn left up Peel.
About less than a block on your left is the Pub. Good Food, Good Music. Also, if you continue up Peel and
turn right on Ste. Catherine’s you'll go about 1 1/2 blocks and find a nice brew pub, Le 3 Brasseurs. No
music but great beer & Food.
Regards,
Kevin
By Kelly Walsh, President, Canadian
Amateur Poker Tour
Ok kids here's the news......I was up to 32k with an all in for 6k in front of me holding K-Q off suit, I called and proceeded to throw over my hand face up not realizing that there was another guy still to act on my left. The guy was completely drunk and I'm assuming he had seen my hand....He calls the 6k as well.....The flop gives us a K-2-7 and I push him all-in for 12k and doesn't he call with K-9os? Donk call and the river rewards the donkey with a 9.
The very next hand I find Q-Q and push when a player bets 5k and he calls with A-K. He hits an, ace putting me out and into misery....lol.
Terry has worse luck with 77....He folds his first Pocket 7's feeling that the guy betting at him has him
beat....he was beat when buddy shows J-J... A couple of hands later he has 7-7 again and the same guy was in with Terry. Terry moves all-in and .... buddy now has Q-Q and they hold up leaving Terry on the rail. I’ll be on the way to meet him a few hands later.....
Now to Brian.....He was moved three separate times to different tables but survived through it all to end
up on a table with a pro by the name of Andy Bloch, yes that's right The Andy Bloch. I even filmed Brian doubling up off of Andy which I will post here this week some time....Anyways Brian was down and almost out when the Andy Bloch hand came up.....Andy went all in and it folded around to Brian who had showed me his hand A-5 of spades, so I signalled that he should call the all-in seeing as he was severely short stacked....he did call and his hand holds up as you will see in the video...
Brian will be playing on Day 2, with a stack of 37k, along with Kevin. C.A.P.T. will be getting some T.V. time tomorrow with two of our members hitting the final day of the tournament and wearing our gear for the
cameras....
Please join me in wishing Brian and Kevin good luck for Day 2 of The Montreal Open.
Great job boys!!!
Recap
By Kelly Walsh
President, Canadian Amateur
Poker Tour
---------------------------------------
The Montreal Open - Day 2
Brian and Kevin were very short on chips to start the tournament but managed to stay alive for the first few
hands.
Brian won a pot early and then a couple of hands later found pocket 10's when a woman in front of him went
All-In. Brian immediately called and the woman shows J-6os, The Flop changes nothing all blanks with no draws, the Turn......Blank and then the River.....None other then the Jack falls crippling Brian. He is left with 500 less than the BB and he's All-In as he was under the gun in that spot any ways. The hand produces
nothing for Brian and he's out of the tournament joining myself and Terry in the stage area for a beer or
two, or three.......
Now for Kevin Healy our last C.A.P.T. member still in and doing ok. Kevin managed to double up early on a well planned Bluff that put him in good when the board gave him every card he needed. Me and the brothers watched as Kevin was playing great poker. He went from a 27k stack to over 100k in the first hour of play.
Kevin was a machine in there making plays on the other players and showing them when he did. There was one play where Terry and I saw Kevin show his A-J to the table when he had bet and won the pot with out a call. Terry said to me, "He shouldn't have showed the hand to the table" and I said to Terry "He's planting a seed so he can bluff a hand later". The very next hand we watched Kevin make a huge bet to win the hand with no callers, he then turns over a bluff for all to see. Terry and I busted out laughing as Kevin was on top of his game.
The tournament was thinning out and Kevin was among the big stacks now with nearly half a million in chips. There were about 50 odd players left and he needed to get himself closer to the top twenty. Kevin was oing a fantastic job and we even witnessed him bust a guy out who decided to go All-In with a ragged board that had 2-6-J-2 on it. The Villain moves “All-In’’ on Kevin and Kevin snap calls "I have Quads". He
had pocket 2's the whole time and was slow playing them!
We erupted into cheers and laughter with high fives all around. AMAZING! Kevin was getting closer and closer to the top 20 that fly to Vegas April 30th to complete the event and he wasn't slowing down. We were now down to 25 players and everyone was tightening up a tad, even Kevin. With 22 players remaining they were playing hand for hand - stopping play until all were ready for the next hand.
Kevin at this point had around 800k just short of the 1M mark and the Blinds were 30k- 60k with a 5k ante. So 800k was a short stack in reality. Me and the boys knew he was going to make it, we just kept cheering him on and supporting every play he made.....22..........21..........20!
Congratulations Kevin Healy, we are so proud of your accomplishment and so happy to have been here inMontreal to support you all the way there. Kevin will be playing the final instalment of The Montreal Open in
beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A. this coming April 30th.
You have done everything I dreamed that could happen in getting our new league the exposure it needs in order to grow to the heights I would like to build it to. Thank you Kevin Healy for playing the best poker of your life at The Montreal Open in support of The Miriam Foundation.
Your poker fate awaits you in Vegas Baby!
Kelly
What a Night!
By Kevin Healy, “PokerPilot”
4 Middle aged men walking around the “Le Windsor” ballroom in Montreal in Canadian Amateur Poker
Tour colours and baseball caps. We were not going to be messed with!
We certainly got noticed.
And we were a crew, supporting each other and hoping for the best for each. When one got busted out, we
all truly felt a loss.
Even the A-10 Bomber crew, which had about 8 guys in their colours, were overshadowed by the Bright
Red, Black and White of the C.A.P.T crew.
Poker is really a very personal, solitary game - but not when you are with CAPT members! The support I had from Kelly, Terry, and Brian was outstanding. It really, really helped keep me going! It was so much fun to turn around, after winning a hand, flashing thumbs up, getting up and exchanging a high five or just seeing the knowing smiles of your crew.
 |
| Kelly (C.A.P.T.) Walsh, Miss Nontreal 1, Kevin (PokerPIlot) Healy, Brian, Miss Montreal 2, Terry |
two but I was in some serious chip shortage right away. So with strategy confirmed by the crew, we set off.
Before the start of the 300 person final we listened to some good "geezer Rock" - that group really nailed CCR and other great songs. A quick buffet fuelled me for my evening of work.
To be very honest, I didn't think I had much chance of making it more than a few hands. I needed a double up real quick, or the blinds would eliminate me very fast. The "Poker Gods" must be on your side, to advance deep in any tournament Cards have to hit just right at the right time. However the pressure was
off, because I didn't have any real choices. Kelly gave a real good account of the card play in his recap, above.
I got a little lucky with my initial position on the table, to the right of the dealer. I could wait a little bit before
the BB had to be paid. With blinds at 500 I was able to throw away the first three garbage hands I was dealt. But, I had already lost 1500 chips of my 26,500. No more - here goes let’s make a play.
Around the table there were many others with similar short stacks and a few with 100,000 or more chips.
I was dealt an 8-5 off suit, about as useless a hand as possible. I decided, OK I'll shove and see if I can pick up the blinds and antes, about 11,000 or so. Somebody to my left called, the BB I think - OK, well, wow, wow, wow, I flopped a possible straight and hit it on the turn! Yeah Me - thank you Poker God.
So, I've double up - let's try this again and again. Eventually I had 100,000 chips and could now play some proper Poker, taking flops, raising, reraising, the odd Bluff (not as much as some think) and the like.
Another critical hand came when I had a pair of 55's dealt to me. The player on my right raised and I shoved
all-in, he calls and shows a pair of Jacks - ouch I am in serious trouble. Help. The Poker God came through
again and gave me 5 on the river and I double up again to about 200,000 chips. What a great suck out for me. (The guy on my right did make it as one of the twenty finalists). And so it went. My pair of two's became trips on the flop, I slow played them – “Check” - they became quads on the turn! Next a K falls and the villain goes All-In. I say “Call”, “I have Quads”, the nuts. He shows 2 pair, KK-JJ. This gave me a huge
double up, again, to about 400,000 chips. Give me some chips and watch out!
I slowly worked the chip count up as we got close to the $$. The top 80 got paid enough to cover expense and I stole like crazy as people held on for the top 80 spots. Trip 666's gave me a nice addition as I edged closer to, if not, the chip lead of 800,000 chips. You got to be lucky to be good.
Now the trick was to hold on to my chips and not 'spew' them away. There is a risk of loose play when you have 'extra' chips. I wasn't going to do that. But, playing too safe is equally bad poker. I tried to balance the survival aspect of this tournament (The top 20 gave a nice pay day and trip to Vegas for the big bucks) and good Poker play. OK I did throw away KQ's and AJ on many raised hands, I didn't want to get into raising war with anybody. I was prepared to be the first in the pot, but not be calling too much.
The strategy worked as we slowly approached the magic number - the final 20. There was no need to have the chip lead, as all 20 would go to Vegas and start a new tournament there with the same new starting stack. My chip stack dwindled a little from a peak of 825,000 down to about 675,000. This was going to be enough to survive, I hoped.
A wonderful thing happened next, our table of 8 knew that the "TV" table had a few very short stacks. If we just waited, all of us on our table knew we would make it to the final 20. We were all middle to high stacks.
Without any direct verbal communications we all knew to fold, fold, fold, fold etc. as our cards were dealt. Like magic after a round of doing so, we all realized that we were just transferring the blinds and antes, about
230,000 total chips, to each player to our left. This enabled us to wait for the next table to play and hope
somebody busted out. After about 12 hands it happened. Someone on Table 2 went all-in (He was the short stack and had to move all-in.) and four others called and checked all the way to the river. This was another great non-verbal form of doing the right thing for tournament play.
The math of this move is that for example; if someone had moved all in with a T9s it has a 53% chance of winning against a single opponent. Against 5 opponents the chance of winning falls to 21%.
AA goes from 85% heads up to 49% with 5 opponents. The more players you are up against, the less chance of winning. The guys at Table 2 knew this and played it perfect. So we had our 'bubble boy' and....
I had made the final 20 - for a nice win. (Some $$ and a ticket to next years Tournament and a fully paid
trip to Las Vegas to playoff for more $$ and a seat at the WSOP in July)
 |
| Gavin Smith introducing the Twenty Finalists |
As first mentioned the support I received from
Terry, Brian and Kelly was amazing. (They even made sure I had my water bottle filled - to keep me going!)
It will be a TV tournament and hopefully Kelly will get some more good coverage. I started playing Poker, just one year ago, although it has been 'full time'. It was the C.A.P.T. events that taught me so much about this game which I enjoy so much.
Thanks to all I will see you at a local Canadian Amateur Poker event.
Watch out, I may be bluffing!!
Regards,
