Hey Im in London at the moment.

Very tired so Ill make this short.

I was so bored I decided to play the HORSE event.

Its actually kinda fun and interesting to play all these new games, and I think Im learning the basic strategies very fast.

Day1 is over and I have exactly the avarege of 20k chips. Half of the field is gone and I can at least claim to have outlasted some great players. For instance Doyle Brunson who I had the pleasure of playing with today.

Anyways, London is ugly as usual, way too expensive with way too much traffic.

Im also losing a little online.

Look out for me, I think I have good chances in the HORSE if I can focus and dont get to make too comlicated decisions.

Later,

Niki

Ola from Barca!

I´m staying here until the 5th, I didn´t feel like going home for 2 or 3 days before leaving for the WSOP again.

I´m really looking forward to playing another 2 big tournaments, since I realize now after analizing my play in the EPT, that I not only enjoy playing big tourneys, but I actually have a reasonable strategy and a good feel for them.

The best thing about that is, though, that I will just get better and better with every tournament I play, since manouvering through the different stages of a tournament is all about experience.

I´ve learned sooooo much during this one and hope I can pick up some more in London.

Or I just got lucky and try to talk myself into being good at something I´m not ;)

Either way, I´ll try to enjoy it and play my best.

By the way, that´s a very good approach to poker and the emotions that go with it.

It´s a good aproach to everything else too, actually.

Aside from being confident in my tournament game, I also got a little confidence boost in my online game today.

As you probably know, I´m on a losing streak at the moment, mixing bad play with bad luck.

Today, though, I´m winning again. Not too much, but very consistent.

Won 20k at 500-1k limit holdem

Won 3k at 200-400 limit holdem

Won 15k at 100-200 PLO

Won 15k at 25-50 PLO

It´s nice to finally book a win again. Also proud I didn´t get entangled in the very big games, I only sat in the 0,5k-1k LHE game and the 100-200 plo game because there were very soft spots in both of them.

Oh, I also won 20k at chinese poker, finally beating an always winning friend from Germany, who got nicknamed “Luckbox” for obvious reasons. Feels good to see him crying for a change.

Tomorrow my plans are to relax at the pool/beach, maybe do some shopping and railing the PokerStars World Cup.

Thanks for reading,

Nikolaus

Alright, got rid of the prize money sooner than expected.

24 hours after my dissapointing finish in the EPT Barcelona I´ve allready given away my prize money to the nice people playing on FullTilt.

Didnt do anything wrong, just lost sets to draws and stuff.

l8r,

Kai/Andy/EPTSuperStar/Niki

Out in 7th.

Was shortest stack and lost a race to bust out. TT vs AQ preflop all in, Q hits flop and Im GONE.

Im very dissapointed because I didnt play very well today, which I dont really have a good excuse for.

Maybe I was a little tired. I haven´t been getting too much sleep this week and just couldnt get “in the zone” today.

Its especially sad since I feel like Ive been completely destroying my tables the other 3 days, but thats tournaments I guess.

It motivated me to play in more tournaments though, so I should be off to the WSOP London in a couple of days.

It will also help me with a sponsorship deal I think.

Recap:

Good experience, gave me confidence in my tournament play, which improved soooo much during the tourney.

A little money as a consolation for my close-but-no-cigar-finish.

Got to see a lot of my buddies who I havent seen in a while.

Just very entertaining to play overall.

With my form today, I definetely didnt deserve to win it, but I will have plenty of chances and will try to do better next time.

Thanks for all the support, had to constantly delete messeges from my mobile because it only holds 25 (LOL).

Cant wait for the IPhone to come out in europe.

Good fight, good night.

Short update.

Im still in, 13 left, Im a close chipleader.

I played well today and am happy with how things turned out.

The tables I was at were pretty soft IMO, I could play a normal aggresive game.

need to get some rest,

l8r

Im still in.

Very disappointed, lost alot of chips at the end of the day and have below the avarege to start Day3.

I was one of the chipleaders throughout the whole day and just got a little unlucky in the end.

No real big bad beats, but just very unlucky in the way cards fell, opponents putting the wrong read to right play and stuff like that.

Im playing great though (as far as I can tell) and am confident to get back to the top on Day3.

Traded some of my action to other players and most of them are also still in and doing well, so I schould make some money there as well.

At the moment I´ve 67,700 chips, the avarege should be around 95k, there are 56 players left and Im winning a little over 10k euro allready.

good night,

Niki

Busted!

Von Anfang an auf einem schweren Tisch war die EPT der reinste Rollercoaster für mich - schon auf fast 20k im ersten Level verliere ich  unglücklich einen größeren Pot und werde oft gereraised sodass ich wieder auf 10k war, im 150/300ante25 level gelingt mir dann das erste double up nachdem ich utg+1 auf 1000 mit QQ raise, MP 3000 macht ich AI für 11k pushe und er mit AQ zahlt. Kurz darauf wird BrynKenney - guter Onlinespieler auf Stars - zu uns gesetzt und ich mache einen schlechten call für fast alle meine chips und bin wieder am anfang, gehe dann einige male AI und werde nie  gecalled, bin wieder im Averagebereich, bekomme erneut QQ und gewinne einen Coinflip gegen AK sodass ich wieder bei 22k gut über average liege, und schon wieder laufe ich in BrynKenney, nachdem er am flop behindcheckt entscheide ich mich zu bluffen und laufe in seine turned nuts-straight…

Man kann also schon sagen, dass ich outplayed wurde diese 2 keyhands und mir auch bewusst wurde , dass ich möglichweise noch  nicht ready bin ganz vorne bei diesen 10k buyin turnieren mitzumischen…

Nach einigen PreflopAIsteals war ich dann wieder auf 12k bei average von 21k und in der vorletzten hand des Tages 1B raist MP auf 1600 worauf ich erneut mit QQ - die Hand des Tages für mich - für 12k pushe und nach langem überlegen von TT gecallt werde, was ich für einen schlechten call halte - er dachte sich aber wohl dass ich sehr aktiv war die letzten Runden und vielleicht vor dem Ende des 1. Tages ein Doubleup erzwingen will - Anyways…T ist am Flop und aus die EPT…warn auf jeden Fall spannede & lehrreiche 8 Stunden…

Jetzt heissts Daumen drücken für Niki & Cort!

Cu next time

Stefan

I´m not playing today.

Weather isn´t that great.

Only serious option for me, since online poker is not considered, is chinese poker obviously.

Wake up.

Lunch.

Chinese poker with Roland de Wolfe, he rivers huge pot in the last hand of the day to get out of a hole. +10k

Railing my brother and friends, seeing Jonny Chan play for the first time.

Dinner.

Railing and chatting with friends I had not seen for ages. Definitely the best thing about big poker tournaments.

Chinese poker against Seb “Luckbox” Ruthenberg. -10k

One day of my life gone by, nothing won, nothing lost.

Sleep to wake up to fight my way through a tough EPT field.

Waste your time,

Niki