Friday 11th January 2008

Welcome to Hold or Fold - The UK's only Poker E-Letter dedicated to
helping YOU become a better player!

In this week's E-Letter -

       *Beevers - keeping his cool ! and
       *Freeroll Information

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Hiya there and how have you been this week??

I played in last nights 'Win the Chance to learn from Annette Obrestad' but I misjudged a player - he kept raising and raising and raising - so when he raised again when I was on the Big Blind holding Ace/Jack - I re-raised him - he put me all-in and I called to find he was holding KK - it turned out - he had been getting some amazing cards and I just didn't believe him !

Still - I placed 90th in last Sunday's 300K tournament making $504 which was nice - but not GREAT ! I WANT GREAT !!!

So I continue in my quest to have a big win in this particular tournament and I have qualified already for this Sunday's game so it'll just be a matter of getting to that final table - or at least bettering my previous best place of 25th !

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Beevers - keeping his cool !

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This week's hand comes from the Great British Poker Tour which took place at the end of last year.

The final Heads Up was between Joe 'The Elegance' Beevers, renowned member of the Hendon Mob and Rob Akery - little of which is known about.

The winner will take away £87,500 - verrrrry nice !

Joe is in front with 829,000 chips and Rob has 605,000 so really, there is not much between them.

The Blinds are 15,000/30,000 with a running ante of 3,000 so there is 51,000 in the pot before the cards are dealt.

Joe is in the Small Blind and is first to act.

He picks up 10H 5H and he calls.
 

Phil Tufnell commentating: "And again... just calling."

Simon 'Aces' Trumper commentating: "I think he know he has the measure of this young man - every time he plays him, he plays him in position on the button."

Phil: "Outfoxing the young fellow really, Beevers isn't he"

Rob Akery looks down to find 8D 2D and checks.
 

So there is 66,000 in the pot.

The Flop comes down: 9D 5D 10S
   

Phil gasps: "OOOhhh and look at that Flop!"

Simon calmly says: "Yep - two pairs for Beevers, Flush draw for Akery - it could all go in here Phil!"

Phil: "Well - here we are, grand final, £87,500 up for grabs !"

Rob is first to act and he checks.

Joe peels off 35,000 chips and stares at Rob. Rob calls so there is now 136,000.

Simon: "Akery chooses just to call - alot of players would have moved in there - try and win it there and then - of course Beevers would have called."

The Turn comes down: 6S


Rob Checks.

Simon: "It's a good card for Akery - he's picked up a straight draw as well."

Joe picks up some chips and considers his bet.

Phil: "How is Beevers going to bet this one??"

Joe bets out 100,000 chips.

Rob checks his cards before making any moves.

Simon: "Akery checking he has a Flush Draw - realises he also has a straight draw - my bet is he moves in !"

Akery folds his arms - leans forward onto the table and stares right back at Joe. Joe sits there TOTALLY impassive.

Phil: "He's got to go all in hasn't he the young man?"

Rob finally says: "All in"

Simon and Phil both shout together: "YES - He's All IN!!"

Simon: "No way Beevers is folding ! Not in a million years !!"

Joe asks for a count: "Take the money and give me the balance please"

Simon sighs: "Cor - he's so professional - Joe Beevers - I mean - most players would have just reacted with an instant call, but Joe wants a chip count."

Phil: "It's come down to this !"

Thomas Kremsner who is the Tournament Director informs Joe that he has to put another 473,000 into the pot to call Rob's bet.

The Odds are 75% in Joe's favour.

Joe starts counting how many chips are in the pot compared to how many he has to put in.

Simon: "So - Joe Beevers - Counting - the only thing - the only hand he's worried about is 7 8 - is it possible Akery has hit a straight??"

Joe looks at Rob: "So - 473,000 - You got a straight??"

Simon laughs: "He's asking the question - you got a straight young man??"

Rob has a bit of a twitch and he twitches his response.

Joe slowly counts out the chips, glancing at Rob as he does so - just trying to gauge whether he has the best hand or not.

Joe: "100... 200... 300.... 400... "

Phil: "This is what you play poker for - the money is sat there on your left hand side"

Rob has a slightly defeatist body language as Joe contines to count out his chips.

Joe: "... and 40, 50, 60, 70, and 3 - that doesn't leave me too much."

Simon: "Well - this is where it's tough Phil - this is a tournament decision - this is for all of it."

Joe checks his cards again.

Phil: "Beevers - keeping his cool !!"

Joe then starts to put the chips in the middle.

Simon shouts: "He's made the call ! OK - So Akery all-in !"

They both turn their cards over and Joe sees he's in front.

Simon: "Rob needs to see a diamond or a seven for the straight - of course the 10 of Diamonds would give Beevers a full house - so er - he doesn't want to see that one !"

The River comes down: 10D !!


Rob laughs and stands up and Joe smiles and gets up to shake his hand.

Phil shouts and laughs: "OOhh and it IS the Ten of Diamonds !!! He can't believe it - Beevers takes the championship and the money !"

Simon: "Well - full credit there to Rob Akery - the 21 year old local lad - but Joe Beevers - the class showed through!"

Summing up - Rob Akery, Second place with £53,250 had this to say:
"I'm not a big tournament fan - I mainly play cash games online so tournaments live is almost the complete opposite so I am very happy to have done well as I'm not really sure how good a tournament player I am - I mean I've had alot of success with the cash games online but tournaments - my biggest win before was like $20,000 so obviously this is alot more."

And Champion Joe Beevers had this to say:
"Obviously I feel great - I had completely forgotten what it was like to win a tournament - and it's nice to have that feeling again - Obviously it was only 100 runners, its not a 700-runner field - I haven't achieved what Roland De Wolfe's done in the last couple of years but to win the GBPT Grand Final is a very nice result and I am very pleased obviously."

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Post Mortem

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Joe 'The Elegance' Beevers has a lorra lorra class ! He is a member of the Hendon Mob - along with Ram Vaswami, Barny & Ross Boatman and the four of them have definitely made a name for themselves on the Poker Circuit.

The thing that makes Joe stand out from the rest - is that he has a totally impassive Pokerface - it is VERY difficult to work out if he has a hand or not - he plays a tight game and this enables him to bluff when he has to.

One thing you can definitely learn from him is how to mix your game up - keep your cool - play tight poker and WIN WIN WIN !!!

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Freeroll Information

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Well - I have searched and searched and I cannot find any decent Freerolls for the next week or so - I have managed to find some fairly good Freerolls but to enter these - you have to deposit some money into an account - if you fancy having a go - there is full information on:
http://www.pokernews.com/freeroll-tournaments/

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Well I hope you have a good week - may the cards be with you and I'll see you again next Friday.

All the best

Meg Arana
Hold or Fold