Haven’t been playing much online lately because I’ve been going to these EPTs. Went to San Remo, then Monte Carlo where I played the High Rollers Event. It didn’t go very well in the end. I came back with a low stack on Day Two, and then Devilfish knocked me out. Was such a soft table too. Devilfish had folded every hand for three orbits, then he raised one hand and got a fold, then on the next one he raised the same bet from UTG+1. I thought he was just trying to build momentum, so decided I was gonna push with any two. When it got round to me in the big blind, I pretended to peel my cards and said, “If the second one’s good...” Then I shoved for around 40,000. He’d raised to just over 5,000 and said, “Because you said that, it looks like I’m gonna probably have to call you, son,” and then called with A-Q. I had 8-4 and he spiked an ace on the turn, but I don’t mind making these moves in tournaments because there’s less money at risk than in cash. He should have insta-called A-Q though.

I read Negreanu’s blog, the Ali G comment made me laugh. Negreanu’s a nice guy, and pretty funny too. He’s a bit cally cally though in tourneys, definitely flats too much, it’s as if he expects to hit all the time or something. Last time I played him was in the World Series of Poker Europe when he knocked me out the comp. I had like 20 big blinds at the time and raised UTG, and he called with 3-2 of hearts, which is obviously a terrible play, but he flopped a flush. Just donking in the end, but like I said, he’s a decent guy.

When I sat down in the High Rollers he said, “Oh, you’re that Luke Schwartz guy, you’re Full_Flush, apparently you’re the best in the world.” And I was like, “Yeah, yeah, I am.” You could see Ivey fidgeting when Negreanu said that. Ivey’s such a moody guy, what’s wrong, can he not smile once in a while? Anyway, Negreanu was blatantly stirring it up and trying to provoke a reaction from Ivey like, “You hear that, Ivey, this kid thinks he’s the best in the world.” I said it to get a reaction, and it worked, because Ivey perked up after a while and said, “Well, if you’re the best in the world, why don’t you give me a handicap over 50,000 hands? If you’ve got an edge on someone, you’re always going to beat them over 50,000 hands.” If I’m gonna get a handicap off durrrr 3:1 on my money though, I’m not gonna wanna give Ivey a handicap, so he said, “OK, let’s do a cross-book,” so we cross-book the tournament for 20 percent, but neither of us cashed, so no money changed hands. I wanted to do a last longer for the watches, but it didn’t happen. Ivey’s a cool player, but a bit of a moody guy. That’s the first time I’ve played him live. I’ve played him on Full Tilt for like 10 minutes, so haven’t played him much.

I’m waiting to do the durrrr challenge, but he’s still messing around with Patrik. I played 10 or 20 sessions with this guy on Full Tilt and we did 25,000 hands, so it doesn’t take much to do 50,000, but they’re taking ages. Probably drawing it out for publicity, or durrrr could be struggling for money. He’s like four million down for the year I reckon. I think I’m next on the waiting list, and if he actually manages to finish with Patrik and ever has the money to do it, then yeah, I’ll definitely play him. I’m up loads over him online, and am pretty good at four-tabling, so of course I’m not gonna say no to a 3:1 bet.

I was in Vegas last year, but wasn’t there for the Series. This year I’m gonna go and play some tourneys, but I’ll stake a lot of players in some of the lower events too. Might play the $40,000, that’ll be good. Doubt I’ll do the whole two months though.