Oskar Silow

5050poker has signed long time pro Johan Storåkers to join their team. I’m personally very excited about having Johan on our team. Johan is both a very skilled poker player and an overall great guy Very welcome Johan!

Recently the WSOPE main event was settled in Cannes. Someone won over somebody else and got a lot richer. € 1.4 M to be exact. The runner up “only” got €800k. Payment structures today were created by some pokermanager for a field of 50 regulars in some random casino in Vegas 30 years ago and still in use, even though both fields and buy-ins has become much larger. Sure, it’s the big money that attracts the most attention, but when the difference between first and second prize is half a lifetime’s income, it may have gone too far? Personally, I would like to see a flatter payout structure, but I’m probably too tight to win anyway

Have a great weekend all :)

Last week Swedish Open went down in Stockholm. Unfortunately only 26 players came to play. The tournament was won by Jesper Höög, or was it? I’m not trying to take away from his accomplishment, but did he really win? The runner up, Björn Nordberg, won more money after a deal. Björn cashed for 349k and Jesper for 316k. For me poker is a game where you determine the final winner by whoever has won the most money, so isn’t Björn the true winner of Swedish Open?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about it…

Swedish Open was no success for myself. I played 1 event, the 6-max omaha.

I had a really nice first table. To my right was Micke Norinder and Magnus Petersson. Mixed value, but at least good conversation The thing I love the most about playing big events in Sweden are that they are well organized and the atmosphere is outstanding! I guess not having loud fistpumping Americans around helps

I had lots of playable hands early on, but flopped really poorly. Unfortunately Micke Norinder managed to bust the value at the table before it broke. I had to move to another table with a stack slightly larger than what I’ve started with.  The last hand before the dinner break I get involved in my first big hand. Blinds were 300-600. Two players limps and the button makes it 1800 and I look down at AAA8s. I have about 27k in my stack and so does the button raiser. I have two options here, raising or folding. No, calling is not an option since I am in the worst position (sb) and don’t flop good enough. Since it is the last hand before the dinner break and I should pick up the pot here very often, I decide to repop. The limpers fold and the button calls the 6200. Flop is J92 with a fd in hearts. I have the Ah which makes a little difference in defining ranges and card removal. However it doesn’t change my action. I can either check-fold, thinking he hit this flop very often, or I can put maximum pressure on him and give him the oppurtunity to fold, pair+gut shot type hands with no flushdraw. It’s very unlikely that he flopped a set unless he has a strong 2-pair hand or plays fishy Also it is  likely that he has KKxx which might pay me off. I decide to bet almost pot and he goes all in which I call.  He flips KQT2 with no flushdraw. Classic coinflip with him beeing a 52/48% favourite. Obv I lose and I’m left with 600 chips going to dinner.

I bust right after dinner. I’m not sure how I feel about my play. Sure I got it in with the right odds and gave him 2 oppurtunities to ditch a worse hand, but ended up on the wrong side of a flip. Shit happens, but was it too early to flip?

My team m8 Johan Berg took 2nd in the event. Well done m8 =)

I play a little cash game while waiting for my train back home, but not very lucky there either. Lose a few hands I shouldn’t have before I leave for the train. PLO variance is a B*tch!

On the train to Stockholm to participate in todays Omaha event. Stoked!!!

Follow todays Omaha event at Casino Cosmopol in Stockholm here:
http://www.poker.se/live/swedish-open-2011