ErikSmith's blog

Undefeated

The PowerPoker team is proud to have a win rate of 100%. We are number 1 in the premier division and managed to win our last game 7-0 after a 1-0 lead in the half time. The big Danes from Århus Søren & Simon made an outstanding performance and it was a close call but Søren got awarded as Man of the Match.

We had most of the ball possession but didn't manage to score on our changes in the first half. Very early in 2nd half I took the ball, ran to the center of the pitch in the far right side and kicked the ball into the net behind the goalie. He looked as surprised as my team mates yet he didn't seem as pleased as the Power boys in blue & white stripes. With the 2-0 lead things started to go our way and soon after it was 5-0 and we secured the win. Our reserve keeper Johan had two amazing saves and earned the nickname Johan Ravelli.

In our game two weeks ago we played against MDemajo Group and won 11-6. The referee did everything he could to help the Maltese team and the referee wasn't pleased a team with 100% Scandinavians played so well. He gave a penalty to the opponent, endless amount of free kicks etc. I asked him calmly several time why he did not want to be fair? Why he had to help the other teams so much and gave him a hint that it was so obvious that it was a joke. Anyways enough about Nelson Vella who shouldn't be allowed near a football pitch again.

Overall very positive

A lot have happened since my last blog but it has been so hectic that I haven't had time to blog. I have resigned from my position as CEO 2 weeks ago. 2 days ago I won the €1000 IPT side event and cashed €32,000 so there is a lot to tell...

...but more will follow in my next blog. This will just be an update about our football team before I forget the results and goal scores.

PowerPoker’s final pre-season match

We have been playing two matches since the last update. We have won both so we are the only team who have won all 5 pre-season matches . There is a total of 6 groups of 35 teams. The better half of each group will qualify to Division A and the other half will go to Division B. When the season is over there is a play-off where the top 8 teams from each group will join a knock-out phase and winner will take the Cup title which we did in the first season 3 years ago.

I suggested to Pentasia who arrange and sponsor the league that the pre-season matches would count towards the Division games. This means that that teams that ends up in same Division as in the pre-season do not have to play each other again. It saves us all time and makes the pre-season matches more interesting.

The Bet24 $10,000 Race we are running on Coinflip.com this month made me download Bet24 and check out the action on the Fixed Limit tables.  I saw there was a 5-handed game going on FL $50-100 and being the curious person I am I monitored the game preparing myself for battle!

Running hot

It was a tough start at the rather aggressive table. The same player sucked out on me 3 hands in a row (literally) but I remained calm. When you play FL $50-100, which is a high limit for me, it can get costly quite fast and tilting early re-raising every hand would become expensive. I managed to handle the swings however and felt I had an edge – maybe I was just lucky. After roughly 200 hands I had made a profit of $8,000 and decided to stop. It was now 3 handed and the other two players where both good players so no point to continue.

Why I play Fixed Limit online

Since I started playing online poker in 2002 I have always preferred FL for numerous reasons. You can find some of them in random order below:

Happy Birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday dear Erik happy birthday to me... Today I celebrated my 7th birthday in Malta and it reminded me how long I have been here in Malta and how things have changed.

In 2004 I got a job offer and moved here being 21 years old. I figured “Sure I will go there!” Not many questions asked to be honest. I wanted to get the experience, save enough money to buy a flat in Copenhagen and go back to Denmark and continue to study after a year or two. I recall that 200 students started studying history every year at the University of Copenhagen alone but how many did what I was doing? Nobody! So I went here without knowing a single person.

Since then every year in Malta has been different. The trends have changed. My job has changed. The igaming crowd has changed. Malta has changed and more importantly I have changed. I have grown up in Malta whilst I have travelled the world. I have grown up faster than many people I know being so far away from your friends and family in a country that still seems strange to me.

I am back from New York which was an amazing experience! I spend a week shopping and sight-seeing with a friend from San Diego. I will definitely be going back as there are still so many things I didn’t manage to see.

I saw New York Giants get their ass kicked by The Titans but funny enough I realized the stadium was in New Jersey? I never understood they kept calling it football as it was obviously not the football I am used to in Europe ;) I could write a book about all the things I experienced but I will keep it to myself as I was on “my time” away from the online gaming world.

Team Power Poker 5-aside

Again this year PowerPoker are entering the Pentasia igaming football league. Last year we made it to the final but lost to a Swedish team called FC Verdun. This year we are coming back with a vengeance! We have signed a few new players but lost our Finnish star players but overall we look like one of the favorites if we manage to put together a strong line-up in the important matches.

Two records in first match

We made a record amount of goals in our first match this season and also conceived the most goals in any match I ever played. We won 17-6 against Betfair.com and below you will find the tables and goal scores. It was an easy game but I was happy to see 5 new players out of 7 doing really good and once we have played some more games together we will be able to perform even better.

Group Table

Tomorrow when I wake up I will be heading to NEW YORK! Normally when I travel I rarely get excited beforehand but this time its different as its child-hood dream coming through going where it all started ! 

This year as so many others I have been travelling a lot. I am not sure how many countries I visited in 2010 and how many times but to name a few: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, England, Czech Republic, Croatia, Switzerland & USA (incl. San Diego, Las Vegas & Los Angeles.)

I plan to pack light as in extremely light. I will carry an empty suitcase and an envelope with cash so that I can do as much shopping as possible without getting trouble finding space for it and pay extra charges on the plane. I am flying out there on monkey-class but on my return-trip I will fly business class which allows an extra 10kgs (fright-weight not coke!). Also due to the fact I have to go to Hungary two days after I return to Malta I need extra comfort.

The past month in Malta I have not gotten much sleep. There is an annoying dog barking like crazy from 6am only to be followed by heavy drilling from a construction site in my back-yard 7am. Needless to say they also work weekends and public holiday so no matter when I go to sleep I wake up at 7am. St Julian's is synonymous with cranes and construction-sites. Its pretty ugly these days but I guess foreigners will benefit from this a couple of years from now. 

The Croatian Poker Tour ended well and the rankings have been updated on the official site. Our night out Friday the 27th of August was a lot of fun and very cheap booze flooded our tables.

It was a nightmare today! I was not allowed entry at the casino. I was angry since I had to play Day 2 in the main event. The manager  pointed out it was clearly stated that no guns where allowed at the casino. Strange! I mean I have just been in USA for a month and nothing ever goes bad over there with guns. Am I wrong? I had to go back to my room with my tech9 and Smith & Wesson which I normally carry to poker tournaments to protect my blinds...

Lets cut to the chase. I made it to Day 3 of the €1100 CPS Main Event here in Split, Croatia. Day 2 was a long hard grind. I didn't get AA, KK, QQ at any point and I didn't hit a set, 3 of a kind, straight, flush, top two, TPTK.

What got me trough the day was my image and my poker skills to choose the right spots, play against the weak players and similar. I hope this doesn't sound like I am a bragger but I have no other ways to explain how I am still in after day 2 other than these reasons. Naturally the opponents here are not as great as in other big tournaments...

Today I only said "allin" two times. First time was when a Swedish player re-raised allin. I had AK utg+1 and I made it 12,000 with blinds 2000/4000 100 ante. The other guy pushed 73k and i snap-called him. He showed A4 and flop came 3,4,5. Turn 6. River T. Damn! I was so tilted after that but managed to avoid losing too many chips in the period I was steaming.

I got this link from a Croatian website which is blogging live from the event. It is all in Croatian but chip count and cards and images are universal :)

The don't upload stats all the time only when players exit. Average stack is 170k I got roughly 200k. Back to the tables!

Click here to follow the Main Event of Croatian Poker Series Day 2.

Today at 3pm CET I will be playing in the €1100 Main Event of the Croatian Poker Series in Split. The surroundings are amazing and Goalwin.com surely gets 3 thumps up for the event so far. The hotel room is nice and spacious.  I got an incredible sea view, with a private beach and huge yachts by the marina outside my balcony. 

(check out pictures in the menu on the right hand side)

Yesterday I met an Austrian poker player by the beach. He overheard a conversation I had with a friend about the soft games and we got to talk. Later we grabbed dinner at a local restaurant nearby. It is amazing that you can get good meal + drinks for €10 with a pizza costing only €5! In Denmark you easily get charged €15 for a pizza with beers costing €8 so definitely good value here. Any online poker pro should consider moving here.

It was funny when I later asked him how he met his wife he said it was the first time he tried LSD... Ha ha! I found that hilarious and literally he has been 4 year long trip since with her. I never tried any hard drugs – maybe that is why I am still single? He he...