THE BIG GAME

THE BIG GAME
So its Sunday night and the big game is about to start in Les ambassadors London. They have the starting line up and let me assure you that there are not many fish in the game this year.
They have changed the game a little from the previous years. The stakes are now in GBP instead of USD but the blinds have remained the same £25/£50 with optional straddles.
I was invited to play in the game and was very excited about this as I thought there may be some easy money to be earned while getting good exposure on the TV.
The problem was that this game is not my normal size game and as I try to tell others you should always play within your limits/comfort zone otherwise you will play differently.
I am not any different but maybe this would be better so that I played more disciplined poker and didn’t just try to make a show.
I am there to play and win so that’s what I decided I would do.
I found myself in a very fortunate position as I have a number of backers that like to invest in me. I have been using backers for years and most of them are still with me and have made money from me over the years.
I try to encourage backer to get more involved in the bigger cash action as the returns are far more solid and interesting than in tournaments unless you win a big one of course.
So I wasn’t included in the line up to start and that was fine. I was happy to come in after 16 to 20 hrs in so that the players were a little tired and maybe not on their A game. I wasn’t feeling great either and decided to play the last IPOKER Million as there is always about 300/400K added value in this event. I didn’t win this event unfortunately otherwise I would been very happy to walk onto the big game and tear it up Zimbler style..............:)
I played well and not going to bore you with bad beats but I did manage to get a good night sleep. This was more important as I needed to be 100% for the big game.
Monday morning I wake up and speak to Matchroom and they tell me to come down for about 14:00. I head down there and the game is in full swing. There are already some big winners and losers and I was eager to join in the fun.
There were a few players waiting but with eliminations every 6 hrs there were going to be seats available.
I also had to wait to make sure there were not more than 2 other players in the game wearing a Full tilt logo as I have a deal with them for wearing the patch for TV.
I waited and waited and in the end started a shorthanded cash game to kill time. I won about £300 which all helped especially as I went to Nobu for dinner since the casino / club provided nothing really in the way of good food for the players. What they did have was just simply a F***ING JOKE and they had the check to charge or try to charge us for water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Barny and I had a lovely meal and upon returning back to the game it was clear that there wouldn’t be a seat for me for a few hours.
I didn’t want to hang around much longer as I was getting tired and had been waiting all day so I decided to go home get a night’s sleep and return early doors to take on the players.
My phone was ringing nonstop from 5am and though it was on silent the noise from the phone vibrating woke me up. It was Beiju from Matchroom telling me that my seat would be ready soon so I jumped in the shower called a cab and got myself ready for the game.
I arrived about 0615 did make up and interviews and then made my entrance which was now to a song..............not sure about that but went with the flow.......
The line up was tough but they had all been playing now for about 36 hours well some had so this was good for me. I was sand wedged between Neil Channing on My right and Phil Laak on my left with 2 other good aggressive players on my right.... I thought I was very lucky with my seat draw and was more than happy where I was.
They buy in was fixed to either £5K £10K £15K or £20k this was al little weird but I guess it made it easier with figures.....whatever helps them I guess no one cares about the poker players themselves spending their own money playing the game.........
I bought in for £10k with £10k in reserve in case I needed a rebuy.
The game was playing big with a compulsory £100 straddle which I wasn’t happy about but hey if I was only playing solid poker then it would surely be a plus for me for the game to be bigger!
I slowly got into the game and observed as much as I could as fast as I could who was winning, who wasn’t and who was calling bets off etc.... I was card dead which also didn’t help and wasn’t able really to see many flops since the aggressors were in before me.
Finally I found a hand in the straddle. There was a limper from seat 1 which was Justin Bonomo. A good player but was on tilt from a few bad calls he had made earlier, seat 6 raised it up to 500 which was standard and I find KK. I re-raised to 1350 I believe and the seat 1 decided to 3 bet his hand. Seat 6 folded of course he knew I had a hand so seat 1 must have a monster. I went all in and he called me for a pot of just under £20,000. He turns over JJ which really amazed me and it was clear that this player could easily go on tilt and blow a fortune. As the dealer was about to put the flop out seat 1 and 6 who I guess are friends were talking and seat 6 decided to tell him that he threw a Jack away. This would normally be music to my ears but it makes me feel worse for some reason. As she spreads the flop there it was the last Jack in the deck. I now needed one of the 2 remaining Kings giving me and 8% shot at the pot. It didn’t happen and if I say so myself I took this really well. In my head I wanted to ask him what the hell he was doing 3 betting here and how does he want to play a hand with me for £10k with JJ after me not playing for 2 hours but I knew he was on tilt plus I want the action so I remained calm. I also wanted to lift the table up and scream but resisted hahahaha while explain to the people at home the a year’s wages can be lost in the turn of a card reminding them that I don’t want to hear their bad beat stories as I have enough of my own......
I kept calm and composed myself while I called for more ships.
I had to make a decision as the game was big £5k or my last £10k was the question so I figured £5 with 1 more £5 reload would be better as if I was gona win I could do it from £5.
I played a few hands here and there and was up and down between 3k and 6k and had to make a decision on a hand where I think I should have pushed. It was raised pre with 2 callers and I found 33 in the SB. I knew I was getting a caller and took a while to secede what to do. I knew I couldn’t call it was all or nothing. I ended up mucking and the flop made me a set. I didn’t let this effect me and played my game.
Finally I was in the blind and Phil opened UTG with a small raise. Isaac Haxton a great player called on the button and I found AK. I decided to raise thinking that I may have Phil crushed and he may pass and if he did pass the button may not get involved as maybe he wasn’t so strong! O how I was wrong LOL. I did make the raise and got an instant call from Phil which led to a re-raise from the button. What should I do now? I don’t really have a stack to see a flop and pass. Stop n Go or all in? That was the question. I also knew if I pushed Phil would have to fold as I would have re opened the betting for Isaac. This is what happened I pushed Phil looked to see if Isaac could re raise he could so passed and I sac called.
TT v AK the race was on. Isaac very kindly asked me if I wanted to run it twice something a few players do in big pots but to be honest I wasn’t really bothered it was a race I wanted a double up so I said let’s see the flop and decide? I was unaware you could run the whole board twice I thought he meant the turn and river.
So the window card was a King and I thought I was safe until the Ten appeared underneath it leaving me drawing pretty thin. At this point I don’t think he wanted to run it more than once and I didn’t blame him. It wasn’t a huge pot but still about £10,000 the turn was a queen giving me Jacks to make a straight. I now went from about an amazing 3% chance to a 9% chance. I asked if the Jack was going to come to my rescue this time and los and behold I managed to pull off a runner, runner. It felt good but I am not a fan of winning this way and a good consolation for him was that it only cost him £5k nothing in the scheme of things.
From there I didn’t look back. We had a party pot or a Poker News Pot I think every 3 hours. This was where £1000 was added to the pot and it created action like you can’t imagine. If you watch the game on TV you will know what I mean. I always used to watch it and say I want to win one of these.....
So again I am in the blinds and there was a raise like normal to 600 from Mr Ruben a very aggressive player. 2 other callers from action players and I look down and find AK. There is now 1975 in the pot with 1000 being added. I knew if I pushed it was very likely that we would have a 4 way pot for over £40k but maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing! Calling was an option but I wanted the free money so I decided to push. I pushed over £10,000 over the line and declared all in. I tried to find a spot on the table to focus on as I was happy not to get a caller and take the free money in the middle. Mr Ruben took about 5 minutes to fold KT which I wanted in as then I think they would have all called. Then I got a snap call from the big stack and winner in the game Mr Viffer who was happy to give action. Probably the player I didn’t want to call as he was running well and more than likely had 2 random cards.... Neil Channing then folded and we were heads up for about £22,500. He turned over Js6s and I didn’t like it 1 bit. I know how players feel now when I play in smaller games and call light when there whole stack is at risk. The flop was Ace high thought it is never that simple 2 spades also came out giving him a Flush Draw. The turn Paired the Ace which was great for me so he only now had 7 outs but I was thinking to run it twice just in case. Well 3 times if we were allowed to make sure I got a better share considering the odds. While I asked the dealer to wait so I could arrange this she managed to deal the river and thankfully for her it was a red Ten. I was now back in the game and ready to win some real money. From being down and out I was now in front £7k and went to work.
I managed to get lucky in a pot where I flopped a full house with 2 5 v KK and get some action and pick up a few smaller pots here and there. Before I knew it I was sitting with over £30,000 in from of me. The evening was here and I had been playing for 10 hours. I was up £15K and there were action players waiting to get in the game. There was only about an hour left of play and after playing 1 hand bad in my opinion where I hit nut flush v Neil Channing Full house I decided to take my profit of £12600 and leave. That’s just over £1000 an hour and I was very pleased.
I also wasn’t feeling good so I knew it was the right time to leave. Roland came and took my place and tony G arrived in the game too.
A big thanks goes to my backers for their support. I look forward to many more big games in the future.

IRISH OPEN POT LIMIT OMAHA

So after a disappointing Main Event at this year’s Irish Open I had decided to grind out the good cash games to try to make the trip worthwhile.
I was gutted obviously about this as I had spent the past 9 weeks seriously preparing and focusing on winning a trophy here in Ireland.
As most people know I was T Total for the past 9 weeks in preparing for this and felt very good about this discipline and was ready to take it down. After going out of the main event I decided to break this T Total business and ordered a double Black label on the rocks.
This tasted sooooo good and led to a few more being drunk. As you can imagine I got rather drunk rather quickly but a good night was had and I handled this not winning business very well for once.
The next day I was playing in the cash game doing ok picking up some of the free money on offer and walked over to see how my friend was doing in the PLO. An old friend/investor asked me why I wasn’t playing the event. I explained that I would rather use €825 to play cash with than play in a tourney with.
He knew how much I wanted to win and also that I was more than capable of winning and without a thought he said I will buy you in for this event if you want. He offered me a descent freeroll and I took him up on his offer.
I removed my cash from the cash game and took my seat on Table 1 seat 9. This was a great seat as they break tables in number order so I would not move all day. I like this and it is a big advantage. I wasn’t able to really get going the whole day in fact I only played 1 hand in the first 4 levels. Card dead in PLO is horrible but I wasn’t going to change my game just because I wasn’t getting the cards. I was in no hurry and know you can make a lot of chips very quickly in this game so I was patient.
The day was coming to an end and I was still low in chips. We finished the day with 32 players left from 148 and I only had half the chip average.
I went out for a bit that night with some friends, had a drink but didn’t get drunk, got home at a reasonable time and got my beauty sleep in. I woke up to remember the crazy dream I had and this involved me going from no chips to chip leader just before the final table heading into the final with 1/3 of the chips in play and taking down the tournament.
Day 2 started, it was slow for me and survival was key. Stage 1. Make the money. If it went wrong from there at least I could have played the next event the €1500 and had a freeroll in that.
We weren’t playing long before we made the money top 16 got paid but from there it was slow to get to the final.
I was still struggling and managed to get a double up when we were 12 handed to about 50,000 this was still half the average. At this point I was on a good table with players playing tight and on the other table there were two monster stacks so the average chips wasn’t so important. Just then I was moved to the other table where I sat to the left of the big stacks. All I knew and was thinking about was getting the chips from the player on my right who seemed to be playing or over playing every hand.

The grey chips are 100 the yellow 500 the green 1000 and the pink 5000.
I managed to double up twice through this player and then got a big double up to seriously cripple him in a pot where I flopped a wrap v his top set. The truth is he was never gona get away from his hand no matter how it was played. He was not happy to say the least and he tried to start some form of fight which I found very amusing. (Doesn’t he know I’m a lover not a fighter hahaha) From there when we were 10 handed I took out my pal Marc Goodwin. This meant we had our final 9 and chip leader with 1/3 of the chips in play was none other than me, Mr Paul Zimbler. As predicted and visualised in my dreams. Weird
The final table went on and on and on and on. We must have been 9 handed for 2 hrs, 8 handed for 2 hrs, 6 handed for 3 hrs and the whole final took over 9 hrs. I managed to sustain my chip lead through the event and with my focus in tune I made my aggressive timing perfectly to win and take out player after player after player. Finally we got heads up with my stack now looking like a million dollars literally v my opponents 500,000. I offered him a deal to take second place but he was advised to play for a bit. I warned him that he wasn’t going to win and that he should take my kind and generous offer but I guess he wanted to play for the title too. I did make it clear there was no business going to take place financially unless he took my offer. He declined and over played his Kings only for me to take the title down after 1 hand heads up. “Thanks for coming”
I remember the words clearly he said to me as soon as we finished. “Wow that was the quickest 8 grand I have ever lost” What could I say, I did try and help but his greed took over. I was happy to win this a bit more, as just being given the title may not have felt so good.
So after having Mr Neil Channing telling people about our meeting the other week where I went to his house and had a photo taken with the Irish Open Trophy so that I could put this on my vision board and visualise my win, all the people were laughing at me saying it was all a load of rubbish. So 05:00 am I taped Mr Channing on the shoulder while he was in the cash game and showed him my new trophy. He was of course very pleased for me and took back all his sarcasm. Apart from the obvious comment “seems like you focused on the wrong event”.
I think the cleaners in my room would have thought that I was nuts considering I had pictures of me and the trophy up on the walls and mirrors with post it notes with “Thank you for this win” and “I am the winner” written on them posted all over the room. I guess on Monday morning they would be very surprised to see the big cheque and trophy sitting there.

The weekend was great and I picked up my first major event trophy and finally had a drink again.
A big thank you to my backer and now we can move on to win bigger and better events.
I have had some great talks with Andy Black over the past few years as he is one of the few that focus and meditate/visualize and understand what I have been doing. We spoke in Ireland after my win. He was very happy for me of course and explained that this was the event that he took down 2 years ago and it was also the start of his big winning streak. Before this he had not won any majors so let’s hope I can follow in his winning ways.
For TIPS and advice on winning in poker check out www.theinternationalpokerschool.com
Follow me on twitter paulzimbler or Tipspoker

HOW DO THE FISH GET CAUGHT?

They Open their Mouths!



SPEECH PLAY
How can table talk cost you everything you have or give you the power and an edge in a poker game>

You will see in Poker that there are many players that like to talk at the table and some that sit there as quiet as a mouse or as still as a statue.
What does this mean and how does it help a professional
Table talk is a big part of the game these days but the problem is people are giving away to much information without even knowing it.
Table talk is an art! If learnt to use correctly will benefit your game and make you rich but if used incorrectly it can and will cost you your stack and could even cost you your whole bankroll.........If not more!
How! I can hear you say!

Let me start with explain that some people are naturally relaxed and confident at a table and can talk when under pressure with ease. Others just freeze and when they try to talk to look strong they in fact do the complete opposite.
I myself have made this mistake before though I was in front I thought I wanted my opponent to call as I was a 75% favourite in fact I wasn’t and my table talk got what I wanted which was the call to my amazement but maybe he thought I was weak!!!!!My As Ts didn’t look so good against KJ though I was a favourite but with only 11 players left from 711 in Europe’s biggest event this was a pot to make 1 of us the chip leader.
Good call or bad call is irrelevant I lost this pot as he spiked a Jack and this cost me the Irish Open potentially and a shot at a major title. As my mother used to say to me, Be careful what you wish for.....
I have also used it to my advantage on a TV semi final. I knew the player I was against and believed that his thought process would see this as a double bluff to indicate strength. Unfortunately the commentator disagreed but that was not my concern at the time. All I needed to do was know my opponent and what his thought process was or would be.
I managed to turn the commentators input to my advantage as I now knew the world would think when I was talking too much I was bluffing and when I was quiet I had a hand. This helped me in a great way after the show was aired as I put this to use with immediate effect 
Another example was also shown in a TV heat for the 6 handed sit n Go format.
I had a young online qualifier on my right who I had twice tried to bluff firing 3 bullets. (This means betting the flop, then the turn and then the river) He called me down both times and I had to show my bluffs. This last time I managed to get to use a little table talk though slightly different. I was talking to myself but out loud. This is a great one to use and if done well works a treat. I also could factor into my equation that he would be thinking that I know he calls me down and he would also be thinking is this guy that crazy to try this trick 3 times!!!!! He didn’t know me too well as I never give up and if I think that would give me an edge I will always try again!
It did work and it felt great mainly because I knew if he called me I would be near enough out and made to look a complete armature as the line is so fine when being watched as to what is genius and what is pure stupidity. The fact remains it was genius but still I was grateful. As it happens that 1 time I lost control of my breathing which is rare for me and hadn’t happened for a whi9le. Thankfully he didn’t notice especially as he was sitting right next to me. I went on to play him heads up and win the heat. Just thought I would add that 
What did I say and how that made the move work. Well I knew this guy was a good player he understood betting patterns and knew once the board paired the river I had to have a monster hand or a bluff. There was no in between!
I spoke very gently and was talking the hand through. I said what I thought he had and asked myself how much will he pay. I made a calculated bet to look like I was begging for a call yet not giving him a price that was too cheap. He had also just lost a big pot before this hand so he wanted to maintain his chips. This was also a factor in the way I played the hand and has to be part of any thought process before I attempted what was described as insane and sick.



Talking a player into a hand
Curiosity is something that poker players suffer from, especially bad players. They want to see your hand and will often ask you the question after you have bet into them..... If I fold will you show me your hand?
This is the funniest question and is probably the most common question used at the tables.
Answering it is where the answer lies!
PUTS THEM ON TILT IF THEY DONT SEE IT AS THEY CANT FORGET ABOUT THE HAND AND MOVE ON>>>>
If you say yes the most* players will release their hand as they will not have the curiosity.
*when I say most I’m talking about the Joe Public NOT the pros
If you want them to call you should answer something like “I’d like to but I can’t”
This puts into the human mind 99% that they think you’re at it and will call. Or you can just say no and shake your head. This also works most of the time.

The best table talk is starting from the beginning of the hand. Talk out loud about what you put your opponent on. You can really only do this heads up as otherwise it affects another player in the pot and this is not allowed or correct to do. When you put a player on a hand 1 of 2 things happen, 1. Your right so it slows them down and makes them play different or your wrong but they want to have the hand you put them on and they play this hand differently (badly) giving you an edge. They slow down in the hand or try to bluff to represent what you said. This is true no matter what the flop is...... Try it, it works!
Calling in cards is also a good one.
Players never know if your truthfully calling in what you want or just saying a random card for speech play.
Say you need it to pair or a card to complete a flush. You always see a lot of people asking for a Deuce. Most of the time they are bluffing as they want to represent that they have the best made hand already! Try asking for a card that you actually need. When it comes you can joke and then bet. The majority of the time you can over bet here as you will get paid off most of the time as the gambling world is full of non believers. The reverse is also good if you call a card in you don’t want occasionally it comes and you can decide to get a free card after or represent it depending on how this has worked for you in the past and your table image. CONFUSE YOUR OPPONENTS.
When players talk at the table or to you what should you look for?

Players talk with different vibrations in the tone depending if they are strong or weak
Player’s voices seem to get higher if they are lying/weak
Watch for the way they move their hands while they talk and where they put them
Watch their lips, if they are sealed shut their normally bluffing
Eye movement: See where they are looking. People you ask questions to look to the left (your right) when answering with the truth. They look left with a lie.
Smile at the person you’re talking to or that’s talking to you. It is the best way to get information subconsciously. It is IMPOSSIBLE to fake a real smile; you just need to know what you’re looking for!
Good players/table talkers will try to talk to you as much as possible to help them decide what hand you have. As they try to assess as many tells and use all the information at hand to come up with the correct answer/decision. You will see this when you watch Poker on TV with players like the great Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negranau.
Poker is played at its best when you know all about your opponents. Home games are fun and table talk is part of the fun but use it to your advantage and learn as you go. Be careful if you decide to step up to a bigger game/environment and remember the FISH GET CAUGHT BECAUSE THEY OPEN THEIR MOUTHS.
One last piece of advice and this one is serious......................
Wherever you play always ask the rules before you play.
RULES are different in every card room in the world! Always check the house rules especially on table talk.
Some games don’t allow table talk or are very strict on what you can and can’t say. If you ask before you play not only will you know what you are allowed to say and not say but will know what to do if your opponent starts talking and if he knows the rules or not. 1 step ahead is where you need to be at all times 

RECORD BREAKER

Video can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkgACB7RFi8

UK poker pro Paul Zimbler faced US legend Doyle Bronson in the first contest of his gruelling 78 hour 25 min Heads Up Guinness World Record Attempt. Taking place at the World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair, the unique World Record attempt is being staged in aid of the Make a Wish Foundation and Sparks children’s charity and aims to raise over £50,000.

Playing in the Casino at the Empire leister Square Paul took on a staggering 190 players continuously over the 78 hrs and went head to head with members of the public and a range of celebrities and high profile poker pros including Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Huck Seed, Neil Channing, Jesse May, Devilfish, Robert Williamson III, The Hendon Mob, Annette Obrestad, Roberto Romanello, Michael Greco and November 9 Finalist James Akenhead.

Paul Zimbler commented: “While my main motivation was to raise as much money for charity as possible, it will be great to take on some of the biggest names in world poker on the way to establishing a new Guinness World Record.”


Poker players and supporters wishing to get involved in the action or show their support should visit http://www.justgiving.com/Paul-Zimbler0 to make a donation and help Paul Zimbler reach his target of £50,000.

LATE NIGHT POKER

What a week it has been for me.....

Where would I start? Not really sure but I managed to get a seat in Late Night Poker as someone dropped out. I made a few calls and managed to raise the $10,000 I needed to enter this event.

I arrived the night before as I didnt want to drive to Cardiff in traffic so I headed off about 2230 from my home. I arrived in good time and upon entering the hotel I saw my friend Roberto Romanello who was just checking out.

I got a good nights sleep and woke up and headed to the gym to prepare for my heat in a few hours.

My heat was full of big names apart from me hahaha Mike "The Mouth" , Huck seed, Roy "the boy" Brindley, Nikhil Persaud, Gavin Smith and an online qualifier who was well known for his high stakes tourney achievemnts.

I was focused and ready for action. I played my heart out and kept having to regian my composure as 1 player kept playing so badly yet getting so lucky against me on at least 3 occassions.

This is poker and I knew that I was getting my money in good and that was all I could do. It just sucks though when you are playing a pot in level 3 to have over half the chips in play and he manages to catch a 1 outer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did re-group well on each occassion and was lucky that I still had chips to play with. I never give up as you would have seen from previous TV events and I still beliieved that I was going to win.

I took out the Mouth after Nikhil raised with AT then Mike moved all in with TT and I looked down at KK. I had visualised this happening but still had to sweat on a 987 board.

The game was fun and I played well. I ended up heads up with the man in form and former World Champion and more recently world heads up champion Mr Huck Seed. What an honour it was and what a lovely guy he was too. I was low in chips and took a gamble with J7 v his A9 we both had diamonds and I was in need of some luck. I got it as I floped a straight 89T with 2 diamonds. This was not enough as it was clear destiny had other plans for me.

I had a great day but was not happy to have to go to the semi finals and do it all again in order to get to the final. Which id where I belonged after playing today.

This was of couse until I saw who I was going to be playing with.

Andrew Feldman, Sam Tricket, Ben Kang, Adam carey, Soren Nielsen and the beautiful sexy Lacey Jones.

What can I tell you. I arrived in the green room 1 hr before and saw this woman playing her heat. She was in a red dress and I could not believe my eyes.

She managed to get heads up and she also lost her heat so this meant I would be playing with her in a bit in the Semi Finals.

As she came out I was talking with Roland and she came straight up to him to chat about her performance. I introduced myself as I do and I think it may have been love at first sight:) argh....

We had some fun and banter while playing our semi final as well as a lot of flirting on her part and after that we swaped BBM pin and tel number. We could not stay off the phone for nearly 2 days until she went home to America but that did not stop us. I jumped on a plane (as one does) and went to go see her as I couldnt wait forever to find out if this was going to be something great.

I arrived in Phily and we had the most amazing weekend. We headed down to Atlantic City where she had to do some work for the Borgata Poker Open.

I am a lucky guy I know and am head over heels........

I guess this was the reason for me not winning my heat and cupid and fate had their own agenda.

Everything happens for a reason and I am glad I got to play the event and get to the semis and also meet Lacey. she didnt even know about LNP and it was a complete coincidence as another player dropped out and Roland suggested she played as she was in the county. She was called and had the day free so she came to play. How weird is that????

So going back to the game well I am not allowed to say to much until it is aired so I wont but my heat is on Tuesday 29th Sept 2009 on Chanel 4 at 0030.

You can watch Lacey tonight 15th Sept same time and channel.

Next up is my World Record Attempt which starts Monday 21st Sept at 13:00 at the Empire Casino in London during the WSOPE. I will be playing Heads Up Poker against all commers for 75 hrs + while raising money for Charity.

Please join me and sponsor me or come and play me www.justgiving.com/paul-zimbler0

POKER MILLION VIIII

The Poker Million is known as the biggest and toughest poker tournament on TV. This is the 8th year it has been running and for many years now it has been an invite only event, unless you manage to win one of the few seats given away online.


To get an invitation for this is not the easiest task but harder than that is the entry fee which is $20,000.
I went to the live final last year and from that night till about 1 week ago I made it my job to get an invite to this event. I know I am good enough I know the format and I know I can win. Only thing I didn’t know was how I was going to pay for it......Let’s be honest $20,000, not the easiest thing to find especially for a single table tourney.

So about 2 weeks ago I got the call from Matchroom, I had a seat and my heat was on the 16th July. Great I said I’m in. Not a care in the world about how I was going to buy in I just knew that I had done the hard part which was getting in, surely finding 20K would be easy :)
I called my sponsors BETFRED to let them know as I decided not to go to Las Vegas this year and use the money for the Poker Million if I got the call. This is where the roller coaster ride started for me.

The call came and with 10 days to get the entry fee the pressure was on.
Betfred were aware that I wanted to play this event and that I had chosen this over the WSOP also so that their money spent on me gets the best marketing for them.
They decided that they were not going to put me into this event so now I was stuck and needed to find $20k.
I had a plan.................
Every time after I play on TV I get a lot of friend requests on facebook and people asking me if they can buy a small share in me so I decided to sell shares in me for this event to the public.
I know this is done a lot and normally on forums but this opens up so many negative things I wanted to keep it between people I knew. I was not desperate nor did I need to sell myself to the average Joe blogs but I did need to raise a lot of money.
$20,000 divided by $100 made 200 shares, each share was worth 0.4% of my winnings, (This means that I would play for a 20% free roll) this made it look easy................

I created a group on FB and sent it to all the people I knew. 1 thing I hate doing is asking people for money. Though I believed in my game and knew I could win I still find it hard to do. $100 is not a lot to ask for but I needed 200 investors.
The group was filling up daily with people investing bits every day. I spoke to a few friends who also bought bigger shares and before I knew it I had raised $10,000. This was amazing and I was sure I would be able to get $10,000 from my sponsors or a company to wear a logo.
How wrong I was. With all the big investors still out in Vegas it didn’t look like I would raise the money in time.
I would have 2 choices.
Pay the balance myself or let me seat go and watch the opportunity of a lifetime go by. With doing the second I would also be in a situation that I may not get anymore invites to this event and possibly other TV events too. The choice was made. I would buy in the rest myself though not happy about it I knew this was the only way.

As I was coming to terms with the fact that my sponsors had let me down in a huge way and that I was having to invest $10,000 to a shootout that at this point in my life I did not have to spare my phone rang. It was Roland de Wolfe. I had tried to call him on his UK number but knowing he was in Vegas I just thought he would call me when he got back. He was in fact interested to buy a share of me as he knows a good thing when he sees it LOL. He became my biggest single share holder and after that call was finished 2 more friends I could not get hold of also called and bought big shares. It was like I was being tested, over and over again.
Things were looking up the money was coming and destiny was all I kept thinking about.
Surely now my sponsors would give me 25% of the buy in to get guaranteed TV exposure and the chance to back the winner of the POKER MILLION VIII.
Again I was wrong and I couldn’t be bothered to argue. There was a lot of red tape bulls**t and company crap that needed to be signed off for this to happen and everyone was away that needed to sign it off so I was now in limbo as what I should do.
Why not try to get a company to pay me to wear their logo. It was clear that my sponsors were not interested and since I was not on a new contract with them I was free to work with anyone.
I did send an email to my contact and let them know that one of their competitors had offered me money to wear their logo and they replied to me giving me the ok.
Dilemma.....Should I just wear my usual logo since I am going to be signing a big contract with them in a few weeks??? Why should I, I thought to myself. I have done all I can and even gone as low as I can to make this good for both parties. I even explained that if I wear another logo and when I win the event in December it will look really stupid if we do a press release in 1 or 2 months that I am now your sponsored player and win the POKER MILLION wearing a different logo; still they said nothing we can do. LMAO.

The day came to go and play and I agreed to wear a Paddy Power Irish Open logo. They did send me a top but to be fair bright green isn’t my colourJ I was happy to wear the sticky logo.
My heat changes a little since my good friend Roberto Romanello played in the morning heat he was replaced by none other than the Greek fish himself.
I played with Greekfish in my 888 world Open heat and I remember the banter we had. It was fun and great TV but he repeatedly said he should have one and I was happy for him to have another go.
Seat 1 Andy Greek Fish
Seat 2 Adam Carey (online Qualifier)
Seat 3 Lee Watkinson
Seat 4 Marco Traniello
Seat 5 Paul Zimbler
Seat 6 Liam Flood

What a great line up I was ready, focused and so up for wining.

We were walking into the studio to start when Beiju from Mtchroom turned to me and said, Paul we put you and Andy together again so let’s see some great banter!
I turned to him with a straight face and said, Beiju: This is the Poker Million with a 20K buy in, I’m not here to make banter or for TV, I’m here to Win. I think I left him speechless which is not easy to do.

I sat at the table did some meditation and created a zone that I was in control of. I was ready to play and play my heart out. I wanted to win more than anything and I wanted to show a different Paul Zimbler to the one in the past few TV shows I have done. This was not going to be easy but I knew it could be done.
To see how the heat was played and hand for hand updates go to http://www.matchroompoker.com/ and click on the forum or go straight to heat 4 by clicking
http://www.matchroompokerforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=797

I managed to control this heat and myself for near enough the whole thing. I went low once and lost a vital race with AJ v Liam’s 88 3 handed which put Liam right back in it. I did get lucky in 1 hand which I was surprised that I had to show after Liam snap called my all in with AT. I of course had 2 5 suited and decided not to play the stop and go but to just get it all in as I was sure he was folding. It was the only time in the whole tournament I was making any real move and the only time I was in danger and could have gone out. I would have been really pissed if I went out there but Destiny was on my side and I got to the heads up exactly level.
Adam had been getting great cards all day and knocked out every player at the table. I was playing great and did tell him that I wished him every success in the turbo heat as I would love to have seen him in the semi finals with me. I gave him a lot of respect and decided to play small pot poker with him heads up since this would/should give me an edge. I was folding a lot to his bets until I decided that he should not be running over me but surely it should have been visa versa. I made a small re-raise once and he folded. That’s the Paul Zimbler we all miss I said out loud but didn’t show my cards.
I think looking back I played 1 hand badly when we were 3 handed. Adam raised I called KcQc flop was K high with 2 clubs. Since I didn’t want to give him a chance here as Liam was still in I decided to fast play and if he had a hand he called if not he wouldn’t. I think if I took a bit more time there to think I could have won a few chips from him there and gone into the heads up with a big chip lead but maybe then the heads up would have been played differently.
I slow played a lot and finally I got him to make a big mistake. I called his raise pre flop with KQ and the flop was K high I checked and he moved all in I called and he had 22. The turn and river didn’t help him and I was through to the semi finals as promised of the POKER MILLION VIII.

A big thank you goes to all the people who backed me. You are now all free rolling as I offered them 100% of the investment back on the first $20,000 I won.
The semi Final is on the 9th October and the line up is just beautiful. Annette Obrestad, Luke Schwartz, Tony Bloom, Nam Le, Juha Helppi, on line qualifier and turbo heat winner Peter Vasiliou and me. This will be a serious semi final and one I am sure I will come out of with a lot of chips. The final is then Live on the 6th December.

Day 3 Irish Open 2009

A race to the final table.

With 187,500 in Chips and a new day ahead I somehow managed to put the hand from last night behind me and move on fresh with a clear head.
1 thing was for sure I wanted to win this and knew I was able to I just needed a little bit of luck with my 50/50s.

My table draw was good in regards to players and chip stacks but I managed to get involved a few to many times min races or 60/40 shots normally being the 40% end of it to try to take out the smaller stacks.
I played a pocket pair of sixes bad too where I had to call and all in for quite a few chips and he had QQ.
I decided to go outside for a min as I needed a break what was happening to me and my chips?????
With the blinds 4000 8000 with a 500 anti the action got to me in the small blind. I made a speech to the BB like we should play a big pot now and I called with QJ AQJ was the flop as I checked it to him, it was checked back and the turn was a J. again it is checked round and the river is a 4. I bet out 8K looking week and he thinks for 2 minutes which Will does every time the action was on him and folded.
I find AA and raise to 40K which looks crazy and probably is but if you want to crack my AA then you have to pay. Of course no one has a hand this time and it is folded round to me.
Now comes and interesting hand. I have ordered some food and it arrives as I raise to 28K with AcJc, the German guy in seat 9 who is wearing a paddy power shirt so is in the last few for the sole survivor which is worth 100K to them pushes all in. Everyone folds to me and I think for a while.
I have seen him do this with A8, JT, 99 and 3 other times but didn’t get to see his cards. What hand can I put him on here and do I want to gamble?
Ok, a weak ace would be a nice thought but probably not! AA KK didn’t think so. QQ, JJ TT could be possible. The truth was he knew I was capable of passing a big hand and he had seen me raise and pass a few times. Did I think I was 40% or better in the hand? YES so I called since I wanted to win the comp and this was set to be a pot worth over 225,000. It was 81,500 more into a pot of just over 140K. It did leave me with 17K if I didn’t win the hand but I don’t worry about that till I’m in that situation.
OK I said I call. Knowing deep down that this is not the best call of all but a chance to get back into the tournament and have a good run at making the final then going for the win.
I turned over my AJ and he looked sad and make a comment like Oh No! Now I thought I had him crushed as why else make a reaction like that. He turned his cards over and I saw the Q of hearts first then the Q spades????? WTF??? Never mind doesn’t bother me really I had already made the call so in truth no difference just bad etiquette.
The flop was ok K T 4 and with no aces passed there were still 3 in the deck for me to hit and now with 2 Queens’. 5 outs was about 20%. I thought it was my turn to hit as I was running pretty bad on day 3 and if the maths were right I was due this one. The turn was another T which was not so good and the river bought me one of my outs from the flop but unfortunately not good enough. It was a Q. SO SICK…………
Ok compose! So a hand later there were 2 players all in B4 me and the blinds with a chance to quadruple up I looked down to see 7d8d and knew this was the hand to take on that challenge.
It was a funny hand as the guy in the 9 seat the same German went to make a raise and was not finished before the dealer moved on. He was counting his chips so close to the line the bet stood. Ok I knew for some reason he had AA as he was about to make a scene and didn’t was happy for the action to go on. So when they were on their backs it was his AA v AQ v my 78. Come on I thought this would get me right back in it and now there were only 39 left. The flop was no help to anyone but as number of turn cards could give me chances. I paired up on the turn and got no love on the river and I was gone in 39th place.
It is not a bad result but I was bitterly disappointed. I always expect to win when I play and especially when I have chips. I had a lot to think about but first I wanted to get the hell out of there and let the emotions go. I meet my girlfriend went for a walk and let it all out. I enjoy to shout/scream and of course there were a few tears. I went back in to collect my 6700 Euro OK I was bought into the event THANK YOU BETFRED and I worked 3 days for 6700 euro this is the positive way to look at it but not the easy way. I knew I also could have waited 5 min to climb up the money ladder to 9700 Euro but quadrupling up was far more important to me as I was in it to win it.

I did something this trip I was proud of. I did not go crazy on tilt in the cash games. I didn’t rush to play the next event I just relaxed and had some fun with the friends I had over their.
This year Ireland was a great experience I learned a lot and had another good run at the title.
I WILL BE BACK NEXT YEAR AND I WILL WIN THE IRISH OPEN SOON J