Poker Trips 2024 / 2025
This trip report follows on from my WSOP trip report here
Thanks. Yes looks like they’re behind. Hope they pull their finger out. I’ve booked some nights there in June.
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Bonus content coming.
Not a trip, but playing a rare tournament here in Medellin. It’s a fairly big one and it’s of the two card variety [emoji44]
Will report in the coming days.
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Good luck!
Vamooooooooooos!!!!
Go get 'em Tony!
Winner Poker Series Main Event
Day 1D - Thursday April 3rd
So the Winner Poker Series is Colombia’s biggest poker tour. They have, I think 5 events a year, 2 in Medellin, 2 in Bogota and 1 in Cali.
It just so happens this week is a Medellin stop and as I don’t have much going on this week, why not?
It’s pretty much all No Limit Hold’em with just one 5-card PLO included in the handful of side tournaments. But it’s the big main event that draws all the attention. A multi-flight No Limit Hold’em tournament with a buy-in of $2 million pesos and a guaranteed prize pool of $800 million pesos, which for Colombia is huge.
To put that in real money it’s a $500 US dollar buy-in with a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool, so not to be sniffed at.
But don’t be fooled, Colombian poker operators are no different from poker operators the world over. They won’t be giving anything away with the guarantee and have made sure by having no less than 7 starting flights!
They have regular starting flights Monday to Friday, a Turbo on Friday night and even a Hyper Turbo on Saturday morning before Day Two on Saturday afternoon.
So it presents a bit of a strategic choice of which one to play. We’re only going to play one so leaving ourselves extra chances doesn’t factor in. And let’s leave the turbo and the hyper turbo for the real degens.
Friday will almost certainly have the most players and produce the biggest stacks but then you don’t get a rest day, so we opt for Thursday which should have the 2nd most players and gives us Friday off in the event that we do qualify.
So all that being said, that’s how we end up at Hollywood Casino, Milla de Oro, Poblado, Medellin on a Thursday to play a Hold’em tournament along with the best players from all over Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela and no doubt a few other countries as well.
The tournament has a really good slow structure with lots of play. 40,000 starting chips and 40 minute levels.
And we’re pleasantly surprised to find out that it’s a shot-clock tournament and the dealers are on the ball. They start the stop watch for anyone not making an immediate decision and after 30 seconds you’re burning your time banks. Everyone starts with 6 time banks worth 30 seconds each. So no excessive tanking which is the thing I hate most about playing hold’em.
I don’t get involved too much until I pick up A-A in the hi-jack towards the end of level 2. (100 - 200 / 200)
The lo-jack opened, we 3-bet, the big blind 4-bet, lo-jack folds, we 5-bet and the big blind calls!
Flop: Q-T-6
The big blind checks, we shove the little that we have left and the big blind snaps, having called 5 bets pre with 6-6. GG. Re-buy!
We’re treading water on the 2nd bullet when the following hand comes up.
Don’t remember exactly the pre-flop action but I’m heads up with position on villain on a J-T-5 flop (2 diamonds, 1 spade)
We have Q-8 both spades.
Villiian bets, we call.
Turn: 7 spades
Villain bets. Don’t remember the exact amount but it’s about half our stack. This is the only hand of the day where I use my time banks and spend two of them here.
I sense villain is strong, don’t think he’s drawing. Hitting a Q probably won’t be good so we need the gutshot or the flush. What swayed me to call was that if the flush comes its back door and we can probably get paid off for it.
We call.
River: 2 spades
Villain goes all-in for what he had left.
We just about cover him and call.
He had J-T for top two.
That took us up to 70k, then we had to move tables and had dropped to about 50k when the following hand comes up playing 500 - 1,000 / 1,000
We’re in the big bling with 8-8
UTG limps, MP limps, BTN limps, SB calls, so we make it 7k to go.
UTG calls, MP calls, BTN calls and the SB now makes it 25k.
I think he’s just squeezing super wide here. If he had a real hand there’s no way he would have just called the original limps.
We snap jam for 50k total. It folds round to the SB who laughs and starts doing math.
That’s good news. We made the right read and caught him with his fingers in the cookie jar!
As he’s getting almost 4/1 on the 25k to call he reluctantly tosses it in.
I expect to see just 1 over-card, but it’s better than that. He was at it with 7-5 off !!!
The boards runs out clean and we zoom up to 120k
We play our next big hand at 1,000 - 1,500 / 1,500
We open UTG for 3k with Q-Q and get 2 callers. This is the 3rd time we’ve had pocket queens. The first two times I’ve to give them up when Aces and Kings flopped and we were met with resistance.
Flop: 7-Q-5 (finally a very favorable flop)
We continue for 6k and get 1 caller. It’s the right kind of customer as well. We might be able to get him to stack off if he has a piece of this.
Turn: 9
Again we continue, this time for 12k
Now villain raises to 35k !
We take a little time trying to look weak, give the villain a stare and wait until the dealer’s stopwatch shows 25 seconds before throwing in 3 x 25k chips on top of our original 12k to raise it to 87k.
Villain doesn’t take too long before pushing all in for about 120k total. We cover him and toss in an extra chip to make the call.
Villain has 9-9 for a turned set. A perfect coup for us.
No drama on the river and now we’re rocking 300k
We don’t find any more big spots and play small ball for the last two levels to bag 392,000 which is 2nd in chips for this flight, only behind a mammoth 570,000 on the next table over.
Each flight plays 14 levels, which going by today’s flight and the flights so far has resulted in about 20% of the field bagging.
Old school payouts here though. Only 10% of the field will cash so still a lot of work to do on Day 2 but we’re off to a good start!
Long-ass day. 4pm start and we finish at 3am. Definitely made the right choice to play today and have the rest day tomorrow.
Day 2 re-start is on Saturday at 4pm
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We’re in the big bling with 8-8UTG limps, MP limps, BTN limps, SB calls, so we make it 7k to go.UTG calls, MP calls, BTN calls and the SB now makes it 25k.I think he’s just squeezing super wide here. If he had a real hand there’s no way he would have just called the original limps.We snap jam for 50k total. It folds round to the SB who laughs and starts doing math.That’s good n
Poker is alive and well!
Congrats on the bag.
Great start on Day 1, take it down on Day 2!
Nice work coming back from that tough hand earlier. Keep it going day 2 (and beyond?)!
LFG!
Awesome start. Good luck tomorrow
Winner Poker Series Main Event
Day Two - Saturday April 5th
Having made day two I took a closer look at the structure and it seems that this is a 4 day event and we’ll be playing 1 hour levels from here on out.
Talk about a chainsaw approved structure, this would be gold standard.
We make a mental note to try and remain patient. This is a real marathon. It’s okay to be the tortoise, we don’t have to be the hare.
The calm before the storm.
State of play as we start day two. There were 592 total entries, of which 148 remain.
63 of us will be in the money. A min-cash is worth 4 million pesos, which would only be break even for us, and the winner will walk away with 190 million pesos which is about $44,000 USD
We start the first of 8 scheduled levels today at 2,000 - 4,000 / 4,000
I get it in pre with K-Qss against a short stacks T-T
We flop a flush on the all spade flop.
But not so fast, the turn brings a Ten!
The river is safe however and we increase our stack to 450k
Level 16: 2,000 - 5,000 / 5,000
Open A-K for 10k from MP and fold to a large 3 bet from small blind. Used a time bank. Something just made me think he had it here. I think we were either flipping vs Q-Q or he had Aces or Kings.
End Level 16: 482,000
Level 17: 3,000 - 6,000 / 6,000
We 3-bet a loose opener with A-Q and he folds
Our starting table breaks. Not too unhappy about it. New one looks a bit better.
We open with A-Tcc and everyone folds.
Lose a blind vs blind battle with 7-7
Flop K-T-8
We fold to a bet.
Open 3-3, the BB defends
Flop A-K—J
We c-bet and take it down.
Defend our BB with Q-J to the button’s open
Flop Q-8-3
We check-raise and take it down
End Level 17: 520,000
Level 18: 4,000 - 8,000 / 8,000
Card dead. Every hand seems to contain a deuce. Not much we can do.
Our 2nd table breaks and our new table is not what we ordered. All good players.
End Level 18: 471,000
Dinner Break
Level 19: 5,000 - 10,000 / 10,000
Still card dead. It’s all we can do to tread water.
We reach the bubble (burbuja in Spanish) and go hand for hand with 5 minutes left in the level.
Things are a little bit different here in Colombia. The TD tells everyone to stay in their seats but nobody listens.
There’s an all-in and a call on the next table over. Thankfully the all-in gets knocked out and the circus only lasts one hand.
End Level 19: 475,000 In the Money!
Level 20: 6,000 - 12,000 / 12,000
We open 9-9 and the BB defends.
Flop A-J-9
We continue for the minimum and villain folds.
Knock out a short stack. 4-4 vs A-J
We defend Q-T from the BB in a 3-way pot.
Flop: Q-T-8
Checked around
Turn: 2
We lead out and get two folds.
At this point we have 600k and change, then play the following hand:
The cut-off opens for 24k
We 3-bet to 65k on the BTN with A-Q
Villain pushes all-in for 300k
We use a couple of time banks and eventually make the call.
Not what we were hoping to see.
A King on the flop doesn’t even give us a sweat and that was the last hand before the break.
End Level 20: 309,000
We’re below average now for the first time but still have 19 bigs.
Level 21: 8,000 - 16,000 / 16,000
We knock out a short stack with A-Jhh vs 2-2
Jack on flop. Stress free.
We open from the BTN with Q-J
BB defends
Flop: A-4-5
Got a feeling the BB nearly raised pre. We’re not betting this.
Check - Check
Turn 3
He leads out
We snap fold
He shows A-2
End Level 21: 380,000.
The average is 547k with 43 players remaining.
Level 22: 10,000 - 20,000 / 20,000
Last level of the night. We still have the same 19 bigs.
We’re on the button with K-Qcc
UTG + 1 opens for 40k
Loose chip leader who’s been raising every hand 3-bets to 120k
We take a little time to think and then move all-in for 350k
They both fold rather quickly and we get a nice 200k pick-up.
Another day another bag.
We bag 610k which is bang on average and we’ll start with 20 bigs tomorrow.
Should really have bagged 900k
It was a mistake to call off with the A-Q and it cost us 300k in chips.
Kicking ourselves for that.
One mistake in 2 full days of poker. Just hope we can overcome it.
State of play at the end of the day.
We bagged with the same tables and seats. No re-draw which I’m not real happy about as it feels like ours is the toughest of the 5 remaining tables.
I asked the TD and he says they re-draw when we reach the last 3 tables.
Day 3 re-start tomorrow (well later today now) at 3pm
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Boom, nice one. So 39 left and the cash is still buttons? Good luck tomorrow
Trust your reads.
Good luck on Day 3!!!
GL later today, Tony! Nice work so far. Good patience.
Good luck. One mistake is OK -- you've already overcome it!
Enjoying the tourney recap. Rooting for you to bring home the win.
Winner Poker Series Main Event
Day Three - Sunday April 6th
Not the update we were hoping for I’m afraid.
We returned to Casino Hollywood in Medellin for day 3 of the main event with high hopes.
But the cards had other ideas. 6-2, 8-3, T-4, no playable hands as we ante away on a very aggressive table.
We finally get a spot where it’s folded to us on the button and we open with A-4cc and the big blind defends.
Flop: K-Q-7 all hearts
BB checks, we continue small, BB calls. At this point I’m pretty much done with it.
Turn: 8
Check, check
River: 2
BB leads out and we fold.
More garbage hands follow before it’s folded to us again on the button and with only 11 bigs left we push with K-9. The big blind unfortunately has J-J and calls.
We don’t get the 3-outer and we’re out in 33rd for little more than a min cash.
Our net, having fired two bullets is about $120 US for two and a bit days hard grind. [emoji22]
The one non-hold’em tournament on the schedule is just starting. 5-card PLO, so we jump straight into that.
It’s real loose and everyone is gambling it up. We join them, and having accumulated a decent stack we play a huge pot and find ourselves all-in on the turn here with the nut straight.
Villain has top two and the flush draw and the river gives him aces full.
We opt not to re-enter and call it a day.
Not really bothered about the PLO but a little frustrated at the complete lack of co-operation from the cards today in the main event.
Nevertheless, it was good to play a slow structured multi-day hold’em tournament and it will serve as good practice in case we decide to play one this summer.
No more tournaments now. Family vacation coming up, then will grind the cash game here in May before heading to Vegas on June 1st.
End of thread for real this time. [emoji3]
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More garbage hands follow before it’s folded to us again on the button and with only 11 bigs left we push with K-9. The big blind unfortunately has J-J and calls.
We don’t get the 3-outer and we’re out in 33rd for little more than a min cash.
GG WP. K9o with 11 bb on the Button is just about a push according to SnapShove (K2s+ and K8o+).
Not sure if this is a spot that I would have taken personally, but maybe I should to avoid entering final tables with 4.5 bb 😀
So it goes.
Still a good run, thanks for taking the time to write it up
unlucky mate. Still...you put yourself in the situation to run well....it just didn't happen this time. So much needs to go right, for so long in those large field mtts
