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David Gross
Just When I Thought It Couldn't Get Any Worse
10 December 2007 by David Gross
Tournament poker can be so frustrating that, as much as I love playing poker, I am starting to question why I put myself through it...
Tournament poker can be so frustrating that, as much as I love playing poker, I am starting to question why I put myself through it.I wrote a few weeks ago about the bad run I’ve been enduring over the last four months and I ended in optimistic tones about various areas I could improve to get back to winning ways. But the longer this run goes on, the harder it is to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Taking my own advice from my last blog, I took a shot at a couple of big live tourneys – the £1K GUKPT event in Blackpool and the £3K GUKPT final in London. Apart from the odd high level mistake, I felt good about how I played in both of them – that didn’t help my bankroll though which took another large dent when I failed to cash in either.
Back to online MTTs, previously such a happy hunting ground and the beats have just carried on coming. Last weekend, I played an early event in the ECOOP on
He Aint Kidding
14 November 2007 by David Gross
David Gross aka thekid08 reveals his plans to return to tournament poker and with it achieve even more success than before...
Part of my daily routine as Managing Director of Poker Verdict is to do a full sweep of the web site and to identify any areas where we can build up or improve our content.
On doing my sweep today, I joyfully scribbled “13th November 2007: Site full of new fresh content” pausing only momentarily for dramatic irony before noting the one exception to this statement “David Gross blogs – no update for 4 months”.
Has it really been that long? Yes - I’m afraid so.Why? Well I have definitely been a busy man – loads on at work, lots of traveling, lots of social engagements, about to buy my first flat etc etc. Too much going on to find time for poker? No – not really, I’ve still been playing a couple on online sessions a week.
I guess if I’m honest, the main reason is that in poker terms, it has been 4 months of frustration, disappointment and sustained losses. Whilst I am not averse to bearing all for... more...
David Gross: Vegas Diary Part 2
By David Gross
David Gross rounds off his 2007 Vegas Diary and offers a glimpse into the major lessons learnt along the way
It’s 9am on Tuesday 26th June and I am sitting in my office with a list of work action points as long as both my arms.
Whilst I was happy with my accomplishments in Vegas and was quite content to come home by the time I left, I have to admit that I am finding it hard to settle back into the rhythm of London life.
This is not being helped by the fact that I am caught in two minds about returning for the Main Event. On the one hand, the time, travel, disorientation and money involved are putting me off. But on the other hand, given the tournament form I am in, it seems ludicrous to neglect the chance to play in the best value tournament of the year and to win a life changing amount of money.
At the moment, the ‘cons’ are winning the battle and I’m staying put – but I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of the ‘pros’ winning the war. I’ll keep you posted on my final decision, but in the mean...
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David Gross: Vegas Diary Part 1
By David Gross
The ecstasy of cashing in a WSOP event for the first time, exasperating defeats along the way - David Gross's World Series trip to Vegas had it all...
It’s Tuesday 19th June, 7pm Vegas time and I have been in this town precisely nine days and five hours.
Today has been pretty brutal. I busted out of my final WSOP event for 2007 – an event I’ve been looking forward to for several months – having played like a chump. The truth is I’m feeling pretty jaded and played out. But this is just one low in a period that has witnessed some great highs. I’ve played a total of eight tournaments - three World Series events at The Rio and five tournaments at the Bellagio. I’ll be coming home with a trophy, my first WSOP cash and a wild ride that took me very close to a televised final table. I’ve also met some great people and experienced and learned a lot.
So although less than two days remain before I jet back to London life, rather than staying at the Rio and gifting more...
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Long Live Pot Limit Omaha
By David Gross
Some of the loosest games on the net are on PLO not holdem tables...
For the last few weeks my cash game of choice has been Pot Limit Omaha on PokerStars. This deviation away from bread and butter games has refreshed my poker playing appetite and has allowed me to take advantage of what I perceive to be a generally weaker standard of opponent than I have typically experienced playing Hold’em cash games.
My last session was no different, as I capitalised on a favourable table to turn in a short session into a very profitable result.
Sitting down in the $25-$50 6-handed game on Stars with $3,000 in front of me (max buy-in of $5,000), I was joined initially by the ever present high stakes PLO winner “CHUFTY”, various other assorted names and then a few moments later, a top tournament player by the name of “AmichaiKK”.
Having built my way up to almost $6K very quickly, I was...
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The Luck Of The Draw
28 Feb 2007
Who you find sitting next to you in the big MTTs can make a big difference to your chances of success, as Poker Verdict's 'The Kid' found out to his cost...
Once I have managed to build a decent stack in a big MTT (multi-table tournament), unless holding really big pairs, I try my best to play 'small-pot' poker and gradually build my stack.
I try to avoid situations where I will have the majority of my stack in the middle with AK versus 88 or vice-versa or other such similar situations. These types of hands are known as 'coin-flips' or 'races' because your chances of beating your opponent are around 50% and I'd rather find less risky opportunities to make chips. But of course, as the blinds escalate and the numbers reduce, 'coin-flips' can become unavoidable and even the most skilled players are forced to put their chips in the hands of the poker gods.
Johnny Chan, one of the greatest poker players ever, has certainly made his name in poker through skilled play. However, it is said that on his way to defending his WSOP crown in 1988, he actually won 13 coin-flips in a row! This stat lends...
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Playing Against Annette 15
11 December 2006
David 'thekid08' Gross gives you some tips on playing against Annette 15, one of online poker's rising stars
Click here for live hand for hand updates as we follow Annette 15 at the WSOPE!
Read our Annette 15 player profile
Read our Exclusive Annette_15 Interview
For what seems like the millionth time in the last two months I suffered another "close but no cigar" moment over the weekend.
Playing as dg8888 in the weekly $1K satellite on
The Comeback Kid
12 Feb 2007
David Gross aka thekid08 had a terrible run in the high level MTTs at the end of last year but has found an antidote - huge online cash games...
I haven’t been blogging for a while as I have been sick and tired of losing and having nothing good to say.
Following the highs of winning the PokerStars Sunday Million in December 2005 (read my blog about it here), a couple of narrow misses in Feb/March 2006, another huge tournament win in April 2006 and my first WSOP in July 2006, the last few months have been a real downer.
My results were awful in the last quarter of 2006 – to the extent that I actually ended 2006 with a minor...
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Bond Does Poker In Casino Royale
17 November 2006
The poker boom has been reignited by 007's game of high stakes Texas holdem, reckons David Gross
Now even Bond plays poker!
The growth of poker never ceases to amaze me. First Late Night Poker, then the internet, mainstream TV success, models and actresses, a $12m WSOP winner and now the next new level - the Big Screen.
We're not talking a niche poker film and we're not talking small-time cheesy productions, we are talking Bond. Yes, that's right, in Casino Royale, everyone's favourite secret agent and womaniser, turns his hand to Texas holdem.
Daniel Craig's debut as Bond
I have always been a fan of the Bond films and have spent many an hour debating the merits of the various Bond actors with friends. Thus, I had been eagerly awaiting the release of Daniel Craig's debut and I was in a rush to see the new release of Casino Royale even before I knew that poker was to play a part.
In fact, my discovery of poker involvement led to mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was... more...
Party Time
30 October 2006
David Gross aka "dg8888" on PartyPoker, got a terrific run for his money in the site's big, new Sunday night tournament...
Don’t let the fact that PartyPoker has banned US player from its site bother you. On Sunday the company bounced back with a superb new high level multi-table tournament (MTT) timed for the European market.
Starting at 8pm UK time with a $500 $30 buy-in I managed to finish deep, well 6th actually (good for $3,900), and got to bed well before I would have done in the old days when the site offered a $1 million Guaranteed on Sunday nights.
There were just 130 runners with 17 positions paid out although I suspect in the next few weeks more will log on since this is an excellent tourney.
I managed to maintain a relatively healthy stack throughout the latter stages without getting any...
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Playing New Tourneys
23 October 2006
David Gross finds some new weekend tournaments to sink his teeth into
The PokerStars Sunday Million, a $1 million Guaranteed tournament, still holds a special place in my heart due to my victory in it in December 2005. Always up for a challenge, the goal of beating off an ever increasing field (now over 6,400 runners) also has a certain appeal.
That said, with that many players, many of whom are of a high quality, it also requires an extraordinary amount of luck to go deep. With luck in scarce supply in recent months, this weekend, I decided to chance my arm at some other leading poker rooms to see if I could find some juicy alterantives with smaller fields to navigate.
On Saturday night, at 9.30pm UK time, I entered the big weekend MTT on
Balancing Poker With Work
21 September 2006
David Gross on the pros and cons of playing regular poker while maintaining a busy, professional life
Much has been written about the risk and rewards involved in giving up full time work (or work altogether) to pursue full-time poker.
However, for some people, myself included, this is not a desirable option - and not for the usual reasons. Not because I am concerned about stable income and not because I am concerned about my ability to make decent money from the game. Instead, it is purely because I love my full-time work and I am equally (if not more) keen to develop that element of my life.
I have come to the conclusion that people like me are best suited to playing cash game poker as it offers flexibility in terms of timing and location as well as the chance for regular reward via short sessions. These are all factors that help cash game poker dovetail nicely with a full time job as well as outside family and social commitments.
However, never one to make things easy on myself, about a year ago after an introspective session spent analysing my poker P...
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High Stakes Short-Handed Poker
5 September 2006
David Gross shares his experiences playing the biggest short-handed tournaments on the net
In my last blog, I told you all about the ups and downs I have experienced playing online high stakes heads-up competitions. As promised, in this blog, I am going to give you some details of my exerience playing short-handed one-table competitions aka Sit 'n' Go's ('SNGs').
Short handed poker and creative play
In basic terms, the more players there are on a poker table, the more likely it is that at least one will have a strong hand. By implication, as the numbers reduce, the more the quality of the starting hands reduce. Thus, playing on a full table, it can be costly to play creatively as the odds are more likely that you will run into a big hand. Whereas with a short-handed table, weaker average starting hands encourage and often reward creative play. Thus, as a naturally creative player, I have always preferred playing short handed poker against 4-5 opponents.
Where to play
Several of... more...
High Stakes Heads-Up Poker
1 September 2006
David Gross has been playing heads-up on the net for very high stakes. Here's what happened...
Sit 'n' Go Tournaments (SNGs)
Almost exactly a year ago, following a close analysis of my results, I decided to stop playing cash games and focus on tournament play.
Most of my time since that decision has been focused on playing multi-table tournaments (MTTs), however I have also spent many sessions playing one table Sit n Go's ('SNGs'). When I refer to SNGs, I sub-categorise them in three areas: full table (usually 9 or 10 players), short-handed (usually 5 or 6 players) and heads-up (one opponent).
Whilst I have played a few full table SNGs, most of my time has been focused on playing heads-up and short-handed games. In general, confident in my abilites, and with a bankroll swelled by my success in multi-table tournaments, I have played these SNGs for the highest limits I can find.
In this blog, I am going to share some of my experiences with you with regards to heads-up play. In my next blog, I will discuss... more...
My First Ranking Points
10 August 2006
David Gross describes a landmark event in his poker career
For a busy full-time professional, internet tournaments offer speed and convenience. If you want to win a six-figure sum playing offline tournaments, you have to pony up big entrance fees and book some serious time off work. Online, the size of the fields and the pace of the deal, the play and the strucutres mean that you can win these sums in a few hours with a small buy-in and you can still be in work the next day (albeit probably a little later than normal)!
Poker developments
Due to these convenience factors, I have focused my recent poker development in this area and it has paid big dividends. In the last 12 months alone, I have cashed, final-tabled and won several major online events cashing for over $275,000 in the process. However, despite these stats, I actually prefer playing offline. I like the human contact, I like the increased pyschological battle and I think I have an increased edge over my online play. In offline poker, there is... more...
Latest Entries
- Just When I Thought It Couldn't Get Any Worse
- He Aint Kidding
- David Gross: Vegas Diary Part 2
- David Gross: Vegas Diary Part 1
- Long Live Pot Limit Omaha
- The Luck Of The Draw
- Playing Against Annette 15
- The Comeback Kid
- Bond Does Poker In Casino Royale
- Party Time
- Playing New Tourneys
- Balancing Poker With Work
- High Stakes Short-Handed Poker
- High Stakes Heads-Up Poker
- My First Ranking Points