tilted behaviour

After many weeks toiling away from behind our computers the PokerNews team has finally released the PokerNews Australasia magazine!

Targeted at the Australian and Asia Pacific poker community this bi-monthly magazine is free to the public and won’t rival Bluff Australia, but more run in partnership in feeding the poker fanatics with much needed Australian and world poker news, player profiles and interviews, product reviews, poker strategy articles and more.

The April/May issue featuring Shane Warne on the cover includes many interesting articles ranging from information on the upcoming ANZPT Sydney, Melbourne Poker Championships and WSOP, as well as the recent Aussie Millions and ANZPT Adelaide.

Being part of the team I contributed three articles to this issue – however one was pulled back until the next issue as it couldn’t fit in the current issue due to its four-page length. My first piece is the Melbourne Champs Form Guide (pg. 46-7) which is a list of the top thirteen players and the reasoning behind their form as we head into the Melbourne Poker Championships from the 17th of May to the 1st June.

My second piece; Celina Lin . . . Not Just Your Average Poker Player (pg. 60-3), is a feature piece with one of my friends and now PokerStars sponsored player. Even though I did an interview with her that went for over two hours and had more then enough information to write the article over and over it still took me ages to put the piece together. Just getting everything to flow was the hard part, but once I did it just flew out and voila you have the greatest four pages in the magazine (ok, so I’m biased . . . so what . . . but there is some truth to it . . . just read it yourself!)

For the June/July issue I have several articles that I’m already starting to pen.

I have the piece on Australian poker and its ensuing five interviews that was moved from the first issue, plus an interview with EPT hostess and poker player Kara Scott. I’m also going to do a form guide for the Victorian Poker Championships, and with the permission from Crown hopefully a nice humorous and colourful piece with Crown Poker Supervisor Frank Bianco.

It’s a really informative and enjoyable read so make sure you go out and grab your copy today!

EPT Hostess and Poker Player Kara Scott

Pretty much everything on this website has to do with poker, so while being not on the road I thought I should share something ‘different’ with you guys.

Reading the Herald Sun Newspaper (page 79) today I came across a really interesting story about Christian; a lion cub, who became an instant YouTube hit after his heartfelt story swept the world. Back in the late 60’s Anthony Burke and John Rendall were working together at an antique shop below their residence when they ventured to Harrods Zoo and became obsessed with the idea of owning a lion cub.

Following a day of sightseeing at the zoo they discovered two lion cubs in a small cage; the female snarled but the male remained calm. Event through a lack of suitable residence and the approximate $7,000 cost, Burke and Rendall remained undeterred and brought Christian home.

However as Christian outgrew his residence, Burke and Rendall decided that he deserved to be back in the wild and through some arrangements was eventually released into the wilds of Kenya. Christian adapted to his new environment and eventually became the head of his own pride – which was the main problem for Burke and Rendall to overcome as they wished to visit Christian after a year of distance. Warned that Christian wouldn’t remember them Burke and Rendall were unfazed and the following video shows what happened.

Christian the Lion

Maybe it’s just me, but I think this story is pretty touching with the video the icing on the cake.

Now all I have to do is find a lion cub that likes to travel, enjoys many hours in a casino and knows how to limp fold Ace-Queen to my three-bet when we play heads-up!

The Race To 10k between Heath ‘TassieDevil’ Chick and myself is officially over!

It took a little over three months but Heath prevailed with the final results as follows:
thkcduckworth – $6,652.85 (1 final table bonus)
TassieDevil – $10,021.45 (10 final table bonuses)

The net result was Heath winning $250 for winning the race, plus $100 for most live winnings and $225 for final table bonuses for a total win-fall of $575. All-in-all congratulations mate, and for your great efforts I thought I’d present you with a trophy . . .

Congratulations Heath ‘TassieDevil’ Chick!

I’m definitely thinking of starting The Race To 10k II which will be open to all current employees of PokerNews and PokerNetwork, but with a few changes to the conditions (after I expressed by annoyance at some of the results Heath was logging in <100 player fields). I think including a Pocket Fives points criteria as one of the conditions will even the competition amongst players that don't play on some of the small and 'soft' independent sites and only play Full Tilt and/or PokerStars. Also some of the monetary amounts will change as their are bound to be more then two participants with also an alteration to the final table bonuses for the online sector.

Whatever the outcome, make sure to keep checking out Tilted Behaviour for any developments on the next race or any other poker news from around the country and abroad.

Cobwebs are building, dust is settling and tumbleweeds are rolling round the once-heavily updated site that is Tilted Behaviour . . . but finally I have awoken from my slumber to pen something.

The past few weeks have been fairly quiet just hanging out with mates, donking off in home games, watching movies and playing soccer; however the one thing that has been consistent is the hours I’ve been logging online.

With the The Race To 10k nearly over with Heath logging some great results, I’ve still managed to find the motivation to grind tournaments online at Full Tilt – with some half-decent results to match! I may have only managed eight cashes but all of these have come in giant 700-plus fields with a recent 264th from 3882 in the $750,000 Guarantee and a 3rd from 650 in the $14,000 Guarantee.

I enjoy playing these big field tournaments because the reward is so much greater with first place netting upwards of $4,000 most times for just a buy-in of $24+2. However every time I sneak into the money I’m always low on chips and just grind to a mid-cash . . . which is starting to get really annoying! It’s a tough situation as I’m not exactly sure what to do to rectify this, but am still reviewing hand history’s of some of my deep results to see if there are any middle game leaks . . . answer: find aces many many many times!

My cash game play has also increased, often four-tabling and short-stacking 25c-50c NLH 6-max looking to make a buy-in or two. I seem to be playing fairly solid, and aren’t trying anything to tricky – occasionally running good and seeing my hands hold up (which is always a good sight). I have no need or urge to step up limits, and enjoy playing this level without too much pressure to make fortune; but instead just turn over a few quid.

Either way I feel I’m playing well when I’m in the right mood, mindset and nowhere near on tilt! It’s only a matter of time before I can capture that next big result, whether it is online or at the upcoming ANZPT Sydney or WSOP in June/July.

See you there!!!