tilted behaviour

I wasn’t expecting to play anymore live poker for the week, but I guess I was wrong.

Driving up on Friday afternoon, I headed to the airport to pick up my cousin and his girlfriend from the airport. It was part thank-you for letting me stay at their house, part another reason to play at Crown, and part I didn’t want them to shell out the money to grab a cab.

After unloading the car once back at theirs, I made my way to Crown and found a seat on a $2-3 NLH table.

I had chipped up to around $250 on a table that featured a bunch of weak passive players who really struggled post-flop when this hand came up. Everyone limped in, and I did so on the button with J♦ 9♣ to see a flop of Q♦ 5♣ 9♦ fall and a bet of $10 follow from one of the limpers. This player had turned over a few ‘unique’ hands where he had barrelled bottom-pair etc, so his bet didn’t seem overly strong to me. A first time player made the call, before I bumped it to $37. The flop aggressor called as did the noob before I dinged the 9♠ on the turn.

Very comfortable with where I now sat in the hand, it shocked me to see the aggressor fire out (after just calling on the flop) $25. The noob called and I thought for a little before making it $68 to go and was instantly snapped off before the noob passed.

The river landed the 6♥ and I was met with an instant announcement of a bet of $100 as my now lone opponent in the hand fumbled while cutting down the amount to call.

I sat in the tank for around three minutes trying to decipher the whole hand. I couldn’t factor him to have a better nine, but more likely held a busted draw or even just a Queen. Eventually I called and internally puked when he rolled over his 8♠ 7♥ for a rivered gutshot to leave me with just $40 and send me to my wallet to top up.

Reviewing the hand, I think I bet the turn way too small, but either way I managed to add a further $200 to my stack the next hand when my two-pair held up against two players top pair.

Eventually though I got my now favourite opponent back when I opened from late position holding A♣ 10♥ and was flatted by the button and my nemesis from the big blind. The flop fell down K♠ Q♥ J♠ and I was faced with a donked out $20 bet in which I just called as the button folded. The turn landed the 6♣ and he fired out $30 in which I just called. The river landed the ugly 9♣ and my nemesis fired out $25. I exchanged some friendly banter before splashing the pot with a bet of $140.

He immediately called, rolled over Q♦ J♥, and I scooped the pot to put my stack upwards of $650.

I decided to call the session to an end when I double a short-stack up with a weaker top-pair to eventually cash out up just under $200 for the session before Mat made his way to Crown and we decided to see the new movie Daybreakers . . . if you like Vampires or need an occasional startle in a dark room then go see it.

I headed into Crown at the early time of 10am to test my luck in the Saturday morning $25 rebuy donkament.

I tried to enjoy the rebuy period and was all in at least ten times with five of them being without looking at my cards. After the rebuy period was over, I had spent $100 and had just over a 3,000-chip stack courtesy of a late triple up holding 10♠ 10♣.

Once we returned after the break, the levels picked up and facing a short-stack’s all in, I pushed with 5♦ 5♥ and was called by the big stack’s K♥ Q♥. The short-stack held tens, and once a Queen flopped, it was over as I was bundled out in 45th of the 72 starters.

Heading to a $2-3 NLH table I played for nearly five hours getting up $50, then losing $100, getting up $50, then losing $100. Eventually I decided that it wasn’t going to be a good day and walked out (thankfully) up $50 and made my way back home.

With the Aussie Millions over, it now leaves me more time to play, and consequently I decided to stay down in Melbourne for a few extra days to hit the felt.

By the time I had fully recovered from the copious amount of alcohol I had drunk the previous night I eventually found my way into the Crown Poker Room and on a $2-3 NLH table.

It was fairly uneventful as I grinded away for over two hours for $39 in profit before being convinced by friend / ex-PokerNews colleague / Crown’s best dealer / (potentially) Crown’s best tournament director Anthony ‘Slippers’ Molinaro to play the $65 Melbourne Championships.

Just like a typical Crown Step One satellite the structure was fairly fast and I just played a solid game to see the starting 17 quickly chomped down to just a final table. From then on I picked up the aggression and slowly accumulated a stack to see me capture one of the $250 Step Two seats.

I jumped back on a $2-3 NLH table, but started to get a little tired and decided to take my $11 profit and head home for the night.

Heading in early to play the $50 plus single $25 rebuy tournament at 10am I was surprised to see a further 54 players also get out of bed early to make the trip down to Crown.

I chipped up to around 4k from my 1,500 starting stack when I virtually doubled without a showdown holding Kings and took a few pots down on the flop in a raised pot. Just before the first break I opened 425 with blinds at 100-200 holding A♦ J♦ and was flatted by someone a few seats along before the big blind moved all in for 725. I decided to ship it all in and was quickly snapped off after being trapped with Aces.

Left with around 1,000 it was folded right round when I was in the big blind before I kept shoving from the small blind thereafter as the blinds kicked up to 200-400. Unfortunately my 10♥ 9♥ from middle position ran into the Ace-Queen and Ace-King of the blinds and I was out in 32nd place.

While waiting for a cash game I got in touch with Heath and we decided that we would have a hit of tennis or play online from his apartment across the road.

Kirsty needed to head into the city, so we decided to join her as we lugged round the CBD in the sweltering hot Melbourne sun.

Returning to their apartment I eventually convinced Heath to play the nightly $60 Turbo tournament at Crown and we made our way down to the poker room to find fellow PokerNetwork / PokerNews blogger Landon Blackhall and his dad also participating in the donkament.

Heath busted in about three hands while I grinded away before the blinds picked up and I shoved 8 bb’s with pocket fives only to run into Aces to bust out in 70th/98 place.

With Heath tying a noose somewhere, I sat down on a $1-2 NLH table but over the course of two hours ran into Aces, set into overset and a few other disgusting hands to finish down $200 and on my way out the door.

My final session for the first half of the week saw me venture into the poker room in the afternoon.

Sitting down at a $2-3 NLH table full of regular mid-week players, I was fairly card dead before getting involved in the wrong side of a pot to force myself to top-up an additional $150.

It would be a very wise decision because I few hands later I called a $15 raise from out of the big blind with A♦ 8♦ to see a flop of 7♦ 5♦ 4♦ flop fall with a pot of $90 in the middle. I checked, the player in middle position bet out $25 and only the original raiser called before I check-raised to $65. The flop aggressor moved all in, the original raiser folded and I called.

He rolled over his Q♦ 9♦ and that was that as I cashed out $467 after another orbit to register just over $115 in profit for the session before heading to Heath and Kirsty’s to play some tennis.

We played a best of three round robin series, and after nearly pulling a hammy when chasing down one of my drop shots, Heath never stood a chance against either Kirsty or me.

Heath didn’t any of his four matches, while Kirsty went 2-2 and me 4-0 before we called it a night as I made my way back to Geelong.

Probably the best thing about the Aussie Millions is without doubt the series ending Farewell Party!

It is a time for dealers, media and players to let their hair down and party hard on Crown’s wallet . . . and year after year that wallet gets pushed to the edge.

Driving up from Crown I met up with Heath as we made our way into Fusion and quickly grabbed a beer from one of the gorgeous waitresses. Surrounded by dealers we eventually found some common friends before the rest of the PokerNews clan rolled in along with some fellow poker buddies.

Basically the night revolved around lots of drinks, heaps of photos and conversations about poker before the bar-tab eventually ran out and people started shuffling elsewhere.

With the night still fairly young – 2am – me and Alex decided that we would pay a visit to the Teak Room to cash in a $25 free play voucher that I had received in the mail. Alex had a smoke, and I couldn’t resist the lure of the Baccarat tables and decided to gamboooool it up for a little.

Maybe thirty minutes later and up $150 we headed down to the poker room to continue our sobering-up by taking a seat on the $0.50-1 PokerPro table. Alex ran hot, I got rivered seventeen times and took by beat-up negative $100 ass to the real felt of a $2-3 NLH table.

I never got anything going but still managed to profit $40 on the table which meant I finished up for the night before eventually feeling sober enough to drive home.

With my lone Team 888Poker member Pierre Aoukar unfortunately busting within the first twenty minutes of the today’s play, I was left with a whole day of nothing to do.

Consequently I strolled downstairs and walked around doing nothing for a while before making my way over to Heath’s place to write an article and chill for a while.

After writing a few 888Poker articles me and Heath suited up to play some tennis. The previous match saw Heath and Kirsty lose 2-6 to me, but this time it would be just the boys. I took a 4-1 lead at one point, only to go down in the first set 7-5 before losing the next one in even quicker fashion when it finished 6-3 in Heath’s favour.

We both had a shower and made our way over to a suite at the Crown Towers where Lynn was throwing GG a ‘leaving PokerNews party’ for all his friends and co-workers. When we arrived only a few guys were there eating dinner, and before too long, I was cutting down chips and dealing a home game!

It would never be a great idea running a sizeable game, so we chose a rotation of NLH and PLO with blinds at 5c-10c . . . big stakes ey!

I bought in for $10, while most people bought in for $20, $30 and even $50, and once Jonno, Mike and some random others strolled in, the game got out of control with pots of $50+ playing out in both the NLH and PLO orbits.

But like most home games / hotel party’s / going away party’s things started to get out of hand with drinks being spilt and ridiculous room service orders being placed.

Eventually security came knocking and we warned to shut-up or ship out! The food eventually came, and I took a step away and began cashing everyone out as I knew things wouldn’t last too much longer . . . and I was right as we were soon on our way home!

Thanks to Lynn for hosting a kick-ass night of fun and degeneracy!

Today marked the end of the third flight from Event 1 of the 2010 Aussie Millions!

Like previous years, the poker extravaganza that is the Aussie Millions kicked off with the $1,100 Opening Event that has seen record increases in attendance over the past few years; and 2010’s case was no exception!

A total of 1,143 entrants created the epic $1,143,000 prizepool thanks to a mixture of 919 unique entrants and 224 who repechaged.

When the dust settled on Day 1c, 193 players had made it through with many big-name local players, amateurs and international guests all having seats for action tomorrow.

As most of you know by now I was working the event on behalf of PokerNetwork and Bet 24/7, and if you want to catch the updates as I saw it, then click the links below.

Event 1 Day 1a
Event 1 Day 1b
Event 1 Day 1c

With work wrapped up around 9pm, I decided to join the PokerPro tables with Garry, Chris and Heath.

The tables were full so I decided to jump on the newly located $15 Squeeze Baccarat table that they had moved to sit nearby the PokerPro tables.

Buying in for $400 I slowly grinded up some profit before Brendon Rubie decided to join me for some degenerate gambling action. After explaining the rules he decided just to bet whatever I bet, but couldn’t really get a handle on the art that is squeezing!

At my high point I was up around $200, but left satisfied with $175 profit as Brendon had easily doubled his $100 buy-in before we both moved to the PokerPro tables.

Since Heath, Chris and Garry all had in excess of $300 – well apart from Heath who had around $200 – I decided to short-stack it to increase the fun factor and bought in for $20 on the $1-2 NLH PokerPro table that they were playing.

Those buy-in’s went fairly quickly – and from what I can remember – Kings vs Ace-King (all in on turn, river Ace) and against Chris as we shoved dark, my K♦ Q♣ went down to his 9♠ 5♣ when the board ran out A♦ Q♦ 6♦ 5♠ 5♥.

Consequently I decided to take it seriously after dropping a quick $100, and bought in for the full $100 amount. I quickly chipped up to $150 when I made two-pair and then just slowly took down pots every orbit to hit a high-point of $320 before making a move on Chris.

He made it $7 under the gun with 3♠ 4♠ and I three-bet to $23 with A♣ 9♠. The button called and so did Chris to see a 3♦ 5♥ 3♣ flop land. I bet out $25, the button moved all in for less, and Chris gave me this big talk before making it $75. Obviously he cashed out after that hand with around $500 as me and Heath were soon joined by Elaine once Garry and Brendon had left.

Elaine nitted it up and only lost pots to me when I would three-bet and then continuation bet with 7-3 off etc.

The night finished around 2am with all of us enjoying some play time outside of work!

I made my down to the poker room a little after midday and took my seat on a $1-2 NLH table.

I sat down, got comfy and chucked my iPod on in preparation for the beginning of a solid few days of cash game grinding . . . but that wouldn’t last long. After a few limps, a raise to $20 and a call, I looked down at 10♦ 6♦. Now the re-raiser had been inclined to raise with garbage, but also was willing to fold and seemed scared of money. Consequently I saw this as a good spot to add about $46 to my $100 stack and decided to move all in from the big blind. The limpers folded, and after about three minutes of umming and ahhing, the raiser made the call. The preflop caller spent a further four minutes in the tank, eventually announcing his intention to gamble as he pushed his chips into the pot.

The board ran out Queen-high and after the preflop raiser turned over Queen-Jack offsuit, the pot was pushed and I rebought. Although the play seemed stupid, I didn’t mind it as it nearly worked. Either way, I slowly grinded my rebuy up to over $200 before hitting a few hiccups that included some busted draws and unlucky turns and rivers. Before too long my remaining $100-odd would be all in preflop against three players after committing most of my chips to a four-bet shove over a straddle and re-straddle.

I actually held the best hand with Ace-Jack, but even after flopping a pair, turning the nutflush draw and a gutshot to Broadway, I still managed to go down to the all powerful King-Jack offsuit! My third rebuy went fairly quickly when I was all in on the flop with two pair, only to get turned by an opponent who hit his three-outer to make a bigger two-pair.

Feeling like gambling, I decided to heat to play some Baccarat, but just like in the poker room, that wouldn’t go too well either as I quickly lost $450. I grabbed some dinner, had a rest, a little nap, surfed the net before returning to the poker room later on in the evening.

I took a seat on a $2-3 NLH table and found four $500-plus stacks, along with a $1700 one. The first hand I witnessed I saw the big stack grow to over $2400 after flopping top two-pair. After about an hour – with the table only six-handed – I had moved my stack to over $360 after taking a sizeable pot down with top-pair. I then was forced to top-up another $100 after having my two-pair flushed on and then getting involved in a big pot with a live straight draw.

Then holding K♠ 10♠ I lost a big pot against a donkey when on a board of K♥ J♥ 4♣ 10♥ J♠ he rolled over A♥ J♣. I topped up another $100 only to have that same donkey then flop a full house out of the small blind when I made the nut-flush on the turn and we got all the chips into the middle.

Left with only $106 there was a straddle to $6 and everyone called to me on the button – and being on tilt after the last hand – I made the call holding J♠ 4♠. The big blind then gave everyone option by making it $40, one call, another call, another call and another call, saw the action back on me. Knowing that my all in shove would be at least called by three of the players in the hand – as two had over $1000 in their stack while one had only $100 – I decided to ship it in.

I did indeed get three callers, and even though I was put through a sweat on the 8♠ 7♥ 6♦ A♠ 8♥ board, I was unable to outdraw the pocket tens, nines and a random holding, and consequently called it a night.

After a great night’s rest I returned to the poker room and sat down on a new $2-3 NLH table along with Vincent ‘Wonky’ Wan.

Wonky had been helping me out a lot recently when I headed in to play as we have been discussing both live and online hands during our live sessions at Crown. He quickly chipped up and headed to a $2-5 NLH table while I just plodded along.

I was forced to lay a big hand or two down, and eventually had topped up to be in for $400. I was sitting on around $260 when I was dealt A♣ K♣ in the cutoff and made it $20 after three limpers. The player on the button who had seemed to be fairly solid made it $50 to go as the big blind – a relative donkey – made the call too. I was fairly certain that the button player held a pair like Jacks or Tens, and since I too had been solid, I decided to four-bet to $180 to rep Aces or Kings.

The button player then went into the tank for about four minutes. He cut down the amount to call, as well as asking me how much I had left (around $80) and whether or not I had it (nup). Eventually he announced he was all in as the big blind folded and I tossed in my last $80 or so. The board bricked out, and his Queens held up, but after reviewing the hand, I wasn’t at all fussed with the way I played it.

I decided to cut my stay in Melbourne short and drove back to Geelong for cricket training to see the week out at home before returning for the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series on Sunday.

It was a surprisingly comfortable night in the car, and once up at around 11am I headed to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre for the second consecutive day to have a shower.

With the annual Shane Warne Foundation Charity Tournament being held at Crown, only two $1-2 NLH tables were in operation once I arrived, and consequently I had to wait nearly ninety minutes to grab a seat. I spent my time waiting round having some lunch and catching up with some friends – mainly tournament supervisors Frank Bianco and Renee Howard.

Once my seat was called I found myself seated next to fellow low-stakes grinder and mate Rob – who had been absent from the recent few weeks of home games as he has been opting to donk off at Crown!

It was yet another terrible session as I was in for $200 within the first hour before winning my first pot and then spent the next few hours doing absolutely nothing with the stack I had in front of me before eventually being in for $300. Rob was on tilt after donking his once $300-plus stack and left as James took a seat on my left (as seen playing poker below . . . maybe it ain’t his forte though).

We had both intended on playing the Aussie Millions Opening Event satellite, but due to my recent run bad I decided to just see what I could make of this third buy-in.

James busted from the satellite early and then proceeded to lose $200 in cash games as my stack had been cut to barely fifty big blinds. I decided to just see it out and try and run it up to $100 or get stacked before grabbing some food and maybe catching a movie before hitting the felt again later that night. With my last $23 I eventually got it in holding J♠ 6♠ after there was a raise to $10 and seven callers. The original raiser called the re-raise before the player on his immediate left pushed all in for over $150. Everyone folded, the original raiser called holding King-Queen to be in horrible shape against the re-raiser’s Kings. The board ran out with two Jacks on it, but when a nine-ball landed on the river to see the King-Queen make a straight I made my way to the rail as I waited for James.

James donked off another $100 and joined my upstairs in the food court to try and get off tilt. I cold drink and plate of rice later I was fine, but James wanted to hit the $5 blackjack tables.

Since I found it hilarious when he lost – as he was betting $5 a hand – I started cheering for the dealer to deal him 20 and himself 21 etc. Down $45, we left the blackjack table only to stumble across a $15 squeeze Baccarat table!

The only difference was that on ties you lost your bet, but if you made eight or nine with three cards you were paid out two-to-one. Following the trait of the last few hours, James dropped $200 after betting on the opposite to everyone else just so he could squeeze and then slowroll all of us slanty eyes.

He made his way downstairs while I remained trying to get unstuck. All I could manage however was a $50 profit after hitting nine in three cards on my last squeeze.

Returning downstairs I found James on a $2-3 NLH table, and once the seat on his immediate right freed up after a half hour of sweating him I decided to fill it.

Half an orbit would past until I was in the big blind and then proceeded to go on a mini-heater and win the next four pots. After James had straddled I flopped top pair holding King-Jack and found two streets of value, before check-calling three streets next hand holding King-Queen after flopping top pair on a straight and flushing board. The third hand saw my tens holding up against Ace-nine on a nine-high board, and my King-Queen managed to win another pot on the fourth hand after again flopping top pair.

Sitting with over $450 in front of me after my initial $200 buy-in, I decided to call it quits for the night after an orbit went by. This may have been a stupid decision but over the past few weeks every losing session has seen me profit on my first buy-in before getting stacked – and after the roller coaster of a week I have had I decided just to pocket the profits and return to Geelong.

All in all it was a huge week for me (sarcasm detector soaring) as I profited a whopping $90 after playing seven sessions over three days . . . sigh . . . what a waste of time . . . but least I didn’t lose!

A new week and another trip up the highway to play some cards!

Once I arrived at Crown at around lunchtime I sat down on a new $1-2 NLH table and gambled with my first $80 holding K♥ 10♥ against Aces, Kings and some random holdings on a board that ran out King-high.

I eventually ran my rebuy up to around $130 before opening to $6 with 9♣ 9♥ and after getting two callers, got a further two streets of value on a board of 10♦ 9♦ 6♣ 7♥ A♠ before Mat arrived after work and took a seat on my table. Just before we were due I was dealt 9♠ 8♠ and raised to $11 after two limpers. Both limpers called along with another player to see a flop of 9♦ 7♦ 10♣ fall. One limper fired out $15 and I made it $45 to go. Two calls later and the 6♠ on the turn saw me move all in with only one player making the call holding 4♦ 3♦. The river bricked out and I cashed out $271 as both Mat and I made our way to Brendo’s home game.

We were expecting thirteen-odd players, but as home games normally run, there were a few empty promises and just the normal group of guys turned up to fill the table.

I played terrible and was in for three buy-ins before managing to claw back a buy-in and some as the night wound up after playing five-handed for the last hour or so.

Mat was in the first week of his new 9-5 job, and even though he let me crash at his place in his bungalow, I was unable to access his shower and therefore had to think of an alternate mean of cleaning.

I jumped in my car and drove to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert Park to use the change rooms there. With RMIT holding their exams, it was completely packed with university students doing some last minute cramming before sitting down at a desk for a couple of hours. With both the basketball and badminton change rooms closed due to the exams, I made my way to the pool check-in and explained that I had been directed there – consequently avoided any admission fees!

Once clean and refreshed I made my way to Crown just before midday to hit the felt of a $1-2 NLH table.

Two hands stood out on my way to another losing session. Firstly after building my stack to around $185 I was dealt 9♥ 9♦, and was run down by A♣ 7♣ on a 5♣ 5♥ 2♣ 3♣ A♥ board.

Secondly I was dealt 10♠ 9♠ and opened to $6, and after finding two callers including the big blind, led out for $11 on a K♥ Q♣ 8♠ flop. One call, one fold and the J♦ fell on the turn followed by a $25 bet from me. Again my opponent made the call to see the 7♠ land on the river. I had a sick feeling (don’t laugh) that he may actually have Ace-Ten, but I really couldn’t miss any value and decided to bet $55. My opponent instantly moved all-in, and having only $25 behind, I made the call being sick to my stomach. Of course he rolled over A♥ 10♦ and I was forced to rebuy once again.

Down $200 I cut my losses and my way to our indoor soccer match in Doncaster where we triumphed once again in the first game of the season. With a scoreline of 17-10 of thereabouts I was only able to contribute a solitary goal from one attempt after spending most of my time in defence.

Even though James didn’t play, he joined us at Mat’s house where we spent some time recovering and playing this board game called Bluff.

Basically you start with a cup of five dice, roll the dice in the cup and reveal them in secret. The first player then bids on how many of a particular number have been rolled. For example if I said there were five three’s then there would have to be five three’s out of the fifteen dice in play. If a player thought I was bluffing, then would reveal all our dice. If they were correct I would lose one of my dice and we would continue playing. If they didn’t think I was bluffing they would up-the-bet by announcing five of a greater number or six of any number and so forth. The game is decided when your opponents have lost all their dice and you are determined the winner – of course there are a few more intricate rules but there is no need to explain them at this point in time.

We played until about 2am or so with James owning our Bluff souls! Mat hit the hay, James returned home and I ventured back to Crown for another session.

Once back at Crown I sat down at a $1-2 NLH table once again and pushed my $80 buy-in into $200. I basically grinded it up slowly before dropping a huge chunk of it before running a bluff. With a raise to $12 ahead of me and a few callers, I made the call holding A♠ 5♠ to see a flop of 7♦ 6♦ 3♠ fall and the original raiser fire out $20. Having $135 in my stack I made a raise to $55 as I firmly put this guy on Ace-King/Queen etc and felt that he would fold his two overcards – but if not I still had my guttaball as outs. After about three minutes in the tank he folded and I was back to $200.

Another orbit went by and I decided to cash out and take a break for a little while as I made my way upstairs to the smoking terrace where there was actually a nice breeze and no smokers to bother me.

I took my seat on another $1-2 NLH table with $80 and found it to be the most aggressive I had witnessed in a while. A player to my left would continuously open to $40 or $50 and continuation bet $50 to $100. When I arrived he had around $500 on him, and after about twenty minutes he had gifted it to everyone on the table apart from me. Then in a raised pot of $10 I held A♠ J♠ and check-raised all in against him on a J♥ 2♥ 2♦ board only to find him holding 6♣ 2♠.

Sigh! I rebought, but before I could take him on, he hadn’t gifted a further $200 to everyone and was on his way out the door. My rebuy would eventually be run up to over $300 after firstly turning top two in a multi-way pot and then rivering a straight and having an opponent bluff into me.

I decided to call it quits as the sun began to rise, and since I was in the city I decided to take residence in my car for the night . . . yes I am complete degen . . . and what made it worse that I did it last week and was even more prepared this week with a pillow, sleeping bag and some trackie pants to sleep in!