tilted behaviour

Following a late-night session of Chinese poker and a short sleep session following my bustout in the $340 Terminator I was up early and returned to the Crown Poker Room to play day one flight one of Event 7: $340 No Limit Holdem.

Feeling really good and full of confidence I would see that slip away fairly quickly when my 15,000-chip starting bank slipped down to 14,000 and then 11,000 after paying someone off on the river with A♥ 10♥ on a board reading Q♥ J♦ A♣ 5♣ J♣ with my opponent tabling Q♦ J♠ when I called his 1,100-chip bet on the river.

With blinds at 100-200 I completed from the small blind with J♥ 10♠ and four players checked the flop of 10♥ 7♥ 4♠ to see the turn of the J♦ fall. I led out for 800 and Kevin Khouiss called as did another player before I checked the river of the K♦ to see Khouiss lead out for 1,750 and find a caller. I sat in the tank with my two-pair and felt that at a minimum Khouiss had K-J but most likely made a straight on the turn or river and decided to not make a spite call and openly tabled my hand to the shock of the table. With most thinking it was a bad fold, I was happily reassured when Khouiss turned over 9♦ 8♦ for the turned straight and the pot.

Down to 10,125 and then 9,650 and then 8,950, I would find sixes under-the-gun to take down the blinds and antes and climb back to over 10,000 as my original table broke to seat me on a table that included Julian Cohen and Raemin Alexander as well as some other players that I had played against before.

My stack kept dwindling and I was unable to muster a double after rueing an opportunity when I opened to 1,600 with A♥ Q♦ from early position and found a caller in the big blind for an additional 1,000 in chips. We both checked the flop to see him lead out for 2,000 with the board reading A♠ J♣ 9♣ 10♠ only to be followed with me moving all-in to force a fold. Now if I flat there he may bluff-fire the river and I get a double up to put me around 18,000 instead of the 13,300 that I was left with.

I was able to avoid two potential eliminations when I opened to 1,600 from the cutoff and was raised to 5,100 by the big stack on the button. I mucked my 8♥ 8♦ and he flashed Aces to leave me with 10,550 in chips. Next level (400-800-25) I opened to 2,000 from the hi-jack and the big blind made it 5,500 to go forcing me to fold a pair of threes which prompted him to table his J♠ J♣ to leave me confident of another good read and fold, but left with 6,550 in chips.

I managed a double just as we broke tables when the small blind moved all-in and I snapped off with A♣ 2♦ only to be up against A♦ 8♦. However a deuce on the flop would see me eliminate him and move to 11,800 in chips as I was moved to be seated next to Andrew Scott and opposite Russell Watkins.

The enjoyable conversation with Scott wouldn’t last too long when I was sent to the rail when the button opened to 3,200 with blinds at 600-1,200 with a 100 ante. With the small blind out of the way, I peeked down at A♦ K♣ and moved all-in for an additional 5,200 and was met with a call. I called heads, but flipped tails when his 9♣ 9♥ stayed ahead on a board of J♦ 8♦ 8♣ 2♣ 4♦ to myself fall short of bagging my chips falling in 53rd place of the 131 flight one starters.

It was extremely disappointing playing so well but falling short of registering a result for not only me, but also my ChipMeUp backers. Over the last two days of tournament poker I’ve identified a weakness of not being able to accumulate chips in those middle levels where it can make or break your tournament and therefore minimise your reliance on finding a rush of cards and double-ups when approaching the money.

Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series – Event 7 Chip Stack Graph

Like previously the blue line charts my chip trend with the red vertical lines indicating the change in blinds and green ones the change in tables.

On a side note, one of my first ever poker buddies and fellow bloggers Carey Ciuro is still in with 84,600 in chips which puts him in the top ten in chips. Good luck buddy and (since we swapped 5%) please ship it ONE TIME!

On one hand I can count the amount of times I’ve drunk myself to the point of sickness . . . and last night I added another. I only had around 4 Corona’s but the vodka to red bull ratio in each glass Nik Lackovic and Andrew Scott were pouring definitely outweighed what is normally expected in a standard mix!

Waking up feeling absolutely terrible I slowly made my way down to the Grand Ballroom to set up my computer in preparation for day 2 of the Main Event. F-Train, looking surprisingly fresh, looked up at me with that look of, “You look dreadful” . . . and boy did I feel it!

I stumbled round the floor as play began catching up with some of the Aussie boys from the night before. I approached Nik and stated to him, “I hate you” after he was the main culprit when it came to the quadruple-strength vodka mixes at Myama only several hours earlier. It took me a few hours to get back to a normal working level, and a bottle of Gatorade and a banana delivered by Heath definitely helped.

Bubble Boy Nik Lackovic

Play was quick as we hit the money with Nik Lackovic bubbling, and once the dinner break was upon us we ventured up to the FHM Player’s Party to enjoy a few free drinks and nibbles. In comparison to the Macau player party, this one was definitely at the other end of the scale being fairly lame apart from the open bar and being able to stare at Riza Santos in a beautiful red dress.

F-Train and I returned to tournament floor to see another Aussie fall on the bubble with Michael Pedley falling one place short of a repeat Asian Poker Tour final table when Pedley’s A♦ 2♦ was unable to stay ahead against Neil Arce’s K♠ J♥ when a King fell on the flop.

Michael Pedley enjoying day 1b play with Liz Lieu

With the final table being formed before midnight I headed back up to the party to snack on some food and enjoy a non-alcoholic beverage before persuading Heath and Damian Oborne to come down and play some cards.

We sat down on a new 50-100 table with a couple of guys down from England and Heath found a double early while Damo lost a couple of buy-ins. Another English guy sat down fresh off a 300,000-plus peso win on a higher-limit table and wanted to have some fun with his mates. He bought in for 20,000 pesos everytime and chipped up the table – especially Damo who benefited by chipping over and over through him.

It wasn’t a good session for me getting my Aces cracked all in on the flop against a straight draw. Then I slow-played queens terribly and was cracked by 10♥ 6♥ with all the money going in on a board of 6♦ 6♠ 9♠. Now in for 15,000 pesos I slowly grinded until the table broke to four-handed. With heath fairly drunk and tired he couldn’t leave because of his love for short-handed play. Soon play was down to three-handed between a visibly tired Heath, a very-awake me, and some German dude.

After half an hour of play the German finally realised that we were slowly grinding his money away and decided to leave. So now it was what the both of us wanted . . . a heads up battle!

We played at least 100 hands with me having a definite edge over Heath who was falling asleep as the clock ticked past 6am. After slowly grinding back some of the money I had lost in the full ring the final hand came down where I rivered trips on a four-flush board with 10♥ 8♣ against his K♥ K♦. As he saw me table my trips he stood up and went straight to the cashier to cash out to return to bed.

If you’re wondering if I feel bad for taking advantage of Heath . . . nah, not really, because he probably has the edge most days . . . so it’s only fair!

The first two days of the Main Event would see 262 hopefuls tackle the felt in the USD$2,700 Main Event. Only 69 would make it through, but some big names would fall including bracelet winners Toto Leonidas and Mansour Matloubi, Sunshine Samson, Wooka Kim, Poker Pack members Quinn Do, Tommy Le and Kwang Soo Lee and Australian’s Vincent Wan, Kent Hunter, Damien Oborne, David Steicke and Heath Chick.

Two of the hopefuls that made it through; Poker Pack members Nam Le and David ‘Chino’ Rheem

Heath ‘Tassie Devil’ Chick hasn’t been my friend for a long time, but the countless hours on the tournament floor we’ve spent together makes it feel like we’ve mates since school; even though he is more than seven years older than me! Travelling together and covering all the Australasian tournaments over the past 12 months hasn’t left either of us much time to hit the tournament felt, but finally Heath had an opportunity here in Manila.

With no plans to return to Manila, he satellited in a few days after the new year and was extremely excited to have another chance at tournament glory following unsuccessful attempts during last and this year’s Aussie Millions as well as a few events during the 2008 WSOP.

Things started well when he opened to 150 with A♥ K♦ and found one caller to see a flop of J♦ Q♠ 10♥ where he led for 200 with his opponent making the call. The turn landed the K♥ and Chick bet out 500 before being check-raised to 1,500. He made the call before check-raising to 6,000 over the 2,000-chip bet from his opponent when the 6♣ landed on the river. What looked like a good start ended with a chop when his opponent also tabled broadway holding A♠ K♣.

Heath ‘Tassie Devil’ Chick

Looking down at A♦ A♥ following a raise to 250 and a call Chick bumped it to 875 with both making the call before the action was checked to him on the flop of J♦ 4♦ K♥. Chick bet out 1,500 and the original raiser check-raised to 3,500 with Chick eventually making the call. The turn landed the 4♣ and Chick faced an all-in bet of 5,500 which he eventually called leaving himself around 500 behind. Being shown J♣ J♠ put a sick feeling in his stomach, and finding no two-outer on the river he was left crippled.

He found a double, but was unable to gain another life-line when his Queens were out-flopped by King-Jack to end his tournament in the first level. In a quote from his blog; Tassie Devil Poker, “So now I’m off to drown my sorrows and rue my luck at another lost opportunity” was a real fear for both me and F-Train who couldn’t get into contact with him for the whole day. The funeral arrangements were already being made and the division of assets taking place . . . but eventually we heard from Heath as he continued to drown his sorrows all day and night.

Following the end of play of day 1b F-Train and I headed to the hotel bar to join some of the Aussie boys in Michael Pedley, Kent Hunter, Nik Lackovic and Andrew Scott for a quiet Corona or two before deciding to join Gabby and a few of the APT models at a party.

We all taxied over to the nightclub Myama where one of the APT models was having a going away party. Myama will go on record as the best club I’ve been to because of the spacious surrounds, great music without being too loud, cheap drinks, great atmosphere and plenty of gorgeous asian woman.

The Corona’s were cheap and the vodka flowed fast, and with Nik Lackovic leading the charge he made sure we had a ‘fun’ night. Me and F-Train were left to fend for ourselves which suited him as he danced the night away with two bootylicious-black girls before I decided to call it a night at 3am feeling a little on the ill-side . . .

Wanting to catch breakfast again I headed downstairs just in time and was escorted to a table. I left my table to get some apple juice only to return to my table where a older couple had taken up my seats. The waiter quickly moved me and I put down my drink to get a plate of food. However, yet again my new table was filled with a middle-aged woman tucking into some fruit.

“Allright, this is ridiculous . . . please get me a table where I can sit down!” I told the waiter and he escorted me down to the end of the restaurant where I was seated by myself with barely a sole around me. After quickly downing my first plate of food I ventured back for some cereal and fruit only to see the beautiful Riza Santos strolling round the buffet.

Already in love with how gorgeous she is, seeing her out of her normal black figure-hugging dresses and in tracksuit pants, thongs and a boring old t-shirt easily pushed her to the number one spot.

I return to my table with a bowl of cereal in hand only to see Riza seated on the table next to me with what I assume was her mother. Like a star-struck teenager I sat there slowly chomping on my cornflakes with, “OMG, OMG, OMG” going through my head over and over. I tried to keep my cool and act as casual as possible while returning with a bowl of fruit. I finished my meal and headed upstairs with the “OMG, OMG, OMG” still whizzing through my head.

Riza Santos

Heath, F-Train and I caught up in the lobby before heading to the shops across the road. We bought some groceries and returned to the hotel where they ventured back to the room while I took to the felt.

I only played for an hour or so on the same table as Adam Simon and across from Wonky. I bought in for 5,000 pesos which equates to around AUD$200 with blinds at 50-100. I doubled early when I opened to 300 from under the gun with K♥ K♦ and was met with five callers round to the small blind who raised to 1,300. I thought about pushing my remaining 4,700 into the middle, but I felt that he wasn’t strong and wouldn’t call an all in.

So I flatted, and so did some Skandi player from the cutoff to see a flop of 7♦ 3♦ 2♣ fall down. The small blind immediately moved all in, and once I called the Skandi got out of the way to see my Kings up against his 8♣ 8♦. The board bricked out and I found a double and finished the session with around 12,000 pesos as I went upstairs to prepare for the Opening Ceremony and Welcome Party.

The Opening Ceremony and Welcome Party was more like a friendly get together with an open bar and cute APT models strolling round, which lasted no longer than 45 minutes. Once the ribbon was cut and the speeches were spoken Heath, Damon and Hux headed to dinner as they had the Head Hunter event to play while a few of us decided to head out on the town.

David Saab, Bryan Huang, Ivan Tan, Raymond Wu, Gabby Barredo, F-Train, Myself, Andrew Scott and ‘friend’ Joy all squashed into Saab’s LandCruiser and drove for around 30 minutes until we arrived at this Japanese restaurant that Saab kept raving about it. Bottles of Saki flowed, and so did the food until we dropped off Bryan, Ivan and Raymond at a KTV place before the rest of us headed to a club called Embassy.

Cheap drinks, cute girls, and a mix-mash of music were the highlights, but an over-filled dance floor saw Saab and Gabby leave early before the rest of us partied with some of the APT people before Joy took us to the Wensha Spa for some relaxation.

We stripped down in our change rooms, showered up and headed through a few rooms until we reached our own rooms to enjoy a massage. An hour later (I think) I put my robe back on after enjoying a somewhat painful massage before heading back to the change rooms as the clock ticked past 4am. F-Train and I waited in the reception for Andrew and Joy for over 30 minutes before deciding to catch a cab after they were no shows.

. . . and just for good measure

Riza Santos