tilted behaviour

It had been well over three months, but I was finally on my way back to Melbourne for a home game to catch up with a bunch of my poker buddies.

I began Saturday with a trip into town to watch a few hours of my cricket club’s Grand Final (which we eventually lost) before making my way up the highway to Crown. I said hello to some friends I hadn’t seen in ages before making heading to Mat’s house to help set up the home game.

Mat has a bungalow out the back of his house, and now that it has been cleared out, we set up a table in there in preparation for the night.

We had a full table of nine players as we sat down around 8:30pm to play some 25c-50c NLH. I chipped up to around $90 in the first hour before hitting a very cold run of cards for the next several hours. I was pushed out of a few pots to slip back to around $65 before opening with a raise to $1.50 from under the gun with 8♥ 5♥. It was called round to Oatsy on the button who made it $6.50 to go with about $70 behind him. I called, as did three others, to see a flop of A♥ J♠ 8♣ fall and action check round to Oatsy who continued with a very small bet of $7.50. Now I had to decipher what exactly he had.

I had bluffed him on a few occasions and knew that he was capable of folding a hand to me as he is more than solid when it comes to cash games. Also he had been stealing a few pots to accumulate some chips after losing a buy-in early. In this spot there is a good chance that he flopped huge like Aces, Jacks or Ace-Jack or flopped well with Ace-King or Ace-Queen. However I believed his range was more skewed to weaker and more marginal holdings like weak Aces or underpairs and decided that I could successfully win the pot by running an educated bluff.

Now he was never going to fold one of those huge hands, so my bluff would have to see him fold out the top of his perceived slightly weaker range; basically Ace-Ten and worse. One of the players in the hand – Alex – was throwing a huge stare-down at Oatsy like he wanted to get funky with some sort of Ace or Jack so that made me consider a bluff even more.

Taking stack sizes into consideration, I took my time before check-raising to $22 so that if he called it would take the pot to $77.25 and both of us having just on $50 behind (to be honest I really wish I had more so that my turn ship looked more powerful . . . but oh well). Alex took his time before folding before Oatsy spent a minute summing up the situation before calling.

Knowing that he either had it or not, I was looking for a blank on the turn that didn’t improve his middle-tier range so that my shove would force a fold. Now of course if he called I was probably drawing dead!

The turn landed the 2♠ and I moved all in only to be quickly called by Oatsy. I tossed my cards into the muck and announced, “your set is good mate” before he rolled over Jacks. We didn’t even deal a river and I was forced to rebuy another $50 as everyone on the table just looked shocked at what had just gone down.

Money pretty much passed round in circles all night, and I eventually finished even after rivering two-pair with Ace-Ten against Ace-Queen as we called it a night at around 4:30am.

After crashing at Alex’s for the night, I was up earlier then I wished as I was on my way to catch up with a friend at Chadstone for lunch and a movie.

Bec wanted to grab some Yum Cha which I was happy to oblige with although I found it oddly strange not to be eating Yum Cha in Chinatown where I’m use to. Afterwards we decided to summon our inner-child and decided to watch the newly released How To Train Your Dragon in 3D.

Toothless and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III

Getting use to the 3D glasses took longer than I expected but they definitely worked in some parts of the movie, otherwise it was probably no different to watching it in the normal 2D format. All-in-all I definitely recommend seeing it as it does have an interesting storyline and was pretty funny even if you aren’t a child.

Bec made her way home to prepare for her new job starting tomorrow while I made my way to Crown to play in Event 8: $200 No Limit Holdem / Pot Limit Omaha Teams Event with Alex.

He sat down first to play the NLH orbit while I was due to play the PLO one. We got off to a slow start with not much action from either game before I chipped up on the last hand of my orbit when I raised from the button over a few limpers holding 8♣ 7♣ 7♠ 5♥ and took the pot down with a continuation bet on the 10♠ 3♠ 3♣ board.

During my next PLO orbit I was dealt Aces twice and picked up the blinds with an under the gun raise and then limped in from the cutoff before taking it down on the flop. However – just like the previous orbit – I won a substantial pot on the final hand of the level when after a limp I raised holding Q♥ J♣ J♠ 9♠. The big blind called as did the limper before a flop of 10♣ 7♣ 2♠ fell. The limper fired out for pot and I felt like he had complete air and decided to make the call as the big blind passed. We both checked the 6♠ on the turn before I was faced with another pot-sized bet when the river landed the Q♦. I tanked for about a minute before making the call to be shown a pair of sixes and three cards forming the rest of his air.

Unfortunately for us things would fall apart in the next PLO orbit when the most aggressive player on the table flopped top set of sevens on me and I was forced to fold to his check-raise. A few hands later I called one of his light raises from the button with A♠ K♠ 6h 5♥. Dean Francis – a solid PLO regular player – also called from the big blind and fired out pot on a fairly dry board with an overpair and flush draw as I folded and Alex subbed in.

We wouldn’t last too many more hands when after facing a limp for 1,200 from the hi-jack, Alex jammed for over 7,000 from the cutoff holding Q♦ 9♦. His opponent took his time before calling, only to table a dominating A♣ 9♥. We turned a gutshot but blanked as we hit the rail in about 40th place from the original 118 starters.

Although it wasn’t a greatly successful poker trip up to Melbourne, it was great to catch up with everyone and am looking forward to getting back there next weekend.

It had been a while since I ventured up to Melbourne, so it was good to journey up the highway to the city for some fun.

My friend Bec and I had discussed a night of ice skating a few weeks back, and with the day finally upon us, I was more than a little nervous. I arrived early planning to catch up with a mate, but when some things got in the way, we decided to postpone that and instead I ventured to the city to check out the water-damaged Crown Poker Room.

Things didn’t seem too bad in the room, and I decided to take a seat on a $2-3 NLH table to kill the time before I made my way to an icy death!

Coming in on the big blind as time was called I was dealt 7♣ 7♠ and after a few players had limped, a player with over $800 in the cutoff decided to make it $15 as he started putting his chips in a rack. Both the button and small blind called, as did I, before the limpers followed suit to see the pot sit at around $105. The flop fell down 7♦ K♥ 6♦ and I led out for $45 – actually thinking the pot was smaller – and everyone folded apart from the original raiser. The turn landed the Q♥ and I toyed with checking, but with over $200 in the pot, I thought there was a slight chance that I could get a call from hands that would check behind – such as flush draw or even Jacks or something – and consequently moved all in for my last $140. My opponent deliberated for about three minutes before stating he was folding a flush draw for me as I racked in the pot to move to just under $330.

Mis-reading the size of the pot on the flop I really would have liked to bet say $65 to take the pot to $235 and then my shove would be about half pot and most likely have been called – and with no diamond landing on the river – I would have more than doubled.

A few hands later I opened 5♣ 5♥ to $11 and found one caller before being raised by the small blind to $22. We both called and I folded the flop as one player flopped trips and the other turned the nut flush.

Vincent ‘Wonky’ Wan walked in the room and I decided to sweat him for a while and discuss a few hands that we had been chatting about online that we had witnessed from a DeucesCracked training video. I must have brought him a little bit of luck as he chipped up nicely before it was time to hit the ice!

I picked up my mate Alex from the CBD and we made our way to IceHouse to meet up with Bec and her mates.

We grabbed our skates and made the nervous stumble to the ice rink as kids and adults whizzed round in a circle. Nervous as all hell, me and Alex slowly stepped on the ice holding the rail tightly as we attempted to make our way round the ring.

Although I use to roller-blade quite frequently when I was younger and have been skiing all my life, I was still just a little worried of face planting on the cold and hard surface.

Eventually though it all came back to me and it felt completely natural as I whizzed around the rink like a semi-pro zigzagging in-and-out of people as the DJ blasted 80’s hits through the sound system.

Alex on the other hand was S-T-RUGGLING! He could barely do a lap without clutching to a nearby rail and randomly he would fall over forcing both a simultaneous “you allright dude?” and “bwahahahaha” from me.

Unfortunately for Alex, one of his falls saw him land a little harder than the others and he bruised up his knee pretty bad and decided to take a break. I continued to skate round the rink flirting with landing on my ass as I tried to go as fast as I could before slowing down to take corners that were tougher than I expected.

With everyone about to call it a night after several hours on the ring I made my way back onto the ice after taking a quick break. I stood on the ice, took two steps forward and fell flat on my face . . . I honestly didn’t know you could feel that embarrassed!

I picked my sorry ass up and did a few more laps, before exiting IceHouse with everyone before me and Alex decided to stop off at Chappelli’s for a very-late midnight dinner.

Good food, interesting discussions revolving mostly around poker and a long ride back to Geelong to be in bed by 4am.

It had been a while since I’ve been up to Melbourne – and with a going away ‘party’ and a friend’s 21st – there was no reason why I shouldn’t journey up the highway.

I say ‘party’ because it was actually my mate Oatsy’s farewell APL Tournament at the Veneto Club in Bulleen where he has been the Tournament Director for the last few years.

Driving up to Melbourne I planned to meet James in the city at around 6pm before waiting round for Mat to finish work at 7pm. I found a park on Spring Street and met James at Parliament station before we headed down Collins Street to meet up with James’ new Bec.

We grabbed Mat outside of his work and made our way in peak hour city traffic to the Veneto Club a little late, but thanks to the huge turnout, the event was behind schedule.

James, Mat and I were all bounties for the night and Oatsy introduced us – along with the other few bounties – as we took our seats at our assigned tables.

Luckily for me us bounties started with a 5,000-chip starting bank compared to the other players 3,000 as I got stacked early on. With a few limps ahead of me for 50, I made it 325 to holding A♠ A♥ and was called by both the blinds. The flop fell down J♠ 8♥ 3♥ and I made it 775 to go. The lady in the small blind check-called as the big blind folded to see the Q♠ land on the turn and a check from both of us. The river fell the 2♥ and she fired out 2,000. I shook my head threw in two chips and called out to the Tournament Director for a rebuy as I held my rebuy card up in the air. The lady turned over J♥ J♥ to rake in the pot as I topped up another 2,000.

Mat was out shortly after the first break when he found the old King-high and made his way home to get changed, as I got moved to a table to take up Bec’s seat. I shoved dark a few times before eventually calling off my chips in a three-way all in pot after sweating just the 8♠. My 2♠ to go with it did me poorly after one of the all-ins flopped top set of Jacks as I exited the tournament to now go and sweat James.

We poked and prodded at his continued folding until he finally called off his chips with a dominated A♥ 2♥. Everyone shared a shot with a very wasted Oatsy as we made our way to the city to hit up our 21st party.

Mateusz Pater, Andrew Oataway, Bec Hoult, James Bernard and Brendan White

The original plan was to meet one of my fellow poker friends Michael Palti at the Red Hummingbird on Russell St, but due to some dress code complications, Palti and his entourage were forced to move to the cocktail bar Mai Tai’s just down on the corner.

We began our night with all of us ordering a surprisingly strong mix of Long Island Red Bull’s and Long Island Ice Tea’s as we did what everyone does when consuming alcohol . . . talking shit!

Palti was busy entertaining his friends, but eventually found some time to come talk to us before leaving us to continue chatting on about everything and anything. Another round of cocktail’s followed as Palti and some of his mates headed to Maccas for a late-night snack. We eventually finished our drinks before deciding that Stalactites was our answer to some hunger!

Bec and Mat had never been before, and a fantastic garlic-covered souvlaki later, they had been broken in the Stalactites way!

We called it a night, and after driving Mat and Brendo home, I drove the two lovebirds to the station where James had left his car, and I made my way back to Geelong at the healthy time of 4am . . . now to catch a few hours sleep before cricket!