tilted behaviour

After yesterdays semi-triumph online my friend Tom told me to come up to Melbourne to help him celebrate his victory in a $109 on PokerStars earlier in the day where he pocketed around $17k.

Never one to turn down a trip up the highway to do something, I joined him and Mateusz at Crown to play the $10 rebuy which I had proved victorious several weeks earlier. Since we were the first ones to sign up, we all started on the same table as our late arrival mate Brendo found himself fortunately on a distant table.

As we started the tournament with $100 worth of rebuys in hand, I told Tom that if he moved all in, I would move all in dark – unfortunately this would have been a great time to shut up as whenever he did move all in it was always with premium as I was left to work some magic with a 4♣ 2♣ or some other junk. Inevitably as we reached the end of the rebuy period, I was in for the clean amount of $100 – the most out of us four as we headed upstairs to the roulette tables so Tom could get a gamble fix.

I had two $5 chips in my pocket and chucked them on the table with one of them on the 29/32 and 8/11 split. Dink! The ball dropped in the 29 and I was returning to the tournament with $90 in hand – just $10 short of my tournament buy-in LOL!

I wouldn’t last too long however as my Jacks lost to Q♣ J♣ and A♥ Q♠ when an Ace fell. And since we decided beforehand that instead of a money last longer we would do push-ups on the tournament floor, I was bound to busting out 30 right next to the feature table where I had been eliminated. Mateusz would follow soon after and do 20, while Brendo finished it off with 10. As for Tom, he managed to luckbox a fourth place as I was located on a $2-3 NLH table where I managed to double up after floating with A♠ 5♠ for a gutshot, backdoor flush draw and ace-high and spiking the wheel on the turn. I raised the turn and he called, and I shipped over his bet on the river with him calling with nines. MBN.

The following day Mateusz, Tom and I went down to the park to re-live our days of playing football. We had a kick, strained a few muscles and pulled out some freaky goals before retiring for another year with some lunch.

Mateusz was working, so Tom and I ventured into Crown to play the $60 Tuesday Turbo tourney where I had made the final table a few times previously. I doubled early with Ace-Jack against a banana’s King-Ten before moving tables where the beautiful Leyla was dealing away. We must have had some connection because I found a double with Queens against King-Jack and then knocked out two players with my Aces against their junk as I was moved to the feature table.

I grinded away for a while, made a three-bet shove with junk because I’m the boss and eventually made the final table sitting second in chips with around 20bbs. With only the top eight being paid, things didn’t start well as I back-to-back hands when I was forced to fold after opening an Ace and then losing a pot when the big blind defended with King-Four against my Eights.

Once we made the money however – a measly $80 – I waited patiently and picked my spots doubling with Ace-King and Ace-Ten against the same player before we were soon three-handed as I held nearly half the chips. Play see-sawed back-and-forth before I was soon heads-up and offered the guy a chop although I held a nearly two-to-one advantage. Yes I know it’s a terrible thing to do since I held such a lead, but it’s something I do in small tournaments regardless of the chip situation (well unless its a 17-to-1 advantage).

Leyla returned to deal to us, but it wouldn’t bring the same luck this time as I lost Ace-Queen to his 10-3 to give-up the lead. With the average stack now at 10bbs Leyla exposed the K♠ which would have matched up with my 6♠ – and being short I would have pushed from the button. Instead I received another six, and when my opponent called with Ace-Three, I flopped a set and he turned an ace but would see the pot pushed to me … thanks Leyla.

On the final hand I woke up with Jacks and instantly called his 5bb ship only to be shown his Queens. Leyla had my back again though as the board bricked out until she dropped a Jack on the river … weeeeeeee!

For the win, I pocketed $734 to continue an outstanding record at Crown in 2011. So far I’m 4/7 with three final tables and two wins – hopefully I can notch a big result soon in a major tourney, and if I can put in another request, I hope it’s in a few weeks at the WSOP!

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!

The car was full, the boot packed and the esky filled with alcohol as I began my drive from Geelong to Doncaster and then to Traralgon for a weekend with the boys.

We ended up leaving Melbourne around 7:30pm once everyone had finished work with three cars including James, Mat, Brendo, myself, James’ brother Adam and his four Irish back-packer mates along with some of James’ soccer buddies.

Arriving at the Monash University Gippsland campus, we all checked into one of the on-campus residential dorms that had six bedrooms for us twelve guys. We settled in, grabbed some food, and began a long night of drinking, kicking a soccer ball up and down the hallway, Bluff and Kings.

After a 4am end to the previous night debauchery we were all woken relatively early due to the soaring heat that seeped into our rooms.

James had to coach a soccer match in Moe – the main reason why we all came down as he gets very very lonely – and had left early along with a full car of followers, while the Irish and Adam began drinking. Mat, Brendo and I headed into Traralgon to grab a pub meal, scoop out what the town had to offer and also let Mat place a bet or seven on the races.

The town, although small, still had everything that we needed as none of us managed to finish our pub meal. Mat was unable to gamble up riches, but still managed to keep some money in his pocket as we returned back to the University to play a six-on-six half pitch soccer match.

The blazing heat continued to beat down on us as the Irish, along with Adam and Brendo, were no match for the ‘home’ team. We all returned back to the dorm to shower and prepare ourselves for a huge night out!

Our first stop was Star Bar and an order of Jagerbombs! We all settled around the pool table as the place was fairly quiet. Eventually the ladies started pouring in – and what surprised us all was the fact that out of the whole place there were only about twenty blokes; with us making the majority of that number up. More and more alcohol began to be consumed as we all hit the dancefloor to show these country-folks what us city slickers are made of.

Probably the funniest part of the night was when I organised a funny photo with James involving two bridesmaids on a Hens night. They both had these blow-up dildo’s and I asked them to spitroast him for a funny Facebook photo.

”Do you want to do him from behind or from the front?”
“I take it from behind, but I won’t give it to you from behind!”

We all burst into laughter and snapped away at scene before making our way to the second stop of the night – Inferno / Saloon Bar.

If any of you have been to Cheers on Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, then you would know exactly what this place was like. Two different dancefloors with different music, pool tables, multiple bars and a young crowd overfilled with guys. We all went from room to room dancing and drinking the night away before a few of us ended the night early at around 4am.

Waking up around midday to find a few of the boys returning home early due to prior commitments, the rest of us packed up the dorm and grabbed some lunch before making our way back to Traralgon to catch the last match James had to coach for the weekend.

A favourable 3-1 scoreline ended our weekend as the Irish and Adam headed to Phillip Island while James and I made our way back to Melbourne.

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!

I really enjoy playing home games, but it’s been real hard recently while living down in Geelong.

However, thanks to Brendo, we have got a regular Tuesday night game up to keep our home game shenanigans kicking on!

Last Tuesday after hitting the set of the Australian Poker Hero we played a 50c-$1 No Limit Holdem cash game. It was fairly short-handed with only Mat, James, Stefan, Joe and another Brendan coming along.

I ran my $50 into about $90 with no real hands of note except a huge bluff I pulled against Stefan holding K♦ 9♦. I opened to $2.50 and the whole table called – as was usual – to see a 10♣ 5♠ 3♦ flop fall and a bet of $4 follow from Stefan out of the big blind. I made it $8 to go and when it folded back to Stefan he made it $16 total. I really felt I was ahead in the hand and he was in fact bluffing me, or that he held something really weak like bottom pair. Consequently my only move was to push back and announced all in for an additional $42 and change.

Stefan sat in the tank for eternity before I started exchanging friendly banter before beginning to fire every bullet I held in my arsenal. Eventually he reluctantly folded bottom pair, I tabled my bluffed, and I then raked the pot in.

He is a solid player and I’m hoping that I can use that hand to my advantage next time I flop a set or something against him.

That night I finally won the Australian Poker Hero satellite that I had been playing two to three times a day everyday since they started. I’ve ran deep in so many of them, but I finally won one . . . the only problem was that it was under Brendo’s account – but if he does go the whole way I do have 20% of him.

I just can’t believe the run I’m having in those APH satellites as well as other ones I’ve been playing – just getting unlucky while still running deep etc for no result.

On a side note, I made my first online Royal Flush the other day while playing 200-400 Limit Holdem on PokerStars . . . sigh it was just for play money!

The game got up again the following week minus Joe but with the addition of Shayan and Tim.

I lost just under two buy-ins running terrible, but I guess I used all my good luck on one of the first hands against Tim. He opened to $2.50 from early position with K♠ K♥ and I made it $7.25 with A♠ J♠before he made it $13.50 to go. I really wanted to five-bet all in but had about $42 behind, so I think a call can be justified. The flop fell down K♦ Q♠ 9♠ and he fired out $15 before I moved all in for $35.

After deliberating for a few minutes we decided to run it twice, and on the first board saw it run out 10♣ and the 3♣ while on the second saw it fell 4♣ and 3♠ to see me win both.

I pretty much leaked that stack and got into some really crappy spots where I had to fold after being turned or rivered.

Oh well, the home game circuit is back, and I can’t wait to keep grinding away the live micro-limits!

After checking out the Crown Tournament Calendar last night, I noticed a tournament that sparked my interest . . . a $50 with $25 rebuys Pot Limit Omaha tournament.

Down the highway I went and registered for the tournament before heading upstairs with Peter Aristidou to kill some time before we started. A hot chocolate (me) and coffee (him) later and we took our seats both on the feature table and both directly next to each other – myself in seat six while Peter took seat seven.

I gambolled with one hand holding just one-pair against an obvious pair of Aces in the hole when I flopped a pair and multiple backdoor draws. I bricked out and the Aces held as I was forced to rebuy. In the next major hand I held A♦ K♥ J♣ 10♣ and got it all in against Peter’s Queen-Nine-x-x and another opponent’s K♦ 2♦-x-x on a flop of J♦ 10♣ 6♦. The turn blanked, but the river fell the K♠ to see Peter scoop the pot and me rebuy once again.

Once through the rebuy period I added-on to see me in for $150 as I made a prop bet with Steve Topakas. With twenty-six players remaining and Topakas holding a 24,000-chip stack, I bet him $50 that he wouldn’t finish in the top six, and after a few minutes of umming and ahhing he decided to go ahead with the bet.

A few hands after we resumed I busted when my J♦ 9♣ 8♣ 6♣ was unable to improve on a flop of 9♦ 8♣ 6♦ against two players holding a straight, and one with the nut flush draw.

(Topakas would end up finishing in 7th place . . . ship the $50!!!)

I drove over to Mat’s house and we ate some lunch before heading to watch Melbourne Victory versus Sydney FC in an A-League soccer match at Etihad Stadium with Brendan.

Sydney FC defeated Melbourne Victory 3-0

After just 19-minutes Sydney had the game locked at 3-0 and it was funny watching the die-hard Victory fans either sit there sulking and abusing their players or up and leave.

Once the game was wrapped up we made our way to Crown as had a few hours to kill before heading to a friend’s going away party.

We opted to play some 50c-$1 PokerPro and all bought in for the minimum of $20. The PokerPro tables at Crown have recently undergone a software upgrade, and on our table you could live straddle and rabbit hunt – the rabbit hunt was obviously rigged, but we did take advantage of the straddle option throughout the night.

Mat couldn’t win a pot, Brendo played like an idiot and was lucky to have any money in the end, while I was able to turn my $20 into $120.75 as we had a drink and exited the Poker Room.

The reason we were heading to Platform One was to celebrate Kim Ayles’ going away party as she was leaving Crown to teach English in Nepal for a few months.

We grabbed a few drinks while catching up with James and Rob and had a huge night having some fun with Kim and some other friends we knew from Crown in a venue that we would probably never normally visit.

With no poker tournaments to cover, why wouldn’t I want to play one myself for a change!

I headed down to Melbourne to play a home game with the usual crew, and for something different we decided on playing a $5 rebuy tournament with unlimited rebuys at the end of the rebuy period – so if you wanted to plonk down $50 you could get ten rebuys!

We started with the game with eight of us and $5 would get you a 1,000-chip starting bank. The whole aim was to be able to have more fun shoving all in for the same amount (we . . . well I . . . was estimating a $50 spend) that it would have cost for a normal freezeout.

I chipped up crazy during the rebuy period after getting stacked on the third hand, and decided not to add to my gazillion chips after the first three levels – therefore seeing me only in for $10 while a few others hit the $50 mark.

In the end I ended up coming third and shipping a min-cash of $40 when I opened Ace-King before open-shipping the flop and running into trip nines.

With only four of us remaining at Mat’s house, we watched some of last year’s Aussie Millions highlights before decided that a prop bet was in order.

We headed to McDonald’s where Mat would have to down a Big Mac, Fillet-O-Fish and 6 Nuggets while Brendan would have to finish 4 Cheeseburgers and a Sundae. The quickest would win $20 and have their meal paid for . . . check out the video to see who prevailed!

The next night we decided that some free pub poker degeneracy was needed and made our way to one of PokerNetwork co-workers APL venues which he runs.

Oatsy is a great character and always makes the night fun.

Like normal I lasted the longest until my Ace-Queen was one-outered and then my suited connecters failed to flop and we left the venue in search of something else to do.

We decided that a visit to the 24-hour KMart was the best option and opted with that before heading to Princes to play some table tennis.

It was never in doubt that I would be crowned the single and doubles Champion as I pawned Brendo, Mat and Stefan with ease. I then continued my dominance in a heads-up game of Risk with Mat before turning it in for the night.

We returned to the final day of the Victorian Poker Championships Main Event with fifteen players and an identical goal of capturing the $190,050 first prize, coveted trophy and title of champion!

We lost players quickly as we reached the final ten with Kane Sherwell holding a commanding lead alongside Jason Gray, Morry Edelstein and Chris Chronis.

After losing Dean McIver on one of the first hands, Sherwell would river both Edelstein and Gary Benson to the rail. Gray continued to accumulate chips, but some bad luck, lost races and unfortunate rivers saw him endure a roller-coaster of a ride.

Matt Rolfe found a three-outer to stay alive against Chronis as Mick Nolton chopped a double on the river as Chronis exited in 7th thanks to a bricked straight and flush draw. Nolton followed in the same fashion to Sherwell’s King-high as Cohen again clipped Gray with a rivered straight to his two-pair.

Albert Amato followed his one-outer earlier against Gray with a three-outer against Sherwell while Rolfe ran flush into flush to hit the rail in 5th. Cohen went next when he made the wrong read / move against Sherwell’s top-pair to see the first-time tournament player hold a near two-to-one advantage over both his opponents.

The remaining players made a deal, and soon after, Gray exited after losing a race holding Ace-King to Sherwell’s snowmen as he took a five-to-three lead into heads-up play.

That lead increased to over a seven-to-two lead before Amato started to claw his way back into the game after doubling with a pair and straight-draw to Sherwell’s straight-draw and two over’s. Sherwell continued to slip before Amato doubled well into the lead with his two-pair against Sherwell’s middle-pair.

Eventually Sherwell would commit his chips drawing dead to just two outs against Amato’s two-pair and flush-draw. No help came on the river and Albert Amato was crowned our 2009 Victorian Poker Champion!

Julian Cohen, Champion Albert Amato, Matt Rolfe, PokerNews Camera-Man Thomas Kinsman, Jason Gray, Kane Sherwell, Dean McIver, The Trophy

With us wrapping up just after midnight and noticing Mat, Joe and Brendo on a $1-2 NLH table . . . there was no way I could resist!

I profited close to $240 for the night, but it was my mega slowroll that was the toast of the night.

Mat straddled to some retarded amount and the whole table called around to me in the small blind with K♠ 3♠. I called, as did the big blind to see a flop of K♣ 3♦ 3♣ land.

I checked and Mat pushed all in for $15 and found two callers before I also made the call as the big blind passed.

The turn landed the Q♦ and I checked to the donkey who bet out $27 odd. This youngish lady called before I moved all in for a little more on top. Both called and the river of the 8♣ was checked.

The donkey turned over Q♣ J♠, only to be bested by the lady’s K♦ 4♦.

I angled my cards towards the muck to signal that I couldn’t beat either of the hands, and Mat slowly sweated out his 9♣ 4♣ for a flush. He slammed it down and stood up with his hands in the air celebrating his new-found chips. I slowly pushed my cards towards the muck before rolling them over once Mat had returned to the table to BOOM him with a slowroll!

Off to Geelong tomorrow for a couple of days before returning to Asian Vegas . . . Macau!