tilted behaviour

The land of beautiful woman, gorgeous beaches and the beloved game of soccer was the next stop on my poker calendar as an Austrian hoisted the trophy and US$247,441 first prize when he bested a 364-player field courtesy of a two-pair over two-pair cooler last hand.

With Florianopolis being the fourth stop for season three of the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) – and my first – I am delighted to write my first tournament recap from South America with The Eight Points of Enlightenment: LAPT Florianopolis.

1 – Costao do Santinho Resort (Part I): Being able to cover tournaments in exotic occasions means that you are privy to five-star hotels and fantastic resorts. With this leg of the LAPT being located on the island of Florianopolis, the Costao do Santinho was the ideal resort for the tournament with its many villas and prime beach-side location. Although the resort was somewhere Brazilians would journey to to escape the city life, in comparison to some of the places that poker players have accustomed to, it doesn’t quite fit the bill. Each room was more like an apartment with a laundry and kitchen, and was pretty average in all departments – especially the heating – which was quite a disappointment.
One of the other problems we were having was terrible internet connection. Although it allowed us to connect momentarily, it would randomly just disconnect and not allow us to re-connect at any point during the night. This was a major problem for us when we either had to do work or play online; and who knows how the poker players staying at the resort would have felt – especially since it was mid-FTOPS!

2 – Costao do Santinho Resort (Part II): The rooms may have been average, but the one aspect of the resort that was really good was that it was all-inclusive. With two restaurants located on the beach front, we could freely make our way there for a buffet breakfast or dinner, and it was completely complimentary. The breakfast wasn’t flash hot, but the dinner was what we all looked forward to as they had an Italian restaurant where – along with the standard buffet – they had freshly made pizza and pasta for you to order and have delivered to your table. It definitely made our group dinners more enjoyable as we stuffed our faces without a care for the bill.

3 – Timing: One problem that is a good thing nowadays is that the poker calendar is packed with events nearly every week in locations around the world. Understandably, especially with a tour that is PokerStars-based, is that they don’t really want tour stops overlapping with each other so that they have the maximum chance of getting a bumper field size. Unfortunately in Florianopolis, the event not only coincided with Brazil winter, but also a week-long spell of the coldest weather to grace the area in seven years. Nearly every player and media member hadn’t quite prepared adequately for the cold, and many were sporting double and even triple layers as they made their way round the resort. With Brazil being all about beautiful woman and incredible beaches – or so many do believe – why not hold this event in summer or at least not mid-winter? Not only would it attract more players, but make everybody’s trip more enjoyable regardless of their result in the tournament.

4 – Tournament Structure: Virtually all of the PokerStars.net tours following the same tournament structure of blind increases and timing, but one of the unusual aspects here in Florianopolis was the day two structure. The plan – as per the tournament guide – was that day two would see the field play down to a final 24 or as announced. At the start of play as 183 players sat down to battle it out, everyone in the tournament room knew there was no realistic chance of culling the field down to the magical three table mark. The problem is, the tournament staff decided to push for that number anyway instead of ending the night at realistic time. Consequently, with fourteen hours of play and over twelve levels, the final 36 were finally allowed to call it a night.
With only needing to make the final table of eight the following day, the day was obviously a short one, and if the tournament staff working the previous night decided to be realistic and look ahead, they would understand that they could have ended play early so that all days of the tournament were fairly even in length.

5 – Staff: Both the Costao do Santinho and LAPT staff were extremely friendly and helpful with anything that we needed. Whether it was solving internet issues, answering the most random of questions or just making life easier for us, they really did the best to make our lives easy during the stay. As mentioned in a previous blog, some of the media were idiots, but the majority of them were great; especially the ESPN Brazil and PokerStars Blog team, who often shared hands and information between the three of us.

6 – Language Barrier: Although the staff were great, we did have some language issues especially with the hotel staff. At times it was hard to communicate with them whether it be at the restaurant or generally around the resort, but we still did our best to manage. As for the tournament, we always knew that talking to players would be an issue, and at times they would go on a Spanish or Portuguese rant after we would ask their name, and all we could do was nod and smile. Occasionally people would approach Donnie and I with questions, but all we could do was say, “English. English” and they would either laugh and walk away, or speak to us in some form of the broken variety.

7 – Media Room: One of the great things the Costao do Santinho and LAPT staff did was implement a media room so that all media members that didn’t necessarily need to be on the tournament floor, had a separate room to do all their work. Not only did this reduce the clutter on the desks in the tournament room, but also meant that Donnie and I had a place to play online once the day was over, that was both warm, quiet and had a decent internet connection – all of course, in comparison to our rooms! At many tournaments you don’t often see a separate media room, but I think it is a must at some of these bigger tournaments where media is going to consist of more than just PokerNews.

8 – To Be, Or Not To Be Home Grown?: In these new tours, I like to see a local player take it down, because I always feel that it will help encourage the growth of the game in that area of the world. Especially with a place like South America, I truly felt that seeing a home grown champion would be the best thing for the LAPT. Although the numbers were on the low side, I still feel that poker is growing forward in the region, and that for a tour such as the LAPT, we have to start encouraging players that aren’t based in South or Central America to make the trip. Seeing Austrian Matthias Habernig capture the title will hopefully encourage other Europeans to satellite into the LAPT and make the long journey across the globe to potentially make their mark in South America!

With my first LAPT in the bag, it is time to journey back to Las Vegas momentarily before venturing back home.

Next stop . . . the Victorian Poker Championships in Melbourne!

When Brandon Steven’s A♣ K♠ was unable to improve against Matthew Jarvis’ Q♣ Q♠, to send nine players on a hiatus a guaranteed $811,823 richer.

My World Series of Poker (WSOP) was all about long nights that turned into daylight finishes, mixed with -EV gambling and plenty of colourful stories, but let’s end the Mecca of all poker tournaments with my continued tournament recap with the The Eight Points of Enlightenment: WSOP.

1 – Tournament Layout: For 2010, gone were the small Brasilia and Miranda rooms as the Pavilion Room (right) trumped them all with over 250 tables allocated for day ones, cash games and satellites. The Amazon Room housed all the restarts and 5pm starts, and consequently was a lot less cluttered than in previous years. Throw in the two additional staged tables for final table overflow or additional feature tables, and it really made viewing a pleasure. The WSOP really got things right this year with the way they structured both rooms and ran the tournaments, and hopefully they don’t find a need to change it again next year (like they have every year previously).

2 – Schedule: Although many praise the schedule of the WSOP, I would personally like it to become well-rounded and offer a greater range of non-holdem poker variants. At this year’s World Series, 33 of the 54 open events were holdem ones, while on the other end of the spectrum there were only five HORSE variants. Since the WSOP is a true test of tournament poker skill, I believe the schedule should be designed along these lines too.
If you spread buy-ins of $1,500, $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000 (championship) in each game of HORSE, 8-Game, Stud, Stud-8, Razz, Pot Limit Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha-8, 2-7 Draw, along with Pot Limit Holdem, Limit Holdem and No Limit Holdem then it would truly be a test of poker skill. Since holdem is what everyone wants to play at the moment, you could also add in four six-handed events of the same buy-in, along with triple-chance and shootout events of the three smaller buy-ins. Now with some space in the schedule you could also throw in a $10,000 Mixed Stud and Chinese Championship to make it a truly well-rounded World Series!

3 – Structures Too Good?: When poker tournaments are run, the major complaint is normally always revolving around the structure of a specific event. With reasonable buy-ins and a triple-stack starting stack, there isn’t really a chance to complain too much about the WSOP structures. Well apart from the fact that they may be too good!
The typical event at the WSOP is supposed to reach a final table by the completion of day two (after twenty levels), but I don’t think a single three-day event ever reached the final table before the start of the last day. With players getting better, and more and more players entering these three-day events, in a few years you will have to see a fourth day implemented so that the final table can be set aside solely for the last day . . . maybe with this a 4x starting stack will also come into play?

4 – Bracelet Display: Last year the WSOP conducted a daily bracelet ceremony in the Amazon Room that included a few words by Jeffrey Pollock before the presentation was concluded with the playing of the respected player’s national anthem. This year they moved the ceremony into the Pavilion Room so that a guaranteed large audience (due to the day one starts being located there) was there to greet the recent bracelet winner with a round of applause.
The one aspect that was added this year was that the bracelets were on show in a big display in the Pavilion Room for the public to view. Once a bracelet was presented to their recipient, the case where the bracelet was housed was replaced with a winners photo so as to see who had won each respected bracelet. Definitely a must for 2011!

5 – Poker Kitchen / Food: In one word . . . AWFUL! The salad bar was dishing out food poisoning everyday, the chinese food was always stale-tasting, and the pre-made salads and wraps were disgusting. Apart form the occasionally good burrito or quesadilla, the options from the poker kitchen of real food (minus snacks and drinks of course) were just terrible. After the first two weeks of putting up with it, the PokerNews team – and I suspect many others – would do anything to be offered a dinner option outside of the Rio regardless of cost! The WSOP really need to provide better options for their players and staff, preferably healthier ones too, but just better on all levels.

6 – No Service: About mid-way through the WSOP, us PokerNews peeps were refused service from the waiters stating that only players were allowed to order cocktails. Of all the media outlets, we are ones that don’t get a $10 food voucher (due to the size of our team), and consequently getting refused cocktail service just sent us into a spiral of tilt!
Like in all seriousness, we tip when we get a water or whatever, so it shouldn’t be that much of a big deal . . . but fortunately for us, we were allowed into the dealer break room which housed an unlimited supply of soft drinks, water, coffee, chips and the occasional dinner, so that the lack of cocktail service became an obsolete issue.

7 – Where To Sit?: Although we had issues with cocktail service, the media was still treated fairly awesome when it came to location in the Amazon Room. There were two dedicated two-level L-shape platforms in two corners of the Amazon Room that hugged each of the overflow final tables. Around twenty people could be spread in the media towers, and if there wasn’t enough room there, a media room located adjacent to the Amazon Room that housed flat-screen TVs, plenty of desk space and an unlimited supply of cold water and beef jerky could keep you happy. There were additional desks based in both the Amazon and Pavilion Room for the PokerNews crew to continue their exclusive live coverage, but the media towers was where all the degenerate prop betting went down . . . along with the occasional amount of work!

8 – Player of the Year: I personally view consistency as the ledger to mark poker success, and consistency is extremely important in tournament poker if you are to be regarded as one of the greats. Over the past few years there has always been a lot of talk regarding the WSOP Player of the Year and how it is exactly calculated, and with some mixed results this year, it has sparked even more interest.
Frank Kassela will be 2010 WSOP POTY but can tie with Michael Mizrachi if he is to win the Main Event. With only those two being in the race, there are many others like Allen Kessler (eight cashes, one final table, four final two table finishes), Shawn Buchanan (eight cashes, one final table) and Dan Heimiller (seven cashes, two final tables) who really stood no chance at capturing the POTY award despite such a great summer.
For this to be regarded more highly, the powers to be at the WSOP really need to take a better look at the points scoring system so that it is weighted more appropriately in relation to buy-in, field size and game type.

With the World Series all wrapped up . . . well until November anyway . . . I have a little time off before heading to Brazil to cover the LAPT Florianopolis leg before finally returning home after being on the road for over four months!

Unfortunately there will be nearly zero downtime as the Victorian Poker Championships will be in full swing on my arrival back in Australia as I hope to be again behind the computer for the series where it all began for me!

There wasn’t too much gambling or kicking back in saunas, but pretty girls, great company and many drinks were favoured while Victorino Torres fought his way through a 342-player field to become the next champion of Macau when his 8♣ 7♣ for a flopped straight held true against Chong Cheong’s straight draw.

With Macau being the second stop for season four on the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), it is still highly prestigious, and therefore be setting the precedent for the upcoming five-stop season, and consequently, we’ll kick it off with The Eight Points of Enlightenment: APPT Macau.

1 – Accommodation: When traveling around the world covering tournaments there is always a budget that you are trying to sneak under so that you can make some money on the top. Both the PokerStars and PokerNews media members had no idea how, but were very willing to accept, the hell we lucked it out with fantastic rooms at the Grand Lisboa. I mentioned earlier that the rooms we had been allocated were incredibly balla, but really it’s so hard to imagine without actually being there! Poker journalists and tournament reporters will take any freebie we can get our hands on, and when the APPT and PokerStars put us up at a place like the Grand Lisboa, then the whole working week becomes a freeroll.

2 – Tournament Structure: Danny McDonagh has always created fantastic structures for any event that he is running, and the APPT one is no exception. WIth just seven levels on each of the three day ones, it means that players get maximum play without feeling run-down after a long day on the felt. Easily a three-day event, having the tournament spread over four days proves to the players that are willing to make the journey to Macau, that they’re interests are at the most importance.

3 – Where Is Everyone?: Last year the APPT increased the buy-in from HK$25,000 to HK$40,000 and there was always an expected decline in numbers. However it was enough to decrease from the prizepool as there was nearly a US$90,000 increase in first place prizemoney. This year however the numbers slid once again from the 429 that turned out last August down to the 342 that took to the felt over the past few days. Yes our poker economy might not be at it’s most vibrant right now, but I think it is the next point that lead to the disappointing numbers for 2010.

4 – It’s To Squishy!: No I’m not talking about the distance between tables and players but the fact that the season four stop for Macau was moved three months from it’s usual late-Winter time slot. I have nothing against moving the tournament, but whoever decided to do this really didn’t take a close look at the schedule of tournaments around the Australasian area. A few weeks previous we had the New Zealand Poker Championships, followed immediately by ANZPT Sydney only to have Macau and then the Melbourne Poker Championships. For those mid-tier players that want to reduce as many traveling expenses as possible, having to choose between New Zealand, Sydney, Macau and Melbourne, then they’re are likely to choose to Sydney and Melbourne due not only to the location but also the prizepools on offer and the schedule of events available. Let’s not forget about the WSOP Main Event where most online players will be looking to spend hours trying to satellite in ahead of one of the stops on the APPT!

5 – Media Considerations: I wrote about this in the last Eight Points of Enlightenment I did for Macau, but the staff at the Grand Lisboa do a great job in making us feel comfortable while we work. Whether it is PokerStars player packs or HK$50 and HK$100 meal vouchers, they do their best to make us feel at home. The only issue that we had – as we did last year – was where we were located. Although moving across the tournament floor, we were still jammed up against a wall that had people going to the toilet at one end, tables where the action was on one side and the buy-in desk and storage areas at the other end. The Grand Lisboa isn’t the most spacious poker room I’ve worked in, but some space reserved out the back away from all the smokers and railbirds would have made our life a lot easier.

6 – Poker Fans Welcome!: The one thing I have never seen around the world – well kind of apart from the WSOP – is the fact the Grand Lisboa sold PokerStars clothing, gear and accessories. From jackets, hoodies and hats to chip sets, card protectors and previous season DVDs, the Grand Lisboa merchandise store had nearly everything a poker crazed fan would love to own. None of the gear was dirt cheap, but it wasn’t going to cost you a buy-in on the tables either as nearly everyone – including us media freeloaders – walked away with one piece of gear for ourselves or friends back home. Hint to all poker tournaments . . . sell awesome gear for the players and they’ll keep coming back for more!

7 – Party Time: For the last two years the Asian Poker Tour (APT) has set the trend in partying while in Macau, but PokerStars finally stepped up this year delivering a better-than-average player party on day 1c. Although it was randomly in the middle of the tournament – instead of being at the start or end – it meant that virtually everyone could attend. Unlike the APT where there are fantastically gorgeous girls in lingerie splashing round in a bath full of bubbles, PokerStars Macau delivered with a buffet, a spacious set up in the ballroom and huge variety and supply of alcohol along with a Michael Jackson impersonator that no one really appreciated (well apart from myself and a few others!). They are still learning the trade of throwing a party, but PokerStars Macau and the Grand Lisboa are definitely on the rise in my party power rating!

8 – The Money Is Staying Closish: Victorino Torres may not be a local, but he is only a hop, step and a jump away in the Northern Mariana Islands. It could have easily been different with players from New Zealand, Norway, Costa Rica, United Kingdom and the USA all on the final table. Keeping the money predominately local is a must in some of these developing poker areas so that new players that live in and around the area can be develop an interest in the game, so that in the long run, the small Australasian poker community can continue to grow.

With APPT Macau all wrapped up, it’s time to head over to Las Vegas for the Mecca of poker tournaments . . . the 2010 World Series of Poker!

Make sure to stay tuned to Tilted Behaviour for all my updates along the way!

Once Mike Ivin committed with his dummy straight to Angelo Hanataj’s second-nut straight, another ANZPT Champion was crowned.

This visit up to the Harbour City for the second ANZPT Sydney event was my first since the Star City redevelopments that saw the poker room relocated off the gaming floor,; and consequently here is my continued tournament recaps with The Eight Points of Enlightenment: ANZPT Sydney.

1 – Schedule: The ANZPT Main Event is always going to draw good numbers, but the key is to get players in town early for the preliminary events – and the case of this year’s ANZPT Sydney – Debra Rillo and Jason Wicks have done a great job at organising a fantastic schedule. From a deep-stacked Opening Event to a Semi Shootout and Six-Handed along with a Pot Limit Omaha, High Rollers, Heads-Up and Teams, there was an event for everyone in the near two week schedule with affordable buy-ins and good structures to match.

2 – Great Numbers: 446 players formed the $892,000 prizepool to see the ANZPT Sydney Main Event hold top spot in tournaments around Australia with a similar buy-in. With a slight hiatus from tournaments, it was no surprise that many made the trip to the Harbour City to compete as a warm up to the upcoming Melbourne Poker Championships and – more importantly – the 2010 World Series of Poker. If the ANZPT Sydney can retain this date for the next few years then it will no doubt see the numbers increase to a point where a $300,000 first prize is a reality.

3 – Cramped Up: With the recent move (well to me anyway) upstairs off the main gambling floor, the one thing that frustrated many has remained – the cramped nature of the tables. Now I understand that space is limited and that this is only a temporary move, but it is still very difficult to navigate in between tables while covering tournaments – but I suppose this isn’t a major problem for poker players as they are expected to stay seated for hours at a time. Maybe just a personal pet peeve then.

4 – Rail?: However the issue of no spectator railing is an issue that effects most players as spectators – whether wanted or not – can creep right up to the players. Unlike the previous poker pit where a rail existed surrounding the tables, one has not been implemented in the new room. More than just a few times the supervisors on duty had to ask players to take a step back as they sweated the big game, and if I was a Jarred Graham or Sam Youssef I think that that would bother me substantially.

5 – Food and Beverage Service: The waitresses that worked the poker room were the most gorgeous ones that have ever graced an Australasian casino in years! Some were local, some from Eastern Europe, but all provided great service whether it was prompt drink delivery or something to gaze aimlessly at. The addition of food service was also something lacking around the country, and although the range was fairly limited (a few variants of pizza and panini’s), having an option of a quick snack was great for those not wanting to leave the table.

6 – Where Can I Get Some Food?: Unfortunately pizza and sandwiches can get pretty boring after a while, and one of the problems I encountered while at Star City was the fact there was no place to get something quick. They had a fairly decent buffet and a great noodle place down on the gaming floor, but if I wanted to get something quick the only option seemed to be the overly-priced convenience store. I suppose having the luxury of the Crown Casino food court makes my standards a little harder to be reached, but I do think something along those lines is necessary if Star City want to compete with Crown.

7 – No Name Final Table: As we approached the money in the Main Event some great and interesting players were still alive to make a potentially exciting final table for us to watch / blog on. Unfortunately they all fell to the rail too short of our needs / wants / expectations as a final table full of no names was reached. Mike Ivin was the only real notable and has a long and impressive record but has been unable to continue his flourish since the poker boom. Although on the day it made for a very dull few hours, it does do one thing . . . and that is potentially encourage new players to hit the tournament scene as they may too have a chance of walking away with a slice of poker glory.

8 – Angelo Who?: Continuing on from the previous point, Angelo Hanataj would have evoked an Angelo who? response from most of the poker community – and maybe still – before his $219,432 win. However having an average Joe take down the top prize will definitely prompt more players to give tournament poker a go. The only question is whether or not Angelo will continue to play the tournament circuit or disappear into oblivion.

With that final hand dealt it means the end of my trip to Sydney and a return back home to the sleepy hollow that is Geelong.

I’m not quite sure what is next on the cards for me and Tilted Behaviour, but you and I will soon find out (or I already know and am keeping it a secret hehe)!

When Soren Eriksen’s 7♦ 7♣ held up in a race against Cole Swannack, the Dane became the first New Zealand Poker Championships back-to-back Champion.

Since my trip across the Tasman was my first on the road since September of last year, there is no better way to end my trip then the next instalment of The Eight Points of Enlightenment: New Zealand Poker Championships.

1 – Schedule: There are some doubters, but I believe that the New Zealand Poker Championships schedule had a great mix of events with well structured tournaments and adequate buy-in amounts. No Limit Holdem, Pot Limit Omaha, Bounty, Manila and Ladies events all accompanied the Main Event and the buy-ins ranged from $220 to $1,100 which gave the average player and tournament veteran a chance to test out their skill. For the next running of the Championship, I believe that a rebuy tournament may be the next step forward around the $100 – $200 mark.

2 – Not Much To Do: When you travel interstate or overseas for a poker tournament there normally needs to be an external poker lure to seal the deal. Unfortunately in Christchurch there just isn’t much to do! The town square is nice, and the gondola ride seems cute, but unless you want to drive out of town for a couple of hours, it’s really just the casino or the hotel. Obviously you can’t do much about the town itself, but scheduling the event during a week where the town is holding a festival etc would probably be the best option.

3 – Cash Games: Nowadays cash game structures and limits are fairly similar in most casinos around Australia and the world, but at Christchurch Casino there were some differences that I thought were good. Firstly their smallest game – $1 – 2 NLH – had a max buy-in of $150 which is very uncommon (in Australia that is), but also a great relief as it made the game 50% deeper than usual. The poker room also offered a $1 – 2 NLH and PLO rotation which again is very rare at such low limits – and although I didn’t see it get up – it was great to have that as an option on their lists.

4 – Tournament Numbers: Although the cash games were kicking early into the morning the numbers in the tournaments were on the low side; no more evident in the 79 that only participated in the Main Event. I spent considerable time talking with poker manager Warren Wyllie about how the numbers could be increased so that the NZPC becomes a major stop on the Australasian poker circuit – and although this may take a few years – it definitely has the potential.

5 – Service and Player Treatment: I have only witnessed one other place in the world that treats their players better than they do at Christchurch Casino; and that was at the Casino Du Liban in Lebanon. At the first break of every tournament a feast of food was provided next to the bar for all players to snack on. The food was edible, enjoyable and always went down well with the players as it made them feel just a little bit special due to the A+ treatment. Drinks service was also great with plenty of waiters servicing the poker tables in operation with all basic drinks being free and orders being retrieved very quickly since the bar was located right next to the poker tables.

6 – Tournament Location: The closeness to the bar did have some positives, but the negatives of having the nine or so poker tables on the gaming floor by far outweighed these. Surrounded by two rows of pokies, the bar, blackjack and rapid roulette tables meant that the players were often crowded by railbirds and other gamblers as well as the noise level being a little on the high side. Obviously it is unlikely that the poker room can find another location in such a small casino, but surely for a major tournament like this a row of pokies could be moved, and the area for the tables be structured slightly different.

7 – Tournament Chips: The one thing that I found disappointing about the tournament was the quality of tournament chips that they were using. They were virtually the same ones you can buy at a Kmart or online apart from gold logos stamped in the centre on both sides. With thousands of dollars on the line, it would be extremely easy for someone to counterfeit the chips or even just use ones without the logos and sneak them into the tournament. Without doubt the first thing that needs to be looked into for 2011.

8 – Soren Just Too Good!: In the modern era of poker it is extremely rare to see back-to-back Champions, and although David Borg came close last year, Soren Eriksen managed to lay claim to the title as he hoisted the trophy once again. Personally I don’t think that this negatively affects the tournament having a repeat winner, but the staff behind the NZPC should try and use it positively in promotion of the 2011 event so that Soren will have some stiff competition to battle.

There is barely enough time to pack my bag and enjoy the crisp and cold air of Christchurch before heading to Sydney for the upcoming ANZPT, so stay tuned to Tilted Behaviour for all you need to know!

Baccarat . . . Spas . . . Saunas . . . it must be Macau, and with it, two Champions have been crowned with Dermot Blain taking out the Main Event and Vladimir Geshkenbein victorious in the High Rollers Event.

With Macau being the first stop for season three on the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) it will be setting the precedent for the upcoming five-stop season, and consequently, we’ll kick it off with The Eight Points of Enlightenment: APPT Macau.

1 – Location: After being based at the Grand Waldo, the APPT moved to the Grand Lisboa for season three. Not only is it based on the main island of Macau instead of the very quiet island of Taipa, but it is also nestled amongst the bustling nightlife, shopping and gambling district. The Grand Lisboa is also a magnificent hotel and casino; from its 58-floor lotus leaf design to the hundreds of tables in play for any novice or gambler to lay a bet or two.

2 – It’s A Little Packed Isn’t It?: The Grand Lisboa poker room was packed with 33-tables for both the tournament and all night cash games. The one problem with this was the way they actually laid out the tables in the room. Not entirely cramped for space, although you would believe so, every table in the tournament area had less than a metre between the next meaning that passing between each table was a little more than difficult. With the journey from the media desk to the tournament needing to be taken between and around tables, it made it difficult for both us and the players as we were often sliding between their chairs or asking them to move slightly. In the future, if the Grand Lisboa staff took a good look at the table layout, they could definitely re-arrange the tables so that everyone involved is at ease.

3 – Media Considerations: Whenever we travel to a poker tournament the most important and first thing on our list is the combination of internet and suitable space to work. Arriving at the Grand Lisboa we were informed of no wireless connection and that we would have to set up our own broadband modem connection with a few boxes and cords supplied. To make things worse they also gave us a small desk to accommodate our team of seven, which not only made it uncomfortable to work but also added to the awkwardness of the space between us and the poker tables.
There was a positive side to the event for us as the PokerStars team gave us a handful of HK$50 and HK$100 vouchers to keep us very happy during breaks as we made the most of the cafe downstairs.

4 – Gorgeous Models : In Macau last year the Asian Poker Tour set the standard for absolutely stunning girls floating around the tournament floor doing absolutely nothing apart from looking good. APPT didn’t replicate, but after the Asian Poker Tour repeated their feats with success, the APPT followed suit. Not only did they bring some gorgeous girls along for the tournament but they were also (semi) local being from Malaysia – thanks to the Malaysian tournament directors. Another plus to these girls was that they actually were productive by carrying bottles of water and handing them out to both player and media all day and every day.
For those that need some visual stimulation . . . no need to ask . . . Tilted Behaviour understands completely!

5 – Plenty Of Side Events: The APPT packed its schedule full of fifteen events along with some great value satellites to make anyone here in Macau poised with a decision of a variety of tournaments differing in both game type and price. To me, this is one of the most important aspects of a tournament series, because a schedule that provides a good range of events will always be successful.

6 – Great Numbers: When the APPT upped the buy-in of the Main Event from HK$25,000 to HK$40,000, there was always a fear of a steep decline in the numbers. Once the dust had settled, the 538 runners from last year had been trimmed to 429, but a substantially larger prizepool had been created with a near US$90,000 increase in first place.
For the High Rollers Event the number of players only increased by a few; and I think this was mainly due to the fact that the event was run simultaneously with the last two days of the Main Event. Dropping the buy-in substantially only effected the prizepool as first prize was cut by nearly half, but when you review the event I think getting 64 was about what they expected due to the scheduling and the players that were in town.

7 – Lights, Camera, Action?: The first two seasons of the APPT saw a purpose built stage with bright lights and purple velvet curtains that appeared at every venue in the same formation – but this year it was all gone! No Erin McNaught as host and no 411 productions filming the event. Instead it was an Asian TV company and a stage erected in the middle of the Grand Lisboa gaming floor that looked very poor in comparison to the previous two seasons. Maybe it was due to budget constraints or a change in direction, but either way it was a terrible mistake as it definitely decreases the professionalism of the tour, and maybe even takes a step backward in poker development and growth in the region.

8 – From Busto To Bankrolled: During day two of the High Rollers Event, Vladimir Geshkenbein approached Jonathan ‘xMONSTERxDONGx’ Karamalikis and discussed with him that all he had to his name was ten bucks and four maxed-out credit cards. First of all why would you tell this to a player when you’re on the bubble, and secondly it’s kind of tempting fate. Once I heard this story I felt that it was guaranteed that Geshkenbein would either bubble the final table and the money or win the whole thing.
The bubble passed when, ironically, Geshkenbein knocked out Karamalikis, and from then on no one else stood a chance. It was one of those heart-felt kind of wins and rags to riches story with Geshkenbein going from busto to bankrolled in two days of tournament poker.

With Seoul, South Korea now postponed our attention will be turned to Melbourne for the third running of the PokerNews Cup Australia and possibly the Sydney Poker Championships beforehand if PokerNetwork get the nod.

Yet another Champion has been crowned in the Crown Poker Room when Albert Amato’s 9♥ 7♥ held true against Kane Sherwell’s underpair.

The Victorian Poker Championships will always have a strong spot reserved in my heart as it was my launching ground for both a blogger (first gig with PokerNews) and player (11th in the Main Event), and consequently I’m proud to present my continued tournament summary with The Eight Points of Enlightenment: Victorian Poker Championships.

1 – State of Origin Success: For the second year running the Victorian Poker Championships played host to the State of Origin. This year the ante was upped by adding both the Territories and New Zealand to the rooster, along with altering the structure and format to make it work and function better along with pleasing both player and railbird.
The one downside for many was firstly allowing New Zealand to participate as they aren’t an Australian state, and secondly seeing them victorious. Overall I think they should be allowed to be part of the State of Origin regardless that they may fly a different flag to us, and if anything is to be changed it should be the weighting of the points system so that a more strategic approach is needed in the first round of the shootout.

2 – Decrease In High Stakes Turnouts: It is understandable that our current economy may not be in the best state, but over the past few years poker has never really been effected too greatly. However, Crown ran two high stakes tournaments – a $10,200 High Stakes Holdem and a $250,000 Challenge – that really didn’t pull the numbers it had in the past.
With only 23 and 8 runners respectively, it was fairly poor to only get this turnout even with most of the poker community in town. I must admit that the cash game action was HUGE to say the least, and this could be the main reason behind the lack of numbers, but I guess we’ll never know.

3 – Bring On The Ladies: I personally think that the Ladies event should be a regular on the Australian tournament schedule. Not only is it an additional avenue to increase the poker playing community, but also reverses the normal trend of WAG on the rail, and now places the male as the silent observer watching on. (On a side note, check out the very interesting thread on PokerNetwork here about this very topic)

4 – Where Were The Mix Games?: The Victorian Poker Championships are supposed to by a championship series, but if that’s the case, where was the variety of events of different poker variants? Only three events were non-holdem ones, with only one of these being Crazy Pineapple to the other two Omaha ones. Gone was the marquee HORSE event that many poker enthusiasts love along with the split games of the Morning Series. Just like the WSOP, I think that any tournament schedule has to include a mixture of poker variants, and even if it can only accommodate for one, then sobeit. Bring back the HORSE and the Mixed Stud!

5 – Weak Final Table Line-Up?: Many may have looked at the final table and just spotted a chipped up Jason Gray and Chris Chronis along with a short-stacked Gary Benson surrounded by amateurs – and especially when you compare this table to last years that included Jay Kinkade, Tino Lechich, Sheldon, Minh Nguyen, Julian Powell, Harris Pavlou, Ben Delaney and Tim Horan. However this table was stronger than you may have imagined!
Dean McIver has been a regular on the tournament circuit for a number of years while Benson, Gray and Chronis’ records speak for themselves. Mick Nolton is a very talented player along with Julian Cohen who has began raking up results in the past 12 months, and when you add in the strongest amateur on the table – champion Albert Amato – you have a table full of talent . . . I guess we’ll have to see where they are all in 12 months because we know what last years final nine have achieved!

6 – Busy Time For Poker: It is always a difficult ask to plan not only a poker tournament but also a championship series ahead of time – and when tournaments are getting announced without too much preparation time – there will always be crossovers. Not only was the ANZPT Queensland (5th – 9th) finale on during the first week, the hugely popular FTOPS (5th – 16th) was also being run to consequently detract some of the online contingent competing over the two week schedule (2nd – 17th). Combine this with the Asian Poker Tour Macau (12th – 23rd) and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau (15th – 30th) and you have a very busy and expensive month of August!

7 – Main Event Structure: Jonno Pittock and his loyal staff always implement great structures for every tournament held at Crown – and in the case of the Victorian Poker Championships Main Event – it was no exception. For the first time at Crown since I started working for PokerNetwork/PokerNews day three saw more than a final table return to battle it out. This was not because of slow play or an overly huge field, but rather that the structure was just too good to see the field reduced to just one table by day two. Kudos Jonno and his staff!

8 – Money Is Going . . . Somewhere: I’m unsure of exactly where he lives, what he does, or what he plans to do with the money, but I think that Albert Amato will pop his head up around Australian tournaments in the future. Obviously there were crowd favourites going into the final table, but it was great to see a talented by short-stacked player battle hard (with some luck) to take down the $190,050 first prize.

Queensland then Melbourne and now Macau!

Tilted Behaviour is heading back to Viva Las Asia to tackle the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau Main Event and High Rollers . . . while also mixing in some partying, gambling and relaxing in one of my favourite destinations on the planet.

Stay tuned for who knows what may eventuate!

When Scott Kerr’s A♥ Q♣ remained in a dominating shape against Phillip Willcocks, we saw the final champion on the inaugural PokerStars.net ANZPT crowned.

It was fitting that the final duel was between an Australian and a Kiwi, and with that here is my continued tournament summary with The Eight Points of Enlightenment: ANZPT Queensland.

1 – Split Venue Tournament: The final stop on the ANZPT was structured a little different as it was run over two venues simultaneously; both Conrad Jupiters and Treasury on the Gold Coast and at Brisbane respectively. Although I had doubts, all in all it worked perfectly and let players from both regions have a chance at participating in the ANZPT. It will most likely be used again in the Queensland leg next season, but there is also word of it being used for a combination of Auckland, Christchurch etc when the tour hits New Zealand.

2 – Lack Of Tables: Another reason behind using two venues simultaneously was the lack of tables at Conrad Jupiters on the Gold Coast (since I was based there I can’t give a critique on the Brisbane leg), as it only had six official tables with another two installed recently for the tournament. This may have been sufficient for the tournament (just) but for the cash game action (especially on the weekend) it definitely wasn’t!

3 – Terrible Cash Games: Sitting down at the cash games, I found them terrible for several reasons. First of all some of their rulings were stupid – such as not being able to straddle and also not being able to bet dark . . . even when it’s your turn to act. The limits were pretty standard in the $1-2 and $2-5 NLH games, but it was the state of play that upset me the most. First of all, most of the players were horrendous, but it also appeared as they played in teams.
Not as in the shared bankroll kind of teams, but the way they played at each other – soft playing one another, telling each other what they had and looking at each other’s cards. For the Supervisors at Jupiters . . . keep an eye out for cheating instead of just yelling at me for straddling!

4 – Bring On The Food: When you cover a tournament you are always needing a quick snack and drink here and there – and in the long run this can be a hefty expensive. However once arriving at Conrad Jupiters for the ANZPT we were handed a bunch of $5 and $10 vouchers that could be used at all the snack bars and restaurants around the casino.

5 – Celebration Party?: It was never expected that the ANZPT would be able to replicate a APT-type party, but you would expect something to dint the budget just slightly. Located at one of the hotel bars, it was populated by the Team PokerStars Pro’s, media and only a few players to make the party fairly small and quiet. Free alcohol and appetisers were supplied, but it was a little bit of a letdown regarding that it was really a party to celebrate a highly successful tour. Hopefully next time it will live up to the hype it should have received.

6 – Money On The Table : What I’ve always loved about the finale of a poker tournament is the intense heads-up battle and the money presentation. Crown, WSOP (excluding the Main Event) and the APPT etc never present money, but the ANZPT is heading in the opposite direction – well in Adelaide and Queensland that is.
Conrad Jupiters presented the $168,075 on a silver platter when Scott Kerr and Phillip Willcocks were heads-up . . . and it made it a whole lot more exciting! In the future bring out the trophy and the money for everyone to see!

7 – One For The Industry: Heath came close a few months earlier, and many before and since also have, but finally the poker industry has captured gold thanks to Scott Kerr. A dealer from Star City, it was great to see someone that spends most of his time on the other side of the felt snatch a victory on behalf of all the dealers and people in the casino and media industry. Well done Scott.

8 – The End Only Means The Start: With the inaugural season now wrapped up, it only means that season two is around the corner. With a potential of eight stops in 2010, we will all be returning to Adelaide from the 9-14th of February next year for the kick-off to a bigger and better ANZPT!

Now off to Melbourne for a packed schedule at the 2009 Victorian Poker Championships with the rest of the PokerNetwork crew!