tilted behaviour

It has been nearly two months since the Aussie Millions, but tournament poker has returned to the Crown Poker Room with the fourth instalment of the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series.

Tournament Director Mike Tarr borrowed a line out of The Hangover and called me a “one man wolfpack” as I was covering the event solo. This did mean that I wasn’t going to be able to churn out hand upon hand like I’m accustomed too, and what made it even worse was that both my Vodafone wireless stick couldn’t get reception and the Crown wi-fi wasn’t turned on. Consequently instead of blogging from the floor, I was out in the back office on a computer that seemed to be older than me!

Day 1a
Day 1b
Day 1c

The first three days of play were what you would have expected from a $550 Main Event Repechage with many noobs testing out their tournament skills in a combination with a few people willing to gamble as they had the option to buy-in each day if they busted the one previous.

Seventeen players took advantage / played bad / got unlucky and bought in on all three day ones. Michael ‘TheBigSiCkO’ Guzzardi, Yann Pauchon, Steve Topakas and Gregory Shillig were just a few of the notables to fire out three barrels and outlay the $1,650.

From the 784 starters only 259 remained with the top 72 getting to take a piece of the prizepool home with them.

Many notables were heading into day two with James ‘Jabba’ Broom the best placed being only one of the few having over 200,000 in chips while on an interesting note all three of the previous Champions still remained with Luke Santo, Daniel Botta and Amanda De Cesare looking to replicate their previous deep runs in this event.

Day 2

Day two was fairly standard with play lasting just over twelve hours as we played down to the final table.

The bubble lasted substantially longer than expected even with a few short stacks about – and once both Paul Birman and Lee Banh simultaneously bubbled – play quickened up as we blasted through elimination after elimination.

There was some very unusual play which was mostly due to amateur-dominated field, but still some local tournament veterans in Kel Beattie (64th), Mat Hawker (59th), Dave Lee (41st), Zane Ly (36th), Mark Furniss (30th), Danny Joukhadar (29th), Andrew Demetriou (24th), Sam Korman (20th) and Paul Taylor (16th) all managed to scrap into the money before the final table of ten was set.

Final Table

In my few years of working in the poker industry I’ve only experienced a handful of short final tables but many that have nearly seen me nodding off over my computer as they tick into the wee hours of the morning.

This Final Table however lasted just 150-minutes and less than 100-hands until Sam Welch was crowned Champion and $80,050 richer!

Six players hit the rail before we had even reached our first break while the remaining four sat fairly even with Esan Tabrizi holding the slight lead. Two more fell in quick succession to put play into heads-up with Tabrizi holding a slight advantage against Sam Welch who had been sitting high on the leaderboard since late on day two.

The heads-up duel was full of check-raises and blind steals, but after fifteen minutes and only a dozen hands it would be draw versus draw as Welch made the nut-straight holding 8♠ 7♠ against Tabrizi’s J♥ 9♥ for a flush draw. No heart fell on the river and Tabrizi exited in 2nd place as Welch was crowned the Main Event Champion!

With another Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series in the bag, it was time to rest up before heading to New Zealand in eight days time.

As I drove down the highway this morning, I felt refreshed and prepared to take to the felt for Event 12: $550 Main Event of the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series.

Stationed right near the bar and toilets I knew my table would break early – and thankfully it would – as I had a few aggressive cash game players along with Sam Higgs, Chris Barrett and Ivan Sop. With a deep structure to the tournament due to its 20,000-chip starting bank and 45-minute levels, I normally accumulate some easy chips early on, but in this case it was very difficult.

During the first level with blinds at 25-50 I played seven hands; winning two and fluffing the remainder with A♦ 6♦, 4♥ 4♦, 9♠ 8♠, 6♦ 4♦ and A♥ K♠ to see me finish the level with a tad over 19,300.

A few hands into the next level our table broke and I was moved about four metres across the room to join a table of what seemed like no-names apart from Karsten Kobbing and Joseph Humunicki. Unfortunately for me, Karsten would pick off a bluff from by raising me on the river. In a limped pot I checked my option holding Q♣ 5♥ to see a 5♥ J♣ 10♠ flop fall and a bet of 300 follow from Karsten as both the blinds and another player checked to him. I decided to represent two-pair and made 1,000 to go; Karsten mulled over a decision for about thirty seconds before making the call. I fired 1,700 when the K♦ fell on the turn and when the river landed a 6♣ I fired for 2,400. Karsten asked for a count and made it 5,500 to go. I toyed with moving all in, but it would have only been an additional 10,000 or so, and he probably would have made the call – later on I talked to Karsten about what he had, and he told me he floated with a pair and a backdoor straight and spade draw and got lucky on the turn; so something like K♠ 10♠ is the most likely holding.

I headed to break with a measly 13,000, but was luckily enough to chip up straight away once play resumed. A player that I had played with many times on a cash game level entered the pot with 750-chip raise, and I defended my 100-chip small blind with 8♦ 8♠. The flop fell Q♦ 10♠ 8♣ and I check-called 1,100 before both of us checked the 2♣ on the turn. The river blanked, and I was pretty sure that he had nothing more than Ace-King or something of that nature where he didn’t hit the board. Consequently I toyed with checking to see if he would bluff, but instead fired out a small bet of 1,700. About a minute later he made the call, I tabled my set, and he mucked as I raked in the pot to move to over 17,000.

Seven hands later I was moved once again – this time fifteen metres and two tables away – to join Jim Mastorakos, Stewart Allen, Eugene Poudel, Jesse Smith and Mat Hawker. Early on I raised A♠ Q♣ to 1,100 after four players limped ahead of me with only one limper – an aggressive cash game player – making the call. I flopped top two-pair and led out for 2,100 hoping to get shoved on as he only had 10k-ish in his stack. Unfortunately he quickly folded and I was back to nearly 19,000.

However I would soon hit two road blocks after Stewart made it 525 to go from early position with only Mat making the call. I bumped it to 2,100 from the cutoff with A♥ K♥, and once Stewart was out of the way, Mat made the call to see a 10♥ 2♣ 6♠ flop fall. Mat led out for 1,500 and I felt that Mat had a pocket pair like Queens or Jacks and I decided to float him with two overs and backdoor hearts. I decided not to raise, as I’m fairly certain he would come along with me. The turn landed the 7♥ and once he checked, I quickly checked behind to see a free river. Unfortunately if landed the J♦ and when Mat fired out 3,000 I quickly mucked and he flashed me a set of rivered Jacks.

The following hand Mat opened to 550 and I made the call holding J♥ J♣, and Stewart joined us also to see a 9♥ 7♥ 5♦ flop land. Stewart checked, Mat bet out 1,100, I raised to 2,600 and Stewart pushed a stack of about 30,000 into the middle. Mat quickly folded to put me with a decision for my last 11,000. I think I only beat a hand like 8♥[5h or something like that, but most likely he had two-pair or could even be doing that with something stronger like a set or a straight. It took me about three minutes, but I eventually folded as we jumped into the 100-200 with a 25 ante level. I finished the level with 11,000 and during the break Stewart told us both that he had flopped two-pair in the Jacks hand.

Exactly one orbit into the fifth level the player under the gun opened to 1,100 with blinds at 150-300(25) and after Eugene called, I shipped my additional 9,000 into the pot from the small blind holding A♠ A♥. The original raiser folded and as Eugene deliberated, he said, “I think I’m ahead Tim . . . I call” and flipped over pocket Tens. However, in continuation of the way I’ve been running recently, a ten-ball landed on the flop. I turned a gutshot to the wheel, but alas I was out the door and back on the highway home!

Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series – Main Event Chip Stack Graph

Apart from the bluff I ran against Karsten, I don’t think I did too much wrong, but it just caps off a terrible weak of bad luck and close calls.

Consequently I’ve decided to take some time off playing poker until 2010 – that includes cash games, tournaments, live, online, home games, play money, everything!

Hopefully you guys will stay loyal to Tilted Behaviour as I continue to take a few minutes of your life every time I make a normally useless post!

I was hoping that today would be a long day of poker as I was playing two events . . . and boy was I right!

Arriving at Crown for the midday Event 6: $125 No Limit Holdem, I took my seat in the main side of the tournament floor grouped with some real obvious amateur players – and with a 10,000-chip starting bank and 20-minute levels – I was hoping to exploit this.

Early on I raised to 325 holding A♣ Q♠ after three players limped in for 50. One limper plus the big blind came along, and on a A♠ 10♠ 2♠ flop the big blind checked and the limper fired out 500. I made it 1,375 to prompt a fold from the big blind and a call from the limper. I really was unsure where I sat in the hand after he called the raise; maybe he had two pair or possibly Ace-King, and when he checked the 9♦ on the turn I checked behind. The river fell a repeating deuce, and I totally missed value here when he rolled over A♦ J♠.

Now up to 12,000, that would soon rocket to 20,000 after playing a fairly sizeable pot with Aces against Ace-Queen and King-Queen on a Queen-high board. I then moved up to 24,000 after eliminating a player holding A♥ Q♥ after all the money went in preflop against his 10♠ 8♠.

I went fairly card-dead and was unable to squeeze or do anything due to the limp and stack-off happy players on the table until I found a double with Ace-King against Ace-Jack with 120 players remaining. ‘Carwash’ George Cotaidis was moved to my table, and thankfully it livened things up as I had someone to exchange friendly banter with while the cards remained . . . dead!

As the structure jumps speed up, I found myself with just eight big blinds, and pushed after finding J♥ J♣ under the gun. Carwash made the call next to speak with A♦ Q♠, and when the A♥ landed on the flop I was eliminated from the tournament in 78th/257 place.

I only had an hour break before the next tournament began and decided to grab some dinner before taking my seat in Event 8: $340 No Limit Holdem Terminator.

Every player had a $100 bounty on their hand, but with a 15,000-chip starting bank and 30-minute levels you would think it would be hard to accumulate terminator buttons in the early going . . . however the action was quick and fast.

My starting table featured Vic Champs Champion Albert Amato, The Poker Star contestant Sally Snow and Steve Topakas. So right off the bat I had something to look at (Sally obviously . . . and not Steve LOL), and people to talk too.

The play early on was terribly! Players opening to 8x and getting six callers etc. Both Albert and I just looked at each other shaking our heads. I just tried to remain tight and solid early due to the loose nature of the table, but managed to chip up to 16,900 when I called a preflop raise with A♥ 8♥ and check-raised an Ace-high flop in a multi-way pot.

It wouldn’t be until the sixth level until I found a hand after a player limped for 400 and I made it 1,500 with Q♦ Q♠. A player that had been playing very loose and seeing a lot of flops then made it 5,000 from the button to put the action back on me. I only 12,700 left in my stack and was unsure of where I sat in the hand, but felt that I was ahead most of the time. I decided to ship it in, but when he rolled over Kings, I was sick to my stomach . . . well until a Queen-ball landed on the flop . . . bad play, but a bit of luck doesn’t hurt!

Then – like most tournaments of late – I decided that peddling an eight big blind stack would be great fun, and proceeded to peddle for about three hours. Paul Rochford and Nobbi Tanaka were both moved to my table with a substantial chip stack each and played with ruthless aggression. With forty-odd players remaining a player in early position shoved all in holding Ace-Queen and I made the call from the big blind with Ace-King. We both flopped an Ace and I raked in the pot only to leave him with a single 500-denomination chip as I chipped up to 52,500 – of course someone else would take his $100 bounty with some junk hand two hands later.

An orbit later I looked down at A♦ A♠ under the gun and made it 7,500 to go with blinds at 1500-3000. Albert was the only caller, and when the 2♠ 3♥ 5♠ flop fell I thought for a little before pushing out a bet of 9,500. Albert called, and when the 6♦ landed on the turn I paused for around thirty seconds before checking. Albert pushed all in, and I quickly called to be ahead of his 10♠ 10♦. The river blanked and I had soared to 106,500 in chips.

However once we were just a table away from the money, play really began to stall. Nobbi played super aggressive and three-bet anytime I opened lightly. With just twenty-five players remaining play stalled for about ninety-minutes, and that was also timed with a dead run of cards. Now with just twenty-two players remaining – and just two spots off the money – the fellow short-stack on the table pushed all in. I had 8,000 committed in the big blind and only 30,000 or so behind and decided to make the call holding 6♦ 6♠ knowing that I would be unable to limp to the money. Unfortunately he rolled over Jacks and I was unable to catch my two-outer like earlier and exited the tournament in 22nd/213 players at the ripe old time of about 5am in the morning – all just to bubble and receive no terminator buttons!

With a Twenty20 Cricket match that day, I decided to drive back to Geelong to get some rest in my own bed.

I believe that the evolution of a poker player reaches an end when they are highly skilled at all forms of the game – cash, tournament, holdem, stud games and mixed limits – and today I’m hopefully taking a step to proving to many that I am well down that road.

I’ve always enjoyed playing mixed games, with seven card stud being the first I learned when I was in Las Vegas back in 2007. However the five games that make up HORSE take more than their fair share to learn before you can think of yourself as a skilled mixed game player, but over the past six months or so I have been playing my fair share of these games online.

Consequently, with the help of some ChipMeUp backers, I took my seat in Event 4: $550 Mixed Event which plays the five games of HORSE plus No Limit Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha.

On my table I had Rob ‘JacksonTens’ Campbell, Ash Gupta and Abel Cabrera along with some players that I knew were solid. My strategy was to try and accumulate most of chips in the two holdem orbits, stay clear of big pots in Omaha and play solid in the stud games.

I added about 2,000 to my starting 20,000-chip bank in the limit holdem orbit before getting scooped in the limit Omaha orbit when my opponent caught running cards to crack my low and weak high hand. During the first orbits of the stud games there were no major hands until we hit NLH where I took a down a nice pot to make up for the chips that I had leaked during a fairly card dead stud and stud-eight orbits when I was dealt Q♣ Q♦ under the gun and opened with a raise to 750 (blinds 150-300) and after finding two callers, took down the pot with a 1,325-bet on a ten-high flop. I three-bet Abel twice with King-Queen and once we switched to PLO I had played half of the eight hands dealt and won three of them before deciding to sit out due to the aggressive nature of our table.

We hit limit holdem once again – and just like during the NLH orbit – I played half the hands only losing Ace-King to Aces before picking up a nice pot with 8♥ 6♥ on a J♦ 3♥ 7♥ J♥ 3♦ board. My next major hand came during the Stud orbit when my A♦ 4♠ / 10♦ 6♥ A♣ A♠ / 4♣ outdrew Ash’s nut-flush on sixth street to take me back to over 25,000 in chips. The table broke and I moved to be seated with Marwan Nassif, Joe Cabret, Vic Thornton and Trung Tran before being joined by Michael ‘TheBigSiCkO’ Guzzardi and Abel Cabrera once Marwan was eliminated.

I chipped up to over 32,000 when I value-bet eights and fives against a fish in Stud before going against my initial strategy of not playing PLO. With blinds at 600-1200, Guzzardi raised the button to 2,400 with 9♣ 9♦ 7♦ 6♠ and I called from the small blind with A♦ 2♦ J♣ 10♣ along with Abel defending his big blind with Q♣ Q♠ 6♣ 3♣. The flop fell down Q♦ 9♠ 6♦ and I fired out a pot bet of 7,200 before Abel announced re-pot. Guzzardi pushed his 45,000-chip stack into the pot, and after thinking for a little bit I decided to gamble and pushed my 40,000-chip stack into the middle with Abel soon to follow. Unfortunately for me, the turn landed the 10♠ and river the 5♣ to see Abel pushed a 120,000-chip pot with the next best sitting on around 80,000.

Although I put my tournament on the line with a draw, I felt that it was a decent spot to do it in, especially with the fact that it was PLO. Winning that pot would have seen me hold the chip lead, and if I continued to employ my solid strategy, I would have been a near lock to make the final table and take a crack at the $9,000 first prize.

Finishing 18th/43 was a little disappointing, but I thought I played extremely well throughout the twelve-hours of tournament poker.

After seeing my ChipMeUp shares sell out in less than two hours, I was looking forward to the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series, and putting up some big results.

Recently I had been running horrible in cash games – $1-2 and $2-3 NLH at Crown and differing limits on different sites online – but I always have faith in my tournament game not letting outside influences effect the way I play.

With a big Sunday of poker on the cards, I made my way to Crown early and picked up my ticked for Event 1: $230 No Limit Holdem. The field was capped at 500, and with a 15,000-chip starting bank and 25-minute levels it was no surprise!

My eleven-handed table looked fairly tame with only Paul Rochford a player to note. I chipped up 2,000 in the first level holding J♥ 10♠ against K♠ Q♠ on a final board of K♦ J♦ 10♣ 8♣ 4♠ and then with 5♦ 2♦ on a 5♣ 10♦ 4♠ K♦ 2♣ against the same player. I dropped around 3,400 in the next level after three-betting pre with tens and being forced to fold a paint heavy flop, then missing with a few opens before running a small bluff with a pair and a straight-draw against top-pair and a gutshot.

During the 100-200 level I played a weird hand with Paul when I called his 600-chip raise with 7♥ 7♦. We, along with another player, checked the Q♦ K♠ K♥ flop before Paul led for 1,600 when the K♦ fell on the turn. I’ve played with Paul heaps and decided to make the call knowing that I’m ahead in this spot at least 50% of the time. However, when he fired hard when the river blanked, I eventually gave up my hand slipping to 9,000 in the process.

I found some action with Queens and chipped back to over 12,000 before playing easily the most retarded hand ever recorded in poker history! I opened to 1,600 from under the gun with 3♣ 3♥ during the 300-600-50 level and found a caller in the big stack from late position. I planned to check-raise the 6♠ 5♥ 2♠ flop, but when he checked behind I decided to give up when the A♦ landed on the turn. Faced with a 2,000-chip bet, I made the call for some reason before open shoving 5,625 when the 3♠ came on the river. My opponent folded and I was back to over 14,000, but when reviewed, played every street as wrong as anyone could!

With around 300 of the 500 starters remaining in the field, the level made a big jump from 400-800-75 to 600-1200-100 – and having 11,500 at that change – it really hurts. On the first hand of the new level I shoved my short stack from the cutoff to pick up the blinds and antes before shoving one too many times a few hands later with A♦ 2♦ and running into Queens.

I busted a disappointing 280th/500, but alas, there are another four events over the week, so hopefully I can find that big result.

On a side note: Congratulations to my mate Nobbi Tanaka who ended up taking out this event and its $20,000 first prize. Great result for Nobbi who has been having a great run online recently after being picked up by the Insane Poker Crew stable.

The third instalment of the highly successful Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series is back upon us with an incredible twelve events ranging from $120 to $1650.

Having both a regular Saturday cricket match, along with a Twenty20 one midweek, it was going to be hard to play a solid schedule during the series, but currently I am locking away five events to play. For those Tilted Behaviour reader’s that are keen to buy a piece of my action over the series, then check out my profile at ChipMeUp where you can buy small percentages of each event.

Event 1: $230 No Limit Holdem (15k starting bank)
Event 4: $550 Mixed Event (20k starting bank, HORSE plus NLH and PLO)
Event 6: $125 No Limit Holdem (10k starting bank)
Event 8: $340 Terminator (15k starting bank and $100 for every KO)
Event 12: $550 Main Event (20k starting bank)

For as little as US$3 you can grab a piece of my action just by heading to ChipMeUp where you have a chance at staking immortality!

The Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series is all wrapped up after Daniel Botta took care of Sam Higgs to capture the $100,000 first prize with the beautiful 5♥ 2♥ all in on the flop against Higgs’ A♠ K♣ with the final board running out 7♦ 5♣ 10♣ 4♥ 3♠.

In a continuation from my re-cap of the ANZPT Adelaide here is the The Eight Points of Enlightenment: Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series.

1 – Affordable: Following the Aussie Millions where events start at that four-figure mark, and Main Event’s around the country that fluctuate around that $3,000 mark; its good to have a Championship series that is truly affordable for the tournament junkie. With most buy-ins at the $230, $340 and $550 mark, players can take their shot at being crowned a Champion without it hurting the wallet too deeply.

2 – Tournament Structures (part one): The structures for these tournaments were excellent! The deep starting stacks and slow levels provided incredible value for money – and there can be no arguments; all you have to do is look at the vast improvements from last years structures. As for the buy-in amounts, you couldn’t ask anymore from the Jonno and the Crown staff as they catered for those that are looking to play some deep-stack tournament poker.

3 – Tournament Structures (part two): At some points the structures were too good with finishing times stretching into breakfast where pancakes were the order of the day instead of check-raises and open limping (which is definitely not smart at any point). This does support the argument for players and their need for adequate structures with maximum play – but on occasions this can be negative.

4 – PokerPro Problems: Most may be unaware of the persistent problems Crown have experienced with the PokerPro machines, and most recently it effected Event #5: $165 Poker Pro. With problems all tournament long, by the time they reached the final table they had no choice but to vacate the machines and play the tournament on actual felt. This totally changed the game as the time it took to get through hands doubled, and with the turbo-like structure the final table played faster then most on it would have liked.
If Crown wish to continue running Championship tournaments on the PokerPro machines – and I believe they should – then they really need to take a look at rectifying the existing problems.

5 – Lack of Chips: This really wasn’t a problem, but more of a funny scenario come flight two and three of the Main Event. With 17,960,000 chips in play, the majority of them were bagged during flight one meaning that the following two flights were left with physically less chips. Therefore the 25,000-denomination chips were out early so as to make sure that flight three had enough to play with – on a side note it was funny seeing people with two or three 25,000-chips and nothing else when trying to post a 1,600 big blind (me inclusive)!

6 – Repechage Main Event: Personally I’m not a fan of a repechage because it changes the way the game is played; but poker-wise I think it’s great. To allow people to rebuy if they bust on the first two days means that the prizepool will always be boosted, and be of excellent value to those that don’t repechage and those that do (as it gives them a second chance).
However only playing eight levels during the first two flights means that the numbers that returned for flight three were lower then they could have been. By playing ten levels and an extra 90 minutes means that day two will on average be shorter and that more people will bust and therefore repechage into flight three – consequently a greater prizepool with more money on offer.

7 – Half Million Dollar Prizepool: Well nearly – it was $449,000, but for a $550 buy-in event it was unbelievable to get such a huge prizepool. I assured a few young Adelaide boys that a $100,000 first prize would be reached, and even through they had heavy doubts it was still achieved! The prizepool may have appeared a little skewed, but on closer inspection it was pretty industry standard – however the only change that should have been made was changing the payouts from 81 to 72 as to represent the 705 unique players that took their seat.

8 – The Money Isn’t Going Nowhere (again): Just like in Adelaide, the money is staying firmly in Australia, and most importantly in Victoria following local Daniel Botta’s victory in under three hours on day three. Hopefully this will drag more amateur and pub poker players into the Crown Poker Room knowing that for just $550 and three days work – they can be $100,000 richer too!

I hope now that it is clear why so many people enjoy the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series and will hopefully venture back down to Melbourne in 2010 for the best value deep stack tournaments on this side of the world.

With the dilemma that is the 2009 WSOP and whether or not Tilted Behaviour will be there the current issue at hand; it will be only a matter of weeks before we’re back at it with the ANZPT Sydney (23rd April to May 1st) and then the Melbourne Poker Championships (17th May to 1st June).

The road ahead for this poker journalist is definitely going to be interesting, so make sure to stay tuned over the upcoming weeks for your poker fix!

Personally one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in relation to poker is when I rock up for a day two or three or even a final table and get to rip open a bag full of chips before the start of play.

After bagging 47,300 in chips on Friday I rocked up on Sunday for day two of the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series Main Event to see if I could outlast the 343 players remaining and take home the $100,000 first prize.

My starting table wasn’t that bad as I knew how a few of the players played and was broken down as follows:
Seat 1: Karib Karib – 87,200
Seat 2: David ‘leewah’ Lee – 109,900
Seat 3: Craig Mischel – 47,900
Seat 4: Dean ‘Dinhjo’ Nyberg – 167,900
Seat 5: Robyn Ivankovich – 26,100
Seat 6: Tim Duckworth – 47,300
Seat 7: Antonio Cercone – 39,100
Seat 8: Brian Hull – 25,200
Seat 9: Jai Thomas – 64,000
Seat 10: Carone Guiseppe – 18,300

Having position on Dean Nyberg was fantastic as I knew he would play aggressive against me under the perception that I was a nit – therefore I was going to play back at him as lightly and as often as possible.

Play started like a tournament for me – I opened 4♠ 5♠ to 3,000 from under the gun at blinds of 600-1200 with a 200 ante and found two callers. I folded to a 3,500 bet on the flop of A♦ 3♠ 10♦ and was on the back foot early. Exactly an orbit later I would open to 3,000 with K♠ Q♠ and find three callers. I led out for 11,500 on a flop of K♦ 9♣ Q♦ and was met with an immediate all in. With everyone else passing I called the additional two thousand to be up against A♦ 10♦; and luckily for me the board bricked out and I was up to 63,600 before closing out the level with just under 65,000.

First hand into the 800-1600 with 200 ante level I doubled a guy up when I opened to 4,000 and called the all in of an additional 6,600 with A♦ 4♦ to be up against J♠ J♣. I turned a counterfeit draw but missed and was down to 53,800. I then played my first pot against Dean when he opened to 4,000 from the button and I put in a re-raise to 11,000 with my K♠ 8♠ to prompt an immediate fold – I was intent on not letting him push me round, and this was the first step to doing so. I was check-raised over my continuation bets twice to see me finish on a disappointing 34,000 for the level as we headed on our first break.

As I slumped down to an ante under the 30,000-chip mark I found a double-up through Dean after he opened to 5,000 at the 1000-2000 with 300 ante level. I pushed from the button with K♣ J♣ and Dean made the call tabling treys (on a side note the dealer mis-dealt a 3♣, but apparently Dean didn’t notice). I flopped a King and that would be all as I jumped back to 64,700, and ended the level on slightly over that after again three-betting Dean out of the blinds with Q♠ Q♦ to pick up some chips that I had lost in blinds and antes.

I would take care of my second opponent for the day when I opened to 6,000 with Q♠ Q♣ with blinds at 1200-2400 and a 400 ante. As it folded round to Karib Karib in the small blind he put in a re-raise to 20,000 and after the big blind passed I shipped it in with Karib making the call for his tournament life holding A♦ 9♠. The flop dropped a nine, but the Q♦ on the turn would end things as I sent Karib to the rail and surged up to 108,000 in chips.

The following level at 1500-3000 with a 500 ante I made it 10,000 to go from the cutoff with 10♠ 10♦ – which was yet another live mis-click as I thought the blinds were 2000-4000. Anyway I was re-raised all in for 46,500 total – and normally would fold my ten’s here, but this player had been playing fairly aggressive so I thought we were racing or had him at 80/20 and made the call. Bad read! He tabled aces and they held as I slipped to 41,000. I stole the blinds and antes the next hand and slowly grinded back to over 60,000 in chips with some further steals and all in manoeuvres.

As my good friend Luke McLean took a seat on my immediate left and posted the big blind as we moved into the 2000-4000 with 500 ante level I was dealt A♦ K♦ in the small blind. Ronnie Shabtay made it 16,000 to go and with it folding round to me I moved all in for 56,000 putting Shabtay into the tank. After over two minutes he made the call for his tournament life with sixes and the board would fall eight-high and I would be left crippled with 12,000. Two hands later I would wake up with K♥ J♣ in the cutoff but would be unable to out-run the power of the 10♥ 8♥ with the board running out Q♣ J♥ 3♥ 7♣ 6♥ to see me exit the tournament and find my way back to the blogging desk to work the remainder of the tournament.

Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series – Main Event Chip Stack Graph

Heath ‘TassieDevil’ Chick would go on to finish 25th for a $3,000 payday and take a giant lead in The Race To 10k as I would left to ponder “what if?” as Ronnie Shabtay would go on to finish third for $45,000.

All-in-all I was fairly happy with how I played throughout the Main Event and other events during the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series and took some satisfaction in my 143rd placing out of the 898 total runners which place me in the top 16% of the field (too bad it wasn’t a further 6%!).

There were a few points during the tournament where I wish I was able to capitalise and accumulate more chips so I would have had a better chance of cashing and making the final table – and therefore the origins of the below graph extend from.

Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series – Main Event Chip Stack Graph