tilted behaviour

Late last night, Heath and I decided to play the $200 Teams Event at the Victorian Poker Championships, and consequently I made the boring drive up the highway to donk off.

I arrived early to take care of some things before Heath and I decided to grab a few drinks and some food at Lagerfield. We discussed work, poker and all of the above before being joined by Kirsty, Landon and a few of his mates.

Eventually we decided to make our way downstairs to tackle the gauntlet of the teams event, with me taking the first rotation. Unfortunately the 2,500 starting stack I had received was soon chopped into half as Heath took his seat and topped up another 2,500. I would lose us some chips, he would get us a double; that was the order for the night, which funnily enough was the opposite to the way it happened when we first played a teams event together back in 2008. Nothing went right for me, and inevitably it would be Heath that would bust us when he shoved over Aces with Ace-Jack – and although flopping a Jack – failed to improve to see us bust in about 60th place of the 214 starters.

However, I spent the majority of the night when not playing discussing the upcoming State of Origin, and how it should be fixed for 2011. Consequently, here are my suggestions for how the 2011 State of Origin at the Victorian Poker Championships should be conducted.

State of Origin Committee
Over the past few years, there has always been an issue with the exact formation of each side. Justification for an inclusion or exclusion is always the biggest talking point, followed by the selection of the captain.

To make the State of Origin a premier feature event on the local poker calendar, something has to be done to ensure that the teams selected are not only fair, but also a true justification of the best in the state.

Consequently I believe a Committee should be formed that will pick the squad through mutual decision by sorting through live and online tournament results both in Australia and overseas.

The next point is exactly who should be on the Committee? Well firstly, the members that form the Committee must be unbiased and impartial to the event, and have no chance of being selected themselves. They must also have a sound knowledge of the game, and possess an even greater knowledge of the Australian pool of poker players. I don’t believe that the Committee should be too large either as this will create even more difficulty when coming to a conclusion on final teams.

My vote for who should head up this Committee? Firstly – although I may be a little bias – I would cast a vote for myself. I have yet to meet anyone with a greater knowledge of players in the country, am also independent to the event, and am at nearly every tournament around the world that would influence the team selection; whether it be an Aussie Millions, APPT, ANZPT or WSOP.

My next vote would be for Jonno Pittock who has the influence in the event, as it is in his poker room where the event is run. Finally I believe that Tony Hachem should stay involved in the Committee by the pure fact that it is his creation, but by doing so, he would have to rule himself out of possible selection to remain fair.

Selection Criteria
Obviously the toughest part of the event, I believe I have come up with a simple solution that should please everyone.

First of all Captains will pretty much remain as they are from this year, as most of them are true figureheads in their states. However it is a question of how the seven other spots should be filled, that gets everyone scratching their heads. With a Committee in place, they organise a few hours where they can sit down and discuss the teams. With the State of Origin concept being pitting the best in the state against the best in other states, then that is simply what you do. Taking live results both at home and abroad, online rankings and past form from the period of the 2010 Victorian Poker Championships to before the 2011 Victorian Poker Championships, you should be able to pick the best team.

The Committee will firstly select the six players they believe are the best in the state over the past twelve months and then provide a further four alternates. This list is then handed to the Captain who must contact each of the six players to see if they are available. If not, the first alternate will take his/her place and so on until six available members have been chosen.

As for the final spot, well that will be the Captain’s Exemption. If the captain believes that a player who missed out on the team should have actually made it, then they can be called up for that final eighth spot. They believe that they are a great player for the format of the event or were unfairly passed over, but either way, they have a chance to influence the team in a possibly winning way.

Although New South Wales have persisted with it, I believe that satellite winners shouldn’t be allowed in the State of Origin. I have no major argument for it, apart from saying that the event should be the best of the best from each state, therefore meaning that a satellite winner – regardless of how well they ran in the satellite or in the State of Origin – wouldn’t be in the best otherwise they would have already been selected. The only way this concept would work is if every team decided to have one satellite winner, but in all honesty, I don’t think this would happen.

Event Format
The Shootout format is a perfect way to run the State of Origin, but some tinkering needs to be done so that when the final table starts, it isn’t already game, set, match for a particular side.

Keeping the Shootout format points system of:

1st – 60

2nd – 50

3rd – 40

4th – 30

5th – 20

6th – 10

7th – 0

8th – 0

Like normal, you play down until there is a winner as each team is allocated the appropriate points for where they finished on each table. Each set of 10 points earns your side 10,000 tournament chips, and when you return the following day for the final table, each state will sit down with the equivalent amount of tournament chips in relation to their accrued points (ie 240 points equates to 240,000 in chips) plus the day one starting stack of 20,000 (in case a team fails to accrue any points during the shootout). Consequently when the final table begins, everybody still has a realistic chance of winning the title.

Now for the next twist. The final table will begin with the Captain playing, but at four separate occasions they will be allowed to make four substitutions. Any team member can be subbed in, and team member can play multiple times, and the subs do not have to be used if the Captain wishes so.

Not only will this format make it a little more exciting, but will also mean that for both days of the State of Origin, there is not only a crowd smothering the rail, but also every team member in attendance as they all still have an equal chance of winning.

In all honesty, none, one or all of these ideas that I’ve come up with could be utilised in the 2011 State of Origin, but only time will tell.

So many people have already contributed thoughts and ideas in relation to selection, format etc, and some are good, and some are bad. Heck, I would love to see a Stanley Cup-esque trophy with the winning team and their members engraved on it created so that the pride of crushing your opposition is more rewarding!

We will have to wait quite a while until we hear changes to the State of Origin, but hopefully those with the power to do so, take in what others have had to say on the issue that is obviously very important in our small and close-knit poker community.

It must seem like I’m the laziest PokerNews employee, but after just a few days on, I have another day off . . . and of course I headed to the Rio to play some cash!

I keep getting told how unbelievable soft the games are and how bad the players are, and yes what I have witnessed makes me wanna pitch a tent there, but I’m still yet to get any of it.

Sitting down at a $1-3 NLH table I post in the hi-jack and pick up A♦ K♦ and make it $11 with just one caller on my immediate left. The flop falls J♣ 10♠ 4♥ and I know that this most likely hit his range, but I still fire out $17 to force a fold from those hands I don’t have showdown value against. It doesn’t work as he calls and then successfully pushes me off with a $45 bet on a blank turn after I check.

I top up, and then get dealt 8♦ 8♠ under the gun and make it $12 and find three callers to see a 9♥ 2♥ 3♦ flop fall. The blinds check and I fire out $30 which is called by the button as the blinds fold before the A♠ is delivered on the turn. I felt that I could be up a just a flush draw, and even if I was beat by a nine, if I fired a strong bet to represent the Ace, then he may just fold. I led out for $65 and he instantly moved all in for over $400. Yikes! Ace-high flush draw it must be, and I mucked to slip down to $195 and topped up $75 to now be in for $400.

I squeezed K♠ J♠ to $28 after a straddle for $6 and four callers before being shoved into with King-Queen to run into my Aces to see my stack return to $357. I then made a terrible call with A♣ 6♣ on a 2♥ 4♠ 8♦ A♠ to be up against A♦ 8♠ as I slipped back down to $233.

I then bricked my 5♠ 3♠ on a 9♠ 8♣ 3♦ Q♠ board against Ace-Queen and an all in short stack’s Jack-Ten. Eventually GG came along and said he wanted to play somewhere else instead of the Rio, so I took my $171 off the table and we made our way to the Venetian.

GG had planned to meet Jonno Pittock there, and Jonno treated us to a nice dinner at Valentino’s even after getting three-outered for a $600 pot!

After dinner GG and I sat down on a $1-2 NLH table and I was quickly put on tilt when my K♣ 10♣ was run down on a 10♦ 7♥ 6♠ 2♥ 6♥ by J♥ 9♥ before I managed to flop two pair (after squeezing preflop) with Q♣ 6♣ and finding a little bit of value.

Bruno had been playing on a different table and soon joined us as I made it $6 under the gun (still tilting obviously) with Q♠ J♥ with GG calling before some banana made it $16 from the button. We both called and then check-called $15 on the Q♦ 4♥ 10♠ flop as the 9♦ landed on the turn and we again checked to the banana. He fired out $25, I called and GG made it $85 total as the banana moved all in for just $55. Although I think it’s technically a call here nearly every time, I opted to fold as GG tabled his K♠ J♠ to collect the pot and send the banana reaching into his wallet.

I then three-bet someone to $37 over his $12 raise with A♠ K♠ and then folded to his $50 donkbet on a Jack-high flop. He flashed his A♥ J♥ and I sarcastically said well played before topping up to now be in for $400.

Jonno then joined us on the table as I chopped Kings vs. Kings preflop in a five-bet all in pot before taking a nice pot off Jonno. Bruno opened to $6 and GG called before I three-bet them to $24 with Q♥ Q♦ for about the fifteenth time in the last few hours. Jonno called from the button as we went heads up to a Q♣ 8♦ 7♥ and I fired out $27 with Jonno check-calling as the A♠ landed on the turn. Because I had been barrelling a lot and showing my nine-high three-bets, I was hoping that Jonno might have hit the Ace, and if not, call super lightly. Therefore I only fired out $49 and he quickly called. The river landed the K♦ and unless he was floating with a gutshot, or slow-playing an overpair, it shouldn’t have changed anything. I had about $120 or so in my stack and really wanted to get paid off by the bottom of his range like 10-8 etc. Consequently I only made it $50 to go and he snapped me off with A♣ K♣ to see my stack soar into the positive . . . if only I knew he had that hand and I could have had an additional buy-in up my sleeve!

Quite a few orbits later once Donnie and Lynn had arrived from work, I opened K♦ 10♦ and was called in three spots to see a K♠ 7♥ 6♦ flop fall. I fired out $16 and Jonno raised it to $40. I really didn’t believe I had the best hand, but even if I did, the cards that fall on the turn that make it ugly for me to call a barrel far outweighs the good ones. Consequently I showed no fear (which if you’ve been reading Tilted Behaviour lately you will have noticed as I’m continuously unafraid to bluff and play big pots in comparison to my old game – something playing online has contributed to I believe) and made it $105 to go. Jonno thought for ages and mucked, as I flashed the 10♦ to try and tilt him.

With Donnie having no money since he had just bought into tomorrow’s $2,500, I decided to cash out a $116 winner and lend him some money to play since I was basically folding every hand to build crazy Carlos Mortensen-inspired chip sculptures.

Unfortunately that was a terrible idea as the game continued until deep into the morning as I tried to doze off on the chair next to Donnie as the Rounders-esque game continued until the bright daylight of Las Vegas pulled us out of the Venetian in time for three hours of sleep before my midday start!

It was another early start today as I headed into Crown to play the 10am Phase One Satellite.

I busted relatively early when I three-bet all in from the big blind holding A♠ K♠ but ran into Kings. Bricked out, and the next hand I decided to commit by two bb stack with 7♦ 8♦ but bricked out against some rags.

I decided to play some $1-2 NLH to fill in the time and after about two hours my stack had moved from the original $80 buy-in to fluctuate around the $220 mark. I then proceeded to lose every hand for the next hour until I had slipped to around $120.

Then, after being dealt Q♦ 3♦ on the button I three-bet all in on a 7♦ 2♦ 3♠ flop and was met with a lone call from the original flop better. The turn landed a 3♣ and I leaned over to my mate Oatsy telling him that that was a good card for me. The river was a blank and as my opponent – who had been there since the night before – looked up at me I rolled over my three. He rolled over a seven, and both me and Oatsy looked at each other and just shook our heads knowing the outcome. I rolled my Queen and he rolled another seven to take the pot down.

I rebought and the following hand floated with bottom pair and eighteen backdoor draws. I turned trips, got it in, but again ran into top set and was forced to rebuy once again.

My third buy-in went nowhere and I decided to play the PokerNews Cup Super Satellite that I had some luck in the other day.

I took my seat in the forty-three player field and started donking early. I had $200 to have some fun with and use to get off tilt. After getting stacked three times I decided to switch it up by letting the dealer play one card and myself the other.

Good meant paint, mmmm meant sixish to ninish and a swift shake of the head meant terrible. If we both said good I moved all in, and if we both said mmmm I limped hoping we had a pair or a suited connecter.

I managed getting to the end of the rebuy period with around 5,000 in chips and after having a quick chat with Michael ‘TheBigSiCkO’ Guzzardi he decided to do my $150 triple add-on and consequently take 50% of my action – although the percentage was incorrect I didn’t mind too much as I was hoping his share on me might change my day’s luck.

From thirty left to about twenty or so I played very solid, picking my spots wisely but was still unable to accumulate due to the high blinds. I found a double when I pushed Q♥ 10♥ and doubled through against eights. I then knocked out a player with Kings against Queens as we broke into two tables. The first hand of the next table I re-shoved holding Aces and knocked another player out to have one of the top few chip counts – not that it meant too much due to the quick levels and high blinds.

Having position on Guzzardi didn’t mean too much as we were trying to stay out of each other’s way, and in the meantime I managed to double up the same player twice as Guzzardi dispatched of Lisa Walsh as we hit the final table.

With the four chip leaders sitting in the nine, ten, one and two seat, I drew seat three, but having Guzzardi in the two seat would hopefully help in discouraging people from stealing my blinds.

I was unable to catch a single thing on the final table, and with four seats up for grabs plus cash I was extremely focused on winning another seat. With blinds at 2,000-4,000 I pushed for my last 11,000 holding Ace-King and was snapped by the small blind with Jack-nine while the big blind threw in his last 2,000 holding Ace-four.

The flop of Jack-Ten-Nine saw be drawing to just four outs and on the verge of being eliminated, but when a repeat ten landed on the turn I added a further six outs, but alas, it was to no avail as the river landed another ten and I busted in sixth place – one short of the money and two from another seat.

BRAIN SPASM TIME

Holding my two hole cards I just kept shaking my head lamenting at yet another PokerNews Cup Main Event bubble and just clenched my fists together due to me being more pissed off then I can ever recall (poker sense that is)!

Not realising I had the cards still in my hand, I threw the mangled and destroyed cards down on the table and walked straight to the PokerNews desk, chucked my bag on the floor and went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face and cool off.

I returned to the desk, grabbed my keys from my bag, ignored everyone that tried to speak to me and made my way to the car to get changed as the Tony G Celebrity Bounty Event was just kicking off.

END BRAIN SPASM

Once I returned from my car I was directed to see Jonno regarding my little incident.

It was agreed that my presence behind the computer as a member of the PokerNews Live Reporting Team wouldn’t be a good idea tonight, and he decided that I should have a night off before returning tomorrow.

I explained the situation to Heath, and although I was letting the team down there was nothing more I could do about out.

I decided that I would head to Geelong for a couple of days, but not before putting myself through some more satellite hell when I finished forth once again in the PokerNews Cup satellite on TonyG Poker.

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!