tilted behaviour

A new week and another trip up the highway to play some cards!

Once I arrived at Crown at around lunchtime I sat down on a new $1-2 NLH table and gambled with my first $80 holding K♥ 10♥ against Aces, Kings and some random holdings on a board that ran out King-high.

I eventually ran my rebuy up to around $130 before opening to $6 with 9♣ 9♥ and after getting two callers, got a further two streets of value on a board of 10♦ 9♦ 6♣ 7♥ A♠ before Mat arrived after work and took a seat on my table. Just before we were due I was dealt 9♠ 8♠ and raised to $11 after two limpers. Both limpers called along with another player to see a flop of 9♦ 7♦ 10♣ fall. One limper fired out $15 and I made it $45 to go. Two calls later and the 6♠ on the turn saw me move all in with only one player making the call holding 4♦ 3♦. The river bricked out and I cashed out $271 as both Mat and I made our way to Brendo’s home game.

We were expecting thirteen-odd players, but as home games normally run, there were a few empty promises and just the normal group of guys turned up to fill the table.

I played terrible and was in for three buy-ins before managing to claw back a buy-in and some as the night wound up after playing five-handed for the last hour or so.

Mat was in the first week of his new 9-5 job, and even though he let me crash at his place in his bungalow, I was unable to access his shower and therefore had to think of an alternate mean of cleaning.

I jumped in my car and drove to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert Park to use the change rooms there. With RMIT holding their exams, it was completely packed with university students doing some last minute cramming before sitting down at a desk for a couple of hours. With both the basketball and badminton change rooms closed due to the exams, I made my way to the pool check-in and explained that I had been directed there – consequently avoided any admission fees!

Once clean and refreshed I made my way to Crown just before midday to hit the felt of a $1-2 NLH table.

Two hands stood out on my way to another losing session. Firstly after building my stack to around $185 I was dealt 9♥ 9♦, and was run down by A♣ 7♣ on a 5♣ 5♥ 2♣ 3♣ A♥ board.

Secondly I was dealt 10♠ 9♠ and opened to $6, and after finding two callers including the big blind, led out for $11 on a K♥ Q♣ 8♠ flop. One call, one fold and the J♦ fell on the turn followed by a $25 bet from me. Again my opponent made the call to see the 7♠ land on the river. I had a sick feeling (don’t laugh) that he may actually have Ace-Ten, but I really couldn’t miss any value and decided to bet $55. My opponent instantly moved all-in, and having only $25 behind, I made the call being sick to my stomach. Of course he rolled over A♥ 10♦ and I was forced to rebuy once again.

Down $200 I cut my losses and my way to our indoor soccer match in Doncaster where we triumphed once again in the first game of the season. With a scoreline of 17-10 of thereabouts I was only able to contribute a solitary goal from one attempt after spending most of my time in defence.

Even though James didn’t play, he joined us at Mat’s house where we spent some time recovering and playing this board game called Bluff.

Basically you start with a cup of five dice, roll the dice in the cup and reveal them in secret. The first player then bids on how many of a particular number have been rolled. For example if I said there were five three’s then there would have to be five three’s out of the fifteen dice in play. If a player thought I was bluffing, then would reveal all our dice. If they were correct I would lose one of my dice and we would continue playing. If they didn’t think I was bluffing they would up-the-bet by announcing five of a greater number or six of any number and so forth. The game is decided when your opponents have lost all their dice and you are determined the winner – of course there are a few more intricate rules but there is no need to explain them at this point in time.

We played until about 2am or so with James owning our Bluff souls! Mat hit the hay, James returned home and I ventured back to Crown for another session.

Once back at Crown I sat down at a $1-2 NLH table once again and pushed my $80 buy-in into $200. I basically grinded it up slowly before dropping a huge chunk of it before running a bluff. With a raise to $12 ahead of me and a few callers, I made the call holding A♠ 5♠ to see a flop of 7♦ 6♦ 3♠ fall and the original raiser fire out $20. Having $135 in my stack I made a raise to $55 as I firmly put this guy on Ace-King/Queen etc and felt that he would fold his two overcards – but if not I still had my guttaball as outs. After about three minutes in the tank he folded and I was back to $200.

Another orbit went by and I decided to cash out and take a break for a little while as I made my way upstairs to the smoking terrace where there was actually a nice breeze and no smokers to bother me.

I took my seat on another $1-2 NLH table with $80 and found it to be the most aggressive I had witnessed in a while. A player to my left would continuously open to $40 or $50 and continuation bet $50 to $100. When I arrived he had around $500 on him, and after about twenty minutes he had gifted it to everyone on the table apart from me. Then in a raised pot of $10 I held A♠ J♠ and check-raised all in against him on a J♥ 2♥ 2♦ board only to find him holding 6♣ 2♠.

Sigh! I rebought, but before I could take him on, he hadn’t gifted a further $200 to everyone and was on his way out the door. My rebuy would eventually be run up to over $300 after firstly turning top two in a multi-way pot and then rivering a straight and having an opponent bluff into me.

I decided to call it quits as the sun began to rise, and since I was in the city I decided to take residence in my car for the night . . . yes I am complete degen . . . and what made it worse that I did it last week and was even more prepared this week with a pillow, sleeping bag and some trackie pants to sleep in!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sydney FC defeated Melbourne Victory 3-0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Both James and I made our way downstairs to the poker room at around 11am for the Big Game Poker Sydney Championships Main Event.

We had to organise our press passes and where we would set up before Day 1a action would be kicking off.

It was a fairly standard day with the original 133 players being cut down to 36 with under twenty minutes remaining on the clock during the final level of play. Sheldon finished on top of the leaderboard while Joel Del Duca, Antonis ‘Toothpick Tony’ Kambouroglou, Tim ‘LuckyShades’ Horan and Monica Nguyen all hit the rail.

Once I typed my final word we headed upstairs to watch some TV before starting one of the most epic Facebook spam’s of all time . . .

James and I shared a mutual friend in a young boy named Mateusz Pater, and we decided at precisely 2:47am that we were going to have some fun at his expense. I wrote a comment on his wall, and along with another PokerNews / PokerNetwork employee Andrew Oataway, we began a back and forth conversation that would end at 4am.

Apologies Matty . . . but after you decided to delete the post, we really felt that our comedic genius needed to be available to the world so that they could chuckle along with our early morning antics!

Finally being back home in Geelong I decided to venture to cricket training at my old club Alexander Thomson (ATCC).

I’m still unsure if I’ll return to ATCC or continue playing at the Richmond City Cricket Club for the third year running – it is really a decision of where I’ll be living and if I can commit to the club 100% or not.

I bowled marginally, landed it well and spun it a little, but I was really impressed with the timing of my batting as I thought that would have suffered the most over the winter break due to the wrist injury that I picked up at the latter end of the 2008/09 season.

With cricket training wrapped up I packed my stuff, had a shower and headed up to Melbourne to join James Bernarkopoloupolous in our aim to ship a PokerNews Cup seat.

I sat around watching the start of the Dogs (yay) and Cats (boo) match before Crown Director of Tournament Operations Jonno Pittock dragged me up to the bar for a chat and a drink.

Discussing all things poker and beyond for over an hour, work eventually came calling for Jonno while I bought into the $65 PokerNews Cup Phase One satellite.

Both me and James sat down to play, and once he lost to a three-outer to elimination, it was left to me to hold the fort down. Only two tables made up the tournament, and consequently only three seats and some cash were on offer. I flopped a set on my first hand to increase my stack by 800 or so, and after eliminating someone with Ace-Jack to his King-Queen, I was on the final table. I found a double up with a dominating Ace-King and a few orbits later we were four-handed. Everyone chucked in $40 and I put in a little extra with $45 to make up four seats for all of us as we were fairly even in chips with crazy high blinds.

I grabbed James from the cash game tables and we grabbed a drink and took a walk along Southbank to bitch about shit while we waited for the 7:10pm PokerNews Cup Phase Two satellite to begin.

After speaking to Mat and deciding that we were going to do something after the satellite, he decided to come in and rail the both of us.

Lining up on the feature table and seat one meant that it was the perfect spot for Mat to view from as this seat is right on the rail. It’s not a great structured satellite with quick levels and only a 4,000-starting bank, but it’s probably the best you can hope for when the buy in is $250.

With blinds at 25-50, an early position player made it 250 to go and I flatted with Q♣ Q♦ before the small blind made it 625. Original raiser folded and I called to see a flop of J♣ 8♣ 4♣ fall and a bet of 1,200 follow. I tanked for probably five minutes before folding figuring that at best I could be up against two overcards and a flush draw and at worse a bigger pair with a club draw. My fold may be disgusting to some, but I felt that I could find a better spot (even though that sounds weird holding an overpair and flush draw) with my edge and skill set against the rest of the table.

During the next level I would get those chips back when I flatted from the big blind holding A♦ J♦ when the three-bettor from the above hand made it 300 to go from early position over a limper. Three of us saw a K♠ Q♦ 8♠ flop and checked it round to see the 4♣ land on the turn and a check from me and the limper. The original raiser tossed a single 500-denomination chips, and after deliberating for a little and putting him on a Queen or a pair of Jacks or tens, decided to make it 1,250 to go. The limper passed and after telling me that I had nothing, the original raiser folded as well.

Not much would develop until during the 300-600 level there would be three limpers round to me in the small blind, only to have me shove for my last 3,800 with K♥ K♠. The first limper – Kane Sherwell – instantly called holding Queen-Jack for his last 3,500, and when the board ran out with a Queen on the flop and river I was left with just a small blind and a small case of tilt!

With twenty players remaining I officially gave up and went over to James to bitch about my bad beat. I quickly raced back to see what my button would deliver, and when it was a pair of nines, I shipped it in and double to 1,200. Next hand I shoved the cutoff with King-Jack and picked up the blinds and antes and was up to 2,100.

I went on to fold the next few hands before doubling though my Queen-Jack nemesis and then once again when I picked off a triple barrel bluff from the nit on the table as we made the ten-handed final table.

Sitting with 13,000 in chips and needing roughly 35,000 to have a chance at capturing one of the three seats or $1,320 on offer I looked down at fives on the first hand after a player opened to 3,000 with blinds at 500-1000. I mucked and when I flopped a five I felt a bit sick – he did show pocket tens when he took the pot down and I patted myself on the back for making a good fold instead of being so results orientated like everyone else.

I slowly began chipping up and knocked a player out holding Q♦ 3♠ to his pocket eights when the board ran out A♥ J♥ J♦ 4♠ A♠ to see me sneak into the chip lead with around 28,000 – basically he shoved my big blind for like 3x and I had to call, I wasn’t just being a douche!

Bernarkopoloupolous was still on the final table and seated on immediate right with a short stack. Before the final table began I tried to give him some advice about letting players crumble round him and to not do anything silly or unwarranted. I also told him that he could shove my blinds without any risk of me calling if it meant that those chips would see him come out of the danger zone. However with blinds at 1200-2400 James decided to ship it in with K♣ 6♣ for 13,500 and when I looked down at A♥ A♦ I threw my head back, shook my head at Mat and – wanting to fold – made the call to put my buddy at the risk.

Of course the board ran out 10♥ 9♥ 8♠ 7♥ 2♠ to see him double up as I was left crippled with barely 10,000.

The volume dial on my iPod went up, and I just tried to regain focus as I still had a chance to capture my seat with seven players left.

I folded until I was dealt K♠ Q♦ under the gun and managed to double against Ace-King when a turned a Queen. I stole some blinds, and before I knew it I had snatched the chip lead back.

Once I knocked out a player holding Q♦ 2♣ when he shoved my big blind with K♥ J♥ for a little over a min-raise we were down to just five.

Michael Pinzone and I shared the chip lead while James sat comfortably in third. The other two however were very stubborn and just waited for the other to be knocked out so that they could walk away with the whole $1,320.

After three orbits of chips getting passed between us three, the two shorties eventually decided to chop the money once both their stacks were equal to just one big blind!

SHIP IT ONE TIME FOR THE CHIP AND A CHAIR was all that was going through my head as I was able to achieve one of the toughest poker accomplishments – come from a single chip (well in this case just a small blind) to win the whole tournament (well chop first as it was a satellite)!

Summoning Jack ‘Treetop’ Staus, I hope that the feat I achieved in the satellite can see me turn my $110 investment and back from the dead story into $250,000 and title of Champion of the 2009 PokerNews Cup Australia!

To celebrate we went to Stalactites Greek Restaurant in the city before heading to David Saab’s house to round out the night with lots of laughs and banter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This day was always coming, but its one that I really wanted to put off.

Both Mickey and Donnie were heading back to the East Coast and leaving me stuck in Las Vegas all alone (well, apart from everyone else that is still here)!

I woke up to find Donnie had already left early, but I was able to see Mickey off, knowing that it probably isn’t too long until I see him as he is planning on returning for the Aussie Millions again.

With it also being Mat’s last day, I thought it was a must for us to head out to the General Gamblers Store and Spinettis to potentially walk out with a shop of poker gear.

Mat bought a couple of books and a deck of cards while I picked up three books, with the aim of returning to Spinettis to purchase a range of small denomination chips for our micro-stakes muck-round home games, or even pick up a full tourney set.

Check-Raising The Devil (Mike Matusow), One Of A Kind (Stu Ungar), Power Hold’em Strategy (Daniel Negreanu)

We then left Mat at the airport to return to the cold and wet weather of Melbourne as I picked up a spare bag to carry all my purchases and accumulated swag home. I ran into the Nike outlet store and found a duffel bag that I would also take to Lebanon instead of my suitcase, and returned home to clean and watch TV all night.

Oh yeah, if you didn’t know . . . I’m heading to Lebanon on the 20th to cover the Lebanese Poker Championships alongside Eric . . . ship the hazard pay one time!