tilted behaviour

After having to come in to the Rio for our first official group meeting since the WSOP started, Heath, Mickey and I decided to maximise our rare day off.

We returned to the Hard Rock to show Heath around before we headed to Fashion Show Mall so I could buy some shoes and the other two could grab some food.

A few days earlier (while shopping with Jane) I had spotted the sickest pair of Air Jordan Spizike‘s that were a must-have. Walking into Foot Locker the price had been slashed down to $130, and consequently, there were an insta-buy so I could kick it old-school like I was back in 1985 (when they originally came out).

We then walked over to the Aria to check it out, but after finding no real poker action to satisfy us, we jumped in a cab and made our way to the Venetian to play some $4-8 HORSE. Unfortunately the list was full, so we all sat down at a $1-2 NLH table where me and Heath quickly battled after I opened to $12 over a straddle with 9♥ 8♠ only to get four-bet by Heath to $27. I called, and we checked it down with a nine falling on the flop to best his Ace-King.

Several hands later after it limped round to me in the big blind, I made it $13 with K♦ Q♦ and found two callers to see a Q♣ 8♣ 4♣ fall. I fired out $32 and was called in one spot before a 2♠ landed on the turn. On the turn I was faced with a decision of whether or not to bet or check. I felt that if I fired out he was probably only calling with a draw or a weak hand, but raise a set or a baby flush and a hand stronger then mine (top-top etc). Consequently – being prepared to fold if he shoved, but barrel any non-club river – I led out for $60 and he took over two minutes before making the call.

Sigh . . . A♣ . . . what a ghay river! I deliberate just shipping for $130 as a bluff to get him fold a small flush or a stronger non-flush hand, but continuing with my turn play I decided to check only to have him insta-shove for $115. I tanked for days and folded, and he believed a folded a set and didn’t correct him.

“I had King-Queen with the King of clubs . . . probably should have folded the turn” he stated.

“Yes you should have” I replied bluntly.

A few hands later after this lady from Denmark made it $10 after a limper, I bumped it to $36 from the button with Q♦ 6♦. Heath shot me this dirty look before tank-folding Jacks (el oh el) as the lady mucked. I let Heath pick a card and he turned over the Queen and instantly believed I had Queens. The next hand after the same lady made it $8, I three-bet again to $27 from the cutoff with A♠ 8♥ and she called before check-folding for $32 on the J♠ 9♠ 6♥ flop.

Eventually all our seats came up at once and we headed to the $4-8 HORSE table but not before Heath managed a double. Heath sat down with his $500 or so, I sat down with my $386 (after being down $14 from the table previously) and Mickey sat down with about the same.

I scooped a huge pot in PLO-8 with A-K-K-7 against A-Q-Q-x on a K♥ 9♥ 4♠ A♥ 8♠ before GG and Kerry Stead joined the game.

I ran pretty awful for the whole night, including losing a live high two-pair and the nut-flush draw against two full houses in Seven Card Stud before bricking in Stud Hi/Lo with (6x)(5x) / (4x)(2x)(4x)(5x) / (6x) against Heath’s trip kings. I did mange to make a flush and a low the next hand against him however to win the majority of my chips back.

However one of the sickest hands was when my Razz board ran out (Ax)(10x) / (4x)(2x)(Jx)(Qx) / (Kx) to lose to someone that had J-8-8-8 face up on his board . . . so sick!

After a long session on the felt I spent the last hour playing every hand with a can’t be f**ked attitude as I eventually lost my last $100 or so and returned home after another unsuccessful session in Las Vegas!

Days off are a treasure during the WSOP, but since I had only worked two days I felt like I had to go out and do something instead of sleeping and relaxing in my hotel room at the Hard Rock.

DK picked me up in the afternoon and we swung by the PokerNews house to pick up Rich before heading Downtown to see how GG was doing in the one of the Binions Poker Classic events that I had bought a piece of (inclusive in a Vegas Summer Series combo on ChipMeUp).

Unfortunately by the time we arrived he had already busted out and consequently left us stranded Downtown. With DK and Rich virtually broke and unable to gamble I decided to stake them $100 with a 50% freeroll on any profits they made. We all sat down on a Bonus Texas Holdem table . . . bad idea . . . as Rich went busto quickly, while I dropped $50 as DK was the only one able to profit. I gave Rich $100 to play Craps but that too went back to the house as we went for a walk to find some cheaper gambling options.

Finding a $1 roulette table at the Las Vegas Club I proceeded to lose $200 in about five spins before we decided to call it a day and make our way home. First of all though we would have to validate parking at Fitzgeralds, but like most degenerates, standing around waiting near a Craps table was never a good option.

With my final $100 I gave it to Rich to play Craps and that soon slipped down to around $30 until some middle-aged lady here on a vacation got the dice and went on a mega roll to see us cruise up to around $550. She then set the point on a 10 and we had $48 on both the six and eight as well as $50 on the pass line and $100 behind – a total of nearly $250 on the table. But as all gambling stories end, she obviously crapped out with a seven just as we upped our bets to leave us with around $300, which soon turned into $200 before we finally ended the day – with my wallet $400 lighter.

We decided to pop into the Rio to hang out, and after dinner I decided to play some $1-3 No Limit Holdem as DK and Rich headed home.

Buying in for $300 I picked up a couple of small pots before doubling up a short-stack when my Ace-King couldn’t improve against her pocket fives. Not needing to top up as I still had a full stack I then was dealt A♦ 9♦ and limp-called a small raise to see an Ace-high flop fall. I checked, my opponent fired out $30 and I shoved on him as he only had $100 or so behind. He took about three minutes to call before tabling his Q♣ Q♦ and found a third Queen on the river.

“Sorry dude”

“Well then you’re obviously not sorry. No need to lie mate”

I put my earphones back in and pulled out a couple of $25 chips to top up to a full stack before going an hour or so of not being dealt much. I three-bet a few people here and there before being dealt K♣ Q♦ on the button and made it $16 to go after a limper. This guy who had just jammed the river with air the previous hand made the call from the small blind as did the spaz nut in the big blind to see a K♠ 6♦ 10♠ flop fall. It was checked to me and I fired out $32 and was called by just the small blind as the repeat 10♦ landed on the river. Following his play previously where he jammed the river after his opponent checked top two behind on the turn, I decided to check as well as the K♦ landed on the river. He surprisingly checked and with around $100 in his stack and about $110 in the pot I was put in a quandary of what to do. I wanted to get maximum value from his likely holding of Ace-Queen or Ace-Jack and decided to fire out $53. About two minutes went by before he called with his A♦ J♦ as I was gifted a nice pot.

I then made two-pair with 10♦ 9♦ but was counterfeited against Kings before I bricked a straight flush draw and a pair against the same guy and was forced to fold to his river shove.

Then this interesting hand came up where after one limp I raised the button to $15 with A♣ J♣ and found a call from a tight player in the small blind before the limper called. The flop fell down A♦ 6♥ 4♥ and the limper donked out $25 only to have me raise to $62. The small blind then check-raised all in for $202 as the limper immediately folded. This guy had been so tight and although it was only costing me $140 to win about $340, I eventually folded believing that I never am in good shape in this spot. A few of the hands he later played (tank calling with top-top etc) made me believe I made the right fold.

I was rivered a couple of times when my two-pair went down to some four-card straights and I eventually finished down for the session $236 to take my losses for the day to $636 . . . FWIW days off suck!

I arrived a little later than normal – as expected – and was greeted with some puzzling looks from the majority of the PokerNews crew before settling into another day behind the computer.

APPT Macau Day 1c Level 1-3 Updates
APPT Macau Day 1c Level 4-7 Updates

It was a fairly standard day with some of the bigger names taking to the felt including Tony Hachem, Aaron Benton, Brendon Rubie, Steve Yea, Dinh Le, Nam Le and Quinn Do.

Rubie finished up near the top along with Darren Judges and Ralf Westphal, but to read a decent recap of the day, check out how Simon Young saw it from alongside me.

With everyone wanting to have a quiet night, I decided to head downstairs to play some HK$10-20 NLH.

In my first major hand I was dealt A♠ J♠ in the small blind and bumped it up to 170 after a few limpers. Only two players made the call and I fired out 320 on a J♣ 10♣ 6♣ with both of them making the call before we checked down the Q♠ and 7♦ to see me rake in the pot and move up to HK$2,900 from my HK$2,000 buy-in.

There was a donk on the table that was calling every preflop raise and at least a bet on the flop with complete junk. I was unable to catch any cards while he was at the table apart from having my A♣ A♥ and it’s accompanying 60-chip raise from early position go uncalled by anyone – even from the donk in the big blind!

Late in the session I won a flip with 9♦ 9♠ against Ace-King to double my stack only to over HK$4,100 only to have it slip down to just over HK$3,500 before I turned in for the evening.

Arriving at Hong Kong in the afternoon, I was held up at the airport for a couple of hours waiting for a direct fairy to Macau.

Once I managed to check into the Grand Lisboa I made my way up to one of the most pimped out rooms I’ve stayed in while on the job for PokerNews / PokerNetwork (although this was a PokerStars gig).

My room at the Grand Lisboa – includes massive rotatable Plasma, two bathroom TV’s and in-built sauna and jacuzzi . . . BALLA!!!

I had a shower and caught up with Eric who had already been round for the day, and although I wanted to go eat and hang out, he wanting to crash in the room for a while. Consequently I went and got some food and made my way to the poker table.

Sitting down in a HK$10-20 NLH game with HK$2,000 (which works out to be $300 and blinds at $1-3) I never managed to gather any momentum and finished down HK$200. I did feel that I played really well, but just didn’t get a chance to win many pots apart from the occasional three-bet pre or steal from the button after a gazillion limpers.

Donnie finally arrived, and we got a chance to catch up before we all decided to meet the following day so we could see the sights that Macau has to offer.

Donnie, Eric and I were joined by Elissa as we set on a hike around town.

Although I was trying to lead us to the Ruins of St. Pauls, I was basically winging it before – after an hour of walking – running into a hotel to grab a map and some directions.

Eventually we found the Guia Fortress and the Ruins of St. Pauls before finding Gloria and the other video guys filming some b-roll as we all made a return back to the hotel before deciding to take a dip in the pool.

After Donnie, GG and I talked crap for an hour or so in the pool we all jumped in the sauna before heading upstairs to get changed as the whole team made our way to the Venetian to get some grub.

We found an Italian restaurant and ate some great food while sharing PokerNews stories from the past few years before retiring for the night.

Reaching the final day of tournament as a blogger is a great feeling because you know that only nine eliminations stand between you at your computer and you at the bar!

Main Event Final Table coverage (PokerNetwork browser) / Main Event Final Table coverage (PokerNews browser)

Since the final table was located outside of the poker room it meant that we had no wifi and consequently had to resort to a shonky mobile internet connection which put us all in a bad mood from the start.

Losing Tri Nguyen on about the sixth hand helped ease our pain and Cale Maclean about half an hour later made it even better. We then witnessed some incredibly strange hands that gave us amateurs hope of one day being on an ANZPT final table!

Angelo Hanataj called off 606,000 at 12k-24k with just 5♣ 6♣ to double an opponent up before taking them all off him just a few hands later. However it was the way that Michael O’Grady virtually threw away the tournament that amazed me the most. Min-raising preflop and min-betting flops to miss value and then calling off chips when he didn’t have it saw O’Grady just slip from hand one to see him bow out in a disappointing but expected fourth place.

With the crazy Angelo holding a little over a two-to-one advantage over stalwart Mike Ivin it was expected that the heads-up affair would be a pretty short battle with Angelo continuing his ballsy aggression, however Ivin firstly slipped before clawing his way ahead only to have Angelo summon the ANZAC spirit and fight back to eventually take down the title and $219,432 first prize.

After rushing to the buffet to grab a quick and free bite I hit the poker room and sat on a $1-2 NLH table.

I gambled in a hand early when I opened 6♣ 3♣ to $10 over a limper only to get min-raised to $20. The limper called and I called to see a 9♣ 8♠ 2♣ flop fall. The re-raiser fired out $20, one fold, and I shipped for $100 and he insta-called tabling Ace-King, but thankfully I dinked the 10♣ on the river.

I flopped quad tens and won a small pot with a bet on the river, had Aces a couple of times, but otherwise it was a rather uneventful session which still saw me win over two buy-ins during several hours of play.

The only real highlight was having Jesse move to my table from his fairly dead $5-5 game so as to stay sane and have some fun with me.

That fun turned into some ridiculous prop betting where on each hand one of us would have either red or black, over or under 7 as the middle card on the flop and a pick of three consecutive numbers for a bonus. We eventually added Lodden Thinks type questions to the mix and stuff like what nationality the dealer was, what size bed they had at home, how old the Polish waitress was and how many people she lived with. Unfortunately for me Jesse ran super hot and whipped me for about $20 when we were only playing for a $1 a point!

With Jesse looking a little worse for wear he headed up to our room to get some sleep while I hit the bar with an already intoxicated Dale Marsland, Nik Lackovic and Danny McDonagh to grab a few beers (since they had been cut off at the poker room) before calling it a night as the sun was rising on the day I return home.

Day 2 was fairly unexciting when it came down to the Main Event.

Main Event Day 2 coverage (PokerNetwork browser) / Main Event Day 2 coverage (PokerNews browser)

209 players started the day, but only 59 remained with only five eliminations needed until play hit the money with the highlight (lowlight?) being another Emad Tahtouh blow-up from chip leader to busto before the money.

While sitting just below the chip leader, I offered everyone on the media desk $1.05 that Emad wouldn’t cash because his luck in the ANZPT is completely opposite to Tony Hachem’s! Nearing the end of play Emad ran into a flopped set and then Peter Aristidou’s Aces to fall just short of the money.

Once the day was wrapped a few of us hit the Garden Buffet and scoffed down as much food as possible before parting ways.

After tidying up the event and writing an article for PokerNetwork I decided to head down to the poker room to play some cash.

I jumped on a $1-2 NLH table and quickly needed to top up an additional $25 before opening to $6 holding A♣ 5♣ and two callers from the blinds came along to see a J♠ 10♣ 6♠ flop fall.

We checked it round to see the 6♣ land and the big blind fire out $12. I called and the small blind folded as the 2♦ fell on the river. Thinking for a few moments, the big blind fired out $26, and after deliberating for a minute or so made the call basically just not believing him. I was spot on as he tabled his Q♥ 7♥ and I was up to around $140.

A few orbits later I flopped a set of fours and check-raised the flop before getting my opponent to call off his stack on the turn with just Ace-high to see me chip up to $240 and leave at time.

After two tough days previously, it was great to be back to a normal eight hour day on the floor.

Main Event Day 1b coverage (PokerNetwork browser) / Main Event Day 1b coverage (PokerNews browser)

The night previously I was asked by Jai Kemp and Joel Dodds if they could be reported on under the name of Grant Levy. The reason behind it was that another Grant Levy – not the APPT Sydney Champion one – was the overnight chip leader in the ANZPT opening event before finishing third to create a wave of confusion amongst avid tournament followers. Consequently Jai and Joel thought it would be funny to take the piss on Grant, while also sending a pregnant wife into hysteria at the prospect of several Grant Levy’s in the chip counts.

Tim Horan, Ali Khalil and Dean Nyberg also jumped on the Grant Levy bandwagon and I assigned them all a number so as to distinguish them from one another. When writing up some of the hands that they were involved in, I attempt to portray an image of the person so that the ‘Grant Levy’ code could be broken.

Ali Khalil
Grant Levy5 opened to 400 from early position and was called by a player from the small blind.

Levy5 just shrugged his shoulders and collected the pot once his opponent folded.

Tim Horan
Twirling chips in one hand while staring blankly at the board, Levy6 took his allotted time before folding his hand.

Dean Nyberg
Grant Levy4 has had a fairly tough day so far.

Levy4 however – through some convincing – would like to give a shout out to his Mum back home who has bought countless of litres of Farmers Union Iced Coffee for him to keep him powering through those online sessions.

Joel Dodds
Grant Levy2 opened under the gun to 1,500 only to be shoved on from the button by an opponent for his last 21,500.

The board ran out 10♠ 6♣ 3♥ 5♣ Q♣to see Levy2′s Kings cracked to slip to 18,000 in chips.

All the Grant Levy’s ended up busting apart from Joel – who after the above mentioned hit – finished the day on over 48,000. The story of the day however would be the fact that Tony Hachem sat fifth in the counts to be in great shape at collecting his seventh cash from eight starts on the ANZPT.

Jonathan Karamalikis, Jai Kemp, Grant Levy, Stewart Scott, Yann Pauchon, Dan Sing, Andrew Meldrum, Van Marcus, Sally Snow, Jeff Lisandro, Ali Khalil, Tyron Krost, Jackie Glazier, Tony Hachem, Adam Monaghan

With the day wrapped up, me and Yann decided to head out to dinner somewhere, and after bumping into Vincent ‘Wonky’ Wan and Adam Monaghan (who also bagged chips) we all decided to have a joint dinner somewhere around Darling Harbour.

Finding a quiet place where some other poker players had also taken a liking to we all ordered dinner and discussed everything poker.

Afterwards Yann met up some mates while the three of us headed to the poker room where Wonky and Adam decided to stake me in the $5-5 NLH game with an 80/20 deal in their favour. They shipped me two buy-ins – or $1,000 – and told me just one thing . . . WIN!

My first major hand came when I three-bet a hi-jack raise of $20 to $65 from the button holding A♠ 10♣. My continuation bet of $90 on the Q♣ J♣ 7♠ was met with a re-raise to $220 and I smacked myself in the head for betting a flop that nearly always hits his range before folding.

I topped up and about an hour later of holding King-rag, Queen-rag and the occasional weak Ace, I over-limped holding A♥ 3♥ to see a flop of 5♥ 4♥ 2♥ flop fall . . . yep that’s right . . . the STEEL WHEEL!

All seven players in the hand checked to see the 6♣ land on the turn and after three checks to me, I bet out $15 and was lucky to get a call from one of the fishy players on the table. The river fell the 7♠ and I was stuck in a spot of not really knowing what to deal. Eventually I decided with an overbet amounting to $150, and was lucky enough to get a call to see me push back to even.

On one of my final hands I raised to $35 after a limper holding Q♠ Q♣ and was called by an opponent on the button before the big blind tossed out a $100-denomination chip saying raise. The dealer however – although the player was in seat one – didn’t hear him and marked it as a call before dropping the 9♦ 7♠ 2♣ flop. The big blind fired out $100 and I opted with a raise to $275. The button passed and the big blind went into the tank muttering stuff to himself before folding his K♦ K♠ face up! I showed my Queens and the conversation afterwards revolved around the fact that because I was starring at the board so intently, he figured that I had flopped two pair. Phew!

I ended the night up only $49 after spewing some money to Ali Khalil and some other players on the table, and Wonky and Adam were kindly enough to let me keep the small profit instead of taking a cut as we ended our session at around 2am.

After waking up early this morning I headed into town for a walk to grab a drink and have a look at some of the souvenir stores before making my way to the casino for Day 2 action.

Day 2 coverage (PokerNetwork browser) / Day 2 coverage (PokerNews browser)

Needing to only reach the final table to end the day it was always expected to be a quick one. With so many good players still in the field it was unfortunate to see Simon Watt, Yann Pauchon, Aaron Benton, Constantine Harach, Eric Assadourian, Dennis Huntly and Michael Pedley all fall short of making the final table both entertaining and highly skilled.

Seat 1: James Honeybone (57,100)
Seat 2: Richard Lancaster (107,000)
Seat 3: Alfred Saliba (129,800)
Seat 4: Soren Eriksen (129,400)
Seat 5: Mike King (33,600)
Seat 6: Michael Spilkin (210,400)
Seat 7: Joseph Allis (213,100)
Seat 8: Cole Swannack (161,600)
Seat 9: Andrew Middleditch (48,300)

As I was packing up, a few of the boys invited me out to dinner at the Japanese restaurant across the road – where funnily enough I had ordered take-away the previous two nights – and I gladly accepted.

Basically the dinner was in honour of Michael Spilkin who everyone thought was a lock to take the Main Event out. Eric Assadourian, Tony Hachem, Aaron Benton, Michael Pedley, David Borg and Shane Ogier were in attendance when I got there as we all ordered a couple of drinks.

That’s when the problems started.

Since everyone there is a poker player, they like things done their way and quickly. Unfortunately the lovely lady that was running the ship got a few of the orders wrong and consequently a few of the boys got upset.

Apart from that little dilemma the food was still fantastic, the company even better and the stories the icing on the cake. As the NZ$500 bill arrived I reached for my wallet so as to opt out for the credit card roulette the boys were going to do, but both David and Peds offered to cover me and Peds ended up putting up an additional credit card to cover me.

We chucked them all in my hat as I started to slowly pull one-by-one out. In the end it was down to Peds – well actually my card – and Michael, but when Michael’s card was the last one out the final tablist covered the bill much to the relief of Peds.

The boys were heading to a bar or a strip club, but I had some work to do and parted ways at the hotel.

I wrote my article and had a quick shower before decided that my crap run of cards couldn’t continue as I decided to try my luck on the felt again.

Once I finally got a seat there were two people that had over $1,500 on the table while the rest were a combination of drunk fish, tight old timers or complete noobs.

Wanting to take on the two big stacks I decided that the way I had been playing – which aligned to my online strategy – was doing no good here and consequently I decided to gamble it up. It was no more evident when after raising to $12 on the button (for value el oh el) with 6♣ 5♣ after five limpers, there was an all in from the small blind for $50, a raise to $150 from one of the limpers and an all in from another limper, I decided to ship my $150 into the middle.

The board ran out A♠ 3♣ 8♣ 9♥ 2♠ to see me brick out my monster draw. The small blind had Kings, the limp-re raiser had Kings too and the other limper had sevens. It didn’t bother me too much as I shelled out another $150, but would soon see that go too.

I chipped up to over $230 before opening to $12 with 10♣ 10♠ and found five callers to see a 3♠ 6♣ 7♣ flop and my bet of $45 only called by one of the big stacks who had been calling three streets with middle-pair and worse. The turn landed the K♠ and I checked only to be faced with a $100 bet. As stated previously, this guy had been pretty bad and consequently I decided to commit my last $175. He took his time before calling – now feeling that I was good – to see the 2♦ land on the river. I tabled my tens, but he slowrolled is 4♦ 5♦ for a flopped straight as I quickly vacated my seat.

Stuck in the hole quite a bit from this trip I decided that I would turn to my old favourite/nemesis/destructor of bankrolls in Baccarat.

I changed over the last of my money to see me sit down at the $25 squeeze table with $675 needing to turn that into over $1,400 to get even for the trip (including expenses etc).

There isn’t much to say about my Baccarat experience apart from the fact that I was lame enough to keep a scorecard. Maybe it was due to this, or the fact that I just flipped well to see me turn that $675 into $1,250 by betting in $25 and $50 units with just the occasional $75.

My Christchurch Casino profitable Baccarat experience

With my wallet more padded, and some relief that I was only down a marginal amount I called it a night vowing not to hit the poker tables again while in New Zealand!