Enjoying Live Poker in Wellington

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, situated at the southwestern tip of the North Island with a population of 400,000. Unlike other kiwi cities it doesn't have a casino, so it was a pub poker night in JJ Murphy's.

There was an interesting twist that I hadn't encountered before. Basically, you get unlimited chip stamps for every beer purchased. Like beer pong, there would be an optimal strategy based on coherence. An interesting twist indeed.

Andrew and I were in town with work and needed a meal anyway, so we killed 3 birds with one stone. I started in the BB and checked my option with Qc4c. When folp came Tc6c3c it looked like it might be my night. SB bet, I raised and got 2 callers, including the SB. Turn came 7c and the SB overbets the pot for more than half of his stack. I thought about it and my read if anything told me that it was probably a rash bluff. Discretion being the better part of valour, and trying to practice ICM eventhough I hadn't as yet had a full explanation, I folded fearing the Ac or Kc. He never showed, so we'll never know. But I was still alive.

Two hands later, I'm on the button with AJ and it is limped around to me who just calls. Flop comes JT4r and it is limped around to me who also bets the pot and gets 2 callers. Turn is a K, first to act checks and then villain bets half his stack which was again a massive overbet to the table. I thought about it once more and decided that I didn't need to bust out this early with not even TPTK anymore. Evening not looking so hot.

From there I was in shortstack mode which is really quite a simple equation. AI or fold. Several limpers when I had KK preflop, All in, one caller with AK. I triple up. AI with 99 to mutliple limpers and everyone folded. Long story short, I built up my stack to about 3rd or 4th in chips. Blinds were doubling every 15 mins, so the games are over very quickly in Wellington. With 12 players left on 2 tables and 3 places paid, I was UTG with AT, pushed AI (7BB) and was called by BB who had AJ and that was me eliminated from the tourney. The food was great, company was good and Tui Beer is actually a very nice drop.

Andrew had an opposite strategy playing tight and doubling up with premium hands. He made it onto the final table relatively easily but was short stacked most of the evening (without losing a hand) and by this stage was effectively crippled. Got it in with K6s and when the board failed to improve he too was on the rail and we were back in work mode preparing for the next day's presentation.

Pleased to report that the presentation on Enterprise 2.0 went well and I'm off to the airport once more. Farewell Wellington! Auckland next and the crasian gamblefest that is Sky City.