Poker Long Weekend

Our Friday night home game featured the toughest line-up that we’ve ever had and a competitive tough game was had, me being a modest loser for one buy-in, right on the last hand. I was 75c down when I flopped 2-pair and we got it AI against a bigger 2-pair. It happens. No big deal, but, I was running 21 out of 28 winning sessions and was keen to win $1 in that hand, just wasn’t to be. The host introduced two house rules which psychologically helped the game run much more like a casino game – no rabbit hunting and no talking about a hand if not involved. The fine for the occasional miscreant was contributing a couple of dollars into the next pot.

My next outing was a significant buy-in tourney at Star City Casino. I always seem to be seated at a tough table including always sat with Kiwi G at my table, a well-regarded old-time local pro who is a real gentleman. This time he was on my immediate right and to be honest it is something that I love about poker, the ability to be seated at a mini-legend. It’s amazing to watch and learn as he calls a flop bet OOP and instantly seizes the initiative. He and Luca to his right were certainly co-table captains running up against a single foe who held his own.

I built my stack a little before my AA got cracked by 44. MP raised and I re-raised from the CO and we were heads up to the flop of K84r. He was relatively shortstacked with 4000 in front so I bet 1900 to induce the AI which duly came and I called instantly as it was part of the plan. Needless to say his flopped set held up. I was now a shorty and with the Antes kicking in, the opportunity arose with 4 $200 limpers to shove AI for $3000 with the highly speculative A5s to capture $1000 on a fold or get lucky for a double up. Surprisingly only caller had 78s, flop came A78, turned a 5 to re-take the lead and rivered an A, I’m back in action at almost average stack. A welcome table break and in the first orbit I’m dealt AA with 4 limpers, shoved and didn’t get a single caller. Very next hand, 3 limpers and I’m dealt KK. Let’s go ith the crazy image and shove again. One caller with AQs who flopped an A and rivered an A, and I’m gone. Was obviously disappointed but only very little which I think is a good sign. Unemotional poker in terms of being results oriented and tilting is probably a very good thing.

Off to the $200 cash table and I booked a $100 profit before having noodles with a friend at Fat Noodle (highly recommended) and then back for more action at a crazy table with 3 pub players and 4 regulars. The regs must’ve been card dead or just lying in wait to stack of the pubbies but it wasn’t to be. The pubbies hit cards after cards until the lady had $500 in front and the young guy had about $1700. They’d inflicted a lot of damage hitting flush, sets and Full houses with incredible regularity. Then the final hand ensued. Blinds $5/$5. 3 limpers and SB checks. BB with big stack makes it $65 to go. Everyone folds to lady who calls on the Button. Flop comes 2 hearts, Q high - Check, Check. Turn brings a 3rd heart and a possible straight. Young guy leads out for $170 and lady calls. River is a non-heart A which doesn’t really change too much (you’d think). Young guy bets $250 and pub lady calls. Young guy shows AK and lady mucks. Table looks on in disbelief and salivates. I’d said that 10pm would be my limit and had to go 10 minutes later. I’m sure that I’ll hear that the $2k was redistributed around the table not long after.

Commerce Trip Report

It has been a surreal month for me and I’m looking forward to getting back to some normality which is the first time that I’ve ever felt like that after travelling overseas. 5 weeks is way too long to be away from your family, even if you are with other family on the other side of the world. I really enjoyed pottering around at home with my father who has an incredible sense of humour. Before I left, we went shopping for a new Samsung LED TV for him so he’s all set for the World Cup now. Unfortunately for those of us living Down Under, the games are played in the middle of the night.

After leaving Ireland, I headed for a wedding in New Jersey which went like clockwork. The majority of the preparations had been done in advance so it was all very relaxed in the few days of the lead up. Lots of meals out didn’t do anything for the waistline though and I’m not sure that poker is the best pursuit for shifting that either. No poker was had in New Jersey, but a quick goggle search would indicate that there is a healthy ‘home game’ scene there.

The poker highlight of my trip was to LA where I was lucky enough to stay at the Commerce Casino. They have a Crowne Plaza upstairs which is actually very, very good, I thought. Spacious, clean room with free high speed wifi. I’d read and heard so much about the Commerce that I was really looking forward to seeing if it is as good/bad as they say. The 2+2 threads would indicate that an hour or two of good behaviour at a table is running like God. I’d have to agree. I’d consider myself pretty tolerant of a wide range of playing styles and behaviours but the Commerce certainly pushes the boundaries. Dealer abuse is common place and I saw cards thrown at the dealer 3 times. At Hawaiian Gardens (the Gardens, as they like to be called now) I seen the most amazing incident. We were playing $3/$6 Limit PLO8 which is played with racks of $1 chips. A huge hand ensued and a bluff was attempted on the river when there was no qualifying low, by a self-described gypsy who was casting curses on anyone that dared win a hand against him. Anyway, mild-mannered Chinese man in his 60s calls with pocket 77s and wins. Lightest hero call I’ve ever seen given the board that was out there. He scoops and the gypsy reaches into the middle of the table and splashes the pot toward him. He then gets up from Seat 7, walks around to Seat 1, reaches over and humourlessly knocks the old guys chip tower over. He then proceeds to go back to Seat 1 and ask the Chip Runner for a reload and plays on. I understand that this is an extreme version of what appears to be accepted (as opposed to acceptable) behaviour in LA. I could go on and on about what I encountered. The Hustler and the Bicycle Club weren’t any different.

For me the experience lived up to its reputation and I’d happily play at all of those casinos again because variety is the spice of life. I would certainly stop short of recommending them to anyone else. FWIW, my experience in San Francisco Card Rooms was entirely opposite, so it isn’t a Californian thing. As for results, I fared poorly except for my last session where I played a $40, yip $40, buy in $1/$2 NLH game. I’d read about it and again it lived up to its expectation. It’s an AI fest with half the table sitting on $300+ stack. It was my last day before flying out and I cashed out for 3 racks of chips to bring me close to even for LA. If I lived there I’m sure that I could beat the game because table selection would be so much easier and represent a massive advantage.

For the record, the most enjoyable places for me to play live poker in order are home games, Las Vegas, Dublin, Melbourne, Banbridge, London and San Francisco. Given its population Perth Burswood has done very well. The bottom of the list has got to be Star City Sydney for the rake, Macau for the smoking and LA for the worst behaved player pool by far.

Online update is that my game of cleaning up my losing HEM levels hiccupped at 25c/50c where I am struggling to claw back my modest PLO and PLO8 losses. Maybe that is my true level at the moment although the sample size is very small. I have been distracted again though … as I was sitting at LAX ready to fly back to Australia I decided to try Cascading my Tables as opposed to Tiling. Surprisingly, I much preferred it and ran pretty good. I played NLH 10c/20c for the experiment. Posted a win with ease. Since arriving home, I’ve fired up for just one session but again it went well. With Tiled tables, I max out at between 4 and 6 tables. With Cascading, I was comfortably 10-tabling FR and I’m sure that I could have added another 2 with ease. If you haven’t tried it, give it a go.

Yip ... winning feels good!

So my friend and I entered the ANZPT Teams Event on Sunday. The entry was a modest $550 per team and my partner was all psyched up. I on the other hand must confess that I was a little blasé about the whole thing. After a couple of hours of treading water from our 6k starting stack, I'd played 1 hand in almost 3 blind levels and my partner had played about 8, up and down. Luckily a few spots came up to steal a few pots near the end of an orbit and we had scraped together 7100 when the blinds hit 200/400. Then everything came together ...

Jim was on the button mid-level with about 4BBs left and shoved on an unraised pot with QTo. BB wakes up with an A and calls. T hits on the river and we aren't out! A couple of hands later, he doubles up. His JJ survived an inocuous looking flop of 227r. Only problem was that opponent had 23o. Thankfully justice prevailed when the J fell on the Turn which he flat-called and then called the river AI.

Then a couple more hands and UTG he puts in a min-raise. UTG+1 goes AI with a short stack only to be followed by UTG+2 with an AI to isolate with his AK. Folds around to Jim who thinks for a nano-second before shoving with his AA. His little tap to break the inertia had set off a very lucrative snowball effect and we tripled up! Happy days, we're suddenly well above average with 30 something left out of a field of 96, I think.

Breathe deeply and go back to solid play. A few spots came up and to be honest for the rest of the evening almost all of our hands held up AK vs AJ, JJ vs TT etc. We were getting our money in good and the hands were holding. We sat on 57k for the longest time as the field went from 18 to 12 ever so slowly, maybe 2 hours. Then on my break I went for a stroll to keep fresh when I receive a Text "Better come back, sry". I then tried to practice my best false smile and trite "Don't worry about it" lines. Sure enough the final table was forming and Jim was standing up. Then I noticed, cradled securely was the 57k intact. With 600k in circulation, we were average stacked going into the final table with blinds of 2k/4k.

We were happy with our guaranteed $1k payout and then just looked to climb the ladder a couple of rungs or get lucky. Well lady luck was shining and a couple of runners fell by the wayside. With $500 increments we were up to a massive (for us) $2k payout. Now we were freerolling. The final table played out 1 orbit each. I sat down one time and shoved KQs from MP, no callers. Partner believes that wasn't in the script. Very next hand, the most active annoying stealer leads out with 17k. I look down at A9o and decided to 3-bet as he can't always have the goods, everyone folds and suddenly we're running level 2nd in chips. Then a couple more drop out and we find ourselves 4-way. As the others had doubled up, we're now shortstacked again.

With 3 equal stacks, surprisingly, we wielded the biggest threat for a couple of orbits with our potentially damaging AIs. Then before we know it, we're up in the running again without a showdown. Our hands continued to hold up until we were Heads Up with last year's ANZPT Player of the Year Runner Up, Chris Levick and his wife Danette (the TV dealer). They were undoubtedly the best team in the Event and I'll be honest, very intimidating. Chris was raising nearly every hand from the SB to 55k with 4k/8k blinds. I decided to do the same as did our partners. I was surprised at not facing a small ball approach because I thought that a coinflip suited us. Then came the crucial hand, Chris raises AI from the SB, clearly a hand that he's happy to get it in the middle with. I look at the first card, Kc. I comment "halfway there". Then squeeze out a delightful 2nd K. I CALL! Board runs out something, who cares. A $6k blank, blank, blank. And then the very surreal moment of realising that we were indeed ANZPT Teams Event Champions.

It's still a little surreal. So much so that it was almost 12 hours later that I even realised the value of the blank board. From 4th place, they were just chips, pot sized bets and a desire to come first. Even drinking beers with our friends at 3am on Monday morning in Star City, the money jumps in the top 3 places weren't considered or discussed. We had the title, the trophy and of course 75 pristine unused $100 notes each. The $40 extra was already converted into Stella Artois.

Winning feels good and tastes good!

PS Star City did an excellent job of running the entire series extremely well despite the above gorund dungeon that is the poker room these days. And a big shoutout to Pokerstars who sponser these affordable poker tours. This amateur got to play heads up with a formidable foe - thank you Pokerstars. Maybe now I can learn How to Play 8 Game Mix and How to Play Badugi too.

My final shoutout may sound corny but Mike and Adam at the 2+2 Pokercast deserve a lot of the credit for our win. We've listened to every episode including the original BigPoker.ca ones and had visualised being at a final table many times. We'd heard so many pros describe the experience of every stage so often, its like we had been there. When we got there we'd already rehearsed the future. especially the heads up combat. Thanks guys ... you're the nutz.

Online : The training ground for live

Long ago, I realised that I would never make it as an online pro. Thankfully, I've been able to comfort myself with the challenge of staying a winning player, even if it is only a few dollars. Then came PLO and I ran good early (as I've since found out). These days, I am struggling to keep my head above water at PLO100 but just managing too which has always been my goal. Still waiting for the influx of new players to the game which seems to be more of a trickle and the more experienced players. I must say that the standard has got noticeably better over the last 6 months and the CardRunner-type 3-bet aggression has well and truly come to the fore after what was a very passive old school style until recently at the lower stakes.

What has improved with PLO is my thinking about poker in general and this has undoubtedly help improve my offline play. My home games continue to be lucrative beyond what I think can be considered positive variance. That said, the number of hands I will play live in my lifetime is unlikely to exceed the 100k that is needed to be confident in PLO of being a winning player.

I dipped my toes back into pub poker with better results. If you can't beat them, join them, so I take a lot more aggressive lines early in the tourney. Go hard or go home. Luckily, Ive been running good when it matters.

I invested ($12) in Poker Income for my iPhone to track my Live results and the graph is very positive indeed. In BB/100 it is probably well over 100 for the last 60 hours of record keeping. My roll is up to the point where I can comfortably go to the casino within my BR and drop a few BIs if need be and reload. Not playing with scared money is very liberating indeed.

Finally, I am looking forward to the ANZPT which rolls into Sydney this week. I've registered for 3 x $330 tourneys at this stage. Will be disappointed if I get sucked out on early in the PLO, otherwise, I'm just going to give it my best shot to win the $2200 required for a Main Event ticket. Fingers crossed.

APPT Teams Event - Sydney

Just up out of bed and thought that my quick and immediate thoughts are probably more valuable than any hand by hand blow.

Let me start by saying that with two teams from our Invitational qualifier playing that I was very aware when driving in that there was a lot of room for distraction for me and I was keen to keep out of that. I was here to work. I'd also heard on PokerRoad that it is important for live players to get away from poker on the breaks as you can rest the side of the brain that's doing your poker thinking. Seemed like a plan and I was going to try to do that. I did and it kept me focused throughout.

There were 77 Teams that stumped up $1100 each. The Teams Event is a 40 minute level, 8000 starting stack tourney where players alternate every level. On the first level you just get 4000 chips so your partner is guaranteed a hand. I tend to avoid the crazy stuff early unless I have a premium hand. Can you believe that we lost one team, both partners obviously going AI within 40 minutes. My VPIP was 0%, card dead but not concerned at all. Focused on understanding the 5 players to my left. My friend was to my immediate right and I know his game. A T/P lady to his left so all was good. Break came and I took 10 keno tickets and wrote down all that I'd learned. This helped when I sat down next.

Partner lost a few chips missing flops but nothing serious and we had 6500 when I sat down. Next 37 mins, VPIP still 0%. Pocket KK, raise, call, call in front, I re-raise and they all fold. Next hand played out similarly and I'd added to our stack, we're above average.

I then took my break, went to the bathroom, cleared my head, and obviously felt good with the situation. 10mins to go, I walk back to check out the chip stacks and my partner is in a crucial hand. I arrive, he sees me, calls me closer and the board is 5354 mostly red, not sure. He'd beem overbet AI on the Turn and was in the tank a little but didn't look at all concerned. Made the call and almost doubled up when his JJ was facing 77, nice call sir.

Next was my memorable level, mid-way through SB completes and I see a flop with KJs, why raise? Flop was a beautiful AJJ, and softplaying isn't ethical so my check in position was definitely a slowplay. Turn was checked to me and I put in a standard 3000 2/3 pot raise, called. Blank river, so no need to slow down. 5500, called and my set beats his A7, happy days. My friend had dropped 2/3 of his stack which was the only negative.

A few hands later and we're now well above average. UTG with 77, I limp, one raiser, Button calls and I call. Flop 873 and the SB is Sean Keeton a Melbourne pro playing with Tony Hachem, Joe's brother, all sponsered PokerStars players. He leads out and I decide to call hoping for a third stack to come along and maybe even squeeze us. They fold but no problem. Turn comes the Ace and pro fires again, I raise this time for value hoping he has AK/AQ and he calls. River blank, he checks, I bet about 2/3 the pot (which was about 3/4 of his stack) hoping for a call or an AI. He tanked and found what was probably an easy fold. There were 2 hearts out there and I heard him discuss with Tony that he was chasing the Flush, maybe it was the NFD on the Turn. That was the highlight though (which could have gone very wrong as I'm not getting away from it if that heart fell on the river).

Now we're cruising and its a bit of a blur of minor ups and downs for a couple of rounds. My partner is playing exceptionally well and building our stack up nicely. I've definitely gone more nitty cruising toward a cash.

Then we move table and I got the table captain to my left raising 50% of hands. He pounced on my nitty play and everyone elses. He even took out a few big stacks that tried to stand up to him. He wasn't a massive stack but just constantly announced "raise". My Button was neutralised massively. 6 minutes to go and no need to really get involved, I have A9 on the button. I have the SB covered and if I put any sort of a normal raise in the BB will 3-bet me for half my stack. I considered doing this and re-raising AI but I'm sure he would have raced so I thought, why not get it AI and steal the blinds most likely. MISTAKE! SB wakes up with AQ and I lose most of our stack. We're crippled.

Partner comes in and plays mega well to build us up from 4000 to a respectable 17000. I add to it on the next level with a KK double up and another hand. He add on the following level and we're looking good again.

Then my implosion. AA MP, I raise, SB calls. BB calls. Flop K88. SB leads out, BB calls and I go into the tank, I can't be good here. I fold and the SB stacks off with his K against the set. Nice escape. A couple of hands later, late position pocket 10s. Flop K85. BB bully checks, I bet 5000 or so, he CR to 15000. Maybe I push AI here, who knows. Turn blank, he checks. Turn a J, he bets, I fold. It was only 4000 which was suspicious and I could have called, but we had 16k left and my partner can use that a lot more than 12k. Crippled again. Luckily I'm playing with one of the best players in the room in my opinion and he builds us right up again. He had about 7 steals almost in a row that were all folded. We're back.

Before I knew it we were on the bubble. Joe Hachem was on the feature table and attacking the bubble more than 50% of hands. Our table was a lot more passive with an occassional steal. There were even a few walks before the two big stacks picked up the blinds virtually every orbit. Hand for hand lasted the best part of an hour with 3 small stacks doubling up. Then Joe Hachems partner got it AI and called with his KK v TT. T on the flop and Joe Hachem was out. My partner wanted to play with him, but I was happy to ee him gone and we were in the money.

Result, we went out soon after for a modest cash. Most importantly for me, I've maintained my 100% record of cashing live PokerStars events - I'm 4 for 4. This was my biggest buy-in to date so that's all good.

Synopsis, you heard it from my selfish perspective but the truth is that I was the wimp in this team. My partner played incredibly well and if you click on a few blogs, you'll no doubt read his recount soon. (PS There will probably be a lot of typos and inaccuracies but I'm leaving this post as is as it is my genuine recollection of 11 hours of very enjoyable poker from 4pm thru to 3am).

The secret to winning Teams poker for me is to partner with the best player in the room! Thanks partner for making the trip across.

Vegas Trip Report

I’m pleased to report that my lack of posts for a month was more to do with being a slacko rather than busto. The ultimate poker player’s paradise, Vegas was every bit as good as I imagined it. Multiple days of jet lag spent on Aussie time, sleeping most of the day and up all night.

Results Oriented
My priorities were to have fun and leave Vegas unscathed. I held my own on the felt by playing the lowest limits with mostly recreational players. I found the games soft and was able to assess playing styles and abilities relatively quickly.

I arrived with under $200 and managed to cover all of my expenses for the week. First session I was down to $120 after cabs and bought in for $100. I was quickly on a roll with 5 winning sessions in a row. Then I was silly enough to play the only table open in the Rio with grinders on the graveyard shift. This dented my BR as I was now playing a game with myself to see if I could leave Vegas without visiting the ATM.

My very limited bankroll (self discipline) curtailed any temptation at upping redline aggression and instead I played relatively nitty, taking positional opportunities when they arose. Pocket QQs were particularly kind UTG. I’d limp knowing that a raise wouldn’t be far away. An early raise of $10 might see 5 limpers and then I’d shove AI and take it down preflop, worked every time.

My best results came in the cheapest game in town, Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall, with its $5.99 Steak and Eggs, 50c/$1 blinds and $200 BI. A little predatory, it was the softest night game in town with a great view.


Poker Rooms
Spoilt for choice, I probably played in 25 poker rooms as I cruised the Strip. In approximate order, I liked the Venetian, Bellagio, Caesars, MGM, Excalibur, Binion’s (for traditition), Bill’s (for profit), Paris etc. Only disappointments were the Hard Rock which could only rustle up 2 tables on Saturday night and the Rio (where I stayed) which was the worst.

Grinding
I learned a lot about the lifestyle by talking to the Vegas grinders in the graveyard shifts. For example, they put in 7 hours per day at the Rio and get entry into a $2000 freeroll with about 15 runners, final table getting paid. Also, 125 hours per month at Harrahs tables gets you $650 cash. These guys take nitty and bonus chasing to a whole new level.

My tale of woe was C-Betting a steal attempt on the first hand of the FR to rise above average. Then 2nd hand, blinds 25/50, grinder UTG makes it 200 to go, I look down at AKs in the CO and decide to call as more than half the field get paid so no need to get too rash early. Flop A94 with 2 diamonds. Grinder leads out for 200, I make it 600 and he called. Flop comes diamond, he bets 1500 and I had to decide was it a flush or air. These guys are so intent on getting every little promotional edge available, I couldn’t see him busting out 2nd hand, but I managed to convince myself that he might just have AQ or similar with the A of diamond redraw. Alas, no, he had KJ of diamonds and I was on the rail 2nd hand. No doubt, the butt of grinder glee.

Tournaments
My biggest surprise was the number, quality and value of affordable deep stack tourneys that they run. One cash I was proud of was a $120, 7500 chips, paying 9 places with 98 runners at the Venetian. I final tabled, finishing 7th when my pocket 6s got cracked by K5 with the K on the Turn. My pocket rockets held up twice mid-way thru to put me into position me well. This cash was particularly sweet as I was down to my last $3 in US dollars after the buy in. Top 3 paid approx $3K, $2K and $1K so I got my chance to dream, In the end, my welcome $369 payout and 6.5 hours of enjoyment was enough to kickstart the roll again. BTW, no need for an iPod in the Venetian as the music is excellent.

Enjoyment Factor High
There didn’t seem to be too many comps , but I didn’t search any out. I was intent on playing as much poker as possible and had a ball. I was free-rolling and relaxed my no drinking while playing rule from the second day. When it was completely relaxed by the end of the week, I moved to $2/$4 Limit which can be played on auto pilot. In this mode, I met an incredible range of characters all out to have a lot of fun. A poker players paradise!

LAX on my way to LAS

My body thinks its nighttime but the clock says 8:00am, should I use the complimentary beverage voucher. Let me Google the Pope's religeon to decide. So there is only this Post between me and my first Sam Adams in a while, here goes.

First let me start by saying that around Feb time (I think) a number of us bloggers seemed a little flat with our games. With the exception of Jesse, who is a shoe in for a Limit Bracelet one day, we all seem to be doing a bit better of late. For my part here is an update "brag" post. Medium fish in a wee pond stuff.

Sydney Championships, $150 entry, 28 runners, 4th for $403. I'm glad that I didn't play the $770 event as I'm now 3 for 3 in cashes at biggish (for me) PLO Events. Another min cash could have been 2nd if my KK99ss had held up against the chip leader QQ64ss. Runner Runner 6-6 just felt bad. In reality the flop was all low and he had a few outs. My KKxx hit a K on the river AI against AAxx with 7 left, so I'm not complaining. As is usually the case with PLO, by the river I had a whopping 7 outs.

Before flying out at 6am on Sept 11 (I only realised when I got to America), I played our new game at the local Bowling Club. Over the 3 weeks, we've had 4, 5 and then 6 tables. I was packing so missed the Tourney, satisfying my poker craving with the S&G Chip Chop. Ran a double barrel bluff first hand to build my stack but managed to halve it. From there, I resorted to T/A against calling stations and scored a nice $50 on a 0.25c/.50c blind game. Obscene BB/100 if it was to count that way. In reality, its only a couple of big hands that make the difference. You just need to not get unlucky.

I've played every day of FT's Take Two promotion which should be an easy $50 and my redline is going really well. Showdown winnings are well down which is to be expected. Need to work on finding the optimal balance. I find that running the HEM graph along the bottom of the screen provides instant feedback on when my aggression is dropping off. My stats all of a sudden look really good alongside the winning regs, I think.

I got yesterday's game in at Sydney Airport. Was up a healthy amount when my plane was called. The final hand was K44 flop. A shorty raised the pot and I decided to min-raise my 4 to induce the shove with which he duly obliged. He had AAxx obviously and I logged off looking forward to Vegas even more.

And so to Vegas. I'm hoping to check in and go straight to bed with the Hard Rock Casino tonights choice of venue. If I'm feeling jetlaggy, I'm not going to play as I need to pace my finite BR. Hopefully I can win the early sessions and relax in that regard. I have no desire to move above the smaller stakes, just soak up the atmosphere.

OK ... Sam is beckoning ... gl all at the tables.

My first PLO8 MTT win and Sydney Champs

What a difference a day makes. The deck must have read my blog and resented my flippant lack of appreciation for running good. Exacting revenge, it has just slapped me about the face repeatedly. Not one for bad beat stories, let me share with you that the Winnings line has plummeted below my AI EV line, which rose significantly overnight. Good news is that I didn’t Tilt, for which I credit HEM with its visual confirmation that it was just variance.

I was four tabling, with 2 tournaments and 2 FR PLO100 cash games on the go. A tad ambitious or irresponsible perhaps. I almost got ITM with my PLO tourney and came first in the PLO8 one that I was playing in which had 128 runners. Being my first ever PLO8 100+ player tourney win, overall it was a very good evening and another step forward in my pursuit of being an all-round poker player.

My Poker Ranking for the year was 98.71% before last night so I’m keen to see what a small stakes win contributes as I’d like to poke my nose into the top 1%, if only for a day. Not sure of the formula for the rating system, but I know that my ranking has been flattered by running good in a couple of low buy-in events. Having had my fair share of being smacked around the face, I’ll take anything that’s going.

The Sydney Championships are on and there is a $770 PLO Tournament which I would have loved to have played in. In the end, I have decided not to. As I’m off to Vegas on Friday, my $$$s are being conserved to be invested in the cash games over there.

I estimate that I'd be close to neutral EV given the amount of dead money and was really torn between giving it a go or not. Unfortunately, $770 weeds out a lot of the casual dead money that even $550 would attract, so my expectation may well be lower depending on the field size. Less than 100 players would be a pretty strong field, I think. Over that, there just aren’t that many great Omaha players available in Sydney on a Tuesday night.

The deciding factor in the end was the realisation that, for those close to me that don't fully appreciate the variance of poker tournaments, the utility of losing which is the most likely outcome greatly exceeds the utility of a min-cash which is the next most likely scenario.

If I was single, I would give it a shot just to get a chance to pit my wits against The Croc and Eric Assadourian and gauge how far I still need to improve. I know that a lot of the bets that I made last night with the click of a “pot” button, I couldn’t have done live and even if I could, there would have been a million and one tells in the physical activity.

In the end, I'm pleased that I appear to lack the gamble to just throw bankroll requirements out the window and give it a go.

Star City and Pokerstars $1 Million Turbo Takedown

It has been a big weekend of poker with 2 live sessions at Star City and a crack at winning a Porsche Cayman S in the Million Dollar Turbo Takedown.

I went straight from work on Friday night and managed a 10-hour session straight. Sat in the $5/$10 Limit table with 5 or 6 to every flop, capped or not. I decided to play high cards, pocket pairs and suited connectors. In theory, this should be a pretty lucrative game and I'd be interested to see how lucky/unlucky I was using PokerEV. Long and short of it was that I dropped $300 in first 3 hours by coming 2nd each time and having been rivered more often than not. Then I had 2 hands in a row that I won and I was back to all square. Hovered there for another hour and could feel boredom creeping in so I moved to a 80-100NL game.

My 2nd hand of NL, I find KK in the BB. Maybe 6 limpers for 2 dollars so I made it $20 to go. UTG+1 called and everyone else folded. Flop came with 3 low cards, so I c-bet for $20 thinking that it would be enough or tempt a chase by AK etc. Turned a low club making 3 clubs on board so I pushed the remaining $40 into a $90 pot and villain took forever to call. River blanked and I thought I was good, but he turned over a baby flush. Like the Limit table, I recovered this over the hours ahead and cashed in at 3am exactly even to the $. In hindsight, I made the most of the situation with very little to get my teeth into.

In Australia, P-platers can only take one passenger after 11pm which is a really good law. My daughter needed to get to the Presets with her friends, so I scored an unexpected econd session on Sunday night as chauffeur. Exact same story played out. Second hand of NL, KK UTG+1. I make it $10 to go and get 2 callers when the SB makes it $35. Fearing a strong hand, I called to see if an A would flop and attract a couple of other callers too. The flop came A55r 3-ways. SB checked and with only $45 in front of me it seemed like a reasonable play to push it in. Call, All-in and I was in bad shape. Yip, SB had AA, nh sir, bugga. My Limit seat came up and I still struggled with coming 2nd on the odd occassion I got in a pot. At 10pm with 1 hour of play left, I decided to give the NL a go again and lo and behold, I cashed in at 11pm for a total loss of only $6.

Whilst I played my own cards reasonably well, my reads were well off and I couldn't put anyone on hands. If I'm not raising peflop, I fail to define how others play against me. The regulars change gears depending on how everyone is playing. Over time, I'll need to pick up this skill. More thought required.

The Stars Turbo Takedown was a tough little tourney as the blinds rise quite quickly. I had 2 maniacs at an otherwise passive table with 2 dead no-shows to my right attracting aggressive blind stealing and c-betting. With my wings clipped early, I stuck to solid ABC poker. When the bubble eventually burst I was in approx 1700th position with an M of 7, which was above average. They dropped like flies from 10,000 with the payout structure very flat, another $5 for 500 spots or so.

I played fairly solid hoping to double up or steal as the opportunities presented themselves which I did. Critical hand was the SB shoving on me and I had A8o and decided to gamble. The wider his range, the better off that I am and I decided that with the blinds and antes about to eat in for us both this could well be a steal so I called. Alas, he had AKo and the flop of AK7 had me on the rail in 5972nd for $55.

In retrospect, I'd do the same again because of blind pressure on each of us and the fact that the real money requires a top 100 spot at least, more like final table. I probably forfeited $10-20 of ladder climbing equity for a tiny crack at the Porsche. It's important to dream to keep poker fresh!

UK Trip Report

After a couple of weeks in cold but sunny Ireland, I have just arrived back in Australia to find that winter approacheth with the end of daylight savings. It's funny that even though the weather here never gets too bad, most people tend to still hibernate a little for winter with fewer barbies etc. This period of indooredness augers well for us poker nuts and explains why the Scandanavians kick our butts online.

My trip home was eventful to say the least and there was a lot to do. It wasn't particularly hectic, but mentally challenging all the same. I played some online poker toward the end of my trip and experienced a significant downswing. This was totally due to bad play on my part and I'm not sure if any of that can be blamed on my state of mind. Either way, I am hoping that the next chapter is much more positive and that my confidence returns. I did get the opportunity to read a few magazines and read a few 2+2 posts which provided me with a few more insights. There isn't actually a lot written about PLO yet, so my table time is allowing me to differentiate the quality of what little is out there.

One great find though is a little utility called PokerEV. PokerEV automates the analysis of the Sklansky Bucks concept on your hand histories - HE or Omaha. I fired it up and was amazed to find that I was running away ahead of expectation. The truth is that my first 10K hands I didn't actually play that well probably - I just ran good. The last 5K hands have seen that situation reverse and normal variance is catching up on me and bringing me back to earth. Like a golfer that deconstructs and rebuilds their swing, I am hoping that I can go through a period of analysis and work on my PLO theory and refine a consistent winning style that doesn't rely on running good. As I'm holding my own at 6-max PLO100 already, I'm very optimistic for the future if I can knuckle down and do the study. TAGgier style here I come.

Live action has been a more positive experience for me. I had 3 sessions when I was home, one in Banbridge and two in London. The Banbridge Bridge Club was an all nighter which worked out well because my Dad said that the country roads are dangerous at night. There was a Tourney running with 22 runners where I was chip leader with 4 left only to fall away and take 3rd position. We then started SnGs with ever diminishing numbers of players until 6 of us watched the sunrise. I managed three 1sts and a 2nd of which I was very pleased. They play deep stacked with slow blinds, so it was relatively straightforward to play a Harrington style and avoid marginal decisions for my stack. I also got an edge by claiming in the early hours that Hold'em wouldn't keep me awake so we played a PLO SnG and a mixed NLHE/PLO SnG where I had a big edge in the PLO games.

London I managed to make it to the Vic Casino which lived up to its reputation IMHO. The staff were both knowledgeable and friendly and the tables were well laid out and the area was very spacious. It was an afternoon visit and it was very quiet with the regulars grinding it away on a 5/5 NLHE table. I got on the first 1/2 NLHE table to open (which is actually a $2-$5 table in Oz). The dealers were on the ball and incident free. You are allowed to buy in deep, from memory 400GBP which seems ridiculous. I bought in for 200GBP and was a medium stack. I could only play for 2 hours so I had another 200 in my pocket. I was dealt a few half decent / speculative preflop hands in position and limped, missing my trips etc. Stack dwindled slightly but insignificantly when I found QJs in one of the blinds. The board came T95r and the preflop raiser c-bet to which I called again and found myself in a decent 3-way pot. The K was a dream card for me and I checked OOP expecting a raise but it was checked again. River blanked and a surprising thing happened - the old regular to my left couldn't wait to get his chips in, 40 of them. I hadn't acted yet and they were in already. The dealer directed the play to me and I thought about it. I checked hoping that the 3rd player would come in too (I had the nuts). He folded and now I had the option of raising which I did AI. I was insta-called (presumably trips) and tabled my straight for a healthy double up. The only downside was that the preflop raiser told me that he slowed down on the Turn because he could see that I was very happy with the K. I know that he was telling the truth so I need to work on that. Anyway, my first trip to the Vic resulted in a 186 profit or in Aussie terms almost $500.

I then met up with Stevie, Kate and Indi for dinner near Leicester Square at Browns, I highly recommend it if you are in the area. We have been friends for years and had a good old laugh mixed in with a healthy smattering of opinion and philosophy etc. The wine was flowing but I was abstaining as I planned to stay up late at the Empire. With a flight to Sydney the next morning, I like to pull an all nighter and then sleep throughout the journey. Also, hangovers on a long haul flight are no fun at all. So off we toddled about 10pm and got a table almost immediately. I was the only one playing and sat at a table of dour grinder pros which wasn't at all what I was looking for. Where are the drunk tourists? Anyway, I played a couple of orbits before exercising my table selection right and headed to the bar with my friends to people watch the casino floor. It never ceases to amaze me the amounts that people routinely gamble on -EV table games. As it neared midnight, I returned and found a much better table. Alas, I was relatively card dead and tread water for most of the session. The table broke around 4am when it goes to self-dealt (rake free), sweet. I offered to deal for everyone but the game dwindled to myself and a German online/live grinder. He wanted to play heads up but that was a boring losing proposition for me. He agreed to PLO and we played back and forward with no big pots when the table started to build up again and revert back to NLHE. Throughout all of this, I doubt if my stack went outside of the 100-300 range. Around 7am my patience paid off (I would have been broke otherwise as I really had unbelievably bad cards all night) when I was dealt KK UTG. I limped as it was pretty loose at this stage. Next player who had been ultra aggressive (partly drunk) raised to $10 and got 3 speculative callers. With $200 in front of me, I made it $50 which wasn't even a pot-sized bet. Drunk makes it $200 to go, presumably to isolate but I'm not sure that he thought that far ahead and everyone folded. His hand range was so wide, I reckon that AA was about 10% of his range and I called AI. He showed 88 and I was just trying to avoid a suckout, which I did. From there, I was able to loosen up my starting range as I was deeper stacked and I enjoyed the last hour before heading to the airport.

All up, my live play netted me over $1000 in Aussie money playing what could be considered the lowest available stakes in Europe. The joys of living in Australia. In the context of my immature loose PLO downswing, this was a big positive and a timely reminder that nitty is a hard game for others to exploit. What to do with my offline bankroll is my next challenge. The ANZPT is coming to Sydney this month and there are a number of tournamenets that I'd like to take a crack at. The Main Event is outside my bankroll and the others are probably -EV as I don't think that I'm good enough yet to place unless I run above average. That said, I've had quite a bit of casino table time and online tournies so it is probably time to combine the two and see how I go. Anyone else interested in travelling to Sydney for the smaller buy in events? It would be good to meet up. Maybe we can even pool bankrolls and winnings to reduce variance. This time next year, I hope that there will be a queue of people trying to buy a piece of my action, maybe even Stars themselves. Until then, as always, all advice and support welcome.

Crown Casino Trip Report - Premium pairs

Still now online poker for a while and fitting in whatever ive games I can justify. Was in Melbourne with work Tuesday night and got a few hours at Crown. The $1/$2 game was playing so I jumped in. The BI is between $40-$80 nd to my horror the rake is 10% up to a $15 cap - ridiculous. The other players need to be really bad to win and winning fewer hands with larger pots has got to be better, so TAG is the way to go, in theory, I think, bugga who cares, I'm here to play poker and break even is probably a win.

Unmemorable hands were suited connectors and small to medium pocket pairs which all missed on the flop. Three memorable hands ...

Hand 1: All folded to me on the button with AA. I made it $6 to go to look like a steal, SB fold, BB raises to $16. Hollywooded a little and re-raised to $46 to which he inst-raised AI. We didn't show so you can guess my horror when 4 blanks were followed by a K on the river. He had AQo - moral of the story, you make most money from the mistakes of others.

Hand 2: Everyone limped to me in the SB with QQ. I made it $17 to go and got 3 callers. Flop came AKTr. Bugga. Plugged up all of the courage I could muster and pushed $50 into the middle. To my surprise Fold, Fold, Fold - managed to resist shouting Woo Hoo!

Hand 3: Late at night, all regulars at the table which is getting more aggressive. 5 limpers to me in CO. With KK I decide to limp expecting SB to raise. He'd been raising $17 to steal pots and $6 to build pots. Not a bad strategy, I guess. He duly raised to $6 and everyone called. With me almost last to act now I got to bump it up to $56 and with a lot of banter, everyone reluctantly folded. Happy enough to win without trying to avoid an A.

Big winner on the night was Crown Casino; Little winner was me with a profit of $20 and quality table time under my belt.

Aussies 2 - Kiwis 1

An unexpected win at the casino last night. I'd been out for dinner and turned up late for a short session.

I was playing tight when a new player joined the NLH60-100, $1/$2 blinds game. By paying attention, occasionally you can spot little opportunities, even if they are against you overall style or plan at your time, especially live. One such situation occurred.

Fist hand for the new player, UTG he straddled for $15. Next position called and everyone folded to me on the button with pocket 9s. I had $108 and even though it is a very uncharacteristic play, I put it AI to isolate the straddler (obviously a gambler). (Mathematically, it is probably an OK play - would be keen to hear your thoughts.) He looked at one card and called and the player I wanted to lose folded as expected.

Board came A8Q J 7 and I was sure that I was done for. However, it turned out that he'd seen the T of a T4o and called. Easy double up in the end but the key was being awake to the available date. I love straddlers, its such a -EV play for all but experts and generates overly loose play (like mine, perhaps).

Kept playing TAG and ran my stack up to $280 when I called four callers on the button with my pocket 55 for $10(standard min raise in Auckland). Six of us see a flop of 567r, BB bets out $15 into $60 pot and gets 2 callers, on the button, I make a substatial pot-sized raise to $115 with my trips ... fold, call, call - bugga. Turn comes 9r ... bugga bugga ... check, check and I check for pot control . River blanked a 2, check, check and I checked fearing the 8, or set over set. Flop raiser had JJ and caller had 66 to scoop away a $400 pot from under my nose. I was behind the whole way and could have lost a lot more, so I was actually happy in a weird poker way. Only $125 of the pot was mine.

Two hands later I had T4o in the BB. LAG checked KT7 flop, I raised $15 and he called. Turn was a 4, he checked, I raised $30 and he called. Flop came 4 for my full house and he checked. His stack was $85 so I bet $100 and he called with KQo. I'd just won back what I'd lost.

My stack let me play a little then and then there was one more memorable hand. Again, a piece of data and a big element of luck. Last hand before table break, I had 7h4h in the BB. All players limped and I checked. Flop came Jh, 9h, 2h. Being the last hand, I led out for $15 and got 1 caller. One other player only had 1 heart and stated "I think you only have 1 heart but it'll be higher than mine, bugga". Turn was Kd, I c-bet for $30 and got called. Final card was a 9s, probably good for me but a little scary with both of us having $300+ behind (this was the guy that won set over set). I checked intending to call down and was relieved to see opponent had AhKc. In retrospect, there was more money to be had there, but I was right to control the pot.

Final result +$285 which was a pleasing positive variance end to the week. Big silver bird back to Sydney at lunchtime today.

Aussies 2 - Kiwis 1

An unexpected win at the casino tonight. I was playing tight when a player joined the NLH60-100, $1/$2 blinds game. UTG he straddled for $15. Next position called and everyone folded to me on the button with pocket 9s. I think you need to spot little opportunities and as I had $108, I put it AI to isolate the straddler (obviously a gambler). He looked at one card and called.

Board came A8Q J 7 and I was sure that I was done for. Turned out that he'd seen the T of a T4o. Easy double up in the end.

Kept playing TAG and ran my stack up to $280 when I called four callers on the button with my 55 for $10(standard min raise in Auckland). Six of us see a flop of 567r, BB bets out $15 into $60 pot and gets 2 callers, on the button, I make a substatial pot-sized raise to $115 with my trips ... fold, call, call - bugga. Turn comes 9r ... bugga bugga ... check, check and I pot control check. River blanked a 2, check, check and I checked fearing the 8. Flop raiser had JJ and caller had 66 to win a $400 pot. I was behind the whole way and could have lost a lot more, so I was actually happy in a weird poker way. Only $125 of the pot was mine.

Two hands later I had T4o in the BB. LAG checked KT7 flop, I raised $15 and he called. Turn was a 4, he checked, I raised $30 and he called. Flop came 4 for my full house and he checked. His stack was $85 so I bet $100 and he called. I'd just won back what I'd lost.

My stack let me play a little then but they were the most meorable hands. Final result +$285 which was a pleasing end to the week. Big silver bird back to Sydney tomorrow lunchtime.

Kiwis in front at half time

Just one trip to the casino this trip as I've been working in the evenings. Landed Sunday and after a swim in the hotel headed up there quite early. I decided to shortstack as it is a gambling culture here in Auckland. Standard raises can be $12-$15 in a 60-100NLH game.

My 60 got whittled away to 40 with blinds and a couple of limps with suited connectors when I flopped top pair and got it AI on the flop to see 3 callers. Thankfully held up to get me up to $160.

Got sucked out on once, whittled away further and then QQ went down to KK for the remainder of my chips preflop. 5 hours later I had lost my $60, well within the bounds of variance.

The two nights online at the hotel, I came 2nd in a $3 NLH rebuy with 28 runners for $72 and last night short stacked a 200PLO for $40 where they were all large stacks and being ultra aggressive. Got AI with JJT9ss which hit a 678 and held up against 2 opponents. This time, on the positive side of variance, I stood up a couple of orbits later with $150.

As you can see, not much to report.

NZ 1 - Australia 1

You guessed it, at the airport waiting to see if I can take the lead against the Kiwis at the Casino. It's a tie at this stage, apart from the Casino who always win with their excessive rake.

For the record, I have always been an All Black fan as they used to come to Ireland when no sporting team wanted to know us. Thankfully the draw of the Black Stuff was too much for them. Anyway, that transfers to Rugby League where we have been hosting a non-event World Cup. The Aussies made a tactical error taking on the kiwis at the hakka and proceeded to lose the Final. I must admit to a smile as AFL is my sport of interest these days.

Let's see if I can make amends ...

More live poker coming up

Hi All, I may go walkabouts for a few days again as I am on another trip to Auckland for work and will no doubt hit SkyCity for a few more live games. The games there look soft, but I struggle to win there for some reason. I've had a chance to think about a few things since last time, so here's hoping!

All tips welcome for wild, loose, 7-10 x BB preflop raises not uncommn type poker with 25BB BI and a 10% rake. Only +EV I've found is the free diet cokes.

Gotta give action to get action.

I think that I first read something similar to "Gotta give action to get action" in Super/System and again from Mike Caro. My propensity is toward TAG, so I struggle to get action fast playing trips, etc.

Now to the quiz (see last post), my SMS big winner friend sent me an email identifying himself. His poker history is literally no online poker, uses a poker program in MSFT Windows, watches it on TV and read one poker book on a business trip to Perth. He hasn't even played pub poker. At Perth casino, we played his only other live game and he exited early, probably TPTK loss, or similar.

On that night, my advice was to play tight just to rack up table time and experience. Needless to say, he bluffed me out of the 3rd or 4th hand we played. I recall laying down a good hand assuming he had the nutz. I was way off and he thought it was funny - I wasn't so sure.

Anyway, I have confirmed that there were many furious losers. At 2am he responded to one self-proclaimed English pro who was verballing him that he should consider another profession. At 4:00am, when cashing out, he asked if he could be watched to the cab rank by security. He was the last man standing having cleaned out both tables at that level.

Apparently, he rivered trips with 55 twice and another pair once more. He only lost a couple of hands all night and was a massive bully toward the end when he lost all track of chip to dollar values (a big advantage when it happens). The ultimate was a $1500 pot where he had KJ against AJ and got AI on a KKJ flop.

I can only imagine the scene as his chip stack grew. The regulars salivating when this recreational player sucked out on someone else knowing that the chips would eventually be redistributed. It just never happened.

I know it was a freak session, never to be repeated, but there is a lesson there with respect to speculating to prosper. May you have a quarter of my friends luck at least once in your poker career!