Aussie Trip - 2007/01/06 - Pictures with Miss Australia...nearly
Arrived in Melbourne at lunch on Saturday. Had to fight through a large crowd to register for the first tournament of the championships - $1000 NLHE. There were over 500 entrants in the end.
What a difference since I was last here 2 years ago. The poker room is about 3 times bigger than before and is considerably swankier. However the air conditioning is just as icy...
I had caught a plane down with Steve together with his wife and new baby. Unfortunately the security guards at the casino were quite sharp and spotted that one of the party was aprroximately 17 years and 9 months too young to come in so the boys had to go it alone in the poker room.
Before the tournament began we caught up with Kenna James who knows Steve very well and I have met a few times. Kenna has had a good year so is a bit of a poker celebrity. Whilst we were chatting one of the organisers asked Kenna to pose with Miss Australia and friend and despite our best efforts Steve and I were waved away.
Back to the tournament which started at 12.30. We started with $3000 chips and blinds of 25/50. I got a series of small pairs which I limped with but never hit. Called a 3 way raise to 200 with KQs but flop came with an A so I had to fold.
With blinds at 50/100 I had A9 on the button so I raised a mid postion limper. After much thought he folded his AJ. I kept mum.
This ended up being the only hand I won before the first break. I tried a sneaky raise from late position on the last hand before the break with A9 again but when the big blind pushed all in I had to fold up like a "weak pommie cricketer".
After the break blinds were up to 100/200 and I only had $1500 left so after a whole round of getting nothing I tried an all-in move when it was folded around to me holding TJ. I thought I might get away with it when all folded to the big blind who only had about $2000 himself. He thought for some time, so I was hoping he might have A9 or worse which would be ok. Unfortunately he called with AJ and the saviour T did not arrive.
There was a curious incident a few hands before the break when the inscrutable oriental Mr Zee sat opposite me was thinking about calling a bet on the turn. The board showed TJ57 and he had his chips in his hand but had not pushed them forward when the dealer turned over the river card - the Ace of spades almost exactly at the same time as Mr Zee said call. Considerable argument ensued and the decision was that the call stood but the Ace was put back into the deck which was reshuffled. Needless to say the Ace did not reappear - we got a raggedly 4 instead. Naturally Mr Zee was not amused when he had to fold to a bet given that he held KQ. Naturally we all blethered on about Karma, Ying and Yang and "you will probably win it". He was still muttering at the break though.
Steve did a bit better than me lasting a few more hours before being eliminated by a random player with more chips than sense.
We had dinner with some of Steve's relatives (he is one of 4 brothers and 2 sisters) and with Kenna James and his wife Marsha Wagonner who is a very successful player and an Aussie too - which was very civilised.
It was one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook it in front of you but there was no knife throwing - rather disappointing. However I did sample the surprise prawn nibbles, being the legs and shells flattenned and lightly fried. I don't think I will have that again...!
After dinner despite having large amounts of wine we returned for some late night action. Kenna naturally had to go and play in a proper game whereas I had a go at getting into the limit tournament the next day.
I HATE limit poker. I played 2 sit and go satellites at $240 per go.
All the satellites have a starting stack of $1000 with 10 runners. With the first blinds 25/50.
In the first game the first hand I could play was AK, but I did not hit and so had to fold on the turn when the bet doubled. By the time the blinds were up to 100/200 I raised with 22 and got 1 caller. A flop of K33 looked OK for me but when I went all in for my last 200 I was a bit gutted when he turned over K9.
The second satellite went OK when I made a flush on the second level but I eventually finished 3rd when I got no more hands apart from the one that killed me TT vs AQ.
What a difference since I was last here 2 years ago. The poker room is about 3 times bigger than before and is considerably swankier. However the air conditioning is just as icy...
I had caught a plane down with Steve together with his wife and new baby. Unfortunately the security guards at the casino were quite sharp and spotted that one of the party was aprroximately 17 years and 9 months too young to come in so the boys had to go it alone in the poker room.
Before the tournament began we caught up with Kenna James who knows Steve very well and I have met a few times. Kenna has had a good year so is a bit of a poker celebrity. Whilst we were chatting one of the organisers asked Kenna to pose with Miss Australia and friend and despite our best efforts Steve and I were waved away.
Back to the tournament which started at 12.30. We started with $3000 chips and blinds of 25/50. I got a series of small pairs which I limped with but never hit. Called a 3 way raise to 200 with KQs but flop came with an A so I had to fold.
With blinds at 50/100 I had A9 on the button so I raised a mid postion limper. After much thought he folded his AJ. I kept mum.
This ended up being the only hand I won before the first break. I tried a sneaky raise from late position on the last hand before the break with A9 again but when the big blind pushed all in I had to fold up like a "weak pommie cricketer".
After the break blinds were up to 100/200 and I only had $1500 left so after a whole round of getting nothing I tried an all-in move when it was folded around to me holding TJ. I thought I might get away with it when all folded to the big blind who only had about $2000 himself. He thought for some time, so I was hoping he might have A9 or worse which would be ok. Unfortunately he called with AJ and the saviour T did not arrive.
There was a curious incident a few hands before the break when the inscrutable oriental Mr Zee sat opposite me was thinking about calling a bet on the turn. The board showed TJ57 and he had his chips in his hand but had not pushed them forward when the dealer turned over the river card - the Ace of spades almost exactly at the same time as Mr Zee said call. Considerable argument ensued and the decision was that the call stood but the Ace was put back into the deck which was reshuffled. Needless to say the Ace did not reappear - we got a raggedly 4 instead. Naturally Mr Zee was not amused when he had to fold to a bet given that he held KQ. Naturally we all blethered on about Karma, Ying and Yang and "you will probably win it". He was still muttering at the break though.
Steve did a bit better than me lasting a few more hours before being eliminated by a random player with more chips than sense.
We had dinner with some of Steve's relatives (he is one of 4 brothers and 2 sisters) and with Kenna James and his wife Marsha Wagonner who is a very successful player and an Aussie too - which was very civilised.
It was one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook it in front of you but there was no knife throwing - rather disappointing. However I did sample the surprise prawn nibbles, being the legs and shells flattenned and lightly fried. I don't think I will have that again...!
After dinner despite having large amounts of wine we returned for some late night action. Kenna naturally had to go and play in a proper game whereas I had a go at getting into the limit tournament the next day.
I HATE limit poker. I played 2 sit and go satellites at $240 per go.
All the satellites have a starting stack of $1000 with 10 runners. With the first blinds 25/50.
In the first game the first hand I could play was AK, but I did not hit and so had to fold on the turn when the bet doubled. By the time the blinds were up to 100/200 I raised with 22 and got 1 caller. A flop of K33 looked OK for me but when I went all in for my last 200 I was a bit gutted when he turned over K9.
The second satellite went OK when I made a flush on the second level but I eventually finished 3rd when I got no more hands apart from the one that killed me TT vs AQ.
posted by charlie at 4:05 PM
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