So today was the opening event of the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series and I admit I was a little excited.  Cheap buy-ins, great start banks and decent structures, only problem is that no matter how you sugar-coat it, live poker is still retarded.

Today was a pretty horrible day, and it’s pretty incredible that I actually lasted as long as I did.  It started off well, and in fact my best level was the first one of the day.   With a 15k start bank, I was happy to speculate early, so with a raise and call in front, I came along for the ride in position with 7d 9d.  The flop was a big one as it fell 4d 8d 7c.  The original raisor led out for 200, before the caller (who was the most aggro player at the table) popped it to 625.  I was now in a kinda weird spot.  I loved the flop and my hand, but with a bet and raise in front, I had to think for a moment about my next move as it was still the first orbit of the day.  A flat-call was strong, but still weak, so I decided it was super-strong to raise, so I made it 1,500.  They both folded, so a decent result and good for my image.  A few hands later I flat-called a raise to 225 in position with Ah Qh, and flopped a flush draw.  My opponent fired 350 and I called, before I picked up a gutshot draw on the turn.  He fired again for 650, and this time I raised it up to 1,600.  He let it go and I’d taken down another nice pot with some aggression.

From there, I remained tight before losing the chips back in a bit of a strange hand.  Action folded to me and I raised to 300 on the button with Qh Jd.  The small blind appeared a TAG and he raised small to 700.  I can’t fold for that pissy raise, so I called to see a Jh 9s 3c flop.  My opponent led for 1,100 and I raised to 2,800.  Pretty standard I felt, but my opponent then declared himself all in!  It was a big raise, and I figured I don’t really beat anything so I quickly folded.  My guess is he got a little excited with a big pair.

My table broke and I got moved to another table of randoms.  I won a small pot with A-Q after calling a river bet with ace-high to beat an opponent’s queen-high, before another weird hand.  At 75/150 and with three limpers in front, I decided to keep the aggression up and raised to 1,050 with the mighty 8h 3h from the cutoff.  Punish the limpers!  It would’ve worked, but the player on the button over-called as everyone else folded.  The flop was K-5-4 and I took a stab for 1,250.  The villian called and I gave up.  We checked down the bricks on the turn and river.  “You win,” I said, but my opponent didn’t move.  I wasn’t going to show my 8h 3h and was confident my eight-high was beat so I open-mucked.  “I’ll show you anyway,” spat my opponent and he flipped As Qs for ace-high.  Nice calling sir.  “I should’ve kept firing!” I joked.  “I would’ve called!” he replied.  Awesome.

I then tightened up and tried to find a good spot to strike.  It came in a raised pot on a 5d 4h 2d flop when I was holding pocket deuces.  The big blind led out for 1,000 and I decided to flat call to try and bring in the original raisor, and another preflop caller, but they both folded.  Heads-up to the 8c turn and my opponent fired 3,500.  It was a solid bet, but it left me with a decision.  I had roughly 12k in my stackm which made bet-sizing a little tricky.  I was trying to figure out the best way to get all of my chips into the middle.  I wasn’t particularly worried about the straight draws, as it was a raised pot and it was more likely my opponent had an overpair, but I wanted to raise to protect my hand.  However I felt a shove might scare him off and a small raise would just look too suss as it was committing so much of my stack.  In the end I decided the most deceptive option was to call, knowing that if my opponent bet a river brick, he was committed to call my all-in shove.  There weren’t many rivers that would be a worry, but the 6h was one of them as now any three or seven made a straight.  My opponent bet 4,000 and raising was no longer an option.  I flat-called again (yes I flat-called three streets with a set, yuk) and he flipped pocket fours for a bigget set.  My passive line had saved me my tournament.

I was down to around 4,000 with the blinds at 150/300/25.  So much for deep-stacked poker!  Fortunately I found a double up with pocket aces against pocket nines, but an orbit or two of folding and the blinds jumped again to still leave me hovering around 12BBs.  I then copped a pretty demoralizing blow when I completed from the small blind with K-9 with four limpers and spiked gin with a K-K-9 flop.  We checked around to the button who bet 1,000.  I called, hoping for a few more customers and only found one.  Then the turn was a sick 9.  Now I chop with any king.  We checked around again and an ace hit the river.  I moved my last 3,500 into the middle and found a call from K5.  So sick.  He was drawing dead to a chop on the flop.  Gross.  I wasn’t happy but luckily soon after I got the double ups that I needed as I picked up AK twice and doubled both times, once through KT and another eliminating a guy holding AJ.

Suddenly I was up over 20k and back in decent shape when I got moved to a new table.  It was significantly tougher as I recognized some faces for the first time.  David Zhao is a very talented young player who was four to my right, and Australian poker legend Leo Boxell was two to my left.  To make things more fun, I had the tournament chip leader with 170k on my direct right.

I only had to wait two hands for the 800/1600/100 blinds to reach me and get amongst the action.  A player under the gun moved all in for around 8,500 chips and it folded to me in the big blind.  I look down at A-Q.  I guess it’s kind of marginal, but online I’m way ahead of the range of an UTG-shove for 5BBs.  Maybe live, it’s a little closer, but he flipped K-J and I was in front.  That is, until a king spiked on the turn.  If I win that I’m up over 30,000, but instead I’m down to under 13,000 and in trouble once again.

I folded a few hands until I’m in the hijack.  The big blind was nit of the century from my previous table, so I felt it was a great spot to steal from with ATC with my 8BB stack.  I peaked at the Ad and that was enough for me to shove.  The button isolated and flipped As Qs as I squeezed out the rather disappointing 5s as my kicker.  No three-outer and I was out the door, middle of the pack.

A very rough day, but I guess there’s some light to come out of it.  I should’ve been busted with set over set, and despite being down to 10BBs very early in a deep-stacked tourney, I managed to recover and claw my way back.  A little luck at the right time, and I would’ve been a chance to progress deeper.

Not to worry, there’s always another day!  There’s some great tournaments coming up, and the decision is which tournaments to play!  Tomorrow is a big online poker day so I’m contemplating whether to make a big Monday morning assault or tackle the live vultures once again.

Back home and finally I got a chance to grind some online poker. The cash games have really been hit or miss lately for me, so I’m definitely seeing better results in tourneys. I’m not normally a morning person but I decided to get up early to make a big Monday morning assault today at the big tournaments. While I didn’t play in the majors today, I found some good-sizes tournaments that suited me and found them ridiculously soft. I got into a nice groove and turned off all other distractions such as email or PokerNetwork and my results spoke for themselves.

I picked up an early win in an $11 turbo tournament on 888 Poker for around $550 and that set the tone. I cashed in 8 of 14 tournaments, for two final tables and the one win for a very profitable and consistent day. Interestingly included in those results are cashes in Pot Limit Holdem, HORSE and the 7-Game, which I’m pretty happy with considering some of the games such as Omaha hi/lo I play very rarely. The other final table I made was in a Pot Limit Holdem 6-Max event where I entered the final table in 2nd place and was disappointed to finish 4th. I was a little passive in a couple of spots and a mis-timed bluff against a fish, saw me get short and I busted short of the 1.8k first place prize. I feel I have a big poker online Australia result in me, especially in these Monday events where the fields are juicy juicy. I’ve just got to continue to stay patient and wait for good spots to strike, and if I have a bit of luck at the right time thrown in, then I think I can land something big.

After the PokerNews Cup the next big event on the poker calendar was the PokerStars APPT event in Auckland. I’d never been to New Zealand before so I was looking forward to the trip. Our team worked well together and there were some nice short days so we got to enjoy a bit of Auckland. It was GG’s birthday so we found a nice bar with a live band to chill the night away, before a pretty awesome player’s party closed off the week.

I think the Tony Dunst video says it all…

The New Zealand people were ridiculously friendly. Perhaps the most friendly of any country that I’ve ever been to (Fiji a close second). SKYCITY Auckland Casino were a great host, and looked after players and media alike. The poker room is very pleasant with plenty of room between tables and windows running down the length of the room to let in some natural light and keep you in touch with the real world outside! Young New Zealander Simon Watt took down the title and was definitely the player to watch after he built up a big stack during Day 2. He’s a young, online gun who will be a player to watch on the local tournament scene in the near future.

The PokerNews cup has been run and won and it was a win for the good guys with Crown local and PokerNetwork regular Con “tsapy” Tsapkounis collecting the silverware. Con is primarily an Omaha cash game player, but rode his luck on the final table to emerge victorious. I was pretty pumped myself about playing a couple of the prelim events, especially the 6-max, but unfortunately we were left short on resources for the live reporting so I had to work rather than play. The only event I got to play was the opening event. I took my seat and found myself seated next to the one and only Clonie Gowen who was in town to play in the series after watching the AFL grand final.

Clonie was pretty friendly and didn’t get involved in too many pots at all. Meanwhile I managed to double up on the very first hand without showdown. It’s the first time in a live tournament I was all in on the very first hand. After a raise and call, I called along with AJs in the big blind. The flop was jack-high and the preflop aggressor fired a continuation bet which was called by the button. I thought about raising but decided to just call. On the turn I checked and the preflop aggressor fired again and again the button call. I knew the preflop aggressor was strong since he’d fired twice into two people, but I thought I had the best hand so I shoved. We didn’t exactly have a lot of chips to play with, but my play was strong enough to get both players to fold. The button flashed KJ while the button said he also had AJ.

From there, I had moments of greatness and moments of pain. I got lucky when I shoved AJ into KK and found an ace, while a few minutes later I had KQ in against a short stack with 99 on a queen-high flop, only to see another nine spike on the river.

The blinds snuck up and I got moved to a new table to find myself in the big blind. The button shoved for 3 big blinds and I called in the dark. He flipped pocket sixes and I revealed 52o. Damn.

That blow left me in some trouble so when it folded to me in the small blind I was shoving any two cards. The big blind insta-called with pocket sevens and I needed some help with my Q2o. A queen and deuce on the flop, followed by another deuce on the turn was all skill to give me a full house and a double up to be back in good shape.

From there I did my best to survive, and I continued to attack the short stacks. I had decided if they shoved, I was going to call and gamble with a semi-decent hand. The reason being that I wouldn’t be putting my tournament and risk, and generally people with short stacks should be desperate and pushing pretty light. Unfortunately live players are pretty dumb and patiently wait and wait until they are blinded down to nothing or pick up a big hand. So yeah, when they shoved they usually had some like AK and my KQ was always pretty crushed. I had one opportunity to race when my AQo was up against pocket sevens but again the board bricked out.

That hand left me in trouble and my bustout hand was probably the only hand I misplayed all tournament. It was a tricky one though. I was in the BB with K2o. Ben Savage limped in, Jim Sachinidis limped his SB and I checked. The flop was K69 and I decided top pair was enough to get my 7BB stack into the middle. My plan was to check-raise Ben, but the action checked through. The turn was an 8 and Sach led out with a healthy bet. I had no fold equity and I should’ve realized that Sach was pretty tight and wouldn’t bet out into two players without a hand better than K2. My mistake was to shove instead of just folding. Ben folded (what he said was KJ) and Sach called with K8. The river was a 5 to make Sach his straight and I was out in 56th place with the top 50 paying.

I was pretty disappointed as I was heading for a cash result and let it slip. I lost a couple of key races against short stacks and then busted pretty tamely so close to the money.

After a brief delay, Viva Macau managed to get us home safe and sound, so I’m now happily recovering.  I had the option to goto the Sydney Poker Championships but decided to pass and take a break as I was pretty burnt out following Macau.  Despite only a 2 hour time delay, I still haven’t actually managed to adjust my body clock as I’m constantly awake late at night, and sleeping in until midday.  Since being home I’m jumped back online with some mixed results.  I’ve had some horrible luck in some tournaments, with potential deep runs ended in brutal fashion.  I did land a 7th and a 3rd in two small buy-in tournaments, but really, was disappointed not to win both as I was playing well.

On the cash game scene, I just don’t seem to be able to beat the NL game like I used to.  I’m in a real rut.  I guess that happens when you don’t stay on top of your game.  For something different I decided to jump over to some low limit games, and despite limit poker being infuriating, it brings some benefits.  Limit is a swingy game, due to the fact that players are able to chase their draws more cheaply than NL, so although it brings more pain, the impact of each individual beat is not as painful as say, getting stacked in NL.  The great thing about limit is that it’s the best way to earn points for things such as bonuses or rake races such as the one on Betfred Poker.  It takes me back to my bonus-whoring days where I can multi-table a heap of tables and just grind it out ABC.  The good thing is that the players at this level are so bad, it’s been a great way to turn around my losing streak.  While the NL games are getting tougher and tougher, it’s nice to know that the limit games are still ridiculously soft.

I’ve now found my way to Macau for the start of the Asian season. I arrived after a chilly, but mostly safe flight with discount airline Viva Macau. I didn’t have to flap my arms out the window and the most dangerous thing about the flight was pretending not to cry during Marley and Me. Since when did Jennifer Aniston movies become more than a mindless perve?

One good thing about Viva Macau was that we landed right in the heart of Macau, and after a ten minute cab we were at our hotel. No transfers, no ferries, no fuss! Unfortunately some of our friends and colleagues on the same flight two days later wouldn’t have the same fortune as their flight was delayed, then cancelled and they were forced to pay $900 to get on another flight. They kindly get their refund in 6-8 weeks. WP Viva Macau. Please get me home in one piece. One time.

So we spent the first three days at the beautiful Galaxy StarWorld Hotel. Our view was spectacular from the 30^th floor, across downtown Macau and across to the lake. We spent the first few days busily working on finishing the third edition of the PokerNews AU magazine, and sorting out details for the newly announced merger between PokerNews, PokerNetwork and our closest competitor Bluff Australasia. It’s a pretty exciting time as we now have a mega-super power in poker in Australia.

We then had the APT event which ran pretty smoothly, which David Steicke pwned to finish 4th, and of course the infamous APT player party. Held in the Presidential Suite of the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel, it was an incredible night. Before we’d even had time to grab our first beer, we witness two of the most stunning APT models, dressed in nothing but body paint, posing for photos. The suite was awesome and although there were no spa antics this time around (apparently due to the carnage imparted on the room last year), there was still plenty of fun to be had. One memorable moment was being introduced to John Juanda in the queue for the gents and then watch him stagger in, and stumble back out, pissed as a fart.

After an unexpected tiff which left Garry making an early exit, the rest of us ventured over to the infamous D2 nightclub. Not being a fan of nightclubs, I was reluctant to go, but was half interested to see what all the fuss was about. We arrived at the overly-crowded, overly-loud club and I bumped into APPT President Jeffrey Haas within about five minutes who invited me to his VIP booth with 4 bottle of scotch, beers and more sitting on the table. Unable to talk over the fkn loud as hell music, he poured me a scotch…neat. I battled away for a swig or two before grabbing a coke to make the scotch drinking somewhat more enjoyable. It became a whole lot more enjoyable when I found out Saab was paying the tab. Bottoms up! Fruity test tubes of some unknown cocktail followed by shots that resembled chocolate milkshakes and the rest of the evening became a whole lot more blurry. There were rumours of yours truly “carving up the dancefloor”, “shakin what yo mamma gave you”, “work it, work it, oh yeh” but they are unsubstantiated gossip. I recall an overly-aggressive Chinese promo girl wanting to get me up onto the dance floor. When I politely declined, (girlfriend is in the bathroom, got lost in translation) her response was to aggressively grab my wrist and attempt to drag my sorry ass out there herself. This was no flirtatious grab. She was one strong chick (read lady boy). It felt more like she was grabbing me to throw me out, such was her aggression. Short of slapping her in a sleeper hold to get her to calm the fuck down, I held onto the bar with my other hand and rode out the pulling affect until she got bored about five minutes later and left. The good news is that my wing span is now three metres.

The next night I played my first live cash session in god knows how long. Maybe six months. Maybe more. I played 10/20 with Tim and first hand picked up AKo UTG. I raised to 70 and got onehundredandseventyfivemilliontybillion callers, so I check folded on the baby flop. I stacked a guy with pocket kings, and won another nice pot with trip sevens where I got three streets of value town. There are two hands were somewhat interesting. The first was in a seven-way limped pot, I had pocket fives in the small blind and caught a set on a 573 flop. I checked, expecting one of the many limpers to toss something into the middle, allowing me to check-raise. A mistake I guess, but life is never easy OOP right? Everyone checked around of course. Turn was an innocent looking 2. I led out for 100 into 140 and got one caller on the button. River A. The board is rainbow, so I only fear a four. I can’t really put a button limper on many fours, but I can certainly get value from a two pair, esp if he has an ace. So I put out a part blocking, part value bet of 150. If I’m raised, I have to fold, but 150 is cheaper than me check-calling, and allows me to get value from a worse hand that might check behind. He tanked and tanked and muttered something about me having four-six before making a crying call. I assumed I win, and flip my cards. He then turns over Q4. WP. This same guy tanked with a flopped set earlier in the evening against Ducky who had shoved with a straight+flush draw. So sick.

The other interesting spot was in one of the last hands of my night. After two limpers, I’d decided I didn’t want any customers when I looked at AK, so I made it 140. A guy in the small blind then raised to 420. This was a sick spot as this guy had only shown AA and QQ all evening. We were both at around 3,000 deep, so part of me thinks a call is ok. Online I definitely call or four-bet, but I guess live, I had enough of a read on this guy to realise I was either dead or drawing to an three/six outs. I folded and he showed pocket kings.

I ended up HK$940 in front, and then proceeded to lose $1,000 the next night on a fun but retardedly rigged game of three-card Baccarat. GG and I had so many opportunities to crush this game when the dealer would tease us with a 3, 2, 1 or even a 0, but we would show our utter naivety for the supreme skill of this game, and we continually failed to better the dealer’s score. Time, and time, and time, and time again. On our final hand, with it all on the line the dealer pulled a 1. GG pulled 6,3, muthfkn A. I squeezed monkey, monkey, monkey. WP three-card Baccarat dealer. We then jumped over to regular Baccarat, and although I wasn’t playing I was thoroughly entertained by GG taking on random Asian guy in an epic heads-up Baccarat duel. The Asian dude had a tell, he was angry when he had a good hand, and happy when he had a bad hand. So when he looked really upset one time we knew we were in trouble (since GG was always betting on the opposite to this guy). The Asian dude looked down, then looked at us and said “Bye bye!” and flipped natural nine. Slowrolling mutha fucka! From there it was game on, and GG was steaming after losing around 4k but he got back to square and we moved on.

We’ve now jumped over to the Sofitel Hotel and are working at the Grand Lisboa Casino for the APPT Macau event. I guess you are wondering why I have actually updated this blog. Well it’s simple. Swine flu. A few days ago I picked up some nasty virus, origins unknown, and have been in quarantine. From states of eyeball-rolling hazes, to supreme sweats, to earth-shattering chills, the last three days have had it all, but it’s given me a chance to finally update this blog! The bad news for readers is that I’ve shaken off the worst of it, and expect to be back at work again tomorrow. Unfortunately I don’t get sick often, so stay tuned for the next update!