My time has been soooooo insanely busy at the WSOP that I just haven’t had time to update this blog recently. I then had the following conversattion with one of my poker buddies and fellow PokerNews bloggers, Tim “The Nizzles” Duckworth…

Him: ”Can you please update your blog . . . it’s been nearly a month”
Me: “You really think I have time?”
Him: “Well, either way, I have nothing to read”
Me: “Why don’t you write something for me then”
Him: “Ahhh . . . ok”

So here it is…straight from the duck’s mouth….I present the nizzles…

So here I am at 2am in the morning after being asked to be a guest writer on Tassie Devil Poker and make the first (and very belated) entry since the World Series of Poker kicked off and the Devil himself captured second at the ANZPT.net Melbourne Main Event.

After arriving in Las Vegas just under three weeks ago we both expected to be hitting the felt a bit while tackling the computer from the media row . . . however that hasn’t been the case.

I’ve only played a handful of sessions, while I don’t think TassieDevil has even touched a card or handled a chip . . . and when you’re six figures richer it probably pays to put some time to run it up one time!

The main reason why, is that the scheduling hasn’t been on the healthy side for him. Mixed events that stretch to the 3am cut off on day two are the norm, with day three starts starting earlier then expected. Basically his schedule seems to be Work – Sleep – Work – Sleep – Work – Sleep and maybe if he’s lucky he gets a chance to put his feet up to do more work for other projects such as PokerNetwork.

Let’s not to mention the problem we experienced over the first two weeks with commuting to the Rio everyday for work. With people grouped together in housing, you would think it would be wise to schedule them on similar events so that car-pooling was easier – however this was not the case until recently.

On most occasions catching a cab was a necessity, and the cost of these start to build up once you factor in the tip. $30 later you’re at work but then you have the issue of the return leg. To hear more about the dilemmas experienced you really need to hear the Devil’s side of things . . . very amusing . . . well, that’s if you like hearing stories of difficulties, tilt-inducing acts and utter grumpiness!

The downs are always paralleled with the ups – and at this World Series there have been plenty!

Phil Ivey capturing two bracelets along with Australian Jeff Lisandro capturing two Seven Card Stud bracelets to go along with his one in 2007. Two females making a No Limit Holdem final table with one going on to finish third and of course one of the most anticipated prop bets of all time with Jeff Lisandro and Barry Greenstein battling Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren for most Player of the Year points for who knows how many millions!

Phil Hellmuth explosions have become standard, hearing the Star Spangled Banner played nearly everyday to celebrate a native capturing a bracelet and seeing the thousands of American’s stand up, hand on heart like they were out in the middle of Fenway Park!

Finally the trick to looking like a balla . . . take a wad of $1 bills, place a $100 bill on the outside and wrap it tightly with a Las Vegas money clip of a rubber band. Deep down you know it’s basically a stripper-roll, but to the non-observant folk you might just appear to be the next online millionaire whiz kid or the cash game grinder that plays 24/7 or just the next random to walk away with a bracelet, hundreds of thousands of dollars and a fading memory in the many chapters of the WSOP history books.

Many thanks to everyone for your support over the last few days as a dream all but came true for me at the ANZPT in Melbourne.  I haven’t updated the blog for a few weeks as I’ve been busy preparing to head to Melbourne for the Melbourne Championships followed by a trip to Vegas for the WSOP.  However it feels somewhat appropriate that my last post was about how excited I was to qualify for the ANZPT.  Fast forward a month and I’m writing about how I almost won one of the biggest events on the Australian poker calendar.

I was excited, calm and quietly confident when I said down at my opening table.  The only player of note was Celina Lin and I’d seen her play many times, so I was happy with my draw.  Looking over my sholder at the tabe of death next to me that featured 6 or 7 insanely good players, I was very relieved.  Interestingly that table also featured eventual winner Chris Levick as we started the tournament back to back, and would end up finishing it face to face.

Early on I lost my first pot with AQ vs Q6, but then got headed in the right direction with one of my only “moves” of the whole tournament.  I was becoming frustrated with the raising of one young player and decided to put up a flat him in position with Js6s.  I don’t remember the flop but I had no pair, no draw and had decided I was going to flat the flop and try and take it away on the turn.  I picked up a flush draw on the turn, then made my flush on the river and got paid off by the kid as his eyes bulged from his head when he saw my cards.

After that I had a big decision with AK on a king-high flop.  I’d been check-raised and made a pretty bad shove in hindsight, but he also had AK and we chopped.  I then got my tournament moving into 5th gear when I picked up 77 under the gun.  I raised and the guy to my left flat called me.  We saw a flop of 364 which I liked and fired a c-bet.  He min-raised me so I called to see what developed on the turn.  I spiked a 5 for my straight and check-raised him.  He lost the plot and shoved and I called.  He had 88 and didn’t even see the straight until the pot was pushed in my direction.  I was up to over 50,000 and in strong shape.

Our table broke and I got moved to a slightly tougher table and just held my own for a little while.  Just before dinner, I went on a nice little heater which continued all night until the chips were bagged.  I had KK in back to back hands and got paid off by AK, I flatted a raise with Qh5h and flopped a flush, I had KK vs QQ hold up, I made a full house in the only hand I played against tough pro Tino Lechich and I twice hit sets against two pair and got the chips in with my opponent drawing dead.  To summarize, I hardly remember losing a pot and ran like God to end the day with a monsterous 214,000 chips.  Somehow another dude came from the clouds to pip me as Day 1 chip leader, but I was content in 2nd palce, way ahead of the field.

Although I entered Day 2 in dominant shape I was quickly back to the pack when I lost KK vs AK all in preflop within the first orbit of play.  It was a huge pot, that would’ve put me over 300,000 chips (the average chips needed to make the money was 240,000).  So I was pretty unhappy to be back with the pack, however I stayed tough and shook it off.  I was pretty card dead but maintained my stack until I picked up QQ and busted a short stack with 99 to get myself headed back in the right direction.

Our table then broke and I got moved to a terribly soft table.  Considering we were approaching the money it was absolutely perfect.  I was sitting on the direct left of the worst player in the field and I had none of the dangerous pros on my table.  I chipped up a little and then picked up AA and KK in consecutive hands.  Both times I got paid off and again I was with the chip leaders.

Fortunately the bubble burst with two eliminations in the one hand to avoid any drawn out pain and I was thrilled to be $5k richer.  Anything from this point was a bonus.  We redrew for the final two tables and I got moved to the feature table for the first time all tournament.  It was here I lost two consecutive pots for the first time all tournament.  I raised UTG with TT and gave it up after my c-bet was raised on a A54 but said worst player in the field.  She hadn’t raised in five hours and I insta-mucked.  I got myself back on track with a little bit of luck a few moments later.  I raised on a steal with JT and c-bet a 992 flop.  The big blind called and I was left with only 100k behind.  Fortunately I spiked a jack on the turn to pair up.  I bet again and the BB laid down what he said was AK (wp).

I then got moved to the other table, much to my disappointment as it was distinctly tougher with Chris Levick, Greg Shillig, Brent Thomas, Kristian Lunardi and Sam Khouiss to contend with.  I struggled against these guys but stole enough blinds and antes with some small ball play to avoid being blinded down too rapidly.  I then picked up KK and Brent paid me off with JJ and I was again confortable.

The play slowed considerably as we eeked towards a final table.  It was here that Chris started to accumulate chips and surge to the chip lead when he busted Brent.  They lost another two on the feature table and we’d snuck onto the final table in 7th place.

Eventhough I was one of the short stacks I still had plenty of breathing room and never felt threatened by the blinds.  I was guaranteed 10k and if I could squeak out another place or two I’d be thrilled.

The next day I was a little toey as I arrived early and had to wait for ages for pre-game interviews and bits and pieces.  I wasn’t nervous all tournament, but I’m not a big fan of waiting, so this was about the most nervous time of the whole tournament.  Once we sat down and the cards were in the air I was settled.  We lost the second Tasmanian on the second hand of the day and I was pumped to jump up $6k in prize money.

I believe my next significant hand was AQ in the big blind.  Ben Savage limped and Kristian Lunardi raised from the SB.  It didn’t feel particularly strong and I thought he was punishing the limper and trying control of the pot.  Kristian seemed like a very smart, thinking player capable of moves, so I felt my AQ was in front and re-raised from the BB.  They both insta-folded and I took down a nice little pot.  Kristian later said he had AK which kind of shocked me, but I guess my image allowed me to get away with a few things.

Soon after I picked up KK and made a standard raise.  Ben Savage then three-bet me to 80,000 or so from the big blind and I decided to four-bet another 95,000 or so rather than see an ugly flop.  My approach all tournaments was to play fast with the goods and try and avoid getting myself into tricky spots or decisions post-flop.  He ended up shoving with TT and I snap-called.  The board bricked and I doubled to get myself back into contention.

I got away with a couple of other little moves.  After seeing Kristian’s reluctance to play pots with me, I had decided to raise his big blind (from under the gun) next orbit with any two cards.  I looked down at 62o and raised it up.  Jie Gao, who was already frustrated and spewing chips, was the lone caller.  The flop was AA5 and I checked to represent a big ace.  He checked behind and I took it down with a delayed c-bet on the turn.  A few hands later I raised AK and called Jie down with ace-high when he tried to bluff the river.

They started to drop away and at dinner I was maybe 3rd in chips with 6 left and guaranteed $27k.  I couldn’t believe it!  I then got a nice surprise at the dinner break as my fiance had flown over to Melbourne to rail me home to victory!

After the dinner break, the speed of play picked up as Jie had a brain explosion.  I continued to chip up against some of the other players while staying out of the way of chip leader Chris Levick.  He was picking up a heap of cards and doing all the hard work to bust the table as I crept up the prize money table.  We got to three handed and I picked up a set and it was the only hand I moved all in with, when I check-raised Chris, but he folded.  Chris busted Greg in 3rd which gave me a 40k payjump to a massive 100k.

We took a break and my head was spinning.  Is this really happening??  I couldn’t think straight and it didn’t feel real.  I chatted to Kirsty and told her I was going to go for broke - take a gamble or two to give myself a chance to overcome the 3.5 to 1 chip deficit I was facing.  I didn’t want to get blinded out of this without a fight.

I got back to the table and focussed more than I can describe in words.  The crowd on the rail were non-existant in my mind.  I couldn’t see anything else other than Chris and the trophy.  It was a weird zone to be in, but a thoroughly enjoyable one of intense, unbreakable focus.

I wanted to continue by small ball approach but it didn’t work early.  I couldn’t find any cards, or hit any boards, and Chris was relentless.  I suspect he hit more boards than I didn’t and he worked me down to about 10 BB’s.  Time to change it up as it just wasn’t working.  I re-raised all in twice, once with queen-high and once with jack-high, with Chris folding and flashing an ace both times - again my image was working for me.  I then finally found an ace with a four kicker and shoved but Chris woke up with ace-jack.  I spiked a four on the flop and doubled up to survive.

Again I was going to continue the pressure and play bigger pots.  I decided if Chris raised I was shoving a lot of hands.  9c7c seemed perfect but incredibly Chris found another monster wth AQ.  I spiked a 7 on the flop and rivered a flush and suddenly I was back in it with about 1.5 million to Chris’ 2.8 million. 

Chris was visibly upset and gave me a bit of a spray, telling that was “kindergarden stuff”.  I told him to settle down before I would play the next hand.  He gave me a nod and I continued the pressure.  Now that we were deep, and I wasn’t risking so much of my chips each hand, it allowed me more room to be creative.  I no longer needed to hit cards or the board (both of which were still eluding me in the HU battle).  If he limped the button, I raised any two cards.  He donked out at a queen-high flop and I re-popped him with 27 for air.  He continued to respect my moves, but I decided to flash the bluff to him - not something I’d normally do, but I wanted him to know it was game on and really rattle him.  Within about five minutes of this bluff he was asking the tournament director for a break.  I said no, we’d wait the 20 mins until the scheduled break.

We were nearly back to even in chips as I had all the momentum.  I think picked up the biggest hand I’d had in HU play - ace-nine.  Chris raised and I 3-bet him.  He shoved and I deliberated.  It was an easy fold really, but if there was a chance we were flipping I wanted to take it.  I folded and he later said he had pocket queens.

A hand or two later the roles were reversed.  He raised again and I 3-bet him with pocket queens.  He shoved with AhJh and I snap-called.  He had me covered but not by much - this was the tournament on the line and I was a 70% favourite.  I stood and leant on the chair in shock that I was so close to the trophy.  Maybe my “I can’t watch” mentality didn’t help as the ace spiked on the flop and it was all over.

So close to a spot in poker history, two trophies and a life-changing payday.  As it was, I’m thrilled to have done so well and finished so deep.  It would’ve been great to win, but I have no regrets - I gave myself every opportunity to win.  Well done to Chris - he thoroughly deserved to win and dominated the final table.

Hopefully this opens up a few opportunities to play some more tournaments on the tour and enjoy further success with a new found confidence.  Thanks to everyone for your support and many thanks to Tim, Oatsy, Mat, Paul, James, Kav and Justin for covering for me behind the desk for three days.

May this be the start of much more to come…!

Despite my delving back into the cash games, I’ve continued to donk around in a couple of tournaments.  I’ve recently played a couple of satellites to both Melb Champs and the ANZPT Melbourne.  I went deep in a couple and then finally the other night I broke through with a win in an ANZPT sat on PokerStars.

After dropping $215 in a satellite on two days earlier, I qualified for this satellite in one of the $8.80 sub-satellites. I don’t remember too much about this sub-sat as it was a turbo, other than I didn’t rebuy at the start, I doubled twice and tripled once before adding on to be top 3 at the break. It was smooth sailing from there as I grabbed a seat for just a $16.80 investment.

The satellite only got 32 starters which was surprisingly low as only 3 ANZPT Melbourne seats would be up for grabs. I managed to build up from $3k stack to $4k pretty quickly, and with a good structure I pretty much sat tight on those chips without too much happening. As we got down to the last two tables, I then went on a mad tear. I picked up pocket aces three times (twice in consecutive hands) and ace-king within one orbit. Not surprisingly I got paid off to storm from a shortish stack to be amongst the leaders. Then as we approached the final table, the following hand came up. It’s pretty sick, yes I was running good, but I’m amazed he didn’t stack off here. Did I misplay it to not get his whole stack?

PokerStars Game #27400553977: Tournament #153770645, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit - Level VIII (150/300) - 2009/04/23 8:43:43 ET
Table ‘153770645 5′ 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: dufchips (13398 in chips)
Seat 2: grunter321 (11354 in chips)
Seat 3: kyomi (10876 in chips)
Seat 6: A6540 (4236 in chips)
Seat 7: TheBigHef (14756 in chips)
dufchips: posts the ante 25
grunter321: posts the ante 25
kyomi: posts the ante 25
A6540: posts the ante 25
TheBigHef: posts the ante 25
TheBigHef: posts small blind 150
dufchips: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TheBigHef [5h 5d]
grunter321: folds
kyomi: folds
A6540: folds
TheBigHef: raises 600 to 900
dufchips: calls 600
*** FLOP *** [2d Qd 8c]
TheBigHef: bets 979
dufchips: calls 979
*** TURN *** [2d Qd 8c] [5s]
TheBigHef: bets 2300
dufchips: calls 2300
*** RIVER *** [2d Qd 8c 5s] [3h]
TheBigHef: bets 4500
dufchips: calls 4500
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TheBigHef: shows [5h 5d] (three of a kind, Fives)
dufchips: mucks hand
TheBigHef collected 17483 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 17483 | Rake 0
Board [2d Qd 8c 5s 3h]
Seat 1: dufchips (big blind) mucked [2c 2h]
Seat 2: grunter321 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: kyomi folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: A6540 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: TheBigHef (small blind) showed [5h 5d] and won (17483) with three of a kind, Fives

We got to the final table and I was chip leader as Grant “grunter321″ Levy warned me he was about to play like a maniac to drop a few of these guys. I LOL’d and stood back with my healthy stack to watch the carnage until I picked up AA UTG and raised. The second biggest stack to my immediate left, and interestingly also from Hobart, three-bet and it folded back to me. I wasn’t going to mess around so I put in a four-bet and did a little jig. He shoved and I called. He showed AK, and I tingled. Dear god, no funny business! The board bricked and I had 40k, and 4x the second biggest stack with 8 players left! Talk about DING!

I sat back with my huge stack and let Grunter do most of the work to eliminate the others. I could’ve raced with him once with AK, against what he later said was pocket jacks, but decided against it. We got down to four-handed with three seats on the line and I still had close to 40k. The short stack had about 10k and open shoved from the button with the blinds at 400-800. I had AJ in the small blind, and although the villian was tight I think I had to make the call as the big stack against the short stack to take a shot at the win. He showed AQ and doubled through. Shit, now things got very interesting.

Suddenly thoughts of yet another bubble flashed through my mind as I’d just blown my chip lead. Tears welled in my eyes. It couldn’t happen, could it? Things continued to go pear-shaped. I raised with TT and had to ditch it as Grunter re-raised, what he later said was another set (blessed). I then opened with AQ and the same short-stack shoved on me again. Four-handed it felt like a call, and I so wanted to bust this guy and end it, but somewhere deep I found a crying fold.

I was now hurting as the seat was slipping away, as I was now one of the shorter stacks. Out of nowhere the same guy then open-shoved for 16k from the small blind into my big blind of 800, and I insta-called with pocket queens. He flipped KJ and I couldn’t watch. The board bricked and it was victory for the good guys. Grunter grabbed a seat also which should help keep him off the streets. It was great to have some of his run good brush off on me, and man it felt good to run like Grunter for a day! Hopefully this time I can convert it into a big score.

It’s over!  The epic battle between good versus evil has gone the way of the good guys with victory in the 10k Challenge over the valiant, but sadly outclassed, Duck.

I had a good evening on Party Poker where I picked up a small win and a final table which put me within $100 of victory.  I kind of wish I’d played on that evening to end it quickly, but unfortunately I slept and the run-bad gods set in to torture me a little more before ending the challenge.

I think I went on to play another 20 or so tournaments without cashing.  I bubbled 6 tournaments in that time with a couple of brutal beats.  The two that stand out were AA vs KK vs QQ, where a Q on the flop was the difference between bubbling and being chip leader with 12 to go and a few G’s for first.  I followed it up later that evening with KT vs K9 on a king-high flop, and watching my opponent make a runner-runner king-high straight-flush. LOL donkaments.

Finally one dreary Monday morning I registered in everything I could find and by 10am I’d clocked another min-cash in the PokerStars $55 100k Guaranteed to tick past the $10k barrier!

Victory!

So what came of this silly challenge and was it worth it?

I collected a net $575 win from Tim for the side bet - $250 for the win, $100 for the best live results and $225 for final table bonuses.  However if you look at my actual results, by guestimate puts me at around that same figure down.  I have every tournament tracked, and could do some stats, but I don’t think I’ll worry.  More important is how I’ve actually been playing and whether I’ve been able to improve my game.

I’ve never really ever taken tournaments seriously until this challenge, which was one of the reasons why I agreed to it in the first place.  I was keen to improve my game and concentrate on getting some results.  I think I have achieved that to a degree.

A huge incentive for this was for me to get a major live tournament cash result and I achieved that at the JHDSS.  Tim was a huge favourite to win the live results side bet, especially after he flew out to a big lead early on, so I’m very happy to get this result.  However online I was hoping for better results.  While I think I put in plenty of volume, I didn’t get that big cash result.  Not enough final tables in big tournaments and not enough wins.  While there will be a lot of hit and misses in tournaments, you really need to make sure you get that big cash when the opportunity arises.  Unfortunately I fell short on too many occasions.  I didn’t win the races that mattered and I had some rough luck when deep, so that left me with too many min-cashes and not enough large results.

I felt like I was playing well, so perhaps it’s just variance.  Or perhaps there’s something I need to work on to try and accumulate a bigger stack when entering the money stage of the tournament.

One other positive to come out of the challenge was that I also picked up my first Pot Limit Omaha win.  I followed that up with a couple of other PLO cashes, which was pleasing.  PLO is not a game I’ve studied or thought much about, I only play for fun, but I think there are elements from PLO which can help me improve my Holdem game.

While I feel like I’ve improved, I have discovered how much I hate tournament poker.  There are big highs when you win but a lot of pain in between.  If you’re playing well, most tournaments are probably going to end in a bad beat story, since you’re (hopefully) usually getting your money in good and there are a lot of landmines to get past in these things, so eventually one might go against you.  In a cash game you can reload and continue to punish the bad players.  In tournaments, there is no comeback.  You’re out and you lose your money.  I found that part hard to take, and tilted a lot more at bad beats than I would in a cash game.  Especially when I’ve gone deep. Fprtunately I got through the challenge without breaking any stuff, but the neighbours must think I’m a madman from all the yelling. Or a wifebeater.

So I will be happily going back to my cash games now to grind out some profit.  I don’t know if playing exclusively MTTs is a profitable venture for me and I don’t think I can handle the brutality.  However I’ll still play the odd tournament for fun and hopefully that big score is still within reach.

In regards to the bet itself, Ducky has commented in his blog Tilted Behvaiour that he would change a few things for the next challenge as he was unhappy that many of my cashes were in <100 player tournaments.  Fair enough, however I don’t think much would change.  The rules were set at the start, and I felt that I always had an edge in being able to play more volume online.  I played many <100 player tournaments as it was in the rules.  It allowed me to pick up extra FT bonuses which frankly was just smart as I collected an extra $25 bonus each time.  In fact, when I had a decent lead I probably should’ve played MORE small tournaments to collect more FT bonuses before the challenge ended.  However there was always the threat of Duck collecting a massive score at anytime, and I respected that and was never comfortable with my lead.

Duck also said suggested that the next race be done based on PLB points, and I totally agree with that.  That would restrict it to 100+ player fields, but would allow buy-ins of less than $22. For the record, I would’ve won if this race was based on PLB points also, and I think I would be favourite to beat Duck in such a challenge.

However I won’t be back to defend my title in the next race to 10k, so good luck to anyone who takes part.  It’s just not a profitable or pleasurable use of my time.

I do however still have one tournament goal.  At the start of the race I toyed with the idea of reaching the Australian top 100.  Half way through the race, I thought that was a fantasy.  Now that it’s over, I still think it’s a realistic goal.  I’m in no rush, and if I can play a few majors here and there, I can pick up enough points to get there one day.  More immediately, I have my target set on Tassie’s #1 online ranking!  I’m currently #2 but within striking distance!  Joshua Reid, your ass is mine!

GG Ducky, see you on the cash tables.  Peking duck all round?

So since the JHDSS I’ve been playing plenty of tournaments to try and end this “Race to 10k” once and for all.  Duck landed a nice online score, but I’ve been able to chip away with plenty of small cashes.  I feel like I’ve been playing really well and getting some consistent, deep results, without grabbing a big cash.  My biggest result was 8th/762 in a Full Tilt $26 NLHE which was worth close to US$450, but of course the US$4.5k for first would’ve been a little sweeter and ended this race!

Despite playing well, and being on the verge of a big result, the lack of profit is frustrating.  So I went and donked around in some cash games the other day.  It was all a bit meh, which then turned into tilt, which evolved into full-blown monkey tilt after this hand:



Gross. So after relieving myself of the last cash I had in my TonyG account in a fit of wild rage, I happy returned to the tournament grind with renewed focus and tolerance.

After a couple of final tables, including some miraculous PLO results, I have a nice little break on Ducky.  I know he’s capable of landing a 5k score at any time, so I’ve got to keep the foot down and get this final $1.5k asap.

Current Standings:
thkcduckworth: $5,756.37
TassieDevil: $8,513.39

Final Table Bonuses:
thkcduckworth: $25
TassieDevil: $175