Aussie Millions - 6th place - $275,000
What a ride!
I have so much to write about, I should probably make daily posts in future tournaments to avoid having to make one huge post. Here goes nothing...
Day 1 started off pretty slowly, with me picking up small pots here and there and basically getting a feel for all of my opponents. I got rivered a few times in the first 3 levels and instead of being at $40k in chips I was still sitting with around $20k. In the 4th level, I finally hit a flop with TT when it came T66 with 2 diamonds, and I check-called my 2 opponents. The turn was the J of diamonds, and I check-raised the girl at my table which put her all-in. She called with a flush, drawing dead. That brought me up to just under $50k in chips, and it was dinner time. After dinner break, I picked off a couple of bluffs, and then I won a race with QQ against AK for about a $25k pot, which brought me up to $75k going into the last level of the day. I pretty much ran over my table after that picking up many unchallenged pots and I ended the day with just over $95k in chips.
Day 2 was a different story. There was no such thing as picking up a small pot anymore. Why? No reason, other than the fact that I had the defending champion Lee Nelson at my table and the crazy Finnish player Patrik Antonius two seats to my left. This table was pretty much suicide, either you let them run you over and bleed all of your chips while you wait for the pocket aces that never come, or you make a stand and get all-in against them with mediocre hands hoping you are ahead. I had two words in my head going into this table: 'no fear'. It didn't take long. A few hands in, I was on the button with 99. With the blinds $500/$1k, I made it $4k to go, and Antonius made it $25k to go in the BB. Against any other opponent, I would most likely make an easy fold here, but against Antonius I didn't even flinch before I moved my whole stack in. He folded. I took 2 more big pots off Antonius before he finally got me in a hand. He rivered an ace in a hand where I was trapping him and he took a chunk out of my stack. But now it was my turn to river him. Antonius raises to $4k and I make it $12k from the BB with AJs. Antonius calls. I miss the T97 flop and he calls my bet. The turn is another T, and I check-raised him all-in, thinking he would have raised me on the flop with a T. Well I was right about him not having the T, he only flopped the nut straight! He called of course, but the river was an 8 to chop the pot! You'd think one river would be enough justice but one more doesn't hurt, right? Well this one was nowhere near as bad, on the very next hand I got my money in as a 45/55 with my ace high flush draw against his QQ. I hit my flush and that brought me up to $190k, right back into it! I lost a couple of big pots against Lee Nelson, as I literally could not hit a flop the whole day! Once I re-raised him pre-flop with QQ and he check-raised me on a K high flop I laid it down. Just like that I was back down to $85k. After coming back fresh from the dinner break, it was double-up time for me. I was just waiting for Antonius to make a move on me when I had any sort of a hand. I finally picked up AT suited, my best hand in what seemed like ages, and I made it $8k to go in the CO-1 . Antonius has me covered on the button and pushes all-in. I know Anotnius well enough to know that he could be doing this with any 2 cards. My AT was well ahead of his range here, so after long thought, I decided to call. My read was dead-on, he had Q9off. He missed the board and I doubled up off of him once again. After making a couple of great bluffs to bring me up to around $240k, I took another $80k off of Lee Nelson on the very last hand of the day when I slow-played my top pair + flush draw against him. I ended the day with a cool $322k.
On Day 3, I had a much easier table, with only Ross Boatman to worry about, who I played against on the final table at the EPT Championship in Monte Carlo. He actually remembered me from there and we had quite a long conversation about that tournament. I started the day very quickly, 3-betting Boatman all-in on a J97 flop with QT and he laid his hand down. That brought me up to $500k. Then I raised with 78 on the button and hit a T87 flop. I bet it hard, and the BB came over top all-in and I quickly called. He showed KT and my 2 pair held up. This is when I really started to get aggressive and run the table over. I was chipleader with almost $1 million by the end of the first level. There was not a lot of action until a couple of levels later when I 3-bet the BB all-in with KJ and he called with QQ. I flopped a king and turned a king, and just like that I was up to $1.2 million. A few hands later, I raise UTG with AK, the the button moves all-in. He was short-stacked so I made the easy call, and he flipped up AQ. Flop was AQ2 and I lost that pot. I got moved to a new table and I made a huge bluff against 'Shaniac', it was the biggest pot of the tourney and the TV cameras were all over the place for that one. That would have been pretty embarrassing if I got caught bluffing on TV... lol ;) I then lost a huge pot against Jimmy Fricke with AK against his 99. He made a very bad play with the 99 and he was very fortunate that I only had AK. He made it $40k UTG, and I had been respecting his raises all day. I look down at AK in the BB and it gets folded around to me. I make it $160k to go, and he has around $500k total. He doesn't even think, and announces all-in. I was like wow... he must have a huge hand but I have to call now. I call and I am shocked to see 99. What a horrible push! The worst hand I could have here is AK, and I definitely am not re-raising an UTG raiser with 88. So it was either AK, or TT-AA. That's a great range to push 99 against, lol. Then he pulled a sick runner runner straight to knock out Shaniac. I think he's actually a decent player, but he was just playing bad on this particular day. I lost a big hand against him at the end of the day when I folded to his all-in on the turn with a pair + flush draw. I ended the day with $1.25 million.
Day 4 was quick and painful. I was seated with Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius once again to start the day. Gus knocked Antonious out early on, and I made a couple of good moves against Gus to bring myself up to $1.5 million at one point. I lost a big chunk in a battle of the blinds with Gus. I called his raise knowing he was raising with rags, but he ended up flopping top pair with Q2off and I couldn't bluff him off the hand. I ended the day with $535k after I lost another hand against Andy Black, as I just could not hit a flop. This was not a temporary thing, I could not hit a flop for the entire tournament. It was unreal. I had aces once and kings once, and got no action with them. If you read the Eurolinx blog, not one time did you see me all-in with AA or KK. I got all-in with AK 3 times and lost 2 of them. I was card-dead the whole entire tournament. I have no idea how I made it this far. I was happy to make the final table once again, but I really wanted to win for once, and I hate going in as a short-stack.
Day 5, the TV Final Table, was quick for me. We were 7 players, with 1st place taking home $1.5 million! I really had my eye on it but I knew I would need a couple of double-ups early on. I was patient for the first level, and Kristy Gazes was the first player to get knocked out. We were down to 6 now and I looked down at KJ. It was the 2nd best hand I'd seen all day and I decided to go with it and pick up the much-needed blinds and antes. Gus Hansen ended up calling me from the BB after much thought with A9. I missed the board and I was out. No bracelet for me... yet ;)
I took home $300,000 AUD for my efforts.
I have so much to write about, I should probably make daily posts in future tournaments to avoid having to make one huge post. Here goes nothing...
Day 1 started off pretty slowly, with me picking up small pots here and there and basically getting a feel for all of my opponents. I got rivered a few times in the first 3 levels and instead of being at $40k in chips I was still sitting with around $20k. In the 4th level, I finally hit a flop with TT when it came T66 with 2 diamonds, and I check-called my 2 opponents. The turn was the J of diamonds, and I check-raised the girl at my table which put her all-in. She called with a flush, drawing dead. That brought me up to just under $50k in chips, and it was dinner time. After dinner break, I picked off a couple of bluffs, and then I won a race with QQ against AK for about a $25k pot, which brought me up to $75k going into the last level of the day. I pretty much ran over my table after that picking up many unchallenged pots and I ended the day with just over $95k in chips.
Day 2 was a different story. There was no such thing as picking up a small pot anymore. Why? No reason, other than the fact that I had the defending champion Lee Nelson at my table and the crazy Finnish player Patrik Antonius two seats to my left. This table was pretty much suicide, either you let them run you over and bleed all of your chips while you wait for the pocket aces that never come, or you make a stand and get all-in against them with mediocre hands hoping you are ahead. I had two words in my head going into this table: 'no fear'. It didn't take long. A few hands in, I was on the button with 99. With the blinds $500/$1k, I made it $4k to go, and Antonius made it $25k to go in the BB. Against any other opponent, I would most likely make an easy fold here, but against Antonius I didn't even flinch before I moved my whole stack in. He folded. I took 2 more big pots off Antonius before he finally got me in a hand. He rivered an ace in a hand where I was trapping him and he took a chunk out of my stack. But now it was my turn to river him. Antonius raises to $4k and I make it $12k from the BB with AJs. Antonius calls. I miss the T97 flop and he calls my bet. The turn is another T, and I check-raised him all-in, thinking he would have raised me on the flop with a T. Well I was right about him not having the T, he only flopped the nut straight! He called of course, but the river was an 8 to chop the pot! You'd think one river would be enough justice but one more doesn't hurt, right? Well this one was nowhere near as bad, on the very next hand I got my money in as a 45/55 with my ace high flush draw against his QQ. I hit my flush and that brought me up to $190k, right back into it! I lost a couple of big pots against Lee Nelson, as I literally could not hit a flop the whole day! Once I re-raised him pre-flop with QQ and he check-raised me on a K high flop I laid it down. Just like that I was back down to $85k. After coming back fresh from the dinner break, it was double-up time for me. I was just waiting for Antonius to make a move on me when I had any sort of a hand. I finally picked up AT suited, my best hand in what seemed like ages, and I made it $8k to go in the CO-1 . Antonius has me covered on the button and pushes all-in. I know Anotnius well enough to know that he could be doing this with any 2 cards. My AT was well ahead of his range here, so after long thought, I decided to call. My read was dead-on, he had Q9off. He missed the board and I doubled up off of him once again. After making a couple of great bluffs to bring me up to around $240k, I took another $80k off of Lee Nelson on the very last hand of the day when I slow-played my top pair + flush draw against him. I ended the day with a cool $322k.
On Day 3, I had a much easier table, with only Ross Boatman to worry about, who I played against on the final table at the EPT Championship in Monte Carlo. He actually remembered me from there and we had quite a long conversation about that tournament. I started the day very quickly, 3-betting Boatman all-in on a J97 flop with QT and he laid his hand down. That brought me up to $500k. Then I raised with 78 on the button and hit a T87 flop. I bet it hard, and the BB came over top all-in and I quickly called. He showed KT and my 2 pair held up. This is when I really started to get aggressive and run the table over. I was chipleader with almost $1 million by the end of the first level. There was not a lot of action until a couple of levels later when I 3-bet the BB all-in with KJ and he called with QQ. I flopped a king and turned a king, and just like that I was up to $1.2 million. A few hands later, I raise UTG with AK, the the button moves all-in. He was short-stacked so I made the easy call, and he flipped up AQ. Flop was AQ2 and I lost that pot. I got moved to a new table and I made a huge bluff against 'Shaniac', it was the biggest pot of the tourney and the TV cameras were all over the place for that one. That would have been pretty embarrassing if I got caught bluffing on TV... lol ;) I then lost a huge pot against Jimmy Fricke with AK against his 99. He made a very bad play with the 99 and he was very fortunate that I only had AK. He made it $40k UTG, and I had been respecting his raises all day. I look down at AK in the BB and it gets folded around to me. I make it $160k to go, and he has around $500k total. He doesn't even think, and announces all-in. I was like wow... he must have a huge hand but I have to call now. I call and I am shocked to see 99. What a horrible push! The worst hand I could have here is AK, and I definitely am not re-raising an UTG raiser with 88. So it was either AK, or TT-AA. That's a great range to push 99 against, lol. Then he pulled a sick runner runner straight to knock out Shaniac. I think he's actually a decent player, but he was just playing bad on this particular day. I lost a big hand against him at the end of the day when I folded to his all-in on the turn with a pair + flush draw. I ended the day with $1.25 million.
Day 4 was quick and painful. I was seated with Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius once again to start the day. Gus knocked Antonious out early on, and I made a couple of good moves against Gus to bring myself up to $1.5 million at one point. I lost a big chunk in a battle of the blinds with Gus. I called his raise knowing he was raising with rags, but he ended up flopping top pair with Q2off and I couldn't bluff him off the hand. I ended the day with $535k after I lost another hand against Andy Black, as I just could not hit a flop. This was not a temporary thing, I could not hit a flop for the entire tournament. It was unreal. I had aces once and kings once, and got no action with them. If you read the Eurolinx blog, not one time did you see me all-in with AA or KK. I got all-in with AK 3 times and lost 2 of them. I was card-dead the whole entire tournament. I have no idea how I made it this far. I was happy to make the final table once again, but I really wanted to win for once, and I hate going in as a short-stack.
Day 5, the TV Final Table, was quick for me. We were 7 players, with 1st place taking home $1.5 million! I really had my eye on it but I knew I would need a couple of double-ups early on. I was patient for the first level, and Kristy Gazes was the first player to get knocked out. We were down to 6 now and I looked down at KJ. It was the 2nd best hand I'd seen all day and I decided to go with it and pick up the much-needed blinds and antes. Gus Hansen ended up calling me from the BB after much thought with A9. I missed the board and I was out. No bracelet for me... yet ;)
I took home $300,000 AUD for my efforts.
posted by myst @ 1:33 AM
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