Aussie Millions

We arrived in Melbourne just after the start of Day 1a. The first thing I noticed was the +30 degree weather, which was a nice change from the record snowfall we received in Ottawa this winter. We checked into the hotel and then I headed down to the poker room to register for the main event. I saw a lot of familiar faces which was pretty cool, Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow, John Juanda, and a whole slew of other great players. Even though there were so many pros, the great thing about a tournament in an isolated place like Australia is that at least half of the field is made up of local Australians, who don't really play any tournaments outside of their country. They're mostly wealthy people who play for leisure.

I was slated to play on Day 1b, and for once I was actually early for a tournament! I was glad to see that I didn't recognize any of the players at my table. We started with $20,000 in chips and $50/$100 blinds. I got into the action on the first hand which played out like this:

It folds around to me on the button, and I make it $175 with A8. The SB quickly calls and the BB folds. The flop is 872 all clubs, and I have the Ace of clubs in my hand along with top pair. He checks, I bet $250, he min-raises me, and I call. Turn is a red Queen. He checks to me, and I check behind. River is a red 5. He leads out for $1000, I quickly call and he shows red 52 offsuit.

I can't say I was completely surprised, as nothing really surprises me anymore in these big tournaments. I now had some good information about this opponent and I just needed a good hand so I could get paid off.

The very next orbit, I get into another big pot. MP raises to $300, I call on the button with JT, blinds fold. Flop is AQ5. He checks, I check. Turn is a perfect K. I felt like he was slowplaying the flop, and he confirms this by leading out for $500. I raise to $2000 and he quickly calls. River is a 7. He again leads out for $2000. Now I go into the tank, thinking about how much I can make from him. I don't really want to shove because its such a massive overbet. Finally I bump it up to $10,000 since I have him on at least AK and I don't think he can get away from it very easily. He makes a quick call and just like that I am up to $31,000.

I stay quiet for a couple of orbits, then I decide to raise it up to $400 with the blinds at $75/$150 from the hijack with A9hh. The 52 guy calls from the cutoff, as does the BB. The flop comes K57 with two hearts, giving me the nut flush draw. BB checks to me, I bet $900, Mr. 52 min raises again, BB folds, I call. Turn is an offsuit 8, giving me a gutshot too. I check, he bets $3000, I call. He's made it obvious that he has a King and I'm not going to bluff him on the river because I know he will call anything. If I hit, I'm probably going to fire out something like $10,000. The river bricks out, I check, he bets $8000, I fold. That left me with around $25,000.

For the rest of the level I called 2 raises with pairs and missed the flop, and raised twice with AK and AQ and also missed the flop. On the AK I made a c-bet but had to shut down after getting called while out of position. Now I was back down $21,000. The blinds were now $100/$200 and I would play my final hand of the tournament:

MP raises to $700, 3 people call, and I call another $500 with 76 from the BB. I flop the nuts, 345 rainbow. I lead out for $2000, hoping somebody has an overpair and puts in a big raise. The original raiser calls, and the button calls. Turn is a 2, and now I'm hoping one of the players has an Ace or a 6. I lead out for $4000, MP folds, button calls. River is a 6, putting a straight on board, but still giving me a higher straight. My stack is now less than the pot, and I figure there's no way he can put me on a 7 with me leading out on all streets. He pretty much has to call any of my bets thinking it will be a chop. I shove all in, and insta calls and flips over... 78 for the nuts. I stand there for what seemed like an eternity just staring at the cards, until another player chimed in, "He has the nuts, you lost." I just picked up my jacket and walked away without saying a word.

I think I handled it as well as could be expected under the circumstances. If it was early in my career some chips would have most likely been airborne. But it has happened so many times now that it doesn't affect me like it used to, I just take it as it is and look forward to the next tournament. Before it would bother me for weeks after taking a beat like that.

I played one other tournament while I was in Australia, the $5000 Heads Up. The format was ok since it was best of 3, but we only started with 60 big blinds and 20 minute levels which wouldn't allow for much play. Even online sites give you 75 BB to start and more hands per level in HU matches. I guess they had to speed it up somehow, but I think I would rather have a best of 3 than slightly deeper stacks, so I can't really complain.

My match was against a young Swedish player, who turned out to be a really nice guy and a good player. In our first match, after each starting with $3000, I had him down around $4000 to $2000 when I flopped a straight flush draw and got it all in against his top pair. I turned the straight and also rivered a useless flush to win the first match.

In the second match, the blinds were at $75/$150 when he raised to $400 on the button and I called with JT. Flop was Jack high and I check raised him all in and he called me with QJ and he held up. Turns out we both started the hand with exactly $3000 so he won the second match.

The third match was the longest. We grinded away at each other for quite a while and we were at $100/$200 blinds so basically 15 BB each. He had me down $3400 to $2600 and he made it $500 on the button. I shoved all in with K6dd and he made the call with 77. I had a gutshot to go with my overcard but I couldn't suck out and he took won the round.

Hopefully my next tournament will go a little better. I'm planning a trip to Vegas in February, but I'm not exactly sure which tournament I'm going to be playing. I'll probably throw in another update before the trip.

In other news, things are looking good for Season 2 of the Myst Poker Tour which is hosted at the Lone Star restaurant in the east end. Season 1 was a blast and the champion ended up being my cousin Steve, who won a trip to Vancouver to play in the BC Poker Championship, a trip worth $4000. We are hoping to do something similar for this season, stay tuned to mystpoker.com for details!