…and the blog is back!

A couple of days ago, I was deliberating whether or not to subject myself to more live poker so soon after leaving Las Vegas. After a session of being 3bet and 4bet by maniacs online, I decided that live poker was calling me. After a quick look at the list of upcoming tournament series in the nearby region, I was left with three choices; ANZPT Queensland (my home state’s first poker championship), The Victorian Poker Championships at Crown and AAPT Macau. With Macau being slightly out of my price range with a 6k main event, I was forced to decide between a $2500 ANZPT Event at Jupiters where the floor staff don’t know the difference between a straight and a flush or a $2700 Main Event at Crown, which is arguably the world’s best poker room (better than any in Vegas anyway) with a full schedule of preliminary events including an $1100 6-max event, a $550 250k GTD event, several $230-340 events, a $340 Teams Event and a $240 HA Event w/$100 rebuys.

Five minutes later, I booked my flights to Melbourne for the Victorian Poker Championships.

Day 1

4 August 2009

I arrive in Melbourne at 3pm with four hours until I meet James for the Teams Event. I check into the increasingly familiar hostel I normally stay at and make my way over to Crown for some 2/3NL.

I buy in for the max, which sadly is $200. The max buy-in and rake at 2/3 are pretty much the only bad things about the Crown poker room.

I win and lose a few small pots then find myself involved in my first large pot with approximately $200 in front of me. We’re 9 handed, UTG has $76, UTG+1 has ~$150.

Dealt to SwoopAE: 6c 6s

UTG raises to $16 (lol donkaments but this is standard for cash at Crown)
UTG+1 calls
UTG+2 calls
MP1 calls
I call on HJ
Button calls
BB calls

Flop: 6h Jd Qs

Cool.

BB checks
UTG shoves all-in for $60
UTG+1 calls
Folded to me
I raise $65 to $125
Folded to UTG+1
UTG+1 moves all-in for about $25 more
I call

UTG+1 tables AQo
UTG keeps his cards face down

Turn: 8c
River: 6c

UTG mucks and I find myself up to about $480

I flop another set and get one street of action and then get all in preflop with KK against a very short stack’s TT which holds. I’m sitting with about $580 when I find myself involved in another big hand. Everyone is pretty deep this time, all of the players involved in the hand have over $200 and some have similar stacks to me.

Five players limp for $3, I limp with Ac 3c on the button, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: 9c 8c 6d

SB bets $15
BB calls
UTG+1 calls
MP1 calls
CO raises $15 to $30
I think over my options then elect to call since my hand plays really, really well 6-way here.
SB calls
BB calls
UTG+1 calls
MP1 calls

There is now about $200 in the pot. So sick.

Turn: 7d

What a sick turn card. Please let me see the river cheap… Please!

Checked around to CO

CO bets $55
I call
SB calls
BB calls
UTG+1 tank-calls
MP1 folds

WTF is going on in this hand? There’s close to $500 in the pot and several players, myself included, have close to a pot sized bet behind and even the shorter stacks still have $100 or more behind.

River: Kh

Gross spot to brick out.

Checked around to CO who bets $100
I fold
SB calls
BB folds
UTG+1 tank-calls again.

Take a moment to try and work out what everyone has here.

CO tables… K5o for the bottom end of the straight. How does he ever have that, ever? He minraises the flop with the bottom end of a gutshot then bets 1/5 pot with his bluffcatcher with only one player to act behind him on the river? WTF?

SB tables… 97o for two pair.

What the fuck?

UTG+1 tables… T9o for the second nut straight. How does a ten scoop this 300BB pot? UTG+1 is a solid young guy and probably the second best player at the table after me. He tells me that he almost threw his hand away on the turn when CO bet with four callers. So ridiculously sick. I understand that he chops a lot there but how does he ever scoop that, ever?

BB tells me he had the diamond flush draw (wtf?) and MP1 won’t say what he had.

Anyway, I drop a hundred or so in that pot where I somehow have NINE clean outs to the nuts on the flop six way

About half an hour later, I find Qd Qh UTG and raise to $15 with two callers.

The flop is 9s 6d 3h and I bet $37, MP folds and BTN jams about $130. I call, the board bricks out and button mucks. Probably TT or 87 or something. Whatever.

I cash out about $580 when James arrives for a 2BI profit and we get delicious Indian food for dinner with Chris from the epic last night in Vegas story and an Asian girl named Demi he is playing with in the Teams Event. I recognise Demi from the Crown Poker Room but i’d never known her name.

We buy into the teams event which is 5k stack/30min levels and James has a mostly uneventful first level; he flops a straight in a 3way pot and gets 2 folds when he bets the flop and loses some small pots, giving me about 4600 in chips to work with.

My first hand comes up against George, a late-40s Crown regular who is massively spewy preflop, limpcalling huge bets with hands that flop really badly and a station postflop. George is one of those guys who thinks he’s good at poker but he’s possibly the biggest loser out of the Crown regulars in both cash games and tournaments.

The blinds are at 50/100 and we’re already under 50bb deep

I find Ad Js in MP and raise to 250, BTN calls, George calls in BB

Flop: As 8c 6h

George checks, I bet 325 (very small but there’s some method to the madness as it allows me to get 3 streets instead of 2 on the right boards), BTN folds, George calls. I intend to get three streets of value on a safe board or check behind and snap the river on a bad turn

Turn: 6d

George checks, I quickly check behind. This is a terrible card since George’s range to checkcall this flop is roughly ace rag, 9x, 6x, 87. After I check, he’s the type of player who bets hands with some showdown value for no reason so i’m 100% sure he’s leading his entire range on any river.

River: Kc

George bets 850, I quickly call, he tables 86o and I feel kinda stupid for not betting more on the flop, although he would have called anyway since he never folds a pair to one bet.

A few hands later I find myself involved again with ~3400. Most players at the table cover.

MP limps, George limps on HJ, I raise to 475 with 9h 8h. I’m expecting to get called a lot by one or both players who will check fold flops when they miss. Accumulation 101.

Flop: 5c 3s 2d

Well, they either have a set or air here. Both villains check, I bet 1,000 (I like this since a single chip looks very strong live), MP folds and George elects to raise all-in. He’s not capable of making a move here so he pretty much always has a set. I have nine high and have to fold regardless, George tables Ac 4d for the flopped wheel. Nice work limp-calling a 4.75x raise there with 40bb effective stacks then failing to get value. I’m actually quite fortunate I had air there since the overpair which is probably 50% of my range is basically getting stacked there since i’m getting nearly 4-1 to call off when he shoves.

So i’ve spewed off down to 1725 and things aren’t going well, but a double up puts us close to the chip average.

A few hands later I find Kd Qc in MP. UTG limps, UTG+1 limps and UTG+2 limps. UTG+2 is George, the other two are randoms who have been limping weak hands. I’m certain none of them have a legitimate hand but it’s gross to move in with 4-5 players to act behind. I move in anyway for 17BB and get overcalled, the three limpers fold and claim they folded A4, A2 and A8 before the cards are exposed. The overcalling villain shows AQ and although i’m dominated, all of the aces are out of the deck so villain is drawing virtually dead if I hit.

Flop: 445

One of the limpers starts moaning about how his A4 would have made trips. I don’t suppose I could have a king here?

Turn Q

Well, I have a few outs to chop now as well. King, Queen or a Four perhaps?

River: 3

George has a small tantrum about how his A2 would have made a wheel and how he would have probably called me if everyone folded (he’s not capable of making that call for 17BB with A2 anyway) as I shake hands with everyone and head off to the rail after playing for less than 20 minutes.

I apologise to James for my failure but we agree that the hands are fairly standard with the 98s button raise being non-compulsory of course but not really leaky either since we were looking to accumulate without showdown early.

We play some more cash and I win a bunch of small pots flopping top pair/two pair hands mostly and then stacking a guy for most of a buy-in when I get it in with bottom set against top pair. I flopped three sets playing live poker today. So sick. I cash out around midnight and head back to the hostel to get some sleep. The $340 Bounty event is tomorrow.

Anyway, my Teams Event failure aside… he’s the breakdown for Day 1

Tournaments: -$170
Cash:+ approx $600
Overall: +$430