Australia Trip Report Part 2

I'm back home and feeling A-OK after pretty much three days without sleep. The plane was ok, somehow the films were all different on the last flight and I was treated to 'Hot Rod' which is probably the funniest film of the year. One guy nearly died on my first plane and had to be revived, on the 2nd plane I had to wrestle a mobile phone out of the hands of a young Chinese guy that couldnt understand English or the fact that its very dangerous to be texting your mates at 30,000 feet.

The wedding was bordering on perfect. It was on a beach on the best day of the year, weather wise. The bride look stunning, the groom looked cool and we even saw a whale jump out of the water, almost as if it had been organised somehow.

Of course, as soon as it got to the dancing stage of the night it was just like any other wedding Ive been to. A bunch of pissed up Ozzies dancing to 'Land down under' by Men at Work capped the night off.

So I arrived in Melbourne on Monday and my hotel, in the Crown Casino, was the best Ive ever stayed in. Brilliant view, luxury room and every thing I could wish for (though the porn was pretty soft).

I'm not an expert Omaha player, Im a winning player, but really a hold'em man. My strategy is simple, wait for the nuts and let an idiot pay me off. So I entered the $200 PLO Rebuy event purely for the experience. By the end of the rebuy period I had played only a few hands, got myself to average and added on. I had only invested $400 and one guy at my table must have stuck in $3000.

So I opened up a little at the freezeout stage, I managed to triple up with quad aces at one point (runner runner to boot) but rarely went above the average. To my amazement I managed to 'fold' my way to the money, and somehow folded my way to the final table.

Now, I do think I played well pre-cashing, but it dawned on me after that I had NO CLUE WHATSOEVER about Omaha end game tournament strategy. I didnt know what constituted a pushing hand and what didnt. Normally at a final table that included Tino Lechich and Lee Nelson I may have been intimidated, but its hard to be intimidated when you have no positive attributes that could be cast into doubt.

I finished 4th for $8700 and was dissapointed I couldnt fold my way to the title. Tino won it and was probably the best player on the day. I think I deserved to cash but didn't really deserve to make the final table, especially not 4th.

So I was pretty knackered after this, it was day two and the final was just after noon, after going to bed around 4 am. It was about 5pm when I busted and I had already preregistered weeks ago for the next event starting at 7pm, so I decided to just hang around and wait for that.

500 players registered in total for the $230 NLHE, which meant I was potentially in for a long night. I decided to go for it and build a big stack, even found myself all in with just a pair of jacks early to do this. Before I knew it, 350 players were gone and another cash was looking good.

I was totally fucked, I looked like a zombie at the table and was using all of my resources to make poker decisions. It was actually the best I had played live in a long time. I sat keeled over, barely able to open my eyes and occassionally mustered the energy to say 'all in', but I cashed easy in the wee hours when we got down to 50.

As the time dragged on another final table was in my sights, I had built a bigish stack but the structure was so fast that I ended up all in with pocket tens against King Queen soon enough. The flop was merciful, in that it spiked a king right away instead of shafting me on the river. I was out in 14th place for nearly another grand and was totally devastaed.

I really wanted to make back to back final tables more than anything, I currently am looking ok in the Pokernews Cup leaderboard and a second final would have probably secured me winning it and the Aussie Millions package that comes with it.

So my last day in Oz was spent getting pissed and playing a cash table, with also very pissed Nick Wright from WPT Magazine. We were rowdy, straddling, doing our best Sam Farha impression and throwing all the money in with nothing. Somehow, despite being both wankered, we both managed to take a grand from the Aussies here and avoided getting our heads kicked in too. I actually played pretty well for a drunk and its a good table image to exploit if you can pull it off.

Poker in Australia is great. The standard is pretty poor, the people are very fun and the Crown Casino is the best Poker Venue I think that exists outside of Vegas. I came back $11,000 better off, which is not bad considering I went for a mates wedding.

I have treated the missus to a Nintendo Wii when I got back, we have both deluded ourselves into thinking its a valid form of 'exercise'.

Australia Trip Report Part 1

I'm halfway through my Australia trip and most of the guys are sleeping off a hangover mixed with sea sickness. I am just as ill but am trying to walk it off to get a better sleep tonight.

The flight was, relativley speaking, a doddle. 22 hours in total and despite slighty cramped, the service was second to none. Having already seen all the films I had to settle for some godawful sitcoms instead. One very poor australian one about some dumb bitch that cant pay her rent, another ABC american one about a 'single career girl that cant find Mr right' and the American version of the Office - which is part genius part akin to the raping of ones grandmother in a house of worship.

Eventually I started to watch the new Kevin Coster film, which alas sent me to sleep. That will be on a loop for my flight back.

Sydney is a lovely city. Like London or New York but without the hecticness (Is that a word?). I managed to find the time to play a little cash at the Star City Casino. Although I dropped nearly $500, let me tell you, the standard of play is awful in Sydney.

Any raise gets called by at least 3 players and you cannot get an Ozzie off a pair, in fact, you cant get an Ozzie off queen high. I had two big hands cracked by three outers to lose my money, but had a very nice time regardless.

Im in Byron Bay right now, a small hippy beach town. Its fantastic, completely unspoilt (Well, it was spoilt in the 70s and hasnt been since) and relaxing. Had a little too much beer last night and found myself in a trio of friends puking over the side of a dingy today. We were supposed to be 'whale watching' but the combined hangover and sea sickness meant the only thing we were watching was last nights barbeque as it left our guts.

Im off to my mates wedding tommorow and then over to Melbourne for a week long session at the pokernews cup.

Hopefully I can at least break even from the country whose poker skills I have been so quick to ridicule.

Australia

I'm gearing up for my trip to Australia, which starts on Saturday morning. We're flying with Singapore Airlines, whom are apparantley the dogs bollocks, however I checked out their film list for October and I've seen all of them. That should make the 30+ hour flight go quickly.

I went shopping today for a few travel essentials, including summer clothes. The good news was that summer clothing is in the sales right now, the bad news is that I have unwittingly bought a load of beige and khaki gear, which means I am going to look like Indiana Jones while I'm out there.

So I arrive in Sydney for a few days, then off to Byron Bay for a few more and my friends wedding. I end in Melbourne where I am playing in the Pokernews Cup, where I will also be sampling a game called Crazy Pinapple which Im looking forward too.

As much as I cannot wait, and as much as really need a good break, right now I am playing the poker of my life on the ipoker cash tables. I know it seems silly, but whenever I'm running good I always worry that any sort of break will see me 'forget' whatever it is that is making me win. I just came back from a two week break at the WSOPE and if anything the break made me play better, so maybe this is a good thing.

Either way I've got some nice extra spending money for Oz (assuming I don't donk it all off between now and Saturday)

Finally recovered from the WSOPE

It took me a week to get over the WSOPE. 12 long days and nights made me very ill, I'm still coughing my guts up every now and then. Thankfully no more live updates for me for a good while so it wont happen again with a bit of luck.

I played in the Napoleons mini festival the other day, the same one I chopped a few months ago. No such joy this time around, I didn't get dealt any good cards (which is not a good enough excuse) and got frustrated and played badly. I ended up shoving a weak ace into Ash Hussein who very rightly busted me with queens.

I just cant seem to get started with tournaments and SNGs at the moment. Thankfully I have been raping the cash games on Blue Square to make up for it. Not sure why I can only do well in one for the other, but I've decided to commit to cash games because I'm getting sick of the swings I get in SNGs.

Which is why, for the time being only I'm sure, I have turned my back on Pokerstars. For about 6 months I have won more than I thought possible in the six handed SNGs on Stars, I even got myself into the top 5 of a Sharkscope leaderboard for a while. But I'm getting annoyed with the massive swings I take. So I have cashed out my money, traded in my FFPs and gone to ipoker.

With cash games my profit is slower but steady (Except as I write this I've just lost a huge pot with my set against a flush draw). I also think that to get the all round best poker education you have to play cash games, as tournaments can be a bit 'shove and hope for the best'. The game choice on Stars is 2nd to none but there are way too many LAGs and too many educated players, even at the lower stakes. Ipoker looks like a great little fish frenzy.

WSOPE

12 Days in the Big Smoke at the WSOPE has taken its toll. I am now (glad to be) back home and have made myself ill with the non stop standing for 12-16 hours at a time for 12 days. I don't entirely enjoy live updates, however the pokernews team and interface we used were so great that it made it enjoyable enough.

Now, I'm quite naive about London and would have planned my journey so differently knowing what I know now. Obviously my hotel would have been different from the get go. Also, I wasn't aware that the tube actually closed, which would have stopped me getting a hotel 3 miles away from the venue. I would have also made sure my new hotel had a laundrette service - as I ended up buying some cheap clothes from primark because it was easier and cheaper than going to a dry cleaners.

It was a fun enough WSOPE. Tony G is a really top bloke and I was glad to be working for him, gutted he didn't win the PLO Bracelet. Getting to know and work with Snoopy and Pauly MgGrupp was also lots of fun, having only really read them from affar before.

I really wanted John Tabatabai to win the main event, I watched him take apart Gus Hansen before the final table and thought it might have been his year - though maybe Annette winning is better for poker in general.

I'm having a few days off now to recover, but should be doing the Napoleans Mini Festival starting this weekend. I made a final table in the last two so hopefully will be 3 for 3 this time round.

You get what you pay for

For the last time ever I will base a hotel booking on price alone. Of course you wont be seeing me at the Ritz anytime soon but the other day I learnt, as I have done many times before in different situations, that you get what you pay for.

I’m in Central London for the World Series of Poker Europe (Yes, I know, silly name). I’m getting paid by the good folks at Pokenews and rather than making an expenses claim, I simply am getting a bigger fee and have to make my own arrangements. I then hit upon the brainwave that the next 12 days would be a money saving exercise, and thus would leave more money for me to spend on nice things for me.

So my shit ignorant eyes sparkled when I saw a room as cheap as £30 a night slap bang in the middle of London. Packed it, booked it, fucked off as they say.

I arrived just as the Police where grilling the Hotel owner about one of their staff. When they left she gave me the bad news that she made a mistake and booked me into a room with no bathroom and I would have to use a shared bath and toilet instead. Already gutted I carried my suitcase up 7 flights of stairs and walked into a room, nay, cupboard, that made my student house in 2001 look like a palace. The bed looked like a loaf of bread with a tea towel on it and this sink looked like, well, I have no analogies for that but it looked fucking awful.

So I went to the WSOPE VIP party and made sure I got as pissed as I possibly could, not for fun but to not care anymore as I lay in that ‘bed’. I come home wankered and manage to sleep a little. Waking up with a hangover is made thrice as bad when its in a total shithole like that. There was no way I was going anywhere near the bathroom and I hate to admit that I pissed in the sink like I assume many have done before me in that place.

I packed up my stuff, went downstairs, nobody was there so I left a note and the key and did a runner. I then proceeded to smell for the rest of the day at the Empire Casino until I checked in to the most glorius Travellodge I have ever seen (Actually, it’s the worst but that doesn’t matter right now). I had a shower and my god never has a lukewarm, wonky shower felt so good.

The WSOPE so far has been interesting. I met my hero (and sort of boss) Tony G and was surprised he knew who I was. I also got interviewed by the Sik Tilt boys so maybe I’ll have a link to that soon.

Back to the casino for me, HORSE is boring and confusing but the buffet was ok, I don’t care right now because at least I am clean again.

Behind the Rail - The Curse of the Blogger

Taken from my Pokernews column - Behind the Rail

Last year I went part time at my old office job to concentrate on playing poker. It went well and I also started writing more and more, which was also proving financially rewarding. At the start of this year I left the 9-5 forever and I spend about 40% of my time writing about poker and 60% playing. When things are going well I tell people I’m a professional poker player and when they are not I’m just a writer.

This Thursday I put down the cards and pick up my jotter pad and pen where for the next 12 days I will be one of those people you see hanging round a poker table trying to guesstimate the amount of chips Daniel Negreanu has. Poker blogging, as it is known, for Pokernews at the WSOPE.

Poker blogging requires one to wander around the tournament floor and count how many chips the players have. It’s about looking out for some of the craziest hands and bust outs and then reporting them back in real time on your website. Anyone who blogs about poker is a poker player, and a good one at that, they have to be to report it back effectively.

Blogging is loads of fun at times but unbelievably frustrating too. When you are equally used to being the one sat at the table, having to stand behind Roland De Wolfe as he contemplates a call can be demoralising. I liken it to being a League 2 footballer having to be a kit man for the England squad during the World Cup – you tell yourself you would do anything to be there but you think you’re above it when you do.

The most hugely frustrating thing about blogging is standing watching the action as some internet qualifier is making some of the most amateur moves at the table. You see some plucky Scandinavian min reraising with king-seven, getting lucky on the flop and scooping one pot more on their way to a fortune and you wonder how the hell you came to be jotting it down on a notepad.

Sometimes you just want to scream out “Just call you idiot” or “That’s it, give me your cards, you can’t play anymore, GIVE ME YOUR CARDS!”. Watching a cagey heads up match is the most frustrating, I know these guys have millions on the line and every decision is crucial to them, but don’t they realise that we want to go out and drink after 3 or 4 exhausting days watching them? I have a friend who got into trouble with the website he blogs for when he screamed “Throw a diamond out there, please god throw us a diamond!” at the table during hour 8 of a gruelling heads up match.

Of course I’m making it sound awful but in fact, its tremendous fun. Bloggers are a fun bunch and the chance to meet some of the greatest players on the planet is worth the journey alone. I’ll be looking to score a few pictures stood next to Ivey, Negreanu and Brunson on my trip and thus losing any credibility I may have had.

The WSOPE is quite simply the biggest event outside of Las Vegas and I cannot justify £10,000 of my bankroll to play in it, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world. You can see all my WSOPE Live Updates here.