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General/p20: Bond18
Nine to Five
by Bond18 on 09/01/07
Because of the time difference here my waking up for tournaments at 8:50am is 6:50pm US Eastern time. I play from 9am to what normally ends up being around 5pm. Of course some days you finish earlier and some take longer, but on the whole it’s very often right in the 8 hour area. So for the first time in years I’m living a fairly normal life and schedule. I have time to get to the gym next door, go to dinner with friends, see football games, see movies, whatever. It’s not bad actually. Unfortunately, it’s sure as hell to make for boring fucking writing.
So what’s next on the live poker schedule? It looks like this:
September 28th- September 30th AAPT in Seoul Korea.
October 26th-29th Poker News Cup in Melbourne Australia
Early November Betfair Asia Poker tour in Singapore
November 22nd-27th Unnamed event in Macau China
December date TBA AAPT in Sydney Australia
Mid January Aussie Millions Melbourne Australia
If you haven’t heard of some of these events it’s likely because I managed to attain I guess what you would call ‘inside information’ on some of them, though I doubt it’s that much of a secret. There’s also an event in Adelaide Australia somewhere in there, but I doubt I’ll get out of the comfy leather chair in my living room to go to Adelaide for one 3k event. Though, that’s basically what I’ll be doing with Korea, but that’s as much a holiday as anything. I fully intend on eating the country out of their stock of Galbi and Bulgogki.
Until then, it’s up to me to horde money for expenses and talk Timex into more staking. At this point I’m pretty sure he’s up for most things, and as he knows I’m working very hard daily to improve my leaks online. However, running the numbers shows that I’ve lost him in the area of $80,000 US. Man that is a sick sum of money.
So how have I been doing online since getting back? Ridiculous. At the start I could feel how rusty I was with the flow of the game, patterns, and players tendencies. After a week or two, I was back to normal. As for this week, I’ve won 4 tournaments and made in the area of 13 or 14 final tables, with a few days left to go in the week. Unfortunately, none of the scores have been very large with my biggest since coming back only $6,500.
One unfortunate aspect of my current schedule is that I miss out on a lot of the massive value that is Sundays (in the US.) Of the 5 sites that have a very large Sunday major only one is realistically feasible in my schedule, Full Tilt. I can make the mulligan and UB $500 as well, but overall I doubt I’ll get a chance to put up a very large score for quite some time unless I hit one of the nightly weekly $1000 buy ins.
With everything so in place, all that’s really left to question is what to write about. I guess the daily happenings of online, interesting hands, final tables, scores, gossip, whatever else comes up. So I’ll try that for now, while I settle into the queer normalcy that is being a 9 to 5er.
Vic Champs Trip Report (part 8 maybe?), To Little to Late, Vic Champs Main
by Bond18 on 08/31/07
Vic Champs Trip Report (part 8 maybe?), To Little to Late, Vic Champs Main Event
“Procrastination is a lot like masturbation, it’s fun for a while but in the end you’re just fucking yourself.”
So they saying goes and so I have done to myself. Normally, I crank out a trip report within 48 hours of the hands played involved. I can easily remember the hands and stack sizes, not to mention the feel of how things gone down, what people said, the order of things, etc.
It’s been around a month since the Vic Champs main event, and every single day I tell myself “today is the day I write that god damn trip report already.” And yet, it doesn’t get done. Day after day things come up; life comes up, and it never happens. How did I finally find the motivation to sit down and grind it out? I told a friend if I didn’t get this (and a few other things I’ve been lazy about) done today I’d give him $100. So I’m paying myself to write it. This one’s hard to get down on paper, because there’s so much content I had to ask the casino staff to give me paper and pen so I could jot down the enormous quantity of hands I played. Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate my own laziness and didn’t bother to include stack sizes in the details, since I figured I could remember that much. For a week, maybe two, I probably could have. At this point, we’re just gambling…
While I vastly prefer having somewhere to live besides a hotel during a tournament series, the one annoying aspect of living in my apartment is having to wake up so fucking early in order to make the tournament at time. Today’s $2600 Aussie dollar main event goes off at noon, meaning I need to be awake around 10:45am. The result of having to be up at this ungodly hour is that I’m of course sick to my stomach again. Today feels bad to start off, but not quite crippling. At least I feel pretty awake.
My girlfriend drives me down to Crown and I dash out of the car in an intersection, desperately trying to keep from being late. When I arrive in the poker room I find myself a couple minutes early, and find my table. A bunch of old guys, one young guy on my direct right, and an empty seat. Works for me.
The tournament has an awesome structure with 20,000 starting chips at 50/100 blinds. Playing deep stacked against mostly recreational players is a ball, kind of reminds me of my WSOP ME days, and as I recall that went very well and had a happy ending for everyone involved.
At the start the play is a mix of very loose with limping and seeing the flop, and very tight when it comes to committing serious chips. The young guy on my right looks over at me quizzically, he looks pretty familiar.
“Hey mate! I read your Shannon Elizabeth trip report. That was hilarious!”
“Oh right, yea, heh. Thanks, it was a crazy series. I try to stay out of it a little more these days. I don’t think I handled it to well.”
”Yea, you could tell it was just this vicious stream of insults. It was excellent.”
“Thanks man.”
Soon after the young player is moved to a different table and the empty stack shows up, Arul Thillai. Arul has perhaps the best tournament record of any player in Australia in the last few years, and he plays an ultra aggressive game. Lucky for me, he’s on my very direct right, meaning I’ll get to try and abuse that fact.
How tight were things in the early goings? Try this hand out:
Stacks: ~20,000, blinds 50/100
I hold A8o in the SB.
Preflop: Folds to MP1, MP1 calls, folds to CO, CO calls, button folds, I complete, BB checks.
Flop: A 7 3
I check, BB checks, MP1 bets 200, CO folds, I call, BB folds.
Turn: 3
I check, MP1 checks.
River: T
I bet 400, MP1 calls. I flip up my A8 proudly displaying what is probably the winner or definitely chopping, and get shown A7. A8 no good sir.
There’s a weird trend going on at the table, where when they try to 3 bet my highly aggressive play, they reraise a tiny amount, or just the minimum.
Stacks: ~20,000
Blinds 100/200, I hold As 4s on the button.
Preflop: Folds to me on the button, I raise to 550, SB raises to 1200, BB folds, I call.
Flop: Ks 6s 2c
SB looks at this flop suspiciously and checks. I check behind.
Turn: Td
SB checks, I bet 1500, SB calls.
River: 7c
SB checks, I bet 4500. SB goes into the tank for quite some time and starts staring at me. He begins reaching for his chips in a way that really looks like he’s gonna call, shit, uhhh uhhhh, ummm, go for table talk?
”Pocket queens no good man.”
The small blind freezes. He looks at me and mutters “Well I don’t have pocket queens.”
I slightly nod my head. SB looks me over a bit, then folds.
“You were close, I had pocket jacks.”
”Well if queens are no good I certainly don’t like jacks chances.”
After this hand the table settles into a routine. Arul is raising around 70-80% of hands when it folds to him. I’m often 3 betting, or calling in position and making it hard on him post flop. We trade jabs back and forth for quite a while. I three bet him in all kinds of positions, he raises SB, I 3 bet BB. He raises UTG, I 3 bet UTG+1, he raises MP1, I raise MP2. I haven’t had a real hand yet though.
At one point Arul raises in MP at 150/300 and I 3 bet AJdd behind him. I realize after so many 3 bets with fairly shit hands, that this is an extremely stupid play because if he 4 bets me (which he’s capable of) I’ve got to throw away the best hand I’ve had so far. It folds back to Arul who quickly 4 bets and I start swearing at myself. I fold. Fuck that was stupid. On top of being very aggressive pre flop though, Arul is also quite skilled post flop.
Blinds 150/300
My stack: ~22,000
Arul: ~28,000
I hold QcTc on the button.
Preflop: Folds to Arul on CO, CO raises to 900, I call, blinds fold.
Flop: Ac Kc 7s
CO checks, I bet 1200, CO calls.
Turn: Qd
CO checks, I check.
River: 4c
Arul checks, I check. Arul flips up Kd5d for the pot.
Stacks:
Arul: ~31,000
Me: ~21,000
I hold KTo on the HJ. Blinds 200/400
Preflop: Folds to Arul in MP2, MP2 raises to 1100, I call, 4 folds.
Flop: A T 3 rainbow
MP2 checks, I check.
Turn: 7
Arul bets 1600, I call.
River: J
Arul checks, I check. Arul flips up J8cc for the pot.
At this point, Arul is raising an enormous percentage of hands pre flop, maybe in the area of 85%. The table is really only a person game, with the rest mostly folding or getting post flop and outplayed. The only real mistake I’ve heard Arul of making on any consistent basis is pushing a bluff to hard and to far.
Stacks
Arul: 32,000
Me: 19,000
Blinds 200/400
I hold Jc8c on the button.
Preflop: Folds to Arul on CO, CO raises to 1200, I call, SB calls, BB folds.
Flop: Jd 7c 5d
SB looks disinterested and checks. Arul bets 3000, I call, SB folds.
Turn: 9
Arul bets 9000, I shove for about 14-15k total, Arul folds.
Arul starts laughing about bluffing off his stack. In the following hands he begins rebuilding it massacring the rest of the table. While my stack hovers in the mid 30’s, he rebuilds his back to the same area when the following hand comes up.
Stacks:
Arul: ~29,000
Me: ~35,000
Blinds 200/400
I hold JJ on the CO.
Preflop: Folds to Arul on HJ, HJ raises to 1200, I reraise to 3600, 3 folds, HJ calls.
Flop: K 7 5 rainbow
Arul checks, I check.
Turn: A
Arul bets 5000, I fold.
Aruls aggressive play keeps up, as does my 3 betting, but he loses a large pot to a tight player in seat 1. Having lost half his stack the hand before, the following hand comes up:
Stacks:
Arul: 22k
Me: 29k
Blinds 300/600, I hold JJ in MP2
Preflop: Folds to Arul in MP1, MP1 raises to 1600, I reraise to 5500. A player in seat 7 goes “Wow, that’s like the billionth time he’s 3 bet you.”
”We’ll see about this one.” Arul politely replies.
It folds back to Arul who shoves for 22k.
“Well, I can’t fold, so I guess I call.”
Arul shrugs and flips up QJo. I dodge the 3 outs and bring my stack up around 50,000.
With Arul gone I continue to slaughter my defenseless table. Unfortunately, we are soon broken and I’m moved to the feature table on the rail. Sitting on the table under the red lights with a crowd of spectators sits Joe Hachem and on his left Sam Khouiss. Hachem is sitting with a decent stack, Khouiss a little more short though still alive. I know both fairly well and have played a little with both, and both are aware I don’t totally suck or anything. On the second hand at the table the following hand develops:
Stacks:
Me: ~60,000
Khouiss: ~16,000
I hold 7s6s on the HJ. Blinds 400/800 with 100 ante.
Preflop: UTG limps, 2 folds, MP1 limps, I limp MP2, folds to Khouiss on button, he limps, SB folds, BB checks.
Flop: 7h 5s 3s
Checked to me, I bet 2000(that needs to be more next time), Khouiss calls, 3 folds.
Turn: Qh
I check Sammy bets 4500, I call.
River: 9d
I check, Sam checks. I flip up my 76 which takes the pot.
A few minutes after this hand we’re allowed to go on dinner break. They announce we’ll be given 40 minutes for dinner. What. The. Fuck. 40 minutes? 40 fucking minutes? On top of being given a totally shit dinner break, my stomach is catching up with me and I feel awful. I had called every restaurant in Crown earlier that afternoon trying to get a reservation and every single fucking restaurant was completed booked. I run upstairs trying to get into one of the walk in restaurants, but they to are completely packed. I settle on the Crown food court, and attempt to eat some Singaporean but feel so sick I can barely get more than a few bites down. I make my way for the bathroom and spend what feels like an eternity In the stall wishing I were dead. God I need to get this shit checked out.
When I finally get back to the table I’ve missed 5 minutes of play. God damn it.
I begin playing moderately aggressive though nowhere near as much as the previous table. Hachem is more than willing to 3 bet me on my left , and pops one of my late position raises to take it down pre. Another well known Australian local player shows up on my right, though he is far more of the recreational variety. A few minutes after he sits down the following hand develops:
Stacks:
Me: ~60,000
Hachem: ~35,000
CO: ~30,000
Blinds 500/1000 with 100 ante.
I hold Jd 9d on the button.
Preflop: Folds to CO, CO limps, I limp the button, SB folds, Hachem in the BB checks.
Flop: Td 7c 6h
BB bets 2500, CO folds, I call.
Turn: Kd
BB checks, I bet 5500, BB calls.
River: 4h
BB checks, I bet 12,500. Joe goes into the tank for I think perhaps the longest anyone has tanked on me ever. There is an enormous amount of rail birds watching, and as he sits there contemplating I’m trying to decide if I’ll flip my hand just to be a show off. I decide I’d rather keep a good image. Man these red lights are hot, is it hot in here? Fuck, it’s hot. Hachem sits there shuffling his chips, thinking, thinking…..finally he folds. Pheeeew. I toss my hand in the muck. Sammy of course adds his 2 cents.
”Ha! You were bluffing Ton, stone cold bluff! You didn’t have a thing!”
”I didn’t?”
”Not that time!”
”If you say so Sammy.”
The Australian local on my right keeps complaining about how many rounds its been since he’s won a hand. I don’t intend on letting him change that trend. The following hand comes up between he and I:
Stacks:
My stack: ~68,000
Button: ~38,000
Blinds 500/1000 with 100 ante. I hold Jd Td in the SB.
Preflop: Folds to button, button raises to 3000, I call, BB folds.
Flop: Qh Ts 5d
I check, button checks.
Turn: 6d
I check, button bets 2000, I call.
River: Ah
I check, button checks. Button flips over K6o and I take the pot. He continues to complain.
Next hand I’m dealt ATo on the button. At 500/1000 blinds it folds to me and I raise to 2800. The SB folds and Hachem 3 bets to 8000 in the BB with a ~40k stack. I quickly grab two stacks of around 40,000 total and slide it into the middle. Hachem lets out an audible sigh and folds.
A round later, another Crown regular, Vic, comes to the table. I’ve played with him a lot in limit games, but never in tournaments. The second hand he’s at the table, the following hand develops:
Blinds 500/1000 with 100 ante.
Stacks:
Me: ~70,000
Vic: ~15,000
UTG limper: ~65,000
I hold As Ks in the BB.
Preflop: UTG limps. UTG had only once limped before and had shown up with aces. I eye him suspiciously. Hachem folds, Khouiss limps behind. 2 more folds and Vic raises to 7000. It folds to me and I make it 14,000 to commit him but leave myself room if the UTG player insta jams his stack. UTG and Khouiss folds and Vic throws in the other half of his stack, then flips over AJo. I’m writing hands down that I’d played during the day and watch the action with disinterest.
Flop: 5 4 3
Turn: J
River: T
The crowd reacts but I don’t blink, and continue my writing after throwing Vic the chips I owe him.
I continue my aggressive and stealing play. Khouiss has built a stack that was at 2000 a little before the dinner break to now in the area of 45,000. continue my aggressive and stealing play. Khouiss has built a stack that was at 2000 a little before the dinner break to now in the area of 50,000. He is of course, constantly talking.
Stacks:
Me: ~70,000
Khouiss: ~45,000
Blinds 600/1200 with 200 ante.
I hold 6d 6h UTG.
Preflop: I limp in. The entire table basically goes “WTF? You? Limping?” and seems suspicious. It folds to Khouiss in MP who goes “well I don’t care how dodgy that looks, I’m raising” and makes it 4200. It folds back to me and I call.
Flop: Kd Jh 9d
I check, Sam checks behind. Sam is now being very quiet. The one thing I’ve noticed about Sam is as talkative as he is, he REALLY talks a lot when he’s feeling confident and strong. That he goes silent here makes me suspect this flop isn’t what he was looking for.
Turn: 7d
I check, Sam bets 3000. I've seen him use these tiny little proding bets with hands he's unsure of, A high, mid pairs, or weak top pairs. I'm pretty sure if i raise here i don't need to raise much and he's already pretty weirded out about my hand. Also, if i'm wrong i might have up to 11 outs. He's also been really quiet thus far.
I raise to 8500, Sam calls pretty quick. Guess I was way off.
River: Td
I check and Sam quickly bets 15,000. I fold and Sam flips up AhKd. “Hahaha! I didn’t even need that Ad did I Ton? I had you all along! Trying to bluff me eh? Not this time!”
The next hand develops 20-30 minutes later. Khouiss seems to think i'm bluffing a lot (i kind of was, wasn't really 'caught' per say outside the previous hand.) The BB in question is a really awful player who is way to loose and way to tight at all the wrong times. He basically does whatever the hell he feels like but is moreso pretty weak and if he has a hand he likes he starts jamming, no matter how much an overbet.
Khouiss has occasionally been open limping, so this isn't like some freakish event.
Blinds 600/1200. Antes 200.
My stack: 65,000
Khouiss: 40,000
BB: 35,000
I am SB with Ks9s.
Preflop: Folds to Khouiss in MP1, Khouiss calls, folds
to me in the SB, i call, BB checks.
Flop: 3h 4s 6h
Checks around.
Turn: 9h
I bet 2500, BB thinks it over and calls. Khouiss thinks about it and raises to 8500.
This part is tough. What could Khouiss check the flop with that is reasonably beating me? I THINK he's smart enough to bet a set/two pair/combo draw on a board of this texture, so I'm having trouble putting him on a hand that beats me. Conversely, I'm having trouble putting him on a hand that i beat. Is he raising Ah with some other card? Straight draw/flush draw combo? a limped suited connector like Tc9c or along those lines? 6d5d that decided to check back a weak top pair?
I call, BB folds.
River 5d
I check, Khouiss bets 12,000. Flush draw missed, not sure a 9 value bets here though? If he had a straight draw I’d think it was with the 5, though its not outside possibility he has a 7. I think about it for a long well. “Well Sam, this is either gonna be the worst call ever or the best call ever, I call.”
Sam proudly flips up 7h 8h, having check a flush draw/straight draw/over card draw on the flop. Sure as hell didn’t see that coming. Fuck, both those hands felt really gross and I feel like I completely botched them.
With the blinds escalating to 800/1600 and my stack dwindling I’m in bad shape. A lot of my open raises start getting jammed on and my stack gets in the area where I have to be more careful. I’m also never able to play a hand strong pre flop BECAUSE I NEVER HAVE A HAND. It’s 12:30, and after 12 and a half hours of play my hand quality is:
pairs QQ and above: Zero
JJ: Three
TT/99: Zero
AQ: 1, and it chopped with AQ.
AK, one of which took it pre, the other was cracked by AJ.
Sets: Zero
At 1am the blinds go up to 1k/2k and I’m floating around the 20-30k area. I jam KQ pre after a few limps and take it. Luckily Vic is a few seats on my right, and has a very obvious betting tell where he makes it 5-6x preflop with hands he’s very confident with, and 3X pre with hands he’s not sure of. I resteal on him twice, but times with J2o, when he makes it 3X, and he folds. A while later the SB raises and I jam 95o in the BB and he folds. I have yet to get caught showing a weak hand pre flop and for a while I stay quiet.
1:30am rolls around and we only have a half hour left. The quality of my hands still hasn’t improved, and the numbers I wrote down at 12:30 are still the same. I’ve been quiet for a few rounds when the following hand comes up:
The button is a middle aged guy who someone told me is a “good player.” I don’t remember who told me that. His stack looks to be about ~36,000. Mine is about ~29,000. I hold 6d9d in the BB.
Blinds 1000/2000 with 300 ante.
Preflop: Folds to the button who makes it 6000, SB folds and I confidently slide my stack into the middle. The button INSTA SNAP CALLS and flips up A6o. I flop a flush draw but in the end blank out. Good call sir? Whatever.
I end the Vic champs having cashed only 1 event, the PLO event which I never meant to play and didn’t know how too. I feel like I played well in most of the events (perhaps worst in the main event) and am now exhausted of live. I can’t wait to get back online.
Since that tournament a month ago as many know I’ve been back into the online scene. I realized playing live over the last few months that although I was often much better than the rest of the players around me, there are still so many spots that I’m just not very good in. Having realized such, I have restored my pursuit of being pokers greatest knowledge mooch. I’m still doing coaching with Ajunglen when we both find time, who I use for doing Sunday majors. I’ve asked NoahSD to coach me in 6 max events where his experience with cash will help me iron out my poor deep stacked play, and hired Sirwatts to coach me with my 100r hand histories, as few have been more successful against the thinking villains in that tournament than he has. I’ve also asked Luckychewy to teach me cash, again to help my deep stacked play. Even in the last few weeks I feel I’ve improved tremendously, and the results are showing. I’ve made more final tables this week than I think, perhaps ever, and already won 4 tournaments with a few days left in the week. After finally getting this done, I intend on updating my blog on a near daily basis, even if its not a full on trip report and just a sort of log of online events.
Events coming up in the future that I’m considering that could lead to live trip reports are Singapore, Seoul, Adelaide, Melbourne Cup, Syndney, Macau, and of course the Aussie Millions. All of these will be occurring before January, and depending how much I win online and how much staking Timex wants to do, I might play none and I might play all of them. But we’ll discuss that all next time…
“Procrastination is a lot like masturbation, it’s fun for a while but in the end you’re just fucking yourself.”
So they saying goes and so I have done to myself. Normally, I crank out a trip report within 48 hours of the hands played involved. I can easily remember the hands and stack sizes, not to mention the feel of how things gone down, what people said, the order of things, etc.
It’s been around a month since the Vic Champs main event, and every single day I tell myself “today is the day I write that god damn trip report already.” And yet, it doesn’t get done. Day after day things come up; life comes up, and it never happens. How did I finally find the motivation to sit down and grind it out? I told a friend if I didn’t get this (and a few other things I’ve been lazy about) done today I’d give him $100. So I’m paying myself to write it. This one’s hard to get down on paper, because there’s so much content I had to ask the casino staff to give me paper and pen so I could jot down the enormous quantity of hands I played. Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate my own laziness and didn’t bother to include stack sizes in the details, since I figured I could remember that much. For a week, maybe two, I probably could have. At this point, we’re just gambling…
While I vastly prefer having somewhere to live besides a hotel during a tournament series, the one annoying aspect of living in my apartment is having to wake up so fucking early in order to make the tournament at time. Today’s $2600 Aussie dollar main event goes off at noon, meaning I need to be awake around 10:45am. The result of having to be up at this ungodly hour is that I’m of course sick to my stomach again. Today feels bad to start off, but not quite crippling. At least I feel pretty awake.
My girlfriend drives me down to Crown and I dash out of the car in an intersection, desperately trying to keep from being late. When I arrive in the poker room I find myself a couple minutes early, and find my table. A bunch of old guys, one young guy on my direct right, and an empty seat. Works for me.
The tournament has an awesome structure with 20,000 starting chips at 50/100 blinds. Playing deep stacked against mostly recreational players is a ball, kind of reminds me of my WSOP ME days, and as I recall that went very well and had a happy ending for everyone involved.
At the start the play is a mix of very loose with limping and seeing the flop, and very tight when it comes to committing serious chips. The young guy on my right looks over at me quizzically, he looks pretty familiar.
“Hey mate! I read your Shannon Elizabeth trip report. That was hilarious!”
“Oh right, yea, heh. Thanks, it was a crazy series. I try to stay out of it a little more these days. I don’t think I handled it to well.”
”Yea, you could tell it was just this vicious stream of insults. It was excellent.”
“Thanks man.”
Soon after the young player is moved to a different table and the empty stack shows up, Arul Thillai. Arul has perhaps the best tournament record of any player in Australia in the last few years, and he plays an ultra aggressive game. Lucky for me, he’s on my very direct right, meaning I’ll get to try and abuse that fact.
How tight were things in the early goings? Try this hand out:
Stacks: ~20,000, blinds 50/100
I hold A8o in the SB.
Preflop: Folds to MP1, MP1 calls, folds to CO, CO calls, button folds, I complete, BB checks.
Flop: A 7 3
I check, BB checks, MP1 bets 200, CO folds, I call, BB folds.
Turn: 3
I check, MP1 checks.
River: T
I bet 400, MP1 calls. I flip up my A8 proudly displaying what is probably the winner or definitely chopping, and get shown A7. A8 no good sir.
There’s a weird trend going on at the table, where when they try to 3 bet my highly aggressive play, they reraise a tiny amount, or just the minimum.
Stacks: ~20,000
Blinds 100/200, I hold As 4s on the button.
Preflop: Folds to me on the button, I raise to 550, SB raises to 1200, BB folds, I call.
Flop: Ks 6s 2c
SB looks at this flop suspiciously and checks. I check behind.
Turn: Td
SB checks, I bet 1500, SB calls.
River: 7c
SB checks, I bet 4500. SB goes into the tank for quite some time and starts staring at me. He begins reaching for his chips in a way that really looks like he’s gonna call, shit, uhhh uhhhh, ummm, go for table talk?
”Pocket queens no good man.”
The small blind freezes. He looks at me and mutters “Well I don’t have pocket queens.”
I slightly nod my head. SB looks me over a bit, then folds.
“You were close, I had pocket jacks.”
”Well if queens are no good I certainly don’t like jacks chances.”
After this hand the table settles into a routine. Arul is raising around 70-80% of hands when it folds to him. I’m often 3 betting, or calling in position and making it hard on him post flop. We trade jabs back and forth for quite a while. I three bet him in all kinds of positions, he raises SB, I 3 bet BB. He raises UTG, I 3 bet UTG+1, he raises MP1, I raise MP2. I haven’t had a real hand yet though.
At one point Arul raises in MP at 150/300 and I 3 bet AJdd behind him. I realize after so many 3 bets with fairly shit hands, that this is an extremely stupid play because if he 4 bets me (which he’s capable of) I’ve got to throw away the best hand I’ve had so far. It folds back to Arul who quickly 4 bets and I start swearing at myself. I fold. Fuck that was stupid. On top of being very aggressive pre flop though, Arul is also quite skilled post flop.
Blinds 150/300
My stack: ~22,000
Arul: ~28,000
I hold QcTc on the button.
Preflop: Folds to Arul on CO, CO raises to 900, I call, blinds fold.
Flop: Ac Kc 7s
CO checks, I bet 1200, CO calls.
Turn: Qd
CO checks, I check.
River: 4c
Arul checks, I check. Arul flips up Kd5d for the pot.
Stacks:
Arul: ~31,000
Me: ~21,000
I hold KTo on the HJ. Blinds 200/400
Preflop: Folds to Arul in MP2, MP2 raises to 1100, I call, 4 folds.
Flop: A T 3 rainbow
MP2 checks, I check.
Turn: 7
Arul bets 1600, I call.
River: J
Arul checks, I check. Arul flips up J8cc for the pot.
At this point, Arul is raising an enormous percentage of hands pre flop, maybe in the area of 85%. The table is really only a person game, with the rest mostly folding or getting post flop and outplayed. The only real mistake I’ve heard Arul of making on any consistent basis is pushing a bluff to hard and to far.
Stacks
Arul: 32,000
Me: 19,000
Blinds 200/400
I hold Jc8c on the button.
Preflop: Folds to Arul on CO, CO raises to 1200, I call, SB calls, BB folds.
Flop: Jd 7c 5d
SB looks disinterested and checks. Arul bets 3000, I call, SB folds.
Turn: 9
Arul bets 9000, I shove for about 14-15k total, Arul folds.
Arul starts laughing about bluffing off his stack. In the following hands he begins rebuilding it massacring the rest of the table. While my stack hovers in the mid 30’s, he rebuilds his back to the same area when the following hand comes up.
Stacks:
Arul: ~29,000
Me: ~35,000
Blinds 200/400
I hold JJ on the CO.
Preflop: Folds to Arul on HJ, HJ raises to 1200, I reraise to 3600, 3 folds, HJ calls.
Flop: K 7 5 rainbow
Arul checks, I check.
Turn: A
Arul bets 5000, I fold.
Aruls aggressive play keeps up, as does my 3 betting, but he loses a large pot to a tight player in seat 1. Having lost half his stack the hand before, the following hand comes up:
Stacks:
Arul: 22k
Me: 29k
Blinds 300/600, I hold JJ in MP2
Preflop: Folds to Arul in MP1, MP1 raises to 1600, I reraise to 5500. A player in seat 7 goes “Wow, that’s like the billionth time he’s 3 bet you.”
”We’ll see about this one.” Arul politely replies.
It folds back to Arul who shoves for 22k.
“Well, I can’t fold, so I guess I call.”
Arul shrugs and flips up QJo. I dodge the 3 outs and bring my stack up around 50,000.
With Arul gone I continue to slaughter my defenseless table. Unfortunately, we are soon broken and I’m moved to the feature table on the rail. Sitting on the table under the red lights with a crowd of spectators sits Joe Hachem and on his left Sam Khouiss. Hachem is sitting with a decent stack, Khouiss a little more short though still alive. I know both fairly well and have played a little with both, and both are aware I don’t totally suck or anything. On the second hand at the table the following hand develops:
Stacks:
Me: ~60,000
Khouiss: ~16,000
I hold 7s6s on the HJ. Blinds 400/800 with 100 ante.
Preflop: UTG limps, 2 folds, MP1 limps, I limp MP2, folds to Khouiss on button, he limps, SB folds, BB checks.
Flop: 7h 5s 3s
Checked to me, I bet 2000(that needs to be more next time), Khouiss calls, 3 folds.
Turn: Qh
I check Sammy bets 4500, I call.
River: 9d
I check, Sam checks. I flip up my 76 which takes the pot.
A few minutes after this hand we’re allowed to go on dinner break. They announce we’ll be given 40 minutes for dinner. What. The. Fuck. 40 minutes? 40 fucking minutes? On top of being given a totally shit dinner break, my stomach is catching up with me and I feel awful. I had called every restaurant in Crown earlier that afternoon trying to get a reservation and every single fucking restaurant was completed booked. I run upstairs trying to get into one of the walk in restaurants, but they to are completely packed. I settle on the Crown food court, and attempt to eat some Singaporean but feel so sick I can barely get more than a few bites down. I make my way for the bathroom and spend what feels like an eternity In the stall wishing I were dead. God I need to get this shit checked out.
When I finally get back to the table I’ve missed 5 minutes of play. God damn it.
I begin playing moderately aggressive though nowhere near as much as the previous table. Hachem is more than willing to 3 bet me on my left , and pops one of my late position raises to take it down pre. Another well known Australian local player shows up on my right, though he is far more of the recreational variety. A few minutes after he sits down the following hand develops:
Stacks:
Me: ~60,000
Hachem: ~35,000
CO: ~30,000
Blinds 500/1000 with 100 ante.
I hold Jd 9d on the button.
Preflop: Folds to CO, CO limps, I limp the button, SB folds, Hachem in the BB checks.
Flop: Td 7c 6h
BB bets 2500, CO folds, I call.
Turn: Kd
BB checks, I bet 5500, BB calls.
River: 4h
BB checks, I bet 12,500. Joe goes into the tank for I think perhaps the longest anyone has tanked on me ever. There is an enormous amount of rail birds watching, and as he sits there contemplating I’m trying to decide if I’ll flip my hand just to be a show off. I decide I’d rather keep a good image. Man these red lights are hot, is it hot in here? Fuck, it’s hot. Hachem sits there shuffling his chips, thinking, thinking…..finally he folds. Pheeeew. I toss my hand in the muck. Sammy of course adds his 2 cents.
”Ha! You were bluffing Ton, stone cold bluff! You didn’t have a thing!”
”I didn’t?”
”Not that time!”
”If you say so Sammy.”
The Australian local on my right keeps complaining about how many rounds its been since he’s won a hand. I don’t intend on letting him change that trend. The following hand comes up between he and I:
Stacks:
My stack: ~68,000
Button: ~38,000
Blinds 500/1000 with 100 ante. I hold Jd Td in the SB.
Preflop: Folds to button, button raises to 3000, I call, BB folds.
Flop: Qh Ts 5d
I check, button checks.
Turn: 6d
I check, button bets 2000, I call.
River: Ah
I check, button checks. Button flips over K6o and I take the pot. He continues to complain.
Next hand I’m dealt ATo on the button. At 500/1000 blinds it folds to me and I raise to 2800. The SB folds and Hachem 3 bets to 8000 in the BB with a ~40k stack. I quickly grab two stacks of around 40,000 total and slide it into the middle. Hachem lets out an audible sigh and folds.
A round later, another Crown regular, Vic, comes to the table. I’ve played with him a lot in limit games, but never in tournaments. The second hand he’s at the table, the following hand develops:
Blinds 500/1000 with 100 ante.
Stacks:
Me: ~70,000
Vic: ~15,000
UTG limper: ~65,000
I hold As Ks in the BB.
Preflop: UTG limps. UTG had only once limped before and had shown up with aces. I eye him suspiciously. Hachem folds, Khouiss limps behind. 2 more folds and Vic raises to 7000. It folds to me and I make it 14,000 to commit him but leave myself room if the UTG player insta jams his stack. UTG and Khouiss folds and Vic throws in the other half of his stack, then flips over AJo. I’m writing hands down that I’d played during the day and watch the action with disinterest.
Flop: 5 4 3
Turn: J
River: T
The crowd reacts but I don’t blink, and continue my writing after throwing Vic the chips I owe him.
I continue my aggressive and stealing play. Khouiss has built a stack that was at 2000 a little before the dinner break to now in the area of 45,000. continue my aggressive and stealing play. Khouiss has built a stack that was at 2000 a little before the dinner break to now in the area of 50,000. He is of course, constantly talking.
Stacks:
Me: ~70,000
Khouiss: ~45,000
Blinds 600/1200 with 200 ante.
I hold 6d 6h UTG.
Preflop: I limp in. The entire table basically goes “WTF? You? Limping?” and seems suspicious. It folds to Khouiss in MP who goes “well I don’t care how dodgy that looks, I’m raising” and makes it 4200. It folds back to me and I call.
Flop: Kd Jh 9d
I check, Sam checks behind. Sam is now being very quiet. The one thing I’ve noticed about Sam is as talkative as he is, he REALLY talks a lot when he’s feeling confident and strong. That he goes silent here makes me suspect this flop isn’t what he was looking for.
Turn: 7d
I check, Sam bets 3000. I've seen him use these tiny little proding bets with hands he's unsure of, A high, mid pairs, or weak top pairs. I'm pretty sure if i raise here i don't need to raise much and he's already pretty weirded out about my hand. Also, if i'm wrong i might have up to 11 outs. He's also been really quiet thus far.
I raise to 8500, Sam calls pretty quick. Guess I was way off.
River: Td
I check and Sam quickly bets 15,000. I fold and Sam flips up AhKd. “Hahaha! I didn’t even need that Ad did I Ton? I had you all along! Trying to bluff me eh? Not this time!”
The next hand develops 20-30 minutes later. Khouiss seems to think i'm bluffing a lot (i kind of was, wasn't really 'caught' per say outside the previous hand.) The BB in question is a really awful player who is way to loose and way to tight at all the wrong times. He basically does whatever the hell he feels like but is moreso pretty weak and if he has a hand he likes he starts jamming, no matter how much an overbet.
Khouiss has occasionally been open limping, so this isn't like some freakish event.
Blinds 600/1200. Antes 200.
My stack: 65,000
Khouiss: 40,000
BB: 35,000
I am SB with Ks9s.
Preflop: Folds to Khouiss in MP1, Khouiss calls, folds
to me in the SB, i call, BB checks.
Flop: 3h 4s 6h
Checks around.
Turn: 9h
I bet 2500, BB thinks it over and calls. Khouiss thinks about it and raises to 8500.
This part is tough. What could Khouiss check the flop with that is reasonably beating me? I THINK he's smart enough to bet a set/two pair/combo draw on a board of this texture, so I'm having trouble putting him on a hand that beats me. Conversely, I'm having trouble putting him on a hand that i beat. Is he raising Ah with some other card? Straight draw/flush draw combo? a limped suited connector like Tc9c or along those lines? 6d5d that decided to check back a weak top pair?
I call, BB folds.
River 5d
I check, Khouiss bets 12,000. Flush draw missed, not sure a 9 value bets here though? If he had a straight draw I’d think it was with the 5, though its not outside possibility he has a 7. I think about it for a long well. “Well Sam, this is either gonna be the worst call ever or the best call ever, I call.”
Sam proudly flips up 7h 8h, having check a flush draw/straight draw/over card draw on the flop. Sure as hell didn’t see that coming. Fuck, both those hands felt really gross and I feel like I completely botched them.
With the blinds escalating to 800/1600 and my stack dwindling I’m in bad shape. A lot of my open raises start getting jammed on and my stack gets in the area where I have to be more careful. I’m also never able to play a hand strong pre flop BECAUSE I NEVER HAVE A HAND. It’s 12:30, and after 12 and a half hours of play my hand quality is:
pairs QQ and above: Zero
JJ: Three
TT/99: Zero
AQ: 1, and it chopped with AQ.
AK, one of which took it pre, the other was cracked by AJ.
Sets: Zero
At 1am the blinds go up to 1k/2k and I’m floating around the 20-30k area. I jam KQ pre after a few limps and take it. Luckily Vic is a few seats on my right, and has a very obvious betting tell where he makes it 5-6x preflop with hands he’s very confident with, and 3X pre with hands he’s not sure of. I resteal on him twice, but times with J2o, when he makes it 3X, and he folds. A while later the SB raises and I jam 95o in the BB and he folds. I have yet to get caught showing a weak hand pre flop and for a while I stay quiet.
1:30am rolls around and we only have a half hour left. The quality of my hands still hasn’t improved, and the numbers I wrote down at 12:30 are still the same. I’ve been quiet for a few rounds when the following hand comes up:
The button is a middle aged guy who someone told me is a “good player.” I don’t remember who told me that. His stack looks to be about ~36,000. Mine is about ~29,000. I hold 6d9d in the BB.
Blinds 1000/2000 with 300 ante.
Preflop: Folds to the button who makes it 6000, SB folds and I confidently slide my stack into the middle. The button INSTA SNAP CALLS and flips up A6o. I flop a flush draw but in the end blank out. Good call sir? Whatever.
I end the Vic champs having cashed only 1 event, the PLO event which I never meant to play and didn’t know how too. I feel like I played well in most of the events (perhaps worst in the main event) and am now exhausted of live. I can’t wait to get back online.
Since that tournament a month ago as many know I’ve been back into the online scene. I realized playing live over the last few months that although I was often much better than the rest of the players around me, there are still so many spots that I’m just not very good in. Having realized such, I have restored my pursuit of being pokers greatest knowledge mooch. I’m still doing coaching with Ajunglen when we both find time, who I use for doing Sunday majors. I’ve asked NoahSD to coach me in 6 max events where his experience with cash will help me iron out my poor deep stacked play, and hired Sirwatts to coach me with my 100r hand histories, as few have been more successful against the thinking villains in that tournament than he has. I’ve also asked Luckychewy to teach me cash, again to help my deep stacked play. Even in the last few weeks I feel I’ve improved tremendously, and the results are showing. I’ve made more final tables this week than I think, perhaps ever, and already won 4 tournaments with a few days left in the week. After finally getting this done, I intend on updating my blog on a near daily basis, even if its not a full on trip report and just a sort of log of online events.
Events coming up in the future that I’m considering that could lead to live trip reports are Singapore, Seoul, Adelaide, Melbourne Cup, Syndney, Macau, and of course the Aussie Millions. All of these will be occurring before January, and depending how much I win online and how much staking Timex wants to do, I might play none and I might play all of them. But we’ll discuss that all next time…
Vic Champs Trip Report part 1, The Land of Oz, Event 1
by Bond18 on 08/15/07
Preface: Over the course of the WSOP I received an enormous amount of support through the threads of these trip reports, IM, email, facebook, and PM. I never really got around to messaging a lot of these people back, as post ME I was very busy/exhausted so I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their encouragement.
I’d also like to thank Timex/Stevepa for giving me the opportunity to play so many events. Of the team of guys they put together, I think its safe to say I was the least established and the largest gamble, unfortunately I didn’t pan out for them, though with Timex agreeing to go forward with the Vic champs, hopefully I can make it worth his while.
Lastly, I’d like to thank everyone who through the forum and especially on IM, have improved my game immensely over the last year. Guys like Grafyx, LuckyChewy, Mikej, Thay3r, DonT77, UCLAbruinz, curtains, Jurollo, Badgerpro, NoahSD, and adanthar have all been integral (sorry for anyone I’m forgetting, can’t get into my AIM list right now.) Of special notice is Ajunglen whose reviews have transformed my game over the last few months to really take it to a higher level. It came to absolutely zero surprise to me when he won his Sunday million recently. You guys and this forum are responsible for making me the player I am. End Preface.
The few days leading up to event 1 of the Vic champs have been mostly exhausting. I went from Las Vegas to Milwaukee, to Madison, to Milwaukee, to Chicago, to LA, then Sydney, and finally Melbourne. I had a few days to relax and get the apartment set up before the events started, as well as catch up with friends. Up until a few days ago, I hadn’t been in Melbourne for 13 months, and hadn’t seen most of my Ozzie friends since November in Singapore. We find time to make it to a Saints vs Hawks footy game, where the Saints crush the Hawks and win me 100 Ozzie, so boo yah and in your face Darren/Steve.
In my time studying abroad just about anyone who hung out at Crown could tell you I likely spent more time in that poker room than anywhere else. Within a few months I knew just about everyone and everything that went on in that room. Some would say the Crown poker room is full of degenerates and scumbags. Well if that’s the case they’re my favorite group of degenerate scumbags. Even though this time around I’ll mostly be sticking to online poker unless there’s a tournament series in town, I’ll always feel a certain nostalgia for the 20/40 limit days.
Walking into Crown tonight would find me having the same conversation fifty times over. “Hoooooooly shiiiiiit! Lucky Tony D. You’re back? What the [censored] are you doing here?!” Cut to the part where I inform them I’m unbanned, living in St. Kilda, and have definitely read the fine print this time. One of my favorite parts of Australian culture is their enormous informality, which is especially apparent in the casino where almost everyone I’m talking to is off work and out to have some fun. Tonight’s event is a simple $230 buy in NL holdem tournament, barely worth writing about really but I decided I’d write about everything I played. Previous to the event I run into Mark Vos and we start talking prop bets.
“Mark you want $100 last longer?”
”Only if you give me 6 to 1.”
”That’s to much. I know you can’t take this serious but that’s still to high. 3 to 1.”
”You’re on.”
In a $230 tournament, it’s a miracle if Mark can make it 90 minutes, by his own admission. Still, given that we only start with 60 BB’s and one hand gone bad and its over, this is likely a neutral EV wager.
I end up being seated on one of the red felted ‘feature tables’ along the rail and under a bunch of lights. We start with 3000 chips at 25/50 blinds and half an hour levels, much like a $1500 WSOP tournament but worse in fact, and apparently with no antes. Play gets under way and my table has one player I’m quite familiar with, my friend James Dood, one of Australia’s better players in Hold’em/Omaha. He’s on the other side of the table though, so he won’t be able to abuse me on the left. He’s in the BB on the first hand, and I immediately begin trash talking about how I’m going to blow him off his blind straight away. I’m in MP (11 handed, blegh) when the following hand develops:
I hold As Jc in MP2. All stacks 3000.
Villain is middle aged guy I’ve seen around a few times but don’t remember anything about.
Preflop: Folds to me, I raise to 150, folds to SB, SB calls, BB folds.
Flop: J T 4 rainbow
SB checks, I bet 225, SB raises to 600. This is not a great spot, but this shallow I don’t think I can ever really consider folding here. J9/QJ/KJ are all in his range, though I don’t think he’s check raising me with a draw. I’m pretty sure if I shove now he’ll fold most J’s, but if I call he’ll commit himself on a safe turn. I elect to call.
Turn: 2
SB shoves, I call. SB shows KJ and I’m well in front.
River: 5
I raise the next hand and take the blinds. A couple hands later I raise again and get reraised by a guy I know in seat 1, and fold to his reraise. A round later the guy in seat 1 has continued to play somewhat aggressive but not spewy, when the following hand comes up.
I hold Jh Js in the SB. Blinds 25/50
My stack: 5800
UTG: 3300
Preflop: UTG raises to 350, folds to me in the SB. His 7x raise is really weird, but is rarely KK+. I call, BB folds.
Flop: Ks Qh Ts
I check, UTG checks.
Turn: Qd
I check, UTG checks.
River: 7h
I check, UTG bets 650, I fold. UTG proudly flips up 44. I’m not sure what else I could do, I didn’t really give him credit for 7x’ing a small pair UTG, and basically all his more likely range has me crushed on this board and isn’t folding if I bet as a bluff.
Play in this event is extremely loose/passive. People are limp calling 4-5X raises with things like J8o with a 60 BB stack and its totally the norm. While the play is bad at the WSOP, the thing with most recreational players in Australia is that the game is still quite new. Poker didn’t really find a popular stride until 2005 when Hachem won the WSOP, as the explosion of the Crown poker rooms size can tell you. When I first got there a couple weeks before Joe won, I think the Crown poker room had about ~25 tables. Now it has roughly double that. My table is no different, as there is a lot of limp calling and limp folding going on.
With the blinds having gone up to 50/100 the following hand comes up. The two limpers were very loose/weak.
My stack: ~5600
UTG+1’s stack: ~2500. Blinds 50/100, I hold Kc Qd on the button.
Preflop: UTG folds, UTG+1 limps, 1 fold, MP1 limps, folds to me on the button. I raise to 475, folds back to UTG+1 who folds, MP1 calls.
Flop: Td 5s 2d
MP1 checks, I bet 625, MP1 calls.
Turn: 9c
MP1 checks, I check.
River: Jd
MP1 bets out 900 with about 500 more behind. I’m thinking if he had a flush draw he’d mostly commit himself on the flop if he has ANY clue (poor assumption on my part) so pretty easy shove here. I put him in for his last 500, he calls and flips up a brilliantly played Kd 9d. Fair enough, I’m back to around my starting stack.
After this hand my cards dry up and seeing as everyone’s stack is so shallow, there’s no real room for creative aggressive play. The blinds go up to 100/200 and with 2800 in my stack I resteal the guy on my right with T9dd who makes it 600 and get a fold. A couple hands later I pick up AK and raise pre flop in EP, and some guy in BB tries to make a move by shoving with Q3o for 2k and my AK holds. Not sure what that was all about considering how tight I’d been for a while but hey to each his own. Then it folds to me in the SB and I raise air as the BB seemed really tight/straight forward but he calls. The flop is rags I c bet he insta jams and I fold.
A little while later with blinds now at 150/300, the following hand comes up:
My stack: ~5000
SB: 2100
I hold Tc Td in EP.
Preflop: Folds to me, I raise to 800, folds to SB, SB calls, BB folds.
Flop: 3c 3d 2c
SB shoves, I call. SB shows Kc Qc. The irony is I don’t think he even planned on stopngo’ing me on any flop, he just saw a hand he liked and called, then got a dream flop and crammed.
Turn: Ac
River: Ks
[censored], now I’m crippled. A blind steal a little bit and stay around 3000. When we get back from the break the BB has yet to show up and I’m sitting with about 3000. The blinds are 150/300 and the button is a fairly aggressive player with a big stack. It folds to him and he raises to 800. I look down at Kc 9c and insta jam. He calls and flips up 66.
Flop: Ac 8c 5h
Turn: 8d
Just a few outs here.
River: 3h
Oh well. On the plus side I won my $100 last longer off Mark who started shoving blind an hour in. I run into Mark later and after getting some food we head down to the poker room and decide to organize an in house home game. We recruit 10 players and set up a game of $25 buy in, 1-2 blinds, one rotation NL holdem, one rotation NL Omaha hi. The game is mostly drunk, loud and boisterous, and I run horrible and lose like $400. Oh well, tomorrow is the $1100 HU event, which given that it’ll be more SNG structure than cash game should play to my advantage.
I’d also like to thank Timex/Stevepa for giving me the opportunity to play so many events. Of the team of guys they put together, I think its safe to say I was the least established and the largest gamble, unfortunately I didn’t pan out for them, though with Timex agreeing to go forward with the Vic champs, hopefully I can make it worth his while.
Lastly, I’d like to thank everyone who through the forum and especially on IM, have improved my game immensely over the last year. Guys like Grafyx, LuckyChewy, Mikej, Thay3r, DonT77, UCLAbruinz, curtains, Jurollo, Badgerpro, NoahSD, and adanthar have all been integral (sorry for anyone I’m forgetting, can’t get into my AIM list right now.) Of special notice is Ajunglen whose reviews have transformed my game over the last few months to really take it to a higher level. It came to absolutely zero surprise to me when he won his Sunday million recently. You guys and this forum are responsible for making me the player I am. End Preface.
The few days leading up to event 1 of the Vic champs have been mostly exhausting. I went from Las Vegas to Milwaukee, to Madison, to Milwaukee, to Chicago, to LA, then Sydney, and finally Melbourne. I had a few days to relax and get the apartment set up before the events started, as well as catch up with friends. Up until a few days ago, I hadn’t been in Melbourne for 13 months, and hadn’t seen most of my Ozzie friends since November in Singapore. We find time to make it to a Saints vs Hawks footy game, where the Saints crush the Hawks and win me 100 Ozzie, so boo yah and in your face Darren/Steve.
In my time studying abroad just about anyone who hung out at Crown could tell you I likely spent more time in that poker room than anywhere else. Within a few months I knew just about everyone and everything that went on in that room. Some would say the Crown poker room is full of degenerates and scumbags. Well if that’s the case they’re my favorite group of degenerate scumbags. Even though this time around I’ll mostly be sticking to online poker unless there’s a tournament series in town, I’ll always feel a certain nostalgia for the 20/40 limit days.
Walking into Crown tonight would find me having the same conversation fifty times over. “Hoooooooly shiiiiiit! Lucky Tony D. You’re back? What the [censored] are you doing here?!” Cut to the part where I inform them I’m unbanned, living in St. Kilda, and have definitely read the fine print this time. One of my favorite parts of Australian culture is their enormous informality, which is especially apparent in the casino where almost everyone I’m talking to is off work and out to have some fun. Tonight’s event is a simple $230 buy in NL holdem tournament, barely worth writing about really but I decided I’d write about everything I played. Previous to the event I run into Mark Vos and we start talking prop bets.
“Mark you want $100 last longer?”
”Only if you give me 6 to 1.”
”That’s to much. I know you can’t take this serious but that’s still to high. 3 to 1.”
”You’re on.”
In a $230 tournament, it’s a miracle if Mark can make it 90 minutes, by his own admission. Still, given that we only start with 60 BB’s and one hand gone bad and its over, this is likely a neutral EV wager.
I end up being seated on one of the red felted ‘feature tables’ along the rail and under a bunch of lights. We start with 3000 chips at 25/50 blinds and half an hour levels, much like a $1500 WSOP tournament but worse in fact, and apparently with no antes. Play gets under way and my table has one player I’m quite familiar with, my friend James Dood, one of Australia’s better players in Hold’em/Omaha. He’s on the other side of the table though, so he won’t be able to abuse me on the left. He’s in the BB on the first hand, and I immediately begin trash talking about how I’m going to blow him off his blind straight away. I’m in MP (11 handed, blegh) when the following hand develops:
I hold As Jc in MP2. All stacks 3000.
Villain is middle aged guy I’ve seen around a few times but don’t remember anything about.
Preflop: Folds to me, I raise to 150, folds to SB, SB calls, BB folds.
Flop: J T 4 rainbow
SB checks, I bet 225, SB raises to 600. This is not a great spot, but this shallow I don’t think I can ever really consider folding here. J9/QJ/KJ are all in his range, though I don’t think he’s check raising me with a draw. I’m pretty sure if I shove now he’ll fold most J’s, but if I call he’ll commit himself on a safe turn. I elect to call.
Turn: 2
SB shoves, I call. SB shows KJ and I’m well in front.
River: 5
I raise the next hand and take the blinds. A couple hands later I raise again and get reraised by a guy I know in seat 1, and fold to his reraise. A round later the guy in seat 1 has continued to play somewhat aggressive but not spewy, when the following hand comes up.
I hold Jh Js in the SB. Blinds 25/50
My stack: 5800
UTG: 3300
Preflop: UTG raises to 350, folds to me in the SB. His 7x raise is really weird, but is rarely KK+. I call, BB folds.
Flop: Ks Qh Ts
I check, UTG checks.
Turn: Qd
I check, UTG checks.
River: 7h
I check, UTG bets 650, I fold. UTG proudly flips up 44. I’m not sure what else I could do, I didn’t really give him credit for 7x’ing a small pair UTG, and basically all his more likely range has me crushed on this board and isn’t folding if I bet as a bluff.
Play in this event is extremely loose/passive. People are limp calling 4-5X raises with things like J8o with a 60 BB stack and its totally the norm. While the play is bad at the WSOP, the thing with most recreational players in Australia is that the game is still quite new. Poker didn’t really find a popular stride until 2005 when Hachem won the WSOP, as the explosion of the Crown poker rooms size can tell you. When I first got there a couple weeks before Joe won, I think the Crown poker room had about ~25 tables. Now it has roughly double that. My table is no different, as there is a lot of limp calling and limp folding going on.
With the blinds having gone up to 50/100 the following hand comes up. The two limpers were very loose/weak.
My stack: ~5600
UTG+1’s stack: ~2500. Blinds 50/100, I hold Kc Qd on the button.
Preflop: UTG folds, UTG+1 limps, 1 fold, MP1 limps, folds to me on the button. I raise to 475, folds back to UTG+1 who folds, MP1 calls.
Flop: Td 5s 2d
MP1 checks, I bet 625, MP1 calls.
Turn: 9c
MP1 checks, I check.
River: Jd
MP1 bets out 900 with about 500 more behind. I’m thinking if he had a flush draw he’d mostly commit himself on the flop if he has ANY clue (poor assumption on my part) so pretty easy shove here. I put him in for his last 500, he calls and flips up a brilliantly played Kd 9d. Fair enough, I’m back to around my starting stack.
After this hand my cards dry up and seeing as everyone’s stack is so shallow, there’s no real room for creative aggressive play. The blinds go up to 100/200 and with 2800 in my stack I resteal the guy on my right with T9dd who makes it 600 and get a fold. A couple hands later I pick up AK and raise pre flop in EP, and some guy in BB tries to make a move by shoving with Q3o for 2k and my AK holds. Not sure what that was all about considering how tight I’d been for a while but hey to each his own. Then it folds to me in the SB and I raise air as the BB seemed really tight/straight forward but he calls. The flop is rags I c bet he insta jams and I fold.
A little while later with blinds now at 150/300, the following hand comes up:
My stack: ~5000
SB: 2100
I hold Tc Td in EP.
Preflop: Folds to me, I raise to 800, folds to SB, SB calls, BB folds.
Flop: 3c 3d 2c
SB shoves, I call. SB shows Kc Qc. The irony is I don’t think he even planned on stopngo’ing me on any flop, he just saw a hand he liked and called, then got a dream flop and crammed.
Turn: Ac
River: Ks
[censored], now I’m crippled. A blind steal a little bit and stay around 3000. When we get back from the break the BB has yet to show up and I’m sitting with about 3000. The blinds are 150/300 and the button is a fairly aggressive player with a big stack. It folds to him and he raises to 800. I look down at Kc 9c and insta jam. He calls and flips up 66.
Flop: Ac 8c 5h
Turn: 8d
Just a few outs here.
River: 3h
Oh well. On the plus side I won my $100 last longer off Mark who started shoving blind an hour in. I run into Mark later and after getting some food we head down to the poker room and decide to organize an in house home game. We recruit 10 players and set up a game of $25 buy in, 1-2 blinds, one rotation NL holdem, one rotation NL Omaha hi. The game is mostly drunk, loud and boisterous, and I run horrible and lose like $400. Oh well, tomorrow is the $1100 HU event, which given that it’ll be more SNG structure than cash game should play to my advantage.
The Quintessential Bond Girl, No event
by Bond18 on 07/10/07
Frank Sinatra once sung “Your nobody until somebody loves you”. At least, I think it was Sinatra, but I was way to drunk at the time to tell the difference between him and any other 1950’s crooner, and I’m still to drunk to look it up. Though Sinatra was one of Las Vegas’s most hated vicious and notorious [censored] if it really was him who sung those words, at least he got one thing right.
After busting my most recent Bellagio $2500 it came to my realization that I really needed a day off. Or two. Or three. Who cares? I needed some time off, that’s the point. With the stress of the main event coming up, a poker player should be at his best, which apparently in this case means blowing off time with friends drinking, smoking and taking drugs.
That’s how I decide to spend my Tuesday anyway, getting drunk at an inappropriate hour and agreeing to try weed for my first time then going bowling. When I arrive over at the house of such infamous pot smoking legends such as Shaundeeb and Exitonly they take me upstairs where the mighty ‘volcano’ awaits me. The contraption is more or less a humidifier turned into a contraption that fills a bag with marijuana smoke that you then hit in order to get high without having worry about the difficulties of lighters and such nonsense. Upon my first hit of the bag I inhale like a bad man striving for breath after being trapped underwater, only what a man used to smoking cigars would instinctively do, and take in so much smoke that I spend the next 15 minutes wheezing uncontrollably. The rest of the weed smoking crew only laughs at me, “get some water dude, you’ll be fine.” They are right, a bit of water, a bottle of wine, and a cigar later the wheezing has subsided and I am feeling chipper. In fact, everything is quite hilarious. Sitting on the outside porch I tell Wardekar “that’s the most wheezing I’ve done in a long time. Still beats getting tear gased.”
“Um, so you’ve been tear gased I take it?”
”HAaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha!!! Phhhhhhhh HAHAHAHA!!! Yeeea!! I got tear gased once! Let me hahahahahahhahaa, tell you about it. Phhhhhhh hahahahahaha!!”
“Um okay dude, what was it like, how did it happen?”
”Hahahhaha! That’s [censored] hilarious! Alright. Alright. Alright. Hahahahahaha! It was this one Halloween night in Ma….Hahahahaha! This is such a [censored] hilarious story!”
My company snickers at me and gives me a queer look, though Dekar is already way too high to enjoy a condescending moment.
“Hahahahaha. Okay, right. Hahahaha. So I’m in Madison and I’m totally wasted on Halloween. Hahahaha what a [censored] night. Right. So I’m on State Street, this long [censored] street leading up to the capitol. Phhh HAHA!...no wait stop. Okay. Right, this long [censored] street leading up to the capitol. So like every year in Madison there’s a riot on State Street from all the drunks, and I’m just sitting back and watching because I didn’t want to be involved. Then all of a sudden they flick on these like, stadium lights they have on the street and I realize I gotta get the [censored] out of here. So I start booking up towards the Capitol building to dodge the riot, but as I’m running up the street I run into this giant line of cops wearing riot gear spraying [censored] pepper spray in the face of everyone who gets to close. So I start running like hell the other way screaming ‘GET THE [censored] OUT OF HERE! GET THE [censored] OUT OF MY WAY MOTHER [censored]!!!!!’ So as I’m running down the street a massive stampede gets started and I try to hide in a shop entrance but some [censored] pushes me out of my little safe cove. So I float down the crowd into the next shop entrance and hide there with a few girls who are just watching the mayhem unravel. Suddenly I start wheezing uncontrollably and close my eyes. When I reopen them the burning is absolutely [censored] unreal, one of the worst pains I’ve ever felt my whole live. Liquid starts gushing from my eyes and I can’t breathe, and the girls next to me are on their knees praying to god to let them live through this. So I’m trying to [censored] concentrate on breathing while telling these girls they aren’t gonna die. Then some cop grabs me from the back and throws me blind into the street and steps on my heel while he does it, jamming the sharp angle of my shoe into the back of my foot while I run in darkness down the street screaming ‘I’M BLIND I’M [censored] BLIND OH GOD HELP ME I’M [censored] BLIND!!!’. Eventually I got turned off on some side street and grabbed on to people begging them to help me since I couldn’t see, and some guy got me to a friends place. Phhhhh hahahahaha [censored] Madison.”
“Hahaha, that uh, that sounds like fun Bond?”
“Obviously!”
I spend the rest of the night with an endless hankering for candy bars and a need to talk non stop and nonsensically. I also want to call everyone ‘sir’ or ‘gentleman’ and if anyone gets in my way to chastise them in a half English accent screaming something like “Damn it man! Do you know who I am? I’ll not have you stand in my away again by gods!”
I get the feeling my company is annoyed with my constant rambling and attitude, but I am winning so much money in bowling that nobody bothers to register complaint. I manage to talk some of said company into Korean BBQ and pass out around 6am, not bothering to even consider waking up for the next days tournament.
I slowly come to consciousness the next day somewhere in the afternoon. I wince open my eyes, and finding Rich C. on the couch watching TV ask him what time it is.
”About 6pm” he responds.
Excellent, afternoon well spent in my book. I guess I’ll go see how Watts and Stevepa are doing in the Bellagio $5000 event, perhaps drink or smoke cigars in the process and waste my evening away.
I show up to the Bellagio looking the most casual anyone’s ever seen me, in jeans and a nice button up shirt, a perplexing image to those used to a suit and tucked in shirt. I find watts immediately, and upon realizing he has a short stack immediately begin with a barrage of insults:
”Damn it Watts! Good god man, where are your [censored] chips?”
Watts table seems fairly annoyed with my showing up and sputtering profanities for more or less no reason.
“I’m card dead Bond, nothings going on.”
”For [censored] sake, get some [censored] chips.”
Apparently on days off, every phrase requires the use of the F word. I tell Watts I’ll be outside rolling dice and putting TJ Cloutier to shame.
Lo and behold outside is the legendary roller himself, TJ Cloutier. I find the lowest limit table and secretly wish he’ll come over and witness me go on an incredible run so he can call me a ‘natural born shooter.’ Unfortunately TJ stays at the next table over while the shooter at mine rolls ridiculously hot and the young poker players at the table scream at TJ “Hey TJ BABY!!! Wish you were here!!! HAHAHA!!!”
After a hot dice session I stroll back towards the poker room up $250 and numerous free cigars, which upon the cocktail waitress asking which type I’d prefer I respond only with “surprise me woman.” As I’m about to enter the room I run into Watts exiting after having busto’d.
”Watts, you busto I take it? What’s the plan for the evening? It’s 4th of July after all, we have to do something special.”
“Does getting drunk and doing more or less nothing count as special?”
”Obviously.”
We sit at the Bellagio Fontana lounge bar and capitalize on the free drinks video poker affords us, getting increasingly wasted with no real plan for the evening. Eventually Stevepa rolls out on dinner break and we sneak into the Bellagio buffet with him. Steve has amassed a huge amount of chips from destroying a very tilted Roland De Wolfe who makes habitual awful plays pre flop (That’s right Roland, if your reading this, you play awful. Haha!)
Watts and I decide to hit the trip with no real plan other than to drink heavily and waste time. While approaching Margarita Ville on the Strip two girls walk in front of us, turn around and pronounce
”Hey, you two are dressed pretty much the same.”
Hmm, I immediately see an opportunity to help Watts get laid, which would obviously score me ‘living vicariously through friends’ points. I’m not sure what their good for in terms of ability to be redeemed, but they sound important. I look over at Watts, who is dressed barely similar at all.
“What the [censored] are you talking about, we’re barely alike.”
”Well I think so” says one of the girls.
“Well I think your just bringing random things up as an excuse to talk us.”
“Maybe we are.”
”Maybe you are.” Quips Watts.
“What’s your names?” They ask. And now comes the precarious part. I have absolutely zero interest in any woman outside my girlfriend, but If I immediately tell these two girlfriends to ‘[censored] off, I have a girl already’ I absolutely destroy Watts chances. Time to walk the thin line between being a good friend and a good boyfriend.
I spend the time at Margarita ville explaining to the girls how Watts is “easily one of the best poker players in the world. Ranked in the top 25 online. By far one of the best.” I tell them Watts has “lost near $100,000 in one night, and damnit he barely blinked an eye. Watts is 10 times the man I’ll ever be.” In these situations its best to talk up your friend as much as possible while making yourself look worse, so I tell the women I’m just some ‘gay theatre major, who loves the penis’ on repeated occasions and that ‘Watts is the real man of this duo, but not in that way.’ By the end it is abundantly clear that one of them (god knows their names) likes Watts and that the other will require a subbed in wingman for future drunken adventures. I tell Watts when he calls them to tell them I have become horribly sick and bring somebody from 2p2 instead.
We go back to the Bellagio and find Steve just rapping up the action, and decide on a night in the hot tub at Watts place. When I arrive at their condo I inform my girlfriend via instant messenger that I more or less chatted up two girls on my friend’s behalf tonight. She is less than pleased by the situation. On the one hand I think she’s being over protective and paranoid. On the other, her booze swilling, slick talking boyfriend is alone with a bunch of trouble causing guys in Vegas and has been away for 5 weeks, what kind of woman would she be if she wasn’t a little worried? I manage to calm her down and let her know that she’s got nothing to worry about no matter how many women I talk to in bars, that she’s the only I’m interested.
Some friend of mine back in Melbourne once told me “When you’re away from your partner, you really begin to understand how you feel about them.” In his case, it resulted with his hooking up with some random Canadian woman 2 years his elder and leaving his wife of 14 years, but I think he meant the advice to go either way. When I left my girlfriend 5 weeks ago I was somewhat enjoying the thought of a little time away from her protective presence. Five weeks later I am wishing I just had someone to fall asleep next to and tell me I do not in fact suck at poker without secretly suspecting their just trying to be nice. For all the drunken trysts my boyhood idol James Bond had, people forget the movie where George Lazenby got married to the right girl who was therein murdered by a raging Telly Savalas as Blofeld, setting up Bond for a lifetime of revenge and emotionless sex which even he, at a moment of self reflection (say on the beach in Goldeneye) is capable of realizing has its hollowness. Lucky for me Telly Savalas is way dead and I’m not married. Were this a real conversation and not a blog the alcohol would have me quip something like “Being married or being dead, sounds about even huh?” All jager induced quips aside, if I spent a long time settled with the right woman and working hard at the game, without going out and raising hell on booze or without chatting up random women, I think it’d likely be time well spent.
When I wake up at 4pm in the afternoon I dress quickly and stumble out to the Bellagio to watch Stevepa at this final table. More and more 2p2’ers show up through the afternoon and evening, and by the time we go to dinner there’s about twenty of us. We hit the bars hard through the afternoon and dinner, then waltz down the strip towards the Imperial Palace, where a Karaoke dive bar awaits. I somehow get it in my alcohol soaked brain that I absolutely must get Scott (aka Mastr on 2p2) married tonight and somehow wind up In a conversation with two New York girls offering them money to marry Scott that night. After bantering with them a good 20 minutes one turns to me and says
”I have a very serious question for you. What’s my name? I gave it to you before.”
”How the [censored] should I know? I’m not the one trying to marry you here, it’s Scott that should know. Okay, so what’s your name?”
”Tresa.”
”Teresa?” I ask.
“No, its Tresa, like Teresa without the E in the middle.”
“So its Teres then huh? Scott, this is future wife, Teres.”
Scott looks at me discouragingly “Bond, did you even listen to this girl at all?”
”She seems nice right? You should marry her. Totally, you two, I see a future, a beautiful marriage and then immediate annulment which I shall pay for. Come on, [censored] do it.”
”NO. Bond, did you even listen to her?”
“What’s the problem? Her name is Teres. Without the ‘a’ at the end, right?”
She looks at me annoyed. “No, It’s Tresa. Like ‘tree’ then ‘sa’ at the end.”
I stare silently at her a moment allowing this monstrosity of a name to sink in. I look her straight in the eyes and pronounce “Lady, that’s the worst [censored] name I’ve ever heard.”
Scott can’t control his laughter, he nearly falls over. Tresa handles it amazingly well, breaking into laughter and saying “I know, I’ve thought so my whole life.”
”Well good your at least realistic about it.”
The DJ announces ‘Blude Suede Shoes’ for ‘Bond’. Yep, I’ve been drinking enough that I actually wrote ‘Bond’ on the Karaoke request card.
“Hold that thought! I’ve got singing to do!”
I sprint up to the stage and grab the microphone. I am at least two jagerbombs in to do this song competently but that hardly matters when the entire crowd is drunk and you can do a mediocre Elvis impression. I throw myself into the song with the fervor and enthusiasm that only a highly inebriated man is capable of. The DJ jams Elvis glasses and a ridiculous hat onto my face while I throw the microphone stand back and forth while screaming “NOW DON’T YOU!!!! STEEEEEEEEEEP ON MY BLUE SUEDE SHOES!!!!!!!” The entire front row is decked in 2p2’ers laughing at me and taking pictures, which are sure to show up on the forum within 24 hours. Mid way through the song during a guitar break the DJ leans over and asks me to please stop swearing so loudly while on stage. When the song ends I throw him the hat and announce into the microphone “I’m keeping the glasses fcuker” and sprint off the stage towards the bar. I eventually play nice and return them to him.
While awaiting the next song I continue to pressure “Tresa” into marrying Scott but she doesn’t seem interested. Eventually Jurollo comes over and hits it off much better with the two of them, so I inform them at “Jurollo is by far the more charming and rich man, who wouldn’t want to marry him? Come on Tresa, I am offering to pay for the marriage and divorce here, I know Jurrollo is willing.” I demand Tresa gives Jurollo her number so later this week we can get wasted and set up a marriage slash annulment. And that’s just about the time ‘Journey’ comes on from the DJ.
Half of MTTc rushes to the stage to scream out the song, swaying back and forth and more shouting the song than actually singing it. Various people from the crowd join us at random, seeing as they can’t go wrong in a group with so much enthusiasm. To say it was by far the best Karaoke rendition of ‘Journey’ of all time is a gross understatement, you really had to be there to appreciate it (*cough* sucks to be you Clayton *cough*) We’ll only find out who was actually on that stage when the pictures show up, but as far as I can remember, it was a lot.
The night finishes with running hot at Craps and Korean BBQ, and my sitting alone in a hotel room still half drunk, writing a trip report for a poker site with zero content, wishing I had the someone who loved me around to witness my antics over the past few days. Oh well, maybe some good will come of it, and I’ll arrange the first officially 2p2 sanctioned marriage in history.
