I arrive at Crown at 11:45am. The tournament starts at 12:30am and having failed to buy in the previous night I need to get it done this morning. I’d come in at 9pm last night hoping to buy in as during previous tournament series at Crown the registration booth had been open until 10pm. When I was informed that they had closed the booth at 7pm (and would all ‘Aussie Millions’) I resolved to make sure to wake up early enough to make it there in time to buy in without missing a hand.

When I enter the poker room a little before noon I immediately realize I’ll be missing at least a few hands. The line for the event is enormous. Naturally I run into about a dozen people I know and must exchange pleasantries with but have to quickly excuse myself so I can get to the back of the line. I get to my table a little before 12:40, having missed nearly 10 minutes because Crown is actually consistent about starting their tournaments on time. We start with 5000 in chips with 40 minute levels and 10 handed. I’m seated at table 31 which is a sort of feature table right along the rail, which means any time I fold there’s somebody I know along the rail to make small talk with. The whole table is quite relaxed and social as well, and when people bust out they often stand up and shake hands with everyone on the table and wish them luck. It is a very cordial affair, particularly for a poker tournament.


Through the early levels I play small pots of which there is very little multi street action. I don’t play my first major pot until the 75/150 level:
My stack: ~6000, HJ: ~4000, blinds 75/150, I hold AhKh UTG+2.
Preflop: 2 folds, I raise to 400, UTG+3 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, the HJ who is an older guy who is apparently a British pro makes it 1200, it folds back to me and I quickly slide everything into the middle except for a single green ‘25’ chip which I tell the dealer “I’m leaving to bluff with.” The flat caller quickly folds and the HJ tanks for quite some time before folding.

I play a few small pots during the first 100/200 level and lose some chips making a couple continuation bets that don’t go my way. I don’t get involved in a major pot again until the antes have kicked in:
My stack: ~6000, Cutoff: ~6000, blinds 100/200 with 25 ante, I hold AKo UTG+1.
Preflop: UTG folds, I raise to 600, it folds around to the CO, CO raises to 1800, folds back to me, I quickly slide my chips all in. Now the CO goes into the tank for quite a while and eventually gives a shrug and says “Call.” He tables 99 and we’re off to the races.
Flop: A J 4 rainbow
Turn: 5
River: 8
The CO stands up and says good luck to everyone then walks off. The dealer is about the slide his entire stack my way then looks at them both and decides he should count it. It winds up that the CO has 50 chips left and they shout at him to come back to the table. He busts the next hand.

Just a few hands later I’m involved again:
My stack: ~12,000, SB: ~20,000, blinds 100/200 with 25 ante, I hold A3o on the button.
Preflop: Folds to me on the button, I raise to 600, SB calls, BB calls.
Flop: 3c 8s Qs
SB checks, BB checks, and I check behind because I think one of them peels or checkraises me at too high a frequency to continuation bet here. The SB in this hand is Crown regular Marwan Nassif who is very familiar with how aggressive I am and certainly willing to call me down light.
Turn: Qd
SB checks, BB checks, and now I decide to bet for value. I count out 1100 and drop them into the pot. Marwan calls fairly quickly and the BB folds.
River: 4d
Marwan checks and I check behind knowing that most of his range is mid pairs that won’t fold to me and draws that won’t pay off a value bet. I say “two pair” and proudly table the A3 and he mucks, telling me he had AsJs.

At some point in the day Zpaceman winds up on the table a few seats on my left. He raises my BB and I playfully but viciously berate him then tell him a spite BB raise is coming his way. A few orbits later at the 150/300 level I’m on the CO when he’s in the BB and I announce preflop “Here it comes Stu” then load up 800 chips in my left hand ready to smash them into the pot. I wasn’t seriously planning on raising any two cards, but the two players between us are huge nits so I decide I’ll play around and raise pretty wide. Naturally it folds to me on the CO and when I peek down at K5o I fling my chips into the pot and tell him “Eat it Spaceman!” It folds to him in the BB and he flashes two rags and folds. I flash him a king and a smile.

I continue building my stack at the 150/300 level by taking down small and medium pots and finding a nice string of quality pre flop hands. After a couple orbits of accumulation I get involved in a large pot:
My stack: ~18,000, Marwan: ~16,000, UTG: ~5,500, UTG+2: ~12,000, BB:~9,000, blinds 150/300 with 25 ante. I hold KcQc on the button.
Preflop: UTG limps. UTG is an older guy who is new to the table and he looks like the type that could either limp big pairs here or be way too loose and open limp too much. I’m not sure what to think of it. UTG+1 folds, and a New Zealander who seems like a mostly recreational player makes it 750 next to act. It folds around to me and I’m unsure what to think of his raise size and flat call. Marwan calls on the button, the SB folds, the BB calls, and UTG calls as well. Getting interesting here.
Flop: 7c 8d 9c
BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+2 bets 3000, I’m pretty confident he’s got an over pair at this stage so I have anywhere of 9-15 outs (and probably a small but pretty miniscule amount of fold equity) and raise to 9,000 (which in retrospect is probably not better than shoving because it’s live poker where all ins are scary and people think I could do something insane like raise/fold this flop at these stacks), then Marwan announces all in for what turns out to be 15,800, the BB folds, UTG folds, UTG+2 goes into the tank and folds, and I tell Marwan “Well, I can’t fold, let’s see if I can suck you out, call!” Marwan tables JhTh and UTG+2 said he folded aces. I’m pretty sure whoever wins this pot will be chip leader of the tournament.
Turn: 3s
The rail is crowded with people and the dealer stalls dramatically before whipping over the river card.
River: 6s
I start laughing at Marwan having to watch two black cards come down and tell him nice hand. I count out the necessary chips and slide them over to him; I have a bit under 3000 left. Shit. One hand later we go on break and everyone asks how I donked off my stack.

When we come back from break I shove 8To in mid position and everyone folds. The next hand I peek down at 22 and shove my 3950 by announcing “ARRRRRRRRRIN!” A guy with 900 chips in late position calls then an old guy in the SB with about 5000 chips flat calls. Oh God I am so dead. The BB folds and I announce “I got a pair!” then whip over my deuces. The late position player shows AK and the SB tables JJ. Zpaceman tells me he folded a 2. Just perfect.
Flop: A 5 7
Turn: 3
Everyone watching on the rail starts chanting for a four. That would be pretty sick.
River: 7
I tap the table and wish everyone luck then stroll through the poker room asking everyone I can find if they want to get food. One of the floor women comes over and asks me why I’m always so dressed up and if I even own a pair of shorts, as I have a Zegna on today. I tell her “I have a stricter dress code than the casino.” I find a few guys and we take a group of four to ‘Number 8’. Half way into dinner our group of four has turned into seven and that’s before Stevo and Chris show up. They decide to go sort money issues while we finish our dinner, which obviously kicks ass because that’s how ‘Number 8’ rolls.

After dinner a group of nearly a dozen meets up in a Crown café and discuss how we donked off our stacks, except for the few who didn’t play today. Stevo has brought a joint and we walk over to the river front (a good 20 meters or so from the Crown entrance) and fire it up. There are six or seven of us passing it around and even though we don’t get much each it’s my student’s special super weed so we’re all pretty baked. To quote Dave Chappelle “That shit is the snip snap snizzle!”

Those of us who haven’t eaten yet decide they need food so we go over to ‘Meat and Wine Co’ and we somehow get a table for 10 despite it being 9pm on a Friday night in the middle of Southbank. We have to spend 20 minutes in the bar before our table is ready and by the time we get there I’m five beers and a moderate amount of super weed into the evening, making me pretty properly ripped up. Even though I’ve already eaten I’m stoned enough to order a 200 gram steak. When it arrives Zpaceman starts giving me shit for my “pussy steak” and I start brandishing my stake knife around and threatening him with it. Meanwhile ‘Delaney Kid’ has a giant platter of ribs and steak in front of him which will clearly give him blood clotting despite his only being 19 or some young ass age like that.

After dinner the group dissipates as some go home and some get ready to head out to some kind of rave like club. I elect not to do the rave thing because they apparently suck if you don’t take pills (which I don’t) and because I’m told that it would be absolutely insane to go there in my suit. Instead Chris, Zpaceman and I go over to the cigar bar above ‘Transport’ and sit outside while I lit up a cigar. We order mojitos. I don’t think it’s a gay drink.

It really is the best tournament series. My entire day was a breeze. I woke up and played my normal 7ish hours of tournaments and unfortunately didn’t make any final tables. After that I went for a brief run, its briefness being uncommon these days as I’m constantly at Albert Park for 45 minutes an evening. I organized a dinner amongst a number of groups events, which wound up being 10 going out to Koreana BBQ in Richmond.

It was a diverse group containing Zpaceman, Plattsburgh, Annette15, StevoL, Justin, Yang, Dave, Darren, Trung, and myself. I spent the majority of the evening apologizing to Dave Lee for getting him in extremely hot shit with his girlfriend. I’m also here to make a public apology which according to Dave may help to smooth things over to a degree.

While at dinner last Friday Dave’s fiancé Phung (oh man if I spelled her name wrong this apology is going so askew) mentioned that this would be their last night together since the Aussie Millions started up for Dave the next day.
“Bullshit! He lied to you; they don’t start till the 9th!” I blurt.
Her eyes lit up and Dave gave me a look like I kicked him directly in the nuts.
“No, no! Its satellite week!” he protested.
“Oh we’re gonna talk about this” she said.
I quickly realized the enormity of my mistake
“No, no, no, no, no wait he’s telling the truth there is a bunch of satellites this week! There’s a ton, he’s…you know, showing ambition!”

But it was too late. Women are fickle creatures. Dave got his ass handed to him for hours. I’m sorry I fucked that up so hard Dave. I remember those nights where “a talk about this” was inevitable. I feel your pain my friend. My bad.

After dinner at the Korean joint we headed over to a friend’s to play a home game. Annette decided to sit to my immediate left and flat over 90% of my opens. Eventually play got to a strange point and I got a set up hand in my favor:
My stack :$550
Annette: $800
I’m UTG with AsJh. Blinds $5/$5.
Preflop: I raise to $20, Annette min raises to $40, it folds back to me, I consider my options then click it back to $60, Annette calls.
Flop: 2d 7d Jc
I bet $80, Annette makes it $160, I go all in, Annette says “Snap call!” out loud. She tables Jd4d and I’ve got 12 outs to dodge.
Turn: 6h
River: 3c

That was my largest pot of the night and I won in the area of $600. There was about 15 people in the apartment all laughing their asses off and telling stories, the perfect atmosphere for a home game. At about 12:30 a group of six of us made our way back to my apartment and sat outside on my massive porch. We smoked two joints and sat outside laughing our asses off. The summer night was cool and pleasant and my porch is so big I could have 30 over without issue. Then we came in and watched the Wayne Brady episode of Chapelle. It was fucking brilliant.

Now I’m just chilling in my apartment fairly baked listening to music which sounds amazing. I’m debating filling out the interview PokerVerdict has sent me in this state. That could make for some interesting answers. It’s been a damn good day.

12 hour later edit: See this is why I never write after smoking, I just use the same words and phrases over and over, totally unaware that I'd used them in the previous sentence.

That’s right; the Aussie Millions is only a week away. Less actually, five days if we must get super technical. As I’ve mentioned somewhere in the area of infinity times, the Aussie Millions is my absolute favorite tournament series of the year. It’s a great three weeks because on top of having a great tournament schedule all my friends will be in the same place during the best month of the year in Melbourne. I’ve informed everyone near me that during those two weeks you can always find me either in the poker room or at Transport Bar at Federation Square where they have a giant beer list and the tennis on TV all night.

As the series approaches I’ve talked to a number of players and friends around the Australian poker scene who tell me they expect to do things because they “Want it so bad” or “Feel due.” For the love of God people, please stop talking like this. There is no ‘due’ in poker or in gambling. There is no ‘wanting it’. I don’t care how prepared you are, or how much this tournament ‘means to you’, that shit is irrelevant. Tournament poker is a cruel mistress and all that matters at the end of the day is that you sit there making as close to optimal decision as possible over and over again. If anything I’d think really ‘wanting’ a tournament and having some degree of emotional investment in it only adds another liability. If something goes wrong and you have so much of yourself invested you just might lose your cool. This isn’t a sport and it shouldn’t feel like gambling.

Anyway, I put a considerable amount of thought into my book today. I’ve decided to approach a large number of other players I have major respect for and ask for their help making this the most kick ass tournament poker book ever. Here’s the PM I’ve sent them all:
“Hey Guys,

So I’m sending this message out to a number of people, which is why it's written so informally. As you may or may not be aware of, I’ve decided to write a book on tournament poker. I’ve sent you this message because you’re one of the people in the poker world that impress me the most; not only with your game but with your ability to discuss concepts. I’d really like as many of you involved on this project as possible. I’ve even had some of you involved in the articles before, and again let me thank you for that.

I’m forming the book on the back bone of the ‘Things it took me a while to learn’ series, which deal primarily with tournament poker but occasionally touch on other subjects. I’d like to expand and elaborate considerably on what I’ve already written, as well as include several new topics. I won’t be designing this book for beginners as I think the market for that sort of thing is saturated and quite honestly, it just wouldn’t be very interesting for any of us to write.

I have a more peculiar method in mind for the style of the book. I remember back when I read a considerable amount of poker books that I’d have difficulty maintaining my focus on them over a long period of time because they were very technical and bland. Few mixed in humor and interesting anecdotes and as a result I often found them difficult to read for a sustained amount of time. What I was thinking for this particular book was to mix the highly technical and mathematical strategy information with occasional stoppages for something breezier. Essentially, I’m thinking that between every few chapters of poker knowledge would be something I’d title “Stories from the poker world” where either I or another writer simply tell a personal story about the tournament world or the poker world in general that was entertaining, amusing, or interesting.

I know that many of you are very busy and if you’re not interested whatsoever please let me know and I totally understand. I’m willing to take any amount of content from you guys, anything from a paragraph to a page to a chapter. If you have a specific topic you’d like to cover please let me know, and if you have no idea just have a conversation with me and we’ll come up with something for you. If you do decide to write one of the “Stories from the poker world” I’d encourage you to do so entirely uncensored. I will not edit your content (though I will have an editor for grammar, spelling, etc.)

Anyway, please let me know if this is something you’d like to be a part of. I’m not quite sure how to handle the issue of compensation at the moment and will be discussing that with more experienced authors. I have not submitted my idea to any publishers and at the moment am considering using one of the online self publishing companies instead. I was also considering Ebook format, though am unsure how large an issue piracy would be.

Cheers, Tony”

That gives a pretty good summation of the direction I want to take the book in. If you’re curious who all I sent that to and want to get involved the list is: Jman28, SEABEAST, Adanthar, Jurollo, Nath, Ansky, djk123, MaverickUSC, mlagoo, yellowsub, aejones, luckychewy, psyduck, shaundeeb, THAY3R, gobo, LearnedfromTV, mastr, Sirwatts, Timex, Foucault, AJKHoosier, SCTrojans, Gboro, Apestyles, Assassinato. I’ll also be approaching Lee Nelson, Greg Raymer, and Barry Greenstein.

I have no idea how many of them will choose to get involved. If they all said yes I think I’d bust a nut. If I got 10 I’d be thrilled. I guess we’ll find out over the next couple of days. I’ll be trying to write my portion of the book (and it’s going to be a lot) all before Friday.

I’ve been thinking about the way I write a lot lately. I’ve realized that for me, writing is not only a hobby but a necessity. If I don’t thoughts get stuck in my head and fly around bothering me at all times. Then when I try to close my eyes and go to sleep at night they’re all still there and wont’ shut up. The only way to get them out is on paper. That or get really baked which temporarily blocks them out. For the moment I have a hurricane of ideas swirling around my head, so after I finish playing over the next few days I intend to sit down and crank out pages in a Dostoyevskyesque fervor. Hopefully I’ll get some sleep before Fridays Aussie Millions opening event. After that I can focus on how to work in everyone else’s content.