Originally posted on my blog how a luckbox ran like God for 10 hours as "ty lee jones - the director's cut"

Or the story of ‘s0stndrd’ winning the March 2 edition of the Sunday Million.

I won’t be presumptuous enough to say that everyone wants to win the PokerStars Sunday Million, but I don’t think too many would question the prestige of the event, easily the biggest Sunday major tournament week-in and week-out. In fact, excluding special editions of the tournament, the 8000-strong field that anted up the $200+$15 buy-in for the March 2 PokerStars Sunday Million was the biggest on record, generating a prize pool slowly edging towards the almost unbelievable $2m mark.

From a bankroll management point of view, this tournament was well out of my price range. Being a $50NL player and regular in the $11 rebuys, the amount in my account on Sunday night Perth-time (about t-minus eight hours to the Sunday Million kick off) was all but screaming at me not to play the Millions, especially as my efforts to satellite in through double-shootouts, $39 satellites and rebuys all proved fruitless.

But while money talks, the decision ultimately resides with the man. And when the man considered all the factors including running bad (QQ never holding up vs AKs, the standard two-outters on the river and a very memorable flopped king-high flush losing to a runner-runner straight flush that the other person didn’t even see until the dealer pushed the chips his way) and the following day being a public holiday and one of the rare opportunities said man could play the Sunday majors, what to do became obvious. Get the credit card out and transfer enough funds to play the Million, with a little surplus to also give the Sunday Hundred Grand a crack too.

In preparation for an almost perverse 5.30am wake-up (on a public holiday of all days!) and not to mention pre-empting a spate of Future Music after-parties once the crowds had left Wellington Square and returned to the ‘burbs, I got an early night, looking forward to a morning playing poker on-line.

When I had registered for the event, there was somewhere in the area of 4000 runners. By close to 6.30am Perth time, the starting field had done a pretty handy soufflé impersonation, doubling in size to more than 8000 runners – a phenomenal figure and comparable to WSOP Main Event numbers. Coupled with 10k starting stacks and a slow’ish structure, this was going to be no done-by-lunchtime walk in the park.

While I had previously satellited into the Millions with a previous account (I have since lost log-in and ‘misplaced’ my bankroll), this was the first Sunday Millions I had bought in to directly. I figured that I had been running so badly with flips and rivers that I was probably due for a change of fortune soon and tackled my first table with a sense of optimism.

It took less than a couple of orbits to realise that my first table was the starting table from hell. Button raising and c-betting the flop? No-one was having it – and that’s if your opening raise wasn’t being re-popped in multiple spots. My tourney campaign looked close to being over before it had the chance to begin when my opponent called my five-bet shove pre-flop with pocket kings at the first blind level of 50/100. Amazingly, he didn’t have the dreaded aces but the other two cowboys in the deck so chop-chop we went with split blinds all we had to show for what happened.

A few levels later, I once again got it in pre-flop with KK vs an aggressive player’s AKs, though it would be no split pot this time. My hand held up and I found myself with 20k+ in chips and a little breathing room. Later, trip aces on the turn that turned to quads by the river helped amass a 30k+ stack and surprisingly, ‘s0stndrd’ was among the early chip leaders. Not that that meant much with 7,500 players still in the hunt for the 200k first prize.

Breaking the tournament into one-hour chunks, I slowly chipped up and continued picking up momentum with some timely assistance from the deck and dealer. Soon, the field was on the money bubble and amazingly, I wasn’t in the danger zone and could take advantage of shorter stacks trying to desperately cling on until the bubble burst. Then just like that, unlucky number 1315 fell and everyone had cashed including one relieved luckbox from South Perth, Western Australia. I had at least turned a profit on my buy-in (incidentally, and not that it means much, I’ve since discovered a friend of mine who I rate as an excellent tournament player has played the Millions 50-odd times without cashing). Everything from now on would be cream.

As the tournament was progressing, I was (ironically) using an old pay slip to keep track of the various pay bracket cut-offs. While I agree that you need to play to win, you can’t win without gradually moving up the pay scale. While it does happen occasionally, it’s rare for a single chip leader to dominate an entire tournament from start to finish. As the various bubbles kept bursting, I continued to keep my head above water and slowly, my pay packet for the day grew, level by level.

As is the norm, I kept my close poker (and indeed, life) mates Aaron and Ash up to date with my progress. By just after lunchtime, I got a phone call from Ash who had had dim sum on Leach Highway and was on the way home. “Do you mind if I drop past?” Does Gen Y care about the slow death of the English language? Of course not! Not only did a knock on the door herald Ash’s arrival, so too did pocket kings in late position. The signs looked good.

Ignoring the fact that by about 1pm, all I had eaten the entire day was a leftover chocolate croissant from the day over, it probably wasn’t clever thinking to start opening beers, but when there’s Knappsteins and Pepperjacks to be drunk, my rubber arm doesn’t need much twisting. The brews were going down far too easily and helped me relax (and not to mention get a little excited and talk it up a little bit after one smarmy comment too many in the chat window) as the tournament went on.

By the time I was guaranteed a four-figure payday, Aaron, Lys (who are getting married today, congratulations guys!) and their daughter Caitlyn had also made their way over and soon, there was a small crowd gathered around my widescreen Dell lappy. Finally approaching the final few tables, I made an essential double-up when I open-shoved with AQo in LP only to run into JJ. A king-high flop was no good, but then 10 on the turn gave me some additional gut shut outs (okay, hit your set now JJ). The queen on the river was massive and the study room of our little South Perth apartment erupted in celebration. Then a few hands later, flopping a third queen with pocket queens versus aces and suddenly, your favourite poker player’s favourite poker player was back in the game.

Down to 10 players spread across two tables of five, the final table bubble was excruciating. Eventually, a short stack’s 99 ran into my JJ and the nine-person final table had been set. The prospect of a five-figure payout suddenly became very real. Obligatory shout-outs were broadcast via the chatbox and then it was back to business.

A few eliminations (and the five-figure score locked up!) later, I got very lucky to luckbox a mountain of chips when I rivered a full-house with 88 against a loose opponent that flopped trip aces with A2 on an A-x-A flop.

Once the field had been whittled down to three, I once again found myself as the short stack. Fortunately while playing the role of table bully,vm1124 shoved on my big blind when I was dealt pocket kings and I again enjoyed a much-needed double up. Then when vm1124’s once-upon-a-time dominated 8-3o out-flopped DrunkPPlaya’s 8-9o, I found myself heads-up – albeit with a significant chip deficit – for 200k and title of Sunday Mills champ.

After winning a big pot with Qc-8c that turned a flush and bridged the gap between our chip stacks, I proposed a chop. While chip count dictated a 145k/135k chop (with 30k in the middle for the winner) vm1124 wanted 5k more making it 150/130. As it was my first time at the dance, nerves got the better of me and I took the –EV deal (which has been the topic of plenty of forum chat) but was still stoked to be able to pay off my mortgage before the age of 29.

I then ran like Tamsyn Lewis heads-up and on hand 15, went with my gut feeling that Ad-5d was ahead of my opponent’s four-bet all-in range on the button and called his shove. The hunch proved correct and while I had to sweat some additional outs after flopping a five, Lee Jones managed to come good at the best possible time and in a frenzy of yelling, “Hold! Hold!” and “one time!”, my friends and I celebrated a never-to-be-forgotten victory with punching, hugging, screaming and shouting.

Funnily: a few months ago in one of my greatest New Years Eves ever, Ash, Aaron and I - together with our respective partners - were drinking Champagne in a spa and celebrating life. During the festivities, I toasted one of us making a big five-figure (yeah, we’re ballers for real) this year. I wasn’t sure who was going to come through with the goods (and if any one of us would) but felt that we had paid our dues and something big was on the horizon. But even with this flicker of hope inside of me, if someone had predicted that someone I knew – let alone me personally – was going to outlast 8000 others in a Sunday Mills, I would have been more than just a little skeptical.

Following a lot of celebrating and a pounding headache come Tuesday morning, afternoon and evening, I discovered that I was the first Australian to take out the Mills which was surprising as I thought one of the Card Academy guys might have done it or perhaps Adelaide sensation Andy Macleod has already notched up a big Mills win, but after checking with various reputable sources, it looked like I was indeed the first. And my timing couldn’t have been better (unlike my deal negotiating) with 8000 runners ensuring a healthy payday.

Even more amusing, this was the first tournament I’ve ever actually won, or at least a tournament with more than 15 people.

My feet are still floating a few inches off the ground. No matter what happens to me poker-wise from here, I like to think I’ll be forever remembered as the first Australian to take home the Sunday Mills on Stars. As I said to my friends, I don’t think it gets bigger than this in terms of on-line achievements. I sincerely wish everyone all the best with achieving their poker dreams and hope that more Aussies start taking down big events online soon.

Well this tworags business looks like a lot of fun, so I figured why not and joined in so I could post my poker ramblings rather than on my usual blog..

Anyhow, a recap of five big hands from my recent Mills score...

Hand 5:

PokerStars Game #15693131861: Tournament #78436461, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit - Level III (100/200) - 2025/03/02 - 17:13:27 (ET)
Table ‘78436461 734′ 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: vmnielsen (13312 in chips)
Seat 2: mrtunie (9000 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 3: s0stndrd (10213 in chips)
Seat 4: skyrotterdam (6725 in chips)
Seat 5: ForeverDean (6700 in chips)
Seat 6: davidroisme (10650 in chips)
Seat 7: ChromMan (12000 in chips)
Seat 8: dumba900 (11200 in chips)
Seat 9: Jalapenoz (19900 in chips)
ForeverDean: posts small blind 100
davidroisme: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to s0stndrd [Kd Kc]
ChromMan: folds
dumba900: folds
Jalapenoz: folds
vmnielsen: raises 400 to 600
mrtunie: folds
s0stndrd: raises 800 to 1400
skyrotterdam: folds
ForeverDean: folds
davidroisme: folds
vmnielsen: raises 2600 to 4000
s0stndrd: raises 6213 to 10213 and is all-in
vmnielsen: calls 6213
*** FLOP *** [Qh 8c 5h]
*** TURN *** [Qh 8c 5h] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 8c 5h 3h] [8d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
vmnielsen: shows [Ks As] (a pair of Eights)
s0stndrd: shows [Kd Kc] (two pair, Kings and Eights)
s0stndrd collected 20726 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 20726 | Rake 0
Board [Qh 8c 5h 3h 8d]
Seat 1: vmnielsen showed [Ks As] and lost with a pair of Eights
Seat 2: mrtunie folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: s0stndrd showed [Kd Kc] and won (20726) with two pair, Kings and Eights
Seat 4: skyrotterdam (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: ForeverDean (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: davidroisme (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: ChromMan folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 8: dumba900 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: Jalapenoz folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Completely standard. Noone folds AKs and noone folds KK either. If this hand had taken place the day before when I was running like a fiery vindaloo the day after, I’m sure I lose, but it magically held up. Considering how brutal the table was, winning this flip was so, so vital.

Hand 4:

PokerStars Game #15693935678: Tournament #78436461, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit - Level V (200/400) - 2025/03/02 - 17:45:46 (ET)
Table ‘78436461 76′ 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Le Marquis (10600 in chips)
Seat 2: puravida1234 (33900 in chips)
Seat 3: PIT123456 (18200 in chips)
Seat 4: s0stndrd (22476 in chips)
Seat 5: WGC1234 (15525 in chips)
Seat 6: doctorzico (14550 in chips)
Seat 7: ppthebandit (14475 in chips)
Seat 8: three ladys (12975 in chips)
Seat 9: Tobsen (21850 in chips)
Tobsen: posts small blind 200
Le Marquis: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to s0stndrd [As 8s]
puravida1234: folds
PIT123456: folds
s0stndrd: raises 800 to 1200
WGC1234: folds
doctorzico: folds
ppthebandit: calls 1200
three ladys: folds
Tobsen: folds
Le Marquis: folds
*** FLOP *** [9c 5c Ac]
s0stndrd: checks
ppthebandit: checks
*** TURN *** [9c 5c Ac] [Ad]
s0stndrd: bets 800
ppthebandit: raises 12475 to 13275 and is all-in
s0stndrd: calls 12475
*** RIVER *** [9c 5c Ac Ad] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
s0stndrd: shows [As 8s] (four of a kind, Aces)
ppthebandit: shows [Jd Td] (three of a kind, Aces)
s0stndrd collected 29550 from pot
beth_poker7 is connected
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 29550 | Rake 0
Board [9c 5c Ac Ad Ah]
Seat 1: Le Marquis (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: puravida1234 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: PIT123456 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: s0stndrd showed [As 8s] and won (29550) with four of a kind, Aces
Seat 5: WGC1234 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: doctorzico folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: ppthebandit showed [Jd Td] and lost with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 8: three ladys (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: Tobsen (small blind) folded before Flop

Tough opponent, but the shove after my turn bet just didn’t make any sense. It might be a loose call but considering the aggressive nature of opponent, I figured I still had outs even if he had my beat on fourth street, but as it was, he was drawing dead when the money got in the middle. No doubt I will pay him off like a crooked politician next time we tangle!

Hand 3:

PokerStars Game #15700018732: Tournament #78436461, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit - Level XXI (7500/15000) - 2025/03/02 - 22:17:13 (ET)
Table ‘78436461 387′ 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: s0stndrd (350737 in chips)
Seat 2: jerlin (433811 in chips)
Seat 3: troyomac (593750 in chips)
Seat 5: UgotBodied (304009 in chips)
Seat 6: CashGalore (120362 in chips)
Seat 7: BunnieLee (414456 in chips)
Seat 8: crossfire163 (785524 in chips)
Seat 9: icecoldRivA (560099 in chips)
s0stndrd: posts the ante 1500
jerlin: posts the ante 1500
troyomac: posts the ante 1500
UgotBodied: posts the ante 1500
CashGalore: posts the ante 1500
BunnieLee: posts the ante 1500
crossfire163: posts the ante 1500
icecoldRivA: posts the ante 1500
icecoldRivA: posts small blind 7500
s0stndrd: posts big blind 15000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to s0stndrd [Td 9h]
jerlin: folds
troyomac: folds
UgotBodied: folds
CashGalore: folds
s0stndrd said, “nh cross”
søstradi is connected
crossfire163 said, “ty”
søstradi said, “phew”
BunnieLee: folds
crossfire163: folds
icecoldRivA: raises 25000 to 40000
s0stndrd: raises 50000 to 90000
icecoldRivA: calls 50000
*** FLOP *** [5d 8h Ts]
icecoldRivA: checks
s0stndrd: bets 90000
icecoldRivA: raises 378599 to 468599 and is all-in
s0stndrd: calls 169237 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [5d 8h Ts] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [5d 8h Ts 9d] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
icecoldRivA: shows [Kh Qs] (high card King)
s0stndrd: shows [Td 9h] (two pair, Tens and Nines)
s0stndrd collected 710474 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 710474 | Rake 0
Board [5d 8h Ts 9d 3d]
Seat 1: s0stndrd (big blind) showed [Td 9h] and won (710474) with two pair, Tens and Nines
Seat 2: jerlin folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: troyomac folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: UgotBodied folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: CashGalore folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: BunnieLee folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 8: crossfire163 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: icecoldRivA (small blind) showed [Kh Qs] and lost with high card King

At the time, this was a monster hand. Pre-flop it just felt like a weak raise and I felt I could take him off his hand with a stiff raise. The call worried me a little but at least I had position on him. Flopping TPOK in a battle of the blinds is a pretty good hand and I decided I was betting it. I was a little worried when he came back over the top, but went with my gut and decided to put the rest in. I was delighted that my read was correct (nice for a change) and even more so with the nine on the turn. All I had to fade on the river was a four-outter and when my two pair held, I was back in contention.

Hand 2:

PokerStars Game #15702018909: Tournament #78436461, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit - Level XXVII (30000/60000) - 2025/03/02 - 23:59:48 (ET)
Table ‘78436461 906′ 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: s0stndrd (1862474 in chips)
Seat 2: citrus (1884977 in chips)
Seat 3: himpapawid (1750910 in chips)
Seat 4: Weimar (1853548 in chips)
Seat 5: mman_status (855638 in chips)
Seat 6: nilsson (120226 in chips)
Seat 7: petter85 (2458559 in chips)
Seat 8: troyomac (1845000 in chips)
Seat 9: Doyle122 (1222474 in chips)
s0stndrd: posts the ante 6000
citrus: posts the ante 6000
himpapawid: posts the ante 6000
Weimar: posts the ante 6000
mman_status: posts the ante 6000
nilsson: posts the ante 6000
petter85: posts the ante 6000
troyomac: posts the ante 6000
Doyle122: posts the ante 6000
nilsson: posts small blind 30000
petter85: posts big blind 60000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to s0stndrd [Qc Qh]
troyomac: raises 95000 to 155000
Doyle122: folds
s0stndrd: raises 265000 to 420000
citrus: folds
himpapawid: folds
Weimar: folds
mman_status: folds
nilsson: folds
petter85: folds
troyomac: calls 265000
*** FLOP *** [3h Qd 9s]
troyomac: checks
s0stndrd: checks
*** TURN *** [3h Qd 9s] [8d]
troyomac: checks
s0stndrd: bets 420000
troyomac: raises 999000 to 1419000 and is all-in
s0stndrd: calls 999000
*** RIVER *** [3h Qd 9s 8d] [4s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
troyomac: shows [Ac As] (a pair of Aces)
s0stndrd: shows [Qc Qh] (three of a kind, Queens)
s0stndrd collected 3822000 from pot
petter85 said, “gg”
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3822000 | Rake 0
Board [3h Qd 9s 8d 4s]
Seat 1: s0stndrd showed [Qc Qh] and won (3822000) with three of a kind, Queens
Seat 2: citrus folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: himpapawid folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: Weimar folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: mman_status (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: nilsson (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: petter85 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: troyomac showed [Ac As] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 9: Doyle122 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Utterly brutal hand for troyomac. After the hand and the flood of railbird chirping I gave some back and would like to apologise. I don’t normally like to talk it up but in the heat of the moment, having dudes tell me how much of a fish/donkey/luckbox I am after an unfortunate but standard hand just irked me enough to get my fingers a-typing. So guys, no hard feelings?

I felt troyomac had been opening a lot of pots and was certain my hand was best, so reraised to isolate vs any Ax hands behind me, though in honesty, if another person shoves behind, I don’t think I can fold with stack sizes and the amount in the pot.

Hit my gin card on the flop and check behind (funny yet embarrassing sidenote: a few hands earlier I shoved my AA that had hit top set into a fairly ragged board into two other pre-flop callers. I play cards so bad). The eight of diamonds that put a flush draw on the board was a real action card and with the check-raise, I figured troyomac for AdKd and couldn’t call fast enough. I was in better shape than I thought with troyomac having the bullets and I dodged a two-outter to scoop a massive pot and bust the poor guy.

Hand 1:

PokerStars Game #15703861880: Tournament #78436461, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit - Level XXXVI (250000/500000) - 2025/03/03 - 02:14:27 (ET)
Table ‘78436461 338′ 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: colonelkosta (19250429 in chips)
Seat 3: himpapawid (6619701 in chips)
Seat 4: vm1124 (35512771 in chips)
Seat 6: DrunkPPlaya (6026306 in chips)
Seat 8: s0stndrd (8326737 in chips)
Seat 9: ShipThatIsh (4894056 in chips)
colonelkosta: posts the ante 50000
himpapawid: posts the ante 50000
vm1124: posts the ante 50000
DrunkPPlaya: posts the ante 50000
s0stndrd: posts the ante 50000
ShipThatIsh: posts the ante 50000
DrunkPPlaya: posts small blind 250000
s0stndrd: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to s0stndrd [8h 8c]
ShipThatIsh: folds
colonelkosta: raises 500000 to 1000000
himpapawid: folds
vm1124: folds
DrunkPPlaya: folds
ShipThatIsh said, “can i have an additional 5 minutes added to my timebank?”
s0stndrd: calls 500000
*** FLOP *** [Ah 3d As]
s0stndrd: checks
himpapawid said, “lolk”
colonelkosta: bets 500000
ShipThatIsh said, “i will pay $100″
s0stndrd: raises 1000000 to 1500000
colonelkosta: calls 1000000
*** TURN *** [Ah 3d As] [Kh]
s0stndrd: checks
colonelkosta: checks
*** RIVER *** [Ah 3d As Kh] [8d]
ShipThatIsh said, “2 minutes?”
s0stndrd: bets 1500000
colonelkosta: raises 5000000 to 6500000
ShipThatIsh said, “113 seconds?”
s0stndrd: calls 4276737 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
colonelkosta: shows [Ad 2c] (three of a kind, Aces)
s0stndrd: shows [8h 8c] (a full house, Eights full of Aces)
s0stndrd collected 17103474 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 17103474 | Rake 0
Board [Ah 3d As Kh 8d]
Seat 1: colonelkosta showed [Ad 2c] and lost with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 3: himpapawid folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: vm1124 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: DrunkPPlaya (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: s0stndrd (big blind) showed [8h 8c] and won (17103474) with a full house, Eights full of Aces
Seat 9: ShipThatIsh folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

A completely sick and unbelievable hand. On the surface, this looks like complete spew and I’d have to agree, but the good colonelkosta had been playing so many pots and showing down so many mediocre - yet winning - hands that I couldn’t resist for a min-raise. I check-raise him on the flop because I just don’t believe he has an ace there and am expecting him to fold quickly but when he calls, I realise I’ve mis-stepped and am praying for a cheap showdown so I can scope his opening range. I gratefully accept the free river when he checks the king, but it’s the glorious two-outter on the river that causes a commotion through our small study. I’m obviously delighted when he shoves my value bet (yes I am an ATM and was paying AK all day) and snap-call to win a massive final table pot. This hand marked the beginning of the end for the colonel who proceeded to go busto in the space of three hands. Two of the hands featured an eight on the river to sink the English chappy including his AQ getting pipped at the river by a short stack’s A8.

All this just goes to show - it doesn’t matter how good you are at cards (or not in my case), to win tournaments you need to get lucky occasionally.

Or more correctly, just not get unlucky.