Auckland adventures and more….

Von nzvr4poker, 27.01.2009, 3850 Aufrufe, 32 Kommentare | Kommentar hinzufügen

After returning back to New Zealand from my short foray across the ditch to Australia, I was ready for my first live tournaments of 2009. It was the Auckland Anniversary tournaments (an annual poker festival in New Zealand’s biggest city of 1.4 million people). Anniversary weekend includes a holiday on the Monday for people living in the upper half of the North Island which coincides with Australia day and the Chinese New Year funnily enough. Auckland was buzzing with lots of cultural festivities to celebrate this and also the A1 Grand Prix event was being held in Taupo where 14 or so countries are represented in motor racing, so it was a very busy time.

However, the main reason for me being in New Zealand’s biggest city was for the series of poker tournaments there. On Friday I ponied up the $120 for a satellite entry into the main event (worth $1100). We started with 2,500 in chips and had to battle our way through a field of 102 which awarded ten well deserving players a ticket into the main event. After an excellent start where I accumulated chips quickly and had a stack of about 7,000 I found myself holding . I standard raised to 1,200 with the blinds at 200/400 and met resistance from the player on my immediate left who announced "3,000 to play". I quickly evaluated the situation and promptly pushing all in inducing an insta-call out of the villain. Unfortunately he had and that was the end of me.

I had one more chance to qualify cheaply for the main event. On Saturday afternoon I arrived at Sky City Casino refreshed and ready to do battle against another large field of hopefuls. My two friends were also in the field – Chris (a real character who I have known for a long time) and Kelly from my home town of Tauranga. I was seated on a tougher than usual able for this satellite and was looking forward to the challenge of taking on some good players. 104 other players presented me with a challenge and I needed to be among the final ten once more to be awarded a seat in the two-day main event commencing on Sunday. This time round I got off to a subpar start being reduced from 2,500 chips to just 1,500 and had to pick my moments to amass chips. I reached 2,300 chips before picking up in the cutoff and promptly shoving on the 100/200 blinds level. snap called from the big blind and the dreaded ace was the window card ending my aspirations of a cheap seat into the main event. My friend Kelly got sucked out on when his could not stay ahead of with a king appearing on the flop. Chris feared considerably better however and when his rivered a jack to beat and , after a hit the flop in a three-way all-in, he screamed out "SHIP IT CA$H!" in delight and this was heard reverberating around the poker room. He had sufficient chips to be among the last ten players standing. However our hero could not seal the deal finishing a respectable 16th, just outside the much desired top ten.

I scrummaged together the $1100 buyin required to play in the main event and took my seat where I didn’t know many of the players but had great conversations with the very amiable Adrian. We were allocated 10,000 chips each and were given plenty of time to accrue chips with one hour blind levels contributing to the excellent structure that the event had. The majority of the 18 poker tables were in play as 119 players entered for a record non-Pokerstars tournament prize pool of $119,000 NZ. I quickly chipped up to 12,500 thanks to some good pot size control and slow-playing of big hands. The following very pivotal hand then unfolded. I had and raised it up to 300 on the 50/100 blind level. A short stack pushed for his last 1,125 chips and was promptly called by another player as well as myself. The flop came rainbow much to my relief and I was hoping to check it down when to my amazement the other player shoved his last 6,500 chips into the pot after I checked out of position, leaving me with a very tough decision. I did not know what to make of his play as it was unlikely he had an overpair to jacks as he would have most likely isolated preflop and I was pretty sure that he hadn’t flopped two pair leaving me thinking he either had a hand like KJ and was scared to see more cards on the board or that or he had a set of fives or eights and for some weird reason he had shoved into a dry pot. After a long deliberation I made the call and he tabled for a flopped set much to my disgust. I improved to a two pair after the board paired the 5 on the turn but couldn’t get a miracle Jack on the river and was reduced to a bit over 4,000 chips. I had a lot of work today but the blinds were very low allowing me to take my time to get back into the tournament.

After mixing it up and playing a few more hands than normal as well as paying blinds, I was left with about 2,200 chips on the 100/200 blinds level. I was playing aggressively and shoved in and was called by the other short stack who had just 75 more chips than me. He quickly tabled to have me coolered. I felt good about this hand for some reason though and this positive thinking was justified when the second appeared on the flop and held up doubling me up to about 4,500 chips. I had room to breathe again. An interesting hand developed on my table between two of the other players. With the blinds having progressed on to the 150/300 level with 25 antes, the player on my right raised it up to 900. He was quickly called by the big blind. A flop of was examined closely by both players before the initial raiser bet 2,000 chips and was shoved all in for about another 8,000 chips by the big blind (about half of his remaining stack). After going into the tank to consider his options for what seemed like forever the clock was called on the initial raiser and he anguished over his predicament before folding face up. The all in player flipped over confirming the good fold as he had the monster flush and gutshot straight draw, as well as two over cards meaning he was well ahead in terms of odds after the flop. On the same blind level I woke up with and shoved all in for about 3,300 chips. I was called by the big blind who had . The flop came down in the form of giving my opponent trip threes but I still had the gutshot straight draw and the flush draw. Unfortunately on the turn the appeared leaving me drawing dead before the ironic fell on the river giving me the nut flush – a still inferior hand to the turned full house of the big blind. My main event dreams and the chance to pocket the $35,000 NZ first prize money and trophy were over.

Monday was my last chance to redeem myself and regain some of the money I had spent over the previous three days or perhaps even make a small profit. 33 players turned up for the 12.15 pm start time for the 6-handed event which was due to be played alongside the second day of the main event commencing later on at 2 pm. We had 5,000 chips each at our disposal with generous 30 minute levels. I doubled up early on in the event with a flopped set of fives defeating a pair of queens after three players including myself saw a flop. Soon after that I was moved to another table where I got to play with Dan Sing and Brooke Howard-Smith (two of my close poker friends from Auckland). Brooke didn’t last much longer exiting after Dan eliminated him with his dominating Brooke’s . Eventually that table also broke up and we were moved into the last four tables. Five players were slated to share the $9,900 NZ prize pool and so I was hoping to amass a big chip stack to march towards the money and perhaps even a tournament win.

My aspirations took a turn for the better when I got incredibly lucky against a very unfortunate opponent. I was in the big blind with and under the gun raised to 1,200 with the blinds at 150/300 and a 25 ante. I decided that if I overshoved for 8,500 chips he would be more likely to think I’m stealing and call than if I re-raised to approximately 3,500, so I shoved and he snap called and when I tabled my hand he smiled and turned over . The flop was . I still had a chance of winning the hand if the board came running hearts on the turn on the river. This indeed happened with the turn and the river  leaving my opponent disgusted at his bad fortune and me flabbergasted at how lucky I was this time round. I had a big stack which I nursed up to the final two tables. By the time seven of us remained I had lost about half of the chips I had at my peak, leaving me with about 15,000 chips approaching the bubble with the blinds 400/800 and antes 100. Marty Cardno, a good friend of mine was the final table bubble boy when he was left crippled after his A6 was defeated by A5 when the cruel river dealt a 5, and was subsequently eliminated soon thereafter. It was not long before we were in the money as a player was eliminated in 6th position after his could not improve to beat  after the money had gone in on an board. The blinds had escalated to 600/1200 with a 200 ante at this point and I was one of the two remaining shorter stacks amongst the final five players. That number was soon reduced to four players after the short stack pushed his last 10,000 or so chips across the line holding and being snap called by . We were guaranteed $1090 for fourth place with the winner getting just under $4,000. Not a bad return from the smallish investment of just $330. Fourth place was where my journey ended though as I pushed my last 8,000 chips in with and ran into . The fourth place finish somewhat atoned for my somewhat poor performances proceeding the final event and I look forward to my next live poker event in Adelaide starting next Wednesday.

Another busy week for me as I will be having a leaving party in my home town of Tauranga on Thursday night and then moving the last of my stuff over to Sydney on Saturday as I finish moving in with my girlfriend. Later in the week I will tell you how my party went and hopefully have some photos for you as well as outlining my preparations for Adelaide. Until then folks, that’s all!