Battling for respesctability

Von nzvr4poker, 21.03.2009, 4046 Aufrufe, 40 Kommentare | Kommentar hinzufügen

Hello again everybody. This will be my last post before I fly back to my homeland of New Zealand. Times have been tougher than normal lately and my life has followed a macro trend of trying to stay afloat financially amongst the global economic crisis. To make matters worse I have had a very bad run of cards in the last two months as well as settling down to a new life in Australia, having to build new friendships outside of poker and maintain a healthy relationship with a girlfriend which is something I admit to not being good at. These are all circumstances that poker players have to deal with at times and help build a stronger character. I will be looking forward to a trip back to New Zealand to see my family and friends and play in the New Zealand Poker Championships (NZPC) poker festival in Christchurch starting next weekend.

My most recent custom in online poker has been sitting down at 7.30 pm on a Sunday night and playing the online qualifiers to live events in this part of the world. Pokerstars run their ANZPT qualifiers and also the NZPC has been holding satellites to their main event. This Sunday was no different and I paid my respective $320 and $120 to get my entry into both tournaments. Both tournaments had lower than normal starting fields with the NZPC qualifier having online 19 runners presenting a nice overlay for the players attempting to win the $2,750 US package. The ANZPT satellite had just 37 runners as the qualifiers have shifted on to the next leg of the tour set to take place in the breath-taking south island town of Queenstown.

With the last week of NZPC qualifiers running, I knew this would be my last chance online to secure a place in the main event of New Zealand’s premier poker event. I had been close on two separate occasions finishing 2nd and 3rd. With only 19 runners this time round I felt I had my best chance yet to secure my place in the starting field. Players were eliminated thick and fast early on and we were soon down to our final table. I did not have many opportunities to double up early on like in the previous qualifiers and I had to resort to stealing blinds to build my chip stack up. After recovering from a slow start I picked up 77 in late position, with seven players remaining and pushed all-in after an early position player had put in a standard raise with the blinds 200/400.  I was called by A9 for a pot of 5,500. Unfortunately a nine came on the flop and I could not improve to three of a kind, ending my tournament prematurely. After some gallant displays in previous weeks I had a rather uneventful last attempt to win a satellite to the NZPC. I will now turn my attention to winning a satellite when I arrive in Christchurch next weekend.

This weekend also saw Pokerstars launch their new phase of ANZPT satellites. Queenstown in New Zealand’s south island is the last slated venue for the inaugural tour specifically for players from Australia and New Zealand. The event will be held in late July, just after the finish of the World Series of Poker. 37 players anted up the required $320 meaning that three players would be getting packages. Players finishing fourth to eighth received their buy-in of $320 back. I got off to a great start early on in the tournament when I picked up in the small blind with the blinds at 15/30. I raised to 200 after a middle position player minimum raised to 60 chips and was quickly called by the initial raiser. The flop came down . I bet 290 into the pot of 430 and was promptly called. The turn was which we both checked with the river  eliciting a value bet of 250 from myself which my opponent quickly called down. My opponent turned over for a pair and a busted flush draw gifting me a nice pot of 1,510 to get me going on my way.

I gained more momentum towards my cause when I picked up in the small blind with the blinds at the 50/100 level. After raising another middle position minimum raiser to 600, the big blind pushed his last 1,790 chips into the middle of the virtual felt. With the original raiser folding, I insta-called the all-in player. My opponent flipped over to leave me as a big favourite to win the pot of 3,780 and increase my stack to just over 5,000 chips. With the board running out I had further improved my chip stack and eliminated an opponent. Later on in the blind level I was to win an even bigger pot. In early position I raised with to 250. This time I was called by the small blind only. The flop was a good one for me as    appeared. My opponent led weakly at the pot with a bet of 200 into the pot of 600. I promptly called looking to re-evaluate my plight after the turn card. Bingo! The turn brought the onto the screen. I didn’t have to do much work as my opponent took the aggressive line with a bet of 700 into the burgeoning pot of 1,000. I quickly raised the bet to 1,900. My opponent then insta-shoved all-in for 5,350 total prompting an insta-call from my holding of the nut flush. Unfortunately for my opponent, they had flopped a set of sevens and the river did not improve their hand and 10,320 more chips were shipped across the table to my stack. Approaching the halfway point of the tournament, I was amongst the chip leaders again and looking good for back to back weekend seats to ANZPT events.

After dropping back to 7,920 chips I picked up in the big blind. The action folded around to the button who raised the blinds of 100/200 to 500, leaving themselves approximately 2,800 chips behind in their stack. I quickly re-raised all-in and after a lengthy deliberation my opponent called turning over . I was again way ahead in my attempt to add another healthy pot to my stack. The flop was increasing my advantage. was the turn card. To my immense frustration, my opponent had caught a miracle two outer on the turn and I was left stunned again as the river was a blank . I was left dwindling with a stack of just 4,600 with about 20 players left, after yet another horrible beat. Much to my chagrin, things worsened for me the following hand as I shoved all-in from the small blind over the top of a short stack button raiser. My opponent on the button called with and I could only muster up spewing up another 2,750 chips to an opponent. My fall from grace was abrupt and disturbing as I was suddenly clinging on with only 1,850 chips.

Shortly thereafter my tournament ended for me when I pushed in my last 1,550 chips in late position with and was called by the button who had . My hand did not improve and I was out in 18th position. I was left pondering another dismal result in a tournament which promised so much, yet delivered so little. This week will be a leaner week for me online as I will be travelling across to New Zealand and preparing for the NZPC festival in Christchurch. Auf wiedersehen, arrivederci and adios. Have a good week and good skill to you all as skill will beat luck in the long term.