An action packed week…. (part one)

Von nzvr4poker, 26.04.2009, 3821 Aufrufe, 39 Kommentare | Kommentar hinzufügen

Welcome to another edition of jimdownunder’s weekly blog. This week focuses on more ANZPT (Australia New Zealand Poker Tour) online qualifiers to the event in Melbourne and the beginning of the ANZPT poker festival at Star City casino here in Sydney. But firstly I have some exciting news. During this past week I have finalised the finer details of my trip to Venice to commentate the final table of the WPT (World Poker Tour) event on an Internet broadcast for a web site in early May. This means I will be leaving the day after next weekend’s ANZPT main event finishes here in Sydney. It sounds like I will be very busy organising last minute arrangements for my trip.

For a bit of variety I decided to also play the $33 rebuys tournament on Saturday afternoon in another attempt to qualify for the main event of the Melbourne leg of the ANZPT. A bumper field of 74 runners embarked on an hour long rebuys period armed with 1,500 chips to start with. Only five hands into the tournament I was dealt . After the first player to act had limped in for 20 chips I made it 100 to play. A late position player moved all-in and I made the quick call. I was up against for a pot of 2,130. appeared on the board and allowed me to win a nice pot early on.

During level four of the rebuys with the blinds at 50/100, I picked up in late position. After the player directly before me limped in for 100, I raised to 400. The limper as well as the cutoff called me and we saw a flop of : 5s. After the limper checked I bet 800 into a pot of 1,350. After the player in late position folded, I was quickly called by the limper. The turn was the and this time my opponent led into me betting 600 into the pot of 2,950. I pushed all-in for my last 1,775 chips and was called and my opposition turned over just for a flush draw. Luckily for me the river blanked as the came up and my hand held up for a pot of 6,500.

My next opportunity to win a big pot came on the last hand before the break. The blinds were now 100/200 and I was in the small blind with . After an early position player had limped in I took the aggressive approach and raised to 800. A short stack pushed all-in for 2,440 chips total and after the action folded back round to me, I made the call. This time I had to stay ahead of if I wanted to win the pot of 5,280. My hand improved when a seven appeared on the flop and I managed to avoid an eight or a king on the turn and river to be sitting on 9,800 chips after the end of the rebuys phase.

After the dust had settled from the frenzied rebuys period and the add-ons had been made, the prize pool was calculated. One player would be lucky enough to win the $2,965 package and the players finishing from 2nd to 9th would all get $320.

On the third hand of the freezeout phase of the tournament I picked up in late position and made it 650 to play. At this stage of the tournament, the blinds were 125/250 with a 25 ante. I was called by the button, who after making the call had 6,000 chips left. appeared on my screen giving me a well-disguised flopped straight. I led at the pot with a bet of 1,200 in 1,900 and was promptly raised to 3,000 by my opponent. I hesitated a little before shoving all-in and my opponent quickly called for their last 3,000 chips, turning over As Jc. The turn  gave my opposition some hope, but the on the river gave me a pot of 17,000, catapulting me to the top of the leaderboard.

My next notable hand was a most bizarre one to say in the least. I had in the small blind and got involved with the big blind all-in for a big pot. After making a standard raise to 750, I was called by the big blind. I flopped a set of nines as appeared on the board. To protect my hand I decided to bet 1,250 into the pot of 1,700. My wreckless foe raised me an extra 2,000 chips and I moved all-in. After some consideration the big blind called for their last 3,400 chips and to my amazement showed only and was drawing semi-dead. I was about to increase my stack to 22,000 chips and solidify my edge at the top of the standings with less than 3 tables of players left. To my shock horror the turn and river cards were respectively. The villain had escaped making a runner runner straight after calling with just a pair with a terrible kicker and no flush draw. I was left staring at my screen disgusted at my misfortune and at my chip stack being reduced to just 7,000 chips in such a cruel fashion.

My misery was completed roughly 20 minutes later as I had dropped down to 3,000 in chips and with the blinds at 300/600 and an ante of 50 per hand I shoved in and was called by . My hand did not improve and I had been eliminated frustratingly short of the money yet again.