Venice adventures

Von nzvr4poker, 14.05.2009, 3786 Aufrufe, 45 Kommentare | Kommentar hinzufügen

With the welcome party out of the way, Wednesday meant that it was Day 1A proper of the WPT (World Poker Tour) Venice main event. Most of my buddies were playing that day and I got a grandstand view of their performances from the well-informed media room. It was to be mixed success for my poker friends, with about half of them required to return to the felt on Friday for Day 2 action.

On Thursday, I decided to play a $215 online qualifier to the ANZPT (Australia New Zealand Poker Tour) Queenstown event. The tournament started at 12 pm local time with 35 hopefuls playing meaning that two players would win a $2,950 US package to New Zealand’s adventure capital. A further five players would fight it out for the remaining prizes which would see them get their entry fee back.

During the second blind level with the blinds at 15/30 I picked up QJo on the button. I called a standard raise of 90 from a player in middle position with my chip stack on 2,410 chips. The flop was and we both checked with the turn coming the . My opponent bet 180 chips and I decided to bluff raise the bet to 450 chips. I figured that either of my hole cards or the ten for a gutshot straight could make me the best hand. I was quickly called and then the river was the dream giving me the best hand with the two inside cards to the straight. On the river I was facing a bet of 570 into the pot of 1,125 and I promptly shoved all-in for a total of 1,870 chips. I was called by the other player who showed for two pair and with my straight being the best hand I catapulted up to 4,865 in chips early on.

In the middle stages of the tournament I had a few critical hands which helped to increase my chip stack. The first of these hands was when I had pocket kings with the blinds at 50/100 and raised a late position raiser from the initial bet of 300 to 1,050 pre-flop. After the opposing player called me I took down the pot by shoving the dangerous flop of . Soon thereafter I was involved in a blind versus blind battle. On the same blind level, I had J6o in the big blind and flopped two pair against the small blind in an unraised pot. The small blind chose to check-call my bets of 300 on the flop and the turn. On the river I was up against a bet of 700 chips into a pot of 1,400 after a possible straight draw came in. I elected to just call and won the hand against a missed straight and flush draw for a nice pot of 2,800. At that stage my chip stack was up to 7,600. A bit later on with the blinds at 100/200, I raised an under-the-gun raiser who made it 600 to play and took down the pot, increasing my stack to 10,870 just before the second break.

I was still sitting on a comfortable stack of 10,000 by the time the blinds had increased to 150/300 with a 25 ante. After being dealt under-the-gun I made a standard raise to 900 and was min-raised to 1,500 by an unpredictable player in the small blind. I called and we saw a flop of . On the flop my rival bet 900 and I quickly called. The on the turn prompted my opponent to bet 1,200 which I also called as I wanted to keep the pot smaller with my marginal hand. The on the river was unlikely to change anything yet the small blind still bet 1,200 into a pot of already 7,625. I called and was up against just to take down the pot of 10,025 and increase my stack to over 15,000 chips.

I managed to nurse my chip stack to the final table of nine and was in a great position to win a package. With the blinds still 150/300 with an ante of 25, I found myself all-in for a pot of 9,600 with AJo against a pair of tens. If I could manage to win the coin flip I would be chip leader with just eight players left and the top seven freerolling for the two packages. Fortunately, I hit the ever present ace on the river to eliminate a player and became the chip leader with over 20,000 chips. After three more eliminations, there were five players remaining and the blinds had escalated to 400/800 with an ante of 75. I was second in chips with 25,000 and after the action folded round to me I shoved all-in from the small blind with AJo. The big blind was short with only 11,000 chips in total but surprised me by tank-calling with just K7o. I flopped a jack and was able to hold on to win the big pot of 22,000. I was joint chip leader with four players remaining and two relatively short stacks in third and fourth position respectively.

After another player was eliminated in fourth position, we had arrived at the stone cold bubble for the packages to Queenstown. Would this be my day or another epic choke for jimdownunder? At this point in time I had 40,000 chips, some 5,000 behind the chip leader and about 20,000 more than the player in third place. However, I slowly got sandwiched in the middle of the other two players who attacked me and found myself in trouble. I was getting desperately short with my stack at only 15,000 chips and the blinds at 600/1,200 with an ante of 125. I pushed all-in and was quickly called by the second biggest stack in the big blind. I was dominated by and needed a miracle to stay alive. God reminded me of his presence when the hit on the flop. Even though the turn was the I managed to hold on as the river blanked with no flush or ace for my opponent and I stayed alive. I was now equal in chips with the unsuccessful enemy.

After surging ahead into second place and with the blinds still at 600/1,200, I picked up and shoved my 30,000 chips all-in. I was quickly called by the short stack who had 25,000 chips and the cards were shown on the screen. To my delight my challenger could only muster up and I was in the lead for a package. The flop was with no help for the other player. Bingo! The turn was the to leave the short stack drawing dead. I was delighted about winning my third different package to an ANZPT event this year. A reasonably loud call of CA$H! was heard reverberating around the Best Western Montecarlo and I was off to town to celebrate.

After the online qualifier, I ventured out of my room and made the trek across town to find my American buddies Kevin ‘ImaLuckSac’ Macphee and his crew and have a few drinks. On the way I saw my friend Neil ‘Puggy82’ Stewart who was with some mutual friends of ours including Shaun ‘Goldensbush’ Goldsbury, Neil ‘The Visionary’ Mcfayden and Richard Grace amongst others. We ended up drinking a brew or two on a bridge and then went inside to a one stop restaurant/bar/night club. Several of us ended up eating and drinking beer and things were all fine and dandy until Shaun brought out the absinthe.

From there it all went downhill until the most absurd of all suggestions was made. The group consensus was that someone should jump in the Grand Canal for a laugh. Shaun being the fearless sort that he is and so proud of his heritage including the Warriors rugby league jersey he was wearing, ended up volunteering to jump in. ‘Puggy82’ agreed to put up 500 Euros for the jump and Richard agreed to cover the legal costs if required. Without further ado, Shaun took the plunge much to everyone’s amusement and quickly got out and rejoined us as he feared the police were coming. I will try to get some footage of this as one of the other players apparently got it on film. Adding to our laughs was the so called “disco boat” which was doing the rounds. Equipped with two subs and booming out dance hits, the eccentric gondola boat was a hit with the boys.

After joining a couple of the other guys in trying to explain to a group of English girls that were touring Venice, that poker is sustainable and profitable, I retired to bed.  I needed to prepare for the expected onslaught of work and the magnitude of the job awaiting me in the coming days.