Hanging out in Melbourne during the Victorian Champs

Von nzvr4poker, 28.08.2009, 471 Aufrufe, 1 Kommentar | Kommentar hinzufügen

Practically after arriving at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport from the Gold Coast on Monday morning, I was taking my seat in the $1,650 heads-up tournament in Melbourne’s Crown Casino. With the event selling out just prior to the commencement of the first round matches, 32 players would be vying to make it through their five matches to win the title. My first round draw had me pitted up against Alan Davis who is a player I have not encountered before. Each matchup would be a best-of-three affair with the first player to win two games advancing during each round. The top four players were slated to make the money with the winner receiving $22,000.

During the first two rounds we had 5,000 chips at our disposal with the blinds starting of at 25/50. The structure allowed for the blinds to rise six times to 200/400, if necessary. I got off to a fast start in the first match against Alan as he slipped to just over 1,400 in chips. With the blinds having progressed to the 100/200 level, we found ourselves all-in on the turn during a pivotal hand worth about 3,000. I called to put Alan at risk with second pair and he turned over a flush draw and gutshot straight draw. The river bricked out to give me a 1-0 lead. I gained ascendancy during the middle stages of the second game as the blinds reached the 150/300 level. With a handy two-to-one chip lead over Alan I raised AKo to 800 and was called. I check-raised him all-in on the flop for the last of his chips with the board reading  . I was quickly called and found myself way behind as Alan flashed for a pair and a straight draw. However a lucky ace on the river was enough to seal the deal and send me into the second round.

I went upstairs for a quick lunch break as I awaited my next challenger. In the second round I drew another unknown opponent in the form of Michael Brooks Reid. Michael surged ahead early on in the first game as I tried to figure out his style of play. Gradually the momentum shifted back towards me as I stepped up the post-flop aggression. With Michael down to around 3,500 in chips a significant pot formed. With the board showing , Michael made a strong bet at the pot after we both checked the flop. I managed to find the courage to push my all-in over the top of his bet which sent him into the tank. After a while he asked if I had a set of sixes or a flush draw as the board had two hearts on it. I answered "no", to both questions and eventually he called with a jack high flush draw. The river bricked to give me a 1-0 lead.

The second match started with both of us playing conservatively. I managed to surge ahead before being involved in a bizarre hand against Michael. With the blinds at 100/200 I raised to 500 with  and was quickly called. The flop was . Michael fired out a bet of 550 and I called. The turn was and again Michael led out for 550. At this point I figured I was a long way behind but I could represent a straight by taking my time and feigning a raise before calling. I decided I would shove the river if Michael didn’t move all-in before me. The river was an bringing about a quick bet of 1,100 from Michael. I immediately shoved for an additional 2,350. My opponent thought about the decision for a long time before making a remarkable fold, showing face up and muttering that he knew I had a straight. I could not believe my fortune as I obviously didn’t believe he had such a strong hand. The momentum shifted in my favour and it wasn’t long before Michael shoved in his last 3,000 chips and I called with pocket eights. Unfortunately, I was up against pocket nines but luckily for me I flopped an eight and held on to win, to advance to the quarter-final round. 

My quarter-final match was against my good friend and expert online heads-up player, Kristian Lunardi. He was all that stood between me advancing to the semi-finals and securing a minimum payout of $4,800 for a fourth place finish. This time round we had 10,000 chips at our disposal with the blinds starting at 50/100 before increasing every 25 minutes. Kristian was a completely different opponent to my previous adversaries as he was button raising at every attempt. To counter this I decided to play very tight open folding lots and to raise and re-raise with my strong hands. The result was a stalemate that lasted for several hours forcing us to even agree to a seventh level of blinds of 400/800. After playing for just over three hours, two hands that went all-in pre-flop would decide who would win the first game. Firstly I called Kristian’s shove with   and was up against , doubling up to take the chip lead. About five hands later I shoved in and Kristian called with . The board ran out to give me a 1-0 lead.

I quickly joined our makeshift State of Origin team huddle on a poker table in the high stakes area, as our team captain, Lee Nelson, belted out words of wisdom and encouragement to our team. Lee had formed a strategy that he shared with our team. State of Origin is a competition devised by poker luminaries in Australia to see which state would reign supreme and have bragging rights as champions of Australia. South Australia were the inaugural champions in 2008 and this year the staff at Crown arranged for New Zealand and the Territories to field teams. The format was to be eight one-table sit and go shootout’s with a representative from each state playing across the eight different tables. The top six on each table would earn points towards the overall team title. The winner of each shootout would advance to a final table where higher points could be scored, the following day. Each player had 20,000 chips and the blinds started at 25/50 increasing every 20 minutes.

After the introductions and formalities were out of the way play commenced. On my table were notable players Eric Assadourian from New South Wales, Tino Lechich from Victoria, and young gun Stevan Lackovic from Western Australia. Play was very tight early on and my chip stack fluctuated between 22,000 and 16,000. A very sick hand on my table resulted in the elimination of Eric as Stevan called Eric’s all-in with his set of nines besting Eric’s set of sevens. At the break our team still had its full complement of players but a couple of our team members were low on chips. I was below average on 14,000 chips and with the blinds at 400/800, I needed to get moving in the right direction. With my stack falling to roughly 12,000, the action was folded to me in the small blind and I looked down to see . I shoved and was promptly called by the big blind who had . The king that I picked up on the flop wasn’t good enough for me as an ace was also present and I was disappointed to be eliminated in seventh place. All was not lost however as Lee Nelson, Phil Willcocks, Kevin Clark all won their tables with Dan Sing and Robert Wang also picking up points on their tables.

My heads-up tournament resumed at 5 pm the following day. Unfortunately I could not repeat my heroics from the previous day going down gallantly to Kristian in the quarter-final, two games to one. Kristian played great and throughly deserved to win our match. His prowess in this form of the game was well documented as he went on to win the title.

After my defeat in the heads-up tournament I rejoined the non-playing members of our team to cheer on our participants in the State of Origin final table. For the record Lee, Phil and Kevin came first, second and third on the final table of the State of Origin event as our team secured 75 percent of the prizepool. Our agreement to put the proceeds of our efforts back into a team fund and distribute it eight ways meant that each of us in the team received just under $7,000.

After watching my New Zealand team secure an historic and overwhelming victory in the State of Origin event, I decided not to play in the $2,700 main event and enjoy the sights and sounds of Melbourne. I was thoroughly exhausted from my battles during the heads-up tournament, especially the epic and at times painfully slow quarter-final round matches with Kristian.

Thursday saw a move out of the hotel I was staying in to my good friend Julian Cohen’s place out in the suburbs. During Friday I watched Julian and some other mates play in the main event and hung out with my friends Simon Bismark and Monica Eastick who are both from New Zealand. The three of us visited the mahogany room which is Crown Casino’s high rollers room. As usual I made the most of my experience, sampling my fair share of ritzy cocktails. On Saturday, Julian and I made the trip into the M.C.G. (Melbourne Cricket Ground) to watch my beloved Richmond Tigers take on the Collingwood Magpies in an aussie rules game. Unfortunately Richmond were pathetic and lost heavily as Collingwood racked up a cricket score. However, I still had lots of fun watching this unique game which blends sports like volleyball and rugby together.

My friend Andy Hinrichsen gave me a call on Sunday and we decided to watch another aussie rules game. St. Kilda, which is his favourite team, were playing Essendon. Essendon gained a huge lead before St. Kilda rallied to within three points. Unfortunately St. Kilda missed a shot at goal on the full time siren ultimately falling two points short. Julian was progressing well through the main event and after the aussie rules game, Andy and I went down to watch him navigate his way through day two. Julian made it into the final 36 players securing his second consecutive cash in major main events. Play stopped on day two with just 15 players remaining. Julian was well placed sitting on 583,000 chips as he attempted to win the $190,050 for first place.

Monday was Julian’s time to shine and his parents along with our mates Danny O’Shea, Tim Clarke and Tristan Bain went to watch his march towards the title. After making the final table, Julian patiently waiting to play his hands and eventually ended up fourth winning $68,400 in the process. A fantastic performance from my good mate and needless to say we celebrated with many drinks well into the night.

During Wednesday I crammed in some Pokerpro action on the computer screen tables as well as a quick 2/3 cash game session before departing for Sydney the following afternoon. I made a tidy profit to give me a bit of spending money for the Sydney leg of my trip.

I look forward to sharing about my experiences in Sydney with you all shortly. Until then, good luck at the tables.