2005 Aussie Millions - The Down Under Double

Speed Poker Championship and Aussie Million, Melbourne, 10 to 20th January 2005. Eight Betfair Poker players qualified online for their seat in the Speed Poker championship and the Aussie Million in Melbourne in January. Accompanied by our own "Ruru" the whole trip proved to be quite an experience for the players.

In the speed Poker championship, emminem, xmedsx and grumpy123 made the money, whilst Pokertips won a superb 34th place in the main event.

Vavavoom’s trip report

We arrived on Sunday morning after a 30-hour haul from Oslo. Concerns that we wouldn’t be able to check-in at the Crown Towers (at 06.30) were allayed when Åsa (vavavoom’s girlfriend) opened one button in her top, which proved a magical ‘open sesame’ for the reception staff.

After a three-hour nap we went for a walk in Melbourne’s botanical garden, and then back to bed. Dragging ourselves out of bed to have dinner we then returned to slumber for eleven hours more.

Monday morning started with a trip to the gym, before watching top Norwegian player Anders Hoyer Berg- aka Donald - in the £1000 No Limit. He was down to 1300 chips when the blinds were approaching 75/150, and joined us for ‘breakfast’ soon after. Rather than following us to Melbourne Zoo he went to bed, a smart move it would turn out, as the zoo was closing when we arrived. The woman selling the tickets made it clear that “the Gorillas were about to go off display in 30 minutes”. If you think about how Australia has treated the aborigines, it was quite a surprise that the gorillas had been able to negotiate a six-hour workday.

In the evening we hooked up with Donald again and took a taxi to the bay area, where we had dinner. This might be the time to make a remark about the quality of the people working in the Australian service industry. I had only been there for a few days, but it does seem that people who work preparing food and waiting tables are, well, rather stupid. I don't consider myself to be a snob in any way, but is it too much to ask that the wine be served together with the main course - not 10 minutes after? Today I ordered a coke in a restaurant in a small place called Port Campbell. Three people were working there but no coke arrived, even though we were the only guests. Marvellous.

Tuesday I played cards for the first time. It was a 200 AUD Super Satellite (50 runners for the Main Event, and to cut a long story short I managed to cash about £4000 after a deal was made four handed. The top five finishers were from the US (two), Germany, Sweden and Norway, while none of the 35 or so Australians who started got anything... (If you are a tournament report junkie - scroll down - there's more below).

Wednesday we started out shopping - an inevitable result of the win the previous day when travelling with a fiancé. Luckily it didn't set me back too much. Later we took a ferry to Williamstown, a cosy area with some small shops and cafes. We had a cup of coffee and took the ferry back. I returned a few seconds too late to get into Wednesdays super, but got in as the second alternate after 25 minutes.

Donald meanwhile was doing alright in the 1000 AUD Pot-limit. One of his early victims was Peter Costa who failed to lay down AA on the flop even thou it read two hearts and a deuce to match Donald’s 7h2h... Donald made the flush. In the end he finished 20th, after running into AA with QQ.

We played for two seats worth 10300 AUD and a third prize of 8700 with blinds at 2500/5000 (around 200 000 chips in play). When I got down to 14100 I needed to move in. I managed to steal the blinds twice and found myself with 29 000. Then the player on my right moved in with about 15000 UTG. I looked down on my first pocket pair over sixes for the entire night (very Simon Trumper-esque) - aces. I did three seconds of Hollywood and moved in. Everybody passed and my opponent turned over KK.

The flop was AQT - different suits.

Now if you've been around the block a few times you know you shouldn't start screaming "NO JACK - NO JACK - NO JACK" like an imbecile. I was unable to display such discipline. The last card was a jack.

This is when it's start getting exciting. Being back to 14-15 000 I really don't have much to think about. This is the last time I can realistically get my opponents to pass so I need (I think) to move in. Anyway, I take a peek at my hole cards. Jacks. I move in. Londoner Charles (?) Sanderson figures he's miles in front with AJ and moves in. The button calls with AK.

My hand holds up, and I move from sixth to first chip position with about 50 000 in chips. The drama is far from over. A German Betfair qualifier (Buzzer) moves in from seat 2 after the blinds for about 45 000 in the very next hand. I find AK suited and my immediate instinct is to pass instead of taking this confrontation with the guy who is second in chips. I'm in the big blind and pass when the small blind calls Buzzer for about 30 000.

Buzzer has Q7 (!). The small blind has 88.

Flop is A85...

From here on it's relatively easy. Buzzer is knocked out quickly. Sanderson knocks out a Swede after limit-raising with 98 offsuit only to call all-in to a re-raise. The Swede incidentally had AK. With four left I try to arrange a deal (the chipleader had eight big blinds at this point). We are unsuccessful in doing this. The shortstack doesn’t make a stand before calling all-in in the BB with J9 suited. He fails to beat A5, and the remaining three players chop it up with shortstack Sanderson taking one seat (after paying us 300 AUD each) as the other guy and I already have seats.

So I cash another 9500 AUD.

Was back on the satellite trail again on Saturday. Some 105 players battled it out for three seats and about 9000 AUD in fourth place. The buy-in was 125 with rebuys of 100 and 20 minutes periods. The lower buy-in meant that a lot of poor players took a shot, and the standard of play was appalling. In fact I saw so many bad plays that it is hard to remember any of my own hands.

Was back on the satellite trail again on Saturday. Some 105 players battled it out for three seats and about 9000 AUD in fourth place. The buy-in was 125 with rebuys of 100 and 20 minutes periods. The lower buy-in meant that a lot of poor players took a shot, and the standard of play was appalling. In fact I saw so many bad plays that it is hard to remember any of my own hands.
In the bad play category, however, the following moves I saw must be worthy of critical acclaim.

Moving all-in for 42 000 in chips from the button to pick up blinds of 700/1400.
Calling 14 000 (blinds 700/1400) all-in in the big blind with 54 offsuit.
Calling a re-raise all-in with a stack 50 per cent bigger than average with AT offsuit.
I made another final table. Had 43 200 when the final started with blinds 3000/6000. I moved all-in with pocket sixes in third position, and got called by a shorter stack (AK) and the big blind (with a stack of around 70 000) with AT. A ten on the flop pretty much secured the stupid sod in the big blind a seat in the Main Event.

77 players tried again with the same format the following day. I had to rebuy once but hit a nice run of cards on level 2 and 3, and managed to finish the rebuy period with 12 times the starting stack. I was later involved on the right side of an AA v AK-confrontation and a QQ (me) v AA just afterwards.

With 12 players left we had 60 Big blinds between us, and from there on it was a bit of a crapshoot. On the final table I was drawn to start under the gun. I found J9 suited, and decided to take a shot at the blinds instead of letting them pass through me and reducing my stack by 50 percent. It worked. The next time I picked up a suited connector (98 in the cutoff) I wasn't as lucky as I was called by A9 and TT. The tens held up and I finished eighth.

The next event was a 1080AUD 'Supershot' satellite. It was a freezeout with 65 players thus making it six seats and a 5150 AUD seventh prize. I doubled up early with KK v QQ on the first level, but ended up dangerously shortstacked with 20 players left. I managed to manoeuvre my way into the final table and started with 9000 chips while the average was 19 500. Johan Storakers was in a dominating chip position. Play was extremely passive as everybody naturally wanted other players to make a stand against the short stacks. One of the short stacks more or less decided to get anted away, while two of the others battled it out with a pair v overcards (AQ)-situation were the overcards came out on top.

This meant that we were eight players left fighting for six and a half seats. Some of the players tried to make a deal at this point, but the bigger stacks refused. At this point I have managed to get my stack up to 27 600. The blinds were 2000/4000. One player (Irish) moves all-in against my big blind. I find QQ, and decide to call. The Irish guy flips over QJ. The flop is AT9 - the turn irrelevant and the river a King.

So now I have to post 2000 of my remaining 7400 in the small blind. It's passed around to me and I look down at 75 suited. The big blind is a rock (constantly boasting about how he is passing AJ and AQ when the shortstacks are going all-in, but I don't think even he would pass up this opportunity to knock me out and the chance to win a 14 800 pot for a call of a mere 3400. So I pass, and decide to wait for a hand that might have a chance against a random hand in the big blind. Shortly thereafter the blinds increase to 3000/6000.

I pick up 62 twice and 73 once. It's then passed to me and I call all-in with Q8 suited. Johan Storakers goes into the tank, trying to decide how to play his hand. He makes it 12 000 to go, thereby forcing out the Big Blind. Johan has kings.

The flop is 832. The turn a Q, and the river a six. The crowd (probably around 50 people) goes nuts, and the other players are about to pull their hair out. The all-in shortstack survives again. Shortly thereafter the Irish guys limps with pocket sixes, only to call another 11 200 from a shortstack holding AK. The shortstack rivers a King.

I let the blinds go through me twice, picking up the blinds from the button once. Meanwhile no other confrontations take place. I have 10 200 when I find AJ on the button. An even shorter stack (9500) goes all-in in third position, and I decide to take him on. Johan thinks for an eternity before passing for the additional 4200 in the big blind (it would leave him with just 15 000 after posting the small blind in the next hand if he lost).

My opponent had A5 and with a Jack high flop there were no more room for miracles.

Now all of a sudden the people who were uninterested in a deal when we were eight players, can't wait to chop it up. I was in fact the one least interested, as I didn't need to post a blind for another five hands or so, but in the end I caved when one of the others volunteered to take the 5150 AUD seventh prize and 500 AUD from each of the other players.

I sold my seat immediately. Unfortunately the going rate was only 9800, but I will not complain. All in all - an 8100 AUD payday is far better than nothing.

Main event Day 1:


263 runners. 1 hour Intervals. Double chance format. 263 runners means the chances of having Marcel Luske on your left for the first nine hours are 261:1 multiplied by the chance of our table not being broken, and none of us being moved. Marvellous. In addition I managed to kick a glass of latte and spill it over his trousers when I return from the toilet. What are the odds? 261:1 x not being moved x spilling coffee on the only person in the room with a decent suit. And they say the Internet is rigged.

After two hours I was down to 8025 chips. I had one big hand, Kings, that I made it 1100 to with from the big blind (after one raise and a call). Both passed.

After four hours I had 13 625. One key hand worth mentioning. It's raised to 700 from a Swedish Ladbrokes qualifier in early position. I flat call with tens. Marcel Luske calls in the small blind and checks the flop blind.

The flop is 984. The raiser checks too. I bet 2200, leaving me with 3500. Marcel quickly calls. The raiser passes.

Turn is another 8. Marcel checks again. Now if there’s a poker hell I'm sure decisions about what to do next in a situation like this come up all the time. If I bet he calls (only?) if he has me beat, and I am out of the tournament. If I am still in front and check, I give him a free card. However, the fact that he probably had connected fairly well on the flop to call my pot-bet, means that he probably doesn’t have too many cards to beat me, if still behind.

I check. The turn is low. He bets 800 - I call. He has A9 and I win an 8600 pot.

After six levels I am up to 15100. The average at this point is 18500. In this period I threw away almost 5000 chips on a badly timed move with pocket sixes that didn't connect with the flop. The guy who had limitraised in early position and bet tiny on the flop turned out to have Kings. Some rounds later the limitraiser makes it 3200 to go - 10 times the big blind - from early position. Now I find Kings. I have some 7500 left and move allin. After a long deliberation the raiser calls with AK, but my hand holds up. I made a stupid play later with QQ on the button. I raise three times the blind. Marcel calls. The flop is AK4 with two clubs. Marcel checks blind. I check. Turn is a third club. I have the queen of clubs. Marcel checks again. I make a small bet, only to see him move allin. How big of a moron am I not to take the free card here? Obviously I pass. Marcel proudly shows A4.

After eight periods I am down to 6100. What cost me most was raising with AQ in early position, and then betting 4800 on a Jack high flop. My female caller moved allin, and I obviously pass. Shortly after I raise twice, and get reraised in both hands. These things tend to cost.

On level 9 the blinds are 600/1200 with a running 100 ante. I manage to pick up the first hand by raising to 3700, being called by the lady in the BB, and then going allin on the flop. Then I find AK, and re-raise allin from middle position. The raiser folds.

We are now moved to new tables. Halleluja. I am actually able to nick some blinds here. Then a very important hand happens. I raise to 3100 with 99 from the cut-off. The small blind re-raises another 5500, leaving himself with about 15 000. Somehow I sense that he simply thinks I am playing position. I call the reraise. The flop is AQ7. He checks, I bet 7000 - half my stack, and he passes after a long dwell-up (even though I am quite sure he had fuck-all).

Billy the Croc on my right makes it 4000 to go when its passed to us in the blinds. I look down on AJ suited. All-in. He passes, claiming A7.

I pick up Kings again on level 10, and finally I get action. A stack of 16-17000 re-raises allin. My hand holds up. I finish level 10 with 59 400, while the average is about 45 000. Quite a comeback if I may say so.

57 players were left when we started level 11(Blinds 1000/2000 - antes 200), and play would go on until there were 54 left. For some reason this made people do anything but play hands. In the 25 minutes before the tournament was stopped for the day I increased my stack to 91 400 without taking part in a showdown. The average is about 47 000.

Donald is out while Johan Storaker has about 60 000.

Main event Day 2:


Sorry. I messed up.

Had a brief period on an eight-handed table (56 remained, not 54 as I thought). It turned out to be tougher than the one I finished at yesterday. Tried picking up the blinds/antes when it was passed to me in the small blind. Was reraised, and had to pass.

Our table was broken shortly thereafter. My new table has Marcel in the third seat behind me, and some considerable stacks. I manage to steal a raised pot on a ten high flop by betting into the (shortstacked) raiser with AJ. I get reraised when trying to pick up another pot. Pass.

Then I pick up Jacks under the gun. I make it 6500 to go (Blinds/antes are now 1000/2000/300). Next player makes it 20 000. I am really not interested in advertising that I will lay down every time I get reraised even though I am not overjoyed about playing this hand out of position. I call, leaving myself with about 70 000.

Flop is K8x. Check - Check.

Turn (I think) is a nine.

I bet way too little. 13 000. He ‘beats me into the pot’ as they say. I am quite sure he has queens now. The river is a low card.

In retrospect I think I should have gone allin here. Instead I bet a pathetic 17 000. He calls relatively easy. Sure enough. Queens. It's often best to trust your instincts above all else.

I pick up some more blinds and antes. Then I raise Johan Storakers big blind (the blinds are now 1200/2400/300) from second position with QT off. He goes into the tank, asking me how much I've got, will I pass etc etc…(quite amusing as I had had the same questions twice in the three previous hands). Anyway...

The flop is 665. He checks, I bet 12 000, he moves allin. I pass.

Now I am under the gun. Jacks. Hmm. I am not going to pass them whatever happens, and if anybody picks up QQ, KK, AA then good luck to them. I move allin with 34-36000 or so. Everybody passes. Ok I see that I am a bit on tilt now, and should probably have made a more standard-size raise.

As I stack my chips (bloody hundreds...). I look down on AJ. The far most aggressive player raises. "Oh no" I hear you cry. I am afraid so, yes...

I move in immediately. He calls with Kings.

It's over.

It's the second time I am all-in in the tournament, and of course it was totally unnecessary. However it is hard to avoid such momentary lapses in concentration (and sanity) in these long events. When I moved in I felt it was a good chance that I was in front (the raiser had had to show his hand twice when he had raised earlier previously - with Q9 (from the button) and AT (cutoff)). Nevertheless it's out of character for me to back AJ with my whole stack when I still have 17 big blinds. What makes it even worse was that the raiser had made it 15 000 to go with his raise - six times the big blind. Surely I should have stopped to think what that meant.

After10 hours to think about the tournament as a whole, I was actually quite pleased with my performance. I had a bad start on a difficult table, but managed to be focused and not get impatient. I told myself that if I could get off that table with 70 per cent of the average I would be happy. I did so without winning any big confrontations. Even though I made some bad plays on day two (my cautious approach definitely caused me to lose too many chips on the hand with JJ v QQ mentioned above) I think I have found a strategy to build on in the future.

After the successes in the satellites we return home with quite a healthy profit, despite the fact that 1) I only played tournaments and 2) Åsa had the pin code to the safety deposit box. Australia is awesome. Hope we can all meet up here next year.

vavavoom

How Grumpy123 went from no poker knowledge to a $2000 win

I think the line from the classic Hot Chocolate song is:

“It started with a kiss….”

This being a modern era, it actually started with a text message.

Same result – romance guaranteed.

Two days before Christmas, I got a call from Ben at Betfairpoker.com in response to my text message saying that I’d won a competition.

I was taking my girlfriend, Kirsten, on holiday to her hometown of Melbourne, Australia. This must be worth some brownie points.

“Oh, and by the way darling, I’m playing in the World Speed Poker Championship.”

“WHAT?”

Christmas Day was a mix of criticism, awe and inevitable envy from friends and family alike:

“You can only just play Snap”

“How does the tournament work?”

“You’ll lose more money than the cost of the holiday.”

“You jammy b*****d!”

Australia
Now guys, when a woman says, ‘size isn’t everything’ you know that on the whole, she’s lying.

‘This hotel room is almost as big as your flat. AND it’s got a spa bath.’

Okay, so I did feel slightly inadequate.

This sense of inadequacy was to imbed itself even further when we met up with Ruru and the winners of the Betfair poker satellite tournaments. These guys play this game for a living! They take this game seriously! Oh shit!

You may not have picked up on this yet, but I had never played a single hand of poker in my life.

That day, courtesy of Betfair Poker we were taken out along the Great Ocean Road thus escaping the pull of the casino and enjoying the weather and scenery that the state of Victoria has to offer.

We were then treated to dinner at which point I found out the tournament was ‘No Limits’. Bugger! I’d been watching the tables over the last couple of nights and thought I’d grasped the Limits Rules, but this was an altogether different ball game. Fortunately help was at hand and the next morning I had an hour with a poker master –Pokertips- who filled me in on the finer points of the game. Well as much as you can to someone who is as clueless as me.

The Big Day
204 players, split into two sittings of 102 players each. The top 18 from each sitting go through to the next day. Kirsten and her Dad, Mike, are on the sidelines watching this Pom about to get his arse whipped. My money’s on me lasting 6-7 minutes at the most.

We are allotted our seats. Mineral water and Red Bull are on constant supply. A drum and bass back beat and gorgeous young ladies holding the stop clocks. It feels like we are in an elite London nightclub. Oh yes, I forgot about the poker bit.

The dealer asks me why I folded on a big blind when I could have checked. Another player asks me why I folded on AQ when AQA comes up on the flop. I ask myself, what right I have to be here amongst such poker greats?

Four and a half hours later, 11 bottles of water, 1 Red Bull and 7 much needed toilet breaks, I am asking myself the same question. I am still here. I have had some luck, but now I am playing like a numpty. The American opposite me is getting on my nerves and I am taking it personally. The number of players is down to 25. Only 2 of us have survived this table. “All in” I hear from another table, and then again and then again. I look up and there are now 19 people in the tournament. Kirsten and Mike are standing there mouth agape. There is a distinct murmur about the crowd. The dealer only seven minutes ago whispered in my ear:

“I’ve just been told that you’ve never played this game before”

“Shush, none of the other players know…”

And then it’s all over. The 18 players are through to the next day.

Congratulations to them all as they’ve won at least AUD $1,600 each and shall be playing for the top prize of AUD $100,000. And I am one of them!

A huge cheer goes up and I am congratulated by poker greats. I am mobbed by the leggy blonde timekeepers – unfortunately no photos – and have to fight them off to receive congratulations from Kirsten.

The next 24 hours are a blur until I am seated at a knockout table, in front of television cameras and a small-seated audience. The American is there, but I avoid him at all cost. Within five minutes he’s made a bad call and he’s out. My earnings increase to AUD $2,000. I go all in with KK against 55 only to be met with a 5 on the flop. How can I complain? The remaining players congratulate me. Kirsten is told by a stranger in the audience that it’s a shame that this guy was beaten in this manner as he’d never played poker before. Interviewed by the Discovery Channel. The day is complete.

I would be hard pushed to suggest a more complete experience. Ruru, Betfairpoker.com, the other players and guests all treated Kirsten and I with such hospitality and warmth. If only every year could start in this way….

Corkie on enjoying a real holiday

Well I’ve been back two weeks now. Still not over the trip but if anyone wants to have a poker holiday then going to Australia with Betfair is the only way to go. I like first to thank Ruru and Matthehat for looking after us while we were there and making sure that everyone was not left out of anything. As for myself, I helped by putting some of them to bed after their lights went out. (Ruru, emminem) Good pool players but drinking- no.

Well now for my bad beat in the speed poker. On the small blind I limp in with 2d 5d only to be raised by big blind for 100 more after some thought I called just to see the flop well the flop came 9 6 3 not bad for me. I checked as you would and was asked to put in another 100 so after another long thought-about 5 seconds- I called the turn. 4! A dream card for me so I check. 350 was the bet by my opponent and I raised to 700 only to be reraised to 1700. I went all in. He threw his chips in the pot as fast as he could throw out his set of 44. I turn over my 5 and 2 his face dropped to the floor. Now all was left to get his chips was the board not to pair so I asked the dealer not to pair the board. Swearing was my next action!

So I was out off to the cricket, Australia v West Indies.

As for the main event, it started well but all the good cards left me and my end was made better by giving my 7500 chips to Buzzer, my A K V TT. At least they went to one of my fellow players from Betfair Poker. Well to all my new friends thank you for making it one of the best holidays I ever had and I hope to see you all next year.

corkie