2007/10/11 - Number 10 - Annual Post HAHA

K so where the hell have i been?

Well too busy playing reading and generally living poker.

The dream was always to become a pro (and by pro i just mean make a living from poker, rather than claim to be a great or famous player).

You might be surprised to read that i am 80% there.

I guess i would classify myself as a semi pro. I have gone casual at my place of work reducing my full time schedule from 38hrs p/w to only 11 hours. I think i may be "let go" soon though, as i have booked a flight to Melbourne Australia for the next couple of weeks to play the Pokernews cup at Crown Casino, and my boss is getting annoyed that i am having a few days off here and there out of only 2 i am supposed to work.

I think he will give me the "its no point having you on the roster when you hardly come in" speech - i think if he asks me to quit it wont bother me - its a drag everyday having to go there.

So back to the update - in a nutshell - what has happened over the last year?

Well the first major thing was I played another Burswood qualifier tournament, this time to the Western Classic 2006. I did gain entry and went on to finish top 3 which won me a flight to Melbourne, accomodation at Crown Towers AND a $10500 entry to the 2007 Aussie Millions!

Fantastic trip but a disappointing end, when i was bundled out of the main event on day one by a string of people willing to call any amount on a gutshot straight draw (which they hit) OR underpairs to my AA or KK on boards of J10x that they then hit for trips on the river.

The week after placing at the Western Classic I took out a tournament held in a central suburb of Perth known as the Tournament Of Champions. Basically 100+ of Perths better (and luckier) players. That was worth 3k so in 2 weeks i had won $20k from poker - good times.

Over the following months i continued to play some tournaments and even came runner up in the 3rd Tourn of Champs after coming back from what i consider the worst live bad beat EVER that i have come across. And this was after the same fish put a shocking beat on me earlier.

Let me set it up. The donkey on my right has been playing A grade CHEESE* all night and calling down with Ahigh and 4 kicker and somehow winning pot after pot. I on the other hand have been playing great, good reads, good cards, and upto the hand in question my hands were holding up.

So anyway, i get KQ in the blinds - couple of limpers inc donkey and when it gets to me i think ive got 11k avg approx 2k i think i can hopefully take this down and if not its prob only donkey to call and i know i can outplay him and he'll pay me off if i hit so i raise - donkeyboy is only caller.

Flop is 22K - i am pretty sure i am up with KQ so i lead out knowing he will call with anything. he does. Q on turn upgrades my 2pr and now i KNOW i am up - i lead out a weak bet and based on recent hands think he will try to steal - he goes all in (we started the hand me 11k him approx 10k) and i instacall. He has 33!! WHAT A FISH.

So anyway 3 on the river and he doubles to 20k and i am barely alive at $1500.

So over the next 30 mins or so I continue to play well get a couple of hands and start building my stack again. He finally starts losing some hands and we come to the point where i am leading again with 12K and he is back down to about 10K.

I am in the blinds again and have AA. I instantly think i am gonna knock this clown out.blinds are now 200/400. a shortish stack calls leaving himself about 2100 and donkeyboy also calls (what else is he gonna do?) I look at my cards have a little think and decide if i raise 800, short stack may all in (if so donkey will call then i can all in) or if short calls donkey will call and on the flop i can continuation bet 800 which will make short fold if he has NOTHING at all or more likely get him to all in for his 1300 which will reopen the pot so when donkey calls as i know he will, i can then reraise vs donkey.

So short calls as does donkey and the flop is A 8 5 RAINBOW

Let me say that again : A 8 5 RAINBOW. I flop trip A the nuts....

SO plan B is to be put into action. I pause then lead out confidently with 800, short stack says yeah alright im all in - donkey calls of course. Now here is where i go to Hollywood, i look at donkey, i look at my cards, i really ham it up - anyone would prob see through this charade but not donkey - i then give him the evil stare and say "IM ALL IN" and thrust my remaining 11k in the pot - donkey INSTACALLS!!! I think what the hell has he got????

i flip over my AA and the railbirds and players on the table are amazed - AAA and 25k in the pot. WHat does Donkey turn over?

POCKET 2 - yep 22!!! Did he learn from the 33 from before ie he won but he called and was in BAD shape - NO he didnt and this time its even worse - to win he needs the IMPOSSIBLE - his tourney life is on the line and he needs running twos for quads to beat me....

As a 2 pops up on the turn the table erupts and people start running over to see what all the fuss is about. As i sit there thinking it is just IMPOSSIBLE that after hitting 333 on the river b4 he could now crack my flopped AAA trips with running 2 quads, the dealer lays out the case 2. ITS TRUE - i have many witnesses to this - he did it again.

As he sat there smiling and laughing with his stupid girlfriend congratulating him, my favourite comment was some guy who said to him "You know what u just did? You jumped in front of a speeding bus and instead of being smeared all over the fender and windscreen, the bus split in half like a Fred Flintstone 7-10-split bowling ball and missed you."

So how did i come runner up? Well to shorten this up, i came back playing well - gambled only once "at the right time" and doubled up then steadily built my stack till i got heads up for the championship with a 7:1 chip lead.

The last 4 hands were played all in - i had the best of it every time (and they weren't all coinflips i had him dominated twice AQ vs Q7 and Js10s vs J4 "I thought you were bluffing" and lost every one - hence runner up!

So i have graduated from the 10/20 limit game and now play pretty much exclusively the $5/$5 No Limit game. $500 max buy-in and swings can be pretty large as Perth seems VERY aggressive and in fact the 5/5 game plays more like a 5/10 game with 35-45 being a common pre flop raise. Where in the world is a standard raise 10% of your stack????

What is interesting is that i tend to win more when i play less. I dont know if this is statistical probability that the more hands i win i am due to lose one OR that i tend to lose concentration.

I DO believe the former because all i can do is put my money in with the best. Case in point 2 days ago i raise with AQh and get 2 callers. One a fish another a very loose aggressive player "Rowan" who could have anything. If i hit either card i know with his range i am likely 99% to be ahead. Flop is Q low low, i KNOW he would have reraised me with a pair so at worst i am splitting but im pretty sure i am up.

He checks and i bet $50 happy to take it down (he may have a K and if he does hes likely to hit on the turn coz hes a luckbox). ANyway fish calls and Rowan all in another $200 - I instacall coz he will often push a hand here. His thinking is I will fold anything maybe inc AQ in the unlikely event i have it and if i do i can think he has trips - but i KNOW him so i all in to isolate and kick out fish who can also always suck out.

Fish calls as well and we show ME=AQ FISH=QJ and ROWAN=Q10.... Q10!!!!!

So 10 on turn and Rowan sucks out again!

OK well that is enough for now.

I'll prob post again when i return from Melbourne - I am pretty focussed on doing well there so i will be pretty disappointed if i dont get some kind of result.

* cheese

(n) piece of cheese. "Throw that cheese in the muck" is sometimes said by someone who has made a bet, usually large, to the person contemplating calling that bet, implying that the caller cannot win with his (supposedly) inferior hand.