The Gutshot Take 2 - Gettin closer

I headed back to the Gutshot for another Tuesday night ‘beginners night’ tourney. I figured that I cant play the cash games until I can afford to suffer a few bad runs from the deck so until then I can just cap my max potential losses at £20 and still have decent prospects of making some decent coin. I’m still playing online as well but not as much as id like and when I do play its still a battle to keep my cash out of Sit n Go's and on the cash tables. The draw of the Sit n Go's is like a magnet for me even though I know full well that I have much better returns from cash games. I also know that to make something of a poker career I've gotta focus on cash games and try and ignore the massive wins I see in the WSOP and WPT as the top pros can go months and even years without winning one or even cashing. Cash games are going to be my ticket to the big time – I'm just not sure I can afford it yet.

Anyway, now that that tangent is over, back to Tuesday night. I had arrived way to early last time and had to sit and wait for like 45mins so this time I arrived about 20 mins before the start and only just got registered in time. There were 110 runners and the prize pool had crept up over £2000 which was a nice figure to see on the tournament screen.

In what was probably the most amazing start to a tournament I've ever seen, a dude (I’ll get back to him later in the post) got dealt pocket rockets on the first hand. ‘Not so amazing’ I hear you say. Well the guy to his right had raised it up and didn’t leave himself much fold equity as he had only bought in for a tenner. The rockets guy reraised enough to put him all in and the guy insta-called and flipped over AK. Needless to say the aces held up and the AK guy was sent packing on hand one.

Hand two is dealt and the guy to the right of rockets dude raises it up again. Rockets dude sits and thinks about it for a while and then reraises him all in. I was suspicious of this and figured he was trying to steal but when I saw my holdings (two rags of some sort) I had to fold and watch how it developed. It folded back to the initial raiser and he went into the tank. Bear in mind he was friends with the busted guy – not that it’s relevant but just funny. I was fully expecting a call and eventually he flipped his AK and said you can have it mate. Rockets guy instantly flips over another two fucking aces - unbelievable!!!!! I’ve never even seen that kind of shit online let alone live. I know if I had that AK I was going home after that hand. How he folded it I’ll never know but what a laydown.

So rockets guy was on a roll and trust me, the rest of the table was hating it. This dude was an English guy of Indian or Paki decent (or something in that region) and he would not shut up. He just talked smack the entire time regardless of whether he was in the hand or not. The scary thing was he was playing pretty well and accumulating lots of chips. When he busted out two more guys on one hand and had a massive stack I was very pleased that our table got broken up. He will make another appearance in this post though as he was truly the poker villain for the rest of the 109 runners.

I played really well – got down to a short stack early after suck out but slowly built it back up to around average and never really dropped below average until the final three tables. I was really enjoying myself and when I won a race with my pocket deuces against a guys KQ (I think – I know they were overcards) the table thought it was wicked when they commented on how lucky the deuces were and I scoffed and said they were always gonna win and that’s why I had them tattooed on my wrist.

It was about this time that our old friend the rockets dude was making his exit. He was mouthing off to everyone that he was better than anyone in the room and would take anyone on in a game of heads up. He basically got told in no uncertain terms to fuck right off. What a wanker!!!

A few orbits later and I was low on chips with the break about 30 seconds away when I hit top pair top kicker on a sketchy looking board. I was out of position but put in a bet trying to take it down. The chip leader raised me all in fairly quickly but I really only put him on a draw and thought he was playing the bully. I also figured I would call it regardless as if I busted I could leave and not have to sit through the break with the hope of making my short stack a cash cow. If I was right and the board didn’t help him then I would double up. So I called and flipped my hand only to see him excitedly show his flopped straight and I was busted in 22nd out of 110.

I was happy with my play but not so happy with missing the cash. I’m feeling more in the groove now and although I wasn’t exactly getting dealt great cards, I was making moves and they were paying off. I think I only got two pocket pairs all night and they were both 66 so I think I did pretty well with the hands I had.

The top two chopped the pot for around £500 each and I know that when (not if) I win one of these I’ll be more than happy with £500.

Welcome to the Gutshot

I’ve been in London for coming on three weeks now and kind of dipped my toes so to speak into the massive poker scene over here. I had done a little bit of research prior to coming over, checking out various poker clubs online sites etc. I found a joint called ‘The Gutshot’ and the website looked pretty flash so I made it my choice to check out for real once I arrived.

On day one here I took Tarz on a walking tour of London so she could get her bearings a bit – I have lived here before about 7 or 8 years ago but she had only ever visited. I made sure that the tour magically went along Clerkenwell Road (a bit north-west of the CBD) and there, in a nondescript brown-faced building, proudly stood what I hoped would be the place where I would really start my live poker career.

I play a lot of online poker but there is only so much enjoyment you can get out of sitting at a computer and making bets against faceless opponents for hours on end. The real reason I like poker is the social side to the game – to me, a great night can involve little more than having some good friends around, swigging on beers and talking crap as we battle it out for tiny little stakes – the money is irrelevant in games like that as its all about the banter and the smacktalk. Win or lose I always go home happy after a good session of live poker. Also – there is something fun about mucking around with chips that you obviously can’t experience online.

So back to the Gutshot. Now that I knew where it was, I felt it was only a matter of time before I went in to try and ply my trade against the local competition. We had arrived on a Sunday and I was registering with an employment agency nearby on the Tuesday arvo so I figured what better time to go and join up to the club. I wandered over and had a chat to the guy on the desk while I joined up. He was cool and told me to come back that night which was ‘beginners night’. Although the prospect of beginners night didn’t enthuse me, I figured it would give me a taster of what the Gutshot was about without the threat of killing my already almost non-existent bankroll. 6:45pm rolled around and I hit the tube to make my way in to the city for the 8pm ‘Shuffle Up and Deal’ call.

The Tuesday night tournament is a variable buy in freezeout. I’ve never seen this kind of buy in structure before and don’t really rate it highly but each to their own I guess. The way it works is you can buy in for £5, £10, £15 or £20 and you get 500, 1000, 1500 or 2000 chips respectively. I guess this is good if you can only afford the smaller buy ins but I can’t see the point in buying yourself in as a short stack from the first hand. Needless to say I bought in for the max.

The table talk was friendly and although I didn’t play to the peak of my powers (I’m sure I have powers – still waiting to unleash them once I figure out what they are) I enjoyed my first live experience in the big smoke. There was 87 runners and I got busted out in about 45th after I donked most of my chips off on a stupid gutshot straight draw. I don’t usually chase gutshots so maybe it was the whole ‘I'm playing at the Gutshot so I'm making this gutshot’ thing happening. Regardless, it was stupid and I ended up busting the next hand when I pushed my shortstack holding KQ and got no help from the board against his Jacks.

I checked the website the next day and the winner took down about £520 which isn’t a bad return for a £20 investment and a few hours work. I had a great time and with the possibility of taking down 500 big ones for a £20 buy in I’ll def be back. They also have juicy looking cash games and this is my forte (yeah I have powers and a forte!!!) so I’ll be checking them out once the bankroll starts climbing.

Adding some pics

I want to try and make this blog a little more aesthetically pleasing so im gonna slowly add in pics for previous and future posts....

To start with here is my latest ink. Its on my left wrist and speaks for itself.....

Strange Sit n Go result

So I’m playing a few cash tables last night waiting for Tarz to get home from her dinner. I was up about $20 USD after about 90 mins playing two $0.05/0.10 tables. Just for something added, I bought into a single table Sit n Go ($1 buy in).

No sooner than I had been seated, my phone rang and it was Tarz announcing she would be home in a few mins. Seeing as I had been playing for a while I thought I’d just donk off my chips in the Sit n Go until she got home and then finish up.

So I start out making ridiculous bets and taking down some pots. I call a few huge bets with nothing and suck out and win a few more hands. I’m playing so purposely badly that when Tarz gets home I’m the short stack of the 8 remaining players. To try and end it I start a mission of all in bets. I win a few pots by the table folding, a few by having the best hand and a few by sucking out. I’m sure my table image was shot to pieces as I would have just come across as a maniac who has no idea.

But……after a while it was down to three and I was the chip leader – I play for freaking sixind levels like a fool and come out chip leader and in the money already – go figure.

The next 10 or 12 hands were pretty much uneventful as the blinds just moved around between us.

The following two hands ended the tournament.

I think I played the first one badly but got lucky and I like how I played the 2nd to win it all!!!! (well $4.50)

PokerStars Tournament #49359488, $1.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2007/05/03 - 09:05:14 (ET)Table '49359488 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button

Seat 1: THE CALLA (3880 in chips)
Seat 6: famouspmac (4830 in chips)
Seat 9: EarthHoney (4790 in chips)
famouspmac: posts small blind 100
EarthHoney: posts big blind 200

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to famouspmac [8c 3d]

THE CALLA: folds
famouspmac: calls 100
EarthHoney: checks

*** FLOP *** [8s Tc Ad]

famouspmac: bets 200
(I put in a min bet - if raised any bigger I would have thrown it but it was a tiny raise in relation to the bet so I didn’t really put him on much)
EarthHoney: raises 200 to 400
famouspmac: calls 200

*** TURN *** [8s Tc Ad] [3s]

famouspmac: checks
EarthHoney: bets 1200
(I’ve now put him on an A or a T – he had been pushing a lot so if he had nothing or 2 pair or more I would expect a push)
famouspmac: calls 1200

*** RIVER *** [8s Tc Ad 3s] [Kh]

famouspmac: bets 2000
(I’m pretty certain I’m in front here so I lead out)
EarthHoney: raises 990 to 2990 and is all-in
famouspmac: calls 990

*** SHOW DOWN ***
EarthHoney: shows [7h Ah] (a pair of Aces)
famouspmac: shows [8c 3d] (two pair, Eights and Threes)
famouspmac collected 9580 from pot


The very next hand……

PokerStars Tournament #49359488, $1.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2007/05/03 - 09:06:08 (ET)Table '49359488 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button

Seat 1: THE CALLA (3880 in chips)
Seat 6: famouspmac (9620 in chips)
famouspmac: posts small blind 100
THE CALLA: posts big blind 200

*** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to famouspmac [6s 8s]

famouspmac: raises 200 to 400
THE CALLA: raises 600 to 1000
(no idea what he has here but I suspect a big pair or AK, AQ, AJ – I’ll call just to see if spades hit)
famouspmac: calls 600

*** FLOP *** [2s 8c Ks]

THE CALLA: bets 1000
(I’ve got middle pair with the flush draw and he hasn’t shown much strength so I flat call. Im thinking he is trying to get me off the flush draw)
famouspmac: calls 1000

*** TURN *** [2s 8c Ks] [3s]

THE CALLA: bets 1880 and is all-in
(there is a chance he has the higher flush but the way he had been betting I’m almost certain he only has a pair)
famouspmac: calls 1880

*** RIVER *** [2s 8c Ks 3s] [7h]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
THE CALLA: shows [Ts Tc] (a pair of Tens)
famouspmac: shows [6s 8s] (a flush, King high)
famouspmac collected 7760 from pot

Some thoughts on Cash Poker vs Tournament/Sit n Go Poker

I’ve been playing poker online for about 18 months now. At first it was just for a bit of fun and I didn’t really care how well or how badly I performed, I was happy just to donate some money into my account and then see what happened. I didn’t take it too seriously and I had a lot of fun.

It was around a year ago that I really got bitten by the poker bug and started playing a lot more. I would stick to mainly No Limit Hold Em Sit-n Go’s with a buy-in of $5 or multi-table tourneys with smaller buy-ins. I was winning a little bit but was mainly up and down and not really turning a profit. Still I was having fun and didn’t mind the fact that I wasn’t making any money.

The last six months have been a bit different. I started playing cash games online and now I think I’ve finally reached the point where I prefer them to Sit n Go's or tournaments.

Let’s say I sit down at a micro limit table (blinds of $0.02/0.05) of No Limit Hold Em with the max buy in of $10. This is the equivalent of say two $5 Sit n Go’s (not including rake) yet I feel my return of investment is much greater. I can sit on the $10 for hours without going broke if the cards are running bad however I could easily blow through two Sit n Go's in no time at all if the cards are running similarly bad. On the flipside, if I win a sit n go of those stakes I can pocket around $22 for a $17 profit. This kind of profit at a cash table is really nothing and easily obtained as long as one has PATIENCE.

I guess for me, it makes more sense to spend 2 or 3 hours grinding away at a few cash games (multitabling) for a $20 or $30 profit with a low chance of busting out than to invest my bankroll in a Sit n Go where one bad hand can bust me out with no chance of getting my money back.

Patience really is the key. In general, I’m not a very patient person. I have had to really focus on it when playing my cash games. The ability to sit there and wait for the opportune moment to maximise my profit in a cash game doesn’t come easily. I will often play 3 or 4 tables at once but I’ve found I perform best when I’m playing at just one or two tables.


So with a firm decision made to focus on cash games, the question remains – what game is my game of choice. I’ve played so much No Limit Hold Em that I think I need a break from it. Don’t get me wrong – I love the game. I love its simplicity yet I also love its complexity. If you don’t know what I mean then you should stick to recreational poker.

So what does that leave??? Draw poker??? Not a chance. I will play the odd sit n go as I can cash in them regularly but I just cant get as absorbed by draw poker as other forms. Seven Card Stud??? Perhaps. I’ve played a bit of Stud but still consider myself a beginner at it. Getting used to not having community cards is something I’ll attack later on down the track. Razz (Lowball Seven Card Stud)??? Enough said about Razz.

That leaves Omaha (well there is a lot more, but of the games I have played over the last 18 months it only leaves Omaha). I stick to the Hi/Lo split and I find I'm really enjoying it. I like the multiple options with the four hole cards and I like the high hand/low hand split – especially when there is no low hand and I scoop the pot.

When I started playing I used to just throw away cash not really understanding which starting hands were of value etc, or chasing down the pot with a crappy low hand and getting pipped for the entire pot by a dude who flopped a wheel (A2345) or something similar. The more I play and read about Omaha though the more I like it and the better I am getting at it (I can gauge this by the fact that I'm now turning a small l profit on the cash tables).

Choosing which limits to play has been another issue I have had to deal with. Like most people, I want to try and win as much as possible and the higher stakes you play the bigger the wins will be in theory. But on several occasions I’ve been punching above my weight and ended up going broke and having to reload the bankroll. Trying to stick to some sort of bankroll management strategy was my New Years resolution and at this point although I haven’t got any management software or spreadsheets in place I’ve been able to mentally monitor my wins and losses and have kept the bankroll slowly increasing.

So with the UK trip pending I’m trying to play a little bit more and get my bankroll up a bit. I’ll probably have a bit more time on my hands over there at first and I intend to have net access so hopefully by the time I arrive my bankroll will be at level which allows me to play a bit higher limits.

The Sandwich

A quickfire dinner is often needed and what better than a bbq chicken and other selected sandwich fillers to slot between some slices fresh ploughmans for a quick and easy meal.

The sandwiches on the night consisted of chicken, cheese, whole-egg mayo (the only mayo) lettuce and some spices and I knocked off two of them. Tarz managed 1.5 and the final ½ was wrapped and fridged. I went to bed safe in the knowledge that I had a half-sandwich breakfast waiting for me the next morning.

At some point an hour or so before I was due to even consider rising, I stirred a bit but I remember thinking about the sandwich and falling back into slumber. My subconscious was now aware of the need for the sandwich and soothed my stirring sleep with thoughts of sliced fresh chicken tit, shaved tasty cheese, crisp lettuce and a fair slathering of the old whole-egg mayo.

Tarz was up earlier than me and was gone by the time I got up. I was starving but didn’t rush to get to the sandwich. I knew there wasn’t a massive feast so I didn’t want to rush in and have it be over in seconds. I got my shit together and headed for the fridge.

As I opened the door the first thing I noticed is that the sandwich was not where I had left it the night before. I didn’t panic but commenced a quick scan of the shelves. Halfway through the scan I realized it was futile. The sandwich was gone. Someone had eaten my breakfast and I just kind of stood there not knowing whether to hunt for a second rate breakfast or to cut my losses and move on, perhaps grab a consolation hot breakfast once I got to work.

I was rattled but I slammed the fridge door closed and headed off. One call to Tarz upon arrival at work confirmed my suspicions that she was the thief. Then again it was technically her sandwich so thievery wasn’t really an issue here. Regardless I felt robbed.

All the negative feelings were soon washed away by an egg and bacon roll and a Dare Espresso.

Still, I’ll never forget that sandwich…….

Australia Day No Limit Texas Hold Em Championships 2007

Well Australia Day has come and gone and I am no better off financially or title-wise after the annual Australia Day No Limit Texas Hold Em Championships.

This year was a bit different with 3 shorter games in which you earned points according to your finish position. At the end, an overall points winner took home a fair wad of cash as well as the shield.

I’ll say it straight up – I didn’t have a great day. I played fairly decent poker but just couldn’t make any real moves and gain chips. I felt like the whole day I was chasing the big stacks and just couldn’t make any headway. In the three games I finished 12th, 4th and 16th (with 23 runners in each) – not high enough to earn cash in any of the games and not enough points to contend for the title. The following hand happened in the first game and it pissed me off - anger isn’t good at the poker table, especially early on in a long day.....Needless to say I donked off many chips in this game after this hand through sheer stupidity....

I get dealt A8 off-suit in early position and have around 2200 (a bit above the starting stack)I just call the big blind (150) as does everyone else

Flop: A-8-8

It’s checked to me and I check again, hoping to get a bet out of someone with the other 8 (or an Ace).

The action gets to the host who bets 500. This guy is a really loose player and will bet with anything. The bet of 500 wasn’t huge and unless he had an A or the 8 then I can't feasibly see him betting that amount on that flop - its just not enough to scare away someone with anything close to the nuts.

So I don’t put him on a bluff but I also know I almost certainly have him beat and am putting him on an A (if he had the case 8 then I'd be expecting a big raise)….. so I sit for a while then push all in for around 2050 (or whatever i had left).

He sits and thinks then starts stacking chips up and counting chips. I look the other way to check out the other tables and when i look back, I'm certain that the stack he was counting was pretty much in the middle with the rest of the pot.....

So I flip my full house and he says “I haven’t called yet'.

I ask why the chips look like they're in the middle and get nothing but a 'sorry mate'.

So I’m furious and obviously he doesn’t call. I ask if he was going to call and he shows me his A (with a high kicker) and says 'Probably not because I figured you had an 8'.

I have played with this guy so much and I just know deep down that he was gonna call the bet if I didnt flip my hand so quick.....

Anyway end result (majority decision) was the he folded and I won the blinds, the pre-flop calls plus his 500 bet.

It’s usually the losing hands that anger me the most but this one is one I’ll remember for a long time...

The moral
a) Wait until you hear the actual players involved in the hand verbally state their action before you flip your cards

That is all

Dubbo & the Gilgandra Speedway

With the move overseas coming up later this year, Tarz wanted to do some more visits to the relos and this time it was off to Dubbo for the weekend. Now as stinking hot as Canberra has been, Dubbo was much hotter and heaps drier. This of course makes sense given Dubbo’s location in central-west New South Wales, but just because it was expected it doesn’t make it any easier to tolerate.

Anyway enough ranting about the weather since its something I can’t change anyway…..yet.

So in a nutshell, we spent the weekend hanging out with Tarz’s sister Melissa and her hubby John and the two boys, Joe and Tom. Nice and relaxing and pretty fun getting to muck around with two little guys aged 4 and 2. Just like playing with my nephews!!!!

The highlight of the trip was the Saturday night trip to the Gilgandra Speedway. As a born and bred Canberran, I had ample opportunity when younger to attend the speedway at Fairbairn Park or Tralee or wherever the hell it used to be, however not once did I head out there. Car racing has never really been the peak of excitement for me let alone watching cars scream around a 400m oval track made of mud and dirt.

Anyway, we drove the 50km to the Speedway which is located on the Dubbo side of Gilgandra. On the drive over there I had this vision of a high tech racing stadium with grandstands and replay screens and super facilities etc. Don’t ask why I envisioned this but I did. I should have realised that Gilgandra isn’t really a thriving example of a big city. We pulled off the highway and into the dirt carpark and I saw the ‘grandstand’ which was a grass/dirt hill all the way around the track. Luckily for Tarz and I, Melissa had brought us fold out seats. So there we were sitting on the hill with all the country folk waiting for the racing to begin.

Even though I'm not the biggest car fanatic, I really enjoyed the evening. The track is supposed to be heavily watered to keep dust down but in this drought they could only put a bare minimum of water down. So as the cars went around, dust was churning and these semi-hard mud balls would fly from the rear wheels right into the crowd.

We probably saw about 20-25 different races of all sorts of different classes of car from juniors (13-16 years old) right up to the NSW State Championships for the Super Sedans. My favourite would have to be the Fender Benders. You basically take any car that has less that 8 cylinders, throw a roll cage in it and away you go. Bumping and spinning other cars is allowed and I believe it is encouraged in this class.

So after five hours of country-style racing entertainment, we left the track at around 11pm. I was still in a singlet and boardies and still sweating – that should give you an idea of how hot it is out west in Australia.

In summary – if you get a chance to do something you have never done before go ahead and do it because you never know how much fun you might have. Even if it is stinking hot.

Soy finalmente un español

Well today is Tuesday 16 January 2007 and it is my first day as an official Spaniard!!!!

The last six months have proved extremely frustrating as i have tried to take out my citizenship with Spain. The initial problems were with the Spanish embassy here in Australia. I actually live in Canberra where most embassies are located so I can only imagine the trouble for those people not in Canberra with ease of access to the embassy.

The issues started in the middle of 2006 when I made many phone calls to try and ascertain whether I qualified for citizenship or not. My mother is a full-blood Spaniard and my reading of the website said I could indeed do this. The fact that I am 28 and mum never 'registered' me as her child with the Spanish authorities became the big issue so Mum ended up applying for a 'Libros de Familia' or family book which was the first step in me becoming Spanish.

The problems continued however and I was soon faced with what appeared to be a no-brainer of a decision. The Spanish authorities require new citizens to sign a form renouncing their current citizenship. so basically I had to choose Spanish or Australian. I don't care what nationality you offer me, I am never giving up my citizenship to the greatest country on the planet.

So progress was halted while i tried to contact the Department of Immigration to find a policy on such forms. In typical government agency style (I should know given the almost 4 year stint in a gov dept which I'm about to finish) I was passed from person to person, area to area, real people to recorded messages and you get the picture. No one wanted to give me a straight answer as to what happens if I sign that form!!!!

I decided to elevate this issue to the top. Rather than continue with the Department of Immigration I decided that I had had enough of their procrastinating and rang the Immigration Minister's office direct. And wouldn't you know it, within 24 hours I had confirmation that my signature on that Spanish form has no legal standing in Australia and I can keep both passports/citizenships. The fact that they also told me that the USA require new citizens to sign a similar form makes me think that there is definitely a policy that is easily accessible within the Department and that I just copped the public service at its absolute worst.

So with all the legal issues sorted I went back to the embassy and filled out the forms just before Xmas. Now mum had warned me that the embassy is much like actual life in Spain in as much as they are only open short hours and have a close down i the middle of the day for siestas. I had visions of this process dragging on and on and on.....

Imagine my surprise when Josefina from the embassy called on January 2nd to arrange an interview with the ambassador (he endorses new citizens pending how the interview goers). As I can only speak the bare minimum Spanish (sad I know, and if i have one regret from childhood it is not learning Spanish) I took Mum in with me to be the translator. The interview went really well (mainly in English but also a decent amount of Spanish) and the ambassador signed off on the papers. When leaving his office Josefina told me that considering I don't speak Spanish, the ambassador was nowhere near as hard on me as he usually is with non-Spanish speakers. I think taking Mum with me sealed the deal.

So yesterday arrives and I get a call and my passport is ready for collection!!!!

So as of the 16th January I am officially a dual citizen of Australia and Spain.

5 Card Draw Sit N Go’s

Well over the weekend I was mucking around on the laptop and thought I’d play some poker. I have been playing pretty much nothing but No Limit Hold Em cash tables and doing fairly well but I thought I’d try something different for a change so I entered a one table Pot Limit 5 Card Draw Sit n Go.

Now I’ve only ever played one or two games of 5 Card Draw as it isn’t exactly the most entertaining of poker games. Anyway, the simplicity of the game, combined with the miniscule buy-in ($1+$0.10) ensured that regardless of my experience, I was a shot at turning a small profit.

The game consists of this: 5 cards to each player, a round of betting, discards (between 0 and 5 new cards to replace those thrown out) and then a final round of betting after which the best 5 card hand wins. Pretty straightforward really and the ease of the game meant I could enter a few of these straight away.

I won’t sit here and bore you with details of hands or anything because 5 Card Draw isn’t really spectator-friendly like Hold Em. The point of this post however is that out of the 6 Sit n Go’s I played I won 5 of them. Not exactly enough cash to be rolling in it but not bad for an afternoon’s poker without having to completely focus on the action.

So now I play Hold Em regularly, Omaha High/Low semi-regularly and 7 Card Stud now and again. Well add 5 Card Draw to the list. Next up is 2-7 Triple Draw!!!

Tumut

After the spider incident Tumut was a super location to kick back and relax. We stayed at Tarz’s Nan’s place (Nan Hef) and it was awesome. Also staying there were Nan, Gail and Dave and Buzzy and Chris (Tarz’s Uncle and Aunty). The two days consisted of great food and refreshing drinks. We basically ate ourselves stupid for two days on super food (Buzzy is a very talented chef), drank beer, wine and Guinness and just enjoyed the time away from city life on the back deck overlooking the wide open expanses of the Tumut region. After two days of luxury it was back in the ute to head home.

The Manifestation of All Things Evil

Due to us being in no mans land with no clue as to where we were going we followed Gail and Dave (Tarz’s mum and partner) to Tumut with Melissa and the boys behind us (Tarz’s sis and kids). Dave was giving it to the Harley Davidson and I did my best to keep up. As we approached Tumut we came through small town called Adelong. Well Adelong could be a metropolis for all I remember because as we started leaving the towns outskirts my worst nightmare became a reality.

We had just hit the 100km speed zone and I was winding the ute up trying to keep pace with the Harley. It was a hot sunny day and as the drive wasn’t too long I had the window half down instead of the sir con on. Out of nowhere Tarz says to me in a very worried sounding voice, “How about you do up your window?” Given the heat and the fact that there was no apparent reason for the window to come up I instantly knew what was happening.

I glanced quickly at my window and saw some monstrous hairy brown legs crawling through. Now in the ute, you sit a little higher than in a car and my face was about 8cm from the huntsmans face with a billion eyes. Anyone who knows me knows full well that I completely lose the plot if even a harmless Daddy Longlegs spider comes near me so this was absolute hell for me.

I don’t really remember much about the next few seconds. I can remember thinking two things and only two things – I had to get out of that ute ASAP and I had to make sure the handbrake was on before I ran. I was absolutely terrified. The huntsman was centimetres from my face and I was almost crying with fear and panic. Tarz was doing the same but it was probably more fear of me crashing the ute as opposed to actual fear of the spider.

Without thinking I ran the ute off the road (luckily there was a side road), reefed up the handbrake and got the hell out of there. Gail and Dave had seen us run off the road in their rear view mirror and swung the Harley around to see what had happened. By the time they arrived, Tarz was yelling at me to find a stick to get the spider with, I was screaming that there were no bloody sticks and I didn’t want to take my eyes off the spider anyway – if I lost sight of it before it died then there was no way I was getting back into that vehicle of arachnoid pleasures.

Gail calmly walked over, asked what had happened, removed her helmet, caught the spider in it and then stomped it dead. It almost looked too simple. Some 20 mins later when talking about the incident with Tarz I found myself covered in goosebumps and a cold sweat. Even thinking about it now makes me shudder.

Junee to Tumut (The Brungle Road)

We left Junee on the morning of the 27th of December but not before Tarz dropped a mug of coffee fresh from the kettle over my thighs thinking I had a hold of it when I actually didn’t. Not to worry – pain is just weakness leaving your body so I had to embrace it!!!

About halfway along the main road between Junee and Tumut, a few local trucks had formed a road block. I slowed down to ask what the deal was. This typical country bumpkin truck driver type waddled up to the side of the ute. Apparently we couldn’t go any further on the main road due to a truck losing its trailer up ahead and the roads being blocked by said trailer. The rest of the conversation went pretty much like this:

Me: Do you know an alternate route to Tumut?
Truckie: Do you know the Brungle Road?
Me: Nah mate – I’m from Canberra and have no idea.
Truckie: Well you SHOULD know the Brungle Road!
Me: Ill just ask the other people in our convoy thanks mate.

Junee

After a huge Xmas feast at my sister’s place, Boxing Day signalled the start of our 3 day road trip to Junee and Tumut to see Tarz’s relos. We arrived in Junee and did the whole relo thing in a nice country setting. Pretty quiet afternoon and evening with nothing to report on except for the fact that Tarz’s uncle Russell owns a huge horse-like dog called Pedro. Pedro is a cross Great Dane/St Bernard and given those bloodlines, it is no surprise that the hound weighed in at almost double my modest 85kgs. Well, he only weighed about 120kgs but you get the idea – the dog was enormous!!! Pedro had a few other animals as pals and the neighbour’s dog apparently spends so much time at Russell’s house that it has earned itself the nickname ‘Intruder’. It was quite funny to watch him blatantly ignore his real name and only answer to ‘Intruder!!!’

The Famous PMAC Returns!!!

Well I guess it can be safe to assume that 2006 wasn’t exactly the year that I embraced blogging as a pastime!!! As I look over the only real post on this blog I have this strange sense of déjà vu. It was about this time last year when I decided to actively keep a blog. Now, 12 months later, I’m preparing to play in the 2007 version of the Australia Day Poker Championships!!! I’d like to think that I was simply much too busy to get to my blog but I think the word I should really be using is lazy.

Anyway, 2007 promises much more than 2006 did and, as such, the 22nd Precinct will be updated regularly even if I’m finding I have nothing to write.

So I’ll start off 2007 with a little story from my Christmas holidays. Please note that the next few posts are 100% true and nothing (and I mean nothing) has been exaggerated.