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