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
Showing posts with label Hold Em. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hold Em. Show all posts
Friday, February 02, 2007
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Australia Day Texas Hold 'Em Championships
Poker. Texas Hold ‘Em. No Limit. Is there any other game that gets the pulse racing as much as this game does? The thrill of going all-in with a lowly two-pair and hoping that the rest of the punters throw away their hand in fear, is one that keeps me coming back to the felt for more.
I had the grand opportunity last Thursday of competing in the annual Australia Day Texas Hold ‘Em Championships. 22 contestants all vying for a piece of the money on offer. How much I hear you ask. Well that is irrelevant people. For poker is not always about the money. It is a select group of people who can earn themselves a living from playing poker. For me personally, it is about the thrill and the competition.
I have traditionally been the whipping boy of our poker tournaments – always getting the rubbish cards and then when I get a good hand everyone seems to fold before the goddamn flop. What can you do? Thursday was different though. But before we discuss results, I’ll set the scene a little and fill you in on all the tournament ins and outs.
As mentioned above, 22 poker players filed into the small townhouse to settle in for an afternoon (and evening) of gambling. Being held on Australia Day which for the foreigners among us, is in the middle of the Australian summer, it was stinking hot throughout the house. I’m guessing that the temperature would have been at least 35o Celsius (95 Fahrenheit for the backwards folks). Add to this the stench of 22 bodies tightly crammed onto tables and you have yourself an almost unbearable setting for perhaps the world’s most intense game of Hold ‘Em in a long time. After the seats were drawn it was quite amusing to me to find out not only was I already sitting at the final table (others would merge in as the day went on and the players were eliminated) but I was also situated directly in front of a fan. The Famous PMAC was sitting in relative luxury.
Onto the actual poker then. The day started slowly with only one or two chumps being dismissed in the first 3 or 4 hours. Everyone was playing their cards tight as they didn’t want to be sent packing. During one of the hourly five-minute breaks, a few of us popped outside for a bit of a puff on the old peace pipe so to speak. While not really a performance enhancing drug, it did relieve some of the boredom of the tight play early on.
Slowly but surely, the pawns kept dropping. A few more hours ticked away and a few more puffs on the peace pipe were required. By now I was pretty happy with my play. Suddenly things started turning around on me. Before I knew it my chips were leaving my possession faster than I could comprehend. By the time the half-hour dinner break arrived, my stack was low and I was spiralling towards Hold ‘Em obscurity one again.
A good solid think session during dinner refreshed me and I crept back into the game over the next 2 or so hours with wise folding and smart betting. By the time the final table was decided I was looking steady but was far from being the chip leader.
And so the final table played on. The night was becoming late and tiredness was creeping in. The blinds were going up all too quickly for my liking. Sure enough, crunch time was here and I was getting nothing better than a low pair on any deal. Suddenly though, I started getting some great hands followed by sensational flops. I slowly climbed my way back into the game and after about 12.5 hours I was in the final four.
The final four was a tough affair. No one wanted to play too loosely yet the blinds were by now so big and coming around twice in every four hands that playing tightly just wasn’t an option. I gritted my teeth and thought it’s time to have a crack at the big dogs. This approach wasn’t really the best approach but at this point I was a clear chip loser and had to make a run at glory. The dude opposite me was also running low and at about 2am (we kicked things off at 12:15pm – 14 hours earlier) I went all in on two pair, jacks and nines. Admittedly there were two reasons for me not to make this move:
• the prize money was split between the top 3 (majority to 1st with a small amount to 2nd and 3rd) and I could have waited and come 3rd possibly; and
• I had a pretty ordinary hand.
End result – I was beaten by 3 Jacks and finished 4th of 22. Not an entirely bad result for someone who never gets good cards but I was a real chance at cracking the money this time. Money – that would have been nice. At the end of the day though I pretend that I don’t play for money. I guess I truly don’t play for money though due to the fact that I have never actually won any. But my windfall is coming muthafuckas – mark my words.
I had the grand opportunity last Thursday of competing in the annual Australia Day Texas Hold ‘Em Championships. 22 contestants all vying for a piece of the money on offer. How much I hear you ask. Well that is irrelevant people. For poker is not always about the money. It is a select group of people who can earn themselves a living from playing poker. For me personally, it is about the thrill and the competition.
I have traditionally been the whipping boy of our poker tournaments – always getting the rubbish cards and then when I get a good hand everyone seems to fold before the goddamn flop. What can you do? Thursday was different though. But before we discuss results, I’ll set the scene a little and fill you in on all the tournament ins and outs.
As mentioned above, 22 poker players filed into the small townhouse to settle in for an afternoon (and evening) of gambling. Being held on Australia Day which for the foreigners among us, is in the middle of the Australian summer, it was stinking hot throughout the house. I’m guessing that the temperature would have been at least 35o Celsius (95 Fahrenheit for the backwards folks). Add to this the stench of 22 bodies tightly crammed onto tables and you have yourself an almost unbearable setting for perhaps the world’s most intense game of Hold ‘Em in a long time. After the seats were drawn it was quite amusing to me to find out not only was I already sitting at the final table (others would merge in as the day went on and the players were eliminated) but I was also situated directly in front of a fan. The Famous PMAC was sitting in relative luxury.
Onto the actual poker then. The day started slowly with only one or two chumps being dismissed in the first 3 or 4 hours. Everyone was playing their cards tight as they didn’t want to be sent packing. During one of the hourly five-minute breaks, a few of us popped outside for a bit of a puff on the old peace pipe so to speak. While not really a performance enhancing drug, it did relieve some of the boredom of the tight play early on.
Slowly but surely, the pawns kept dropping. A few more hours ticked away and a few more puffs on the peace pipe were required. By now I was pretty happy with my play. Suddenly things started turning around on me. Before I knew it my chips were leaving my possession faster than I could comprehend. By the time the half-hour dinner break arrived, my stack was low and I was spiralling towards Hold ‘Em obscurity one again.
A good solid think session during dinner refreshed me and I crept back into the game over the next 2 or so hours with wise folding and smart betting. By the time the final table was decided I was looking steady but was far from being the chip leader.
And so the final table played on. The night was becoming late and tiredness was creeping in. The blinds were going up all too quickly for my liking. Sure enough, crunch time was here and I was getting nothing better than a low pair on any deal. Suddenly though, I started getting some great hands followed by sensational flops. I slowly climbed my way back into the game and after about 12.5 hours I was in the final four.
The final four was a tough affair. No one wanted to play too loosely yet the blinds were by now so big and coming around twice in every four hands that playing tightly just wasn’t an option. I gritted my teeth and thought it’s time to have a crack at the big dogs. This approach wasn’t really the best approach but at this point I was a clear chip loser and had to make a run at glory. The dude opposite me was also running low and at about 2am (we kicked things off at 12:15pm – 14 hours earlier) I went all in on two pair, jacks and nines. Admittedly there were two reasons for me not to make this move:
• the prize money was split between the top 3 (majority to 1st with a small amount to 2nd and 3rd) and I could have waited and come 3rd possibly; and
• I had a pretty ordinary hand.
End result – I was beaten by 3 Jacks and finished 4th of 22. Not an entirely bad result for someone who never gets good cards but I was a real chance at cracking the money this time. Money – that would have been nice. At the end of the day though I pretend that I don’t play for money. I guess I truly don’t play for money though due to the fact that I have never actually won any. But my windfall is coming muthafuckas – mark my words.
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