2009

New Year, new resolutions I will probably not keep but one is to get back into blogging so it starts here.

The first target had been to go back to Australia for the Millions but online qualification has not gone well ! I may have to settle for Deauville for the EPT tournament there in January as I have made it into a final qualifier for that on Poker770 next weekend.

Since my last post in March I have been to Las Vegas for the WSOP main event so I will work on a review of my experience there for one of my next posts.

For now, let's just hope for a happy and prosperous 2009.

Day Four

I enter Day Four knowing I have won a minimum of 65,000 AUD and if I can go back to surviving ahead of four players I can get to 100,000 AUD and then get aggressive. In hindsight I played my worst poker of the tournament on day four.

Chip leader on my table is Max Bracht with 837,000 and I am in third but after only an hour have lost over 100,000 in blinds and antes, raising once with AQ but getting no callers. Alexander Kostritsyn however, starting the day on 366,000 gets involved in hands right from the start and is up to 1,200,000 by the time I decide to make a stand with AK and am up against his QQ (that hand again).

Alexander had made his by now standard pre-flop raise of around 3 times the BB, which I reraised and he reraised me all-in. I did think afterwards that obviously I could have just flat called his raise and had the chance to get out of it on the Queen high flop. But I’m guessing he would have checked with his trips and I’d have been all-in after the Ace on the turn so the outcome would have been the same.

One of the things I will remember most of the whole experience is the friendliness of all the players I sat with over the four days and I think I was almost as sad to be missing out on the continuing pitting of wits as much as the next payout levels.

I will leave you to look up for yourself how Alexander went on to lift the trophy, and congratulations to him. He was about the strongest player I sat with for any length of time and deserved his victory.

As for me I just want to do it all again as soon as possible. I shall be back in Melbourne next January to defend and improve on my 19th place if I can, but will be playing some UK tournaments before then to see if my game has genuinely improved.

As has been reported elsewhere, I am not foolish enough to think this means I am ready to take on the world’s best but I shall be trying.

Day Three

What am I thinking at the start of Day Three ? I want to survive (that word again) into the top 80 and take home some money. It’s nice to win these ‘free’ holidays but I need to start converting them into hard cash !

The biggest name on my table is Kenna James on 114,500 but the table chip leader is Alexander Kostritsyn on 398,500 and one player, Jim Sachinidis, has just less than me on 28,500. Now even I know I won’t make the money without playing a hand or two and I decide to make a move all-in from seat 5 with J8spades when the blinds are seats 7 & 8, Sachinidis and James. The SB thinks for a long time, questioning the speed of my push, before folding (AK) but Kenna hardly hesitates before calling with 77. The flop is x79, the turn is the miracle 10 and I don’t remember the river but I had doubled up.

A small win later I am on about 60k, there are less than 90 players left and I am starting to count my 15,000 AUD for making the top 80. Then came another QQ. Can’t remember if I raised to 10k or called it but 4 players saw the flop of x9J. I bet 20k after the flop and was called by only Trevor Wollard on my immediate left. The turn is a K and I check, Trevor raises me all-in. I think. For a long time. He calls ‘time’ and I decide he’s got KK or AA and fold, showing the QQ. Gasps all round. Trevor mucks without showing and everyone thinks I’ve folded the winning hand. Apart from Trevor who later confirms he had QT and a straight. At that moment however I thought I had messed up.

I can’t remember how many chips I had but it didn’t feel like enough and there were still 4 or 5 to the bubble so I needed to hang on, and thankfully hang on I did. Making the money was such a great feeling. Every fold over the previous two days were now so worthwhile that I could start to really enjoy the game. I must have won a hand or two because when our table broke up I was back on 60,000 or so and I joined a table of players I had not sat with previously.

Then the miracle 6 or 7 hours began. I started getting cards, hitting flops and earning respect. For the rest of that day I started accruing chips for the first time. Pokernews reported my AK beating Mitchell Carle’s 77 as he became the second and last player I would knock out of the tournament. I had won more chips with Aces just a few hands earlier however and all of a sudden I was on 210,000 with confidence growing, even if I was still well behind the average.

Now came three moves of table in what seemed like fairly quick succession, and for the last two I was jumping into Andy Black’s seat – first when he left to go back upstairs on TV and second when he went out in 34th and I took his place upstairs. My second TV showing corresponds with the period when Pokernews incredulously report that Erik Seidel is the ‘loudest on the feature table’ !

I went upstairs with about 260,000 and the game with chips is a lot easier than the game without so I’m hoping if both stints make it to the 2008 Aussie Millions DVD that the new found confidence will be obvious in episode two. Two hands stand out – my best (most valuable anyway) and worst of the day probably. The best was to double up with suited AQ versus suited A7. He (sorry I don’t know who the player was) hit top pair on the flop with his 7, but two of the flop were the spades I needed so we were all-in before the turn, which was also a spade. The turn, however, also paired the board so another the same or another 7 and I would be gone (as he had me covered) but neither came and I was up to over 500,000.

The worst play I made was to call a bet after the river by Erik Seidel of 30,000 with A high. I hoped, and said on camera, that he was holding even less than I had but he had made a straight that I had not even seen the possibility of. It had been a long day and the lights were hot !

Pokernews (sorry to keep quoting them) report that at my peak I made it to 588,000 but I ended the day in 15th of the 22 remaining with exactly 500,000 and on a complete high.

Day Two

So now I’ve got two days off and we are kept entertained by ‘Mad Marty’ Wilson and Katherine Hartree on a trip to Williamstown on the Tuesday. The day ends with a game of poker in a pub back in Melbourne, playing in their Pub Poker league and resulting in my first ever win in any live tournament. I keep the cash prize – spending the 25 AUD behind the bar on a round for several of the other players – but graciously give up the chance of a 21,000 mile round trip to return for the regional final ! On the Wednesday we take ourselves off for a day at the races (Sandown).

Thursday starts with a text message from my mate Richard (washman online) who is already at the casino and who won the same package as I, but was unfortunately knocked out on the Monday. Richard in fact was the main reason for me being in Australia as we had both won trips to Goa the year before and when he won his Aussie Millions package on Blue Square I was determined to match him the following week, and that is precisely what I did. The initial $55 qualifier I played on BSq was on the night England lost to Croatia so I had only 11 opponents, and one of those was sat out. There were a few more in the weekly final, but less than 40, so the odds were good and other than dropping to 1400 chips versus 70,000 when heads-up (solved by winning 6 all-ins on the trot) my slow and steady game got me through.

Sorry, that text message from Richard says I am drawn to start Day Two on a star-studded table but mentions no names. I arrive at the casino to discover those names include Thomas Bihl, Joe Hachem and the just about joint chip leaders Andy Black and Phil Ivey !

My 18,200 makes me the table short-stack and I have Mr Ivey (163,300) on my left and Mr Hachem (111,400) on my right. What am I thinking ? I’m thinking I should have studied their games more when I’ve had chance on the telly and that I am probably a fish out of water (in both senses of the word/phrase). But equally I want the experience of sitting down with these guys to last as long as possible so I am not going to do anything silly and bide my time hoping for some premium hands.

I truly believe I make day three because of who I get to play day two with. On a table with ‘lesser’ players and smaller stacks I’m guessing I’d have been out. Not long after play starts we are told that we will be moving upstairs onto the feature TV table at the end of the level – another reason to bide my time and add to the whole experience. My first and about only opportunity during that first level comes with QQ and I end up all-in pre-flop with Phil Ivey’s 99, no help to either on the board.

The TV table is a different world away from the main card room. It is cold but quickly the opposite when the lights are turned on, quiet until Andy Black tries to whip up some conversation (and doesn’t stop trying to do so but with limited success), and we are out of touch with any chip movements downstairs as there is no monitor to follow.

It was the first time I had ever played on a high-sided table (to accommodate the cameras) and I struggled at first to lift the cards so that I could see them ! The problem was I was lifting them so Joe Hachem could look if he wanted to and it needed some stern advice from Andy Black for me to shield them (necessary advice but embarrassing for me). Andy also voiced his concern at the end of that level regarding a bit of a routine I had going with my card guard before folding (wanting me to speed up) but the ‘routine’ was mainly in response to one fold I had made out of turn downstairs earlier that day and I didn’t want to repeat the mistake.

I played pretty solid during our two levels on TV and survived my only all-in with 88 versus Andy Black’s QQ when an 8 came on the flop. I don’t remember being involved in any serious pot with Joe Hachem and he was not happy to leave the table due to running spades giving Peter Ling’s 66 a flush to beat his trip 3’s (two on the flop).

My earlier Queens seemed to be one of a series of hands against which Phil Ivey lost, closing with him slow playing AA before the flop, but ending up all-in after the flop, by which time Gareth Teatum (from Doncaster) had flopped 2 pair with his 48os.

With Ivey and Hachem gone, Andy Black correctly predicted that we would be back downstairs for level four of the day (level ten in all). The only hand of note during that level was another all-in, but post flop this time, against Andy Black who had KK and I got lucky with A6d, two diamonds on the flop and another on the river.

Levels 11-12 were almost a repeat of 5-6 on day one except I went even more card dead apart from QQ once, but unfortunately on that occasion Andy Black refused to double me up for a third time – and said so ! It’s been a long day and I’m very much back in day one mode – happy not to get involved if I don’t have to and wanting just to come back and start again on day three.

At my peak on day two my chip stack was 60-70,000 but I end level 12 on 29,000. Of the 338 who started the day, 96 remain but now only four have fewer chips than me.

Not sure I believed it .......

....... but on 21st November I posted that I was "half-way to Oz" and on 23rd November I won the opportunity to go the whole way by winning the weekly Aussie Millions final on Blue Square !

So on 11th January I travelled to Melbourne to play in the Aussie Millions and what follows is my report leading up to and including Day One of the tournament :-

It’s a long way is Australia, especially if you haven’t been before like me (not that it gets any closer if you go a second time). 12 hours to Hong Kong followed by 9 hours to Melbourne, but I’ve always been good at doing nothing so doing nothing on a plane is no great hardship. With Cathay Pacific there are enough films to keep you awake if you wish but one player we met in Oz had flown with a cheaper airline without any video or music the whole way, which might have made the journey a little longer !

For 48 hours before we arrive the temperature in Melbourne had been 40 degrees but for most of our ten days it is a more manageable 23-25 degrees, although it doesn’t matter a great deal when you are in a casino from noon to midnight. I have not yet been to Vegas so the Crown Casino impresses as the largest I have ever been in. Downstairs finds the card room, adding to the lack of sunlight on this trip so it is a good thing that day one has three flights and everyone gets at least two days off.

Most of the players are given the choice of which flight to play but I am just given flight 1A, which actually I would have chosen anyway – the thinking, to be honest, being that I’ve got the rest of the week free if I don’t survive my day one ! As it turns out they continue to hold main event satellites whilst flights A & B take place and the numbers grow each day from 216 in 1A, up to 294 in 1B, ending with 338 playing 1C.

There are some big names playing 1A (according to pokernews), including Allen Cunningham, Andy’s Black and Bloch, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Jimmy Fricke, John Juanda, Marc Goodwin, Mark Teltscher, Mel Judah, Mike Sexton, Thomas Bihl and Tony G – and I don’t get to sit with any of them (not today anyway !)

Day One is mainly uneventful for me but when my one and only target is to survive to play day two it doesn’t need to be. My wife Helen has been given tickets for the Australian Open tennis so this is the only day when I log my chip count at each break because I send her my progress by text. 20,000 starting stack, 90 minute blinds starting with 50/100 - by the first break I am on 24,100 and I don’t remember how other than taking 100 from the sitting out BB on the very first hand (his stack was removed one hand later).

Early on I remember I was folding a lot of hands pre-flop which would have won, mostly to the benefit of one particular player, so on the second level I must have thought I should start playing and I end it down on 13,450. The only other professional tournament I have played was in Goa in March 2006 – the blinds there were 40 minutes and I lasted three hours (going out with black Aces v red Kings, diamond flush on the river) so surviving longer than that was at least a first target.

Level 3 was kinder, back up to 17,100. Level 4 kinder still as I was up to 27,800 at the dinner break – it was on this level that I took out the first of only two players that I would knock out during the whole tournament. The average at the dinner break was 29,861 and this is about the closest I ever get to it !

Not that I can remember specific hands from levels 1-4, but levels 5-6 see me play even fewer hands and I drop to 24,000 (average 35,800) on level 5 and then end the day on 18,200 (average 44,791). But I have reached my target of survival and if you’d offered me 18k at the start I’d have taken it.

Andy Black leads with 167,800 (45k more than second) and in 22nd on 64,600 is Alexander Kostritsyn, but more about him later. 96 players are still in, including 14 on less than me so I’m happy enough.

Good Luck

I've got a few posts to make but this item came up just today so it has jumped the queue :-

North Yorkshire trainer Brian Rothwell is set to stand down from running his own operation and join the team of champion trainer Aidan O'Brien in what he describes as “the job of a lifetime”.

Wexford-born Rothwell, 44, who has been training for 16 years, has put on the market his Arthington Barn House stables at Nawton, near Helmsley, and expects to wind up his business before the renewal date for licences on February 1. “I won't be renewing my licence,” Rothwell said. “I've always got a great buzz out of racing – I always will – and I've enjoyed training. But, although it's not easy to let go, I only have about a dozen horses, which is a lot of hard work for very little reward, and there comes a point when you have to question what you're doing. I felt the time was right now to do something different.”

Rothwell has had his share of winners down the years, and is probably best known for his exploits with prolific winner Queens Consul, as well as handicapper Ochos Rios, Brocklesby Stakes winner Bandon Castle, and chaser Last Try. Winners have proved scarce for Rothwell in the last two or three years, when he has been forced to rely on largely moderate horses (including ours !)

Such headaches and frustrations will be a thing of the past when he returns to Ireland in the new year to take up a position with O'Brien. “Aidan and I go back a long way. We both come from Wexford, our families knew each other, and when he was training jumpers, he'd occasionally send me over one or two that were difficult to place in Ireland,” said Rothwell. “I'm delighted to have got the job. Quite what I will be doing I'm not sure yet, but it's a great opportunity for me. “I was over at Ballydoyle about a month ago, and it's a phenomenal place.It's not everyone who will witness an operation like Ballydoyle in their lifetime and the offer Aidan made me was too good to turn down.”

Rothwell's yard consists of a three-bedroomed barn conversion, 18 stables, complete with horse-walker, and is set in more than 17 acres. “When I will go over to Ireland depends on how long it takes to sell the place, but Aidan would like me over there for the beginning of April when the Flat season is starting, and earlier if possible,” Rothwell added.

Good Luck Brian

Happy as Larry

Mentioned the above phrase at work this morning (that place we never talk about) and a colleague looked up its origins on t'internet.

Several on there apparently but we settled for the Australian / New Zealand option of it referring to a boxer called Larry Foley :-

There’s a suggestion that it comes from the name of the nineteenth-century Australian boxer Larry Foley (1847-1917), though why he was especially happy nobody now seems able to say. Perhaps he won a lot of contests? (He was certainly one of those who originated gloved boxing rather than bare-knuckle fighting in Australia and his name is still remembered there.) But this origin is far from certain and the early New Zealand reference renders it less so, without ruling it out altogether.

Thought no more of it until in Ladbrokes at lunch-time and notice that a horse called Happy as Larry is running in the 2.30pm race at Lingfield. Can't ignore an obvious omen like that can you ?

The answer you should be looking for is yes ! Forecast to start 6-1 favourite by the Racing Post, I take the 7-1 on offer, Happy as Larry starts at 14-1 and finishes 14th of 14 !!!!!

Half-way to Oz

....... not really, but sort of !

Encouraged by the success of Washman of PL qualifying for the Aussie Millions in January I thought I would try the same route he had.

A buy-in of $50 + $5 on Blue Square into the satellite daily final with only 11 players tonight (presumably due to the alternative attraction of the football) to qualify for the weekly final which has one seat guaranteed.

Only 11 players including one sit-out but still took only five minutes less than two hours to get through it. There were Aces a-plenty and I think they held up all but once. I had them three times and against my better judgement I slow played them on the second and third occasions as I got less action than I should have on the first occasion.

The second time with AcAh the flop came all spades (including the 7 - no action), then the A of spades (so I bet and was called), then another 7, luckily giving me the full house and a few more of his chips.

A few hands later the game froze on me for the second time. We were down to the last 3 and I had KQ on a flop of Qxx when it froze. I frantically try and get back in, breathe a sigh of relief when I do and he hasn't raised , so push all-in to be called by his Aces ! From first to third in one go and all I had to do was let it freeze me out !

I got Aces again when short stacked (25% of the chips) down to the final two. So slow played them and eventually got all-in to win with an Ace high one card flush. From back level I think I might have won every hand culminating with A rag holding up and it's on to Friday's final.

Friday will be my last poker for two weeks as we are off to Newmarket December Sales (bloodstock), which actually include some dates in December unlike last year.

Last poker that is other than the Virgin Festival live poker this Saturday and Sunday !