ANZPT Queensland

The first major Queensland poker tournament got underway today in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast. ANZPT Queensland is being co-hosted between Conrad Treasury and Conrad Jupiters. I'm not sure if I'll get the chance but it would be great to check out some of the action live. I have drinks with a friend on Friday night and I'm moving house on Sunday so there likely won't be time.

A number of friends from APL played in the satellites and while two made through it the first round, they fell just short in the second where the seats to the main event were up for grabs.

You can follow the updates from the event at the PokerStars blog. Its good to hear that support and interest in the event has been strong so far.

PokerStars update

Just a quick post as I'm heading to bed shortly so I can get up and go to the gym in the morning.

I haven't actually played online at PokerStars this week. I went and played an APL game on Tuesday, State of Origin 3 last night and I can't remember what I did Monday, other than go for a run.

Anyway, I was looking forward to playing and after the usual slightly slow start I won my 4th tournament which was a $1 90 man game. I was short-stacked around the 30th spot but managed to survive in to the top 20. When I was 17 of 19 I won 2 big pots in a row and was suddenly in 6th place. The heads up battle was fairly close because I had been on the same table with the guy for most of the tournament so we knew how each other played.

I did really well in the ANZPT freeroll but pushed with 6's with about 100 to go and called by pocket 9's and was out.

I bubbled a 45 man game when I pushed from early position with pocket 5's, got called by pocket 8's and was out in 8th spot. The next 45 man game I wasn't doing much until I started getting cards at the right time, pocket aces within about 5 minutes of each other and chipped up well. I struggled on the bubble when I was playing aggressively with good hands and kept getting sucked out on. I folded ace 9 suited from the small blind when someone pushed massively from early position. I was short-stacked but got aces again and doubled up and from there started to climb my way. There was an uber-aggressive newby that was shoving with very marginal hands and he pushed from the button 3 handed, the small blind was virtually all-in and called and I pocket 7's in the big blind. Against another player I might've folded ... but I knew he could be pushing with anything, called caught a 7 on the turn and took down a good pot. He still had a 2 to 1 chip lead going in to heads-up but again he was pushing with anything much of the time so I re-raised all-in with pocket 5's and he called with 2 4 suited. I won that hand and gained the chip lead and from there he ended up pushing with ace rag, I called with jack ten and hit a jack to win the tournament.

So I think I only played 12 tournaments but won 2. My heads up record for this month is outstanding and it was nice to have another day with 2 tournament wins. I'm just outside the top 3% of PokerStars tournament players on Official Poker Rankings, hopefully these 2 wins will put me over the top.

Bankroll continuing to grow, US$460. Graph from SharkScope is looking good ...

Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Queensland

Probably the most exciting poker thing that happened over the last two weeks is that I stumbled across this announcement (below). Its great Queensland and more specifically Brisbane and the Gold Coast are taking part in the new ANZPT.

Thanks to the current economic climate, I won't be rocking up on the day with the $2,500 buy-in but I have been playing in a few of the online freeroll qualifiers. There's usually about 3000 or so players in these events and most of the time I get to in to the top 200. Top 20 qualify for the next round where the seats are up for grabs so its a tough ask to get in to the event this way.

Even if I don't qualify, I'm keen to check out the action of the first few days at Conrad Treasury Brisbane. For more information about the event, click on the title below to go to the official website.

Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Queensland - ANZPT Sponsored by PokerStars.net

Conrad Jupiters and Conrad Treasury Casinos will be joining the inaugural season of the PokerStars Australia New Zealand Poker Tour as the new final event. The unique format will incorporate the event being held at two venues concurrently and the opportunity to firmly place Queensland as a new and exciting addition on the Australian poker tournament map.

What makes this event even better is that there is no admin fee for ANZPT Queensland. The entire $2,500 buy-in per player goes back into the prizepool!

ANZPT Queensland will be a five day event held from August 5-9, 2009 at both Treasury Casino in the State’s capital of Brisbane and Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast. The event has a cap of 280 players plus 20 alternates. All players qualifying through to Day 3 will play at Jupiters Casino. Those players who commenced play at Brisbane and make the final table will receive a complimentary night’s accommodation at Jupiters Casino Hotel.

For more information on the format for this event go to http://www.anzpt.com/tournaments/queensland/faq/