World Series of Poker Satellite - Tweed Heads

For the last few months my APL region has been offering tickets to a World Series of Poker satellite in Tweed Heads. Our regional tournament, otherwise known as Lucky 13 is held monthly and the top 5 finishers each get a ticket to the Tweed game. I haven't been playing enough to make it in to the Lucky 13 games so didn't get a ticket. A few good friends did so I thought I'd go down and support them plus get some video footage of the tournament.

After staying at a friend's place the night before I timed my drive down to Tweed pretty well and arrived just as the tournament was about to start. It turns out tho that since a few ticket winners didn't show up their ticket could be re-sold so I had the option to buy in and play rather than just spectating. Knowing that my game is suited to these large player tournaments, I thought why not and took the opportunity.

I had to wait until after the first set of blinds before I could sit down so entered the tournament with blinds at 25/50 (for some reason they started at 25/25). Second hand I get pocket kings ... nice. I think and then raise to 250 (5 times the blind), quick call next to me, call behind him and two others ... wow 5 times obviously wasn't enough. First card out is of course the ace and I know my kings are no good anymore. Two checks in front of me, I don't both with a continuation and then the guy next to me bets and is called. Player one shows ace -9 off but is beaten by ace-jack suited which had a better two pair.

I win a few hands hitting straights and get a good idea of the style of play from the rest of my table. At the first break, 2 hours in, I'm just under 13K in chips, starting stack was 10K. Most of our region were roughly around the same counts, two were up to around 18K and unfortunately our state champ, Paul McGougan was struggling after a bad beat at just 2K.

Not too much of interest in the next section other than our table getting split and winning a few hands to get to 24K. By this stage we've lost a number of players from our group but a few are still doing well. Knowing the blinds are going up to 1K/2K, its this section of the tournament where you lost most of the players and also where you need to chip up so you don't get blinded out.

Early after the break, under the gun raises to 4K and I've got pocket aces. I think for a little while whether to re-raise or push all-in and decide to just shove. Everyone else folds except the original raiser who is really taking his time. He shows his cards to the player next to him and then shows me ... queen-jack of hearts ... to which I reply "is that all ... can't lay that down??" He eventually chooses to take the race and thankfully loses. A few hands later, I'm up to about 50K in chips and well placed. A small stack pushes all-in for his final 12K, I look and have pocket queens ... do I push all-in over the top or just call? I push but get insta-called by someone next to me with about 30K in chips. Small stack turns over pocket 8's, I turn over the queens, guy behind me turns over pocket kings which take down the lot. I go from 50 back to 20 in one hand and am hurting.

By the next break I've survived a couple of all-ins and am up to 35K with the blinds about to go to 5K/10K and only 4 tables left in play. I fold the first couple of hands and then am big blind and get dealt ace-7 of spades. One of the mega stacks at my table calls as does the small blind ... I think about pushing but don't. The board comes 5 of spades, ten of diamonds, ten of spades ... small blind bets 15K and I groan. I would've pushed if he hadn't bet and if I call or push now its not like he can fold and I'm drawing for my tournament. After a minute or so I fold, gutted and the other pre-flop caller does the same. Small blind shows me 2, 3 of spades and I realise what a terrible mistake I made in that position. Next hand I get dealt pocket 3's ... everyone else folds and its just me and a big stack in big blind. I think about pushing but for some (stupid) reason I just fold and hope for a better moment. Yes ... I'm not sure what I was thinking either.

I end up pushing with ace-8 off for my final 20K, everyone else folds to the big blind who says "it'll be ugly if it wins, but I'll call to try and take out a player" ... thanks for that and he turns over king-7 off and proceeds to hit trip kings. Goooone

I'm very disappointed with the decisions I made after the final break. I needed to chip up and quickly but didn't switch to a more aggressive style of play. That's a big mistake for that stage in the tournament and hopefully I'll learn from that for next time. It was a good day tho and I was glad to make it as far as I did, I just would've liked to of course gone even further. Congratulations to Brendan (one of the good players from our region) who made it to 15th. He was very patient down the stretch but couldn't get a hand and essentially got blinded out.

APL Full Tilt Poker State Finals

Sunday just gone was the APL State Finals sponsored this time by Full Tilt Poker and held at the Caloundra RSL. Its a qualifying event with the top 3 from each venue and the top 10 from each region scoring entry in to the tournament. I was (very) lucky to scrape in by finishing 3rd in my regular Monday night game at Bulimba.

There were almost 500 players (495 officially I think) and our region sent about 20 or so. For the first time the tournament was taking part in one seating rather than having 2 different sessions ... which I think people had been asking for. It was a good venue and having all the players seated at once made for great atmosphere and a sea of tables.

States suits my game quite well because its a deep/er starting stack (5000) and longer blinds (25 mins in the early stages rather than 15). Also, most of the players tighten up a bit because they're actually playing for something so there's not as many dumb plays ... or at least I didn't see as many (thankfully). "Mr Sparkles" was the first out for our region as he unluckily walked in to trips when he hit two pair on the flop. At the first break none of our team were really chipped up and the stacks ranged from around 1000 up to 7500. I sat at 3500 and knew with the blinds going up I had to start building my stack and quickly. Thankfully that happened second hand after the break as I took down a good pot with pocket kings on my big blind and I was soon up to almost 10,000. Unfortunately around this time our defending State champ, Paul McGougan bust out when his ace-king pre-flop push got too many callers and it didn't hold up.

By the next break, our original table had been broken and we were down to around 200 players. Our team was still doing well as we had about 10 or 12 players in but we all knew the next portion of the game was make or break. I was on a much tougher table with the tournament chip leader on my right and constantly pushing the table around. I took a stand, pushing all-in with pocket 10's and got two callers from the big stacks. Thankfully the board comes out all low and they both check it down and my ten's hold up.

After chipping up to about 20,000 in chips, the final hand before the next break I had ace-jack off-suit under the gun with the blinds at 2000/4000 and thought for a while what to do. I ended up raising 3 times the blind hoping I could just take down the blinds without a fight. Unfortunately that wasn't the case as "The Mouth" from Townsville on the other side of the table pushed all-in over the top of me. The one-time chip leader on my right who was big blind had been crushed in this stage of the tournament so he called but was well short of the re-raise and my original bet. I got up from the table cursing my luck that this was the last hand before the break and why did The Mouth have to go all-in. Knowing the blinds would go up when I got back from the break and with over 50K in the pot I knew I had to call and hope for the best. I thought I was going in ahead but was in trouble when The Mouth turned over pocket jacks and the big blind turned over queens. The announcer came over to call the hand and by this time I was begging for an ace. The board comes all low, 2, 4, 8 ... by this time I'm yellling for an ace to bail me out and it comes on the turn ... the cheer goes up from my friends who are watching. Knowing I need to just dodge the river, I go nuts as the final card is another ace giving me trips and the pot!!

During the break, I'm just buzzing knowing that I'm right back in the tournament with a healthy 56K in chips. Our team has lost a few more and with 86 players left, we're down to just 3 or 4 survivors. We come back and my luck continues to flow getting pocket kings under the gun, raising strongly and getting a caller. The board comes out all low with a possible flush draw, so I bet about 1/2 the pot and after some thought the other guy lays down his ace-jack. With a few more small wins I'm up over $100K and luck is on my side. I limp in with king-jack off-suit, the short stack next to me pushes all-in over the top, he's called by a shorter stack next to him and by the time everyone else folds the odds are way too good for me to lay it down. Against pocket 7's and king-queen suited, a jack comes as the highest card on the board and I take down a big pot and knock 2 people out. As I'm stacking the chips the next hand is dealt and the short-stack under the gun pushes all-in for about 25K. I look down and see ace-queen off-suit and after thinking for a few seconds call. As I continue stacking another player goes all-in over the top for 85K. I'm in shock at this point as I wasn't expecting anyone else to call, let alone re-raise. I look at my support crew behind the table (by this time I'm the only left from our region) and they know what I have ... but having just chipped up I don't want to put my tournament on the line so I lay it down. Short stack shows pocket kings, re-raiser turns over pocket queens ... good fold by me and even better when no ace comes but a king does.

I take down a few smaller pots and win a race against someone when I have king-queen and he pushed over the top with ace-ten. I figured he was ahead but I had raised and I would still have chips left should I fold but the odds for me to call were more than good enough to take a chance. The king comes, his ace doesn't. We're now inside the top 20 and my run of cards turns ice-cold, the blinds are up to 15K/30K, pushes are coming from all sides and my stack is dwindling. With 25K left and me in the small blind, we're on the bubble (down to 17 players, top 16 get cash) and there's a short stack on the other side of the table from me, if I can just make it through this hand. I get dealt pocket 4's but if I call I don't have enough chips to cover the big-blind let alone put him to a decision. He has two random cards which are likely over my pair but will get to see all 5 cards. I agonise for a few minutes (hoping other players will get knocked out) and then eventually throw them away knowing I'm likely just playing for the cash now. Big blind had 2 - 9 but I still consider it a good fold considering the position of the tournament.

Thankfully the short-stack on our table gets knocked out by a straight on the river and cheers go up as we're all in the money. We now get moved to the final two tables and thankfully I pick the ace card which means I get the dealer position so I get a whole round of the table before I have to play a hand. One player gets knocked off the other table, so I move up another spot. My cards stay ice-cold and I get queen-five off on my big blind and I'm up against an all-in with pocket 4's and a call by pocket 6's. With an ace, king, ten on the board I have outs with any queen or jack but hit neither, game over. The 4's also get knocked out but since I had less chips I finish 15th, he finishes 14th. I get my $500 cheque and congratulations from the guys from my region who had hung around to support me. After kicking off at 11am, I finish around 8:30pm ... thankfully the breaks made it easier but it was a long day and hard work. All thoroughly enjoyed tho of course and capped off with some celebratory late night Chinese with some of the team (the duck was gooood).

(Me, in green, early on in the tournament)