Almost forgot how to type...

Yes its been a while since i have sat down at a PC for something that isn't work related and i have only played one poker tournament in about a month now, which was a small cash.

Its been an interesting few weeks to say the least. Two weeks away on job training, then smack bang in the middle of real world work. I must say i am not the biggest fan! I sorta got used to having the days to waste away as i pleased. Although in saying that i think the hours i have been working are against all international slave labour laws. Its getting ridiculous to be honest. But it has tough me one very important thing. Life is too fucking short to waste it away doing something for the wrong reasons. Whether it's for money or just because its easy, if it's not making you happy and not what you want DON'T DO IT! Do what you want in your one shot at life. Yes i am taking my own advice and am making plans to change my career in the direction that i want it to go.

Enough serious stuff it's been a nice for weeks for sports bettors with a lot of different things to bet on with the AFL Grand Final coming up tomorrow and the Brownlow medal, the NFL season kick off a couple of weeks ago and the up coming T20 series. While the Brownlow wasn't too good to me in the old sportsbet account, the NFL season has been rather friendly. There are nice odds for Seahawks to beat the Bears at home with the current odds $2.08 for the Seahawks, after they have won the last 5/6 games and 6/6 against the Bears.

Pokernews cup upcoming and i don't think i will be able to make it to contest any events let alone the Teams event, but the 2010 Aussie Millions is still on the cards, well for now anyway...

This, that and the other

Its been an interesting time since my last update here. I have go a new job and will be starting within the next couple of weeks. It all starts with a couple of weeks training over the other side of the city. But hey no worries they shout for accomodation, breakfast, lunch and a bistro meal daily! Shame its only for the first two weeks huh?

Its starting to look like the old PS3 will be gathering some dust just like the many before {PSONE, PS2}. So to make up for this i have been logging a few hours. Clocked 2 more games {Red Alert 3 and Prototype for anyone who cares}. Trophy count is now 199 and way out in front!

I am getting really sick of the radio options here in Vic at the moment. One plays only 4 bands! I swear its all i hear no matter what time of day. Now i like all but one of these bands but come on i want some vaiety. They only play ACDC, Pearl Jam, Kings of Leon and Nirvana, now your all going oh he is talking about Triple M. So i swicth to Triple J, ah thats better. Only problem there is your likely not to hear the same song twice... EVER! Well theres that rant for this week.

I guess i better get some poker into my life before i get my nose back to the grind.

PS3 taken over Poker

For the last few weeks the Playstation 3 has taken over my life and TV, much to the digust of the other half. The only real reason i am writing this is that she 'booked' in the TV. I have won over 50 trophies in the last couple of weeks, taking my tally up to 147 {including 1 platnum}. For those of you who don't own a PS3 or give a shit about them it means i have done nothing but play non stop like a man possessed. My eyes are almost bleeding from non stop playing Sega Classics and Red Alert 3.

Yes i have no life and need a job. Hmmm maybe a job in games...

I have also logged in a few hundred hours watching movies that i have missed over the past few years. The Hangover and Transformers are madly overrated, In Bruges just fucking weird, Hitman [Bluray} must see for anyone who has played the game and Max Payne almost made it but just fell short. Over the next week Sin City and Watchmen.

Off the the Footy tomorrow Tigers v Swans, as a Swans fan its a rare chance that we might win this season, fingers crossed.

New poker site

While your all online clicking around the various sites check out this new site from Rainns, RainnsPokerDomain.
Its only a new site to the WWW but its going to be huge over the coming weeks, months and years. Gary's indepth knowledge of the game and the people in it means he will be right up there with the other big sites in Australia. The site will contain Videos, Forums, Interviews, Events, News, all the Major Poker Tournaments from around the world including our own Aussie Millions.

Well done Gary and keep up the good work mate.

Playing Poker doesn't mean...

Ok a few things i want to clear up...

Playing poker doesn't make you cool.

Playing poker doesn't make people want to hang around you.

Playing poker doesn't make you rich.

Just because i play poker doesn't mean i care about your poker at all!

Just because i play poker doesn't mean it's my shout at the bar.

Just because you won playing poker doesn't me you have to tell every person you see, especially when it was $20 at a home game, {WSOP wins etc are acceptable}.

Just because you won playing poker on your Playstation doesn't mean your any good.

Just because i invited you to play poker with me doesn't mean i like you, it just means i like your money.

BUT if you play World of Warcraft you ARE a geek!

Chip and a chair... and an internet connection

Ever heard that story of the guy Jack "Treetop" Straus in the 1982 WSOP, he had a chip and a chair and made a massive comeback that started the well known pharse.

Well guys i am proud to tell you its very real and very possible. Tonight in a little 45 player SNG i was short on the bubble of the final table and made a move UTG with J3 and got 2 callers leaving me with $105 in chips.

With blinds at 600/1200 and in seat 7 i managed to play my few little chips into a nice second place finish. And for all those non believers i have the hand history. I am not going to place the whole thing here but i will link you to the first hand and the last hand which gives you player names and tournament IDs.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4470185

Last hand:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4470186

The long wait begins...

Assassin's creed 2 black edition pre orders now! I see the poster at the local game joint as i stroll past. Holy shit! I am in there and paying my deposit without any questions asked. Then i finally decide to ask what my money is getting me and shit its going to be great. Then the big question, "whats the release date mate?" i ask expecting sometime in August for some unknown reason. "November 19th" the reply followed by a quick "time will fly mate". He must have been able to tell by my face how upset i was after getting all worked up over the details of the limited edition set.

Ah well only 129 days left...

PS3 Trophy Battle

I only recently started to give a shit about my PS3 trophys you score when doing bits and pieces like shoot 200 birds in GTA4. I had more than a good mate of mine did and when i figured that out is when it all begun. Playing games just to win these bloody things. Its got me up to 50 hours plus in one game in about 2 weeks. Not good! I sat there and did some bloody driving job for 2 hours so just to win one of these things.

A few days later after the big man does a quick trophy sync to the server i see i am well behind and all thanks to the new Red Alert game that awards trophys for every single mission you complete. Bastard mother f****r, prick ass....

So how can i compete? Buy a similar game. Little Big Planet. Lol 12 trophys in a matter of minutes. I've also gotta steal this red alert game to pick up the few of those easy points.

Game on!

Poker oh yeah playing a little bit too but PS3 is ruling the roost at the moment!

Good luck all on PS3 land and on the felt. Anyone who wants to look me up in the world of PS3 have one guess my username?

Karma in life = Final Tables in poker

Last week after my wife's rep basketball team had a nice win the team decided to go for pizza. With about 25 people there and kids yelling after their win, orders got mixed up and i just knew the bill was going to be messy. Got the the end of the dinner and people started to leave. I got up to pay our share and was last up and as usual in these situations there was a left over amount. Nothing huge just $12 so i told the guy i would pay for it. As a previous business owner i know its hard to take these little bits here and there, before you know it you have lost a days wage for someone. So i paid it and went home, not looking for any thank you or praise from anyone.

Settling in at home on the laptop i saw a nice $7.70 turbo and decided to try my hand at it {no pun intended}. I ended up coming fourth from 800 or so players. Thats nice i thought and then something hit me, no not the wife as it was about 3am. I realised that what i just made more than covered the little extra i forked out at the pizza shop. In fact it would cover 50 pizzas or so. Karma hmmmm i like it, maybe someone got a flat tyre and had to change it in the rain for skipping out on a bit of their bill...

Poker news i have had the for mentioned final table and a few small cashes in MTT and alot of success in 6 max SNGs. Good luck to all the Aussie boys in Vegas for the WSOP ME and a big shout to Mat Hawker who helped me tune a few bits in my game.

D-day & no daylight

Yesterday was D-day (dentist day) and for those who know me not something i look forward too. I manned up and walked in, sat in the chair and laidback. Opting to skip the injection and not to spend the rest of the day drooling around town. 25 minutes later and $230 i am outta there no harm done... this time.

Got up today and sat in front of the PC playing 5 MTTs, 1 SNG & a little cash game session. I hit the $3r flying into a nice stack and never looked back, scoring 65/3600 or so. Not a bad run hours after i started. Played very well in a few others and cashed in the Heads Up MTT again in great fashion never really having any trouble at all. Ran deep in a few others with no result.

Took a shot at another hyper sat into the $70k Gtd taking a major short stack into a commanding chip lead and a seat, which i cashed out for the $TD. Doubled a nice little stack on the low limit cash tables and decided 5 hours after i started it was time to get up and shower, lucky no one was around cos let me tell you, i stank!
Walking out to pick up my son from kinder i noticed the sun was going down and i hadnt even looked out a window today, eh theres always tomorrow.

Before i sign off for now i want to give a shoutout to my mother in law who i found out reads this. Pretty cool, all you blokes with dodgy mother in laws ha ha ha you got screwed!

Good luck on the felt.

Little poker and broken teeth

Havent been playing alot of poker lately, cant really pull myself away from the Playstation 3. Still doing a little TDing with the APL and seeing some classic beats and pots with players that have more beer inside them than blood! But as it should be the solid players still coming through it to meet up at the final table.

Broke another tooth the other day, so looking forward to a nice dentist bill somewhere in the region of the Sunday Million buy in :(

Think i might go grind up some low stakes limit hold em, maybe even a home game....

Untill next time.

How can you kill that which has no life?

The title says it all. How can you beat online poker people who have no face, no shame and an endless supply of cash? All i can think of is the South Park episode where they rip off World Of Warcraft and that one fat lazy fucker kills everyone with one strike. They boys get around it by "GRINDING", yep the boys take a few weeks to kill bores in the safe part of the forrest to gain points.

So far this makes sense to very few of us geeks and others have stopped reading it by now. The poker version of this is people shoving hands at random or worse still calling your shoves and hitting with K7 to flush your AA out or 57 off suit to slaughter you yet again. The one time you hit them they rebuy so quick that they dont miss a fucking hand.

It makes my head spin. Whats the answer? Grind out the bores in the safe forrest, just one little problem. WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE BORES?

Rebuy = No sleep :)

After selling some of the action on ChipMeUp, i sat down at 10pm to start the $11r event on PokerStars.

It was a dodgy start i made it to the break with a low stack. It was so low i alomst didnt add on as it was looking like a waste of time. But i did it, Add on please virtual dealer man.

All of a sudden it was 12:15am and the wife was walking in from work, and i just cashed in 7th in a little $3 KO on FTP. I was looking good after a few solid hands and was back to about the 180/400 mark. With top 162 cashing i thought i can cash in this.

Next minute i was short stacked again and looking at just missing the money 190/199. Open shover with my last 7 BBs with Qc8c and get called by QQ in the SB. Magic turn gave me the flush and maybe the chips i needed to cash.

About 2am and i am in the money 50/147. After flopping a set of 7s vs AK on a K7X board i was in the lead 1/45 left and was in a situation like my favourite SNGs, the 45 players!

4am and i am sitting 1/19n with a nice 90k chip lead. It took about an hour to play down to the final table, and lucky me got quad 9s to take us to the FT. Wasnt long till we were down to 7 players and thats when i stepped it up a gear and ran over the table. I knocked out the next 5 players to take us Heads up vs a guy who i had been battling all night.

I have a nice lead with 3.2 to his 1.4 but it didnt last long when my KK went down to A4 and so many more hands feel away.

All in for my last 900k with AJ vs AK and the board bricked out leaving me sitting here at 6:10am, 8hrs into the game with a 2nd place for just over $4,000. With a super pumped share holder on the rail it was ok to finish 2nd but i feel like i let myself down heads up.

Now its 6:20am and i am trying to payout investors who scored a nice $US400 each for a little $5 outlay. Now if that isnt a great reason to buy shares i dont know what is.

After what seemed like 10min sleep i am awake and having to try and maintain a normal day. Not going too bad so far but ask me again later on.

Go swans vs the hawks today, a Sydney win would cap of a great weekend.

Bubble boy, low limit and the cold

What a week! The main issue for me this week is i have had a nasty cold flu like thing for the last 5 days (no pig or any other sort of animal flu). Been hanging out at home a little more than usual, and that leads to playing more poker.

Speaking of poker decided to play some micro/low limit SNGs and build a bankroll the old fashion way {hard work}. Been playing with $50 and have worked my way up to about $150 or so. No thanks to a massive streak of 6 single table tournaments in a row in which i bubbled! 4 were nine players and the last 2 were the six player format. None of the time did i desrve it! My AJ being called by A3 and hitting. To be honest i did get it in bad ONCE and only ONCE with AcQc vs AK, flop gave me my Q and then the river (you know the river) gave the K.

In better news i managed to take down a 45 and 18 player SNG within an hour of each other so that helps the old bankroll move up :)

Personally i am starting to think about work. Having a few months off thanks to selling the business has been great but i better start thinking (at least) about whats next...

Also we have hermit crabs, weird little critters.

A few random thoughts:
- Why do people always think they know better or need to help the poker dealers or TDs?
- Why do we tip for shit drink service, (yeah you know who you are, took you how long to get my beer? 35 min yeah thats right) but cant tip the dealers? I had some great dealers at crown!
- Why do i think people care what i have to say?

Teams, cash and THE POKER DUCK!

Well i have played my last event at the Melb Champs, which is disapointing but in saying that its keeping some money in my pocket. I crused on up to Crown about lunch and caught up with Gary for a meal before we got own by the Crown dealers on a blackjack table. I was starting to think i might end the session up when the first two hands i got where blackjack. Gary had no luck being dealt 12,13,14 almost everyhand.

Heading down to the tables i bumped in AJ and told him of my plan to beat up on some $2/$3 NL. I sat with $150 and figured it should get me through the few hours until the Teams Event kicked off. It was a great table, a few that had been there all day and a few that had just sat. One guy sat and just starting shoving and shoving. He would have been about $500 in the hole before we tanlged.

I had just taken down a little pot about $100 with a nice nut flush, so i couldnt help this next one. In the SB i called a raise to $10 from the button and the BB also calls. I held 9s 3s, flop comes 6s 7s X i check, BB checks and the dealer makes it $20, call, call is what he gets. Turn bricks out and i check again, BB checks and the button makes it $85, i call as the BB folds before i can even get my chips in the middle. The river bricks a nice Jh no help at all so as quick as the card hits the felt i pump my last $120 into the pot. I have never seen anyones head spin so much. I tanks and folds, i turn over my busted flush as the dealer shoves a pot back of about $340 plus my uncalled bet. Hmmm what a start.

I blanked out again and cashed out about $200 up, just enough to cover the blackjack. the krispy kreame doughnuts and the roulette to come :)

Teams event kicks off and i sit the whole first level playing one hand. KK to which i folded to a bet on a Ace high flop, with 2 hearts. No great loss plenty of time.

Nothing much really happened for a while as Gary chipped us up a little bit with Ak and i picked up some blinds with AK under the gun with no callers. It felt like hours past untill i saw anything that wasnt 47 or 92. We moved tables with about 62 players left and about 5BB in our stack. Not alot happened as i picked up some more blinds. At about the 300/600 level in the SB i squeeze the cards to see two beautiful black Aces. As i watch the action i was stoked, limp, raise, call and then i shove with 2 callers! Board blanks and a flop bet from the inital raiser takes the pot heads up. She tables JJ and doesnt hit. We are back!

Lasted another few levels before we had to start making plays with our last 4BBs or so. Gary finally shoved K2 after seeing it so many times, with 2 callers we could have made yet another last minute comeback but it wasnt to be. As we looked up we ha been in for 5hrs and came 29/125, which considering the cards and lack of action we felt happy with. One deep run for the series isnt too bad, top 18 paid so we werent far off.

Now we are just waiting for the next teams event, maybe Vic champs....

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a side note but the most important side note ever. I sat down after one of the swaps to see THE POKER DUCK next to me. As you can all imagine its a proud moment in any poker players life to be seated next to the poker duck. I gave him a little pat and picked up a pot the very next hand...

Sugar, caffiene and more sugar

For those of you who dont get to see my eating, drinking and sleeping habbits here is an insight.

I only drink things that contain sugar and lots of it and caffiene. Coke is usually the drink of choice with solo and redbull never too far behind. Never really knew you could drink water untill i saw some people do it. I previously thought it was for cleaning things with.

Food the same, must be loaded with sugar or salt and has to be bad for you. The only exception is brocolli, not sure why. Serving sizes must be exceeded by at least 4 - 5 times. Lollies must be eaten by the bag (share pack size), all take away meals must be large and doughnuts must be in 6 packs at least.

Now as you can imagine this cant be good for your body or anything really. But amazinly i am still alive and only have 2 teeth with fillings. Of course i have stacked on a few kilos but nothing like i probably should have. So i think i might try to eat less shit, drink more water and just generally be a little healthier. Key words here are MIGHT and TRY.

Will have to wait till monday to start though, tomorrow i am off to some fancy joint for lunch with Rainns before the teams event. Lets see if i can break the one hand wonder curse.....

Melb Champs #5, New job and $1/$2 NL live

So it turns out that i am meant to win the teams event this weekend with Rainns since my other two events have been really disapointing.

I scored the little feature table that crown have set up, and got the seat in front of the pole. Its so nice not to be able to move! Moving on from that i got a little bit of luck with Stephen Topakas sitting to my direct right. None of that really mattered cos it seems like i am a one pot wonder.

After i took my one pot for the night i procceed to get my ass kicked. Set Tens vs Set Ks and there goes half my stack. A missed nut flush against the short stack and i am down to 5BBs. AsJs Shove turns to crap as the flop dodges me every which way.

I did however get seen at the feature table by AJ (adgee) so if there are any non believers he can back me up at a small fee of $50 a time.

After my great poker tournament i hit the roulette tables and somehow i managed to work up enough coin to get some food and hit the old $1/$2 NL tables. Man its been while. I sat with my full $80 buy in and a rebuy if needed in my pocket. Its wild that game, first hand was an all limp fest with every single player limping in! I saw this as an oppurtunity to try a few things.

First was a little advertising showing down 3 bluffed pots with 9x. Lets see what happens... I did get a few calls in spots i thought i wasnt going to but the overall result from my 9 bluffs was anytime a 9 hit the flop and i bet they all folded!
So what does a man like me do in that situation? Plays 27 and bets the 9 high flop!

After a few hands i see a familiar looking man up at the media center looking down over the poker tables. He was wearing a top with "Tilted Behaviour" on it! Yeah that'll be Tim Duckworth. Now how was i going to get the attention of TDuck? I pull out my blackberry and log into MSN. Score! He is online. "look to your left" i type. As he turns around i give probably the worst cheesy grin i have ever given. Not sure if the stunned mullet response i got was from supirse or shock at the face i had pulled.

After walking away from my session about $70 up i decided i should head home via the sushi bar of course.

And to all those who didnt know, i started a new job this week. I am working for the APL as a TD. Just in my local area and after my first night i enjoyed it. Its nice to see AA get cracked by JT and not actually be the one taking the beat for once. All in all night 1 was good and i will be back there again next week. So if anyone is around Tuesday nights Dromana RSL 6:30pm reg and the game kicks off at 7:30pm!

Melb Champs Event #1

Today was fun. I got a nice table with a extremely shit seat, yep seat #1 direct left of the dealer with 9 other players on the table. No room to move and very little vision.

There was an empty seat right untill the cards were in the air. Then in comes David Steicke. Without a word he sat and no one even looked at him. Now this guy has got some great results, i mean he did take out the 2009 Aussie Millions Highroller event for well over $1M. Plus he has several pics in the Pokernews Mag that is available free in the poker room. Still no one said a word. He actually got up when i was standing and said to me "no one knows who i am!", i told him i did hence why i folded everytime he was in the pot.

To the poker i can give you details on all 4 hands i played!

First cards UTG 77, limped so did 4 behind me and i didnt hit.
Next hand about 30min later AJ, after hitting trip Aces on the river i called 1k bet and lost to AQ!
Two hands later i picked up KK and hit the flop. Here we go i think, i got some Poker Stars player in with me and i check it to him expecting him to bet, he does of course. I bet the rag turn and he folds so bloody quick.

Got down to 10BB real quick and i shoved on the button with Ad6d with no callers :(

Final hand 7BB left in the stack i shove all in on the BB with 2 limpers with my JJ. The lady to my left snap calls as i annouce she has AcKd and oh yeah i was right. My read on her was AT+ she was prepared to go broke with. Flop comes with 2 clubs, river the 3rd and as i stand up grab my drink and prepare to walk off the final club hits and i am out of event one with a bad beat.

I wasnt happy cos i truly thought that shit only happened on PokerStars {no i dont belive PokerStars is rigged like alot of people do}.

All in all i came 360/498 and played well. I really liked playing live and i must admit its alot better than online. Oh well move onto event #5.

Bad beats and thoughts of Melb Champs

Playing well and taking a bad beat heads up with AA (see hand below),
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4236030
Makes me wonder if the same SHIT will happen sunday in the Melb Champs.

In better news i am all registered and paid, Events #1 #5 and #8 Teams event with Gary aka Rainns. Should be a good few days and lets hope for some deep runs and a nice cash.

Poker, life and bad driving

Poker is still poker, roller coaster. Melb champs is now only a few days away. Life is the same and bad driving let me tell you, i have almost been wiped out 20 times in the last week. Gotta love the donks on the road, i sometimes wonder if the donks that almost KO you on the road are the same that KO with 72 off on the felt?

Still a few shares left for my Melb Champs events
http://chipmeup.pokernews.com/events/show/14924
http://chipmeup.pokernews.com/events/show/14745

And its been confirmed i am playing in the Teams event with Rainns from CMU!

I will try and keep people up to date with my current stacks and play during the events here but cant promise anything. Live reports will be coming in from http://www.pokernetwork.com/reporting

Live play, the stupid things

Ok now its getting close to the start of Melb Champs and i have all those stupid things going around in my mind, maybe you guys have some advice or ideas that could help.
Should i...
Wear sunglasses?
Use an ipod?
Register online days before?
How early should i get there?
What should i wear?
What will i eat?

Lol funny what the brain thinks of when your going to start doing something you have done for years just in a different way {online to live}.

Still very pumped to be playing only 2 weeks to go... bloody long wait.

CMU Melb Champs event 1 listed

Hey guys get yourself a piece http://chipmeup.pokernews.com/event/14745 oh yeah! Event on NLHE $AU175

Melbourne Champs

Its almost here! 22 days the first event for the 2009 Melbourne Champs kicks off. I am looking at playing 2-3 events. #1, #5 and either #6 or #8(teams event).
I will be selling shares in these events, except the teams event unless we decide too!

The bounty event and the terminator events look fun and with the added cash bonus make for a good tournament to play. I will be travelling up to crown to play each game and as such will be spacing out the events i play. I dont want to finish 1st in one event at 3am drive home and then drive back up to win another event the next day :)

Extremly pumped for this and shares will be up for sale within the week!

Side not i am playing a bit online too, yes i know i said i wasnt going to but this month has seen $5k in cashes with over $500 profit in heads up SNGs. Figured it cant help to add a little funding to the Melb Champs bankroll.