Saturday 6th November
The weekend started off with a team’s event on the Saturday. Chris Whitmee, Renee Cornish and I were a member short so we teamed up with Mistress Poker and 888pl to join forces with Nathan Butler.
Team name: 'Brett's our favourite Kay!"
The Teams event was spilt into 2 tournaments. A single table shoot out with the top 3 getting points towards their team’s total, and a MTT where you got points equal to your finishing position. i.e. 1st out for 1 point, while the winner of the 160 strong field received 160 points. The teams total was added together and the top 4 teams got paid.
I was pretty much card dead in the shoot out but managed to stay alive until we were 5 handed, and reraised TC Brandon all in after he opened with 99. He made a 'dubious' call with k7 off and spiked a k.
Renee finished 4th and Chris was 1st out in the entire field when on the 1st hand he ran top 2 into bottom set.
So it was left to Nathan, to get 3rd and secure at least some points from the 1st round.
In the MTT tournament, again Chris was out early, 130th roughly. I was travelling ok without really picking up many chips or hands. It was a very friendly but very loose table, where limpers would call any raise to see a flop. I eventually raised all for 3.5bb with 33. Got called by K2.
K spiked on the river and I was out in 65th place. Renee followed shortly after she really did play a team game where every place counts getting down to 1/10th of a BB before exiting with A8 vs. 66 vs. 33.
So again it was left to Nathan to carry the flag for our team. Nathan ran pretty well and after a couple of sick sick calls he eventually exited in 8th place making the final table.
A superb effort in a tournament with a fast structure.
Incidentally, the other Mistress Poker team won the Teams event, with all four making the top 100 and even though none made the final table it was enough to take down the title and bragging rights back to SA.
At 7:30 the High Rollers event kicked off
A $50 buy in 20k start stack tournament.
This event making its third appearance got its biggest field to date. 157 players paying the cash to take a crack at the $2,000 first prize.
I ran super hot in the early goings in this one, picking up AA, flopping sets, straights and flushes and ran my stack up. However with a pretty quick structure and steep blinds my once proud stack suddenly became short. I was committed to putting in the rest of my stack when in the BB for over a 3rd of my stack and unfortunately my 9 5o was not live against the raiser's A9. 5 community cards later and I was our in 34th place. A decent run but only the top 16 got paid.
At this stage the table to be on was Chris's where we had a last longer bet with the Mistress Poker crew. 7 of us took the bet and incredible 4 of them ended up on the same table with 40 players left. Eventually it would be down to Garth Kay and Chris.
Some very impressive and entertaining play pre flop where push fold was the norm. My favourite being Chris's shove in the SB with 82o getting Garth in the BB to fold K6.
Garth would eventually be the bubble and Chris would continue his incredible run to High Roller's Final Table's. That's 3 out of 3 now at State finals. An amazing achievement.
Chris eventually was forced to shove for 4bb with A6 spades, got called by A2 Diamonds who called a re shove from the BB who had AJo.
Flop was all diamonds and Chris was out in 9th for $250.
By this stage it was midnight and I was shattered.
Sunday 7th of November
Semi Final ME
Sunday started as it always does with a sea of excitement and 888pl players packed into every corner of Dingley. It's always my favourite time of the weekend, catching up with old and new faces as well as TC's from different venues. Everyone from my venue (The Village Belle in St Kilda) made the trip and we were all in good form, looking for another deep run for the venue. Currently we are the only Venue to have 2 Semi final winners.
The tournament itself was the best run ME I've played in. The TC's dealt with the broken air con, numerous table breaks and movements with professional ease and made the experience a great one. Josh, Drew, Ernie and Paul were exceptional all day. Michael provided the best structure and start stack to date. 10k with 30min blinds all day. And most notably there were no blind skips, which made for a long grind with plenty of room for play right up until a handful of tables were left.
The starting field was a record high of 531. I was seated upstairs against the wall and could see the entire room. The day started really well for me when I flopped a set of kings against AK, who turned top 2 and still managed to only lose half his stack when I rivered a book, Kings full of Jacks.
From there I ran pretty well, picking up hands in the BB every time there was a limped pot. I pretty much won every flip in the early going. Made some good reads and one well times bluff for a pot worth 25k when the average stack was still only 15k.
By the first break I had 25k.
By the 2nd break I had 70k and feeling pretty confident for a deep run with the average stack still only 20k.
By this stage I also had my eye on the Mistress poker last longer bet, whereby the last player in wearing their gear would get entry into the Aussie Millions Team event with Scott Murrin valued at $550.
Shortly after the 2nd break we my table got broken which I was disappointed with as I had pretty much owned the table, however the trend continued on my next table where shortly after joining I flopped another set of K's after being called in 2 spots. After everyone checked the flop, I lead out on the turn with the board reading K Q 10 6, (2 hearts). I got min raised by a loose aggressive player and reshipped all in only for him to snap fold. Another decent chip up and I was over the 100k mark with just under 200 left.
Shortly after our table got broken and I continued my rush on my next table taking the blinds and ante's 3 times in the first orbit to push close to 110k.
I then got tangled up in a hand with AQ, where I raised a limper, bet a 3 4 7 flop, bet a 10 turn, and gave up on the river only to see my opponent table A5 for busted straight and flush draws. That hand moved me to 145k and now I was right at the top of the pack.
A few hands later this table was broken and we were down to less than a hundred.
Incredibly we still had 3 Village Belle players in when he were down to 48 players. Nicole and Fabien both with decent stacks.
This is where I started to hit a bad patch, running A5 into KK where I was pot committed to calling his reraise all in from the BB when I raised the button. Then my 88 in the small blind got out flopped by a loose BB who called with a 9 3 and reraises my cb on a k 9 4 board. I folded and suddenly I was short stacked.
After patiently waiting for a spot, I finally had to get it in with A5 UTG for 33k when the blinds were 7k 14k and ante's 1k. There were 33 left at this stage. Top 30 got paid.
Incredibly everyone folded, and I jumped to 60k. Next hand UTG pushed for 34k and I called with K9o as there was already 62k in the pot and it was only 19k to call. He had A 8 and I spiked a 9 to jump to 100k~.
Then on the button I woke up with QQ after UTG raised to 35k, I shipped he called after a minute or so and a chip count to leave himself short if he lost, which he did with AQ Diamonds. Although I had sweet with the board running out qc jd 10h 4d 7h
This put me back into a safe spot with over 220k. Blinds 10k 20k.
Nicole went out in 46th and Fabien 36th. A great effort from one venue.
With the money bubble burst there was still 3 players in with Mistress Poker gear.
The 3rd player left with 28 players to go and when we were down to 24, I got seated beside the last remaining MP Player.
Almost immediately she moved all in for her last 40k when the BB was 40k. I called with 67o from the button as I knew the blinds would have to call and with a bit of fortune I'd secure the Aussie Millions seat.
Luckily for me on a board of k q j 4 7, I was the only one to hit and took down the pot and the seat. Needless to say I was pumped and felt like I was free rolling after that. With the payouts still on like $150 this was a nice bonus being a $550 ticket.
From there it was really FT or bust for me, and the game became push/fold with the blinds and ante’s accounting for half the average stack.
I stole some blinds, but didn’t have another show down until we got to 12 handed.
The action was folded around to the sb who limped for 30k. I had 180k total with 60k in the bb. I looked down at A8c and shoved. He snapped with JJ.
Just as I thought my day would end just shy of a return to the FT, the flop came AA5 and the luck of the Irish struck again!
I was up to 400k.At 11 handed play slowed completely. The jump was from $700 to $800 + a GF ticket.
I was guilty myself of feeling the FT bubble when I folded A7h in the bb to the sb min raise who showed k2 after I folded.
Luckily I woke up with 2 big hands just after though, stealing the blinds with K10d and AA, to pick up 300k uncontested. The blinds were now 40k 80k with a 5k ante.
Just as I folded AA the bubble burst on the other table and we were down to 10. I was 4th in chips with 640k, with 5.3m in play.
The FT was very enjoyable, with Garth giving my accent the usually jibes it deserves, the rail full of voice and the players themselves all seeming very relaxed. It really was a wonderful advert for 888pl.
I was card dead for the first 2 rotations and even though there were multiply all in’s we only lost 2 players. 55 crack AA. Jq out flopped 99 and A10, hitting a straight.
One fairly loose player considering the stacks and bet sizes called 3 all in’s one of them a multi all in with A10 twice and 88. He managed to win 2 of those and had about 700k.
I woke up with 99 UTG with 500k left and shipped it all in. Everyone folded to the bb who called again with a10o. The flop was great for me coming 8 high. However a 10 on the turn sent me to the rail in 8th.
Obviously I was bitterly disappointed to get so close to my 2nd State final win, but 8th place was worth 1k, a GF ticket and an Aussie Millions team event seat. So all in all I can’t complain and it was a good end to great 09 for me with 888pl.
A big thank you to everyone who wished me well throughout the day, to the TC’s (Josh q10s is the nuts) who ran a super weekend, to the Mistress Poker crew, (see you in Crown in January Scotty!) to Garth and Michael for overseeing the best Semi’s to date and finally to Chris and Lalor for staying til the wee hours to insure and I didn’t have to cash my cheque to pay for a taxi home!
Ha and for anyone who read this far, congratulations you now know how hard it is to have to sit beside me on a table. I never shut up!
See you all at the GF.
