AceHighWine

After looking forward to the series for a long time, this month’s Sapphire Series at Burswood turned out to be a bit of a let-down, and in a strange way (and perhaps I’m just trying to find some silver lining somewhere), I’m a little glad that I didn’t make it through to Day two as it frees me up to put a dent into this workload I have.

Quick recap of the week.

$330NL tournament: was looking forward to this, but last minute got an invite to amazing truffle dinner at Gala Restaurant which is seriously one of Perth’s most under-rated restaurants and one of my top three places to eat in the city. I stand by my decision.

$440NL teams event: Personally, this was my tournament of the series as there was a great atmosphere and plenty of good teams in the field. Structure was a bit thin though, but still fun and found a few spots to get creative in. Burswood: have a monthly series for this tournament and make the buy-in smaller, $220 or $330 and set up a league with a cool prize at the end for the top team on the leaderboard (two seats to $1100 event or something). I reckon you will make a killing and get more heads in the poker parlour regularly because the atmosphere during teams event was awesome.

$120PLO rebuy tournament: This was the worst tournament of the series and the worst structured event I have ever played. Each casino is welcome to run its tournaments how it sees fit, but a confusing rebuy (NO ADD ON) format where with blinds of 25/50 and a starting stack of 2000 (rebuys only if you have 50 per cent or less of your stack left) and a rebuy period that ended three minutes from the end, there really wasn’t a lot of value to be had and I should have just got up after first rebuy. The number of drinks my friend Aleks was sending over probably had something to do with my decision to stay however and after we all busted, proceeded to have a laugh and some drinks. Was beaten by someone who called my shove with ace-high and a gutshot when I had top pair and up and down on the flop, but he turned and rivered perfect to make trip sevens. I laughed and wished everyone well while swearing off live PLO tournaments ever again - so what if I’m a one-eyed hold’em player…

$1100 main event: Had some good players on the table that made it possible to play some creative deep stacked poker. Interesting hand at 25/50: UTG limps and a few more limpers. I raise to 300 on button. He reraises to 1100. I make it 3000. He folds. I show him J-9o. At level 75/150 I manage to get away from AK after raising it on the gun and leading all streets on board of K-Q-5-9-3 rainbow and get reraised to 3000 on river after betting 1000 into pot of 5000 because I put villain on busted flush draw (check-call sometimes you donkey). As I’m going through hands while the rest of table goes on break, I realise how band I am at poker and ask if he’ll show if I fold as I’m only worried about J-10 (although this villain had crippled a player after calling with Kc-9c after UTG raised QQ and flops KQA, called bets, turn K, more bets and river 9, bet, shove, tank, call. ul QQ). He says yes fairly confidently and I fold my hand face up and he shows me Kc-3c for the rivered two pair. Sigh.

Nothing too exciting happens until about 150-300 (I think): Raise AA to 1000 in MP and get called by player two spots down and we go heads up to flop. Flop is 9h-10h-3c and I lead for ~1800 and he flats. Turn is a gross 8s and I slow down as it hits his range and he quickly goes all in for almost 8000 into a pot of just under 6000 (I can’t remember the exact amounts but it was a big overbet). Sigh. I’m leaning towards folding but just don’t like the bet amount as he’s the kind of player that bets there for value. If he made it 2500 I can fold, but his shove looks a lot like he’s still on a draw. I tank for about three minutes and reluctantly call figuring if I’m wrong, I’ll still have ~2k in my stack which isn’t horrible and there’s too much money out there to fold, although I hate calling off with an overpair. “Good call,” he says as he shows KJ for the naked up and down. Still, eight outs to fade for a big pot but my hand holds and I have about 19k which is double average going into break.

After that I probably try to run over table too much and lose a lot of chips when I flop flush draw with two overs with AcQc on button in a raised pot but play it badly and have to fold when villain shoves river into me. I entertained a ridiculous hero call as the board was double pair and he could have been doing the same with AK as the shove doesn’t make a lot of sense as he’s chasing out value, but calling for a chop (which would be like less than 10 per cent chance) is ridiculous and I don’t think he’s doing this with king high or a pair less than eights.

Blinds creep up a little too quickly and I’m forced to make ridiculous play at 200/400 when after three other players limp my BB, I raise to 1800 with 62o and get called by CO who has big stack. I lead with a little more than half of my remaining 6k stack on Q-high flop and villain tanks and tanks before eventually folding. I show the bluff in the hope of getting plenty of action when I do pick up a hand.

I get my wish a few hands later when I get QQ and after UTG raise (1100) from young aggressive player who knows how I play, reraise him to 3k. Folds back around and he shoves and I snap call as a third of my stack is out there and considering out history, he would probably do this with 10s up. He throws his head back and exclaims “You must have aces.” Shit. Two other players say they each folded a queen so I’m drawing dead. I probably should have been able to fold as in a bubble, UTG opens and four-bets with exactly QQ, KK, AK and AA only as far as I’m concerned but then again, poker isn’t a game played in a vacuum and plenty of factors affect our decisions. None the less, there are worse hands to bust out of a tournament with, so I can’t complain too much that lady luck wasn’t on my side.

Anyhow, thank God (hence the significance of the Amen Brother 45 pic posted) that I don’t play live tournament poker for a living. Having to endure the sort of every-mistake-could-be-your-last pressure that comes with tourneys makes the prospect of holding down an office job very appealing. Stay in school kids.

While I can do a passable job of writing, I fail horribly at most things to do with technology - maintaining blog software is definitely one of my weaker points.

Long story short: AHW wasn’t working and now is thanks to the genius of Matt at Abstract Gourmet. ty ty mate. For the record, Matt can not only write very well, but he photographs very well and knows his internet stuff. If you live in Perth and don’t already have his blog bookmarked, shame on you. Actually, who cares where you live - add it to your favourites anyhow, you won’t be disappointed. Matty, again, God bless you sir and your wine rack will be taking receipt of something really nice, really soon.

In addition to fixing the accessibility problems, Matt’s also upgraded my version of WordPress to something a little more up-to-date. The first time I logged on to my dashboard, I felt like both a fish out of water (blatant and obvious pun entirely intentional) and a kid on Christmas morning: at my disposal was a shiny new interface that was destined to usher in a new age in wine and poker blogging. AceHighWine was redefining itself for the ‘08 and getting with the times! The year just gets better and better…

Now some obligatory poker content: commiserations to John Auf who bubbled in Sunday’s $330 NZ Poker championship satellite at Burswood. According to John, the 21-strong field was just that: strong. His third place finish was good for “F*CK ALL :)” (that’s a direct quote) while first place got the seat and second pocketing $2300.

Also: being the uber-nit that I am, I played a $125 one-in-10-go-through live sat at Burswood to play the Sapphire Series Main Event (considering payout structure and capacity for just 120 players, I just think buying in 1k is still -EV) during the week and did a good job of disputing the fact that poker is a skill game.

After keeping my head above water for the first few levels, I once again found myself in that familar red zone and forced into pushbot mode. After open shoving and re-shoving a few times (what else are you going to do when you’re 6BB deep?), the rest of the players on my table were cracking the shits at my “internet player” play and rooting against me. After losing with AKs vs Aks and 99 - I turned the flush draw but missed to lose a massive pot and find myself with a pitiful short stack - they all had their wish but through the grace of God, I won all my all-ins to build myself up to an okay stack. Then the fun times began.

Folded to me in the SB, I put the rest of my chips in the middle with J7o. BB snaps with KJ and the flop of 10-K-K pretty much sealed the deal for me. However the A on the turn and Q on the river made for a pretty good exit clause and we went chop-chop.

Next I open-shoved with the massive holdings of 10-5 suited in spades and found a caller in big Wayne (who had doubled me before when my KQs rivered a straight against his AJo) who woke up with A10. Rivered the flush. Easy game.

I then open shoved 92o in MP when we were down to three tables and near the two-table bubble and found a caller on the button who had pocket 10s. God I pick my spots well. Flop 8-k-7. Turn 5. River… gutterball 6. During the hand, a small crowd had gathered around my table including many bemused dealers who all promptly threw up in their mouths as they realised I rivered a gutshot one-card straight. I walked off to the side for a bit, shook my head and then returned back to the table to offer my condolences to the poor guy with the 10s. I had previously crippled him with 55 vs his AKc on the bubble in a live satellite to last year’s Sapphire Series main event so I am expecting big fireworks the day he lays a beat on me. To his credit though he took the beat very well and plays with a lot of class which is more than I can say for 98 per cent of Burswood players who are a complete joke when it comes to poker etiquette.

I made it to the final table where seven got seats and eighth took home $880 and UTG as the short stack, an M of .8 or something and the blinds about to go, I put it in with 2-3o after doing a half-hearted lookatholecards-think-hmmm-shove as I figured I had to shove ATC. The SB called with KJ (after some other player told him openly ‘call, call’) and rivered a full house and I (justifiably) get the boot. I say I was lucky to make it as far as I did.

A quick one between reviews - last week’s Shaw and Smith launch was held at Yú, the old Genting Palace at Burswood. For those who haven’t been or are looking for somewhere to eat when heading over to Perth, consider Yú - so long as money isn’t a concern.

Obviously the folks at Burswood had the high stakes gambling junkets in mind when setting up this restaurant: Yú is opulent, stylish and exudes class - this certainly isn’t your hole-in-the-wall 2 in the morning Chinese restaurant.

The food is good and you get what you pay for with a good part of the price paying for the exceptional produce used in the dishes. The Peking Duck ($8 per pancake with a minimum of four pancakes, that’s only slightly cheaper than where we normally go for a complete two-course Peking Duck with pancakes and sang choi bow!) is fantastic and perhaps the best I’ve had in Perth - certainly the most expensive - and beef dishes are cooked using deliciously thick chunks of meat rather than the tiny slivers normally served at cheaper eateries.

While both wine selections feature a distinctly West Australian slant, some wine drinkers might find the by-the-glass selection a little uninspiring - a shame because unlike the majority of West Australian Chinese restaurants, BYO is not allowed here.

In summary, Yú is a restaurant I’ve enjoyed eating at every time I’ve been, but ultimately, not one I could justify splashing out at as cheap and cheerful is my mantra when it comes to Asian cuisine. Yú Restaurant

Since the groundbreaking Windows shut in 2005, Burswood Entertainment Complex has been without a marquee fine dining restaurant, though if the rich set did want to splash out, the complex’s excellent Chinese restaurant, Yu (nee Genting Palace) could certainly accommodate. A visit last year from Rob and Alex from Winestream provided a great excuse to dine at Yu but I had to wait until Marie’s birthday last night before allowing myself to be lured to the 21st century’s incarnation of Windows: (A)Lure.

We were seated and presented with an amuse bouche of an espresso shot of the soup of the day together with bread, butter and olives. The wine list is extensive and there’s an okay range available by the glass, but the by-the-bottle prices are a little on the high side. Beer, cocktail and spirit drinkers however can choose from an impressive selection at very reasonable prices including the excellent Hoegaarden Forbidden Fruit still on offer at a criminal $7 a bottle.

The menu is modern-Australian with a strong seafood influence while a dedicated sushi station prepares Japanese fare. For an entree, I decided to uncharacteristically try the Caesar salad (”I’m a have a salad. And some water.”) with grilled prawn and chicken confit while Marie went the rock lobster, prawn and avocado cocktail. Both were excellent with particular mention going to the flavour and sheer size of my salad. Our excellent waitress for the night Lisa told us that after complaints about the size of the salad, the kitchen decided to supersize the Caesar.

In all honesty, I could have happily ended my meal there and I’m not a small eater, so perhaps something to keep in mind if you’re just after a bite rather than a full blown banquet. I’m not sure whether it was because we were full, chose badly or a result of the blazing pace set by the entrees, but we weren’t as into our mains of salmon and pork belly confit. Try as we might, we couldn’t muster the energy or digestive system real estate to sample the dessert: (A)Lure this much certainly don’t skimp on serving sizes!

When it opened, Windows revolutionised fine dining in the state with chefs Hans Lang and Marianne Kempf (who are now running their own magnificent restaurant, Gala, in Ardross) introducing West Australians to many European gourmet concepts that we now take as the norm. Considering how gastronomically-aware Western Australia has become, it would be unfair to expect (A)Lure to have the same impact on the dining scene as its predecessor, but the restaurant’s seafood-driven menu is studded with gems that extend further than just Fish of the Day (MP).

All things considered, (A)Lure would be my choice as a venue to kick off a night at: its extensive drinks list covers most poisons of choice but I think for the money, there’s plenty of other places I’d ring first for a dinner reservation - though if I was a cashed-up mining magnate wanting to entertain or a rich Asian businessman in town as part of a big junket, the convenience of (A)Lure and the strength of its food (and not to mention money not being an object) makes dining in-house a feasible option. (A)Lure at Burswood

(yes, the above pic is a scanned Polaroid - bringing 20-year old instant film cameras to weeknight dinners is the perfect way to avoid looking silly by lugging a digital SLR to fancy restaurants.)

After a morning workout to help negate some of Saturday night’s delicious dinner at Shige, Marie dropped me off at Burswood to try and guide my short stack into the final table. With 25k in chips and blinds at 1000/2000, things weren’t looking promising, especially when I had two big stacks to my immediate right on my starting table. Apparently I wasn’t the only one travelling in dire straits as two short stacks busted the first hand, including my mate Aaron who lost with KJ against J-10 that hit a three outter on him. Unlucky mate and well played!

The bustouts meant that I was on the move (thanks be to the poker gods) and I found myself on a new table with a couple of familar faces. After folding my BB to a raise from Geezer, I complete my SB after two limpers including the button and the BB checks. Flop 5-9-10 rainbow. Checked around to the button who bets 3k into a pot of 8k. I think for five seconds and shove for just under 20k. It gets folded around to the button who thinks about it, and then mucks.

In the cutoff with a dead BB posted, I raise it to 8k with A-10s and Nevin in the SB shoves on me. He was the guy that busted Aaron previously with J-10 so I figure that this is likely to be a coinflip. I call without really counting it down but I know I have him covered. He shows pocket 7s and we’re racing. The flop comes 10 high and I’m looking good. The ace on the turn gives me two pair but also gives Nevin a flush draw with his seven of hearts. The river is a heartbreaking seven of diamonds and I lose a nice pot that would have given me some breathing room, but none the less, you persevere. Maybe I don’t need to call the reraise preflop with A-10s but I know Nevin doesn’t like surrendering his BB and I’ve seen him make interesting calls when his blinds are being raised, especially during clutch stages of a tournament. Anyhow, no stress and that’s poker for you.

A few hands later, I find 10-8o in middle position and figure it’s a good enough hand to get my last 6200 chips in. I shove and Marty calls right behind me. It gets folded to Geezer in the BB who thinks for a while but decides to let it go figuring Marty must have some kind of hand and his holdings aren’t big enough to overcall. Marty shows 99 and I’m looking like I’m in a bit of trouble: I was hoping to see AK or any hand without a 10 in it. So I’m drawing to three outs. The flop has an 8 on it so I pick up two more outs. Turn blanks out but a miracle 10 on the river and I double up. “Poker’s easy when you suck out,” I exclaim after apologising to Marty. Being the gentleman he is, he took the beat pretty well, though he did show a few signs of ye olde tilt.

I then shove with 66 and get called by a short stacked Chris (who I thankfully cover) in the SB with J-7o. He flops a seven but I turn a six to have him drawing dead.

I open shove three hands in a row and raise a couple others to pick up more chips and am slowly building up my stack to past the 25k mark when this massive hand comes up in my BB.

It’s just me and the SB who see a flop of K-K-4 with two diamonds. He checks. I bet out 4000. He reraises me to 10 after a moment’s thought and I shove on him at once. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see he looks anguished and mutters “This is so sick”. Immediately, I pull my Western Force visor over my eyes and make like a statue, my eyes staring right down. However, from this vantage point I can see him shuffling his cards and counting out stacks trying to calculate odds. “I have a king,” he states, “but with a terrible kicker.” The whole time I’m not saying a thing or making a move and concentrating on nothing but my breathing. After about a minute and a half, Ash goes over to my opponent and tells him that someone’s called time (apparently Geezer went over and had a word) and he has a minute and then another 10 seconds after that before his hand is declared folded. The count gets down to 15, then zero before the final 10 second count. Eventually he mucks and I quickly flip over 6-4o before raking in the chips. Understandably, the SB pounds the table in anger as he realises he folded the best hand with K-2. I just didn’t put him on a K and figured he was on a draw or had complete air and was reraising my blatant steal attempt. My play could have looked incredibly stupid had he called as I realised I was drawing slim but as is, I just went with my read and it payed off. Though having said that, a good poker player doesn’t want to go broke with top trips and a lousy kicker…

I then win a few more pots preflop before we go to break, my chip stack hovering somewhere around 40k which was still below average.

Major hands at level 11 with the blinds at 2k/4k: The same opponent involved in the K-K-4 hand raises to 10k on the button and I quickly shove on him after looking at my cards for another 30k for him to call. He thinks about it and then finally mucks.

I then open raise the BB of a short stack to 10k with Qd-4d and after thinking he shoves for another 5k for me to call. I don’t like my hand at this stage but make a call letting him know “I know I’m behind here but must call.” He ends up having A-6o so my hand isn’t looking that bad until he turns a six. Obviously I miss my queen on the river and again double someone else up. In hindsight it was a bad play as I knew the BB would call or shove with any decent hand. I was actually contemplaying letting it go when it was folded around to me, but you make your decisions and have to live with them.

I then open shove the next few hands to build my stack back up to around 40k.

Then in my BB, Geezer again raises to 10k and I look down to find Jc8c. Geezer’s been raising my blind a fair bit of late and after seeing him re-shove with KQo to isolate against a short stack’s all-in, I figured he had opened up his range at this stage of the tournament so his button open-raising range must be massive. I quickly go all-in and he insta-calls with Q-10o. Probably not a call I would have made as my shove was for about 70 per cent of his stack but maybe he put me on a middle pair and figured he was racing. Or maybe he had enough of the way I had been shoving as a weapon! Still, two live cards. The flop of 9d-10d-5c looks pretty good and the turn of 6c even better. Suddenly I have 17 outs (any seven, queen, jack and however many clubs are left in the deck) on the river but I miss all of them and sadly I go out in 22nd. I’m a little bummed to be exitting such a great tournament and with an okay chance of cashing (10 more players to go before the money) but you can’t play these with an eye to staying alive or making the money - first place or bust! And besides, since the 10-8o suckout, I reasoned that I was on borrowed time and everything past the first 10 minutes of the day’s play was cream.

I then heard through the grapevine that Pete had suffered two beats in the space of two hands for his entire stack and was incosolable, heading straight for the bar after being busted. The first was truly horrible when he and his opponent got it all in on a king-high flop with Peter holding big slick and his opponent pocket 8s. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what the river was. The next hand, he then loses the rest of his chips to Nino when Nino’s AJ finds a jack on the board to trump Pete’s AK. Tough luck mate but after watching you play and spending all of Day one on the same table as you, I learned plenty and can see that your deep run in last year’s WSOP ME and associated poker success haven’t been flukes.

Further investigation has revealed that Geezer did indeed take out the tournament - well done Brian! Though having heard about your call with 10h-7h against Barry’s shove with pocket 4s to send him home in third, I’m thinking your call with Q-10o must have been one of your better ones on the day ;-) . Nice one sir and I expect you to get me a drink as no doubt my chips helped you to the title!

* * * * * * * *

I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Bear and the rest of the staff at Burswood’s Poker Parlour for an exceptionally run main event and indeed, Sapphire Series in general. Perth’s poker community has been critical of Burswood Poker over the past few years with complaints ranging from not catering for small-stakes players through to not having enough on offer for high-stakes players, not enough variety, no tournaments blah blah repeat ad lib to fade. If you take this series and the coming smaller buy-in events (including some shootout, heads up and structured events) all into consideration, I think it’s obvious that Burswood is taking steps to making poker accessible for everyone who wants to get into the game. So again, to all involved in the Saphhire Series: a job well done!

So while I was a little bummed to be out of the tournament which was an absolute joy to play - it’s a shame that deep structured events are only possible for big buy-ins. I guess I need to build a bigger bank roll to be able to play more of these events - it was great having Marie on the rail so we could do something complete poker-unrelated. After the bust-out, I quickly said bye to everyone and then grabbed some food at Wong Hawker Centre where they do a mean chicken rice for cheap.

That evening, most of the disappointment at busting was forgotten as I enjoyed a delicious one-pot Spanish dish of chicken, pancetta and pork cooked in tempranillo. In the past, I used to let myself get down over bad beats or misplayed hands or what-not but I’ve realised that it’s only poker. It’s not my main source of income and most of us in the Western world are luckier than we’ll ever realise as much of what we take for granted (ie our internet connection, having running water, being able to walk down to the shops and spend money etc) is sadly absent in many pockets of the world. To be able to play an $1100 tournament (at the cost of a $120 investment) over two days and bust out 10 from the money doesn’t even warrant a mention when looking at the bigger picture. And if anyone wants the recipe for the chicken dish, grab the latest edition of Kiwi food and wine magazine, Cuisine. The wine used in the cooking was a bottle of Hardy’s Tintara Trial Blend McLaren Vale Tempranillo from 2002 that we picked up while in the region in October. Compared to when we tasted it at cellar door, it had picked up a lot more savoury notes and wasn’t as intense, but still went with the food really well.

Despite getting dealt some average hands and losing plenty of value by playing too tight, I ended the first day of the Sapphire
Series main event with a stack just below the average. At one stage, I had managed to swell my 10k starting stack to a touch under 40k, but losing a few hands during the last level of play put some dents in my stack which ended up at 25k.

I started in seat 4 on table 7 (there’s that number 7-4 again…) for the tournament which was the same seat I began the $330NLHE tournament on Thursday in. There were even a few familar faces among the nine other players who started on table 7.

The tournament had a fantastic structure that would have to be one of the best ever staged at Burswood. 45 minute blind levels starting at 25/50 with a starting stack of 10k. But even though though a generous structure was in place, it didn’t stop 10 players from busting out in the first level. There were some massive overbets on my table with a pre-flop raise of 500 ending up in a 10k pot in one of the first 10 hands! The first bust-out took place in a set vs set affair when someone’s pocket 7s hit a third seven on the turn, but the king on the river gave someone else a higer set. I didn’t play any hands except for one where I called a 3BB raise in the BB with J-10, flopped two pair and filled up on the river after my opponent hit a higher two pair on the turn but let me see the last card for free.

As players came and went on my table, I managed to keep my stack hovering around the 14-17k mark (which was above average at the time) and wasn’t involved in too many hands that went to showdown. The aggressive nature of my table led to plenty of bust outs including a massive pot where the chip leader got it all in with aces against the second biggest chip stack who held kings. Nice one Pete who had built his stack nicely with some great calls and great hands - he’ll do well in Moscow!

In nine levels of play and just under eight hours of poker, I played plenty of hands and can’t remember all of them, but a couple of memorable ones.

Blinds 200/400: After contemplating a raise, I complete in the SB with QJs after a button limp from a solid player and the BB checks. The flop comes A-3-5 with two spade and it gets checked around. The turn is the eight of spades and I check. The BB leads out for 1000 and I reraise him to 3000 after the button folds. He calls. The Ks on the river is a great card for me as I know I have the nuts but kills my action. My opponent folds to my 1000 value bet on the river and I pick up a nice pot.

Blinds 500/1000: The same button from the previous hand limps in the cut-off and I complete in the SB. The BB checks and we take the flop of Qd-6d-Qh three handed. I check and BB checks. CO bets and I reraise. He reraises me and I fourbet all-in. My opponent then tanks and thinks for ages. During his deliberation, he flashes the Qs (is this legal? I don’t know what the deal is and don’t want to be a jerk and call over the floor during a hand, but I’d just like to know in case this becomes a case in future) and is pondering a call for close to minutes. He has me covered but it’s a big pot and he’d be knocked down a fair bit if he calls and loses. Eventually he gives it up and I muck my cards.

Blinds 700/1400: Very last hand of Day One. I have a stack of 30k and open for 5k when it gets folded to me in the CO. The aggressive SB who always seemed to have a hand of a button (ie standard button raiser) and had been folding to plenty of raises shoves on me for another 18k for me to call. If I call and lose I’m down to 7k which puts me in a diabolical position tomorrow but if I win, I’m upto a bit over 50k. It’s a pretty tough spot as I have pocket 8s but don’t want to race at this stage of the tournament. I fold my hand face up and the SB shows Ac4c (after I asked him “Will you show if I fold?” to which he shakes his head emphatically!) and I’m a little confused about the hand. Obviously knowing what he had I would have called quickly, but I don’t think you can call with a pocket pair aftet that sort of action. Perhaps if I raised more he wouldn’t think about going back over the top, but at the same time, I don’t know whether I want to stake my tournament life on pocket 8s on the brink of going through to the next day…

Anyhow, I achieved my goal of making it through to Day 2. I’m off to get a decent night’s sleep and will look forward to trying to navigate Day 2 with a below-average stack!

Omaha is a brutal game. If you look up “brutal” in a dictionary, you’d probably see an illustration of two guys sweating their respective four card hands on an all-face card flop with two diamonds…

Normally I’m not one to play rebuy tournaments as I either don’t have the roll for it or can’t handle the manic “play” and all-in shove-fests that go on during the rebuy period, but I couldn’t resist the prospect of a live Omaha tourney and the $120 buy-in was affordable enough for a small-timer like me to be able to pony up for together with a rebuy.

The very first hand of the tournament ended up with an aggressive internet kid rebuying - it was a sign of things to come and he continued to keep rebuying during the first three levels of the tournament. Estimates between myself and a gentleman named Nino who sat next to me put his rebuys well over the 10 mark with his looseness responsible for the plethora of rebuys that took place on Table 8. I figured he needed to finish in at least fourth place to break even for the tournament.

First big hand from me is at the 25/50 level where I pot it in MP after a few limpers. A few more people call behind me including one of the limpers and we see a flop of J-J-10. Checked to me and I pot and it ends up with three of us getting all our money in. I have Ac-Kc-Qd-Jd and am looking in great shape. A lady calls with K-Q-x-x for the up and down while the third player with all his chips in has a pretty marginal holding and was more or less drawing dead. I’m looking in stunning shape but somehow, I end up chopping the pot and the third person’s all-in call when the board goes runner runner 8 and 9 to make us both a king high straight. So sick!

I then have to rebuy after a late position re-pot (always the best time to pick up a hand in Omaha) behind some limpers and get called in about 19 different spots, more or less pot-committing me on the flop. I shove the flop of 4-5-7 with two clubs and get called in about 99 different spots! My K-K-x-x was looking pretty grim as Nino next to me showed 6-8-x-x for a straight and others revealed some speculative calls. Ah the power of the rebuy. The turn bricks out and just to rub it in some, a king on the river for a useless set. No probs and I rebuy while Nino scoops a monster pot that makes his the chip leader. Sick sick hand!

I then continue where I left off last night and fold plenty of winning hands including a hand with A-7s UTG that flops the nut flush and has K-9s getting paid off by someone who flopped two pair. Other “I can’t believe you folded” type folds took place when I folded Q-Q with two yucky others cards UTG that hits top set while another guy hits bottom set. I wave politely to plenty of value going down the gurgler.

Being the tournament value that I am, I weakly limp with a lot of speculative hands that surprisingly don’t hit and my chip stack is starting to lose traction. After getting back from the first break, I pot it in MP after a limp and get two calls from players OOP which basically commits my stack on the flop. The rest of my chips get in on the flop of Ah-2h-9? and everyone folds and I stay alive.

Then there’s a series of about three hands in a row where I keep making second best hands, like two pair on the flop that runs into a flopped set (thank God the board got very scary and we bought put a break on the betting) or top two on the flop that loses to a turned higher two pair. Times started getting a little desperate.

And of course, what would an event write-up from me be without the obligatory suck out story?

With blinds at around 300/600 - a short stack calls all-in after a MP pot bet behind some limpers. I have a stack of just under 4k in the big blind and decide to shove here to isolate with the short stack and pick up a few extra chips. The big stack who limped UTG calls quickly and after deliberation, the original raise folds.

The cards get turned:
me: Kh-7h-4c-9d - yes I was making a play - don’t judge me
UTG limper: J-J-8-9 - uh oh, I definitely didn’t want to see him wake up with a hand
short stack: A-10-x-x

There’s an ace on the flop and I sigh but am cheering on the inside when the dealer points out I’m in the lead with two pair courtesy of the 7 and 4 that also flopped. A disappointing 10 on the turn puts the short stack in the lead but a miracle 4 on the river fills me up. Do you think it’s a sign that 7-4o wins me a hand? Coincidence? I think not. A poker player by the name of James (whom I once busted with 7-4o at a home tournament) reminds me of our incident and while a little ashamed, I gratefully rake in the chips.

A few hands later still at 300/600, a solid player pots it from EP and I look down at my cards of Ad-Kc-Qc-Qh and call from MP (stack around 10k here). The flop comes queen high with a jack and two spade and I lead out for half pot after original raiser checks. He calls and I’m spewing when I see the ace on the turn. I check after he quickly checks. As expected, he shoves the river which pairs the board and I’m put to a tough decision for all my chips. I figure if he’s got bullets, I’ll pay him off (I have the Ace of diamonds in my hand) and sure enough, the other two aces are in his hole cards and I’m sent home in good spirits (and wet). I was almost going to fold but couldn’t do it with an ace in my hand - if villain had to hit a one-outter to beat me, than call me unlucky!

Sort of disecting this hand now, but I suspect even if I pot it on the flop, I don’t know if player calls my shove or not (unless he specifically checks thinking I may have hit a set on him) as most players find it hard to fold aces in Omaha regardless of what they flop - it could almost have been a hand that was destined to unfold the way it did. Any thoughts from Omaha specialists would be much appreciated!

So after playing for more than three hours, I ended up busting 19th or something with the second nut full. As I was making my walk of shame, I noticed John had busted as well. Aaron and Pete were still in when I left and I’m looking forward to an SMS tonight from one of them saying they took down the event’s 4k’ish purse for first place. A positive slant on my exit, I got home at a reasonable hour and got to spend some time with Marie which was fantastic as I hadn’t seen her the whole day. We went through the new copy of Kiwi food and wine mag Cuisine together and caught up on what our respective days at work had been like. It was great to be able to spend some time with her after spending zero time with her last night on account of the tournament as well. Anyhow, it’s late and I must be getting to sleep in preparation for tomorrow’s first day of play in the $1100 main event as well as a workout in the morning - I don’t think I could stomach the thought of playing this much live poker every weekend. Thank God I don’t!