Pre Aussie Millions

I woke up Monday morning feeling pretty good as I spent a whole week waking up at 6pm and gradually woke at 11pm.  I am fairly tired right now I have accumulated 28k VPP so far this year.  My MTT's have been finishing pretty late and I have been throwing in a ton of SNG's.  I don't feel like I played my A Game today but with a good nights sleep I think I can do well tomorrow.

I am heading down to Melbourne for the Aussie Millions soon.  I'm playing the 6 max, so I can play a few hands.  Full ring live poker can be a sleepy affair.  The main is a huge event.  I played last year and had KK beat by 9-10 spades on a 9 high board with two lower spades on the flop we got in on the flop and he rivered 2 pair before the day 1 break.  My dream was over...until now, I am back stronger and better than ever.

I will be fully focussed and ready for anything.  Donks and pro's, I am sure there will be some super strange plays.  I watched a ton of last years televised cash games and the 250k.  Even Phil Ivey has 20-30bb tourney leaks.  I guess he is just so used to playing deeper or planned to check raise some flops with the 9-3 off he defends.

I am pretty comfortable live and in some ways miss it, but I love being home and grinding when I feel good and well rested and feed etc.  I will set some goals to focus on in game and try to keep consistent with my pre-betting routine.

Crown Poker, Pale Ale, Jeep...ship it all to On The Mac.

New Year, Fresh Focus!

I started the New Year with a couple of final tables.  My best result was 2nd in the $51 hyper for around $4.7k and 8th in a late $109 with 500 runners for about 1k.  I felt my energy was strong in today's session and I posted up 4,266 VPP.  I played a few big SNG's including a 2.1k Euro Step, I have 4 Step G's that I have ground up from the lower steps.

New year, new avatar!  The pic above is of an Afghan girl in 1985, the photo was taken by a National Geographic photographer and for 17 years no one knew who she was.  She remained nameless and her haunting and exotic look hung over many (Oprah even did a feature on her a few years ago).  Here is the full story of what happened http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text  I found it very interesting and I hope you do too.

Over Christmas and New Years I mostly spent time going on long walks and watching movies, eating out, ordering in and drinking with friends and family.  I got some good advice at my families gathering on Christmas day about motivating teams and I am implemented some of the ideas.  My Uncle is a trader and has run some businesses and we discussed a few ideas and he was really helpful.

I am heading to Melbourne soon for the Aussie Millions, I will probably play the main event only and stick to my bread and butter online.  I spent heaps of $$$ this year travelling and going on holidays, but when I was home and had my head down I got some great results so I want to keep focussed.  The PokeStars Team Online application has motivated me to grind and I like it.  No news as of yet.  I hope more than one of us gets the gig.  Also with the news of Joe Hachem and PokerStars parting ways, it may or may not lead to a reconfiguration of who and how PokerStars do business in the Asia Pacific.

All ANZ players received a new newsletter for our region that will be monthly.  It included significant achievements by players in our region in PokerStars tournaments and leader boards and individual scores.  It also stated that the new Australian Team Online member would be announced in this newsletter in January, so keep and eye out, I know I will be.  I still have no idea and am still just plugging away.  This whole process has given me renewed vigour and motivation to play on PokerStars.

Seasons Greetings!

A very Merry Christmas from down under!  I just wanted to go over a few stats Jared Hubbard style.  In the last 2000 SNG's on PokerStars I'm up 14.5k, last 2000 Mtt's up 4k with my peak being +17.5k however after 3 killer Mondays with no binkage, it has only been the evening 109's that have been propping my results up.  Bonuses; I cleared my 200k VPP Milestone, used 250k Fpp's to purchase the 4k bonus and also got the Milstone for 2.6k.  I also won two Euro Step G's worth 2.1k EU.

MTT Profit 4k
SNG Profit 14.5k
Rake Back & Bonuses 6.6k

I am all but naked in picture above, the pic is courtesy of Bill 'pockets' on PokerStars who is a fashion photographer and he entered this photoshopped pic in my recent 'Quads or Better' promotion.  Thanks Bill and Merry Christmas.  Here is a link to his page www.fashionpix.com.au Bill Delaney joins in on our home games most nights and I enjoy having a chat with the players.  I mix it up in all the stakes and am open to suggestions for format changes and game types.

My Home Game on PokerStars has over 250 members now and we get regular games up.  A few guys battle it out regularly and one morning things got a bit out of hand.  Calvin Anderson, Pat Mahoney, myself, Liam  O'Rourke and Bryan Huang started doing some $125 PLO flips (I really want to set up a cap table).  I rarely flip for fun but on the Home Game cash table I ran super hot and managed to end very short session with 2.7k on a 25c. 50c table!  I sat on my stack for the day.  A few others like 'ash4simone' came by and at the end of the day I had close to 3k.  Bryan came back for more and won a buy in back:)

Aussie Millions picked up some new rides in the form of sponsorship for the 2012 series.  They will be doing airport pick ups and drop offs and other promotions.  Nice work Crown Poker!  I played in last years main and I must say it is a very well run and prestigious tournament.  This year certainly has a buzz about it.  I expect high numbers and a great event.

Over Christmas I will be having some time off and spending it with my girl.  I probably will have Christmas lunch, dinner with family and midnight mass.  Boxing day I will play majors.  From Boxing Day to New Years I will be spending some time at the beach, having some nice dinners and mostly relaxing.  I might even go for a drive.  I just noticed that it is the 10th anniversary of the Aussie Millions and it is the 10th anniversary for PokerStars as well.  With that came several promotions and massive prize pools and fields.

Australia took a fair chunk of prize money.  Congrats to jcl87, SkunkDen & tunafish919 who combined took in a haul of $1,788,353 down under after this weeks 10th anniversary special @PokerStars!

Brief Mac Update

I final tabled a whole bunch the last 3 days, got me out of a little down swing. The Home Game is picking up and I have had some notables join including Tony Hachem, Bryan Huang and pmahoney22. We played some heads up PLO and NLHE, feel free to join us the PokerStars ID number: 560983 Code: Join_OTM.  I got heads up with Bryan a couple of nights ago and got lucky and won a $109 turbo.

I am up to 195k VPP, it has come naturally. I also had a shot at the Saturn 20 block low orbit and managed a reasonably high score, but I don't think it will be good enough. There is still time I guess. Also don't forget this week is the massive 10m guarantee Sunday Million, 1st will be 2 million!

Still no news on the Australian Team Online decision, I have heard it is to be decided 'very shorty'. I only hope it is done before Christmas. The worst part is the not knowing and putting all this work in is all consuming. I am taking a break between Christmas and New Year. Then back on the grind before the Aussie Millions which I have used my 3rd place bonus in the ANZPT Player of the Year to enter. Best of luck at the tables and Monday should be a massive day for all. The hippies pictured were protesting in the 'Occupy Miami' demonstration. Say no to corporate greed and yes to glitter and tie dyes.

'On The Mac' interview with 'Daleroxxu'

Just before my Monday grind I spoke with Scotsman Dale Philip. We talk about our travels, food, lawn bowls and of course poker! Dale exclaims that, 'It must be nice,' when speaking about winning the Sunday Million whilst on holidays in Spain. Other topics discussed include filthy backpackers, bad meals, promotions, visa problems, home games and how I got into lawn bowls and poker. To play in my Home Game on PokerStars sign up with ID number: 560983 Code: Join_OTM

Sending $1

Cal42688 Calvin Anderson 

@OnTheMac "What you keep is all you have, what you give God multiplies." Ty 4 the buck hope it proves to be prosperous!lockerz.com/s/160238988

OWNED!

I got owned by Jymmi Briggs Jnr. Yes I did! Not the first time, not the last!  Congratulations Jymmi and thank you for supporting the competition and getting your 'fishy avatar' liked by the most people.  'Owned' had close to 150 people 'like' nominations and as a result I will be using this picture as my own on PokerStars.  Jymmi receives an entry into the Sunday Million!

We had many great entries in the 'Fishy Avatar' competition and The 'Quads or Better' promotion was also well supported.  We had 60 entries from all over the World and each verified entry will have a piece of me this Monday!  I'd like to thank all involved for making this an enjoyable experience.   I will try my best this Monday to win big for you all.  Get on the rail and help me bring it home.

Recent form is good.  I had a few wins this week on PokerStars.  I won the $25 hyper turbo and two $109 turbo's and final tabled a few others including the $75 turbo.  I profited about 10k before any bonuses.  I guess I am running well and my turbo game is pretty decent from playing thousands of SNG's.  I have a couple of smaller goals that I want to achieve to motivate me in terms of volume before the year is over.

I am close to 200k VPP and this month I cranked out 20,100 VPP so I think it is achievable to hit 200k VPP (double SuperNova) by the end of December .  It isn't the main goal but still a motivator to grind and pick up a 2.6k bonus.  Also I am sitting on 210k FPP's I have saved, so I just want to get to 250k to pick up the 4k bonus as well.  With the multiplier I should reach that that amount of FPP's easily, but the VPP challenge will be the tougher goal of the two as I am sitting on 175k VPP with one week left in November.

Going into 2012 I am looking forward to the Aussie Millions.  It seems like an eternity since the start of this year.  For me it has been a year of non-stop travel and excitement.  I remember last December and the week or two before the Aussie Millions as being a real grind.  I was trying to reach SuperNova and did so on the eve of the 31st (then had drinks with my mates).  Early January was reasonably tough too.  I was going down to Melbourne and putting in hours trying to improve and get better.

I wish everyone the best in the coming weeks and I hope it is a time of personal growth and good times with family and friends.  I'd like to thank my family for supporting me and my friends for always being there.  I am at a good point in my life and hope you can fulfil your goals, dreams and aspirations going into the New Year.