Raymond Terrace

There is a fours tournament in Raymond Terrace this weekend. I will be playing in an NSWIS team with Dave Ferguson, Carl Healey, Jesse Noronha and myself. It should be a good bowls tournament.

Dave and Carl will be fresh from a training camp in New Zealand preparing for the upcoming Trans Tasman. I'm sure we will go well. Geoff Campbell will be our team coach/ manager/ chef/ driver/ pilot & relationship expert.

If Only

After a pretty good start to December in online poker I decided to go pretty hard over Christmas. I figured the play over Christmas would be easier with an influx of recreational holiday players. Over a 10 day period I went on a massive heater on Pokerstars and made about 3k basically in $10-$50 buy ins.

Around this time I went for the 2nd time to Star City's new poker room. In the first hour I went up 4 buy ins. I would basically just have it and everyone would bet into me, for example the first hand with my friend sitting next to me.

I have A5 diamonds on the button with several limpers 40 big blind game. Flop is A 2 5 rainbow, top two pair not too bad. Big blind bets 25 into 30, I call, turn is a 10, he bets 70, I call in position, and I am basically getting it in on the the river but he basically beats me into the pot when the ace comes on the river for another 100 which I call and win.

A few hands later I flop the nuts with 76 suited hearts on a 543 board with two diamonds. It is pretty obvious the guy has a 10's > AK suited hand as he had been pretty inactive and raised it up pre, he watched the flop keenly and was pretty pleased with the low flop. I felt he had a 10-JJ type hand. Also if someone has a set I want to get it in or a diamond flush draw with over cards. I lead into the pot for 40, he quickly makes it 200, I roll over my hand, he says he is dead so another buy in.

Next I have k6 of diamonds on the button I flop a straight draw 543 flop with one diamond, call a flop bet with 3 others. The turn brings a diamond so I have the second nut flush with a straight draw. The river brings my flush in with the A of diamonds, so it is backdoor, the nuts, in position and I have a guy still betting into me, I didn't say I wan't blessed. Another buyin.

This is about where my run ends, really wish I went home after this as I have a series of near misses and breakeven for hours.

If I played incorrectly I would have made 7k on the 2-500 table. For example; We start playing 6 handed instead of the usual 9 handed. I love 6 handed Vs less guys as I get to play more hands in position and just more hands in general compared to full ring 9 handed.

One guy at our table had just won the tournament that night for 10k and was now playing cash and down about 3k. Another guy was calling everything including re-raises, out of no where, with anything, out of position, so even with just these two at the table it was great. The tournament player was over playing hands and getting it in pre with ak on a non aggressive 6 handed table for 100 big blinds.

One particular hand he squeezed me out of a huge win, I was a bit annoyed with his over play as it winds up costing me at least 1200 by making me fold when he re-opens the betting to a re-raise by Aces on the button. The solid button guy re-raises the 'any two' early position raiser. Normally with QQ I would re-raise this here but with both of us sitting on 1200 I don't want to be getting it in pre, I feel he is decently strong, he hasn't gotten out of line and I am out of position Vs probably the other strongest player at the table. He does have a weakness however, in that he overplays Aces and Kings for 300 bb's as we will see later.

However in this hand where I flat 40 in the sb, the big blind re raise to 140 with AK, button makes it 500, I fold my QQ and AK calls. Flop comes Q 3 5, blank blank, Aces win. I would have surely stacked aces here with my QQ...especially since a similar situation comes up within 30 minutes.

I have 66 in the small blind. UTG raises, Any two guy calls, tight solid button guy, star of previous example raises to 100, now I have 1200 in stack still so 12 to 1 to set mine, not quite enough considering the following.

Two guys behind me including under the gun raiser who is the tournament guy. He is in for 6 buy ins. He doesn't like to slow down and could completely re-raise the pot again. Also 20-1 is better or 5% of my stack to set mine. I am out of position.

However, tournament guy instead of re-raising, just guy flat calls 100 and so does the any two guy. There is just under 400 in the pot when the flop comes out (first card 6 xx) at this point I am a bit annoyed as I made the right decision but wished that I played like a crazy person who doesn't like money, because I would have been raking it in. So the action goes check, check, and the button bets 500! 500 into 400, over pair anyone, not folding ever anyone, I get the noose ready for the second time in an hour...One of the supervisors watching the table saw my QQ hand and my 66 hand, he should have comp'd me a room to do David Carridine.

Summer

I got back from Auckland last week after the New Zealand Open for bowls. After 10 days of competition the NSWIS girls did exceptionally well with Sharon Renshaw winning the singles and Anne Johns Runner Up with Penny Landher in the pairs. I do a bit of coaching with Anne and Penny came up with the South Australian state side to Merrylands a few months ago so I was really behind all the girls to win.

In the pairs I played with Carl Healey and we were defeated in the quarter finals by 1 shot in a high quality game in tough conditions. Usually the standard slips with wind and rain but different types of shots were played and were very effective. On our return we received a very favourable letter from a bowler who we played in the qualifying at Blockhouse Bay. It was very humbling to receive such a reference. I feel we did what most Aussies do after a game of bowls but Andy and his pairs partner really appreciated our camaraderie during and after the game.

I played 15 hours of poker this week. As you can see from the graph it went well. I had a guy from my bowls club supporting me in the chat box when I reached final tables. On ya Clarkey:)

I went for a run this afternoon and noticed that the old Cables Waterski Park that Panthers own is now re-opened as Cables Wakeboarding Park! I will be spending some time their this Summer! This Summer I also want to get in some Muay Thia with Ash's Jabout crew.

Speaking of Ashton Cartwright he has a new website www.ashtoncartwright.com for all of you interested in playing poker. His website has all you need to assist you in learning to play. I particularly like his article on 'online vs live' poker. He is always posting up new items and keeps it fresh. I think he is coaching Penrith Panther Luke Lewis in poker. From what I know of Luke he is already a decent player (I split a $55 tournament with him at the old PokerDome) but as with all effective people he is looking to improve his game further.

November

I just got home from a fun night out. My cousin had her birthday and we had dinner and drinks which was interesting, with some funny stories told. It has been four years since we last caught up. She has been over in The Philippines and travelled through Europe a bit with her boyfriend Jason. Her name is now ‘Honey’ and that is what all her friends call her. I always knew her as Rachael and couldn’t quite get used to the name change yet. It was done for business purposes and before that it was Mia which apparently isn’t as catchy.

I have a trip to New Zealand coming up for the New Zealand Open in Auckland. I will be travelling with the NSW Institute of Sport and as with last year Carl Healey and Mat Miles will be coming on the men’s side. This will most likely be my last trip as a part of the NSWIS crew. I’m concentrating more on developing career and expanding poker/travel/academic time.

At Club Merrylands we missed out on the finals series. We lost to The Hills and competition leaders Raymond Terrace. I think we performed poorly. Against Raymond Terrace our team was under prepared and hung over? At The Hills we lost overall, I don’t know what to say, but I am pretty sure the team will play better next year. On the surface we made changes but I’m not sure they were the right ones. It is never an easy job and you have to do the best with the players you have in the positions they are picked in.

On Pokerstars I have been playing more PLO and PLO/LHE mixed games. I am trying to develop my game there and been making decent money. I still play tournaments. I am also on Cake Poker now as *shibby* and have made a good start. The games are really soft and the rake back is great. Stars has the consistent tournament volume due to a larger player pool (hundreds of thousands from around the world on together), where as Cake only has 3-10k people on at any one time.

I’m thinking of staking some people in live tournaments rather than playing them myself. They are so slow and the convenience of online play with the lower buy ins makes it a smarter choice to reduce the risk of ruin. I make a steady income online where as live poker tournament players where the buy-ins are between 2k and 40k are a recipe for ‘busto‘.

I have always preferred live cash games to live tournaments. My short handed cash game play has improved dramatically since my trip to Melbourne. I play short handed cash games (6 or fewer players) more frequently now. It is hard to get a game like that live. Live is mostly full ring (9 to 10 players). Generally only the better players are willing to play short handed cash games, so they rarely get off the ground live. The rake in a casino would be prohibitive also.

Magic Mojo Back

After coming back from Melbourne and settling back into some sort of routine I really feel great again. I've found a better balance with training, work, study and poker.

Our Premier League team has copped a bit of flack for constantly changing its roster.

After three tough loses on the road to Taren Point, Engadine and Warilla; we have now managed to win three games in a row. It is good to finally string some wins together in the Premier League. We flew to Wagga Wagga and had a pretty tight tussle with the Riverina Team. Then we had a double header this weekend starting on Friday night against Birrong, which we ran away with in the end.

On Sunday against Toongabbie it was a much closer game; we started well and finished well. Towards the middle of the game the Titans were in control but we managed to regain the momentum we built earlier by scoring on all rinks and over taking them on the master board. I think Toongabbie may wonder how they lost control of that game. It certainly seemed like we scored 20 shots in a row and were suddenly 10 in front with only 10 ends to play.

The last 3 wins puts us back in the top 6. We currently sit 5th and have quite a few home games up our sleeve. With the rule change back to retaining the mat, when scoring, the games overall have been much closer. There is also a strong trend for the home team to have a clear advantage.

I really feel we have a strong chance of figuring in the finals. We were evenly matched in both very tough away games against Engadine and Warilla. I would love to play them at home. Taren Point were dominant however, and I feel it would take something special to beat them in a final series game. We will be tested in the next few weeks and we need to consistently convert our opportunities at home and against teams that may be struggling internally.

I have had the time and opportunity this week to chill out and go to a couple of parties. I spent most of the week around the City and it was a great week where I had some quality time with people I care greatly for. Late night dessert was a highlight at a place where I had eaten breakfast earlier in the week. I did some shopping on Saturday, bought some clothes and booked some trips and paid entry fees for various tournaments.

One tournament I'm really looking forward too is the New Zealand Open in Auckland. This will probably be my last trip with the NSW Institute of Sport. I had a really good one on one with Cam Curtis (before he took on his new role with Roselands) where I decided that my focus on representative bowls would be reduced and move on towards other areas in life.

I learnt so much from my time at the Institute about life in general and I met some of the most amazing people from within the sport and also on the coaching and administration side. Some of these people greatly changed my life and through these exceptional people I was able to positively influence the direction of other young people in sport.

My experience with Hills Shire Sports stands out in my mind as a great experience for talented athletes in the area but also for my own understanding and personal development. I learnt so much from these kids and it really made me reflect on why I participate in sport and where my motivations, goals and achievements were driven from.

I set many goals for myself to achieve by the time I was 25. I have achieved most of them. Some of them were modest, others were outlandish. I did enjoy the journey. From New Years in New York to playing U25’s for Australia. I had academic, sporting, relationship and other goals. I am at a stage where I am reassessing all of these for the future. I feel I am in a better place now to judge what is appropriate for myself than when I was 17. The process is on going and I am sure that things will change as people come into my life. Now more than ever I am my own person and not so easily swayed by other peoples opinions as I once was.

Melbourne, NSW Open & Wollongong

I have had a nice little upswing both live and online. I spent about 4 days in Melbourne playing 2-3 NL and went up 12 buy ins on the 200 table. The games were exceptional and the timing was great with the Rugby League Grand Final on at the same time.

Online I went up 2k. I entered some tournaments where friends bought percentages of me. My gains have mainly been in cash games with most of my tournaments blanking out. Luckily, I have had people buying good percentages of me in tournaments. Overall in tournaments I lost very little due to staking and actually gained in some arrangements.

Crown is by far the best place to play cash games live in a casino in Australia. There are great restaurants and places to go out all around Southbank. Crown makes it easy. If I had the choice I wouldn't spend too much time in a casino but that is just where the poker games are hosted. I learnt at home reading books, playing online and with friends.

I stayed with friends at a place in Kew which wasn't too far from everything. We played a couple of home games. One home game was in Kew and another was with a mix of people in St. Kilda. Later that night I went down to Sandringham to meet a friend from bowls and catch up.

We hired a car and spent any down time watching Entourage, Family Guy and other movies like Watchmen on the big screen. Alex's place in Kew had wireless internet so we played online throughout the house.

I had to fly back to Sydney to play in the NSW Open at Taren Point on Wednesday. After getting ko'd in the fours I stayed at a friends place in Glebe. I met up with a friend at The Rocks and then a few different bowls friends in the city. I went to a chocolate house in The Rocks and then went out to George St and met up with the group at the Three Wise Monkeys.

The next morning I gave my friend a lift to the airport and drove down to Wollongong to meet up and crash at my mates hotel. We went for dinner at the Novotel. He is a state sales manager and he once recommended The Novotel on North Beach to me, to take out a girl for Valentine's Day dinner which went down well. Our dinner was great, we got to catch up and we went back and watched some TV and I accidentally registered a Pot Limit Hold'em cash game table on stars and about 5 hands in stacked someone for 400usd. Good Life.

The last 7 days have been exceptional and I don't expect this to happen all the time but it truly has been sweet. Having the money gave me the freedom to move around and do what I liked. I visited my Nan and Pop on the way back home from Wollongong which was fantastic. Nanna Mac told me a couple of stories from when she baby sat me which made me laugh and her snort:)

As a kid I liked things to be done properly and whenever she was getting tired she would try to skip a page in a book to get to sleep early. Not on my watch! 'Nanna', I would say, 'You missed a page, start again!'

She also recalled how I was certain that it was 'Banana's in Byjama's' because of course that made more sense than Banana's in Pyjama's! Stubborn as I was I went and got out Dad's big dictionary, well the A to K half, and carried it in my arms to Nan to look up 'Byjama'. I remember it being heavy (I think I was 5). Unfortunately, after making my Nan go through all of the 'B' section, she convinced me to go and get the other half and look under 'P' with her. I was astounded, 'It does start with a P!'

Thank you to all those family members and close ones who have been patient with me over the years. It seems I have been stubborn from a young age and have needed very wise and patient people to guide me:)

Tomorrow our club team is flying to Wagga for an important Premier League game. If the weather holds off tonight we have practice. We lost our last 3 games against tough opposition, but we still have some finals chance if we win on the road.

Hot & Cold

After the Inter-Zone carnival over the weekend, which is used by our state to select representative teams, I can’t say our team performed well overall. It seems when some people are very close to being given opportunities for State selection they go ahead and do some harmful things to their own chances and jeopardise other team mates prospects in the process.

Right now the Zone and State activities seem excessive in terms of time commitment. Some of the guys who represent at Australian level, I think, should be exempt from lower level Zone activities and be granted some time off Zone events. Why do players like Aron Sherriff and Wayne Turley really need to be there this weekend? What do they have to prove at State level?

I have a pretty good couple of weeks ahead. The City Master Singles is on and apparently there is betting (what event is there not at the moment) on it with Mat Pieterson installed as favourite. This is fair enough as he just won a car at Park Beach and is a former State Singles winner. I am not going in with any expectations. Sets play always brings out some surprise results. I just want to run good if I get into tie breakers and try to nail my first bowl. If I create some good heads and convert when I need to I will be happy.

On Friday we managed to start up a cash game after a poker tournament and in two hours I went up 12 buy ins in a crazy hot poker game. I was mainly dominating when we were all in but when I was in 50/50 situations I won all but one. Safe to say I was a favourite with my JJ Vs 77 Vs 34 off! The only hand I lost was with JJ Vs AK Vs Q5 suited for 50 big blinds. I also flopped a straight, and mainly played pretty tight in this game, bluffed a couple and showed for some image.

This week I hit some goals online and also made a bit of money in live poker as mentioned above. I am really making steady strides. When the Pokerstars ANZPT comes around I will enter some events, I am also looking at some EPT events where I can combine travel with some tournaments while in Europe. If I can get some reliable prepaid mobile broadband while I am there then that would be sweet also for online tournaments.

I had my mid semester exams last week and didn’t play poker for a week prior. It made me really keen this week to play and probably improved my uni marks and poker results this week. A good friend who is going over to Japan for a 6 month uni exchange has been doing very well in heads up sit and go’s online, every time a check he has made another thousand. His ROI is equivalent to mine over a shorter period but he is making more per unit/game/SNG. I am playing more games at a time (multi tabling) where as I am pretty sure he is mono-tabling. I am playing turbo tournaments exclusively where as I have noted he is mixing in non turbo tournaments which take longer on average. I guess we both just have to go with our strengths and find what is most profitable for our style of play. It really highlights that there are many forms of the game that can be specialised in.

Importantly, we both table select and I think this is very important for our longer term profitability. I much prefer playing many tables as it reduces my volatility and enables me to consistently play well without being jilted by a couple of bad results on some tables. Another friend who 12 tables cash games worked out after his 3-4 hour session of play that he had played as many hands as someone who would sit live at a casino for 2 weeks 8 hours a day.