Online Poker Landscape Changing

With the recent shut down of online poker in the USA the games on Pokerstars have become noticeably easier. The fields are smaller but games are soft. 18% of Pokerstars players are from the USA compared to 35% for Full Tilt Poker. The development of worldwide poker tours such as the European Poker Tour, Latin American Poker Tour, Asia Pacific Poker Tour and the Australian & New Zealand Poker Tours by Pokerstars really places them well to survive and maybe even grow if they focus on and develop these new markets.

Online poker will return to the US market, the government is just going to legislate it and tax the market. The licenses will be sold to those who are interested and possibly Pokerstars and Full Tilt as we know them now maybe excluded from the re-opening of the market. They took the risk of continuing to operate during a time when others like Party Poker did not offer online gaming to the US market in reaction to legislative changes. Some land based gaming companies such as Harrah’s have indicated interest in obtaining such licenses.

The indictment largely focuses on financial transactions, claiming the online poker companies violated a 2006 law that Congress passed to cut off the flow of cash to online gambling companies, saying the firms “deceived or directed others to deceive United States banks and financial institutions into processing billions of dollars in payments.”

In the meantime ‘American online grinders’ either have to re-locate to Canada or become live pro poker players if they aren’t interested or motivated enough to get ‘real jobs.’ One of the great pleasures of playing online poker is being able to play when and where you like. All you need is a reliable internet connection and you are on. Obtaining and transferring funds online has been the real catch to American players in the past due to the ‘payment processing act’ but we are fortunate in Australia to have no such issues.

At present some players are worried that their funds may be frozen or unavailable. This seems to be just a temporary issue as this Forbes article outlines; http://blogs.forbes.com/nathanvardi/2011/04/20/u-s-online-poker-players-will-get-their-money-back/. This is actually an opportunity for Australian poker players to make hay whilst the top American grinders are blacked out.

Good Things Happening

Yesterday Ashton Cartwright played well enough to win a 100k guarantee tournament on Pokerstars for 22k. He was the last man standing after almost 3 thousand people entered. He had a stack most of the way and then on the final table went back down to 9th in chips before staging a pretty awesome comeback. I knew he was going well but I didn't really get too excited until they got 3 handed and a few things worked in his favour. Heads up he carved up the guy and won it pretty easily.
www.ashtoncartwright.com for more info.

It was a pretty fun day. My internet kept cutting out. I think the weather affected my mobile broadband reception. I moved in recently and I have a list of things to do which includes going and getting a fixed line installed ASAP. I toyed with the idea of going down to Melbourne for the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series but instead I think I will get things done here and go direct to Perth for ANZPT.

Go to the Source

'The door to your right leads to the Source.'

A week after Adelaide ANZPT I travelled to Dubbo to visit the Team 1 Team base. I got to catch up with Dingo, Browny, Westy, Baza and Lukey. I got to experience the good life on the 'run good' internet connection and shipped a couple of tournaments in one night! I also had a great time at the Dubbo Railway Bowlo, getting getting ko'd by Baza88 on the APL final table. It went something like this;

On The Mac; 'I'm all in'

folds to Brad in the big blind.

Baza88; 'How much do you have?' (looking at a message on his phone)

On The Mac; 'I'm sitting on about eighty-eighty thousand Baza (blinds 5k-10k).'

Baza88; (After a slight delay, some may say 5 minutes) 'Um, I call'

On The Mac; 'I have 88, you got AJ?'

Baza88; (After a few more moments) 'Oh'

Mac; 'Humph'

I think you know by now he has Aces and is slow-rolling me in a 11 re-buy at Dubbo Railway Bowling Club to the laughter of all the local regulars. Classic Baza, nothing like Dubbo hospitality. They make you think you are good then bring you back down to earth.

I got the Mayoral tour of Dubbo from Brad Bower, (he is known as the 'Mayor of Dubbo' to many Australian poker players and these days doesn't answer to much less). He has been known to answer Skype calls with his robe on and not the usual Full Tilt one that most have.

I got my grind on and I was able to focus really well. We mostly ate out or had food delivered. We prepared a few cocktails. I flew my Dad in from Mackay and I stayed for about a week. Originally I was going to do a road trip but the flights were only $144 and the car needed a service.

I also sent my mum and brother on a trip to the Philippines and I am planning to go on a few trips between ANZPT's. I've basically been moved out of Neutral Bay now as the place I was in has changed ownership in preparation for development. It was a good base to have between trips.

Late one night I went on a drive up through Manly and to Palm Beach and back. It was really awesome to drive through at night with the car recently serviced and there not being many other cars around. I blasted through Whale Beach and stopped of at 2-3am at Palmy which is a really nice spot at anytime day or night. It had a different feel to it this time as it was so early in the morning that not many of the house lights were on that usually illuminate the beach front. It is usually really cool driving around the last bend onto the beach front area and the area being lit by the houses on the hills. The beach was really calming and I had a snack and listened to some music then drove back.

I was kinda bored after the drive and wasn't ready for bed, so I ducked into Star City to see if there were any games running. There were like 3 tables and I mixed it up on the 1-2 $200 buy in table. It was a bit unusual as normally you can get at least a 5-5 $500 table running, but I played for a bit until I got hungry and bored an went for breakfast at the Queen Victoria Building. I decided to get a taxi from star as it can be hard to get parking in the city and I realised I had a few questions to ask at the Apple store.

I went in and the service was great. I ordered my iMac and an additional screen online whilst in Dubbo (it was delivered to my place as i arrived back in Sydney), but I had a few questions about the setup. I also found that I could just purchase an iPhone with no wait at the store. I bought one outright and then took it to 3/Vodafone and told them I wanted a BYO contract as my contract for both phone and internet had just completed. I had been on a waiting list for 6 weeks with 3 mobile for an iPhone and it was really satisfying being able to just walk into the Apple store and say, 'here is the cash, thanks for the phone'. It really was a pleasure. Sometimes I think that the telco's in Australia don't like money. They are slow, unreliable and expensive compared to other countries.

Some of my goals have changed after recent events. I still am looking to do some work with Paul Penna on mental/life skils. He was our former sports psychologist at the institute of sport and I found him to be excellent and I am sure he can transfer his knowledge over to apply concepts to poker. I think that both of us are challenged and excited to be working on this project. Utilising Skype we can do some work while I am away.

Perth is the next stop on the ANZPT. It should be fun times. I have many good friends in Perth and a lot of the tournament guys will be there. We have been on some pretty awesome trips to Queenstown and Cebu and it is always good to catch up with everyone.

Triumph & Disaster

Treat both of these imposter's as one and the same. The college football hero and the failed entrepreneur can be affected by similar falsehoods. One haunted by past perceived failures and the other held back by past alleged heroics. Our perception and recollection of past events, relationships and memories can impact on expected future outcomes. Choose your own adventure. We need to focus on the process and learn from our prior experiences without setting limits on our potential based on these past 'triumphs and disasters.'

What we perceive our reality to be now and what may happen in the future is a function of what we believe and the thoughts that dominate our minds eye now. It can be true that our self image is built upon some past experiences and experiments, but why do we let such past events be our crux?

I was told a story of a CEO who could not read or write. This was not in the 1930's. This CEO consoled in a single cab driver and not another person this private information only very recently. It has only been over the last 2 years, now at age 65, that he did learn to read and write. He had his assistants read memo's and type letters and reply to emails. I imagine he did this whilst looking busy at his desk with 'reading' glasses on his nose.

One of the most interesting people I met in the last week was the cab driver that told the story of this CEO to me whilst travelling from Sydney airport. He spoke vividly of how he still has dreams recollecting an earthquake in South Eastern New Zealand around 20 years ago that he had experienced. His parents main reason for moving to Christchurch after the first earthquake was because they believed or was told that Christchurch was an earthquake free zone. How things can shift.

He vividly described how initially there was little warning, only a tremor. Then 15 seconds later the World was shaking and there was no escape. Nowhere to hide and a sense of helplessness due to the inability to do anything and lack of control. There was nothing to do about the situation. He described the sound of an earthquake to be, 'like a freight train coming at you.' He later went on to say that he is going over to New Zealand to be with his family that has been affected by the recent earthquake in Christchurch.

I think we can feel like we are caught in an earthquake at times, trapped in our emotions and conscious thoughts of dramatic past events. We become prisoners of our self imposed beliefs and those imposed on us by others. We can believe that we are in an 'earthquake free zone' yet frequently tremors reappear or visions of such disasters reoccur. They then can become our reality. How things can remain.

Peking Duck Attracts Much Interest

After a month of solid volume, I shipped 6 figures in a live tournament in Adelaide. I lost two flips after doing a deal three handed. After the deal my AK lost to 10's and my AQ got re-shipped on by KJ and a King flopped. Heads up I had 20-30 bbs, but Octavian was too good and was a deserved champion. This backs up his 200k + score in the SCOOP and last years ANZPT final table 3rd place finish after getting it in with 96% equity. A special mention goes to Ian Parnell for a really well deserved run. He played exceptionally and I couldn't be happier for Ian.

By far this is my best tournament result. I was happy with my composure throughout the whole tournament. Having a lot of chips can put some people on a lesser known form of tilt. I stuck to my game plan and adjusted as necessary. I researched players the night before when tables where drawn. I tried to get a feel for how each person would react to the money jumps and if possible hands that they had played and had been reported in other live and online tournaments.

My preparation was excellent. I put in good volume over January. I won a satellite into the Aussie Millions 1st go. I played some high stakes 25-50 PLO in the Mahogany at Crown, felt comfortable but lost some. January was break even after winning a couple of mtt's online. I had to direct buy in through the Pokerstars client for Adelaide ANZPT and I stayed with friends who won packages which included Intercontinental accommodation.

Once I had the chip lead I stuck to a routine. I rested. I had breakfast by the pool and went for a massage before the start of each days play. I had never been so relaxed before a final table. I reviewed hands with my peers. I asked for advice going into the next day and integrated what was said into my view of how the game was being played. It was a big disadvantage having Octavian to my direct left on the final table, however the way the table was, we were both able to navigate without too many big clashes. I by no means played perfectly and was learning and adjusting as the tournament progressed.

2010 and into the New Year

“Depp said, ‘Hey, man, I found this thing, this island!’
Brando said, ‘Well, what’s the elevation?
Do you have a water system there?
What about the electricity?’

I have had a pretty exciting year and want to wrap up what has gone down. I am looking forward to continuing to develop, mature and grow as a person in 2011. Electric is the feeling that most describes this year for me. There were certain moments when I felt an inaudible jolt of electricity fill a room and a clap of lightening strike down simultaneously at key moments on otherwise fine and sunny days. I feel I really lived this year.

A few live achievements I am most happy with, being a relative newcomer to live tournaments
ANZPT Sydney T. Hachem bounty event in Sydney 2nd place 12.6k, APPT Cebu deep stack 3rd place, APPT Cebu bounty 1st. Online stuff here http://www.pocketfives.com/profiles/onthemac/

I was able to go to Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) events in Canberra, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Queenstown and also Asia Pacific Poker Tour events in Cebu (The Philippines) and then Sydney this month for the grand final.

I moved into multi table tournaments online from just sit and go's online in 2009. I Made twice as much as last year online in half the time. I received coaching and developed a great network of friends and players from around Australia which I am greatly appreciative of and humbled by their knowledge and achievements.

I skipped the number 1 pennants in bowls and played the majority of the premier league season. I played masters (not old but majors winners) tournaments in Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour as well as a few other Sydney tournaments.

Next year I want to work on my deep cash game skills
Play all ANZPT and APPT main events
Graduate
Maintain fitness and health
Continue to balance work and life
Get a reliable phone with long battery life
Try some yoga, work on mental skills
Go to more live concerts
Get over Ikea
Continue to travel and make more money

Longer term I want to buy an island Branson style or Depp style.

Home Ground Advantage

A few weeks before the main event I qualified for the APPT Sydney which is a 6.3k buy in event through Pokerstars by winning a $530 freeze out. I was hesitant to try to enter the event because it is a pretty big buy in and obviously the quality of player and the amount of money spent to satellite in might be high as well. I won some hyper turbo's into the $530 sat and entered a tournament where there were 24 runners and it was winner takes all with a few places getting there money back.

The night before the main I won a 3x turbo for the same event and was super pumped and felt like I was free rolling for sats and the main. I also sold about 37.5% of my action which is re-rolled into my normal bankroll. I won a bit in cash games and was feeling more comfortable than before. 1st in the event was close to half a million and Jono Karamilakis won it. I finished about 60th after 300+ entered.

I was sitting 13th/60 when I got it in with top 2 pair A Q 10 flop Vs probably the guy I wanted to target but he happened to have the nuts and I didn't improve to a full house. I feel I played really strongly throughout the tournament. All my decisions were clear and well thought out. I made some variations versus different opponents that I was very happy with. I have a wide range of influences on my game and I listen to all sound advice and think through different lines that people put forward. My background is a mix of cash, tournament PLO and NLHE as well as specific bubble skills allow me to flex my game to certain unique situations. This one I feel was reasonably unavoidable.

A unique opportunity has come up in the past week. I have the opportunity to go to the Aussie Millions in January down in Melbourne. I am going to satellite online for ANZPT Adelaide but live sat for the 10k Aussie Millions with half my action taken by an investor. Marketing opportunities and investment money may be shot into me to really give me a clear line at having a six figure roll to make some decent in roads and become a player in bigger games that I only wish I could play now. I appreciate vision and hard work and am willing to put in the volume, sacrifice and consistent improvement to become better at what I do.

Many people don't really understand what poker players do. I guess at one level I shouldn't worry about what people perceive to be the practice, as surely we all have different approaches to the game. Many people do simply gamble and are degenerate in the process. Others are more methodical and work strategically, others take mathematical and psychological approaches to the game. Still others take a trial and error approach. Mostly the game is fun and it involves money and decisions. The way in which people accumulate chips in tournament poker varies and has a lot to do with their general or individual philosophy for winning. Tournament poker is about accumulating all the chips, cash games are about getting all the money, but how we do this? Well we all take different paths.