Adelaide - Feb 2009 - Main Event - Day 1

Today was probably the most interesting day I have played in a major event. Whilst the buy in is not that high - $3000 (about £1500) it is the first event on a new Australia New Zealand Poker tour - sponsored by pokerstars. Things have come a long way in the poker world - this event is being covered live online by two sites - check it out here
http://crown.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2009-anzpt-adelaide/main-event/blog/day1a/
and
http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2009/02/anzpt-adelaide-at-bell-catre-are-still.html
Whilst picking up my seat card I came across Danny MacDonaugh who is now director of this new pokerstars tour. He used to be in charge at Melbourne and remembered me from a few years ago when there were sufficiently few of us for even a fish like me to be memorable - I guess this makes me a bit of an old timer.

This tournament is going to have around 200 runners and because the poker zone in Adelaide is not that big it has been split into 2 first days. So on day 1A we start off with 103 players on 12 tables and after things settle down we will play with 9 players on each table. We have $20,000 in chips and the structure is pretty slow. There are 1 hour levels. We get a 10 minute break every 2 levels and an hour off for dinner after 6 levels.

In a tournament like this, you get to know the players at your table by the end of the day, assuming you are not on a "break" table where everyone is moved to keep the numbers balanced. On my table we have a pretty stable set of people and it is particularly interesting because of the little battles that develop during the day. In what follows I will try to give you a bit of a flavour of how things panned out. I am on Table 2 and as you can see from the extract from the pokernews blog final page (picture at the start of this post), it is a pretty tough table. The seating is as follows (not all the players were here all day, but close enough). I've put a link to their entry on the Hendon mob results website.

Seat 1 - Michael Guzzardi - an internet young gun who I came across in Melbourne. He came 4th in the HORSE tournament there and final tabled one of the Hold em events. He arrived late afternoon with a lot of chips and ends the day with a lot more when he (inevitably) busts Ben. He and David indulge in the game of betting on the colour of the flop in the last level to keep everyone amused.

Seat 2 - David Gorr - I've met David before in Melbourne - he is one of the "old timers" mentioned above and is one of the original Adelaide winners. We had a bit of a chat at the Aussie poker Hall Of Fame party - he was on the short list of inductees.

Seat 3 - me - UK fish

Seat 4 - George Vassilopoulos - a rather vociferous local. Has a lot of banter with locals at other tables and has an eye for a nice looking blonde who is spectating - lucky she can't hear some of his suggestions

Seat 5 - Player X - arrived a bit late - a local too but does not seems quite as in the crowd as the others. Replaced Player Y who suicidally called Ben's all-in with 99 on a board of 567 - Ben had pushed with JJ.

Seat 6 - Gary Benson - one of the most famous Australian poker players - WSOP bracelet winner

Seat 7 - Lee Nelson - Aussie millions winner 2006

Seat 8 - Ben - a youngish local inexperienced player- has a good run of cards early in the afternoon but we KNOW he will be giving all his chips back eventually.

Seat 9 - David Ewing - another internet young gun - moniker u_dirty_dog on his pokerstars t-shirt.

So to business on Level 1 with blinds 50/100.

Sometimes it is a good idea to establish a reputation that you can exploit later in the day. Unfortunately I manage to only make my fish status clear by managing to flip over and expose my folded hand of AJ off suit which I was dealt in the very first hand in mid position. Everyone has a good laugh at that and I get several sarcastic comments about rocks. I explain that I never play the first hand in a tournament - but no one believes me. However I am pretty sure my raises will be respected.
Ironically enough after about half an hour I raise with KJ suited on the button and when I bet out on an AJ7 board everyone thinks I have AJ again and I take it down. I also get KK UTG but after 2 callers to my standard raise and a bet out on a raggedy flop I get no further action. I end the level with 20,500 chips.
On this level we see the consequences of being a "professional" player. With Mr Benson and Mr Nelson next to each other Mr B will raise on the button and Mr N will call. Us lesser players will just give up on these lower levels because we don't want to be outclassed on the flop, whereas of course the pros want to play flops. However all that seems to happen is that Mr N bets out and is perhaps called. There are then more cagey bets and perhaps min raises, and we do see a river but rarely see their cards - because one folds. After a bit of tooing and froing Mr B has about 5000 of Mr N's chips.

Level 2 75/1500
I get no hands, apart from playing KJ from late position and having a dart at an AK6 flop and getting reraised. I am down to 18500.
Our young gun friend DE establishes an early reputation by calling a raise from Gary with 72 and somehow managing to call on a board of AKK82...and take the pot down.

Level 3 100/200
Get AQ once but have to fold to a reraise so finish the level on 16500.
In this level the inexperienced player Ben wins a big pot against GB, when he hits a flush on the river.

Level 4 100/200 ante 25
The antes have started quite early. So pots are worth stealing now. DE has acquired a lot of chips and is raising a lot of pots and stealing a lot of flops with big bets - occasionally showing raggedy cards. He is playing a dangerous game, but it seems to be working.
I am card dead again and am being whittled away to 15k,

Level 5 150/300/25
No more cards. Call a couple of raises in position with desperate stuff such as KT and 78s but get nothing from the flop. By the end of this level we have been playing for 5 hours and I can't remember being dealt a pair! I am down to 11,000.
We lose Lee Nelson at this level. He has being doing a lot of stealing from late position but has been caught a couple of times. Finally he reraises what he thinks is a blind steal by GB and then calls with A8 vs A9. Oops.

Level 6 200/400/50
Suddenly I get some action when I get 3 big hands in a row - probably the most interesting sequence of cards I've had in a major tournament.
Hand 1 AK in the SB. I have dipped below 10,000 in chips so when GB raises to 1200 from mid position I am tempted to just move all-in when all fold to me. However I am pretty sure that George to my left won't call with anything but a very good hand so it seems better to just call. The flop comes J76 rainbow. I am not overly scared of this flop and there seems little point doing anything but move all-in or check fold. To be honest, I am bored with being dealt nothing so I decide to push all-in. He thinks for a very long time and asks me if I would like a call or not. I say it is nearly dinner time so I am not bothered and this does not help him decide. Eventually he grudgingly calls and flips over the same as me - AK. To be honest I am rather surprised he has called with such a poor hand. We split the BB and the Antes.
Hand 2 - now I am the button and this time I pick up 66. GB raises to 1200 again and after a mid position call, I call to as does the BB. Flop is T64 with 2 clubs. BB checks and GB bets 3000. The caller folds and I move all-in. The BB folds and so does GB after a bit of thought.
Hand 3 - now I am the cut-off and I see AK again. I raise to 1200 after all fold and GB is the only caller from the BB. The flop comes Q87 with 2 spades. I have Ks but when he checks to me I smell something fishy and decline to bet. The turn is Jc and when he bets 1500 I insta muck and show my AK. He does not show his hand but says good fold. I was inclined to believe I was well behind. So I am back up to 13000 after a few minutes of heart attack play...

This is turning out to be a real action level for me : the small stack who replaced Lee Nelson in the number 7 seat goes all-in, the dirty dog DE calls and when it comes round to me I decide to call with AQ. I am hoping for a favourable flop to perhaps trap DE if he tries anything tricky on the flop. The flop comes T63 and when I check to DE he bets 2k so I have to fold. The all-in player had 77 and DE shows 66. Annoyingly Q came on the turn so I think I made a mistake not moving all-in before the flop. (Mind you perhaps DE would not have folded and then I would be out).
The 2 Daves have a couple of battles on this level. The old dog bet out on a board of A85 board but folded after young dog made a big bet to put him all-in. On the last hand before the break a similarly ragged board but this time the old dog raised the young dogs continuation bet and DE folded. Honours even I thought...

Level 7 300/600/75
This is the first level after dinner and not much happens apart from having to fold 55 to a reraise after limping, to put me down to 11000.
So whilst I am not yet on life support, I am probably only able to realistically fold one more meaningful raise before lurching into all-in territory. So bearing this in mind when I pick up Q9 both clubs on the button and it is folded around to me I make it 2000 to go. George in the SB just calls, as does the BB. Now having observed George all day I know he is a good player, so when the flop is KK2 with 2 clubs, I think it is unlikely he has a K in his hand. If he had, then I am pretty sure he would have put me all-in before the flop - after all he has a lot more chips than me. So when he leads out for 2000 and the BB folds I think that perhaps I might be in better shape than I think. Might he have Ax of clubs to put me in a real bind. Unlikely - I think he would either reraise or fold such hands. So it seems most likely he has a small pair. He would have reraised pre flop with TT or better and if he had 99 I think he either would have trapped or bet bigger. So I am quite happy to shove all-in and when he calls and tables 77 I am not surprised. I am now favourite with 2 overcards and a flush draw and I hit my flush on the turn. George is not a happy bunny and when he berates himself for not moving all-in preflop I help him tilt some more by assuring him I definitely would have folded if he had done so.

Level 8 400/800/100
I start this level with 17000 thanks to calling a few limps but not hitting in the previous level - chiefly down to our friend Ben who sets the limp ball rolling quite often. However I benefit from his inexperience when his min raise to 1600 is called by Michael. I call with 66 in the SB as does the BB, so the pot is 7300. The flop is K32 with 2 hearts so I decide to take a stab at it by betting 3000 and only Ben calls. The turn is 7c but given Ben has so many chips and is unlikely to be able to make a big laydown I decide to check fold. He checks. River is Jd and I am now convinced he must win but when we check check and I show my 66 they beat his A9 both hearts. Result. I know that any other player on the table with that hand would have put me all-in on the flop - so that was a result and it puts me up to 25000 chips - yippee.

Level 9 500/1000/100
The final level.
We finally lose Ben after his enourmous stack has slowly been chipped away by too many limps then weak bets and folds. The hand that does for him is against Michael. Ben raises Michaels big blind and Michael reraises which Ben calls. The flop is QJ9. Michael checks - so does Ben. Turn is A and Michael bets about half the pot. Ben moves all-in and Michael calls, showing QQ vs Ben's AJ. I don't really like Ben's move here - I know those internet boys have been acting crazy but it seemed pretty likely he was behind - the only plausible hand he was beating was AK and in fact there were now 2 spades and Ben did not have the draw.
A few minutes later in this level another small stack in seat 7 moves all-in for 11000. I am on the BB and have AK so when it is all folded to me I naturally call - bizarrely he has AK too - so 2 ties with AK during the day. If I had won that hand I would have been somewhere up near the average, but instead end up with 23,600 after the level finishes a little bit earlier than expected.

On reflection, I think it was a satisfactory day - I didn't really make any major mistakes and was only all-in twice - not bad considering I had pretty average cards at best.

Roll on Day 2.....