So last night on my way home I decided to get myself a nice donar kebab for dinner. As usual, lettuce tomato onion and a generous amount of garlic sauce. It’s okay, meat is a little cold but it’s from a store “Victoria’s Best Kebabs” so it must be good right? 5:45 am and I have an upset stomach, time to sit on the toilet for a little while. 40 minutes later, and I’m back in bed - for about five minutes. Back to the toilet, back to bed, back to the toilet, this happens a few more times. At this stage it’s about 8:30 and I decide to have a day off. Ring up work quickly, then back to the toilet. At about 10am I’m done so I go right to bed. Unfortunately, it’s too late. I can’t sleep. After a shower, I get dressed and check out Full Tilt to see what’s going on. Turns out today is the last day to qualify for the Aussie Millions, so I decide to give it one last crack. $69+$6 tournament, let’s go.

$69+$6 Satellite to Aussie $1K Monday Tournament
40 Runners - Top Five Spots for the Prize Pool.

Level 1 - Blinds 15/30: I get on the button and when it’s folded to me, I figure it’s a good chance for me to steal the blinds. I make it three times the big blind (90 chips). Big Blind calls. Flop comes to give me the nut flush draw and an overcard - aka not much. The big blind checks and I take it that he’s giving me permission to take the pot, so I bet 150 (just under pot size). He calls, not good. What kind of hands could he have? Straight draw is a remote possibility. He could have weaker flush draw. Probably just a pair with a decent kicker - KJ, QJ or K9 all make sense. is the turn card, he checks once again. Okay, what the hell is he doing. Perhaps he really is chasing a flush draw? I bet out once again, hoping this time he will get the picture and make it 360 into a 495 chip pot. Once again, he flat calls. Shit, I think I’m losing a few of my chips this hand. The river card… ! He checks once again and I bet 450 chips, hoping for a call. He calls and mucks when I show my spades for the nut flush. I got lucky to hit my nine outer flush but his calls were a bit odd. Turns out he had for a nine high straight made on the river (as well as middle pair on the flop and turn). Very odd to just call with middle pair on the flop and then chase a straight draw on the turn - if he had raised or pushed I had to let it go.

Level 3 - Blinds 25/50: My first pocket pair of the tournament, on the small blind. A player I’ve dubbed a luckbox after betting out with on a flop of then hitting a two outer to win the hand has called along with a player who has just moved to the table. I could raise here, but since I’ll be playing out of position I decide to just call and hopefully hit the right flop. Flop comes , that’s what I like. I instantly make it three-quarters of the pot (150). BB and Luckbox call.. okay BB could have two pair or a straight/flush draw, Luckbox probably has a flush draw with overcards. The new player stalls before pushing all in. Okay.. what could she have to re-raise all in. Well, nut flush draw/straight flush draw are both possibilities given the limp. A weaker pocket pair that hit the flop is more likely tho, pocket threes probably. I think for a while and let the hand go. The BB folds and it’s on Luckbox who calls off half his chip stack with.. . Yup, flush draw with overcards. The new player has . The turn and river are no help and the new player wins a nice healthy pot. A few hands later I get pocket threes and decide to raise after a short stack pushes all in. It turns out that everyone folds and I hit my three on the flop. Perhaps I was trying to make up for what happened earlier?

Level 5 - Blinds 40/80: I’m dealt on the SB. UTG instantly pushes for 280 chips and luckbox calls. A medium stack in late position, and I decide that my vulnerable hand probably isn’t the best and fold. BB calls and the flop comes . Everyone checks - ugh! Qs on the river, bad but hey a flush draw is on the board now. BB and Luckbox check, and the MP player decides to bet out and makes it 240. BB folds and Luckbox calls. A meaningless hits on the river and for some reason Luckbox decides it’s now time to bet, making it 320 to go. Pretty quickly MP pushes for it’s remaining 890 in chips and Luckbox insta-calls. MP flips over for quad eights! Luckbox has , two pair was never going to be good here but he laughs it off for some reason.

Level 5 - Blinds 40/80: and I raise it up to 240. Both blinds call - not good. Flop comes , not great but the jack is what worries me. SB bets 160 and the BB calls. The SB pushes when the hits on the turn and takes down the pot. Not quite sure what happened right here, but I felt I was behind in the hand all the way.

Level 6 - Blinds 50/100: The very next hand I get and the player right in front of me makes it 300. I call and it’s heads up action on a flop of . He bets 500 and I decide to push, not wanting to risk pushing on the turn if a third spade hits. He folds pretty quickly. A-B-C poker there folks.

Level 6 - Blinds 50/100: , good but I don’t want to risk chips seeing a flop. The first three players before me all limp and it gets around to the cutoff who pushes all in for about 1000 chips. Luckbox on the SB folds, and the BB (who is also the chip leader) calls. Action gets back to the first limper, who re-raises all in for another 2000 on top. Action gets back to the BB who gets angry and folds. Cutoff flips while the limper shows over ? Geez, a risky move. A queen hits on the flop and the rest of the cards don’t matter. The chip leader calls the limper a genius but the cutoff seems to be pretty happy.

Level 6 - Blinds 50/100: Not such a big blind special as I get . Four players see the flop of . Top pair, but no kicker. It’s checked around to the button who bets 200. SB instantly raises to 600 and I have to make a decision, a pretty simply one. I have top pair. It can’t be good against any other ace, despite the fact that no obvious draws are out there. I fold as does the other limper. The hand is oddly checked down as and are revealed as the turn and river cards. The SB has for top pair - that’s all. The limper mucks for bottom pair! I’m a bit annoyed that I folded the best hand, but it happens sometimes. I can’t understand the SB’s play however, what’s the point of raising only to check down the turn or river. Take that pot down on the turn man so the player is left wondering what you have.

Level 8 - Blinds 100/200: I get and when it’s folded to me, I make it 600 to go. The new chip leader moved to my table a few hands earlier and decides to call. The flop comes and I check. He seems to take a while making a move, but finally bets 800. I fold. Horrible play by me in retrospect, he probably had suited connectors or something of the sort and was a bit shocked by my check when I missed the flop. I just knew that my inside straight draw with an overcard wasn’t great.

Antes kick in by this stage as I make the final table. I fold KJs when the chip leader raises to 1250 under the gun. I fold the nut straight when a player raises all in with and is called by the chip leader with . The chip lead changes a when a player wins a 12k pot with against . For the most part, stealing is the name of the game and we are not seeing many rivers.
Level 11 - Blinds 200/400 Ante 25: I get on the BB, one of the better hands I get in the last twenty minutes. This could be it. UTG raises to 1600 and I panic. The UTG is the new chip leader and when he is seeing betting or calling, he is usually holding big cards. The former chip leader also calls, however he seems to be on tilt so he could have anything. I think about it for a little while before deciding that I probably have a dominated hand and should let it go. The flop comes . Oh fucking hell. Needless to say, all the chips go in and it’s the UTG’s against Mr Tilt’s dominated . Turn and river don’t help anyone and the chip leader knocks out the former chip leader, taking down a huge pot. That was my hand and I blew it.

Break time. Blinds are at 250 and 500 with an ante of 25 chips as we go into the break. I’m sitting on a chip count of 3,065 with an M of about 4, so the time to push is whenever I get a big hand. Chip leader is on 21k and I am the short stack. Very first hand back I get and fold to an all-in raise. I end up pushing with myself and get the blinds, but time is running out. Luckbox ends up eliminating himself when he pushes with against the chip leaders when the flop comes . We are down to six players, one more and I’m in the money. I’m trying to find a spot to push, but every time I’m about to someone is raising before I have a chance. I get crap on the blinds and am down to about 1500 in chips.

Level 14 - Blinds 300/600 Ante 75: , time to push. I move all in for 1290, or two times the big blind. My sister pops in the room to see how I’m going and I say “he (the big blind) has to call this with any two cards”. He calls with.. pocket twos! A dominated hand! The chip leader says he folded a two. Flop comes and I’m real impressed. The turn and river are fives just to hammer home that I’m done. Eliminated in sixth place, one spot outside the money.

With that, my dream of playing in the Aussie Millions was over. I officially gave up at that point and went to bed. Poker annoys me a times, you can sit there and make the right plays for the maximum amount of time and then get screwed over by the smallest of margins. But then again, that’s how players like Luckbox stayed in for so long.

Until some time in the new year, I’ll be taking a break from poker to focus on a few more important activities. Here’s to the Aussie Millions 2008.