Since selling The Pony Club I’ve had a renewed vigor for poker. It feels like an unassailable appetite to play. The fact is, that if I had no job and was single it’s all I’d do. But luckily neither is the case. So I’ve had to make a call. Of course the statement on this site that I’m an “aspiring pro” is not true. God knows I’d love to be a professional poker player, at least for a while, but if it was something I really wanted to do I’d quit Target, and convince Amber we should be following the circuit. I guess my point is this. If it IS something you’d like to do then do it. Don’t waffle around hoping one big win will make you a poker star. Being the best in the world at something (This should be your goal, not just to be pro) requires immense sacrifice. I know that sounds like a give ion, but too many people think there some kind of slow progression to success. That’s not true. You may win a small event, then focus more, then make enough money to quit your job, then focus more, then finally make the one off trip overseas to compete then focus more. But it will take years. It’s my belief that no what it is you’re interested in pole-vault or poker find out where the best in the world are then submerge your self in that culture. It’s one of the key downsides to living in New Zealand (Unless you want to be a rugby player as we have the best coaching etc here) We are so isolated that it often seems to much to just up and move 12,000 ks to where the action is at BUT guess what, starving here, starving in Las Vegas, it’s all the same.

Simon Watt is a case in point. After winning the APPT last year he went overseas and drenched himself in poker. Now he’s New Zealand’s first WSOP bracelet winner and he has a cash in the World Series Main Event. Had he stayed here he’d never know just how far poker could take him.

So, there you go… Book your ticket.

BHS

7 June 2010

After missing the cut for Day 2 I was pretty bummed… Still with the teams event on Monday I was hopeful I could partner up with a skilled sharp poker player, instead I got Mike King. As I write this he’s one table over Heads up for the title and pushing on every second hand. His little hart wont take it… It’ll be worse if the level finishes and he has to watch me pushing all in…

The level finishes, and that means I’ll be heads up against Mrs P from Rotorua… We’re already pretty stacked up so barring a disaster we should take this down…

I’m back, and we won… Mike’s finally happy, not a big field for the New Zealand Open Of Poker Teams event, but as Mike pointed out only too happily it was my first sort of title win…

Right now I’m pretty happy, especially as Mike just pointed out we both cashed more than 11th in the main event and they’d been playing for 2 straight days!

6 June 2010

The open drew a solid 125 starters from as far afield as Christchurch, Wellington, Vegas (the Roto kind) and Otago. Toni let everyone know they were in for a long day – at least 10 levels, or cutting the field to 24, which ever happened first.

Every table had a fair mix of sharks, sat qualifiers and Pub poker travelers making for an interesting day.

I had a genuine character on my right, Mathew who at 12.30 was already on his third wine. Mathew: “25, 50?” Dealer: “Yes”, Mathew: “Wait I cant remember my cards… How much?” Dealer: “50 to call”… Mathew: “listen I can’t remember my cards, (throws in 3000)… Fold fold fold…”

Suffice to say this made a fair bit of the poker crazy but it also made for entertainment as Mathew would knock out someone, throw 95% of his chips away, then head off to have a drink and a cigar with only 5 big blinds!

Of course as luck would have it Mathew made it through to Day 2. I did not.

Much of this week has been spent talking to Lee Nelson about 3 bet, 4 bet and 5 bet raises, their ranges, and the caller ranges. I’ve been using them as my stock and trade. They are amazing… Basically in a nut shell it goes like this. You’re at a table with some active (usually youngish) raising machines. In the past they’ve dominated you. You can’t get into a pot because if they’re in first they’re raising, and if you raise they 3 bet you re-rasing. Here is one solution. You have around 30(ish) big blinds.

I like this from out of position but it will work both ways as you really aren’t making this play to see a flop. You being out of position will just amplify your relative hand strength. Wait till you pick up some suited connectors – 6,7s to 9, Ts – early. Raise 3x(ish) wait for them to re-rasie then spring the trap and 4 bet them. If you have between 30 and 40 Big blinds this is a shove. This puts some real heat on them. Their calling range is so much tighter than their 3 bet range that they will almost always fold. In fact it’s so tight that only AA KK, and at a stretch AK and QQ will make the call (even if they have this and make the call at worst you are a 76% – 22% dog).

You’ll find the whole table dynamic changes and they avoid you. Throw a couple of standard 3 bets ion there and now you’re on top of the table…

Back to the main Event…

I’d been having a fair amount of fun at the table and had worked my way up to just under 40k. (average 18k) when I picked up KK UTG plus 3 I raise to 900. Renee is two to my right. Re-Raise to 2600… I 2 minute tank, then re pop her to 8k… She snap shoves… I fold and show kings… She shows Aces… I can’t remember folding KK pre live so I guess I haven’t before but this is a good spot to do it!

The whole day was up and down, grind my way to 45k, down to 20, up to 36, down to 18, up to 30 then a big hit to take me to 5600, enough to shuffle in one hand! 3 double ups later and I was back to 27 odd k but the blinds were steep, 600, 1200, with an ante so I was getting active. I raised to 2,800 early with 9Tc and was re-reised late to 8k by a pretty active player… I thought about it and shoved hoping his call range would be narrow… It was, he had Kings! 9T is a hand you don’t hate here and it almost paid off Gut to the river but a miss… Home time, midnight after 11 and a half hours of poker exhausted…

Big Stack for Day 2 is: Guobing yu 165,000

31 May 2010

It’s New Zealand Poker Open time again and I’m amped!

Between scandals and work I haven’t had any time to play poker and so I’m chomping at the bit to get amongst the 100 plus field all vying to be the next Open Champ.

The name says it all… The Open… A chance to take on all comers.

An opportunity to claim the title of 2010 New Zealand Open of Poker Champion.

Jamie Kristov took honours and $41k last year, money I’m guessing Jamie donated to charity. I’m curious as to what I’d spend my money on if I win. Mike King would no doubt put my chances of taking out the top spot at about the same as the All Whites winning the world cup. May be less, but you gotta love an underdog! King himself has been in good form as have the rest of the La Vida Poker crew. Richard Lancaster continues to impress both live and online and Dan Sing should be at the open fresh from Macau.

I’ll be playing the 6 Handed $220 at 7.30 on Tuesday, Watching the Limit on Friday and getting stuck in on Sunday in the main event!

Hmmm, so what advice for this blog…

You’ve got to be in it to win it? Whatever your level of buy in comfort (This is something I’m passionate about and will talk about in a sec) You should be playing in this event! Or at least trying to. You can make it for as little as $20, and if that’s to much sell a 50% share in yourself for $10! Give it a go. You never know. The amazing thing about poker is how great it is just getting on a live table, shooting the breeze and getting your chips in.

Now for the real advice:

Buy in levels.

Never EVER buy in at a level you’re not comfortable with.

Don’t fool yourself either. “this is a one off” or “I have a good feeling about this one”. If the buy in is too high satellite in. Don’t play 5 sats and spend almost a whole buy in trying to sat. If you’re good and you miss the sat, have other people invest in you. The point is this. I want to play poker for the rest of my life. I want it to work in with my life, not dominate and inhibit it.

I’ve bought in to events that were too expensive before overseas and I’ve regretted it every time. Why, because I’d turned the controlled calculated and enjoyable love that is poker into a gamble the HAD to pay off. If you bust out of the tournament your first though should be, “How could I have played that better” and “I can’t wait to get back on the table” not, crap, how am I going to pay the rent.” The crew at SKYCITY Poker have done a great job of building levels for every one from $20 to $1100 so dig in!

30 March 2010

The 2010 SKYCITY Lee Nelson Deep Stack Series!

The first ever SKYCITY Lee Nelson Deep Stack Series was a resounding success.

Lee’s idea of a truly deep opening bank (35,000 in chips) made for an amazing low pressure all fun Day 1 and a tension filled action packed Day 2.   Don’t be surprised if you see more of this type of stating stack in the future.   In fact the stack size came in handy very early for me when I ran into a crazy hand.   For the 3rd event in a row I was seated with Mike King.   Mum says I get seated at his tables because I was cruel to animals in a former life.

Any way, 9 handed I get dealt JJ in UTG + 1, I raise to 900 (BB is 300) from the back Mike thinks, and makes it 2700. The stacks are so deep here I think I can flat out of position the see where I’m at post flop. No need to re-raise. Mike and I joke a little the flop comes QQ8 rainbow… I lead out with a feeler bet of 3k Mike thinks, jokes about us being mates and to take it easy then calls… I immediately narrow him to AA, KK, or may be a lose re-rasie with AQ, but really that’s not mike… Then it happens… The Turn is a jack. Now I’m looking at Jacks full of Queens.

We joke a little about how big the pot is getting, I check thinking that anyone who called the flop bet will most likely bet a checked turn, and weirdly Mike checks the turn. Now I’m thinking he’s a) trying to slow play the AQ, or b) Just trying to keep this friendly, after all were mates from the same home game. The river is far from a blank. It’s an Ace! Giving AQ and aces a bigger boat! I think I’ve blown this and check knowing I have to call pretty much any met up to 10k. Mike bets out 5 and I snap call and muck as he shows QUADS!!!

In all I dropped 10k into the hand taking me back to just below 30k but I was very very lucky not to go broke. A bet from either one of us on the turn would have seen all the money in by show down. I was very lucky later to have a couple of people fire 3 barrels at me with nothing taking me back up to 37k.

The tournament happened to be the same night as my good friend Noah Hickey’s wedding. So I took the next 3 hours off to celebrate and arrived back half way through the dinner break. My stack was down to 23k with blinds at 500, 1000, with a $200 ante. I woke up on the button with A8s and raised to 3k, the small and big blind called (both massive stacks) and the flop came down A62 two diamonds, check from both the blinds so I shoved (a pot sized bet here is half my stack!)

The small blind called on the diamond draw and hit the turn. Good night. Wanting to put the main event behind me I was happy to hear Toni had a 6 handed $330 tournament running on Sunday. I entered and convinced Lee to play, he said he would if he was at my table. Be careful what you wish for. Early in the game I picked up 88 UTG and raised to $175, what do you know family pot. The flop comes down 894 Bingo! I lead out with $600, 4 callers! The turn is a 6h putting two hearts on board. I want to shut this down asap as it’s a pretty dangerous board so I bet $2200 the player to my left thinks then shoves… He’s been a little strange all day twice min raising me then folding and I’m sure he could be overplaying an over pair, top top with the a flush draw or 2 pair.

I’m happy to call him, but then Lee calls! Remember this is a deep stack as well with a 20k start bank and we’ve had someone move all in to a $5650 pot and a call from behind, and not just any call, Lee Nelson has called! I look down at my set of fat ladies, snowmen, and run through the hands each of them could have. I think the first shove may be overplaying an over pair or more likely 2 pair (89, 68, 69, 46) of course he may have a set. I don’t put him on T7 (AKA the nuts) I don’t think he’s the kind of player to shove this. Lee is a different matter, I have no idea how “in” to this he is. Would he call with 78h? Bottom set? In the past I have let go of hands here seeing monsters in the shadows so I call only to see 99 from the shover (top set) and T7 from Lee, (the nuts) I’m left with one out, bruised ego and a dent in my wallet.

What’s the lesson I learned here? The lesson is don’t invite Lee to your table! Oh, and become a better poker player!

Here are your results for the main event!

• 11. Kevin Peters – Rotorua – $2,160.00
• 10. Jeffery Fitzpatrick  Auckland – $2,920.00
• 9. Wilbur Tarn Yu  Auckland – $3,240.00
• 8. Asokan Sing  Auckland – $3,780.00
• 7. James Honeybone  Tauranga – $4,320.00
• 6. Goy Zheng  Auckland – $5,400.00
• 5. Matthew Mitchell  Rotorua – $8,210.00
• 4. Danny Tavita  Auckland – $10,800.00
• 3. Xidong Du  Wellington – $12,960.00
• 2. Simon Watt  Auckland – $21,600.00
• 1. Angie Fitzgerald  Auckland – $32,610.00

1 February 2010

Day 1 of the Auckland Anniversary Poker Champs is over and Day 2 may be over before it begins for me.

121 runners started the day with 15k in chips.   As you’d imagine the first few levels were fairly passive.   I sat down to a tough but interesting table.  Big Kev, John Pie, Mike King, Brother D and an English player who bubbled a couple of events in Melbourne called Dan Carter. The table played it pretty tight. Kev was active, raising 2 hands an orbit, Brother D kept him pretty honest often preferring to flat behind him or 2.2 bet him and control the pot size. It was this concept or at least Pot control that dominated the days discussions. With modern day poker being all about aggression many players including myself get caught up in “the scare”.

This is the series of moves you make to put the fear of death into your opponent. It could be the 3 or 4 bet pre flop, or the c-bet-re-raise, or the float. When a player is only thinking about “the scare” they often forget about 4th street, the river and how bloated the pot is getting. I often forget that poker is about making your decisions easy AS WELL as making their decisions difficult.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is this:

• Your had plan should take pot size into account from the get go. Ask yourself, is this person comfy playing big pots, am I? How big will the pot be on 4th street or the river (where you’re most likely to take the pot) and how big will the bet have to be. Don’t just whack a pot sized bet in there.
• Half pot bets are pretty effective and will help manage the pot. I was moved through a couple of tables and finally ended up with Dan Sing, Marti Cardno and a gentleman to Dan’s right who would 5,6, or 7 bet ALL THE TIME! It was an interesting strategy. With the blinds at 400 / 800 he’d open for 6k! It was fascinating to watch. And it achieved a couple of things.
  1. Dan avoided him like the plague. (This is usually good) In fact we all did.
  2. When people did get it in against him they had the goods. And although his re-raises were usually successful he ended up playing 2 types of hands. Uncontested hands and losing hands.

Around 9pm I started telling Paul to my right about “The Golden Hour” this is a misnomer as it’s about 3 hours.

It’s the final few hours of Day 1 when many of the satellite ticket winners and first time multi day MTT players get tired. 8 hours is often the longest they’ve played for and it after this time that they start to lose focus and make mistakes. It’s when a good player really starts to accumulate chips. I had 50k at this point. By 11pm I had 18,200. It turns out I am that sap.

I’ll be up there at 2pm today to continue my up and down tournament. With just over 10 BB’s, I’ll be active to say the least!

8 October 2009

Stick a fork in it. It’s done, the 2009 SKYCITY Festival of Poker is over and my liver couldn’t be happier. True story. I’m not drinking till November 23rd. What an amazing 9 days, big thanks to Ejaaz, Toni, Danny and their respective crews. Love to all the internationals who made their way here. Big ups to the girls who made out with them, and their future half poker player babies. To every local who boosted the pot a warm round of applause and of course congratulations to all of those who cashed.

Simon Watt is your champ, making it 2 for 2 for kiwis defending on their home soil. IN the end our final 3 chopped the pot taking 130 each with an extra 40k going to the winner.

For all the details and fancy graphics you can head here.

In much, Much bigger news Dan Sing and I took a third in the teams event. Up against Assadour Assadourian and Rob and last years champs Robert “Donkey this, donkey that” Wang and Marti Carno in 3 way action we eventually got it in with 5,6 off pre flop and got bad beat by Marti and Roberts AK. AK? Who plays the rubbish? But the greatest moment may be in my poker life came earlier when I shoved pre on the final table with 9c10c, I had a call from the button who showed Kqoff. He said, as he had been all evening, sorry, I’m going to flop it… And I replied, sorry but I’m going to river a full house. (Word for f*ing word)

The flop comes A,J,10 giving him broadway and the crowd goes wild!!! I’m down but not out, the dealer shapes to turn, I say “ten” the dealer turns a ten! The crowd erupts! Now I have a stack of outs but I call the final card out of the box. 9! The dealer shows the river 9… May be the greatest moment in poker? Who knows.

Actually yes, yes it was.

Hope you enjoy the webisodes, big thanks to William Wallace who shot and edited them. If you want more let SKYCITY know!

BHS

• SKYCITY Festival of Poker 2009 Webisode 08

Teams Event

• SKYCITY Festival of Poker 2009 Webisode 09
• SKYCITY Festival of Poker 2009 Webisode 07
• SKYCITY Festival of Poker 2009 Webisode 06
  

16 – 17 October 2009

Interviews with Danny McDonagh and Lee Nelson!

• SKYCITY Festival of Poker 2009 Webisode 05 – Lee Nelson
• SKYCITY Festival of Poker 2009 Webisode 04 – Danny McDonagh

15 October 2009

Day 3

• SKYCITY Festival of Poker 2009 Webisode 03

Well Day one is in the books, Just under 300 of the regions best have plugged away and here are those that will go through to play today. Some notables are our two celebrity entrants Brother D and Joe from Supergroove.

I’ve staked half Dan Sings Buy in so I’m happy to see him in there battling away.

• SKYCITY Festival of Poker 2009 Webisode 02

Celina Lin’s still in, Eric Assadourian has $34700, Tony Hachem sitting above average at $53400, Kiwi comedian Mike King has just over starting stack with $20700 and last years champ Daniel Craker is still in the hunt for back to back titles with $37000.

Your big stacks are Lance Climo from Hamilton who holds $134400 and the biggest of all chip leader Emad Tahtouh on $162900 I picked Emad as my pre tournament favorite. He’s been due a big win for a while. Will it be Auckland? Stay tuned poker fans, the biggest poker event in New Zealand history is only just warming up…

Day 2 Starting stacks and seat assignments

Table 1		Table 6
Seat 1	Rohin Rup – 63300	Seat 1	Olivier Verdure – 30800
Seat 2	Angela Whorton – 21700	Seat 2	Anibal Lee – 29700
Seat 3	Donald Garcevic – 11100	Seat 3	Tamas Lendvai – 76100
Seat 4	Michael Pedley – 26200	Seat 4	Michael Shinzaki – 109800
Seat 5	Richard Lancaster – 65100	Seat 5	Louisy-gabriel Mathieu – 58100
Seat 6	Paul Foltyn – 29400	Seat 6	Bruce Wilkinson – 32300
Seat 7	Terry James Gardiner – 25300	Seat 7	Angie Fitzgerald – 37500
Seat 8	Robert Megino – 21700	Seat 8	Alojz Zdjelar – 16400
Seat 9	Jamie Sadler – 23000	Seat 9	Dan Sing – 15000
Table 4		Table 7
Seat 1	Raphaël Simoneau – 19800	Seat 1	Lance Climo – 134400
Seat 2	Sam Hill – 57100	Seat 2	Raj Ramakrishnan – 59700
Seat 3	Brett Unkovich – 14800	Seat 3	Julian Dapena – 16000
Seat 4	Emad Tahtouh – 162900	Seat 4	Sal Fazzino – 28800
Seat 5	George Moussa – 41100	Seat 5	Mark Philip – 3600
Seat 6	Grant Levy – 35200	Seat 6	Eric Assadourian – 34700
Seat 7	Kane Sherwell – 24000	Seat 7	Michael Mariakis – 11300
Seat 8	Arnaud Bulle – 68300	Seat 8	Daniel Craker – 37000
Seat 9	Ray Walker – 15300	Seat 9	Taiho Riini – 48900
Table 5		Table 8
Seat 1	Raphaël Simoneau – 19800	Seat 1	Terry Fan – 31900
Seat 2	Sam Hill – 57100	Seat 2	Raymond Siale – 22100
Seat 3	Brett Unkovich – 14800	Seat 3	Mike King – 20700
Seat 4	Emad Tahtouh – 162900	Seat 4	Anthony Hartigan – 10600
Seat 5	George Moussa – 41100	Seat 5	Shaun Gray – 35300
Seat 6	Grant Levy – 35200	Seat 6	Nicholas Becker – 29900
Seat 7	Kane Sherwell – 24000	Seat 7	Jason Brown – 51800
Seat 8	Arnaud Bulle – 68300	Seat 8	Wyn Belmont – 41300
Seat 9	Ray Walker – 15300	Seat 9	Geoff Smith – 30200
Table 9		Table 10
Seat 1	Michael Nixon – 28400	Seat 1	Honi Morison – 22700
Seat 2	Emma Grace – 10500	Seat 2	Billy Woolsey – 32500
Seat 3	Jens Walther – 58900	Seat 3	Matty Mitchelle – 27900
Seat 4	Wayne Barry – 10600	Seat 4	Dennis Huntly – 27400
Seat 5	Candice Smith – 18100	Seat 5	Glen Howes – 39900
Seat 6	Sean Wilson – 47500	Seat 6	Joe Lonie – 35500
Seat 7	Daniel Williams – 35500	Seat 7	Jordan Pearce – 25900
Seat 8	Celina Lin – 16300	Seat 8	Ben Butcher – 37900
Seat 9	David Allan – 25000	Seat 9	Leonardo Rago – 51400
Table 11		Table 12
Seat 1	Hongkai Shi – 26400	Seat 1	Robert Floyd Browning – 25800
Seat 2	Robert Vishnudatt – 54900	Seat 2	Fabrice Douyere – 11300
Seat 3	Shilton Smith – 70400	Seat 3	Luke Edwards – 57400
Seat 4	James Ciurlionis – 105600	Seat 4	Jim Giannoukos – 54800
Seat 5	Jason Mui – 17600	Seat 5	Lucas Lang – 29800
Seat 6	Graeme Putt – 55200	Seat 6	Aaron Golledge – 32800
Seat 7	Michael Bena – 28900	Seat 7	Geoffrey Fitzpatrick – 31500
Seat 8	Chris Tau – 28500	Seat 8	Holger Kanisch – 30900
Seat 9	Kris Williams – 24700	Seat 9	Helmut Waicane – 70900
Table 13		Table 14
Seat 1	Sherif Badran – 27500	Seat 1	Tim Macbeth – 49100
Seat 2	Danny Leaoasavaii – 7900	Seat 2	Chris Fitzgerald – 40300
Seat 3	Aaron Benton – 44200	Seat 3	Ronny Wijaya – 30100
Seat 4	Ke Sijia – 24900	Seat 4	Mika Petteri Piironen – 57200
Seat 5	Joseph Campbell – 18800	Seat 5	Tony Hachem – 53400
Seat 6	Oleg Epp – 30500	Seat 6	Mike Tyler – 23400
Seat 7	Ropati Toleafoa – 43000	Seat 7	Nikita Boyko – 47400
Seat 8	Angelo Rigopoulos – 18600	Seat 8	John Cheung – 22200
Seat 9	Jason Jarvis – 18600	Seat 9	Daniel Hall – 93600
Seat 10	John Parker – 16300	Seat 10	Charles Swan – 15600
Table 15		Table 16
Seat 1	Marc Wittkopf – 22500	Seat 1	Garry Gates – 64100
Seat 2	Dennis Waterman – 36400	Seat 2	Steve Gang – 16400
Seat 3	Yasuchika Kayano – 39000	Seat 3	Tony Yalden – 40100
Seat 4	Jacky Tastavin – 73300	Seat 4	Joe Quinton – 51100
Seat 5	Boris Cvetkovski – 29200	Seat 5	Cole Swannack – 59100
Seat 6	Assadour Assadourian – 41900	Seat 6	Nick Patterson – 22000
Seat 7	Grant Harris – 36000	Seat 7	Nil Echeverria Vidal – 47500
Seat 8	James Honeybone – 30200	Seat 8	Kani Edwards – 50200
Seat 9	Joe Marchal – 8100	Seat 9	Gerome Guitteau – 99300
Seat 10	George Manolas – 36300	Seat 10	Michael Bryan-james – 27800

14 October 2009

Day One

• SKYCITY Festival of Poker 2009 Webisode 01

That all over numbness you get when you are knocked out of a major tournament is so hard to describe. I’m there right now. Not more than 3 minutes ago Graham “Kiwi G” Putt eliminated me from The NZPT Main Event.

Early on I was unfocused, timid and often second guessing myself. I made a fold that I may end up regretting to Celina Lim. I raise with KK to $650 from seat 6, she re-raises to 2k from the big blind. I flat from behind. The flop comes 9s 9c 2s… I bet 2800, she shoves 20k. Now I know what you’re thinking, 20k is a lot to bet here, but it’s early in the tournament and I’m pretty sure she has AA. I fold. This was the start of the Celina Lin owns BHS show. Card dead I’d attempt to raise every couple of orbits, she’d re-rasie every one. It’s been 10 minutes now and my numbness is fading. I’m now at the stage where I’m thinking “now I can do all those things I needed to do but was too busy this week” – It’s a lie. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing than playing in the main event, running deep. This is the first Day 1 exit since last year here. I’m not happy. Still it means I can keep you updated on the goings on at the home of poker. Right now Emad Tahtouh is chip leader with just under 120k… Lee Nelson was out 2nd hand 7s full of 4s losing to quad 4s.

Lesson of the moment.

Follow your hand plan.

From the moment you look at your cards you need a plan. The flop texture, the way your opponent’(s) behave, the betting may affect this but you should always be referring back to your hand plan. Here’s an example. You’re first in to the pot with a raise from Hijack with 67s, your plan is to smash the flop with 2 pair or a strong draw. The Button calls, so does the BB. The flop comes 2c,5h, 7d. The BB checks, you have top pair and as many people tend to do you think, top pair, worth a bet, you bet the pot. You’ve left your hand plan. You weren’t raising to hit 1 pair! But for some reason you throw the plan out the window. Of course this gets worse when the Button calls and the next card is a Jack. You see where I’m going. Your hand plan was formulated with a clean and clear mind. In the heat of play it’s easy to make decisions you’ll look back on later and kick yourself for. I just raised from the button on Kiwi G’s BB with A6s, My plan, to win it there.

Post flop this hand goes south pretty fast, the flop comes 8c, 5s, 2h. He checks, I bet, he calls, the turn is an ace. He checks I bet, he bets 95% of my stack. If I fold I only have 5500 chips, CSI is at 1350. I shove it in.

Now what was I hoping for here. As far as I can tell I can only beat a bluff. My hand plan, to steal blinds has turned into a two shot bluff with a “call in” tacked on the end. Kiwi G shows a set of 8s. I don’t mind giving him my chips, he’s a legend and a great ambassador, but I’m a better player than that. That’s the numb feeling. My body desperately trying to remove itself from my head. “head, you’re an idiot”.

Anyway, I’ll be here all week, updating the state of play. Email me if you have any questions.

BHS

24 July 2009

Soooo,

Queenstown is amazing, you have to give it to Danny and SKYCITY, they’re onto a winner here. I imagine in 10 years time Queenstown could be one of the worlds “must do once in your life” poker tournaments. Don’t get me wrong; Sydney, Auckland and Melbourne are all great, but there’s no city in the world like Queenstown. Every morning the hotel lobby is humming with Australasia’s best poker players deciding what they’ll be doing today in the southern hemispheres best winter village.

At the tables it’s been rough for many of the pre tournament top contenders. My personal favourite story is Eric Assadourian vs. Josh Egan… Eric must have underestimated Josh’s abilities. (Maybe Bluff Mag is to blame here as they have no photo of him online) Early in the day Eric may have made a statement to the effect of “The $2500 stake must have been a lot for you” Later the chatty Sydney-sider got it all in on a straight plus flush draw up against Egan’s set and wound up 2nd best. Lesson: find out who the guys at your table are. In Eric’s defence I love his banter… He’s a great ambassador of Poker and long may he table captain.

I’m sitting on 29,475 at the start of a very interesting Day 2, split into 3 sessions, I play in session 1 at midday, and then break while a second session plays from 3 till 6, then we all get together for promises to be a long night. All after 5 hours sleep.

Other notables in day 2 are:

• Grant Levy: What a great guy, along with Eric Grant does a perfect job balancing poker and being an accessible nice guy promoting the tour and the sport in general. Grant’s sitting on 35,800 and will play in session 2 at 3pm.
• Josh Egan: He walks quietly but carries a big stick and he’s sitting on a comfy 42,975
• Emad Tahtouh: Great poker player… Has a habit of making the good end of the money and is due for a win. 24,800
• Julius Colman: I don’t know much about him but he has 114,425 chips WTF!
• Tony Hachem: Tony runs good in NZ and has plenty of cashes on the tour already (2nd overall) Nice guy, wanted to punch me once. 39,000

BHS

2 June 2009

Once again my blog is a story of success and failure… The first ever SKYCITY New Zealand Poker Open was a monster hit. Over 140 kiwis signed up to battle it out in the second largest poker event ever held in New Zealand.

THE CELEB CHALLENGE

The Celeb Challenge on Thursday night was huge and for once good poker won on the day. Dan Sing taking first and Mike King second, both got tickets to the main event… The beautiful Clare Chitham came in 3rd, and for her first tilt at poker did an amazing job.  It was no mean feat navigating her way through 50 rabid celebs all chomping at the bit to take the crown.

To my delight Lee Nelson, New Zealand’s best poker player and 2006 Ausi Millions Champ arrived for the celeb tournament and decided to stay for the main event.

THE MAIN EVENT

The excitement at the poker zone was at fever pitch. Who would be the first Open Champ? Within an hour I knew they would not be of Maori/Indian decent.

There are days when you have a deep understanding that Jesus, and may be Krishna don’t want you to win. Sunday May 31st was one such day for me. I had the worlds most active table. I should have just shut down and waited to find strong strong spots but a combination of frustration and a long run of below par cards had me making moves on a table where active play was like cross country run on the Israeli – Lebanese boarder. Mike King was at the table and had it right. Wait and pounce… (Mike made it to 15th, the exact bubble, I was out in 3 hours) in the end Jamie Kristov took down over $41,000 for first beating out a determined Joe Alis and a seemingly unstoppable Wendy Cook who eliminated what felt like a third of the field.

THE NOT SO MAIN EVENT

I was upset with my play on Sunday and came back Monday to watch the final tables and to have a crack at the $330. You’ve got to get back on the horse and apply what you learnt from the day before. I’m happy I did. Lady luck was on my side, some good cards and some ok play got me to heads up with the legendary Robert Wang. Robert’s English is perfect except he uses Donkey like the Smurfs use Smurf… Every 3rd word is Donkey, I actually heard him ask the bartender for a Donkey & Coke, no ice… Anyway, 4 handed he’d survived an all against me A9o versus my Queens and spiked a repeat 9 on the river. Then in heads up had him covered, I smooth called with AK from the button thinking he’s raise with any Ace or any king. He checked, the flop came 4 T K, he bet 2k, I 3 bet raised, he pushed I called he said donkey!

All good till the turn comes 8, river blank I’m down to 10k and all in with A8s two hands later. Still the 2k for second was a much welcome pick me up and capped a fantastic weekend of poker. If you weren’t there mark it down for 2010, It can only be bigger and better!

BHS

28 May 2009

hang?o?ver
[hang-oh-ver] –noun
1.     the disagreeable physical aftereffects of drunkenness, such as a headache or stomach disorder, usually felt several hours after cessation of drinking.

Synonyms:
1. queasiness, sickishness, qualm, nausea.

Good morning people that read my blog (mum).

Today I am in shock. Last night’s Jim Beam Crow Bar Cup Home Game Challenge was a monster success in every way. 10 teams entered and 97 team members battled it out for Glory, the countries oldest poker trophy, seats in this weekend’s main event and thousands of dollars in Jim Beam. Actually, a success in every way but one…

My team, The Mighty La Vida Poker did not win.  Not even close. Yes we looked good: brand new hoods, our three teams dotted with solid poker talent, our egos glistening in the light of the 3rd floor pokies… But we choked. You would have thought the recording of Current World Series Champ Peter Eastgate claiming life long loyalty to La Vida poker then delivering a passionate shuffle up and deal would have spurred the likes of Mike King, Dan Sing and Matt Wall on to victory. Instead they were back on the rails quicker than Kate Moss… The team victory went to QQQQ…

* Boris Cvetkovski
* Chantelle Russo
* Desmond Jefferson
* Garrick Knight
* Mark Lodge
* Siu Chhour
* Stret Cvetkovski
* Tom Stanfield
* and  Fred…

The Beat beat Poker boys gave them a run for their money and one of their crew, Fred Williams, eventually took out the over all trophy victory. The QQQQ (they claim it’s pronounced 4 quest, but come on guys it’s poker any one can see that’s 4 queens!) were gracious and passed around boxes of Jim Beam to those that made the final table. God knows they have a lot to go through, I didn’t count what Jim Beam sent but it’s a pallet, so at least 60 boxes of 10, maybe more!

Happy drinking, I hope you feel as hungover as me for the rest of your lives QQQQs! I’ll be throwing a bigger better Jim Beam Crow Bar Cup in October. Get your teams ready because this time La Vida Poker wont choke. (Not an actual guarantee).

Tonight the New Zealand Open Of Poker Celebrity Challenge!

BHS

13 May 2009

DAY 2

Mike King called me today wanting to know why I hadn’t posted Day 2… It’s mostly because I don’t like to think about it!

Pick your spot and your opponent

Day started well for me… Active. I didn’t realize the antes were at $200 putting my CSI calculations off by a fair whack. So it was open shove, open shove, raise, raise, raise, all in the first two orbits. I’d worked my way up to around 38k (54 is average) when another active player who’d already shown AK, AA and KK in the first hour or so raised on the button, I picked up A9s in the blinds and re-raised…

Now let me clear this up… WHY I DID THIS I DON’T KNOW.

I had headphones on, was cranking Muse, and just re-raised him. The Flop came down A K T two diamonds and I pushed. To this day I can’t say why. I guess the first mistake led to the 2nd, I should even be in a hand against this guy with a light ace, and the only hand I can push on is a smash A 9 rag etc… He thought for all of 2 seconds before calling with AK for aces up…

Now I’m down to 3k, the next hour would be a struggle, but a struggle I was destined to lose… 2 days of careful well thought out play (except on day one when I though the 1000s were hundreds and bet 7k into a $800 pot) all up in smoke.

And I’ll tell you what really burns me is when Danny from the tour (the greatest poker ambassador our sport has) reminded me not one Kiwi made the cash! In fact even my poor effort put me at second best NZ effort. Hmmm…

Lesson? All my other moves had been player specific, re-raising players who were raising light from the back… This guy hadn’t shown a bluff, he was the rockiest rock since Rock Hudson gayed off with the rock…

I’m still angry… Bring on The Open and no mistakes.

BHS

5 May 2009

DAY 1

NEVER FLY JETSTAR!!!!
I’m cheap, or at least I like to think I can find a bargain so when I saw Jetstar had started up flying to Sydney I booked a $149 each way flight to the lucky country to test my luck in the latest instalment of the ANZPT.

The tour’s started with a bang, Adelaide was an unbridled success, and it looks as if ANZPT will be here to stay, nested alongside it’s older bigger buddy the APPT.

Anyway back to Jetstar. My flight departed at 7.50, and arrived with a few hours to spare before Flight 2 kicked off on Friday. 7.50 means getting up at 5.50 and I accidentally set my alarm for 5. I made my way to the airport, a little traffic, a wrong turn (the new overpass near Car road does not go to the motorway!) and I arrive, thin but not actually late, at the check in at 6.53 only to hear the check in manager explaining that Jetstar in their wisdom as a “new age” airline closes their check in an hour before takeoff. ONE HOUR! A full 20 mins before any other airline that’s ever flown in New Zealand even thinks about refusing a customer.

So 10 to 15 of us, many of whom arrived on the stroke of 6.50, or ass shonk O’clock as they call it at Jet star, including a man in a wheelchair and his wife on a romantic getaway milled around discussing the finer points of customer service or lack thereof.

I stormed over to Air New Zealand customer service, calmed down, explained and asked how much a flight on their next bus to Sydney would cost and low and behold Steve from Air New Zealand Customer service said, “don’t worry Mr. Howard-Smith, we’ve got your back, we can get you there, by 10.30, with plenty of time to donk your chips off and it’s only going to cost you $149″. I hugged him, well I didn’t but I really wanted to.

POKER.
This is my second attempt to steal money from Australia. The Sydney tournament saw me go deep into day 2 only to crash and burn… And cry in front of strangers. This time I had a plan.

Last year I’d been active from the get-go, and I’d built a stack, but I’d also built an image that invited people to tangle. 2 out of 3 of my big hits in day 1 we’re “bad beats” but what people never talk about is why those “bad beats” happened. Is it because you’ve been playing 3 to 4 hands a round, raising, re-raising and finally someone calls you out, only to river you. Well you made the bed. Now sleep in it.

Being active has it’s pros and cons, you’re more likely to be beat even when you get it in good, because more people are going to call you.

So my day 1 strategy was simple, lots of calls early, very few raises, call down when I think I’m good, even after hitting 2 pair and a set kept the pot under control. Call, Call, Call. Believe it or not I’d turned my 20k starting stack into 46k in the first level… Without ever risking more than 5k or so in chips! I can thank the combined help of Marti Cardno and Dan Sing for some of this direction. The only down side is that they moved me to a crazy table that was playing an average hand of 15k (when the chip stack average was 22k) and ran dry for the next 8 hours!

The best hand I picked up was JJ and lucky me I re-raised the cut off (he’d been very, very active) only to find Aces! Bye Bye 10k! Thanks to a KK8 board I didn’t burn my whole stack! Anyway, the Gst of it is, I have $22,600, Blinds are 1200 / 600 with a 100 ante, so I have 12 BB, just over 8 CSI or M. Enough to fight my way back, but not enough to go 2 orbits with out doing it.

What is CSI? For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about when I say CSI, or M, or BB. They are measures of your stack in comparison with the cost of playing. For CSI (Chip Stack Index) or M (F8ck knows what that stands for) it is your stack total divided by the cost of an entire orbit. So Small Blind plus Big Blind plus antes (if they have them).

There are Key CSI Numbers you need to have etched into your brain. Some may disagree on these but for the most part they are based on Lee Nelson’s advanced math’s, calling parameters and other things we mere mortals can’t understand Buy Kill Everyone to get a better understanding of this.

Here’s the point 1-6 CSI you’re in open shove mode. And many hands you wouldn’t usually shove with become profitable. 78s, Q9s, etc. every successful shove ads a CSI to your stack. 7-12 CSI is exciting, you have enough to call, raise or fold, but not to make a re-raise and play out the hand. Here you may be better to call-shove etc. I like 7-12.

And it’s where I’m at today for Day 2. BHS Day 2 Sydney is hot. More importantly our apartment is hot. Dan Sing and Eddie busted out in flight 1 so about 3 hours into my sleep they made their way home after a long night and I was up. I have a feeling if I make it through today I may need my own hotel room. Lol.

27 April 2009

Hi there Poker fans, I don’t for a second imagine you’re at all curious about what I’ve been up to so I’ll get straight into my weekly “Wow, why didn’t I think of that before.”

SKYCITY is holding regular re-buy games these days and although they’re just another way to approach a No limit Hold ‘Em Tournament, there are several things to take into account when you enter.

1. Always know how much you want to spend before the first cards are dealt.

Whether you’ve decided to play for just one buy in, you want to reload 10 times, or as most people do, somewhere in between. This will help you assess how loose to play when you get into risky situations…

If you are one of those people who like to go into a re-buy tournament thinking “I’m not going to re-buy at all” I have one question… why play a re-buy? You’ve eliminated the positive of a re-buy – the freedom to make more aggressive moves and calls – and given your opponent has an advantage over you, (they sure as hell will be ok with re-buying).

BUT if you’re that guy (or girl) who goes in with no plan and no ceiling on your re-buys you could be getting yourself into an even trickier situation. There’s nothing worse than buying SO many times just cashing isn’t enough! Looking up at the tournament clock and realizing you’re going to HAVE to run deep just to break even. I like to be pretty “middle of the road” when it come to re-buys. I’ll aim my Max spend at around the first cash amount.

The first thing you’ll notice about a re-buy tournament is how it shifts peoples usual playing style. I strongly suggest you sit back and watch early on, even more so than in a normal freeze out. Find out who is prepared to be a maniac and who’s trying to get through waiting for big hands to catch the maniacs. Picking your targets will define how well you do as during the re-buy period the hand is a hell of a lot more likely to be played out all in.

The multi re-buy maniacs will be happy to open raise with any suited connectors and will often be happy to coin flip on small pairs. So adjust your calling range to include mid to high suited connectors (9Ts, TJs even 78s) when you’re in position. If you do pick up a big hand, AA, KK, QQ, you may want to apply enough pressure on them to get it in before the flop.
If not they’re far more likely to shove if they hit anything after a raise in a re-buy.

Finally, an update on SKYCITY’s New Zealand Poker Open running May 31st, June 1st and 2nd. It looks like this event will be capped at around 200. Now seeing as we get 120-130 for our smaller events I imagine this will sell out! I’ll see you there, this weekend I’m off to play in the Sydney leg of the ANZPT with a crew from NZ…

BHS

14 April 2009

Things I learnt a long time ago but have now realised apply to poker.

Tournament poker is very much about your mind set. It is no different to other sports or competitions, it relies on you relaxing and knowing what you want. The END goal that is.

In any competition it’s important to separate the battles from the war. We’ve all seen people get beat bad and blow up, or over-celebrate a win, tournament poker is pretty clear cut – it’s about winning the whole thing, being the last one standing. Any celebration or furious rant before you win or you’re out is premature.

The hope is you’ve put effort into bettering yourself, you’ve gotten a good nights sleep and you’ve eaten well. Now all you can do is find YOUR game and play it. Yes you may make little mistakes, but don’t compound them by dwelling on them. ENJOY yourself. In the same respect it’s important not to get too excited if you’re running well. Be gracious in both victory and defeat. I say it like I’m good at this, in fact I’m crap at it, I get far too emotional at the table… This blog is as much to convince me as you.

But now that I’ve published it I better be well behaved, or you can throw it back in my face!

Finally, with Queens Birthday weekend and the New Zealand Open of Poker coming up I urge you to spend some time learning. Find a poker player you respect and ask them for feed back on your game. It’s simple but for some reason none of us do it. I’ll see you on Wednesday 27th of May with your “home game” crew for The Crow Bar Cup Home Game Challenge and later that week for The Open!

BHS

31 March 2009

Why hello there. Do you think if the person who invented blogs had known how many there would be they would have come up with a better name. Hardly inspiring. Blog. It sounds like a glutinous bodily fluid, or some kind of bowel dysfunction.

Now, a while back I talked about home games and it got me thinking… is my home game the best in the country? Who knows… I doubt it, we drink a bit… But all this gave me the idea of having a tournament to find out who’s home game stacks up.

So… on Wednesday the 27th of May (I haven’t really cleared this with Toni at SKYCITY yet, but she loves us so…) I will be holding The Crow Bar Cup Home Game Challenge at SKYCITY in Auckland. I assume you or someone you know plays in a weekly or monthly hold ‘em home game and has often thought “I believe our crew is the best in the country”. Well here’s your chance to find out if your posse has what it takes.

You will need between 5 and 10 people per crew, (if you have more than this enter two crews). Entry will be $110 (I will try to convince SKYCITY to remove their rake), prizes will include entry into the main event on Queens birthday ($1100) and a supply of alcohol and pizza for your home games (I’m still in discussion with sponsors on this). The winner will also get their crews’ name engraved on the iconic Crow Bar Cup, New Zealand’s second oldest poker trophy.

Let me know if you’re keen… Get your crew ready, I know La Vida Poker will be…

BHS

18 March 2009

Bring on the North Island Champs!

It feels like we’ve had a long break from a big MTT, Anniversary weekend was a monster success, more than 120 people playing for over 100,000 dollars. There’s an excitement around the Poker Zone, with poker players itching to get out there. I’m expecting a large turn out – 100 to 150, and the level of play always lifts with these 2 day tournaments. Not mine, but most peoples. There are still satellites, check the tournament calendar. If not bring your 1100 ponys, midday day Saturday the 21st and I’ll see you at the table…

Things I wish I’d known yesterday…

In the preview for this blog it calls me an “aspiring poker pro”, this is like saying Chris Hobbes is an aspiring dancer. I am a social poker player, trying to learn as much as I can. Like many other recreational hold em’ enthusiasts I have a home game and like most of your home games it has developed into a weird world of poker meets the card game bullshit. Playing with your mates weekly is a great way to get face to face game time under your belt but it can develop a lot of bad habits. Our crew, La Vida Poker are notoriously aggressive and this has fostered a style of play that’s sometimes looser than Houston (not the city, the porn star who broke a world record) I call this this home game style Scandinavian special Olympic poker representative.

The other night, while I was talking about this very blog, one of the crew pushed over the top on a T, Q, 6  board with K9. In his world this was a semi bluff… Two opponents folded, one called with KQ. Low and behold the jack came on the turn, our semi-bluff-gut-shot-jockey hit the nuts and made some coin. The only problem is he bet two people out of the hand. This is a cardinal sin. If you are drawing to the nuts I think you need to make a decision. Is it cheap enough to call? If so, do it… If not fold… ( it would have to be pretty f-ing cheap for me to be calling with a gut shot.) Why re-raise here. The better is most likely going to call and you’ll be in my friends position. Losing all your money or making less than you could have. Five hands later he did it again, this time he hit on the river. I guess my advice here is a) don’t use nuts draws as bluffs, b) don’t let crazy-home-game-poker seep into your game. I know it’s fun and you’re most likely drunk… But don’t do it.  See you at the NIC’s

BHS

1 March 2009

Yesterday SKYCITY held a deep stack Tournament, with just a $220 buy in people could feel what it was like to play in a 10,000 chip MTT at the casino. A brilliant idea that will help we locals get some deep stack game time without breaking our bank. In the past we’ve been starved of tournaments with antes, my hope is that these continue, and that I play better than I did yesterday!

So on to my things I’ve leaned from better poker players… For a while now I’ve been a big fan of small ball poker. It’s a technique that allows you to play more hands while limiting your risk. You never want to risk a high percentage of your chips unless you’re dealt a monster hand. Early on in a tournament stealing blinds is pointless; the potential increase to your stack is just too small. Instead, your goal should be to play a wide range of hands, get some action, and pick up chips from the weakest players at the table.

Two key points: In these early stages, make the minimum raise anytime you are the first player to enter the pot. Also, if another player raises in front of you and you have a hand you want to play, just call.

Do not reraise; just call and see the flop. At this stage there isn’t sufficient value in trying to steal the blinds with a big reraise. Even if you were successful, there’s not enough upside potential considering the risk you’d be taking.

You see, in tournament play, the early stages are all about trapping. So try this: With blinds at 50-100, raise to 200; with blinds at 100-200, raise to 400.

I’ve “borrowed” this guide to raises from the inter-web:

100-200 blinds with a 25 ante – raise to 400
150-300 blinds with a 25 ante – raise to 700
200-400 blinds with a 50 ante – raise to 950
300-600 blinds with a 75 ante – raise to 1,400
400-800 blinds with a 100 ante – raise to 1,800
500-1,000 blinds with a 100 ante – raise to 2,200
600-1,200 blinds with a 100 ante – raise to 2,800
800-1,600 blinds with a 200 ante – raise to 3,800
1,000-2,000 blinds with a 300 ante – raise to 4,800
1,200-2,400 blinds with a 300 ante – raise to 5,800
1,500-3,000 blinds with a 400 ante – raise to 7,200
2,000-4,000 blinds with a 500 ante – raise to 9,500

Notice that the recommended pre-flop raise never exceeds 2.5 times the big blind. In fact, it’s actually best to slightly reduce the size of your pre-flop raise in order to conserve even more of your precious chips.

Consider this scenario: With blinds at 1,200-2,400, your opponents will react the exact same way to a 5,800 chip raise as they would to a 2.5 times the big blind bet of 6,000. Proponents of small ball poker, who always look for ways to risk fewer chips before the flop, know that this slightly smaller raise is a bargain!

Small-ballers save a couple of hundered chips every time another player reraises and they decide to fold. Also, it changes nothing in terms of how their opponents will play their hands.

It’s the same when the blinds are at 2,000-4,000. Any player who would call a 9,500 chip raise would call a 10,000 bet with the exact same frequency.

If you feel yourself get very short on chips, say 8 CSI or lower change up to the Lee Nelson special and just open shove on your good hands, if nothing else it will raise an eyebrow from any players who’ve been watching how conservative you’ve been!

Remember don’t push panic button too early and have faith in small ball poker.

One more thing about deep stack events. Never get married to a big pair in early play. In small ball monster means it will be a monster at showdown, because a lot of small ball hands will make to the river. Yesterday Dan Sing was playing out of position against a German, his first time at the casino.
The blinds were 50, 100, Dan raised with 9Ts, one behind called, the German re-raised to 800, Dan Calls, as does the other limper. The flop comes 9d 6d 10c, Dan checks, hoping the German has an over pair to the flop or at least will be representing one, the limper checks, the German bets the pot, 2500, Dan thinks then pushes all 10k. Limper folds, the German makes a quick call with KK. Now 3 quarters of the table thought this was a good call, claiming he had half his stack in the pot (actually 3300 of 9k) I disagree. Even with only just under 6 k he has a csi of 38! He’s crusing, and what on earth is he beating, JJ, QQ!!! As it was he hit his 6 and his half outer with a repeat 6 on the turn, Dan was gone, and the German doubled up. Call me crazy but that early in the tournament I’m folding there every time unless I have a VERY VERY good read that I’m ahead.

BHS

20 February 2009

pok?er
pouk?r/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [poh-ker] Show IPA Pronunciation? ?1
–noun
1.     a person or thing that pokes.
2.     a metal rod for poking or stirring a fire.
Origin:
1525–35; poke 1 + -er 1

pok?er
pouk?r/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [poh-ker] Show IPA Pronunciation? ?2
–noun
a card game played by two or more persons, in which the players bet on the value of their hands, the winner taking the pool.
Origin:
1825–35, Americanism; perh. orig. braggart, bluffer; cf. MLG poken to brag, play, MD poken to bluff, brag

I’m a quiet poker player, I like to fade into the background…but talk is not only a part of poker, It’s THE part of poker. It is what defines great players, their ability to own a tables’ conversation poker or non poker. To use that open communication, in tandem with the unspoken nuances of poker to their advantage. A while ago I was inspired by Joe Haschems take on polite conversation. He let a small group of us in a training session in on a secret. Every time he sits down at a new table he asks polite questions, “how’s your day been?”, “Where are you from?”, “How many children do you have?” These questions serve two purposes; firstly to let the table know Joe’s just an average guy, interested in them – it relaxes his opponents. Secondly it shows Joe what they look like and how they act when they’re telling the truth! That my friend is half the battle, if you know what someone does when they’re relaxed and telling the truth, then eventually you’ll know when they’re lying.

Talking serves other purposes, the definition I opened with illustrates that the very name of this game, Poker, comes from the way I believe it’s supposed to be played, gentile prods, verbal and non verbal. Each with the goal of putting your opponent off balance. Each enticing them to make that mistake that will see them out the door and you one step closer to pay day.  A local player and good friend of mine Dan Sing is especially good at talking in a hand. He’ll almost be commentating the table action, all the time reminding you that NOTHING is escaping his attention. Each prod has a long or short term benefit, the added benefit is a fun enjoyable table (till you find yourself on the rail). So how can you combat a talker… I’ve seen far too many people try to out talk the great talkers. I remember sitting at Nationals two years ago and watching local after local try to beat Eric Assadourian at being Eric Assadourian. It won’t happen. His skill is as learned and honed as any other poker skill. It’s not something he does on the side! My advice is to lock down. How often do you see a talker ask an opponent a question and you see the victim try to answer with some tricky “of course I have you beat” type answer. The rest of the table is thinking SHUT UP!!!! No matter what you say he’ll glean information from it… You could say hacky-fricken-sack and Eric would get a tell! Do what Lee Nelson told me to do the first day I met him: Pick a spot on the felt star at it and begin breathing exercises. Meditate. Block it all out. The good news is that many talkers use their mouth like bats use sonar. Take it away from them and they’re blind.

Now, There’s good talking and bad talking. If I ever call anyone at the table a donkey you can punch me in the face.
it’s not a clever burn. Every live at home 44 year old throws this sledge online every hand.
If you’ve just been bad beat by someone making a lose call, why would you want them to get self conscious and and tighten up? You want them to make that call every time…
You’re reading my blog, and I’m pretty crap so you’re probably a donkey.

The point is, What are you getting out of your talk, are you just venting some steam? Or are you maximizing your advantage at the table? So he called your pre flop AK raise with A5off and spiked Aces up, so you lost half your stack… Now let him know he’s a poker genius lol… Now’s not the time to be coach!!!

Finally, if you’re not a talker, start small, on weaker opponents, may be my home game… Make sure your comfortable before you try it on experienced poker players. If it’s something you don’t master, you will give more than you get.

I’ll see you all at the North Island Poker Championship

21-22 March 2009. With a guaranteed minimum $50,000 PRIZE POOL*

The Anniversary weekend champs had over 120 starters and I’m guessing we’re in for even more at North Islands!!!

BHS

*The prize pool amount is based on number of entrants with a minimum prize pool of $50,000.

3 December 2008

APPT Sydney “road to millions” Blog Part 1 – Welcome to Sydney.
A fair part of National’s election campaign centered around keeping kiwis in New Zealand. With record numbers of New Zealanders high-tailing it across the ditch, Labour was to blame. Within 30 seconds of stepping into the Sydney sun I had a fair idea of why people come to OZ. It’s December and it’s 30 degrees! It’s probably hasn’t rained since I was last here in July. The whole plane was full of kiwi looters, looking to come over register for the dole and catch some rays. Little did Australian customs know that seats 31J and 31K were here to steal a little more than a sun tan. Dan Sing and I have come to the Lucky Country to bring home 1 million dollars Australian and to win New Zealand some more silver-ware to go with The Rugby League World Cup. (Thank you Jesus) Dan Sing placed 4th in the SKYCITY Auckland Festival of Poker and is in good form so I was thinking he’d be a great travel partner for this event. We’re only 20 hours into the trip & my liver is already hating him. Luckily for me somewhere in the last 20 sun and tequila filled hours I won a $160 Satellite to the $675 Sat tonight. 1 for 1, this really is the lucky country! My arch nemesis the great Robert Wang came in a distant 2nd – a trend I’m hoping will continue until Monday. With brings me to my next section…

Things I’ve learned from better poker players than me:

Robert Wang:

We were down to 3 handed I’m big stack and he and our mutual opponent were short. First and Second got tickets. I picked up Ajs and raised from the button. Robert folded pocket 9s! With little blind pressure he knew that a race at best was not conducive to winning a ticket. Sure enough, two hands later our Australian host pushed and was eliminated. A New Zealand 1-2… Pick your spots and be prepared to fold hands you’re pretty sure are ahead if it’ll help you get that ticket.

Love Brooke

12 October 2008

In the hotel room here at the SKYCITY Grand Hotel celebrating a 4th place that should have and could have been a win for Dan Sing in the Main Event. Dan came 2nd in Tuesday’s celebrity tournament and put in a fantastic performance on Day 3 of the main event. In his final hand Dan turned Broadway, laid a great semi in trap that had his opponent push all in with Two pair (JT) (not a great move with a board that has KQ to a straight and AJ AT to top two!) Dan called and the cheers went up. The poker gods had other ideas though, big stack hit his 4 outer on the river…

Thanks for such a great week, to all the people that came, saw, played, enjoyed the SKYCITY Festival of Poker. We hoped it would be good, but who could have seen it being this good?

I will update this when I’m really really drunk later tonight…
BHS

10 October 2008 – The Main Event

After a fantastic session yesterday I can honestly say I’ve never been so confident coming into a tournament. I got a good sleep and woke up refreshed and ready to play some cards. The first 5 or so hours went to plan, the odd move, keeping the pots small, under control and avoiding any unnecessary confrontations. I had Andrew Scott to my left, an established Australian Pro who came 2nd in the Macau High Roller, we wrestled a little, good times…

By the time Singaporean pro Bryan Huang sat down on my right I’d worked my way to around $17,000, $5,000 or so above average. A few hands in Bryan, who loves to be the aggressor raised from the button, I joked about a steal, knowing full well he was capable of it in an unraised pot, he raised to $900, I looked at my cards to see QQ, I faked a semi-tank, then re-raised, hoping he’d pin it as a re-steal, he did stuffing… Now I had to tank for real, Aces? NO, Kings? NO, Ace King? May be, but I was pretty sure after talking to him a little he had an under pair, 99, TT, or JJ, I call and to my surprise he rolls over 66! Nice, a chance for me to take the chip lead on Day 2…

The board comes {3-Hearts} {2-Hearts} {7-Diamonds}… All good, then the 6 of Diamonds slaps the turn… I get up, shake his hand as an 8 rivers.  I’ve got to say I felt a hell of a lot better about it than you’d think. My days play had been good and poker is full of 2 outer stories. I’m sure I’ll be busting someone out someday after an equally bad play. Bryan Huang’s now 2nd in chips, let’s hope he puts them to good use!

I’ll still be floating around the PokerZone over the next two days, There’s a corner I go to cry in… Come up and watch as some of the best in the world battle it out for almost a million dollars!
BHS

9 October 2008

Thanks for stopping by… With all the porn on the internet these days, you choosing to read my diary makes you a good person. But a good person that makes bad decisions. Perhaps you got here by mistake after a poor choice of “google key words” next time you’ll rethink it before you search bust brooke and poke r… Anyway you’re here, the good news is I’m naked in my hotel room, so it’s kinda erotic anyway.

Today’s been nothing short of a revelation.  I spent the whole day with Lee Nelson, Tyson Streib, Joe Hachem, Tony Dunst, and Dennis Waterman in the Learn from the Pros seminar. It’s changed my perspective on poker in a single day. I was hoping to gain a few key points, maybe improve on my game a little. Instead, every 10 minuets they’d bring something so brilliant that it can’t help but change my game. As for the $750 entry fee, Mike King was in there with me, he said and I agree, just one of the key points was worth that! The 12 hours were jammed packed with info, charts and one-on-one training from some of the best in the business. I sound like an infomercial but it was that good! You need to find out when they’re doing it next…

It all gets put to the test tomorrow… Day one for me, my Robert Wang side bet looks pretty good, all I have to do is last till day 2 and I’m up $1000. Robert busted out set over set today, sad as he was one of New Zealand’s big hopes to do well. Still in are:

• Nathanael Seet – 75500
• Jeffrey Dunbar – 70600
• Andrew Pantling – 62800
• Wang Che Jung – 56100
• Michael Mariakis – 52900
• Yasuki Shino – 47400
• Luke Stanford – 46500
• Karl-Oskar Fösker – 45700
• Jamie Wilson – 44800
• Peter Aristidou – 43000
• Jim Zhou – 42500
• Assadour Assadourian – 41900
• Soren Eriksen – 39900
• Mark Oosterveld – 39100
• Eric Mutrie – 38100
• Glenn Gibbs – 37200
• Teresa Nousiainen – 36900
• Andrew Meldrum – 36300
• David Bradford – 35000
• Naeem Amiry – 34700
• Swee Guan Song – 34000
• Guobing Yu – 33500
• Penny Parker – 30900
• Simon Davis – 29100
• Thomas Macdonald – 28700
• Tony Hachem – 27700
• Marien Gast – 23300
• Marc Landrain – 7300
• Tim Heath – 6200
• Stacey Reilly – 5500     Martin Islamaj – 22900
• Song Meng Zhou – 22700
• Ed Scandlyn – 22500
• Kevin Clark – 22500
• David Falealili – 20000
• Celina Lin – 19100
• Mathew Wall – 18900
• Sean Dunwoodie – 18900
• Stephen Smith – 18900
• Wai Kwan Yuen – 18600
• Elizabeth Harris – 18500
• Chantelle Nash – 18300
• Alex Bond – 18000
• Tayne Derriman – 17100
• Barry Clayton – 16300
• Dave Hohen – 16300
• Sam Muir – 15800
• Dan Sing – 15500
• James Anderson – 15400
• Samuel Cavanagh – 12700
• Colin Lovelock – 12600
• Leo Boxell – 12300
• Wei Zhao – 11800
• Marc Wittkopf – 11700
• Fred Madon – 11600
• Alexander Fitzgerald – 11200
• Ned Stone – 10900
• Ted Everard – 10500
• Thomas Mclaughlin – 7700

I don’t know who all the pros are so I’ve just bolded the one’s who’s names sound pro to me…Mathew Wall may well be the best poker player in the field but he has to do something about his name. Not poker pro at all. I’ve italicised the names of people who will need to change their name before getting any real respect on poker blog sites.
See you on the table tomorrow!
BHS

8 October 2008 – 6.49am

Wow, what a night. The celebrity invitational was stunning. My head is hangover town, turns out I’m the mayor. But it was well worth it. The evening kicked off with my beautiful (many would say far too beautiful for me) fiancée strolling into the Poker Zone in a million dollar dress. 200 $5000 chips skillfully crafted into the most expensive frock this country – or in fact this side of the world – has ever seen.

Then wave after wave of Celebutants arrived all with their eye on the prize. And with over $15,000 in cash and prizes they were focused. Some of big surprises of the evening turned out to be the newest poker players who used their limited poker knowledge with ruthless precision. I always find those who learn the key fundamentals, position and strong betting first THEN card strength and the frills of poker after do well. Neil Waka and Rebecca Nicholson (Dancing With The Stars) were perfect examples.

Neil was amazing! A pure and natural poker player. Fearless and intimidating. The ^%$*@ took me out. He called an all in raise (All Black Steve Devine’s) I pushed over the top for 80% of his stack, I told him and the rest of the tables I had Aces, promised to show, he said he didn’t care and called. He shoed KJ suited, Steve showed QJ off and I turned over two black aces. I lost. He rivered the straight. All and all 80 celebs and media entered and many stayed and enjoyed SkyCity’s hospitality watching on as League legend Dean Lonergan took out the top spot. Thanks so so much to everyone who came up… it’d be hard to imagine the event going any better. Of course me winning would have been nice, it was after all my #&%@*ing birthday!

I’m thinking Wednesday will be a day to reset and start getting ready for the business end of the event. Tomorrow is Lee Nelson and Joe Hachem’s seminar. They’ve brought out a number of amazing pros to coach advanced internet and live tournament play and I can’t wait. One of the coaches, Dennis Waterman, took out the Festival’s first major event the SkyCity Hold’em Champs and $23 thousand dollars for first. Not a bad way to spend your first day in New Zealand.

If you haven’t stopped by the Poker Zone come say hi today. Most of the pros have arrived and I’m sure they’ll be only to happy to take a photo and / or take you on at the tables. Some of the celebs are probably still up there going for gold. Just one more note. If you and I are playing this week and I tell you I have aces. Fold. Please…
BHS

7 October 2008

Well what a crazy few days to kick off The Festival of Poker! Saturday and Sunday were amazing and a testament to how strong poker is in New Zealand. The Aotearoa Poker Champs attracted over 200 entries, as did the $80 satellite on Sunday, all 18 tables brimming with poker play and Alternates on the rail waiting to get into the fray. Plenty of Wellingtonians made the journey north, several of them winning their way into the main event. I played the $330 Satellite… Flopped a set of jacks, knew when the big blind came over the top of me he had Queen 9 and had flopped the straight, but was to deep to put it down, all I could hope for was the board to pair. What can I say. Jesus hates me.

I can’t even blame his hatred for my $1100 SkyCity Champs play. Let’s just say I put down kings with 75% of my stack committed and the Gumby showed Queens… The board showed two jacks… long AND boring story… I’m getting the Celeb event ready for tonight and just got a call from the Kiwis, Benji Marshall, David Kidwell and Nathan Cayless want to play tonight… How can you say no to that! See you tonight at the tables… When we say HOME OF NEW ZEALAND POKER we don’t mean where it was born… We mean where it lives!
BHS

2 October 2008

Hello all, and welcome to my diary… Many of you will have tuned in to hear details about my sex life, ala “The Red Shoe Diaries”. Or about my years hiding in an attic like in The Diary of Anne Frank. This is however a POKER DIARY. Luckily poker is every bit is exciting as sex or hiding in an attic, and only a little less exciting than sex IN an attic.

When Ejaaz Dean told me SkyCity was planning on throwing a million dollar tournament six months ago I, like many thought it was going to be hard, near impossible. But their hard work has paid off and now the SkyCity Festival of Poker is like a runaway train. Try to stop it. I dare you. (Not an actual dare, anyone trying to stop it will be removed from the premises). Early on we began talking about a celebrity invite tournament and the last few weeks have been spent assembling a plethora of luminaries to play poker this Tuesday (the 7th) at the Festival. The Celebs include:

• Amber Peebles
• Bridget O’Sullivan
• Brooke Howard-Smith
• Chang Huang
• Che Ness
• Craig Parker
• Daniel Braid
• David Fane
• Evern Tuimavave
• Jeanette Thomas
• Joe Cotton
• Joe Lonnie
• Karl Steven
• Lance O’Sullivan
• Leighton Cardno
• Mario Gaoa
• Nick Dwyer
• Oscar Keightly
• Otis Frizzell
• Phil Bostwick
• Rebecca Nicolson
• Shimpal Lelisi
• Siobhan Marshall
• Steve Devine
• Tammy Davis
• Will Wallace
• Dan Sing
• Ivan Vicelich
• Mike King
• Jon Austin
• Dave Gibson
• Ali Williams
• Vicky Lee
• AJ Whetton
• Jessie Gurunathan
• Demetrius Savelio
• Lee Nelson
• Eric Assadourian
• Grant Levy

That’s a lot and there are more to come in the next few days. Some are great poker players, Mike King finished 2nd at last years South Island Champs and won New Zealand’s Aussie Millions qualifier, Dave Gibson from Elemeno P is one of the greatest poker players alive. Others like Outrageous Fortunes’ Siobhan Marshall (Pascalle) have been reading up and practicing like crazy with the hopes of winning the invitational and progressing through to the main event. Come watch all the action on Tuesday the 7th from 6pm!

This is a photo of Siobhan Marshall after playing at La Vida Poker’s Wednesday night game… I took it on my Nokia N95… Word…

As for my poker, it’s all been a bit surreal lately. The last few weeks have been hectic trying to get a new bar designed. Still I’ll be coming into the main event fresh and focused. I’ve played the last two nationals with mid field finishes at both, but I’m hoping that the CRAP load of poker I’ve played and reading I’ve done since then will have sorted me for what is the biggest game I’ve played so far… I have a $1000 side bet with Robert Wang. That should motivate me!!!

Best tip I’ve come across lately:

Over Playing Ace King early in a big stack tournament.

Far too many people, pros estimate 70% of a big field are willing to go broke with this hand… But I think Ace-King is a very difficult hand to play in the early levels of big buy-in tournaments, when the stacks are deep compared to the blinds. Top pair top kicker is a good hand, but it’s likely if you’re feeling resistance it’s the 2nd best hand. What are you hoping you’re up against? How many players are going to be willing to go broke with KQ or KJ? It’s more likely you’ve run into two pair, a set or worse. Even worse, people who are willing to re-re-raise or call a re-raise with AK pre-flop and commit themselves are more than likely to be running into AA or KK, welcome to railtown hot pants, you’ve just been voted mayor. For mine, AK is a small ball hand early in the piece… A hand that does well in a stress free environment but folds like Michael Campbell under pressure.
BHS