I know, live poker can be a real snooze fest, especially if everyone is super splashy and it pays to play TAG. I think in general patience is one of my strengths, but I can really tell when I'm tired because that's the first virtue to go. Also I read a book often at the table, especially in pub poker where the level of play is so bad I'm not really missing useful live tells.


$330 Deepstack series Opening event

So this was the first series game at a relatively new venue for me. Most of the weekday games started at 6 pm, which was a major pain because of Sydney traffic. I showed up 90 minutes beforehand for this one and hoped to get some work done, but those clubs don't really provide a quiet corner to plug in your laptop.


Blinds 200/400-50, 9-handed

I've been a bit card dead and down to 23k from 30k starting stack. I find 89 in MP and open to 1000. BTN, SB, BB all call.

Flop 866, pot 4550. I bet 2100, BB calls. BB plays fishy as hell, playing the value of his hands regardless of play flow.

Turn 9, pot 8750. BB now leads 3600, I sigh call. He has a 6 here so often, such a disgusting turn card.

River 2, pot 16k. BB bets 7.5k, I have 16k left. Given player type, I think this is an easy fold.


My read gets vindicated a few levels later, after I chipped back up grinding my ass off:


Blinds 400/800-100, 9-handed

UTG limps in 800, villain from last hand makes a weird race in LJ to 2100, I call in CO with 77 and 37k behind. BB calls, UTG calls.

Flop J73, pot 9.7k. It checks to me and I bet 4.8k. Limper calls, LJ calls.

Turn 9, pot 24k. UTG checks and the fish in LJ now bombs it for 30k. I guess he could have T8s here, but I'm guessing he doesn't raise that pre. He would bet a jack on flop, he would bet a set of 3s. I have no idea what he has here, but I have a set so it's going in. I jam for 1k more and lose to 99....


So that hand got me insanely tilted, not only a massive cooler of course, but the guy just plays it horrendously. I fold any jack here against that bet, a set is the bottom of my calling range, so he's losing tons of value. His thought process was clearly limited to "big hand, big bet". Sigh.

$300 Deepstack series Mix-Max

It's funny how you drive home utterly disgusted with poker, and only 4 days later you're chomping at the bits for another go. Second game of the deepstack series I played was the $300 Mix-Max: 6 levels of 9-max, then 6-max until final 8. From there on the game was HU. Granted, I'm not the best HU player, because as an MTT player you don't get HU very often and I freely admit I have not studied it at all. Still, surely I'm better at it than your average pub poker player?

Still, it's a long way to the HU phase, so I don't have to worry about that right now. We're off to a good start:


Blinds 150/300-25, 9-handed

UTG opens to 625, UTG+1 raises to 1925. I'm in MP with AA. A cold 4bet just looks too strong here and the 3bet is quite meaty so I'm not afraid for lots of others to get in the pot. I call and UTG calls.

Flop 933, pot 6450. UTG+2 bets 2600, I call. This is a fantastic board of course, no need to do anything else.

Turn 7, pot 11.7k. UTG+1 jams for 11k, I snap and got AJ drawing dead.


I chip up some more to 52k from 30k starting stack. Meanwhile there's another story unfolding. The maniac from 7 posts to go, who I battled with in the $550 $30k, is going completely insane. This time he doesn't flip too well, he's already in for 5 bullets and is hopping tables. He's has played a few hands on our table gifting a stack to another player. After making the rounds he gets seated at our table again:


Blinds 200/400-50, 9-handed

UTG limps in, maniac raises to 1100, I'm in CO and 3bet to 2600 with KK. It folds to maniac, who 4bets to 6k. I 5bet to 13k. He jams for 30k starting stack. I call and win vs. K8

He runs to the rego booth for another bullet and I'm up to 87k. When late reg ends he's in for 13 bullets! That's $3900 in buyins, only winning it ($5k) lets him see a profit.


Final two tables

It is 6-handed now and I keep battling. Stack is hovering around 100k when we get to 12 left. Top 8 gets paid with a massive $1k mincash due to the structure.


Blinds 1k/2k-200, 6-handed

I'm in SB with T5 and open to 5k. BB calls.

Flop AA7, pot 11k. I check, he checks.

Turn 7. I bet 4k, he calls.

River 7, pot 19k. We're chopping here a lot obviously, but I would take this line with an ace so I overbet 20k to get him off a chop. Instead he raises to 60k. I fold, he shows 97


That hands leaves me with 72k and a ****ty position with big stacks to my left and right. It gets down to 5-handed with 10 left, the blinds go fast, and I'm card dead. I have very little playing room as a shortie stuck between big active big stacks and a massive mincash looming.


Blinds 1k/2k-200, 5-handed

Spewy and aggro UTG opens to 7k, BTN calls. I'm in BB with KK and 72k. I suppose I could 3bet here to 20-24k, but I am the shortie and perceive a jam on my part to come across weaker. I jam and UTG calls, saying "I think we're flipping here", tabling 44. Not really mate...

We double to 150k.


Blinds 1200/2400-200, 5-handed

A few hands later. Table shortie open jams for 40k in CO. I'm in SB and rejam with JJ. The shortie apparently ran out of patience and open jammed 17bb with Q5

Flop T43

Turn 9

River K


And we chip down to 100k again. We lose another player and are now on the direct bubble. I chip down to 80k while my stack gets eaten up by blinds and antes. There's a shortie on the other table, but I only have 20bb.


Blinds 2k/4k-400, 5-handed

BTN opens to 8k, I'm in BB with 80k and KK. I jam, and again someone loses their mind as BTN calls with 22. No idea where this is coming from, calling off 20-25bb shoves with small pairs, but I'm not complaining.

Flop KJ6

And we double to 190k.


Heads up phase

And the bubble bursts! We are guaranteed $1k. If I win the first HU we get $2k. If I win the second HU we're guaranteed $3k. One more HU win and $5k for first. I never considered this, but Mix-Max payout schedules are insane. Casual HU games for $1k cash each, no worries.

As I'm 4th in chips I play 5th in chips, my 190k vs. his 120k. After 5 minutes of play I realize he's quite nervous, and isn't sure what to do. I know my HU game isn't great, but he just plain sucks. He does pick up some chips due to flopping big hands, but I push back by barreling favorable runouts. At some point he is just over it:


Blinds 2k/4k, HU

He completes SB, I raise in BB to 15k with TT. He jams for 140k . I call and we have a proper flip on our hands when he tables QJ. Honestly, I have a massive hand HU and he still has ~50%?!

Flop 858

Turn 9

River 6

BOOOMMM!!! $2k locked up!! I have to admit this was one of the more exciting flips in my live poker experience.


Second HU

The round of 8 ends surprisingly quickly, and I now have to play a proper reg. It's my 310k vs his 680k. I pick up he likes to cbet flops small, and if I just call he sizes up big on turns. So I start to checkraise medium value and gutshots, while letting him barrel when I have value. My first 3bet is light, with A4o. I have to say, I'm not playing too shabby. HU is much easier when it has your full focus and you don't have 8 other tables beeping for attention. I'm having a blast. I chip up to 370k. We finally start playing for serious chips:


Blinds 3k/6k, HU

He opens to 14k on BTN/SB. I 3bet to 42k (3rd 3bet, second one for value) with QQ, he calls (first time he calls my 3bet).

Flop J72, pot 84k. Pretty safe flop, I continue for 36k, he calls.

Turn 6, pot 156k. I check to let him put pressure, because he's definitely prone to taking advantage of weakness like the big turn bets have shown. He obliges and bets 42k, I call.

River 8, pot 240k. I check again, and he tanks and jams for 250k effective. Obviously I'm not in love with this spot, but when I check turn I did that for exactly this reason, letting him spew it off. I can't very well fold now because it's uncomfortable. I call and win vs KQ.


I now have 740k vs his 260k. Our friend the maniac (who has busted without cashing, rip $4k) comes over and tells me he will give me $200 if I win. Apparently he has a $5k leaderboard last longer with my HU partner, and needs him to lose badly. And I try:


Blinds 3k/6k, HU

We're two hands later and I won the previous hand my limp-raising with AQo. This hand he opens to 14k and I call with K9.

Flop K67, pot 28k. I check, he bets 16k, and I jam for 175k effective. He flicks it in and we have 60% against 53

Turn J

River A


So close, but the game is back on. He scrapes back some more chips until the players at the other table start asking for a deal. It's 1 am and both tables have 120bb on the table. I have to go to work the next day so I agree to look at numbers. ICM gets me $2980, so I agree to $3k. We flip for the photo and I lose immediately, so no trophy for me. Still, it's a great start to the series!

Trail running

In terms of running it's been a bit of a rollercoaster. I finally managed to overcome the aches in my achilles/hamstring, so I started increasing my training load. This would consist of 8-10 km on the road a couple times during the week, a short 5-6 km run on Saturday and a long trail run on Sunday.

Three weeks ago I ran a 22 km trail race as part of my training, where I made sure not to go too fast. I managed a sub-3 hour race, which I was happy with. Going full out I think I would have managed a 2:40 maybe, but that would have required time to recover which isn't available right now. A week later my long run took ~4 hours, with 27 km trail including 1400 meter elevation change. While I was content with my training pace, my right knee started acting up a bit towards the end. This has been a problem for years now, and is related to the ITB. I do exercises and foam rolling every day, and have been working with a running physio for well over a year now to improve my running technique. Fortunately the following week was a quiet week according to my training schedule, and the 18 km weekend run went off without a hitch. So last weekend I went out for my final long run before the tapering towards the UTA starts. I planned to run 29 km with 1000 m elevation, and all was well for most of it. Four hours in however I started to notice some knee pressure, but not so much I had to stop. With 1.5 km to go I stopped at a supermarket to pick up some Ben&Jerry's, and in the shop my knee completely stiffened up. From one moment to another I could only limp, so I had to call my gf to come pick me up.

It's been a couple days now and it feels fine, but I'm super worried about the UTA. I had a session with my chiro yesterday and while my knee and legs were fully functioning, we agreed the knee pain was probably due to lack in endurance. Basically after ~4 hours my glutes just kinda give up, which overstresses my ITB and everything goes south from there. It's not super surprising I suppose, because due to other niggles my training load had to increase much more steeply than ideal. For the next three weeks I'll try to strengthen my glutes as much as possible, and before the race get some stuff taped up. I'll be at the start, but it'll be a coin flip whether I'll manage to finish this beast. Especially the final 10 km with 1200 meters elevation and stairs are going to be brutal.

Great to see your back posting regularly.

This is the only PGC I follow on here.

Sorry I didn’t make it down to the series.

Wife had the baby the day of the final table of the main so if I played that would have caused a problem for me lol

I’m happy to see you have continued to play and run well. Congrats on the good scores!

A couple of hands. That was a good fold with the AT with but flush on the turn. Since you block top set their is only 7 combos of hands that beat you.

I know it was a huge overbet but was curious if you were getting 2.5-3 to 1 whether you would call there.

Also as far as people calling shoves with small pocket pairs. Those two hands were extremely different.

I don’t know table dynamics that much but shoving 36bb over an utg open and button call also looks extremely strong especially against a 3.5x raise.

Obviously it works because villian is a mega fish but against most players like a 3 bet to 24k. Calling with 44 their is terribad. I think JJ+, AK+ is absolute mininum. Which is why against loose player he just folds too much.

As far as the other one. This hand is BU vs BB 2x raise. Against a standard player your 3 bet jamming range with 20bb is something like 22+ Ax+ K2s+ Q7s+ J7s+ T7s+ 96s+ 86s+ 76s 65s 54s KTo+ QTo+ JTo+

22 has 45% equity against that range. He only needed 42%.

Maybe you don’t jam that wide but against most good players it’s certainly not a lol bad call.

Obviously being close to the bubble changes dynamics but just wanted to say you might be calling too tight if you think he is losing his mind in this hand.

I agree there is a difference, for sure. However I don't think giving me that shoving range is realistic, since we're on the stone bubble for a big 3x cash. Maybe I should, but I'm definitely not shoving that wide there, since it's a disaster to bust while there's still a 6bb stack in. Also my image must've been super tight, I was just folding and only showed down KK and JJ (which I shoved). I think calling with 22 might not have been as bad as the 44 call, but I'm convinced with ICM in play and table dynamics it's a reasonably big mistake. It's not as if he had a massive stack, it cost him 40% of his chips.

Also, congrats on the baby!

Yeah sorry I misread that.

On the stone bubble for 3x cash with a 6bb on the other table ICM would force you to play super tight. It’s almost a satelitte situation.

Under normal circumstances it’s a marginal call but It is mistake to call there with 22.

Do you have any plans to play in the sydney champs? Be happy to book some action. The opening event, 6 Max and monster stack look decent value and you would definetely be a favourite in those line ups.

I might come over for the main. Depends on how I go in Vegas.

Thanks baby is doing well. 3 kids under 3. Not good preparation for Vegas lol.

Yeah, definitely playing sydney champs. Dunno about main, but opening, monster and bounty for sure. I'll let you know if I have action left to sell. What are your Vegas plans?


$400 Deepstack series 6-max

The next tournament in the series I played was 6-max. Although online I would typically skip 6-max because it's a struggle when multi-tabling, single tabling this format live is super fun. Lots of action and funky spots.


Blinds 100/200-25, 6-handed, 30k starting stack

I'm BTN and open to 500 with A6, both blinds call.

Flop A67, pot 1650. Nice flop, I cbet 850. Young aggro asian kid in SB raises to 3k, I call. I expect him to potentially raise combo-draws or A9-AJ.

Turn J, pot 7650. Villain bets 4.5k, I call.

River 5, pot 16.6k. Villain bets 12k. I seriously consider folding here, but I'm so high up my range I conclude I can't fold. I call and lose to 77. I had a chat with him during break and he thought I had called down with AK, so if he put me on a hand like that I like my call more.

I pick up some chips with kings, but lose it back in 3bet pot OOP with JJ. Finally:

Blinds 400/800-100, 6-handed

UTG limps, BTN limps, SB completes. I'm in BB with KJ. There's 3.8k in the pot, and I have 10k behind. I jam and lose to UTG call with AT.

Rip.


$550 Deepstack series Ultra-stack

This is by far the tournament I've been looking forward to the most. Massive 100k stack, good structure, basically a perfect match-up for me. I think I'm best at playing TAG at splashy tables and having the patience to wait for spots. We're not off to a great start though:


Blinds 150/300-50, 9-handed

I'm UTG with AA and open to 800. I get 4 callers.

Flop AT6, pot 3.6k. Great flop obviously, but hard for anyone to have a proper second best hand. Still, the table is super happy to get chips in light, because we start with such a massive stack. Almost everyone at the table is super spewy, so I size bigger than usual and bet 2.5k. I get 3 callers, so it definitely wasn't too much.

Turn 8, pot 11k. There's plenty of interest somehow, so again I make a meaty 7.5k bet, 1 caller.

River 7, pot 26k. Not the best river, but he shouldn't have too many 9x. Of course I check and call a 13.5k bet. I lose to A9...


Alright. That's a ****ing stupid hand. Still, i have 70k left.


Blinds 150/300-50, 9-handed

MP limps in, OMC in CO raises to 800 (lol). I'm on BTN with AK and raise to 2400. Both the limper and OMC call.

Flop AJ9, pot 8.1k. Limper leads out 6.5k, OMC calls. Both are the biggest spewtards at the table, so I'm comfortable I'm ahead of Ax and Khx/Qhx type of hands. Still, 2 pair, sets or flopped flushes are options too, so I don't think raising achieves much here. I call.

Turn 5, pot 27.6k. It checks to me and I have 50k behind. I should really just bet here, because most of the made hands do not allow for a free river. I check instead.

River 7, pot 27.6k. Limper leads 7k, OMC calls, I fold. OMC wins with Q5 vs. A2. Yeah, just all around super spew.


Despite losing two sizable pots I am confident with my game plan at the table, just wait for big hands and get paid off. Chips are flying, I don't even have to be that patient until they're bound to fly to me.


Blinds 300/600-50, 9-handed

I'm UTG with AK and open to 1700. Two players call, and spewy BTN (limper from last hand) raises to 5700. SB (tight MAWG) cold calls. I have 40k behind, and should just jam it in here. It's concerning SB is interested enough to coldcall a 3bet OOP, and I know BTN has a wide range here, but also likes to gamble and I wouldn't put it past him if he calls a jam with JTs or small-medium pairs. I've only been playing for only 1.5 hours, and the idea to have to flip now, having started with such a monster stack feels super wrong. Not any of this is a legitimate reason to keep from shoving, but I'm tired and lack to mental fortitude. I call, so does everyone else.

Flop A92, pot 30k. It checks to BTN, who checks behind.

Turn T, pot 30k. SB now leads 7.7k, I call, MP calls.

River A, pot 53k. SB bets 30k, I have 25k behind. I get over 3-1 and have trips with best kicker. I obviously call, MP folds, and I lose to TT.


So maybe no chips for me after all.

I bust before the first break in a non-stop string of coolers. Still, I managed to chew through 100k chips in 90 minutes, and I feel I must've done something wrong. I know that's not how it works, but it's hard to shake the feeling. The two spots in above hands where I perhaps should've taken a different line would not have matter by the way. Q5 is calling a bet 100% and I lose more, and TT will call a jam preflop 90% of the time. It just wasn't meant to be, pretty much.

Some seriously bad luck in those hands.

The A6o is such a hard hand to fold on the river.

I mean we are rarely beaten combo wise and the top of our range.

I would like to fold but in game would never fold it.

All the draws missed as well. I don’t see him c/r flop with A9-AJ though.

I find If they are c/r hands like that then they would 3 bet them pre especially AJ but 150bb deep would be so hard to play those hands if u c/r flop as well.

Vegas schedule all locked in. Millionaire Maker, Marathon, Double Stack, Monster Stack, MSPT. Close to $20k in buy ins so hoping for some deep runs.

VEGAS 2018!!!!

Hell yeah, I'm doing it! After much consideration I finally decided to book my flights and accommodation. I wanted to wait until I was confident I'd make my PhD thesis deadline. I haven't given my PhD much attention in this thread, but is by far the biggest priority in my life at the moment. My final deadline is June 12th, and any day I delay I either have to pay $120 in tuition fees as an international student, or leave the country in 30 days. So yeah, quite a lot of incentive to finish on time. I didn't want to book a trip too short after my deadline, in case I needed the extra time, but the tournament my trip will center on is the Monster stack, starting on June 23. After it turned out I'll not be given any leeway anyway, I figured I might as well go for it. Also things are progressing well, so I don't think the deadline is unrealistic.


I'll be in Vegas from June 21st until July 2nd. I booked a studio near the strip with a small kitchen, so I can kick back and relax between games. The main differences from last two summers is that 1) I'm by myself, and 2) I have more $$. Last year I concluded that two WSOP trips was enough for a while, but with a bigger bankroll there are suddenly so many good tournaments I can play, so I'm giving it another go. It might sound lonely, but to be honest I was doing my own thing any way the last two times, so that won't be drastically different.


My schedule, as I figure it now:

Thursday, June 21: $200k Low Roller day 1d, $250, Planet Hollywood
Friday, June 22: $250k gtd day 1d-f, $200, Golden Nugget
Saturday, June 23: WSOP Monster Day 1a, $1500, Rio
Sunday, June 24 : $500k Superstack day 1c, $600, Venetian
Monday, June 25: $500k Goliath day 1b, $600, Planet Hollywood
Tuesday, June 26: $500k Goliath day 1c, $600, Planet Hollywood
Wednesday, June 27: $100k Goliath 6-max day 1, $400, Planet Hollywood
Thursday, June 28: $500k gtd day 1a, $570, Golden Nugget
Friday, June 29: $200k Low Roller day 1c, $250, Planet Hollywood
Saturday, June 30: $500k gtd day 1c, $570, Golden Nugget

Of course if I make day 2s I'll have to skip stuff, or if I feel I need a rest. I also might hop over to the Rio for some daily deepstacks, or if I bink something early play some bigger stuff instead. Also, this is AU$8k in buyins, which sounds mental to me, so I might just opt for a more relaxed schedule with smaller buyins and smaller games instead of this max variance fest. We'll see.


And if I bink big (think $30k+), I just might consider extending my stay to play the ME. We can dream, can't we?

Very nice. Let's chop the Monster HU.

Ultra Trail Australia 50 km

Last weekend it was finally time for the race I'd been training for all year. Over the past 5 months I had logged > 400 km of running, road and trail, across 50 sessions in 130 days. Add another 25 sessions of cross training and daily exercises, and you can probably imagine I was really ready to get started with this thing. Unfortunately during my final two long runs (4-4.5 hours) my knee had started acting up again, and although in the final three weeks of taper before the race it hadn't bother me any more, I was super anxious about the actual race. I had discussed it with my running fysio and chiropractor, and they both figured that even if it started bothering me again, I could continue without risking longterm effects. Within reason of course.


The trail

The UTA is a massive running event, across the 22km, 50km and 100km races there are ~5000 participants. It takes place in the Blue Mountains, a few hours west of Sydney, which is a beautiful National Park. However, a 50km run in this terrain is guaranteed to be brutal, with countless stairs and vertical distance to overcome. The race starts with 28km of small descents and climbs and lots of stairs, after which there is a 13km long descent, followed by 9km of steady climbing. The final 500m contains the Furber steps, around 1000 steps of stairs to get to the top of the cliffs. In total the race climbs and descends more than 2400m, including 4500 stairs up, and 3500 down. In impression of the terrain:



My personal goal was to finish the damn thing first of all, and if possible within 8 hours. This may sounds like a super slow pace, but it is actually faster than average. Trail running is very very different from road running. My race prep wasn't great, because I'm in my final two months of my PhD thesis I didn't really have the luxury of catching up on sleep. I had booked a cheap motel the night before because there wasn't much available any more, and I think I maybe slept 4 hours before the alarm woke us up at 4 am.


Race Day

My partner was so kind to join me for the weekend and drive/cycle to the different check points for some encouragement. I was supposed to carry all gear and food myself, but it was definitely helpful to have a friendly face at the different checkpoints waiting for me.

The race started for me at 7am, and it was freezing for Sydney standards, around 4 degrees C. I had bought some arm sleeves and a bandana to cover my neck the week before, which proved to be very helpful keeping me warm in the first hour or so. The first 6km was along road and wide fire trails, and at 7km we passed the Three Sisters:



After this iconic rock formation the trails started with long and steep descent down the Giant Stairway, stairs clinging to the rock face barely wide enough for two people. I was feeling fine, but with every new set of stairs I started registering more niggles around my knee. At the first checkpoint at 17km I sat down to add some tape to my knee, trying to keep my ITB from irritating. At this point it was clear it wasn't going to be a painless race. I soldiered on but the knee got worse and worse. The race was beautiful though:



The descent from hell

I finally reached the main checkpoint at 28km and at this point a DNF was looming. When my fysio said I could deal with some pain, he meant from km 40-45 onwards, not this early in the race. On the other hand I could still move and I didn't want to give up so soon. The problem was that until the finish line we would be in the middle of the National Park, with few access roads. Not a great place to get stuck with a non-functioning knee. In the end my partner helped me wraps some more tape around my knee, and off I went.

This next part was without question the low point of my race. We had to descent ~800m across 13km and I was basically hobbling. People were overtaking me left and right, but I was only focusing on keeping my technique from faltering too much. Keep it straight, small steps, don't stop. It took forever but I finally got to the final checkpoint at 41km down on the valley floor. I filled up my bottles and started running again, but in the 2 minutes I had stopped moving my knee had stiffened considerably. This was similar to my final long training run, and back then I had to call my partner to come pick me up. No such option now.


Final stretch to the finish

This final bit was pretty much straight uphill, so I opted to walk for a bit with the hope my knee would get warm again. I took out my lightweight hiking poles, found a rhythm, and bit my bit started feeling better. Not only that, but I actually started overtaking people! Because of the uphill requires different movement patterns, my knee pain actually started disappearing altogether, and realized I had some gas left in the tank. Where other runners walked both the uphills and flatter sections, I started running the flat sections. Then I started running the slight inclines, followed by the short but steep climbs. I was utterly powering through the course, overtaking someone every few minutes. I was 45km in, and I finally felt strong! Most of the runners I left in my wake offered encouragement, or tried to catch on.

Of course everything hurt, and I was dead tired, so it wasn't trivial to restart running after every slightly longer climbs (that I still walked), but I managed to do it. I focused on my breathing, tried to get rid of all the unhelpful thoughts that pop up in such circumstances, such as (most commonly): "how long until the finish?". Just run, you'll get there eventually.

And I did. But first, the Furber steps. Whoever thought that finishing a 50km with 1000 steps uphill is a masochist. It hurt like hell, but it helped I wasn't the only one. At every corner there was a hapless runner trying to catch their breath. And although running was out of the question, I still managed to overtake people who were simply even slower than I was. I got to the top and managed to find some pace for the final few hundred meters. There were hundreds of spectators making immense noise at the finish line, and it felt they were all cheering for me. The finish was fantastic, definitely one of the highlights of all the racing that I've done. There is an official photo of my finish, and I just look so gloriously happy, it really shows. I wasn't necessarily happy that I was done, although that was nice, but more importantly that I had managed to finish the race in a way I felt proud of. The first 40km I primarily worried about my knee, but the final 10km I found my groove and showed myself that I deserved to be there.


Race wrap up

I finished in ~7:50, so despite all the knee problems I still managed to finish sub 8 hours. I think my overall result was 800th out of 2k runners or so, not too shabby. I slept for 12 hours that night, and the next morning we went to a Japanese bathhouse with heated outdoor pools overlooking the Blue Mountains. It only took a few days until I could walk down stairs again without the need for the handrail, and this morning I went for a 45 minute run without any issues.

I have three weeks left until my thesis deadline, and I leave for Vegas a week after that. I'll try to do some write-ups of games I've played over the last month, including some cashes, but I won't have time to play much before Vegas. That being said, I just got back from making day 2 of a $120 $30k pub game, so I do have a shot at one final score before I leave for the WSOP.

Well done mate that's a fantastic achievement!

Thanks! I'm still euphoric about the whole thing, especially now it appears it hasn't caused any longer term problems with my knee. I've been out on a few runs since and it seems fine. I got my partner into trail running and her first proper race will be a 22km trailrun early July. I just signed up for that race too, I guess I'll know more after that race.


In other news, my big score made it to Hendon Mob. I had to prod the organization of the league a little bit, since they hadn't uploaded any new results since August last year. They didn't include the value of the Vegas package, which means that officially I'm still a few hundred US$ short of my $25k goal

This means the first chance I'll have at some Hendon Mob scores and reaching my goal will be Vegas! I suppose that is a nice place to close this one out. Doesn't mean my thread will end though, it was a super arbitrary goal to begin with, I'll think of something new.

Last week, after 3.5 years of work, I finally submitted my PhD thesis. It was just in time for my deadline, and involved 25 days of non-stop writing with just two days off, which I spent playing poker... I'm super relieved to have made the deadline with a thesis I'm quite happy with. This means we're allowed to stay in Australia until my visa runs out in a few months, and I can just take it easy for a bit. First order of business will be in two days: the WSOP in Vegas. Ten days of poker bliss, with zero obligations back home. I'm extremely pumped about the trip. I feel very confident at the tables and I think I have a good chance to finally turn a (significant) profit this year. Of course, as I've experienced twice before, there's only so many tournaments you can play in ten days and it's easy to run poorly over such a small sample. We shall see.


Before I go, I figured I should give a quick update about what I've been up to since the last poker update two months ago. Despite being really busy with my thesis, I still managed to play 8 tournaments and cash in 3 for a small profit. I'm not gonna go through all of them, but instead cherry pick some hands.


$330 Quarterly Final

First up was the new installment of the big tournament I chopped for $30k earlier this year. They changed the structure to multiple day 1s and a $330 buyin. This is definitely an improvement, since that means there were even more clueless pub poker players in the game. There is one hand in particular I remember:


Blinds 800/1600, 9-handed

I'm UTG with T8 with the table CL. My table is super soft and players have started to grumble about shoveling chips my way without even seeing rivers. I'm having a great time. Given the dynamics and the table I think I can get away with an open, to 3800. MP jams for 13.6k. It folds to SB who's playing super loose and has lost five hands in a row to me. He flicks in the chips to call my raise, having missed the shove from MP. When other players mention this he makes very clear he's not happy about it, but makes the call anyway. Now it folds to me. There's 32.6k in the pot, and 9.8k to call. SB has ~40k behind. I consider calling, but then realize how capped SBs range is. I'm confident he just called to play a hand vs me, but will have to fold vs. a shove. If I do I give myself great odds against the all in player with a reasonable drawing hand. I jam, SB folds disgusted, and I'm up against AJ. When the player on the BTN announces my hand, there's a slight hesitation in his voice, and everyone looks very confused. I even get openly laughed at.

Oh, and I spike a ten on the river.


I make day 2 with this first bullet, but can't get any traction and finish in 29th out of 500+ runners, not too shabby for my title defense. This time the super top heavy payout structure does not help me, I cash for a measly $500.


The next game I play is the $107 monthly at my regular venue. I manage a 4th place out of 60 players for $650, but no hands worth mentioning. Two weeks later I drive for 1.5 hours in Sydney traffic to play a $220 "Highroller", with 100 runners:


$220 Highroller

I miss the first level due to traffic, so the first hand I play is at 100/200:


Blinds 100/200, 9-handed, starting stack 30k

MP opens to 700, I have JJ in LJ and opt to call in position having zero reads on villain. HJ and BB call.

Flop J89, pot 2900. MP bets 1600. With top set but a wet board and 4-way action I raise to 4.5k. OMC in HJ coldcalls, MP calls. Hmm.

Turn 3, pot 16.4k. Checks to me and I bet 7k, OMC calls, MP folds.

River T, pot 30.4k. I have 17k left, OMC has 11k. For an OMC to call two streets here, he must have a strong hand. So despite the scary looking river, he only ever has a Q here if he flopped it with QT. If I check here, I have to call off an all in getting 4-1, although I expect him to check behind most two pair/sets. If he has QT it's just unlucky. If he has a set here, he might hero call a jam, but more importantly, if he has T7 here, he might hero fold with this runout, since it's his tournament life in the "highroller". That being said, there's only three T7s combos and T7o is very unlikely given preflop action. Also, I'd expect him to get it in on the turn quite often given stack sizes. I figure there's no upside to checking, and I have chance to get value or get better to fold if I jam. I do so, and he tanks forever but eventually calls off with T7.

He later tells me he decided I couldn't have QT since I raised pre. There you go, some quality hand analysis. Except I wasn't the preflop raiser. And if I had been, QT would definitely been part of my range. It's hard to bluff someone off a hand who's triple leveling himself. I definitely like my thought process though, I think I had a strong idea of what was going on while playing the hand, which in a live setting can be quite difficult. I bust 20 minutes later when I jam 6k with KK over an UTG+1 open limp at 300/600, who calls off with A7 for no discernible reason. Yay live poker.


$120 multi-day $25k gtd

This is the only daytime game I played in the weeks leading up to my thesis deadline, since it's such a good structure. I only allowed myself one day 1 bullet though, because of time constraints.


Blinds 150/300, 7-handed

I open A6 to 800 from HJ into a weak regs BB. This loose spewy SB calls, so does BB.

Flop 457, pot 2400. I cbet 1800 into 2400, both call.

Turn 8, pot 7800. It checks to me and I figure it'll be hard to get three streets of value. They should have many more sixes, so I wouldn't continue with an overpair on this board. When I do, it'll be hard to get worse to call on river, so I check to bomb river.

River Q, pot 7800. SB leads 4k, BB raises to 10k. I have 30k behind. Like I said BB is a bad reg, and he actually does a little hollywood, so he has a six here 100%. SB is super splashy who for some reason has been calling all my raises, so he can have anything here. I opt to call the 10k to try to get some value from SBs two pairs or whatever braindead hands he might find a call with. I call, and SB instajams, covering us both. BB snap calls for 40k more. If BB has 96 here, he would have (poorly) feigned a decision to get me in the pot as well. SB is super splashy and could very well be overvaluing his six here. That being said, I certainly don't have 96 given my line, so maybe he's trying to get value from worse? If I call and we all have a 6, I gain 13k chips. If I call and somehow one of us doesn't have a 6, I gain 20k. If I call and one of them has 96, I lose 20k and my tournament life. Eventually I fold, and SB smacks down 96. Which he called with preflop, against a raise. In the SB.


Again I make day 2 and get seated at a table with a friend of mine. We tangle some, until we get it in when I checkraise a A45 flop with 78 in the BB. He calls with AJ and I turn a spade. This leaves me with 360k at 4k/8k, with ~50 left and 32 getting paid.


Blinds 4k/8k, 8-handed

This is a just a few hands after I busted my friend. An orbit earlier this very loud player who's been making noise all day got moved to our table. He has me slightly out chipped, with both of us top 5 in chips in the tournament. He opens to 18k from UTG+1. I call in HJ with 22. BB calls too.

Flop 882, pot 58k. Loudmouth cbets for 25k, I call.

Turn 5, pot 108k. Villain bets 33k, I call.

River 3, pot 174k. Villain quickly bets 100k. He can have an overpair here, figuring he must be good at this point. 8x makes perfect sense too. So I jam for 280k. He snap calls, yells and throws down 33.

Puke.


Last weekend I played my final tournament before Vegas. I'm super relieved to be done with my thesis, and this is a big $200 yearly game at my regular venue, so I'm just content to be there. Day 1 I play super well, pressuring and squeezing the better regs and getting value from the poor regs. Unfortunately I run KK into AA against a drooler for a CL pot literally three hands before end of day 1. I make day 2 (third one in a row!) with 15bbs, but can't find any spots and bust in 18th with 12 getting paid. I head over to a nearby venue for a small $110 game as my girlfriend is away for work and the house is super cold anyway. It gets 20 runners with $800 up top, but 4-handed I lose A6 vs K6 all in pre for half the chips in play to go out in 4th for $200.


Going through all these hands again I realize that despite not having made any significant money since my big score four months ago ($5k in buyins, +$400 net), I've been playing well and keep running deep. Hopefully this will result in a super deep run in the next couple weeks in Vegas, I'll keep you posted.

Vegas Day 1

My main concern for these first few days is jetlag. I fly quite regularly and usually I don't suffer (much) from jetlag, but both previous trips to Vegas were pretty bad. First time around I felt like crap for five days, and last year I started with three days hiking across Zion national park, during which I felt absolutely horrible on the first day.

So when I arrived yesterday morning local time I first had a nap for a few hours. The flight from Sydney to LA is 13 hours and I slept maybe a couple of them, so it was definitely needed. I got up at 5 pm and against better judgement decided to play the $250 Low Roller at Planet Hollywood. Having said that, I was very aware that it was gonna be tough to stay awake, so I was very motivated to not punt it off.

Still, when you have to get it in, you have to get it in:


Blinds 150/300-25, 9-handed, starting stack 15k

UTG opens to 800, OMC in UTG+2 calls, I call BTN with 99, BB calls.

Flop 864, pot 3400. UTG cbets for 1200, OMC calls. I consider raising but decide to call to see the turn in position. Honestly, I'm not sure what I should do here, it's not great to give a free card on such a wet board multiway, but I'm hating life if I have to raise-call or raise-fold. I call, BB folds.

Turn 9, pot 7k. UTG continues with a hefty bet at 3.5k. OMC snapcalls. I have 13k behind, the board is super draw heavy, so I jam. UTG calls with 88, OMC instacalls with AJ. I hold.


This was only 30 minutes after I sat down. I was playing pretty snug, not wanting to deal in my current state with the decision of rebuying. Getting it in 3way as such a huge favourite was a dream start. However, the next few hours are uneventful as I hardly get any playable hands. Also I start to get super sleepy, and it's hard not to do anything silly. I keep it together and we reach the final blind level before latereg closes and we have 1/4 of the field left for this day one. At this point there's no way I'm rebuying for 7.5bbs, so I either run it up or go to bed, win-win. It's the latter:


Blinds 1k/2k-300, 9-handed

CO limps in, leaving 12k behind. SB completes, and I check my option in the BB with 34k behind and QJ. It's a hand that flops reasonably well, I don't see any reason to force CO to commit or not, and I have position on SB.

Flop JT7, pot 8700. It checks to me and as it's a limped pot and a wet board I lead for 5.5k (meant to bet 4.5k fwiw). CO folds, and now SB goes all in, covering me slightly. That means it's 30k to win 50k. SB has been playing snug, but seems competent and has 3bet shipped light(ish). I need 37% equity here, and on such a board with a strong J in a limped pot that seems more than reasonable. I make the call but lose to JT.


I was super tired so I gave myself **** about the hand, but now the next morning I think it's fine. And it was definitely a positive I got to go to bed before midnight. I woke up at 5:30am this morning, which isn't great, but it's not the end of the world. I'm about to head to the Venetian for their $400 Deepstack and I will definitely struggle with energy levels later today, but hopefully I'm over it when it's time for the WSOP Monster Stack in a day or two.

I was on the table next to you where you buste

No way, you mean just now?! Crazy, we should meet up if you're around this week. Did you make day 2?


So yeah, I am heartbroken. Utterly destroyed. I've been playing poker for ten years and I know all the rationalizations by heart, but this is a new low emotionally. I'll do a better write up later, I've played 36 hours of poker since I got here ~80 hours ago, so a bit short of time. The hand in question:


$1500 Monster Stack, second to last level of day 1

Blinds 300/600-100, 9-handed

We started with 15k and we're 12 hours in at this point. I steadily increased my stack to 30k, got moved and although this is far and away my biggest buy-in ever, I'm getting into the thick of things. On the new table I have an aggro image, partly due to cards, but also getting thin value with trash hands. The last two orbits I've opened/3bet half of the hands and I sit on 60k. This is already a well over average day 2 stack.

I'm UTG and look down at AA and open to 1300. With my image this is utterly brilliant, I expect plenty of pushback potential. BTN calls, and it folds to a splashy Asian kid in the BB who I've tangled with multiple times already. He 3bets to 8k with 45k behind. Massive 3bet, but he's been using large sizings throughout. Obvious move is to just call, but due to my crazy image and his crazy brain I feel like I can get away with a 4bet here without turning my hand face up. I raise to 18k. BTN tankfolds AK, and sure enough BB jams in 100bb with QQ. I call.


Flop K93, pot 110k


Turn 4


River Q


He goes on a celebratory shouting rampage (very considerate), while I get in my last 8k the very next hand with AJ against A5 and get rivered again by the 5 to bust.


Hold with aces and I have 120k coming back on day 2 to a top 60 stack from the remaining 2k runners. This was the dream, and it's super painful to have come so close to such a fantastic position in my main tournament of this trip/year, and not get there.

So yeah, far and away worst beat in ten years. Its not even close. As always, we'll get over it, but right now it hurts like a mother****er.

No excuses mate, those 2 hands were just scared money play and you know it yourself...

Well, yes. I thought I was pretty honest about that?

Vegas day 2


$400 Deepstack at the Venetian

Our table starts 4-handed and initially I feel completely in my element given the level of play of my three opponents. That enthusiasm dims somewhat when the rest of the table fills up with solid players, and I basically tread water for the first few hours with no significant stack increase. My position at the table isn't optimal to take advantage of the fish at the table, but picking up actual hands is also an option:


Blinds 200/400-50, 9 players

Fish in MP opens to 1300 with 15k behind. I'm in BB with 35k and 3bet to 4.5k with QQ. Villain goes all in for 16k and immediately tables AK. I'm just sitting there confused, because I haven't actually called yet... Someone calls over the floor, but before he gets there I resolve the situation by just making the call (obviously).

Flop QT4

Turn 3

River T

I rake in the chips while villain storms out of the venue. I understand later that if villain had won the pot he would've gotten a penalty, which seems a bit harsh.


I get moved to a softer table and chip up to 70k after a fortunate A9 > JJ all in pre flop BTN vs BB. The blinds at this point are 1k/2k with stiff antes, so after a card dead level I'm down to 50k again. We hit the second to last level of day 1 with blinds of 1.5k/3k with 500 ante, so every orbit costs ~9k. Although we're close to day 2, ITM is still quite a way off. There are a few hundred players left from 1400 starting, but only 157 get paid. This means I'm not super bothered about making day 2 if I only have 50k, I much rather chase a double to return to a playable stack the next day.

I proceed to open jam A9 in the LJ for 50k or 17bbs which gets through. An orbit later I jam 55 in the same spot, again getting folds. I find a shove every orbit to keep afloat, but with 13 minutes to go until day 2 my shove I finally gets called:


Blinds 2k/4k, 9-handed

280 players left, 157 paid, so when I find K3 on the BTN it's an easy jam for 55k into a BB with a similar stack. BB tanks for a few minutes, but finally makes the call with A4.

Flop 429

Turn J

River 9


So after a 13 hour grind I bust within spitting distance of my first day 2. I'm not fazed since we weren't close to the money anyhow, and I'm happy with the way I played and handled my low energy levels in the second half of the day due to jetlag. During dinner break I caught up with fellow 2+2er Kyle Saunders, who does manage to make day 2 and an eventual cash. On to the next one!

Vegas day 3


Planet Hollywood $200 6-max $40k gtd

After the long grind the day before at the Venetian I conclude that I'm still too affected by jetlag to play the Monster Stack comfortably, so I decide to play a one-day 6-max instead. Because I didn't get to bed until 2am I don't feel like setting an alarm, and I wake up early anyway, right? Nope. I wake up after midday, so I have to hurry to PH to late-reg the game with at least some play left. 6-max is super fun in a live setting, since you don't have to be as patient as on a 9- or 10-max table. I try to LAG it up and I'm having fun, but I may be bordering on spew:


Blinds 250/500-75, 6-handed

I open 78 UTG to 100 and get 3 callers.

Flop 985, pot 5350. I check, BTN bets 2200, and I jam for 16k total. He tanks a bit but calls with A6.

The board runs out 2 9 and we find a magical hold.


I chip up some more in a massive cooler when SB 3bet-calls versus one of my many opens, but this time I have a hand: QQ > AK. The late registration period at PH is insanely long, you can still buy in at 1k/2k for a 15k starting stack. When late-reg finally ends, there are 50 players left from 317, and ITM is top 36. I have a comfortable chip stack, but lose a third of my stack when a super active player jams 15bb on the bubble over a MP open and my BTN call. I played AJ quite passively, so when MP folds I shouldn't find a fold here. I lose to 99.

The bubble bursts leaving me with 100k at 2k/4k-500. There is $12k up top and mincash is $280. I hit a rough patch playing hands that are clear opens, but not good enough to call shoves with. The blinds increase to 3k/6k and consolidate my stack with shoves, waiting for a double up:


Blinds 3k/6k-1k, 6-handed

Final 4 tables, I'm one of the shortest stacks in the room with 100k or 17bbs. I'm UTG and find JJ. Given stack size I could either open raise or just jam here. I opt for the latter and SB calls off after properly spewing most of his stack away in the hand prior. He has 70k left, or 12bbs. He is clearly over it, because somehow he found a call of an UTG shove holding A8.

Flop A53, pot 172k.

Turn 5

River K


This leaves me with 30k and I'm about to pay the BB and the BB ante. I stop and go with J8 vs an UTG open on JT3 but run into AA to bust in 24th for ~$450. I'm happy to have my first cash, but pretty disgusted to bust due to someone just spewing it off. Oh well, at least I made $ today.

It was great to meet you in Vegas.

It’s a shame we both ran pretty bad in key moments.

Good luck in the Sydney champs!