I’ve been part of the poker/casino industry for close to six years now, and during that time I’ve been lucky enough to travel to some amazing destinations.  I’ve covered events in Monte Carlo, Las Vegas and all corners of the Asia Pacific.  I’ve enjoyed the experiences, the people I’ve met and the fun times I’ve had.  It’s rare to be able to find a job that you genuinely have a passion for.

That’s why it’s very hard to step back from such a job.  But unfortunately it’s not the kind of gig one can do forever.  I’m at a different stage of my life to where I was five years ago, and I’m now looking to finally settle down.  We’re moving back to Melbourne, with a little chicklet due in October, so life priorities will change.  I won’t be travelling so much that’s for sure.  I will probably stay involved, but try to pick and choose which events I travel to.  I’ll also still be involved with Poker Asia Pacific to ensure that remains the #1 poker news and information website in the region.

Spending more time at home has allowed me to get back into the grind of online poker.  For a while I’d totally removed myself from my usual heads-up grinding as it was so hard to get any action at decent stakes.  I tried Zoom Poker for a while but that was pretty disastrous, so now I think I’ve found a routine that I’m comfortable with.  I’ll play MTTs on Mondays and Thursdays which is when the bigger tournaments run, and then if I feel like playing poker on the other days then I’ll grind heads-up cash.  Hopefully that will only be in the mornings, because when I get the itch to play cash at night it usually ends with me being unable to turn the laptop off when I’m stuck!

The MTT grinding has had some mixed results.  I’ve been playing across PokerStars, 888poker and Party Poker.  I had a deep run in the Sunday Million a little while ago for a top 50 place, and have picked up a couple of small FTs here and there.  I’m definitely due for a big online score, and it frustrates me that I’ve been unable to achieve that.  I’ve never really taken MTTs seriously, and I envy the guys that can handle the brutal variance that comes with them.  I think it’s much better for me to grind cash, and take shots at MTTs as mentally I handle that a lot better.  Hopefully the big online score is just around the corner.

Back home and finally I got a chance to grind some online poker. The cash games have really been hit or miss lately for me, so I’m definitely seeing better results in tourneys. I’m not normally a morning person but I decided to get up early to make a big Monday morning assault today at the big tournaments. While I didn’t play in the majors today, I found some good-sizes tournaments that suited me and found them ridiculously soft. I got into a nice groove and turned off all other distractions such as email or PNW and my results spoke for themselves.

I picked up an early win in an $11 turbo tournament on 888 Poker for around $550 and that set the tone. I cashed in 8 of 14 tournaments, for two final tables and the one win for a very profitable and consistent day. Interestingly included in those results are cashes in Pot Limit Holdem, HORSE and the 7-Game, which I’m pretty happy with considering some of the games such as Omaha H/L, I play very rarely. The other final table I made was in a Pot Limit Holdem 6-Max event where I entered the final table in 2nd place and was disappointed to finish 4th. I was a little passive in a couple of spots and a mis-timed bluff against a fish, saw me get short and I busted short of the 1.8k first place prize. I feel I have a big poker online Australia result in me, especially in these Monday events where the fields are juicy juicy. I’ve just got to continue to stay patient and wait for good spots to strike, and if I have a bit of luck at the right time thrown in, then I think I can land something big.

So I’ve finally got around to signing up to ChipMeUp. It will help me to play more volume and reduce the sick variance that tournament poker provides. I’ll cringe if I land a massive score this way, but buying/selling/staking/swaps/deals/etc are pretty much the norm for tournament junkies and while I don’t particularly like it, I appreciate it can be a necessity and will hopefully add some fun to the challenge.

Over the last few days I’ve added a couple of small scores, and a win and a 2nd place in two small limit Holdem events. I’m really happy with the way I’ve been able to chip up early in events, which has enabled me to have deep runs in many of my events. Just need a little bit of luck late then I’ll hopefully snag a significant cash.

I plan to play the big Monday morning events next week, so if you’re interested in buying a share of the fun then check out ChipMeUp.

Current Standings:
thkcduckworth: $2,970
TassieDevil: $2,204.71

One other little piece of motivation is that I’ve created an account on PocketFives. With nine fellow Taswegians registered I entered ranked 4th in Tassie (wow), with a goal of reaching the Australian Top 100. I think that’s achieveable, it’s just a matter of how sick of tournaments I get to see if I can reach that point.

So I’m now finally back home after trips to Adelaide and Melbourne working for PokerNetwork and the plan over the next few weeks is to grind pretty hard. However I won’t be playing my usual cash games. The plan is to hit the donkament circuit after Duckworth in all his youthful enthusiasm has challenged me to a prop bet – first to AU$10k in tournament earnings. This started when I was in Manila and picked up a small cash, but the stakes have been upped and the rules set in stone after Duck picking up a near $3k cash in Adelaide.

Ok so I’m on the back foot straight away, and I consider myself a cash game player and Tim is more of a tournament player, but I’m sorry Duck, but I think I’m a warm favourite here. At first we were talking live results, and I would consider myself an underdog if this were purely live since I have no major live results to speak of. I wanted some motivation to get a live score. However Duck was actually the one to throw in the ability to play online also, and with that stipulation I think his dreams of success were dashed. I don’t think I’m a better tournament player, but I think I can put in more online volume which I don’t think he can match.

His only hope is a) a big score or b) get onto ChipMeUp. However I can, and have also jumped onto ChipMeUp (backers enquire within) and might be able to fluke a big score somewhere also.

Since being back home over the last two days I’ve already closed the gap, and I think he’s nervous with probing quips of looking to buy out early. Especially when I show him run-goodness such as this…



So I plan to crush Duckworth and watch him cry and then smash the Joe Hachem Deep Stacked Series in March as we also have a smaller “live only play” bet as well. I want to play as many events as possible and may list on CMU to make sure I can play plenty of events and give myself the best chance of multiple cash results.

Current Scoreboard
thkcduckworth: $2,970
TassieDevil: $1,891.18

So I’ve been home for a few days after a hectic time covering the Victorian Poker Championships for Poker Network. Things were very busy with some long hours and stressful moments (thanks to all the guys for your hard work!), but as usual the experience of being part of a big event was rewarding. Australia’s #1 online player Jay “Seabeast” Kinkade took out the main event to prove that online players can adapt to live play (eh Tim!).

I was fortunate to get a chance to play in three events and hopefully I’ll write about those shortly. Since being home I’ve caught up with some work while trying to squeeze in as much online play as possible, which is usually about two hours a day! Man I miss playing, especially when running good. I’m on a twenty session winning streak which is sweet and have run at a ridiculous 25BB/100 over 2.5k hands over the past three days. Life is good while there are still fish doing this:

– dog71 sitting in seat 1 with $512.18 [Dealer]
– guytert sitting in seat 2 with $158.19
– iljaz sitting in seat 3 with $295.37
– fALLINgman sitting in seat 4 with $241.36
– TassieDevil sitting in seat 6 with $514.78

guytert posted the small blind – $1.00
iljaz posted the big blind – $2.00
** Dealing card to TassieDevil: Ad, Ah
fALLINgman folded
TassieDevil raised – $8.00
dog71 called – $8.00
guytert folded
iljaz raised – $38.00
TassieDevil called – $38.00
dog71 folded

** Dealing the flop: As, Jh, Kd
iljaz went all-in – $259.37
TassieDevil called – $259.37

** Dealing the turn: Qc

** Dealing the river: 9s
iljaz shows: 3d, 3h
TassieDevil shows: Ad, Ah
TassieDevil1 wins $601.74 from the main pot

I hope to inflict some more pain and get some more shopping money before I head to Hong Kong on Monday for the APT/APPT events in Macau. This should be a good trip in an awesome city with a strong team of guys so I’m looking forward to it!