Despite my delving back into the cash games, I’ve continued to donk around in a couple of tournaments.  I’ve recently played a couple of satellites to both Melb Champs and the ANZPT Melbourne.  I went deep in a couple and then finally the other night I broke through with a win in an ANZPT sat on PokerStars.

After dropping $215 in a satellite on two days earlier, I qualified for this satellite in one of the $8.80 sub-satellites. I don’t remember too much about this sub-sat as it was a turbo, other than I didn’t rebuy at the start, I doubled twice and tripled once before adding on to be top 3 at the break. It was smooth sailing from there as I grabbed a seat for just a $16.80 investment.

The satellite only got 32 starters which was surprisingly low as only 3 ANZPT Melbourne seats would be up for grabs. I managed to build up from $3k stack to $4k pretty quickly, and with a good structure I pretty much sat tight on those chips without too much happening. As we got down to the last two tables, I then went on a mad tear. I picked up pocket aces three times (twice in consecutive hands) and ace-king within one orbit. Not surprisingly I got paid off to storm from a shortish stack to be amongst the leaders. Then as we approached the final table, the following hand came up. It’s pretty sick, yes I was running good, but I’m amazed he didn’t stack off here. Did I misplay it to not get his whole stack?

PokerStars Game #27400553977: Tournament #153770645, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit – Level VIII (150/300) – 2009/04/23 8:43:43 ET
Table ‘153770645 5’ 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: dufchips (13398 in chips)
Seat 2: grunter321 (11354 in chips)
Seat 3: kyomi (10876 in chips)
Seat 6: A6540 (4236 in chips)
Seat 7: TheBigHef (14756 in chips)
dufchips: posts the ante 25
grunter321: posts the ante 25
kyomi: posts the ante 25
A6540: posts the ante 25
TheBigHef: posts the ante 25
TheBigHef: posts small blind 150
dufchips: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TheBigHef [5h 5d]
grunter321: folds
kyomi: folds
A6540: folds
TheBigHef: raises 600 to 900
dufchips: calls 600
*** FLOP *** [2d Qd 8c]
TheBigHef: bets 979
dufchips: calls 979
*** TURN *** [2d Qd 8c] [5s]
TheBigHef: bets 2300
dufchips: calls 2300
*** RIVER *** [2d Qd 8c 5s] [3h]
TheBigHef: bets 4500
dufchips: calls 4500
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TheBigHef: shows [5h 5d] (three of a kind, Fives)
dufchips: mucks hand
TheBigHef collected 17483 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 17483 | Rake 0
Board [2d Qd 8c 5s 3h]
Seat 1: dufchips (big blind) mucked [2c 2h]
Seat 2: grunter321 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: kyomi folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: A6540 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: TheBigHef (small blind) showed [5h 5d] and won (17483) with three of a kind, Fives

We got to the final table and I was chip leader as Grant “grunter321” Levy warned me he was about to play like a maniac to drop a few of these guys. I LOL’d and stood back with my healthy stack to watch the carnage until I picked up AA UTG and raised. The second biggest stack to my immediate left, and interestingly also from Hobart, three-bet and it folded back to me. I wasn’t going to mess around so I put in a four-bet and did a little jig. He shoved and I called. He showed AK, and I tingled. Dear god, no funny business! The board bricked and I had 40k, and 4x the second biggest stack with 8 players left! Talk about DING!

I sat back with my huge stack and let Grunter do most of the work to eliminate the others. I could’ve raced with him once with AK, against what he later said was pocket jacks, but decided against it. We got down to four-handed with three seats on the line and I still had close to 40k. The short stack had about 10k and open shoved from the button with the blinds at 400-800. I had AJ in the small blind, and although the villian was tight I think I had to make the call as the big stack against the short stack to take a shot at the win. He showed AQ and doubled through. Shit, now things got very interesting.

Suddenly thoughts of yet another bubble flashed through my mind as I’d just blown my chip lead. Tears welled in my eyes. It couldn’t happen, could it? Things continued to go pear-shaped. I raised with TT and had to ditch it as Grunter re-raised, what he later said was another set (blessed). I then opened with AQ and the same short-stack shoved on me again. Four-handed it felt like a call, and I so wanted to bust this guy and end it, but somewhere deep I found a crying fold.

I was now hurting as the seat was slipping away, as I was now one of the shorter stacks. Out of nowhere the same guy then open-shoved for 16k from the small blind into my big blind of 800, and I insta-called with pocket queens. He flipped KJ and I couldn’t watch. The board bricked and it was victory for the good guys. Grunter grabbed a seat also which should help keep him off the streets. It was great to have some of his run good brush off on me, and man it felt good to run like Grunter for a day! Hopefully this time I can convert it into a big score.

Manila is one crazy place. F-Train described it as the Mexico of Asia. Our first experience of Manila was leaving the airport and before the taxi had even reached the main road we had kids coming out the darkness and pelting rain to bang on our windows and beg for money. It was like something out of a horror movie with zombies on the loose in the streets!

“Lock the doors!” snapped the taxi driver. We quickly and quietly obliged.

Many locals warned us of the trouble that can find you in Manila. Every taxi driver warned us to lock the doors and told us stories of how the boots of taxis are pried open and bags stolen while the taxi sits still amongst the jam of traffic. It didn’t stop at the taxis. When we arrived at the hotel our taxi was met with a guy with a mirror who checked under the taxi for bombs before allowing it onto the premises. Glad they waited until the end of our taxi ride for that check! We then had to go through a metal detector (also found at all shopping malls) and bag check and finally we were inside our hotel!

Our first evening we found a lively little strip and ventured into a few bars. One was a karaoke bar with a couple of ladyboys as hosts. They were a little disturbing but welcoming with their witty one liners. “Welcome to Manila, home of kidnap and ransom!” they said as we found our seats. “Have you been kidnapped yet?”. Oh god.

Another night saw us venture to a bar called The Hobbit House where all of the staff were midgets! They had some live music and sold weird Obama paraphernalia which kept our American friends entertained.

The night before the final table saw us find another funky bar. We knew it was going to be fun night when we saw the sign on the door as we walked in…

With some live music, friendly locals and buckets of six beers for less than six bucks we were set for the evening. As we stumbled out at about 5:30am the whole night had cost us less than $40 for the entire group. As we headed back to the hotel, we were harassed by heaps of kids/locals begging us for money. Someone had the idea to buy some supplies from 7/11 and hand them out. So we stocked up on bananas, fruit juices and even donuts and walked the streets as the sun rose, handing out food and a little joy to the homeless and kids sleeping in the streets of Manila.

The APPT Manila event itself was well run and we grabbed a few hours sleep before the final table. Unfortunately the final table was sheer torture! 16 hours of limp-check-check-check-showdown poker. The three Koreans were nice and loose but didn’t seem to have the aggression to back it up. The talking point was the incredible luck of Van Marcus. A one-outer and two-outer on Day 2 saw him enter the final well placed and he carried that luck til the very end. He got his money in bad about six times and won every time. They weren’t even traditional races. He was either crushed, dominated or drawing and somehow managed to survive every time. As much as he was very lucky, he was extremely patient and determined to succeed – traits which are very admirable. He finally captured the trophy at around 4:30am and it was great to see him win and continue the incredible run of Australians on the international stage!

So our Manila venture came to an end, safe and sound. I’m not sure if I’ll rush back here again, but I will some fond memories of our time there.