NZME's Steven Holloway played in New Zealand's biggest poker tournament this weekend. Photo / Thinkstock.
Steven Holloway entered the Main Event of the Auckland Poker Championships at Sky City Casino in Auckland last weekend. 100 players paid $2200 for a seat at the tournament, generating a prize pool of $200,000 with $63k going to first place. This was his experience.
I couldn't quite taste the money yet, but I was allowing myself to dream.
With 13 people left in New Zealand's biggest buy-in poker tournament, I was coming fifth.
A spot at the final table of 10 would guarantee me $5,400, but my eyes were on the big prize, $63,000.
I was ready to win some 'life changing' money, on a Hamilton sized scale.
After 16 hours of poker across two days, we had reached the 'money bubble.' It's the stage of the poker tournament that separates the aggressive, pressure builders, who are trying to win, from the risk averse 'nits' who are just trying to cling on and make the payouts.
I was going for the win, but also desperately wanted a minimum of $5,400. I was about to enter my own personal hell.
Sarah Saifi is one of the Auckland poker scenes' rising stars. She's only been playing for three years, and only participated in two Sky City main events, but final-tabled them both. In February she came second in the Waitangi Deepstacks main event for $26,200 and last weekend she entered the final table of this tournament as chip leader; with all my chips.
She was moved to my table late on day two and was the chip leader, and table captain. She was aggressive, applied pressure in good spots and was definitely playing for the win.
Sarah had been opening a lot of pots, but on this occasion, from the Hijack position, she limped in.
I had 40 big blinds and looked down to see QJ of clubs. I was on the button, in position, and wanted to take control of the hand; so I raised to four blinds. Sarah called and when the flop came down QJ8 (on a rainbow board), she check/shoved all-in.
It was a huge over shove and caught me off-guard. Would she really bet that big with the nuts? Did she have a worse two pair? Was she playing a draw super aggressively? It was an unconventional play that put me in a tough spot. She asked me a question for all of my chips, and (after a few minutes of painful thinking) I answered wrong. I called, she showed 9T for a straight and my tournament was over when the board didn't improve.
(Scroll down for a full breakdown and analysis of the hand)
I felt sick. It took me a few minutes to comprehend what had just happened. The best time to get knocked out of a poker tournament, if you're not going to make the money, is early on day one. Time is money after all. The worst time is just before the money bubble breaks, after two full days of play.
I spent the next few hours deep in analysis mode. Had I just 'blown up?' Was it a cooler? Was it an easy fold? Is poker good for my health? I've made peace with the decision now, but feel good arguments could be made for a fold and a call. (We'll go deep below).
Sky City are making a real effort to make poker great again in Auckland.
They have big plans to expand and enlarge their June tournament series and attract the biggest and best names across Australasia.
This year they brought out Shurane Vijayaram, an amateur Aussie player who turned $140 into $1.6 million when he won the Aussie Millions main event in February. I interviewed Vijayaram for a Herald preview piece on Thursday, and then found myself seated next to him for the whole day on Day Two. That's a journalist situation that is fairly unique to poker.
Vijayaram was a clever player with a big stack, and he had position on me, but I enjoyed my time at the table with him. We covered it all; What did it feel like to wake up that next morning after becoming an overnight millionaire? (a dream). Any regrets about what he's done with the money? (didn't invest in Bitcoin) Many annoying strangers asking you for money? (yes) Can I have some money? (no) Is life good? (yes, life is very, very good).
Vijayram went on to finish fourth for $20,000 in just his second big buy-in tournament. The kid's got a bright future.
I was sitting second in chips at the start of day two, wedged between eventual winners Jamile Mulligan and Jamie Sadlier. I won my biggest pots by trapping with big hands on non-threatening flops, and getting opponents to take the bait and bluff into me. (hands detailed below)
I sat with Mulligan for a few hours at the end of day two and was impressed with his play. There's a certain focus and measured reasoning that separate the top players from the rest, and Mulligan and Vijayaram stood out above the field from those I played with.
Success in live tournament poker requires such a wide range of skills; patience, discipline, timed aggression, problem solving and a thorough understanding of when to bet and why. You also have to be mentally stable to succeed in the long run, because most of the time, you're going to lose.
I'm used to losing, but this one hurt a little more than usual. But I'm already looking forward to the NZ Poker Champs in Christchurch in August.
Glossary for the poker illiterate:
River: The fifth and final board card in Hold'em is called the river or 5th street.
Out of position: Being at a disadvantage due to having to act first post-flop.
Three-bet: Re-raising the original raiser (pre-flop)
Button: The button or dealer button is a chip that shows who the current dealer is. The position where the dealer sits is also called the button. We also say that the dealer is on the button.
Open: The first pre-flop bet
Pre-flop: Action that takes place before the first three community cards are dealt.
Busto: Getting knocked out of the tournament.
Bust-out hand: The hand I got knocked out of the tournament with.
Supernit: An extremely tight, risk averse player
Flat: Calling a bet
Key hands:
1) There are 13 people left in the main event and I'm sitting in fifth. Sarah (tournament chipleader) has been quite aggressive at our table, opening a lot, but this time limps in at 2000/4000 in the Hijack. I bump it up to 16000 on the button with QJcc (playing off 40bbs). She calls. Flop comes down QJ8 rainbow. I bet 15k, she moves all in, I call. She has 9T.
Thoughts:
My first thought was 'oh shit'. I thought there was a good chance I was about to be tournament leader or going home. Because she limp/called after being so active, I took QQ, JJ and 88 out of her range. With the rainbow board, her range only really included value hands (QJ, Q8, J8, 9T) and possibly an aggressively played KT. I'm doing well against that range. I thought it was slightly less likely she would shove the nuts here on the rainbow board, because she loses value against so many hands. Eg AA or KK is an easy fold in this spot.
The 'bubble' factor certainly came into play too. I hadn't played with Sarah enough to know if she was capable of semi bluffing in this spot, so close to the money. But the huge shove certainly did confuse me. I think some good players would find a fold here. I would still have 30bbs and be in a great spot to build toward the final table. And 9T is smack bang in the middle of her range.
2) With blinds at 500/1000, UTG shoves for 10000. I flat with TT in HJ playing off 110,000. Shurane Vijayaram shoved for 60k from CO. I fold. Vijayaram shows AK.
Thoughts:
I prefer my flat call rather than a raise because I'm only getting shoved on by hands that have me beat and AK. When Vijayaram shoves his range is AK,JJ,QQ,KK,AA and we're not doing well against that range so it was an easy fold.
3) With blinds at 500/1000 I open TQhh to 2500 from UTG +2, playing off 100,000. Four callers. Flop comes Tc7c6h. I bet 6000, HJ calls (off 80k) and the SB (an older bloke who has been pretty tight) shoves all in for 44k total. I fold.
Thoughts:
SB has a lot of flush draws in his range, but also 89, 67, TT, 77, 66, 7T which we're getting crushed by. I felt that best case scenario we were flipping, so let it go. I also think it was a mistake to bet into four callers on such a wet board.
4) I wasn't in this hand but it was pretty funny. Jack Efaraimo opened to 2500 at 600/1200, then exposed his hand (AK) when he thought everyone had folded. But the big blind hadn't acted yet, and decided to call. The flop came down K79, Jack bet and the big blind called. The table fizzed with the excitement and anticipation of some high level mind games. The turn 7 went check/check and again when the Ace hit the river. The big blind later proclaimed, "a better player than me would have bluffed him off that, but I didn't have the balls."
5) At 2000/4000 I open AK from HJ to 8200. Big blind calls. I check back the KcJc6d flop. Turn is the 7h. BB checks, I bet 8000 and he makes it 23,000. I call. 9d falls on river. He bets 15k, I call. He shows A6.
Thoughts: I got a bit tricky here by checking back AK on a dangerous board, but felt the tricky villain in the big blind would try to act on my perceived weakness. The plan worked on the turn and the river was an easy call.
Final table payouts:
1 Jamie Sadlier $44,200.00* & trophy
2 Jeffrey Bucher $42,000.00*
3 Jamie Mulligan $42,000.00*
4 Shurane Vijayaram $20,000.00
5 Robbie Robin $15,400.00
6 Wending Dai $10,000.00
7 Sarah Saifi $8,000.00
8 Rajko Gojkovic $7,000.00
9 Zhen Giang Lin $6,000.00
10 Tom Brittenden $5,400.00
* denotes deal made
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