Aussie Millions freeroll Poker tournament at Crown Casino

[Christiaan]

Heya guys

I just thought i'd share my poker experience at crown today/tonight.

I rocked up at 8am this morning, to grab a seat in a free tournament crown were running, offering the top 3 players a seat each (worth $10,000) in the Aussie millions tournament in January, with a prize pool of over AU$1million.

So naturally, I rocked up early in the morning to try and make the 10am tournament. Turns out every man and his dog wanted a shot in the morning, so I missed out playing the morning tournament.

This meant I had to hang around until 7:15pm for the night tournament. So I went home, practiced my skills a bit, and scurried back for the night time one.

For the poker literate out there, It was a $0 buy in, with optional $25 rebuys up until the break.

I get my seating ticket, and notice I've been seated on table 31, which is the main event table. So I walk over there, sit down, and get aquainted with the dealer. A few other players rock up, and we're all talking.

Suddenly, a voice from behind says "Is this table 31?"

I look around, and walking towards my table, right for the seat next to me, is no other than Mr Joseph Hachem, 2005 WSOP Tournament winner (over $7.5million US dollars), coming to sit next to me!

I freaked out, completely started shaking, looked around, and there were about 50 people all standing on the barracade watching our table because Joe was on it!

Anyway, cut a long story short, Joe and I got to talking, and my dad actually grew up with him in Carlton, back in the 70's, and they knew eachother well. We sunk a few Johnnie blacks on ice, and played poker for about 5 hours. He was a really nice guy, and rebought for me a couple of times, and kept doubling up all the people on our table. He wasn't there to win, he was there as a promotional thing for crown, to get people into the venue to see him.

So anyway, he had to leave, and it was down to the final 190 players out of a starting field of close to 800 people at 7pm!

I was very pleased, as I managed to get all the way to the top 32 players, before being knocked out by pocket Kings, when I had Ace King. I just didn't hit an Ace. I managed to beat 768 other hopefuls in the tournament, to miss out on cash + prizes by 12 spots.

I was very happy with the result, and will probably be telling people the hachem story for life!

[billyb35]

Well done mate. It's amazing the amount of money out there in poker at the moment.

I'd love to get into poker, at least as a part time hobby. Did you start out at like pokerroom or something like that? Any good tips or helpful sites etc

I've got a play money account there but a mate of mine said real money tables start at like 20c a hand or something small so you can cut your teeth without losing the house.

[GXL078]

And then you woke up.

[2002auxr6]

Originally Posted by xcgxl

And then you woke up.

leave him alone dude

[4.9 EF Futura]

Haha, good on you for having a go mate! A lot of people i know are really getting caught in the poker wave at the moment.

Man, knocked out on a king ace! Cards just didnt fall your way huh?

[Christiaan]

Haha, good on you for having a go mate! A lot of people i know are really getting caught in the poker wave at the moment.

Man, knocked out on a king ace! Cards just didnt fall your way huh?

Yeah, the last few hands I played i was a 3% chance of losing, and that 3% just happened to come up. When you play so well during the night, it's a real bummer to get knocked out on hands you should win. But in the end, it's all luck. As long as you know which hands you can go in on, it's upto the Poker gods after that.

What xcgxl's problem? Joe's a frequent at Crown, as Crown sponsor him in major tournaments, and for freerolls like this, they put him on tables to get people down to the poker room to play. If you don't believe me mate, how about you come to crown, or check the crown poker website and see exactly what happens. I was one of the lucky ones to get to sit next to him and play with him for 5 hours. I have some stories about him that my dad told me, but I should probably keep them to myself ;)

Well done mate. It's amazing the amount of money out there in poker at the moment.

I'd love to get into poker, at least as a part time hobby. Did you start out at like pokerroom or something like that? Any good tips or helpful sites etc

I've got a play money account there but a mate of mine said real money tables start at like 20c a hand or something small so you can cut your teeth without losing the house.

I started out watching poker on television. The wpt, etc, and I got into the online poker rooms. It's alot different online than it is in real life, but you get a little bit of a gist for how the betting works, etc. There is no substitute for real playing though.

I'd suggest http://www.australianpokerleague.com.au . They have free events where you go to a pub, and play free poker,. The venue pays for it, in return for hoping you drink/eat alot during the night. I've just started working with them as a tournament crew for events in Victoria. It's a great way to learn!

[The Monty]

Im a poker player as well. That would have been awesome. I have a problem with whenever I get picture cards, no pic cards come out on the flop, turn, or river. EVER. Its really annoying, so I feel your pain with bowing out with an Ace King.

[Christiaan]

Originally Posted by The Monty

Im a poker player as well. That would have been awesome. I have a problem with whenever I get picture cards, no pic cards come out on the flop, turn, or river. EVER. Its really annoying, so I feel your pain with bowing out with an Ace King.

Haha, thanks mate.

I was easily above chip stack size about an hour before i went out. The last 3 hands I played were;

1st Hand: I had AQ spades, a guy raises to 2K, i send him all in, he turns over AQ diamonds. Flop comes only one diamond, we don't hit anything. So it's most likely a split pot. But no, he hits a diamond on the turn and a diamond on the river, to catch a flush. He was literally a 0.5% chance of hitting those cards. Bad Luck for me.

2nd Hand: I got KQ off suit, guy calls my raise. Flop comes 2 J 10 rainbow, so I've got an open ended straight draw. He bets, I call. Turn comes a 4, doesn't help me, he bets, I call. River comes a 9, so I got my straight, 9 10 J Q K. I go all in, he calls. I turn over a straight. He turns over KQ as well! We had the same bloody hand, only 8 people at the table! So again, 0.5% chance of that happening, and we ended up splitting the pot, so i got my money back.

3rd Hand: I got AK suited, raised all in. Two people call me. One turns over pocket kings, and another guy A4. So i've got them both dominated. But flop comes, no Ace, turn no help, and river no help, so the pocket kings wins it.

So like I said, I was having a dream run up until those 3 hands. If I would have won them (like I should have) I'd have gotten into the top 15 for sure. I could have been playing for a $10,000 seat in the million dollar crown poker tournament in January.

Still bums me out when I think about it.

[MO]

Good onya for having a go..and don't be upset next could be better.

And you played with a winner.

[Laminge]

Sounds like you had a ball, thats the main thing

[Psycho Chicken]

I won 10c playing poker today. Woo!

[Van D]

Me and my mates are playing it lately. $5-10 buy in etc. I'm still pretty clueless on it, but love playing it and having a drink at the table.

I wanna get good at it though... time will tell I suppose, lol.

Any good DVD's I should watch? My mate had one and he's gone into crown a fair few times and come out with over 200 bucks on more than one occasion.. Not bad for a guy who just turned 18 and hasn't being playing long.. He's also got a bloody job that pays $40 an hour on weekends! Talk about a lucky bugger.

[krt10]

my gambling experiences include me doubling my money on the pokies. came in with $2 left with $4

[XR6TickfordBoy]

Thats the thing with poker ur best bet is play the odds, but at the end of the day its what u might call "luck" that can ruin things! So although there is a significant degree of skill involved it's "luck" that decides the winners and loser's in the end! Sounds like u had a good time, at the end of the day that's the main thing! Experience to remember!

[Christiaan]

Originally Posted by XR6TickfordBoy

Thats the thing with poker ur best bet is play the odds, but at the end of the day its what u might call "luck" that can ruin things! So although there is a significant degree of skill involved it's "luck" that decides the winners and loser's in the end! Sounds like u had a good time, at the end of the day that's the main thing! Experience to remember!

It was probably the only time i'll get to play with Joe hachem for 5 hours. So yes, it was an experience.

You are right, you need to play the odds. Most poker players have no idea about the odds at all. That's why they can be beaten.

Tournament games are different to cash games though. I can't play cash games, but tournament games are my speciality.

But remember, just like anything with odds, it's gambling. Think of pocket aces as the favourite in a horse race. It doesn't always win.

[4.9 EF Futura]

Originally Posted by XR6TickfordBoy

Thats the thing with poker ur best bet is play the odds, but at the end of the day its what u might call "luck" that can ruin things! So although there is a significant degree of skill involved it's "luck" that decides the winners and loser's in the end! Sounds like u had a good time, at the end of the day that's the main thing! Experience to remember!

Luck = probability.

Hey shuresm58 - do you calculate those probability ratings in your head? I can see how the probabilities are calculated... but do you have a chart or a table or something that you learnt from?

[Psycho Chicken]

While there's heaps of luck involved, as well as knowing the odds, there's the little things called bluffing and winding up the bet.

I just wish Crown would move the poker and bring back two up!

[AU2PWR]

Dude , I was going to go to that , but work said NO !

I played Casino WAR for the First time the other week , lol best 100 i have spent , it was a $15 table on the Second Level near the Cinemas , played with 100 , got it up to about 350 then back to 200 , then i went to Galactic Circus and Wasted 50 on Sega Rally and Daytona :(

Cheers
Daniel

[Christiaan]

Originally Posted by 4.9 EF Futura

Luck = probability.

Hey shuresm58 - do you calculate those probability ratings in your head? I can see how the probabilities are calculated... but do you have a chart or a table or something that you learnt from?

Well, I watch alot of poker, and play alot of free tournaments, so I pretty much know the ratings in my head now. A small pocket pair, versus AK for example, is a 60/40 split, with the small pocket being 40. There's 6 cards in the deck (without knowing what other people had who folded) that will come out to beat the pocket 5's, (Ace and King) but if the board pairs for example, the pocket 5's climb up to 80/20.

Try http://www.worldpokertour.com/academ...calc/?x=holdem for odd calculating.

[Christiaan]

Originally Posted by SR_AU

Dude , I was going to go to that , but work said NO !

I played Casino WAR for the First time the other week , lol best 100 i have spent , it was a $15 table on the Second Level near the Cinemas , played with 100 , got it up to about 350 then back to 200 , then i went to Galactic Circus and Wasted 50 on Sega Rally and Daytona :(

Cheers
Daniel

Casino war is so easy, a dog could play it! lol

All you gotta do is have a higher card than the casino :P

You should have come to the freeroll, it was so good!

[Kenaz]

Why didn't I know about this :

Anyway, well done mate. Sounds like a great experience. I still want to sit down at a table with you one day ;)