Holidays ... busy, busy

Well with the school term almost at an end (YAY for holidays), I thought it might be time for a long-overdue blog update ... particularly with so much planned for the 'break'.

One aspect I am really finding difficult with teaching is finding the time (or should that be time AND motivation) to mark much of the work that students have done in my classes ... mostly becuase being an English/Humanities teacher means that a majority of the work is assignment-based ... which means LOTS of reading ... and often reading responses about the same topic, or that are very similar ... great if you need to sleep, but not so good if you need to do it as part of your job. Maybe I should teach maths ... there's essentially only 4 things to know (addition, subtraction, multiplication & division) & marking is mostly just a simple tick or cross ... so much quicker!

As for the holiday plans, there's poker, travel, chess, more travel & more poker ... oh, and possibly some marking too!

The first stop in the holidays is Sydney ... which means catching up with friends & poker. A mate of mine is having quite a bit of success with Omaha 'chip-chop' tournaments of late ... and he's no Omaha player, which could make them good games to play in! Add to that the horrible standard of play at Star City & it should be a good way to make some money in the break.

The next stop on the trip is Brisbane ... albeit most likely a brief stop. Having said that, it could be good to drop in to Treasury Casino for a few hours. If the standard of play is anything like the Gold Coast, then it makes Sydney players look like experts!! The Brisbane stop is mostly as a transit point for the next part of the travels during the break ...

Third stop ... Honiara, Solomon Islands! I'm playing in a chess tournament (yes, I still do that occasionally) & you can follow my progress on the Solomon Islands Invitational website. This is a tournament that my friend Gary Bekker organised & it seemed like a good opportunity to travel overseas, see a bit more of the world & play some chess. Not sure what services like internet access will be like over there, but I imagine at the very least there will be some photos & stories from the trip ...

Fourth stop ... Brisbane ... again. Yes, this time it really is just a transit stop, with my time in town (or at least the airport) being only a few hours.

Fifth stop ... Melbourne! That means PokerNews Cup! The chess tournament means that I'll miss out on a few events that I would otherwise have played (mostly the opening NLH event & the PLO event). However the one I am most disappointed about having to miss is the Live v Online Invitational! I was invited to be a part of the Live team as I was ranked in the top 30 in Pokernetwork's Leaderboard to play against Online players from Pocket 5s Rankings. The plan is to have teams of 16 playing against each other over 2 days. The first day is a 32-player heads-up tournament & the second day is a shootout tournament (4 tables of 8 with top 2 from each progressing to final table). Sounds like it could be fun ... and VERY tough!

As for the PokerNews Cup itself, the only event that I will definitely be playing in is the $550 6-max NLH event. Crown have FINALLY scheduled a major tournament to co-incide with the school holidays ... and of course its the one time I have to miss half of it (PLUS THEY HAVE NO HORSE TOURNEY!!). Other events that I might play in depending on time & money include the Tony G bounty event, the Main event, the Terminator event & possibly the teams event.

Wish me luck!!

Victorian Champs ... a summary

So-so this time around in the Victorian Champs.
Obviously one of my main disappointments with the series was that there was no HORSE event ... and the Pokernews Cup (which is the next big series at Crown) also doesn't have a HORSE event! Looks like the next local event is the Aussie Millions HORSE, which is quite a way off.
I find HORSE events to be great value, not so much because I am great at the 5 games (though I do feel I am improving the more I play them), but rather that most of the players in these events have little idea about most of the games (ESPECIALLY the three Stud games), and even when they do, they do not make the necessary adjustments for the game being limit (rather than no limit or pot limit) and being in a tournament situation.

As for the events themselves, I played in 4 & cashed in 1 (which broke my streak of 2 cashes in each major tourney series for the year).
I managed to final table the $230 PLO, finishing a disappointing 7th, when my aces were cracked. The finish was even more disappointing considering that the two people who I considered to be the two best players at the table managed to finish 8th & 9th.
I also played the $230 NLH, the $120 Double Flop holdem (on the morning of the PLO final table - they stopped it at about 4:30am & decided that the final table would be played the following afternoon) and the $550 repecharge event.

Overall I felt I played OK for the most part, although I should have been more aggressive in the $550 event - I managed to make it to the final level of the first day with a short stack & gambled with a weak ace at the wrong time ... and was doing OK the second time around in the repecharge when I made a correct read, but pushed my stack in on the river, where my opponent hit his straight & snap-called, rather than on the turn, when he might have let his draw go. Oh well ... live & learn I guess!

$2 with Full Tilt Pro Andy Bloch!

Yes, the title is right ... I am currently playing a $2 PLO8 tourney with Andy Bloch seated to my direct left!

*Edit* He's been moved to another table, but still both in with about half the field already gone.

The Zonal Summary ... Part 3

Round 8

Black v CM Manoj Kumar (2017)

This was another game where I played a horrible opening (perhaps I need something better against 1.e4?) and found myself in a bad position after only a dozen moves. At the time I was thinking a lot about the idea of undevelopment, where you move a piece back to its original square, so that it can then be repositioned on a better square (I read about it somewhere, but I'm not sure where) ... and by move 12 I had already made two such 'undeveloping' moves. I managed to somehow survive the initial onslaught and found myself in a tricky middlegame. I managed to steal a pawn and swap off into an ending as Manoj was heading into time trouble. Unfortunately for him, he blundered a piece, which gave me a not-so-well-deserved win.

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Be3 d5 5.f3 h5 6.Qd2 Nh6 7.h3 e6 8.0-0-0 Nd7 9.Be2 b6 10.g4 Ng8 11.gxh5 Rxh5 12.f4 Rh8 13.f5 gxf5 14.exf5 (D1)

14...Ndf6 15.Nf3 exf5 16.Ne5 Qc7 17.Rdg1 Bh6 18.Bxh6 Nxh6 19.Nxc6 Ne4 20.Qe3 Be6 21.Ne5 a6 22.Bf3 0-0-0 23.Be2 Kb7 24.Nd1 Rc8 25.Bd3 Ng8 26.Qe2 Ra8 27.Ne3 Ne7 28.Nd1 Nc6 29.Nxc6 Qxc6 30.h4 Qa4 31.Kb1 Qxd4 32.h5 Rh6 33.c3 Qh8 34.Ne3 Nc5 35.Bxf5 Qe5 36.Bc2 Re8 37.Qd2 Rxh5 38.Rxh5 Qxh5 39.Bd1 Qe5 40.Bf3 Ne4 41.Qd3 f5 42.Nc2 Re7 (D2)

43.Nb4 b5 44.Re1 Qg3 45.Rd1 Qe5 46.Re1 Rc7 47.a4 Rc4 48.Rc1 a5 49.Nc2 Nc5 50.Qe2 Qxe2 51.Bxe2 Rxa4 52.Bxb5 Re4 53.Nd4 Kb6 54.b4 (D3)

54...axb4 55.cxb4 Rxd4 0-1

Round 9

White v FM Greg Canfell (2327)

This was an interesting, although rather flawed, last round game. Obviously I would have preferred an easier pairing for the last round, however I have had a few decent results against Greg in the past, so a win was not entirely out of the question. I got what I thought was a reasonable opening position, until it occurred to me that my bishops really didn't do much at all in the position. Greg sacrificed an exchange to increase the power of his bishop pair and give himself some dangerous central pawns. I thought I might have been winning at one point in the rook & bishop v bishop pair ending, though Fritz disagrees. I almost missed the mating net Greg was trying to set up near the end, but found that I could give the exchange back for a drawn ending. However, the silicon monster also thinks that the final position is better for black, rather than simply the clear draw it actually is.

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 d6 6.0-0 Nf6 7.d3 0-0 8.a4 Nd4 9.Nxd4 cxd4 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.Bxd5 e6 12.Bb3 Bd7 13.Bd2 Kh8 14.Qe2 f5 15.Bb4 Qb6 16.Ba3 Rfe8 17.a5 Qc7 18.Rae1 Rad8 (D1)

19.e5 dxe5 20.fxe5 Qxa5 21.Bd6 Bc6 22.Ra1 Qb6 23.Qd2 a6 24.Qg5 Rd7 25.h4 Qd8 26.Qf4 Rxd6 27.exd6 e5 28.Qh2 Qxd6 29.h5 Rf8 30.hxg6 Qxg6 31.c3 dxc3 32.bxc3 f4 33.Bc2 f3 34.Rae1 Rf4 35.Rf2 Qg5 36.Qh3 Qg4 37.Qxg4 Rxg4 38.Bd1 Rxg2+ 39.Rxg2 fxg2 40.Bg4 Bf8 41.d4 exd4 42.cxd4 Kg7 43.Be6 Bb4 44.Re2 Bf3 45.Re3 Kf6 46.Bg8 Bc6 47.Bxh7 a5 48.Bb1 a4 49.Ba2 Kf5 50.Re2 Bf3 51.Rf2 Ke4 (D2)

52.Rxf3 Kxf3 53.Bd5+ Kf4 54.Kxg2 b5 55.Kf2 Bc3 56.Ke2 Bxd4 57.Kd3 Ke5 58.Bf7 b4 59.Be8 a3 60.Bf7 1/2-1/2

Overall, a reasonable performance, winning against two untitled players under 2000, losing to two IMs, drawing with two FMs (one from a better position), beating two CMs ... and the topsy-turvy draw with Tristan Stevens!

The Zonal Summary ... Part 2

Round 4

White v FM Endre Ambrus (2375)

I was surprised to be able to win a pawn so early against a 2300-rated opponent and have a much better to winning position. I managed to keep the pressure on, and although the silicon-chip friend didn't like my plan to win an exchange, I thought it improved my position further. I came up with what I think was a good plan, trying to get the king to f2 once black had played Bh3 & g4 (blocking the retreat for the bishop), however I didn't execute it in the best manner and found myself in a position I didn't want to be in, and eventually bailed out with a repetition of position for a draw.

1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nc6 3.Be3 Nf6 4.f3 g6 5.Qd2 Bg7 6.Nc3 a6 7.Nge2 e5 8.0-0-0 exd4 9.Nxd4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.g4 c5 12.Be3 Qa5 13.Qxd6 Nd7 14.Bg5 Bf8 15.Qd2 h6 (D1)

16.Bh4 g5 17.Bg3 0-0-0 18.Nd5 Qxd2+ 19.Rxd2 h5 20.gxh5 Rxh5 21.Be2 Rh6 22.Rhd1 Bh3 23.Ne3 Re8 24.Bc4 Rf6 25.Nd5 Rxf3 26.Be2 Rxg3 27.hxg3 Rxe4 28.Bf3 Re8 29.Nc3 Bg7 30.Ne4 Rg8 31.Nd6+ Kc7 32.Bd5 Bd4 33.Nc4 Rf8 34.c3 Bg7 35.Ne3 Nb6 36.Rh2 g4 37.Nf5 Be5 38.Re2 f6 (D2)

39.Kc2 Nc8 40.Rg1 Nd6 41.Ng7 Rh8 42.a3 b5 43.Kd2 Kb6 44.Ke3 Rd8 45.Ne6 Nf5+ 46.Ke4 Nd6+ 47.Kd3 Rd7 48.Nf8 Rd8 49.Ne6 Rd7 50.Nf8 Rd8 51.Ne6 (D3) 1/2-1/2


Round 5

Black v CM Calvin Prasad (1912)

I was very happy with this game, as it gave me a lot of confidence that I was playing well. I achieved a good position from the opening and won a pawn in the middlegame. I converted this to being an exchange up in the ending and was very happy with my technique to push this small advantage to a win.

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.c3 d5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Bd3 Bg4 6.Nbd2 e6 7.0-0 Bd6 8.h3 Bf5 9.Qc2 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 0-0 11.a3 e5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.Nf3 Bc7 15.c4 Qe7 16.cxd5 (D1)

16...Rad8 17.e4 Qxe4 18.Qxe4 Nxe4 19.Re1 Rfe8 20.Be3 Rxd5 21.b4 cxb4 22.Bxa7 bxa3 23.Rxa3 Ra5 24.Rxa5 Bxa5 25.Re2 Nd6 26.Rb2 b6 27.Nd2 Ra8 28.Bxb6 Rb8 29.Bxa5 Rxb2 30.Bc3 Rc2 31.Bb4 Nb5 32.Nf3 f6 33.g4 Rc4 34.Bd2 h6 35.Kg2 Kf7 36.Kg3 Nc3 37.Kg2 Nd5 38.Kg3 Nc3 39.Kg2 Ke6 40.Bxc3 Rxc3 41.Nd4+ Kf7 42.Nf5 Kg6 43.f3 Rc5 44.Nh4+ Kf7 45.Kg3 g6 46.Ng2 Rc3 47.Nf4 Rc2 48.Ng2 Rd2 49.Nf4 Rd8 50.Ng2 Rg8 51.Ne3 Ke6 52.Kf4 Rc8 53.Ng2 Rc4+ 54.Kg3 Ke5 55.Nh4 g5 56.Ng2 Kd4 57.Kf2 Rc2+ 58.Kg3 Ra2 59.f4 Ra3+ 60.Kh2 Ke4 61.fxg5 hxg5 62.h4 (D2)

62...Kf3 63.Kh3 Kf2+ 64.Kh2 Rg3 0-1

Round 6

Black v IM Mirko Rujevic (2282)

I was very disappointed with this game as I played horribly in the opening and was never really in the game. Although I tried to keep the game alive in the most creative manner I could, it was ultimately in vain, and I lost fairly easily.

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.f4 d5 4.e5 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.dxc5 a5 8.Be3 e6 9.Nbd2 Nge7 10.h3 Nf5 11.Bf2 Bxf3 12.Nxf3 h5 13.Bd3 Bh6 14.g4 hxg4 15.hxg4 Nfe7 16.Qa4 Rc8 17.0-0-0 (D)

17...Kd7 18.Kb1 Kc7 19.g5 Bg7 20.Nd4 Kb8 21.Nb5 Nxe5 22.fxe5 Bxe5 23.Rxh8 Qxh8 24.Qxa5 Nc6 25.Qa4 Qh2 26.Bd4 Bf4 27.Rf1 Qg3 28.Bc2 e5 29.Bg1 Qxg5 30.Nd6 Rc7 31.b4 e4 32.b5 Qg2 33.Rd1 Nd8 34.b6 Bxd6 35.cxd6 Rxc3 36.Bd4 Rc4 37.Qa7+ Kc8 38.Bb3 Qe2 39.Bf6 Nc6 40.Qa8+ Kd7 41.Qxb7+ Kxd6 42.Qxf7 Nb4 43.b7 1-0


Round 7

White v Tristan Stevens (2006)

This was a very up-and-down game, with my attempts to avoid playing a BDG (and hence avoid Tristan's preparation - of which he said he spent a few hours doing) leading to a position very similar to a side-line of the Caro-Kann. The differences, however did not favour me, and I should have lost a clear exchange in the opening, were it not for Tristan's blunder (he said he picked up the wrong knight!). This lead to what should have been a winning position for me, however I missed a check Tristan had and lost a piece for a mere pawn! This put the game back to fairly even, and I managed to find a promising line, that seemed to almost be mate, with only an ingenious defence stopping me from taking the full point. Ultimately the game ended in a Queen ending, where I was able to keep checking Tristan, and draw the game as a result.

1.e4 d5 2.e5 Bf5 3.c3 c5 4.g4 Bg6 5.Ne2 Nc6 6.d4 e6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nb4 (D1)

9.Nf4 Nc2+ 10.Kd2 Bb4+ 11.Nc3 Nxa1 12.Qa4+ Kf8 13.Qxb4+ Ne7 14.Bd3 Kg8 15.Rxa1 Nc6 16.Qa4 Qh4 17.h3 Bxd3 18.Kxd3 g5 19.Nh5 Qxh3 20.Rg1 f5 21.Nf6+ Kf7 (D2)

22.Rg3 Qf1+ 23.Kd2 f4 24.Rf3 fxe3+ 25.Kxe3 Qc1+ 26.Ke2 Qxb2+ 27.Kf1 Rad8 28.Qd1 Ke7 29.Ne2 Qxa2 (D3)

30.Qc1 h6 31.Qc5+ Kf7 32.Nh5+ Ke8 33.Ng7+ Kd7 34.Rf7+ Kc8 35.Nxe6 Qc4 36.Qa3 Kb8 37.Qb2 b5 38.Qa1 a5 39.Qb1 Rde8 40.Qg6 (D4)

40...Rxe6 41.Qxe6 Qxe2+ 42.Kg2 Rc8 43.Qd7 (D5)

43...Ne7 44.Rf6 Qe4+ 45.Kh2 Qxd4 46.Qxe7 Qc5 47.Qe4 Rf8 48.Kg2 b4 49.Qa6 Rxf6 50.exf6 b3 51.Qe2 d4 52.Qe8+ Kc7 53.Qf7+ Kc8 54.Qg8+ Kc7 55.Qf7+ Kc8 56.Qg8+ Kc7 57.Qf7+ (D6)

1/2-1/2

Zonal games - the highs & the lows

I thought I'd put up the games that I played in the zonal, as well as relevant interesting positions from the games.

Round 1
White v Zachary Searle (1791)

I decided before the game that I should try to change up my openings & put the BDG in the bag for this event. Not only would it help avoid walking into any preparation and suit a more positional style that I have had success with on occasion, but it would also make things easier for me as I was without a laptop for the event (the cable for my laptop power pack was frayed and I couldn't find a replacement, so I was essentially without a 'digital second'). Anyway, back to the game:

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. c4 O-O 5. Nc3 c6 6. d4 d5 7. O-O Ne4 8. e3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 dxc4 10. a4 Bg4 11. Qe2 Nd7 12. Qxc4 Nb6 13. Qb4 Qd6 14. Qb1 Qd7 15. Nd2 e5 16. Ba3 Rfe8 17. a5 Nd5 18. Rc1 Rad8 19. Nc4 (D)

I had looked briefly at the idea of opening up the diagonal for the g7 bishop, but didn't give it too much thought until the position was actually on the board. I think the sacrifice isn't sound (Fritz 6 gives me a slight advantage up until 24...Qc7?), but the blunder on move 24 helped make it easier for me.

19...Nxc3 20. Rxc3 exd4 21.Rb3 dxe3 22. Nxe3 Bxa1 23. Qxa1 Be2 24. h4 Qc7 25. Qb2 Bb5 26. Ng4 Re1+ 27. Kh2 f5 28. Nh6# 1-0

Round 2

Black v IM Gary Lane (2371)

I played a dodgy opening, but managed to get a reasonable, though vulnerable position. Lane played a number of inaccurate moves in his attack, which allowed me to consilidate and win a pawn. Then I threw it all away!

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Bc4 b5 5.Bb3 b4 6.Nce2 d5 7.exd5 cxd5 8.Bd2 a5 9.a3 bxa3 10.Rxa3 Nc6 11.Nf3 e6 12.Ba4 Nge7 13.Ne5 Bd7 14.Nxd7 Qxd7 15.h4 0-0 16.h5 Nf5 17.Rah3 Rfc8 18.hxg6 hxg6 19.g4 Nfxd4 20.Nxd4 Bxd4 21.Bg5 Bg7 22.Qf3 f5 23.Rh7 Qd6 24.Qh3 Qe5+ 25.Kf1 Nd4 26.Be3 (D)

Of course I completely missed the idea of sacrificing the rook on h8 (I had really only considered positions after a sacrifice on g7) and had assumed that my queen could cover any problems that might arise. If I play a move like 26...f4, I think I have a position where I am a pawn to the good and just need to consolidate my king position to have a good chance of winning, or at least drawing the position.

26...Nxc2 27.Bxc2 Rxc2 28.Rh8+ Bxh8 29.Qh7+ Kf8 30.Qxh8+ Qxh8 31.Rxh8+ Ke7 32.Rxa8 Rxb2 33.gxf5 gxf5 34.Rxa5 Rc2 35.Ra7+ Kf6 36.Bd4+ Kg5 37.Be5 f4 38.Rf7 Rc4 39.f3 Ra4 40.Kg2 Rc4 41.Kh3 Ra4 42.Bd6 Rc4 43.Be7+ Kh5 44.Rf6 Kg5 45.Rxe6+ Kf5 46.Rf6+ Ke5 47.Kg4 Rc1 48.Rf5+ Ke6 49.Ba3 Rc3 50.Bb2 1-0

Round 3

White v Kevin Tan (1956)

Kevin was a player who I was not familiar with, and being a junior who seemed relatively new to chess, I thought that he might have been a good candidate for a BDG. He chose to avoid the BDG, and found himself on the wrong side of a Pirc defence, which is a position I have played many times before, and is one where the attack seems to play itself (something that makes chess a bit easier). Kevin never got an attack going & the game was over fairly quickly.

1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 g6 3.e4 d6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 Nc6 6.Nc3 0-0 7.0-0-0 a6 8.g4 e5 9.Nge2 b5 10.d5 Na5 11.Ng3 Bd7 12.h4 Rb8 13.h5 g5 14.Bxg5 b4 15.Nb1 Bb5 16.Nf5 Bxf1 17.Rdxf1 c5 18.Qh2 Nc4 (D)

After 13...g5, the attack is winning fairly easily. Find the win from the diagrammed position:

19.Nxg7 Kxg7 20.h6+ Kg6 21.Qh4 1-0

Think I'll make it a 3-part post ... its getting kind of long!

A belated zonal summary

Its a bit late, but I have eventually managed to get around to doing something of a summary of the zonal, which finished a few weeks ago at Tweed Heads.
Congratulations to the overall winners: David Smerdon in the Open (7.5/9) & Arianne Caoili in the Womens (8/9). Both seemed to be just that little bit better than the rest of the field, and managed to gain those extra half points that others might have let slip. David in particular had a very good result (his first since crossing the unofficial 2500 barrier and becoming a GM), and showed that his newly gained title is well deserved.
As far as my own performance is concerned, I was reasonably happy with how the tournament went. I came into the event as the 27th seed in a field of 73 & finished in =14th on 5.5/9, with a performance rating of 2195. Going strictly by the numbers, that's a good result, however many of the games suggested otherwise.
I'll go into details of the games in another post (so that this one doesn't become too big), however I will say that about half the games were in some way disappointing for me. Against IM Lane I was a pawn up and missed a simple tactic to go from a close game to losing. I threw away a winning position against FM Ambrus, but at least managed a draw. IM rujevic has always been a problem player for me, though in round 5 I really just gifted him a point as I played horribly & lost, only making him think when he was well ahead in the game. My game against Tristan Stevens was a strange one that went from losing to winning, to losing, back to winning & probably losing at the end, with the final result being a draw. I was disappointed that I managed to get myself into a poorp position to start, and then that I couldn't finish it off, but again, a draw is better than a loss. Against Fiji's CM Kumar, I played horrendously & was never in the game until very late, when Manoj found himself in time trouble. Conveniently for me, he missed a few moves that I thought were winning or close to winning, and eventually lost a piece when short of time. In the last round against FM Canfell I again found my way into a poor position, but somehow wriggled out of it into what may have been a winning ending, only to realise that Greg had quite a few threats which could have proved deadly, and I decided to take the 'lets bail out and have a draw' line, which left me on 5.5/9.
One of the reasons for playing in this event was to try to gain a title of some description, and even though I qualified for the FIDE Master (50%+) again, the limit of 2 titles meant that I missed out. A similar thing had happened back at the 2001 zonal, where I finished on 5/9 & missed out on the FM title on countback to Lee Jones. There may be a chance that I am eligible for the CM (Candidate Master) title, as there is nothing in the FIDE Handbook about being a limit on the number of CM titles, so I might be able to grab one of those titles.
Why would I want such a 'crappy' title anyway? Well it is a title that shows some kind of level of achievement in chess, and I really don't have any further aspirations in chess (which has returned to its 'hobby' status in my mind again), so why not take the title? Yes, its 50 Euros to apply for the title, but it is something to add to the resume that looks impressive, and very few prospective employers would see it as a 'cheap' or 'worthless' title. I see it like a course or seminar that people attend for their professional development - many of them do little to change or improve what you actually do in the workplace, but completion of the course is something to be acknowledged.

Frustration & Online Poker

Just heard one of the funniest things ever on the June 17th edition of Poker Road Radio. A caller complaining about bad beats online ... and of course you have Gavin Smith chuckling in the background (with Joe Stapleton as host of the show trying to maintain order of sorts). Reminds me of some guys I know! They know who they are!

Another day ...

Its now 3.5/6 in the Zonal.
Managed to play a decent endgame against Fijian Calvin Prasad, slowly converting advantages from a pawn in the middlegame to an exchange in the ending, to eventually achieving an overwhelming position with his knight almost trapped & my king and rook ready to either checkmate, or mop up his remaining pawns.
However in the afternoon I played my worst game of the tournament against IM Mirko Rujevic. This was a game that I never really got into. I misplayed the opening & wasted moves in a position where I couldnt afford to & decided that my only chance to make a game of it was to sacrifice a piece for some activity. Ultimately I made Mirko sweat a little, but it wasn't good enough. 3.5 is still a reasonable score, though obviously 4 would be better & 4.5 would have me half a point off the lead.
Today I play Tristan Stevens, who is a very dangerous player. He seems very tactical and aggressive, so I'm not exactly sure if I should go head on into a tactical battle, or try for something a little more quiet. I'll have a think about it & see how things go.
Poker has also been going reasonably well on this trip, with 2 decent winning sessions & 1 small losing session at the *huge* Jupiters poker pit (6 tables total, with weekdays mostly only having 2 tables up & running). I might try to get to Treasury in Brisbane at some stage, but that will require me to finish a game early ... which means either a crushing win, or a horrendous loss ... Ill see if I can make the former happen!

Two out of three ain't bad

And 2.5 out of 4 is OK too. I've had four winning (or at least a decent advantage) positions, but have only converted against lower rated opponents. I drew today with FM Endre Ambrus & lost to IM Gary Lane yesterday when I missed a tactic. Will see how things go in the remaining 5 rounds.

Holidays ... sort of

Reports are now finished for another semester, so my life has returned to something akin to normal. Anyway, long story short ... I've taken leave for the last week of the school term to play in the Oceania Zonal Chess Championships on the Gold Coast.
This involves an early morning plane trip (the wonders of cheap flights) & 9 games of chess starting at noon on Saturday. I may have an opportunity to blog from the tournament, though with the fees for internet connections in the room being ridiculous (I think I saw something which was roughly $25/day), then I might have to look for alternatives. Perhaps I'll try and grab a few minutes on the Closet Grandmaster's laptop. He's apparently doing a live blog from the tournament that you can follow here.
If you're interested in my progress, keep an eye on the Oceania Zonal website. As the 27th seed in a field of 73, I'm not exactly a favourite to win the event (or finish near the top), but I'm still hoping for a reasonable result ... and better form than the Doeberl Cup/SIO Easter effort!
There might even be a surprise or two in store for people ... but I'll see what develops.

That time of year

Yes, its the time of year all teachers dread ... or maybe its just teachers at the school I teach at ... REPORT WRITING TIME! Not that writing reports in itself is a horrible experience, its just that it is a very time-consuming one.
Of course I've drawn the really short straw with teaching Humanities - not only do I have more subjects to teach (and therefore work to mark & reports to write), but I also get the type of work that is more time-consuming to mark. The school has the wonderful idea to make all electives (ie: everything I teach except 9/10 English) 2-hour per week subjects ... so I have 8 classes in total to teach, report on, etc. Add to that the nature of the work, which is typically more essay/project based & I wonder why I didn't decide to get into maths teaching, where for the most part it is simply a case of putting together an answer sheet & comparing what the students have done to what the correct answers are.
Of course this is further complicated by the fact that I'm probably better at maths/science stuff than I am at English & it leaves me very frustrated. Heck, my year 9 Modern World class basically became a science class involving balancing chemical reaction equations as I spent a lot of the class showing about 4 students how to do them. When you add in the fact that whenever I explain maths to kids, they seem to get it, it really makes me question my career choice.
Of course the clincher for all this is that I'm not an English teacher ... I didn't stusy English at university, and I barely passed English in high school ... which is not the same as saying I *can't* teach it (I just was never interested in the Shakespeare, Coleridge & other 'classical' playwrights, poets & novelists that I studued at school) ... its just that I don't have any formal training to teach it (assuming you don't count the 2 hour 'How to teach English if you are a History teacher' tutorial at uni).
The attitude of students really doesn't help the cause, particularly with so many students who have little to no interest in learning (at least as far as the curriculum is concerned) ... there really must be something better!!

Poker Analysis

I find poker to be a very interesting game, both to play and to analyse. A very noteworthy hand that has been sbjected to quite a bit of analysis in various forums was a hand from the latest season of High Stakes Poker featuring Tom Dwan, Barry Greenstein & Peter Eastgate.
The particular hand is from the end of episode 2 of season 5 and features a hand with all 8 players at the table seeing the flop, with only the three mentioned (Greenstein, Dwan & Eastgate) continuing after the flop. Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, you can view it here:

I posted my own analysis of the hand at the PokerRoad Forums, and thought I may as well re-post it here ... as well as a few additional thoughts now that some time has passed between the hand happening, being screened on TV, analysed in forums & magazines, as well as having the remainder of the season of HSP being aired. Be warned though, it is quite lengthy! There are also quite a few references to Barry Greenstein's 'Tips from the Bear' podcast, also over on PokerRoad.

My observations about the hand:

Pre-flop: Barry's raise is a standard play, it just happens that both Dwan & Benyamine (to Barry's immediate left) pick up calling (not re-raising) hands in QcTc & 33. Once this situation has been set up, EVERYONE else calls behind, primarily because of their positional advantage & who the players are in the pot - Dwan seems to have been involved in a lot of big pots & Barry raising UTG would mean that he would have a fairly narrow range. Of all the callers, Daniel appears to be the only one who takes any time about making the call (and he has the button!), and Eastgate even cracks a smile as he calls from the small blind, which to the observant player signals that he is calling with junk.

As Barry said, this is a situation he has never been in (raising UTG with AA & having ALL 7 others call him) ... so he needs to proceed with caution! Poker is a game of incomplete information which requires adjustment and re-evaluation based on the information you have at the table. A further complication for Barry is that there are a few players who he has not played much with in cash games (Dwan, Eastgate & Sahamies), so he does not have the information about their tendencies & styles that he does about people like Brunson, Elezera, Benyamine & Negreanu.

[Math break] Pre-flop, the hands that have more than 12.5% equity in the pot are Barry's AA (23.9%), Dwan's QcTc (16.2%), Benyamine's 3d3c (16.4%) & Sahamies' 7h6s (13.3%) - I find this interesting as hands like J9 & Kxs are hands that many players suggest playing in limped pots/late position, but they are actually -EV pre-flop in this situation. [/Math break]

Question: Why do people raise pre-flop with Aces?

Possible Answers: Thin the field, take down blinds/antes amongst many others, but the pre-flop raise did not accomplish these goals!

The flop: 2cTd2s

Is this a good flop for Aces? Conventional wisdom says yes - you should only be behind 2 hands, someone with TT & someone with a 2 in their hand. Conventional wisdom would also suggest that anyone with TT would re-raise pre-flop & players would be unlikely to all a pre-flop raise with a 2. In addition, the board is uncoordinated & rainbow, so no flush or straight draws are in anyone's hand at this point, so in all likelihood AA is ahead on this flop.

Barry leads for $10k (about half the pot). By Continuation betting, he is playing his hand almost face-up. He can’t make this bet with a hand like 88 or 99 (chances that someone has a Ten or better are very high). He would also be highly unlikely to make this bet with a hand like AK or AQ. This effectively narrows his range to AT or TT+, with the most likely of these being a big pair (QQ+). Barry says that he can’t have TT because he wouldn’t lead at that flop, however what would he be hoping for if he actually had TT in that spot? Surely in this situation, you’d see it being checked around on the flop (or Dwan bets, Eastgate raises or calls & Barry either flat calls behind or moves in on the flop depending on the size of bets/pot/stacks), but either way this finishes with Barry winning a large or a huge pot! He says that it wouldn’t seem unusual to check the flop when it is 8-ways when you were the pre-flop raiser, so why bet with AA in that situation?

Dwan raises to $37.3k. I think this is a perfect example of a raise for information. Dwan has a reasonable hand (top pair, decent kicker) and wants to find out where he’s at in the hand.

[Hypothetical digression]Imagine for a moment that this was a $1/2 online limit game. You have a raiser in first position and he gets called in 8 spots. He fires a continuation bet, and you are next to act with top pair, decent kicker. Do you automatically fold, thinking ‘If he’s betting into 7 other players he must be able to beat a ten!’?
I’d think that it would be better to raise to find out where you are at in the hand. In limit, it is generally a bad idea to call raises because of the problem of relative position – if you flat call and then it gets raised behind you and the initial raiser re-raises, you are now facing 3 bets in poor position. If you re-raise, you have position on the pre-flop aggressor, and any potential re-raisers now have to consider two possible threats to their hand, meaning they might be more likely to call and play the hand passively, or re-raise with super-strong holdings only. Why should the problem of relative position be a concern only for limit players? [/Hypothetical digression]

[Hypothetical situation]Imagine that with action to him, Negreanu re-raised on the button to something in the order of $85k … what would happen to the hand? I think Eastgate is in no-man’s land with his 42o & has no choice but to fold with a bet, raise & re-raise behind him as he probably doesn’t have the best hand with the given action, nor is his hand likely to improve in any way later in the hand. Barry might consider that Dwan is making a play, however having Negreanu re-raise him would tell Barry that in all likelihood his AA is no good, so he would fold. Dwan is then stuck with top pair medium kicker facing a re-raise and potentially playing the rest of the hand out of position, so he would likely fold also … meaning Negreanu would have taken down the pot! Of course it takes balls the size of watermelons to make this kind of play, but its there as a possibility [Hypothetical situation]

Eastgate calls the $37.3k. Based on his image and earlier play with the A6 v Dwan’s 76 on the 6536K board where he simply called Dwan down (Episode 1), his call on the flop narrows his range significantly – he has a 2 and only a 2. He could not have TT in that spot or he would have re-raised to reduce the field (and not given the ‘I’m calling with junk to make it a family pot’ smile). The only issue is his kicker. The fact that he called on such a dry board with a bet & raise in front of him would suggest that he has a weak 2, or he would have re-raised to try to get Barry out of the hand. He obviously considers Dwan’s possible range to include a 2, and with 42o, the chances that he has a worse 2 that Dwan are very high.

Barry calls the extra $27.3k. In Tips from the Bear he talks about Eastgate’s call being so strong that he felt he was beaten by him and that his initial reaction was to fold. This was the right thinking, however he simply considered Eastgate as having TT or a 2, rather than trying to consider his kicker as well and what he would do with a hand that had a weak or strong 2, and how that might change his betting decision on the flop. Barry then talks about how because it was Dwan who made the re-raise, Eastgate might have been thinking about trying to play the pot heads-up with Dwan & taking the pot down with a hand much weaker than Barry’s Aces up. Barry also mentions the possibility of catching an ace on the turn or having it checked through on the turn & having two chances to hit his ace. This situation of the hand being checked through on the turn would only occur if an overcard to the ten came on the turn, as Dwan could fear that Barry had filled up with a Q, K or A on the turn. Barry lacks a plan of what to do with the hand on the turn – he’s playing ‘let’s see what happens’ poker, which is rarely good at any level, let alone when you’re playing in a game as big as $400/800/200 NL. The other thing to consider is what Eastgate thinks of Barry’s call on the flop. He can be confident he doesn’t have a 2, but would Barry lead into 7 people & flat-call a raise & call with TT? He could also have in mind that Barry has an overpair, but the call might make him consider the possibility of Barry having him crushed with TT.

The dilemma that both Barry & Eastgate face is that their hands are fairly well defined (overpair & weak 2), while Durr’s hand could literally be any two cards!

The turn: 7d

Eastgate & Barry check to Dwan. This seems fairly standard, but it allows Dwan the freedom to choose his next move at will. Obviously the bet he chooses is a very good one, but given that the turn is a complete blank, which has almost no chance of hitting any player in the hand, it puts Dwan in complete control of the hand.

Dwan bets $104.2k. Its official: Tom Dwan has big balls!
This bet is based on the earlier play of the hand, as well as previous hands. Dwan knows that Barry has a big pair and he knows that Eastgate has a 2.Based on the earlier hand when Eastgate had A6, he knows that he’s not likely to play it strong, so might be able to get him off the hand. He has even more reason to believe he can get Eastgate to fold a 2 because Barry’s in the hand as well, and even if Eastgate thinks he was Dwan beat, does he think his weak 2 beats Barry’s hand as well?

Eastgate folds the best hand. Yes, he’s played a dodgy hand out of position & got himself in a tough spot. Yes, he seems to be playing scared money. Yes, he has bought in for too much, and can not raise and be willing to put his whole stack on the line confident in the knowledge that he has the best hand. However, he can’t be sure where he is in the hand without raising, and that opens him up to either throwing away about $220k to find out that he’s beaten or hoping that his 2 is good for $500k. His fold (after the play on the flop) seems like a reasonable one to me.

Barry thinks about what to do and folds. Barry said the speed of Eastgate’s fold made him re-evaluate the situation. Remember his thinking on the flop – he’s probably beaten, but he wants to see the turn hoping that he can either spike an ace, get the hand checked through, or somehow find himself in a situation where Dwan is bluffing, but Eastgate is calling with a hand worse than Barry’s aces-up. How does Eastgate’s fold change Barry’s thinking about the hand? In his mind, Eastgate now doesn’t have a 2, so why would he call the $37k on the flop? Perhaps Barry thinks that he was making a move, but if he was, why check-fold? Surely a more logical play if he was making a move would be to lead at the turn, putting Barry in the awkward spot & potentially leaving Dwan to deal with Eastgate’s bet. Barry then considers what hands Dwan could call with where he has a 2, and A2 suited seems like the only one in Barry’s mind. He mentions not considering the suits of the aces he held, however even so, A2dd was still a possible holding for Dwan (he obviously doesn’t know that Eastgate has it). Given that he has played relatively few hands with Dwan, and seems to be basing a lot of his reads on his reputation rather than actual observation and table time, so Barry’s fold seems like something that is reasonable – he did say that Dwan’s bet looked like he had a 2 with a better kicker than Eastgate’s.

Summary: Dwan’s play is an excellent example of the power of position and betting in no-limit holdem.

Afterthoughts: After seeing the entire season of High Stakes Poker, which had Dwan at two of the three playing sessions for their entirety, and one for a decent length of time, it has occurred to me (and I'm sure many others) that Dwan is indeed one of the best, if not the best, deep stack cash game player in the world. His ability to analyse situations and make excellent decisions time and time again are testament to his ability and skill. If you include his heads-up session at the Aussie Millions Cash Game Invitational against Patrik Antonius where Antonius was running like a Kenyan possessed by God (he finished about $500k ahead in a rotation of $1000/2000/500 NLH & $1000/2000 PLO), it really shows how good the guy is!

Melbourne Champs Summary (sort of)

A quick rundown of events in the Melbourne Champs & how they panned out for me:
Event 1 - $175 NLHE
I managed to score myself 3rd place and felt I played pretty well throughout most of the tournament. Picked up some chips early on a table that was fairly passive without having too many big hands. Did decide to gamble a bit with one other big stack (who was playing very aggressively since arriving at my table) and called his shove with 66 & won the race against his AJo, which left me with probably the chip lead at the second break (had 65.5k). Managed to hold the stack together until the next break & chipped up before the final table to head into it with just over 200k, which was about 5th. I managed to do my usual trick & fold my way up a few places before I caught a run of cards with about 5 or 6 players left, which managed to propel me to 2nd in chips. A few players busted & it came down to three of us when I played a big hand against the other big stack at the table. I had just taken the chip lead a few hands previously & had about 800k & picked up AQo on the button, so I raised to 110k (blinds were 20/40k no ante). The small blind (who I had been crushing all tournament - I'd been on tables with him throughout the tourney & won almost every big hand I played against him) pushed for just under 500k. I decided to call after thinking for quite a while & he turned over JJ & I lost the race ... and the chip lead obviously. I managed to go out not too long afterwards in 3rd place for $8k. Not a bad payday for 11 hours work if I do say so myself.
Event 2 - $120 PokerPro PLO
Yes, I did play this event ... albeit briefly. Essentially I played a few hands on the breaks from event 1 and was blinded out at other times. I managed to make it to the final three tables with this strategy, busting when I pushed with suited paint cards when short & ran into aces, which held up (flopping a set also helped significantly!).
Event 4 - $175 PLO
Continuing with my recent trend of cashing in two events in major tournaments at Crown this year, I managed to cash in this event, coming 14th for the not-quite-double-my-money prize of $338. I didn't do anything particularly noteworthy & just hung around long enough to make the money, without ever really challenging the big stacks at the various tables I was moved to.
Of course the logician in me should have realised the trend in recent events & stopped with the tournaments after my second cash, however there was also the added confidence & bankroll that come with such results ... so I played some more events.
Event 7 - $230 NLHE
Not much to speak of ... didn't pick up many hands & when I did I either ran into multiple players & scary boards or won a small pot. Unfortunately there was much more of the former than the latter. Of course to make the tourney complete, I managed to see a flop as a short stack with 7d4d in the BB with only 2 limpers. The flop came down all diamonds, so I snap-shoved, only to see the second caller quietly push his stack into the middle & roll over Jd8d, at which point I said my goodbyes and wandered over to the cash games.
Event 10 - $340 PLH/PLO
This should have been a great tournament, with a field of players who really didn't know what they were doing for the most part, particularly when it came to Omaha. This meant that I chipped up early & was one of the chip leaders at the first break with about 13.6k (starting stack was 5k). Of course things went downhill once I moved tables, as it seems to do ... I managed to get my stack in on the flop in the holdem round with 66 on a A63 flop against a pre-flop raiser who called with KK exclaiming 'I knew you didn't have an ace!'. Of course the K rolls off on the turn & my opponent decides to continue telling the table how his play was so great because he knew I didn't have an ace ... of course I manage to go out in the Omaha round when there was a limper & I raised the pot with KKQx with a suit. The BB decided to call & the limper folded & the flop was QJx & the BB shoved his remaining stack in, which I called pretty quickly. As it turned out, he had exactly the same amount of chips as me & rolled over KT86 with no suits, for nothing more than an open-ended straight draw & an overcard. Of course the inevitable happens & an A comes on the turn & I'm out right away ... no sweat, no outs, bye!
Event 15 - $1100 NLHE Main Event
I made something of a last-minute decision to play this event & managed to get very little going on day 1, with my stack doing little apart from heading south all night. I managed to stick around & end the night as the shortest stack, with just 7300 to my name (after starting with 20k).
Of course in the process there were 2 big hands that I decided to fold which really didn't help my cause ... and of course they need to be part of the blog!
First was a hand where I had AsQs & raised pre-flop after 1 limper. Everyone folded to the limper (a lady who had been playing fairly snuggly) who called. The flop came down AK8 & she bet into me. I re-raised after some thought, trying to figure out what hand she could have that would actually bet into me on the flop. The lack of a re-raise pre-flop put AA & KK out of the equation, so the only hands that came to mind were 88 or A8 (AK also being a hand that would probably not limp-call pre-flop). She then fairly quickly moved all-in, prompting me to go into the tank & consider ranges of hands. She had done a similar limp-call earlier with a hand like 66 ( and I also thought that she had done it with AT as well), so I really thought that 88 & A8 were almost the only hands she could have in that spot (although I would be less inclined to lead into the pre-flop raiser on that board, but that's just my way of thinking), so I folded. Of course there was another big hand not too long afterwards ... I picked up AA in the BB & put in a pot-sized raise to get rid of the 5 limpers who had tried to come along for the ride. Most of them duly folded, except for the cutoff, who called. The flop came down KKQ & my opponent called a bet (which obviously isn't something that I like with my hand & being out of position). The turn was a blank, a 4 I think & again I bet & was called. The river was the worst card (or the best card depending on how you look at it) for me, a repeat Q, making the final board of KKQ4Q. I decided to check & folded to my opponents 2/3rd pot-size bet, which slightly less than my remaining stack. Afterwards he said he had a K, and the way he played the hand it seemed entirely plausible ... so just another bad situation to lose chips.
Lets hope I get a quick double-up tomorrow when day 2 resumes, so that I can stick around for longer than 20 minutes (as has happened previously when I have played 2-day events & returned with a short stack)!
Feel free to follow my progress online (if I manage to get any coverage) at Pokernews

Melbourne Poker Championships

The Melbourne Poker Championships are almost here for another year ... so its tournament time again!
My plans for the fortnight include a few events, and hopefully a few final tables. I don't want to go too crazy & play too many events, however by the same token, if I am playing well I would like to maximise my opportunity to make some money.
The plans at the moment are as follows:
Saturday May 16th - Step 2 Main Event Satellite ... the plan is to obviously try to win a seat in the main event. If I don't, I'll be giving the main event a miss - I don't think No Limit Hold'em is my best game, so I see little point in paying $1100 to enter when I don't feel as though I will be able to make the money in such an event very often.
Sunday May 17th - either the $175 NLH event and/or the $120 Poker Pro PLO event. Although I would like to play in the opening event, I really think that I am better suited to playing the Omaha event. I might decide to play the opening event, and if I bust, play in the PLO ... but then why waste $175 playing in the opening event? This is my major pre-event dilemma at the moment.
Tuesday May 19th - $175 PLO ... I have been playing PLO cash games a lot more often recently, with the $1/2 PLO game now looking like it might be a regular fixture on Thursday, to go with the occasional Tuesday night $2/4 PLO game. Having said that, cash PLO is very different to tournament PLO, particularly when you have increasing blinds and no rebuys. The ROR-factor (aka: Risk of Ruin) is much greater in tournaments, which means that you don't get the sometimes ridiculous multi-way all-in pre-flop situations that you do in cash games with people who are 'there to gamble'.
Saturday May 23rd - $230 NLH ... I will play the second flight of this $100k guaranteed event. Although NLH is not my strongest game, I feel that with longer blind levels my advantage is higher, though I still struggle with balancing the need to continue to accumulate chips & choose good spots to play with the need to protect the stack that I have built in the middle section of tournaments. As a result, if I get near the money/final table I tend to be one of the shorter stacks, which obviously makes it more difficult to take home the trophy at the end of the day.
Monday May 25th - $340 PLH/PLO ... Very similar thinking to the reasons for playing the PLO tournament, though when there is a Hold'em/Omaha rotation, it tends to make either the NLH play much looser, or the PLO much tighter. Either way, I am fairly comfortable with such a situation, so hope to do well in this event.
Saturday May 30th - $120 Poker Pro NLH ... Again, its the deep stack nature of the event that really attracts me. I'm not a huge fan of PokerPro by any means, but more chips tends to reward the solid/patient style that I prefer to play.
There may be a few other events that I could end up playing, depending on time and money, and generally how I have been going in other events. Will see how it goes ... wish me luck!!

Digital TV!

I've finally begun to catch up with technology and purchased a new digital TV today. Went for a Samsung 32" Full HD (1920x1080pixels, 100Hz) model, with a decent discount off the ticketed price (about $150 off, and the price at the Good Guys where I bought it was about $100 cheaper than the JB Hi-Fi a few stores down)!
Initial indications are very positive - the screen looks clearer, picture is sharper, reception is better ... plus I get extra channels! 32 inches of pleasure!! YAY!

I am of course hoping not to turn into a couch potato, although things like live F1 races, nightly IPL cricket and Friday night poker amongst other newly available digital offerings may make this goal difficult to achieve ...

Technology, technology

I'm looking at updating a few things around my home, and it occurred to me that I really don't know enough about certain things to make an informed decision ... and sales people are trying to sell a product, so their advice or recommendations may not always be in my best interests.
This leads me to my dilemmas ...
Digital TV - LCD or Plasma?? Do I just plug it in straight out of the box, or do I need extra cables & other devices? Are the additional free-to-air channels worth the expense?
Laptop computer - How much RAM & Hard disk space do I really need? What about the speed of the processor and graphics cards?
Desktop computer - What do I need to be able to connect multiple monitors to my desktop? Is upgrading worthwhile, or is it cheaper & easier to buy a new computer? Where do I go for the cheapest 'build your own' computer?
Feel free to offer suggestions ... I think I need some advice!

Australian Chess ... 1974 style!

Two other mostly chess-related blogs that I read from time-to-time, Shaun Press' ChessExpress & Amiel Rosario's Closet Grandmaster, both made mention recently of the 1974 Australian Chess Championships held in Cooma in rural NSW. As a result, I took a look at the tournament book (a wonderful reference of events of the past that is sadly missing in today's internet-based world) and rediscovered a wonderful tidbit that was one of the reasons I purchased the book in the first place. The photo below, complete with wonderful caption, appears on page 73:

I had not seen Lloyd for a number of years, both because of my move to Melbourne a few years ago, as well as the fact that I have played far less chess than I did when I was in Sydney, and it was good to see him drop into the Sydney International Open recently.

It also reminded me of an old hip-hop favourite ... Memory Lane by Nas, from one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all-time, 1994s Illmatic. I don't think there was ever an official film clip made for the song, but the wonders of YouTube have produced this pretty good home-made effort, which is well worth a watch (or at least a listen to the song):

McDonalds prevent student pranks!

How dare the fast food giant do such a thing!

The evidence? This sign posted in the drive-thru window of Stanmore McDonalds in Sydney, which I decided to snap on a recent trip home.

No longer will you be able to pull the university pranks of pretending to be in a car to order drive-thru ... which is really a sad state of affairs. Is there no more fun in the world??

One of the funniest things I have seen!

For those of you who, like me, play poker online, the video below should have you laughing quite a bit.

The inherent humour in the clip was made even more memorable when discussion the video with Martin Harvey during the H.O.R.S.E. tournament in the Joe Hachem Deepstack Series at Crown Casino. Of course it helped that Martin had basically given up on the tournament and was betting dark (before the next card had come out) on multiple streets on some hands.

One particularly memorable hand in the Omaha hi-lo round went as follows:

I raise in easrly position with A235 or something along those lines, Martin re-raises blind, a third player calls, I cap and both players call. Being the short stack, I like the J22 flop, and put the rest of my meagre stack into the pot. Martin obliges and raises, which is called by the third player. The turn brings the remaining 2 and another bet & call. The river brings a T, and again a bet & call. Martin still has yet to look at his hand, when the third player in the hand announces 'I have a straight!' which brings some curious looks ... and as he turns his cards over, he says 'I flopped it', revealing AKQT. Yes, this was the 6th or 7th level of play. Yes, this was a $550 buy-in tournament. Yes, the player still had no idea that he had to use two, and only two of his hole cards and that he in fact had 222AK. Of course the embarassing part was that yes, Martin has been betting every street with 9-high & had been called down, and so the rather sizable side pot was shipped the way of Mr 'I've flopped a straight', while I took the main pot.

Martin unfortunately busted out soon afterwards, while I managed to find one of the few ways to lose the entire pot in Stud hi-lo to Lee Nelson to be eliminated a few levels later ... love this game!