After I meet up with a friend for coffee, then meet my cousin for a few drinks which, of course, turned into many… Standard. Crashed at his place, wake up next day feeling rat %$#@. I go to the real estate agent and receive a friendly greeting. I have lost my keys twice and been locked out twice…. they know me well. I realise I left my paper tickets in Sydney and have to pay $250 to get them couriered. I then return my ridiculously late videos which costs me another $120 worth of video late fees. As I finish my packing, my tilt-o-meter is redlining.
The event is called the Asian Poker Classic and is the first major poker tournament to be held in India. I am not so much excited about the tournament but a chance to relax. Things have been so hectic for me the past few months and have not been leading a healthy lifestyle. I slept the whole way through 1st leg to Singapore, with a 90 minute gap between flights I rush to the lounge to peddle out some hands with the aim of getting square for the flight. I peddled QQ on a Jack high board vs. AJ, and picked up a sleazy 5k. I get back on the plane feeling satisfied and I sleep the rest of the leg to Mumbai. I bump into David Saab in Goa and we split a cab to the resort. The driver was totally crazy as he blazed his horn non stop while pulling sick overtaking moves uphill on a skinny two lane road around a bend. I liked his style and if I made it alive I'd be having an ice cold beer sooner than planned. The journey ended up being over an hour but I managed to sleep through his crazy antics for most of it.
I later figured out the road rules: if you hear no beeping you can do what ever you want, but if you are doing something crazy you have to beep... and it’s up to the non beeper to get out of the way of the beeper. If two guys are both beeping doing crazy stuff, they play chicken, and when they get real close one driver will slowly release the horn and sigh, like Jack Bauer releasing his firearm when a terrorist threatens to kill a hostage, letting the other driver pass.
I check into my room and its facing the pool, great! So I crack open a beer head to the pool and catch up with Lee Nelson, Bill Argyros (Crocky) and Kiwi G. A day of golf is arranged for tomorrow. I head back to my room to peddle some dollars online and I eagerly type in my 700 rupee internet code to unlock an internet with 0% connection. Arrrgh! But I have to admit I love the whole code idea to unlock the net each time as it is way more exciting than the internet on tap I have back home. The sick joke the Indians were playing on me worked out better than they could have possibly dreamed, because I, like a retarded mouse in an electric maze, bought a 700 rupee internet card every day hoping for better times.
I am heading out to a golf course for the 2nd time in my life, and am hoping I have improved over the last 12 months with no practice. For 50 bucks AUD we get 9 holes, clubs and a caddie each. Jeez I am bad at golf. I don't win a hole, and only land on the fairway when my ball dribbles along the ground at tee off. I still win 400 rupees due to a ridiculously generous handicap from Kiwi G and Crocky. It’s not exactly cheating people out of millions, Phil Ivey styles, but it’s a start.
The next day at golf I decide to find a softer opponent. I see Sarne Lightman (PokerStars Director and Asia Pacific) and he says he hasn't played before. Perfect :) ! We hit the driving range where I teach him a couple of things… head down, bend your knees a little, etc. He then proceeds to trounce me. What a joke. Embarrassed and furious I make a pledge to get better. FAST!
Finally it’s the day of the 5k event. 1 million prize guarantee, with only 330 entrants. Nice overlay and looking around, quite a soft field. I play very tight for the first hour, and watch the table, and am pretty comfortable with the line-up. So when the blinds hit 50-100 I open up and start picking up pots. I then pick AA in middle position. 2nd to speak raises to 300 I make it 1000 and the guy 2 spots behind me makes it 3000. We are both playing about 20k. I am confident his range is AA, KK, QQ, or AK here, and feel he will put down all these hands if I come over the top except AA, and maybe KK. I call the 2k. Flop is k99. I check-call 3k, turn is Q. I feel sick he thinks for awhile and bets 4.5k, I quickly muck my AA face up, and he says "how do you fold that?!". I say "I think you hit the Queen" to which one banana says he folded a queen. I am annoyed and crank my Ipod to full blast. In the next break he tells me I tilted him with that fold and he did have QQ.
I am built up again to 20k and at the 150-300 level, pick up KK, raise to 900 and get a caller behind. Flop comes Q 7 7, with 2 hearts. I bet 1800 he makes it 3500 leaving 5k behind, so I put him all in and he shows me 67. 10k gone. 1 hour goes by I am built to 26k. Playing quite fast one hand: I raise 73 suited on last hand b4 break get 2 callers, flop is Ace Jack 8 rainbow, I bet 1/2 pot and get min raised. He is a quite aggressive and I figure he thinks I missed flop but doesn't want to put a big raise as I sense he is scared he may run into a hand from the 3rd player, 3rd player folds and I reraise. He quickly folds annoyed at himself. I rub it in and show him my 7 high, and stroll to the break with some get-up in my get along. Then a big hand comes up when I go with a read and call a guy down with A4 high for all my chips, he shows me A8 high to take down one of the biggest pots of the tournament at that point. My thinking on this hand will take way too long for this article so I may write a separate article on why I called him down. After the hand the table goes a bit crazy one guy yelling "omg that is the sickest thing I have seen!" and another genius chimes "wow he is so bad folds AA then calls with A high". I am furious.
After the tourney Marcus Collins, Sarne and I headed to north Goa for some partying. The scene has calmed down there in recent times, but we still had a good time.
My friend Subodh then invited me to stay with him in Bombay, which was great. On the first night we went to a Japanese themed bar for a party. It was the birthday for the son of the 5th richest man in India. The club was brilliant, you will never see anyone spend so much money designing a club like that in Australia. Also got a chance to meet a Bollywood starlet. Alas, my dreams of marrying a star and retiring were shattered by seeing an engagement ring that would chew up a chunk of my bankroll. The next day nursing a hangover, Subodh tells me he has just the plan to take the pain away - the best seafood restaurant in Bombay. We head down a back alley and I am very sceptical. Step inside… oh no! They have a cheesy boat theme. More scepticism. Then out comes the garlic chilli mud crab! It was so damn good I'd say it was the highlight of a very enjoyable trip.
This is my second Asia poker trip and I have really enjoyed both, and would love to see poker take off here. It’s a lot more interesting than playing in America, and no TAX! Hopefully the future will bring more tournaments in Asia with bigger buyins and good cash games. |
