Last night I won a $110 No Limit Holdem Tournament at the Marconi Poker Palace,
beating a field of 80 players to take down Event 3 of the Marconi Poker
Showdown.

This was the first time I'd touched poker chips in about 4 weeks, having
taken some time off the game after the Chip Chop closure of June. I wasn't
sure what shape my tournament game would be in, but I was happy with the result.

I took my friend Simon with me, catching a train home to Flemington then
driving to Bossley Park from 7pm. We were seated at 7:40, the game had
started on time and we were 10 minutes into the first level. Simon and I didn't
recognize any players in the tournament. Marconi run their own game and aren't
APL or NPL affiliated. They've been very successful in nurturing a group
of regular players, there was a good cameraderie between the players
last night, many of whom knew each other by name.

The game had a second chance format in the first four levels (one rebuy only,
but no add-on) but players played sensibly and I didn't see anyone playing
wildly or exercising this option. I busted one player just before the break,
but he simply left.

There were still many people in the game after the half hour dinner break.
Normally such a long dinner break would annoy me, but the food bars
at Marconi club are excellent and Simon and I enjoyed a freshly made pizza
and a couple of Peronis.

It can actually be tricky to get a drink at the Marconi club, they have 3 pizza
bars, 4 coffee and gelato bars and one drinks bar. These numbers might not
be accurate, I didn't have time to walk around the entire club and I
probably missed some gelato bars.

I ran well in the game, getting better and better hands as the night
progressed. I had a nice early suckout with AT beating AQ, and only one
bad beat of the night close to the final table when my 99 was outdrawn
by 55. The key hand of the tournament for me was when my nothing K6
just got better and better on a board of A3457. A player with A2 had no
choice but to call my huge raise on the river and I was set for the final
table after winning that massive pot.

There was some nice disciplined hand-for-hand play enforced by the TDs
before the final table. Another impressive feature of the game
was that we were able to keep playing past the 2am official club
closing time. And right at the end some chips were raced into 25,000 value
plaques, I enjoy using plaques at the big end of a tournament. As a final
nicety my first place included a trophy.

The Marconi Poker Showdown series continues tonight with a $220 PLO
tournament, dealers provided. There's a 15k start stack and a second
chance format. The main event has a $1,100 buyin with a Friday day1A
and Saturday day1B and Sunday final day 2. I can recommend without
reservation these games.

Tonight it's the teams event. The boys tell me that entry can be had for $440, for a team of 4.
Cards in the air at or around 7:30pm.

But the Manila game's not open to the general players.

10/20 Limit Omaha is an absolute goldmine at Crown. Full of older Manila players who have somehow
found a poker game they can be even worse players at. Yes it's a Limit Game, but you can still
pick up a few hundred dollars in a couple of hours play if you're patient.

Is that the Thursday night game? The "entertainment" section of the website said it was a free game.
Not that it's worth quibbling on a $12 buyin versus free, but you'd want to get the website changed.

Also next time you post about a game, please remember to include the date!

Take it out altogether. Calling players, even those with the nuts, have the right to see the other guy's
hand and can wait or ask to see the hand if they want to.

Showdown etiquette is becoming a bad area in poker, but I don't think you could write up good
showdown etiquette rules without annoying people.

Since when is asking anybody to turn their hand face up at showdown an etiquette violation??
People who don't turn over their cards promptly when they've been called are the rake.

Looks like a good series, but when's the Manila tournament?

So which of the following is correct
(a) Dodds's a wanker
or
(b) Dodds' a dick
??

It's flawless. Punters will flock to this concept.

Have you tried Tobey Macguire?

And here was I thinking that no good had come from Black Friday. Good luck getting your nebulous cash, Strong Play.

Just as well that this has never happened with NSW Labor Governments, Daniel. You should teach your
child about NSW Labor Governments, there won't be another one until she's of voting age.

You might like to look into earlier history of Star City and how the Sydney Casino license was
first awarded by the Wran government in the first place. If that's too far in the past, there's
more recent shenanigans from the most recent renewal of Star's exclusive NSW Casino license.

Amazingly a Star/NSW Government crackdown on pub poker was predicted by me in July 2006, although
I was writing in terms of pub tourneys not Chip Chops which weren't really around in those days.

http://www.pokernetwork.com/forums/m...urnaments.html

I've given this a fair bit of thought and the only way we could get a big Chip Chop going in future
is if we bought $110 and $220 watches from Daniel Tzvetkoff.

You'd want to be pretty sure of what you were doing, It's more likely that 10 player Sit and Gos make a big comeback.

I've got a printout of the email sent by OLGR today, I can't show you anything electronically but I'll type it in from the printout:

*****
No Chip Chopping Allowed

'Chip chopping' is a practice whereby a participant in a poker tournament redeems their chips for cash at
the expiry of the tournament.

When the concept of chip chopping applies, the tournament will become unlawful
(outside the Casino) if:

* the operator, or venue, takes a portion of the entry fee, or

* there is a dealer who is not a participant in the game; or

* payment is made by the player to enter the venue.

For example, OLGR is aware of a number of venues operating timed poker tournaments with an entry fee
of $30 with the player receiving $27 worth of chips and the remainder going to the operator or venue to cover costs.

This type of tournament is unlawful outside of the Casino.

Anyone organising an unlawful game, can be fined up to $5,500 for the first offence and up to $11,000 for
subsequent offences. Participants in an unlawful game can also be penalised with a $5,500 fine.

Today the NSW Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing (OLGR) issued a ruling which prohibits non-Casino cash games
("chip chops") in NSW.

Non-casino chip chops become unlawful when any of the following apply
(a) Operator/Venue takes a portion of the entry fee
(b) Non-playing dealer
(c) Payment is made by players to enter the venue.

Penalties are up to $5500 first offence/$11000 second offence for the organisers
and up to $5500 for the participants.

I hope that Star City profit by this decision, and that after having already lost their AAPT event to Crown.
Australia's premier live poker room enjoy their future "Big Game" Poker tournaments with a handful of runners.

Although whinging is an intrinsic part of poker, and of this forum.

A few years ago I was poker organizer for Optus employees to play in an inter-company multisport event
called the Corporate Games. The organizers had to pay the money ($55) for each team member to
play and then chase up the members themselves to get the money back. Some of the organizers
for the other sports (rowing, volleyball etc) complained about the effort and trouble of doing this.
I said "No problem for me: chasing up people who owe you money is an important part of the sport of poker".

The recent arguments in support of the hand being mucked show a great deal of sophistry. You have to consider
what the rule against showing your cards is designed to prevent, which I write about in the eponymous
column in this Friday's Australian Poker Weekly. Now that I've used the words "sophistry" and "eponymous"
in consecutive sentences, here's an excerpt

***
The rule against showing your cards prematurely is all about angle-shooting.
In the early Texas days, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim and others
would show an opponent their cards when they were considering a big call.
They'd be looking for a reaction from the bettor and would then fold or
call based on that reaction. This behaviour isn't allowed in poker
anymore, which is what the rule against prematurely showing your hand
is all about.

Obviously Jacky honestly thinks he's been called all-in and he
reveals his cards on that basis.
***

Sorry we don't all play in Casino-class events, Strong Play.

It makes sense in the thread, grunter

1) playa is furious that people can't spell the simple word "losing" properly
2) In this next thread, he says "you go to admire" instead of "you've got to admire"
3) so UltimatePoker (who's highlight "go to" when quoting playa's post) suggests to
playa that those who live in glass houses (here, on the issue of spelling)
shouldn't throw stones.

Hope this helps.