This month we welcome with open arms (and they’re very open) Poker Pack star JC Tran with his first regular column.
After becoming a member of the recently formed Poker Pack along with my good friends Nam Le, Chino Rheem, Quinn Do and Steve Sung, I found myself travelling a lot more to different parts of the world to take part in some of the best tournaments on the circuit.
Most recently I found myself heading down under to play the Aussie Millions at the Crown Casino Melbourne. It was my first time in Oz and I was amazed by how nice the people were. Everyone at the Crown Casino Hotel was very welcoming and the place was great.
Before the actual poker got going, we managed to get out and see the sights. Melbourne Zoo (my first kangaroo), deep sea fishing (a few small sharks but not much else) and our first night out in the city – an all-Asian club. A great atmosphere and it was like I was partying with my nephews and nieces.
However, the best part of the entire trip was when I got to watch Rafael Nadal play at the Australian Tennis Open. Again, another first, my first tennis match, and this one was a lot more exciting than I expected. It was a great experience. Other than that, I didn’t do much else but play poker. Overall, I think Australia is a great place to go and see whether you’re playing in a poker tournament or just visiting as a tourist. The entire Poker Pack will definitely visit Melbourne again!
TAKE YOUR SEATS
I intended to play two events, the AUD$100K High Roller event and the AUD$10K Main Event. I actually ended up playing three tournaments including the AUD$1K PLO event, just for fun. I busted in the PLO event fairly early on but I wasn’t too bothered as I only played the event for something to do. Next up was the $100K High Roller. To be honest, I wasn’t too sure what field this event was going to attract, but I knew that most of the high-profile pros would definitely want to play! I certainly wasn’t wrong with 23 big names, including Nam, John Juanda, Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius and Chris Ferguson putting up $100K to make a healthy prize pool of AUD$2.3M.
We started the event with a 100,000 start stack and a speed format was introduced. The betting was pot limit pre-flop and no limit post-flop. Each player was given 30 seconds to act on any hand and we were also given 3 “time breaker” buttons which gave us an additional 30 seconds if needed.
HIGH ROLLER - JC’s KEY HAND
One of the key hands that came up in the High Roller was when the blinds were 500/1000 and I’d limped under the gun with pocket 2s. One player called the bet. Phil Ivey raised it to 5,500 on the button and I called. The flop came 2-2-9 and, holding quads, I check-called Ivey's 9K bet. Player C folded. I put Ivey on a strong hand like Q-Q or K-K so I felt that because I’d check-called the flop, check-raising the turn might be too strong and there was a chance he wasn’t going to bet.
The turn came a 5 and I led out with 17K. I knew that if he called, he was probably not going to fold on the river. The river came another 9 which was pretty much a blank because he couldn’t have put me on a 9 after limp-calling a raise pre-flop. I wanted to get as much out of him because I felt that he was going to call any bet I made.
I bet 50K on the river and Ivey called. This was a big hand for me because not only would this make me a big stack, it made Ivey's stack shorter which made him far less of a threat. He is still a very strong short stack player, but with a big stack he’s an absolute monster.
The day went well for me, with me continuing to catch some hands that propelled me to the final table [see box] 2nd in chips. We stopped play with 6 players - John Juanda, Tony Bloom, David Steicke, Dan Shak, Bill Jordanou and myself. I've played a lot of times with Juanda and Shak but this was my first tournament with the other players.
With the elimination of Juanda in 5th place, I felt like I was the favorite to win. When it got down to 3-handed, we were all about even in chips. This was when Steicke kicked it up a gear and started to run all over the table. Subsequently, I lost plenty of hands and was left with a severely short stack.
With the blinds at 12K/24K and only 58K in chips sitting in the big blind, I defended my big blind with K-6 and ran into Steicke, holding K-J. I failed to improve and busted out in 3rd place. I was really disappointed because I felt like this was my tournament to win.
After busting out in the High Roller, I was now pumped up for the Main Event. I have to say that the overall structure of the tournaments was great. With a 20,000 starting stack for the Main Event there’s definitely plenty of play!
I thought I played really well for the first few levels and built my stack up to a little over 50K. Then just before the dinner break, I lost a couple of big hands bluffing chips off which left me with about 25K. After the dinner break, I couldn’t win a hand! I was now left with about 9K in chips.
The last level of the evening saw the blinds at 300/600 with a 75 ante. I limped in the cut-off for 600 with 8-9 offsuit and Joe Hachem made it 2,100. The big blind folded and I decided to call and play position even though it was more than 20% of my stack. I felt that if I missed the flop, I could start pushing with my 6,000+ stack. I also didn’t put Joe on a big pair or anything in my range.
The flop came 10-8-7 and Joe led out for about 3,500. I loved the flop and if Joe did have an over-pair I still had a lot of outs. I moved all-in and he called, showing Q-9 offsuit. I was actually in a lot better shape than I expected - Joe can only win with a Q or a J and split with a 6, however the turn was a J and there went my tournament. I was glad to have cashed at the Aussie Millions. Melbourne is a great place and I’m really looking forward to going there again in 2010. Hopefully I will go deeper in the main event and I’ll definitely see a Koala Bear!
JC Tran is an ambassador for the Asian Poker Tour. |
