Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
I’m home now, back in Brooklyn. The Aussie Millions trip is over, and it’s time for me to conclude my blogging of the trip. For this final post, I thought of writing something sentimental — talking about the great people I met and the great times we had. But that didn’t seem quite right. We’re all poker geeks, after all, so why not close with an interesting poker story.
But before I get to this brief tale, I’d like to say that I loved this trip. I’m thankful to the Full Tilt staff for sending me to Australia. I’m hopeful that I’ll see many of the qualifiers down the road. Anyone who wants to stay in touch can email me at ask_aussie_millions@yahoo.com.
Now for that poker story.
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(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
Last evening, as the Full Tilt qualifiers and their guests gathered for a farewell dinner, one of Full Tilt’s pros, Gus Hansen, battled to best 19-year-old poker prodigy Jimmy Fricke for the championship of the Aussie Millions.
The final table was immensely entertaining. It included a lot of great plays and some brutal suckouts.
In the end, Gus was too much for his young opponent. After the win, all the Full Tilters had the opportunity to congratulate Gus.
I’ll talk more about the final table play soon.
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(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
The qualifiers who made their way here have been in a celebratory mood. Many are flush with large sums of newly won cash. And those who are no richer are still vacationing in Melbourne, Australia, which is a good thing.
Last night a group of qualifiers, Full Tilt staff, and a couple of Full Tilt pros made their way to the bowling alley here at the Crown for some drinks and proposition bets.
Gavin Smith and Jonas Bukas entered into the most interesting bet of the night. Both Gavin and Jonas are hat wearers. Gavin is never seen without his backwards baseball cap, and Jonas seems to live in an Armani beanie.
Before the final game, Jonas and Gavin decided to wager their hats: the winner would get the loser’s headgear.
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(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
Today one of Full Tilt’s online qualifiers, Jonas Buskas, was among the final fourteen battling for a spot at the final table. Play was short-handed, with two tables of five and one table of four. Jonas, with 819k, had drawn a table with only one recognizable pro — Kristy Gazes. Kristy had just over 700k to start the day.
Jonas and Kristy share a word before the start of play
Both these players could be pleased with their starting table. They wouldn’t have to battle Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius, who were at the TV table, or Andrew Black and Jimmy Fricke, who were at the third table.
But pretty quickly things went badly for Jonas. In the first 12 hands, he played two sizable pots against Kristy, who was directly to his left. He lost them both, cutting his stack in half.
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(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
The Full Tilt family is well represented as the Aussie Millions main event moves into its fourth Day. Fourteen players remain, and among them are three Full Tilt pros and one qualifier. The pros are Gus Hansen, Kristy Gazes and Andrew Black; the qualifier is the Swede Jonas Buskas.
Yesterday’s play was pretty remarkable in that there was so little caution being shown by the remaining players. Hansen, Patrik Antonious, Buskas, and Jimmy Fricke all seemed more than willing to move big portions of their stacks at any time. They saw large swings in fortune and were responsible for some pretty nasty beats. (Fricke took out Shane Schlegler, a Full Tilt qualifier, on a very tough hand.)
Today, as we move from fourteen to a TV table that will include seven players, timing may be everything. With so many players willing to put in so many chips on so little, it could be that poorly timed moves will decides some players’ fates.
As you look at pokerwire.com‘s live updates, don’t be surprised if you see a hand reported that makes you say, “why would he put his money in on those cards.” These guys play fast, and sometimes they’re going to get caught.
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(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
Full Tilt qualifier janpo_banon, otherwise known as Jonas Buskas, has spent most of the last few days looking miserable. The photo below (he’s on the left) gives a good representation of his demeanor as he played day two of the tournament.
In all fairness, Jonas had plenty of reasons to feel lousy. He was short stacked and card dead. What’s worse, he had one of the chip leaders, Haralabos Voulgaris, to his left for most of the day yesterday.
But oh what a difference a few cards can make. The Swede won a race with A-Q when his stack had fallen dangerously low, and then went on a rush. By late this afternoon he had accumulated over 500k in chips. He became a player to be reckoned with.
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(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
They were dropping like flies early in today’s first level. In only 45 minutes 20 players were eliminated. By the end of the level only 52 remained.
Most of the qualifiers who busted today seemed really happy with the way things had gone. Cashing in a major tournament was a major accomplishment for these players. The $15,000 or $20,000 they made here is going to add significantly to their bankrolls or maybe pay off some overdue bills.
As I was walking around the room chatting with the recently busted, I came upon Michael Horowitz, known online as IskillsI. He told me about his amazing luck at the close of yesterday’s session.
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(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
The final level of play last night moved at a glacial pace. The short stacks, including a number of Full Tilt qualifiers, were attempting to wait each other out. Around the room, there were a number of players who seemed on the verge of busting, so those who had a chance of sneaking into the money made the decision to fold their way into a $15,000 payday.
Meanwhile, some of the larger stacks went to work. Gus Hansen, for one, was open-raising nearly every time he got the chance. If he was called, he could be counted on for a post-flop bet. He managed to hit a couple of flops, which helped him accumulate even more chips.
Gus would have been even more of a terror if not for another big stack at his table who seemed perfectly content to play pots with Gus. This player also open-raised frequently, and for the better part of an hour, the two took nearly every pot.
A funny exchange occurred when, in one hand, it was folded to Gus in the small blind. He looked at his cards, then mucked, giving the big blind, Keith Sexton, a walk. Gus then had the button, and with a smile, he addressed the players who had moved into the blinds. “Remember that when I raise this hand,” he said. Then he said something about crafting a tight image.
When the bubble finally burst, a cheer went through the room. And shortly after that the tournament broke for the night. This afternoon, when play starts again, we’re sure to see a lot of gambling, as the short stacks look to double up and become competitive.
Questions or comments? I’ve set up an email that I’ll be checking for the rest of the Aussie Millions. Feel free to drop me a note at: ask_aussie_millions@yahoo.com.
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(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Aussie Millions, Jay Greenspan
In the picture below, you can see two of the Full Tilt online qualifiers for the Aussie Millions. On the far right of the picture is diplomat, and on the far left is shaniac.
diplomat is a poker hobbiest. An improv actor form LA, he plays the occasional live tournament at the Bike or Commerce. This is his second big buy-in tournament; his first was the 2006 WSOP, for which he qualified through Full Tilt. He got into the Aussie Millions through player points. He didn’t spend a dime to get here.
shaniac is a full-time pro. He’s one of the highest-rated online tournament players, and he’s well-respected on the tournament circuit. He had a WSOP final table in 2005, and he’s had several deep finishes in big tournaments. He also writes a blog about his poker experiences.
These are two players who both play on Full Tilt, but poker means very different things to these guys. One’s a hobbiest, and one’s a pro. And here they are.
How these and other qualifiers doing? Let’s have a look:
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(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, the truly wonderful thing about this tournament is the city in which it’s held. Since most who make a trip to a poker tournament will have a lot of time on their hands way before they want it, the surroundings and the availability of secondary activities is really important.
Happily, the Full Tilt qualifiers who have busted from the Main Event can now engage in two activities related to the Australian Open tennis tournament, which is played on grounds a couple of miles form the casino. They can A) watch tennis — a grounds pass is only $29; or B) they can stalk the tennis pros who are staying in our hotel.
Richard Brodie chose the later activity.
Richard with Maria Sharapova
Here’s the thing: I don’t blame him a bit.
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