Australian Poker Tour March 2021

 

I've really enjoyed my time here at the Gold Coast Australian Poker Tour. While I've been here I have met some great people, ate some great food and of course played some Poker! In the end I played 4 tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $120 - $1,200 AUD. Despite making two day twos in the $1k "Player's Champs" and in the $1.2k "The Grind" I did not cash in any of them. This did not detract from the experience however, as I feel it has been very beneficial for the future. This series included two of the biggest buy-in tournaments I've ever played and I'm very grateful for having been given that opportunity by my Stakers. As this series draws to a close I am looking forward to getting back to my usual grinding routine and who knows maybe another APT will be on the horizon for me...

Fresh Opportunities

Two months into 2021 and some things have changed. First of all I am now part of a different stable called Standard Backing. 

The transition so far has been smooth. I like the extra coaching and the the community seems pretty cool too! I am playing similar stakes online, however in addition to this I have been given an oppurtunity to play a live series in 2 weeks time. The series is called the Australian Poker Tour and I will be playing tournaments ranging form $120 AUD to $1,200 AUD buy-ins. I am very excited about this event and I am looking forward to giving it my best shot!

2020

 Here's my 2020 graphs:

It's been a good year, but I want more! Bring on 2021!

Some goals:

• Double my volume
• Double my winrate

How am I going to do this? 

The first one is simple (in theory). If I can double my table count from 6 to 12 then I can potentially play 1,000,000 hands next year. However, it's not so easy (in practice) because I currently only play on 2 sites and their schedules don't line up very well. This means that to achieve this I would have to put in some serious hours. Food for thought... Another option is to add a 3rd site, which I will look into, to see if that helps.

The second one is theoretically achievable because I'm told that the best regs at my stakes are winning at a rate of 10-15bbs/100hands. How can I better myself though? More theoretical study! I'm in the process of arranging a study group that will meet weekly with other members of my stable to add to the sessions that we take part in with our stakers. On top of this I will try and study by myself for an hour a day.

If I could achieve both of these goals in 2021 then presumably a doubled winrate could translate to a doubling of this year's total ROI (16.6%). So, twice as many hands and twice the winrate means that I could break the 6 figures profit threshold and make $100k+ without changing stakes (this year's ABI was $37.44). But with MTT's you never know!

Curveball

 

This graph shows my Big Blinds won over the last month against the hands I've played:

Covid-19 meant I could not go to Costa Rica for the Live Cage event which has been postponed indefinately. In fact I cancelled my flights ( I was given credit with the airlines) two days before departure! And I was lucky too, because I would have been stuck somewhere along this route:

Australia - UK - USA - Costa Rica - USA - UK - Australia

The most likely place I would be right now is the UK as the various border laws changed shortly after I cancelled my flights.

So instead I'm here in Australia, where about a month ago I signed a new staking deal with a couple of very strong players, that includes coaching, both in a group and privately. The deal is structured to be a longterm one and I anticipate it will be beneficial to all parties. This deal has freed up some funds for pimping my grind-station which now includes a treadmill desk with a 24" monitor as well a 30" & a 27" monitor with a beast of a PC (inc. 64gb of RAM and an SSD HD).

So far I'm in profit and I'm happy! So I'm looking to build on this. At the moment I'm 6 tabling on one monitor but a.s.a.p I hope to be able to play 10-12 on two monitors without sacraficing too much of my winrate. If I can do this, and it remains to be seen, then I estimate I can play 1 million hands in a year. My coaches and I are aiming for a winrate of 15bb/100 hands at low to mid stakes. Aim high! What this translates to in ROI I am, as yet unsure, but my coaches think $100k / year USD is a realistic target. I'll take that!

I'm going to Costa Rica!!!!!!!!

I won a package worth $8.3k to travel to Costa Rica and play in the $5k live Cage event run by WPN. This will be my first ever trip to Central America and I am really looking forward to it! The package covers all expenses inc. hotel, flights etc. as well as the Buy-in for the event which should be a very interesting 12 hours of Poker (if I last that long). 

The event is a hybrid of cash and tournament Poker where your chips have a real monetary value and can be cashed out after two six hour days of play IF you have any left. However, only 25% of the field usually make it to the end of day two because the blinds rise as the event progresses much like in a tournament. Also the tables are 6 max and there is a Button Ante and these factors will of course induce more action.

Whether I win or lose though I'm getting a free trip to one of the world's most naturally beautiful places. Costa Rica here I come!

My Biggest Live Score

I finished 2nd out of 251 entrants for $6,500 Australian Dollars on Sunday 3rd November 2019. This was my biggest live score to date. It was a 2 day (3 venue) pub tournament that "Shark Poker" runs a version of once a quarter. I always make an effort to play these events as they offer an excellent structure for an affordable buy-in.

This tournament was an accumulator with four day 1's and the option to re-enter twice on each day. The idea is you can add your stacks together from each day 1 that you play ($180 per entry) and move them forward to day 2. I played only one day 1 (the one easiest for me to get to) and had 1 re-entry so was in for $360 all-up.

Day 2 was played across 2 venues, the first was a Bowls club and the second a pub. The event was really well run overall and had a good atmosphere. I made day 2 with a below average stack but managed to luckbox my way into the chiplead by the time the final table came around! The structure made for a fairly fast final table with several out busting early in this top heavy event. When we got to 3-handed play though it seemed to go on forever with me surviving on ~20bbs by reshoving and open jamming a lot (to avoid being put in tough ICM spots). The payouts were:

1st: $11,000
2nd: $6,500
3rd: $4,000

The player who finished 3rd refused to deal. Eventually a 3-way hand developed on a paired board where I bluffed the turn and both players called. At this point I gave up with 6 high and the two big stacks collided (full house vs trips with A kicker) leaving one crippled. The next hand I busted the other shorty and was HU vs the other player pictured (left) who had a huge chiplead. After taking down a few pots with shoves pre-flop I had 10bbs but that soon halved as I lost a pot with 2nd pair vs top set. The next hand was to be the last as I ripped 5bbs in pre from the button with T7o and was called by ATs and that was all she wrote! GG.

I'm on TV

Yo! I'm on Twitch.