Do have some hands I've written about for my own records, but wont bother about putting them here.
Some of the things I noticed: first day I knew I was in a work environment when there was basically zero talk at the table. Of the professionals I played against, Terrance Eischens was the best player - he adjusted very quickly to other opponents. He 6-bet light pre another player in a perfect spot, and made some other really good moves. He called a river bet with Q high on the river and the villain had J high in not the most obvious situaition to do so. I tried bluffing him on the river B v B but he just raised it. Elio Fox busted out running a very bad bluff in a very bad spot to do so; in one hand I was going to open light on Nick Yunis' BB but I looked over at him and his eyes were boring into me and I got the sense he was going try something on that hand. After the hand it was pretty obvious he'd just decided before the hand he was going to do something, and he ended up losing close to 100k in the hand in a bttn vs BB battle. That was the difference between someone like him and Eischens.
But that was the difficulty I had on the 2nd day - I didn't play enough hands. I got to the table, and the senior gent on my left had 110 k, then there was another small stack who busted quickly then Elio Fox who also busted reasonably early day two (I had one hand against him where I won by shoving turn after I c/r him flop) those two were replaced by some professional from South America who had 150k +, an Irish pro who had a stack who came from Ivey's table, and then Yunis (who busted one of the other APL players who basically isn't a good player - easy game when players are gifting you chips) who had a big stack going into day 2 and built on that very quickly taking Heimillers stack when Yunis rivered quads vs Heimillers KK. I was opening into 4 big stacks with only ~35k. I had a playable hand early day two with 98ss in MP, but didn't realise at that stage the table was much more flatty pre compared to my day one table - I folded to Heimillers EP open and would have doubled through in the hand - I was planning to 3 bet it but in the end just folded not knowing how this table was, and not willing to flat because it would open up a squeeze. I folded AQ off day 2 on the bttn when a pro snap 4 bet me all in pre, he'd replaced Randy from Georgia who had made his way to my day 2 table. The senior guy next to me flopped a set vs Randy's OP which was how the Georgian busted; this senior guy flopped sets, turned them, turned flshes etc all day while I was there. He was informing the table how he makes $ out of poker and I was thinking: "if you run like this all the time, I bet you do." He was the one who busted Fox in fairly bizarre fashion.
I got to my busto table latish day 2, and it was much softer - but I just had no stack. I ran KK into AQ off held by this enormous American sitting next to me (one break he just sat at the table the entire break) who 4 bet shoved it and binked an A. Next hand I had 6 BB left, shoved with KQ off over an open, get called by AK and flop and river a Q. From there ran up to ~ 20k, get it in with AA vs AK hh and double through to 40k, not long after that, blinds 600/1200, I open from UTG with AKo, get 3 bet, to 5900, I 4 bet to 12400 and called the 5 bet stuff. Overall it wasn't a great call by me - and I didn't even think about it to be honest. Obviously sometimes you should play AK like that around that blind-stack level, but this guy just hadn't 4 or 5 bet anything in the several hours I was there at the table so not surprising he had the nuts. I realised after I was just slowly going on tilt - I hadn't played enough hands being largely handcuffed at the previous table, and I was pretty desperate to get some chips to play on what was a pretty soft table. Losing with KK vs AQ didn't really help the mood I was in.
Of the other professionals I played with that I was able to find out who they were, I played with someone called Marco Leonzio who was on my starting day one table - I thought he had some pretty extensive leaks in his game. He defended EVERY big blind vs an open - he really should have had more chips because he busted Ylitalo when Ylitalo ran AK into AA b v b. Having said that he made some pretty sick river value bets that you would not see among amateur players.
Probably another thing I took from it is that the players are looking you up on the interwebz before play - the know for example you've had zero cashes and therefore you are a mark for them at the table, or if you've only played a hatful of major events etc. Anything you can do to propogate the view that you don't know what you're doing is good for you. There's like a pecking order among the pros where us fish are basically almost less then dirt - that doesn't really worry me because the aim of the game is not to prove your standing among them but to get their chips. One hand I played versus the Irish pro where I flatted KK in the BB vs his open and a flat, flop went JJ9ssh, he bets, player folds, I call. Turn Q, check check, river the A of spades - obv I'm not going to get paid. So its checked down I turn over KK and immediately he brings out the phone to check out who I am.
Before play started on day 2 I was talking the older guy next to me and asked him if it was his first ME, he said yes, I said yeah mine as well, I then added - "I've been to the Aussie Millions...." and was about to add "to rail some mates playing", but Elio Fox jumped and said: "have you also played the WSOP events in Sydney?" I said, "nah, mate, haven't played those", realising he'd not heard me properly, probably due to the accent (almost every convo with an American I had to repeat myself several times), I didn't bother to correct him, but a knowing smile broke across his face, as he'd obviously checked everyone out at the table beforehand and would have known I hadn't played the Aussie Millions. I was like, well if he wants to think that I'm not going to stop him, and in the end he played a couple of hands where I got some of his stack, probably thinking I was going to make some sort of mistake in the hands he could exploit.
Choc, the guy who cashed from the APL, played pretty well - he played a trappy game which I think is a fine way to play this event depending on the table, especially if you aren't 3/4/5 betting etc a lot preflop. He flatted a ton of premiums preflop after day 1, he obviously had a lot of hands hold (vs John Juanda he had QQ hold vs AK for example) but he also made some big folds while behind. The lone Victorian player I thought was a decent player just from talking to him, but he ran into cold decks - he had AQ vs A8cc, flop is Axx two clubs, turn is an A where the chips go in, 8 on the river. He finally busted with AK hh, flop is xQKhh, turn is the 5h giving him the nuts, they get the chips in, villan has a set of Q, 5 on the river. Busto.
Anyway, that's about all I have to say. Its a great event - the structure is sensational - if anyone is going to go from this forum in future years I would recommend staying at the venue. Its as seedy as but nothing beats being able to go back to your own room during a break.
Edit: apologies for the essay ha ha.
Double edit, obv made other mistakes but not playing enough hands was the most glaring one.
Some of the things I noticed: first day I knew I was in a work environment when there was basically zero talk at the table. Of the professionals I played against, Terrance Eischens was the best player - he adjusted very quickly to other opponents. He 6-bet light pre another player in a perfect spot, and made some other really good moves. He called a river bet with Q high on the river and the villain had J high in not the most obvious situaition to do so. I tried bluffing him on the river B v B but he just raised it. Elio Fox busted out running a very bad bluff in a very bad spot to do so; in one hand I was going to open light on Nick Yunis' BB but I looked over at him and his eyes were boring into me and I got the sense he was going try something on that hand. After the hand it was pretty obvious he'd just decided before the hand he was going to do something, and he ended up losing close to 100k in the hand in a bttn vs BB battle. That was the difference between someone like him and Eischens.
But that was the difficulty I had on the 2nd day - I didn't play enough hands. I got to the table, and the senior gent on my left had 110 k, then there was another small stack who busted quickly then Elio Fox who also busted reasonably early day two (I had one hand against him where I won by shoving turn after I c/r him flop) those two were replaced by some professional from South America who had 150k +, an Irish pro who had a stack who came from Ivey's table, and then Yunis (who busted one of the other APL players who basically isn't a good player - easy game when players are gifting you chips) who had a big stack going into day 2 and built on that very quickly taking Heimillers stack when Yunis rivered quads vs Heimillers KK. I was opening into 4 big stacks with only ~35k. I had a playable hand early day two with 98ss in MP, but didn't realise at that stage the table was much more flatty pre compared to my day one table - I folded to Heimillers EP open and would have doubled through in the hand - I was planning to 3 bet it but in the end just folded not knowing how this table was, and not willing to flat because it would open up a squeeze. I folded AQ off day 2 on the bttn when a pro snap 4 bet me all in pre, he'd replaced Randy from Georgia who had made his way to my day 2 table. The senior guy next to me flopped a set vs Randy's OP which was how the Georgian busted; this senior guy flopped sets, turned them, turned flshes etc all day while I was there. He was informing the table how he makes $ out of poker and I was thinking: "if you run like this all the time, I bet you do." He was the one who busted Fox in fairly bizarre fashion.
I got to my busto table latish day 2, and it was much softer - but I just had no stack. I ran KK into AQ off held by this enormous American sitting next to me (one break he just sat at the table the entire break) who 4 bet shoved it and binked an A. Next hand I had 6 BB left, shoved with KQ off over an open, get called by AK and flop and river a Q. From there ran up to ~ 20k, get it in with AA vs AK hh and double through to 40k, not long after that, blinds 600/1200, I open from UTG with AKo, get 3 bet, to 5900, I 4 bet to 12400 and called the 5 bet stuff. Overall it wasn't a great call by me - and I didn't even think about it to be honest. Obviously sometimes you should play AK like that around that blind-stack level, but this guy just hadn't 4 or 5 bet anything in the several hours I was there at the table so not surprising he had the nuts. I realised after I was just slowly going on tilt - I hadn't played enough hands being largely handcuffed at the previous table, and I was pretty desperate to get some chips to play on what was a pretty soft table. Losing with KK vs AQ didn't really help the mood I was in.
Of the other professionals I played with that I was able to find out who they were, I played with someone called Marco Leonzio who was on my starting day one table - I thought he had some pretty extensive leaks in his game. He defended EVERY big blind vs an open - he really should have had more chips because he busted Ylitalo when Ylitalo ran AK into AA b v b. Having said that he made some pretty sick river value bets that you would not see among amateur players.
Probably another thing I took from it is that the players are looking you up on the interwebz before play - the know for example you've had zero cashes and therefore you are a mark for them at the table, or if you've only played a hatful of major events etc. Anything you can do to propogate the view that you don't know what you're doing is good for you. There's like a pecking order among the pros where us fish are basically almost less then dirt - that doesn't really worry me because the aim of the game is not to prove your standing among them but to get their chips. One hand I played versus the Irish pro where I flatted KK in the BB vs his open and a flat, flop went JJ9ssh, he bets, player folds, I call. Turn Q, check check, river the A of spades - obv I'm not going to get paid. So its checked down I turn over KK and immediately he brings out the phone to check out who I am.
Before play started on day 2 I was talking the older guy next to me and asked him if it was his first ME, he said yes, I said yeah mine as well, I then added - "I've been to the Aussie Millions...." and was about to add "to rail some mates playing", but Elio Fox jumped and said: "have you also played the WSOP events in Sydney?" I said, "nah, mate, haven't played those", realising he'd not heard me properly, probably due to the accent (almost every convo with an American I had to repeat myself several times), I didn't bother to correct him, but a knowing smile broke across his face, as he'd obviously checked everyone out at the table beforehand and would have known I hadn't played the Aussie Millions. I was like, well if he wants to think that I'm not going to stop him, and in the end he played a couple of hands where I got some of his stack, probably thinking I was going to make some sort of mistake in the hands he could exploit.
Choc, the guy who cashed from the APL, played pretty well - he played a trappy game which I think is a fine way to play this event depending on the table, especially if you aren't 3/4/5 betting etc a lot preflop. He flatted a ton of premiums preflop after day 1, he obviously had a lot of hands hold (vs John Juanda he had QQ hold vs AK for example) but he also made some big folds while behind. The lone Victorian player I thought was a decent player just from talking to him, but he ran into cold decks - he had AQ vs A8cc, flop is Axx two clubs, turn is an A where the chips go in, 8 on the river. He finally busted with AK hh, flop is xQKhh, turn is the 5h giving him the nuts, they get the chips in, villan has a set of Q, 5 on the river. Busto.
Anyway, that's about all I have to say. Its a great event - the structure is sensational - if anyone is going to go from this forum in future years I would recommend staying at the venue. Its as seedy as but nothing beats being able to go back to your own room during a break.
Edit: apologies for the essay ha ha.
Double edit, obv made other mistakes but not playing enough hands was the most glaring one.
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