As expected my second session here in Macau was a bit more ‘swingy’ than the first one. Unfortunately ‘The Swinger Party’ was somewhat expensive as I rarely had the best hand at the river and tried one too many bluffs! I am currently playing my third session here in Macau and things were looking mighty fine until a 6 handed pre-flop pot turned into a 12 million (Hong Kong$) heads-up battle. As the smart reader has already figured out – I didn’t win it

Back to the table Gus

After a couple of weeks of poker-tourneys and Grand Slam tennis it is back to Macau. I did well last time I was there and it is right on the way back to Europe, so I decided to stop by again and see if the cards are still running in my favor. Straight from the airport, check-in at Wynn and then down to table where, John Juanda, Sam Trickett, Andrew Robl, Richard Yong and a couple of other guys were playing. A mixed box of Chocolate were I bluffed a couple of nice pots, but unfortunately got caught red-handed in some others. A relatively quiet day at the poker table and it is time to get some rest before an undoubtedly more swingy session tomorrow. Gus

I was a bit disappointed finishing on the bubble in the 100K event – Especially since I felt I had played pretty good along the way, but….

The disappointment did not come from some bad breaks at the end. It came from me completely losing my mind and making what can only be described as a terrible tournament blunder at the end. I have of course tried to defend my hyper aggressive play in my mind, but no matter how I twist and turn it – It was and will always be a mistake! So on a mental note to my self I really have to be careful butting heads with the chip leader, especially being 2^nd in chips.

Enough 100K event – and a quick change of scenery to the 250K buy-in event. A lucky 3 outer against Durrrr sent him to the rail, a cold deck (flush vs. flush) sent me back to even, and then against Richard Yong I had to get lucky once more completing a flush draw against top set. All in all I was, with some good fortune, humming along, building my chips and arriving at the final table as chip leader. But once again I squandered my lead and with 4 players left it looked like I might be the Bubble-Boy once again. Fortunately the blinds were rather large compared to our stack-sizes and Daniel Negreanu went all-in with A-8 over the top of Patrik Antonius’ JJ – no Ace and we were down to 3. Interestingly enough I had folded AQ just the hand before to Phil Ivey’s all-in. The first and probably last time I will fold AQ in a 4-handed short-stacked situation, but I ‘Really’ felt I was beat. Afterwards Phil said he had AQ as well, but I am not sure I can trust that statement? After all is said and done I am happy to cash in a big buy-in event as I felt I was going through a minor dry spell in those events

Djokovic Vs. Nadal start in 2 hours! I have re-invented my sports betting career and made a big bet on Nadal in the semifinal against Federer, but I don’t know what to make of this Australian Open Final apart from expecting some great tennis! Gus

I do Love the lead out! I think it is great way to build up a bluff and at the same time it might also be the most efficient way to build a Huge pot when you have a big hand. I am as we speak playing the 100K buyin event at the Aussie Millions and this hand came up against long time Compadre Tony Bloom. Blinds are 500-500, everybody has a 100K starting stack and we are playing 7 handed. I make it 1500 to go with the J9 of hearts, Tony makes it 4000 from the button and I call. Flop is the beautiful KT of hearts with the deuce of clubs. I check, he bets 6500 and I call. With such a potent hand I of course have plenty of options, this time around I just opted for the quiet “Wait-and-see-what-happens”. Turn is the 6 of hearts and it is time to cash in on what looks like a winning hand. In this spot I think way too many players go for the ‘Tricky’ check raise – problem is that it is not tricky at all, and fails to get money in the pot against a lot of decent value hands that will simply check behind. So I bet 16500 into a 22k pot and Tony calls. I haven’t decided what to do if another heart comes on the river, but fortunately I don’t have to worry as the 5 of spades comes sailing. I bet 44k hoping for the call, fearing the raise and expecting a fold. No surprises, Tony folds and I rake in a healthy sized pot. Could I have won more taking a different turn along the way? I guess we will never know Gus

Played The Tournament of champions here at the Aussie Millions. 8 former winners of the Main Event were battling for a lifetime entry into the Aussie Millions – A prize that could be worth from 10K til 100K+ depending on how much poker you are planning to play the next 20 years. I was as in Macau happy with my performance at the table, but it wasn’t enough to pull it out as I finished in 4^th place. One could argue I tried one too many bluffs, but then again “I do like to bluff” Tomorrow is the 100K buy-in event with hopefully about 30 players. Good Nite from Melbourne Gus

Arrived in Australia a couple of days ago and slowly getting acclimated. Poker hasn’t started yet – at least not the tournaments I am interested in. There is a handfull of tourneys catching my eye, ranging from the Main Event 10K buy-in, to the super duper High-Roller 250K buy-in. There is also 25K and a 100K in between and chances are I will play them all. Haven’t played any cash games as of yet, but with my recent win in Macau I feel well prepared for some NL Hold’ Em action.

Australian Open in tennis is humming along and I went there to see Caroline Wozniacki slowly but surely move into the 3^rd round (and now 4^th round) – Hopefully she can keep it up and improve on her semi-final loss from last year!

As they say ‘Down Under’ Later Mates Gus

My third 24 session is in the bag and fortunately I was able to get a good sleep afterwards. So now that I am fresh and rejuvenated I guess I can squeeze in another session before it is off to Melbourne, Aussie Millions in poker and Australian Open in Tennis.

This session was more up and down than the previous 2 sessions and at one point I found myself on the good end of a cold deck in a 3-way all-in where I was holding Aces – unfortunately as the old expression says ‘Easy comes, easy goes’ I was also holding Jacks vs. Queens in another huge all-in hand. At first it looked like I was going away with both as a Jack hit the flop, but a Queen came sailing in on the river making it a fair 1 win, 1 loss outcome.

As far as the whole playing experience here in Macau I have only positive things to say – The game is very well organized by Poker King Club manager Mr. Winfred Yu and played in an extremely pleasant environment with good service for all the players. On top of that all the players have an unprecedented good attitude towards the game – the game is played in a good spirited way with a lot of laughs and giggles – and a respectful demeanor towards each other and the staff and dealers! I actually think a lot of poker pro’s out there could learn a lot on how to behave at the poker table from watching this game!

Maybe I am just getting older but I never thought I would see an entire group outlasting me at the poker table? These guys have stamina like marathon runners – Session after session they keep on going and although I tried to hang with them for a while, I was so tired in the end I had to throw in the towel, give up and go to bed. Over and out from Macau Gus

There is not a lot of time to write blogs when you constantly are playing 24 hour poker sessions, sleeping for 8 hours, going to the gym for 45 minutes and then back to the poker table again. So any thorough update of who was playing and how some of the big hands played out will be a couple days out in the future – Time to sleep Gus

So I did end up playing in the big game in Macau – I have just finished a 24 hour session with plenty of big hands. I am too tired to write about them now and will quickly head to bed – but tomorrow I will give a little taste of what happened Gus

Arrived in Hong Kong after a 15 hour flight and my friend Mr. Gwinner is picking me up at Hong Kong Central station. One day here in Hong Kong and then off to Macau with my Friend Buster arriving from Denmark tomorrow. The more I think about it the less chance there is I will be playing in some million dollar buy-in No Limit Hold Em game in Macau – but maybe once I get there the good old bug called ‘Degenerate Gambling’ will get a hold of me and make me change my mind.

I am also wondering whether I will be bumping in to some former Full Tilt Pro’s? Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey and Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan to name a few that has been seen in the vicinity of Macau high stakes poker games.

We will see what tomorrow brings Gus