Could it be true?

Mickey : Your nose is broken.
Rocky : How does it look?
Mickey : Ah, it's an improvement.

"Rocky"

Would you believe it, I think poker might just be making it big here in Australia. For the first time ever, Party Poker has started advertising on Australian free-to-air television. This is great news, as obviously their interest in the country is growing as the country finally learns about the big poker boom going on in the rest of the world. Our National Poker championships next year will attract a record crowd and prize, and I just learned that the casino in Canberra (our nation's capital, about 4 hours from Sydney) has a few No limit tournaments a week. Man, I wish I could afford the time and money to go give it a shot. Poker, my friends, has finally landed on my soil.

Had a quiet weekend poker wise, but still a small profit or $24 or so. On pacific I played in 2 20 man SNG, finishing 9th and 2nd. Nothing super to note about either tournament, only that I am doing well at getting into the top four early then staying there for the majority of the tournament. Happy to say when I was knocked out it was by a 3-outer on the river so you can't help that. When I came 2nd it was on a coin-flip when I had AK verus pocket nines I think. I was happy to walk away with a profit on the week, although if I had won it would have moved the bank roll to $499.99. Not a bad effort, but just short.

And something dreadful happened. Bored on Saturday, the distraction decided she wanted to play poker. I really didn't feel like playing against her heads up as it is boring, but it did not matter because she wanted to play online. Ok, sure, there are plenty of free rolls she can have a crack at. Uh, no. She has heard me speak of the evils of free rolls (lets get this straight. My bank roll would be $0.00 if it wasn't for free rolls, ok?), she wants to play in some low-limit stuff. Oh shit. She wants to "experiment" with my bank roll. This could be disastrous. Salvation came when I remembered that I still have about $2 worth of bonus points over at Poker Pages. So with myself watching and coaching from the couch, she gave a couple of micro limit SNG's a go. The first was a 10 cent game, where maniacs go all-in first hand with 89 suited. With me throwing a few comments out there ("I don't care if they are suited, 4 and 5 are shit - fold.") she managed to get into the money. After some silly plays from the others, and some tight play from her, she managed to win the 50 cent first prize. Joy! I was happy for two reasons, obviously because the win adds ever so slightly to my over all bank roll and secondly because now she has won she won't be pissed off. If she had lost early, I would be forced to find alternate means of entertainment for my now very-annoyed distraction. But alas, she was not satisfied and wanted more (don't start, I know what you are thinking.). She sat down at the 50 cent table, keen to make more profit. While still very low limit, the tables can be tricky. It usually has a mix of the "It's only 50 cents, screw it" maniacs and the "I need to win this to convert into real money" tight players. What do you know, she was going well - but I must admit every semi-tough decision was referred to me. "What about Queen 8?" I replied with nothing. "Does that mean fold?". Damn straight. She was learning.

I did notice something as this game progressed. It didn't seem as hard as before. I haven't played here in probably two months. Maybe it was just a good run of cards, I'm not sure, but everything was working. When I told her to under-bet the nuts to induce a bluff, it worked. When she over bet the flop of AQ6 with 62 it worked. When heads up, the board showed QQJJ2, and the other player went all in. We had Ace high, and she was about to fold when I said no, I reckon the Ace is good, give it a go. With $13K of the $15K available in this one pot, I told her to call his all-in and he showed 9T for a busted straight. Not a bad bet really on his behalf, but an excellent call to take home the $2.50 first prize. All up the profit was $2.34 (once you take out entrance fees) which doubled the bank roll for the site. Not a bad turn out in the end.

With Halo 2 due out in less than 24 hours, it looks like my poker playing opportunities will be limited for the next few...well, months. When you consider all the bloody Christmas functions coming up and a trip to Melbourne for the big day, poker doesn't look like playing a big part. No matter, at least I can still catch up on all the happenings with the other bloggers out there.