“It’s a great accomplishment, for shizzle. Mo cheddah tha beddah, am I right!?! I’m an awesome poker player and you’re an awesome writer. High five!”

While this interview didn’t take place outside of my head, what is real is the tremendous force Phil Ivey has evolved into.  The poker juggernaut finished 7th last year in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event AFTER winning bracelets in both the $2,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball and $2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo / 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo events. All of these accomplishments can be added to a long laundry list of tourney clinics he has run, including:

•         2005 – 1st – $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha for $635,603
•         2005 – 1st – Monte Carlo Millions for $1 million
•         2002 – 1st – $1,500 7 Card Stud for $132,000
•         2002 – 1st – $2,000 S.H.O.E. for $107,540
•         2002 – 1st – $2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo for $118,440
•         2000 – 1st – $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha for $195,000
•         A record eight World Poker Tour final tables

While the bracelets and their prestige are certainly part of any man’s motivation, the more substantial force propelling Ivey to compete at his highest level are the prop bets he places on himself.  As some sort of sick degen’s placeholder on one’s own confidence and ability, prop bets stand to lose the average Joe more money than he’s worth when their pride fails them. When you’re Ivey good, it’s just another day at the office.

Depending on which story you choose to believe, it is estimated that his win last year in the No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball event has made him somewhere between $3  to $12 million, making his $96,367 cash look like a spot on the moon. Major implications were also in place if he finished first in the Main Event, where he stood to win millions more from the likes of pros Andy Bloch, Phil Gordan, and Tom “durrr” Dwan.

They say the sky is the limit, but at this rate, Ivey is on course to shoot straight into the sun. Years behind Helmuth and Brunson and Chan in age, he’s well on course to be the all-time leading bracelet winner atop the Mt. Olympus of the poker who’s who. What’s next for the world’s greatest poker player? Only time will tell.

Tyron Krost, a Bondi, Australia resident, took down the Main Event of the Aussie Millions after a week of intensely played poker.

Krost is 23 years old and beat a field of 746 players en route to the $2Million AUD victory Down Under. He qualified for the event through online satellites (that could be you!) and spent about $700 in the process – by my math, that’s a pretty solid investment.

That was Krost’s first major tournament victory; he previously cashed in two events at the 2008 WSOP. This showing at the Crown Casino was certainly the highlight of his growing career.

Tyron likened the win to a dream that he didn’t want to wake up from. He went on to say that he’s more interested in poker than the family furniture business… I think that’s a no brainer.

Krost’s play turned dominant in the final day of competition as he knocked out 5 players, including second place Frederik Jensen.

Aussie Million Main Event Final Table Results:

1st: Tyron Krost – $2,000,000
2nd: Frederik Jensen – $1,100,000
3rd: Sorel Mizzi – $715,000
4th: Kosta Varoxis – $450,000
5th: Peter Jetten – $350,000
6th: Steve Friedlander – $250,000
7th: Annette Obrestad – $175,000
8th: Stephen Shelly – $125,000

Smith’s J5 of diamonds fell to Obrestad’s A8 of diamonds when she paired the Ace on the floop.

15th out of the field of 746 players is good for $75,000AUD. That’s just another consistent finish for Elliot Down Under. His third place showing last year was better, but I’m sure he’s happy with the showing.

We’ll be catching up with him next week to get his thoughts on the tourney, his upcoming events and anything else that was goign on in Melbourne.

Another report from Shane down at the Aussie Millions with CarbonPoker Players

Day 3 opened with only one Carbon Poker survivor, Elliot “ilikebiggirls” Smith. Elliot had run riot over day one almost recklessly attacking every table he sat down at, while day two saw Elliot switching gears with other aggressors at his table he had to chose his spots more carefully come day  3 he needed a little of both.

He started the day chipping up hard, possibly the biggest pot came from a fantastic read. With a 6KT85 boards featuring 3 hearts Elliot bet out onto to have his opponent make it another 150k to play. Elliot gave him his patented stare looking for a read and got it when his opponent got up from the table to avoid the stare, embarrassingly being told by the dealer to take his seat. Elliot made the call and his QT of hearts was good for a queen high flush and the pot, his opponent showing 78 of spades.

His early aggression along saw a couple of bustouts which led to his table breaking, his new assignment was both a dream and a nightmare. Two places to his right… 2007 Aussie Millions champion Gus Hansen. On his left… poker legend Barry Greenstin and the best female player left the field Annette Obrestad. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place! After staying quiet for a few orbits Elliot found his groove. Looking at a huge Gus Hansen raise from the button he asks Gus for a count of his stack and goes deep into the tank, even deeper than usual. Elliot reraises and finds a Gus fold, I guess he read Gus’s book showing every hand of his 2007 win!

The next big hand of his tournament saw him take down not just the pot but a sweet souvenir. Barry Greenstein finally made his last shove holding KQ all diamonds and was called down by Elliots AQ all hearts, Elliots hand held up and to go along with the chips and of course the thrill off knocking out a legend of poker he got an personalised autographed copy of Barry’s book with a description of the hand inscribed. Now there is a souvenir you can’t buy in the shops!

While watching this table a Russian media group interviewed Gus and gave him a Russian doll as a gift, Gus looked like a kid at Christmas pulling apart the doll at the table.

At the dinner break its down to 36 remaining players and play moves up to the TV studio, a redraw of the tables see’s Elliot very happy to be getting away from the established pro’s with a table of unknowns. Unfortunately the  fish feeding frenzy he was looking for didn’t eventuate and throughout the evening he started to bleed chips. Late in the night he did catch one break  when he doubled through the then chip leader with his KQ offsuit making a higher pair than his opponents pocket 8’s sending Elliot to day 4 with 410,000 chips.

While the piece doesn’t feature too much of our boy, it’s just another feather in his cap as he rolls along, looking for Aussie glory.

The Greenstein interview that follows is pretty dull, as the guy seems pretty bummed for someone that just won $20,000.

Later on, Smith also doubled up his stack through chip leader Kosmas Dratsas to end Day 3 of playing. Nice.

Thanks to PokerNews.com for the great vid. Their reporting and production value are awesome, as usual.

Day 1 is often about survival, just looking for the satisfaction of getting through the early stages of a major tournament. Day 2 is a very different beast, not those that are left are all looking to make some moves and get ahead. Day 2 of the Aussie Millions saw 4 of the 7 Carbon Poker qualifiers at the felt looking for glory.

Jonatan “FATSTAKK” Soderstrom

Unfortunately for FATSTAKK the new day didn’t bring any new action. While he at least did finally get a new table the situation for him was much the same. Another move saw him get some time at the TV table under the bright lights but sadly that didn’t help either. Not a single premium hand for two days saw his stack slowly grind down, eventually he was forced to get it all-in with AT. He got a call and his opponent flipped up AK to have him dominated, a position which changed quickly when he flopped a ten to take the lead. Things again changed quickly when a king came down on the river and the reddest Swede I have ever seen was sent to the rail.

Rob “bigdoggy1234″ Ludlow

The little big dog with the big heart kept hanging around on day 2. He played some shortstack poker over these two days that Barry Greenstein would have been proud of. bigdoggy had struggled to get calls for most of day one, begging and pleading for a double up, day 2 was much of the same every time he fired at a pot his opponent got out of the way. After taking one such hand with a shove at the flop he fired out a preflop raise, only this time his opponent fired back and pushed all-in over the top of him. bigdoggy went deep into the tank for few minutes before turning his cap backwards and shoving all his chips in. Bigdoggy showed AQ vs his opponents  77 and we were off to the races. Clearly a greyhound bigdoggy took the early lead catching two aces on the flop, streaking off to the win with blanks on the turn and river. He finally gets his double up!

bigdoggy’s next big hand came up against a young lady. Yesterday’s readers would have already heard of, Haley from Hawthorne. The rather attractive Haley [ed note - Shane did not get a date] has spent plenty of time at the felt with our players and after the next hand she probably wishes she didn’t. She got the last of her chips in with 88 and after tanking for a few minutes bigdoggy called her down with AK. The AK hit and unfortunately I’d be seeing no more of Haley this week and she was sent to the rail with her partner. A few at the table were quite upset with what they thought was a slowroll from doggy. Being the slight underdog in the hand he assures me he wasn’t all that comfortable risking what was almost all his chips in a race. But as we have seen before, this is one doggy that always seems to catch the rabbit. (Yes more greyhound references!)

Bigdoggy’s luck couldn’t last all day and he was eventually our next loss for the day. On a 524 flop he fired his last 35k into the middle getting called down by pocket 3’s. With AT in hand doggy was well behind and clearly a front runner he never caught up and was sent to the rail.

While watching bigdoggy’s table I caught what had to be the hand of the day. A short stack pushed all-in for his last 40k or so in chips and was called down by one of the biggest stacks at the table. Immediately to the left of that stack was another big stack who came all-in over the top. These two older gentlemen had spent most of the day side by side and the original caller clearly had a great read laying down his hand, showing the table his pocket kings as he did so. The bigger all-in showed pocket aces and the folder was quickly patting himself on the back for an amazing lay down. The short stack showed AT and was clearly dominated no matter who he went to the showdown with. This hand was not finished with its twists and turns though as no sooner had the folder started to feel good a king rained down on the flop, with no ace to follow he had in fact folded what would have been a set of kings. Sometimes you just need the extra cahoonas to make the big calls and without them you are left to lament what could have been, this had to be one of those times.

Dustin “DrextheTex” Drexel

Drex had been up and down on day 1, and this was how day two was always going to play out. Never shy to mix it up Drex got into plenty of good spots he just needed some cards to fall his way for a good run deep in the tourney. The luck was mixed from the start back to back pocket jacks saw him steal a pot one hand but then lose the showdown on the next. His biggest hand of the day saw him flop a straight against top pair when his 78 caught JT9 on the flop up against Q5. The straight held up and he was soon the chip leader of our remaining qualifiers with over 120k in chips.
That lead evaporated in the blink of an eye though. Still with over 100k in chips looking at an A44JK board Tex came hard over the top and moved all-in. Unfortunately he was called down and his opponents JJ had rivered a straight and were good, sending the big Tex to the rail. Still on Tex he surely wins the photo of the day with the sweet shot of his mirrored sunglasses, now thats a poker face!

Elliot “ilikebiggirls” Smith

After just running amok in his day 1 throwing chips at nearly every pot, ilikebiggirls needed to find a new gear on day 2 when he sat down with several big stacks including Aussie WSOP bracelet winner Mark Vos. He settled down for a long day patiently waiting for the right spots, which for the most of the day were few and far between. One such spot was ending a tank off with an opponent by throwing a raise at a 55J94 board, his opponent mucked and he showed pocket Q’s. As the day wore on he slowly found his mojo again which made keeping tabs on his rather tricky. I couldn’t even take a bathroom break, coming back to his table I see him raking in another pot. Word is he turned a straight throwing in 20k for good measure only to have his opponent move all in for 66k. ilikebiggirls made the call and was up over 160k.

That stack slowly dwindled again and he looked to be falling back out of the groove, he needed something special to get his groove back and got it and then some. If one hand defines this tournament for him this just might be it. Back to his raisey daisy self he ran into another reraise. This time he tanked long and hard before eventually putting his tournament life on the line moving all-in. His opponent didn’t waste time putting his chips in making the call and suddenly ilikebiggirls was regretting his move. He cursed as the hands were turned over his K8 was dominated by AT and needed a lot of help. His opponent asked him why on earth he was risking all his chips there and he replied “you weren’t supposed to call!” As the dealer dealt the board ilikebiggirls asked for two 8’s, his prayers were answered with an 8 on the flop and one on the river for good measure, doubling him up nicely.

He turned from the table and yelled “SUCK IT ONE TIME” possibly referring to his suckout… or to his condescending opponent. He had clearly just rattled the cage of the biggest stack at his table who was now steaming with disgust. ilikebiggirls wasn’t finished sucking out though he soon got into another big hand calling an all-in shove over his reraise for 60k going to the flop behind AQ vs AK. KJJ on the flop put him further behind but also gave him some outs, outs which came good with a ten on the turn completing his straight, and delivering another huge suckout. Back with a pile of chips again he returns to his day 1 self, raising nearly every pot, the few times he is called he often has to check his cards as if he hadn’t even looked properly before he raised.

Ever the aggressor ilikebiggirls couldn’t help but get involved in the last hand of the night. The only woman at his table threw a raise at his big blind, he tanks (I’m not sure you can call a 5 minute decision a tank for him now… its just standard) eventually reraising quickly seeing a call. Q5A comes down on the flop and he casually throws 15k at a 50k pot, his opponent tanks but lays it down drawing the ire of her husband as she bags up her chips. ilikebiggirls goes to day 3 with a very healthy 267,500.

The husband lecturing the wife after the last hand is something I always find amusing in the poker room. Players still in the tournament or just getting knocked out always seem to be getting lectured by someone who didn’t get anywhere near as far as they did about how they played hands. How can you criticise someone who did better than you???

Time for a quick drink tonight with the players who have been eliminated and then back to the felt to see how far Elliot “ilikebiggirls” Smith can go.

DrextheTex had just driven into town from a road trip down the east coast of Australia but probably looked the most relaxed, Lord33 was bursting with energy ready to get going, KiwiGreg looked the most nervous, while bigdoggy 1234 staved off his nerves with a couple of shots of liquor and FATSTAKK just looked red, REALLY red. There is an Australian saying “slip, slop slap” which is short for slip on a tee shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat. FATSTAKK only had the teeshirt out of those three for a day at the tennis and it showed! This was made worse by the fact he has actually lived in Australia for 6 months previously in Sunny Queensland, he really should know better.

KiwiGreg was the first to go out, in fact I’m yet to see him since the first break so I’m left to assume he went out. After looking the most nervous before play he settled in quite well and looked very comfortable at the felt. Early on he check raised a 3 way KQ2 all hearts flop taking it down uncontested showing the low flush with 10-8 of hearts. He played quite a few hands early, losing some chips when his AQ ran into an AK on a KQJ flop. He was well alive at the first break with 12k in chips, his only lament was having his AA cracked. Things must have taken a turn for the worst soon after the break though because by the time I came past his table again his seat had been filled and I haven’t been able to track him down since! I will update you as soon as I find him.

Lord33 was the next to go out. He had played some nice calm poker all day, his only complaint of his early play was not pulling the trigger on one last bet in one hand. Holding 3-4 of hearts on a A23 flop he checked and called when his opponent raised. A 4 on the turn gave him two pair and a straight draw to go along with his straight draw, he bet out, his opponent raised and he made a decision that he regretted later, he just called. A blank card on the river left him with a low 2 pair and when his opponent bet out he laid down his hand, if he had that hand over I dare say he would come over the top hard on the turn. He survived a couple more levels not losing chips but not really gaining any, he eventually managed to push his short stack in the middle in a decent situation, a classic race AK vs 99. The nines held up and he was out, not too unhappy with his days play, but still lamenting the hand that got away.

With two players knocked out the pace really slowed, especially compared to the previous days play were Elliot raised almost every pot. All three players were struggling to find action but stayed patient forever looking for decent spots, not panicking and throwing their chips away.

A couple of observations from around the poker room… firstly the best footwear of the day should probably go to Mark Vos who was wearing teeshirt shorts and the hotel slippers at the tables. He tells me his thongs were hurting his feet and he hates wearing shoes at a tourney so it was an obvious choice.

The other observation is on table image. Throughout the poker room there are plenty of players trying to put together different table images, none came even close to one girl. Seen bouncing across the poker room between hands was a busty blonde girl in the shortest of shorts, a tight bright yellow teeshirt finishing the whole look off with pig tails. I hold grave fears for any hot blooded men at her table, I have a bad feeling she knew exactly what she was doing.

FATSTAKK spent most of the day sharing a table with the ever aggressive Tony G. This meant he had to be careful where he picked his spots, but when he did he wasn’t afraid to pull the trigger. In one such hand with J8A8 already on the board FATSTAKK threw out a big raise which Tony called down sending them to the river possibly looking to make a move. A 10 landed on the river and FATSTAKK quickly shoved all in ending any chance of Tony pushing him off his hand. Tony quickly mucked and FATSTAKK took it down unchallenged. Later in the evening FATSTAKK showed he could also play from behind calling raises on every street to a AJ39A board showing J8 for a higher two pair. Through the entirety of day one FATSTAKK never got a premium hand, however he just kept grinding away and was eventually rewarded sneaking through to day 2 with 33,700 in chips.

DrextheTex was described to me as being a linebacker, they really weren’t wrong. The guy is HUGE! I’m sure he was never afraid to mix it up on the field in his football days, and his table demeanour is no different. Mixing it up unfortunately sure him shipping chips away early, quickly getting down on chips. He finally found some traction with a nice hand against an even nicer young lady Haley. With just DrextheTex and Hailey to a QT4 flop DrextheTex bet out on every street and was called down all the way by Hailey. Hailey flipped AT for middle pair crushed by DrextheTex’s pocket fours that had flopped their way into a set.

This was the second time Haley had been at a table with one of our qualifiers in fact it seemed like every time a table broke she was moved to share the felt with another Carbon qualifier. Back to the felt and DrextheTex’s early losses may have led to him being a little gun shy, at one stage in the early evening a short stack  shoved all-in over the top of him and he turned to myself and DADuhWEEwah on the rail and showed us his A5 as he folded. DADuhWEEwah was disgusted and told DrextheTex it was a snap call for him in that spot, advice that soon paid off.

Drex once again had a shorter stack shove over the top of him and this time after thinking it over he called it down, his opponent showed 88’s for a slight lead over Drex’s A9 all diamonds. Drex’s stress didn’t take long to be relieved as he flopped two diamonds followed by diamonds on both the turn and the river cementing win, flushing his opponent to the rail. A move up to the feature tables in the studio slowed down Drex’s action considerably, but he was able to roll into day 2 with a decent stack of 65,000.

Last but not least of todays runners was the little dog that could, also known as bigdoggy1234. I haven’t patience like he showed since my poor mother had to raise me. bigdoggy was quick to get a small stack when his pocket 8’s went up against KT and K hit on the flop, that dropped him quickly down to 11k setting the scene for the rest of the day. There were two chapters to his day. The first chapter was the longest run of pots taken without a flop dealt that I have ever seen. Literally not a single person would see a flop with him but at least he was taking some small pots down. The small pots didn’t keep coming and the blinds eventually forced him to break one of his remaining 5k chips, eventually taking him down under 8k and in trouble. Ever the fighter he got up off the canvas in one hand. Raising preflop he found one caller 567 all spades on the flop saw him raise and get called again. A 7 of clubs came on the turn and bigdoggy1234 put his tournament life on the line for the first of MANY times forcing the fold from his opponent and at least moving back up to a 5 figured chip stack.

This leads me to the second chapter of the day, a chapter called “Can’t someone just double me up one time?” He begged, he pleaded, he even asked nicely but for the rest of the night no matter how many times his chips were shoved in the middle he just couldn’t get a call. Instead he had to just grind the day out eventually surviving to day 2 with just 800 less chips than what he started the day with. Hopefully his prayers get answered and someone doubles up his 19,200 chips early on day 2.

As the night dragged on there was one other non-Carbon point of interest… a John Juanda sighting. Talk about the forgotten man of tournament poker. With all the new kids dominating the block I had completely forgotten about him. Good to see him back at the felt, too bad his chip stack probably wont keep him in the tournament for too much longer.

CarbonPoker correspondant, Shane, is back with another update from Down Under.

Day 2 of the Aussie Millions saw again only one Carbon Poker runner. This was a relief some 13 hours later as our one entrant for the day kept me busier than one player really should!

Elliot “ilikebiggirls” Smith showed quite early he was going to play a lot of pots, and getting called down or losing pots was not going to change his strategy. He came into the day very well fed and focused and it showed as he negotiated early proceedings including one of the most bizarre live hands I have ever seen.

Elliot and his opponent went to the river both feeling pretty good about their hands, but the board was somewhat trouble some. After a QQ5 flop the turn brought another queen and the river another 5. Both players now had a full house and most on the rail assumed it was the same full house, queens over fives, how wrong they all were. Elliot’s opponent flipped up pocket tens making queens over tens, Elliot’s look of confusion had me thinking he was beat and was playing the boards queens over five full house. I too was wrong as Elliot flipped pocket tens, both players indeed had the same full house, queens over 10’s. I’ve never seen symmetry at the poker table like that before, and I doubt I ever will again!

As the day wore on an older gentleman an the table quickly became Elliot’s nemesis, he seemed to have Elliot covered at every turn. Elliot’s pocket jacks were called down by granddads Q4, which of course flopped a queen to make the higher pair. No matter how these hands played out though Elliot stayed true to his plan, kept his foot down and for every pot that was shipped away from him, there was one coming back.

Late in the afternoon Elliot’s table was broken and he was moved to a new table, there was a change in scenery but no change in his style of play. Down went the sunglasses, in went the chips. As afternoon became night it was more of the same and Elliot’s chip stack started to stand out as being one of the bigger stacks in the room. Often if he let one hand go and a decent amount of chips with it, he would fire aggressively at the very next pot quickly recouping any losses.

As time passed there were only three decent sized stacks left at the table, Elliot took this as his cue to do his best Sammy Faha impression, ‘raisey daisy’! Elliot was raising almost every pot, stealing blinds left right and centre.  He finally ran into a reraise in hand that was to become a serious battle on Elliot’s table. Facing each other from opposite ends of the table was Elliot and one of the young guns of poker Dani Stern. Stern started the day with the the larger stack, but Elliot started to put a dint in that stack and as the hours dragged on both players grew more and more determined to take the other down. With Dani reraising Elliot there was finally some resistance at the table. First Elliot called for a count of Dani’s stack, then Dani called time on Elliot. Elliot stayed in the tank for a few minutes still, by now even I was sweating in the rail… however it all came to an anti-climax as Elliot laid his hand down.

To get back into the groove Elliot reraised the very next hand which once again went uncalled. Elliot rode plenty of hands like this through the evening and by the time the final level of the evening rolled around Elliot  built such a formidable stack that he was in fact the chip leader.

The next massive hand was again with Dani Stern. Preflop Elliot raised to 2500, Dani raised to 5k and Elliot quickly bumped it again throwing another 10k in the middle. Dani wasn’t going away though and he pushed all-in put his tournament life on the line as he was well covered by Elliot. Elliot went into the tank but eventually laid down his hand. Dani gleefully showed his hand J-7 of diamonds, quite happy with himself and the move he had just made.

Elliot really had dominated his table and his more well known opponent all night, this was made especially clear by the opposite end of the table scheming together to try to find a way to take him down. They of course weren’t successful and at the close of day 1 flight 2 Elliot ‘ilikebiggirls’ had 98,100 in chips and was entrenched at the top of the leaderboard.

In 2009, Smith placed 3rd in the main event, and is gunning for another strong finish. Pictured at the tables at The Crown, Smith is focussing on repeating the feat. We’re trying to get in touch with him for some comments on how the action is going, and what kind of pressure he’s feeling.

More updates coming. Go get’em Elliot.

Side note: if you want to come play with an Aussie Mills contender, his screen name is ilikebiggirls. He also likes big payouts. We’ll see how he fares this year.

DADuhWEEwah caught some rough breaks early, his 2 pair ran into a higher two pair to start the day, and then things got worse. Closing in on the hour he saw a dream flop, holding J9 suited he caught and up and down straight draw with a QT4 flop in a four way pot with two spades. He immediately raised chasing away all but one lone caller. The turn brought an ace and he fired another bet and again got the call, a queen on the river saw him push his final 6k chips in the middle and again he got a call. His opponent flipped A7 of spades for top pair, a flushed draw chased a straight draw and caught a pair. Not quite what he had in mind for his trip down under.

Strangely this first shot at Aussie Millions glory hasn’t deterred DADuhWEEwah as he is already talking about coming back next year!

In non Carbon Poker news day 1 of the Aussie Millions saw quite a few of the big names strolling into the poker room. Dan Harrington was in early, Aussie Joe of course was there to start proceedings, Gus Hansen sat out the first level to get some PR time in, Barry Greenstein wandered in just in the nick of time and well after the first level was underway Eric Lindgren strolled into the room.