Happenings 'Down Under'

I recently attended the Australian Poker Championships at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. What a pleasure it was, as this event was first-class all the way. The casino and hotel property is as nice as you'll find anywhere, and the tournament staff, led by Poker Room Manager Danny McDonagh and Tournament Director Keith Sloan, is superb. This tournament is the best-kept secret in poker.

Even though I had to squeeze going "down under" between World Poker Tour events in the Bahamas and Tunica, Mississippi, I was thrilled to be able to go. I am the host of PartyPoker.com, which sent more than 100 players to Australia to play in the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em championship event. It was a lot of fun to meet those players and see them enjoy themselves so much. In addition, it was an opportunity for me to play, which I don't get to do much these days.

Speed Poker champion Mike Sexton (left) and runner-up Scotty Nguyen are congratulated by the tournament hostesses.

Although it was a long trip, forget about jet lag. I came to play. Within an hour of arriving at the hotel, I was playing my first match in the $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em heads-up tournament. (I won the last heads-up tournament I played in Paris in 2003, and was hoping to make it two in a row.) My first match took three hours, but I won it. I then played my second match, against tough Kenna James from the United States. It was another three-hour battle, and again I came out on top. They asked me if I'd play my third match of the day, and I said OK. It was a three-and-a-half-hour battle that I won. By now, I had already made 16K, was in the semifinals, and was dead tired. Good night, mates!

The next day, I played my semifinal match against Martin Comer of Australia. I had him down and all in with A-Q versus K-Q, but on the turn and river, he hit two running clubs to stay alive. He then came back to beat me, and went on to win the event. Well done, Martin. He also finished fourth in the championship event a few days later!

While in Australia, I was invited to play in a special $20,000 buy-in, winner-take-all, one-table, televised "Speed Poker" event with five other top international players (Scotty Nguyen, Mel Judah, Marcel Luske, Tony Bloom, and Harry Demetriou). In this event, you have 15 seconds to act on your hand. It was my first experience playing Speed Poker (trademarked), and it was fun.

I ended up winning the Speed Poker tournament – as much for good fortune as good play. With five players left, I played a big pot with Marcel "The Flying Dutchman" Luske in which we got it all in before the flop. I had two queens and he had two aces! After three blanks came on the flop, a queen appeared on the turn. Phew! Obviously, I was very lucky to win that pot.

The tournament came down to Scotty Nguyen and myself. He had about a 3-1 chip lead on me, and I thought I blew the tournament when I timed out on a hand. The board showed 10-8-6-4-J. I had the 7 5 (bottom straight). Scotty checked, I bet on the river, and then he made a big raise. While I was looking at my chips to determine if I was going to call or reraise all in (I had no intention of folding), " time" was called on me and my hand was automatically folded. Ouch! I had forgotten about the clock! A little later, it looked very bleak for me, as I was down about 10-1 in chips. From there, everything went my way and I came back to win the tournament.

I had a shot in the main event but finished 11th (out of 274 players). Oh well, not bad. Jamil Dia from New Zealand took home the title and a million dollars! Well done, mate. Congrats to Mike Simkin (the runner-up) and Warwick Dunnett (sixth-place finisher), as they were PartyPoker.com qualifiers. PartyPoker.com also put six locals in the tournament, with 30 percent of any winnings going to them and 70 percent going to the Tsunami Relief Fund. James "Welcome Back" Potter was one of those players. He finished in 10th place and picked up 30K, 9K for himself and 21K for the Tsunami Relief Fund.

At the awards party, I presented tennis legend Patrick Rafter the PartyPoker.com check for 21K for the Tsunami Relief Fund when Tournament Director Keith Sloan laid a cardboard box on the stage and said, "Thanks, PartyPoker! Now, let's show them what kind of people poker people are, and donate some more to the Tsunami Relief Fund." The players paraded to the stage, and nearly $100,000 in cash was collected! It was truly heartwarming to see such support from the poker community.

If you get a chance next year, do yourself a favor and go down under for the Australian Poker Championships. You'll be glad you did.

Take care.

Mike Sexton is the host of PartyPoker.com ("the world's largest poker room") and a commentator on the World Poker Tour (Wednesday nights on the Travel Channel).