Mixed Games at Aussie Millions

Today is a fun event, a $500 buy in stud/stud eight or better/razz mixed game. At The Commerce in LA, and some Vegas poker rooms I often play live action mixed games, but it seems like other than the WSOP, the opportunity to play these games in a tournament is somewhat limited. So I applaud the Aussie Millions event and have to say that the Crown poker room, and those who work there are excellent.

We started the event with 4000 in chips and the early rounds play relatively slowly. Of the approximately 115 players that started we didn't lose a player for the first 4 levels. I slowly chipped up, trying to play only quality starting hands. My table had two very skilled players and four who had not played much. I believe that the skill level difference in most of the mixed games equates to more of an advantage than in Holdem. In the raze I lost a couple of big hands where I started with A 2 3 and A 2 4 against weaker started hands. I drew a 5 on the first hand then all bricks and lost to a J, on the other I made a 9 and lost to an 8. We then rotated back to stud eight, and on the first hand had rolled up Q's. The blinds were 200/400. I was next to act after the bring in, and completed the bet. When it came back around to me it was already capped, I love that when have a strong hand, but of course maybe the Ace is rolled up as well. On fourth and Fifth Street I got back to back sevens to fill up. Two of the others looked to have flush draws and the ace and a pair of nines. I began the hand with about 6,000 in chips and the pot was growing rapidly. One player looked to be going low with a 2 3 5 7, the next A 9 9 Q, the last 10 8 4 J with the first three suited. It when to show down capped on 7^th street, the suspected low had a full house 3's full of 2's, there was a king high flush, and thank god 9 9 9 A A. So I take down a big pot and become chip leader in the event with about 60% of the field remaining. I wish I could freeze the story here because it turns ugly. Over the next 3 levels I didn't win a hand and once again got to enjoy a leisurely dinner at Nobu with sake.

The good news of the day is that Anna Wroblewski made the final table of the Pot Limit event from the previous day. She was third in chips. What makes this somewhat more interesting than usual is I walked over to watch her and she was nowhere to be found. Someone told me she was in the Pokerstars online event with about 60 players left. She did bust out of the online event in about 40th place, and finally showed up at the final table. I am pretty good friends with Anna and consider her a very skilled player with good instincts, however I think she did not put herself in the best situation, but hey it makes a better story. In my opinion, she was the most skilled player at the final table and played well once she showed up. Kenna James and I sweated her through her 4^th place finish. The winner seemed to pick up AA every third hand and cut through the table easily. He was two to the right of Anna so her BB was his Button. Twice in a row he made 4-5 BB raises of her BB, when he did it a third time she pushed with K J, he called and turned over A J. Anna's hand didn't improve and was out. Who knows what would have happened if she wasn't blinded off for the first 90 minutes of the final table. I don't think even Phil would show up that late.