Starstruck

After moving in yesterday to my new home in Singapore, the family I am staying with decided to take me out for dinner to welcome me to the family. I finally had the plate of fried rice I was craving for ever since I arrived here, and it was everything I had ever hoped and dreamed for. hehe. After dinner, I hopped on a bus to go watch the inaugural event of the Betfair Asian Poker Tour over at the Mandarin Hotel. I was meeting up with a guy who organized a friendly cash game in Singapore and wanted to see the kind of competition I would potentially be up against. There were alot of Europeans and Americans playing in the tourney, not a lot of locals however. There were lots of SnGs going on, ranging from $100 to $500, which paid out only to top 2 places. The main event of the evening was a $440 super satellite tourney that gave out seats to the $5000 main event beginning on tuesday. It was quite a massive turnout, almost 200 players showed up for the super satellite, and about a hundred more for the SnGs. Too bad I was not able to pre-register online and could not participate in any of the events. It was pretty tight in all the tables in the early going and eliminations were quite sparce. But in typical NLHE fashion, bad beat stories abound. I saw KK cracked by AQ when it runner-runner straight, OUCH.

But the highlight of my evening was when I was looking around and saw a familiar face on one of the tables and recognized him almost immediately, it was John Phan! I immediately borrowed a pen from the floor staff and asked for his autograph. He was really nice about it and seemed a little bit embarrased that I did. LOL. It wasnt a good night for him though as he ran into Aces twice and exited out in the middle stages of the super satellites.

Also, I just realized what I had earlier feared last night. I was watching an SnG and turned around quite suddenly and accidentally bumped and think stepped on the toe of a woman who shrieked abit as I said sorry. I just confirmed the girl I physically harmed was, in fact, Liz Lieu. Im a friggin clutz!

On the way out of the tourney area, I got a call from Silly Cow (thats his name on the forum, dont ask me why) and he told me how he was card-dead almost the entire tournament and finally had to push with Ace-rag and lost. He then introduced me to a friend of his who hit a straight flush against 2 other players and raked in a huge pot. He also mentioned that Tony G was still playing inside and I decided to watch him play a bit as well. Tony G was very quiet and sedated in playing and was holding an average stack. On his table, I saw another reason to always stay alert in NLHE tourneys: Guy in early position raises to 7000 when blinds were 200-400 with 50 antes. Everyone folds to SB who does not notice the raise and just thinks its just between him and BB. SB moves all-in, BB folds and initial raiser calls. SB is surprised and asks raiser if he can still back-out. Dealer says no deal! Tony G says to SB to relax and see if raiser would still fold. Raiser says call and turns over AK. SB embarrasingly turns over J5. Tony G says, "not bad, 60-40, you're still in". Ace on the turn and its all over. Everyone comments how unfortunate that was. Tony G also says that he shouldnt be embarrased, the raiser still had to win the hand. That was just plain stupid if you ask me.

TD later tells everyone to move out of tourney area and that was my cue to exit. Got a bus and arrived home shortly. Its been a while since I watched a live event and I felt the poker rush once again. Cant wait to play a live game soon. Once I get my TV, Cable, Internet and new laptop, should be playing online and downloading more poker vids. Cant wait to watch Gus Hansen, Mel Judah and John Phan again in action on the main event this wednesday.

Till then, Peace out!