Sunday, August 27, 2006

APA Adelaide under directions has closed its branch

It appears that APA Adelaide has had to close its branch, due to poker playing still being illegal in South Australia. I will leave the link in the sidebar, however, as the forums there are still active, and the branch could reopen following a victory in court proving poker to be a game of skill rather than luck.

Read more about the announcement at the links below:

Poker Network Discussion

APA Disscussion

WSOP Round Up – Aussies Rake in Over $3M in Cash

Extract from: WSOP Round Up – Aussies Rake in Over $3M in Cash [www.pokernetwork.com]

Well the 2006 World Series of Poker has wound up, and whilst Australia couldn’t produce a Main Event champ for the second year running, the largest Aussie (and NZ) contingent ever certainly made their mark. This year, a total of 37 “Aussies” cashed 65 times for a total of $3,295,019 in prizemoney. Out of the 65 cashes, ten were at final tables, and almost half of the Australians that cashed did so more than once. Here’s a recap of some of the stellar performances from this year’s WSOP...

Read On

Check out this article on Poker Network about how the Aussies fared at the recent WSOP. Its great to see a host of Aussies being successful at poker to carry on the efforts of Joe Hachem winning the Main Event last year.

Adelaide Pilgrimage – The Home of Oz Poker?

Extract from: Adelaide Pilgrimage – The Home of Oz Poker? [http://www.pokernetwork.com]

Weekend May 27/28 2006 recognises the return of Adelaide Casino to the Casino Poker Tournament World. For many years 1987 to 1999 it was the true “Home of Australasian Poker” and a Mecca for interstate players once or twice a year. Tournament Poker was in its infancy at the time and for many years “Adelaide was the only true Game in Town”...

Read on

Check out this great article by "The Master" on Poker Network about poker in Adelaide. It is very interesting and features the history of poker in Adelaide and some key events over the years, a great read.

Poker Raid Wrap Up

I haven't posted here for quite a while due to a number of different reasons. I have stopped offering my home game to people from the public due to the murky waters regarding legality of poker in South Australia.

If you look back at my previous posts you will see that there was a raid on a major Poker Tournament in South Australia last year. About 100 players were arrested for "unlawful gaming." Some of the players have decided to take their case to court arguing that poker is a game of skill (which it is), while others decided to just accept the charges.

This article says that the charges for anyone pleading guilty will simply be a fine of $50 and no conviction. Read more here.

Monday, June 26, 2006

From the World Cup to the World Series

Adelaide was alive last night to watch Australia take on Italy in the World Cup. Pubs and clubs were full, 20 000 people went to Adelaide Oval and Sky City Adelaide was packed. It was an exciting match, but goalless till the 93rd minute, when the ref made the worst "trip" call ever with 10 seconds to go and gave Italy a penalty kick right in front of goal, which they made to secure a 1-0 victory over the Aussies.

Match reports and other articles here:

Questionable call in stoppage keeps Italy alive: The Mercury News

Monday's World Cup Clashes: Washington Post

ninemsn:

Italian penalty a 'joke', say Socceroos

'Start 2010 World Cup Planning Now: Guus'

I tried to avoid Neill: Italian Grosso

more from ninemsn

Leave your own feedback/ support/ comments here:

ninemsn socceroos feedback

So as we farewell the Socceroos' World Cup campaign we can hail in the biggest poker event in the world, The World Series of Poker, which started yesterday. Last year Melbourne resident Joe Hachem shocked the world by becoming the first ever Australian to win the main event. Hachem outlasted a field of over 5600, and then topped the final table to the sounds of Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi to take home the record breaking first prize of AU$10 million (US$7.5 mill).

Visit The Official 2006 World Series of Poker Website

Read more about Joe Hachem here:

Official Website of Joe Hachem

Poker Stars: Joe Hachem

About: Joe Hachem Photo Gallery


One of the best thing about Australians is our willingness and enthusiasm to support our fellow country men and women in anyting they, be it Aussie rules and Cricket, or the less known Soccer and Poker. On that note, i'd like to say thankyou to the Socceroos in providing us with much joy during ALL the matches they played, and goodluck to Joe Hachem and all other Aussies going off to tackle the World Series of Poker.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

No-Limit Holdem Winter Cup

(from skycity website)

Win your way into the SKYCITY Winter Cup for as little as $40.00 entry into a Tuesday night tournament. Or skip the qualifying process and buy straight into the Cup final for $560.00 with up to $49,500 in prize money to be won.

Sunday 23 July 11:30am Poker Zone

This one-off Texas No-Holdem Satellite tournament offers a prize pool valued of $49,500 in cash shared between the top 12 players (assuming full participation of 99 entrants).

You can reserve your seat in the tournament for $560 or alternatively you can win your seat through qualifying tournaments for as little as $40 (further details below).

read more.... Skycity Adelaide


Saturday, June 24, 2006

Laws to Change

As reported in 'The Sunday Mail' (SA) today, 25 June 2006, a father and son team are attempting to get the South Australian laws changed so that a South Australian Poker League will be leagal. This is great news for current and aspiring poker players in South Australia. The father and son outfit recently set up the Western Australia Poker League which has been very successful and attracted 600 members since starting up.

The Story, "Texas Poker Pub League On Cards," is on page 22 of The Sunday Advertiser for 25 June 2006, I couldn't find the link on their website, I will post the link if the story appears there.

Check out this link for more info:

ABC Story on Perth Pub Poker

Also Note I have added WA Poker League link in side bar to the right--->>>

South Australian Poker Championships Raid

As some people may know the 'South Australian Poker Championships' run by the APA, were last year raided on the first day of play. Check out this link to Adelaide Index (also featured in the sidebar to the right, under 'other Adelaide links'--->). The post has links to blogs, poker network, relevant laws etc. regarding the raid and poker playing in South Australia.

also check out these links below for more info:

Oz biker website (yes this is relevent)

APA website

Poker Network thread about ANOTHER raid of an Adelaide APA tournament (this year)

(see my next post for why i chose to post this now)

Casino City Times

Gaming News

Counsellor: Over-18 Limit for Gambling Not Enough5 June 2006
SOUTH AUSTRALIA -- As reported by ABC News: "A gambling counsellor says the South Australian Government should lift the legal gambling age to 21.

Read more...

Visit The Casino City Times Link under "Adelaide Poker Links" in the side bar to the right --->
to find the latest gaming information from South Australia, not to mention Australia and the world. The site also has a great section with columns from a bunch of gaming industry experts, on a range of subjects.

Enjoy

morris

Friday, June 09, 2006

WSOP Sattelite at Sky City

Over the past 2-3 months, Sky city has been running a series of satellites to get into the super satellite which featured a 78 k prize pool, with first place being entry into the WSOP main event, accomodation, air fares, and spending money for two people- this was played a couple of sundays ago (28th May). Check out this link at poker network for all the details on how the tourny played out and the results.

Also check out all the new links in the sidebar to the right ---->>>>

If anyone finds any links that they believe should be added to the list, please post it in comments to this post of email me and i'll have a look

cheers

morris


Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Hosting a Home Game

There are many factors to be considered when planning to host a home poker game. Many of the finer points, such as blinds, starting chip stacks and payout percentages have no hard and fast rules, but with experience you will get better at planning and your home games will improve. Below is a list of things to think about when planning your first home game.

When, Where and What time? This may seem a bit too obvious, but it is often underlooked when people plan their first home game. It's often hard to find a day when all your mates that you want at the game will be free to play. To help aviod this, you should organise your game at least a couple of days in advance.

What Game? There are many different types of poker, from the popular holdem to stud, draw or omaha, when just starting out, you should choose a game thats easy to learn, and that you think everyone will enjoy. That game is most cases is Holdem, as people will most likely have seen it on TV and will be itching to play it, this is what we play at our home games.

What Game Type? There are two different sorts of structures, Tournaments and Ring games, in ring games the blinds (or antes) are fixed and the chips on the table represent actual dollar values. Players can buyin for any amout over the minimum and can rebuy or leave at any time. In Tournaments the blindes and antes go up as the game goes on, and chips represent 'tournament money,' payouts are distributed as different %'s of the total of all buyins, depending on what place you were knocked out. *I will asume a tournament structure for the rest of this guide*

Buy-ins? This all depends on how much you and your players can afford to lose, and that depends on your situation- be it student, company ceo, working, part time worker or bum. When your just starting out its tempting to make the buy-ins high because that will mean more money in the pot, however your mates, who have never played before will be reluctant to put too much money on the line. I recommend starting off at $5, however it is totally up to you.

Re-buys? Re buys occur when a player runs out of chips and is then allowed to pay a certain amount (usually equal to original buyin) to get another stack of chips equal to the starting stack. In our home games we often have: one rebuy per person in the first hour, which means if a player busts out in the first hour of the tourny, they can buy back in and not have to sit and watch. Be mindful that if rebuys are allowed the tournament will go for longer and players will likely play a lot looser during the rebuy period- this means more suckouts

Starting Stack: This depends on many things including: the number of each chip colour you have, your blind structure, the time your have for the tournament and how much like high rollers you want to feel. A good starting stack amount is about 1500 in tournament chips.

Blind Structure: The blind structure for your tournament determines how fast the blinds go up, and how much they go up by each time. The latter should be proportionate to your 'starting stack,' while the former depends on how many people in your tournament and how long you want the game to go for.

Equipment: You will obvioulsy need chairs for everybody (make sure you have enough, theres nothing worse than your mates arriving and your realise you don't have enough seats). You will need a table to play on, the kitchen table will do fine, however you can purchase a table top (goes on top of a card table) from ebay or k-mart for about 50 bucks. Poker Chips are a great asset to your home poker game because they give it a great professional feel. Poker Chips of different qualities can be purchased from ebay, fellas, cunnos, k-mart, smokemark and more for between 20 bucks and 200 bucks. Cards- any full 52 card decks will do fine (jokers not needed), you can purchase high quality cards on ebay for about 30 bucks for two packs. You can get some casino cards from skycity for 3 bucks a deck or you can get some bendy plastic cards from many different shops for about 1 buck a pack- these don't last very long but are great because they will survive beer being spilt on them and are easier to shuffle and peek at your hole cards with.

Payouts: This depends on what sort of payout emphasis you want. Do you want all the emphasis on the winner- ie. winner takes all, or 2nd gets money back and winner takes the rest. I think a flatter prize structure is better because it'll make people want to keep coming back to your game. For ten people the payouts are generally structured at- 1st- 50%, 2nd- 30%, 3rd- 20%

Food and Drinks: At our games we often get everybody to bring something that we share, you can also get the host to provide food and everybody chips in, or whatever you want.

Anything Else? If you can think of anything else for planning a home game then please post it in comments

Check out these links for more on Home Games:

Home Poker Games

Home Poker Tourny

Monday, June 05, 2006

Picture

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Introduction

The reason i created this blog is so that there is a central location for information about the different poker game in Adelaide, and contact information for their organisers. This will allow new players who have an interest in poker to find a local game where the buy-in isn't too high and they can find their feet in a friendly and comfortable environment.

If you are the organiser of a local game or home game and you want some new players, contact me (via the contact details in the sidebar) with your game info and contact info and i will post it on the blog for other players to access.

I will also try to provide a lot of information about starting up a home game, ie. buy-ins, blind structures, pay-outs etc. as well as links to poker sites and interesting articles to help the budding poker player to find their feet.

I am relatively new to the blog scene, if you have something you would like to add to the site, or any other questions please don't hesitate to email me.

Thanks for visiting and please come back soon

Cheers

Morris

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Contact Me

Email: morick_sa_2003 [at] hotmail [dot] com

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